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AVALON  The maritime forest here is one of the few left on the New Jersey coast, and a controversial tree-cutting program has ignited a debate over how to best protect it.

The borough used a $24,000 federal grant to remove 210 non-native Japanese black pines in late October in the high dune forest from 48th Street to 50th Street.

Avalon officials say the pines were out-competing native trees, such as holly and red cedar, and an infestation by the aggressive southern pine beetle had to be stopped before dead and dying trees became a fire hazard.

Avalon cuts down 210 pine trees on dunes despite protests AVALON  The borough cut down about 210 Japanese black pine trees on the maritime dunes, des

On the other side, a group of residents say the loss of so many trees at once  trees they insist were healthy  will undermine the dunes, allowing wind and storms to scour away the sand and threaten the entire dune system. The residents believe the borough is removing the trees because they tend to be tall enough to block the views of some beachfront homeowners.

Some residents want the borough to provide proof of the infestation, as well as a guarantee no more trees will be removed without that proof.

Our argument is, show me one photo of S galleries. Show me one insect, said Mark Demitroff, of Buena Vista Township, a New Jersey certified tree expert through the Department of Environmental Protection, who was hired by the residents group.

S galleries are the squiggly lines made by the southern pine beetle under the bark. The lines made by each type of beetle are distinct.

The borough of Avalon continues to rely on science to make the best decisions as it relates to a healthy ecosystem in our maritime forest, said Administrator Scott Wahl.

It was the second tree-cutting this year. Wahl said dead Japanese black pines were removed in the spring.

A maritime forest is one on a high dune that contains trees, bushes and other plants that can withstand strong winds, periodic flooding and salt spray, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

There are small areas of such forests in Cape May, on Long Beach Island, such as Barnegat Light State Park, and on Sandy Hook in Monmouth County, at the Gateway National Recreation Area.

Barrier islands had huge areas of maritime forests before developers arrived.

Avalons runs from about 32nd Street to about 58th Street along Dune Drive. Multimillion dollar homes are built in parts of the high dunes, but the borough owns most of the surrounding land.

Wahl said Japanese black pine removal allows native vegetation to rebound, and there is already evidence of that around areas cut last spring. The borough will plant native vegetation next spring, he said.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Forestry Service and Avalon environmental consultant Joe Lomax  who is not a certified tree expert but has a masters degree in entomology  have documented the southern pine beetles presence in the dunes, Wahl said. Thats good enough for the borough.

Demitroff said most of the trees he saw marked for removal before the cutting looked healthy, and the borough has not provided any evidence the southern pine beetle, an aggressive pest that kills trees rapidly, is present on the dunes.

Instead, he believes some trees are infested with turpentine beetle, and there is no need for widespread cutting to combat that beetle.

Avalons dune system is deep and high in part because the borough planted Japanese black pines there decades ago to help build the dunes. They are known to tolerate harsh wind and salt conditions.

While most towns in the region are lucky to have small sections of dune, Avalon has hundreds of feet of dunes containing beach grass and perennials such as seaside goldenrod.

They slowly merge with hundreds more feet of higher dunes where thickets of bayberry, holly, oaks, wild cherry, sassafrass and Japanese black pine trees grow.

The rest of the borough is like most other coastal towns. Large homes are packed so tightly together there is little room for trees.

Resident Elaine Scattergood said she requested permission to have Demitroff leave the path and walk on the dunes to closely examine the Japanese black pines the borough targeted for removal and was told it would be possible.

But Demitroff said when he called to arrange it, he was told officials changed their minds.
Voters in New Jerseys 2nd Congressional District have a strong message for Congress: It is more important to compromise and address issues than it is to stay firm on principles.

The question was asked of 625 likely voters during a district telephone poll conducted by the Stockton Polling Institute from Oct. 19 to 23. The respondents were emphatic in their opinion. Sixty-four percent said members of Congress should reach compromise while only 31 percent said they should stand firm.

Couple this with the response from more than half those polled that neither political party is doing more to solve the nations problems and only 13 percent say Congress job performance is excellent or good. This sentiment is a reflection of voter frustration with standoffs and partisan votes in Congress that affect many aspects of peoples lives. Government shutdowns, passing a budget, selecting Supreme Court justices, health care issues, reforms to the income tax system ... the list is huge.

We took a look behind the numbers to try and understand which voters feel strongly about this. As a reminder, when we break these numbers down into smaller groupings, the sample size affects the validity of the numbers. However, there is no mistaking the trend.

The obvious first breakdown to compare is political party. Whether Republican, Democrat or independent, the numbers ranged from more than 50 percent to almost 74 percent preferring compromise over standing firm on principles. However, there were some significant differences. Fifty-three percent of Republican likely voters prefer compromise while 74 percent of Democrat likely voters feel this way. Independent likely voters were in the middle with 67 percent preferring compromise.

Age was a bright line delineator. Younger people, those between 18 and 29, were the most adamant about the need for compromise with only 16 percent believing it is better to stand firm than compromise. For respondents 50 and older, nearly a third advocate staying firm.

Of those likely voters who identify as Hispanic or Latino, as well as those who identify as white, the response was more than 2 to 1 in favor of compromise over standing firm on principle.

Respondents who are high school graduates, attended college or who have a college degree were very similar in wanting compromise by a 2 to 1 margin. However, those with less than a high school degree were split evenly on whether to stay firm or compromise. At the other end of the spectrum were respondents with a professional degree (for example doctors, lawyers, and so on); 74 percent of these voters believe Congress should compromise.

Higher income people, that is those over $150,000 per year, wanted compromise by more than 70 percent while all other income groups asked were still high but in the 60s.

And then, of course, we had to look at those who identified as either male or female; 67.5 percent of males said compromise and 60 percent of females agreed.

The numbers in the 2nd District, which encompasses much of southern N.J., were so striking that we decided to poll the entire state on this issue. Sure enough, likely voters throughout N.J. at the time of this writing had very similar sentiments, with 67 percent of those likely voters polled selecting compromise over staying firm because of principle.

There are times when staying strong on principle is important. It is an underpinning for the U.S. two-party political system and for democracies throughout the world. During many historical periods, the two-party system has been the impetus for political parties to find middle ground that will appeal to large groups of voters.

When thinking about all the issues that the electorate is looking to Congress for action, it comes as no surprise that so much of state voter sentiment is that Congress needs to be less committed to partisan posturing and more responsive to tackling issues that affect their constituents and, yes, they should compromise when necessary to get the job done.

Today, we see government mired in a divisive two-party system. N.J. voters are expressing the opinion that it is time to use the benefits of elected representation to work together to solve problems and create opportunities.

Sharon Schulman is executive director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.
The New York Times reports that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used a "legally dubious" method to avoid reporting hundreds of millions in taxable income as his Atlantic City casino empire cratered.

The strategy, according to papers obtained by the Times, was essentially a swap that tax law experts had used for years for corporations. Trump, like other wealthy people, used it for his own gain, violating what one expert called a central tenet of American tax law, in the Times report.

"He deducted someone else's losses," John L. Buckley, the chief of Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation in 1993 and 1994, told the Times.

The method was later outlawed by Congress.

The Times notes that at the time, Trump's lawyers warned that the IRS would likely object to the method if Trump was ever audited. He is currently under audited, using it as a reason to not release his tax returns. The IRS has said there is no obligation preventing him from doing so.
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.




ISTANBUL, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Shortly after commencing production, Abdi Ibrahim Global Pharm, Turkish pharmaceutical leader Abdi Ibrahim's Kazakhstan subsidiary, qualified for GMP certification, one of the key systems in good manufacturing practices. "As regards our foreign investments, not only do we expand geographically but also we strive to maximize our production capacity. We are proud to be granted GMP certification with our $60-million Kazakhstan plant in such a short time after commencing operations," commented Nezih Barut, Abdi Ibrahim Chairman, on the facilities.

Offering pioneering, bold and innovative services for healing the life and the future for 105 years, Abdi Ibrahim approaches its 2020 goals with its Kazakhstan investment, the most critical foreign investment.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404076LOGO )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436222 )



Abdi Ibrahim invested 285 million dollars in its Esenyurt campus, which features a production facility as well as R&D and logistics centers. After breaking ground on Turkey's largest biotechnological pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with a total investment budget of $100 million last year, Abdi Ibrahim began production at its $60-million Kazakhstan plant, which boasts an annual capacity of 24 million units.

Only a short time after groundbreaking in 2013, Abdi Ibrahim's Kazakhstan facilities qualified for GMP certification, a benchmark in best manufacturing practices. Abdi Ibrahim Global Pharm, operating across a 12,000 square meter indoor area and employing 190 people, will produce approximately 100 products, predominantly diabetes care and anti-viral products, as well as products for treatment of central nervous system and cardiovascular diseases.

On the investment in Kazakhstan, Abdi Ibrahim Chairman Nezih Barut noted: "Our plant in Kazakhstan is an indicator of our determination to become a powerful actor in global markets, one of the five growth areas within our 2020 strategy. As of now, we employ a total of around 190 people in Kazakhstan, and 95 personnel in the plant. First exports from the Kazakhstan plant went to Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. In 2017, Georgia will join those countries as well. We aim to expand our current potential by exporting to the Eurasian Customs Union and CIS member countries in the upcoming years. As we near 2020, we will maintain our momentum in the free market by stepping up exports. Our goal for Kazakhstan is $40 million."

Esra Erdinc +90(212)-366-84-00, esra.erdinc@abdiibrahim.com.tr

SOURCE Abdi Ibrahim
BANGKOK, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning plantation management company Asia Plantation Capital held its Thailand Annual General Meeting on Friday, 21 October 2016, at the Renaissance Bangkok, Thailand.

Asia Plantation Capital is delighted to announce that despite the slowdown in global economic activity, its revenues grew 6% in Thailand and similarly increased by around 4.5% in Singapore in FY2015.

Addressing the crowd of 300 Thailand-based plantation owners and stakeholders, Mr. Barry Rawlinson, Chief Executive Officer of the APC Group, opened the AGM by detailing how the company expanded its horizons with exponential growth throughout 2016, despite facing several challenges. Mr. Rawlinson also spoke about the ongoing effects of climate change in the agriculture sector, and how the company has worked tirelessly to address the relevant issues and mitigate the negative effects.

Asia Plantation Capital remains steadfast to its ethos of 'holistic sustainability'. Throughout 2016, the company has embraced programmes and directives that are more than mere Corporate Social Responsibility projects, ensuring that equal care, consideration and encouragement are given to all members of staff -- from top and middle management all the way through to plantation workers and their families.

Jinda Tonkhambai outlined the details of past projects, as well as those that have been carried out over the last year, from which many local communities have benefited. Asia Plantation Capital's projects have focused on local infrastructure - such as schools and places of worship - improving the lives of all the people who live in and work around the company's areas of operation.

Three 4th year students from the Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, were also presented with scholarships at the meeting, comprising the payment of tuition fees of up to THB 150,000 over the course of four years.

In light of the company's ongoing expansion and the additional plantations that are needed to meet the growing demand for products, Phanitta Matwangsaeng from General Administration, updated attendees on the processes and due diligence carried out prior to the purchase of land. Technical details, such as the land designing process, plot diagrams, water systems, and tree management systems, were also further explained by architect, Phoom Matwangsaeng.

Nadiah Abdullah, Operations Manager, presented the significant milestones that have been reached this year on behalf of Asia Plantation Capital Berhad (APCB) - the Malaysian arm of the APC Group - with the emphasis placed on the major joint ventures that have been entered into, as well as the breakthroughs that were made in research and development.

The factory - the largest agarwood distillery in Southeast Asia - now sees some new manufacturing processes, as well as an expanded nursery facility and a laboratory with state of the art equipment to monitor oil quality and production methods.

One of the most significant achievements for APCB has been the recent recognition and unconditional approval of its products by the SSM (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia) which is Malaysia's equivalent to the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), and the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in the UK.

Experts in the field, Robin Jewer - Agricultural Director, and Boonchuay Jomkhamsee - Forestry Specialist, provided information on the current state of Asia Plantation Capital's plantations that were affected by excessive rainfall, along with the measures that were taken to deal with erratic weather patterns. For example; all company plantations now manage the risk by using rain gauges and moisture measuring metres to ensure that a tree has access to just the right amount of water. This in turn, significantly reduces water usage, as well as the power that is required to pump water.

Special Scientific Advisor and Associate professor, Dr Pakamas Chetpattanondh, from the Prince of Songkla University, also presented the audience with her ongoing research on the medicinal and healing benefits of Oud oil - specifically regarding its anti-ageing properties and its potential efficacy in treating various forms of cancer.

Described as 'the miracle plant', Asia Plantation Capital is now heavily invested in bamboo as another 'agrocrop' in which the group of companies perceives a great deal of potential. As yet another part of the group's commitment to securing innovative, sustainable, commercial solutions and new technologies, it is supporting Boo-Tex, which is developing a new range of luxury bamboo fabrics for the fashion and sportswear industries. Mr Roger Hargreaves, Chairman of Asia Plantation Capital Thailand, took the opportunity to update the attendees on the exciting developments in the sector and provided a comprehensive overview of the ever-expanding commercial bamboo landscape.

The audience was also given updates on French, niche, luxury perfume house, Fragrance Du Bois, by Clotilde Antoine, Brand and Retail Manager. The young and innovative brand scaled new heights this year with new partnerships being forged, and openings in Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Marbella, and its very own European flagship boutique in Geneva.

Additionally, the brand also decided to widen and augment its portfolio of products with the introduction and launch of an alcohol-free 'Lite Attars' collection and 'Nature's Treasures' - an original collection of hand-blended, non-Oud based perfumes, using only natural ingredients of the finest quality.

Asia Plantation Capital also announced that it will be entering into exclusive 'off-take' agreements with Fragrance Du Bois and a to-be-announced beauty and personal care company - ultimately increasing the demand for the Oud supplied by Asia Plantation Capital, and further securing the end market for Asia Plantation Capital produced agarwood products.

It was also revealed during the meeting that the Asia Plantation Distilleries 'super distilleries' are expected to be fully operational by the year 2020.

In his closing speech, APC Group's CEO, Barry Rawlinson said, "2016 has been an exceptionally good year for all of us at Asia Plantation Capital, as we have reaped the rewards that have accrued from the 'hard yards' and the long hours we have put in. Despite the challenges we have faced, we have managed to ensure that performance, growth and momentum across all regions have been maintained."

Rawlinson concluded, "On behalf of the company, I would like to thank all our stakeholders, shareholders and every member of staff for their contribution and support. These are exciting times for our company, and you can rest assured that as stakeholders, we have your best interests in our hearts and minds, as well as at the forefront of each and every decision that we make."

Notes for Editors

For further information, please contact:

Zaahira Muhammad

Senior PR & Marketing Executive

Email: zaahira@asiaplantationcapital.com

Office: +6012-203-5344

Samantha Tham

PR & Marketing Executive

Email: samantha.tham@asiaplantationcapital.com

Mobile: +65-9144-0933

About Asia Plantation Capital

Asia Plantation Capital Berhad in Malaysia is currently investing heavily in the Malaysian plantation sector, developing new plantations and factories for the production of agarwood (gaharu) and other associated products for international export markets. The company is further strengthening its presence in Malaysia by moving its headquarters to downtown Kuala Lumpur, a year after opening Southeast Asia's biggest agarwood processing factory and distillery in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The Asia Plantation Capital Group is a multi-award-winning sustainable plantation operator and management company, with projects across four continents, and a global workforce in excess of 2,000. A market leader in the industry, its Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of leading academics from various countries (China, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates), who have, between them, developed and patented industry-leading technologies and systems.

With a focus on commercial plantation projects and vertically integrated businesses that offer a combination of commercial, environmental and community benefits, Asia Plantation Capital has created a successful and dynamic 'triple bottom line' company.

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161104/8521607201-a

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161104/8521607201-b

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161104/8521607201-c

Related Links

https://www.asiaplantationcapital.com/



SOURCE Asia Plantation Capital
PEORIA, Illinois, November 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT / NYSE Euronext: CATR) informs its stockholders a Form 10-Q for the quarter ending September 30, 2016 was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on November 2, 2016. The Form 10-Q filed in respect of Caterpillar can be found on the SEC Internet site (www.sec.gov). On November 2, 2016 Caterpillar also filed a Form S-8 with the SEC with respect to securities issuable under deferred compensation obligations. Additionally, Caterpillar filed four Forms 4 with the SEC on November 1, 2016 with respect to beneficial stock ownership.

Caterpillar files electronically with the SEC required reports on Form 8-K, Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and Form 11-K; proxy materials; ownership reports for insiders as required by Section 16(a) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and registration statements on Forms S-3 and S-8, as necessary; and other forms or reports, as required. All of the forms and reports filed electronically with the SEC are available on the SEC Internet site (www.sec.gov).

Caterpillar also maintains an Internet site (www.Caterpillar.com ) and copies of its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to these reports filed or furnished with the SEC are available free of charge through Caterpillar's Internet site (www.Caterpillar.com/secfilings) as soon as reasonably practicable after the relevant document has been filed with the SEC.

#End Wide Release CONTACT: Rachel Potts, Corporate Public Affairs, Caterpillar, +1-309-675-6892

This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ChikPea will be hosting an event in Tel Aviv on 17 November 2016 to empower the emerging subscription business economy in Israel.

< >

In a recent interview with MGI Research, Adam Kleinberg, ChikPea CEO and Co-Founder, states, "We want to be the company people use not just for writing quotes or sending out bills, but also the company people use to oversee the deployment and implementation of their services. This means having tools that integrate with third party suppliers, legal departments, and offering features that expand our core business."

Watch Video "Developing Subscription Business Solutions within the salesforce.com Eco-System"

The demand for cloud-based billing and order management systems is accelerating as more businesses, large and small, recognise the critical importance of offering a much wider range of pricing and business models to their customers.

The earliest adopter of the Salesforce.com platform, ChikPea, is benefiting from this shift to cloud-based solutions.

ChikPea Solutions are designed to augment your usage of the Salesforce CRM, while making a complex quoting, pricing or process model change simple, optimising your return on investment from your Salesforce decision.

Download PDF Interview "Enabling the Digital Business Platform"

Join ChikPea in Tel Aviv, 17 November 2016 and learn about the benefits that #ChikPea, Salesforce.com and Force.com can bring to your business.

< >

Product Videos:

ChikPea in a Nutshell

ChikPea Order to Billing (O2B)

ChikPea Telecom Order Management (TOM)

About ChikPea

Founded in 2006, ChikPea provides business process automation and management solutions for companies that use Salesforce CRM. Our Force.com native applications software turns Salesforce into an agile SRM (Subscriber Relationship Management) system for companies that sell any sort of business subscription service. Everything from the necessity of quoting subscription based services to delivering those services, on boarding or order management, provisioning, billing for those services, payment collections, dunning management and change orders is powered by ChikPea. ChikPea leads the field with graphical business process management tools that manage all salesforce objects and some of the most advanced CPQ solutions available on the Salesforce AppExchange. While there are expressive solutions in the market, none have the extensive out-of-the-box functionalities that can be further customised. For more information email us or follow us on Twitter @chikpea_inc.

Related Links

http://www.chikpea.com



SOURCE ChikPea
DUBLIN, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Dairy Products China News" report to their offering.

Fresh Milk, A Market Opportunity

On 4 September, the 5th Cross-Strait Fresh Milk Development Forum was held in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. During this event, the "Circle of Friends" for the China Quality Milk Programme was jointly established by 20+ dairy companies (including New Hope Dairy, Changfu Dairy, Bright Dairy, Beijing Sanyuan, Huishan Dairy, Wondersun Dairy, NanJing Weigang Dairy, Kunming Xuelan Dairy, Jinan Jiabao Dairy, Henan Huahuaniu Group Dairy, Yantang Milk, Fengxing Milk, Jiangxi Sunshine, Guizhou Haoyiduo Dairy, Xuzhou Lujian Dairy, Tianyou Dairy). This aimed to promote the programme's implementation and speed the development of the fresh milk segment ("Circle of Friends" is an imitation of WeChat's function, "Moment", which is also known as "Circle of Friends".)

For a long period take-up of the programme has been called for by the domestic dairy industry. However, some large dairy companies have held back from full implementation. The programme mainly consists of: Labelling products as "Quality Milk" Dairy farming technology upgrade Supervision of standardisation of processing

The accreditation is mainly targeted at fresh milk, which should have characteristics such as "near to raw milk sources", "short-distance refrigerated transportation" and "instant consumption". Consumers are expected to easily see whether the milks are "quality" through the labelling. "The programme will help rebuild confidence in domestic milk products and ease the imbalance of profit distribution in the industry," commented a trade source.

Ever since the melamine scandal, China's dairy market has endured periods of rapid price drops or increases. This year is "the hardest year for the domestic dairy business," stated Gao Hongbin, Director of the Dairy Association of China (DAC): "In March, 51% of companies made a loss. In H2, this proportion is still growing."

There are two fundamental factors behind the flat domestic dairy market:

- Weak demand, causing slower growth in consumption and oversupply.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, local sales of liquid milk (fresh + UHT, including imports) stood at 27.39 million tonnes in 2015, up by 3.6%

- this compared with averages of 5.1% in 2011-2015 and 11.1% in 2006-2010.

On 16 August, the DAC issued the China Dairy Industry Quality Report (2016), produced with support from China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the China Food and Drug Administration. In 2015, national milk production (incl. goat milk) reportedly hit 38.70 million tonnes, whilst consumption of dairy products was 29.58 million tonnes. According to the 2015 China Rural Statistical Yearbook, the country's dairy herd stood at 15.07 million head in the same year.

- The threat posed by foreign dairy products: China imported 1.79 million tonnes of dairy products in 2015, equal to about 11 million tonnes of milk (based on 1:8 ratio between powders and raw milk); in January-June, imports of milk powder (incl. infant formula) hit 407,800 tonnes (= 3.26 million tonnes of raw milk), up by 18.6% YoY; liquid milk imports were up by 77.55% to 314,000 tonnes.

"Developing the fresh milk segment is a key means of surviving the sluggish market, depending on stressing the original milk's quality," said Gao Hongbin, implying its greater nutritional properties compared with long-life milk. Many local processors recombine imported powder to produce UHT milk as the international price is nearly 1/2 the domestic one. According to statistics from the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), the theoretical world milk price was about RMB1.44/kg in May, compared with RMB3.46/kg from China's 10 leading milk producing regions. However, going from raw milk to powder and then to reconstituted milk means 2 high-temperature sterilisations which cause huge nutritional losses (local processing specialists cite 60% of active protein being lost in the initial spray-drying).

According to the Notice to Enhance Administration on Liquid Milk Production and Sales (released by the General Office of the State Council in September 2005,implemented on October 15, 2005), if reconstituted milk is used for producing UHT milk, manufacturers should note this on the label, and make clear the proportion used. The Identification of Reconstituted Milk in Fresh Milk and UHT Milk issued in April also stresses increased inspection of reconstituted milk.

However few local dairy products using reconstituted milk are declared as such on-pack, an issue which clearly needs tackling. This represents an opportunity for fresh milk. Practice of the quality milk programme is expected to push dairy processors to purchase higher quality raw milk, and dairy farmers to increase their efforts to produce such a product.

"The price of raw milk will increase materially in early 2017," stated dairy analyst Song Liang; "We expect fresh dairy products including fresh milk, yoghurt and ice cream will grow also. It is necessary to encourage companies to develop fresh milk to make a turnaround."

Taiwan provides a good example of an industry countering use of imported milk powder with fresh milk: "30 years ago, we started promoting labelling for quality milk, and focused on developing fresh milk. Now 98%+ of local farm milk is used for producing fresh milk," stated Shi Zongxiong, Honorary Director of the Dairy Association of Taiwan.

In mainland China, this percentage is very low. According to the China Dairy Industry Quality Report (2016), fresh milk accounts for 10% of the liquid milk market compared with 80%+ in the US and Australia.

"We are making a 5-year plan for the quality milk programme, a move intended to increase the consumption of quality dairy products (meaning fresh milk) to 30%, and to 90%+ within 10 years," claimed Wang Jiaqi, DAC's Vice Director.

Executive Summary:

On 23 August, Dali announced to launch soymilk next year; 2 days later, Vitasoy released its new coconut juice "Vitakaka". In reality, many plant protein beverage manufacturers have launched many new products. All this is strong demonstration about the market potential.

On 4 September, at the 5th Cross-Strait Fresh Milk Development Forum in Fujian, the "Circle of Friends" for the China Quality Milk Programme was established by 20+ dairy companies.

On 30 August, the CNCA announced to enhance supervision on Australian fresh milk companies. It seems that the manufacturers are facing risk of being suspended for registration in China.

On 24 August, Ausnutria announced the takeover of Australian company Nutrition Care, a notable step in its diversification.

In H1, Yili grew both sales and net profit, whereas Mengniu recorded a fall in net profit, achieving just 1/3 of the figure posted by Yili. In the future, growth will be centre on the 3rd-/4th-tier cities, where both companies are already active.

On 13 September, local milk tea manufacturer Xiangpiaopiao launched the first "pure milk pure tea" on the market, a move intended to transform itself into a "healthier" supplier.

On 19 September, Beingmate announced it had received government approval for its establishment of an infant formula plant with Fonterra. This is expected to strengthen their partnership and help Beingmate deal with the changes brought about by the Chinese infant formula registration policy.

In September, the price of raw milk continued an upward trend, thanks to the traditional sales peak and decreased milk supply.

On 22 September, the ground-breaking ceremony for a 10,000 cow farm jointly constructed by Qianjin Animal Husbandry and Jule Group was held.

In September, Bright Dairy, following the launch of premium-marketed "Momchilovtsi" yoghurt, started marketing another such yoghurt "Zhi Da". This differentiated product is positioned as healthy and snack yoghurt and is targeted at South China.

Key Topics Covered:

Giant Players Rush for Plant Protein Beverage Business

Fresh Milk, A Market Opportunity

China Enhances Supervision on Australian Fresh Milk

Ausnutria Acquires Australian Nutrition Care

Yili Makes Profits 3 Times Larger than Mengniu in H1

Xiangpiaopiao Launches China's 1st Pure Milk Tea

Beingmate-Fonterra UJV Approved

Milk Price Continues Rising in September

10,000 Head Dairy Farm Starts Up

Bright Dairy Launches Premium Cheese Yoghurt

August Import Data

D20 Forum Held in Hebei's Shijiazhuang

Mengniu at Royal Melbourne Show

Fortune Sells Dairy Cow Business

Bright Dairy Re-Invests in Synlait

3rd Sino-Holland Dairy Industry Chain Safety Guarantee Seminar Held

Yiyi Food Cited for Substandard Infant Formulas in July

62 Students Suffer After Drinking Jinjian Milk

Mengniu: Lu Minfang Replaces Sun Yiping as CEO

Yili Suspends Share Trading

Yantang Dairy to Raise USD78.3 million for Business Expansion

Companies Mentioned:

Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co., Ltd.

Xiangpiaopiao Food Co., Ltd.

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd.

China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited

Bright Dairy & Food Co., Ltd.

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xxcg4r/dairy_products

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
Microsoft Dynamics International User Conference to be held 4-6 April, Amsterdam.

TAMPA, Florida, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynamic Communities, the supporting organization behind the official user groups for Microsoft Dynamics AX (AXUG), Microsoft Dynamics CRM (CRMUG), Microsoft Dynamics NAV (NAVUG), and Microsoft Power BI (PBIUG) products, announces Summit EMEA to be held 4-6 April, 2017 at the RAI in Amsterdam.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436095LOGO

Summit EMEA is a peer-to-peer focused conference dedicated to end user education and networking. At this year's event, experienced Microsoft Dynamics users and partners will lead instructional sessions focusing on past and current versions of Dynamics AX, NAV, CRM, and Power BI.

Attendees will have direct access to product insights, practical answers to Dynamics questions, and peer to peer expertise that will provide gains in product knowledge and streamline business operations. Summit EMEA also facilitates connections between Dynamics professionals both from local user groups and from an international network of likeminded professionals.

Attendees representing Dynamics end user organizations, partners, and ISVs benefit from access to Microsoft leaders, Microsoft MVPs, and other subject matter experts while exploring a wide range of solutions to optimise their Dynamics investment and experience a solid return on investment.

"If you have the chance to go to just one conference on Dynamics this year, then you need to make it Summit EMEA. The thing that makes this event so valuable is that it is planned by the Dynamics users, and almost all of the presentations that are given are hosted by Dynamics customers as well," said Murray Fife, Technology Solution Professional for Microsoft and member of the AXUG Summit EMEA Planning Committee. "There is no better way to get unfiltered and un-salesy information that can help you in the real world than by learning from people who are in the same position as you are  a user of Dynamics."

"We were quite pleased with the NAVUG European Congress, the Dynamics end-user event hosted by Dynamic Communities, in Frankfurt last year. The content was very relevant for us and the presenters brought a great depth of knowledge and breadth of experience. We are looking forward to attending Summit EMEA 2017 in Amsterdam," said Mike Hitzhusen, Application Manager for Intrum Justitia and member of the NAVUG Summit EMEA Planning committee.

Dynamics users can save $400 by registering prior to the Early Bird registration deadline of 12 January. To register, visit: www.summitemea.com/pricing.

Dynamic Communities is the business management organization that supports technology-centric user groups and associations  providing necessary resources and business operations such as staff, systems and event production. Dynamic Communities is independent from Microsoft; however, the two organizations maintain an intentional close working relationship so that our members can provide a collective voice to Microsoft on user concerns, needs, and requests.

Related Links

http://www.dynamiccommunities.com



SOURCE Dynamic Communities
DUBLIN, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Future of Latin America Fuel Oil Supply and Demand, 2005- 2025: Trends, Drivers, Challenges and Forecasts of Fuel Oil Production and Consumption under Current Market Dynamics" report to their offering.

Latin America Fuel Oil Outlook report provides detailed analysis and forecast of Fuel Oil consumption patterns and supply scenario in all key Fuel Oil markets in Latin America. Forecasts of production and demand of each of the Fuel Oil markets in Latin America are provided annually from 2005 to 2025.

Drivers and challenges of industry growth in each of the Latin America countries are analyzed. Further, information on current refining capacity, refining complexity along with planned refining infrastructure details are also provided in the Latin America Fuel Oil outlook report.

Historic data is taken largely from government ministries and companies involved, ensuring highest accuracy of the data. Further, forecasts are made through our sophisticated methodology considering current market conditions and future prospects. Fuel Oil Forecasts for each market are evaluated by in-house experts and also validated by industry professionals to ensure utmost accuracy and certainty.

The research work also provides information on leading refining companies in each country along with business profiles of three leading Fuel Oil suppliers in the region. All latest industry developments in Latin America Fuel Oil are also provided in the report.

Scope

- Annual forecasts of country wise Gasoline consumption and Gasoline production from 2005 to 2025

- All key Gasoline markets across Asia Pacific are analyzed in detail

- Refining, coking, FCC and Hydrocracking capacity outlook for each of the refining markets in Asia Pacific are provided from 2005 to 2020

- Drivers and Challenges of operating and or investing in Asia Pacific Gasoline markets

- Details of all planned refining projects in each of the Gasoline markets in Asia Pacific

- Details of leading Gasoline suppliers in Asia Pacific markets are provided

- Company profiles of three leading refining companies in Asia Pacific Gasoline markets

- All largest Gasoline industry developments in Asia Pacific Gasoline

Key Topics Covered:

1. Tables & Figures

2 Executive Summary

3 Argentina LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

4 Bahamas LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

5 Brazil LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

6 Chile LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

7 Colombia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

7 Colombia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

8 Dominican Republic LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

9 Panama LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

10 Paraguay LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

11 Peru LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

12 Puerto Rico LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

13 Suriname LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

14 Trinidad and Tobago LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

15 Uruguay LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

16 Venezuela LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

17 Business Profiles of Leading Refiners

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hdq4mp/the_future_of

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
PARIS, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

A cquisition marks a transformational step i n the development of Linxens

Di versifies its product range in RFID antennas and inlays

The new group will generate more than 500 million in revenue and employ 3,500 people worldwide

LINXENS, a global leader in the design and manufacture of micro-connectors for smart cards, has today announced that it has acquired SMARTRAC's SIT division, a global leader in the development and manufacture of RFID inlays and antennas. The deal is expected to complete by the end of the year.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161102/435504LOGO )



By acquiring SMARTRAC's SIT division's technical expertise and vision, Linxens will consolidate its position as a leading provider of contact and contactless smart card connectivity solutions across its key business segments of payments, e-government, telecoms, transportation, loyalty and access control.

The acquisition further expands Linxens' global presence with sites in China, France, Germany, Singapore, Thailand and the US. The combined company will focus their innovation skills on shared programs to accelerate new product development and is expected to generate more than 500 million in revenue, which will allow it to continue to innovate and expand.

Growing Market Opportunity

Contactless solutions are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Smartrac's "Secure ID & Transaction" (SIT) division provides RFID components for 5 key applications: government-issued documents (eIDs, ePassports, eDriving Licenses, etc.), payments, transportation, loyalty and access control.

As the focus on security intensifies, government agencies are turning to e-documents, with a growing proportion using contactless interfaces. The result is rising demand for antennas and inlays for use in e-documents. The e-Passport is now commonplace, so the focus is shifting increasingly towards e-ID Cards, and e-Driving licenses, especially in emerging economies.

Contactless solutions are also widely used in transportation, loyalty and access control, all of which continue to offer impressive growth potential: the contactless access card market is forecast to grow by more than 5% between 2015 and 2019.

With the global rollout of the EMV payment card standard well underway, focus is now shifting to the upgrading of existing EMV cards to include contactless (NFC) functionality. This migration began a few years ago in the EU and China, and is now underway in the US, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Demand for this technology from the banking market is expected to grow by 9% year-on-year for the next 5 years.

Christophe Duverne, CEO of Linxens, commented:

"We intend to leverage our portfolio of innovative products and solutions to become the go-to one-stop shop for secure smart card connectivity solutions for contact and contactless systems. We are both innovation leaders in our own fields, so combining our innovation skills will allow us to envision the future of secure smart card connectivity technologies to deliver best-in-class products to our customers.

"A local presence delivers major benefits for our customers. With a more global footprint, we can better respond to changes in market demand, and further improve our understanding of customer needs in the context of specific local market requirements."

About Linxens

Linxens is one of the key players on the world smart card connectors market, and ensures both design and manufacture.

Linxens is present in the payment, mobile phone, identity, transport and access markets. The company provides card embedders, smart card manufacturers and module manufacturers with innovative connectivity solutions.

By working closely with its customers, its unique technology portfolio and large scale production capacities, Linxens has extended its product portfolio to include antennas and specialty substrates for integrated circuits.

In addition, Linxens is developing manufacturing activity in LED light sources, thanks to its mastery of production on flexible supports.

Linxens employs more than 1,200 people around the world and has production sites and R&D centers in Europe and Asia. The company had turnover of  320m in 2015. Linxens is mainly owned by CVC Capital Partners. For further information, visit http://www.linxens.com

About SMARTRAC

SMARTRAC is the world's leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of RFID products and IoT solutions, providing both ready-made and customized offerings suitable for a large number of applications. SMARTRAC makes products smart, and enables businesses to identify, authenticate, track and complement product offerings. The company's portfolio is used in a wide array of applications: access control, animal identification, automated fare collection, automotive, border control, contactless payment, electronic product identification, industry, libraries and media management, laundry, logistics, retail, public transport, and many more. Leveraging its global R&D, production and sales network, SMARTRAC combines physical products with its Internet of Things platform Smart Cosmos, empowering the ecosystem of connected things. SMARTRAC has its registered headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For more information, visit http://www.SMARTRAC-group.com or follow us on http://www.twitter.com/SMARTRAC_NV .

SOURCE Linxens
"MoneyGram is a trusted brand for remittances with a strong worldwide network supported by a significant digital presence," says Roy Emil S. Yu, Head of BPI's Remittance Business Division. "Being one of the top banks for remittances in the Philippines, we are constantly seeking to tie up relationships that allow us to offer our customers the best remittance service. We believe that partnership with MoneyGram will certainly bring us closer to that goal."

Bank of the Philippine Islands, locally known as BPI, is the Philippines' first bank. It is the country's largest bank in terms of market capitalization.

"Thanks to BPI's longstanding history in the banking sector combined with unrivaled service quality, the bank has become the preferred brand for many Filipinos. Our partnership with BPI coupled with a new convenient way to receive money directly to a bank account will certainly support our OFW customers in achieving their goals and fulfilling their families' dreams," added Lim.

This cooperation strengthens MoneyGram's digital footprint in the Philippines  one of the world's largest remittance markets. According to the World Bank, in 2015 over $28bn flowed into the Philippines. This constitutes for 9.6% of country's GDP.

*Subject to agent's operating hours and compliance with regulatory requirements.

#moneygramnews

About MoneyGram International

MoneyGram is a global provider of innovative money transfer and payment services and is recognized worldwide as a financial connection to friends and family. Whether online, or through a mobile device, at a kiosk or in a local store, we connect consumers any way that is convenient for them. We also provide bill payment services, issue money orders and process official checks in select markets. More information about MoneyGram International, Inc. is available at moneygram.com.

Media contact:

Maria Bankiet-Kaminska

MoneyGram

Tel: + 48 (0) 22 377 2185

Mob: + 48 (0) 885 889 696

Mail: MbankietKaminska@moneygram.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150730/251082LOGO

Related Links

http://www.moneygram.com



SOURCE MoneyGram
AMSTERDAM, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Forty-five percent of all the electricity in the world is used for electric motors and pumps, ventilation and compressor systems. These motors and systems are often outdated and energy-inefficient. By optimising them and making them more efficient, the world could save more than 1350 TWh of electricity.

This would make the construction of 200 new coal-fired power plants unnecessary, the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) has calculated. 'We were surprised to discover that such a large proportion of global electricity consumption can be attributed to electric motors. More than 2.5 times as much electricity is used for electric motors and electrically driven systems than for lighting,' says researcher Jeffrey Sipma of ECN. 'There is a huge potential here for cost-effective and technically relatively simple energy-saving measures.'

Enormous savings can be achieved with relatively simple measures. To start with, older motors need to be replaced with more modern and efficient versions. This would reduce power consumption with 10% for smaller, and 5% for larger motors. A policy tool that could help governments achieve this, would be the Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS). More major savings can be achieved by installing variable speed drives in pumps, compressors and ventilation systems, by repairing leaks, by implementing a motor management system, replacing pumps or ventilators, or making various other technical and organisational improvements. The actual energy savings will always vary depending on the situation, but it can be predicted quite accurately with an Energy Audit. On average, reductions of 20% are expected for industrial systems and 15% for services. But this goes beyond the MEPS that target the electric motor only, in that to harvest the additional savings of this system approach one would need additional policy tools.

In light of the Paris climate deal, ECN sees plenty of opportunities for countries to achieve a considerable proportion of their sustainability goals by making electric motors more energy efficient. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), developing countries and emerging economies are in the best position to profit from this. UNEP has set up a task force to explore this, of which ECN is a member.

ECN is helping governments worldwide to design and implement road maps to optimise electric motors and electrically powered systems and make them more efficient. For example, ECN has been helping the Indonesian government to develop an action plan towards more efficient motors and systems in industry. 'We start with a road map. We identify the major industries that consume the most power and then make a list of priorities. We then get together with the national government to establish targets. We analyse the systems involved and at the same time try to raise awareness among the businesses themselves,' explains Sipma briefly. 'We also provide governments with advice on how to quantify, stimulate and finance the entire process.'

Various successes can already be mentioned. For example, one pharmaceutical company reduced the electricity consumption of its cooling water systems by 49%, amounting to annual cost savings of $80,000. A petrochemicals company installed 34 variable speed drives and reduced its electricity consumption by 28%. This investment was recouped in 5 months. A textiles factory reduced its electricity consumption by 59% by installing 15 variable speed drives for their ventilation systems and recouped this investment in just over a year.

SOURCE ECN
ALBLASSERDAM, The Netherlands, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Unveiling of Project Spectrum at the FLIBS

102m / 334ft Nauta Design

At the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Oceanco revealed its latest design, the 102m Project Spectrum. Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, President/CEO of Show Management, performed the honors of unveiling the spectacular new scale model.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435998 )



Aptly named, Spectrum was conceived by Nauta Design and Oceanco to encompass a broad range of possibilities, both in terms of her propulsion system and her living spaces. Designer Mario Pedol of Nauta was on hand at the premiere of the yacht concept to discuss what Spectrum is all about.

Extensive investment in hull form research and development provides a refined hull shape which, when coupled with the hybrid propulsion system enables Spectrum to cruise in a variety of efficient modes. She maintains a sleek, streamlined profile, which allows lower resistance through the water.

Her layout over five decks provides a gamut of flexibility. There is a close relationship to the sea throughout the yacht, with a seamless flow from outdoor deck spaces to the interior. Light was a very important aspect in creating Spectrum, with large windows and extensive balconies all helping bring the outside atmosphere into the interior.

The lower deck includes a wellness suite with sauna, steam room, beauty treatment area and massage rooms, with two terraces opening symmetrically port and starboard from the massage room and gym areas.

The upper deck is the owners' deck with a panoramic-view forward from the owners' suite and direct access to a private spa pool and sitting area. The forward deck is equipped with a touch- and- go helicopter-landing pad. Aft is an additional salon and bar area, which can form part of the owner's private area or be opened to the other guests onboard. The secluded owner's deck aft is ideal for alfresco dining.

The bridge deck houses the command center with a large helm area, two wing stations and a Portuguese bridge. The central lift serves all five decks. A further guest lounge is located aft on the bridge deck, with a 3m X 3m Jacuzzi on the aft deck.

Spectrum is LY3 compliant offering variety, flexibility and continuity. As with a rainbow, Spectrum is like a band of colors produced by subtle variations of wave length. She is mercurial in how she offers so many possibilities.

Main Specifications

Length: 102m / 334ft

Beam: 15.3m / 50ft

Speed: 18.5 knots

Propulsion System (Hybrid)

2 x MTU 16V4000 M72 (1440 kW each)

Combined with electric propulsion motor (500kW@2250rpm each)

Flag: Cayman Islands - LY3

Accommodation

Double owner's suite with private exterior deck

2 VIP Suites with private balconies

4 Guest suites

http://www.builtbyOCEANCO.com

SOURCE Oceanco
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL; NYSE: PBA) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a common share cash dividend for November 2016 of $0.16 per share to be paid, subject to applicable law, on December 15, 2016 to shareholders of record on November 25, 2016. This dividend is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's common share dividends should be considered "qualified dividends" and may be subject to Canadian withholding tax.

For shareholders receiving their common share dividends in U.S. funds, the November 2016 cash dividend is expected to be approximately U.S. $0.1195 per share (before deduction of any applicable Canadian withholding tax) based on a currency exchange rate of 0.7470. The actual U.S. dollar dividend will depend on the Canadian/U.S. dollar exchange rate on the payment date and will be subject to applicable withholding taxes.

Confirmation of Record and Payment Date Policy

Pembina pays cash dividends on its common shares in Canadian dollars on a monthly basis to shareholders of record on the 25th calendar day of each month (except for the December record date, which is December 31st), if, as and when determined by the Board of Directors. Should the record date fall on a weekend or a statutory holiday, the effective record date will be the previous business day. The dividend payment date is the 15th of the month following the record date. Should the payment date fall on a weekend or on a holiday the business day prior to the weekend or holiday becomes the payment date.

About Pembina

Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for over 60 years. Pembina owns and operates an integrated system of pipelines that transport various products derived from natural gas and hydrocarbon liquids produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns and operates gas gathering and processing facilities and an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the entire hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to working with its community and aboriginal neighbours, while providing value for investors in a safe, environmentally responsible manner. This balanced approach to operating ensures the trust Pembina builds among all of its stakeholders is sustainable over the long-term. Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com.

Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements that are based on Pembina's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. In this news release, such forward-looking information and statements can be identified by terminology such as "to be", "expects", and similar expressions.

In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to: future dividends which may be declared on Pembina's common shares, the dividend payment and the tax treatment thereof. These forward-looking statements are being made by Pembina based on certain assumptions that Pembina has made in respect thereof as at the date of this news release, regarding, among other things: oil and gas industry exploration and development activity levels; the success of Pembina's operations and growth projects; prevailing commodity prices, margins, volumes and exchange rates; that Pembina's future results of operations will be consistent with past performance and management expectations in relation thereto; the continued availability of capital at attractive prices to fund future capital requirements relating to existing assets and projects, including but not limited to future capital expenditures relating to expansion, upgrades and maintenance shutdowns; the success of growth projects; future operating costs; that any third party projects relating to Pembina's growth projects will be sanctioned and completed as expected; that any required commercial agreements can be reached; that all required regulatory and environmental approvals can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; that counterparties to material agreements will continue to perform in a timely manner; that there are no unforeseen events preventing the performance of contracts; and that there are no unforeseen material construction, integrity or other costs related to current growth projects or current operations. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: the regulatory environment and decisions; non-performance of agreements in accordance with their terms; the impact of competitive entities and pricing; reliance on key industry partners, alliances and agreements; the strength and operations of the oil and natural gas production industry and related commodity prices; the continuation or completion of third-party projects; actions by governmental or regulatory authorities including changes in tax laws and treatment, changes in royalty rates or increased environmental regulation; adverse general economic and market conditions in Canada, North America and elsewhere; fluctuations in operating results; construction delays; labour and material shortages; and certain other risks detailed from time to time in Pembina's public disclosure documents including, among other things, those detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Pembina's management's discussion and analysis and annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2015, which can be found at www.sedar.com.

Accordingly, readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted, forecasted or projected. Such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the above statements. Pembina does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements or information contained herein, except as required by applicable laws.

For further information: Investor Relations, Hayley McKenzie / Ian McAvity, (403) 231-3156, 1-855-880-7404. e-mail: investor-relations@pembina.com, www.pembina.com

Related Links

http://www.pembina.com



SOURCE Pembina Pipeline Corporation
HONG KONG, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Third Summit on University Social Responsibility (USR), a key initiative of the University Social Responsibility Network (USR Network), kicked-off today (4 November) in Beijing. Co-hosted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Peking University (Peking U), the Summit has attracted over 100 academia from around the world to gather together for a fruitful exchange on an important agenda: "Nurturing a Culture for University Social Responsibility".

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436259 )



The Opening Ceremony was held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Addressing the Opening ceremony, Peking University President Professor Lin Jianhua said, "For universities in the Chinese mainland, we have a commitment to take on the responsibility for the society, the nation and the world. Peking University has inherited and has been diligently following this tradition. On the one hand, we teach students to bear social responsibility during their studies and after graduation. On the other hand, the Universities have to bear their responsibility for the community, the region, and the nation, during their course of development and advancement." Professor Lin added, "This is a difficult mission, and it calls for concerted efforts of higher education leaders."

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, PolyU President Professor Timothy W. Tong said, "Over the last few decades, global challenges such as economic development, environmental protection and technological innovation have driven universities worldwide to redefine their roles and responsibilities beyond traditional education and research in order to bolster their impact on society. Consequently, social responsibility has become a subject high on the agenda."

Professor Tong added, "The USR Network member universities sharing the same vision of making our world increasingly just, inclusive, peaceful and sustainable. With an emphasis on collaboration among members and with other networks and alliances, the Network has vigorously promoted USR by organizing a number of projects including this University Social Responsibility Summit."

This year, the Summit has brought together more than 50 speakers who are higher education leaders and scholars from over 10 countries and regions. They exchanged views at three Presidents' Roundtable sessions respectively themed "Social Responsibility: A Core Mission of Universities in 21st Century?", "USR: Translating Vision into Action and Impact", and "USR in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities".

Plenary sessions held tomorrow (5 November) will include "Community Engagement in Higher Education: Policy and Practice", "Nurturing Future Leaders through Service-Learning: Strategies and Learning Outcomes" and "Building Disaster Response Capacity - University Students as Community First Responders".

This is the first time that the Summit has a separate Student Forum on 4 November at Peking University campus. The Forum attracted more than 100 students, many of them are delegates from the USR Network member universities. In addition, there will be a student presentation tomorrow. Four teams of students from PolyU, PekingU, Sichuan University and Beijing Normal University conducted presentations to share the views and practical experience of USR from the students' perspective. Their presence and contribution at the Summit are evidence of the USR Network's commitment to engaging the university community to address world challenges and shape a better future.

The second Executive Committee meeting of the USR Network was held yesterday (3 November) to discuss the strategies and work for the coming year. With two new members, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and University of Pretoria, South Africa, the USR Network now include the following 14 universities (in alphabetical order of their country):

Australia University of New South Wales Brazil University of Sao Paulo Hong Kong, P.R.C. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Israel University of Haifa Japan Kyoto University Korea Yonsei University P.R.C. Peking University Beijing Normal University Sichuan University South Africa University of Pretoria U.K. Clare Hall, University of Cambridge The University of Manchester U.S.A. Tufts University Washington University in St. Louis

For details of the USR Network, please visit http://www.usrnetwork.org.

*****

Press Contact:

Sara Lai

Senior Manager, Communications and Public Affairs

Telephone: (852)3400-3245

E-mail: sara.sl.lai@polyu.edu.hk

SOURCE The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)
The Prudent Group operates in Brazil with operating units in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, and has investor relations in Luxembourg, Vienna, Miami and New York.

"Brazil is a key market for the Prudent Group to join the South American region, and the success of this strategic focus was directly reflected in our recognition as the most innovative Hedge Fund in the U.S. and Europe in 2016," said Dennis Klemming.

The Prudent Group focuses on offering the best financing and working capital solutions for small and medium sized businesses where the transaction flow is easy to understand and very predictable. Our clients are often suppliers to larger (industrial) buyers. Prudent Group seeks to create long-term relationships with this business chain, helping to establish predictability of financial operations among companies, facilitating access to capital.

The traditional channels for investment and working capital for companies in Brazil are not meeting the real needs of the market. In general, they are very large financial institutions, with very slow and bureaucratic processes, leaving companies with high potential without bank financing for their financial needs for turnover capital and their growth capacity.

Prudent Group has recently been approved to distribute our fund products locally in Germany and Sweden to well-informed investors.

"As CEO, I split my time between our office in Porto Alegre and our main office in Sao Paulo. I'm also a director of the fund vehicles domiciled in Luxembourg. The challenge that I face every day, is to run the business in a way that meets global standards, while at the same time is consistent with how Brazilian employees are used to working effectively. Our local staff in Brazil is almost exclusively Brazilian, except for our chief investment officer. Furthermore, there are capital controls and a myriad of administrative rules which complicate some aspects of our business".

"I would like to say that I sincerely appreciate both recognition awards," said Giovanni Cataldi to express his thanks".

More information:

www.prudentgroup.us / www.prudentbrazil.com

Contact: +55 51 92746580

Related Links

http://www.prudentgroup.us



SOURCE AltaGroup Agency / PrudentGroup
DUBLIN, November 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Wireless Connectivity Market by Connectivity Technology (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, NFC, Cellular, Enocean), Application (Wearable Devices, Healthcare, Automotive & Transportation, Consumer Electronics), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022" report to their offering.

The wireless connectivity market, in terms of value, is expected to grow from USD 14.84 Billion in 2015 to USD 24.69 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 7.6% between 2016 and 2022

The wireless connectivity market is highly diversified and competitive with market players including top-tier and mid-tier companies as well as start-up firms. With the rate of proliferation of smart sensors, the increasing adoption of IoT-enabled devices, and mainstreaming of many smart applications, the wireless connectivity is expected to become the most important need across application such as consumer electronics, automotive & transportation, Industrial and healthcare, among others.

This report covers the wireless connectivity market segmented on the basis of connectivity technology, application, and geography. This study of the wireless connectivity market provides the market size of different applications such as consumer electronics, building automation, telecommunication, automotive & transportation, Industrial and healthcare, among others. The consumer electronics industry has been revolutionized by the introduction of Internet of Things in the market. Various other IoT applications, such as connected cars and wearable electronics are, also evolving and will further drive opportunities for many industry players across the large and complex wireless connectivity ecosystem.

The market is segmented on the basis of connectivity technology into Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth smart, Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth, Ant+/Bluetooth, ZigBee, NFC, GNSS, WHART, Cellular, NFC, and EnOcean and Others (Z-Wave, Thread and ISA 100). Wi-Fi is expected to have the largest market for the forecast period. The growing market for consumer electronics and telecommunication is expected to drive the Wi-Fi chips shipment in the coming years.

The market is segmented on the basis of geography into the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World. The market in the North America is expected to hold the largest share of the wireless connectivity market in 2015. The major driving factors for the growth in the North America are the intense research and development in the field of wireless connectivity, high penetration of Internet of Things, and growth of a number of IoT and cloud start-ups in the region.

The major players engaged in the development of Wireless Connectivity are

Atmel Corporation

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation

Enocean GmbH

Intel Corporation

Mediatek Inc.

NXP Semiconductors N.V.

Nexcom International Co., Ltd.

Qualcomm Incorporated

Stmicroelectronics N.V.

Texas Instruments Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insight

5 Market Overview

6 Industry Trends

7 Wireless Connectivity Market, By Connectivity Technology

8 Wireless Connectivity Market, By Application

9 Wireless Connectivity, By Geography

10 Competitive Landscape

11 Company Profiles

Atmel Corporation

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation

Enocean GmbH

Intel Corporation

Mediatek Inc.

NXP Semiconductors N.V.

Nexcom International Co., Ltd.

Qualcomm Incorporated

Stmicroelectronics N.V.

Texas Instruments Inc.

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2t9hfl/wireless

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

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Related Links

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SOURCE Research and Markets
A top tourism destination in southern China, Sanya launched the "Hearts to Hearts" online campaign on May 20th to recruit Sanya ambassadors through the city's official social media platforms for a 15-day experience trip. New software was adapted to calculate scores automatically, which encouraged all participants to actively interact with Sanya's social media accounts with all the efforts they could gain from their networks. The Sanya ambassadors went through several rounds of fierce competitions, from Top 60 to Top 20, and then Top 5, with 6 candidates finally winning the dream tour in Sanya, staying at top hotels, enjoying relaxing beach times, watching grand performance shows, exploring the rainforests, Li and Miao ethnic customs and Buddhist culture, experiencing Taichi, hot spring spa and traditional Chinese physical therapies and many more. They carried out an exciting task of sharing their experiences in Sanya on social media to compete for the final cash award of USD 30,000 based on marketing performance and engagement scores.

The most exciting moment was to announce the year-end grand prize - the USD 30,000 award - which went to Mr. Luke Campbell Charny from London, UK. Luke is the founder of Yettio Travel Magazine, an independent online magazine providing travel guides and information of global destinations. Luke has actively taken part in the campaign since the very beginning and spared no efforts to help promote Sanya online using his expertise in the travel industry and online marketing supported by magnificent social networking.

As one of the 6 Sanya Ambassadors, Luke joined the experience trip in Sanya with his girlfriend. "The locals seem to use the beach in a very different, casual way. Group activities like ballroom dancing and Tai Chi are taking place right at the seafront which gives the city a real community feel", the couple said. It was hard for Luke to pick just one awesome experience, but the fanciful show in the Romance Park would stand out for its costumed dancers, impressive aerobatics, and the touching story of an ancient Chinese female general. For them, Sanya is a brand new refreshing seaside destination, more than just beaches and sunshine.

Sanya, your tropical paradise is inviting you to experience and bring your holiday fantasy to life!

S anya "Hearts to Hearts" online Campaign Page: https://app.gotrips.net/

anya "Hearts to Hearts" online Campaign Page: https://app.gotrips.net/ Sanya Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Sanya.China/

Sanya Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/VisitSanya

Sanya Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/visit_sanya/

Sanya Pinterest Page: https://www.pinterest.com/visitsanya/

Sanya Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3YoIvvyt78j1ztngkzMlcg?

SOURCE Sanya Tourism Development Commission
A top tourism destination in southern China, Sanya launched the "Hearts to Hearts" online campaign on May 20th to recruit Sanya ambassadors through the city's official social media platforms for a 15-day experience trip. New software was adapted to calculate scores automatically, which encouraged all participants to actively interact with Sanya's social media accounts with all the efforts they could gain from their networks. The Sanya ambassadors went through several rounds of fierce competitions, from Top 60 to Top 20, and then Top 5, with 6 candidates finally winning the dream tour in Sanya, staying at top hotels, enjoying relaxing beach times, watching grand performance shows, exploring the rainforests, Li and Miao ethnic customs and Buddhist culture, experiencing Taichi, hot spring spa and traditional Chinese physical therapies and many more. They carried out an exciting task of sharing their experiences in Sanya on social media to compete for the final cash award of USD 30,000 based on marketing performance and engagement scores.

The most exciting moment was to announce the year-end grand prize - the USD 30,000 award - which went to Mr. Luke Campbell Charny from London, UK. Luke is the founder of Yettio Travel Magazine, an independent online magazine providing travel guides and information of global destinations. Luke has actively taken part in the campaign since the very beginning and spared no efforts to help promote Sanya online using his expertise in the travel industry and online marketing supported by magnificent social networking.

Among the 6 Sanya Hearties is Irina Vizner from Russia. It isn't her first visit to Sanya, yet she is still amazed by how much the city has developed. Although she has visited many other places in the world, Sanya is definitely the most distinct one from the other destinations, especially in terms of food and culture. "No matter how often I come here, I always want to return to this beautiful place." Sanya is a place where you always can find something new to see and explore.

Sanya, your tropical paradise is inviting you to experience and bring your holiday fantasy to life!

S anya "Hearts to Hearts" online Campaign Page: https://app.gotrips.net/

anya "Hearts to Hearts" online Campaign Page: https://app.gotrips.net/ Sanya Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Sanya.China/

Sanya Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/VisitSanya

Sanya Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/visit_sanya/

Sanya Pinterest Page: https://www.pinterest.com/visitsanya/

Sanya Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3YoIvvyt78j1ztngkzMlcg?

SOURCE Sanya Tourism Development Commission
ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

This week Rotterdam Ahoy will be hosting the 2016 MTV European Music Awards (EMA), one of the world's biggest music spectacles. United is responsible for the overall technical infrastructure of this prestigious show.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436262LOGO )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436263LOGO )



It will be the fourth time for United to supply MTV EMA with a full array of high-end facilities for recording all elements that together will culminate in the live show on Sunday evening. Hilversum-based United facilitated the EMA three times before, in Glasgow, Amsterdam and Milan. 'Thanks to our advanced network equipment everyone can access every piece of content,' Burnaby Lautier, Manager Special Projects, explains. 'Using special servers, all elements are linked through a fibre network. This is how we create a complete network where everyone can go and pick content. Whether you direct the show in the US, or need videos for social media, everyone can access all files 24/7. No matter what edit or clip you need. Are you looking for some red carpet shots of the stars? No problem.'

To make it all possible a United crew of more than 100 people has pitched camp in Rotterdam, bringing with them an impressive arsenal of technical equipment, including 13 vehicles. There are 5 big broadcast vehicles, a complete digital audio unit, a DDP truck, 14 mobile editing units, 100 monitors and screens, 38 cameras and countless kilometres of cable. A full state-of-the-art intercom system has been set up allowing hundreds of people to stay in touch constantly. 'Communication is key.'

United is proud that once again the organisation has trusted United as its facility management partner for the EMA 2016.

At the EMA various awards will be presented to (European) musicians and artists. The line-up includes Bruno Mars, Zara Larsson, Lukas Graham, Shawn Mendes, DNCE and Dutch DJ's Martin Garrix and Afrojack. Every year the show attracts 40 million viewers across more than 60 stations worldwide. On-line views are close to 200 million. This year sees the 23rd anniversary of the MTV European Music Awards.

For more information, please contact our Sales department at sales@united4all.nl .

United:

Based in the Music Pavilion at Hilversum's Media Park, United is a service provider operating nationally and internationally that offers technical and creative support for TV and multimedia projects. We have state-of-the-art facilities and service-minded staff who always see the customer as their number-one priority.

Our joint experience, passion for the profession, flexibility and versatility have made us an obvious partner. Together with our customers we are always innovating to retain our lead in terms of quality. The focus of our cutting-edge projects lies on Augmented Reality, Remote Broadcast and 4K. United is a member of the Euro Media Group (http://www.euromediagroup.com) (http://www.united4all.nl)

Irvin de Vette, irvin.devette@united4all.nl

SOURCE United
LONDON, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation has this week made a 5million donation to the British Lung Foundation to fund vital research into mesothelioma, matching UK government funding announced in March. The donation is the largest ever made to the BLF.

The landmark gift from the charitable organisation of Canadian philanthropist Victor Dahdaleh will support the research teams at the University of Leicester and Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, both of which will join forces with the government-funded National Mesothelioma Research Centre at Imperial College to develop new treatments for the disease.

In a further boost to mesothelioma research and to maximise patient benefit, the British Lung Foundation will also establish a Mesothelioma Research Network, to include the research programmes at Leicester, Papworth and Imperial together with other specialist mesothelioma centres across the UK.

Speaking at the announcement on Tuesday, Victor Dahdaleh said: "The Foundation is delighted to be working with the British Lung Foundation and the teams at Leicester, Papworth and Imperial to support this vital research, ultimately to find a cure for mesothelioma.

"While the UK already has world leading expertise in studying and treating mesothelioma, we hope that our donation, matching the government funding announced earlier this year, will enhance research programmes and enable closer collaboration between all those working hard to bring tangible benefits to patients affected by this dreadful disease.

"The professionalism and commitment already shown by all the teams involved give us confidence that together we can make a real difference over the next four years."

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer which affects the chest or abdomen, and is particularly associated with exposure to asbestos fibres. There are more than 5,400 sufferers in the UK, and numbers have increased over the last four decades. With no cure, 2,500 people die in Britain each year from the disease, often with frightening speed - the average survival time after diagnosis is just 11 months.

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation said:

"This unprecedented and generous donation from the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation means we can co-ordinate a network of researchers into mesothelioma and ensure that the number and scope of research projects and clinical trials can be greatly increased. This investment will help to speed up much needed progress in finding better treatments and, eventually, a cure for this awful killer disease.

"We will continue to pursue further funding from individuals and industry, including insurers and businesses to secure the long-term future of the Mesothelioma Research Network. We won't stop until a cure is found."

The donation from the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation is the latest in a long history of support for health-related issues around the world. In Canada last year, the Foundation funded the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health, a state-of-the art research facility at York University in Toronto. The institute, which was funded by a record $20million donation to the university, will seek to reframe the ways in which high- and low-income countries collaborate on global health challenges.

At McGill University in Montreal, the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation this year funded the establishment of a new chair in neurosciences, which will integrate the university's neurology, psychiatry and rehabilitation science expertise. The Foundation also doubled an existing scholarship endowment, which gives overseas students the opportunity to study at the university.

Back in the UK, the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation supports efforts to find new treatments for a range of cardiovascular diseases, and has funded research at Imperial College London and Royal Brompton Hospital in London and Middlesex.

Alongside health and wellness, the Foundation is committed to giving young disadvantaged people opportunities for higher education at some of the world's top universities. Through Victor Dahdaleh's strong affiliations with a number of leading academic institutions, his charitable organisation has set up several scholarship programmes aimed at students from lower income countries.

Victor Dahdaleh is the owner and chairman of Dadco, a privately owned investment, manufacturing and trading group established in 1915. A lifelong promoter of closer collaboration between Canada and the UK, he served as president of the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2009.

For more information on the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation, visit victordahdalehfoundation.com

SOURCE The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation
On December 16, 2016, 211240th will be released in three distinct variations. The 2CD/DVD edition will include a newly remastered CD of the original 2112 album by Abbey Road Studios, and an additional CD of rare, live and previously unreleased material including newly-recorded tracks from 2112 featuring Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters along with Nick Raskulinecz, Billy Talent, Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree, Jacob Moon and Alice In Chains. The set's third disc is a DVD featuring a newly restored vintage 1976 Rush concert recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, plus bonus videos of the Grohl/Hawkins/Raskulinecz track and Billy Talent track, and a new 25+ minute interview featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and longtime producer & engineer Terry Brown. The new 2112 remaster originally appeared on the much-acclaimed 2015 hologram vinyl edition of the album; this marks the Abbey Road Studios master first time on CD.

UMe is also releasing a three-LP 200-gram vinyl edition incorporating all of the aforementioned audio material, plus a special laser-etched LP side, the 2015 hologram on 2112's side B and a unique turntable mat featuring the band's iconic Starman character. Fans will also have the option of purchasing a Super Deluxe edition of 2112 , incorporating both CDs, the DVD, all three LPs plus its bonus items, and several exclusive collectable items including two 12-inch x 12-inch lithos, one featuring Hugh Syme's original Starman pencil sketching, the second showcasing a 1976 Massey Hall ticket stub; a reprint of the 1976 Massey Hall handbill and three buttons featuring each band member, all housed in a box lined with velvet flocking. For the first 1,000 Super Deluxe pre-order purchases at Rush.com, us.udiscovermusic.com and udiscovermusic.com, the purchaser will receive a limited edition 7-inch pressing of the album's first single "The Twilight Zone" (b/w "Lessons") and a custom red star 45 large hole adapter ring, both newly designed by Hugh Syme.

All three versions of 211240th feature extensive liner notes by renowned rock historian Rob Bowman, and newly designed artwork by longtime Rush art director Hugh Syme. The set's rare recordings include "Solar Federation," spotlighting the isolated Neil Peart vocals that close the song "2112" in "Grand Finale," two outtakes from the 1976 Massey Hall concerts including "Something For Nothing" and a nearly complete 15+ minute performance of "2112," as well as a recently-rediscovered live version of the album track "The Twilight Zone," which has only been performed twice in the band's long history.

The epic 2112 album which guitarist Alex Lifeson described as "the first record where we sounded like Rush," is widely regarded as a crucial landmark in Rush's body of work. Although it was the band's fourth album, it's generally considered to be the one on which the band's epic sound and ambitious conceptual approach blossomed. Resisting record-company pressure to focus on shorter, more radio-friendly songs, the band stuck to its guns and constructed the album's seminal seven-part, 20-minute title piece, a conceptual suite set in a dystopian future.

In addition to its status as a creative landmark, 2112 was also Rush's commercial breakthrough, becoming the band's first album to reach the Billboard LP chart and the first Rush album to achieve Gold sales status in the U.S. (it was subsequently certified Platinum). 2112 was also Rush's first platinum album in Canada, spawning a now-legendary Canadian tour that culminated in a three-night stand at Massey Hall in Toronto, which was recorded for Rush's first live album, All the World's a Stage .

2112 is one of two Rush albums listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and it ranked second on Rolling Stone's 2012 readers' poll of "Your Favorite Prog Rock Albums of All Time." In 2006, the non-profit Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada chose 2112 as a culturally significant example of Canada's audio-visual heritage.

Rushbassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee; guitarist Alex Lifeson; and drummer/lyricist Neil Pearthas won a large and passionate worldwide fan base for its unique, adventurous approach, which combines sterling musicianship, complex compositions and distinctive lyrical flights drawing upon science-fiction motifs and esoteric philosophical concepts. The band has sold more than 25 million albums in the U.S. alone, with worldwide sales estimated at 40 million, and has been awarded 24 Gold, 14 Platinum, and 3 Multi-platinum albums. Rush has received seven Grammy nominations and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

TRACKLISTINGS:

SUPER DELUXE:

CD - DISC 1

Original Album Newly Remastered by Abbey Road Studios

1. "2112"

I OVERTURE

II THE TEMPLES OF SYRINX

III DISCOVERY

IV PRESENTATION

V ORACLE: THE DREAM

VI SOLILOQUY

VII GRAND FINALE

2. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK

3. THE TWILIGHT ZONE

4. LESSONS

5. TEARS

6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

CD - DISC 2

1. SOLAR FEDERATION

2. OVERTURE  Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Nick Raskulinecz

3. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK  Billy Talent

4. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Steven Wilson

5. TEARS  Alice In Chains

6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Jacob Moon

7. "2112"  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

8. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

9. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Live 1977 Contraband

10. 2112 1976 RADIO AD

DVD  DISC 3

Live at Capitol Theatre 1976

1. BASTILLE DAY

2. ANTHEM

3. LAKESIDE PARK

4. 2112

5. FLY BY NIGHT

6. IN THE MOOD

Bonus Videos

1. OVERTURE: Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Nick Raskulinecz

2. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK: Behind The Scenes with Billy Talent

3. 2112 - 40 YEARS CLOSER: A Q&A with Alex Lifeson and Terry Brown

200 GRAM  3LP HOLOGRAM EDITION VINYL with CUSTOM STARMAN TURNTABLE MAT

SIDE ONE

1. "2112"

I OVERTURE

II THE TEMPLES OF SYRINX

III DISCOVERY

IV PRESENTATION

V ORACLE: THE DREAM

VI SOLILOQUY

VII GRAND FINALE

SIDE TWO

1. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK

2. THE TWILIGHT ZONE

3. LESSONS

4. TEARS

5. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

SIDE THREE

1. SOLAR FEDERATION

2. OVERTURE  Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nick Raskulinecz

3. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK  Billy Talent

4. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Steven Wilson

5. TEARS  Alice In Chains

6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Jacob Moon

SIDE FOUR

1. "2112"  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

SIDE FIVE

1. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

2. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Live 1977 Contraband

3. 2112 RADIO AD

SIDE SIX

Custom Vinyl Etching by Hugh Syme

EXCLUSIVE SUPER DELUXE BONUS ITEMS:

Original Hugh Syme STARMAN Pencil Sketch Litho

Massey Hall June 1976 Ticket Stub Litho

Massey Hall June 1976 Handbill

Three Collector Buttons

2CD + DVD:

CD - DISC 1

Original Album Newly Remastered by Abbey Road Studios

1. "2112"

I OVERTURE

II THE TEMPLES OF SYRINX

III DISCOVERY

IV PRESENTATION

V ORACLE: THE DREAM

VI SOLILOQUY

VII GRAND FINALE

2. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK

3. THE TWILIGHT ZONE

4. LESSONS

5. TEARS

6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

CD - DISC 2

1. SOLAR FEDERATION

2. OVERTURE  Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Nick Raskulinecz

3. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK  Billy Talent

4. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Steven Wilson

5. TEARS  Alice In Chains

6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Jacob Moon

7. "2112"  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

8. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

9. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Live 1977 Contraband

10. 2112 1976 RADIO AD

DVD  DISC 3

Live at Capitol Theatre 1976

1. BASTILLE DAY

2. ANTHEM

3. LAKESIDE PARK

4. 2112

5. FLY BY NIGHT

6. IN THE MOOD

Bonus Videos

7. OVERTURE: Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Nick Raskulinecz

8. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK: Behind The Scenes with Billy Talent

9. 2112 - 40 YEARS CLOSER: A Q&A with Alex Lifeson and Terry Brown

3LP VINYL EDITION:

200 GRAM  HOLOGRAM EDITION VINYL with CUSTOM STARMAN TURNTABLE MAT

SIDE ONE

1. "2112"

I OVERTURE

II THE TEMPLES OF SYRINX

III DISCOVERY

IV PRESENTATION

V ORACLE: THE DREAM

VI SOLILOQUY

VII GRAND FINALE

SIDE TWO

1. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK

2. THE TWILIGHT ZONE

3. LESSONS

4. TEARS

5. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

SIDE THREE

1. SOLAR FEDERATION

2. OVERTURE  Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nick Raskulinecz

3. A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK  Billy Talent

4. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Steven Wilson

5. TEARS  Alice In Chains

6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Jacob Moon

SIDE FOUR

1. "2112"  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

SIDE FIVE

1. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING  Live at Massey Hall 1976 Outtake

2. THE TWILIGHT ZONE  Live 1977 Contraband

3. 2112 RADIO AD

SIDE SIX

Custom Vinyl Etching by Hugh Syme

2CD/1DVD + Digital Deluxe: https://UMe.lnk.to/2112DVD2CD

3LP Vinyl Edition: https://ume.lnk.to/21123LP

Super Deluxe: https://UMe.lnk.to/2112SDE

Limited Edition Super Deluxe Offer: https://UMe.lnk.to/2112CESDE (available ony at Rush.com, us.udiscovermusic.com and udiscovermusic.com)

www.rush.com/band

facebook.com/rushtheband / twitter.com/rushtheband / instagram.com/rush

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436215

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150324/184009LOGO

SOURCE UMe
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seven California news stations have not aired a single story about Proposition 61 to educate voters on the measure that would cap state prescription drug prices, despite receiving nearly $1.7 million in ad money from the pharmaceutical industry's record-breaking $126 million No campaign. Other California TV stations have aired an average one to three news reports on Proposition 61 during the last month. However, these few stories aren't enough to balance the $35.3 million in deceptive advertising the pharmaceutical industry had bought on broadcast TV as of October 27, Consumer Watchdog said today.

The drug companies have spent another $12.6 million advertising on cable, and have reportedly poured millions more into ads during the final days of the election. The Yes on 61 campaign has spent $15 million for its largely grassroots campaign.

A final opportunity for news stations to explain Prop 61 to voters will come on Monday, when Senator Bernie Sanders will appear in Los Angeles and Sacramento at rallies in support of the measure.

The stations that have not run a single story on Proposition 61 received a total $1,678,485 in advertising against Proposition 61. They include:

City/Network Anti-61 Ad Dollars San Diego

ABC - KGTV $258,000 NBC - KNSD $623,800



Palm Springs

Fox  KDFX $4,825 ABC  KESQ $380,940 CBS  KPSP $109,860



Santa Barbara

NBC - KSBY $267,100



Bakersfield

FOX - KBFX $33,960

"The public has a right to hear about both sides of an issue and, while the FCC Fairness doctrine may have disappeared, news stations owe better to their viewers than a slew of No ads without a counterbalancing amount of coverage," said Consumer Advocate Liza Tucker. "To have received nearly $1.7 million in ad dollars from the drug industry, and not air a single balanced news piece examining the truth behind their ads' claims, does a disservice to these stations' viewers. We urge them to make up at least some of that lost time by covering Proposition 61 before Tuesday," said Tucker.

To determine how many news stories each station ran, Consumer Watchdog reviewed news clips using a media tracking service, searched television stations' websites, and phoned each station's news department. A few stations in the chart above indicated the intent to cover Prop 61, but have not yet aired stories. The media markets reviewed include: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Monterey.

Stations in Los Angeles were paid an average of $2.2 million for coverage, while stations in San Francisco got an average of $693,000 and in Sacramento got an average of a little more than half a million dollars. The No Campaign also spent an additional $2 million on No ads at Hispanic broadcast stations in California, including $1 million in the Los Angeles market. Out of LA's four major Hispanic stationsUnivision 34, Telemundo 52, Azteca 54, and Estrella 62  only Univision 34 has covered Prop 61.

Prop 61 would cap prescription drug prices sold to state healthcare programs at or below the amount that the US Department of Veterans Affairs pays for its prescription drugs under federal lawsaving California taxpayers billions of dollars by requiring the state to negotiate prices. The VA gets its drugs for the lowest price of any federal agencyup to 40 percent below retail. No on 61 ads featuring vets suggest that the drug industry would raise prices to them to offset losses in California. That is impossible under federal law which caps the price of prescription drugs to the VA under negotiated contracts, and pegs increases to the Consumer Price Index.

Yes on Prop. 61 is endorsed by AARP, the California Nurses Association, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and his new organization Our Revolution, Consumer Watchdog, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, civil rights and labor activist Dolores Huerta, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Urban League, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Campaign for a Healthy California, Progressive Democrats of America, Social Security Works and VoteVets Action Fund.

See www.yeson61.com

Paid for by Consumer Watchdog Campaign - Yes on 61, Major Funding by Yes on Prop 61, Californians for Lower Drug Prices, With Major Funding by AIDS Healthcare Foundation and California Nurses Association PAC

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog

Related Links

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org


" " In 2014, Maeve Murray, 11 at the time, was able to break two wooden boards in the karate class at Girls Up, a summer camp founded by her mother. Yue Wu/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Say a person has been training in a martial arts technique for some time and is reaching a level of high proficiency. We'll call her Jane. Say Jane leaves the training studio one day after practice and heads home. But when she turns a corner, a bunch of thugs jump her.

Thanks to her training, Jane's muscles react instinctively before she has time to be scared. She twists out of the grasp of Thug 1 and spins, landing a devastating kick on the side of his knee, which bends inward with a sickening crunch as he collapses. Thug 2 charges. Instead of running, Jane engages, closing the distance between them as she slips sideways and up, redirecting his attack with her shoulder and simultaneously breaking his nose with her elbow.

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Thug 1 can't walk and Thug 2 is on the ground covered in the blood gushing from his nose. Both are screaming with pain. As Jane stands over her vanquished foes, adrenaline surging through her, she hears applause. Her teacher emerges from the shadows and confers a black belt on her as other students cart away the bloodied and broken "thugs."

Needless to say, the above is total fiction. Yet, the scenario described is exactly the sort of thing martial arts training is designed to help people face, and staging an unexpected attack on a student would, in some ways, be an ideal way to test her level of competence. However, as we can see, such a testing methodology has some inherent flaws (e.g., potential long-term damage to body parts). Aside from liability issues, it might be hard to find "thugs" willing to sign up for a certain mangling. And, of course, it's always possible a student will crack under real-world testing and end up maimed or worse  not exactly the kind of publicity a dojo wants.

To avoid such scenarios, a number of the martial arts developed a testing regime that includes board-breaking. Seen in this light, it makes perfect sense. Instead of hurting somebody else, hurt some lumber!

When training a beginner to break a board, a teacher focuses on helping his students to conquer their instinctive aversion to self-inflicted harm. Whacking a board as hard as we can with our bare hands just doesn't come naturally. And our fear of hurting ourselves in doing so is entirely justified. To break a board without breaking your hand, you have to do it just right, focusing your energy and hitting with enough force and follow-through (more on this later). Luckily, it turns out that even the tiny bones in your hand can handle a lot of stress  40 times more than concrete, believe it or not [source: Newton's Apple].

Once students have mastered this initial phase, they can move on to the intermediate level in which they begin to increase the quantity of stuff they can break. The more they're expected to break, the more force and focus they require to accomplish their goal. Teachers must be vigilant during this phase as overconfident students can really injure their hands.

From there it's a matter of students continuing to train their energy and focus until they can break a giant stack of concrete blocks with a single blow. That's not a joke. People actually do that. In fact, board-breaking has taken on a life of its own, and there are now international competitions where adepts demonstrate astounding feats of concentration and power [source: Serrano].

But how do they do it?
SEGUIN, Texas, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE: ALG) today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016.

Highlights for the Quarter

Net sales of $216.8 million , down 6.4%

, down 6.4% Net income of $13.2 million , down 10.3%

, down 10.3% Net earnings per diluted share of $1.14 , down 10.9%

, down 10.9% Gross margins at 25.2%, up 1.6%

Nine month net sales of $639.2 million , down 2.4%

, down 2.4% Record nine month net income of $32.5 million

Record nine month earnings per diluted share of $2.81

Backlog at $137 million , up versus previous quarter, down versus last year

, up versus previous quarter, down versus last year Total debt, net of cash(1) is $53.9 million lower than previous year's third quarter

Net sales for the third quarter of 2016 were $216.8 million compared with net sales of $231.6 million for the third quarter of 2015, a decrease of 6.4%. The decrease in sales was the result of a variety of factors including the weak worldwide agricultural market, softness in sales of Industrial Division products to non-governmental entities, the weak overall European economy, and changes in exchange rates, particularly due to the strengthening U.S. dollar compared to the British pound which dropped significantly in the third quarter of 2016 following the Brexit vote in the U.K. A more complete summary of the currency translation effects on sales and earnings is included as an attachment to this release.

Net income for the quarter was $13.2 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, versus net income of $14.8 million, or $1.28 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2015. This decrease was primarily due to softer sales as discussed previously, despite improvements in gross margin to 25.2% in the third quarter of 2016 compared to 24.8% in the same period of the previous year.

For the first nine months of 2016, net sales were $639.2 million compared to $655.1 million in the prior year period, a decrease of 2.4%, primarily resulting from the effects mentioned previously. Net income for the nine month period was a record $32.5 million, or $2.81 per diluted share compared to $31.8 million, or $2.77 per diluted share for the same nine month period in 2015.

Sales by Division

Alamo Group's Industrial Division net sales in the third quarter of 2016 were $121.2 million compared to $127.4 million in third quarter 2015, a decrease of 4.9%. This decrease was primarily related to weaker sales to non-governmental end users, particularly of vacuum trucks. For the first nine months of 2016 net sales in the Division were $361.6 million, essentially flat compared to the previous year's nine month net sales of $362.8 million.

The Company's Agricultural Division reported net sales of $56.4 million in the third quarter compared to $58.9 million achieved in 2015, a decrease of 4.2%. The decrease was caused in large part by the ongoing weakness in the overall agricultural market. For the first nine months of 2016 the Division's net sales were $157.0 million compared to net sales of $160.4 million in the prior year, a decrease of 2.1%.

Alamo's European Division net sales in the third quarter were $39.1 million versus $45.3 million in 2015, a decrease of 13.7%. The decrease was related to the Company's U.K. operations where we believe sales were affected by concerns and uncertainty over the recent Brexit vote combined with the decline in value of the British pound compared to the U.S. dollar which resulted in unfavorable currency translation effects for the quarter. These results were partially offset by improvements from the Company's French operations. For the first nine months of 2016 European Division net sales were $120.6 million compared with $132.0 million for the same period in 2015, a decrease of 8.6%.

Comments on Results

Ron Robinson, Alamo Group's President and CEO commented, "Weakness in several of our market sectors combined with unfavorable currency translation from the weaker British pound continue to constrain our Company's results. These effects impacted both our sales and earnings for the third quarter of 2016. Despite this, the Company made continued progress in other areas. Gross margins were up for both the quarter and year to date as we continue to work on operational improvement, even with lower volume. Our Balance Sheet also reflected positive developments as our inventory turns improved and our total debt, net of cash, has improved nearly $54 million in the last twelve months. Consequently, despite weak sales, the Company's financial strength continues to improve.

"The market conditions that have contributed to the lower sales have been impacting our results for nearly two years and are likely to continue for the remainder of 2016. However, we are starting to see some signs of improvement which we think bodes well for our 2017 outlook. While increases in agricultural commodity prices are likely to remain limited, we believe the outlook for implement suppliers such as Alamo could experience some upside due to the broader applicability of our product offering. We also feel the European market could exhibit modest improvement as more clarity emerges regarding Brexit. Recently we have seen an increase in inquiry levels in the U.K., although it is still too early to know if this is a lasting trend. Additionally, we feel activity in our infrastructure maintenance equipment sector should start to show some positive movement following the U.S. election with additional contributions from new product introductions. We are seeing some evidence of this improvement with the increase in our backlog compared to the previous quarter, but we remain cautious and are not sure whether this is a precursor of generally improving conditions. We are, however, confident that our ongoing operational improvement initiatives will allow us to maintain healthy levels of profitability and cash flow even as we deal with weak market conditions. Further, we believe these initiatives position us to provide increasing shareholder value when the markets start to rebound.

"We are also experiencing more acquisition activity and feel better about Alamo's near term prospects in this area. Not only are we seeing more opportunities, but the deal economics of potential acquisitions have moved to a more actionable level.

"While we remain concerned about challenging market conditions, we are generally pleased with what Alamo has been able to achieve in this climate and feel good about the outlook for our Company in 2017."

Earnings Conference Call

Alamo Group will host a conference call to discuss the third quarter results on Friday, November 4, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Central, 9:00 a.m. Mountain and 8:00 a.m. Pacific). Hosting the call will be members of senior management.

Individuals wishing to participate in the conference call should dial 888-203-7667 (domestic) or 719-325-2345 (internationally). For interested individuals unable to join the call, a replay will be available until Friday, November 11, 2016 by dialing 888-203-1112 (domestic) or 719-457-0820 (internationally), passcode 8256869.

The live broadcast of Alamo Group Inc.'s quarterly conference call will be available online at the Company's website, www.alamo-group.com (under "Investor Relations/Events & Presentations") on Friday, November 4, 2016, beginning at 11:00a.m. ET. The online replay will follow shortly after the call ends and will be archived on the Company's website for 60 days.

About Alamo Group

Alamo Group is a leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and service of high quality equipment for infrastructure maintenance, agriculture and other applications. Our products include truck and tractor mounted mowing and other vegetation maintenance equipment, street sweepers, snow removal equipment, excavators, vacuum trucks, other industrial equipment, agricultural implements and related after-market parts and services. The Company, founded in 1969, has approximately 3,000 employees and operates 24 plants in North America, Europe, Australia and Brazil as of September 30, 2016. The corporate offices of Alamo Group Inc. are located in Seguin, Texas and the headquarters for the Company's European operations are located in Salford Priors, England.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market demand, competition, weather, seasonality, currency-related issues, and other risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date.

(Tables Follow)

(1) This is a non-GAAP financial measure. For a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures please refer to Attachments 1, 2 and 3.

Alamo Group Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands) (Unaudited)



September 30,

2016 September 30,

2015 ASSETS











Current assets:











Cash and cash equivalents

$ 56,485





$ 42,657



Accounts receivable, net

174,047





175,940



Inventories

154,604





174,423



Other current assets

7,559





11,187



Total current assets

392,695





404,207

















Rental equipment, net

32,506





42,214

















Property, plant and equipment

68,350





67,117

















Goodwill

75,883





76,082



Intangible assets

50,921





53,908



Other non-current assets

4,527





1,394

















Total assets

$ 624,882





$ 644,922

















LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY











Current liabilities:











Trade accounts payable

$ 48,504





$ 60,952



Income taxes payable

2,150





1,131



Accrued liabilities

32,567





37,413



Current maturities of long-term debt and capital lease obligations

1,372





473



Other current liabilities







302



Total current liabilities

84,593





100,271

















Long-term debt, net of current maturities

134,018





175,005



Deferred pension liability

3,790





4,337



Other long-term liabilities

5,935





6,084



Deferred income taxes

9,030





5,125

















Total stockholders' equity

387,516





354,100

















Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

$ 624,882





$ 644,922





Alamo Group Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (in thousands, except per share amounts) (Unaudited)



Third Quarter Ended

Nine Months Ended

9/30/2016

9/30/2015

9/30/2016

9/30/2015















Industrial $ 121,205



$ 127,385



$ 361,629



$ 362,818

Agricultural 56,443



58,919



156,950



160,357

European 39,118



45,310



120,647



131,971

Total net sales 216,766



231,614



639,226



655,146

















Cost of sales 162,055



174,105



482,060



501,435

Gross margin 54,711



57,509



157,166



153,711



25.2 %

24.8 %

24.6 %

23.5 %















Operating expenses 33,699



33,939



101,824



101,578

Income from operations 21,012



23,570



55,342



52,133



9.7 %

10.2 %

8.7 %

8.0 %















Interest expense (1,405)



(1,671)



(4,334)



(5,142)

Interest income 43



27



161



120

Other income (expense) 127



895



(253)



2,243

















Income before income taxes 19,777



22,821



50,916



49,354

Provision for income taxes 6,541



8,065



18,459



17,529

















Net Income $ 13,236



$ 14,756



$ 32,457



$ 31,825

















Net income per common share:





























Basic $ 1.15



$ 1.30



$ 2.84



$ 2.81

















Diluted $ 1.14



$ 1.28



$ 2.81



$ 2.77

















Average common shares:













Basic 11,460



11,380



11,424



11,337

















Diluted 11,595



11,496



11,551



11,477



















Alamo Group Inc.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures Reconciliation

From time to time, Alamo Group Inc. may disclose certain "non-GAAP financial measures" in the course of its earnings releases, earnings conference calls, financial presentations and otherwise. For these purposes, "GAAP" refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) defines a "non-GAAP financial measure" as a numerical measure of historical or future financial performance, financial positions, or cash flows that is subject to adjustments that effectively exclude or include amounts from the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures disclosed by Alamo Group are provided as additional information to investors in order to provide them with greater transparency about, or an alternative method for assessing, our financial condition and operating results. These measures are not in accordance with, or a substitute for, GAAP and may be different from, or inconsistent with, non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Whenever we refer to a non-GAAP financial measure, we will also generally present the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, along with a reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP financial measure we reference and such comparable GAAP financial measure.

From time to time, Alamo Group reports each of net sales, operating income and net income excluding the impact of acquisitions, dispositions or restructuring and consolidations which are non-GAAP financial measures. The Company considers this information useful to investors to allow better comparability of period-to-period operating performance. Attachment 1 discloses a non-GAAP financial measure for Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted EPS to exclude the impact of inventory step up charge connected to an acquisition. Attachment 2 discloses a non-GAAP financial presentation related to the impact of currency translation on net sales by division. In this press release, we disclose a reduction in our total debt, net of cash, which is a non-GAAP financial measure. Attachment 3 shows a non-GAAP financial presentation that describes the consolidated net change of the total debt, net of cash.



Attachment 1

Alamo Group Inc. Non-GAAP Financial Reconciliation (in thousands, except per share numbers) (Unaudited)





Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended



September 30,

September 30,



2016

2015

2016

2015

















Operating Income - GAAP

$ 21,012



$ 23,570



$ 55,342



$ 52,133

(add: inventory step charge)





209







2,740

(add: expenses relating to system conversion)





341







1,011

Adjusted Operating Income - non-GAAP

$ 21,012



$ 24,120



$ 55,342



$ 55,884



















Net Income - GAAP

$ 13,236



$ 14,756



$ 32,457



$ 31,825

Adjustments (after tax):















(add: inventory step charge)





135







1,763

(add: expenses relating to system conversion)





220







651

Adjusted Net Income - non-GAAP

$ 13,236



$ 15,111



$ 32,457



$ 34,239



















Diluted EPS - GAAP

$ 1.14



$ 1.28



$ 2.81



$ 2.77

(add: inventory step charge)





0.01







0.15

(add: expenses relating to system conversion)





0.02







0.06

Adjusted Diluted EPS - non-GAAP

$ 1.14



$ 1.31



$ 2.81



$ 2.98



Attachment 2

Alamo Group Inc. Non-GAAP Financial Reconciliation (in thousands) (Unaudited)



Three Months Ended

September 30,





Change due to currency translation

2016

2015

% change from 2015

$

%







































Industrial $ 121,205



$ 127,385

(4.9)%

$ 149

0.1% Agricultural 56,443



58,919

(4.2)%

118

0.2% European 39,118



45,310

(13.7)%

(3,272)

(7.2)% Total net sales $ 216,766



$ 231,614

(6.4)%

$ (3,005)

(1.3)%





















Nine Months Ended

September 30,





Change due to currency translation

2016

2015

% change from 2015

$

%







































Industrial $ 361,629



$ 362,818

(0.3)%

$ (1,530)

(0.4)% Agricultural 156,950



160,357

(2.1)%

(725)

(0.5)% European 120,647



131,971

(8.6)%

(5,810)

(4.4)% Total net sales $ 639,226



$ 655,146

(2.4)%

$ (8,065)

(1.2)%



Attachment 3

Alamo Group Inc. Non-GAAP Financial Reconciliation (in thousands) (Unaudited)





September 30, 2016

September 30, 2015

Net Change













Current maturities

$ 1,372



$ 473





Long-term debt, net of current

134,018



175,005





Total Debt

$ 135,390



$ 175,478



















Total Cash

56,485



42,657





Total Debt Net of Cash

$ 78,905



$ 132,821



$ 53,916



SOURCE Alamo Group Inc.

Related Links

http://alamo-group.com


PLYMOUTH, Mich., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- To enhance its North American presence, Alliance Franchise Brands LLC, a world leader in marketing, print and graphic communications, recently brought the Canadian franchise organization, KKP Canada, into its network. The agreement adds 50 franchise locations to the Plymouth, Mich.- based franchise network. KKP Canada is headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435871LOGO

According to Alliance Franchise Brands CEO Mike Marcantonio, "This represents a sound investment in the continued growth of our network. Our organization began in the graphics communications industry with the quick print concepts of Speedy Printing in Canada and American Speedy Printing in the U.S. Over the past 40 years, we have aggressively invested in the areas with the most potential for long-term gains, including technology, signage, digital and print communications. With the acquisition of KKP Canada, our network of businesses is 630 strong with annual revenues approaching a half billion dollars."

"While we have great reach and scale, it is a very personal business," Marcantonio continued. "Our first core value is 'Members First' and we live that person by person, day by day."

KKP Canada CEO and Vice-Chair Gigi Harding will remain active in KKP Canada through the transition as a key advisor. "Our organization will be even stronger, benefiting from access to the resources and forward-thinking, franchise-focused values that the Alliance Franchise Brands organization possesses. It's a win-win for franchise members in both organizations, and I couldn't be more pleased knowing that our members will be in great hands."

The move triples the Canadian presence of Alliance Franchise Brands. Kevin Cushing, president of the Marketing & Print Division said, "Our franchise members have been serving their markets in Canada for over thirty years. We have our own corporate-owned location in Windsor, Ontario, and 25 franchised locations across the country prior to having KKP Canada join our network. We believe this move will support greater resource deployment for the success of all of our members and better partnership opportunities with Canadian suppliers."

KKP Canada will retain its offices in premises leased in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

About Alliance Franchise Brands LLC (Parent company of Allegra Network LLC)

Alliance Franchise Brands is one of the world's largest business-to-business franchises, serving the multi-billion-dollar market for marketing, print, sign and graphic communication services. Through its subsidiaries, Alliance Franchise Brands' 630 franchise members in North America and the United Kingdom provide businesses and organizations with a one-stop resource for technologically advanced and strategically sound solutions for their graphic communication needs. Its Marketing & Print Division includes the Allegra, American Speedy Printing, Insty-Prints, KKP, Speedy Printing and Zippy Print brands. Its Sign & Graphics division includes the Image360, Signs By Tomorrow and Signs Now brands. Its Corporate Operations Division includes Allegra locations in Plymouth, Clawson and Troy, Mich. and Windsor, Ontario. Corporate-owned Image360 centers are located in Columbia and Middle River, Md.; Plymouth, Mich. and Windsor, Ontario. For more information, visit www.alliancefranchisebrands.com.

For more information about print and marketing franchise opportunities, visit www.allegrafranchise.com. To learn more about signs and graphics franchise options, visit www.franchising.image360.com.

CONTACT: Kelli Laski

[email protected]

248-596-8634

SOURCE Alliance Franchise Brands

Related Links

http://www.alliancefranchisebrands.com


MORRISVILLE, N.C., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE: AOI) today announced that it will hold a conference call to report financial results for its second quarter ended September 30, 2016, on November 8, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. ET. The dial in number for the call is (800) 227-9428 or outside the U.S. (785) 830-1925 and conference ID 2110925. Those seeking to listen to the call may access a live broadcast on the Alliance One website. Please visit www.aointl.com fifteen minutes in advance to register.

For those who are unable to listen to the live event, a replay will be available by telephone from 11:00 a.m. ET Tuesday, November 8, 2016 through 11:00 a.m. ET Sunday, November 13, 2016. To access the replay, dial (888) 203-1112 within the U.S., or (719) 457-0820 outside the U.S., and enter access code 2110925.

Any replay, rebroadcast, transcript or other reproduction of this conference call, other than the replay accessible by calling the number above, has not been authorized by Alliance One and is strictly prohibited. Investors should be aware that any unauthorized reproduction of this conference call may not be an accurate reflection of its contents.

Alliance One International is a leading independent leaf tobacco merchant serving the world's large multinational cigarette manufacturers. For more information on Alliance One, visit the Company's website at www.aointl.com.

SOURCE Alliance One International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aointl.com


NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Altar'd State, a rapidly growing women's fashion brand with more than 70 boutiques throughout the Midwest, South, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, has awarded Ignite Social Media and DeVries Global its social media and public relations businesses, respectively. The search was conducted by Joanne Davis Consulting.

"It's an important time in our company's history and we sought to add expert partners that could help us take the Altar'd State brand to the next level," said Mary Beth Fox, Chief Brand Officer for Altar'd State. "Our decision was based on our confidence in the quality of the team, their business savvy, strategic insights and creativity. We look forward to our new partnership with Ignite and DeVries to support Altar'd State in this next chapter."

Ignite Social Media, one of the first social media marketing agencies, is collaborating with Altar'd State as an extension of their marketing team. As an authority in social media marketing with experience across multiple industries and geographies, Ignite Social Media is working with Altar'd State and DeVries Global to refine brand messaging and overarching social media engagement strategy, as well as day-to-day social media responsibilities such as editorial planning, content development support, program development, agile media buying, and insights and reporting.

"Altar'd State is a unique brand with a passionate customer base. Our charge is to leverage that passion while we introduce it to new customers. We're tremendously excited about working with such a highly differentiated brand," said Deidre Bounds, President for Ignite Social Media.

DeVries Global, an international communications agency with offices across the U.S., Asia and Europe, was selected to oversee U.S. communications for the brand's expanding retail business. Using an array of creative regional tactics, strategic brand storytelling and influencer networks, DeVries Global will work alongside Ignite Social Media to raise national awareness for the thriving women's fashion retailor.

"We are so impressed by the organic growth that Altar'd State has experienced over the last seven years," said Jessica O'Callaghan, Regional Managing Director, NA, DeVries Global. "They have such a special story to tell  from their distinct fashion and boutique shopping experience to their incredible generosity in giving back to global and local communities. Our goal is to help them share their story to a wider audience and continue to inspire others."

About Altar'd State:

Altar'd State offers a place of respite and a distinctive shopping experience with the latest fashion finds, the most sought-after accessories and charming home decor and gifts. The company seeks to inspire through action and supports a mission of standing out for good in the world. From day one Altar'd State has pioneered connecting retail with goodwill through efforts ranging from donations in local communities, offering a generous volunteer program for employees, and funding global initiatives that support social development efforts in underserved areas in Peru. Altar'd State is a globally-minded company that is dedicated to creating not only a unique retail environment that is inspiring and uplifting, but also giving back to the world around us through philanthropic efforts of every kind.

About Ignite Social Media:

Recognized as the 2016 Social Media Agency of the Year by Incite Group, Ignite Social Media is one of North America's first social media marketing agencies. Ignite Social Media is made up of experienced and skilled experts in driving business objectives through social media marketing in creative, strategic and measurable ways. Ignite Social Media, privately owned and founded in 2007, uses an innovative, specialized approach to power social media marketing for some of the world's best brands across a wide variety of industries, including automotive, CPG, retail, food and beverage. More at: www.ignitesocialmedia.com

About DeVries Global:

DeVries Global, headquartered in New York City, is an international public relations micro-network with offices in London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Singapore. The company's longstanding heritage of excellence in consumer marketing and communication includes winning work with respected brands across beauty, fashion and wellness as well as consumer packaged goods (CPG), travel and tourism, wine and spirits, and food and beverage. DeVries Global offers seamless global capabilities, while maintaining a boutique sensibility and Curiously Creative culture that preserve the ability to move quickly, nimbly, and with high-impact precision. DeVries Global is part of Interpublic Group (IPG).

SOURCE Altar'd State
MADRID, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Revenue increased 14.2%, to 3,386.5 million.

EBITDA grew 16.4%, to 1,332.1 million.

In the Distribution business, total air travel agency bookings rose 5.2%, to 409.8 million.

In the IT Solutions business, Passengers Boarded increased 82.9%, to 1,028.5 million. Excluding Navitaire, Altea passengers boarded grew 12.1%.

Amadeus IT Group, S.A., a leading technology partner for the global travel industry, reported an adjusted profit of 738.1 million in the nine months to September 30, 2016. That represented a growth of 21.3% compared to the same period of 2015. This was driven by a revenue increase of 14.2%, to 3,386.5 million, and EBITDA growth of 16.4%, to 1,332.1 million. Free cash-flow generation grew by 18.2% in the first three quarters of the year, with the debt ratio at 1.21x EBITDA.

Luis Maroto, President & CEO of Amadeus, commented:

"Our strong financial performance is the result of organic growth in our core businesses and the contribution of last year's acquisitions including Navitaire.

"Our Distribution business continues to grow faster than the industry and its competitive position once again increased to 43.1%. We have successfully renewed or signed content agreements with 17 airlines in the quarter, including easyJet. In addition, the world's leading travel search engine, KAYAK, has implemented Amadeus Master Pricer with Instant Search technology.

"The Airline IT business has also experienced strong growth in the first nine months of 2016, supported by upselling and cross-selling, as well as organic growth. The total number of passengers boarded using Amadeus' Passenger Service Systems (Altea or Navitaire New Skies) increased by 82.9%, to 1,028.5 million. Compared to the same period last year, excluding Navitaire, Altea passengers boarded grew 12.1%.

"In the third quarter, Malaysia Airlines announced that it had selected the full Amadeus Altea Passenger Service System, Amadeus Anytime Merchandizing as well as our e-commerce solutions. In addition, EVA Air moved to Amadeus Altea Revenue Management Suite, while Virgin Australia announced that it had become part of the Altea DC Flight Management family.

"We continue to make progress in our new businesses. We completed the successful implementation of Amadeus Airport Sequence Manager and A-CDM Portal solutions in Copenhagen Airports. We are also advancing in the execution of our Hospitality IT strategy, by integrating Itesso and Hotel SystemsPro and by working with InterContinental Hotels Group in the development of a new-generation Guest Reservation System for the hospitality industry.

"We are confident that Amadeus will deliver another strong final quarter to 2016."

Business highlights during the first three quarters of 2016

Distribution

Revenue increased 6.3%, to 2,219.9 million.

Air travel agency bookings rose 5.2%, to 409.8 million  outperforming GDS industry growth of 2.4%.

Air travel agency competitive position expanded by 0.8 percentage points, reaching 43.1%.



Amadeus Air TA Bookings (figures in million)

Jan-Sep

2016 % of

Total Jan-Sep

2015 % of

Total %

Change











Western Europe 154.9 37.8% 151.5 38.9% 2.3% Asia & Pacific 73.6 18.0% 63.7 16.3% 15.6% North America 71.1 17.4% 66.4 17.0% 7.1% Middle East and Africa 50.6 12.3% 47.3 12.2% 6.8% Central, Eastern and Southern Europe 34.0 8.3% 35.4 9.1% (3.9%) Latin America 25.6 6.2% 25.4 6.5% 0.6% Total Air TA Bookings 409.8 100.0% 389.7 100.0% 5.2%

Around 74% of airline bookings made through the Amadeus system worldwide are with airlines that have a content agreement with Amadeus. Since the beginning of the year, new contracts or renewals of existing content agreements were signed with 38 carriers.

Growth also continued in the low-cost carrier segment. Subscribers to the Amadeus system now have access to the inventory of over 90 low cost and hybrid carriers from all over the world. Bookings of this segment grew by 15.8% in the third quarter of 2016, compared to 2015.

easyJet renewed its long-term partnership with Amadeus, giving Amadeus subscribers continued access to easyJet's range of fares. This will enable corporate travelers to easily access and book the airline's range of business friendly products such as Flexi Fares.

As of the end of the third quarter, 64% of the global air bookings processed through the Amadeus system was eligible to carry a merchandizing item. Also, 116 airlines had signed up to Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services for the indirect channel, with 90 of them already implemented. And if we include customers who have signed up to Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services for either direct or indirect channel, the number grows to 163, of which 123 have already been implemented.

During the first nine months of 2016, we saw a 73% increase in airline ancillary services sold through the Amadeus system, primarily through the more than 30 global online travel agencies that are integrating Amadeus merchandizing solutions.

Amadeus Fare Families Solution, which allows airlines to distribute branded fares, had 42 contracts in place at the end of the third quarter, with 32 implemented.

The world's leading travel search engine, KAYAK, implemented Amadeus Master Pricer with Instant Search technology. This new, revolutionary solution delivers online search results in milliseconds with no compromise to accuracy. Every one second of improvement in search response time for consumers can translate into an increase in conversion rates.

Airline IT

At the end of the third quarter:

Navitaire consolidation significantly contributed to strong IT Solutions performance.

Revenue grew 33.0%, reaching 1,166.7 million.

Passengers Boarded rose by 82.9% to total 1,028.5 million, with 398.0 million from Navitaire.

Altea Passengers Boarded grew 12.1%, 4.2% of which came from the organic growth of existing Altea carriers and the rest coming from the full year impact of migrations during 2015 and more recent additions such as Swiss International Air Lines, Brussels Airlines and China Airlines.



Operating KPI - PB (figures in million)

Jul-Sep

2016 Jul-Sep

2015 %

Change Jan-Sep

2016 Jan-Sep

2015 %

Change













Altea Passengers Boarded 237.6 208.1 14.2% 630.5 562.3 12.1% Navitaire Passengers Boarded 162.2 0.0 n.m. 398.0 0.0 n.m. Total PB 399.8 208.1 92.1% 1,028.5 562.3 82.9%

Including Navitaire, at the end of the third quarter, more than 170 airlines were contracted for one of the Amadeus Passenger Service Systems (Altea or Navitaire New Skies) and more than 160 airlines had been implemented.



Total PB (figures in million)

Jan-Sep

2016 % of

Total Jan-Sep

2015 % of

Total %

Change Western Europe 425.0 41.3% 245.9 43.7% 72.8% Asia & Pacific 313.6 30.5% 149.0 26.5% 110.5% Latin America 98.3 9.6% 57.8 10.3% 70.2% Middle East and Africa 90.9 8.8% 78.3 13.9% 16.1% Central, Eastern and Southern Europe 53.5 5.2% 28.6 5.1% 87.0% North America 47.1 4.6% 2.7 0.5% n.m. Total PB 1,028.5 100.0% 562.3 100.0% 82.9%

Malaysia Airlines announced that it had selected the full Amadeus Altea Passenger Service System, Amadeus Anytime Merchandizing as well as our e-commerce solutions to help it transform passenger services, develop new revenue streams and revamp the online shopping experience for travelers.

EVA Air migrated to Amadeus Altea Revenue Management Suite. The airline will now benefit from a solution that takes into account the travelers' entire journey from origin to destination, not simply managing revenue on a leg-by-leg basis. The Amadeus Altea Revenue Management Suite will enable EVA Air to price airline packages and offers, based on travelers' price sensitivity and travel purpose.

Virgin Australia became part of the Altea DC Flight Management family. Virgin will use Amadeus Altea Departure Control FM for its aircraft control processes and benefit from Altea operational excellence for fuel savings, agent productivity and flight safety.

Hotel Distribution

Accor Hotels announced that it had renewed its distribution agreement with Amadeus for another three years to ensure that its hotels' full inventory is made available to Amadeus-connected travel agencies and travelers worldwide.

In addition, Teldar Travel incorporated its hotel content into Amadeus. Agents will now be able to sell Teldar Travel's hotel net rates with a guarantee of parity, which means hotel rates shown on Amadeus are the same as on Teldar Travel direct channels.

DerbySoft, a market leader in hospitality distribution technology, announced its partnership with Amadeus to connect hotels of all sizes to metasearch engines and online travel agents.

Hospitality

Zingle, a leading provider of mobile messaging software platforms, announced its partnership with Amadeus to integrate Zingle messaging technology with Amadeus' hospitality service optimization solutions. This will provide hotels with the mobile texting and messaging technology they need to better service and communicate with guests.

Airport IT

Copenhagen Airports, the company that owns and operates the Copenhagen airports of Kastrup and Roskilde, announced the successful implementation of Amadeus Airport Sequence Manager and A-CDM Portal solutions, which provide the airport, its airline customers, ground handlers and air traffic controllers with accurate and synched information on aircraft departures.

Summary of operating and financial information



Summary of KPI ( figures in million euros)

Jan-Sep 2016 Jan-Sep 2015 % Change







Operating KPI





Air TA competitive position1 43.1% 42.2% 0.8 p.p.















Air TA bookings (m) 409.8 389.7 5.2% Non air bookings (m) 45.2 46.3 (2.5%) Total bookings (m) 454.9 436.0 4.3% Passengers Boarded (m) 1,028.5 562.3 82.9%







Financial results





Distribution Revenue 2,219.9 2,087.5 6.3% IT Solutions Revenue 1,166.7 877.3 33.0% Revenue 3,386.5 2,964.8 14.2%







EBITDA 1,332.1 1,144.5 16.4% EBITDA margin (%) 39.3% 38.6% 0.7 p.p.







Adjusted profit2 738.1 608.4 21.3% Adjusted EPS (euros)3 1.69 1.39 21.6%







Cash flow





Capital expenditure 429.4 393.2 9.2% Free cash-flow4 688.6 582.8 18.2%









30/09/2016 31/12/2015 % Change Indebtedness 5





Covenant Net Financial Debt 2,048.1 1,611.6 27.1% Covenant Net Financial Debt / LTM Covenant EBITDA 1.21x 1.09x



Competitive position is measured as our air TA bookings in relation to the air TA booking industry, defined as the total volume of travel agency air bookings processed by the global CRS. It excludes air bookings made directly through in-house airline systems or single country operators, the latter primarily in China , Japan and Russia , which together combined represent an important part of the industry. Excluding after-tax impact of the following items: (i) accounting effects derived from PPA exercises, (ii) non-operating exchange gains (losses), (iii) other non-recurring items, and (iv) impairment losses. EPS corresponding to the Adjusted profit attributable to the parent company. Calculated based on weighted average outstanding shares of the period. Calculated as EBITDA less capital expenditure plus changes in our operating working capital less taxes paid less interests and financial fees paid. Based on the definition included in the senior credit agreement covenants.

Notes to the editors:

About Amadeus

Amadeus provides the technology which keeps the travel sector moving - from initial search to making a booking, from pricing to ticketing, from managing reservations to managing check-in and departure processes. Our products and solutions help to improve the business performance of our customers; travel agencies, corporations, airlines, ground handlers, hotels, railways, car rental companies, airports, cruise lines and ferry operators. At the heart of our approach is innovation. Amadeus was recognized in 2014 and 2015 as the leading European investor in R&D for the travel and tourism sector by the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which ranks European companies by total investment in R&D. Over 4 billion have been invested in R&D since 2004. It is this strong commitment that we believe will enable us to continue working with our customers and partners to shape the future of travel. Amadeus works in more than 190 markets with a worldwide team of more than 14,000 people. For the year ended December 31, 2015 the company reported revenues of 3,913.0 million and EBITDA of 1,465.0 million. Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMS.MC" and forms part of the IBEX 35 Index.

Follow us on:

https://www.facebook.com/amadeusnorthamerica

https://twitter.com/amadeusnews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/2780?trk=tyah

https://www.youtube.com/user/amadeusnorthamerica

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https://plus.google.com/113862376434257859271/posts

Media inquiries:

Debbie Iannaci Director, Corporate Communications Amadeus North America 305.499.6448 [email protected] www.linkedin.com/in/debbieiannaci



SOURCE Amadeus
DALLAS, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) Board of Directors named Susan M. Ramin, MD as an Associate Executive Director beginning on March 1, 2017. Dr. Ramin is a Professor and Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In this new role, she will focus on directing the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program and continuous professional development pilot programs.

"Dr. Ramin has demonstrated her commitment to ABOG as a member of our Board of Directors and a former director of the division of maternal-fetal medicine," said Dr. Deborah A. Driscoll, MD, President of the ABOG Board of Directors. "Her insight and experience with ABOG will be invaluable as we work to provide opportunities for life-long learning to our diplomates."

"Our current MOC program provides diplomates with current medical literature to support evidenced-based practice and is valued by our diplomates. We have some of the best practices among certification boards," said Dr. Ramin. "We need to continue to respond to changes in training and the practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology and offer meaningful and relevant programs to ensure that women in our country receive high quality care."

"Dr. Ramin's commitment to our profession, her experience as an educator and leader in global women's healthcare will be an asset to ABOG to help enhance our continuing professional development programs," said Dr. Larry Gilstrap, MD, ABOG Executive Director.

Dr. Ramin has also served as an ABOG board examiner and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Exxcellence in Women's Healthcare. She is certified by the ABOG in general Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM).

About Dr. Ramin

Dr. Ramin earned her medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis and completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a fellowship in MFM at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. She joined the faculty at UT Southwestern in 1990 and was the MFM fellowship director from 1996-1998.

She joined the faculty at the UT Medical School at Houston (UT-Houston) in 1998 as the Director of the MFM Division and fellowship program. She was the principal investigator of the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network at UT-Houston. In 2006, Dr. Ramin was appointed the Emma Sue Hightower Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UT-Houston.

Subsequently, Dr. Ramin joined Baylor College of Medicine in 2011 as Vice Chair of Global Women's Health and Director of the Global Women's Health Fellowship Program. She currently serves as Vice Chair of Education and holds the Henry and Emma Meyer Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Ramin has served on numerous NIH review panels and as a consultant to the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Ramin's clinical interests include medical and surgical complications during pregnancy, preeclampsia, and fetal acid base status.

About ABOG

The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology is an independent, non-profit organization that certifies obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States. Founded in 1930, the ABOG is one of 24 specialty Boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Based in Dallas, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology is the certifying body for 45,000 diplomates in the United States and Canada. ABOG oversees a continuous Maintenance of Certification process.

SOURCE American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Related Links

https://www.abog.org


PHOENIX, Nov. 3, 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, today announced the implementation of a Cloud-Based End-to-End Property Management Automation System that is expected to reduce the cost of managing the properties in its portfolio.

The proprietary system, named AHIT Advantage, will track all aspects of the property life-cycle. This includes property acquisition, tenant relations, rent payments and processing, maintenance requests, and property sales.

The Company will integrate this fully electronic and paperless system into its business operations and believes the new software enhancement will streamline its property management processes, allowing for greater efficiency and increased production to support the Company's continued growth. Through the first half of 2016, the Company grew rental revenues by over 70%, largely due to acquisitions of single-family homes and a high rental occupancy rate.

Management Commentary

James Stevens, the newly appointed President & CEO of American Housing Income Trust, stated, "Converting our operations to a fully electronic system is an important step in supporting our growth plans. We expect that this digital changeover will ultimately lower the Company's ratio of expenses. We continue to progress towards achieving REIT status and returning a dividend to our shareholders, and the implementation of AHIT Advantage will allow us to cost-effectively manage a greater number of properties. AHIT prides itself on being a low-cost, focused property manager, and has maintained a cost advantage over many competitors based in the Southwestern region of the United States. We believe this transition will serve to strengthen our cost advantage."

For additional information on AHIT Advantage, click the following link:

http://ahitrust.com/assets/pdf/document/AHITAdvantage.pdf

Recent Direct Public Offering Announcement

The Company recently 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.

Information about the Offering

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.

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SOURCE American Housing Income Trust, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ahitrust.com


Joining ASRC in the petition are the State of Alaska, the North Slope Borough, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, Kuukpik Corporation, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, Olgoonik Corporation, Inc., Tikigaq Corporation, the Bering Straits Native Corporation, NANA Regional Corporation and Calista Corporation.

"We will not stand by and allow for our input and legitimate concerns to be ignored," said Rex A. Rock Sr., ASRC president and CEO. "For more than five years we have tirelessly fought this critical habitat designation, which threatens the economic viability of our communities and quality of life for our people. We are hopeful the Supreme Court will consider our argument and recognize the detrimental effects of the appellate court's extremely permissive decision."

"Designations of vast critical habitat areas makes it look like a lot is being done for polar bears, but in reality vast designations forsake meaningful, focused protections of truly important areas," said Bruce Dale, director of the State of Alaska's Division of Wildlife Conservation. "The designation of vast areas creates unneeded regulatory burdens without conservation benefit in areas rarely used by polar bears."

"My greatest concern is the people in our region and the burden this places on our communities," said North Slope Borough Mayor, Harry K. Brower Jr. "The designation does nothing to change the disappearing sea ice, which is the primary threat to the polar bear population, yet it puts the growth of our communities at risk."

In 2010 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced its plan to set aside the area across the Arctic Slope, Northwest Arctic, Bering Straits and Calista regions as critical habitat for polar bears. ASRC and the North Slope Borough have been leading a coalition of Alaska Native groups from the North Slope, Northwest and Southwest Alaska to fight that ruling in court ever since.

That same year, ASRC and the State of Alaska commissioned an independent economic analysis of the designation. The analysis showed the financial burden to the state of Alaska, the North Slope Borough and to ASRC could reach into the billions.

About ASRC

Arctic Slope Regional Corporation is owned by and represents the business interests of the Arctic Slope Inupiat. Since opening enrollment in 1990 to Alaska Natives born after 1971, the corporation's shareholder base has nearly tripled, growing from the 3,700 original enrollees to around 12,000 today. Corporate headquarters are based in Barrow, Alaska, with administrative and subsidiary offices located in Anchorage and throughout the United States. ASRC, along with its family of companies, is the largest Alaskan-owned company, employing approximately 10,000 people worldwide. The company has six major business segments: petroleum refining and marketing, energy support services, construction, industrial services, government services and resource development.

CONTACT:

Ty Hardt

Sr. Director of Communications

Desk (907) 339-6888

Mobile (907) 223-3253

[email protected]

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SOURCE Arctic Slope Regional Corporation

Related Links

http://www.asrc.com


Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Newark  Ironbound Boys & Girls Club

 Ironbound Boys & Girls Club Boys & Girls Club of Paterson and Passaic

and Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark  Central Ward Unit

"At Amerigroup, we understand the important role that after-school programs play in improving the health and wellness of New Jersey kids and teens," said John Koehn, president of Amerigroup New Jersey. "As kids around the state are returning to classrooms, we are committed to helping the Boys & Girls Clubs to fill their open afternoons and weekends with activities that can 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 New Jersey 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 New Jersey 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.

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SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Related Links

http://www.bgca.org


LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) has expanded its wealth management and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Fiduciary Rule compliance capabilities with the acquisition of M&O Systems, Inc., a leading provider of advisor compensation management solutions that help broker-dealers and wealth management firms support advisors and grow their businesses. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With this acquisition, Broadridge expands its wealth offerings to include advisor compensation and incentive management, advisor commission portal, account opening and client books and records solutions. These solutions offer an integrated approach to compensation across asset classes, including assets held-away, facilitating commission-based, asset-based and other innovative and compliant compensation approaches. M&O Systems' technology complements and extends Broadridge's suite of DOL Fiduciary Rule solutions, which support firms in making suitable investment recommendations, producing, distributing and disclosing documents, and monitoring compensation levels.

"The acquisition of M&O adds best-in-class, back-office agnostic compensation management solutions to Broadridge's market-leading product set," said Charlie Marchesani, President, Global Technology and Operations at Broadridge. "As a result, Broadridge can now offer broker-dealers and wealth management firms a more complete suite of front- and back-office solutions ranging from advisor marketing and practice management capabilities to mission-critical brokerage investment platforms."

"These capabilities complement Broadridge's overall DOL Fiduciary Rule strategy by allowing us to provide a timely solution to help facilitate clients' compliance with the Rule by calculating, monitoring, and reporting on compensation and tracking of Best Interest Contract Exceptions (BICE) and grandfathered accounts," Mr. Marchesani added.

"Broadridge's market-leading securities processing capabilities, operational expertise and commitment to serving its client base will enable us to bring greater value to our customers," said Sean Haggerty, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of M&O Systems, Inc. "I am excited about the opportunities this acquisition will bring for our team."

M&O Systems will be rebranded as Broadridge Advisor Compensation solutions.

Marlin & Associates acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to M&O Systems.

About Broadridge

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) is a leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and other corporations. Broadridge's investor and customer communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With more than 50 years of experience, Broadridge' s infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America and processes on average $5 trillion in equity and fixed income trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 10,000 associates in 16 countries.

For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.

About M&O Systems, Inc.

M&O Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of compensation, sales management, regulatory and business process solutions for retail and institutional broker-dealers, registered investment advisors and insurance agencies. M&O's technology solutions are comprised of powerful and flexible configuration engines enabling our clients to achieve differentiation in the compensation, account opening, and client servicing tools they offer to their advisors. We help our clients recruit and retain top producers, drive efficiency and respond, in real time, to the ever changing business and regulatory landscape. Located in New York, NY, M&O has 40 years of continuous experience servicing some of the largest US financial services firms.

For more information about M&O, please visit www.mandosystems.com.

Contact information:

Investors:

W. Edings Thibault

Investor Relations

+1 516-472-5129

[email protected]

Media:

Brett Philbin

Edelman

+1 212-704-8263

[email protected]

Linda Namias

Broadridge Corporate Communications

+1 631-254-7711

[email protected]

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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.broadridge.com


LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) today announced a new suite of technology driven solutions to help the investment community solve several of the most pressing challenges associated with the upcoming U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Conflict of Interest Rule. The new offerings  DOL Fiduciary Solutions, DOL Customer Communications, and DOL Compliance Reporting  can help firms validate, communicate and comply with the new rules, which take effect April 10, 2017.

The new DOL rule is one of the biggest regulatory events facing the financial industry. It will expand the definition of ERISA fiduciary investment advice and apply a "best interests" standard to a broader range of investment services, including retirement investment advice and certain IRA rollover recommendations.

"The financial industry needs to evolve their businesses and strategies to meet the higher standards, and turn compliance into a competitive advantage. Forward thinking firms are using the new rule as an opportunity to further engage customers and deepen relationships through new technologies," said Andrew Besheer, Product Lead for Broadridge's DOL Fiduciary Standard solutions. "Helping fiduciaries meet disclosure obligations can provide an additional communications touchpoint to add transparency and clarity to point-of-sale transactions, and strengthen customer relationships, while improving firm-wide operations."

According to a Broadridge poll of nearly 500 financial professionals, sixty percent of asset managers, broker-dealers, insurance providers and record-keepers say that the new DOL Conflict of Interest rule will have a significant impact on their business models. In over 150 Broadridge dialogues with financial institutions, the need for automated, repeatable, and thoroughly documented practices governed by each firms' specific business rules is a consistent theme.

Solving for Suitability

Under the new regulations, advisors will need to standardize and simplify the process for capturing recommendations for funds and annuities and investor signature. Broadridge's DOL Fiduciary Solutions, built on Broadridge's industry leading FundPOINT data, can help financial advisors and firms make investment recommendations that meet fiduciary standards. Using the tool to evaluate and validate their mutual fund sell list, advisors can see that the funds and share classes on broker-dealer and other distributor platforms are suitable for specific clients. Firms can equip advisors with self-service tools to distribute contract, notification and disclosure documents, while aggregating required data and incorporating point-of-sale suitability analysis, fee data and performance information with transparency and clarity to end customers.

Compliance with Customer Communications

The new DOL rule will require firms to produce, distribute and archive all disclosures, transaction documents, regulatory documents, and advisor recommendations. This will include the Best Interest Contract (BIC), Fiduciary Acknowledgement Letter, pre-transaction disclosures, and numerous other disclosures. Regardless of delivery method electronic, print, mobile all communications must have updated data sourced from multiple databases and quality checked for accuracy. Broadridge's DOL Customer Communications solution leverages Broadridge's existing communications connectivity across the breadth of the financial services industry to easily allow for composition, multi-channel print or digital delivery, as well as tracking and archival capabilities for compliance. A replay of Broadridge's recent webinar focused on DOL customer communications is available here.

Compensation and Conflicts of Interest

To comply, organizations need to identify and address conflicts of interest with third-party compensation both at the firm and advisor level by eliminating, restructuring, or "levelizing" compensation / fees. It's going to be critical to continuously monitor client accounts and advisor activity for compliance purposes. By creating, communicating and enforcing procedures that minimize conflicts of interest, firms can proactively manage risk. Broadridge's DOL Compliance Reporting solution, built on Broadridge's scalable RevPort revenue management engine, can help firms maintain compliance and manage risk by minimizing conflicts of interest with third-party compensation/payments; and aggregating account level data for monitoring and reporting.

The time remaining to comply with the DOL Fiduciary Rule is running short. For additional details and resources on Broadridge and the DOL Fiduciary Standard, please visit www.Broadridge.com/DOLFiduciaryRule.

About Broadridge

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) is a leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes more than $5 trillion in fixed income and equity trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 10,000 full-time associates in 16 countries. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.

Media Contacts:





Linda Namias Joe LoBello Broadridge Financial Solutions Brainerd Communicators, Inc. +1 631-254-7711 +1 212-986-6667 [email protected] [email protected]

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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.broadridge.com


CenturyLink plans to use the net proceeds from this sale to partly fund its acquisition of Level 3 Communications announced on October 31, 2016. These two transactions further advance CenturyLink's strategy to improve lives by connecting people to the power of the digital world.

"After conducting a thorough review process, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with BC Partners," said Glen F. Post III, chief executive officer and president of CenturyLink. "We believe this transaction will benefit customers, employees and investors. Both CenturyLink and BC Partners have a strong customer focus and are committed to ensuring a seamless transition of the customers and their colocation environments."

CenturyLink will continue to focus on offering customers a wide range of IT services and solutions, including network, managed hosting and cloud. Though it will no longer own the data centers, CenturyLink will continue to offer colocation services as part of its product portfolio through its commercial relationships to be entered into at closing with the BC Partners/Medina-led consortium.

Justin Bateman, a managing partner at BC Partners, said, "We are excited to be acquiring CenturyLink's portfolio of data center assets. CenturyLink has built and maintained an impressive global footprint of colocation data centers that is unparalleled for a portfolio of assets of this size. Led by Manny Medina and his management team at Medina Capital, these data centers will become part of a new, global secure infrastructure platform that will meet the growing and changing needs of customers today and for the future. We thank Glen Post and the entire team at CenturyLink for their partnership, and we look forward to working together to offer all the data centers' existing customers, as well as new customers, unrivaled datacenter and colocation services."

Under terms of the agreement, the BC Partners/Medina-led consortium will assume ownership of CenturyLink's portfolio of 57 data centers at closing. The data center portfolio includes approximately 195 megawatts of power across 2.6 million square feet of raised floor capacity.

The purchase agreement contains various customary covenants for transactions of this type, including commitments of CenturyLink to indemnify the purchaser for certain taxes and other specified matters, subject to certain limitations.

The parties anticipate closing the transaction in the first quarter of 2017. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, as well as other customary closing conditions.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are acting as CenturyLink's financial advisors and Jones Walker is acting as CenturyLink's legal advisor.

LionTree Advisors acted as financial advisor to BC Partners and its consortium investors. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor and PricewaterhouseCoopers is serving as accounting advisor. Citigroup, JP Morgan, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Jefferies, HSBC, Macquarie and Citizens have underwritten the debt package to finance the acquisition.

Greenberg Traurig served as legal advisor to Medina Capital. Vedder Price served as legal advisor to Longview Asset Management.

About CenturyLink

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. Visit CenturyLink for more information.

About BC Partners

Founded in 1986 as one of the few truly pan-European buy-out investors, BC Partners has grown and evolved into a leader in buy-outs, principally investing in larger businesses in the region and selectively in North America through its established network of offices in London, Paris, Hamburg and New York. BC Partners continues to identify attractive investment opportunities by focusing on the best balance of risk and reward for its investors and is currently advising funds totaling over 12 billion.

Since inception, BC Partners has completed 92 transactions with a total enterprise value of 115 billion and has delivered superior returns through economic cycles, demonstrating discipline in bull markets and an ability to invest in attractive opportunities amidst turbulence and recession.

About Medina Capital

Medina Capital is a private equity firm investing growth capital in innovative companies in the cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud infrastructure and software-as-a-service markets. Medina Capital's philosophy emphasizes funding high-growth companies with established products that will benefit from the strategic guidance of the firm's experience and expertise in the technology sector. For more information on Medina Capital visit http://www.medinacapital.com.

About Longview Asset Management

Longview Asset Management oversees direct public and private investments on behalf of individuals, trusts, and charitable foundations associated with a private family. Longview's public market investments span a broad range of industries, including health care, manufacturing, aerospace, software, and business and financial services. As a steward of permanent capital with minimal liquidity needs, Longview also works flexibly with management teams and financial sponsors to acquire and hold private businesses, and has completed such investments in a range of industries including ecommerce, banking, manufacturing, direct marketing, education, retail, and hydrocarbon infrastructure.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for the historical and factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this release, including statements regarding the expected timing and benefits of the proposed transaction, and other statements identified by words such as "estimates," "expects," "projects," "plans," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect. Factors that could affect actual results include but are not limited to: the ability of the parties to timely and successfully receive the required approvals of regulatory agencies; the possibility that the purchaser will not be able to finance the transaction on the terms contemplated or at all; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the proposed transaction cannot be fully realized in the manner contemplated; the possibility that it may be more difficult than anticipated to segregate CenturyLink's colocation business from its other businesses in connection with the sale; the possibility that CenturyLink might be required to make unanticipated payments under the transaction agreements or otherwise receive less cash proceeds than anticipated; the effects of competition from a wide variety of competitive providers; the purchaser's ability to effectively adjust to changes in the communications industry; possible changes in the demand for, or pricing of, the purchaser's products and services; the purchaser's ability to successfully maintain the quality and profitability of its product and service offerings and to introduce new offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis; the adverse impact on the purchaser's business from possible equipment failures, service outages, security breaches or similar events; adverse changes in the purchaser's access to credit markets on favorable terms; the purchaser's ability to maintain favorable relations with key business partners, suppliers, vendors, landlords and financial institutions; and other risk factors and cautionary statements as detailed from time to time in CenturyLink's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that the proposed sale or any other transactions discussed above will in fact be consummated in the manner described or at all. You should be aware that new factors may emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to identify all such factors nor can we predict the impact of each such factor on the proposed transaction. You should not place undue reliance on these forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Unless legally required, CenturyLink undertakes no obligation and expressly disclaims any such obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

[1] Adjusted Operating Cash Flow is defined as operating cash flow less capital lease payments.

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SOURCE CenturyLink, Inc.

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CORONA, Calif., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lakeshore City Church Senior Pastor Charlie Moulton was elected as the California Southern Baptist Pastors' Convention president on October 25, 2016, at the annual California Southern Baptist Convention.

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Pastor Moulton will be the Pastors' Convention president for 2017, succeeding Shane Hicks.

Moulton was nominated by Dr. Chris Morgan, Dean of School of Christian Ministries and Professor of Theology at California Baptist University. In Dr. Morgan's nomination speech from the floor of the convention, he said that Moulton "is one of the rising leaders in our movement" and has "one of the healthiest, growing churches" he has been able to see expand.

Pastor Moulton began Lakeshore City Church in the living room of his home with less than 30 people. Since the planting of Lakeshore, it has grown significantly and nearly 50% of the congregation are first time converts.

Pastor Moulton was previously in business, especially in the logistics space, before becoming a pastor. He had started two companies, the last of which he sold in June 2015 to become a full time pastor.

Moulton is currently enrolled at Gateway Seminary in the Masters of Divinity program. He was selected to lead a pilot program, Pastor Groups, for the Inland Empire Southern Baptist Association to provide support to pastors in order to help them spiritually and drive efficiencies in the local church.

Pastor Moulton and his wife, Louise, have been married for 26 years. They have four children and two grandchildren.

Contact: Rachelle Hardin at [email protected]

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This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com.

SOURCE Lakeshore City Church

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AURORA, Colo., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurora, Colorado will be the place to be November 10, 2016. That marks the Grand Opening of a new Jet's Pizza store at 13724 E. Quincy Ave. This will be the 3rd store in the state, as Colorado citizens have gained an appetite for the Detroit-style deep dish sensation.

Mayor Steve Hogan, of Aurora, CO, and Mayor Michael Taylor, Jet's Corporate hometown, Sterling Heights, MI, will be on hand at the new location to help in the ribbon cutting festivities. The ceremony will be held at 3:30 p.m. on 11/10. Post cutting ceremony, free slices will be handed out in the store between 1-4 pm. Residents are invited to come by and enjoy a slice.

The celebration continues the following Saturday with "Free Slice Saturday" happening from Noon  4 pm. Come by for a golden deep dish crunchy delight. It's the new owner's way of saying, we're glad to join the neighborhood.

The Aurora store addition will create 20 jobs in the area. That includes store managers as well as 10 part time and full time crew members and drivers.

It will offer the full complement of Jet's Specialty pizzas, Sidekicks, and much more with both delivery and carry out options.

Since 1978, Jet's Pizza has taken pride in carefully selecting the freshest ingredients used in all of their products, making their signature dough and sauce daily, and creating a menu of meal options that friends and family can easily share.

For further information, phone the new Aurora store at (720) 990-6000 or visit JetsPizza.com.

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SOURCE Jet's Pizza

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Doritos Loaded provides a new way to experience Doritos by combining two classic favorites  Doritos and nachos  together with a bold twist. This is not your normal snack. In fact, it is the country's only "Inside-Out Nacho" already made for you.

"Doritos celebrates people stepping outside of their normal routine and doing new things," said Marissa Solis, vice president of marketing, Frito-Lay North America. "That definitely applies to Doritos Loaded, a snacking experience that takes bold to the next level. By increasing Doritos Loaded's availability, we're daring snackers everywhere to try it!"

Doritos Loaded paves the way for the next generation of snacking with its combination of warm melted cheese inside a crispy Doritos flavored crust. They're the ideal snacking size and are ready after just minutes in the oven.

Doritos Loaded comes in two varieties: Doritos Loaded Nacho Cheese and Doritos Loaded Jalapeno & Cheese.

Doritos Loaded is now available at major grocery retailers nationwide (MSRP: $2.98 - $3.49 for the 7.5 oz. box and $4.98-$5.79 for the 15oz. box). Visit http://www.fritolay.com/snacks/product-page/doritos-loaded for more information.

ABOUT DORITOS

Doritos believes there's boldness in everyone. We champion those who are true to themselves, who live life fully engaged and take bold action by stepping outside of their comfort zone and pushing the limits. Doritos is one of the many brands that makes up Frito-Lay North America, the $14 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website, http://www.fritolay.com/, the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com/ and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fritolay.

ABOUT PEPSICO

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2015, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose  our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth and shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

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SOURCE Doritos
TSX-V:ELY

VANCOUVER, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. ("Ely Gold" or the "Company") (TSX-V: ELY, OTC: ELYGF) is pleased to announce that it has completed a property exchange (the "Exchange") with Columbus Gold Corp. (TSX: CGT, OTCQX: CBDGF) and its wholly owned subsidiary Columbus Gold (USA) Corp. (collectively "Columbus"). Ely Gold, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Nevada Select Royalty, Inc. ("Nevada Select") has acquired a 100% interest in 66 unpatented mining claims in Esmeralda County, Nevada (the "Claims"). The Claims are contiguous to claims currently held by Ely Gold known as the Weepah Project ("Weepah") Columbus has done significant exploration on the Claims, including multiple drill campaigns. Columbus acquired the Claims in 2011 from Cordex Exploration Company ("Cordex"). The Claims will be subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty to Cordex. Ely Gold will also acquire all the data from Columbus' exploration programs.

In the Exchange, Nevada Select has conveyed, to Columbus, a royalty on the Bolo/Wood property in Nye County, Nevada which was acquired by Nevada Select in a transaction with Till Capital and press released by Ely Gold on August 12, 2016. Columbus acquired the Bolo/Wood property from Cordex in 2012.

The Weepah Project is located 20 miles southwest of Tonapah. Historic production occurred from 1904-1935 from the Weepah Pit and underground mining from the high-grade Weepah Vein. Subsequent production in 1986 and 1987, by Sunshine Mining Company ("Sunshine"), was from the Weepah Pit. Ely Gold filed a NI 43-101 report on SEDAR on May 4, 2016. The report identifies two high priority targets based on historic drill data and highlights the drill programs conducted by Columbus and it partners. The report is available on the Company's website at www.elygoldinc.com.

Trey Wasser, President and CEO of Ely Gold commented on the Exchange, "We are very pleased to complete this transaction with Columbus. The consolidation of the Weepah property creates one of the best under-explored projects in Nevada. Once the consolidation of the data is completed, this will be a very important focus property in the Nevada Select portfolio".

"According to a report published by the US Geological Survey1, the Weepah Project was the largest primary gold producer in Nevada during production in 1937" stated Jerry Baughman, President of Nevada Select. "Historic reports also indicate that Sunshine successfully tested the down-dip extension of the high-grade Weepah Vein. The results confirm that this area remains a high priority target. The addition of the Columbus Claims will allow this target to be expanded over one half mile on strike."

Stephen Kenwood, P. Geo, is director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Kenwood has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

About Ely Gold

Ely Gold is focused on developing recurring cash flow streams through the acquisition, consolidation, enhancement, and resale of highly prospective, un-encumbered North American precious metals properties. Ely's property development efforts maximize each property's potential for acquisition, while reserving significant royalty interests. Additional information about Ely Gold is available at the Company's website, at www.elygoldinc.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Signed "Trey Wasser"

Trey Wasser, President & CEO

1 Shamberger, H.A. Weepah. Early History, Development and Water Supply. Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and U.S. Geological Survey. 1975.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

SOURCE Ely Gold & Minerals Inc.

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ATLANTA, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) today announced that the Equifax Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, payable on December 15, 2016, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 23, 2016. Equifax has paid cash dividends for more than 100 consecutive years.

About Equifax

Equifax powers the financial future of individuals and organizations around the world. Using the combined strength of unique trusted data, technology and innovative analytics, Equifax has grown from a consumer credit company into a leading provider of insights and knowledge that helps its customers make informed decisions. The company organizes, assimilates and analyzes data on more than 820 million consumers and more than 91 million businesses worldwide, and its databases include employee data contributed from more than 5,000 employers.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 9,400 employees worldwide.

Some noteworthy achievements for the company include: Ranked 13 on the American Banker FinTech Forward list (2015); named a Top Technology Provider on the FinTech 100 list (2004-2015); named an InformationWeek Elite 100 Winner (2014-2015); named a Top Workplace by Atlanta Journal Constitution (2013-2015); named one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (2011-2015); named one of Forbes' World's 100 Most Innovative Companies (2015). For more information, visit www.equifax.com.

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SOURCE Equifax Inc.

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According to TechSci Research report, "Global Essential Oils Market By Product Type, By Application, By Region Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011-2021", global essential oils market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 9.4%, during 2016-2021, on the back of increasing consumer awareness regarding health benefits associated with using natural & organic personal care products containing herbal essential oils. Use of synthetic additives & flavours in food & beverages industry is on the rise, which causes various health related disorders. This has resulted in increasing number of consumer shifting towards using products made from natural additives, containing essential oils as use of essential oil strengthens the immune system and have no side effects. Expanding online presence of major essential oil manufacturing companies along with growing retail presence using various sales strategies such as multi-level marketing, direct selling, etc. is expected to result in augmented demand for essential oils across the globe over next five years. However, complexities associated with producing essential oils & limited availability of raw materials, combined with lack of awareness among consumers in developing countries regarding using essential oils and its benefits are some of the reasons restricting the growth of essential oils. Young Living Essential Oils, Sydney Essential Oils, Biolandes, H.Reynaud & Fils, The Lebermuth Co., etc. are of few of the leading players operating in the global essential oils market.

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Browse 61 market data Tables and 99 Figures spread through 185 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Global Essential Oils Market"

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Orange essential oils accounted for the largest share in the global essential oils market in 2015. Continuous product innovation and expanding application areas such as using essential oils in food packaging sector, as it helps in food preservation is expected to drive global essential oils market during 2016-2025. Europe accounted for lion's share in the global essential oils market on account of huge concentration of essential oil manufacturers in the region coupled with high demand for essential oils emanating from countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, etc.

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"Rapidly changing consumer preferences towards using natural additives containing essential oils, as essential oils are 100% free from chemicals and contain no synthetic products, along with increasing awareness about the health benefits associated with essential oils and applicability of essential oils ranging from fragrance to flavours, medicinal products, spa treatments, easy availability of the product in brick and mortar retail format and through online point of sales as well coupled with growing disposable income and rising health concerns are the major factors contributing to the growth of essential oils market, globally.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

"Global Essential Oils Market By Product Type, By Application, By Region Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011-2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of global essential oils market and provides statistics and information on market structure, size, share and future growth. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in the global essential oils market.

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Germany Organic Food Market By Type (Organic Meat, Poultry and Dairy Products, Organic Fruits and Vegetables, Organic Processed Food, Organic Bread and Bakery Products, etc.), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

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UAE Chocolates Market By Type (Countline, Molded and Boxed), By Age Group, By Point of Sale (Hypermarkets/ Supermarkets, Convenience Stores, Chocolate Boutiques, Online Retail & Others), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

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LONDON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Heat flows from one object to another by conduction, convection or radiation, depending on the physical state of the medium through which it must flow. Thermal insulation restricts this flow of heat either by reducing the thermal conduction between the objects or by reflecting the thermal radiation. In a building, thermal insulation plays a vital role in regulating the temperature, and saves it from extreme climatic conditions. Moreover, thermal insulation in building is permanent and has zero maintenance and operating cost, unlike air conditioner which has high recurring expenses. Backed by growing construction industry, rising urbanization & industrialization and increasing disposable income, the demand for thermal insulation in the GCC region is expected to witness growth over the next five years. Moreover, greenhouse gas emission reduction, strict regulatory environment and cost efficiency delivered by these products are expected to have a positive impact on the region's thermal insulation market over the next five years. Furthermore, economic recovery as well as planned or underway infrastructure project are also expected to drive the GCC thermal insulation market during forecast period.

According to "GCC Thermal Insulation Market By Type, By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011  2021", the thermal insulation market of the GCC region is projected to cross $975 Million by 2021. In 2015, Saudi Arabia was the largest demand generator for thermal insulation. In order to boost religious tourism, the Saudi Arabian government is investing heavily to develop the hospitality, retail and infrastructure sectors, which resulted in an increase in construction activities, thereby aiding the country's thermal insulation market. Segment-wise, fiberglass dominate the market, as it can be easily installed and are cost-efficient. However, the market for polyurethane foam in the GCC region is expected to outpace the rest of the thermal insulation segments in the coming years. "GCC Thermal Insulation Market By Type, By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011  2021" discusses the following aspects of GCC thermal insulation market:



- GCC Thermal Insulation Market Size, Share & Forecast

- Segmental Analysis  By Type (Fiberglass, Mineral Wool, Polyurethane Foam, Cellulose, Perlite and Others), By Application (Residential, Commercial and Industrial)

- Country Analysis  Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain

- Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities

- Competitive Landscape & Strategic Recommendations



Why You Should Buy This Report?



- To gain an in-depth understanding of GCC thermal insulation market

- To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years

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The information contained in this report is based on both primary and secondary sources. Primary research includes interviews with thermal insulation suppliers, channel partners and industry experts. Secondary research includes an exhaustive search of relevant publications such as company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases.



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LONDON, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Goodvidio, the conversion optimization service helping online stores increase ecommerce sales with product videos curated from social media, announced today it launched the service out of beta and opened it up to public sign-ups. The service is now open to brands and ecommerce stores for a monthly subscription starting at $149, following a 15-day free trial. The company also announced integrations with major ecommerce platforms including Magento and WooCommerce as part of the launch.

Beta results from more than 40 international brands and retailers including Tassimo, Mondelez, Travis Perkins and Deutsche Telekom, showed Goodvidio's ability to deliver an increase of up to +80% in conversion rate, +340% increase in session duration and -70% decrease in bounce rate on product pages enriched with Goodvidio product video galleries.

"We have been delighted with the collaboration with Goodvidio - the execution has been seamless, the results impressive and the team are exceptionally well versed in meaningful metrics," - said Paula Sweetman, Digital Engagement and eCommerce Manager at Jacobs Douwe Egberts. A case study with Tassimo.co.uk reported +74% increase in conversion rates, +161% increase in session duration and +127% increase in pages visited on the brand's ecommerce site using Goodvidio.

Goodvidio specializes in conversion optimization results by making the discovery, curation, publishing, and management of product videos from social media possible at a whole new level of effectiveness and scale.

"64% of purchases made online are now being influenced by videos shared through YouTube. We want to help online retailers bring this invaluable content from social media into their product pages and make the online shopping experience so much more intuitive and convenient, resulting in increased sales," - says Dimitrios Kourtesis, co-founder and CEO of Goodvidio.

Goodvidio has reached $1M seed investment up to present date. The latest investment of $600,000 funding announced today comes from the National Bank of Greece and existing investors JEREMIE Openfund II. The new cash will be directed towards expanding Goodvidio's customer base in Europe and USA.

Online retailers and brands who wish to improve their ecommerce KPIs can now try Goodvidio for free by creating an account at http://www.goodvid.io. They can then select a subscription plan suitable for their store's monthly visitors and get access to standard features like video discovery, curation, publishing and management. Subscription plans go up to $999 per month for more advanced features such as A/B testing and advanced engagement and conversion insights.

About Goodvidio

Goodvidio is conversion rate optimization service helping ecommerce stores and brands utilize product videos from social media to engage shoppers and increase online sales. Goodvidio automates product video discovery, curation, publishing, video management, and optimization. Goodvidio was founded in 2014 and serves multichannel and pure-play online retailers. Goodvidio has raised a total of $1 million of venture funding from National Bank of Greece and JEREMIE Openfund II.

SOURCE Goodvidio
ANNAPOLIS, Md., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. ("Hannon Armstrong," or the "Company") (NYSE: HASI) announced today the pricing of its public offering of 3,500,000 shares of common stock for total estimated gross proceeds of approximately $70 million before deducting estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 525,000 additional shares of common stock.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Securities, Baird and Roth Capital Partners are acting as joint-book running managers for the offering The underwriters propose to offer the shares of common stock from time to time for sale in negotiated transactions or otherwise, at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to such prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. A copy of the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to the offering can be obtained, when available, by contacting: BofA Merrill Lynch, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, or by e-mailing [email protected]; Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., 60 Wall Street, New York, New York 10005, Attention: Prospectus Group, or by emailing [email protected]; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, 375 Park Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10152, Attention: Equity Syndicate, or by telephone at 800-326-5897, or by e-mailing [email protected]; Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Attention: Syndicate Department, 777 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202, or by telephone at 800-792-2473 or by e-mailing at [email protected]; or Roth Capital Partners, LLC, 888 San Clemente, Newport Beach, CA 92660, or by telephone at (800) 678-9147.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the offered shares, nor shall there be any sale of such shares in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

About Hannon Armstrong

Hannon Armstrong invests in the energy efficiency, wind and solar markets. The Company focuses on providing preferred or senior level capital to established sponsors and high credit quality obligors for assets that generate long-term, recurring, and predictable cash flows. The Company is based in Annapolis, MD.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the information contained in this press release are forward-looking statements and within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this press release, the words such as "believe," "expect, "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "continue," "intend," "should," "may," or similar expressions, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on such statements. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements include those discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" included in the Company's report on Form 10-K that was filed with the SEC, as well as in other reports that the Company files with the SEC.

Forward-looking statements are based on beliefs, assumptions and expectations as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements reflecting new estimates, events or circumstances after the date of this press release.

Contact: Investor/Media Relations

Phone: 410-571-6189

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hannonarmstrong.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthstat clinicians from across the United States gathered in Charlotte last week for the Fifth Annual Healthstat University Clinical Series. The only known program of its kind in the workplace wellness industry, Healthstat University provides state-of-the-art training for the company's clinical team, which includes physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical office assistants. They, in turn, provide direct care to more than 300,000 patients from over 300 workplace wellness centers Healthstat manages for employers throughout the U.S.

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Healthstat's newly appointed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Phillip Franklin kicked off Healthstat University by sharing his vision with the company's medical staff. "The success of every one of our health and wellness centers across the country depends on the people we have delivering care," Dr. Franklin said. "Healthstat gives us the ability to do something special that can otherwise get lost in today's delivery of medical care. By taking the time to listen and build relationships with patients, our clinicians can help unlock the potential for change. The words we strive to hear from our patients are, 'I just got better care than I've ever gotten. My providers really took their time with me. They helped me to understand what I need to do next so that I can live the life I want to lead.'" Dr. Franklin noted that to provide the best possible care to patients, providers also have to be able to care for their own well-being on the job.

Highlighting this year's Healthstat University was the clinical team's face-to-face introduction to Clinician on the Move. Laura Putnam of Motion Infusion was on hand to deliver the specially designed training which is a variation of Manager on the Move, co-developed by Putnam and Sara Johnson, Ph.D. of Pro-Change Behavior Systems. Healthstat is the first workplace wellness provider to participate in Manager on the Move. Since starting the program in July, the program has had a transformative effect on the company's culture and work environment. Employees are empowered to devote time and attention to their own health needs in the workplace. They take intermittent stretch breaks throughout the workday. Motion is injected into every meeting, whether it is a walking meeting or a seated meeting where everyone stands up to move. Weekly book clubs have formed, fostering social and intellectual interaction. Employees take "healthy selfies" to share with co-workers. Stairwells have become the cultural norm instead of elevators. Standing desks and treadmill desks enable employees to avoid the health hazards of prolonged sitting. The office itself has been transformed with alternative spaces designed for a sense of community or for quiet concentration. Employees can work in a space that fits their needs at the time.

"When our employees are at their best and fully energized, we can also better engage our clinic participants," said Dr. Franklin. "Healthstat University allows us to bring our clinical team together from all over the United States so they can personally engage with their colleagues, learn from one another, and take that knowledge and skill back to their clinics to raise engagement levels across our entire sphere of influence."

For more information about Healthstat, visit www.healthstatinc.com.

About Healthstat, Inc.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Healthstat, Inc. is a leading provider of onsite primary care, health-risk intervention, chronic care management and occupational medicine in employer facilities. For more information, visit www.healthstatinc.com.

Media Contacts:

Jennifer Maze, Marketing

Healthstat, Inc.

704-960-0317

[email protected]

Kara Dullea

Details PR

(864) 275-3331

[email protected]

SOURCE Healthstat, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.healthstatinc.com


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Browse 61 market data Tables and 78 Figures spread through 146 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/intelligent-platform-management-interface-market-175880366.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The most significant factor driving the IPMI market is the rising demand for enhanced the server management, along with the reduced cost of ownership, and also increase in ICT spending and growing trend to adopting data center by organizations.

Hardware component hold the largest share of the intelligent platform management interface market

The hardware component in the IPMI architecture is responsible for the collection of data related to physical characteristics of a server, inventory; logging states; and recovery control. The market for baseboard management controller in the hardware component is expected to grow at the highest rate because with the advancement in processing technologies, along with the increase in amount of data to be handled, the servers and others devices, nowadays, perform more tasks under critical conditions. Therefore, more number of sensors and controls would be integrated which is likely to increase the load in BMC. Hence, upgradation of BMC would be required in future servers to handle more data related to sensors and controls and deliver it to the system administrator in lesser time.

The market for IPMI servers is expected to grow at the highest rate

Servers held the largest share of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface Market and the market for the same is also expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. Apart from the fact that the intelligent platform management interface was mainly designed for server management, the remote access of the server has become increasingly very important. The mission-critical server environment has made it important to monitor server health throughout the day. The IPMI provides features such as KVM over IP, IPMI over LAN, and KVM over LAN to remotely access the servers and take corrective actions in case of emergency situation.

North America is the major consumer of the IPMI market

North America is expected to account for the largest share in 2016 of the IPMI market. The Americas is home to many established data centers and cloud providers companies. Also, growing adoption of data center culture by small and medium businesses made the IPMI market to grow exponentially in the North America.

Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=175880366

The report also profiles the most promising players in the IPMI market. The competitive landscape of the market presents a very interesting picture where several big and small players have become a force to reckon with. The key players in the IPMI market are Intel Corporation (U.S.), NEC Corporation (Japan), ARM Holdings Inc. (U.K.), Dell, Inc. (U.S.), HPE (U.S.), Microsoft (U.S.), Softlayer Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Emerson (U.S.), Super Micro Computer, Inc. (U.S.), and Cisco (U.S.), among others.

Browse Related Reports

Cloud Infrastructure Market by Type (Hardware: Server, Storage, Switch, Services: Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a service, Content/Application Delivery Network, Managed Hosting, Colocation), End-User Industry & Geography - Global Forecast to 2022

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cloud-infrastructure-market-119658259.html

White Box Server Market by Form Factor (Rack & Tower, Blade, Density-Optimized), Business Type (Data Centers, Enterprise Customers), Processor (X86, non-X86), Operating System (Linux, Windows, UNIX), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/white-box-server-market-219773580.html

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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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
Mr. Kilman is Chief Executive Officer of Scarborough, NY-based KielStrand Capital, a family office merchant bank that makes and manages investments, provides advisory services and engages in philanthropic activities. He retired earlier this year as Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, having spent a total of 32 years in senior investment banking roles, including earlier stints at Goldman Sachs, ABN AMRO and PaineWebber.

Executive Chairman and Founder, Jerome Feldman, commented, "It is a pleasure to welcome Jim Kilman to the Board of alpha-En Corporation. An early investor in alpha-En, he is widely admired as an investment banker, an advisor on strategy, mergers and restructurings, and for raising debt and equity capital. His decades of experience and his deep expertise will be invaluable to us as alpha-En grows."

"I'm very excited to be deepening my relationship with alpha-En by joining its Board," Mr. Kilman said. "It's an exciting time for the company as it begins to commercialize its ground-breaking approach to lithium production. I look forward to working with the alpha-En team."

Mr. Kilman will serve on the Audit and Compensation Committees of the Board. He also serves on the Boards of privately held Berwyn, PA-based Modular Space Corporation, and of privately held New York City-based Lebenthal Holdings LLC. He serves on the Board of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Cold Spring, NY, and on the Finance and Investments Committee of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY. He is Treasurer of his Yale College Class, and has previously been active on the Parents Association Boards at Bucknell University and Carleton College.

Mr. Kilman holds an MA and a BA in Economics from Yale University.

About alpha-En Corporation

Alpha-En Corporation (OTC PINK: ALPE) is an innovative clean technology company focused on enabling next generation battery technologies by developing and bringing to market high purity lithium metal and association products produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. For more information, please visit http://alpha-encorp.com.

Corporate Contact

Thomas Suppanz, Managing Director of Finance

[email protected]

914 418 2000

Joe Allen

DresnerAllenCaron

[email protected]

212 691 8087

Safe Harbor

Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news release may include forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current knowledge, assumptions, judgment and expectations regarding future performance or events. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such statements are reasonable, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as they are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially. alpha-En Corporation assumes no obligation to update the information in this release. Reference to the Company's website above does not constitute incorporation of any of the information thereon into this press release.

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SOURCE alpha-En Corporation

Related Links

http://alpha-encorp.com


LONDON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Which MS drug gets the biggest market share bump when doctors can't prescribe rivals?

In the highly competitive multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment market, prescription barriers helped 5 of the 10 brands we surveyed eke out narrow market share gains while the other 5 lost out. Which barriers had the biggest impact? Are they the ones that helped the most prescribed brand gain three times as much market share as its closest rival?

Find out in Market Access Impact: MS. Request sample pages

The report covers 10 major MS drugs from Bayer, Biogen, EMD Serono, Genzyme, Novartis, and Teva. You'll learn which barriers cost your brand the most share, and see which competitors you're losing share to and taking it frominsight you can use to improve your market access strategy.

Not your market? Click here to see the EU report



Top Takeaways



Highly competitive market: More than two thirds of the doctors surveyed prescribe eight of the ten brands covered in the report. Nearly all doctors prescribe the top two brands.

Half of brands benefit from barriers: But the most prescribed brand benefits the most, with a barrier-related gain three times as high as any competitor's.

Market access is the #1 issue: Barriers related to market access affect nearly as many prescriptions as all other barriers combined.

Excellent brand awareness and perception: Nearly all doctors surveyed are aware of the brands covered, and most of them are willing to consider brands they don't currently prescribe.

Clear market loser: More doctors experience barriers with one brand in particular. Not surprisingly, that brand is least prescribed, and sees a net share loss to all of the others.





Insight into 10 Major MS Drugs



Aubagio (teriflunomide; Genzyme)

Avonex (interferon beta-1a; Biogen)

Betaferon (interferon beta-1b; Bayer)

Copaxone (glatiramer acetate; Teva)

Gilenya (fingolimod; Novartis)

Lemtrada (alemtuzumab; Genzyme)

Plegridy (peginterferon beta-1a; Biogen)

Rebif (interferon beta-1a; Merck Group)

Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate; Biogen)

Tysabri (natalizumab; Biogen)



Paragraph>Exploring Market Access Barriers

Market Access Impact: MS explores key issues affecting MS drug manufacturers. You'll learn:



How barriers affect market access:

What brands do doctors prescribe the most?

How many prescriptions do barriers affect?

Which barriers have the biggest impact?

How barriers affect your brand:

How many doctors prescribe your brand? How many don't, but would consider it?

Why don't doctors prescribe your brand? What do they prescribe instead?

Which competing brands does your brand take market share from?



A Report Based on Expert Knowledge

We surveyed 100 US neurologists, chosen from the largest community of validated physicians in the world.

All respondents have:



Been practicing for 2+ years

Prescribed at least one of the listed products

Seen at least 5 patients with MS in total in the last month



We conducted the survey between July 7th and 13th, 2016.





MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!

At FirstWord, we stand behind our reports. If you're not completely satisfied, we'll refund your money. Guaranteed.







Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4201028/



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

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HOUSTON, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Since 1941, when the Texas Legislature established the state's first cancer hospital, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has been a beacon of hope for more than 1.1 million patients. The nation's No. 1 hospital for cancer care and research will mark its 75th anniversary with a weeklong celebration, Nov. 7-14. During its sold-out gala on Nov. 10, which has raised more than $13.5 million, Vice President Joe Biden will deliver remarks and the creation of the Beau Biden Chair for Brain Cancer Research will be announced.

Throughout its 75-year history, MD Anderson has been recognized around the globe for its contributions to the understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. From early advances in diagnostic radiology and the development of mammography technology to the basic science exploration that led to immunotherapy and our ability to harness the immune system to attack cancer, MD Anderson's multi-disciplinary approach to cancer care has led to significant progress for more than seven decades. Watch this commemorative anniversary video, 75 years in 75 seconds.

"As we celebrate this historic milestone, we're inspired by the extraordinary vision of MD Anderson's forefathers, and we remain focused on our mission to end cancer by disrupting the status quo with big ideas and bold initiatives like the Moon Shots Program," said Ronald A. DePinho, M.D., president of MD Anderson. "We're honored to welcome dignitaries from around the world, including Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, to reflect on our many breakthroughs and envision Making Cancer History. As cancer fighters, we're driven by boundless hope and optimism made possible with each scientific discovery, each clinical breakthrough and each new piece of knowledge disseminated. Knowledge is cancer's greatest vulnerability and its dissemination will make a meaningful impact on patients and their families."

MD Anderson's drive and innovation have led to lifesaving advances for patients around the globe. In 2012, MD Anderson launched the Moon Shots Program, an institution-wide effort focused on rapidly and dramatically reducing mortality and suffering in cancer. In the program's first three years of implementation, researchers and clinicians have blazed new trails in translational research, making novel cancer therapies available to patients and beginning clinical trials in first-in-class drugs.

MD Anderson also enables patients to access its care, expertise and research-based approaches through collaborations with likeminded community hospitals, health systems and academic centers. The MD Anderson Cancer Network includes 24 institutions from California to New Jersey, and the institution's international work influences the cancer care of approximately one-third of the world's population.

"Cancer affects everyone. As the world's premier cancer center, we have a solemn responsibility to quickly share our knowledge to address this global program," said DePinho. "As we celebrate the outstanding work of our colleagues over the past 75 years, we also look to the future with enthusiasm during this golden era of cancer research. Now, more than ever, we have the opportunity to confine cancer to history for the generations to come."

To commemorate its diamond jubilee, the institution plans an array of festivities to recognize patients and survivors, donors, volunteers, employees and faculty members. The schedule of activities includes an employee recognition event, a cancer survivorship conference, the Boot Walk to End Cancer, commemorated by a 75th anniversary boot ornament designed by MD Anderson's Children's Art Project, a faculty convocation, an employee service awards banquet and a gala dinner underwritten by Cooper University Health Care.

"In the fast-paced world of cancer research and care, anniversaries offer an opportunity to reflect on all that we've accomplished," said John Mendelsohn, M.D., MD Anderson's third full-time president and professor of Genomic Medicine. "MD Anderson is like no other institution in the world. The accomplishments made within its walls during the past 75 years are profound, and what is yet to come is unimaginable. We truly are Making Cancer History."

About MD Anderson

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. The institution's sole mission is to end cancer for patients and their families around the world. MD Anderson is one of only 45 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). MD Anderson is ranked No.1 for cancer care in U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals" survey. It has ranked as one of the nation's top two hospitals since the survey began in 1990, and has ranked first for nine of the past 10 years. MD Anderson receives a cancer center support grant from the NCI of the National Institutes of Health (P30 CA016672).

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SOURCE The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Related Links

http://www.mdanderson.org


SAN DIEGO, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- County of San Diego voters have a very clear choice before them November 8.

The region is in the midst of the worst housing crisis in generations, with no end in sight. Nearly all housing experts agree, the best way to keep families together and pull the County out of this crisis, is to build more homes. Just building new homes however, without a clear vision for what's needed, won't solve this crisis.

Some developers just want to build a few luxury estates for the wealthy that will make traffic and pollution worse for our region. Others, like the development at the heart of Measure B, is arguably smartest way forward. Lilac Hills Ranch will be an eco-friendly community of villages that will provide affordable housing for middle-class families, first-time buyers and seniors.

Measure B is going before the voters of San Diego County this Tuesday. Gary London, a real estate and financial expert with the London Group said, "Measure B will be a paradigm for future County development. We need to understand that the housing developments of the past, with larger lots and heavy water landscaping, not only won't pull us out of this crisis, those developments will exacerbate the problem. We need our communities to have a bigger and better vision, and Measure B will provide that for the County."

Measure B will provide single-family homes, condos and senior living choices.

Gordon Carrier, a well known architect and Green Building expert said of Measure B: "The community has the highest rating that National Green Building Standard offers under its program for sustainability. I think it is among the most eco-friendly in the region."

Measure B will fund a Water Recycling Plant and use less water than is currently being used on the site.

Measure B will reduce GHG emissions by 30.4%.

Measure B will be an eco-friendly community. It will preserve over 100 acres of natural open space, over 80 acres of agriculture and will restore and enhance over 18 acres of creeks and wetlands.

For these reasons and more, housing and financial experts are urging the voters of San Diego County to vote Yes on B. For more information go to https://yesforbetter.org/

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SOURCE Measure B San Diego

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HARRISON, N.Y., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTC: MGTI) announced today that it plans to move ahead with the shareholder approved Asset Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement") for D-Vasive, which includes the acquisition of Demonsaw. Per the closing conditions of the Agreement, the Company will also execute employment agreements with John McAfee and Eric "Eijah" Anderson as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer, respectively.

The Agreement was overwhelmingly approved by MGT's shareholders at the Company's Annual Meeting held on September 8, 2016. The terms of the Agreement are described in detail in MGT's definitive proxy statement for the meeting, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 15, 2016. This document can be accessed via the Company's website, www.mgtci.com or at www.sec.gov. In spite of the shareholder vote, a unilateral decision by the New York Stock Exchange prevented the Company from issuing the shares necessary to consummate the deal.

MGT's Board of Directors is determined to not permit the actions of the NYSE to derail the Company's commitment to building an innovative cybersecurity company. Therefore, the Board has decided not to appeal the decision of the NYSE to delist MGT's common stock, and to instead move forward with the acquisitions of D-Vasive and Demonsaw. This decision is based on our belief that an appeal would have little likelihood of success given the lack of transparency the NYSE provided prior to the appeal deadline. Furthermore, the Board anticipated that the appeal process would be costly and time consuming, further delaying the Company's business initiatives. The Company expects to be listed on OTCQB as soon as the acquisitions close.

Robert Ladd, President of MGT, stated, "Due to its apparent subjectivity, we still do not fully understand the unilateral decision or circumstances that led the NYSE to delist our common stock from the Exchange. Our Board of Directors doesn't believe the Company has received fair treatment from the NYSE, nor would it expect to receive fair treatment in an appeal process. Instead, we will focus on building MGT's business to prove our value to shareholders."

MGT's acquisitions of the D-Vasive and Demonsaw assets are at the core of the cybersecurity directive for the Company as established by technology pioneer John McAfee. These technologies will complement the Company's current commercialization plans for its Sentinel technology, a network intrusion detector, and its E-Tagged technology, a mobile device tracking platform. In addition, the Company's bitcoin mining operations are expanding, allowing MGT to leverage blockchain technologies as it advances its cybersecurity offerings.

John McAfee, Executive Chairman and incoming CEO explained, "This long delayed acquisition places MGT solidly among the frontrunners in the race to create the next generation of cybersecurity products. No area of research and development is more critical to the survival of our economy and even our way of life. The cyber weapons of the hacking world are gaining daily in sophistication and power, already outmatching most existing cybersecurity products. At MGT, we understand the urgency of this threat and must act accordingly. This acquisition is happening not a moment too soon."

"We are dedicated to our strategy and will establish MGT as a truly innovative cybersecurity company. Eijah and I are here to win. Watch us now," concluded Mr. McAfee.

About D-Vasive

D-Vasive offers a powerful tool for protection from the proliferation of invasive apps by consumer products companies, social networks, financial institutions and others. These invasive apps can secretly turn on a phone's microphone and camera, as well as monitor geographic movements and access contacts. The D-Vasive technology operates in a unique way, allowing the user to manage and control the device's internal hardware.

About Demonsaw

Demonsaw is a provider of a secure and anonymous file sharing software platform. Using multiple layers of encryption (both symmetric and asymmetric), Demonsaw offers users full control of data and also offers private router services. Demonsaw is a fully decentralized, mesh-based network that does not use P2P, providing protection of IP addresses. Demonsaw is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows, Apple OSX, Android, Raspberry Pi and Ubuntu.

About MGT Capital Investments, Inc.

MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTC: MGTI) is in the process of acquiring a diverse portfolio of cyber security technologies. With cyber security industry pioneer John McAfee at its helm, MGT Capital is positioned to address various cyber threats through advanced protection technologies for mobile and personal tech devices, including tablets and smartphones.

MGT Capital intends to change its corporate name to "John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc."

For more information on the Company, please visit http://ir.stockpr.com/mgtci.

Forwardlooking Statements

This press release contains forwardlooking statements. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forwardlooking statements." MGT's financial and operational results reflected above should not be construed by any means as representative of the current or future value of its common stock. All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forwardlooking statements. This includes all statements about the Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates and projections, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations, maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business, license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's most recently filed annual report and registration statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forwardlooking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forwardlooking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor Contact

Garth Russell

Managing Director

KCSA Strategic Communications

[email protected]

212.896.1250

Media Contact

Tiffany Madison

Director of Corporate Communications

MGT Capital Investments, Inc.

[email protected]

469.236.9569

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SOURCE MGT Capital Investments, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mgtci.com


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Miracles In Sight, one of the largest eye banks in the world, has donated $500,000 to the Duke Eye Center in Durham, NC to pilot a three-year program designed to improve the availability of human eye tissue for sight-saving research. The grant will also be used to establish a registry where individuals suffering from eye disease can indicate their desire to donate their eyes to research.

"Scientists are facing a shortage of donated human eye tissue for research, which is critical for understanding the root causes of eye disease," says Dr. Daniel Stamer, Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, Duke Eye Center. "Damaged tissue from devastating diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration provide valuable research material for these uniquely human conditions."

Stamer points out that while eye banks, such as Miracles In Sight, are doing a great job of providing tissue for corneal transplants, research is always looking down the road to identify causes and cures of disease.

"With this program, we are trying to increase the number and quality of donor eyes for research, streamline procurement protocols and provide better medical documentation of tissue," explains Stamer. "Having a good medical history on donor tissue will help us understand what has happened to the eyes over a life span, which informs our research and moves us closer to identifying cures."

Stamer and his team have worked with Miracles In Sight and Duke University Hospital to lift age restrictions on donated tissue, gain access to medical records, and implement procedures for recovering and delivering tissue directly to scientists in half the time.

"One of our goals for this first-of-a-kind project is to develop a model that can be replicated at other research centers, making it easier for eye researchers to obtain fresh tissue locally," Stamer says. "We also want to spread the message to patients, their families and their doctors that we are trying to help people with eye disease. While patients may think their eyes are broken, they may be surprised to learn that their eyes are incredibly valuable."

"We are excited to provide funding for Dr. Stamer's important research," says Dean Vavra, CEO, Miracles In Sight. "In addition to our dedication to helping restore sight through transplantation, we are committed to supporting laboratory research that will advance our understanding of blinding diseases, leading to cures."

The Miracles In Sight grant will be used for tissue procurement, development of protocols for and creation of an eye donation registry to ensure that donors and their families can elect donation of eye tissue for research if the donor tissue is ineligible for transplantation, and establishment of more effective documentation procedures of donor tissue through the integration of electronic medical records across Duke's medical center.

About Miracles In Sight

Miracles In Sight (formerly the North Carolina Eye Bank), based in Winston-Salem, NC, is one of the largest eye banks in the world. The mission of Miracles In Sight is to recover, process and distribute ocular tissue for the restoration of sight through corneal transplantation and related medical therapy and research. A significant part of this mission is stewardship focused on training and educating the medical community and supporting partners and organizations around the world.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Bob Russ

Director of Communications and

Human Resources

Miracles In Sight

O: 336.765.0932, x1400

[email protected] Martha Murphy

Public Relations Director

The Reuben Rink Co.

O: 336.397.5407

C: 336.408.5015

[email protected]

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SOURCE Miracles In Sight

Related Links

http://www.miraclesinsight.org


Now that we're less than a month away from December, the race to the Oscars is truly on.

With the likes of Allied, The Light Between Oceans and A United Kingdom all in heavy contention for the Oscars, it's going to be an excellent month for film fans. As well as this, JK Rowling's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them makes it way to the cinema and you've also got sci-fi epic Arrival in screens as well.

Let's take a look!

NOVEMBER 4th

The Accountant

Ben Affleck stars in this thriller about an accountant who suffers from autism, but is also a mathematical genius who has been recruited by a shady accountancy firm that specialises in pinpointing financial irregularities and laundering money from various criminal enterprises. When a retiring Treasury director (JK Simmons) tries to take down his firm, he recruits a young analyst (Anna Kendrick) to get close to him and uncover his secrets.

Nocturnal Animals

Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams and Isla Fisher star in this stylish thriller about a gallery owner (Adams) who is contacted by her estranged ex-husband, out of the blue after several years of no contact, and asks her to read his latest novel. As she reads, she recalls their relationship and how it broke down and how the events of her own divorce are mirrored and refracted through the novel he sent her.

A Street Cat Named Bob

Based on the novel of the same name by James Bowen, Luke Treadaway stars in this drama about a recovering heroin addict whose life is changed irrevocably when he meets a young tabby cat. At first, he's more or less ambivalent to the cat but soon develops a strong and unique bond with it that will define them both.

The Light Between Oceans

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander star in this period drama about a young couple who, whilst living on a remote island off the coast of Western Australia, find a baby abandoned in a boat next to what is believed to be the baby's father. As they themselves have been trying unsuccessfully for a child, they decide to raise it as it were their own.

NOVEMBER 11th

Arrival

Directed by Sicario's Denis Villeneuve, Arrival follows a linguistics professor and a mathematician who are recruited by the US government to make contact with one of twelve alien craft that's appeared across the planet. The aliens speak an unusual language that bears absolutely no resemblance to any human creation, and with mounting tensions across Earth, the race is on to make contact with the aliens before humanity tears itself apart.

NOVEMBER 18th

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Set almost eighty years before the Harry Potter series, a young wizard (Eddie Redmaye) is tracking exotic animals and creatures across the world and arrives in New York. However, it becomes clear that he's wandered into something more dangerous than he realised and when his collection of rare animals escapes, he's in bigger trouble than he realises.

NOVEMBER 25th

Almost Christmas

After the death of their mother, the Meyers reunite for Christmas and try to work out their issues and celebrate the holiday season together.

A United Kingdom

Based on the true story of the marriage, life and times of Seretse Khama and his wife, Englishwoman Ruth Williams, A United Kingdom stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. Educated in England, Khama - the son of a powerful tribal leader - falls in love with a young clerk and marries; against the wishes of both his own people and the larger forces at play in the region. Returning to his native Botswana with his wife, Khama and Williams work to create a new life for themselves in the face of racial discrimination and hostility to their interracial marriage.

Allied

Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard star in this World War II thriller about a Canadian intelligence officer who marries a French resistance agent. However, when confronted with evidence that his new wife may in fact be a Nazi sleeper agent, he must embark on a desperate mission to clear her name and protect his family.

Bad Santa 2

Billy Bob Thornton is back as Willie T. Stokes, the world's worst Santa. This time around, Willie's forced to team up with his mother and bring along Marcus and Thurman Merman in order to steal close to $2,000,000 from a charity. Yes, really. Expect it to be rude, lewd and crude.

The Edge Of Seventeen

Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson star in this teen dramedy about the blunder years we all go through. Nadine (Steinfeld) is already painfully awkward and anti-social, and it's made all the worse when she finds out her best friend (Haley Lu Richardson) is dating her older jock brother, played by Blake Jenner. Trying to help her make sense of it all is her reluctant mentor and history teacher, Woody Harrelson.

Leave a comment below with the name of the film you are most looking forward to seeing to be in with a chance to win a pair of ODEON cinema passes (remember you can comment with your Facebook account).



This Competition is now closed. Congratulations to our winners Jackie27 & CalUni
LONDON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This study focuses on China's Motorcycles market trends. In the two past decades, the market has been growing at a fast pace. The dramatic expansions of the manufacturing capabilities and rising consumer consumptions in China have transformed China's society and economy. China is one of the world's major producers for industrial and consumer products. Far outpacing other economies in the world, China is the world's fastest growing market for the consumptions of goods and services.

The Chinese economy maintains a high speed growth which has been stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output, imports & exports, consumer consumption and capital investment for over two decades. Rapid consolidation between medium and large players is anticipated since the Chinese government has been encouraging industry consolidation with an effort to regulate the industry and to improve competitiveness in the world market.

Although China has enjoyed the benefits of an expanding market for production and distribution, the industry is suffering from minimal innovation and investment in R&D and new product development. The sector's economies of scale have yet to be achieved. Most domestic manufacturers lack the autonomic intellectual property and financial resources to develop their own brand name products.

This new study focuses on market trends and forecasts with historical data (2005, 2010 and 2015) and long-term forecasts through 2020 and 2025 are presented. The primary and secondary research is done in China in order to access up-to-date government regulations, market information and industry data. Data were collected from the Chinese government publications, Chinese language newspapers and magazines, industry associations, local governments' industry bureaus, industry publications, and our in-house databases.

Asia Market Info & Dev Co. is one of the leading sources for up-to-date market information and research on the fastest-growing Chinese markets. We have published over 2,000 reports focusing on the Chinese markets, industry forecasts and company profiles. We provide hard-to-find market data and analyses. Our publications are intended to help international marketers identify business opportunities and promote their product sales in the Chinese markets.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4268665/

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

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BELIZE CITY, Belize, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The directors and management of N1 Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: NTCHF) today reported results for the fiscal 2016 third quarter ended September 30, 2016. Net assets for the fiscal 2016 third quarter were $15,553,500 a dramatic increase over the previous quarter. "We have made great progress in executing our transformation agenda as a Biotechnology focused company. Our solid first three quarters of 2016 positions us well to deliver our full year 2016 outlook and 2017 Financial targets," commented Steve Lovern, President & CEO. "Our focus on the Viritron Biopharmaceutical treatments currently under development, costs and overall restructuring have placed us in a good environment to drive strong expansion and earnings growth. Our continued investment in our established brands, supply chain, sales and distribution capabilities continue to improve. This builds on our overall abilities to drive sustainable revenue and earnings growth."

N1Technologies Inc. Q3 Financial Results here: http://www.otcmarkets.com/financialReportViewer?symbol=NTCHF&id=162036

NEW MISSION

N1 Technologies Inc. is a Global leader in the Research & Development of nanotechnology innovations, in the fields of nanotechnology and Biotechnology. The company has evolved since 2013 into a pure Bio-Tech enterprise. Originally the company manufactured a small number of its patented nanotechnology based products and marketed them to a worldwide consumer base. Over the last year the company has focused on R&D for future licensing of it's patented Viritron VDX, VPN and Mini Lab anti-bacterial treatments for Staphylococcus and Streptococcus bacterial infections. The company intends to enter this $30 Billion dollar market as a major supplier of anti-bacterial Genetically Modified Organisms, that offer an effective treatment for life threatening infections. "We have a unique strategy and exciting way to quickly monetize our R&D efforts by marketing our treatments to areas of the world desperate for effective anti-bacterial treatments. This strategy creates early patent value and great potential for our shareholders," says Mr. Lovern.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "will" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Corporation's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Corporation. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Corporation is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

http://www.N1Technologies.com

RELATED LINKS

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE N1 Technologies Inc.

Related Links

http://www.n1technologies.com


"All of us at Purina commend and sincerely thank those who bravely serve our country," said Steve Degnan, chief human resources officer for Nestle Purina PetCare. "As a veteran myself, I know first-hand that veterans can bring a competitive advantage to the workplace because of our unique skills, loyalty and discipline. Purina offers numerous job opportunities to veterans at our sites across the U.S. through a dedicated military veteran career page, and veteran outreach and training are key components of our Project Opportunity initiative."

Project Opportunity is a career-acceleration program launched by Nestle in 2015. It is designed to help military veterans and people of all ages gain work experience and strengthen their professional development skills. Since its beginning, Purina is on target to hire more than 200 people by 2016 into roles as interns, management development trainees and apprentices in many areas of our business and factory locations across the U.S.

As part of Project Opportunity, Purina recently partnered with Hirepurpose, an organization committed to transitioning service members, veterans and military spouses into careers. Purina also partners with RallyPoint, an online social community for active and veteran military and supporters, and has proudly supported The Mission Continues for several years. These partnerships will help Nestle and Purina achieve the goal of being an Employer of Choice among veterans and their spouses, family and supporters by 2017.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are more than 21 million veterans living in the United States today. Since Purina's founding, the company has employed veterans from both World Wars, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the engagements in the Persian Gulf, and Veterans that served in peacetime, stateside and around the world.

"I have worked many places in the past and had the privilege of serving in the U.S. Navy on board two aircraft carriers in several foreign countries. But the best place I've ever worked is here at Nestle Purina," said Karen Bolhuis, Manager of Purina's Associate Wellness Center, Nurse Practitioner.

Purina's 2016 Annual Veterans Day celebration includes the following:



Inspirational Speaker Major General Cassie Strom - Tuesday, November 8 Inspirational speaker Major General Cassie Strom will share the challenges she faced rising to the rank of Major General during her 31-year military career, and how veterans' military strengths, skills and experience translate to success in the civilian world. Strom retired in July 2015 .

- Purina Military Tribute Event - Wednesday, November 9 Purina's lobby will be filled with representatives from the CHAMP Assist Dogs, Dogs on Deployment, Marine Corps League, Mission Continues, Navy League, Pets for Vets, Team Red, White and Blue, and more. Performance by select members of the United States Air Force Band. Demonstrations by Scott Air Force Base working dogs. Purina associates will have the opportunity to create gift bags for military pets.

- Veterans Day Ceremony - Thursday, November 10 Purina associates will gather in the company's lobby to hear guest speakers from Dogs on Deployment and Purina's leadership team. Washington University's ROTC Color Guard will present the colors at the beginning of the event.

-

In addition to these events for Purina associates, Purina is asking consumers to vote for their favorite military pet charity. Visit PureLoveForPets.com and vote for either Dogs on Deployment or Pets for Vets through November 15. The charity garnering the most votes will receive a $75,000 donation, and the other charity will receive $25,000.

Project Opportunity is part of Nestle's broader efforts to develop talent for the company and help tackle the global unemployment crisis. Nestle recently joined the Global Apprenticeships Network (GAN), a coalition of companies, employers' federations and associations that addresses the global unemployment crisis and the need for business to ensure skills for the future.

To learn more about career opportunities for veterans or to apply for a position at Nestle Purina, please visit https://www.nestlepurinacareers.com/career-opportunities/veterans/

About Nestle Purina PetCare

Nestle Purina PetCare promotes responsible pet care, community involvement and the positive bond between people and their pets. A premiere global manufacturer of pet products, Nestle Purina PetCare is part of Swiss-based Nestle S.A., a global leader in nutrition, health and wellness.

Please visit the Nestle Purina News Center at http://newscenter.purina.com/ for the latest Purina news, press releases, statements, and Purina media contacts.

*Nestle Purina PetCare Company will donate a total of $100,000, split between Dogs on Deployment, and Pets for Vets based upon total votes received by each participating charity between 10/26/16 and 11/15/16. Limit one (1) vote per person/day. See complete Terms and donation details at www.pureloveforpets.com for details.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161102/435485

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161102/435486



SOURCE Nestle Purina PetCare
HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Treasurer Timothy Reese today announced that he has suspended Wells Fargo from any Treasury investment or trading activities for one year because of its fraudulent accounts scandal. The decision was made following a recent meeting with bank representatives.

"As the state's financial custodian, I am very concerned about the impact of Wells Fargo's conduct on the state and our taxpayers," said Treasurer Reese. "While Treasury wasn't impacted directly, the bank's actions call into question its internal controls and culture, and until the bank fixes those problems, they will not be eligible for investment or trading work with Treasury."

Following the announcement that Wells Fargo had reached a $185 million settlement with the federal government over the fraudulent accounts, Treasurer Reese asked for the meeting with the bank to understand better the scope of the issue and to discuss what actions were planned to ensure the problem wouldn't happen again. Bank representatives told Treasury that there were approximately 80,000 potentially unauthorized accounts in Pennsylvania of which more than 2,600 had incurred fees that have already been reimbursed.

Treasury will continue to monitor the situation and may re-evaluate the bank's status should it demonstrate progress in reforming its operations and culture.

Media contact: Scott Sloat, 717-783-4098, 717-695-1789 or [email protected]

The Pennsylvania Treasury is an independent department of state government led by the state treasurer, who is elected every four years. The department's primary duty is to safeguard and manage the state's public funds. It invests state money to generate income on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania, reviews and processes payments for state government agencies, and serves as custodian of more than $100 billion in state funds. Key Treasury programs include Unclaimed Property, PA 529 College Savings Program and the Board of Finance and Revenue. To learn more visit patreasury.gov.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Treasury

Related Links

http://www.patreasury.gov


"The interest in the event demonstrates the critical importance of the IoT industry," said Braughnwynn "Bibi" Jackson, Event & Marketing Director, IoT Emerge. "Our goal was to provide those on the front lines of IoT with the insights, advice and actionable tactics they need to achieve measureable results within their organizations. From the Conference Program and the Exhibitors showcase solutions to the Site Tours and everything in between - it was exciting to do our inaugural event in Chicago."

The IoT Emerge conference tracks focused on Industrial IoT, IoT Engineering, Smart Buildings & Energy, IoT Security and Women in IoT and brought together private and public sector leaders; operations, IT, engineering, and facilities management; along with system integrators and IoT product developers. Examples of prominent speakers in the tracks included Professor William (Bill) Butler, Chair, Cyber & Information Security and Director, Critical Infrastructures & Cyber Protection Center, Capitol Technology University; Don DeLoach, CEO and President, Infobright; and Michelle Curtis, Sr Manager, IoT Strategy, AIS Division at TechData. Penton's series of events this week in Chicago also included SmartGig Chicago, IWCE's Critical LTE Communications Forum, and The Energy Times' Empowering Customers & Cities conference.

Keynote presenter, Dr. Timothy C.K. Chou, Chairman, Alchemist Accelerator opened the conference program yesterday with the presentation "Towards a Precision Planet" where he discussed a strategic IoT planning framework and how software and data intelligence truly has the potential to change the world. Tamara McCleary, Founder, CEO & Brand Ambassador, Thulium.co followed his presentation with a Keynote entitled "Living IoT: The Intersection of Today and Tomorrow" and inspired the audience on the power and possibility of industry in assembling the various pieces together of IoT in relation to the interrelated nature of Big Data, Security, Energy and Utilities, Smart Buildings, and Industrial Manufacturing.

In addition, the Women in IoT keynote and luncheon provided a forum for discussions on the most relevant industry topics and a setting for women to meet, exchange ideas and network. Keynote speaker Sandy Carter, Founder, CEO and Brand Ambassador for Silicon Blitz, discussed "Blitzing the Future." Carter discussed that female founders are driving the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurship and IoT is one of the hottest areas of investment.

Today event attendees had the opportunity to visit one of four locations  UI LABS, Winzeler Gear, Plant Chicago and The Morey Corporation  putting IoT into practice. The site visits included a tour of each facility as well as a "Lunch & Learn."

The IoT Emerge Diamond sponsor was Avnet, Gold sponsors were SAP, Autodesk Fusion Connect and LNS Research, and Silver sponsors were RF Digital and Eaton. The events Strategic Partners included AFCOM, BOMA, BPI Network, CABA, CMO Council, CompTIA, Industrial Internet Consortium, and the Illinois Technology Association, along with IoT Emerge Knowledge Partner  McKinsey & Co.

IoT Emerge 2017 is scheduled for September 6  8, 2017 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Sponsors interested in participating in the 2017 event contact Amanda Buehner at [email protected].

Stay connected with Penton IoT Institute on Twitter @IoTiPenton, Facebook: IoT Institute and LinkedIn Group: The IoT Institute. To sign up for the IoT Institute weekly IoTi Informer newsletter, visit: www.ioti.com.

About Penton's IoT Institute

Penton's IoT Institute is an online community and live events franchise focused on practical B2B applications in the rapidly growing world of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT Institute provides actionable case studies, insights, research, and e-learning on the industrial and cultural phenomenon that's changing the shape of business and cities today. The IoT Institute's mission is to enable cross-industry and cross-job function learning to drive business performance.

ABOUT PENTON

Penton is an innovative information services company that empowers nearly 20 million business decision makers in markets that drive more than 12 trillion dollars in purchases each year. Our products inform with rich industry insights and workflow tools; engage through dynamic events, education and networking; and advance business with powerful marketing services programs. Penton is the way smart businesses buy, sell and grow. For more information, visit http://www.penton.com or follow us on Twitter @PentonNow.

MEDIA CONTACT

Bibi Jackson

Penton IoT

[email protected]

(510) 423-0345

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436240

SOURCE Penton

Related Links

http://www.penton.com


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Quotient Technology Inc. (NYSE: QUOT), a leading digital promotions and media company that connects brands, retailers, and shoppers, announced today that it will present at the RBC Capital Markets Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference in New York on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 9:30 a.m. PST. A webcast of the presentation will be available on the investor relations section of the Company's website at http://investors.quotient.com under the Events and Presentations menu.

About Quotient Technology Inc.

Quotient Technology Inc. (NYSE: QUOT) is a leading digital promotion and media company that connects brands, retailers and consumers. We distribute digital coupons and media through a variety of products, including: digital printable coupons, digital paperless coupons, coupon codes and card linked offers. We operate Quotient Retailer iQ, a real-time digital coupon platform that connects into a retailer's point-of-sale system and provides targeting and analytics for manufacturers and retailers. We also power digital coupon initiatives in online marketing campaigns, including display and video advertising. Our distribution network includes our flagship site, Coupons.com, our mobile applications, Grocery iQ, Shopmium, and our thousands of publisher partners. We serve hundreds of consumer packaged goods companies, such as Clorox, Procter & Gamble, General Mills and Kellogg's, as well as top retailers like Albertsons-Safeway, CVS, Dollar General, Kroger, and Walgreens. Founded in 1998, Quotient is based in Mountain View, Calif., and is bringing the multi-billion dollar offline promotions industry into the digital world. Learn more about the company at http://quotient.com and follow us on Twitter @Quotient.

Quotient Technology Inc., Quotient Retailer iQ, Coupons.com, Grocery iQ and Shopmium are trademarks of Quotient Technology Inc. All other marks are owned by their respective owners.

Investor Relations Contact:

Stacie Clements

Vice President, Investor Relations

Phone: 650-605-4535

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Paul Sloan

Vice President, Communications

Phone: 650-396-8754

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151022/279702LOGO

SOURCE Quotient Technology Inc.

Related Links

https://www.quotient.com


CHICAGO, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Sunday, Nov. 6, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) will host SkyRise Chicago at Willis Tower for the eighth consecutive year.

Nearly 3,000 participants  including current and former RIC patients and their families, friends, and RIC research and clinical teams  will climb 2,109 stairs (103 floors). At the culmination of the event, they will have the opportunity to enjoy extraordinary views of the city's skyline at the Willis Tower's SkyDeck Chicago. Those participants who either can't make the climb, or prefer to use their upper-body strength, have the option to hand-cycle on stationary machines calibrated for resistance and time to match the stair-climbing experience.

Among the climbers is U.S. Air Force Officer Ryan Novack, who will participate in his first SkyRise event after breaking his spine in June and learning to walk again at RIC. Novack, 24, from Aurora, Ill., was in an off-road motorcycle accident while stationed in Guam. After diligently working for months with his dedicated team of RIC doctors, therapists and scientists, he's ready and eager to climb 103 floors of Willis Tower.

All proceeds from SkyRise Chicago support RIC's quality clinical care and cutting-edge research that advance ability for more than 50,000 adults and children around the world every year. As a non-profit organization, RIC's work is supported by fundraising events such as SkyRise Chicago, with more than $1 million raised at last year's event.

"Our patients, and their extraordinary hard work and determination, are the reason we are so passionate about SkyRise Chicago," said Joanne C. Smith, M.D., RIC president and CEO. "It's a day for the entire RIC community to come together to celebrate strengths, achievements and, importantly, Ability. This year's event will be particularly poignant as we prepare to open the doors to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the future of RIC, on March 25, 2017. Our new hospital will create a novel model of care that will lead to better, faster outcomes and even cures."

SkyRise Chicago 2016 will also welcome Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is climbing for the fifth time. Senator Kirk was an RIC patient in 2012, after experiencing a stroke. With the support of RIC doctors, therapists and researchers, he regained the ability to walk and talk in the months following the stroke.

"SkyRise Chicago creates remarkable memories for thousands of participants, and we're proud that Willis Tower, one of Chicago's most iconic buildings, is the setting for those incredible moments," said Randy Stancik, General Manager, Skydeck Chicago.

Willis Tower opened in 1973 and has hosted SkyRise since the event's inaugural year, 2009.

For more information about SkyRise Chicago, visit the event's website or find the event on Facebook.

About the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC)

The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) is the nation's leading provider of comprehensive physical medicine and rehabilitation care to patients from around the world. Founded in 1953, RIC has been designated the "No. 1 Rehabilitation Hospital in America" by U.S. News & World Report every year since 1991. RIC sets the standard of care in the post-acute market through its innovative applied research and discovery programs, particularly in the areas of neuroscience, bionic medicine, musculoskeletal medicine and technology transfer. The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab  RIC's new, state-of-the-art research hospital, will open in early 2017. For more information, go to www.ric.org.

SOURCE Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

Related Links

http://www.ric.org


DENVER, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RE/MAX, LLC, the global real estate franchisor headquartered in Denver, Colo., has signed an agreement to purchase the Master Franchise for the state of New Jersey from RE/MAX of New Jersey, Inc. The announcement comes less than six months after RE/MAX, LLC purchased the Master Franchise rights for Alaska and eight months after the company reacquired RE/MAX New York.

Joe Ventresca and Jeff Snyder established RE/MAX of New Jersey in 1985 and have built the region into a powerhouse with over 160 offices and nearly 3,000 Associates.

"I'm grateful for Joe and Jeff's contributions in building the brand and making RE/MAX the preeminent real estate franchise in New Jersey," said Dave Liniger, CEO, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of RE/MAX, LLC. "We're excited to continue growing these offices with our Broker/Owners by recruiting the most experienced agents in the business, making RE/MAX the No. 1 choice for buyers and sellers in the state."

RE/MAX of New Jersey agents represent approximately 6% of Realtors in the state and they were No. 1 statewide in transaction sides in 2015.

The acquisition of the Region is expected to close before the end of the year. Following the purchase, 14 RE/MAX regions in the U.S. will be company-owned.

Elena Dean, who leads Regional Development for Pennsylvania and Delaware, will become Region Vice President of New Jersey as well. She has worked in RE/MAX Regional Development since 2006.

RE/MAX has a worldwide network of over 110,000 agents in over 100 countries and territories, a global footprint larger than any of its competitors.

About the RE/MAX Network:

RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. Over 110,000 agents provide RE/MAX a global reach of over 100 countries and territories. Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX when measured by residential transaction sides.

RE/MAX, LLC, one of the world's leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RMCO, LLC, which is controlled and managed by RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RMAX).

With a passion for the communities in which its agents live and work, RE/MAX is proud to have raised more than $150 million for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities.

For more information about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit www.remax.com/newsroom.

SOURCE RE/MAX, LLC

Related Links

http://www.remax.com


LONDON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

INTRODUCTION

Discovered less than two decades ago, RNAi has made its presence felt in all spheres of the pharmaceutical industry. RNAi is a natural post-transcriptional process of gene silencing involving short strands of nucleic acids. It is a regulatory process that cells utilise to silence and/or inhibit gene expression through the destruction of specific mRNA molecules. One of the major advantages of RNAi is that it enables sequence specific knockdown of a target gene. Indications, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), hepatitis C and various forms of cancer,which are hard to address with the available therapies are being considered as potential areas that can benefit from RNAi based therapeutics.



After years of research tracing back to the 1990s, a number of novel RNAi therapeutics have finally reached a point of maturity. These promising therapeutic approaches are set to be made commercially available in the near future. Innovative research, encouraging clinical trial results and growing pipelines directed towards a variety of molecular targets across different therapeutic areas have emerged as essential growth drivers of the market. The promise has been backed by several venture capitalists and strategic investors. It is also important to highlight that partnerships amongst various stakeholders in this market have been common. Such collaborations have actively fuelled growth in the market by providing a common platform for both industry and academic research.



Several start-ups / university spin-offs have been notable flagbearers and are expected to sustain the research momentum in the coming years. The commercial success, to a certain extent, is hinged upon uncovering effective delivery routes and developing sophisticated delivery carriers for the molecules. Despite this and other associated challenges, we expect the market to make a huge leap over the coming decade.



SCOPE OF THE REPORT

The 'RNAi Therapeutics Market, 2015-2030' report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current market landscape and future outlook of the growing pipeline of RNAi therapeutics. Overall, the RNAi therapeutics market has been one of the more actively evolving markets in the past few years. However, with no marketed products till date, the market is still in its infancy.



RNAi therapeutics is characterised by a robust and opportunistic pipeline of products targeting several therapeutic areas such as oncology, genetic disorders and infectious diseases. The market has seen several collaborations between industry players aimed at the clinical and commercial development of promising candidates. Some late stage products that have emerged out of such collaborations include Patisiran/ALN-TTR02 (Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Genzyme; based on LNP delivery platform developed by Arbutus Biopharma), Revusiran/ALN-TTRsc (Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Genzyme; based on Alnylam's proprietary GalNAc siRNA conjugate platform), QPI-1002 (Quark Pharmaceuticals and Novartis; based on AtuRNAi platform developed by Silence Therapeutics) and PF-655 (Quark Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer; based on AtuRNAi platform developed by Silence Therapeutics). Encouraging clinical results have accelerated the progress and these therapies have emerged as one of the most effective ways of developing treatments for undruggable targets.



One of the key objectives of this study is to review and quantify the opportunities laid by the innovative programs of both small and big pharma firms. The unexploited and promising nature of this market supports the hopes pinned on multiple start-ups by several strategic investors and venture capital firms. We have presented our opinions in this report by analysing:

- The current state of the market with respect to key players, developmental stage of pipeline products (both clinical/preclinical) and target indications

- The well established and emerging technology platforms and delivery systems in the space of RNAi (nanoparticle based systems, lipid based systems and conjugated systems)

- Partnerships that have taken place in the recent past covering research and development collaborations, manufacturing agreements, license agreements specific to technology platforms, co-development and co-commercialisation of promising candidates

- Various investments and grants received by companies focused in this area

- Various service providers that are aiding the development of this area as well as providing raw materials for research

- Competitive landscape and inherent threats to the market's growth in the short and long term

- Development and sales potential based on target consumer segments, likely adoption rate and expected pricing



The study provides an estimate of the short-midterm and long term market forecast for the period 2015 - 2030. The research, analysis and insights presented in this report include potential sales of several molecules in late (phase III, II/III) and intermediate (phase II) phases of development.



With most products still in the early stage of development, we have provided three market forecast scenarios to add robustness to our model. The conservative, base and optimistic scenarios represent three different tracks of industry evolution. All actual figures have been sourced and analysed from publicly available information. The figures mentioned in this report are in USD, unless otherwise specified.



RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Most of the data presented in this report has been gathered via secondary research. For all our projects, we also conduct interviews with experts in the area (academia, industry, medical practice and other associations) to solicit their opinions on emerging trends in the market. This is primarily useful for us to draw out our own opinion on how the market will evolve across different regions and technology segments. Where possible, the available data has been checked for accuracy from multiple sources of information.



The secondary sources of information include

- Annual reports

- Investor presentations

- SEC filings

- Industry databases

- News releases from company websites

- Government policy documents

- Industry analysts' views



While the focus has been on forecasting the market over the coming ten years, the report also provides our independent view on various technological and non-commercial trends emerging in the industry. This opinion is solely based on our knowledge, research and understanding of the relevant market gathered from various sources of information.



CHAPTER OUTLINES

Chapter 2 presents an executive summary of the report. It offers a high level view on where the RNAi therapeutics market is headed in the mid-long term.



Chapter 3 provides a detailed introduction to RNAi therapeutics. In this section, we have discussed the discovery and evolution of RNAi and its mechanism of action. We have also highlighted the advantages and associated challenges, applications areas and the views of the regulatory authorities.



Chapter 4includes information on over 180 molecules that are currently in different stages of development (both clinical and preclinical/discovery). In this section, we have presented a detailed analysis of the RNAi development pipeline including information on the various types of molecules, most commonly targeted indications, current phases of development and the target gene.



Chapter 5provides a comprehensive view on the technology platforms and delivery systems that are currently being used in the RNAi therapeutics domain. In addition, the chapter provides an overview on patents protecting the RNAi technology and associated delivery systems, with a specific focus on siRNA.



Chapter 6provides detailed company and drug profiles of the leading players in the market. Each profile includes information such as the company'sfinancial performance, geographical presence, RNAi pipeline and recent collaborations. Within each profile, we have included detailed clinical trial information for the molecules in the clinical development phase.



Chapter 7highlights the monetary opportunity presented by these therapies. It provides a comprehensive market forecast analysis for molecules in advanced stages of development (phase III and phase II) taking into consideration the target patient population, competition, likely adoption rate and price points.



Chapter 8 highlights the promising therapeutic areas for RNAi therapeutics. These indications are the prime focus of companies developing RNAi therapeutics. The chapter also highlights the epidemiological facts and currently available treatment options for each indication.



Chapter 9discusses the use of miRNAs as potential biomarkers and enlists several miRNA biomarkers currently under investigation. In addition, the chapter provides the pipeline of diagnostic kits that have already been approved or are under development.



Chapter 10presents details on various investments and grants received by companies focused in the area of RNAi therapeutics. The analysis highlights the growing interest from the VC community and other strategic investors in this market.



Chapter 11features an elaborate discussion on the collaborations and partnerships that have been forged amongst the players in the market. We have also discussed the various partnership models in existence and the most common forms of deals/agreements that have evolved over time.



Chapter 12 provides information on the companies that are actively supporting the development of RNAi therapeutics market. These include companies such as contract manufacturers, contract researchers and other service providers.



Chapter 13 provides a SWOT analysis of the RNAi therapeutics market, giving strategic insights to the major factors that are likely to drive future growth whilst also highlighting the weaknesses and threats that may negatively impact the industry's evolution.



Chapter 14summarises the overall report. In this chapter, we provide a recap of the key takeaways and our independent opinion based on the research and analysis described in previous chapters.



Chapters 15 and 16 are appendices, which provide the list of companies and tabulated data for all the figures presented in the report.



EXAMPLE HIGHLIGHTS

1. RNAi therapeutics have emerged as a new class of potent therapies capable of targeting diseases with undruggable targets. A number of disorders that are difficult to treat using traditional approaches can be addressed using this technology.

2. During the course of our research, we identified 180 products in various phases of development. Of these, 20% are in the clinical phase of development (with five molecules in Phase III trials). A significant proportion of the molecules (80%), currently in the preclinical/discovery stages,are likely to fuel the future growth.

3. The market is predominantly being led by emerging start-ups and small companies instead of big pharma companies. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Arbutus Biopharma (previously Tekmira), BenitecBiopharma and Quark Pharmaceuticals are some major players in this space. Other start-ups and university / industry spin offs that have come up in recent times include (in alphabetical order) Arrowhead Research, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Gradalis, miRagen Therapeutics, Mirna Therapeutics, RXi Pharmaceuticals, Silence Therapeutics, Silenseed, Sirnaomics and Sylentis(full list available in Chapter 4).

4. A large number of players have already collaborated for licensing technology and therapeutic candidates. We have identified and reviewed over 80 such partnerships that have taken place in the last few years. One of the major reasons behind the extensive number of collaborations is that the original trigger and other related mechanisms are well protected through a number of patents.

5. In addition, enhanced technological platforms and unexplored opportunities have yielded an intense framework of investment activity, with a sizeable number of venture capitalists actively supporting the research. Since 2013, we have traced a total investment (equity + debt) of USD 2.2 billion.

6. Over the coming decade, we expect at least 11 RNAi therapies to be made commercially available. We believe the market is likely to be worth USD 18.6 billion by 2030; the overall opportunity could be much higher and depends on a number of factors such as favourable market environment, regulatory regimes and therapeutic performance of candidates in late stages of development.



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Email: [email protected]

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PARIS, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Saint-Gobain through its Mortars business (Construction Products) has signed an agreement with the listed company NSL in order to acquire E-Mix, a regional leader in mortars and dry mixes in South-East Asia. E-Mix provides solutions in tile adhesives, plastering mortars, masonry products and technical mortars in Hong Kong, South-East China, Singapore and Malaysia. It had sales of around 70 million in 2015.

This transaction will be carried out based on a price of SGD 160 million (about 104 million), representing 6.6 times 2015 adjusted EBITDA.

This acquisition is in line with the Group's strategy of expanding its presence in emerging countries and will give the Mortars business, which is already operational in China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia under the Weber brand, a leading position in the region, complementing both its geographical presence and its portfolio of applications.

The acquisition will close after completion of the procedures required by the Singapore Market Authorities, where NSL is registered.

ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN

Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions which are key ingredients in the wellbeing of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily life: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure and in many industrial applications. They provide comfort, performance and safety while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and climate change.

39.6 billion in sales in 2015

Operates in 67 countries

More than 170,000 employees

http://www.saint-gobain.com

@saintgobain





Analyst/Investor relations

Gaetano Terrasini

+33-1-47-62-32-52

Vivien Dardel

+33-1-47-62-44-29

Florent Nouveau

+33-1-47-62-30-93

Media relations

Susanne Trabitzsch

+33-1-47-62-43-25

SOURCE Saint-Gobain
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/Samsung-Recalls-Top-Load-Washing-Machines

Recall Summary

Name of Product: Samsung top-load washing machines

Hazard: The washing machine top can unexpectedly detach from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact.

Remedy: Replace, Repair, Refund

Consumers should contact Samsung immediately to receive one of the following remedy options. Consumers can choose (1) a free in-home repair that includes reinforcement of the washer's top and a free one-year extension of the manufacturer's warranty; (2) a rebate to be applied towards the purchase of a new Samsung or other brand washing machine, along with free installation of the new unit and removal of old unit; or (3) a full refund for consumers who purchased their washing machine within the past 30 days of the recall announcement.

All known consumers will also receive a Home Label Kit that includes a control panel guide and additional safety instructions in the mail.

Until they have received and installed a Home Label Kit, consumers should only use the delicate or waterproof cycles when washing bedding, water-resistant and bulky items. The lower spin speed in the delicate or waterproof cycles lessens the risk of the washing machine top unexpectedly detaching from the washing machine chassis.

Consumer Contact: Samsung toll-free at 866-264-5636 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, or online at www.Samsung.com and click on the recall notice at the top of the page for more information.

Recall Details

Units: About 2.8 million

Description: This recall involves 34 models of Samsung top-load washing machines. The washing machines have mid-controls or rear-controls. Model numbers and serial information can be found on two labels affixed to the back of the machine. The following model numbers are included in the recall depending on the serial number. Consumers should check with Samsung to see if their washer is recalled.

Models WA40J3000AW/A2 WA45H7000AP/A2 WA45H7000AW/A2 WA45H7200AW/A2 WA45K7600AW/A2 WA45K7100AW/A2 WA48H7400AW/A2 WA48J7700AW/A2 WA48J7770AP/A2 WA48J7770AW/A2 WA50K8600AV/A2 WA50K8600AW/A2 WA52J8700AP/A2 WA52J8700AW/A2 WA400PJHDWR/AA WA422PRHDWR/AA WA456DRHDSU/AA WA456DRHDWR/AA WA476DSHASU/A1 WA476DSHAWR/A1 WA484DSHASU/A1 WA484DSHAWR/A1 WA48H7400AP/A2 WA50F9A6DSW/A2 WA50F9A7DSP/A2 WA50F9A7DSW/A2 WA50F9A8DSP/A2 WA50F9A8DSW/A2 WA52J8060AW/A2 WA5451ANW/XAA WA5471ABP/XAA WA5471ABW/XAA WA56H9000AP/A2 WA56H9000AW/A2





Incidents/Injuries: Samsung has received 733 reports of washing machines experiencing excessive vibration or the top detaching from the washing machine chassis. There are nine related reports of injuries, including a broken jaw, injured shoulder, and other impact or fall-related injuries.

Sold at: Best Buy, The Home Depot, Lowes, Sears and other home appliance stores nationwide from March 2011 to November 2016 for between $450 and $1,500.

Importer/Distributor: Samsung Electronics America Inc., of Ridgefield Park, N.J.

Manufactured in: South Korea, China and Thailand

About U.S. CPSC:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals  contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at 301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.

CPSC Consumer Information Hotline

Contact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:

800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)

Times: 8 a.m.  5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime

Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.

Media Contact

Please use the phone numbers below for all media requests.

Phone: 301-504-7908

Spanish: 301-504-7800

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20030904/USCSCLOGO

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Related Links

http://www.cpsc.gov


LONDON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi Arabia possesses 18% of the world's proven petroleum reserves and ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum. Oil & Gas sector accounts for about 50% of gross domestic product, and about 85% of export earnings. Global oil crises repressed the growth of the country's construction and infrastructure sectors, which, in turn, impacted the demand for commercial vehicles, as they are majorly deployed in these sectors. However, the country's government unveiled the Kingdom's Vision 2030, an ambitious plan to steer the economy away from its oil dependence. The Government of Saudi Arabia plans to increase its share of non-oil exports in non-oil GDP from 16% to 50% by 2030. Moreover, the government plans to become one of the largest construction and infrastructure markets in the world. This move is expected to induce a positive impact on the commercial vehicles market in the country over the next five years. Moreover, under the Saudi Vision 2030, the Government of Saudi Arabia has made long term plans for the infrastructural development of roads, metro, rail, ports, etc. These developments are anticipated to positively influence the Saudi Arabia commercial vehicles market over the next five years.



According to "Saudi Arabia Commercial Vehicles Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2021", the market of commercial vehicles in Saudi Arabia is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 9% during 2016 2021. Initiatives and subsidies provided by the Government of Saudi Arabia to promote the adoption of alternate fuels such as natural gas and electric power coupled with rapid infrastructure development are expected to positively influence the commercial vehicles market in the country during 2016  2021. In 2015, Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment dominated the country's commercial vehicle market, followed by the bus and Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) segments. LCV segment is forecast to continue its dominance in Saudi Arabia commercial vehicles market on account of its extensive use in logistics industry. Some of the major companies operating in the country's commercial vehicles market are Toyota, Mitsubishi and Isuzu, among others. "Saudi Arabia Commercial Vehicles Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2021" discusses the following aspects of Saudi Arabia commercial vehicles market:



- Saudi Arabia Commercial Vehicles Market Size, Share & Forecast

- Segmental Analysis  By Vehicle Type (LCV, Bus, MCV and HCV), By Region

- Policy & Regulatory Landscape

- Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities

- Competitive Landscape & Strategic Recommendations



Why You Should Buy This Report?



- To gain an in-depth understanding of Saudi Arabia commercial vehicles market

- To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years

- To help commercial vehicles manufactures, distributors and providers, and other industry consultants align their market-centric strategies

- To obtain research based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material

- To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players

- To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs





Report Methodology



The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research. Primary research included surveys with the OEM's, Distributors, Dealers and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases.





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Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

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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

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"We are offering jewellery connoisseurs the opportunity to view and purchase pieces that are intriguing, unique and extraordinary. The collections that we have carefully picked are rare and not available in retail stores across Singapore or Southeast Asia. Italian designers have always been innovative and bold, but we are looking for the best from concept to completion. These collections are sourced not only because they are unique but also ensure quality from craftsmanship to creative use of materials, be it gold, colour diamonds, precious stones, carbon fibre or even wood. We believe in offering fine jewellery buyers the best with a reliable after-sales service as these pieces are not just a purchase but an investment," said Rosalind Lim, Owner of Oro D' Italia.

"Jewellery buyers in Singapore have an eye for good designs and we would like to offer them 100% Italian made fine jewellery that will make them stand out from the crowd. We carry a wide-range of collections going beyond classic designs which have a great appeal in this region, and we know that because of the network of buyers and retailers that we have established together over the years working in this industry. With the selection of pieces we are trying educate our buyers about the concept behind the design and not just the piece, we are offering them an experience and not just a purchase," added Fabio Cascapera, Owner of Oro D' Italia.

Oro D' Italia will be present at booth no. C123 and C129 (Halls E and F) at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre during Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair 2016. Brands at display will include Piero Milano, QUATTROCOLO, TODINI, FALCINELLI ITALY, GORGOGLIONE Preziosi, VERDI, IACOPINI, MARIA GRECA Roma, Lunati Jewellery, Ciaravolo, Paolo Piavan, Gisci, Buzzanca, Giovanni Ferraris, Talento Italiano, and Tosti Gioielli.

Notes to editor:

About Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair

Exclusively endorsed by the Singapore Jewellers Association and the Diamond Exchange of Singapore, Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair is the most significant fine jewellery event in Singapore and the region. In 2015, the event attracted internationally-acclaimed exhibitors from 28 countries, targeting the region's fastest growing high-net-worth population. The fair is organised by UBM Exhibition Singapore Pte Ltd, a member of UBM Asia, the organiser of the world's number one fine jewellery event, the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair.

About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. With a track record spanning over 30 years, UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face exhibitions and high-level professional conferences, 21 targeted trade publications, 18 round-the-clock online products for over 2,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. We provide a one-stop diversified global service for high-value business matching, quality market news and online trading networks.

Media contacts

Selena Sheikh

PINPOINT PR

Mobile: +65-9746-8549

[email protected]

Clara Leong

UBM Exhibition Singapore

Office: +65-6592-0888 ext 783

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435789

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435791

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435790

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160725/8521604757LOGO

SOURCE UBM Asia

Related Links

http://www.ubmasia.com


MONROVIA, Calif., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable lenses and companion delivery systems for the eye today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016.

Third Quarter 2016 Overview

Record Quarter for ICL Units Sold Exceeds Q2 2016 Record

Quarter for ICL Units Sold Exceeds Q2 2016 Record Quarterly Net Sales of $20.1 Million Up 7% from the Prior Year Quarter

Up 7% from the Prior Year Quarter Worldwide ICL Sales and Units Up 15% from the Prior Year Quarter

Worldwide IOL Sales Up 6% and Units Down 3% from the Prior Year Quarter

Gross Margin Improved to 74.2% of Sales from 68.3% of Sales in the Prior Year Quarter

On-Going FDA Remediation Effort Finished the Quarter On-Track and On-Budget

Third Quarter Net Loss of $0.04 per Share; Adjusted Net Loss of $0.02 per Share

per Share; Adjusted Net Loss of per Share Cash and Equivalents Increased by $1.6 Million to $14.3 Million

to Closed Strategic Cooperation Agreements with Leading Providers in S.E. Europe and India

and Completed Initial Human Implants of EVO+ Visian ICL Extended Depth of Field Lenses Designed to Address Presbyopia. Initial Results are Positive and the Clinical Study for these Lenses Continues.

"We delivered another successive record quarter for ICL units sold and signed two additional Strategic Cooperation Agreements during the quarter," said Caren Mason, President and CEO. "In addition, we have finalized the initial clinical design of our new extended depth of field EVO+ Visian ICL posterior chamber phakic lens and the initial clinical results are positive. The EVO and EVO+ ICL lenses are made of Collamer, our proprietary highly biocompatible material that allows for long-term implantation. As patients age, they begin to lose near and then intermediate vision due to presbyopia, a long-term, natural progressive loss of accommodation experienced by all people," added Ms. Mason. "These lenses are designed to provide good vision for patients of all ages and prescriptions within our approved ranges while potentially extending by many years the period of time before reading glasses are required," said Vice President of Research and Development, Keith Holliday Ph.D. "Hyperopic [far-sighted] patients may benefit most from an extended depth of field as such patients suffer from the effects of presbyopia soonest. Subtle changes have been made to the optical surfaces of our EVO+ lens design to modify the hyperfocal distance of an eye implanted with the lens. This leads to an increase in the depth of field for the patient. As the lens is implanted between the cornea and the crystalline lens it works together with the crystalline lens without having to surgically alter the cornea," added Dr. Holliday.

Financial Overview

Net sales were $20.1 million for the third quarter of 2016, up 7% compared to $18.8 million reported in the prior year quarter. The sales increase was driven by ICL revenue and unit growth of 15% each, and IOL revenue growth of 6%. These increases were partially offset by planned lower sales of injector parts in the third quarter and a delay in orders from Canadian surgeons awaiting EVO Toric lens approval, which occurred on September 21, 2016. For the first nine months of 2016, ICL revenue and units increased 16% and 11%, respectively.

For the third quarter of 2016, gross profit margin was 74.2% compared to the prior year period of 68.3%. An increased mix of higher margin ICL units, lower ICL unit costs, higher average selling prices, and lower inventory reserves combined to improve gross margin by approximately 5.9 points.

Operating expenses for the quarter increased $1.8 million to $16.6 million compared to the prior year quarter primarily due to costs related to quality system improvements and investments made in the international selling and marketing organizations. General and administrative expense was $5.0 million and the change from the prior year quarter was not material. Marketing and selling expense was $7.1 million, $0.9 million higher than the prior year quarter due to the re-branding efforts and international selling and promotional costs. Research and development expense was $4.5 million, an increase of $0.8 million due to investments in quality system improvements, clinical affairs, and project-related spending, partially offset by lower FDA remediation expenses. Remediation expense for the quarter was on budget.

The net loss for the third quarter of 2016 was $1.8 million or $0.04 per share compared with a net loss of $1.8 million or $0.04 per share for the prior year quarter.

The adjusted net loss for the third quarter of 2016 was $0.9 million or $0.02 per share, compared with an adjusted net loss of approximately breakeven and breakeven per share for the prior year quarter. The reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial information is provided in the financial tables included with this release.

Cash and cash equivalents at September 30, 2016 totaled $14.3 million, compared to $16.1 million at the end of the third quarter of 2015 and $12.7 million at the end of the second quarter of 2016. Continued focus on optimizing the Company's cash position through revenue growth, expense mitigation, working capital management, and equipment leasing generated the increase in cash from the second quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2016. The Company has generated $0.9 million in cash from operating activities during the first nine months of the year.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call and webcast on Thursday, November 3 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern / 1:30 p.m. Pacific to discuss its financial results and operational progress. To access the conference call (Conference ID 97993546), please dial 855-765-5684 for domestic participants and 262-912-6252 for international participants. The live webcast can be accessed from the investor relations section of the STAAR website at www.staar.com.

A taped replay of the conference call (Conference ID 97993546) will be available beginning approximately one hour after the call's conclusion for seven days. This replay can be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056 for domestic callers and 404-537-3406 for international callers. An archived webcast will also be available at www.staar.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes supplemental non-GAAP financial information, which STAAR believes investors will find helpful in understanding its operating performance.

"Adjusted Net Income (or Loss)" excludes the following items that are included in "Net Income (or Loss)" as calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"): gain or loss on foreign currency transactions, stock-based compensation expenses, and quality remediation expenses.

Management believes that "Adjusted Net Income (or Loss)" and "Adjusted Net Income (or Loss) Per Share are useful to investors in gauging the outcome of the key drivers of the business performance: the ability to increase sales revenue and our ability to increase profit margin by improving the mix of high value products while reducing the costs over which management has control.

Management has excluded quality remediation expenses because their inclusion may mask underlying trends in our business performance.

Management has also excluded gains and losses on foreign currency transactions because of the significant fluctuations that can result from period to period as a result of market driven factors.

Stock-based compensation expenses consist of expenses for stock options and restricted stock under the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 718. In calculating Adjusted Net Income (or Loss) STAAR excludes these expenses because they are non-cash expenses and because of the complexity and considerable judgment involved in calculating their values. In addition, these expenses tend to be driven by fluctuations in the price of our stock and not by the same factors that generally affect our other business expenses.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR, which has been dedicated solely to ophthalmic surgery for over 30 years, designs, develops, manufactures and markets implantable lenses for the eye with companion delivery systems. These lenses are intended to provide visual freedom for patients, lessening or eliminating the reliance on glasses or contact lenses. All of these lenses are foldable, which permits the surgeon to insert them through a small incision. STAAR's lens used in refractive surgery is called an Implantable Collamer Lens or "ICL". More than 600,000 Visian ICLs have been implanted to date. To learn more about the ICL go to: www.discovericl.com. STAAR has approximately 360 employees and markets lenses in over 60 countries. Headquartered in Monrovia, CA, the company operates manufacturing facilities in Aliso Viejo, CA and Monrovia, CA. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.staar.com.

Safe Harbor

All statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements about any of the following: any financial projections, including those relating to the plans, strategies, and objectives of management for future operations or prospects for achieving such plans, expectations for sales, marketing and clinical initiatives, investment imperatives, and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Important additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 1, 2016 under the caption "Risk Factors," which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available in the "Investor Information" section of the company's website under the heading "SEC Filings." We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statement due to new information or events.

These statements are based on expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties include the following: our limited capital resources and limited access to financing; the negative effect of unstable global economic conditions on sales of products, especially products such as the ICL used in non-reimbursed elective procedures; changes in currency exchange rates; the discretion of regulatory agencies to approve or reject existing, new or improved products, or to require additional actions before approval (including but not limited to FDA requirements regarding the Visian Toric ICL and/or actions related to the FDA Warning Letter and Form FDA-483s), or to take enforcement action; research and development efforts may not be successful or may be delayed in delivering products for launch or may exceed anticipated costs; the purchasing patterns of our distributors carrying inventory in the market; the willingness of surgeons and patients to adopt a new or improved product and procedure; and patterns of Visian ICL use that have typically limited our penetration of the refractive procedure market. The Visian Toric ICL and the Visian ICL with CentraFLOW, now known as EVO Visian ICL, are not yet approved for sale in the United States.

CONTACT: Investors & Media

EVC Group

Brian Moore, 310-579-6199

Doug Sherk, 415-652-9100

STAAR Surgical Company Consolidated Balance Sheets (in 000's) Unaudited













September 30,

January 1, ASSETS

2016

2016









Current assets:







Cash and cash equivalents

$ 14,284

$ 13,402 Accounts receivable trade, net

14,372

15,675 Inventories, net

15,895

15,921 Prepayments, deposits, and other current assets

4,649

3,636 Deferred income taxes

518

439 Total current assets

49,718

49,073 Property, plant, and equipment, net

11,718

10,095 Intangible assets, net

607

666 Goodwill

1,786

1,786 Deferred income taxes

1,670

717 Other assets

835

617 Total assets

$ 66,334

$ 62,954









LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY







Current liabilities:







Line of credit

$ 4,941

$ 4,159 Accounts payable

7,973

6,691 Deferred income taxes

370

370 Obligations under capital leases

398

362 Other current liabilities

7,568

6,305 Total current liabilities

21,250

17,887 Obligations under capital leases

1,676

204 Deferred income taxes

1,005

1,888 Asset retirement obligations

225

156 Deferred rent

68

87 Pension liability

4,380

3,886 Total liabilities

28,604

24,108





























Stockholders' equity:







Common stock

406

399 Additional paid-in capital

196,411

187,007 Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(145)

(1,580) Accumulated deficit

(158,942)

(146,980) Total stockholders' equity

37,730

38,846 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

$ 66,334

$ 62,954

STAAR Surgical Company Consolidated Statements of Operations (In 000's except for per share data) Unaudited























































































Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended



% of September 30,

% of October 2,

Fav (Unfav)

% of September 30,

% of October 2,

Fav (Unfav)



Sales 2016

Sales 2015

Amount

%

Sales 2016

Sales 2015

Amount

%









































Net sales

100.0% $ 20,052

100.0% $ 18,750

$ 1,302

6.9%

100.0% $ 60,295

100.0% $ 56,264

$ 4,031

7.2%









































Cost of sales

25.8% 5,180

31.7% 5,951

771

13.0%

29.5% 17,804

32.4% 18,206

402

2.2%









































Gross profit

74.2% 14,872

68.3% 12,799

2,073

16.2%

70.5% 42,491

67.6% 38,058

4,433

11.6%









































Selling, general and administrative expenses:







































General and administrative

24.9% 4,985

25.9% 4,853

(132)

-2.7%

30.5% 18,378

26.2% 14,748

(3,630)

-24.6% Marketing and selling

35.7% 7,149

33.5% 6,284

(865)

-13.8%

36.5% 22,006

31.6% 17,784

(4,222)

-23.7% Research and development

22.2% 4,453

19.6% 3,684

(769)

-20.9%

26.6% 16,018

19.2% 10,800

(5,218)

-48.3% Total selling, general, and administrative expenses

82.8% 16,587

79.0% 14,821

(1,766)

-11.9%

93.6% 56,402

77.0% 43,332

(13,070)

-30.2%









































Operating loss

-8.6% (1,715)

-10.7% (2,022)

307

15.2%

-23.2% (13,911)

-9.4% (5,274)

(8,637)

-163.8%









































Other income (expense):







































Interest income

0.0% 0

0.0% 1

(1)

-100.0%

0.0% 1

0.1% 50

(49)

-98.0% Interest expense

-0.1% (29)

-0.2% (29)

-

0.0%

-0.1% (86)

-0.2% (97)

11

11.3% Gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions

-0.1% (29)

0.1% 20

(49)



0.0% 13

-1.2% (692)

705

 Royalty income

0.7% 134

1.2% 224

(90)

-40.2%

0.8% 507

0.7% 375

132

35.2% Other income (expense), net

-0.3% (68)

0.2% 43

(111)



-0.2% (150)

0.1% 62

(212)

 Total other income (expense), net

0.2% 8

1.3% 259

(251)

-96.9%

0.5% 285

-0.5% (302)

587











































Loss before provision (benefit) for income taxes

-8.4% (1,707)

-9.4% (1,763)

56

3.2%

-22.7% (13,626)

-9.9% (5,576)

(8,050)

-144.4%









































Provision (benefit) for income taxes

0.4% 71

-0.1% (11)

(82)



-2.8% (1,664)

0.2% 114

(1,778)











































Net loss

-8.8% $ (1,778)

-9.3% $ (1,752)

$ (26)

-1.5%

-19.9% $ (11,962)

-10.1% $ (5,690)

$ (6,272)

-110.2%



















































































Net loss per share - basic and diluted



$ (0.04)



$ (0.04)











$ (0.30)



$ (0.14)







Weighted average shares outstanding - basic and diluted



40,486



39,727











40,227



39,409









STAAR Surgical Company Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in 000's) Unaudited





Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended





September 30,

October 2,

September 30,

October 2,





2016

2015

2016

2015 Cash flows from operating activities:















Net loss

$ (1,778)

$ (1,752)

$ (11,962)

$ (5,690) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:

















Depreciation of property and equipment

696

567

1,933

1,563

Amortization of intangibles

60

51

171

154

Deferred income taxes

(4)

(113)

(1,806)

(148)

Change in net pension liability

170

41

390

136

Stock-based compensation expense

385

924

8,143

2,747

Provision for sales returns and bad debts

10

88

99

331 Changes in working capital:

















Accounts receivable

1,772

(308)

1,707

(2,040)

Inventories, net

(12)

(172)

1,601

1,497

Prepayments, deposits and other current assets

(700)

131

(1,118)

737

Accounts payable

(688)

1,003

594

(991)

Other current liabilities

1,428

628

1,104

1,387

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

1,339

1,088

856

(317)



















Cash flows from investing activities:

















Acquisition of property and equipment

(718)

(582)

(2,709)

(1,283)

Cash proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment

48

-

65

2

Net cash used in investing activities

(670)

(582)

(2,644)

(1,281)



















Cash flows from financing activities:

















Repayment of capital lease lines of credit

(118)

(96)

(302)

(306)

Proceeds from sale-leaseback transactions

-

-

1,154

-

Repurchase of employee common stock for taxes withheld

-

-

(611)

-

Proceeds from the exercise of stock options

915

253

1,652

2,149

Proceed from the exercise of warrants

-

-

-

2,800

Net cash provided by financing activities

797

157

1,893

4,643



















Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

130

83

777

23



















Increase in cash and cash equivalents

1,596

746

882

3,068 Cash and cash equivalents, at beginning of the period

12,688

15,335

13,402

13,013 Cash and cash equivalents, at end of the period

$ 14,284

$ 16,081

$ 14,284

$ 16,081

STAAR Surgical Company Global Sales (in 000's) Unaudited

























































Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended



September 30,

October 2,

% Change



September 30,

October 2,

% Change Sales by Region

2016

2015

Fav (Unfav)



2016

2015

Fav (Unfav) North America 12.5% $ 2,502 16.3% $ 3,053

-18.1%

12.8% $ 7,726 15.9% $ 8,954

-13.7% Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America 29.8% 5,985 28.8% 5,393

11.0%

31.1% 18,764 29.8% 16,779

11.8% Asia Pacific 57.7% 11,565 55.0% 10,304

12.2%

56.1% 33,805 54.3% 30,531

10.7% Total Sales 100.0% $ 20,052 100.0% $ 18,750

6.9%

100.0% $ 60,295 100.0% $ 56,264

7.2%























































Product Sales

























ICLs 73.8% $ 14,801 68.8% $ 12,907

14.7%

72.0% $ 43,389 66.5% $ 37,396

16.0% IOLs 23.2% 4,649 23.4% 4,390

5.9%

24.5% 14,783 26.6% 14,952

-1.1% Other 3.0% 602 7.8% 1,453

-58.6%

3.5% 2,123 7.0% 3,916

-45.8% Total Sales 100.0% $ 20,052 100.0% $ 18,750

6.9%

100.0% $ 60,295 100.0% $ 56,264

7.2%

STAAR Surgical Company Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measure (in 000's) Unaudited

Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended



September 30, October 2,

September 30, October 2,



2016 2015

2016 2015 Net loss - (as reported)

$ (1,778) $ (1,752)

$ (11,962) $ (5,690) Less:











Foreign currency impact

29 (20)

(13) 692 Stock-based compensation expense

385 924

8,143 2,747 FDA panel/remediation expense

485 809

1,484 3,367 Net income (loss) - (adjusted)

$ (879) $ (39)

$ (2,348) $ 1,116













Net income (loss) per share, basic - (as reported)

$ (0.04) $ (0.04)

$ (0.30) $ (0.14) Foreign currency impact

0.00 (0.00)

(0.00) 0.02 Stock-based compensation expense

0.01 0.02

0.20 0.07 FDA panel/remediation expense

0.01 0.02

0.04 0.09 Net income (loss) per share, basic - (adjusted)

$ (0.02) $ (0.00)

$ (0.06) $ 0.03













Net income (loss) per share, diluted - (as reported)

$ (0.04) $ (0.04)

$ (0.30) $ (0.14) Foreign currency impact

0.00 (0.00)

(0.00) 0.02 Stock-based compensation expense

0.01 0.02

0.20 0.07 FDA panel/remediation expense

0.01 0.02

0.04 0.08 Net income (loss) per share, diluted - (adjusted)

$ (0.02) $ (0.00)

$ (0.06) $ 0.03













Weighted average shares outstanding - Basic

40,486 39,727

40,227 39,409 Weighted average shares outstanding - Diluted

40,486 39,727

40,227 40,628













Note: Net income (loss) per share (adjusted), basic and diluted, may not add due to rounding



SOURCE STAAR Surgical Company

Related Links

http://www.staar.com


The agreement outlines several career pathways that Stetson and ADU students can follow toward earning degrees at either campus as well as dual-degree offerings. These new prospects introduce stronger career options for graduates. Dr. Wendy B. Libby, President of Stetson, said, "Some of our MBA students may like to add the Masters in Healthcare Administration from ADU, and those students may like to pursue graduate law degrees with Stetson. Students in our life sciences programs can prepare for entrance to ADU graduate degrees in physical therapy or occupational therapy. This agreement really opens up new career options for our students." The partnership will bring other benefits as well. Students from both schools will have the opportunity for collaborative research as well as access to certain campus clubs, events and facilities.

This agreement also captures the attention of Florida Hospital. "More than ever, the delivery of quality, cost-effective healthcare requires creative minds to find innovative solutions," explains Daryl Tol, President and CEO of Florida Hospital, Central Region. "Stetson's stellar academic reputation combined with ADU's clinical expertise will prepare students to make real and substantial contributions to the healthcare industry." Members from both universities are excited about the positive contributions this collaboration can bring to their campuses and local community by providing enhanced courses to better equip students entering the workforce.

About Stetson University

Founded in 1883, Stetson University is the oldest private university in Central Florida, providing a transforming education in the liberal arts tradition. Stetson stresses academic excellence and community-engaged learning, and consistently earns high marks in national rankings. Stetson encourages its students to go beyond success to significance in their lives, the lives of others and their communities.

About Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU)

Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU) is a Seventh-day Adventist institution specializing in healthcare education in a faith-affirming environment. Service-oriented and guided by the values of nurture, excellence, spirituality, and stewardship, the University seeks to develop leaders who will practice healthcare as a ministry. ADU fulfills this mission by developing skilled professionals who live the healing values of Christ.

ADU offers undergraduate and graduate programs including: Biomedical Sciences, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Health Sciences, Radiography, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Nursing (BSN), Nurse Anesthesia, Occupational Therapy, Healthcare Administration, Physician Assistant, and Physical Therapy. The University is associated with Florida Hospital and the Adventist Health System.

ADU embraces the benefit of whole person care as demonstrated in the life and ministry of Christ. The University is dedicated to developing skilled professionals who live the healing values of Christ. Graduates who live these values effectively extend the healing ministry of Christ.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436236

SOURCE Adventist University of Health Sciences

Related Links

http://www.adu.edu/


LONDON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TCR & CAR Engineered T-Cell and NK Cell Therapeutics 2016:

Convergence of technologies opens business opportunities beyond CD19 CARTs

The report TCR & CAR Engineered T-Cell and NK Cell Therapeutics 2016: Convergence of technologies opens business opportunities beyond CD19 CARTs" describes and analyzes the status of the adoptive cell therapy industry as of August 2016. The report covers autologous and allogeneic engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapy candidates as well as natural killer (NK) cell and CAR engineered NK cells in research and development by biopharmaceutical companies. Cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTLs), donor lymphocyte infusions (TILs) and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) complement the spectrum of the report.

The report highlights and discusses

Company financing;

Business development & financing;

Improvements of CAR T-cell therapy incl. gene editing and universal CARTs;

Engineered TCR T-cells, including TCR target discovery;

The current status of DLIs, CTLs and TILs;

Manufacturing of T-cells for adoptive cell therapy;

NK cells and CAR engineered NK cells;

International perspective on TCR & CAR T-cell and NK cell therapy; and

Key success factors & convergence of technologies.

The early and impressive clinical results of anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy most probably will see confirmation in ongoing pivotal studies in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) leading to approval as early as 2017. Supported by Big Pharma money and billions of US$ by private financing rounds, public offerings and partnering money, Novartis, Juno Therapeutics and Kite Pharma are in a close race to be first on market with autologous CD19 CAR T-cell products. Cash-rich Juno and Kite went on a shopping and licensing tour to add numerous technologies like pearls on a string to be prepared for next generation development candidates.

However, clinical experience with CD19 CAR T-cells and other CAR T-cells for hematologic and solid tumors has revealed quite a number of hurdles. Part of them have to be addressed by protocol issues, such as the pre-conditioning chemotherapy problem, or clinical combination studies with checkpoint inhibitors to modulate the tumor micro-environment. But technological solutions are far more required to improve safety and efficacy as well as convenience and manufacturing of CAR T-cell therapies. Another big issue is the lack of strictly tumor-specific targets.

Among the key technologies are gene editing and TCR target discovery. Companies with such capabilities will have a strong position in financing, partnering and corporate development. This report describes the key players in the field and companies with complementary technologies ideal for joint ventures, or better, mergers.

The analytical evaluation in this report is based on retrieval of information about and detailed description of the profiles of 67 companies and 67 cell therapy product candidates. Information was obtained from 193 scientific references (abstracts, full papers, reviews), press releases, financial information, annual reports, presentations and webcasts. All information sources are fully referenced, either as scientific references or by hyperlinks embedded on the source description for online access to the source.

Who will benefit from this report?

Technology Officers

Corporate Development

Strategic Planning

Business Development & Licensing

Corporate Finance

Portfolio Management

Investors & Analysts

Clinical Development

Research & Development

For sample pages, please contact [email protected]



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3878608/



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

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MORRISTOWN, N.J., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Next week's elections are among the most hotly contested in recent history. Undoubtedly, there will be winners and losers beyond the individual candidates running for office. In this report, we analyze some of the potential investment implications of the election, while maintaining a neutral tone with respect to any political party. Our analysis is based largely on the stated positions of each major party's Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and the research of unrelated parties.

What Wall Street Really Wants  A Split Decision

First, the market tends to favor a "split decision" with respect to which political party controls the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. Under this "split decision" or "gridlock" scenario, it will be challenging for either party to enact major legislative changes, allowing free market forces, not central planning, to drive the economy's future.

Most projections suggest the Republicans will retain the majority of positions in the House of Representatives, while the Democrats are likely to gain control of the Senate. If these projections hold true, regardless of which Presidential candidate wins the White House, one party will not sweep all three elections, resulting in Wall Street's desired split decision.

But we caution that a split decision is not always a panacea, since it may delay progress on important issues, such as addressing the projected deficits in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. An extension of the debt ceiling in 2017 will also be necessary, potentially creating a contentious battle viewed unfavorably by the financial markets.

And The Winner Is  Infrastructure

If there is one common sector or industry that is likely to do well under either candidate, it is infrastructure. Infrastructure includes the repair or building of bridges, roads, tunnels, airports, power grids, communication networks and may even be extended to items such as electronic medical records. Candidate Clinton proposed $275 billion in government spending on infrastructure over a five-year period and having another $225 billion spent on infrastructure through private investment. Candidate Trump has proposed an even larger plan, spending up to $1 trillion on infrastructure, through a mix of governmental and private sources, over a ten-year period.

The benefits of preventing a crumbling bridge are obvious, but the implications of a stronger and smarter infrastructure may not be quite as apparent. For example, smarter and properly maintained transportation networks may be able to reduce traffic congestion, commuting times and the number of accidents. An enhanced power grid may reduce the likelihood of blackouts and conserve energy. An improved electronic medical records system may improve the quality of healthcare, reduce medical errors and cut insurance payments. Each of these items may result in increased productivity for the economy over a long period of time.

Energy and Healthcare Policies: A Tale of Two Cities

The Presidential candidates have sharply different policies in the Energy and Healthcare sectors. Candidate Clinton favors further progress in the direction of a "green" future for America's energy needs. Solar, renewable energy and natural gas firms may be prime beneficiaries under her energy plan. In contrast, candidate Trump has strongly supported "clean coal" technology as well as conventional oil and gas energy sources. He supports the Keystone Pipeline, which plans to run from Canada through the United States, so long as the deal is "favorable" for America. In contrast, candidate Clinton has announced her opposition to the Keystone Pipeline.

Candidate Trump is vehemently opposed to the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as "Obamacare." If elected, he plans to repeal Obamacare, although a full dismantling of the program may be challenging without Congressional approval. Candidate Clinton favors slight modifications to Obamacare and price controls on some pharmaceutical products. She expressed outrage at firms, such as Mylan, maker of the EpiPen, after the firm raised the price on its product more than 450% in less than ten years. Similar large price increases have been observed in pharmaceutical products with little or no competition. Candidate Trump favors competition and market forces as a way of modulating prices as opposed to formal price controls.

In our view, hospitals and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are likely winners under a Clinton victory, while traditional Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology firms, especially those that produce high priced drugs, are likely losers. The reverse is likely true under a Trump victory.

Some Relief May Be in Sight for the Financial Sector

The Financial Sector has been dramatically impacted by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which resulted in the largest set of new financial regulations since The Great Depression. Financial firms  primarily the large, national banks  have also been hit with billions of dollars in fines due to misdeeds committed during the period leading up to The Great Recession of 2007-2009. Candidate Trump has stated that he favors repealing the bulk of Dodd- Frank, claiming it makes it nearly impossible for bankers to function.

Candidate Clinton has supported Dodd Frank, especially in the context of large "too big to fail" banks, and seems to favor a tax on short-term trading activity. However, she seems to have a more dovish view on bank regulation than the Obama administration. For example, she has expressed support for reducing the regulatory burden on community banks. In her speeches to banks, in a private setting, she has expressed a somewhat more balanced approach to financial regulation.

A (Tax) Holiday May Be on the Horizon  For Corporate America

American corporations labor among the highest tax rates in the industrialized world, with domestic firms generally in a 35% tax bracket. In contrast, other regions, such as Bermuda, charge no corporate taxes, while others, such as Ireland and Canada, have a net tax rate of 15% or less. One implication of these widely varying tax brackets is that corporations tend to keep cash and securities held for investment, overseas. American companies hold roughly $2 trillion dollars in cash, with the vast bulk of it held overseas. For example, Microsoft recently held $96.3 billion of its $102.6 billion in cash (94%) overseas. If a firm brings money held overseas back to America (i.e., repatriates its cash), it is subject to paying tax at the 35% federal rate.

Both candidates have supported a "tax holiday" for cash held overseas, resulting in a temporary tax rate of 15% or less. Candidate Trump has proposed slashing the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. If enacted into law, a 15% corporate tax would be a large boon to companies, such as Costco, Home Depot and Chipotle that derive most of their profits domestically. Candidate Clinton has not endorsed cutting the corporate tax rate to 15%, but seems amenable to the tax holiday. In theory, if firms repatriate their cash, it may result in sizeable investment increases in the domestic economy. However, if the last tax repatriation period (2004/2005) is any indication, the bulk of the cash will be used for stock buybacks and dividend increases, which may also be a benefit to shareholders.

Your Income Taxes May Be Going Up Or Down

Another sharp contrast between the two candidates is in their personal income tax policies. Candidate Trump has proposed a tax cut for virtually all domestic taxpayers. However, his plan may also increase the national debt between $5 and $10 trillion, according to several independent estimates.

In contrast, candidate Clinton has proposed a tax cut for most low- and middle-income families, but a tax increase for the highest income earners, those earning more than $250,000 a year. She favors a "Buffett Rule," requiring a minimum effective tax rate of 30 percent on incomes over $1 million. She has also proposed an additional 4 percent "fair share surcharge" for those earning $5 million dollars or more a year. Analysts estimate that candidate Clinton's tax plan, if enacted, would raise in excess of $1.5 trillion in new revenue, with the proceeds being spent on her domestic initiatives, such as on infrastructure and educational programs. Both candidates have proposed closing the "carried interest" tax loophole, which currently enables (mostly high income) individuals to convert earnings to long-term capital gains, generally taxed at a 15% rate. A more detailed summary table, produced by the website, Diffen.com, is reproduced below.



Donald Trump's Tax Plan Hillary Clinton's Tax Plan

current rating is 3.79/5 current rating is 3.13/5

(133 ratings) (136 ratings) Tax Philosophy Cut taxes for everyone Increase taxes, especially on high-income earners. Tax Brackets

- Ordinary Income Three - 12%, 25%, 33%. Earlier proposal: 10%, 20%, 25% Eight - 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, 39.6%, 43.6% Tax Brackets

- Investment Income Three - 0%, 15%, 20% Complex. Long-term gains will be redefined to assets held > 6 years. Tax rates of 0%, 15%, 20% and 24% on long-term. Additional surcharges on some. Higher rates for all if assets held for fewer than 6 years. Net

Investment Income Tax Repeal Retain Estate Tax Repeal Retain and expand. Increase tax rate from 40% to 45%; and add new tax brackets for 50%, 55% and 65% for estates worth more than $10 million, $50 million and $500 million respectively. Gift tax Repeal Retain Impact on

GDP Positive 11% (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Negative 1% (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Impact on

Job Creation Positive. 5.3 million new jobs (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Negative. 311,000 fewer jobs (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Impact on Government Debt Negative. $10 trillion higher government debt (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Positive. $191 billion lower national debt (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Impact on Wages Positive. +6.5% wage growth (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Negative. -0.8% wage growth (as estimated by the Tax Foundation) Biggest Beneficiaries High-income earners Low-income earners "Clinton vs Trump - Tax Plans Compared." Diffen.com. Diffen LLC, n.d. Web. 3 Nov 2016.

< http://www.diffen.com/difference/Trump-vs-Clinton-Tax-Plan >

Source: Diffen.com

International Trade Policies: A Potential "Black Swan" On the Horizon

Another stark contrast in the economic policies of the two candidates is apparent in their views on international trade. In general, both candidates favor a less open policy on international trade, relative to recent Presidential administrations. This could result in "risk-off' investment sentiment that would benefit US Treasury debt and the U.S. Dollar.

Candidate Trump strongly supports repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), rejects the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and has taken a hardline stance on China, deeming it a "currency manipulator," a tactic that would likely sour relations with the country that is home to the world's second largest economy. His positions on international trade may be a positive for U.S. firms that have been hurt by cheaper overseas imports, such as steel companies, and defense firms that are likely to benefit from increased spending on national security.

In contrast, candidate Clinton has expressed support for NAFTA and has declined to formally accuse China of currency manipulation. Although she was once supportive of TPP, her current stance seems to be against the prospective Partnership.

Between a third and half of the profits for S&P 500 firms come from overseas. The stock market, in aggregate, seems to dislike candidate Trump's position on international trade. His policies, if enacted, bring an element of uncertainty to corporate profits, as well as increase the risk of trade wars with foreign countries, most notably with China.

Conclusion

Political elections are one of the greatest change agents of the American economic system. The contrast between the two Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, is the starkest in recent memory. There appears to be less drama in the Congressional elections, with most forecasters predicting a split decision, with Republicans maintaining control of the House and the Democrats gaining control of the Senate. This type of result is generally cheered by Wall Street, which likes "gridlock" so the free market system can drive the economy.

But make no mistake, there will be clear winners and losers, beyond the candidates running for office. A summary table on our views is in the Appendix that follows. To some extent, the market has already priced in some of the anticipated movement. For example, Healthcare stocks have lagged the market on a year-to-date basis, and the Mexican Peso has risen versus the U.S. Dollar, anticipating a Clinton victory. However, the election is too close to call and we believe there is a high likelihood of a sharp move in the market, regardless of who wins, as some uncertainty is resolved and cash either pours into the market, or flees it. We welcome a further discussion of the investment implications of the election on your personal portfolio at any time and we encourage you to exercise your privilege to vote.

Appendix: Summary Table

If Hillary Clinton Wins If Donald Trump Wins Likely Winners Likely Losers Likely Winners Likely Losers Infrastructure Big Banks Infrastructure Emerging Markets Hospitals Pharmaceutical Domestic Firms Multinational Firms HMOs Biotechnology Defense China Low/Middle Income Families High Income Families High Income Families Canada Education Coal Coal / Oil Mexico Alternative Energy Oil Financials Alternative Energy

Important Information: Beacon Trust ("Beacon") is the name used by two separate investment advisers and a trust company: Beacon Investment Advisory Services, Inc. ("BIAS"), Acertus Capital Management, LLC ("Acertus") and Beacon Trust Company ("BTC"). Both BIAS and Acertus are SEC registered investment advisers wholly owned by BTC, which is a subsidiary of Provident Bank. Provident Bank is a subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc, a holding company whose common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Beacon does not provide investment advice for any affiliated securities or obligations. Additional information is contained in the respective Form ADV disclosure documents, the most recent versions of which are available on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website at http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.

SECURITIES AND INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED - MAY GO DOWN IN VALUE  NOT GUARANTEED BY A BANK OR BANK AFFILIATE - NOT A DEPOSIT - NOT INSURED BY ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY

This publication is limited to the dissemination of general information pertaining to the wealth management products and services offered by Beacon to U.S. residents of those states where not prohibited by applicable law. No portion is to be construed as a solicitation to effect transactions in securities or the provision of personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Investing involves risks which may lead to losses, including loss of principal. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk and there can be no assurance that any specific investment will be profitable.

Past performance is not a predictor of future results. It should not be assumed that any information discussed herein will prove to be profitable or that decisions in the future will be profitable or provide specific performance results. Any discussion of tax matters contained within this communication should not be used for the purpose of avoiding U.S. tax related penalties or promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. Beacon Trust does not provide legal advice.

Before investing, carefully consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. For this and other information that should be read carefully, please request a prospectus or summary prospectus from your financial advisor or Beacon Trust at 973-206-7100 or visit www.beacontrust.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409442LOGO

SOURCE Beacon Trust

Related Links

http://www.beacontrust.com


"We are beyond grateful and honored to have the support and generosity of the Bay Area sailing community and corporate sponsors for the Leukemia Cup Regatta," said Chris Kostanecki Leukemia Cup Regatta Co-Chair. "We are also thankful for the countless volunteer hours spent by our committee members preparing and executing this successful event. The Bay Area Leukemia Cup Regatta continues to be the top fundraising regatta in the nation year after year, and it is all due to the support of the entire Leukemia Cup Regatta community."

The weekend-long event included the Perkins Corporate Challenge and VIP Dinner on October 22 and the Leukemia Cup Regatta on October 23. The 2nd Annual Perkins Corporate Challenge was hosted at The St. Francis Yacht Club with seven corporate teams from Accel, Capital Pacific, Cromar Foundation, Hannig Law, Kilroy Realty, Pacific Union International and Wells Fargo. The Perkins Corporate Challenge was created last year in honor of the late Thomas Perkins, Leukemia Cup Regatta Honorary Chairman and founder of Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Perkins Cup trophy was presented at the VIP Dinner to the winning team, Kilroy Realty.

The sell-out crowd at the VIP Dinner, hosted by the San Francisco Yacht Club, was entertained by featured guest speaker Ethan Zohn, a two-time lymphoma survivor and the winner of CBS hit reality television show, Survivor Africa. On October 23, the Leukemia Cup Regatta hosted 94 sailboats racing for a cure across the San Francisco Bay. Matt Cromar, who is the co-chair of the Leukemia Cup Regatta Planning Committee, was awarded the Top Individual Fundraiser honor for the Bay Area as well as nationally, which includes 50 Leukemia Cup Regatta events held annually across the country.

The Leukemia Cup Regatta is a thrilling sailing event that combines the joy of boating with the important task of raising money to cure cancer. The 2017 Leukemia Cup Regatta will be taking place on October 21-22, 2017 at The San Francisco Yacht Club. Registration for next year's event will open spring of 2017.

For questions or sponsorship opportunities, contact Jennifer Daly at 415-625-1139 or [email protected]. For more information on the Leukemia Cup Regatta, visit www.SFLcup.org

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society  (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services for patients and their loved ones.

Major LLS fundraising campaigns include Team In Training, Light The Night Walk, School & Youth, Man & Woman of the Year and Leukemia Cup Regatta. To reach the widest possible audience, LLS partners with national and regional level companies and brands, including Nike, Disney, Burlington and others.

Founded in 1949 and headquartered in White Plains, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.LLS.org. Patients and caregivers should contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436133

SOURCE Pacific Union

Related Links

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SOMERVILLE, N.J., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ethicon*, a trusted leader in suture technology, announced today that triclosan-coated sutures received a recommendation in the new "Global Guidelines for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infections (SSI)", the first-ever Global guidelines on SSIs released by the World Health Organization (WHO). Categorized as a conditional recommendation, the use of triclosan coated sutures is now supported by the WHO based on moderate-quality of evidence.** According to the new WHO Guidelines, "the panel suggests the use of triclosan-coated sutures for the purpose of reducing the risk of surgical site infection (SSI), independent of the type of surgery."

Suture selection provides an important opportunity to address a key risk factor for infection  bacterial colonization of the suture. Ethicon Plus Sutures are the only globally available sutures coated with triclosan that inhibit colonization of the suture by bacteria commonly associated with SSIs, including S. aureus, S. epidermidis, MRSA, MRSE, E. coli+, and K. pneumonia+.[i],[ii],[iii] To that end, Ethicon offers a comprehensive range of antibacterial sutures, including Coated VICRYL Plus Antibacterial (polyglactin 910); MONOCRYL Plus Antibacterial (poliglecaprone 25); PDS Plus Antibacterial (polydioxanone); STRATAFIX Spiral PDS Plus Knotless Tissue Control Device; STRATAFIX Spiral Monocryl Plus Knotless Tissue Control Device; and STRATAFIX Symmetric PDS Plus Knotless Tissue Control Device.

"Several independent studies have found that triclosan-coated sutures reduce the risk of SSI across many types of surgery," said Professor David Leaper, Emeritus Professor of Surgery University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Professor of Clinical Sciences University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom. "Taken together with other evidence-based interventions, Ethicon Plus Sutures may help reduce hospital costs associated with infections, including longer length of stay or readmission."

Ethicon first innovated the triclosan coated suture with the introduction of Coated VICRYL Plus Antibacterial (polyglactin 910) suture in 2003. SSIs are among the most common healthcare-associated infections (HAI) worldwide; they increase morbidity and mortality in surgical patients and represent an economic burden to healthcare systems.[iv] In fact, SSIs are the leading infection in the general patient population in countries with limited resources, affecting up to two thirds of operated patients and with a frequency up to nine times higher than in developed countries. [v]

"Ethicon has more than 60 years of experience in surgical sutures, and the new guidelines from WHO supports our Ethicon Plus Sutures portfolio and further reinforces our decade-long commitment to helping surgeons and their institutions address the overwhelming burden of healthcare associated infections," said Liza Ovington, Franchise Medical Director for Ethicon. "Ethicon is committed to shaping the future of surgery by helping address the world's most pressing health care issues to improve and save more lives."

Ethicon Plus Sutures have been shown in vitro to inhibit bacterial colonization of the suture for seven days or more.iii By inhibiting bacterial colonization of the suture by pathogens commonly associated with SSIs, a key risk factor for infection is addressed. Numerous peer reviewed, randomized controlled trials, as well as prospectively planned meta-analyses of these trials, contribute to the growing body of evidence that antibacterial sutures are an important tool in the fight against surgical site infections.

About Ethicon

From creating the first sutures, to revolutionizing surgery with minimally invasive procedures, Ethicon has made significant contributions to surgery for more than 60 years. Our continuing dedication to Shape the Future of Surgery is built on our commitment to help address the world's most pressing health care issues, and improve and save more lives. Through Ethicon's surgical technologies and solutions including sutures, staplers, energy devices, trocars and hemostats and our commitment to treat serious medical conditions like obesity and cancer worldwide, we deliver innovation to make a life-changing impact. Learn more at www.ethicon.com, and follow us on Twitter @Ethicon.

*Ethicon represents the products and services of Ethicon, Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery, LLC and certain of their affiliates. Ethicon, Inc. is the legal manufacturer of Plus Antibacterial Sutures.

**Each WHO recommendation falls into one of two categories: Strong (the panel was confident that the benefits of the intervention outweighed the risks/ or Conditional (the panel considered that the benefits of the intervention probably outweighed the risks. Each recommendation also falls into one of four categories of supporting evidence quality, as described by the WHO: High quality of evidence (we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect), moderate quality of evidence (we are moderately confident in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different), low quality of evidence (our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect), and very low quality of evidence (we have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of the effect).

+PDS Plus Suture and MONOCRYL Plus Suture only

062664-161101

[i] Ming X, Rothenburger S, Nichols MM. In vivo and invitro antibacterial efficacy of PDS Plus (polidioxanone with triclosan) suture. Surg Infect. 2008;9(4):451-457.

[ii] Ming X, Rothenburger S, Yang D. In vitro antibacterial efficacy of Monocryl Plus Antibacterial Suture (poligelcaprone 25 with triclosan). Surg Infect. 2007;8(2):201-207.

[iii] Rothenburger S, Spangler D, Bhende S, Burkley D. In vitro antimicrobial evaluation of coated Vicryl Plus Antibacterial Suture (coated polyglactin 910 with triclosan) using zone of inhibition assays. Surg Infect. 2002;3(suppl):79-87.

[iv] Wang ZX, Jiang CP, Cao Y, Ding YT. Systematic review and meta-analysis of triclosan-coated sutures for the prevention of surgical-site infection. Br J Surg. 2013;100(4):465-473.

[v] Fact Sheet: Health care-associated infections. Accessed September 22, 2016: http://www.who.int/gpsc/country_work/gpsc_ccisc_fact_sheet_en.pdf.

SOURCE Ethicon

Related Links

http://www.ethicon.com


"In the past year SML has doubled its revenue and margins," said Wiley. " I look forward to continuing that growth with expanded services in exporting, importing, and project cargo."

Wiley brings 25 years of logistics experience, previously serving as Regional Sales Manager at CMA-CGM Logistics, and has managed offices similar in size to SML's throughout his career. This experience and his talents in operations and sales secured him as the right executive for SML.

"We are excited to have Troy Wiley as one of our newest leaders," said Thomas Gilgen, the International Division President of Magnate Worldwide, which acquired SML last year. "He's a commercially minded executive who will help us organize the branch and reach our growth goals."

"In terms of our growth, 2017 is going to be a spectacular year," said Wiley. "I consider myself fortunate to join such a respected company that prides itself on quality service. I'm excited to work with the team to develop their already extensive service suite."

About Somerset Marine Lines

Since its founding in 2000, SML, a leading provider of domestic and international freight forwarding services, has put the customer first. The company prides itself on its competitive rates and stress-free customer service. This begins with a single point of contact; when customers call, they talk live with someone who helps them quickly find the information they need. More information can be found at www.somersetmarine.com.

About Magnate Worldwide

With a strong capital position, seasoned management team, and skilled operational and customer service talent, Magnate Worldwide (MWW) is building a premium transportation and logistics provider. MWW focuses on asset-light premium logistics and seeks to partner with best-in-class companies that operate in the international freight forwarding and North American premium transportation markets. Find out more at http://www.magnateworldwide.com .

Press Contact

Thomas Gilgen

Telephone: 630-394-1037

Email: [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161101/434794

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161101/435012LOGO

SOURCE Magnate Worldwide

Related Links

http://magnateworldwide.com


NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Center says, "We are urging US Navy Veterans who have recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma or their family members to call us anytime at 800-714-0303 so we can quickly explain that the amount of compensation they receive is probably going to be tied to the skill of the lawyer they hire to assist with the financial compensation process. If the Veteran or their family hire a less than qualified lawyer or law firm-there a very good chance they will get financially shortchanged. Adding insult to injury there is a very good chance the unqualified lawyer/law firm could also overcharge the diagnosed Navy Veteran." http://usnavymesothelioma.com/

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436057

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436058

The US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Center has one goal and that is to see to it that the Navy Veteran with mesothelioma or their family receives the very best possible financial compensation for this very rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. In many instances the compensation for a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma could exceed a million dollars as the Center would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303.

Vital Tips for Hiring the Nation's Most Qualified Attorneys When It Comes to a Navy Veteran with Mesothelioma from the US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Center

"There is no such thing as a federally sponsored mesothelioma compensation department when it comes to a major financial compensation settlement for a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma and a lawsuit may be needed to receive the best compensation.

"Once you hire a lawyer to assist with a mesothelioma compensation claim you are stuck with them."

"Think nationally when it comes to hiring a lawyer to assist with a mesothelioma compensation claim for a Navy Veteran.

"If the lawyer you are talking to cannot cite one example where within the last 12 months they have been the driving force for a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma receiving a million dollar plus compensation settlement please call us at 800-714-0303 for direct access to extremely qualified mesothelioma attorneys who have these types of references." http://usnavymesothelioma.com/

Of the 2,500 people in the United States who will be diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, about one third will be Veterans of the US Navy. Typically, US Navy Veterans with mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos on a US Navy ship, or while their ship was at a shipyard for a retrofit or overhaul.

For a listing of all former and current US Navy ships please refer to the US Navy's website that addresses these topics. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/our_ships.asp

Most US Navy Veterans with mesothelioma were on assigned to a US Navy ship that was based in Virginia, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, Washington or South Carolina, or they were exposed to asbestos at a US Navy Shipyard in Maine, Virginia, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Florida, Mississippi/Louisiana or Oregon. As a rule, the Navy Veteran with mesothelioma had exposure to asbestos took place in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or 1980s.

For more information about mesothelioma compensation and why it is so vital for a diagnosed US Navy Veteran to have the most qualified and experienced mesothelioma attorneys in the United States for the best possible financial compensation results a Veteran or their family are urged to call the US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Center at 800-714-0303. http://usnavymesothelioma.com/

Media Contact:

Michael Thomas

[email protected]

800-714-0303

SOURCE US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Center

Related Links

http://usnavymesothelioma.com


NAMUR, Belgium, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Conference call to take place Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 8:30am E.T.

VolitionRx Limited (NYSE MKT: VNRX) ("Volition"), a life sciences company focused on developing diagnostic tests for cancer, today announced it will host a conference call on Thursday, November 10th, 2016 at 8:30am E.T. to discuss its financial results for the third quarter 2016, in conjunction with the filing of its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016.

Cameron Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of Volition, will host the call and provide an update on recent developments, including details of the ongoing clinical trials and commercial progress of the Company's Nu.Q Colorectal Cancer blood-based diagnostic platform. To participate in the call, please dial 1-877-407-0789 (toll-free) in the U.S. and Canada, 0 800 756 3429 (toll-free) in the U.K., and 1-201-689-8562 (toll) internationally. The conference ID number is 13649322.

Event: Volition Q3 2016 Earnings and Business Update Conference Call Date: Thursday, November 10, 2016 Time: 8:30 am (Eastern Time) U.S. & Canada Dial-in: U.K. Dial-in: 1-877-407-0789 (toll free) 0 800 756 3429 (toll free) International Dial-in: 1-201-689-8562 (toll) Conference ID: 13649322

A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of Volition's corporate website at http://ir.volitionrx.com. In addition, a telephone replay of the call will be available until November 24th, 2016. The replay dial-in numbers are 1-844-512-2921 (toll-free) in the U.S. and Canada and 1-412-317-6671 (toll) internationally. Please use replay pin number 13649322.

About Volition

Volition is a life sciences company focused on developing diagnostic tests for cancer. The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid  an indication that disease is present.

Volition's goal is to make the tests as easy and simple to use, for both patients and doctors, as existing diabetic and cholesterol blood tests. Volition's research and development activities are currently centered in Belgium as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic products to market first in Europe, then in the U.S. and ultimately, worldwide.

For more information about Volition, visit Volition's website (http://www.volitionrx.com) or connect with us via:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/volitionrx

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/volitionrx

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VolitionRx/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VolitionRx

The contents found at Volition's website address, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. The addresses for Volition's website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are included in this document as inactive textual references only.

Media / Investor Contacts

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the effectiveness of the Company's bodily-fluid-based diagnostic tests as well as the Company's ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties. For instance, if we fail to develop and commercialize diagnostic products, we may be unable to execute our plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include the Company's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products in the clinical IVD market; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in the Company's development pipeline or any other diagnostic products the Company might develop; the Company will face fierce competition and the Company's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics market and its rapid technological change; and other risks identified in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics, NuQ, Nu.QTM and HyperGenomics and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE VolitionRx Ltd
"We're in the business of celebrating great facial hair, so every year we travel the country in search of guys who epitomize facial hair excellence," said Steven Yde, division vice president for Wahl. "We know a great mustache or beard when we see one, but we want America to help us determine the best of the best."

What is the Wahl Man of the Year Contest?

Dubbed the ultimate 'mane' event, the Wahl Man of the Year Contest kicked off this May when Wahl announced the Most Facial Hair Friendly Cities in America. The journey involved a 30-foot mobile barbershop and a team of Master Barbers traveling from city to city to give guys free trims and grooming advice. Style delegates were chosen at each of the ten most facial hair friendly cities, and one was chosen from online entries. These 11 finalists each won $500 and a Lithium Ion + Stainless Steel Trimmer, but only one will demonstrate facial hair excellence above all others.

For more information about Wahl's Facial Hair Friendly Cities Tour, or the Wahl Man of the Year Contest, visit www.OfficialSponsorOfFacialHair.com.

About Wahl Grooming

A quarter-century ago, Wahl recognized the need for an easier way to keep facial hair well-groomed and created the men's trimmer category. The Wahl Groomsman was the world's first battery-powered facial hair trimmer, and featured the same high-quality, precision blade technology that had defined the brand since it began in 1919. Today, Wahl offers a complete line of facial hair trimmers that features the latest in power and convenience, continuing the company's legacy of superior trimming innovation. For more information, visit www.WahlGrooming.com .

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436384

SOURCE Wahl

Related Links

https://grooming.wahl.com


NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Williams Capital Group, L.P., a leading boutique investment bank, announced today that it has recently hired Edward J. Tirello, Jr. to lead its corporate finance division's strategic advisory team with a specialty focus on the utility and power industry sector. Ed is joined by senior bankers Gary R. Rotenberg and William M. Tsu. The addition of this advisory capability builds upon Williams Capital's established investment banking, research, and capital markets platform in the energy and infrastructure industries.

Mr. Tirello's 46 years of Wall Street experience is concentrated in the utilities and power industry sectors. His focus includes mergers & acquisitions, strategic advisory assignments, and general investment banking. He started his career in equity research, and most recently served as Senior Advisor in the investment banking group at Tudor, Pickering & Holt. Mr. Rotenberg's 33 years of investment banking work has also concentrated in the utilities and power sectors. He brings extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions, private capital funding, litigation, and regulatory support.

"We look forward to broadening the utility and power industry investment banking business at Williams Capital," says Ed Tirello. "In combination with the experienced bankers already at Williams Capital, Gary and I believe we have an ideal platform to enhance the firm's strategic advisory service offerings to its clients."

About The Williams Capital Group, L.P.

Established in January 1994, Williams Capital provides a full range of investment banking and underwriting services to a wide range of clients including corporations, governments, municipalities and institutional investors. Headquartered in New York, Williams Capital maintains 7 branch offices nationally. The firm is a member of FINRA, MSRB and SIPC. For more information, visit http://www.willcap.com.

SOURCE The Williams Capital Group, L.P.

Related Links

http://www.willcap.com


CHICAGO, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the final days before the 2016 election, YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) is looking to encourage everyone to get out and vote as a part of the Zoe for President campaign, and has launched a social media video generator to encourage voter participation. Zoe's Rattle the Vote video generator gives users the opportunity to create video messages from Zoe, the Y's adorable one-year-old campaigner for all kids that can be shared with friends and family on social media channels.

YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) is looking to encourage everyone to get out and vote as a part of the Zoe for President campaign, and has launched a social media video generator to encourage voter participation. Zoe's Rattle the Vote video generator gives users the opportunity to create video messages from Zoe, the Y's adorable one-year-old campaigner for all kids that can be shared with friends and family on social media channels.

Creating a customized Zoe video is an easy three-step process. It starts with visiting Zoe's campaign website ZoeForPresident.net and inserting a friend or family member's name. Then the videos can be shared via social media channels. There are four engaging videos to choose from, including one that has Zoe promising to eat all her broccoli if the recipient votes. The Rattle the Vote social media video generator enables people to send customizable videos now through Election Day, Tuesday, November 8.

The Zoe for President campaign highlights the potential the Y sees in all kids to grow up and change the world if they're nurtured properly and supported along the way. With the help of Y programs like academic enrichment, mentoring, college readiness, job training and more, kids have the opportunity to grow, to succeed, and one day, maybe even become president.

This program complements the recently announced Zoe's Kids Day Out initiative that many Ys across the country are participating in on November 8. Zoe's Kids Day Out ensures parents and caregivers can vote by providing a fun and safe alternative to taking their kids to the polls. Details about Election Day child care services including availability, registration requirements and associated costs vary and can be provided by contacting local Ys ymca.net/find-your-y.

About the Y

The Y is one of the nation's leading nonprofits, which strengthens communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Across the U.S., 2,700 Ys engage 22 million men, women and children  regardless of age, income or background, nurturing the potential of children and teens, improving the nation's health and well-being, and providing opportunities to give back and support the community. Anchored in more than 10,000 communities, the Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver lasting personal and social change. ymca.net

Contact:

Ryu Mizuno

YMCA of the USA

312-419-8418

[email protected]

Stephanie Cavataro

WME IMG

212-774-4459

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436080

SOURCE YMCA of the USA

Related Links

http://www.ymca.net


WALNUT, Calif., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zarget today announced it has raised a $6M Series A round of funding, led by Sequoia India, with participation from current investors Accel and Matrix Partners. The company plans to use the funds to scale its marketing automation products and help small businesses easily optimize their web presence in real-time without any coding skills required.

Marketing Automation Software for the Masses

Websites are the number one marketing channel for SMBs. However small business owners lack the time, budget and IT knowledge to manage and improve the performance of their web pages. On top of this, none of the optimization software today works for HTML5 dynamic elements such as image carousels, animation and pop-up menus, which are used in the vast majority of websites.

Another major problem stems from trying to decide on the right combination of tool providers. Dozens of competing offerings exist; but the solutions are not integrated. This means companies are forced to use one provider for A/B testing and another for heatmaps. This leaves your data in multiple silos with no easy way to address online behavior patterns- such as where drop offs are occurring - and can be subjected to security vulnerabilities such as clickjacking. The impact is staggering, with billions of dollars in lost revenue and trillions of dollars in merchandise left in shopping carts each year.

With Zarget's all-in-one platform, any business owner has an easy and affordable way to become an effective digital marketer and improve performance of their websites instantly, without learning how to code or hiring an expensive IT department. Zarget offers all of the capabilities of competing solutions and more including A/B testing, dynamic heatmaps, funnel analysis, form analytics, and user polls and feedback  but at 10% of the cost, and backed by exceptional 24/7 customer support.

Best of all, businesses gain access to the industry's first Chrome plugin that lets you make changes instantly from within the browser. This eliminates the kind of complexity and costs that are typically only available for large enterprise teams. Starting as low as 50 cents per day, any small business owner or digital marketer can magically turn their website into a visualization dashboard for marketing automation, optimization and testing, and gather actionable insights needed to make critical improvements on the fly.

The solution arrives at a much-needed point in time, with record holiday online sales expected, and nearly 50% of all SMBs forgoing a website altogether due to costs, lack of resources and the technical knowledge required to maintain it.

"Zarget has an exceptionally talented team who've spent the past 10 years developing business automation software that's already in use by leading enterprises today," said Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors. "Sequoia is excited to partner with a team with such proven capabilities and believe their marketing platform will become an essential fixture within the SMB market for many years to come."

Zarget also announced recent growth and customer traction with more than 1,000 customer signups in 10 countries in just four months since launch. This includes leading brands like Landesk in the US, BizTalk360 in the UK, and Buscape in Brazil.

"Zarget's A/B testing and HeatMaps made it easy and affordable for us to launch experiments and make the proper decisions to improve our customer experience," said Anand Krishnamoorthy, CEO of Wedtree, an online store for wedding gifts. "Although we did not have the resources of a full-fledged marketing team, we were able to create page variants quickly, with the confidence of knowing exactly what to do. As an example, after replacing the product category images with the individual products we saw a powerful spike with clickthrough rates increasing by a whopping 54%."

Zarget was founded in 2015 by three seasoned SMB entrepreneurs, Arvind Parthiban, Naveen Venkat and Santhosh Kumar, who spent a decade at Zoho building business productivity tools and customer relationship management software. The company has raised $7.5 million to date from global venture capital firms Sequoia India, Accel Partners and Matrix Partners.

About Zarget

Zarget is a SaaS-based web optimization and marketing platform that provides comprehensive solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. For more information, visit www.zarget.com or learn more on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ZargetHQ, or on Twitter at @ZargetHQ.

PRESS CONTACT:

Eric Gonzalez

VSC on behalf of Zarget

[email protected]

415.272.0836

This release was issued through WebWire(R). For more information visit http://www.webwire.com.

SOURCE Zarget

Related Links

https://zarget.com


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
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 29 : Veteran CPI-M leader and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Saturday applauded the Kerala government's battle against corruption.

"Corruption is being dealt with very sternly and I hope it will be taken forward," Achuthanandan told reporters.

Achuthanandan was responding to the actions of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau led by Director General of Police Jacob Thomas, who in the past two days raided the residences of two top IAS officers holding the rank of Additional Chief Secretary.

Both Finance Secretary K.M. Abraham and Labour Secretary Tom Jose are being probed on the directives of a vigilance court following complaints that they possess assets more than their known sources of income.

Incidentally, Jose is the President of the IAS Officers Association and these raids occurred a day after the association representatives called on Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

On Saturday, Vijayanand said he was yet to get a report from the vigilance. "Once the report is received, appropriate steps will be taken."

Jose was to meet the media on Saturday. He is said to be now considering taking legal action. Abraham has written to Vijayan against Thomas.

Vijayan has promised that action will be taken if it was found that the vigilance inspection at Abraham's home was done in an inappropriate manner.

On Friday, an officer who raided Abraham's house here was served a show cause notice.
New Delhi, Oct 31 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed there were allegations that phones of judges from the Supreme Court to High Courts, were being tapped. His claims were promptly rejected by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Addressing the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Delhi High Court here, Kejriwal, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur among others, said if true, then tapping of judges' phones would be the biggest assault on independence of the judiciary.

"There are opportunities when you get to talk to judges, and during one of those, I heard two judges telling each other not to talk over phone because the phones are being tapped. When I said that this cannot happen, they said from the Supreme Court to the High Court and District Courts, all of the judges' phones are being tapped," said Kejriwal.

"I don't know if this is true, but if it is true, then this very dangerous. In such a scenario all the judges can be influenced. Even if a judge has indulged in any wrong doing, even that doesn't justify phone tapping. Other means can be used to gather evidence against them," said Kejriwal, leading to loud murmurs among the audience.

"Independence of judiciary is paramount. And if true, phone tapping would be the biggest assault on the independence of judiciary," said Kejriwal, who also questioned the Centre's delay on implementing the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations for filling up vacancies in the courts.

"I don't know what is the reason behind the central government not implementing the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations for filling up vacancies in the courts. But this is giving rise to rumours.

"There are rumours that only because certain minister's (preferred) men will not be given the opportunity, the Centre is not implementing the recommendations - and similar such rumours. Such rumours are dangerous for democracy.

"Even 001 per cent of executive interference is not good for judiciary. Since executive is very, very powerful, an independent judiciary is paramount for keeping checks and balances," said Kejriwal.

He also called for a law to ensure implementation of the Colegium's recommendations within 48 hours after they are sent to the Centre, as well as codifying the relation between the executive and the judiciary.

Speaking at the event a little later, Law Minister Prasad, who earlier held the Communication and Information Technology Ministry, categorically denied Kejriwal's claims of phone tapping and asserted the Modi government's commitment towards independence of the judiciary.

"I don't want to join an issue today, but I have to put the record straight. I have been the Communication Minister for more than two years and wish to deny with all command and authority that phones of judges were tapped," said Prasad.

Taking on Kejriwal, Prasad asserted that independence of judiciary was "unimpeachable and uncompromisable".

"Right from Prime Minister Modi to other ministers like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and myself, we have fought against the Emergency for upholding three freedoms - individual, media and judiciary.

"So as the Law Minister let me categorically declare the Modi government's commitment towards independence of the judiciary. It is absolute and complete. The independence of judiciary is unimpeachable and uncompromisable," added Prasad.
New Delhi, Oct 31 : The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday denied reports that phones of judges from the Supreme Court to High Courts were being tapped.

"MHA strongly denies media reports alleging tapping of telephones of some judges. There is no truth in these reports. These reports are baseless and unfounded," said a ministry statement.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said there were allegations of judges' phones being tapped. However, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected his claims immediately.
New Delhi, Oct 31 : Sharing the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday made a stunning allegation -- that the phones of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts were being tapped. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad strongly denied the allegation.

Kejriwal, in his address at the 50th anniversary celebration of Delhi High Court here, said if allegations of tapping were true, then it would be tantamount to the biggest assault on independence of the judiciary.

With Modi, Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, and Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur among others seated on the dias, Kejriwal, who spoke first, focused most of his around 10-minute speech on the issue of phone tapping. He also questioned the Centre's delay in implementing the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations for filling up vacancies in the courts.

Kejriwal said during his conversation with some judges he "heard" two judges telling each other not to talk over the phone "because the phones are being tapped".

"When I said that this cannot happen, they said from the Supreme Court to the High Court and District Courts, all of the judges' phones are being tapped," said the Chief Minister, who has attacked the Central government, especially the Prime Minister, on a number of occasions for allegedly trying to clip the wings of his government.

"I don't know if this (phone tapping) is true, but if it is true, then this is very dangerous. In such a scenario all the judges can be influenced. Even if a judge has indulged in any wrong doing, even that doesn't justify phone tapping. Other means can be used to gather evidence against them," said Kejriwal, leading to loud murmurs among the audience.

"Independence of judiciary is paramount. If true, phone tapping would be the biggest assault on the independence of judiciary," he said.

On the alleged delay in filling up judicial appointments, he said the delay is "giving rise to rumours". "There are rumours that only because certain minister's (preferred) men will not be given the opportunity, the Centre is not implementing the recommendations - and similar such rumours. Such rumours are dangerous for democracy."

"Even 001 per cent of executive interference is not good for judiciary. Since executive is very, very powerful, an independent judiciary is paramount for keeping checks and balances," said Kejriwal.

He also called for a law to ensure implementation of the Collegium's recommendations within 48 hours after they are sent to the Centre, as well as codifying the relation between the executive and the judiciary.

Jung, who spoke next and has been in a running battle with the Chief Minister, did not refer to Kejriwal's speech during his brief address.

Union Minister Prasad, whose turn was next, categorically denied Kejriwal's claims of phone tapping and asserted that the Modi government is committed towards independence of the judiciary.

"I don't want to join an issue today, but I have to put the record straight. I have been the Communication Minister for more than two years and wish to deny with all command and authority that phones of judges were tapped," said Prasad.

Taking on Kejriwal, Prasad asserted that independence of judiciary was "unimpeachable and uncompromisable".

"Right from Prime Minister Modi to other ministers like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and myself, we have fought against the Emergency for upholding three freedoms - of individual, media and judiciary.

"So as the Law Minister let me categorically declare the Modi government's commitment towards independence of the judiciary. It is absolute and complete. The independence of judiciary is unimpeachable and uncompromisable," added Prasad.

Modi, who spoke last, stressed on the need to reduce the backlog of cases pending before the judiciary. He also emphasised on the need to rope in the best of talents while drafting Indian laws and said it could be the biggest service to the country's judiciary.

The Prime Minister called for the inclusion of people from the lower strata of society into judiciary. As the (central) government is the biggest litigant in the country, he had asked his government to not enter into unnecessary litigation, he said.

On Friday, the Supreme Court had rapped the Centre for sitting on the top court Collegium's recommendations on the appointment of judges to various high courts. The government's inaction amounted to paralysing and locking out the judiciary, the apex court observed.

CJI Thakur, who spoke after Prasad, welcomed Kejriwal's move of assuring his government's support in improving infrastructure and recruitment of more judges in courts.

He said Delhi High Court has given four CJIs and 27 other judges to the Supreme Court. One of the judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, has been appointed in the International Court of Justice.

Delhi HC Chief Justice G. Rohini said the court has been a pioneer in the field of computerisation and adoption of digital processes. "We have 10 courts that function as e-courts and so far there have been 45,430 e-filings. It is a modern court uniquely poised to take on the future."
Bengaluru, Oct 31 : Budget carrier AirAsia India Ltd, in which embattled Tata Sons holds a majority stake, on Monday said investigation was on against some of its former personnel involving personal expense claims and certain company charges.

"There is an ongoing investigation against certain former personnel of AirAsia (India) Ltd. involving irregular personal expense claims and certain company charges," said the joint venture in a statement here.

The airline's statement came six days after Tata Sons' ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry on October 25 alleged that forensic investigation revealed fraudulent transactions of Rs 22 crore involving non-existent entities in India and Singapore.

In the $30-million joint venture, Tata Sons Ltd. holds 51 per cent equity stake and AirAsia Berhad of Malaysia holds the balance 49 per cent.

"We will not make any specific reference to the matters (being) investigated at this stage as it may be prejudicial to us or the personnel investigated," said the airline statement.

Noting that the holding entities view all allegations of impropriety and misappropriation very seriously, the airline said they (entities) did not approve of any unethical practices and will take very stern action against the perpetrators at all levels of the organisation.

"The three entities (AirAsia India, AirAsia Berhad and Tata Sons) would like to reiterate that they strictly adhere to internal procedures and policies," added the statement.

In a letter to Tata Sons Board members, Mistry claimed that a first information report was also filed by the holding company (Tata Sons) at the insistence of the independent directors against the illegal transactions.

The low-cost airline, which commenced its operations in June 2014 from Bengaluru, claimed to have flown three million passengers across the country over the last two years.
Mumbai, Nov 1 : Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has heaped praise on actor Manoj Bajpayee for his performance in "Ouch".

"One of the most original comedic scenes. Manoj is just fantastic in this Neeraj Pandey's short film 'Ouch'," Varma tweeted on Tuesday about Manoj who will appear in the filmmaker's upcoming project "Sarkar 3".

The film, also starring former Miss India Pooja Chopra, is a 15-minute long black comic piece. It revolves around the characters Vinay and Priya who work together. It was screened at Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star last month.
Caracas, Nov 2 : The Venezuelan government released four political activists while the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) suspended a political trial in Congress against President Nicolas Maduro, a sign showing both sides may be willing to negotiate.

The opposition on Tuesday welcomed the freeing of the prisoners but warned more needed to be done for the negotiations to move forward, Xinhua news agency reported.

The MUD has made clear that, despite its participation in talks with the government, it will not stop pressuring the government in other ways to restore the derailed referendum to recall Maduro.

MUD's Executive Secretary Jesus Torrealba called the releases "important but insufficient".

"The releases need to continue. They should reinstate the recall referendum or, failing that, advance presidential elections," he said.

Venezuelan Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz said on Tuesday that the recently begun dialogue process between the government and the opposition would promote development and peace in the country.

"Dialogue is crucial for acknowledgement between diverse political sectors," said Isturiz in an interview with the state-owned Radio Nacional de Venezuela.

Envoys from Maduro's government and the MUD met late Sunday. The two sides agreed to discuss four central topics -- how to bring about peace and justice, making amends to victims and reconciliation, social and economic stability, and setting a general election date.

Isturiz said the first of these topics -- peace and justice -- was particularly important.

The Vatican, along with former heads of state from Panama, Dominican Republic and Spain, as well as the regional bloc Unasur are trying to bring the adversary parties of Venezuela to the negotiating table, in a bid to avoid further chaos and bloodshed in the country.
Dhaka, Nov 2 : The Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday said that the large-scale attack on the Hindu community in Nasirnagar of Brahmanbaria was deliberate and carried out in a planned manner, a media report said.

Enamul Haque Chowdhury, chief of NHRC's fact-finding committee, told The Daily Star while visiting the area on Wednesday that he found the attacks coordinated.

The three-member panel reached Nasirnagar on Wednesday morning and spoke to temple priests and eyewitnesses over Sunday's attacks, in which at least five temples were vandalised, and about 100 Hindu houses damaged and looted.

A delegation of the Indian High Commission, led by its First Secretary Rajesh Uike, visited the affected sites on Wednesday morning. However, they did not speak to the media.

The visit by the NHRC and the Indian High Commission comes as unknown criminals vandalised an idol of Hindu goddess Durga and looted valuables from a temple in Hathazari upazila of Chittagang on Monday night, the Daily Star reported.

The incident came to light on Tuesday morning when Dulal Dey, the priest of Dashmahavidya Temple in Chowdhury Hat area, went to the temple and found its door broken.

The miscreants looted gold jewellery and cash from the temple's vault, Rimon Muhuri, general secretary of Hathazari upazila Puja Udjapon Committee, told the daily.

On information, Komol Dey, a sub-inspector of Hathazari Police Station, visited the spot.

In Brahmanbaria, armed with sticks and sharp weapons, around 200 religious bigots attacked at least five temples, and vandalised and looted about 100 Hindu houses in several localities in Nasirnagar over a Facebook post from the account of one Rasraj Das that allegedly hurt Muslim sentiment.

The attackers also beat up more than 100 people.

The owner of the Facebook account, from where the post was published, is currently in jail.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday formed the fact finding committee to look into the incident of attack on Hindus in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday urged the health ministry to invite all stakeholders, including farmers, to the upcoming Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's biggest conference on tobacco control policies.

CII said in a letter to the ministry that participation of the tobacco farmers was important during the conference as India was the world's second largest producer of tobacco.

"It provides livelihood to 4.6 crore people, including farmers, farm labour, rural poor, small self-employed retailers, women, more than 70 per cent of whom are engaged in the agricultural sector and have no other means of sustenance," said the letter.

The 7th Conference of Parties (COP 7) of FCTC is being hosted in Noida between November 7 and 12. As per the agenda, strict tobacco control policies are to be formulated during the convention.

According to CII, adequate participation of all stakeholders will help in arriving at a balanced and pragmatic position on various proposals and guidelines at the conference.

Earlier, the tobacco farmers in the country had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and World Health Organisation to let them participate in the conference.
Chinese family businesses tend to grow steadily: PwC Updated: 2016-11-04 10:11 (Xinhua)

SHANGHAI - According to findings from the PwC bi-annual global survey of family businesses, there is an upward trend in proportion of family businesses in China, whose aim is to grow steadily rather than aggressively, compared to the results two years ago.

PwC interviewed over 2,800 family businesses in 50 countries from May to August in 2016. The annual turnover of these businesses ranges from $5 million to $1 billion.

It showed that 64 percent of family businesses in the survey have seen sales growth during the past year. During the same period, 73 percent of the surveyed family businesses in China saw sales growth compared with 84 percent in the 2014 survey.

In terms of internationalization, 80 percent of family businesses in China currently export goods or services (up from 66 percent in 2014).

It indicates that the proportion in international sales will increase to 88 percent in five years. The key considerations when they choose new export markets are economic and political stability of the country followed by the size and growth potential of the market.

Compared with results two years ago, there is growth in proportion of Chinese family businesses whose aim is to grow steadily rather than aggressively.

Previously, many Chinese family businesses adopted an aggressive strategy in running their businesses, and sometimes even turned to a total new industry. Now, they have realized the importance of focusing on their core business. So we see a steady trend of family business management, said Rebecca Wang, PwC China Tax Partner.

The main challenges facing Chinese family businesses over the next 12 months are market conditions, exchange rates, innovation, staff recruitment and retention, as well as competition. Rebecca Wang suggests that in view of the current complex business environment, family enterprises in China should focus on business transformation and innovation, proactively monitor the general economic situation and may even engage professional advisors to improve profitability and ensure long term development.

According to the survey, only 10 percent of family businesses in China have a robust, documented and communicated succession plan in place. The situation is improving gradually but the percentage is still lower than the global average of 15 percent.

Actually, many issues now facing family business come back to a lack of strategic planning, especially in the areas of succession planning, professionalizing the business, managing growth, innovation and digital disruption.

"The next generation plays an important role in creating the family business' future. Many family businesses underestimate the impact of digitization. It shows that it is very fruitful to involve the next generation in strategic planning of the family businesses, and have them become the change agents for business transformation and digitalization," Rebecca Wang comments.
Malappuram (Kerala), Nov 2 : A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials, probing a blast in Mysuru along with their Kerala counterparts, on Wednesday arrived at the Malappuram Collectorate premises where an explosion took place the previous day.

The bomb, kept in a pressure cooker, was placed besides the vehicle of a state government official who had come for a routine meeting at the District Collector's office. There were no casualties or damage in the incident.

IGP (Range) M.R. Ajithkumar, after inspecting the site, said they have recovered a pen drive and a map of India kept in a box with a slip bearing the name 'The Base Movement'.

"The pen drive contained visuals which were the same as in those recovered from blast sites in Kollam, Nellore and Mysuru. There were no personal references made in the pen drive or in the map. There is a warning also that such things can happen again. The state police chief is directly supervising the probe," said Ajithkumar.

On Tuesday, the Kerala Police probe team had already identified presence of ammonium nitrate, used in the bomb, which was used at the other three places also.

In the state assembly after the Congress-led opposition raised the issue on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured the house that all necessary steps have been taken. Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala said it should be ensured that 'one particular community' should not be targeted.

BJP legislator in the assembly O. Rajagopal expressed his ire by walking out of the house after alleging "absolute callousness" on the part of the government in probing such cases.

State BJP President Kummanam Rajasekharan called for a white paper on the progress of terror-related cases that have been registered in the state.

Contending that there was no serious probe into acts of terror like these he claimed that there were "several sleeping cells" of terror outfit in Kerala.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday inaugurate a three-day Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction 2016.

A two-member team from Pakistan will also participate in the conference, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the media here on Wednesday.

About 4,000 representatives from 61 countries will participate in the event. Forty one countries have confirmed their participation, he added.

The event will help take the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 forward.

The visit of the Pakistan team to the event comes amid a sharp downturn in bilateral ties after India on October 27 asked a junior Pakistani diplomat to leave the country for running a spy ring.

Pakistan retaliated and declared Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh as persona non grata and asked he leave the country within 48 hours.

Talking about the expected outcomes of the conference, the Home Minister said that New Delhi Declaration will be made, and roadmap for effective implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction will also be released.

Russia and the US will also be participating in the event, he informed.

On being asked how the government plans to handle the current situation on the India-Pakistan border, the Minister said the country's interests will be protected.

To another query on rising pollution levels in the national capital, the Home Minister said: "It's a challenge and something is to be done about it".
Dhaka, Nov 2 : At least six Hindu families from Bangladesh's Brahmanbaria district have left the country in the wake of Sunday's communal attack in which several temples were vandalised and more than 100 Hindu homes damaged, media reported on Wednesday.

According to Dhaka Tribune, the Hindus of Nasirnagar area who earlier chose not to flee despite massacres committed against them during the 1971 War of Liberation are now thinking of it as the last option to save their life following Sunday's attacks.

Around 100 people, including women, were injured in the attacks.

Some 3,000 Muslims took part in the series of violent attacks that were carried out in the Hindu localities of Nasirnagar following a rally over an alleged defamatory post by a Hindu youth, Rasraj Das, on Facebook. Rasraj had apologised to the Muslims the day before, saying that his account had been hacked, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Around 33 per cent voters of Nasirnagar are Hindus and they have always favoured the ruling Awami League.

The damaged house of Rasraj was found empty by the Dhaka Tribune reporter as his parents and siblings had gone into hiding. The local friends of Rasraj did not want to acknowledge him as a friend, fearing reprisal.

Some families of the village have already left the place. An elderly person of the Hindu community, wishing not to be named, told the Dhaka Tribune that at least five families had crossed the border into India in the last two days.

He said: "Many Hindu families have left their houses and are afraid of coming back to the village. I came here to observe the situation and will go back to my relative's house in the night."

Local Bulu Mia, who knew Rasraj - a fisherman, said that the youth was a good person. "I think he does not know the Kaaba... How did he post a photo on Facebook when he is an illiterate person?"

In a post early Saturday, Rasraj apologised to the Muslims from his Facebook profile saying that his account had been hacked.

Bulu Mia said they had never seen such communal attacks in the village. "The Hindus and Muslims here live together and attend everyone's programmes."

Asked if Rasraj had conflict with someone, Bulu said that he might have taken loan for his fishing project from some Muslim businessmen. "He shared with us that he was looking for loans."

Local Hindus said that the attackers who vandalised the house had also looted the valuables.

People of the Hindu community, including women and children, said they were scared of going out of the house and feared attacks.

The police have filed two cases against more than 1,000 people over Sunday's attack.

A four-member team of the Awami League led by Organising Secretary A.K.M. Enamul Haque Shamim visited the affected temples and houses and assured the Hindus of informing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the situation during a closed-door meeting with the locals.
Kolkata, Nov 2 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday termed as "unacceptable" the detention of her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal for trying to meet the family of a retired soldier who committed suicide.

"What's happening? Unprecedented. A CM is detained in his own state. He cannot move about freely. Unacceptable," she tweeted.

The Trinamool Congress leader had earlier described as "unfortunate" the police decision to stop Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

"They should be allowed. Our representative is on his way to Delhi," she said.

She termed the suicide of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal over the OROP scheme as "sad".

Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP and chief national spokesperson Derek O'Brien is to meet the deceased's family.

"They should have allowed them. On Mamata Banerjee's instructions, and on behalf of the Trinamool, I am going to meet them to extend our solidarity and respect," O'Brien said.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : India and Bangladesh will undertake a joint military exercise in Bangladesh from November 5, the Defence Ministry announced on Wednesday.

"As part of the ongoing India-Bangladesh defence cooperation, a joint military training exercise 'Sampriti 2016' will be conducted at Tangail near Dhaka in Bangladesh from November 5-8," the Defence Ministry said in a release here.

The exercise is likely to include counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, it added.

According to the release, army personnel from both countries will also be "familiarised" with each other's organisational structure and tactical drills.

This year's joint exercise is an important bilateral defence cooperation endeavour between India and Bangladesh and will be the sixth edition of the same, hosted alternately by the two countries.

Last year, India hosted 'Sampriti 2015' at Binnaguri, West Bengal.

The first exercise in this series was conducted in 2010 at Jorhat in Assam.
Miami, Nov 3 : US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump warned his supporters in Florida not to take anything for granted despite some polls that show him ahead of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Sunshine State.

"We don't want to blow this. The polls are all saying we're going to win Florida. Don't believe it. Don't believe it. ... Pretend we're slightly behind," he said during a rally in Miami on Wednesday, Efe news reported.

While Trump leads by up to four percentage points in some surveys of Florida voters, a CNN poll released on Wednesday has him trailing Clinton by two points.

The average of polls collated by the Web site RealClearPolitics gives Trump an advantage of one point over Clinton in Florida, which experts see as a must-win state for the billionaire if he is to defeat the former first lady and secretary of state.

With many in the crowd holding up placards reading "Latinos for Trump" and "Cubans for Trump," the Republican hopeful appealed to the most traditional elements in Miami's Cuban exile community by vowing to reverse President Barack Obama's policy of normalization with Cuba.

He also repeated his promise to crack down on unauthorized immigration, in part by building a wall on the US border with Mexico.

"As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton allowed dangerous aliens to go free because their countries would not take them back. Countless innocent Americans have been killed by illegal aliens," the real estate mogul said.

While Trump's anti-immigrant message angers many Hispanics, it is less objectionable to the Cubans and Puerto Ricans who make up the majority of Latinos in Florida.

Puerto Ricans, as US citizens, face no barriers to settling in the mainland US, and legislation gives undocumented Cubans who reach US soil the right to remain and obtain legal residence.

Trump touched several times on the idea that the system is stacked against him and his supporters.

"The system is rigged. Remember that. Right now. We are going to change it," he said, calling his campaign "a movement like we have never seen in this country before."

From Miami, Trump was scheduled to travel to two other Florida cities, Orlando and Pensacola.

Clinton has also been campaigning in Florida this week.
San Francisco, Nov 3 : As the $49 billion global networking giant Cisco realigns its focus towards software, it is the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region -- particularly India -- that will help it set up advanced data centres and deploy Cloud-based security solutions for governments and enterprises, top company executives told IANS here.

Cisco has crossed over $1 billion in revenues in India, reporting 20 per cent growth last year. According to the company CEO Chuck Robbins, who recently visited India, the country is set to become one of the top four markets for Cisco, apart from the US, Japan and China, in the next few years.

"Rapid digitisation is helping India grow at a faster pace than ever before. With the government's key initiatives like Digital India and Make in India firmly in place now, Cisco sees a massive growth in the country," Irving Tan, President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Cisco, told IANS.

For Tan, the Indian banking sector and growing e-commerce players are driving the need for next-gen security solutions and Cisco, being a networking expert and now armed with top-of-the-line, Cloud-ready security solutions, is going to be a preferred choice for the local enterprises.

"The advanced UCS S-Series storage-optimised server, the state-of-the-art endpoint data protection solutions, 'ONE Enterprise Cloud Suite' and second generation firewalls, Cisco is ready to provide the Indian government and enterprises a complete ecosystem for a secured, faster and hacking-free experience," Tan added.

The next big technology wave that Tan sees in companies realising the need to set up advanced data centres.

"This is a huge area of interest for us. The data centres of the future will have embedded security throughout. Cisco's strategy is to provide a data centre architecture that enables customers to 'Analyse, Simplify, Automate, and Protect' (ASAP) their data," Tan added.

A network that is ready for automation, Cloud-based data analytics with security is what makes Cisco different from other Cloud-based vendors.

The company, which has over 11,000 employees in India, is going all out to attract new customers via its vast network of partners to make them understand the growing need to adopt secured gateways.

According to Vicki Batka, Managing Director, APJ Partner Organisation at Cisco, the company is already providing customised solutions to its web-scale IT customers.

"We are frequently organising local meetings with partners and customers to discuss the need for choosing state-of-the-art security solutions - from hardware to software - at a time when data breaches are rising rapidly from Japan to India," Batka said.

Apart from Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints, Cisco has also launched three advanced security software suites: Threat Defense for Data Centre, Threat Defense for WAN and Edge and Policy and Threat Defense for Access.

"We are embedding security across the line -- be it network, end points or anti-virus software -- all the way up to the Cloud to provide our customers a solid malware threat defensive mechanism," noted Dave West, Vice President and CTO, Asia Pacific and Japan, Cisco.

(Nishant Arora is attending Cisco Partner Summit 2016 in the US at the invitation of Cisco. He can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
New York, Nov 3 : Actress Priyanka Chopra, who is busy shooting for the second season of "Quantico", has recorded a promotional track in Marathi for her debut Marathi production venture "Ventilator". She has dedicated the song, titled "Baba", to her late father Ashok Chopra.

The actress says the song is "powerful and moving".

"Ventilator" is Priyanka's first Marathi venture under her production house Purple Pebble Pictures. The film is written and directed by Rajesh Mapuskar and presented by Zee Studios.

"From the minute, I heard the song 'Baba', I loved it. It's so powerful and moving...capturing the relationship between a father and his son," Priyanka said in a statement.

The actress will also feature in the promotional track which was shot here. Mapuskar along with the team of the family entertainer flew to New York to shoot the video, conceptualised and directed by Maheep Dhillon with an American crew.

She said: "When the music directors suggested that I sing a female version of this, I was apprehensive and torn between my love for the song and nervousness of singing it in Marathi. But I'm so glad I did finally sing it because it was a fun, enriching, terrifying, and amazing experience for me and I can't wait to do it all over again.

"I hope I've been able to do justice to this beautiful song. Forgive me if there are any mistakes. I sang it with all my heart."

Priyanka also shared her excitement about the song on Twitter.

She posted: "#Baba..My first Marathi song.. Forgive me if there are any mistakes...this one is all heart."

The film revolves around an ailing senior member of a family who is being put on the ventilator just days before the Ganapati festival, leading to varied degrees of speculation and panic among the large clan he belongs to.

Mapuskar said: "When music composers Rohan Rohan came to me with a very simple, warm composition 'Baba' I never thought it would travel across continents to get completed. It's recorded in the ultimate city of the US, New York. Thank you Priyanka for your initiative to make the Baba song sound so wonderful."

"Ventilator" will release on Friday.
London, Nov 3 : Parliament alone has the power to trigger Brexit by notifying Brussels of Downing Street's intention to leave the European Union, the high court here ruled on Thursday.

The judgment, delivered by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, is likely to slow the pace of Britain's departure from the EU and is a huge setback for Theresa May, who had insisted the government alone would decide when to trigger the process, the Guardian reported.

The Lord Chief Justice said that "the most fundamental rule of the UK Constitution is that parliament is sovereign".

The decision is, however, likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court, where space has been cleared in the justices' schedules for a hearing early next month.

By handing responsibility for initiating Brexit over to members of parliament, the three senior judges -- Lord Thomas; the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, and Lord Justice Sales -- have ventured on to constitutionally untested ground.

The decision may undermine the Prime Minister's authority in conducting negotiations with other EU states in the run-up to Britain's withdrawal.
Mumbai, Nov 4 : Bollywood's livewire actor Ranveer Singh has been named the Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism.

"I had such a great time on my trip to Switzerland this summer! I did some crazy things like sky diving and paragliding. Now that I am the official Brand Ambassador of Switzerland Tourism, I am just raring to go back in the winter and see what it looks like in the snow. I can't wait to try the slopes of St. Moritz and Titlis Engelberg. It will be so much fun," Ranveer said.

The 31-year-old actor will now be in charge of promoting Switzerland Tourism's campaign for 2017 -- Nature wants you back!

Known for his effervescence and adventurous nature, Ranveer tried an array of activities in Switzerland to get his adrenaline pumping.

From wakeboarding on Lake Zurich to ski jumps at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, tobogganing on Mt. Pilatus, paragliding and skydiving in Interlaken, he tried them all. But adventure was just one of his holiday thrills.

"Being a versatile energetic and adventurous personality, Ranveer explored and enjoyed all that Switzerland has to offer. His passion and excitement for the country is what compelled us to request him if he would take on the mantle of Brand Ambassador to which he enthusiastically agreed," Claudio Zemp, Director - India, Switzerland Tourism added.

The "Bajirao Mastani" star is now looking forward to visiting Switzerland in winter early next year. During his next trip to the country, Ranveer will be visiting St. Moritz, village of Titlis Engelberg and will enjoy an array of activities and the country's local culture.

"Switzerland is a perfect place for a complete holiday experience that will leave you spellbound for days. Tourists look for a blend of sightseeing, relaxation and adventure together with easily available accommodation and good food and welcoming hosts," Ritu Sharma, Deputy Director, Switzerland Tourism India, said.
Chinese firm signs agreement to construct long-awaited dam for Harare Updated: 2016-11-04 10:18 (Xinhua)

HARARE - Chinese contractor Sino-Hydro has signed an agreement with the Zimbabwean government for the construction of a new dam northeast of the capital Harare that will augment supplies from four other reservoirs which are failing to cope with demand, water minister has said.

Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told news agency New Ziana Wednesday that an environmental impact assessment will be done before the construction of Kunzvi Dam begins 67 km outside the city.

The estimated cost of building the dam is $400 million, but all major works including laying a pipeline and building a new waterworks will push the bill up to $850-900 million.

"Government policy is that wherever there are such major developments many people will be displaced so we are going to carry out that exercise to make sure that component is addressed," Muchinguri-Kashiri said.

The government had intended to build the dam as far back as the early 1990s, with interested contractors in the private sector being invited for on-site tours on a number of occasions, but financial challenges had stalled the project.

Muchinguri-Kashiri said Sino-Hydro had agreed to do the project under a build, operate and transfer arrangement.

Kunzvi Dam, which is situated on the Nyagui River in Goromonzi district, Mashonaland East province, is seen as the solution to the city's water woes which have persisted for decades, forcing authorities to impose water rationing during the dry months.

Currently, some residential areas are going for five days a week without municipal water supplies.

The new dam is expected to produce 250,000 cubic meters for the city daily.

Harare has 2.5 million residents and also caters for another 2 million consumers in the satellite towns of Chitungwiza, Norton, Ruwa, Epworth and other settlements on its boundaries, putting the combined need of water at 1,200 megaliters a day.

On its own, the city requires 800 megaliters a day but is only pumping 450 megaliters.

All its four reservoirs - Harava Dam, Seke Dam, Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame -- are on the Manyame River and suffer heavy pollution from the surrounding urban settlements and farming areas.
Jakarta, Nov 4 : Thousands of protesters waving flags marched through Jakarta on Friday, demanding the ouster of Indonesian capital city's Governor, who has been accused of blasphemy against Muslims.

Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, commonly known as Ahok, was alleged to have insulted Muslims by criticising his opponents' use of a Quranic verse in a stump speech, CNN Indonesia reported.

As many as 18,000 police and military personnel were deployed for Friday's protest, and an inner ring of approximately 100 armed military guards are deployed outside the Governor's residence.

The police have called on demonstrators to exercise their right to protest and freedom of expression in a peaceful manner.

Residents have been warned to avoid the protest route and avoid sharing "unclear... provocative and incorrect information" on social media, police chief Tito Karnavian said in a statement.

The rally originated at Istiqlal Mosque, CNN Indonesia noted.

Conservative Islamist opponents have said that Ahok, who is a Christian of Chinese descent, should not administer a Muslim-majority city.

When video of Ahok speaking out against the Quranic verse appeared online in October, there was widespread outrage from conservative, religious members.
Surat (Gujarat), Nov 4 : Remember that energetic little boy who led his grandfather, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi -- revered as Mahatma Gandhi worldwide -- holding his stick on the beaches of Gujarat's Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930?

That picture has been etched in public memory for over eight decades and even immortalised in memorials on the Salt Satyagraha at Mumbai's Juhu Beach and several other parts of the country.

Today, that small boy -- Kanu Ramdas Gandhi -- is a ripe old 87, an ex-NASA scientist, and lies critical in a charitable hospital here, with little monetary resources and virtually nobody to care for him.

Ahmedabad-based Dhimant Badhia, an old friend and grandson of a close associate of Gandhi, is arranging for small monetary help for the ailing Kanu, and recently donated Rs 21,000 ($315) from his personal resources.

"The Radhakrishna Temple is rendering great service. They got him admitted to the Shiv Jyoti Hospital nearby and are taking care of his 90-year old wife, Shivalaxmi Kanu Gandhi, who is practically deaf and suffers from other old age-related problems," Badhia told IANS.

The going has not been good for the elderly childless Gandhi couple since their return after a four-decade-long stay in the US in 2014, including Kanu's career of over 25 years with NASA.

Handpicked by the then US Ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, for studies at the Massachusets Institute of Technology (in MIT), Kanu later worked with NASA and the US Defence Department on wing structures fighter aircraft, while Shivalaxmi was a professor and researcher at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.

"After returning to India, they kept moving from one place to another as they have no place of their own here. They lived for short spells in ashrams or inns, and at one point they were compelled to spend six months in New Delhi's Guru Vishram Vruddha Ashram," Badhia said.

That experience was harrowing as the ashram, meant for mentally ill senior citizens, was located in an unsafe localilty, and the Gandhis had to hire private armed security guards against internal and external threats.

At that time, a Union minister got in touch with Kanu and made him speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The PM was most sympathetic and even assured help. But till date, we have not heard from either his office or the Gujarat government," rued Badhia, adding that no Gujarat leader or ministers have visited or enquired about Kanu.

The turning point came on his arrival at this famed diamond city of Surat in south Gujarat on October 22 when he suffered a cardiac arrest and a severe stroke which has left half his body paralysed.

Since that attack, he remains in coma and on life-support systems, with Shivalaxmi and an aide Rakesh, deployed by the temple authorities, beside him.

"I cannot frequently travel from Ahmedabad to Surat due to old age. An ashram sevak, Rakesh, is deployed for round-the-clock services to look after Kanu, while the temple authorities care for Shivalaxmi," Badhia said.

Fortunately, Kanu's very aged sister -- Usha Gokani from Mumbai -- regularly enquires after his health and another Bangalore-based sister, Sumitra Kulkarni, a former Rajya Sabha member, visited him recently.

"They even offered to bear Kanu's medical expenses but the temple authorities politely declined, saying they were repaying the debts of Mahatma Gandhi's services to the nation," Badhia said.

Momentarily, he feels irked that the world-famous Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, "which is splurging crores of rupees to prepare for its upcoming centenary next year; or scores of institutions set up by Mahatma Gandhi or named after him with huge funding from the government -- simply don't care for Gandhiji's ideals or his descendents".

Badhia pointed out how the relief funds of the Prime Minister or Chief Minister are available for various purposes, but not for taking care of the descendents of the Father of Nation, especially those who are not affluent.

Incidentally, Badhia recalled how Kanu and Shivalaxmi always proudly referred to their marriage many decades ago which was arranged and solemnised in the US in the presence of the late Morarji Desai, later the Prime Minister of India.

On the immediate needs of the senior couple, Badhia said at this advanced age they need nothing but love, medical help and round-the-clock caring without having to bother about arranging finances.

"Kanubhai is among the last few surviving links with Gandhiji's famous stick and the epoch-making Salt Satyagraha. This is the least the nation and its leaders can do for him" Badhia sighed.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
New Delhi, Nov 4 : The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Friday slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's address in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus as opportunistic and politically motivated.

"Kejriwal has proven yet again that he has very little knowledge of politics, because he attacked the BJP, ABVP, and the Delhi Police without knowing the facts," Saurabh Sharma, ex-Joint Secretary, JNU Students Union (JNUSU) and an ABVP leader said in a statement.

Sharma advised Kejriwal to exercise restraint and not inflame passions saying that it may "cause Najeeb (Ahmed) to not return even if wants to, since he wouldn't want to be a part of such entangled politics".

During Thursday's speech, Kejriwal accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of feigning interest in the welfare of Hindus and Muslims, and also of pursuing only wealth and power.

"The BJP doesn't care for Hindus or Muslims. It is only after power and wealth, and if need be its party members are capable of betraying their own," the Chief Minister said.

Kejriwal had also urged the JNU students to sit at India Gate and appeal to the entire country to fight for the missing student.

Ahmed, an M.Sc Biotechnology student, went missing on the night of October 14-15 after being beaten up by a mob of around 20 students alleged to be from the ABVP.
Dharamsala, Nov 4 : The fifth edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), where films from 21 countries are being screened, doesn't have any Pakistani film in its line up. The organisers feel that getting filmmakers from that side of the border is "hard" due to the problems going on between the two nations.

DIFF 2016, which started with filmmaker Raam Reddy's internationally acclaimed film "Thithi" on Thursday, will screen 43 films from countries like South Korea, Britain, Poland, Singapore, France, Germany and Hong Kong among others.

While DIFF screened Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi's "Zinda Bhaag" in 2014, there isn't any Pakistani film this year.

The reason behind that, filmmaker Ritu Sarin, who organises DIFF along with her husband Tenzing Sonam, told IANS: "We don't take entries in DIFF. It's a curated festival. So actually we didn't have any Pakistani film that we saw this year. It was not a part of our process at all."

However, Sarin pointed out that due to the current situation between India and Pakistan, it would be difficult for filmmakers to travel across the border.

"Last to last year we had a Pakistani film. The response was really good. So, if we have a recommendation for a Pakistani film then we will definitely show it. This year we really didn't see any," she said.

She added: "In our case we didn't see any film that we wanted to add to our list for this year. But I think for Pakistani filmmakers to get visas to come to India, that is really hard in the current situation between the two nations.

"I generally believe that films, art and literature allows you to move beyond borders. We can tell stories that people across border can understand. There is a human element to it."

Earlier this year, Pakistani classic "Jago Hua Savera" was supposed to be screened at the Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star. However the organisers scrapped the plans citing the "current situation" between the two nations as the reason behind the decision.

The film was to be screened as part of the Restored Classics Section of the event.

In fact, there won't be any Pakistani film screening at the upcoming 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

DIFF 2016 will come to an end with the screening of National Award-winning filmmaker Vetrimaaran's critically acclaimed Tamil drama "Visaranai" (Interrogation), which is India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the upcoming 89th Academy Awards.

(The writer's trip to Dharamsala is at the invitation of the Dharamshala International Film Festival organisers. Sandeep Sharma can be contacted at sandeep.s@ians.in)
Chandigarh, Nov 4 : Authorities in Hisar district in Haryana have sounded an alert after the samples of five dead ducks tested positive for the H5N8 strain of bird flu, officials said on Friday.

Hisar authorities ordered the closure of the Blue Bird Tourist Complex of Haryana Tourism and declared the area out of bounds for general public following the bird flu scare.

The ducks at the lake complex are being culled, officials said.

"Five ducks at the tourist complex lake were found dead recently following which the samples were sent to laboratories in Bhopal and Jalandhar. The report from Bhopal has confirmed bird flu strain," a health department official in Hisar said.

Authorities have formed 10 teams to contain the spread of bird flu in the district, which is located about 240 km from Chandigarh.
Panaji, Nov 4 : Misuse of the Right to Information Act can be prevented by introducing the RTI in school and college syllabi, Goa's Chief Information Commission Prashant Tendulkar said on Friday.

The top official said that in the coastal state, officials from village panchayats and municipalities were more errant vis a vis dissemination of information sought by applicants under the aegis of the legislation.

"We are targeting for the subject (RTI) to be taught in schools and colleges because they (students) will realise the importance of the rights of citizens...," Tendulkar told IANS on the sidelines of a media event organised by the State Information Commission in Panaji.

Asked about the misuse of the RTI act, as alleged repeatedly by ruling politicians in the state, Tendulkar said: "We don't dispute this. There is misuse to some extent. So, therefore there should be uniform awareness among youths, so that when they grow they become informed citizens of the state."

"They should know that finally when they are going to file an application under RTI, they are going to drain the resources of the state. They should see that the person or PIO (Public Information Officer) is not there only for the purpose of imparting information. RTI should be used in a rational way," Tendulkar added.

The top official also announced the launch of the RTI Bharat Yatra, which will involve a specially customised vehicle, which will travel across Goa from November 5 to 18, to disseminate information about the RTI legislation and its practical uses, with the help of multi-media tools.

The vehicle has already travelled through the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. PIOs in the state will also be trained as part of the RTI-on-wheels programme.

Tendulkar said that sometimes PIOs who are officially tasked with dissemination of information under the RTI act, withhold information on purpose. The commission should be given more powers to rein in such errant officials.

"Whether you are pressurised or not, it is the PIO who is responsible for this. If any penalty is imposed, it is imposed on you (PIO) and not on the person who is pressurising you... Sometimes PIOs are doing this purposely too. In these cases, they deserve punishment," Tendulkar said.

"(Government) departments which are prone for this (withholding of information) are village panchayats and sometimes municipalities," Tendulkar said.
Kolkata, Nov 4 : A Chinese diplomat on Friday denied reported "incursion" of Chinese troops into Leh in Jammu and Kashmir and said Beijing was neutral on India-Pakistan differences.

"China has a neutral position on differences that exist between India and Pakistan and we hope the countries settle their disputes peacefully through discussion and dialogue," Chinese Consul General Ma Zhanwu said here.

China's ties with India have been hit over India's efforts to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group. China has also blocked India's appeal to the UN to label Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a terrorist.

Asked about the reported Chinese incursion in Leh on Thursday, the envoy denied it.

"I don't believe Chinese troops would cross into India ... and your government has given a statement on it," Ma told the media.

The Indian Army on Thursday denied any incursion by the Chinese troops.
New Delhi, Nov 4 : With the eighth edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) 2017 slated in January, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday invited global and domestic investors to the state with promises of ease of doing business and proactive investor facilitation.

Elaborating on the inclusive growth and sustainable development that Gujarat has achieved, Rupani, speaking at the curtain raiser of VGGS-2017, said: "The state will continue to lay emphasis on ease of doing business and proactive investor facilitation.

"Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, the UAE, Britain and the US would be partner countries in VGGS-17," he added.

Rupani said his government had started focusing on "Make in Gujarat" by aggressively promoting investment in the manufacturing sector.

"At present, there are 102 product clusters, more than 200 industrial estates, 19 operational SEZs and 13 Special Investment Regions which are a testimony to the state's focus on creation of infrastructure and an enabling ecosystem that encourages growth of manufacturing and service sector," he added.

During interaction with industrialists, Rupani said Gujarat was a power surplus state and provided uninterrupted high quality power to industry and commercial establishments.

Gujarat Chief Secretary J.N. Singh told IANS that the state was expecting the highest ever investments during the eighth Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
Panaji, Nov 4 : Calling Internet-based medicine and drug delivery portals as potential hubs for purchase of scheduled drugs and habit-forming pharmaceutical products, the Chemists and Druggists Association of Goa, will join an all-India strike of pharmacies.

President of the association's Goa chapter Prasad Tamba told a press conference on Friday that nearly 700 pharmacies in the state would shut down for a day on November 23, in solidarity with the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists Association, which is demanding a ban on online sale of pharmaceuticals.

"We have come across instances where drugs like benzodiazepines, painkillers, aphrodisiacs are available on these e-pharmacies without proper scrutiny. Youngsters in Goa are getting hooked to these drugs," Tamba said, adding that sale of medicines online was in contravention of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940.

"A chemist is in a position to physically vet a doctor's prescription and further advise patients, while prescriptions uploaded to websites online could be prone to fraud and duplication. It can cause serious problems as far as Scheduled 'H' drugs are concerned," he said.

Scheduled 'H' drugs fall under the purview of the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and can be purchased with a medical prescription only.

"Internet online pharmacies are supplying all the goods like I-pill, pregnancy prevention kits, anti-depressants, habit-forming drugs, cough syrups containing codeine, sexual stimulants etc. without confirming the authenticity of prescription and patient," Tamba added.

Over eight lakh pharmacies in the country which are associated with the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists Association, are likely to down their shutters on November 23.
Mumbai, Nov 4 : Some private security personnel on Friday assaulted media photographers, who had gathered to cover the arrival of Tata Sons' sacked Chairman Cyrus P. Mistry for a board meeting at Tatas' headquarters, Bombay House.

At least one photographer was virtually pinned down by four-five security personnel, brutally punched, slapped and then pushed away from the building entrance in South Mumbai's busy Fort area.

The cameras and other equipment of at least two photographers were badly damaged or broken by the security personnel in the fracas.

Among the lensmen beaten up from different Mumbai publications were Atul Kamble, Suryakant Riwate and Arijit Sen, who have been admitted to the St. George Hospital for treatment.

Police arrived on the scene a short while later and were in the process of registering complaints in the matter at MRA Marg Police Station.

The Mumbai Press Club strongly condemned "the brutal attack" and demanded immediate arrest of the security personnel of Bombay House involved in the shameful act of violence against media professionals.

"We don't expect a corporate house like Tatas to indulge in violent practices against media persons and demand explanation from the corporate authorities who allowed security personnel to take this extreme step," the Club said in a strongly-worded statement.

Barely hours later, the Tata Group expressed "deep regrets" over the incident during the entry of certain board directors at Bombay House.

"We profusely apologise to the press corp and their families for this incident. We will ensure that such a situation does not recur. We do understand the difficult job and trying situations in which the media corp undertake their duty and have always supported their endeavour," an official spokesperson for Tata Group said.

The company reiterated that it treasures its cordial relationship with the members of the media and will strive to ensure that it is maintained.
Ordering online makes lunch easier, but not safer Updated: 2016-11-04 10:58 (Xinhua)

A meal box and a smartphone is seen in this March 13, 2016 photo taken in Hefei, Anhui province. [Photo / VCG]

BEIJING - Gone are the days when people throng out of office blocks for a quick bite at lunch. In Chinese cities today, busy office workers have their meals delivered after a few simple touches on a smartphone. The process takes a few minutes, and who can resist a good online discount?

The marriage of a fledgling mobile Internet industry with the Chinese love for food has created an explosion in online catering businesses over the past two years. Hundreds of thousands of dishes are now a swipe away on the three dominant delivery platforms - waimai.meituan, waimai.baidu, and ele.me, or the "Big Three."

But do the mouth-watering pictures on the phone match the sanitary conditions we expect? Recent investigations by Xinhua and other media outlets reveal worrisome findings.

Unlicensed kitchens

In theory, online catering platforms require restaurants to post pictures of their business license and health certificates online where customers place their order. While most comply, some flounder and post blurred or fake images.

A store that franchises American fast-food chain Subway on ele.me was found to have an expired license; in another case the localization photo of a nondescript restaurant registered as Mr. Bread led Xinhua reporters to well-known spicy food chain Wushan Roasted Fish.

Li Jiang, an official with the Beijing food and drug safety watchdog, said an expired license is as good as not having one, and those who give fraudulent information will be severely punished.

There are around 58,000 eateries in Beijing offering food delivery services on the three dominant platforms, plus a minor one named Daojia, Li said. District food safety watchdogs conduct regular raids to ensure everyone plays by the rules.

While the authorities have not yet received any reports of major food safety cases, there are unverified comments left on these platforms complaining about diarrhea and worse.

Other media outlets have exposed appalling scenes. A City Times reporter found that flowing sewage, thick oil stains, leftovers, and scattered chop sticks were a common scene at a popular hotpot restaurant in the southwestern city of Kunming.

The restaurant had been open for only five months and had positive online ratings, listing ahead of 77 percent of its competitors.

Few customers bother to check restaurant licenses before ordering.

"To be honest, I only pay attention to ratings and other customers' comments," said Ma Juan, a Beijing office worker. "If a restaurant has a poor sanitary record then its rating will not be high, right?"

Hide-and-seek

China had 688 million Internet users by the end of 2015, with more than 90 percent using smartphones.

A recent report by think tanks FutureX and the Data Center of China Internet (DCCI) showed that around 150 million Chinese used online catering services as of June 2016. The figure rose by 32 percent in six months and keeps growing.

The country has strict food safety regulations, but the proliferation of kitchens and restaurants riding the e-commerce boom makes supervision more difficult.

Last year, the national legislature amended its seven-year-old Food Safety Law, adding provisions to govern online vendors.

A report by the Ministry of Commerce in September said around 8,000 unlicensed online eateries were ordered to close in just two weeks in late August to early September, after an unannounced city-wide food safety inspection.

An anonymous worker at one of the "Big Three" said many vendors simply reopen on rival platforms, a phenomenon that discourages platforms from closing down "problem" vendors, especially the popular ones.

"The three platforms are fighting for market share. If one strengthens supervision while the others do not, vendors jump ship taking their customers with them. The one who abides by the law loses," he said. "Technologically speaking, it is not a big deal for a platform to kick out unruly vendors. But does it really want to?"

The DCCI report says the "Big Three" account for nearly 90 percent of market share among young office workers, catering services's main users.

Confronted with Xinhua's findings, both meituan and ele.me declined to comment. Baidu repeated that it requires all registered vendors to post authentic licenses on their web wage and runs regular checks to ensure compliance.

Fu Weigang, a researcher with the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, says the proliferation of "problem kitchens" has everything to do with lax supervision of online platforms, which sacrifice food safety to cut staffing costs and reach more customers.

Fu suggested that the authorities mobilize the public to become informants on vendors and platforms who do not play by the rules.

"Informants should be rewarded so they are encouraged to help law enforcers spot violations," he said.
Surat, Nov 4 : In a shocking incident, angry residents of a town in Surat district burnt a leopard to death after the carnivore had fatally attacked a seven-year-old girl.

The incident occurred on Thursday after the girl was attacked by the leopard in Wadi village of Mangrol taluka (tehsil), which happens to be the native place of Forest and Tribal Minister Ganpat Vasava. She was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

Immediately after this, Forest Department officials caught and caged the leopard. Enraged by the death of the girl, the locals in the town attacked the animal in its cage and set it on fire.

The Minister rushed to the village to meet the family of the girl and questioned forest officials about the incident.

The Gujarat government has ordered the setting up of a five-member committee to look into the incident, after gory pictures of the carnivore's charred body went viral.
Lucknow, Nov 4 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kick off its assembly election campaign on Saturday from western Uttar Pradesh.

BJP President Amit Shah will flag off the first 'Parivartan Yatra' from Saharanpur on Saturday. A public rally on the occasion would be addressed by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and others.

BJP spokesman Chandramohan said: "There is a positive wave in favour of the BJP."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may address six public rallies during the 'Parivartan Yatra'.
Kolkata, Nov 4 : An Indian Army contingent reached Bangladesh on Friday to participate in a joint military exercise on counter-terrorism operations from November 5 to 18 at Tangail, a defence ministry spokesperson here said.

Sixth in the series of joint exercises, this edition -- Sampriti 2016 -- will be conducted at the Bangabandhu Senanibas (BBS), Tangail.

The 14-day engagement will focus on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in semi-mountainous and jungle terrain, the spokesperson said.

The Indian contingent, led by Col. P.S. Sandhi, comprises one company group of the Mahar Regiment, numbering close to 120 troops.

Sampriti 2016 will commence with the familiarisation phase in various tactical drills and procedures that is essential for smooth and coordinated operations.

"Subsequently, soldiers from both armies will undertake execution of joint tactical operations like cordon and search, road opening, raid and house clearance," the spokesperson said.

The Sampriti series of exercises is one of the major bilateral defensive cooperation initiatives between the armies of India and Bangladesh.

India had hosted the last joint exercise between the two nations in 2015 at Binnaguri, in West Bengal.
New Delhi, Nov 4 : Delegates from across the world will discuss aviation medicine in the national capital from November 7 to 10 in the 64th International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine, officials said here on Friday.

The conference is being organised by the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine.

Aerospace medicine deals with occupational and preventive medicine for pilots, aircrew and astronauts.

"The conference will provide a platform for sharing the experiences and views of participating delegates on these aspects, helping both military and civil aviation sectors to suitable amend existing policies related to medical fitness of aircrew," an Aviation medicine specialist from the Indian Air Force said.

Aerospace medicine in India comes under the Indian Air Force.

"With the growth of civil aviation, there is a growing challenge of aero-medical doctrine of civil aircrew, their initial and periodic medical examinations and decision on their fitness to fly," the official said.

"The recent advances in clinical medicine and their follow up have proved that now many more disabilities can be cured permanently or can be permitted to fly with permissible medication," the official said adding that the conference will deliberate on these issues.
New Delhi, Nov 4 : Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh on Friday accused the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party of politicising an ex-serviceman's suicide and asked if their leaders had attended funerals of soldiers martyred on the borders.

"Go and ask them if they have ever attended the funeral of any other soldier. So many of our soldiers have died. Have the leaders of the AAP and the Congress gone to offer condolences at any of these funerals," Singh told reporters here.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attended retired Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal's cremation at his native Bamla village in Haryana's Bhiwani district. Gandhi also met the soldier's widow and other family members.

Grewal committed suicide here in a park on Tuesday on the issue of One Rank One Pension issue.

Singh had earlier said Grewal was a Congress worker and his suicide was not related to the OROP issue. He also said that the mental state of Grewal was not known.
New Delhi, Nov 4 : Britain has constantly suffered from "deliberate historical amnesia" about their wrong doings during their colonial rule in India, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said here on Friday.

Speaking at the release of his book "An Era of Darkness- The British Empire in India", he said the British have only "portrayed one sided vision of the colonial rule" so far.

The Congress MP said Britain needs to tender an apology to India for their brutality and misgovernance and they should also teach British children the true history of "horrendous" colonial rule in India.

"After all, the beauties of the city like London were built by the resources taken away from India," Tharoor said, adding "the loot in fact was extensive."

He also criticised Winston Churchill for his indifference to the sufferings of Indians during the infamous Bengal famine.

Tharoor, however, said he is not expecting the apology from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is arriving in India on November 7.

"It is a co-incidence that the book is being released today, just two days before the arrival of the British Prime Minister," he said.

The book was released by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who said "famine, force migration and brutality" were principal characteristics of the colonial rule in India.

Interacting with noted TV anchor Karan Thapar, Tharoor said the British destroyed the textile industry is Dhaka and also carried out the same formula with the steel and shipping industry - which was far superior than Britain.
New Delhi, Nov 4 : A woman was killed and her daughter critically injured when a three-storey building collapsed in the Azad Market here on Friday, police said.

The Fire Control Room received a call about the building collapse around 4.15 p.m., after which six fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a fire officer said.

"Jimla, 47, was declared brought dead while her daughter Komal, 23, was admitted to the Hindu Rao Hospital," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Madhur Verma told IANS.

It was a 100-year-old decrepit building in the Azad market in north district, wherein two families reside. There were three residential flats in the building, Verma said.

"One of the families had gone to their hometown in Bihar for Chhath Puja celebrations. The other family, of which Jimla and Komal were members, stayed back," the police officer said.

The search and rescue operation by Delhi Fire Service and Delhi Disaster Management Authority personnel is on as few more persons are feared trapped under the debris.
Mumbai, Nov 4 : Reliance Industries on Friday said the government's demand of $1.55 billion from it and its consortium members BP and Niko on the Krishna-Godavari gas dispute had no basis on how the figure was calculated and that it will invoke arbitration proceedings in the matter.

"The liability of the contractor has not been established by any process known to law and the quantification of the purported claim is without any basis and arbitrary," the company said in a late-evening statement after the government raised its demand.

"Reliance Industries proposes to invoke the dispute resolution mechanism in the production sharing contract, and issue a notice of arbitration to the government. Reliance Industries remains convinced of being able to fully justify and vindicate its position that the Government's claim is not sustainable."

The government had raised the demand on the basis of the recommendation of the Justice A.P. Shah committee, constituted to examine the dispute between state-run ONGC and Reliance Industries over gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

The panel's constitution also followed reports of some American consultants on the migrating of gas from the said ONGC fields to those of the private company. They had concluded that 11.122 billion cubic meters of ONGC gas had migrated to the blocks of Reliance Industries.

They also said of the 58.68 billion cubic meters produced from there since 2009, some 49.69 billion cubic meters belonged to the private company and 8.981 billion cubic meters could have come from the ONGC side.

At the then gas price of $4.2 per million British thermal unit and the prevailing exchange rate, the volume of gas claimed as belonging to ONGC, which the private player produced, was estimated to be worth around $1.7 billion (Rs 11,055 crore).

Interestingly, the Justice Shah panel itself had called for further probe into the subject. In one of the paras of its report, the committee said it was not able to ascertain in clear terms if the two companies, indeed, had prior knowledge of migrating gas.

"I wanted this to be probed further," the single-member panel said.

Reliance Industries said in carrying out petroleum operations, the contractor worked within the boundaries of the block awarded to it and had complied with all the applicable regulations and provisions of the production sharing contract.

"The claim of the government is based on misreading and misinterpretation of key elements and the production sharing contract and is without precedent in the oil and gas industry, anywhere in the world."
New Delhi, Nov 4 : The RSS on Friday asked BJP leadership how its core issues, including the Ram temple at Ayodhya, will be addressed during the party's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, informed sources said.

The issue was taken up at a meeting RSS leadership held with senior BJP leaders, including its chief Amit Shah, at central Delhi's Maharashtra Sadan.

The meeting comes a day ahead of the BJP's "Parivartan Yatra", which is all set to begin from Saharanpur.

Shah will flag off the first yatra, which will be followed by three more yatras from Jhansi, Sonbhadra and Balia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address six public rallies during these yatras.

The sources said the BJP's strategy for the assembly polls figured prominently during hour-long deliberations.

According to the sources, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's Joint General Secretaries Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal sought to know from the BJP leadership about its poll preperations in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from Shah, Union minister Mahesh Sharma, General Secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal and Vice-President Vinay Sahasrabudhhe were also present.

The sources said that RSS leaders noted that it was appropriate to fight the elections on the agenda of development and firm steps of the government on national security but the campaign "should also address core ideological issues, including construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya".

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma's recent visit to Ayodhya to inspect the site for the proposed Ramayana Museum had reignited the political row over the Ram Mandir issue.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar also urged the Union government to take steps for the temple construction.

According to sources, party's preparations in other poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur were also discussed.

The RSS leaders also sought to know about the status of the National Education Policy, which is in the works, and party appointments in states where posts are lying vacant.
Kochi, November 04 : KPCC chief V M Sudheeran has called for the intervention of Governor P Sathasivam to resolve the ongoing stand-off between lawyers and mediapersons in the State.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, he said that the right of the public to know about court proceedings were being trampled upon, adding that things had come to such a pass that enlightened Kerala had to hang her head in shame.

A section of people in the advocates fraternity were behaving like criminals, he charged.

Saying troublemakers had been refusing to relent despite interventions by the Governor, Chief Minster, the Opposition leader, and all the major political parties, Sudheeran called for immediate action to resolve the issue.

He also called into question the sincerity of the police in handling cases related to the row between the two fraternities.

A section of advocates have been barring scribes from covering open court proceedings in various courts across the State ever since the members of the two fraternities came to blows some time back at the Kerala high court over a report carried by mainstream media outlets on a molestation case against a government pleader.

The courts have remained out of bounds for journalists despite the Chief Justice of the Kerala HC clarifying there was no ban on journalists from reporting court proceedings.

In the latest episode of this raging row between the two fraternities, journalists had to leave a court in Ernakulam the other day after advocates objected to their presence in the courtroom.
Latvia beomes first to link with Belt and Road Initiative in Baltic Sea area Updated: 2016-11-04 22:39 By HU YONGQI and WANG QING YUN(chinadaily.com.cn)

Latvia becomes the first country in the Baltic Sea area on Friday to sign a memorandum of understanding to link up with China's Belt and Road Initiative, during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the country. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Latvia became the first country in the Baltic Sea area on Friday to sign a memorandum of understanding to link up with China's Belt and Road Initiative, during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the country.

The initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aims to boost connectivity and trade across Asia, Africa and Europe. It was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The memorandum was signed after Li's meeting with his Latvian counterpart Maris Kucinskis in the country's capital, Riga, on his first visit to the European Union country.

Li and Kucinskis also witnessed the signing of five agreements on cooperation in such areas as small and medium-sized enterprises, transportation and logistics.

Latvia becomes the first country in the Baltic Sea area on Friday to sign a memorandum of understanding to link up with China's Belt and Road Initiative, during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the country. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"This year marks the 25th anniversary of China-Latvia diplomatic relations. I am looking forward to working with Latvia's leaders to bring bilateral ties to a new stage," Li said upon arrival in Riga.

Baltic Sea countries, including Latvia, hope to join the Belt and Road Initiative because the region is an important logistics hub, said Wang Yiwei, an expert of European Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Su Xiaohui, a researcher of international strategies at the China Institute of International Studies, said Li's visit will help the Baltic country better understand China.

Premier Li is also scheduled to attend the 5th Meeting of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European countries, which starts on Saturday in Riga.
New Delhi, Nov 4 : Britain has constantly suffered from "deliberate historical amnesia" about their wrong-doings during their colonial rule in India, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said here on Friday.

The former Union minister also disagreed with Vice President Hamid Ansari that there was absence of "emotional unity" among Indians before the advent of colonial rulers.

Speaking at the release of his (Tharoor's) book "An Era of Darkness - The British Empire in India", the Congress MP said the British have only "portrayed one-sided vision of the colonial rule" so far.

Releasing the book, Vice President Hamid Ansari said: "Famine, forced migration and brutality were principal characteristics of the colonial rule in India," and added these were three examples of why British rule over India was "despotic and anything but enlightened".

The Vice President, however, wondered: "But, is this not the story of all colonial and imperial ventures in history?"

"Was there an India as a cohesive entity before the advent of colonial masters" Ansari asked, and then himself replied that an answer to this question would help understand the process by which the British succeeded.

"We need to accept that there was, in that initial period, no India -- politically or emotionally," he said.

Later, interacting with TV anchor and columnist Karan Thapar, Tharoor disagreed with the Vice President on the point of absence of emotional unity amongst Indians.

Tharoor argued that both schools of thought -- the Hindus and the Muslims -- suggested that there was enough "emotional unity" in different parts of India.

In this context, Tharoor referred to the visit of Adi Shankaracharya to various parts of India -- from south to north and from Gujarat to Puri in Odisha. Similarly, the Congress MP said Indian Muslims during their Haj always jointly identified themselves as belonging to the "Hind".

Congress MP said Britain should tender an "apology" to India for their brutality and also teach British children the true history of the "horrendous" colonial rule in India.

Tharoor, also a former UN diplomat, said: "After all, the beauties of the cities like London were built by the resources taken away from India," and added: "The loot in fact was extensive."

Tharoor alleged the past colonial masters have destroyed the textile industry in Dhaka and also carried out the same formula with the steel and shipping industry in south India, which was far superior than that of Britain.

On the apology issue, the former Union minister, however, said he is not expecting the "apology" from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is arriving in India on November 7.

"It is a co-incidence that the book is being released today, just two days before the arrival of the British Prime Minister," Tharoor aded.
Washington, Nov 5 : The White House said on Friday that it was "mindful" of the risk of attacks around the presidential election following a warning from intelligence sources about possible terror threats at three US states including New York.

The warning, first reported by CBS News, is believed to have been directed at New York, Texas and Virginia. No specific locations within the three states were mentioned, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI and Homeland Security have been alerted to the possible threat, which is believed to come from Al Qaeda.

New York police had previously been warned that polling places could be seen as attractive targets by likely "lone wolf"-style terrorists, said a CBS report.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates airports, tunnels and bridges around New York City, had been alerted, said the report.

The FBI and the New York Police Department (NYPD) said they are taking the threat seriously and are assessing the credibility of a possible attack on the eve of Election Day.

However, the information "lacks specificity", an NYPD spokesman said in a statement issued earlier in the day.

Millions of Americans will vote on November 8 to choose their next President.
Ex Libris Expands Its Operations in Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania

Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is increasing its investment in the Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian markets.

LONDON, UK, November 4, 2016  Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that it is increasing its investment in the Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian markets. Having reached agreements with its local partnersCharles University, MULTIDATA Praha, and Ex-Lhthe company will now be playing a direct role with the markets in these areas.

Ofer Mosseri, corporate vice president and general manager of Ex Libris EMEA, explained, The growing success that we have had across Europe with our cloud-based, next-generation Ex Libris Alma resource management service, Primo and Summon discovery and delivery solutions, LegantoSM reading list solution, and campusMSM mobile campus applications has shown us that we need to have a direct relationship with our customers.

In light of the growing interest in cloud-based systems and the plans of many institutions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania to move to such systems, our decision to invest in these markets enables us to enhance the levels of service and support that we give our customers while developing a stronger relationship with the market.

Under the agreements, the marketing, sales, and support responsibilities in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania will move to Ex Libris. Support personnel currently working with local partners will become an integral part of the Ex Libris team and will continue to operate from their current locations. The expanded team will work closely with European-based Ex Libris and ProQuest staff, thus increasing the reach and service of Ex Libris in these markets.

Mosseri added, With this operational model, Ex Libris will be able to work more closely with our Czech, Hungarian and Romanian customers, whose usual contact people will continue in their current roles as part of the Ex Libris team. In the Slovak market we will continue to work closely with our local partner Tempest a.s.

I would like to thank Charles University, MULTIDATA Praha, and Ex-Lh for the instrumental role that they have played in developing these important markets and for the care and professionalism with which they have looked after Ex Libris customers.

About Ex Libris

Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for higher education. Offering SaaS solutions for the management and discovery of the full spectrum of library and scholarly materials, as well as mobile campus solutions driving student engagement and success, Ex Libris serves thousands of customers in 90 countries. For more information about Ex Libris, see our website, and join us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

About ProQuest (http://www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the companys products are a gateway to the worlds knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.

The companys cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest, Bowker, Coutts information services, Dialog, ebrary, EBL, and SIPX businesses  and notable research tools such as the Summon discovery service, the RefWorks citation and reference management platform, MyiLibrary ebook platform, the Pivot research development tool and Intota. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.
interRel Consulting, a leader in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, today announced that the company has achieved 100% Oracle EPM Cloud specialization throughout its entire organization  the only company to achieve this distinction among the 25,000 Oracle partner companies worldwide.

During Oracle OpenWorld this week in San Francisco, interRel, an Oracle Cloud Select partner and Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), was also recognized with the Global Excellence Award for Specialized Partner of the Year: Business Intelligence and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud Partner and the 2016 Oracle Excellence Award for Specialized Partner of the Year  North America in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud Solution.

There are currently three Oracle BI and EPM Cloud specialization exams: Business Intelligence Cloud Service (BICS), Enterprise Performance Reporting Cloud Service (EPRCS), and Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS). The entire company, including sales, marketing, core services, and the consulting organization, holds at least one Cloud Service specialization, while more than half of company employees are specialized in all three (BICS, EPRCS, and PBCS).

According to Edward Roske, interRel CEO, The competitive environment for companies of all sizes requires much faster decision-making based on effective data analysis and visualization, and the way to achieve this advantage is through the Cloud. With an entire staff specialized in the EPM Cloud, interRel provides not only the most extensive expertise but a fast, agile, personalized approach to deliver fully functioning solutions in as few as three weeks.

interRel provides Oracle customers around the world with access to information to help them implement Oracle EPM Cloud solutions through webcasts, books, Play it Forward YouTube videos, blogs, and participation in global conferences. interRel has multiple implementations completed and more than 10 Oracle Cloud engagements in progress, including Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (EPBCS) and Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Service (FCCCS) implementations. The company currently has seven packaged Oracle EPM Cloud offerings under its Rapid Cloud Evolution (RACE) solution set, which offers rapid deployment options of prebuilt application templates to jumpstart implementations. In addition, interRel hired its first designated Oracle EPM Cloud Specialist, Opal Alapat, in 2016.

interRel Consulting at Oracle OpenWorld 2016

interRel is hosting four Oracle EPM Cloud- and Oracle BI-focused presentations during Oracle OpenWorld2016. interRels Edward Roske and Oracle ACE associate Wayne Van Sluys will be hosting sessions during the ODTUG Sunday Sessions, with session topics including: Cloud Atlas: Navigating the Ever-Expanding Oracle EPM Cloud Landscape and Data Wrangling, Blending and Mash-ups.

interRel is proud to be an exhibitor once again this year at Oracle OpenWorld. Attendees can visit the interRel Ballpark, booth 3208, located in the Moscone West Exhibition Hall, to play ballpark games, win prizes, talk with the interRel crew to get more information on all of interRels cloud and on-premises solutions, grab a brochure outlining upcoming webcasts and training, and register to win an Amazon Echo  interRel will be giving one away EVERY DAY!

About interRel Consulting

Founded in 1997, interRel Consulting is the longest-standing Hyperion partner dedicated solely to implementing Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud and Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) solutions for Fortune 500 and mid-size companies, and is the only winner of Oracles Global Cloud Partner of the Year for EPM and the only four-time winner of Oracles North America Partner of the Year for EPM and BI. The company is a nine-time Inc. 5000 honoree committed to education with a platform that includes 10+ books in its best-selling technical reference series, Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion, free, twice-weekly webcasts, the free-access video education platform, Play it Forward, on YouTube, and multi-track Oracle EPM/BI Road Shows across North America. Home to three Oracle ACE Directors and three Oracle ACE Associates, interRel frequently participates in Oracle Technology Network international tours in developing markets. To learn more about interRel Consulting, please visit http://www.interRel.com.

About Oracle PartnerNetwork

Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is Oracle's partner program that provides partners with a differentiated advantage to develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracles products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracles growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to be recognized and rewarded for their investment in Oracle Cloud. Partners engaging with Oracle will be able to differentiate their Oracle Cloud expertise and success with customers through the OPN Cloud program  an innovative program that complements existing OPN program levels with tiers of recognition and progressive benefits for partners working with Oracle Cloud. To find out more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners.

Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Contact

Danielle White, Director of Marketing

(214) 864-8586

dwhite(at)interrel.com
Building a Kingdom Culture: a sensitive and clear explanation of how to implement the tools needed to frame healthy living starting with the individual and spreading out from there.

Building a Kingdom Culture is the creation of published author, Pastor Jonathan Sansom, Senior Pastor of Gateway City Church. He has served in ministry for over 20 years. He is the oldest of nine children, and son of Charles and Lynne Sansom Jr. As a third-generation pastor, he has grown to love and value the local church as the sole proprietor of Gods plan for kingdom expansion in the earth. Before his birth God spoke to his father and told him that he would have a son and to name him Jonathan David. Though there was a divine call upon Jonathan, in his early teen years, there was attempt to run from the ensuing call. But by Gods grace and mercy, at age 14, he embraced Christ through a Divine visitation. He now serves the body of Christ with a focus of adequately equipping the saints by the teaching, training and correction of the Word. He is compelled by a love for the church to see it once again gain its intended position in the earth as the government of Gods kingdom. Through prophetic encounters and revelatory insights by the Holy Spirit, God has anointed this man to be an oracle of truth to the local church and believer in the present age.

Jonathan believes that In this book, ... (I) will provide insight as to how you define the culture you live under and then equip you with the tools to change your culture beginning with your own life and then that of your home, city, and country."

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Pastor Jonathan Sansoms new book explains the importance of grace in all things to build a society built on peace and love.

Culture defines the essence of any society in behavior, beliefs, and character whether it is a nation, a city, or a home. Culture exists according to the general mindset of a people but it can take only one person to ultimately change the culture of any nation if they are willing to pay the price.

Pastor Sansom concludes, When we consider the present culture of our nation, we see its reflection in our communities, our homes, and even in our lives resulting in such chaos, misery, and dysfunction.

View a synopsis of Building a Kingdom Culture" on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseBuilding a Kingdom Culture at traditional brick and mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, Kobo or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Building a Kingdom Culture, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
CU Xpress Lease, the leading automotive leasing program for credit unions, is celebrating its 10-year Anniversary. In July, the program celebrated a financial milestone reporting it was up 40 percent over year-to-date 2015 and is on pace to fund close to $1 billion by the close of 2016. First introduced by GrooveCar in 2006, the program provides a seamless process to capture auto loan volume through leasing. Credit unions remark how it fits the needs of members, especially millennials, looking to get into a vehicle that may have been out of reach through a conventional loan structure. In some regions of the U.S., leasing accounts for up to 70% of new vehicle purchases. This allows credit unions to be competitive 100% of the time, at the point-of-sale. The program provides all the tools needed to compete against captives and banks, states Frank Rinaudo, Senior Vice President of GrooveCar, Hauppauge, NY. As CU Xpress Lease celebrates its decade-long service, Rinaudo credits the success of the program on the benefits it provides, without the risks once associated with leasing.

CU Xpress Lease has provided a way for credit unions to enter the highly profitable and exclusive lease market. Members want value for their hard-earned money, leasing will get them into a vehicle they might not otherwise be able to afford through traditional financing. The average car payment on a leased vehicle is $412, compared to $479 with a traditional loan. Offering a lease option meets with members needs and financial preferences.

The program is attractive to credit unions because it manages the disposition of vehicles at lease maturity, is 100% responsible for vehicles residual value and any wear and tear, along with an average FICO score of 757, a 75% look-to-book and an average term of 37 months. Credit union partners remark that members benefit as well through flexible lease payments, terms and mileage allowances along with access to lease specials on high quality vehicles. We are thrilled to reach this milestone. However, we are always looking towards the future, planning for continued growth we can bring to our partners. This is accomplished through analyzing trends affecting lease market penetration, consumer spending patterns and future demand, says Rinaudo.

Unlike other credit union automotive lease products, CU Xpress Lease assumes 100% of the residual risk. When vehicles come off lease, over-mileage charges are covered as are off lease damage fees, and termination fees. Nothing is deducted from the amount the credit union is paid. In addition, credit unions on the program benefit from having a dealer base developed in each lease market served by a CU Xpress Lease regional manager. Program managers service all aspects of the program for the credit union. This includes bringing dealers onto the program, training, maintaining relationships and other support services for the credit union.

The CU Xpress Lease program has grown to become the nations number one credit union automotive lease program featuring a portfolio of over $3.2 billion and more than 65,000 vehicles. The program provides credit unions with the ability to tap into incremental growth with a suite of services. According to Francis Collins, Senior Vice President, Credit, Teachers FCU, Hauppauge, NY, Our partnership with CU Xpress Lease has enabled Teachers to grow not only its indirect channel but also its loan portfolio in a significant way. Lease volumes have increased over 200% in the last 6 years with the program. CU Xpress Lease is one of the main drivers of net loan growth at Teachers.

The demand for leasing has skyrocketed, out pacing traditional loan structures in many areas of the U.S. As vehicle sales rise, the penetration rates for leasing are at its highest level, in 2015 lease originations accounted for nearly 4 million units. Credit unions continue to carve out a niche in this marketplace. CU Xpress Lease provided a program to meet the growing needs of our members who prefer leasing over traditional loan financing. This has allowed us to stay competitive at the point of sale with our preferred dealers. As a result, what started out as a niche area of new business is now a highly valued auto loan business generator with substantial growth, year-over-year, states Christopher Penna, COO, Nassau Financial FCU, Westbury, NY.

CU Xpress Lease is also hosting a webinar series on leasing, on November 10th. Credit unions interested in learning more about the CU Xpress Lease process and how the program can capture more loan growth, can sign up anytime on the GrooveCarInc.com website or by following the link: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EC58DE80824A3C. Covered in the webinar: Why consumers are leasing, lease statistics and market data, benefits, risks and what makes this program a success for credit unions.

About CU Xpress Lease:

A lease product specifically designed for the credit union to reap the benefits of leasing while maintaining control of the credit process. CU Xpress Lease and its affiliated companies bring decades of experience in auto remarketing and lease servicing to meet the needs of credit unions and their members. With offices in Bedford, Texas; Lebanon, NJ and Hauppauge, New York, an experienced infrastructure is ready to provide credit unions with an innovative product without the risk.

About GrooveCar:

Founded in 1999, GrooveCar provides automotive loan growth solutions to credit unions nationwide while providing their members, as well as the general public, with the most informative and user-friendly auto search engine. With its expansive dealership network surpassing five million vehicles, GrooveCar facilitates the entire car buying process, including shopping, researching, buying, leasing, and financing. Through the national auto-leasing program CU Xpress Lease, credit unions can take advantage of leasing opportunities in the new and pre-owned vehicle market. CU Xpress is the leading credit union lease program in the nation. Additional information on GrooveCar or CU Xpress Lease may be found at http://www.groovecarinc.com.

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Companies can learn from Huawei Updated: 2016-11-04 07:22 By Ning Jiajun(China Daily Europe)

Listening to clients carefully and joining with partners is Chinese IT giant's recipe for European success

The 14-port and 3D hexagonal beam antennas Huawei recently unveiled at the 5th Annual Global Antenna and Active Antenna Unit Forum in Paris have grabbed industry attention, especially in Europe.

The products, featured in multi-low-band deployments, as well as multi-multiplex and multi-sector deployments, are instrumental in addressing the challenges of the 4.5G and 5G era.

Zhang Jiayi, president of Huawei's Antenna Business Unit, told the forum: "Huawei always focuses on satisfying the requirements of operators in the mobile broadband era."

As an IT giant in China, Huawei has made impressive achievements globally during the past few years. Its success in Europe is especially welcome, given that the continent was the cradle of time-honored competitors, such as Nokia and Ericsson.

What's more, Huawei's experience is testimony to Laffont's Theory of Competition in Telecommunications - that industrial guidance and regulation can draw inspiration of any sort.

Compared with infrastructural sectors such as highway and port construction, telecommunications is more demanding of technology renewal. It also has a longer industrial chain than the petrochemical sector, even though the end consumers of both are very price-sensitive.

Intellectual property barriers are more commonly seen in telecommunications than in other emerging sectors, due to its long history and monopolies. Therefore, studying Huawei's success in Western Europe - not just its high-tech projects - would have far-reaching impacts.

What can we learn from Huawei's global strategy? Leading innovating companies in China have become a major focus within the IT industry. The country is looking forward to exporting a greater number of high-tech products and leveling the field of competitiveness. Therefore, the responsibility for going global has fallen on firms like Huawei, as China shifts its economy toward technology and innovation.

Huawei's global development was never easy. Strategically speaking, it's a game played not only between companies or sectors but also one that puts innovation and collective merits to the test.

In addition to its Chinese roots, Huawei also has to thank its managers' smart calls, their openness and doggedness, as well as its employees' hard work for its success.

Looking back more than a decade, Huawei was facing pressing challenges and had to struggle for survival. Its path toward globalization has enabled us to learn tremendously.

What's especially worth noting is its strategic positioning and openness. Huawei has been following three strategies - focus, integration and openness. Xu Wenwei, Huawei's chief of strategy and marketing, as well as its European head, said several times that the company has adopted a partnership strategy in Europe. In addition to teaming up with SAP and Imperial College London, it also works with partners including Alstom and British Telecom as it seeks to improve its products and services and introduce additional value.

Listening to clients' demands carefully and joining with partners is Huawei's recipe for its success in Europe, as Xu Wenwei has pointed out, and the way it will retain its technological edge.

The company is also active in fulfilling its social responsibilities and integrating into local society.

Chinese firms overseas are sometimes seen as only being interested in projects that can generate "fast money". That's an unwise mindset.

Intangible assets, including brand recognition and reputation, should be given the highest priority. Chinese peers have a lot to learn from Huawei on that score.

Huawei has climbed from 88th to 72nd on Interbrand's 2016 Best Global Brands ranking, making it one of the fastest risers in the technology sector.

Its brand value increased 18 percent year-on-year to $5.84 billion, a result of its brand-building efforts. Brand recognition can bring value in a real sense, as companies will have more room in pricing, and it also serves as protection in times of crisis.

Reputation and brand are intertwined. A good reputation is the basis for a good brand, while a good brand can bring a good reputation. Huawei's knowledge of how to cultivate its reputation is one of the reasons for its worldwide recognition.

The biggest distinction setting Huawei apart from its peers is how it lives out its globalization strategy.

The author is director of the Experts Committee at the State Information Center. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page8)
The RecruitLink App is a win for digital transformation initiatives. It allows Recruiting Teams to further leverage the capabilities of ServiceNow and streamline the recruiting process in a way that no application has before.

Solugenix Corporation has announced that its RecruitLink application (http://slgx.co/2ftNmdF) was certified by ServiceNow, a cloud computing company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. RecruitLink provides a workflow with a process-oriented approach to Recruitment with the ITSM paradigm and framework. RecruitLink helps recruiting firms by providing one centralized recruiting system. Standard functions are made available, using the ServiceNow workflow, for streamlined recruitment operations and management.

Solugenix, which has been in the IT business for over forty-five years, continually evolves to provide technology services that are changing the modern world. Solugenix will now be using its proprietary methodologies, applications and experienced technology professionals to deliver ServiceNow Solutions that transform businesses.

The RecruitLink App is a win for digital transformation initiatives. It allows Recruiting Teams to further leverage the capabilities of ServiceNow and streamline the recruiting process in a way that no application has before. We are pleased to launch RecruitLink as a Certified ServiceNow app, said Solugenix Vice President of Technology & Development Services, Ramki Venkatraman.

Solugenixs RecruitLink app is now available on the ServiceNow App Store (https://store.servicenow.com/).

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About Solugenix

Solugenix Corporation is a trusted IT and Business services partner focused on Contact Support Center Services, Professional Staffing, and ServiceNow solutions. Solugenix has offices in the United States (Brea, California and Scottsdale, Arizona), and India (Hyderabad and Bangalore). For more information, visit http://www.solugenix.com or call 866-749-7658. Twitter: @solugenix LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/solugenix
It has stood out to us just how much persistence and long-term commitment Dreamers and their programs demonstrate on the path towards higher education.

This Fall, the I Have A Dream Foundation will launch a year-long, multimedia documentary project that will follow studentsDreamersin every grade from kindergarten all the way through college and career. The project will include a January blog and social media account takeover of Better Make Room, the First Ladys education initiative geared towards encouraging Generation Z to pursue higher education.

The project will follow Dreamers from every grade in 11 cities for the entire school year, and check in with them at critical pointsfirst days of school, college applications, graduations, internships, and as they respond to current events, challenges, and accomplishments along the way. At the end of the project, we will have a better understanding of what schooland lifelooks like when students have access to the long-term, individualized social, emotional, academic, and financial support the I Have a Dream Foundation provides.

We have realized that theres really no way to capture the full depth and breadth of a Dreamers experience, short of undertaking an 18+ year documentary project. But this year, we have Dreamers in every grade from kindergarten all the way through collegeso why not start now? says Donna Lawrence, President & CEO of the I Have A Dream Foundation.

We have partnered with the I Have A Dream Foundation on a number of projects in the past year, like the First Ladys College Signing Day and Beating the Odds Summit. It has stood out to us just how much persistence and long-term commitment Dreamers and their programs demonstrate on the path towards higher education. Better Make Room is really about raising these kinds of voices, so when we heard about this project, it seemed like a perfect match for our #BMRTakeover series," says Don Yu, Director of the Better Make Room Campaign.

A closer look at some of the featured Dreamers (photographs & interviews available):



First grader Allik, from Des Moines, Iowa, wants to be a lawyer so he can help the city and help the world.

Second grader Gabby from Des Moines, Iowa wants to be a teacher because Teachers can help people with math and reading. They keep children safe.

Fourth grader Essence from New York City has been a committed and enthusiastic founding member of her programs community service club, helping to plan and implement three projects related to homelessness in her community.

Fellow fourth grader Pacifique from Des Moines, Iowa says, I want to become a scientist and help discover ways for people in other countries to get clean water and clean air.

Seventh grader Devan from Hailey, Idaho says he loves being a Dreamer because of the huge support IHDF-Idaho gives to him and his future, especially in going to college (something he feels like he never could have done without the program).

11th grader Brisa from Denver, Colorado was accepted to a highly selective STEM summer program, and is working to major in a STEM-related field and become the first in her family to graduate from college.

Martisia is a college senior from Atlanta, Georgia who is a first generation college student graduating in December with a degree in Biology and a concentration in secondary education. Upon graduation, she plans to teach in a high needs school system to spark the interest of STEM back into the classrooms.

Juanita from Los Angeles, California is a graduate student at California State University Fullerton, and is working towards her M.A. in Social Work.

For a full list of Dreamers featured in our documentary project, sample social media posts, and more information, visit http://ihaveadreamfoundation.org/k-through-college-in-a-year/.

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About I Have A Dream Foundation:

The I Have A Dream Foundation (IHDF) is a national non-profit organization focused on breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty through a comprehensive program of support that follows the same group of young people (Dreamers) from elementary school all the way through college. Founded 35 years ago through the vision of Eugene M. Lang, IHDF operates in 16 cities and has served over 17,000 Dreamers in over 200 programs.

The numbers: 51% of students in U.S. public schoolsover 25 million childrenare low-income, and only 9% of low-income students earn a bachelors degree, compared to 77% of their high-income peers. 90% of Dreamers complete high school, compared to 70% of their low-income peers, representing an additional $2.9 Billion in earnings over their lifetimes. Dreamers are nearly 3 times more likely to earn a bachelors degree than their low-income peers, with almost 70% enrolling in college. Without this level of support, the cycle of poverty continues: 65% of children whose parents have no more than a high school diploma live in poverty. Now, 35 years after Eugene M. Langs life changing promise, Dreamers have children who are attending college themselves.

About Better Make Room:

In 2014, First Lady Michelle Obama launched her Reach Higher initiative to inspire every student in America to take charge of their future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university. As part of her Reach Higher initiative, the First Lady kickstarted a new public awareness campaign, Better Make Room, to target Generation Z, or young people ages 14-19, to celebrate education, change the national conversation, and reach students directly where they are, giving them a space to create content while navigating the college-going process.

Better Make Room is part of the non-profit, Civic Nation, and leverages traditional and new media platforms to celebrate student stories in the same way that we often celebrate celebrities and athletes. With partners in the business, philanthropic, media, and education realm, this campaign stretches across the country to inspire students and give them the tools they need to reach higher for college.
Ericka Miller

National executive search firm Isaacson, Miller announced that Ericka Miller has rejoined its executive search team as a vice president and partner in its Washington, DC office. An expert in K-12 education and education policy, Dr. Miller previously served as a vice president at Isaacson, Miller from 2005 to 2007. She left the firm to become the vice president for operations and strategic leadership at The Education Trust, leading the day-to-day management of the $15 million national education research and advocacy organization.

In 2013, Dr. Miller was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the assistant secretary for postsecondary education in the U.S. Department of Education, and her nomination was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. From January until June 2015, during the extended confirmation process, Dr. Miller served as senior advisor to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in the Department of Education. Her nomination was one of several that languished in the Senate; she withdrew from the process and joined The College Board as chief of membership, governance, and higher education.

We are delighted to welcome Ericka back to our firm, commented Isaacson, Miller President Vivian Brocard. Erickas rich and distinguished career combined with her impressive academic credentials and passion for education help to strengthen our ability to serve clients across the civic sector and particularly in the K-12 and education reform arena.

Early in her career, Dr. Miller served as legislative assistant to former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, advising the senator on elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education policy issues. Before her time on the Hill, Dr. Miller was assistant professor of English literature at Mills College, in Oakland, California. Prior to launching her career in education, she was an editor at Washingtonian Magazine.

Dr. Miller holds a bachelors degree from Georgetown University and a doctorate from Stanford University. She is a member of Leadership Greater Washingtons Class of 2004, and she serves on a number of nonprofit boards.
Freddie Rohner, an iHire Senior Writer, won a first place award in the 2016 Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) Resume Writing Competition sponsored by Career Directors International (CDI). The TORIs, now in their 17th year, are an international competition in which contestants submit their best resume writing work in a specific category.

Rohner, a Certified Advanced Resume Writer and Certified Resume Specialist in Accounting and Finance as well as Training and Human Resources, won first place for his submission in the Best Hospitality Resume category. Rohner was a finalist for the Best Accounting Resume award in 2014 and the Best New Graduate Resume award in 2015.

Freddie is an exceptional resume writer, and winning a first place TORI award is a testament to his outstanding talent, creativity, industry knowledge, and commitment to his craft, stated Natalie Winzer, iHires Writing Supervisor. This award is extremely well deserved, and we couldnt be more proud of his achievement.

Winning first place was a wonderful surprise. After having been nominated the past few years, I knew I could compete with the other top writers, but I didnt expect to finish first, said Rohner. I chose to enter the hospitality category because thats always been one of my favorite industries to write resumes for. The subject matter is interesting, the clients always have great achievements to highlight, and the information they provide offers many opportunities for creative presentation. This is a huge honor for me, and I have to recognize and thank my coworkers for their encouragement and support.

The prestigious TORI competition is held annually and invites writers to enter in a variety of fields. Nominees and winners are selected by two separate panels of judges (former award winners and/or individuals with elite master-level credentials) who review entries blind (no writer identification). This years additional categories included Accounting/Finance, Executive, Healthcare/Medical, Information Technology, International, New Graduate, and Sales.

Rohner, a St. Marys College of Maryland graduate with a background in copywriting and broadcasting, joined iHires resume writing team in 2010. In addition to specializing in accounting/finance and HR, he works frequently with job seekers in other industries including legal, construction, environmental, engineering, manufacturing, quality control, and logistics. To learn more about iHires resume writing services, visit http://www.ihireresumewriting.com.

About CDI

CDI is an international association that provides proactive resources and assistance to empower its members in the undertaking and application of career development, resume writing and employment practices. To learn more, visit http://www.careerdirectors.com.

About iHire, LLC

iHire offers a network of industry job boards dedicated to specific professions, enabling job seekers and employers to reach their employment goals by focusing their searches. iHire provides job seekers a single place to find jobs that are posted all over the internet, including places like small and large business websites, government databases, and industry associations in addition to other services such as resume writing/formatting. For employers, iHire provides straightforward hiring tools to help fill open positions quickly and cost effectively. iHire understands that successful recruiting isnt about a lot of resumes; its about the right resumes. Thats why iHire offers an industry focus with network reach, enabling employers a fast, affordable way to reach the right candidates. Visit http://www.ihire.com for more information.
MESA/Boogie is excited to announce that world-renowned guitarist John Petrucci will host a Tone Summit on Monday, November 14th at 7:00 PM at The Guitar Sanctuary in McKinney, Texas. The Tone Summit will give guitarists an opportunity to learn more about John Petrucci, the JP-2C concept and his collaboration with MESAs design team as they set out to infuse the famed MARK IIC+ design with added flexibility and modern features.

For several decades, Ive spent countless hours in search of perfect tone, and digging into every single detail of an amplifier feature that impacts guitar tone. Ive found that this journey and the discoveries Ive made, most certainly run parallel to the path each and every guitarist will take at some point. The Tone Summit is about sharing some of this knowledge as we all have such a great opportunity to learn from one another. As a huge fan of the MESA/Boogie Mark IIC+, its tone certainly plays a key role in my storyyou can hear it on almost every album Ive ever made! So the IIC+ and ultimately the JP-2C tone range reflect where this journey has taken meIm excited to share some of our story with guitarists. said John Petrucci.

John embodies all that defines a truly dedicated artist. Working with John for over 30 years, MESA amplifiers have been the heart of his guitar tone even before his rise to worldwide acclaim with Dream Theater. Over the years, John hinted at collaborating to design a MARK amplifier with features unlike any before it, based on the IIC+ circuit. So the recent release of our JP-2C is the culmination of both MESAs and Johns IIC+ tone fantasies. The development process with John is an amazing story that lead to the inspiration for a next generation, re-issue of the legendary amp so many recording artists and MESA enthusiasts the world over covet! We think guitarists of all levels will find the Tone Summit engaging and inspirational said Doug West, 34 year veteran and point man in R&D and Marketing at MESA/Boogie. For more information visit http://www.theguitarsanctuary.com.

About John Petrucci

John Petrucci is the guitarist and a founding member of Dream Theater, the legendary progressive rock titans whose nucleus he formed in 1985. John has seen the Grammy-nominated band through many notable accomplishments, including multiple domestic as well as international top-ten releases, and numerous gold- and platinum-certified DVDs. For more information visit http://johnpetrucci.com or http://www.dreamtheater.net

About The Guitar Sanctuary

The Guitar Sanctuary is a leading retailer in high quality musical instruments for musicians, recording studios and sound companies, and is owned and operated by passionate musicians. Located in McKinney Texas, The Guitar Sanctuary is home to MESA/Boogie North Dallas and carries an extensive line of custom guitars, amplifiers, pedals, clothing and accessories. The Sanctuary music complex also features professional teaching studios and two-story, 300 seat performance hall. For more information, visit http://www.theguitarsanctuary.com

About MESA/Boogie

MESA/Boogie Ltd. (also known as MESA Engineering) is a leading global innovator of guitar amplification technology whose product line includes the JP-2C, Mark V, Dual and Triple Rectifier, Lone Star, Mini Rectifier, and most recently the new Mark Five: 35, Mark Five: 25, Recto-Verb 25, Subway D-800 bass series and full line of overdrive and equalizer pedals. Founded in California in 1969 the companys full line of amplifiers and pedals are still made in Petaluma, California with the worlds finest materials. For more information visit http://www.mesaboogie.com
Bobby Jucker and Jack Babin of Three Brothers Bakery; Photo Credit: Three Brothers Bakery Our coffee program is the perfect complement to our scratch made treats, says Bobby Jucker, Three Brothers Bakery co-owner and fifth generation baker.

Three Brothers Bakery announces an exciting addition to its menu  fresh, in-house roasted Kosher coffee beans and espresso drinks at all three Houston area locations. Bakery guests are now able to enjoy a full menu of coffee offerings including monthly featured items, beverages created with house-made syrups and bags of Kosher in-house roasted coffee beans for purchase. Kosher coffee beverages to enjoy in store are available exclusively at the Braeswood location. Jack Babin, roast master and coffee saucier and Bobby Jucker, fifth generation baker and co-owner, collaborated to create the bakerys new program.

Our coffee program is the perfect complement to our scratch made treats, says Bobby Jucker, Three Brothers Bakery co-owner and fifth generation baker. The coffee program was created for our customers to enjoy a product we care deeply about, just as we do for our bakery items. Roasting coffee is a true labor of love and our team is dedicated to creating a one-of-a-kind experience, which now includes coffee. Its a detailed process to take the bean from its original green state to a full cup of coffee and now we have the capability to do that. Were excited to offer a place where guests can now gather to enjoy their in-house roasted coffee with a pastry or dessert.

Jucker and Babin attended Diedrich Roasting School to learn and expand their knowledge on coffee roasting. While there, the duo studied essential elements of the coffee industry, learned more about the roasting system and how to develop flavor profiles. Following their stint in class, the team roasted beans every day learning about the various elements and profiles and what truly makes a great cup of coffee.

The bakery sources coffee beans from Guatemala, Ethiopia and Africa to create innovative flavor combinations for the Kosher offerings including Ethiopia Mokamba, a mouthwatering roller coaster ride of natural sweetened dried fruits and floral undertones with a touch of bitter sweet chocolate and class; Bakers Brew, a caffeine fueled wanderlust for the tongue with buttery pecans, juicy citrus fruits making a bold yet spicy with a syrupy chocolate finish; and Dark City Roast featuring smoky dark chocolate with flutters of dried berries, floral notes and undertones of Malabar black Tellicherry peppercorns.

Three Brothers Bakery is excited to offer Kosher coffee beans for sale online and at all three locations and a full menu of customizable coffee beverages with house-made syrups including Vietnamese cinnamon, salted caramel, anise with cardamom vanilla and hazelnut.

Visit any Houston area Three Brothers Bakery location; Braeswood, Memorial and Washington Ave. to experience the new Three Brothers Bakery coffee program.

For more information regarding Three Brothers Bakery, please contact Lauren Sancton at 713-225-0880 or lauren(at)integrateagency(dot)com.

About Three Brothers Bakery

The traditions of Three Brothers Bakery began in Chrzanow, Poland circa 1825, and were preserved despite the familys concentration camp imprisonment during the Holocaust. Their miraculous liberation, and subsequent move to Houston, brought Eastern European scratch baking traditions to 4036 S. Braeswood Blvd, 12393 Kingsride Lane, and 4606 Washington Ave. where the owners are now proud to call themselves memory makers who happen to be bakers. Perfecting the process for almost 200 years, each day the fifth generation bakers produce mostly dairy-free breads and pastries, cookies, a full line of specialty dessert cakes and pies, as well as custom birthday, special occasion, wedding and grooms cakes using only the highest quality ingredients.

Three Brothers Bakery has been awarded many accolades over the years including Best Mail-Order Pies 2012 from Bon Appetit, as well as Modern Bakings 2013 Retail Bakery of the Year and was part of The Knots 2010-2013 Best of Weddings and Hall of Fame picks. The famed Pecan Pie was named the best mail order pecan pie America has to offer by Country Living magazine and the bakery was named one of the 12 best pie shops in America and most recently, named one of the 20 best bakeries in America by The Daily Meal for the third year in a row. Bakery owner, Bobby Jucker competed in the popular Food Network Challenge and has been seen on Food Networks Outrageous Food featuring their Pumpecapple Piecake. The bakery was awarded the 2013 Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Business of the Year by the Houston division of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Three Brothers Bakery is a certified Woman-Owned Business through the Womens Business Enterprise National Council, and a State of Texas Historically Underutilized Business.

Follow Three Brothers Bakery on Facebook and Twitter for news, information and events.
We hope through our participation in this annual event, we will continue to help raise awareness, encourage early detection and assist in funding support services in our community.

D.C. Labs, nationwide provider of the luxurious Ovation Cell Therapy Hair & Scalp Treatment, has announced their Silver Sponsorship of the Susan G. Komen San Diego Race for the Cure.

Ovation Hair is proud to be a Silver Level Sponsor of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, kicking off on Sunday November 6th, 2016 at 8am PST. This is where local residents join together to show their support, raise awareness and promote early detection in the fight against Breast Cancer by taking part in this annual fundraising event. In support, Ovation Hair will be exhibiting at the event, providing samples of the Color Protection Shampoo and Conditioner to all participants. These products are perfect for natural or color treated hair types and are the perfect compliments to Cell Therapy Hair & Scalp Treatment - which has helped clients achieve thicker, stronger, longer hair.

Color Therapy Shampoo:

Color Therapy Shampoo gently cleanses hair, while protecting against wash-out and fade-out. Formulated with a special blend of powerful ingredients including Quinoa and Marine Algae extract, strands are shielded from UV rays and heat styling.

Color Protection Conditioner:

The Color Protection Conditioner locks in moisture while nourishing hair with a unique blend of natural, reparative ingredients including Amino Acids, Marine Algae extracts and Aloe Vera. Hair retains vibrant color while conditioning agents hydrate strands and add shine.

We have been a supporter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation since 2011 and it has been remarkable seeing the program elevate says Dallas Van Kempen, CEO at Ovation Hair. We hope through our participation in this annual event, we will continue to help raise awareness, encourage early detection and assist in funding support services in our community.

Check us out at http://www.ovationhair.com.

About Ovation Hair

The philosophy of Ovation Hair is to meet clients high expectations with quality, nourishing and rejuvenating products that demonstrate proven effectiveness. Ovation Hair has been helping clients achieve healthy hair since 2007. Their flagship product, Ovation Cell Therapy is proven to deliver thicker, stronger, longer hair. Ovation products include high quality ingredients, demonstrated to be safe and effective to create healthy hair. For more information please visit http://www.ovationhair.com.

About the Race for the Cure

The Komen Race for the Cure is a unique 5K and 1 mile race designed and implemented to promote positive awareness, education and early detection of breast cancer. It has proved to be an enormously effective way to reach many women and men with the message that breast cancer does not have to be fatal if regular mammograms and breast self-exams become routine. As well as being a road race for runners, the Komen Race for the Cure is an emotionally charged event attracting many first timers and recreational runners. It is an opportunity for thousands of women, men and their families, running or walking, to share a message of hope and inspiration with their communities. Register at komensandiego.org/race.

About Susan G. Komen San Diego:

Since its inception in 1995, Komen San Diego has raised more than $14 million to fund local non-profits who provide everything from free diagnostic mammograms, meal delivery, temporary financial aid, transportation and more. Seventy-five percent of every dollar raised in San Diego stays in San Diego County to fund breast health services for uninsured and underinsured women and their families. The remaining 25 percent funds international breast cancer research. In fact, next to the U.S. government, Susan G. Komen is the largest funder of breast cancer research in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.komensandiego.org. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.
"Our National Conference will be an opportunity for those committed to moving the needle for children through improvements in K-12 education to learn from each other and transformational leaders in the field." - Scott Morgan, Founder and CEO

Education Pioneers, a national nonprofit that places skilled professionals in critical, non-instructional leadership positions throughout K-12 public education, announces its lineup of speakers for its #EP2016 National Conference: Leadership. Innovation. Progress.

Heavy hitters include keynote speaker, civil rights attorney and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson, and former Chancellor of DC Public Schools Kaya Henderson.

Education Pioneers National Conference will gather hundreds of leaders who are driven to create extraordinary change in education on behalf of underserved students. Many of the attendees are among the 3,000-plus Alumni who completed the organizations fellowship in education leadership.

Education Pioneers believes it is crucial to bring together leaders from all backgrounds to address challenges, share best practices, and advance change for all students, said Scott Morgan, Founder and CEO of Education Pioneers. Our National Conference will be an opportunity for those committed to moving the needle for children through improvements in K-12 education to learn from each other and transformational leaders in the field.

Keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (an endeavor to change the conversation about race and the justice system in the United States), a public interest lawyer, a professor of law at New York University School of Law, and a tireless advocate of justice for people of color and the poor. Stevenson has devoted his career to combating systemic oppression embedded in the US judicial system.

Stevenson is a Harvard Law School graduate and has argued six cases before the Supreme Court. He won a case that deemed it unconstitutional to sentence children to life without parole if they are 17 years old or younger and are not guilty of murder. Stevenson released a memoir called Just Mercy, a New York Times bestseller, that discusses growing up in a poor and racially segregated area of Delaware, his career journey fighting on behalf of the disenfranchised, and reflections on bias in his death row cases.

The #EP2016 conference will close with a conversation with leaders working to improve education in urban areas, including Richard Buery, deputy mayor of strategic initiatives in New York City, and former Chancellor of DC Public Schools Kaya Henderson. Henderson is credited with drastically improving DC Public Schools since her tenure began in 2010, making it the fastest-improving urban school district in the country.

The #EP2016 Conference is taking place in San Francisco at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco on November 15-16. The event will feature 50-plus speakers and 30-plus individualized breakout sessions.

Attendees can choose from breakout sessions organized in five tracks: Innovation in Education; Management in Education; Managing Your Career Path; Taking Stock of the Education Sector; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

To see the full list of #EP2016 National Conference speakers and breakout sessions, please visit http://www.educationpioneers.org/national-conference/agenda.

About Education Pioneers

Since 2003, Education Pioneers has recruited our nations most extraordinary people to enter into education leadership and help transform our schools. Education Pioneers has recruited and trained more than 3,000 diverse leaders in partnership with more than 200 education organizations in about 20 cities nationwide.

Of the organizations alumni in the workforce, more than 70 percent serve in education and lead or contribute to work that impacts more than 3.5 million public school students  most of whom are students of color and come from underserved areas. Find out more about where Education Pioneers leaders work and their impact here:http://www.educationpioneers.org/our-impact.

More information about Education Pioneers can be found at http://www.educationpioneers.org.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico No matter who becomes the next U.S. PresidentClinton or Trumpa contingent of disaffected voters is likely to look overseas for better options.

Amy Schumer said shed move to Spain. Bryan Cranston said hed move to Canada. Jon Stewart said hed move to another planet. At last count, 23 celebrities have claimed theyll leave the country if they dont like the election results.

No matter who becomes the next U.S. PresidentClinton or Trumpa contingent of disaffected voters is likely to look overseas for better options. According to a new report from the editors of International Living, theyll find many that offer excellent value, warm weather and proximity to home. These are places where not only is the cost of living lower and the weather better, but where its a lot easier to tune out the political noise back home, too.

Here are International Livings editors picks for the top five places to escape to if politics is getting you down.

Mexico

Mexico is the only place in the world where U.S. citizens can enjoy an affordable overseas retirement, live right on the beach at affordable prices, yet remain within minutes of the U.S. by car.

Plus, right now with the current exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the deflated peso, Mexico is a huge bargain.

With its moon-lit fiestas, languid white-sand beaches, ancient colonial towns set in the rugged Sierras, and Mayan pyramids rising from the misty Yucatan jungle, its no wonder so many people are starting new lives in Mexico.

With rapidly rising fuel, healthcare, food, and travel costs back home, its nice to know that there are still places where its possible to live well without burning through retirement savings. Mexico is one such place.

Panama

Tropical beaches, First-World infrastructure, high-quality healthcare, welcoming peoplethere are many things to love about Panama.

Retirees are drawn here by the Pensionado program, one of the best retiree benefits programs in the world. Younger adultssome with children in toware moving here in increasing numbers to take advantage of the ease of doing business and the hip, international vibe.

For many, the low cost of living is a major factor in choosing Panama, as is the fact that Panama uses the U.S. dollar. Expats living here have seen their costs drop substantially.

Costa Rica

Costa Ricathe name alone conjures up visions of lush tropical rain forests and crashing surf on long stretches of white-sand beaches.

Costa Rica inspires these visions for two reasons. Number one, theyre true. Costa

Rica is one of the most biologically diverse and beautiful spots on earth, with Pacific and

Atlantic coastlines that are the stuff of legend.

The second reason that the idea of Costa Rica can instantly create pictures of tropical

splendor is that it has been one of the most popular destinations for expats and second-home

owners for decades.

One place that has been very popular over the years is Costa Ricas Central Valleya spot that cradles the countrys thriving capital of San Jose yet also offers rustic and rural pleasure in abundance, as well as a mild, spring-like climate year-round. The Arenal region, with its centerpiece 33-square-mile lake, is also increasingly popular. It is three hours northwest of San Josea region of farmland, pasture, virgin forest, and unspoiled lake views.

Ecuador

Ecuador really does have everything...from the Galapagos Islands to the Amazon basin and the Andes Mountains, from big, modern cities to small, quaint villages. And up until now, one particular area of Ecuador has been overlookedand thats its 937 miles of Pacific coastline and its beautiful mainland beaches.

Ecuador draws a wide range of foreigners: entrepreneurs, travelers, humanitarian workers, foreign officials, diplomats, business people of all stripes, and retirees looking to stretch their budget and experience a different way of life. Many expats are attracted by the countrys less-intrusive government and the tranquility of being removed from the terrorist and antiterrorist campaigns that make headlines in other parts of the world.

Generally speaking, the expats who have settled in Ecuador are those who tend to blend into society rather than live together in expat-oriented communities. Nonetheless, a bit of time in any town of significant size in Ecuador is all it takes to find the gringo haunts and watering holes.

Colombia

Colombia is no longer just a place for adventurers, speculators and risk-takers. Its a country thats hitting its full stride as an expat destination this year as the numbers of expat couples, younger people with portable careers, and single men and women whove found the ideal place to live or retire increase. And many of the preconceptions about Colombia being dangerous are at least a decade out of date.

Located at the northern tip of South America, Colombia is where the Pacific and the Caribbean collide with the Andes and the Amazon. Its a country that is more beautiful, dramatic, and diverse than nearly any other. It offers sparkling colonial cities and world-famous resorts along the Caribbean.

Just three hours from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Colombia welcomes nonstop flights into Bogota, Medellin, Armenia, Barranquilla, and Cali.

In cities and towns in Colombia, expats find a perfect climate thats neither too hot nor too cool (60 F to 80 F all year); amazing natural surroundings; plenty of cultural events; history-filled cities; superb healthcare; friendly people; and a welcoming countryall with a fantastically low cost of livingfigure $1,500 a month for a couple, all in.

The latest International Living report on election-escape destination contains more financial and logistical information on countries most popular with U.S. expats, as well as interviews with expats already living abroad. Find the latest International Living report at: The 5 Best Places to Move to if You Dont Like the Election Results.

Members of the media have permission to reproduce the article linked above once credit is given to InternationalLiving.com. For information about InternationalLiving.com content republishing, source material or to book an interview with one of our experts, contact Associate Editor Carol Barron, 772-678-0287 (US), CBarron(at)InternationalLiving.com or visit the Media Center.

For 36 years, InternationalLiving.com has been the leading authority for anyone looking for global retirement or relocation opportunities. Through its monthly magazine and related e-letters, extensive website, podcasts, online bookstore, and events held around the world, InternationalLiving.com provides information and services to help its readers live better, travel farther, have more fun, save more money, and find better business opportunities when they expand their world beyond their own shores. InternationalLiving.com has more than 200 correspondents traveling the globe, investigating the best opportunities for travel, retirement, real estate, and investment.
For the first time, we are bringing our engaging business platform to Asia. Wine2wine is dedicated entirely to sharing ideas, trends and personal experiences in the wine business

Boosted by last year's winning combination of 135 producers, a record 1,500 square meter dedicated area, 18 masterclasses and VIA (Vinitaly International Academy) seminars, Vinitaly Hong Kong returns to Asias leading commercial hub with an even more ambitious program which aims to offer a more valuable B2B experience to the 30.000 buyers and visitors.

A rich, informative program has been prepared for the Italian Pavilion this year, to complement and enhance the traditional Walk Around Tastings, where all attendees will have the opportunity to browse and taste the wines presented by more than 85 exhibitors.

A much anticipated new addition to Vinitaly Hong Kong is wine2wine Asia, the pocket version of the annual wine business forum held in Verona, which last year boasted a turnout of 100+ speakers and 2000+ attendees over two days of seminars, discussions and knowledge sharing. For the first time, we are bringing our engaging business platform to Asia. Wine2wine is dedicated entirely to sharing ideas, trends and personal experiences in the wine business, explains Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International. The intent is to exploit possibilities to penetrate the Chinese wine market, with a special eye to eCommerce platforms, local social media advertising, but also useful technical discussions like how to set up a store and to find the best importers in secondary Chinese cities. This is a great opportunity for B2B professionals to get know-how direct from the local experts.

Wine2wine has been tailored to Asia with a special format, the Speakers Bureau. Every morning, local and international experts will lead thought provoking seminars to be held before trade show opening hours. The topics are: The aftermath of 9/9: is e-commerce the future of wine business in China? on Thursday, November 10th; The role of wine education in China on Friday, November 11th; ABC to wine trade in China on the final day, Saturday November 12th. Each seminar will be followed by an Italian breakfast in the Lounge area, the perfect setting to share thoughts while enjoying Italian delicacies (For more information and to register to the event visit asia.wine2wine.net).

A quintessential part of Vinitaly Hong Kong revolves around wine education. Vinitaly International Academy, VIA, an educational initiative aimed at simplifying the vast diversity of Italian grape varieties will be in Hong Kong with 4 VIA Executive Wine Seminars, presented by Scientific Director, Ian DAgata. A new record will be set this year with 21 educational masterclasses, an impressive 15 of them organised by Jean Charles Viens, Hong Kong-based wine expert and educator, writer at Spirito Divino Asia. Local impressions in Hong Kong towards Made in Italy easily bring to mind elegant lifestyle, luxury brands, and fine food. During the guided tastings, JC Viens will bring participants in-depth and behind-the-scenes on what creates the Made in Italy aura in Italian fine wines, and how they can become a key market player in this region.

You can register to the masterclasses by following these links:

Day one (10th November): https://vinitaly-hong-kong-2016-masterclasses-1.eventbrite.it/

Day two (11th November): https://vinitaly-hong-kong-2016-masterclasses-2.eventbrite.it/

Day three (12th November): https://vinitaly-hong-kong-2016-masterclasses-3.eventbrite.it/

During this seventh edition, Wine Meridian, the pioneer online magazine devoted to Italian wine in international markets, will hold the first Hire Me Vinitaly during Vinitaly Hong Kong. The new speed-dating format aims to bridge the gap between local Italian wineries and local wine professionals seeking for employment within the Asian market.

This year's edition will also count a new wine bar where each day sommeliers will be serving a selections of top quality Italian wines including 11 of the wines that won the exclusive 5StarWines Award held this year a few days before Vinitaly in Verona. Last years competition saw the participation of 2,700 wines from 27 countries, of which, only 350 passed the stringent 90 point minimum required to receive the 5StarWine Award. Enrolment is now open for the 2nd edition of the Award (March 31st to April 2nd 2017) where further qualification of the panel of judges will ensure that participating wine-makers will benefit from expert assessments and first-hand knowledge of each type of wine.

For more information and to apply visit: http://www.vinitaly.com/en/exhibitor-area/vinitaly-international-competitions/5-Star-Wines/).

As for the previous editions, every day the Vinitaly Lounge will offer all attendees the opportunity to sip good Italian coffee or taste Italian food thanks to Vinitaly International's partnership with Tutto Food which will presenting quality products from some of Italy's top brands: Fabbri, Auchan, Corsini and Ferrarini.

Vinitaly International would also like to thank Technical Partners, Franklin and Marshall, Wine Meridian, Grande Passione and Bellissima Italia as well as Media Partners, Vinehoo, Spirito di Vino Asia, Wine Chat, Winesinfo.com for their invaluable support.

About:

Veronafiere is the leading organizer of trade shows in Italy including Vinitaly (http://www.vinitaly.com), the largest wine and spirits fair in the world. During its 49th edition Vinitaly counted some 4.000 exhibitors on a 100.000 square meter area and 150.000 visitors including more than 2.600 journalists from 46 different countries. The next edition of the fair will take place on 10 - 13 April 2016.

The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine (http://www.vinitalyinternational.com) Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, will unite international wine professionals on April 9th in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA has now also created its very first Certification Course with the aim of creating new Ambassadors of Italian Wine in the World.
Europe gripped by protectionist mood Updated: 2016-11-04 07:24 By Harvey Morris(China Daily Europe)

Question mark over trade deals as nations ponder the impact of business with China

Would-be Chinese investors in Europe are encountering a growing mood of protectionism among politicians and officials there who have raised barriers to a series of major deals.

It is generating pressure to tighten the rules on Chinese takeovers, particularly where issues of fair competition and national security are said to be involved, and is twinned with demands for greater European access to investment opportunities in China.

The trend has been particularly apparent in Germany, whose economy minister, Sigmar Gabriel, upped the rhetoric ahead of a visit to China this past week by claiming it was strategically buying up German companies while protecting its own companies against foreign takeovers.

"Nobody can expect Europe to accept such foul play by trade partners," he wrote in a signed article in Germany's Die Welt newspaper.

It was an unusual tone for an official to adopt ahead of an overseas economic mission whose agenda included opening Germany's biggest business conference outside its own borders.

However, it received a conciliatory response from Beijing. "We have noticed relevant reports from German media," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, adding: "China is willing to cultivate a fair and transparent investment environment for investors both at home and abroad, including those from Germany." Perhaps more significant than Gabriel's somewhat undiplomatic language are some of his recent actions. He recently blocked a $735 million (671 million euros; 605 million) buyout by Chinese investors of the German semiconductor maker Aixtron.

The protectionist mood is not confined to Germany. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, last month delayed the planned acquisition of Swiss agribusiness Syngenta by China's ChemChina by announcing an in-depth inquiry into the deal. The probe is ostensibly aimed at deciding whether the deal would reduce competition in the pesticides market and raise prices for farmers.

To try to salvage the deal, state-owned ChemChina has extended its $43 billion cash offer until Jan 5 in the hope of gaining European regulatory approval.

By putting obstacles in the way of these and other major deals, European officials may be responding to a public mood in their electorates, fueled by headlines that accuse China of dumping steel, solar panels and other products on the European market and stealing European jobs.

The mood of protectionism also comes at a time when the EU has been rattled by the consequences of Britain's vote to exit the group. British politicians who advocate a clean break with EU institutions such as the European single market have been the most vociferous in promoting the benefits of closer economic relations with China.

It also comes at a time when the EU is pondering tightening its so-called trade defense instruments to introduce more robust anti-dumping measures that would impact Chinese exporters. New proposals on how to calculate anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese goods are expected by the end of the year.

Other moves include an attempt by the German government to increase its powers to block takeovers. Current law allows the government to block takeovers only if they threaten energy security, defense or financial stability. Gabriel is pressing for European safeguards to stop foreign takeovers of technology companies seen as strategic to Europe's future economic success.

Such protectionist moves have not generally been welcomed by the business community. "For many German companies, China is now the single most important market," Thomas Heck, head of the China business group at PwC in Germany was quoted as telling Reuters. "It may not be wise to pick a battle and tell China 'If you don't open up your markets like we have, then we will shut down our economy for you'."

One signal of a tougher line on Chinese deals came earlier this year when British Prime Minister Theresa May delayed approval of a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in which state-owned China General Nuclear would have a one-third stake in the plant.

She announced the delay as soon as she took office in July so that she could familiarize herself with the terms of the deal. In a more positive signal to Chinese investors, by September it was approved.

The writer is a senior editorial consultant for China Daily UK.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page11)
Clearwater Preserve This protected, unspoiled, yet easily accessible development property presents unlimited waterfront real estate opportunities.

Clearwater Preserve, located on Sandusky Bay in Port Clinton, Ohio, is unique in the world  one of the very last significant waterfront properties with direct access to Lake Erie via Sandusky Bay, part of the breathtaking, freshwater Great Lakes. Buyers have the opportunity to bid at a sealed bid auction on 700 acres of forest and inland deep-water lakes with boat channel access to Lake Erie via the Sandusky Bay. Sealed bids for this once in a lifetime property are due December 8 by 12 Noon EST. Property previews will be held Wednesday, November 16 and Thursday, November 17 from 10 am to 4 pm.

We believe auctions are one of the best ways to bring unique properties to the public, said Mike Jones, President and auctioneer with United Strategic Client Services. This protected, unspoiled, yet easily accessible development property presents unlimited waterfront real estate opportunities. We are excited to work with Auctioneer Doug Walton of United Country | Walton Realty & Auction of Upper Sandusky, OH and Bob Mack, representing the Brokerage of Signature Associates of Toledo, OH.

The property, known as Clearwater Preserve, is located at 960 S Plasterbed Road, Port Clinton, OH, said Bob Mack. 10+ million trips are made to Lake Erie Shores and Islands yearly, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Midwest. The property at Clearwater Preserve offers unlimited opportunities for a destination resort community and makes it truly exceptional. Boasting 120 acres of inland lakes with 16,500 ft of shoreline and access for recreational boating and watersports, tourism and year-round activity is bound to increase.

Property details, photos, sealed bid information, as well as terms and conditions can be found at http://www.United-SCS.com/Clearwater or by phone, contact Robert Mack with Signature Associates at 419-249-6301.

About United Country

United Country Real Estate  a division of the United Real Estate Group  is the leading, fully integrated network of conventional and auction real estate professionals. The company has been an innovator in lifestyle and country real estate marketing since 1925. United Country supports nearly 500 offices and 5,000 real estate professionals across four continents, with a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes the highest ranked and largest portfolios of specialty property marketing websites, the largest real estate marketing services company, an extensive buyer database of more than 550,000 opt-in buyers and exclusive global advertising of properties. For more information about United Country Real Estate or United Real Estate, please visit http://www.UnitedCountry.com or http://www.UnitedRealEstate.com.
Ron Schlecht, Jr., co-founder and managing partner of BTB Security The beneficiaries are our clients, who have the peace of mind of being protected from the scourge of cybercrime.

BTB Security, a Philadelphia cybersecurity firm that provides managed security, consulting and digital forensic services to clients nationally, has been named to the Philadelphia 100 list of fasted growing companies in the region. To be recognized, companies must demonstrate at least three consecutive years of sales growth, and they are then ranked based on percentage growth.

BTB Security ranked 24th on the annual list, up from 47th in 2015. BTB has achieved 173 percent revenue growth since 2013. The Philadelphia 100 is run by the Wharton Small Business Development Center and The Entrepreneurs' Forum of Greater Philadelphia.

BTB, which this year marked its 10-year anniversary, protects clients in the financial services, health care, hospitality, education, retail, government and utilities sectors, among others.

Weve worked hard to achieve this growth, and the beneficiaries are our clients, who have the peace of mind of being protected from the scourge of cybercrime, said Ron Schlecht, Jr., BTB Securitys co-founder and a managing partner. Its always great to be recognized, and this honor is shared equally among our dedicated employees and our loyal clients.

BTB Security marked its anniversary by taking a look at how cybercrime has changed over the past decade. Its resulting infographic , Cyber Crime: Then and Now can be viewed or downloaded at http://www.btbsecurity.com/images/PDFs/BTBAnniversaryInfographic.pdf.

For the complete Philadelphia 100 list, go to http://www.philadelphia100.com.

About BTB Security

BTB Security is an industry-leading information security consulting, digital forensics and managed security services company. It has extensive experience in helping many types of organizations achieve the next level of security. By working to understand clients business goals, develop a trusted advisor relationship, and innovate their techniques, BTB has helped clients secure their enterprises with highly qualified and credentialed security professionals. Founded in 2006, BTB Security is a privately owned company with headquarters in Philadelphia and offices in Chicago and Austin, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.btbsecurity.com.
It is an exciting time for fashion tech and shaping the future of an industry has not been brighter; we are honored to be an official global media partner and supporting fashion tech in the Austin community, - Val Vacante

Put Together: The BDYHAX Fashion Show will kick off a weekend of bodyhacking, future tech, bionics, and transhumanism in Austin, TX on January 27th. The event will be co-produced by London fashion group INTERLACED (http://interlaced.co/) and will feature fashion tech from artists like Birce Ozkan, Teresa Lamb, Jingwen Zhu, Lina Wassong, and Rachel Nhan. Clausette.cc is the first French online magazine exploring the Future of Fashion and will be the media partner for Put Together. Clausette.cc provides perspective from designers, entrepreneurs and academics who are intersecting technology, science and art to impact the fashion industry aesthetically and functionally. It is an exciting time for fashion tech and shaping the future of an industry has not been brighter; we are honored to be an official global media partner and supporting fashion tech in the Austin community, says Val Vacante of Clausette.cc.

Put Together will feature a unique combination of runway and display, as many of the pieces are too detailed for a traditional fashion show viewing. Pieces showcased will feature tech including responsive-design, sensory augmentation, new reactive materials, 3d printed garments and more including Sensorees mood-sensing sweater and participation from fashion and technology company Vinaya, which products include emotion tracking bracelet Zenta and smart accessory collection Altruis. Several designers will be on site after the runway portion to discuss the technology behind the pieces and to show off any small details.

Additionally, Put Together will open with a Waiting for Earthquakes performance by Moon Ribas, a cyborg who senses earthquakes worldwide with the assistance of an implant in her arm. Waiting for Earthquakes translates these earthquakes happening anywhere on the planet into dance. If there are no earthquakes, there is no dance. Music throughout the show will be performed live by Kiara Craft, who released A Rumor About Love. Kiaras sultry voice, and soulful melodies are reminiscent of classic rhythm and blues, with a modern Pop vibe on top of Hip Hop-laced trap beats. Kiaras wide array of musical influences (from Diana Ross to Aaliyah) make for a sound that is fresh, edgy, and distinctively Kiara

The BDYHAX ("Body Hacks") Conference, held later that weekend at Austin Convention Center, will be hosting a strong lineup of speakers including award winning writer and co-editor of Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow, OpenBionics CEO Samantha Payne, bionic videographer Rob Spence, and cyborg drummer Jason Barnes. The conference will take place on January 28th and 29th, and include The Wormhole on Saturday night. The Wormhole, a dance party of epic proportions, celebrates the science fiction and fantasy around cyborgs and human augmentation with performances by Moon Ribas, Jason Barnes (as CYBRNETX) and others. Put Together and The Wormhole are currently priced at $15 each, but prices for Put Together as well as the larger BDYHAX conference increase starting November 16th.

About BDYHAX

BodyHacking Con, also known as BDYHAX (Body Hacks) isnt just about implantable technology. Its about wearable tech, cybernetics and prosthetics, health, fitness, nootropics, and body modification like tattoo and piercing, along with everything else you can do to be more like your ideal self. BDYHAX 2017 takes place at Austin Convention Center January 27-29. More information can be found at BDYHAX.com as well as on Twitter & Instagram as @BodyHackingCon and Facebook.com/BodyHackingCon. Sponsorship opportunities still available. For further press inquiries, please contact at press(at)bodyhackingcon.com
www.NterOne.com The acquisition of LXE expands the reach of NterOne, and adds significant value to the portfolio of business LXE was already driving in Latin America, said Anthony Hamilton, CEO of NterOne.

NterOne Corporation announced today it has completed the acquisition of LXE Corp SRL, a privately held company based in the Dominican Republic, and a leading provider of Cisco Learning solutions in the Latin America market. The acquisition of LXE expands the reach of NterOne, and adds significant value to the portfolio of business LXE was already driving in Latin America, said Anthony Hamilton, CEO of NterOne. We are extremely pleased and honored to officially be doing business in Latin America with office locations across the region and local sales, support, and technical staff who truly understand their customers.

Nestor Barrios, VP of Latin America at NterOne, will be the regional Executive in charge of all sales and operations. Mr. Barrios has over 15 years of experience in the field of training in Information Technology, and has held various management positions that have enabled the development of a comprehensive view of IT training business in the Latin America region. Similarly, he has implemented business models that have guaranteed success in long-term relationships with ecosystem partners from different manufacturers. Mr. Barrios has a Bachelors degree in Science Engineering Technology from the University of Central Florida, and holds various industry standard certifications. I am extremely excited about the opportunity to promote our capabilities as we launch NterOne into the market, said Mr. Barrios. NterOne is in an elite class being the only direct and specialized Cisco learning partner in certain Latin American countries.

NterOne is also proud to announce the launch of http://www.nterone.la focused on serving customers in Latin America markets. Customers can browse training based on certification, technology, and/or product to arrive at the most appropriate Cisco, VMware, Microsoft, and other multi-vendor training solutions.

NterOne will continue to bring exciting new learning solutions, sales enablement programs, mentoring services, and software aligned to the eco-system of Global partners. In the coming months and into 2017, NterOne will launch innovative new services around Cisco, VMware, Microsoft, Analytics and Project Management training.

About NterOne:

NterOne is a global training and consulting company focusing on live online training, self-paced e-learning, and private onsite training. The company is headquartered in Reston, VA with cloud offices globally. NterOne is a Direct Authorized Cisco Learning Partner, VMware Authorized Training Center, and Microsoft Learning Partner. NterOne owns and operates their Data Center in North Carolina with key technology focus areas that span Virtualization, Data Center, IoT, Cloud, Analytics, Enterprise Networking, Collaboration, Service Provider, Optical, Wireless, and Security.

For more information, please visit the corporate web site at http://www.NterOne.com.

NterOne is a registered trademark of NterOne Corporation in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
REI is a unique place. Supporting our employees is one of the most important things we do as a co-op. Raquel is a dynamic leader with a love of the outdoors, a clear point of view and a passion for building a thriving team.

REI, the outdoor co-op and national specialty retailer, welcomes Raquel Karls as its senior vice president of Human Resources.

Karls career spans more than 20 years with purpose-driven brands. Most recently, she served as chief human resources officer at Outerwall, the company behind brands including Coinstar, Redbox and ecoATM. There, she led a redesign of all people programs, including performance management, engagement, talent reviews and HRIS systems. She has also spent time in leadership roles in Human Resources at other northwest organizations, including Starbucks and Expedia, and worked in various leadership positions at Pepsi.

REI is a unique place. Supporting our employees is one of the most important things we do as a co-op. Raquel is a dynamic leader with a love of the outdoors, a clear point of view and a passion for building a thriving team. Under her leadership, we will continue to build our reputation as one of the best employers in the country, said Jerry Stritzke, REIs CEO and president.

For 19 consecutive years, REI has been recognized as one of Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For, one of only five companies to do so. Most recently, REI ranked #26. The co-op was also just announced as #10 on Fortunes 100 Best Companies in Retail, and was previously recognized on the lists of 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials and 100 Best Workplaces for Women this year alone.

Joining the co-op gives me the chance to blend my experience with my personal connection to the outdoors. REI has a strong culture and highly engaged employees, and I look forward to helping drive further performance and satisfaction that foster our community and reinforce our values, said, Raquel Karls, senior vice president of Human Resources.

The co-op is again closing its doors on Black Friday and paying its more than 12,000 employees to #OptOutside, and gives all employees two Yay Days, paid days off to explore the outdoors. REI employees also receive competitive wages, a funded retirement plan, generous healthcare benefits and significant deals on outdoor gear and adventures. Other benefits include paid sabbaticals, an incentive plan for all employees and more. Interested candidates can visit http://rei.jobs/.

About REI

REI is a specialty outdoor retailer, headquartered near Seattle. The nations largest consumer co-op, REI is a growing community of more than 6 million active members who expect and love the best quality gear, inspiring expert classes and trips, and outstanding customer service. REI has 149 stores in 36 states. If you cant visit a store, you can shop at REI.com, REI.com/REI-Garage or the free REI shopping app. REI isnt just about gear. You can take the trip of a lifetime with REI Adventures, a global leader in active adventure travel that runs 170 custom-designed itineraries on every continent. REIs Outdoor School is run by professionally-trained, expert-instructors who teach beginner- to advanced-level courses about a wide range of activities. To build on the infrastructure that makes life outside possible, REI invests millions annually in hundreds of local and national nonprofits that create access toand stewardthe outdoor places that inspire us.

# # #
Andrews Federal Credit Union Senior Management and Board of Directors, along with West Springfield Branch Manager, Ryan Fitzpatrick at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Andrews Federal Credit Union (Andrews Federal) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its newest West Springfield branch on Friday, October 28. The branch, conveniently located in the Old Keene Mill Shopping Center next to Starbucks, is open 7 days a week and features 24-hour ATM service.

We are happy to be able to expand our operations further into northern Virginia to better service our military members and the Springfield community, said Jim Hayes, President and CEO, Andrews Federal. A big thank you goes out to the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce for their continued support during our expansion.

The Springfield branch is located at 8410 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, VA 22152. The branch is open 7 days a week, Mon - Fri 9:00am to 6:00pm; Sat 9:00am to 3:00pm; and Sun 10:00am to 3:00pm.

About Andrews Federal Credit Union

Andrews Federal Credit Union was founded in 1948 to serve the needs of military and civilian personnel by providing a vast array of financial products and services. With over $1 billion in assets, Andrews Federal has grown to serve more than 117,000 members in the District of Columbia, Joint Base Andrews (MD), Springfield, Virginia (VA), Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (NJ), and military installations in central Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In addition, the Credit Union serves as a financial partner with many select employee groups in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey.

To learn more about Andrews Federal Credit Union and its community involvement, or to become a member, call 800.487.5500 or visit http://www.andrewsfcu.org.
Im thrilled with the certification and see it as a significant building block for Craters & Freighters Platinum."

Craters & Freighters Platinum, Inc., a business specializing in expert single-source crating, shipping and logistics solutions, is pleased to announce national certification as a Womens Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise Council-West, a regional certifying partner of the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

Owner Diane Gibson comments  Im thrilled with the certification and see it as a significant building block for Craters & Freighters Platinum. The opportunity for heightened consumer recognition by WBENC corporate members and government agency access will provide substantial positive results for the company.

WBENC national standard of certification is a meticulous process including and in-depth review of the business and site inspection. By including women-owned businesses among their suppliers, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier diversity programs.

To learn more about Craters & Freighters Platinum, Inc., please visit http://www.cratersandfreightersplatinum.com.

About Craters & Freighters Platinum, Inc.:

Craters & Freighters Platinum is a woman owned and women certified business, that partners with Craters & Freighters nationwide network of brick and mortar service providers to deliver proficient crating, shipping and logistics. Our Platinum service manages customer requirements for centralized project management, quoting, billing and quality assurance in an expert consultative manner.

About WBENC:

Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nations leader in womens business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 13,000 certified Womens Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and over 300 Corporate Members. More than 1,000 corporations representing Americas most prestigious brands as well as many states, cities, and other entities accept WBENC Certification. For more information, visit http://www.wbenc.org.
Minority Student Medical Career Fair This years fair also will include a special panel discussion about integrating American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) cultural beliefs into a career in medicine.

What:

The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) will host its annual medical career awareness workshops and recruitment fair in Seattle on Saturday, Nov. 12. This free event, geared primarily toward minority, college and high school students and their parents, is intended to help increase the pipeline of minority students entering the field of medicine. Participants will have the opportunity to meet and interact with representatives from more than 75 U.S. medical schools and other health professions schools (such as dental, physician assistants, and more).

This years fair also will include a special panel discussion about integrating American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) cultural beliefs into a career in medicine. The panel will feature students, residents, and senior physicians who will share their experiences along the medical school continuum, from pre-med to practicing physician, and will provide information on resources and programs to increase the number of AI/AN physicians. The discussion will take place at 1:15 p.m.

For a full agenda, visit http://www.aamc.org/medicalcareerfairseattle.

Attendees, who also include pre-health advisers and school administrators, can participate in roundtable discussions with current medical students, interactive medical and health activities, and workshops on medical school preparation, admissions requirements, and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).

Who:

Seattle area students and parents are invited to attend free workshops and recruitment fair. The AAMC sponsors this event in collaboration with our Learn Serve Lead: AAMC Annual Meeting. Several of our member medical institutions and health professions organizations participate, including the University of Washington School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Emory University School of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and several other institutions across the United States.

When:

Saturday, November 12, 2016, 8 a.m.  4 p.m. PT

(panel discussion at 1:15 p.m.)

Where:

Washington State Convention Center, Hall 4F

Seattle, Wash.

Info:

Registration and more details: visit http://www.aamc.org/medicalcareerfairseattle or call 202-862-6203

# # #

The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care, and groundbreaking medical research. Its members comprise all 147 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 80 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of Americas medical schools and teaching hospitals and their nearly 160,000 faculty members, 83,000 medical students, and 115,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and its member medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at http://www.aamc.org.
Steve McLaughlin is a lifelong conservationist and avid climber, hiker, and fisher. Steve McLaughlin will be a Steward of our valuable natural resources, promote healthy forests, & increase recreational opportunity. Steve has expressed his commitment to the men and women whose jobs depend on working state forests.

Washington state labor groups are rallying around Steve McLaughlin for Commissioner of Public Lands. SMART-TD-UTU and the Woodworkers Unions both endorse Steve McLaughlin because of his common sense and balanced approach to management.

McLaughlin added another crucial endorsement to his campaign with SMART-Transportation Division/UTU, which now includes eight labor unions -- the Washington State Machinists Council, the Woodworkers Division of the IAM, IBEW-77, IUOW 302, AWPPW, Masters, Mates and Pilots, and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association. These unions represent more than 100,000 Washington working families. Their support is in addition to more than 20 major agricultural, labor, business, tribal and trade organizations, as well as the scores of other current and former elected officials, wildlife experts and small family forest owners who have already endorsed McLaughlin for state lands commissioner.

SMART-TD represents thousands of Washington state railroad workers who transport products that we all use every day, said Herb Krohn, Washington State Legislative Director. SMART-TD/UTU members are very concerned about safety and productivity; we deliver the fiber supply for mills that keep jobs in our working forests and support rural communities. And like Steve McLaughlin, our SMART-TD/UTU members are dedicated to the conservation of our environment while considering the economic stability of the workforce and our surrounding communities. Steve McLaughlin understands the critical importance of insuring railroad operational safety, as one of the most prolific incident command instructors in the state. He is uniquely qualified to be our next Commissioner of Public Lands, he said.

Noel Willet, Vice President of the Washington Machinists Council and President of the Woodworkers District W24 Lodge, said McLaughlin has the common-sense approach and management experience with union workers, and is the right leader to manage Washington States natural resources and the thousands of employees within the Department of Natural Resources.

Woodworkers District Lodge W24 represents 6,000 members, and is a division of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. We are a diversified labor union representing members in logging, sawmills, sort yards and tree farm operations. We also represent Aerospace, Major Manufacturing, Deputy Sheriffs, Police Officers, Municipal Support Staff, Corrections Support Staff, Attorneys, Church employees and health care employees.

"Steve McLaughlin will be a Steward of our valuable natural resources, promote healthy forests, and increase recreational opportunity. Steve has expressed his commitment to the men and women whose jobs depend on working state forests. That is why the Woodworkers have endorsed Steve McLaughlin for Washingtons Commissioner of Public Lands.

Public Lands Commissioner oversees management of more than 3 million acres of trust land in Washington State for the benefit of schools and other beneficiaries. The position is responsible for managing the states Department of Natural Resources, as well as oversight of the states natural areas and aquatic reserves. The commissioner also oversees land transactions and serves as chair of the states Forest Practices Board.

About Steve McLaughlin

Steve McLaughlin is a lifelong conservationist and avid climber, hiker, hunter, and fisher. As a career naval officer, McLaughlin led complex organization with thousands of employees. He oversaw both forestlands and aquatic lands for the U.S. Navy (Everett Homeport has 5,000 acres of timber and extensive tidelands) and helped conserve one of the last stands of old growth in lowland Western Washington. McLaughlin is supported by labor unions, Native Americans, farm and business groups, and veterans, among others. For more on Steve McLaughlins campaign, visit http://www.mac4lands.org.
On Friday October 28th, the runway was set and the models were ready to go for a unique fashion event: Fashion designer and founder of Silk Threads, Ruby Bhandari and her team hosted the Shimmering Lights Gala. October being the National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, this fashion-themed evening was put together to raise funds for local North Texas charities that are working towards that cause. A sold-out crowd of over 250 individuals, including the whos who of Dallas, attended and even walked the runway.

The event showcased new looks from Bhandari, who designs and manufactures her lines Silk Threads, the Ruby B Collection and the SOCIAL List. Over 35 models took to the stage, including Dallas Cowboys players Anthony Brown and Kavon Frazier, Dallas Mavericks player Satnam Singh, and Ms. Teen International and Mrs. International.

Fashion was definitely evident throughout the evening, but there was a bigger mission to this event.

The evening was everything we expected and more. This year, our choice of the beneficiary charity was inspired by the death of my close friend due to domestic violence. Even the line I showed at the Gala had elements of womens empowerment in it. Mosaic Family Services, and one of our customers who is a domestic violence survivor, stood in front of hundreds of people and shared their stories. It was our honor and privilege to bring together a night which raised awareness of domestic violence, and we hope this will impact lives for years to come, said Bhandari.

Bhandari continued Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors, we were able to collect over $10,000 for this worthy cause. We hope to continue the trend and raise social awareness through fashion-themed events in 2017.

Mosaic Family Services Executive Director, Walter Nguyen said "Our heart-felt appreciation to Ruby Bhandari and the Silk Threads team for hosting a beautiful gala to benefit Mosaic Family Services. Their generous support brings awareness to an important human rights issue, and ultimately, helps Mosaic Family Services achieve our mission of ending domestic violence in North Texas. Their vision was to empower women, and because of their support, we've been able to empower many women who are leaving abusing relationships for the last time and coming to build new lives at Mosaic."

Silk Threads has been the premier provider of exclusive ladies and mens casual and formal wear worldwide for twenty-five years. Silk Threads specializes in custom gowns, bridal trousseaus and men's custom formal wear, as well as high-end womens tunics available in leading stores in North America. More details are available at SilkThreads.com or facebook.com/SilkThreadsDesigns.

Mosaic Family Services is a nonprofit community based organization that provides culturally and linguistically competent services to refugees and immigrants in crisis. Today, Mosaic reaches over 15,000 persons annually through direct services and outreach. More information is available at MosaicServices.org.

Silk Threads:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SilkThreadsDesigns/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/silkthreadsinc/

Mosaic Family Services:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MosaicFamilyServices/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mosaicfreedom/

###

Media Contacts

Seema Govil

Cosmo City Media

(512) 762.7387

seema(at)cosmocitymedia(dot)com
Premier embarks on four-nation trip Updated: 2016-11-04 07:24 By Ren Qi in Riga, Latvia(China Daily Europe)

China's Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan on Nov 2, kicking off his eight-day visit to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Russia.

After arriving in Kyrgyzstan, he paid a visit to the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, which was attacked by terrorists with a car bomb, injuring 3 people, on August 30.

Li says it is urgent to repair damage to the embassy, saying security should be strengthened to ensure the safety of those who work and live in the embassy.

Li then met Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov and signed a joint communiqu between the respective governments.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation contracts for several fields, including economy, technology, production capacity, transportation, agriculture and intellectual property.

Li says: "China and Kyrgyzstan are friendly neighbors and strategic partners. The two countries maintain mutual trust in politics and close communication by high-level officials."

Li notes the economies of the two countries are highly complementary, giving great potential for cooperation.

He says China is willing to push the coordination between Belt and Road initiatives and Kyrgyz development strategy, and accelerate cooperation in fields of transport infrastructure and as agricultural production.

The government heads talked about international and regional concerns, such as the anti-terrorism campaign and cooperation among Shanghai Cooperation Organization members.

During the trip, Li was due to meet Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev. The government heads were together signing capacity cooperation agreements.

Li's visit to Latvia is a historical occasion, the first by a Chinese Premier since Latvia gained independence.

During his visit, Li was due to attend the 5th meeting of heads of government of Central and Eastern European countries and China in the capitan, Riga, and deliver a keynote speech.

The visit to Russia will be the highlight of the trip. In return for inviting his Russian counterpart to his home area - Anhui province - last year, Li has been invited to the hometown of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - St. Petersburg, where the Russian government has decided to hold the welcoming ceremony. This is rare as the foreign government heads are usually welcomed in Moscow.

A series of activities are to be held in both St. Petersburg and Moscow, as the two countries are holding the 2016-2017 China-Russia Media Exchange Year.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page14)
The new National Council on Digital Convergence has been announced by its founding members, who include a cross-section of K-12 administrators from urban, suburban and rural school districts from across the midwest and east coast with depth and breadth of expertise, as well as a passion, to help schools transition from traditional classrooms to modern learning environments. The Council, a Modern Teacher-sponsored initiative, will leverage the voices of its members to collect feedback from the field and raise awareness of the need for digital convergence, determine and promote best practices, as well as recognize and reward school districts that are progressing on their paths toward digital convergence.

Individuals were selected for the Council because they have played pivotal roles as leaders developing modern learning environments within their districts, and throughout the country. The members applicable experiences include establishing leadership practices that support the work of digital convergence, creating instructional pedagogies and assessments for the modern learning environments, developing curriculum that support competency-based and personalized learning, establishing an ecosystem that facilitates seamless access to digital resources, and developing professional learning programs that teach 21st Century teaching skills and competencies.

Specific Council goals include:

1) Establish awareness of the need for digital convergence and share experience and expertise.

2) Review the structure by which to assess digital convergence models from school districts throughout the country and make recommendations for standardization.

3) Determine a baseline for digital convergence and track progress nationwide.

4) Recognize and reward school districts that successfully are transitioning to modern classrooms.

Successful digital convergence includes a host of considerations that K-12 school districts should address, including leadership, instructional models, modern curriculum, digital ecosystem and professional learning, said Shawn Smith, Ed.D., Council At-Large Member and president of Modern Teacher. As technology continues to evolve, the Council will closely track what is working best on a national platform, and continually define and redefine the best way for K-12 school districts to achieve digital convergence.

Among the many topics that the Council will discuss include best practices for districts on how to lead the transition toward digital convergence through engagement and a shared vision, develop modern curriculum that enhance learning through technology, transform teaching to support the shift in the delivery of education, develop infrastructure to interconnect and integrate digital resources, provide professional learning to teachers and other stakeholders to transform teaching and learning for the 21st Century, and assess what methods are most successful. The Council will meet every quarter, with the next meeting scheduled for January.

The Council also is releasing its first State of the Industry report, which outlines the stories of four school districts that successfully are transitioning to the modern learning environment. More information about the key takeaways from the industry report is available.

Elected Council meeting officers include:

 Chairman: David Richards, Ph.D., Superintendent of Fraser Public Schools located in Fraser, Michigan

 Secretary: J.R. Proctor, Ed.D., Superintendent of Axtell Independent School District, of Axtell, Texas

 At-Large Member: Shawn Smith, Ed.D., President, Modern Teacher

For a complete list of the 10 Council members, click here.

The Council also will identify additional members, including research partners and technology companies, to provide resources and support for its digital convergence efforts.

To learn more about transitioning traditional classrooms into modern learning environments, school districts can take a brief survey to assess themselves against the framework that successfully has guided other districts nationwide. Information also is available about the barriers to the modern learning environment.

About Modern Teacher

Modern Teacher partners with districts to support the transition from traditional classrooms to modern learning environments. The organization is an educational technology company designed to provide a research-based methodology for Digital Convergence in education. The organization has created a technology-enabled solution to support districts in leveraging todays tools across K-12 classrooms. For more information, visit http://www.modernteacher.com.
BSA/AML/OFAC Risk Assessments - Are You Doing Them Correctly This Seminar is Certified for CAMS and CPE Credits

ComplianceOnline, the leading governance, risk and compliance advisory network with over 500 experts in various regulatory subjects, today announced a seminar on BSA/AML/OFAC Risk Assessments - Are You Doing Them Correctly. The one and a half day seminar led by renowned BSA expert Gina J. Lowdermilk will be held on January 19 and 20, 2017 in San Francisco CA.

This seminar will highlight BSA/AML best practices that are acknowledged and recognized by regulators and examiners and will discuss each risk assessment area. During the workshop, the speaker will discuss how to conduct a comprehensive review of your organizations BSA/AML/OFAC risk assessment. It will also help attendees understand the importance of implementing risk assessment program within their organization.

For more information or to register for the seminar, please click here.

Seminar Instructor Dr Gina J. Lowdermilk, PhD (ABD), CAMS, CRMS is a highly experienced and educated BSA/AML and financial regulatory compliance professional with extensive experience in policy and procedure development and implementation, training, internal audit, monitoring, risk management, and reporting . Her 15 years of experience has given her the opportunity to work from small community banks to large, international financial institutions. Her roles not only included BSA/AML and compliance, but also operations, lending services, business development, marketing, management, department development, and asset quality.

This course will be beneficial to BSA/AML officers, internal auditors, staff with roles and responsibilities in BSA/AML management and oversight, money service business BSA/AML officers, corporate auditors, risk managers, legal department personnel, regulators, and compliance officers.

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017 (8.30 AM- 4.30 PM) and Friday, January 20, 2017 (8.00 AM- 12.00 PM)

Location: San Francisco, CA

Registration Cost: $1,499.00 per registration

Early bird discounts: For discounts on early registrations, please click here.

Register by phone: Please call our customer service specialists at +1-888-717-2436 or email to customercare(at)complianceonline(dot)com

For more information on ComplianceOnline or to browse through our trainings, please visit our website.

About ComplianceOnline

ComplianceOnline is a leading provider of regulatory compliance trainings for companies and professionals in regulated industries. ComplianceOnline has successfully trained over 35,000 professionals from 9,000 companies to comply with the requirements of regulatory agencies. ComplianceOnline is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and can be reached at http://www.complianceonline.com. ComplianceOnline is a MetricStream portal. MetricStream (http://www.metricstream.com) is a market leader in Enterprise-wide Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) and Quality Management Solutions for global corporations.

For more information please contact:

A Reuben Bernard

Associate Director - ComplianceOnline

2600 E Bayshore Rd

Palo Alto CA USA 94303

Phone - +1-650-238-9656 | +1-888-717-2436

Fax - 650-963-2556

Mail: reuben(at)complianceonline(dot)com

Website: http://www.complianceonline.com
Dr. Mario Vanheuckelom, SHAPE American Middle School Principal and Joshua Barrett, Chievres Branch Manager.

Andrews Federal Credit Union recently donated cakes to the S.H.A.P.E. American Middle School and S.H.A.P.E. American High School in participation with Red Ribbon Week.

Red Ribbon Week is annual event that raises awareness of the importance of saying no to drugs and drug prevention. The event is promoted throughout the schools and the cake is a tasty way to bring attention to saying no. The cakes had messages of Be Drug Free, You Only Live Once, and the acronym YOLO. While the messages and the theme behind Red Ribbon Week have been around for several years, the importance is just as vital as ever.

Educating our students about the horrible things that drugs can do your body, is vitally important, said Andrews Federals Joshua Barrett, Chievres Branch Manager. This is a great way to not only give the students a tasty treat, but also draw attention to such an important topic.

About Andrews Federal Credit Union

Andrews Federal Credit Union was founded in 1948 to serve the needs of military and civilian personnel by providing a vast array of financial products and services. With over $1 billion in assets, Andrews Federal has grown to serve more than 117,000 members in the District of Columbia, Joint Base Andrews (MD), Springfield, Virginia (VA), Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (NJ), and military installations in central Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In addition, the Credit Union serves as a financial partner with many select employee groups in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey.

To learn more about Andrews Federal Credit Union and its community involvement, or to become a member, call 800.487.5500 or visit http://www.andrewsfcu.org.
Delaware County full-service law firm Raffaele Puppio is pleased to announce that it has been named a Best Law Firm for 2017 by U.S. News  Best Lawyers, achieving Tier 1 metropolitan rankings in the Philadelphia metro area for family law.

Best Law Firm rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process.

The highest honor, a Tier 1 ranking, is based on a firm's overall evaluation, which is derived from a combination of its clients' impressive feedback, the regard that lawyers in other firms in the same practice area have for the firm, and information that the firm provided to Best Lawyers via a survey.

To be eligible for a Best Law Firm ranking, a firm must have at least one lawyer included in The Best Lawyers in America. Attorneys are neither required nor allowed to pay a fee to be listed. Raffaele Puppio attorney Michael A. Raffaele has been named a 2017 Best Lawyers in the practice area of family law.

About Raffaele Puppio  Raffaele Puppio is one of the largest and most established full-service law firms in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Attorneys within the firm are known for their legal prowess among the bench and bar in Delaware County, having decades of experience representing school districts, municipalities, businesses and individual clients, helping to solve legal problems while avoiding future legal issues. The attorneys provide sound legal counsel in the areas of education law, government and municipal services, family law, general litigation, personal injury, commercial real estate and business transactions, elder law, estate administration and planning, and criminal law.

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Huber Engineered Woods LLC (HEW), a leading manufacturer of specialty building products, announced today it will reopen its Spring City, Tennessee, oriented strand board (OSB) facility in 2018 pending completion of various State and local incentives processes.

The reopening of our Spring City mill is an indication of the strength and resiliency of our ZIP System and AdvanTech branded products, said HEW President Brian Carlson. This operational investment will increase our companys production capacity and further enhance our product availability and highly regarded customer service.

The mill, located in the Tennessee River Valley northeast of Chattanooga, is currently undergoing facility upgrades in preparation of manufacturing specialty panel products including AdvanTech subflooring and ZIP System sheathing beginning in April 2018. The facility is one of only five continuous press operations in North America dedicated to the production of oriented strand board products.

The Spring City plant is in full-swing production preparation, said Plant Manager Bryan Little. Facility improvements and leadership team planning are underway to prepare the facility for production by 2018. Little, a Tennessee native began his career at the Spring City mill in 1997 and cross-trained in multiple functions before landing the Plant Manager position in 2016.

Little said the number and types of positions to be filled will be announced in early 2017, with the mill scheduled to begin full production in April 2018.

We are thankful for the support we received from the State of Tennessee, TVA and Rhea County for the reopening of the Spring City facility, Carlson said. Governor Bill Haslam, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd, TVA Senior Vice President John Bradley, and Rhea County Executive George Thacker and their teams played instrumental roles in our decision-making process for the res-start of our Spring City location.

The facility originally opened in 1997, but halted production during the housing market downturn in 2011. The decision to reopen the mill comes as welcome news to executives in Rhea County, where the unemployment rate is around 6 percent.

Rhea County is one of the fastest-growing economic development regions in the state, with nearly a half million skilled workers within a 45-minute drive of the county, said county executive George Thacker. When the Harvest Group, an economic consulting firm, brought us this potential project in Rhea County, I immediately went to work in an effort to meet the project needs. I want to personally thank the County Commission for their full support. With the help of the State of Tennessee, TVA, and other partners, we are happy to have secured 141 new high paying jobs for our community.

Open employment details will be released through Huber Engineered Woods and the State of Tennessee in early 2017.

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About Huber Engineered Woods

Huber Engineered Woods LLC continually strives to create innovative products that suit customers needs. Specialty products AdvanTech flooring and sheathing, AdvanTech subfloor adhesive, ZIP System wall and ZIP System roof products, ZIP System tape, ZIP System stretch tape and ZIP System liquid flash each deliver outstanding performance, easy installation and great strength in single family, multifamily and light commercial projects. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Huber Engineered Woods has manufacturing operations in Maine, Georgia, Virginia, and Oklahoma, as well as research and development facilities in Georgia. Huber Engineered Woods also serves industrial markets with products for door manufacturers and the transportation industry. For more information, visit huberwood.com.

About J.M. Huber Corporation

J.M. Huber Corporation, headquartered in Edison, New Jersey (U.S.) operates a portfolio of companies with a focus on its core engineered materials businesses. Founded in 1883, today Huber is one of the largest family-owned companies in the United States. The diversified, multinational company creates products that are used in a broad range of consumer and industrial applications, including oral care, personal care, food, beverage, pharmaceuticals and building materials. For more information, see huber.com.
Attorney Roberto Villasante Past News Releases RSS

Attorney Roberto Villasante, founder of the Law Offices of Roberto Villasante, recently filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, FL (Complex Business Litigation Section, Case No. 16-17840) on behalf of eight foreign investors in an EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. On November 1, the court ruled that any motion for leave to add additional parties must be filed no later than January 31, 2017.

The EB-5 Program provides a vehicle through which foreign investors can invest in certain types of qualified United States companies, earn a return on their investment, and ultimately obtain their permanent residency (green cards). To qualify for an EB-5 visa, a foreign applicant must invest $500,000, of which, according to court documents, all the plaintiffs in the case did in a Jay Peak Limited Partnership project, or $1 million in a new commercial enterprise approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Once the applicant has invested, he or she may apply for a conditional green card, which is valid for two years. According to court documents, the Jay Peak project sold securities under the EB-5 Program to the plaintiffs.

Court documents further allege that beginning in or about the first half of 2008, the defendants in the case made an agreement between and among themselves for the commission of alleged unlawful acts pertaining to the plaintiffs investment, including, without limitation, the collection and deposit of their EB-5 investment into Peoples United Bank; the establishment of an account at Raymond James (defendant) by the plaintiffs; the transfer of their EB-5 investment by William Stenger (defendant) to the Raymond James account created by plaintiffs; the facilitation of the use of their EB-5 investment into treasury bills and security for margin accounts by Raymond James; and the illegal and improper diversion and conversion of the plaintiffs EB-5 investment for the personal benefit and financial gain of the defendants.

Court documents also state that the defendants allegedly jointly conceived, planned, carried out, and otherwise effectuated their agreement through alleged overt acts, including, without limitation, commission of affirmative acts of fraud, theft, breach of fiduciary duty and other misconduct, all in furtherance of the unlawful agreement. As a direct and proximate result of the alleged conspiracy and effectuation of the illegal agreement, according to court documents, the plaintiffs have suffered damages, including but not limited to the loss of the monies they invested in the Jay Peak Limited Partnership, to-wit, $500,000 plus a $50,000 administrative fee. The investors also seek treble damages.

About Roberto Villasante, Law Offices of Roberto Villasante

Roberto Villasante has been an attorney in Florida for more than 30 years, dedicating the majority of his practice to the trial of complex civil disputes including in aviation, telecommunications, international business matters and products liability. For more information, please call (305) 373-6548, or visit http://www.villasantelaw.com. The law office is located at 4000 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Suite 470, Coral Gables, FL 33146.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through news 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.
In a story published by Military Times, an average of 20 veterans commit suicide each day, with more than 7,400 veterans who took their own lives as of 2014. Due to the number of veteran suicides, Byron Rodgers writes his debut book Finding Meaning After the Military (published by Xlibris) as a survival manual for veterans transitioning into the battle of life in the first civilian division.

The author thinks that it is normal that a former combatant will feel a meaningless, cold and lonely life after time in the military. Rodgers, who had previously joined the military, writes an optimistic perspective after experiencing significant changes in his life. He realized that he will live to empower others.

In Finding Meaning After the Military, the author himself is the main character. I am the veteran who went through the struggle that I believe gives me the right and ability to speak to those in the veteran community struggling with the problems of readjustment and adaptation to life outside of the military, Rodgers tells.

An excerpt from the book:

As a grunt in the US Marine Corps, I had to figure out the answers to these questions myself upon my transition into the first civilian division. I thought I had it all figured out when I left 31L Company weapons platoon squad bay for the last time because of what I had gone through during training and combat while I was in. Little did I know that I was about to engage in the most difficult fight for my life that I would ever know.

Finding Meaning After the Military

By Byron Rodgers

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 126 pages | ISBN 9781503557925

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 126 pages | ISBN 9781503557932

E-Book | 126 pages | ISBN 9781503557918

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Byron Rodgers specializes in empowerment strategies which help a person transition to a truly fulfilling life of purpose, passion and destiny. Born in the Bahamas and raised as a U.S. citizen, Rodgers volunteered as a young man for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and two tours of duty in Iraq. He embarked on another five years in executive protection services, traveling to more than 60 countries and experiencing all walks of life and culture. As a certified Strategic Interventionist in the field of Human Needs Psychology under Tony Robbins and Cloe Madanes Training Center, Rodgers has been very ambitious. He provided a formula to help service-connected veterans and military personnel  no matter what their story or history  to transmute his or her life situation from drudgery or mundane existence to a purposeful experience of daily amazing unfolding. This is his official website: http://ByronRodgersMotivation.com.

Xlibris Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider created in 1997 by authors, for authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibris.com or call 1-888-795-4274 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisPub on Twitter for the latest news.
"Go Green. Save Green. Green It Up!" Annual maintenance on your home heating system will help maximize the life cycle of the unit, and also can help prevent costly HVAC breakdowns. - Jeremy Prevost, Greenstar CEO

Greenstar Home ServicesGreen It Up, a leading provider of green and eco-friendly plumbing, heating, and air conditioning services serving the Orange County, California region releases new HVAC unit advice in preparation for cooler Fall and Winter months.

One of Greenstars biggest initiatives is educating our clientele, comments Jeremy Prevost, Greenstar CEO. Annual maintenance on your home heating system will help maximize the life cycle of the unit, and also can help prevent costly HVAC breakdowns.

Colin Marodam, Greenstar COO notes We like to compile and share tips for homeowners to help prevent HVAC emergencies, and also to ensure monthly energy spends are as efficient as possible.

Cool Weather HVAC System Preparation Tips from Greenstar Home Services:



Schedule an annual maintenance check: regular system tune ups are vital to ensure the unit is operating at capacity and can help prevent costly breakdown.

Test the thermostat: turn on the heat before the temperature really drops to check that the system is working.

Research installing a programmable thermostat: these can help regulate bills and save on heating costs.

Schedule a carbon monoxide test: CO is hard to detect as it is both tasteless and odorless. Gas-powered furnaces and water heaters may emit the most CO.

Consider having the furnace blower compartment vacuumed: pollen, dust and debris have built up over the summer. A dirty unit does not run efficiently and can waste energy.

Change the filter: the air filters should be changed at the start of every season.

Look, Listen, Smell: Use your senses! Listen for odd noises and be aware of unusual smells coming from your HVAC unit. These can be indicators of a larger system issue.

Inspect air vents: check air vents for blockages to certify maximum air circulation. Obstructions can make the HVAC unit work harder and drive up energy bills.

Colin Martodam, Greenstar COO mentions, While Greenstar is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for emergency repairs, scheduling a maintenance check can prevent a headache or loss of heat when the cool weather sets in. Take care of your HVAC system by way of an annual inspection to reduce the likelihood of breakdown.

To learn more on Greenstar Heating Services, visit http://www.greenstarhomeservices.com

Facebook (Facebook.com/GreenstarHomeServices)

Twitter (@GreenStarHome1)

To view Greenstars blog, go to http://www.GreenstarHomeServices.com/blog

About Greenstar Home Services:

Greenstar Home Services provides environmentally conscious residential plumbing and HVAC service, repair and installation, as well as whole home central water filtration within the Orange County markets. Our licensed technicians are available all hours of the day, seven days a week.

With an expansive knowledge of home maintenance, we provide the highest level of service for our clientsand at an honest price.
Two inventors, from Bensalem, Pa., thought there needed to be an easier way to get food items in and out of zippered food bags, so they invented the COMFY ZIP BAG.

The COMFY ZIP BAG provides an easier way to place food items in a plastic food storage bag. In doing so, it offers an improved alternative to traditional food storage bags and it helps to prevent food items from becoming smashed. As a result, it could help to prevent food waste. The invention features an effective design that is convenient and easy to use so it is ideal for households. Additionally, the COMFY ZIP BAG is producible in design variations.

The inventors described the invention design. Our design eliminates the frustrations associated with traditional food storage bags.

The original design was submitted to the Philadelphia office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 15-PND-4690, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com -https://www.youtube.com/user/inventhelp

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Peopletrail Employment and Background Screening Benchmark Report Peopletrail's Benchmark Report illustrates an optimistic outlook for the growth of many companies and the importance of hiring quality talent. With 85% reporting that employee background screening uncovered issues that would not have been found otherwise.

As competition for top talent increases, improving the candidate experience remains a top priority for medium to large organizations, according to the Peopletrail Annual Employment and Background Screening Benchmark Report. Released today the report depicts an optimistic outlook for companies of all sizes with a majority of respondents (78%) indicating their organizations workforce would grow in the coming year. The report also highlights how employee background screening continues to drive quality of hires. With 85% of respondents indicating that employee background screening uncovered issues that would not have been found otherwise.

The Peopletrail Benchmark Report illustrates an optimistic outlook for the growth of many companies in the coming year and the importance of hiring quality talent. Peopletrail is committed to being an educating partner for all our clients. Helping our clients remain compliant and providing them with current policy and procedures helps them implement and achieve success with their talent management programs. The Peopletrail Benchmark Report is a helpful tool providing insightful data to our clients to make better informed decisions, stated Wally Davis, President and CEO of Peopletrail.

Some key insights of the report address how:



Social media screening is prevalent despite compliance risks: 27% of respondents indicated they used social media when screening candidates. While 82% of these respondents indicated using the business networking channel of LinkedIn in the social media screening, 73% mentioned using Facebook in their screening efforts, which could lead to potentially discriminatory information being revealed.

Improving the candidate experience is top priority for medium to large organizations: 64% of organizations with more than 500 employees reported that the candidate experience is top priority to securing quality hires, while smaller organizations remain focused on improving policies and procedures around employee screening (68%).

Employee background screening continues to drive quality hires: 85% of respondents indicated that employee background screening uncovered issues that would not have been found otherwise, with 67% reporting that employee background screening is the most important security control used to protect their organization and 93% indicating that screening led to a better quality of hire.

Meeting regulatory challenges, getting accurate information and reducing time-to-hire are the top background screening challenges faced by most organizations: Contrary to other industry reports, the top three background screening challenges reported by respondents were meeting regulatory challenges (22%), getting accurate screening information (17%), and reducing time-to-hire (17%). The ongoing demands of meeting regulatory challenges is further supported by the 46% of respondents who indicated revising their criminal screening policies within the last year.

The report clearly indicates how important background screening is to hiring quality talent. Peopletrail recently launched a national awareness campaign to help companies understand how Not all background checks are the same. The campaigns goal is to increase security for businesses and improve public safety, and incorporates a series of awareness ads targeted to human resource professionals and hiring managers. The new Peopletrail Benchmark Report along with a series of Webinars and public speaking engagements from Peopletrail are building upon this campaign and are providing the industry and key decision makers with best practices information and insights to better manage their organizations human capital programs.

To download your personal copy of the Peopletrail Annual Employment and Background Screening Benchmark Survey Report visit the Compliance Resource center at peopeltrail.com. To learn more about why Not all background checks are the same view the video at Peopletrail.com

Customers can learn more about Peopletrail and schedule a complimentary consultation by visiting the companys web site at Peopletrail.com or by calling the company directly at 866.223.6623

About Peopletrail

Peopletrail is a leading provider of custom employment, tenant and drug screening solutions, criminal background checks, ATS integrations, and corporate security services.

As part of the accredited elite, only Peopletrail combines superior customer service through dedicated Account Managers with efficient, state-of-the-art technology integration to deliver on-demand, accurate and timely consumer reporting results. Trusted and respected by government agencies and Fortune 500 to small up-and-coming businesses, Peopletrail provides actionable insight you trust.
In search of the Ancient Tea Horse Road Updated: 2016-11-04 07:25 By Ren Qi(China Daily Europe)

Tourists visit Lijiang to find the legendary Tea Horse Road, to enjoy scenery or to search for inner peace

Lijiang has been famous all over China as a key town along the ancient Tea Horse Road in Yunnan province since the 6th century. Now it's a major travel destination.

Shuhe Old Town, occupying an area of 3.8 square kilometers, was first built in the late Song Dynasty (960-1279) and the early Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). It's a favorite of tourists from China and abroad and is listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site as well as the beginning of the ancient Tea Horse Road.

Tourists visit Lijiang for various reasons - to find the legendary Tea Horse Road, for natural scenery or simply to search for inner peace in the Old Town at the foot of the hill. But no one can resist the beauty of Lijiang, whose name literally means "beautiful river" in Mandarin.

Clockwise from left: Nowadays increasing numbers of Naxi residents want to learn traditional embroidery and sewing skills. A tea ceremony at Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town. A live show is performed three times daily at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, depicting the lives and loves of the Naxi people. The ancient Tea Horse Road is an everlasting theme in Lijiang.

The Hotel of Indigo Lijiang might be the perfect place to start the journey.

Located at the front entrance of Shuhe Old Town, Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town is convenient for those who want to spend a day or two walking around.

And if you are lucky enough to book a second-floor room facing north, you will have a clear view of the entire town.

Of course, when you enjoy the old buildings and the scenery from your window, you can open a fine French wine from the mini bar in your room. Can't find the mini bar? Actually it is inside an old Tea Horse Road-style leather suitcase, and so is the digital safe.

In the presidential room, Tea Horse Road decor is raised to a higher level: The living room is a gallery for art masterpieces. In the cupboard you can find some vivid Tea Horse Road goods. In the bedroom, there's a map of the ancient road on the wall.

Ernst Mayer, the general manager of InterContinental Lijiang ancient Town Resort and Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town, says China's travel modes are changing a lot, and more tourists prefer staying in a hotel with many local Lijiang decorations.

Mayer points to a corner of an underground meeting room in the hotel - there are some chairs, artworks and books about Lijiang traditional culture - saying this is one of the favorite corners in his hotel, and tourists spend hours here, reading and feeling the inner peace of Lijiang.

Mayer says one of the reasons that Lijiang attracts tourists is its close connection with the Tea Horse Road, a trade link from Yunnan that was active a thousand years ago. And so he decided to include related elements in the decor of the hotels. It was a good decision, he says.

Despite some old collections, all rooms still look cool, equipped with all kinds of high-tech electrical appliances, including a Nespresso machine, bluetooth stereo and an iPad, on which you can surf the internet, check the instructions of the hotel, look for shops or book your dinner.

People always say quiet and noisy are the two main impressions of visitors to Shuhe Old Town.

When the sun sets and night comes, all the quiet elements suddenly disappear and the town is filled with crowds and sound.

The street along both riverbanks in the town is nicknamed Bar Street, as it assembles a line of live music, dance, pubs and revelry.

Even in the tourist off-season, Bar Street is filled with loud electric music, live concerts, tourists and residents from neighboring towns.

Like a maze, the winding cobblestone streets of Shuhe provide a quiet place in the daytime, especially when it's not a national holiday, a time the streets do get crowded.

Still, it is extremely easy to get lost, as there is no grid in the district. The town's layout was designed to conform to the flow of three streams and feng shui, the art of harmony.

But each turn in the town takes one to a new interesting spot.

If you do want to get up late and have a lazy lunch, you can book traditional Naxi Copper Hotpot from the front desk at Hotel Indigo to enjoy Tea Horse cuisine.

Indigo provides two different flavors of hotpot. One is chicken and the other is cured pork ribs. Both are cooked in a copper pot.

Mayer says there are many stories about the local copper hotpot, and all share a common theme: Hotpot was offered by Naxi to all the most important guests.

According to Mayer, the pot was carried by the merchants along the Tea Horse Road, because it served not only as a cooking utensil but as currency that could be traded as needed.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn

Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town is located at the front entrance of Shuhe Old Town. Photos by Ren qi / China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page22)
Frances scholarship winner I am grateful to have the opportunity to continue my education to build a brighter future for myself and my daughter.

SR Education Group has just announced the winner of its Graduate Scholarship for Teachers. Frances Resuta was selected to receive $5,000 toward her education at the College of Staten Island, one of the senior colleges within the City University of New York system. She is currently working as a teacher and pursuing a Masters in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages. The scholarship committee reviewed applications from many deserving graduate students, and will also be awarding 5 outstanding finalists $100.

Resutas story stood out due to incredible motivation and dedication. SR Education Group is excited to support her and her honorable goals, including providing for her family and helping her students recognize their full potential. Resuta would like to obtain a Masters in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) so that she will be better equipped to help her students learn English while continuing to foster their native language. As a single mother and full-time teacher, the cost of graduate school has not been an easy burden. In her application materials, Resuta made it clear that she is committed to continuing her education in order to positively affect the lives of the students she interacts with.

After learning that she had won the Graduate Scholarship for Teachers, Resuta said, "I am honored to receive this scholarship! The past few years have been hard financially and emotionally for my family and I am grateful to have the opportunity to continue my education to build a brighter future for myself and my daughter. Thank you SR Education Group!"

Five applicants with compelling education and career goals were selected as finalists and will each receive $100: Jacinda Greco of Suny Empire State College, Cris Goldman of California Lutheran University, Mary Reed of the University of San Diego, Krystal Leddy of Capella University, and Amanda Thorpe of Johns Hopkins University. The deadline for the next round of SR Education Groups Graduate Scholarship for Teachers is March 18, 2017.

About SR Education Groups Scholarships

SR Education Group will be awarding another $5,000 needs-based Graduate Scholarship for Teachers on March 18, 2017. SR Education Group also offers needs-based Community College Scholarships. Find out more at http://www.sreducationgroup.org/scholarships.

About SR Education Group

Headquartered in Kirkland, WA, SR Education Group was founded in 2004 by CEO Sung Rhee. The companys mission is to create authoritative online resources for students seeking an online education program that best suits their budget and career aspirations. SR Education Group is passionate about making quality education attainable for everyone and believes that objective information about education, careers, and educational financing should be free and easily accessible. For more information, please visit http://www.sreducationgroup.org.
Storage Express

Storage Express of Lancaster, California (http://www.storageexpresscenters.com) is proud to recognize Nicole Gray for her exemplary work performance of fifteen years. She serves as an example of what a great manager should be, says Rob Martin, managing member of Martin Properties, Inc., owners of Storage Express. The statistics alone demonstrate his point: during Grays first year as manager, the facilitys income rose 66 percent while delinquencies fell by nearly 50 percent, despite new competition.

Mrs. Gray started as the assistant manager and in early 2003 was promoted to the manager of the Lancaster location. In 2005 Storage Express built the Palmdale location. Once the Palmdale location was built she became the general manager of both Storage Express locations. As a storage manager Mrs. Gray wears many hats; managing employees, sales, maintenance, HR, customer service rep, collections specialist, and social media guru.

Mrs. Gray stated, I have enjoyed every moment working for the organization. When I first started I set out to learn everything I could about selling units, ancillary items, and truck rentals. I attended storage conferences, customer service classes, and management seminars every chance I gotanything I could think of to increase income and reduce delinquencies. I set goals for myself and the facility, and worked out plans to achieve each goal. I simply cannot believe the time passes so quickly. I hope to stay another twenty-five years.

Mrs. Gray has worked hard to make Storage Express inviting, once the customers step into the facility. The facility offers free coffee and bottled water, and employees personally deliver water to customers accessing their units in hot weather. Mrs. Gray also provides activities to keep children occupied while their parents are busy with their units. Customer support is my passion and I want all of our customers to feel like an VIP, stated Mrs. Gray.

About Storage Express Lancaster

Storage Express Lancaster offers safe and clean self storage units in Lancaster California. Our services include Self Storage Units, Vehicle Storage, Boat Storage, RV Storage, U-Haul Trucks / Moving Trucks, Boxes / Moving Supplies, and Locks.

Located conveniently off the 14 freeway, we provide ground floor self storage units, access 7 days a week and a state of the art alarm system for each storage unit. Our Lancaster location has easy drive up access and a simple computer coded entry.

Storage Express Lancaster

2103 W Avenue J

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Phone: (661) 729-1313

http://www.storageexpresscenters.com/self-storage-units/lancaster-ca/
Stinky fruit scent from heaven Updated: 2016-11-04 07:25 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 social fabric together. It is also one of the last strong bonds of community and culture.

For some, it is an abomination from hell, raising an intolerable stink that is an assault on the senses. To others, it is ambrosia from heaven, nature's gift of the perfect fruit. And now, the durian is finding an increasing following in China, land of a million gourmets.

While plantation owners in Southeast Asia are delirious with delight at this growing trend, their faithful consumers in traditional markets are not so happy.

Because of the demand in China, supplies in both Singapore and its native Malaysia have fallen greatly short, and prices have sky rocketed this year.

Flaky durian puffs hide a delicious filling and are immensely popular. Photos Provided to China Daily Sweetened durian foie gras mousse with osmanthus at Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong.

Designer varieties like Musang King and D24, especially, have mostly been sent to China, leaving durian lovers in Singapore and Malaysia scrabbling for the limited supply left to them.

"These are special trees that fruit in the equatorial foothills at about 1,000 meters above sea level. They need cooler weather at night to set fruit after pollination by bats, and the best come from Pahang state," says Eric Chew, who shifted his Malaysian durian sales operations to Guangzhou five years ago.

His company sells mainly Malaysian Musang King durians to China and has expanded with more carefully chosen plantation sites in Laos and Vietnam to meet Chinese demands for the fruit.

The most popular products in China are vacuum-packed, flash-frozen Musang King durian, as well as Sudan King and D24 frozen durian pulp, which is suitable for hotel bakeries and professional confectioneries.

Durian Royal Family, Chew's company, is a wholesaler that used to cater to only major clients with minimum orders of container loads. In 2011, China lifted its restrictions on the import of Malaysian durians and demand from smaller retailers boomed.

It is for this section of the market that Chew decided to set up his base in Guangzhou, from where he directly serves clients from Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

"There are a lot of online sellers in Shanghai, so we do most of our business there. In Beijing, we cater mainly to five-star hotels."

Guangzhou and Hong Kong are established markets, since the Cantonese have been eating and loving durian for a very long time. They believe this nutrient-rich fruit is a natural tonic with recuperative qualities.

Chew says that since 2011, the wholesale price of quality durian in China has risen from 3 Malaysian ringgit (71 cents; 65 euro cents; 58 pence) per kilogram to more than 70 ringgit. The current exchange rate is one ringgit to 1.60 yuan.

The 20-fold increase is still continuing and, because of limited supplies, prices look likely to go up even more. A quick check online shows that Chinese consumers are paying from 400 to 500 yuan for half a large durian, and about 350 on average for a 200g tub of ready-to-eat durian pulp.

Why are the Chinese prepared to pay so much for this prickly, pungent fruit?

Tastewise, you either love it or hate it. Will Ding and his wife, Zhang Ying, are typical converts.

"When we first went to Singapore, we couldn't stand the smell and couldn't understand why people were so enthusiastic about it," says Ding. "Then we took a trip to Penang island in Malaysia and visited a specialty stall.

"The proprietor patiently introduced us to all the varieties - buttery sweet ones, the bittersweet varieties. We were hooked from then on."

The couple compare the experience to wine-tasting.

These days, Ding and Zhang take trips each year to seek out the best durians in season, and the names of designer varietals like Musang King, Sudan King, Red Prawn and D24 roll easily off their tongues.

The proliferation of international five-star hotels with their globalized kitchens has also done its part in introducing this exotic fruit, converting younger consumers in China with seductive durian desserts.

Many executive chefs and food and beverage directors are from Singapore and Malaysia, and they have made efforts to introduce their favorite fruit to their diners.

Many hotels even have special durian promotions in season.

China, it seems, has awakened to the intense pleasures of the King of Fruit and things will never be the same again.

paulined@chinadaily.com.cn

Choosing a good durian

The "fresh" durians we see in supermarkets and fruit stalls abroad are not tree-ripened, and they are all mostly from Thailand or Vietnam. According to Eric Chew, Malaysian varieties must be eaten within three days of harvesting.

Even the most efficient logistics fall short of that time limit, which is why the fruit must be vacuum-packed and flash-frozen to keep it at its best for export.

Never buy a durian that has split. A split durian, no matter what your eager fruit seller says, is an indication that it has already started fermenting.

Fresh durians should be whole, the skin color bright and not matted or dulled. You should be able to open it easily along its natural crack lines. If you have to use too much force, it means the durian was harvested before its time.

Durians, once opened, must be eaten as soon as possible, or carefully wrapped and sealed and frozen immediately.

Depending on your taste preferences, you can decide on which type of durian you like.

Some like their fruit buttery and custard-like, very sweet and less pungent. These varieties have skin that tends to be greenish-yellow. A good example is the Golden Pillow variety from Thailand that is very fleshy but drier and milder in flavor.

Musang King grows in the foothills of Malaysia's Central Range, especially in Pahang around Genting Highlands. This variety is treasured for its fragrance and its soft bittersweet flesh. It has a greenish-gray shell.

The D24 and its varietals have golden yellow flesh and are very full-flavored.

Red Prawn is so named because of its orange-red flesh. However, it does not travel well as the fruit tends to weep soon after opening.

To many durian connoisseurs, though, the best fruits were the little "kampung" durians. These were from wild trees that grew in secondary forests in the countryside - unnamed varieties that are harvested and sold by the sides of roads and highways.

These little fruits may not have pedigrees, but they always taste good. Buying a whole basket and opening each one, not knowing what to expect, was one of the pleasures of durian seasons in the past.

But those days are over and serve only as memories these days as we tuck into durians that are vacuum-packed and flash-frozen.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page18)
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Heritage behind the royal family of porcelain Updated: 2016-11-04 07:25 By Wang Kaihao(China Daily Europe)

Fascinating exhibitions provide a glimpse into the sources of some of China's most celebrated pottery

In 1369, a porcelain kiln was built in Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province, to serve the imperial courts of the newly established Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) - and thus began the city's story as a porcelain hub.

At Beijing's Palace Museum - also called the Forbidden City, the country's royal palace from 1420 until the end of Chinese monarchy in 1911 - two exhibitions have opened showcasing part of the history of imperial ceramics.

Whether in pieces or as complete items, the charm of these artifacts is unmistakable.

Visitors look at the ongoing exhibitions that showcase ceramics made in China's porcelain hub, Jingdezhen, for imperial courts during the Ming and Qing dynasties at the Palace Museum in Beijing. The imperial-kiln ceramics represent a zenith in the country's porcelain-making history. Photos by Jiang Dong / China Daily

The Ming Imperial Porcelain: A Comparative Exhibition of Archaeological Findings at the Imperial Kiln Site in Jingdezhen and Chenghua Period Porcelain in the Collection of the Palace Museum, comprises 183 sets of porcelain from the reign of Chenghua (1465-87).

Seventy-six exhibits are from the Palace Museum collection, while the rest are pieces with defects found by archaeologists in kilns in Jingdezhen, according to Lyu Chenglong, head of the Porcelain Research Institute at the Palace Museum.

"Only the best pieces were sent to Beijing. Those with defects were broken and buried at Jingdezhen. You can immediately tell the difference in this exhibition," says Lyu.

"The copying of such pieces by the public was strictly prohibited. So you do not see similar pieces elsewhere."

Speaking about the pieces with defects, Lyu says failure to get the color or shape right were common reasons for the pieces to be destroyed. Some were rejected for other "small" reasons.

"For instance, we found broken items in Jingdezhen, some as exquisite as those housed in the Forbidden City, but with mistakes in the chronological information, or with an extra paw for the dragons."

In 2015, the Palace Museum held a similar event on imperial kiln items from the 1368-1435 period, covering three emperors, but Lyu says the Chenghua period needed to be emphasized because he believes it represents a zenith in porcelain making during the Ming Dynasty.

"Chenghua imperial porcelain is among the most delicate, and the surfaces look like they are polished using oil," says Lyu. "Their patterns and colors are not flamboyant, but they reflect harmony and elegance.

"Emperor Chenghua may not have been a good ruler - nurturing notorious officials - but we cannot deny he had taste."

Lyu also points to the overseas artistic influences seen in the imperial kiln ceramics of the Chenghua era, reflecting cross-cultural communication. Some exhibits from the time show typical Islamic patterns from western Asia.

"Chenghua porcelain is an incredible treasure due to its large variety and shapes," says Geng Baochang, 94, one of the country's most renowned porcelain researchers, after visiting the exhibition. "But it was once thought there were not many items surviving from that period.

"So, when the Chenghua works are brought together, it is really a brilliant feast, not only for researchers but also for the public."

Meanwhile, another exhibition, Porcelain from the Ming and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Imperial Kilns: Archaeological Finds at the Palace Museum and in Jingdezhen, showcases a total of 163 sets from both places that have been unearthed since 2014, giving visitors a view of how the kilns were managed and how the porcelain was made.

"Some of the finds have filled gaps in academic research," says Lyu. "Many patterns that are not seen in items that have survived were found during the excavations."

Examples of how researchers have been helped are finds relating to the period 1436-64.

The earlier collections did not have any items that could be traced to this period, and this led some to speculate that the kilns had halted operations during that time.

But the discovery of an earth layer from that period at Jingdezhen, which contained a large number of porcelain shards, debunked that theory.

In 2014, a site containing broken porcelain was also discovered at the Forbidden City, which could have been the dumping ground for used porcelain from the imperial court.

According to Wang Yamin, deputy director of the Palace Museum, the two exhibitions are a part of an agreement on academic research signed in 2014 between the museum and the Jingdezhen Archaeological Research Institute.

"A vast majority of the 360,000 porcelain items at the Palace Museum come from Jingdezhen," says Wang. "The two places are closely connected. It is part of an inevitable trend of letting academic research serve the public. More comparative exhibitions showcasing imperial porcelain from other reigns of the Ming Dynasty are in the pipeline," he says.

wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page21)
Rapping up his parcels Updated: 2016-11-04 07:26 By Zhong Nan(China Daily Europe)

Boss of delivery giant DHL Express finds a song can help motivate his finely tuned workforce

German companies usually conjure up a serious, no-nonsense image when it comes to management style.

But Ken Allen, CEO of DHL Express, can often be heard belting out a song at work.

Staff frequently hear him singing I Wanna Be a Billionaire, a popular song within DHL Express, to encourage employees to aim high in their life goals.

Ken Allen, chief executive officer of DHL Express, says the company sees many opportunities in the Chinese market. Bloomberg

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - the theme song for the company's promotion campaign - is another favorite for stimulating creative ideas and hard work.

Allen, in charge of the world's biggest international express delivery service by market share, says his company has been focusing on "time-definite" international services, while ensuring growth and quality.

Dedicated to time-critical business, DHL mainly serves customers who prioritize safety, timeliness and reliability, delivering high-end goods between China and the rest of world. These include electronic devices, precise manufactured parts and healthcare products.

Not long after it was established 47 years ago, DHL pioneered international express delivery in the Asia-Pacific region and in 1986 became the first such service provider to enter the Chinese market.

"The scale of this business will continue to surge in the long run," says Allen, a Briton who has been working for parent company Deutsche Post AG, the world's biggest logistics group by sales revenue, for more than three decades.

DHL-Sinotrans International Air Courier Ltd, a joint venture in charge of DHL Express's business in China, has the largest geographical coverage in the country, covering 390 cities through its network of 209 facilities. China this year became a stand-alone region for the company.

Allen recently spoke with China Daily about the company's strategy and his management style:

How do you promote your business in China?

We are always investing in China. Whatever we do in the rest of the world helps China. So, for example, if we put on a plane to go from New York to Hong Kong, that could be carrying packages for (other) Chinese customers. In all our training, every IT system that we have developed globally will help China, because it all links into the Chinese market.

For example, at the moment, because of the large number of B2C customers, we have invested a lot in IT systems. When a shipment arrives you get an SMS message on where you'd like your shipment delivered.

In China, since we have such big coverage, we constantly buy new vehicles and facilities, as well as setting up service centers. Every single year we are spending millions on investment in China.

What's the secret of DHL Express' success in China?

I think the relationship between DPDHL and the DHL-Sinotrans has almost mirrored what has happened in China. We formed a joint venture and provided the best for each other. Sinotrans gave us a complete view of the Chinese market and how to operate here.

The growth of our company reflects the growth of the economy. I think for many reasons, the Chinese government is very focused on developing the economy and improving people's lives. We are trying to do the same thing. We want everybody who works for DHL to feel they have a great future. We give them great training and we want them to grow with our customers here in China.

How do you assess business prospects in China over the next decade? Are there any new market growth points that you can see?

We are very opportunistic. On the one hand, China is moving its focus more to domestic consumption. What's happened over time is that within China you have this very vibrant middle class, which has immense purchasing power, which is buying more and more things outside and bringing them into China.

Europe and the US are selling a lot of things to China. In the beginning, China made everything for the world and it was all outbound, but now we see the biggest trade coming out of, say, Spain, Italy and the UK and coming to China. That's because China's middle class is buying goods everywhere.

The economy is still very vibrant. A lot of people are saying that China is only growing at 6 percent but most of the rest of the world would die to grow at 6 percent.

How do you ensure the continuity of your culture and service across 220 countries and regions?

The good thing for us is that we invented this business back in 1969. The international express business was invented by DHL. Over that period of time we have built up global standard operating procedures. We call our business this "big yellow machine".

It's very important to have the processes and the IT system but the thing that makes it all happen, the most important thing, is the people. You need to make sure your people are exceptionally well-trained - not just well-trained in what they do, but that they understand how the whole network works.

What is your biggest achievement as CEO of DHL Express?

We want to be the employer of choice, the provider of choice and the investment of choice. When you have those three things in balance, that's a great achievement. I think the real heroes are the ones growing the business every year by 5 percent to 10 percent revenue, keeping the bottom line moving up as well, being consistent over a long period of time.

How do you handle the hardships or setbacks at work?

I have a great team. When you are doing a job like mine, it's all about the bottom line and the balance. I think the secret is balance. We want to be the employer of choice. We want the people that work for us to be motivated, well-paid and happy. I'm very lucky that my wife changed countries with me four times and she's always been supportive of me. If you don't have a very happy, settled private life, you can't do these jobs, or you put your family life at risk. Secondly, I'm lucky to be with a team that has been at the company for almost as long as I have.

How do you encourage your employees?

Let's just talk about the singing for a minute. Our song for motivating people is an old advertising campaign jingle called Ain't No Mountain High Enough. It reflects what DHL wants to do.

When we were losing money and we wanted to make a billion, we came up with the song I Wanna Be a Billionaire. It's all about talking to people.

When we first train our people, we give them a DHL "passport". Every time they do a training course they get a stamp, and people like it. It's a bit of a gimmick in a way but it shows that they are part of the DHL family, and over a period of time when you pass or do a course you get the stamp.

What are the differences between Chinese customers and those from Europe and the US, in their preferences and habits in choosing a service?

I don't think there are differences, because most of our customers are buying relatively expensive items. They are middle class and above consumers who want something very quickly and they are prepared to pay a premium for that.

How can digital technologies improve your company's business?

The interesting point is that it's a mixture. There's the big-data element - to process all this data to improve our quality - and then there's digital marketing to talk to all of our customers.

Like most companies, we understand the power of digital marketing. We understand that's the way the world is going, but what do you actually do? It's all about trying to get the attention of millions of people through our social media channels. In China maybe it is about Weibo, WeChat or any other new digital means, and we keep investing in new digital technologies.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page31)
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Companies on the lookout for 'blue ocean' Updated: 2016-11-04 07:26 By Chen Yingqun(China Daily Europe)

Chinese companies should make structural reforms and innovate to find "blue ocean" - untapped markets - and produce products that are different and low-cost, rather than compete in the "red ocean", or saturated markets, says W. Chan Kim, co-author of Blue Ocean Strategy.

The book by Kim and Rene Mauborgne of the Insead business school, describes how successful businesses capture uncontested market space and render competition irrelevant.

Blue oceans mean clear sailing; red oceans have fierce competition.

W. Chan Kim gave a keynote speech in late October at the annual conference of the Harvard Business Review in Beijing. Provided to China Daily

Kim says most Chinese companies adopt a low-price strategy at the beginning because of the cheap labor available in China. In the past it was common for them to enter global markets on the basis of price.

But nowadays that advantage is dwindling, as there are other places - including some in Southeast Asia - where labor costs less than in China.

Kim was giving a keynote speech in late October at the annual conference of the Harvard Business Review in Beijing, where leading economists and entrepreneurs from China and abroad thrashed ideas about how technology and new business models affect the business world.

A key topic was the rising generation of young consumers overseas who like to shop online, and how China faces a growing challenge of ensuring its products meet their requirements in both quality and design.

Kim says he has been observing China for many years, and the blue ocean strategy for China is to combine differentiation and low-cost to build a new market, rather than fight with current competitors.

He says that Chinese companies are finding more blue ocean in which to succeed. Tencent, Alibaba, and Huawei are representative of companies that have realized geometric growth by creating new markets and producing products that are both low-cost and distinct from the mainstream.

Tong Fuyao, senior vice-president of Lenovo Group, the world's largest maker of personal computers, says the company now offers more than 500 million pieces of equipment in 160 countries and regions, and it is actively working on a blue ocean strategy.

While maintaining its main PC business, Lenovo is developing a mobile phone business. But the most promising blue ocean, according to Tong, is big data and cloud services.

"The global PC market has been decreasing steadily for eight quarters," he said. "Lenovo makes personal computers, but in the past few years, we have seen that almost everyone buys a smartphone first, then a tablet, and then a PC. So we want to make innovations based on users' needs."

Tong says that for Lenovo, the blue ocean is to develop the next generation of intelligent terminals, to combine the needs of users together with equipment, big data, the Internet and customer service.

Zhang Jianqiu, CEO of Chinese dairy giant Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, says Yili sent about 100 million products to consumers every day in 2015, and it holds the largest share of the Chinese dairy market. But it is constantly looking for blue ocean.

Zhang says that even though Yili is a traditional company, it has been embracing the internet age, new technology and new concepts. It has built up some big-data platforms, which will help collect and analyze consumer habits on the internet, so as to better understand their needs and habits.

"This large amount of data will help us analyze consumers' different demands for different kinds of dairy products. The analysis will help us innovate with all links in the production process, from milk sources to R&D and marketing," he says.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

( China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page27)
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Most Americans say that the Bible is important to themin fact, 88% own a copy. But polls show that fewer are actually reading it than at any previous time in modern U.S. history. In The Invisible Bestseller: Searching for the Bible in America (Eerdmans, out now), religion journalist Kenneth A. Briggs writes that the Good Book has become a museum exhibita revered artifact that people mostly leave on the shelf.

A half a century ago you would have seen much more reference to it in political campaigns and public life in general, Briggs says. More colleges and universities had departments of religion, and the Bible was studied to a much greater extent. Today, by contrast, even evangelical ministers sometimes dont do Bible quotations, because their own people dont know the Bible well enough for them to understand.

In short, America has experienced a fundamental shift. For a long time in America, the Bible was the guidebook to life, Briggs says. Im not saying it has to be the source of that orientation now, but when the Bible has been the groundwork and you leave that behind, what takes its place?

To find out, the veteran of Newsday and the New York Times put his journalism skills to work and went on an investigative road trip, interviewing dozens of people over the course of three years of research and writing. He visited Christian colleges where longtime Bible professors bemoaned the religious illiteracy of todays students, and he interviewed Christian booksellers about the thousands of versions of the Bible that have flooded the market. (Just because people arent reading it doesnt mean that they arent still buying it.)

Briggs, whose other books on the intersections of religion and American culture have included Double Crossed (Doubleday) and Holy Siege (HarperOne), says that Eerdmans aims for its books to appeal equally to scholars and people in the pews. Thats a strategy America needs more of, he notes, because increasingly the latter group knows almost nothing about the Bible.

Biblical fluency was certainly the norm during Briggss postwar childhood in central Massachusetts. But he harbors no illusions about that time. The Bibles ascendancy coincided with the rise of an aggressive capitalism that used the Bible in a practical, achievement-oriented, largely material approach, he says. Thats an economic narrative that a deeper engagement with the Bible would complicate, not celebrate. I think a lot of people are scared to read it, because it confronts our value system, Briggs says. I dont know how you read the Sermon on the Mount and still uphold lots of [basic] American values.
Philip Levine, edited by Edward Hirsch. Knopf, $26.95 (96p) ISBN 978-0-451-49326-2

In this posthumous collection of new poems, Levine (News of the World) extends the content of his American working-class poetics both to look back at his past and to push himself to reckon with the future. Hirsch, who organized and titled the book, writes in his foreword that Levine (19282015) was a poet of the night shift, a late, ironic Whitman of our industrial heartland, and his lifes work is a long assault on isolation, an ongoing struggle against the enclosures of suffering. Hardships, joys, and stories of old friends and the assembly floor make up the bulk of this book: 8 a.m. and we punch out/ and leave the place to our betters,/ the day shift jokers who think/ theyre in for fun, but throughout, Levine takes moments to recenter before projecting forward: The wind kept prodding/ at my back as though determined/ to push me away from where I was/ fearful, perhaps, I would come to rest. Its clear that Levine knew these wonderful poems would be among his last, and he seems to come to terms with his impending nonbeing: These places where I had lived/ all the days of my life were giving up/ their hold on me and not a moment too soon.
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China takes lead in renewable energy as costs plunge Updated: 2016-11-04 07:26 By Yang Ziman(China Daily Europe)

China's renewable energy spending constitutes a third of the world's investment in the sector, according to Adnan Z. Amin, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency.

China's total investment in renewable energy last year was $102.9 billion, up 17 percent from the same period the year before, Amin told the International Forum on Energy Transitions held in Suzhou from Oct 30 to 31.

International investment in renewable energy was $330 billion last year.

"China is taking the lead in renewable energy development. Last year, China's newly installed capacity in wind and hydropower accounted for more than half of the world's total. Its newly installed photovoltaic capacity accounted for one-third of the world's total," he says.

The key to renewable energy development is to lower the costs. The infrastructure cost of photovoltaic power has gone down by 70 percent from 2005 and needs to drop further, says Qu Xiaoye, president and founder of Canadian Solar Inc, based in Ontario.

"China's photovoltaic power accounts for 1 percent of the country's total power. In Germany, the proportion is 7 to 8 percent. With effective cost reduction, photovoltaic power has great room for growth," Qu says.

According to Qu, every 1 percentage point reduction in cost will lead to a 5 percent reduction in price per kilowatt hour. This can mainly be achieved by technological research to make solar panels more cost-effective.

Qu says that the on-grid price of photovoltaic power might be lowered to the same level as power generated using fossil fuels by 2022.

"Another major cost is financing. Most of the photovoltaic companies lease facilities, which takes up 40 percent of revenue. Therefore, a more flexible and diversified financing system is needed for renewable energy," Qu says.

According to a report by IRENA released in June, the average cost of photovoltaic power is going to drop by 59 percent by 2025, compared with the 2015 price of $0.5 per kilowatt.

Oceanic and land wind power costs are expected to go down by 35 and 25 percent respectively by 2025, according to IRENA.

China has pledged to increase its share of nonfossil fuels in primary energy consumption from 12 percent in 2015 to 15 percent by 2020 and 20 percent in 2030.

In order to achieve this goal, wind and photovoltaic integration into the national grid would need to be at least 400 million kilowatts in 2020 and 1 billion kilowatts in 2030.

yangziman@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page26)
The Bard Optical Rock Island office, located at 4032 Blackhawk Road will be celebrating its 35th Anniversary in October. Dr. Jeffrey Heden, Manager JoAnne DePauw and staff are excited to host a Designer Eyewear Show on Thursday, November 10, 3-5 p.m. Bard Optical will be donating a portion of the events profit to the Christian Care Homeless Shelter in efforts to share our gratitude with the Rock Island community. Dr. Arthur Bard opened Bard Optical in a downtown Peoria location in 1941. In 1981, Diana Hall purchased the company and began growing the business. Bard currently has 21 offices in Illinois. Bard Optical is annually recognized as one of the Top 50 optical retailers in the country.
Ministry seeks a level playing field Updated: 2016-11-04 07:26 By Zhong Nan and Hu Yongqi(China Daily Europe)

Call came after Berlin withdrew its approval of chip equipment takeover

The Ministry of Commerce hopes the German government's recent investigation of a cross-border acquisition by a Chinese company is "an exception" and doesn't represent a policy against Chinese businesses, the ministry's spokesman said on Nov 2.

Shen Danyang, the spokesman, said even though Chinese investment in Germany has grown rapidly in recent years, the total volume is still relatively small, and so it's unnecessary for German officials to worry that German technology and jobs will be lost as a result of Chinese investment.

Shen's comments came after Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy withdrew its approval of Fujian-based Grand Chip Investment Fund LP's takeover of German chip equipment maker Aixtron SE late in October, throwing up an unexpected hurdle for the 670-million-euro ($728 million; 603.6 million) deal on the homestretch.

The German government said it had information that Aixtron had technology that was relevant to security, especially to the defense sector, which could be exposed in a takeover. The deal was cleared on Sept 8.

China and Germany should firmly push forward with liberalization of trade and investment, and should oppose protectionism, Premier Li Keqiang says, according to a government statement released on Nov 2.

Li made the comments on Nov 1 when he met German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Beijing.

China, with 260 projects, and the United States with 252, remained Germany's two biggest investors in 2015. Chinese companies mainly invested in Germany's machinery manufacturing, electronics/semiconductor, automotive, information communications and software sectors, according to data from Germany Trade and Invest, the official investment promotion agency.

Shen calls for equal treatment of Chinese companies in Germany.

"The future of China-Germany business ties will be decided on trade in high-end goods, and investment in infrastructure projects, high-tech manufacturing and multimodel logistics services," says Li Guanghui, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing,

Li says despite both the Chinese and German economies having been affected by the global economic downturn, the degree of interdependence between the two remains stable in bilateral cross-industry investment and trade.

Chinese home appliance manufacturer Midea Group offered to take a 95 percent stake in German robotics manufacturer Kuka AG in August, and the German government said it would not block the acquisition, as it would not endanger German national security.

Contact the writers throughzhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn

A Chinese exhibitor talks to a trade show attendee at the Hannover Messe 2016 in Germany. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 11/04/2016 page28)
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"I was super grateful for the conversation. Thank you to our police force. They do so much to keep us safe, as we all navigate an increasingly complex world."

4 minutes ago
Local bus operator Steinbruck had offered to provide unsubsidised bus services on routes currently served by trams. However, Gotha Tramways (TWSB) and Thuringerwaldbahn have now been granted permits to continue operation of lines in the city as well as the 21.7km inter-urban line to Tabarz.

Steinbruck had proposed it could provide the same services using a new fleet of buses for less than the 2.8 million subsidy TWSB receives annually. The formal proposal to the Regional Administration in Weimar was made by Steinbruck on June 30, claiming that the use of buses, operating without subsidy, could save around 30m over 10 years despite the need to purchase 13 new vehicles.

TWSB currently has a contract that runs to 2024 but Steinbruck was attempting to exploit the fact that the five tram lines it operates are covered by permits that expire in July 2017. The Thuringerwaldbahn infrastructure has been extensively modernised in the last ten years and is in good condition, although the operation relies on relatively old trams.

The decision to retain the tram network makes it clear that the economic viability of the bus replacement proposal was the principal reason for its rejection, noting that it was unlikely a medium-sized company such as Steinbruck could absorb losses from the operation (and the cost of financing new vehicles) that could amount to several million euros. If the trams were removed and the bus operator then failed, the population served could be left with no public transport provision - a situation that was considered unacceptable.
Metrolinx awarded Bombardier the contract to supply LRVs for new light rail lines in the Toronto region in June 2010, with delivery scheduled to take place between 2013 and 2020. However, the order has suffered repeated delays and despite the revision of the delivery timetable, remains behind schedule.

Metrolinx has issued a formal notice of intent to terminate our LRV contract with Bombardier, said Metrolinx spokesperson Mrs Anne Marie Aikins in a media statement. To clarify: we have not cancelled our order nor our contract with Bombardier. We filed a notice of intention to terminate which does not mean it is cancelled or may be cancelled.

In an email to the Toronto Star, Ontario provincial transport minister Mr Steven Del Duca added: I know that there has been some concerns about Bombardiers performance as there have been significant quality and manufacturing issues that, to-date, have not been resolved. As a result, we have taken the next step available to us through our contract. We will continue to work with Bombardier on this issue and we will deliver on our transit commitments.
Metrolinx confirmed November 3 its notice of intent to terminate its $770-million contract for up to 182 Bombardier LRVs.

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins full statement: Metrolinx has issued a formal notice of intent to terminate our LRV contract with Bombardier. To clarify: we have not cancelled our order nor our contract with Bombardier. We filed a notice of intention to terminate which does not mean it is cancelled or may be cancelled. We have taken the next step available to us through our contract. We will continue to work with Bombardier on this issue and we will deliver on our transit commitments. Given that Metrolinx is in a legal process with Bombardier, we are not in a position to offer further comment at this time.

That contract was signed in 2010, with the vehicles planned for LRT lines in Toronto, including the $5.3-billion Eglinton Crosstown.

In an email to the Toronto Star, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca added:

I know that there has been some concerns about Bombardiers performance as there have been significant quality and manufacturing issues that, to-date, have not been resolved. As a result, we have taken the next step available to us through our contract. We will continue to work with Bombardier on this issue and we will deliver on our transit commitments.
Joint MBA program to stimulate innovation Updated: 2016-11-04 08:13 By Cecily Liu in London and Du Juan in Beijing(China Daily)

University College London agreed to a new entrepreneurship-focused MBA program in partnership with Peking University in Beijing on Thursday, riding on a wave of Chinese demand for such qualifications.

The program sells itself as a highly hands-on course, preparing graduates for running their own startups, rather than the more traditional MBA programs that equip graduates to fill senior management roles.

Lin Jianhua, president of Peking University, said during a signing ceremony that the strategic cooperation framework the two universities have signed not only includes the MBA program, but also institutional-level cooperation.

Michael Arthur, president of UCL, said there is a whole range of areas that two universities can cooperate in.

"We would like to have educational cooperation in both directions, which allows us to think big," Arthur said.

"Graduates recognize the importance of applying their knowledge to the real world," said Bert de Reyck, director of the UCL School of Management.

The full-time program, with first intake in September next year, takes 18 months to complete and is taught in English, with students receiving UCL degrees. It costs 310,000 yuan ($45,800) and is China's second-most expensive MBA program, with most MBA degrees in the country costing less than 200,000 yuan.

Yang Yao, dean of Peking University's National School of Development, said the UCL partnership comes at an opportune time for China's MBA market because increasing numbers of Chinese students are setting up their own companies in China.

"UCL has another advantage of being in London, which is a big center for startups and innovation, so we can take our students to visit," Yang said.

Entrepreneurship and international collaboration have taken off as big selling points for Chinese MBA programs.

Wu Xiaobo, a professor of innovation and strategic management at Zhejiang University, said that a lot of graduates end up starting their own global businesses with fellow classmates from other countries.

"The key trend for China's MBA program market is to offer better quality programs. This upgrade in the quality of MBA programs is consistent with the overall upgrade of China's economy," Wu said.
Media solutions provider Globecast has appointed a new director of sales for Latin America in the first of several appointments to be announced for the region in the coming weeks.





Neil Butterfield will take the role of Globecasts director of sales for LATAM. According to the company, the appointment reflects a refreshed approach to the Americas markets as Globecast continues to expand.Based in Globecasts Miami office, Butterfield is responsible for expanding Globecasts customer base in the broadcast, programme and service provider markets throughout Latin America.For the past decade, Butterfield has held a variety of roles within Intelsat, most recently as senior product specialist. Prior to that, he worked for PanAmSat and the Associated Press.Im excited to join Globecast and Im looking forward to contributing to the companys growth in Latin America, said Butterfield. Globecasts commitment to the market and the infrastructure it has in place to support our customers makes Globecast a clear choice for media management, satellite communications and IP-based services.Neils fluency in both Spanish and Portuguese, his track record with the industry and his enthusiasm make him a very welcome member of the team. Globecast is more powerfully positioned than ever to serve the Latin American market, added Eddie Ferraro, managing director at Globecast Americas.
The production of television drama has reached a record high in Screen Australia, with local features also on the rise, according to data from Screen Australia.





Overall, A$843 million was spent across 118 productions in the financial year 2015/16, compared to A$853 million across 101 productions last year, according to the industry bodys annual Drama Report.This year the figures for Australian and foreign films and TV dramas shot or post-produced in Australia, also include Australian subscription video-on-demand ( SVOD ) titles.What really stands out for me in this years Drama Report is the record expenditure on Australian TV drama, said Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia. Im delighted to see every single network had multiple dramas in production  an unprecedented 58 in total  responding to the Australian audiences appetite to watch their own stories on screen.Australia continues to make a global name for itself in PDV [post, digital and visual effects], with this years Drama Report including work done on everything from Ghostbusters to Game of Thrones, he added.Fiona Cameron, COO, Screen Australia, added: From a very small base it is fantastic to see the growth in online drama. Screen Australia-supported projects like The Katering Show and Wolf Creek appearing on iview, Stan and international streaming services are a glimpse into the future. New talent developing local IP and selling to new platforms showcases the innovation of the sector.As well as reaching a high for the number of productions, it was also a record year for total budgets (A$416 million) and for total expenditure, which rose 35% to A$376 million. Total hours are also up from 518 in 2014/15 to 561 in 2015/16.In addition, Screen Australia reported a continuation in the trend towards shorter length, high-cost TV dramas, illustrated by mini-series such as Barracuda, Deep Water and The Secret Daughter.Long-form series, comprising 20 or more episodes, are now completely absent  with the exception of the long-running soaps Home and Away and Neighbours.Broadcasters remain the leading financial backers for Australian TV drama, however the proportion of Government funding has increased slightly, with 91% of titles having received some form of federal Government assistance.Screen Australia provided funding for 53% of titles, compared to the average of 40% of titles over the four years before. The Producer Offset administered by Screen Australia contributed $46 million, up from $38 million in 2014/15.
The Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile oil pipeline that will safely transport crude from the Bakken fields of North Dakota to Illinois for domestic U.S. consumption, was for years a project no one could fairly call controversial. It proceeded through the regulatory process without incident. The company building it worked with landowners and local officials to address any concerns before construction began. The project was halfway finished when, suddenly this summer, a small group emerged to protest the entire pipeline.

The protests originated not far from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota and were based on several allegations from that tribe. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had consulted the Standing Rock Sioux on potential cultural impacts at that and other locations along the route. Having been unable to provide any evidence that the pipeline would harm any historic sites or artifacts, tribal leaders nonetheless demanded that the corps order a halt to all work not just near their reservation but along the entire route.

Corps officials explained to tribal leaders that the Corps has no jurisdiction over the vast majority of the pipeline and cannot halt construction. When discussions failed to convince the Corps to issue an order it had no authority to issue, the protests began.

Protesters demand that the Obama administration shut down the pipeline even though it runs almost entirely along private land over which the federal government has no authority. They continue to make two sweeping claims. 1) They say the pipeline is a threat to the environment. 2) They say the entire route should be subject to tribal inspection because it threatens Native American historical sites.

What is the evidence to support these claims? Well, there is the trouble. There is none.

Lets take the environmental concern first. Protesters say they fear water contamination from pipeline spills. But they ignore a few crucial facts. The most obvious is that the Missouri River (the water body in question) is already crossed by at least eight pipelines. Those existing pipelines pump hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil every day without incident.

In fact, the Dakota Access Pipeline location where the protests started is the site of an existing natural gas pipeline. The Dakota Access line route runs thorough that pipelines corridor.

Furthermore, pipelines are proven to be the safest way to transport oil. The Bakken crude oil that would be carried by the Dakota Access Pipeline is now shipped by train. Pipelines are 4.5 times safer than rail for transporting oil, a 2015 Canadian study found.

Pipelines transport the lion's share of crude oil because they are the safest, most environmentally friendly and least expensive way to transport large volumes of energy products, Brigham McCown, the first administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportations Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, told Scientific American in 2013.

Transporting Bakken oil via pipeline will increase public and environmental safety, not decrease it. Now, what about the historic sites claims?

It turns out that the Standing Rock Sioux took the Army Corps of Engineers to federal court over those claims. In September, the court found that the tribe had provided no evidence that the pipeline would jeopardize any historic sites. In fact, the court found that the Corps worked with the pipeline company to reroute the line when a potential historic location was identified. The tribe appealed and again lost.

The Corps consulted with leaders of 55 tribes  including the Standing Rock Sioux  to identify and work around any potential impacts. Its findings of no historic impact were verified by state historic preservation officers.

Protesters claim that there might be historic sites along the route where the Corps does not have jurisdiction. But there is no evidence to support that speculative claim. And the federal government has no legal authority to shut down a pipeline based on speculation that it might cross a historic site at some point.

There just isnt any evidence to support the protesters claims that this pipeline is a threat to the environment or Native American historic sites. The pipeline has passed every regulatory review at the state and federal level, and the claims against it have been denied by two federal courts.

This is not the case of a rogue company running afoul of the law or a regulatory agency. This pipeline was found environmentally safe and historically appropriate by four states and the federal government. It is already 77 percent complete at a cost of $3 billion. The protesters have no case, which might be why they have turned from the courtroom and to the picket line.
Sixty years ago the striking photograph of a teenage girl dressed in a cotton-wool jacket and clutching a Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun became an iconic image of the Hungarian Revolution.

A Danish photojournalist, Vagn Hansen, had snapped the photo as Hungarian insurgents battled Soviet troops in the streets of Budapest in late October and early November of 1956. First published in the Danish magazine Billed Bladet, the photograph quickly was reproduced in newspapers and other publications around the world.

Hansen was one of a talented and brave group of foreign correspondents and journalists who covered the Hungarian uprising. Historian Janos Molnar has estimated that some 150 newsmen and women, most from the West, found their way to Budapest during the uprising.

The mass media coverage of the Hungarian Revolution offered an object lesson in the value of a free press. As the faltering Communist regime lost control of the borders, foreign correspondents were able to enter the country. Once there, the absence of government minders and censors allowed journalists to report what they saw, without fear or favor of friend or foe. The result: a balanced, independent, and accurate account of what was happening on the ground in Hungary.

This on-the-spot coverage had an impact. The stories, and pictures, of Hungarian insurgents resisting Soviet power helped illuminate the gap between Communist propaganda and the reality of life in the satellite nations of Eastern Europe. The brutal crackdown on the revolutionaries damaged the appeal of Marxist ideology in Western Europe and elsewhere, hurting the image of the Communist parties in France and Italy.

The reportage from Budapest also influenced U.S. foreign policy. Journalists found that many Hungarians believed, falsely, that NATO would intervene to defend the revolution based largely on Radio Free Europe broadcasts that had encouraged resistance to the regime. In response, President Dwight Eisenhower publicly claimed that the U.S. had never urged or argued for any kind of armed revolt which could bring about disaster to our friends, and privately curtailed rhetoric about rolling back Communism in the satellite nations.

Witnessing the revolution

While the uprising caught most Western news organizations (and intelligence agencies) by surprise, there were a few experienced newsmen in Budapest when students and workers began demonstrating against the repressive regime and the presence of Russian troops on Oct. 23. Endre Marton of the Associated Press, John MacCormac of The New York Times (assisted by Aurel Varrannai), Sefton Delmer of the London Daily Express, and Leslie Bane of the North American News Alliance reported on the extraordinary events of the first hours of the revolt, the mass rally in Parliament Square, the battle over the Radio Budapest station, and the toppling of the giant statue of Stalin in Heroes Square.

Delmer filed an emotional first-person dispatch by telephone: I have been the witness today of one of the great events of history. I have seen the people of Budapest catch the fire lit in Poznan and Warsaw and come out into the streets in open rebellion against their Soviet overlords. I have marched with them and almost wept for joy with them as the Soviet emblems in the Hungarian flags were torn out by the angry and exalted crowds. And the great point about the rebellion is that it looks like being successful.

Soon more journalists arrived in the city, cramming into the Duna Hotel on the east bank of the Danube. Newspaper and wire service reporters and broadcasters came from the United States, England, France, Italy, West Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Polish and Yugoslav correspondents, who proved sympathetic to the insurgents, also filed reports.
POLICIES FOR THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION. PART 9: ECONOMIC GROWTH

This is the ninth in a series on the major policy ideas  from Left and Right  that should guide the next presidential administration's agenda. (For the opposing view, see William G. Gale, "An Agenda for Inclusive Growth.")

After the election of Ronald Reagan in 1981, the U.S. Economy experienced one of its greatest booms in history. The growth rate averaged nearly 4 percent for seven years 198289. And the stock market rose from less than 1,000 on the Dow to more than 10,000 over the next two decades. This was a period of wealth and job creation that the nation and middle class had seldom seen before. All the liberal critics wrongly said it could not and would not happen.

Now the question is: Could it happen again in this era of massive government debt, meager growth, and flatlined incomes for the middle class? The answer is yes. With the right set of policy fixes, we can see a return to wage gains, higher profits (which means a bull run on stocks), and rapid growth in output.

Since the end of the recession, economic growth has averaged an anemic 2 percent, producing the weakest recovery since the Great Depression. Over the past year, growth has slowed to an even more anemic 1.5 percent. This is barely staying out of recession. America can do much better.

One thing is sure: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have almost diametrically opposite economic plans. Clinton will raise taxes. Trump will cut them. Clinton has vowed to defend President Obamas legacy and double down on job-killers such as Obamacare.

Trump is offering big changes, and I believe they could accelerate the economic growth rate from 1.5 percent to 4 percent for the next five years. That is the equivalent of adding another Texas to the U.S economy. How would he accomplish this?

First, Trump will enact the biggest pro-growth tax cut since Ronald Reagans 1981 reform. Trump would simplify the tax code and significantly reduce marginal rates, encouraging investment and economic expansion. His proposed corporate tax rate of 15 percent would make it easier for American firms to repatriate earnings, bringing capital home and making the U.S. a more hospitable place to invest. Every small business would also pay only 15 percent  there are 26 million such firms.

Dont believe the phony claim that these tax cuts will cost $10 or $20 trillion. Growth will cause revenues to increase, not decrease. And Trump will close tax loopholes as well.

Next, Obamacare, the fastest growing entitlement program of all, which even Bill Clinton admits is a wreck with costs spiraling out of control. This year's 25 percent premium hikes are only the start of a cascade of higher health-care costs. Trump would repeal and replace Obamacare with a consumer-choice health plan. This will cut costs for both families and businesses.

On the regulatory front, Trump wants to reverse immediately dozens of President Obamas antibusiness executive actions, including the Clean Power Plan, which would escalate a war on energy that has already put tens of thousands of coal miners out of work.

A pro-growth energy policy would mean developing all of Americas abundant resources  oil, natural gas, and coal. Trumps plan could make America the worlds number one energy producer within five years, producing millions of new jobs and trillions of dollars of extra output  along with new royalty payments to the government. Clinton, by contrast, wants to please the radical environmentalists by blocking energy development and subsidizing, instead, 500 million solar panels  mostly likely built in China.

On immigration, Trump will build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants. But he wants that wall to have wide gates for legal immigrants to come and benefit our country economically. We can't fix our legal immigration system until the border is secured.

I am for free trade and don't always agree with Mr. Trump on this issue. But he is right that China is stealing and cheating in our trade arrangements. That must stop.

The U.S. needs trade. Yet it also must have a president willing to negotiate from a position of strength with countries that manipulate their currencies, steal Americas intellectual property, or compel companies to disclose trade secrets as a condition of entering their markets. Negotiating better trade deals and enforcing the current ones would help the U.S. economy. Taking a tougher stance here might be necessary to restore dwindling support for open markets.

Finally  and importantly  having someone in the White House who knows how to run a business, meet a payroll, and pay the bills would be a vast improvement over the political class that has so weakened America's standing in the world. Without much faster economic growth, America will not retain its status as a world super power. China will surpass us, laughing all the way. It is time to take American competitiveness seriously and fight economically to win.

A resurgence of American prosperity will benefit our citizens and show the rest of the world how to grow out of the worldwide economic malaise that has stalled prosperity everywhere.

Stephen Moore is a senior economic advisor to the Trump campaign and an economist with Freedom Works.

Author's Recommended Reading:

Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, Rex A. Sinquefield, and Travis H. Brown, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States: How Taxes, Energy, and Worker Freedom Change Everything (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2014).

Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter Tanous, The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy  If We Let It Happen (New York: Threshold Editions, 2008).

Lawrence Kudlow and Brian Domitrovic, JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity (London: Portfolio, 2016).

(Read the response by William G. Gale.)
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Price: $ 2,175 Seller State of Residence: California Property Address: 2274 Harding Drive State/Province: California City: Nice Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 95464 Location: 928**, Orange, California

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For many college students, education is more than just a campaign issue. The cost of college and high school curriculums and standards can have longstanding effects on students' well-being and overall success in life. In a Red & Black/GLOBIS survey, approximately 84 percent of students agreed or strongly agreed that loans would be a serious burden for currently-enrolled students.
Ashley Block could run circles around anyone before most even got their day started, friends and family said. She was a warm and selfless go-getter who left her classmates and friends wondering how she had the time in a day to do it all.
In this Oct. 14, 2016 photo, Hassan Khan shows a picture of his wife Zeenat Rafiq, who was burned alive, in a so called "honor" killing, in Lahore, Pakistan. Rafiq's mother was arrested after dousing her daughter with kerosene and burning her alive, allegedly because the girl had defied her family to marry Khan, who she was in love with, police said. A joint session of the Pakistani Parliament approved an anti-honor killing bill this month, by a majority voice vote, that will introduce strict punishment -- a mandatory 25-year sentence for a convicted honor killer. But the final wording allowed forgiveness of the death sentence. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)

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By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP)  So much divides two women who fought in the battle to take the "honor" out of killing in Pakistan.

Naeema Kishwar shrouds herself in a burqa, showing only her eyes. She belongs to a political party that has been linked to the Taliban. And she comes from deeply conservative tribal lands where girls have been killed for going to school.

Sughra Imam sometimes wears a scarf draped lightly on her hair, but often her head is bare. She belongs to a liberal party whose leader, Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister of this predominantly Muslim nation, was assassinated by extremists. She comes from a prominent Pakistani family and was educated at Harvard.

But at least one thing unites the two: they have spent their political careers fighting for women. Although they have never met, and usually are on opposite sides of the aisle, Kishwar and Imam became unlikely allies in the battle to pass a historic law to protect women from murder by members of their own families.

In this country with a complex legal system that is a tapestry of Islamic Sharia law and British common law, legislation passed decades ago has allowed many of those who kill in the name of family "honor" to go free.

A family's honor can be "tarnished" by something as innocent as sitting next to an unknown man, or helping a friend elope with the man of her choice. Invariably the "honor" of a family is tied to a woman's chastity.

The law decrees that relatives of a murder victim can forgive the killer; they can even take money in exchange for the killer's freedom. Human rights groups argued that in the case of "honor" killing, this granted immunity to killers, because both victim and perpetrator are usually family members. Hard-line Islamic groups, however, defended forgiveness as a religious edict from the Quran.

But the mood in the country began to shift in the last year with the rise of social media and a proliferation of television channels featuring dramas about girls who find love and fight back against sexual assault.

The new channels started covering "honor" killings, and Pakistanis grew outraged over a series of grotesque murders that happened with such regularity they could no longer be seen as isolated cases: a daughter burned alive by her mother, a social media star drugged and strangled by her brother, a teenage girl ordered by a tribal council to be bound and burned like Joan of Arc for helping a friend elope.

"There are changes in Pakistan," says Imam. "Most of the people in Pakistan are young. They are searching for change."

___

After Imam became a member of Parliament's upper house seven years ago, the poor who tilled the land in her constituency in Punjab province started coming to her with stories of a man who had killed his wife after seeing her talking to another man, or of a brother who killed his sister for having "illicit" relations.

"These were women whose names I didn't even know," she says. "They had received no media coverage, and I thought: 'How do we protect these vulnerable women?'"

She saw that the men who killed showed no worry of even going to jail.

"No one was ever afraid. They never felt they would be punished. They knew they would be forgiven," Imam says.

She insists that Islam's provision of forgiveness wasn't intended to apply to premeditated murder.

The provision was meant to end feuds, "to bring peace. It was not meant to be able to kill with impunity," she says. "The law has been perverted."

When Imam began to craft her bill three years ago, she wanted the killings removed from the Islamic law known as Qisas and Diyat, which allows the family to forgive a murderer.

She spent hours poring over religious texts. The only solution she could find was to have killing in the name of "honor" removed from Islamic law altogether, making it impossible to forgive the killer, even if the sentence was death  the common penalty for murder in Pakistan.

"I didn't want even the mention of forgiveness in the law," she says. "I wanted someone who killed in the name of 'honor' to know he could be sentenced to death."

Because her party was in the majority in the Senate, she didn't need a consensus to get her bill passed. But she wanted an agreement with the religious parties, because their support would make it more likely that the police and judges would implement it.

She refused interviews on local channels, shunning publicity that might have raised hackles. Instead, she quietly negotiated with religious leaders.

There was a precedent. Pakistan's religious parties had made an exception once before when Pakistan passed its anti-terror bill. According to that law, a culprit cannot be forgiven even if sentenced to death.

Imam, whose slight stature belies her tenacity, wore her fellow lawmakers down until finally they agreed to her wording. Even senators from Kishwar's hard-line Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam Party were among the Senate's 104 members who passed Imam's bill unanimously last year.

But the legislation never came to a vote in the more powerful National Assembly, dominated by the Conservative Pakistan Muslim League, a traditional ally of the religious parties. Imam's bill was dead.

It would take an extraordinary moment in Pakistan's history, and help from Kishwar, to bring it back.

___

Kishwar's hometown of Mardan is in a deeply conservative region of Pakistan's northwest, where women are rarely seen on the streets without the all-enveloping burqa, and suicide bombers have killed scores of people, many of them children, in attacks this year targeting schools, police, a courthouse and minorities.

When she was a child, Kishwar says, parents discouraged their girls from attending school, but she was allowed to go all the way through law school.

As a teenager she swore to fight for change, and when she first was elected to public office in the provincial Parliament in Pakistan's northwest in 2002, she advocated for girls' schools and colleges.

But women faced other problems. In her province, tribes have long abided by a custom known as "sarwar," in which families settle a dispute by marrying a young daughter to a rival family, often to a much older man.

Kishwar, who has been in politics for 24 years and is now a member of the National Assembly, lobbied against the practice, calling it an "inhuman custom." As a result of her efforts, Parliament passed a law making sarwar illegal.

"I have been raising my voice in the Parliament for the rights of women, and I will keep doing it," she says.

But Kishwar's activism is shaped by her strict interpretation of her religion. She says Islam demands women cover from head to toe, and she adheres firmly to segregation of the sexes.

Like Imam, she wanted "honor" killing punished, but unlike Imam, she defends at least some forgiveness, saying Islam gives families the right to reconcile.

"Because I wear this veil and love my religion doesn't mean I accept this," she says of "honor" killings. "No. But it's complicated."

The legislation proposed by Imam could be revived only if the government called a joint session of the Senate and National Assembly. That seemed unlikely until a heart-wrenching documentary about the murderous practice won an Academy Award this year. "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness," trained an international spotlight on the killings, and public outrage over the gruesome toll. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif finally vowed he would work to change the law.

In search of a consensus, the government sent the bill to a committee, whose members held a potentially disastrous mix of views ranging from secular to hard-line religious.

Imam was no longer a senator at this point, but she wasn't sidelined: her party and the government's law minister consulted her often as the bill was shepherded through the committee. She had to see it through.

Kishwar, a member of the committee, knew that Imam's language was a nonstarter for her hard-line party and its leader, Fazlur Rahman, who told her the party would never take "honor" killing out of the Islamic law that allows forgiveness of a crime.

"It was very difficult for me. I was the go-between between the government and my party. Fazlur Rahman was following it closely and was continually in touch with the ulema (clerics)," she says.

Farhatullah Babar, a soft-spoken, silver-haired senator with Imam's party, tried to find a compromise outside the committee.

A proponent of a secular Pakistan, Babar says he spent hours trying to sway the Rahman to support the new legislation. After all, even the Council of Islamic Ideology had recently issued a statement calling "honor" killings un-Islamic, he said.

But eliminating forgiveness raised the danger that the Federal Shariat Court could rule that the legislation violated the tenets of Islam. Still, Babar says the religious leader clearly wanted to find a middle ground.

"The environment was right," Babar says. "The entire Parliament was incensed, and those opposing it would have felt vulnerable in the public opinion."

In a unanimous vote, the committee finally agreed on a compromise bill: a mandatory 25-year sentence for a convicted "honor" killer. But the final wording allowed forgiveness of the death sentence.

___

On the day the legislation came before Parliament this month, the vote almost didn't happen.

The cavernous National Assembly Hall, dominated by a giant portrait of Pakistan's secular-leaning leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who promised equal rights for all Pakistanis regardless of religious beliefs, was half-empty. The day had been long, most of it spent railing against India over the disputed Kashmir region.

As the vote neared, lawmakers, several of them women, walked around the hall whispering to one another. Party lines were crossed. Kishwar placed her copy of the Quran on her desktop. Babar, who would introduce the compromise bill, was huddled with a dozen female lawmakers.

Some within Imam's party threatened to vote against the bill, saying it had been watered down too much. An independent lawmaker railed that Parliament was being hijacked overtaken by a Western agenda, accusing the United States and Israel of wanting to impose itself on Pakistan.

On the floor, a member of Imam's party, Sherry Rahman, said the bill was too important to allow it to be defeated, pointing her finger accusingly at the members of the religious parties.

Knowing her party's line in the sand, Kishwar stood up, waved the Quran and read a verse from it. She warned that no bill that removed forgiveness completely would pass.

Finally, in a move that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, lawmakers passed the law by a majority voice vote. The nays were a barely audible whisper.

Kishwar was triumphant. She got the compromise she wanted - the middle ground that protected women but didn't infringe on Islamic law.

Imam welcomed the vote as a good first step.

"Laws are a guiding hand for how a society evolves," she says. "People will generally move in that direction. We can become more just over the years."

She's philosophical about the concessions involved in the process. Now, at least, those who kill in the name of "honor" know they will have to pay a price.

"Now when I see that there is fear in the family," she says, "that gives me hope that it will make a difference."
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Christmas light exchange set

North State residents can exchange their old, incandescent string of Christmas lights at two events this month.

The first is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Hawes Farms, 21923 Dersch Road in Anderson. Bring your old incandescent string of lights to exchange them for LED lights. One string per person will be exchanged.

LED lights use less energy and produce less heat, making them safer, according to officials with the Tehama County Resource Conservation District who will conduct the light exchange.

A second light exchange is set for Nov. 26 at a farmers market at Home Depot in Red Bluff, 2650 Main St.

Meeting set on river closure

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials are holding a meeting later this month to take public comment on proposals to close a portion of the Sacramento River to fishing.

The department is proposing several alternatives to closing a 5.5-mile stretch of the Sacramento River in Redding, according to a news release. Officials did not list the alternatives.

For the past two years the state has closed, from May to August, the section of river from the Highway 44 bridge to Keswick Dam to protect endangered winter-run chinook salmon, which because of low numbers of surviving young are at risk of extinction.

The meeting is 5-7 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Redding Library, 1100 Parkview Ave.

Vaccines offered for Hepatitis A

The Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency will provide free Hepatitis A vaccines this week for people who were exposed to possibly contaminated strawberries at a local restaurant and school.

Anyone who may have been potentially exposed to Hepatitis A after consuming the recalled frozen strawberry product at Bella Vista Elementary School on Oct. 25 or Vittles Restaurant in Anderson between Oct. 20-28 can go to the clinic at 2650 Breslauer Way.

The product was used in smoothies at the school and in menu items with strawberry syrup and topping at the restaurant.

Hepatitis A vaccinations will be offered from 1-4:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Vaccines will be provided through Nov. 10 during normal clinic hours as well.

Anyone potentially exposed, including students and restaurant employees, who may not have been vaccinated is urged to get immunized within two weeks of exposure.

Deer harvest reports are due

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is reminding deer tag holders they must report their hunting results, even if they didn't hunt or get a deer this season.

Hunters must report their results within 30 days of harvesting a deer or by Jan. 31, whichever is first. Hunters who did not get a deer must report by Jan. 31.

Hunters who fail to report their hunting results will be charged a $21.60 nonreporting fee when applying for a 2017 deer tag.

Reports may be submitted online at http://bit.ly/1Bx5xxC or by mailing them to CDFW Wildlife Branch, P.O. Box 944209, Sacramento, CA 94299-0002.

Warrant leads to other arrests

A Red Bluff man's warrant got him arrested Thursday  and also led to the arrest of his two friends, officers said.

Officers said 30-year-old Jason Pope, of Red Bluff, had a no-bail warrant for his arrest out of Sacramento County.

A Red Bluff police officer spotted Pope around 3:15 p.m. in the 100 block of Belle Mille Road and stopped the car he was in, the department said.

After trying to run away, officers caught up with Pope and arrested him on suspicion of resisting arrest, altering the serial number of a firearm and being a felon in possession of ammunition, as well as for the warrant.

Meanwhile, the other men in the car ended up getting arrested as well.

Stuart Froman, 23, of Red Bluff, was arrested on suspicion of transporting marijuana, possessing it for sale, possessing stolen property and altering the serial number of a firearm, as well as concealing a firearm in a vehicle.

The stop also nabbed driver Armando Godinez, 27, of Red Bluff. Officers said he was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license, concealing a firearm in a vehicle and possessing drug paraphernalia.

County jail inmate found dead in cell

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office said Thursday night there was no sign of foul play in the death of a Shasta County Jail inmate on Wednesday.

Steven Earle Rydlek, 63, was found unresponsive in a jail housing unit about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.

Medical staff, correctional deputies and emergency medical personnel were unable to revive Rydlek inside his cell.

The death was investigated by the Redding Police Department and sheriff's office. An autopsy will be conducted Monday.
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By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight

The mother and eldest son of a Dairyville man who died days after a struggle with law enforcement have filed a claim, the first step in a lawsuit, against Tehama County alleging the man was the victim of police brutality.

In the claim, Andre O'Hara, 20, of Elmwood Park, N.J., and Maria Lozada, accuse two unknown deputies, possibly more, of beating and using a stun gun on Harry Velez, 41, during a struggle. The Tehama County board of supervisors voted Tuesday to retain a law firm to represent it in the case, said Bill Goodwin, county administrator.

O'Hara and Lozada's attorney, Steve Whitworth out of Elk Grove, said he is awaiting the results of a second autopsy. He declined to comment further for the time being.

Deputies have said they were called to a home in the 11000 block of Highway 99 in Dairyville in the evening hours of Sept. 21. Velez had called authorities and told them he believed he had been drugged. After arriving, deputies said Velez allegedly became a danger to himself and others and they detained him, though he resisted, and they used a stun gun on him. He stopped breathing and they performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital, where he died Sept. 26.

But Whitworth wrote in his claim that deputies struck Velez over the head, knocking him down. Then, Whitworth alleges, the deputies handcuffed him and used a stun gun on him "multiple times while he was begging for help."

Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston declined to comment on the claim Wednesday afternoon because the Coroner's Office had not determined a cause of death. But Johnston said it did find "an extremely high level of methamphetamine in his system," and he was acting in a "bizarre" manner that worried the deputies.

"They were concerned about his safety and were going to detain him for his safety and others," Johnston said.

Whitworth didn't specify how much the family was seeking in damages, though it is higher than $25,000.
Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Virginia Anderson, left, and Senior Deputy Public Defender Stacey Madsen, stand as jurors enter the courtroom Thursday.

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By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

The trial of a Redding woman accused of causing a 2014 traffic wreck that killed a 27-year-old motorcyclist wrapped up its fourth day of testimony and evidence Thursday with a long way left to go.

The trial of Virginia Lyn Anderson, 54, focused Thursday on her suspected drug use with a forensic toxicologist and a Redding police officer who administered a series of field sobriety tests to her taking the witness stand.

Police have said Anderson, whose criminal history includes a 1996 arrest for methamphetamine possession, admitted using methamphetamine and other drugs prior to the crash.

"Yeah, I'm high on meth," Anderson is quoted as saying to police after the traffic collision. "Yeah, I am high and shouldn't be driving."

According to a police report, Anderson said she had smoked methamphetamine the night before with friends and still felt its effects.

Although the police report said Anderson told officers she normally does not smoke methamphetamine, she did so to socialize with her friends.

She also told police she took two prescribed Norco pills on the morning of the crash to ease what she described as chronic back pain, according to the police report.

According to toxicology results, Anderson tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine, morphine and hydrocodone.

It's alleged Anderson was driving under the influence when she ran a red turn arrow at the intersection on April 24, 2014, and turned her car directly into the path of Riggins, who was riding southbound on her motorcycle.

Riggins, the mother of a then 1-year-old daughter, Kadence, hit the back of Anderson's car and suffered traumatic head injuries.

She died April 30, 2014, after being taken off life support without regaining consciousness.

Anderson is facing up to eight years in prison if convicted of the charges against her.

Her trial, expected to take about two to three weeks, resumes Friday.
Adopt pets from North State animal rescues

Check out these adoptable cats and dogs from North State animal rescues in November 2022.
WASHINGTON  Rule of thumb for a presidential campaign where the two candidates have the highest unfavorable ratings in the history of polling: If you're the center of attention, you're losing.

As Election Day approaches, Hillary Clinton cannot shake the spotlight. She is still ahead in the polls, but you know she's slipping when she shows up at a Florida campaign event with a week to go accompanied by the former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado.

The original plan was for Clinton to pivot in the final week of the campaign from relentless criticism of Donald Trump to making a positive case for herself. Instead, she reached back for a six-week-old charge that played well when it first emerged back then but now feels stale and recycled.

The setback and momentum shift came courtesy of FBI Director James Comey. Clinton's greatest hurdle had always been the Comey primary, which the Democrats thought she'd won in July when he declined to recommend prosecuting her over classified emails. This engendered an outpouring of Democratic encomiums about Comey's unimpeachable integrity and Solomonic wisdom.

When it was revealed last Friday that there had been a Comey recount and Clinton lost, Solomon turned into Torquemada. But, of course, Comey had no choice. How could he have sat on a trove of 650,000 newly discovered emails and kept that knowledge suppressed until after the election?

Comey's announcement brought flooding back  to memory and to the front pages  every unsavory element of the Clinton character: shiftiness, paranoia, cynicism and disdain for playing by the rules. It got worse when FBI employees began leaking stories about possible political pressure from the Department of Justice and about parallel investigations into the Clinton Foundation.

At the same time, Clinton was absorbing a daily dose of WikiLeaks, offering an extremely unappealing tableau of mendacity, deception and the intermingling of public service with private self-enrichment. It was the worst week of her campaign, at the worst time.

And it raises two troubling questions:

Regarding the FBI, do we really want to elect a president who will likely come into office under criminal investigation by law enforcement? Congressional hearings will be immediate and endless. A constitutional crisis at some point is not out of the question.

And regarding WikiLeaks, how do we know it will have released the most damning material by Election Day? A hardened KGB operative like Vladimir Putin might well prefer to hold back whatever is most incriminating until a Clinton presidency. He is surely not above attempted blackmail at an opportune time.

There seems to be a consensus that Putin's hacking gambit is intended only to disrupt the election rather than to deny Clinton the White House. Why? Putin harbors a deep animus toward Clinton, whom he blames personally for the anti-Putin demonstrations that followed Russia's rigged 2011 parliamentary elections.

Moreover, Putin would surely prefer to deal with Trump, a man who has adopted the softest line on the Kremlin of any modern U.S. leader.

In a normal election, the FBI and WikiLeaks factors might be disqualifying for a presidential candidate. As final evidence of how bad are our choices in 2016, Trump's liabilities, especially on foreign policy, outweigh hers.

We are entering a period of unprecedented threat to the international order that has prevailed under American leadership since 1945. After eight years of President Obama's retreat, the three major revisionist powers  Russia, China and Iran  see their chance to achieve regional dominance and diminish, if not expel, American influence.

At a time of such tectonic instability, even the most experienced head of state requires wisdom and delicacy to maintain equilibrium. Trump has neither. His joining of supreme ignorance to supreme arrogance, combined with a pathological sensitivity to any perceived slight, is a standing invitation to calamitous miscalculation.

Two generations of Americans have grown up feeling that international stability is as natural as the air we breathe. It's not. It depends on continual, calibrated tending. It depends on the delicate balancing of alliances and the careful signaling of enemies. It depends on avoiding self-inflicted trade wars and on recognizing the value of allies like Germany, Japan and South Korea as cornerstones of our own security rather than satrapies who are here to dispatch tribute to their imperial master in Washington.

It took seven decades to build this open, free international order. It could be brought down in a single presidential term. That would be a high price to pay for the catharsis of kicking over a table.

Email Charles Krauthammer at letters@charleskrauthammer.com.
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To his credit, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is forcing a discussion about a fundamental issue of fairness: whether poor people who are arrested should remain behind bars simply because they cannot afford bail.

Equal Justice Under Law, a civil rights group in Washington, D.C., raised the issue last year by suing San Francisco on behalf of two low-wage earners who were arrested and held in jail because they could not afford bail. The case has statewide implications.

Herrera shook up the bail bonds industry earlier this week by announcing he wouldn't defend California's bail law. By requiring that people come up with money to gain their freedom, Herrera said, the law "creates a two-tiered system: one for those with money and another for those without."

The case involves the period after an individual is arrested and held in jail on a predetermined bail amount, but before he or she appears before a judge who decides what the proper amount of bail should be to ensure the defendant will show up for court dates.

Too often, people picked up for minor crimes lose their jobs or cannot care for young children because they spend days in jail. And sometimes, prosecutors drop charges early in the process, as happened with the plaintiffs in the San Francisco lawsuit.

Courts will decide the constitutionality of California's bail law. But the Legislature needs to strike a better balance in ensuring that the justice system doesn't discriminate against poor people while keeping truly dangerous people locked up.

Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, and Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, plan to propose bills when the Legislature convenes next month. Bail bonds agents won't be pushovers. They have a significant lobby presence in the Capitol and are regular donors.

Harmeet Dhillon, who represents the California Bail Agents Association, a trade group for 3,300 bail agents. The association is asking U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to intervene in the San Francisco suit to defend the law's constitutionality.

In addition to contending that bail helps protect the public, Dhillon said the association ought to be allowed to intervene because it has a "concrete economic interest in protecting the livelihoods of its members." No one should wish economic hardship on anyone. But we hope that courts would not conclude that bail bonds business' viability outweighs basic fairness.

Money bail is supposed to ensure that people facing criminal charges show up for their court dates. It's not supposed to strip poor people of their liberty.

This editorial originally was published in the Sacramento Bee.
Two non-bailable warrants were issued on Friday against Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, by two courts in Delhi.

While one NBW was issued in a 2012 cheque bounce case following Mallyas non-appearance, another was in a case of allegedly evading summons in a FERA violation matter.

In the cheque-bouncing case, metropolitan magistrate Sumeet Anand passed the order with the direction that the NBW be executed through the ministry of external affairs as the liquor baron was reportedly in London.

The court then listed the matter for further hearing on February 4 next year.

The court had, on August 6, also issued an NBW against Mallya saying that coercive steps were required to ensure his appearance before the court.

The court had earlier noted that despite repeated orders, Mallya did not appear in the court and it was inevitable for the state machinery to intervene and ensure his presence.

The trial court had summoned Mallya as an accused following a complaint by the Delhi International Airport Limited, which operates the capital's IGI Airport, claiming that a cheque for Rs 1 crore issued by Kingfisher Airlines on February 22, 2012, was returned to them a month later containing the remarks -- "fund insufficient".

The DIAL had filed four cases in June 2012 against Mallya over KFA's cheques totalling Rs 7.5 crore not being honoured.

The grounded airline had issued the cheques towards payment for services availed by them at the IGI airport in Delhi.

In the second case on Friday, the court of chief metropolitan magistrate Sumit Dass also warned of initiating coercive process against Mallya.

The court observed that he had no inclination to return and had scant regard for the law of the land.

It said coercive process has to be initiated against liquor baron Mallya as he was facing proceedings in several cases and evading appearance in those matters.

CMM Sumit Dass also held that Mallya's plea, that he wanted to return to India but was "incapacitated" to travel as his passport had been revoked by Indian authorities, was "mala fide" and an "abuse of the process of law".

"He has no inclination whatsoever to come to this court and appear here... He has scant regard for the law of the land," the court said.

"Keeping in view the conduct of the accused, coercive process has to be directed against the accused. Issue non-bailable warrant against the accused. Put up the matter for December 22," the court said.

During the hearing senior advocate Ramesh Gupta and advocate Ajay Bhargava, appearing for Mallya, said he does not wish to file any reply to the Enforcement Directorate's response on his plea and the matter should be fixed for final arguments.

The court also said that on October 4 it had specifically noted that he could approach authorities and obtain emergency documents to return to India but the situation is that he has not taken any such step.

"It appears that accused is not willing to take any steps to return to India," the CMM said.

Mallya, chairman of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is facing action after defaulting on over Rs 9,000-crore loan from 17 banks.

In July this year, he had skipped appearance before a PMLA court in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering probe against him in alleged bank loan fraud case.

Mallya had left the country in March and is currently said to be in the UK. Several cheque bounce cases have been filed against him.
Reliance Jio saw fall in speeds from 7.2 mbps in September to 6 mbps in October, according to report.

The 4G data speed of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio declined by about 20 per cent in October across 17 circles even as Bharti Airtel improved its speed while expanding footprint to 19 circles.

According to a report by CLSA, Reliance Jio saw a 20 per cent fall in speeds from 7.2 mbps in September to 6 mbps in October and with 17 of the 22 markets reporting the fall, a quick subscriber ramp-up led by free offers impacted service quality in most markets.

The fall in Jio speeds is higher in data-heavy markets such as Delhi and Mumbai thanks to higher usage of 4G services in these markets.

During the same period, Bharti Airtel saw an increase in speeds in 10 of its 16 4G markets and also expanded its 4G service to cover 19 of the total 22 markets.

The findings are part of CLSAs second edition of quality of service tracker, which analyses the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias speed test data based on 2.5 million and 0.5 million samples on 4G and 3G networks, respectively.

At 6 mbps, Reliance Jios speeds were similar to the average speeds of Idea Cellular and Vodafone at 7 mbps but nearly half of Bhartis 11.5 mbps. The research firm said if Reliance Jios 4G speeds do not improve, the new entrant might extend free offers beyond December adding risks to the data pricing of incumbents.

Idea Cellular also reported an increase in 4G speeds in six of its 10 4G markets and expanded its services to cover 11 markets during the month. Among the four large operators, while Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have improved/maintained 4G speeds, Vodafone and Reliance Jio have seen a fall, CLSA said. The research firm said as the average 4G speed is still two to three times 3G speed, it could continue to drive migration from 3G to 4G services.

According to Trai data, during October, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular maintained 3G and 4G speeds despite rising 3G and 4G adoption.

However, CLSA said in case Jio extends the free offer, data realisations of incumbents will be impacted.

Since Reliance Jios launch, incumbents have launched several promotional offers and this has impacted their data realisations.

During the second half of FY17, CLSA has forecast a 30 per cent year-on-year decline in the data realisation of Airtel and 25 per cent for Idea.

A one per cent further fall in data realisations without any corresponding increase in usage could impact Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) by 0.4-0.8 per cent for Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, respectively, CLSA added.

Airtel gives more POIs to Jio, two call it a truce

Additional 7,000 PoIs sufficient to serve over 75 million customers, says Bharti Airtel.

The countrys top mobile operator Bharti Airtel has provided over 7,000 additional points of interconnect (PoIs) to Reliance Jio, a move welcomed by the Mukesh Ambani-owned firm as it would solve the congestion issue and call failures.

The development follows meetings with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and Telecome Regulatory Authority of India Chairman R S Sharma with CEOs of Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Reliance Jio earlier this week on the subject of breach of quality of service (QoS) parameters.

After recommending penalty to the tune of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, Sharma had asked the operators to solve the PoI issue with Jio mutually. Sinha too had said the bilateral issue should be resolved within the regulatory framework.

Airtel said with the additional over 7,000 PoIs, it has provided 17,000 PoIs to Jio till date, which is sufficient to serve over 75 million customers and this is well ahead of the timeframe, since there are currently only 25 million customers making calls to the Airtel network from Jio.

This allocation was long overdue, considering the severe hardships caused to the customers of both operators in being able to connect voice calls between the two networks. More than 280 crore calls have failed between Jio and Airtel over the last three-and-a-half months because of absolute shortage of PoI capacity, Jio said in a statement.

Airtel said it has been providing PoIs to Jio, even before the commencement of commercial operations. Following the commercial launch of services by Jio on September 5, Airtel has released PoIs at a staggering pace, well ahead of its bilateral and regulatory obligations.

However, Jio said all operators have a mandatory and unconditional obligation under the licence to provide adequate PoIs to all the other operators and this is irrespective of the status of operations of the other operators or the traffic pattern.

In June 2016, Jio had provided its forecast of points of interconnect to Airtel. At a meeting on November 1, 2016, in the presence of Trai, Jio reiterated its requirement and requested Airtel to provide sufficient PoIs in line with its forecast of June 2016.

Our regulatory obligations permit us to provide interconnect in a period of 90 days. With this augmentation Airtel has provided Jio capacity that is comparable to operators with six to eight times the customer base of Jio, in mere nine weeks of their launch, Airtel said.

Countering the 90-day period by Airtel, Jio said there is no entitlement of timing when it comes to such severe breach of QoS.

Airtel further added that it requests Jio to ensure that the additional PoIs be operationalised with the same alacrity.

Jio said it would like to reiterate that there has been no delay in operationalising PoIs at its end and also expressed hope that Airtel will continue to release adequate PoIs going forward to ensure that it adheres to the QoS parameter of PoI congestion mandated by Trai regulation at less than 5 per 1,000 calls at all times.

Regarding asymmetry of calls terminating on the Airtel network from Jio due to free services, Jio said the current traffic pattern is completely in line with what is expected in a new network.
The attack followed a scuffle as the ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry arrived to chair the board meeting of Indian Hotels

The Mumbai Press Club, on Friday, condemned the attack on the photojournalists by private securitymen before the Tata group headquarters Bombay House and demanded arrest of the guards involved in the scuffle.

"We strongly condemn the brutal attack on news photographers at the Bombay House," Press Club secretary Dharmendra Jore said in a statement.

"We demand immediate arrest of the security personnel who beat up the reporters at the Tata Group headquarters, who were involved in a shameful act of violence against the professionals from various media houses who were performing their duty this afternoon," Jore said.

The attack followed a scuffle as the ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry arrived to chair the board meeting of Indian Hotels, that runs the group's Taj brand of hotels to approve the second quarter earnings.

The scuffle started as soon as Mistry, who is the chairman of IHCL, arrived at the Tata group headquarters to chair the board meeting, and standing photographers went beyond the cordoned off area to click his pictures.

Three photojournalists from Times of India, Mid-Day and the Hindustan Times were allegedly beaten by the guards, and are in hospital now.

"The Press Club does not expect a corporate house like the Tatas to indulge in violent practices against the media persons. We demand explanation from the corporate authorities who allowed their security to take this extreme step," the statement said.

"We extend our full support to the affected colleagues and their families. We will soon declare our next course of action to seek justice," the statement said.

The Press Club has already reported the matter to the government and the the city police.

A Tata Group spokesperson apologised for the incident saying, "whatever happened, should not have happened".

Photograph: Sahil Salvi.
While study was done before the current boardroom battle began, the findings indicate Tata is no longer viewed as aspirational brand by working professionals.

Once among the top five most attractive brands in India, the venerable house of Tatas has fallen off that perch this year, according to a study of the countrys most attractive brands released on Thursday.

The annual study, which comes out every October-November, has ranked Tata at seventh position, a drop of three spots from last year when it was ranked fourth. The fieldwork for this study was done in August-September this year, before the boardroom battle erupted between ousted Tata group chairman Cyrus Mistry and interim chairman Ratan Tata began.

N Chandramouli, chief executive, TRA, the agency that has released the study, says the findings indicate the mindset of working professionals, males and females in the age-group of 21-50 in the countrys top 16 cities, who are considered key influencers for most brands. TRA has spoken to 2,500 such individuals in these cities to arrive at the final results.

The Tata brand was among the top five in 2013 and 2015, the last two times we released the (attractive brands) report. The drop now indicates that key influencers no longer consider the Tata brand to be aspirational. This has partly to do with the issues that the Tata group has been grappling with for a few years now, which is showing up in how key influencers perceive the brand, he says.

TRA assigns values to brands based on their attractiveness quotient. Tatas attractiveness quotient has seen a 20 per cent drop this year over last year, Chandramouli says.

Besides legacy issues that have dogged the Tatas, the brand appears to have not done enough in terms of its external communication to mould appeal among influencers.

In order to influence and inspire their consumers, brands have to mould their outgoing communication to constantly and proactively accentuate their brand appeal. That has not been adequate enough in the case of the Tatas, Chandramouli says.

The Tata brand is not the only one to see a drop in ranking this year. Samsung mobiles, which topped the list last year, has dropped to third spot, making way for durables major and rival LG to emerge the number one. Sony, also a durables major and rival to Samsung, has come in at number two this year. Both LG and Sony, have moved up a notch this year in terms of rankings, Chandramouli says.

While the Note 7 fiasco was not covered in the fieldwork for the study conducted this year, the drop in Samsungs ranking reflects a sense of fatigue that key influencers feel about mobiles as a category.

The mobile phone space has become cluttered in the last few years and the fall in ranking of Samsung this year is a reflection of that, Chandramouli adds.

Apart from durables and mobile phones, the top ten list of attractive brands this year is dominated by automobiles (Honda, Maruti Suzuki), telecom (Airtel) and conglomerates (Bajaj and Tata).

Image: Ratan Tata. Photograph: Reuters.

No plans to eject Mistry from Indian Hotels

Dev Chatterjee

Senior independent directors on the board of Indian Hotels are planning to discuss the acquisitions made by the previous management led by former chairman and current Interim Chairman Ratan Tata in the crucial Indian Hotels board meeting in Mumbai on Friday. The removal of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Indian Hotels is not on the agenda, and the board meeting is to consider the July-September 2016 quarter results.

In a scathing letter last week, former Tata Sons Chairman Mistry had said the group had made several bad acquisitions across group companies including Indian Hotels that could result in potential write-downs of $18 billion for the group.

A director on the board of Indian Hotels said senior directors, led by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and former Hindustan Unilever chairman Keki Dadiseth, are likely to discuss the issues raised by Mistry. Both directors have an impeccable track record and command respect from both the Tata and Mistry camps.

We will certainly raise the issue and frankly, this is something I have seen for the first time in my life, a director on the board of Indian Hotels said, asking not to be quoted. Cyrus has a good track record in solving the legacy issues at Tatas and has done a good job, said he.

Shapoor Mistry, elder brother of Cyrus and director on the Indian Hotels board, will also attend the meeting. Shapoor is not happy with the way the entire matter was handled by Tata. He is supporting his brother to the hilt, said a source close to the development.

Mistry will not resign from any group companies where he is the chairman and is ready for legal battle with Tatas -- if need be, a family source said. Mistry is currently chairman of all top-listed firms. Tata Sons stake in these companies is low while the institutional/small shareholders own the rest. The Shapoorji Pallonji family owns 18.5 per cent in the Tata group holding company, Tata Sons. Tata Sons, in turn, holds 39 per cent stake in Indian Hotels.

Soon after his exit from Tata Sons, Mistry had said Indian Hotels or IHCL had acquired the SeaRock property in Mumbai at a highly inflated price and housed it in an off-balance sheet structure.

In the process of unravelling this legacy, IHCL has had to write down nearly its entire net worth over the past three years. This impairs its ability to pay dividends, Mistry had written in a letter to Tata Sons directors and trustees a day after he was removed. Many foreign properties of IHCL and holdings in Orient Hotels have been sold at a loss. The onerous terms of the lease for Pierre in New York are such that it would make it a challenge to exit, Mistry said.

In his letter to employees, Ratan Tata said the removal of Mistry from Tata Sons was absolutely necessary for the future success of the Tata group.

In its response to the stock exchanges on Mistrys charges, Indian Hotels said all its reports and financial statements present a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and the company has disclosed all material facts as required under applicable law.

Indian Hotels shares, meanwhile, have lost 16 per cent of their value, or Rs 2,000 crore, since October 24 when Mistry was ousted from Tata Sons. The stock closed at Rs 109 on Thursday as jittery investors sold its shares.

Ronen Sen lashes out at Mistry for leaking information

Dev Chatterjee

An independent director of Tata Sons, for the first time since the ouster of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of the groups holding company, broke his silence over the controversy. Ronen Sen lashed out at Mistry for leaking selective information to media.

I have not and will not comment on the veracity or otherwise of confidential and internal documents being leaked in a selective and motivated manner by sources close to the former chairman, contrary to norms governing privileged information. I leave it to you to arrive at your own conclusions on whether these orchestrated leaks, unless denounced by him, will enhance or further diminish the confidence of his fellow directors on the board of Tata Sons, said Sen.

Sen said this in response to media reports pointing out that the nomination and remuneration committee of the Tata Sons Board lauded the erstwhile chairman for his performance and also recommended a substantial salary increase, four months before asking him to step down. Sen was chairman of the said committee along with Vijay Singh, the nominee director representing Tata Trusts, and Farida Khambata, an independent director.

I will also not stoop to the level of the unidentified person close to the former chairman who has implicitly questioned my integrity and explicitly alleged that I, and another respected colleague on the board, of clearly having failed to apply their mind independently and discharge their fiduciary duty by dignifying the charge with a response, said Sen.

He, however, indicated that there could have been developments between June 28, the day nomination and remuneration committee met after reviewing Mistrys performance, and October 24, when Mistry was sacked as the chairman of Tata Sons.

The implied assumption that there were no developments between the meeting of the nomination and remuneration committee and the board meeting on 24 October is also naive to put it mildly, said Sen.

Sen is a former civil servant, who has been Indias ambassador to the United States (2004 to 2009), Germany (1998-2002), Russia (1992-98) and Mexico (1991-92).

Defending himself, Sen said he has enjoyed confidence of eight successive prime ministers because of his independence of assessments affecting national interests.

Insinuations that I acted differently in the board room of an iconic company with a great legacy appears to reflect a mindset that measures others by their own self-centred priorities and perceptions.

Sen also clarified that his comments were solely in his personal capacity and that he was not speaking on behalf of Tata Sons or fellow board members.

Ratan Tata forms his A Team

BS Reporter

Veterans Prasad Menon, S Padmanabhan inducted; Harish Bhat, Mukund Rajan, Katragadda, Srinath also brought in.

Within a week of removing Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons, Interim Chairman Ratan Tata has started work on putting together his A team by inducting former Tata Power managing director Prasad Menon as member, chairman's office, and Tata Quality Management Services managing director S Padmanabhan as group human resources head.

Till January 2016, Menon was chairman of Air Vistara, a pet project of Tata. Menon joined the Tata group in 2000 and headed Tata Chemicals before becoming the managing director of Tata Power.

Padmanabhan has worked in the Tata group for 32 years, having started his career in Tata Consultancy Services, and has worked in various roles across group companies.

Tata has also reshuffled the portfolio of Mukund Rajan, former Tata brand custodian, to oversee Tata Sons overseas operations and he will continue as chief ethics officer.

Rajan was also a member of Mistry's group executive council (GEC), which was disbanded with Mistrys ouster. Rajan was recruited in the Tata Administrative Service (TAS), which he joined in 1995, and has worked in several group companies and was also assigned to Ratan Tatas office.

Harish Bhat, another GEC member, has been appointed as Tata brand custodian and head of business development. Bhat was hired in TAS in 1987. He has headed Tata Global Beverages as managing director and was chief operating officer at Titan Industries earlier. After becoming a GEC member, he has served as director on several group company boards.

Gopichand Katragadda, the first chief technology officer of the Tata group, has retained his job. Mistry had hired Katragadda from GE India Technology Centre, where he was chairman and managing director. He drives technology and innovation at the group.

N Srinath, managing director of loss-making Tata Teleservices and an old Tata favourite, is also in the core team. Srinath, another TAS recruit, headed Tata Communications earlier and has been working in the group since 1986.

Ratan Tata has said he will remain as interim chairman only till the next chairman is appointed by a selection panel that includes Lord Kumar Bhattacharya. Since the ouster, Tata has inducted TCS managing director and CEO N Chandrasekharan and Jaguar Land Rover chief Ralf Speth on board.

Apart from Mistry, three GEC members -- NS Rajan, Madhu Kannan and Nirmalya Kumar -- have quit the group.
Though the 2019 alliance talks, if any, are a long way off, CM Jayas current state of health and her long hospitalisation maybe a facilitating factor for the AIADMK to consider any BJP initiative favourably at the time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.



In a move indicating future possibilities, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre has extended support to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the upcoming assembly by-election in Puducherry, where Congress Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy is seeking to enter the assembly.

The two parties are contesting three assembly by-elections in neighbouring Tamil Nadu against each other, and against DMK and PMK.

In the assembly polls of May this year, the Congress had won 15 of 30 seats, and the partys DMK ally, 2, for the combine to form the government.

The then ruling AINRC of outgoing chief minister N Rangaswamy, a Congress rebel from the past, won eight seats.

The AIADMK, contesting alone after its two post-poll allies from the previous 2011 elections had fallen out, bagged four seats.

The BJP contested all 30 seats and drew a blank.

Continuing with their pre-poll alliance, the Congress and the DMK formed a coalition government.

However, given the faction feud in the Congress, it took the party high command a relatively long time to identify one-time Union minister (MoS), Narayanaswamy, for chief minister.

Interestingly, the AINRC has since extended unilateral support to AIADMK candidate Om Sakthi Sekar for the Nellithope seat.

Its not without reason. Party leader Rangaswamy hopes to return as chief minister if the defeat of Narayanaswamy could trigger cross-overs from the Congress.

He could then hope to count on the AIADMK backing, which would have then added up five MLAs.

Getting Rangaswamy in, or even Narayanaswamy out, should be a small gain for the BJP in the overall contest. Its larger interests lay in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where the party-led NDA fared badly in 2014 when the Modi wave gripped much of India.

This was followed by the BJPs poor showing in the May 2016 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Worse still, the BJP lost three of its 2014 allies, namely, the DMDK, MDMK and the VCK to the Left-centric Peoples Welfare Alliance. The PMK, the other ally from 2014, went on its own in 2016, and drew a blank.

Worse still in the BJPs national calculus for the 2019 parliamentary polls -- or, as perceived today -- all these parties polled much lower figure than the self-claimed break-up of the 2014 NDA tally of 17.5 per cent vote-share in Tamil Nadu, with only two seats to their credit.

All of it proved that the BJP/Modi vote-share in 2014 might have been higher than the party was ready to claim credit for, or what other allies of the time were ready to give them credit for.

Yet, in a 2019 poll sweepstakes, vote-share does not matter for the national leadership of the BJP, seat-share alone would.

The BJP in Tamil Nadu, without either the ruling AIADMK or the rival DMK, does not stand a chance to make up the numbers, either on its own or through alliance partners, should the emerging situation demand it.

The Hindutva image the Modi leadership seems to have replace since after his development platform for the 2014 polls, will keep the DMK away.

Anyway, after losing all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry put together, in the company of the Congress rival of the BJP, the DMK cannot be a naturally sought-after ally for the Modi leadership.

Against this, the AIADMK under CM Jayalalithaa swept the parliamentary polls in the state, though on her Lady vs Modi campaign.

Jaya also became the first chief minister and the AIADMK the first party in 25 years to return to power in the state for a second consecutive term -- in the 2016 assembly polls.

Last but not the least, the BJP has transferrable votes for the AIADMK, and the reverse is also true in constituencies where they contest as alliance partners.

Experience has shown that the BJP especially does not have transferrable votes when the DMK is a poll ally. Consequently, the DMK too has not been able to transfer votes to the BJP in other constituencies.

From the AIADMK side, there is also nothing any more as a minority vote-bank for the party especially to be afraid of losing in BJP-Modis company -- unless otherwise it gets revived all over again in 2019, if at all.

Though 2019 alliance talks, if any, are a long way off, CM Jayas current state of health and her long hospitalisation maybe a facilitating factor for the AIADMK, especially to consider any BJP initiative favourably at the time.

Depending on Jayas disposition at the time, and the consequent health of the state administration, the AIADMK could do with additional campaign-support from the Modi imagery.

The way the Modi government at the Centre handled the Jaya health issue with the political and constitutional sensitivities it deserved has endeared the prime minister to the AIADMK cadres.

Its especially true of the way the Centre, acting through Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, facilitated Finance Minister O Panneerselvam to chair cabinet meetings and handle portfolios under Jayas care, until she resumed her duties.

Even without any of these, the rival DMKs patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi is not tired of constantly hinting at -- or, harping on -- the Centres kid glove handling of constitutional issues when Jaya was hospitalised.

He had earlier begun with claiming that PM Modis early congratulations to Jaya only hours in to the vote-count for the May polls was among the reasons for the AIADMKs recorded tally.

Its another matter that in recent weeks, after the governor facilitated the smooth administrative transition without power transfer during Jayas hospitalisation, the AIADMK state government has been reacting favourably on issues where it has had differences over the past years.

Included in the list is the state governments adoption of the new education policy, foodgrains policy, and UDAY power scheme. The Jaya government had opposed these in the past.

It does not mean that the Panneerselvam-chaired Cabinet had accepted them all without anticipated concurrence from Amma, when she is ready to take on the responsibilities all over again.

Yet, it means that bilateral climes might have cooled down at one end, and warmed on the other -- for the Centre and the state on the one hand, and possibly the BJP and AIADMK on the other.

In the interim, however, it is unlikely that the two parties are going to contest the court-postponed local bodies polls, or even any future by-election in Tamil Nadu, as allies -- until a clearer picture emerges on the LS poll scenario in the months and years ahead of 2019.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
The basic pension of ex-servicemen of the Indian Army has increased by 2.57 times as compared to pension of December 31, 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said in Pokhara, Nepal while addressing ex-servicemen of the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army.

Mukherjee, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, lauded the valour and discipline of the Gurkha soldiers in guarding the borders of India.

Mukherjee, who is on a three-day state visit to Nepal, visited the Pension Office for Gurkha ex-servicemen in Pokhara in the last segment as large number of these soldiers live here after retirement.

The scenic Pokhara Valley, nestled in the shadow of towering snowcapped peaks of Dhaulgiri, Machapuchare, and Annapurna is home to a large number of soldiers of the famed Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army.

The President received a warm welcome here with people dressed in traditional clothes carrying flags of India and Nepal had lined up the roads from airport to hotel where he stayed briefly and then from hotel to pension office of the Gurkha regiments ex-servicemen.

People stood there throughout the stay of the President who was in the city for nearly an hour playing drums, dancing and waving as his convoy passed through the streets of Pokhara city.

According to the Seventh Pay Commission, the basic pension has increased 2.57 times under the One Rank One Pension scheme as compared to basic pension on December 31, 2015, Mukherjee said.

He said being the supreme commander of the Indian defence forces, it was a matter of great satisfaction and pride that all the welfare schemes of ex-servicemen are being implemented in Nepal on time.

The President said there are 32,000 Gurkha soldiers in Indian Army besides 1.26 lakh ex-servicemen from the community. Mukherjee said India will never hesitate to take all possible steps for the welfare of ex-servicemen.

Every year about Nepalese Rs (NPR) 3,100 crore of pensions is being distributed in Nepal. In the current financial year, the target is to distribute about NPR 4,000 crore of pension as per One Rank One Pension and Seventh Pay Commission, he said.

IMAGE: President Pranab Mukherjee visits Janaki Temple at Janakpur, Nepal on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo
A minor girl was allegedly raped at a government-aided tribal residential school in Maharashtras Buldhana district, following which 11 people were arrested and a Special Investigation Team was formed to probe the case as police suspect that more children could have been sexually exploited.

As the shocking incident came to light, police arrested 11 people, including the main accused who is a 23-year-old school employee, the headmaster, staff and members of the school management, on Thursday night.

A SIT, headed by a senior IPS officer has been formed to investigate this case,

Maharashtra Director General of Police Satish Mathur said on Friday.

Thirteen people allegedly involved in this incident were identified and 11 have been arrested, the top IPS officer said. Search for the remaining two is underway, Mathur said.

He said that only one girl has complained of rape.

We have taken action immediately after being informed by the local sarpanch, Mathur told reporters at the state police headquarters.

The victim has named one person. Investigation is underway, the police official said.

However, District Guardian Minister Pandurang Phundkar, who is camping in his constituency (Khamgaon) to monitor the progress of the investigations, had earlier said that two girls have came forward with complaints of alleged abuse.

Former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse was approached recently by the family of the victim who hailed from his assembly constituency in Muktainagar (Jalgaon).

Khadse informed Phundkar, who then asked police to look into the matter.

Those arrested include staff members of the school who did not bring this incident to notice of police, Mathur said.

Police will collect more information from students and other officials once the school reopens, he said.

Maharashtra has more than 1,000 residential schools called ashramshalas which are run either directly by the state government or by trusts supported by the state government through grant in aid. Around 4.45 lakh students are studying these schools, out of which 1.99 lakh are girls.

The main accused has been charged under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, Buldhana Superintendent of Police Sanjay Baviskar said.

The others arrested have booked under various relevant sections of the IPC, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and SC/ST Atrocities Act.

According to police, the 14-year-old girl from Nanji Kokare Adivasi Ashramshala at Lokanda Pala in Khamgaon taluka of Buldhana district went to her home at a village in Muktainagar for Diwali vacations and narrated the plight to her parents.

The girls mother then informed the villages woman sarpanch, who in-turn told Khadse about the alleged exploitation.

Looking into the gravity of the issue, Khadse immediately informed Phundkar about it. He asked Buldhanas Additional SP Yashwant Solanke to look into the matter.

Immediately, police swung into action and 11 people involved in running the ashramshala were arrested, police said.

The tribal residential school belongs to a local politician, Phundkar said.

Meanwhile, Khamgaon residents on Friday staged a Thiyya (sit-in) agitation before the local police station to protest the incident.
Many of the Indian-Americans in Florida who voted for the US President Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections say they are switching sides this time and are supporting Republican candidate Donald Trump.

But there appears to be a gender divide, as women appear to be solidly behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, 69, because of her life-long work for children and women.

She (Clinton) has a lot of experience. She has worked for children and women all her life. There is such a huge gap between her experience and what Trump, 70, represent, Indrani Sindhuvalli, professor of Biology at the Florida State College in Jacksonville said in an interview.

He (Trump) is so negative and so inexperienced. I cant support him, said Sindhuvalli, who voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

Have you listened to what he has said about women? I would not be voting for him. (Hillary Clinton) is my choice for presidency, Rani Ignatius, 61, who lives near Orlando said.

But Rani and several other Indian-American women are having a problem at home convincing their husband to vote for Clinton.

This is time that we hand over the leadership of the country to a non-politician. Even though he is not very articulate as a politician should be, his policies are in the best interest of the United States, Iggy Ignatius, 61, who is the founder and chairman of Orlando-based Shantiniketan, a home for Indian-American senior citizens, said.

Similarly, Dr Pawan Rattan, a life-long registered Democrat from Tampa, finds himself in the Trump camp.

His policies makes a lot of sense and is in the best interest of the US and the world, Dr Rattan said.

This is a man who appears to be genuine in his commitment, he said, adding that he is making a one-time exception to vote for Trump because of his commitment to fight terrorism, and policies on health care and immigration.

However, Dr Rattan acknowledged that he faces a tough opposition from his daughter on his support to Trump. She wants me to support Clinton, he said.

Indian-American Satya Shaw, a certified public accountant, is an independent and had voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

I voted for change. But there is no change. Tax rates have increased. Health care bills have jumped, Shaw, who comes from Orissa and lives near Tampa, said.

Impressed by Trumps policies Shaw said: He will repeal and replace Obamacare on day one. Our income tax would come down.

Dr L Gedia, says this time a lot of Indian-Americans who voted for Obama in the previous elections are switching over to Trump.

Same is the case with Americans, he said, adding that more than 80 per cent of his American patients are supporting Trump. They have lost faith in Hillary Clinton, he said.

I would not be surprised if it is not a repeat of Brexit, Dr Gedia said.

As per 2010 census, there are about 130,000 Indian-Americans in Florida, mostly concentrated in three major areas of the States  Tampa, Miami and Orlando.

However, unlike some of the key battle ground States like Virginia, the voting pattern of Indian-Americans are unlikely to make a major impact on the overall result of the state.

Image: Supporters attend a Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaign event in Orlando. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters
Undergoing treatment for severe neck, spinal and abdominal injuries at a hospital, 14-month-old Pari is a testimony of the barbarism unleashed by the Pakistan Rangers on unarmed civilians on the Indian side.

The girl has lost her grandfather, an aunt and two cousins in the cross-border shelling by Pakistan on her village in Rangoor Camp on November 1. She underwent a life saving surgery at the Government Medical College Hospital on Wednesday.

At this tender age she is unable to understand what tragedy has befallen on the family. Her parents were also injured in the Pakistani shelling, Baljeet Kumar, a relative of Pari said.

Doctors attending to Pari said she received severe splinter injuries in the neck, spine and abdomen. Some portions of her intestines were also damaged. She has been operated for Exploratory Latropomy and has been placed under observation in the Intensive Care Unit.

While Pari is battling for her life in the hospital, her father, Rakesh Kumar, who was also injured in the attack, is recuperating in the same hospital.

The attack on our village was sheer barbarianism unleashed by the Pakistani Rangers. They continued to pound our village for several hours, without giving us any time to run for safety. Pari is a living testimony of all this, Geeta Kumari, another relative of Pari, said.

Paris father has not been able to see her. He is injured in the leg. We had to lift him on our shoulders so that he could perform the last rites of his father, Kumari said.

People across Jammu region have been praying for early recovery of Pari as she has become a symbol of the agony and pain being faced by the border residents across the region due to the continuous firing from across the border.

Rishab, 7, and Abhi, 5, were among the eight killed in the cross-border firing in Ramgarh sector of Samba district.

These kids had no idea of what cross-border firing is. Their life was cut short by the madness of Pakistan which deliberately targeted the civilian areas, Pardeep Kumar, a relative of another injured border resident said.

Terming the attack on civilian areas the height of barbarianism, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said it is insane that small kids are targeted by the Pakistan.

It is barbarianism on part of Pakistan to target kids. Pakistan is a rouge state which attacked villages and killed eight civilians and injured scores others including Pari, he said.

Singh also said the Jammu and Kashmir government will take care of all medical expenses incurred for the treatment of the firing victims and will ensure that Pari gets the best possible medical care.

Image: Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visits Pari at the Government Medical College Hospital. Photograph: PTI
An emotional appeal of a mother paid rich dividends when a Kashmiri youth, who had joined Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, was persuaded to surrender.

This happened in an interior area of Sopore late Thursday night after the army with the help of other security agencies laid a siege of a locality after intelligence inputs indicated presence of a militant in a house.

A senior army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the troops came to know the identity of the holed up militant as Umaq Khaliq Mir alias Sameer, a resident of Tujjar in North Kashmir.

When attempts to draw out the youth proved futile it was decided to request his parents, whose home was five kilometre away, to come and persuade him to surrender, the official said.

His mother agreed readily and came to the place and pleaded with his son as the army had assured her that they would take a lenient view in case her son surrendered.

It was an anxious moment for us as we were risking life of a civilian along with some of my boys, who had provided human shield to the woman, the official said.

The mother was allowed to go inside the house and request her son to come out and surrender which he eventually did.

After lot of persuasion, Mir emerged from the house and handed over one AK rifle, three magazines, three grenades and a radio set.

Mir, a 26 year-old boy of Tujjar, had been missing from May this year and had joined the LeT.

We make all out efforts to preserve human life and this is one such example. I am glad that my decision was right because at the end, motherhood prevailed over a boy who had been brainwashed to carry out innocent killings in the state, the official added.

After his surrender, he was handed over to the local police which arrested him.

Mir surrendered to the army troops after being motivated for several hours through all channels including the parents. The life of a Kashmiri youth has been saved, a senior army officer said.

Giving details about his surrender, the army officer said that after cordoning off the area, we asked him to surrender.

We asked his mother to plead him to surrender so that his life is saved. We do not want loss of life. His father Khalid Mir was not at home and we brought him from another place and asked him to plead with his son to surrender, he said.

After two hours of the hectic parlays, he came out with parents and surrendered. This was our biggest success in ensuring surrender, he said.

The incident comes days after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti urged police to try to bring back to their homes the local boys who have joined militancy instead of killing them in encounters.

I request the police to try to bring them back to their homes, instead of them being killed in encounters, she had said on October 21, amid unrest triggered by the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in a gun-battle with forces in July.

Such youth (who have taken to the gun) need hand-holding... If it is possible to bring them back, make them a part of the mainstream. Give them bats, balls and good education, instead of guns. We do not want loss of life, she said.
Slamming the Congress for playing politics over an ex-soldiers suicide, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday blamed administrative lapse on the part of bank for not remitting the entitled pension after he was granted benefits under One Rank, One Pension.

On Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh branding the deceased as a Congress worker, he said all leaders must be sensitive to the suicide.

Taking Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi head-on, he said no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially by a party whose fortune is already sinking.

The United Progressive Alliance government, he said, had not taken any meaningful step towards implementing OROP for defence personnel in its 10 years of rule as was evident from a meagre Rs 500 crore allocation it made for the purpose.

The government sympathises with the defence personnel who committed suicide, but there was not a lapse that OROP was not granted to him, he clarified.

It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted. It was not a lapse that there was some exception made in his favour. Obviously, communication with the bank, there seems to be some gap in that and therefore, he was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part of the service which he was legitimately entitled to, Jaitley told reporters.

Asked about comments by V K Singh, he said, Everybody has to be sensitive... we must appreciate the sensitivity of the person who under stress has committed suicide. I do sympathise with him and all our comments have to be sensitive on this issue.

Critical of Rahul for playing politics over the suicide, he said, It is equally important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy of an individual into a political gain for a party whose fortunes are otherwise sinking.

He said further: It doesnt behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals. A more responsible behaviour is expected of them.

The government, he said, fully sympathises with the defence personnel and his family who committed suicide.

For 10 years, OROP was not implemented by the Congress, Jaitley said.

So the sympathy that has arisen today is politically motivated and the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) is the first government which has not only accepted OROP demand, but implemented it, he said.

Taking his point forward, the finance minister said Rs 1,000 crore has been budgeted for pension under OROP. He gave an assurance that the payments are already reaching the defence personnel.

It is a very sensitive case because the government has allocated all the money. Now obviously, (as for) the communication at the bank level, there seems to have been some problem in calculating his entire service, which was divided into two parts. This was a procedural problem which could have been resolved at the level of the bank or the department dealing with it, Jaitley said.

The finance minister made a reference to efforts to create meaningless conflict over OROP applicable on defence services.

This OROP has remained a demand of retired defence personnel for decades. And during 10 years of the UPA government from 2004 to 2014, there was this demand but it has not taken any meaningful step during these years, he said.

It was only during the Lok Sabha elections in April that they said a committee will be set up to work out the functional modalities of OROP, Jaitley added.

If in April 2014, you are setting up a committee, that shows its only for electoral benefits, he said further.

He questioned the seriousness of the leaders of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, wondering why they did not give even Re 1 for OROP for these 10 years.

He spoke of the NDA starting the discussions once it came to power. A Parliamentary Committee report, he said, had assessed around Rs 1,200 crore to be the cost to the exchequer, but on further examination, it turned out to be a few more thousand crores.

We had worked out a few options and at the end, the government accepted the demand of OROP and decided that the fitment of the pension amount will be reviewed after every five years (as against) 10 years in case of government employees, he disclosed.

Referring to challenges in implementation of OROP in the last few moths, he said the pension is being transferred through State Bank of India and each retired defence personnel is getting pension based on this revised formulation.

The Justice Reddy Committee was set up to resolve issues faced by some people, Jaitley said, adding that the panel gave the report last week.

The government is examining it, and discrepancies will be resolved in the next two months, the finance minister promised.

According to Jaitley, the issues arose because there was change in address, some were not traceable or some have calculation error. He acknowledged calculation errors at the end of the bank in some cases.

When you have to pay in lakhs, it is natural that you will have such errors. Hence, a machinery is there to resolve this problem, he said, adding that the Congress leaders did not show any sympathy when they were in power.
A Pakistani court on Friday ordered the deportation of Sharbat Gula, National Geographics famed green-eyed Afghan Girl immortalised in a 1985 haunting picture on the cover, after she pleaded guilty to charges of staying in Peshawar with fake ID cards.

A special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar ordered Gulas deportation to Afghanistan after serving a 15-day jail sentence besides slapping a fine of Pakistani Rs 1,10,000.

Gula, who was dubbed as Mona Lisa of Afghan war, was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency on October 26 from Peshawar for alleged forgery of a Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card.

The court issued the verdict after the accused pleaded guilty to the charges, Gulas lawyer Mubashir Khan said.

She has served about nine days in jail already and will remain imprisoned for six more to complete her sentence, he said.

The fine was also paid so she is will be deported from Pakistan at the end of her sentence, he added.

The court was informed during the hearing that Gula was a widow and the sole breadwinner of family. She was also suffering from Hepatitis C.

The United Nations high commissioner distanced itself from Sharbat Gula, claiming that she was not a registered refugee.

According to the interim chargesheet submitted on November 1, the prosecutor said that she accepted the main charge of faking her identity to get the CNIC.

Gula said that her late husband, Rehmat Gul, had earlier made a manual national identity card in 1988, which was used to get the CNIC with the help of an agent who was bribed.

The FIA also registered an FIR on October 20 against three former government employees for fraudulently issuing Pakistani CNICs to Afghan nationals, including Gula.

Gula became famously known as the Afghan Girl when National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry took her photograph at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp situated on the edge of Peshawar in 1984.

Her photo, with hauntingly sea-green eyes, appeared on the cover of the June, 1985 issue of the National Geographic magazine and went to become one of magazines most famous covers.

The photo, which was taken by Steve McCurry in a refugee camp in Pakistan in 1984 when Gula was about 12 years old, was compared to Leonardo Da Vincis Mona Lisa, with National Geographic also making a short documentary on her.
From a volcano spewing ash over the landscape to two kingfishers sharing some food, these are some of the stunning images from around the world that are in the running to be named nature picture of the year.



National Geographic has released a final selection of entries from the magazines 2016 Nature Photographer of the Year contest and, as you might expect, theyre breathtaking.

The deadline for submissions is coming up on Friday. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a 10-day trip for two to the Galapagos Islands.

With their kind permission, here are some of their contest entries so far.

(Please click on the photos for hi-resolution images)

ALSO SEE PART I OF THEIR ENTRIES HERE

>> ALADDINS CAVE

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Snow cave on the slopes of the volcano Mutnovsky. Due to of global warming, glaciers have begun to decline. As a result, the ceiling of the cave became thin and the sunlight creates a wonderful picture of the different colours. Photograph: Denis Budkov/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> FRIENDSHIP KNOWS NO COLOUR

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Friendship knows no colour, nationality, race and social level? Friendship knows no age and gender? Friendship knows no distance - quoted by Luis A Ribeiro Branco. And this image perfectly could represent that message. Two Empusa Pennata which seem to play a game on the thin plant. Photograph: Jose Pesquero Gomez/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> I AM ANGRY

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We arrived at one of the watering holes in EtoshaNational Park in the late evening. Four lions were devouring a large kudu that they killed. A pack of hyenas appeared from the bush nearby attracted by the smell of blood and food for them. What ensued was a fight for the dead kudu between four female lions and 16 hyenas. Needless to say, in the end the hyenas won and got the prized kudu. Photograph: NingYu Pao/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> OIL INFINITIY

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Aerial shot taken over Oil Sands area, Fort McMurray, Canada. Oil sands are one of the biggest sources of harmful air pollutants. Photograph: Stas Bartnikas/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> ENGAGEMENT PRESENT

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Kingfisher (Alcedo athis) male with an engagement present for the female. Photograph: AndrEs Miguel DomInguez/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> UNDER THE WAVES

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Waves of fog roll over a neighbourhood in Mill Valley, California, as seen from the top of MountTamalpais. Photograph: Christopher Markisz/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> LARGER THAN LIFE

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While photographing flowers at eye level, this grasshopper surprised me by crawling overhead and pausing to watch. To get the effect of a wide-angle macro image, I used an inexpensive lens with an extension tube attached. This allowed me to focus at a very close range to capture minor details, yet still allowed for a wide composition. I was so close that the front element of the lens nearly touched the subject. Photograph: Alex Wiles/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> F/1.4

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Near the Chamonix glacier, Panorama. Photograph: cmoon view/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> PUFFIN STUDIO

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This image was taken last summer on SkomerIsland, Wales. It is well known for its wildlife, the puffin colony is one of the largest in UK. The photo shows a detail or study of an Atlantic puffin resting peacefully under the rain. As Skomer is inhabited, puffins do not feel afraid of humans, and so people can be close to puffins and the photographer can think about the right composition and take this kind of intimate portraits. Also that morning the conditions came together: rain and light. Photograph: Mario Suarez Porras/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> BREAKING THROUGH

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Shot at Inner Mongolia, China. Hundreds of horses rushing down across the Mongolia grassland and that was too impressive to hold a breath and record this moment. Photograph: Kyon. J/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> GLEN LE FEERIQUE

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During my trip in Scotland, this shot was one of my first objectives. I spent a lot of hours and days to get it. The sign on left down corner is a Celtic spiral. It represents travel from the inner life to the higher spirit form. To the ancient people of Ireland, it represented the sun and its cosmic energy. Photograph: Fabrice Petruzzi/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> BEFORE SUNRISE

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Quiet morning after raining for whole night in Xingping, Yangshuo. Photograph: Tianyuan Xiao/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> DIVING

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Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic. They fish by diving into the sea, they can do it from a height of 30 metres with a speed of 80 km/hour, and pursuing their preys underwater. The island of Noss, in Shetland Islands, is one of the most important nesting point, with over 7,000 breeding pairs. I took this picture in front of the high cliffs, from a small boat using an underwater housing, and surrounded by thousands of gannets flying, diving. Photograph: Felipe Foncueva/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> FIRE DANCER

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Sunrise over the Erta Ale lava lake created a dramatic dichotomy between the power and intimidation of the angry volcano and the childlike innocence of a dancing stick-figure. The spewing and showering of molten lava, the charred, cracking of the newly formed black basalt, and the fiery sunset within the sulfuric haze created for a dramatic, ethereal experience akin to a gateway to hell. The volcano had erupted only three weeks before this image was taken. Photograph: Brina Bunt/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

>> TOWARDS THE MIST

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A herd of frosty buffalos walking in the snow towards thick fog produced by the Yellowstone geothermal activity. Photograph: Meril D/2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
IMAGE: President Pranab Mukherjee attends the Civic Reception at Tirhutiya Gachi during his visit to Janakpur, Nepal on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo



President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday likened Indo-Nepal ties to that of a family in which differences sometimes crop up but said the effort is to iron them out through talks, an apparent reference to the political crisis over the new Constitution that had strained bilateral ties.

Mukherjee, the first Indian president to visit Nepal in 18 years, described his three-day state visit which concluded on Friday as very successful. He held discussions with several Nepalese leaders including President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Prachanda, Vice President Nand Bahadur Pun, Opposition leaders and representatives of Madhesi community.

During his visit, Mukherjee visited the hotbed of Madhesi protests Janakpur and met ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiments in Pokhra. The 80-year-old Mukherjee had about 27 engagements.

I would like to say I had a very successful visit to Nepal. I came here the day before yesterday (Wednesday) and since then I am overwhelmed with the hospitality of the people and government of republic of Nepal. Of course, Nepal is not an unknown land to me. I have the privilege of coming to Nepal several times, he told reporters in Pokhra.

Asked about occasional hiccups in Indo-Nepal ties and will his visit be able to revive the warmth between the two nations, the president cited the example of a family in which differences sometimes crop up.

Nepal and India always have good relations and as you know that in our individual lives, in our daily lives, day to day lives, there may be some different approaches or different angularity. But it is always our effort to iron them out and to resolve it through discussions, explanations and understanding. As we did in the case of family, in the larger context Indo-Nepal relationship is like that, he said.

Asked about his deliberations with Madhesi leaders on Thursday night, Mukherjee said he told them to work together.

After all, Constitution is a basic document and it should be drafted on the basis of broad consensus so that it is a lasting document and it can address the problems of all sections of the people and there should be a broad consensus in the drafting of the Constitution, he said.

I do hope that remaining (differences) should also be addressed to the satisfaction of all the sections concerned, he said.

The Madhesi community in Nepal has strong family ties with Indians and constitutes a large part of Nepals population.

The representation in parliament should be proportional to the population. In areas where there is sparse population and the areas which are densely populated have same number of representatives in the parliament," Mahendra Prasad Yadav, a prominent Madhesi leader had said explaining the issue.

These issues were not addressed in the Constitution adopted by Nepal on September 20 last year, which had triggered massive protests in the southern Terai region and led to a crippling blockade of border trading-points with India. It had cause a huge shortage of essential commodities in landlocked Nepal.

On December 23, 2015, then Nepal government had tabled the Constitution amendment bill to address Madhesi demands of proportional inclusiveness and delineation of electoral constituencies based on their population.

On the possible misuse of open border between the two countries, which was underlined by him during one of his speeches in Kathmandu, Mukherjee said huge benefits have been drawn through the open border and that they have virtually converted into a boundary-less region.

He, however, said the problem with them is they may be exploited by people who are not friendly to the two countries.

Both the governments are aware of it and they will ensure that the border management is being made effectively and properly, he said.

Later in a statement, Mukherjee said India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development and wished the Nepalese people in their efforts to achieve these goals within a federal democratic polity.

As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit, he said.

Nepal has been a 'mission of friendship' and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal. Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity, he said.

Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal, he said.

Mukherjee invited President Bhandari to visit India. She accepted the invitation with happiness, the statement said.

In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two peoples, he said.

Mukherjee visited the famous Pashupatinath Temple. There, he announced that India will undertake two small development projects to renovate the ghats near the temple on River Bagmati, which runs through Kathmandu Valley and enters India via Bihar. It is considered holy by both Hindus and Buddhists.

IMAGE: The President visits Janaki Temple in Janakpur. Photograph: PTI Photo

He also visited the ancient city of Janakpur and offered prayers at Janaki Mandir. The city of Janakpur symbolises the long history of our contacts and close friendship and family ties which have existed between our peoples, Mukherjee said.

Janakpur has a substantial tourism potential due to its significance in Hinduism as the birth place of Goddess Sita.

In Janakpur, Mukherjee also spoke about giving adequate attention to the development of border areas with India.

Today, in consonance with priorities of the people of Nepal, both governments are giving particular attention to expediting implementation of connectivity and developmental projects such as Terai roads, cross border rail links integrated checkposts, power and transmission lines, he said.

He said these projects are vital not only for Nepals socio-economic and infrastructural development but also demonstrate our collaborative efforts to facilitate trade, investments and movement of people.

The government of India is assisting in the construction of four integrated check posts along important India-Nepal entry point. The ICPs at Birgunj and Biratnagar will be of great advantage to the people of Janakpur..., Mukherjee said.

He lauded the people of Nepal for contributing towards Indias security through their service in the Indian Army. They have distinguished themselves through their valour and courage.

The president said India is committed to rehabilitation efforts being undertaken in Nepal following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the country last year.

The government of India has provided 32,000 Nepali rupees per pensioner in addition to other aid to 6,832 earthquake affected ex-servicemen, he said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has slammed US President Barack Obama for holding election rallies in support of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, describing him as campaigner-in-chief.

"Because of our failed leaders, including from the campaigner-in-chief Obama -- this guy does nothing but campaign," Trump said at an election rally in Salema, North Carolina on Thursday.

According to police, the rally was attended by nearly 18,000 people, considered to be big by American standards.

"You know I said the other day, I said, 'Let him work on bringing our jobs back from Mexico who stole our jobs. Let him work on building up our very depleted, you know it better than anybody, our depleted military,'" he said.

"Instead, he is campaigning with somebody who is under the FBI investigation," he alleged.

Obama has hit a campaign blitz this week. He addressed two election rallies in Florida yesterday. Both the events attracted thousands of people, with his supporters standing in long ques for hours to listen to him.

The development seems to have unnerved the Trump Campaign, given the kind of increased attack against him by Republican leaders.

"We need a president that's gonna go in and do their job. And I just left, by the way, Miami. And in leaving, I see Air Force One. So I said to myself I wonder who that could be. And it's our president. And he's down here campaigning for crooked Hillary," Trump told his supporters in Jacksonville.

"Now why, why isn't he back in the office, sometimes referred to as the Oval Office? Why isn't he back in the White House bringing our jobs back? And helping our veterans? Right? Why, why isn't he back working? He's campaigning every day, and I actually think considering that she is under criminal investigation, I think he's actually got a conflict," he said.

Obama has a number of election rallies scheduled over the next few days including those in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida.

"We are led by stupid people. Ok? We are led by stupid people, and one of them is campaigning just too much," Trump said.

Meanwhile, in a rare campaign speech, Trump's wife Melania strongly defended her husband, saying he would make 'America great again' and she would fight online bullying if she becomes first lady.

Speaking at a rally outside Philadelphia, Melania said, "I have come here to talk about this man I have known for 18 years. And I have come here today to talk about our partnership, our family, and what I know for sure in my heart, about this man, who will make America great again."

Melania in her speech touched on family, her marriage, the campaign experience and the goals she has as first lady.

"Surrounded by our family, and speaking to an audience of millions, Donald promised to campaign on behalf of those who feel the system is broken and does not work for them, those who just want a fair shake, an opportunity for a better education, a better-paying job, a better future," she said.

"He pledged to restore integrity to Washington, and respect for America abroad," she said.

Melania said if she becomes first lady, she will improve a social media culture that "has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers".

She was addressing her first campaign rally after the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.

"People have asked me, if Donald is the President, what kind of first lady will you be?" she said.

"It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other," she said.

"We must find better ways to honour and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media," she said.

"It will be one of the main focuses of my work, if I am privileged enough to become your first lady," she added.

"I want our children in this country, and all around the world, to live a beautiful life, to be safe and secure. To dream freely of love and a family of their own someday. We need to teach our youth American values. Kindness, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation," Melania said.

Image: Melania Trump appears on stage after US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, US. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
If the Muslims back Mayawati, nothing can stop her from forming the next government in UP, reports Aditi Phadnis.

Mayawati's first two major rallies in Uttar Pradesh were in August. She began with Agra, but as the second spot, she strategically chose Azamgarh, the eastern UP constituency that sent Mulayam Singh Yadav to the Lok Sabha (he contested Mainpuri as well as Azamgarh but opted to retain the latter).

Her pitch in Azamgarh was less about the attacks on Dalits -- although she referred to them -- but more about the concerns of Muslims.

Between August and now, Mayawati, who had become a bit lackadaisical in addressing political issues after the 2014 general election -- in which she got zero seats -- has become extraordinarily sensitive to the fears and pain of the minorities, especially Muslims.

She was one of the first to demand a judicial enquiry into the circumstances of the Bhopal encounter that resulted in the killing of eight undertrials who, allegedly, were members of the Students Islamic Movement of India, a banned organisation.

The Akhilesh Yadav government in UP prides itself on being the party that supports and protects the rights of Muslims. But on Wednesday, when a group of people got together in Lucknow under the aegis of civil liberties organisations to protest the encounter, they were beaten up by the very government that says it prizes the religious autonomy and freedom of the Muslims above all things.

"Mayawati is the first to react to the pain and fear of Muslims," civil liberties activist Ramkumar said after returning from the police station to file a first information report about the beatings.

"The SP (Samajwadi Party) government could have a delayed reaction, but not Mayawati. That is the reason she is now an alternative in their mind when it comes to preventing the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) from forming a government in UP in the next elections," he noted.

In the 2014 election, some Dalit subcastes -- the Pasi, for example, or the Sonkar -- supported the BJP. But the Jatav and the Chamar, those who work with leather, then and now, continue to side with Mayawati unreservedly.

At the Azamgarh rally, she arrived at noon. But, the ground where it was held (having a capacity of around 60,000) was packed since 8 am, making it extremely difficult for the organisers to manage those who had come late.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party reckons that if it can create a compact of Muslims and Dalits, together adding up to almost 30 per cent of the population, she will have no difficulty in forming the government.

In recognition of this, Mayawati has already promised 137 nominations to Muslims. She knows she is in competition with the SP for whom Muslims continue to have respect.

But the SP has been a laggard on many occasions: At a public meeting on Wednesday, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said India does not want a war with Pakistan, but did not say a word about the 'encounter' of SIMI undertrials, fearing alienation of nationalist Yadavs.

Mayawati has no such reservations. She is in the forefront attacking the BJP, whether on the issue of triple talaq (with the rights of women as an excuse to mount an assault on the religious autonomy of a minority) or on the dangers to identity.

"Muslims are not a monolith. But they are very frightened. Whether in western UP (following the charge that Hindus were being forced to leave villages because of attacks from the Muslim mafia) or in Dadri (after the beef lynching), they can sense that there is danger to them all around. She is voicing that fear," Ramkumar added.

Will Muslims abandon the Mulayam camp and decamp to Mayawati? Analysts in Lucknow say if that happens, nothing can stop her from forming the government in 2017.
Boeing expects the IAF to soon place an inquiry for twin-engine fighter jets to bridge a 200-aircraft gap in its armoury. And the Super Hornet is ready to fly in, reports Ajai Shukla.





The Indian Air Force has already approached major global fighter vendors, inviting them to build single-engine, medium fighters in India.

Now the spotlight is expanding to encompass heavier, twin-engine fighters as well.

On Thursday, November 3, Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India revealed that he expected a second inquiry from the IAF, asking international manufactures for interest in building twin-engine fighters in the country.

Along with other vendors, Boeing had received the earlier inquiry for single-engine fighters. With nothing to offer in that category, Boeing wants to sell and build the twin-engine F/A-18E/F Super Hornet -- the US Navy's frontline fighter.

Boeing had offered the Super Hornet in response to India's 2007 tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft, but lost out to the twin-engine Rafale fighter, fielded by French aerospace vendor, Dassault.

Even so, with New Delhi having procured just 36 Rafale fighters, Boeing assesses that, even after buying single-engine fighters, the IAF will face a major shortfall of twin-engine fighters.

Kumar told media persons in New Delhi: 'There is a gap of about 200 fighter aircraft that the Super Hornet can fill, including the naval requirement. This is the assessment of Boeing.'

Like the Rafale, the Super Hornet can operate from land-based airfields, and also aircraft carriers. The US military only uses it off aircraft carriers, but other air forces, such as the Royal Australian Air Force, operate the Super Hornet off land bases.

Boeing has already submitted a plan through the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, a government-industry coordinating body, to build the Super Hornet in India.

Unlike "other companies" that are offering to shift existing lines, says a politely dismissive Kumar, in a thinly-disguised swipe at Lockheed Martin, Boeing would establish "A brand new, state-of-the-art factory of the future."

Boeing's global arch-rival, Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defence corporation (Boeing is the second-largest), has offered to shift its older F-16 line from Fort Worth, Texas to build the single-engine fighter in India.

The F-16 faces competition in the single-engine category from the Gripen E, which Swedish company Saab has offered to build in India.

Saab has sweetened its proposal with an offer to assist the Defence Research and Development Organisation with completing an improved version of the indigenous Tejas light fighter, called the Tejas 1A.

Boeing's competition in the twin-engine fighter segment comes from Dassault and Eurofighter.

Usually well-informed sources say Dassault, buoyed by its sale of 36 ready-built Rafale fighters to the IAF, is readying a proposal to build a significantly larger number in India.

Boeing, unlike other fighter manufacturers, leverages its military business in India with a major non-military presence in the world's fastest-growing market for airliners.

Kumar argues that Boeing's dual presence -- in civilian and defence aerospace -- creates a compelling business case for establishing manufacturing facilities in India.

"Manufacturing volumes are needed to create a business case for manufacturing in another country. In defence, volumes are initially limited. So it is a great advantage when commercially viable volumes come from defence and civilian business combined," he explains.

Boeing is readying to generate those volumes. In June, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar inaugurated a new manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, where 300 employees will build fuselages for Boeing's Apache AH-64E attack helicopter, which India has contracted to buy.

The facility, which will become the world's sole source for Apache fuselages, is owned by a joint venture between Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems Limited, called Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited.

Kumar says the facility will commence production in mid-2017 and the first fuselages will roll out in 2018.

In similar fashion, the current Super Hornet line in St Louis, Missouri, US would eventually shut down, leaving only the Indian line to fill global orders for new aircraft and spares.
'Physically, he is your boy next door, but attitude-wise, he is an evangelist who does not mind shouting from the rooftops to take a stand on a cause he believes in.'

Urvi Malvania on Brand Arnab.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

His show, The Newshour, has been the topic of many a tweet, joke and meme, mainly for the noise and heat generated in it.

In person though, Arnab Goswami, president-news and editor-in-chief, Times Now and ET Now, comes across as mellow and soft-spoken.

In an interview with Business Standard last year, Goswami had said that he is confident that content will eventually win, citing Times Now's viewership in the rural markets.

While he may have been soft-spoken, his confidence was unwavering.

"Our success and growth shows that it is investing in content that ultimately bears result, rather than changing the channel's name," he had said.

Nevertheless, many of his junior colleagues will tell you that he has a short fuse and little tolerance for slow workers.

One former colleague who worked with Times Now in Mumbai for nearly two years says that whenever Goswami saw that something on NDTV or CNN IBN wasn't showing on his channel, "he would emerge from his office roaring, 'You people are trying to ruin my channel.' And his voice would travel down the long corridor and past the offices of Zoom and ET Now."

In fact, a joke in the Times Network is that the punishment for someone who may have done a wrong story or any misdemeanor would be a couple of weeks of ticker duty for Goswami's shows.

Though he started his career in the print media, with the Kolkata based The Telegraph, Goswami made his mark in TV news.

His firebrand anchoring on The Newshour made him a household name and the show itself went a long way in pushing the channel to the number one position.

The 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack in 2008 proved to be the turning point for him. Goswami set a record hosting news of the attack for over 65 hours. People sat up and took notice of him.

"His tone, of a vigilante, struck a chord with the nation shocked by the audacity and horror of the attack," says a colleague. That's the tone he continued to maintain ever since, for discussion on every subject.

According the Broadcast Audience Research Council India, Times Now is the top rated English news channel in the country by a massive margin.

The Goswami-led channel clocked 632,000 impressions in week 42 of 2016 (October 15 to October 21), while its closest competitor, CNN News18, clocked 289,000 impressions in the same week. (Impressions refer to the total number of views a show gets during its telecast).

The leadership position enjoyed by Times Now is also reflected in its advertising clout. On an average, English news channels enjoy a peak ad-rate (for a 10 second spot) of around Rs 3,000 during weekdays (prime time). '

Industry estimates peg Times Now's prime time ad-rate at around Rs 20,000. This could increase in case of an important development or during election time.

The show single-handedly helped Times Now become a money churning asset within the Times Network, contributing 70 per cent of the channel's total ad-revenue.

While the show became a staple for English news consumers, brand Goswami was also in the making. His success, of course, came with its share of criticism from observers and peers alike, but no one can deny that his persona commands attention, if nothing else.

"Goswami is definitely a brand. He is a thought in the minds of people, and a powerful one at that, whatever he does in the future, will be aided by this persona that has been consciously and painstakingly developed over the years. Physically, he is your boy next door, but attitude-wise, he is an evangelist who does not mind shouting from the rooftops to take a stand on a cause he believes in," says Harish Bijoor, brand domain expert and founder of Harish Bijoor Consults.

Bijoor adds that all the noise around Goswami, whether positive or negative, is now a part of the brand.

So every joke, every tweet and every meme that mentions Goswami has now added to the visibility of the man, and will continue to drive visibility for him, which is eventually a positive for any brand.

"However, anywhere brand Goswami goes, the persona has to follow. The image he has created means that his brand is now identified by his persona," Bijoor adds.

While brand domain experts agree with this assessment of Goswami's brand and persona, and the visibility he has managed to get on social media, his peers in the industry are reluctant to talk about him.

Veteran journalist and consulting editor at Headlines Today Rajdeep Sardesai plays it safe, saying, "I will always wish him well," while others refused to talk, at least not on record.

One such senior journalist claims to have not seen enough of Goswami's shows and coverage on TV to comment, while another says that while he did bring about a disruption in the TV news segment, it was not necessarily a good thing. The journalist, however, refuses to elaborate further, saying, "I'd rather not be impolite."

Amidst all this, Goswami is set to launch his own venture, the details of which are sketchy at best.

While some in the industry believe he will be starting a digital-TV hybrid news entity, something Raghav Bahl is also trying with the Quint-Bloomberg JV, others believe he may stick to TV news.

Grapevine also suggests that Goswami may team up with Rajeev Chandrasekhar to launch a 24 hours English news channel.
These Muslim women are poor and illiterate, but with the devotion they display as they create handmade earthen stoves for Chhath, they strengthen the social fabric, reports M I Khan.





For Kauser, Rukhsana, Sajmun, Mushtaqeema, Mairoon, Saheena and her daughter Naseema -- poor Muslim women who struggle to make ends meet -- Chhath is a god-sent occasion.

During this Hindu festival -- which is very popular in Bihar -- they earn extra money by making handmade mitti ka chulhas or earthen stoves in which the prasad, or offerings to the gods, is cooked.

Chhath, which honours the sun god, Surya, and his wife Chhathi Mata, celebrates faith, purity and devotion. Married women observe fasts during the course of the four-day festival, which begins on November 4.

A large number of people, mostly married women, will throng the banks of rivers -- including the Ganga, Punpun, Gandak and Kosi -- and other big and small water bodies to have a bath before preparing vegetarian food on handmade earthen stoves.

Saheena, who is in her late forties, explains that, in view of purity and devotion associated with Chhath, she gives up eating garlic and onion while making the stoves and only begins work after taking a bath.

"There is no question of touching non-vegetarian food," she says.

These Muslim women are poor, illiterate and belong to the lower Muslim castes including Kunjada and Bakkho, locally known as 'Pasmanda' or Dalit Muslims.

But with the devotion they display as they create the earthen stoves for Chhath, they strengthen the social fabric.

"We consider earthen chulhas pure," says Vinay Singh who has just bought a stove. "It is an age-old tradition to cook the offerings during Chhath in these chulhas. We are thankful to the Muslim women who make and sell these chulhas to us."

"Chhath devotees prefer to purchase the mitti ka chulha from us," says Mairoon Khatoon who has been selling these stoves on the busy Birchand Patel Marg in the heart of Patna since the 1990s.

"They praise our work. It does not matter to them that we are Muslims," she adds.

Meanwhile, Naseema, who is her early 30s, ignores the dust and the pollution as she helps her mother Saheena give final touches to the earthen stoves they have made in their temporary roadside stall on Patna's Serpentine Road. There are a dozen such stalls nearby, which sell chulhas.

"Competition is tough," says Naseema. "There are nearly 100 Muslim women in Patna alone who made chulhas during Chhath." And even more across the rest of Bihar.

"We make substantial money as devotees don't bargain much," says Saheena who hopes to sell each of her stoves for between Rs 60 and Rs 70. She has already sold 50 mitti ka chulha to a retailer for Rs 40 each. "Mostly, I sell directly to devotees," she says.

The competition does not faze Rukhsana; she is confident about the high demand for her stoves. "We sold many of them in the last two days and hope to sell more in the next 24 hours," she says.



Like Rukhsana, there are other Muslim women living in slums behind the New Patna Club, an elite recreation centre, who eagerly wait for Chhath.

"We began making the chulhas two weeks ahead of Chhath so that we can sell them on time," she says.



Sajmun proudly declares it is her khandaani (a profession that has been in the family for generations) work to made earthen stoves during Chhath.

"My mother-in-law Nasreen Bano and I have been continuing the tradition," says Sajmun.

"We buy the clay, which is costly, from farmers in the rural areas nearby and use it to make the chulhas," says Naseema.

After Chhath, these women will return to walking the streets of Bihar to sell stainless steel utensils.



Chhath, interestingly, is celebrated by Muslims in several villages in Bihar.

Besides, many Muslims join Hindu volunteers to help clean the ghats, rivers, ponds and streets in preparation for this festival.



In Patna, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Munger, Vaishali and Khagaria, dozens of Muslims clean the banks of rivers and the narrow streets in their localities.

Many even donate money to put up marquees for Hindu devotees.

Photographs: M I Khan
Bihar has been cleaning its homes and surroundings, including the narrowest of lanes, and especially the roads leading to the Ganga ghats and ponds.

Devotional songs can be heard everywhere you go during Chhath, says M I Khan.

IMAGE: Bamboo products sold during Chhath.

For four days, soon after Diwali, Bihar celebrates its most important festival, Chhath,

During this time, the bazaars look vibrant. Unlike during other major festivals, the products being sold are traditional and natural. You will find devotees buying dry mango tree wood, bamboo products like soops (winnows) and tokris (baskets) -- these are locally known as daura -- mitti ke bartan and chulhas (earthen utensils and stoves), lauki (bottle gourd), ghaagar, nimbu (lime), coconut, newly harvested rice, sugarcane and other products.

"Without these items, it is not possible for devotees to perform the Chhath rituals," says Kumud Singh, a housewife who has been celebrating Chhath for over two decades.

"During this Mahaparv, Hindu devotees worship the rising and setting sun and observe a fast," she adds.

IMAGE: Dry mango wood sold during Chhath.

There are reasons why these items are used.

For example, the wood of the mango tree burns with a low flame, hence it can be used to cook the traditional meal of boiled rice and lauki which is consumed on the first day of Chhath.

"Devotees cannot cook any other vegetable except lauki. It is good for the stomach," says Amit Kumar.

IMAGE: Decorative diyas sold during Chhath.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the festival, people have been cleaning their homes and their surroundings, including the narrowest of lanes, and especially the roads leading to the Ganga ghats and ponds.

Devotional songs can be heard everywhere you go.

If the devotees are upbeat and happy, so are the vendors selling Chhath items -- they hope to earn more due to the high demand and the fact that the devotees rarely bargain during this festival.

IMAGE: Items used during Chhath.

Bihar, and particularly Patna, are dotted with hundreds of temporary roadside stalls where vendors -- mostly poor men and women -- are seen selling these, along with baddhi (decorated thread), diya (earthen lamp), alta (red dye), sindoor, kapur (camphor), chandan (sandalwood) and other small but essential items needed for Chhath.

Devotees, who are mainly married women, throng river banks and other water bodies for a bath before cooking food. This is known as Nahay Khay (to bathe and to eat) and marks the beginning of Chhath.

According to devotees, banana is essential among the fruit offered to the Sun God during Chhath.

In view of its high demand, bananas -- mostly brought in from Andhra Pradesh -- have flooded the market.

IMAGE: These items are much in demand during Chhath.

During the festival, married women observe a fast for 36 hours and devotees traditionally offer wheat, milk, sugarcane, bananas and coconuts to the sun.

The state administration, along with dozens of voluntary organisations, is working round-the-clock to manage the crowds and keep the area around the river banks clean.

Photographs: M I Khan
Alicante, Spain -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/04/2016 --Fashion brand Dots Dash have launched a unique range of 10 designs of footwear made from the finest leather in Europe and offering the highest standard of comfort for busy women who crave style as well as luxury. The Dots Dash collection is the result of a program called Talent Push Me, which was launched to curate the best designs for women and find and promote emerging designers. The eclectic range of 10 designs is now available on Kickstarter.



During the Dots Dash Talent Push Me program, designers from all over the world responded to the question: "what's your idea of the perfect shoe, for her?" Ten of the most promising emerging applicants were chosen from a huge number of applicants. The team at Dots Dash have traveled across Spain, Milan, and Paris in search of the best materials and components to make the winning designs, which have been manufactured in Spain.



"The brief was to find the perfect shoe for a woman on the go, rushing through the streets of Paris, Madrid, or London, be it a business woman or a student. The designs are for a woman who knows what she wants; a flat, comfortable, modern, and sophisticated shoe to match her fast-paced lifestyle," explained the program's founder.



Each Talent and Dots Dash member is an expert in their field. They include graduates of top-ranking schools like London College of Fashion and Polimoda, and talented, creative individuals who have worked for world-famous fashion brands including Hugo Boss, DKNY and Tory Burch.



Dots Dash have taken extra care and paid particular attention to the special details of each shoe to achieve the 10 exclusive designs on Kickstarter. Each design stands out for its sleek design, subtle accents, and high-quality leather. Custom soles and embossed materials mark the difference between run-of-the-mill shoes and footwear that exhibits true style.



The range is extremely varied. "Serendipity" has a sole made from goodyear welting; "Courbe" is made from a unique mix of two of the highest quality leathers from Italy and Spain. "Courbe" incorporates cow's leather, a goat's leather lining and insole, and strong Italian rubber leather, which is a recent innovation in fashion.



Each design has been through many stages of prototyping to produce footwear of the highest quality and comfort and the Dots Dash collection is sure to appeal to lovers of premium quality shoes.



Dots Dash plans to expand the Talent Push Me program to find more emerging Talents and enable them to showcase their capabilities.



About Dots Dash

Dots Dash is an exciting footwear brand for contemporary women. It is an online concept store and a platform where visitors can discover emerging designers and read the stories behind their inspiration. Featuring collections of unique fashion items, Dots Dash shapes the looks of tomorrow, today.
Morgan County Election Board reviews financial records

The Morgan County Election Board met Friday to review the campaign finance reports of local candidates running for office.
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This just in...
alexei orlov

Alexei Orlov, the former global CEO of Omnicom ad agency RAPP who resigned from his post this summer amid a discrimination lawsuit brought against him by the company's former US president, has blogged about his experience.

Orlov resigned in June, a month after RAPP USA president Greg Anderson filed a lawsuit accusing him of "harassment", wrongful termination, and "discriminatory animus against women and various racial and ethnic groups." RAPP's lawyers denied the "outrageous" allegations, saying the accusations about Orlov's behavior were "gross mischaracterizations." The case is not yet closed.

Orlov has been writing about his experience on his website and blog, which was spotted by AgencySpy. The website positions itself as "Thoughts of the life of business and the business of life."

In one September blog entry, titled "Think fast, but respond carefully," Orlov appears to reflect on the lawsuit and his departure from RAPP:

"Some of you who know me well are waiting and have been waiting for me to react to certain things that have happened in my life in the last punishing few months. But I have chosen instead to reflect and at the right moment to respond in a way that is both considered, thoughtful and responsible."

Orlov now serves as an advisor to the global CEO at Omnicom's DAS group of companies. Marco Scognamiglio replaced Orlov as RAPP global chief executive.

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows where your bottled water actually comes from





More From Business Insider


Chhay Sarith (L), Mao Hoeun (C) and Sot Vanny (R) are shown on their way to Phnom Penh Municipal Court, May 10, 2016.

Three members of Prime Minister Hun Sens military bodyguard, convicted of the brutal beating of a pair of opposition lawmakers near the National Assembly last year, were freed Friday after serving only year in prison.

While Chhay Sarith, Mao Hoeun and Sot Vanny were sentenced to four years in prison, three years of that was suspended in what one of the victims called a very light punishment.

I am so disappointed with the early release of the three perpetrators, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmaker Kong Saphea told RFAs Khmer Service.

The sentence was very light and is not commensurate with the brutality they inflicted on me and my colleague, he added. My personal safety and security and that of my colleagues are at risk after these men are free.

Though he will appeal the decision, Kong Saphea sees little hope for justice in Cambodia.

The only hope I have is when the CNRP wins the next elections, he said. I hope the judicial system will be fully reformed so that justice can done for victims like me.

The brazen attack, which took place in broad daylight while video cameras filmed it, was condemned by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. Human rights groups characterized the assault as part of a wider campaign Hun Sen and his allies are waging against the political opposition in Cambodia.

On Oct. 26, 2015 Kong Saphea and another CNRP lawmaker Nhay Chamroeun were dragged from their vehicles and savagely beaten by protesters after the two men attended a morning meeting of the legislature.

The attack occurred as more than 1,000 supporters of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) surrounded the parliament building, calling for CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha to step down as first vice president of the National Assembly.

Pankhem Bunthon, an assistant to Prime Minister Hun Sen  a position equivalent to deputy director general in the governments public service  led the protests calling for the dismissal of Kem Sokha, who is now the target of a wide-ranging government investigation into an alleged affair with a young hairdresser.

Looking to the U.S.

There may not be much hope for an appeal in Cambodia, but Nhay Chamroeun, who is Cambodian-American, is also expected to seek a legal remedy in the U.S. as he plans to join a lawsuit against the Cambodian government and Hun Sens eldest son in U.S. courts.

U.S. attorney Morton Sklar told local media that Nhay Chamroeun has asked him to add the lawmakers attack to the legal action being taken against Lieutenant General Hun Manet, and the Cambodia government.

That suit by CNRP opposition official Meach Sovannara, who also holds U.S. and Cambodian citizenship, seeks compensation for the emotional and financial damage borne by Meach Sovannaras family for, among other things, what the suit calls his wrongful imprisonment and torture.

Foreign governments and officials are generally protected by sovereignty from being brought to trial in the U.S., as they are in other countries. But Meach Sovannaras case is testing those exceptions.

The suit alleges that Hun Manets family connections and leadership role within Cambodias security forces make him liable for the emotional and financial damages borne by Sovannaras family.

Hun Manet heads the Cambodian militarys anti-terror unit, is deputy chairman of the joint staff of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, and is deputy commander of the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit, an elite force that has often been at the center of complaints about rights abuses.

Hun Manet is widely viewed as the successor to his father, who has ruled the country for more than 30 years.

While inside Prey Sar, a convicted mans family gets a boost

While the bodyguards who beat the lawmakers served a year inside Cambodias notorious Prey Sar prison, their time there was unlike most of the inmates unlucky enough to be imprisoned there, according to witnesses.

Soon after the 34-year-old Mao Hoeu, from Village 5 in Khsay Kha Commune, began doing time in Prey Sar prison, his family became upwardly mobile.

Mao Hoeuns mother and siblings were able to trade their jobs as tobacco workers in the Neak Loeung market for the more genteel life as business people running a grocery business in a five meter by seven meter apartment, neighbors told RFA earlier this year.

The apartment costs around $35,000, a price no tobacco laborer could afford and a surprising step up the economic ladder that left neighbors wondering if somebody powerful was looking out for Mao Hoeun and his family.

Since the day he was locked behind bars, his familys living condition has improved significantly, a villager told RFA. The current living condition of the family is so much different from before. There is no way the family could afford to buy that apartment. I heard someone bought it for them.

Mao Hoeuns younger sister, Mao Vannak, told RFA that a cousin, a successful dentist, bought the apartment and is looking out for the family by temporarily renting it to them.

Mao Hoeuns neighbors agreed to talk to RFA only on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation as many of Mao Hoeuns comrades in Hun Sens elite bodyguard unit lived in the same neighborhood.

A guilty plea

On May 27 Mao Hoeun, Chay Sarith and Soth Vanny pled guilty to the assault.

While video shows more than a dozen people attacking the lawmakers while police officers stand idly by, the three men were the only people prosecuted for the beating.

During each court appearance the three men didnt appear to be nervous or concerned about their fate. For men on trial, they walked around confidently, smoking cigarettes and wearing scarves in the court-house complex.

A year in Prey Sar is no ones idea of a vacation, but it was a brief stay compared to the 7-20 year sentences handed out to opposition party activists for the 2014 Freedom Park protests that escalated into a riot.

Not only is Prey Sar notorious for overcrowding, poor living conditions and prisoner abuse, it is also notorious as a place where everything is for sale and the well-connected are looked out for.

Its a pattern that appeared to repeat itself with Mao Hoeun, Chay Sarith and Soth Vanny.

A prison guard at Prey Sar, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that Hun Sens bodyguards displayed significant authority inside the prison.

Sources tell RFA that Mao Hoeun was also seen in the village when he should have been inside Prey Sar.

Mao Vannak told RFA her older brother had remained in the prison since his arrest. The guard, however, was unable to confirm whether or not Hun Sens bodyguards got passes to leave and return to Prey Sar.

Scarves and walkie-talkies

The attack on the CNRP politicians in October 2015 was notable not just for its violence, but for the fact that it was caught on several videos that graphically showed the brutal assault on the lawmakers.

The lawmakers suffered broken noses, a ruptured eardrum, broken bones and teeth. Nhay Chamraoen required surgery to save his sight in one eye.

The assault also carried the hallmarks of a well-planned, well-coordinated attack by well-trained individuals.

In the videos two-dozen men are seen dragging the lawmakers from a car before beating them and kicking them while they lay helpless on the ground.

Colorful scarves are tied around the mens waists, and some of them used walkie-talkies as they made their repeated attacks.

While Mao Hoeun, Chay Sarit and Sot Vanny were clearly capable of beating defenseless lawmakers senseless, there are doubts that they could have carried out a coordinated attack, complete with communications.

Was there an order?

Kong Saphea is convinced that the attack was ordered by someone looking out for the men.

I dont believe those perpetrators acted on their own behalf when attacking lawmakers, who have immunity, without orders from the top, he said in an earlier RFA interview. The attacks were ordered and well organized.

Senior Cambodian military officers speaking confidentially have asserted that within government circles, it is widely believed that the prosecution of the three men were meant to squelch suspicions of involvement of the higher levels of government in the attack.

Mao Hoeun, Chay Sarit and Sot Vanny have denied they were acting under orders. The men said they were driven to the act when the lawmakers shouted insults at them, calling them puppets of Vietnam, the country that helped install Hun Sen in power three decades earlier.

The lawmakers denied making the insults, and there is no evidence in videos that upholds the guards version of events.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the attacks on the CNRP lawmakers by Hun Sens bodyguards when the three bodyguards turned themselves in to authorities.

The prosecution of the three bodyguard unit members for the brazen and brutal attack only scratches the surface in holding all those involved responsible, Brad Adams, the organizations Asia director said at the time. Prosecuting only three people while blocking investigations into the attacks other planners and participants shows a blatant cover-up by the government and courts.

In Human Rights Watch 61-page report Dragged and Beaten: The Cambodian Government's Role in the October 2015 Attack on Opposition Politicians, Human Rights Watch found little evidence that supports the notion the three men acted alone. The London-based organization called for a U.N. investigation into the beatings.

According to the report, it is likely that senior politicians and military personnel were involved as the beatings happened just a day after Hun Sen threatened to retaliate against the opposition in Cambodia after anti-government demonstrations had embarrassed him during a visit to France.

If someone comes back at you tomorrow in Phnom Penh with the same game, dont be angry, Hun Sen told the Paris audience, according to the report.

Color revolutions

Hun Sen has suggested that his opponents were seeking a color revolution, a reference to pro-democracy movements that sprung up in Ukraine, Georgia and other countries around the world where protesters rallied under colored banners.

On Thursday he issued a call to the nations armed forces to put down any so-called color revolution.

All armed forces are obliged to absolutely ensure that Cambodia is free from any color revolutions, the Cambodian strong man wrote in a Facebook post.

Such a revolution will harm peoples happiness and peace in Cambodia, he wrote. Armed forces shall protect the legitimate government.

He made similar remarks during the Police Academy of Cambodias graduation ceremony on Thursday.

Local elections in Cambodia are set for next year and national elections are scheduled for 2018.

Hun Sens Cambodian Peoples Party retained control in the 2013 national elections, but the CNRP made up ground and Hun Sen and the CPP appear eager to ensure that those inroads go no further in 2018.

With the bodyguards now free, it may be impossible to know for sure whether someone high up in the Cambodian government ordered the attacks last year because no one is looking into the case.

The trials limited scope means that evidence about possible involvement by high-ranking political and military figures is being ignored, Adams said after the sentencing of the body guards.

Reported and translated by RFA's Khmer Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Environmental controls aimed at curbing vast swathes of toxic smog that choke northern China each winter are failing, official media reported, amid warnings of heavy smog that were issued on Friday.



Environmental protection officials are warning cities in the region to prepare for "unfavorable" weather conditions that could lead to worse-than-usual toxic air pollution.



The meteorological bureau issued severe smog warnings on Friday for Beijing, Tianjin, and southern Hebei and central Henan, as well as the southwestern province of Sichuan.



Northern Shanxi province and Heilongjiang in the northeast were issued with moderate smog warnings, with severe smog in some areas.



A resident of Heilongjiang told RFA on Friday that the air pollution was thick enough to burn people's throats.



"Looking outside, I can see curls and clouds of smoke and fog, and my throat hurts, probably from the air pollution," the resident said. "There's not much I can do about that."



"I reckon visibility is down to five or six meters; beyond that you can't see much. You can see that there's a person, but not who it is," the resident said.



"It's very thick smog. It happens every year when there's low pressure."



The U.S. embassy in Beijing, which issues unofficial air pollution readings via Twitter, said pollution levels in the city were at "Hazardous" levels on Friday, with PM2.5 particulates at 259 per cubic meter, more than 10 times World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.



Enforcement failures



Environmental activist Wu Lihong said enforcement is always the biggest obstacle to tackling the problem in China.



"The main problem is that heavy industry isn't switching off some of its high-energy, high-polluting equipment, which is also low in efficiency," Wu said.



"Why not? Because we still have so many steel plants and coal mines."



"Also, if they can't get hold of good quality fuels, the vehicle exhaust emissions are already very high, as well as very serious emissions from various waste-incinerators," he said.



"If the government doesn't really take these industries in hand, we are going to see this phenomenon come back year after year," Wu added.



Wu said he has reported heavy-polluting industries to the authorities three times in the past year in accordance with environmental protection legislation.



But local environmental protection bureaus had failed each time to respond, in spite of pledging a response within 15 working days, he added.



'Named and shamed'



Several northern cities have failed to implement effective smog control measures and have failed to crack down hard enough on polluting firms, state news agency Xinhua reported.



The report comes after the environmental protection ministry sent out inspection teams to eight of the cities worst-hit by the country's "airpocalypse" smog events.



Among those authorities named and shamed was Qianan in the northern province of Hebei, which borders Beijing, where emergency emission cutting measures were "unreasonable" and not strict enough on local enterprises, Xinhua said.



Last month, authorities in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian detained five environmental protection officials after they were found to have tampered with air-quality monitoring equipment and to have falsified data.



They were accused of tampering with a real-time pollution monitoring system set up by the ruling Chinese Communist Party in the face of widespread falsification of data.



Falsification of data was included as an offense in environmental legislation that went into effect at the start of the year.



The officials stand accused of stuffing sensors with cotton to lower emission readings and removing surveillance camera recordings to eliminate evidence of malpractice.



Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.




Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Nov. 4, 2016.

Myanmars de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday that the government is exercising caution about whom to blame for deadly border guard attacks and subsequent violence in Rakhine states Maungdaw township, and pledged to conduct a thorough investigation in accordance with the law.

Security forces inundated Maungdaw after the Oct. 9 raids on three outposts near the Bangladesh border, in which nine officers died, to lock down the area and search for stolen weapons.

Local Rohingya Muslims have accused them of arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, arson, and rape. Security forces also cut off access to aid workers and journalists. The government and military, however, have denied that soldiers committed the atrocities.

We have been very careful not to blame anybody in particular unless we have complete evidence as to who has been responsible for what, Aung San Suu Kyi said during a press conference in Japan where she is on a five-day official visit to drum up investment for Myanmar.

All this will be made public as soon as we have gathered the evidence, and it will go through the due process of law, she said.

Many Rohingya Muslims, a largely repressed ethnic minority group in Myanmar that suffers routine discrimination, live in the northern part of Rakhine where the attacks occurred.

Some government officials have previously blamed a militant Rohingya Muslim group that they say received training and financial support from Islamists abroad for the attacks.

Five government soldiers and more than 30 suspected insurgents were killed during the security sweep of the area following the border station attacks, and up to 15,000 people from Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities have been forced to flee their homes.

The military blockade of the area continues, though government officials have agreed to let aid workers and reporters back into the area to deliver food and other necessities to the estimated 15,000 who have been displaced by the violence.

Another border station attack

Meanwhile, United Nations envoy Renata Lok-Desallien and foreign ambassadors to Myanmar on Friday renewed their call for an independent and credible investigation of the violence that occurred. During a briefing with reporters in the commercial capital Yangon, they also called for restraint and transparency from the government during the investigation.

They urged the same on Thursday during a news conference in the Rakhine capital Sittwe following a two-day mission to the northern part of the state to observe the situation on the ground and talk to government authorities, villagers, security forces, and state parliamentarians.

The same day, unknown assailants attacked a border guard station, killing one officer and wounding another, according to a local news report.

Despite comments made by Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday in Japan that the Myanmar government has not tried to conceal information about claims of abuse by the military in Maungdaw, the Myanmar Times fired an investigative reporter who wrote about the alleged rapes of Muslim women by soldiers.

The English-language newspaper sacked reporter Fiona MacGregor because the rape allegations story and several other unidentified articles she had written breached company policy by damaging national reconciliation and the paper's reputation, MacGregor wrote in a Facebook post.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay called her out on Oct. 28 on social media, accusing her of bias in her report of the previous day on the alleged military rapes.

The Burmese governments intimidation of journalists reached a new low in its campaign against Myanmar Times journalist Fiona MacGregor and her reporting on alleged sexual abuses by security forces in Rakhine state, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

What are they trying to hide? he asked. Rather than trying to shut down reports that it doesn't like, the government should respect press freedom and permit journalists to do their jobs by investigating what is really happening on the ground.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Monks and nuns expelled from Sichuans Larung Gar Buddhist Academy are being subjected to months of political re-education after returning to their home towns, with some targeted for periods of detention of up to half a year, Tibetan sources say.



One group of about 100 who came to Larung Gar originally from counties in the Tibet Autonomous Region and were sent back in August have been held for two months in the TARs southeastern county of Nyingtri (in Chinese, Linzhi), one area resident told RFAs Tibetan Service.



The rehabilitation of those displaced monks and nuns requires the study of Chinese policy and regulations regarding Tibet, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



The classes, which are conducted in Tibetan with the help of overhead projectors, also promote awareness of Chinas program of subsidized support for Tibetan nomads and farmers, the source added.



Most of those initially enrolled in the class have now returned to their family homes, but for some who remain behind, the program still continues, the source said.



Chinese officials in Larung Gars Serthar (Seda) county had sought the help of TAR authorities to facilitate the return to Tibet of the expelled monks and nuns, some of whom were told they would be allowed to go back to Larung Gar after a period of time, he said.



Meanwhile, about 300 monks and nuns who were sent back in September to Riwoche (Leiwuqi) county in the TAR and to Sershul (Shiqu) county in Sichuan were ordered to report to the police on their return, the source said.



They were then put into detention to be patriotically re-educated, he said.



Speaking separately, another Tibetan source confirmed that political classes were being held for Larung Gar evictees across the region.



All those who have been forced to leave Serthar have to undergo patriotic re-education for about six months on arrival in their home localities, he said.



Around 3,000 monks and nuns have already been expelled from Larung Gar, and around 1,000 dwellings destroyed, as authorities seek to reduce the population of the sprawling complex by about half to a maximum level of 5,000 next year, sources say.



Reported by Sonam Wangdu and Lhuboom for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.




Officials in Afghanistan say a roadside bomb has killed an Afghan journalist and wounded another in the southern province of Helmand.

The explosion took place in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah on November 4.

Police said the blast killed Naimatullah Zaheer, a reporter with the Aryana news television station.

The identify of Zaheer's wounded colleague was not immediately known.

The reporters were among a group of journalists driving to an area where there had been intense fighting with the Taliban the previous night.

According to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, 2016 has been the bloodiest year for journalists in the history of Afghanistan, with 10 reporters killed in the first six months of the year.

On October 16, in the southern province of Zabul, unknown gunmen shot dead Afghan reporter Yaqoob Sharafat of the the state-run Radio Television Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and Pajhwok
An Afghan woman immortalized on the cover of National Geographic magazine is to be deported from Pakistan after serving a 15-day jail sentence.

A court in Peshawar also ordered Sharbat Gula on November 4 to pay a fine of 110,000 rupees ($1,050).

Gula, whose piercing green eyes made her famous as a child refugee, was arrested in the northwestern city of Peshawar on October 26 for allegedly living on fraudulent identity papers.

She was hospitalized after falling ill while in custody.

Her lawyer, Mohsin Dawar, told RFE/Ls Radio Mashaal that her client pleaded guilty to all charges against her.

Dawar said the detention period starts from the day she was arrested, meaning she has to remain in custody for four more days before she is deported from Pakistan.

A representative of the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, Muhammad Naseem Kakarh, said Gula is expected to be transferred to Afghanistan on November 7-8.

With reporting by Dawn
Staff of the rights watchdog Amnesty International can return to their Moscow office they were evicted from, Reuters news agency quotes a Kremlin human rights adviser as saying.

Moscow authorities sealed off Amnestys office on November 2, barring staff from entry.

The Moscow property department, from which Amnesty leases the premises, said it was owed rent, but the London-based group said payments were up to date and that the lockout came without warning.

Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Russian Human Rights Council, told Reuters on November 3 that the lease has been restored completely.

[Amnesty] will be able to return to the office in the nearest future," Fedotov added.

Meanwhile, Amnesty's Europe director, John Dalhuisen, said the group had been contacted by the head of the Moscow city property department, Vladimir Yefimov, who said there may have been a mix-up.

Dalhuisen also said Yefimov invited Amnesty for a meeting on November 7.

Human rights organizations that receive foreign funding and are critical of the Kremlin have come under pressure from the Russian authorities in the past few years.

Based on reporting by Reuters


Armenia says it is negotiating with Iran over the price Yerevan will pay for natural-gas imports from the Islamic republic.

Hayk Harutiunian, deputy minister of energy and natural resources, told RFE/RL's Armenian Service on November 4 that "if we succeed [in the negotiations] Armenian consumers will be able to use Iranian gas in the near future."

Harutiunian led a delegation on a two-day visit to Tehran that ended on November 1.

Armenia's Energaimpex Company and the National Iranian Gas Export Company initialed a memorandum of understanding on Yerevan's purchase and transit of Iranian gas during the trip.

Armenia currently imports up to 500 million cubic meters of Iranian gas annually through a pipeline built in 2008. By comparison, Russian gas supplies to the South Caucasus country total around 2 billion cubic meters per year.

Yerevan has reportedly offered to buy additional amounts of Iranian gas, some of which could be re-exported to Georgia.

Russia currently supplies gas to Armenia for $150 per thousand cubic meters and then Gazprom Armenia -- a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom that owns Armenia's gas-distribution network -- sells it at much higher rates to households and large businesses.

Gazprom Armenia recently offered to cut the prices of its gas to consumers.
If you're reading this, then you have Internet access, and no matter where in the world you live, you probably know a lot more about the U.S. presidential candidates than you probably want to. It's no secret that this year's election cycle has been particularly negative, with candidates and pundits slinging plenty of mud at each other.

Arguments broke out in the course of the campaign over recorded comments made more than a decade ago by Donald Trump, in which the Republican candidate appeared to brag about what amounted to sexual assault. Much time was spent discussing his respect for women, the language he has used about Mexicans and Muslims, and other personal qualities of the real-estate mogul turned politician. Trump, of course, fired back, accusing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton -- whom he often refers to as "crooked Hillary" -- of hiding donors to her family's charitable foundation and of colluding with her husband to bury accusations that the former president was himself involved in sexual malfeasance.

As election day approached, much of the focus turned to the reopening of an FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server during her tenure as secretary of state and internal communications that have been published by WikiLeaks that are potentially embarrassing to Clinton and her staff.

These are only a few of the issues that have come to characterize the last year and a half of American politics. And you may have noticed by now that none of them is focused on specific policies.

If you are a member of the extremist group Islamic State (IS), or if you happen to be the president of Russia or Syria, this is music to your ears.

What is currently taking place in Syria and Iraq is a tangled mess of alliances and fighting groups , extremist organizations and pro-democracy activists, and sectarian tensions that are arguably being heightened by the very military campaign that is designed to dismantle IS's sectarian warfare machine. In Iraq, the political balance between Sunnis, Shi'a, and Kurds is in turmoil, with the Kurds and the Shi'a competing to retake territory controlled by the Sunni extremists IS. But both groups, particularly the Shi'ite militias that have varying degrees of association with Iran, have been accused of their own sectarian war crimes.

Across the border in Syria, there are arguably two (nearly) completely separate wars being waged. The one that has received the most media attention over the last few years is the fight against IS conducted by U.S.-backed Kurdish groups, U.S.-led air strikes, the Turkish military, as well as Turkish and U.S.-supported Sunni rebel groups.

Just kilometers away from this conflict lies the northern edge of Syria's second war -- or rather the first war, since it predates the war against IS by more than three years: the war between a large portion of the Syrian populace and the Assad government. This conflict did not start out as a war but as a protest movement -- a popular uprising against more than four decades of rule by a single family that was met with the utmost brutality. When a large percentage of Assad's own soldiers refused to shoot civilians and many instead opted to protect them, the Syrian war was born.

Since that time, a wide variety of external parties have become involved. Russia and Iran have provided arms, fuel, supplies, and money -- to say nothing of political support and, eventually, soldiers -- for the Assad government and the Syrian military. Private citizens across the Middle East provided funding to various rebel groups (with various ideologies, ranging from moderate to extremist). Countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and the United States have each assisted or directly armed and trained individual rebel units.

No, the Syrian crisis did not start as a proxy war, nor did it necessarily begin with wider geopolitical consequences. And while Russia and Iran had a clear strategy from the beginning -- the protection of Assad at all costs -- none of the opposing players fully committed to the effort to topple him. The result is that the opposition to Assad is now a splintered mess, with various rebel groups catering to whatever ideological beliefs they believe are most likely to get them the most support. Radical Islamic Saalafism, or even jihadism, has been adopted by some groups by choice, while it has been tolerated to greater or lesser degrees by others who cannot afford to fight against Assad, Iran, Russia, Hizbullah, Iraqi Shi'ite militias, and their fellow Sunni rebels.

In this vacuum, Islamic State continues to wage its wars and its terrorism campaigns, Al-Qaeda is growing, and governments like Russia and Assad continue to kill civilians without consequence.

It's a mess.

It's tempting, then, to dismiss this mess as unfixable. Many analysts, however, believe that the threat of terrorism and the wave of refugees originating from this region means that this complicated knot is now tangled around our throats. Others believe that the various countries across the world are complicit in the creation of this crisis and so have a responsibility to fix it. Still others believe that at the very least we can no longer do business with those who are making this crisis worse.

There appears to be a consensus that has emerged from both the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump that something must be done about this crisis. Clinton has advocated establishing a no-fly zone in northern Syria, at least. So did Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, who was overruled five days later by Donald Trump himself. Clinton has not explained how she will implement her plan without triggering war with Russia. Trump, on the other hand, has claimed that both Assad and Russia are fighting IS and should be allowed to continue to do so, statements that have drawn the ire of Syrian groups that oppose the so-called Islamic State and that do not align with investigations of Russia's air campaign in Syria conducted by RFE/RL and other organizations.

In other words, though there have been heated exchanges about Syria, IS, and Iraq, there is no consensus between the two candidates about the facts. There is no real debate about policy taking place. Neither candidate has addressed sectarian tensions, the role of the Kurds, the intervention of Turkey, or even basic questions like which of the competing warring parties should play a central role in the capturing of IS's strongholds of Raqqa or Mosul.

This is not to say that neither candidate has opinions or insight into these complicated matters. But what it means is that there has been little public debate about what, specifically, can be done to address the sectarian warfare, humanitarian suffering, growing geopolitical tensions, or the threat or terrorism that is seething in the Middle East and beyond as a result of these conflicts. This means that there is no robust debate among experts, journalists, activists, or politicians about what can and should be done since, without a specific policy debate, all discussion of these eventualities can only take place in generalities and hypotheticals.

This is problematic because things in Syria and Iraq are moving so quickly. There are about 80 days until the next U.S. president will be inaugurated. Even if they have a specific policy prescription to address this crisis, it will take time to lay the political and logistical groundwork to execute that plan. Typically, the first 100 days of a presidency are dominated by domestic policy goals. That points to a long wait -- perhaps 180 days, or possibly longer -- for Syria and Iraq to be addressed, and a lot can happen in that time. As an example, the Turkish invasion of northern Syria took place less than 80 days ago. The Syrian military's siege of Aleppo, which has come to dominate the conversation about Syria, only began about 130 days ago.

What will Syria and Iraq look like in 180 days?

Whatever steps the next president takes will have to happen quickly. This timeline opens up two unwelcome possibilities -- that a policy to address these problems will be pushed through quickly and with little public debate, or that the process will be stretched out to the point where, at best, it may be harder to steer the response to the crisis or, at worst, it may be too late.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.
Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland said he has spoken with Russian officials about reports that rights activist Ildar Dadin has been tortured and beaten in prison.

Jagland said on November 3 that he told Justice Minister Aleksandr Konovalov via phone that he is concerned by Dadin's claims in a letter to his wife that he had been tortured and threatened while serving his 2 1/2 year sentence at the IK-7 prison in the northwestern town of Segezha.

Jagland, a former prime minister of Norway, urged Konovalov to carry out a thorough investigation of Dadin's claims and to work with the Council of Europe on prison reform for Russia.

Konovalov pledged to Jagland that a full and transparent probe of Dadin's situation would be conducted.

Dadin, 34, was the first person convicted in Russia of taking part in multiple unsanctioned protests. He received a three-year sentence in December that was later reduced by six months.

Meanwhile, Dadin's wife, Anastasia Zotova, said on November 3 that her husband is thought to have had a seizure on November 2.

The deputy head of Russia's prison service, Valery Maksimenko, said Dadin had fallen off a chair "in a fit" while being examined by doctors.

Russia's prison service said in a statement that no injuries were found on Dadin when he was examined by the doctors or when checked at a hospital the following day.

"I'm very nervous about my husband," said Zotova, adding that Dadin had never suffered fits before. "I think they've done something awful to him."

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova also visited Dadin on November 3 and recommended he be moved to a different prison.

Moskalkova's spokesman also said Dadin had agreed to take a polygraph examination.

Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement on November 3 it was continuing to look into Dadin's torture claims.

Amnesty International has declared Dadin a prisoner of conscience.

With reporting by AFP, Interfax, and TASS
Russian authorities say four suspected militants were killed in an operation in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan.

The National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) said on November 4 that the suspected leader of a criminal group, Marat Makhmudov, and his three associates were killed in Daghestans western city of Khasavyurt, near the administrative boundary with Chechnya.

Russia's North Caucasus is beset by violence linked to an Islamist insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet separatist wars in Chechnya, as well as organized crime, political disputes, business, and clan rivalry.

Moderate Muslims, journalists, police, and officials are regularly targeted in attacks.

Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS
At his speech at the Valdai Discussion Forum in Sochi last week, Vladimir Putin seemed to indicate that he was seeking some form of detente with the West.

His foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested the same thing this week at a press conference in Athens, saying that, inevitably, Russia and the West will need to sit down and talk to resolve differences.

The idea of some form of grand bargain with Russia is also gaining traction in several European capitals.

Now, there are just a couple problems with this.

For one thing, Russia's record of complying with recent agreements with the West is far from stellar.

The ink was barely dry on the Minsk cease-fire and the recent cease-fire in Syria before Moscow began flagrantly violating them.

The OSCE reported that last week alone there were roughly 1,000 cease-fire violations per day in eastern Ukraine.

Moreover, recent reports suggest that Russia is not even complying with the 2010 New START nuclear arms treaty.

So there's that.

But leaving aside the issue of noncompliance, there are deeper questions about what a grand compromise with Vladimir Putin's regime would look like.

Moscow is not going to return Crimea to Ukraine.

It's not going to stop its intervention in the Donbas. It's not going to stop trying to dominate its neighbors.

It's not going to stop backing extremist parties in Europe, and its not going to stop its cyberattacks.

Russia appears to want detente without changing any of its behavior.

It doesn't want compromise. What it wants is capitulation. Which makes any grand bargain with this regime practically impossible.

Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
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.
The Iraqi military says its forces had success against Islamic State (IS) forces south of Mosul and also recaptured districts within the city.

Military officials said on November 4 that Iraqi troops had taken back six districts from IS fighters in eastern Mosul.

Iraq's Counterterrorism Service said the neighborhoods of Malayin, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds, and Karamah were under Iraqi control.

Reports said the advancing troops were coming up against fierce opposition and that IS militants were firing mortars, bombs, automatic weapons, and rockets.

At one point Iraqi troops had to pull back from Karamah after IS militants unleashed a hail of bombs and gunfire.

The fighting on November 4 was the most intense urban combat in Mosul since government and Kurdish forces launched an offensive on October 17 to drive out the militants, AP reported.

There are an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters scattered in different parts of Mosul.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces advanced along the Tigris River and entered the Hammam al-Alil district, just 20 kilometers from Mosul.

IS fighters retreating ahead of the advance and going north to Mosul have forced thousands of villagers and people from towns such as Hammam al-Alil to travel with them to protect against air strikes, Reuters reported.

The UN said IS militants took some 1,600 abducted civilians from Hammam al-Alil to Tal Afar, west of Mosul, earlier this week, and took another 150 families from Tal Afar to Mosul the next day.

Residents were told to give IS fighters their children, especially boys above the age of nine, in what was seen as a drive to recruit children as soldiers, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

The reported advances toward and within Mosul come one day after IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording in which he called on the militants not to retreat from Mosul.

The territory taken by the Iraqi forces thus far still amounts to just a tiny fraction of the sprawling city of some 1.5 million inhabitants.

There has also been an exodus of civilians from villages such as Gogjali and Bazwaya in recent days, with the UN refugee agency saying some 3,000 displaced persons have arrived at a newly opened camp.

Umm Ali could not hold back tears when she spoke of her constant fear the jihadists would take her sons.

"They kept coming to our home," she said. "Sometimes they'd knock on the door at 10 p.m. They took our car, saying, 'This is the land of the caliphate, it belongs to us.'"

Many civilians seeking refuge in the Kurdish-controlled villages east of the city also told stories of IS brutality since the Sunni extremist group took control of Mosul and other areas of northern and western Iraq in 2014.

With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AFP
TARAZ, Kazakhstan -- A strong storm in Kazakhstan's southern region of Zhambyl has destroyed dozens of buildings, injuring at least 11 people.

Three of the wounded were hospitalized.

Regional Emergency Department officials told RFE/RL that the storm hit the region on the evening of November 3.

The storm damaged the roofs of houses and public institutions, as well electricity lines in the regional capital, Taraz, and other areas, leaving dozens of villages and settlements without electricity.

Several trains connecting Kazakhstans southern regions with other parts of the country were suspended.
5 Pankrat refers to his Lenin-filled home as a museum but charges no admission fees. And he claims to have refused an offer of $1.5 million from Russian buyers who want to pack it up and take it to Russia. "The past is not a commodity, he says. "How can I put a value on it?"

His sign reads, "The whole exhibition is a gesture of respect to the history of the country and to the people who lived in that era."
Locals in the town of Veles, Macedonia have launched more than 100 websites loaded with articles supporting Donald Trump for U.S. president and denouncing Hillary Clinton. The sites' operators cash in on the election season by generating ad revenue -- often driving traffic with false or provocative articles. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service)
Can you define a nation in a law? Vladimir Putin seems to think you can and this week, in advance of today's National Unity Day, he called on Russian lawmakers to do so.

So what is behind the Kremlin leader's call for legislation that defines the Russian nation?

Is it an appeal to civic patriotism? Is it a message to ethnic minorities that they need to assimilate into a larger Russian whole? Or is it an attempt to create a modern version of Homo Sovieticus, the new Soviet man?

Whatever the case, Putin's appeal is the latest sign that the Kremlin is accelerating its ideological trajectory and its embrace of state nationalism.

On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we will discuss Unity Day, the proposed law on the Russian nation, and the 1917 anniversary as elements in Putin's effort to forge a national ideology and what that portends.

Joining me will be co-host Mark Galeotti, a senior policy fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the blog In Moscow's Shadows; and Moscow-based journalist Anna Arutunyan, author of the book The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia's Power Cult.

Enjoy...

Listen to or download the podcast above or subscribe to The Power Vertical Podcast on iTunes.
Protesters from a group known as the Syria Campaign blocked the entrance to Russia's embassy in London on November 3 with 800 mannequin limbs, a move they said was taken in response to the killing of hundreds of civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Two people also chained themselves to the gates.

The Russian Embassy protested that it was "deeply concerned" about the unwillingness of the U.K. government to "ensure security and unhindered operation of the Russian diplomatic mission in London."

It said staff and visitors were unable to enter the embassy because of the protesters, and London police were "indifferent" despite the demonstrators' "provocative and disorderly conduct."

The embassy also said its telephone lines were clogged by "nuisance callers."

The embassy accused the government of waging an anti-Russian campaign by encouraging people to protest outside the embassy.

Bissan Fakih from the Syria Campaign said campaigners wanted to highlight that Russian warplanes "are killing so many families" and that the bombing "needs to stop."

"The people of the world are watching," she said.

Based on reporting by BBC, EveningStandard.com, and TASS


Reuters is reporting that the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election extends to fake documents that suggest Hillary Clinton's campaign might take extreme measures like "staging civil unrest" to ensure she wins.

U.S. intelligence officials have warned privately that the Russian campaign to undermine the credibility of the election could move beyond hacking and leaking Democratic Party e-mails to posting fictional evidence of voter fraud or other disinformation, Reuters said.

The FBI reportedly is reviewing a seven-page electronic memorandum that was posted on Twitter on October 20 by Roger Stone, a Republican operative and former aide to Democrat Clinton's opponent Donald Trump, which carries the logos of the Clinton Foundation and Democratic pollster Joel Benenson's firm, the Benenson Strategy Group.

The memo, titled Salvage Program and identified as "fake" by the Clinton campaign and Clinton Foundation, claims her poll ratings had plunged and called for "severe strategy changes for November" that could include "staged civil unrest" and "radiological attack" with dirty bombs to disrupt the November 8 vote.

It is not clear where the fraudulent document originated or how it started circulating on the Internet.

When he linked to the document on Twitter, Stone wrote: "If this is real: OMG!!"

Stone on November 4 tweeted that he received the document in an e-mail and linked to an article that said the fake document came from the hacking group Anonymous.

Stone called the Reuters story about the document a "witchhunt."

Reuters reported that another fake document -- a letter supposedly written by Democratic Senator Tom Carper -- also suggests that the Democratic Party would go to extreme lengths to ensure it wins the election.

In the letter, which Carper's office identified as fake, the senator writes to Clinton that "we will not let you lose this election," Reuters said.

Based on reporting by Reuters


Dozens of activists have protested outside the British Embassy in Moscow in a mock response to a demonstration against Russia's bombing campaign in Syria that was held at the Russian Embassy in London.

Protesters from the Syria Campaign blocked an entrance to the Russian Embassy in London on November 3 with some 800 mannequin limbs to symbolize the reported killing of hundreds of civilians in Syrian and Russian bombing raids in the city of Aleppo.

The Russian Embassy said it was "deeply concerned" about the unwillingness of the British government to "ensure security and unhindered operation of the Russian diplomatic mission in London."

The embassy in London also said its telephone lines were clogged by "nuisance callers."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the London rally was organized by British government officials.

"Everybody can see that these civil-society activities...are directly controlled by [British] officials and government," she said.

Zakharova added that the London rally came following a call by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in the House of Commons for protesters to rally outside Moscow's embassy.

Bissan Fakih from the Syria Campaign said campaigners wanted to highlight that Russian warplanes "are killing so many families" and that the bombing "needs to stop."

"The people of the world are watching," she said.

In Moscow, the protesters also threw mannequin limbs at the British Embassy.

Based on reporting by BBC, EveningStandard.com, and TASS
MOSCOW -- Separate crowds of nationalists and government supporters have marched through the streets of Moscow as Russia marked National Unity Day, a holiday established by the Kremlin more than 10 years ago to replace communist-era celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution anniversary.

Outside the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin unveiled a controversial 17-meter-high statue of Grand Prince Vladimir, an iconic figure who legend says converted eastern Slavs to Orthodox Christianity in 988, when he was ruler of Kievan Rus.

Putin has used the November 4 holiday to promote patriotism and seek to consolidate society and strengthen the Kremlin's grip on a vast, diverse country. He has tried to balance messages of unity with verbal support for the ethnic Russian majority and the predominant Russian Orthodox Church.

"Prince Vladimir has gone down forever in history as the unifier and defender of Russian lands, as a visionary politician," Putin said at the event on Borovitskaya Square, which was attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other senior officials as well as Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, underscoring the symbolic importance Moscow placed on the event.

The monument unveiling -- which was closed to the public -- came after marchers from mainly pro-government groups and mainstream political parties, many carrying banners and Russian flags, made their way down the central Tverskaya Street a few hundred meters away. Authorities put the size of the crowd at about 80,000.

WATCH: Hundreds of people joined mainstream political parties in the Lyublino district of southeast Moscow on November 4, waving Russian imperial flags, carrying nationalist banners, and chanting "Glory to Russia." (RFE/RL's Current Time TV and Russian Service)

There was a heavy police presence in the Russian capital, with metal barriers sealing off side streets.

Nationalists and monarchists held separate marches and rallies in outlying districts of Moscow. Pro-government gatherings were held in cities across Russia as well as in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014, severely straining its ties with Kyiv and the West.

Grand Prince Vladimir -- Volodymyr in Ukrainian -- is a key part of the current struggle between Moscow and Kyiv. He ruled Kievan Rus from Kyiv, the cradle of Russian civilization and the capital of Ukraine, and is a patron saint in both countries.

He has long been seen, however, as belonging to Kyiv, where a soaring statue has been a chief symbol of the city since it was erected on "Volodymyr's Hill," overlooking the Dnieper River, in 1853.

"Today our duty is to stand up together against modern challenges and threats by basing ourselves on this spiritual legacy," Putin said.

National Unity Day is a national holiday created by Putin in 2005 to celebrate a Russian victory over Polish forces in 1612. It took the place of Soviet-era commemorations of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which were held on November 7.

Earlier, Putin laid flowers at the Red Square monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, who are credited with leading Russian troops against the Poles in 1612.

Attending that event along with Putin were heads of major religious faiths, including Kirill and Russian Grand Mufti Ravil Gainutdin.

Elsewhere in the Russian capital, hundreds of ultranationalists shouting slogans such as "Glory to the white race! Glory to Russia!" marched through Lyublino, a southeastern neighborhood. Hundreds of riot police with batons were on hand, along with police troops in green fatigues and regular police.

Among other chants shouted by the ultranationalists, some of whom had shaved heads, included calls to free Dmitry Dyomushkin, who was arrested on October 28 on charges of extremism and placed under house arrest. Dyomushkin has been a key organizer of the nationalist Russian March parade in past years.

While Putin has promoted a patriotic brand of nationalism, the Kremlin is wary of hard-line ethnic Russian or Slavic nationalists, many of whom are disenchanted with his leadership. The government has prevented them from marching in central Moscow in recent years.

One slogan chanted at the march was "Putin, Skis, Magadan" -- a call for Putin to be sent to gulag, or prison. Another was: "Russians forward! Blood, fatherland, faith!"

Building A Nation?

Ahead of the holiday, Putin urged lawmakers to craft legislation on the "Russian nation" -- using the word Rossiiskaya, which indicates the Russian state, rather than Russkaya, which implies ethnicity -- in what analysts called an effort to project an image of unity. The giant country has a large Muslim minority and a wide variety of ethnic groups.

But members of some minorities such as Tatars, who are mainly Muslim, say they fear such steps are actually aimed to sweep their cultural identity under the rug and create a more homogenous nation. They may also bristle at the monument to Grand Prince Vladimir, who was described by Kirill as having chosen the "truth."

During the pro-government march in central Moscow, some participants held up placards like "Russia, peace, unity", and "When we're united, we're unbeatable."

Also visible were banners of the orange-and-black St. George ribbon, which the state has promoted as a patriotic symbol but which many Kremlin critics and people in neighboring countries now associate with Russian military aggression and in particular the war Russia-backed separatists are waging against government forces in eastern Ukraine.

A balloon, several meters in diameter and emblazoned with the word "Antimaidan" -- a sign of opposition to Ukraine's Euromaidan protest movement, which drove Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014 -- floated above the procession.

Analysts say there is little enthusiasm among ordinary Russians for the holiday, with many turning out for rallies organized by the state or its supporters only after pressure at work. Others have admitted in the past to being paid to attend such rallies.

Three Uzbek migrant workers at the march on Tverskaya Street told RFE/RL that they did not receive money for turning up for this year's festivities, but added they had been paid in the past for taking part in rallies.

A tweet from the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom said, "Our congrats to compatriots and colleagues on National Unity Day," and included a drawing featuring matryoshka dolls, bears, balalaikas, and vodka bottles -- as well as fur hats with the Soviet red star.
The Russian military said one of its helicopters in Syria came under rebel fire and made an emergency landing on November 3, but no crew members were hurt.

The military's Reconciliation Center in Syria said the helicopter came under fire in the province of Hama while on a mission to deliver humanitarian aid and made an emergency landing about 40 kilometers northwest of the city of Palmyra.

It said the landing site came under rebel fire, but the crew was unhurt. A rescue helicopter quickly arrived to evacuate the crew to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia, which is used by the Russian military.

Amaq, a news agency affiliated with the Islamic State extremist group, appeared to provide a different version of the incident. It said a Russian military helicopter was destroyed by rocket fire in the rural town of Huwaysis in central Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent group monitoring the Syrian war, said a helicopter came under fire while landing in the Huwaysis area.

Russia has lost four helicopters in Syria, where it has waged an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and TASS
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Belgrade plans on signing an integrated agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Dacic said during a visit to the Russia city of Suzdal on November 3 that Serbia has "free-trade-zone agreements with certain EAEU members, but they differ."

He added that Belgrade is now planning to sign a common agreement good for all members of the EAEU.

Dacic said his government would work to find a "unification with all of these [separate] agreements [with individual EAEU members]."

Serbia has traditionally close ties to Russia but also hopes to become a member of the European Union.

The EAEU groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia together. It came into being in 2015.

Based on reporting by TASS and Serbian media
The mayor of Kyiv says electricity and water supplies have been restored after a day of Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, including hydroelectric power stations, that caused blackouts, mobile phone outages, and reductions in water supplies.

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, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

"The water supply to the homes of Kyiv residents has been fully restored. Thank you to the experts of Kyivvodokanal and DTEK, who worked for almost a day to restore water and electricity [supplies] to the residents of the capital," Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram early on November 1.



Klitschko said that the electricity supply in the Ukrainian capital had also been restored but that blackouts are inevitable because of the extensive damage to the power system after the Russian attacks.

In Mykolayiv, regional military administration chief Vitaliy Kim said on November 1 that Russia fired four S-300 missiles overnight, demolishing half an apartment building in the city and killing one person.

Russia has been targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure and other civilian buildings with missile, drone, and artillery attacks for weeks amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has driven Russian troops out of the northeast and pushed them back in the east and southeast.



In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine's air defenses did a good job shooting down most of the missiles, but that strengthening the country's air-defense capabilities remains a top priority.



"Our air force and everyone involved in protecting the sky did a very good job today," Zelenskiy said late on October 31. "Most of the objectives that the terrorists identified as targets were saved. This morning alone, terrorists used 55 cruise missiles for a massive attack. Forty-five of them were shot down. We will continue to strengthen our air defense."



Zelenskiy added that restoration work was still ongoing in regions targeted by Russian missiles.



Russia launched missiles into several Ukrainian cities on October 31, including the nations capital, Kyiv, as the Kremlin continues its relentless assault on critical Ukrainian infrastructure in the hopes of wearing down the populations will to resist.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko called on the Group of 20 major economies to expel Russia and rescind President Vladimir Putins invitation to a G20 summit in Bali next month.

Nikolenko said in a tweet on November 1 that Putin's public acknowledgement that he ordered missile strikes on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure meant "his hands [are] stained in blood" and that "he must not be allowed to sit at the table with world leaders."

With its eight-month invasion failing and the prospects of a defeat rising, the Kremlin is seeking to terrorize and demoralize the Ukrainian population in an attempt to break it, Western and Ukrainian officials have said. Russia has destroyed more than 40 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure in a few weeks, causing electricity cuts in Kyiv and other places as winter approaches.



Separately, in eastern Ukraine, the military command said there were fierce battles near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region and that Ukrainian forces had held back Russian assaults on two other areas in the region, around Avdiyivka and Uhledar.



Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on November 1 that Russia struck more than 50 settlements in the Donetsk region.



Russia is also expanding the forced evacuation of Ukrainian citizens from occupied Kherson as its forces seek to hold the region.



Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-appointed head of Kherson, announced on October 31 that citizens will be evacuated from another seven districts. Just three days earlier, the Russia-installed officials had announced that the evacuation process in the Kherson region had ended.



The Ukrainian military reported that Russian troops are mining evacuated residential areas in the Kakhovka settlement.



In Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said all military mobilization activities, including summons delivery, have been suspended. The ministry said in a statement that all activities related to conscription for military service have been stopped.



According to the statement, military units will only be accepting volunteers and contractors from now on.



However, the announcement does not amount to an official end to the partial mobilization decreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in September. That can only be done with an official decree from Putin.



Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled Russia since Putin declared the partial military mobilization.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish forces said on November 3 that they reject Turkish involvement in their planned campaign to drive the Islamic State extremist group out of its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

Turkey wants to join the operation, and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said this week he was talking with Ankara about getting Turkey involved in the final stage of seizing the city.

U.S. officials hope to start a campaign to retake Raqqa within weeks and have said that the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups will play the main role in surrounding and isolating the city.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces are the only force that will take part in the operation to liberate Raqqa," SDF spokesman Talal Silo said. "The topic of Turkey's participation was settled with the coalition definitively. No Turkish participation."

But Ankara is dismayed at the prominent role played by the Kurdish YPG militia in the SDF. It says the Kurdish group has ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey.

The SDF, in seizing large swathes of territory along the Syria-Turkey border from IS, has recently clashed with Turkish-backed forces operating there, too.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Reuters

Movie theater chain Cineworld Group on Monday announced a bankruptcy settlement with its landlords and lenders, clearing the way for the company to borrow an additional $150 million and make a $1 billion debt repayment. Landlords and junior creditors dropped their opposition to the billion-dollar debt repayment after Cineworld agreed to pay at least $20 million in rent that will accrue after Sept. 30. Britain's Cineworld, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas in September with less than $4 million in cash on hand, previously did not intend to make any post-September rent payments until the end of its bankruptcy.
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HCA Virginias John Randolph Medical Center has started construction on its new Tri-Cities Emergency Center in Prince George County.

The 11,000-square-foot, freestanding ER will be HCA Virginias fourth such facility in the region. The health system is planning a commemorative groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 15. The center is scheduled to open in the middle of next year.

John Randolph has been part of the Tri-Cities region for over 100 years now, said Aimee Cocolin, vice president of operations with the medical center. Its growing with the community, and part of growing with the community is building access points, emergency access points so that people can access the care they need within their community.

The Tri-Cities Emergency Center will be at 1700 Temple Parkway in Prince George, about 8 miles from the medical center. The health systems overall commitment to the facility is just under $12 million, Cocolin said.

The facility will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and will have the same capabilities as the emergency department within a hospital, such as a separate pediatric entrance and waiting area, private treatment rooms and on-site laboratory.

It will boast 11 exam rooms, including a trauma room, bariatric room and psychiatric safe room, along with a CT scanner and other imaging abilities.

That would be one of the big differences between this and a doctors office  the imaging capabilities that an emergency department can provide, Cocolin said.

Having multiple emergency centers available  in addition to the medical centers emergency room  makes it easier on emergency response crews in the area, Cocolin said. The more options they have, the faster they can drop off a patient in need of care.

That way, their crews can get back on the road, responding to calls from the public the way they should be, Cocolin said.

HCA Virginia has three other freestanding ERs: West Creek Emergency Center in Goochland County, Hanover Emergency Center in Mechanicsville and Swift Creek Emergency Center in southern Chesterfield County.
Richmond mayoral front-runner Joe Morrissey will not face criminal charges stemming from recent allegations that he pressured a law client for sex, Henrico County Commonwealths Attorney Shannon Taylor said Friday.

While what he did was wrong and unethical, there will not be a prosecution, Taylor said in a statement.

Taylor said her office has spoken about the situation with the Virginia State Bar in accordance with our legal responsibilities to report unethical behavior.

Officials at the bar, which is responsible for the discipline of lawyers and already is investigating Morrissey over his defense against charges in 2014 of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, have said they are unable to confirm or deny whether theyre reviewing the latest allegations.

In a statement, Morrisseys campaign called Taylor a political opponent and accused her of trying to smear him by innuendo and unproven charges.

In a brief interview, however, Morrissey offered a more restrained response: I want to thank the prosecutor for clearing me of the false allegations, he said. Im 100 percent certain that the voters know there never should have been allegations raised in the first place.

Asked if he had any response to Taylors assessment of his behavior, Morrissey said, Shannon Taylor is not charged with the authority of weighing in on that subject. Thats not her bailiwick.

Kanika S. Morris accused Morrissey of exposing himself to her in his law office and sending her sexually explicit text messages, a record of which she provided last week to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

She said that when she refused Morrisseys advances, he handed her case to an associate in his office who pressured her to plead guilty for failing to return a rental car, which resulted in a 90-day jail sentence.

Morrissey acknowledges he sent the text messages but denies exposing himself or having anything to do with arranging Morris plea bargain.

Last week, a Henrico judge took the unusual step of releasing Morris from jail and allowing her to withdraw her guilty plea, pending a new trial.

Taylor said her offices investigation focused primarily on Morris allegations and if she felt she had to give up some type of liberty in exchange for not paying the rest of her fee.

The reduced fee had nothing to do with the photographs (sought in text messages) as far as we could tell, Taylor said.

Betty Layne DesPortes, one of Morris lawyers, said, We have said this was a matter for the proper authorities and the Virginia State Bar. We respect Ms. Taylors decision not to prosecute and we will cooperate with the investigation of the Virginia State Bar.

Morrissey has said he was never alone with the woman on the day she says he exposed himself, a claim that is corroborated by an attorney in his office.

Morrisseys lawyer, Arnold Henderson, also has said he collected evidence from two women who shared a day room with Morris in jail.
It was the early to mid-1990s. The setting was the Commonwealth Club on West Franklin Street. A gathering of Richmonds most prominent civic and business leaders  black, white, public and private representatives  was underway. The order of business? To envision Richmonds future.

Among the primary plans on the agenda was Richmonds riverfront: a lofty vision of businesses, restaurants, specialty shops, and a thriving nightlife along one of the citys most prized assets  the James River. But more than 20 years later, it seems to have been just a dream.

That setting, an annual meeting by then-Richmond Renaissance (now Venture Richmond), represents just one of the major missed opportunities for a revitalization of downtown that could have catapulted Richmond to its place among Americas leading convention, tourist or destiny vacation cities.

Baltimore, Charlotte, Seattle, Boston  all cities with thriving waterfront developments  attest to the power of economic development when it is done in the proper order.

As a former member of the Richmond City Planning Commission, I vividly recall the missed opportunities  and the mistakes  of past years. In the case of the envisioned riverfront development, the ball was dropped when officials sought to develop the city from Broad Street down instead of from the riverfront up. So, the hustle and bustle of thousands of tourists visiting downtown on a weekly basis never really appeared. Then, the Sixth Street Marketplace and its symbolic bridge were lost, the clanging of the GRTC trolleys was short-lived, and the city still awaits the leadership that could navigate it all back toward a vibrant future.

Richmonds election of a new mayor has largely focused on educational issues: the crucial elements of Richmonds school funding, administration, and the future of our youth. However, we must not neglect other issues of equal importance, such as economic development, regionalism, and Richmonds reputation as a gateway city.

Now comes a new opportunity to revisit past mistakes and capitalize on them. In that regard, here are a few suggestions of ways to correct the mistakes that have stymied our growth in the past:

We have digressed from the planning of some of our best visions. Therefore, lets press to revisit the riverfront project that Richmond Renaissance had on the table. Lets add exciting businesses, restaurants, water walks, family activities and boat slips to the community of homes thats already begun along the shores of the James River.

We have failed to develop the city strategically. For example, as the riverfront builds up, we must begin to attract anchor retail stores back to downtown. Smaller stores will follow for the revival of downtown shopping.

We have neglected to nationally promote some of Richmonds major events. Do more to rebrand Richmond as a city of festivals, promoting our Arts in the Park, the Richmond Jazz Festival, the Second Street Festival, the Grand Illumination and even the Christmas Parade as national attractions for businesses and families.

And then theres Richmonds history, which has for years sparked stifling division and rancor, especially Richmonds Confederate history. As the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmonds history is a microcosm of American history. Therefore, Virginia is the pivotal state in our nation. The key is to tell the honest story in its proper context as a continuum. In doing so, we must promote such features as the slave artifacts of Shockoe Bottom, commemorate the victorious march of the United States Colored Troops into the city on April 3, 1865, and promote the Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue, the John Mitchell marker and the pending Maggie Walker statue in historic Jackson Ward, among others.

Finally, theres the bureaucracy that slows down progress. For example, parking downtown around City Hall must be made easier and more convenient. Also, tax breaks and incentives could be granted for businesses and developers who renovate boarded-up buildings along Broad Street.

Former Mayor Tim Kaines race for the White House as the Democratic vice presidential candidate has attracted the eyes of the nation to his accomplishments in Richmond.

Every mayor has in some way made Richmond better, including Mayors L. Douglas Wilder and Dwight C. Jones. Now is an opportunity to soar even higher by revisiting and learning from our failures of the past.
Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton

Bernie Sanders delivered a rousing speech at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.

"This election's been a lot more fun now that we're on the same side," Sanders said, referring to Clinton. The two, of course, were rivals in the Democratic primary.

Sanders was quick to turn the focus back to the voters.

"Despite what media may tell you, this campaign is not about Hillary Clinton. It is not about Donald Trump," he said. "This campaign is about you and millions of other Americans."

Sanders revisited the progressive rhetoric he used during the primary  including promises to push for a higher minimum wage and fight the influence of big money in politics.

"We will not allow billionaires to buy the United States government," Sanders said.

And he talked at length about working with Clinton, if she is elected, to adopt policies that strengthen the economy for working-class and middle-class families and fight income inequality.

Bernie Sanders

"This country, our government, belongs to all of us," Sanders said. "There is one candidate running for president who has pledged to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, and that is Hillary Clinton." The crowd erupted, chanting Clinton's name.

Sanders has been campaigning on Clinton's behalf in recent weeks, along with an all-star roster of Democratic Party luminaries in the run-up to Election Day.

In Raleigh on Thursday night, he torched what he called "cowardly" Republican governors he accused of trying to suppress voter turnout in economically vulnerable sections of the country.

"And I say to those governors: If you don't have the guts to participate in a free, open, and fair election, get out of politics and get another job," he said.

The crowd roared, this time chanting Sanders' name.

Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Raleigh North Carolina

Sanders appeared particularly fired up when he turned his attention to Trump, calling out the Republican presidential nominee's historically raucous campaign in one impassioned statement.

Story continues

"What upsets me the most  it's beyond disagreement  is we have struggled for so many years to overcome discrimination, and he is running his campaign, the cornerstone of which is bigotry," he said.

Sanders continued:

"As Americans, we can disagree on many issues, but we have come too far, too many people have gone to jail, and too many have died in the struggle for equal rights. We are not going back to a bigoted society. ... Our strength, our uniqueness is our diversity. We should be proud of it, and we are not going to allow Trump or anyone else to divide us up."

Trump has spent the week attempting to paint Clinton as untrustworthy  frequently calling up the FBI's ongoing inquiries into Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

The GOP nominee sought to capitalize on lingering questions surrounding the case, which seemed to gain new life last week when FBI Director James Comey announced the agency would examine new emails that were found during an unrelated investigation.

The election is Tuesday, November 8.

NOW WATCH: Trump says 'every poll' shows he won the second debate, but scientific polls suggest he lost





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Ian Anthony Birdsall, (66), of Christiansburg, passed away at home on Sunday, October 30, 2016. He was born on November 12, 1950 in Raleigh, N.C. He was preceded in death by his father, John Wilbur Birdsall and his mother, Barbara Bolding Birdsall. Survivors include his much loving and caring wife, Dixie; and two daughters, Heather and Caroline, by a previous marriage; and stepdaughter and her husband, Havalynn Smith and Doug Smith.Ian held a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from Virginia Tech; an MS in Management Science from the State University of New York; and a BS in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech. He was an outstanding graduate of the National Defense University, and a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College, the Royal Air Force Staff College, the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the United States Air Force Command and Staff College.A 22-year veteran of the United States Air Force, Dr. Birdsall provided leadership at many levels in the Dept. of Defense. These ranged from (a) preparing combat ready units to (b) serving as an "ambassador" to the British Royal Air Force. Also, at one time he was a squadron commander.Perhaps most important, however, he was appointed as a Project Manager, serving in the Pentagon and overseeing the highest rated project at the time. It was a Pentagon-wide activity to improve the coordination and overall effectiveness of logistics operations within and between all units of the military. The process brought about the consolidation of over 700 data bases and a communications system that eventually could identify the location of almost any person and any goods within 15 minutes.After his stint in the Air Force, he worked as a Senior Consultant for LMI (a.k.a. the "Logistics Management Institute"). At the time of his passing he was teaching in the Public Administration and Policy Programs at Virginia Tech and the at the internationally well-known on-line Walden University. He had published several articles and was a co-author of a book on Supernumerary Intelligence.On the personal side. He was intelligent, outgoing, jovial, agreeable, and personable. He had lots of stories to tell about adventures around the world. He and his wife Dixie did not have all the luck in the world, however (their house on the Gulf of Mexico was washed away by Hurricane Katrina, and their next house in Georgia burned to the ground). But they weathered these with some humor.The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 5, 2016 at Horne Funeral Home in Christiansburg, VA. Funeral services will begin at 4 p.m. with the Rev. David Rhudy of Faith Christian Church. Online condolences may be left at www.hornefuneralservice.com.
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Letters 10-28-22 Thanks, Stacey Dear Editor: I would like to recognize Stacey Amato for the tireless work she has done in our community. She responded to every call I have ever made to her office with results....

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he doesn't think Republican candidate Donald Trump is the right person to lead the United States of America.

"I feel a bit stronger that he is probably not the right guy. He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," Musk said during a CNBC interview covering a range of topics on Friday.

Musk said Hillary Clinton's economic and environmental policies are the "right ones," but he added "I don't think is our finest hour in democracy in general."

However, when asked if political risk was a threat to Tesla's business model, Musk said he doesn't expect much impact.

"I don't think it's very high, it's not going to make too much of a difference honestly," he said.

However, that may not be the case for all carmakers making electric cars.

On Thursday, the Obama Administration designated 48 interstates as EV corridors where there will eventually be charging stations every 50 miles. A Trump presidency, though, could threaten the implementation of that initiative meaning that the long-term adoption of electric vehicles could suffer because of a lack of infrastructure.

Tesla, though, won't have this problem because it already has its own charging infrastructure, Musk said.

"Tesla already has a nationwide charging network, so it wouldn't make any difference to Tesla customers," Musk said. "You can go anywhere in the United States on Tesla's charging network right now."

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ORGANISERS of a real ale groups biggest annual knees-up made sure the memory of one of their lost members was kept alive in style.



Drinkers at Rotherham CAMRA Festival at Rotherham College were able to sup a glass or two from the Steve Burns Jnr Bar, which was named in honour of the former CAMRA member who died earlier this summer.



Steve, whose dad, also called Steve, was one of the main organisers, continued to home-brew ale in the last few weeks before he died, aged 34, from motor neurone disease.



Steve Burns Snr told the Advertiser his family had posed for photos with the banner at the Burns bar, which was named in honour his sons dedication to CAMRA.



Steve used to be in charge of ordering the beer for our previous festivals and even did so for this year, he said.



We thought naming the bar after him was a fitting tribute.



An estimated 1,200 people flocked to the colleges Eastwood Building on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night to sample a taste of dozens of real ales, ciders, perries, wines and world beers and enjoyed a packed musical line-up.



Steve Burns Snr said around 5,000 pints had been quaffed, while funds were also raised for Thornberry Animal Sanctuary, the British Heart Foundation and Rotherham Scouts.



The merry punters included ten who won tickets for all three nights in an Advertiser competition.



CAMRAs attention now turns to the return of the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival, which will take place at Magna next March 2 to 4.


EIGHT friends and relatives who sexually abused three teenage girls have been jailed for a total of 96 years.

The grooming gang were found guilty of 19 sexual offences on October 17 following a four-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court and were remanded in custody.

Her Honour Judge Sarah Wright sentenced the gang today (Friday) at the same court.

Most of the charges relate to offences committed against a Rotherham girl who was just 13 when the abuse began in 2003.

One defendant - Ishtiaq Khaliq - was also found guilty of indecently assaulting two other girls aged 14 to 15 between 1999 and 2001.

The men were aged between 17 and 26 years old at the time of the offences.

Ringleader Sageer Hussain (31), of Clough Road, Rotherham was jailed for 19 years for four counts of rape and one of indecent assault.



His older brother Basharat Hussain (40), who was already in custody for child sex offences, was given another seven years to run concurrent to his current sentence after being found guilty of indecent assault.



The Hussains' cousins Mohammed Whied (32) of Psalters Lane, Kimberworth, was jailed for five years for aiding and abetting rape and Asif Ali (31), of Clough Road, was jailed for 12 years for rape.



Khaliq (33), of Carlisle Street, Rotherham, jailed for 17 years for rape and three counts of indecent assault.



Waleed Ali (34), of Canklow Road, Rotherham, jailed for 13 years for rape and indecent assault.



Masoued Malik (32) of Bridgewater Way, Rotherham, jailed for 15 years for rape, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit indecent assault.



Naeem Rafiq (33), of Clarendon Road, Eastwood, jailed for eight years for conspiracy to commit indecent assault and false imprisonment.

The judge said Sageer Hussain had conducted a campaign of violent rape against a 13 year old vulnerable girl.



She added: The abuse of the victims was often carefully planned.



An abuser would build up their trust and it is a common feature of this case that abusers are often described as initially caring and loving but then turning to becoming controlling and domineering.

Fourth brother jailed for child sex offences


A TEACHER who grabbed a pupil by his collar and pushed him to the floor has been found guilty of assault.



Mark Biglin (48), of East Bawtry Road, was found guilty following a one-day trial at Sheffield Magistrates Court.



Biglin, a former graphics teacher at Oakwood High School, was suspended after the assault in September 2015 and is no longer working at the school.



The court heard Biglin grabbed the then-Year 7 pupil by the scruff of his collar and pushed him to the floor on an engineering corridor after becoming angry at the boy, who was playing about with a friend.



Biglin denied the assault but two other pupils, who gave evidence in court, verified the assault and one of the witnesses reported it to the headteacher immediately afterwards.



All the pupils concerned in this case cannot be identified for legal reasons.



The victim told the court that near the end of the school day he and his friend were playing about on a corridor pushing and shoving each other.



The victim pushed his friend into Biglins classroom door and the boy fell into the room.



The two young pupils then continued down the corridor, the court was told, but Biglin shouted the victim back and told him off for his behaviour.



The boy said Biglin grabbed him by his collar at the front of his shirt with both his hands and shouted angrily at him.



The boy added: I felt something on my neck and felt a pinch.



Biglin shouted at the boy: How do you like it when someone does it to you?



The victim added: Then he pushed me and I landed on the floor like I was sitting down.



Then I said sorry to the teacher because I had pushed my friend.



The victim said his bottom was hurting after the assault and he went home and told his mum what had happened.



His upset mother gave her son a paracetamol, took pictures of his bruises on his thigh and bottom and went back to the high school to complain to the deputy headteacher.

The mother than called the police herself.



Biglin claimed in court he had only touched the boys collar and he had fallen to the floor by himself.



Mr Mick Clarke, defending, said Biglin had shouted to the boy that people in his engineering classroom could have been working with knives, which is why it had been dangerous to burst through the door.



One of the young witnesses, who did not know the victim, verified that Biglin stated this but added the teacher grabbed the pupil and pushed him down on the floor.



The witness added: Then me and my friend went to tell the headmaster everything.



The victim did not cry but looked in shock, the witness added.



Biglin was found guilty by magistrates and ordered to pay a 200 fine, 100 compensation, 100 costs and 20 victim surcharge.



The boys mother told the Advertiser after the trial that she and her son had been left very upset by the incident.



The mother said: I dont touch my child, so I dont expect a teacher to touch my child.



School staff told the mother although they had CCTV cameras, they were not working when the incident occurred.



I thought they were lying  how can cameras not work in a school? she added.



The mother claimed her son was targeted by other teachers after the assault.



The teachers were blaming things on him, I was asking for proof but they would just say we had to trust them, the mother said.



But how can I trust them, hes my child and I know the extent he would go to.



The mum said her son became frustrated, would return home grumpy and was like a different child.



She felt the fine imposed on Biglin was not large enough but was pleased with the verdict.



My son is really happy hes been listened to, she added.



But Ive not had any apology from the school.



Oakwood High School declined to comment.
In reply to Michael:

Hi Andy

I've only got a couple of photos of Booted Eagles in flight.and this is one of them. This was from Extremadura in Spain last May.

The markings and wing shape look pretty similar to yours so I think it's possible that it is a Booted Eagle. My main caveat would be that they are summer visitors so I'm not sure whether they would still be around.

PS I've just checked this site and two Booted Eagles were seen on the 31st October on the Costa Blanca so it seems they are still around.

http://www.finesystem.co.uk/birdwatchingcostablanca/sOct16.html

____________________________________________________________________

Regards,Tony

My Flickr Photostream
SMART TD

The SMART (Internation Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation workers) Transportation Divisions (TD) Missouri State Legislative Board released the results of a survey Nov. 2 revealing Missouri residents strongly support the addition of transportation options and more stringent safety requirements.

The poll also showed state residents were in support of trains being operated with a minimum of two crew members on all trains, without exception.

The majority of residents polled would like to see more passenger rail options made available, with 55 percent of those polled requesting the addition of service to more communities statewide.

Seventy percent of those who participated in the survey showed agreement with the Federal Railroad Administrations (FRA) recently proposed rule that would mandate that most trains operate with at least two crew members, with many saying there should be no exceptions to the rule. SMART Transportation Division said just 5 percent of Missourians polled do not believe the FRA should regulate crew size.

The serious safety risks posed by single-person freight train operations became tragically clear during the summer of 2013, when a runaway oil train barreled into Lac-Megantic, Quebec, destroying half the town and killing 47 people, said Director of the SMART TD Missouri State Legislative Board Jason Hayden. Missourians have consistently shown they understand the risk of single-person operators on freight and passenger trains and want to make safety a top priority by requiring all trains in the state to be operated by a crew of at least two people, with no exceptions.

SMART TD conducted the survey Oct. 27 through Nov. 1. They say 508 random likely 2016 general elections voters were polled via mobile and landline phones by DFM research of St. Paul, Minn.

More details of the survey results can be found here.
Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. (CEMI), a developer of point-of-care or POC diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, announced Friday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire RVR Diagnostics Sdn Bhd for up to $1.5 million in cash and up to $2 million in Chembio stock.

RVR Diagnostics is a Malaysian, privately-held manufacturer of POC diagnostic tests for infectious diseases.

Chembio noted that the deal price is based on the achievement of certain milestones. Chembio also will forgive $250,000 currently owed by RVR to Chembio.

The transaction, which is subject to completion of certain due diligence and other matters, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017, at which time RVR will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chembio.

In 2014, Chembio and RVR entered into two agreements through which RVR acquired rights to license, manufacture and distribute certain Chembio products, including exclusive distribution rights for Chembio's DPP HIV 1/2 Assay and DPP HIV-Syphilis Assay in Southeast Asia.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Malaysia's exports declined at a faster-than-expected pace in September, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Friday.

Exports fell 3.0 percent year-over-year in September, faster than the 2.0 percent drop expected by economists.

Exports of palm oil and palm-based products dipped 4.1 percent on year and those of timber and timber-based products slid by 8.0 percent.

Shipments of electrical and electronic products, which accounted for 38.5 percent of total exports, surged 18.8 percent in September from a year ago.

Imports edged down 0.1 percent annually in September, well below the expected decline of 1.6 percent.

On a monthly basis, both exports and imports grew by 0.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively in September.

The visible trade surplus of the country was shrank to MYR 7.6 billion in September from MYR 9.7 billion in the corresponding month last year. The expected surplus for the month was MYR 8.9 billion.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Shares of LafargeHolcim (HCMLY.PK,HCMLF.PK) were gaining around 4 percent in the morning trading after the cement giant reported Friday higher profit for its third quarter, despite weak sales.

Further, the company said it is on track to achieve full year targets and 2018 objectives. For 2016, the company expects at least a high single digit like-for-like increase in adjusted operating EBITDA.

Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim said: "Our earnings momentum is accelerating and we are on track to achieve our commitments for 2016, resulting in a year of solid progress towards our 2018 objectives."

In its third quarter, net income Group share was 1.05 billion Swiss francs, higher than last year's 743 million francs. Recurring net income for the quarter climbed 101.6 percent to 740 million francs from 366 million francs a year ago.

Operating EBITDA grew 32.9 percent to 1.594 billion francs and adjusted operating EBITDA improved 10.5 percent to 1.685 billion francs. Adjusted Operating EBITDA margin rose to 23.9?percent, a 290 basis points increase from last year.

The company recorded solid growth from both emerging and mature with several countries delivering increased adjusted Operating EBITDA. The Philippines, the US, Mexico, Argentina, Egypt and Algeria generated higher profit, while China showed further signs of the recovery.

Meanwhile, the in Brazil remains difficult for the construction sector while Indonesia and Malaysia were affected by market overcapacity and tough competitive environments.

LafargeHolcim, which was formed by the combination of French Lafarge and Swiss peer Holcim, recorded net sales of 7.036 billion francs for the quarter, compared to 7.54 billion francs last year.

On a pro forma basis, sales were down 10.1 percent from 7.82 billion francs last year. Sales dropped 3.1 percent on a like-for-like basis.

Sales of cement declined 11.6 percent to 57.9 million tonnes, and sales of aggregates were down 3.9 percent to 83.4 million tonnes. Sales of ready-mix concrete declined 5.9 percent.

For fiscal 2016, LafargeHolcim expects Capex to be below 2?billion francs, and incremental synergies of at least 550?million francs of adjusted operating EBITDA.

Further, the company has extended divestment program target to 5?billion francs by end of 2017. For fiscal 2016, the company's target is 3.5 billion francs.

The company also said it expects demand in its markets to grow at between 1 to 3?percent for the full year.

In Zurich, LafargeHolcim shares were trading at 53.05 francs, up 4.53 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
ITT Inc. (ITT) lowered its 2016 adjusted EPS guidance primarily due to lower short-cycle volumes, lower project profitability and unfavorable foreign exchange at Industrial Process. The revised adjusted EPS guidance also reflects a higher tax rate. The company now expects adjusted EPS guidance range to be $2.20 to $2.30. The company said its organic revenue is expected to be down 9 to 10 percent, primarily due to lower short-cycle pump and project activity across all key end . In August, the company projected its 2016 adjusted earnings to be $2.34 to $2.46; and organic revenue to be down 7 percent to down 9 percent.

Separately, ITT Inc. announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Axtone, a manufacturer of highly engineered and customized components for railway and other harsh-environment industrial markets. The transaction represents a cash consideration of approximately $118 million.

ITT said the transaction is expected to be accretive to its earnings in the first full year after closing. Axtone is headquartered in Kanczuga, Poland, and has approximately 660 employees and six manufacturing locations.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
A number of children and pregnant women were among the 240 people reported to have drowned off the coast of Libya while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea this week, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday.

In a news release, UNICEF's Helena Rodriguez, a gynaecologist and cultural mediator working with Italian workers to assist rescued from the sea spoke of the loss and suffering of the survivors brought to the Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday.

"It is an awful situation here," said Ms. Rodriguez.

Speaking, in particular, of the anguish of a young Liberian woman who lost her two-year-old son, 13-year-old daughter and 21-year-old brother - all of whom drowned when their boat capsized, the UNICEF official said: "The tragedy has left this young woman in a state of deep shock after she saw her children and her young brother drown in front of her."

"Even though she had paid smugglers $2,400 for her family to make the crossing from Libya to Italy, when she and others saw the completely unseaworthy boat, they refused to get in because they were afraid."

Smugglers shot at them and forced them to go. This is why so many people drowned just 12 km from the Libyan shore, she said.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Embattled Japanese airbag maker Takata Corp. (TKTDF.PK) is preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing in the U.S., Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported Friday.

According to the Nikkei, Takata's Michigan-based subsidiary TK Holdings is weighing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing as Tokyo-based Takata struggles with rising costs related to its defective airbag recall.

The bankruptcy filing might help Takata to find a financial backer to ensure that its parts-supplying operations remain ongoing while it seeks an out-of-court reorganization.

Automakers like Toyota and Honda are also believed to be in favor of TK Holdings entering bankruptcy protection, the Nikkei reported.

While TK Holdings contributed more than 30 percent of Takata's group sales for the year ended in March 2016, it also recorded a fourth straight annual net loss.

Nearly 70 million Takata air bag inflators are or will be under recall by 2019, in the largest and most complex auto safety recall in U.S. history. Takata is already facing recall costs of more than 1 trillion yen.

Malfunctioning Takata air bag inflators can explode with too much force, sending shrapnel into vehicles. The issue has now been linked to sixteen deaths worldwide, including five in Malaysia, and to more than 100 injuries in the U.S.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, a combination of time, environmental moisture and fluctuating high temperatures contribute to the degradation of the ammonium nitrate propellant in the inflators.

Such degradation can cause the propellant to burn too quickly, rupturing the inflator module and sending shrapnel through the air bag and into the vehicle occupants.

In mid-October, regulators confirmed the eleventh U.S. fatality linked to Takata's defective air bag inflators.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in the red, extending its recent losing streak to six straight sessions. The market dropped below the 7,600 point level for the first time since July. Weakness among the financial stocks and the pharma heavyweights weighed on the overall market.

Investors remain concerned over the tightening of the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ahead of the U.S. presidential election. A lackluster U.S. jobs report for the month of October failed to provide any relief to the market in the afternoon.

The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.62 percent Friday and finished at 7,593.20. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall loss of 4.0 percent. The Swiss Leader Index dropped 0.53 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.65 percent.

Richemont was the top performing stock of the session, with an increase of 5.2 percent. The luxury goods company reported results for the first half of the year and the company also announced management changes. Rival Swatch also gained 1.7 percent.

Building materials firm LafargeHolcim climbed 1.2 percent after reporting a rise in third quarter earnings and backing its full year outlook. Shares of Aryzta also rose 1.2 percent.

The financial stocks were under pressure at the end of the trading week. Swiss Re declined 1.6 percent and Julius Baer lost 1.5 percent. Baloise and Zurich Insurance surrendered 1.3 percent each, while Credit Suisse forfeited 1.4 percent.

Index heavyweights Novartis and Roche both finished lower by 1.2 percent. Actelion, Swisscom and Galenica also surrendered 1.3 percent each.

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 ...
A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border

What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the
Kansas AG candidates weigh in on plans for Uri price gouging investigation

Either Kris Kobach or Chris Mann will take over the Kansas attorney general natural gas price gouging investigation after the November 2022 election.
Early this week something quite interesting showed up.

It was a letter, an ordinary letter it seemed, but then the moment it was opened it became quite clear, it was no ordinary letter at all.

First, it was addressed to Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielagoi, and his Cabinet.

Second, it gave the impression it was from officers of the Police Department.

Third, it strongly recommended that the Commissioner of Police be replaced, since he had introduced in the Samoan Police Force those violence-subduing laws hes used during the time he was with the American (L.A.P.D.), and now they are being used by the Samoan Police in what had been peaceful Samoa.

And fourth, the letter was not signed.

Incidentally, it first featured in the story by Lanuola TupufiaAh Tong that was published in the Samoa Observer on 2 November 2016, under the headline: Acting Commissioner unaware of petition.

The Acting Police Commissioner is Samoa Mulinuu Mulinuu.

At the time, reports said that certain senior Police Officers had made it clear they no longer had any confidence in Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil, and that they had already handed over the relevant petition to Prime Minister, Tuilaepa and his Cabinet.

However, when Acting Commissioner, Samoa, was asked for a comment, he said he was not aware of such a petition.

Told that the petition is alleged to have been signed by commissioned officers, Samoa denied any knowledge of it.

He said: I cannot confirm that. Im not aware of it.

So that now, the inevitable question, is: Where is the Truth?

Indeed, does the word Truth feature any more in the way the government is running this country today?

So lets look at the truth, the facts.

First, the petition in question is said to have been presented to the Minister of Police, Sala Fata Pinati.

The Police Commissioner is facing four criminal charges.

They include unlawful detaining a person, disorderly conduct in a public place, perjury, and making a false statement in relation to the wrongful arrest of a member of the public.

All these charges, we have been told, emanated during the time the Police Commissioner was engaged in the business of carrying out his official duties.

And theres the claim that an Assistant Police Commissioner had been suspended, which had been denied by the Acting Police Commissioner, who said: Those reports are not true.

Only Cabinet can approve a suspension but we havent received a direct order from Cabinet.

Fine.

Asked if it was true that the Assistant Commissioner was under investigation in relation to an alleged incident involving a female officer, the Assistant Police Commissioner declined to comment.

I cannot answer that, he said. I can only say that he is not suspended.

Fine.

And then there is this seemingly nebulous quarrel involving the suspended Police Commissioner, as well as the equally suspended officers of the National Protection Office, to think briefly about.

Which is where our nameless contributor  lets call him Namely Anonymous  enters, and in an attempt to defuse the mounting tension, he writes:

In relation to the case of National Prosecution Office v Egon Keil, the National Prosecution Office who holds sole power of prosecution under the Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa, has not delegated its powers of prosecution in that matter.

The new Attorney General had the mistaken impression that he still retained some power of prosecution, which he could then use to appoint an overseas counsel of his choice.

However, that power was removed from him pursuant to the Constitutional Amendment Act (No 2) 2015 and given to the Director of Public Prosecutions, further resulting in the setup of the National Prosecution Office.

One of the main reasons for that separation of powers was to ensure that the Attorney General avoids a conflict of interest in defending the Government in civil suit.

Such is the case with the criminal case against Egon Keil; because the Attorney General is defending the Government in this civil suit (which may include defending the actions of the Commissioner of Police), he would be conflicted had he been handling the criminal case against Egon Keil.

However the Attorney Generals sole focus now is on the civil suit against the government. The National Prosecution Offices role will be to handle the criminal case.

Accordingly, these issues have been clarified with the Attorney General and he has agreed, to remove himself from any further involvement in the criminal case.

The prosecution of the criminal case of Mr. Keil remains with the National Prosecution Office.

In relation to the matter against Mauga Precious Chang, Namely Anonymous says his Office will not comment as it is not handling that prosecution.

Still, what exactly is happening to what has invariably been touted as the rock-solid governing Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.), ever since its landslide victory earlier this year?

Why is it that some very serious discrepancies have been emanating from the very top of the H.R.P.P. hierarchy since then, so that it now looks as if no one up there cares anymore!

Incidentally, lets not forget that Prime Minister Tuilaepa had made it quite clear, the principal actors in the show are my children.

He said: They are young, (so lets give them time to grow up).

And in that light then, it is quite safe to say that all those who are known in this country as public servants, are also Prime Minister Tuilaepas children.

Still, lets hope Namely Anonymous is right.

Lets hope the shameful quarreling thats going on amongst the Police, the Attorney Generals Office and the National Prosecution Office, will be sorted out soon.

Otherwise, this country is bound to remain a ship without a compass, so that as its continuing to sail into the stormy ocean, its rudder is bound to break apart, and in the end we smash into the reef and sink asunder in the forbidding, cruel sea.

In the meantime, lets not forget youre one big family, and in case youve forgetton, its called the H.R.P.P.

And so let the truth reign.

Let it not be swamped by blind ambition, incorrigible corruption and silly excuses.
Living life and performing her daily tasks is the life of Talaleu Leava, from the village of Levi, Saleimoa.

With her children working and earning money for the family, Talaleu says that their pay isnt that big so she does what she can to earn a little extra money for the family.

Aged 60, Talaleu spends a lot of her time in her plantation growing crops and making Koko Samoa to sell. She says that even at her age, she works hard to help her family out.

For me, my duty in my family is the usual Samoan motherly duties, Talaleu told the Village Voice.

I take care of the food, I pick up the rubbish and leaves around the house, I take care of our plants and crops, I clean the house and so on.

I do all of that but most of my time goes into making Koko Samoa and then selling it to earn a bit of money for the familys basic needs.

I sell small cups of Koko for $5 and the big cups for $10. I am very serious when it comes to my small business because as you may already know, life is getting more and more expensive.

Asked about life in the village, she said that all everyone does is look for cheaper shops to buy their everyday necessities.

She said life is getting a bit expensive so every cent counts.

I am always busy trying to find the cheapest shops so we can afford our daily sugar and tea, Talaleu said.

Some of my children are currently employed so they come and bring some food for the family from town. And if we dont have money because the Koko isnt ready for harvest, then they do the shopping with their money from work.

With many others in her village looking at ways to make ends meet, Talaleu says that a lot of them try to hustle her into selling her Koko at lower prices and then they profit from it later.

Many people in this area are always coming to me to purchase Koko for a low price, she said.

They want a cup of Koko for only $1.50 or a sack for $200 - $300. Thats very cheap and they go off and sell it for profit.

Its sad when they always try and do this because they make a good profit and I suffer. I guess thats how it is when everyone is trying to make a living.

Talaleu explains that one of the ways they struggle in the village is because there are way too many things that eat up all their money.

Life isnt easy anymore no matter how hard you work, she said.

Any money we receive goes very fast. Not a lot of money goes towards taking care of the family and the rest is used to clear church and village obligations.

And we also have our occasional family gatherings (faalavelave). Aside from all those expenses, my priority will always be the schooling of my grandchildren.

I clear any of the school expenses before I manage the rest of the money for everything else. My second priority is my church obligations so my family can be blessed and then I take care of the village obligations.

According to Talaleu, there is no rest when they are trying to making ends meet.

Yes we may not have much but we try every day, she said.

When my grandchild doesnt have bus fare then I go and sell Koko to get the money. Thats how life is for us, we work when we need something.

One reason I work hard on my plantation is because when my children get their pay, its very small. So I help out by growing my Koko, cabbages, peas and other crops so we can have extra money.

I start my daily duties and work at five in the morning and finish late at night.
It may have been the last visit to Samoa for the cruise ship, Crown Princess but at least one couple who are passengers may be back again.

The Samoa Observer was able to catch up with some of the passengers from the ship and ask about their views of Samoa.

Darryl and Teresa Warning, a retired couple from England said this is their first time visiting Samoa.

Its amazing to see such a beautiful country, said Mrs. Warning.

The weather is perfect because from where were from we dont get to see this kind of weather in the U.K."

Yes there is summer but its not as warm as here in your country, and its very green here which is beautiful.

Asked if they will visit Samoa again Mr. Warning said they might not because its very far away and its a bit expensive.

This was the only way for us to come here to your beautiful country in the cruise ship, he said.

Its not because we dont like it here, but mainly its too far and a bit expensive but Samoa is so beautiful."

To be very honest I never knew about Samoa until this trip and so I am very blessed to be here and finally I can tell my friends that I have walked on the shores of this beautiful country.

Mr. Warning said American Samoa is different from here.

We were there yesterday and it was small but here its very beautiful and another thing that amazes us is the people, he said.

Your people are very friendly, even if you are busy you have the time to say hello and smile and we dont really get from where we are from."

Everyone is too busy even to say hello but here it feels welcoming and very friendly and if we do get another chance, we will definitely visit Samoa again.

Another couple from Canada who did not want to give their names said the most amazing thing about Samoa is the number of church buildings.

Its amazing how beautiful the buildings are and they are so close to each other and I guess that your people are very committed to church hence why you are all amazing people and friendly, said the woman.

It took 28 days for the ship to arrive here and to me experiencing your country for just a day is worth the wait and I will definitely come back when I get the chance and stay for a bit longer.

The cruise ship Crown Princess berthed at the wharf of Samoa early yesterday and left for Borabora, Tahiti in the evening.

According to the officials of the Samoa Ports Authority the cruise ship left Los Angeles, USA on the 21st of October.

It came from Pago Pago, American Samoa yesterday morning, the official said.

Betham Brothers Enterprises Ltd is the agent and it carries 4023 passengers and 1408 crew members."

The Youth Group from Faatoia welcomed the ship early yesterday morning at the wharf at Matautu.

The official went on to say that this will be Crown Princesss last call to Apia.

This Crown Princesss last call to Apia is due to port rehabilitation, she said.

Some vessels have cancelled their calls for next year but we are looking forward to 2018 when the project is completed and we can accommodate more monthly cruise ships from Sydney Australia.
It was an idea that was discussed during a job interview 10 years ago - an idea that was then challenged by a prominent businessman.

Yesterday, that challenge was not only fulfilled, it was bettered.

Cell City owner, Etuale Scanlan and his wife Angeline are the masterminds behind a new company called Samoa Market - an online shopping market place.

Launched at the Samoa Stationery and Books conference room at Togafuafua, the new company is a place where local companies display their products for the people in Samoa and also overseas.

It also allows Samoans living abroad to pay for goods which can be supplied to their families and friends in Samoa.

During Etuales speech, he explained how Samoa Market came about during an interview 10 years ago.

I had a job interview with a prominent business man at Palisi and it was during that interview that there was a discussion of his idea of an online marketplace for Samoa, he said.

I went to him with the idea of having one company that would supply local materials and he shook his head and he said to me, Why are limiting yourself to just one company? Why not have ten companies? And fast forward ten years later to April 2015, the concept for Samoa Market was further developed."

I enlisted the services of Kevin Schuster and together, we began the first of many uncomfortable visits to successful participating companies.

[And] I am excited to announce that today we have exceeded our target of ten companies and we now have fourteen of Samoas heavyweight companies selling their products on Samoa Market."

And these companies are S.S.A.B., Ah Liki Wholesale, Apia Bottling, Bluebird Lumber and Hardware, Cell City, Eveni Carruthers, Farmer Joe, Likas Bargain, Pasefika Motors, Sai Motors, Samoa Realty, Samoa Spare Parts and Accessories, SOS and Toa Gas.

He went on to say that the project has taken almost two years to develop and the reason being is that it was due to the complexities involved with the website development as well as the payment getaway.

Not only that, but convincing many of our local companies to come on board has also taken some time, he said.

Samoa Market is just the same as other online market places however they are different because they are an online market place accessible from any internet capable mobile device.

This is not a new concept but one that has been around for a while now. Worldwide examples of marketplaces ate Taobao (China), Amazon (USA), Fishfond (AUS, NZ).

As to how long it took to build the website, Etuale said the designers were Zyber in New Zealand.

Our consulting designers are Morgan Richards, The Design Embassy, Australia

And the biggest challenge during the building of the website Mr. Scanlan said was finding the time to work on the project which began a year ago.

Another challenge was trying to convince these local companies to sign up with Samoa Market even though many of them are established brands and do a lot of their own marketing and social media work, he said.

He acknowledged the support from everyone who helped him make this project complete.

Id like to thank my parents Leasi Tommy Scanlan and Joyce Scanlan in Wellington, New Zealand, my wife Angeline, our web designer and consulting designer Morgan Richards in Australia, the marketing experts Kevin Schuster and his team and Jason Annandale."

I also want to thank the consultants for free advice, Leasi Tommy Scanlan, Warwick Richards, Joe Lam, Henry Tunupopo, Nico Caffarelli, Macquarie Mailo and Lillian Timoteo."

And last but not the least I want to thank S.S.A.B. for their support, the Managing Director Fiti Leung Wai and the team that we have been working very closely with over the past year.

So if you want to promote your products online, call 29253 or email them on [email protected] or visit their office located in the Cell City branch at Vaimea.

They are also offering a free two month listing.

This includes a small description of the business as well as five photos.

They are currently listing about thirty companies for free.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has urged the country to participate in the 2016 census just two days away.

Tuilaepa said the population count that is done in every five years collected by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics is critical to the development of Samoa.

Its important to have a census because the government wants to know the population especially the count for different ages, Tuilaepa told the media on Thursday.

This information can assist the government in terms of planning schools and hospitals depending on which area is populated with people. We also have to see if the roads are good and the different kinds of development for the country.

The last census in 2011 showed that Samoa had a population of 187,820.

The Prime Minister pointed out the statistics have come in handy at the time of natural disasters like cyclone Ofa.

He explained at such a time of natural disasters, the census will be used to assist in distributing food for people in the villages.

If the record shows there are 200 people in this area then we have to give our 200 sacks of rice, he said.

The census is vital so we can plan ahead.

While there were reports that some people did not cooperate with the officials, Tuilaepa said they need to be dealt with.

Its good if we charge them so the law can deal with them, he added. The only reason why we have lawbreakers is because most of the time there is a lack of respect for each other but the way it should be is to charge them to avoid this kind of behaviour.
The Pacific Ocean influences every aspect of life and has done so for millenniait unites and divides, connects and separates, and sustains and threatens our very survival.

It is easy to talk about sectors coming together, but getting fisheries, geology, foreign affairs, climate change, and other departments committed to collaboration has been the most difficult part of integrating our approach in developing Vanuatus Ocean Policy, said Mr Toney Tevi from Vanuatu.

Mr Tevi joins environmental managers, industry representatives, development agency representatives, and marine resource specialists from across the Pacific region who gathered in Apia this week at the Pacific Ocean Alliance (POA) and Sustainable Ocean Initiative workshop for the Pacific Islands.

The workshop begins a journey, learning from each other about how the Pacific can deal with the complicated challenge of the sustainable development and conservation of the marine environment, said Piers Dunstan from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

The Pacific Ocean Commissioner, Dame Meg Taylor, facilitates the Pacific Ocean Alliance the regional cross-sectoral and inclusive partnership established to stimulate effective ocean policy coordination and implementation; facilitate regional cooperation for the high seas; and support national ocean governance and processes.

Dame Taylor said, The ocean remains a high priority for Leaders, and while Pacific leadership in proposing and ensuring a standalone SDG on the ocean and seas (SDG14) has been globally recognised, we must as a region continue to demonstrate continued leadership and cohesion on oceans at the regional level.

One of the ways that SPREP serves our members is through connecting them to experts and to each other to use methods that are effective in the unique Pacific context, said Mr Roger Cornforth, Deputy Director General of SPREP.
A key hurdle to widespread gigabit-speed Internet is the high cost of getting fiber optic lines over the last mile -- from the fiber backbone in nearby streets to each house.

But increasingly, cellular operators, broadband providers including Google Fiber and several startups are exploring a new, less expensive way to bridge the last mile gap  wireless technology.

Google Fiber  which named San Diego as a potential city for building an ultra-fast fiber optic Internet network -- said last month that it would pause future fiber optic roll outs in San Diego and seven other potential Google Fiber cities while it explored new approaches.

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Among those is wireless, including high frequency airwaves, which can deliver gigabit data rates over short, line of sight distances but also tend to bounce erratically off obstacles and degrade in rain or fog.

Millimeter wave is one of several different technologies (Google Fiber) is looking at, but it does seem to have the most promise, said Karl Bode of broadband watchdog DSL Reports.

There are line of sight issues here, and weather can impact signal, he continued. As such you need transmitters relatively close to the home, meaning you still have some notable deployment costs. Still, thats cheaper than digging up streets, which is why Google is interested.

Dont expect Google Fiber to incorporate wireless into fiber networks anytime soon. There are still many questions about how viable wireless can be, and what licenses would be required from federal regulators in various airwave bands.

But recent improvements in antenna technology and beam forming techniques to more precisely steer these high frequency airwaves are fueling optimism about their ability to span the last mile. Certain high frequency airwaves have been earmarked to become part of the spectrum dedicated for upcoming gigabit class 5G cellular networks.

Last week, Verizon Communications Chief Executive Lowell McAdam spoke at the Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego about the bandwidth capabilities of millimeter wave 5G technology, calling it wireless fiber, according to Murthy Renduchintala, president of Intels mobile and Internet of things group.

I think he said 50 percent of his costs in a fiber roll-out is from the lamp post to the home, said Renduchintala. So hes basically saying if I can get high-speed wireless fiber to the house, it would make deployments much more rapid and much more economically viable.

Verizon built its FiOS fiber optic TV and Internet network in nine states but stopped expanding into new markets in 2010, in part because of high installation costs.

In October, San Diegos Qualcomm said it would deliver the first 5G mobile modem chip, called the Snapdragon X50, next year for testing. It expects to reach top-end download speeds of 5 gigabits per second when shows up in commercial devices in 2018.

Qualcomm is targeting the X50 for mobile handsets. But analysts think that fixed wireless markets  such as boxes that link the fiber optic backbone in the street to individual homes  also are potential uses of this technology.

With five gigabits of bandwidth, users could download an entire digital movie in less than a minute.

Skyriver, a San Diego start-up, recently completed field trials for millimeter wave point-to-multi-point technology to fuel gigabit broadband. The company said it has been acquiring spectrum rights in millimeter wave bands in several markets.

For Google, affordable bandwidth is the key to its Web businesses such as Google search and YouTube. In 2012, it got into the Internet Service Provider business with Google Fiber. Today 12 cities nationwide either have Google Fiber up and running or are in development.

Google has worked with these cities to install fiber on existing power poles, among other things, to keep costs down. The companys entrance into the high speed Internet business has spurred on cable and telecom competitors to ramp their fiber optic roll outs  though most have limited expansion to new housing developments.

Google has been talking with eight additional cities  San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, Portland, Phoenix, Chicago, Jacksonville and Tampa  as the next potential markets for Google Fiber expansion.

Last month, it put those plans on hold, raising concern that it had lost its enthusiasm for Google Fiber.

In its third quarter earnings conference call, Google/Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said the company will continue to be an Internet Service Provider in the 12 existing cities where fiber is deployed or in the development pipeline.

We are making great progress in those cities, and we remain very committed to growth across those cities, she said. We are pausing for now our work in eight cities where we have been in exploratory discussions. But very much to your question, it is to better integrate some of the technology work we have been developing.

The company is still talking with San Diego officials about permitting, micro trenching and other issues, said Stacey LoMedico, San Diegos assistant chief operating officer. A meeting was held earlier this week. The two sides have not yet talked about wireless, said LoMedico.

Last year, Google purchased San Francisco based Webpass, which uses point-to-point microwave to deliver high speed Internet to urban apartment buildings, condo complexes and businesses in San Diego and five other cities.

The company is licensed in the 70/80 Gigahertz spectrum bands, according to a Google spokesperson. It installs large antennas on top of buildings to deliver point-to-point Internet. Its then distributes bandwidth to each apartment or office.

In San Diego, Google Fiber and Webpass will work together to extend and accelerate deployments via point-to-point wireless, said a Google spokesperson in an email. In addition as weve said, were actively expanding our roadmap to include innovative technologies like fixed wireless that expand access to more people, faster.

A key question is how far can a high bandwidth wireless signal travel to connect the fiber node to homes? Some companies have claimed the signals can travel a bit over a mile (about two kilometers) in tests. But industry analysts think its unlikely to be that far in actual deployments.

I dont think there will be any trouble going a couple hundred meters, but I think a lot of engineers are trying to figure this out, said Christopher Taylor, director of radio frequency/wireless components at industry research firm Strategy Analytics.

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

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A group of four representatives from the Changchun Water Group Corporation and Changchun Municipal Peoples Government visited Vista Irrigation District headquarters.

The delegation came to find out how the district maintains and replaces its pipelines to minimize water loss.

Through their research, the representatives had heard about the districts mainline replacement program and wanted to learn ways to deal with water loss in an old pipe system.

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After a welcome from district board president, Richard Vasquez, the group met with district staff who gave an overview of the districts water resources and water management strategies.

The delegation was particularly interested in the method of replacing mainlines, especially the type of pipeline material used to replace old steel and cement pipes, namely polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC.

The Chinese visitors explained that their water pipelines were mainly cast iron and the system was losing water. The delegation and staff discussed regulating water pressure as a way to reduce water main leaks and water loss.

The delegation came from Changchun in northeastern China about 600 miles from Beijing. The Changchun Water Group Corporation serves more than 3.6 million people. The delegation planned to visit another water district in Vancouver BC, Canada.

District staff learned that China has water wholesalers and retailers, similar to the United States.

Their water retailers, like in the United States, are challenged with delivering water to the end consumer through a system of many miles of water distribution pipelines, whereas the water wholesalers are more challenged with acquiring and maintaining sources of water for their region, said Brett Hodgkiss, the districts assistant general manager.

The Vista Irrigation District, a public agency governed by an elected five-member board, provides water to more than 129,000 people in the city of Vista, and areas of San Marcos, Escondido and Oceanside along with unincorporated parts of San Diego County.
San Diego Beer Week 2016 began Friday and ends Nov. 13.

On Nov. 14, will a beer bombshell explode?

If last year is any guide, chances are good. The morning after Beer Week 2015 ended, New Yorks Constellation Brands announced its purchase of San Diegos Ballast Point for $1 billion, the most ever paid for an independent American brewery.

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That day, Nov. 16, 2015, was Day One in San Diego beers most extraordinary year. While there have been other notable times  1996, say, when Stone Brewing, Coronado Brewing Co. and Ballast Point were born, or 1989, when Karl Strauss Brewing Co.s debut launched the modern industry  nothing rivals the past 12 months.

This frantic period saw:

 San Diego Nation. Local breweries established breweries, restaurants and tasting rooms across California, Idaho and Virginia.

 Stone Uber Alles. The first wholly owned American craft brewery in Europe, Stone Berlin, debuted in September.

 Invaders. Out-of-towners descended on the region, from Anheuser-Busch InBevs 10 Barrel  whose East Village brewpub is due to open in early 2017  to Danish cult brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergs, who brought Mikkeller San Diego to Miramar.

 Growth, Interrupted. After 20 years of rapid expansion that made Stone the countrys 10th largest independent brewery, the company laid off 5 percent of its workforce. Even worse news: Santees Twisted Manzanita and El Cajons URBN St. both closed.

 Growth, Unending? To date, 21 breweries have opened in 2016, pushing the countys total to 130.

 The Good, the Bad, the Shiny. In this crowded market, customers have fled veteran breweries flagship products. People want whats new and shiny, said Paul Segura, brewmaster at Karl Strauss.

This year, it became clear that San Diego beer is no longer a cottage industry occupying a sheltered cul-de-sac.

Its not the same business it was 20 years ago, said Colby Chandler, Ballast Points vice president and specialty brewer. The consequences are a little bit higher than they were. We are playing with the big boys now.

Blurred lines

Jill Davidson is president of the San Diego Brewers Guild, Beer Weeks sponsor. Riding herd on 500-plus beer dinners, brewery tours, specialty releases and other activities is not easy  but its easier than keeping pace with the latest twists and turns in San Diego beer.

The landscape is changing so rapidly, said Davidson, western sales manager for the Pizza Port brewpub chain. Everything is getting crazy.

Acquisitions are not going to stop. Distribution, building breweries, thats not going to stop. So we need to take a look at what is happening in the industry and how we can support our current members while we make decisions about future membership.

Those decisions involve a question at the heart of the guilds mission: What is a craft brewery?

When the guild was founded in 1997, a bright line separated craft and corporate breweries. The former were independent and locally owned, brewing beers, usually ales, in numerous styles (pale ale, IPA, stout, etc). The latter were global enterprises churning out mild lagers and light beers.

Now, though, that line is blurred. InBev Anheuser-Busch has purchased a string of craft breweries  from Devils Backbone in Virginia to Oregons 10 Barrel  and expanded their presence in stores, restaurant and bars.

MillerCoors has adopted a similar strategy, snapping up Texas-based Revolver Brewing and, in September 2015, San Diegos Saint Archer.

Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors pledged that their acquisitions would continue to produce the same innovative, high-quality brews. Stone co-founder Greg Koch is skeptical, noting that corporate breweries have a legal responsibility to maximize profits for shareholders, rather than an artisans interest in maximizing flavor for customers.

A former craft brand being able to divorce itself from large corporate mechanics? Koch wondered. Its just not one of the possibilities that is available.

The Brewers Guild echoed that position, ejecting former members Saint Archer and Ballast Point, even though the latter was one of the Guilds founders. Bylaws say members have to be locally owned  yet Rock Bottom and Gordon Biersch, both owned by a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based corporation, remain members.

We are evaluating the membership guidelines, Davidson said.

SKU-mageddon

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout was a cult favorite when its Chicago brewery was independent. Although Goose Island is now an Anheuser-Busch property, the stout remains popular among fans of strong, dark ales.

Space Dust IPA from Seattles Elysian, another Anheuser-Busch acquisition, has also retained its beer geek cred. Ditto, Ballast Points popular IPA, Sculpin.

Corporate ownership, defenders say, can give financial stability to under-funded craft breweries without damaging their beers quality.

At a forum in March at the East Villages Mission Brewing, Greg Peters presented the case for Saint Archer, where he runs the barrel program. Pre- and post-sale, he noted, recipes and staff were identical. MillerCoors money allowed Saint Archer to upgrade its equipment, Peters argued, leading to better beer.

Recently, a similar message came from Ballast Points newly appointed president.

We have a commitment to quality, without any shortcuts, said Marty Birkel, a veteran Constellation executive who came to Ballast Point two months ago. Ive been so impressed with the talent of the people here, their energy and commitment.

Yet Stones Koch argued that beer drinkers need to be aware of other factors beyond the flavor of, say, Sculpin. Out-of-town owners, Koch said, tend to be less connected to the local community and less apt to donate to local causes.

Moreover, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors have been accused of selling kegs of beer at a loss, undercutting competitors who cant afford to offer similar discounts.

There are kegs of faux craft brands being produced in a wide variety of locations, Koch said, that are being marketed with predatory pricing.

Worse, warned Karl Strauss Segura, Big Beers marketing muscle could lead to SKU-mageddon.

SKU, pronounced skew, is an acronym for stock keeping units, a measurement of what supermarkets and grocery stores keep on the shelves.

So, whats a SKU-mageddon?

The grocery shelves can only have so many SKUs, Segura explained. Eventually, they will have to say, Enough. we cant carry any more brands.

The fight for shelf space and tap handles is intensifying, as new brands and new beers continue to emerge. Staying fresh and relevant is a challenge for San Diegos older and larger breweries.

Its becoming clearer by the day that smaller and mid-size brewers have a distinct advantage over a brewery the size of Stone, said Brian Beagle, co-host of San Diego Beer Talk Radio. They can react to their consumers must faster and stay on point.

Room to grow  elsewhere

Blame the internet.

Todays beer drinkers, able to scan online reviews of virtually every beer in the world, demand the latest. Thats tough for breweries like Karl Strauss, whose flagship beers are among the regions oldest.

People are not loyal, said brewmaster Segura. People are asking, Whats new? What do you have that I havent had yet?

To shake up its image, Karl Strauss promotes beers found exclusively at its brewpubs, including Liquid AC, an award-winning British-style summer ale from its La Jolla branch. Festivals like the recent Barrel Royale pour limited edition ales.

AleSmith, which also produces unique creations for its tasting room, notes theres another method to keep wares looking fresh: introduce established ales into new markets.

Sales for 2016 will be 95 percent greater than 2015, owner Peter Zien predicted, even though sales in San Diego County are more or less the same.

The demand for our product in other states is what allows me to grow, he said.

That demand is met by beers trucked from AleSmiths Miramar brewery. Driving cross-country can take days, though, wasting time when beers are at their freshest.

Three of the areas largest breweries are addressing that problem by establishing outposts hundreds and thousands of miles away from San Diego.

In the past year, Stone opened satellite breweries and bistros in Berlin and Richmond, Va., and began constructing a brewpub in Napa. Ballast Point is converting a warehouse outside Roanoke, Va., into a brewery. And Green Flashs Virginia Beach, Va., brewery will open Nov. 13.

Closer to home, Karl Strauss debuted its Anaheim brewpub in September and plans to open a downtown Los Angeles brewpub by the end of November.

Mid-size breweries are also carving out distant beachheads. In October, Vistas Mother Earth opened a brewery in Nampa, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. Modern Times is building two brewery/restaurant complexes, Leisuretown in Anaheim and Dankness Dojo in Los Angeles.

Of the 40,000 barrels of beer Modern Times will brew in Loma Portal this year, a sizable minority is destined for Orange and Los Angeles counties.

We have loads of fans in L.A., and we want to give them a space of their own, McKean noted in an email.

And while craft beer has conquered San Diego, thats not yet true in that larger city to the north.

L.A.'s craft beer scene is much newer, McKean wrote, and theres still a lot of room for growth there.

Is there still room for growth in San Diego? Clayton LeBlanc hopes so. A former Karl Strauss bartender who once washed kegs for Ballast Point, LeBlanc is a brewer at North Parks Eppig Brewery.

This is still a pretty tight community, he said. And everybody in this business is very psyched about what they are doing.

Eppig officially opens Nov. 19.
Foo Fighters, Don Henley, Norah Jones and San Diego-bred Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chris Hillman are part of the lineup that will salute Tom Petty on Feb. 10 at the 2017 MusiCares fundraising concert, which could also include a partial Traveling Wilburys reunion.

Hillman, who grew up in Rancho Santa Fe in the 1950s, co-founded the pioneering folk-rock band The Byrds in the 1960s and the chart-topping county group The Desert Rose Band in the 1980s. He now performs primarily in a duo setting with Desert Rose Band co-founder Herb Pedersen, who is also in the MusiCares lineup. Singer-songwriter Jones is the daughter of the late Indian music legend Ravi Shankar, who lived in Encinitas for the final decades of his life.

Other artists set to perform at the annual Grammy Awards weekend MusiCares event at the Los Angeles Convention Centers West Hall include Jackson Browne, Kings Of Leon, The Bangles, Randy Newman, Stevie Nicks, George Strait and Lucinda Williams. The lineup also includes Gary Clark Jr., Elle King, Regina Spektor and ELO leader Jeff Lynne. Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers, will conclude the evenings performances.

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Lynne and Petty were both members of the Traveling Wilburys, the super-group that also featured 2015 MusiCares honoree Bob Dylan and the now-deceased Roy Orbison and George Harrison.

The initial batch of 2017 MusiCares performers does not include Dylan, but more artists will be announced. That leaves the door open  at least in theory  to the possibility that three-quarters of the Wilburys could reconvene at the MusiCares event.

The MusiCares lineup was announced by The Recording Academy, under whose auspices the Grammy Awards are held. Founded in 1989 by The Recording Academy, MusiCares provides confidential medical, financial and educational assistance for musicians in times of need. The annual fundraising event, which this year honored Lionel Richie, generates millions each year for the nonprofit MusiCares.

I am so very pleased to be honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year, Petty said in a statement. I have so much respect for this organization, which really does care about the people in our industry.I myself know many people who MusiCares has aided in desperate situations. Again, let me say this is a true honor.

In addition to announcing the initial lineup of performers, MusiCares also disclosed some of the confirmed attendees. They include Neil Portnow, the President/CEO of both MusiCares and The Recording Academy, and former San Diego concert promoter Bill Silva, who is Chair Emeritus of MusiCares. The events Tribute Chairs include former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Olivia Harrison, the widow of former Beatles guitarist and singer George Harrison.

Tickets for MusiCares range in cost from $1,750 to $8,500 each. VIP packages, for groups of 10 to 36, are priced between $17,500 and $150,000. Individual tickets can be ordered by phone from Dana Tomarken at MusiCares: (310) 392-3777. VIP packages, which must be reserved by Dec. 1, are available online at grammy.org/musicares.

Twitter @georgevarga

george.varga@sduniontribune.com
The legacy of recently deceased San Diego troubadour Ramon Chunky Sanchez, a nationally acclaimed Chicano musician and social activist, will be saluted this weekend.

Sanchez died Oct. 28, one day before his 65th birthday. A public viewing will be held today from 2 to 7 p.m. at Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park. Shuttles will run regularly to the Centro from Chicano Park.

A public memorial ceremony will be held Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Chicano Park, which Sanchez helped to occupy in 1970 to prevent a California Highway Patrol office from being built. The memorial ceremony will be followed by a private procession and burial.

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A celebration of Sanchezs life will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday in Chicano Park. The public event will feature live music and performances by Danza Azteca and Ballet Folklorico. The location for the celebration is no coincidence  one of Sanchezs best-known songs with his longtime band, Los Alacranes, is entitled Chicano Park.

Sanchez was a musician, educator, social activist and vital voice of the community. The California Arts Council and the City of San Diego Commission on Arts and Culture are among the organizations that honored him for his tireless work.

In 2004, Sanchez was presented the Cesar Chavez Humanitarian Award at the first Cesar Chavez Music Festival in San Diego. He and Los Alacranes were favorites of Chavez, the legendary civil rights leader, and often performed at various Chavez events.

In 2013, Sanchez became one of the few Chicano artists in any medium to be awarded the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the countrys highest honor in folk and traditional arts.

His contributions were praised in a Tuesday statement from the NEA, which hailed Sanchez as a cultural icon and leader of the Chicano community and champion of the Chicano civil rights and farm laborers movements, whose music expressed the concerns and causes of the community.

Twitter @georgevarga

george.varga@sduniontribune.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2016 / B2Gold Corp. (NYSE MKT: BTG) (BTO.TO) will host a live webcast to discuss the results of the third quarter 2016, to be held Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

Live Event Information

To participate, connect approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the beginning of the event.

Date, Time: November 3, 2016 at 1:00 PM ET

Live Webcast: to http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175345

If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the event archive will be available at www.investorcalendar.com.

About B2Gold Corp.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, B2Gold Corp. is one of the fastest-growing intermediate gold producers in the world. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has four operating mines, one mine under construction and numerous exploration projects in various countries, including Nicaragua, the Philippines, Namibia, Mali and Burkina Faso. Construction of B2Gold's Fekola mine in southwest Mali is on schedule and on budget, and is projected to commence production in Q4 2017. As a result, B2Gold is well positioned to maintain its low-cost structure and growth profile.

Based on current assumptions and updates to B2Gold's current year guidance and long-term mine plans, the Company is projecting consolidated gold production of between 535,000 to 575,000 ounces in 2016; between 520,000 to 570,000 ounces in 2017; and (significantly increasing to) between 900,000 to 950,000 ounces in 2018, with the inclusion of the anticipated first full year of production at the Fekola mine.

SOURCE: Investor Calendar
Should laws and leaders always be followed, no questions asked?

Shakespeares Measure for Measure asks that question  and so did Old Globe Theatre teaching artists who posed it to the audience Thursday night before a touring performance of the play at Chula Vistas Castle Park Middle School.

Among the responses was one from a young boy whose words were translated from the Spanish by the Globes Crystal Mercado: Sometimes the rules are too absurd.

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That sentiment is borne out vividly in the play, which focuses on a power-hungry and hypocritical official who gains the reins of the government and quickly abuses his position.

But the piece, for all its serious themes, also drew big laughs with its comic characters and clever deceptions.

The occasion was the official 2016 opening of Globe for All, the Balboa Park theaters community-outreach program that takes Shakespeare to underserved and often at-risk audiences.

Now in its third year, Globe for All has expanded to offer nearly three weeks of free performances. (Many are open to the public; check with the theater for details at (619) 234-5623 or theoldglobe.org.)

The tour will have visited 17 locations  including libraries, community centers, homeless shelters and prisons  by the time it wraps Nov. 20 with a pair of low-cost public shows at the Globes rehearsal space in Balboa Parks House of Charm.

The Chula Vista performance was sponsored by South Bay Community Services, which picked the Castle Park venue because its located in a Promise Neighborhood, part of a federal program launched by President Obama to assist challenged communities.

The diverse audience of about 100 was a mix of families and students, who sat in folding chairs arrayed around a section of a large function rooms floor.

The production is necessarily spare: The nine actors (who play 17 characters) handle most of the mobile shows props and costumes themselves.

Measure for Measure centers on what happens when the fair-minded Duke of Vienna (played by the gifted returnee Christopher Salazar, one of several graduates of the Old Globe/University of San Diego MFA program who are in the show) leaves his post temporarily.

His self-righteous replacement, Angelo (Daniel Petzold), quickly sentences a man named Claudio (Nathan Whitmer) to death for getting his own not-quite-wife pregnant  and then tries to coerce Claudios sister, Isabella (Makha Mthembu) into sleeping with him in exchange for the condemned mans life. (Isabella, by the way, is a nun.)

Unluckily for Angelo, the duke has disguised himself as a friar, and witnesses firsthand Angelos low deeds; he springs his trap in the second act of the 100-minute show.

The plays director is Patricia McGregor, a nationally renowned artist with numerous New York credits (including a recent touring Hamlet for the Public Theater) who now lives in San Diego.

McGregor said its enlightening to see how differently the touring shows are received by various audiences.

At Castle Park, she said, my perception was that there were two kinds of translations going on. (There was) an experiential translation, where the older people were explaining some of the things that were going on to the kids who had a little bit of a question mark. (The play brings up the subject of brothels, and parts of it are set in a prison.)

And then there was a language translation, where either an older or a younger person was translating for someone else the specifics of what they were receiving from Shakespeare.

She added that the physical comedy plays everywhere.

Among the attendees Thursday was Isabel Morales, whose daughter, Daniela Seganti, attends Castle Park Middle.

I thought it was really, really good, said Morales, who especially appreciated the fact the play has serious parts and funny parts.

Morales added that she, her mother-in-law and her two kids all enjoyed the show even though were different ages.

One potent message of Measure is captured in a program note from cast member Mthembu, who is originally from South Africa and notes there was a time when certain types of theater were banned there.

She adds: Theater matters to me because it is radical and can start a movement in the most dangerous of places: the mind.

Twitter: @jimhebert

jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com
In a pioneering prosecution against body-shaming, the Los Angeles city attorneys office on Friday filed criminal charges against a former Playboy playmate, alleging she secretly photographed a 70-year-old woman in the nude while she was in the shower area of a Los Angeles fitness center.

Prosecutors often use invasion of privacy charges against peeping Toms and people who conceal cameras to take sexually suggestive photos of women. But legal experts said this marks a rare time authorities have brought charges against someone over photos making fun of someones weight. It comes amid growing awareness and outrage about body-shaming  particularly common on social media.

Prosecutors charged Dani Mathers, 29, with one misdemeanor count of invasion of privacy. Mathers is accused of posting an image of the woman on her Snapchat social media account in early July with a mocking caption about the womans appearance, sparking a widespread public outcry.

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Mathers later apologized for taking a photo of the woman in a locker room shower at an LA Fitness exercise center and posting it online.

That was absolutely wrong and not what I meant to do, she said. I know that body-shaming is wrong. That is not the type of person I am.

She said the photo was meant to be sent as a private message, but was posted publicly.

Mathers attorney, Thomas Mesereau, said his client did nothing illegal.

I am disappointed that Dani Mathers was charged with any violation, he said. She never tried to invade anyones privacy and never tried to violate any laws.

City Atty. Mike Feuer said Friday that it was important to send a message with the criminal charges filed against Mather.

Body-shaming is humiliating, with often painful, long-term consequences, he said. It mocks and stigmatizes its victims, tearing down self-respect and perpetuating the harmful idea that our unique physical appearances should be compared to air-brushed notions of perfect. What really matters is our character and humanity. While body-shaming, in itself, is not a crime, there are circumstances in which invading ones privacy to accomplish it can be. And we shouldnt tolerate that.

Los Angeles police began an investigation in July after receiving a report of illegal distribution of the image. LA Fitness officials reported the posting to police as well, officials said.

Mathers shared the photo of the naked woman on July 13 with the caption: If I cant unsee this then you cant either.

Leonard Levine, a veteran Los Angeles defense attorney who has defended cases involving gym photos, said all those cases involved alleged voyeurs. This case is different because the motive for sharing the photo appears to be solely mocking the woman.

I am not aware of any case where it was done other than where prosecutors alleged it a prurient interest, he said.

Former prosecutor Dmitry Gorin agreed the circumstances here are unique.

Most have some lascivious intent. In this case, the aspect of the shaming is a very unusual motive that I have not seen prosecuted before, he said.

Lawyers for Mathers could say the alleged victim did not have an expectation of privacy, said Loius Shapiro, a Los Angeles defense attorney.

Mathers can argue, though, that a person has no expectation of privacy in the locker room when they are undressed and that the prosecution is simply trying to stick a square peg in a round hole because they dont have the evidence for the charge they really want to prove, he said.

Digital technology has made it easier to secretly capture others in their most private moments.

Last year, a prominent Washington, D.C., rabbi was sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to secretly recording 52 women as they prepared for a religious bathing ritual.

In California, a U.S. Border Patrol supervisor admitted in federal court that he secretly recorded seven female co-workers in the bathroom of the Chula Vista office. Some states have increased the penalties for taking secret images, making it a felony. In New York, offenders can receive up to four years in prison for a first offense.

Dr. Robyn Silverman, a body image expert, said body-shaming is kind of an act of bullying.

While the body-shaming aspect of this case is inexcusable, the main issue here is not that Ms. Mathers denigrated another woman online with rude or unflattering remarks, she said. Rather, Ms. Mathers, with both forethought and intent to humiliate and compare, photographed a naked woman, without her knowledge or consent, and then distributed it online for everyone to see and evaluate.

richard.winton@latimes.com

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

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1:29 p.m.: This story was updated with responses from Mathers attorney and legal experts.

This post was originally published at 10:47 a.m.
The Los Angeles Police Department is treating three acts of vandalism in the last month targeting art galleries in Boyle Heights, including graffiti at one gallery that attacked white art, as possible hate crimes.

The probe comes amid a debate in the predominantly Latino Eastside neighborhood over the growing art scene there and whether its part of a gentrification that some activists fear will push working-class families out. Galleries have been popping up in the area over the last few years as some artists get priced out of downtowns Arts District and other areas.

We dont know who actually did [the vandalism], but because it actually made a reference to anti-white art or anti-white, its basically saying that its a hate crime based on that, Det. John Parra of the LAPDs Hollenbeck station said of a vulgar curse against white art that in one of the incidents was spray-painted on the Nicodim Gallery.

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Boyle Heights has become a flashpoint as Los Angeles undergoes a wave of gentrification fueled by rising home prices and a renewed interest in urban neighborhoods by many. Its already transformed once-working-class communities such as Echo Park and Highland Park. But some in Boyle Heights  for decades the heart of L.A.'s Mexican American community  have vowed to fight the change.

In the last three years, more than a dozen galleries have appeared in the area, many in an industrial zone just west of the 101 Freeway. Community activists fear the galleries will inflate property values and push poorer residents out.

In September, activists marched through Boyle Heights and posted mock eviction notices for gentrifiers, which included a couple of galleries.

LAPD Capt. Rick Stabile, the patrol commanding officer at the station, said that when I saw the number of these and that they were all related to art galleries, just from a common-sense standpoint, I wanted to try and figure out what was going on with the community.

Police have not identified a suspect in the recent vandalism, Stabile said.

But the three incidents prompted the Hollenbeck Division to call a meeting with gallery owners last week to try to get an understanding of the problem and come up with a plan, including attempting to open a dialogue with the activist group Defend Boyle Heights, which has been a driving force of opposition to the galleries.

The reason why I want to facilitate a dialogue with Defend Boyle Heights is because when I started looking into this issue of gentrification and the art galleries, I saw the news articles, I saw the crime reports and I also saw the Defend Boyle Heights website and the videos they posted, Stabile said.

On Thursday afternoon, Defend Boyle Heights issued a statement saying it was not responsible for vandalizing the galleries.

We dont know who tagged up these galleries, but we ... certainly dont condemn it. It is right to rebel! We are glad to see the community rise up to resist displacement, art washing and gentrification  however they see fit! Your anger is justified, the statement read.

Gentrification is the true, highest form of hate crime!

Activists have demanded that the art galleries leave the neighborhood and allow the community to decide what will take their place.

City Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents Boyle Heights, said he was dismayed by the vandalism.

I think the issue of gentrification is something that the Boyle Heights community should address, given whats happening throughout the city of L.A., he said. But at the same time, theres a way of doing that. I really dont support the tactics that some of the anti-gentrification groups have used in Boyle Heights.

Huizar, who lives and grew up in Boyle Heights, said he does not believe the actions of activists are representative of the type of people who live in the neighborhood, which, he added, has a history of welcoming people of different backgrounds.

For now to have this kind of racially based exclusion of people is not right, given the history of Boyle Heights, Huizar said. Its not right on its own, but its even worse when you think about the history of Boyle Heights. Boyle Heights has always been inclusionary.

Boyle Heights has not seen nearly as much gentrification as some other areas, but the neighborhood  once one of L.A.s true melting pots  has long generated strong concerns about its potential for a rapid transformation when it happens.

For example, there has long been talk about transforming the 14-story Art Deco Sears, Roebuck & Co. building on Olympic Boulevard into a complex of condos, retail space and restaurants. Some of the change that Boyle Heights has already undergone, particularly closer to downtown L.A., has been called gentefication, incorporating the Spanish word for people, because it is driven substantially by Latinos with roots in the Eastside.

Last month, two vandalism incidents involving galleries were reported between Oct. 8 and Oct. 11. A third incident occurred Oct. 15, said Stabile, who declined to provide additional details. He said the crimes are still under investigation.

At the subsequent community meeting, police asked gallery workers if there were any other incidents that had gone unreported, Stabile said. Staff from the citys Human Relations Commission also took part, he said.

At the meeting, police asked the galleries to inform them when they had events scheduled, because it appeared activists were staging protests to coincide with galleries openings or significant events, Stabile said. Police might consider having extra patrols on those days, he said.

From my perspective, whether youve been a resident for 30 years or youve been a resident for five months, you all have the same rights as far as not being the victim of a crime, Stabile said in an interview. When it comes to protesting, absolutely you have a right to protest and theres a legal way of protesting, and then theres an illegal way. If any group crosses that line, thats when they can get in trouble.

Francisco Ortega, a human relations advocate, said the commission is open to helping facilitate discussions.

Obviously were concerned for the peoples safety, the artists and the people who have a stake in the area in terms of their businesses, but were also concerned with why people are doing this  we want to hear them, Ortega said.

One gallery owner, who did not want her name used, said only a few owners attended the meeting with police.

I think it was a little too late, she said.

The gallery owner added that she believed the tagging at the Nicodim Gallery was probably not the work of the neighborhood activists but of overzealous followers who may live elsewhere.

These activists have followers, people that are taking up their cause who a) dont even live in the neighborhood, b) dont care and c) theyre just doing it to make it sensationalized, she said.

Leonardo Vilchis, a Boyle Heights resident who helped establish Union de Vecinos  a nonprofit group that works on housing and other community issues  said the incidents being investigated by the LAPD did not strike him as hate crimes. He said that at worse, its an aesthetic critique of a certain cultural expression of art.

From the tagging that kills people and promotes gang violence to the political tagging that denounces a process of gentrification  Id rather take the latter, Vilchis said Thursday. Do we approve of it or not? I think it depends on the message, it depends on the time, it depends on the conditions. I would not want to denounce it completely or to say its never right. Its part of political speech.

Mihai Nicodim, owner of the Nicodim Gallery, said the tagging at his gallery was a sad event but added that he also understands the activists right to protest.

I understand gentrification is a real issue, said Nicodim, who is from Romania. But I also think some of these activists, they should  maybe go to City Hall to get affordable housing from them. They should protest against developers.

He added that that during the course of protests, things have gotten heated, worrying some galleries.

Things have escalated and I think they [police] dont want them to escalate further, Nicodim said, because they feel it might get dangerous at some point.

Times staff writer Carolina A. Miranda contributed to this report.

For more California news, follow @brittny_mejia

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Celebrity chef Michael Chiarello was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of driving under the influence and possessing drugs while driving his Porsche in Napa County, officials said.

Chiarello, who appeared on Bravo TVs popular cooking show Top Chef Masters, was stopped at 3:27 a.m. while driving his two-door 2015 Porsche Boxster on Silverado Trail, said Officer Marc Renspurger, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol in Napa.

The 54-year-old Emmy Award-winning chef told the officer who stopped him that he was driving from Yountville, where his eatery, Bottega Ristorante, is located.

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At some point during the stop, Chiarello was determined to be under the influence, Renspurger said.

Chiarello was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of DUI and possessing a controlled substance, Renspurger said. He was released the same day, according to jail records.

Chiarellos spokesman said in a statement that although he was embarrassed and apologized to people close to him, he intends to vigorously challenge the misdemeanor charges filed against him.

The arrest came days after a settlement was reached between Chiarello and Katherine Page and Asja Sever, two former servers at his San Francisco restaurant, Coqueta. Page and Sever sued him in March, saying they were sexually harassed and forced to endure a hostile, sexually-charged work environment at the restaurant, according to the lawsuit.

They claimed the restaurants management turned a blind eye toward the misconduct.

The womens lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, details explosive and crude statements they say were made by Chiarello, including one in which he compared a new sandwich on the restaurants menu to a womans genitals and urging managers not to hire people they didnt want to sleep with.

Page and Sever also filed another lawsuit the same month against Chiarello and restaurant group Gruppo Chiarello, claiming a failure to pay their wages. The court battle continues with the next hearing set in March.

Chiarello, who owns several Napa-area businesses, has hosted his own cooking shows on the Food Network, PBS and the Cooking Channel for years. He regularly appears on CBS The Early Show, NBCs Today show and Martha Stewart Living Radio.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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A man was convicted Thursday of killing a U.S. Marines wife and dumping her body in a 140-foot mine shaft just days after he confessed to the slaying on the witness stand.

A San Bernardino County jury found Christopher Brandon Lee, 27, guilty of murder. Jurors also found true a special sentencing enhancement that Lee was lying in wait for his married lover, 19-year-old Erin Corwin, in June 2014, according to the San Bernardino County district attorneys office

This was a terrible crime that showed absolutely no regard for the value of human life, District Attorney Mike Ramos said in a statement issued shortly after Lees conviction. Erin Corwin was just a young girl with her entire life ahead of her. And now, all thats left is her memory.

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Lees sentencing was set for Nov. 29. He faces life without the possibility of parole.

The conviction comes after Lee admitted to the killing Oct. 27 during questioning by his attorney, David Kaloyanides.

According to The Desert Sun newspaper, Lee testified that he killed Corwin because he believed she had molested his daughter.

When asked Thursday if there was any truth to Lees claim, district attorney spokesman Christopher Lee said, We just cant talk about any of the testimony at this point.

Investigators said Corwin and Lee, who were next-door neighbors at a military base in Twentynine Palms, were having an affair. Corwin was pregnant with his child when she was killed.

Corwin was reported missing by her husband on June 28, 2014, when she did not return home from a trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

Authorities scoured the desert for weeks before finding her body on Aug. 16, 2014, in the abandoned mine shaft outside of Twentynine Palms.

Lee was arrested in Alaska, a day after search crews found Corwins body.

He moved to Alaska with his wife and daughter after being discharged from the Marines in July.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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This article was originally published at 2:50 p.m.
In the final days of the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clintons campaign has a consistent theme: Donald Trump.

There was a point at which Clintons advisors had envisioned a more positive ending, but in the final days of a tight race, the Democratic nominee has backed away from emphasizing a sunny message of inclusiveness. Instead, she has dwelled repeatedly on a vision of a dark future of America under her opponent.

On Monday, the Democrats launched their version of Lyndon Johnsons Daisy ad from the 1964 campaign, an apocalyptic warning about the dire consequences of turning over Americas nuclear arsenal to an untested and short-tempered leader  in this case Trump instead of Barry Goldwater.

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Tuesday brought the campaigns first television ad featuring Trumps graphic boast, caught on an Access Hollywood video, about how he would grope women he found attractive and get away with it because of his fame.

And Thursday, at a rally here, Clinton was introduced by Mae Wiggins, whose application years ago to rent an apartment at a development owned by the Trump family was rejected  an incident that became part of a racial discrimination case against Trump and his father.

Trump, said Clinton, has spent his entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. She cited the endorsement of Trump earlier this week by the official newsletter of the Ku Klux Klan as proof those signals were being heard loudly and clearly.

They said its about preserving white identity, and they placed their faith and hope in him, she said, noting the endorsement was written under Trumps slogan, Make America great again.

You have to ask, she added, do any of us have a place in Trumps America?

Trump, for his part, has displayed a concerted effort in recent days to remain disciplined, stick to his stump speech and not veer into the sort of perilous improvisations that often have sidetracked his campaign message.

Speaking in a cavernous equestrian center in Jacksonville, Fla., he stayed with a script that combined promises of a muscular economic resurgence with an exaggerated recitation of controversies that have dogged Clinton.

He alleged the FBI was investigating how Hillary Clinton put the office of secretary of State up for sale in a violation of federal law  an assertion that goes well beyond anything the bureau is known to be doing.

And in an effort to appeal to voters memories of scandals during President Bill Clintons tenure, he lamented here we go again with Clinton  with the impeachment and the problems. Shes likely to be under investigation for many, many years.

By staying on message, Trump avoided overshadowing his wife, Melania, who made her first solo campaign speech since the Republican convention in July. The previous address drew unwanted attention after key passages turned out to be nearly identical to ones in a speech by Michelle Obama.

In Thursdays speech, to a small rally in Berwyn, Pa., in the Philadelphia suburbs, Melania Trump said she would devote her energy as first lady to reducing online bullying of children and promoting more civil discourse in American society.

Our culture has become too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers, she said.

We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.

Democrats were quick to say that her plea for civility clashed with her husbands campaign, which has been punctuated by insults directed at opponents and cries of Lock her up aimed at Clinton.

A similar dissonance came later in the speech as Trump, a Slovenian immigrant, recounted her personal story of success in America.

Im an immigrant, and let me tell you, no one values the freedom and opportunity of America more than me, she said.

Her husband has argued for sharp new restrictions on legal immigration, a wall against illegal immigration and a ban on immigration from many majority-Muslim countries. He has also warned that many who enter the country will bring an added risk of crime and terrorism.

Those positions are among the ones that Clinton has pointed to all week as she has repeatedly called on supporters to imagine what America would look like under a President Trump.

I would frankly rather be here talking about nearly anything else, she said at a rally earlier this week in Florida.

But I cant just talk about all the good things we want to do, because people are making up their minds, Clinton said. This is a consequential choice, so weve got to talk about something that frankly is painful.

The steely, if reluctant, focus on her rivals flaws rather than her strengths reflects difficult truths that have vexed Clinton throughout the race.

She has had limited success in changing negative voter perceptions of her, an effort that was complicated again last week by the FBIs eleventh-hour resuscitation of the email controversy that had dogged her over the summer.

That difficulty, combined with Trumps unchallenged ability to dominate public attention, has caused Clinton to accept as inevitable that her best path to victory involves keeping voters focused on her rival.

Wednesday night in Arizona, a state where a surge of Latino voter registration has helped create an unexpectedly tight race, Clinton warned that Trumps immigration policy would lead to him literally sending law enforcement officers house to house, school to school, business to business to break up families.

Her warnings included the possibility that Trump could appoint Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has championed controversial immigration policies, as his secretary of Homeland Security to oversee the massive deportation force.

Sometimes, sometimes the fate of the greatest nations comes down to single moments in time. This is one of those make-or-break moments for the United States, Clinton said.

Clinton aides deny that her focus on the negative has come in reaction to the FBIs announcement of the renewed scrutiny of her emails.

And they insist that Clinton will return to making a more affirmative case for her candidacy as election day grows closer.

On Thursday they announced that the campaigns closing rally Monday night would feature not only Clinton, her husband and daughter, but President Obama and the first lady.

At that rally, in Philadelphia, where she accepted the Democratic nomination in July, Clinton will outline how she intends to keep promoting the American ideals of progress, inclusion, equality and strength that our founders enshrined in our Constitution, the campaign said.

The campaign has long believed that Clinton thrives when she can speak directly to the widest possible audience. Those opportunities, though, have been limited to the convention and the three prime-time debates.

In the day-to-day media, shes more likely to get attention for attacks on Trump than for policy speeches or calls for more love and kindness in the national dialogue.

Asked about the dark tone, the campaigns communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, noted that voters were making up their minds, and in the closing week we want to reestablish for voters what that choice is.

The fact is, she said, the choice that Donald Trump represents is pretty dark.

Memoli reported from Winterville and Bierman from Washington, D.C. Times staff writer Melanie Mason contributed to this report from Jacksonville, Fla.

michael.memoli@latimes.com

For more 2016 campaign coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter

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Even as Donald Trump assails political correctness, insults opponents in harsh late-night tweets and draws bipartisan rebukes for racially tinged insults, his wife vowed Thursday that she would devote her energy as first lady to reducing online bullying and promoting more civil discourse in American society.

Our culture has become too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers, Melania Trump said at a small rally in Berwyn, Pa. We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.

Trumps speech, just five days before election day, was her first solo address of the general election campaign. Her speech at the Republican National Convention, initially well-received, came under criticism after it was discovered that portions of it were lifted from a speech given by Michelle Obama in 2008.

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Her message, that children should be protected from bullying on social media and that women should be given greater opportunity, provided a counterpoint to Hillary Clintons campaign against Trump, which has focused heavily on his crude language, particularly toward women and minorities.

One of Clintons most prominent ads shows children watching as Trump mocks a disabled person, curses during a speech, speaks approvingly of violence at a rally and makes crude remarks about menstruation.

Melania Trump, a former fashion model, has become more well known during the campaign, and the Trump campaign is hoping in the final days of an increasingly tight race that she can soften some of her husbands rough edges. Her tone Thursday was soft-spoken and deliberate, another departure from the frantic energy of her husbands rallies.

To win, Trump needs to make up ground with female voters, particularly in suburban counties like the one where his wife spoke, outside Philadelphia.

But Melania Trump has little in common with the working- and middle-class voters Trump is trying to lure. She acknowledged as much as she spoke about her life of glamour and privilege.

But she assured the audience that she had to work hard in the modeling industry, facing highs and lows, and talked about the shared American values  kindness, honesty, respect, compassion  she tries to pass on to her son, Barron, regardless of his advantages.

Trump also spoke of her own upbringing in communist Slovenia, and the sense of optimism her family felt at the election of Ronald Reagan as U.S. president in 1980.

America, she said, was the word for freedom and opportunity in her family. If you could dream it, you could become it.

Her tale of immigrant success in a land of opportunity provided another contrast to Donald Trumps policies and rhetoric, which espouse restrictions on legal immigration, a border wall against illegal immigration and warnings that many who enter the country will bring an added risk of crime and terrorism.

Melania Trump showed a different face of immigration as she recounted her journey, and her move to become a U.S. citizen a decade ago.

It is the greatest privilege in the world, she said. Im an immigrant and let me tell you, no one values the freedom and opportunity of America more than me.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Twitter: @noahbierman

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Topics such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, the results of the U.S. presidential election, and the digitization of the manufacturing sector are on the agenda this month as leaders of Mexicos maquiladora industry gather in Tijuana.

More than 700 participants from across Mexico have signed up for the 43rd national convention of INDEX, the countrys the main maquiladora trade association. The event takes place Nov. 17 and 18 at the Baja California Center, a convention facility located at the boundary of Tijuana and Rosarito Beach.

Scheduled speakers include the Mexican-born former Treasurer of the United States, Rosario Marin, who is expected to discuss U.S.-Mexico economic relations. Also confirmed as participants are the governors of Baja California, Jalisco, and Yucatan, states with significant maquiladora manufacturing sectors.

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Luis Manuel Hernandez, president of INDEX Tijuana, said that one of the major topics of the conference will be Industry 4.0, an initiative sometimes called the fourth industrial revolution that seeks to increase productivity in the manufacturing sector through digitization.

Maquiladoras are export-oriented manufacturing plants, both national and foreign-owned, that import components duty-free. The plants took hold in the 1960s in border cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, but currently are also located in the Mexican interior.

This months meeting will include representatives of 21 associations from across Mexico and marks the first time the group holds its convention in Tijuana.

Employment in the maquiladora industry across Mexico today is about 2.69 million, according to data as of July 31 from Mexicos National Institute of Statistics and Geography. With some 600 plants that employ more than 200,000 people, Tijuana has more maquiladoras than any other city in Mexico, the institute says.

The industry in Baja California has experienced significant growth this year, with 76 new investments through the end of June, said Hernandez. These represent expansions of existing facilities as well as the opening of new ones.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

@sandradibble
On Thursday lawyers for Alfred Olangos widow, Taina Rozier, and child held a news conference to announce legal steps taken against the El Cajon Police Department. (Nelvin Cepeda/U-T )

The wife and daughters of Alfred Olango, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot in an encounter with police in September, filed a claim Thursday accusing the El Cajon Police Department of excessive force and negligence, saying the officers had no credible reason to use such violence against him.

It is the second claim to be filed in the shooting. A claim is a precursor to a lawsuit in state or federal court.

We are here for one reason and one reason only: We dont want another family to go through this, Los Angeles-based attorney Brian Dunn said at a news conference in San Diego that outlined the legal strategy in the case.

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People always ask, what is the purpose of litigation?  The purpose of a lawsuit is to seek justice. And that comes when we break the cycle of violence and when we break the cycle of hatred and when we take steps to ensure that the killing stops.

Olangos sister Lucy, who filed the first claim, was the one who called 911 on Sept. 27 to report her brother was acting strangely and asked police to help. Her claim accuses Officer Richard Gonsalves of ignoring his police training on how to deal with mentally unstable people. He instead aggressively confronted Olango, the claim states.

According to the claim filed Thursday by Olangos wife, Tania Rozier, and two daughters, he was not threatening anyone and was walking around in the parking lot of a taco shop when officers pulled up. According to police, Gonsalves fired his weapon within minutes when Olango took a shooting stance and pointed a cylindrical object at the officer. The object turned out to be a vaping device.

The family explained later that Olango was having a mental breakdown due to the death of a friend.

The claim further accuses the Police Department and city of failing to properly train its officers and said the death was the result of the agencys unconstitutional policies and practices.

The city has 45 days to respond to the claim. If the city does not settle, then the family has six months to file a lawsuit against the city in state or federal court.

The familys attorneys said that it has not yet been determined which court will be the proper venue.

Olangos sister is being represented by San Diego attorney Daniel Gilleon, while Olangos father is being represented by Los Angeles-based attorney Rodney Diggs. The father plans to file a federal lawsuit of his own in a few weeks, Diggs said.

Family members are represented by different attorneys because the causes of action each can sue under varies based on the law. The legal strategy will be a unified effort, and the cases may end up consolidating into one, said John E. Sweeney, an attorney representing Olangos wife and children.

El Cajon spokeswoman Monica Zech declined to discuss the claim Thursday.

The attorneys, appearing alongside Olangos family members, were optimistic that the coming legal action would elicit change in police procedures across the country.

We believe and feel and know this could have been prevented, and that future Alfred Olangos may be able to look at what weve done and say thank you, because the tactical response will have been different, Dunn said.

Gilleon noted that the public will have the benefit of the records and information that such lawsuits will likely produce.

This is going to be the publics lawsuit, too, he said.

L.A.-based attorneys Sweeney and Dunn are heavy hitters when it comes to excessive force and racial discrimination cases in Southern California, and both practiced alongside the late Johnnie Cochran, whose defense of O.J. Simpson made him a household name.

Sweeney has won large awards against the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department in excessive force cases, including the case of a man who was shot in the back by a Los Angeles police officer during a dispute over a traffic ticket. The officer was prosecuted for the shooting.

In 2008, Dunn won a $1.3 million verdict for a client who was shot at 120 times by Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies at the end of a slow speed chase. He was also part of lawsuits against police involving Reginald Denny, a trucker beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles race riots, and Black Panther Party member Geronimo Pratt.

In San Diego County, law enforcement agencies typically dont settle lawsuits involving fatal officer-involved shootings. That doesnt mean all get to trial. Some lawsuits get dismissed for various reasons or a judge issues a summary judgment ruling in favor of one side or the other.

Law enforcement agencies here are much more likely to settle lawsuits involving misconduct or injuries that dont end in death, such as the civil suits brought against San Diego in cases involving former Officer Anthony Arevalos. He was convicted of sexual battery and served time in prison.

El Cajon won a recent lawsuit involving one of its officers.

Raymond Goodlow claimed he was unjustifiably shot twice in the face by an El Cajon police officer in January 2013. The city contended he was shot after he did not obey commands from the officer to stop, had his hands in his waistband and was acting in a threatening manner.

Goodlow sued the department for excessive force and negligence in San Diego federal court. A jury found in favor of the city after a four-day trial in April 2015. The case is being appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The National Action Network, a civil-rights group led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, and other activists and the family are seeking an independent review of Olangos shooting and of the El Cajon Police Department by federal authorities. They plan to send a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynchs office in the coming weeks, said the networks San Diego branch president, the Rev. Shane Harris. The group also plans to lead a march Nov. 29 in front of the federal building in downtown San Diego.

Staff writers Dana Littlefield and Greg Moran contributed to this story.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
California Assembly and Senate candidates hoping to represent San Diego County residents have received nearly $5.6 million in donations since 2015, state contribution data show, and 20 percent of that total came from San Diego County.

According to campaign contribution data from the California Secretary of State, six candidates raised more than $350,000.

Four of the six candidates received less than 15 percent from local voters and political action committees.

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Data show candidates who raised less money for the race received a higher proportion of donations from San Diego.

 With five days till the 2016 general election, click through to see who raised the most money and where it came from:

Contact Lauryn Schroeder via Twitter or Email.
CoreCivic, a private prison company that recently rebranded from Corrections Corporation of America, touted on Thursday the growing need for immigration detention as a strong source of revenue despite the Department of Justices decision to move away from the use of privately contracted prisons.

In its third quarter earnings call for 2016, CoreCivic reported a 3.3 percent growth in revenue, and its projections were optimistic. The companys management said one of the reasons were increases in the number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, primarily in San Diegos Otay Mesa Detention Center and in Arizona facilities.

It is with great pride that we have been able to accommodate these developing needs, President and CEO Damon Hininger said.

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According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the Otay Mesa facility is at capacity. The facility holds up to 696 immigrant detainees and 344 prisoners for the U.S. Marshal Service, according to a copy of the federal governments contract with the private prison company released to the National Immigrant Justice Center through a public records request.

My personal optimism of the company is unwavering after recent events, Hininger added. He said he had purchased more stock in the company in recent weeks.

The Department of Justice in August announced that it would phase out the use of private contractors to run its prisons, which hold non-citizens who have committed federal crimes.

The Department of Justices decision was followed closely by an announcement from the Department of Homeland Security that it would review the use of private detention facilities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That recommendation is due at the end of November.

In the meantime, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has renewed a contract with CoreCivic for a Texas facility and signed a new contract with the company for a facility in Cibola County, New Mexico, that was previously used by the Department of Justices Bureau of Prisons.

Hininger said the new five-year contract for the Cibola County facility was to help satisfy the need for detention facilities for Haitians who have been crossing the Southwest border in large numbers in recent months.

Its a very fluid dynamic on the border right now with the population were seeing come across, primarily with Haitian nationals, Hininger said. They see a potential need going into 2017 and beyond based on some of the numbers theyre hearing coming up through Central and South America.

ICE officials estimated that about 3,000 Haitians are currently in detention facilities across the United States.

When the Haitians, who mostly migrated from Brazil, began arriving in May, Customs and Border Protection officers allowed them into the U.S. on humanitarian parole, a temporary pass into the country. Following a controversial decision to begin deporting the migrants to Haiti, new Haitian arrivals are being held in detention facilities. After Hurricane Matthew wrought havoc on the island nation, deportations to Haiti were temporarily suspended until conditions improve. The migrants continue to wait in detention.

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate
With early voting underway and Election Day approaching, the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego Thursday reminded pastors and priests that while they are obligated to share how their faiths teachings are relevant to public policy, they shouldnt get entangled in partisan politics.

Bishop Robert McElroy sent the message to 100 parishes in the diocese and all the priests not affiliated with parishes after the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town issued bulletins that included partisan messages, including one that that claimed Satan was working through Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

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Let me stress again that while we have a moral role to play in explaining how Catholic teaching relates to certain public policy issues, we must not and will not endorse specific candidates, use parish media or bulletins to favor candidates or parties through veiled language about selectively chosen issues, or engage in partisan political activity of any kind, McElroy wrote.

All political material distributed by parishes must be approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the California Catholic Conference or the dioceses Office of Social Ministry, he said.

McElroy noted that his warning came after The San Diego Union-Tribune published a front-page article about the controversial content in the church newsletters.

Legal experts said the parishs statements likely violated IRS regulations that prohibit tax-exempt organizations like churches from making political statements in support or against a candidate for public office.

On Oct. 16 a flier was inserted into the historic churchs bulletin that listed five public policy issues that are intrinsically evil and conflict with Catholic teachings. Democrats support all five, while Republicans back none, it said.

Based on the above, it is a mortal sin to vote Democrat, the flier stated. If your bishop, priest, deacon or other parishioners tell you to do so, you must walk away from them. Your immortal soul and your salvation are at stake-and so are theirs.

The diocese said the flier was inserted into the bulletin without the pastors knowledge, and that its contents do not reflect Catholic teachings. It is not a mortal sin to support Democrats, and voters should use their faith-informed conscience when picking a candidate, the diocese said.

On Oct. 30, another message appeared in an article that ran in Immaculate Conceptions actual bulletin. Using an out-of-context line from a 2015 Clinton speech, the newsletter said that the Democratic nominee was influenced by Satan via Saul Alinsky, the trailblazing community organizer.

PREVIOUS: Catholic parishs bulletin says Democratic voters are doomed to hell, Clinton is satanic 

The devil does this through the tactics outlined by Saul Alinsky with the outcome as Hillary Clinton has stated, And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed, to draw us away from Gods teachings regarding the sanctity of life to those of the world and its prince.

Clinton, speaking at the Women in the World Summit in 2015, was actually talking about eliminating roadblocks that make it difficult for girls to go to school, women to attend college, prevent the enforcement of domestic violence laws, and access to reproductive and maternal healthcare.

The article also included ten sins that have enslaved American society through the support of politicians, judges and voters. Some of the threats were longstanding issues the Catholic church has opposed, like abortion, gay marriage, and embryonic stem cell research.

But the article also spoke against admitting immigrants whose religions aim to eradicate every believe except of their own prophet and god, and to impose this on America, adding to the public debt by assisting immigrants while paying Americans to sit home and not work, and for regulating the right to bear arms for free citizens in a nation where criminals and terrorists will always have weapons and where government is now in opposition to its citizens.

The diocese said it welcomes immigrants, and that matters of the national debt or Second Amendment arent issues the church gets involved in.

A review of several of the diocese parishs bulletins posted online shows that most have mentioned the upcoming election, but they emphasize the importance of taking the election seriously, thinking like a Catholic in the voting booth, and requests to pray for politicians and civility. They less frequently mention candidates and political parties by name.

On Tuesday, a week before the election and a day before news about the bulletins, McElroy delivered an address at the University of San Diego where he emphasized the importance for bishops to be passionate about their faith and the implications of public policy, but that they must not be partisan.

I speak to you tonight as a bishop who is part of a long tradition in Catholic episcopal leadership in the United States which holds that both the Church and society are best served when bishops refrain from publicly endorsing or favoring, either directly or indirectly, specific candidates in partisan elections, he said.

And he said that voting as a Catholic isnt so much an evaluation of one or several policy issues, but a spiritual and moral process.

He spoke about the need for political solutions that end abortions, eliminate hunger, prevent violent conflict, stop right-to-die laws, halt global climate change and environmental destruction, eliminate the drug trade, and end partisan impasses that prevent immigration reform.

It requires, in a very real sense, the development of a Catholic political imagination which sees the connections between poverty and the disintegration of families; war and the global refugee crisis; the economic burdens of the aging and legalized physician-assisted suicide, he said.

But McElroy said there is an urgent need to address the dismal state of American politics.

The sickness in the political soul of our nation will only be healed if society undertakes a massive regeneration of the political ties which unite us as a people and begin to see these ties as more important for us as a society than the partisan divisions which rend us apart, he said.

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Firefighters carried a man out of his burning Golden Hill apartment early Friday but were unable to save him.

The man, who appeared to be in his 60s, died at a hospital, a San Diego fire official said. It wasnt known if the man died from smoke inhalation or from a medical condition prior to the fire.

Investigators believe he had been smoking and likely started the fire accidentally, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Lee Swanson said.

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The blaze broke out about 4:30 a.m. in the mans second-floor apartment. It is one of five units in a two-story house on B Street between 24th and 25th streets.

A 911 caller said one person might not have gotten out of the building with the other residents, Swanson said.

Firefighters immediately searched the room and found the victim. They started CPR on him and medics took him to a hospital.

The flames were doused in about 15 minutes, limiting fire damage to the mans apartment, Swanson said. An adjoining unit sustained smoke damage.

About 10 residents were displaced from the building while utilities were shut off. The Red Cross was assisting them. No other injuries were reported.

Damage to the building and its contents was estimated at $125,000.
Practically anything and everything.

Thats what you can do with the Internet. You hail Uber, pay bills, binge-watch movies, play fantasy football and take selfies that later make you cringe.

You tell friends you couldnt live without it, a widely held belief that soon may be put to the test.

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Cyber experts said hackers may see Tuesdays elections as an irresistible opportunity to interfere with the political system at a time when Americans are already anxious, suspicious and angry.

U.S. intelligence agencies are watching for many things, including efforts by hackers to tweak websites in ways that would suppress some votes or delay the reporting of results. That would breed distrust and deepen the belief of many voters that the election will, in some way, be rigged.

Hackers have already hit the Democratic National Committee and candidate Hillary Clintons campaign in efforts to shape the presidential election. The alleged chief culprit: Russia.

Analysts also said there could be a broad, systemic cyber attack that extends beyond politics to society in general. That kind of offensive could do everything from slowing airline traffic to shutting down the stock exchange to delaying the restocking of grocery stores shelves.

Such an assault could wreak havoc against credit card companies at the start of the holiday shopping season, which is projected to generate $656 billion in retail sales by Dec. 31.

Its equally possible that Tuesday will pass without incident. In general, though, theres a growing sense that foreign and domestic hacking are becoming more pervasive and pernicious.

Were at a moment in history in which the Internet  a technology that was created for the public good  is being hacked by people, many who have a malicious agenda, said Darin Andersen, chairman of CyberTECH, a San Diego-based cyber industry trade group. This is affecting public psychology. Hackers are getting into where we vote and shop and drive and live. Its becoming personal.

The concerns were evident during the recent Cyberfest, a security conference held in La Jolla. One analyst posed an especially disturbing question: What would happen if the entire Internet was knocked offline in the United States for a full day?

Few analysts believe thats possible; the Internet is a fairly robust system that does well in maintaining more than 1 billion websites on behalf of its 3.5 billion users worldwide.

That said, the system also has glaring vulnerabilities, as seen on Oct. 21 when unidentified hackers overwhelmed a key Internet company in New Hampshire with traffic, disrupting scores of popular websites including Twitter, Netflix, PayPal and Airbnb.

The simplicity of that attack stunned some experts in the cybersecurity community and has left them wondering about whats next.

Hackers used a piece of software called Mirai to roam the Internet, searching for unsecured, web-connected devices in peoples homes  things such as security cameras and DVRs. Mirai got thousands of these devices to collectively flood the Internet company Dyn with data, bringing it to its knees.

On Friday, hackers deployed Mirai in the same way to disrupt Internet service across Liberia, inflicting heavy financial losses.

Analysts said hackers could employ this or other techniques to launch much larger attacks on Internet services in the United States, with potentially chilling consequences.

Commerce and communications

Big outages could halt online banking and shopping, stifle Gmail and other email services, and prevent many companies  notably Salesforce and Amazon Web Services  from grabbing data from the cloud, said Chris Day, chief information security officer at Virginia-based Invincea.

They also could disrupt Facebook, which has more than 150 million users in North America, as well as Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp. The navigation systems in Google Maps and Apple maps could go offline, and consumers could find it hard to connect to Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services.

In addition, consumers would find it hard or impossible to use ride-sharing services like Uber, which has about 12,000 drivers in San Diego.

The effects could cascade through society, said Adi Sharabani, co-founder of the Skycure mobile security company in a Palo Alto.

Everyone understands that Wall Street would be at a standstill, but so would farmers who increasingly rely on the Internet of Things to monitor irrigation and harvest cycles, Sharabani said, referring to the name given to the universe of web-connected devices.

A 24-hour shutdown would likely have a lasting impact that is (more) far-reaching than most people realize.

Aviation

A large, sustained outage could profoundly affect aviation as well.

Roughly 87,000 flights occur each day in the United States, and one-third of that traffic involves commercial airlines. Experts said the airlines have good internal systems for most operations, including scheduling and baggage-handling. But the Internet plays a role in related services, including tracking the weather. And consumers might not be able to go online to check or book flights.

A major take-down of the Internet also could cause flight-status boards  such as the more than 20 at the San Diego International Airport  to stop working. That would likely cause rampant frustration among the approximately 50,000 passengers who go through the local aviation terminals on a typical day.

Medical centers

Most hospitals and other medical centers have primary and secondary power and communications systems.

Wed definitely continue to serve our patients during an Internet outage, said Chris Longhurst, chief information officer for UC San Diego Health, which handles about 77,000 emergency room visits a year. The systems neighbors include the San Diego VA Healthcare System, which also anticipates a minor, short-term fallout in the event of a daylong disruption to the web.

But theres a caveat: A cyber attack might involve something far worse than the kind of problems caused by the Mirai software.

Imagine what would happen if all medical records in the VA had the blood type information altered, said Shiu Kai Chin, a computer scientist at Syracuse University. VA operations would shut down immediately because no one would trust any of what they were seeing.

This is a replay of the 2008 financial crisis, in large part because no one believed in the valuation of companies or their balance sheets.

Ground transportation

Paralyzing the Internet for a day would also deeply affect the trucking industry, which at some point or another handles more than 90 percent of all products consumed in the U.S.  from food to medications.

Most fleet trucks are equipped with online links to help drivers with navigation, the changing of schedules and the monitoring of equipment.

Without Internet, the trucks would still keep trucking, but it might take 35 to 45 percent longer than normal because of the loss of communication, said Brad Taylor, vice president of data for Omnitracs, a Dallas-based fleet management company.

One analyst said Amazon, which makes an estimated 1.6 million deliveries a day across the U.S., could suffer $250 million in losses from a daylong outage.

Human psyche

The biggest damage from a powerful blow against the Internet could involve the publics sense of well-being.

With the exception of the (9/11 terrorist attacks), its hard for me to think of a moment when the country was as tense as it is now, said Stephen Cobb, a senior researcher in the San Diego office of the I.T. security firm ESET.

Retired Navy Adm. Ken Slaght also was thinking of that milestone tragedy this past week, as the final days of the election season ticked away.

The biggest problem we had at the time of 9/11 was a lack of imagination, said Slaght, now president of the San Diego Cyber Center of Excellence, which promotes the cyber industry.

We were focused outward. We thought our biggest problems would occur elsewhere, but they occurred here. Something similar could happen with a cyber attack. It worries me because the country is so polarized at the moment, and we might not respond in a unified way as we did after 9/11.

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
The California Fair Political Practices Commission has informed Oceanside Councilman Jack Feller that he is under investigation for alleged personal use of campaign funds.

In a letter dated Thursday, Galena West, chief of the FPPCs enforcement division, told Feller the commission received information regarding the alleged personal use of funds. The single-paragraph letter said the commission had not made any determination regarding the allegations in a complaint.

Details of the complaint were not included in the letter, which the FPPC provided to The San Diego Union-Tribune on Thursday.

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Feller, who is running for re-election, said Thursday that he has not received the letter and didnt recall ever using campaign funds for personal benefit. He said he could not comment until he had spoken with officials at the commission and looked over the information that prompted investigation.

Feller said he couldnt immediately answer the Union-Tribunes questions about numerous reimbursements he has received from his campaign since 2014 because he would need to look over the campaigns records.

Campaign finance reports show Feller collected $4,452 in 13 payments between June 2014 and July of this year  all described as reimbursements for expenses, officeholder expenses, and civic contributions.

Twelve of the payments include no details about the specific expenses for which Feller was reimbursed, or how the expenses were directly linked to his duties as an officeholder. The remaining payment says Feller, 68, was reimbursed $125 on March 25, 2014, for a civic contribution to El Camino Wildcat Boosters.

State law allows officeholders to receive reimbursement from campaigns for officeholder expenses, under certain specific conditions and only if the expenditure was directly related to political, legislative or governmental activity. A campaign may make charitable donations, but the donations may not personally benefit the officeholder, candidate, committee treasurer, any person with authority to approve the expenditure of campaign funds, or any such persons spouse or dependent children.

Personal spending of campaign money is forbidden under state law to avoid undue influence by contributors.

Since January 2014, Fellers campaign has raised about $58,000, according to finance reports. Top contributors include Howard Jacobs of the real estate company GK Asset Management, who contributed a total $5,500; California Teamsters Public Affairs Council political action committee, which gave $4,000; and people employed by Integral Communities, a real estate development company.

Three partners at Integral Communities gave Fellers campaign $500 apiece on June 6, and again July 13. Another of the companys employees gave $250 on December 1, 2015.

The company has been before Oceanside city committees this year for approvals to build an affordable housing complex as part of a 380-home development called Villa Storia, which would be built on a 35.5-acre property just north of Mission Avenue and west of Academy Road.

Mobile home companies, including Mobile Homes Acceptance Corp. and Mission View Mobile, Inc., were also among the top contributors to Fellers campaign.

In 2011, the FPPC investigated Fellers campaign and found that he violated state law when he failed to report more than $4,000 in gambling earnings as income. The investigation ended with a warning letter to Feller. He was not fined or prosecuted.

At the time, FPPC chairwoman Ann Ravel told The San Diego Union-Tribune that the warning letter was serious and, If he ever has another violation, we will take it much more seriously because now he is on notice that he has to comply with all of the regulations.

morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com
Congressman Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, took out a third loan on his home to repay nearly $49,000 to his campaign account after months of scrutiny surrounding what appeared to be personal spending.

Hunters chief of staff, Joe Kasper said Hunter qualified for a personal home equity loan in accordance with fair market terms and in the normal course of business.

Kasper did not respond to any other questions regarding the loan or the specific expenses being repaid.

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The congressman announced the repayment to the Press-Enterprise newspaper on Thursday, saying he takes full responsibility for any misspending by his campaign.

Scrutiny of Hunters campaign spending began in April, when The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on a Federal Election Commission inquiry into video game expenses charged to his campaign.

In the following months, the U-T found the campaign paid for oral surgery, a garage door, private school, gas, groceries, fast food, his childrens private school tuition and lunches and other expenses.

Hunter reported some of the expenditures as mistakes, and explained to the Union-Tribune that there were mix-ups based on the color of his credit cards. His wife, Margaret, is paid $3,000 a month as campaign manager, and Hunter said in April she would no longer be using the campaign charge card.

Hunter repaid the campaign $12,000 in the spring to cover certain questionable expenditures and launched an independent audit to identify other improper spending. That audit apparently resulted in the repayment Hunter announced this week. His office did not respond to a request to release a copy of the report.

According to Hunters most recent personal financial disclosure report on file with the U.S. House of Representatives, the congressman had no bank accounts or similar assets worth more than $1,000 as of Dec. 31, 2015. The disclosure report also listed two mortgages on Hunters home in Alpine. Both were in 2009 from Navy Federal Credit Union. One was for between $15,001 and $50,000, the other for between $500,001 and $1 million.

According to county records, Hunter and his wife secured an additional loan on their home on Wednesday. Equity on their home in Alpine  valued at about $650,000  helped secure $57,281 from Statewide Foreclosure Services.

On Thursday, Hunter told the Press-Enterprise that there would be structural changes to make sure the campaign has proper oversight and controls to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Most of the questionable expenditures the Union-Tribune has highlighted occurred in 2015. They include:

$5,161 to Aston Kaanapali Shores in Hawaii. Kasper said the money was supposed to pay for lodging for an April 2015 campaign event. The event was canceled and the trip became personal travel.

$1,200 paid to a garage-door repair and replacement company for a new garage door at Hunters home. Kasper said it was damaged during campaign-related activity.

$1,137 payment to the Center for Oral & Facial Surgery in El Cajon. The center reimbursed the campaign credit card for part of the charges because of an overpayment, and Hunter reimbursed the $811 balance.

$361 to Emerald City surf and skate shop in Coronado. Kasper said the purchase was for materials and items for a community event, although he declined to provide further details such as what was purchased or who benefited.

$6,150 in tuition payments to Christian Unified Schools in El Cajon, where the congressmans three children attend. Kasper said the money was for a charitable donation, but was mistakenly applied as tuition.

An undisclosed amount of money spent at Legoland California. Although a repayment was noted in reporting to the FEC, the original expense does not appear on financial reports. Kasper declined to answer questions about the charge.

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, has filed complaints with the FEC and the Office of Congressional Ethics, asking for investigation of the campaigns potentially illegal spending. Neither entity has yet disclosed whether or not it will investigate.

Federal law forbids personal use of campaign funds because it might give donors undue political influence.

The Union-Tribune reported last month that Hunter has been advocating for the U.S. Coast Guard to buy or lease a $150 million ship owned by one of his top contributors, Louisiana-based shipbuilder Edison Chouest Offshore. The Aiviq made national news in 2012 when it suffered mechanical failures and lost control of an oil rig it was towing. The rig ran aground off the Alaskan coast.

Democrat Patrick Malloy, who is running against Hunter in Tuesdays election for the 50th District seat, said Hunters announcement that he would be repaying his campaign was an empty gesture.

Four days before the election, Hunter is trying to buy your sympathy with $49,000 in appeasement, Malloy said in an appeal to voters. Although his vote can be bought, as shown in the U-T article on the Aiviq, ours cant.

Hunter has won his seat by a wide margin in every bid for reelection since he took office in 2009.

 Also see: Which House candidates are leading in the chase for cash?

Previously: Hunter

morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com
Congressman Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, says he will repay $49,000 to his campaign account after months of revelations that he used the fund for personal expenses.

The congressman announced the repayment to the Press-Enterprise newspaper on Thursday.

While the charges were primarily authorized by the campaign, the buck stops with me and I take full responsibility  including the responsibility to determine and implement other structural changes to ensure errors are not repeated, he told the newspaper. In taking these steps, I am fully confident that the right oversight and controls are now in place.

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Hunters problems first came to light in April, when The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on a Federal Election Commission inquiry into video game expenses charged to his campaign. The U-T subsequently revealed funds spent on oral surgery, a garage door, private school, gas, groceries, fast food and other expenses.

Hunter repaid $12,000 initially, attributing expenses to mistakes such as using the wrong blue credit card. His campaign is run by his wife, Margaret, who is paid $3,000 a month. In April, he told the U-T she would no longer have a campaign credit card.

He then launched an independent audit that lasted for months, resulting in the most recent repayment.

The financial review has revealed additional unauthorized expenditures that I will be reimbursing to the campaign today, Hunter told the Press-Enterprise. And I decided, out of an abundance of caution, to treat any expense without adequate support as necessary for reimbursement.

The Press-Enterprise story does not contain a breakdown of which expenses Hunter is reimbursing. Among the disbursements the Union-Tribune has highlighted, most of them incurred in 2015:

106 fill-ups at gas stations, totaling $5,660.

16 trips to Jack in the Box totaling $297.

Forty trips to Albertsons, Trader Joes or another grocery store, spending $6,819 total.

An expense for $229 at a Disneyland gift shop for food/beverages. A spokesman for the park told the Union-Tribune the only edible items the store sells are Pez candy and a Star Wars-themed Rice Krispy treat.

Utilities  $1,269 for San Diego Gas & Electric and $300 to the Padre Dam Municipal Water District.

More than $2,000 on restaurants, hotels and train travel in the Italian cities of Rome, Florence and Positano during the Thanksgiving holiday week in 2015.

A payment for $216 to Gioielleria Manetti in Florence, listed on a disclosure report as food/beverages. The store makes and customizes jewelry and watches, according to its website. A store representative said it offers no food or drinks.

$1,300 spent at the Cardiff-by-the-Sea restaurant that provides lunches to Hunters childrens El Cajon private school.

Spending of campaign funds on personal expenses is prohibited, because it might give donors undue political influence. The U-T reported last month that Hunter has been advocating for the U.S. Coast Guard to buy a $150 million ship from one of his top contributors, Louisiana-based shipbuilder Edison Chouest Offshore.

 Also see: Which House candidates are leading in the chase for cash?

Previously: Hunter
As the presidential race tightens, Hillary Clinton is going to her base, trying to gin up turnout among key Democratic groups. In this election, there is no group as important as women. Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who called out Donald Trump for ridiculing her weight gain, appeared with Clinton at a rally in Florida on Tuesday. At that rally, Clinton declared, We heard what he does to women. Im not going to repeat it, but you know Donald Trump was bragging about grabbing women, mistreating women. She continued, The bottom line is he thinks belittling women makes him a bigger man. He doesnt see us as full human beings with our own dreams, our own purposes, our own capabilities  and he has shown that clearly throughout this campaign.

Clinton is also targeting women with ads such as these:

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Republicans who are crossing over to vote for Clinton are likewise turning to women supporters. In conjunction with Republicans for Clinton (R4C16.org), 10 GOP women who are endorsing Clinton put out a letter, which opened for additional signers on Tuesday evening. Their letter includes the following:

As Republican women, we are united in our commitment to turn the disaster of Trumps candidacy into a teachable moment, to create a better future for our children and our communities. We represent mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, colleagues, wives, girlfriends, partners and individuals who are committed to our families and neighbors and dedicated to the work we do in its various forms ... .

Donald Trumps indefensible words and actions have shined the brightest spotlight of our democracy  the presidency  on issues that were otherwise lying just beneath the surface: sexism, racism, xenophobia, divisiveness, hatred and autocracy. This vote is about the society we want to live in and our collective future.

We stand for civility, empathy and equal opportunity. We stand for individual liberty and empowering individuals to affect change. We are beyond the current, intransigent extremes of partisan politics. We reflect and embrace the values of a balanced center that enable us to work together, and address the substantial challenges facing our great country.

They argue against voting in protest on a third party, a write-in candidate or by opting out. R4C16.org has set up TrumpTraders to accommodate those in swing states who are finding it hard to pull the lever for Clinton. USA Today reported that if youre a supporter of Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in Ohio, you could get two Clinton voters from California to swap with you. John Stubbs, a co-founder of Republicans for Clinton 2016, the group behind TrumpTraders, said at least 1,000 people have signed up for their site.

One of the signatories of the letter is Jennifer Harris from Austin who worked as a communications director for Republican officials and politicians. I was raised in a straight ticket, dyed-in-the-wool Republican household, cut my teeth in politics working for Texas Republican officials, but this years election has rattled me to my core, she tells me via email. Im a mother and a small-business owner, and Ive never had such a visceral and unsettling feeling about a GOP nominee for president. My vote in the 2016 election is about policy over politics. Its about recognizing that fear, hatred, division and anger cannot guide our nation, yet this is exactly what Trump preys upon and sells to voters. She adds, Its not an easy choice to be a Republican and cast a vote for Hillary Clinton, but it reflects my belief that we have to as a nation have a steady hand and someone who can, I hope, forge compromise in addressing the critical issues facing our nation today.

Another signatory, Jennifer Sarver, was for 20 years a Republican volunteer and staffer who found herself unable to support her partys nominee. I early voted last week for Hillary Clinton and for Republicans down ballot, she says. I worked on GOP house campaigns in the late 90s and have worked nationally in Republican politics, serving in the U.S. Senate for former senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and also in the Bush Administration as the Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the Commerce Department. Ive volunteered at the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions as a speechwriter. I was an alternate at the Texas GOP convention this summer. So, Im a 40-year old Republican, college educated white split-ticket voter in a red state. This campaigns unicorn. Why break with the GOP this time? Trumps divisiveness, sexism, racism, lack of experience and his general disdain for facts far outweigh my concerns over Hillary Clintons use of a private email server, she explains. While I disagree with her on many policy issues and would much rather be supporting a Republican at the top of a ticket, I cannot in good conscience vote for someone so wholly unfit to be the leader of the free world as Donald Trump.

R4C16s list also includes three generations of women from a single family. Jean Feigley, 101 years old, has voted for the Republican in every election since she was able to vote in 1936  until this one. A great, great-grandmother of 3, she is a widow of a World War I veteran and currently resides in a military-retirement community. Her daughter Maj. Gen. Donna Barbisch, U.S. Army retired, 38 years in the Army and is also voting for Clinton, as is Jeans granddaughter, Trish Hartman, a mother of two and a military reservist. In explaining the rationale for rejecting Trump, Barbisch tells me, He has no moral compass. I was blown away as I observed him use his unethical marketing tactics to seduce the public and gain support. She began researching Clintons record. At that time, my mother and daughters only discussed how unfit Trump was to even consider running. I dont know when they actually decided to support Hillary, but by May 2016 I know we were all on board. As for the outrage over Clintons emails she says, I question the efficacy of putting any more of our tax dollars into further congressional review.

In sum, these women are not happy about rejecting the GOP nominee, but they plainly are fed up. If Clinton wins it may in fact be because of gender  not hers, but because millions of women appalled at Trumps misogyny have decided that country and simple decency take precedence over partisan loyalty. It would be true political karma if they turn out to be the difference in the race.

Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Washington Post. She wrote this for The Post.
Former U-T reporter, columnist and social media director Matthew T. Hall is in his 16th year at The San Diego Union-Tribune and in his first year as its editorial and opinion director. In todays Back Story, he talks about taking the reins of the U-Ts editorial board during such a divisive election.

Q: Tell us about your job at the Union-Tribune.

A: I oversee the Ideas & Opinion section and direct the team that publishes editorials, political cartoons, syndicated columns, op-eds and letters to the editor in our editorial and opinion pages. Im also constantly experimenting with new ways of engagement on social media and our website, where I edit a blog called The Conversation that uses social media to tell news stories. My days are long, busy and fun with a lot of juggling.

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Q: How do your days differ in an election season?

A: Theres more juggling  and more criticism. Making election endorsements, by definition, means picking sides. But we tried to do this respectfully and reasonably. Some readers were happy. Others, disappointed or angry. Take our endorsement of Hillary Clinton. It was the first time since the founding of The San Diego Union in 1868 that the editorial board had endorsed a Democrat for president, which says a lot about the dynamics of this election and the less partisan, more centrist positions the board is staking out on my watch. That endorsement, which touched on Clintons strengths and faults but roundly criticized Donald Trump, prompted 209 readers to cancel subscriptions between Sept. 30, when the endorsement went live, and Halloween. I can also tell you, anecdotally and humbly, we picked up some subscriptions, too. Taking stands isnt easy. But its what we do.

Q: How did you make your endorsements?

A: Were a small staff, so I decided early on we wouldnt endorse in most races outside the city of San Diego or invite in proponents and opponents of all 17 state propositions. There just wasnt enough time. We ultimately did three dozen lengthy in-person interviews and a lot of research before making recommendations in 41 campaigns. Some people say newspapers shouldnt make endorsements, but I think its vital that opinion journalists keep studying issues and candidates and offer their recommendations, especially when people are so busy, so divided and so overwhelmed by the size of their ballots.

Q: Whos on the U-T editorial board?

A: Im joined by publisher and editor in chief Jeff Light, deputy director Chris Reed, community opinion editor Blanca Gonzalez and reader outreach editor Andrew Kleske. To answer a question I get a lot, our parent company, Tronc, and our sister papers had no role. Were San Diegans making suggestions for San Diego and beyond.

Q: What was your toughest endorsement?

A: Id say we spent the most time discussing Propositions 62 and 64, which would repeal the death penalty and legalize recreational marijuana, respectively. Those werent easy endorsements because theyre such complex and emotional issues. I probably got more email from marijuana opponents than any other campaign. We also spent a lot of time on the Chargers stadium issue, Measure C, because its so important to the citys future.

Q: Which endorsement generated the biggest response?

A: The Clinton endorsement, easily. It generated international attention. I was interviewed by BBC Radio in Scotland, a reporter from the French newspaper Le Monde and a number of national media outlets. We had been criticizing Donald Trump for months and even told our Republican readers to write in Ronald Reagan during the California primary when Trump was the lone Republican left in the race, so it didnt come as a surprise to some readers. But both candidates have passionate fans and foes, so we heard from a ton of people. I fully expect and hope to keep hearing from readers after the election. Well keep holding the winner accountable and responding to compliments and complaints, grateful for everyones readership and feedback.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: UTOpinion
Regarding Fights on over seized assets (Nov. 1): The Watchdog article reflects the danger of law enforcement agencies gaining enrichment money from seizures. The District Attorneys Office has no intention of returning assets when no one has been charged.

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It knows that many people would be unable to afford counsel, thus they are in no hurry to make things right.

It is government abuses such as this that fuel the publics appetite to elect an outsider like Donald Trump, to help fight the government bureaucracy.

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La Mesa

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San Diego-based Luna Grill has announced that it is moving its headquarters to Carmel Mountain Ranch and plans to add 18 locations next year.

The chain, which specializes in Mediterranean cuisine, will locate nearly 40 employees at 13520 Evening Creek Drive North. The offices are twice as large as the previous headquarters.

The planned new eateries will expand the number of locations by nearly two-thirds. The growth is being funded with almost $30 million in financing from CapitalSpring, a private investment firm.

We have seen too many operators expand too quickly without the back-end infrastructure and knowledge in place to guide growth,' said Luna Grill co- founder and CEO Sean Pourteymour.

As a result, we have always been very strategic with our growth strategy, mindfully adding the infrastructure and executive team required to manage our expansion in a successful manner, Pourteymour said. Now, that time is here and we have simply outgrown our previous corporate headquarters.

The company operates 29 restaurants in Southern California and Texas.
The Poway Unified School District Board of Education approved a promotional flyer that will be used in recruiting the new superintendent at a special board meeting on Oct. 26.

The board made minor changes to the flyer, including adding some characteristics and making minor corrections to the information included before unanimously approving it.

The flyer will be used by nationwide recruitment firm Ray and Associates to gather candidates for the position of superintendent.

The flyer also included the new superintendents proposed base salary range of $290,000 plus an excellent benefits package. The final salary will be determined based upon proven experience, qualifications and meeting the boards criteria, according to the flyer.

The California Department of Educations website lists the statewide average annual salary for a district superintendent of a unified school district with an average daily attendance of over 20,000 students at $249,537. Fired Supt. John Collins received a base salary of $287,735 annually in his final contract, which was due to expire in 2017. With benefits and other perks, he was paid nearly $500,000 annually, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Oct. 26 meeting was the last time the board met with the firm about a new superintendent until mid-January, when the firm will present a narrowed-down pool of candidates to the board for them to review and decide which they would like to interview. That meeting will be closed and is anticipated to take about four hours, said the representatives from the firm, as the board members will each need to review the information and videotaped interviews of each candidate before discussing as a group which they prefer.

The flyer uses the feedback gathered from district staff, the community and the board during interviews conducted by Ray and Associates in mid-October on what characteristics they felt were important for the new superintendent to have. An online survey posted on the district website that garnered about 1,100 responses was also used to create the flyer.

While responses varied over what various factions determined to be important characteristics for the new superintendent to have, inspires trust, self-confidence and models high standards was the top-ranking characteristic for many, including board members, teachers, non-parent community members and administrators. Only parents did not rank it in the No. 1 position, choosing strongly committed to student-first philosophy in all decisions as their No. 1 choice.

The flyer also asks for a superintendent who is a strong communicator; who is able to delegate authority appropriately while maintaining accountability; is strongly committed to a student-first philosophy; possesses excellent people skills and can present a positive image of the district; is able to work cooperatively with the board and keep members informed; and several others.

One that was not initially included but added by the board was has leadership skills to respond to challenges of ethnic and cultural diversity, which was ranked in the top 10 by several groups, including students, who ranked it as their No. 1 priority. Two other characteristics were combined into one bullet point to not overload the flyer.

Characteristics that were left off the flyer can still be raised as interview questions, according to the firm representatives.

Email: news@pomeradonews.com
The polls are making it more and more clear that election night will not be a landslide win for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. For the Republicans, that means that either Trump is going to lose a close election or he will win a close election. And because the race is so tight, the GOP leaders not enthusiastically and publicly backing their nominee will be in serious trouble if they do not get on the Trump train right now.

It might already be too late for some of those Republicans, especially people like Ohio Governor John Kasich who has already said he didn't vote for Trump. But for those who haven't irreversibly denied their support, now is the time to step up. The new base of the Republican Party will not forgive any elected GOP leader who did not stand with Trump in a razor thin loss.

And the Trump team itself will most likely ignore and punish non-supportive Republicans in Washington if he wins. The polls show a strong movement of hold-out Republicans are now "coming home" to vote for Trump. Suddenly, not supporting the nominee publicly is looking like a big lose/lose for politicians who wants GOP votes.

That's a shift from the general assumption over the summer and at times this fall that Trump was likely going down in flames in a blowout loss. In that scenario, it made lots of sense for House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Ted Cruz, and everyone with a leadership position in the Republican Congress to stay more than an arm's length from Trump at all times.

Now, the only voters Ryan, McConnell and the rest of the Republicans need to worry about are the enduring and surging Trump supporters. If Trump loses in a close election, they will almost surely punish the GOP leaders who did not show enough support for their man. Simply put: they will blame them for Trump's loss.

And if Trump wins, things could be even worse for them. A Trump administration will need allies on Capitol Hill, but a President Trump could very easily bypass Republicans who didn't back him and try to work with Democrats instead. That's especially true when it comes to Trump's policies that Republicans have opposed, like nixing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and raising the minimum wage.

Story continues

It's bad enough to be a Republican Congressional leader playing second fiddle to a Republican president. But imagine how bad it will be for Ryan and McConnell if the White House chooses to ignore them altogether.

Of course, this sticky situation only applies to current elected officials. For party figureheads like the Bush family or Mitt Romney, there is no such pressure to back Trump as they are not seeking votes. Reports and rumors of the Bushes voting or at least quietly rooting for Clinton to win are significant from a philosophical and cultural point of view to be sure. But they have nothing to lose if Trumps wins or falters on November 8th.

Paul Ryan and his peers don't have that luxury. So what can they do now with just a few days left before Election Day to avoid the Trump train wrath? They can start by speaking out much more forcibly for Trump. The latest breaking news about the re-opened Clinton email probe gives them the perfect excuse to say they are now "convinced" they need to back Trump without reservation.

They may even need to do more and try to show up with Trump at a rally or two. For example, Paul Ryan should come to the next Trump event in Wisconsin or anywhere in the Midwest. Mitch McConnell is from Kentucky, but he could easily pop over to the western part of neighboring battleground state Virginia and talk up Trump there.

Cruz is already convinced, as he's at least appearing with Trump V.P. nominee Mike Pence at rallies in Michigan and Iowa Thursday. That kind of public appearance just before Election Day can sometimes stay in the voters' minds longer than they'll remember the months of sitting on the sidelines. Or they may see it as a dramatic revelation reminiscent of an Evangelical conversion.

Either way, time's running out. With the polls almost all pointing to a dead heat, the Republican leaders in Congress need to ask themselves who is more likely to reward or punish them come November 9th. Will it be the Democratic Party voters and Hillary supporters who might forgive them for not backing Trump all that much, or will it be the Republican voters and Trump supporters who might never forgive them for not backing Trump?

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.





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Susan B. Anthony wound up in front of a federal judge for illegally voting in the 1872 election. The Posts response to her actions, and to her cause, isnt something were proud of.

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Voter fraud  at least the potential of it  has been getting a lot of media coverage during this 2016 election. Illegal voting is nothing new, but 144 years ago, it had completely different ramifications. Back then, the media was focused on an incident that took place in Rochester, New York, on election day, November 5, 1872.

The Post reported on the incident in its November 11 issue:

November 11, 1872There is a great deal of conflicting practice as to the admission and denial of the claim of women to vote. Thus far their efforts toward exercising the elective franchise in [Philadelphia] have been fruitless. The attempt made by a number of ladies in Washington, a year or two ago, to have their names placed on the voting list, also failed. Just prior to the recent election, a number of other ladies tried it in Brooklyn without success.  In the face of all these failures and adverse decisions, it is announced from Rochester, New York, that 16 ladies, headed by Miss Susan B. Anthony, did actually vote on Tuesday last in that city. But, unfortunately for the cause, not more than one woman in a hundred cares anything about voting.

On November 18, authorities arrested Anthony along with 14 other women who had cast ballots in Rochester. The women were released pending the outcome of Anthonys trial, which was scheduled to take place six months later.

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The Posts editors at the time didnt take the case  or the cause of womens suffrage  seriously. Shortly after Anthonys arraignment, the Post ran this item:

April 5, 1873The indictment against Miss Susan B. Anthony, for voting, charges that She was a person of the female sex, contrary to the laws of the United States, in such cases made and provided. This may have a tendency to discourage persons being born females, contrary to the laws of the United States. Persons of the female sex should always read the Constitution before being born, and then such mistakes would not occur.

This was relatively lighthearted teasing. Usually the Post covered the topic of womens rights in general, and of Susan B. Anthony in particular, with a tone of ridicule. For example:

March 30, 1872An obscure Alabama paper wants to know if Susan B. Anthony is the wife of Mark Anthony. No  happily for Mark. August 12, 1876This cruel report is current: It is rumored that Susan B. Anthony will now try the stage, as Desdemona, with Dr. Mary Walker as Othello. [Dr. Mary Walker was the first female U.S. Army surgeon and, as of 2016, the only woman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.] November 19, 1881Susan B. Anthony wants the name of the Pullman cars changed to either Pull-man-and-woman or Pull-irrespective-of-sex cars.

Worried that a trial would give publicity to the womens rights advocates, the district attorney had the case moved to a federal court. Not only would Anthony be prevented from testifying in a federal court, but the trial would be held without a jury.

On the third day of the trial, the judge asked Anthony if she had anything to say. She did, and she began to defend her actions and denounce the trial, despite the judge repeatedly ordering her to sit down and be quiet.

When the judge handed down his decision shortly afterward, the Post reported:

July 12, 1873Susan B. Anthony has been convicted at Canandaigua, New York, for illegal voting and fined $100 and costs. She is determined to appeal, which she has a right to do, but will have her labor and the payment of heavy costs for her pains. The inspectors of the election poll, who received her vote, were fined $25 each and costs.

Anthony refused to pay the fine. Ordinarily, the court would have ordered her jailed in response. But such a move would have allowed Anthony to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, giving her even greater publicity. So the court simply failed to pursue the matter.

In the late 1800s, the Post was written primarily for a female audience. Yet the editors assumed, as revealed in the first excerpt above, that women by and large cared nothing for voting. American women would have little to complain of, the editors believed, if people like Susan B. Anthony didnt stir them up:

February 26, 1870[Anthony] has waged war in behalf of her unhappy sisters against the conjugal tyranny of which she, a celibate, had never felt the yoke.  Miss Anthony attacked an abuse from which she had never suffered  and from which, so long as it shall take two to make a bargain, she can never suffer  and awakened the attention of the wives of America to wrongs which they knew not, until she told them, that they endured.

It is curious to see the difference in how The Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman  both eventually purchased by Cyrus Curtis  presented Susan B. Anthony. You might expect the editors of Country Gentleman, written for farmers and their wives, would have little sympathy for Anthony, but their coverage was more thoughtful and sympathetic:

September 17, 1891The longer I live and the more I observe, the more I am impressed by the wonderful accomplishments of women during the past 25 years, and by the still greater possibilities for progress that the future promises. I can easily remember the time when the only avenues of employment open to a woman were sewing, teaching, or drudging in her sisters family until some man should offer to marry her  not because he cared for her society, but because of her ability to drudge. Now, women are to be found in almost every vocation of life, and wherever they have been employed, they have proved apt, industrious, and trustworthy. I am not one of those women who clamor for the right of suffrage, although I see no reason why an intelligent woman who has property should not have as much voice in political affairs as an ignorant man who has no possessions to protect, but for the comfort of those of my sex who do desire the right to vote, I want to give my opinion. As woman is becoming so great a power in every avenue of life, I firmly believe that the time is not far distant when she will not only be allowed to vote but will be earnestly solicited to cast her ballot. I am proud of my sex. Take up our magazines today and compare them with those of 25 years ago. Notice their phenomenal excellence of growth and notice also the increase in the number of female contributors. Is there any significance in these two facts? Woman is advancing so rapidly in intelligence and cultivation that it will soon be an unheard of event for her to sign a paper without having read it, or to make any of those blunders in business transactions that are now so frequently attributed to her. There never was a time when woman was so well fitted to become the companion of husband and children as the present; and the future has in store greater possibilities in that direction. The hand that rocks the cradle has ruled the world in the past and will rule it yet more potently in the future.

Featured image: Susan B. Anthony (Library of Congress)
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/04/2016 -- The methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) market in Asia Pacific is presently dominated by key players in China. These include Sinopec Corporation, PetroChina Company Limited, Shandong Yuhuang Chemical (Group) Co., Ltd., Zibo Qixiang Petrochemical Group Ltd., and Heilongjiang Anruijia Petrochemical Co., Ltd.



Transparency Market Research has noted that China, one of the largest producers as well as consumers of MTBE in the world, has been primarily focused on business and production expansions in order to retain its lead in the APAC market. For instance, Wanhua Chemical Group Co. Ltd.'s MTBE plant in Shangdong and Huntsman Corp. and Sinopec Jinling's plant in Nanjing are two promising ventures to look forward to in 2016.



Other leading companies in the APAC methyl tertiary-butyl ether market include Evonik Industries AG, PETRONAS, LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V., and Reliance Industries Limited.



The MTBE market in Asia Pacific was valued at US$6.7 bn in 2015 and is anticipated to reach US$10.9 bn by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% therein.



Download And Get Sample PDF File Of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=15956



China's 81.9% Share in APAC MTBE Market a Key Growth Booster



The gasoline additive segment of the MTBE market accounted for a whopping 93.11% share in the APAC market in 2015, emerging as the clear leader. An increase in the demand for gasoline additives in ASEAN countries and China is expected to propel the demand for methyl tertiary-butyl ether in this segment. Gasoline additives is also projected to register significant growth over the course of the forecast period, exhibiting a CAGR of over 4.0% in terms of both revenue and volume.



Accounting for an 81.9% share in the APAC MTBE market in 2015, China is forecast to continue its dominance through 2024, presenting lucrative investment opportunities to market players. Registering a 4.7% CAGR during the forecast period, China is also projected to exhibit the fastest growth in the methyl tertiary-butyl ether in Asia Pacific.



The ASEAN sub-region is also likely to present a rather lucrative scenario, owing to a rise in the demand for gasoline additives.



ASEAN Automotive Sector Driving Demand for Gasoline Additives



A key factor driving gasoline blending across the Asia Pacific region, and therefore the MTBE market, is the declining prices of raw material as well as final products. This can be primarily attributed to China.



"China is one of the major methanol producers in the world and the country is likely to account for nearly 50% of the global methanol production in the next few years," the author of the study finds. The total methanol production in China is estimated to reach nearly 51 million tons in 2016, a trend that will potentially check the prices of downstream products, including MTBE, in the near future.



Another factor boosting the market for methyl tertiary-butyl ether is a rise in the demand for gasoline additives, particularly in ASEAN.



"The automotive industry in the ASEAN sub-region has been witnessing an upward trend in the last few years, with the number of total vehicles in major countries rising from around 130 million in 2015 to 200 million by 2025," the lead analyst states. The significant growth of the automotive sector is likely to propel the demand for gasoline additives, thereby supporting the MTBE market during the forecast period.



Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/asia-pacific-methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether-market.html



In contrast, the availability of a wide range of petroleum-based and non-petroleum-based substitutes and the hazardous environmental effects of methyl tertiary-butyl ether pose significant challenges to the MTBE market in Asia Pacific.



This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled "Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Market - Asia Pacific Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2026."



This report segments the MTBE market in Asia Pacific as follows:



MTBE Market  Application Analysis

-Gasoline

-Isobutene

-Solvent & Extractant

-Others (MMA, etc.)



About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.



TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.
An Iowa State University-led team of physicists has demonstrated the quasi-stable existence of a tetraneutron, a subatomic structure once thought unlikely to exist.

On their own, neutrons are very unstable and will convert into protons after several minutes.

Systems of two or three neutrons do not form a stable structure, but the sophisticated supercomputer simulations in this research demonstrate that four neutrons together can form a resonance, a structure stable for a period of time before decaying.

For the tetraneutron, this lifetime is only 5*10-22 seconds. Though this time seems very short, it is long enough to study, and provides a new avenue for exploring the strong forces between neutrons.

This opens up a whole new line of research. Studying the tetraneutron will help us understand interneutron forces including previously unexplored features of the unstable two-neutron and three-neutron systems, said senior author Prof. James Vary, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State University.

The advanced simulations demonstrating the tetraneutron corroborate the first observational evidence of the structure earlier this year in an experiment performed at the RIKEN Radioactive Ion Beam Factory in Saitama, Japan, by Prof. Susumu Shimoura of the University of Tokyo and co-authors.

The tetraneutron has been sought for several decades with little evidence supporting its existence, until now.

The properties predicted by the calculations in the simulations were consistent with the observed properties from the experiment in Japan.

Prof. Shimouras team used a beam of Helium-8, Helium with four extra neutrons, colliding with a regular Helium-4 atom.

The collision breaks up the Helium-8 into another Helium-4 and a tetraneutron in its brief resonance state, before it, too, breaks apart, forming four lone neutrons.

The experiment in Japan found a candidate resonant tetraneutron state with an energy of 0.83 MeV above the tetraneutron disintegration threshold and with an upper limit of 2.6 MeV for the width, the scientists explained.

The existence of the tetraneutron, once confirmed and refined, will add an interesting new entry and gap to the chart of nuclides, a graph representing all known nuclei and their isotopes, or nuclei with a different number of neutrons.

Similar to the periodic table, which organizes the chemical behavior of elements, the nuclide chart represents the radioactive behavior of elements and their isotopes.

While most nuclei add or subtract neutrons one at a time, this research shows that a neutron itself will have a gap between a single neutron and a tetraneutron.

The only other known neutron structure is a neutron star, small but dense stars thought to be made almost entirely of neutrons.

These stars have neutrons on the order 1057. They may be only about seven miles in radius but have a mass similar to that of our Sun.

Further research may explore if there are other numbers of neutrons that form a stable resonance along the path to reaching the size of a neutron star.

The team finding was published in the Oct. 28, 2016 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

_____

A. M. Shirokov et al. 2016. Prediction for a Four-Neutron Resonance. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 (18): 182502; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.182502

K. Kisamori et al. 2016. Candidate Resonant Tetraneutron State Populated by the 4He (8He,8Be) Reaction. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 (5): 052501; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.052501
Days before the US National Elections, candidates are finishing up their campaigns and getting ready for the time of their political lives. During the candidate's campaign, they are usually talking about projects and their plans should they win. Donald Trump heatly talks about global warming. What about good ol' Hillary?

It has been reported that the presidential nominee for the Republican Donald Trump told his supporters during his rally in Florida that he would cancel billions of global warming payment to the United Nations if he will be the president after the elections.

Donald Trump's Global Warming Stance Denounced by China https://t.co/BASiFHeImy  Warming Globe (@WarmingGlobeHub) November 3, 2016

Donald Trump said "We will also cancel billions in global warming payments to the United Nations, and use that money to support America's vital environmental infrastructure and natural resources," according to News Max.

On the other hand, the side of the democrats often takes the opposite subtlety in Florida when it comes to global warming. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign has pointed out that the flooding in Miami Beach is an evidence of global warming's terrible effects.

Hillary Clinton also attacked Donald Trump for addressing the global warming as a Chinese "hoax." The former secretary of state also shared that the global warming help strengthened Hurricane Matthew when it badly hit Florida's eastern coastline last October.

Meanwhile, while Donald Trump's plan is to give back the billions of dollars from the taxpayers, President Barack Obama promises to give the UN's Green Climate Fund or the GCF. Obama pledged that he will give GCF $3 billion, as of now he already released over $500 million to fund GCF.

Donald Trump added that "We're spending hundreds of billions of dollars. We don't even know who's doing what with the money, promising to spend that money in the U.S. instead. We're going to work on our own environment. That includes repairing the Herbert Hoover Dike in Lake Okeechobee, protecting the Florida Everglades," according to Daily Caller.
The hailed first four-legged fossil snake is found to be not a snake, instead it is said to be an extinct four-legged marine lizard. In the new analysis, it indicates that it is a dolichosaurid with a stretched and snake-like body.

National Geographic reports that the 110-million-year fossil was unraveled as Tetrapodophis, a burrowing snake with two pairs of small limbs. This suggests that snakes started out on land. This caused issue and scientific debate about snakes losing their limbs on land or in water. In the current analysis, it suggests that the fossil could be the oldest known dolichosaur, which was an extinct marine lizard that existed during the Cretaceous period.

Michael Caldwell, a professor and chair of biological sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton in Canada explained that Tetrapodophis doesn't show any of those features that you would expect to see a snake. He further explained that it is likely a dolichosaurid, which belongs to the squamate (scaly reptile) umbrella. He added that it's unclear how dolichosaurids are associated with snakes. On the other hand, some evidence indicates that they are a sister group to the slithery reptiles, according to Live Science.

Caldwell continues that tetrapodophis amplectus does not have hooked teeth while a snake does. It also does not have a snake-like skull and skeleton. Some anatomical details that ancient and modern snakes have are also missing. These include the subdental ridge in the mouth and zygosphenes, which are special joints in between the snake vertebrae.

Meanwhile, the authors of the first study claimed that the Tetrapodophis is indeed a snake. David Martill, a paleontologist from the University of Portsmouth said that Caldwell is simply very wrong. He further said that they did consider a dolichosaur, yet it is not a dolichosaur. His co-author, Nick Longrich said that he stands behind the paper they wrote.

On the other hand, some paleontologists agreed on the findings of Caldwell. Jason Head, a paleontologist at the University of Cambridge said that he is sure that Caldwell is more right than the original publication. He further said that there was a lot of anatomical interpretation from the first study that he has a hard time seeing the photos.

Jacques Gauthier, a famous squamate expert from Yale said that he thinks that Caldwell makes a pretty good argument that it is a dolichosaur rather than a snake. On the other hand, he undermines Caldwell's ideas that snakes have aquatic origins.
We live in a single-star solar system - what ensures we don't freeze to death is our Sun. However, the universe has other star systems - some with double, and others, more rare triple or quadruple. Scientists are still trying to learn more about how they form, which is why it comes at the most opportune time that they discovered a disk of gas and dust turning into three stars.

Astronomers have two proposed origins regarding multiple star systems. As noted by IFL Science, the first theory involves a breakup of the loose cloud material that went on to become stars, while the second theory talks of circumstellar disks that are on the way of becoming stars - but fragment and create dense pockets to go on and be separate celestial bodies.

Dr. John Tobin led the team from the University of Oklahoma when they witnessed this late-stage breakup with the help of the Atacama Large Millimeter/sumbillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Nature reported that the triple star system has been called the L1448 IRS3B, and is about 750 light-years-away, in the constellation of Perseus.

The star system has two protostars with a combined mass similar to our own Sun. They are at 61 astronomical units (AU) apart, which is about double the distance between the Sun and Neptune. A less massive star lies 183 AU away from the protostars also exist, although at a lower mass. Still, the smaller star is much brighter at the wavelengths that ALMA collects.

Dr. Kaitlin Kratter of the University of Arizona also added in a statement that the whole system is young - maybe less that 150,000 years old, with the largest star breaking away from the other two about 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.

What's especially rare about the L1448 IRS3B however, is that it is part of a larger system with three more protostars - so technically, any planet that will form in the system will have a complex gravitational relationship with six Suns.
Elon Musk previously proposed that SpaceX will fuel its rockets while astronauts are on board - but NASA isn't too keen about the idea, saying that it poses safety issues.

Space Station Advisory Committee Chairman Thomas Stafford, a former NASA astronaut and retired Air Force general stated in a conference call that the operation could be hazardous. The concern was raised after an unmanned SpaceX rocket exploded while it was being fueled on September 1, and the cause of the said explosion is still under investigation.

The Daily Mail noted that all previous rockets that carried people into space were fueled before the astronauts got to the launch pad. Stafford explained, "Everybody there, and particularly the people who had experience over the years, said nobody is ever near the pad when they fuel a booster."

NASA will need to approve the launch system before SpaceX can put astronauts in space, and on Tuesday, the agency said that it is still "continuing" its evaluation of the company's concept for fueling Falcon9 for commercial crew launches.

Still, in a statement as cited by The Verge, SpaceX maintained that they were able to design "a reliable fueling and launch process" that minimizes the risks posed for people. Yet, a NASA safety review board approved a report about the hazards posed by Falcon 9's fueling.

The company, however, noted that the fueling process has not been set in stone. A recent update noted that SpaceX said they still didn't know the cause of the explosion, but they were able to recreate a failure with the Falcon 9 during one of its fuel loading tests in Texas. At this point, the company is working on improving its fueling processes as it tries to return to flight, maybe even adding a "corrective action" depending on what they will learn from the investigation.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Florence County's World War I monument arrived Thursday at its third and possibly final home -- the Florence Veterans Park.

The monument itself  an imposing marble monument with a bronze plaque attached to it -- and the history surrounding it touch on many parts of Florence's past. Once relocated it will be readily available to be viewed and appreciated by future residents and visitors.

"We're trying to enhance the beauty and significance of the Florence Veterans Park by adding another monument and we're trying to do it, quite frankly, as cheaply as we can, said Barry Wingard, a retired colonel who is spearheading the effort to move the monument. The American Legion Post No. 1 has agreed to donate this monument that was dedicated to the soldiers of WWI, although it was not called WWI in 1928 at the dedication, to the veterans park."

The impetus to relocate the WWI monument surfaced in the spring of 2015.

The monument was originally sited at the former Florence County Library at the corner of Pine and Irby streets.

Sometime after the monument was dedicated -- Wingard said nobody seems to know when -- it was relocated to American Legion Post 1 on East Palmetto Street.

While at the Legion -- located behind the post's building -- the monument suffered from the effects of time, weather and the occasional shotgun blast.

The original bronze plaque on the monument has been restored to as close to its original condition as possible.

A pre-removal photo of the plaque shows how unkind the years had been to it. Several days in the shop of Marion Jeffords, working on it for Brown Memorials, has restored much of the plaque -- though areas damaged by what appears to have been shotgun blasts still show the impact of the shot.

The plaque lists the names of 66 Florence County residents who died in the Great War but segregates them by race as well as rank.

A second plaque will be added to the monument -- on the opposite side of the original -- which will list the names by rank only.

A stone that explains the two plaques, the passage of time and the changes in society, will be placed with the monument as well.

"We honor and revere the men who gave their last full measure. While we cannot change history, we can recognize our failures of the past and thus, regardless of race or color, we rededicate this monument so that future generations will know the sacrifices made by all Americans to keep our great country free," reads the stone marker that will be placed with the WWI monument.

The largest part of the monument was placed by a crew and crane donated by Superior Cranes who worked with a crew from Brown Memorials.

The crane and crew from Superior Cranes was donated because the weight of the largest part of the WWI monument -- along with the U.S. Army monument that was also placed Thursday -- exceeded the capacity of the monument companys crane.

Moving the WWI edifice has been a monumental task in itself as it weighs more than 10,000 pounds and the heaviest single piece weighs 4,600 pounds.

Pat Brown with Brown Memorials said that most of the remaining pieces of the WWI monument -- smaller and not nearly as heavy as the main pieces -- would be placed ahead of the planned Veterans Day Ceremony at the park.

Two urns that adorned either side of the monument will, eventually, be replaced with replicas that are better designed to withstand the ages, Brown said.

Also put in place Thursday was the U.S. Army monument -- a black granite obelisk with stainless steel highlights  and an Alex Palkovich installation that includes a statue and teardrops that will adorn the waterfall fountain at the Veterans Park.

The statue, "Alone with Memories," sits toward the back of the park, beside the waterfall and in line with a series of statues that commemorate a veterans homecoming.

The teardrop-shaped metal adornments were placed so that water falling down the waterfall will pass over them.

Planning for the U.S. Army monument started in earnest earlier this year and has progressed throughout the summer with artist Dan Garrison hand-etching scenes from WWI through the Iran/Iraq wars onto a black-granite monolith.

A committee of veterans worked with Brown Memorials to iron out the final design of the hand-etched murals that will adorn either side of the monument.

An air-conditioned chamber at Brown Memorials was constructed for Garrison to work in throughout the summer.

Both monuments will be unveiled at the Veterans Day Ceremony.
LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The cost of insuring Turkish government debt against default hit its highest in over a month on Friday, after police detained the leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), parliament's second-biggest opposition grouping.

Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) rose 5 basis points to 269 bps from Thursday close of 264 bps, according to data provider Markit. It was the highest level since Sept. 29.

(Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Karin Strohecker)
(Adds Naimi comments on OPEC)

By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - As Saudi Arabia prepares for the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO), memoirs from its former oil minister Ali al-Naimi offer a rare insight into decades of domestic infighting over the future of state-run Saudi Aramco.

The 300-page book, titled "Out of the Desert" and published by Portfolio Penguin, describes the battles waged by the influential industry veteran including fending off Western attempts to gain control of oil giant Aramco's best assets.

Naimi joined Aramco as a teenager in 1947 and climbed through the ranks to become company chief from 1983 to 1995, when he was named minister of petroleum - a post he retained until his retirement this year.

His career spans the rise of the "petro-politics" that defined the recent history of the kingdom, including the birth of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1969 and the oil embargo in 1973.

Even though the book holds back from detailing any political jostling within the secretive Saudi royal family and government, it gives a clear idea that various factions have often pushed for different paths for Saudi Aramco.

Naimi describes several instances throughout his career when he fought top executives from Western companies including U.S. giant Exxon Mobil trying what he describes as winning lucrative deals via good connections with some Saudi officials.

"They (Exxon) wanted us to turn over highly restricted information about our Ghawar field, for instance, that isn't even known within the kingdom outside of the oil ministry and Saudi Aramco," Naimi writes about gas talks between oil majors and Aramco at the end of the 1990s.

If Aramco does list its stock as planned in 2018, investors would expect the firm to disclose classified information on its reserves, including Ghawar - Saudi Arabia's biggest oilfield.

But it could avoid doing so given the sensitivity of the issue and just say that by buying into Aramco, investors would gain access to the world's cheapest reserves, still controlled by the state, according to sources briefed on the offering.

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Naimi retired in April and was replaced by Aramco chairman Khalid al-Falih as energy minister.

The Saudi oil portfolio is overseen by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who has been actively promoting the Aramco IPO.

Sources in the kingdom have suggested the royal family is far from united on the issue as some see the offering as giving away the crown jewels cheaply to foreigners at a time of low oil prices.

Naimi says he fought hard for "the heart and soul" of Aramco to avoid giving Westerners unnecessarily lucrative deals.

"(Exxon's then-boss) Lee Raymond for instance was trying to make the most of his relationship with (the foreign minister at the time) Prince Saud al-Faisal to get a better deal for Exxon Mobil," Naimi writes.

Naimi says he was convinced that as part of gas talks in the 1990s, Exxon and other oil majors hoped to acquire cheap Saudi reserves of gas condensate, a high-quality form of crude oil.

"I told Lee Raymond my views and that I felt he was trying to gain an unfair advantage. Lee responded in kind and it got a little ugly. From that point onward our negotiations were over. I haven't seen Lee Raymond since, which was a shame because we were once good friends," Naimi continues.

Naimi effectively won the battle, as Aramco offered to oil majors pure upstream gas exploration contracts without gas condensate and only Shell and Total entered into a deal.

A similar fight happened a few years earlier when Naimi says Shell, Mobil and Total tried to persuade his predecessor, oil minister Hisham Nazer, to allow them to develop the Shaybah oilfield for what Naimi saw as an overly expensive contract.

Naimi even says Francois Mitterrand, France's then-president, was convinced that King Fahd had promised him the field in exchange for French participation in the first Gulf War.

Again, Naimi says the companies became "greedy".

He cites praise from his successor, Falih: "By holding his ground, minister al-Naimi was not necessarily protecting Saudi Aramco, he was protecting the kingdom from having substantial value drained away in those transactions."

As Aramco's IPO draws nearer, the issue of value drain will become increasingly relevant.

To cite Naimi: "When the camel goes down, many knives come out. That is an old Arabic proverb. In the mid-1980s the camel was Aramco, the knives were the vested interest of Saudis who viewed us as a symbol of foreign influence and the era of colonialism."

Naimi also defended Saudi Arabia's decision in November 2014 not to cut production to support falling oil prices, saying he would make the same choice again if given the chance.

"I think that was, still is the right decision," he told an audience at Chatham House in London to promote his book.

Naimi said Saudi Arabia had tried and failed to get OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cooperate in stemming falling oil prices.

"I remember asking every OPEC minister, 'will you cut, will you cut, will you cut' and all the answers were 'no'," he said.

"The expectation was 'you, Saudi Arabia, traditionally used to cut'. I said, 'no we don't do that anymore'. That's it." (Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
BEATRICE, NE / ACCESSWIRE / November 3, 2016 / Scooter's Coffee, the Midwest-based coffee franchise that has experienced tremendous growth over the past year, will increase their Nebraska presence with the company's first-ever location in Beatrice (2305 N 6th Street). On Friday, November 11, the new drive-thru coffee shop will celebrate its grand opening with $2 medium drinks all day and will donate 50% of the proceeds to Gage County United Way.

"We have experienced remarkable success in the state of Nebraska, especially in smaller to mid-sized towns that are familiar with our brand," stated Rob Streett, President and Chief Operating Officer of Scooter's Coffee. "Beatrice is already welcoming Scooter's Coffee with open arms, and we are extremely humbled by the enthusiasm this community has expressed for their first Scooter's location."

On November 11, Grand Opening Day, customers can also expect to receive several fun giveaways; beginning at 9 a.m., the first 100 customers will receive a free t-shirt or coffee mug. For the afternoon crowd, starting at 2 p.m., the first 100 customers will receive a $5 gift card.

To continue the celebration, the location will be holding a week-long promotion (November 14 - November 18) with half off any drink from 4 p.m. to close (excluding Vertigo Smoothies).

Katie Noell owns this location and is her first location as a franchise owner. Prior to owning, Katie worked doing offsite training for a Lincoln Scooter's location and eventually moved into management.

"Working in management led to a conversation about my future goals. After researching and getting information about opening my own franchise, I anxiously took the idea straight to my family, and over a year later here I am," said Katie. "I feel blessed to be able to share my dream with the Beatrice community and have them enjoy it for years to come. It's amazing what a great cup of coffee and a smile can do!"

The Beatrice grand opening marks the latest move in the company's extraordinary growth. With more than 150 stores open in 13 states, Scooter's Coffee has signed agreements in two additional states and will open more than 40 locations from coast to coast in 2016. The company is in the midst of a robust grand opening pipeline. It recently opened its first location in Phoenix, AZ, added a second location to the Atlanta, GA, metro area and also opened its second of many locations in the state of Florida. It will also add several locations this year to expanding markets, such as Nebraska, Kansas and Texas.

Story continues

Scooter's, which is based out of Omaha, Nebraska, handcrafts its pastries and roasts its own shade-grown coffee, sourced through Arbor Day Foundation. In 2016, the company also added depth to its product profile, releasing a new line of Organic Hot and Iced Teas during the summer. In addition to its nearly-100% gluten-free beverage menu, Scooter's recently added gluten-free brownies to its extensive menu.

About Scooter's Coffee

Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooter's Coffee roasts only the finest coffee beans in the world at its headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Scooter's success over 18 years of history is simple: stay committed to the original business principles and company core values. The Scooter's mantra, often recited to franchisees, customers and employees is: "Amazing People, Amazing Drinks...Amazingly Fast! "TM It represents the company's business origins from 1998 and reflects a steady commitment to providing an unforgettable experience to loyal customers.

For more information, visit: scooterscoffee.com, facebook.com/scooterscoffee, or ownascooters.com

SOURCE: Scooter's Coffee
FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
In the Bangkok-headquartered shipowners third quarter report Hashim said, things had not gone as well as expected on the supply side for dry bulk with a slowing up in scrapping.

While some 14.09m dwt of bulkers were scrapped in Q1, this dropped 8.65m dwt in Q2 and for the third quarter it dropped to 3.24m dwt which he described as a truly disappointing number.

The result has been that while zero fleet growth had been hoped for this year, for the first nine months of the year the fleet grew 13.88m dwt or 1.77%.

If scrapping doesnt pick up in Q4 we think that you may see the market dipping back sharply in Q1 2017 due to the January impact on the supply side (when more ships are delivered in this one month than any other month in the year) and the expected slowdown in demand due to the approaching Chinese New Year. This is not good news for the market, Hashim warned.

Indeed it is a market that is still underwater, if improved on earlier this year, Baltic Dry Index (BDI) peaking at 941 points on 23 September. In February this year the BDI hit an all time low of 290 points.

Precious Shipping reported a third quarter net loss of $24.75m compared to $4.9m a year earlier.

The company has cancelled all 12 newbuildings it had on order at troubled Chinese yard Sainty Marine due to delivery delays. It has commenced arbitration proceedings over 11 shipbuilding contracts with the yard including for two newbuildings delivered in 2014 to recover warranty claims.
Singapore-listed Vallianz said the notes will be funded by internally-generated funds as well as advances from Saudi Arabias Rawabi Holding Company, a controlling shareholder and strategic business partner of the company.

We would like to assure our bondholders that Vallianz will be able to fully redeem the notes that are due to mature this month, said Ling Yong Wah, ceo of Vallianz.

The fixed rate notes were issued in May 2014 under the companys multicurrency debt issuance programme. Upon redemption of the notes, Vallianz will not have any outstanding notes under the multicurrency debt issuance programme.

In light of the present difficult circumstances within offshore oil and gas industry, we are aware of market concerns regarding the ability of companies operating in the offshore industry to fulfill their debt obligations and carry on business operations, Ling said.

Sheikh Abdulaziz AlTurki, group chairman of Rawabi, commented: Rawabi is not only a shareholder of Vallianz but also a strategic business partner who has contributed significantly to the groups expansion in the Middle East oil and gas industry.

This has enabled the group to become one of the largest offshore support vessel providers in the Middle East, he said.

The backing by Rawabi for Vallianz is crucial at a time when Swiber, which is the largest shareholder with 25.2% stake in Vallianz, has collapse. Rawabi is the second largest shareholder of Vallianz with 18.7% stake.
In view of the marine fuel supply chain experiencing significant transition and change, in line with new regulations and added complexity, Bomin said it needs its global infrastructure and resources to be invested in the right areas to ensure it can better meet customers requirements.

And as part of this process Bomin has expanded its physical infrastructure in key areas including Singapore and Europe, in line with its physical trader model.

In this new era for bunkering, success will be defined by investing resources in areas that drive growth, and in creating a strong and a robust infrastructure to meet ship owners increasing challenges in relation to the marine fuel supply chain, Thomas Roller, managing director of Bomin, told Ship & Bunker.

Therefore, it is critical for us to concentrate on operations that support our business model.

Since the start of October, Bomin has deployed four modern, double-hull bunker tankers in Singapore, where it is an established physical supplier.

In July this year, Bomin launched a new physical operation in Port Louis, Mauritius, utilising one 2008-built, double-hull bunker tanker.
Early in Trump's campaign, he said "the silent majority is back." This was a nod to when President Richard Nixon referenced the "silent majority" shortly after taking office in 1969. Nixon was referring to those that agreed with him about the war in Vietnam but were much quieter than the outspoken anti-war protestors.

Why would Trump use a sentiment from Nixon, someone who was disgraced in office and impeached? Well, it could be that he's attempting to appeal to Nixon-inspired voters, because as it turns out, Trump and Nixon aren't all that different. Watch the video above to find out why.



Learn More:

NPR: Trump Champions The 'Silent Majority,' But What Does That Mean In 2016?

History.com: Nixon calls on the "silent majority"

PBS: The Silent Majority

The Washington Post: Donald Trump likes to talk about the 'silent majority.' For many, that has racial overtones.
Exactly 50 years ago, on Nov. 4, 1966, the river Arno burst its banks and raced through Florence in the worst flood the city had seen in centuries.

Muddy waters rushed into my family's home as well as into the homes of thousands of Florentines. The flood came with little warning, claiming the lives of 34 people. Raging torrents entered streets, houses, shops, museums, churches and libraries.

Thousands of frescoes, paintings, sculptures and rare books were destroyed or terribly damaged by slime in one of the greatest cultural disasters of modern times.

Such was the devastation that an army of young volunteers - known as "the mud angels" - came from all over Europe and America to help rescue Florence's treasures.

The prompt intervention of restorers and new methods of restoration in the following decades made it possible to salvage almost all of the damaged artworks.

RELATED: Lost da Vinci Artwork Unearthed Beneath Layers of Paint

One masterpiece, however, was considered beyond saving. Giorgio Vasari's "Last Supper," a large painting on five wooden panels, remained for four decades in storage, and restorers did not even dare to touch the cracked panels.

Today, Vasari's "Last Supper," the last major flood-damaged artwork that remained untreated, has been returned to public viewing in Santa Croce Church.

"It's a dream that has become reality," Marco Ciatti, head of the renowned restoration center Opificio delle Pietre Dure (OPD) in Florence, said.

More than 8 feet high and 21 feet across, Vasaris' painting was commissioned by the nuns of the Murate convent in Florence. Vasari was best known for writing one of the first great books of art history, "Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors." He was also a painter and architect.

The nuns' cloistered rule prohibited male artists from staying in the convent, so Vasari split the painting of Christ and his disciples into five portable poplar panels so he could work on the piece elsewhere and then transport it into the convent in parts. He completed the monumental painting in 1546.

After being moved several times, the "Last Supper" was installed at the museum of Santa Croce Church. When the river flooded, it remained completely immersed in filthy, oily water for at least 12 hours.

In the first hours after the flood, a team of restorers, led by art conservator Umberto Baldini, separated the panels and attached protective sheets of Japanese paper all over them in a desperate attempt to prevent the paint from flaking off.

"We can now say that system has worked. However, the glue used to attach the paper was a very strong acrylic resin which over the decades became an impermeable plate," Ciatti told Seeker.
Back in the 2000s, when Branimir Blagojevic was developing a sensor for the military to detect airborne bio-hazards, he had no idea the technology could later be used in the search for extraterrestrial life.

His original work focused on the novel use of lidar - which stands for Light Detection and Ranging - and is based on similar principles as radar. Instead of using radio waves like radar, lidar uses laser light to detect objects and measure the distance to a target. This why lidar is often referred to as "light radar."

Blagojevic, now a NASA technologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, realized that the technology behind seeking out toxins and pathogens in the air might have an application beyond Earth and may even contribute to NASA's mission to work out whether Mars has (or had) life.

"If past life existed on Mars, it could be possible to detect with this kind of instrument," Blagojevic told Seeker.

RELATED: Mars Rover Curiosity Can Now Fire Laser

Currently, any mission sent to Mars is pretty limited in how it searches for evidence of biology, past or present. The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, for example, can scoop a sample of regolith (the dusty powdery "soil" that covers the Red Planet) in the hope that the tiny amount of pulverized rock contains biological chemistry. Making physical contact with any material intended for analysis is a concern; though any robot sent to Mars is sanitized, there's a risk of contaminating the "pristine" sample with contaminants from Earth, potentially skewing test results.

Also, the slow and laborious process a robot must go through to collect and analyze samples means very few samples can be taken from any given location. It could be that the sample analyzed by the Mars rover scoops a completely sterile sample, but unbeknownst to the robot or its controllers back on Earth, there could be Mars dirt crawling with organic chemistry only a couple of meters to the left. They would never know.

Blagojevic likens this maddening search as trying to find the proverbial "needle in a haystack." But it's worse than that - we don't yet know where the haystack is.

So how do you narrow the odds of finding biological material on Mars? One method could be to use Blagojevic's Bio-Indicator Lidar Instrument, or, simply "BILI."

Mars is no stranger to lasers. Currently, Curiosity uses its ChemCam to laser-blast rocks so its sensors can study the vapor produced to decipher what chemicals it contains. Mars rocks will be safe from BILI, however.

Blagojevic, working with NASA planetary scientists Melissa Trainer, Alexander Pavlov and Melissa Floyd, hopes to mount this lidar system on a future Mars rover much in the same way ChemCam is used by Curiosity, but rather than aiming it at interesting geological features, this future rover would shoot its laser at particles in the Martian atmosphere. During its mission, the rover would scan its environment for dust plumes. Once it finds a wind-blown plume, likely above a hard-to-reach slope, it would fire its twin ultraviolet lasers into the dust.

As the laser light hits individual dust particles, energy from the laser will cause any particles in its path to produce light, a phenomenon known as florescence. The light from these fluorescing particles can then be measured, revealing what chemicals they are made of. If there's any organic matter in the dust (known as bio-indicators), BILI should be able to decipher its signal.

And the best thing is that this is all carried out remotely, possible hundreds of meters from the rover, meaning a huge area could be scanned for organic chemistry and contamination from the rover wouldn't factor into the measurements.

"This will basically increase the probability of finding life by roving the surface of Mars," said Blagojevic.

RELATED: Cassini Zeros in on Daring Dive into Enceladus' Plumes

The applications on Mars are obvious, and we could see future rovers using BILI to scan dusty red plumes, but could the technology be used to hunt for life elsewhere in the solar system?

"Beyond Mars, we did some calculations modeling whether this instrument could work on frozen worlds like the moon Enceladus and maybe Europa," Blagojevic said.

Enceladus is one of Saturn's enigmatic moons that possesses a thick icy shell surrounding a subsurface ocean. Through tidal interactions with Saturn, Enceladus produces heat in its core that keeps the subsurface water in a liquid state. Its ocean is of huge interest to astrobiologists because, on Earth, where there's liquid water there's life.

The internal heating and constant stresses on the icy shell causes some of the liquid water to erupt to the surface of the moon, like opening the cap of a soda bottle. Huge quantities of water vapor are lost to space, creating the moon's trademark plumes. If there's any extraterrestrial biology in that water, it's being vented to space also.

NASA's Cassini mission has used onboard sensors to "taste" these plumes as it flies past (pictured above), but detailed analysis is needed. Could BILI be mounted to a flyby mission to Saturn to possibly fire its UV lasers into the plumes to see if organic chemicals are present also?

"We found that it will be challenging because the water plumes on Enceladus have very low density" when compared with dust particles in Martian air, said Blagojevic. On average, Enceladus' plumes have an extremely low density, so to detect anything, a spacecraft would need to fly within 50 kilometers of the moon's surface and the laser would need to be in the 1 watt range to detect any florescence.

RELATED: Possible Europa Tectonics Could be Boon for Alien Life

"It's possible, but it requires a more powerful UV laser that may or may not be feasible for future flyby missions," he said.

As for Europa, lacking the obvious long-duration plumes that Enceladus has, whether this lidar system can be used to seek out biological chemistry would depend on if any aerosols exist close to its surface, cautions Blagojevic. The Jovian moon holds even more promise than Enceladus as a potentially habitable place for aquatic extraterrestrial life to thrive in its sub-surface ocean. Some optimistic hypotheses posit that multi-cellular life may even be possible.

As we know chemistry from inside the moon cycles to the surface - through apparently active icy tectonics - if there is biology in Europa's oceans, evidence of its presence may be found on the icy surface. And if there's some mechanism causing these organic chemicals to rise above the ice, perhaps a lander-mounted BILI could be used to reveal its secrets.
In the 1970s and 1980s, NASA sent twin spacecraft - Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 - on a quest to explore the solar system. Both probes zoomed by Jupiter and Saturn, and Voyager 2 continued on to see Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft made many discoveries, including finding several moons at each system. But long after Voyager 2 left Uranus behind in 1986,* and with fewer spacecraft exploring the outer solar system, we are still finding new satellites. Some, surprisingly, are from old Voyager data being reanalyzed with new techniques. Other finds are from the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in Earth orbit since April 1990. It shows that even decades after Voyager, there are likely new moons waiting to be found -- especially with the sharper eye of the James Webb Space Telescope slated to start working in 2018. Part of the secret appears to be the Cassini factor. Scientists have been learning a lot about ring behavior, and how satellites affect them, since the mission has been examining Saturn in 2004. Recently, scientists applied that understanding to the Uranus system, using data from Voyager obtained in 1986. They found regular patterns in the rings that suggest there could be moonlets there. RELATED: Baby Moon-Birthing Collision Slapped Earth Sideways "There were some very clear periodic variations in the structure of the alpha and the beta rings," said University of Idaho physics researcher Matthew Hedman, who was a participant in the experiment led by doctoral student Rob Chancia, in an interview with Seeker. "The opacity of the ring just changed in a periodic way over a couple of kilometers. The thing that was weird about the structure was it had different wavelengths in different places. It wasn't the same kind all the way around the ring, which a lot of ring structures are."

The closest analog he could think of is something called a "moonlet wake." While the term sounds straight out of a James Bond movie, in reality it describes how a moon perturbs material on the other side of a ring gap. It was first described for the Encke gap, a famous gap in Saturn's outer rings. But here's where the story stops, at least for now. Hedman and his graduate students will publish the results shortly in the Astronomical Journal in the hopes that somebody more experienced in spacecraft imaging can find moonlets. Hedman will continue investigating and comparing ring structures across the solar system, as not everything yet can be explained by moons. One researcher who may carry the torch is a veteran moon-hunter himself. The SETI Institute's Mark Showalter was the one who first described moonlet wakes. He's been processing spacecraft images since Voyager; he was a grad student when the spacecraft passed by Saturn, and was doing his postdoctoral work during the Uranus and Neptune encounters. RELATED: Moon-Forming Earth Impact was a Direct Hit Thirty years of moon-hunting came in very handy for him in 2013, when his team announced they had discovered yet another moon around Neptune, using Hubble. So how could Voyager go right past the moon and not easily find it? The camera was built on 1970s technology, and it was working in low light, Showalter said. He also found the Uranian moons Cupid and Mab (using Hubble) in 2003; one was practically invisible in Voyager data when he looked again, while the other one was barely detectable. One of his next projects will be looking again at Uranus to see if those moonlets are there, he said. "I do have a lot of Hubble data of the Uranus system," he said in an interview. "Now that I know where to look, based on Rob and Matt's results, I do plan to do a search of the existing archive of Hubble data from Uranus for any chance to pick out these little objects."

While the thrill of discovery is what excites the public, there are more fundamental things these new moons can teach us. At Neptune, Showalter was fascinated that his tiny moon discovery in 2013 did not follow the pattern of smallest to largest moons (from the center of Neptune outward) previously discovered in the system. He noted that Neptune's system was completely changed by the capture of Triton (a very large moon) early in the solar system's history, but it's hard to know all the dynamics with the information we have so far. Other moon mysteries lie in other parts of the solar system. When New Horizons was on its way to Pluto, the moons Styx and Kerberos were found in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Nix was also found in 2005, the year before it launched. (All three finds included researchers part of the "Pluto Companion Search Team", who were tasked specifically for New Horizons' flight.) Previously, only the moon Charon was known - discovered in 1978. "The Pluto team is intrigued that such a small [dwarf] planet can have such a complex collection of satellites," NASA said in a 2012 statement. "The new discovery provides additional clues for unraveling how the Pluto system formed and evolved. The favored theory is that all the moons are relics of a collision between Pluto and another large Kuiper belt object billions of years ago." And earlier this year, a moon was found around the dwarf planet Makemake - reinforcing the idea that all dwarf planets have satellites, the team said at the time. The same techniques were used to find Makemake's moon as for the Pluto satellites discovered in 2005, 2011 and 2012. Other searches of Makemake had revealed nothing. "Our preliminary estimates show that the moon's orbit seems to be edge-on, and that means that often when you look at the system you are going to miss the moon because it gets lost in the bright glare of Makemake," said lead imager Alex Parker, of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, in a statement at the time. (Parker did not respond to requests for an interview before this article's deadline.) A 1986 image of Saturn's rings taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, including two moons it found: 1986U7 and 1986U8, now called Cordelia and Orphelia, respectively. Credit: NASA/JPL

WATCH VIDEO: Does the Moon Sound Like a Bell?
Modern radar was invented in the mid 1930's. It was originally created to make airplanes detectable before they were able to drop bombs during war. Physicist Robert Watson-Watt was asked by the British Air Ministry to develop a way to take down enemy planes using only radio waves, in hopes of competing with Hitler's rumored "death ray."

Watson-Watt determined that while it wasn't possible to destroy an entire aircraft with radio waves, it was possible to detect how close they were using the radio energy coming from the body of the plane. That process became known as radar and it didn't just make an impact on warfare, it significantly changed the entire future of technology.

By the 1970's, radar had become so advanced that scientists were able to bounce radio waves off of incredibly small objects, like electrons and ions in the upper atmosphere. They used this technology to study things like the beautifully colored auroras in the night sky, or what the sun does to our planet, among many other things.

RELATED: What is China Doing in Space?

That's why EISCAT was built. The European Incoherent Scatter Facility was constructed in 1981 on Svalbard (a group of islands between Norway and the North Pole) in order to help scientists understand how the sun interacts with Earth's atmosphere. The technology that makes this possible is, of course, radar.

Trace Dominguez spoke to Assar Westman, Radar Systems Supervisor for EISCAT, about how radar works on a scale of this magnitude.

"This is a very potent radar system," he told Trace. "We have at this site two big parabolic dishes. One dish is 42 meters in diameter, and the second dish is 32 meters in diameter. The power amplifier that we are using has a peak power of 1 million watts. We need this because what we are studying is these free electrons at 100 kilometers. First, they are far away, and these are just free electrons, so they are very, very tiny."

EISCAT is powered by enormous dishes that sit atop mountains in Svalbard to measure the plasma, which is electrically charged gas moving through the upper atmosphere. Plasma comes from the sun's corona and the magnetic field of Earth pulls it down to the planet's poles. The molecules in the atmosphere then interact with these ions and electrons, which results in beautiful lights that we know as auroras.

RELATED: The Northern Lights Make Strange Sounds: Here's Why

"The principle is almost like an old television screen, where you have the phosphorus and you have the electron beam that's impinging on the phosphorus, and it starts to glow," Westman explains.

EISCAT is powerful enough to detect all that junk up in space too, but what it's mostly used for is learning about weather patterns in space. This will come in especially handy for our next big space endeavor: going to Mars.

"Today they [scientists] are all talking about going to Mars," Westman says. "When you're going to Mars, then you need to know the space weather. Where this plasma will heat then and so on. If not then you're in big danger I should say. This is one of [these] things that actually you can use this facility for, or the data set we have accumulated for 35 years to be able to make this space weather predictions."

It's research like this that not only helps us understand the world around us, but the worlds above us as well. We wouldn't be able to continue space exploration without it.

-- Molly Fosco

Read More:

EISCAT: A Brief History of EISCAT

Space.com: What Causes the Northern Lights & Where to See Them

BBC: What are the Northern Lights?
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A hundred years ago, Petaluma was known as the Egg Capital of the World  the City of a Million Hens.

Today, Petaluma is a town of nearly 60,000 residents, but farming is still central to Sonoma Countys identity, with its agritourism, hundreds of organic farms, and more than $756 million in crops. The county is home to thousands of acres of apples and wine grapes, and more than six times as many laying hens as people.

But some organic farmers and activists say all of that is in jeopardy. Fearing the invasion of genetically engineered crops, they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars advancing Measure M, a ban on genetically engineered organisms in the county.

I think traditional breeding is the way  thats whats been used for years and years and years, said Karen Hudson, a Rohnert Park resident who is heading the campaign for Measure M.

It would be the sixth such ban by a California county, after Marin, Humboldt, Mendocino, Santa Cruz and Trinity. Mendocinos ban was the first in the United States.

Sonoma County voters rejected a similar ordinance, also called Measure M, in 2005. That measure drew huge spending from both sides, a combined total of over $1 million, with the bans opponents outspending its supporters by about $55,000.

This time around, the bans supporters have out-raised its detractors. As of Oct. 22, the campaign for Measure M had received $278,233 in contributions this year, to No on Ms $67,500.

Few genetically engineered crops  probably only corn and alfalfa  are known to grow in Sonoma County, according to an impact report written by Stephanie Larson, an ecologist and director of the Sonoma branch of the UC Cooperative Extension, a network of UC science researchers. Its a point often mentioned by Measure Ms detractors.

Is this maybe a solution in search of a problem? I wonder about that, said Kim Vail, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, an advocacy group opposing the measure. We live in a free-market economy. Consumers have choices, producers should have choices. Let the market decide.

But in the measure, proponents see the chance to turn the county into a keystone that, by connecting counties with existing bans, would form a 13,734-square-mile contiguous landmass of GMO-free growing in Northern California. It is an appealing prospect for farmers who say they fear contamination of their crops by the pollen of GMOs.

In the United States, theres very few places where people can grow seeds or crops without fear of contamination, said Jere Gettle, owner of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds  a prominent vendor of heritage seeds with an outpost in Sonoma County called the Petaluma Seed Bank, and one of the largest donors to the campaign for Measure M.

GMO-free zones help give areas of the country where people can maintain historic, traditional seed lines, he continued.

According to Pamela Ronald, a plant pathologist at UC Davis who has been called the public face of GMOs because of her frequent defense of their safety, the fears of contamination are overblown. She also hates the term GMO.

The pollen doesnt hurt anybody, and the USDA has never decertified any organic farmer for any kind of pollen flow, Ronald said.

A May report by the National Academy of Sciences found no significant increase in health problems in countries with genetically modified crops compared with countries with GMO bans.

Measure M would prohibit the cultivation, propagation, raising and growing of genetically engineered organisms in Sonoma County, but there are exceptions for medical treatments and supplies like vaccines and insulin.

Measure M has drawn support from many individuals and local businesses in Sonoma County as well as organic farms and natural-food businesses throughout California and the country. The oppositions funds are supplied largely by multinational agricultural and biotech firms like Monsanto, Bayer, Dow Agrosciences, Syngenta and BI Dupont.

Opponents say even though genetically modified crops are not widespread in Sonoma County now, the ban could prevent the county from benefiting from future scientific advancements. But for Measure Ms proponents, preserving Sonoma County and preventing unforeseen transformation is part of the point.

For Hudson, who has lived in Sonoma County for 42 years, the issue is protecting the county for her children and four grandchildren.

I want Sonoma County to be what it was for us, when we moved here, for them.

Filipa A. Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: fioannou@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @obioannoukenobi
With a range of less than 100 miles per charge, most electric cars work better for the daily commute than a cross-country road trip.

Sure, Tesla owners enjoy more than 200-mile range and their own company-built interstate network of high-speed superchargers. But for the majority of EV drivers, long-distance trips require careful planning, or using another car.

The federal government would like to change that.

On Thursday, the White House announced an initiative to build 48 charging corridors across 35 states and the District of Columbia. Charging stations will be spaced about 50 miles apart along interstates and other major highways, with the corridors laced together into a network spanning the continental United States.

Federal Highway Administration

Those stations will be marked with standardized signs like the ones that already alert interstate drivers to gas stations, restaurants and hotels at upcoming exits.

California, home to nearly half of the nations electric cars and plug-in hybrids, will be linked to Washington and Oregon via Interstate 5. To go east, California EV owners will need to make their way to Interstate 70 in Utah, either by taking Interstate 80 to Salt Lake City and Interstate 15 south from there, or by following I-15 up from Southern California. For more routes, check out the map.

Several companies that already install charging stations  including ChargePoint and EVgo  will help build out the corridors. So will several utilities, including Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Building the corridors is one of several steps the Obama administration announced Thursday to encourage electric vehicle sales, which have so far failed to take off nationwide. In another step, 24 state and local governments agreed to buy more electric vehicles in their own government fleets.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF
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Wearing a virtual reality headset can feel awkward. But as people attending the Virtual Reality Developers Conference in San Francisco learned this week, sometimes that can be an advantage.

For example, it was perfect for teaching health professionals empathy for people afflicted with Parkinsons disease by making them experience how hard a simple trip to the grocery store might be, said Bart Kok, studio manager for VR content developer Virtual Dutch Men.

The first thing people think when I put on a headset is that I look silly, Kok said during a panel discussion on creating virtual and augmented reality for health care. The funny-looking headsets, together with the virtual experience, help people understand the challenges of someone with the disease, he said. We wanted to make that feeling stronger.

About 700 people attended the two-day conference at the Park Central Hotel to learn more about ways the fledgling medium can expand in the near future. The conference convened this year as part of the annual Game Developers Conference in March at Moscone Center in San Francisco, but a stand-alone conference was organized for the first time because of the growing interest in VR.

This year saw the release of the first consumer-oriented generation of virtual reality headsets, which is igniting a flurry of development among video game and documentary makers. The maker of one headset, the HTC Vive, launched a program to encourage arcade operators to include virtual reality games and devices.

However, conference exhibitors also showed off a variety of other headsets, including the Fove, a $599 headset that unlike its competitors includes technology that precisely tracks the movement of a wearers eyes. In one demonstration game, the wearer shoots down targets just by looking at them.

Another device was the Daqri Smart Helmet, a Wi-Fi-enabled safety helmet being developed for industrial use that includes a thermal camera, an Intel processor and a heads-up display visor that can show, for example, how to fix a piece of machinery or whether a pipe is failing. The Los Angeles company displayed a $15,000 developer edition of the helmet.

Amy Osborne/Special To The Chronicle

Meanwhile, My Dream Interactive of Palo Alto has developed Light VR, a program that creates a virtual work space. In one demonstration, a headset wearer opens several computer desktop windows at a time, including those with video and messaging programs, inside a room that seems to be floating in space.

Albert Palacios, a specialist with the Department of Education, issued a challenge to developers to create more virtual and augmented reality programs for teachers and students. Palacios announced a contest offering $680,000 in prizes, with a Jan. 17 deadline.

We want to challenge the VR developer community to come up with creative approaches to deliver effective education content, Palacios told the crowd.

VR can also help educate doctors and other health care workers about what its like to be one of their patients, Kok said during his panel. The Parkinsons experience his company created for a pharmaceutical firm included a visit to a grocery store that was impeded by blurry vision and shaking hands.

But the experience also showed the scene slowing down or freezing, while other shoppers try to step around or shout insults like you freak.

Youre fully aware, but you cant do anything, Kok said. Its an interesting way to present this disease, to get them into their shoes.

Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChronicleBenny
When an Alameda nonprofit serving refugees planned to sue a purported Kuwaiti terrorist financier, they faced one major legal hurdle: serving him the lawsuit.

The allegations  funding Christian genocide in Iraq and Syria  had roots in conflicts going back millennia. But the ultimate solution  Twitter  was barely a decade old. And the case highlights just one of many ways the legal system finds itself rapidly adjusting to the spread of electronic messaging.

Representing St. Francis Assisi, Alameda attorney Mogeeb Weiss spent at least a month trying to serve Hajjaj al Ajmi with a lawsuit against him and two Middle Eastern banks.He tried contacting al Ajmis local attorney, who didnt respond. He mailed the process to the Kuwaiti government, which he said rejected the package.

Weiss suspected al Ajmi was hiding in Kuwait because he appeared on lists of individuals sanctioned by the United Nations and U.S. Department of Treasury.

But al Ajmi was hardly hiding from the Internet. He tweeted hourly, Weiss said. While Weiss failed again and again to reach him, al Ajmi shared videos with his 101,000 Twitter followers asking for money.

Then it clicked; Weiss would serve @hajjaj1407 on Twitter. In September, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of the Northern District of California granted St. Francis Assisi permission to tweet a summons and complaint stored on Mediafire, a Dropbox-like file-sharing service.

In early October, al Ajmi retweeted another users message about the notice, spreading it to his followers, who railed against the nonprofit. His account was deactivated a couple of weeks later. The retweet may have brought online opprobrium on St. Francis Assisi for bringing the suit, but it also indicated he was likely aware of the tweet.

For courts, social media may open up new doors to reach defendants and other participants in the legal process, as well as communicate with the public. But it poses risks, too.

Upholding the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial in part means making sure all parties know they are part of a lawsuit so they may defend themselves. This is done through whats called service of process, which historically meant handing the individual in question a document to ensure they were notified. When a defendant cant be found, parties will often publish a notice in the paper in the hopes the individual, their friends or their family might see it.

In this case, Twitter served as a 21st century newspaper.

In 2013, the Federal Trade Commission was permitted to serve defendants located in India via Facebook and email for the sake of thoroughness.

The next year, a New York court allowed service through Facebook in a child-support case. Just last year, the New York County Supreme Court ruled that a woman could serve her husband with a divorce summons via private Facebook message since he had no permanent address.

It really is a last-ditch effort to notify the person theyre being sued, said Greg Hurley, senior analyst at the National Center for State Courts. Every one of these Ive looked into, there have been a few attempts to reach the defendant through more conventional means.

Deploying social summons has its own challenges. Teens have first dropped Facebook for Instagram, then flitted to Snapchat. Just because an individual has an account may not mean its active.

It is also too easy for people to pose as someone they are not, said Lori Andrews, law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, who believes courts are putting much too much stock in social media.

When it comes to the Web and social media, judges biggest concern may not be finding plaintiffs, but keeping jurors unbiased. Theyve long forbade jurors from researching or discussing cases outside the courtroom. In the digital age, that also means telling jurors to stay offline.

The right to fair trial in the age of Facebook has kind of been turned upside down, Andrews said.

In 2009, a San Francisco Superior Court judge dismissed 600 potential jurors after some admitted to researching a case online. In 2001, eight Florida jurors admitted to researching a federal drugs trial online, which led to a mistrial.

California responded in 2011 by making sharing or receiving any information about a case online a punishable misdemeanor.

Use of electronic and wireless devices by jurors has caused mistrials, overturned convictions, and court delays, the legislative analysis of the 2011 bill said.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said it does not keep data on the number of social media-related mistrials. The rules concerning social-media use in federal courts depend on each individual court, said Jackie Koszczuk, public information officer at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

However, Hurley said he writes about a case overturned because of mistrial virtually every week on a jury-related news blog called the Jur-E Bulletin.

We call them Google mistrials, Hurley said, describing cases where jurors look up their case on Google, Facebook or Twitter.

The two most common Google mistrials are jurors looking up the criminal history of a defendant and jurors looking up legal definitions of terms that might conflict with the courts definition.

The temptation for jurors to research isnt new, but the accessibility of information is, said George Fisher, a law professor at Stanford Law School.

The temptation might be greater when the access is more immediate, Fisher said.

For Weiss, the immediate access unique to the Internet proved a tremendous tool.

We would have never been able to reach defendant al Ajmi, Weiss said. It did us a major favor.

Jessica Floum is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jfloum@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfloum
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Uber has a message for Oakland: It wants to be a good neighbor. The ride-hailing company is 18 months away from moving into its East Bay headquarters in Oaklands Uptown neighborhood, but it is reaching out to locals about jobs and business opportunities at the site.

Oakland activists and nonprofits have a message for Uber: They want specific commitments about how it will promote diversity and hire local residents, and they want it to help offset any displacement its presence causes. Once the worlds most valuable startup sets up shop at 1955 Broadway, it will be among the citys largest employers.

Uber held an outreach meeting, its third so far, on Thursday at Oakstop, a co-working space a block from Uptown Station, the building that it purchased for $123.5 million a year ago. About 60 people, mainly Oakland small-business owners and building-trade contractors, many of them minorities, packed into an upstairs room ringed with dozens of portraits and quotations from Malcolm X to hear from Uber and its construction partners.

An office of 2,000 or 3,000 people uses a lot of stuff, said Adony Beniares, head of global workplaces for Uber and project manager for Uptown Station. We want to leverage local vendors.

For now, those locals need to be in the building trades, as the massive renovation proceeds. Truebeck Construction, which runs the project, said it wants to hire Oakland residents as subcontractors and will give preferences to ones who live in West and far East Oakland. Its working with local training centers to find qualified applicants.

Although Uber wont move in until 2018, next year it will start seeking people and businesses for work once the building is open, in fields like maintenance, food services and security.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

The jobs theyre offering to people of color will be janitors, cafeteria and security, said Orson Aguilar, president of Berkeleys Greenlining Institute, one of a couple dozen nonprofits that joined forces to write to and meet with Uber about its impact. But what about engineering, finance, HR  the kinds of jobs that pay really well?

Uber is among a handful of major tech companies that have not shared information on the racial and gender makeup of its headquarters workforce. A spokeswoman said Uber does plan to do so, but does not have a specific timeline.

A study this week showed that some Uber and Lyft drivers in Seattle and Boston, who are independent contractors, exhibited bias against blacks and women. Both companies said they dont tolerate discrimination, but have yet to say how they will address the issue.

Its great to see some head folks and decisions makers here at Thursdays event, said Danielle Beavers, diversity and inclusion director at Greenlining. But Im dubious about using ZIP codes as a proxy for who benefits from the outreach. I want to see an intentional strategy for diversity, especially in light of the (drivers) study this week.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Uber said a wide range of factors go into recruitment. As part of its effort in Oakland, its hired a head of community outreach and engagement, Jordan Medina, whose job is to connect with local residents and businesses.

We are committed to local hiring and local suppliers as much as possible, Medina said. Because Oakland is so diverse, thats reflected well in our outreach so far.

Several people raised other issues before and after the meeting. Some fear that the influx of tech workers could further exacerbate Oaklands rapidly rising rents and home prices.

Its critical to know what the housing is going to be like, where will these people live, said Reba Middleton, president of a real estate brokers group. Will they have to commute from Sacramento or Stockton?

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Uber said its too soon to know what impact, if any, its presence will have on housing, and it will address situations like that as they arise.

The eight-story Uptown Station will have 330,000 square feet of office space to be occupied by up to 3,000 Uber employees. The vast majority have not yet been hired, and will work in a range of departments such as engineering, marketing, legal and facilities, Beniares said.

The Oakland location will be a co-headquarters along with a 423,000-square-foot space that Uber is building in San Franciscos Mission Bay neighborhood. Uber also has a Palo Alto office that it subleases from VMware, and a South of Market garage for its Otto autonomous-truck subsidiary.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Uptown Stations ground floor, which will have a direct entrance to the 19th Street BART Station, will feature 50,000 square feet of retail space. Uber said local businesses will get preference there.

Built in 1927 for department store HC Capwell, the historic building later housed Sears. After being heavily damaged in the 1989 earthquake, it was wrapped in steel reinforcements, creating a dungeon-like effect inside. In a hard-hat tour of the building, now shrouded in white plastic, a manager showed how the construction crew had opened the windows and created a massive 5,600-square-foot atrium that will be topped with a skylight.

It will be bathed in light, said Chris Robbins, operating manager for RiverRock Real Estate Group.

Mayor Libby Schaaf said she is optimistic that the city and Uber will have a mutually beneficial relationship. I want to ensure that the community benefits are not just one-time but rather are built to sustain and grow, she said.

For instance, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick shares her passion for helping formerly incarcerated people find work, she said. I see many opportunities for us to partner to support that population.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
The sex-exploitation scandal that erupted inside the Oakland police force and ensnared officers across the Bay Area mostly fizzled out Friday in Contra Costa County when prosecutors declined to charge everyone they investigated  with the exception of an 81-year-old retired police captain.

The former Oakland captain will be charged with engaging in prostitution, a misdemeanor, said Mark Peterson, the countys district attorney. The octogenarian admitted to the crime and will be formally charged next week, prosecutors said.

We file charges against police officers when the evidence warrants it, Peterson said at a Friday news conference in Martinez. Were willing and able and want to file charges when criminal activity takes place. But (when) activity  ill-advised, immoral, inappropriate  takes place, thats not our job.

Officials are withholding the retirees name until he is formally charged.

At issue in the criminal investigations  which several district attorneys have opened  is what contact officers and sheriffs deputies had with a Richmond teenager, now 19, and whether their interactions with her were legal. In the case of the former Oakland captain, prosecutors said he paid the teen for sex in February at a Richmond hotel.

The young woman at the center of the scandal, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher, told The Chronicle she had sex with nearly 30 officers and deputies over the last two years. Although her name has been publicized, her attorneys asked that she be referred to only by her first name, Jasmine.

Some of the officers paid her or gave her perks, Jasmine said, like tipping her off about sex-trafficking stings or running the names of people she knew through crime databases. Some of the encounters, she said, happened when she was too young to legally give consent.

In the last two months, Alameda County prosecutors have charged seven current and former officers and deputies with crimes  one of whom, Ryan Walterhouse, is accused of having sex with a different prostitute in a separate investigation  and plan to charge one additional Oakland officer in the Jasmine case.

But in Contra Costa County, prosecutors said that while the behavior they uncovered was immoral and embarrassing, none of it met the criminal threshold to go to court, with the exception of the allegation against the retired captain.

All of the other interactions were consensual, happened after Jasmine turned 18 and didnt involve money changing hands, Peterson said.

As he detailed the investigation, Peterson at times appeared frustrated by the attention the case has received, as well as learning about some of the allegations through a news conference Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley held in September. OMalley told reporters that her investigators had uncovered suspected criminal activity in Petersons jurisdiction.

Though nearly all of the alleged behavior in Contra Costa County happened in public places, mostly in vehicles parked on streets, no one passing by was likely to catch a glimpse  as would be required for a lewd conduct in public charge, said Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves.

In all, Graves and his investigators looked at former Oakland police Officer Terryl Smith, Oakland Officer Warit Uttapa, three Alameda County sheriffs deputies, four Richmond police officers, former Contra Costa County sheriffs Deputy Ricardo Perez, and two San Francisco police officers. Smith and Perez have been charged in Alameda County.

Smith, who resigned the day investigators interviewed him, was charged Thursday with five misdemeanor counts of illegal use of a county crime database and sharing the information with Jasmine. He once provided a bag of Cheetos to Jasmine, Peterson said, but there wasnt enough evidence to suggest the snack was in exchange for sex, and therefore couldnt be considered prostitution.

On another occasion, Smith allegedly tried to forcibly sodomize the teenager, but prosecutors also declined to charge him, saying there wasnt enough evidence and that it was done in the context of consensual sex acts.

Peterson defended his office and the Richmond Police Department against criticism they received for helping send the teenager to a Florida drug rehabilitation facility over the summer. While there, Jasmine was jailed for an alleged battery.

Her attorneys said that she was sent there against her will and that it amounted to witness tampering. Peterson, though, said Jasmine went voluntarily and they were doing their jobs by getting her victim assistance.

The two San Francisco police officers investigated by Contra Costa County prosecutors are still subject to an ongoing internal affairs investigation and could be disciplined, officials said.

I believe the system has failed her, Graves said. I believe these officers failed to protect and serve like they are supposed to. I believe theres a lot of people in her life that failed her.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Comments by a University of California regent who told an actress at his media company that he wanted to hold her breasts were inappropriate and highly offensive but do not break current UC rules, the regents chairwoman said Thursday.

We take the allegations of sexual harassment against Regent Norman Pattiz very seriously, Chairwoman Monica Lozano said in a statement the day after newspapers, including The Chronicle, reported that Pattizs comments had been recorded by a Los Angeles actress and included in her Oct. 26 podcast.

The actress, Heather McDonald, said she quit broadcasting her podcast through Pattizs company this summer after he made the comments but had to hire a lawyer to force Pattiz to release her subscriber list. She said Pattiz made other sexually harassing comments as well, about her appearance or about joining her in the restroom, when she visited the recording studio.

Pattiz did not respond to several requests for comment.

UC prohibits sexual harassment throughout the university  a policy approved by the regents  and requires regents to comply with all applicable laws, regulations and university policies.

Yet Lozano said in her statement that UC policies dont apply to regents when they arent on university business. But I intend to bring forward new policies that will remedy this, she said.

The regents are also barred from seeking loopholes to avoid compliance.

McDonald said she was not surprised by the regents tepid response. Pattiz has gotten away with so much for so long. Everyones terrified of Norm and his money, she said. She forwarded an Oct. 28 email her friend had sent to many regents and Gov. Jerry Brown, who recently re-appointed Pattiz to a 12-year term. It indicated they knew about the problem but did nothing until it became public in the press.

Some students said they were so angered at Pattizs behavior that they want him removed from the Board of Regents.

If theyre not taking it seriously at at the highest level, how can we expect them to take it seriously anywhere else? asked Cory Hernandez, a UC Berkeley law student who serves on the chancellors Committee on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment. He has asked the Graduate Assembly on campus to pass a resolution calling for Pattizs removal and for support of McDonald and other victims who are so far unnamed.

UC President Janet Napolitano has been strengthening sexual harassment policies and cracking down on discipline of offenders this year as increasing numbers of students and employees have spoken out about faculty and staff touching them inappropriately or making sexually harassing comments.

In January, the regents revoked the tenure of a UC Riverside professor who had violated UC policies on sexual harassment and drug use, only the eighth time in UCs 148-year history that the regents have done so.

Four months later, Pattiz would approach McDonald in his studio as she recorded a brassiere ad. When she stumbled on her words and told him his presence made her nervous, Pattiz asked her if it would help if he held her breasts.

McDonald took her podcast to another company.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com
On Aug. 1, 1966, the nation was stunned when Charles Whitman, an architectural engineering student who was a Marine-trained sniper, began randomly shooting people from the observation deck of the 27-story clock tower on the University of Texas campus in Austin.

He eventually killed 16 people  including his wife and mother before entering the tower  and wounded about 30 others before he was killed by police. The incident introduced the nation to the concept of mass shootings, which sadly have become all too common.

Keith Maitlands powerful and emotional documentary Tower  easily one of the best films of the year  takes a novel approach for a nonfiction film:aAnimation. Specifically, he mixes rotoscope animation with archival footage and news reports to re-create the chilling 90 minutes of terror from the perspective of victims, witnesses and first responders.

Using animation allows Maitland to bring a personal element to the story. Whitman is never shown in the documentary  indeed, Im not even sure his name was mentioned  because this film is a tribute to the people he terrorized.

Among them were a young paperboy, a local radio reporter, students, a businessman who jumped in to help, and the policeman who eventually killed the shooter.

Most affecting is the story of Claire Wilson, an 18-year-old student who was five months pregnant. She was walking with her boyfriend, Thomas Eckman, and they were among the first victims. Eckman was killed instantly, Wilsons child died in her womb. But Wilson survived  shot in the abdomen, bleeding, and lying on a hot sidewalk on a 100-degree day. For the whole agonizing hour and a half she waited for help, but with Whitman shooting everyone he saw who ventured out into the open, no one could get to her.

How the incident affected Wilson later in her life is at once both inspiring and heartbreaking. In fact, all of the survivors  even the ones who werent shot  carry the emotional wounds of that terrible day 50 years ago. Maitland has given them a long-overdue voice in this outstanding film.

G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen

Tower

Documentary. Directed by Keith Maitland. (Not rated. 96 minutes.)

To see a trailer: https://youtu.be/GTzNkfgM1vE
WASHINGTON  Hillary Clinton may not be accumulating the type of early-vote advantage her campaign wanted, but she continues to maintain an apparent edge over Donald Trump, with more than one-quarter of all expected ballots cast in the 2016 election.

The Democrats campaign once hoped to bank substantial votes from Democrats in North Carolina and Florida before election day. Both are must-win states for Trump.

But data about the early vote suggest shes not doing as well as President Obama in 2012. Ballot requests from likely supporters have been weak in parts of the Midwest, and African American turnout has fallen, too.

Still, the tens of millions of early votes cast also point to strength from Democratic-leaning Latino voters, potentially giving Clinton a significant advantage in Nevada and Colorado. With more than half the votes already cast in those states, Democrats are matching if not exceeding their successful 2012 pace, according to data compiled by the Associated Press.

We are seeing the trajectory of the election change in some states, but Democrats are also making up ground, said Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor and expert in voter turnout.

Early voting  by mail and at polling stations  is under way in 37 states. At least 35.1 million votes have been cast, representing more than 25 percent of the total votes expected nationwide if turnout is similar to 2012. In all, more than 46 million people  or as much as 40 percent of the electorate  are expected to vote before Tuesday, according to AP data.

A look at the latest trends:

In North Carolina and Florida, Democrats did better with mail balloting than they had in previous elections. Democrats lead in ballots submitted, 43 percent to 32 percent.

In Florida, more than half of voters have already cast ballots. Democrats remain virtually tied with Republicans. The black share of ballots is down, while the Latino share is up.

Latinos may be providing Clinton with support she needs in key Western states. In swing-state Nevada, where half the total ballots have been cast, Democrats lead with 42 percent to 37 percent.

Some 1.4 million residents cast ballots in Colorado, or more than half the expected vote. Democrats hold the advantage, 36 percent to 35 percent.
Californias chief marijuana tax collector, State Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma, and her staff have an easy job at their Oakland collection offices on a recent Monday morning. Just $30,000 in cash comes in the door from a medical cannabis delivery service paying its 9.5 percent retail sales taxes.

On other days, the intake can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sometimes, if one of the big dispensaries loses their banking capability, we have $400,000 to a half a million dollars coming in cash. Its just not efficient, nor is it safe, says Ma, an elected official, whose job it is to oversee Californias sales tax collections.

In any given month, hundreds of thousands of dollars in pungent $20s, $50s and $100s show up throughout California at Board of Equalization offices  the states tax collectors. Counting cash eats up staff hours and creates a security risk. Staff check each note to be sure its not counterfeit.

Now, multiply the problem 50-fold.

Already the medical marijuana industry pays around $40 million per year in sales taxes  cash. If marijuana legalization measure Proposition 64 passes Tuesday, that could balloon to $1 billion, the Legislative Analyst Office estimates.

Federal prohibition would still be in place, and legal pot industries in dozens of states would continue to lack access to banking services. While more payments zip around the globe electronically, 90 percent of Californias cash tax payments come from the cannabis industry, as if stuck in 11th century China. Add in four additional state agencies and untold local ones that also will be collecting fees and other revenue, and Mas job will be even tougher, if not overwhelming.

That poses huge challenges as well as security risks in California, the worlds seventh largest economy and soon, perhaps, the capital of the cannabis industry.

Ma knows what shes talking about. For four years, she served as a supervisor in San Francisco, one of the few cities to regulate and tax medical pot dispensaries. She won a seat on the State Board of Equalization and is its first certified public accountant. An Asian American woman trained under Democratic political maven John Burton, she sees normalizing relations with the cannabis industry as a matter of standing up for whats right. Her mission is to make sure that includes pot taxes.

So Ma has championed normalizing banking relations with legal pot, with the goal of boosting tax compliance and state revenue. In 2016, she advocated for the creation of the first state marijuana bank. The idea never got off the ground, but after the election, shell be back at the issue with renewed urgency.

Legalization  it turns out  isnt as simple as a vote. It will be a years-long civic project.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

***

Today, roughly half the states population has tried pot and about 13 percent of California adults are regular users. But California has made few cannabis rules since it criminalized marijuana in 1913. In 1996, Californians legalized medical marijuana, but the Compassionate Use Act said nothing in the way of regulations. Local law, court cases and official guidelines filled in the gaps. Only the Medical Marijuana Program Act in 2003 prescribes an ID card system.

In the coming weeks and months, Proposition 64 would direct $35 million toward ramping up state regulations of the pot trade. That would only be a start. To regulate the crop from seed to sale, state agencies would need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year, paid for by excise taxes at retail shops and farms. State agencies have until Jan. 1, 2018, to figure out protocols.

In October 2015, legislators took a big step and regulated medical cannabis. The state is just now in the process of issuing draft rules for medical cannabis. Adult-use legalization is designed to mostly lay atop the new medical rules.

Ma is looking into the feasibility of California Department of Motor Vehicles branches becoming depositories for fees. Shes in talks with major banks about accepting cannabis sales tax deposits at their branches, on behalf of the Board of Equalization. The BOE already uses Bank of America, she notes.

Federal regulators have given banks a yellow light to serve legal pot businesses, writing guidelines for banks to take the money. But the compliance costs are massive. A tiny fraction of the banking system is just beginning to test the waters.

Its kind of exciting because they are starting to do it. The more banks willing to do it, the better, Ma says.

Until then, Ma is asking legislators to delay by two or three years any new fees or taxes  pot or otherwise. The Board of Equalization is in the middle of computer system modernization, and it cant be recoded for new levies.

Somethings gotta give, she says, or the sales tax system is going to slow down and go into manual mode.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

***

As tough as Mas challenge, she at least has experience. Prop. 64 keeps local leaders, who dont, in the drivers seat on regulations,.

City councils already face historic levels of public comment on the issue as they decide whether to ban or to regulate and tax local medical pot commerce. They generally lack the expertise to do so, Ma says.

Its going to be a really rocky road that were going to have to navigate very carefully, says Nate Bradley, director of the California Cannabis Industry Association. A lot of these local governments are scared. Some of them want to do it, and some of them are freaked out.

Tim Cromartie, legislative representative for the League of California Cities, a powerful lobby, agrees. The reaction of cities runs the gamut. This includes everything from allowing and robustly regulating such businesses, to banning them outright. Some jurisdictions have recently moved to ban outdoor commercial cultivation, due to public safety and nuisance concerns. Others are preparing ordinances to regulate and to tax commercial recreational marijuana businesses of various kinds.

The simplest option will be to adopt bans. Even before Prop. 64, cities and counties have been preemptively banning adult-use commercial pot activity. More than 80 percent of California jurisdictions already have bans on medical activity.

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But at the same time, other cities and counties will be rushing to permit and tax recreational activity. Cities have to permit pot businesses to receive a share of the tax revenue. You might place a ban, but your neighbor who doesnt, profits.

Some of the smaller cities that want to ban or discourage any sort of development or commerce  theyre going to have a hard time, Ma says.

San Francisco already has about 30 well-controlled retail medical pot shops. The city is one of the few places with a State Legalization Task Force, which will issue recommendations to the Board of Supervisors Dec. 12. Those recommendations may become a state model, Ma says. Humboldt County, Santa Rosa and Oakland are among the few others licensing medical cannabis, and thus have been through trial-and-error licensing recreational businesses.

For the rest of the other counties, I think this is going to be a frenzy. Everybody's going to be calling them, wanting information about how do they do it, she says.

***

And while local cities and counties struggle to ban or regulate, multiple state agencies already at work on medical rules will have to add adult-use rules. The three departments tasked with regulating legal cannabis have until Jan. 1, 2018, to begin to issue licenses.

That means rapidly taking public comment, issuing draft regulations, more public comment, and chaptering laws to issue permits in a little over 13 months. There will be much copying and pasting of medical regulations, Bradley said.

They are prepared for the medical world. Theres going to be very minimal changes that need to be made for the recreational one, he said. Ive been impressed with how theyve handled it so far.

Ma says she plans to be up all night watching the election returns. Wednesday morning, though, there will be no sleeping in.

First off, everybody is going to be very busy  local and state government is going to be busy as well as the private sector, she says.

The first retail cannabis sales tax payments will be due April 1, 2018.

David Downs is The Chronicles cannabis editor. Email ddowns@sfchronicle.com
Lets fantasize about Oaklands future.

Imagine a low-crime, bike-first city as a tourist destination like Amsterdam, but with charismatic marketing that lures travelers to shops, cafes, restaurants and bars  spending that translates to tax revenue for the city.

A merry, interracial couple walk out the door of an Airbnb and plop into an Uber  ding, ding, ding for the citys cash register. Theyre eager to explore Oakland, recently crowned the undisputed leader of the cannabis industry. Theyve remembered to pack sweaters for the nighttime chill.

The first stop is the hip cannabar with an old-school hip-hop vibe the culture websites have raved about, a lounge where Millennials and geezers swap stories in the new Stoned Age. The cannabis bar has a pastry chef whose baked marijuana-infused menu items such as Make It Raindrop cupcakes and You Will Snickerdoodle cookies sell out daily.

Theres a line wrapped around the block, of course. But the couple wait so they can check in on Facebook and humble-brag on Instagram. Then they skip arm in arm around Lake Merritt while eating their gluten-free treats.

The imaginable possibilities for Oakland to cash in on the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry are endless, which is why Im astonished that the city cant get its act together over what to do for local pot businesses. Why would anyone want to open a pot business in Oakland when the City Council has taken almost two years to set the rules  and then is having second thoughts about them?

Right now, if you wanted to get an application for a pot business license in Oakland, you couldnt, because the city will not begin issuing them until the council settles its differences over what plan to use.

Why not go to Richmond, a city with its arms wide open? In June, Richmond cut to the front in the race to become the leader of Bay Area marijuana cultivation by lifting restrictions on the number of permits for cannabis grows. It also applies to businesses making edibles: candies, tinctures and baked goods.

In Oakland, the council is locked in a policy skirmish as it attempts to unravel the permitting system it unanimously passed in May at the behest of Councilwoman Desley Brooks.

To obtain a permit, cannabis businesses must wait until the city permits another business that falls into a very narrow category: Its owner must have had a past marijuana conviction or have lived for at least two years in an East Oakland neighborhood with high marijuana arrests in 2013. Half of what are called equity neighborhoods are in Brooks district, and the other half are in Councilman Larry Reids.

Its a 1-for-1 deal thats sure to create a logjam for permits.

If that wasnt discouraging enough, Brooks, Reid and Councilman Noel Gallo are proposing amendments to force cannabis businesses to gift wrap 25 percent of their profits and reserve at least one seat on their board of directors for the city. It should be called the Up-in-Smoke deal, because its what would happen to any business that signed the laughable contract.

Brooks has pushed the program as a way to counteract drug laws that have disproportionately affected people of color. And she doesnt want blacks and Latinos to be denied a slice of the ambrosial marijuana pie.

I dont want that to happen either. There needs to be an equity component in Oaklands laws, and Brooks is right: It has to be a legislative fix. Her council members agree. But the solution cant help two districts while sabotaging the rest of Oakland. Equity cant be achieved without fairness.

When the council meets Nov. 14 to decide on a plan, it will have more to consider than the Brooks-Reid-Gallo amendments. Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan will present her own plan, as will council members Dan Kalb, Abel Guillen and Annie Campbell Washington.

That is sure to lead to a contentious debate, or worse. Brooks has repeatedly used ploys  disrupting a Rules Committee session, calling for a vote before Tuesdays election and requesting the Department of Race and Equity conduct a thorough analysis of proposals  to derail amendments to her plan.

The Oakland Cannabis Regulatory Commission has estimated that there are hundreds of existing grows and at least 50 delivery services operating in the city. All are at risk of not getting a permit. How long before they leave, taking their customers with them?

The council needs to figure it out in the next 12 days so we can get back to dreaming about the citys future.

Otis R. Taylor Jr. is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist whose column appears Tuesday and Friday. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
Federal agents on Thursday raided the San Jose offices of a paratransit service provider for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, leaving the agency scrambling to provide rides to thousands of customers with disabilities, officials said.

The FBI served a search warrant at the headquarters of Outreach and Escort Inc., a nonprofit that for 23 years contracted with the South Bay transportation organization, said VTA spokeswoman Stacey Hendler Ross.

The VTA Board of Directors, though, voted in June to terminate its contract with Outreach and Escort Inc., after a scathing audit showed millions of dollars in undocumented charges to the transit agency.

The VTA has since filed a lawsuit against the contractor and passed along information relevant to the audit to the Santa Clara County district attorneys office and the FBI, Hendler Ross said.

Multiple phone calls to Outreach and Escort Inc. were not answered Thursday. The VTA said it has not been in contact with the paratransit company since the raid.

FBI spokesman Prentice Danner confirmed agents served a search warrant at Outreach and Escort Inc., but he would not comment on the ongoing investigation.

Since June, the VTA has been in a yearlong transition away from Outreach and Escort Inc., taking on administrative duties for paratransit services and working directly with their longtime fleet of drivers at MV Transportation.

Thursdays shutdown at Outreach and Escort Inc. forced the VTA into emergency action to make sure its estimated 7,000 riders with disabilities got service, Hendler Ross said.

We had a contingency plan in place, she said. But we were forced to carry it out sooner than expected.

Outreach and Escort Inc. is responsible for millions of dollars in public funding from the county and federal government, and contracts with Santa Clara County and other social service providers, officials said.

The VTA was working to provide paratransit for anyone who needs service that might not be registered with the agency.

The board is taking this very seriously, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said at an afternoon news conference. Its an important service for the most vulnerable members of our community.

Anyone who needs to order rides, change paratransit service or ask questions can call the VTAs customer service line at (408) 321-2300.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Beneath the fog of bile and pettiness that has enveloped the final weeks of the presidential campaign is a serious decision. Beyond the ghosts that keep emerging to haunt two imperfect nominees is a perfectly clear choice.

Some voters might throw up their hands and decide that it really doesnt matter whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is elected as 45th president. They might be tempted to dismiss it as a classic choice between two evils and vote for a third-party candidate with no chance of winning, write in someone not on the ballot as a protest statement ... or skip the election altogether.

Dont give in to the cynicism. The stakes are too high, the differences  in knowledge of the world he or she would presume to lead and appreciation of the institutions that undergird are democracy  are simply too profound.

This is no ordinary election between a Republican dedicated to free markets and robust military and a Democrat more trusting of governments role at home and wary of intervention abroad. At issue is much more than how much to cut or raise taxes, whether to build a wall or put a welcome mat at the border or whether to expand or repeal a health care law.

This election has become a referendum on the 240-year American experiment itself. One candidate has played to ignorance by belittling the institutions that are so crucial to democracy: the judiciary (suggesting an American-born judge of Mexican descent was incapable of fulfilling his duty), the news media (advocating an opening of libel laws to unleash lawsuits on critics and otherwise using the levers of federal power to punish their business interests) and the electoral system itself (fanning the idea that it would be rigged against him).

One candidate deplores President Obamas use of executive actions while proposing the unthinkable notion (at least outside of authoritarian states) of prosecuting his opponent after taking office (grinning as his crowds chant lock her up).

In modern times, we have never had a candidate so gleefully eager to spread untruths and hateful innuendo: about everything from Obamas citizenship to New Jersey Muslims celebrating 9/11 to the retweeting of a white-supremacist-fabricated chart about black-on-white crime. Nor have we had a candidate so willing to unsettle our allies and comfort our adversaries with preposterous statements that NATO had become obsolete, Mexico will pay for that wall or Vladimir Putin is a source of admiration.

Americans will not only be electing a president on Nov. 8, they will be making a statement on their reverence for the presidency. The ultimate question is whether we entrust its vast powers to someone with so little regard for the American traditions and institutions that made this nation the leader and envy of the free world.

Three key races: Vote on the merits

State Assembly, District 16: The Democratic Party is making a disingenuous attempt to vilify Republican incumbent Catharine Baker in its furious quest for a legislative supermajority. But Baker is a perfect fit for this suburban East Bay district and a prototype of a centrist, serious, problem-solving lawmaker the GOP needs to reclaim its relevance in the state. Democrat Cheryl Cook-Kallio was one of the least prepared legislative candidates we interviewed this year.

State Senate, District 11: San Francisco and a slice of San Mateo County have been well represented in this seat by termed-out Sen. Mark Leno. In a battle between two Democratic San Francisco supervisors, Scott Wiener has demonstrated at City Hall that he possesses some of the same qualities as Leno: a hard-working, substance-oriented, results-driven elected official with a willingness to listen and build coalitions. He gets the edge over board colleague Jane Kim.

U.S. House, District 17: One of the benefits of Californias voter-approved top two system is that members of Congress in districts dominated by one party can no longer take re-election for granted. Rep. Mike Honda narrowly won re-election two years ago against a challenge from fellow Democrat Ro Khanna, a patent lawyer with a good command of the tech industry. Khanna came back this year after deepening his grasp of local issues. He would be a strong voice in D.C. for Silicon Valley concerns.
Originally my interest in Virginia Dare came as a child upon hearing the jingle of the Virginia Dare wine on the radio, and seeing the label art that featured a pretty blond girl who seemed out of a fairy tale. Later, I wondered what had happened to this early American winery, which was one of the first in the U.S.A., and this led to research and the fascinating story of the birth of the first Anglo child in the New World, the disappearance of the Lost Colony, and the power of the consolidated Algonquin tribes under the great chief Powhatan and his brother Opechancanough, in Werowocomoco, Va.

More reading and study led to my desire to resurrect this early American wine brand at the site of the former Geyser Peak winery in Geyserville. As the purchase of the property brought with it a permit allowing the development of a visitor center and restaurant, I began to imagine that we could feature Native American ambience and food that would highlight ingredients of America as it once had been.

A chance opportunity enabled me to buy a set of rare books (History of the Indian Tribes of North America, assembled by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall between 1836 and 1844), which consisted of beautiful color prints of American chiefs as they appeared at the time. These books and reproductions of some of the prints are on display at the winery.

I was filled with awe and respect for these people and fascinated with their story and wanted to learn what I could. I also wanted the opportunity to taste and experience what Native American food is like today, and so over several years I traveled in search of it. I shared meals on Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico, in private homes and eateries for local people.

I had a wonderful opportunity to have a dinner prepared by Loretta Oden, an acclaimed Native American chef, and subsequently began to arrive at the concept of a menu inspired by my experiences as well as my own ideas of appealing dishes for our visitors, including items such as fry bread with bison meat and bison ribs, which were presented throughout my many meals, most notably at Ben Jacobs and Matt Chandras wonderful Tocabe in Denver. Later I thought of other dishes including wild rice salads, bison burgers on acorn flour buns, prairie fowl and plank salmon, as well as salmon sashimi and various desserts, such as pine cones. I found myself consulting with many of the people I had met on my travels, as well as a friend, Cindy Pawlcyn, who maintains a huge library of cookbooks and is expert on anything having to do with food.

Eventually I formed a council of advisers consisting mainly of Native Americans of different tribes from around the country, to bring authenticity and respect for these traditions as well as support for what I feel are important issues of health, youth and education, employment, preservation of language and culture, food and ingredient acquisition, and art. I confess that I used my own imagination and creative powers to bring this project to life much in the way that I would have in making a film.

Werewocomoco

The story I was telling was part myth (The White Doe and the Two Arrowheads, and the magical tale of why white wine turned red) in parallel with real history  the creation of the Virginia colonies by Sir Walter Raleigh, the encounter with the powerful Algonquin leader Powhatan and the enduring mystery of the Lost Colony. I originally wanted to call the restaurant after Powhatan (father of Pocahontas), but was told this name couldnt be registered. I then thought of using the name Werowocomoco and contacted the Pamunkey tribe in Virginia asking for permission to do this, and their tribal council graciously consented.

After much effort, we step by step made a number of Native American liaisons in our area, and it is my hope that we will find success in collaboration with other indigenous people of this beautiful part of the world.

Werowocomoco, American Native food restaurant will, guided by our council of advisors, choose charitable organizations, offer preferential employment opportunities and give foodstuffs acquisition preference to local tribes, and in the spirit of companies such as Orvis:

The Virginia Dare Winery, a family-owned company, will donate 5 percent of its pretax profits to Americas Native People.

Francis Ford Coppola is a filmmaker, vintner and owner of the new restaurant Werowocomoco.

Editors note

Francis Ford Coppola recognized the potential for misinterpretation, and perhaps even controversy, when he announced that he was opening a restaurant featuring American native cuisine in Geyserville.

This is a very sensitive situation, he said by phone this week.

The recent release of a draft menu for the restaurant, published in The Chronicle, elicited enough questions and concerns online that Coppola felt compelled to write a piece explaining the backstory behind the inspiration, concept and planning of his restaurant Werowocomoco.

On the phone, Coppola spoke of his travels on Native American lands, and how he was able to experience both the beautiful things of the culture  and the destitution that many tribes still face. One of the goals with his restaurant is to help expose that culture to a broader swath of society, and help expand its place in the American fabric of diverse cultures.

Cultural appropriation is good, it fosters inter-communication between people and cultures through what they love most: food, art, etc., Coppola said. However, cultural misappropriation is not good, as it misuses culture without giving back, and is hurtful. Especially to peoples who need to benefit by it.

 John Diaz, editorial page editor
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Early-voting Democrats could be the key in some of the states most fiercely contested congressional races, new vote-by-mail statistics show.

More than 3.7 million Californians already have voted in Tuesdays election, with hundreds of thousands more mail ballots expected to arrive at county election offices over the next few days. And in the handful of toss-up congressional contests across the state, more and more of those ballots are coming from Democrats.

All around the state, were seeing an underperformance by Republicans (in early voting) compared to 2012, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., which provides information on voters and voting to both Republican and Democratic campaigns. Vote-by-mail means higher turnout ... and it looks like Democrats are getting out more of (those voters) than in the past.

While the raw number of early voters hasnt changed much from the 2012 election, when President Obama won an overwhelming re-election victory in California, the composition of that vote is different. In district after district, Democrats are outpacing their early voting numbers from four years ago, either expanding the lead they had or cutting into GOP margins.

Michael Short/Special To The Chronicle

In rural Sacramento Countys Seventh Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Ami Bera is facing a tough challenge from Republican Scott Jones, the county sheriff.

In 2014, when Bera eked out a 50.4 percent to 49.6 percent win over the GOPs Doug Ose, 41 percent of the mailed ballots were from Democrats, with 40 percent from Republicans. But as of Nov. 2, 44 percent of the early voters were Democrats, with Republicans making up 36 percent, according to figures posted by Mitchell.

That same effect is being seen in strong Republican areas like the 49th Congressional District, which straddles the Orange County and San Diego County border.

Despite a 39 percent to 31 percent Republican registration edge, veteran GOP Rep. Darrell Issa is a top Democratic target. But the Republicans 16-percentage-point lead in early voting four years ago has slipped to eight points this year, which could be bad news for Issa in a close contest with Democrat Doug Applegate.

That Democratic surge is strategy, not coincidence, said Michael Soller, a spokesman for the California Democratic Party. A few years ago, the party tested an effort dubbed Gamechanger in Southern California. It involved a concerted effort to persuade Democrats who voted only occasionally, if at all, to sign up for vote-by-mail and cast their ballots before election day.

Michael Short/Special To The Chronicle

We found that these people who signed up for vote-by-mail voted at a 12 percent higher rate than Democrats as a whole, Soller said. The project proved that if you can sign them up, you can turn them out to vote.

Democrats have been running similar efforts across the state this year. Since early October, the state party has had paid staff members in many of Californias most contested congressional and legislative districts, working to pump up that early vote, he added.

But Republicans question just how effective those Democratic early vote efforts will be.

In the 25th Congressional District, which stretches from Palmdale and Lancaster in the desert reaches of Los Angeles County west to the city of Simi Valley in Ventura County, GOP Rep. Steve Knight is going all out to win a second term in Congress.

The raw numbers look good for Democrat Bryan Caforio. The districts registration has shifted from a Republican lead of 39 percent to 36 percent in 2012 to a current 38 percent to 35 percent Democratic edge. While Republicans now hold a five -percentage-point margin among early voters, thats down dramatically from 17 points in 2012.

Michael Short/Special To The Chronicle

Yet Matt Rexroad, a political consultant working for Knight, is pleased with the direction of the race, arguing that the former state legislator fits the district and that weve never had a survey that has shown Knight behind.

Democrats typically register a lot of people, but not that many turn out to vote, he said. They register a transient population, people who dont stay around long.

Harmeet Dhillon, former head of the San Francisco Republican Party and the Republicans current national committeewoman from California, argued that mail ballots, which have been arriving since early October, dont always reflect the changing reality of a political race.

The new disclosure of a renewed FBI email investigation could be dampening enthusiasm for (Democratic presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton, she said.

Early voters, who include those who turn in their mail ballots at the polls on election day, now represent a majority of the ballots cast. In the 2012 general election, 51 percent of the ballots were vote-by-mail.

The Democrat-leaning voting numbers may simply be mirroring a new reality, said Mitchell, who updates the vote-by-mail numbers daily.

Nearly 5 million people have either registered to vote or updated their registration since January, and 72 percent of them signed up as permanent vote-by-mail, he said. That could mean the changing figures merely represent a front-loading of the young, minority and Democratic voters who dominate the rolls of new voters, and not an overall change.

Then theres the question of just who these early voters are. While about half of voters 65 and older have returned their mail ballots, that number falls to 10 percent for those 25 and younger, Mitchell said.

Thats an amazing number, he added. Campaigns say a lot of young people are sitting on their ballots.

That generation gap makes a real difference. A Field Poll released Thursday found that Republican Donald Trump led Clinton, 52 percent to 40 percent, among California voters 65 and older. Among voters 18 to 39, it was Clinton 68, Trump 17.

More voters are coming into the process, and more of them are Millennials and more of them are Democrats, Mitchell said. Now we have to see whether they are enthusiastic enough to vote.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth
SANTIAGO, Chile  Lissette died under the care of the Chilean state, suffocating in her own vomit while a caretaker allegedly sat on her back while trying to contain the 11-year-old during what was described as a crisis of aggressiveness.

Her mother had sent her to a government shelter hoping authorities could protect her as she became increasingly violent and difficult to handle.

The former head of the National Service for Minors later said that Lisette died because she was conflictive. But a police investigation has shown that the childs caretakers were partly responsible for her death and failed to administer the CPR that could have saved her life.

Lissettes case exploded in a crisis over the care of at-risk children that has outraged Chileans. After initially reporting just 185 deaths, the government recently acknowledged that 865 children have died under the care of the National Service for Minors over 11 years.

Calling Lissettes death shameful, President Michelle Bachelet has committed $3.7 million for an overhaul of the agency charged with looking after more than 100,000 children in the governments care each year in Chile, some in their own homes and some in shelters.

As a society and as a state, we have failed these vulnerable children, Bachelet said.

The agency had come under fire in previous years, but remained unchanged, partly because the extent of the problems at the institutions it oversees were not publicly known. Some critics say that the latest measures come too late and that the agency is beyond repair.

This institution must disappear to give way to a public structure that does take the responsibility that the state is taking, said Rene Saffirio, a ruling party lawmaker who led efforts pushing the government to release the agencys statistics on the childrens deaths.

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.

The death of Lissette caused a public outcry that led a congressional commission to open an investigation. It also forced the resignation of Justice Minister Javiera Blanco and Marcela Labrana, the former head of National Service for Minors.

When Lissette died, Labrana said the girl had suffered from stress caused by being sexually abused by a member of her family. She also said the child suffered a breakdown because her family was not visiting her at the shelter.

Chiles investigations police, the countrys equivalent of the FBI, later said the girl suffered from bipolar disorder and was taking medicines.

A special prosecutor is investigating the deaths of Lissette and all the other children who died in the agencys care.
California voters appear inclined to pass a majority of the most contentious initiatives on Tuesdays statewide ballot, with one of the last state polls before the election showing strong support for legalizing recreational marijuana, tacking on a new cigarette tax and tightening gun control.

But the big-dollar campaign funded by pharmaceutical companies to defeat Proposition 61, which takes aim at rising drug prices by barring state agencies from paying more for prescriptions than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, seems to have gained traction, according to the Field-IGS Poll of likely voters released Thursday.

Respondents who were polled late last month were split on Prop. 61, with 47 percent supporting it and the same number opposing it. Thats a significant shift since a similar poll in September found the measure leading, 50 percent to 16 percent  with 34 percent undecided. Drug companies have spent more than $100 million to defeat the initiative.

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The poll was clearer in suggesting California may join several other states in decriminalizing recreational cannabis for adults 21 and over and taxing the sale of all pot. A solid majority of voters, 57 percent, said they supported Proposition 64 in the survey conducted by the Field Poll and UC Berkeleys Institute of Governmental Studies.

Support for the measure was down slightly from September, when 60 percent of respondents said they would vote yes. Nonetheless, with just 3 percent of voters remaining undecided, the initiative appears comfortably ahead, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.

The responses on Prop. 64 reflected a broad shift in public opinion toward acceptance of marijuana use over the past several years, with increased backing from voters across every age group, political affiliation and ethnicity.

The poll compared voter opinions of recreational marijuana with those in 2010, when California residents rejected a similar measure. More than two-thirds of voters ages 40 to 49 said they now supported legalizing marijuana  a huge bump from the 39 percent who backed the cannabis initiative six years ago.

The survey released Thursday looked at voter preferences on 10 high-profile initiatives on the ballot, including the following:

 Prop. 52, which would make permanent the hospital quality assurance fee to help fund Medi-Cal, appeared headed to victory with 66 percent support in the poll.

 Prop. 55, heavily supported by the state teachers union, would extend a tax on the wealthy, with the proceeds going to schools and community colleges. The measure had 59 percent support.

 Prop. 56, which would raise the cigarette tax by $2 per pack, had 55 percent support, up from 53 percent in September.

 Prop. 58, which would give schools more flexibility to expand bilingual education programs for English learners, had 68 percent support.

 Prop. 63, which would require background checks to purchase gun ammunition and ban ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds, had strong backing, with 59 percent of voters saying they would vote yes.

Responses were collected online from Oct. 25 to 31, through YouGov. The survey, conducted in English and Spanish, sampled roughly 1,000 likely voters for each proposition. The Field Poll did not include a margin of error because opt-in surveys make it difficult to calculate sampling error estimates, officials said.

To see the full results of the poll, go to www.field.com.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
Ever wonder what tourists are being told to do in San Francisco?

Most of the packages aimed at travelers cover the ground you'd expect: Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, North Beach. Some of the more adventurous ones will take you to the Farallones, but most packages revolve around tours that depart from the Fisherman's Wharf area.
An attorney for Volkswagen says car owners eligible for a buyback or fix under a $15 billion settlement over the companys emissions cheating scandal are signing up and submitting claims at a high rate.

Sharon Nelles told a federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday that more than 370,000 people have registered on the settlement website and nearly 200,000 have submitted claims.

The deal covers about 475,000 Volkswagens and Audis that the company acknowledged last year were programmed to cheat on emissions tests. It allows owners to sell their vehicles back to Volkswagen or get them fixed and gives them an additional $5,100 to $10,000 each. A fix has yet to be finalized.

Europe

Google answers

antitrust claims

To many Europeans, Google represents Silicon Valleys perceived stranglehold on the digital world. But on Thursday, the Mountain View company tried to portray itself as a stalwart of online competition as it responded to European antitrust charges that it had restricted consumers choices and hamstrung its competitors.

The back-and-forth between Google and Margrethe Vestager, Europes top antitrust official, highlights the increasing stakes in three competition cases against the search giant, the earliest of which dates to 2010. The standoff is likely to define Europes often weary relationship with U.S. technology companies like Amazon, Apple and Facebook for years to come.

Google responded on Thursday to two European antitrust charges, saying that its services helped consumers, advertisers and even some competitors find the digital information they seek online. The company said that the strength in Europe of other American technology companies, like Amazon, showed that Google had not restricted the local digital market.

The rebuttals relate to years-old accusations that Google unfairly diverted traffic from competitors to favor its own comparison-shopping site, and that the company abused its dominant market position when offering some search products on other companies websites.

We cant agree with a case that lacks evidence and would limit our ability to serve our users, Kent Walker, Googles general counsel, wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

Dining

EatWith gets

more money

San Franciscos EatWith, a startup that arranges social dining for travelers  meals prepared and served in private homes  said it has raised an undisclosed financing round led by travel giant TripAdvisor with participation from Greylock Partners. TripAdvisor will add EatWith meals, called Dine with a Local Chef, to its restaurant pages, allowing users to click through to book the meals through EatWith. The meals will have reviews and photos, similar to the user-generated content offered for other restaurants.

EatWith said it has 650 hosts in 200 cities worldwide, including 30 in the Bay Area, and has helped 80,000 diners book its intimate meals.

TripAdvisor owns FlipKey, which allows travelers to book stays in private homes, similar to Airbnb. The EatWith deal shows it making new moves into the so-called sharing economy.

EatWith is a truly innovative service that helps travelers dine like a local, and were excited to help support their efforts through an investment that will also help us expand our leadership position in the restaurant category, said Bertrand Jelensperger, global head of TripAdvisor restaurants and LaFourchette CEO. Breaking bread with someone in their own kitchen is such a powerful way to learn about a culture and make new friends that weve decided to integrate EatWith into our TripAdvisor Restaurants pages. Now our users will be able to book EatWith experiences in cities around the world.

Earnings

Starbucks

tops estimates

Starbucks reported a 23 percent increase in its fourth-quarter profit Thursday, thanks to rising sales at its coffee shops, along with an extra week in the period.

The results beat Wall Street expectations, and Starbucks also raised its dividend.

The Seattle company said fourth-quarter sales rose 5 percent at established stores in the Americas, which includes the U.S., its biggest market.

CEO Howard Schultz reiterated on Thursday the importance of the companys expansion in China, saying it will help growth for decades to come.

The Chinese stores are the companys most efficient and profitable, Schultz said in a conference call with investors. Starbucks has announced plans to more than double its number of stores in China to 5,000 by 2021.

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Legal pot is fast becoming big business.

Yet in a plainly decorated office in Seattles Eastlake neighborhood, there is little sign of the millions of dollars that Privateer Holdings has raised to invest in or buy cannabis industry companies.

In fact, the biggest sign of anything agricultural is a large painting of a bunch of bananas in CEO Brendan Kennedys office.

Im fascinated by bananas, Kennedy said. The fruit was first imported to the U.S. in 1870. By the turn of the century, Americans were eating millions of bunches. Could marijuana be on a similar trajectory to mass acceptance?

The very notion might have seemed bananas just a few years ago. But now, days before California and eight other states will vote on measures to legalize marijuana in one form or another, Kennedys private-equity firm said that it had raised a total of $122 million aimed solely at cannabis businesses after landing $40 million in funding Friday.

Kennedy believes that makes it the first legal marijuana company to raise more than $100 million. It had earlier attracted investment from Founders Fund, the San Francisco venture capital firm of Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

For us, its a huge milestone, but its a milestone for the industry as a whole, said Kennedy, who left Silicon Valley Bank to start the firm six years ago.

Privateer is putting all its eggs in the legal marijuana basket, so to speak. Its investment strategy shows signs of paying off.

Ryan Agnew, a Seattle consultant who works with legal cannabis companies, concurs with Kennedys budding bullishness. I think that especially with the likelihood of a Democratic administration, I think well see a revision of the Controlled Substances Act within three to five years from now, especially since you have states like California that will be coming into the fold, he said.

With deals for three companies so far  Leafly, Tilray and Marley Natural  Privateer has grown from nine employees in a Seattle office in 2013 to more than 300 people spread across seven states and five countries.

With ballot propositions to make recreational pot legal in five states, and medical pot measures on the ballot in four more, Kennedys company looks ready to cash in on a booming market.

The new round comes in the form of convertible debt, a form of financing that companies sometimes use between rounds of venture capital, suggesting Privateer has plans to raise even more money down the road. Convertible debt also avoids setting a value on the companys shares, a question which might be better resolved after Tuesdays votes.

Cannabis is a mainstream product consumed by mainstream people around the world, Kennedy said in an interview at his Seattle office. And because of that, the end of prohibition (in the U.S.) is inevitable.

Zack Hutson, Privateers vice president of corporate affairs, estimated that marijuana might be federally legal within a decade, but it is expected to become legal for recreational use in California next week  that is, if the vote on Tuesday reflects the support for Proposition 64 shown in recent polls.

A change in the public perception of marijuana has been key to legalization in states including Washington and Oregon, Agnew said.

The big perception change for me is that youve had policymakers  city council all the way up to Congress members  going into these businesses and seeing that its agriculture, he said. And with the legal marijuana industry already estimated at more than $6 billion, theres too much money changing hands for Congress to ignore.

Privateers Tilray, a company focused on research and production of medical marijuana, is based in Canada, where, if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has his way, recreational pot will be legal nationwide next year.

Tilray is also trying to get in on the ground floor in Australia, where medical marijuana will become fully legal this month.

Privateers Leafly, with billboard ads often seen around Seattle, is an international clearinghouse of marijuana news and other information through its website and mobile app, offering reviews of marijuana strains, products and dispensaries.

And then there is Marley Natural, billed as a premium cannabis lifestyle brand headed by members of Bob Marleys family and backing a line of marijuana products in California and Oregon. It is set to be available in Washington next month.

Kennedy acknowledged that Privateers investments can make for complicated maneuvering in the U.S., but as fast as things have moved in the last six years, he expects them to only move faster in the future.

I tell our employees every day that this is day one, he said. While the last six years have been fascinating, and the pace of change has been faster than even we ever imagined, the next 10 years are going to move even more quickly.

Daniel DeMay is a SeattlePI.com writer. Email: danieldemay@seattlepi.com Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay
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A man was charged with murder Thursday after an 88-year-old woman who police say he viciously beat in a brutal home invasion in San Jose died, authorities said.

Zachary Omar Cuen, 19, of San Jose was previously charged with premeditated attempted murder in connection with the Sept. 12 assault of the woman, Flo Douglas, in her home during an attempted robbery.
LOS ANGELES  A record number of gay characters are featured on broadcast series, but small-screen shows overall can be deadly for the female ones, according to a study released Thursday.

More than 25 lesbian and bisexual female characters died on scripted broadcast, cable and streaming series this year, the media advocacy group GLAAD found in its report on small-screen diversity.

While TV remains far ahead of film in gay representations, the medium failed queer women this year by continuing the harmful bury your gays trope, the report said.

The violent deaths included characters Poussey Washington (played by Samira Wiley on Orange is the New Black) and Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack on Wentworth).

Its part of a decade-long pattern in which gay or transgender characters are killed to further a straight characters story line, GLAAD said, sending what it called the dangerous message that gay people are disposable.

For its annual report titled Where We Are on TV, researchers tallied the LGBTQ characters seen or set to be portrayed in the period from June 2016 to May 2017. Counts were based on series airing or announced and for which casting has been confirmed.

The study, which in 2005 began examining other aspects of diversity on TV, found record percentages of people of color and people with disabilities depicted on broadcast shows.

Among the detailed findings:

Broadcast TV includes the highest percentage of regularly appearing gay characters  4.8 percent  since gay rights organization GLAAD began its count 21 years ago. Among nearly 900 series regular characters on ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC, 43 characters are LGBTQ, up from 35 last season.

Characters with a disability represented 1.7 percent of all regularly seen broadcast characters, up from 0.9 percent last season. Each platform has at least one LGBTQ character thats HIV-positive, with only one such character a regular (Oliver on How to Get Away with Murder).

African Americans will be 20 percent (180) of regularly seen characters on prime-time broadcast shows this season, the highest share yet found by GLAAD. But black women are underrepresented at 38 percent of the total, or 69 characters.

The percentage of regularly appearing Asian-Pacific Islanders on broadcast TV hit 6 percent, the highest tally found by GLAAD and slightly more than the groups U.S. population percentage. Contributing to the increase are the Asian-American family shows Fresh Off the Boat and Dr. Ken.

Latino characters rose a point to 8 percent, equaling the highest representation found two seasons ago by GLAAD. That differs sharply from the 17 percent Latino representation in the U.S. population as measured by the Census Bureau, the report said.
The opening of Werowocomoco, director Francis Ford Coppola's new Geyserville restaurant, has been a bit controversial.

The restaurant, which features Native American cuisine, has drawn criticism for cultural appropriation, but Coppola contends that his intentions are to pay homage to a culture he admires and became interested in as a child.

"I was filled with awe and respect for these people and fascinated with their story and wanted to learn what I could," he writes in a Chronicle opinion piece. "I also wanted the opportunity to taste and experience what Native American food is like today, and so over several years I traveled in search of it. I shared meals on Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico, in private homes and eateries for local people."

Coppola writes that after hearing about the fact-based legend of Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony in his youth, he became interested in Native American culture. As an adult, he worked to "resurrect" the Virginia Dare wine brand, one of the earliest American wineries, in Geyserville.

Eventually, his interests brought him to the idea of a Werowocomoco restaurant, attached to the winery. After the Pamunkey tribe in Virginia allowed him to use the name for the establishment, he moved forward with his plans, building a menu himself with wines from the revived Virginia Dare winery and culinary input from "a council of advisers consisting mainly of Native Americans of different tribes from around the country."

Coppola also writes that the restaurant, as well as the winery, will donate a percentage of pretax proceeds to Native American organizations, as well as offer preferential employment to Native Americans.

"Cultural misappropriation is not good, as it misuses culture without giving back, and is hurtful," he said. "Especially to peoples who need to benefit by it."

You can read Coppola's editorial in full here at the San Francisco Chronicle.



Read Alyssa Pereira's latest stories, and follow her on Twitter at @alyspereira. Send her news tips at apereira@sfchronicle.com.
San Franciscans love their avocados. Just ask Ed Duran of Valencia Street's Taqueria La Cumbre. Americans crave them, he said, and theyre a key part of Mexican cuisine."

"But now, said Duran, avocados are scarce.

This year has seen a notably intense avocado shortage, due to a labor strike in Mexico. It's basic supply and demand: with fewer avocados making their way north from Mexico to Californiaduring a season when there aren't many Californian avocadosand with hungry San Franciscans still craving their super burritos with extra guacamole, prices have spiked dramatically.

Weve been in the business for over 50 years, and have been working with wholesalers for over 20 years and have great relationships with them, said Duran. When they cant find avocados, thats when you know there are some issues."

By now, you've likely experienced price markups at the grocery store, where individual avocados are selling for $4-5. But restaurants arent buying individual avocadostheyre buying crates.

Blanca, an employee at Valencia Street's Taqueria El Buen Sabor, says her restaurant is currently paying $120 for a crate of avocados that would normally cost $40.

We sell a lot of fresh guacamole dip, she said, but since each container contains three or four avocados, "we had to take it off of our menu, because it is so expensive. The taqueria could have raised prices, but made the decision to forgo purchasing avocados instead.

A few blocks away on 16th Street, Pancho Villa Taqueria is in the same boat. "It was very difficult to find avocados, said Alvaro, an employee who helps with sourcing the restaurants produce. We looked everywhere to find avocados, and the ones we found were very green and very hard.

In our kind of business, added the restaurants manager, we use avocados for everything, so people were kind of disappointed."

Jorge Perez of the Castro's Zapata Mexican Grill told us that its not unusual to see a slight price jump in avocados at this time of year. Its a seasonal transition from one area of crop growing to another, and when that happens, you get these bumps in prices," he said.

The strike has amplified the effect. "Not only would prices normally be high, but now, theres just no ripe avocados to be gotten, because theyre just not coming across the border from Mexico."

Perez told us that 2016 has been the most challenging year for acquiring avocados in recent memoryalthough he said that it's common for each year to bring one piece of produce whose pricing is out of whack.

Compared to Mexican avocado farmers and laborers, Mexican avocado distributors are making much more money, Perez explains. With so few California avocados currently on the market, this time of year was opportune for laborers south of the border to make their point.

Though October was tough, things are getting better in the avocado market compared to even two weeks ago, a Pancho Villa manager told us. Taqueria La Cumbres Duran agrees, noting that it's in farmers' best interest to get their avocado harvests to market sooner rather than later.

They have to be realistic, said Duran. Their harvests are rotting, so if they dont sell anything, they dont get any [profit].

So does that mean that (relatively) cheap avocados will return in the near future? Maybe, maybe not.

Were already seeing some California avocados come into the market, said Zapatas Perez. But it might take a little longer in the grocery stores, because they dont go through their produce as fast as restaurants.

Ultimately, the prices will come down, said La Cumbre's Duran. From what Ive been told, its at least a couple weeks off, but the discussions [in Mexico] are beginning.

In the meantime, taquerias are attempting to hold the line.

In the end, the one who suffers is the consumer, Duran said. So Im hoping that for everybodys sake, were all able to get our avocados.

This story originally appeared on Hoodline.
ATKINSON, N. H.  Hillary Clinton sped across battleground states Friday trying to energize minority and female supporters and seal a historic presidential victory, while Donald Trump traveled to small-town America to fire up the white, working-class voters he insists will bring the crown to his outsider campaign.

Clinton and Democratic allies used star power and stark warnings as they addressed her base of African American, Latino and female voters. She was campaigning in urban centers of Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland while President Obama made her case in Fayetteville and Charlotte, N.C.  all cities where minority voters are crucial.

In Pittsburgh, a city where one in three people is not white, Clinton hammered Trump as someone who demeans women, mocks people with disabilities, insults African Americans and Latinos and demonizes immigrants and Muslims.

Trump, meanwhile, was on a tour of rural areas, hoping to boost turnout among the voters drawn to his promise to bring back a lost America. He started his day in Atkinson, N.H., population 6,800 and almost 98 percent white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. From there, he headed to Wilmington, Ohio, another overwhelmingly white town where just 13 percent of residents have a college degree.

Speaking more than 2,000 miles from the Mexican border, Trump drew loud cheers in Atkinson when he vowed to build a massive wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The crowd booed when he contended that Clinton supports open borders.

Her plans would mean generations of terrorism, extremism and radicalism spreading into your schools and through your communities, Trump declared.

In spite of a close race in national polling, Trumps path to victory remains narrow. His campaign is increasingly looking to make up for losses among suburban voters, particularly women, by wrestling up new voters in out-of-the-way places.

The candidates divergent paths highlighted the yawning gaps between race, place and economics that drive presidential policies.

Trump told his largely white audience in Atkinson that we have to rebuild our country.

Trumps dark views on the economy clashed with a new jobs report showing the unemployment rate declined to 4.9 percent while wages went up in October. The report marks 73 straight months of job growth.
NEWARK, N.J.  Lawyers for Democrats around the country are filing lawsuits claiming Republicans and the campaign of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump are pushing supporters to intimidate and confront voters on election day.

Trump has called on his supporters to act as election observers in certain areas of the country to help prevent fraud.

In Ohio, a federal judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against Trumps campaign and his friend and informal adviser, Roger Stone, barring them from harassing or intimidating Ohio voters during Tuesdays vote.

Attorneys representing the Democratic Party argued Friday in a New Jersey court that the GOP was coordinating with Trump to intimidate voters, accusations that the Republican Party says are not true in that state or in four other states where Democrats are waging similar battles.

The New Jersey case is unique as it relates to a consent decree in place since 1982 regulating what the Republican National Committee can do when it comes to ballot security.

The consent decree was created after Democrats alleged that the RNC helped intimidate black voters during New Jerseys 1981 gubernatorial election. The RNC and New Jerseys Republican Party allegedly had off-duty law enforcement officers stand at polling places in urban areas wearing National Ballot Security Task Force armbands. Some had guns visible.

Joshua Kaul, an attorney representing the Democratic National Committee, told the judge in Newark on Friday that Trump has repeatedly encouraged his supporters to engage in vigilante efforts in the guise of ferreting out potential voter fraud. Kaul said the RNC is participating.

Bobby Burchfield, an attorney for Republicans, told the judge that party volunteers are engaging in normal poll-watching and that Democrats havent found one instance in which someone was intimidated or prevented from voting.

Judge John Michael Vazquez did not immediately rule.

In Nevada, a federal judge in Las Vegas will hold a hearing Monday before deciding whether to restrict election day exit polling by Stones Stop the Steal group. U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware says hes also keeping time open for a Tuesday hearing in case of further allegations of intimidation.

Democrats have also brought cases in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
NEWARK, N.J.  Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of causing traffic jams for political revenge near the nations busiest bridge, a verdict that raised anew questions about why the Republican governor and his inner circle escaped prosecution.

Bridget Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, Christies appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them. Both defendants plan to appeal.

Testimony during the seven-week trial contradicted Christies statements about when he knew about the four days of gridlock in the town of Fort Lee in September 2013. The traffic jams were aimed at retaliating against Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christies re-election, prosecutors alleged.

Other testimony described some of Christies top advisers and confidants either knowing about the plan or soon afterward, and being aware of the purported political motivation, well before Christie told reporters in December 2013 that none of his staff was involved.

Baronis attorney, Michael Baldassare, said the U.S. attorneys office should be ashamed of where it drew the line on who to charge.

Baroni and Kelly were indicted last year. Also charged was former Port Authority official David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty and testified against them.

Christie said Friday that the verdict affirmed his decision to terminate Baroni and Kelly and that the jury held them responsible for their own conduct.

When the scandal unfolded, Christie was considered a top GOP presidential contender. He ultimately dropped out of the race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary and said recently that the scandal probably influenced Donald Trumps decision not to pick him as his running mate.

The jury convicted Baroni and Kelly of conspiracy, misapplying the property of the Port Authority, wire fraud and deprivation of civil rights. The most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison, but U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said the defendants likely would receive far less time. Sentencing is set for Feb. 21.
1 Voting access: A federal appeals court on Friday blocked an Arizona law making it a felony to collect early ballots, a win for the Democratic get-out-the-vote effort shortly before election day. The order from an 11-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means it wont be a crime for groups to go door to door to collect early ballots from voters and deliver them to the polls. Its a tactic especially effective in minority communities. A three-judge panel had rejected a bid last week from Democrats and some voters to block the law. They allege it violates the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act because it hurts minorities ability to vote. The Republican-controlled Legislature enacted the law, which GOP Gov. Doug Ducey signed.

2 Train safety: Federal investigators found numerous safety violations in New Jersey Transits commuter train operations, including the lack of on-board emergency tools and working fire extinguishers, and trains stopping too close to each other. NJ Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro disclosed the findings of a Federal Railroad Administration review at a state oversight hearing Friday. The hearing was scheduled after Septembers fatal train crash in Hoboken that killed one woman and injured more than 100 people. An Associated Press analysis of safety data from January 2011 through July 2016 found that NJ Transit trains have been involved in 157 accidents since the start of 2011, three times as many as the largest commuter railroad, the Long Island Rail Road.
SPARTANBURG, S.C.  Investigators found a body Friday during a search of land in South Carolina where a missing woman was discovered chained up like a dog in a large storage container, and there may be more remains in the area, a prosecutor said.

The body has not been identified, but prosecutor Barry Barnette said the woman saw her captor shoot and kill her boyfriend. Referring to the possibility of other victims, the sheriff said authorities were trying to make sure that we dont have a serial killer on our hands.

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, a 45-year-old registered sex offender with previous kidnapping conviction, appeared at a bond hearing Friday in Spartanburg on a kidnapping charge. More charges will be filed, Barnette said in court.

The judge did not set bond and instead referred the matter to circuit court. The suspect did not appear to have an attorney.

The missing woman was found Thursday inside a container measuring about 30 feet by 15 feet. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said she told him the bodies of other women could be buried on the land owned by Kohlhepp.

The womans boyfriend, 32-year-old Charles Carver, has also been missing after the couple disappeared in late August.

Investigators began excavating the area after cadaver dogs signaled the possible presence of remains.

Acting on a tip, deputies found the woman after hearing her banging inside the container in Woodruff, 80 miles northwest of the state capital of Columbia, the sheriff said.

The woman, who had worked for Kohlhepp, had a chain around her neck, Wright said. She told deputies she had been kept in the container for two months and had been fed regularly.

Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said his departments investigation into the couples disappearance led authorities to the property near Woodruff.

We got computer and cell phone records that ultimately led us to the area in Woodruff, Stewart said. We knew that was the last place that a cell phone tied to this case pinged.

Guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized from Kohlhepp, the prosecutor said. Its unbelievable how much had, he said.

South Carolinas sex offender registry lists a 1986 kidnapping as the reason Kohlhepp is in the database of sex offenders. It indicates he was a juvenile offender.
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An organization hoping to facilitate the secession of California from the Union is holding a meet and greet on the Capitol steps in Sacramento Wednesday, November 9, 2016, or, the day after the presidential election.

The Yes California Independence Campaign, which is based in San Diego, is aiming to qualify a citizen's initiative in 2018 to get a referendum for secession on the ballot in 2019. They'll be in Sacramento to garner support for their initiative.

"In our view," a statement on its website reads, "the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children."

And it appears the organization has been considering its strategy for quite a while now. On its site, you'll find a link to a 33-page "Blue Book" wherein the organization answers any hypothetical questions about the state becoming its own country. The details for the secession  dubbed the #CalExit  include such topics such as "Will we join the United Nations?" and "Will we have our own Olympic team?".

While the notion of an independent California does seem well-intended  points about immigration, environmental concerns, and education are thoughtful  the practicality of such a proposal is tenuous at best.

Will this secession campaign be viable? In a word: No. As we know from the Civil War, just because a state wants to secede doesn't mean the Union will let it. As Washington Post writer Philip Bump wrote earlier this year, Congress simply would not, for many reasons, allow it.

"There's no mechanism for Congress to simply say, 'Sure, off you go.' Once you're in, you're in," he wrote. "The United States was born an expansionist enterprise, and the idea of contraction, it seems, never really came up."

Nevertheless, the Facebook group for the organization is surprisingly strong. With over 11,000 members who have liked the page, the movement might at least gain some steam...even if it is just a lot of useless hot air.

In the meantime, you can learn more about their platform here at their website.



Read Alyssa Pereira's latest stories, and follow her on Twitter at @alyspereira. Send her news tips at apereira@sfchronicle.com.
In what is considered to be one of the biggest recent archaeology discoveries made in Australia, there is an interesting side story about how, exactly, the discovery was made.

The remains of a prehistoric Aboriginal settlement dating back to 49,000 years ago  10,000 years earlier than previous theories  was found by a man in search of a bathroom.

Giles Hamm, a consultant archaeologist and doctoral student at La Trobe University, described the discovery to ABC, saying that he and local Adnyamathanha elder Clifford Coulthard were taking surveys of an area of southern Australia called the Flinders Ranges.

"Nature called, and Cliff walked up this creek bed into this gorge and found this amazing spring surrounded by rock art," Hamm told the news organization. They surveyed the area and discovered a shelter among the rocks with a "blackened roof," signifying that fires had been lit inside by humans, Hamm said.

The real news, of course, is what was found. Among the early discoveries were hafted tools (meaning an artifact attached to a wooden handle, much like an ax), 4,300 human artifacts, bone and 70 percent of what is believed to be a yellow-footed rock wallaby, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The rock dwelling and region, known as Warratyi, led to more findings, which researchers later said that at the time they had no idea how important their findings would be. The team worked on the site for the last nine years, and have also gained some evidence that perhaps humans are not responsible for the extinction of megafauna, the Independent reported.

The finding also contributes to the theory that humans migrated across Australia, as the oldest human settlement dating to 38,000 years ago was found in western central Australia.

More details of the discovery are documented in a paper published in the scientific journal Nature.

"A man getting out of the car to go to the toilet led to the discovery of one of the most important sites in Australian pre-history," Hamm summed up for the ABC.
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An officer from the San Antonio Police Department has been fired for allegedly attempting to feed a fecal sandwich to a homeless person, several sources have confirmed.

The City Council was briefed on the matter during a private session Thursday, sources said. The officer reportedly placed fecal matter between two pieces of bread and gave it to a homeless person.

This was a vile and disgusting act that violates our guiding principles of treating all with integrity, compassion, fairness and respect, Chief William McManus said in a prepared statement. The fact that his fellow officers were so disgusted with his actions that they reported him to Internal Affairs demonstrates that this type of behavior will never be tolerated. The action of this one former officer in no way reflects the actions of all the other good men and women who respectfully serve this community.

RELATED: San Antonio drops case against chef who was ticketed for feeding homeless

The alleged incident occurred in May, when Officer Matthew Luckhurst, a five-year veteran of the department, bragged to a fellow officer that he had picked up some feces, placed it in a slice of bread, and put it in a Styrofoam container next to the unknown homeless male, according to a press release from the chiefs office. The officer reported that he told Luckhurst to go back and throw it away. The officer said he saw Luckhurst go back and he assumed that Luckhurst discarded the container.

The incident was reported to Internal Affairs in July. Police Department officials have been unable to locate the homeless man.

Firing this officer was the right thing to do, Mayor Ivy Taylor said in a statement to the San Antonio Express-News. His actions were a betrayal of every value we have in our community, and he is not representative of our great police force.

MORE: Ex-SAPD officers accused of tricking women into sex with bogus undercover operation indicted

McManus and two boards comprising citizens and police officers have all agreed on indefinite suspension for the officer, who plans to appeal the decision.

For the past year, or so, Luckhurst has been on SAPDs downtown bike-patrol unit.

Reached by telephone, Luckhurst declined to comment, saying that his lawyer advised him not to speak to reporters.

Ben Sifuentes, Luckhursts attorney, said that his client joked about giving an excrement sandwich to a homeless person but never actually did so. The joke spiraled out of control, he said, and has turned is client into the subject of unfair persecution, Sifuentes said.

It didnt happen, Sifuentes said. There are no eyewitnesses or video recordings and no statement from the homeless person, the lawyer said.

Im confident that in arbitration, we will prevail, said Sifuentes, who has previously represented SAPD officers facing discipline and termination.

The council was apparently briefed Thursday on the issue because of speculation that the Express-News was working on a story about the incident. On Oct. 13, metro columnist Gilbert Garcia filed a request for information under the Texas Public Information Act, seeking all documents related to pending termination cases involving San Antonio police officers and a member (or members) of the San Antonio homeless community. But as of Friday, he had not received any responsive documents.

Several council members reacted Friday with outrage over the incident, standing behind McManuss decision to terminate the office.

Councilman Joe Krier called the act reprehensible.

We have very few bad apples in a barrel full of outstanding police and fire, Krier said. But its our job to get the bad apples out of the barrel as quickly as possible when they do bad things.

Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales, who represents the area around Haven for Hope  a massive center that provides services for the citys homeless community  said the officers action was just horrible.

I think its horrible that people would prey on very vulnerable populations, she said. It really is just so disappointing that one of our officers would prey on vulnerable populations. We are always working on behalf of those homeless people and Haven for Hope is still a place to go for any homeless person who needs resources.

Councilman Cris Medina said the actions were simply appalling.

That is not the way we treat human beings, and I was really disappointed, Medina said. I know the officer recognizes he made a terrible mistake and I know hes got to atone for his mistake.

Mike Helle, president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, said the officer does not receive union representation after being terminated.

Hes on his own right now, Helle said of Luckhurst. Its his conduct and behavior he had to answer for. The chief took the necessary action he thought he had to take.

For more on this story, visit www.expressnews.com later or read the Saturday edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

jbaugh@express-news.net

Twitter: @jbaugh
JAKARTA, Indonesia  Indonesias president blamed political meddling for violence in the capital Jakarta on Friday that killed one person and injured seven following a protest by hard-line Muslims demanding the arrest of the citys minority-Christian governor for alleged blasphemy.

In a televised address, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said the riot showed political actors have taken advantage of the situation. He did not identify any individual as responsible, but earlier in the week former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono went on national television to say he supported plans for the massive protest.
KABUL  A joint U.S.-Afghan raid Thursday against the Taliban involving NATO air strikes left 26 civilians and three Afghan troops dead, and two U.S. soldiers were killed in a separate incident, Western and local officials said, as investigators worked to determine what went wrong.

The Americans killed and four other U.S. troops wounded were among military advisers helping Afghan troops, rare combat casualties for Western forces who handed over the task of securing Afghanistan to local troops some two years ago.

Afghan officials said they were still investigating the attack and its civilian casualties, some of which may have been caused by the air strikes called in to support Afghan and U.S. troops under fire.

Residents later carried over a dozen corpses of the dead, including children, toward the local governors office in a show of rage a year after American forces attacked an area hospital.

NATO declined to identify the Americans killed, pending notification of their next of kin.

The target of the raid were two senior Taliban commanders, who were killed in the fighting along with 63 other insurgents, Kunduz Police Chief Gen. Qasim Jangalbagh said. He said that Afghan special forces carried out the raid and that he did not have any information about NATO involvement in the assault.

According to defense officials, the U.S. Army soldiers had gotten off a helicopter and were moving on foot with Afghan forces doing clearing operations in northern Kunduz province.

The defense officials said the troops came under fire and returned fire, but it wasnt clear whether it was gunfire or other larger rounds.

Two of the U.S. troops were killed and four others were injured. Two of the injured had more serious wounds and were taken away by medevac.
JERUSALEM  Three U.S. military trainers assigned to help upgrade Jordans armed forces were shot to death Friday at a Jordanian Air Force base, an alarming confrontation that raised questions about the relationship between two longtime allies.

The Jordanian military said the trainers failed to stop as they approached a gate at the air base in the southern part of the country, and the Pentagon said it was examining the circumstances of the episode. It came a year almost to the day after a Jordanian police captain killed two American contractors in a rampage at a training facility.
MOSUL, Iraq  Iraqi special forces launched a two-pronged assault deeper into Mosuls urban center on Friday, unleashing the most intense street battles against Islamic State militants since the offensive began nearly three weeks ago.

Smoke rose across eastern neighborhoods of Iraqs second-largest city as heavy fighting continued after sundown, with explosions and machine gun fire echoing in the streets as mosques called for evening prayer.

Earlier, columns of armored vehicles wound through the desert to open the new front, pushing through dirt berms and drawing heavy fire as they closed in on the middle-class Tahrir and Zahara districts. The area was once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Seven suicide attackers in explosives-laden vehicles barreled toward the troops, with two getting through and detonating their charges, said Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi. The others were destroyed, including a bulldozer that was hit by an air strike from the U.S.-led coalition supporting the offensive.

The advancing troops also came under heavy fire from mortars, automatic weapons, snipers and antitank rockets. At least five special forces troops were killed and an officer and three soldiers were wounded, said an Iraqi military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to brief reporters.

The operation is going well, but its slow. These kinds of advances are always slow, said Iraqi special forces Cpt. Malik Hameed, as Islamic State fighters could be seen running in the distance to reposition themselves. If we tried to go any faster we would take even more injuries.

Earlier, at the eastern approach to the citys urban center, militants holed up in a building fired a rocket at an Iraqi Abrams tank, disabling it and sending its crew fleeing from the smoking vehicle. The advance in that area then stalled.

.

The push began as dawn broke with artillery and mortar strikes on the Aden, Tahrir, and Quds districts, just west of the special forces footholds in the Gogjali and Karama neighborhoods, al-Timimi said. Both sides opened up with small arms and mortar fire after an artillery barrage by the special forces.

Later, the regular armys ninth division, which has been following the special forces, moved into the eastern Intisar neighborhood.

The Islamic State is fighting to hold Mosul as Iraqi forces and allied Kurdish troops squeeze in from all directions with U.S.-led coalition support, mostly from air strikes and reconnaissance.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered the city limits for the first time in more than two years, after a demoralized Iraqi army fled the city in the face of the Islamic States 2014 blitz across large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

The Iraqi forces still face weeks if not months of urban warfare as they work their way neighborhood by neighborhood in house-to-house battles through dense warrens of booby-trapped buildings.

More than 1 million civilians still remain in the city, complicating the advance. Islamic State militants have driven thousands of residents deeper into the citys built-up areas to be used as human shields, while hundreds of others have fled toward government-controlled territory despite the uncertainty of resettlement in displacement camps.

Mosul is the last major Islamic State stronghold in Iraq, and expelling the militant group from the city would be a major blow to the survival of its self-declared caliphate that stretches into Syria.
IRBIL, Iraq  The shadowy leader of the Islamic State has released a new message urging his followers to keep up the fight for Mosul as they defend the city against a major offensive aimed at routing the militants from their last urban stronghold in Iraq.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis rallying cry came in a sermon-like recording, more than half an hour long, distributed by the militant groups al-Furqan media arm late on Wednesday. It was not clear when the recording was produced. Al-Baghdadis whereabouts are unknown.

Iraqi special forces stormed into Mosuls eastern outskirts on Tuesday after two weeks of advances through surrounding Islamic State-held territory. They continued to consolidate their foothold in the eastern district of Gogjali despite a pair of attempted car bomb attacks on their positions Thursday.

The city of more than 1 million people and the surrounding territory fell to Islamic State fighters during the militant groups surprise attack in June 2014. al-Baghdadi visited the city soon after the takeover, and from inside Mosul declared an Islamic caliphate that at one point covered nearly a third of Iraq and Syria.

In his recording, al-Baghdadi rallies his fighters  especially in Mosul  and calls on them to obey orders while remaining resilient and steadfast.

Oh you who seek martyrdom! Start your actions! Turn the night of the disbelievers into day, he says, according to a translation provided by the Site Intelligence Group, a U.S. organization that monitors militant activity online, which reported the al-Baghdadi recording first.

Totally decimate their territories, and make their blood flow like rivers, al-Baghdadi also says.

Hours after his call, an explosives-laden vehicle sped out of an Islamic State-controlled area in Mosul and attacked Iraqi special forces positioned in the citys easternmost Gogjali neighborhood on Thursday. The special forces fired a rocket that blew up the car, killing the attacker.

A second suicide attacker also emerged from the same area, the more central Samah district, Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said, but that vehicle managed to get away. Islamic State fighters were also using explosives-laden drone aircraft, he said, adding that the militants had deployed two since the previous night but that both had been destroyed.

Troops in Mosul are stationed in the far east of the city, and have yet to push deep into the densely packed urban areas less than a mile away.
Getty Images

ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish authorities on Friday detained 12 pro-Kurdish members of Parliament for questioning in terror-related probes, drawing expressions of concern from Europe and the U.S., while a car bomb attack in the largest Kurdish city, reportedly claimed by Kurdish militants, killed nine people.

Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, the co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, were among those rounded up in the early hours. They were later ordered held in custody pending trial on terror-related charges along with three other legislators. The courts meanwhile, released three other lawmakers on condition that they report regularly to authorities.
BEIRUT  Opposition fighters fired mortars Friday at a corridor set aside for rebels and residents to leave besieged eastern Aleppo, Russian and Syrian officials said, breaking a humanitarian pause by Moscow and wounding two Russian soldiers and a Syrian journalist.

For most of the 10-hour halt in fighting, which was unilaterally announced by Russia, no one had approached the corridors, and webcam video from the Russian Defense Ministry showed no activity. There was no U.N. monitoring of the exit routes.

During similar, previous halts in fighting, rebels and civilians in eastern Aleppo also mostly stayed put, saying international monitors were not involved and there were no guarantees of security for those who left. Some battle-hardened residents believe the government would arrest anyone who comes out through the corridors.

About four hours before the pause expired, Syrian state media said seven mortar shells from the rebel-held territory hit one of the corridors in the northern part of the city.

The two Russians were slightly wounded during the shelling, and they were evacuated, but their lives were not in danger, the Russian Defense Ministry said. A correspondent for a pro-government broadcaster also was wounded by shrapnel, Syrian state TV said.

The government of President Bashar Assad largely abided by the halt. Russia, a staunch ally, has been supporting Syrias fight against the rebels with a campaign of air strikes as recently as September and October.

Aleppo, Syrias largest city and once its commercial hub, has become one of the biggest theaters of the civil war, where eastern districts have been controlled by rebels opposed to Assad and western areas have been controlled by the government. The eastern part has been besieged by pro-government forces since July, and the U.N. estimates that 275,000 people are trapped there.
Spark New Zealand managing director Simon Moutter has reinforced its push to steer customers away from copper broadband at the companys annual meeting today, after earlier trading insults with Chorus over the issue.

As you might have noticed, there has been some controversy between us and Chorus on this issue around the future of copper network, he told shareholders. Were driving both a fibre and wireless broadband story today and rapidly shifting our customers off the copper network."

A row has broken out between the two companies over the issue with Chorus accusing Spark of selling its customers short by misrepresenting the reliability of the copper broadband network.

But Moutter said the facts for Spark, as a service provider, was that it took about 30,000 calls a month from customers having issues with their copper network and broadband performance and in the winter that rose to nearly 70,000 calls a month.

We are having a great deal of service problems with it and we are highly driven now toward moving customers off that network.

Fixed wireless delivers fast internet to homes via a 4G network commonly used for mobile phone. Its use cuts Chorus out of the revenue mix.

Moutter told shareholders the company had long felt the day would come that wireless was an alternative for customers both with voice and broadband technology.

"That day has come, he said. The cellular network today is capable of providing extremely good fixed broadband services running on the cellular network and we are running to scale now on wireless broadband.

Spark customers are being steered to wireless broadband if they are low volume users and to fibre broadband if they are high volume users. Spark this week announced it and Ultrafast Fibre were trialling a new deployment method to make it quicker and easier for homeowners to install fibre broadband, by upgrading all homes in the same street in just one week with customers able to select which day that want the installation done.

Moutter said fifth generation mobile, a breakthrough technology where wireless truly becomes an alternative to fixed networking, should be in the market by around 2020 at scale. In the interim, it was progressing 4G and 4.5G into the market as a pathway to 5G.

The Spark board told shareholders that short-term incentives for management, including sales staff on commission, had been changed to make customer service account for half of those payments, with the other half centred on earnings.

It has also introduced a Net Promoter Score to measure customer satisfaction by comparing the net score of detractors who would not recommend the company to others against those who have had a good customer experience.

A couple of shareholders used the annual meeting to vent their displeasure with customer service with one saying it was the worst hes had.

Moutter said after the meeting that it had had a tough time this winter on customer service, particularly with the copper network, and it was working hard to improve on that.

Net promoter scores had been improving in recent weeks, he said. Im not going to give you the number because it can be radically different in different parts of the business. The good news is that all are rising.

Spark affirmed its earnings guidance for the 2017 financial year of a 2 percent rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from the previous year.

Chairman Mark Verbiest said it was looking to achieve modest earnings growth. When questioned by one shareholder why the ambition wasnt for higher growth, Verbiest said the company was serious about creating long-term value and didnt want to do anything stupid.

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Gentrack Group, the utilities software developer, said annual earnings rose 16 percent, beating guidance and shrugging off the impact of a strong kiwi dollar dragging on its export receipts.

The Auckland-based company said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were about $16.7 million in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, ahead of the $15 million ebitda forecast provided at its half-year update, and up from $14.5 million in the 2015 financial year. Revenue rose about 25 percent to $52.7 million and net profit was up 3 percent to $9.6 million.

"I am pleased to report that Gentrack's strong performance in the first half of this financial year has continued through to the second half, resulting in an improved outlook for revenues and operating performance this year," chief executive Ian Black said in a statement. "Operating results have been impacted negatively by the strength of the New Zealand dollar against other currencies."

Gentrack had anticipated revenue to gain 20 percent on an annual basis when it posted its interim result in May, with new customers in the UK driving up sales for the software developer.

The company will release its final results on Nov. 24 once the statements are finalised and audited.

Last year Gentrack replaced its chief executive James Docking with Black, a former Oracle and SAP executive, who took the role in January.

The shares rose 2.6 percent to $3.50, having gained 36 percent so far this year. The stock was punished after releasing a major profit warning six weeks after listing but has recovered since September last year and is now trading above its 2014 initial public offering price of $2.40.

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The New Zealand government's accounts were unexpectedly in surplus in the first three months of the 2017 financial year, with the provisional tax take from companies tracking ahead of forecast.

The operating balance before gains and losses was a surplus of $222 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, turning around a deficit of $545 million a year earlier, and ahead of the projected $503 million shortfall in the May budget projections. That was largely due to the 6.7 percent increase in taxation to $17.34 billion, which was $523 million ahead of expectations due to a higher than expected provisional taxes bolstering the corporate tax take, while GST was supported by residential investment and tourist spending.

"Most of the variance was caused by provisional tax being higher than forecast for both revenue and receipts, indicating that taxable profits for the current tax year may be higher than expected," Treasury said in notes to the financial statements. "Based on GDP outturns to June and Treasury estimates for the September quarter, GST arising from residential investment and inbound tourism was above forecast."

Last month Finance Minister Bill English unveiled a bigger surplus than expected for the 2016 financial year as record inbound migration bolstered the government's coffers, and reinvigorated speculation the Crown may put tax cuts on the table in next year's budget ahead of the 2017 general election.

Today's accounts show the Crown's expenses were in line with expectations, rising 2 percent to $18.92 billion, while net debt was below forecast at $63.12 billion, or 25.1 percent of gross domestic product.

The residential cash deficit of $810 million was $1.4 billion smaller than expected due to the increased tax take, while the operating balance, which includes unrealised movements in the Crown's investment portfolio and actuarial valuations of long-term liabilities, was a surplus of $2.31 billion, some $2.2 billion above forecast on investment gains in the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Accident Compensation Corp investment portfolios.

The Crown's net worth of $91.6 billion was $8 billion more than expectations, due to a stronger starting position after year-end adjustments and revaluations. The 2016 annual accounts released last month showed a $2.7 billion gain in the housing stock due to Auckland's booming property market, and today's figures show the housing portfolio valued at $15.64 billion, almost $2.6 billion more than forecast.

The government's provisioning for Emissions Trading Scheme credits soared to $2.33 billion from $832 million a year earlier, and was tracking $1.06 billion ahead of expectations. The Crown is currently reviewing the scheme as it tries to work out how to meet a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, using a combination of local emissions reductions, storing carbon in forests, and buying international carbon credits.

Separately, Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett acknowledged the Paris agreement comes into force today.

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Fonterra Cooperative Group, which last week suspended an agreement with a Chinese distributor after its products were sold after their expiry date in the secondary market, has unveiled what it calls a food quality seal.

The addition to Fonterra's branded products of the "Fonterra Trusted Goodness" seal is being rolled out worldwide today, including 1 litre and 2L bottles of Anchor fresh milk sold in New Zealand, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. The label also says "From Pure New Zealand," which plays on Tourism New Zealand's 100% Pure branding.

Consumers globally value high quality, safe and healthy food from trusted sources and "are prepared to pay a premium for them," said Jacqueline Chow, chief operating officer, global consumer and foodservice. "Consumers want to know more about where their food comes from and that it is produced by businesses using sustainable and ethical practices. They actively seek out products they can trust to feed their families and that come with these benefits."

Police in Shanghai last week arrested 19 people suspected of repackaging expired New Zealand milk powder and Fonterra later confirmed it had suspended an agreement with China's Jiawai. The New Zealand company has been extremely sensitive about its reputation for food safety in the Chinese market since the 2008 melamine scandal and subsequent safety issues, while for their part Chinese consumers, who see imported dairy as safer, have had counterfeit milk products foisted on them, fakes of reputable brands such as Fonterra's Chinese partner Beingmate.

The new labelling hails Fonterra's farmers as environmental progressives. Chow said the farmers have spent more than $1 billion on environmental initiatives over the past five years.

"Theyve fenced 97 percent of defined waterways on their farms, developed nitrogen management systems to reduce leaching, and spent more than $8 million on research into emissions-reducing technologies," she said. "All of their good work on-farm, combined with New Zealands natural, grass-fed advantage, the cooperatives focus on traceability, food safety and quality supported by Fonterras farmers and employees has helped to build credibility behind the Trusted Goodness seal," she said.

A spokeswoman said the seal wasn't adding new safety, traceability or copy-proof elements to Fonterra's branded packaging. "It's more about telling their customers where their milk comes from."

The global rollout is expected to take some months, starting with the US, China and Malaysia, and it would be years befoe all Fonterra's product bore the seal.

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Abano Healthcare Group's dissident shareholders Peter Hutson and James Reeves are seeking control of the dental clinic and radiology operator in a partial takeover offer.

The pair wants to buy 30.99 percent of the company, or 6.65 million shares, at $10 apiece to build a controlling 50.01 percent stake in Abano, via a new entity they've set up called Healthcare Partners Holdings, they said in a statement. The offer is a 27 percent premium to yesterday's closing price of $7.90, and the shares have since climbed 9.5 percent to $8.65.

Hutson and Reeves have been lobbying for change at Abano for several years, supporting an informal takeover bid in 2013 by Archer Capital at $6.97 a share which would have seen the Australian private equity firm take the healthcare investor's dental businesses and hand the audiology units to Hutson for a nominal sum.

The offer was turned down by the Abano board as being too low. Archer was refused due diligence access because it could become a direct competitor to Abano, and Hutson left the board. The pair later tried to oust chairman Trevor Janes, calling a special meeting of shareholders, though the resolution was voted down, and unsuccessfully tried again at the company's latest annual meeting.

"We have had concerns about Abanos performance for a number of years. In 2013, when Peter was a director of Abano, we approached the Company to try to achieve change; but shareholders didnt agree with the way we approached it and asked us to make an offer for the company," they said. "We have learnt from that and hence Healthcare Partners is making an offer this time of $10 per share to take its holding to 50.01 percent."

If the bid is successful, Hutson and Reeves will seek changes to turn around the company's performance, by halting acquisitions in the medium term to reduce debt and improving the dental practices' operations. They would install three directors to the board.

Last month, Abano told shareholders it expects to lift first-half profit by up to 50 percent in 2017 due to dental acquisitions, which it sees as its major growth platform.

Hutson and Reeves poured about 4.1 million shares, or 19 percent of Abano, into the Healthcare Partners entity, which has been set up to buy and hold shares in Abano and undertake any other investments in the healthcare industry as agreed by its shareholders.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Spark New Zealand's intention to move to a virtual-only annual meeting next year raised the ire of shareholders attending this year's one in person in Auckland today.

Chairman Mark Verbiest said as the countrys leading digital services company, Spark intends to take a leadership role in what it regards as the inevitable transition to virtual shareholder meetings.

The reality is in todays world all procedural aspects of the traditional shareholder meetings can now be virtualised, at considerably less cost to companies and to attending shareholders in terms of travel, and at considerably more convenience to those shareholders who live elsewhere and cannot attend (which is the majority of our investor base), he said.

But the proposal met strong opposition from many of the 130 or so shareholders who turned up at the annual meeting in Auckland, including the New Zealand Shareholders Association, which favours continuing the current hybrid model, where shareholders can participate online through their computers or mobile phones or physically attend. Hybrids are the way of the future, said association chairman John Hawkins.

He said the move to a virtual meeting was discussed two years ago with the Spark board but the association thought it would be a retrograde step.

That view hasnt changed, he said. What it signals is a disenfranchisement of shareholders who dont have access to or are not comfortable with using modern technology.

Z Energy is the only other NZX-listed company considering holding virtual-only meetings, due to poor attendance, and Verbiest said shareholder attendance at Sparks annual meetings has declined by 30 percent in the past five years. Hes had similar feedback of declining attendance from directors in other companies.

Telecommunications network operator Chorus held its annual meeting at its Wellington offices this week, attracting three dozen people and fielding just two questions from the floor.

About 90 listed companies in the US have now moved to fully virtual meetings, Verbiest said.

While access to board and management was always important, shareholders can already actively engage with Spark in different ways, he said. It provided a continuous flow of information through the stock exchange and media announcements, and held regular briefings with institutional investors and proactively engaged with the New Zealand Shareholders Association.

He assured shareholders their views would be taken into consideration before a final decision is made but after the meeting said moving to virtual meetings was inevitable and sensible.

Verbiest has also pledged that physical meetings will still be held if any controversial issues arise that need to be debated.

Hawkins said the question is who decides what is controversial and many shareholders expressed their concern at losing the ability to bale up directors and management after the annual meeting on matters they wanted to raise or seek further explanation on.

Shareholder Martin Geary, who is a small shareholder in around 70 NZX companies, said older investors like himself would feel awkward using the web to question directors rather than through face-to-face communications.

Is this like an Animal Farm kind of thing where they can cut us off if they dont like what were saying? he said.

He also blamed poor shareholder attendance on the venue near Sparks head office, which has a lack of adjacent free parking.

At the traditional free spread provided by companies after annual meetings, Hawkins said, tongue-in-cheek, he was surprised no shareholder had raised missing out on the food as an objection to virtual meetings.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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South Port NZ Ltd - 2022 Annual Meeting

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SCL - Meateor and Fayman Settlement & Market Update

November 1st Morning Report

NZME Investor Day 2022 Virtual Event

SPG - Changes to Executive Team

HGH - Details for the Heartland 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting


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THE WALL OF SHAME

"The only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--k holster."

--STEPHEN COLBERT

"[Ivanka Trump] Your father is a racist birther. Steve Bannon an anti-Semitic opportunist. You and your husband are enabling hatred. F--- your shoes."

--BRADLEY WHITFORD

"Melania [Trump] is a hooker."

--JACOB BERNSTEIN

"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."

"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."

--SALLY BOYNTON BROWN

"And to our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything: F--- you! F---you!

"Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."

--MADONNA

"Barron Trump looks like a very handsome date-rapist-to-be."

--STEPHEN SPINOLA

"Barron [Trump] will be this country's first homeschool shooter."

--KATIE RICH

"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

--MERYL STREEP

"There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality."

[That means we're almost positively living in a simulation, like a video game.]

--ELON MUSK

"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"

----------------------------

"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."

--CHARLIE SYKES

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

--BRIAN WILLIAMS

"I'm here to tell you if you elect me governor of this state, I will end the civil war."

--TOM BARRETT

"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."

--RUTH BADER GINSBURG

"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?"

--ROBERT DE NIRO

"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."

--JULIAN BOND

"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."

--GWEN MOORE

"[Tea Party Republicans] have acted like terrorists."

--JOE BIDEN

"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[T]he tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor."

--WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL

"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."

--DAVID BROOKS

"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."

--FRED CLARK, DEMOCRAT

"The picture was of me, and I sent it."

--ANTHONY WEINER

"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."

--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now theyre here to kill women."

--LOUISE SLAUGHTER

"The protesters have proven today that theyre not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just cant fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."

--JOHN NICHOLS

"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"In 1933, [Hitler] abolished unions and that's what our Governor [Scott Walker] is doing today."

--LENA TAYLOR, Democrat State Senator

"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness."

--JOHN LEWIS

"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."

--SLY SYLVESTER

"Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? I mean, is it a nod to the Tea Party?"

--JOY BEHAR

"We cant just leave it up to the parents."

"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isnt just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"Actually, I did not take part in [the assassination of Sarah Palin]. I led it."

--KATHLEEN PARKER

"[The repeal of ObamaCare is] a kind of creeping genocide."

--JESSE JACKSON

"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."

--DAN RATHER

"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.

"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."

--KEITH "Reagan's dead and he was a lousy President" OLBERMANN

"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil... I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."

--JOY BEHAR

"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."

--HARRY REID

"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."

--RICHARD DREYFUSS

"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."

--BOB WOODWARD

"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."

"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."

--AARON SORKIN

"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."

--HARRY BELAFONTE

"[Christine O'Donnell is] a witch who doesn't masturbate."

--JOY BEHAR

"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns. You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."

--BILL MAHER

"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."

--BILL GATES

"NOT the 'whiteman's bitch'"

--IESHUH GRIFFIN

"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."

--SARAH SPITZ

"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."

--KING SAMIR SHABAZZ

"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this. "But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."

--PEGGY WEST

"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."

--HELEN THOMAS

"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."

--PAUL McCARTNEY

"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."

--KATIE COURIC

"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."

----------------------------

"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolaryou name it, any condition  is job-locking."

--NANCY PELOSI

"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"

--TOM HANKS

"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."

--LOUIS FARRAKHAN

"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."

--JOE BIDEN

"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."

--ROLAND MARTIN

"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."

--ED SCHULTZ

"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."

--JOHN KERRY

"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."

--BILL CLINTON

"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."

--TOM SHALES

"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"

--MAUREEN DOWD

"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasnt lived that life."

--SONIA SOTOMAYOR

"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."

--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002

"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."

"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."

----------------------------

"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."

--WANDA SYKES

"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

--COLIN POWELL

"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."

--PAUL BEGALA

"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."

--BARNEY FRANK

"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."

--JIM DOYLE, Liar

"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."

--JOY BEHAR

"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."

--JON STEWART

"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"

--WHOOPI GOLDBERG

"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."

--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD

"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

--TED TURNER

"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"

--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL

"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."

--FELIPE CALDERON

"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."

--AL GORE

"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."

--ROSIE O'DONNELL

"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"

--CHRIS ROCK

"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"

--BARBRA STREISAND

"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"

--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand

"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."

--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer

"I said what I said. I am not guilty."

--SADDAM HUSSEIN

"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."

--MICHAEL SCHIAVO

"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "

--BILL MOYERS

"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."

--HOWARD DEAN

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."

--JOHN KERRY

"F---ing retarded."

"[Republicans] can go f--- themselves!"

--RAHM EMANUEL

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

--HILLARY CLINTON

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

--BILL CLINTON

"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."

----------------------------

"If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill."

----------------------------

"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but theres real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."

----------------------------

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."

----------------------------

"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."

----------------------------

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

----------------------------

"We're buying shrimp, guys."

----------------------------

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

----------------------------

"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."

----------------------------

"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if youre providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."

----------------------------

"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

----------------------------

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

----------------------------

"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."

----------------------------

"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."

----------------------------

"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."

----------------------------

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death."

----------------------------

"[T]he Cambridge police acted stupidly."

----------------------------

"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

----------------------------

"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."

----------------------------

"Over the last 15 months, weve traveled to every corner of the United States. Ive now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

--BARACK OBAMA
LONDON: Two Indians, including a student who has created a programmable smart socket for amputees to customise their comfort level according to their activity, have featured in the top 10 selected for the London Mayor's 2016 innovation competition.



Malav Sanghavi was the highest ranked Indian grabbing the fifth spot with his smart amputee socket followed byMustafa Khanwala in 10th position for inventing an app that eliminates the need to queue at the till in shops.



Another Indian student, Surabhi Mittal was commended for a tea set made from papier-mache.



However, they were pipped to the top prize by Italian- origin Luca Alessandrini, a post-graduate from Imperial College London, who beat hundreds of other entries from 49 different countries and 17 universities, with a violin which is made from a mixture of spider silk and resin.



He won the 10,000 pounds top prize in the Mayor of London's International Student Innovation Award 2016.



Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said, "The incredible range of talent on show in these awards celebrates the best of the capital and clearly demonstrates that London is open to talent and ideas from across the globe."



"We need to do all we can to ensure that London remains the best and most welcoming destination for international students," he said.



Sanghavi, whose amputee socket received wide praise from the panel of judges, said, "Studying in London was one of the best decisions I have taken for my career development."



London provides an amazing opportunity and platform to showcase my ability.



"Imperial College and Royal College of Art have supported me in every aspect of my career development as an entrepreneur. From grants to take the projects forward to support and collaborations regarding advanced development of the project," Sanghavi said.



Lord Karan Bilimoria of Chelsea, a cross-bench peer and president of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, said there was "huge potential" for each of the entries on the shortlist.



"It is fantastic that London can help these international students from across the world to showcase their ideas in this way," he said.



The awards were set up to highlight the work of the city's international students and also to provide some financial help to assist students in taking their innovation to the next stage of development.



It was devised by London and Partners, the Mayor's official promotional company and is also supported by the UK Government's Education is GREAT campaign and the British Council, Cambridge English, IDP Education and The PIE.

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HYDERABAD : Hyderabad and the Japanese city of Miyoshi today sought to deepen ties in the fields of education, culture and technology.



This was agreed upon during a meeting between Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor B Rammohan and the visiting Mayor of Miyoshi Masuda Kaztoshi, a GHMC release stated.



Highlighting the history of Hyderabad and the contribution of Japanese companies and nationals in the development of the city, Rammohan asked the visiting delegation to become partners in the schemes being implemented to make Hyderabad a global city.



The release quoted the Miyoshi Mayor as saying that a 'sister city' agreement was reached between Hyderabad and Miyoshi in 2006.



It made him happy to visit Hyderabad on the completion of one decade of the agreement, he said.



Kaztoshi invited the Mayor and the GHMC Standing Committee members to visit their city that has natural resources and sea coast, the release added.

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NEW DELHI: India has maintained its strong trading position with the UK, registering a 6 per cent year on year growth in exim container trade volumes for the first half of this year, container shipping company Maersk Line said today.



"As UK's third-largest trading partner, India's exim (export-import) container witnessed 6 per cent growth in first half of 2016, which is three times the growth we saw in H1 2015," it said in a statement.

This growth happened despite a 2 per cent decline in the UK's exim container trade volumes with the rest of the world during the same period, it added.



In terms of exports, India's top containerised commodity categories of garments, stones and tiles, kitchenware and appliances, and metal all registered stronger growth this year as against the last, it said.



"Mundra emerged as the number one port in terms of export volume traffic to the UK," said Franck Dedenis, Managing Director - India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Cluster, Maersk Line.



In terms of imports, it said, among the top containerised commodity categories, metal and iron and steel scrap saw volume growth year on year.



It also suggested that India needs to continue to improve its cost competitiveness by reducing transactions cost.

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MUMBAI: Leading global professional network LinkedIn on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with the Human Resource Development Ministry to create more job opportunities for Indian students.

As part of the MoU, LinkedIn's 'Placements' product will be adopted by all Indian colleges affiliated with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the company said in a release.

'Placements' provides a level-playing field for all students, regardless of their location or college and allows them to take an online assessment test, which gives them direct access to thousands of openings in 35 top corporates in India, it added.

"We're excited to work with the HRD ministry and AICTE to help students get greater access to the 'Placements' product. Our objective with 'Placements' is to help the country's best talent get access to job opportunities, regardless of their location. We hope to bring students closer to their dream jobs through this platform," LinkedIn India Country Manager and Head of Product Akshay Kothari said.

'Placements' was piloted in November 2015 and then LinkedIn opened the product in September 2016 to students at all colleges and universities in India.

In less than eight weeks from the launch, over 2 lakh students registered for the product and there were over 1.2 million job applications.

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Advance file photo

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police have announced the arrest of a suspect who allegedly menaced a school bus full of children with a knife on Thursday.

Andrew Riccio, 18, of the 300 block of Naughton Avenue in Dongan Hills, was taken into custody and charged with reckless endangerment and menacing, according to an NYPD spokesman.

The school bus full with children from Our Lady Queen of Peace School in New Dorp was traveling on Hylan Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue in Dongan Hills at around 2:30 p.m. when Riccio cut off the car, got out of his vehicle and threatened the driver with a knife, police allege.

Police do not know what prompted the incident at this time.

"The bus driver called police to report the incident and made sure no one got off the bus," said Nicholas Iacono, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York.

No injuries were reported, police said.

"Thank you to the NYPD for working so quickly," Principal Margaret Annunziata said in an email to the parents notifying them that an arrest was made.

Despite the incident, parents feel their children are safe at the school.

"I feel my children are safe," another mom said. "The incident makes me wonder what's going on with Staten Island though."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Last month we boasted of Hollywood's love affair with Staten Island and the way in which Tinseltown big wigs continue to tap the once forgotten borough as the backdrop for film after film.

But this month, creative filmmakers have taken it a step further.

Not only do they see fit to film right here, but they've created "The Fifth Borough," a TV series that focuses on a family -- fictitious of course -- who live right here on Staten Island.

Headlining the largely based New York cast is Staten Island local Steve Stanulis "(The Networker," "The Deuce") as Nico (Nick) Lehoux whose family is turned upside down when his daughter Skylar is diagnosed with a brain tumor. So he turns to "Family" friends for fast cash.

The Island family business is run by Angelo (Vincent Pastore of "The Sopranos").

In speaking of the project Pastore noted: "'This is a teaser pilot for 'The Fifth Borough" and we're filming here. I was also here when I did 'Staten Island Summer.'"

Oscar-nominated actress Cathy Moriarity ("Raging Bull," "Mambo Kings," "Prince of Central Park") noted she grew up with Vincent Pastore and knows him for over 30 years.

"And this is a great project.," she says. "I love New York pieces. And for these guys I said yes. Director John Bianco is wonderful."

Says Stanulis,"I created this because we never really had a serious movie on Staten Island. When I created it four major networks jumped on it and are waiting to see this pilot."

He adds he tried to get the most recognizable New York cast possible and says he's totally blessed to be able to present Staten Island in a positive light.

"Everything on Staten Island is going to be what it is and where it is. It will create a lot of work and revenue here and will give Staten Island a shot as far as S.A.G. (Screen Actor's Guild)," he continues.

Richard Grieco, ("22 Jump Street," "If Looks Could Kill"), who plays the part of Frankie told us: "It's a character driven piece about hate, love and deception and we wanted to film on Staten Island. The film has production value and to have people see the film through the eyes of this family is terrific."

And Lou Martini Jr., who played Anthony Infante, Johnny Sac's optometrist brother-in-law on "The Soprano's," explained he's getting back into the swing of things and back to his hi jinks. "Once a street guy always a street guy," said he.

Director John Bianco of "The Soprano's" fame has assumed the role of director/writer and is also portraying Detective Dominic Carullo.

Stanulis, an actor in the film, doubles as its creator and producer.

In a collaborative effort, "The Fifth Borough," was written by Bianco, Greg Paul and Stanulis.
By DEBORAH JOSEFSON, M.D.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island New York's Temple Emanuel was the first stop of a multi-city national speaking tour for Dr. Elysha Netsarh, a member of the new Jewish community of Madagascar.

Dr. Elysha was one of 121 Malagasy men, women and children who converted to Judaism on the remote Indian Ocean island this past May.

Dr. Elysha is on a 6 week speaking and cultural exchange tour of the United States sponsored by Kulanu, a small nonprofit organization which specializes in supporting emerging and returning Jewish communities worldwide.

Staten Island was privileged to host Elysha largely because of the efforts of Bonita and Rabbi (Gerard) Sussman of Port Richmond's Temple Emanu-El. Bonita serves as the Vice President of Kulanu and Rabbi Sussman was integral in providing Rabbinic support to this novel remote Jewish community.

The Jewish community of Madagascar arose organically about five years ago when a group of Malagasies became interested in the tenets of Judaism and began adapting Jewish rituals, customs and prayers.

INTENSIVE SELF STUDY

Through intensive self study, using internet resources and remote correspondence with rabbis in Israel and the United States, they achieved a remarkable fluency in Hebrew and in the elements of Jewish worship.

Eventually, they got in touch with Kulanu, an organization which specializes in supporting isolated and remote emerging Jewish communities.

Bonita Sussman was charged with communicating with this community and eventually organized a group of 16 volunteers to visit them this past May.

The group included four individuals with Staten Island ties: Rabbi and Mrs. Sussman, myself and Cantor Oizer Neumann of Temple Emanu-El. Over a period of 10 days, 121 men women and children decided to officially convert to Judaism in an orthodox rite. Additionally, 24 of the converts also chose to reaffirm their marriage vows in Jewish wedding.

'SHACKLES OF COLONIALISM'

In her lecture to members of Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Netsarh detailed her journey towards Judaism in terms of rebirth from the shackles of Colonialism.

Dr. Netsarh explained that many Malagasies believe themselves to be of Israelite origin and that her grandfather, prior to his death, told her that she needed to one day investigate her family's Jewish roots.

She further explained that Christianity was imposed on the Malagasy population by the French and that when she emerged from the waters of the Mikveh and received her Hebrew name she felt finally free from vestiges of Colonialism.

Currently, about 50 percent of Malagasies practice some form of Christianity, 8 percent are Muslim and the remainder practice a native animist faith in which ancestor worship features prominently.

In her professional life, Dr. Netsarh teaches medicinal and botanical chemistry at the University of Antananrivo and also works for a homeopathic pharmaceutical company.

During her visit to Staten Island Dr. Netasah enjoyed the hospitality of the Sussman's and Temple Emanu-El, was impressed by the population of indigenous Staten Island turkeys and visited the Staten Island Zoo, Fort Wadsworth and the National Lighthouse Museum.
I continued to follow the old Lincoln Highway west of North Platte. It took me through Hershey, Sutherland and Paxton. Paxton is home to one of the most favorite taverns in Nebraska, known as Oles Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge, an almost obligatory stop.

Inside the bar that dates back to 1933, wheat harvest crews sat at the tables. The walls are filled with big game trophy mounts from all over the world. One of the most memorable is a large polar bear in a glass cage that was shot in Russia.

My waitress talked about a few famous people who have stopped at Oles and all of the interesting and fun ordinary folk whom she has served. Today I got added to the list.

Next stop Ogallala, where it feels like the West. The towns name comes from the Oglala Sioux tribe.

Ogallala was the real Wild West. It was the terminus of some long cattle drives from Texas to the railroad line where the cattle were transported back East.

The town has its own Boot Hill.

It turns out many Old West towns have a Boot Hill, a place where people were buried with their boots on. The bodies were wrapped in canvas and placed into a shallow grave. It became the final resting place for early settlers and some interesting characters, including Rattlesnake Ed and Bill Campbell.

As I walked to the top of Boot Hill and past the graves, I looked south and imagined endless lines of longhorn cattle tossing up dust as they came north to Ogallala. I suspect after weeks of driving horses and cattle, the cowhands were ready to blow off some steam. Results for some of the celebration probably led to a patch of ground on Boot Hill.

Most of the graves have been removed with reinterment at a different cemetery. Not all the graves were marked well, so it is most likely some remains are still on Boot Hill.

In downtown Ogallala is the Spruce Street visitor center. The center was once a gas station dating back to 1922 and operated during the heydays of the Lincoln Highway.

Outside the station is a bronze statue of a gas station attendant called Hugh.

The smiling Hugh is waving at a passing car. This is a perfect symbol representing the culture of Nebraska  a gesture of kindness as we crossed paths, even if we dont know one another.

This is also evident when you drive on the Lincoln Highway in western Nebraska. Countless times people traveling in vehicles waved as we passed. Over time, I noticed various types of waves. They included the whole hand wave, the two-finger wave and the one-finger wave of the index finger as it lifted off the steering wheel.

Whatever technique used, all served the same purpose: to say hello.

I find joy living in a place where strangers wave at each other with the only intent being kind. Nebraska is a place where we have not forgotten that we need each other to help find our way.

Robert Frost wrote, Good fences make good neighbors.

In Nebraska, good waves make good neighbors.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The polarizing Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump race has had passionate Americans practically at each other's throats for most of the campaign season.

The NYPD won't be taking any chances on Staten Island come the night of the election.



There will be an additional police presence on the borough Tuesday in the event of any election-related trouble, according to a law enforcement source.

That includes officers at and around polling locations and on patrols.

In addition to potential incidents between Americans on different sides of the race, authorities will be keeping an eye out for an enhanced terrorism threat, according to a report by CBS News.



The Trump-Clinton contest is believed to have already sparked several incidents on the borough.



Just this Wednesday, Willowbrook resident Vito Gallicchio came home and found someone smashed a brick through his Corvette window. He believes he was targeted because his front lawn displays several signs supporting the Republican candidate and claims his wife heard someone yell "f--- Trump" around the time of the incident.

In August, FDNY marshals determined someone torched a large, pro-Trump "T" sign displayed on the lawn of the Castleton Corners home of Sam Pirozzolo, a community activist and staunch supporter of the businessman.

A month later, John Solazzo, who goes by the moniker "Mr. Democrat," reported that his van, which was adorned with Hillary Clinton posters, suffered a broken windshield after it was hit with flying projectiles on Capodanno Boulevard.



The most notorious election-related incident on Staten Island came on Nov. 4, 2008, when four individuals were accused of running down a man with a car and beating a Liberian immigrant with a metal pipe in a rampage in retaliation for Barack Obama being elected the country's first black president.

For a look at just how contentious this race is on Staten Island, watch the video below, where an Advance reporter asking motorists to honk to show their support for either candidate was flipped off, insulted and even pelted with a water bottle.
Melania Trump is alleged to have plagiarized a line from Marla Maples in her first speech since the disastrous one she gave at the Republican Convention. Medieval historian Yoni Brander made the connection after noticing that that phrase "if you could dream it, you could become it" only shows up in two places: Melania's speech and Marla Maples' book. Melania's supporters say this is fake outrage and it's a common phrase. Walt Disney used a similar phrase. What do you think? Vote now.

PERSPECTIVES

Melania just plagiarized Trump's second wife Marla Maples. Here's the only Google results for "if you could dream it, you could become it": pic.twitter.com/ALeHuSZqEm  (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 3, 2016

People found a lot of joy in these allegations.

To be fair, it is a fairly common phrase. Walt Disney is known to have said "If you can dream it, you can do it." Are we really going to split hairs about tenses?

It's a Walt Disney quote.  JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) November 3, 2016

Many people thought Melania gave a great speech.

Melania Trump is everything liberals hate.



Beautiful inside and out

Smart

A LEGAL immigrant

Not likely to be indicted#HillaryIndictment  Brandon (@brandongroeny) November 3, 2016

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There was no new information regarding an ongoing robbery pattern in the borough, despite several robbery arrests in the past few days, police said.

The pattern, dubbed "Pattern 23," has spanned the month of October and involved more than 10 robberies across the borough.

A source with knowledge of the investigation told the Advance Thursday that detectives are looking into a possible connection to the pattern after two 18-year-olds were arrested Wednesday night in connection to a heist at a New Springville deli.

Patrick Weah of Park Hill Avenue and Isaiah Williams of Stuyvesant Avenue in Irvington, N.J., were arrested Wednesday night on Grymes Hill in the vicinity of Hillside and Howard avenues, according to a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Weah allegedly went behind the counter with a handgun and demanded that the workers at the 1212 Victory Blvd. store open the registers. He was able to make off with an undetermined amount of cash from the register and lottery machine.

Williams allegedly stood guard outside as the heist went down.

After the suspects fled, police officers canvassing the area saw a livery car with three riders, including two who fit the descriptions of the robbers.

As police approached the cab, at least one of the suspects jumped out of the cab, ran and was chased down by officers, police said.

Police also found a 17-year-old girl in the cab, who claimed that she didn't know the suspects went to Victory Superette to rob the deli. She reportedly told police that she met up with one of the suspects to smoke marijuana and thought the suspects went into the store to shop.

The two teens are charged with robbery in the incident that happened at 9:02 p.m.

Two 20-year-olds were also arrested Tuesday in connection to a robbery that occurred at a New Brighton deli.

Abraham Tarr, of Jersey Street, and Eric Coleman, of Richmond Terrace, were arrested at approximately 2:23 p.m., according to a spokesman for the NYPD.

One of the men entered Tejada Grocery Store at 78 Westervelt Ave., hit an employee in the head and fled with an undetermined amount of money, police said.

The owner of the store said his nephew was the attacked employee, and that he had checked himself in to Richmond University Medical Center yesterday.

Police said the deli bandits also made off with a cell phone, tablet and credit cards from the heist.

Tarr and Coleman are both charged with robbery.

Police could not say if any of these four arrests were related to the robbery pattern. Police released photos of at least three different individuals on Monday that are sought for questioning in connection with the incidents.

The individuals are described as black males, 18 to 25 years old, last seen wearing dark colored clothing.
NWS Commute

Traffic piles up along Bay Street near the ferry terminal in St. George on Tuesday April 5, 2016.

((Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo))

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city's plan to mitigate future traffic problems on the North Shore could cost as much as $100 million and relies heavily on the assumption that most new visitors will get here on the Staten Island Ferry.

The North Shore Transportation Improvement Strategy outlines 18 measures the city can implement within the next 18 months to address congestion and accommodate a slew of upcoming redevelopment projects alongside old infrastructure in the area.

The $330,000 study also recommends 13 longer-term projects that would take more time and community input to execute.

Pieces of the plan will cost as little as $2,000 and as much as $68 million, requiring the successful merger of resources from four city and state agencies and the cooperation of private businesses.

"We'll put a lot of things on the ground, then we'll see what happens on day one, on day two, on day three and there'll be a lot of adjustments as we go along," Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said at an Advance editorial board meeting on the plan Thursday. "We recognize a project of this magnitude is going to require a lot of iterative work."

BRACING FOR MORE TRAFFIC

The city's Economic Development Corporation is leading the traffic project with the Departments of Transportation and City Planning. Engineering firm WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff was hired to mold the plan, originally expected to be finished this summer but delayed several weeks.

The study area encompasses 10 neighborhoods and 60 problematic intersections between where Richmond Terrace meets Port Richmond Avenue and where Bay Street meets Hylan Boulevard.

Congestion is expected to increase at about half those intersections during certain times, according to the analysis. The weekday afternoon rush hour is expected to experience the largest traffic increase in the future from new commuter trips.

"Despite everyone's support of those projects, there were some really valid concerns about traffic, about immobility," said Maria Torres-Springer, head of the city's Economic Development Corporation.

Hundreds of cars already flow every rush hour along the major roadways there, with at least 70,000 more daily riders on 22 bus routes, the Staten Island Railway and the ferry. Bay Street, for instance, has 1,000 vehicles during peak hours and about 13,500 commuters take the ferry to Manhattan between 7 and 10 a.m.

The study notes that traffic, parking, transit, bicycle and pedestrian volumes are expected to increase half a percent annually for the next five years, increasing a little less each year thereafter.

WHAT ABOUT PARKING?

Just under 49,000 additional trips are expected to be made to the North Shore every weekday as a result of the redevelopment projects, according to a 2013 analysis cited by the city. On weekends there will be about 59,000 extra trips.

The ferry is expected to encompass about 72 percent of these new visits, with only about 11,300 additional car trips on weekdays.

City officials said this is because most people going to Empire Outlets or the New York Wheel will be tourists who ride the ferry over.

Plus, as the study notes, construction from the projects has already cut down the number of commuters who park and ride the ferry by about 13 percent.

"This is the great debate with Staten Islanders -- those that go there will drive," Trottenberg said. "But it's actually not going to be the biggest slice."

On weekdays, the area already has enough private parking to accommodate about 1,800 cars. The outlet mall, wheel, Stapleton redevelopment, Lighthouse Point and the proposed Bay Street Corridor rezoning will add around 4,500 parking spots.

The city believes this will be enough private parking. The study still notes, "it is expected that on-street parking demand will outweigh capacity."

A 'NORTH SHORE PLANNER'

As part of the 2013 development deal for the projects, the city already committed to six roadway and traffic improvements, as well as increased NYPD enforcement to manage the mall opening and Staten Island Yankees games. The city is also studying the possibility of providing additional ferry service north of lower Manhattan.

Additional projects to reduce congestion include a series of traffic enforcement, roadway changes, freight management and enhancements for pedestrians and bicycles. These efforts will be coordinated by a new "North Shore Planner" who began at the Department of Transportation a few weeks ago and lives off-Island.

"There's a section of things that we're extremely nimble on," said Ryan Russo, the agency's deputy commissioner for transportation planning and management.

The 18 "initial actions" identified in the study include new lane configurations and turning prohibitions in certain intersections and signal progression along all major corridors. The city will also install new traffic signals and work with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to increase bus service on the S46 and S44/S94.

LONG-TERM, PRIORITY PROJECTS

The 13 other "priority projects" include various capital improvements in the area, including changes to major intersections and railway stations. The city would also like to add additional bike racks and lanes, and install real-time passenger information displays at bus shelters.

Funding for those projects is unsecured.

The most costly proposal is the construction of a $68 million Tompkinsville Esplanade with continuous pedestrian and bike access between the Stapleton Waterfront and the St. George Ferry Terminal.

The study also calls for changes to the Hannah Street bridge at Bay Street to increase pedestrian access, costing as much as $20 million. Reconstructing the intersection of Richmond Terrace near the St. George Terminal could cost $11.3 million.

ISLAND NEEDS TO ADAPT

The city plans to present all recommendations to the community in coming weeks. Officials will also work to secure funding for the long-term projects.

Funding is one challenge -- both MTA and city capital spending plans have numerous competing needs and Staten Island projects could be sidelined by any economic downturns.

"The competing needs for the MTA capital plan are ferocious," Trottenberg said.

The city also stressed the need for Staten Islanders to adapt with the coming changes.

More than 80 percent of borough households own at least one car, and the city notes infrastructure improvements are only one way to avoid congestion and accommodate growth.

"As the North Shore continues to see increased financial and economic investment, residential and employment centers grow, and travel patterns change the transportation system must change with them," the study concludes.
Update: One of the NYPD sergeants shot in the incident has died, according to several media reports. The sergeant had been shot in the head.

NEW YORK -- Police officials say two New York City police sergeants have been injured in a shootout with a robbery suspect.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the sergeant's death Friday. He says the other officer was shot in the leg and is undergoing treatment.

The New York Police Department's top spokesman Stephen Davis said the robbery suspect was killed in the exchange of gunfire in the Bronx.

Davis said the suspect's car was pulled over by police who had received a description of someone who had just committed a home invasion. He said the suspect fired on the sergeants who were responding to the scene.

An anonymous law enforcement official identified the suspect as 35-year-old Manuel Rosales. The official said a woman called 911 after Rosales broke into her home, violating an order of protection.

The official wasn't authorized to discuss an ongoing case.

Earlier, a police spokeswoman said the injured officers were taken to Jacobi Medical Center.

The spokeswoman also said the shooting occurred just before 3 p.m. Friday in the borough's Parkchester neighborhood.

A lawyer who previously represented Rosales says his client wasn't violent.
Its been a busy few weeks for Dodge County Clerk Fred Mytty, but the hustle and bustle has been extremely rigorous the past few days.

With the Nov. 8 general election looming directly around the corner Tuesday, Mytty has been maneuvering all around Dodge County ensuring precincts are getting set up properly, and that polling staff is adequately prepared to take on the more than 22,000 registered voters occupying Dodge County.

On Thursday Mytty made his way to precinct locations located in Fremont, and Friday he stopped in Scribner, Dodge and North Bend.

Teaching proper procedure to poll workers is vital, he said during a Friday phone interview.

They really need to know what all the proper procedures are, Mytty said. They have to know how to check people in and how to observe people. They also need to understand what all is on this years ballot.

Mytty said that this year is an especially upbeat year in terms of early voters submitting absentee ballots. So far, around 2,700 Dodge County residents have submitted absentee ballots, coming close to breaking the all-time Dodge Country record, Mytty said. That translates to more than 10-percent of all registered Dodge County voters coming out early.

Mytty said theres several reasons for this.

Its really a combination of things, he said. Theres a ton of interest in this election with everything going on with the presidential race, local government race, capital punishment and legislature, Mytty said. Also with absentees, years ago they changed that word to early voters. So now the word is getting out there that early voting is an option, a lot of people used to assume you could only use an absentee if they would be gone election day, but that is not the case.

Mytty said that election season is usually fairly smooth sailing in terms of voters behavior. To hold voters accountable in terms of not committing voter fraud, The Nebraskans for Civil Reform are acting as observers at three precinct locations in Fremont, and the Associated Press is observing in Scribner.

Voter fraud is very rare in Dodge County, he added.

We have had a few isolated incidents, but its very, very rare, he said.
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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...
For Wayner Jimbo '20, Skidmore is more than the opportunitiy to earn a degree and enter the workforce; it is one step closer to bringing his parents back to the United States. Deported when he was nine years old, Jimbo's parents have supported him from Ecuador as he became accountable for himself and made the decision to go away to college. Jimbo recounted the day his parents were deported, and his decision to stay in the United States on WNYC and NPR's All Things Considered.

When I was nine, I woke up one morning and my mom said, someone came looking for your dad. She didnt know it was immigration. She assumed they were police officers, so she gave them his work address.

Later that day, I was watching Pokemon and my baby sister was at daycare. Then I heard the phone ring and my mom started crying. I came in the kitchen, and my aunt said, Just tell him. You have to tell him.

My mom said, Wayner, they arrested your dad. Hes going to be deported to Ecuador.

I knew what arrested meant but I didnt know what deported meant, until she explained.

I found out later my mom was planning to go to Ecuador as well, to be with my dad. She asked me, Mi hijo, do you want to go to Ecuador with me or do you want to stay with your aunt?

My mom wanted me to leave with them, but I didnt know that then because she didnt show it. I think she wanted me to make the decision on my own. She and my little sister left four months after my dad was arrested. I remember that day.

Behave good," my mom told me, "dont forget I love you.

After that, everything was weird. I moved into my aunt's apartment and I didnt have a bedroom anymore, so I just slept in the living room. It took a while to adapt. Id come home and expect to see my mom or dad, but it was just my aunt and her daughter.

There were times when I felt really lonely and I would think, what if I could just go be with them?

But then something would happen in school, a teacher would say something that would inspire me, and I wouldnt want to give up. And it helped, too, that every summer I got to see my parents and younger sister in Ecuador. I would be happy with them -- wed take road trips every weekend -- but it was temporary.

Sometimes you need that mother love or that father love, so coming back to the U.S. was the hardest part. My mom said I would cry a lot when I left. She told me, I am not forcing you to be there. If you want to be with us, stay with us. But I told her, No Mami, over there its better. I cry because I feel sad for both of you, but over there it's better.

My main goal has always been to bring my parents back. They told me if I wanted to do that I had to do well in school. So I was forced to be more responsible. Id wake myself up and clean my room. My mom wasnt there to tell me to do my homework anymore, so I did it myself.

Sometimes my parents dont understand the decisions I have to make. Like when I told them I was going away to Skidmore for college. At first my mom didn't really want me going away to school. But she realized that since I was young Ive had to make my own decisions. So she decided to support me like she always does.

As I get older I cry less during our phone calls. Maybe it's a form of maturing, or maybe, Im just used to it. When I turn 21, I can petition for my parents to return to the country legally. Theyve told me that Im their only hope to come back, and that puts a lot of pressure on me. But the way I take it is motivation and a reason not to give up.
It isnt too complex of a device. For most of its life, it sits alone on the ceiling and doesnt make a sound. Occasionally it goes off when something is burned in the kitchen causing quite a disturbance. Every so often, though, that high-pitched beep or siren saves lives.

Every year, smoke detectors save peoples lives when nothing else might have stirred them from their sleep. Because of this, the Fremont fire department encourages people living in the greater Fremont are to take a few minutes out of their busy days to simply change the batteries on their smoke alarm device.

A great time to put in new batteries is Sunday morning when people turn their clocks back one hour recognizing the end of daylight savings, released information says.

When people turn their clock back for the end of daylight saving time, they are encouraged to use that extra hour for a life-saving action, changing the batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

The Fremont Fire Department is taking part in a smoke detector battery replacement program. The fire department wants to help members of the community who are unable to purchase a new battery or change their old one, released information says.

Home fires take the lives of more than 2,500 people each year in the United States alone. Despite the increased number of homes with smoke detectors, the issue is keeping the devices working.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, three out of five fire injuries take place in homes without working smoke alarms. And 71 percent of smoke alarms that failed to operate had missing, disconnected or dead batteries. Smoke detectors give advance warning in a firea situation where minutes can mean the difference between life and death.

Senior citizens or disabled individuals who are unable to replace their own batteries and would like to have their detectors checked and batteries replaced should contact the Fremont Fire Department at 402-727-2688.

A member of the fire department will then make arrangements to replace the battery free of charge, released information says.
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Flights have been taking tourists from Canberra direct to Wellington since September, and the New Zealand city is about to get an even bigger dose of the Australian capital.

November 14-20 will mark Canberra Week in Wellington, with local food, beer, art, music and film headed across the ditch for a series of events.

Canberra-based hip hop artist Jimblah is going to the New Zealand capital as part of Canberra Week in Wellington. Credit:Marco Del Grande

As part of the festivities, there will be a Freakshake pop-up in Wellington's Civic Square, which will include a special "Welly" shake, and a film festival screening Canberra productions Ella, Joe Cinque's Consolation and Me & My Mates vs Zombie Apocalypse.

Beers from Zierholz Brewery, PACT Beer Co, Capital Brewing Co, Bentspoke Brewery and the Wig and Pen will stage a tap takeover at Wellington craft beer bar The Malthouse, and street artist Byrd will leave his creative mark in Opera House Lane alongside hip hop artist Jimblah.
Is there anything more evocative or atmospheric than the steel drums? You can almost hear the ocean waves and feel the sun on your skin.

Well, there's no more of that soundtrack to tropical paradise at the Wanniassa shops - it's been silenced.

Seventy-nine-year-old Courtney Leiba, who has been playing the steel drums out the front of the Wanniassa shops, for more than 20 years has been told he can no longer play there. Credit:Jay Cronan

Canberra musician Courtney Leiba is a familiar sight at the shops, busking there for at least 20 years, back when the supermarket was a Shop Rite.

When it was an IGA, he was even paid by that supermarket to perform there, especially close to Christmas.
Joshua Leighton defrauded some of the most vulnerable members of the Canberra community out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, money he spent on brothels, pokies and bills, a court has heard.

Between March 2010 and September 2013, Leighton, a tradesman, accepted money from employees of the Public Trustee of the ACT for maintenance work on properties belonging to the Trustee's clients.

Man who defrauded hundreds of thousands from the Public Trustee has been jailed. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Leighton, 38, has admitted that work was never done.

He would withdraw the cash on the same day and split it with an employee of the Trustee; 60 per cent to the employee, and 40 per cent to himself. Together they spent it at brothels and on pokies, the court heard.
Charity marketing giant Appco has revealed that just one charity has severed ties in the wake of claims of widespread sham contracting and bullying.

Defending Appco's model as an indispensable part of fundraising in Australia, company chief executive Martin Gaffney warned bad publicity was putting in jeopardy a lucrative source of funds for charities.

"Charities' biggest concern is that this publicity will result in this revenue stream drying up ... They're nervous that if Appco was forced to stop fundraising or to move to an employment model, it would be a challenge for their fundraising," he said.

"They're concerned their cost of fundraising will increase dramatically."
Penrith is emerging as one of Western Sydney's investment hotspots, with a flurry of residential developments recently coming to the market to meet buyer demand.

According to the Penrith Council, the area has a lower rate of unemployment than NSW. The unemployment rate in Penrith in the June quarter 2016 was 4.13 per cent, down from 5.41 per cent in June 2015.

CBRE's Richard Gell and Tom Sheridan have recently been appointed to negotiate the sale of a DA approved site for 81 units at 20-28 Lethbridge Street, Penrith.

Unemployment in Penrith has reduced over the past two years by 2.6 per cent and in the past year by 1.28 per cent. This reduction is in contrast to the Australian, NSW and Greater Sydney rates which have been steadier.

Penrith mayor John Thain said council is dedicated to finding partners to help it deliver innovative and remarkable results for the growing community.
Following a flurry of significant freehold hotel sales, including well-known Sydney properties The Colombian Hotel and The Commodore Hotel, Ray White Hotels Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe has now listed Top 100 gaming property The Tennyson Hotel on Botany Road in Mascot.

The Tennyson Hotel is a multi-level and very popular hotel with 30 gaming machines, and notwithstanding the latest ranking at 87 in the state of NSW, the hotel requires an upgrade, and leading hotel architect Paul Kelly has designed a renovation which has recently enjoyed D.A. approval. "Only a very small number of Top 100 gaming hotels have changed hands over the past few years, such is the vice-like grip the ever-diminishing number of consolidating ownership bodies hold on this particular asset class," Mr Jolliffe said. The hotel, even in its current unrenovated state, attracts in excess of $8 million in annual receipts from predominantly high gross profit margin revenue centres.

Ray White Hotels Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe has now listed Top 100 gaming property The Tennyson Hotel on Botany Road in Mascot.

Moore for the job

Well-respected property executive Charles Moore has been appointed as the chief executive of the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA). Mr Moore was previously the chief executive of the Commonwealth Property Office Fund and has been an advisor to the Property NSW. The SOPA board, chaired by The Hon John Fahey, will support the precinct overhaul set to provide homes for 23,500 residents, businesses, new transport links, parklands and retail. The recently released SOPA 2030 Master Plan outlines the biggest revitalisation of Sydney Olympic Park in its history.
There are five reasons why Malcolm Turnbull should restore Tony Abbott to federal cabinet. First and foremost, he'd do a very good job in a government that's seriously short of ministerial star power. Under John Howard, Abbott was the employment minister who made the Job Network a success and Work for the Dole a reality. He was the workplace relations minister who established the Cole Royal Commission as a prelude to the ABCC. He was the health minister who ended the medical indemnity crisis, restored bulk-billing, doubled medical research funding, and brought in the Medicare safety net and the Medicare dental scheme. And he was the leader of the house who maintained the government's parliamentary dominance over the then-opposition. Restoring backbencher Tony Abbott to the federal cabinet would be the right move for many reasons. Credit:Andrew Meares Second, and self-evidently, the idea that there are 23 members of the current cabinet all of whom are more talented and more capable than Abbott is absurd. Other than Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne, Josh Frydenberg and perhaps Scott Morrison, which other minister stands out? Third, it would be the magnanimous thing to do. After 2010, Abbott was under no illusions that Turnbull had stayed in the parliament to be someone else's minister. Yet despite knowing that he'd be stalked, Abbott put his rival into the shadow cabinet and then into the cabinet  and kept him there, despite Turnbull's failure to give wholehearted support to Abbott's key policies. For Turnbull to be far less gracious to Abbott than Abbott was to him just looks mean-spirited.

Fourth, restoring Abbott to cabinet could help reconcile the party room and the party. Abbott remains well-liked even by the backbenchers who feared that his government might lose. It would help to ease their guilty consciences  exacerbated by the near-loss of the recent federal election  if Turnbull were to give Abbott some praise and recognition. Then there's the wider Liberal Party many of whose members still regarded Abbott as a true believer. Especially in Turnbull's and Abbott's home base, the moribund NSW division, many Liberals are keen to see the previous prime minister back in the main game. Fifth and finally, Abbott in cabinet would be working for Turnbull in a way that Abbott on the backbench is not. On the backbench, as a former prime minister, Abbott will continue to be in demand to write and speak on subjects where his every word will be construed as an implicit challenge to his successor. In the cabinet, he would be bound to limit his originality to his portfolio and confine his wider observations to a robust defence of the government. As Indigenous affairs minister, for example, Abbott could well be the one person in the country who by dint of energy, authority and single-mindedness might finally get "the kids to school, the adults to work, and the communities safe" as he constantly put it as PM. Turnbull's public explanation for Abbott's absence is the need to bring on younger talent. This is a bit rich coming from someone who's older than Abbott and far less energetic. The real reason is that Turnbull fears that Abbott would use a cabinet perch to undermine him as he did Abbott. But leopards don't change their spots. Abbott was not only loyal to Howard whom he revered, but he diligently served Brendan Nelson and Turnbull himself when he was a shadow minister. Contrary to some federal government spin-doctors, I don't think Abbott has been massively damaged by speaking out on national and international issues and by defending his legacy.
"On my doormat yesterday a letter was received addressed to Mr & Mrs Carayannis ... Mascot, 2020. I sometimes receive a letter intended for a neighbour but didn't recognise this name or address. Then I noticed the 60 Australian stamp. I tapped the address into Google Maps and found it was in Sydney, a long way from me. You see I live in Ascot, Berkshire, England. How on earth did it get to be delivered to me? I have added the word Australia to the address but I'm a bit concerned it might not get to the right destination. Maybe you could contact the people concerned to ask them if they would like to pop next door to collect it?" Regards, Roger Crunden.

Further to Peter Skinner's praise of ITV's Philip O'Connor's flawless dressing of the "little Belgian detective, similar care is taken with cars and furnishings", writes Ian Grant of Mount Victoria. "But  like all TV and movie producers  with railways, anything goes: French trains portraying British, 1950s British trains for 1930s French. It's a train, it'll do."

More TV. "Thursday evening's episode of Father Brown showed a purported physicist explaining nuclear risks to an ignorant parish community. He had drawn an atom on the blackboard that had three electrons in one atomic shell. This is forbidden by the Pauli Exclusion Principle. Am I the ultimate nerdy pedant? Is there an employment opportunity for a physics adviser with the BBC?" Ronald Watts of Chatswood.

"And another thing" that would not have been seen on the ABC 20 years ago Gareth Clarke (C8) ... "the dreaded couch, inspired by the commercial TV channels, replete with giggling and competing staffers and the 'walk towards the news desk' by the weather presenter for some team-building small talk. How long before we will see those 'bum-shots' of weather presenters in tight dresses, so finely choreographed on commercial TV?" From Garrett Naumann of Cammeray.

Maruschka Loupis of Como asks ... "A mounted policeman on Wentworth Avenue this evening took a call on his mobile. Using his hands. What are the rules there? Is it safe to ride and talk without both hands on the reins?"
Molly Rose, who has died aged 95, was a pilot in the wartime Air Transport Auxiliary and became one of the "Spitfire Women" when she delivered 273 of the fighters from aircraft factories to RAF units. Already a qualified pilot, she joined the ATA in September 1942, flying light aircraft such as the Tiger Moth before advancing to more powerful single-engine aircraft. As she became more experienced, she started flying the Hurricane fighter and the Spitfire ("a thrilling moment"). For much of her service she flew with an all-female unit from Hamble airfield, near Southampton. On some days she flew three or four different types of aircraft. Before flying a new type the pilots read aircraft notes and used a detailed checklist before starting up. They flew without radios, and many airfields were camouflaged and difficult to find.

Don Marshall, one of the first black actors to have a starring role on an American network television series, as a spaceship's efficient, level-headed first officer stranded on a mysterious planet on Land of the Giants, died on Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 80. Land of the Giants, which ran from 1968 to 1970 on ABC, was a science-fiction adventure about the passengers and crew of a small suborbital aircraft that crash lands on a planet inhabited by giant humanoids and house cats the size of King Kong. Marshall starred alongside Gary Conway, who played the pilot.

Molly Rose delivered 273 Spitfires to RAF units during World War II.

Stanford Lipsey, who sold a chain of weekly newspapers to investor Warren Buffett in the 1960s, then guided the papers to a Pulitzer Prize in the 1970s before becoming the publisher of the Buffalo News, has died in California aged 89. Lipsey began his career in his home town of Omaha, working for a company that published free weekly papers. He eventually became owner and publisher of Sun Newspapers before selling the business to Buffett in 1969. It was the first of many newspaper acquisitions for the investor who founded the Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway holding company. Lipsey stayed on as publisher and became a Berkshire Hathaway vice-president.
Brendan Jones Annandale As Philip Atkinson says, speeding is not the only cause of road fatalities. But it is one of the big three. Even if it were the case that other causes were being ignored, which they are not, that would be no reason for not taking measures to reduce speeding. Its extent can be judged by the large amount of revenue produced daily from speed cameras. Moreover, it does not require much driver education to teach people not to press the accelerator so hard. So catching more speeders, fining the daylights out of them and suspending their licences seems indicated. Turn on the point-to-point cameras, which have been shown empirically to be effective in other states. And no one need ever pay a speeding fine. Just don't go so fast. It is not rocket science. Greg McCarry Epping Gobbledygook masks the true colours of museum scheme Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. Credit:Anna Kucera

"Boilerplate" is American for corporate zombie-speak. Professor Barney Glover's letter (November 3) is classic, meaningless drivel: "iconic, world-class, vision". Such persiflage hides the truth of a project totally lacking in community consultation. It's wasting hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of excellent facilities in magnificent, much awarded heritage buildings, located next to Darling Harbour's revamped 40 million visitor destination and perfectly suited to the stories and experiences encompassed in world class collections. The myth has been busted that sale of the site will pay for a new facility in Parramatta, which many westerners do not want on a site which now appears not only flood-prone but also requiring additional, expensive consolidation. Over 40 reports have been suppressed  as the Government Information Privacy Act (GIPA) sourced, Herald-facilitated 2015 documents have shown. The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Board hides behind the disingenuous skirts of a rotting, secretive government. Inevitably, when subjected to methodical analysis, the so-called "final" business plan for Cabinet will demonstrate glaring gaps and questionable assumptions reinforcing the hugely expensive "move" of the Powerhouse Museum as a nonsense. As with so many other mega projects, this one will prove subject to major cost blow outs. As for the esteemed director? Strange how, overwhelmingly, other experienced museologists disagree with the project's fundamentals and so-called planning process. Far from being a camel  this is a pantomime horse designed by a ship of fools. Let us see the suppressed documents and carry out proper, thorough analysis of this "business plan"  aided by fulsome, honest responses from government at the Upper House Inquiry's next hearing on November 14. Lindsay Sharp (Founding director, Powerhouse Museum, 1978-1988) Foxground Presidential rivals defy moral framework Trump and Clinton represent the declining values and lack of moral integrity gripping the US and western society ("Fear and loathing on campaign trail", November 4.) They have both disregarded the moral framework encompassed in the Ten Commandments which once restrained many forms of evil. The US will never be great again until its leaders acknowledge its present moral bankruptcy. Nan Howard Camden

Simpson on the mark Six years ago the fount of American wisdom, Homer Simpson, predicted the outcome of next week's US presidential elections. Standing on the steps of Capitol Hill, Homer said, "Fellow Americans, I have discovered your leaders are from outer space!" He ripped off their masks to reveal terrifying monsters. The crowd reacted with horror. The monsters smiled and said, "So what? It's a two-party system and you've got to vote for one of us." John Hatton Huskisson Trump's Capitol style I can't wait to see what Donald Trump will do to the White House if he wins. Light it up Las Vegas style with a great big neon flashing Trump sign on top and red and brown checked soggy carpets a la casino style on the inside. And while he's at it, I'm sure he would agree that the hairless dome of the Capitol Building would look much better with a hairpiece similar to his own bouffant.

Colin Clark Valentine Isolation should never be seen as the answer The trauma suffered by many young people within their families and communities through circumstances of birth deal long-standing after-effects. Add to that the anguish and suffering through incarceration, separated from the known, and often isolated, there is little wonder many feel little hope for their future. ("Boys kept in isolation set to take legal action", November 4). All children and young adults make mistakes, some are serious law-breakers who cause others harm, and need to be shown there is a better way. Teaching young adults basic living skills, combined with resilience training, psychological counselling, developing social skills and skills for future jobs to develop self-worth are all needed. Time, patience, increased funding, experienced staff and a willingness to facilitate change rather than statistics is essential. Never again should a young man deal with a parent's death locked in isolation, alone and forgotten. Janice Creenaune Austinmer

The juvenile lengthy solitary confinement is extremely harmful and totally unbearable with dreadful mental consequences. Human beings are completely gregarious. We all need family and friends. In prisons the frequent visits of family, friends and advisers are essential for some level of wellbeing not only for adults, but especially for children. For the government to allow to ignore this inhuman practice is unacceptable. Without The Sydney Morning Herald, the public would be unaware of the cruel conditions juveniles are subjected to. The UNSW criminologist called the present system quite rightly institutional child abuse. Let's hope that the devolvement of the present conditions will bring the necessary change. Andrew Partos Seaforth It's no wonder the way we treat boat people  just look at how we treat our own. Peter Miniutti Ashbury As a loyal daily Herald reader (paper, not screen) and ABC watcher, I cannot help but notice an increase in bullying in our society: Doctors bully trainee doctors, particularly females (Letters, November 4). Woolworths bullies its small suppliers into adding to their lost revenue to increase profit. Certain petrol companies bully their staff by underpaying them. Then there is government bullying en masse.

People seeking freedom from bullying give up their only funds to get on boats to Australia and find themselves bullied and denied human rights in hellholes, with no future, no hope. I could go on. But the politicians still get their pensions post service (that they never had to contribute to) and all the perks paid for by the poor taxpayer. I guess this "lucky country" is lucky only for our elected representatives. Virginia Hastings Thirroul Questions over Bob Day Former Family First senator Bob Day resigned from Parliament on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Day of reckoning has come: families first, tradies and creditors last ("Fresh queries over Coalition grant of $2m to Day school," November 4).

Thos Puckett Ashgrove How long do you think it would have taken the Coalition to expose Bob Day's ineligibility to sit in the Senate if, instead of being a card-carrying member of the HR Nicholls Society, he had been a Labor or Greens candidate? John Bailey Canterbury Good bridge vibrations While recently researching an aspect of music in Sydney, I noted that the Harbour Bridge revealed itself to be a musical instrument on the day it was opened. The sound was not caused by car traffic, but by the breeze setting the chords of the arch to vibrate. While "few people ... have considered the sound of the iconic landmark" ("Love of violins proves instrumental to 'weird' collection", November 4), a Sydney Morning Herald reporter did consider it on that day in 1932 and informed readers that "its giant chords today sing, as to the touch of a lyre-swept instrument of steel, the pulsing diapason of a city's surging life".

Olive Lawson Wollstonecraft Back from the edge of despair John Brogden is right (Letters, November 4). Suicide is the wrong decision. I decided recently not to suicide after yet another deep depressive episode. I talked to my 26-year-old son about it. He replied: "Would have been an easy choice for you Dad, but awful for the rest of us. I would have missed you more than you can imagine." It's the first time one of my children had given such deeply honest feedback about my depression. I'm so glad I chose to live. Thanks, John, for your article. I'm with you. Owen Jones Yeerongpilly (QLD) Lifeline: 131 114

John Brogden says suicide is the wrong choice, he is a survivor and someone who is brave enough to share his personal experience to help others. It is rare to hear from someone who has returned from the edge of his own despair and comforting to know that life can be better. Let the light shine into the tunnel of darkness. Sharon Read Yowie Bay Support for early learning

Harold Mitchell ("Starting preschool learning earlier", November 4) identifies a key element often missing from the wild rhetorical encounters that pass for a sensible debate on education and Australia's future. Preschool learning is often overlooked and the costs of failing to support all young Australians on their initial learning journey rarely considered. If our nation is committed to growth in literacy and numeracy, and raising parental involvement in education, this is the terrain in which we need to make a strategic fully funded intervention. Rod Leonarder Roseville Abbott just the man for the job Great to see Tony Abbott is wanting to take on the Indigenous affairs ministry ("Give Tony Abbott Indigenous ministry to heal Liberal rift," November 1). No better Australian could be found at the moment to take on this difficult portfolio, particularly with Abbott's genuine passion and concern to see a fair go for young Indigenous people. He would be well aware of the need to get these young people into trades and professions and make full use of our wonderful training facilities such as those offered at TAFE, which itself has been neglected quite badly by some weaker state governments. It's a big job and Abbott with his great traditional Australian values is just the person with the tenacity to do it. Russell Schatz Narrabri

Are you Sirius? If Max Fischer (Letters, November 4) still thinks "what the f---" after years of seeing the Sirius Building, can I suggest counselling to cope with his daily trauma? He's in good company. Well known aesthete, champion of low income housing in The Rocks and the Finance Minister, Dominic Perrottet, said it was "as sexy as a car park" (Herald, August 8). Sadly, heritage and historical significance for too many people doesn't get any deeper than subjective opinions like "dead ugly" or eyesore. Keith Parsons Newcastle The Sirius building is no more a disaster of design than the Blues Point Tower. Nobody talks about pulling that monstrosity down because it was designed by an icon who must have had a horribly off day or a fast approaching deadline. It's probably also untouchable because it happens to be privately owned by a few lucky people, not welfare recipients who are yet again easy targets. If Sirius goes, so should Blues Point Tower. Matthew Luxford Marrickville

With the State Government flogging everything that's not nailed down I was going to suggest the Premier should be put up for sale but then I remembered it is an asset sale. Bill Carpenter Bowral Postscript Senator Rod Culleton. Credit:Stefan Gosatti Halloween, Melbourne Cup and all manner of frivolity filled the inbox this week. But it was our nation's federal politicians causing the most mirth: notably One Nation Senator Rod Culleton and former Families First Senator Bob Day. Letter writers were more inclined to agree with Peter Rawsthorne of Largs, who found nothing funny about Culleton's farcical press conference. "It was indicative of the current state of politics in Australia and much of the Western world. I don't expect to agree with every member of the Parliament, but I do expect them to have a working knowledge of the judicial system and a familiarity with the difference between guilt and innocence in the courts. For the Senator to stand in front of a press conference that he called and announce that he was not there to be 'cross-examined by the media' beggars belief." George Manojlovic of Mangerton quipped on the Culleton key controversy: "If the truck driver's account of the confrontation is correct, it looks like a case of the [John] Dunn key and the ass." Tony Re of Georges Hall wrote: "There is nothing surprising about any secretive arrangement that Malcolm Turnbull has had with Bob Day. This is a major pattern of his leadership. His cloak and dagger undermining of Tony Abbott was just the start. What is next to emerge from the shadows of Potts Point?" On matters Potts Point, Daniel Flesch of Bellingen wasn't the only one to point out that this week's letter writer Merona Martin of Meroo Meadow is giving Peter Pitt (no relation) of Potts Point an alliterative run for his money. Our Meroo Meadow resident was writing about point-to-point speed checks, a hot button topic especially for our rural readers.
Prime ministers spend large amounts of time talking about jobs, their importance to the economy and to self-worth. They like frequently to assert the necessity of the welfare dependent to find a job and keep it.

So it is a cruel irony that prime ministers themselves are so ill-equipped at functioning without a job, and so bad at finding a new one.

Once the electorate has kicked them out of office, they go quite mad.

It may be the clearest sign yet that prime ministers, are, in fact, just like the rest of us. Up to a point any way.
Roman Polanski has identified this 1966 absurdist thriller as his favourite among his works. Donald Pleasence has one of his best roles as a middle-aged sissy living on a remote island where he and his younger wife (Francoise Dorleac) play sado-masochistic games; Jack MacGowran and Lionel Stander are a couple of gangsters who join in the fun. Screens as part of a Polanski retrospective. Digitally projected. 2pm, tomorrow, ACMI.

Close to Disney in spirit, this Oscar-winning 1968 musical version of Oliver Twist could be the cheeriest film ever made about child poverty (not to mention thievery, prostitution and murder). The adult actors ham it up royally and the director Carol Reed (The Third Man) stages the extravagant production numbers in style. Screens as part of the BBC First British Film Festival. Digitally projected. Como, today, 1.20pm.

VIVA MARIA!

(119 minutes) M

Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau play, respectively, an IRA terrorist and a showgirl who jointly invent the striptease before getting involved in the Mexican revolution. Borrowing from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and anticipating Gore Verbinski's underrated The Lone Ranger, Louis Malle's 1965 comedy-adventure sounds irresistible and mainly it is, despite the cruelty of much of the humour. Screens as part of the Alliance Francaise Classic Film Festival. Digitally projected. Astor, tomorrow, 7pm.

A still from Japanese film

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

(121 minutes) PG
Wyatt Roy was in the foothills of the Andes when his motorbike started packing it in.

It had taken in some bad petrol, as happens. Couldn't be helped.

But it was a broken kickstand sensor stopping the bike getting into gear that required the strawberry farmer's son to draw on his bush mechanic skills.

"I didn't speak Spanish but there was nobody around anyway," Roy tells Fairfax Media. "So I ended up finding a little whisk, breaking it, shorting the sensor and sticking it together with a tiny bit of tape I found somewhere. It was very dodgy."
Karl Stefanovic says he will not discuss his recent marriage breakdown for the "sake of my kids", but his friends say there could be a few other reasons as well.

Stefanovic, who has refused to be drawn on the matter, was a major no show at the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne this week, despite having flown to the Victorian capital to host Today, alongside Lisa Wilkinson, who did enjoy a day inside the marquees of the Birdcage, along with the rest of the Today crew.

Who is missing from this shot? Deputy PM Julie Bishop and her partner David Panton pose for a selfie with TV host Lisa Wilkinson and friends in the Emirates marquee on Derby Day. Credit:Jesse Marlow

But for Stefanovic, it was a quick flight back to Sydney, keen to avoid any unwanted publicity which might add further pressure on an already delicate situation with his wife of 21 years, Cassie Thorburn.

"Their separation has become a network problem ... if she really wanted to tip the bucket on Karl, she could ... Cassie really is holding the cards in this ... it is going to cost Karl a lot of money," explained a long-term associate of the couple.
A model in the latest Yevu collection featuring traditional Ghanaian prints. Her leap from development work to the fashion business was "stupidity", she jokes. But, in truth, Yevu's heart is in the same place as the NGOs so central to her political economy studies at Sydney University. By channelling funds from sales into a small factory, staff accommodation, on-site creche and burgeoning IT set-up (she has just trained her product manager to use a computer for the first time) in Accra while supporting traditional craft and new design skills, her business directly benefits Ghanaian families without inefficiencies often incurred in larger scale aid projects. In 2012, six months into her Australian Volunteers in International Development role working in governance for that year's election, it was the electorate's garb that stayed with her as she looked for something that would empower even a handful of the country's motivated, female-dominated informal sector (80 per cent of the country's GDP is accumulated by people who are all but invisible to the government), while giving her something to do back in Sydney. At Yevu headquarters in Accra, Ghana. Those riotous prints, "so contemporary, so unique, so vibrant and so not available in Australia", were impossible to ignore. She started having a "few clothes" made and met Gifty Darko, a seamstress who is now her business manager. Together they did away with the tight-fitted dresses worn by local women, replacing them with boxy shirts, bucket hats, miniskirts and shorts.

"Why can't you produce a product, using African textiles, that appeals to a contemporary consumer with a Western-based aesthetic for a decent price point?" she asked, wanting to create something customers will buy simply because the product sings  with the added bonus that it's made in Ghana and is socially responsible. Yevu employs 22 workers in Accra, Ghana. Why do something just because that's the way it's done? Anna Robertson But Yevu was accidental, really. "I just thought there was so much cool stuff in Ghana that I wanted to bring back to Sydney," she says. The first range was 300 pieces, with sizing that "was all over the place", sold from the front of her friend's house in Surry Hills in October 2013. With a few thousand dollars sunk into the "fun little project", Robertson dipped her toe into Sydney's choosy fashion scene.

Models in the latest Yevu collection, released this week. "The weirdest thing was, people lost their shit over it. I was like, 'what is going on?' " The collection sold out in three days, leaving her sitting in an empty store. "It was really embarrassing. People would come in and I'd be like, um " Her customers were hipsters, young parents, suits, students, older people, those looking for something a bit different and to whom, by "dumb luck", Yevu appealed. Throughout our conversation she repeats "we" when referring to her work. Actually, outside Accra, Yevu is just Robertson, who relishes her dichotomous life. (Her mother is Annette Schmiede, executive leader of Bupa Health Foundation, whose "unstoppable" energy, she says, set her up well for the grit and unpredictability of running a business in west Africa. "Accra's chaotic and busy and challenging and noisy and dirty, I kind of thrive in that." It was Schmiede who took her to Tonga when she was 14, because she thought her daughter needed straightening out. And it was Schmiede who told her that if she became a lawyer she'd be disowned.)

In country, her team of makers set their own prices  shirts run at about $12 apiece  and choose whether to be paid weekly or at the end of a production run. Many go on to invest in a sewing machine to start their own business, or set aside money for their child's education. They produce a range of 1000 pieces every three months, using 10 bombastic prints. One of Yevu's big sellers is a black and white fabric, an "awesome f--- you print". Its bold pattern translates roughly to "face value I'm smiling at you, but deep down, I hate you", and is a parable of sorts. Such storytelling fabrics are part of an old craft that is under threat in Ghana, one of the world's biggest receivers of second-hand aid clothing, much of which is fit for nothing but landfill. In a flourish of unintended consequences, the agencies putting money towards west Africa are the very same whose donated clothes are killing a traditional industry. What of Westerners wearing traditional Ghanaian prints, appropriating African culture? And how can she justify the $240 for a jumpsuit (a "brave look!")? She has "100 per cent confidence" in the values of the business and its Ghanaian heart and warns against privileged opinions. And because something is made in Africa, people presume it must be cheap. It is a drop in the ocean, but Robertson has watched the tangible economic empowerment of her staff improve over the past three years. Around us, tables rotate as shoppers and office workers slurp their lunchtime noodles. People in Sydney always think they are busy, she muses. "You want to know busy? Go to Ghana. What they can juggle and achieve in a day, and how resourceful they are ... It's easy to lose sight of what's important when you're lucky enough to have everything you need." One day she hopes to tap into different markets, secure wholesalers and diversify. For now, she aims to settle into the larger operation and trusts that fashion will continue to favour designs brimming with African verve. With the hard graft comes the awareness that she cannot walk away from employees who now depend on her. Earlier this year she came "pretty close to throwing in the towel", so took a holiday and reminded herself that her work thrives on the sense of humour she shares with her staff. "As soon as I start taking it all incredibly seriously, I feel the weight of the world."
I feel for Ardent Leisure's relatively new CEO Deborah Thomas. I know Deborah slightly and like her. Whenever we meet she is always warm and friendly and has the air of someone who is both capable and intelligent.

No doubt she was excited when she took the leap from media management into the world of amusement parks. I bet she was also nervous and not just because she had a lot to learn. There remain very few female CEOs in Australia, or indeed the world, and every one of them knows that due to their sheer novelty, they come under much greater scrutiny than their male counterparts.

They are also nervously aware that their rarity means they represent more than just themselves. If they fail, some observers still see it as proof that women are not cut out for leadership. This is the invisible millstone around every female leader's neck.

Nervous or not, never in her wildest dreams could Thomas have imagined she'd have to handle a tragedy like this within a year of her appointment. She has made some mistakes, particularly in the few  no doubt panic-stricken  days after the terrible accident. To her credit, she was quick to acknowledge her clumsy response and has donated the entirety of her bonus to the victims.
A Sydney private school will transform itself into a fully co-educational campus after more than a century of predominantly single-sex education.

Barker College, on Sydney's north shore, will become fully co-ed in 2022 from kindergarten to Year 12 in a bid to prepare its students for the realities of life outside the school gates.

It is at least the third historic NSW boys' school to become co-ed in the past decade, after St Andrews Cathedral school in 2008 and The Armidale School earlier this year.

Principal Phillip Heath made the announcement to cheers from hundreds of students, teachers and parents at an assembly on Friday. The school has enrolled girls from years 10 to 12 since 1975.
Their research used the Hordaland Health Study (HUSK), which followed 7052 Norwegians for 12 years from 1997, and the Cardiovascular Diseases in Norway Project, which collected data on heart disease deaths and hospitalisations from 1994-2009. People were ranked on their health anxiety levels using the Whitely test, which requires participants to give a score of 1 to 5 on how much they relate to each of 14 statements. Questions include "Do you think there is something seriously wrong with your body?" and "If you feel ill and someone tells you that you are looking better, do you become annoyed?" An overall score of more than 31 out of a possible 55 meant a participant had health anxiety. At best, this finding might encourage patients to seek treatment for health anxiety and to trust their heart.

The researchers  led by Dr Line Iden Berge, from the Sandviken University Hospital in Bergen, Norway  also found the worried well said they exercised less often and were more likely to smoke. They wrote that no firm conclusions about cause and effect could be drawn from their study and warned that health anxiety often sat alongside other mental health issues. Cardiologist David Colquhoun, chair of the clinical council of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, said there were known psycho-social risk factors that were as important at predicting heart attack as cholesterol and blood pressure levels. He was part of a Heart Foundation expert committee that found depression and social isolation were independent predictors of heart attack; and said many people who experienced depression often also had anxiety. "It may be that if you're obsessively worried about your health this is a marker of you being anxious about other things and this confirms previous data that it increases your personal risk of having a heart attack," Professor Colquhoun said.

"Perceived stress, whether its marital, work or financial, is a powerful predictor of heart attack." Extreme anxiety could cause a heart attack because the body was flooded with adrenaline, which drives the heart rate up and can cause a blood clot in the artery. "Being constantly on alert appears to stimulate growth of the cholesterol plaque in the artery and then severe stress can trigger rupturing of the plaque," he said. Professor Colquhoun said people with high risk factors like a family history of heart attack should be keeping an eye on their symptoms, and worry is quite rational in some circumstances. Hypochondriasis, also called hypochondria, which describes abnormal chronic anxiety about one's health, was dropped from the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

It was replaced with two new conditions: somatic symptom disorder  which refers to patients with one or more chronic bodily symptom about which they were excessively concerned; and illness anxiety disorder. Illness anxiety relates to patients who may or may not have a medical condition, have heightened bodily sensations and are anxious about the possibility of unknown illness, which they may obsessively research. Psychiatrist Steve Ellen, the director of psychosocial oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, said once identified, health anxiety was very treatable but many people who experience it don't seek help from mental health practitioners. "The patients who believe they've got something wrong with them, who are phobic about illnesses, they don't come to shrinks, they go to physical doctors to get tests," he said. Associate Professor Ellen said every day the average person has about a dozen physical symptoms that are mostly dismissed. "But if you're phobic or anxious about your health you'll over interpret those symptoms," he said.
The ranks of such savvy students are growing, and their backgrounds include engineering, arts and science undergraduates.

However, a core of ambitious undergraduates who know they want leadership roles down the track undertake a master of management degree with their future front and centre.

Cassie Quilty, University of Sydney master of management student, has an arts background.

Most people don't discover their management potential until they've knocked around the workplace for a few years.

Kathleen (Cassie) Quilty has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy and is studying the University of Sydney's Master of Management. The study is a "natural extension" of her humanities degree, she says.

"We get exposed to a diverse range of subjects, from accounting and finance to effective teamwork, statistics in business through to strategy and entrepreneurship," Quilty says.

"The intention is to understand how to think or work through a problem using the concepts, frameworks, language and techniques of that particular subject area."

Quilty hasn't yet chosen a career path; the masters study helps sharpen her skills, she says.

"I think of it like a toolkit and I can choose the best tools for whatever problem is in front of me."
Here's a snapshot of three students. Sean Appoo After years spent working in public health, Sean Appoo, 48, last year co-founded Shared Path, an incubator for Indigenous entrepreneurial talent. "I want to learn more to support the journey I'm already on," he says. "And one of my favourite sayings is, 'You never know what you don't know'." Appoo hails from south-east Queensland, has Kalkadoon and Kabi heritage and says creating Shared Path came out of "disenchantment" with existing funding systems that did not support the sorts of "holistic and social" approaches to health that Indigenous communities want.

"My business partner and I want to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to develop business and entrepreneurial skills so they can build their own businesses [health and otherwise]," he says. "It will give them greater control over their lives." Combining the MBAe workload and a full-time job is intense, but the stamina and creativity of fellow students are "inspiring", Appoo says. "The networks you develop doing a course like this are invaluable." Yuxin Kwan To improve the health system, Yuxin Kwan starts with sleep. The 25-year-old, who has a background in sleep research, says she wanted to study to "change my way of thinking  and use my ideas to help other people". Kwan knows her ideas form just one element of successful entrepreneurship. "Everybody in the class has wonderful ideas but that doesn't mean we can make them work," she says. "I want the skills to make people want to invest in my ideas."

At the start of the year, Kwan planned to develop an information platform for patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, a sort of guide to finding the right CPAP (continuous positive airflow pressure) machine. Her idea has evolved and is now aimed more at clinicians. Ultimately, she is keen to develop platforms for medical diagnosis of all kinds. As the course has unfolded, Kwan rates the creative sustenance and support of fellow students and attentiveness of lecturers. "The course has really exceeded my expectations," she says. Ann Hoban A big-picture view of the value of entrepreneurship and a big idea she's keen to realise propelled Ann Hoban into MBAe study. "Entrepreneurship  is increasingly important to our economy and our society," Hoban says. "Traditional industries are declining and many of the jobs people are training for won't be here in 10 years. Entrepreneurs, especially creative and digital entrepreneurs, are inventing the jobs of the future. They're contributing creativity and economic benefits."
A man has been charged with raping a 15-year-old girl whom he had allegedly held against her will for a month at a house in Sydney's west.

The teenage victim met her alleged attacker, Rashadul Islam in a random encounter after leaving her residential out-of-home care facility last month.

She was then reported missing by the facility, located in Sydney's west, but was not seen again until the early hours of Thursday morning.

About 1.30am on Thursday, police saw her allegedly being chased down Balmoral Street, Blacktown, by Mr Islam.

Officers allegedly saw the 29-year-old grab the girl and try to drag her away before they intervened and took him to Blacktown police station.
A man shot dead by police on the Mid North Coast on Thursday had stalked and then stabbed his former girlfriend after she ended their seven-week relationship.

Paul Lambert, 38, was shot dead by police following a massive manhunt and pursuit that ended on the side of the Pacific Highway at Bonville on Thursday night.

He was hit with multiple bullets after a Taser failed to work and he lunged at officers with a knife, police said.

Mr Lambert, a banker from Kogarah in Sydney's south, had ambushed his former partner, Angela Jay, 28, a doctor.
It will take more training than "what a budding barista needs to do to make good coffee" to become a real estate agent, under sweeping reforms proposed by the NSW government.

In a reforms paper released on Saturday, the government says it will demand aspiring real estate agents to complete seven  up from four  "units of competency" to earn the certificate allowing them to sell and manage property.

At present, it can take just $700 and a two-day online program to obtain the certificate.

Other changes include adding a mandatory 12 months' practical experience to move up from a certificate to a licence, which allows the holder to open a real estate business.
Days after proclaiming harsh new anti-protest laws, the NSW government has intervened in a High Court challenge to similar Tasmanian laws by former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown.

A notice filed to the High Court on Monday by Crown Solicitor Michael Sexton reveals NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton is seeking to support the Tasmanian government.

In January, Mr Brown was among five people charged under Tasmanian anti-protest laws while protesting the logging of 49 hectares of the Lapoinya forest in the state's north-west.

Police later dropped the charges but Mr Brown and another protester, nurse Jessica Hoyt, are pursuing their legal challenge against the laws, designed to prevent the disruption of mining and forestry projects.
NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott has promised that young people in custody are no longer subjected to lengthy periods of isolation but he cannot say when the practice ended.

Two boys aged 16 and 17 are planning legal action against the government for long periods of "solitary confinement" endured in the past two months, which they say led them to self-harm and attempted suicide.

A boy, aged 14, was put into isolation at 16 and attempted suicide.

Last week, Mr Elliott called for an independent review "to identify ways to move away from lengthy periods of time in rooms."

On Friday, he said "the practice of routine extended times in rooms" had stopped but he could not say when.
It's back to the future for the Palaszczuk ministry, with former agriculture minister Bill Byrne once again stepping into the portfolio.

The Police Minister will serve as acting Agriculture and Fisheries Minister following the resignation of member for Bundaberg Leanne Donaldson on Thursday night.

Bill Byrne will be the acting Agriculture Minister until a permanent replacement is decided. Credit:Chris Hyde

The embattled Ms Donaldson resigned from cabinet after facing intense scrutiny when it was revealed she had not paid almost $8000 in rates for three years.

Ms Donaldson also admitted she had failed to pay her car registration and had driven unregistered.
A young girl who promised to be by her friend Tiahleigh Palmer's side throughout high school is still not ready to face what happened to her much-loved buddy, one year on.

The body of 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer was found on the banks of the Pimpama river on the northern Gold Coast one year ago today, November 5.

Slain schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer was a well-loved friend to many.

She went missing six days earlier after she failed to show up to her school at Marsden.

Mia-Sky Pfingst, 13, wrote a touching anniversary letter in loving memory of her primary school friend whose life was cut short last year.
Canberra's deep-space communication station director Ed Kruzins (left) and NASA's network director Al Bhanji in front of the new antenna in Tidbinbilla. Credit:Rohan Thomson It represents a six-year, $120 million investment from NASA as part of its global deep-space network. These dishes will be critical infrastructure in supporting missions to Mars and beyond, including to Jupiter's moon Europa. A representation of Mars with its small moons, Deimos and Phobos. Credit:NASA But Dr McCaughrean and Mr Crusan want Australia to play a bigger role.

"Australia's participation in our deep space network has gone on for decades now," Mr Crusan said. NASA envisages three stages to Mars: Earth-dependent, the middle "proving ground" and finally Earth-independent activity around Mars itself. Credit:NASA Dr McCaughrean said: "We rely on Australia in terms of infrastructure but you shouldn't just be providing a service. You should be part of the program. It's about time Australia joined in fully. "Australia is world-leading in space sciences, physics, astronomy. It should be part of the global space program." Elon Musk wants to get to Mars much sooner, by 2022. Credit:AP

NASA, according to Mr Crusan, expects to have a presence on Mars by the late 2030s. With billionaire Elon Musk saying he will be sending a mission to Mars in 2022, why will it take so long? "We are going to get to Mars very carefully," Mr Crusan said. "It's a huge challenge. We don't yet know how to live off-planet without the logistics chain to Earth. We have to learn first to break that chain." Matt Damon in The Martian made Mars look relatively easy - but don't be fooled. Where Mr Musk seems to be planning a dash to Mars, NASA and ESA are serious about building a permanent presence. "Putting all that architecture together, you need something more than standing up and giving a talk about pizza restaurants on Mars," Dr McCaughrean said.

A scene from National Geographic's forthcoming series, Mars, directed by Ron Howard. "Everyone focuses on the 'final step' of the journey," Mr Crusan said. "But every step along the way is inspirational and helps us learn to live away from the planet. "Imagine standing on the moon Phobos, an important step in our journey to Mars. Sixty-five per cent of the sky would be taken up by Mars. How inspirational would that be?" Astrophysicist Katie Mack from Melbourne University will join Mr Aldrin, Mr Crusan and Dr McCaughrean on stage to talk about Mars. Credit:Joe Armao While Mars seems the next obvious place for humans to go, it shouldn't be confused with being an easy second home.

"We have to understand where our limits are," Dr McCaughrean said. "The Martian [starring Matt Damon] made it look easy - but it's not that easy. "Mars looks superficially attractive. We see sunsets, landscapes similar to Earth. There is a lot about it which feels like home," Dr McCaughrean said. "But remember it has 1 per cent the atmosphere of Earth - mostly carbon dioxide. There is just a third the gravity and there is no magnetic field to protect the planet from cosmic rays. "Astronauts won't be sitting on deckchairs enjoying the sun." Mr Crusan detailed the many engineering obstacles to overcome:

"First is life support. How do we produce oxygen and scrub the air of carbon dioxide? How do we recycle water? We can't just take an endless supply with us."

The second obstacle is developing in-space manufacturing. "We won't be able to rely on spare parts from Earth," he said.

"Third, we'll need to shield the spacecraft from high-energy particles and specific events from the sun."

"We'll also need to upgrade our communication systems. There will be a [13-minute] delay because of how far Mars is. We want to improve our communications to that physics limit but also increase the bandwidth so we can share what's going on there with everyone back home."

Then there is building habitats on Mars that last not just a week with reliability but years.

The sixth obstacle is building the next-generation engines to get us there. If it is all so difficult, why not just send robots? Mr Crusan said: "Why do humans explore? It's because we are curious. It is innate. We want to see ourselves on Mars ... no one wants to grow up to be a robot." Dr McCaughrean said: "We can't use the mission of gaining a foothold on another planet as the sole justification for our journey. "But our space missions - Apollo, the Hubble space telescope, Rosetta mission - have a transformative power for people on Earth. They see a bigger picture of humanity beyond the parochial - exploring the universe is a way of bringing people together."

He said the inspiration delivered by space exploration can be used to help solve the huge problems we have on Earth: climate change, resource management, energy production, disease, antibiotic resistance. "Space doesn't solve those but it can be a tool for bringing people into those areas," Dr McCaughrean said. "It has that power of inspiration - the ability to see that astronaut, that robot, that mission and say 'I'm part of it' - that's completely transformative. When kids feel part of something like that directly, it can change their lives." National Geographic Mars Live Melbourne Town Hall - Friday November 4

Sydney Hordern Pavilion - Sunday November 6

Canberra Llewellyn Hall - Monday November 7
The two men found guilty of Australia's biggest art fraud case  involving fake Brett Whiteley paintings which sold for for $3.6 million  have been jailed, but a Supreme Court judge granted the pair a stay on their sentences after admitting he was troubled by a jury's verdict.

Justice Michael Croucher on Friday said there was a "powerful" case for the jury's verdict against art conservator Mohamed Aman Siddique and art dealer Peter Gant to be considered unsafe, and allowed both men to walk free from court until they faced the Court of Appeal.

Mohamed Siddique. Credit:Jason South

Justice Croucher earlier imposed a five-year prison term on Gant, 61, and a term of 2 years on Siddique, 67, after they were both found guilty in May of two counts each of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and one each of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception.

The jury accepted the prosecution's case that Siddique  himself a gifted artist  painstakingly copied Whiteley's style to produce three paintings, which featured scenes of Sydney Harbour in vibrant colours and were purported as Whiteley originals and part of his Lavender Bay series.
In 1835, at a meeting place believed to be on the banks of Merri Creek, an agreement was struck between a group of Warundjeri elders and one of Melbourne's founders, John Batman.

Not long after it was signed, the then Governor of NSW declared it invalid on the basis that Aboriginals had no claim to the land.

Indigenous elders from across Victoria gathered on the banks of the Merri Creek on Friday. Credit:Justin McManus

On Friday, 181 years after white settlers gave the Wurundjeri people blankets, tomahawks and flour in exchange for the land, a group of Aboriginal elders returned to Merri Creek.

They came from around Victoria to discuss treaty talks currently underway in Victoria.
An elderly couple found dead in a car in their Mornington Peninsula driveway were seriously ill and took their own lives, police say.

The married couple, both in their 80s, were found inside their car at their Rosebud house by a neighbour shortly before 4.30pm on Thursday.

A well-wisher brings flowers to the home of the elderly Rosebud couple on Friday. Credit:Eddie Jim

Police are investigating if the couple, who had long-term and serious health problems, had made a pact to take their own lives.

In the lead-up, they dropped their small dog at a relatives' place when they weren't home.
Hazelwood owner Engie was "driven out of town" by the Andrews government, Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has claimed.

In a sign that a sensible national debate on energy security is unlikely any time soon, a war of words has erupted between the state and federal governments in the wake of the historic decision by Engie to close Hazelwood by the end of March.

On Thursday, Mr Frydenberg offered reassurance that the energy network could cope with the closure of the plant, which generates up to one-quarter of the Victoria's power when fully operational. He also said the federal government broadly agreed with a state assessment that power prices will rise by 4 to 8 per cent as a result of the closure.

But on Friday Mr Frydenberg went on the offensive, accusing the Andrews government of forcing the shutdown by tripling the brown coal royalty rate in the last budget and imposing an "unrealistic" 40 per cent renewable energy target.
A truck driver jailed for 10 years for killing a couple and two of their children in a road crash has lost his appeal against the conviction, after arguing the lies he told police should never have been put to a jury.

Jobandeep Singh Gill, 29, was last year found guilty of four counts of culpable driving causing death over a 2014 smash in Catani, about 80 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, which killed Stephen, 37, and Jade Beckett, 33, six-year-old Ella and William, aged two.

Jobandeep Singh Gill has lost his appeal against his 10-year jail sentence. Credit:Josh Robenstone

The Becketts' eldest son survived the crash.

The County Court heard last year he suffered nightmares and health problems from stress.
He shot Hassan in the face, leaving a large wound to his mouth and neck area, and screamed "I shot Mo, I shot Mo", before fleeing the scene. The next day, he attempted to fly to Macedonia, telling a travel agent he needed to leave urgently because his grandmother was sick, but was detained by Border Force staff at the airport. Rapovski has pleaded guilty to Mr Hassan's manslaughter. He bowed his head for most of the pre-sentence hearing. Defence counsel Scott Johns said his client had fled in shock, and had not intended to fire the gun or harm his friend. The case struck him as one of "gross negligence". It was equally possible that the gun had not been properly unloaded before the photo was taken, or that Rapovski had put more pressure on the trigger than he had intended to.

"But we'll never know," Mr Johns said. "All involve his poor judgment ... because he's very badly affected by illicit substances." The court heard that Rapovski had been pacing back and forth in the motel room before the shooting. He was tensing his fists, saying he felt like he was going to "blow up", meaning overdose after taking both GHB and ice. Hassan had asked his friend to drink water, but he refused, saying it wasn't good for him, and continued taking photos with the group. Mr Johns stressed that his client's behaviour was typical of the way young men expressed their masculinity, and behaved with dangerous objects as they grew into men. He suggested that "American culture, a gangster rap culture" had influenced the group to pose in photos with the gun.

The "only reason" for the friends to take such photos was to impress each other, he said, "like a big tough man when you're actually someone of very slight build and perhaps feels the need to use a prop..." The defence lawyer also said that the photos showed that the gun's presence made the men "feel good". "The friendship looked like a gangster [friendship helping them] feel strong and its child's play in the hands of adults with a very dangerous implement, and he'll pay for the consequences of that for a long time and he knows that." Justice Michael Croucher responded: "Has he seen the photos of the deceased?" Mr Johns said he did not know, and had not shown them to him.

The victim's father, Bachir Hassan, cried in court as his victim impact statement was read out. Mr Hassan said he collapsed when he was told his son had died. He had previously lost another of his 11 children. "I could not bear the thought that I had just lost a second son. I could not be there for him. I failed him as a father who just wanted to protect his children from evil things in the world." The court heard that a month before the shooting, Rapovski had passed the gun around to friends after a birthday party. They took turns taking videos of each other shooting at an old car at a rural property. Ms Piekusic said that Rapovski did not have a licence for the gun, and did not appear to understand how to use it.
More than a dozen illegal workers have been detained after raids on a Perth farm.

The 13 men and a woman from Malaysia and Indonesia were detained by Australian Border Force officers at a farm in Bullsbrook in Perth's north on Wednesday.

One current and one former Australian Border Force officer were arrested this week. Credit:AAP

The ABF alleges nine were unlawful non-citizens and five had their visas cancelled for working in breach of visa conditions.

They have been taken to an immigration detention centre and arrangements are being made for them to leave Australia, the ABF said in a statement on Friday.
A man has been charged with drink-driving and dangerous driving causing death, after a 10-year-old girl was killed in a motorcycle crash south of Perth two weeks ago.

The girl was a pillion passenger on the Yamaha off-road motorcycle when it crashed after failing to negotiate a bend on Clifton Road in Waterloo, near Bunbury around 4pm on October 23.

The 10-year-old girl died at the scene after being thrown from the motorcycle.
Bangkok: Cambodia has moved to shut down its booming commercial surrogacy industry that has attracted several dozen Australian couples seeking to become biological parents.

Pregnant surrogate mothers and intending couples now face an uncertain future for their babies in the south-east Asian country's murky and corrupt legal system.

Cambodia has banned commercial surrogacy following similar action in India, Nepal and Thailand. Credit:AP

Sam Everingham, global director of the Australian consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, told Fairfax Media that "scores of Australians will be forced to abandon their embryos in Cambodia, along with their dreams of a family".

Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh emerged as the latest hub of surrogacy in Asia after commercial surrogacy was banned in Thailand, Nepal and India.
Israeli soldiers carry the body of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif from the scene of the incident in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Credit:AP The question many Israelis are asking is why Azaria is even on trial. They think he should have been given a medal - or, at worst, a reprimand. "Terrorists need to be killed," said Uzi Dayan, a general in the Israeli army reserves who testified in Azaria's defence. General Dayan said that while serving as a commander in the 1990s, he allowed the killing of terrorists, even if they did not pose any immediate danger. Israeli soldiers set up a security checkpoint near the occupied West Bank village of Hebron earlier this year. Credit:AP On this, Israelis appear divided.

The Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University released a survey last month of Jewish Israelis that found 47 per cent support killing on the spot a terrorist who attacked Jews, "even if he has been captured and clearly does not pose a threat". Support for killing the terrorist was highest among young Israelis and religious Israelis. Palestinian women view the body of Ramzi al-Qasrawi, 21, during his funeral in the West Bank city of Hebron in March, 2016. Credit:AP Forty-five per cent said that such a terrorist should be handed over to authorities. Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists called the shooting a summary execution. Israeli soldiers near the body of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, who was shot and killed by Sergeant Elor Azaria in March, 2016. Credit:AP

Moshe Yaalon, Israel's defence minister when the incident took place, said Azaria's actions were "an utter breach of the army's values and its code of ethics in combat". After his arrest, thousands of flag-waving Israelis rallied in a central square in Tel Aviv to support Azaria and his family. Israeli mourners carry the body of Miki Mark at his funeral in Jerusalem in July. Mark was killed in a shooting attack while driving with his family near Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Credit:AP For many Israelis, the trial is every parent's nightmare. Military service is mandatory for most Israelis at age 18, and the public compact requires the society to support its young troops almost without question. Courtroom No. 4 is tiny and intense. Four military prosecutors in uniform sit elbow to elbow at what appears to be a school desk. The four defence attorneys sit opposite, dressed in long black robes. A panel of three military judges loom above them at a dais made of cheap wood. A couple of wheezing air conditioners struggle against the humidity.

A Palestinian inspects the rubble of a family home demolished by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank village of Sair, near Hebron, in August. Credit:AP The prosecutors contend Azaria killed the Palestinian without cause. The defence says he feared for his life. Since the trial began in early May, the court has witnessed hours of boredom, as the attorneys wrangle over points of law, punctuated by wrenching scenes that lay bare deep fissures. Palestinian relatives mourn over the body of Mohammed Abu Hashhashi, 17, during his funeral in August near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Credit:AP "You're trying to frame him!" Charlie Azaria, the defendant's father and a veteran police officer, shouted at the prosecutors one day. He later suffered a stroke from the stress.

During the trial, enlisted men have openly contradicted the accounts of their commanders. Witnesses have accused officers of cover-ups and lies. Senior Israeli officers have traded insults. Soldiers have complained of being bullied and brainwashed. Israeli security forces during clashes in the Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron in August. Credit:AP The shooting took place at one of the military checkpoints that protect 850 of Israel's most aggressive Jewish settlers, who live in the heart of old Hebron, a town with 200,000 Palestinian inhabitants. On March 24, Sharif and a friend attacked the Israeli troops with knives, wounding one soldier. The Israeli forces quickly responded and shot both men. Ramzi al-Qasrawi died immediately. But the video captures Sharif moving slightly, a twitching of his head and hand. The video shows Azaria pulling his rifle off his shoulder, aiming and firing at Sharif as a dozen soldiers, officers, medics, ambulance drivers and Jewish settlers mill about.

Many commentators remarked that no one appears to flinch after the shot. They simply go about their business. Major Tom Naaman, who was Azaria's commanding officer at the time, testified that Azaria told him immediately after the shooting that the "terrorist was alive and needed to die". Quotes from courtroom testimony are taken from Israeli English and Hebrew-language media. The Washington Post also attended the trial. Naaman said the scene was secure and that the two assailants were "neutralised" and posed no threat. "I was angry that the shooting happened without my approval. In the initial questioning, Azaria did not mention fear of a knife or an explosive device to me," Major Naaman told the court.

Major Naaman had to be publicly defended by the army chief of staff after receiving a deluge of phone calls and social media posts branding him a traitor for his testimony. Soon after Azaria talked to Major Naaman, he was questioned by a more senior officer, battalion commander Lieutenant-Colonel David Shapira. "I asked him why he had shot," Colonel Shapira testified. "Elor answered that he saw the terrorist move his head and that there was a knife next to him. I asked Elor, 'You were near him. Why didn't you kick the knife away?' Elor answered, 'I felt I was in danger'. I told Elor that I felt he was not telling me the whole truth because after the incident he had told the company commander something entirely different. Elor was silent." According to Colonel Shapira: "In that conversation Elor did not mention any fear of a bomb, only his concern about the knife which was near the terrorist." The prosecution presented a video that showed a knife on the ground metres away from the prone assailant after he had been shot dead.

A Jewish settler and ambulance driver named Ofer Ohana then kicked the knife closer to the body. Someone can be heard on the video yelling: "He's still alive, he's still alive". Azaria's defence attorneys have argued that their client shot the assailant because he feared not a knife but a bomb hidden under his clothing. There was no explosive device. One of Azaria's fellow soldiers, an active-duty sergeant who was identified only by his initials in the media, told the court: "There was a terrorist in a black coat who was alive and moving. From my point of view, he looked like a threat." The soldier said there were fears of a bomb. Top Israeli officers have testified on Azaria's behalf. Shmuel Zakai, a brigadier-general in the army reserves, said he watched the video and found Azaria's manner calm and deliberate. "I assume that Azaria was concerned about an explosive device," General Zakai testified.

Danny Biton, a major-general in the reserves, told the court: "If a soldier kills for no reason, he should go to jail. But in this case I disagree with the prosecution." He asked: "Should every soldier go to battle with a lawyer at his side?" General Biton accused the prosecution of "castrating the army" by second-guessing a soldier's action in the field. "There's not one person in this trial who isn't lying, and that's what's sad," he said. The three-judge panel will announce a verdict, though their deliberations could take weeks. If convicted, Azaria could face up to 20 years in prison. The new defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said in September that Israel should support its soldiers "even if one of them makes a mistake". Mr Lieberman added: "We are talking about 18 and 19-year-olds."
Indonesia's president has defied China's ambitions to take ownership of almost all of the South China Sea, affirming Indonesia's sovereignty over waters also claimed by China.

"There is no compromise on sovereignty," President Joko Widodo, universally known as Jokowi, told Fairfax Media in an interview ahead of his arrival on Sunday for his first state visit to Australia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo being interviewed by Indonesia correspondent Jewel Topsfield and international editor Peter Hartcher at the presidential palace in Jakarta. Credit:Jefri Tarigan

While the leaders of the Philippines and Malaysia in the past fortnight have become more conciliatory in their disputes with China on clashing claims, President Jokowi's remarks signal a toughening by the major power of South-east Asia.

This will reassure many anxious governments, including Australia's, that China's new expansionism will not go unchecked.
Q: Are you worried about the undercurrent of violence employed in the rhetoric of the Trump camp?

A: I don't think there will be violence, but if we get to a situation where there is less clarity about the result for a while, who knows? Trump has been out there saying the election is rigged. I think when he says this he is talking to his fundamental base, the white working class view that America has been taken away from them and taken away permanently. It feeds that consciousness in that community that their kids will be worse off than they are  more than 55 per cent of them say that. And they are very, very angry that they have become a minority. When Bill Clinton first won the presidency, 87 per cent of the voters were white. The figure for this election is 68 and its going down 2 or 3 per cent every election. Again when he was elected, 50 per cent of Americans identified as white Protestants. That figure now is 30 per cent. And so among these men, in particular, Trump's pitch to fairness resonates. It's not so much that the electoral process is unfair, it's that to them, America is unfair, it's not the America they expected. And among those folk there are a lot of people with a degree of violent disposition, hence the worry.

Q: What about the hack of the Democratic National Committee emails, seemingly by Russian state interests?

A: When 17 intelligence agencies declare that to be the case, you can bet your bottom dollar it is. The outfit that has done it has connections with the Kremlin, so one has to assume that it is Putin-directed. It is an appalling development and it's particularly appalling if it's rewarded.

Q: You mean if Trump becomes president?
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a campaign rally in North Carolina. Credit:AP An inspection of the chart over a year brings only more misery for Clinton supporters. On it Clinton's blue line runs above Trump's red line and the two appear to breathe in and out like great bellows. Four times over the year the two lines converge and crossover when the bellows are closed. On those occasions alone Trump's support is measured above Clinton's. On the current trend it looks as though the fifth such occasion could fall on Tuesday, polling day. But while these tracking polls are good at measuring public sentiment, they are less effective at predicting the election outcome. This is because the presidential election is actually 50 state elections. Once you understand this, you understand why the betting markets and most analysts still believe Clinton is more likely to win. Election workers flatten ballots so they can be fed through the counting machines in Minneapolis. Credit:Star Tribune/AP Trump's path to victory

Each state in the US is assigned a number of votes depending on its Congressional representation in what is called the electoral college. California has 55 votes, New Hampshire 4. The candidate that wins a state secures its votes. In all there are 538 electors in the college. The candidate that wins 270 votes becomes the president. Members of the Ku Klux Klan on the march in Georgia in April. Credit:AP Given that many states are overwhelmingly Republican or Democratic, the outcome in those are a foregone conclusion. We know, for example, that Clinton will win California and Trump will take Texas. In 2012 Barack Obama won 332 college votes and Mitt Romney 206. Preaching to the faithful: Trump speaks during a campaign rally. Credit:AP

Using that election as a baseline then, Trump needs to win another 64 votes over Romney's total. To do this his campaign targets battleground states, those where polling is close enough for either party to win. The most obvious is Florida, which has 29 votes and where the two candidates are in a dead heat in the polls at 46.9 per cent. If Trump wins Florida he is still in the hunt. If he loses it, his race is over. You can tell both candidates know this. On Wednesday I went to a rally in Miami and a few hours later watched President Barack Obama's motorcade roll past the very same spot. Illustration: Richard Giliberto In any event, Trump could win Florida. He could also win Ohio, which has 18 votes. Now he has 47 of the 64 extra votes he needs to win. He will probably win Iowa, with six votes. He now needs another 11. He might win Nevada, but he has made Clinton's life easier in Nevada by offending the state's rapidly growing Latino population. Even if he wins it he needs another five votes. The next obvious place to look would be New Hampshire, which has four votes. Clinton appears to have a slight lead in New Hampshire, but even if Trump wins it he he will have 269 votes, a tie. He might break the tie by winning one of Maine's votes. (To complicate matters, Maine awards its college votes to each of its congressional districts with a further two granted to the overall state winner.)

This is a pretty tough path. It demands Trump winning on every battleground. This is why he has been recently campaigning in more traditionally Democratic states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. These are places hit hard by the manufacturing downturn, and which have high proportions of the rural and blue-collar white voters who have been drawn to his message. Victory in one of these states seems unlikely, but if Trump can pull it off he doesn't have to win all those other tight races. And this is why so many in the Trump camp like to talk about Brexit. The Brexit theory After analysts failed to predict the United Kingdom's vote to leave the EU, exit pollsters discovered that there was a substantial minority of voters who turned out at the referendum who had been so disengaged from politics for so long that nobody knew they existed. Once they were motivated to vote, they changed history.

Demonstrators, organised by the civic movement AVAAZ in London, hold placards calling on Americans to vote and avoid getting 'Brexited'. This finding became a source of fascination to Republicans, who knew that if a similar phenomenon existed here  an unrecognised mass of largely white working-class voters  Trump might have already won. The narrow path described above could be an autobahn. The rustbelt states could be in play. Trump started calling himself "Mr Brexit" at rallies and the driving force behind Brexit, Nigel Farage, became something of a folk hero, popping up at the Republican National Convention and on conservative media in the US. Pollsters in America have been busy looking for "shy Trump voters" ever since the theory started bouncing around this year. None have been able to find any, though one pollster, John Zogby, told Fairfax Media last month that this did not necessarily mean they were not out there. A more recent study by Politico concluded this week that the hidden Trump army should have shown up in primary voting, but did not. It was, the analysts said, a mirage. The Comey effect

Polls normally tighten at the end of a race, and this has been the case in the current election. Trump supporters believe that the decision by the director of the FBI to go public about re-opening the investigation into Clinton's emails might give him the momentum to win. Leading US political scientist Larry Sabato, of the University of Virginia, told Fairfax Media this week that the Comey effect was real and was damaging Clinton. But even when he takes its effect into account he still predicts, at present, Clinton winning 293 college votes and Trump 214, with 31 too close to call. There is another thing that the RCP chart tells you too. If you look more closely at those bellows, you see that despite this wild election, despite allegations of Russian interference, sexual assault and systematic dishonesty, the polling has been remarkably consistent. Hillary has had a small but significant lead over Trump since the race the began. Her ceiling has been in the late 40s, his in the mid-40s. And this is remarkable given how different the candidates are, and how vehemently each is disliked by supporters of the other.

Trump's gamble What this tells us that this election was never truly about Trump's staggering, boastful lack of qualification to serve in high office, about pussy-gate or tax returns. It was never about Clinton's emails, the FBI, her likeability or her self-destructive penchant for secrecy. It was about demographics and change. One man who understands this better than most is Robert Jones, the author of The End of White Christian America. In his book Jones demonstrates that sometime in 2013  about the time Trump was championing the racist birther movement (that Obama was foreign-born)  the United States ceased to be a majority white, Christian nation.

A mannequin for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is on display outside an outhouse used as an unofficial voting booth on a farm in New Hampshire. Credit:JIM COLE In 2008 if you bundled up all the Catholics, Protestants and Baptists, you had about 54 per cent of the nation. This year, the same group constitutes about 45 per cent. According to Jones, that figure is declining by a percentage point each year. This figure is central to this election because the Republican Party has come to depend almost exclusively on white Christian voters while the Democratic Party has built a coalition of the other groups. You can trace this back to the Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Blacks left the Republican Party and joined the Democrats. Later, Republican Richard Nixon decided to use this resorting of loyalties to his party's advantage, developing what became known as the "Southern strategy". The GOP would draw increasing numbers of white voters to the polls by using dog-whistled messages to excite racial anxieties. Ronald Reagan embraced the strategy with the war on drugs, and built on it by uniting Protestant and Catholic voters into a "moral majority". (This is how abortion came to be a crucial part of conservative politics.)

No one back then could imagine a time when appealing to the white base would not be a winning strategy. In 2012 Mitt Romney spoke to the same voters of hard-line immigration policies that would make the lives of "illegals" so difficult they would "self-deport". He convinced Christian evangelicals that his Mormon faith was not alien to their own. On election day he was confident of victory. His data analysis team was convinced they had got the right message to the right (white) voters in the right states. That night they were clobbered. As Jones explained to Fairfax Media, Romney's team had hit its targets, but its targets were wrong. Its demographic models were based on data from 2004. Determined to break the cycle, the Republican machine commissioned an exhaustively researched report into the loss, which was published in 2013  just as the demographic shift took place  and became know as "the autopsy". The autopsy found that the Republican Party could no longer expect to win presidential elections by pursuing an ever-larger turnout from an ever-smaller target demographic. As Jones puts it, 2012 was the last time such a strategy could even be considered plausible.

"Public perception of the Party is at record lows," the autopsy read in part. "Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the Party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country. "If Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States [i.e. self-deportation], they will not pay attention to our next sentence. It does not matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies  Other minority communities, including Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, also view the Party as unwelcoming." The party took the report and its authors seriously. Figures such as Marco Rubio, planning a 2016 run, embraced immigration reform. Jeb Bush hired one of the authors. But Donald Trump was watching too, and perhaps already considering a run. He might not know much about politics, but he certainly understood marketing. He fired off a tweet. "New @RNC report calls for embracing "comprehensive immigration reform." http://nbcnews.to/1088vJF Does the @RNC have a death wish?"

The RNC and the conservative political establishment might have understood that demonising minorities would doom the party, but Trump did not care. He is not, after all, a party guy. Trump's gamble this year is that there is just one more presidential race to be won by breathing life into the old animosities. What happens next does not bother him. The GOP machine, the people that Trump dismisses as "the Washington elites" watched on in horror as Trump went about destroying the groundwork it had started to make in outreach to Hispanics. Worse, he seemed determined to shed the support the party had among women too. In 2012 Mitt Romney was viewed negatively by 42 per cent of suburban women. Trump is now seen in a negative light by 60 per cent to 70 per cent of suburban women. In August one of the report's authors, Sally Bradshaw, who has spent a lifetime working for the Republican Party, announced that if the state of Florida looked close she would vote for Clinton. "I can't look my children in the eye and tell them I voted for Donald Trump," she told CNN. "I can't tell them to love their neighbour and treat others the way they wanted to be treated, and then vote for Donald Trump. I won't do it."

Jones' demographic analysis is useful because it does more than just help explain why the polls have been relatively stable throughout such a wrenching campaign. It helps explain a host of other phenomena. It helps explain the rise of what is now known as the alt-right and the return of the old language  and characters of white supremacy. This year we see the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke is running for the senate. The KKK itself has endorsed Trump and social media is full of brash, proud, overtly racist pro-Trump propaganda. This is not to say that all Trump support is racist, but that racists understand he is addressing racial and cultural anxieties. You can apply a similar analysis to the states that were once reliably Republican but are now in play or Democratic. The southern section of Virginia is Trumpland but it is is being overwhelmed electorally by the state's north, over which the multicultural suburbs of Washington are spreading. Rural North Carolina is solid Republican but its two largest cities, Charlotte and Raleigh, have booming high-tech and banking sectors and are drawing in a younger, more educated, multi-racial population. The same trend is happening in Georgia. In Nevada, Arizona and even Texas the Hispanic population is growing and the Democratic Party is either competitive, or will be in the foreseeable future.
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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Board of the University of St Maarten Foundation (BUSMF) announces that effective December 31st 2016 Dr. Natasha Gittens will be leaving the University of St Martin to further her career elsewhere. We and the entire team at the University of St Martin extend our sincere appreciation for the hard work and effort put forth in solidifying our business arm segment, USM-SCELL (USM School of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning).

The vice-President of the BUSMF, Mr. Wycliffe Smith, was the first to do serious work in having the USM cater to the business sector of Sint Maarten & Saint Martin (St. Martin). His idea and efforts were rekindled by the President of the USM, Dr. Francio Guadeloupe. In 2014, one hundred and fifty persons from the civil service, business sector, and NGO world, received training at the USM. These included courses in Dutch, English, and Spanish for civil servants, alongside workshops in hurricane disaster management and financial management for Windward Island Bank (WIB). Recognizing that the business arm of the USM deserved a separate branding strategy, and a director in charge of professional education and training, the BUSMF, appointed Dr. Gittens. Mrs. Valerie Giterson-Pantophlet, the President of the BUSMF, said, Dr. Gittens was the professional the USM was looking for to develop what has become the SCELL. She invested her time, expertise, and effort, and the BUSMF invested in Dr. Gittens allowing her to obtain the appropriate credentials to become a Certified Hospitality Expert Master trainer of the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI). The American Hotel Lodging Educational Institute is today housed at the USM with 3 Certified Hospitality Expert trainers, Mr. Erwin Wolthuis, Mr. Jan van Beek, and Ms. Anenda Zaandam who are teaching courses. The USM is ready to expand and make the employees on St. Martin, better experts in hospitality. Dr. Gittens, working alongside the rest of the USM management, was instrumental in achieving this. She lived up to our expectations. Dr. Gittens leaves the USM as a continuing supporter and friend of the institution. 

The BUSMF also takes this opportunity to thank all the businesses, including many that have continuously supported the University over the years, that have been privileged to expand the skills of their staff due to the various training sessions extended by USM-SCELL. Our plans for the coming year, 2017, will continue and we will be pleased to serve the business community going forward.

Thank you once again, Dr. Gittens, the team and all the businesses who have partnered with the University of St Martin during the year.

End.

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.
PHILIPSBURG:---- The Ministry of General Affairs hereby informs the general public that on Friday November 4th 2016 the Civil Registry and the Tax Administration (Inspectorate & Receivers Offices) will be closed to the public due to technical difficulties.

The general public will be informed once the technical difficulties have been resolved and public services restored.

The Ministry of General Affairs apologizes for any inconvenience this closure may cause.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Etienne Toochie Meyers and his employees Dulcia Florentina, Louella Rog And Ramphis Rondei would have to spend the next eight days behind bars as the detectives that raided Etienne Toochie Meyers home and two of his brothels El Captain and Le Petit Chateau C=continue with their investigation.

Attorney at Law, Jairo Bloem told SMN News that the four suspects that were arrested early Tuesday morning appeared before the Judge of Instruction on Friday morning. Bloem said St. Maarten needs local prosecutors that will understand the reality of the local society. He said Meyers have been a long time police officer who left the police force in good standing to join the private sector. Bloem further explained that Meyers do not only operate the businesses in the sex industry but the businessman has built his name and career as a businessman in several sectors, therefore, Etienne Toochie Meyers have a reputation and has earned the respect of many people on St. Maarten. Besides that Meyers is very active in politics since his wife and brother were Members of Parliament since St. Maarten became a country.

As for the case itself SMN News learnt that this investigation began over a year ago in the Dominican Republic where a complaint was filed against recruiters of sex workers in that country and the prosecutors on St. Maarten used the opportunity to use excessive force to raid the business establishments and destroy the properties belonging to Meyers when the learned that some of the commercial sex workers were working at the club without the necessary working documents.

The Judge of Instruction on Friday, November 4, 2016 deemed the detention of the suspects E.R.M (65), D.F. (54), L.M.A.R. (50) and R.L.R. (47) lawful. This means that according to the Judge of Instruction all procedures around the arrest and the detention of the suspects by the police and Public Prosecutors Office were followed correctly according to the law.

Officers of the Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team, RST, assisted by members of the St. Maarten Police Force, KPSM the Dutch Royal Marechaussee and the National Detectives Agency held searches at the brothels El Capitan and Petit Chateau and at E.R.M.s house on Monday, November 1. The suspects were arrested that same day in connection with human trafficking (exploitation of girls working at the brothels  animeermeisjes), illegal confinement (locking up the girls), illegal employment and human smuggling in the Pompei-investigation. The judgment also means that there is a reasonable suspicion against al the suspects for all these criminal facts. On Thursday, November 3 the Prosecutor had prolonged the detention of the four suspects with eight more days.

Prosecutor's Office Bulletin
ANDRITZ GROUP: Results for the third quarter of 2016

International technology Group ANDRITZ saw satisfactory business development in the third quarter of 2016. The key financial figures developed as follows:

 In the third quarter of 2016, order intake amounted to 1,470.1 MEUR, thus increasing significantly by 23.8% compared to the previous years reference period (Q3 2015: 1,187.6 MEUR). It was also substantially higher compared with the figures of the preceding quarters (+11.5% vs. Q2 2016: 1,319.0 MEUR and +17.9% vs. Q1 2016: 1,247.4 MEUR). This positive development is mainly due to the three largest business areas  PULP & PAPER, HYDRO and METALS  which were able to increase order intake compared to the previous years reference figure. In the first three quarters of 2016, the Groups order intake, at 4,036.5 MEUR, was up compared to the level as during the previous years reference figure (+7.1% versus Q1-Q3 2015: 3,767.6 MEUR). This increase is particularly due to the PULP & PAPER and METALS business areas.

 The order backlog as of September 30, 2016, amounted to 7,043.6 MEUR and was thus slightly down compared to the figure at the end of last year (-3.8% versus December 31, 2015: 7,324.2 MEUR).

 In the third quarter of 2016, sales decreased by 6.7% compared to the previous years reference period, reaching 1,478.1 MEUR (Q3 2015: 1,583.5 MEUR). This is mainly due to the HYDRO business area which saw a project-related sales decline. Group sales in the first three quarters of 2016 amounted to 4,239.3 MEUR, decreasing by 7.6% compared to the previous years reference period (Q1-Q3 2015: 4,589.1 MEUR).

 Despite the decline of sales, the EBITA, at 109.1 MEUR in Q3 2016, practically reached the level of last years reference period (-0.9% versus Q3 2015: 110.1 MEUR). As a result, profitability (EBITA margin) increased to 7.4% (Q3 2015: 7.0%). The EBITA, at 292.1 MEUR, in the first three quarters of 2016 also remained practically at the same level as during the previous years reference period (-1.0% versus Q1-Q3 2015: 295.0 MEUR), thus resulting in an increase of profitability to 6.9% (Q1-Q3 2015: 6.4%).

 Net income (without non-controlling interests) increased to 194.2 MEUR (Q1-Q3 2015: 181.3 MEUR) in the first three quarters of 2016.

Wolfgang Leitner, President & CEO of ANDRITZ AG: In view of the continuing, difficult overall macroeconomic environment, we are satisfied with the business results achieved so far this year. For the coming months, we anticipate an unchanged project activity in the markets we serve.

For the business year 2016, ANDRITZ expects a decline in Group sales compared to 2015, but also expects solid development of profitability at the same time.

Disclaimer

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements. These statements, which contain the words believe, intend, expect, and words of a similar meaning, reflect the Executive Boards beliefs and expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The company disclaims any obligation to publicly announce the result of any revisions to the forward-looking statements made herein, except where it would be required to do so under applicable law.

ANDRITZ is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and for solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors. The publicly listed technology Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria, and has a staff of approximately 25,500 employees. ANDRITZ operates over 250 sites worldwide.
Smartfrog scales its operations in Ireland

Posted by Publisher Internet

Smartfrog, a leading ?Internet of Things? (IoT) start-up, today announced that it will create 35 new jobs at its Dublin Office.

Smartfrog chose Ireland for its high tech ecosystem, ease of access to the English speaking markets, and availability of talent. Smartfrog is currently recruiting across a range of positions including Finance, Sales, Marketing and support roles ? jobs@smartfrog.com

?Ireland has a great reputation as a location for high growth companies. To date we have received considerable support from both the public and private sector. We are very excited to build our international operations here in Dublin by leveraging the deep pool of available talent.? Charles Fraenkl, CEO of Smartfrog.

Smartfrog (http://www.smartfrog.com) is a tech company focused on the ?Internet of Things?, which is about making everyday objects more intelligent and connected to the internet, e.g. via an app. The aim is to make the everyday lives of people more comfortable and more secure by making modern technologies user friendly and affordable. For this Smartfrog has developed a universal IoT-Platform designed to build dedicated solutions across product areas. Having started with security and monitoring as a primary area, it offers an easy-to-use and affordable complete home security solution, so that users can always keep an eye on their home and business at any time and from anywhere. The package starts at ?5.95 (4.95) per month, with no minimum contract period and monthly cancellation. It includes the Smartfrog app, a Smartfrog Cam and video storage. In addition to its hardware camera Smartfrog also offers a freemium-IoT solution, a free-to-download app that turns almost any smartphone and webcam into a surveillance camera. Smartfrog has users in 130 countries.

Few weeks ago, Smartfrog completed a new financing round of EUR 20 million to fund its strong growth. The company has raised a total of around EUR 28 million in funding since its foundation in June 2014.

Forbes recently listed Smartfrog as one of the top 25 global IoT Startups and one of the 10 most-funded.

Smartfrog (http://www.smartfrog.com) is a tech company focused on the Internet of Things, which is about making everyday objects more intelligent and connected to the internet, e.g. via an app. The aim is to make the everyday lives of people more comfortable and more secure by making modern technologies user friendly and affordable. For this Smartfrog has developed a universal IoT-Platform designed to build dedicated solutions across product areas. Having started with security and monitoring as a primary area, it offers an easy-to-use and affordable complete home security solution, so that users can always keep an eye on their home and business at any time and from anywhere.
As a small business owner, I am concerned about our representation at the state level. I have a business along Highway 30 in North Bend, which will soon bypass town, leaving less traffic going by every day.

It is important that our businesses and our community start to plan today for the success of our town tomorrow. It is clear to me that Lynne Walz is the only candidate that has the foresight to prepare our community for what is going to come.
The idea for the trail was added during planning to stabilize the north bank of the Red Run, including restoration in eroded spots, particularly on the north side, where it had gotten to within 10 feet of the landfill on which Freedom Hill was built, officials said.
By Nate Jones

Special to The Post

The upcoming Lion tells the real-life story of Saroo Brierley, an Indian man who was separated from his family as a child and adopted by an Australian couple, and who turned to Google Earth decades later in the hope of finding his birth family.

The film, which is receiving a major Oscar push from the Weinstein Company, stars Dev Patel as the adult Brierley and Nicole Kidman as his adoptive mother, with a key supporting role for Dev Patel's hair.

Vulture is pleased to premiere the exclusive one-sheet poster for the film, which puts Patel's glorious mane front and center, alongside co-star Rooney Mara.

Look at those gorgeous locks!


A guide to voter rights in Indiana. What you need to know before you cast a ballot
Officials with Georgetown County, the Town of Andrews and the Airport Commission held a grand-opening ceremony for a new hangar at the Robert F. Swinnie Airport in Andrews on Nov. 1.
The Matheson home in Georgetown will be featured during the Miss Ruby's Kids Kitchen Tour Nov. 12.
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The Mars Society is conducting the ambitious two-phase Mars 160 Twin Desert-Arctic Analog mission to study how seven crewmembers could live, work and perform science on a true mission to Mars. Mars 160 crewmember Annalea Beattie is chronicling the mission, which will spend 80 days at the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah desert before venturing far north to Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island, Canada in summer 2017. Here's her fifth dispatch from the mission:

Anyone who knows me knows I am not famed geologist Grove Karl Gilbert. In fact, I can't remember the last time I drew in the landscape for any reason. In terms of art-making, it never was, and still is not, an interest for me.

But I am always thinking about the role that the techniques and strategies of art will have in the long-term growth of small micro-societies living in extreme adversity in space. [See more Mars 160 photos here, and get daily images by the Mars 160 crew]

Our Pressurized Exploration Vehicle (PEV) in Box Canyon Quarry. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

Here, at the Mars Desert Research Station, I've designed some art-based research to explore how observation in the field is a primary means of obtaining scientific knowledge for planetary field science. This series of drawing experiments focuses on the deliberate practice of geological field sketching in simulation. In particular, I'm thinking about whether field sketching improves the gathering of data in the field.

In a comparative study in two different kinds of deserts (one hot, dry desert and one polar desert) conducted between the Mars Desert Research Station here in Utah and Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island in Canada, the scientist/researcher is challenged to extend tools, methods, resources and protocols of geological field drawing in ways that may be useful for conducting planetary field science in an extreme environment like Mars. For our twin Mars 160 mission, field drawing tests in phase one will inform and conceptually deepen a parallel series of experiments in phase two.

Test Four: In simulation, testing the hand lens to draw lichens. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

So far I've begun to test out how drawing in the spacesuit functions in terms of time constraints for the EVA (extravehicular activity) and tools (drawing tools like electric erasers and geological tools such as the hand lens, pictured above). And I've used my field sketches as blind data to see what a geologist can discover from the sketch without any prior knowledge of the subject drawn, both singly and in comparison with photos.

And always in my heart, I think about how the immersive experience of art affects us.

Today I was part of a team on a science EVA to Box Canyon Quarry. The science goal was to sample gypsum found in the high steep cliffs, from the veins of the pinstriped Summerville, in the crack fills and the nodules of the powdery greenish-white slopes of the Tidwell and in the crystals that grow in the sediment in depositions of both of these geological formations. As Mars 160 team member Jon Clarke, a geologist, says, "This is a very rich site for Mars analog research and is an excellent Mars analog with respect to geomorphology. Both canyons, large and small, are common on Mars, as are evaporites."

To reach Box Canyon, we drove to the lower Pinto Hills in the PEV (Pressurized Exploration Vehicle), aka the Ford Explorer. My role on this EVA was to act as the RoverCom by staying in the vehicle. This meant Jon Clarke and biologist Anushree Srivastava could safely leave the vehicle in full simulation to do sampling while I maintained the radio and a safe base in the PEV.

This gave me an opportunity to try to draw an outcrop of the cliffs from the PEV.

Jon Clarke at Box Canyon Quarry. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

Jon Clarke suggests that on Mars, one mode of operation on an EVA might be that several astronauts are on the surface while one remains or returns to the rover to take notes and map the area with a sketch.

As I watched the others sampling at the base of the cliff, I ate a bit of early lunch from our lunch box and thought about the atmosphere on the surface of Mars. How will we understand our position in the landscape through the screens of spacesuits? [Spacesuit Suite: Evolution of Cosmic Clothes (Infographic)]

What will the light be like on Mars? What kind of shields will be used on the pressurized vehicles that travel across its terrain? Will the windows of the PEV be strongly tinted, and how will vision be affected? What does this mean for geological field drawing inside the vehicle?

Windows on pressurized vehicles won't give full protection from the cosmic radiation on Mars, but like here on Earth, ultraviolet rays are absorbed by glass and polycarbonates.

Shields on Martian vehicles will be used to keep out other types of radiation  for example, low-level cosmic rays, which are there all the time, and the particles from solar storms, which are predictable so we can plan ahead. Compared to deep space, the planet Mars itself will protect us by half and the Martian atmosphere, though thin, will also give some defense. On Mars, we can presume visibility through the windscreen will be at least as clear as it is through the tint in the windows of our PEV.

(By the way, for engineering reasons, the windows on PEVs on Mars will have to be smaller because of the internal atmospheric pressure on the hull. Windows are a weak point structurally, and I know engineers who would like to omit them from space vehicles altogether).

We can take it as a given for geological field drawing on the surface of Mars that wearing the spacesuit will change the way we use tools, processes and techniques that relate to drawing. For instance, I notice how, without the suit, when I erase something from the paper, I immediately blow away the shavings of the eraser with my breath without touching the drawing. In comparison, when drawing in the space suit, I brush away shavings from the paper with gloves, sometimes smudging the drawing.

Because the spacesuit prioritizes vision, we must adapt.

Test Three: Drawing the outcrop from the PEV. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

Here, in the back seat of the PEV, I'm thinking that the provocations of geological field sketching are not all necessarily related to technique or what can be done or not done within the physicality of the suit.

It's good to know what you are dealing with. When drawing, there is a virtual or abstract dimension in perception that is always dynamic. We bring our experiences and our prior patterns of sensorimotor perception to the context of the drawing, as part of our lived relation to the subject of drawing.

This means, for example, that when we see surface or texture, we intuit depth, volume and weight. To draw something, then, is to think through materials to understand potential in imperceptible qualities of form, not just flat, inert surfaces. So drawing doesn't simply register something that is already there. "Field drawing," says Jon Clarke, "is a way of imprinting on your mind what's important." [Buzz Aldrin: How To Get Your Ass To Mars (Video)]

Of course, anytime you draw, the unexpected occurs.

I spent two hours drawing an outcrop that I thought might demonstrate the complexity of Summerville Formation and the Tidwell and Salt Wash members of the Morrison Formation.

The drawing was very dull  not even first-year art school standard, oh no. And although it would be better if I didn't post this drawing on this worldwide blog, today I am not feeling too proud. More importantly, failures in field drawing tell me much more about its value than successes.

It was only as we were leaving Box Canyon Quarry that I recognized something that I intuitively knew about my drawing from the very start. As we drove past the huge cliffs on our way back to the Mars Desert Research Station, I slowed the PEV and gazed up at the fluted columns of the rock face. For the first time, I could clearly see the thin horizontal beds of fine-grained clastic and evaporitic rocks, their intricate geometric patterns. And everything snapped into place. In proximity, I saw the detail of the cliff for the first time, and then I understood what I had been drawing.

Horizontal gypsum deposition at Box Canyon Quarry. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

Jon Clarke identified the outcrop in my drawing as incipient runiform landscape. He said, "What is most apparent from the sketch is its sedimentary architecture, its rhythmic cyclicity, which can be seen in three or possibly four similar cycles of sedimentary deposition. This kind of deposition is not necessarily evident in a photo. The average geologist would immediately be interested in the stratigraphic sections, the edges of the sandstone ledges and the thicker bedding."

Sketch of the outcrop made from the PEV. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

What can't be seen in the drawing is the lithology. What rock types make this up?

Understanding lithology is tricky at any distance. "If you really want to know what you are dealing with, you need to scratch it or pour acid on it," Jon Clarke told me, "and nothing replaces direct contact." Thickness and height here in my outcrop drawing are unknown.

Today's field sketching test in the PEV reminded me of something else. After driving past the outcrop on the way home, I remembered how point of view and purpose in drawing are closely related. To position the cliff in my vision, I had parked the PEV smack in the middle of the quarry, mid-distance from the cliff face. Subsequently, I made another choice  to position the image of the outcrop roughly in the mid-ground of the picture plane. To find the mid-ground, our eyes measure distance from the foreground, where we can discern detail, back and forth to a vanishing point on the horizon.

Mid-ground is somewhere in between. As in space, a scale, human or otherwise, is necessary, especially in this enormous landscape where there is little vegetation.

I could have driven closer to see detail in a feature of the cliff, or I could have parked farther away to allow me to see more of the geological context of the outcrop.

Jon Clarke says that in geological field drawing, often it is the big picture that is missing. In this drawing of mine, one does gets a sense of the "objectness" of the subject and its location, but with little context or detail. To me, drawing the outcrop in the mid-ground feels picturesque. The outcrop is fixed, contained or held in place. There is no doubt that changes in scale change what is visible. Critically, it is important that choices in scale show processes that shape the landscape.

As the granularity of the field sketch for geology is significant in both determining location for the PEV and the position of the subject on the paper, the learning from this situation was evident. The mid-distance as a location for the field sketch provides neither detail nor geological context for field drawing, although it may provide some content  for example, in this case, stratigraphy.

Test Four: In simulation, using the hand lens to draw lichens. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

In the same way that knowing chemistry isn't enough to understand mineralogy, drawing a field sketch can only inform field science. These preliminary recommendations about how a field sketch might function from the PEV tentatively address questions of scale.

If the purpose of the sketch can be defined, the researcher can commit in terms of locating the vehicle in relation to the subject so it can be seen within its geological context. This might mean moving in closer to see detail, or expanding the depth of field.

Perhaps it might be good to avoid the mid-ground.

And make sure you take plenty of lunch.

Mars or bust. (Image credit: The Mars Society)

Editor's Note: To follow The Mars Society's Mars 160 mission and see daily photos and updates, visit the mission's website here: http://mars160.marssociety.org/. You can also follow the mission on Twitter @MDRSUpdates. For information on joining The Mars Society, visit: http://www.marssociety.org/home/join_us/.

Annalea Beattie is an artist and writer based in Melbourne, Australia, and her art practice is based on space science. She is a member of The Mars Society's Mars 160 Twin Desert-Arctic Analog mission, where her art-based research explores how observation is key to the role of all field geologists, including those on a planetary exploration crew. Follow The Mars Society on Twitter at @TheMarsSociety and on Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
Computer, Meet Computer

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Before electronic computers were widely available, NASA and other organizations relied on "human computers," mostly female mathematicians, to make vital calculations supporting early theory and experimentation. In honor of the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California  it was founded on Halloween, 1936  the agency compiled some photos of those early women whose skilled work was vital to aerospace research.

Many human computers went on to program the big electronic computers that came into use at JPL over the years. Here, in 1959, a woman works with an early electronic computer called the IBM 704. [Read an excerpt of 'Rise of the Rocket Girls' (Little, Brown and Co., 2016), by Natalia Holt]

At Their Calculators

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Women worked as computers at JPL from its founding in 1936. Their job was to calculate complex trajectories, launch windows and fuel consumption predictions  and as a rocket flew, returning telemetry signals back to Earth, they would continually calculate its position, incorporating the craft's velocity, mass and other variables and tracking where it was compared to trajectory predictions. At first, the calculations were done by hand, but eventually they incorporated calculators and finally programmable computers.

The Control Room

NASA/JPL-Caltech

A JPL computer tracked the real-time position of the spacecraft Mariner 2, which was the first to fly past another planet  it reached Venus in 1962.

Besides Mariner 2, the JPL team plotted the trajectory of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, which launched from Florida in 1958, and many others  including the solar-system-touring Voyager spacecraft that launched in 1977. By that point, they worked in conjunction with electronic computers.

Group Shot

NASA/JPL-Caltech

In the NASA release, officials note that the role of human computer offered a rare opportunity for professional, technical work for women and minorities. The first African-American hired to a technical position at JPL, Janez Lawson, can be seen in the front row of this 1953 photograph. She went on to be a successful chemical engineer.

At NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, previously Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, the first human computers were actually split into an East Wing, for white women, and a West Wing, for black women. The history of Langley's West Wing computers is profiled in a new book called "Hidden Figures" (William Morrow, 2016), which is being made into a movie set for early 2017. [ How 'Hidden Figures' Came Together: Interview with Author Margot Shetterly]

Rise of the Rocket Girls

Little, Brown and Co.

"Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon to Mars" (Little, Brown and Co., 2016), by Natalia Holt, follows the history of spaceflight through the eyes of JPL's human computers. You can read a Q&A with the author here, and an excerpt from the book here. Holt also wrote an Op-Ed for Space.com on the women's lost history here.
Algiers, November 03, 2016 (SPS)  Security Council has held Thursday a meeting about the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), during which UN deputy secretary general for peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, will present a report on his latest visit to the headquarters of the MINURSO in occupied El Aaiun and Saharawi refugee camps.

The briefing, to be held in November according to the new chairman of the Security Council, Senegalese Fode Seck, will be an opportunity for Ladsous to present a report on his visit to the region on October, and during which he had met the Saharawi Coordinator at MINURSO, Mohamed Kheddad.

Ladsous went to the Saharawi refugee camps where he enquired about the situation of refugees, who are deprived of their legitimate right to self-determination.

Many humanitarian agencies called donators Wednesday to continue their support to Western Sahara refugees.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said "the Saharawi refugees have been undergoing extremely difficult living conditions for more than 40 years."The Saharawi people

Western Sahara people "remain strongly contingent on foreign humanitarian aid."

Ladsous' briefing at the Security Council will also be an opportunity to tackle Morocco's violations at the buffer zone of Alguergarat, in the south of Western Sahara.SPS

125/090
From October 26th noon, until October 27th at the same time, the combination of a Versatile 550 DeltaTrack belt tractor and a 12 furrow Kverneland PW Variomat, with Packomat, completed an overall acreage of 103,5 hectares. Working depth had been adjusted to 26 cm on medium-heavy soils (loamy to clayey sand).

Versatile DeltaTrack can utilize 1.700 l of fuel storage and is therefore one of the tractors with the biggest tank capacity on the market, explains Andre Duenk, Product Specialist at Stoevelaar Machinery BV, the Dutch importer of Versatile. Based on this, standstills for refueling are minimized and several shifts can be worked in a row. In addition, the Tier 4i homologated Cummins QSX15 engine runs very efficiently as its maximum torque is available at fairly low 1.400 rpm. 550 hp nominal and 591 hp maximum in combination with 2.779 Nm maximum torque ensure sufficient power reserves under all conditions.

The Kverneland PW 100 Variomat semi-mounted reversible plough has been equipped with 12 pairs of body 28, maize skimmers and two Packomat units. Kverneland focuses on efficient ploughing for the farmer, says Dominik Haselhorst, Manager Marketing and Product Management at Kverneland Group. Hence, this experiment has been a good opportunity to prove that our ploughs are easy to pull. Haselhorst highlights three main aspects of the plough: The entire implement is operated via ISOBUS from the tractor cabin. In addition to Kverneland Group Operations Norway As, Plogfabrikkvegen 1, 4353 Klepp, Norway ensuring smooth turning sequences on the headland, this also relieves the operator during long working days. The plough centerpiece is body N 28  providing wide and empty furrows as well as burying organic matter properly. This type of universal plough body generates low pulling forces. In addition to a quality ploughing, there has been a special attention given to levelling and re-compacting throughout the entire soil depth with the plough integrated Packomat. Thanks to this, a seedbed is nearly prepared in one pass.

Conversely to previous official world record attempts, maximum acreage was not the objective of this event. Efficient work according to best practice was given more importance. The results shall immediately be clear for every farmer, explains traction  chief editor Matthias Mumme. For this reason, we arranged our action in the field strictly according to the demands of APH e.G. Hinsdorf, the farm site in Saxony-Anhalt.

After harvesting, corn stubble and residues had just been mulched once. We did neither look for extremely light conditions  usually chosen for record ploughing  nor had the soil been worked with a cultivator or disc harrow prior to ploughing. Also the headlands had not been laid out extraordinary wide, says Mumme. Due to the previous long dry spell and wet layer of residues on top of the soil, conditions have been demanding. Not least, compact headlands resulted in comparably long reversing sequences.
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STAMFORD  A former employee of Stamford-based Gerald Metals filed last week an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against the company, in a case that also represents one of the first to invoke the states anti-pay secrecy law.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the lawsuit alleges that the companys treatment of Roxanne Khazarian, 61, reflected a culture of widespread and systemic age discrimination against its employees, generally, and older female employees particularly.

The lawsuit is seeking $3.5 million in damages against Gerald Metals, which is part of the Gerald Group, a global commodities trading firm. Khazarian, a Stratford resident, has suffered substantial losses in wages and benefits and severe emotional trauma, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit also accuses Gerald of forbidding employees to openly discuss their compensation. Connecticuts 2015 pay secrecy act prohibits employers from forbidding or discouraging staff from talking about their pay with their colleagues, a measure implemented partly to help women learn whether they are receiving equal compensation with men for comparable work.

Pay secrecy is the linchpin to discrimination in compensation based on gender or age, said Gary Phelan, Khazarians lawyer, who works for the Stratford firm Mitchell & Sheahan. This case highlights the need for transparency when dealing with compensation issues in the workplace.

A woman who answered Geralds main phone line this week said we dont take these calls, when asked by a reporter for the appropriate company contact to comment on the lawsuit. She then hung up.

Phelan also represented former Gerald employee Denise Isherwood, who filed last year the first lawsuit to invoke the states anti-pay secrecy law.

The matter has been resolved, Phelan said of the Isherwood case. He declined to comment further on that lawsuit.

Allegations of long-term discrimination

Throughout her approximately eight years as an attorney at Gerald  she would reach the level of general counsel  Khazarian faced a discriminatory and unfair workplace environment, according to the lawsuit. While she produced top-class work, she received only one annual salary increase after her probationary period  and only then after she said that she would file age and gender discrimination claims, the complaint said.

While Khazarian did not see her compensation increase with increased responsibility, younger and male employees received greater pay when their own roles expanded, according to the lawsuit.

Other older employees also allegedly faced unjust treatment by not receiving raises as frequently as younger colleagues, not being paid at market rates for their work and not being given opportunities to apply for positions.

To prevent employees from finding out how male and younger colleagues made more than female and older counterparts, Gerald barred Khazarian and other employees from discussing their own or others compensation, according to the lawsuit.

In contrast with older employees like Khazarian, some younger female employees received preferential treatment, according to the lawsuit. The complaint cites three female workers whom it said received higher compensation, more flexible work schedules and more social invitations than older female counterparts.

The lawsuit also describes an allegedly hostile and retaliatory environment that disproportionately punished female employees. When Kazarian complained in August 2013 about age and sex discrimination she was given a written warning for being disruptive, according to the lawsuit.

Some male employees got away with abusive behavior, according to the lawsuit. Khazarian was physically assaulted by a male colleague in 2012, but the man was not punished, the complaint said. Khazarian was reportedly reprimanded instead.

In January, Khazarian filed complaints alleging age and gender discrimination and retaliation against Gerald with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Khazarians relationship with Gerald executives would allegedly further deteriorate after she filed those complaints. The company allegedly surveilled her digital footprint, including her email. CEO Craig Dean issued warnings to Khazarian for alleged wrongdoing but failed to provide Khazarian with details, despite repeated requests by Khazarian for more information, according to the lawsuit.

Gerald Metals fired Khazarian in April.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott
Stamford voters wont find two candidates as dissimilar in vision and approach this year as Dan Fox and Phil Balestriere.

Fox recognizes the need for a bipartisan discussion of solutions to the troubled state budget. While many of his Democratic colleagues are overly optimistic about Connecticuts future, some sitting Republicans, as well as Balestriere, are relentlessly single-minded in blaming the Democratic majority.
For us, the choice for the right person to represent the 145th district is determined by mileage.

Democratic incumbent Patricia Billie Miller has logged seven years of experience serving the district, giving her considerable leverage over Republican Francky Trofort, who has not held public office. One of the things that distinguishes Miller from many state representatives is that she walks six to eight miles in her district every day, giving her exposure to issues and constituents.
MASON CITY  A Mason City man who has lent his support to many others in the community is now the one getting help.

Mike Hegtvedt, 64, owner of Mike Hegtvedt Real Estate & Auction Co., has donated his services as an auctioneer at numerous charity and benefit auctions over the years. He has also volunteered with Mason Citys National Night Out.

Now that he has been diagnosed with cancer, family and friends have rallied to organize a benefit to help with the expenses.

Other realtors and auctioneers have stepped in to help with his business.

He said people have told him, You helped out everyone else and thats why we are helping you.

The benefit will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. Nov. 19 in the Olson Building at the North Iowa Events Center. A pulled pork sandwich meal will be served for a freewill offering. The event also will feature a bake sale and a live and silent auction.

With more than two weeks to go before the event, 127 people have indicated they are planning to go and nearly 200 more are interested in attending, according to the Facebook page Mike the Seller  A Benefit for Mike Hegtvedt.

Mike and his wife, Wendy, will be celebrating their 45th anniversary the day of the benefit.

Mike was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that starts in the bone marrows plasma cells, the Friday before Thanksgiving last year. He went through chemotherapy and stem cell replacement surgery.

In May he experienced pain like nothing else before, he said.

He said he received morphine times four and was in the hospital for 12 days.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic told him they had never seen anything like that before in a cancer patient. They dont know exactly what happened but think it was a chemical reaction that burnt his nerve endings, he said.

Mike, who has been using a wheelchair since the end of August, said his knees and the muscles in his thighs dont work anymore.

Fortunately, Wendys brothers and her uncle built a wheelchair ramp to the front door of the couples house, creating a small deck.

Mike said he really appreciated it because it was the only way I could get out of the house.

Mike and Wendy like to sit on their new deck to enjoy the mild weather this fall.

Once Mikes pain diminishes, he will be put on a maintenance program. This means he will go to the Mayo Clinic once a month so the doctors can make sure the cancer is not advancing too quickly.

Multiple myeloma is something I will never be done with, Mike said.

Its treatable but not curable, Wendy said.

Doctors have told Mike that he has a life expectancy could be anywhere from two to 10 years.

A whole army of people are helping with the benefit on Nov. 19, Mike said, noting they have been outstanding.

Its overwhelming, Wendy said.

Auction items donated so far include a snowmobile, handmade quilts, a mattress and box springs, a recliner, handmade pottery, Harley-Davidson prints, and lots of baskets and gift certificates.

T-shirts and bracelets are being sold.

Those who cant attend the benefit but want to make a donation can do so at all First Citizens Bank locations.

Mike said Brian Carlson will be the auctioneer at the benefit, but I might try to jump in there for one or two things. I can still do that.
CLEAR LAKE | The Iowa Department of Education will hold its last meeting for public feedback on how to best implement the successor law to No Child Left Behind.

North Iowans can participate via video link 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 9 from Area Education Agency 267's office in Clear Lake, 9184 265th St., Room A, on airport grounds.

The main meeting will be in Cedar Falls.

Like No Child Left Behind, the federal legislation sets out accountability for schools, but gives states more power to implement the law's standards.

It will go into effect for Iowa schools in the 2017-18 school year.

For more information, go to www.educateiowa.gov/pk-12/every-student-succeeds-act or email essa@iowa.gov.
I nvestors feared today that drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals will be dragged into the US price-fixing probe, leaving its shares in need of medical attention.

Hikma, which is based in Jordan, quoted in London, but does most business stateside, slumped 164p, or 9.4%, to 1581p on reports the Department of Justice is close to ending its two-year investigation into whether generic drugs firms colluded to fix prices.

On Wall Street, two of the companies which could face criminal charges, Teva and Mylan, slumped 10% and 7% respectively yesterday afternoon when the news broke.

Hikma has not been named as one of the companies underscrutiny, but HSBC today fuelled concerns it will be sucked into the investigation.

The bank said that although it may not yet be involved in the probe, all generic drugmakers could be seen as guilty by association until proved otherwise.

Investors rushed for the exit at Hikma as soon as the market opened.

Around two-thirds of the average daily trading volumes for the past month changed hands in the first 10 minutes of todays session.

Shares in Shire, which makes the generic ADHD drug Adderall, also suffered, falling 129p, or 2.8%, to 4410p.

The scale of Hikmas decline was exacerbated by a wider market sell-off as the FTSE 100 fell 73.28 points, or 1.1%, to 6717.23, making it a clean sweep for Londons blue-chips which ended every day this week in the red.

Oils continued slide  down at $46 a barrel  and little appetite for bold bets before Tuesdays US election were behind trading screens flashing red.

Lloyds Banking Group, down just 0.26p at 55.77p, avoided the brunt of the sell-off after an upgrade to Overweight from JPMorgan Cazenove, which expects the bank to sail through the stress tests  the results of which are due at the end of the month.

Shares in Tullett Prebon, which is close to completing its 1.1 billion takeover of Icaps voice-broking arm, rose 10.9p, or 3%, to 378.5p.

It revealed a 15% surge in third-quarter revenues to 216 million thanks to a stronger US dollar and volatility inspired by political uncertainty.

Sofa and bed retailer DFS dived 33.6p, or 13%, to 230.1p after private equity owner Advent dumped half its stake at 240p a share for 62 million.
I had always said during the run-up to the referendum on Brexit that it wasnt just a British or European event but a global one. When I visited Cleveland in July for the Republican National Convention this proved to be the case.

It wasnt just politicos who were coming up to me and wanting to talk about our historic vote. Ordinary Americans were fascinated with the referendum, including a group of US Navy veterans who remarked that the UK should have thrown off the shackles of the European Union long ago.

As Arron Banks notes in his Brexit diary out this week, it was a chance meeting with the Mississippi delegation at the Republican convention that led to the invitation for me to return to the US and speak at a dinner alongside State Governor Phil Bryant, who had been thrilled with the Brexit result.

In an extraordinary turn of events, my trip ended up with me not only being invited to attend a Donald Trump rally but I was suddenly informed that they wanted me to speak and that Trump would be introducing me.

The energy in Jackson, Mississippi, at the Trump rally resembled that of a rock concert, with 15,000 passionate supporters in attendance.

Of course this whole series of events gave me some insight into Trump away from the cameras too. And Trump himself, as I saw behind the scenes, is actually very good with people. He has time for people. He does the photographs, the selfies, he makes the little quips.

Passionate: a Trump supporter at a rally in Las Vegas / Getty Images

Thats not to say hes perfect or that I would agree with everything he has said. He is what he is. The breast-beating alpha male who, as I said after the presidential debate in St Louis, prowled the stage like a silverback gorilla.

But what he is is an agent for change. I find his direction of travel on many issues very interesting, and the parallels with Brexit are striking.

On the one hand you have Hillary Clinton, who I have long thought represents much of what I have fought against and represents all that is worst about the establishment. My suspicions were confirmed when recently leaked transcripts of paid speeches she gave to the big banks showed that not only does she want open borders but a global corporatist common market too. Far from seeing the European Union as a failed project she clearly views it as a blueprint and prototype. So I have no hesitation in saying that if I was American theres not a chance I would vote for her.

On the other side you have Trump. Just as with the Leave campaign in Britain during the referendum, he believes in nation state democracy and proper border controls. He also wants to put the American people first and understands the threat that Islamic terrorism poses to all of us in the West.

He has the innovative and sensible idea to try to repatriate hundreds of billions if not trillions of US companies overseas earnings that are currently sitting in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere doing nothing. He wants to cut corporation tax and bring that money back into the US. He understands, in the modern corporate world, that small businesses are strangled with regulation and wants them freed up.

He recognises that confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin may not be that bright and says he will talk to anyone. Indeed, he went to Mexico and met the premier there. Oh, and I nearly forgot, he actually likes the United Kingdom, not a charge that could be levelled at Obama or Clinton.

And something else very interesting is happening. The anti-establishment candidate is picking up support from swathes of the establishment itself.

Donald Trump and key allies pledge to impeach Hillary Clinton if she is elected US president

It is clear to me that the military and security services in the US now believe in Trump and not Clinton, and the polls are moving in his favour as well. As with Brexit, and indeed like the Conservative election victory here, some people are shy about telling the pollsters how they really intend to vote.

When I met many of the crowd that I addressed in Mississippi, it was clear many of them had never voted before, or at least not for many years.

It was this same group of people, inspired to become involved in the political process, that secured Brexit. The same issues of feeling disenfranchised and unrepresented are at play in the US during this election, just as in Britain during the referendum.

It shows how out of touch much of our establishment are that so many continue to ask whether Trump could actually become President, as they continue to ridicule a man who this country may well need to work with moving forward as a key ally in the world.

It is fair to say that Donald Trump and his campaign identify with what happened in our country on June 23. Frequently he has spoken of seeking to replicate Brexit in America, as he takes on, as we did, many of the big corporate interests and much of the establishment who at times mocked and at other times sought to belittle those of us who were taking them on.

They recognise that just as the pollsters largely got it wrong during our referendum due to millions of new voters becoming excited and joining the electoral process, there may well be a similar phenomenon occurring now in America.

Hillary Clinton v Donald Trump: US Presidential Election 1 /93 Hillary Clinton v Donald Trump: US Presidential Election Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump votes at PS 59 in New York Carlo Allegri/Reuters U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton fills out her ballot at the Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York Brian Snyder/Reuters Topless protestors cause commotion at the site where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to work at PS 59 located at 233 East 56th Street in Manhattan NY Daily News via Getty Images Republician presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives at a polling station in New York to cast his ballot in the presidential election Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to vote in the U.S. presidential election at Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York Mike Segar/Reuters A voter looks at a sample ballot as he waits in line at a polling location in Kansas City, Missouri. Whitney Curtis/Getty Images Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton cookies are on sale at the Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont, Pennsylvania Jeff Swensen/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and her husband former President Bill Clinton, leave their polling place in Chappaqua Seth Wenig/AP lay Smith is the first voter to cast the ballot in the US presidential election, in the small village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire Herb Swanson/EPA Poll workers look on as US President Barack Obama gestures towards the press as he votes early at the Cook County Office Building in Chicago, Illinois Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the University of New Hampshire in Durham Elise Amendola/AP Donald Trump takes a break from speaking to compare his face to a mask during a rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida Loren Elliott/The Tampa Bay Times via AP Lady Gaga speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and husband, former President Bill Clinton take the stage during a campaign rally in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Madonna sings a song as she campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a surprise performance at Washington Square Park in New York Matt Rourke/AP Musician Bruce Springsteen performs at an election eve rally for Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spencer Platt/Getty Images Supporters hold signs and a copy of the Bible during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Manchester Charles Krupa/AP Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, speaks to a campaign rally before the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Manchester Bill Sikes/AP Jon Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga perform during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Musician Jon Bon Jovi performs at an election eve rally for Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on November in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spencer Platt/Getty Images Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton boards her plane at Philadelphia International Airport Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Part of a Nov. 6, 2016, letter from FBI director James Comey to Congress is photographed in Washington. Comey tells Congress that a review of new Hillary Clinton emails has "not changed our conclusions" from earlier this year that she should not face charges Jon Elswick/AP Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer during a campaign rally in Leesburg Evan Vucci/AP Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan Carlo Allegri/Reuters NBA basketball player Lebron James introduces U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio Carlo Allegri/Reuters A member of the audience holds a sign during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sterling Heights, , Michigan Paul Sancya/AP President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Kissimmee. Florida John Raoux/AP Secret Service agents rush Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump off the stage during a campaign rally in Reno John Locher/AP Hillary Clinton smiles holding a mask onboard her campaign plane on Halloween Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of Donald Trump pose with a Hillary Clinton character during a campaign rally at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a rainbow flag given to him by supporter Max Nowak during a campaign rally at the Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of University of Northern Colorado Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at The Manor Complex in Wilton Manors, Florida Getty Images A Donald Trump supporter's pet bulldog is decked out in campaign stickers Jason Connoll/ AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton joins Jennifer Lopez at a campaign concert in Miami, Florida Brian Snyder/Reuters A Donald Trump mural covering a building in Miami, Florida Rhona WiseAFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, greet supporters during a campaign rally in Winston-Salem Chuck Burton/AP A crowd gathers to watch as Donald Trump's vandalised star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is cleaned up Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton delivers birthday cake to reporters on her campaign plane Justin Sullivan/Getty Images A Donald Trump look-a-like walks with bikini-clad women in Times Square. The stunt was organized by artist Alison Jackson Drew Angerer/Getty Images Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hugs a the American flag as he arrives to speak to a campaign rally in Tampa Evan Vucci/AP Katy Perry speaks at a rally in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas AP Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to a member of the audience as she walks off the debate stage as Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump remains at his podium after the conclusion of their third and final 2016 presidential campaign debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada Mike Blake/Reuters NFL fans wear Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton masks during a game between the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals Norm Hall/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a child onstage during a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon) and Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) take on the 'Town Hall Debate Cold Open' on SNL Saturday Night Live Hillary Clinton chats to Ellen DeGeneres during a commercial break during the filming of the Ellen Show Brenan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images A Donald Trump themed fortune telling machine stands on the street in Columbus Circle in New YorK Lucas Jackson/Reuters Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses a "Women for Trump" placard during a rally at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the town hall debate at Washington University Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Kevin Lake of Jefferson, Iowa, wears a wall outfit in honour of Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall along the Mexico border Scott Morgan/Reuters Donald Trump holds two-year-old Hunter Tirpak, who is dressed as Trump, during a rally at Mohegan Sun Arena Christopher Dolan/The Citizensi Voice via AP Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the town hall debate at Washington University Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images Ken Bone found himself going viral after his attention-grabbing question during the town hall debate at Washington University Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Donald Trump's daughters-in-law Lara Trump and Vanessa Trump and daughter Tiffany Trump Scott Olson/Getty Images Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump leave the stage after the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Melania (L) and Ivanka (C) Trump sit next to Republican vice presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence ahead of the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Joe Raedle/Pool/Reuters Hillary Clinton shakes hands with husband and former U.S. President Bill Clinton after the first Presidential Debate Joe Raedle/Getty Images Donald Trump with wife Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr.'s wife Vanessa Trump, Eric Trumps wife Lara Yunaska, and Eric Trump Paul J. Richards/AFP US actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera speak at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Peter Foley/EPA Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Hillary Clinton attempts to open a pickle jar on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Andy Holmes/ABC Donald Trump greets supporters at a rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images Denis Leary and James Corden on The Late Late Show CBS Donald Trump reacts to the cries of three-month-old Kellen Campbell, of Denver, right, while holding six-month-old Evelyn Keane, of Castel Rock, Colorado Joe Mahoney/Getty Images Bill Clintonon on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mike Segar/Reuters Alicia Keys performs at he Democratic National Convention Shawn Thew/EPA Meryl Streep at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center Alex Wong/Getty Images Donald Trump hugs his daughter Ivanka Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump's run for the Republican presidential nomination Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images Donald Trump during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Trump campaign also has a hugely enthusiastic, energetic base with huge crowds turning out across the country, just as we experienced during the referendum. British people really felt like this vote mattered more than any other, and the stark contrast between Trump and Clinton is so great that I suspect that many Americans feel that way about this election too.

In all of these regards the parallels really are quite startling and the result could well end up going the same way, against the establishment.

However bad a press Trump has had in the UK, deserved or not, it is a simple fact that everybody in the UK is going to have to wake up to next Wednesday morning: President Donald J Trump now looks to me to be more likely than not. And people had better get used to that fact.
Since its launch in the autumn of 2013, Malaysian designer and Central Saint Martins graduate Han Chong has seen Self-Portrait flourish rapidly.

Having attracted over 250 stockists worldwide including Net-A-Porter, Dover Street Market, Harrods and Selfridges - who became the brand's first major stockist in 2014 - Self-Portrait's wide appeal is no doubt due in part to its appealing price point.

Intricately-detailed garments hinting at the technical work one might expect from a high-end designer brand, Self-Portrait sells its dresses at around 300 each while delicate blouses and tops retail at little over 200.

One of the brand's biggest coups is perhaps also it's most surprising, with a clientele of celebrities who have luxury high-end designers queueing to dress them instead plumping for Self-Portrait.

Celebrities wearing Self-Portrait - in pictures 1 /20 Celebrities wearing Self-Portrait - in pictures November 3, 2016 The Duchess of Cambridge wears Self-Portrait at the UK Premiere of 'A Street Cat Named Bob' in London Jeff Spicer/Getty Images July 23, 2015 Rachel McAdams wears Self-Portrait on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' in New York Theo Wargo/NBC/Getty Images January 25, 2015 Maisie Williams wears Self-Portrait at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles Ethan Miller/Getty Images October 27, 2016 Paris Hilton wears Self-Portrait at amfAR's Inspiration Gala in Los Angeles Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images November 18, 2015 Chrissy Teigen wears Self-Portrait at A+E Networks 'Shining A Light' concert in Los Angeles Mike Windle/Getty Images July 20, 2015 Rachel McAdams wears Self-Portrait at the 'Southpaw' premiere in New York Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images July 14, 2016 Olivia Palermo wears Self-Portrait at the celebration of LOVE: From Cave to Keyboard in New York Theo Wargo/Getty Images February 7, 2015 Priyanka Chopra wears Self-Portrait at the Roc Nation Pre-GRAMMY Brunch in Beverly Hills Valerie Macon/Getty Images May 10, 2015 Maisie Williams wears Self-Portrait at the BAFTAs in London John Phillips/Getty Images May 18, 2015 Reese Witherspoon wears Self-Portrait at at the Communities In Schools Of Los Angeles Annual Gala in Pacific Palisades, California Rich Polk/Getty Images May 27, 2015 Rachel McAdams wears Self-Portrait at the special screening of Columbia Pictures' 'ALOHA' in West Hollywood Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images August 19, 2015 Holland Roden wears Self-Portrait at he Premiere Of Lionsgate Premiere's 'She's Funny That Way'in Los Angeles Frazer Harrison/Getty Images December 7, 2015 Zendaya wears Self-Portrait at the Hateful Eight premiere in Hollywood Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images January 6, 2016 Lucy Hale wears Self-Portrait at the People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles Frazer Harrison/Getty Images May 13, 2015 Kerry Washington wears Self-Portrait at A Tribute To African-American Achievements In Television in New York Mike Coppola/Getty Images

The latest example of which came in the form of royalty, with the Duchess of Cambridge arriving at the premiere of A Street Cat Named Bob in Mayfair last night wearing the brand.

Proving its versatility, the exact same dress was worn just a few days previously 5,000 miles away by American socialite and businesswoman Paris Hilton.

Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Other stars who have been spotted wearing the brand include Rachel McAdams, Chrissy Teigen, Olivia Palermo, Zendaya and Reese Witherspoon.

"I dont know a lot of celebrities, but they definitely play a big role for a young brand like Self-Portrait" designer Chong admitted in an interview with fashionista.com.

"They get a lot of media coverage and then you get your brand out there quicker, because everyone is watching them and what they are doing - especially nowadays, celebrity culture is huge, especially for our target customer."

"When you dont have a lot of budget and that is the only platform we can have and use to get us out there, yes, I think its important."

Having taken off on such a global scale at such a remarkable pace, it would be easy to forget the humble beginings of the brand and it's designer.

"I was living in Malaysia before I came to London 15 years ago, and before going to fashion school I studied art."

"In Malaysia, fashion wasnt a big deal; my parents wanted me to study art, but slowly I discovered fashion. I started in Malaysia, I worked for a few years with a designer back home before I came to London and studied at Central Saint Martins."

And despite its unprecedented growth, Chong's ambitions for his brand's future are just as modest as when he started.

"At the moment, we try to get our face to be really strong and to get all the resources we need."

"One thing at a time, I want to grow it organically - make sure all the production, all the good things have been made. I dont think [far in advance], to be honest, but I want it to be organic."

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As years go, Lily-Rose Depp - daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis - has had a busy one.

Having kept an impressively low-profile for her first 15 years despite the public's relentless interst in her parents, the teenager made her first foray into the world of celebrity with an appearance at the Chanel Metiers d'Art Collection show in New York.

Arriving alongside her mother - Paradis is a long-time muse of the French fashion house - the then-15-year-old immediately captured the interest of fashion and celebrity fans alike.

Capitalising on the intrigue, Depp has since starred in four feature films and on the cover of Vogue's December issue, as well as gaining the position of a Chanel ambassador.

After starring on the extravagant casino set of Chanel's couture AW15 showcase in Paris, the 17-year-old has remained loyal to the brand on every major red carpet since.

Lily-Rose Depp - style file 1 /26 Lily-Rose Depp - style file July 16, 2013 With Amber heard arriving at Narita International airport Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex July 18, 2013 At Narita International airport Rex May 1, 2015 At LAX Airport in Los Angeles Broadimage/Rex March 31, 2015 At the Chanel Metiers d'art show Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images July 7, 2015 On the runway during the Chanel Haute Couture show in Paris Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images October 6, 2015 At the Chanel SS16 show in Paris Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images October 12, 2015 At the Chanel Exhibition Party at the Saatchi Gallery Richard Young/Rex January 24, 2016 At a portrait studio Michael Buckner/Variety/Rex January 24, 2016 At the 'Yoga Hosers' Premiere during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Jason Merritt/Getty Images January 25, 2016 At the Deadline.com panel during The Sundance Festival Neilson Barnard/Getty Images May 2, 2016 At the Met Gala Larry Busacca/Getty Images May 13, 2016 At the 'The Dancer' photocall during the Cannes Film Festival Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images May 13, 2016 At the Cannes Film Festival Andreas Rentz/Getty Images September 8, 2016 At the Venice Film Festival Action Press/Rex September 8, 2016 At the premiere of 'Planetarium' during the Venice Film Festival Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images September 10, 2016 At the 'Planetarium' premiere during the Toronto International Film Festival Kevin Winter/Getty Images September 11, 2016 At the Toronto Film Festival Michael Hurcomb/Variety/Rex September 22, 2016 At a Chanel dinner Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images October 4, 2016 At the Chanel SS17 show during Paris Fashion Week Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images October 5, 2016 At Los Angeles International Airport Broadimage/Rex

Fashion's favourite new face, Depp has worn Chanel to events such as the Met Ball, the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival - where she wore an athleisure co-ord by the brand for a photocall before glamming up proceedings in a black bardot-sleeved Chanel dress with cut-out mid-section for the film premiere later that evening.

One of Depp's most stand-out looks was worn at the Venice Film Festival photocall for Planetarium, where she arrived in a bright yellow sequinned mini-dress with white frilled detailing on the skirt, neckline and sleeves.

If this year is anything to go by - and closing it with a Vogue cover to top off their centenary year is quite the coup - keep your eyes peeled for more from Lily-Rose in 2017.

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A victim of an alleged gang-rape claims police asked her, which one of them gave you the greatest pleasure?

The woman in Kerala, south India, claims she was asked lewd questions by police officers when she tried reporting the alleged rape.

The unidentified woman, who is 32, told the Times of India she decided to drop the case following the handling of her complaint.

"We were made to sit like dogs in the station for four days. I was tortured mentally and decided to drop the case," she said.

As part of evidence collection, they took me around to public places and would ask me to explain intimate details.

The woman met reporters and a well-known dubbing artiste at a press conference where she made her claims about the alleged attack, which happened two years ago.

Since 2012, when a student was gang raped and murdered on a Delhi bus, scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown.
C omedian and broadcaster Amy Lame was today unveiled as Londons first night czar, tasked with turning the capital into a thriving 24-hour city.

The US-born, naturalised British performer said one of her first priorities was to stop the closure of nightclubs and music venues.

Ms Lame, 45, said: Its a privilege to be Londons very first night czar. I cant wait to hit the streets and have loads of ideas of what I can do for revellers, night-time workers, businesses and stakeholders.

For too long, the capitals night-time industry has been under pressure  music venues and nightclubs in particular are closing at an alarming rate.

With the advent of the Night Tube, and the Mayors commitment to protect iconic venues across the city, Im confident that I can inspire a positive change in the way people think about the night-time economy.

Privilege: Amy Lame, outside City Hall, will champion the capitals night-time economy

Ms Lame, who co-presented Danny Bakers BBC London show for more than a decade, ran for selection as Labours parliamentary candidate for Dulwich and West Norwood in 2014 and was mayor of Camden between 2010-11.

An LGBT activist, she also led the campaign to save the Royal Vauxhall Tavern from developers.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said: Im absolutely delighted to announce the appointment of Londons first-ever night czar.

The recent closure of the world-famous nightclub Fabric [in Farringdon] and the threats facing other venues across the capital show why Amy will be a much-needed ambassador for the city after dark.

Night Tube to include 24-hour Piccadilly line in time for Christmas

The two-and-a-half-days-a-week post comes with a 35,000 salary.

Best pubs, bars and party spots on the Night Tube 1 /48 Best pubs, bars and party spots on the Night Tube The Drapers Arms 44 Barnsbury Street, N1, thedrapersarms.com Named after the cloth-cutters who once inhabited the area, The Drapers Arms is probably the best pub in London right now. This is mainly thanks to Nick Gibson, the wonderful manager/owner, and a stellar wine list, amazing pies, and Sunday roasts that are better than your mums. There are also frequent events to support Action Against Hunger  such as the recent Too Many Chefs, where 10 of the capitals most brilliant cooks, including Neil Rankin and Will Bowlby, cooked an unforgettable 10-course meal  and dangerously good bin-end event Drink the List, where you have access to every bottle in the place. Hic. Victoria Line  North: Highbury and Islington Black Axe Mangal 156 Canonbury Road, N1, blackaxemangal.com Barely a minutes walk from Highbury & Islington lies former St John chef Lee Tiernans tiny, graffitied haute kebab restaurant. Granted, you wont be able to hear anything for a week after an evening of hardcore heavy metal  but its worth it for the mind-blowing grub on offer. Or rather, on offal: think foie gras or smoked cods roe, Mission Chinese-spiced mutton and a lamb offal flatbread thats like a smoky flavour-packed punch in the mouth. It doesnt take reservations but Tiernans kebabs are worth queuing in rain, hailstones or a hurricane for. Victoria Line  North: Highbury and Islington Adrian Lourie Almeida Theatre Almeida Street, N1, almeida.co.uk In the past 35 years, the Almeida has become one of Londons most well-known theatres outside of the West End, thanks to its penchant for new talent alongside marvellous reinterpretations of the classics. Recent productions have included Ben Whishaw in Bakkhai and Ralph Fiennes in Richard III. The next big thing is Anne-Marie Duff in eco drama Oil, before Andrew Scott takes to the stage as Hamlet alongside Juliet Stevenson. Priority tickets for that go on sale on August 30. Victoria Line  North: Highbury and Islington Wikimedia Commons Rowans 10 Stroud Green Road, N4, rowans.co.uk Anyone who grew up in north London will have spent multiple birthday parties screaming and slurping slushies while haphazardly flinging bowling balls in this retro tenpin alley. Now its time to return as an adult, to, well, scream and slurp slushies while haphazardly flinging bowling balls. Except this time you can drink alcohol and keep tossing balls until 2am to the lively tunes of one of the venues DJs. Victoria Line  North: Finsbury Park Yard Sale Pizza 54 Blackstock Road, N4, yardsalepizza.com Pizza aficionados will already be well versed in the joys of a Yard Sale pizza  dough master Nick Buckland and his teams original site in Hackney was a pilgrimage site for melted mozzarella lovers. Now theyve brought their massive 18-inch sourdough pizzas to the Victoria line. Sausage fans should head straight for the Holy Pepperoni: Cobble Lane pepperoni, Napoli picante and crumbled nduja sausage. Wash it down with a Five Points Ale or four. Victoria Line  North: Finsbury Park Park Theatre Clifton Terrace, N4, parktheatre.co.uk This gem of a theatre which only opened in 2013 is a prime spot for seeing a future Ian McKellen, or the work of the next Trevor Nunn, for a fraction of the price. Book tickets now for The Burnt Part Boys, a musical about the miners. Or just come for the cafe, which has great cakes and is dog-friendly to boot. Victoria Line  North: Finsbury Park Eat 17 28 Orford Road, E17, eat17.co.uk What started as a community-minded grocery has expanded into a pilgrimage spot for food lovers, partly thanks to the superlative bacon jam made there. Yep, bacon jam: a sticky, sweet, smoky, piggy spread that makes pretty much any sandwich in the world into a Michelin-starred experience. Theres also a cracking on-site restaurant that bakes its own bread, uses impeccably sourced ingredients, and serves such spectacular snacks as chorizo jam and mascarpone crostini, and jalapeno poppers. Victoria Line  North: Walthamstow Wildcard Brewery Ravenswood Industrial Estate, E17, wildcardbrewery.co.uk Granted, the bleak patch of wasteland that is the Ravenswood Industrial Estate doesnt look like the kind of place you want to hang around after dark. But you will if youre into really good craft beer and late-night DJ sets from people youve actually heard of (Tame Impalas Jay Watson recently played). Start with a Brew Your Own session (bacon sarnies included) then neck a pint or three of Wild Cards marvellous caramelly Ace of Spades porter on the rickety outside picnic tables before the music starts. By the time you leave, youll wish you lived on an east London industrial estate. Victoria Line  North: Walthamstow Ben Rowe The Bell 617 Forest Road, E17, belle17.com A classic real ale pub thats made for parents, the Bell also happened to win Camras east London pub of 2015. Thats got to have something to do with its glorious Sunday roasts, complete with a nut roast thats not only edible but so tasty, it might be worth skipping the roast chicken for. It can also lay claims to having Walthamstows best pub quiz. Victoria Line  North: Walthamstow Google Maps Brunswick House 30 Wandsworth Road, SW8, brunswickhouse.co This stunning wreck of a Georgian mansion, originally built for the Duke of Brunswick in 1758, was rescued by salvager Lassco. Now its home to one of south Londons best modern British restaurants. Its run by Jackson Boxer and Andrew Clarke, who turn out phenomenal daily changing dishes such as roast Swaledale veal and chocolate cumin pudding. All the antiques on display are for sale too, so dont be surprised if you find yourself clutching a fringed Twenties lamp after one too many Hemingway Daiquiris. Victoria Line  South: Vauxhall Matt Writtle Pharmacy 2 Newport Street, SE11, pharmacyrestaurant.com Dont worry if you werent there for the original debauchery of Damien Hirst and Mark Hixs first restaurant, Pharmacy. Now theres Pharmacy 2, attached to Hirsts Newport Street gallery, which has just started hosting late-night sessions until 2am every Saturday. Contemplate the floating basket balls in the Jeff Koons Now exhibition until 10pm, then hit restaurant next door for Black Cow vodka cocktails, Hixs posh curry sauce n chips and surprise DJ sets. Victoria Line  South: Vauxhall Royal Vauxhall Tavern 372 Kennington Lane, SE11, vauxhalltavern.com The RVT truly is a South London institution. The Grade II-listed Victorian music hall has been threatened with closure multiple times, but outrage and fabulous protests from its die-hard LGBT community has always saved it. A wonderfully welcoming atmosphere with spectacular cabaret and drag acts, live music, bingo and a hell of a lot of Britney and Madonna that has, as they put it, been Serving confirmed bachelors and friends since long before Kylie was born. Victoria Line  South: Vauxhall Google Maps Crown and Anchor 246 Brixton Road, SW9, crownandanchorbrixton.co.uk Perfect for craft beer snobs whose mates refuse to visit another chilly, uncomfortable microbrewery in a car park or railway arch. This cosy pub has armchairs rather than barrels masquerading as seats, as well as a huge range of small-batch London brews  from Gipsy Hill to Northern Monk  and a weekly pub quiz. Victoria Line  South: Stockwell Google Maps The Cavendish Arms 128 Hartington Road, SW8, thecavendisharmsstockwell.co.uk Locals know this place as the Cav and rock up to giggle/grimace at the weekly comedy open mic nights while tucking into giant gourmet hot dogs and its famous three-cheese disco fries. At the weekends, its open until 1.30am, when theres also free live music from up to five acts in the ballroom  because whats a pub without a ballroom? Victoria Line  South: Stockwell LOST Theatre 208 Wandsworth Road, SW8, losttheatre.co.uk This tiny theatre might only seat 180, but from small things come massive actors: in its previous Fulham incarnation, it counted Ralph Fiennes and Mackenzie Crook as alumni. Frequent art exhibitions from emerging talent are held in its event space, but the main draw is the bargainous ticket price for offbeat plays from up-and-coming thesps. Grab the last few tickets to drag-centric comedy Do You Have a Secret Crush, or hold out for meta-comedy A Night at 64 Emptiness Lane, which starts its run on September 1. Victoria Line  South: Stockwell James Thacker POP Brixton 49 Brixton Station Road, SW9 , popbrixton.org All day, late-night market built from shipping containers. Small businesses selling fashion and homewares are invited to pop up during the day, but in the evening its all about the brilliant street food traders, like Indian small plate restaurant Kricket and pizza maestros Made of Dough. Wash down your dinner with some surprising New World wines courtesy of NZ Wine Cellar. POP has just opened its outdoor space, POP Fields as well, where its running silent discos and movie screenings: Rocky and 500 Days of Summer are coming up in September. Victoria Line  South: Brixton Dogstar 389 Coldharbour Lane, SW9, dogstarbrixton.com Mostly held up by scaffolding and with smeary, curtain-swathed windows, Dogstar might look like the kind of place youd normally cross the road to avoid. But this so-grotty-its-great stalwart of Atlantic Road has stood the test of time for many reasons: set over three floors, its huge, and plays hosts to all manner of themed nights. Drinks are super cheap, the on-site pizzas are surprisingly great and there are big TV screens  so good luck getting in if theres any kind of sporting event occurring. Open till 4am on Friday and Saturday nights, so you practically dont need the Night Tube anyway. Victoria Line  South: Brixton Ritzy Brixton Oval, SW2, picturehouses.com Sure, the Ritzy shows films, but it has so many other cool events on as well, such as weekly yoga, blues nights, and quizzes in its event space Upstairs at the Ritzy. There are also lots of Q&A sessions with actors and film directors, plus a cafe cum restaurant serving a healthy selection of booze. Just try not to fall asleep during a late movie. Victoria Line  South: Brixton Tim Kerr/Photocall Productions Satan's Whiskers 343 Cambridge Heath Road, E2, twitter.com Regularly nabbing one of the top spots in the Worlds Best Bars list, Satans Whiskers is the kind of cocktail bar you want up your sleeve for when your coolest out-of-town friends come to stay. Theres taxidermy, neon, excellent old-skool hip hop and some seriously good drinks  although dont expect to walk out unaided after more than two Tuxedo #2s: gin, vermouth, maraschino, bitters and absinthe. Ooft. Central Line  East: Bethnal Green The Horn of Plenty 36 Globe Road, E1, thehornofplentypub.co.uk Are you feeling lucky, punk? During the Horns happy hour, drinkers must play rock paper scissors with the bartender  you only get your half-price booze if you beat them. Theres a long, long list of Bloody Marys on offer and board games for when youve drunk six pints and have a hankering to relive your childhood days as a Boggle champion. Central Line  East: Bethnal Green The George Tavern 73 Commercial Road, E1, thegeorgetavern.co.uk Possibly the hippest pub in London, with regular performances by post-punk minimalist two-pieces and more funk and soul than you can shake a pint glass at. But its also got history  the George is on the site of a 700-year-old tavern mentioned in the writings of Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys and Geoffrey Chaucer. Besides, youd have to be made of stone to not enjoy the regular East End Variety Bunker nights, which promise singalong tunes, party games, and general camp old nonsense. Open until 3am at weekends. Central Line  East: Bethnal Green The George Tavern Here East Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20, hereeast.com Theres nothing like an Olympic venue to make you want to stuff your face with chips and craft beer. Lucky, then, that the Here East development has just opened in the old Olympic Press and Broadcast Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Theres lots of rentable offices and working spaces, but more importantly, theres excellent grub on offer in this charming canalside spot. Randys Wings serve up some of Londons best chicken wings  good luck not becoming addicted to its Korean-inspired Gangnam wings, sticky and deeply umami-ish  while Mason and Company combines the excellent Five Points Brewery with Italian-American comfort food. Capiche? Central Line  East: Stratford Tap East 7 International Square, Westfield Stratford City, E20, tapeast.co.uk Westfield isnt just clothes shopping and cinema you know  its also home to an excellent microbrewery. In the Great Eastern Market area of the shopping centre is Tap East, with a huge selection of beer: 100 bottles from around the world, plus 16 on tap from its on-site brewery, such as East End Mild and Johnny Park Bitter. Drink them by the third so you can sample as many as possible. If youre a vinyl junkie, tweet the bar the albums youre dying to hear, then rock up to the weekly vinyl night to find out if your Seventies mod-revival choice has made the cut. Central Line  East: Stratford Tap East Blog Flamingo Pier CRATE Brewery, 7, The White Building, Queens Yard, E9, flamingopier.net What makes a pop-up, booze-soaked party even better? Palm trees and flamingos, obviously. DJ Luke Walker teams up with the excellent CRATE brewery  home to craft beer, pizza, and a lot of vibes  each month to throw mega parties, with a ridiculous amount of booze and choons. Theyve recently moved homes to Micks Garage, which means you can refuel after dancing your socks off with Middle Eastern mezze from Berber and Qs Shuk Shuk alongside all the CRATE beer. Central Line  East: Stratford Ravi Chand Leyton Technical 265 High Road, E10, leytontechnical.com No, you havent accidentally wandered into a stately home, despite the soaring ceilings, mosaic floors and chandeliers. Because which National Trust joint have you ever known with seven Cask Marque ales on tap, live DJs playing every weekend until 1am and a weekly comedy night called Are You Having a Giraffe? Its vegetarian Wellington on Sundays is an oozy, crispy slab of cheesy goodness. Dogs are allowed. Central Line  East: Leyton Luna Lounge 7 Church Lane, E11, lunalounge.info Live music buffs will have already made it out to this haven of all things jazz, acid, funk and well, any other variety of music you care to name. Like an actual monthly Western night  stetsons at the ready. Not only is it open until 1am, its also within spitting distance of the Tube for when you tear yourself away from the choons. Central Line  East: Leyton Andy Field The Leyton Star 116 High Road, E15, leytonstar.co.uk The Star opened its doors just a month ago, but it has already become a staple in the craft beer drinkers diet. Make the most of the dying days of summer in the beer garden (theres a massive golden palm tree!). Plus the quite excellent We Serve Humans are doing the food: that means mental burgers like Mac the Ripper (deepfried mac n cheese) and jockey whips: chips fried in beef dripping, topped with truffle. Drool. Central Line  East: Leyton The Leyton Star Bush Theatre 7 Uxbridge Road, W12, bushtheatre.co.uk A real incubator for new and emerging talent, this titchy theatre by Shepherds Bush market has a reputation for being the first to show plays which go on to open in the West End and on Broadway. The Old Library, its home since 2011, is being refurbished to turn it into a modern space with more rehearsal rooms for amateur thesps and a technical workshop for budding production staff. Fingers crossed itll still serve the same amazing coffee and cakes. Central Line  West: Shepherds Bush Bush Theatre Shikumen Dorsett Hotel, 58 Shepherds Bush Green, W12, shikumen.co.uk When made well, xiao long bao, the Chinese soup-filled dumplings, are some of the most delicious morsels on earth. And the examples at this unpromising-looking restaurant just off Shepherds Bush Green are superb. Theyve won over critics from Fay Maschler to Giles Coren thanks to their super-delicate skins and umami-ish broth. The restaurant has just launched a rainbow collection of multi-coloured dumplings, including beetroot-coloured Szechuan spicy pork and incredibly decadent black charcoal-dyed lobster truffle. Central Line  West: Shepherds Bush Hugh Flouch/Red Wheelbarrow Brewdog 15 Goldhawk Road, W12, brewdog.com Londons not short of brilliant craft beer but it was BrewDog which really kicked off our obsession with punchy, hoppy IPAs. Although the pub chain has its detractors, the beer is still excellent, and the Goldhawk Road bar gives you the opportunity to try a dangerous amount. There are 40 different types on tap, from the bars classic Punk IPA through to the innocent-sounding but deadly Hello, My Name Is Ingrid, which clocks in 8.2%. Theres a healthy selection of guest beers and some stonking nachos to soak up all that hoppy goodness. Central Line  West: Shepherds Bush Pergola on the Roof Multi-Storey Car Park, Television Centre, Wood Lane, W12, pergolaontheroof.co.uk London loves a good rooftop party. In W12, everyones getting high at the old BBC Television Centre, which has been taken over by a huge array of benches, boules pitches and leaves. Theres also some cracking food from burger legends Patty & Bun and tapas from Salt Yard, plus bathtubs of rose and beer. But get your skates on  youve only got until August 29 to get up there and eat yourself silly. Central Line  West: White City Albertine 1 Wood Lane, W12, albertinewinebar.co.uk Wine, wine and more wine at this 40-year-old drinking hole. Opened specifically to serve the needs of thirsty BBC employees, particularly those on Newsnight, the quaint bars extremely reasonably priced wine selection has kept the place busy despite the Beebs exodus from the area. The farinata and sticky aromatic pork belly are delicious but really, youre here for the plonk. Most are available to take away, although youll never recreate this convivial atmosphere at home. Central Line  West: White City Bush Hall 310 Uxbridge Road, W12, bushhallmusic.co.uk ince 1904, this huge Edwardian space has been a dance hall, Second World War soup kitchen, bingo hall and rehearsal space for such as The Who, Cliff Richard and Adam Faith. Now its primarily a music venue (Ellie Goulding, Adele and Kings of Leon have all played here), although it also serves as a rather lovely event space. And you know that bloke you met in Brixton earlier in this feature? Reader, you can marry him here. Central Line  West: White City Vindinista 74 Churchfield Road, W3, vindinista.com Sister to East Actons best wine shop, Park + Bridge, this tiny bar serves really interesting wines, including English white and skin-contact. Locals throng in for the regularly changing stock, sniffing and swilling small production grape juice as if they know exactly what theyre talking about. Even if your wine knowledge ends at light and fruity, you can focus on the short, high-quality food menu: empanadas sit alongside charcuterie boards and the rather fabulous Vindinista cheese and truffle toastie. Central Line  West: East Acton The Aeronaut 264 Acton High Street, W3, aeronaut.pub f you like trapeze with your Trappist beer and somersaults with your cider  and frankly, who doesnt?  you need to try the Aeronaut. Established in honour of Acton-born aviation pioneer George Lee Temple, the first man to fly a plane upside down, the sort of acrobatics on show are less plane-based and more plain impressive: expect contortionists bending themselves into knots and fire breathers  who said you couldnt smoke inside pubs any more? Central Line  West: East Acton Dragonfly Brewery 183 Acton High Street, W3, twitter.com Watch your beer being brewed right in front of your thirsty eyes at the George  the stills that make its Dragonfly range are beside the giant mermaid figurehead on a plinth that casually sits on the bar. 2 OClock Ordinary is exactly the light bitter you need to kick off a session; follow it with one of the mammoth burgers and an unfiltered Early Doors pale ale. The best news? All the in-house brewed beer is 3.50, which makes it among the cheapest in London. Central Line  West: East Acton

Ms Lame will work closely with the police, Transport for London and the Night Time Commission, a collection of local planning and licensing authorities, club and venue owners.

She is due to hold a series of monthly night surgeries to meet businesses, workers, residents and revellers to shape her action plan.

Sadiq Khan: The first 100 days

Jonathan Downey, the co-founder of London Union, behind food market Street Feast, said: The appointment of a night czar is fantastic news for London and for the whole of the night-time economy. London is a great world city  creative, progressive, exciting and unique  and the night time is one of our key cultural assets. We must promote, protect and celebrate the night so that film, theatre, live music, clubs, bars, restaurants and night markets can survive and thrive.

Things to do this weekend (Nov 4 - 6) 1 /14 Things to do this weekend (Nov 4 - 6) Sliders Curling Club Roof East Floors, 7 & 8, Stratford Multi Storey Car Park Great Eastern Way, E15 1XE, from Nov 3



'What did you do this weekend?'



'Went curling, you?'



That's all you really need to know - when else and where else are you going to do something like this? Besides the chance to try curling, there's karaoke courtesy of Lucky Voice, two rooftop bars and hotdogs from Rockadolllar . The Last Dance Hoxton Hall, 130 Hoxton Street, N1 6SH, Nov 1 - 26



This immersive dance fest isn't your regular night on the tiles. It's more of theatrical experience, set in a dystopian match-making institute, which ends on the dance floor. The dress code is strictly white t-shirt and blue jeans, and you should come to get down well into the wee small hours. Macarons at Coq D'Argent 1 Poultry,Bank, EC2R 8EJ, now until Dec 1



Head to one of London's finest and most famous French restaurants to try a peculiar, and yet oddly delicious, pudding. Finish up a meal with a plate of honey mustard macarons. It's a world first for the flavour, both sweet and savoury, and perfect with an after-supper coffee (though we, of course, had dessert wine because we're like that). It's a chance to try something you literally can't get anywhere else, but also, Coq D'Argent is one of those places that seems custom built for a treat at this time of year. Theset menu (from 28) represents the best value  and make sure to have the rabbit for your main, it's everything you'd want from a warming dish as the night's go cold. A ball pit bar is opening BallieBallerson, 79 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8AD, from Nov 4



Chances are its probably been a while since youve been in a ball pit. In fact, its probably a while since youve been allowed in a ball pit. But thats all about to change as a bar with its very own version of the kids' classic launches on Stoke Newington Road. Ballie Ballerson will feature a chest-high pit filled with over 200,000 balls, inflatables and foam toys  and will blast out funk, soul and bass. It will serve both sweet and savoury cocktails including a pink shrimp daiquiri, a skittle sour and a green pepper Mary and will also offer weekend brunches where prosecco, punch and spaghetti meatballs are all bottomless. Bonfire Night Fireworks Across London, Nov 4 - 6



Remember, remember the 5th of November. Or indeed the 4th and the 6th November  London has fireworks displays happening on all of them.



There are 26 major Bonfire Night events happening across London this year, taking in virtually every corner of the capital.



As well as the main displays, many include food markets and funfairs, while several also offer live music, artsy performances and early-evening kid-friendly shows with fewer bangs before the real deal. Gothic Tales By Candlelight The Archivist, Unit V Reliance Wharf, N1 5ET, Nov 4



Halloween is over, with all its tackiness. Time to be unsettled properly with this series of readings, which include extracts from Mysteries of Udolpho, A Sicilian Romance, and The Monk and Maud. There'll also be live music and prizes to be one. It's BYOB, with someone on site mixing drinks. Glenda Jackson in King Lear Old Vic Theatre, The Cut, SE1 8NB, now until Dec 3



One of the biggest casting coups of the year has been to get Glenda Jackson back on stage to take on the role of King Lear at the Old Vic. She stood down as an MP at the last election, and now is sure to offer a Lear that will go down in legend. With Jane Horrocks, Celia Imrie, Rhys Ifans and Harry Melling also in the cast, shes in great company. Sara Pascoe's Literary Salon The Book Club, 100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH, Nov 6



Top comedian Sara Pascoe returns with her Literary Salon after their first outings last year proved a much-loved success. Expect jokes, book readings and even some audience participation. Canary Wharf Ice Rink opens Montgomery Street, E14 5AB, Nov 4 - Feb 25



This large rink might be in the unpopular financial district, but it has plenty of fans. It's brightening up Canada Square Park quite literally this year, with more than eight kilometres of LED lights underneath the ice. For really keen skaters, there are lessons available, while for the little ones, the seal skating aids are simply adorable. If you're just there to watch, bask in the glory of the heated viewing deck and don't miss the bar, either. Jurassic Park with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Royal Albert Hall, SW7 2AP, Nov 3 - 5



Come on now, who in their right mind wouldn't want to do this? It's at the Albert Hall  one of London's most stunning venues  with the rawsome Jurassic Park on screen, and the music is played live by an orchestra. If you've never been to one of the movie-with-live-music shindigs, make a start now: hearing the music live somehow completely changes the experience, and makes the film that much more absorbing. Craig David turns on the Oxford Street Christmas Lights Oxford Street, Nov 6



Grammy-nominated singer Craig David, best known for his Nineties classics Seven Days, Walking Away and Fill Me In, will hit the switch for Oxford Street's Christmas lights on Sunday night.



David, who recently released his album Following My Intuition  16 years after his debut Born To Do  said: Its a great honour to be switching on the lights and lighting up Oxford Street. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and an incredible 2017. Jeremy Selwyn

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F or many, theres nothing more relaxing than ending a hard week with a well-deserved glass of red wine.

Now fans of cabernet sauvignon can go one step further by bathing their entire body in a whole swimming pool of the stuff.

Some 100-kilometres west of Tokyo sits the the Yunessun Spa Resort, which dubs itself as a spa theme park and allows its patrons to legitimately relax in giant hot tubs filled with Merlot or Bordeaux.

But splashing about in wine isnt just for fun. According to the spa creators, the red variety is not only relaxing, the resveratrol found within it also has anti-ageing properties which can keep your skin looking youthful.

In fact, 'vinotherapy' or bathing in red wine was a practice first adopted in ancient times, supposedly by the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra.

As well relaxing in wine, the food and drink spa also offers hot tubs filled with coffee, sake, green tea and, rather bizarrely - ramen noodles.

While youre busy soaking in all of the healing properties, butlers will pour you a fresh glass of wine from a 12-foot bottle thats perched poolside, so youre never far from the bar.

The spa lets you drink red wine as you bathe in it / AFP/Getty Images

The spa says that all of its different food and drink therapies have health benefits.

Sake baths, for instance, have the potential to remove dark circles and age spots.

Green tea picked from the mountains of Tanzawa and Hakone, on the other hand, can help you to boost your immune system.

Already the spa has proven popular with reviewers on TripAdvisor, with one commenter saying that it is defintiely a must visit for all tourists!

The only catch? The wine treatment is only available for 12 days each year - so you'll have to plan your next trip to Japan strategically.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
MASON CITY  The prison term has been commuted for a Mason City woman hailed by an advocacy group as the poster child for the wrongs of mandatory sentencing guidelines.

The White House announced Friday that President Barack Obama ordered Mandy Martinson, 39, be released from federal prison on Dec. 4.

Thats about three years early.

Martinson had been serving a 15-year prison sentence since a January 2005 conviction for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a meth mixture, possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of meth and possession of a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime.

Fridays news was celebrated by the advocacy group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, or FAMM, a Washington, D.C.-based agency that says Martinsons case is as an example of unjustly harsh punishments under the current system.

It also produced a video featuring Martinsons story.

Were ecstatic. Very happy, Kevin Ring, vice president of FAMM, said Friday. She was in some ways a poster child for everything thats wrong with mandatory sentencing laws, and her sentence was a travesty.

Initially charged in state court, Martinson and her then-boyfriend, Justin Dana, were arrested in January 2004 after the North Iowa Narcotics Task Force found an estimated $60,000 in meth and $12,000 in marijuana in their home on North Harrison Avenue.

Dana, who testified against Martinson, was sentenced to 12 years for the same crimes after he testified against Martinson.

Fifteen years is a long time for what she did, Ring said. I dont think anyone would say she didnt screw up or she didnt need to be held accountable, but she was truly an addict and her crime grew out of her addiction.

Martinson was being held Friday at a low-security prison in Waseca, Minnesota.

She was one of two North Iowans whose sentences were reduced Friday.

President Obama also commuted the sentence of ZoAnn Brown of Rowan. She will now be released in November 2018.

Brown had been serving a 292-month term, or 24 years and four months, for a May 2, 2007, conviction for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

The commutation requires Brown to enroll in a residential drug treatment program.

Earlier this year, residents of Clear Lake, Dumont, Rockford and Clear Lake also had their meth-related prison sentences commuted by presidential executive order.
G ina Millers 11-year-old son thinks she is a superhero.

Yesterday he said, Thank you, Mummy, itll be me and my friends that suffer if we dont have democracy. My kids are obsessed with Marvel and think Im Wonder Woman.

Miller talks to her children about work, and the landmark legal case she won yesterday. Using her own money, the 51-year-old, who runs the investment firm SCM Private with her husband Alan, brought a legal challenge to ensure that Theresa May cannot trigger Article 50 without a vote in Parliament.

We won three-nil, she laughs. All three judges ruled in our favour. What we did was preserve democracy. But the media frenzy meant it didnt sink in until late last night.

Landmark Brexit Ruling: What happened and what happens next?

She had a glass of champagne at home in Chelsea to celebrate but now shes busy. We speak on the phone as she rushes around, dropping off her children and going to work.

The decision has disrupted Mays plans to begin Brexit negotiations in March next year and made the prospect of a Soft Brexit more likely.

Boris Johnson: Brexit will benefit the EU

Im a very level-headed person so yesterday I was just thinking What happens now?. Its not just about the day of the victory. Now the Government should be drawing up a Bill [on Brexit]. To not frustrate the Brexit timetable they should put the Bill before Parliament as quickly as possible.

"If we hadnt won, the implication would have been that any prime minister in the future could do what they want. The judges said we have a rule of law in this country that cannot be taken away by politicians.

Miller decided to fight last month. She only slept for 36 minutes on the night of the EU referendum - she knows because her husband gave her a Withings watch so he could track her sleep.

In the morning, her son told her shed do something about the result because she always acts.

Its been tough. Shes had rape and death threats and is in close dialogue with the police about protecting her house and her childrens school.

Theres been a hateful backlash. Its been racist, sexist, xenophobic  anything you can possibly imagine

Im not naive, I knew people can be hateful and spoke to police about security early on. Theres been a hateful backlash.

"Its been racist, sexist, xenophobic  anything you can possibly imagine  but Im not backwards in coming forwards and speaking. I spent the past 10 years fighting rip-offs in the City and Im vocal when I think things are wrong.

"I cant think of a better way of spending my money.

"What we did was preserve democracy", says Miller / Hannah McKay/EPA

She continues: Ive gone from being a single parent in a one-bed flat in Stoke Newington to where I live now. Fortunately I have strength of personality and resources to speak out.

"Its the right thing for me to do so I do it.

Miller was born in Guyana, where her father was leader of the opposition. When politics became dangerous he stepped down and was attorney general.

As a child, Miller would go see him in court, where he was always smart in a wig and gown despite the heat.

At 10, she was sent to Roedean school but was badly bullied and experienced racism for the first time, a time she credits with making her steely.

She ran away to live with her brother in Eastbourne when she was 14, supporting herself by working as a chambermaid. She studied law at the University of East London but didnt sit her finals because her parents wanted her back in Guyana. But London was home.

At 21 she married and had a daughter at 23, who is disabled. She divorced her first husband and worked as a model while also setting up a marketing agency.

She remarried, to Jon Maguire, a businessman known for his Christianity and anti-homosexual attitude. They divorced in 2002.

Miller says she wouldn't go into politics because "you have to play games" / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures

Then she met Alan Miller at a fancy-dress party in 2003. He started one of Britains first hedge funds and had made more than 30 million.

When they were first dating he was in the middle of a divorce and she urged him to fight for a fair deal  again driven by principle.

Now she is sanguine about the abuse shes had.

I cant get upset about people getting angry with me because they were played by politicians. I blame the politicians.

The problem is that people were upset and theyve been upset for years. Politicians have either blamed Europe or been irresponsible. Everyone who voted, remain or leave, wanted change.

"They believed whatever way they voted they were doing the best for their families, but the politicians misled the public into believing whatever the outcome of the advisory referendum was would be made law, knowing well that would not be the case. That unleashes anger.

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Would she go into politics? Absolutely not. You have to play games. Maybe I would if it was about honesty and integrity but the politics we have now needs massive changing.

"The airbags and lunatics seem to rise to the top and the hard-working majority of MPs dont.

American politics is just as bad.

Its too early to tell if May will change this here.

A lot of what she says is fantastic. Im delighted its a woman who is taking us forward but shes in a difficult situation. The boys playing their politics games in the playground left and shes been left to pick up the pieces. I cant say there are a huge number of politicians who I feel hopeful about changing it and that worries me. We dont have a functioning opposition. That sense of mistrust that the majority feel, I feel too.

There are a few glimmers of hope: Keir Starmer is a wise individual. We need grown up, wise people who can speak with authority.

Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures 1 /30 Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures David Cameron announces his resignation outside Number 10 Downing Street Stefan Wermuth/Reuters David and Samantha Cameron outside Downing Street as the PM announces his decision to stand down Stefan Wermuth/Reuters Boris Johnson leaves home following the stunning EU referendum result Lucy Young A triumphant Nigel Farage near the Houses of Parliament Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour Party, is followed by journalists as he walks towards the Houses of Parliament Rob Stothard/Getty Images London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to the media after Britain voted for Brexit Matt Writle Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Toby Melville/Reuters Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA Vote LEAVE supporter Christine Forrester celebrates with others outside Vote Leave HQ Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look dejected as results come in Rob Stothard/AFP/Getty Images The Houses of Parliament as dawn breaks on London after the vote Rob Stothard/Getty Images Stronger in campaigners look dejected after the result Leave supporters celebrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London Anthony Devlin/PA Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home this morning Rob Stothard/Getty Images A man reacts to a vote count results screen at an 'Leave.EU Referendum Party' in London Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at the Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA UKIP Leader Nigel Farage at the Leave.EU party in London as he claimed victory Stefan Rousseau/PA A London taxi driver holds a Union flag, as he celebrates following the result of the EU referendum Toby Melville Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard People gathered in The Churchill Tavern, a British themed bar, react as the BBC predicts Briatin will leave the European Union, in the Manhattan borough of New York Andrew Kelly/Reuters Traders monitor computer screens with the day's exchange rate at a foreign exchange brokerage at a securities firm in Tokyo Eugene Hoshiko/AP Conservative MP Nigel Evans (left) and UKIP's Paul Nuttall, members of the Vote Leave campaign, celebrate at Manchester Town Hall where the national result in the UK referendum will be declared later Peter Byrne/PA Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard

She felt upbeat about the case. Wed kept it to the legal argument and our case was based on hundreds of years of constitutional law, focused around whether the Government could use the royal prerogative to bypass Parliament, so I was confident we would win.

But she was upset by how emotional it became. Because the case had become very politicised it was a disgrace that Parliament didnt address the central legal pillars of our argument. They wasted time and effort.

Will it slow the process down? It wont. They could get on with it now.

TODO: define component type apester

Shes not met Deir dos Santos, the hairdresser who won a similar case yesterday but is glad that the positive has come through.

Its been negative but people have told me heartbreaking stories about how Ive given them hope when they felt disappointed, rejected, worried, not wanting to speak because of fear of abuse at work or school. Thats heartwarming.

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter
I f you want an honest brokers take on Brexit, ask an Australian. In particular, ask John Howard, Australias second-longest-serving premier.

Howard, 77, would have voted to leave the EU  a country should have control over its laws and its borders  but hes pragmatic about the outcome. If Brexit makes for more globalisation and freer trade, hes all for it, but it depends how its managed. Its happened, he says. Make the most of it.

Howard has been out of office since 2007 but hes still admired. He was over here to collect the Edmund Burke Award from Eurosceptic Daniel Hannans Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe  attendees at the dinner were misty-eyed at his invocation of national rights. That was before yesterdays court judgment that Brexit will be a matter for Parliament.

Naturally, hes keen on the prospect that once EU tariffs are removed, Brexit might benefit British-Australian trade. Free trade is his thing. Its lifted millions of people out of poverty and eliminated extreme poverty in many countries, he says emphatically. Its the biggest moral challenge the world has.

He doesnt think Brexit will make that much of a difference to relations between Australia and Britain  youd find it hard to find two countries with more in common  and certainly doesnt want a return to preferential trading relations between Commonwealth countries. The important thing about Brexit is the effect on Britain. Wed like a free trading relationship with Britain and the EU. But free-trade agreements are only valuable if they increase the amount of trade.

What about the Australians here? Thats where Brexit may make a difference, he says. I get the impression that Britain was under pressure to reduce the numbers of non-EU migrants and that meant bearing down on the number of Australians coming here. So one concrete result of Brexit could be more Australians  whats not to like?

Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures 1 /30 Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures David Cameron announces his resignation outside Number 10 Downing Street Stefan Wermuth/Reuters David and Samantha Cameron outside Downing Street as the PM announces his decision to stand down Stefan Wermuth/Reuters Boris Johnson leaves home following the stunning EU referendum result Lucy Young A triumphant Nigel Farage near the Houses of Parliament Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour Party, is followed by journalists as he walks towards the Houses of Parliament Rob Stothard/Getty Images London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to the media after Britain voted for Brexit Matt Writle Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Toby Melville/Reuters Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA Vote LEAVE supporter Christine Forrester celebrates with others outside Vote Leave HQ Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look dejected as results come in Rob Stothard/AFP/Getty Images The Houses of Parliament as dawn breaks on London after the vote Rob Stothard/Getty Images Stronger in campaigners look dejected after the result Leave supporters celebrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London Anthony Devlin/PA Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home this morning Rob Stothard/Getty Images A man reacts to a vote count results screen at an 'Leave.EU Referendum Party' in London Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at the Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA UKIP Leader Nigel Farage at the Leave.EU party in London as he claimed victory Stefan Rousseau/PA A London taxi driver holds a Union flag, as he celebrates following the result of the EU referendum Toby Melville Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard People gathered in The Churchill Tavern, a British themed bar, react as the BBC predicts Briatin will leave the European Union, in the Manhattan borough of New York Andrew Kelly/Reuters Traders monitor computer screens with the day's exchange rate at a foreign exchange brokerage at a securities firm in Tokyo Eugene Hoshiko/AP Conservative MP Nigel Evans (left) and UKIP's Paul Nuttall, members of the Vote Leave campaign, celebrate at Manchester Town Hall where the national result in the UK referendum will be declared later Peter Byrne/PA Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard

Hes not anti-immigration. As he says more than once: The public will support immigration provided they feel its controlled in composition and volume. His own approach to illegal immigration was tough but, he says, it worked. It was only after I left office and Labour relaxed the rules that you had people drowning at sea trying to reach Australia.

As for the US presidential election, he finds the campaign distasteful. The choice of candidates is, he says carefully sub-optimal My natural political disposition is to support the Republican but I find it hard, very hard, to support Donald Trump.

Hes worried about Clintons increasingly anti-globalisation tone. Shes shifted her position completely. Its been a casualty of the campaign, he says.

He likes Theresa May, though, and says shes made an excellent start.

The biggest change in the culture since his day is that there was no Twitter, no Facebook. Too many politicians now are tempted to embrace immediacy at the expense of substance.
T he first time I went to America, many years ago, I ended up in San Francisco. One day an American friend suggested a drive across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito. Youll love it there, she said. Theres a British pub down by the water where you can get a pint of British beer. Momentarily seized by pangs of thirst for a pint of warm English ale, I wondered aloud what kind of British beer they stocked. Watneys, she said proudly, which not only dates the anecdote but, for those of a certain age, delivers the punchline too. Particularly since Watneys was already extinct in England at the time, having been turned into a national laughing stock by ridicule from the Monty Pythons Flying Circus.

We never made it to that British pub and I was glad about that because I couldnt think of anything worse than drinking Watneys in America  or at all - but I didnt have the heart to tell her because it would have been rude, and she seemed so pleased that she had discovered something to make me feel at home in her strange and faraway land. The truth, of course, is that I would have been much happier drinking something cold, flavour-free and American in an exotic bottle with embossed writing, like Rolling Rock, or the impossibly exotic Mexican beer Tecate, which only came in a red can. Just as I would rather have ploughed through an enormous stack of pancakes doused in maple syrup and washed down by endless cups of coffee, because no one in England ever gave you a second cup of coffee free (still dont) and American pancakes had yet to reach our not-yet-Jamie-Olivered shores.

I was thinking about this the other day when I read about the child refugees arriving in the West Country. According to The Times, dozens of malnourished teenage boys from war-torn Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea were transferred from the Jungle in Calais to a new life in a 17th century manor house in Devon, where they were welcomed to our shores with full English breakfasts. Im sure the staff at Beam House meant well with their hospitality, and it may be that a full English is exactly what a doctor would prescribe for malnourishment, but it did make me think about cultural values. I mean, if you or I were fleeing our war-torn land in North Africa or the Middle East or Asia, and dreaming of a new life in England, would our dream include bacon, egg, sausage, beans, tomatoes and a fried slice? Or would it instead be a roof over our heads, a bomb-free night of sleep, and a cafe where we could share experiences with some fellow emigrants and tuck into some familiar grub? Or look at it the other way: if you or I were fleeing Brexit-crazed Britain for a new life abroad, would our dream include pancakes and unlimited coffee? Come to think of it, I may have defeated my own embryonic argument here.

Nonetheless, I can only answer this conundrum by thinking about how I would feel transplanted to a land far from family, friends and familiar sights and sounds  for example California. The truth is, however warm the welcome, and however many syrup-drenched pancakes and complimentary coffees they gave me, sooner or later I would be pining for home comforts. Thats why friends in America invariably end up asking visitors to bring food parcels of marmalade and Marmite and tea-bags and Cadburys chocolate. Back in England, the English have always prided themselves (at least until recently) on providing a warm welcome for foreign visitors. So would it have been asking too much to offer the West Country refugees something familiar upon their arrival in a strange autumnal land, just as the weather is turning chilly, the leaves are falling from the trees, and the time-change has plunged us into afternoon darkness? Something to show them that we recognise their different culture while welcoming them to absorb our own in return.

Home comforts: refugees arriving from the 'Jungle' camp in Calais were treated to a full English / PA

We have built our 21st century multicultural/multiracial British society brick by brick, by absorbing other cultures and assimilating them into our own. They, in turn, have evolved and intgegrated so that British culture today  at least as I see it - is actually a hybrid of all the other cultures weve welcomed to our shores over the centuries. Thats why our national dish is Chicken Tikka Masala, a recipe invented by Bangladeshi cooks for British palates, which the average Indian in India might struggle to identify in its traditional British form (the Evening Standard once flew some takeaways to India to prove this point; the chef in Delhi was bemused and befuddled by the bright orange slop in the silver container).

I remember when my friend Nash came over from Moscow, as he does quite frequently because he is in a rock band that tours over here. Nash comes from Georgia  the country, not the state in the American South  and I remember once taking him to a restaurant I had discovered in London called Little Georgia. I felt pleased with myself as we feasted on things that were unfamiliar to me and nearly all seemed to contain walnuts, cheese, or a combination of walnuts and cheese, and drank wine with Cyrillic writing on the label. At the end of it I asked him proudly what he thought of it. He shrugged and smiled awkwardly and said: It was ok. To be honest I would have preferred to go to McDonalds.

And heres the dilemma. A hundred years from now the full English may have grown into something featuring a flatbread instead of a fried slice, and aubergine instead of tomato, but the next wave of refugees will all have the same dream  and it wont involve a full English. Beyond finding a place to live and work free from war and persecution, they will be dreaming of McDonalds and KFC and Pizza Hut and Coca-Cola. Just like everybody else on Planet Earth. And, unless the world has imploded from obesity and religious intolerance by then, theres not a damn thing we can do about it.


L ocate your core, your kidneys, my instructor says. Let go of any fear. Share what you want to achieve. Ive come to Havana to dance salsa with the locals, but guess what? First I have to get in touch with my pelvis. Im lying on the floor of a rehearsal room with Kerry Ribchester, whos a hard taskmaster  but in a good way.

Manchester-born, London-based, she has been visiting Cuba for almost two decades with her dance holiday company Key2Cuba, and the package holiday outfit Captivating Cuba, helping scores of goofy-footed gringos find their inner salsero.

Right now Havana is teeming with international tour operators offering salsa lessons in situ before the US embargo lifts and McDonalds moves in, neither of which seem to be imminent, but few will get you moving like Kerry can. She even taught Kylie Minogue how to sashay the Cuban way. Apparently it all stems from the walk: loose, fluid, with ultra-relaxed hips.

Our womens class sees us slinking about the studios shiny, foot-polished floor. A CD of timba (funky salsa) blares from a stereo, vying with the noise of unmuffled engines snarling along El Paseo del Prado, the leafy colonial avenue whose central marble promenade hosted Chanels first-ever Latin American show in May. We keep walking a lo Cubano, while our Afro-Cuban dance partners from Raices Profundas (Deep Roots), a well-known folkloric ballet troupe, look on.

Eso es! (Thats it!) shouts a tattooed hunk in a string vest, gifting us a smile and a shoulder waggle.

Our goal is simple. We want to learn how to dance to the music, which is everywhere; Havana has got to be the most musical city on the planet. In the open-sided bars of Habana Vieja (Old Havana), the 16th-century, Unesco-listed walled town, they play son Cubano, the dreamy Spain-meets-Africa stuff of the Buena Vista Social Club. Groups of wiry musicians conjure magic from battered guitars, congas and clave sticks, singing in nasal Spanish of love and flowers as, just arms lengths away, couples glide and swirl.

A double bassist on the street / Getty Images/Blend Images RM

The big salsa artists play established venues like Havana Cafe, a Hard Rock-style joint with an Air Cubana light plane dangling from the ceiling, and the cosy Casa de la Musica in upscale Miramar. You could see a live band in Havana every night if you know where to go. Luckily for us, Kerry does. Even more fortuitously, she also knows the musicians and club bosses, which grants us queue-jump privileges and occasional backstage access. We dance under the noses of some of Cubas best-known bands, including a sweaty stint in Anti-Imperialism Park  a plaza outside the newly opened US Embassy  on the last night of Havana Carnival, sequestered in the VIP area and salsa-ing our hearts out before a heaving 20,000-strong crowd.

For the first few days, before we get down to learning salsa, Kerry and her crew teach us the different moves of the Orishas, deities of the ubiquitous Afro-Cuban Santeria religion: the staccato stomps of Elegua, the trickster; the flowing sensuality of Yemaya, mother of the sea; and the macho, lung-filled posturing of the warrior Chango, purveyor of justice. The Raices Profundas dancers show us the way, always totally connected to their pelvises.

A vintage car at El Capitolio / Getty Images/Robert Harding Worl

Show off! Be confident! Enjoy your body! Kerry tells us. Then she teaches us the basics of rumba, the rootsy Afro-Cuban dance performed with bent knees, angled elbows, swishy skirts (for women) and sudden, alarming pelvic thrusts (for men).

We visit the crumbling central Havana home of Amado de Jesus Dedeu, director of Clave y Guaguanco, Cubas greatest rumba outfit, and are treated to our own private show. Its a riot of percussion, colour and call-and-response chanting that gets everybody  us, tiny kids, the family sausage dog  moving.

Partying on the Malecon / The Washington Post/Getty Images

We learn to dance son, keeping close, following by feel, swaying with what we hope is elegant grace. Then, finally, we mix all the dances together to make what Kerry calls the salsa cake: If you can dance with the groundedness of the Orishas in your feet, accent the hips like in rumba and move the rib cage and arms like in son, then youve cracked salsa, she says.

When we spot a fleet of open-topped Fifties American cars parked outside Hotel Sevilla, the colonial four-star where most of us are staying, we pile in  its a surprise from Key2Cuba for being such good students. We roll along the Malecon seafront with the wind in our hair, Latin beats booming and the first of the evenings salsa clubs, an outdoor waterside venue called 1830, ahead of us.

Casa de la Musica / Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image

Between reviving rounds of mojitos and Cuba libres (or, if you like, rum and coke) we dance with gusto, shimmying here, rumba-ing there, darting about the dancefloor with our nimble Cuban dance partners. At basement dive La Gruta, one of our group, a primary school teacher from Tottenham, wins the onstage salsa competition.

Im loving every minute, even if my timing isnt perfect, or I fluff the odd turn  or that sometimes I dont seem to know my pelvis from my elbow.

Details: Havana

Key2Cuba (07767 313168; key2cuba.com) offers dance breaks in Cuba from 2,420 including flights, four nights at an all-inclusive beach resort, seven nights in Havana and 15 hours of dance classes.

travel2cuba.co.uk
P olice have discovered a body while searching land where a missing woman was found chained up like a dog in the US.

Investigators discovered the body during a search of a property in South Carolina where the woman was found chained up in a large storage container.

A registered sex offender Todd Kohlhepp, 45, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the incident, police said.

The woman went missing in late August this year with her boyfriend.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette said the body has not been identified but said that the woman had seen her captor shoot and kill her boyfriend.

Arrested: Todd Kohlhepp / AP

Officers said authorities were continuing the search of the 100-acre estate in Woodruff to make sure that we don't have a serial killer on our hands".

Kohlhepp, who has a previous kidnapping conviction in 1986 for which he served 14 years, appeared at a bond hearing on Friday in Spartanburg on a kidnapping charge.

More charges would be filed, Mr Barnette said in court.

Police search land at a property in Woodruff, South Carolina / AP

The missing woman was found on Thursday inside a container measuring about 30ft by 15ft and told police she believes the bodies of other women could be buried on the site.

Acting on a tip, police found her after hearing her banging inside the container.

The woman, who had worked for Kohlhepp, had a chain around her neck and had been kept in the container for two months. She had been fed regularly.

She told deputies she had been kept in the container for two months and had been fed regularly.

It was described by police as "a hellish place to be locked in hot weather. No lights, no windows, no air flow".
N ew CCTV footage of a speeding 4x4 smashing into parked cars has been released by police investigating the murder of a man in east London.

Raja Rashid Ali, from Elm Park, died after he was stabbed in Stansgate Road in Dagenham on the evening of Sunday, September 25.

Detectives working on the murder probe are now hunting for a silver 4x4 car which crashed just before the disturbance which led to 33-year-old Mr Alis death.

The Mitsubishi Shogun jeep was driven onto the pavement outside a Costcutters shop before it drove off in the direction of Listowel Road.

Victim: Raja Rashid Ali

Detectives are appealing to anyone who may have seen the car travelling to Braintree Road prior to the collision and disturbance or where it travelled to afterwards.

Police also want to find out where the jeep is now. The car's registration is P353PKE.

Three men, aged 25, 21 and 33 have been charged with Mr Alis murder.

Five other men, three aged 21, and two aged 26 and 27, have already been arrested in connection with the investigation and bailed to return on dates in mid and late November, pending further enquiries.
A business student shot dead on his doorstep told his mother I havent done anything to anyone as he lay dying in her arms, it was revealed today.

James Owusu, 22, was gunned down in the doorway of his family home in north-west London on Wednesday evening.

His family said two men walked casually past the open front door and blasted him three times at close range in front of his mother, Deborah.

She tried in vain to stop the blood coming from wounds to her only sons side and stomach but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Amiah, who runs a shipping firm in Wembley, told the Standard: Hed been watching the Champions League match at home with his uncle, who was visiting from Ghana, and then went round to see his best friend next door.

James Owusu, 22, was cradled by his mother as he lay dying after being shot three times

He came back around 10.30pm. Hed left the door slightly open and they put the gun around the door. He was shot three times and fell to the floor just inside his house

His mother ran to him and said Qwasi why has this happened? Have you done anything to anyone? He said: Mum I havent done anything to anyone.. I dont like trouble.

She did what she could to try to help him before the ambulance arrived. She was distraught, she felt helpless and hopeless. She was still clearly in shock when I saw her.

None of us know why this has happened, its a complete mystery. He was a good boy, he worked hard and studied hard and wanted to be a success.

I ve known him since he was six years old and he was like family to me.

He would talk to me about things. It seems impossible he had a double life we didnt know about that someone would want to do this to him.

Mr Owusu had hoped to study a masters in accountancy.

He worked at Mr Amiahs firm, which couriers containers and packages to Ghana, and played African and Caribbean music at private parties and weddings under the name DJ Skillzy.

He was born in the UK and was the only child of his parents who moved from Ghana to the UK before his birth.

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command have launched a murder inquiry. No arrests have been made.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 10.45pm on Wednesday to reports of a shooting in Tynsdale Road.

Local officers and firearms officers attended the location and found a man in his 20s with gunshot injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8785 8244 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A homeless man was jailed for 14 years today for the violent attempted rape of a woman who bravely fought him off on Waterloo Bridge.

Naim Milad, 28, grabbed his victim  a Canadian tourist aged in her 30s  and repeatedly banged her head against the ground on the stairwell of the bridge near to Embankment station.

Her attacker lunged at her from behind and pushed her to the ground before launching the horrific attack shortly after midnight on June 4.

Milad, who also punched his victim in the head several times, was sentenced to 14 years in prison at Southwark Crown Court.

But the victim, who was left with severe bruising to her body and face, managed to fight him off and fled toward Hungerford Bridge.

Convicted: Naim Milad was caught after CCTV appeal by police / Metropolitan Police

Milad was caught after a CCTV appeal by police.

He admitted to the office at interview and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted rape and one count of ABH.

Milad, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 14 years for the attempted rape and 18 months for the ABH to be served concurrently.

He must serve a minimum of eight years before he is eligible for parole.

Detective Inspector Neil Rawlinson of the Met's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command said: "This was an extremely violent assault on a lone female and that is reflected in the sentence.

Detective Constable Sam O'Callaghan of the Met's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command said praise the victims courage in the investigation.

She also urged anyone who may recognise Milad and believe they have been a victim at his hands to contact police.
A thief who stole handbags, purses, and phones from women across London was branded a nuisance by a judge as he was jailed for 14 months.

Peter Dallip, 55, flouted a ban on him travelling on public transport in the capital as he dipped into bags on buses and Tubes and swiped handbags during an eight-month crime spree.

He took a mobile phone from a womans bag last December as she boarded a bus in Bromley, stole others in February on buses in Pimlico and stole a phone from a woman on a bus in Brixton the same month.

Dallip also spent 300 on bank cards after stealing them on the Tube and using contactless payments in shops in January and February this year.

He was eventually caught after he and an accomplice stole a handbag from under a table at Waterstones near Trafalgar Square in August and within 45 minutes took another bag from a woman at the National Theatre on the South Bank.

Jailing him at Inner London crown court, Judge Davies QC told Dallip: These are nuisance offences, and your offending is such that nothing but a sentence of imprisonment can be justified. What does it take to make you stop committing this kind of nuisance offences? These are offences mainly concerned with women, its a very distressing thing to happen to them.

Dallip, of Bromley, had also been jailed for 14 months last January for a string of similar offences, and as part of that sentence he was banned from within Zones 1 and 2 of the Tube for five years. But he ignored the ban after his release.

Dallip, said to have a drug problem, admitted nine theft charges, 18 of fraud and three of breaking a criminal behaviour order.
M ore than three in four knife crimes in London are going unsolved, according to alarming new figures.

Statistics show that a total of 8,147 violent incidents involving a sharp instrument went undetected in the capital last year - nearly 80 per cent of the total 10,238 cases.

The figures also show that the rate of unsolved cases of knife crime has increased by six per cent in the past two years.

The data emerged as Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for a tough approach to tackling a recent 16 per cent surge in knife crime and stabbings in London.

Scene: Ziggy Worrell-Owusu was stabbed to death in Goodmayes

Last month Ziggy Worrell-Owusu, 19, from Hackney became the tenth teenager to be stabbed to death in London this year.

Today Tom Isaac, manager of Oasis Youth Support, a service that offers youth support to victims of violence in the emergency department of St Thomass Hospital in Southwark, said young victims were often unwilling to speak to police.

Mr Isaac said: You think its always the obvious thing to tell the police, but its often more complicated than that.

Emergency services on the scene of Goodmayes murder

"Young people who have been stabbed when they come in here often wont give full statements or press charges, because they know it could put them in more danger of revenge and retaliation when they leave the hospital. It happens all the time.

The figures - obtained by a Freedom of Information request - show the overall number of knife crimes recorded has risen from 9,544 in the 12 months to August 2014 to 10,238 in the same period to 2016, a seven per cent rise.

While the rate of unsolved cases is rising, the number of people being charged has fallen by 4 per cent, from 24.8 per cent of the total in the year to August 2014 to 21.2 per cent in the year to August 2016.

Young people in Islington, the borough that saw one of the highest number of teenage knife murders in the capital last year, said there is a stigma against speaking to the police about violent crime.

One 17-year-old, from the Barnsbury estate, who declined to be named, said: Snitches get stitches. You learn it from a young age.

Its a thing people say on the street. You cant say anything to the police. Youll lose friends and people will hurt you because youre one of the polices snitches.

Another Islington teenager, age 16, said: People would rather handle it themselves because of the fear that if you say something youre going to get stabbed again.

Chief Superintendent John Sutherland, a London police officer for 24 years, said there was a common unwillingness among young people to speak to officers.

'Fearful youths': Chief supt John Sutherland says youths are unwilling to speak to police / Met Police

He said: My experience is that the more vulnerable the victim of crime is the less likely they will report it to the police. It is certainly the case with violent crime involving young people.

Often by the time we get to knife crime scenes the people wed like to have spoken to have disappeared, fearful they might be treated as suspects. Victims and witnesses are also fearful. The most obvious reasons for this are underlying mistrust of police, and fear.

He described knife crime as one of the most urgent issues of our time saying if the victims were the children of the establishment it would be a national scandal.

Ch Supt Sutherland added: Police have got a challenge in terms of building trust. We need to help build trust that might not be there by engaging as much as possible with organisations, local communities and families. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Stokley, the head of the Trident gangs unit, said: The difficulty is people do not wish to give a statement or engage with police and it is very hard to build a case when there is no other evidence.

But we urge people to try and support a prosecution because my officers will do everything they can to try and bring an offender to justice. These people wil inevitably go on to to stab someone else.

We have had some successful prosecutions for knife crime when the victim did not support the prosecution.

He added: We need to get the message out that it is not the norm to carry a knife and that if you do carry a knife, you or someone with you, are more likely to be stabbed.
P arents have been left outraged after it was revealed the head of a south London primary school federation earned 370,000 last year.

Sir Craig Tunstall, head of the Gipsy Hill Federation, was paid 330,000 plus 44,000 in pension contributions by Lambeth council last year, newly released accounts reveal.

It makes the executive head of eight council-run schools Lambeth council's best-paid employee and he is also believed to be the best-paid primary head in the UK.

The council told the Standard that Sir Craig's pay is set by the federation's board of governors, despite it coming out of the council's accounts.

Sir Craig is also responsible for a Lambeth childrens centre, another one in Southwark and three schools in the same area.

His salary is 80 per cent higher than the councils chief executive and double the amount of Theresa Mays 143,400 wage.

Those shocked by the figures took to social media to express their disgust.

Nick Toms wrote on Facebook: It is outrageous that the head of a small number of primary schools should be paid 330K a year.

He's converting them to academies too so he will be untouchable.

Seanie OShea added: What a shameful waste. This money should be used for improving education not management bank accounts.

However, others jumped to the head teacher's defence.

James Lightfoot said: (He) oversees nine schools, well over 100 staff, nearly 2,000 plus pupils with track record of good to outstanding Ofsted reports and of retrieving some schools from special measures to outstanding in a few years. Ultimately you get what you pay for?

Best paid: Craig Tunstall earned 370k last year

There are many others in our society who earn far more, but contribute far less.

The head teacher was awarded a knighthood in 2014 for his services to education and is also one of a group of national leaders of education trained to share their expertise with other schools.

However, he left Croydons Oval Primary School after just two days on the jobs in 2011 after harsh punishments for offences such as wearing the wrong coat and failing to stand in line sparked backlash from parents and council bosses.

A spokeswoman for the Gipsy Hill Federation declined to comment to the Standard but have defended the salary, saying the majority of schools run by Sir Craig had been rated outstanding.
G enerous Londoners have raised 20,000 for The Felix Project  the flagship charity for the Food for London campaign  after snapping up vegetable boxes donated by a fresh food specialist.

HelloFresh provided 2,500 boxes, each with enough to feed two people dinner for three days. The boxes would normally retail at 36 but were sold to the public on a pay as you feel basis with a minimum of 10.

The Felix Project, which calls for supermarkets and other wholesalers to donate surplus produce, will receive the money. The Evening Standards Food for London campaign is working with the charity. HelloFresh workers distributed the boxes yesterday at train and Tube stations including Kings Cross and Bank and at Broadgate Circle. At Victoria commuters queued for the vegetables with some paying 20.

Ren Carroll, 10, insisted that his mother Ryoko, 41, buy a box. He said: My favourite vegetables are carrots and cabbage. Everybody should eat well and there should be enough food for everyone.

'Amazing response': HelloFresh co-founder Patrick Drake at Victoria / JEREMY SELWYN

Jessica Lee, 25, a financial services manager, gave 15 for her box. She said: Myself and my husband are always horrified by the food we waste Anything which makes people more aware is positive.

Ren Carroll, 11, who asked his mother for a box / JEREMY SELWYN

Citibank also took 250 boxes for 10,000, or 40 each. James Bardrick, head of Citi UK, said: We bought 250 boxes that Citi volunteers have helped distribute over the past couple of days to three charities  Fight for Peace, Toynbee Hall and Brixton Soup Kitchen. HelloFresh co-founder and chief chef Patrick Drake said: The response has been amazing. Another 1,250 boxes were put on sale today.
A n MP today described her anxiety as her baby became one of thousands in London hit by an NHS shortage of the vaccine against tuberculosis.

Tulip Siddiq was offered an out-of-date dose of the BCG vaccine by doctors trying to eke out their last supplies of the jab that is recommended for all babies.

She accepted after being assured it would be safe and effective  but she warned that thousands of parents in the capital are being refused vaccinations for their children unless they live in the highest-risk areas.

Ms Siddiq, shadow minister for early years and Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, called for urgent Government action to increase supplies or risk a rise in TB in London.

She told the Standard: When my daughter Azalea was four weeks old, I received a letter saying that because I live in an area of high risk I should get her vaccinated. My health visitor said the same.

When I tried to make an appointment I was told they were running out due to a global shortage but I could have a dose from an expired batch.

I really felt uncomfortable giving my baby an expired vaccination but they gave me a letter assuring me it was safe. Later a lot of mother on the West Hampstead Mums facebook page told me I was one of the lucky ones as they had not been able to get their babies vaccinated at all.

Azalea, now seven months old, is in good health, but the vaccine shortage has worsened and Public Health England confirmed current supplies are being reserved for high-risk cases.

Other parents have come forward to tell of their ordeals caused by the shortage. Mother Promise Knight des- cribed as frightening the three-month wait until her baby daughter Elizabeth was given a jab. Being a first-time mother, to be told your child has to go without this crucial vaccine at such an early stage in life leaves one feeling so exposed and vulnerable, she said.

Ms Knight, who set up the Promise Foundation, lives in Brent  which, official figures show, has more than twice the London-wide rate of infection, with 63 cases per 1,000 people.

TB is a bacterial infection, spread mainly by coughs and sneezes, that damages the lungs but can also affect kidneys, joints and bones.

Last week the London Assembly health committee called for all children in the capital to be vaccinated after a drug-resistant strain was detected in the capital. Yet only 24 out of 32 boroughs currently offer the jab, as the official vaccine ran out in September.

Private clinics revealed that demand has surged. Ms Siddiq said one young mother told her she paid 350 for a private jab.

Public Health England said: We have an interim supply of a BCG vaccine from a different manufacturer and plan to secure more.
A biker is fighting for his life in hospital after two motorcycles crashed at a busy junction in Clerkenwell.

Police and paramedics raced to the scene after the bikes collided in Clerkenwell Road this morning.

Emergency services were called to the crash at the junction with Berry Street at 10.40am.

Medics rushed one of the motorcyclists  a 38-year-old man  to an east London hospital.

He remained there in a critical condition on Thursday evening, police said.

Motorbike crash: Two bikers were taken to hospital / Twitter/Dave Sherry

Images posted on social media showed a cordon in place and a large police presence in the area.

The road was closed for hours after the crash while police investigated.

The other biker - 27-year-old man  was also taken to hospital but has since been discharged.

A Met Police spokesman said: There have been no arrests.

The Met's Serious Collision Investigation Unit based at Alperton would like to speak to witnesses or anyone who has information on the collision to come forward.

Anyone with information is asked to call 0208 991 9555 or alternatively call the police non-emergency line on 101.
A coroner has suggested officers should carry weapons less likely to kill people following the fatal shooting of a mentally-ill man by police.

James Fox, 43, was hit five times after two Metropolitan Police officers opened fire as he opened the door of his flat in Enfield on August 30 last year.

Jurors at an inquest, held in September, found Mr Fox's death was lawful, adding the officers believed they needed to use force to defend themselves.

North London Coroners Court heard the two officers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, shot Mr Fox as he raised a weapon towards them.

At a further hearing today, coroner Andrew Walker raised the issue of the spread and number of shots fired as he received submissions from legal representatives for the Fox family and Met Police.

Barrister Matthew Butt, for the police force, said it would be an "unfair premise" to assume firearms officers were "poor shots", telling the court some of the circumstances of Mr Fox's death were "impossible to train for".

However, the coroner queried whether another sort of weapon could be made available that would be less likely to result in small, yet deadly, wounds.

He said: "The difficulty here is, should there be consideration at these close ranges of another sort of firearm that does not cause small, penetrating injuries but (rather) uses a larger projectile to knock a person to the ground?

"I can't imagine that in this day and age, it would not be possible to produce a large-calibre, reliable, short-range weapon that was capable of incapacitating a person."

Mr Butt said there was no such device at present that came close to meeting the required standard but acknowledged "everyone wants to avoid a situation like this".

Barrister Owen Greenhall, for the family, told the court that officers needed more specific training to prepare them to deal with "unexpected confrontation".

He added the late man's family also had concerns about the "practical availability" of heavy or two-handed shields used by officers.

The coroner indicated he would compile a preventing future deaths report, including finalised recommendations, to be disseminated to parties at a later date.

Speaking after the initial hearing, Commander Matt Twist, in charge of armed policing, said on behalf of the Met: The officers had seconds to act when Mr Fox opened his front door and pointed what looked like a gun at them.

No police officer wants to take someone's life. We ask our armed officers, and indeed expect them, to make split second decisions, in some of the most complex, fast moving and dangerous situations, to protect the public, their colleagues and themselves.

"All of our firearms officers are experienced police officers who volunteer for the additional responsibility and immense scrutiny that comes with carrying a gun.
A n engineer who a survived six-storey fall at a 25 million luxury tower block in which a workmate died today said he hoped the developers have learned their lesson after being fined more than 1 million.

Steelworker Terry Cooper, 46, suffered a fractured skull, cracked cheekbones and 10 broken ribs after crashing more than 50ft onto concrete at the building site in Putney in October 2012.

His colleague Justinas Kopickas, a 42-year-old father of three, was killed when the platform gave way at the Langham Square development.

A third worker, Nirmal Singh, was struck and seriously injured by falling debris.

Scene: This is where engineer Terry Cooper fell / Terry Cooper

Mr Cooper told the Standard how he called Mr Kopickas over to inspect a loose board on the platform when it gave way.

The father of two from Romford said: We plunged downwards and I blacked out. I remember waking up in hospital four days later in a cast with wires coming out of me.

I was lucky I landed on a flat landing but Mr Kopickas landed on the jagged stairs just metres away. I feel awful for his wife and kids  it easily could have been me. Theyre going through hell.

After almost three years of intense rehabilitation at St Georges hospital in Tooting, Mr Cooper was able to return to work full-time this year.

Family: Mr Cooper surrounded by relatives / Terry Cooper

He said: Its a huge part of my life now and I will never forget it. So the court case finishing just comes as a closure, I hope the companies learn their lesson.

I think about the fall hundreds of times a day, it has affected every aspect of my life. What hurts is my six-year-old daughter being too scared to visit me in hospital and my wife having to care for me in every way. She says I am strong for surviving but she is far stronger than me.

Tragedy: Justinas Kopickas, a 42-year-old father of three, was killed when the platform gave way at the Langham Square development / Google Maps

Principal contractor St James Group admitted breaching its duty to plan, manage and monitor work under the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined 600,000 and ordered to pay 14,935 costs.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said the company, which has a turnover of 345.2 million, had made dignified expressions of personal remorse.

Mitchellson Formwork, based in Slough, was fined 400,000 and ordered to pay 14,935 costs after admitting one count of contravention of a health and safety duty.

RGF Construction, said to be a one-man band run by Robert Fitzell, 39, was earlier convicted of two counts of contravention of a contractors duty and fined 20,000.
N otting Hill Carnival came close to a disaster along the scale of the Hillsborough tragedy on at least two occasions this year, police have claimed.

At one point officers were forced to dive into crowds and rescue children and people in Ladbroke Grove who were at risk of being crushed.

On other occasions safety barriers collapsed in All Saints Road under the weight of crowds and people were thrown forward, raising fears that people in the front would be suffocated.

Commander Dave Musker, the head of policing the carnival, said a similar scenario had led to major disasters such as the 1971 Ibrox tragedy in Glasgow when 66 people died and the Hillsborough calamity in 1989 when 96 lost their lives.

He said: The critical issue at carnival is public safety. Each year, and last year was no exception, we come exceptionally close to a major catastrophic failure of public safety where members of the public will suffer serious injury.

His comments came at a London Assembly Police and Crime Committee meeting yesterday called to review security and policing at the event.

Commander Musker described the two incidents at this years carnival when the event came close to disaster.

One took place when an articulated lorry was making its way down Ladbroke Grove which pushed crowds to the side of the road.

The officer, who was watching events unfold at a command centre, said: I have video of officers diving in to pull children out of those crowds and members of the public suffering crowd distress.

Notting Hill Carnival 2016 - In pictures 1 /24 Notting Hill Carnival 2016 - In pictures Street festival: Thousands of people headed to Notting Hill for the second day of the carnival Getty Snap: Performers in identical blue outfits pose for the cameras Getty Big turnout: Hundreds lined the streets for the procession Getty Caribbean culture: A woman dances her way down the street in the final day of the carnival Getty Festival of colour: A performer dances in front of the crowds during the Grande Finale on Monday PA Drummers filled the streets as Monday's event got into full swing PA Police presence is high following complaints about security last year PA Revellers take part in the Children's Day parade after a paint fight party EPA Revellers take part in the Children's Day parade EPA/WILL OLIVER Dancers perform during the Children's Day parade Isabel Infantes/PA Wire Revellers take part in the Children's Day parade after a paint fight party EPA/WILL OLIVER Dancers perform during the Children's Day parade Isabel Infantes/PA Wire Dancers perform during the Children's Day parade Isabel Infantes/PA Wire Revellers enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival after joining a paint fight party in the early morning Isabel Infantes/PA Wire Performers dressed in flamboyant costumes for the Children's Day parade EPA/WILL OLIVER Dancers perform during the Children's Day parade Isabel Infantes/PA Wire Police Officers during the Children's Day parade Isabel Infantes/PA Wire Revellers enjoy a paint fight party Isabel Infantes/PA Wire

He also talked of two occasions involving sounds systems at All Saints Road where safety barriers collapsed.

He said: I genuinely dont want to be dramatic but there are instances in our memory where those things have happened and substantial numbers of people have died.

Referring to the Ibrox and Hillsborough tragedies he added: When those sort of things happen at carnival you are mirroring those sort of events that happened in the past.

There were over 450 arrests at this years carnival, the highest number since 2010. The policing operation cost 8 million.

Pepe Francis, the director of the Notting Hill Carnival Trust, which organises the event, told the committee: I am very concerned that under my watch that something disastrous could happen at carnival.

I have a band at carnival with young children and Ladbroke Grove worries me when we come up there in the evening, particularly after 7pm. We have taken a lot of steps to try and improve, but there is a lot more to do.

The committee discussion came amid calls from some local politicians for the carnival to be moved away from Notting Hill and staged in a local park.

Commander Musker also stated that there were four serious stabbings at this years carnival which came close to being murders.
A south east London care home must pay more than 40,000 for breaking fire safety laws after a blaze left an elderly woman on life support.

Six elderly residents had to be rescued after the fire ripped through the first floor wing of the care home in Penge back in 2013.

Three elderly residents were rushed to hospital by paramedics with one woman spending more than a month in hospital with severe smoke inhalation.

But company GCH Ltd, which owns Burrows House, in Derwent Road, has now been fined 30,000 and hit with more than 10,000 of extra costs after a court found they had broken key regulations.

Burrows House: Fire ripped through the first floor wing of the care home. / Google

The care home company had blocked a fire escape route in the home with combustible materials, wedged fire doors open and also failed to keep firefighting equipment in working order. The company also did not have a fire risk assessment.

The fire broke out on the evening of October 14, 2013 after an electrically operated armchair left in a corridor caught alight.

Inspectors from the London Fire Brigade said the failure to keep the corridor clear meant people in the home could not use it as an escape and resulted in the serious injury of one of the residents.

London Fire Brigades assistant commissioner for fire safety Dan Daly said: This was a very serious fire which nearly saw someone lose their life.

Protecting Londons most vulnerable residents is our priority. Families entrust the care of their loved ones to places such as this, and to find people being put at risk from fires in places where they should be safe in this way is totally unacceptable.

The care home pleaded guilty to the three offences and were ordered to pay 42,996  10,000 for each offence plus the LFBs court costs of 12,966.

Assistant commissioner Mr Daly added the fines should act as a "stark warning".

People living in sheltered accommodation and extra care facilities are often very vulnerable to fire," he said.

They may have limited mobility, or a disability, which makes it difficult for them to notice a fire and react quickly. Thats why it is so important care providers and care home owners take their fire safety responsibilities seriously and why we are working with them to improve fire safety where needed.
S adiq Khan today condemned the Governments plans to pull funding from a project to build a world-class concert hall for London.

The Mayor said the move looked like a vote of no confidence in the capital.

Former chancellor George Osborne had provided 5.5 million for a detailed business case for the London Concert Hall project to be developed.

But ministers have decided it does not offer value for money for the taxpayer and is not affordable.

It is understood around 1.25 million has been spent, with the rest now returning to the Exchequer.

George Osborne had provided 5.5 million for a detailed business case for the London Concert Hall (Picture: Reuters)

A spokesman for Mr Khan told the Standard: This is bad news for London. World-class cities need world-class music venues like the Centre for Music.

This looks like a vote of no confidence in London from the government."

Mr Osborne had said such a hall, could give significant artistic, educational and economic benefits to London, while former mayor Boris Johnson declared that it would cement the capital as a world city for culture.

Meet London's first ever Night Czar, Amy Lame

A government spokesman said: "London is already home to world class culture and music venues, from the iconic Royal Albert Hall to the Barbican Hall and the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre.

"The Government provided funding to consider the business case for a new London Concert Hall to add to this mix, but has concluded that it does not currently offer value for money for taxpayers and is not affordable.

Therefore it will no longer fund contributions to this project.

"We know this will disappoint those who are working hard to deliver this project and we wish them well with developing alternative plans for financing."

Mark Boleat, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation, said the news was disappointing.

He said: "We believe the Government should have waited to see whether a business case could have been developed before making this announcement."

No additional taxpayer money will be used for a project ministers feel is not affordable.
A black man whose passion is taking his leisure boat out on the Thames claims he is being repeatedly stopped by police because of the colour of his skin.

London plasterer Michael Sylvester, 44, says his boat has been boarded by suspicious police up to 40 times in a month.

One one occasion he was stopped several times in a day, he claims.

The father-of-two believes he is being targeted by officers looking for terrorists.

He says boating friends at his marina who are white say they have never been stopped.

Mr Sylvester, a keen Thames boatman for seven years, said: Guaranteed if I was white I wouldnt get hassled like this.

River police can stop and search people on the River Thames / BBC

He filmed the latest incident last Friday lunchtime, when a Met officer used a rope to board his 18ft, 13,000 SeaDoo Challenger near the O2 arena while he was out with friends and family.

Passengers on board included his two young nephews and a friends 11-year-old child.

Mr Sylvester, from Plaistow, said the officer boarded his boat without his permission and started questioning who was on the boat.

In the video Mr Sylvester can be heard asking the officer what he has done wrong.

He says: Ive been stopped by these people before.

The officer replies: Id like to know who is on the boat, where youve been, what youre doing, if you can answer the question about who is on the boat..

Mr Sylvester responds: My name is Michael Sylvester. Check me out. Ive been coming out on this water for seven years. I get stopped four times normally every time I come out here so they know who I am.

Mr Sylvester, told The Sun: Theyre profiling me because they think I fit the description of a terrorist. Its pure racism.

White people who moor at the marina tell me theyve never been stopped and say its a black thing.

I love the boat but Im thinking of selling it. Every time I take it out theres drama.

The police officer onboard Mr Sylvester's boat / BBC

Mr Sylvester bought the boat seven years ago and has used it to travel all over Europe. It is named Charmaine after his daughter.

The Met has rejected the claims.

Police said the stop was part of routine patrols due to safety concerns because the people on board were not wearing life jackets in strong swell.

A Met spokesman said: Due to the swell conditions and the potential of damage being caused to the boats being in close proximity, the officer stepped on to the vessel to continue the conversation in a safe and practical way.

Having already engaged in conversation with the occupants of the vessel, the officer felt there was implied consent for him to board in order to continue the conversation.

After it became clear the owner of the vessel did not want police on board, the officer got off at the earliest opportunity.

The vessel was not stopped under any power and was not at any stage deemed to be a terrorist threat.
MASON CITY  North Iowans met Friday with representatives from the University of Iowa, including its new president, to discuss how workplaces can help their employees be healthier.

Bruce Harreld, who became the universitys president a year ago, accompanied a group of faculty, students and staff from the UI College of Public Health to Mason City for the Iowa Business Leadership Network event, Where Business Meets Public Health: A Community Forum.

Representatives from the university have made numerous visits to communities across the state over the past three years, according to Harreld.

We are the University of Iowa, not the University of Iowa City, he said.

Harreld said the group that came to Mason City Friday included world-class leaders in a variety of fields.

North Iowans who attended the forum included community leaders in health care, business, government and education. They presented information on area residents physical and mental health and the local efforts to improve them.

The North Iowans then met in small groups with the UI representatives for discussion.

Dr. Teresa Mock, a senior vice president at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, said some of the local struggles include high rates of poverty, poor parenting skills, difficulty recruiting physicians and nurses, mental health issues and high obesity rates.

We have some bright spots, Mock said, noting immunization rates are increasing.

She also said statistics show an increase in overall wellness since 2012, when Mason City began the process of becoming a certified Blue Zones Community. That process was completed in 2014.

The Blue Zones project identifies best health practices from areas of the world where the population is especially healthy and long-lived, called blue zones, then makes efforts to implement those practices in workplaces, schools, grocery stores and restaurants in the project communities.

Mock said many different groups are working together to improve the state of health among North Iowans.

One example is the Nurtured Heart Approach, in which people are trained how to communicate and connect with children and other adults.

Stacie Lancaster, a Mason City social worker and therapist who is also a Nurtured Heart Approach trainer, said those who have gone through the training say things like, I dont panic when my kid has a meltdown, or report having better conversations with family members and co-workers.

Andy Eastwood, executive director of WellSource of North Iowa, talked about the importance of employers being sensitive to the mental health of their employees.

He talked about creating a safe environment for employees who may be struggling with past trauma, depression or other issues.

Kelli Huinker, health promotion manager at the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health, said she works with a lot of businesses to offer on-site smoking cessation and weight loss programs.

She said the department also received a University of Iowa grant to recognize local businesses that promote health in the workplace.

This was the first year for the awards program, and North Iowa Area Community College won the top award.

Kimberly Merchant, a research associate with the UI Department of Health Management and Policy, praised NIACCs efforts as well as the success Mason City has had with the Blue Zone project.

She said the University of Iowa can assist North Iowa with its shortage of medical providers, noting telemedicine is one option.

Merchant also suggested expanding the Nurtured Heart Approach.

Laurie Walkner from the UI Institute for Public Health Practice said the university already has formed great ties with North Iowa and encouraged forum attendees to keep up the good work.

If the Chicago Cubs can get there, so can we, she said.
M A Rices departure from Shakespeares Globe has been much ado about something but nobody seems quite sure what. The curtain is gradually lifting, though, with Mark Rylance, one of her predecessors as artistic director, shining a spotlight on the drama at last. I know all these people. I love and admire Emma and I love and admire the Globe, the Oscar-winning actor explains in a forthcoming interview with Time Out, calling the incident tragic and unfortunate. They have been struggling all summer to find a way to avoid having this divorce, he adds. I certainly dont think that theres blame on one side or the other. I think maybe on both sides theres been a misunderstanding.

Rylance, who opens in Nice Fish in the West End this month, was adventurous during the 10-year tenure that opened the Globe, directing and playing roles from Richard II to Olivia in an all-male production of Twelfth Night, but according to him a vital part of that success was being able to mix things up. Rices approach, involving amplification and lights, made it impossible to put on plays with more traditional staging. If one style of production prevents everybody else from doing any other kind  which was what happened this summer  it was impossible to do anything else there, he states. That was a difficult situation.

Last month the Globe said it would be returning to shared light... which characterised a large body of the Globes work prior to Emmas appointment, effectively whitewashing Rices contribution to the heritage theatre. Soft! What light through yonder window breaks? Looks like the the sun setting on two years of experimentation at the Globe.

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When Boris Johnson ended his Tory party leadership bid, his political career seemed over. Evidently Guto Harri, his former communications director, thought so too. I thought he was finished, Harri writes in this months GQ. Master of Balliol College, British ambassador to Washington or long-awaited return to Have I Got News For You seemed the best he could hope for. Would BoJo have been up for academia? Balliol couldnt possibly comment! the college bursar tells us in an e-mail. Well take that as a no-thanks.

Bureaucrats are becoming bargain-hunters

The High Courts decision that Brexit needs parliamentary approval may help the economy but Brits in Brussels may miss benefiting from the weak pound. With John Lewis letting online shoppers pay in sterling and shipping to Belgium costing 7.50, journalists and bureaucrats have been stocking up. We effectively get 15 per cent off everything, says Ryan Heath, who writes Politicos daily European Playbook briefing. At this rate the discount will only grow in the Christmas run-up. Normally, Id be scared by the thought of Liam Fox playing Santa but its working for Brussels expats.

It's Prim up North

FOR one night only The Londoner became The Mancunian, joining the citys fashion pack for a pilgrimage up the M6 for the opening of new hotel The Principal Manchester. Co-hosted by the Sunday Times Style mag, the self-proclaimed refuge in the capital of cool drew a glamorous crowd, including model Jade Parfitt and fashion designer Henry Holland. Also attending was Mark Ronson who DJed into the wee hours. Hopefully they allowed him a late check-out this morning.

Forget the openings, just get sloshed

YULETIDE is almost upon us and while many look forward to Christmas parties others may be exhausted at the looming threat of mistletoe and mince pies. Luckily a trio of wise women including Joan Collins are on hand with some tips for those about to take on the challenge. My best advice to is to bin the invitations that celebrate the opening of a restaurant, shop or gallery, The Londoners favourite octogenarian writes in Spectator Life. In my experience these will be chock-a-block with people

I dont know among a sprinkling of paparazzos. Conserve your energies for those intimate gatherings where you are sure to see plenty of friends and no cameras.Collins advice is complemented by Julie Burchill, who has more pragmatic words of wisdom: get sloshed. When ordering bottles of wine, I like to do it the way my mum did when making a cup of tea, she writes. One tea-spoonful for each person, and an extra one for the pot, or in my case the table.

Comedian and author Helen Lederer seems to be of Burchills persuasion. Cancel all morning appointments for December, she insists. Dont ruminate on what happened the night before, even if you find strange business cards in your clutch bag with a House of Commons logo. Sounds like a night best forgotten.

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Actress Claire Foy has given an uncanny performance as a young Elizabeth II in The Crown, and it seems shes perfect for the role. In the coronation scene, Foy wears a dress created by Angels ahead of the Diamond Jubilee. It was made to the specifications of the actual gown worn by the Queen and, unusually, required no alterations for Foys performance. Talk about a tailor-made part.

Jude doesnt let us down

THERE wasnt a dry eye in the Roundhouse at the SeriousFun Gala last night, as young patients took to the stage to raise money for the charity founded by actor Paul Newman. Presenter Natalie Pinkham, who hosted the evening, must be a Jude Law fan: she couldnt resist getting close to the actor when he came onstage to show his support.

The Londoner was hoping to catch up with Law but he generously spent the whole evening playing with the children backstage and preparing them for their performances. Jude told us hes always worried before he goes on stage and not to worry, one girl, Cara, gushed. Then he gave me the biggest hug. Pinkham must have been jealous.

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Lot of the Day: auctioneers Philip Serrell sold a pair of Eva Brauns knickers yesterday for 2,900. What would antique dealer Lovejoy say?
T heresa May will vow that Brexit wont be delayed by yesterday's landmark High Court ruling.

She is set to tell other European leaders today that the successful legal challenge will not stop the Government from triggering Article 50 by March 2017 and leaving the EU within two years of that date.

The Prime Minister suffered a major defeat yesterday when she was told by three High Court judges that she cannot activate Brexit without Parliament's approval.

It means MPs, many of whom vehemently opposed Brexit, will get to vote on triggering Article 50 after businesswoman Gina Miller brought the case with hairdresser Mr Dos Santos.

Landmark Brexit Ruling: What happened and what happens next?

Former chancellor Ken Clarke has already stated he will vote against it, telling BBC Newsnight: Im not going to cast a hypocritical vote.

But Downing Street has said it will be appealing the judgement and intends to carry on as planned.

Mrs May is due to speak with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker today, among others, to reassure him she still intends to see Brexit through.

Her spokeswoman said: "She will set out what the process is, which is that we are appealing and that we are carrying ahead and sticking to the timetable we have set out. This judgment is not going to derail that."

Gina Miller speaking outside court following Brexit ruling

Mr Juncker's spokesman made it clear to reporters in Brussels that the phone call was taking place at the request of Mrs May, not Brussels.

Meanwhile, interim Ukip leader Nigel Farage has called on the Prime Minister to call a snap general election, even though he said such a move would face stiff opposition from Tory and Labour benches alike.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: "The best thing Theresa May could do now would be to call a general election, but it is unlikely that Labour MPs, led by a man they don't believe in, would be keen on facing the likely electoral oblivion that would follow.

"It also seems likely that some on the Prime Minister's own backbenches, who are seeking to overrule the will of the British people, would be unlikely to support an early general election either.

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"The establishment, in denial after the referendum result, still just don't get it. The British people are not simply going to let this incredible establishment arrogance lie. I suspect even more radical political change is on the way."

Under the Fixed Term Parliament Act brought in by the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition, the slated May 2020 general election could be brought forward only if two thirds of MPs vote for it, or the Government loses a vote of no confidence, and other parties cannot form an alternative administration within 14 days of such a move.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry told the BBC: "I think that Article 50 is going to happen.

"I think that in the end Parliament will vote for Article 50 to be triggered.

"But the really good thing about this judgment ... is that the Government will need now to come to Parliament and actually give us some basic terms on which they are going to negotiate Brexit. We do not allow the executive a free hand."
G eorge Osborne earned almost 100,000 for three speeches involving less than five hours' work, it has been revealed.

The former chancellors two appearances at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in Washington earned him 69,992 from a totalling one-and-a-half hours on September 27 and October 18, according to the parliamentary register of interests.

He was also due to be paid 28,454.40 for a speech on October 17 to the Hoover Institution at California's Stanford University.

Travel and accommodation expenses were also being covered by Mr Osborne's hosts.

The total 98,446.40 for four-and-a-half hours of work declared equates to a rate of 21,877 an hour.

Shortly after being sacked from the Government by Prime Minister Theresa May in July, Mr Osborne signed up with the Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB), which offers many big political names for after-dinner speeches.

Also on the books of the bureau - which promises to "connect you with the world's greatest minds" - are former prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major, as well as ex-US president George W Bush.

Mr Osborne is described on the WSB website as "a principled leader who served as the chief financial minister in the British Government" who was responsible for a "dramatic improvement" in the UK economy.

As a "modern and renowned global leader", he offers audiences "authentic and forward-thinking analysis of the world's most complex economic issues, and the way forward for Britain and the world economy", it adds.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
T he hairdresser who kickstarted the High Court challenge that has thrown Brexit into turmoil has been forced underground after receiving vile hate mail, his lawyer said today.

Deir Dos Santos, 37, who works at a salon in Belgravia, was the first person to lodge a legal complaint against Theresa Mays plan to trigger Article 50 without a parliamentary vote.

Brazil-born Mr Dos Santos, who holds Brazilian and British passports and lives in Notting Hill, was not in court yesterday to celebrate the landmark victory with Gina Miller and fellow campaigners.

His lawyer David Greene instead read out a statement saying the ruling was a victory for everyone.

Legal ruling: Lead claimant Gina Miller outside court / Hannah McKay/EPA

Mr Dos Santos voted in favour of Britain leaving the EU but launched legal action four days after the June 26 referendum because he wanted to see Brexit happen legally, fairly and properly.

Today Mr Greene told the Standard his client now wishes he had taken the option of remaining anonymous before going to court, due to vile hate mail from Brexiteers.

My client is fine, he is really pleased about the result.

"He has always maintained a low profile and now intends to fade back into the shadows. But he also wants to see it through to the end, said the lawyer.

What is Article 50? - Explained

He hasnt got anything to hide, he just doesnt want any more trouble.

Mr Greene added: A lot of people got death threats, threats of violence, abusive phone calls and hate mail from Brexiteers since we started this.

I got one today calling me a fascist, but I dont care  we all deserve the right to go through the courts without experiencing fear and intimidation.

"Ive covered cases with the mafia and IRA involved in money laundering and they are people who can be violent.

Gina Miller speaking outside court following Brexit ruling

We dont want to piss anyone off, were just seeking to protect the rights of individuals.

"This is not about stopping Brexit, this is about a process of how we run ourselves as a parliamentary democracy.

Theresa May thought she could override parliamentary democracy and ride roughshod over our rights.

He said the campaigners thought they might win but didnt know the judges would be quite so firm  they made it clear the Government hadnt made a case at all.

Theresa May: the PM plans to call the European Commission president today to reassure him Brexit is still on track / AP

"No one really knows whats going to happen now.

Another backer of the legal challenge, plumbing tycoon Charlie Mullins, a Remainer, said: I dont know why the Government are looking to appeal.

"Anyone with half a brain can see they dont have a case  its a complete waste of taxpayers money.

Weve done a good thing for this country to get some clarity on Brexit and make it as comfortable as possible for everyone.

"I dont want to change the result, we just dont want to go out on a hard Brexit and all this uncertainty.
T he House of Lords would be signing its own death warrant if peers derail Brexit, campaigners warned today.

Tory Baroness Wheatcroft, a former newspaper editor who joined the Lords in 2010, claims a majority of peers would be in favour of stalling on Brexit until they get more detail from Theresa May.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that it was right to delay triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty until we have a clearer idea of what it actually entails.

I think there will be others in the Lords who feel the same way, she said. How many ... it is hard to say, but I think there could be a majority who would be in favour of delaying Article 50 until we know a little more about what lies ahead.

She said she would be prepared to table or support an amendment to the EU referendum Bill to ensure Mrs May tells Parliament what her Brexit plans are before she begins formal proceeding to leave the EU.

While MPs in the Commons would likely back the Prime Ministers Brexit plan, peers could put a range of obstacles in her way and there is anxiety among Leave campaigners that they would vote to delay Brexit, or make an attempt to water down proposals.

Jonathan Isaby, who runs pressure group Brexit Central  Vote Leaves successor organisation  said yesterdays High Court ruling that triggering Article 50 must get parliamentary approval was unnecessary.

He said: If we had the House of Lords seeking to reverse the will of the elected House of Commons and the will of the British people on the referendum, it is signing its own death warrant.

TODO: define component type apester

The Government should be able to trigger it using Crown prerogative powers.

An expert at London think tank Chatham House says the constitutional furore over the High Courts decision is down to former Prime Minister David Camerons ill-thought-out preparation of the EU referendum Bill.

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Quentin Peel, associate fellow of Chatham House, said: This was the most sloppily drafted Bill for a referendum. It was incredibly irresponsible to say this decision is only advisory, then treat it as the most fundamental constitutional decision ever to be made.
T he Green Party has said it wont field a candidate in the Richmond Park by-election, calling on their voters to back the Liberal Democrats in their attempt to beat Zac Goldsmith.

They also called on Labour to withdraw their candidate in the election to give Lib Dem candidate Sarah Olney a better chance of defeating Mr Goldsmith, who currently holds a majority of 23,000 votes.

Mr Goldsmith is running as an independent candidate in the December 1 election after quitting the Conservative Party in protest against the Governments decision to give the green light to a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Neither the Tories nor Ukip are fielding candidates to stand against Mr Goldsmith, and Nigel Farage has thrown his backing behind the Brexit supporter.

Some Labour MPs have urged their party to follow suit in order to give the Lib Dems a better chance of winning and the Greens have now joined those calls, calling for a "progressive alliance".

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said: "This is no normal by-election.

Opponent: Lib Dem candidate Sarah Olney / Victoria Jones/PA

"A regressive alliance of the Tories and Ukip are working together to re-install a pro-Brexit MP who just ran a racist campaign to be Mayor of London.

"The decision not to stand has been made because a majority of local party members believe that a win for a non-Conservative-backed candidate would be a blow to the Tories' hard Brexit, and dent their damaging plans for post-referendum Britain.

"Ultimately we think Britain is better off with fewer Conservatives in Parliament but that doesn't mean for a second that we won't be fighting to win local elections in the area in 2018, or that we won't stand in the constituency in future elections.

"Of course we have big policy differences with the Lib Dems - and I joined many others in marching against the coalition government - but they are simply the only chance we have at this moment to narrow the Conservatives' majority.

"I'd now urge Labour to join us in forming a progressive alliance against the forces of Conservatism and narrow-mindedness. Chances like this don't come about very often - so let's use this opportunity to kick back against the Tories."

Additional reporting by the Press Association
B rexit Leave campaigner Stephen Phillips has resigned from the Conservative party due to "irreconcilable differences with Theresa May.

The MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham has left with immediate effect after announcing he had very significant policy differences with the current Government.

Mr Phillips, who has repeatedly called for Theresa May to reveal her Brexit plan to Parliament before beginning the formal process of leaving the European Union, said he was "unable to properly represent" his constituents.

It comes after the High Court ruled that the Prime Minister must get parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50 to begin the formal process of leaving the EU.

Brexit negotiations: Gina Miller won her legal challenge against Theresa May's right to trigger Article 50 / AFP

In a statement, Mr Phillips said: "It has been a great honour to serve the people of Sleaford and North Hykeham for the last six years, but it has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me.

"This decision has been a difficult one and I hope that everyone will respect the fact that I have tried to act in the best interests of all of my constituents."

A Conservative Party spokesman said: "Stephen Phillips has been a valuable member of Parliament since 2010 and we are sorry that he has chosen to step down.

We thank him for his hard work and we wish him every success in the future."

Frustrated campaigners: Pro-EU membership supporters argue with a leave campaigner outside the High Court / Frank Augstein/AP

His resignation will trigger a by-election in his seat, where he had a majority of more than 24,000 at last year's general election.
U kip leadership hopeful Peter Whittle has quit his campaign to bag the top position and pledged his support for frontrunner Paul Nuttall.

The London Assembly member had hoped to replace Nigel Farage as the partys leader but today declared he was withdrawing his candidacy.

Mr Whittle said he had become convinced that North West England MEP Mr Nuttall could be the "leader who knows the party inside out and who can command the loyalty of members".

He wrote in a statement: "I have become convinced that the sheer breadth of Paul's political experience, his dedication to the values of the party and the obvious affection in which he is held by members make him the person who is best placed to take us forward."

Political ally: Peter Whittle, right, has pledged his support for Paul Nuttall, left / Facebook

His decision leaves three runners in the contest - former deputy leader Mr Nuttall, former deputy chairwoman Suzanne Evans, and Wales-based ex-soldier John Rees-Evans.

Mr Whittle wrote about the party: "We have been through a difficult few weeks.

"We have been here before, but have gone on to survive and prosper. We will do so again.

"I am convinced that having had the historical success of the referendum, our party is on the threshold of a new era."
D efiant Theresa May today phoned Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker to insist her timetable for Brexit will stay on course.

The Prime Minister insisted she would not be derailed despite a warning from Nick Clegg, her former Lib Dem Coalition colleague, that MPs and peers would refuse to let Brexit go ahead except on soft terms and coupled with a pledge of yet another referendum.

Mrs May called the German chancellor, the European Unions most powerful politician, after breakfast to say she was still aiming to move Article 50 by her promised deadline of the end of March 2017.

Mrs May then rang Mr Juncker, president of the Brussels-based European Commission, with the same message, that she would not be derailed by losing a key High Court judgment requiring her to give Parliament a vote.

However, leading opponents of Brexit this morning made clear they would use the opportunity of parliamentary votes to amend any Bill to try to bind Mrs Mays hands in the negotiations.

Nick Clegg, the former Deputy PM, said MPs and peers could block the exit process - unless the Government agreed to seek a soft Brexit and potentially a fresh public vote on the final deal.

Anger among Cabinet ministers at the High Court ruling that MPs should be given a vote was laid bare when Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, attacked the case brought by anti-Brexit campaigners as an attempt to frustrate the will of the British people and it is unacceptable.

It emerged that all 11 Supreme Court Justices will hear the Governments appeal, which is likely to be brought in early December, because of its constitutional significance.

It would be the first time that more than nine Justices have sat in modern times. No 10 is hoping for a judgment just before Christmas or shortly after.

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Mrs Mays appeal will defend her argument that Junes 52-48 referendum victory for Vote Leave gives her the prerogative to begin the process of Brexit by moving Article 50 without asking parliaments further permission.

Officials say both the Commons and Lords debated the process thoroughly when it passed the Act enabling an in-out referendum to take place.

But Mr Clegg said that if the Supreme Court upheld this weeks ruling he expected Mrs May to bring a short Bill to Parliament that MPs and Peers would amend, possibly to include staying in the EU single market and the customs union. He said a second referendum would be demanded on the outcome of the two-year exit talks.

He said: We will seek, with other parties, in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, to amend the legislation such that Parliament would say to Government that it should pursue a soft Brexit not a hard Brexit and that there should be some means by which the British people can have a say on the final deal when the negotiations with the EU are finally completed in the years ahead.

Mr Clegg added: If were to be able to marshal opinion behind that approach then people will vote in favour of Article 50 triggered on that basis.

If the Government, on the other hand, digs its heels in and says we are going to go for a more self-harming, hard Brexit and not give anyone a say on the final package then of course I think people will say hang on a minute, we are not sure we are going to give you the consent to proceed on that basis.

Tory former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers branded his plan outrageous. I think it would be a constitutional outrage if unelected Liberal Democrat peers were to stand in the way of implementing the clear result of a referendum in which 33 million people took part, she told BBC radio.

Ex-chancellor George Osborne said the UK must redouble our efforts to attract Chinese investment to avoid some of the dangers and difficulties that Brexit might offer up to our country.

No 10 said Mrs May was speaking to European Council president Donald Tusk this afternoon with the same message.

An official said: This was the PM making clear that the Governments planned timetable remains unchanged. They welcomed the call, and were keen to understand what the judgment had been.
How does the US presidential election system work?

The most notable thing about the US presidential election for almost anyone not living in America is just how long the campaign runs. We end up calling it election season because it goes on for so long. The first person to announce their candidacy this cycle was Ted Cruz on March 23, 2015. Election day is November 8, 2016. Yes, they campaign for president for long past a year before America votes.

The system is broken down into two basic parts  the Primary and the General Election. The Primary comes first and that is when each of the political parties holds contests in each of the 50 states to select the partys nominee for president. The final primary this cycle was held near the beginning of June. Then the General Election kicks into full swing. Its very specifically spelled out in the US Constitution that the Presidential election be held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

Top CNN news anchor Kate Bolduan / Adam Rose/CNN

The President is not elected by a simple nationwide popular vote. Of course it must be slightly more complicated; we are talking about the United States.

The president is elected by winning the electoral college. Essentially each of the US states is allotted a certain number of electoral votes.

For a candidate to win they must win the majority of the countrys electoral votes, which happens to be 270 votes.

Thats why you will hear us constantly talking about the road to 270. Confused yet?

Which are the swing states?

Swing states are the states that are neither reliably red (Republican) nor blue (Democrat). The state literally swings between the two parties depending on the cycle. Which states are considered swing state, or battleground states as many of us call them, changes over time as populations and voting patterns change. An example: Barack Obama won North Carolina in 2008 but then lost the state to Mitt Romney in 2012. That means North Carolina is a battleground because both campaigns in 2016 see a chance to win there. This election cycle the battleground states include: Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada.

Swing states: how could they determine Trump or Clinton win?

Why is Ohio considered the most important state in a US election?

Ohio is considered the perennial bellwether state. The old tagline is: As Ohio goes, so goes the Nation. That is because no Republican candidate has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. For that matter, the last Democrat to win without carrying Ohio was John F. Kennedy in 1960. All of this together has earned this hearty Midwestern state the reputation as one of the most important to watch on Election Day. This also means Ohio is a state where candidates spend a lot of time, energy and advertising money throughout their campaign.

Highlights from the US presidential election campaign

What have been the key issues in the presidential election race?

Anyone being honest will likely tell you this has been an issues light election. This race has been much more about the character and personalities of these two particular candidates than about where they stand on any of the major issues. Beyond that, the big issues that do matter to voters this year are: immigration policy, filling the vacant seat currently on the Supreme Court (the highest court in the land), trade policy and foreign policy (particularly Americas role in fighting ISIS and involvement in conflicts abroad in general). Also a big point of discussion: Obamacare, the healthcare reforms passed in 2010.

Was there a turning point in the presidential election race?

The high-octane rhythm of this election season has simply never let up and is like nothing any of us political observers have seen in recent history. There have been so many twists and turns in this election; its nearly impossible to single out just one turning point. Every debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump changed the conversation. The scandals facing each of the candidates have changed the conversation. The near constant spats over social media between the candidates and their campaigns have changed the conversation.

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When does the new President take up office?

This is also explicitly laid out in the US constitution. The 20th Amendment says that the term of the President and Vice President ends at noon on January 20th. That day is called Inauguration Day -- when youll see the president-elect place his/her hand upon the bible and take the Oath of Office. From that point on January 20, 2017, the government is officially in the hands of the new president. Their staffs move in and immediately their phones start ringing.

Are there also elections for Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate)?

All 435 seats in the House are up for election this year (as is the case every 2 years). Republicans hold the majority and it is expected they will remain in control after November 8th. The Senate is where the real drama is playing out. 34 of the 100 seats in that chamber are up for election this cycle. Republicans currently hold the majority. Democrats need to win 4 or 5 seats (depending on which party wins the White House) to take control of the Senate. This is possible but just like the presidency, no one will know for sure until all the votes are counted on November 8th.

Why is this important?

The next President wont get much done without the support of Congress. Thats why youve been seeing Hillary Clinton campaigning in states with close Senate racesif she wins, she needs Democrats to win 4 more seats to gain control of the Senate. And shell still be dealing with a Republican-controlled House, since the majority there is much larger.

But Tuesday night isnt just about the Presidency and Congress. Its also about the Supreme Court. Not only is there a vacant seat, but there is a possibility that there could be two more seats to fill during the next Presidents term. Andyou guessed itanyone the President nominates must also be confirmed by the Senate.

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At what point in proceedings do we get an indication who is likely to have won?

On the big day, polling stations will begin to open on the U.S. East Coast as early as 11am GBT. Opinion polls are conducted throughout the day from voters across the country, and these exit polls are used by CNN to project the winner in each state. If the exit polls are too close to call or somehow inconclusive, news agencies will wait for the actual results to be released. Polls close in the evening, and since the 50 states stretch across six time zones, be prepared for a late night! That, of course, assumes we have a clear winner by the end of the night. In 2000, the tight vote in Florida triggered an automatic recount and legal showdown. It was 36 days before George W. Bush was certified as the winner.

How many people in the US are likely to cast a vote?

In the 2012 presidential election, 129.1 million Americans voted. Thats 53.6% of the estimated voting-age population of just under 241 million people. In 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected, just over 131 million Americans voted, the most ever in a Presidential election. Its anyones guess if this unconventional campaign will inspire another record-breaking turnout. Since the polls right now show there are very few undecided voters left out there, both Trump and Clinton are doing everything they can in these final days to get their supporters inspired, energized and ready to head to the ballot box.

What is the demographic split between black/white/Hispanic or young/old etc?

Research shows that the 2016 U.S. electorate could be the most racially and ethnically diverse ever. According to Pew, over 30% of voters on Election Day will be African-American, Hispanic, Asian or another racial or ethnic minority.

Hillary Clinton v Donald Trump: US Presidential Election 1 /93 Hillary Clinton v Donald Trump: US Presidential Election Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump votes at PS 59 in New York Carlo Allegri/Reuters U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton fills out her ballot at the Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York Brian Snyder/Reuters Topless protestors cause commotion at the site where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to work at PS 59 located at 233 East 56th Street in Manhattan NY Daily News via Getty Images Republician presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives at a polling station in New York to cast his ballot in the presidential election Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to vote in the U.S. presidential election at Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York Mike Segar/Reuters A voter looks at a sample ballot as he waits in line at a polling location in Kansas City, Missouri. Whitney Curtis/Getty Images Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton cookies are on sale at the Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont, Pennsylvania Jeff Swensen/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and her husband former President Bill Clinton, leave their polling place in Chappaqua Seth Wenig/AP lay Smith is the first voter to cast the ballot in the US presidential election, in the small village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire Herb Swanson/EPA Poll workers look on as US President Barack Obama gestures towards the press as he votes early at the Cook County Office Building in Chicago, Illinois Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the University of New Hampshire in Durham Elise Amendola/AP Donald Trump takes a break from speaking to compare his face to a mask during a rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida Loren Elliott/The Tampa Bay Times via AP Lady Gaga speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and husband, former President Bill Clinton take the stage during a campaign rally in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Madonna sings a song as she campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a surprise performance at Washington Square Park in New York Matt Rourke/AP Musician Bruce Springsteen performs at an election eve rally for Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spencer Platt/Getty Images Supporters hold signs and a copy of the Bible during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Manchester Charles Krupa/AP Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, speaks to a campaign rally before the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Manchester Bill Sikes/AP Jon Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga perform during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Raleigh Gerry Broome/AP Musician Jon Bon Jovi performs at an election eve rally for Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on November in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spencer Platt/Getty Images Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton boards her plane at Philadelphia International Airport Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Part of a Nov. 6, 2016, letter from FBI director James Comey to Congress is photographed in Washington. Comey tells Congress that a review of new Hillary Clinton emails has "not changed our conclusions" from earlier this year that she should not face charges Jon Elswick/AP Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer during a campaign rally in Leesburg Evan Vucci/AP Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan Carlo Allegri/Reuters NBA basketball player Lebron James introduces U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio Carlo Allegri/Reuters A member of the audience holds a sign during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sterling Heights, , Michigan Paul Sancya/AP President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Kissimmee. Florida John Raoux/AP Secret Service agents rush Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump off the stage during a campaign rally in Reno John Locher/AP Hillary Clinton smiles holding a mask onboard her campaign plane on Halloween Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of Donald Trump pose with a Hillary Clinton character during a campaign rally at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a rainbow flag given to him by supporter Max Nowak during a campaign rally at the Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of University of Northern Colorado Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at The Manor Complex in Wilton Manors, Florida Getty Images A Donald Trump supporter's pet bulldog is decked out in campaign stickers Jason Connoll/ AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton joins Jennifer Lopez at a campaign concert in Miami, Florida Brian Snyder/Reuters A Donald Trump mural covering a building in Miami, Florida Rhona WiseAFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, greet supporters during a campaign rally in Winston-Salem Chuck Burton/AP A crowd gathers to watch as Donald Trump's vandalised star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is cleaned up Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton delivers birthday cake to reporters on her campaign plane Justin Sullivan/Getty Images A Donald Trump look-a-like walks with bikini-clad women in Times Square. The stunt was organized by artist Alison Jackson Drew Angerer/Getty Images Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hugs a the American flag as he arrives to speak to a campaign rally in Tampa Evan Vucci/AP Katy Perry speaks at a rally in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas AP Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to a member of the audience as she walks off the debate stage as Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump remains at his podium after the conclusion of their third and final 2016 presidential campaign debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada Mike Blake/Reuters NFL fans wear Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton masks during a game between the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals Norm Hall/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a child onstage during a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon) and Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) take on the 'Town Hall Debate Cold Open' on SNL Saturday Night Live Hillary Clinton chats to Ellen DeGeneres during a commercial break during the filming of the Ellen Show Brenan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images A Donald Trump themed fortune telling machine stands on the street in Columbus Circle in New YorK Lucas Jackson/Reuters Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses a "Women for Trump" placard during a rally at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the town hall debate at Washington University Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Kevin Lake of Jefferson, Iowa, wears a wall outfit in honour of Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall along the Mexico border Scott Morgan/Reuters Donald Trump holds two-year-old Hunter Tirpak, who is dressed as Trump, during a rally at Mohegan Sun Arena Christopher Dolan/The Citizensi Voice via AP Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the town hall debate at Washington University Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images Ken Bone found himself going viral after his attention-grabbing question during the town hall debate at Washington University Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Donald Trump's daughters-in-law Lara Trump and Vanessa Trump and daughter Tiffany Trump Scott Olson/Getty Images Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump leave the stage after the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Melania (L) and Ivanka (C) Trump sit next to Republican vice presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence ahead of the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Joe Raedle/Pool/Reuters Hillary Clinton shakes hands with husband and former U.S. President Bill Clinton after the first Presidential Debate Joe Raedle/Getty Images Donald Trump with wife Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr.'s wife Vanessa Trump, Eric Trumps wife Lara Yunaska, and Eric Trump Paul J. Richards/AFP US actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera speak at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Peter Foley/EPA Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Hillary Clinton attempts to open a pickle jar on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Andy Holmes/ABC Donald Trump greets supporters at a rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images Denis Leary and James Corden on The Late Late Show CBS Donald Trump reacts to the cries of three-month-old Kellen Campbell, of Denver, right, while holding six-month-old Evelyn Keane, of Castel Rock, Colorado Joe Mahoney/Getty Images Bill Clintonon on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mike Segar/Reuters Alicia Keys performs at he Democratic National Convention Shawn Thew/EPA Meryl Streep at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center Alex Wong/Getty Images Donald Trump hugs his daughter Ivanka Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump's run for the Republican presidential nomination Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images Donald Trump during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Also a big first: there are as many Millennials eligible to vote as baby boomers. The big questionwill they actually show up to vote?

Where is the result announced?

On CNN of course!

The first polls close at midnight, followed by key swing states at around 12.30am. If there is a clear winner, it will be declared immediately. However if the election is closely fought a result could come at around 4am GMT.

When does the Obama family have to move out of the White House?

It all happens on Inauguration Day. Usually, the sitting president and their spouse host the incoming First Couple for tea, and when they depart for the ceremony, the White House staff leaps into action. The former First Familys belongings are moved out and the incoming First Familys things are moved in. The entire operation takes about six hours and a whole lot of moving trucks.

If Hillary wins, does this mean Bill Clinton moves back into his old bedroom?

Although each First Family brings their own preferences to the style and decor of the White House residence, the floor plan has remained the same for decades. So, if Hillary Clinton is elected, she and the former President will be moving back into the rooms they lived in during their first stay in the 1990s.

Kate Bolduan presents State of the Race, weeknights at 7:30pm on CNN International. Follow CNNs live coverage of U.S. Election Night from 8pm on 8 November.
Frances L. Ostlund

MASON CITY  Frances L. Ostlund, 92, formerly of 23rd St. S.W., Mason City, died Tuesday, Nov. 2,, 2016, at Good Shepherd Health Center with her daughters by her side.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 428 W. Walnut St., Manly, with Pastor Kathy Graves of Trinity Lutheran, Mason City, officiating.

Visitation will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, at Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 3rd St. N.E., Mason City, and one hour prior to the funeral service at the church.

Memorials are suggested to the American Diabetes Association and the Humane Society of North Iowa.

Frances Lillian Lorraine was born Feb. 15, 1924, at Clarion, Iowa, the youngest child of Thomas and Meda (LaRue) Lorraine. At the age of 10 Frances lost her mother and had to assume household duties soon thereafter for her father and an older brother. Toms job on the railroad took him to Lohrville, Iowa, when Frances was in high school. She became very involved in the vocal music program, and graduated in 1942.

During World War II the U.S. government allowed women to be accepted into military service at the age of 20, and Frances enlisted in the U.S. Navy W.A.V.E.S. (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) in 1944. Both her brothers were already serving in the military.

She took her basic training at Hunter College, New York, and from there was sent to a Naval Air Station at Ottumwa, IA, where she worked in a paint and dope shop on fabric-covered parts of the Steerman training planes. She then signed up for overseas duty and was assigned to a Naval Air Station at Barbers Point on the island of Oahua, territory of Hawaii. Once again Frances worked in a paint and dope shop, where she was the only female worker who could stand the paint smell.

She sang in two Navy variety shows, one of them emceed by the actor Robert Stack. So handsome! was how she described him. Frances always had fond memories of her time spent in the service. She was discharged after the war in 1946, and returned to Lohrville where she eventually met Donald Ostlund, who worked for the railroad. Don and Frances were married on April 20, 1948.

Dads job brought him to Mason City for a short time, and then to Manly in 1952, which would become home for the family. The couple had 3 children: Gaye, John and Meda. Mom was a very involved mother and actively participated in leadership roles in Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Music Mothers, and P.T.A. In addition, she renewed her interest in music by singing in the Worth County Chorus, the River City Arrangement, and the choir at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, where she frequently soloed on O Holy Night on Christmas Eve. She had a beautiful, rich singing voice. One of her sisters said that listening to Fran sing gave her goosebumps. She was also asked to sing at numerous weddings and funerals, and she enjoyed writing poetry.

During many of those early years while there were 3 children in high school and college at the same time, Mom would work part-time jobs at the local grocery store, bowling alley, and high school. The 2 young girls who grew up next-door to Mom and Dad have fond memories of visiting Mom. She would give them Dr. Pepper, and they would sit on the front porch steps while talking and drinking.

Mom was a member of the Rebekah Lodge, the American Legion, and the Legion Auxiliary. For several years, she wrote human interest columns for the Manly Signal, was the Manly correspondent for the Mason City Globe Gazette, and served on the Manly Town Council.

Mom was baptized as an adult at Bethlehem Lutheran on the same day as her 3 young children.

After 41 years in Manly, Mom and Dad moved back to Mason City in 1993. A highlight of Moms life was participating in an Honor Flight trip for veterans to Washington, D.C. in 2010. She was very proud of being a veteran, and was so honored to visit the WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, and other landmarks.

Neighbors will recall that Mom kept the neatest yard on the street, and would not allow a single leaf to remain on the ground! If that meant raking the lawn 6 times a day, thats what she would do! Even up to the age of 91 she would insist on doing her own mowing, snow shoveling, and raking.

Mom and Dad were both dog lovers and always had a dog in the family. She loved to sit outside her house  both in Manly and in Mason City  and have people walking their dogs stop so she could pet them and talk to them. She also talked to the birds that she fed.

Mom spent the last year and a half as a resident of Good Shepherd Health Center where her love of animals transferred to the fish in the large tank in the lobby and dogs who stopped by to visit.

Strong-willed and feisty at times, Mom had an adventurous spirit, was spunky, lively, independent, fun-loving, and could be quite sociable. Mom was always eager to go for a ride with her daughters. She seemed awed by nature and would frequently exclaim, Oh, look at those trees! Just lookit them! Visiting the deer and ducks at East Park was one of her favorite things to do.

Frances was preceded in death by her husband, Don in 2004; her parents; two brothers, Wayne and LuVern (Bill) Lorraine; two sisters, Margery Johnson and Ellen (Berneice) Ealy and their spouses; along with nieces and nephews. She is survived by her three children: Gaye Scott, Mason City; John (Charlene) Ostlund, Green Valley, AZ; and Meda Ostlund, Mason City, along with several nieces and nephews.

We will miss you, Mom!

Bride Colonial Chapel, 110 East Spring Street, Manly. 641-454-2242. ColonialChapels.com.
A giant earthworm called Dave was hailed as the biggest ever in the UK has been killed by scientists just days after he was discovered.

The 40cm annelid was the size of a small snake and at 26g was almost twice as heavy as any other worm.

Paul Rees from Widnes spotted the monster creature in his vegetable patch and his stepson George named it Dave.

Natural History Museum scientist Emma Sherlock, who chairs the Earthworm Society of Britain, said: "I was bowled over by the size of this worm when I opened the plastic box they sent it in.

"Not only is it really long, it is almost twice as heavy as any other wild earthworm ever seen, weighing the same as a small chocolate bar."

Dave: the giant worm with scientist Emma Sherlock / PA

However, it was later revealed the worm was killed by museum staff in the name of science.

Ms Sherlock said: Its always a very painless process in that we anaesthetise the animal first. We were as kind as we possibly could be.

We fix him properly and then add him to the national collection, so hes going to be known as Dave for ever more, and be available for science and scientists all round the world.

The previous record holders were earthworms from the Scottish island of Rum, unearthed in 2015, with the longest growing to 39.6cm. However, they were on the skinny side, none weighing more than 12.6g.

Experts believe the earthworms of Rum flourished because of a lack of predators and rich soil.

How Dave got to be such a size in Cheshire - three times longer and more than five times heavier than an average worm - remains a mystery.

Ms Sherlock said: "With worms this size they must have an incredibly fertile and well-drained veg plot with decaying matter quickly recycled back into the soil. Earthworms are incredibly important to keep soils healthy."

She added: "I look forward to seeing if anyone can find an even bigger example by taking part in the Earthworm Watch survey this autumn."

Earthworm Watch is a survey of earthworms and soil quality run by the Natural History Museum and the Earthwatch Institute in association with the Earthworm Society of Britain.
A Great Ormond Street Hospital worker outraged viewers last night when she wished illness on the children of Brexit supporters live on air.

Angry viewers demanded the woman, said to be a language and speech therapist at the hospital, was sacked after she addressed the Question Time panel at the filming of the programme in Watford.

The woman made the remark during a debate on Britains withdrawal from the European Union where she claimed medical research and funding would suffer as a result of Brexit.

She provoked audible gasps from fellow audience members when she said: I want people who are leaving to one day unfortunately have a child who needs that treatment but its not there because collaborations not been there

Great Ormond Street Hospital today distanced itself from the remark and added it could not comment on the personal conduct of its employees.

A spokeswoman said: This is not a Great Ormond Street Hospital stance.

We want to reassure all families that we will do our very best to find and offer new cures and treatments to all children that need them - whatever political circumstances the country find itself in.

We cannot comment on questions around personal conduct of individual members of staff.

Question Time viewers reacted with disgust on social media at the shameful remarks with calls for her to be sacked.

Jason Gollings tweeted: That Great Ormond Street woman is the ultimate remoaner - wishing ill on the ppl that voted out.

Stuart Gosling posted: I really hope the lady on the audience gets sacked from Great Ormond Street Hospital after wishing ill children on leave voters.

While Clare Donaldson wrote: Lady who works at Great Ormond Street just spectacularly lost all credibility - shameful comment. #bbcqt

But the woman was also praised by viewers for raising a potential threat to medical funding.

Max Fyldes-Roberts tweeted: Great Ormond Street woman making excellent point on scientific collaboration. Smashing @sajidjavid #Article50 #bbcqt

And another woman added: Well said the woman from Great Ormond Street Hosp #bbcqt.

Panellists on the show included Conservative Communities Minister Sajid Javid, Labour MP Lisa Nandy, editor-in-chief of the Economist Zanny Minton Beddoes, talk show host Charlie Wolf, and radio presenter Huey Morgan.
K atie Hopkins has been branded a disgrace after she attacked activist judges over the Governments Brexit defeat in the High Court.

The outspoken columnist was scolded by some social media users as she urged Theresa May to ignore Thursdays ruling and invoke Article 50  the countdown to Britain leaving the EU.

It comes as three judges ruled the Government must seek a vote from Parliament before the process is triggered to leave the EU. Downing Street immediately appealed the judgment.

Ms Hopkins' column, which was posted on MailOnline, read: These activist judges have thwarted the will of the people. They have judged Parliament must decide whether we trigger Article 50.

She also accused Gina Miller, the wife of a hedge fund manager, who brought the case against the Government, of being smug and laughing in the faces of ordinary Brits.

The columnist wrote: Gina Miller - The woman with the cash who brought this case against the government said Brexit had made her feel physically sick.

Looking at this Guyanan-born wife of a multi-millionaire, laughing in the faces of ordinary Brits, her smug face makes me feel much the same way.

The column sparked a flurry of reaction on social media as outraged tweeters vented their criticism at the former Apprentice contestant.

Andrew Baynham tweeted: They were interpreting the law, not venturing an opinion. It's people like you who are propagating anger.

While Nick Ward added: Apart from being a disgrace to human beings what do you actually do?

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However, supporters also posted messages in support of Ms Hopkins.

One man tweeted: Keep up your good work you beautiful woman.
D onald Trump and some of his top supporters have pledged to impeach Hillary Clinton if shes elected US president.

The billionaire Republican candidate caused an outcry in his last televised showdown with Mrs Clinton when he refused to confirm he will accept the result if he is beaten when America goes to the polls next Tuesday.

Now he has reiterated his stand by claiming a win for the former First Lady would trigger an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis.

Havent we just been through a lot with the Clintons? Mr Trump asked in a clear reference to ex-President Bill Clintons impeachment after his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed.

The work of government would grind to a halt if she were ever elected, he added.

Mr Trump has insisted that the FBI probe into his Democratic Party opponents use of a private email server while she was US Secretary of State would make her position as president untenable.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, one of Mr Trumps most outspoken supporters, also insisted Mrs Clinton would face a congressional backlash if she wins the election.

I guarantee you in one year shell be impeached and indicted. Its just going to happen. Were going to sort of vote for a Watergate, he told voters in Iowa.

The latest twist in Americas most divisive ever presidential race has infuriated Clinton supporters who claim it underlines Mr Trumps disregard for democracy.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Republican Congressman Darrell Issa have each insisted there should be no further talk of impeachment.

Okay, Im going to say, be the adult in the room and say calm down, back off, its not gonna happen, said Mr Issa, a Trump supporter.

Impeachment is a last resort, he said. I would ask everyone to calm down and go back to the basics, which is we have an opportunity at the ballot box to determine whether Hillary Clinton has disqualified herself with her actions. Do that first, he added.

Yesterday, Mrs Pelosi released a statement saying that threats to impeach Mrs Clinton if she wins were a brazen attempt to nullify the vote of the American people, outside our constitutional framework and destructive to the Framers intent.

The American people want Republicans to accept the will of the people and take impeachment off the table. Responsible Republicans must do so immediately, she said.

In a rational world  you know, one that values comity and progress in the national interest  this line of argument would be seen as incendiary at worst and hopelessly wacky at best. Not so in Trumpland, said an editorial in todays New York Times.

Beyond simple hypocrisy, the Republicans impeachment threat demonstrates their gathering disrespect for democracy. If they cant gain control of government fairly, theyll simply undermine it.

It is the clearest warning yet that voters must deliver a firm rejection of the politics of division that Mr. Trump represents, the Times concludes.
T he wife of Donald Trump has faced a backlash online after she hit out at social media bullying in a rare speech given today.

Melania Trump appeared on the campaign trial and defended her husband, calling him a fighter who will never give up.

The former model said culture has become too mean and too rough and that she would work to combat online bullies if she becomes first lady.

But scores of people criticised her speech, calling her anti-bullying stance at odds with her husbands aggressive manner and presence on Twitter throughout the US election campaign.

Speaking today Mrs Trump said: "Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers.

Supportive: Melania Trump speaking in Pennsylvania. / REUTERS

"It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked" in the school yard, she argued, but it is "absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet.

"We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other," she said.

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But people quickly took to social media to claim Trump has used his Twitter account to insult his rivals for years.

Brian Klass, in London, said with a link to a Donald Trump quote: "Melania Trump said today that she wants to combat cyber bullying as First Lady. First case to work on is convenient".

Mrs Trump told the audience: "We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation."
U S intelligence agents are on high alert amid fears of Al-Qaeda terror attacks the day before the presidential election.

Authorities have been warned of a potential threat from militants on Monday, US media reported.

It comes the day before Americans decided whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump should succeed Barack Obama as US president.

No specific targets have been disclosed but officials in New York, Virginia and Texas have been made aware of the potential plots.

Threat level increase: It comes the day before the US election ( Kena Betancur/Getty Images) / Kena Betancur/Getty Images

In New York, the New York Police Department said it had been alerted by federal authorities while the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which operates airports, tunnels and bridges around the city, was also informed.

Security sources insist the threat is being taken seriously but FBI bosses said the threat level always rises in the build-up to high-profile events.

A senior FBI official told CBS News: During holiday seasons and when big events are approaching, intelligence about potential threats always increases.The counterterrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States.

"The FBI, working with our federal, state and local counterparts, shares and assesses intelligence on a daily basis and will continue to work closely with law enforcement and intelligence community partners to identify and disrupt any potential threat to public safety.

Al-Qaeda, a Sunni Islamist terror cell, is responsible for global terror attacks including the 9/11 atrocities in which 3,000 people died in New York City.
K im Kardashian has reportedly fired her personal bodyguard Pascal Duvier following her attack in Paris.

The reality star, who has been keeping a very low profile since the Fashion Week heist, arrived at sister Kendall Jenners birthday party with three off-duty police officers instead.

According to TMZ, the 36-year-old paid three policemen $100 per hour to escort her to her sisters 21st party in LA on Wednesday after a security team shake-up.

Kardashian and rapper husband Kanye are thought to have given their entire security team an overhaul, after the star was bound, gagged and held at gunpoint in her Paris hotel last month.

Ordeal: Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris (Getty) / Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Pascal, along with a couple other security members of their team, were recently let go by Kim and Kanye, a source told the US website.

"The decision no doubt infuriated Pascal as he's protected the businesswoman since 2013 and her husband since 2012. 

Kim Kardashian robbers 'saw jewels' in her social media posts

The insider added: It's a pretty tough situation overall and they love Pascal, but they couldn't take any more chances."

Duvier was in Paris with Kardashian last month but was at a nightclub with her sister Kourtney when the attack took place.

When he arrived on the scene the robbers had already escaped with millions of dollars worth of jewellery.

Kardashian has barely been seen in public since the incident and has been keeping a low profile on her social media accounts.
M ichael Buble and Luisana Lopilatos three-year-old son has been diagnosed with cancer.

Posting the devastating news on his wifes Facebook page, Buble informed fans that they would both be cancelling all work commitments for the foreseeable future.

We are devastated by the recent cancer diagnosis of our eldest son Noah who is currently in treatment in the United States, he wrote on Friday afternoon.

We've always talked a lot about the importance of the family and the love we have for our children.

(LuisanaLopilato/Facebook ) / LuisanaLopilato/Facebook

"Luisana and I are going to spend all our time and attention to help Noah to get better, by suspending our professional activities for now."

Michael Buble dances with son Noah

"During this difficult time, we ask that you pray for him and please respect our privacy.

Michael Buble/Instagram

We have a long road ahead of us and we hope that with the support of our family, friends, fans around the world and our faith in God, we can win this battle."

Noah is thought to have been diagnosed with the illness when he visited a doctor with a suspected case of the mumps.

Noah was hospitalised last year when he accidently scalded himself on boiling hot water in the family home.

Buble was in the US at the time of the accident and flew straight back to Argentina to be with his family.

After the accident, Lopilato said: At one point the doctors told me they'd have to do skin grafts but thank God it started healing little by little. For a long time he has to use elastic bands pressed tight so he's not left with scars.

The couple, who also have 10-month-old Elias together, are expected to cancel all of their scheduled work activity.

Buble was the subject of a BBC special on Thursday night and was recently announced as the host of the 2017 Brit Awards.
M any actors have portrayed Winston Churchill over the years, including Albert Finney, Bob Hoskins and Richard Burton.

But Gary Oldmans transformation into the iconic British Prime Minister is one of the most dramatic, looking almost unrecognisable in the first still from forthcoming film Darkest Hour.

The first look at Joe Wrights biopic, which is already being touted as an Oscar contender, shows the 58-year-old Londoner in full prosthetics.

Wearing a three-piece suit, bow tie and holding a cigar, Oldman looks worlds away from his usual image.

Normal look: Gary Oldman pictures in June / Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Mindfreak Live!

Oldman, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, has just started shooting the new film, alongside John Hurt as Neville Chamberlain.

Lily James plays Churchills personal secretary in the film, while Kristen Scott Thomas plays his wife and Ben Mendelsohn takes on the role of King George.

The film is set in the May and June of 1940 as Churchill takes over the reigns as Prime Minister from Chamberlain.

John Lithgow is also being lauded for his portrayal of the Prime Minister in Netflixs glossy new epic series The Crown.

The American star also makes a startling transformation into the leader, playing him a little later in his life, as he becomes Prime Minister for the second time.

Wrights Darkest Hour is still in production and slated for release on December 29 2017.
F ormer Doctor Who actor Matt Smith is making his way back to the screen as a very different British icon in The Crown.

Netflixs new series, the first season of which arrived in full today on the streaming service, charts the early reign of Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) and her marriage to Prince Philip (Smith).

Speaking on the Graham Norton Show, Smith revealed that he has an intense moment on the set of the lavish royal drama.

The actor recalled heading into a ravine on horseback, admitting he was so scared  and saying a member of the crew jumped in and saved his life.

PA / So TV

We were in South Africa and these horses were being a bit frisky, he explained.

We were meant to get on them and trot off and have this lovely love scene, which didnt even make the cut. In my stupidity I got on the horse and cantered around and then it just went.

I tried to grab a branch and everyone was shouting, Oh my god, dont grab the branch! So I went under the branch and then down a ravine. I was so scared.

The Crown premiere 1 /16 The Crown premiere All smiles Matt Smith and Claire Foy attend the World Premiere of new Netflix Original series "The Crown" at Odeon Leicester Square Dave Benett Over the shoulder Vanessa Kirby, who plays Princess Margaret, dazzles in a mint gown Dave Benett Leading man Matt Smith strikes a pose for photographers Dave Benett Group photo Matt Smith, Dame Eileen Atkins, Claire Foy, Peter Morgan and Stephen Daldry pose with the Queen's favourite breed of dog - a corgi PA Chemistry Matt Smith and Claire Foy play Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II in the big budget drama Dave Benett Leading lady Claire Foy works a patterned dress for the red carpet bash PA Red carpet ready Vanessa Kirby knows how to work the red carpet Dave Benett On guard The cast are guarded by two soldiers on the red carpet PA Fooling around Matt Smith points to the cameras as he poses alongside his co-star Claire Foy Dave Benett Pretty in pink Gemma Oaten puts on an elegant display Dave Benett Regal red Gillian Anderson colour co-ordinates with a velvet red dress PA Royalty Dame Eileen Atkins plays the Queen's mother in the hotly anticipated Netflix series Dave Benett

As [the horse] galloped towards a herd of zebra a huge man grabbed it by the reins and saved my life.

The show has already been garnering critical acclaim, and is said to have cost in the region of 100 million to produce.

The series is said to be aiming for six seasons, with a second currently in production.

BBC One, 10.35pm
HAMPTON  Chief Deputy Linn Larson and Deputy Rick Rieken are looking to fill the position held by Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier, who is not seeking re-election.

Larson, 58, a Republican, has served as chief deputy since 2008. He and his wife, Judy, an instructor for Hampton-Dumont Schools, have one daughter, Heidi.

Larson has served as a full-time law enforcement officer since 1978, beginning his career with the Belmond Police Department. He began working for the Franklin County Sheriffs Office in 2006.

I have truly enjoyed serving the public and want to continue to do so and I feel the best way for me to do that is as sheriff, Larson said. By working with the wonderful staff we have on the Sheriffs Office, I feel we can make a big difference in the quality of law enforcement for Franklin County.

Rieken, 39, an independent, was born and raised in Franklin County. He and his wife, Stacy, have three children.

Rieken is a deputy as well as a small-scale farmer and landowner.

I have always been passionate about law enforcement, Rieken said. I feel strongly that we can make real changes in the department in order to better serve and protect the citizens of Franklin County.

Larson feels his 23 years as a law enforcement administrator and experience differentiates him from his opponent.

I have made agency budgets, I have written agency policies, I have worked with city councils and county supervisors, I have served on several boards and commissions dealing with public safety, Larson said. I use this experience to give the citizens of Franklin County the highest-quality service.

Both have graduated from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

We both have extensive training and continuing education in criminal justice fields, Rieken said. What I have is 29 more years of experience living and working in Franklin County, and I have a very diverse resume in being a volunteer for a variety of community, civic and conservation groups.

Rieken has been involved with Kiwanis, American Legion, Masonic Lodge, Franklin County Conservation Board, Iowa DNR and more.

I believe it is also important because of the nature of the job as sheriff, that you must be multi-dimensional and more diverse than just a law enforcement provider, Rieken said.

Both Rieken and Larson are passionate about moving to a 24-hour coverage schedule, something the department began implementing in July.

There are still a few days each week that has gaps where there are deputies on call but not patrolling. I would like to see these filled in, Rieken said.

Rieken said he sees an opportunity to modernize the department and help it run more efficiently.

He would like to take a look at using grants to help with deficits or gaps in the offices budget and reduce taxpayer funding.

I want to set up a restitution system for our department so that after a defendant has been charged and handled by our department that the subject will pay back the officers time, office supplies and certain expenditures so that the burden isnt placed directly on the taxpayers of Franklin County, and instead on the criminals themselves, Rieken said.

If elected, Larson wants to take the agency to a higher level of service. Larson looks to improve on the departments investigations to provide the county attorney with the best cases possible.

This will save us from having cases dismissed due to poor-quality investigations, Larson said. I will make sure the deputies have the training and tools to best serve our citizens.
MASON CITY | Yesway convenience stores in Mason City will host a grand opening Friday and Saturday.

The event kicks off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony 2:30 to 3 p.m. at the company's 1920 S. Federal Ave. store, with local dignitaries, communities and chamber members and Yesway team members and executives.

Representatives of the North Iowa CERT Team will also be in attendance as Yesway begins a month-long fundraiser to benefit the organization.

Celebrations will continue 4 to 6 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the South Federal Avenue store. Attendees will receive free coffee, food and the chance to win prizes.

The South Federal Avenue store is one of six Yesway locations replacing Kum & Go in Mason City.

All feature new and upgrade facilities inside and out, an enhanced shopping experience, neighborly customer service and competitively-priced gas.
NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 03, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Merck (http://www.MerckGroup.com), a leading science and technology company, through "Merck More than a Mother" (www.MerckMoreThanaMother.com) in partnership with the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) conducted a panel to address infertility challenges and solutions in Africa at the IFFS World Congress in New Delhi, India. The ministers, parliamentarians and global fertility experts highlighted lack of access to regulated fertility care and awareness about infertility management and stigma of infertile women as key challenges.

The panel supported improving access to regulated fertility care by developing ART regulations; empowering infertile women through education and information; training African embryologists and removing the infertility stigma to create a culture shift and change of mind-set.

Merck More than a Mother aims to empower infertile women in Africa through improving access to education, information and health and change of mind-set and in case they cannot be treated empowering them economically and socially through Empowering Berna Project so that they can be independent and re-build their own lives, said Rasha Kelej, Chief Social Officer, Merck Healthcare.

In Uganda, between 15-20% of couples dont conceive. Fertility clinics in the country are few and expensive. Together with Merck we are creating awareness on infertility prevention and to improve access integrating fertility care into existing public reproductive healthcare services, said Sarah Opendi, Minister of Health, Uganda.

IFFS has an important role to support this initiative. Education is essential and we will support the training necessary in Africa to develop capacity for infertility treatment, said Richard Kennedy, President, IFFS.

To read more about www.MerckMoreThanaMother.com

At the meeting Merck showed a few videos of African infertile women who shared their stories of suffering due to failing to have children and their transformation after meeting Merck More than a Mother team who helped empower them socially and economically.

Watch the story of Grace Kambini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkVVbGzUJJo

Watch the story of Jackline Mwende: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niMNO-jz0yA

Watch this video for a summary of the high level panel discussion on infertility challenges and solutions in Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWG2UZcV2uU

Watch this video for a long version of the high level panel discussion on infertility challenges and solutions in Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt4ZT3mupZs

Distributed by APO on behalf of Merck.
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 03, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Californias Proposition 60 may be aimed at adult production, but in many cases, it would create major legal liabilities for mainstream production and distribution companies, like Direct TV, Time Warner, the Walt Disney Company, and HBO, according to the Free Speech Coalition.



The controversial Prop 60, which seeks to mandate condoms in adult film, defines adult film loosely. Thus, any commercial broadcast in which two people engage in actual sexual activity is covered, regardless of whether you can see it, or whether it happens on an adult film set or The Bachelors Fantasy Suite.

Any cable provider who broadcasts or distributes an adult film, even an edited version, would face legal liability.

And any reality television programs where contestants hook-up, such as CBS Big Brother and ABCs The Bachelor, could be required to prove condoms were used, or face fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Under the initiative, California-based corporations like The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, could be required to register with the state as an adult film producer.

While wed certainly welcome Les Moonves and Bob Iger at our Free Speech board meetings, we suspect their shareholders would not, says Eric Paul Leue, Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, the trade group for the adult industry. Like most obscenity regulation, its written broadly: theres no requirement that the sex itself be shown explicitly. If sex happens on-set, it will be considered a workplace, and reality producers could be sued.

Contestants for ABC are already tested for STIs prior to filming, and recent contestants have admitted to having sex while on the show, even if the sex itself is often blurred or otherwise obscured by blankets, water, or darkness. While never presented explicitly as traditional adult film, on-screen hook-ups have been a staple of the reality genre from The Real World and Gigolos to last years Sex Box.

Premium cable channels such as HBO, Showtime and Cinemax are also liable to face Prop 60 lawsuits, either through reality programs like Real Sex and Sex Now, or through soft-core films available through broadcast or on-demand. While the cable channels rarely show explicit sex, that lack of visibility would, paradoxically, place them in a position to prove, in court, that a condom was used.

Under the initiative, any resident of the state of California can sue any producer anytime they see filmed sexuality activity and cant see a visible condom. Those who bring successful suits are awarded 25% of any fine levied against the producer, and any legal costs.

For-profit lawsuits against mainstream producers may be more likely than those against adult producers, as those who bring a successful suit are awarded a payout relative to the cost of the original production.

Proposition 60 is the only ballot measure opposed by both the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party. It has been opposed by over fifty local and issue-based political clubs; over forty five newspaper editorial boards (including each of the states ten largest papers); over a hundred HIV/AIDS organizations, doctors and civil rights advocates; and the performers groups APAC and APAG. Over the past several months, nearly two thousand performers have actively campaigned against Proposition 60 by speaking out at university campuses, farmers markets and on social media, as well as leading political rallies and protests.
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Marine systems innovator Cavotec has won important MoorMaster automated mooring orders from existing MoorMaster customer, the Port of Salalah in Oman, for use at two container berths  another sign of the increasing acceptance of this innovative mooring technology by the global shipping sector.

MoorMaster generates the safety and operational gains that are so critical to todays port applications  this is especially true of container handling operations such as those at the Port of Salalah, says Juergen Strommer, Cavotec COO, EMEA.

Cavotec is to supply 16 MoorMaster MM400E15 units for container berths 3 and 4 at Salalah. A three-year maintenance contract has also been signed  a renewal of an existing agreement  which will see Cavotec onsite service teams working closely with the port to provide support at all five MoorMaster berths.

Were delighted to continue our work with Cavotec  helping to improve safety and optimise operations with MoorMaster, says Joe Schofield, Port of Salalah Chief Operations Officer.

MoorMaster units were first trialled at Salalah in 2006, and the technology was then introduced at berths 1 and 5. The technology has successfully reduced excessive vessel motion, common to the port, caused in part by long waves that are especially pronounced during the Khareef monsoon season.

The new units  eight each at berths 3 and 4  are scheduled for installation before the 2017 Khareef season. Earlier this year, and prior to the 2016 Khareef season, eight MM400E15 units were installed at berth 6. These units have met all operational requirements even during the most severe periods of long wave activity.

MoorMaster is a vacuum-based automated mooring technology that eliminates the need for conventional mooring lines. Remote controlled vacuum pads recessed in, or mounted on the quayside or pontoons, moor and release vessels in seconds.

The system dramatically improves safety and operational efficiency, and in many cases enables ports to make considerable infrastructure savings. To date, some 200 MoorMaster units have performed some 215,000 mooring operations at ferry, bulk handling, Ro/Ro, container and lock applications worldwide.

The vacuum units hold vessels at set distances from the berth, thereby avoiding the need for ships to be repositioned along the quay  resulting in operational improvements and reduced emissions from ships and tugs.

ENDS

Media contact: Julia Weinhart

Group Manager, Corporate Communications & PR

julia.weinhart@cavotec.com

Cavotec is a global engineering group that manufactures power transmission, distribution and control technologies that form the link between fixed and mobile equipment in the Ports & Maritime, Airports, Mining & Tunnelling and General Industry sectors. To find out more about Cavotec, visit our website at cavotec.com.

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Cavotec SA under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on 4 November 2016, 08:30 CET.
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In 2017, the financial results of the Company will be disclosed on the following dates:

27th of January 2017 Q4 results for 2016 and preliminary, unaudited results for 2016 31st of March 2017 Audited results for 2016 28th of April 2017 Q1 results for 2017 28th of July 2017 Q2 results for 2017 27th of October 2017 Q3 results for 2017

The Annual General Meeting is planned to take place on 1st of June 2017.
WYOMISSING, Pa., Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Customers Bancorp, Inc. (the Company) (NYSE:CUBI), the parent company for Customers Bank, today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 2,600,000 shares of its common stock. FBR Capital Markets & Co. and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. are acting as the joint book-running managers for the offering. The Company expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the shares of common stock sold, at the public offering price less the underwriting discount, solely to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is subject to market conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering.



The Company expects to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include working capital and the funding of organic growth at Customers Bank.

A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-209760) relating to the offering was filed previously with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is effective. A preliminary prospectus supplement related to the offering has been filed with the SEC. Copies of the shelf registration statement (including the base prospectus), the preliminary prospectus supplement and other documents that the Company has filed with the SEC that are incorporated by reference into the registration statement are available at no charge by visiting EDGAR on the SECs website located at www.sec.gov. A final prospectus supplement will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SECs website once filed. The offering may be made only by means of a prospectus and a related prospectus supplement, copies of which may be obtained, when available, by contacting: FBR, Attention: Syndicate Prospectus Department, 1300 North 17th Street, Suite 1400, Arlington, VA 22209, or by telephone at 703-312-9580, or by email at prospectuses@fbr.com.

This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of the Company, nor shall there be any offer or sale of securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Institutional Background

Customers Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company located in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania engaged in banking and related business through its bank subsidiary, Customers Bank. Customers Bank is a community-based, full-service bank with assets of approximately $9.6 billion that was named one of Forbes magazine's 2016 100 Best Banks in America (there are over 6,200 banks in the United States). A member of the Federal Reserve System with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Customers Bank is an equal opportunity lender that provides a range of banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, individuals and families through offices in Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Committed to fostering customer loyalty, Customers Bank uses a High Tech/High Touch strategy that includes use of technology to provide customers better access to their money, as well as Concierge Banking by appointment at customers' homes or offices 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers Bank offers a continually expanding portfolio of loans to small businesses, multi-family projects, mortgage companies and consumers. BankMobile is a division of Customers Bank, offering state of the art high tech digital banking services with high level of personal customer service.

Customers Bancorp, Inc.s voting common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CUBI. Additional information about Customers Bancorp, Inc. can be found on the Company's website, www.customersbank.com. Information on, or accessible through, our website is not part of any prospectus supplement or prospectus relating to the offering described herein, other than documents that we file with the SEC that are specifically incorporated by reference into any such prospectus supplement or prospectus.

Safe Harbor Statement

In addition to historical information, this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements with respect to Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s strategies, goals, beliefs, expectations, estimates, intentions, capital raising efforts, financial condition and results of operations, future performance and business. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that include the words "may," "could," "should," "pro forma," "looking forward," "would," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," or similar expressions generally indicate a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on various important factors (some of which, in whole or in part, are beyond Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s control). Numerous competitive, economic, regulatory, legal and technological factors, among others, could cause Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s financial performance to differ materially from the goals, plans, objectives, intentions and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. In addition, important factors relating to the acquisition of the Disbursements business, the combination of Customers' BankMobile business with the acquired Disbursements business and the implementation of Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s strategy regarding BankMobile, including with respect to the possible disposition of the BankMobile business, depending upon market conditions and opportunities, also could cause Customers Bancorp's actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Customers Bancorp, Inc. cautions that the foregoing factors are not exclusive, and neither such factors nor any such forward-looking statement takes into account the impact of any future events. All forward-looking statements and information set forth herein are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions as of the date hereof and speak only as of the date they are made. For a more complete discussion of the assumptions, risks and uncertainties related to our business, you are encouraged to review Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K that update or provide information in addition to the information included in the Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings. Customers Bancorp, Inc. does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by Customers Bancorp, Inc. or by or on behalf of Customers Bank.
Wells Fargo & Co. fired hundreds of brokerage employees for improper sales practices, three senators said Thursday, widening the scope of a scandal that the fourth-largest U.S. bank has so far characterized as a retail banking problem.

In a letter to Wells Fargo Chief Executive Tim Sloan, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., questioned the banks disclosures about those employees dismissals in required regulatory filings.

The letter is the first indication that customers of the brokerage business, St. Louis-based Wells Fargo Advisors, may also have been affected.

Wells Fargo said in September it would pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers for opening up to 2 million deposit and credit-card accounts in customers names without their permission.

The San Francisco-based bank said it fired 5,300 workers for improper sales practices over a period of five years.

Reuters reported in October that thousands of small business customers had also been affected.

It would appear that Wells Fargo concealed key information from regulators that may have revealed the banks misdeeds long before the September 2016 settlement, the senators wrote.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which regulates brokerages and securities dealers, told congressional staff that it had received dismissal documents known as Form U5s for more than 600 of those fired Wells Fargo employees. However, only 207 of them contained details indicating they had been fired for practices that led to bogus accounts.

The incomplete U5 filings may have deprived regulators of information that could have allowed them to uncover and stop the illegal activity sooner, the senators said, requesting more information.

FINRA takes seriously the integrity and accuracy of all filings made by firms, spokeswoman Nancy Condon said in an emailed response.

She noted that FINRA launched last week a review of sales programs for all firms it oversees.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson Dunn said multiple investigations, including an internal review, were underway. The bank has been working for years to stop wrongful sales practices and is taking steps to repair the damage, she said.

We acknowledge we could have acted sooner and more aggressively, Greeson Dunn said.

At a conference on Thursday, Sloan said he had no knowledge of issues outside the retail bank.

In a statement to the Post-Dispatch on Oct. 7, for a story about the effect of the banks troubles on the brokerage business, Wells Fargo Advisors said, in part: Its important for clients to know that their investment accounts with Wells Fargo Advisors are unaffected by the events associated with the settlement agreements involving Wells Fargo Bank.

Wells Fargos retail branches also include employees from other businesses who offer products besides bank accounts.

Wells Fargo Advisors, which employs about 5,000 people in the St. Louis area, grew outside the Wells Fargo culture. Its Jefferson Avenue headquarters was the base for A.G. Edwards, a stalwart of the St. Louis financial industry since 1887.

Edwards was swallowed up by North Carolinas Wachovia Bank in 2007. Instead of moving the operation southeast, Wachovia moved its own smaller brokerage to St. Louis.

Wells Fargo bought then-troubled Wachovia in 2008, and followed the same pattern, moving its own smaller retail stock-and-bond operation to A.G. Edwards old base.

The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
The fire that heavily damaged an African-American church that was also spray-painted with the phrase "Vote Trump," was set on purpose - and an $11,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of whoever did it, a Mississippi fire chief said Wednesday.

The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation of the Tuesday night fire at the 200-member Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, and Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons called the fire and graffiti a hate crime.

Officials announced the reward and the investigators' conclusion that the fire was arson at the church, Greenville Fire Chief Ruben Brown Sr. said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

The church's beige brick walls still stand, but the pulpit and pews are burned black, and soot stains the brick above and next to some windows. Brown estimated that it was "80 percent destroyed."

"It definitely will have to be reconstructed from front to back," he said.

Simmons called the arson a "heinous, hateful, cowardly act."

"We consider it a hate crime ... because of the political message which we believe was intended to interfere with worship and intimidate voters," Simmons said. "This act is a direct assault on people's right to freely worship."

The mayor said the FBI and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are assisting the investigation in the Mississippi River city, where about 78 percent of the 32,100 residents are African-American.

Mississippi's top elections official, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, said people shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the church was vandalized for political reasons. Initial reports suggest "this is not of a political nature," he told WDAM-TV.

The culprits should be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law," he said.

State FBI spokesman Brett Car said the agency is "working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to determine if any civil rights crimes were committed."

He did not comment on whether it was being investigated as a possible hate crime. "At this point, it is too early in the investigation to determine what type of crime this could be," he said.

Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican who has been campaigning for his party's presidential nominee Donald Trump, said "we expect a suspect will be identified and brought to justice."

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat whose district includes Greenville, said the fire and graffiti "harkens back to a much darker day in Mississippi."
WASHINGTON, Mo.  Three people from Union were charged Friday with burglarizing the home of Kenneth Allen Jr., 70, who was found dead there Thursday.

Blake S. Schindler, 17, Timothy D. Wonish, 30, and Whitney Dawn Robins, 28, all face charges of felony burglary and receiving stolen property and are being held in lieu of $200,000 cash bail.

Charging documents say that there appeared to have been a struggle and that Allens body was found with his hands and feet bound, with property missing.

Major Case Squad Deputy Commander Gary Higginbotham said Allens cause of death remained unknown Friday. A press release from investigators said that the suspects were involved in the death.

Its not clear what led investigators to Schindler and the others, but charging documents say that nine of Allens credit cards and seven checkbooks were found in Schindlers vehicle after his arrest, and one of Allens credit cards was found in his pants pocket.

Wonish and Schindler declined to talk to police, but Robins admitted using the cord from a lamp to tie Allens feet, charging documents claim. She said Wonish and Schindler participated in the event. Relatives of the three could not be reached for comment, and no attorneys for them were listed in online court records.

One suspect was arrested at a relatives house and the others were arrested at a hotel, all in south St. Louis County.

An acquaintance found Allen dead about 8:30 a.m. Thursday at his home in the 300 block of Elmwood Estates Drive near Washington, Mo. The man had gone there to help move furniture.

Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said the department called in the Major Case Squad in part because of a conflict between Allen and the department.

Kenneth and Jan Allen had filed suit in federal court in St. Louis on Aug. 1, alleging that their business, Meramec Recovery Center Inc., unfairly lost a contract. The suit against Franklin County and others alleges that their business with the countys drug court suffered because some participants were forced by sheriffs Lt. Jason Grellner to work as informers for police. That, the suit says, exposed those people to the drug culture and caused them to fail drug tests. Meramec, which worked for the drug court since 2000, lost its contract in 2013 after complaining, the suit says.

Grellner, who is one of the defendants, said in August that the allegations were untrue. He suggested the action was motivated by political opponents who circulated the claim before the suit was filed. On Aug. 2, Grellner lost his run to be the Republican nominee for sheriff.

Robert Patrick of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cachet Financial Solutions (OTCQB:CAFN), a leading mobile FinTech provider of cloud-based remote deposit capture (RDC) and mobile money solutions, teams up with The Knowledge Group for an upcoming webcast entitled: Seizing the Small Business RDC Opportunity: New Products are Changing Everything LIVE Webcast. This event is scheduled for Thursday, November 17, 2016 @ 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (ET).



For further details, please visit:

https://www.theknowledgegroup.org/all-events-list/live-webcasts/event-homepage/?event_id=2367

Event Synopsis:

Small Business RDC represents a considerable unmet opportunity for financial institutions. Unfortunately, expensive products, selective eligibility, and a focus on larger businesses have hindered its potential.

Opportunity knocks today for financial institutions willing to rethink their small-medium business (SMB) RDC strategy. Join Bob Meara, Senior Analyst of Celent, Hunter Wolfe, SVP of Cachet Financial Solutions and Trent Fleming, Consultant of Trent Fleming Consulting, for this interactive webinar to learn:

Why SMBs have become more important to financial institutions

Historical approaches to commercial RDC and why theyre lacking

Why widespread RDC usage among SMB is both attractive and attainable

SMB RDC solution considerations

Importance of Small Business Relationships

About The Knowledge Group/The Knowledge Congress Live Webcast Series

The Knowledge Congress was established with the mission to produce unbiased, objective, and educational live webinars that examine industry trends and regulatory changes from a variety of different perspectives. The goal is to deliver a unique multilevel analysis of an important issue affecting business in a highly focused format. To contact or register to an event, please visit: http://theknowledgegroup.org/

About Cachet Financial Solutions, Inc.

Cachet Financial Solutions is a leading cloud-based, SaaS technology provider serving the financial services industry with mobile money and remote deposit capture solutions for PC, Mac and mobile. Founded in early 2010, Cachet has quickly grown into a technology leader and trusted partner of some of the worlds largest and most respected financial organizations. With remarkable growth, an impressive client base and award-winning technology, Cachet continues to drive innovation and deliver world-class solutions to financial institutions of all sizes.

Cachets industry-leading solutions can help clients increase customer retention and revenue opportunities. Cachet's cloud-based technology platform simplifies development, deployment and servicing of consumer and commercial solutionsminimizing cost and accelerating speed-to-market for Cachets clients. Enabled by Cachet's suite of business and consumer solutions, financial institutions can better serve the needs of all their customers. For more information, visit www.cachetfinancial.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that would be deemed "forward-looking statements" under Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933. Words such as "may," "likely," "anticipate," "expect" and "believes" indicate forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events, are based on assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. We discuss many of these risks in greater detail in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14, 2016, under the heading "Risk Factors" and in the other reports we file with the Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Also, forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
JEFFERSON CITY  State election regulators on Friday dismissed a complaint questioning a $1.975 million dollar donation from a federal super PAC called "Seals for Truth" in Republican Eric Greitens' run for governor.

The complaint was filed by Missouri Democratic Party chairman Roy Temple, alleging Greitens worked with the PAC to hide the identity of its donors.

The Missouri Ethics Commission found "no reasonable grounds" that the contribution was structured in a way to conceal its true source.

Donations to candidates exceeding $5,000 must be reported online within 48 hours under Missouri law, and the Greitens' campaign complied, according to MEC. But the source of the donation  record-breaking at the time Greitens received it  remains unclear.

In a Federal Election Commission Report, Seals for Truth reported receiving $2 million from American Policy Coalition, Inc. on July 18, the same day the PAC made its contribution to Greitens' campaign.

The American Policy Coalition also remains a mystery. A visit to its website reveals a logo and little else.

In an email, Greitens' campaign manager Austin Chambers called the complaint "meritless and politically motivated."

Greitens will face his Democratic opponent, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, on Nov. 8.
JEFFERSON CITY  An attention-grabbing move to highlight Gov. Jay Nixons decision to cut the state budget has ended in the governors favor.

In a ruling made public Friday, a Cole County judge ruled Nixon correctly used his power as chief executive when he chopped $3.5 million from the Missouri State Public Defender, which provides poor people with attorneys.

Circuit Judge John Beetem said the governor was authorized to withhold funds from specific agencies. The judge also said Nixon did not violate a separation of powers clause when he took action against the agency.

Michael Barrett, the states lead public defender, has been fighting to boost spending on public defenders. A 2014 study of the agency found it needed millions of more dollars and scores more attorneys to do an adequate job representing low-income people in court.

In the spring, the Legislature approved a $4.5 million boost for the program. Nixon signed the budget, but later cut $3.5 million from the increase when overall state tax revenue slipped at the end of the fiscal year. In all, Nixon has chopped more than $160 million of the states $27 billion spending plan.

Frustrated with the ongoing funding woes, Barrett ordered Nixon to represent an indigent defendant, citing a provision of state law allowing him to delegate such a job to any member of the state bar in Missouri in extraordinary circumstances.

Nixon, who served as Missouri attorney general for 16 years, disagreed with Barrett, saying he couldnt be appointed in such a manner. In addition, he said the agency is getting $1 million in added funding in the fiscal year that began July 1, with the possibility of receiving the $3.5 million if state revenues improve.

The fight drew attention from throughout the nation, including a New York Times editorial that called Nixon stingy.

On Friday, Nixon issued a statement saying Beetems order made it clear that he had the power to reduce the agencys budget.

Todays order once again affirms the clear authority of the Governor to rein in spending and keep the budget in balance, Nixon said.
JEFFERSON CITY  While much of the election conversation in Missouri has centered on the close, contentious race for the states next governor, former Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan and Republican state Sen. Mike Parson have been making their cases to be the next in line.

The office of lieutenant governor may not be the most powerful position in state government, but its holder does assume office if a governor is unable to serve. The job can also be a political springboard  current Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is a three-term incumbent who made a bid for governor, unsuccessfully, rather than run for re-election as lieutenant governor.

Missouris lieutenant governor can break a tie as presiding officer of the state Senate and also serves as the official advocate for the states elderly and veterans.

And the office can serve as a platform to bring attention to political issues, even with stances that differ from the states chief executive. Missouris lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and can be from a different political party. Thats been the case for the past eight years, with Kinder, a Republican, serving under Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.

Both Carnahan and Parson have pledged to work with whoever is elected governor on Nov. 8.

Unlike their counterparts in the gubernatorial race, theres been no shift in political allegiances for Parson or Carnahan. Parson, a conservative legislator, farmer and former Polk County sheriff, has spent his time in Jefferson City backing legislation that would rein in government spending, expand the rights of gun-owners and promote agriculture.

And Carnahan has name recognition to campaign on, coming from perhaps the states most prominent political family of Democrats. His parents are former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan and former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, and his sister is former Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

If elected, Carnahan said his areas of focus would be reforming campaign finance, expanding Medicaid, repairing a crumbling transportation infrastructure and expanding technology, including broadband internet, to more remote areas of the state.

Hes spent time on the campaign trail holding roundtables throughout the state, and said what he hears most from voters is exasperation with the states lax election laws.

People are really frustrated. Missouri has the worst political system in the country, Carnahan said in an interview, citing limits on campaign contributions and lobbyist gifts as issues he hopes to explore.

Carnahan was elected to the Missouri Legislature in 2000, where he served for four years before launching a bid for U.S. representative in 2004. He served until he was defeated in an acrimonious primary contest by Rep. William Lacy Clay, a former liberal Democrat ally, after they were forced to compete in 2012 for the citys one remaining congressional seat, created by a Republican-drawn redistricting map.

Carnahan, who calls St. Louis home, points to his chairmanship of the Center Aisle Caucus and his work with GOP colleagues to get funding for multiple sclerosis research as some of his biggest accomplishments in Congress. Now that hes returning to politics, he says that ability to work with Republicans and his experience in business and public service make him the best man for the job.

I dont think any one person or one party has a monopoly on good ideas, Carnahan said. Ive worked in a very bipartisan way.

Parson, meanwhile, has been a fixture in Jefferson City for 12 years. He was elected to the Missouri House in 2004 and to the state Senate in 2010, where he would go on to serve as majority whip. Parson, of Bolivar, Mo., has cited his work to balance the budget without raising taxes, sponsoring Right to Farm legislation and expanding the castle doctrine as some of his legislative achievements.

Hes also repeatedly linked his Democratic opponent to President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, both of whom are unpopular in Missouri.

Parsons campaign has released ads slamming Carnahan for siding with Obama and Clinton on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, labeling the former Congressman as a DC insider out of touch with Missouri values.

Carnahan recently hit back with an ad featuring Parsons former chief of staff, former Republican state Rep. Martin Bubs Hohulin, criticizing Parson for accepting gifts from lobbyists and for proposing valet parking for legislators. His campaign has dismissed Hohulins criticism, saying he was still upset over being fired from Parsons staff.

And Parson contends hes the candidate more in touch with average Missourians, arguing middle-class families need bigger paychecks, not bigger government and touting a grass-roots campaign he says most politicians have gotten away from.

I think its so important you go have a relationship with the people putting the roof on your house, people pouring concrete, nurses, people that work in the stores, Parson said in an interview. Those are the kind of people I think are really looking for someone they can trust.

A veteran of the Army, Parson said his top priorities if elected included improving the lives of other veterans, as well as building a more skilled workforce, improving infrastructure, growing tourism and advocating for senior citizens.

Recent campaign finance reports show Parson has spent $748,995 on his campaign, while Carnahan has spent $1,338,1984.

Third-party candidates running for lieutenant governor are Libertarian Steven Hedrick and Green Party candidate Jennifer Leach.
BONNE TERRE, Mo.  Travis Barnes parked his campaign headquarters  a red Chevy pickup  and walked across a parking lot to Hubs Pub & Grill, one of those places where its still OK to smoke inside.

The 38-year-old candidate for state representative, wearing jeans, work boots, an untucked button-down shirt and a Cardinals cap, sat down with a reporter to talk issues. The vice president of Ironworkers Local No. 396 is running for an open Missouri House seat in western St. Francois County, an hour south of St. Louis.

Barnes said he was pro-life and pro-gun. He said he was against tax increases for road improvements.

And, he said, he was a life-long Democrat.

Barnes faces ex-school administrator Mike Henderson, 57, in the 117th district, which takes in Desloge, Park Hills, and parts of Bonne Terre, Farmington and the surrounding countryside. This pro-labor district has a history of supporting Democrats, but the GOP is investing to win here.

As Tuesdays election nears, Democrats are looking to pare back the GOPs towering 115-45 seat advantage in the Missouri House. To do so, theyll have to sway voters in challenging suburban seats and outstate districts such as the 117th. Republicans will look to hold steady from the rural Bootheel to the St. Louis and Kansas City suburbs.

While the western St. Francois County district has sent Democrats to Jefferson City, the county also has a red tint when it comes to recent presidential elections.

So Barnes is focused on talking about jobs, education and the areas opioid addiction problems. He wont say whether he is voting for Hillary Clinton, and he resents attempts to tie him to the national Democratic Party. Henderson did not respond to interview requests, but emphasizes a pro-business atmosphere and education on his website.

We need jobs, Barnes said. Thats my major thing. I dont want my nieces and nephews beating up and down the highway for work.

Competitive seats

These days, there are few competitive seats in the 163-member Missouri House. Districts in 2012 were largely drawn to give one party a lopsided edge over the other. Republicans received 75 safe districts to the Democrats 47, according to the state Office of Administration, giving the GOP a built-in advantage. Republicans also have snagged what had been Democratic-leaning seats in recent cycles.

Democrats are hoping to flip enough districts this year to take Republicans below a 109-vote supermajority, which allows the GOP to override gubernatorial vetoes. To see how the winds are blowing Nov. 8, look to these so-called battleground districts:

 Mid-Missouri: The 44th and 47th take in parts of Columbia and surrounding rural areas. In the 47th, incumbent Rep. Chuck Basye, a Republican, takes on Democratic challenger Susan McClintic. The 44th  between Republican Cheri Reisch and Democrat Tom Pauley  also is considered competitive.

 St. Louis County: The most expensive races in St. Louis County are the west St. Louis County-based 70th, where Democrat Byron DeLear faces Republican Mark Matthiesen; the Kirkwood-based 90th, where Republican Mark Milton is challenging Democrat Deb Lavender; and the south St. Louis County-based 94th, where Democrat Vicki Lorenz Englund is challenging Republican Cloria Brown. Democrats are looking to hold the 70th and 90th, while the GOP is fending off a challenge in the 94th.

 Jefferson County: The most expensive races in Jefferson County are between union-backed Democrats and pro-right-to-work Republicans. Both incumbent Republicans  Rep. Rob Vescovo in the 112th and Rep. Dan Shaul in the 113th  have accepted checks from Joplin donor David Humphreys, who supports right to work. The Democrats are Robert Butler in the 112th and Karen Settlemoir-Berg in the 113th.

 Bootheel: Of the two House districts in the deep Bootheel, both were drawn to be competitive. Both are represented by Republicans, but the 149th went for Democratic Rep. Steve Hodges by more than 30 points in 2012, suggesting that Democrats can do well here. Incumbent Republican Rep. Don Rone faces Democrat Brantley Atchley in the 149th, and Rep. Andrew McDaniel faces Democrat Lena Samford in the 150th.

 Kansas City: Several suburban Kansas City races could be close, including the 14th, 17th, 20th and 55th.

 Springfield: Both the 132nd and 135th districts feature open contests. Democrat Crystal Quade is looking to keep the 132nd in the Democratic column, while Republican Steve Helms looks to keep the 135th red.

A more urban party

With its wide majority, the GOP has been able to run the legislative table in both chambers, making Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, the most overridden governor in Missouri history. But the numbers werent always so lopsided.

In 2008, Democrats won 74 seats, cobbling together a caucus made up of liberal and conservative members from metropolitan and rural areas. Since then, the caucus has shrunk  members are nearly all from population centers, and nearly all are aligned to the left on wedge issues.

That, said Robert Knodell, executive director of the Missouri House Republican Campaign Committee, is indicative of a party that has shunned conservative voices and left rural members behind. A critical mass of rural voters simply cant justify voting Democrat anymore, he said.

If you look at the national leaders of the Democratic Party, its become a more urban party, Knodell said.

As Exhibit A, look to the 117ths current representative, Linda Black. The term-limited lawmaker had been a pro-life voice from the Democratic side, and ran unopposed in 2012 and 2014. But after the 2014 election, she switched parties, saying it was difficult to square her views with those of Democrats.

Rep. Gina Mitten, D-Richmond Heights and the minority caucus chair, said Democrats have lost ground in rural Missouri in part because of the GOPs focus on wedge issues. She said her partys support for boosting the minimum wage and opposition to controversial tax cuts should appeal to voters everywhere.

Theyve been very successful at wedge issues like guns and abortion, Mitten said. And I would say, What good is the ability to own a gun if you cant get a job?

The Democrats leftward shift  and the GOP emphasis on it  isnt the whole story behind the GOPs success, she said. The Republicans have too many safe seats, which makes it hard to recruit candidates. (The Democrats are leaving 66 seats unchallenged this year; Republicans are ceding 31 seats.)

Then theres the 117th. Both Barnes and Henderson held their own fundraising, with Henderson receiving high-dollar support from the Republican committee and incumbent House Republicans. Unions and local Democrats have helped bankroll Barnes campaign.

They might win this thing, Barnes said. I dont know. Its not for lack of trying from me. Maybe Missouris just going more red.

If yard signs are an indicator, this contest could be close. Red Henderson signs line residential streets. Blue Barnes signs are scattered across towns. Barnes says he expects Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to do well here, and he is betting some voters will split their tickets.

In Park Hills, Greg Burcham, 55, has a Donald Trump sign planted in his yard. He said hes never been in a union, and knows the weight labor pulls in this area. Its always been that way, he said.

Hell support Henderson, saying he tends to vote Republican.

Back at Hubs Pub, Steve Sutton, 51, of Park Hills, said hed also vote for Trump. But he knows Barnes, and hell cast a ballot for him, too.

He aint like a normal Democrat, Sutton said. Hes not trying to take guns away from anyone, hes pro-life.

He sounds like a Republican to me.
Songa Offshore SE's Third Quarter 2016 report will be released prior to market opening on Friday 11 November 2016.

WEBCAST & CONFERENCE CALL

A webcast/conference call will be held at 12.30 PM CET on 11 November 2016. The presentation will be available for download on the Investor Relations section (go to "Presentations") at www.songaoffshore.com .

To listen, you may do one of the following:

a. WEBCAST

Go to the "Investor Relations" section on the Company's webpage and click on the link to "Webcast" located under "Reports and Financial Info".

b. TELECONFERENCE

Dial-in details:

Live Participant Dial In (UK / International): + 44 203 13 94830

Live Participant Dial In, US: 1 (718) 873-9077

Live Participant Dial In, Norway: 23 50 05 59





Confirmation number: 15423767#





There will be a Q&A session after the presentation.

If you are not able to participate at the time of the call, you can listen to a replay of the conference call under the Webcast-section on the Company's webpage.

4 November 2016

Limassol, Cyprus



This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.


SPARTANBURG, S.C.  A woman who was "chained up like a dog" for weeks in a dark storage container was lured to her captor's South Carolina property for a cleaning job, a family friend said Friday as search teams digging up the area found one body and looked for more.

Authorities were "trying to make sure that we don't have a serial killer on our hands," the sheriff said. Investigators were told the property could hold as many as three other corpses.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette said the woman saw her captor shoot and kill her boyfriend, who went with her to the job. The body discovered Friday was not immediately identified.

The couple disappeared around Aug. 31 when they went to do the work on the suspect's nearly 100-acre property in a rural area near the community of Woodruff, said Daniel Herren, a friend who sat with her in her hospital room after she was rescued Thursday.

"They were going to do some work, help cleaning up the property. And he pulled out a gun and took them hostage," Herren said, adding that the abduction happened quickly.

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, a 45-year-old registered sex offender with a previous kidnapping conviction as a teenager in Arizona, appeared at a bond hearing Friday in Spartanburg on a kidnapping charge. More charges will be filed later, the prosecutor told the court.

The judge did not set bond and instead referred the matter to circuit court. The suspect did not appear to have an attorney, and the judge urged him to get one.

The search of his property was unfolding as more details of the suspect's violent past emerged, including an Arizona judge noting in 1987 that he had displayed aggressive behavior and sexual preoccupation since he was a child  behavior the judge expected to continue.

The Associated Press is not naming the woman because the suspect is a sex offender, though authorities have not said whether she was sexually assaulted. Her boyfriend was identified as 32-year-old Charles Carver.

Herren, who visited her in the hospital and had dinner with her Thursday, said he did not ask the woman if she was sexually assaulted.

But she did describe to him the details of her captivity, telling him she was in the container nearly the entire time except for when she was taken out for occasional walks.

"He never took the chain off of her, but he was taking her around, let her get, not so much exercise, but let her walk around some," Herren said. "It didn't sound like it was every day. It was kind of sporadic."

She was fed once a day about 6 p.m. She "didn't tell us exactly what she was eating. But from what I gathered, it could have been fast food. ... It wasn't like he was keeping her alive on bread and water. He was in a weird, sick kind of way being, I guess, kind of humane, as far as feeding her," Herren said.

She left the hospital late Thursday and is staying with family, Herren said.

The property includes grassy areas, some covered in waist-high weeds, as well as stands of trees. Most or all of it is surrounded by a chain-link fence 6 to 7 feet tall.

In the middle was the cargo container, which measured about 30 feet by 15 feet. It was next to a two-car garage that had a living space on top, Barnette said.

During Friday's search efforts, officers using all-terrain vehicles and a backhoe came and went while a law enforcement helicopter circled overhead.

Investigators began excavating after cadaver dogs signaled the possible presence of remains.

Acting on a tip, deputies found the woman after hearing her banging inside the container, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said.

Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said computer and cellphone records led authorities to the property near Woodruff, 80 miles northwest of the state capital of Columbia, because it was the last place that a cellphone pinged.

Guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized from Kohlhepp, the prosecutor said.

"It's unbelievable how much he had," he said.

Records indicate Kohlhepp is a licensed real estate agent and licensed pilot. As a teenager, he was convicted and sentenced to prison in Arizona for kidnapping and crimes against children, according to South Carolina's sex offender registry.

Online prison records from Arizona show that Kohlhepp served about 14 years for the 1986 felony. He was released in 2001.

In court Friday, Barnette said the Arizona case occurred when Kohlhepp kidnapped a 14-year-old girl, bound her and raped her.

Court records from the Arizona case obtained by WHNS-TV in South Carolina show that a judge decided in January 1987 to transfer the case to adult court partly because of concerns about Kohlhepp's aggressive nature.

"At less than the age of 9 this juvenile was impulsive, explosive and preoccupied with sexual content. He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school," the judge wrote, adding that his aggressive behavior was likely to continue into the future.

A real estate agent who worked at a firm run by Kohlhepp said she had known him for 10 years after they met at a university in the Spartanburg area and were study partners in a statistics class. She said she was in disbelief.

"He's not the kind of person to do something like this," Cherry Laurens said by phone. "Working with him, he was an excellent boss. He stood up for us whenever we needed him."

She said it was widely known that he was registered as a sex offender, but he told people that it was based on trumped-up charges after he "had gone joyriding with a girl" and upset her father, who was a prominent local official.

Kohlhepp also had a house in Moore, on the outskirts of Spartanburg, about 15 minutes from the rural property where the woman was chained.

His neighbor there, 76-year-old Ron Owen, said Kohlhepp was private but pleasant.

"Todd was in my opinion a likable guy," Owen said.

___

Breed and Drew reported from Raleigh.

___

Associated Press writers Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina; Alex Sanz in Spartanburg; and Paul Davenport in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Amendment 3 will undermine one of the defining liberties of our American democracy.

At first glance, Amendment 3 seems like an innocuous ballot initiative to fund early childhood education programs by raising taxes on tobacco products. Buried in the complicated language, with little fanfare, is one dangerous clause that would curtail the guarantee of religious freedom for all Missourians.

Funds disbursed from money raised by Amendment 3 shall not be limited or prohibited by the provisions of Article IX, section 8 of the 1875 Missouri Constitution, which is the Prohibition of public aid for religious purposes and institutions.

Missourians deserve to know why a tax on tobacco has a hidden agenda to curtail their religious freedom. Missourians deserve to know when their rights are at stake.

Thats why Americans United and the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri urge voters to defend the states constitution and reject Amendment 3.

If Amendment 3 passes, it would mean that public dollars could fund religious programs and institutions. We cannot allow Amendment 3 to erode religious freedom.

The creators of the Missouri Constitution understood the dangers of government-sponsored religion. Our constitution rightly prohibits public funds from going to religious institutions. This is a fundamental protection for religious freedom, guaranteeing public dollars cannot be used to promote religion, over nonreligion or any particular religion.

The constitution protects both the integrity of religion and of government by keeping them separate. It is why as Missourians, and as Americans, we enjoy some of the greatest religious freedom in the world. Without freedom of religion, we wouldnt be the country we are.

Our Founding Fathers of this country  and of this state  understood that religious freedom means the right to believe  or not believe  whatever you want. Indeed, religious freedom is alive and well in this country precisely because our government cannot tell us whether to worship, how to worship or when and where to worship.

Amendment 3 endangers these guarantees. The constitution should be respected and protected, not dismantled through the fine print.

We are not alone in our opposition to this amendment. Many groups, including education, health and other groups, oppose Amendment 3 for various reasons.

Sacrificing the cornerstones of our democracy and undermining the constitutional protections of our citizens is not the way to fund the future of Missouris children.

Missourians deserve better. On Nov. 8, say no to Amendment 3.

Rev. Barry W. Lynn is executive director of Americans United. Jeffrey Mittman is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri.
English Lithuanian

Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB (hereinafter  the Company), identification code 304151376, registered office placed at Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania. The total number of registered ordinary shares issued by company is 894 630 333; ISIN code LT0000130023.

Please be informed that:

1. November 4th, 2016 the Board of the Company adopted the following decisions to:

Withdraw Mr. Liudas Liutkevicius from the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB since 4 th November, 2016 4:00 pm.

Elect Mrs. Dalia Andrulioniene, Director of Service Division, as an acting Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB Chief Executive Officer since 4th November, 2016 4:00 pm.

2. November 4th, 2016 The Supervisory Board of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB approved the decisions of the Board, indicated in the point 1, and decided to withdraw Mr. Liudas Liutkevicius from the members of the Board of the Company.

The Company reminds that October 10th, 2016 Mr. Liudas Liutkevicius announced the resignation from the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since 4th November, 2016.

Please be informed that the Company's new Board member is not elected yet; in accordance with the point 59.5 of the Articles of Association, the meetings of the Company's Board will be temporarily chaired by Mr. Rytis Borkys, a member of the Board.

The Company will inform on any further decisions in accordance with the laws.
NORCROSS, Ga., Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK) today reported that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share on its common stock, an increase of $0.025 per share from its previous dividend rate and representing an annualized increase of $0.10 per share. The quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share will be paid to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 21, 2016 and will be paid on November 30, 2016.



This dividend increase demonstrates the confidence of the Board of Directors in the strength of our companys capability to generate cash flow over the long-term, said Steve Voorhees, WestRock chief executive officer.



About WestRock

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRocks 39,000 team members support customers around the world from more than 250 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Learn more at www.westrock.com.

Cautionary Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, beliefs, plans or forecasts. WestRock cautions readers that a forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statement. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding, among other things, that our board of directors has confidence in the strength of our capability to generate cash flow over the long-term. With respect to these statements, WestRock has made assumptions regarding, among other things, economic, competitive and market conditions generally; volumes and price levels of purchases by customers; competitive conditions in WestRock's businesses and possible adverse actions of their customers, competitors and suppliers. Further, WestRock's businesses are subject to a number of general risks that would affect any such forward-looking statements. These risks, and other factors that may impact management's assumptions, are more particularly described in WestRock's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Item 1A "Risk Factors" in WestRock's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. The information contained herein speaks as of the date hereof and WestRock does not have or undertake any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

WestRock

Investors:

Matt Tractenberg, 470-328-6327

Vice President - Head of Investor Relations

matt.tractenberg@westrock.com

Media:

Chris Augustine, 470-328-6305

Director, Corporate Communications

mediainquiries@westrock.com
A gas flame is seen in the desert near the Khurais oilfield, Saudi Arabia June 23, 2008. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji/File Photo

By Rania El Gamal, Alex Lawler and Dmitry Zhdannikov

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Old disputes between Saudi Arabia and rival Iran resurfaced at a meeting of OPEC experts last week, with Riyadh saying it could raise oil output steeply to bring prices down if Tehran refuses to limit its supply, OPEC sources say.

Clashes between the two OPEC heavyweights, which are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, have become frequent in recent years.

Tensions subsided, however, in recent months after Saudi Arabia agreed to support a global oil supply limiting pact, thus raising the prospect that OPEC would take steps to boost oil prices.

But a meeting of OPEC experts last week, designed to work out details of cuts for the next OPEC ministerial gathering on Nov. 30, saw Saudis and Iranian clashing again, according to five OPEC sources who were present at the meeting and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"The Saudis have threatened to raise their production to 11 million barrels per day and even 12 million bpd, bringing oil prices down, and to withdraw from the meeting," one OPEC source who attended the meeting told Reuters.

OPEC headquarters declined to comment on discussions during the closed-door meetings last week. Saudi and Iranian OPEC delegates also declined official comments.

A senior Gulf OPEC source said Saudi Arabia did not say output will rise, rather that it "could" rise.

"Saudi doesn't threat, Saudi Arabia doesn't produce more than the customers need," the source said. "All oil producers could raise their production if there was no agreement, this is a fact."

Oil prices fell on Friday. Brent crude was down 77 cents at $45.58 a barrel as of 1249 ET.

Saudi Arabia has increased output since 2014 to record highs of around 10.5 million-10.7 million barrels per day and adding extra supply would only worsen the global glut, which has already seen prices more than halving from $115 a barrel since mid-2014.

The Saudi stance followed objections by Iran, which said it was unwilling to freeze its output, the same OPEC sources said. Iran has argued it should be exempt from such limits as its production recovers after the lifting of EU sanctions.

Riyadh's position will revive memories of a pump war that it embarked on at the end of 2014 to claw market share back from higher-cost producers. Iran along with other OPEC price hawks have severely criticized the Saudi strategy.

Riyadh has softened its stance since the appointment of Khalid al-Falih as energy minister in May this year.

In September, OPEC agreed at a meeting in Algeria on modest preliminary oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008, with special conditions given to Libya, Nigeria and Iran, whose output has been hit by wars and sanctions.

A new rise in tensions observed during the meeting of experts last week highlights the fragile nature of OPEC agreements. The group has a long way to go before it turns its preliminary Algerian accord into a real deal.

The Saudi comments on raising output came as a surprise even to Riyadh's Gulf OPEC allies, sources who attended the meeting of experts on Oct. 28 said.

One source said the Saudi OPEC delegation has asked to call off the next day's meeting with non-OPEC producers, including Russia, on Oct. 29 since Iran was objecting to a deal. But they were convinced by other members to attend it in order not to embarrass the group.

"We felt as if they (the Saudis) wanted the meeting to fail," said a third, non-Iranian OPEC source.

"WAR FRONT"

The Saudi OPEC delegation told their Iranian counterparts that Tehran should freeze output at 3.66 million bpd - the latest estimates of Iranian output by OPEC experts, known as secondary sources.

Iran has reported its output at 3.85 million bpd in September and said it would only cap its output at 12.7 percent of OPEC's total ceiling - or 4.2 million bpd.

Iran's counter-argument at the meeting was that Saudi Arabia has raised its output by almost 1 million bpd since 2014, and is now trying to convince others it would cut output by 400,000 bpd to get a deal, though in reality Riyadh has already won extra production and revenue, according to OPEC sources.

Iranian comments after meeting to domestic media indicated tensions were high.

"Working in oil industry is like operating at war fronts and we have to preserve our trenches by raising our production capacity as much as we can," Ali Kardor, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told the oil ministry's news agency Shana.

"The next OPEC meeting is near and we will never cease to recapture our quota in the organization," he said on Monday, adding that Iran's crude oil output was nearing 4 million bpd.

OPEC sources have said Saudi Arabia offered to reduce its output from summer peaks of 10.7 million bpd to about 10.2 million if Iran agreed to freeze production at around levels of 3.6 million-3.7 million bpd.

The Saturday meeting with non-OPEC producers went ahead though they made no specific commitment.

The High Level Committee of experts will meet again in Vienna on Nov. 25 to finalize the details ahead of the next meeting of OPEC ministers on Nov. 30.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo has said he is "optimistic" a final agreement will be reached.

An OPEC delegate, who attended Friday's meeting, said he still hoped for a deal in November.

"People can look at it from different angles. The fact that discussions are still going on is a positive one. They are going to work on it, close to the ministers meeting," the delegate said.

(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
New York Police officers arrive at the Jacobi Medical Center after a police officer was fatally shot and another wounded in the Bronx by a heavily armed robbery suspect, in New York, November 4, 2016. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

By Gina Cherelus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City police sergeant was fatally shot and another was wounded on Friday in a shootout on the streets of the Bronx that also resulted in the death of the suspect, a man who had just broken into the apartment of his estranged wife.

The officers were responding to a call about the break-in and encountered the suspect's vehicle about half a mile (1 km) away where the man opened fire with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, Police Commissioner James O'Neill told a news conference.

An exchange of gunfire resulted with the suspect being pronounced dead at the scene while the officers were taken to the hospital, he said.

Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran of the force and father of two young children, was pronounced dead at the hospital. The wounded officer, 9-year veteran Emmanuel Kwo, was shot in the leg and was in stable condition, O'Neill said.

"The city is in mourning and the family of the NYPD is in mourning," Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters about an hour after informing the officer's wife and parents of his death.

The dead suspect, identified as Manuel Rosales, had a record of at least 17 prior arrests, O'Neill said. He had forced his way into the home of his 29-year-old estranged wife while their 3-year-old son was present, O'Neill said.

A 13-year-old child and a 50-year-old woman were also at the home, he said.

Tuozzolo became the first New York City police officer killed while on duty since October 2015. Kwo was taken to the same hospital, where he was informed his colleague had died.

"He's devastated, as we all are," O'Neill said.

Upon encountering the suspect's red Jeep, police rammed the vehicle with their patrol car, the New York Daily News and other media reported, citing unnamed police sources. O'Neill declined to describe the events because the investigation was ongoing.

One officer approached the vehicle and was shot in the face by the suspect, The New York Times reported. The other officer returned fire and killed the suspect, the Times said.

The last NYPD officer killed in the line of duty was Detective Randolph Holder, who was shot while pursuing an armed suspect in the Harlem section of Manhattan in October 2015, according to Officer Down Memorial Page.

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Frank McGurty; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Leslie Adler and Andrew Hay)
By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two people were stabbed and their suspected attacker was injured at Rutgers University's business school in New Jersey on Friday, the school said.

A suspect was taken into custody after the incident that started at about 2:30 p.m. EDT at Rutgers' New Brunswick campus, which includes locations in nearby Piscataway Township, the school said in a statement.

"All three individuals were transported to a local hospital for treatment of their injuries," Antonio Calcado, senior vice president of institutional planning and operations at Rutgers, said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

The campus was placed on lockdown but reopened shortly after the suspect was captured at about 3 p.m.

The incident involved two "members of our campus community" and a former student, Calcado said.

The extent of the injuries was not disclosed. It was not clear what motivated the attack or how the suspect was injured.

Campus police, who are leading the investigation, did not respond to requests for further details.

Students at the business school said they saw a woman covered in blood and screaming on the fifth floor of the building where the incident occurred, the Star Ledger newspaper reported.

"I just heard the screams," business student Suiyi Jiang told the Daily Targum, the school's newspaper. "Then (a) guy called the police and said, 'Somebody is stabbing. There's blood everywhere.'"

Shortly after, police entered the building and cleared out students and faculty, the newspaper reported.

Last year, an 18-year-old student stabbed and injured two people after an argument in a dormitory at Rutgers, the flagship school of the State University of New Jersey system.

(Additional reporting by David Ingram; Editing by James Dalgleish and Tom Brown)
EAST HANOVER, N.J., Nov. 4, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trend continues for Americans with disabilities as economic indicators improve for seventh consecutive month, according to today's National Trends in Disability Employment  Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). During the month of November, our attention turns to efforts to return veterans to the workforce. The employment programs resulting in job gains for veterans with disabilities may serve as models for the broader population of jobseekers with disabilities.



In the Bureau of Labor Statistics Jobs Report released Friday, November 4, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased from 26.5 percent in October 2015 to 27.9 percent in October 2016 (up 5.3 percent; 1.4 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 72.5 percent in October 2015 to 73.1 percent in October 2016 (up .8 percent; 0.6 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

"2016 is shaping up to be better employment-wise for people with disabilities, compared to 2015," noted John O'Neill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. "It's noteworthy that the gains for people with disabilities continue to outpace those of people without disabilities."

The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities increased from 30.0 percent in October 2015 to 31.3 percent in October 2016 (up 4.3 percent; 1.3 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate also increased from 76.0 percent in October 2015 to 76.5 percent in October 2016 (up 0.7 percent; 0.5 percentage points). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that's working or actively looking for work.



With both the employment-to-population ratio and the labor force participation rate going up at the same time, it suggests that more people with disabilities have jobs and more people with disabilities are engaging in the labor market, looking for work, compared to the same time last year," said Andrew Houtenville, PhD, associate professor of economics at UNH.



Unemployment is especially high among veterans with spinal cord injury, which results in significant physical disability and long-term risk for secondary medical complications. In 2005, the Veterans Health Administration in Tampa, Florida conducted a prospective, randomized study in this population comparing the impact of traditional vocational rehabilitation with a model of evidence-based supported employment  the Spinal Cord Injury Vocational Integration Program (SCI-VIP). Veterans in the SCI-VIP received individual placement and support in an integrated program of rehabilitation and vocational services. This group achieved competitive employment rates 2.5 times higher than those receiving traditional vocational services (25.9 percent v. 10.5 percent). "That such gains were achieved in this middle-aged, medically complex population is very impressive," said Dr. O'Neill, "especially given the average duration since injury was more than ten years. Such an approach to integrated vocational services may prove beneficial in other populations with significant disabilities and low rates of returning to work."

In October 2016, among workers ages 16-64, the 4,397,000 workers with disabilities represented 3.1 percent of the total 143,289,000 workers in the U.S.



The next nTIDE will be issued on Friday, December 2, 2016.



Join our nTIDE Lunch & Learn series, starting today, November 4 at 12:00pm EST. This live broadcast, hosted via Zoom Webinar, will offer attendees Q&A on the latest nTIDE findings, provide news and updates from the field, as well as host invited panelists to discuss current disability-related findings and events. Taryn Williams, Chief of Staff at the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, joins Drs. Houtenville, O'Neill, and Michael Gamel-McCormick of AUCD to discuss today's findings. You can join live, or watch the recordings at: www.ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

NOTE: The statistics in the National Trends in Disability Employment Update are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, but are NOT identical. They've been customized by the University of New Hampshire to efficiently combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16 to 64). NTIDE is funded, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (9ORT5022-02-00 & 90RT5017) and Kessler Foundation.



About Kessler Foundation

Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes - including employment - for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit www.KesslerFoundation.org.



About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, visit www.ResearchonDisability.org.



For more information, or to interview an expert, contact:

Carolann Murphy, 973.324.8382, CMurphy@KesslerFoundation.org



A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41822
The rising sun lights One World Trade as it stands over the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By David Ingram

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal officials have warned authorities in New York City, Texas and Virginia about an unspecific threat of attacks by al Qaeda militants around Election Day, putting local law enforcement on alert days before the vote, officials said on Friday.

A U.S. government source in Washington said some federal agencies sent bulletins to local and state officials flagging the information but that the threat was relatively low level.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates airports, tunnels and bridges around New York City, continues high levels of patrol it has had in place, spokesman Steve Coleman said.

Coleman declined to offer details on the warning, but the New York City Police Department said the threat report lacked specifics and was still being assessed.

"We are aware of the information," the department said in a statement, adding that it was working with intelligence agencies and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Although some of the attention of U.S. authorities has shifted to Islamic State-inspired attacks, the al Qaeda network has shown resilience more than 15 years after it was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

Last month, the United States carried out strikes in Afghanistan targeting two of al Qaeda's senior leaders there, and al Qaeda's Yemen branch has posed a risk to merchant ships in waterways nearby.

U.S. intelligence agencies still view al Qaeda and its affiliates as a top counter terrorism priority.

The White House said it was aware of the reported al Qaeda threats and mindful of increased risk of attacks during events such as Election Day.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement his office was monitoring the situation and urged Texans to remain vigilant. In Virginia, Brian Coy, a spokesman for Governor Terry McAuliffe, said: "We are doing everything we can to keep Virginians safe, and we're confident they are going to be able to vote safely on Election Day."

The task force issued a notice identifying the three states as possible targets of an al Qaeda plot, a New York law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity. The official said the type of threat was common but authorities were giving it more attention because of Tuesday's election.

CBS News first reported the threat of attacks, which it said were possible on Monday.

Authorities were assessing whether there was a plot and whether the states named were real targets or misdirection. "Another possibility is that this is just an attempt to inspire someone here to mount an attack," the official said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security did not confirm the reports or comment on details.

In Washington, a Homeland Security official said authorities remained concerned that so-called "homegrown" militants could be inspired to attack within the United States.

"The public should expect to continue to observe an increased law enforcement and security presence across communities in public places," the official told Reuters.

The potential for violence related to the election has already darkened a rancorous presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, on top of the threat of computer hacking and fears that Russia or other state actors could spread political misinformation online or tamper with voting.

While federal and state authorities are beefing up cyber defenses against electronic threats to voting systems, others are taking additional steps to guard against possible civil unrest or violence.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, John Walcott, Doina Chiacu, Ian Simpson and Roberta Rampton in Washington and Nate Raymond in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/03/16 -- Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp. (TSX VENTURE: LIT)(FRANKFURT: OAY1) (WKN: A0RK7E) ("Argentina Lithium" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that over 79.9% of the Company's shares were represented at the Special and Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on November 2, 2016. All resolutions received overwhelming support at the meeting. The Company has appointed Joseph Grosso, Nikolaos Cacos, David Terry, Nick DeMare and Nicolas Galli to its Board of Directors.

"The new Board brings an exceptional breadth of expertise to Argentina Lithium," said Nikolaos Cacos, President and C.E.O. "In particular, we welcome Nicolas Galli, a lithium expert with extensive development and production experience in Argentina. Argentina Lithium is now poised to deliver together with the rest of the Board."

New Directors

Mr. Joseph Grosso

Mr. Grosso became one of the early pioneers of the mining sector in Argentina in 1993 when mining was opened to foreign investment, and was named Argentina's 'Mining Man of The Year' in 2005. His knowledge of Argentina was instrumental in attracting a premier team which led to the acquisition of key properties in Golden Arrow's portfolio. He has successfully formed strategic alliances and negotiated with mining industry majors such as Barrick, Teck, Newmont, Viceroy (now Yamana Gold) and Vale S.A., and government officials at all levels. Mr. Grosso's specialty is financing, negotiations, corporate and marketing strategy, and he was an early and passionate adopter of best practices in environmental protection and socio-economic development through mineral exploration. He is the founder and president of Grosso Group Management Ltd.

Mr. Nicolas Galli

Nicolas Galli has extensive experience as a founder, partner and general manager of several service companies focused on lithium prospects in the Puna region of Argentina. Mr. Galli has gained valuable experience by contributing to the development and construction of important Lithium projects in Argentina including Orocobre, Enirgi, FMC, and others. Mr. Galli holds a Chemical Engineering degree from Buenos Aires University.

Dr. David Terry

Dr. Terry has more than 20 years of experience focused on exploration for a wide spectrum of precious and base metal deposits throughout North and South America. He has held numerous senior positions with both major and junior mining companies, including Boliden Limited, Westmin Resources Limited, Hemlo Gold Mines Inc., Cominco Limited and Gold Fields Mining Corporation. He holds a BSc and PhD from the University of Western Ontario.

Mr. Nick DeMare

Mr. Nick DeMare, a chartered accountant, has been President of Chase Management Inc. since 1991, providing accounting, management, securities regulatory compliance and corporate secretarial services to private and public-listed companies. Mr. DeMare also serves as an officer and/or director of a number of public-listed companies. Mr. DeMare holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia.

Messrs. Sean Hurd and Brian McEwen agreed to step down from the board. We thank them for their service to the Company.

Amendment to Articles

The shareholders approved the special resolution to amend the Company's Articles. The amendment of the Company's Articles is subject to receipt of final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Nikolaos Cacos, President, CEO and Director

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 news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's public disclosure documents for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected future results. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Contacts: Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp. Corporate Communications 1-604-687-1828 or Toll-Free: 1-800-901-0058 604-687-1858 (FAX) [email protected] www.argentinalithium.com

Source: Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp.
SHANGHAI, Nov 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company"), a global leader in the photovoltaic industry, today announced that the most significant international agreement to combat climate change Paris Climate Agreement took effect on November 3, a month after 94 countries representing 55% of the world's emissions committed ratified the agreement - and less than a year after negotiators from nearly 200 countries agreed to the specifics of the text at the 2015 U.N. climate summit.

As the world largest solar module producer and one of the leading global solar power plant developers, JinkoSolar has played the role as an advocate of renewable energy and has supported proactive government approaches to achieving the Paris Agreement in every occasion since last year. Mr. Xiande Li, Chairman of JinkoSolar, commented on this landmark agreement, "It is a moment to celebrate, it is also a milestone that the world ends the path to inevitable climate disaster and sets off with determination towards a sustainable future."

"And what does this agreement entering into force mean for companies. The business world should prepare and divert to a low-carbon growth path. If you are investing in carbon reduction and energy efficiency and implementing shifts towards an environmentally friendly portfolio, implementation of the Paris Agreement is a strategic business advantage. Now that the Agreement is in force, countries and companies that embrace and support that reality will thrive; those that don't will be left behind."

"The Paris Agreement has made great headway, and there will be more progress in Morocco at COP22 in November. Although we have a long way to go, I know that many in the business world are well prepared to make the journey to a thriving, low-carbon economy. Nowadays, solar power is undercutting coal fired electricity to become the cheapest, the cleanest and safest power source. Every industrial and commercial rooftop should be used, every idle land could be utilized for solar energy. It is the easiest and most feasible way for companies to fulfill their carbon reduction commitment as well as to drive growth simultaneously. So it will future-proof your climate efforts and ensure your company is not disadvantaged as the rest of the economy decarbonizes. "

About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is a global leader in the solar industry. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and regions. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 3.5 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 3.5 GW for solar cells, and 6.5 GW for solar modules, as of June 30, 2016. JinkoSolar also sells electricity in China, and had connected approximately 1,130 MW of solar power projects to the grid, as of June 30, 2016.

JinkoSolar has over 15,000 employees across its 6 productions facilities in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Xinjiang Provinces, China, Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa, 16 oversea subsidiaries in Japan (2), Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia and South Africa. 18 global sales offices in China (2) ,United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.To find out more, please see: www.jinkosolar.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends, "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company's operations and business outlook, contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.
MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan Haseley, a managing director with global consulting firm Protiviti, has been recognized in the Excellence in Leadership category of Consulting magazine's Women Leaders in Consulting awards. The prestigious award identifies top female executives to be honored for leadership, client service and lifetime achievement in consulting.

Among Haseley's responsibilities is leading Protiviti's global diversity and inclusion efforts. She has undertaken innovative approaches using Protiviti's strong culture of empowerment to achieve greater inclusion within the firm. Under her leadership, Protiviti's diversity and inclusion initiatives enhance the firm's culture and inspire employees to bring their full selves to work. She has led the establishment of networking groups that serve employees interested in women's initiatives, parenting, LGBT and veterans. Haseley also leads Protiviti's Dallas office and has been the leader of the firm's healthcare industry practice.

"We're incredibly proud of Susan's recognition as a leader in consulting," said Joseph Tarantino, president and CEO of Protiviti. "Throughout her career at Protiviti, her work has made a tangible impact  not only on our healthcare industry practice, but to all of our people across the firm through her leadership of our diversity and inclusion initiative. Thanks to Susan, Protiviti's culture has become richer. We genuinely support and admire Susan as she continues to inspire and enhance the experiences of our employees."

Award recipients will be honored by Consulting at a gala dinner on November 17, 2016 at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City.

Previous Protiviti recipients of this award were Senior Vice President Barbara Rothenstein (2013), Managing Director Shaheen Dil (2014) and Managing Director Yasumi Taniguchi (2015). Protiviti was also recognized recently in Consulting magazine's 2016 Best Firms to Work For rankings.

About Protiviti Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Through its network of more than 70 offices in over 20 countries, Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms provide clients with consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data analytics, governance, risk and internal audit.

Protiviti has served more than 60 percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index.

Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services.

Editor's note: photos available upon request.

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SOURCE Protiviti
SEATTLE, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LMN Architects, a multidisciplinary design firm with a reputation for community-focused projects of all scales, and California-based builder Hathaway Dinwiddie, announce the completion of the University Extension Building for the Irvine Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at the University of California, Irvine. The $39 million buildinga collaboration between designers LMN Architects, builder Hathaway Dinwiddie, and architect of record Carrier Johnson + Culturewill serve as the heart of UC Irvine's University Extension Village, establishing an academic and social nexus for students pursuing life-long learning opportunities.

"Our new facility brings together the best tools, resources and technology to help us expand our services. It allows us to build upon our legacy of providing decades of excellence to working professionals and students at the local, regional and global levels," said Gary W. Matkin, Ph.D., Dean of DCE.

Woven into the campus fabric and responsive to the local climate, the five-story, 75,000-square-foot Continuing Education building combines indoor and outdoor spaces together into a fluid pattern of student interactions, united by a central outdoor courtyard. The DCE program is focused on traditional and non-traditional students, through an educational approach emphasizing connectivity. With this new building, the DCE program establishes a distinct identity within the UCI framework.

The building is located on the rapidly developing east side of the 1,500-acre Irvine campus. The U-shaped facility provides a strong orientation to the campus center, connecting to the academic core of the campus via a new pedestrian bridge. Classrooms, offices, collaboration spaces, a coffee shop, flexible event spaces, media facilities, and informal lounges in the building expand the program's offerings which annually attract 15,000 students worldwide.

"Social engagement forms the backbone of the design. Multiple circulation pathways and open, day-lit community spaces promote mixing between students and faculty, and the various academic programs," notes George Shaw, FAIA, Partner for LMN Architects. An expansive 6,150-square-foot central courtyard organizes the design, resulting in an outdoor living room that instills a sense of connectivity for the program as a whole, as well as for the larger campus and surrounding Irvine landscape. A broad stairway rising from the courtyard rewards users with continuously shifting vantage points, while the glass-enclosed coffee shop embedded beneath the stair structure provides a constant point of activation within the courtyard.

"The design combines interior academic functionality and exterior community spaces linked with the broader campus, along with sustainable design strategies, to create an integrated user experience connected to the local ecology," notes Mark Reddington, FAIA, Partner for LMN Architects.

Stacked arcades surrounding the courtyard create an additional layer of connection between floors and take advantage of the temperate climate. Lower-level arcades open directly to the courtyard through an open portico, while upper-level arcades are enclosed in glass, providing acoustical privacy and abundant natural light for administrative and faculty functions. The cast-in-place concrete structure employs a flexible column grid with shear walls limited to the building core, optimizing functional flexibility and capacity to adapt to future program changes. The flat-slab floor structure maximizes floor-to-ceiling views to further enhance indoor-outdoor connectivity. Exterior stairs, sunshades, trellises and balconies provide mid-scale articulation that animates the architectural expression while modulating environmental influences to create comfortable interior and exterior spaces.

Sustainability strategies include a variety of energy efficient lighting and ventilation systems, most notably in the design's response to the climate of Southern California and its indoor-outdoor continuity. The central courtyard soaks up sunlight from the west, while mitigating the impact of glare and heat through a large brise-soleil patterned with 25-kW photovoltaic panels, which in the first month of operation produced 18% of the building's energy needs. The spatial configuration of the courtyard and the solar panel trellis were carefully calibrated to achieve a comfortable, inviting combination of shade and filtered sunlight at all times of day. The sense of immersion in the ecology and landscape of the region continues throughout the interior, with floor-to-ceiling windows capturing daylight and striking views that impart a unique character to each space within the building. The project is pursuing LEED Platinum Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Project TeamLMN Architects (Design Architect)Hathaway Dinwiddie (Design/Build Contractor)Carrier Johnson + Culture (Architect of Record)DCI Engineers (Structural Engineer)Alvine Engineering (MEP Engineer)

About LMN Seattle-based LMN Architects specializes in the planning and design of significant public and private projects, including convention centers, cultural arts venues, education facilities, office buildings, multi-family housing, hotels, transit stations, mixed-use developments and other urban environments that celebrate and enrich communities. The firm is the recipient of the 2016 American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award. www.LMNArchitects.com

About Hathaway Dinwiddie San Francisco-based Hathaway Dinwiddie specializes in building significant public and private projects including cultural arts venues, student housing, educational facilities, office buildings, hotels, health and life sciences buildings, pharmaceutical projects, and mixed-use developments. The firm was named 2016 ENR California Builder of the Year. www.hdcco.com

About the University of California, Irvine Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

For further information contact:Matt AndersonAnderson Strategic, Inc.e: [email protected]

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SOURCE LMN Architects
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- Sungame Corporation (OTC PINK: SGMZ), the company behind the "Flightdeck VR" brand of virtual-reality hardware, announced the launch of the "Vizor" line of VR headsets.

The lineup includes the "Vizor" mobile headset that fits Android and soon iOS phones, and the "Vizor Lite" all-in-one Android headset, which operate with Wi-Fi connectivity.

Visors are available for pre-order at Sungame's Freevi.com company site, and are expected to ship Q1 of 2017. Exclusive content will also be available at Vimarket, Sungame's upcoming App Store.

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

iOS is a trademark of Apple Inc.

CONTACT INFORMATIONSungame CorporationTel number: 702 789 0848

Source: Sungame Corporation
WALNUT, Calif., Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zarget today announced it has raised a $6M Series A round of funding, led by Sequoia India, with participation from current investors Accel and Matrix Partners. The company plans to use the funds to scale its marketing automation products and help small businesses easily optimize their web presence in real-time without any coding skills required.

Marketing Automation Software for the Masses

Websites are the number one marketing channel for SMBs. However small business owners lack the time, budget and IT knowledge to manage and improve the performance of their web pages. On top of this, none of the optimization software today works for HTML5 dynamic elements such as image carousels, animation and pop-up menus, which are used in the vast majority of websites.

Another major problem stems from trying to decide on the right combination of tool providers. Dozens of competing offerings exist; but the solutions are not integrated. This means companies are forced to use one provider for A/B testing and another for heatmaps. This leaves your data in multiple silos with no easy way to address online behavior patterns- such as where drop offs are occurring - and can be subjected to security vulnerabilities such as clickjacking. The impact is staggering, with billions of dollars in lost revenue and trillions of dollars in merchandise left in shopping carts each year.

With Zarget's all-in-one platform, any business owner has an easy and affordable way to become an effective digital marketer and improve performance of their websites instantly, without learning how to code or hiring an expensive IT department. Zarget offers all of the capabilities of competing solutions and more including A/B testing, dynamic heatmaps, funnel analysis, form analytics, and user polls and feedback  but at 10% of the cost, and backed by exceptional 24/7 customer support.

Best of all, businesses gain access to the industry's first Chrome plugin that lets you make changes instantly from within the browser. This eliminates the kind of complexity and costs that are typically only available for large enterprise teams. Starting as low as 50 cents per day, any small business owner or digital marketer can magically turn their website into a visualization dashboard for marketing automation, optimization and testing, and gather actionable insights needed to make critical improvements on the fly.

The solution arrives at a much-needed point in time, with record holiday online sales expected, and nearly 50% of all SMBs forgoing a website altogether due to costs, lack of resources and the technical knowledge required to maintain it.

"Zarget has an exceptionally talented team who've spent the past 10 years developing business automation software that's already in use by leading enterprises today," said Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors. "Sequoia is excited to partner with a team with such proven capabilities and believe their marketing platform will become an essential fixture within the SMB market for many years to come."

Zarget also announced recent growth and customer traction with more than 1,000 customer signups in 10 countries in just four months since launch. This includes leading brands like Landesk in the US, BizTalk360 in the UK, and Buscape in Brazil.

"Zarget's A/B testing and HeatMaps made it easy and affordable for us to launch experiments and make the proper decisions to improve our customer experience," said Anand Krishnamoorthy, CEO of Wedtree, an online store for wedding gifts. "Although we did not have the resources of a full-fledged marketing team, we were able to create page variants quickly, with the confidence of knowing exactly what to do. As an example, after replacing the product category images with the individual products we saw a powerful spike with clickthrough rates increasing by a whopping 54%."

Zarget was founded in 2015 by three seasoned SMB entrepreneurs, Arvind Parthiban, Naveen Venkat and Santhosh Kumar, who spent a decade at Zoho building business productivity tools and customer relationship management software. The company has raised $7.5 million to date from global venture capital firms Sequoia India, Accel Partners and Matrix Partners.

About ZargetZarget is a SaaS-based web optimization and marketing platform that provides comprehensive solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. For more information, visit www.zarget.com or learn more on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ZargetHQ, or on Twitter at @ZargetHQ.

PRESS CONTACT:Eric GonzalezVSC on behalf of Zarget[email protected]415.272.0836

This release was issued through WebWire(R). For more information visit http://www.webwire.com.

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SOURCE Zarget
(This version of the story corrects the name of the NGO in paragraph 6 to Mother Nature)

By Chris Arsenault

KOH SRALAU, Cambodia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cambodian officials have promised to investigate problems in the sand mining business following complaints from fishermen that dredgers have been stealing the shore beneath their boats on an industrial scale.

"Serious actions" will be taken against anyone inappropriately exporting sand, Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The ministry's move came after the release of U.N. trade data compiled by campaigners this week, showing Singapore has imported more than 72 million tons of Cambodian sand since 2007.

The Cambodian government reported less than 3 million tonnes of sand exports during that period.

The discrepancy, worth more than $740 million, led a coalition of campaign groups to call on Monday for an investigation into what has happened to around 69 million tonnes of missing sand.

"The amount of illegal mining is massive," said Som Chandara, an activist with Mother Nature, one group questioning the government's accounting of sand exports.

"It's making a bad situation for the communities by polluting the water," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, standing on top of a pile of sand.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy pledged to investigate the cause of the difference between the U.N. data and its own.

The government maintains it has "completely eradicated lawless sand dredging" but said in a statement posted on Facebook that the industry still "faces some challenges".

As cities across Asia expand, and demand for construction materials rises, campaigners say large-scale sand mining has seriously impacted coastal ecosystems and the land itself.

MISSING BEACHES

"Seven beaches have already disappeared because of the mining," said Louk Pou, a fisherman on Koh Sralau, an island that is a hotspot for sand extraction 300 km (186 miles) west of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

"They're just gone and the people can't enjoy them anymore," Pou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Residents in the village of stilted wooden homes, narrow concrete footpaths and colorful small boats say sand dredging has plunged their once reasonably prosperous fishing community into poverty.

Large cranes and barges began appearing in the coastal region of bright green mangrove forests in 2000, Pou said.

Before dredgers - licensed to politically connected Cambodian businessmen and often operated by Vietnamese firms - began plunging into the waters to extract sand from the bottom, Pou said he earned more than $50 a day fishing for crab from his small motorboat.

Now his daily income is less than $10, and he can no longer afford to send his children to school - complaints echoed by other villagers.

"There have been big changes in fish stocks here," said fisherman's wife Neak Sopheap.

Dredging machines and sand barges dump their waste directly into the river, fishermen say. They blame "sticky oil", which now covers their nets, for decimating the crab population.

"The land has been disappearing and some of the mangrove forests have collapsed," Sopheap said during an interview on the patio of her wooden home jutting into brackish water where a river flows into the sea.

Her neighbor, Ek Sophal, nodded in agreement as she mended a plastic fishing net.

"Families are borrowing a lot of money and going into debt because there isn't enough fish," Sophal said. "The government needs to stop this dredging."

Local media reported on Thursday the government had temporarily halted sand exports by companies that hold valid permits while officials investigate campaigners' allegations.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy did not respond to requests for further comment from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It provided no details of how its investigation into sand mining would be carried out, nor when it would be concluded.

Government officials have previously said sand dredging is sustainable and can actually help local ecosystems by preventing landslips.

Travel support for this reporting was provided by OpenLandContracts.org, an initiative of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.

(Reporting By Chris Arsenault; editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
Senator Alejandro Guillier is seen inside at the Chilean congress in Valparaiso, Chile September 14, 2016. Picture taken September 14. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Support is growing for an independent, left-leaning senator to run for president in Chile's 2017 election, a poll released on Thursday showed, in a race with two ex-presidents.

The GfK Adimark poll showed rapidly increasing support for Alejandro Guillier, a journalist turned anti-establishment senator who was little known just a few months ago.

When asked who they would choose as president if elections were held this week, 15 percent of 1,056 Chileans surveyed from Oct. 7-27 named Guillier, up from 5 percent in August.

Guillier, 63, is gaining on Sebastian Pinera, the top choice with 20 percent of support. Center-right Pinera led the country from 2010 to 2014 and is the favorite to secure the opposition right-wing coalition ticket in the November 2017 election.

Support for Ricardo Lagos, a moderate leftist who led Chile from 2000 to 2006, remains low at 5 percent, although his campaign received a boost over the weekend when Isabel Allende, seen as a key rival to represent the governing coalition, said she would not run.

Allende, the daughter of deposed socialist leader Salvador Allende, had expressed an interest in running, but her popularity has recently declined.

Voters have turned sour on President Michelle Bachelet's government after a series of corruption scandals, an ambitious reform drive that has fallen flat with many Chileans, and weak economic growth.

Bachelet's coalition was punished in recent local elections, and abstention was high.

But as Chileans have become disillusioned with mainstream politics, Guillier scores highly on trust factors, polls show.

Leaving journalism for politics in 2013, Guillier has painted himself as a change from the status quo and a "transition" toward the next generation, a cluster of popular ex-student leaders who are too young to run for the highest office.

On his website, operational since Wednesday, Guillier emphasizes rebuilding trust and flags a meeting with former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, a leftist who championed progressive, sometimes unconventional policies.

Lagos, a 78-year-old political veteran known for the stand he took against ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s, is conscious of his political legacy and will likely withdraw if he sees a high chance of losing, political scientist Kenneth Bunker tweeted on Thursday.

The GfK Adimark poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Richard Chang)
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A team of Bermuda industry and regulatory experts heads to Toronto, Canada later this month to educate corporate executives about the risk-management benefits of captive insurance, according to the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA).



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BDA leads the group, which will host an executive forum on Tuesday, November 22 at the citys downtown Shangri-La Hotel. Representatives from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) and the islands law firms, Big Four accountancy firms, and captive management companies will outline the advantages of Bermuda-based captive insurance companies to self-insure a variety of risks, from healthcare and employee benefits to cyber disruptions. To register, go to: http://conta.cc/2ej9rWC

This is the third time our market experts have travelled to the region this year, because we are witnessing growing interest from Canadian prospects and service providers wanting to know more about self-insurance options, said Jereme Ramsay, BDA Business Development Manager, who led a similar Toronto trip in May this year, as well as a first Bermuda attendance at the Canada Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) annual conference in Calgary, Alberta in September.

Bermuda offers Canadian corporations pragmatic, cost-effective solutions in a blue-chip jurisdiction, Ramsay added. Captive insurance helps global businesses manage the many complex risks they face today, and Bermuda is a particularly strong partner jurisdiction for Canada due to historic industry connections, our tax-transparency agreement, plus the major contribution of Bermuda-based reinsurance carriers to Canadian communities.

An opinion feature by Brad Kading, President of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), published in Canadas Globe & Mail in September revealed Bermuda-based reinsurers have covered a quarter, or $556 million, of insured losses to date from Mays Fort McMurray wildfire in Albertarated as Canadas costliest natural disaster.

The strength and experience of the Bermuda marketplace as a leading reinsurance jurisdiction is clear, said Ramsay, and we will be highlighting the fact that Canadian corporations looking to set up a middle- to large-size captive will have direct access to our reinsurance market.

Bermuda has also been of growing interest to Canadian business due to the Canada-Bermuda Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) that took effect in 2011, allowing Bermuda subsidiaries of certain Canadian corporations with international operations to be eligible for Canadian tax benefits, including the tax-free repatriation of certain dividends to Canada.

The executive forum, scheduled for 8:3011:30 am at the Shangri-La Hotel, features two sessions moderated by Tom McMahon, President of Citadel Management Bermuda. The first, Captive Solutions & Strategies, will explain what a captive insurer is, a captives structure, key reasons to set up a captive, along with common risks insured, citing several case studies. A second session will focus on regulatory, tax and legal frameworks.

Industry speakers include: Oceana Yates, Vice President, Captives, of R&Q Quest Management; Mark Allitt, Director, Advisory, KPMG (Bermuda); Leslie Robinson, Assistant Director, Corporate Authorisations, Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA); Kim Willey, Senior Counsel, ASW Law; David Downie, Partner, Tax, Financial Services, KPMG (Canada); and Mike Parrish, Senior Vice President & Business Development Lead, Marsh IAS Management Services (Bermuda).

Additional Bermuda experts will be on hand following the sessions to speak to executives and service providers interested in finding out more about captive insurance and the Bermuda market. They include: Joe DaSilveira, Senior Vice President, Liberty Mutual Management (Bermuda); Christiane Kenny-Post, Corporate Manager, Consultant, Compass Administration Services/ASW Law; and Nick Warren, Managing Director, Willis Towers Watson.

CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business in Bermuda smooth and beneficial.
The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at its headquarters at the Paradeplatz in Zurich, Switzerland November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse has agreed to sell an unspecified number of client relationships to Credit Mutuel-owned [BFCM.UL] Bank CIC (Switzerland), a spokeswoman for Credit Suisse told Reuters on Thursday.

The sale is part of a scaling-back by Credit Suisse of its client book amid rising regulatory requirements and increasing costs of banking cross-border clients.

"Credit Suisse has been aligning its service offering to focus on the markets and client segments where we can offer a competitive advantage and see most growth potential," the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

The Zurich-based bank gave no further details.

It is the latest private banking divestiture by Switzerland's second biggest lender, which sold its businesses in Monaco and Gibraltar to J. Safra Sarasin, and also awarded Wells Fargo & Co the exclusive right to recruit Credit Suisse brokers in the United States.

Earlier on Thursday, Credit Suisse reported an unexpected net profit for a second quarter in a row though the surprise was largely down to real estate sales and Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam cautioned the outlook remained challenging.

(Reporting by Oliver Hirt; Writing by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
By Duff Wilson and Aditya Kalra

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The leadership of a World Health Organization (WHO) treaty on tobacco control has proposed barring delegates with ties to state-owned tobacco firms from its conference next week, tightening its application of rules to shut out the industry from policy making.

That would include delegates employed by state-owned tobacco companies or those otherwise "working to advance the interests of the tobacco industry," according to an internal communication document seen by Reuters.

The proposal, if adopted at the conference of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in India, could restrict delegations sent by countries like China and Vietnam, where governments own cigarette companies and have in the past sent representatives linked to the industry.

Any such members of the 180 delegations at the Nov. 7-12 conference near New Delhi "would be requested to leave the premises", according to the Oct. 17 "note verbale", an official diplomatic communication, from the WHO FCTC secretariat on behalf of the treaty's leadership group to its parties.

The FCTC, the world's first international public health treaty, states explicitly that health policies need to be made independent of tobacco industry influence.

Its governing conferences have in the past ejected members of the public and the press after they were believed to have tobacco industry connections.

Yet up until now, the treaty's leaders had not moved to bar employees of state-owned tobacco companies.

At the last WHO FCTC conference, in Moscow in 2014, China's 18-person delegation had four members from the "State Tobacco Monopoly Administration".

At the 2012 conference, in Seoul, two of eight Vietnamese delegates were from the "Vietnam Tobacco Association".

When asked about the letter, a Vietnamese government official who declined to be identified told Reuters there would be no industry representatives in their delegation.

Reuters was unable to immediately contact China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration for comment out of office hours.

FINAL DECISION YET TO BE MADE

FCTC secretariat official Guangyuan Liu on Thursday confirmed the "note verbale" was sent to parties recently.

When asked about the composition of China's delegation, Liu, team leader for governance and international cooperation at the secretariat, said: "We are still in contact with China and a final decision has not (been) made yet."

"The COP (conference of parties) eventually will make the final decision," Liu told reporters in New Delhi.

The proposed restriction highlights a growing battle between the industry and backers of the treaty, which went into effect in 2005 to guide national laws and policies in an effort to curb tobacco use, which kills an estimated 6 million people a year worldwide.

The global tobacco industry is estimated to be worth nearly $800 billion this year.

The International Tobacco Growers Association, a non-profit group partly funded by big international cigarette companies, said the proposal was "beyond the wildest imagination".

Antonio Abrunhosa, chief executive of the group and a Portuguese tobacco grower, said in an email to Reuters that such a step was "unthinkable for a United Nations agency".

John Stewart, deputy campaigns director at Corporate Accountability International, a Boston-based advocacy group that has supported tobacco-control efforts, praised the proposed restrictions.

"The tobacco industry has really forced parties and the secretariat into a corner," he said in an interview.

"This is a bold good-government action to ensure that the treaty space, the place where public health policies will save millions of lives, is free of tobacco industry intimidation."

Issues for debate at the conference include alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers, e-cigarette regulation and trade and investment issues.

The secretariat earlier wrote to the treaty's party nations asking them to exclude people with tobacco interests from their delegations.

In the latest note, the secretariat said it then turned to a FCTC leadership group for guidance after receiving a number of nominations from countries that ignored the suggestion.

(Additional reporting by Sue-Lin Wong in Beijing; Editing by Tom Lasseter, Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White)
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabonese officials detained 20 employees at the headquarters of the Echos du Nord opposition newspaper on Thursday and took them away for questioning, staff at the paper told Reuters.

OPEC member Gabon has faced international scrutiny, including from former colonial power France, since President Ali Bongo was declared winner of a disputed Aug. 27 election.

Echos du Nord's Editor-in-Chief Desire Ename said that officials from Gabon's DGDI, a government department that according to its website "acts preventively against any threat interior or exterior" had taken the action.

"The employees were verbally threatened and seized and we now have no means of communicating with them," he told Reuters by telephone from Paris, where he said he had moved in 2014 for safety reasons.

Ename's paper is regularly critical of Bongo, whose family has ruled the Central African country for nearly 50 years.

Marky Edzang, a journalist at the paper who arrived at the scene several minutes after the event, said armed men had taken all of the staff present away in military vans.

Government spokesman Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, who could not immediately be reached for comment, told local journalists that nine people had been detained for questioning as part of an investigation. This followed an article referring to an "imminent military coup d'etat", he added.

Several protesters contesting the August poll result were killed by security forces during a rare outbreak of violence which also saw Gabon's parliament set alight.

Since then, a doctor who helped treat and catalog the injuries of protesters after the election was also arrested for several days in October.

(Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome and Emma Farge; Editing by Alexander Smith)
By Ginger Gibson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's promise to restore American jobs by renegotiating international trade deals appears to be failing him in states most affected by outsourcing, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Voters in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania - three competitive states in the Nov. 8 election that form the bulk of a region dubbed the Rust Belt for its swaths of shuttered factories - favor Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, on the issue of trade, according to the polling, with some respondents citing how international trade can bring down prices.

The results underscore the uphill battle the New York businessman faces on Election Day, when he needs to sweep a broad array of battleground states to win the White House.

"Trump has made a strong effort to portray Clinton as favorable to trade policies that he has labeled 'a disaster' for the United States," said Thomas Nelson, a political science professor at Ohio State University.

In the automaking state of Michigan, which has voted reliably for Democratic candidates in recent presidential elections but which Trump has fought hard to win, some 40 percent of likely voters believed Clinton would be better equipped to address trade, compared with 36 percent for Trump.

In Ohio, known for its aerospace, steel and rubber industries, 45 percent said Clinton would be better on trade, compared with 38 percent for Trump. In Pennsylvania, long a steel and heavy manufacturing center, 45 percent favored Clinton on trade, compared with 38 percent for Trump, according to the polling, conducted in mid-October.

Clinton is leading Trump in all three states among likely voters, with advantages of 4 points in Michigan, 3 points in Ohio and 6 points in Pennsylvania, according to the Reuters/Ipsos polling.

But other polls show the race tightening in those states. RealClearPolitics, which averages data from most major polls, shows Clinton leading Trump by 6.6 points in Michigan and 5.1 points in Pennsylvania, and Trump leading Clinton by 2.7 points in Ohio.

Officials for Trump's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

'WHAT JOBS ARE YOU BRINGING BACK?'

Poll respondents reached by Reuters who favored Clinton on trade mainly gave two reasons - first, that international trade deals can help people by lowering prices for goods; and second, they doubt Trump can deliver on his promise to restore the U.S. manufacturing sector.

We all like to have inexpensive items," Ronald Lane, 56, of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, who plans to vote for a third-party candidate next week as a protest against both Trump and Clinton.

"I think its important to save American jobs which have already gone overseas, but I dont believe there is much that can be done to bring them back," he said.

Christina Ledesma, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, a Clinton supporter, said she also disagreed with Trump that the economy would suffer a lasting negative effect from trade deals.

"Our unemployment rate is lower than its been since 2008. What jobs are you bringing back?" she said.

Michigan's unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in September, below the national average of 5 percent. Ohio's was at 4.8 percent and Pennsylvania's at 5.7 percent.

Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico one of the worst deals ever struck and blames it for manufacturing jobs being moved to Mexico.

He also opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would open markets in East Asia. Trump argues that the deal, which must be ratified by Congress, would motivate more U.S. companies to move their production overseas.

Last week while campaigning, he called outsourcing the greatest job theft in the history of the world".

"The jobs theft will end  the day I start the presidency. Its going to be America first again," he said.

Clinton has offered a more tempered approach, saying she would seek to re-evaluate NAFTA if elected and that there were problems with some aspects of the TPP.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English from Oct. 6 to Oct. 17 in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and from Oct. 6 to Oct. 12 in Ohio. It included 1,370 likely voters in Michigan, 1,467 in Pennsylvania, and 1,200 in Ohio. All three state polls had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Alana Wise and Chris Kahn; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Peter Cooney)
Members of hardline Muslim groups protest against Jakarta's incumbent governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian running in the upcoming election, outside his office in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 14, 2016. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

By Kanupriya Kapoor

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his vice president called for peace as tensions rose on Thursday ahead of a protest planned by hardline Muslim groups against the Jakarta governor, a Christian and the first ethnic Chinese in the job.

The groups claim that Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama, popularly known as "Ahok", had insulted the Koran and was guilty of blasphemy. They plan a protest rally on Friday.

Security has been tightened in Jakarta, a sprawling city of 10 million, and police have deployed armored vehicles and armed personnel as the plan stoked religious and ethnic tensions in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

"Everything and everyone should continue to work as normal, schools should run as normal," Widodo said in a joint statement with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Kalla added: "The government will listen to all opinions...but I believe because the protest will be carried out on Friday, a holy day, protesters will be respectful. That is our hope."

But some businesses have told employees to stay home on Friday, citing fears that violence could erupt during the rally.

Police said dozens of social media accounts had been found "publishing provocative statements and images" and urging people to take violent action in the name of Islam against Purnama, including calls to kill him.

"We have seen racially and ethnically divisive statements being spread online and there are indications many of them are anti-Chinese," said Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono.

Ethnic Chinese make up just over one percent of Indonesia's 250 million people, who are overwhelmingly Muslim. Typically, Indonesian Chinese do not enter politics, but Purnama has been a close ally of Widodo for decades.

He was the deputy governor of Jakarta when Widodo was governor and took over when Widodo stepped down in 2014 to contest the presidency.

Critics say Widodo's government is doing little to contain the increasingly hostile rhetoric against Purnama from hardline Muslim groups. The mounting religious and ethnic tensions come ahead of next year's election for Jakarta governor in which Purnama has said he will be a candidate.

"This theater of hatred will continue if (Widodo) doesn't tackle it and Indonesia will be a different country with less tolerance and more persecution of minorities," said Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch.

Muslim groups have accused Purnama of blasphemy after he said his opponents had deceived voters by attacking him using a verse from the Koran. Police are investigating the case against Purnama, who has apologized for the remarks.

Widodo has vowed not to interfere in the legal proceedings against Purnama, according to the Indonesian Clerical Council, a Muslim group.

"The president has said he has instructed (police) to process the investigation and that he will not intervene in this matter," council member Ma'aruf Amin told reporters after meeting Widodo earlier this week.

BLASPHEMY LAWS

Police are stepping up patrols and online monitoring in a "show of force" ahead of Friday's rally. About 18,000 police and military personnel will be deployed on the day of the protest.

Armored police trucks and armed troopers stood outside the governor's office at City Hall and outside the presidential palace, where thousands of protesters are expected to march on Friday.

A spiritual leader for the protest organizer, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), insisted its actions on Friday would be peaceful.

"This is not anti-Christian or anti-Chinese action," Habib Riziek said.

The group has had a history of vigilante attacks and raising complaints of blasphemy against religious minorities since it was formed in 1999. It has also frequently protested against Purnama.

Blasphemy cases were rare during former strongman president Suharto's 32-year reign, when there was little tolerance for hardline religious groups.

But cases have spiked in the country's democratic era after Suharto's fall in 1998, raising fears of increased persecution of minorities.

"If Ahok is taken to court, it will be the most high-profile blasphemy case in Indonesia's history because of his status as a government official," rights activist Harsono said.

"It will create a precedent of more hatred against Christians, against Chinese and other targets."

Indonesia recognizes six religions and a vast majority of the population practice a moderate form of Islam. But Indonesian Chinese have faced persecution and violence in the past, especially during the political and social turmoil that gripped the capital when Suharto was toppled.

Hundreds of people were killed during the 1998 violence and thousands of ethnic Chinese fled the country as mobs rampaged through Jakarta, looting and burning Chinese-owned shops and houses.

Communications Minister Rudiantara said the government is working to counter the online "hate speech".

"Indeed, social media is contributing to the current situation," he said. "The president has made it clear Indonesia's unity is non-negotiable."

The race to lead Jakarta, a sprawling city of 10 million, is often hotly contested, with top political parties jostling to get their candidates elected to a job that is seen as a stepping stone to higher political office.

One of Purnama's rivals in the governor's race is the son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Purnama, who has gained a reputation as a tough reformer, remains a frontrunner in opinion polls.

(Additional reporting by Angie Teo and Agustinus Beo da Costa; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Efrain Antonio Campo Flores (2nd from L) and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas stand with law enforcement officers in this November 12, 2015 photo after their arrest in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Courtesy of U.S. Attorney's Office Manhattan/Handout via R

By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An architect, a truck driver and a school administrator were among the 12 jurors selected on Thursday for the U.S. trial of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady accused of trying to carry out a multimillion-dollar drug deal.

Seven women and five men were picked in Manhattan federal court in the trial of Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Flores de Freitas, 31, and Campo Flores, 30, were arrested in Haiti in November 2015 following a sting operation overseen by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and brought to the United States.

Prosecutors have accused the two men of trying to exploit their political connections and use one of Venezuela's airports to send hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to Honduras for trans-shipment to the United States. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The case comes amid several U.S. probes linking drug trafficking to individuals tied to the government in Venezuela. The U.S. State Department says the country is a preferred route for moving drugs from South America to other areas.

The 12-member jury and four alternates, all from the New York area, were selected over two days. The trial is scheduled to begin with opening statements on Monday, and last about 10 days.

After six rounds of challenges by prosecutors and defense lawyers, several potential jurors who professed knowledge of Venezuela were excluded, including a woman who said the country seems to be facing "hard economic times now."

When the vast majority of the 12 jurors were asked what they knew about the country, they gave such answers as the one from a school administrator, who said, "I have no knowledge about Venezuela other than where it is located on a map."

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
A helicopter with Senior diplomats on board from the U.N., United States, China, Britain, the European Union and India departs from Sittwe to visit the troubled Rohingya villages in the Maungdaw area in northern Rakhine State in Myanmar Novenber 2, 2016.

By Simon Lewis and Wa Lone

SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar has agreed to allow aid to resume to the troubled north of Rakhine state and permit international observers to monitor whether help is reaching people displaced by violence, diplomats on a mission to the area told reporters on Thursday.

The diplomats, including the ambassadors of the United States and Britain and the top United Nations representative to the country, also called for an "independent and credible investigation" into attacks on security forces on Oct. 9 and the army operation launched in their aftermath.

The mission spent two days in northern Rakhine, closed to aid workers and observers for more than three weeks, and visited several villages, but were not taken to the scene of some of the most serious allegations of abuses by troops against civilians.

"There are four villages where people had apparently fled," U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel told reporters.

"We talked to two groups of villagers who haven't had any food for a while. So the government has agreed to restoring humanitarian assistance to them, which is a good step."

Troops have flooded northern Rakhine since Oct. 9, when militants believed to be Rohingya Muslims attacked police border posts, killing nine officers. The government says five soldiers and at least 33 alleged insurgents have been killed in the military operation since then.

Residents and human rights advocates have accused security forces of summary executions, rapes and setting fire to homes.

The government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has denied any abuses have taken place. During a visit to Japan, Suu Kyi was quoted as saying that Myanmar was responding to the "delicate" conflict based on the rule of law.

Renata Lok-Dessallien, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said the government assured the visiting diplomats that humanitarian support would be provided to up to 15,000 people believed to have been displaced since Oct. 9.

"We asked that international observation of the provision of the assistance be agreed to and the government agreed to this. The government also agreed to allow the programs that were halted on the 9th of October to resume," she said, adding that the details of that resumption of aid were being worked out.

The violence in recent weeks is the most serious to hit Rakhine since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in 2012.

Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship, with many majority Buddhists regarding them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and face severe travel restrictions. They form the majority in northern Rakhine.

CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

Marciel said the group was able to visit many villages it wanted to see, talk to the residents, and see how people lived. They had seen some burned-down homes, he said.

But the diplomats said the purpose of the mission - which was not accompanied by humanitarian staff, technical experts or independent journalists - was to stress the importance of access and transparency, not investigate reported abuses.

"There's no way we have that capability," said Marciel. "That's why we said how important it is for Myanmar to have an independent, credible investigation that can look into these things more deeply."

That contrasted with the portrayal of the mission by the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar daily, which on Thursday ran a front-page story on the trip story headlined: "False accusations on violating human rights exposed to the world."

A separate opinion piece in the newspaper criticized local and foreign media reporting of the allegations of abuses by the military for "working hand-in-glove with the perpetrators" of attacks on security forces and publishing "fabricated news".

Some villagers on Wednesday crowded around the delegation and were able to independently talk to the members, handing over letters and electronic memory cards with testimonies, residents, monitors and delegation members told Reuters.

Following the meeting the crowd was detained temporarily by security forces, the residents said.

A local authority official said the diplomats had not been taken to U Shey Kya, a village where eight women have told Reuters they and dozens of others were raped or sexually assaulted by soldiers.

A resident of U Shey Kya contacted by telephone said the villagers had waited for the delegation on Wednesday, but it did not arrive. The account was corroborated by Chris Lewa from Arakan Project, a monitoring group with a network of Rohingya sources in the villages.

Underscoring the tense atmosphere of the trip, at least two Rohingya Muslims were briefly detained during one meeting on Wednesday in the village of Kyee Kan Pyin, which was attacked on Oct. 9, after authorities identified them as suspects, three witnesses said. The people were freed after U.S. ambassador Marciel intervened, the witnesses said.

(Reporting by Wa Lone and Simon Lewis; Additional reporting by Minami Funakoshi in Kyoto, Japan; Writing by Antoni Slodkowski in Yangon; Editing by Alex Richardson)
LAGOS (Reuters) - A commander of a Nigerian militant group has attacked the Trans Forcados oil pipeline in the Niger Delta without authorization, a local newspaper said on Friday, quoting a statement from the group.

"The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) takes full responsibility for the Trans-Forcados Crude Export pipeline attack in the Batan area of Delta State on Wednesday, November 2, 2016," the group said in statement quoted by Vanguard newspaper.

"The attack was however, unauthorized by our high command," it added. Reuters was not immediately able to reach the group which had committed itself to a ceasefire.

(Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Keith Weir)
A passengers walks past a TV broadcasting a news report on Thae Yong Ho, North Korea's deputy ambassador in London, who has defected with his family to South Korea, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, August 18, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Thursday said it had appointed a new ambassador to the United Kingdom, more than two months after the embassy's number-two diplomat defected to South Korea, in an embarrassing blow for the regime of leader Kim Jong Un.

The North's official KCNA news agency said the new ambassador is Choe Il, whom South Korean media have previously reported was a senior official in the country's foreign ministry.

KCNA's one-line statement did not mention a new role for Pyongyang's incumbent ambassador in London, Hyon Hak Bong.

In August, South Korea announced that Thae Yong Ho, the number-two official in the North's London embassy, had defected with his family to the South, making him the highest ranking diplomat to flee the isolated regime for the democratic South.

Thae has yet to appear in public since his arrival in South Korea.

(This story has been refiled to fix Hyon's name in paragraph 3)

(Reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Teresa Cespedes and Ursula Scollo

LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said he expects the country's economic outlook to improve over the short term, but expressed concern over international trade ahead of the upcoming U.S. election in remarks at a Thomson Reuters Economic Forum on Thursday.

The centrist leader said his strategy to keep Peru's economy humming was based on expanding the taxpayer base and building new airports and other infrastructure as the Andean nation looks toward a future less reliant on mining.

With the race for the White House tightening over recent days, Republican candidate Donald Trump has criticized many of the trade deals that Washington has signed.

"We are five days out from the election," Kuczynski said. "The election may not change the course of our economy, but the worry for Peru has to do with international trade, which has not only stalled, but fallen over the last two years."

Peru is one of Latin America's most open economies and has trade agreements with more than 20 nations including the United States and China.

"Trade has been the engine of world growth," Kuczynski added. "We have to promote openness and world trade, but that is something that is very unpopular in some quarters of the United States."

Central Bank President Julio Velarde said in a presentation at the same forum that Peru's economy would grow 4.5 percent in 2017, the fastest in Latin America, and up from 4.0 percent in 2016.

After three years of falling private investment, Velarde said it would increase by 5 percent in 2017, mostly in areas other than mining.

A former investment banker, Kuczynski took office at the end of July. His government is expected to announce its first major package of reforms next week.

"The measures we are working on are almost all economic, there are 60 based on expanding the tax base through formalization. To achieve this we need to incorporate small- and medium-sized companies," Kuczynski said.

Finance Minister Alfredo Thorne also said the most significant risk to Peru's growth came from abroad, and emphasized the need to replace mining investment with investment in infrastructure. Even without reforms, Peru's economy is well placed to grow 4.8 percent next year, Thorne said.

Thorne said if external conditions deteriorated further, Peru would try to convert some debt into the local soles currency.

"I am worried about what is happening in the United States. We do not know what is going to happen with the elections next week," he said.

(Additional reporting by Marco Aquino and Caroline Stauffer Writing by Hugh Bronstein and Caroline Stauffer; Editing by W Simon and Sandra Maler)
TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump have all expressed support for universal or single payer health coverage, although Trump is now advocating free-enterprise solutions, notes the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).



A total government takeover is likely to be the proposed solution when the failure of ObamaCare becomes plain, stated AAPS executive director Jane M. Orient, M.D. So Americans need to know what that means.

The failed Hillary Care proposal in 1994 would have criminalized medical care obtained outside the system, as explained in the September issue of AAPS News.

To conserve resources, coverage would have been denied for care that was not medically necessary, medically appropriate, and medically prudent, according to working papers of the Clinton Health Care Task Force. Under a true single payer, there would be no private escape hatch without leaving the country, Dr. Orient observes.

The stone that slew the HillaryCare Goliath was freedom, writes former Senator Phil Gramm. Support collapsed when Congress was challenged to defend the civil and criminal penalties for buying care, he states.

In the much-applauded Canadian system, private care is illegal, states Dr. Orient, so when unable to get timely care in the overburdened single-payer system, more than 45,000 Canadians bought care outside their country in 2015.

Chinese officials visiting British Columbia had difficulty believing that Canada was more restrictive than Communist China. They asked: You mean to say that if youre sick and want to pay for treatment, that you arent allowed to? Even though its your own money and there is a doctor willing to accept it? They were assured that this is the case.

The high costs and shortages under ObamaCare will continue unless we return to a free market. The fundamental laws of economics cannot be violated even if the socialist utopian goal of universal health insurance without preexisting conditions is mandated, stated AAPS president Michael J. A. Robb, M.D.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in virtually all specialties and every state. Founded in 1943, AAPS has the motto omnia pro aegroto, which means all for the patient.
By Aleksandar Vasovic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia and Russia began joint military exercises on Serbian territory on Thursday in a move likely to reinforce increased east-west tensions just as a five-day NATO drill in neighboring Montenegro draws to a close.

Serbia is trying to balance its traditionally warm ties with Russia, a fellow Slavic, Orthodox Christian nation, with its push for membership of the European Union and closer relations with NATO, though it has no plans to join the Atlantic alliance.

In the exercise dubbed "Slavic Brotherhood", which runs until Nov. 9, more than 700 troops from Serbia, Russia and Belarus will stage helicopter assaults, a mock attack on an insurgent base, evacuate casualties and practice artillery bombardment.

"It will all be very attractive," defense ministry spokesman Jovan Krivokapic told Tanjug news agency.

The launch of the exercise coincides with the end of the NATO drill in Montenegro, which focused on handling emergency situations such as floods or chemical attacks that included 680 unarmed personnel from seven NATO members and also 10 partner countries including Serbia.

The exercise also coincides with a deep chill in relations between Russia and the U.S.-led Atlantic alliance.

NATO has announced plans to send troops, tanks and planes to the Baltic states and Poland to counter what it perceives as a more assertive Russia following Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and other actions.

Serbia, which relies on Russia for energy, is not actively seeking membership of NATO, which remains unpopular among Serbs because of its 1999 bombing campaign to drive Serbian forces out of Kosovo.

But as part of its integration with the West, Serbia last year signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), the highest level of cooperation between NATO and a country not aspiring to join.

Since 2006, Serbia has held 1,400 various activities with NATO, including 197 last year. In 2016, out of 26 training exercises only two are with Russia. Out of 21 multinational training drills in 2015, the Serbian military participated in only two with Russia.

Montenegro, which split from Serbia a decade ago, accepted an invitation last year to join NATO, angering Moscow.

Last month Montenegro's outgoing Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic accused Moscow of meddling in his country's parliamentary election campaign and of financing the opposition.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (C) attends the investiture debate at the Parliament in Madrid, Spain, October 29, 2016. REUTERS/Susana Vera

By Adrian Croft and Rodrigo De Miguel

MADRID (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is expected to turn to trusted allies on Thursday when he names a cabinet that will need to make tough budget decisions and juggle the demands of other parties if his minority government is to survive.

Rajoy has given no public hints about his team since he won support for a second term in a parliamentary confidence vote on Saturday, after two indecisive elections that led to 10 months of political paralysis.

He is widely tipped to retain Luis de Guindos as economy minister, with Spanish media suggesting he may give extra responsibility to a man generally respected by his counterparts abroad after steering Spain out of recession and into a strong recovery under Rajoy's first government.

Conservative People's Party (PP) leader Rajoy, 61, governed with an absolute majority between 2011 and 2015, a period when unemployment peaked at 27 percent and Spain's banks needed a 41 billion euro ($45 billion) European bailout.

Now heading a minority administration, Rajoy will also need particularly firm hands at the tiller for liaising with a fragmented parliament and with Spain's autonomous regions.

According to El Mundo newspaper, he will also retain Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, often the public face of the party in news conferences, as deputy prime minister, and promote PP stalwart and former Castilla-La Mancha regional government head Maria Dolores de Cospedal.

Following the June election in which the PP finished first, Rajoy will be able to count on backing from the liberal Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, the fourth-largest group in parliament, on 150 previously agreed measures to tackle political corruption and reform the electoral system.

Even with Ciudadanos' backing, Rajoy's PP lacks a majority. He has said he is ready to engage in the negotiations that approving new laws will require, but winning support from a skeptical Socialist party or smaller regional parties will not be easy.

TOO MANY COOKS?

The 2017 budget will be a priority for the new government.

Spain, the euro zone's fourth biggest economy, needs to shrink its budget deficit to 3.1 percent of output in 2017 from an expected 4.6 percent this year to meet targets agreed with Brussels.

It currently has two ministers handling economic matters, de Guindos and acting Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro, and insiders say this has made it difficult for Madrid to speak with one voice to Brussels on budget matters.

Based on its latest budget plan, Spain would need 5 billion euros in extra revenue or spending cuts to reach the target. But Rajoy said last week that whether new spending cuts were needed depended on how tax revenues performed.

The Socialists have said they would oppose any attempt to impose more cuts, and the other of Spain's 'big four' parties - anti-austerity Podemos - opposes Rajoy and his legislative program.

A staunch defender of Spanish unity, Rajoy will also have to grapple with an independence campaign by the wealthy northeastern Catalonia region, which plans a referendum next year on breaking away from Spain.

Rajoy will announce his new cabinet after briefing King Felipe at 1700 GMT, government sources said. It will meet for the first time on Friday.

($1 = 0.9033 euros)

(Editing by Angus Berwick and John Stonestreet)
Actor George Clooney and his wife Amal attend a CEO roundtable at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly in New York September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations David Pressman is set to become executive director of the new Clooney Foundation for Justice, set up by George and Amal Clooney, as well as a partner at the Boies, Schiller & Flexner law firm.

After some two years as deputy to U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, Pressman said he would leave on Friday and start his new roles on Monday. Before his role at the world body, he served as assistant secretary of homeland security, on the National Security Council and on U.S. President Barack Obama's Atrocity Prevention Board.

Pressman said he looked forward to help building a foundation "focused on serving individuals who are being persecuted and individuals who are, by virtue of their circumstance, being denied the opportunity to access basic things like an education."

"One of the things that both the Clooneys bring to the table is an ability to attract a lot of interested people and attention and resources to issues, individuals and causes the might not otherwise have it," Pressman told Reuters.

The first project of the foundation is to help educate Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Pressman said the foundation would also look to "find a way of monitoring trials around the world in situations where individuals are being persecuted."

Amal Clooney is an international human rights lawyer, who is currently representing Nadia Murad, a young Yazidi woman held captive and raped by Islamic State militants. Pressman previously worked with actor and activist George Clooney as co-founders of human rights advocacy group Not On Our Watch.

During his time at the United Nations, Pressman said achievements included securing robust sanctions against North Korea in March after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test and getting the issue of human rights in North Korea on the U.N. Security Council agenda. [nL1N13Z25V]

He also cited being able to convince the 15-member Security Council to denounce the mass shooting at a Florida gay nightclub as "targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation," overcoming standard resistance to such language by African and Muslim states, as well as Russia. [nL1N1951KI]

Boies, Schiller & Flexner said Pressman's work at the firm would focus on complex international disputes, litigation and arbitration, white-collar defense and crisis management.

Boies, Schiller & Flexner Chairman David Boies has represented such high-profile clients as former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia chided Malaysia's prime minister on Thursday for reported comments critical of the West that "sounded a little bit more like" his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, but said he did not see evidence of a tilt towards China.

In an editorial published in the state-run China Daily newspaper on Wednesday, Malaysian premier Najib Razak said former colonial powers should not lecture nations they once exploited.

The comments were seen as a veiled attack on the West as Najib looked to strengthen ties with China after the U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits in July implicating him in a money laundering scandal.

Asked about signs of Malaysia seeking a closer military relationship with China after Najib agreed in Beijing on Tuesday to buy four Chinese naval vessels, Daniel Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told a news briefing:

"I read something attributed to the prime minister in the Peoples Daily that sounded a little bit more like former prime minister Mahathir than current Prime Minister Najib, but OK, there may be some special circumstances.

"As far as Malaysian purchases from China  thats not tilting to China, that making a commercial deal. Everybody does it. The very idea that third-country cooperation with China is somehow a bad thing, is adverse to our interests, it's ridiculous."

Mahathir, known for his outspoken, anti-Western rhetoric, was once Najib's patron but turned against him in 2013 by criticizing the government's economic policies and friendliness with the West.

Russel said U.S. ties with Malaysia had improved under President Barack Obama and noted that Obama's visit there in 2014 was the first by a U.S. president in 50 years.

Russel said Washington welcomed improved relations between Southeast Asian countries and China, and this went too for the Philippines, which has been going through a period of strained ties with Washington under its new president, Rodrigo Duterte.

"We dont want countries to have to chose between us ... Strong, constructive, productive bilateral relations with China are an important part of our strategy. Why wouldn't it be an important part of the strategy of China's own neighbors?" Russel said.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Grant McCool)
U.S. Undersecretary of State Tom Shannon (R) and Israeli Acting National Security Advisor Jacob Nagel (L) participate in a signing ceremony for a new ten year pact on security assistance between the two nations at the State Department in Washington, U.S.,

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vatican-convened talks between Venezuela's government and opposition are the last, best chance to find a peaceful solution to the country's political impasse, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon said on Friday.

In his first remarks since visiting Caracas on Monday, Shannon said Washington would support the talks "as long as it remains viable."

"From our point of view (the dialogue) really is the last best effort to try to find a negotiated, peaceful solution to this," he told reporters. "Absent this dialogue process, Venezuela will find itself in a state in which both the government and the opposition will have to measure themselves through their ability to put people on to the streets."

He said that this kind of mobilization would be "unpredictable and can be very dangerous."

Shannon traveled to Caracas on Oct. 31, a day after initial talks led by the Vatican. He has spearheaded efforts by the Obama administration to ease tensions with Venezuela, which often accuses Washington of trying to topple President Nicolas Maduro's government.

Maduro's adversaries accuse him of creating a dictatorship by blocking a recall referendum on his rule and of illegally overriding the legislature, which was taken over by the opposition in a landslide election last year.

The opposition insists the government allow the referendum, release dozens of jailed opposition activists and respect congressional decisions.

There is no indication Maduro will agree to any of the opposition's demands, and in a speech on Thursday he criticized their timetable and urged patience.

"It is a fragile but very important process, and it's a good faith effort to find a peaceful way out of the political impasse that has crippled Venezuela," said Shannon, who described the negotiations as "the only game in town."

The Vatican, which was instrumental in restoring relations between the United States and Cuba last year, faces a difficult situation in Venezuela, given the few signs of agreement between Maduro and the opposition.

Shannon described the initial meeting as "a huge step" but said the opposition wanted more gestures from the government ahead of the next round of talks on Nov. 11. This included a significant release of political prisoners, he added.

"How the issue of prisoners is dealt with is obviously going to be key to the success of this process going forward," he said, adding that the sides would try to agree on an electoral agenda.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrew Hay)
FORM 3 UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549



INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES



Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 OMB APPROVAL OMB Number: 3235-0104 Expires: December 31, 2014 Estimated average burden hours per response: 0.5

1. Name and Address of Reporting Person * RAMASWAMI RAJIV (Last) (First) (Middle) 3401 HILLVIEW AVENUE (Street) PALO ALTO CA 94304 (City) (State) (Zip) 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year)

10/26/2016 3. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol

VMWARE, INC. [ VMW ] 4. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer

(Check all applicable) Director 10% Owner X Officer (give title below) Other (specify below) COO, Products & Cloud Services 5. If Amendment, Date of Original Filed (Month/Day/Year)

6. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line) X Form filed by One Reporting Person Form filed by More than One Reporting Person

Table I - Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned 1. Title of Security (Instr. 4) 2. Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned (Instr. 4) 3. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5) 4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5) Class A Common Stock 354,913 D

Table II - Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned

(e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) 1. Title of Derivative Security (Instr. 4) 2. Date Exercisable and Expiration Date (Month/Day/Year) 3. Title and Amount of Securities Underlying Derivative Security (Instr. 4) 4. Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security 5. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5) 6. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5) Date Exercisable Expiration Date Title Amount or Number of Shares

Explanation of Responses:

Larry Wainblat, attorney-in-fact 11/03/2016 ** Signature of Reporting Person Date Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. * If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 4 (b)(v). ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure. Persons who respond to the collection of information contained in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB Number.

POWER OF ATTORNEY I, Rajiv Ramaswami, appoint each of Craig D. Norris, S. Dawn Smith and Larry R. Wainblat as my attorney-in-fact to: (1) execute on my behalf, in my capacity as an officer or director of VMware, Inc. (the "Company"), Forms 144 in accordance with Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Forms 3, 4 and 5 in accordance with Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules thereunder (collectively, the "Forms"); (2) perform on my behalf any act necessary or desirable to complete and execute any Form, complete and execute any amendment to a Form and timely file the Forms with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and any stock exchange or similar authority; and (3) take any other action related to the Forms that, in his or her opinion, may benefit me or may be legally required of me. Each attorney-in-fact has the power and authority to appoint a substitute attorney-in-fact, revoke that appointment and determine the form, terms and conditions of any document executed by him or her. I acknowledge that none of the attorneys-in-fact or the Company are assuming any of my responsibilities to comply with Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933 or Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. By signing this Power of Attorney, I am ratifying and confirming all actions lawfully taken by an attorney-in-fact in the performance of his or her duties under this Power of Attorney. As of the date below, any and all prior powers of attorney executed by me related to the Forms are hereby revoked and superseded by this Power of Attorney. This Power of Attorney will remain effective until I am no longer required to file Forms related to my holdings of Company securities, unless I earlier deliver a signed revocation notice to the Company's general counsel. If an attorney-in-fact terminates employment with the Company, this Power of Attorney will be deemed revoked with respect to the departing attorney-in-fact and will remain effective with respect to each other attorney-in-fact remaining employed by the Company until terminated pursuant to the preceding sentence. I have signed this Power of Attorney on October 24, 2016. By: /s/ Rajiv Ramaswami Rajiv Ramaswami
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Trustees of Youth For Understanding USA (YFU) has named Scott J. Messing, the organization's Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, as its new President & Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2017. The appointment comes on the announcement that current President & CEO Michael E. Hill has been named President of The Chautauqua Institution in New York.



"While we are sad to see Michael step down as our President, he leaves us with a strong foundation to continue growing YFU USA's mission in service to a dynamically changing world," said Daryl Weinert, Chairman of the YFU USA Board of Trustees. "Michael came to us to during a time of great challenges, and he has worked tirelessly to stabilize and grow the organization."



A seasoned executive and a former exchange student himself, Messing has served as Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at YFU since 2014, overseeing the day-to-day operations of YFU, including direct oversight for multiple operational departments.



Prior to his tenure at YFU, Messing served as Chief of Staff at the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), with oversight for the organization's administration and the Attorney General management consulting program. Before that, Messing served three governors in Pennsylvania in his capacity as Chief Administrative Officer in the Governor's Office of Administration, Deputy Secretary of Administration within the Pennsylvania Department of State, as well as Deputy Commissioner for Professional Licensing. In addition to his state service, he served as Director of Operations and Global Administration for a technology start-up, boo.com.



Messing's passion for international education and exchange is evident by his experience alone. He had his first exchange experience to Germany while in high school, followed a few years later by an academic year at the University of Heidelberg during his undergraduate education from Bucknell University, where he graduated with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and German. Messing also earned his Juris Doctorate from Pennsylvania State's Dickinson School of Law, where he specialized in international law and alternative dispute resolution. He is currently a "host father" to two YFU exchange students in addition to prior hosting experiences with YFU.



"The transition that YFU began during Michael Hill's leadership has been exceptional. I am proud and honored to follow in his footsteps and continue this critical work," Messing said. "It seems like only yesterday that I began mowing lawns in junior high school to raise money for my first international exchange experience in Germany. That one day I would lead one of the world's premier intercultural exchange and education organizations was a dream I had early on, and am thrilled to have realized it with YFU! The challenges we face in today's world are even more complex than those faced shortly after World War II, the time in which YFU was founded to repair relations between the U.S. and Germany. YFU's mission is greater now than ever before, and I look forward to being a continuing part of that ever-evolving solution."



"Michael Hill built a strong executive team at YFU, and we are fortunate to have Scott take the helm during a dynamic period in YFU's organizational life. He will make this change in leadership a smooth one, and there will be no interruption in the services and programs YFU provides to the global community," Weinert said.



"I want to thank the thousands of volunteers, students, international partners, and especially the staff and our dynamic Board of Trustees for this incredible opportunity and honor to serve as YFU's President. Scott is going to be make an incredible President, and I look forward to supporting him as a YFU volunteer," Hill said.



"YFU is lucky to have the best candidate already within the organization, and we are excited that this appointment will allow YFU USA to continue a strategic plan recently passed by the organization without interruption," said Weinert.



About YFU

For learners of all ages who want a life-changing cultural exchange experience, Youth For Understanding (YFU) offers a wide range of opportunities to see the world up close. The global YFU network, consisting of partners in more than 70 different countries, is united by the belief that curiosity about the world expands cultural awareness and acceptance of other ways to live, which leads to broader perspective and greater understanding. YFU's unique intercultural exchanges open minds and hearts, enable learning that transforms lives, change the way you see the world and help to overcome stereotypes. Selected to administer more government and corporate scholarships than any other high school exchange program, YFU has remained a trusted leader of intercultural exchange programs since 1951 because of its commitment to safety, reputation for quality, and exceptional support services.



YFU advances intercultural understanding, mutual respect and social responsibility through educational exchanges for youth, families and communities.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41825
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TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Nov. 4, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) is extremely proud and delighted to announce that Dr. Eric Smouha, currently Director of Otology and Neurology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology at that academic institution, has agreed to join the Practice's Fifth Avenue office, where he will be seeing adult and pediatric patients in need, beginning April 1, 2017. Dr. Smouha will retain privileges at Mt. Sinai Hospital.



Eric Smouha, MD, FACS is board-certified in both Otolaryngology and Neuro-Otology. With nearly thirty years of experience, his clinical and academic interests span all aspects of otology and neurotology. Dr. Smouha has performed several hundred operations for cholesteatoma and has given instructional courses on cholesteatoma and complications of otitis media at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and in the School of Graduate Education at Mount Sinai. With expertise on hearing preservation, he has performed hundreds of successful stapedectomy operations for the treatment of otosclerosis, cochlear implants for deafness, and newer surgically-implanted hearing devices.



His publications include a textbook entitled Cholesteatoma, and articles on the management of cholesteatoma in the normal hearing ear, the treatment of CSF leaks of the skull base, and the surgical treatment of Meniere's disease. He has also conducted basic research on matrix metallo-proteinase enzymes in cholesteatoma, and on three-dimensional imaging of the temporal bone. Additionally, Dr. Smouha has done pivotal basic research in hearing preservation surgery of the inner ear.



As a neurotologic surgeon, Dr. Smouha has expertise in the treatment of acoustic neuromas and diseases of the skull base. His meta-analysis on the conservative management of acoustic neuromas was presented at the North American Skull Base Society and published in the journal Laryngoscope, and is widely cited.



He is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the American College of Surgeons; and a member of the American Otological Society, the American Neurotological Society, the Triological Society, the North American Skull



Base Society; and, a recipient of the Certificate of Honor of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He has been listed as a top doctor in New York Magazine, the New York Times Super Doctors, Castle-Connolly, and the Top Doctors of America. Voted Teacher of the Year in 2009 and 2014 by the resident staff, his devotion to training physicians has further established excellence in the otology teaching programs. His contributions to the field of Neuro-otology have established him as a leader in his field and an outstanding clinician.



Robert Glazer, CEO of ENTA, noted "Our vision, and goal, is to offer the communities we serve a superbly-trained and credentialed multidisciplinary team, so our patients are able to avail themselves of a comprehensive roster of services in a single location." He continued, "And that is exactly what we accomplish by adding a fellowship-trained physician like Dr. Smouha to our Fifth Avenue office in April."



At the ENTA Fifth Avenue office, he joins Otolaryngologists Jay N. Dolitsky, M.D., F.A.A.P., David A. Godin, M.D., F.A.C.S., Roheen Raithatha, M.D., Ofer Jacobowitz, M.D., P.h.D., F.A.A.S.M., F.A.A.O.A. and Allergist/Immunologist Robert Sporter, M.D.



"We are extremely pleased to welcome an accomplished colleague like Eric Smouha to our ranks," noted otolaryngologist David Godin, MD, "and I believe the patients of Fifth Avenue will be just as pleased."



Added Dr. Robert Green, President of ENTA, "As we continue to grow throughout the five boroughs of New York City, our need to attract the best and the brightest otolaryngologists and related sub-specialists grows in concert. Dr. Smouha represents the highest standards and offers a superb combination of credentials, expertise, and experience. We are confident his benefit to the community will be immediate, and palpable."



To learn more please visit www.entandallergy.com or call 1-855-ENTA-DOC.



About ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP:

ENT and Allergy has over 180 physicians practicing in 40+ office locations in Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties, New York City and northern/central New Jersey. The practice sees over 80,000 patients per month. Each ENT and Allergy Associates clinical location provides access to a full complement of services, including General Adult and Pediatric ENT and Allergy, Voice and Swallowing, Advanced Sinus and Skull Base Surgery, Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, Disorders of the Inner Ear and Dizziness, Asthma, Clinical Immunology, Diagnostic Audiology, Hearing Aid dispensing, Sleep and CT Services. ENTA has a clinical alliance with The Mount Sinai Hospital for the treatment of diseases of the head and neck and esophageal cancer, a clinical alliance with the Montefiore Medical Center for the tertiary treatment of pediatric patients in New York City and the Hudson Valley, a clinical alliance with the Northwell Health for the tertiary treatment of pediatric patients in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties and a partnership with the American Cancer Society to educate and treat patients with smoking disorders and cancer. The Practice has also expanded its clinical capabilities to include advanced Immunodeficiency trials. ENT and Allergy Associates Management and Marketing teams have been recognized numerous times with awards and accolades including Health Leaders Media 2011 Top Leadership Team in Healthcare, Top Doctor Awards, ACS recognition award, AHAA Audiologist awards, The Westchester County Association Big W Awards and the Healthcare Marketing Report Healthcare Advertising Awards. Visit www.entandallergy.com for more information.



A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41827
ATLANTA - November 4, 2016 - Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) today announced that Vernon J. Nagel, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Acuity Brands, will present at the Robert W. Baird 2016 Global Industrial Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Central Time.

A live Webcast of the event will be accessible by clicking on the following link http://wsw.com/webcast/baird47/ayi. This event will also be accessible at the Company's website www.acuitybrands.com. A replay of this webcast will also be available on the company's website for 90 days following the event.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is the North American market leader and one of the world's leading providers of indoor and outdoor lighting and building management solutions. With fiscal year 2016 net sales of $3.3 billion, Acuity Brands currently employs approximately 12,000 associates and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with operations throughout North America, and in Europe and Asia. The Company's products and solutions are sold under various brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting(TM), Winona Lighting, Juno, Indy(TM), Aculux(TM), Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Carandini, Antique Street Lamps(TM), Sunoptics, Distech Controls, Acuity Controls(TM), nLight, ROAM and SensorSwitch. Visit us at www.acuitybrands.com.

# # #

Company Contact:

Dan Smith

Acuity Brands, Inc.

(404) 853-1423
HOUSTON, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GulfMark Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:GLF) announced today that its third quarter 2016 operating results conference call is scheduled for Thursday, November 10, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. The conference call will include a discussion by management regarding the Companys results of operations. The Company will issue results for the third quarter the evening before the scheduled call.

To participate in the teleconference, investors in the U.S. should dial 1-888-317-6003 at least 10 minutes before the start time and when prompted, enter the passcode 4837033. Canada-based callers should dial 1-866-284-3684, and international callers outside of North America should dial +1 412-317-6061. The webcast of the conference call can also be accessed by visiting the Companys website, www.gulfmark.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available beginning one hour after the end of the conference call and ending November 15, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. eastern time. To access the replay from the U.S. please dial 1-877-344-7529; outside the U.S. please dial +1 412-317-0088. Please reference conference number 10094676. An audio file of the conference call will be available on the companys website approximately one hour after the end of the call.

GulfMark Offshore, Inc. provides marine transportation services to the energy industry through a fleet of offshore support vessels serving every major offshore energy industry market in the world.
Brian Rogers

Rogers Rabbits

www.sunlive.co.nz

First-degree nonsense called off indefinitely

This is to inform you that Guy Fawkes has been cancelled this year.

This may come as a disappointment to all you pyromaniac arsonist animal terror fanatics, but youll soon find something else destructive and pointless to entertain your feeble minds, such as pulling the wings off butterflies or making farty noises with your hand under your armpit. The rest of the population  reasonable-thinking and considerate citizens  have decided the indiscriminate vandalism with fireworks by private individuals and amateurs is banned until further notice. And dont hold your breath. This likely to be an ongoing policy. The decision has been made in lieu of any government in the last few decades having the balls to stand up and do the right thing. Also, if Mr Fawkes was alive today hed be the first to call it off, citing several better options other than arson, to get your point across. This week we travelled back in time in the Rogers Rabbits Time Machine to interview Mr Fawkes. He confirmed that there are many better methods to make a political point; including organising a hikoi to Parliament, writing a Letter to the Editor and mounting a clever social media campaign. His message to the year 2016: Blowing the crapeth out of letterboxes with gunpowder is so 17th Century.

Not sustainable

Meanwhile, back to today... and its clear amateur fireworks have had their time. And as much as I hate the cliche, spend some quality time with your family, whanau, children and pets; play games and read stories; visit some oldies and do a good deed or two. Give the flaming fireworks the flick. Injury, destruction, noise pollution and general mayhem from amateur fireworks each year runs into the millions in total cost of repair and rehabilitation, fire-fightingalong with the pain and suffering of victims and torment of pets. Then theres always a mess, a residue of burnt-out containers, bottles, cans and litter. Its not a sustainable activity for anyone the slightest bit concerned about greenhouse gas emissions. Right-thinking folk have decided to call it off and go watch a proper display at Baypark. Had the rest of the population shown any sort of responsible attitude towards the annual fire fest, the outcome could have been different. But year-on-year a sector of the community have proven they are well incapable of this. If any other activity in society caused as much carnage as fireworks stupidity, it would immediately be outlawed, cordoned off, assigned special Police checkpoints and otherwise slapped down. Other threats to the safety and peace of the nation that have been legislated against or stomped out: Indiscriminate use of guns. Driving drunk. Driving fast. Dangerous geographic features such as glaciers and cliff edges. Wobbly viewing platforms and dodgy decks. Rugby players who beat up people. Bitey dogs. Dog owners who dont clean up after their mutts. Any other cruelty to animals such as calf ill-treatment and caged hens. Yet for some reason, until this fireworks cancellation, weve put up with numbskulls burning themselves, burning others, blowing up property, setting fire to foliage, furniture and property, waking entire neighbourhoods in the small hours at any given night throughout the year; causing pets distress and livestock to bolt; create false flare sightings, noise, and littering of public spaces and road frontages. By 2014 ACC had paid out more than $1.5 million for more than 3200 claims. Last year firefighters responded to twice the number of calls than the previous year. Kids ended up in Starship with serious injuries, an adult severely burned in Kawerau, a rocket went under a house in New Plymouth and set it alight, and nationwide hundreds of emergency calls were made for blazes involving trees, hedges, grass, rubbish bins. People have lost eyes, limbs, vast areas of skin, and spent untold time tying up essential emergency services and hospital staff and resources.

Here are the Fire Service safety tips, which had they been followed, we may not have needed to cancel Guy Fawkes:

 Read the fireworks instructions. Be careful to follow the manufacturers instructions when using them.

 Light your fireworks in a wide-open area. Keep away from anything that could catch fire.

 Fireworks and alcohol/drugs are a dangerous combination.

 Always let an adult light the fireworks.

 Keep a bucket of water or a hose handy.

 Keep all unlit fireworks in their box or bag until you are ready to light them.

 Leave dud fireworks alone. Trying to relight them is unsafe.

 If you do get burned, hold your burn under running water for 20 minutes.

Think about others

 Put away the fireworks after 10.30pm.

 Keep your pets inside on Guy Fawkes Night.

 Point fireworks at the stars, not at your mates.

Think about others. Hmm, theres a piece of advice sadly lacking from many areas of New Zealand society!

RR Tips for a better fireworks night:

1. Soak fireworks in warm water for the day before lighting. They go so much better.

2. Use an LED light to set them off. It saves on greenhouse gas emissions and helps save the planet and halt climate change.

3. Skyrockets. Dig a deep hole. Put them in. Let off under a bucket of wet sand.

4. Watch your fireworks blindfolded. The increased darkness accentuates the glow.

5. Donate to the SPCA to gain animal torture credits. Just like greenhouse gas emissions, it mitigates your burden on the planet!

6. Hold your breath for the duration of your fireworks session. Youll see more little darting lights as your brain (if it actually functions) shuts down and youll expire knowing you contributed to the general betterment of the gene pool.

brian@thesun.co.nz
Clayton Mitchell

New Zealand First MP

We are at a point where a hard working New Zealanders can no longer afford to raise a family on a single income. The state shouldnt be raising kids, while forcing both parents to find work, just to put food on the table and cover outrageous rents. Kids with absent or exhausted parents will lead to all sorts of long-term social problems.

In New Zealand, we believe in a healthy work-life balance. We just celebrated Labour Weekend in memory of the hard-won struggle for an eight-hour work day for Kiwis.

A fair days pay in exchange for a fair days work is not too much to ask in 21st Century New Zealand. Neither is it too much to expect that we all chip in our fair share of tax, to fund the New Zealand that New Zealanders believe in.

We have 20 multinational companies paying just $1.8 million in income tax in 2014 while recording nearly $10 billion in annual sales in New Zealand. Thats a tax rate of 0.018%. Im sure most Kiwis would be willing to swap tax rates with them.

New Zealand companies are missing out on investment opportunities here because overseas competitors are abusing our tax system and have an unfair advantage.

If we keep making it easier for foreign companies to do business in New Zealand, than local ones, how long will it be before were all working longer hours, being paid lower wages, by foreign companies who ship all their profits overseas and give nothing back to New Zealand.

Our current blue pilots are steering us into the third world.

We, at New Zealand First, will provide tax cuts to small and medium-sized enterprises and tighten up our tax laws for corporations - foreign and domestic - to ensure fair competition on a level playing field. Its not rocket science, we all know its common sense.
With Guy Fawkes upon us tomorrow, and fireworks already ripping through our peaceful suburbs, one scared little Shih Tzu is still out there, waiting to be found.

Hes known simply as Harry, and tomorrow is of particular significance.

It was Bethlehem Colleges fireworks that send him scarpering earlier in the year, and since then hes been sighted numerous times in the Bethlehem area, near Cambridge road.

Jan Willoughby is making one last effort to find him before tomorrows inevitable artillery barrage. At 1pm today she will be down in the area behind Wallace Place/Furn Park Lane searching with her canine companion, Savvy.

Savvy is a Maltese Shih Tzu, so shes very much of the same ilk as Harry, she says.

Ive had a long conversation with Sharon (Harrys owner) about how timid, but also smart, these dogs are. It can make finding them difficult sometimes.

Savvys going to come with us and have a sniff. She loves nothing more than other Shih Tzus to have a playdate with.

Jan hopes the presence of another dog  particularly a Shih Tzu  might convince Harry to pop his head above the parapet and come out of hiding.

Basically, were going to take Savvy out and she can be the jailbait although she might be older, in which case she might be more of a cougar, laughs Jan.

Jan plans to lay down an upcycled (cardboard lawnmower box) glamping shelter with dog mattress, cuddly rug, and squeaky toys to entice Harry. There will also be some tasty lamb tripe and venison dental bites, which are apparently like catnip to dogs.

Jan says although Harry is just a dog, hes also part of somebodys family. She thinks its a timely reminder for people to look after all animals, not just their own, and be considerate.

Surely, if we can mobilise a volunteer force for clean up after Rena, we can bring one small, scared, starving dog home to his family after 6 long weeks?
UPDATED 2.40PM: Residents of a Bethlehem road were forced to evacuate their homes following a domestic gas leak this afternoon.

Northern Fire Communications shift manager Jarron Phillips says building contractors working at a Carmichael Road property accidentally ruptured a gas main while using a locating sphere shortly after 1pm.

Two crews from Greerton, including the Hazmat Unit, and two from Tauranga responded. Upon arriving at the scene the crews discovered a minor domestic gas leak.

The immediate area was evacuated as a precaution and our crews remained at the scene until the gas company arrived to plug the leak.

The gas company is now in the process fixing the gas main and fire crews have since left the scene, says Jarron.

EARLIER:

The fire service has responded to a reported gas leak in Bethlehem just after 1pm today.

The leak is thought to be around a private lane off Carmichael Road.

A reporter at the scene says two fire trucks are outside a residential property, although the firefighters are not presently engaged in any activity.
UPDATED: 5.25PM: Te Puna Road will be closed off to traffic while firefighters deal with a shelterbelt fire in Te Puna this evening.

Northern Fire Communications shift manager Jarron Phillips says one crew is currently at the scene of the fire, which measures roughly 50m long by about 8m high, and is about 300m down Te Puna Road from the intersection with State Highway 2.

We have another a crew from Greerton and a tanker from Tauranga currently making their way to the scene.

The fire is well involved and is threatening powerline which is why weve requested police to close the road down to traffic.

Jarron says at this stage it didnt appear as if any properties were being threatened by the fire.

A witness at the scene says he was driving down Te Puna Road when he saw the flames at about 4.45pm.

I thought it was a scrub fire to start with, but when I saw it was the shelterbelt on fire I was just like wow, thats bloody huge.

The fire was getting pretty close to a transformer which is pretty worrying. I rung the fire brigade and they said theyd had a few people call it in.

Its pretty big and going in both directions. It look like it started in the middle of the shelterbelt, but the winds are fanning it more towards Tauranga than Katikati.

The witness says a nearby orchard appeared unaffected by the fire.

EARLIER:

Firefighters are currently dealing with a shelterbelt fire in Te Puna.

A caller to the 0800 SUNLIVE news hotline says the hedge fire is about 300m down Te Puna Road from State Highway 2 and was roughly 50m in length.

SunLive will bring you more information soon
ATLANTA, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA), will present at Bairds 2016 Global Industrial Conference. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. local time in Chicago.

The presentation will be webcast on Mueller Water Products websitewww.muellerwaterproducts.comand will be archived for approximately 90 days.

About Mueller Water Products

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) is a leading manufacturer and marketer of products and services used in the transmission, distribution and measurement of water in North America. Our broad product and service portfolio includes engineered valves, fire hydrants, metering products and systems, leak detection and pipe condition assessment. We help municipalities increase operational efficiencies, improve customer service and prioritize capital spending, demonstrating why Mueller Water Products is Where Intelligence Meets Infrastructure. The piping component systems produced by Anvil help build connections that last in commercial, industrial and oil & gas applications. Visit us at www.muellerwaterproducts.com.
CLEVELAND, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that it is scheduled to present at the Robert W. Baird Industrial Conference in Chicago, Illinois on November 10, 2016 at 9:30 a.m. Central time (10:30 a.m. Eastern time).

Parker's scheduled presenter is Tom Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. A live webcast of the presentation will be accessible on Parker's investor information website at www.phstock.com and will be archived on the site.

With annual sales of $11 billion in fiscal year 2016, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company has operations in 49 countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 60 consecutive fiscal years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit the company's website at www.parker.com, or its investor information website at www.phstock.com.

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Stephen Colbert, Chobani yogurt

"The Late Show" host Stephen Colbertdefended Upstate NY-based yogurt company Chobani from racist criticism online by offering an alternative snack: Xeno-Gurt.

(CBS video still)

Chobani has been inadvertently thrust into the 2016 presidential race, much like Skittles and Tic Tacs.

The Upstate New York-based Greek yogurt company has been accused of trying to "drown" the U.S. in refugees, attacked by racist hate speech online and hit by far-right conservatives' calls for a boycott. The New York Times reports the mayor of Twin Falls, Idaho, where Chobani has a larger production facility, has even received death threats for supporting the company's expansion.

Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya, a Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, currently employs 300 refugees out of his 2,000 employees. He's also encouraged other American business to help with the refugee crisis, started a foundation for the cause, and has pledged to give away most of his fortune to help migrants.

Attacks from the alt-right have been met with an outpouring of support for Ulukaya and Chobani.

The Washington Post reports 85 percent of social media mentions about the CEO and 55 percent about his brand are positive after the Times' report Tuesday. Supporters have called for an anti-boycott with hashtags like #buychobani outpacing #boycott, according to Brandwatch, and some announced plans to show their support on election day, citing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposed ban on Syrian refugees.

In this Jan. 13, 2012 file photo, Chobani Greek Yogurt is seen at the Chobani plant in South Edmeston, N.Y.

"Let's show solidarity with Chobani & V in USA welcome all those who do good 2 us with love! Damn with haters of humanity! Vote for Hillary!" one Twitter user wrote.

"Just picked my election-night snack," another tweeted.

"The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert also defended Chobani with a series of yogurt jokes on CBS.

"It's no surprise that online trolls are in a race to the bottom, because that's where all the fruit is," Colbert quipped Wednesday night.

The late-night TV personality then introduced an alternative yogurt for those who hate Chobani: "Xeno-Gurt," for those who "love yogurt but hate the people who make it."

"Instead of active cultures, Xeno-Gurt has one monolithic culture that never changes. Enjoy," Colbert added. Then he took a bite, not realizing it was just a prop: "I'm not sure what I just put in my mouth... but it ain't yogurt."

Skip to the 6:43 mark to see Colbert's segment on Chobani:

Ulukaya founded Chobani in a former Kraft Foods cheese plant in South Edmeston, N.Y., in 2005. It is now the largest Greek yogurt company in the United States, with $1.5 billion in annual revenues. It has 20 percent of the total U.S. yogurt market and almost 37 percent of the Greek yogurt category. Recent reports put the company's value at between $3 and $5 billion.

As the company rapidly grew, Ulukaya began looking to refugee centers in Upstate New York and Idaho to help supply workers to his plants.
TOWN OF DIX, N.Y.--Nine people face felony drug charges after New York State Police discovered a methamphetamine lab at a home in the town of Dix, Schuyler County.

Troopers from Horseheads were conducting an investigation at 1496 Lawrence Johnson Road at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday when they discovered a meth lab there, state police said.

Members of the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, and Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team responded to the scene, as well as additional troopers.

Troopers served a search warrant on the home and seized:

Four "one pot" methamphetamine labs.

Four ounces of methamphetamine oil.

Pseudoephedrine boxes and blister packs.

Chemical reagents including muriatic acid, ammonium nitrate, lithium batteries, sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid.

Camping fuel.

Lab equipment consisting of coffee grinders, funnels, tools, plastic bottles, measuring cups, rubber tubing, thermometers and hydrogen chloride gas generators.

Marijuana

And a DVR recorder from a surveillance system.

As a result of the investigation nine people found at the residence were charged with the unlawful manufacturing of methamphetamine in the third degree, a felony. They are:

Basil A. Rhoads, 53, of 1496 Lawrence Johnson Rd., Beaver Dams.

Belinda M. Webster, 43, of 123 N. Catherine St., Montour Falls.

Stephanie N. Short, 28, of 7622 CR 20, Bradford.

Annette C. Romance, 47, of 7654 Whitehead Hill Rd. (no town given)

Carrie L. Southard, 37, of 325 Rock Cabin Rd, Lot#12, Montour Falls.

Gabriel J. Wilkins, 38, of 802 Wells Ave., Athens, Penn.

Heather J. Stehm, 25, of 531 West Water St., Elmira.

Earl G. MacDougall, 22, of 4545 SR 224, Montour Falls.

Tammy L. Snell, 39, of 325 Rock Cabin Rd, Lot#12, Montour Falls/

The nine were arraigned in the Village of Montour Falls Court, and sent to the Schuyler County Jail on bail. The Schuyler County Sheriff's Department assisted with the investigation and arraignments of the defendants.

The New York State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team conducted a cleanup and removed the methamphetamine manufacturing components and hazardous materials from the residence.
Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man left a South Side store playfully singing a rap song New Year's Day 2015 when another group took offense, a prosecutor said.

Someone in the other group pulled a gun and fired. The man who had been singing pulled out a gun and returned fire in the area of West Colvin Street and Midland Avenue.

There were at least 10 shots from the other group and at least one from the singing man, according to forensic evidence and witness accounts.

The singing man's stepbrother, Kendell Williams, 23, was killed in the gun battle that spilled over two city blocks. Williams was not armed, Chief Assistant District Attorney Matthew Doran said.

Today, parolee Charquell Judge, 23, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for firing the fatal shot that killed Williams. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter after being originally charged with murder.

The singing man, Stephen Grimes, 20, pleaded guilty to possessing an illegal weapon in the shootout. He is expected to be sentenced to 2 years in prison after cooperating with authorities.

Doran said Grimes had a valid self-defense claim since he was being shot at.

Kendell Williams is seen with his children, from left, Doncere, 6; Kendell Jr., 1; Tamia, 5; and Ayanna, 4. Williams was killed on New Year's Day 2015 in Syracuse.

Grimes later told authorities he didn't even remember what song he was singing. Doran said Grimes appeared to be singing for fun, not to taunt the other group.

The encounter began when the group with Grimes and Williams ran into the group with Judge outside the corner store at West Colvin and Midland. They entered the store, then left about the same time together.

That's when Judge's group took offense to Grimes's singing, Doran said.

The case was complicated by the fact that Judge asserted self-defense given he was also shot at. But authorities determined that Judge's bullet killed Williams.

"It was basically a running gun battle over two city blocks," Doran has said.

Today, County Court Judge Anthony Aloi called the death "stupid, callous, uncivilized and totally insensitive to the value of one's life."

Aloi wasn't sure if Judge didn't like that Grimes was singing at all, or interpreted the lyrics as being directed at him.

"In either case, how utterly stupid," Aloi said. "That the singing of a song put in motion the events that cost someone's life."

The victim's father drove into Syracuse from out-of-state to attend the sentencing. But he was overwhelmed by emotion and didn't speak in court.

Judge had been paroled in September 2014 on gun charges stemming from him shooting at a passing vehicle in 2011, police have said.
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Chase Coleman, an autistic ninth-grade student at Corcoran High School, quit the cross country team after being shoved to the ground by a stranger during a race in Rochester. Martin MacDonald of Pittsford pleaded not guilty today to a charge of second-degree harassment in connection with the incident.

(Submitted photo)

Martin MacDonald, the man accused of shoving autistic teen runner Chase Coleman to the ground during a race in Rochester, pleaded not guilty today to a charge of second-degree harassment, authorities said.

Martin MacDonald

MacDonald is due back in Rochester City Court Nov. 9, said Mary Wilmot, speaking for the Monroe County district attorney's office.

City Court Judge Ellen Yacknin will take over MacDonald's case. City Court Judge Caroline Morrison, who approved the warrant for MacDonald's arrest, recused herself today after the arraignment.

MacDonald is accused of attacking 15-year-old Chase Coleman Oct. 14 on a park road in Rochester, where Coleman was running in an invitational cross country race. According to police reports, MacDonald admitted pushing Coleman to the ground. MacDonald told police he thought Coleman would mug his wife, who was seated in their vehicle.

Coleman, who has autism and is almost completely non-verbal, lagged the other runners and may have strayed from the race course when the incident occurred, said his mother, Clarise Coleman. She was waiting for him near the finish line at the time, she said.

Judge Morrison denied a request for an arrest warrant Oct. 21, sparking an outcry from the Coleman family and a letter of protest from a Syracuse city councilor. After the case quickly garnered national attention, Rochester police revived their investigation this week and sought signed statements from Clarise Coleman and witnesses to better document the charge. Morrison signed an arrest warrant Wednesday.

The charge of second-degree harassment is a violation, punishable by no more than 15 days in jail. MacDonald has not responded to phone messages seeking comment. His attorney, Gary Gianforti, declined a request for an interview Thursday.

Chase Coleman quit the Syracuse West cross country team after the incident. Supporters have organized a fun run Nov. 19 to encourage him to resume the sport.

Contact reporter Tim Knauss anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democrat Kim Myers and Republican Claudia Tenney are locked in a tight battle as their three-way race for the 22nd Congressional District seat comes down to its final days, according to a new poll made public Thursday night.

The Time Warner Cable News/Siena College poll found Tenney (38 percent) holding a slim lead over Myers (34 percent), while independent candidate Martin Babinec has dropped to distant third with the support of 16 percent of likely voters.

The poll of 643 likely voters in the district was conducted by live operators who called land lines and cell phones on Tuesday and Wednesday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

The poll shows that the race has tightened slightly between Tenney, a state Assemblywoman, and Myers, a Broome County legislator, since late September. In that poll Tenney (35 percent) had a five percentage point lead over Myers (30 percent).

Babinec, a businessman who has invested almost $3 million in his campaign on the independent Upstate Jobs Party line, saw his support erode since the September poll, when he was favored by 24 percent of likely voters.

Siena spokesman Steve Greenberg said Babinec is still having a big influence on the race.

"The race between Tenney and Myers remains a tight four-point race, however, as Babinec has fallen out of contention, he now appears to be hurting Tenney more than he hurts Myers," Greenberg said.

The poll also found that independent voters who are not enrolled in a political party are now flocking to Myers. Myers trailed Tenney among independent voters by 2 percentage points, down from 12 percentage points in September.

The new poll also found deep geographical divisions in the race. Myers leads Tenney by 11 percentage points in Broome and Tioga counties, while Tenney leads by about 16 points in Oswego, Oneida and Herkimer counties. Tenney lives in Oneida County, while Myers lives in Broome County.

In Madison, Cortland and Chenango counties, Tenney holds a narrow 2-point lead over Myers, down from a 15-point lead in September.

New York's 22nd District covers all of Madison, Oneida, Cortland and Chenango counties and part of Oswego, Broome, Herkimer, and Tioga counties.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
ATLANTA, UNITED STATES, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Crawford & Company Names Hilton Sturisky CIO

ATLANTA (Nov. 4, 2016) - Crawford & Company, one of the world's largest independent providers of claims management solutions to insurance companies and self-insured entities, has named Hilton Sturisky its new global chief information officer. Hilton comes to Crawford from Spirit Airlines, where he was CIO since 2014.

"In his most recent CIO position, Hilton helped transform a legacy IT environment into a modern technology ecosystem," said Harsha V. Agadi, Crawford president and CEO. "He has successfully faced challenges and opportunities in his career that are similar to ours, including digital disruption, mobility and analytics."

During his 18-plus years in the Information Technology field, Sturisky has been a strong technology leader with a proven track record of leading change, implementing business process transformation and building high-performance teams in a complex, global environment. Before joining Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit Airlines, he was global CIO at BCD Travel in Atlanta, a global leader in travel management. Prior to BCD Travel, he worked at Coca-Cola, Pfizer and Harland Clarke.

Hilton came up through the ranks as a technologist and gained credibility with his teams through his willingness to roll up his sleeves and get to the root of problems.

"I look forward to leading a renewed IT group that provides the platform to support operational excellence and strategic transformation for Crawford's future success," Sturisky added.

Sturisky has an M.B.A. from Emory University, a Master of Science in industrial & Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

About Crawford

Based in Atlanta, Ga., Crawford & Company (www.crawfordandcompany.com) is one of the world's largest independent providers of claims management solutions to the risk management and insurance industry as well as self-insured entities, with an expansive global network serving clients in more than 70 countries. The Crawford Solution offers comprehensive, integrated claims services, business process outsourcing and consulting services for major product lines including property and casualty claims management, workers compensation claims and medical management, and legal administration. The Company's shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbols CRD-A and CRD-B.

###

For more information, please contact:

Sue M. Friesen, vice president, Global Marketing

404.300.1604 (office)

864.386.6417 (cell)

sue.friesen@us.crawco.com

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7e47452d-3020-4a3a-89e6-a54d68e9185f

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6cb9da7e-4d2f-46e7-989d-9aa73bfe9503
Michael Barry.jpg

Michael Barry, Scriba Highway Superintendent, pleaded guilty to DWI in June.

(Provided photo)

SCIBA, N.Y. -- Town of Scriba voters will determine the fate of Highway Superintendent Michael Barry's position.

Barry, who took office in January, was charged with driving while intoxicated in July 2015 and pleaded guilty in June.

A proposition on Tuesday's ballot will ask Scriba residents to decide if the town should abolish the elected position of highway superintendent and replace it with an appointed position. Changing the highway position from an elected position to an appointed position would allow the the town to remove Barry from office.

Barry, 48, was arrested by state police in Cayuga County on July 26, 2015 after registering a blood-alcohol content of 0.14 percent. Barry, who won the election in November 2015, was immediately criticized by town officials who said he "tricked and deceived" voters by not mentioning the arrest before Election Day.

Barry entered a guilty plea on June 8. He was given a conditional discharge and fined $500. His license to operate a motor vehicle, which has been suspended since November, was revoked for one year. Barry was also ordered to install an interlock device on any vehicle he owns or intends to operate when his license is restored.

Barry told Syracuse.com in June that he pleaded guilty to a DWI because he felt he couldn't get a fair trial. He said he feels Town Supervisor Ken Burdick and Town Attorney Kevin Caraccioli have a "vendetta against him." Barry said Burdick and Caraccioli were in "constant contact" with the Cayuga County district attorney's office and Barry felt that would hinder his ability to receive a fair trial.

Scriba residents didn't know about Barry's DWI charge until after he won the highway superintendent position in November 2015. The town took the unusual step of announcing his charges Nov. 8, five days after Election Day.

Barry defeated incumbent Roger Myers by about 170 votes. Barry and Myers are both Republicans, but Barry beat Myers by five votes in the primary. Barry ran on Republican and Democratic lines on the November ballot and Myers ran on the Conservative and Independence lines.

Barry's term ends on Dec. 31, 2019, but if Scriba voters approve the proposition, Barry will be out of the position on Dec. 31.

If the proposition is adopted, town officials have said they would appoint a new highway superintendent. Town officials also say they plan to return the position to an elected one once Barry is out of office.

Barry said in June he is hopeful that residents vote down the proposition.

"I just want to do my job," he said.
Blog_2016-10-31-ll-katko-deacon3.JPG

Rep. John Katko, the Republican representing the 24th Congressional District, speaks to Syracuse Media Group's editorial board Monday, Oct. 31, 2016, during a joint meeting with Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon.

(Lauren Long | llong@syracuse.com)

Voters in the closely divided 24th Congressional District sent Republican John Katko to Washington two years ago, in the hopes he would show independence and avoid the partisan gamesmanship that crippled Congress.

Katko delivered.

He broke with Republican Party leadership 19 percent of the time, making him the eighth most independent member of Congress. He refused to go along with meaningless votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act without an alternative in place. Fifteen of his bills passed the House and six were signed into law by the president -- the most of any freshman legislator since 1989. He even had a role in negotiating the first long-term Highway Bill to be enacted in a decade.

Based on those accomplishments, and mindful that much more needs to be done, the Syracuse Media Group editorial board endorses Katko for a second two-year term.

Katko's record makes a strong argument for retaining his leadership in a district that whipsawed between Republicans and Democrats four times in eight years. In our view, his Democratic Party challenger, Colleen Deacon, does not make the case that voters need to make yet another change.

That is not to say the incumbent has been perfect.

During his first campaign, Katko said his No. 1 priority in Washington would be jobs and the economy - a perennial issue in hard-luck Upstate New York. It didn't quite work out that way.

The former federal prosecutor was appointed to the Homeland Security Committee and made chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security. Eleven of his 15 bills that passed the House flowed from his anti-terrorism assignments. It's exciting work. It's important for the country. It raises Katko's national profile. In a second term, he needs to graduate to issues that have a more direct impact on the local community. His work on combating the heroin epidemic - bringing his law enforcement experience to bear on a critical local issue -- is a good start.



Katko, 53, of Camillus, can point to his vote to repeal the ACA's medical device tax as helping Central New York businesses like Welch Allyn. He also has worked to boost tourism through the establishment of national parks in Auburn and Oswego. He and Sen. Charles Schumer, working together, succeeded in restoring $10 million in Centro bus funding in the Highway Bill, which also keeps federal dollars flowing for infrastructure repairs in the states.

Deacon, 39, of Syracuse, is a former regional director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Before that she worked for Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll. Her life experience as a single mom, who was briefly forced to depend on public assistance, informs her run for Congress.

Deacon won a three-way primary in June. She found her voice as the campaign progressed, challenging Katko's bipartisanship as a veneer and criticizing his reluctance to disavow Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump until just last month.

Deacon's policy differences with the incumbent are in line with the broader philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans. The candidates differ most sharply on paid family leave (she supports 12 weeks of it, paid for by employers and employees; he proposes a tax-advantaged plan so employees can save for it); gun legislation (she supports denying gun purchases to people on the "no-fly" list; he says "no-fly, no-buy" has inadequate due process protections); and Planned Parenthood (she supports funding it; he went back on a campaign promise and voted to defund it after videos surfaced claiming to show an official discussing the sale of fetal tissue from abortions). If these are make-or-break issues for you, then you've already made your choice.

Deacon has been a worthy candidate. We're confident she will find her way back into public service in another role.



Looking to the next Congress, Schumer sees some potential for bipartisan deals on corporate tax reform, the creation of an infrastructure bank and immigration reform. Katko seems open to these ideas; we encourage him to be a part of resolving these pressing issues.

On balance, Katko has done what he said he would do when voters first elected him in 2014. We endorse him for a second term to keep it up.
2014-11-04-dl-vote1 (1).JPG

Voting screens at the Camillus Fire Station polling place in 2014. Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, is the big day.

(David Lassman / The Post-Standard)

League of Women Voters: Educate yourself, vote

To the Editor:

Yes, we are electing a president -- and also members of the U.S. Senate and Congress; 5th District state Supreme Court judges; state Senate and Assembly members; Onondaga County Court Judge and Family Court Judge; City of Syracuse Councilor-at-Large and local town and village officials. The League of Women Voters offers resources to help you.

Visit www.VOTE411.org enter your address to find your polling place, build your ballot with our online voters' guide and much more! With our voters' guide you can see the races on your ballot, compare candidates' positions side-by-side, and print out a "ballot" indicating your preferences as a reminder and take it with you to the polls on Election Day.

As a citizen, it is your privilege and responsibility to become an educated voter. Vote on Nov. 8 or, if you are unable to get to the polls, obtain an absentee ballot by Nov. 7 available at the Onondaga County Board of Elections.

Rooted in the movement that secured women the right to vote, the League of Women Voters has always been committed to registering, educating and turning out voters. As we approach our 100th anniversary, we hope you are planning to participate in your local elections and we hope you encourage others to do so, as well.

Joan Durant

Director of Voter Services

League of Women Voters of the Syracuse Metropolitan Area

A modest proposal to rein in campaign advertising

To the Editor:

I have a few suggestions to help implement campaign finance reform:



All media coverage and advertising for all candidates for office (federal, state or local) shall be prohibited until six weeks prior to any election in each year.

All TV advertising shall be required to be personally approved by the candidate it purports to support.

No entity other than each candidate's official campaign shall be allowed to purchase any media coverage of any kind.

Each candidate shall be allowed to have broadcast only one TV advertisement in support of his or her candidacy one time per hour.

Each specific TV advertisement for any candidate shall be permitted to be broadcast no more frequently than once every two hours.

Any violation of these rules shall impose a fine of $1 million on the violator to be applied to the National Debt.

Michael W. Reed

Liverpool

All that ad money could feed a lot of poor kids in Syracuse

To the Editor:

As sure as the changing leaves are indicative of fall, the commercials are hot, heavy and nasty, telling the populace that it's election time. I'm not registered with any party, being a moral conservative and fiscal moderate who actually tries my best to research the positions of the candidates, their past votes, affiliations and so on (which is the reason that politicians want an internet kill switch). I only watch news (and MeTv occasionally) and don't have cable.

I mention all of this for this simple point: Why don't the politicians and their shadow organizations (House Majority PAC, etc) take their money and feed the 50 percent-plus kids who are in poverty in the Syracuse area? How about telling the voters what you're going to do with specifics, instead of vague generalities and promises that have no meaning? What will you do to fix the money supply, which is as worthless as the Deutsche marks of the Wiemar Republic?

So, politicians and your shadow groups that do your dirty work for you, I hit mute when your commercials come on -- and I don't think that I'm the only one.

James C. Alpeter Jr.

Syracuse

No one asked, but here's what this voter wants

To the Editor:

I am so tired of politicians saying; "What the American people want is..."

I am one of the American people and none of "them" ever asked me what I want, so I will tell them.

I want a presidential campaign where two candidates tell me their opinions on the major issues of the day without resorting to personal attacks.

I want a campaign where civility and dignity reign supreme. Negative ads never changed anyone's mind.

I want a campaign where a candidate has the courage to tell a supporter that he or she is wrong. (Think John McCain).

I want a campaign where a candidate has the strength of character to admit he or she is wrong.

I want a campaign where a candidate's experience and a record of public service count for something.

I know I'm naive, but is this really too much to ask for? I think not.



Frederic F. Cossick

Baldwinsville

Billions of dollars down the drain

To the Editor:

This election cycle is (finally) nearing an end. Here is a word to remember: Billions. As in, billions of dollars spent by candidates/Super PACs/etc. How many poor/hungry American children could we have helped with that money? How do we justify this?

John Endries II

Manlius

Vote to 'initiate civility in governance'

To the Editor:

Vote.

Here's why I vote.

l vote because I am incapable of abandoning my country and because I fantasize about the ways we could take back our stolen humanities, our rights and our freedom.

If everyone who could vote did, that alone would scare the bejesus out of those unscrupulous candidates, lobbyists, Corporate America, the President, Congress and the legislating Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Americans can take back their country! It doesn't have to be a fantasy.



We can and we will. We could have another freedom march like the march on Washington. That march still brings tears to my eyes. That was a beautiful and don't forget a peaceful march. It was a miracle of organizational skills and courageous purpose. This time, instead of representing a minority, it could represent our citizenry.

We can demand intensive research for safe, renewable energy to save our home, planet Earth. We can overturn Citizens United. We can eliminate private funding of all elected officials simple by voting to publicly fund all elections. We can demand livable wages, we can demand a fair tax code, equitable education, health care. We can initiate civility in governance, first by example. It's all doable. It's doable because when citizens get a fair deal, they are at their most productive. They are their very best selves.

There will be more than enough increase in taxes flowing into the coffers to pay down the debt, and balance the budget.

All this and more is possibly by using your power to vote!

Carol Schiltz

Syracuse


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Terakeet, a Syracuse technology firm, leads a digital effort for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign in five key battleground states. Terakeet employees work in their Armory Square office in this 2012 file photo.

(David Lassman / The Post-Standard)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - When Hillary Clinton needed help with her digital campaign in the most hotly contested swing states in the 2016 presidential election, she didn't look to Silicon Valley.

Instead, the former New York senator turned to a Syracuse technology firm eager to test its own cutting-edge software that had never been used in a political campaign.

Clinton's campaign hired Terakeet, a digital technology firm based in Syracuse's Armory Square. CEO and co-founder Mac Cummings helped build the company from two employees to 200 in 15 years.

Along the way, Syracuse native and now Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recruited Cummings in 2008 to serve as Clinton's director of online finance. Cummings energized what had been a lackluster fundraising campaign for her first presidential bid. He helped Clinton raise about $75 million online in six months.

Now eight years later, Cummings and 15 Terakeet employees in Syracuse have quietly worked on "Project Battleground," a digital effort to get out the vote for Clinton in five key swing states that could decide who wins Tuesday's presidential election.

Terakeet's secret weapon in the battle against Donald Trump has a simple name: Chorus.

It took Terakeet seven years and more than $10 million to develop Chorus, software that identifies and helps clients engage with amateur bloggers and social media users in the United States who have a big influence on any number of subjects, from cooking to fashion.

Terakeet's clients who have used the corporate version of the software include Chobani yogurt, Uber, Dollar Shave Club and Nest Labs, the "smart" home appliance maker that Google bought in 2014 for $3.2 billion.

Terakeet can use Chorus, for example, to identify any bloggers on the internet who publish recipes for Thanksgiving that suggest using yogurt as a substitute for mayonnaise.

Once identified, the software can find those bloggers who may also have a large following on a particular social network, such as Instagram. The company then engages those social-media "influencers" about its product.

Project Battleground

After the Clinton campaign approached Cummings and co-founder Patrick Danial in April, the Terakeet team came up with the idea of using Chorus as a political outreach tool.

"Now we are taking this practice that businesses are hiring us for, and we're applying it to politics," Cummings said. "Our idea was to introduce this for the first time to a political campaign, and to use our technology in the key states."

Terakeet developed "Project Battleground" initially to reach people who are long-form political bloggers who may also be active on Twitter.

After starting in the middle of Pennsylvania in August, the campaign has now expanded to Florida, Ohio, Nevada and North Carolina, Cummings said.

"We knew the electoral map would come down to a handful of states, and those states could come down to a handful of votes," Cummings said, adding that the project was never intended to reach a wide audience.

"We don't think this is going to result in hundreds of thousands of votes," Cummings said of the project. "It's really targeted around the undecided."

Terakeet Chief Executive Officer MacLaren "Mac" Cummings (left) and Terakeet Chief Technology Officer Patrick Danial (right) at their office in Syracuse's Armory Square.

Terakeet used its proprietary platform to break down key digital "influencers" online into five categories: pro-Hillary, Democratic, progressive/liberal, anti-Trump and exclusive Twitter users without blogs.

Once the potential Clinton supporters were identified, the campaign's digital directors in each state contacted the bloggers and offered to provide more information about the campaign's local activities in each state.

The idea was to help build awareness of the campaign in key counties, and to help with the get-out-the-vote strategy, Cummings said.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for an interview about Terakeet's work.

Disclosure reports filed by the Clinton campaign show Terakeet was paid $10,000 for "technology services" in June, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Cummings said the firm ended up doing about $35,000 worth of work for the Clinton campaign.

Digital outreach

The strategy to reach the social influencers online has become a big industry as marketers increasingly look for new ways to reach potential customers online.

"This is like the middle-class of influence," Cummings said. "Our theory was that the same thing exists in politics. There are amateur bloggers who are posting on social media, but they have a large following."

So far, the firm has mostly anecdotal evidence of whether its digital campaign worked. The ultimate test will come on Tuesday.

The project had particular success reaching undecided and independent voters who are part of the anti-Trump crowd.

"They really liked and had great success with the anti-Trump crowd online," Cummings said. "A lot of those folks are certainly impassioned and fired up, but undecided who they are going to vote for."

Cummings, who also worked on the online fundraising side of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, said he considers his latest assignment for Clinton among his most rewarding experiences.

"This election could come down to six voters in Miami-Dade County," he said. "And you have the ability to change history."

He added, "I do believe there is a chance our work will end up having an impact on the outcome. To be able to say you've been involved in four presidential campaigns, it's a pretty cool thing."

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
MARINA DEL REY, CA, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Buscar Company (OTC: CGLD) announced today that the Company will be attending the November Keeneland auction. The Company will be looking to acquire weanlings and mares. The auction will take place November 8-20 in Lexington, Kentucky. The 4,763 entries in this years auction make it the largest edition of the November sale since 2008. It also marks a 6 percent increase in offerings from last years auction, which cataloged 4,476. The November sale has become an increasingly popular destination for trade of elite weanlings. This is best evidenced by the North American record price for a weanling at public auction being surpassed at each of the past two editions of the Keeneland November sale. Keeneland will provide live gavel-to-gavel coverage of the entire auction at www.Keeneland.com.

The Company will be acquiring the weanlings with the intent of reselling them at the Keeneland September Yearling sale in 2017. This is referred to a s pinhooking. The Company is also looking at acquiring mare to begin studding them in February or March. The Company invites any shareholder to attend and spend the day with our management team and our amazing bloodstock agents.

About Buscar Company. The Company is engaged in the buying, selling and racing of thoroughbreds. The Companys focus is acquiring thoroughbreds that can race in the allowance and stakes level of thoroughbred racing; however, the Company will initially begin acquiring thoroughbreds in the claiming level of thoroughbred racing. More information can be found at www.buscarcompany.com.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate.
MILLWOOD, Md., Nov. 4, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Project HOPE announced an airlift of medicines and supplies to Haiti today as health needs persist one month after Hurricane Matthew blasted through the Caribbean nation.

Project HOPE, a global health development organization, has been working closely with Haiti's Ministry of Health and other NGOs in response to the disaster. The medicines and medical supplies will be delivered to the Cholera Treatment Center located at GHESKIO, a Haitian health care and research facility in Port-au-Prince and to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, a 100-bed hospital in Deschapelles, in the Artibonite Valley, where previous cholera outbreaks have occurred.

"We're collaborating with the government and local partners to support Haiti's health system, which has been seriously compromised by the disaster," said Scott Crawford, Senior Director of Humanitarian Operations at Project HOPE. "We are delivering a range of much-needed medicines and supplies including antibiotics, water hydration tablets, gloves, saline solution, sponges, gauze, water purification units, and generators."

Haiti's health facilities were severely damaged or destroyed by the hurricane and there are about 3,500 suspected cholera cases. The government will begin a cholera immunization campaign next week as cholera spreads quickly once the bacteria enters the water supply. Additional medicine and medical supply donations valued at over $8 million dollars are also being processed for health facilities in coordination with the Ministry of Health.

Project HOPE has also been deploying medical volunteers to the southern region of Nippes. The HOPE medical team is providing direct patient care at the St. Therese Hospital in Miragoane and is also involved in the assessment of needs and health capacity building.

Medical volunteer deployments will continue in the coming weeks as health needs evolve. The death toll from the Category 4 storm stands at 546, according to the government and the UN says 1.4 million Haitians need help, out of 2.1 million affected by the hurricane. HOPE is coordinating its operations based on the recommendations of the Ministry of Health which is closely monitoring all regions affected by the storm.

Since the 2010 earthquake, Project HOPE has sent medical volunteers to train and assist local health care professionals in areas affected by cholera. The NGO provided health care to more than 1,000 Haitians in the aftermath of the disaster and distributed more than $60 million of donated medicines and supplies.



About Project HOPE

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solution to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world's first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now provides medical training and health education, and conducts humanitarian assistance programs in more than 30 countries. Visit our website projecthope.org and follow us on Twitter @projecthopeorg.

Photos accompanying this release are available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41829

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41830
Asian products market changing

Refineries in China have steadily increased their crude oil intake in recent years, aided in part by the granting of import licenses to teapot refiners and the creation of the China Petroleum Purchase Federation of Independent Refiners, according to a shipbrokers report.

Data for January to August, 2016 showed that refinery crude throughput increased by about 600,000 barrels per day over the same period in 2015 (source: JODI). These developments are not only impacting on the crude tanker market but also changing the dynamics of the Asia/Pacific refined products market, Gibson Research said. Traditionally China has been seen as one of the main regional importers of diesel; however, the market has seen a fundamental change with the country recently becoming a net diesel exporter and increasingly an exporter of gasoline. Chinese internal product demand has changed drastically over recent years, as the economy has attempted to gradually shift away from one of heavy manufacturing and labour intensive to commercial services, resulting in softer diesel demand used mainly in heavy industries. At the same time, demand for gasoline and jet fuel remained strong. Reforms to the refining sector allowing independent teapot refineries to compete against larger state-owed refineries have increased competition to sell internally and has resulted in refineries looking abroad to place barrels. It is important to note that in general most Chinese refineries are geared up to maximise diesel production, Gibson said. In order to meet internal demand for gasoline and jet fuel, diesel production will naturally increase, resulting in a surplus supply and more barrels for export. However, with more refineries running at high levels, supply of all products will improve, with increasing export volumes. When looking at the export figures thus far this year, the impact of changes to Chinas product demand paints an interesting picture. Diesel exports for Jan-Sept, 2016 on average are closer to 180,000 barrels per day higher than 2015 levels, with gasoline exports also faring well with an increase of roughly 80,000 barrels per day. September proved to be a record month for exports of diesel. Somewhat bizarrely, however, diesel and gasoline imports have increased throughout 2016 despite the large export volumes. Sadly, the increase in Chinese exports has not resulted in any significant upturn in tanker rates. With the majority of barrels being sold to traders, it would appear most have been heading south to Singapore, with further exports required to really push freight rates higher. What has emerged is a growing base trade of barrels out of China, which has not just provided an incremental stream of cargoes but also offered owners additional opportunities to achieve higher than 50% utilisation during the voyage. The Chinese economy is facing significant challenges moving forward, and the refining sector is not immune to these challenges. Along with other major industries, such as steel and coal struggling with overcapacity, data suggests that Chinese refining capacity stands at around 14 mill barrels per day, with an estimated 3 mill barrels per day in excess capacity at current intake levels. It would appear that the government is beginning to crack down on any grey areas of taxation in gasoline production and sales, which could hit smaller refiners already hampered by higher logistical costs when exporting. Despite this, slowing industrial output and struggling internal demand will most likely lead to refiners being left with few options but to look further afield to place product. This should result in sustained export demand from Chinese refineries and a steady flow of cargoes for product tanker owners at least in the short term, Gibson concluded.




Deadly Gadani scrapyard FSO blast

A huge blast thought caused by several gas cylinder explosions on board an FSO, beached at Gadani shipbreaking plot number 56, has killed more than 20 workers with many more trapped inside the burning vessel.

More than 60 workers are reported injured. It is feared that the death toll will increase as many workers are in a critical state suffering from severe burns. More workers are missing and reportedly still remain stuck in the ship, 24 hours after the blast, the fire on the vessel was still reported to be burning on Thursday.



This terrific accident is a painful reminder of the dangerous working conditions at the shipbreaking yards in Gadani. Our thoughts go first and foremost to the victims, to their families and friends, said Ingvild Jenssen, NGO Shipbreaking Platform policy director.



The 1982-built converted FSO, Federal 1 , was sold to the Gadani shipbreaker by Jakarta-based PT Sinar Mentari Prima and was used at the Jabung Batanghari terminal owned by the Indonesian government company BPMIGAS and operated by PetroChina. The vessel changed its flag and name to ACES just weeks before it reached the beach, the NGO said.



The Pakistan National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) has announced three days of mourning and a strike at all yards. Workers participated in a rally at Gadani to protest against the deplorable working conditions and lack of government support to enforce safety and occupational health laws. The Platform endorses NTUFs demands that all victims of the FSO explosion must receive adequate treatment for their injuries and that they, or their relatives, must also receive financial compensation for their losses.



Health and safety must come first. This terrible blast could have been avoided. There is a clear lack of infrastructure and equipment in Gadani to prevent such a deadly accident. Rescue operations are extremely difficult, due to the lack of ambulances and firefighting equipment and because rapid access to the ship and the workers that are still stuck inside is extremely challenging, said Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistani Platform member organisation.



The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has called for the Gadani beaching yards to be closed and the activities moved off the beach to areas that are under strict control, using alternative and safer methods in docks or along piers.




KNOP reports record revenues

Shuttle tanker owner Knot Offshore Partners reported total revenues of $43.6 mill for the third quarter of this year, compared to $43.1 mill for 2Q16, an increase of $0.5 mill.

The increase was mainly due to one additional calendar days operation during the third quarter. Operating income for 3Q16 was $21.2 mill, compared to $20.2 mill in 2Q16. Net income for 3Q16 was $19.4 million, compared to $11.6 mill for the previous quarter. Net income was impacted by the recognition of realised and unrealised gain on derivative instruments of $3.6 mill, compared to a loss of $3.2 mill in 2Q16. However, net income for 3Q16 increased by $10.6 mill, compared to 3Q15 net income. This increase was primarily due to (i) an increase in operating income of $1.9 mill due to earnings from the Ingrid Knutsen being included in the Partnerships results from 15th October, 2015, (ii) a decrease in operating income, excluding the Ingrid Knutsen results, of $0.4 mill mainly due an increase of operating expenses, due to receipt of insurance proceeds 3Q15, and (iii) a $9.1 mill decrease in total finance expense primarily caused by the derivatives gain in 3Q16. All 10 of the Partnerships vessels operated well throughout 3Q16 with 100% fleet usage.. Distributable cash flow was $20.3 mill for 3Q16, compared to $18.5 mill for 2Q16. As of 30th September, 2016, the Partnership had $62.4 mill in available liquidity, which consisted of cash and cash equivalents of $27.4 mill and an undrawn revolving credit facility of $35 mill. This revolving credit facility is available until 10th June, 2019. The Partnerships total interest bearing debt outstanding as at the same date was $635.2 mill ($638.5 mill net of debt issuance cost). On 13th September, 2016, Statoil exercised its option to extend the timecharter of the Bodil Knutsen for two additional years, thereby extending the firm timecharter contract period from May, 2017 to May, 2019. The Partnership also granted another five one-year options to Statoil to extend the charter. On 1st November, 2016, the Partnerships wholly owned subsidiary, KNOT Shuttle Tankers, entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire KNOT 19, the company that owns the shuttle tanker, Raquel Knutsen, from Knutsen NYK. The Partnership expects the acquisition to close within about 30 days, subject to customary closing conditions. The purchase price was $116.5 mill, net of around $103.5 mill of outstanding debt related to the vessel. On the deals closing, KNOT 19 will repay around $29 mill of this debt, leaving an aggregate of about $74.5 mill of debt outstanding under the secured credit facility related to the vessel. Raquel Knutsen was delivered in March, 2015 and is operating in Brazil under a 10-year time charter with Repsol Sinopec Brasil, which will expire in the second quarter of 2025. The charterer has options to extend the charter for one three-year period and one two-year period. To date, during 4Q16, usage of the Partnerships fleet has been 99.5%. Operating income for the Partnership is expected to be positively impacted by a full month operation of Raquel Knutsen. The Partnership expects to receive options to acquire four additional vessels controlled by Knutsen NYK pursuant to the terms of the omnibus agreement entered into in connection with the Partnership's initial public offering. These vessels are under construction in South Korea and China. John Costain, KNOP CEO, CFO said in a conference call; Were seeing substantial oil production growth and consequently the supply of shuttle tankers is tightening as demand grows. We have a young fleet and after record-breaking set of results in the previous quarter, we have reported our best ever financial results for 3Q16. These are our highest ever revenues and operating income. Together with our highest ever adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow, KNOP has a very solid financial situation. Were also pleased to announce latest additions to the partnership, Raquel Knutsen, for an acquisition price of $116.5 mill expected from 1st December, 2016. The vessel was delivered in March, 2015 with a 10-year firm charter to Repsol. As well as being an accretive acquisition, the vessel has a timecharter duration of over 8.25 years, plus five further years of options significantly increasing our charter backlog. It also reduces the average age of the fleet. Our sector is unique amongst marine limited partnerships, as there has been no speculative ordering of shuttle tankers, so the partnership should yield both stable and sustainable revenues. Before ordering a new vessel, our sponsor, Knutsen NYK, will always agree a long-term employment contract. For 3Q16, the partnership generated record revenues and operating income of $43.6 mill and $21.2 mill, respectively, also our highest average adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow of $35.1 mill and $20.3 mill. We declared a stable distribution of $0.52 for this quarter, the coverage ratio of 1.35. We had an excellent operational performance of 100% vessel utilisation this quarter, he explained.




Markets - Active week for VLCCs

A very active week for VLCCs, mainly in the MEG. Rates edged up ex MEG for both East and West but not to the extent some had expected, due to the high activity.

Charterers stretched well forward on dates, anticipating near term firming rates. Ships are still plentiful, hence competition is strong for new business and it appeared that rates were flattening, as some owners chose to secure present levels, Fearnleys reported. West Africa/East was not as active as the MEG, but December dates are now in play and here rates may also have reached a peak for now. Suezmaxes found little respite in West Africa as tonnage built up with East ballasters swelling the list. TD20 flirted with mid WS50s before stabilising at the WS57.5 level. Even replacement cargoes comfortably achieved last done levels. The Black Sea retreated from its recent highs as a quiet Med market added tonnage to the list. TD6 rates fell by almost 10 points to WS70. Owners will be looking to the third decade in West Africa for much needed momentum, but with a quiet Med market this coming week, they have little to grip onto. The Black Sea has yet to find its bottom level but charterers were aggressively pulling it towards the mid WS60s. As predicted last week, the North Sea and Baltic experienced softer rates. However, for the time being it seems like the bottom has been reached. Going forward, we believe rates will stabilise around current levels, before firming up again for third decade fixing. In the Med and Black Sea, we saw some lower rates fixed cross-Med at the beginning of the week. However, a busy Black Sea programme helped shorten the position list during the last couple of days, and as owners are feeling they have the momentum on their side, we expect rates to move towards mid WS70s by the end of this week, Fearnleys concluded. Elsewhere, Petrobras has said it plans to cancel orders for 17 vessels, including tankers. We decided to revoke the contracts for those ships, Antonio Silvino, head of Petrobras shipping operation -Transpetro - told the media during a presentation at the recent Rio Oil & Gas Conference. The cancellations mark the unravelling of Brazils PROMEF project, which was designed to revive the countrys shipbuilding industry and replace Petrobras rather elderly fleet, during the countrys oil and commodities boom, which has since ground to a halt. The cancellations are believed to represent more than a third of the 46 ships ordered by Transpetro under the programme, starting in 2003. Silvino said this move to cancel contracts does not necessarily mean it will operate with a reduced fleet. He said the company is evaluating options to increase the number of ships chartered to Petrobras. Transpetro also plans to offer services for other companies, he said. In the newbuilding sector, there were a few more orders reported. These included Maersk Tankers reportedly contracting six, option six, Aframaxes at Dalian for $42 mill each for 2018-2019 delivery. According to brokers reports, the deal is subject to board approval expected to be given by early next year. Bihar Navigation was said to have ordered two,option two Aframaxes for $41 mill each at New Times, plus two, option two MRs from the same yard at $35 mill each, all for 2018 delivery. Odfjell has confirmed an order for what are claimed to be the worlds largest stainless steel chemical tankers. An earlier LOI for four 49,000 dwt vessels at China Shipbuilding Trading and Hudong-Zonghua Shipbuilding has now been turned into a firm order, which now also includes a further four options. They will have a cargo capacity of 54,600 cu m. The first vessel is expected to be delivered in June, 2019 and the following vessels at three months intervals. The capital commitments will be $60 mill per vessel, Odfjell said. Kristian Mrch, Odfjell CEO, commented; "We are very happy with the agreement we have signed today, which is a significant step in solving our tonnage replacement needs. The vessels will be the most efficient stainless steel chemical tankers available and the vessels are designed to be good for the environment, good for our customers and a good investment for our shareholders," he said. Concordia Maritime is to sell a second tanker on a sale and leaseback basis. The Suezmax Stena Supreme is to be sold to one of Japans largest shipowning companies and senior debt funding will be provided by one of Japans mega banks. The transaction is scheduled to be completed later this month. Stena Supreme will be chartered back on a bareboat basis for 12 years, with annual re-purchase options from year three onwards. The sale will give an accounting profit of about $1.8 mill and a positive liquidity effect of around $22 mill, Concordia said. We are very happy with the agreement. Its a good price, while the leaseback arrangement means that we can continue employing Stena Supreme in the successful Stena Sonangol Suezmax pool for many years to come. Just as with Stena Image, the transaction is a way of preparing ourselves for a subdued market situation and good business opportunities that may arise. We are not sitting still, but are actively working on the fleets structure and disposition, explained Kim Ullman, Concordia Maritime CEO. With the agreement, we are taking a further step into the Japanese financing market. Once again, the terms of the transaction are highly competitive and the agreement will have a substantial positive cash effect for us. We have now conducted two transactions in a short space of time and we are continuously evaluating the possibility of similar arrangements, said Ola Helgesson, Concordia Maritime CFO. Fearnley Securities has acted as financial advisor to Concordia Maritime for the transaction. Capital Product Partners has purchased the MR Amor from its sponsor, Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. The 2015-built tanker, built by Samsung Heavy Industries, was acquired for $32.8 mill on 24th October, Capital said. Amor is currently operating under a under a two year timecharter to Cargill at a gross daily rate of $17,500. The Cargill charter commenced in October, 2015. Capital Product Partners said that the aggregate price was met by a $15.8 mill term loan under a new credit facility with ING Bank, $16 mill in cash and an issuance of new common units to Capital Maritime. Euronav has confirmed it is to buy out its 50% joint venture partner to take full control of the 2005-built VLCC VK Eddie. Euronav will buy the vessel from the joint venture company Oak Maritime (Canada) for $39 mill and will receive back 50% of the proceeds. The Antwerp-based company was also rumoured to have bought the converted VLCC Madison Orca for an undisclosed sum. She was built as a VLOC in 2010 and converted to a tanker in China. Teekay Tankers was believed to have sold the 2002-built Suezmaxes Ganges Spirit and Yamuna Spirit to Greece-based New Shipping for $16.2 mill each. Two Aframaxes reportedly changed hands. The 2002-built Siena was believed sold to Bakri Navigation for $15 mill, while the 2002-built Morning Glory VIII was reported as sold to unknown interests for $13 mill. In other transactions reported by broking sources, the 2010-built MR Pacific Marchioness was sold to Kasuga Shipping for $19.7 mill, while her near sister Pacific Duchess was thought taken by Waikoh Kisen for $18.3 mill. A previous sale was believed to have failed. Reported to be leaving the fleet was the US-controlled 1983-built MR Charleston thought sold to Indian breakers. In the charter market, ENI was believed to have taken the 2000-built VLCC New Diamond for six, option six months at $31,500 per day. ExxonMobil was said to have fixed the 2006-built LR2 Donegal Spirit for 12 months at $17,250 per day. In the MR segment, Navig8 was said to have fixed the 2008-built sisters Ocean Breeze and Ocean Princess 1 for six, option six, months for $10,500 per day each. Finally, Asahi Tankers reportedly fixed the MRs FPMC 26 (built 2011); Axel (built 2010) and Orient Sunshine (built 2008) on subs for two years at $13,000 per day each.




MEPC 70 - The major decisions

At MEPC 70 last week there were several major decisions taken, not least about the fuel sulphur cap and ballast water convention.

Courtesy of class society ABS, we have outlined the more significant issues, both discussed and agreed. MARPOL Annex VI (Fuel Oil Data Collection) Amendments to Chapter4 of MARPOL Annex VI were adopted, which establish a new requirement for all ships of 5,000 gt and over on international voyages to collect data related to fuel consumption. Beginning on 1st January, 2019, the following information is to be collected during the calendar year - fuel consumption data for each type of fuel used on board; distance travelled while the ship is underway; and hours while the ship is underway. After the end of each calendar year, the data is required to be aggregated into annual values and reported by the shipowner to the ships flag administration or Recognised Organisation for subsequent transmission to a central database managed by the IMO. A Statement of Compliance will then be issued within five months after the end of the year the data was collected. In addition, the regulations require the flag state (or RO) to confirm prior to 1st January, 2019, that the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) has been updated to document the methodologies that will be used for collecting and reporting the data. MARPOL Annex I, IOPP Supplement Form B Amendments were adopted that remove obsolete sections from the supplement to the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate (IOPPC). Items referring to dedicated clean ballast tanks, which were applied to oil tankers delivered before 1982, were deleted and other sections renumbered. The amendments enter into force on 1st March, 2018, and apply to oil tankers. New Emission Control Areas It was agreed to establish both the North Sea area (including the English Channel) and the Baltic Sea as new ECAs for nitrogen oxides, and approved draft amendments to regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI, with a view toward adoption at MEPC 71. Under MARPOL Annex VI provisions, marine diesel engines will be required to comply with the Tier III NOx emission standard when installed on ships meeting, which were constructed on or after 1st January, 2021. There were a couple of minor exemptions, which do not apply to the tanker sector. Fuel Oil Availability Review Under the provisions of MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 14, the availability of fuel oil to meet the global 0.5% sulphur limit in 2020 or 2025 is to be determined by the Committee by 2018. A Steering Committee reviewed the study carried out for the IMO by CE Delft and funded by Australia, the UK and the US. The Study concluded that the refining sector had the capability to provide fuel oil with a sulphur content of 0.5% m/m or less in 2020 to meet the demand of the shipping sector, while maintaining the supply for the use of fuels by the non-marine sector. Concerns were raised by some NGOs on possible fuel oil quality, due to the expected increase of new fuels and on transitioning, on a global scale, from 3.5% to 0.5%. Concerns were also expressed from NGOs representing the supply side and by several states regarding potential regional supply deficits. Notwithstanding these concerns, the committee agreed to retain the current text of MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 14, which states that ships globally will not to exceed 0.5% m/m as of 1st January, 2020. To facilitate effective control and enforcement of the fuel oil being used on board ships, the Guidelines recommended sampling from a designated sampling point or points that is/are readily and safely accessible, downstream of the fuel oil service tank in use, and as close as safely feasible to the fuel oil combustion machinery (shielded from heated surfaces or electrical equipment), taking into account different fuel oil grades being used on board. The Committee also agreed to a new work programme to amend regulation 14 of MARPOL Annex VI so as to require all ships to be provided with designated sulphur sampling point(s) in order to ensure that a representative sample of fuel oil in-use can be drawn from ships' fuel oil systems in a safe manner. Attained Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) MEPC 70 adopted amendments to the 2014 guidelines on the method of calculation of the attained EEDI for new ships, resolution MEPC.263(68), incorporating the following change - The Committee agreed to a proposal by China to amend the calculation method for determining the attained EEDI for ships with dual fuel engines where the gas fuel is not the primary fuel. Ballast Water Management Ballast Water Management In light of the lack of a clear decision on a single implementation scheme for complying with the D-2 biological standard following entry into force of the BWMC for ships constructed prior to 8th September, 2017, two proposed schemes will be considered at MEPC 71 in May, 2017. 1) Compliance with D-2 at the first IOPP renewal survey after 8th September, 2017. 2) Compliance with D-2 at the first IOPP renewal survey completed after that date, unless that survey is completed prior to 8th September, 2019, in which case compliance is at the first IOPP renewal survey completed after 8th September, 2019. Under the provisions for amending the BWMC, MEPC 71 will then need to approve and circulate for adoption at MEPC 72, in March, 2018, the agreed revised implementation scheme. Unfortunately, the lack of a decision on a single D-2 implementation scheme leaves industry in a predicament in that there is no agreed implementation scheme at this point in time to be applied upon entry into force of the convention next year. Given the dependency of the implementation schemes on the IOPP Renewal Survey, and without a strong majority view expressed at this session of MEPC, ABS said that it understood that implementation of scheme 1, above, will result in an earlier D-2 compliance date. Shipowners should therefore take into account both schemes when considering compliance planning. A set of substantial revisions to the G8 Guidelines that were prepared by a working group, which met the week before MEPC 70, was also approved. The committee also agreed that the G8 Guidelines are to be reviewed and revised into a mandatory Code at a subsequent session. The revised G8 Guidelines provide greater robustness and transparency to the type approval process and will be outlined in the November/December issue of Tanker Operator. Reduction of GHG Emissions In the context of the Paris Agreement and taking into account that shipping is responsible for 2.2% of global emissions while accounting for over 80% of the cargo carried around the globe, MEPC 70 discussed how it should proceed to develop measures to decrease GHG emissions. A significant discussion point focused on whether or not a roadmap with a timetable to define the international maritime transport sectors fair share on GHG reductions should start to be developed in parallel with the IMOs three-phase approach on further technical and operational measures for enhancing the energy efficiency of international shipping. The three-phase approach calls for (1) collection of FO consumption data, (2) data analysis, and (3) decision making on what further measures, if any, are needed. The Committee approved a draft roadmap for developing a comprehensive IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships, which is expected to be adopted at MEPC 72 in 2018. It is understood the initial IMO strategy may be further developed subject to review based on fuel oil consumption data collected during the period 2019-2021. It was also agreed that a 4th IMO GHG Study should be carried out to cover the period from 2012 to 2018, thereby bridging the gap between the 3rd IMO GHG Study and the results of the analysis of the initial period of the fuel oil data collection system scheduled to be completed in 2020. It was also recognised that any GHG reduction strategy developed should occur after three sets of fuel oil consumption data had been collected and analysed, which is scheduled for 2023. A working group to be held in May, 2017 will discuss a number of issues surrounding the reduction strategy, including guiding principles to be applied, projected future demands for shipping, emission reduction opportunities, associated costs and benefits, and the impact of EEDI. There were other miscellaneous interpretations discussed and agreed by way of circulars issued.




Weathernews has established a branch office in Athens.

This represents the 17th overseas marketing office for the company.

The needs are increasing for counter measures against environmental regulations involving more efficient emissions planning, and safe voyage support that can handle the high volume of data from vessels thanks to the spread of shipboard broadband.

In the last 30 years since this company was founded, Weathernews has been providing a service to support safe and cost effective voyages focusing on ship operators who charter in from owners.

Weathernews said that it will begin the development of a new service, expanding from its flagship Optimum ship routeing service. A seminar was held in Athens about the new service. This seminar was attended by 80 people from 50 companies from Greece and beyond.
RAPID CITY, S.D. - Nov. 4, 2016 - Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) today announced that Black Hills Energy, its electric utility subsidiary serving southern Colorado, closed on the purchase of the $109 million, 60-megawatt Peak View Wind Project. Commercial operations will begin on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, nearly two months earlier than originally planned.

"The Peak View Wind Project will help provide customers with a cost-effective solution toward fulfillment of Colorado's renewable energy requirement that 30 percent of customers' electricity usage comes from renewable resources by 2020," said Linn Evans, president and chief operating officer of Black Hills Corp. "We are proud to serve our southern Colorado customers with safe, reliable energy fueled entirely by natural gas, wind and solar," continued Evans.

The Peak View Wind Project, located about 40 miles south of Pueblo, Colorado, was constructed by Invenergy Wind Development Colorado, LLC, under a 2015 build-transfer agreement executed with Black Hills Energy through a competitive solicitation process. Black Hills Energy will recover its investment through customer billing adjustment clauses for the first 10 years of operation.

Investor Relations:

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Microsoft earlier this week said it had fallen victim to Strontium, its code name for the Russian hacking group also known as Fancy Bear, which has been linked to recent attacks on Democratic Party systems.

The group launched a spear phishing attack that targeted vulnerabilities in both the Windows operating system and Adobe Flash, according to Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsofts Windows and Devices Group.

The attack, first identified by Googles Threat Analysis Group, involved two zero-day vulnerabilities in Flash and the down level Windows kernel, he explained. It used the Flash exploit to gain control over browsers, elevate privileges to escape the browser sandbox and install a backdoor to gain access to a users computer.

Microsoft is working with Google and Adobe on a patch and plans to release the fix by Nov. 8, when the next update is scheduled, Myerson said.

Those who use Microsoft Edge on the Windows 10 Anniversary Update are known to be protected from versions of the attack observed in the wild. Microsoft recommended that users upgrade to Windows 10 and said that those who enable Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection will be able to detect the attempted attacks.

Googles Disclosure

Google should not have disclosed the vulnerability before the patches were made available, according to Myerson.

We believe responsible technology industry participation puts the customer first, and requires coordinated vulnerability disclosure, he said. Googles decision to disclose these vulnerabilities before patches are broadly available and tested is disappointing and puts customers at increased risk.

Google on Monday revealed the Microsoft and Adobe vulnerabilities, noting that Adobe already had updated Flash to address the flaw. The Adobe patch is available through the Adobe updater and Chrome auto update.

Google, per its policy of seven-day disclosure of actively exploited critical vulnerabilities, reported the remaining critical vulnerability in Windows, noting that it was being exploited in the wild.

The vulnerability was a local privilege escalation that could be used as a security sandbox escape, noted Neel Mehta and Billy Leonard of Googles Threat Analysis Group in an online post. They urged users to make sure that Flash was auto updated, or to manually update if necessary.

They should make sure to apply Windows patches, when available, Mehta and Leonard also wrote.

Election Jitters

The new attacks came at a sensitive time in the United States, with the presidential election less than a week away. Federal and local officials have made a major effort to ensure the public has confidence in the electoral system.

Thus far, 48 states and 36 county and local governments have taken up an offer by the Department of Homeland Security to assist local governments with ensuring that the state and local election systems are protected against cyberattacks, DHS spokesperson Scott McConnell told TechNewsWorld.

The states of Illinois and Arizona were targeted more than a month ago by a suspected Russian hack that impacted 200,000 voters in the Illinois voter registration database.

There is little risk of a foreign hacker impacting the actual outcome of the race, but there are fears that a new round of cyberattacks could impact the level of confidence in the integrity of the system.

While the actual fallout is hard to predict, its important to look at the chaos that Russian hackers have allegedly been sowing in the past couple months, said Bryan Burns, vice president of threat research at Proofpoint.

This group has access to multiple zero-day vulnerabilities, which are always very powerful, as no patches exist, he told TechNewsWorld. The potential fallout, especially with the election just a week away, is quite concerning.
Smartwatch sales may be tanking but that's not stopping Samsung's production lines. The South Korean electronics maker on Thursday said it would begin accepting pre-orders for its forthcoming Gear S3 line of connected timepieces on November 6 with a launch slated for later this month.

Unveiled back in August, the Gear S3 features a 1.3-inch Super AMOLED display coated in Corning's Gorilla Glass SR+ cover glass with a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels set in a large 46mm watch face. It's powered by Samsung's own dual-core Exynos processor paired with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of local storage.

Other quick-hit specs include a built-in speaker, GPS, an altimeter, a barometer and an IP68 rating for dust and liquid. Its 380mAh battery is reportedly good for up to four days of use.

Some of the industry's largest Android Wear partners including Huawei, LG and Motorola said in mid-September that they had no plans to release new wearables this fall. It was revealed a couple of weeks later that the next major version of Google's mobile OS for smartwatches and other wearables, Android Wear 2.0, wouldn't launch this year as originally anticipated.

Market research firm IDC said in October that smartwatch shipments dropped 52 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2015.

Samsung will offer the Gear S3 in two designs - the sleek Gear S3 classic and the rugged Gear S3 frontier. Pricing starts at $349.99 with both models launching on November 18 at Amazon, Best Buy and Macy's. You'll also be able to pick one up at Samsung's online store or through your preferred wireless provider.
The svelte-looking AirPods, unveiled at the Apple keynote in September, got most people talking for all sorts of reasons. Now, these overly hyped earbuds have been delayed, although they will ship within this year.

AirPods, the wireless earphones from Apple, quickly made it to the wishlist of iDevice lovers, especially those who were looking to buy the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus. However, the accessory is yet to make its way to consumers.

Despite the hiccups, whatever they might be, Apple fans will be pleased to learn that the AirPods  which Tim Cook claims do not fall off even when dancing  will reach device owners this year and not by January 2017.

The news is courtesy of insiders, cited by AppleInsider, who affirm that Apple is on course to launch the much-awaited wireless earphones within 2016.

"Sources familiar with the company's plans indicated that internally, there is no official delay until January for shipment of the wireless earbuds," shared the publication. "One person briefed on the matter said plainly that there was 'no way that these are getting pushed to January.'"

At the time of launch, Apple did not give an exact date when the AirPods would be made available, merely stating that the accessory would hit the shelves sometime in late October.

However, the product release was delayed as confirmed by the company: "we don't believe in shipping a product before it's ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers."

A rumor courtesy of supply chain sources in China purports that the AirPods would not make its way to retail shelves before January 2017, which hinted at Apple encountering problems with the peripherals.

But the latest tip off from industry insiders would be welcomed by consumers as they might soon be able to lay their hands on the $159 AirPods, which can reportedly last 5 hours on a single charge.

The fact that retail sources have affirmed that they have a few demo pairs for customers and are "ready to go any time," simply awaiting the green light from Apple, is a positive sign. This suggests that the launch of the AirPods might be sooner than we estimate.

An educated guess is that Apple might launch the wireless AirPods ahead of the holiday shopping season for people looking to buy the earbuds as a gift. However, we need to wait and watch when the AirPods, featuring the W1 chip, will finally be made available.

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In the fierce battle between mobile operating systems, it seems that Google's Android is pulling away from Apple's iOS in the global market.

According to a research report from Strategy Analytics, Android dominated the third quarter as 87.5 percent of smartphones shipped in the period were powered by Google's mobile operating system, an increase compared with last year's third quarter when Android smartphones made up 84.1 percent of shipments.

Android Smartphone Shipments

The report stated that smartphone shipments reached 375.4 million units worldwide in the months of June to September, increasing 6 percent compared with 354.2 million units shipped in the corresponding quarter of last year. This represents the fastest growth rate of the industry for a year, as supported by emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa with relatively low smartphone penetration.

The growth of the smartphone industry comes along with the growth of Android, which acquired market share from all other rival operating systems.

In the third quarter, there were 328.6 million Android smartphones shipped, a 10.3 percent increase compared with the 298.0 million units sold in the third quarter of 2015. In comparison, iOS devices saw shipments decrease by 5.2 percent to 45.5 million units from 48.0 million units year over year, with smartphones powered by all other operating systems declining by a massive 84.1 percent to 1.3 million units in the third quarter compared with 8.2 million units in the same quarter last year.

iOS Market Share

The market share of iOS for the third quarter is down to 12.1 percent from 13.6 percent in the third quarter last year, while the market share of all other operating systems decreased from 2.3 percent to a miniscule 0.3 percent. The adoption of iOS remains at its lowest point since the middle of 2014.

According to Strategy Analytics director Woody Oh, the leadership of Android looks to be "unassailable" now, as its user-friendly software and low-cost services have remained attractive to both smartphone manufacturers and customers worldwide.

Oh pointed out several challenges that Google will face, including the increasing number of Android smartphones in the market, the low number of Android device manufacturers that are making profit and how the Google Pixel will directly compete with these companies that helped propel Android into dominance.

The Google Pixel comes with Android 7.1 Nougat, which is the latest version of the operating system. Older smartphones in the Nexus line of Google are said to be receiving the update to upgrade their operating system to Android 7.1 Nougat soon, though a specific release date has not yet been confirmed.

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The European Space Agency has announced details of the second phase of the ExoMars mission in 2020.

Comprising two science elements, the mission will introduce a rover and a surface platform for Martian exploration.

During the mission, the rover will scout for life and organic materials across Mars, while the surface platform will stay stationary.

To be managed by Roscosmos and the Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, the surface platform will study the landing site's outer environment.

Given a life of one Earth year, the surface platform will be backed by instruments and sensors and will have a mass of 827.9 kilograms (1,825.2 pounds) covering a scientific payload of 45 kilograms (99 pounds).

Probing Life On Mars

According to ESA, the main mandate of the ExoMars program is to investigate whether life ever existed on Mars.

The ExoMars program has two missions. The first involves the Trace Gas Orbiter with an entry, descent and landing demonstrator Module, named Schiaparelli. The former was launched on March 14, 2016 and was in news recently for the crash of Schiaparelli.

Now the new details are about the second mission wherein a rover will be launched in 2020.

Main Priorities

According to ESA, the priorities on the surface platform investigations will involve climate monitoring, context imaging as well as a series of atmospheric investigations.

The surface platform instruments will also be examining the subsurface water distribution along with the exchange of volatile elements and compounds between the red planet's surface and atmosphere. The internal structure will also be studied via geophysical investigations.

The on-board instruments will also detect and monitor the planet's radiation. The measurements will be compared to those taken by the Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector on the Trace Gas Orbiter.

European-led Instruments

There is good support for the Mars mission from the European scientific community. For the ExoMars 2020 mission, they sent nine proposals to ESA after a call in March.

The ESA, on its part, approved six European elements in 2015 that included two European-led instruments and four sensors for the Russian-led instruments.

The Lander Radioscience experiment or LaRa and the Habitability, Brine Irradiation and Temperature package or HABIT are the two European-led instruments that will be on the surface platform.

LaRa will delve into the planet's internal structure for precise measurements of its rotation and orientation. This will be done by studying two-way Doppler frequency shifts between the Earth and the surface platform. This will expose variations in angular momentum resulting from the redistribution of masses, such as when ice migrates from the polar areas to the Martian atmosphere.

HABIT will focus on water vapor in the atmosphere with the impacts coming from seasonal variations in the ground, UV radiation environment and air temperatures.

Other sensor packages from the European side will track pressure, plasma environment, humidity, dust and local magnetic fields.

Aftermath Of Schiaparelli Crash

Meanwhile, it has been noted that ESA's new update has come days after a high-resolution image was released by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, revealing the area where the Schiaparelli module crashed.

A section of experts attributes the Schiaparelli crash to software breakdown on the on-board computer. The ESA claims that the images with a dark spot of 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) across were a crater created by the 660-pound object when it hit the ground with a huge speed of several hundred miles per hour.

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According to a new study, humans occupied Australia's arid lands and started to develop sophisticated tools approximately 10,000 years earlier than previously documented, placing them roughly 49,000 years in the past.

The study, published in the journal Nature on Nov. 2, was conducted by researchers from the University of Adelaide and it analyzes the oldest evidence of Aboriginal occupation in South Australia. While people have reached the Australian territory roughly 50,000 years ago, it was unclear whether they actually remained there to occupy it or simply migrated toward another place.

Led by Giles Hamm, research archaeologist and Honorary Fellow of the South Australian Museum, and his conjoined team, the study suggests that people settled down in the Australian region a few millennia since arriving on the continent. During that time, they developed key technologies, started important cultural practices and essentially built a cultural community long before previously believed.

Proof Of Early Development

Among the instruments and possessions recovered from different layers of sediment at the Warratyi Rock Shelter in the desert region of northern South Australia were bone tools, stone tools as well as red ochre, found to be utilized as pigment. The discovery shifts the perception of how the civilization evolved massively because of the very early use of such materials. Gypsum was also found at the site.

As part of the research procedure, the geochronology of the study was undertaken, which involved the identification of the time period when people habited the area. This was based on a series of factors from ground layers to the objects' characteristics.

"One of the key strengths of this study is the chronology, which has typically proved to be a contentious issue at early archaeological sites in Australia. We have used a range of complementary dating techniques and targeted different types of materials to ensure that the age of the site is reliably known," explained geochronology specialist Lee Arnold, ARC Future Fellow with the University of Adelaide.

In order to identify the dates of the objects they discovered as precisely as possible, the researchers used a single-grain optically stimulated luminescence procedure to establish the date when the sediments containing the fossils and artifacts were deposited. Along with complementary statistical techniques, the team managed to find out a precise occupation history of the archaeological site.

According to the results of the research, the occupation of the arid zone took place long before the last ice age, being contemporaneous with the Australian megafauna. The study puts into perspective the development of the Australian culture and civilization, by comparison to Europe's development.

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The European Union (EU) keeps going after Google over antitrust issues, but Google won't stand for it. The company just fired back, defending its practices.

Back in July, the EU fired its third round of antitrust charges at Google, claiming that the company was abusing its dominant position to stifle growth and innovation for its competitors. According to the EU, other companies don't get a fair chance to compete and innovate.

EU antitrust regulators further threatened Google in early October, warning the company that if it doesn't change its practices, it will face a hefty fine for violating antitrust regulations.

Google fired back at the EU on Thursday, Nov. 3, refuting allegations that it's abusing its dominant position with its advertising and internet shopping services, shutting out rivals in the process.

The company explains that when people search for something on Google, it aims to deliver the best-quality information possible. Google engineers are always striving to find new and improved ways of connecting users with useful and relevant information and meet their questions with direct answers.

The same strategy applies to online shopping searches, Google explains. For instance, if a user conducts a search for a coffee machine, Google wants to directly connect the user with merchants that sell the product in question. It may achieve this through organic links or advertisements, but the goal is the same.

Google further highlights that it has gradually improved its ad format to offer more detailed displays with prices, images and links where users can buy the products they're looking for. Serving more useful and relevant ads, in turn, benefits not only Google, but also its advertisers and its users.

"That's why we disagree with the European Commission's argument that our improved Google Shopping results are harming competition," Google explains. "We believe these claims are wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics," adds the company, echoing its earlier response from last year combatting the European Commission's original Statement of Objections (SO).

The company goes on to say the Commission's original SO defined online shopping services so poorly that it even excluded huge services such as Amazon. Moreover, the EC went as far as to claim that when Google users and advertisers got improved shopping ads, Google was in fact "favoring" its own services, which allegedly had a negative impact on some price comparison aggregators.

What the Commission failed to take into account, however, was the major competitive significance of heavyweight companies such as Amazon and the greater dynamics of online shopping, Google further argues.

According to the company, online shopping is highly competitive and there's plenty of evidence to prove that Google and others are actually trying to compete against Amazon, "by far the largest player on the field."

At the same time, Google points out that it proved its ads were helpful not only to merchants, but also to users. "We never compromised the quality or relevance of the information we displayed. On the contrary, we improved it. That isn't 'favouring'  that's listening to our customers," adds the company. In its revised and supplemented SO sent this summer, the Commission further said that since sites such as Amazon occasionally pay comparison aggregator sites for referred traffic, they're not considered rivals. Google refutes the validity of this point, arguing that many companies are collaborating and competing at the same time and Amazon actually gets just a small fraction of its traffic from those aggregators. That's hardly enough to entertain the theory that there's no competition between them. To sum things up, Google says the EU's antitrust claims don't have enough evidence to support its case and would hinder Google's ability to serve its users "just to satisfy the interests of a small number of websites." Nevertheless, the company pledges to keep working with the Commission to resolve the issues.

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Microsoft's latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14959 gives a sneak peek at how the Unified Update Platform (UUP) is shaping up, with lighter and smaller updates.

So far, Windows 10 updates have been anything but light and users have been complaining about too many updates that take too long to install. With its upcoming UUP, Microsoft will shrink future OS updates and make them more seamless, requiring less processing power.

The UUP basically consists of a number of behind-the-scenes changes that will cut the size of Windows 10 update files, reduce the required processing power for an update and streamline updates on Windows smartphones.

One of the most major changes UUP will bring to the table will have Windows Update deliver only the updates that are actually relevant to the device.

"We have converged technologies in our build and publishing systems to enable differential downloads for all devices built on the Mobile and PC OS," Microsoft explains. "A differential download package contains only the changes that have been made since the last time you updated your device, rather than a full build."

UUP is currently in testing with the latest Windows Insider test build 14959 that rolled out on Thursday, hitting the Fast Ring for both mobile and PC.

According to Microsoft, PC users can expect to see roughly 35 percent smaller updates when shifting from one major Windows update to another. The company aims to support this for feature updates that will roll out after the Windows 10 Creators Update, if the Insider testing goes smoothly.

Windows Insiders running beta OS builds on their PCs, meanwhile, should get the new update sometime later this year, while those using HoloLens or devices running Windows 10 IoT Insider builds should get the update soon after.

It remains to be seen whether UUP will actually solve at least the main issues surrounding Windows 10 updates, but Microsoft says that's the plan. The company says it's working on making updates more seamless and give users more control over when to install updates. At the same time, Microsoft also wants to make updates less demanding in terms of local processing, which should in turn translate to improved battery performance.

If the general public, i.e. non-Insiders will get the treat after the Creators Update, this means sometime in the latter half of next year.

That should give Windows Insiders ample time to test out the feature so that Microsoft can smooth over any wrinkles ahead of the general release. In the meantime, Microsoft will roll out a patch on Nov. 8 to fix a zero-day Windows vulnerability Google publicly disclosed earlier this week.

As always, we'll keep you up to date with any major developments that unfold.

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Nintendo is set to unveil more details about its upcoming hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch, in an event planned for Jan. 12, 2017.

In the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017, the company said that it will be revealing the specific launch date of the device, along with its price. It seems that gamers looking forward to knowing more about the Nintendo Switch will not have to wait any further though, if the rumors are true.

Nintendo Switch Release Date

According to a tweet by freelance video game writer Laura Kate Dale, who claims to have a source in the industry, the planned release date for the Nintendo Switch in the PAL region is March 17, coinciding with Nintendo's statements that the hybrid console will be released in March of next year.

The PAL region is made up of New Zealand, Australia and Europe. The NTSC region, meanwhile, is made up of the United States, Canada and the Middle East, among others.

Dale added that the Nintendo Switch will release for the rest of the world within that same week on different dates. If what she states is true, the likely release date for the Nintendo Switch in the United States will be March 12, considering the fact that the previous consoles of the company, the Wii and the Wii U, were launched on Sundays.

Dale previously revealed information about the announcement video for the Nintendo Switch before it was public, so she and her source do have credibility. Gamers looking forward to the console might want to circle the date on their calendar with a pencil though.

Nintendo Switch Price

One of the more highly anticipated details regarding the Nintendo Switch is its price, as that will help determine whether it will be able to compete with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. If a rumored price turns out to be true, Nintendo could very well be able to bring itself back to relevance in the industry it once dominated.

According to a report, the basic bundle for the Nintendo Switch will come with a price tag of only $260, below the initially expected price tag of between $300 and $350. There will also be a $300 bundle featuring the new Super Mario game for the console and a $340 bundle featuring a new Zelda game, assumed to be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, along with the Pro Controller.

The rumored price does not look as credible as the rumored release date for the Nintendo Switch, with Redditors saying that $260 for the basic bundle is too good to be true. That just goes to show that if Nintendo does release the hybrid console at this price, it can expect huge demand for the Nintendo Switch.

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There have been reports of a mysterious "pinging" sound that is said to be coming from the Arctic sea floor, with the phenomenon now involving the Canadian military.

Hunters in a remote Nunavut community are concerned about the mysterious sound, which is also sometimes described as either a "hum" or a "beep." The sound has been heard throughout the summer season in Fury and Hecla Strait, a channel of water that is about 120 kilometers (74.6 miles) northwest from the Inuit hamlet of Iglooik.

Local politician Paul Quassa, who told the Nunavut legislature last month that the sound is emanating from the sea floor, said that the phenomenon is scaring the animals away from the location, which is a major hunting area in the summer and winter seasons.

Several other people have claimed to have heard the mysterious sound, including boaters on a private yacht. It was said that the sound could be heard even through the hulls of boats.

Canadian Military Investigation

An investigation into the mysterious sound has been launched by the Canadian armed forces, which tasked a patrol aircraft to fly to the area earlier this week. The order was made under Operation Limpid, which is a domestic surveillance program that looks to protect Canada from possible threats.

The crew of the aircraft, however, did not detect the mysterious sound even after performing different kinds of multi-sensor searches in the said location, including an acoustic search that lasted for 1.5 hours. With no findings, the country's Department of National Defence stated that it will not be launching any more investigations into the matter.

Theories On The Mysterious Pinging Sound

No confirmation has yet been made on what is causing the mysterious sound, but there are several theories on what is behind it.

The first theory is that the sound is due to the activities of the Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., which previously carried out sonar surveys in a nearby inlet. However, the company rebuked the theory by saying that it has not conducted any such surveys in the area, with none of its equipment currently under the water.

Quassa supported the company's claims, adding that no permits have been issued for such work to be carried out in the area to explain the sound.

Another theory is that Greenpeace activists are behind the phenomenon, as they use the sound to scare away the animals to prevent them from being hunted. There have been previous rumors that the group has placed sonar devices on the seabed for the purpose, but according to Quassa, there is no evidence of such a thing done by Greenpeace.

The Department of National Defence has not ruled out the possibility that the sound was caused by submarines passing through the area, despite being unlikely.

Of course, there will always be the theory that the sound has an extraterrestrial source, perhaps a device placed there by aliens or an alien spacecraft that crashed into the sea and that it is asking for help.

Stories From The Arctic

Apparently, the Arctic holds a lot of mysteries in addition to the mysterious sound. It was recently reported that Russian scientists have discovered a secret Nazi base in the Arctic Circle.

In June, it was reported that the ice levels of the Arctic reached record lows in May. Meanwhile, a recent study showed that the thickness of the ice in the area is directly proportional to its age.

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Lenovo Wants You To Design Its Next MotoMod | TechTree.com

LG has given up on its modular accessories meant for its flagship smartphone G5. However, Motorola is still trying hard to make its MotoMods work. In a latest initiative, the Lenovo's subsidiary is encouraging fans to submit the ideas for MotoMods. If your idea is really interesting, there is a good chance that it will be financed through Indiegogo.







Finalists will be selected by our judging panel of industry leaders. You will receive Moto Z and an MDK for free from Motorola. The lucky winners will also receive a trip to Chicago to meet with Moto Mods executive development team. This will be an important step in bringing your idea to life. Apart from this, the company will also be hosting a Moto Mods hackathons in the U.S. The first hackathon will be in New York in December. Those who successfully creates a Moto Mods will also get an opportunity to participate in the Indiegogo campaign. For more information and to register, visit modthefuture.com. If your idea is great and somehow doesn't land up on Indiegogo, you might get funding from Lenovo Capital, which has set aside up to $1 million. To be eligible for this, you need to have a working prototype though.







If you too have a great idea for Moto Mods, head over to this link and share it with Lenovo. So far, Motorola has unveiled Moto Mods that turn your phone into a camera, a movie projector, a speaker, and an extra battery pack.

TAGS: Lenovo, Motorola
By Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle



Voters will have many options at the polls Tuesday. Taking a selfie of their ballot won't be one of them.



The American Civil Liberties Union argued in federal court Wednesday that a 125-year-old California law banning voters from showing their marked ballots to anyone else violates freedom of expression. Voters, lawyers for the ACLU said, should be free to take pictures of their ballots and use them to persuade their friends.



A federal judge in San Francisco wasn't impressed.



The law had a legitimate purpose when it was enacted, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said, because some employers in the past had taken voters to the polls, ordered them to display their ballots afterward and fired anyone who defied the company line. But even if current enforcement of the photo-sharing ban crosses constitutional boundaries, he said, suspending it less than a week before the election would be "a recipe for confusion."



"No one is at fault more than the ACLU for bringing this lawsuit at the last minute and trying to jam this down their throat," Alsup said.



Ballot-box selfies will be allowed at future elections, because the Legislature has repealed the law, effective Jan. 1. ACLU attorney Michael Risher said his organization had waited until Monday to go to court because it had been negotiating with Secretary of State Alex Padilla and had hoped to avoid a lawsuit.



Padilla, the state's top elections official, had supported repeal of the 19th-century law and said he would abide by a court order to suspend it.



But he has advised local registrars' offices that the law against sharing the contents of ballots prohibits photography in voting booths next week, although news organizations can take pictures of candidates casting their ballots.



A court-ordered change would have required retraining for workers at California's 14,101 polling places on a "massive scale," Deputy Attorney General Emmanuelle Soichet, Padilla's lawyer, told Alsup.



But Risher noted that similar laws in other states have been struck down by a majority of the federal courts that have considered them.



In a state where more than half the voters cast absentee ballots, Risher said, the law allows them to photograph their ballots, but makes it a crime to share the photos with others by posting them online. At least for those voters, he said, immediately lifting the ban on photo-sharing would cause no polling-place disruption or any other harmful effects.



Alsup countered that any judicial intervention at this point would raise too many questions  what about the voter who mounts a cellphone on a stick for a better shot, which might also show the next voting booth? Or the voter who recorded a ballot on video, with vocal accompaniment, while someone in the next booth was trying to concentrate?



Risher said such intrusions are already illegal. But the judge said potential problems "should not be figured out on the fly in a two-minute drill in the last few days of the election cycle."



The ACLU hasn't decided whether to seek an emergency order from a federal appeals court, Risher said afterward. Padilla issued a statement noting that Californians can still take their smartphones to the polls to access their sample ballots or do last-minute research on ballot issues.



"In the meantime," he said, "voters can still take a selfie with their 'I Voted' sticker."



(c)2016 the San Francisco Chronicle




In the wake of a recent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the East Coast-based Internet infrastructure company Dyn, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris advised Californians on ways to protect themselves from potential hacks. The attorney general, who is a candidate for U.S. Senate, urged Internet of Things (IoT) manufacturers and developers on Monday in a release to the press to take immediate steps to help secure home electronic devices against capture by a potential botnet attack from a cyber criminal.IoT refers to the increasingly connected world of smart devices, which includes everyday objects such as home appliances. A botnet is a network of infected computers, where the network is used by the malware to expand, according to the press release. A botnet attack occurs without the computer owners knowledge, and is typically used to send spam emails, transmit viruses, and engage in other acts of cybercrime.In the recent botnet attack against Dyn on Oct. 21, hackers allegedly used malware to infect and remotely control IoT devices, without the device owners knowledge, and overloaded Dyn with remote requests, making it incapable of responding to any requests to load Web pages. The DDoS attack left millions of people across the country unable to access thousands of websites throughout the day.What is unusual about this recent attack is that tens of millions of everyday household devices were taken over primarily because of the widespread use of factory-default username and password combinations, said the press release. These factory-default passwords could be found simply by searching online for terms like default router password username combinations. Bad agents can then scan the Internet for devices with these factory default passwords, then hack and install malware that allows them to control the device, the release continued. They can then collectively use an army of hacked devices to launch attacks that cripple websites and service providers.Harris recommended changing the default password on any and all household electronics, such as DVRs, webcams, printers, routers, and any smart appliances such as lights, air conditioners and even refrigerators. For more information on safe password practices, visit https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/safe-password-practices . To further learn how to protect yourself and your home against computer viruses, visit the Attorney Generals Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit website at https://oag.ca.gov/privacy
You Can Cast Harry Potter Spells Using Your Android Phone As Your Wand With Googles Voice Command

If you have already enjoyed the Halloween spirit with Googles 2016 Halloween game doodle and would like to move into something more magical, Android is here to help you. And if youre a Harry Potter fan, you are in for a double bonanza.

Google in partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures, is offering you a chance to cast Harry Potter spells using your Android smartphone. Using your Android smartphone as a wand and Google Voice, you can cast some awesome spells.

How to cast Harry Potter spells using Android Smartphone?

Using your Android smartphone and Google Voice you can cast three Harry Potter spells and surprise your friends. The three spells are Lumos, Nox, and Silencio and all you need to do is this :

Start Google Now voice assistant and simply say Ok Google, Lumos to turn on your phones flashlight. To turn off the same, say Ok Google Nox and it will promptly turn the light off. Executing the Silencio mutes your phones alert and notifications.

Google has introduced the magic spells on Android-powered devices to promote the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film. It is already available, and there is no need to download any update.

Aside from the spells, Google will also let you use Maps Street View to around the 1926 New York, the period when the Fantastic Beasts storyline happened.

Fans can visit MACUSA (Magical Congress of the USA); Steen National Bank, where Newt first meets Jacob Kowalski; the underground speakeasy The Blind Pig; and the magical apartment of Tina and Queenie Goldstein, two of the films key characters, Google explained.

Google also promised to release Fantastic Beasts offerings the entire month of November. These include the Fantastic Beasts sticker pack for Google Allo. YouTube users will be treated to some exciting magical extravaganza with popular creators publishing contents inspired by the wizarding world and Newts extraordinary adventure. You can also follow Newts footsteps and hunt for monsters on your own, you can start by using Google Search.
Hacker who developed a code to scan Photobuckets 10 billion images sentenced to 29 months in prison

A 41-year-old Colorado hacker was sentenced Tuesday to 29 months in prison for selling his software which enabled blackmailers and others to scan Photobuckets 10 billion images for nude images.

The United States Department of Justice had arrested two men in May, 2015 for breaching the computer services of Colorado-based Photobucket. The two men, Brandon Bourret, aged 39, of Colorado Springs, Colorado and Athanasios Andrianakis, aged 26, of Sunnyvale, California had developed a software known as Photofucket for fusking.

The software developed by these two was capable of hacking into the private Photobucket albums and stealing NSFW images of subscribers. Photobucket is an image and video hosting service with as many as 100 million users who keep their content in either public or private account. Some of those images are of nude Photobucket customers who thought their content was stored privately.

I dont think you really understand what you did to other people, US District Judge Wiley Y Daniel said before sentencing defendant Brandon Bourret. You reveled in what you did.

Yes, seduced by money. I will not lie, Bourret told the judge.

Both the hackers were arrested last year and indicted by DoJ and had pleaded guilty to hacking charges in April last year. Both the hackers had made $49,000 by selling their naked woman image stealing software, PhotoFucket which they sold at $30 to buyers.

PhotoFucket gained worldwide notoriety and made fusking or searching for NSFW images of women on Photobucket a viral word. The hackers developed PhotoFucket, which allowed users to bypass Photobuckets privacy settings and access and copy users private and password protected information, images, and videos without consent. Bourret was accused of selling the app to at least 1,739 customers who accessed the accounts of nearly 2 million people.

Bourret also promoted the PhotoFucket app through ads on Skch.me showcasing the hacked NSFW images and a caption which saidWelcome to Skch.me, where you can find photos exposed, amateur girls, amateur sex videos and more! the ads said. Rip ALL private albums by YOURSELF!

Bourret was accused of selling the app to at least 1,739 customers who accessed online images of nearly 2 million people. His partner in crime, Athanasios Andrianakis, of Sunnyvale, was handed 15 months of home detention. Andrianakis was let off with a lighter sentence because he helped Photobucket patch the vulnerabilities that PhotoFucket exploited.
The far-right "road rebellion" asks that "the Army intervene to prevent the return of communism." | Read More
Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.

You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.

No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca.

Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt.

Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
Donald Trump's son said in a radio interview Thursday that Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke "does deserve a bullet"  just a day after Duke spoke of his admiration for and pledged loyalty to Trump during a televised Senate debate.

"I mean, these aren't good people," Eric Trump told 630 KHOW Denver's Ross Kaminsky in audio reported by CNN. "These are horrible people. In fact, I commend my father. My father's the first Republican who's gone out and said, 'Listen, what's happened to the African-American community is horrible and I'm going to take care of it.'"

Duke didn't immediately respond to a phone message and email from The Advocate Thursday afternoon.

Kaminsky had asked the GOP presidential candidate's son to respond to efforts to link his father's campaign to Duke. The radio host described a photo accompanying a Politico.com story, in particular.

"They showed this picture of David Duke, a guy who desperately needs a bullet in the head, as far as I can tell, they showed him walking down the street smiling, and basically they are trying to tie him into support of your dad's campaign," Kaminsky said.

Eric Trump responded: "The guy does deserve a bullet," before going on to call Duke "disgusting."

The remark comes just a day after Duke, who has said Trump inspired him to run for office again, said during Wednesday's Senate debate that he would "be Donald Trump's most loyal advocate" if elected.

Duke hijacked most of the discussion during the debate, repeatedly complaining about the questions, his perceived mistreatment and the TV reporters who served as moderators. At several points, he attempted to liken himself to Donald Trump.

Duke faces 23 other candidates in the race for Louisiana's open U.S. Senate seat.

After Tuesday, the top two candidates, regardless of party, will face off in a Dec. 10 election.

Polling has consistently shown Duke below 5 percent support in the race, though the one poll sponsored by the Raycom TV stations that organized the debate had him just above the 5 percent needed to get onto the stage at historically black Dillard University on Wednesday.

Duke, 66, served as grand dragon and later grand wizard of Louisianas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.

He served one term in the Louisiana House in 1989  his only political win here, despite decades of running for various offices, including governor, U.S. Senate, Congress and even president.

Listen to audio of Eric Trump's interview via CNN.
Perhaps because of his place on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, of Lafayette, was the only Louisiana politician we know of taking notice of the birthday of the last major tax reform legislation in America.

He said it was a landmark reform that improved the tax code, and he is right.

The problem with the Tax Reform Act of 1986: It was 30 years ago. We're overdue for another one, but the old law also shows how Louisiana needs to approach changes to its clunky and inefficient tax code.

Signed by President Ronald Reagan in October 1986, the bill long associated with his presidency was a compromise. Many major industries lost breaks, in order to provide the revenue to offset other changes to the tax code to reduce rates broadly. Some businesses, such as real estate, were against it, but Reagan and shrewd Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey accomplished what the tax code needed, a large-scale reform.

That kind of trade-off, fewer loopholes for specific industries in exchange for lower tax rates overall, was necessary politically for the 1986 bill to pass.

Louisiana faces a similar challenge with its tax code.

The good news is that Louisiana has almost nowhere to go but up: Groups of the left and right have decried the terms of the state's various taxes, either because of the way that tax burdens are apportioned among people and businesses, or because of how the taxes are collected or even calculated.

Louisiana's sales taxes are highest in the nation; they are collected inefficiently, creating more paperwork for businesses; they do not take into account the transition to a service-based economy, so much economic activity is not taxed while rates on what is taxed remain so high.

Above all, businesses require stability so that they can plan ahead. Louisiana has lurched through a series of short-term fixes and cuts.

As tax reform is needed, what will it take to get it done? A first step: Lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment this year that would make a significant change in the corporate income tax.

The Advocate's editorial board endorsed Amendment 3 on the Nov. 8 ballot because it involves a trade-off like that of the Reagan law. If passed, the amendment would cut a big tax break, the deduction of federal tax paid by big companies; a companion bill would then come into effect, lowering Louisiana's high tax rate from a top of 8 percent to 6.5 percent.

Those are in fact relatively few business taxpayers organized in traditional corporations; most Louisiana businesses are limited liability corporations and pay taxes through personal income returns. Still, the Amendment 3 proposal embodies the kind of compromises that are quite likely going to be required in a larger-scale tax reform. An expert panel established by the Legislature for broader tax reform backs Amendment 3 as a needed change.

We don't know if Louisiana's political system is willing or able to embrace compromise and a more efficient and reliable tax system. But if it happens, the Reagan compromise of 30 years ago will likely have to be emulated by legislators and ultimately voters.
Let's not kid ourselves. For all our high-minded talk about level playing fields, we often struggle in this country to meet that goal. Yet one place where we really are supposed to be treated the same is at the voting booth.

Yes, that ideal's been challenged in various states lately, where political maneuvering has made it harder for some to exercise their rights, and thankfully we haven't faced those issues here in Louisiana.

But I think everyone at least understands the underlying principle. No matter who you are and who you know, you get one vote. You show up at the same place as everyone else, and follow the same procedure. If there's a line, you wait it in, no matter who you are. In theory, voting is a great equalizer.

Unless, it turns out, you know the right people in Jefferson Parish.

The recent discovery that Registrar of Voters Dennis DiMarco kept a separate voting machine in his conference room during early voting would offend any reasonable person's sense of fair play and equal access. So did DiMarco's initially stated justification, that there are some people whose time, "for lack of a better term, is more valuable than others."

DiMarco listed first-responders and emergency surgeons as potential members of that supposedly special class. But shockingly  or not  a list obtained by WWL-TV of the 65 people who used the private machine before Secretary of State Tom Schedler seized it included insiders such as Parish Chief Operating Officer Keith Conley, State Rep. Cameron Henry, Finance Authority Director Terry McCarthy and Housing Authority Chairman Jimmy Lawson.

Now that the gig's up, all these busy, busy people will have to wait in line along with everyone else the next time an election comes around.

Maybe they can use the extra time to think about how democracy's supposed to work in the first place.
Masters of War in Syria and Iraq

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DENVER  The Middle Easts tragic tale of two cities  Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq  speaks to a fundamental lack of consensus in the region and within the broader international community. The lack of order in the international order is greatly complicating the task of bringing these conflicts to an end.

When the bloody conflict finally ends in Syria, there will be no victory parades, no moment of national catharsis. More likely than not, what there will be is a political arrangement that leaves Syria within its current borders but with local autonomy that reflects the diversity and  at least for the time being  the mutual distrust of its various ethnic and religious groups. No one will be happy. The accoutrements of a civil state do not exist, and there are no institutions around which to build social consensus or the rule of law.

Until these broad principles can be articulated, the war will never be truly over. Ceasefires work best  and hold the longest  when the combatants finally understand that a set of principles agreed by the broader international community will be the basis for shaping the future of their country.

The Syrian war is not unprecedented in the region. The Lebanese Civil War was even longer: from 1975 to 1990, that war produced a similar number of casualties and refugees, and when all is said and done, probably a similar number of unsuccessful ceasefires. The Syrian civil war is not yet even half the length of that horrific struggle; but nor is there any sign that the various combatants are fatigued by it.

The international community will likely be affected by Syrias civil war more than it was by Lebanons, owing to its greater global impact. The refugee tide was at first contained within the neighborhood, especially in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and even Iraq. But soon refugees began to flow to Europe and elsewhere, causing political tensions in countries far removed from the conflict. The huddled masses of refugees crossing one European frontier after another soon became a metaphor for what angers so many Europeans in this globalized age.

The lack of international consensus on Syria, reflected in the failure of the United Nations Security Councils permanent players to agree on a way forward, has caused the situation on the ground to worsen. Fueled by continued support of the combatants by Middle Eastern states (which seem to have no confidence in the international system), and with Russias direct participation in the fighting, the crisis has deepened.

Russias intervention on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has also caused further deterioration in US-Russian relations, which could fuel danger elsewhere in the world. US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov have so far failed to find any workable way forward to end the fighting.

One longs for the day that Kerry and Lavrov emerge from a negotiating room to announce to the world that they have agreed on a set of principles that will guide Syrias future and will work to achieve consensus among other members of the international community and with the combatants themselves. Only when the combatants can envision the post-war future can a ceasefire work.

Nobody wants to be the last person to die fighting when the future is already known.

In Mosul, the fighting is not a civil war. Unlike in Syria, where there must be tradeoffs among the combatants, in Mosul the struggle against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) is a war of annihilation. And, in contrast to the Russian and Syrian offensive in Aleppo, the Iraqi Arabs and Kurds and their American advisers most likely worked for months to anticipate issues and to ensure success before the fighting began.

But it is already clear that there is far more at stake in the Mosul campaign than the eradication of ISIS. Depending on how it ends, we will know whether Iraq emerges as a multi-sectarian state or a set of sectarian and ethnic enclaves. Sunnis seem to want no part of the Shia-majority government in Baghdad, even though the Iraqi army (along with the Kurds) is playing the largest role in the fight against ISIS.

As if the Sunni-Shia divide within Iraq were not difficult enough, a deeper and even more problematic fissure has now emerged  Turkeys own struggles with its identity and its externally imposed borders. The extraordinarily harmful statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country has not reconciled itself to its 100-year-old southern border with Iraqs Ninewa Province has greatly complicated Turkeys ability to play a role in Iraqs healing process. Arabs have long harbored deep suspicion that the Turks want more than just to protect the Turkmen minority and Sunni Arabs in the conflict. Now, Erdogan has confirmed these suspicions, and in so doing has created conditions for more violence in Iraq.

How the fighting in Aleppo and Mosul ends will help clarify the tasks ahead. But until Russia, the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others (Europe, is anyone home?) can come together around a set of principles that steer the region toward peace, the carnage will continue.
Invite a guy who's desperate for attention onto a crowded debate stage, and of course he's going to suck up all the oxygen.

And so Wednesday night's second and final U.S. Senate primary debate devolved into a debacle centered on the one participant who has no shot of becoming Louisiana's next United States senator, David Duke.

Including the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and convicted felon was sponsor Raycom Media's decision, based solely on the findings of its own outlying poll, the only recent survey that has shown him topping  just barely  the 5 percent threshold.

The other candidates, state Treasurer John Kennedy, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, lawyer Caroline Fayard and U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany and John Fleming, each scored at least twice that high, and are all running well-funded, professionally managed campaigns. Duke's effort so far has amounted to little more than an invective-laden Twitter feed and a couple of robocalls aimed at linking himself to the man he says inspired his run, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Yet despite moderator John Snell's repeated pleas that the debate not become a referendum on one candidate, that's just what happened.

Duke's opponents let their distaste show, which was appropriate and which would have been fine had it stopped there. It didn't. Instead, Duke engaged the longtime WVUE anchor in a lengthy shouting match over his ridiculous contention that he was railroaded by the feds, despite his admission under oath that he'd defrauded his own loyal contributors and not paid taxes on his ill-gotten gains.

And when Snell confronted Duke on the virulent bigotry he's spewed throughout the campaign by calling him on his reference to "the CNN Jews," Duke responded by insisting "there is a problem with a very strong powerful tribal group" that dominates media and banking.

"I am not opposed to all Jews. I think there are a lot of great Jews. I think there are a lot of Jews I honor, but let me tell you something  I am against Jews, or anybody else, that puts interests of some other place, another country, over our own country," he said. That exchange was highlighted by national journalists watching with horror from afar, as was Duke's assertion that Hillary Clinton belongs in an electric chair. Good times.

There was a second, parallel conversation among the non-fringe candidates, and it largely echoed their interactions to date.

Campbell and Fayard once again tangled over who's the better Democrat, but this time, they did it in part by using Duke as a foil. Fayard interrupted her own answer to a question on the Affordable Care Act to renounce Duke as a slithering snake, and defended her controversial ad that linked Campbell and Duke based solely on an awkward photographed handshake and an out-of-context quotation from a prior debate. Campbell angrily rejected any suggestion of affinity and positioned himself as a long-standing champion of the little guy with a record to prove it.

The Republicans, meanwhile, jockeyed for relative position on the right. The back-and-forth between Fleming and Kennedy was particularly pointed, with Fleming casting Kennedy as a closet liberal and irresponsible steward of his own state office, and Kennedy reciting a list of other Republicans who had once been Democrats Trump included  and dismissing Fleming as a Washington insider. Boustany, who has tried to position himself as the wonky grown-up in the race, seemed to be dialing in from another, more substantive debate.

On issues, though, the candidates mostly fell along party lines on topics ranging from health care to their standards for supporting U.S. Supreme Court nominees, with only minor variations among members of each party. Had circumstances been different, Snell, a skilled and experienced moderator, might have been able to get a good conversation or two going. With Duke front and center and debate organizers visibly flustered, that just wasn't in the cards.

Instead, the real candidates got short shrift. So did historically black Dillard University, which hosted the debate and had to deal with student frustration over Duke's presence and the organizers' refusal to allow them into the empty auditorium where the forum was staged. And so, more than anyone, did any viewers who are still weighing which of the non-fringe candidates deserves their vote.

But hey, David Duke got his moment in the spotlight. Can we all at least agree that it should be his last?
Law firm Slater & Gordon has been hit by a massive protest vote from shareholders against its pay packets as it delivered a quarterly update that showed ongoing issues in its UK business.

Nearly 45 per cent of shareholders voted against the company's remuneration report at a meeting that was marked by strong investor anger.

Slater & Gordon Chairman John Skippen leaves the company's AGM in Melbourne. Credit:Jesse Marlow

More than 32 per cent of shareholders also voted against a long-term incentive package for company chief Andrew Grech.

Slater & Gordon's decision to award bonuses follows a year in which the company paid no dividend after posting a $1 billion loss.
Only days before share trading begins for the $1.1 billion float of Ingham's Group, its lead managers - that reads like a who's who of the investment banking industry - would be in a tailspin. Forager Funds Management - those guys that exposed the Dick Smith house of cards - released its verdict on the upcoming float of Australia's largest chicken producer - and it wasn't flattering.

The report titled Will Ingham's be the next Dick Smith? - frightening and catchy as that might be - should more acutely be headlined, Is Ingham's the next Goodman Fielder.

Neither outcome would be good news for investors but at least Goodman Fielder didn't end up in the hands of administrators.

But let's start with the similarities Forager found between Ingham's and Dick Smith. Both are iconic names, that sold into an initial public offering by private equity operators who bought them via a trade sale.
Australia's $80 billion apparel and homeware sector is at a crossroad, and it could be the end of the line for at least one of Australia's three discount department store chains.

Hobbled by the international apparel giants, the discount sector has endured a sustained attack by mega-brands such as H&M and Uniqlo, which have flexed their international scale, design know-how and supply chain might to steal away sales.

The only question that remains unanswered is who will survive the carnage, Woolworths' Big W or Wesfarmers' Target, after discount department store sales sunk to their lowest level in more than eight years last quarter, according to broker Citi.

Even Wesfarmers' undisputed discount star Kmart conceded ground in the latest quarterly sales results, with its comparable store sales easing back to 8.2 per cent from 8.6 per cent a year earlier.
In this year's federal election, tax reform was perhaps the biggest single issue. Credit:Wolter Peeters The big one was a plan to reduce the rate of company tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, phased in over 10 years, with smaller companies going first and the cuts not reaching big business until 2024. This was the centrepiece of the government's claim to have a "plan for jobs and growth". To this it added a tiny income tax cut of up to $6 a week for the top 20 per cent of taxpayers, earning more than $80,000 a year. Time for change: the government's attack on Labor's negative gearing policy didn't stick. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen But the budget included various tax increases to help pay for these tax cuts. It pinched Labor's plan for a further big, phased increase in tobacco excise, and adopted its own versions of Labor's plans to cut back tax concessions on superannuation and extract more tax from multinational corporations.

Labor had been first to put its tax reform cards on the table. It proposed also to phase out negative gearing of property investments and cut the discount on capital gains tax. The government considered its own measure to reduce negative gearing, but finally decided to do nothing, thus leaving itself free to claim Labor's plan would wreck the housing market. Product differentiation. But here's our first lesson on the politics of reform: it's a lot easier for governments to propose possibly unpopular reforms when the opposition has already stuck its neck out, or when cabinet has reason to believe the opposition won't attack it for acting. We can deduce from opinion polling, from the debate during the campaign and from the election outcome how these various reform measures went down with voters. The tobacco excise increase, the crackdown on multinational tax avoiders and the tiny tax cut hardly rated a mention in the campaign.

Had the small but expensive tax cut not be made, it's doubtful if the Coalition would have lost many votes. Bracket creep is rarely a biting election issue. The crackdown on multinationals was probably intended to answer the criticism that companies hardly need a tax cut when they were already paying very little, but it could just as easily have reminded voters of this argument. The super changes attracted little discussion publicly, but did anger some well-lined Liberal supporters. After the election the measures were toned down accordingly. But it's hard to believe the Libs lost many votes over it when Labor had similar proposals. Nor that many people loaded enough to have a problem with the super changes would have switched their vote to One Nation, as some claim. It seems pretty clear the cut in company tax wouldn't have gained the Coalition many votes it didn't already have, but probably lost it quite a few.

The public has little sympathy for big business - can't think why - and the claim that the benefit of company tax cuts would trickle down to the rest of us wasn't believed. Even the government's own modelling showed the belated effect on "jobs and growth" would be minor. For the punters, the link was impossible to see. By contrast, the government's attack on Labor's negative gearing policy didn't stick and the policy may have gained more young voters than it lost from older property investors. Economic theory tells us taxes on land are about the most economically efficient - doing least to distort the choices people make about working, saving and investing - of all taxes. They're particularly attractive when the increasing ease with which financial capital can be moved between tax jurisdictions is used as a key argument for reform, including increasing the GST. Land is immovable.

Land tax is also much fairer - "progressive" - than "regressive" GST, which takes a higher proportion of lower incomes than higher ones. The value of the land people own tends to be highly correlated with their overall wealth. But many reform advocates say raising land tax would be even harder politically than raising the GST. Well, they should note the case of the Labor government in the ACT, which got comfortably re-elected even though it has been implementing a reform long advocated by tax economists: slowly phasing out stamp duty on property conveyances while phasing in a universal land tax. Of course, there are no controlled experiments in economics, and many factors - notably, perceptions of a government's general competence - play a part in election outcomes.
It also ended a 10-day strike with Caltex workers at a site in Lytton, Queensland, that manufactures lubricants for motor oils. Members of the National Workers Union (NUW) had gone on strike indefinitely after Caltex workers were threatened with a 15 per cent cut in wages. Caltex chief executive Julian Segal has set up a $20 million fund to compensate staff underpaid by franchisees. Credit:Pat Scala Caltex is listed on the ASX with a market capitalisation of $7.8 billion. It is a well-known brand, with more than 1900 Caltex-branded or affiliated sites around Australia. About 650 of those sites are operated by franchisees, the rest carry the Caltex brand. More than 500 Woolworths sites are managed independently of Caltex. Records appear to show workers were paid as little as $13 an hour in cash.

Recently it made a bid to buy Woolworths stores, which are up for sale. If it is successful it would make it the biggest operator in the country, with a market share of 34 per cent, followed by Wesfarmers, which controls an estimated 22 per cent of the market. In the past year Caltex has investigated eight franchisees and terminated five of them. Instead of compensating the underpaid workers, eight people have been offered ex gratia payments. The model is marginally better than break even, but that isn't something to brag about. John Ibrahim, Caltex franchisee. The decision to ramp up its investigation followed an investigation by Fairfax Media this week which revealed that workers were being underpaid and that the Fair Work Ombudsman was conducting a raid of sites across the country. No excuse

But when it comes to its business model it is adamant that the wage fraud is not related. In a statement it said: "Caltex provides assistance to franchisees experiencing difficulties in their business. These mechanisms are available to all franchisees. There is no excuse for wage underpayments by franchisees." Given the flood of emails and phone calls in the past year, some would disagree. Ibrahim believes that while the Caltex franchise model doesn't force franchisees to cheat, it could cause some good people to feel enough financial pressure to cut corners, including offer cash. "The model is marginally better than break even, but that isn't something to brag about."

The sites are run 24 hours a day which requires a minimum of three to four staff. This doesn't come cheap if workers are being paid properly. The part-time adult rate for service station workers who work behind the counter is $19.56 an hour, rising to $29.34 for the first three hours of overtime. On Sundays, the equivalent part-time adult rate starts at $29.34 and on public holidays it starts at $39.12. The casual rate is $25.65 an hour rising to $33.34 on weekends. Issue flagged Caltex says that 70 sites are currently receiving financial support, which is equivalent to 10 per cent of the franchise network. That in itself suggests there might be an issue. There is a strong feeling that over the past 20 years things have changed in this country, not just with Caltex but other franchisors, with the inflow of desperate franchisees. 7-Eleven was exposed last year for systemic wage fraud across its network of franchisees, putting the spotlight on the dark underbelly of the labour market.

What it showed was the work force was dominated by students on visas controlled by fear and a culture of silence via threats of deportation if they stood up. Like 7-Eleven, many Caltex sites employ foreign workers who similarly are too scared to speak out. This week a worker who had agreed to speak out, had armed goons turn up at his family home in Pakistan to heavy him into withdrawing from the story. His sister, who is pregnant, was hysterical. Even if a franchisee was caught red-handed underpaying workers, the worst they could expect was a small fine and forced to pay back the money owed. In some cases they would pay the money back  to prove to the ombudsman that they had done the right thing  then tell the worker to give it back or lose their job.

In the past year Caltex has terminated five franchisees who operated 13 sites. Workers were not paid compensation. Eight were offered an ex gratia payment and counselling was made available. Caltex may think because it doesn't manage the payroll it is arm's length from being on the hook for compensation. Legally that might be correct. But from an ethical, moral and reputational point of view they would do well to step up. Loading The Turnbull government has promised to beef up the powers of the FWO and lift the penalties. This should be a high priority. Worker exploitation has been like boiling a frog. That frog has now boiled.
Come January 2017, the Bronx, a borough with a population roughly equal to San Antonio, will not have a single general-interest bookstore. That is the reality its 1.45 million people are facing after the announcement in mid-October that Barnes and Noble will not renew the lease at its Bay Plaza Shopping Center location, which was the only regular bookstore left in the Bronx. That Bay Plaza site will become a Saks Off 5th.

The news of the closing set off a public outcry, which included an impassioned letter from eight-year-old twins, a eulogy in the New Yorker and a petition drive from State Assembly Member Michael Benedetto.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz did announce this week that he's secured a commitment from Barnes and Noble to open a new Bronx location, but with the company closing stores all over the country, the prospects of that plan becoming reality seem murky. Even if it does materialize, the store could be months or years away.

It might be odd to think of a corporate chain located in a shopping plaza as a beloved community member, but that's what the Barnes and Noble is to Bronxites like Carmen Sanchez. On Wednesday morning, Sanchez, a 49-year-old paraprofessional at the New York Institute for Special Education, was chaperoning six children with autism to the bookstore, where a staff member read them a picture book.

"When I heard they were closing, I said, "'Why?'" Sanchez said. "The community needs this."

New York City has around 840 bookstores. So while the closing of a Barnes and Noble in the age of Amazon is hardly a surprise, the question has to be asked: Why are there no bookstores in the Bronx?

The last independent bookstore in the Bronx, a hole-in-the-wall called Books in the Hood, closed in 2011 after four years in business. The last Bronx bookstore with real staying power was Paperbacks Plus in Riverdale, a mainstay for almost four decades until it closed in 2008. But in the past half century, the Bronx has never been home to many bookstores.

"I never went to bookstores in the Bronx until I finished high school," said Bronx native Ron Kavanaugh, 54, founder of the Literary Freedom Project and manager of the Bronx Book Fair, which started in 2013. "I couldn't rattle off five names of bookstores that have been in the Bronx in my lifetime."

The elimination of independent bookstores in the Bronx runs counter to national trends. While large bookstore chains are sufferingBorders filed for bankruptcy in 2011; Barnes and Noble has closed more than 20 stores since 2014independent bookstores have actually experienced a bit of a renaissance. There were 1,775 independent bookstores in 2016, up from 1,410 in 2010, according to the American Booksellers Association.

"I think in the end it really and truly is about pricing. It's not a Bronx issue, it's a New York City issue," said Marlene Cintron, president of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. "There have been other bookstores that have been closed in Manhattan and Queens and other boroughs."



Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz signed up for a Barnes and Noble club membership two years ago in the Bronx when he helped broker a deal to keep the store open until December of 2016. (Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr./Flickr)

The other four boroughs, however, still have bookstores. They also have more money the Bronx is the city's poorest borough, and it's not just bookstores that are hard to come by.

"It can be a challenge to find things in the Bronx that aren't clothing stores and aren't restaurants," said Amelia Zanio, 26, an environmental educator and historian who started a petition to save the Bay Plaza Barnes and Noble location after the company's 2014 announcement it would not renew the store's lease. That petition resulted in local politicians securing another two-year lease for the store, which is now coming to an end. "The bookstores we do have in the Bronx are religious, or on college campuses, which of course are blocked off from the general public."

Without access to a bookstore, Bronxites are increasingly using the borough's public libraries. Between 2002 and 2014, checkouts of library items rose 35 percent in the Bronx and Manhattan, while checkouts in Queens and Staten Island fell, according to a report by the Center for an Urban Future. So while bookstores may be struggling, it's not because Bronx residents aren't reading.

Libraries are an essential resource to ensure people have access to books, but according to New York University professor and child literacy expert Susan Neuman, they are often not enough to encourage a culture of reading. Seeing a book in a bookstore can give a child a sense that it is valuable and something worth paying for.

There's also just the issue of coverage. Manhattan's 38 branch libraries, for example, are supplemented by hundreds of bookstores. In the Bronx, there are 36 branch libraries, but will soon be zero bookstores. And it's not just bookstores that are missing in low-income areas like the Bronx. It's books themselves.

"For a sizable number of children in the Bronx, there exists whole areas where you can just not find a book," said Neuman, who authored a recent paper on "book deserts." Neuman and her research team found that in many low-income neighborhoods in major cities, places that you would expect to find books, like pharmacies or toy stores, don't carry them. "Even if you want to read to children, you can't do it." Other reading materials were also few and far between.

"We couldn't find magazines or newspapers," Neuman said. "It's very serious."

This adds to the achievement gap between rich and poor students, particularly students of color. "The way you get smart is reading," Neuman said.

While the Bronx might not have a general-interest bookstore by next year, several Bronxites are imagining new ways to provide books to residents. Author and playwright Calvin Ramsey plans to install a series of six outdoor structures he calls "book houses" throughout the Bronx in the spring. Children will be able to take and exchange books without filling out any paperwork.

"I think the books you get at the library are wonderful," said Ramsey. "But it's good for kids to have books in their home that they can own. They can have a little bookshelf. A library inside your house is always a good thing."

But the best hope for an independent bookstore in the Bronx is probably Noelle Santos, a Bronx native and literary entrepreneur.

Santos, 29, wants to launch a bookstore with an event space and a wine bar that would support local authors. In September, her idea, which she is calling The Lit. Bar, won a $7,500 second place prize at the NYPL's 2016 StartUP! business plan competition. She's currently looking at locations in Motts Haven and Hunts Point. While the death of the Bay Plaza Barnes and Noble would leave her store without any competition in the borough, Santos is distraught that it is closing.

"Even if we had three bookstores in the North Bronx, we'd still be grossly underserved," Santos said. "It's a huge loss. It's really heartbreaking."
The irony of the latest and, let's be frank, the most vindictive, churlish and wacky instalment of the harshest border protection regime in the developed world is that it was conceived in response to the force successive Liberal prime ministers have exploited so ruthlessly for political gain: fear.

The fear is that, when the torment of those on Nauru and Manus Island is finally brought to an end, the people smugglers will mount a campaign to overwhelm Australia's maritime defences and boats will again dot the horizon from Christmas Island.

This is why Peter Dutton dreamed up a gratuitous punishment for those who fled persecution and arrived without an invitation: that they will never, ever set foot on our shores, not even as US or Canadian or Malaysian or Kiwi tourists, unless they are given a one-off ministerial exemption.

It is why Dutton and Malcolm Turnbull have been so determined to wedge Labor by daring Bill Shorten to embrace this idea or be cast as a soft touch, just like all of his predecessors.
In the late 1970s, I spent a few weeks as a stagehand with the Scottish Gaelic Theatre Company in the Outer Hebrides. In a packed pub, I stood in a bar where no one spoke English except as it was required of them by strangers like me. That night, I got drunk on whisky with the theatre's piper. We ended up in the back of a car, him clutching the whisky bottle and telling me about his love of the bagpipes and the people in his family who had been famous pipers. Soay sheep on rocky outcrop St Kilda. Credit:Steve Meacham I woke next morning  ill  to the sound of bagpipes. There was the piper on the hill above the town. It was a rare day, there being no wind and a clear sky all the way to the far horizon. This was western Europe's rocky outcrop, a place where small clumps of people had been blasted by the elements for aeons, and there was the piper, playing their fierce, proud, wistful songs. As he played, the piper faced west towards St Kilda, the tiny clump of islands where a small community of Gaelic speaking people lived in the middle of the wild north Atlantic, only leaving in 1930. I was reading a book about St Kilda at the time; my fascination with the story was only enhanced when a Scottish band called Ossian passed through and played an old reel called St Kilda Wedding.

The remote and steep cliffs of St Kilda. Credit:claffra There were at most a few hundred St Kildans. Even into the 20th century, they were ruled by the customs of the Scottish feudal system. They spoke their own version of Gaelic and lived mostly off the sea birds which populate the cliff faces of the islands. A young St Kilda man could not marry until he had proved his courage scaling the cliffs. Over generations of doing so, the St Kildans developed a distinctive toe-bone. Until the world intruded in the mid-19th century, the St Kildans had no currency other than their produce which was scrupulously shared out among all the island's inhabitants. But they also had no immunity from outside diseases. In 1852, when 30 of them emigrated to Melbourne, half died on the voyage out. Nonetheless, it is likely that they have descendants living in this city. It is sometimes written that the suburb of St Kilda takes its name from these people but it seems the name came from The Lady of St Kilda, a schooner which moored off the local beach for much of 1841. The Lady of St Kilda was named after Lady Grange (1679-1745), a Scottish noblewoman who, in between the two Jacobite rebellions, threatened to tell the government of her husband's Jacobite sympathies after she discovered he was having an affair. He responded by having her kidnapped and deposited on Hirta, one of the remote islands of St Kilda. A stone hut with an earth floor on Hirta is still remembered as "Lady Grange's house". The Lady Grange wine bar in Melbourne's St Kilda is presumably named after her.
News this week that Victoria's Hazelwood power plant will close in March presents the state and federal governments with complex challenges, but also opportunities.

Hazelwood is this country's least efficient and most polluting power station, and one of the most polluting power stations in the world. The plant produces 15 per cent of Victoria's greenhouse emissions and 3 per cent of emissions for the whole country.

The Hazelwood power plant will shut in March. Credit:Eddie Jim

The underground fire at Hazelwood in 2014 was found to have contributed to deaths in the region and there have been ongoing problems with air quality. So we welcome an end to this pollution and all that it represents in terms of the transition to clean energy. But there is a human face to this change and it is this that poses the greatest challenge for government.

Around 1000 people will eventually lose their jobs at Hazelwood, many of whom have not worked outside the power industry, and these job losses will inevitably have a knock-on effect on many local businesses.
Dodgy online betting agencies will have a harder time gaining a foothold in Australia after the Turnbull government launched an unprecedented intervention to dismantle Norfolk Island's wagering authority amid corruption concerns.

The Norfolk Island Gaming Authority exposed Australia's thoroughbred industry to global ridicule last year when it granted a national licence to BetHQ  closely linked to the world's biggest illegal bookmaker, Citibet.

The government subsequently ordered the authority to stop issuing new licences while audit firm Centium conducted a review. But now Territories Minister Fiona Nash says the authority will be scrapped altogether.

"Gambling in Australia must be carefully regulated to ensure the integrity of our sport and to protect consumers," Senator Nash said.
Streamlining complaints under controversial provisions of the Human Rights Act would avoid long delays in cases like cartoonist Bill Leak and students at the Queensland University of Technology, Liberal backbench newcomer Julian Leeser said on Friday.

Offering a compromise for reform of section 18C of the act, which makes it an offence to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" on the basis of race, Mr Leeser said the Human Rights Commission should be required to more quickly determine whether a complaint has any prospect of success, before lengthy legal processes begin.

In a speech to the Chinese Australian Services Society in Sydney, the Berowra MP argued a part-time judicial member of the commission could be appointed to initially consider complaints, and those with little prospect of success could be quickly terminated.

The proposal comes ahead of Friday's decision by a Brisbane judge on the controversial QUT case, over accusations of racial vilification by a trio of students who complained on social media about being asked to leave a computer lab reserved for use by Indigenous students
Cathy Kezelman, president of advocacy group the Blue Knot Foundation, told the royal commission abuse can have a long lasting impact. Dr Cathy Kezelman, president of abuse survivors organisation Blue Knot Foundation, welcomed the announcement, but called for all states and territories to sign up. "We are excited to see the Commonwealth showing leadership on this," she said. Churches and charities which don't contribute should be punished according to Care Leavers Australia Network's Leonie Sheedy. Credit:Penny Stephens "Now it is up to the states and the institutions to show similar leadership so we can see a fair and equitable scheme for survivors rolled out as soon as possible."

The federal government can't legally compel the states, churches or institutions to sign up, but will apply public pressure to force them to join voluntarily. Justice Peter McClellan is the chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which recommended a national redress scheme. Credit:Jeremy Piper Francis Sullivan, chief executive of the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, said the church supported the scheme. "This scheme will deliver a fair, simple, consistent and generous process for redress for survivors regardless of where abuse occurred, be it a church, a charity, a school, an orphanage or anywhere else," he said. Illustration: Ron Tandberg

"It will mean the scheme will determine redress payments and that payment will be met by the institution responsible for the abuse." The Catholic Church is expected to be one of the largest contributors to compensation under the scheme. "We have taken every effort and care to design these principles to maximise our ability to have an organisation like the Catholic Church opt-in to the scheme," Mr Porter said. "Obviously we will be directing enormous effort into making sure that that happens." A spokesman for the Salvation Army said it would consider the announcement before responding.

The 10-year scheme, beginning in 2018, will see responsible groups opt-in to fund the cost of their own participation and compensation payments. The scheme could be extended past 2028 if required. Compensation will be capped at $150,000 and the Commonwealth will foot the bill as a last resort for institutions such as charities and churches which no longer exist or have no capacity to pay. The royal commission estimated the total cost of redress for 60,000 abuse survivors, including administration costs, at $4.3 billion, recommending minimum individual payments of $10,000 and a maximum of $200,000 for the most severe cases of abuse. Andrew Collins, a survivor of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Ballarat, called for an explanation of why the maximum payment was capped at $50,000 below the commission's recommendation. "No church or government could think that it's morally right to have children raped who then suffer lifelong effects and they could only be paid a few thousand," he said.

"It sends no deterrent to the organisations involved. The scheme should be funded entirely by those at fault." The federal government's scheme has been designed to ensure redress and compensation is given to victims irrespective of where and when their abuse took place and regardless of the present status of the offending institution. Preliminary estimates of the cost of compensating 3000 victims of abuse in federal government institutions is between $570 million to $770 million over 10 years. The scheme will provide access to counselling and compel high-level representatives of offending institutions to be available to talk to sexual abuse victims, should they demand it. Mr Porter said the federal government had no capacity to compel states governments to join the scheme but said it could compel the ACT and Northern Territory to join under the constitution.
Fresh on the heels of signing 17-year old James Charles as its coverboy, CoverGirl has continued their promoting their message of inclusivity by signing Muslim beauty blogging phenomenon Nura Afia as their latest ambassador.

Afia, who started watching YouTube videos while she was breastfeeding her daughter, made the decision to create her own videos because she believed there was a lack of channels featuring women wearing hijibs.

Beauty blogger Nura Afia attending Covergirl #Lashequality event. Credit:Cindy Ord

"I grew up being insecure about wearing the hijab, and I never thought I would see Muslim women represented on such a large scale," Afia told Refnery29. "I wanted to show people that I can still be married and a mum and do whatever the hell I want  my scarf isn't going to stop me."

And Afia's project has paid off with her loyal fan base growing to more than 200,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel. The beauty blogger posts everything from smoky eye tutorials (pure gold and apricot and every other conceivable colour you could think of) and how to be creative with her hijab.
The main currency of the anti-Clinton meme world is physical imperfection. Her head nods are declared signs of Parkinson's in a YouTube video with more than 4 million views; pixilated crops of the light hitting her ear are scrutinised for signs of a secret debate earpiece. And then there's the trove of unflattering - sometimes manipulated - images of the candidate, which are used so frequently in both the Trump and progressive anti-Hillary circles of the internet that they're almost their own reaction meme.

But the latest anti-Hillary meme to take hold in the Trump internet is that Clinton is a secret alcoholic. Photos and video that, two months ago, were passed around as definitive proof that Clinton was hiding a debilitating neurological condition have been suddenly repurposed for the hot new claim that actually, Clinton was drunk the whole time. Mix that up with a tantalising WikiLeaks email and a scoop from a dubious right-wing blog, and you start to understand how this, of all things, became this week's way to question Clinton's fitness for office - and bait her supporters online.

Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally on Wednesday in Arizona. Credit:Ross D. Franklin

"I think you should call her and sober her up some," wrote Clinton campaign Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri in an email to campaign chair John Podesta on August 8, 2015, at about 16.30 on a Saturday: a remark that was interpreted as being about Clinton.

Sure, "sober up" could just as easily refer to mood - based on context, the emails come days before Clinton turned over her private email server to investigators - and not a literal status of inebriation.
What a week! Here at TSW, we have a massive spring carnival hangover (and matching hole in our wallets) but there are a couple of good sales to mark in your diaries now the racing circus has nearly left town.

Ethical, sustainable and uber-hot label KitX is holding a warehouse sale in Melbourne next weekend. The sale will include one-offs and samples, in silks and cottons, with prices up t 80 per cent off the original. Most pieces will be from the winter collection, which was in store from January to March (handily, it's still online, so you can research before you hit the sale).
The jobs of more than 150 Australian Bureau of Statistics public servants are to be axed as the cash-strapped bureau struggles to balance its shrinking budget.

Workers at the bureau, which finished the past financial year more than $36 million in the red, were told on Friday morning that management will be looking to get up to 150 employees to accept voluntary redundancies in a process that is to begin immediately.

Chief Statistician David Kalisch. Credit:Andrew Meares

The job cuts are the latest in a string of bad news stories for the Bureau which is still dealing with the fall-out from August's dramatic Census debacle and ongoing financial strife.

The axe is falling just weeks after Chief Statistician David Kalisch said data collection on foreign ownership of agricultural businesses, industrial disputes, motor vehicle sales, livestock slaughter, and crime offenders and victims, could all stop because of the financial pressures the bureau faced.
Two Black Lives Matter activists busted during a protest this spring are suing the NYPD, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, and a criminal court judge for a bizarre arrangement where lawyers for the police department are prosecuting the protesters' minor violations, in an effort to avoid being sued for false arrest.

Aminta Jeffryes and Cristina Winsor were arrestedas opposed to just being ticketed, which would be the normal way to goduring a March demonstration, Jeffyes for crossing Houston Street against the light, and Winsor for walking in the roadway on East 12th Street. After hours of detention, police wrote them summonses. The violations are so minor that they don't rise to the level of a crimeeven drinking a beer in public is a more serious offensewhich means they are dealt with in summons court.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office doesn't think summonses of this kind are important enough to devote resources to, so they leave the individual police officers who wrote the tickets to appear in court and attest to what they saw. The exception, according to the suit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, is when protesters are involved. Dating back to the 2004 Republican National Convention, prosecutors have very occasionally showed up to prosecute summonses. When Jeffryes and Winsor showed up to court in May, they were greeted by the surprise sight of suits in the courtroom.

But the lawyers on the other side were not prosecutorsthey were lawyers from the NYPD Legal Bureau, who explained that they had a memorandum of understanding from the DA's Office allowing them to prosecute the cases.

The activists' lawyers formally objected, and in October, Judge Guy Mitchell decided that the NYPD and DA's Office could proceed. Now, the lawsuit seeks to again bar the NYPD from assuming the role of police and prosecutor, citing NYPD policy prohibiting officers from bargaining with defense attorneys, appeals court rulings, state and city statutes against the practice, and a conflict of interest between the NYPD and the role of prosecutor.

NYPD Legal Bureau attorneys are trying to force the protesters to admit guilt in exchange for conditional dismissals of their charges, which could head off potential false arrest and selective prosecution lawsuits down the line, and which is essentially unheard of.

The activists' lawyers argue that prosecutors are supposed to act in the interest of justice and the people, which is fundamentally at odds with the NYPD protecting its officers from facing accountability in civil court. To show that the latter is what the police department is trying to do, the suit points to Legal Bureau Deputy Commissioner Larry Byrne, who told the Daily News that the arrangement was to head off lawsuits, saying, "Were trying to put some teeth into issuing these summonses."

Speaking of teeth, "Allowing the Legal Bureau to prosecute First Amendment cases is indeed like allowing the fox to guard the chickens," lawyers for the protesters wrote in one filing.

The Law Department and Manhattan DA's Office declined to comment on the lawsuit. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.

Arguing that the jaywalking ticket is a clear case of selective prosecution, lawyer Martin Stolar told the Village Voice, "The person who signed Arminta's summons is a captain. I look forward to getting him on the witness stand, asking how often he, as a captain, issues summons for jaywalking, and how it came to be that she was held for five hours and then issued a summons for jaywalking. Things like that don't usually happen. One might think she was singled out, because she's an organizer."

The city spent $228.5 million settling and paying out judgments for police misconduct lawsuits in fiscal year 2016.
A former tax official who blew the whistle on the ATO's "covert operations" against taxpayers has been left jobless, broke and facing demands for $88,000 in legal fees from the federal government.

Former ATO public servant Ron Shamir wants to continue his legal battle against the Commonwealth, but lawyers are afraid to take the case against a bureaucracy with limitless access to taxpayers' money.

Ron Shamir says the ATO used unlawful dirty tricks against taxpayers. Credit:Simon Schluter

The former tax intelligence analyst has fought a David and Goliath legal struggle with his former public service bosses after he spoke out, alleging millions of dollars in tax returns were being illegally withheld, and was sacked soon after.

But the ATO has won the latest round of the dispute, an unfair dismissal appeal to the full bench of the Fair Work Commission, and the Commonwealth is looking to recover $80,000 in legal fees it was awarded after an earlier Federal Court challenge that Mr Shamir also lost.
Councils are pushing up the cost of new homes by claiming large sums to approve large residential buildings  a practice that can hold the planning process "to ransom", the NSW Planning Minister has warned.

Rob Stokes said on Friday he was moving to rein in the growing use of little-publicised "Voluntary Planning Agreements", which the development industry says can add tens of thousands of dollars to new apartments.

The agreements allow councils to strike deals with developers who trade infrastructure contributions or cash transfers in exchange for approving development projects that exceed planning limits.

"We have a case where assessment processes are being held to ransom, increasing costs for new homes by up to thousands  a cost being borne, in the end, by home buyers," Mr Stokes said.
Homes and cars have been damaged after two bushfires burned out of control in NSW on Friday afternoon.

In a menacing start to the warmer months, fire crews battled to save homes from fires at Llandilo, in Sydney's west, and Callala Bay, on the state's south coast.

A massive bushfire in Llandilo and Cranbrook burned ferociously for four hours, causing police officers to knock on doors and evacuate homes, two schools and a nursing home.

Some residents set up lawn sprinklers on their roofs while others had no time to grab pets or property before they fled.
A Sydney bus which caught fire on Friday morning did not have a fire safety system installed and has raised pressure on the NSW government to race to have the suppression systems fitted in all public and private buses.

The city-bound Hillsbus caught fire just before 10am on the M2 near Beecroft Road in Beecroft.

About 30 passengers were safely evacuated from the Route 611 service to Macquarie Park after the engine caught fire. NSW Fire & Rescue crews attended and quickly extinguished the blaze which temporarily blocked all citybound traffic.

The bus did not have an engine bay fire suppression system fitted, a Transport for NSW spokesperson said, despite a public outcry after a bus erupted in flames on the Harbour Bridge in September. The Harbour Bridge fire was the 36th such fire this year.
A former north Queensland council employee has been arrested following an investigation by the nation's anti-corruption body.

The Crime and Corruption Commission will allege a former Flinders Shire Council employee used his position in council to award contracts to his own personal business.

The investigation identified the former council employee's business allegedly supplied products to the council, valued at more than $800,000. Credit:Tanya Lake

The CCC investigation identified the 52-year-old man's business allegedly supplied various products to the council, valued at $842,000.

It is understood he was operating his business independently of his employment with the council.
A land and air search is underway to find a man who left a rural property south of Townsville on foot early Friday morning.

The 37-year-old was last seen about 1.15am at a Woodstock Giru Road property near Bowling Green Bay National Park at Majors Creek and has not been seen since.

Police are working with SES volunteers to find a man reported missing from Majors Creek. Credit:Glenn Hunt

It is understood the man left the property on foot and suffers from a medical condition, police said.

A helicopter has been tasked to the area and SES volunteers were working with police to help track the man.
A man is dead and a toddler fighting for life after separate water-related tragedies in Victoria on Friday.

Ambulance officers were called to Harrietville in the state's north-east at about 11.45am to treat a child with a head injury from a "water incident".

She was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital in a critical condition, where she is now fighting for their life.

The little girl was on a family holiday, camping on the banks of the Ovens River, Channel Seven reported.
The Christian Brothers have made no moves to expel paedophile Robert Charles Best from their order despite him pleading guilty to another slew of child-sex offences spanning 20 years.

Best appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, via video link from prison, to plead guilty to sexually abusing 15 boys in Ballarat and Box Hill between 1968 and 1982 and in Geelong in 1987 and 1988.

Robert Best has pleaded guilty to more historic child-sex offences.

The 75-year-old was in 2011 jailed for 14 years for abusing 11 boys he taught at schools in Ballarat, Box Hill and Geelong between 1969 and 1988.

Soon after his plea, the Christian Brothers Province of Oceania issued a statement reiterating their "unreserved apology" for Best's "grievous betrayal of trust", and urging people to contact police if they had been sexually assaulted.
A Perth man has been arrested after allegedly hitting three police cars, flinging a tomahawk at a woman's car and injuring three police officers after their attempt to Taser him.

About 8.30am Friday, Murdoch police spotted a stolen black Ford Falcon on the corner of Winterfold and Stock Roads in Hamilton Hill, which hit their police car when they tried to pull it over, WA Police spokeswoman Sarah Dyer said.

WA Police are questioning the man and one of his passengers. Credit:WA Police

It further evaded officers in Spearwood, who saw one of the two passengers run from the car as they deflated its tyres with a Stinger.

The driver and his other passenger drove to the nearby Phoenix Shopping Centre and abandoned the car in the underground carpark, she said.
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Auto Lab Radio LIVE From NYC - Saturday November 5, 2016 7-9 AM (EDT)







The Auto Lab Radio Show is Broadcast every Saturday 7 to 9 AM On New York City's WNYM Radio AM 970 and Streamed Worldwide On The Auto Channel

Broadcast Date: November 5, 2016

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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.

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Broadcast Date: November 5, 2016

Auto Answers - Maintenance, How To's, Safety, Used and New Car Buying, Ombudsmen Suggestions. From These Auto Lab In-Studio Experts

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Coyotes have slowly been taking over New York City the last few years, possibly in preparation for an I Am Legend type of empty city in a radiation-scarred future. But the government is not quite ready to cede the city to nature yet, as the Port Authority announced that a family of coyotes repeatedly spotted around LaGuardia Airport and Rikers Island will be trapped and killed.

The LaGuardia coyotes were first seen last April, and even though they appear to be the first living creatures to actually enjoy their time at LaGuardia, their days are numbered. The Port Authority announced in a statement that "repeated efforts to force the coyotes to leave the area have not succeeded," so they'll be put down by agents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to NBC.

A coyote advocate told the Daily News that killing the family wasn't necessary, and that they weren't acting aggressively towards humans. However, the tabloid also noted that employees at nearby graveyards had been feeding the coyotes.

Also, Astoria residents told Fox5 that after the pack surrounded a Department of Environmental Protection employee, they could no longer feed stray cats in an industrial part of the neighborhood, because the cats and the food they left out attracted the coyotes. Whether this aggressive act by the Port Authority will be met with a similar show of force by the state's coyote population is unknown, but watch these nature documentaries on best practices to deal with a coyote just in case.
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...

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Mayor de Blasio is likely to sign into law the nation's first freelancer protections against nonpayment this fall, following a unanimous City Council vote last week. In the broadest terms, the legislation mandates that freelancers be paid in full for their work either by a date set forward in writing, or within 30 days of completing an assigned task. The law also aims to protect freelancers from employer retaliation, and can increase monetary consequences for employers who refuse to pay.

But when one law is intended to protect such a wide swath of workersaccording to the Freelancers Union, 38% of the workforce in New York City is freelancequestions arise. If I live in New York City but I'm freelancing for an out-of-state company, do the protections apply? If my employer sends me terms via text or Facebook message, does that count as a legitimate contract? What if I take my employer to court... and lose?

This week, we spoke to the legislation's author, Brooklyn Councilmember Brad Lander, as well as the Freelancers Union, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and attorneys who represent both employers and workers about how the Freelance Isn't Free Act might play out.

What's a freelancer? The definition here is broad: "any natural person," incorporated or not, who is hired as an independent contractor to provide a service in exchange for money. A spokesperson for the Freelancers Union rattled off some examples this week: home healthcare workers, artists, musicians, graphic designers, stage technicians on Broadway, dog walkers, journalists.

Benjamin Dictor, an attorney with the labor law firm Eisner & Dictor, represents unions and individual workers. He urged anyone who thinks they might qualify to exercise these new rights. "Creative cases can advance the law," he said. "The law might be written by a legislative body, but it is plaintiffs that advance it and develop it. Anyone who thinks that their rights have been violated should seek legal counsel."

That is, assuming the amount owed is at least $800either for one assignment, or for a cluster of assignments within a four month period. (An earlier version of the law mandated contracts for payments of $200 or more.)

What constitutes a contract? Under state contract law, a handshake technically suffices as proof of a contractual agreement. The problem with such a broad definition, Lander says, is that the question of payment can quickly devolve into a he-said, she-said scenario. The new written-contract requirements are basic: name and mailing address of both parties; an itemization of services (walk the dog every day at noon, one 600-word review of Hamilton, etc.), and either a date when payment will be due or an agreement on how that date will be set. A contract can also be casualconvenient, considering how casually many freelance assignments are administered. A committee report accompanying the new legislation says that emails suffice, as do text messages, or a combination of the two. Letters and printed advertisements work as well. The law also requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to post template contracts on its website.

Are any employers excluded from the law? Yes. Freelancers employed by any governmentwhether that be federal, state, local or foreignare excluded from the legislation. The logic being, according to Lander's office, that government agencies tend to be paperwork friendly, whereas the legislation is aiming to protect freelancers who might otherwise make agreements without a written contract.

Individuals, it's worth noting, are not excluded. As a freelancer, you could hypothetically go to court over lost wages from the guy who you designed a website for, or the bride whose (at least $800) flower crown you arranged.

What if I live in New York City, but my employer is based somewhere else? Lander said that the law should cover most New York City freelancers, even if the employer is based in, say, Albany, or even another state. "Probably, if you live here, if you are doing the work here, someone out of state who hired you has to comply with our laws," he said. "Now, the reverse in many cases might not be trueif a New York company is hiring a freelancer in Abu Dabi, that person probably does not have a claim under the Freelance Isn't Free act."

"If you are in New York and performing the work in New York it would be expected that an employer hiring in New York abide by the [city's] laws," Dictor concurred. "But it does raise some interesting potential issues when you think of the way it works in the modern worldhiring people over the internet." Dictor anticipates litigation with employers who might not realize they are hiring people who live and work in New York City.



(via Scott Lynch's flickr)

What if my employer isn't paying me, even though I told him about the law? Assuming a degree of noncompliance, Lander says that the law is still written to help freelancers get paid before a judge gets involved. Within two years of allegedly being stiffed, a freelancer can file a complaint with the city's Office of Labor Standards, within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The office director will then draft a certified letter to the employer within 20 days, explaining how the freelancer's contract was allegedly breached. The employer has 20 days to respond. In that window, Lander said, "Hopefully in a lot of cases the hiring party will just pay."

According to the city, 70 percent of cases reported to DCA are resolved without court proceedings (the office currently mediates complaints against private businesses).

"In some cases," Lander added, "If they respond saying they didn't pay because [the freelancer] didn't do the work, the Department of Consumer Affairs will let the freelancer know, and the freelancer can decide whether to go to court." If the employer just doesn't respond, the DCA sends a "notice of non-response" to both parties and is free to close the case. It's then up to the freelancer to decide if he or she wants to go to courta process the DCA acknowledges can be complicated.

The prospect of court will be less daunting, Lander argues, because freelancers are guaranteed "reasonable" compensation for attorney's fees. The law also mandates that the DCA set up a website with a phone line and "court information," including organizations that can help one find an attorney.

Dictor said the assurance of attorneys fees is crucial. "It provides justice in a system that often doesn't provide justice to people who don't have a lot of money," he said. "If there weren't fee-shifting laws not many private attorneys would be able to represent individual plaintiffs and claimants."

Important caveat: if you decide to take your employer to court and lose, Lander's office confirmed that you might be responsible for your own legal fees. You also have to bring the civil action within two years of the alleged incident.

How much money am I going to get out of this? If a letter from the office of Labor Standards is enough to prompt payment, the freelancer will get the money owed, to the penny. In court, freelancers can win $250 in damages, plus attorney fees, if the judge agrees that the employer failed to provide a contract on request (it's on the freelancer to provide proof that a contract was requested). If the judge determines that the employer failed to meet the terms of the contract (didn't pay on the decided date or within 30 days of the work being completed), then the freelancer is entitled to double damages.

There's also an anti-retaliation provision in the law, that's supposed to protect freelancers from threats, intimidation, or denial of future work for exercising their new rights. It's left to the judge to decide if retaliation factored in, but the possible damages for any act of retaliation are equal to the amount of stiffed wages.



(via Joe Schumacher's flickr)

Is this legislation going to scare employers away from New York City? On Thursday, the New York Law Journal published a critique of the new protections from attorneys at Pepper Hamilton LLP, a firm that defends companies accused of misclassifying employees as independent contractors. We spoke with Pepper Hamilton attorney Richard Reibstein, who predicted that employers will start seeking freelancers outside the city in order to avoid the possibility of steep damages. He argued that plenty of employers have legitimate reasons for not wanting to pay their freelancers. Like, say, the work isn't satisfactorily completed.

"An [employer with a] legitimate dispute will say, 'Oh, I'm told if I don't pay this person I'll have to pay double damages, so I'm not going to deal with a New York contractor ever again," Reibstein told us Thursday.

Lander countered that the law does not preclude employers from making their case. "This doesn't change the fact that contract disputes will be litigated in court," he said.

Dictor dismissed the idea that the new protections could create a freelance work drought in New York City. "Since the beginning of employment, it has always been the position of employers that if employees get more rights we'll stop hiring them. That's always been the threat," he said. "But the bosses need us more than we need them."

So, what if there's a dispute over what constitutes "complete" work? Testifying before the City Council this spring, DCA Deputy Commissioner Amit Bagga warned that freelancers shouldn't assume a written contract will always be in their favor. She argued that "plain language" in contracts can be difficult to assess, and that non-paying clients can still dispute when the work was completed, and whether the work was satisfactory.

Reibstein, the attorney who defends employers, agreed. "Satisfactory completion is not always a shared conclusion to both sides," he said. "Let's take a freelancer writer. They are asked to write some article. They go back and forth with the business, with drafts, and at some point the business may not be satisfied, and ask the freelancer to do something else. The freelancer doesn't do it satisfactorily, but the freelancer thinks that they did."

Lander scoffed. "I never heard of one time when it was lack of clarity that the work was complete that was an issue," he said.

"I can foresee that there will be disputes following this act, but the existence of disputes isn't necessarily a bad thing," Dictor said. "Prior to this act, it was very difficult, even financially impossible, for people to dispute whether or not their work was complete. But with the risk of litigation, parties are often able to compromise."

"Whereas, before," he added, "An employer could simply walk away and feel very little risk."
ALLETE, Inc. operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. The company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 145,000 retail customers and 15 non-affiliated municipal customers. It also owns and maintains electric transmission assets in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. In addition, the company focuses on developing, acquiring, and operating clean and renewable energy projects; and owns and operates approximately 1,000 megawatts of wind energy generation facility. Further, it is involved in the coal mining operations in North Dakota; and real estate investment activities in Florida. The company owns and operates 158 substations with a total capacity of 10,066 megavolt amperes. It serves taconite mining, paper, pulp and secondary wood products, pipeline, and other industries. The company was formerly known as Minnesota Power, Inc. and changed its name to ALLETE, Inc. in May 2001. ALLETE, Inc. was incorporated in 1906 and is headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota.
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OPKO Health, Inc., a healthcare company, engages in the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the United States, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Israel, Mexico, and internationally. The company's Diagnostics segment operates BioReference Laboratories that offers laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases, including esoteric testing, molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, genetics, women's health, and correctional healthcare to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, employers and governmental units; and a novel diagnostic instrument system to provide blood test results in the point-of-care setting, as well as 4Kscore prostate cancer testing services. Its Pharmaceutical segment offers Rayaldee to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism in adults with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease, and vitamin D insufficiency; OPK88004, an orally administered selective androgen receptor modulator; OPK88003, a once-weekly administered peptide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and associated obesity that is in Phase IIb trials; and hGH-CTP, a once-weekly human growth hormone injection that completed Phase III clinical trial in partnership with Pfizer, Inc. This segment develops and commercializes longer-acting proprietary versions of already approved therapeutic proteins. The company also offers specialty APIs; develops, manufactures, markets, and sells pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, veterinary, and ophthalmic products; commercializes food supplements and over the counter products; manufactures and sells products primarily in the generics market; and imports, markets, distributes, and sells pharmaceutical products in a range of indications, including cardiovascular products, vaccines, antibiotics, gastro-intestinal products, hormones, and others. In addition, it operates pharmaceutical platforms in Ireland, Chile, Spain, and Mexico. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
In less than a week, the nation will elect its 45th president and, while Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump trade brickbats on the campaign trail, anotherarguably more critical fight is also unfolding: Who will control the U.S. Senate?

On Election Day, the American electorate decidedly more diverse than in years past will decide who we are as a nation and who we want to be.

If the polls are right, the GOPs two-year old majority in the upper chamber may well end Nov. 8, with political prognosticators placing the lions share of the blame for that looming loss on Trump, whose unfavorable rating now hovers near 60 percent. Broadly speaking, statewide candidatesincluding sitting members of the Senatehave not been able to rely on his tattered coattails nor his fabled purse strings. Instead his decidedly untraditional campaign style, lack of in-state organization and inability to lure big dollar donors have been dragging down other Republicans.

Theyve struggled to find the right relationship with a candidate mired in personal scandals and controversies of his own making, while at the same time attempting to placate grassroots voters who have rallied to Trumps side.

Today, Republicans hold a narrow four-member majority in the U.S. Senate and a Cook Political Report predicts Democrats might gain five to seven seats.

Long-serving incumbents like Sens. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), who might have otherwise sailed back into office, are now staring down meaningful challenges. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), once a presumed front-runner for the Republican nomination is now locked in a head-to-head battle with Patrick Murphy for his political life.

Should the Senate tip in favor of the Democrats, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will have to surrender his gavel to New York Senator Chuck Schumer and with that the ability to appoint committee chairs.

Democrats would also control hearings and confirmation votes for potential Supreme Court nominees. Currently facing a GOP blockade, President Obamas nominee-in-waiting Garland Merritt might finally see an up-or-down vote. After the death of associate justice Antonin Scalia and with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy all at least 78 when the new president is sworn in the Supreme Court could be radically reshaped in short order.

Fleeing from Trump without quite finding the heart to split from him, House Speaker Paul Ryan is calling on voters to focus almost exclusively on the outcome of down-ticket races. Many Republicans, rightly fearing thatve already lost the White House, say their aim is to stop Hillary Clintons liberal agenda. Collectively, they have given into the notion that Clinton will capture the Oval Office

Democrats argue that, given the last eight years, the country can ill-afford more gridlock in Washington and that the necessary change wont happen if Republicans maintain their current legislative majority. The House may be out of reach, at least for now, but the Senate, and with it the Supreme Court, is not.

For at least six of his eight years in office, President Barack Obama has been hamstrung by Congressional Republicanswho claimed the House in 2010 and then the Senate in 2014as he pressed his legislative agenda. From government shutdowns to an unprecedented sidelining of a Supreme Court nominee, the president has watched his political visions severely weakened, when not turned to dust as recalcitrant GOP leaders proved less interested in partnering with the White House than with beating Obama.

The stakes are high.

As they did with President Obama, Republican leaders and members are already challenging Hillary Clintons legitimacy, even before shes won the contest. They are talking about levying impeachment charges against her even before she takes the oath of office, and blocking any and all Supreme Court nominees she might offer. Trump, who brought the birther movement into the mainstream and rode it to his current position as the Republican partys putative leader, repeatedly says Clinton belongs in jail and is not be qualified to seek the presidency.

Whatever the popular vote is in November, Republicans are a near lock to maintain control of the House, and to fight a President Clintons every move there. The Senate, however, is a different matter.

In Senate battleground states like Florida, North Carolina and Missouri, the majority may well swing in favor of the Democrats. Indiana, Wisconsin and Nevada are also up to bat. It stands to reason that the DNC and national senatorial committee are pouring resources in races where they think they can win. The coordinated, state-by-state campaign boasts a strong ground game. Fissures created by a Trump candidacy have resulted in opportunities that may not have been possible had a more traditional candidate won the Republican primary.

The U.S. Senate is the crucial check in our system of checks and balances. Win the Senate, and the House and the country may well follow. Fall short, and expect more grinding years like the last six.
Patton Oswalt made his first public comments about the untimely death of his wife, Michelle McNamara, one week after she passed away in her sleep. The comedian known for his insightful and hilarious tweets about everything from politics to nerd culture to the nature of the universe, delivered this somber message. It was way too soon for jokes.

But now, just over six months later, Oswalt has begun to find a way to work grief and loss into his deeply personal stand-up material, culminating in a heartbreaking and cathartically funny new set on Thursday night at the Beacon Theatre as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

Oswalt understandably struggled to find his way into the new material, not broaching the subject of McNamaras death until he was more than 30 minutes into his hour-long set. He began with some jokes about the Cubs World Series victory and visiting a haunted house with his daughter Alice this past weekend. Before long, he had moved on to the giant haunted house that is the 2016 election.

After a few minutes of anti-Trump material, Oswalt got his first and only heckle of the night. Maybe you should send him an email, a man in the orchestra shouted. Oh man, you got me. The emails! An old person didnt know how emails work, fuck, lock her up, man, Oswalt replied to one of his biggest ovations of the night. You and I just literally encapsulated the entire election, do you realize that?

Midway through the show, Oswalt admitted that he was stalling by doing crowd work with the front row of the large theater, before getting to the moment many members of the audience knew was coming. Theres no easy way to segue into this, he said before informing the crowd that it has been exactly six months and 12 days since his wife passed.

Its just my life. Its all-consuming and it sucks, he added, saying that he feared this portion of the set would turn into some sort of sappy one-man show when he really wanted to keep it in the context of stand-up comedy, because to him it is the best art form through which he knows how to express himself.

The first hints of Oswalts evolution towards being able to joke about his grief could be seen in his talk show appearances, first with Conan OBrien in September and then this week with Jimmy Fallon. On Conan, Oswalt compared his life to every bad 80s sitcom where he has to raise his daughter by himself. Except my 80s sitcom sucks. Theres no punchlines. Theres a lot of insomnia. Theres a lot of me eating Cheetos for dinner.

In an extended story about trying to distract his seven-year-old on the week leading up Mothers Day with a trip to Chicago, Oswalt commended himself for how well he did until they got to the airport at the end of the week and the older Polish woman taking their tickets leaned down and told her, My mother died when I was your age, I never got over it. It broke my father. It was horrible. Youll be sad for so long. Im sad every day. It was an incredibly dark and upsetting story that still managed to make OBrien and the audience laugh uncontrollably.

By the time he got to The Tonight Show this week, Oswalt had moved on to getting laughs by talking about the seemingly random things that will make him cry out of nowhere. For instance, he recently started to cry as he watched the apps on his phone update because he realized there are apps on his wifes phone that will never get the chance to update themselves. Im like the Hulk of crying, he told Fallon.

But none of this could compare to the wealth of material Oswalt managed to mine from his grief on stage at the Beacon. As promised in his recent New York Times profile, just about half of Oswalts new hour revolves around his grief and attempts to move on after his wifes death. He described getting to stand-up as a rebuke to grief, an acceptance of the messiness of life.

Some of that talk show material was refashioned and extended into longer bits Thursday night, particularly the story about the old Polish woman, who he now imagined popping up to ruin other holidays for his daughtersuch as Halloween, Christmas, and even Arbor Day. But then there was the new section on how hes sick of people telling him hes on a healing journey when he knows its nothing but a numb slog.

If they would call it a numb slog instead of a healing journey, it would make it a lot fucking easier! Oswalt said. Because when they call it a healing journey and its just a day of you eating Wheat Thins for breakfast in your underwear, its like, I guess Im fucking up my healing journey. But if they would say youre going to have a numb slog, instead youd go, Im nailing it!

He went on to say that when he would sometimes tell his wife that everything happens for a reason, she would tell him, No it doesnt. Ironically, he said, she ended up proving her point to him in the shittiest way possible. He added, She won the argument in the worst way!

During the 20-minute portion of the set about his grief, Oswalt spent more time referring to his notes than elsewhere in the show, because, as he said, his brain blanks out. As part of the Comedians of Comedy tour, which also featured Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford, Oswalt has always been willing to let the audience in on his processbut never quite like this.

If there was one moment in the gig that started to stray into one-man show territory, when you could almost feel people stifling tears in the audience, it came when Oswalt slowed down and talked about the day he took his Alice to her first day of first grade this fall.

I had not visited my wifes grave at all since we had the funeral, and I could not go back to the cemetery, he said, getting quieter. But Im like, Im going to take her to school and Im going to go to the cemetery and sit and talk with her and say, This world doesnt need to worry you anymore. Ive got it. Ive got it. I can do this.

Oswalt imagined this nice moment, evoking the scenes from movies hes watched where the person is sitting by the gravestone: its peaceful, maybe theres a bird chirping in the background. Just when you thought there was no way he could make this story funny, he found his way.

On one side of his wifes headstone, he said, there was an Armenian family having a screaming argument. On the other was an adorable Chinese family in beach chairs eating pizza around another grave with a boombox that was blaring Celine Dions My Heart with Go On. The laughs and applause that came as he acted out what the combination of those two things sounded like were glorious.

Oswalt may never be 100 percent again, as he said last month, but as a comedian his work has never been more powerful.
There are two significant acts of violence in Sweat, the brilliant and thought-provoking play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage that has just opened at New York's Public Theater. Both acts of violence take place in 2000, and the playin a series of well-crafted time-shifting scenesshows us what led up to them, and what their after-effects are on the plays characters, eight years later in 2008.

One of these acts of violence is personal, and leads to the incarceration of Chris (Khris Davis) and Jason (Will Pullen), the latters face now possessing the tattoos of professing his embrace of white supremacy.

In 2008, the men are being released to the outside world, and both are struggling to make sense of their lives, and how and if to renew their own connection, and make amends for whatever it is they have done.

The other act of violence in Sweat is economic, brutally so, and is leveled against the town of Reading, Pennsylvania, where the play is set, and whose residents Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey interviewed in the course of researching the play.

In 2000, when we first meet Cynthia (Michelle Wilson), Tracey (Johanna Day), and Jessie (Miriam Shor), they are kicking back in the local barso evocatively designed by John Lee Beatty you can almost smell the spilled beerafter another hard day at the factory where they work.

They are close friends (and, it turns out, Cynthia and Tracey are mothers to Chris and Jason respectively). The women, played piercingly plausibly by the actors, drink together, console each other over broken marriages, bitch, dance happily together, and their warmth and the warmth of the bar speaks for a certain, hard-scrabble social cohesiveness.

The factory is the towns glue; its past, present, and future, is tied up with it. The bar, overseen patrician-ly by Stan (James Colby) and the almost-mute presence of Dominican glass collector Oscar (Carlo Alban), is where all the truths are told about love, toil, and exploitation; its a place of togetherness, and thentragicallywhere everything falls apart.

The plays overtones with today, and the imminence of a presidential election, is underscored by a television replaying scenes from the elections of 2000: the legacy of the Bush presidency, the real-life impact of NAFTA, and the seeds of support for Donald Trumps run for the White House are all illustrated in Sweat.

Early on, we see some frays in the groups bonds: Jessiethe quietest characteris paralytically drunk, and her hopelessness is, we discover, bound up in thwarted dreams of the past, dreams that had nothing to do with the town. Her speech in memory of those dreams is one of the most striking of the piece.

But it is Cynthia and Traceys relationship that Nottage comes to focus on. What they share as two working women and mothers is ultimately superseded by what they dont share. Tracey, who is white, is keen to emphasize her lineage in the town, how generations have worked at the factory: This loyalty and sense of endurance entitles her, she thinks, to an assured security.

Cynthia, who is black, wants something more than factory-work. When a promotion at the factory comes up, Tracey is surprised to hear that Cynthia is going for it: Initially they josh about the idea of Cynthia having ideas above her station. Tracey has worked at the factory for 26 years, she says, to Cynthias 24.

But Cynthia gets the job, and suddenly for Tracey the color of Cynthias skin marks her out as different. Cynthia herself notes she is suddenly part of another world: One factory can contain very different strata. The friendship of Chris and Jason is similarly tested, when Chris makes clear his desire to leave town to pursue his dream to teach.

Oscarwhose nationality is misidentified through the unthinking ignorance of Traceybecomes a target of anger when it becomes clear the factorys owners are advertising for cheaper labor. He wants a better life than menial bar-work; Tracey sees him as undercutting those who have long-held skills, and a right to the jobs.

Suddenly, all the jobs at the factory are in danger, and then the factory is in danger, and so is the town.

The bar, just as suddenly, becomes a battleground over issues of race, class, loyalty, and ambition: Friendship doesnt stand a chance, despite the calming presence of Stan, who tries in vain to maintain not just order and civility but the sense of collectiveness as emblemized by the bar. But even he, as money stops flowing to his regulars, has to start charging for every drink: Keeping a tab is out.

Through tight, extremely pointed writing, and with the most perfect and moving dashes of lyricism, Nottage unfurls a drama that illustrates clearer than any news report the very plausible discontent and anger that underpins the support for Trump in those towns that today feel so left behind and forgotten.

It illustrates how racism works, on so many levelsnot just ugly and in your face, but also subtle and malign, waiting to be activated and galvanized.

Sweat proposes there is always an other, like Cynthia or Oscar and workers from other countries, to hate and blame, when the blame is better directed against the venal and power-hungry politicians and business owners whose ambitions and desire for profit or votes endanger communities, and sour the bonds between those who live within them.

Sweat is an overtly political play, yet it offers no blanket condemnation (of Tracey and Jason) or pat answers for us all to just get along. It feels sad, rather than angry. Its characters are beaten down into hatred and mistrust, not energized by it. What is left is damage: for the characters, for towns like Reading, and for workers. This damage reverberates between 2000 and 2008 within the play, and, we assume, beyond.

Most painful to observe, you sense, for Nottage is the brutal decimation of the pride of work and working, and how that pride once ennobled not just the employed but the towns proudly built around factories like the one in Sweat. This isn't romanticized in any way; indeed how quickly that strength and community can be razed is made clear. In its place, as seen in the play, comes aggrieved isolation and discordwhich Trump has seemed successfully to have tapped into.

If there is a note of hope fleetingly offered at the end of Sweat, it is that people and towns and bars do continue somehow after seismic events like a factory closure. They are not the same. Some people and places, as we see in Sweat, become scarred, horribly so. But the play tentatively proposes that common human decency can also prevail after a series of life-shattering events. That albeit-bruised humanity is what we have to hold on to, Nottage suggests, when the powerful have so criminally and violently failed those whose support and loyalty they so selfishly, and ruthlessly, rely on. Time will tell if that decency prevails in reality on November 9th.

Sweat runs until Dec. 4 at the Martinson Theater at the Public, 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York, NY 10003. Book tickets here.
WikiLeaks posted a screenshot of a Reddit conspiracy theory on Thursday afternoon riddled with incorrect information that attempted to tie a woman caught stealing children in Haiti with the Clintons.

At 1:40 p.m. ET, WikiLeaks Twitter account tweeted Significant, if partisan, find showing how the Clintons supported child stealer Laura Silsby, then linked to a post titled BREAKING: I believe I have connected a convicted child abductor who was caught stealing children in Haiti with the Clintons.

If we can connect the Clintons to a child abductor their campaign is DONE!!! the post reads.

WikiLeaks has posted 28 batches of hacked emails from the personal account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in the run-up to next weeks election, and the Clinton campaign has not denied the veracity of the leaks contents.

But WikiLeaks account has recently been engaging in speculation about the context of the leaks by linking to conspiracy theorists attempting to tie together characters and plotlines in the leaked emails to prove the Clinton campaign is part of a nefarious global conspiracy.

Thursdays post comes from the subreddit R/The_Donald, the largest Donald Trump-related community on the web, where any criticism of Trump is grounds for an immediate ban. When the GOP nominee hosted an Ask Me Anything section on the subreddit, negative questions were immediately deleted and 2,200 accounts were banned for reasons like No Dissenters, which is one of the rules of the subreddit.

Written by user PleadingtheYiff, the post attempts to link the Clinton campaign to Laura Silsby, an Idaho missionary who served a six-month prison sentence in Haiti after the organization she founded, New Life Childrens Refuge, attempted to transport 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The users primary proof of links between the Clintons and Silsby: Huma Abedin was constantly forwarding Hillary articles on this womans organization. The post provides no email sent from Clinton to Abedin regarding the incident.

The theory then includes a major error.

One of the first things Hillary did when she took over the scene in Haiti was to get Laura off the hook, PleadingtheYiff writes, then links to a website called AboveTopSecret.com.

Silsby wasnt freed and instead remained incarcerated in Haiti, where she faced trial and was found guilty. The nine other missionaries jailed alongside her were freed.

The top comment on PleadingtheYiffs post links to eight threads on the white supremacist message board 4chan and another subreddit dedicated to Operation Berenstain. In its all-caps mission statement, R/Operation_Berenstain states: OUR ONLY OBJECTIVE IS TO AID THE FBI IN RELEASING INCRIMINATING INFO REGARDING THE CLINTONS AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES.

Zero political opinion is permitted, the subreddits rules read. We have one goal and off topic activity is not allowed. We welcome people of all political affiliations. This is a non-partisan effort to expose crimes committed by the Clintons and their accomplices.

R/The_Donald immediately claimed a major victory after WikiLeaks tweeted about the post.

WikiLeaks referencing the_Donald," reads the top post on the subreddit at press time. WE ARE THE MEDIA.

The community has faced criticism on Reddit and elsewhere for its acceptance of racist speech. One comment about Muslims from August, for example, reads: Fucking subhumans. I cant wait for Trump to purge the nation of these filthy animals. I cant even accurately describe the utter hatred and contempt I have for these vile rodents.

That post received 57 upvotes, while questioning Trumps policies merits permanent and immediate bans.

Earlier this year, r/The_Donald had potential moderator applicants fill out a questionnaire that included the questions: Is white supremacy different than white nationalism? and Was 9/11 an inside job?
The wild tale of Gary Brooks Faulkner, the 50-year-old Colorado construction worker who ventured into Pakistan to capture Osama bin Laden armed with a samurai sword and a mission from God, is a stranger-than-fiction story so bizarre its no wonder Hollywood snapped up the rights to turn it into a film.

When that film stars the one and only Nicolas Cage as the bespectacled hash-smoking Christian part-time handyman ex-con given to manic verbal diarrhea and fantastical delusions of grandeur, Faulkners eccentric life story zooms way past verisimilitude, speeding all the way back around to the kind of wonderfully insane art form in itself that we see too rarely from movie stars these days. Is it a bad performance? Is it good? What is good, really, when Cage opts to put seriousness aside and embrace the crazy-eyed kookiness we love him for?

In other words: Cages star turn in Army of One, directed by deadpan auteur Larry Charles (Borat), is right up there with the Nic Cagiest of Nic Cage roles. You might say it falls somewhere on the Cage spectrum between the coked-up cop antihero of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and his impersonation of Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation. Brit comedy bad boy Russell Brand plays God, which should give you an idea of how serious and straight-faced an undertaking this is.

This is a film that lets Cage run rampant in nearly every scene like a bull in a china shop, which can admittedly become exhausting. And yet it captures the undercurrent of well-meaning humanity that drove the erratic, abrasive, but kind of lovable weirdo who truly believed he was doing the Lords work by bringing bin Laden to justice. (And, owing to a prior kidney condition, was supposed to be on dialysis treatment three times a week.)

Army of One is also a movie in which Nicolas Cage as Gary Faulkner, who returned home a media darling and famously made the talk show rounds, revels in the attentionand delights at the thought of Nicolas Cage playing him in a movie.

Its almost a shame how unceremoniously this gem of a Cage performance is being dumped into a mostly digital release by the Weinsteins (who have executive producer credits). Perhaps true Cage fans will catch it on VOD, in the privacy of their own homes, where no one can see you cackle at the sight of Nicolas Cage, gray beard and long ponytail, waxing poetic about chicken wings and lecturing strangers on how to buy toilets at Home Depot, delivering lines like They dont call me the psychic wizard for nothin! with nasally, wild-eyed gusto.

The real-life saga of Faulkners one-man odyssey was an epic misadventure for the ages. After getting the idea to hunt down Osama from God in a dream in 2004, the Greeley, Colorado, native made several attempts to travel to the Middle East. They included buying a 21-foot yacht he had no idea how to operate, which he planned to sail halfway across the globe in with no life jackets, no safety kit, and no training. He set off from San Diego and made it as far as Mexico before a hurricane wrecked it and sent him home early.

Another failed boat trip later and Faulkner graduated to flying, still with no conceivable plans for traveling in a foreign land. By the time he actually made it to Pakistan for the first time, according to the film, he spent a month wandering the slums of Islamabad, having a blast, and entertaining the locals. But he was no closer to finding al-Qaedas leader and sending him to America to face retribution.

Faulkners story only got out after he was found and arrested on a mountaintop in Pakistan in the summer of 2010. According to the GQ story by journalist Chris Heath from which Army of One liberally borrows, he was found carrying a knife, a pistol, night vision goggles, and that trusty sword. By the time the American government sent him back home, the media had dubbed him the Rocky Mountain Rambo. A year later, after the buzz had died down, he was stuck behind bars in Colorado on a $10,000 bond, jailed on a gun charge.

Theres a surprising wealth of real-life details packed into Army of One, written by Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, along with a winking framework that sets Cage as Faulkner apart from the ordinary boring world around himthe Don Quixote of Islamabad. For every fictional line like I take a holy shit every day, uttered by Brands verbose God, we hear quotes taken directly from the real Faulkner: Its easier for a mouse to get into a castle than a lion, he says, explaining his plan to infiltrate Binny Boys stronghold to a fellow patron at a bar.

Its an extraordinarily weird true story that allows for an extraordinarily weird performance from Cagewho has another oddball film, Dog Eat Dog, and a WWII naval drama, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, out in the span of a few weeks. When else might we revel in the sight of Nic Cage (as Faulkner) and Osama bin Laden hooked up to matching dialysis machines in bin Ladens cave before dueling with samurai swords? As Faulkner asks his audience, gesticulating wildly into the camera: Dont you think I look a little like Nic Cage in CON AIR?!
The Syrian government, with the help of its allies, is doubling down on its siege and starve policy to implement an evacuate or die strategy in Syrias besieged areas, forcing residents across the country to submit to truce agreements that offer little protection to those who leave the area, or to those who stay on and return to government control.

Russias final offer to residents of east Aleppo, giving them an ultimatum to leave the city through humanitarian corridors by Friday night, amounts to the largest implementation of the evacuate-or-die policy to date. If rebel fighters and civilians do not leave the besieged area by sunset, Russia has warned of an extensive bombardment. Syrian rebel groups deny that there are any safe corridors by which to leave the city, and civilians who have already resolved to stay in their homes are clinging to hope the ongoing siege can be broken.

Last weeks brutal Russian bombing of a school in Hass, Idlib province, which killed more than 20 children among 35 civilian victims, hit the part of the country where many of the evacuees from across Syria have gone, and demonstrated the vulnerability of those who take that option.

Some 2,000 people arrived in Idlib in late October, bused from the Damascus suburb of Moadamiya. The rest of Moadamiya has been brought back under the control of the government under the truce agreement. Besieged since 2012, the area has been the subject of truce discussions between the government and the local reconciliation committee, which saw humanitarian aid granted for good behavior. Pressure to make a final agreement increased significantly after the evacuation of the highly symbolic neighboring suburb of Darayya in August.

As the diplomatic discussions and TV broadcasts focus on Aleppo, evacuations like those in Moadamiya and Darayya are quietly being enacted or brokered across Syria, allowing the government to regain control of large parts of the country and ensuring its ability to concentrate military action in Idlib at a later stage.

In mid-October, Qudsaya and Hameh submitted to a similar deal as Moadamiya, with around 2,000 people leaving for Idlib. As has become custom, the evacuation negotiations were reinforced by a heavy military campaign that pushed residents to agree to depart rather than die in their homes.

Al-Waer in Homs was evacuated in late September following intensive pressure, which consisted of a tightened siege, heavy bombing and an aid convoy from SARC that consisted only of body bags and towels, according to residents of the area who said the convoy sent a clear message that they should submit to the governments evacuation deal terms.

Further evacuations from al-Waer are on hold until the regime produces information about 6,000 detainees, of 7,500 missing from the area, that have so far not been accounted for.

East Ghouta, a large collection of smaller towns in the Damascus suburbs that suffered in 2013s chemical-weapons attacks, is also in Assads crosshairs. Local civil society groups in Douma are negotiating with the government, a conversation that is being reinforced by heavy bombing, including the targeting of a school last week.

The Syrian government has previously played the rival rebel groups Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq Rahman off each other in the Ghouta area, at one point strategically approving aid convoys to areas under the control of one while blocking those to areas controlled by the other, sparking a battle that left over 500 dead. Jaish al-Islam is now reportedly negotiating a truce in areas under its control, which will cause similar pressures, despite the wishes of the citizens of the area who have tried to forge a unified front between the two groups.

Residents of the Asali checkpoint area, near the besieged town of Madaya, have reported being forced to leave their homes by Hezbollah forces, whose snipers shot into the houses around the checkpoint and demanded residents leave. Abu Muhammad, a resident of the area adjacent to the checkpoint, said around 40 families had fled their homes so far.

Khan Elshih, Qaboun, Burza and At-Tal, among others, are all are facing a dual set of leversrestrictions in aid and heavy military forceto push them to negotiate. Combined, the number of localities considering, or negotiating, an evacuation or truce agreement represents a significant percentage of the disputed or besieged areas in zones otherwise broadly under government control.

Despite regularly requesting permission to access these areas since 2012, the United Nations has failed to provide consistent relief to many of them. Darayya received aid only once in more than two years before its people agreed to evacuate the area.

The kind of forced displacement taking place across Syria is unquestionably illegal under international law. A spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross in Syria said that evacuations must be voluntary, and the ICRCs priority is to ensure residents are not forced to it, they have to have the choice. On evacuation, they said there must be all the necessary guarantees in terms of shelter, food, water. But the ICRC has confirmed that the evacuations do no meet these requirements.

After heavy criticism of its involvement in the Darayya evacuation, the UN has refused to assist with subsequent evacuations, instead leaving the job to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC). This means there is no independent oversight to ensure the safety of civilians, or to guarantee that the terms of the agreements are met, and in many cases they are not.

The Darayya Council issued a statement in October saying that local prisoners have not yet been released as promised. Additionally, residents evacuated to a relief center in Damascus are essentially being held prisoner by the government, which will not allow them to leave.

The only NGO being given access to the centre is SARC, which is providing food, shelter and healthcare. When people complain of mental distress they are told to contact their relatives in opposition areas to hear about the situation there, sources told The Daily Beast. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has begun redevelopment plans for Darayya, which are not likely to include homes for any of the evacuated residents.

Moadamiya residents have complained of arrests and disappearances during and since the evacuation. The lack of impartial participants or observers means there is little recourse available in these cases, either during the process or in the years to come.

The hope of an increase in aid is a driving factor for those who stay in their homes and return to government control.

Imad, a dentist from Moadamiya, said the needs were vast: There was only one field hospital in the city that used to operate between 2012 and 2013 during the siege and armed clashes. Children, he said, were most in need: We have 21 schools of which only seven are operating and functional. We have an entire generation of children (6 years and below) in urgent need of medicine and nutrition.

The government's vice-like grip over aid programs in areas it controls means there is no guarantee that humanitarian organizations will be granted access. NGOs and civil society organizations working illegally inside besieged areas are unable to work once evacuations take place, according to aid workers in Syria who spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity.

It is hoped that the road to Moadamiya will open up, but what use is it if the goods that go in are spoiled before they reach the people who need it, or if the food costs are so high that no one can afford it? says Sonia Khush, Head of Save the Children, Syria.

That is why it is important that humanitarian aid goes in.

Many fighting age men have avoided conscription to the Syrian Arab Army by basing themselves in opposition controlled areas. For them, the evacuations leave several unwelcome options: leave their homes; face the possibility they will be called on to fight in an army that regularly targets civilians; or be treated as captured insurgentsa grim fate indeed.

Once in Idlib, there is no protection from the violence. Aid agencies working in northern Syria told The Daily Beast that there are no immediate plans to ramp up the amount of aid to cope with the influx of new arrivals, many of whom are woman and children.

As the last four years have shown, there is nothing aid organizations, or the UN, can do to alleviate the risks posed by airstrikes, like those in Hass, aside from expressing outrage and condemnation.

Idlib is one of the strongholds of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), formerly known as the al-Qaeda franchised Nusra Front, and it is under frequent air bombardment by Syrian and Russian forces. It has also been subject to coalition airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition which have been deployed against the group since 2014 due to its al-Qaeda ties.

As Aleppo has shown, even a small number of JFS fighters in an area can create a smokescreen for Russian bombing of civilian targets.

Russia and the regime can, and likely will, force evacuate or die truce agreements on civilians then continue to target them once they arrive in Idlib.

As more suburbs are brought back under the umbrella of the government around the major cities of Damascus and Homs, Aleppo becomes the largest and most problematic issue for Syrian and government forces, and the need to try to force a similar solution there becomes critical.

Citizens of east Aleppo protested against civilian and rebel evacuations during Russia's unilateral ceasefire, saying that they fear the same fate as those being forcibly displaced across Syria. Citizens said it was an attempt to force them from their homes, like in Darayya. according to Abu Muhammad, a citizen of the east of the city.

Despite Russia's partial mirroring of a plan put forward by the UN's Syria envoy, Staffan De Mistura, during recent talks in Lausanne, time-limited ceasefires and evacuations of the city are rejected by the opposition, who believe the onus should be on lifting the siege.

Rebel groups have taken matters into their own hands this week with a coordinated operation aimed at breaking the siege on east Aleppo, a campaign which is already taking a heavy civilian toll. Events in Aleppo in the coming days will have significant influence on how negotiations in other besieged areas proceed.

While the Syrian government's forced displacement strategy is illegal, there is little else to offer the residents of Syria's besieged areas. There's been no alleviation of their suffering through the UN's humanitarian response, or through political channels, and no success in bringing an end to the violence or siege. While there may be international outrage about the evac or die strategy, it is hard to see who or what might changed that picture on the ground. So it seems likely it will continue unabated.
With four days left until the election, some of Donald Trumps most trusted news sources spent the day flooding Twitter with a theory that a WikiLeaks email proves Hillary Clinton and her campaign are Satanists who participate in witchcraft.

The Drudge Report, the rights internet firehose, featured as its lead story a headline suggesting that Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta had been involved with occult activities linked to Satanism, complete with a photo of Hillary Clinton raging, arms outstretched, to the skies. Fox News's Sean Hannity tweeted a story from his own website, along with its headline: "LEAKED EMAIL appears to link Clinton Campaign Chairman to bizarre occult ritual"

The hashtag #SpiritCooking was the No. 2 trend in the United States on Twitter at press time.

Its a dizzying signal of just how distorted the alt-rights echo chamber has become: suggesting that their opponent is Satanor at least a deeply pious Satanist adherent.

Actual Satanists, however, arent buying it.

Obviously, whats really going on here is that the real would-be magicians are attempting desperately to conjure scandal from lackluster and mundane emails which were previously hoped to contain some political career-ruining revelations, said Lucien Greaves, a spokesperson for The Satanic Temple.

The absurdity of the accusations regarding the disgust-inducing ingredients harken back to witch-hunter inquisitorial panic fantasies that one would hope wed have grown beyond today.

The conspiracy theory hinges on a WikiLeaks email hacked and stolen from Podestas account, in which his brother, high-powered lobbyist Tony Podesta, asks if he was free to attend a spirit cooking dinner hosted by performance artist Marina Abramovic.

I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina, writes the artist, in June 2015. Tony forwards the email to his brother to askthe entirety of the evidence to suggest that the Clinton campaigns senior operative is involved with the occult.

Podestas ties to Satanism might make sense if you already believed that Hillary Clinton was a committed member of a coven. A story citing a Clinton insider published at InfoWars on Friday stated that Hillary regularly attended witchs church.

Abramovic is one of the worlds most famous performance artists, whose work has been featured in museums throughout the world. She is most recently famous for her 2010 work at New York Museum of Modern Art, wherein she silently stared face-to-face with strangers for minutes at a time. A viral video of the exhibit, viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube, shows her reaction when an ex-lover arrived to participate in the performance.

The ties to alleged occultism refer to Abramovics 1997 work, available on YouTube and named Spirit Cooking, where she appears to paint a wall with blood to write sentences like with a sharp knife cut deeply into the middle finger of your left hand eat the pain. The Podesta email suggests a repeat performance featuring Abramovic.

For many on the alt-right, that was enough to tie the Clintons to Satanism. Notable rightwing figures like Dilbert creator Scott Adams, actor James Woods, and alt-right Trump supporters Mike Cernovich and Paul Joseph Watson helped propel the hashtag to prominence.

Im doing a video on #SpiritCookingkeep it trending for me, Watson, an InfoWars editor, wrote.

Alex Jones, the founder and lead editor of conspiracy website InfoWars, spent most of the last Friday before the election Deciphering Hillary Clintons ties to occult rituals, including #spiritcooking on his daily Internet talk show.

Are we gonna have anything covered in the mainstream media about this? Is John Podesta gonna address this? InfoWars Owen Shroyer asked. Is the artist that is performing the occultist rituals gonna address? Or are they just gonna ignore this and act like it never happened?

The Clinton campaign declined to comment for this story.

Eleven months ago, Trump appeared on InfoWars daily talk show to provide the website acclaim, uncharacteristic for Trump toward a media organization.

Your reputations amazing. I will not let you down, Trump told InfoWars Alex Jones. You will be very, very impressed, I hope. I think well be speaking a lot.

On Friday, Drudges top story was a link to InfoWars story about spirit cooking. The headline reads: WIKI WICCAN: PODESTA PRACTICES OCCULT MAGIC. Just above that, another headline blares, in smaller print: Election Will End. Mental Damage May Not
Pedestrian traffic was at a standstill Thursday evening around 6 p.m. outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, where some 50 protesters formed a Wall of Women in front of the presidential candidates Fifth Avenue headquarters.

There were several men, tooand babies and childrenmost of them chanting and holding signs bearing feminist slogans like Vote Pro Choice, Pussy Is Power, Nasty Woman, and No Cunt-Try for Old Men.

It has become a familiar scene outside Trumps iconic Midtown skyscraper. After the Republican candidates now-infamous 2005 tape advising Billy Bush to grab women by the pussy was leaked, Trump Tower has played host to several protests focusing on his lewd and predatory behavior toward women.

In early October, a group of women stormed the tower brandishing Pussy Grabs Back posters and chanting GOP, Hands Off Me! (the protest was recreated at Trump Tower in Chicago, too). A week later, more women converged at the site, including New Yorks public advocate, Letitia James; Terry ONeill, president of the National Organization for Women; and Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

Thursday nights demonstration, organized by the ad hoc #GOPHandsOffMe movement, drew a boisterous crowd focused largely on what attendees see as Trumps sexist, racist, and xenophobic rhetoric.

With a baby strapped to her chest, organizer Jodeen Olguin-Tayler led her cadre in a catchy chant: Back up, back up! We want freedom, freedom! Tell the racist GOP that we dont need em, need em!

Women of all ages and ethnicities hoisted cardboard shovels like pitchforks (the shovels, the press material helpfully explained, were meant to illustrate their power to bury and defeat Trump in the election) and feminist riffs on the Gadsden flag (yellow posters featuring a feral cat and the words Dont Grab On Me or Dont Tread on My Pussy).

As with previous protests, the hissing feline was a recurring motif on buttons and T-shirts. A 6-foot-long cat puppet took center stage, with several women wriggling beneath it, like a feminist version of the Chinese parade dragon.

Our work does not start or end at the ballot box! shouted Olguin-Tayler, plugging the baby on her chest with a pacifier. We are not doing all of this just to get one woman a new job!

When asked about Trumps recent surge in the polls and what the movement planned to do if he was elected, Olguin-Tayler said the activists would be ready to move forward with our agenda. Asked if she thought a Hillary Clinton presidency would be a victory for feminism, she hesitated: Were definitely doing our get-out-the-vote work to make sure Trump loses. So its important that Hillary win this election, but what were really working for is intersectional feminism and more power for all of us.

Later, she explained that the baby was her nephew. We believe that were building a country for our children and a country where we can be safe from sexual and economic violence, she said.

Two passers-by scowled at the demonstrators use of children as props, but 39-year-old Daniella Crespo, a legal services attorney who was there with her 9-year-old niece and 7-year-old nephew, argued that it was important for children to attend.

When asked what he thought of a potential President Trump, the 7-year-old replied: I really have no idea! My parents hate him, so Clarifying the boys statement, his aunt interjected, But you really dont like him! He nodded and smiled.

But like many rally participants, Crespo was lukewarm on Clinton. A year ago I never would have considered a Hillary Clinton win a victory for feminism, she said. But my standards have lowered because one of them is going to be president. Hillary is the miserable status quo, but Trump is the immediate catastrophe.

As ever, a motley mix of Trump supporters showed up, competing for attentionand many of them were immigrants. The small klatch of Make America Greaters included a petite Indian man wearing a navy suit and large purple headphones who pranced and chanted, Vote for Trump! Vote for Trump! Beside him was Martia, 40, a freelance fashion photographer from Italy and legal immigrant who moved to New York nine years ago and who said she was confident inand excited abouta Trump victory next Tuesday. Next to her, a Romanian woman explained that she was a medium for George Washingtons ghost and that Trump was the first presidents true heir.

But The Donalds supporters were drowned outand mostly ignoredby the Wall of Women, who dutifully played to the assembled media.

After next Tuesday, the committed anti-Trump protestersand the hordes of peeved Fifth Avenue shoppers, weaving through the demonstrationhope never to come back to Trump Tower.

If Clinton wins, Trump will slither back to his career as a reality-television host, beauty-contest mogul, and failing businessman, but #GOPHandsOffMe organizer Olguin-Tayler said the fight wont be over.

After the election, well be ready to move our pro-women, pro-immigrants, anti-Islamophobia vision, and that includes a vision for black lives and an end to rape culture, she said. Were ready to stand united as sisters, mothers, granddaughters, and aunties and to bury the racist, sexist politics of the GOP.
A pair of senior Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Justice Department to investigate leaks from the FBI about its investigation of Hillary Clintons private email system.

Specifically, the lawmakers want to know how former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, an adviser to Donald Trump, obtained information about a letter FBI Director James Comey sent to Congress a week ago, announcing that investigators had found new emails that might be pertinent to the Clinton case.

Giuliani appeared on Fox & Friends Friday morning and confirmed that he had heard about Comeys letter before it was sent, though he denied he had tried to disseminate the information.

I did nothing to get it out, and I had no role in it, he said. But he continued, Did I hear about it? Youre darn right I heard about it, and I cant even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.

Reps. Elijah Cummings and John Conyers, respectively the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Judiciary Committee, wrote to the Justice Department inspector general on Friday afternoon asking him to investigate the source of the information to Giuliani.

Calling it absolutely unacceptable for the FBI to disclose information about a candidate so close to an election, the lawmakers said, Leaking this information to former FBI officials as a conduit to the Trump campaign is equally intolerable.

The lawmakers also pointed to a claim by Fox News journalist Bret Baier on Wednesday that the FBI was actively and aggressively investigating the Clinton Foundation and that an indictment was likely. Baier later retracted that claim, calling his report a mistake.

These unauthorized and inaccurate leaks from within the FBI, particularly so close to a presidential election, are unprecedented, Cummings and Conyers wrote. For this reason, we are calling on your office to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the sources of these and other leaks from the FBI and to recommend appropriate action.

Earlier this week, The Daily Beast reported on Giulianis ties to current and former FBI officials. One of Giulianis security firms employed a former head of the New York FBI field office, and other alumni of it. It was the New York agents probing of disgraced congressman Anthony Weiners alleged sexting with a 15-year old girl that led the FBI to thousands of emails that may be related to Clintons server. Weiners estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is one of Clintons closest aides.

Multiple reports quoting anonymous current and former FBI officials have painted a picture of a law enforcement agency in crisis, with some line-level investigators convinced there is enough evidence to pursue projections of Clinton and others in her orbit. Some of those agents claim that their investigations have been slow-rolled by officials in Washington.
After hearing more than two weeks of evidence in the libel trial against Rolling Stone, the jury concluded Friday that the magazine defamed a former University of Virginia dean in its now-discredited 2014 article about a brutal gang rape on campus.

The 10 person jury found that Sabrina Erdely, the journalist who authored the story, was responsible for libel and guilty of actual malice on multiple accounts in the case brought by Nicole Eramo, a UVA administrator and former dean whose $7.5 million defamation suit claimed that Rolling Stone portrayed her as callous and indifferent to Jackie, the alleged gang rape victim at the center of the magazines blockbuster A Rape on Campus article, as well as generally uncaring about sexual assault on campus while she was head of the universitys sexual assault prevention program.

Eramos suit also argued that what Erdely made inaccurate statements about the story in interviews with WNYC and in a Slate podcast, and that she was referring to Eramo when she said that the administration did nothing about Jackies alleged rape.

The jury deliberated for nearly twenty hoursmore than twice as long as the jury deliberated over Hulk Hogans privacy lawsuit against Gawker. They also concluded that Rolling Stone and its publisher, Jann Wenner, defamed Eramo.

The jurys verdict is a complete vindication of Nicole Eramo, and a complete repudiation of Rolling Stones and Ms. Erdelys false and defamatory article, Eramos attorney Libby Locke said in a statement to The Daily Beast. We are looking forward to the damages phase of the trial. (This begins on Monday.)

In closing arguments heard earlier this week, Rolling Stones attorney Scott Sexton argued that Eramos case didnt meet the actual malice standard set by Judge Conrad back in September, which meant that Erdely and the magazine either knew its statements about Eramo were false or that they entertained serious doubts to the truth of the publication, according to Judge Conrads instructions for the jury, which also stressed that a failure to investigate does not establish actual malice.

Marc Randazza, a First Amendment lawyer, said he was not surprised by the verdict.

The defendants had the benefit of a very favorable standard, he told the Daily Beast, referring to the actual malice standard which was implemented as part of the landmark New York Times vs. Sullivan (1964) case to protect freedom of the press.

No journalist should feel chilled by this pronouncement, Randazza added. The First Amendment protects you even if you make an honest mistake in a case like this, but it provides no shelter for someone who writes fiction and calls it journalism.

In their own closing arguments, Eramos team had urged the jury to acknowledge the magazines journalistic malpractice and Erdelys utter disregard for the truth while pushing a preconceived narrative about sexual assault and institutional failure at UVA.

Once they decided what the article was going to be about, it didnt matter what the facts were, said Eramos attorney Tom Clare. He argued that Erdely set out to portray Eramo as a villain in her story because she was an easy target and couldnt legally discuss Jackies case.

Rolling Stone had previously defended itself in court by noting that Eramo was not made available for an interview with Erdely.

During much of the trial, Eramos lawyers stressed just how wrong Erdely had been about Jackies case. Rolling Stone countered that Eramo herself believed Jackies story and devoted more than a year to trying to get Jackies case to police, though she consistently refused to report it.

After the articles publication, a five-month police investigation found no evidence corroborating Jackies alleged assault as it was recounted in Rolling Stone.

Eramos attorneys also argued that Rolling Stones December 5 editors note, in which then-managing editor Will Dana admitted theyd lost faith in Jackies story, amounted to a republication of the story that further damaged Eramos reputation.

The magazine did not officially retract the story until April 2015, after the Columbia Graduate School of Journalismcalled on by Rolling Stone to investigate the articlecalled it a failure of journalism.

When we published A Rape on Campus in 2014, we were attempting to tackle the very serious and complex topic of sexual assault on college campuses, a subject that is more relevant today than ever, Rolling Stone said in a statement responding to the verdict. In our desire to present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor, we overlooked reporting paths and made journalistic mistakes that we are committed to never making again.

Last week in trial, Rolling Stone co-founder and publisher Jann Wenner testified that the retraction was inaccurateWe do not retract the whole story. Wenners statement raised eyebrows, though it was consistent with Rolling Stones defense that the only damning statements about Eramo were made by Jackie. Erdely testified that she stood by everything I wroteexcept for anything that came from Jackie.

Evidently, the jury was not convinced. Essentially, the jury decided today that Sabrina Erdely made numerous false and defamatory statements about Dean Eramo in the article, and that she made these statements either knowing them to be false or with a high degree of awareness that they were probably false, Virginia-based attorney Lee Berlik, who specializes in defamation law, told the Daily Beast. Most of these statements involved assertions that Dean Eramo did nothing when a student came to her claiming to have been raped at a fraternity, or that Eramo affirmatively sought to suppress the story by encouraging Jackie (the alleged victim) to keep quiet about it.

In addition, the jury found that while Rolling Stone was likely unaware of the falsity of these accusations at the time the article was published originally, it was certainly aware at the time it published an Editors Note apologizing for the discrepancies in Jackies account, and because Rolling Stone opted to keep the article online even after learning of those discrepancies, the jury decided to hold the magazine liable for effectively republishing the defamatory material.

UVAs Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, where Rolling Stone reported that Jackie was raped, has also filed a defamation suit against the magazine. The case is set to go to trial in October 2017.

The jury concluded (PDF) that Erdely made the following statements with actual malice.

In the November 19, 2014 print and online editions of A Rape on Campus:

Lots of people have discouraged her from sharing her story, Jackie tells me with a pained look, including the trusted UVA dean to whom Jackie reported her gang-rape allegations more than a year ago.

In the November 19, 2014 print and online editions of A Rape on Campus:

A bruise mottling her face, Jackie sat in Eramos office in May 2014 and told her about the two others. One, she says, is a 2013 graduate, whod told Jackie that shed been gang-raped as a freshman at the Phi Kappa Psi house. The other was a first-year whose worried friends had called Jackie after the girl had come home wearing no pants. Jackie said the girl told her shed been assaulted by four men in a Phi Psi bathroom while a fifth watched. (Neither woman was willing to talk to RS.) As Jackie wrapped up her story, she was disappointed by Eramos nonreaction. Shed expected shock, disgust, horror  Of all her assailants, Drew was the one she most wanted to see held accountable-but with Drew about to graduate, he was going to get away with it. Because, as she miserably reminded Eramo in her office, she didnt feel ready to file a complaint. Eramo, as always, understood

On the Brian Lehrer show on November 26, 2014:

[J]ackie was kind of brushed off by her friends and by the administration And eventually, when she did report it to the administration, the administration didnothing about, they did nothing with the information. And they even continued to do nothing when she eventually told them that she had become aware of two other women who were also gang raped at the same fraternity.

On the Slate DoubleX Gabfest podcast on November 26, 2014:

It is incredibly extreme. I mean whether this was perpetrated by a serial rapist who has many victimsI mean it seems like no matter what, this is an incredibly messed up situation. But it was absolutely a violent crime and I think what was really telling was the idea that and this really underscores the entire article; is the student body and the administration doesnt really treat rape as a crime, as a violent crime Even in this case, right, exactly. And this is why this case blew my mind, that Jackie s situation blew my mind; that even in a situation that was so extreme and so obviously within the realm of criminal, that they would seek to suppress something like this because thats really what they did. Not only did they not report it to the police, but really I feel she was sort of discouraged from moving this forward.

On the Slate DoubleX Gabfest podcast on November 26, 2014:

Shes particularly afraid of Drew who shes assigned a tremendous amount of power in her own mind. So I think that the idea of[Jackie]facing him or them down in any way is really just emotionally crippling for her. Shes having a hard time facing up to that, and I think that she needs a lot of support if shes going to get to the place where she can actually confront them. When she does actually run into some of her alleged assailants on campus sometimes, just the sight of them, obviously its a shock but it also tends to send her into a depression. So it just goes to show sort of the emotional toll something like this would take. I just think it would require a great deal of support for her to move forward into any of these options to resolve her case and thats something thats been completely absent. She really hasnt had any of that support from her friends, from the administration, nor from her family.

Emailed to a Washington Post reporter on November 30, 2014:

As Ive already told you, the gang-rape scene that leads the story is the alarming account that Jackiea person whom I found to be credibletold to. me, told her friends, and importantly, what she told the UVA administration, which chose not to act on her allegations in any wayi.e., the overarching point of the article. THAT is the story: the culture that greeted her and so many other UVA women I interviewed, who came forward with allegations, only to be met with indifference.

The jury concluded that Rolling Stone and Wenner Media, LLC made the following statements with actual malice after republishing on December 5, 2014.

Republished on December 5, 2014:

Lots of people have discouraged her from sharing her story, Jackie tells me with a pained look, including the trusted UVA dean to whom Jackie reported her gang-rape allegations more than a year ago.

Republished on December 5, 2014:

Like most colleges, sexual-assault proceedings at UVA unfold in total secrecy. Asked why UVA doesnt publish all its data, President Sullivan explains that it might not be in keeping with best practices and thus may inadvertently discourage reporting. Jackie got a different explanation when shed eventually asked Dean Eramo the same question. She says Eramo answered wryly, Because nobody wants to send their daughter to the rape school.

Republished on December 5, 2014:

A bruise mottling her face, Jackie sat in Eramos office in May 2014 and told her about the two others. One, she says, is a 2013 graduate, whod told Jackie that shed been gang-raped as a freshman at the Phi Kappa Psi house. The other was a first-year whose worried friends had called Jackie after the girl had come home wearing no pants. Jackie said the girl told her shed been assaulted by four men in a Phi Psi bathroom while a fifth watched. (Neither woman was willing to talk to RS.) As Jackie wrapped up her story, she was disappointed by Eramos nonreaction. Shed expected shock, disgust, horror  Of all her assailants, Drew was the one she most wanted to see held accountable-but with Drew about to graduate, he was going to get away with it. Because, as she miserably reminded Eramo in her office, she didnt feel ready to file a complaint. Eramo, as always, understood
Like his preferred political candidate, specialty pillow mogul Michael Lindell loved larger-than-life business claims.

Lindell, an ardent Donald Trump supporter, is the inventor of MyPillow, a foam pillow purported to treat a range of medical issues, from sleep apnea to fibromyalgia. The pillow, which has aggressively promoted Trump on its official Twitter account, has more in common with the politician than meets the eye. In the latest of an onslaught of lawsuits, MyPillow agreed to a $1 million settlement this week, after the company was accused of promising over-the-top health benefits it couldnt possibly hope to deliver.

Migraines, Allergies & Asthma, Restless Leg Syndrome, read subheadings on MyPillows now-deleted benefits page. The pillow brand purported to treat these ailments and more, even if the websites fine print only explained that sleep often terminates migraine headaches or that MyPillow did not contain mold or featherswhich are major triggers for allergies and asthma.

The language quietly disappeared from the website after consumer affairs group Truth In Advertising published a January 2016 investigation into the company. The TINA investigation, which accused MyPillow of making unsubstantiated health claims, became the basis of an October lawsuit by nine California counties. This week, MyPillow agreed to shell out nearly $1 million in civil penalties and another $100,000 to California-based domestic violence charities.

MyPillow is pleased to have reached an agreement with Alameda County, Lindell said in a statement shared with The Daily Beast. Our focus is, and always has been, on sharing MyPillow with as many people as possible. With this settlement, we are able to avoid a costly and drawn out court case and turn our attention back to our number one passion, our customers.

But as of late, MyPillows number two passion appears to be Donald Trump.

On Oct. 27, the pillow company retweeted the user Deplorable Sadie, who had tagged Trump and the MyPillow account in a tweet about an upcoming Trump rally, where Lindell was headlining.

MEDIA WONT SHOW THIS, MAKE IT VIRAL reads another MyPillow retweet, which features a pro-Trump video.

MyPillow is not in bed with Trump, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast. The views espoused on the pillows social media are Mr. Lindells personal opinion, spokesperson Michelle Lawless said.

And Lindell has made his political opinions known.

The pillow entrepreneur has had a growing presence on political radio shows, appearing at the Republican National Convention in July, promising Trump a free pillow in September, and the final presidential debate in October. Partisan pillow fans rushed to tweet screenshots of Lindell in the background of crowd footage. In one image, Lindell looms behind Donald Trump Jr.s shoulder during a FOX News interview, his pixelated profile grinning at the camera like a blurry figure in an amateur Bigfoot sighting video. MyPillow retweeted the picture.

MyPillows love affair with conservative heavyweights runs both ways. In an August FOX News segment, host Megyn Kelly and her guests spent a minute praising Lindell and MyPillow.

They pay for ad space, but they didnt even pay for this, Kelly said.

MyPillow is famous for its aggressive infomercial campaigns, which cost approximately $1 million each week, the company told Minnesotas Star Tribune. The costs dwarf the companys legal woes. But MyPillows growing pile of lawsuits is bad for business, as Trump knows too well.

In 2013, two early MyPillow investors sued Lindell, saying they rightfully owned 42 percent of his company. Later that year, Salesforce sought $550,000 in damages from MyPillow, after MyPillow reportedly hung them out to dry on a $125,000 credit card bill. In August 2016, the company settled with New York state for $1.1 million over tax evasion charges. Two months later, the company agreed to a class action settlement, after it was ruled that Lindell could not advertise himself as a sleep expert without formal training. MyPillow is also facing a class action suit from buyers who say they were duped into a two for one pillow sale, during which the pillowsusually $49.99were sold at half price for $99.97.

During a radio interview at the Republican National Convention, Lindell said he supported Trump, because he thought Trump could run the country like an entrepreneur.

With MyPillow weve gotten through it because its such an amazing product and I treat my employees so well were like a family, Lindell said of the Obama presidency. But you know that its still hard, its really hard.
What does it mean that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or at least a certain number of agents within it, is apparently playing an all-but-open role in trying to elect one presidential candidateor more to the point, to destroy the other? Its without precedent in American history. For all the bad that J. Edgar Hoover did, threatening to destroy peoples careers, recording enemies, and developing dossiers filled with dark and unsubstantiated gossip, he never did this. He and his agents never used the media to declare war on a presidential candidate and try to flip a presidential election in the days before the outcome.

The leaks continue with ferocity. There were two big ones Thursday. First, that an indictment is likely in the bureaus investigation of the Clinton Foundation. Second, that there was a 99 percent chance that Hillary Clintons email server was hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies. These leaks were delivered to Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, among others; Murdoch properties, that is. Fox Newss Bret Baier had to dial the second charge back later in the day. Pete Williams of NBC News, whos been a rare TV voice offering perspective since the opening minutes last Friday when the report of Director James Comeys letter broke, was able to quote his own FBI sources last night to Chuck Todd, saying they were telling him the hacking allegation is just not true.

True or not, its getting out there and its getting reported. You may have read Thursday my Daily Beast colleague Wayne Barretts interview with James Kallstrom, the former head of the FBIs New York office, who all but confirmed to Barrett the existence of this orchestrated leak campaign. You may also have seen Spencer Ackermans report in The Guardian, where he quoted one source as telling him that the FBI is Trumpland.

I dont have my own bureau sources, I readily admit. But I have a sense of history and context, about the FBI generally and about its longstanding collective and institutional opposition to both Clintons.

In the movies and on TV, and often enough in real life, the FBI upholds and enforces the law and protects us from threats. Most agents are honest and diligent law-enforcement people who do strive to stay out of politics.

But one can have great respect for agents as individuals, and honor the reasons theyre drawn to a career in law enforcement, while still being clear-eyed about the culture of the institution as a whole. As Tim Weiner, who covered the bureau and the CIA for years and whose earlier Agency book won near-universal praise, writes in his new book, Enemies, the bureau has always been accountable mostly to itself.

It was founded in 1908 by Teddy Roosevelt. He couldnt get a skeptical Congress to appropriate the money for a few police with the Department of Justice, so he just found the money elsewhere and created the force of 34 officers unilaterally. Thus, Weiner writes, The FBI has never had a legal charter beyond the presidents oath to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and presidents have strained against the strictures of that oath since World War I, when the bureau first began to pursue those it classified as dangerous radicals, bending the Constitution if necessary to do so.

More often than not, the bureau has served presidents, especially Republican onesthere have been seven official FBI directors, and not one has been a Democrat. Hoover and Richard Nixon had a contentious relationship in some respectsindeed, the Watergate coverup was a coverup of the fact that Nixon ordered the CIA to block an FBI probe into the Watergate break-in. But they shared a basic paranoia about enemies and leftists that found them seeing eye to eye.

This has not always characterized the president-director relationship, though, which brings us to Bill Clinton and Louis Freeh. According to Freeh, he began his tenure trying to get along with Clinton and was spurned; Clinton recalls it differently. Whatever the case initially, by 1998, Freeh was far closer to special prosecutor Ken Starrs team than Clintons. He sent agents to the White House to get a blood sample from Clinton so that Starr could have Clintons DNA to match it against that found on Monica Lewinskys infamous blue dress. The president was at an official dinner and excused himself, pretending he had to go to the restroomin fact, he went to meet FBI agents and give up his blood.

Freeh hated Clinton and came to see him, by some accounts, as his top investigative priority. Freehs position, stated most publicly in a 60 Minutes interview at the time he released his book, was that he was appalled by what he saw as Clinton dragging his feet on pursuing the culprits of terror attacks on U.S. overseas installations, like the embassy in Dar es-Salaam and Nairobi, and at the Air Force housing complex in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. On the topic of terrorism, though, Freeh was himself rebuked by the Sept. 11 commission for not devoting nearly enough resources to the fight against terrorism; he blamed Congress for not ponying up the funds.

The point as pertains to now is that Freeh baked the Clinton hostility into the cake. Its also worth recalling that Comey himself investigated both Clintons in the 1990s as a staffer for the Senate Whitewater committee. Now obviously, it may well be that on the merits and in good faith as they see it, todays rogue agents really do believe that Hillary Clinton is guilty of a crime and should not be president. Its obviously their right to think that. They live under the First Amendment like the rest of us; theyre allowed to have political opinions.

But their boss closed the investigation. Its their job as agents to accept that decision. Theyre not supposed to be in revolt against their superiors edict, and theyre certainly not supposed to try to tip a presidential election.

But this is exactly what theyre doing. Writing in The Washington Post Thursday, Paul Waldman put it chillingly well. Noting how the campaign of leaks apparently forced Comey to write his infamous letter last Friday, Waldman argued:

And then it turns out that these agents are basing their investigation on a book called Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer. Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute, an organization co-founded and chaired by Steve Bannon. Who is the CEO of the Trump campaign.

While the imagine if the other side was doing this argument can sometimes sound trite, in this case its more than apt. Imagine if a group of FBI agents were leaking damaging information on Donald Trump in violation of longstanding departmental policy, and it turned out that they were basing their innuendo on a book published by the Center for American Progress, which Clinton campaign chair John Podesta founded and used to run. Republicans would be crying bloody murder, and Im pretty sure the entire news media would be backing them up every step of the way.

Indeed. Maybe this is partly the Democrats fault for not having the high-decibel outrage machine the right has. But should it really take a high-decibel outrage machine for the mainstream media to see clearly whats going on here? How theyre being played? By a phalanx of actors who have explicitly vowed, as Waldman and Brian Beutler wrote Thursday, that they have no particular plans to honor the results of the election if they dont like them?

The single most basic criterion that makes a country a democracy is that the side that loses an election honors its result (and yes, this will apply to Clinton if she loses; and yes, Al Gore honored the result in 2000 once the Supreme Court spoke). But its now obvious that if Clinton wins, these FBI agents, probably Trump himself, depending on the totals, and certainly Republicans in Congress like Jason Chaffetz will regard the outcome as a temporary inconvenience and immediately begin plotting how to undo it. That isnt called democracy. Ill leave you to put your own label on it.
This is the first of a series of articles examining all facets of Donald Trumps alleged ties or political sympathies with the Russian government. In this installment, Daily Beast Senior Editor Michael Weiss looks at the way Trump has refashioned Ronald Reagans Republican Party, largely out of his own conviction, into a helpmeet of the Kremlin. Read parts two, three, and four.

Michael Morrell, a former acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency, broke dramatically with the protocol of most ex-spies when he used spook parlance to describe Republican nominee Donald Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation, albeit in the course of endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

The colloquial term for the sort of person Morrell was talking about is useful idiot, someone enlisted in the Kremlins cause through sympathy, or shared interests, or, indeed, ignorance, without actually intending to be a pawn. But, as Putin certainly knows, the problem with useful idiots is that they tend to be insecure and erratic, whereas witting agents are tutored in how to be disciplined and self-controlled.

Trump is too illogical and self-contradictory to be of much use to a hostile foreign power except as a naturally occurring battering ram against the very institutions and beliefs that power would like to see weakened or destroyed. Trumps opponent (whom Putin assuredly does not want to see inhabit the White House) and U.S. democracy at large are the truer objects of a Russian state-run information and cyber-espionage program. That Trumps vulgar and demoralizing campaign is ripping apart America on the path to making it great again is simply an added bonus for the former KGB colonel.

Without dismissing the gravity of the Trump-Putin alignment, what our reporting makes clear is that the Republican does genuinely admire the Russian, but the feeling is not necessarily mutual. Putin has been discreet, if not cryptic, in his characterization of Trump. (See the next installation in this series for more.) One might say the relationship between the two is that of an amateur authoritarian taking cues from an aloof and bemused professional, but the performance delivered, to any outside observer, looks more like an oblivious farce than a credible imitation.

What is remarkable, however, is how consistent Trumps most illiberal, and seemingly pro-Russian, stance on Americas undergirding of postwar European security has been, dating back to before Putin was even master of the Kremlin.

NATO R.I.P.

In his book The America We Deserve, published in 2000, the first year of Putins presidency, Trump (or his ghost writer) wrote, America has no vital interest in choosing between warring factions whose animosities go back centuries in Eastern Europe. Their conflicts are not worth American lives. Pulling back from Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually. The cost of stationing NATO troops in Europe is enormous. And these are clearly funds that can be put to better use. We pay for the defense of France and yet they vote against us at the United Nations and choose the side of the North Koreans, the Libyans, and other rogue nations. (This was in 2000, years before the French were enjoined in the New York Posts Axis of Weasel because they tried to prevent the ill-fated invasion of Iraq, and more than a decade before French President Nicolas Sarkozy agitated for intervention in Libya to protect rebels from Muammar Gaddafis depredations.)

Such vague, amorphous isolationism may well have been noted by interested parties in Moscow at the time, only to be filed away for later use. But the military alliance that has more or less underwritten European peace for 70 years, and whose steadfast resistance helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union, has always been a bugbear for Trump. He genuinely believes in upending the postwar security establishment, and this just so happens to dovetail neatly with what Putin now wants.

But that wasnt always the case.

There was a time, in the early 2000s, when Putin earnestly pursued Russias accession to NATO, much to NATOs astonishmentironically, just as Trump was vilifying the alliance in book-length form.

Even before being elected president, Mikhail Zygar writes in his recent history of the Russian presidents longtime cabal, All the Kremlins Men, Putin asked NATO Secretary General George Robertson at their first meeting, in February 2000, when Russia would be able to join the alliance. Robertson was not prepared for the question and answered routinely that every country that wanted to join should apply according to the established procedure. Putin was irked, writes Zygar. He was convinced that Russia should not have to wait in line like other countries; on the contrary, it should be invited to join.

Putin has grown more irked since, especially given the enlistment, in 2004, of seven former Soviet-occupied states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Since then, NATO has come to inhabit, in his imagination, a dark specter spreading across the continent right up to Russias vulnerable doorstep. He sees it as driven by the United States rather than out of any intrinsic popular desire on the part of it its national constituents.

In the last decade or so, it is Russian officials who have sounded an awful lot like Donald Trump back in 2000 rather than the other way around. Putin said in 2014 that NATO, as part of the bloc system of the world, has outlived itself.

In his first foreign policy interview with The New York Timess David Sanger and Maggie Haberman, published on March 26, 2016, Trump similarly described NATO as obsolete. Since its founding in 1949, no major presidential candidate from either party has ever treated the alliance as anything other than sacrosanct. Trump also seemed confused by its most recent activities, telling Sanger and Haberman that NATOs remit should be altered to include terror. Never mind that the first and only time Article 5 of the Washington Treatythe collective defense clausewas ever invoked was on Sept. 12, 2001, leading to every member states participation in the war against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Trump again claimed, disingenuously, that NATO was unfair, economically to the United States, which bears far too much of the cost, ignoring the per capita expenses in blood and treasure paid by the other 27 member-states in helping to defend American interests.

NATO, for him, is at best a pay-to-play arrangement, at worst, a total waste of time. As he told Sanger and Haberman, Only 4 of 28 other member countries, besides America, are spending the minimum required 2 percent of GDP on defense. (That requirement is actually more of a target or benchmark, and a smaller member state that actually does satisfy it would later become the object of much derision by the Trump campaign, as well see shortly.)

Trump followed this exchange, in March, with his first major foreign policy speech, delivered almost a month to the day later, on April 27, 2016, at the Center for the National Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank known for its realist approach to international affairs, and its proximity to Moscow.

Richard Burt, for instance, is chairman of the advisory council of the Centers in-house journal The National Interest. A former U.S. ambassador to Germany, and a State Department official during the Reagan administration, Burt is also a senior advisory board member of Russias Alfa Bank (lately accused of having engaged in some interesting internet correspondence with Trump Organization servers). Burt is now also a foreign policy advisor to Trump.

Alexei Pushkov, the former head of the Russian State Dumas Committee on International Relations (a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who obliquely threatened to arm Iran, the worlds leading state-sponsor of terrorism, with advanced antiaircraft systems on the anniversary of those attacks), remains on the advisory council of The National Interest even though he was placed on the U.S. Treasury Departments sanctions list in 2014 for his role in the unlawful annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine.

Whether or not Trump had heard of Westphalian geopolitics before his maiden voyage into the troubled waters beyond America with his speech, he certainly knew his audience and catered, in his own inimitable way, to expectations. Large on generalities and short on specifics, Trump unveiled his nativist America First doctrine, unaware he was echoing Charles Lindberghs isolationist and pro-Nazi movement of the same name in the 1940s. In marked contrast to the conventional Republican Party wisdom since the era of Ronald Reagan (a man Trump also professes to admire), America First would put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else, divorcing it from the notion of enlightened self-interest: the idea that a safer, more stable and secure world is the best guarantor of security for the United States.

Pax Americana, in his long-held view, is a pup: We have spent trillions of dollars over timeon planes, missiles, ships, equipmentbuilding up our military to provide a strong defense for Europe and Asia. The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defenseand, if not, the U.S. must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves.

This would become a popular refrain in Trumps messaging throughout the campaign, with application well beyond NATO. Japan, he has suggested, should perhaps acquire its own nuclear arsenal and defend itself from North Korea. Troops should be withdrawn from the archipelago, along with the U.S. garrison in South Korea, due to lack of reimbursement to the U.S. Treasury for the cost of their maintenance.

Russia, interestingly given the venue and assembled dignitaries for this speech, earned one rather bland mention, alongside China, as a nation with which the United States has serious differences, but not necessarily so serious as to qualify either as an adversary. The former superpower enemy, Trump said, has suffered from Islamist terrorism and, so, this common victimhood could foster a new era of relaxed relations, one inaugurated, of course, from a position of American strength.

Pull back from entangling alliances, but confront aggressors with American strength. You see the contradiction here, and doubtless so did Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, who was sitting in the front row at the Center for the National Interest as Trump delivered these remarks. Kislyak later told Politico that the real-estate mogul made some intriguing points We need to understand what is meant in the implementation.

The ambassador is likely still waiting to understand.

Trumps echoes of Russian geopolitical ambitions would grow louder as he creeped closer to the presidency, even as he doggedly refused to put forward any substantive alternatives to the policies already implemented by Barack Obama, a man he claims is eternally outfoxed by the heroic strongman Putin. This strange capacity for condemning the weakness in the current American posture toward Russia while advocating what must sound to Moscow like wholesale retreat can be seen in Trumps non-response to an international crisis that caught the United States and Europe completely by surprise.

UKRAINES ON ITS OWN

Trumps view of the Euromaidan Revolution and ensuing Russian invasion and occupation of Crimea in 2014 broadly derives from his 2000 assessment that the United States shouldnt really care what happens an ocean away because it has no immediate bearing on U.S. interests.

Ukraine, which hes of course all for, and where he has friends, ought to be sorted out by European nations and Russia. In his view, Germany should be leading the EUs diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict. He seem oblivious to the fact that it is, as part of the so-called Minsk protocol. Meanwhile, Ukraines sad situation has given him ample opportunity to expatiate on his favorite topic: contrasting the leadership styles of Putin and Obama.

At an awkward video-linked address Trump delivered at the annual Yalta European Strategy conference in 2015 (held that year, owing to the Russian annexation of Crimea, in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev), he focused mainly on the lack of respect for Obama, whom he again described as not strong.

Trump spoke haltingly, apparently waiting for his remarks to be translated, and he made no real effort to characterize Russias activity as an invasion or violation of international law. Indeed, he barely criticized Putin at all. He complained that U.S. support for Ukraine was more rhetorical than material, but promised no improvement under his prospective administration. Yet would not actually advocate arming the Ukrainian military with lethal weaponry, an action that many European countries would sign onto if not for Obamas hesitation.

Such Trumpian wishy-washiness would soon be codified.

PUTINS PLATFORM?

A majority of GOP representatives and senators have long advocated arming Ukraine. But that didnt make it into the Republican Partys platform last summer. As The Washington Post first reported, Trumps minions excised wording that would have promised lethal materiel to an embattled ally.

To be sure, the rhetoric of the platform remained Churchillian, in keeping with Republican tradition, and it did reaffirm the U.S. governments current support for (PDF) maintaining and, if warranted, increasing sanctions, together with our allies, against Russia unless and until Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored. It said, We also support providing appropriate assistance to the armed forces of Ukraine, left undefined, and greater coordination with NATO defense planning.

Paul Manafort, Trumps now-former campaign manager whose political and financial ties to pro-Putin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych are so well documented as to have prompted an FBI investigation into his foreign entanglements, denied that the campaign did any such thing. However, several sources queried by The Daily Beast, including Eric Brakey, a Maine GOP delegate, and Rachel Hoff, a Washington, D.C., delegate, were in the meeting when the platform was being discussed and diluted.

Trump later acknowledged in an interview with ABCs George Stephanopoulos that his camp did indeed water down the language on Ukraine.

Trump: I wasnt involved in that. Honestly, I was not involved.

Stephanopoulos: Your people were.

Trump: Yeah. I was not involved in that. Id like toId have to take a look at it. But I was not involved in that.

Stephanopoulos: Do you know what they did?

Trump: They softened it, I heard, but I was not involved.

Bizarrely, Trump went on to pull the pins out from under the party platform that actually was agreed. He suggested to Stephanopolous that not only had Putin not invaded Ukraine but, contradictorily, that the inhabitants of occupied Crimea preferred to be in Russian hands anywayan assertion that naturally comes from Russian state media and a hastily staged sham referendum.

At a press conference four days before the ABC interview, Trump indicated that hed be open to recognizing Crimea as Russian Federation territory, legitimizing an illegal land-grab that only those paragons of fair play North Korea, Syria, Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Kyrgyzstan (plus Marine Le Pens National Front in France) have done so far. He also suggested hed look into lifting sanctions against Russian institutions and officials involved in Crimeas takeover.

This put Trump in a theoretical posture no Western democracy has adopted. The sole beneficiary if Crimea gained international recognition as part of Russia would, needless to say, be Putin.

And what would happen, under a Trump presidency, if Russia did decide to invade one or more of the three Baltic States, all of them NATO members?

Trump has here, again, attempted to have it both ways. To Sanger and Haberman, in March, he said that since the United States was treaty-bound to defend its Atlanticist allies if they were attacked, hed observe that part of the treaty. Yet in that second Times exchange, in July, he at first feigned strategic inscrutability, replying, I dont want to tell you what Id do because I dont want Putin to know what Id do. Reminded by Sanger and Haberman of the inconvenient matter of Article 5, the mutual defense clause, Trump again brought up unpaid bills, finally answering that only those countries which have fulfilled their obligations to us merit collective defense.

As it happens, one of the Baltic States, Estonia, amply satisfies Trumps requirement on GDP spending. It is also the one which one of his more politically accomplished surrogates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, would abandon to Russias tender mercies.

Gingrich, who was rumored to have been a vice presidential consideration for Trump and remains a key advisor to the nominee, told CBS This Morning, within hours of that second Times interviews publication on July 21 that NATO countries ought to worry about our commitment. They ought to worry about commitment under any circumstances. Every president has been saying that the NATO countries do not pay their fair share.

Estonia is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, Gingrich continued, perhaps forgetting that Estonias border is 85 kilometers away from St. Petersburg and that the countrys accession to NATO was once woven into his own 1994 Contract with America.

The Russians arent gonna necessarily come across the border militarily, said Gingrich. The Russians are gonna do what they did in Ukraine. Im not sure I would risk a nuclear war over some place which is the suburbs of St. Petersburg. I think we have to think about what does this stuff mean.

Note that a Republican eminence grise and a former candidate for president himself has blithely gone from the clear and present threat of Russias dispatching little green men into Estonia directly to all-out nuclear war.

This is not an accident, as it recycles and amplifies upon an argument sold by Russian state propaganda organs.

WORLD WAR III AND OTHER MEMES

The notion that any confrontation with Russia, even if only confined to the realm of military deterrence, will lead to World War III is a well-worn tool in the Kremlins psychological arsenal, as Russia expert and Economist editor Edward Lucas put it not long ago in The Daily Beast. The obligation to defend NATO members against foreign attack is easily conflated with the belief that doing so will provoke an American shooting war with Russia, perhaps sending ICBMs soaring across the hemispheres.

Deterrence itself thus becomes an accelerant of Armageddon, forcing the United Statesor terrified votersinto affirming that any act of Russian provocation or aggression must not be met by a concomitant defense.

While U.S. policies on de-proliferation are designed to lower the risk of such a dire contingencyand remain very much part of the same international security compact Trump and his ilk would like to see dismantledsuch alarmism fails to recall that many periods of the Cold War were rather hot: Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan being prime examples.

More recently, in Syria, U.S.-licensed weaponry has been used by anti-Assad rebels to kill Russian servicemen. Turkey, the second largest military in NATO, shot down a Russian fighter jet in 2015, precipitating not doomsday but rather a year of demarches and trade hostilities which culminated in happy rapprochement between Ankara and Moscow.

As Lucas argued, The United States is overwhelmingly dominant in every part of the military spectrum, from space to cyber via conventional and nuclear weapons, just as the Western alliance with its combined GDP of around $40 trillion, and population of 800 million, is overwhelmingly more powerful than Russia (GDP of $1.7 trillion and population of 140 million: both shrinking, incidentally).

Nevertheless, Trump supportersidentifiable by their Pepe the Frog avatars, anti-Semitic double parentheses and other trademarksare busy on social media propagating the World War III meme, typically with Hillary Clintons picture superimposed against backdrops of mushroom clouds or enveloping infernos. This hysterical conceitsome of which may be the yield of Kremlin-compensated trolls working out of their Augean stable in St. Petersburgfollows directly from Trumps most outlandish claim yet, that if Clinton were elected she would unleash World War III through her avowed policy of establishing a no-fly zone in Syria, which perforce means militarily confronting the Assad regime and, possibly, Russia.

Trump may well have come up with this apocalyptic forecast on his own, or it may have been lifted from Breitbart or any number of his campaigns domestic sounding boards. Nevertheless, the threat of nuclear holocaust has been a consistent theme of Russian state media organs for the past two years and depends, exclusively, on how Moscow would respond to any escalatory American intervention in one or more of its self-designated spheres of influence.

In March 2014, Russias most prominent state propagandist, Dmitry Kiselyova man who believes that the hearts of homosexuals should be burned into the pavement to stop the spread of AIDStook to the airwaves of his Sunday evening show News Weekly to announce that Russia is the only country in the world that really can turn [the] USA into radioactive ash.

Coming from a man who a week later would be sanctioned by the European Union for his role waging information warfare against Ukraine, this was no idle, Glenn Beckian bit of bombast, but rather a warning licensed from on high. Kiselyov repeated it just last month: Any attempt by the United States to engage in impudent behavior (he left this undefined) would carry a nuclear dimension.

Right about that time, nuclear-capable Iskander missiles were deployed to Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland, giving menacing shape to this fever-dream. Not that any warheads were attached to those missiles, of course.

If U.S. Strategic Command has yet to elevate its alert status to DEFCON 1, then it may owe to the fact that the only person who counts in Russia is downplaying doomsdays, projecting himself as the picture of sanity amid a launch-nutty general staff. Putin has lately publicly rebuked his generals who want to buzz American warships in the Baltic and dismissed the atomic chatter of his scripted chattering class.

At Valdai last week, he essentially agreed with Edward Lucass sober appraisal of comparative military advantage. It is unthinkable, foolish and completely unrealistic, for Russia to go to war with the United States, Putin said. All of the NATO members together with the USA have a total population of 600 million, probably, but Russia has only 146 million. It is simply absurd to even conceive such thoughts.

Trump, meanwhile, has become a kind of schizophrenic Peter Sellers, alternating between the megalomaniacal Dr. Strangelove and the imminently reasonable Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake within the same take.

Why cant we just use nukes? Trump asks Joe Scarborough, before deciding that a President Clinton may well do that in his stead, her eternal soul be damned.

It was exceedingly odd for Trump to pick Syriaabove, say, the Baltic statesas the cynosure for the End Times, given that his own policy with respect to the ravaged Levantine nation depends upon the time of day and whether or not it can be fashioned into a ball-peen hammer with which to bash his opponent over the head.

In March 2016, Trump told Sanger and Haberman that he supported a safe zone, a number of safe zones, in sections of Syria and that when this war, this horrible war, is over people can go back and rebuild if they want to and I would have the Gulf states finance it because they have the money and they should finance it.

How this differed substantively from Clintons plan, apart from wholl be stuck with the tab, he did not condescend to hazard. Then, in the second presidential debate, when reminded that his running mate Mike Pence had made essentially the same call as Clinton for a no-fly zone, risking war with Assad and Russia, Trump said, He and I havent spoken and I disagree. The ideal scenario, Trump said, would be the U.S., Assad and Putin all joining in common cause against the scourge of ISIS, which would make more sense if Assad and Putin were not focusing most of their bombs on groups that arent ISIS at all, including and especially American assets.

Elsewhere, Trumps fact-free accusations appear copied-and-pasted from Russian state propaganda outlets. To give the most obvious example, when he suggested that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama founded ISIS, he was regurgitating a conspiracy theory propagated by, among others, Sputnik, the loudmouth baby brother to that older English-language bullshit purveyor, RT (formerly Russia Today).

In stark contrast with his predecessors for high office, he also regularly traffics in whataboutism, a Soviet-honed method of changing the conversation. Whenever human rights abuses or the trampling of freedoms abroad is raised, he shifts to the real or perceived shortcomings of the United States. As he told Sanger and Haberman in July: I think right now when it comes to civil liberties, our country has a lot of problems, and I think its very hard for us to get involved in other countries when we dont know what we are doing and we cant see straight in our own country. We have tremendous problems when you have policemen being shot in the streets, when you have riots, when you have Ferguson. When you have Baltimore. When you have all of the things that are happening in this countrywe have other problems, and I think we have to focus on those problems.

RT and Sputnik couldnt have put it better themselves, although each has tried in its own way.

From gravely concerned to who are we to judge? a Trump-run State Department would indeed be a sight to behold.

INTELLIGENCE?

There are few or no precedents for the aspiring commander-in-chief of Americas armed and clandestine services declaring that he is surer of the Russian governments professions of innocence than he is of the American intelligence communitys assessment.

When it comes to recent cyber attacks, in fact, Donald Trump is even surer than the Russian government that the FSB and GRU, Russias military intelligence agency, did not hack into the Democratic National Committees email accounts, or those belonging to Clinton campaign chief John Podesta. Even Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov coyly told CNNs Christian Amanpour last month, We did not deny this, they did not prove it.

If were to credit Trumps off-hand encouragement to Russia that it hack into Hillary Clintons personal emails was just a joke, as hed have us believe, then how to square Trumps dogged insistence that nobody knows what everybody knows and the Russian foreign minister playfully hinted at?

During the first presidential debate, on Sept. 26, Trump threw cold water on what intelligence officials and security experts had concluded. I dont think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC, he said. [Clinton is] saying Russia, Russia, Russia, but I dontmaybe it was. 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, OK?

A little over a week later, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence gave the official U.S. government view of the matter. In a joint statement released on Oct. 7, the two bureaus concluded: The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.

Trump was no doubt apprised of these findings in advance, having received an intelligence briefing as the Republican nominee. Yet he again denied what his own government had found at the second presidential debate, this time calling into question whether or not the DNC and Podesta accounts were even hacked at all: Maybe there is no hacking, but there isnow Russiaand the reason they blame Russia is they think theyre trying to tarnish me with Russia.

But why would Trump even consider such a Democratic tactic tarnishing, given his unabashed and well-advertised admiration for an authoritarianism he has long sought to replicate at home?

Russia, in his mind, is not a rogue or pariah state guilty of war crimes in Syria and anschlusses in Europe, but rather an illiberal beacon of revanchist progress. Trump sees Putins would-be empire as an anti-globalist great-power-in-the-making. That Putin brooks no criticism that cant be legally shut up or physically exterminated, and that he singularly pursues his own vision of national interest with nary a nod for international law or what the wrongheaded and overpaid elites might say to the contrarywell, you cant make a country great again without stepping on a few toes.

Putin, meanwhile, is along for this excellent adventure so far as it goes, which is exactly as long as Trump continues to occupy a U.S.-depleting national spotlight and flatters the cheap seats with his own homegrown version of anti-Americanism. But Putins interest ends when Trumps sell-by date expires . If and when the puckered and spray-tanned baron of Fifth Avenue loses the race and descends into the wilds of fringe media empire-building, hell be just another sorry case of what Putin hates most of all: an ostentatious oligarch who fancied himself a politician.

Tomorrow: A Fine Bromance
Lately, the jaded eyes aimed at the red carpet have turned from all-too-familiar Hollywood to  the A list Brits. And were talking about the men here, not the women, since all the real clothing changes, action, and money are in menswear these days.

American actors may smolder, strut, even toothily smile (think Tom Cruise) on major red carpetsbut British actors tread lightly. And carry a big impact. With incredible posture, they turn their heads only a few degrees, as if donning top hats; hands stiffly at sides, gliding all the while with aristocratic grace (its in the blood) and the slight hauteur of having been raised in a monarchy; the opposite of good ole American Huckleberry Finn hang-looseness and aw-shucks-ness.

Perhaps this is why the sight of George Clooney or Matt Damon or Ryan Reynolds or Ben Affleck grinning and wavinglooking handsome, strongand happily famous in their Armani, Prada, Gucci, Brunello, Burberry, or Zegna tuxes or suits makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. But that feeling pales compared to just a glimpse at Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Craig, Kit Harington, Eddie Redmayne, Idris Elba, Colin Firth, Hugh Laurie, Tom Hardy, Jude Law, Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christian Bale, or James McAvoyin the same labels, mind yousporting a silent sizzle of elegance, a sexy reserve (and reserve is sexy), and the best worldwide tailoring fame can buy. No matter what you say, says one international source, the best tailors are in England. They know how to make it fit.

And lately, that fit is tight.

Lets face it: British actors appear better dressed on red carpets than American male stars do. Why? Is it the fact that many of them attended posh private schools like Eton and Oxford? Or does the stiff upper lip thing extend to posture and a straight back? They never smile, but stare down the camera like its a fox on a hunt in Downton Abbey. In fact, although theyre mostly wearing very slim cut tailored-to-an-inch-of-their-lives Italian suits and tuxes, theres something of the actual air of the men of Downton Abbey about them. You even expect British male stars to arrive on the red carpet accompanied by a large hound and a distant horn. The fog, though, will be provided by the lighting man.

Or it could have something to do with British acting training being from the outside in: the physical before emotional (whereas their American counterparts are schooled in Stanislavskis Methodgoing deep inside to find the truth of your character). The Brits seem to exercise a lot more control over their gestures and movement on the red carpet: they dont quite seem as desperate for a close up. They almost look embarrassed to be famous. Next awards show, take a gander at Tom Hardy or Tom Hiddleston with their turned down eyes, almost blushing. Its very charming. And of course were familiar with the history of British charm: it all started with Cary Grant: the man who figured out how to charm Hollywood with his ultra-ultra British-ness.

I think that Brits in general have formal style ingrained in their culture. Its something they grow up with, says celebrity stylist Ilaria Urbinati. She should know: she dresses Tom Hiddleston (as well as all-American boys Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, Armie Hammer, Casey Affleck, Will Arnett, Will Forte, etc.). Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne are both Eton boys and both went to Cambridge. They grew up in fancy uniforms. To guys like them, real men dress well.

The culture of Savile Row is also at play here, says fashion historian Bronwyn Cosgrave, whos resided in both London and New York. A history of Savile Row tailoring could shift the whole image for a guy. Lets face it, Brits didnt grow up in jeans and t-shirts. British men understand the value of wearing a suit that is perfectly fitit will remarkably improve ones physique. By contrast, American men perhaps feel it is not so masculine to care about their suit sizeand whether a two- or three-button jacket will make them appear fitter and taller in photographs. Because of the culture of dressing in the U.K., these things matter.

To American men, laughs Urbinati, real men dont care about clothes. Its considered less masculine to care or to give up comfort for fine clothes.

Of course, all of British manly culture is built on the monarchy, history, formality, manners, and education. American masculinity is based on cowboys, strong silent loners, corporate powerand comfort. And the imprint of ones heroes and personal icons plays a rolea big rolein how one sees ones self. Our heroes growing up were the Fonz in a leather jacket and James Dean, Urbinati points out. Its a totally different way to grow up. To the Brits, their hero is James Bond, a guy who gets into a brawl then fixes his shirt cuffs. Yes, Daniel Craig and his all-Tom Ford sleek wardrobe appears as stiff as a well-trained Remains of the Day butler even while hes karate-chopping Javier Bardem. Its just a difference of viewpoint and of manners, she reiterates. American men are more crass and so is their style. Brits are more refinedeven the ones without wealth have a Dickensian style by nature.

Yes, most every British man grows up idolizing James Bond, adds Cosgrave. And this is Sean Connerys suave James Bond who was initially, in the words of Cubby Broccoli, a rough diamond who was groomed to play the part. He was sent to Ian Flemings tailor, Anthony Sinclair, and told to sleep in the suits that were made to measure for him so that they would become his second skin. British men of a certain class aspire to own a few thingsand one of them is a Savile Row suit.

American men? Corn fed on Levis, Calvin Klein ts, sneakers or cowboy boots, and leather jackets. Think Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Brando in The Wild One. Are they not the icons of American masculinity? Okay, throw in Steve McQueen in just about anything, for good measure.

Or is it possible the cliche of the accent trickles down to affect style perceptions as well? Lord knows Americans have always revered British accentsparticularly upper class onessince were not supposed to have a class system here. When I would call in clothes for American stars, says one former editor/stylist for a mens magazine, Id get a lot of We dont have anything now. When I would call for the Brits, wed get every suit we wanted. All the brands are in love with them!

The year Matthew McConaughey was nominated for an Academy Award for The Dallas Buyers Club, he donned a lot of colored dinner jackets and jewel-tone suits. And maybe looked a slight bit foppish. On the other hand, Idris Elba, nominated for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, wore jewel-tone velvet suits and was lauded for his fabulous style.

Or maybe its about intensity? Somberness? Whatever it isa number of things, likely, or all of the aboveAmerican male movie stars: move over! Or get a new stylist, tailor, groomer, walking instructor, movement teacheror accent. Or all of the above.
The days are getting shorter, the planet is warming, Donald Trump advances toward the golden throne, and this morning Drake posted an Instagram photo of Taylor Swift. Is it a sign? We'll find out Tuesday.

Anyway, here are this weekend's train changes, which don't affect me that much because I'm going to Pennsylvania to canvass for Hillary.

All 1 trains will run every 16 minutes between 137 St and Wakefield-242 St from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday. Some Bronx-bound trains will terminate at 137 St during this period. Downtown trains will run express from Van-Cortlandt Park-242 St to 215 St from 3:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Manhattan-bound 2 trains will run express from Franklin Av to Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, starting at 11:45 p.m. Friday and ending at 5 a.m. Monday. Trains will operate in two sectionsbetween Flatbush Av-Brooklyn College and E 180 St, and via the 5 to/from Eastchester-Dyre Av; and between E 180 St and Wakefield-241 St, with that change in effect from 3:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday. E 180 St-bound trains will also run express from Wakefield-241 St to E 180 St from 3:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Manhattan-bound 3 trains will run express from Franklin Av to Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr from 6:30 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.

Manhattan-bound 4 trains run express from Franklin Av to Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 7:30 a.m. Sunday, and again from 11:45 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday.

Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall bound 6 trains will run express from Pelham Bay Park to Parkchester from 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

All A trains will run express from 168 St to 125 St from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

All D trains will stop at 135 St from 12:01 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

F trains will not run between Coney Island-Stillwell Av and Church Av in either direction, with that change in effect from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Manhattan-bound J trains will run express from Myrtle Av to Marcy Av from 3:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Coney Island-Stillwell Av bound Q trains will run express from Prospect Park to Kings Hwy from 5:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
It's been over two years since the harrowing car crash that briefly left him in a coma, but Tracy Morgan has found a way back into comedy. Last night on Conan, which has been filming in NYC this week, Morgan announced that he's forgiven the truck driver who hit his vehicle in 2014, leaving him with injuries that took over a year to heal and killing one of his friends.

"I forgave him and I'm not even mad at him," Morgan said before joking about the crash. "But you know who is mad at him? All my white neighbors." Last year, a still-recovering Morgan moved to a mansion in Alpine, New Jersey.

On June 7, 2014, a WalMart truck driver careened into a Mercedes Benz limousine mini-bus that was carrying Morgan and some of his comedian friends on the New Jersey Turnpike. James McNair was killed, two other passengers were injured, and Morgan fell into a coma and suffered severe brain injuries that took a year to heal. Police said that the driver had dozed off before the crash because he hadn't slept in 24 hours.

Morgan first discussed the deadly crash last year on the Today Show. "I can't believe I'm here, I can't believe I'm in front of you. I can't believe I'm just here, and just seeing the tragedy that happened. It touches me." He got emotional while discussing the death of his friend James McNair, who he called "a comrade in comedy," and said he would return to comedy when he was ready.

Morgan was pretty candid about the incident last night: "I had the pleasure of meeting the CEO of Pepsi, which is one of the biggest corporations in the world," Morgan said. "She was really nice and I said, 'It would be an honor for me to get hit by one of your trucks.'"

While Conan has never been known for his political material, no one can avoid the election right now. But at least he put his own surreal touch on it in a separate segment:

Since Halloween, Conan has been shooting from the Apollo Theater in Harlemunfortunately, Conan's uptown run is ending and he's headed back to LA. But we'll always have Harlem.
The most tree-lined block in Brooklyn is in Flatbush: Argyle Road between Dorchester Road and Ditmas Avenue. In Manhattan, the shadiest block is West 69th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. And the largest tree surveyed city-wide is in Queens: an 87-inch-wide pin oak on Douglaston Parkway and Barrows Court in Littleneck.

These tree superlatives are pulled from the Parks Department's third decadal Treescount! census, the results of which were released this week. More than 2,200 volunteers helped count trees over the last year, covering 131,488 city blocks. According to the city, there are 666,134 street trees in NYC (parks are excluded), up from 592,131 recorded a decade agoan increase of about 12.5 percent. (In 1996, the first survey, 499,130 trees were counted.)



Behold, NYC's biggest tree (Google Maps).

Parks officials said that the tree boom is attributable to the MillionTreesNYC initiative, which was instated under Bloomberg and planted 164,000 street trees between 2007 and 2015. Since 2008, developers have been required to plant one tree for every 25-feet of street abutting a property. Civilians can also make a street tree request through 311, and have been doing so in increasing numbers. "I think people see them planted and say I want them too, Jennifer Greenfield, the parks departments assistant forestry commissioner, told AM New York.

About 22,000 trees were planted in Fiscal Year 2016 alone, according to the city.

The new tree stats also reveal city blocks, and entire neighborhoods, that could use more greenlike Astoria in Queens and Mill Basin in Brooklyn. According to the city, 72% of possible planting locations on city streets are currently tree-occupied. That leaves room for about 260,000 more trees across the five boroughs.

You can explore the city's tree map here, which can be filtered by typeAmerican Elm, Bald Cyprus and tree diameter. Click on a specific tree, and the map provides a Google street-view image.

Queens has the most trees, 242,407, followed by 173,070 in Brooklyn and 103,313 in Staten Island. The Bronx saw the biggest tree increase in the last decade: up 39% to 83,115.




Are you relatively new to this bustling metropolis? Don't be shy about it, everyone was new to New York once upon a time, except, of course, those battle-hardened residents who've lived here their whole lives and Know It All. One of these lifers works among us at Gothamistpublisher Jake Dobkin grew up in Park Slope and still resides there. He is now fielding questionsask him anything by sending an email here, but be advised that Dobkin is "not sure you guys will be able to handle my realness." We can keep you anonymous if you prefer; just let us know what neighborhood you live in.

This week's question comes from a New Yorker who, like many of us, is shitting himself in fear at the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency.

Hey Jake,

Tuesday's election is just around the corner, and your previous essays on this insane election have been greatly appreciated, so I was wondering if you have any final thoughts as we enter the shadow of the valley of darkness. Will Gothamist relocate to Montreal and publish in exile if this nightmare becomes reality?



Thanks,

Anonymously White-Knuckling

A native New Yorker responds:

Dear AWK:

Well this has certainly been an awful 18 months, huh? Just a horrible, seemingly endless slog through a cesspool of crazy. At this point, if you don't feel sick to your stomach, you haven't been listening. I think that goes for people on both the right and the leftno matter which candidate you support, do you think anyone would ever choose to go back and repeat this year?

So it will certainly be sweet when the results come in on Tuesday night. You'll feel a powerful sense of relief: the feeling of dropping a great weight from your shoulders. Your beer will taste better, your apartment will look bigger, your mysterious heart palpitations will suddenly vanish for good. This is a payoff that you have earned for having to listen to all the terrible, horrible, no good election coverage on TV, the Internet, and radio for months on end. Enjoy it, because you've earned it.



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I'm assuming, of course, that Hillary will win, and like 95% of the readers of this local website in the most liberal big city in America, that you support her. My reasoning is straightforward: all the major poll-tracking sites show her with a substantial lead nationally, and maintaining a strong lead in each state in the Pennsylvania-Virginia-Wisconsin-Colorado-New Hampshire group, which would allow her to win even if she loses Florida, where today she is in a dead heat with Trump but polling extraordinarily well among Hispanics.

There is no such thing as certainty in this life, but if you had told the Democrats three months ago that Hillary would be doing this well days before the election, they would have been happy.



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Now sure, the FBI does seem to be on an active mission to destroy her, and Republicans appear to be deploying a voter-suppression effort the likes of which we haven't seen since Jim Crow days, but I think we're still good. As predicted, Hillary dominated Trump in all three debates, and during the last two months (and critically, during the early voting periods in many states), the news has been decisively tilted in her favor. Yes, the email stuff, but that just doesn't have the same emotive power as Trump's "grab them by the pussy" tape or the seemingly endless parade of his alleged victims coming forward with sickening accounts of their assaults. Plus the usual non-stop Trumpian avalanche of horrifying headlines: just from this past week, for instance: "KKK Paper Endorses Trump," "Black Mississippi Church Burned And Vandalized With 'Vote Trump,'" "Avoiding Taxes, Trump-Style."

Or, if you prefer a less-personality driven analysis, you could also observe that we're going into election day with a relatively strong economy and a president with a decent approval ratingboth of which predict a Democratic victory, even before you get to a head-to-head comparison between a raving groper who knows nothing about politics and cares nothing for anyone but himself, and a fairly typical center-left politician with the typical baggage of a long career. Sure, Putin could launch an all-out-terrorist strike this weekend, or the FBI could decide that now is a good time to release a tape of a Saudi prince handing Hillary a large Hermes bag full of cash, but even so, the balance of probabilities would still point to a Hillary win on Tuesday.



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So do I plan to relocate Gothamist to Montreal? Noas I said in the last essay, I think our obligation in the event of a Trump victory would be to speak out for as long as we could before he crushed what remains of a free press. After that, those of us who were still alive and not imprisoned in the gulag could find one another, and try to organize against whatever Empire he creates on the burned ashes of the Republic. That could mean community organizing in blue states, political action or public service in local and state governments that had not fallen to the Republicans, or simply finding a way to persevere in relative anonymity until fate gives you a chance to strikeby voting in the next election, if there is one, or in some other way.

But enough dark imaginings; that's the anxiety and depression talking. Let's look at this year from another point of view: it's really done a good job of exposing the contradictions and ideological fault lines in our societymany of which had been buried out of sight for the last 30 years. Sure, you knew that a lot of the country was racist, but did you realize how hollowed-out and angry the white working class had become on account of trade-related job loss? Or how excited these voters would become by anyone who promised to undo that damage?







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Hell, even the Democrats learned a lotfor instance, that the young, beating heart of the party has moved far to the left over the last 15 years, and this energized constituency is more than happy to topple the old alliance between the Democratic party and Wall Street for something that looks pretty close to European Democratic Socialism.

These are all important things for us as a country to know! Maybe it will lead to some real change: a Republican party that stands for more than just tax-cuts for the rich and starts really thinking about the issues important to their base (better jobs, for instance). Or a Democratic party that takes bolder stands for universal healthcare, paid sick leave, free college tuition, or a higher minimum wage.

Or maybe the powers that be will conclude this year was just a flukea one-in-a-million alignment of cursed stars, and go right back to business as usual. That does seem to be the way of Washington, doesn't it? And then the establishment will freak out again in four years when the new Trump comes along and turns out to be even worse and more popular.

If that happens, is there any lesson you could draw from the suffering that you experienced this year and apply to your own life? What about something like, "Wow, I had no idea that the other side had gotten so out of hand in their rhetoric and beliefs! Maybe I should try to understand how they got that way and think about ways to bridge the gap."

I'm not saying every one of you needs to find and befriend a Republicanthere simply aren't enough of them around here, even counting all of Staten Island. But what about smaller steps? Like maybe not being such a New York judgmental asshole around your conservative relatives at Thanksgiving this year, or stopping that habit you developed of Facebook-trolling your conservative acquaintances back home.

Yes, this year sucked, but we can learn something from it and make the future suck less.

Kumbaya,

Jake

N.B.: Yes, the race has tightened in the last week. If that makes you feel stressed, put that energy to good use and volunteer to get out the vote on Election Day.

N.B. 2: There are some other benefits to this year's race: the high turnout could flip the NY State Senate to true Democratic control, which would do a lot to remove blocks to important issues like ethics reform, more support for affordable housing, and criminal justice reform.

Ask a Native New Yorker anything via email. Anonymity is assured.
Brazilian restaurant Esperanto celebrates 17 years in the East Village tonight and they're looking for people to help them mark this special occasion. This evening, they're throwing a celebration party that includes a two hour open bar featuring cachaca punch and sangria and live music courtesy of DJ Mirlet. They'll also be awarding one lucky attendee with a $500 gift certificate to redeem on Lombo de Porco, Tostones, or something else of the winner's choosing at a later date.

Also this evening, Humboldt & Jackson host Waldorf Astoria chef Tano Holmes, who helms the kitchens until the historic hotel closes to convert much of its space into luxury condos. He's brought along Chef Nate Kuester of Aquavit and Chris Davino to help in the kitchen, where they'll turn out fall-centric dishes like Carrot Soup, with ginger, coconut and granny smith apple ($9); Pork Roulade with butternut squash, Brussels sprouts and maple jus ($14); and Pumpkin Mousse with candied cranberries & walnut sable ($8). The meal will be accompanied by music by Lauren Henderson, Jesse Barnes and Bird Courage.



(Scott Lynch/Gothamist)

New Nordic continues its reign as NYC's hottest culinary import, and nobody's doing more to rep the cuisine than Claus Meyer, the Noma founder who's been opening eateries left and right all year. Baked goods are a big part of his newest ventures, and this Saturday we can all learn to bake some of his team's most delicious bready creations at baking classes launching this weekend. Led by Executive Pastry Chef Noah Carroll, the classes include "step-by-step instructions through the milling, mixing, proofing and kneading processes" and participants will even take home their own yeast starter for authentic recreation off-site. Attendees will be plied with coffee and carbs throughout. Tickets $95.

Crave Fishbar's Upper West Side location recently debuted a new brunch program, available both Saturday and Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. On the menu: Crab and Gruyere Cheese Omelet with Roasted Onion and Fresh Radish, and a Belgian Waffle dish with Kimchi Butter, Fried Fish, and Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce. Or you can opt for a Green Smoothie, if you're a monster.
See who's on the ballot in Iowa's 2022 midterm election

From the races for governor and senator, all the way down to county offices and judicial retention, here's what's on Iowans' ballots this year.
In the 12 years since Bob Duff joined the state Senate, Norwalk has grown substantially and new projects such as the SONO Collection mall, the transit-oriented district in South Norwalk and the Walk Bridge replacement are sure to continue the transformation.

As Senate Majority Leader, Duff, a fifth-generation Norwalk resident, is in an influential position to look out for the citys interests.

He secured funding to improve the Route 7 interchange this year and made sure Norwalk schools received a higher share of education support. A challenge ahead is to fix the funding formula so it is more equitable.

Duff has worked on job creation and training legislation, including the Small Business Express program; and worked on legislation to reduce the number of home foreclosures in the state.

Greg Ehlers, the Republican challenger from Darien, though new to politics has much to offer. He has tapped into a dissatisfaction with the sluggish state economy, the exit of General Electric from Connecticut, and the ever-present budget crisis. A businessman, he is a managing director of a cyber consultancy company, he considers the state as increasingly anti-business with too many regulations and tax increases.

On local issues he speaks of frustration echoed by many that a costly and disruptive lift bridge soon became the only option for replacing the Walk Bridge.

Ehlers appears forthright, friendly and energetic and promises now if elected he would serve only two terms.

Duff needs to compel his fellow Democrats to listen more to their Republican colleagues, especially when it comes to crafting the budget. No one party has all the good ideas.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff can best help navigate Norwalk through growth in the next few years and make sure it receives its fair share of state support. We endorse Bob Duff for a seventh term.
Americas cultural and economic identity has long been tied to innovation and entrepreneurship. A healthy economy relies on a balanced mix of established firms and startups. However, a longstanding national decline in new business formation threatens this balance in all but a few super-performing cities. While we believe that the entrepreneurial spirit exists in every city in America, some communities simply lack the access to opportunities to start and grow new businesses. Thats why we were proud to join the latest Rise of the Rest tour with Revolution chairman and CEO and AOL cofounder Steve Case.

The mission of Rise of the Rest is to strengthen emerging startup ecosystems, and these days that is critical. From 1977 to 2013, startups as a share of all U.S. firms fell by more than half, from 16.5 to 8 percent, according to our companys findings. More troubling, startup formation has not only slowed, but it has become geographically clustered. We found that half of the rise in new business creation from 2010 to 2014 occurred in just 20 of America's 3,000-plus counties. The job growth, tax revenue, and local economic stimulus that accompany successful startups has concentrated within a few elite hubs.

Related: How Entrepreneurs Can Succeed Outside of Silicon Valley

From Omaha to Provo to Phoenix, entrepreneurs require access to the same resources and mentorship as those in more established startup communities. Yet, currently, 78 percent of all venture capital goes to only three states: California, New York and Massachusetts. The inspiring and diverse innovators we met at each stop of the Rise of the Rest tour affirm the need to empower entrepreneurs across the country.

Here are some steps that policymakers can take to scale the number of successful startup ecosystems:

Make it easier for entrepreneurs everywhere to access capital.

Businesses must have capital to grow. Cities like San Francisco, New York and Boston have well-financed ecosystems that allow startups to thrive. Nationwide, startup investment and small-business lending remains depressed even as lending to big business climbs to new highs. One policy proposal we love that would give startups an assist is the bipartisan Investing in Opportunity Act." This bill would incentivize private investments into economically distressed communities throughout the country, providing a lifeline for new enterprises in areas that desperately need them.

Level the playing field for new businesses.

New businesses face a myriad of challenges each day: establishing their brand, hiring and training staff and executing a business plan. Adding excessive and anti-competitive licensing requirements and regulatory complexity only increases their vulnerability.

Established companies have the resources and institutional knowledge required to comply with complicated regulations. New businesses often lack these tools, and navigating obstacles -- like unnecessary occupational licensing rules -- are often speed bumps for local economic growth. Policymakers all across the country must do more to reduce the regulatory complexity and compliance burdens that hinder entrepreneurs and slow new business growth.

Related: 6 Ways to Grow a Startup Community in Your Own Backyard

Build relationships with the startup community.

Entrepreneurs have ideas and insights that can be invaluable in fostering startup ecosystems, but they may not have the relationships with policymakers to ensure their voices are heard. Policymakers should regularly convene entrepreneurs to better understand the problems they face. Listening is the first step in designing the right policies and programs to support unique needs of their communitys entrepreneurs.

Sometimes the ecosystem itself needs a catalyst. In corners of the country where startup communities are nascent and mentorship networks thin, the public sector can bring investors, universities, service providers, and anchor companies together with entrepreneurs in an effort to jumpstart a self-sustaining innovation community.

Related: Succeeding Outside of Silicon Valley: How the Rest Will Rise

These policies need champions in every community in the U.S. That is why EIG believes deeply in the mission of Rise of the Rest. If we want to revitalize our economy so that it works for more Americans, we need to do a better job breaking down the silos between the amazing entrepreneurs in the middle of America and the investors who are looking for the next big thing.

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NORWALK  State Rep. Bruce V. Morris placed lawn signs Friday as part of his re-election bid for the 140th state House District.

Morris, a Democrat, said he had about 100 signs made even though hes running unchallenged  yet again  for a sixth term representing the district, which includes South Norwalk.

People still need to know that you want the job, that you have a passion for representing them and what youve accomplished, Morris said.

Morris counts among those accomplishments helping pass legislation governing excessive police force, re-integrating non-violent offenders through Gov. Dannel P. Malloys Second Chance Society and strengthening set-aside requirements to create jobs for small, minority and women-owned businesses.

(Before) the municipalities were exempted, Morris said. They did not have to follow the state set-aside requirements although they were given state funding. We effectively removed that exemption so the program now follows the state subsidies. The true value to this is when we talk about jobs and the economy  small businesses are the backbone of the economy.

Looking forward, the Norwalk Democrat said hes focused on the economy and education. In September, Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher issued a decision finding Connecticuts school funding formula irrational and giving lawmakers six months to rectify the situation. The court ruling is now under appeal.

I held an informational (meeting) to begin the discussion on what steps the Legislature should take despite what happens with the appeal, Morris said. It is my hopes we can begin those discussions by the end of June.

In November 2006, Morris defeated Republican Richard A. McQuaid to secure his first two-year term representing the 140th District. Since then, he has run unchallenged except for 2014 when fellow Democrat Warren A. Pena challenged him in a primary.

Since first taking office in 2007, Morris has risen to assistant majority whip, deputy majority whip and deputy house speaker. He serves on the Judiciary, Human Services and Energy and Technology committees.

Morris is an associate pastor at Macedonia Church in Norwalk. He is the former district climate coordinator and human relations officer for Norwalk Public Schools.

Earlier this year, Morris along with South Norwalk Citizens for Justice led a battle against AMEC Carting over the companys storage yard off Chestnut Street. Morris used a drone to document activities at the site to the citys Zoning Commission.

rkoch@hearstmediact.com
WILTON  Maria Deidan finds it challenging to raise her children in a tech-centric world.

Lately, shes noticed how often her 16-year-old son is on his phone, checking text messages and social media notifications.

Thats a reality we have to confront, Deidan said. Its a terrible distraction  for everybody, not only for them.

Many other parents in Wilton and surrounding towns seem to agree.

About 100 parents filled the Brubeck Room at Wilton Library on Tuesday morning, seeking ways to help their children better manage social media and technology.

Drawing from her background in psychology and counseling, featured speaker Christine Parrott provided guidance on the issue through her presentation, The Cyber Child: Effects of Social Media  Neurological, Social, and Educational Implications.

The presentation was the first of Wilton Youth Councils three-part series about raising healthy, happy teens.

Im going to make the case to you today that children dont have the skills they need to manage social media, Parrott said. In order for them to handle social media, they need communication skills, they need empathy, they need conflict resolution, they need to know how to manage their emotions.

These capabilities can be especially difficult for adolescents to build because their brains are still developing  in areas that form their identity, habits and basic social and emotional skills, Parrott explained.

More Information Remaining Dates of Wilton Youth Council's Parent Information Series at Wilton Library Feb. 1, 7-8:30 p.m.: "Raise Your Child to be a Resilient Adult" with Tracey Masella Parents will learn how to foster problem solving skills and interpersonal effectiveness in their children by using mindfulness and distress tolerance techniques. Mar. 7, from 10-11:30 a.m.: "Delay Your Gray: How to Keep Your Teenager Safe and Yourself Sane" with Liz Jorgensen Learn what "normal" adolescent behavior is, how to set effective limits, how to build a support network for yourself, and much more. See More Collapse

Plus, social media and technology cultivate a culture of multitasking and pseudo-intimacy that make it increasingly difficult for children and teenagers to focus and to build meaningful connections, she added.

The world has changed. This is the blocks and trains of your elementary school students and your teenagers, Parrott said. They dont know what its like not to have technology permeate every single part of their lives.

One aspect that social media and technology can particularly impact is school.

At Wilton High School, social media incidents have become common enough for the administration to invite experts to speak about the potential dangers of social media and for different parts of the school curriculum to focus on its appropriate use, said principal Robert ODonnell.

We recognize that, in these times, its very common for students to use social media for so many facets of their communication, he said. If you have an incident around mean behavior and/or alleged behavior, theres often a social media element to it.

When it comes to resolving the issue, ODonnell said the key element is involving families and parents in the process of making the incident into a learning experience that students can benefit from.

Our goal is always to be proactive and to be in the position to educate students and let them know about some of the potential perils we understand, ODonnell said.

And the best way for parents to teach their children the appropriate use of social media and technology is modeling it themselves, Parrott said.

Social media, technology  thats their language. So we need to speak it. This is how we shape the contour and create positive digital citizens, she said. That way we can imagine a world where technology connects, inspires and motivates.

SKim@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1044; @stephaniehnkim
WILTON  Fundraising efforts at the Wilton police station are getting a makeover with a hairy twist, as Wilton police officers ditch their clean-shaven demeanors for Movember beards and mustaches as a part of the departments latest charitable benefit.

From November to the end of January, Wilton police officers will be raising money by abandoning regulations, which call for employees to maintain clean-shaven faces, and allowing officers to grow out the old peach fuzz.

Its a great opportunity to help others and, for those who thought that they always wanted a beard, its a good chance to try it out, Lt. Stephen Brennan, who participated in last years inaugural Movember fundraiser, said.

Officers will donate $50 for each month that they grow out their facial hair. The proceeds of the fundraiser will be split 50/50 with half going towards St. Vincents Swim Across the Sound charity and the rest going toward purchasing a handicapped-accessible vehicle for the child of an Parks and Recreation employee.

Last year, the Movember fundraiser raised in about $4,500, all of which went towards Swim Across the Sound.

For those like Brennan, who quickly realized last year that facial hair was not their thing, they can still donate to the cause  and the donating isnt limited to officers alone.

Officers also set up a Go Fund Me account, which can be found on the police departments website, where members of the public can donate as well.

While Movember hasnt long been a tradition for police, Sgt. David Hartman said that its been a long time coming.

Hartman, who played a key role in organizing the event for the Police Benevolent Association, said that the event was originally borne out of the struggles of one of their own in recent years.

Several years ago, Officer Frank Razzaia was battling a bout of cancer and the idea to do a department-wide fundraiser based on Movember  a world-wide movement aimed at addressing some of the biggest health issues faced by men, like prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health and suicide prevention.

When it came out that Sgt. Thomas Tunney was facing terminal cancer last year, the department dusted off the idea and decided to put the fundraiser into action.

As in any business or community, you always know somebody whos been impacted by cancer. Its something thats touched all of our lives  and not necessarily in a good way  and this is one way for us to sort of give back, help out and bring awareness to these issues, Hartman said.

ptomlinson@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1046;@ Tomlinson_PE
Want to ski all year? Check out Doylestown's newest virtual experience

4SeasonAlpine, a new indoor ski and snowboard school, opened in Doylestown, offering a virtual snow sports experience any time of year.
Tuesday could well be one of the most important days in this nation's history.

Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become president and arguably the most contentious campaign ever conducted will come to an end.

Tuesday will also have a significant impact in Madison County as several official positions are up for grabs.

To help our readers, the Intelligencer's five-member editorial board is offering the following endorsements:

State Representative, 112th District, Dwight Kay (R) vs. Katie Stuart (D)

In this race, we're backing Stuart. Springfield needs new blood and a different perspective. With her background in education, we believe Stuart can provide that. We hope, too, that she is sincere in her pledge not to join the lock-step Democrats.

Madison County Board Chairman, Alan Dunstan (D) vs. Kurt Prenzler (R)

We're backing Dunstan in this showdown. Over the years, he's proven to be a strong leader and a fiscal conservative. Further, he sees the bigger picture in his efforts to promote Madison County as a prime location for new businesses while at the same time supporting existing businesses.

Madison County State's Attorney, Tom Gibbons (D) vs. Ron Williams (R)

Gibbons is our choice in this race because he has a proven track record and has been a leader in the local war on heroin. However, we see Williams as a solid candidate and either way, Madison County residents will be the real winners.

Madison County Board District 17, Ann Gorman (D) vs. Bob Hulme (R)

Gorman is our choice in District 17. She has experience and the fact that she represents Edwardsville well by not always jumping in with her Democratic cohorts speaks well of her commitment.

Madison County Board District 18, Jack Minner (D) vs. Fred Schulte (R)

Minner is our choice because, as finance committee chairman, he knows the ins and outs of the county budget. He's got plenty of experience and is a willing listener. But, again, Schulte, who like Minner has a background in business, has potential and would serve residents well.

Madison County Board District 26, Ross Breckenridge (D) vs. Erica Conway Harriss (R)

In the race with no incumbent, we're endorsing Breckenridge. His years of experience with the Glen Carbon Village Board are a plus. He's one who takes constituents' concerns to heart. Harriss, meanwhile, is another candidate with potential and we'd like to see her serve the public in some capacity.

President of the United States? Pick your poison.

But, if you haven't already, please get out and vote - it's your right and responsibility as an American.
Watch a stream long enough and youll see how it changes. As it flows over a rock-strewn river bottom, it bubbles and swirls over the stones. But as the riverbed evens out, the stream quiets.

Thats the best way to describe the music of the trio performing at Jacoby in November: alternately upbeat and bubbly and silky smooth.

Local pianist Gigi Darr teams up with vocalist Jessica Butler and bassist Rich Mendoza to play jazz standards, pop music and French songs from 8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m., Friday, Nov. 11. Jacoby Arts Center is located at 627 E. Broadway.

Artists ranging from Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keyes to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley could be on the playlist. It will depend on the mood and the moment.

Well be going with the flow of the evening, said Darr. Thats how a lot of musicians work.

Darr is a classically trained pianist since age 7. In 2009, she decided to branch out and began adding R&B, jazz and pop to her repertoire. Shes performed with Ralph Butler a number of years and during one collaboration, she heard Butlers daughter sing.

Its so fun performing a variety of styles and genres. And Jessica is amazing. Shes so eclectic. She can adapt and change her sound to sing anything from Sinatra to Santana, said Darr.

And, of course, French tunes. Butler spent several years in France.

Butler begged for piano lessons when she was 8 and later picked up the guitar, French horn and saxophone. She says music is something she cant live without.

Its always a gift, every time I play. I get a chance to make people feel good. If youre in a bad mood, music will put you in a good mood, she said.

Granite City native Mendoza has played jazz and pop in St. Louis for more than 20 years. His rich jazz and easy groove vocabulary, Butlers sultry voice and Darrs versatility means the audience will enjoy an evening filled with music that will flow easily throughout the evening.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or follow the link at http://jacobyartscenter.org. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Doors open 30 minutes in advance. Cash bar available.

The trio will perform while the Running Water: Riverwork Project and Watershed Cairns exhibit is still on display. The free exhibit continues through Nov. 19.

The Audubon Center at Riverlands, National Great Rivers Museum and Jacoby Arts Center partner in a Nature + Art series to heighten awareness of our intrinsic assets. At each venue, art exhibits of pieced, painted textile, glass sculpture, and photography compel a closer look at our most vital resource, fresh water, near the convergence of three powerful rivers and the Mississippi Flyway. Running Water: Riverwork Project and Watershed Cairns offers a new way of seeing water, our most critical resource.

The exhibit is sponsored by Liberty Bank and Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery with additional support from TheBank of Edwardsville, MSD Project Clear, The Audubon Center at Riverlands, and Meeting of the Rivers Foundation.

I love to play Jacoby, said Darr. I have great appreciation for artwork and to be surrounded by art while I play is wonderful.

About the Jacoby Arts Center

The mission of the Jacoby Arts Center is to nurture and promote the practice and appreciation of the arts through education, exhibits, cultural programs and community outreach initiatives. Jacoby Arts Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Jacoby Arts Center is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E. Broadway, Alton, IL 62002 / 618-462-5222 / jacobyartscenter@gmail.com
This week on Segue, Greg Budzban, PhD and dean of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville College of Arts and Sciences, hosts Jeff Manuel, PhD and associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies, to discuss Manuels recently authored book, Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesotas Iron Range, 1915-2000. The text received a 2016 Hamlin Garland Prize, an annual award presented by the Midwestern History Association to two historians whose projects represent the best in popular history writing concerning the American Midwest.

A historian specializing in the deindustrialization of resource industries in the Midwest, Manuels text focuses on the history of the Minnesota Iron Range, a region of Minnesotas northern arrowhead made globally famous for its rich iron ore mining district. Situated near the shores of Lake Superior, the Range was developed in the late 19th century upon discovery of an incredible body of high-grade hematite iron ore - a soft, red gravel substance used as a raw material for steelmaking. It is because of the Range, the coal fields of Appalachia, and the industrial capacity of the Great Lakes region that the American steel industry was able to thrive in the early- and middle-20th century throughout the Midwest.

However, as the U.S. transitions as a post-industrial society, intense deindustrialization has occurred among steel manufacturers and other manufacturing industries.

Its particularly pronounced in resource extraction industries, like mining or foresting, Manuel shares. Historians have found that this transition process started happening much earlier than we originally perceived. For the Minnesota Iron Range, Ive found evidence of this transition in the 1910s and 1920s.

As a result, many American manufacturing operations have been forced out of business, creating high unemployment and fleeing populations in several municipalities.

Coal mining, for example, is a non-renewable resource, Manuel says. As you dig ore out of the ground, its clear that its a finite substance thats going to go away. A model for mining regions in the 19th Century was to show up and create a boom town, have a bonanza to dig up as much ore as possible, and move on to the next place, creating a ghost town.

What makes the Minnesota Iron Range unique versus other mining regions is the commitment and collaboration of decision-makers to making the Range a long-term, stable place - doing whatever is necessary to allow its industry to continue into the future.

Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesotas Iron Range, 1915-2000 explains the vast efforts made to prolong the Ranges success throughout the 20th Century, detailing technological changes, fundamental changes in the mining processes, revisions in tax laws and state constitutions, developments in workforce training, changes to the very substance being extracted from the ground, and more.

Among those changes were to more heavily mine taconite, an iron ore that demanded more processing to be converted to steel, but also boasted rich deposits in the Range. Manuel argues that through these measures, the Range accomplished impressive successes to prolong the industrys life beyond expectations, despite significant deindustrialization, job loss, industry shrinkage and other tough operational circumstances.

The book further discusses the heightened tax rates that originally characterized the Range, and how the regions mindset evolved over time to lower industrial taxes. Manuel credited a change that established an amendment to the State of Minnesota Constitution as a major turning point toward the Ranges sustainability.

In the late 19th Century, it was essentially a punitive tax enforced by the local governments on what they felt were giant, distant monopoly corporations, Manuel explains. They rationalized it as, Rockefeller is here - he owns these mines. We should tax him as much as we can to get what we can, because hes just going to take the ore out of the ground and leave us with nothing.

By the 1950s and 1960s, a 180-degree reversal occurred. The communities, labor unions and state politicians were all working together to lower tax rates and ensure lowered, ongoing tax rates to guarantee continued business investment. In 1964, the state added a constitutional amendment to guarantee stable and low taxation on taconite plants. I argue that this amendment signaled the first wave of nationwide change in resource industries - a new, deep commitment to pro-growth, low tax regimes for business industries. We know today of the different ways state and local governments commit to relatively low business tax rates, in the name of worthy, valuable investment.

Following the amendment, the Range taconite operations immediately began building and expanding facilities to create jobs and seek further profits through new tax reductions. This expansion occurred from 1964 through the 1970s, until a significant recession struck the American steel industry in the early 1980s and undermined much of the advances made in the Range. Being recessed as a result of heightened international competition and resource availability, the Range now finds itself in a constant battle for operating success in the face of intense global stressors.

The U.S. steel industry had been largely protected by the fluke of geographic location, being efficient in moving things through the Great Lakes, Manuel shares. By the 1980s, foreign competition allowed access to very cheap, foreign ore fields and transportation innovations that allowed ore to travel to the U.S. much more quickly. Coupled with new blast furnace technologies and other domestic business issues, global factors began putting heavy pressure on industries in the U.S. In the 1980s, many iron ore mines and mills on the Range shut down. So, that facility expansion held up for only about 15 years before the region found itself right back where it started, before the tax cuts and innovations happened.

As a result of this rapid deindustrialization in the Range and while many of the taconite facilities continue to operate, the processes have been automated to the point of providing few human labor jobs. Now, many municipalities in northern Minnesota are similar to those of southern Illinois, yielding above average unemployment figures and significant reductions in population as American industries continue to dissipate.

Because many American populations are interrelated to the successes of remaining American manufacturing operations, Budzban and Manuel express the tremendous potential of Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesotas Iron Range, 1915-2000 to provide insight to those regions and municipalities seeking support as they evolve alongside such operations.

In a number of other industries, were seeing this same narrative play out, shares Budzban. Politics, the narrative surrounding deindustrialization, those folks who feel disassociated with the political and economic forces in our country, having the technology to make resources economically feasible, environmental sensitivity in operations - those have all played an enormous role in manufacturing. This same narrative is playing out again in other industries, with the same sort of forces in effect. Its striking that what youve captured in this book, in general, can be applied to several industries that are going through many of the same questions right now.

Budzban and Manuel conclude the discussion by providing long-term suggestions for industrial decision-making as global factors continue to provide harsh threats to the success of American manufacturing operations. 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
A new Madison County Office on Aging will help connect seniors with the resources they may need.

Madison County Community Development recently began partnering with the AARP Foundation and other community organizations with the idea of creating a positive environment for aging in Madison County. To that end, it aims to be a connector between older adults and federal, state and local funding and programs.

A lot of these services already exist, said Qendrese Selimi, a program clerk for the Madison County Community Services Block Grant program who has also been working with the Office on Aging. Theyre just fragmented and seniors dont know how to access them, how to find out information about them. So were really just trying to bring together all of these agencies to the same table so that we can begin coordinating services, and just make them easier to access.

A couple of volunteers have already been trained, Selimi said.

The office is a collaborative effort between the county, AARP, other agencies and volunteers. The office will utilize super volunteers, individuals who are 55 and older and placed where the benefit connection centers are located. They will be trained to provide information to the countys seniors and connect them to available resources. The emphasis on 55-and-up volunteers serves to encourage older adults to help each other, strengthening their communities and senior support network, according to a news release from the county.

Service delivery and availability for older adults has been sited as a continued problem in the county, County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan said in the release.

The Office on Aging will work to close these gaps and reach out to those on the fringes, serving as a connecting agent for missing services for older residents. This office will be charged with understanding the needs of Madison Countys older adults and working to utilize available funds and programming to meet those needs.

Two AARP volunteers will staff the office each weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The office has established several objectives, including:

 improving the health and safety of the countys older adults;

 improving their access to appropriate and affordable housing;

 improving transportation options for older adults; and

 increasing the connectivity between the countys senior centers and township offices and organizations who provide services to seniors.

In addition to Madison County Community Development and the AARP, the following agencies are participating: the Madison County Health Department, Madison County Mental Health Board, Senior Services Plus, Care Management Professional LLC, St. Johns Community Care, AgeSmart Community Resources, Southwestern Illinois Visiting Nurses Association, IMPACT CIL, Collinsville Faith in Action, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Edwardsville Township.
Edwardsville American Legion Post 199 isnt waiting to get into the holiday spirit as it will be hosting the Sixth Annual Borderline Christmas Concert to Benefit Toys for Tots.

The six-hour event begins at 5 p.m. on Nov. 26 at the Legion hall, located off Route 157 across from Woodland Elementary School.

Al Gagnon, representing Post 199, said this will be a new event for Edwardsville but not the United States Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign.

The location where the event was held previously burned and Post 199 stepped up to fill the need.

Its our first, Gagnon said. Its a good deal.

Live music will be provided by The Wherehouse Project Band, Tommy Karlas, Morgan Ladyman and Ryan Hoffman and the headliner, Borderline.

In addition, there will be free food - while supplies last - courtesy of Grillin Gvillos BBQ.

Were putting out the food and donating the hall, Gagnon said.

Admission is simple. Guests may bring a new unwrapped toy for the Toys for Tots collection or buy a ticket for $10.

All proceeds will stay in the metro-east.

Gagnon said past events have drawn well - and produced a good haul for the kids.

They said they would normally have 1,000 people, Gagnon said. Some people just come and drop off gifts. Hopefully, theyll stay around and enjoy the music and the food.

The event will feature a 50/50 raffle and a Christmas day Santa Claus auction with the winner having Santa come to their home on Christmas day to deliver presents.

Gagnon said the event will provide a good way to recover from Thanksgiving.

They say after Thursday, people are burned out and want to get out of the house, he said.
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Linkedin Piebo Dimas Perdana and Adi Abidin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Most recent discussions of regional security in Southeast Asia center on the ongoing tension in the South China Sea. Chinas apparent assertiveness in expressing its claim to this region has raised concerns with Southeast Asian countries bordering this strategic spot.



Indonesia, which controls the Natuna Islands in the southern end of the sea, keeps its distance from the dispute and tries to serve as an honest broker to keep the area peaceful and secure.



But recent events seem to have prompted Indonesia to increase its defensive posture in the region. Several Chinese fishing boats  backed by armed coast guard vessels  have encroached into Natuna waters, and clashed with Indonesian security and military boats. In response, President Joko Jokowi Widodo inaugurated an expansion of Natunas airbase at the Indonesian Military (TNI) anniversary event last month.



Thanks to the improvements, Natuna can now host a larger contingent of military forces when security tension escalates. Such forces may include soldiers and marines, with support from naval ships, aircraft and helicopters, to patrol the islands and its surrounding battle space.



Despite building the infrastructure, a question remains. At the strategic level, what would be required of TNI to respond to challenges given the countrys geographical contour, especially at its door-step, such as in Natuna, Nunukan and Morotai?



Expanding on the notion of archipelagic defense (Krepinevich, 2015), TNI could utilize Indonesias unique geography in developing the strategy. It primarily thrusts its deterrence through denial, where the adversarys intention to control or occupy a maritime region through force is denied by an interlocking and mutually reinforcing chain of air, sea and ground forces.



Utilizing this concept, TNI could deploy its tri-service assets along the string of islands in the archipelago. These combined sea, air and ground operations would entail deployment of surveillance, patrol and strike forces, as well as transportation assets that would sustain the operations.



Using the Natuna Islands as an example, the army and marine elements would defend the island from an amphibious assault force and man artillery and missile batteries to harass an approaching naval fleet. The navy ships would conduct patrols against surface combatants and submarine intrusions. Aircraft would comb the horizon for any incoming force and would deny any attempt at air supremacy in the area.



The ships and planes could be based in either Pontianak or Batam, where there is more support capability for naval and air operations. In turn, these two bases would be supported by reinforcement from the main bases in Java or Sumatra.



Such patterns could be replicated for securing the Strait of Makassar from Nunukan and Tarakan, and similarly for the defense of the Moluccas from the hub in Morotai.



These interlocking forces in the islands, though, are just one of the necessary pillars to successfully implement the archipelagic defense. The other essential pillar for this to be effective is the military capability  also known as expeditionary capability  to move and sustain those combat forces, especially for soldiers on the ground in those outermost islands.



As such, it is as critical to assess the Indonesian militarys expeditionary capability as to measure its more menacing combat forces. This would be through examining TNIs organizational posture, as well as the primary assets  transport vessels, aircraft and helicopters  in fulfilling such capability.



Although all military operations are directed from the TNI headquarters as joint operations by utilizing various forces from the three services, seamless tri-service combined operations could be very challenging due to a lack of regular joint training among TNIs units.



The challenge is especially compounded for the expeditionary units as their training regimen mostly depends on all-arms exercises rather than specific exercises for them.



A robust and sustainable train of reinforcement and logistics is essential for the archipelagic defense to be effective.



Furthermore, a deeper look at TNIs expeditionary assets (The Military Balance, 2016) reveals a concerning shortcoming that could strain operations. Quantitatively, the naval, army and air force transportation assets are limited in being able to support operations in multiple theaters along the countrys border. Moreover, the assets are subject to constraints such as the lack of maintenance and limited supply and crew capability, which reduce operations.



The naval amphibious vessels are the primary means for TNIs expeditionary force. From these ships, marines assault beaches and sustain them for the fight. They also maintain logistical train to reinforce and resupply the troops on the ground. The bigger ships also can launch helicopters for expanding the marines operational area.



Currently, if using all its ships at one time, the Indonesian navy can deliver about one-and-a-half marine or army brigades with their associated tanks and artillery.



Considering operational cycles, the most that the ships can transport at any one time is around one brigade of 2,000 troops.



As this capacity must be divided to allow for support of at least three outposts in the sprawling archipelago, the navy could move only about a battalion to a theater. That is indeed only a limited reinforcement for the island defenders.



From the air, the mainstay of TNIs airlift is provided by 15 Hercules medium transport aircraft. They can drop paratroopers from their bases in Java into the outposts even with only a rough landing strip.



When all of them are operational, a brigade of paratroopers can be delivered to a location. Due to operational constraints, though, only about a battalion of 600 troops can be transported at one time to a location, which is, again, a limited transportation capacity.



Another critical airlift and logistical asset is the helicopter fleet, which can be stationed in forward bases such as Pontianak  for reinforcement of logistical sustenance of troops in the outpost. The air force depends on Super Puma for this purpose, and the army utilizes the Russian-made Hip helicopter. Both are of the medium-lift type.



Their limited lift capacity and operational endurance, however, hamper the necessary reach to maintain the interlocking quality of archipelagic defense. For this critical purpose, TNI needs heavy-lift helicopters with greater payload and range capability.



Moreover, as these helicopter fleets would be the main artery in this strategy, their operational readiness must be at the highest level, which can be obtained through extensive crew training, proper maintenance and reliable supply of parts. Our soldiers and marines depend on this logistical train as provided by the expeditionary force. They are the critical link in erecting Indonesias archipelagic defense chain. We need those ships, aircraft and helicopters now.

***

The writers are political scientists and public affairs consultants at Kiroyan Partners. The views expressed are their own.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Fri, November 4, 2016

Traditional Education - Education 1.0: Each year, millions of students seek higher education. Most universities still teach the same way they have taught for hundreds of years, with the lecturer standing in front of students and giving them the same topics he has given other students.

Distance Education - Education 2.0: Less than 20 years ago, the concept of Education 2.0 began being used in colleges. Students would get their study materials and take their exams at the end of the year. There are some places online where they may ask questions about their study materials, but they wouldn't be able to see with who they are in contact.

Virtual Education - Education 3.0: Today ABMS and a few other universities in some countries have started the next step in education, Education 3.0. ABMS director Habib Al Souleiman talks about these new methods after three years of implementing them.

ABMS Open University of Switzerland

ABMS is a registered trade mark by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. ABMS was happy to introduce its new and unique method of teaching to state universities in many countries.

Through ABMS, students from Jakarta or anywhere can finally have top professors from Switzerland, the US or the UK without even moving from their home country. ABMS still recommends students who are able to move to Europe to go there so that they can enjoy cultural exchange experiences. However, if someone has a family, business or work and is unable to move but they still wish to have a high-quality education, then only virtual education can give them this possibility.

Today ABMS is quite possibly the biggest English-speaking school in Switzerland, with over 1,200 active students registered this year. There are no other schools in Switzerland with such a high number of English-speaking students.

Education 3.0  Virtual Education

ABMS method allows students to see their professor, speak with the professor and ask live questions. As a result, the lecturer is always in weekly contact with students, and all students at ABMS get to know each other and their professors.

Quality Assurance:

Like with any other new idea, people are bound to have questions. Some people are not happy and the others are. The main question asked is: How can a student be sure that the program is high level? The answer is as follows:

Today ABMS has professors from 18 countries teaching there. Some 80 percent of ABMS's academic team has doctoral degrees. The other 20 percent have at least a Master's degree.

ABMS is categorized as a Premier Accredited University by Accreditation Service for International Colleges & Universities ASIC UK, an accreditation body that is recognized by the British Government (Home Office/UKVI), a member of the UK National Academic Recognition Information Center (UK NARIC) Quality Standards Group, an affiliated accreditation body by The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA Europe) and a member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) International Quality Group.

ABMS study programs in business administration up to a doctorate level are accredited by the European Council for Business Education (ECBE). The ECBE is a registered affiliate of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) International Quality Group (IQG).

ABMS is double ISO certified, ISO 29990:2010 (learning services for non-formal education and training) and ISO 9001:2008 (quality management).

It is an approved member of the following organizations:

The Swiss National Tourist Office (MySwitzerland)

(ICDE) - International Council for Open and Distance Education (the ICDE is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research)

(United Nations) - UN PRME member, launched at the 2007 UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva.

(EFQM) - European Foundation for Quality Management

(AACSB) - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

(ACBSP) - The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs

(ECBE) - European Council for Business Education

(ASIQUAL) - Academic and Skills International Qualifications

(USDLA) - United States Distance Learning Association

(EAIE) - European Association for International Education

(EMA) - European Medical Association

(ASCBE) - Accreditation Service for Certifying Bodies (Europe)

(ECLBS) - European Council for Leading Business Schools

(EUCDL) - European Council for Distance Learning

(AHLA) - American Hotel & Lodging Association

(CHRIE) - International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education

(BHA) - British Hospitality Association

For comprehensive information about ABMS, visit abmswiss.com
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Linkedin Marcel Thee (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Funky-pop group Tokyolite will headline a concert in town, an event that is billed as a micro-gig, a small-sized show in an intimate setting.

A micro-gig by Tokyolite this Saturday at Suar Artspace in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, sets to present a small-sized show in an intimate setting.



The concert, titled A Night with Tokyolite, will also feature other local bands  The Grgtz and The Railroads. It also acts as a homecoming show for the headliners.



Bogor-based Tokyolite, formed in 2009, have made rounds within the local music circuit as one of the strongest funk bands around.



Currently made up of Stevan Arianto on guitar and vocals, bassists Alexander Bramono, and drummer Bintang Aditya, the band has not released any physical albums as yet, but theyve amassed a good number of digital releases (mostly available through iTunes).



Though their basic sound is rooted in funk, according to the band, they draw influences from many non-funk genres, including punk, reggae, hip hop, rock and pop music, before mixing them down and putting into one big white board of musical ideas to deliver catchy choruses which melodies you are guaranteed to hum along to.



The concerts homecoming tag refers to the bands recent return to their home country after a Japanese tour, which took them to five cities in Japan.



Along with their band name, the bands affinity for all things Japanese is shown in their shared interests toward Japanese pop culture goodness like Popcorn Marshmallows, Pokemon and Digimon.



Their Japanese tour took the members of Tokyolite to Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukui and Tokyo. The series of shows came as a continuation of the band having taken part as an Indonesian representative at the Kansai Music Festival in Osaka. The band had previously played a show at the Asia Versus Grand Prix in Japan in 2013 but this time they wanted to extend it into a full-fledged tour dubbed the Highlite Tour.



Itd be a pity to go all the way there just to play one show. Were aware that going on tour [takes] a lot of effort and sacrifice, but its alright. The tours worth the struggle since it was really our first ever tour, Alex says.



To make up for the tours cost, the band played a host of fund-raising shows before they went to Japan. Their fans were there to pay support, literally.



The hard work paid off, says the band members. Their experience there compelled the band to want to share their excitement by playing show in Indonesia, immediately after their return. They also wanted to have a show where other bands could also perform.



Since this is a homecoming show, we want to not only perform our songs, but also jam with our fellow musician friends, share the happiness and the experience, Stevan says.



Performing before Tokyolite, The Grgtzs brand of traditional rock  instilled with 80s metal abound  will find company alongside The Railroads funk-infused rock.



The event, which will be free and open for the public from 4 p.m., and will also feature a photo exhibition showcasing pictures taken during the Hightlite Tour as documented by photographers and friends of the band, Satria Khindi and Baday Rayhan.



The photographers claims the exhibition part of the event is something that happened spontaneously.



We didnt plan it then but we figured that since the theme was homecoming, we both thought that itd be suitable to have the touring photos here to elevate the mood of the event  especially for those who havent heard of Tokyolite yet, explains Satria.



A Nite with Tokyolite will be the first music event to be held at Suar Artspace, whose owners see the event as an extension of their artistic interest, and as a way of exploring and appreciating music, especially  for this event  those produced by Tokyolite.



Tokyolite dares to take risk in playing a [less than popular] genre, and they are very serious in their music processfrom routine practice, to regular gigs and tours. This kind of spirited approach is always welcome and supported by Suar, said Nin Djani, spokeperson from Suar Artspace.
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Linkedin Zhan Qianhui (China Daily/Asia News Network)  Fri, November 4, 2016

The announcement that three giant pandas will be sent back to China has broken the hearts of millions of Americans. After the departure of giant panda twins Mei Lun and Mei Huan at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia in November, giant panda Bao Bao from Washington's Smithsonian's National Zoo will leave for home in early 2017.

The adorable animal has won hearts of fans worldwide as they serve as China's ambassador of friendship. As China's national treasure, giant pandas have witnessed many significant diplomatic moments and been playing a key role in building China's international image.

Diplomatic envoy between 1957 to 1982

Panda diplomacy started in 1957, when a giant panda named Ping Ping was sent to the Soviet Union as a national gift. However, Ping Ping didn't make the fourth year in Moscow due to the difference in climate.

Giant pandas drew worldwide attention for the first time in 1972 when then Premier Zhou Enlai announced China would give two pandas, Lin Lin and Xing Xing, to America during then US President Richard Nixon's ice-breaking visit to China. On April 20, 1972, over 8,000 American people waited in the rain for Lin Lin and Xing Xing's landing at the National Zoo in Washington DC and the zoo received over one million panda visitors the first month after they arrived.

A series of pandas were sent to Japan, France, Germany and Great Britain respectively in the following years as they were playing an increasing influential role in improving bilateral relations.

According to statistics, there were 23 giant pandas being sent to nine countries as gifts between 1957 to 1982. None of them got to come home after being given and all died abroad.

The condition of overseas pandas became a problem as many pandas suffered a variety of diseases and died at an early age.

(Read also: Jia Jia, world's oldest-ever panda in captivity, dies at 38)

1984-1994 commercial counselor

In order to protect the endangered species, China halted the program of giving giant pandas for free in 1982 and launched the panda renting project in 1984, in which foreign governments would need to pay for pandas to stay in their country for a short term, turning pandas' roles from being diplomatic envoys to commercial earners.

Between 1984-1988, dozens of cities in North America signed the renting contracts with China. And a three-month show in the US brought millions of dollars in revenue. Distinguishing themselves from the diplomatic stage, pandas once again proved their value in the commercial field.

Frequent events abroad delayed giant panda's breeding and training them for acrobatic shows also drew criticism.

1994-now cooperative breeding

The cooperative breeding program replaced the renting project in 1994. Under the new agreement, a receiving country needs to pay China $10 million for a 10-year loan of giant pandas. Two giant pandas were sent to Japan as scientific research envoys for the first time in 1994.

During the past 22 years, the effect of the project has been well received as this kind of cooperation proved to be more beneficial for the comprehensive research on giant pandas.

Mei Lun, Mei Huan and BaoBao are all part of the 10-year China-US cooperative breeding project which started in 2000.

According to the cooperative breeding agreement between China and the US, all cubs born in the US should move to China when they are 4 years old. Now four US zoos - in Washington, Atlanta, Memphis and San Diego - now house giant pandas.

By now, China has built long-term cooperative projects with 12 countries with a total of 48 giant pandas (including cubs born overseas) living abroad.

Giant pandas' decades of diplomatic service has won them worldwide adoration and made them the most successful ambassadors of China. Nearly 60 years later, the fever for these Chinese cuties has not cooled.

Though the young pandas' departures may be heart-breaking for Americans at present, one thing we can be sure of is that the giant pandas will keep bringing joy and happiness to people across the world.

(Read also: National Zoo hosts sweet birthday bash for panda cub Bei Bei)

Pandas abroad: US

Mei Lun and Mei Huan, born on July 15, 2013 at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, were the first surviving US-born pair of giant panda twins.

BaoBao, born on Aug 23, 2013 at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC, was the child of the superstar couple Mei Xiang and TianTian, who were sent to the US in 2000 under the cooperative breeding agreement. On her 100-day birthday, BaoBao became the first panda to receive blessing videos from both the first ladies of China and the US, Peng Liyuan and Michelle Obama.

Japan

The Japanese are truly obsessed with giant pandas. Ever since the first pair, Kang Kang and LanLan, settled in Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in 1972, hundreds of thousands of Japanese people's hearts have been captured. To make sure that Kang Kang and LanLan would arrive safely, government even sent fighters to escort the panda plane.

In 2011, the arrival of a panda couple, Li Li and Zhen Zhen, stirred a new round of panda mania. Various panda-themed products kept emerging on shelves. The next year, a panda cub was born and the news lifted the Japanese from their grief over the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster.

However, the newly-born cub didn't make his first week, which astounded the whole country. The zoo director kept blaming himself and burst into tears during the live news. Crowds of people brought flowers to the zoo to send their condolences.

A Japanese TV station interviewed a panda keeper when two pandas were about to go back to China. Speaking of the leaving pandas, the keeper couldn't stop crying in front of the camera. Pandas were seen off by Japanese people in tears.

(Read also: RI, China to resume talks on panda-Komodo exchange)

No Filter for Jia Jia because she is the real deal #panda #love #singapore #riversafari A photo posted by Nikita Fernandes (@nikita94fern) on Nov 3, 2016 at 7:58pm PDT

UK

TianTian and Yang Guang, who moved to Britain in 2011, were the only two giant pandas in the UK. Their arrival brought a new impetus to the local economy in Scotland. The annual income of Edinburgh Zoo has risen from 5 million pounds ($6 million) to 15 million pounds ($18 million) since the pandas' arrival, with a 51% increase in visitors. The zoo even installed a panda cam for people to view the pandas' daily life through the internet.

One key issue that concerned most British during the Scotland Independence Referendum is who the two pandas would belong to. As a gift to the UK, they would be moved to England if Scotland became independent, which angered the Scottish, whose rallying cry was "Keep your hands off our pandas".

Germany

BaoBao received a head of state-level welcome ceremony when sent to Germany in 1980 and enjoyed VIP treatment at Berlin Zoo. But his luck didn't continue on the dating market and his lovelife was not smooth sailing.

TianTian, the original partner sent to Germany with BaoBao, died early. In order to find a perfect mate for BaoBao, the Berlin Zoo arranged a cross-border date by sending it to the UK. But the two pandas started fighting the very moment they met and the blind date ended in injury.

The zoo didn't stop trying and borrowed another panda, Yan Yan, from China in 1997 in the hope of a good result. Staff conducted artificial insemination on Yan Yan for eight consecutive years but all efforts failed. Yan Yan died of intestinal disease in 2007, leaving BaoBao alone in his later years. BaoBao passed away five years later and he was the oldest male giant panda.

This article appeared on the China Daily newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

A contemporary urban art week event "Off the Wall" was launched on Wednesday, in which 10 Indonesian and French artists are collaborating to create collective graffiti art in Yello Hotel Harmoni in Central Jakarta.

Among the artists participating in the event are Darbotz, Farhan Siki, Soni Irawan, Stereoflow, Tutu, Colorz, Fenx, Kongo, Mist and Tilt.

The program was initiated by the French cultural center the Institut Francais Indonesie (IFI) and Tauzia Hotel Management.

(Read also: Six Indonesian artists to showcase works in Singapore gallery)

In addition to the collaboration, the artists are also showcasing their artworks in DGallerie Cafe in South Jakarta until Dec. 4 and are slated to participate in the One Child, One Artist, event in the French International School in Jakarta on Monday.

During a press conference, French graffiti artist Tilt said they had decided to separate the spaces while painting Yello Hotel. This allows each artist to show their personality or style."

Yogyakarta-based painter Soni Irawan told The Jakarta Post that the collaboration allowed him to revisit his past experiences. I always see myself as a painter since I produce paintings on canvas. However, when I was in college, I spent my days as a street artist. This collaboration has allowed me to walk down memory lane, said Soni. (kes)
Following a spate of mediocre films, hes currently having an amazing resurgence working with directors Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.

But even during those lean years, he was always gracious and good humored, and in fact at his most recent press conferences hes been unusually spry and buoyant. And never warmer.

The 60-year-old two-time Oscar winner is happily married to actress Rita Wilson. Hes not only a devoted husband, but a father, and now a doting grandfather.

Most Hollywood marriages fall apart but you two have managed to stay together.

What marriage? What is falling apart? I dont understand. When has this happened? (laughs)

Our marriage does not require vast amounts of work. We have been married for 28 years. It will be 29 in April and we dig each other a lot.

I still cant believe it  we were in high school together and I didnt have the guts to talk to her, and she has finally confessed to me that she wouldnt have given me the time of day. But when we got married, we didnt do it lightly. We knew what we were doing, and theres just no doubt that she was the person for me.

That being said, look, we make sure we spend a lot of time together, and we make sure that we are honest with each other. Ive never understood the concept that you really have to work at it to make it work. We are not a leaky boat, I dont know to put it any other way. We operate on all cylinders. I dig her and she puts up with me, so good enough.

In this Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, file photo, Actor Tom Hanks, left, flanked by his wife Rita Wilson, arrives to receive a lifetime achievement at the Rome Film Festival, in Rome. Ever since her husband, Hanks, appeared on Saturday Night Live as the strange man in the pumpkin suit in that haunted elevator, Saturday, Oct. 22, Wilson has received all sorts of crazy David S. Pumpkins things, including clips, texts and gifts. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

You recently earned 15 minutes of fame for photobombing a wedding in Central Park.

Oh yeah, I photobombed the wedding of Ryan and Elizabeth Look, the secret of photobombing is timing and locale.

I was just walking by, and there was a whole pack of people in tuxedos and little kids and ring bearers and the bride and the groom, and I could have just been in the back of the video that they were taking, and just gone by, but I just stopped and wanted to wish them luck, and it might have made their day a little goofy. They invited me to the wedding and I could have gone, but I wasnt dressed appropriately.

So are you now available for weddings on request?

I have no concern that every bride and groom is going to be coming my way after this. But that being said, I have performed at some weddings. I am a minister for the Universal Life Church, and I studied for that position for over US$40 (RM167). I dont know if I can perform baptisms. But I charge a lot (laughs).

Youve played many heroes in your career. Is there anything youve ever done that could be called heroic?

Even though Civil Rights movement, Vietnam War and the 1960s were going on around me, I never did anything heroic, outside of making a personal decision.

Ill get married, Ill have four kids, Ill have faith in that whole procedure. There are four things you can be in this world; you can be a hero, a villain, a coward, or a bystander. Im the last. Im a bystander. I sit there and look at the stuff that goes on. So no, Ive never done anything heroic.

Do your children consider you a hero?

No, I think that they consider me a knucklehead. I dont know, you gotta ask my kids. Id like to think that when it comes down to the things that are important in life I do have a natural instinct. I dont worry about it. I dont sweat it.

What advice do you give your older children?

Theres no real advice you can give them. You lead by example. The example that you set a decade ago is more (important) than anything youre able to do for them right now.

My son Colin has met with a degree of success as an actor, for which Im extremely proud, but Im not surprised because Ive known his personality since he was born. I saw him in high school plays, and I thought that kids got it. Theres definitely a natural talent there.

I just hope for all my kids that along with the talent, they develop a passion for whatever they pursue no matter what degree of success or failure they encounter. You just want your kids to love what they do.

What legacy would you want to leave to your kids?

One that has nothing to do with the work that I did.

(Read also: Review: Graceful adaptation of suspenseful 'Inferno')

Tom Hanks speaks onstage during the 2016 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards held at the Beverly Hilton on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif.(Invision/AP/Richard Shotwell)

Specifically?

That I was always laughing, that I was always fair, that I was around much more than I actually was. I say that because I missed so much of my daughters growing up. She remembers birthday after birthday when I wasnt around. So Id like my younger kids to think: I dont even remember dad being gone. That would be a good sign.

Your wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Now there you go, I mean yeah. Its not heroic being the husband of somebody whos battling cancer. But I would say thats a type of moment when there is only one thing to do and thats the right thing.

You have to put your head down there and reprioritize absolutely everything. My task there was to be nothing but attentive and supportive, and if you cant do that well then youre a coward.

What would you say was the highest and lowest point in your professional life?

Well, the highest is that Im still here. The longevity of that is a pretty good yardstick. And then theres some of my movies, any one of which could be described as the low point of anybodys career. But as far as a career goes, its chequered.

You do your best and some work, some dont. But there is always someone out there who will come to me and say: You know, Mr Hanks, I have to tell you that I think your finest work was Bonfire Of The Vanities (which was a flop).

And in your personal life?

Well listen, Im a grandfather, I have fabulous kids. They are all funny and are more or less self-supporting. Im controlling my blood sugar and my knees havent gone bad. I win! Fabulous! Im still here!

Makes me feel good.

What is it like being a grandfather?

I had no voice in the discussion. They just did the deed and out popped my granddaughter. Its magnificent. Its better than television. There is nothing I would rather be doing than having that little kid on my knee or in my arms.

(Read also: Perry's 'Madea' stuns Hanks' 'Inferno' in box office upset)

In this image released by Sony Pictures, Tom Hanks, left, and Felicity Jones appear in a scene from, "Inferno."(Sony Pictures via AP/Jonathan Prime)

Can you think of any one specific life changing moment?

There was one somewhere around the making of Big, which was my ninth film, but at that time I had two kids and I was divorced, I was living in a divorced guys house, and I had tax problems because a business manager had given me the worst advice on the planet Earth.

But then when it came out, I was married to Rita, and I thought you know what, I am going to be OK. If nothing else happens past this, I will be able to pay my rent and fix my car and buy my kids Christmas presents, I am OK.

Your biggest regret?

Look, OK, I will actually share with you something that I dont want to share with you. Its not a big deal, its just a moment with the family.

I was going somewhere, I was standing at the car and Colin was at the window, he was four and he wanted to go with me and he kept calling down from the window. It was almost like a moment from Shane, Dad, Dad! I got in the car and drove away. And I regret that.

It was just the type of things you do of no great import, but after that moment it will never be the same; its those small little moments where you could have taken a second and been a decent dad, but I didnt know cause I was so young and so friggin stupid and I only had one kid, and I thought, its not really going to make that big of a difference. And yet that is the thing that has haunted me.

I recently brought it up to him and I said Do you remember that time when you were four and I was waiting in the car and you kept calling dad and I didnt say anything? and he said to me No, I dont remember that. And I said Oh thank God, you just saved hours of therapists sessions right there.

You are known as the Hollywood good guy. What do you dislike in people?

If you lie to me, youre going to be in big trouble. I think by and large I am a good-natured man, and I give everybody a fair shake.

But if someone takes advantage of that good nature, well, then youre going to suffer the wrath of a lover scorned. Im a pretty decent guy. But I am not a lightweight. Im not a sucker. So beware!
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Philips Lighting and Xiaomi have announced a joint venture in smart home lighting in China.

The Amsterdam-based firm will help develop connected LED luminaires and lamps for the Chinese electronics company's wireless smart home platform, which include apps to control the lights using Android and iOS devices. The joint venture company is said to be 70 percent owned by Philips Lighting and the rest by Xiaomi.

(Read also: Xiaomi tablet that transforms into robot is oh-so-cool)

"In the coming months, Xiaomi customers using its smart home ecosystem will be able to choose from an even broader family of well-designed connected LED luminaires that work on the Xiaomi platform," said Philips Lighting Market Leader for Greater China, John Wang, in a press release.

Philips Lighting previously manufactured several smart LED luminaires for Xiaomi, which is said to be selling quite well. (fmn/kes)
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Linkedin Ananda Sukarlan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

The year 2016 is a significant literary year for Spain.



For Spain, this year marks two great writers death anniversaries  the 400th of Miguel Cervantes (1547-1616) and the 80th of Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936).



It is for this reason the Cervantes Institute, with the support of the Spanish Embassy, invited me to celebrate this event in Indonesia by composing music based on works by these two great writers, to be sung by the rising young soprano Mariska Setiawan during the recent Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.



While Lorca has long been cherished by the hearts of Indonesian literature, Cervantes is still not  and that could be an indication of how Spain has missed the opportunity to use his name and works as a cultural asset during these 400 years.



The Spanish language is not an excuse: Leo Tolstoy, Goethe, Dante Alighieri, even Rumi are more known worldwide while their languages are much less spoken on this planet.

(Read also: A day in the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookstore)

It is also a curious coincidence that both Cervantes and Shakespeare died only a day apart: the Spaniard on April 22 and the British on the 23rd, 1616.



Shakespeare has gone Hollywood several times, he is everywhere in classical music, ballets, operas and everyone on the streets quotes: To be or not to be, that is the question besides his other famous quotes, while Cervantes fame would only lie in Don Quixote.



Needless to say, tourists going to the UK would make an effort to go to Stratford-upon-Avon to be at Shakespeares birthplace, while Alcala de Henares has not yet established its name as a tourist destination as Cervantes town of birth  even if its much more accessible since it is so close to Madrid than Stratford from London.



Lorca is a different case, and his dramatic death might contribute to his popularity.



Two great Indonesian writers who studied, translated and were influenced by Lorca were Ramadhan KH (who translated the novel The House of Bernarda Alba in the 1950s and then followed by other works) and Sutardji Calzoum Bachri who explored his repetition techniques, such as in the poem Romance Sonambulo where Lorca used the word verde (green) repetitively in different aspects.



Green, I want you green/Green wind. Green branches/The ship out on the sea/and the horse on the mountain/With the shade around her waist/she dreams on her balcony/green flesh, her hair green/with eyes of cold silver/Green, I want you green.



It was Hasan Aspahani (b. 1971) in the beginning of this millennium that brought Lorca back to the Indonesian poetry scene. He translated his poems not to be published, but for personal studies although he uploaded them on his blog, which (accidentally?) became very popular.



As Aspahani is not fluent in Spanish, he investigated several translations existing in English (made easier by the internet). He himself has declared he is a traitor: he did not translate them truthfully, but made his own rhymes. If you want a translated poem to have beauty, you should be a traitor to the original poem.

(Read also: Accepting award, Murakami warns against excluding outsiders)

But the most Lorcian poet in Indonesia, according to Aspahani would be WS Rendra in his early works. Lorca has brought out the lyrical and metaphorical qualities in Rendra.



They both fell in love with the landscape of hills, birds, trees, grass and leaves. Most importantly, they were very much attached to their own music: Rendra with the Javanese childrens folk songs, Lorca with Flamenco dancers and musicians and even its instruments. Rendra also learned how the Spaniard used metaphors, such as in the latters The Six Strings (one of his few poems about the guitar) that I set to music for this occasion:



The guitar/makes dreams cry/The crying of lost souls/escapes from its round mouth/And like the tarantula/it weaves a huge star/to catch sighs/that float on its black wooden tank.



This would then influenced poets such as Subagio Sastrowardoyo, and I am sure Sapardi Djoko Damono too, though he never mentioned it.



An important aspect of Lorcas life would be his open homosexuality and his relationship with Salvador Dali, which complicated their lives during the Franco dictatorship. This contributed to his arrest and assassination by the right wing dictator in 1936 according to his biographer Stainton, although another biographer Ian Gibson stated it was also as part of a campaign of mass killings intended to eliminate supporters of the Marxists.



Lorca and Dali met when they were students in Madrid in 1922. Dali could not be open about it in their time, but he did admit to their close friendship although we never had sex as he admitted more than once to his biographers.



Yet there was the beautiful Ode to Salvador Dali by Lorca, from which I took 3 stanzas and set it to music too. It is a clear and poignant love letter to the Catalan painter, who responded it with a love letter recently discovered, with a sketch referring Lorca as my Saint Sebastian who was tied up on a beach in Ampurias, where Dali lived.



In the music world, Lorca has inspired many composers far beyond Spanish borders and of Hispanic backgrounds.



Lorca himself was a musician; he studied music and even wrote some songs in his teenage years, considering a career in music and closely befriended the great Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, working together in some productions. His first prose works such as Nocturne, Ballade and Sonata clearly drew on musical forms.



Composers who have set his works to music include the Russian Dmitri Shostakovich, the Finnish Einojuhani Rautavaara, the Mexican Silvestre Revueltas and the American George Crumb (in more than five works). My Two Songs on poems by Garcia Lorca would be the most recent modest contribution to this list, based on Oda a Salvador Dali and Las Seis Cuerdas mentioned above.

***

The writer is a composer and pianist, who translated all fragments of the poems truthfully, but claimed them as unpoetically.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 3 2016

The Communications and Information Ministry is trying to propel small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into regional and global markets, by providing free domain names to help them take advantage of the countrys growing e-commerce sector.



The government will provide the free domain names to about 8 million SMEs in all parts of the country until 2020, Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said on Wednesday.



In the first stage, the ministry would provide free domain names to 1 million SME customers of state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) by 2018, he said. The ministry, in partnership with BRI, has also developed a digital platform for SMEs.



We want to speed up the [1 million free domain name] program and BRI has a lot of SME customers, Rudiantara said on the sidelines of the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Jakarta, adding that that it might collaborate with other companies if necessary.



Under the current cooperation with BRI, the SMEs will be given a free domain name for a year. At present, a commercial domain name in Indonesia costs between US$10 and $20 a year.



BRI president director Asmawi Syam said the free domain would directly involve SMEs in the e-commerce business and expand their market, while the digital platform would help transform the SMEs which are the backbone of the Indonesian economy.



Currently, BRI has 9.5 million SME debtors in total. The program, launched in August, has managed to facilitate free domain names for 5,000 of them. As of September, BRIs outstanding loans to SMEs stood at Rp 397 trillion ($30.4 billion).



According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), there are more than 54.5 million SMEs in Indonesia. Accounting for around 60 percent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP), they provide jobs for almost 99 percent of Indonesian workers.



BRI consumer banking director Sis Apik Wijayanto explained that not all of the lenders clients in the SME segment would participate in the program, as it was only aimed at companies with good business prospects.



The domain names, he further said, would allow them to sell their products nationwide and even abroad.



If they are growing, it will be also good for BRI. When they have wider market, their turnover will increase and they will need bigger financings or loans from BRI to expand their business, Sis said.



The ministrys target of 1 million domain names, he added, could be easily achieved due to the large number of BRIs SME customers.



The lender has been disseminating information related to the program in its 12 regional offices in 10 provinces and aiming to do so in all 34 provinces in the country. It has also provided training for its clients in Yogyakarta, and in seven cities of West Java, on how to manage a website. (wnd)

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Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam, Riau Islands  Fri, November 4, 2016

The second day of a search and rescue (SAR) mission to rescue more victims in a capsized boat accident in Batam, Riau Islands, turned up with nothing on Thursday, as the SAR team failed to locate any of the 42 missing passengers of the ill-fated boat.

A boat carrying 98 passengers, comprising illegal Indonesian migrant workers and their families, and three crew members sank in Tanjung Bembang waters, Nongsa, Batam, early on Wednesday.

The latest data showed that 18 people had been found dead, 41 survived and the rest were missing, including a crew member identified only by the initial D.

(Read also: Only 7 Batam boat accident victims identified)

As of the second day, the SAR team was still unable to find the missing passengers, Riau Islands spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Erlangga told The Jakarta Post on Thursday evening.

Two other crew members identified as another D and H, survived the accident. Both attempted to escape from police investigation, but the police arrested D in the provincial capital of Tanjungpinang. H, meanwhile, remains at large.

We will bring him [D] tomorrow [Friday] to show us the coordinate where the boat sank, Erlangga said. (hwa)
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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu, Haeril Halim and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

The police are in the spotlight as thousands of protesters from across Indonesia are expected to hit Jakartas streets to demand that Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama be charged with alleged blasphemy.

The National Police have said they will expedite the investigation of the case in an apparent bid to ease tension but concerns have also been raised as to whether the police will also charge those who disseminate hate speech against Ahok.

On Thursday, investigators questioned Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Islamic University (UII) criminal law lecturer Mudzakir and Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab as expert witnesses in Ahoks alleged blasphemy case.

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Linkedin Marcel Thee (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, November 4 2016

Integrity Blues (Dine Alone/RCA), Jimmy Eat Worlds ninth full-length record, is a solid enough return to form after a few lackluster releases.

Though the Arizona band may never recapture the rhapsodic spunkiness of its early years, this latest release finds the members adjusting well to their senior emo status with reliably punchy dynamics and enough rhythmic experimentation to show that success has not left them complacent.

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Linkedin Ina Parlina and Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

A brief meeting between government officials and representatives of protesters who took the streets in front of the State Palace on Friday ended up with nothing after the latter insisted to meet President Joko Jokowi Widodo in person to express their demands.

At around 15:30 p.m., Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto invited some of the rally leaders, including cleric Bachtiar Nasir, to the State Palace compound to discuss the protesters' demands to the government.

The supposed meeting, however, ended briefly a few minutes later after Bachtiar complained that the protesters representatives could not meet President Jokowi in person.

I cant [go on]. Im just a messenger, Bachtiar said, adding that he would consult with the other rally coordinators to decide whether they would agree to meet with Wiranto or not.

The rally, which kicked off on Friday afternoon, saw over 100,000 people from multiple Islamic organizations swarm the Jakarta streets to demand the criminal prosecution of gubernatorial candidate and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy.

Ahok, a Christian and Indonesian of Chinese descent in the Muslim-majority country, sparked uproar among Islamic groups and communities after he made a comment on verses in the Quran during his visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September. The police have received around a dozen reports regarding the case.

Ahok risks losing his candidacy in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election should he be named a suspect in the case.

A number of leading Muslim figures have accused law enforcers of protecting Ahok in the case. Ahok, who previously served as deputy governor of Jakarta, replaced President Jokowi after the latter won the presidential election in 2014.

Wiranto, meanwhile, said that it was up to the protesters to decide.

I do hope there will be a middle ground by opening communication with them, he said.

In a possible move to anticipate security tensions, President Jokowi left the State Palace compound on Friday afternoon to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, in what the Palace claimed was a working visit.

The President is visiting Soekarno-Hatta to inspect the progress of transportation infrastructure development, in particular the airport train [project], Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said.

The police granted the protesters a permit to stage the rally until 6 p.m.

(hwa)
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Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang, Central Java  Fri, November 4, 2016

Around 2,000 people under the banner of the Semarang Muslim Forum called on the Central Java Police to proceed with the religious blasphemy case implicating inactive Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama during a rally in Semarang on Friday.

Departing from Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Simpang Lima, Semarang, the Islamic forums sympathizers marched to the Central Java Police headquarters on Jl. Pahlawan. They brought posters emblazoned with a portrait of Ahok and a message, which read: Bring Religious Blasphemy Perpetrator to Justice. Another poster with a portrait of Ahok and President Joko Jokowi Widodo is written with a message Put Ahok in Jail: Make Your Decision, Pro-Ahok Will be Punched.

The rallys coordinator Mursalin Ishak said the demonstrators did not have any intention to commit destructive acts. We are fully supporting the National Police to legally process the alleged religious defamation committed by Ahok, he said.

A Semarang-chapter Association of Islamic Students (HMI) member, who introduced himself as Hakim, said his organization would safeguard Ahoks legal process. We have also asked the police to carry out the legal process fairly, he said.

Semarang Police chief Sr. Comr. Abiyoso Seno Aji said the parallel Nov.4 rally ran peacefully. We prepared a lot number of personnel to secure the rally, he said. (ebf)
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Linkedin Dandy Koswaraputra (The Jakarta Post) Bogor  Fri, November 4, 2016

Hundreds of people from Bogor, West Java, will participate in a large-scale rally in the capital, in which they will demand the arrest of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama on blasphemy allegations.

We are taking part in the rally aimed to push the police and government to take Ahok to court, Nina Supartini told The Jakarta Post before departing for Jakarta by train.

Nina, among protesters who will carry a banner bearing the slogan Turn Back Ahok, said she did not want to get involved with politics and was only protesting to protect Islam and the dignity of Muslims.

An officer at Bogor Station said people had been gradually coming through the station since 6 a.m. and that most of them were female.

The Bogor Police headquarters deployed 100 personnel to guard public areas and control the movement of people at the station.

We want to secure everything and make sure public activities run as usual, Police commissioner Adj. Nur Arifin said.

A police officer (right) monitors the situation at Bogor Station as demonstrators wait for a train to transport them to Jakarta for the anti-Ahok mass rally. (JP/Dandy Koswaraputra)

(Read also: Police focus security in 26 spots across city)

Ahok sparked uproar among Islamic groups and communities after he made a comment on verses in the Quran during his visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September.

Following the dissemination of a video of Ahok making the statement, secretary- general of the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Novel Chaidir Hasan, filed a report against him with the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) last week on allegations of religious blasphemy. (dan)
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Candidates vying for gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial positions in Jakarta, including Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, will campaign as usual on Friday, when thousands of hard-line Muslims are expected to rally against the incumbent.

Ahok, who is accused of blasphemy over a recent statement about a Quranic verse, will not change his campaign schedule despite the rally, which has been organized to press the police to charge him.

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Linkedin Haeril Halim and Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Since the Reform Era, the capital has seen more than its fair share of street protests and as most Jakartans well know, often the worst thing that results from a demonstration is severe gridlock.

To deal with the possibility of serious congestion, city authorities have prepared measures to ensure that people in the city can go about their usual business in the midst of the planned street protest, organized by Muslim groups demanding criminal prosecution against incumbent Jakarta GovernorBasuki Tjahaja Ahok Purnama, who they accuse of committing blasphemy.

Operators of public transportation services like city-owned bus operator Transjakarta and the commuter train line, alongside most taxi companies, have said they will run their operations as usual.

Meanwhile, to deal with a massive concentration of protesters at some key spots in the capital, which could result in traffic congestion, the Jakarta Police have prepared measures to reroute traffic in six locations.

The rerouting will depend on the situation based on the dynamics and developments on the ground, Jakarta Police traffic unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto said on Thursday.

The Jakarta Police expect that the protest will take place on the streets near Istiqlal Mosque, around the House of Representatives complex in Senayan, at City Hall, near the State Palace and around the National Polices Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) on Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur, where Ahok is expected to be questioned on Nov. 7. The protesters are also expected to march along Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

If the rally is staged at Bareskrims office, traffic heading toward Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur from Jl. Gajah Mada, Jl. Kebon Sirih and Jl. Budi Kemuliaan will be diverted to Jl. Cikini Raya and Jl. Thamrin.

And if the protesters stage their rally in front of City Hall, traffic from Jl. Gunung Sahari and Jl. Veteran Raya will be rerouted to Jl. Cikini Raya, while traffic from Jl. Budi Kemuliaan will be switched to Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat.

01rally900(JP/Swi)

Meanwhile, if demonstrations take place in front of the State Palace, traffic from Jl. Gajah Mada will be diverted to Jl. Juanda or Jl. Pejambon. Traffic from Jl. Budi Kemuliaan will have to make a detour through Jl. Majapahit, while traffic from Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan will have to use Jl. MH Thamrin or Jl. Ridwan Rais.

Once congestion forms on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, the traffic flow from Semanggi to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle will be diverted to Jl. Sutan Syahrir or Jl. Imam Bonjol. Should there be congestion around Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin, Jl. Semanggi will be used as a diversionary route, where vehicles from Kuningan will have to use Slipi or the toll road and motorists from Slipi will have to use Jl. Kuningan.

(Read also: Q&A: Is Indonesia at stake in Nov. 4 anti-Ahok rally?)

Should congestion occur around the House complex, traffic from Cawang will be diverted to Jl. Gerbang Pemuda or Jl. Permata Hijau. The flow from the west will be directed toward the Semanggi exit.

To deal with possible security disturbances, authorities will deploy 20,000 security personnel from the Jakarta Police to guard key sites such as the State Palace and City Hall. The police will be supported by 2,500 personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The TNI has claimed that the crowd gathering for Fridays protest will be smaller than expected as indicated by the absence of a significant influx of would-be protesters to Jakarta from the regions.

There are some would-be protesters entering Jakarta but the number is insignificant. People already know [that the police investigation is ongoing]. This might dissuade them from massively storming the streets, as earlier predicted, said TNI spokesperson Brig. Gen. Wuryanto.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has vowed to take firm measures against protesters who violate the law during the planned rally, warning them that the rally must wrap up by 6 p.m. as allowed by the permit.

In an apparent gesture to calm tensions, President Joko Jokowi Widodo staged a photo op with Vice President Jusuf Kalla on the veranda of the Presidential Palace on Thursday afternoon.

For Jakartans thinking about taking a day off work on Friday, Jokowi urged all government offices to operate normally, adding that he would also work as usual from the State Palace on Friday.

Go to work as usual. [Students] go school as usual, Jokowi said, followed with a chuckle. (adt)

 Indra Budiardi Callistasia Anggung Wijaya, Tama Salim, Ina Parlina contributed to this story

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Linkedin Haeril Halim and Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Since the Reform Era, the capital has seen more than its fair share of street protests and as most Jakartans well know, often the worst thing that results from a demonstration is severe gridlock.

To deal with the possibility of serious congestion, city authorities have prepared measures to ensure that people in the city can go about their usual business in the midst of the planned street protest, organized by Muslim groups demanding criminal prosecution against incumbent Jakarta Governor

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Linkedin Suzan Fraser and Cinar Kiper (Associated Press) Ankara  Fri, November 4, 2016

A large explosion, believed to be caused by a car bomb, hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said both police and civilians were killed in the attack but did not say how many.

The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district, near a building used by the riot police. The Diyarbakir governor's office said it was believed to have been caused by a car bomb carried out by the rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said several ambulances were sent to the scene. The private Dogan news agency reported that as many as 30 people were hurt in the blast.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. A fragile cease-fire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant." State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. Other senior officials taken away included Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken. A twelfth legislator was also detained during the day.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organization."

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu.

Justice Minister Bozdag defended the detentions in a speech Friday, "The legislators that were detained did not help the legal process to proceed, they did not recognize the law. They did not respect the law."

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership in the PKK.

In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

__

Kiper reported from Istanbul.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, November 4 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has envisioned Indonesia as the worlds maritime axis, which requires a strong naval force. Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Ade Supandi shared his views about efforts and challenges to realize the new doctrine with The Jakarta Posts Nani Afrida. The following are the excerpts.

Question: How is the prospect of the maritime axis vision in a country that lacks resources?

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Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Foreign defense suppliers expressed readiness on Thursday to transfer technologies to Indonesia in cooperation with local companies to meet the countrys need for major weapons systems.

The Defense Ministry has identified several acquisition programs in its second Strategic Plan (Renstra), which spans 2014 to 2019, such as the replacement of the US-made F-5 E/F Tiger II light jet fighter and more transportation aircraft to supplement the current fleet of US-made C-130 H Hercules heavy transportation aircraft.

Swedish defense company Saab said it was ready to transfer knowledge and technology should Indonesia decide to buy its light jet fighter,the Gripen C/D.

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Linkedin Rendi A. Witular (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

The massive rally organized by Muslim organizations against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja "Ahok" Purnama has seen a seemingly endless flow of free food and drinks to keep protesters happy.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) drove in trucks filled with bags of food.

"The logistics were delivered by our leaders at our headquarters in Petamburan [in Central Jakarta]," said Anwar, an FPI member.

Anwar said he did not know who financed the food purchases.

An organization known as Indonesian Muslim Unity (PUI) also deployed dozens of its members to distribute food in plastic bags.

"Giving is also part of jihad. This free food is to strengthen our spirit in the rally," said Rosidah, a PUI member from Bekasi, West Java.

The rally was organized to urge the police to charge Ahok, who is seeking a second term in the February gubernatorial election, with blasphemy over his statement about a Quranic verse. (bbn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Police in Tebet, South Jakarta, have arrested a 28-year-old man, identified only as HAN, for allegedly molesting 16 boys at his rented home in South Jakarta.

The suspect invited the victims to his house, promising them pocket money, Tebet Police chief Comr. Nurdin Arrahman was quoted as saying by Antara news agency on Thursday.

The boys, most of whom were his neighbors, were reportedly given between Rp 2,000 (15 US cents) and Rp 5,000, and were promised more.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

The husband of murder victim Wayan Mirna Salihin, Arief Sumarko, who was accused by Amir Papalia, a journalist from the Bharindo tabloid, of bribing a waiter before his wifes murder on Jan. 6, has reported the journalist to the Jakarta Police.

Previously, Amir said he saw a man, similar to Arief, handing a package in a plastic bag to another man, who was similar to Rangga Dwi Saputro, a waiter in Olivier restaurant, the day before Mirna died at the restaurant after drinking iced coffee along with Jessica Kumala Wongso and another friend.

Jessica was recently found guilty of murdering Mirna and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Linkedin Cherian George (The Jakarta Post) Hong Kong  Fri, November 4 2016

It is no wonder that hate speech has clawed up the global agenda in recent years. Each extreme new case is a double shock: we recoil at the brutality being expressed; and we are shocked by the fact that our modern societies are still capable of such backward thinking.

After all, the 21st century began with such hope  with more nations than ever signed up for the democratic project.

Looking back, though, it is now clear that many denizens of those democracies did not read the fine print of their social contract.

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A Helena man faces a felony charge after a reported road-rage incident starting on Interstate 15 and ending with him allegedly following the woman home and spinning his tires in her driveway. His 10-month-old son was in the truck at the time.

Taylor Charles Pearce, 30, is accused of following the woman off the interstate and yelling profanities at her on Monday. The woman said Pearce followed her for several miles while driving erratically and in a threatening manner.

A police officer found Pearce about a block away from the woman's home shortly afterward.

Pearce told police he was angry the woman "cut him off," putting his infant in harm's way, according to court documents.

Documents allege Pearce had a blood alcohol content of 0.194, more than twice the legal limit, at the time. Pearce told the officer he'd consumed three beers.

Police arrested him on a charge of criminal child endangerment Wednesday.

-- Angela Brandt, Independent Record
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Indonesia and Hungary will continue to strengthen their bilateral ties in several sectors including trade and higher education.

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said on Wednesday that: In the coming years, increasing trade and enhancing cooperation in higher education, information and technology and people-to-people relations will remain in our priority.

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Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

The government is intensifying efforts to support the countrys longstagnant pharmaceutical industry after opening up the sector to foreign investment in its latest revision to the negative investment list (DNI).

The efforts were evident at a dialog on Expediting the Development of Indonesias Pharmaceutical Industry organized by the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) on Thursday that gathered together players in the pharmaceutical industry and its related sectors.

Most of the existing companies make medicines, whereas the raw material businesses is small. Roughly 90 percent of raw material for the pharmaceutical industry is imported from India or China. We have to change this, BKPM investment monitoring and implementation deputy chairman Azhar Lubis said during the event.

In a bid to encourage the raw material industry, the government has revised the DNI, which lists the sectors restricted to foreign investment. Following the revision, the government now allows 100 percent foreign ownership in pharmaceutical companies, from 85 percent previously.

Following the issuance of the regulation, no fresh interests on raw material sector have been expressed by foreign investors, Azhar said. However, there have been 18 new licenses for investments in the pharmaceutical industry issued by BKPM from January to September worth Rp 2.1 trillion.

Apart from campaigning for investment in pharmaceutical factories, the BKPM will also push research and development (R&D) in the sector to encourage new innovations in new medicines that are locally made, Azhar added, citing R&D centers in Singapore and Europe.

However, industry players said the problem with investment in the pharmaceutical sector lay in the fact that there was a relatively small number of hospitals and doctors for whom the medicines would be distributed.

Boosting the industry does not only mean pushing for medicine production and factories. Whats also needed is hospitals, doctors and clinics as the infrastructure to feed the pharmaceutical industry, said International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (IPMG) executive director Parulian Simanjuntak.

Investments in the pharmaceutical sector have stagnated in recent years, reaching just Rp 8.9 trillion from January 2011 to September 2016, BKPM data shows. Also, there are only 214 pharmaceutical companies in Indonesia, most of which make medicines. Just a few of them manufacture raw material for pharmaceuticals.

If production [of raw material] were to start in Indonesia, it would take around three years to really get going and it would definitely cost more than importing from other countries, said Arustiyono, the director of supervision and therapeutic product distribution at the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).

The research and development phase for the chemical reactions would itself take a year, he added.

The pharmaceutical industry is 70 percent dominated by local players, including privately-owned Kalbe Farma and state-owned Kimia Farma, among others.

The stimulus package for raw material factory investments will bring about a positive impact for the pharmaceutical industry because the source for materials will shift to local sources. This will inoculate the industry from the rupiahs fluctuations, Kalbe Farma corporate secretary Vidjongtius said. In this way, medicine production costs can be more controlled. This, however, is a medium to long-term project.
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Linkedin Apriadi (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Fri, November 4, 2016

Indonesia has retained its status as the worlds fourth largest coffee producer after Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia, the Trade Ministry has announced.

The ministrys director for strategic issues management Ni Made Ayu Marthini said Indonesia produced an average of 691,000 tons of coffee per year while Brazil produced 2,905,000 tons, Vietnam 1,650,000 tons, and Colombia 840,000 tons. The fifth largest, Ethiopia, produces 402,000 tons annually.

According to Made Ayu, world demand for coffee is growing. Data for 2015/2016 revealed that world coffee consumption was 9.1 million tons, outnumbering the production figure, which stood at 8.8 million tons, she said.

This is a big opportunity for coffee producers in Indonesia to expand to international markets, especially given that we have so many different variants of coffee, she said during a Sumatran Coffee Gathering in Medan on Wednesday.

Hundreds of coffee farmers and traders from across Indonesia and different countries attended the event.

North Sumatra Plantation Agency head Herawati said that in Sumatra alone, a number of coffee variations had been internationally recognized, such as Gayo, Mandailing, Lampung, Lintong and North Simalungun Arabica.

The growing competition in the coffee market has pushed Indonesia to diversify its processed coffee products, such as instant coffee, mixed coffee and cosmetics, she said.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Fri, November 4 2016

A bus carrying dozens of people from Surakarta was involved in an accident with a truck at the Cikampek-Palimanan tollway on Thursday.

Two of the passengers were killed while dozens of others were injured.

West Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Yusri Yunus said most of the passengers of the privately hired bus were demonstrators who wanted to join the massive rally in Jakarta slated for Friday.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Kupang  Fri, November 4 2016

Experts and religious leaders in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) have called on President Joko Jokowi Widodo to discuss the pollution of the Timor Sea with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during the Presidents state visit to Australia next week.

The chairman of the NTT chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Abdul Kadir Makarim, said thousands of NTT residents had been suffering from the pollution, which had occurred since 2009.

We really hope that President Jokowi understands the scale of the pollution, especially regarding the fate of hundreds of fishermen and seaweed farmers and their family members who have been suffering for years, he said on Wednesday.

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Linkedin Rendi A. Witular (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Istiqlal Mosque grand imam Nasaruddin Umar has called on Muslims not to be excessive in venting their frustrations toward those perceived to have insulted the Quran.

Nasaruddin delivered his Friday prayer sermon before tens of thousands of protesters who planned a rally demanding the prosecution of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy.

The mosque, flocked by at least 10,000 people, was the starting point for the protesters before the main rally in front of the Presidential Palace.

Nasaruddin has attempted to calm the emotions of the rally participants who had largely incited hatred into the crowds and hoisted banners demanding the killing of Ahok before the start of the prayer.

"It is understandable for Muslims to feel offended if someone insults the Quran. But in expressing the anger, the Quran has clearly stated that it should not be done by crossing the line or in excessive ways," said Nasaruddin, the founder of an Indonesian interfaith organization and former religious affairs deputy minister.

(Read also: Bogor residents take part in anti-Ahok rally)

He also stated that a legitimate government should be nurtured at all costs as it is the prerequisite for the propagation of Islam and its teachings.

Ahok, a close friend of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, previously apologized for causing uproar among Muslim groups and communities after he was accused of insulting verses in the Quran on Sept. 27 during his visit to the Thousand Islands regency.
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Linkedin Hasyim Widhiarto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Jakarta saw political tensions heating up on Friday as tens of thousands of people wearing white flocked downtown to join a large-scale rally to demand the criminal prosecution of gubernatorial candidate and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Thahaja Purnama on allegations of blasphemy.

Since Thursday evening, tens of thousands of people from Greater Jakarta and other cities gathered at the Central Jakartas Istiqlal Mosque to prepare for the rally, which is expected to see around 100,000 people from multiple Islamic organizations swarm Jakartas streets.

(Read also: Protesters brace for the worst, leave last will)

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan said 21,000 personnel from the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) had been deployed to protect various venues across the city, including government offices and shopping malls, in anticipation of the rally.

Iriawan said he had met with the rally coordinators, including Rizieq Shihab, leader of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

"They promised that they would start [the rally] from Istiqlal and deliver orations in front of the State Palace [in Central Jakarta], he said.

He also said on-duty police personnel would not be allowed to bring firearms or bayonets. Five groups of police personnel had also been prepared to chant the Asmaul Husna [the 99 names of God] to calm the crowd should they become violent.

(Read also: Unarmed personnel, police in hijab to calm anti-Ahok crowd)

On alert -- Hundreds of police women wearing hijab are readied at the National Monument (Monas) complex in Central Jakarta to calm down protesters on Nov.4.(JP/Callistasia Anggun Wijaya)

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said hundreds of female officers wearing hijabs would also stand guard in front of the palace in hopes of calming protesters.

Ahok, a Christian and Indonesian of Chinese descent in the Muslim-majority country, sparked uproar among Islamic groups and communities after he made a comment on verses in the Quran during his visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September. The police have received around a dozen reports regarding the case.

Ahok risks losing his candidacy in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election should he be named a suspect in the case.

A number of leading Muslim figures have accused law enforcers of protecting Ahok in the case. Ahok, who previously served as deputy Jakarta governor, replaced President Joko Jokowi Widodo after the latter won the presidential election in 2014.

As of Friday noon, Ahok and his campaign team, however, had yet to inform reporters about his whereabouts.

The crowd from Istiqlal and other venues started to move to the State Palace after the end of Friday prayer at around 12:30 p.m.

In his Friday prayer sermon, Istiqlal grand imam Nasaruddin Umar called on Muslims not to be excessive in venting their frustrations toward those perceived to have insulted the Quran.

"It is understandable for Muslims to feel offended if someone insults the Quran. But in expressing the anger, the Quran has clearly stated that it should not be done by crossing the line or in excessive ways," said Nasaruddin in front of tens of thousands of people at the countrys biggest mosque.

In a possible move to anticipate security tensions, President Joko Jokowi Widodo left the State Palace compound on Friday afternoon to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, which the Palace claimed as a working visit.

The President is visiting Soekarno-Hatta to inspect the progress of transportation infrastructure development, in particular the airport train [project], Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said.

Protesters, meanwhile, said they are already well-prepared to support the rally.

Even if someone made fun of the Quran from the moon, I would go there and demand that he be prosecuted, Muhammad Ilyas, a 20-something student from Medan, North Sumatra, told The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodos visit to Australia from Nov. 6 to 8 is expected to focus on economic and maritime cooperation despite the Foreign Ministry ruling out earlier proposals for joint patrols with Australia in the South China Sea.

The visit is aimed at strengthening the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement [IACEPA] and the visit will focus on economic and maritime cooperation, Edi Yusup, the Foreign Ministrys East Asia and Pacific director, said on Thursday.

He added that Jokowis visit was being made at Australias invitation and was a reciprocal visit as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had visited Indonesia last November.

The visit will also follow up on the recent meetings between the respective foreign and defense ministers of Indonesia and Australia in Bali, which emphasized maritime cooperation.

Regarding earlier reports that Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu had proposed joint patrols in the South China Sea with Australia, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said: We can only have bilateral cooperation within our own territories.

Australia is not a claimant in the South China Sea where several ASEAN countries and Japan have overlapping claims with China.

Indonesia is also officially not a claimant, but a skirmish this year with Chinese vessels occurred off the Natuna Islands, which China recognizes as Indonesian territory.

Apart from stressing improved cooperation in counterterrorism and deradicalization, the joint press release from the bilateral meeting in Bali between Australia and Indonesias defense and foreign ministers raised the need to seek ways to improve stability in the South China and Sulu seas.

During the visit, Jokowi will meet Prime Minister Turnbull, Australian Governor General Peter Cosgrove and Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Jokowi will also address the Australian parliament and meet representatives of the Australian business community.

The visit will also discuss food security cooperation, particularly regarding the beef and cattle industry, in which Indonesia is pushing for greater collaboration in cattle breeding to ensure sustainability.

Edi said both sides would try to speed up talks on the IACEPA, which is expected to boost bilateral trade.

In the meeting, well emphasize the IACEPA [negotiations], which should be completed by the end of 2017, he said.

According to data from the Trade Ministry, Indonesias trade with Australia reached US$8.5 billion in 2015, in which Indonesia had a $1.1 billion deficit.

This year, Indonesias trade with Australia had reached $5.5 billion as of August.

The Presidents entourage will include Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Thomas Lembong, and Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) head Triawan Munaf. (sha)
Thousands of people demonstrate in Jakarta, demanding the immediate arrest Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama on blasphemy allegations.

Organizers have announced that 35,000 to 50,000 people would join the demonstration, and people from outside Jakarta had flocked to the city since yesterday. The National Police and the military had deployed thousands of personnel to secure the rally.

Important political figures such as President Joko Jokowi Widodo, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) have all commented on the demonstration.

Indonesia's two largest Islamic organizations Nahdatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah had urged followers to avoid the rally. President Jokowi met with Muslim leaders on Tuesday to ease tensions.

Many schools and businesses are closed today, as Jakartans are wary despite a statement from Jakarta's acting governor Sumarsono and the President that business should go as usual.

Watch the live stream on our Facebook page.
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Fridays long march at Istiqlal Mosque, Central Jakarta, has attracted hundreds of street vendors from various areas of the city.

Vendors selling food, beverages, cigarettes and T-shirts set up shop at the grand mosque on Thursday evening, a day ahead of the rally, to take economic advantage of the rally expected to be attended by more than 50,000 people.

A bakso (meatball soup) seller introducing himself as Burhadi said business had never been as good as in the last two days, during which he had sold more than 100 portions a day. The protesters, he said, did not mind the higher price set for a bowl of bakso.

"Ive raised the price from 10,000 to 16,000 a portion, but it seems they are OK with that," he told The Jakarta Post.

Another vendor, Hestianingsih, had also earned more money than usual during the long march. She said she usually set up shop at Gambir Station in Central Jakarta. As the train station was very quiet today, she moved operations to the mosque.

"I am glad there is a mass rally here. I just hope there will be no violence, she added. Thousands of protesters from various cities swarmed the capital on Friday in a rally to demand Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama be criminally charged for alleged blasphemous remarks.

Ahok has apologized for causing an uproar among Islamic groups and communities after he was accused of insulting verses in the Quran during his visit to the Thousand Islands regency on Sept. 27. (ebf)
CLANCY --Dinosaurs were brightly colored.

They chirped and sang.

They had feathers.

And they danced.

Thats just a few of the fascinating theories that world famous paleontologist Jack Horner shared with students at Clancy School Thursday afternoon.

He was there as a special guest thanks to eighth-grader Heath Caldwell, whose parents had won a day for Heath to spend with Horner as an auction prize at a Helena Industries fundraiser.

Horner spent half the day at the school, was with the Caldwells Thursday evening, and will be taking Heath on a half-day dig on Saturday.

Birds are dinosaurs, Horner told his enthralled audience of kindergarten through third-graders at his first talk. Thats why Horner believes they chirped rather than growled. I think they sang like birds.

Dinosaurs only growl in movies, Horner told them, because moviemakers want to make them scary. Thats why they make them icky colors -- grey, black and brown.

I think they were colorful like birds. I think Tyrannosaurus could have been bright red.

And all those horns, crests and fancy accouterments dinosaurs had werent for fighting, he said, but a flamboyant way to attract mates.

When the dinosaurs would meet, theyd show their colors and dance, he said, showing images of sauropods necks outstretched, standing on their hind legs and dancing -- much like cranes doing a mating dance.

You cant have a colorful, dancing dinosaur in the movies! he said.

So although Horner consulted on Jurassic Park, he couldnt convince director Steven Spielberg to show them in their true colors.

Do you know dinosaurs lost their teeth every single year? he said, as he invited a student who had lost numerous ones to stand next to him. Dinosaurs mouths looked like that all the time.

In his second presentation of the afternoon, Horner told the fourth- through eighth-graders about his dinosaur digs in Montana and his experimental Dinochicken Project, research work that turns on dinosaur genes in birds.

In 1999 I started the largest dinosaur exploration project in history. We went out in eastern Montana  We started looking for T. rexes. Do you know that Montana has more T. rexes than anywhere else in the world? And theyre all in the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman he said.

No one has been able to create a dinosaur because they havent been able to find any DNA in the fossilized bones, he said. However, he and a colleague found remnants of blood inside a T. rex.

They were the first to find dinosaur cells with nuclei in fossilized bones, but once again, no DNA.

They didnt want the DNA to create a dinosaur, he said, but to find out what animals are most closely related to it.

However, that hasnt stopped him from working on his How to Build a Dinosaur Project, creating a Dinochicken.

He showed examples of how scientists are already genetically changing the makeup of animals, such as creating unusual dog breeds or glow-in-the-dark kittens. We have four different ways to make animals -- different animals than we have.

Horner said that since birds are living dinosaurs, they are the focus of his research. Birds carry dinosaur DNA," he said.

Chickens are dinosaurs. We have lots and lots and lots of chickens. Thats what we use in our laboratory to make a dinosaur.

Using an egg with an embryo, he and other scientists are learning which ancestral genes to turn on or off to create birds with such dinosaur features as teeth, Velociraptor heads, and claws instead of wings.

We almost have this animal made, he said.

Should we make a pink unicorn? he asked the students at the end of his talk, pointing out how genetic scientists could create a pink horse with a horn and the animal could even glow in the dark.

While the fourth graders were jubilant at the idea, the older students werent so enthusiastic.

We can make new kinds of animals, he said. The reason I gave this talk is for you to have something to discuss. This is the kind of science we can do now, urging them to talk about it in science class.

Thats what its all about. Trying to figure out what we can do, what we could do, or what we should do and what we shouldnt do.

As you learn more there are some complications to consider.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

State-owned lender Bank Mandiri is intensifying efforts to nurture its pool of young talent through dynamic tours of duty and furthering education to stay competitive in the digital era.

With such a strategy, which the bank claims will create new DNA, is expected to unleash the potential of its 40,000 workers, 65.8 percent of whom are millennials, Bank Mandiris president director Kartika Tiko Wirjoatmodjo said.

If were not ready, we will be late in facing the new revolution in digital banking. This is why we have to groom our employees, Tiko said Thursday in a public forum, which invited executives of major state-owned enterprises.

Mandiri, the countrys largest lender by assets, has implemented a talent mobility system that allows its employees to discover new challenges. For instance, those stationed at branches can request a transfer to a Mandiri subsidiary, such as venture capital firm Mandiri Capital Indonesia or securities firm Mandiri Sekuritas, Tiko said.

(Read also: Mandiri to employ 180 workers with disabilities)

To attract the countrys best graduates, the bank, Tiko added, also offered various career advancement opportunities. After four to five years of working with the company, employees, for instance, have the opportunity to pursue a Masters degree at one of the 50 top business schools abroad with financial support from the lender.

Tiko said the strategy to nurture young talent could be a driver to achieve the lenders vision to become Indonesias best and ASEANs prominent bank by 2020. (win/hwa)
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Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Oil and gas giant Medco Energi Internasional has officially taken over a controlling stake in the local arm of global mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. in a deal worth US$2.6 billion.

The company has acquired a 50 percent stake owned by PT Amman Mineral Investama (AMI), which controls an 82.2 percent stake of PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT).

NNT currently operates the Batu Hijau mine, the countrys secondlargest copper and gold mine in Sumbawa, which produced 240 million pounds of copper and 300,000 ounces of gold last year.

This acquisition is immediately accretive and marks a monumental milestone for Medco Energi and our stakeholders, Medco Energy president director Hilmi Panigoro said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Medco Energi group, owned by oil baron Arifin Panigoro, joined forces with AP Investment, led by prominent investment banker Agus Projosasmito, to acquire AMIs shares.

The deal was backed by a consortium of three state-owned lenders Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) in the form of loans.

Danareksa Sekuritas analyst Lucky Bayu Purnomo said Medco Energi had made the right decision by diversifying its business to copper and gold through the acquisition, considering the downward trend in global oil prices in recent years.

For the last two years, global oil prices have been in free-fall from around $110 per barrel of Brent crude in June 2014 to around $45 recently.

Through the acquisition, the companys net asset value will increase significantly. Moreover, its easier for Medco Energy to boost the performance of a settled company like Newmont instead of establishing its own subsidiary from the beginning, Lucky said.

KGI Sekuritas Indonesia director Sam Sahiry Rumambi Supit concurred with Lucky, saying the acquisition boosted the companys value and strength.

In terms of cash flow, the company could also find a more efficient way to boost drilling activities at mines owned by Newmont, he said.

Shares in Medco Energi, traded on the local bourse under the code MEDC, rose 5 percent following the announcement, closing at Rp 1,520 apiece. The stocks have surged 34.5 percent so far this year, easily outstripping the benchmark Jakarta Composite Indexs (JCI) 18 percent gain.

Meanwhile, PT Multi Daerah Bersaing, a joint venture of the politically wired Bakrie familys Bumi Resources Minerals, the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration and West Sumbawa and Sumbawa regencies, has also sold its 24 percent share in NNT to AMI in a deal worth $400 million.

As part of the agreement, Bumi Resources looks forward to reducing its total outstanding loan facilities. Consequently, the companys liquidity is expected to improve further.

The proceeds from the NNT share divestment will be used to repay most of the outstanding loan facilities. Hence, we expect the companys consolidated debt-to-equity ratio to show significant improvement, Bumi Resources CEO Suseno Kramadibrata said in a statement.

The company also plans to develop its other gold, copper, zinc and lead projects in subsidiaries such as Citra Palu Minerals, Gorontalo Minerals and Dairi Prima Mineral.
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Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

The construction market will have to continue relying on the governments ambitious effort to boost the countrys infrastructure next year as the commercial property market will remain dim.

According to research from BCI Economics, the analysis and forecasting arm of BCI Asia Pty Ltd., the total construction for civil works, including infrastructure projects and utilities, is expected to rise by 7.69 percent next year to Rp 250.1 trillion (US$19.16 billion).

BCI has identified power plant projects as the highest contributor to infrastructure and utilities. The projects include the mega power plant in Batang, Central Java, with a capacity of 2 x 1,000 megawatts.

Massive toll road projects will also play a key role in the infrastructure and utilities sector, as the government aims to build 1,000 kilometers of new toll roads before 2019.

The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry  the ministry with the largest infrastructure projects  has stated that it is looking to connect the Trans Java toll road with Surabaya, East Java, in 2018.

However, the commercial building sector will continue declining, with an expected drop of 9.25 percent to Rp 173.1 trillion in 2017, falling further from a rate of 14.4 percent this year.

The commercial building will see about Rp 17 trillion drop in value. It can be boosted, but people are choosing to wait and see, BCI Asia country manager Agus Dinar said on Thursday, pointing out the current unfavorable macroeconomic situation.

Many developers choose to pause expansion plans amid economic slowdown. Ballooning expenses have also put pressure on most property developers, the report reads.

Agus further specified that the problem also lies within the oversupply in several sectors, including in the office building sector, which was exacerbated by weak demand and low purchasing power.

BCI has noted that even in the big city center office complexes, such as the Sudirman Central Business District in Jakarta, the occupancy rate is as low as 53 percent.

The research also shows the retail sector may see the steepest plunge next year. Several retailers have closed stores, such as publicly listed Mitra Adi Perkasa (MAP), which has already closed 207 stores this year.

The move improved MAPs efficiency and led its net profit to jump more than four times to Rp 120.29 billion between January and September, whereas its bottom line suffered from an 80 percent plunge during the same period last year.

Retailers are choosing to decrease their number of stores with the slowing economy, BCI Asia research manager Cahyono Siswanto said.

Overall, BCI predicts that the total construction project market  including civil works, commercial buildings along with other projects  will remain flat next year with a total of Rp 423.2 trillion worth of projects.

Indonesian Construction Association secretary general Zali Yahya said research findings reflected current conditions, where oversupply and weak demand have plagued the market. Many of our members have decided to expand their businesses in infrastructure, both state enterprises and private firms, he said.
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Linkedin Agnes Anya and Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Minority groups in the capital have expressed their disappointment over allegations Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama insulted the Quran, saying the governor should be wiser in choosing his words.

Ahok is in the spotlight amid a planned rally by thousands of hardline Muslims on Friday demanding that he be charged with blasphemy for saying that some people had been deceived by other people using Al-Maidah 51, a verse in the Quran.

Ahok made the statement to residents of Thousand Islands regency and Jakarta administration officials in september. A video of the speech went viral on social media and set off a firestorm of criticism from several Muslim groups.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

A number of office and mall managements in Central Jakarta intensified on Friday security measures within and around their respective compounds in anticipation of the impact of a large-scale rally downtown.

Telecommunications firm Indosat Ooredoo beefed up security at its headquarters on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, which is located only less than a kilometer away from the State Palace, where tens of thousands of protesters gathered in front of its compound on Friday afternoon.

We are closing our entrance gates. We have also deployed 40 security officers, much higher than on regular days when we put only 15 officers on standby, Ugi Setiawan, one of the buildings security officers, told The Jakarta Post.

On nearby Jl. MH Thamrin, upscale venues like the Grand Indonesia and Plaza Indonesia shopping malls and the Grand Hyatt hotel erected wire gates in front of their buildings.

Most buildings on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan and Jl. Sarinah also did the same thing. Employees, however, are still allowed to work inside the buildings.

People can only enter the building through one gate, which is from the South gate," Suwarno, a Grand Hyatt security guard, said. (hwa)
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Peshawar, Pakistan  Fri, November 4, 2016

A Pakistani prosecutor says a court in Peshawar has ordered that National Geographic's famed green-eyed 'Afghan Girl' be deported.

Sharbat Gulla was arrested 10 days ago over having allegedly forged ID papers and staying in Pakistan illegally.

Prosecutor Mohsin Dawar said on Friday that she faces deportation after five days, when her 15-day jail term is to expire. He says the court also fined Gulla a sum of 110,000 rupees, which is about US$1,100.

Gulla gained international fame in 1984 as an Afghan refugee girl, after war photographer Steve McCurry's photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on National Geographic's cover. He found her again in 2002.

In 2014, she surfaced in Pakistan but went into hiding when authorities accused her of buying a fake Pakistani identity card.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Police fired tear gas at protesters in front of State Palace shortly after 6. p.m., the hour at which the protesters had been instructed to disperse, while the protesters insisted on remaining on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, near the palace.

The tear gas was fired after several protesters set off fire crackers, ignoring the police call for them to leave the area near the State Palace. Meanwhile, the police prevented protesters from other areas descending on the State Palace.

A least two police trucks were burned by the protesters during the chaos, while several people were taken away from the scene by ambulance. A number of protesters and police officers were reportedly injured in a brawl.

Protesters started throwing stones and bottles at police officers after representatives of the protesters left the State Palace following a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla. They were reportedly angry that their representatives could not meet President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

The demonstrators were demanding the prosecution of Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja "Ahok" Purnama for alleged blasphemy.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian instructed police to stop firing tear gas at the protesters. "Ive ordered the officers not fire tear gas at the protesters. [...] Let's create peace," he said.

But it seemed that the message from Tito did not reach police officers on the ground as they continued to fire the tear gas, while the protesters at Monas and near the State Palace also kept throwing firecrackers at the police lines. (bbn)
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Ahead of a large-scale rally on Friday afternoon in Jakarta, would-be rally participants are highlighting religious motives behind their presence in the protest while preparing accordingly should things get ugly.

Among them is Muhammad Ilyas, who claims to have come all the way from Medan, North Sumatra, to take part in the rally, organized by multiple Islamic organizations to demand the criminal prosecution of gubernatorial candidate and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Thahaja Purnama on blasphemy allegations.

The 20-something student said he and his three friends had arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday and spent two nights at the headquarters of hard-line religious group Islam Defenders Front (FPI) in Petamburan, West Jakarta, to prepare for the protest.

On Friday morning, he followed the group on a march to Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta to gather with other fellow protesters.

Wearing a black T-shirt, brown pants and a cap, Ilyas said he had not brought a change clothes or food to Jakarta, saying that the only thing he brought from his hometown was "my faith.

Even if someone made fun of the Quran from the moon, I would go there and demand that he be prosecuted, Ilyas told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

(Read also: Q&A: Is Indonesia at stake in Nov. 4 anti-Ahok rally?)

Ahok, a Christian and Indonesian of Chinese descent in the Muslim-majority country, sparked uproar among Islamic groups and communities after he made a comment on verses in the Quran during his visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September. The police have until now received around a dozen reports regarding the case.

Ahok will risk losing his candidacy in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election should he be named a suspect in the case.

At least 50,000 people from multiple Islamic organizations are expected to swarm Jakartas streets during Fridays rally. Law enforcers previously shared their optimism that the rally would be controlled and run peacefully.

(Read also: Friendly approach to control Friday's rally)

Bahtiar, another would-be participant from Palu, Central Sulawesi, said he had written his last will and testament should something happen during the rally.

I told my wife to pray for me. In my will, I wrote that if something happens to me, please take care of our children, the 52-year-old father of seven said, as quoted by tribunnews.com. (hwa)
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Linkedin Haeril Halim and Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Protesters, who had gathered in front of the State Palace, expressed their disappointment that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had not met with their representatives and therefore they insisted on staying at the location past 6 p.m., the hour when they had been instructed to disperse.

After meeting with Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto at the State Palace, a representative from the protesters, Bachtiar Nasir, told the protesters that the minister had offered him to meet with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

"We are offering a meeting with RI two (the Vice President). Do you want it?" he said. The protesters, who seemed unappeased by the offer, emphatically yelled No!

Bachtiar said that Jokowis failure to make an appearance was an insult. "The President didn't want to receive us, he has insulted us. What have we done to him?" Bachtiar said before launching a string of expletives toward Jokowi.

But later, Bachtiar and other representatives met with Kalla. However, the protesters were still not happy with the result of the meeting despite Kalla offering his guarantee that the police would speed up their investigation into Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, who is accused of blaspheming the Quran.

The disappointed protesters started throwing stones, bottles and mineral water at police officers and tried to break the police barricade and enter the State Palace.

Police shot the tear gas after several protesters set off fire crackers, ignoring the polices call for them to leave the area near the state place. Meanwhile, other police officers prevented protesters from other areas from heading to the State Palace.

A least two police trucks were burned by the protesters during the chaos, while a number of injured people were taken away by ambulance. A number of protesters and police officers were reportedly wounded after a brawl.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan blamed certain provocateurs for inciting the protesters to throw rocks and other objects at police. The police officers were forced to shoot tear gas because the protesters were provoked into violence, said Iriawan, but adding that in general the demonstration went smoothly.

The situation calmed after the protesters left the road near the State Palace, with many protesters heading to Istiqlal Mosque. (bbn)
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Linkedin Dandy Koswaraputra (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

A demonstration involving hundreds of thousands of Muslims in several big cities across the country, who demanded the police immediately arrest Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy, ended peacefully after representatives of protestors met the government on Friday.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has met with representatives of demonstrators demanding the prosecution of the capital city governor for alleged religious defamation, and he insisted that the case would be strictly followed up according to the law.

The police will firmly process the Ahok case without delay, Kalla told reporters after meeting with the representatives at the Vice President's office.

Meanwhile, the National Police had expressed its gratitude to Muslims who took part in the massive demonstration in Jakarta and other major cities for their peaceful conduct, which was what the security apparatus appealed for.

Alhamdulillah [thank God] the demonstration ran and ended peacefully today as we expected, National Police spokesperson Ir. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Police would continue to process the religious defamation case against the Jakarta governor in two weeks as certain groups expected, but hoped the public would let the police do their job in addressing the issue, he added.

We are keeping in touch with all parties to solve the dispute for the sake of upholding the law, Boy asserted.

A senior researcher from the Abdurrahman Wahid Center, Ahmad Suaedy, agreed with the police continuing the investigation into Ahoks case. But, it should be done independently without any pressure from any party, he added.

[As] I see the case as a game among elites [] It depends on the police whether they want to bow to pressures or not. I hope the police do not to break the promises they made, Suaedy said, the meeting between the Vice President and demonstrators was very important to calm down the situation.

Muslim protesters march during a demonstration calling for the in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Thousands of hard-line Muslims converged Friday on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its governor for alleged blasphemy. (AP/Achmad Ibrahim)

Incidents

Although the Vice President had welcomed representatives of protesters, however, some of them kept on the street due to angry that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had not met with them.

Police fired tear gas at protesters in front of State Palace shortly after 6. p.m., the hour at which the protesters had been instructed to disperse, while the protesters insisted on remaining on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, near the palace.

The tear gas was fired after several protesters set off firecrackers, ignoring the police call for them to leave the area near the State Palace and Luar Batang Mosque. Meanwhile, the police prevented protesters from other areas descending on the State Palace.

(Read also: Anti-Ahok campaigners demand to meet Jokowi in person)

In response to police action, the protesters started throwing stones, bottles and mineral water at police officers. A least two police trucks were burned by the protesters during the chaos, while several people were taken away from the scene by ambulance. Some protesters and police officers were reportedly injured in a brawl.

Fearing violence, police had put on a show of force for the protest, supported by soldiers and public order officers, while embassies closed, some shops were shuttered, and Jakarta's normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian instructed police to stop firing tear gas at the protesters. "Ive ordered the officers not fire tear gas at the protesters. [...] Let's create peace," he said.

But it seemed that the message from Tito did not reach police officers on the ground as they continued to fire the tear gas, while the protesters at Monas and near the State Palace also kept throwing firecrackers at the police lines. (bbn)
The tears started flowing early on at the annual Helena Celebrate Adoption ceremony Thursday. Many began dabbing their eyes as the St. Andrew's School Choir sang songs about adoption while perched atop the stairs in the Capitol Rotunda.

When Montana's First Lady Lisa Bullock took to the podium, asking child protective services workers to join her, most of the crowd was heartily sobbing.

"What you do to protect our children is remarkable," Bullock said, choking back tears.

"It is so critically important," she added.

Bullock, who delivered the keynote speech, told those who packed the Rotunda the annual event is one of her favorites. Helena Mayor Jim Smith echoed that sentiment.

"It's such an honor to be here today," Bullock said. "It can't be measured what you will bring to these children's lives."

During the ceremony, eight families finalized their adoptions of eight children.

Bridget Bartsch of Helena spoke on behalf of the new parents. She and her husband Jeremy adopted a 7-month-old boy named Jacob. It is the couple's third adoption.

After becoming foster parents, the couple adopted two of their fosters. Bartsch said she's still in contact with the birth mothers.

Bartsch became overwhelmed with emotion as she described a conversation she had with the birth mother of one of her adopted children.

"She said, 'Bridget, he was almost meant to be your son,'" Bartsch told the crowd.

Bartsch said she's had a moment where her "entire world just stopped" with each of her adopted children. She realized each time that her life would never be the same.

"We're forever a piece of each other's puzzle," she said.

District Judge Mike Menahan oversaw the ceremony. Similar events will be held in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls and Missoula.

Statewide, 270 adoptions were overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services Child and Family Services Division in fiscal year 2016.

"I spend all year looking forward to this event," Department of Health and Human Services Director Richard Opper said. "This event is just so full of joy."

"I don't know about you, but I needed some joy in my life and this is a real shot in the arm."

Opper said the state is always looking for more parents to adopt children, and also needs more foster parents. Currently, a near record number of children are in Montanas foster care system  nearly 3,300.

"I encourage anyone who might be interested in adoption or becoming a foster parent to contact our agency to learn more, he said. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of Montanas children."

"You're not only saving a child ... you're also saving society," Opper said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Thousands of people from Jakarta and its surrounding areas have been gathering at the Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta since Thursday evening ahead of a rally that is expected to temporarily paralyze activities downtown on Friday.

The rally, set to commence on Friday afternoon, is expected to see at least 50,000 people from multiple Islamic organizations swarm Jakartas streets to demand the criminal prosecution of gubernatorial candidate and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Thahaja Purnama on blasphemy allegations.

Istiqlal management said it had not deployed a special team to manage incoming would-be protesters that stopped by or spent the night at the countrys biggest mosque.

The mosque head has instructed us to maintain the mosques cleanliness and help the incoming congregation, mosque attendant Imam Alianysah said, as quoted by tribunnews.com on Friday.

(Read also: Q&A: Is Indonesia at stake in Nov. 4 anti-Ahok rally?)

As of midnight Thursday, the mosque had also received hundreds of food packages donated by individuals or other mosques for the would-be protesters.

Ahok, a Christian and Indonesian of Chinese descent in a Muslim-majority country, sparked uproar among Islamic groups and communities after he made a comment on verses in the Quran during his visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September. The police have until now received around a dozen reports regarding the case.

Ahok will risk losing his candidacy in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election should he be named a suspect in the case. (hwa)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Protesters started throwing stones, bottles and mineral water at police officers after representatives of the protesters left their State Palace meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The protesters were reportedly angry that their representatives could not meet President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. They tried to break the police barricade and enter the State Palace.

It occurred shortly after 6 p.m., the hour at which protesters on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat had been instructed to disperse.

Demonstrators demanded the prosecution of Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja "Ahok" Purnama for alleged blasphemy.

Kalla said the case would be strictly followed up according to the law.

The police will firmly process the Ahok case without delay, Kalla told reporters after meeting with the representatives at the Vice President's office. (bbn)
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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung, West Java  Fri, November 4, 2016

State-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) says it has completed the manufacturing of two NC212i aircraft ordered by the Philippines.

Equipped with ramp doors and a modern navigation and communication system, the multipurpose plane, which is the latest generation of NC212 and has a carrying capacity of 28 passengers, is the first Indonesian aircraft ordered by the Philippines. The Philippines has not upgraded its air forces fleet its aircraft in the last 20 years.

PT DI commerce and restructuring director Budiman Saleh said the purchasing contract of the two NC212i aircraft, including their spare parts, was worth US$19 million.

We can do it in affordable prices, and with no dependency to the US. You can also put Israeli technology inside, Budiman said. He accompanied Raymundo de Vera Elefante, Undersecretary for Finance, Ammunitions, Installations and Materials of the Department of National Defense, and Philippine Air Force Chief of Air Staff Maj.Gen. Rozzano D Briguez during a visit to the companys fixed wing airplane hangar in Bandung on Friday.

Budiman further said the delivery of the aircraft would be conducted after Philippine pilots received training about the instruments and technical conditions at PT DI.

We will take it on time. Hopefully, it will arrive in the Philippines in the first semester [of next year]. Our pilots will receive training this December, said Elefante.

According to PT DI, the NC212i aircraft can be used for producing artificial rain, maritime patrol and coast guard patrol. More than 600 units of its previous generation C212 series have been used by 38 countries, including Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. (ebf)
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Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Last month, Indonesia officially ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

And at next weeks climate change meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, the government will challenge devoloped countries to act on their own pledge to provide financial incentives for countries that achieve substantial progress in reducing massive deforestation.

Indonesia, one of the worlds largest greenhouse gas emmitters, has done its part, but developed countries have given little in return.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is scrutinizing the sluggish progress of 34 power plant projects worth Rp 4.94 trillion (US$377.75 million), which were launched during the administration of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), a top KPK official has said.

KPK commissioner Laode Syarif said Friday that the commission was currently gathering information about the related projects.

"Power plant projects are under our attention and if there are any reports that suggest that there were problems, we will further investigate," he said.

He said the investigation would focus on projects that were not finished on time or abandoned projects. "We are still looking into why some [projects] were not finished on time or abandoned, he said.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung cited on Friday a report released by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), which shows that 12 of 34 power plant projects initiated during the SBY era to add 7,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the nations power grid, could not be continued, something that might inflict huge losses on the state. (fac)
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Linkedin Ananda Sukarlan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

Miguel de Cervantes (Courtesy of elpopular.pe)

The year 2016 is a significant literary year for Spain.



For Spain, this year marks two great writers death anniversaries  the 400th of Miguel Cervantes (1547-1616) and the 80th of Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936).



It is for this reason the Cervantes Institute, with the support of the Spanish Embassy, invited me to celebrate this event in Indonesia by composing music based on works by these two great writers, to be sung by the rising young soprano Mariska Setiawan during the recent Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.



While Lorca has long been cherished by the hearts of Indonesian literature, Cervantes is still not  and that could be an indication of how Spain has missed the opportunity to use his name and works as a cultural asset during these 400 years.



The Spanish language is not an excuse: Leo Tolstoy, Goethe, Dante Alighieri, even Rumi are more known worldwide while their languages are much less spoken on this planet.



It is also a curious coincidence that both Cervantes and Shakespeare died only a day apart: the Spaniard on April 22 and the British on the 23rd, 1616.



Shakespeare has gone Hollywood several times, he is everywhere in classical music, ballets, operas and everyone on the streets quotes: To be or not to be, that is the question besides his other famous quotes, while Cervantes fame would only lie in Don Quixote.



Needless to say, tourists going to the UK would make an effort to go to Stratford-upon-Avon to be at Shakespeares birthplace, while Alcala de Henares has not yet established its name as a tourist destination as Cervantes town of birth  even if its much more accessible since it is so close to Madrid than Stratford from London.



Lorca is a different case, and his dramatic death might contribute to his popularity.



Two great Indonesian writers who studied, translated and were influenced by Lorca were Ramadhan KH (who translated the novel The House of Bernarda Alba in the 1950s and then followed by other works) and Sutardji Calzoum Bachri who explored his repetition techniques, such as in the poem Romance Sonambulo where Lorca used the word verde (green) repetitively in different aspects.



Green, I want you green/Green wind. Green branches/The ship out on the sea/and the horse on the mountain/With the shade around her waist/she dreams on her balcony/green flesh, her hair green/with eyes of cold silver/Green, I want you green.



It was Hasan Aspahani (b. 1971) in the beginning of this millennium that brought Lorca back to the Indonesian poetry scene. He translated his poems not to be published, but for personal studies although he uploaded them on his blog, which (accidentally?) became very popular.



As Aspahani is not fluent in Spanish, he investigated several translations existing in English (made easier by the internet). He himself has declared he is a traitor: he did not translate them truthfully, but made his own rhymes. If you want a translated poem to have beauty, you should be a traitor to the original poem.



But the most Lorcian poet in Indonesia, according to Aspahani would be WS Rendra in his early works. Lorca has brought out the lyrical and metaphorical qualities in Rendra.



They both fell in love with the landscape of hills, birds, trees, grass and leaves. Most importantly, they were very much attached to their own music: Rendra with the Javanese childrens folk songs, Lorca with Flamenco dancers and musicians and even its instruments. Rendra also learned how the Spaniard used metaphors, such as in the latters The Six Strings (one of his few poems about the guitar) that I set to music for this occasion:



The guitar/makes dreams cry/The crying of lost souls/escapes from its round mouth/And like the tarantula/it weaves a huge star/to catch sighs/that float on its black wooden tank.



This would then influenced poets such as Subagio Sastrowardoyo, and I am sure Sapardi Djoko Damono too, though he never mentioned it.



An important aspect of Lorcas life would be his open homosexuality and his relationship with Salvador Dali, which complicated their lives during the Franco dictatorship. This contributed to his arrest and assassination by the right wing dictator in 1936 according to his biographer Stainton, although another biographer Ian Gibson stated it was also as part of a campaign of mass killings intended to eliminate supporters of the Marxists.



Lorca and Dali met when they were students in Madrid in 1922. Dali could not be open about it in their time, but he did admit to their close friendship although we never had sex as he admitted more than once to his biographers.



Yet there was the beautiful Ode to Salvador Dali by Lorca, from which I took 3 stanzas and set it to music too. It is a clear and poignant love letter to the Catalan painter, who responded it with a love letter recently discovered, with a sketch referring Lorca as my Saint Sebastian who was tied up on a beach in Ampurias, where Dali lived.



In the music world, Lorca has inspired many composers far beyond Spanish borders and of Hispanic backgrounds.



Lorca himself was a musician; he studied music and even wrote some songs in his teenage years, considering a career in music and closely befriended the great Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, working together in some productions. His first prose works such as Nocturne, Ballade and Sonata clearly drew on musical forms.



Composers who have set his works to music include the Russian Dmitri Shostakovich, the Finnish Einojuhani Rautavaara, the Mexican Silvestre Revueltas and the American George Crumb (in more than five works). My Two Songs on poems by Garcia Lorca would be the most recent modest contribution to this list, based on Oda a Salvador Dali and Las Seis Cuerdas mentioned above.



The writer is a composer and pianist, who translated all fragments of the poems truthfully, but claimed them as unpoetically.

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Linkedin Aijaz Hussain (Associated Press) Kulgam, India  Fri, November 4, 2016

Deep within a vast orchard, dozens of young Kashmiris laze in the shade of apple trees. Surrounded by boxes of fruit, they chat and crack jokes. Some play video games on their phones. For now, they're at ease, the hilly grove providing a perfect hideaway from Indian police and paramilitary soldiers deployed to hunt them down.

But with winter approaching, the men have taken refuge at night in the homes of friends or distant relatives, changing location every few days and passing messages to loved ones through supporters and friends. They worry about putting others at risk amid India's largest-ever crackdown on unarmed civilians, launched to quell an anti-India uprising that has kept this Himalayan territory in virtual lockdown since July.

More than 8,000 people, mostly teenage boys and young men, have been rounded up and put in jail. Thousands more are being sought as suspects, but police refuse to give an actual count, saying the number is constantly changing.

Authorities say the suspects pose security risks, having hurled rocks at government forces or clashed with police. Some are suspected of aiding or joining separatist rebels fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with neighboring Pakistan. But many are simply identified as having taken part in what India says are illegal protests.

Those dodging arrest by hiding in Kashmir's many apple orchards say they're being unfairly targeted by Indian forces bent on criminalizing dissent.

"We're paying the cost for raising our voice for freedom," said a university art student now in hiding, one of 40 wanted men who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of being caught. "Now we're scared even by our own shadows."

His cousin said he had to abandon his science studies to go into hiding. "I want to become a doctor," he said. "But for now, the police have made me a fugitive."

The crackdown is part of a decades-long cycle of conflict and rebellion that has bedeviled Kashmir since India and Pakistan won independence in 1947. Shortly thereafter they fought their first war over the territory, splitting the picturesque region between the two countries by a United Nations-drawn ceasefire line, now known as the line of control. They fought a second war over the region in 1972.

Many in the mostly Muslim region see India as an occupying force, and resent the hundreds of thousands of troops deployed with special powers to shoot suspects on sight while being immune from prosecution. India blames Pakistan for training, arming and sheltering separatist rebels who began fighting Indian forces in 1989. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Pakistan denies the allegations, saying it offers only moral support to rebels and Kashmiri civilians.

This year's violence erupted following the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander by Indian forces. There have been almost daily protests since then, often with stone-throwing youths clashing with police and paramilitary forces firing pellets and bullets into the crowds. Indian authorities also have staged months of nighttime raids.

At least 90 civilians and two policemen have been killed, with thousands more injured, most of them civilians. Curfews, communication blackouts, roadblocks and separatist-sponsored strikes have largely paralyzed public life.

A top police officer in the main city of Srinagar said nearly 500 of the more than 8,000 suspects detained had been arrested under a law that allows them to be held for up to two years without charge. He and other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because police and army policies bar them from speaking to reporters on the record.

"A tough approach to deal with protests has worked," one army officer said at a military camp near the urban center of Anantnag. "Unfortunately, people will suffer."

Yet inside one police barrack last week, uniformed Kashmiri officers admitted fears of their own. One constable said an angry crowd told his family they would torch their home if they saw him in uniform again. Another said he joined in a protest while on vacation; he nearly lost his job, but avoided retribution from neighbors angry over his job.

"I had no choice. That was the only way for me to save myself and my family," he said.

The uprising has been most pronounced in southern areas famed for their orchards, rice paddies and gently rolling Himalayan foothills. Police officers routinely refer to the cluster of villages between Anantnag and the town of Kulgam as one of the most dangerous trouble spots.

Residents in the area accuse Indian forces of raiding neighborhoods, ransacking homes, beating civilians and firing on more than 300 electricity transformers to cut power to homes. Villages elsewhere have since fortified their transformers with sandbags and wooden logs.

"They come, ransack our homes and hit our mothers and sisters. This humiliation is intolerable," said a 17-year-old student, wincing with the pain of untreated pellet injuries sustained while resisting a police raid on his village of Hawoora in October. The student, listed as "wanted" by police, has been too afraid to visit a hospital.

He vowed to never surrender, "even if I have to go underground forever."

Police neither confirm nor deny the allegations. One officer explained: "When we have to put down this nonsense, there are ugly things going to happen. That's how it is."

Families of protesters who have been detained or are in hiding line up by the hundreds outside police stations and courthouses, hoping to plead for their release or removal from the "wanted" lists.

One father in Anantnag spent five nights in police lockup in lieu of one of his three sons, all of whom have gone into hiding. But another father, threatened with losing is government job, turned his teenager over to authorities.

"My father was helpless. He has to take care of a large family," the teenager said, after serving 10 days behind bars before being released without charge.

Anger over the crackdown will only make matters worse, the men in hiding said. More young students will become radicalized; more will be driven underground; and more villagers will step up to help with medicine, shelter and other kinds of support.

At least some in India agree. Last month in the English daily The Hindu, former national security adviser M.K. Narayanan warned that using force against protesters and would backfire. He said authorities were failing "to deal with the kind of seismic shift occurring beneath the surface in Kashmir."
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Thousands of law enforcement personnel gathered on Friday morning at the National Monument (Monas) complex in Central Jakarta for a final briefing, a few hours ahead of the start of a large-scale rally in the capital.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan said 21,000 personnel from the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) had been deployed to protect various venues across the city, including government offices and shopping malls, in anticipation of the rally, organized by multiple Islamic organizations to demand the criminal prosecution of gubernatorial candidate and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Thahaja Purnama on allegations of blasphemy.

Iriawan said he had met with the rally coordinators, including Rizieq Shihab, leader of the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

"They promised that they would start [the rally] from Istiqlal Mosque and deliver orations in front of the State Palace [in Central Jakarta], Iriawan said, referring to the countrys biggest mosque.

Some of them [rally leaders] will hand over a joint petition to the palace and leave afterward. I ask them to fulfill their promise.

(Read also: Q&A: Is Indonesia at stake in Nov. 4 anti-Ahok rally?)

He also said on-duty police personnel would not be allowed to bring firearms or bayonets. Five groups of police personnel have also been prepared to chant the Asmaul Husna [the 99 names of God] to calm the crowd should they become violent.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said hundreds of female officers wearing hijab would also stand guard in front of the palace in hopes of calming protesters. (hwa)
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Linkedin Syamsul Huda M.Suhari and Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Gorontalo/Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

State University of Gorontalo (UNG) Rector Syamsu Qamar Badu decided on Thursday to take stern measures against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students on campus.

Syamsu plans to establish a special team to monitor students who have claimed an LGBT sexual orientation. The LGBT students will be obligated to attend special sessions to be normalized, and if they defy the requirements, the university will impose severe sanctions against them.

The special team will include psychologists and other related experts and will function like an intelligence agency, in which its members will work undercover making friends with students in order to diagnose their sexual orientation.

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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

As the clock struck 10:54 a.m., Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama had yet to inform reporters on where he would be campaigning on Friday.

It had been reported that we would take the day off on account of Fridays demonstration, but he denied the report, saying that he would carry out impromptu visits.

"I will still make impromptu visits," said Ahok when he was contacted over the phone on Friday.

(Read also: Istiqlal grand imam calls on Ahok protesters to remain calm)

Nonetheless, he was reluctant to disclose where he would visit.

"I need to ask my adjutants first," said Ahok, adding that he would check on services in the capital and listen to the concerns of residents. (dmr)
Rocky Mountain Care Center, a skilled nursing residence in Helena, has announced that it is closing and that Dec. 24 will be its last day.
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Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4 2016

The audience, mostly evictees, turned silent when they saw the scene showing their houses being demolished in a documentary titled Jakarta Unfair, which was screened by the Ciliwung River bank in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, last Friday.

Astagfirullah [may God spare me], said one of the audience members at the open-door screening situated near their former houses, which have now become empty fields.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, November 5, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo broke his silence after midnight Saturday after the unruly protest in front of the Presidential Palace and called on the public to remain calm and keep their surrounding conducive.

We respect the peoples aspiration by staging the mass rally. We thank the ulemas for keeping the rally in order and peaceful until the dusk, the president said.

However, I really regretted the unruly situation later in the evening because the public who were supposed to disperse themselves turned violent.

Political actors are taking advantage of the situation, he added.

Jokowi started the limited Cabinet meeting at 11.20 p.m. because the presidential security detail banned him from returning to the palace. The meeting was attended by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, State Secretary Pratikno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim, Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara, Presidential chief of staff Teten Masduki, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian and Indonesian Military chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo.

The president also called on the public to return home safely and peacefully and let the authorities to solve the case.

Please go home and not easily being provoked, he said. Pak JK [Vice President Jusuf Kalla] has met with representatives of the protesters and guaranteed that the legal process would be done immediately.

(Read also: Q&A: How did the anti-Ahok rally turn chaotic?)

Around 100,000 protesters demanded the prosecution of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy. Kalla said that the legal process against Ahok would be finished in two weeks.

Jokowi also appreciated security personnel hard works in keeping the rally to be peaceful. The rally turned violent after the protesters refused to disperse themselves although the time for rally had ended. The police gave the permit to stage the protest until 6 p.m.

The disappointed protesters started throwing stones, bottles and mineral water at police officers after the deadline and tried to break the police barricade and enter the State Palace.

Police shot the tear gas after several protesters set off firecrackers, ignoring the polices call for them to leave the area near the state place. Meanwhile, other police officers prevented protesters from other areas from heading to the State Palace.

A least two police trucks were burned by the protesters during the chaos, while some injured people were taken away by ambulance. A number of protesters and police officers were reportedly wounded after a brawl.

(Read also: Jakarta cools off after violent rally)

The mass began to move to the House of Representatives compound, which had been heavily guarded, as the House deputy speaker Fadli Zon publicly welcomed them to spend the night in the area, saying it was the house of the people.

Meanwhile, unidentified groups of protesters started to vandalize a minimarket and motorcycles in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, in the area next to the residence of embattled Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama at around 6 p.m. The security had the condition under control before midnight. (yan)
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Linkedin Sophent Cheang (Associated Press) Phnom Penh  Fri, November 4, 2016

An appeals court in Cambodia upheld Friday a five-month prison term for an opposition leader in a case involving his alleged mistress, but which his supporters say is politically motivated.

Chief Judge Seng Sivutha of the Appeals Court said that Kem Sokha's refusal to twice answer court summons was "intentional" and "a real crime."

Kem Sokha, the deputy leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, is the latest opposition figure to run afoul of the law in what activists say is the willful use of the courts by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen to suppress critics.

The case against him surfaced when police opened a criminal investigation against a woman who claimed that Kem Sokha promised her money and a house, and audio clips of her purported conversation with Kem Sokha were mysteriously released.

Defense lawyer Sam Sokong said his client couldn't appear before the court in May because he was busy with his duties as lawmaker. He also argued that Kem Sokha enjoyed parliamentary immunity from arrest.

The opposition leader plans to appeal at the Supreme Court.

The case is one of several hanging over opposition leaders in what is generally seen as an attempt to disrupt their organizing efforts ahead of local elections next June. The next general election is not until the middle of 2018, but holding power at the local level is an advantage when national polls are held.

A month ago, another opposition lawmaker, Um Sam Ann, who has been a strong critic of the government's handling of demarcating the border with neighboring Vietnam, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for his online postings.

CNRP leader Sam Rainsy did not return from a trip abroad last November when an old conviction for defamation was restored and his parliamentary immunity was stripped by the government's legislative majority.

Hun Sen has been Cambodia's leader for three decades. But a general election in 2013 shook his grip on power when the CNRP mounted a strong challenge, winning 55 seats in the National Assembly and leaving Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party with 68.

The government reacted by stepping up intimidation of the opposition party in the courts, which are seen as being under its influence.
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Linkedin Matthew Pennington (Associated Press) Washington  Fri, November 4, 2016

Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence Thursday that the US relationship with the Philippines can survive recent turbulence as he swore in a new US ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation.

Kerry administered the oath of office to Sung Kim, formerly the chief US envoy for North Korea policy, in a ceremony at the State Department.

Kim, a career diplomat, takes up his new position in turbulent times. Outspoken Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June after winning a presidential election, has been antagonistic to Washington over human rights criticisms.

Duterte has forged closer ties with China  a blow to the Obama administration effort to forge deeper ties with Asia. He has declared his desire to scale back military engagements with the US and has told President Barack Obama to "go to hell."

But Kerry remained confident about the future of the 70-year alliance between the US and its former colony, "notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another."

"Democratic elections bring change, and we must have the wisdom to recognize and adjust to that change. But the logic of our alliance and why we have stood together for so long," Kerry said, "are as compelling today as they have ever been."

Kerry met with Duterte in Manila in July and said Thursday he hopes to visit again before he ends his terms as secretary of state.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the US continues to regard the Philippines as an ally but stressed it isn't America's only friend in the region, where Washington has been pushing against China's assertive behavior in the disputed South China Sea.

"Our strategy, however, is strong and isn't dependent upon any single one of our friends or allies out there. And we have many. And there's a huge demand for us to do more. And the reason for that, quite honestly, just to be direct about it, is that many of them have concerns about Chinese behavior," Carter said during a question and answer session with soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Daniel Russel, top US diplomat for East Asia, told reporters in Washington on Thursday that Chinese coast guard, navy and maritime militia vessels continue to be stationed near Scarborough Shoal  a disputed reef off the northern Philippines that China effectively seized in 2012. But he said that some Philippine fishing boats have now been able to fish in the vicinity of the shoal.

China granted that access after Duterte met with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders last month. The Philippine defense secretary said Sunday it is the first time in years Chinese coast guard ships have not harassed and stopped Filipinos from fishing there.

Russel said he hoped it was a step in the direction of respect for the July 12 decision of an international tribunal that invalidated Beijing's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea. The ruling said both Filipinos and Chinese can fish at the shoal.

____

Associated Press writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Jerome Aning (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) Manila  Fri, November 4, 2016

Germany is willing to assist the Philippines in making a shift in the system of governance from unitary to federal, a move that is being pushed by lawmakers and civil society groups.

We are happy to share our experience with regard to the federal system and contribute to discussions in other countries, Michael Hasper, charge daffairs of the German Embassy in Manila said in a speech before the Global Autonomy, Governance and Federalism Forum 2016 held in Makati recently.

Among the forum's organizers were Cotabato City-based think tank Institute for Autonomy and Good Governance and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of Germanys ruling party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Hasper said there was general interest from both the foundation and embassy regarding discussions on the shift to federalism, one of President Dutertes advocacies.

He pointed out that there are several different forms of federalism and that a federal constitution can only be successful if it fits the specific needs of a country and its people.

In his speech, the diplomat spoke of the need to speed up problem-solving in a federal setup and to correctly define the territory and rights of the future states in a federal Philippines.

In Germany, our present federal constitution is also popular because it was introduced as a tool to end dictatorship. When the Nazis established their authoritarian regime, they broke away from our federal traditions and introduced a centralized system. When we reintroduced democracy in Germany after the Nazi regime, the reintroduction of federalism and a federal constitution became the key, he said.

He said that in Germany, federalism not just provides greater autonomy to the individual states to raise certain taxes and exercise certain political powers but also serves as an instrument to foster political participation and democracy.

Hasper, however, said that since there is no ideal political system, federalism also comes at a price, adding that in the federal system, political processes can take longer.
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Linkedin Chong Koh Ping (The Straits Times) Beijing  Fri, November 4, 2016

"Intervention" by external parties will not help solve the South China Sea issue, said China and Malaysia, two of the claimant states in the disputed waters.

In a joint press statement Thursday, both sides stressed that all claimant states should resolve their differences peacefully through negotiations in accordance with international law like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"All parties should exercise restraint and avoid taking actions that will complicate matters or heightened tensions in the South China Sea," they said.

Both sides pledged to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and stressed the importance of all countries enjoying freedom of navigation and flight based on international law. Other claimants include the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan.

The statement came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday at the Diaoyutai State Guest House before a dinner banquet.

With both sides declaring that bilateral ties are at a historic high, Xi told the visiting Malaysian leader that both countries should maintain frequent high-level exchanges to strengthen mutual political trust.

Najib said in turn that both countries are "good neighbors and friends that could be trusted". He also noted that the bilateral relationship established in 1974 has deepened since it was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013.

Xi said on state television that both countries should continue to maintain mutual support and understanding on issues important to both sides. "The deepening of strategic alignment will help build a firm foundation for trade and economic cooperation," he said.

Najib, who will be in China until tomorrow, is on his third visit to the country since becoming Prime Minister in 2009. His visit is being closely watched for signs of a tilt towards China, following Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to there last month.

Najib wrote earlier in the state-run China Daily that bilateral ties between both countries are set to hit new highs through 14 cooperation deals worth RM144 billion (US$47.7 billion) signed during his six-day visit. Among them was their first major defense deal involving the sale of Chinese naval vessels.

In his meeting with Xi, Najib congratulated China on its economic achievements. "Reality has proven that China's choice of socialist development with Chinese characteristics is correct," he said.

This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, November 4, 2016

Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced that the company was temporarily closing its ticketing office in Jakarta on Friday.

The office, located at the Menara Kadin Indonesia building in South Jakarta, has been temporarily closed since 12:30 p.m. but is expected to operate as usual on Saturday.

(Read also: Jakartans wary of Nov. 4 rally, take precautions)

SIA Indonesia public relations manager Glory Henriette told The Jakarta Post the temporary closing was to ensure the staffs safety. We want to ensure that the staff who pass by or live around the rally area can return home safely.

In the meantime, for urgent servicing matters, customers are advised to contact Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 021 550 7130 or visit the company's website. (kes)
I firmly believe that public service is noble work. From the CPS worker ensuring that a child is in a safe environment, to the state forester working for best land management practices, to IT workers who keep the states computer networks running, we have wonderful state employees who work hard to serve us every day.

These hardworking employees deserve good leadership that can utilize their abilities to create better outcomes for state employees and the citizens they are charged with serving. Unfortunately, the current administration and its agency heads are not leading our state employees well.

I firmly agree with Ronald Reagan when he said that the purpose of government is to serve the people. Not the other way around. Unfortunately, we have adopted a culture of enforcement in state government, rather than a culture of customer service. Our small businesses struggle under the weight of excessive regulation and paperwork, repeatedly saying they are dying a death of a thousand cuts.

In addition to these bureaucratic delays and annoyances, weve also seen disturbing examples of gross negligence and mismanagement in state agencies, with little accountability. Just last year, the Governors Budget Office made 125 significant accounting errors and lost $1 billion off the state balance sheet. Weve had state contracts awarded to out-of-state companies with family connections. The current governors emails, and those of his staff, from his time as attorney general were deleted. Auditors from the Department of Public Health and Human Services claim that they were fired for pointing out wrongdoing in the department. The state has also been accused of using settlement money to pay off whistleblowers. Meanwhile, the governor is abusing the state plane.

These problems do not occur because we have bad state employees. The vast majority of state employees want honesty and accountability in state government. These problems occur because we have poor leadership. And, ultimately, the buck stops at the governors desk.

That is why, as my first act as governor, Ill establish an Office of Government Accountability. The purpose of the office will be fourfold. First, it will adopt customer service best practices in state agencies. Second, it will reduce excessive regulations and agency practices that inhibit job growth. Third, it will bring integrity to state contracting. Its fourth goal will be to increase efficiency and accountability in state government.

In order to bring efficiency and accountability to state government, we also need strong whistleblower protections. Thats why, just this week, I laid out a plan to strengthen whistleblower protections once Im governor. Unlike the current administration, Ill enforce the Wrongful Discharge from Employment. Well set up a whistleblower hotline for state employees that directly reports to the Office of Government Accountability where they can report wrongdoing without fear of retaliation.

State employees, you have my promise that you will not be retaliated against for shining a light in dark places in state government. Under my administration, well honor and protect state workers who do the right thing.

State employees, I will stand by you and work with you every day I am governor as you serve the citizens of Montana. As governor, Ill listen to your suggestions and concerns. Ill run a complete meritocracy where the ability to do the job trumps politics. Together, well create a culture of customer service in state government. I look forward to working side by side with you to serve our great state.

Greg Gianforte is the Republican candidate for Montana governor.
One of the greatest challenges Jefferson County faces is the loss of over 200 jobs due to the closure of MDC. History shows that an event like this can be devastating to a community; families will suffer lost income, property values will likely decrease, and crime will likely increase. You dont have to take my word for it. Look at what happened to Butte when it suffered massive job losses. Would I have done everything I could have as the leading criminal justice expert in the county to voice this to our Legislature? Yes, even if it meant working evenings and weekends. My opponent thinks I would have been wrong to do so.

Perhaps Im more passionate, because I actually live, own property, and pay property taxes in Jefferson County. And I have for years. The loss of over 200 jobs truly impacts me, my family, and our neighbors. My husband and I bought our house in Montana City in 2003, moved our family there, and raised our girls there. It is our home, and it will continue to be our home no matter what happens with the election. My opponent does not have that same connection. He and his wife have a house in Helena, and he claims the Catholic Church parsonage in Boulder as his residence. Again, you dont have to take my word for it. Look up his name on the Montana Cadastral system. Then look-up the address he listed in the Helena IR and the MT Standard as his Boulder residence, 214 S. Elder.

More importantly, my work quality and work ethic are excellent. Please ask anyone Ive worked with, and youll know this to be true. Ask Commissioner Todd Devlin and Treasurer Jamie Smith from Prairie County, where I was once county attorney. Ask prosecutors throughout the state, like Choteau County Attorney Steve Gannon, Sweetgrass County Attorney Pat Dringman, or former Mineral County Attorney Marcia Boris. Ask any prosecutor. Jefferson County deserves a forthright person who will advocate tirelessly for a safer community -- both in and out of the courtroom. Please vote for Erin Inman.

Erin Inman is a candidate for Jefferson County Attorney/Public Administrator.
One of the biggest differences between incumbent Republican Tim Fox and Democrat Larry Jent, the two men vying to be Montanas next attorney general, is their opinion on when the state should join lawsuits on major issues facing the country such the Clean Power Plan or which bathrooms transgender people may use.

While some of Fox's decisions, such as joining a lawsuit over the Clean Power Plan, which would require the state to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 40 percent, were supported by both Republicans and Democrats, others have seen less support.

Gov. Steve Bullock criticized Fox's decision to join a lawsuit by several states over federal policy on access to public bathrooms by transgender people.

Its an issue that is politicized, but it is not a political decision for me, Fox said. The decision to take legal action, he said, comes down to are we defending the rule of law as a state and are we potentially violating or going to violate the U.S. Constitution.

Jent criticized the high-profile moves by Fox, including comments submitted in 2013 that urged Washington state to use a narrow scope in reviewing a proposed coal terminal there.

I don't think it was a wise use of resources to litigate about the deep water coal port in Washington, Jent said. Theres no Montana property interest at stake. And the coal companies that want to use that have lawyers and money. I wouldnt do that for any industry because they have the money available to do that.

Fox disagreed.

My opponent is apparently forgetting Montana has the largest state-owned coal reserves of any state in the nation and the largest coal reserves, period, publicly or privately owned, of any state in the nation, Fox said. The taxes and revenues that are generated from mining coal are very, very important in Montana.

In that case, Fox also cited concerns the process would violate the Constitution's commerce clause.

Montana GOP chairman Jeff Essmann said joining into a lawsuit over the EPAs Waters of the U.S. and the Clean Power Plan are important for Montanas economic future.

Action was needed in both of those cases, Essmann said, because of federal overreach on behalf of the EPA.

We dont need the EPA telling every farmer and rancher in the state how to manage a stock pond and a mud puddle, Essmann said.

He also said that depending on who is elected president, the attorney general could play a role in protecting the right to own firearms. This election cycle, Hillary Clintons opponent, Republican Donald Trump, has said Clinton would abolish the Second Amendment, a statement the fact-checking website Politifact has determined to be false.

Clinton has said she will expand background checks to close gun show and internet sales loopholes and work to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, violent criminals and severely mentally ill people.

If God forbid Hillary Clinton gets elected president, I anticipate she may issue some executive order with respect to certain gun laws or the right of people to own and possess certain types of guns, Essmann said. If she does that I expect the attorney general will have to litigate our Second Amendment rights.

Jent, if elected, said his approach to taking legal action on behalf of the state will rely on his sense of what Montana residents want. He would like to see the office look more at issues including two merger proposals involving four of the nation's largest health insurance companies, something the U.S. Justice Department has sued to block. Other issues he would examine are drug prices, such as for the EpiPen and insulation.

I think thats one of the places the attorney should be active in litigation, if necessary, because it affects everybody or someone in everybodys family. The one job of attorney general that comes to mine is consumer protection, Jent said. The coal companies, the power companies, the drug companies already have lawyers.

Contrasting campaigns

Fox, who beat Democrat Pam Bucy to win the office in 2012 with nearly 54 percent of the vote, submitted his statement of candidacy paperwork in 2014. Jent, a former state lawmaker and Bozeman attorney, didnt file until hours before the March 14 primary deadline.

Fox has raised $443,295 to Jents $69,500, but Jent emphasized his belief that money doesnt matter. Fox has also outspent Jent on advertising, but Jent said hes been traveling around the state, meeting with as many people as he can to learn what issues are important to Montanans.

We dont have a staff. Its me, my wife and my treasurer, he said. The campaign operates out of his law office and not having the funding that Fox does doesnt matter, Jent emphasized. Im committed to this, Jent said. I dont want to just be a name on a ballot.

Jent is a graduate of West Point and was a special forces officer. He has practiced law in Montana for 32 years, most recently in private practice in Bozeman and serving on the board of the Montana Innocence Project. He was elected to the state House in 2000 and spent three terms there before being elected to the state Senate in 2006. He was re-elected in 2010.

Before being elected attorney general, Fox had a 29-year legal career that included working at law firms around the state as well as opening his own firm and clerking for an associate state Supreme Court justice. He practiced business, commercial, environmental and constitutional law. He ran for attorney general in 2008 and lost to now Gov. Steve Bullock.

Fox said he wants to be re-elected to continue the work hes done in his first term, including efforts with a task force to test a backlog of unsubmitted rape kits in Montana, reducing DUIs, changing the way sex assaults are handled and making efforts to reduce the massive caseload courts are dealing with and the resulting prison crowding.

Many of the initiatives weve taken in the last four years are things that confront Montana and her citizens today and will for some time, Fox said. They are problems that have taken a long time to get to this point and will take a long time to address.

If voters elect him, Jent, 64, said he wants to be the peoples attorney, with a focus on standing up for individuals who dont have the resources to represent themselves. He also emphasized the importance of using the power of the attorney generals office to find ways to address violent crime, especially against women.

The attorney general should be a champion for the people, Jent said. You are the peoples lawyer.

In the 2005 Legislative session, as a state representative, Jent got a bill passed to require DNA samples from all felons. Thats got to be a priority, finding out who these people are, he said. Compiling the DNA registry had tones of '1984' all over it, so you really had to convince people. But its paid off. Were solving cases.

Larry Mansch, legal director of the Montana Innocence Project, said the state is just now seeing the results of Jents work on DNA testing.

His experience in legislative affairs has been especially valuable for us, he said. In addition to the registry, Mansch said, Jent was also instrumental in creating the statute that makes it easier to get DNA evidence tested.

Now we have one of the best and most solid DNA testing statutes in the whole country," he said. "A lot of that was orchestrated by him.

Criminal justice reform

As Montanas courts and jails become more overwhelmed with increasing volume from child abuse and neglect cases, many of which also involve drug use, both candidates said fixing the system will be a top priority.

Fox wants the attorney generals office to take a proactive approach. To fix the problem, its not enough to focus on enforcement and criminal conviction; steps need to be taken to intervene before it reaches that point, he said. Under his direction, the attorney general's office has devoted staff time to studying the effectiveness of treatment courts around the state with an eye toward identifying gaps in the programs and gathering data lawmakers can use when making decisions in the upcoming Legislature.

We want to save lives and help people become productive citizens and be healthy, but the cost to society of substance abuse is more expensive than it would be to provide the kind of treatment options and counseling opportunities upfront, Fox said.

While the need is immediate and pressing  in 2015 Montana saw 2,321 new or reopened child abuse and neglect cases, a jump of 712 from the previous year, and several cities are asking voters on Election Day to expand jails  Fox said the state cant keep responding with interim patches. Lawmakers need the data to develop a new approach, something he said his office is working to gather.

Rather than to continue to do it piecemeal, a Band-Aid here and there, we need to really put an emphasis on the bigger picture and the long-term solution, trying to keep people from getting into the cycle of substance abuse and also getting them out of that cycle, intervening in their lives as quickly as possible. That in the long term will be the solution to the child abuse and neglect problem that we have, the crime problem, the prison population."

Jent agrees the state spends too much money incarcerating people. The idea of being able to intercept those people early and do as much as humanly possible to turn things around so they dont come back and see us is a compelling theme Ive heard from all areas of the political spectrum and all walks of life," he said.

He believes the attorney generals office can be a catalyst for change by advocating for the health of the judicial system.

The thing that is most striking to me is the need for staffing the courts with sufficient judges, he said.

A shortage of public defenders is another pressing issue, he added. The state public defender office has been suffering from high turnover rates and high workload. To have good people do this, youve got to pay," he said.
Adapted from Stephen Kings 1982 novella, The Shawshank Redemption is one of the world's favoruite films - and if you have never seen it, where have you been the past few decades?

I entered the theatre with no pre-conceptions of the production, as after all it is a stage adaption of an Oscar-winning movie.

The Shawshank Redemption follows innocent banker Andy Dufresne as he serves a double-life prison sentence in the notorious Shawshank Penitentiary. Andy forms an improbable friendship with the prison fixer Red and is soon exploited by Warden Stammas for his intelligence.

The set is a powerful, interior shell of a maximum security facility but soon transpires into other scenes including a rooftop, cinema room, prison cell and much more, all shaped by the cast distinguished as prisoners.

From Sam Cooke to The Beatles, music is played throughout the show not only setting a particular scene's tone, but also cunningly representing the shift in time. Chilling background sounds of prison life are also played representing the oppressive theme of the show. There are disturbing scenes of gang rape by prisoners known as the sisters, in a scene that plays out with integrity despite being uncomfortable to watch.

TV's Paul Nicholls portrays complex protagonist Andy Dufresne with a purity, capturing the dramatisation of his character well. Warden Stammas, played by established actor Jack Ellis, is a character highlight with his harsh American accent and alarming mannerisms.

Andrew Boyer portrays prisoner Brooksie with warmth, adding much-needed sentiment to such a dramatic production. The character of Red, played by Ben Onwukwe, speaks in a consistent, warm accent and offers an overall amazing performance.

Themes of injustice, liberation and friendship fortify a stage production that is reminiscent of the movie we all know and love; there are also moments of much-need humour. Director David Esbjornsons has successfully managed to overcome any challenges of delivering heavy dramatics, similar to those within the film, in front of a live audience. Its definitely worth a watch.
In a contentious world with everyone clashing over different issues and hot topics, it feels like there is only one constant. Yes, were talking about pizza. Pizza has the power to unite in an often confusing and turbulent world.

Okay, we might be waxing a bit lyrical about the Italian delicacy but lets face it: everyone loves pizza.

Which is why we imagine there are going to be a lot of applications for what is possibly the best job weve ever heard of. Drum roll pleasepizza judge.

All it involves is eating various slices of pizza and picking your favourite. Thats basically the stuff of dreams.

All the cheesy-tomatoey-doughy magic will take place on Saturday November 19 at Bristols first Pizza, Beer & Fizz festival.

We thought a pizza festival was good enough, but theyve stepped things up a notch by adding beer and bubbles into the equation.

The festivals organiser Foozie is on the hunt for three pizza lovers to fill the all-important judging roles, where they will try a quarter of a pizza from each Bristol trader and pick a winner.
The internet has been in uproar this week over the apparent news that Bono has been recognised in the Glamour magazine Women of the Year Awards.

Theres a lot to unpick here, mainly because of the actual facts that the media are failing to report re Bono, Glamour magazine (US), Glamour magazine (UK), Women of the Year, and Man of the Year - an award that UK Glamour has actually been giving out since 2004.

wrongly been reported Firstly, the title awarded to Bono earlier this week was MAN of the Year. Not Woman of the Year. Bono is not one of Glamours women of the year, as has. Thats the first thing.

Independent Guardian BBC Secondly, the award was offered by US Glamour. Not UK Glamour. This is a distinction that failed to be made by the, the, the, and multiple other outlets that should know better.

If I were Jo Elvin, Id be pissed as hell at the UK medias failure to make this distinction.

Just another day of women's mags being accused of being stupid by inaccurate broadsheet reporting. Yawn.  Jo Elvin (@jo_elvin) November 3, 2016

Oh wait, it looks like she is.

It also looks like the mainstream media doesnt feel the need to report the words of the actual editor of the magazine theyre slating by omission of key facts.

You wouldve thought shed be the first person theyd contact for clarification, wouldnt you? Apparently not.

And Bono is not US Glamour's 'woman of the year'. https://t.co/XfoiZvooub  Jo Elvin (@jo_elvin) November 2, 2016

Also, heres a list of all UK Glamours Men of the Year since 2004  because yes, that really is how long theyve been running this award.

2004  David Schwimmer

2005  Usher

2006  Paul Bettany

2007  Eric Mabius

2008  Mark Ronson

2009  Kanye West

2010  Aaron Taylor-Johnson

2011  Garrett Hedlund

2012  Tom Hiddleston

2013  Daniel Radcliffe

2014  Sam Claflin

2015  Calvin Harris

So, there we are. Glamour magazine (UK) has actually been giving a Man of the Year Award for over a decade.

But lets not look at the facts, when we can shout on the internet and a womens magazine is an easy target, right?

In the apparent absence of any proper conversation or thought on this issue, maybe we should listen - if were not going to bother to listen to Jo Elvin - to the words of Bono himself, who said upon receiving the accolade:

Im grateful for this award as a chance to say the battle for gender equality cant be won unless men lead it along with women. Were largely responsible for the problem, so we have to be involved in the solutions.

It doesnt seem a stretch, if you want half the worlds population to reach an equal playing field, to utilise the half who can assist them in getting there.

The people who disagree with this are the people who dismiss International Mens Day as superfluous because womens problems are so much worse (as if equality was some kind of one-upmanship game), and because every day is International Mens Day, and because apparently were so simple-minded we can only deal with one issue at once and nothing ever effects anything else.

Anyway.

Maybe what the media couldve been doing this week is celebrating the women who have been named in these awards too  Simone Biles, Christine Lagarde, Emily Doe  instead of sidelining them in favour of easy headlines and incorrect clickbait that focuses on one single man. After all, isnt that the very issue theyve spent the week shouting about?
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Australian tourist, 62, attacked by baby elephant in Phuket

PHUKET: An Australian tourist is currently being treated at Bangkok Hospital Phuket after being attacked by an elephant on Mai Khao Beach on Monday (Oct 31).

accidentsanimalspolicetourism

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Friday 4 November 2016, 12:11PM

Namwan seen here being transferred from the island on Nov 2. Photo: The Phuket News

Mr Chan is attended to by rescue workers' following the attack on Oct 31. Photo: The Phuket News

The elephant, named Namwan, is the same elephant seized at the Mai Khao Mart, near Mai Khao Plaza at the northern end of Phuket, on Aug 3 following a tip-off from undercover police that he was being used by touts to charge tourists money to have their photo taken with the iconic animal. (See story here.)

In addition, Col Prawit Sutthirueangarun Chief of Tha Chatchai Police Station told The Phuket News today (Nov 4) that he believes the incident should never have happened as Namwan should have been moved from the island after it was seized by officials on Aug 3.

Col Prawit said, Australian tourist Chan Young Yun, 62, was walking at Mai Khao Plaza at 9:15am on October 31 when he saw an elephant nearby chained to a coconut tree. He went close to the elephant as he wanted to take a photo.

Suddenly the elephant used its trunk to hit Mr Chan many times which is what caused his injuries. He was taken to hospital, and at 5pm on Nov 1 one of Mr Chans relatives came to the police station to make a record the incident, he said.

We found out from his relative that Mr Chan sustained injuries to both sides of his rib cage and also his back. He also has blood in right lung so he is being closely monitored by doctors at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, he added.

Col Prawit went on to say that he believes that Namwans mahout had left him chained to the tree as a tourist attraction. However, he added that after being seized by the livestock department on Aug 3 the elephant should not have even been on the island.

After Namwan was seized by the Phuket Livestack Office on Aug 3 his mahout had to keep him in a locked enclosure for 30 days, after the 30 days expired the Livestock Office should have transferred Namwan off of the island.

Tha Chatchai police repeatedly called the Phuket Livestock Office to have them transfer Namwan out of Phuket, they never did. If he had been transferred like he was supposed to have been then this incident would never have happened, he said.

The Mai Khao Local Administration Office (OrBorTor) Chief Sarawut Srisakukam said, When I was last updated on the situation I was told that the tourist is recovering at Bangkok Hospital.

After I found out about the incident I informed the Phuket Livestock Office to take care of this elephant as it is their responsibility, he said.

When The Phuket News tried to call Surajit Witchuwan, Chief of Phuket Provincial Livestock Office today his phone was switched off.

However, The Phuket News has learned that the Phuket Livestock Office transported Namwan to the Noppring district of Phang Nga by six-wheeler truck on Nov 2.
One dead, twenty injured in Surat Thani-Phuket bus crash

PHUKET: At least one person has died and over 20 injured when a Surat-Phuket bus missed a bend and flipped on Phetkasem Rd in front of Thai Muang Hospital in Phang Nga this afternoon.

accidentsdeathpoliceweathertransport

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Friday 4 November 2016, 06:06PM

The driver of the bus, Mr Pramuan Mandee, 39, said he lost control of the bus due to bad weather conditions. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Capt Chalermsak Aksornpein of the Thai Muang Police was notified of an accident at 1pm today where it was reported that a bus bound for Phuket had crashed and landed in a ditch on Phetkasem Rd in Baan Thasaw, Phang Nga about 100 metres before Thai Mueang Hospital.

Upon arrival at the scene rescue workers and police found a wreckage blue and white Surat Thani-Phuket bus lying on its side in a ditch.

The bus driver, Mr Pramuan Mandee, 39, from Nakorn Srit Tammarat and a large numbers of passengers, who had only suffered minor injuries, were standing at the roadside. Police were told three people were still trapped inside the wreckage.

A total of 26 people  including the three originally trapped  were taken to Thai Muang Hospital where one passenger was later reported to have died. The deceased was later named as Notachai Boontharit, a Navy officer from Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command based in Phang Nga.

Mr Pramuan told police that he picked up 35 passengers and was heading to Phuket when he lost control of the bus due to poor weather conditions.

The bus landed sideways in a ditch with its rear-end crashed into a tree.

We are questioning all the passengers, but at this time no charges have yet been filed, said Capt Chalermsak.
Phuket drug raid leads to arrest of one dealer, two escape

PHUKET: One female drug dealer was arrested yesterday (Nov 3) during a police raid in a mangrove forest in Pa Khlok. Police managed to seize 48,700 methamphetamine pills (ya bah) during the raid, however, two further dealers managed to escape arrest.

crimedrugslandpolicetransport

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Friday 4 November 2016, 01:16PM

Police presented the seized items during yesterday's press conference. Photo: Eakkapop thongtub

At 5pm yesterday a team of officers led by Lt Col Weerayuth Sitthirattanakul of the Thalang Police arrested 21-year-old Ms Paphawadee Bee Yuankaid who was found in possession of 48,700 ya bah pills near a canal in the mangrove forest of Baan Para in Moo 4 Pa Khlok.

The arrest of Paphawadee was announced at a press conference held this morning (Nov 4) at 10am by Deputy Commander of the Region 8 Police Lt Gen Chalit Thinthanee at the Provincial Police Station.

On display at the press conference were seized items including 24 bundles of ya bah pills (each containing 2,000 pills), one bag containing 700 pills, a Honda Scoopy motorbike, three mobile phones, B10,000 in cash and others items.

Paphawadee was not presented at the press conference.

Lt Gen Chalit explained, The arrest came after we received a tip-off from undercover officers at 4:30pm on Thursday that there is ongoing drug activity near the Baan Para mangrove area in Pa Khlok. We were told that dealers use the area to hide their drugs before distributing them.

Officers went by vehicle to the area, however the road was too narrow so officers had to go to the mangrove forest by foot. After walking for about 200-300 metres officers spotted two men and a woman near the canal. The three started to run as soon as they saw police, he said.

Officers managed to capture Paphawadee but the other two suspects got away, but Paphawadee told officers the names of the two men, Mr Adisak Homhuan and Mr Pai, she did not know the latters full name.

Adisak is already wanted by police with warrants out for him for possession of drugs and illegal possession of firearm. Paphawadee was also arrested in 2013 for possession of a Category 1 Drug [ya ice].

Officers discovered the drugs inside a longtail boat which Paphawadee said belonged to Mr Adisak. She said that she only watched the items and was not selling drugs, he added.

Paphawadee was taken to Thalang Police Station to be charge with possession of a Category 1 Drug with intent to sell. Officers are continuing their search for Adisak and Pai.
Search for Russian man missing off Phuket enters third day

PHUKET: Rescue teams and Marine Police from Phanga Nga will today (Nov 4) go into their third day of searching for missing Russian man, Alexey Stashkov, who disappeared after going for a swim from a yacht moored off the Similan Islands on Monday (Oct 31).

accidentsmarinepolice

By Yutthawat Lekmak

Friday 4 November 2016, 10:54AM

The navy vessel Tor229 was also part of the search operation. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

An officer from the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command in Phang Nga told The Phuket News today, We were not able to find Mr Stashkov yesterday (Nov 3), and so we issued an order to rescue teams and Marine Police in Phanga Nga to continue their search for the missing Russian today.

In addition to the rescue teams and Marine Police, the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command also sent out the Tor229 navy vessel to assist with the search. Local fishing vessels and tourist boats have also been helping, said the official, who declined to be named.

Meanwhile, The Phuket News yesterday received a first-hand account of Mr Stashkovs disappearance from Mikhail Kolmogorov, the captain of the yacht Revolution, from which Mr Stashkov disappeared.

Mr Kolmogorov explained that Revolution left Chalong Pier last Saturday night (Oct 29), and by early Sunday morning had reached the Similan Islands.

Together, Mr Stashkov and Mr Kolmogorov moored Revolution close to a small island, about 1 mile to the East from Koh Payan.

Mr Kolmogorov told The Phuket News how he was tired after making the journey so went for a lie down. Mr Stashkov told him that he would be going for a swim.

I was on watch during the last leg of voyage and so I went down below to rest. I was half asleep when I heard Alexey calling for help, Mr Kolmogorov said.

By the time Mr Kolmogorov had reached the deck Mr Stashkov was far from the boat and caught in a rip tide.

Mr Kolmogorov untied Revolutions dinghy and sent it afloat with the rip, hoping Mr Stashkov would be able to grab it.

Mr Kolmogorov then tried to move the yacht closer to Mr Satshkov, but was delayed as he had to cut the mooring line which had become stuck under the boat.

Upon reaching the dinghy I discovered that Alexey was not inside the dinghy or anywhere in the vicinity, he said.

Stressed and stunned, Mr Kolmogorov made contact with some friends in Phuket and also abroad to alert them about what had happened and proceeded to search for Alexey himself.

I now realise that maybe I should have also sent a Mayday signal by radio, he added.

Mr Kolmogorov went on to say that the area where Mr Stashkov disappeared is absolutely desolate and that no tour boats went to the area, he also said that the main island of the Similan group was too far away for help to come quickly so he continued to search by himself.

After two days of searching I stopped my efforts and proceeded to the central island in the Similan Archipelago. But it wasnt until Nov 1 that a navy vessel arrived and I was questioned by officials, Mr Kolmogorov concluded.

Additional reporting by Anton Makhrov
South Dakotans in NFL Week 8: Don Gardner, Cade Johnson make NFL debuts

Former Jackrabbit teammates elevated from practice squad for first regular season action
By Graham Dodd

doddhenr@grinnell.edu

Bikes to You, a Grinnell staple, was recently recognized by the Iowa Tourism Office and the Travel Federation of Iowa, receiving an Outstanding Retail Experience award. The S&Bs Graham Dodd met with Bikes to You co-owner Craig Cooper to talk about how the awards would affect the future of his store, as well as tourism trends in Grinnell.

The S&B: Could you talk about the award you recently received from the Iowa Department of Tourism?

Craig Cooper: We received the Iowa Tourism Award for small retail experience. My recollection is that was the retail experience for towns with a population under 10,000.

The S&B: How do you think that fits into the larger development of tourism in the city of Grinnell?

CC: One of the things Id like to talk about first is that Emily Counts, who formerly worked with the Council, and Rachael Kinnick have been instrumental in making sure Grinnell is on the map, so to speak when it comes to submitting businesses and destinations for awards like this, and I am honored that they chose our store. Emily recently wrote the nomination both for Faulconer and for us, and Rachael kind of oversaw that, and then it was obviously up to the judges to decide, but at least they put us in the mix. On top of that, I think Bikes to You feels like we have a destination retail store. We are fortunate that we are located first of all in Grinnell, which has the College and provides a portion of our sales revenue, and we are also proud to be one of the 10 official RAGBRAI bicycle shops. By being a part of that we get a lot of statewide and, quite honestly, national exposure for being associated with that. Between those two things, I think that is how we got where we are.

The S&B: How do you think Bikes for You will affect tourism in Grinnell in the future?

CC: I hope that we can play a key role in attracting people to come to Grinnell. Grinnell has, for lack of a better word, kind of accidentally become whats referred to in the state of Iowa as the de facto gravel bicycle capital of the state. We have a lot of gravel roads around Grinnell that are conducive to bicycle riding. They are good farm-to-market roads that are challenging to ride and attract [bikers] to come here for that. In addition, we have Rock Creek Trail and we have Rock Creek Lake and some other things as well. But if we are going to hang our hat a little bit on that tourism thing, then gravel riding will be a part of that. There is what is kind of the granddaddy of all gravel rides called the Trans Iowa, which occurs in April. I dont have anything to do with the organization of that, but for the last seven years they have chosen Grinnell as the starting and ending point of that 300 mile gravel road ride. So we get a fair amount of traffic based on that. Of course, we provide rental bikes for folks that want to do gravel riding. We have parents that come in and rent bikes, and some of them choose to do the gravel riding. So that is how I see our business playing a role in tourism within Grinnell, Iowa.

The S&B: As you know, the Faulconer Gallery won another award from the Iowa Tourism department. Have you ever been there?

CC: I have! Absolutely, I should go more often too, knowing what a gem it is only three blocks away from us. Ive been to several shows over there. I went to a fascinating architecture show a few years ago. As often as not, we hear people say, Oh, we are in town for the Faulconer show, whats going on?

The S&B: Do you have any closing remarks?

CC: I feel that Grinnell is a great place to be right now. With all of the effort of the Chamber and the City and the College, I dont want to leave the College out, because they are making a substantial investment, we are destined not only to be a great place to be, but we are destined to be a premier place to be in the Midwest. You can just kind of feel it. Every once in a while in life, things gel, and you can feel that we are just on the verge of being a superstar.
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis has ruled out women's ordination, saying the "last word" on the question was delivered by St. John Paul II and that no changes are foreseen.

Francis was asked en route home Tuesday from Sweden, where the Lutheran church is headed by a woman, if the Catholic Church might ordain women priests.

Francis said: "The last word was clear and was given by St. John Paul II and this remains. This remains."

John Paul ruled out female ordination in his 1994 apostolic letter "Priestly Ordination." In the document, John Paul declared that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."
Displaced people in a convoy of cars drive away from Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert speaks during a press conference Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, at the Des Moines Police Department in Des Moines, Iowa. Police say 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene was taken into Greene turned himself in to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources employee west of Des Moines Wednesday. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP)
DECATUR -- When Mark Sorensen got involved with Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial, he figured the best way to help was to use his knowledge of history.

Sorensen, official Macon County historian, will give a presentation titled "Lincoln's First Illinois Homestead" at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Governor Oglesby Mansion, 421 W. William St.

The speech, the autumn version of "History Comes Alive at the Mansion," covers the circumstances that brought the Lincolns to Decatur and, a year later, made them leave Decatur. He'll also talk about the log cabin that was built by the Lincoln and Hanks families but later disappeared.

Sorensen will be followed by Judy Parrish, chair of the Millikin University Biology Department, who will talk about what happened to the Lincoln Homestead property, how it became a state park in 1957, attempts at having a replica cabin there from 1975 to 1990 and what Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead is trying to do to reinvigorate the site.

Sorensen is a veteran of the History Comes Alive at the Mansion series. He was in charge of the program for six years and has done at least two previous presentations. When he heard Millikin associate professor of history Dan Monroe discuss "The Winter of the Deep Snow" in May at the Lincoln Trail Homestead Park, he was inspired to dig in further on "the set of circumstances and events that led the Lincolns to Macon County and perhaps some things that worked toward Lincoln not wanting to stay here in 1831."

"I wanted to investigate more about what happened in those lives to make that happen," Sorensen said.

Abraham Lincoln was born in western Kentucky in 1809. His father Thomas Lincoln moved his family to southern Indiana in 1816, then in 1830 came to Decatur. They built a log cabin on the north bank of the Sangamon River.

"Why is it that Lincoln's father left Kentucky in the first place? How did Lincoln survive several incidents, nearly drowning and almost getting killed by a horse? Why did they pick that particular spot in Macon County to squat in?" Sorensen said.

Sorensen said he also hopes to help out Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead by giving attention to a historic site that Sorensen said: "has a long history of neglect."

A reception will follow and is open to the public. A $2 donation per person is requested. For more information, call (217) 429-9422.
Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy

By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat
Six year old Maldivian airline MEGA Maldives, on Friday, announced its operations from India. The airline would seek to connect the two capital cities of Delhi and Male and would be the first Maldivian airline to do this.

This means that flyers from North India will save on transit time and halt at any southern India airports en-route to reaching the coral islands and the honeymooning paradise of Maldives.

So far, most flights to Maldive connect south Indian cities like Chennai, Trivandrum, Bangalore and Cochin. "Our efforts for connecting the Indian capital of Delhi and our capital Male had started way back in 2015 as part of bilateral agreements between the two countries," said Ahmed Mohamed, Maldivian ambassador to India.

"In 2013 and 2015, Indian travellers have ranked as the eighth most traveling nation to Maldives. It was the sixth country which sent the most number of tourists to Maldives. In January to August this year, number of Indian passengers to Maldives have increased by 21.4 per cent over the same period last year," said Mohamed, while launching the Maldivian airline at Delhi.

"The prospects in aviation and tourism are very good and both countries stand to benefit from such capital-to-capital connections that could bring trade and tourism between the two countries closer," he added.

Speaking at the launch, George Weinmann, founder and CEO of Mega Maldives Airline, said that the the airline is looking to start connections from India at the same level it had done for Chinese tourists some years back. China is now the number one country that send the most tourists to Maldives now.

"We will be flying our three month old 737-800 between Male and Delhi. It will further connect to Hong Kong. Our aircraft is configured with 12 business class and 156 economy class seats. Passengers will be able to enjoy a host of premium on-board services in the aircraft that has the latest Boeing Sky Interior," said Weinmann.

Promising further action in India, Weinmann said, the airline is looking to launch a direct service between Mumbai and Male in the next few months. "We are approved to start services from Mumbai twice a week. We are also interested in starting services from southern cities and connect them to unusual destinations like Jeddah and Medinah. All expansions will happen in a phased manner," said Weinmann.

The airline is also proposing to start a Delhi-Dhaka route, one sector where it believes there is significant unaddressed demand. The airline is offering economy tickets at a launch price of Rs 22,900 between Male and Delhi on its first flight on November 15. This is significantly lower than its usual ticket price of Rs 26,800 (economy) and Rs 40,000 (business class) travel.

Weinmann said that the airline is open to hosting special occassions like engagements and even honeymoon on air and other such customised arrangements for special groups. The airline has also tied up with some of the famous Maldivian spas and boutique hotels and would be selling their services in India as part of its package tours.






Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there should be discussions on holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies as this would help save much resources and manpower. The prime minister was addressing reporters at the BJPs annual Diwali Milan programme held at the party headquarters.

He said occasionally such discussions do take place, but beyond that nothing has been done in this regard, adding the demand for holding simultaneous parliament and assembly elections has come from the public.

Modi also lauded the media for highlighting and contributing to the cause of cleanliness, adding that this led to a healthy competition among states. He noted that similar focus was needed from the media on the issue of holding simultaneous general and state assembly elections.

Things working with Jan Sahyog (public participation) have made a special place for themselves and in this the role of the media has been very high, Prime Minister added.

After his address, the prime minister met journalists to shake hands with them and many were eager have selfies taken with him.

Seated along with Modi on the dais were BJP chief Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda.

Interestingly, the theme of this Diwali Milan appeared to be Modis interactions with the army men and the surgical strikes. Shah referred to Modi spending time with army men every Diwali. Everyone felt proud of army men after the surgical strikesModi has given new direction to the country, Shah said in his speech.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the sensational jail break by eight SIMI activists from the Bhopal central prison and their alleged encounter.

The judicial probe will be conducted by retired High Court judge Justice S K Pandey, an official release stated.

"Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high security jail and the encounter that took place after that," it said.

A PIL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on the issue of demanding judicial probe into the incident.

The under trial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.

Before escaping from the jail, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav.

Since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state home minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

A controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.
DECATUR  Police arrested a Southern Illinois man in Decatur on Tuesday in connection with the shooting death of a 38-year-old Murphysboro man, which occurred Oct. 24 in Murphysboro.

Juwan Jackson, 26, was arrested on multiple felony charges, after Special Deputy U.S. Marshals Lorne Sturdivant and Adam Walter received information from police in Murphysboro that he was possibly in Decatur, said a news release from the Macon County Sheriff's Office.

Detrick Rogers was shot in the head about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 24. A warrant was issued for Jackson's arrest on charges of aggravated battery with a firearm, armed violence and unlawful possession of cannabis with the intent to deliver.

After Rogers died the following day, police said they are seeking a murder charge against Jackson.

Cortez Turner, 27, of Murphysboro suffered nonlife-threatening injuries in the same incident.

Officers from the Macon County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested Jackson, who was hiding at a residence in the 400 block of West Macon Street. He was taken into custody without resistance.

Jackson was held in the Macon County Jail before he was transported back to Murphysboro. He appeared in court via a video connection Thursday from the Jackson County Jail, according to the Southern Illinoisan. He is being held in jail on $1 million bond and is due back in court for his preliminary hearing Dec. 1.

Murphysboro police allege that Jackson shot Rogers with a semiautomatic weapon. Police have not released suspect information on the shooting of Cortez Turner.
In the wake of the sensational jailbreak and alleged encounter of eight SIMI activists in Bhopal, the Union home ministry is preparing a detailed advisory to be sent to all state governments and UTs. It will state that the prison and prisoner security is the responsibility of the state and any laxity on that front could result in serious judicial intervention in the state's role.

The Home ministry's new prison advisory comes at a time when a huge controversy is raging about the genuineness of the Bhopal encounter and the state government constituting a judicial inquiry to probe the circumstances in which the eight SIMI men were gunned down by the Bhopal police.

The MHA will also inform the states that technological devices such as CCTVs and sensors are a must for high-security prisons and top most priority should be accorded to deploy them.

The MHA advisory will also place the mandate upon the states to carry out regular audit of the security systems in place in prisons, sources told THE WEEK.

The MHA will also emphasise on the need to segregate hardened criminals and terrorists from ordinary prisoners so as to ensure a better security ring around them.

Since the Bhopal encounter took place on the intervening night of October 30-31, conflicting versions from police and state home ministry have surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake. A judicial probe by retired High Court judge S.K.Pandey is now being conducted.
On the war path against the Modi government on the issue of One Rank One Pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the ruling dispensation of having lied on the issue, claiming that what has been implemented is not OROP but merely enhancement of pension.

Gandhi, who met a group of ex-servicemen at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, said that the veterans informed him that the central government has not implemented OROP, but only enhanced their pension.

Attacking the Modi government, the Congress vice president, who has been detained thrice by the Delhi police in two days over his protests on the issue of OROP, said, The Prime Minister says OROP has been implemented. Then why are our retired soldiers protesting at Jantar Mantar?

He accused the government of making concessions worth lakhs of crores for industrialists but not caring for the farmers and the soldiers.

I want to say to this government. It will have to give our ex-servicemen, who have made sacrifices for our country, what is rightfully theirs, Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said he saw the family of Ram Kishan Grewal, the ex-serviceman from Haryana who allegedly committed suicide in Delhi on the issue of OROP, being dragged and abused by the police. No government can treat any citizen, leave alone people associated with the army, like this, he said.

Gandhi demanded the government should apologise for the manner in which Grewals family was treated and implement OROP immediately.

In the run-up to the coming winter session of Parliament, Gandhi has gone aggressive on the issue of welfare of ex-servicemen. Earlier, he wrote a letter to the prime minister, demanding a meaningful implementation of OROP, rethink on the decision taken with regard to disability pension and also a review of the move to realign the status of military officers vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts.

The Congress vice president was detained twice as he attempted to meet the family of Grewal in Delhi on November two. He attended the funeral of the ex-serviceman in his native village in Haryana on November three. He was again detained later in the day as he insisted on marching to India Gate from Jantar Mantar to protest the handling of the issue.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told his followers on Thursday there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against them, as advancing soldiers battled into their northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.

Expressing confidence that his Islamic State fighters would prevail against Shi'ite Muslims, Western "crusaders" and Sunni "apostate" countries Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Baghdadi called on the jihadists fighting in Mosul to "wreak havoc".

"This raging battle and total war, and the great jihad that the state of Islam is fighting today only increases our firm belief, God willing, and our conviction that all this is a prelude to victory," Baghdadi said in an audio recording released online by supporters.

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air strikes launched a campaign two weeks ago to retake Mosul.

Winning back the city would signal the defeat of the Iraqi half of a crossborder caliphate which Baghdadi declared from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque two years ago. Islamic State also holds large parts of neighboring Syria.

In his first audio message released in nearly a year, Baghdadi called on the population of Mosul's Nineveh province "not to weaken in the jihad" against the "enemies of God".

He also called on the group's suicide fighters to "turn the nights of the unbelievers into days, to wreak havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers".

Those tempted to flee should "know that the value of staying on your land with honor is a thousand times better than the price of retreating with shame".

Rocket fire

Shortly after Baghdadi's speech was released at around 2 am, residents said heavy explosions shook eastern Mosul. One said the militants fired dozens of rockets towards the Intisar, Quds and Samah districts where soldiers have been closing in.

"We heard the sounds of rockets firing one after the other and saw them flashing through the air. The house was shaking and we were terrified, not knowing what was taking place."

Fighters were on the street, unusually showing their faces, he said. "They were saying 'We will fight till death. The caliph gave us a morale boost to fight the infidels'," he said.

Another witness from the Hadba neighborhood of north Mosul said that Islamic State vehicles patrolled the area and blasted out Baghdadi's speech, urging fighters to hold their positions.

Outside the city's eastern limits, hundreds of civilians streamed out, packed into cars, pickups and trucks, waving white flags and hooting horns. Cows and sheep also filled the road from Kokjali, on the eastern edge of Mosul.

Fleeing residents said there had been heavy mortar fire launched by retreating Islamic State fighters.

By mid-morning, a Reuters correspondent in Kokjali saw smoke rising from inside Mosul but there were no sounds of fighting.

After special forces broke through Islamic State defensive lines in the east this week, troops from the army's Ninth Armoured Division breached the southeastern perimeter of the city on Thursday, advancing towards the Mithaq and Intisar neighborhoods, a colonel in the division said.

Four soldiers were killed when two armored personnel carriers were hit by rocket and mortar fire, he said. Despite the heavy resistance, the soldiers made advances during the day, according to a military statement later on Thursday.

A senior special forces commander said troops were fighting in four neighborhoods in the east, and if they made further progress they might try to sweep through the eastern half of the city all the way to the River Tigris, bypassing some districts.

"If I want to speed up the operation, we may not take some areas and instead isolate them to prevent movement. That would reduce the time needed to reach the right bank," Lieutenant-General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), told Reuters.

The exact location of Baghdadi, an Iraqi whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai, is not clear. Reports have said he may be in Mosul itself, or in Islamic State-held land to the west of the city, close to the border with Syria.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said intelligence suggested that Baghdadi had "vacated the scene", but he did not say where the Islamic State leader had gone to.

Mosul still has a population of 1.5 million people, much more than any of the other cities captured by Islamic State two years ago in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in on it for two weeks from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the River Tigris from the south.

The Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces of mainly Shi'ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, launching an offensive to cut off any supply or escape to the west.

The leader of the Badr Organisation, the largest of the Popular Mobilisation militias, said his forces would cut off the main western supply route on Thursday, leaving Islamic State surrounded.

A spokesman for the militias later said they had made progress but had not closed off the western flank, and had seen from a distance some cars leaving Mosul.

Senior Kurdish politician Hoshiyar Zebari said that Islamic State blew up parts of a bridge over the Tigris linking the two sides of Mosul, to try to prevent fighters abandoning the eastern districts.

"It's the most important bridge for them because it leads to their headquarters and residential areas (on the western side)," he told Reuters. Residents said there had been two explosion at the bridge, stopping traffic in both directions.

Targeting Turkey and Saudi

In his speech, Baghdadi called for attacks on Turkey and Saudi Arabia, saying the Sunni countries had both sided with the enemy in a war targeting Sunni Islam.

Islamic State fighters should "unleash the fire of their anger" on Turkish troops fighting them in Syria, and take the battle into Turkey.

"Turkey entered the zone of your operations, so attack it, destroy its security, and sow horror within it. Put it on your list of battlefields. Turkey entered the war with the Islamic State with cover and protection from Crusader jets," he said referring to the US-led air coalition.

Baghdadi also told his followers to launch "attack after attack" in Saudi Arabia, targeting security forces, government officials, members of the ruling Al Saud family and media outlets, for "siding with the infidel nations in the war on Islam and the Sunna (Sunni Muslims) in Iraq and Syria".

Islamic State has been on the retreat since last year in both Iraq and Syria, in the face of a myriad of different forces seeking to crush the hardline group.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the conflict with Islamic State had caused colossal damage to the country, already struggling to cope with low oil prices. He said infrastructure losses alone amounted to $35 billion.
Home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday sought Turkey's support on the Kashmir issue in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has in the past issued statements criticising India.



The minister presented India's view to a Turkish delegation led by Minister of Development Lutfi Elvan here.



A home ministry statement said that Rajnath Singh sought "Istanbul's support in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)".



The 57-member OIC (formerly Organization of the Islamic Conference) had last month issued a statement criticising alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. India had dismissed the statement.



Terming terrorism as a major challenge for the global community, the home minister said both the countries should come on-board to fight terrorism.



On the Islamic State (IS), Singh said the ISIS does not have much wider dimension in India though it posed a major challenge to Turkey.



The Turkish minister Elvan pushed for comprehensive trade partnership between the two countries.



"The two countries should push forward the Comprehensive Trade Partnership Agreement and propose revival of sittings of the joint economic forum," Elvan said.



He also sought more investment opportunities for Turkish construction companies in India's infrastructure sector and said Istanbul can be a favoured transit point for trans-Atlantic destinations.




It was just before sunset. The crew of Thinking Of Him were preparing for a shoot on a platform under a mango tree in Santiniketan. The scene was the farewell gathering of Felix, an Argentine who had taught at Visva Bharati. Renowned Argentine stage and film actor Hector Bordoni was playing Felix. Director Pablo Cesar, also from Argentina, wanted an emotional parting between Felix and his student Kamali (actor Raima Sen).

But, the shoot was stalled. The university told producer Suraj Kumar that the red-cemented podium was sacred ground. It was where Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi had sat together to discuss national issues. After much coaxing, Sisir Sahana, principal of Kala Bhavana (Visva Bharatis art school), came to supervise the scene. By then dusk had set in, and Cesar called it a day.

He then held a rehearsal of the unfinished take, under a banyan tree close by. The scene had Felix meeting his students one by one, and shaking hands with them. When it came to Kamali, Felix hugged her, prodding Cesar to shout, Cut!

No, the hug is not in the script and you cannot do that, Cesar told Bordoni, who looked perplexed. But, the director was adamant. He later said he was being cautious, as the subject of the film was delicate. A smiling Sen clarified, Bengalis are very sensitive when it comes to Tagore. Indians are very touchy about their legends. It is amidst such restrictions that the shooting of Thinking Of Him has been going on in Santiniketan, Tagores workplace.

In the moment: Actor Hector Bordoni, who plays Felix, on the set in Santiniketan.

The film deals with a rare subjectthe relationship between Tagore and Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo. Cesar has taken up a controversial issue that Bengalis avoid discussing in public. A joint venture between Johnsons-Suraj Films International and the government of Argentina, the film will look at the platonic love and mutual admiration shared by two intellectuals from different continents.

Thinking Of Him will be shot in India and Argentina. It will be released in four languagesBengali, English, Spanish and Frenchwith subtitles in English. In Argentina, the film would look into the relationship between Tagore and Ocampo, between 1924 and 1930. In India, there will be a parallel story between Felix and Kamali in the present day. Actor Victor Banerjee plays Tagore and Argentine actor Eleonora Wexler plays Ocampo.

Banerjee told THE WEEK: When I read the script I felt Cesar had his finger on an aspect of Tagore that we, in India, are mostly ignorant aboutthat Tagore was a social activist and a reformer who felt deeply about our tribal and agrarian brethren and did something positive for them. Argentinians remain fascinated by his approach to education and liberal arts, which was unique a century ago.

About the Tagore-Ocampo relationship, Banerjee said, Theirs was a meeting of minds. Her adoration of his creative intellect and his admiration for a woman of substance, who had the sensitivity and brains to interpret and comprehend his thought processes.

The theme was suggested to Cesar by R. Viswanathan, former Indian ambassador to Argentina. I knew that Ocampo was thrilled reading the French translation of Gitanjali, Cesar said. Her desperation to see Tagore, when he stopped in Argentina en route to Peru, was something worth noting. She rushed to the hotel where Tagore was put up and took him to her own place in Buenos Aires. The house was converted into a Tagore memorial after Ocampos death in 1979.

Ocampos marriage was on the rocks when she met him. Her interest in him grew after he returned home and dedicated the entire section of poems, Purabi, to her. Tagore also gave Ocampo the name Bijaya. He wrote: Ami chini go chini tomare, ogo videshini.... Tumi thako sindhu pare, ogo videshini....[I know you, know you, oh my lady, from an alien land... Like a foreign lady you also dwell in a foreign land....]

They met only twice. But, the bond lasted from 1924, until Tagores death in 1941. Tagore never saw Ocampo for the last ten years of his life. After Tagores death, Ocampo wrote to his son Rathindranath, I am thinking of him.... The films title is from this statement.

Cesar got access to many letters between Tagore and Ocampo, with the help of the Argentina government. Things were not as smooth in India; administrators were worried about a possibly objectionable love story. The culture ministry took months to read the script and green-light it. About shooting in Santiniketan, the Union government washed its hands of the matter and left all decisions to the university.

The main story is being shot in Santiniketan and in Kolkatas Jorsanko. Felix used to teach jail inmates in Argentina and has his own psychological issues. He often has unpleasant and stormy hallucinations of his childhood. In Santiniketan, Kamali helps him throughout his stay.

Calling the shots: Director Pablo Cesar with actor Raima Sen in Santiniketan.

Once he recovers, he goes back to Argentina with Tagores philosophy, and shares it with students there. The relationship between Felix and Kamali, Sen says, is nothing physical, but as platonic as that of Tagore and Ocampo.

Scriptwriter Jeronimo Toubes said that while researching he found that Argentinians were convinced that both Tagore and Ocampo were in love. But we refrained from making it a love story as we did not want to hurt sentiments of Tagore lovers in India, said Toubes. There were indications that they had more than just mutual admiration for each other. But, there was nothing concrete as well. Here we focus more on Tagore being an educationist than a poet.

Cesar said he was deeply influenced by film-maker Satayajit Ray while working on this film. I broke down watching Satyajit Rays Apur Sansar. Like Ray, I use long cuts rather than abrupt cuts in this movie. Each day, we do only two or three shots, he said. The film will be released in April next, according to the production house.

Tagores praise for Ocampo has been scripted in his poems, songs and paintings. And, Ocampo wrote about Tagore: I could not count at this juncture what western countries got from him. I want his countrymen to know all thishis own people, where he was born and died. I met him during a springtime, when my country was full of roses. Like those days, he is still connected to me, close to me. He took me from a world of delusion to one of reality and truth. He took me to the land of a refined relationship.
Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless is calling on the Government to honour its commitment to four-lane 15th Ave and Turret Rd.

In his address, immediately after his swearing in this week, he says traffic congestion is an issue the new Tauranga City Council is going to have to get on top of.

We have got a challenge that many towns would dream of  rapid growth, says Greg. Along with that growth and the jobs and prosperity that brings to many citizens, is the challenge in keeping up with whats needed to support that growth."

That is why previous councils planned projects, like the Southern Pipeline sewer, and the Waiari water scheme, says Greg.

I would like the Government very much to honour its commitment regarding 15th Ave and Turret Rd, and to assist us to ease other bottlenecks as well.

The Government previously promised to pay for the Welcome Bay grade separation, the duplication of the Hairini bridge and four-laning Turret Rd and 15th Ave.

Of course, if all we do is widen the roads these too will eventually clog so we need to take that broader view and explore longer term solutions as well.

The city council also needs to make it clearer to ratepayers where its money is actually spent, says Greg, who cites Local Government New Zealand figures show only six out of 10 people know local roading is paid for from rates.

The council need to look at other funding sources and resist being lumbered with costs properly the responsibility of government, says Greg.

The latest example of government passing the buck is the devolution of the Easter Sunday trading issue to councils, along with the requirement for consultation  which he says will be at a cost to councils.

And when it comes to thinking about funding, our tourism industry is really doing well here at the moment and I think thats great, says Greg. We are experiencing large growth in tourism and I read millions and millions of dollars in extra GST has been collected from tourism.

One hundred per cent of that goes to government. Not a cent to councils, something we are going to have to get on top of.

The council is also receiving increasing requests for infrastructure besides road and sewers; things like a museum, a new library, performance venue, and a hotel and conference venue.

For these to become realities funding from other than ratepayers has to be found. Not only the capital, but ongoing operational expenditure. We will be doing our best to look for that, says Greg.
DECATUR  A project to extend a city of Decatur-owned fiber network is expected to receive funding from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, lowering the cost for the work.

The Decatur City Council will be asked during its meeting Monday to accept the contribution of up to $330,000. It would be the latest grant from the foundation to support projects in Decatur, with other recent announcements of $15 million in funding for a new law enforcement training center, $3.9 million for a new amphitheater in Nelson Park, and $2 million to extend the train at Scovill Zoo.

In addition, it provided the funding starting in 2015 for the next five years to the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County for a community marketing and branding manager position. Nicole Bateman currently holds that job, leading the Limitless Decatur marketing campaign.

The foundation's support enables the city to provide opportunities such as the fiber network that could help spur growth and development, said Billy Tyus, assistant city manager.

We see boundless options for what it can mean, Tyus said Friday. It's a tool to grow the community in a lot of different areas.

The foundation's commitment grew out of conversations with City Manager Tim Gleason, Tyus said. He said Gleason and the foundation have been discussing over the past year opportunities for growth and development in the community.

The funding for the fiber network would allow for it to be connected to the Illinois Century Network hub at Richland Community College. The contribution, if approved, is anticipated to cover the bulk of what is expected to be a total project costs of less than $435,000, leaving the balance funded by the city at a maximum of $105,000.

We believe the cost will come in much less than that, Tyus said.

Original estimates from two years ago were more than $700,000, meaning construction is now expected to cost 40 percent less than anticipated. The city would have the option to decline if the bid exceeds the estimated cost.

The council will be asked to approve contracts with the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, which Tyus said would put into place what is needed for the construction, management and maintenance of the network.

The project is intended to provide what could be a critical network for future law enforcement needs and save money for local government entities, nonprofits and health care providers, Tyus said.

The law enforcement needs could include supporting the potential use of body cameras, he said.

Tyus said many local entities have expressed interest in connecting to the network.

The partnerships between entities can create a positive impression for prospective businesses, said Ryan McCrady, the Economic Development Corporation president.

We can show businesses from outside the community collaboration does exist, McCrady said. The broadband access is part of the infrastructure that is important for the community to have in place. We're working in a global economy now more than ever.

Under the proposal, the city would lease some of its fiber to other users at a cost that could be more than 75 percent less than what is currently paid and offer what is expected to be faster internet service.

The city will not be the internet provider, Tyus said. We think it's good for the community. We want to see people use it and benefit from the discounted rate we're able to obtain.

The project is further expected to support new and existing development, provide a critical tool for neighborhood regeneration and possibly reduce declining property values, Tyus said.

The possibilities become endless, Tyus said. All of it is enhanced by being able to do something like that.

Sharing information electronically is important for businesses, McCrady said. Laying the groundwork for the fiber infrastructure can be an advantage for Decatur in its growth efforts, he said.

We see the potential for continued investment, McCrady said. All the assets together all creates the chance to use from the menu of tools accordingly.

In 2014, the city installed a fiber backbone that connects its facilities along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, with the goal to later extend the network to Richland, Tyus said. The Illinois Century Network is intended to expand broadband access throughout Illinois.

Revenue the city generates from the network would go mainly toward the costs of its maintenance, Tyus said.

If approved, the project is expected to be completed by spring 2017.
In his comments to Arutz-7 News in English, Rabbi Chaim Wasserman, who serves as President of the Council of Young Israel Rabbis expresses his concerns over what he calls A Jewish Diaspora alienation.

He feels young American and Canadian Jews are more concerned about being good citizens in their own countries than having An emotional gut connection to Eretz Yisrael, adding this is a new phenomenon, one that has not existed since Yehuda Halevy.

The rabbi praises the efforts by the Jewish Agency and Chabad for trying to keep the young Jews affiliated. He feels a good start would be to get them to Israel, and once this is done, efforts must be made to bring them to a point they can feel the connection.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening 2 Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, addressed (by video link) the Fuel Choices Summit in Tel Aviv:

Good Evening.

Im sorry I couldnt be with you tonight because we have a budget to pass and you cant run governments without budgets.

But you can run the world without crude oil.

I heard that you heard earlier tonight a beautiful rendition of What a Wonderful World. Youre helping make a wonderful, wonderful world without crude oil.

So I want to begin by thanking Dorothy and Len Sank, theyre here on behalf of the wonderful Eric and Sheila Samson who are generously providing many of the funds to make this a reality.

I want to thank Eyal Rosner for a job well done, to wish him well, and I want to thank Moody Zandberg and all of my other friends who are there tonight.

All of you.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, we are changing the world.

We stand at the cusp of an energy revolution.

The monopoly of crude oil will end.

And as a result, well have a safer, cleaner, more sustainable world.

The Fuel Choices Summit celebrates visionary thinkers who are working to make this dream a reality.

And today we congratulate two of them: Professor Kanatzidis and Professor Stephanopoulos. Theyve done outstanding work in metabolic engineering and designing nanostructured thermoelectric materials.

Thats a mindful, its not only a mouthful, its mindful. Great minds. And these people are true pioneers.

Six years ago, when we created the Fuel Choices Initiative, we had a vision of developing clean and efficient alternatives to oil.

And since then, Israel has become a global leader in this field.

Im proud that the first ever vehicles to run on Methanol were developed right here in Israel.

And today vast sums are invested in hundreds of smart mobility startups in Israel.

Our vision is becoming a reality thanks to the brilliant scientists honored tonight and thanks to all of you who are here to support them.

Israel will continue to innovate and will continue to create cutting edge technology to make the world a better place.

This focus is one of the secrets to our success.

Crude oil, which makes the word less safe, less sustainable, less clean, less beautiful  crude oil will be rendered obsolete.

I have great confidence that Israel, and all of you gathered here tonight, will help make that a reality.

And I want to thank you for doing this year after year.

Congratulations.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

The Shin Bet on Thursday, 2 Cheshvan announced the arrest of a firebomb who terrorist who in left a three-year-old girl injured in an attack in October 2015. Taheil Sofer was wounded in that attack, which occurred near the Shomron community of Beit El.

Authorities announced that 33-year-old Haled Badha, a resident of the Ramallah area, is in custody following the attack that took place a bit over a year ago. It is reported that he was jailed for his terror-related activities in the past.

The attack in which the three-year-old was injured was one of many attacks perpetrated by Haled. He also admitted to planning a shooting attack.

The photos accompanying the article are from the attack scene.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos: Media Resource Group)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Following the provocation at the Kosel on the morning of 2 Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5777 by Women of the Wall (WoW) and leaders of the Reform and Conservative Jewry, Minister of Religious Services David Azoulai sent an urgent letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

Azoulai explains the latest provocative act at the Kosel represents crossing lines that should not have been crossed. He details how men took part in the tefilla in the ezras noshim as members of the groups disregarded the religious status quo at the Kosel.

Sifrei Torah were brought in for a first time, once again in violation of regulations. The protesters were provocative and backed by police who permitted the entry of the Sifrei Torah in gross violation of regulations he added.

Azoulai calls on the attorney general to order police to enforce the law without discrimination and to use all means at the departments disposal.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
This week marks the deadline for New York Citys Jewish and other non-public schools to apply for a groundbreaking security program in which the city will pay for security guards  just as it does for public schools. The new program the first of its kind in the country, was spearheaded by City Councilman David Greenfield and Teach NYS, a project of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center.

In New York City, more than 200,000 children in pre-K-12th grade  18.1 percent of the citys school population  are enrolled in Jewish day schools and yeshivas and Catholic, Muslim and other non-public schools. Yet until this year, after the city council passed Local Law 2, non-public schools had to dig into their often already-strained coffers to get the same protection the city affords public schools.

The new law, which the city council overwhelmingly approved in December 2015, puts aside almost $20 million to pay for the security guards. The protection comes at a time that religious schools and institutions are increasingly coming under threat nationwide.

I fought for years to bring security guards to non-public schools because every student has the right to a safe place to learn, Greenfield said. After five years of hard work, Im thrilled that I have been able to realize my vision of making New Yorks non-public schools safe for all students. I want to thank Teach NYS for their tireless support and advocacy in helping me to make this happen.

Security guards are a basic necessity to protect children at school, said Morris Tabush, a parent at Barkai Yeshivah in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. While Barkai Yeshivah has had security personnel on site for a couple of years, Tabush said, It has always been a financial burden. In the yeshiva world, money is always extremely tight.

So much of our budget goes to financial assistance, Tabush said. So to be able to get this help from the city is a huge boost. And Im grateful to Teach NYS for the tremendous work it did, and continues to do for the Orthodox community and the Jewish community at large.

Rabbi Pinchas Avruch, executive director of Bais Yaakov Academy of Queens, echoed that sentiment.

The idea of having security guards at the school came up numerous times but there wasnt a great urgency, Avruch said. Then the San Bernardino tragedy happened. And it quickly became a priority. After all, he said, every child has the right to a safe school environment.

Said Allen Fagin, the Orthodox Unions executive vice president, Now, more than ever, with families increasingly concerned about security, all kids deserve a safe learning environment and this law helps provide that.

Local Law 2 allocates $19.8 million in city funding in the first year for non-public schools to train and hire unarmed, licensed, private security guards at schools with at least 300 students, with one additional officer per each 500 students. A school with 2,000 students, for example, would be provided five guards.

OU Advocacys work to increase safety for our community extends far beyond schools; in 2005, Nathan Diament, executive director of OU Advocacy, spearheaded the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help secure synagogues, Jewish day schools and other nonprofits. And every year, OU Advocacy works with partners in Congress to ensure the NPSG is funded.

Since its inception, the federal program has awarded more than $175 million in grants. This past spring, 66 Jewish schools and shuls in and around New York City alone received $5.2 million of the $20 million in grants in this years allocation.

That funding, combined with another $13.5 million delivered to non-public schools under New York States SAFE Act from 2013-2015  roughly 40 percent to Jewish schools  is enabling Jewish day schools across the state to make their buildings safer. For this year, the state has allocated another $15 million to non-public schools under the SAFE Act.

Both Jewish schools as well as synagogues have to balance between keeping the attendees safe and buildings secure, and offering a welcoming environment, said Maury Litwack, OU Advocacys director of state political affairs. We are now in a much better position to do so with these new provisions in effect.

(AP)
Hillary Clinton and a senior aide discussed sending a secure cell phone to the secretary of state by FedEx or a personal courier, according to emails released Thursday. The State Department said either approach would have been acceptable, if the telephone was rendered inoperable for the journey.

The unusual exchange from 2010 begins with Clinton confidante Huma Abedin telling her boss that she would mail the secure phone from Washington before her husband, then-Rep. Anthony Weiner, takes her to the airport. Clinton asks if one of Weiners assistants could make the delivery.

OK I will (redacted) just fedex secure cell phone from dc. Anthony leaving office to bring me to airport now so hopefully will make it just in time, Abedin writes in the afternoon of Aug. 2, 2010.

Maybe one of Anthonys trusted staff could deliver secure phone? Clinton responds four hours later.

The emails show the degree of trust Clinton had for Weiner before he was hit by scandal. Abedin is perhaps Clintons closest aide and Bill Clinton officiated at her wedding to Weiner.

Abedin recently separated from Weiner after the latest in a series of explicit text messages surfaced from the one-time rising star of the Democratic Party.

Clinton and Abedin wrote to each other using private email addresses outside the State Departments system, a practice that has roiled the Democratic nominees campaign for the presidency. Clinton has apologized for using a private email account connected to a server in the basement of her New York home. The FBI announced last week it was examining emails found on a computer seized from Weiner during its unrelated investigation of his explicit texts to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.

Weiner resigned his seat in Congress in 2011.

It is unclear where Clinton was at the time of the emails. State Department schedules listed no public events for her between July 27 and Aug. 2, 2010.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said it was unclear how the phone might have been delivered, or if it was at all. He said officials wouldnt speculate.

But Toner stressed that the options mentioned by Clinton and Abedin would have been appropriate, if the necessary safeguards were taken.

In 2010, secure cell phones were available to State Department employees, and they could be configured in such a way as to render them suitable for transport. When configured in this manner, the device would be inoperable until paired with additional components, Toner told The Associated Press.

A secure cell phone would be shipped through a carrier that provides tracking, like FedEx, and an individual outside the State Department would be allowed to deliver the device.

The use of secure cell phones is commonplace among State Department staff when traveling to countries with advanced cyberespionage capacities, such as China or Russia.

When the FBI interviewed Abedin as part of its emails probe, she told investigators that Clintons team would sometime use secure cell phones when they were traveling but they were not used on every trip.

Secure phones were only used when traveling in hostile operational environments, Abedin said, according to the FBIs notes of the interview. The secure phones were maintained by Diplomatic Security (DS) and would be provided to the team.

The exchange over the secure phone was among 1,280 pages of emails that the department released Thursday. The department received the documents from the FBI and received a court order to release them under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents werent among the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton provided to the department in 2014 and which have already been published online.

Of those previously released, the department classified more than 2,000 emails, mostly at the confidential and next-highest secret levels. Twenty-two emails were withheld entirely from publication on grounds that they were top secret.

No new classifications were made Thursday. Many of the new documents are near duplicates of those previously released, Toner said.

(AP)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied Thursday that the Russian government or any other state parties were his groups source for more than 50,000 hacked emails from the files of Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta.

In separate statements from WikiLeaks and in an interview with a television network supported by the Russian government, Assange dismissed warnings that Russia was the main actor behind cyberintrusions on Podesta and other politically connected individuals and organizations.

The WikiLeaks founder offered no evidence to support his denials in the face of U.S. government statements that American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the hacking campaigns of Democratic entities in the U.S. Those breaches have raised alarms of potential intrusions on election day.

WikiLeaks sources for the Podesta emails currently being published are not state parties, Assange said in a statement. He also told the RT network that warnings from Clinton and her campaign that Russia was behind the hacking of Podestas Gmail account were false.

Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications, Assange told the RT network, also known as Russia Today. Thats false  we can say that the Russian government is not the source. Russian officials have also denied any role.

Only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in October. Clapper did not specifically name Russian President Vladimir Putin or other Russian officials, but U.S. cybersecurity experts concluded that hacking groups affiliated with Russian government and military intelligence services had roles in the breach of the Democratic National Committee.

WikiLeaks began releasing nearly 20,000 emails last July hacked from the DNCs computer system. Some of the emails disparaged Clintons rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, eventually prompting the resignation of then-DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. U.S. officials and private computer crime specialists blamed that leak on Russian-linked hackers.

Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador and lives in its embassy in London. He fled there in 2012 after Sweden pressed a warrant for his arrest on a sexual assault allegation.

Media organizations have reported on each new daily WikiLeaks release of Podestas emails in recent weeks. Clinton campaign officials have declined to discuss the emails, questioning whether some of the material might be doctored.

Thursdays release of hacked Podesta emails include:

In a March 2015 hacked email, Hillary Clinton told her top foreign policy adviser last year that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had created an opening that should be exploited after Netanyahu was forced to apologize for making remarks about Israeli Arabs that were condemned as racist.

Clinton made the comment to adviser Jake Sullivan, who emailed a link to a New York Times story detailing the controversy in Israel over Netanyahus remarks and a fight between him and the Obama administration over remarks promising that no Palestinian state would ever be established on his watch.

In a hacked email from September 2015, Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri told Podesta that Clinton would have to make herself more available to reporters if Vice President Joe Biden entered the presidential race.

But if Biden gets in  we are going to have to make time for her to do more press, Palmieri wrote. He will do a ton of it. It is free and he doesnt have to travel anywhere to do. So I am thinking about a post-Biden press outreach plan, too.

In a hacked email chain from last February, Clintons campaign staff discussed whether to respond on the day the nation learned Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died.

I am having a hard time imagining what she would say, Palmieri said. In a day or two it could be appropriate to talk about SCOTUS stakes, but seems off for tonight.

(AP)
Dear our Jewish brethren,

The upcoming Tuesday will be held the national elections, when the United States will  Go-d willing  select who will lead the country for the coming four years. Although the vast majority of us reside in states where outcome is certain, its important that we should turn out a large number of votes for:

Secretary Hillary Clinton For President.

Throughout the years that Secretary Clinton served as New Yorks Senator, and then as Secretary of State, she was sympathetic to the needs of the Haredi Community. When we needed assistance with refugees  to assist Jews from Iran and Yemen to emigrate to the free world  and when we needed urgent assistance with immigration issues, she was very helpful.

The prior administration expanded the rights of religious Jews in prisons, as with zoning, housing and other issues, and was very understanding of our needs. Jewish prisoners, as well as Jews suffering from discrimination with housing and other areas, still benefits greatly from that law. Orthodox Jews benefitted tremendously from the Clintons sympathy to our interests, and we have to show our appreciation, by demonstrating that we recognized that and we are thankful for it, by coming out and vote for Secretary Clinton on Tuesday.

Since 1989 Rabbi David Niederman has served as Executive Director and President of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, Inc. (UJO), the central planning and social service agency for more than 200 organizations in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Under Rabbi Niedermans leadership, UJO provides a wide array of services including information and referral to legal assistance, environmental and health consultation, housing, planning and development, and job training. He also serves on various governmental boards in the City of New York.

NOTE: Rabbi Niederman told YWN that this endorsement are his, and he is not speaking on behalf of any organization.

About Rabbi David Niederman:

Since 1989 Rabbi David Niederman has served as Executive Director and President of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, Inc. (UJO), the central planning and social service agency for more than 200 organizations in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Under Rabbi Niedermans leadership, UJO provides a wide array of services including information and referral to legal assistance, environmental and health consultation, housing, planning and development, and job training. He also serves on various governmental boards in the City of New York.

Rabbi Niederman has been the Executive Vice President of the Rav Tov International Jewish Rescue Organization (Rav Tov) since its founding in 1973 at the behest of the former Grand Rabbi of Satmar, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, of blessed memory. Rabbi Teitelbaum envisioned Rav Tov as the protective shield for the global Jewish community living in tyrannical regimes and has established five offices overseas. Rabbi Niederman has since worked to ensure the safety and resettlement of Jews in danger around the world, continues his work in refugee resettlement and maintains close working relationships with foreign leaders, diplomats and agencies. Additionally, he serves as the Special Representative of the Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States and Canada, which was founded in 1952 to coordinate the efforts of over 250 rabbis from eastern European countries, survivors of WWII, who lead major Ultra-Orthodox Chassidic groups.

Rabbi Niederman also leads delegations of Rabbis from around the world to prevent the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and safeguard Jewish heritage sites in Europe. Closer to home, Rabbi Niederman strives to protect the religious rights of federal prisoners and attempts to deter criminal activity through educational programs in the Jewish community about the human costs of crime.

(Chaim Shapiro  YWN)
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

Whenever an article about Hillary Clinton appears in some of the Orthodox media, we have seen either a picture of her husband Bill, her home in Chappaqua, a bumper sticker that says Hillary 2016, or a picture of her campaign paraphernalia. We have not, however, seen Hillary Clinton.

That is, until, this week.

For the first time, Mishpacha Magazine printed a picture of Hillary Clinton facing off with Donald Trump. True, it was a reverse image, slightly reminiscent of old photo negatives (aleihem haShalom), but nonetheless, it did depict Hillary Clinton. They even colored her hair blond.

This propensity to completely eliminate photographs of women, of course, is not normative halacha. The biography of the Chazon Ish, sanctioned by his own family, includes pictures of women, as do hundreds of other biographies. It is a stringency, of sorts, that can have serious repercussions.

DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED

A WikiLeaks leak of a few months back revealed how angry the presidential candidate was when she was airbrushed out of key photographs. Imagine for a moment, if a respectable Christian publication refused to print any picture of a Jew. Would we not be irate? This is what she is feeling. Also, lets not be naive  the non-Jewish and secular Jewish media are going to constantly attack the religious Jewish media and label us misogynistic.

If Hillary Clinton wins and the Orthodox Jewish media ignores such a national story, by not putting an image of her, there is no doubt that she will be upset. There is also no doubt that the media will notice.

Look what has happened in the past. Headlines read, Do orthodox-Jews hate women?  this is as wrong as it is unethical. I dont care what religion is involved, declared a Washington D.C. based political analyst on a blog about the doctored photo in the warroom when Osama Bin Ladin was killed.

Is there any difference between Hasidic Jews and the Taliban regarding women? asked a commentator on a news site reporting the Di Tzeitungs altered photo.

ARE THERE OPINIONS THAT FORBID?

But are there opinions in the vast ouevre of halachic writing that truly forbid men viewing pictures of women?

Believe it or not, there are. There is a fascinating write up on the issue in the Pnimim Bhalacha section of the Mesivta. The Gemorah in Nedarim (20a) explains that anyone who looks at women, in the end will come to sin.

THE BEN YEHOYADAS VIEW

The Ben Yehoyada asks why the wording of in the end will come to sin is used. It should state that he looking itself is forbidden! Indeed, he writes, it is even considered Abizrahu of arayos  a drop of illicit relations!

The Ben Yehoyada further asks concerning the language of anyone who does so excessively. The Ben Yehoyada explains that this Gemorah is not referring to actually looking at the woman, but rather it is referring to seeing her image. If a person rationalizes looking at such images by saying he is not looking at her directly, he will end up actually gazing upon the woman herself.

It seems from the Ben Yehoyada that it is something that is highly discouraged, but not an out and out prohibition.

SOME CHASSIDISH POSKIM

Poskim in the Chassidish world are more adamant as to the prohibition involved in a man looking at a picture of a woman. Rav Yisroel Harpenes of Hisachdus HaRabbonim, in his sefer Yisroel Kedoshim (p. 125) writes that even when the woman is dressed in a completely modest fashion, the idea of a man gazing at a picture is entirely against halacha.

The Debriciner Rav (Beer Moshe Vol. III #154 and Vol. IV 147:22) writes that when the pictures depict inappropriate images everyone agrees that it is completely forbidden. He buttresses this position from the Gemorah in Sanhedrin (36a) and the ruling of the Bach in a responsa (#17).

OGLING

Notwithstanding the stringent view, the issue is subject to much halachic debate. Certainly, Jewish law, Halacha, singles out ogling as an out and out prohibition. Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaarei Teshuva 1:6 and 8) defines it as a full blown biblical prohibition. His position as explained by the Bais Shmuel (Even HoEzer 21:2) is that it violates the verse, Do not go after your hearts and eyes.

Maimonides also forbids it, but whether it is a biblical or Rabbinic prohibition is subject to debate. The Bais Shmuel and the Pnei Yehoshua (Even HoEzer Vol. II #44) both understand that the Rambam rules that it is forbidden only by Rabbinic decree. Rav Moshe Feinstein ztl (Igros Moshe EH Vol. IV #60) rules that the Rambams view is that it is forbidden by Biblical decree just like the Rabbeinu Yonah position.

THE SECOND SOURCE

There is another source as well, other than the Gemorah in Nedarim. The Talmud in Avodah Zarah (20a and b) discusses the prohibition of histaklus  ogling. Since the close of the Talmud, however, halachic decisors have grappled as to the exact parameters of Ogling.

Once again, the exact term that the Talmud employs in its discussion is Histaklus. The question is do we define histaklus as looking, staring, or ogling? The translation is, of course, essential to understanding what would be prohibited.

The Sefer Chasidim (#99) discusses the parameters of Histaklus and says that Histaklus is more than just looking. It is looking intentionally for a long time and contemplating who she looks like or whom she is equal to in appearance. Rav Chaim Palagi in Reeh Chaim (p. 13c) defines it in this manner as well. Thus the issue is a universal one  both Sefardic and Ashkenazic.

On the other hand, regarding other aspects of halacha, the SMA (Choshen Mishpat 154:14) writes that the term Histaklus can, in fact, mean mere looking. The Chida, and a few other Poskim a well, rule in accordance with this view that Histaklus means mere looking.

The Salmas Yoseph (Vol. I 22:6) also indicates that looking at a woman in a picture is considered as if he recognizes her. He does not forbid it, however.

THE VIEW OF MOST POSKIM

Most Poskim seem to learn that it is, in fact, not halachically forbidden to look at pictures of women, but that it is strongly discouraged. It could very well be that in modern times where there are a plethora of images there really is no concern that someone will go beyond the pale of what is acceptable and start ogling. Nonetheless, since there are opinions that understand the Talmudic text in tractate Avodah Zarah in a manner that forbids even looking, and that the Talmudic text in Nedarim is a strong recommendation, one should view them as adhering to a valid halachic opinion.

SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

Certainly all of the religious publications should avoid photoshopping her out of pictures. This is a form of halachic theft as well, since no one obtained a license to actually manipulate the photograph. When a picture of Hillary Clinton appears where she is dressed appropriately and her image is smaller with someone else in the photo as well  it would seem that there should not be a significant concern. Also, let us keep in mind that we have in the past changed our minhagim in Hilchos Aveilus on account of concern about the reaction in gentile circles. This stringency is of far less consequence. This is a general suggestion based upon the ruling of two Gedolei HaPoskim. Of course each publication should consult their own Posaik.

All this, of course, is only if Hillary Clinton wins. There is still a chance that Trump will get his 270 electoral votes. We will know in a few days.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
[By: B.A. Mentch]

A Accusations. Trump makes the most ridiculous accusations, at times even taking his information from photo-shopped pictures of tabloid magazines.

B Birther movement. Trump is proud to say that he (or Hillary) started the birther movement. He also made a big announcement that he has ended the birther movement. What a waste of time with it; better yet, what a waste of an election for us with his declaration of his candidacy until (and beyond) perhaps Hillarys victory.

C Conceding. Trump might concede the election to Hillary  but we will just have to wait and see.

D Democrat. Trump was a Democrat for years and only switched to try to get more fame.

E EGO

F Fame. Trump was deeply disappointed and saddened when Time Magazine chose Angela Merkel, and not him, as Person of the Year.

G Great. Trump pledges to make America great again. I fully believe Donald will make America great again for himself, his family, his business acquaintances, and to the entire Trump brand . . . if he gets elected.

H Hoax. Trump (University) is one big hoax. He is a smart man who understands the poor and he knows how to milk money out of them.

I Immoral

J Juvenile. He cries like a baby (& threatens to sue) when he loses.

K Kennedy Assassination. Trump accused Ted Cruzs father of being involved in the JFK assassination. Trump gets his distorted information from the tabloids. He knows its fiction but he acts as if it is true.

L Liar. It has been reported that Trump lies approximately every 5 minutes he speaks in public. (Even Hillary has a hard time keeping up with him on that regard!)

M Mussolini. Trump emulates the evil dictator Mussolini.

N Non-disclosure documents. Trump makes everyone he does business with sign a non-disclosure document. This way all his clients, workers and everyone else he interacts with wont share with everyone how corrupt, and difficult of a person he is. If elected, Trump plans on doing the same in the White House.

O Obama. Trumps rhetoric strongly resembles Obamas way of ignoring Congress and the Constitution.

P Primaries. Only Trump calls for changing the rules of the primary every time he loses a primary!

Q Quick. Trump, when annoyed, fires back quickly without thinking things over. He is quick to pull the trigger. If he is president I fear that his actions may lead to another World War.

R Rigged. Elections are only rigged when Trump loses!

S Freedom of Speech. Trump is all for Freedom of Speech, as long as it is not against him!

T Tax Returns. Trump wont provide the tax returns because he doesnt pay taxes. I know how to beat the broken system so Ill know how to fix it?! Thats what was speculated and has now been proven.

U Unpredictable. If you think that Trump is the smartest man in the world  good; if not, then you should not and cannot rely on him to govern with conservative principals  gun rights, right to life, controlled spending, etc.

V Violence. Trump is the only candidate since the Civil Rights Movement who has called for violence against his opponents.

W WMD. He accused President Bush of lying to Congress about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

X Trump has two Ex-wives. Not only does he not get along with ordinary people; apparently, he does not get along with his family as well.

Y Yeltzin. Just as Boris Yeltzin loves (the very dangerous) Vladimir Putin, so does Trump. Trump will blindly allow Putin to become the leader of the world!

Z Zer0. This is how much trust I have in Donald Trump in his (lack of) knowledge of world history and NATO; in his promises of building a wall; in his wishy washy positions on deportation of illegal immigrants; in his outsider status, in his respect of religion, and to parallel his own words! The one thing I do trust him on is his abuse of power!

In conclusion:

I will not vote for someone  who in my opinion:

 is corrupt

 is a pathological liar

 abuses his/her power

I therefore feel that my only choice is a write-in candidate.

The author of this article may be contacted as: [email protected]
We urge all of our fellow Americans to elect Donald J. Trump President of the United States.

Mr. Trump has made it clear that he supports the right of religious Americans to freely live according to their moral values, without interference by radical Leftists activists.

Mr. Trump is proudly pro-life, and has formed a coalition with pro-life organizations who oppose the murder of babies in the womb.

Mr. Trump supports the right of parents to freedom of choice in education, to give their children an education that reflects their values.

On the other hand, Mr. Trumps opponent, Hillary Clinton, in a notable speech to LGBT-Q activists, has publicly relegated religious moral people to her BASKET OF DEPLORABLES.

There is no question that Hillary Clinton will appoint radical Leftist Supreme Court justices who will strip religious Americans of the right to freely act on their Biblically-based moral values.

Hillary Clinton has made it crystal clear that she totally supports the right to murder babies in the womb, up to-and-including the moment of birth.

She has made it crystal clear that religious Americans under her regime will be forced to yield to the politically-correct demands of the moral anarchists who have become so influential in todays Leftist Democrat Party.

For those reasons, we feel that it is vital that all decent, family people in America take an active role in electing DONALD J. TRUMP for President.

Rabbi Isaac Levy, Chairman

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
The owner of British Airways has curbed its spending plans and expects lower profits as it faces a slowdown in passenger demand and lower revenues since the pounds plunge in the wake of Brexit.

International Airlines Group cut its long-term forecasts, pencilling in earnings of around 5.3billion (4.7billion) between now and 2020, down from the previously estimated 5.6billion (5billion).

It also said it will cut capital expenditure to 1.7billion per year on average, compared to 2.5billion.

Cuts: BA owner IAG said profits will be lower than expected and that it will cut spending

IAG reports results in euros - it also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling - but most of its sales are generated in pounds, and these are now worth a lot less than they were at the end of last year.

The pounds plunge, which has fallen by more than 15 per cent since the vote to leave the European Union in June, also means that British airlines will have to pay more for fuel, which is priced in dollars.

Looking ahead, IAG also said it expects passenger capacity to grow by around 3 per cent per year until 2020, down from a 3 to 4 per cent previously forecast.

The downgrade sent shares falling by 4 per cent to 432.45p.

It comes as IAG chief executive Willie Walsh last week revealed BA could increase fares to offset the collapse in the pound and warned that industrial action had also dented the group's performance.

Third quarter operating profits fell 3.6 per cent to 1.205billion in the third quarter, down from 1.250billion over the same period last year. IAG said that the falling pound had cost it 145million.

The company also warned that annual profits could be lower than forecast - the third time it does so since the Brexit vote on 23 June.

Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: IAG reports in euros so it doesnt feel the benefit of a weaker pound via the translation of its Aer Lingus and Iberia sales.

It is on the wrong end of the Sterling drop, forecasting lower BA passenger numbers from the weaker pound hitting UK tourism abroad. The timing of the Aer Lingus acquisition couldnt have been much worse as the falling pound adds to the threat of terror attacks in Europe on passenger numbers.

The aviation industry has been stung by a slump in demand for travel in the wake of terror attacks, air traffic control strikes and extreme currency fluctuations.

Low cost airline easyJet last month also cut its profit forecasts, expecting the fall in the pound to cost it 90million.

Overall the company warned it will be left nursing at least 125million in lost profit once the terror attacks in Europe, Egypt and Tunisia as well as air traffic control strikes in France and political turmoil in Turkey were factored in.
Azerbaijan violated the Karabakh ceasefire 41 times last night firing some 530 rounds of various caliber small arms weapons, in addition to the DShK heavy machine gun, this according to the NKR Ministry of Defense.

The ministry reports that Artsakh forces mostly refrained from responding in kind.
Top drawer

Howdens Joinery Group has reported a solid performance in the year to date after sales were boosted by store expansion.

The kitchen and joinery group, which has opened 20 new depots this year, said sales in the six months to October 29 increased by 4.1 per cent in softer trading conditions.

The company said it was on track to meet full-year expectations.

'Solid performance': Howdens Joinery Group was boosted by store expansion

Lending surge

Shares in Shawbrook Bank rose yesterday after it announced a surge in lending.

The niche financier doled out 1.5billion of new loans in the first nine months of the year, up 23 per cent on the same period in 2015. The stock rose 14.6 per cent, or 30.9p, to 242.2p.

Shiny profits

High gold prices helped Randgold Resources plump up profits for the past three months.

The West Africa-focused miner, which primarily operates in Mali, said profit was up 58 per cent on the same period last year, reaching 62.5million. It still missed analysts expectations and shares fell 6.3 per cent, or 475p, to 7110p.

Low flyer

Air France is planning to create a new budget airline as part of efforts to compete with Middle Eastern carriers and low-cost rivals.

Parent Air France-KLM said the venture would run long-haul flights for tourist and business travel on routes where Air France is struggling against cheaper competition.

Breaded brand

Britons are gobbling down 18 fish fingers every second. According to Birds Eye, which is owned by US group Pinnacle Foods, sales have reached 85million this year  a huge 1.5million fish fingers are sold per day and sales are on course to reach 568million this year.

Asset manager: Schroders notched up net inflows of 2billion in the third quarter of the year

Sprinting ahead

Superstar trainers and Ultra Boost running shoes helped keep Adidas on course for a record year.

The sportswear retailer said soaring demand for the trainers, worn by the likes of supermodel Gigi Hadid and actress Jessica Alba, helped boost sales in the three months to September by 17 per cent while profits surged 11 per cent to 506million.

Brexit boost

Investors poured cash back into the Citys biggest asset manager after the Brexit vote.

Schroders notched up net inflows of 2billion in the third quarter of the year amid rebounding confidence as economic data proved stronger than expected. It had 339.4billion of assets under management on September 30, up 28.6 per cent on a year earlier.

Insurer split

Insurance comparison site GoCompare began trading on the stock market yesterday after a successful spin-off from parent group Esure.
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Telecom Argentina S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Argentina and internationally. The company offers telephone services, including local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, as well as public telephone services; and other related supplementary services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calls, caller ID, voice mail, itemized billing, and maintenance services. It also provides interconnection services, such as traffic and interconnection resource, dedicated Internet access, video signals transportation in standard and high definitions, audio and video streaming, dedicated links, backhaul links for mobile operators, data center hosting/housing services, dedicated links, layer 2 and layer 3 transport networks, video links, value-added services, and other services. In addition, the company offers mobile telecommunications services, including voice communications, high-speed mobile Internet content and applications download, online streaming, and other services; and sells mobile communication devices, such as handsets, Modems MiFi and wingles, and smart watches under the Personal brand. Further, it provides internet connectivity products, including virtual private network services, traditional Internet protocol links, and other products; data services; and programming and other cable television services. The company was formerly known as Cablevision S.A. and changed its name to Telecom Argentina S.A. in January 2018. Telecom Argentina S.A. was founded in 1979 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.




Aviation was still in its infancy in early 1917. Indeed, the famous inaugural flight by the Wright Brothers had occurred barely thirteen years before on December 17, 1903.





World War I was raging in Europe. The aeroplane was playing an increasingly important role in that war. Indeed, the following year as the War drew to an end, Orville Wright famously noted to a friend that "The aeroplane has made war so terrible that I do not believe any country will again care to start a war."





For a few years previous to 1917, all of Pelham and, indeed, the nation, were enthralled with the exploits of early members of the Aero Club of New York including Clifford B. Harmon, the man who developed Pelhamwood. In fact, the same year Harmon developed Pelhamwood, Harmon established a new amateur record for flight duration in a Farman biplane when he flew thirty-one times around a course at Mineola, Long Island, remaining aloft for one hour and five minutes, covering about forty-five miles. See HARMON'S LONG FLIGHT, Daily Journal and Tribune [Knoxville, TN], Jun. 29, 1910.





April, 1917 was a momentous month in the history of aviation. It is known as "Bloody April." The Royal Flying Corps of Great Britain lost 245 aircraft while supporting the Arras Offensive during World War I. Early that month, on April 6, 1917, the United States entered the war. At that time the United States Marine Corps aviation group had a total strength of seven officers, 43 enlisted men, and a handful of aeroplanes.





Also at that time, Pelham was located in a rather strategic location. Just off its shores was Fort Slocum on Davids Island. Further to the southwest down Long Island Sound was Fort Schuyler on Throggs Neck. This strategic location may explain why Pelham experienced such an "unusual sight" (as reported in a local newspaper) on the morning of Friday, April 20, 1917.





At about 10 o'clock in the morning, two aeroplanes passed over the Village of North Pelham. The flying machines were from an unspecified "government post on the Sound" and were "scouting" along the Westchester County shores according to a news report that described the event as "an unusual sight." These two aeroplanes were biplanes.





So far, no record has yet been located showing that any airplane flew over Pelham any earlier than April 20, 1917. For now, it is at least possible that this was the first time an airplane flew in the skies above our Town of Pelham.









World War I Recruitment Poster Showing

U.S. Military Biplane Likely Similar to Those

That Passed Over Pelham on April 20, 1917.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.





* * * * *





The brief news reference below provides the basis for today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog. It is followed by a citation and link to its source.





"HAPPENINGS IN NORTH PELHAM . . .

------





Two Aeroplanes Seen.





Friday morning about 10 o'clock the residents were treated to an unusual sight when two aeroplanes passed over the village. The machines were from a government post on the sound and were scouting along the Westchester county shores in the manoeuvres."









Labels: 1917, Airplane, Transportation, Village of North Pelham
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..

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OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and energy services provider that offers physical delivery and related services for electricity, natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. It provides retail electric service to approximately 879,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned and operated interconnected electric generation, transmission, and distribution systems, including 16 generating stations with an aggregate capability of 7,207 megawatts; and transmission systems comprising 54 substations and 5,122 structure miles of lines in Oklahoma, and 7 substations and 277 structure miles of lines in Arkansas. Its distribution systems included 350 substations; 29,494 structure miles of overhead lines; 3,365 miles of underground conduit; and 11,125 miles of underground conductors in Oklahoma, as well as 29 substations, 2,795 structure miles of overhead lines, 349 miles of underground conduit, and 662 miles of underground conductors in Arkansas. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. provides home and security products for residential home repair, remodeling, new construction, and security applications. It operates in three segments: Plumbing, Outdoors & Security, and Cabinets. The Plumbing segment manufactures, assembles, and sells faucets, accessories, kitchen sinks, and waste disposals under the Moen, ROHL, Riobel, Victoria+Albert, Perrin & Rowe, and Shaws brands in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South America directly through its own sales force, as well as through independent manufacturers' representatives to wholesalers, home centers, mass merchandisers, and industrial distributors. The Outdoors & Security segment offers fiberglass and steel entry door systems under the Therma-Tru brand; storm, screen, and security doors under the Larson brand; composite decking and railing under the Fiberon brand; and urethane millwork under the Fypon brand. This segment also manufactures, sources, and distributes locks, safety and security devices, and electronic security products under the Master Lock and American Lock brands; and fire resistant safes, security containers, and commercial cabinets under the SentrySafe brand. It serves home centers, hardware and other retailers, millwork building products and wholesale distributors, specialty dealers, and remodeling and renovation markets, as well as locksmiths, industrial and institutional users, and original equipment manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central America, Japan, and Australia. The Cabinets segment manufactures custom, semi-custom, and custom cabinetry, as well as vanities for the kitchen, bath, and other parts of the home directly to kitchen and bath dealers, home centers, wholesalers, and builders in North America under the AOK, Diamond Brands, Homecrest, Kitchen Craft, Omega, and EVE brands. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.
Quotient Technology Inc. operates as a digital media and promotions technology company that offers power integrated digital media and promotions programs for brands and retailers. The company's Quotient Promotions platform offers digital paperless, print promotion, and cash back rebates, including Coupons.com website and mobile applications; brand and retailer websites and mobile applications; and third-party publishing websites and mobile applications. It also provides Quotient Retailer Promotions Platform that uses consumer data and insights to distribute personalized and targeted media and promotions for retailers of grocery, drug, mass merchant, dollar, club, and convenience merchandise; and Quotient Media Platform, which provides targeted advertising solutions that enables brands to reach shoppers before, during, and after their shopping cycles with digital media campaigns. It also provides Quotient Retailer Performance Media Platform that uses retailer's consumer data to drive sales and enhances the shopper experience; Quotient Analytics provides campaign analytics and measured sales results to brands and retailers; Quotient Consumer Properties; and Quotient Retailer Media Services. It serves approximately 900 consumer packed goods, representing approximately 2,500 brands, including various food, beverage, personal care, and household product manufacturers; retail partners representing various classes of trade, such as grocery retailers, drug, mass merchant, dollar, club, and convenience merchandise channels; and consumers visiting its websites, mobile properties, and social channels. The company was formerly known as Coupons.com Incorporated and changed its name to Quotient Technology Inc. in October 2015. Quotient Technology Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. owns, manages, and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates in three segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). The Independent Living segment owns or leases communities comprising independent and assisted living units in a single community that are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors. The Assisted Living and Memory Care segment owns or leases communities consisting of freestanding multi-story communities and freestanding single-story communities, which offer housing and 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living for the Company's residents. This segment also operates memory care communities for residents with Alzheimer's and other dementias. The CCRCs segment owns or leases communities that provides various living arrangements, such as independent and assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing; and services to accommodate various levels of physical ability and healthcare needs. It also manages communities on behalf of others. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned 347 communities, leased 299 communities, and managed 33 communities on behalf of others. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewable generation, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and load-serving entities. This segment serves approximately 8.2 million customers in 6 states in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States covering a service territory of approximately 91,000 square miles; and owns approximately 50,259 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment distributes natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas customers; and owns, operates, and invests in pipeline transmission and natural gas storage facilities. It has approximately 1.6 million customers, including 1.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 550,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. The Commercial Renewables segment acquires, owns, develops, builds, and operates wind and solar renewable generation projects, including nonregulated renewable energy and energy storage services to utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and corporate customers. It has 23 wind, 178 solar, and 2 battery storage facilities, as well as 71 fuel cell locations with a capacity of 3,554 MW across 22 states. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2005. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company offers general purpose servers for multi-workload computing and workload-optimized servers; HPE ProLiant rack and tower servers; HPE BladeSystem and HPE Synergy; and solutions for secondary workloads and traditional tape, storage networking, and disk products, such as HPE Modular Storage Arrays and HPE XP. It also offers HPE Apollo and Cray products; and HPE Superdome Flex, HPE Nonstop, HPE Integrity, and HPE Edgeline products. In addition, the company provides HPE Aruba product portfolio that includes wired and wireless local area network hardware products, such as Wi-Fi access points, switches, routers, and sensors; HPE Aruba software and services comprising cloud-based management, network management, network access control, analytics and assurance, and location; and professional and support services, as well as as-a-service and consumption models for the intelligent edge portfolio of products. Further, it offers various leasing, financing, IT consumption, and utility programs and asset management services for customers to facilitate technology deployment models and the acquisition of complete IT solutions, including hardware, software, and services from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. Additionally, the company invests in communications and media solutions. It has a partnership with Striim, Inc. to offer high performance and mission-critical solutions with real-time analytics. It serves commercial and large enterprise groups, such as business and public sector enterprises; and through various partners comprising resellers, distribution partners, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, systems integrators, and advisory firms. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Sau man trinh dien khong may an tuong tu au mua giai 2021, Ibou Kebe a phai noi loi chia tay SHB a Nang. Cau thu nguoi Phap chi ghi uoc 1 ban sau 4 lan ra san va khong giu uoc cho ung trong thanh phan oi bong song Han.

Ngay sau khi roi Hoa Xuan, Kebe a ngay lap tuc co uoc ben o moi khi gia nhap CLB TP.HCM. oi bong thanh pho mang ten Bac cung vua thanh ly 2 ngoai binh nguoi Brazil la Dario Federico va Junior Barros. HLV Alexandre Polking chi giu lai 1 minh Joao Paulo e tiep tuc chinh chien o phan con lai cua V-League 2021.

Qua khich voi trong tai, CLB TP.HCM nhan 3 an phat tu VFF

Huc au khien trong tai gay rang, thu mon CLB TP.HCM se nhan an phat nang?

CLB TP.HCM se co su phuc vu cua Kebe trong quang uong con lai cua V-League 2021.

Ibou Kebe la cau thu co kinh nghiem thi au tai au truong so 1 bong a Viet Nam. Anh tung co thoi gian thi au cho CLB Ha Noi, Quang Nam va gan nhat la SHB a Nang. Cau thu sinh nam 1989 co ky thuat tot nhung chua the toa sang tai V-League. Trong thoi gian toi, anh se phai no luc hon e cung Lee Nguyen va cac ong oi cai thien hang cong cua CLB TP.HCM.

Hien tai, thoi gian ang ky bo sung cau thu tai V-League 2021 (tu ngay 26/04 en 23/05) van chua bat au va mot so CLB ang dan hoan tat viec am phan e co uoc su lua chon toi uu nhat. Ben canh CLB TP.HCM, SHB a Nang cung a chieu mo thanh cong Claudecir Junior.
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By Patrick Donachie

The Fair Chance Act turned one year old Oct. 27, with advocates and community members saying continued education and outreach was the key to ensuring the laws continued success.

The act mandated that employers could not ask about an applicants criminal history until a job offer had been made.

City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) attended a panel discussion at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning to celebrate the anniversary. He said the new stipulation made it easier to determine if an employer was taking an applicants conviction record into account.

The concern was that employers were using the information inappropriately, he said. Its got to be a priority for society to make sure that people re-enter society in a way that they can be productive, because almost everyone in jail is going to get out of jail.

The law, which also disallows job advertisements from stating that people convicted of felonies should not apply, was passed by the City Council last year in a nearly unanimous vote and was subsequently signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. It pertains to any business with four or more employees.

Michelle Knox, a program director with the HOPE Program, works to help impoverished New Yorkers via job training and career advancement support. She said some employers were still unaware of the new law, and she still saw applications with a box included where applicants must check if they have been convicted of a crime.

Its imperative on us to educate, she said, detailing the story of a student with a felony record who was hired to work in a restaurant and underwent a background check. The students offer was then rescinded, Knox said. He visited the HOPE Program, and representatives contacted the New York City Commission on Human Rights to open a case.

Knox said the restaurant rehired the student, and he had been at the job successfully for two months.

The Fair Chance Act came in the midst of a national advocacy effort to ban the box on employment applications, outlawing the practice of asking if an applicant has been convicted of a crime. In November 2015, President Barack Obama issued an executive order banning the box on applications for federal agencies. William Whittaker, an associate human rights specialist for the city, noted that New York City passed its Fair Chance Act before the federal government did, which Associate Human Rights Specialist Sulekha Prasad said was a laudable aspect of the citys mission.

Thats one of the things that makes New York special, she said. Our law is very robust and thats something we should be proud of.

Kevin Livingston, the head of 100 Suits for 100 Men, said he thought knowledge of the Fair Chance Act could be more widespread.

We want to make sure that people know you have a right to apply for that job, he said.
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By Patrick Donachie

A Jamaica man was charged with punching a 69-year-old woman outside a Jamaica deli, and community leaders gathered Tuesday at the scene of the crime to encourage community members to tell authorities about violent offenders hiding from police.

Its sad that this man had to be safe harbored in our community, Kevin Livingston, the head of 100 Suits for 100 Men, said during the news conference organized by Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica). We cannot be comfortable with being comfortable. You have to be ped off when these things happen in our community.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Springer was awaiting arraignment on assault and harassment charges. On Oct. 16 at around 8 a.m., Springer entered King Deli and Grocery at 107-60 Sutphin Blvd. removed a beer from the cooler, and threw a dollar on the counter, according to a criminal complaint from the district attorneys office. The complaint stated that Methaq Algabyali, an employee at the store, went to get the bill when Springer came back in the deli and punched him in his face.

Algabyali struggled with Springer, who eventually exited the deli, according to the complaint. Algabyali then saw Springer punch Eve Gentillon in the head. She fell to the ground and lost consciousness, the complaint stated.

Springer was still in the neighborhood where the attack occurred when he was apprehended by the Regional Fugitive Task Force, according to Kristel Johnson, the NYPD Deputy Chief of Queens Borough South.

Gentillon was taken to a local hospital after the attack, according to the complaint. She underwent emergency surgery and a piece of her skull needed to be removed because a cranial subdural hematoma, the complaint stated. Wills said it looked like the recovery time could be extensive.

During the conference, Wills thanked the NYPD for their work in finding the suspect and railed against community members who may have protected him from authorities. He noted 16 days had passed between the attack and the arrest.

To our community, 16 days is 16 days too many, he said. That is sending a message that this is OK time and time again.

Wills also said if suspects sought by the police were worried about turning themselves into the NYPD safely, they could contact his office to ensure a peaceful apprehension. He expressed thanks that Springer was taken into custody without incident, and praised the new community policing officers in the 103rd Precinct. He expressed hope that their work could build stronger bridges between community and the NYPD.

If convicted, Springer faces up to seven years in prison.
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By Tammy Scileppi

Two years ago, a young, spirited entrepreneur from Corona started her own line of custom-made, handcrafted riding boots and Oxfords for stylish women and men. While it may have been a shot in the dark, the gamble turned out to be well worth any risks involved.

Now that J.J. Gray Founder and CEO Jessica Perdomo has found success with her online startup, she would like to share that positive karma by giving back. And what better time, now that the holidays are just around the corner?

A life-shaping personal experience as a young teen is at the core of her desire to make an impact in the lives of those in need. As a tribute to her humble beginnings, she hopes to make some sneaker magic happen, once her special program takes off. Perdomo would like to jumpstart a team effort (if she can find larger footwear companies to team up with), that would provide truckloads of cool sneakers to underprivileged kids in the five boroughs.

My family was so hardworking and always wanted to provide for me, so I started thinking about all the families who want to provide for their kids and give them what other kids have, but just cant, she said. I thought about how important footwear is and how it really matters to young people. I can relate to them. I know their struggles.

During a recent phone interview from her downtown Manhattan apartment, which also serves as her work studio, Perdomo, 32, said she was extremely proud of her unique line of weather-resistant and artisan-crafted styles. She pointed out that it takes about eight weeks to make each hand-stitched pair of boots or shoes, and that no two are alike.

Perdomos path to success has taken her from Corona to the south of Spain and back to New York. Along the way, both a chance encounter and a generous dose of hard work helped move her toward her goal.

That chance encounter took place in Spain, where Perdomo met a family of third-generation artisans, who had been creating custom-made shoes for over 100 years. She said they perfected a last that is used to build all J.J. Gray styles. In addition, the supple calfskin they used to make their shoes, sourced from local tanneries in the region that dont use harsh chemicals to treat their hides, made their work distinctive.

When visiting the factory, Perdomo recalled asking them: If I sketch something, could you make it? She said the sketch wasnt at a professional level, so she was thankful for Google. I showed them the heel of this boot and the toe of that one and they were able to translate my vision.

Luckily, her creativity and business savvy made up for her lack of formal fashion training. I have no design background, which is why this is a real miracle. But I have great taste and I knew everybody liked Spanish leather, she said.

Her exposure to high fashion was also a big part of J.J. Grays inspiration. Perdomos retail career started in luxury brands, when she was working on Fifth Avenue for Salvatore Ferragamo. Eventually, she worked on the sales floor at Ralph Lauren.

After her trip to Spain, Perdomo said she had no intention of starting a company. But after discovering that incredible leather, I decided to make boots for myself that I would really be in love with, she said, and designed three styles that are available on her companys website (www.jj-gr ay.com ): An Oxford (shoe) to wear every day, and two kinds of riding boots. She called the Oxford Arthur, the plain riding boot Edgar and the riding boot with laces Luther.

Then we finally made them. And they were great, and they were beautiful. People were stopping me on the street, Perdomo recalled. I could never have imagined that two years later, theyd be so popular.

And I really didnt know what I was doing. Where I come from, we dont talk much about entrepreneurship. Its go to school, find a good job, find a good match.

Jessica was raised by her hard working immigrant grandparentsa home health aide and a tailor. She grew up to appreciate the importance of family values, as well as the value of a dollar, but never realized her family was poor until she needed new sneakers. An embarrassing hole had ripped through her only pair and there was no money to buy new ones.

Because of her innate entrepreneurial spirit, she set off to find work so she could afford cool kicks, like her friends were wearing. But what mattered most, was helping her family out.

That experience shaped the person she would become, and taught her compassion. And in time, Perdomo would see her torn sneaker as a kind of symbol of the journey that brought her to where she is now. And to a place of giving back.

Surprisingly, that life lesson would also awaken her fashion mojo.

Perdomo recalled how it felt to be made fun of when she wore those worn-out sneakers. She quickly learned that dressing nice meant you were treated differently, especially if you wore something designer. When I did, I felt really cool, she said, and remembered how special she felt back in high school, when she wore her Versace bomber jacketbought for cheap at a sample sale. When you come from humble beginnings, you also become a very smart shopper and learn how to make things work.

And you get tougher, as well. Perdomo didnt know it then, but her grit and resilience would pay off.

Weve come a long way and have an amazing group of supporters, she said. Our brand is out there and moving. We have clients across the country, and in London, Dubai  all over the world. And our top clients are all in New York.

J.J. Grays first-ever fashion week was something to talk about. About 100-150 people were there from all over, to shop and support the brand during its mid-September trunk show presentation, hosted by a top client in her Flatiron District law office. Several celebs stopped by as well, including Miss J. Alexander, one of the judges on Americas Next Top Model.

Perdomo said she is still trying to figure things out, but insisted, Its all about making sure I make comfortable, versatile styles that go with everything, and that everyone loves.
By Prem Calvin Prashad

With a contentious election just days away, some Americans are increasingly concerned about the integrity of the voting process as well as their access to the ballot box. Although for supporters of Republican nominee Donald Trump, this presents an unfounded and nihilistic belief in a rigged election, for some Americans there are concerns that they may face discrimination or intimidation at polling places. For others, a basic right of access  a ballot they can understand, is not guaranteed.

The American Community Survey, a data collection effort that branched off from the U.S. Census in 2005, is administered to 3.5 million households a year and tracks ancestry, education, language spoken at home, employment and other vital statistics. The data provides insight on a number of public and private organizations and in theory helps policy makers formulate decisions. One of the uses of the ACS data is to visualize communities of color through native languages.

A data visualization project by Brooklyn web developer Jill Hubley utilized the 2014 ACS data to map languages spoken most frequently at home in New York City. Though English is the language of the vast majority of households in New York City, with Spanish a distinct second, removing those two languages reveals a fascinating look at the ethnic makeup of the city, from pockets of Italian in Howard Beach and the Rockaways, to broad stretches of Chinese and Korean-speaking households in eastern Queens.

A lack of specificity in the survey questions is the likely reason why Richmond Hill and Jackson Heights are categorized by Other Indic Languages, rather than Bengali or Punjabi. The visualization went on display at the Queens Museum the weekend of Oct. 29- 30, in the Geospatial Information Systems exhibit entitled Map Mosaic: From Queens to the World. The map can be viewed online at jillh ubley.com/ proje ct/ nycla nguag es.

What does this mean for the elections? The city Board of Elections has struggled thus far with a mandate to provide ballot translation and access to interpreters for elections. Pursuant to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a municipality must provide translation when 10,000 persons or 5 percent of voting age persons constitute a single-language minority or are Limited English Proficient. Though the U.S. Supreme Court struck down provisions of the act in 2013, the city has continued to administer this access requirement, particularly for Russian, Bengali, Punjabi and Hindi. The city has also made recent efforts to increase access to translated voter registration forms. Though serious incidents have largely been avoided, there are recorded cases of voters being sent home from polling places, improperly asked for identification and faced with depleted supplies of translated ballots.

Some organizations, such as the APA VOICE coalition, made up of civic engagement groups in the borough, attempt to raise turnout, particularly in Asian-American communities, where in 2014, according to the organization, just 14.9 percent of registered Asian American voters cast ballots. The organization also notes that in addition to having the lowest turnout by racial group, nearly a third of these voters are unaffiliated and therefore unable to participate in the party primaries. Nationally, civil rights groups such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice have set up voter hot lines to assist voters seeking information in eight languages.

An April 2016 report from city Comptroller Scott Stringers office also recommends a voter language hot line to assist voters, based on an existing model in Philadelphia. The report set out 16 points to improve voter reform in New York City.

There have been recorded cases of voter fraud in the United States this year. However, the most egregious violations involve improper marking of ballots by election workers, as well as individuals attempting to vote twice, by absentee and then at polling sites. As is the case each year, alleged talking points about non-citizens (or the deceased) voting in elections fail to materialize, consigned to innuendo and the talking points of the far right. These claims have no place when it comes to protecting the rights of the newest American citizens to participate in elections. Voters who do face barriers to language assistance or are intimidated at the polls may file a complaint with the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney Generals Office, which handles violations of the Voting Rights Act.
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By Bill Parry

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Margaret Markeys name will not appear on the ballot for the State Assembly and now voters in Woodside, Maspeth and Middle Village are choosing between a first time candidate and a longtime civic leader to replace her. Brian Barnwell, a 30-year-old attorney from Woodside who stunned the Democratic party when he upset Markey in the primary, is facing Republican nominee Tony Nunziato, 59, a self-described man of commitment and small business owner in Maspeth.

I feel good, but no one should ever take anything for granted, Barnwell said of his campaign that has built up an impressive dossier of union endorsements, from the building trade councils to the Uniformed Officers Unions, including the PBA.

I am proud to have the support of these unions, he said. As somebody who comes from a family of union members, the endorsements mean a lot to me personally.

The endorementsfailed to impress Nunziato, who has been performing a balancing act by juggling his campaign with his duties as chairman of the Maspeth-Middle Village Task Force, which organizes the protests against the citys homeless shelter policies each night at the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express.

It sounds crazy but Ive been so focused on the rallies each night I didnt have the time to reach out for endorsements, Nunziata said. I know that all of the civic leaders of the community are endorsing me and I feel good about that. I dont need some labor leader from Long Island endorsing me when I have the backing of the local civics.

In other western Queens races, state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) is running against Republican Marvin Jeffcoat, a U.S. Army veteran and facilities manager from Woodside.

Western Queens is more than just a neighborhood, it is like a family that comes together to improve each others lives and look out for each others well-being, Gianaris said. I have the honor of representing so many of my neighbors in Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Ridgewood and Woodhaven, and working alongside them on the important issues about which we care passionately. I hope the people of our community have faith in my record fighting for better schools, improving transit and housing opportunities and achieving historic progress to ensure environmental protection.

Jeffcoat said he is sick and tired of the one party rule in western Queens.

They havent done anything for us. Instead theyre leading us into a welfare state that will bankrupt us all, he said. I want to give my kids a chance at the American Dream. These politicians are great at making laws, but they never check to see if theyre working. Thats where my military training with after-action reports will help. Well see what worked and what didnt.

Jeffcoat would make education his primary focus as a champion of charter schools and private school vouchers.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) is running against Republican nominee Jesus Gonzalez, to keep his seat.

Since my election to the state Senate, we have opened more than 7,000 individual constituent cases on a variety of issues, ranging from quality of life and safety to immigration, housing and transportation, Peralta said. I will continue to fight for affordable housing, to build more schools upon the eight new schools we already built, to give our kids a quality education.

Yet overcrowding continues to plague every school in the district, which includes Jackson Heights, Corona and East Elmhurst, according to Gonzalez. The first-time candidate works at a Jackson Heights travel agency and has lived in each of the neighborhoods in the last eight years since moving from Puerto Rico, where he was a firefighter.

As a community activist Ive been talking to the people and learning of the concerns  not enough schools, not enough teachers, Gonzalez said. We need more English as Second Language classes for all of the immigrants and we dont have a lot of parks so the kids are always sitting at home. There is a high crime rate in each of these neighborhoods and the current senator is not doing anything to address that.
By Steve Barnes

Evensong, which is being given its world premiere by the Astoria Performing Arts Center, could not have a subject that is any more timely, provocative or pertinent to life in the so-called worlds borough.

Christina Quintanas play tells the story of Teo, a young man who has moved to New York from Texas in search of a new life for himself. Working as bank teller, he is bright, good looking, energeticand homeless. As Evensong opens, he is about to spend his first night in a church-run shelter presided over by Bob, a banker who volunteers at the shelter at least partly as a way of proving to himself and others that not all bankers are heartless. As the rules of the shelter are being set down, we become aware that a mutual attraction is brewing between the two, complicated by differences in social status and the heavy stigma that the homeless must live with.

The ways in which being labeled as homeless affect the lives of those without a place to call their own shape all of the events in the play. When Teo tells a co-worker that he is living in a shelter, the air of discomfort and embarassment that follows is powerfully realized. Even in his interactions with friends and family, Teo lets his shame about his situation put a wall between him and those he is closest to. In a call home to a friend, he keeps up the impression that he is living on his own in a loft space. He gives his grandmother a false address, leading to a package being sent to him at the apartment of a young couple whose lives become intertwined with his through a series of coincidences.

Since 2013, the playwright has volunteered at The Friends Shelter in Manhattan, and her understanding of the struggles the homeless go through is strongly conveyed in Evensong. From the desire for such seemingly mundane luxuries as a hot shower or a little privacy to the need to be seen as a person and not just a statistic, those struggles are expressed by a varied cast of sharply drawn characters. Quintana brings the small details of each persons behavior together in a way that results in throughly believable individuals.

That understanding and sensitivity are just as apparent in her creation of characters who are not homeless. Whether it is a yuppie banker, a striving middle-class couple or the ghostly presence of Teos grandmother, the playwright brings a strong sense of humanity to each person, engaging the audience and driving the plays message home.

She is greatly aided in that effort by a strong cast. In addition to Daniel Prados Teo and Chad Carstarphens Bob, Marie Louise Guinier gives a vivid performance as Gladys, one of Teos fellow shelter residents. Sai Somboon captures the personalities of three distinct characters, while Doug Rossi and Francis Mateo bring the roles of a panhandler/poet and a young teacher effectively to life. And in the roles of Rosa, the young woman who receives the package mailed to Teo, and of the grandmother who mailed the package, Arlene Chico-Lugo radiates warmth and stage presence.

The staging and lighting design of the play also contribute to its poweras does its setting. To place a story about a church-run shelter in a theater that is part of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church (30-44 Crescent St., Astoria) is perhaps little more than a coincidence, but for a story that hinges on both coincidence and the belief in the human spirit, it is a lucky one.
By Lawrence S. Wittner

At present, nuclear disarmament seems to have ground to a halt. Nine nations have a total of approximately 15,500 nuclear warheads in their arsenals, including 7,300 possessed by Russia and 7,100 possessed by the United States. A Russian-American treaty to further reduce their nuclear forces has been difficult to secure thanks to Russian disinterest and Republican resistance.

Yet nuclear disarmament remains vital, for, as long as nuclear weapons exist, it is likely that they will be used. Wars have been fought for thousands of years, with the most powerful weaponry often brought into play. Nuclear weapons were used with little hesitation by the U.S. government in 1945 and, although they have not been employed in war since then, how long can we expect to go on without their being pressed into service again by hostile governments?

Furthermore, even if governments avoid using them for war, there remains the danger of their explosion by terrorist fanatics or simply by accident. More than a thousand accidents involving U.S. nuclear weapons occurred between 1950 and 1968 alone. Many were trivial, but others could have been disastrous. Although none of the accidentally launched nuclear bombs, missiles, and warheadssome of which have never been foundexploded, we might not be as lucky in the future.

Also, nuclear weapons programs are enormously costly. Currently, the U.S. government plans to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to refurbish the entire U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Is this really affordable? Given the fact that military spending already chews up 54 percent of the federal governments discretionary spending, an additional $1 trillion for nuclear weapons modernization seems likely to come out of whatever now remains of funding for public education, public health, and other domestic programs.

In addition, the proliferation of nuclear weapons to more countries remains a constant danger. The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 was a compact between the non-nuclear nations and nuclear-armed nations, with the former forgoing nuclear weapons development while the latter eliminated their nuclear arsenals. But the nuclear powers retention of nuclear weapons is eroding the willingness of other nations to abide by the treaty.

Conversely, further nuclear disarmament would result in some very real benefits to the United States. A significant reduction in the 2,000 U.S. nuclear weapons deployed around the world would reduce nuclear dangers and save the U.S. government enormous amounts of money that could fund domestic programs or simply be returned to happy taxpayers. Also, with this show of respect for the bargain made under the NPT, non-nuclear nations would be less inclined to embark on nuclear weapons programs.

Unilateral U.S. nuclear reductions would also generate pressures to follow the U.S. lead. If the U.S. government announced cutbacks in its nuclear arsenal, while challenging the Kremlin to do the same, that would embarrass the Russian government before world public opinion, the governments of other nations, and its own public. Eventually, with much to gain and little to lose by engaging in nuclear reductions, the Kremlin might begin making them as well.

Opponents of nuclear reductions argue that nuclear weapons must be retained, for they serve as a deterrent. But does nuclear deterrence really work? Ronald Reagan, one of Americas most military-minded presidents, repeatedly brushed off airy claims that U.S. nuclear weapons had deterred Soviet aggression, retorting: Maybe other things had. Also, non-nuclear powers have fought numerous wars with the nuclear powers (including the United States and the Soviet Union) since 1945. Why werent they deterred?

Of course, much deterrence thinking focuses on the safety from nuclear attack that nuclear weapons allegedly provide. But, in fact, U.S. government officials, despite their vast nuclear armada, dont seem to feel very secure. How else can we explain their huge financial investment in a missile defense system? Also, why have they been so worried about the Iranian government obtaining nuclear weapons? After all, the U.S. governments possession of thousands of nuclear weapons should convince them that they neednt worry about the acquisition of nuclear arms by Iran or any other nation.

Furthermore, even if nuclear deterrence does work, why does Washington require 2,000 deployed nuclear weapons to ensure its efficacy? A 2002 study concluded that, if only 300 U.S. nuclear weapons were used to attack Russian targets, 90 million Russians (out of a population of 144 million) would die in the first half hour. Moreover, in the ensuing months, the enormous devastation produced by the attack would result in the deaths of the vast majority of survivors by wounds, disease, exposure, and starvation. Surely no Russian or other government would find this an acceptable outcome.

This overkill capacity probably explains why the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff think that 1,000 deployed nuclear weapons are sufficient to safeguard U.S. national security. It might also explain why none of the other seven nuclear powers (Britain, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) bothers to maintain more than 300 nuclear weapons.

Although unilateral action to reduce nuclear dangers might sound frightening, it has been taken numerous times with no adverse consequences. The Soviet government unilaterally halted nuclear weapons testing in 1958 and, again, in 1985. Starting in 1989, it also began removing its tactical nuclear missiles from Eastern Europe. Similarly, the U.S. government, during the administration of U.S. president George H.W. Bush, acted unilaterally to remove all U.S. short-range, ground-launched nuclear weapons from Europe and Asia, as well as all short-range nuclear arms from U.S. Navy vessels around the worldan overall cut of several thousand nuclear warheads.

Obviously, negotiating an international treaty that banned and destroyed all nuclear weapons would be the best way to abolish nuclear dangers. But that need not preclude other useful action from being taken along the way.

The views expressed in this article are the author\s own and do not necessarily reflect The Times Of Earth\s editorial policy.
At least 110 migrants are feared drowned after they were forced at gunpoint to set sail from Libya, while many more may have died in a separate shipwreck, survivors said Thursday.

"A vessel with around 140 people on board overturned Wednesday just a few hours after setting off from Libya, throwing everyone into the water. Only 29 people survived," UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami told AFP.

The Norwegian Siem Pilot was first on the scene, around 20 nautical miles off Libya, and rescued the survivors  all in a poor condition after hours in the water  with the help of four other vessels. Twelve bodies were recovered.

In a possible second incident, which could not be confirmed by the coast guard, two women told the UN agency they believed they were the only survivors in an disaster in which some 125 people drowned.

"They told us they were on a faulty dinghy which began to sank as soon as they set sail. They were the only survivors," Sami said.

Those pulled to safety were transferred to Lampedusa by the Italian coast guard, where they told aid workers and the island\s doctor how they had set off from Libya in rough seas.

"Their tales are horrifying," doctor Pietro Bartolo told Italian television network Tv2000.

Once the migrants had realised they were being put out to sea in bad weather, they tried to turn back, but were forced on at gunpoint.

"To make them get on the dinghies they (the traffickers) shot a man, killing him dead. They made them depart and after a few miles at sea the tragedy happened," Bartolo said.

"One woman said she had to hold on to a dead body to survive. They said they spent many hours in the water in the hope someone would save them. But when the rescuers arrived there was nothing to be done for most of them," he added.

The doctor said at least three children were among the dead.

The latest tragedy brings the number of migrants who have died or are missing feared drowned this year to over 4,000.

"Another tragedy on the high seas, with 239 feared dead in the Mediterranean, once again. So many lives could be saved through more resettlement and legal pathways to protection," said the UN\s refugee chief Filippo Grandi.

Sami, the spokeswoman, tweeted: "One in every 42 people are dying in the Central Mediterranean looking for safety".

The rescue situation is often chaotic, with people confused, sick or exhausted after periods in crisis-hit Libya unable to specify how many people were on board their dinghies at the outset or what vessel pulled them from the water.

Around 750 migrants were rescued across the Mediterranean Thursday by the Italian coast guard, a Frontex ship, a Save The Children vessel, German NGO Jugend Rettet\s Iuventa and two boats run by the Malta-based MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station).

MOAS\s Topaz Responder plucked close to 180 people from the water, according to an AFP photographer on board.

"The (Responder) crew was shouting at them to sit down and stay calm while the life jackets were handed out but they were getting agitated, and around 10 of them fell overboard, some without life jackets on," photographer Andreas Solaro said.

October marked a record monthly high in the number of migrants arriving in Italy in recent years  some 27,000 people  and the departures have showed no sign of slowing, despite worsening weather in the Mediterranean.

Amnesty International warned Thursday the pressure placed on Italy by Europe to cope alone with the worst migration crisis since World War II had led to "unlawful expulsions and ill-treatment which in some cases may amount to torture".

The report was bluntly rejected by Italy\s chief of police, who denied the use of violent methods in the force\s handling of migrants.

SOURCE: AFP
A joint U.S.-Afghan raid Thursday against the Taliban involving NATO airstrikes left 26 civilians, three Afghan troops and two U.S. service members dead, Western and local officials said, as investigators worked to determine what went wrong.

NATO and the Pentagon described the Americans killed and four other U.S. troops wounded as being part of "a train, advise and assist mission," rare combat casualties for Western forces who handed over the task of securing Afghanistan to local troops some two years ago.

Afghan officials said they were still investigating the attack and its civilian casualties, some of which may have been caused by the airstrikes called in to support Afghan and U.S. troops under fire. Residents later carried over a dozen corpses of the dead, including children, toward the local governor\s office in a show of rage a year after American forces attacked an area hospital.

NATO declined to identify the Americans killed, pending notification of their next of kin. NATO and the Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press to further clarify the American troops\ mission in the area.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said four Americans were wounded.

"Our service members were doing their part to help the Afghans secure their own country while protecting our homeland from those who would do us harm," he said in a statement.

The target of the raid were two senior Taliban commanders, who were killed in the fighting along with 63 other insurgents, Kunduz police chief Gen. Qasim Jangalbagh said. He said Afghan special forces carried out the raid and that he did not have any information about NATO involvement in the assault.

Jangalbagh said 26 civilians, including members of the Taliban fighters\ families, were killed in the assault.

Kunduz official Mohammad Yousf Ayoubi and parliament member Malim Chari both also told the AP that civilians were killed in the fighting, though they had few details. Dr. Mohammad Naim Mangal, the director of a Kunduz hospital, said his facility received the bodies of a dead man and a child and treated 30 people, including children, wounded in the fighting.

NATO only said it was "aware of the allegations," while the Pentagon did not immediately respond.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, briefing journalists in Brussels during a teleconference, said three Afghan troops were killed in the assault. Mohammad Radmanish, a deputy spokesman at the Afghan Defense Ministry, offered the same figure.

In a later statement, Cleveland said that "friendly forces received direct fire and airstrikes were conducted to defend themselves" and an investigation was underway.

He earlier described the assault as "not a common event," without elaborating.

A Taliban statement also said there were civilian casualties while claiming its fighters killed 16 U.S. troops. The insurgents often exaggerate their battlefield successes.

Taliban fighters briefly overran the city of Kunduz, the provincial capital with the same name, in early October, a show of strength by the insurgents that also highlighted the troubles facing local Afghan forces 15 years after the U.S.-led invasion of the country. The Taliban captured and held parts of Kunduz a year earlier as well before the city was fully liberated weeks later with the help of U.S. airstrikes.

Those 2015 airstrikes also saw a U.S. Air Force special operations AC-130 gunship attack a Kunduz hospital run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, killing 42 people. Sixteen U.S. military personnel, including a two-star general, later were disciplined for what American officials described as mistakes that led the strike. Doctors Without Borders has called the attack a war crime and demanded an independent investigation.

Yet another airstrike killing civilians could stoke anger among Afghans, and the country\s former President Hamid Karzai repeatedly clashed with NATO over them, straining relations.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement criticizing the Taliban for using women and children as "a shield" during the raid. He also announced a local investigation had been started.

Also on Thursday, Afghan officials said a roadside blast struck a group of people on their way to a wedding in the northern Faryab province, killing at least nine civilians and wounding 11. Javed Dedar, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the bride was among those wounded. It remained unclear if the blast was caused by a roadside mine or mortars fired by militants, and the remote location of the incident made the details difficult to verify.

NATO\s combat operations ended in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, a move that put Afghan forces in charge of the country\s security. Since then, Afghan forces have suffered heavy casualties battling the Taliban, who have at times overrun provincial capitals before being pushed back. Meanwhile, NATO and U.S. casualties have been few.

There have been at least other four combat deaths among American forces in Afghanistan in 2016. In October, a U.S. soldier was killed by a bomb in Nangarhar province while another was shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform in Kabul. In August, an American soldier was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan\ southern Helmand province. In January, a U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire in Helmand.

The fight in Afghanistan  American\s longest war  began after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks as the Taliban harbored al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The Taliban and Afghan government recently held secret talks to see if they could start peace negotiations to end the fighting, though questions remain over which faction of the insurgency is doing the talking.

SOURCE: Associated Press
Looking for deals at annual Pittsburgh airport auction

More than 800 appeared and about 700 participated in annual event last month.
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ALBANY  A former New York deputy secretary of state pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges for concealing financial assets to avoid restitution payments.

Joseph Felix Strevell, 54, admitted to hiding income in multiple bank accounts, including his daughter's, to avoid repaying more than $110,000 he stole during his time at a state nonprofit agency, the former Institute for Entrepreneurship. He was convicted for that crime in 2007.
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Albany

A memorial service for Bettina Dudley, daughter of longtime Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd, will be Sunday near her home on Mount Desert Island, Maine. She was 78 and had lived in Maine for 22 years.

She died Sept. 25 after a brief illness.

A celebration of the life of the mother of two and biologist who taught environmental science will be held in the public library in Northeast Harbor. The Maine village is where three generations of Cornings spent summers in a luxurious seaside estate alongside the Rockefellers and other New York blue bloods.

Dudley eschewed the patrician lifestyle into which she was born. Comfortable in jeans and flannel, she lived in the woods, practiced Buddhist meditation, wrote poetry, was an avid bird watcher and helped out at the Whole Health Center in Bar Harbor, a community of natural healing and spiritual growth.

Jack McEneny, who worked for Mayor Corning at City Hall and was a friend of the family, learned of Dudley's death from this reporter Friday. It was unusual that he didn't hear back from Dudley after he made his annual phone call to her last month on the 107th anniversary of her father's birthday on Oct. 7.

"I'm very sorry to hear she has passed. She was a wonderful person and I enjoyed spending time with her," McEneny said.

He met with Dudley on her occasional visits to Albany and they reminisced about her father, who died in 1983 at 73 of complications from emphysema.

Corning was elected mayor in 1942 and died in office during his 11th term, making him the longest-tenured mayor of any city in America at the time.

Corning was the Yale-educated front man for political boss Dan O'Connell, a fifth-grade dropout whose durable Democratic machine took control of City Hall in 1921 and has not yet relinquished it.

Dudley's roommate at Cornell University was Janet Reno, the former U.S. Attorney General.

Reno was in the wedding party when Dudley married fellow Cornell student Theodore Robert Dudley at the Episcopal Cathedral of All Saints in Albany. The Corning family donated the land for the cathedral and much of its early financial support.

"Bettina was a delightful person and I was very fond of her," said retired Bishop David Ball, who dined with Dudley when she was in the area and spoke with her regularly on the phone.

Ball gave her a tour of the South Lake Avenue home in Albany where her parents lived in her childhood and which her mother donated to the Episcopal diocese as Ball's former residence. "She was so excited to see it again and had a lot of happy memories there," Ball said.

Dudley is survived by her brother, Erastus Corning III of Charleston, S.C., two sons and their wives and six grandchildren.

pgrondahl@timesunion.com  518-454-5623  @PaulGrondahl
ALBANY  A Cohoes man was sentenced Friday in Albany County State Supreme Court to 7 years in prison for attempted burglary, the Albany County District Attorney's Office said.

Robert F. Wagner, 37, previously pleaded guilty in connection with a June break-in at a home on Vliet Avenue in Cohoes. Police caught him in the home after a neighbor saw him breaking in through a window and called 911, the DA's office said.
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Republican Christopher Davis has knocked on almost 10,500 doors in the Capital Region within the last year.

As a relatively unknown candidate running against 10-term incumbent Democrat Neil Breslin in the 44th State Senate District, the Cohoes Republican is eager to discuss his positions on taxes, infrastructure, education and law enforcement.

There's only one question Davis wishes people wouldn't ask: "What's your party?"

His response: "I'll tell you but first I'd like to say, please judge me based on what I want to do and what I stand for. That being said, I'm on the Republican ticket."

Any Republican faces an uphill climb in the 44th district, which covers the urban core of the Capital Region, including Bethlehem, Colonie, Albany, Cohoes, Watervliet, Green Island, Rensselaer and part of Troy. Not only has Breslin proven he has a strong base of support, he is aided by voter registration, with three times as many Democrats as Republicans enrolled.

Davis, a former policy coordinator at the state Department of Health who now works in the private sector, describes himself as "a moderate" with political views that could belong on either side of the aisle.

Deyva Arthur, one of 10 Green Party candidates running for office in New York this year, also is challenging the incumbent.

Breslin first won election to the Senate in 1996. He ran unopposed in 2014.

Given his long tenure, Breslin has a list of accomplishments to fall back on at election time every two years. He points to recent achievements that include sponsoring legislation in 2014 that established Albany's red-light camera program and various pieces of dense insurance legislation approved in 2009 and 2010. They include one bill that required insurers to cover part of the costs associated with dialysis treatments for patients who receive treatment away from home for any number of reasons.

Yet Breslin, who serves as the ranking Democratic on the Insurance Committee, has served as a member of the Senate majority for just two years (2009 and 2010) of his 20 in office. Whether that changes in 2017 hinges on his re-election and a handful of more closely contested races elsewhere in the state.

"Being in the minority, all you can do is really be the loyal opposition," he said. "You can create legislation  and I've been on every piece of legislation changing the way we elect our people and making it fairer for a challenger: having government-financed elections, anything that will allow more competitive elections and have the independent (commission) create election districts."

Davis threw his hat in the ring for the sake of competitive elections because "no incumbent should run unopposed," he said, adding that he wants term limits for the state Senate.

"There is a lack of actual representation," Davis said. "It's not just showing up to ribbon cuttings and school events. It's actually fighting for the people you represent."

Still, The Republican is realistic about his chances against a longtime incumbent in a mostly Democratic district.

"We may not win this cycle but we are planting the seeds for change," he said.

If elected, Davis said he wants to help start testing for heavy minerals, including lead, in the water sent to district homes and to use that data to lobby the federal government to fund water main reconstruction.

He also is advocating for a 20 percent small businesses tax cut for those employers who spend half their savings on hiring new employees or giving non-management employees raises as a $12.50 minimum wage upstate and $15 minimum wage downstate is phased-in in the coming years.

Matthew Hamilton contributed. emasters@timesunion.com  518-454-5467  @emilysmasters
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New York

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could hardly be farther apart politically. But they'll spend the decisive night of their polarizing presidential campaign barely a New York minute away from one another.

For the first time in recent memory, both major-party candidates are holding election night parties in midtown Manhattan.

Trump, the Republican New York native who embodies what people variously love, hate and love to hate about the nation's biggest city, is headed to a power hotel that boasts of having hosted every president for more than half a century. Clinton, the Democratic transplant who won over New Yorkers to start her political rise as their senator, will be at a sprawling convention center with a perhaps symbolic glass ceiling.

Smack in between is Times Square, where election-watching crowds have gathered for decades.

If the face-off between the would-be first woman president and the billionaire businessman seeking the presidency as his first political job is an only-in-America story, its denouement stands to be an only-in-New York election night.

"It's grand theater, it's culturally contradictory and it's completely par for the course" in a race that's been an outsized spectacle featuring two New Yorkers, said David Birdsell, the public and international affairs dean at the City University of New York's Baruch College.

On Thursday, workers were building a stage shaped like the United States, complete with outlying pillars for Alaska and Hawaii, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the block-sized venue where Clinton announced last week she'll gather with supporters.
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[November 04, 2016] Global Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) Market to Witness Growth Through 2020, Owing to Increase in Military Expenditure: Technavio

The Global Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (Miles) Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 8% during the period 2016-2020, according to Technavio's latest report. In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the global MILES market for 2016-2020. The market is further categorized into two application segments, namely soldiers and vehicles, of which the soldier segment accounted for over 80% of the market share during 2015. "The global MILES market is expected to grow during the forecast period due to extensive investments in the development and procurement of MILES by countries such as the US, China, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, and the UK. Live laser training systems are also known as tactical engagement simulation (TES) systems. MILES is one such equipment that confers TES, using eye-safe laser bullets. Its instrumentation and tracking system provides authorities with detailed after-action reports (AAR)," says Arushi Thakur, an industry expert for defense research at Technavio. Technavio's aerospace and defense research analysts segment the global MILES market into the following regions: Americas

EMEA

APAC In 2015, with a market share of over 55%, the Americas dominated the global MILES market, followed by EMEA with 27% and APAC with 18%. America: MILES simulators being used for training more than 200,000 US Army soldiers The MILES market in the Americas is expected at a CAGR of around 7.7%. The Obama administration's budget for 2016 is USD 4 trillion, of which USD 619 billion has been allotted for defense programs, and an additional USD 54 billion has been assigned to all the US intelligence agencies to meet both long-term challenges and immediate extremist threats, which include training and simulation exercises. In the US MILES simulators are being acquired by the US Department of Defense (DoD) under a large army program with an aim to provide upgraded devices for in-training soldiers in military tactics. They are contracting companies like Lockheed Martin (News - Alert) and Cubic for the supply of I-MILES and army mobile instrument training system variants (PEO STRI). In addition, more than 200,000 US Army soldiers are being trained using I-MILES. Such programs and procurement plans will propel the market during the forecast period.



Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=52570 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.

EMEA: increase in defense budgets to boost market The MILES market in EMEA is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7%. The amounts allocated as part of the defense budgets in countries such as Russia and South Africa have increased as compared to previous years. In 2015, Saudi Arabia witnessed a budget of close to USD 82 billion and was ahead of the world's major powers with approximately 13% of its GDP allocated to defense. Despite the economic crisis in the European countries such as Portugal, Greece, Ireland, and Cyprus, the market share of the region is projected to grow during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the significant growth in many European countries' GDP and military spending. "The increase in defense budgets and a simultaneous rise in the investments in R&D for training equipment will drive the market during the forecast period," says Arushi. APAC: fastest growing market The MILES market in APAC is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 9.5%. The strong economic progress in APAC has fueled the market. In 2015, the military spending in APAC was USD 435 billion with China, India, Japan, and South Korea being the top three spenders. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam made it to the top 10 countries with the fastest-growing defense budgets in 2015. Such military expenditures of any country define the contribution of investments in various sectors such as R&D, military training, equipment, ammunition expenditure, and many other segments. These intensive military expenditures are expected to drive the market during the forecast period. For instance, USD 70 million was spent on the procurement of wireless version of laser TES in 2009. The top vendors in the global MILES market as highlighted in the report are: Cubic

Lockheed Martin

Saab

Raytheon (News - Alert) Browse Related Reports: Global Military Laser Systems Market 2016-2020

Global Laser Distance Meter Market 2016-2020

Global Radar Systems and Technology Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005873/en/

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[November 04, 2016] Fitch: Clinton's Healthcare Plan Mixed for Nonprofit Hospitals

If Hillary Clinton's presidential bid is successful and her broad healthcare proposals are implemented, they have the capacity for near-term benefits for nonprofit hospitals, but they may also create some operating risk and uncertainties. While the proposed universal Medicaid expansion and proposed cost controls are generally positive over the near term, the longer term effect of expanding Medicare eligibility and implementing a "public option" is uncertain, Fitch Ratings says. On the positive, Clinton's plan to expand Medicaid in the 19 states that have thus far declined to do so would be beneficial in the short term for nonprofit hospitals in those states. Mirroring the impact seen in states that have already expanded Medicaid, Fitch would expect an increase in patient volumes and reduction in bad debt and charity deductions from revenue. Hospitals in the few states that have implemented expansion alternatives -- such as waiver programs -- would likely experience a more muted benefit. However, over the long run, Fitch would expect the benefits to wane with deterioration in payor mix. As seen in states that expanded Medicaid, hospitals have experienced a decline in commercial insurance which has not been fully offset by reduced bad debt or supplemental reimbursement from the state through programs like the Disproportionate Share Hospital program and provider-tax and provider-fee programs. These supplemental revenue streams are always susceptible to cuts in funding. Similarly, Clinton's plan to expand access to health insurance exchanges regardless of immigration status, as well as increasing reimbursement to aid access in rural areas, is likely to be positive for nonprofit hospitals. Likely outcomes include a reduction in charity and bad debt expense, and incremental reimbursement for telehealth, federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. The impact of Clinton's plan to implement premium and drug cost controls is uncertain and will vary by hospital especially related to premium increases with the growing interest in owning health plans. Lastly, Clinton's proposal to broaden Medicare eligibility and provide a "public option" has the potential to negatively impact the sector, though the plan details remain unclear. Her proposal includes allowing people over 55 years old to purchase Medicare coverage, which may push revenue mix further toward Medicare and away from commercial insurance, compressing overall reimbursement. The impact largely depends on whether existing supplemental reimbursement mechanisms that offset care would be reduced for the uninsured/underinsured. The impact could also hinge on whether the incremental revenue from Medicare/Medicaid, and the public option, reimbursement would offset that loss. Fitch has not commented on the Trump healthcare plan due to the lack of specificity on what would be implemented after "repeal and replace." The Trump platform emphasizes the use of health savings accounts, increased price transparency, modification of state insurance laws and allowing easier access to foreign pharmaceuticals, which may or may not have a residual impact on hospital providers. A repeal of the current Medicaid program (and the expansion of eligibility) with a block grant program would have to be evaluated on a state by state basis. The level of infrastructure and investment in the current ACA has been significant. However, the ongoing pressure on healthcare costs and funding and push toward value-based reimbursement by Medicare would likely result in reform measures remaining in place regardless of a repeal of ACA. The above article originally appeared as a post on the Fitch Wire credit market commentary page. The original article can be accessed at www.fitchratings.com. All opinions expressed are those of Fitch Ratings.



ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright 2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed.

The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005824/en/

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[November 04, 2016] Lieff Cabraser: Consumer Safety Commission Recalls 2.8 Million Samsung Top-Loading Washing Machines Over Explosion Risks

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), with the cooperation of Samsung (News - Alert), is recalling 2.8 million of Samsung's top-loading washing machines in the wake of over 700 reports of exploding washing machines resulting in at least nine injuries. The recall covers 34 of Samsung's top-load models sold from March 2011 through November 2016. CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye told reporters, "We're talking about ... a very serious hazard of the top of these washing machines completely blowing off. It is a lot of reports." Kaye added that the tops of the affected units weren't "secured enough based on a design failure. And the top just completely blows off." In August 2016, Lieff Cabraser filed a federal consumer product defect lawsuit in district court in New Jersey alleging among other things that the Samsung top-loading washers explode in owners' homes, causing damage to walls, doors, and other nearby equipment and presenting significant injury risks. Lieff Cabraser partner Jason Lichtman stated, "We are pleased that Samsung has taken the step of agreeing to a formal recall of these dangerous machines, and we are monitoring the situation closely." Lichtman added, "both the federal court and the Plaintiffs have an important role to play in ensuring that consumers are protected fully and compensated appropriately." "It was the loudest sound. It sounded like a bomb went off in my ear," stated 32-year-old plaintiff Melissa Thaxton of Dallas, Georgia. "There were wires, nuts, the cover actually was laying on the floor. I just remember covering my head and leaning towards my son and just screaming this scream that I didn't even know I could scream," Thaxton added. Beyond damage to the washing machines themselves, reports include descriptions of glass and other machine parts being shot across garages and laundry rooms at distances of over 15 feet, with consequent damage to other appliances, water heaters, and homes. Several Samsung top-load washer owners report avoiding injury from the exploding debris and equipment pieces only by fortunate timing or physical blocking from other pieces of furniture or equipment, often mere moments after the owners had their heads or hands right by the machines. In late September 2016, the CPSC issued a warning about the top-load Samsung washer explosion dangers, advising consumers only to use the most delicate cycle when washing any bedding, water-resistant, or bulky items. "The lower spin speed in the delicate cycle lessens the risk of impact injuries or property damage due to the washing machine becoming dislodged," the warning noted.



Searches for video captures of exploding Samsung washers on YouTube show over 8,000 results with frightening owner videos posted showing the machines shaking with wild uncontrolled vibrations and exploding as well as a myriad of news reports on the incidents and owner fears about their homes and washers. Samsung issued a statement indicating it is "moving quickly to offer safe and easy choices to consumers impacted by the recall. Our priority is to minimize any safety risk and address the conditions that lead to the rare instance when the top of the washer unexpectedly separates from the unit." The company apologized for what it called the "inconvenience" to consumers caused by its defective exploding washing machines, and offered to schedule home visits to conduct free repairs.

Information on affected models is available on the CPSC's website at www.cpsc.gov. You can learn more about the lawsuits filed on behalf of owners of Samsung top-loading washing machines and your rights as a consumer on Lieff Cabraser's website. Consumer Protection Attorneys at Lieff Cabraser On August 12, 2016, attorneys at Lieff Cabraser filed a class action complaint on behalf of consumers seeking redress for Samsung's allegedly defective and dangerous top-loading washing machines, noting that the machines present unreasonable risks of property damage and serious personal injury during normal use as they are prone to "catastrophic failure" leading to unit explosions. If you purchased a Samsung top-loading washing machine between March 2011 and November 2016, we invite you to visit our Samsung top-load washer explosions webpage to contact a consumer attorney at Lieff Cabraser. We welcome the opportunity to learn of your experiences with your Samsung washing machine and to answer any questions you may have about your legal rights. About Lieff Cabraser Recognized as "one of the nation's premier plaintiffs' firms" by The American Lawyer and a "Top 10 Plaintiffs Firm" by Benchmark Litigation, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, has successfully litigated and settled hundreds of class action lawsuits in federal and state courts, including dozens of cases requiring manufacturers to remedy a defect, extend warranties, and refund to purchasers the cost of repairing the defective product. It has recovered billions of dollars for consumers in such cases. With seventy attorneys in offices in San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Seattle, we are among the largest law firms in the United States that represent only plaintiffs. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005832/en/

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[November 04, 2016] Supercomputing and Medical Experts to Discuss Future of Healthcare: Precision Medicine

The frontiers of precision medicine are fast becoming the front yard, thanks to the cooperative work of doctors, patients, biomedical researchers, engineers and computer scientists: Imagine if, instead of dispensing a "one size fits all" pill to treat your ailment in its broadest sense, your pharmacist "printed out" a highly customized medication formulated exactly to target your specific disease on its genetic level, taking into account your own body's unique biometrics, current health conditions and your own genomic profile? Such a precise treatment might be far more effective, in a shorter timeframe, with fewer side effects.

on its genetic level, taking into account your own body's unique biometrics, current health conditions and your own genomic profile? Such a precise treatment might be far more effective, in a shorter timeframe, with fewer side effects. What if doctors could extract cells from your immune system and supercharge them , reintroducing them into your body to fight a cancer or an infection more effectively and completely? Such a treatment might carry fewer risks of rejection and crippling side effects than established forms of transplant and allow vulnerable patients to beat their disease faster, with lesser depletion of body systems.

, reintroducing them into your body to fight a cancer or an infection more effectively and completely? Such a treatment might carry fewer risks of rejection and crippling side effects than established forms of transplant and allow vulnerable patients to beat their disease faster, with lesser depletion of body systems. Transplant patients wait on long lists for the privilege of a second chance of a donated organ, but what if we could coax patients' stem cells to grow into graft-able, customized tissues using 3D-printed scaffoldings? The lab could become a new kind of fertile field where we cultivate life-saving and life-changing transplantable tissues, such as replacement bladders, livers, tracheas, bones, vascular or even skin tissue. Futuristic as they may sound, these are all examples of current explorations in the world of precision medicine1 and the rapidly expanding array of new options for the treatment of complex and destructive diseases of all kinds, from the most common human cancers and diseases to the rarest of genetic conditions, and everything in between. A panel of some of the world's leading experts will come together to discuss this next frontier of healthcare at SC16, the premier international conference showcasing highperformance computing this November 14th in Salt Lake City, Utah.



Scheduled participants include: Dr. Mitchell Cohen, Director of Surgery, Denver Health Medical Center; Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Martha Head, Senior Director, The Noldor; Acting Head, Insights from Data at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Warren Kibbe, Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics (News - Alert) and Information Technology (CBIIT); Chief Information Officer; Acting Deputy Director; National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Dr. Dimitri Kusnezov, Chief Scientist & Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration

Dr. Steve Scott, Chief Technology Officer, Cray Inc. "Enabling innovations in precision medicine are increasing capacity and creativity in biomedical informatics, combining with exciting discoveries in gene sequencing, molecular biomarkers, and the relatively young science of proteomics, the study of proteins and their interplay with disease and human health," said Steve Conway, a supercomputing analyst from IDC (News - Alert) who will also lead the panel. "Emerging and more precise biomedical research tools are advancing discovery, while efforts to ethically collect, analyze and share the data behind disease are also positioning scientists to find the next new treatments."

According to Conway, precision medicine has been a hotspot of innovation for a while now, and the interdisciplinary work of medical researchers and computer scientists is bearing fruit in clinical settings already. In fact, the U.S. government has invested $210 billion over the past few years through its Precision Medicine initiative, and earlier this year announced the Cancer Moonshot initiative in an effort to improve treatments and ultimately cure cancer. "Truly transformative discoveries are happening, and those discoveries are driving powerful shifts in how we combat disease and make people's lives better," he stated. "These leading minds will discuss how combining supercomputing technology with research and physician input will improve quality of life, increase efficacies and mitigate or eliminate the burdens of disease for millions of patients." For more information about the role of high performance computing in precision medicine, or to connect with these professionals about related topics, contact Brian Ban, SC16 Communications (773) 454-7423. SC16 is the premier international conference showcasing the many ways high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis and lead to advances in scientific discovery, research, education and commerce. The annual event, created and sponsored by the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and the IEEE (News - Alert) Computer Society, attracts HPC professionals and educators from around the globe to participate in its complete technical education program, workshops, tutorials, a world class exhibit area, demonstrations and opportunities for hands-on learning. 1 Source (News - Alert): "More examples of Precision Medicine in Action," published by the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah. Retrieved on October 18, 2016 at http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/precision/action/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005858/en/

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Health Plans Project 2017 Premiums to Increase by 6.8% for Group Commercial Plans and 22.3% for Individual Commercial Plans

Health plans are expecting 2017 premium rates to increase by 6.8% for Group Commercial plans, while growing by 22.3% for Individual Commercial Plans. For Group plans, this growth is 0.4 percentage points lower than their expectations for last year. For Individual plans, growth expectations are higher by 11.4 percentage points.

Individual members include all who purchase insurance individually, including those not served on exchanges. Medicare and Medicaid membership is excluded.

Anticipated premium rate increases after the effect of buy-downs for Group and Individual plans is 5.3% and 19.7%, respectively. Compared to last year's survey, the growth for Group plans is expected to be relatively stable, while higher by 11.2 percentage points for Individual plans. We define a buy-down as a change i product design to achieve a lower premium.







For plans participating in this survey, we infer that overall medical trends are projected to increase by 6.2% for Group plans and 13.6% for Individual plans. This is based on their anticipated MLR decline for Groups of 0.5 percentage points and a decrease of 6.0 percentage points for Individual plans. We estimate an increase in consumer cost sharing to be 10.1% for Group plans and 27.8% for Individuals.

Fifty-three plans serving an estimated 17 million people enrolled in health insurance responded to this year's survey. This is Sherlock Company's twenty-second annual survey of premium pricing trends.

Sherlock Company (www.sherlockco.com), based in North Wales, Pennsylvania, provides informed solutions for health plan financial management. Since its founding in 1987, Sherlock Company has been known for its impartiality and technical competence in service to its clients.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005949/en/
State Debate: If there's nothing new in the Clinton emails, then James Comey needs to quit, argues the Racine Journal Times
[November 04, 2016] Dark Reading named top influencer for Chief Information Security Officers in the US

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM's Dark Reading, connecting the information security community, was named the top overall influencer and technology news source in Apollo Research's just released 'US CISO Influencer Report 2016'. In the report, Apollo Research reveals the 300 people, media and organizations that 1,851 chief information security officers (CISOs) in the United States rely on for news, information and insight. The data collected was based on Twitter engagement. "The aptly named Dark Reading is a one-stop smorgasbord of information, data, statistics and updates for the CISO and takes the lead with 24.1% of the reach," according to the report. "The site has everything from analytics to attacks to career opportunities and events. In addition to having some high-level writers and insight, the publication hosts its own Cyber Security Summit and is a part of [UBM's Technology Group]." "Dark Reading has spent the last 10 years building a comprehensive site that gives security professionals all the news and information they ned to do their jobs," said Tim Wilson, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Dark Reading. "We're excited about the Apollo Research findings because they indicate that we have achieved that goal."



Key findings from the US CISO Influencer Report 2016 include: Dark Reading takes the lead with nearly a quarter of the reach ranks #1 overall.

Dark Reading is also the top media/news source, ranking #1 in the Technology News category.

Kelly Jackson Higgins , executive editor of Dark Reading, is one of the top 10 technology writers and one of eight women technology writers who made the list of 30. Notably, she also received a Target Relevancy Index score of 10, meaning she has extremely high relevance among the US CISO community. UBM's online information security community, Dark Reading, offers technology marketers a trusted platform to launch and sustain marketing efforts that will reach CISOs. Whether the goal is to build brand recognition, educate prospects, drive traffic or generate leads, partnering with Dark Reading offers an integrated approach to engage future buyers of technology products and services.

To learn more about UBM's online security community that is influencing US CISOs, please visit: createyournextcustomer.com/brands/dark-reading/ Dark Reading

Dark Reading is the cybersecurity industry's top destination for news and insight. The site gives cybersecurity professionals an editorially supported environment to connect with peers through moderated discussions, blogs and social media. Cybersecurity professionals visit Dark Reading to learn about cyber threats, vulnerabilities and technology trends. It's where they discuss potential defenses against the latest attacks, and key technologies and practices that may help protect their most sensitive data in the future. It's where they come to engage with one another and with Dark Reading editors to embrace new (and big) ideas, find answers to their IT security questions and solve their most pressing problems. For more information, go to http://www.darkreading.com. Dark Reading is organized by UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc (UBM.L), an Events First marketing and communications services business. For more information, visit ubmamericas.com. Contact: Monique Luttrell, 415-947-6088, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160122/325137LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dark-reading-named-top-influencer-for-chief-information-security-officers-in-the-us-300357862.html SOURCE UBM Americas

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[November 04, 2016] Samsung Announces Recall Update and Corrective Remedy for Certain Samsung Top Load Washers

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Samsung Electronics Canada Inc. today reaffirmed its commitment to consumer safety and satisfaction with the announcement that it will provide consumers affected by the recalled Samsung and Samsung manufactured Kenmore top load high efficiency washers with a corrective remedy. Affected top load high efficiency washers were manufactured between March 2011 and April 2016, including two models manufactured up until June 2016, and two additional models manufactured up until October 2016. The remedy announcement is in response to reports highlighting the risk that the drums in these washers may lose balance, triggering excessive vibrations, resulting in the top separating from the washer. This can occur when a high-speed spin cycle is used for bedding, bulky or water-resistant items and present an injury risk to consumers. To date there have been no reported injuries in Canada. "Our top priority is to reduce any safety risks in the home and provide consumers with easy choices in response to the recall," says Warner Doell, VP, Home Appliances, Samsung Electronics Canada. "Together with regulators and our partners we are moving quickly to ensure consumers know their options and that any disruption in the home is minimized. We understand that this repair may pose an inconvenience to consumers and we sincerely apologize." Consumers with a recalled washer will be offered two easy choices as part of the recall program. The first option is a free i-home repair that includes a structural reinforcement of the machine and a new control panel guide. Consumers who choose the in-home repair will receive a one-year extension of the manufacturer's warranty, regardless of the age of their washer.



The second choice is a rebate that can be applied towards the purchase of a new washer from Samsung. The rebate amount is based on the manufacture date and model of the recalled washer. A loyalty incentive has already been added to the rebate amount to thank our customers for staying with Samsung. As an added safety measure, affected customers will begin to receive a Home Label Kit in the mail. The kit will include step-by-step instructions for applying safety information to the machine and includes a new control panel guide (excluding mid-control models) that will effectively reduce the spin speed in the bedding cycle, two warning labels and a user manual supplement.

Details regarding the remedy and information for consumers who have not yet registered their affected model can be found at the following websites: Samsung models: http://www.samsung.com/ca/TopLoadWasherRemedy

Kenmore models manufactured by Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/ca/KenmoreTopLoadWasherRemedy Alternatively, if consumers are experiencing any issues with their online registration they can call 1-855-291-6251; Kenmore specific consumers can call 1-855-291-6252 to resolve any other questions or concerns. Until the repair is completed or the washer exchanged or the Home Label Kit applied, Samsung is advising owners of the affected washers to use the delicate cycle when washing bedding, bulky or water-resistant items. The company is moving quickly to inform affected consumers about the issue and the options available to affected consumers. Working with retailers, Samsung is actively informing consumers through direct outreach, including customer service, marketing, and in-store communication. About Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

Samsung Electronics Canada inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances and printers. In 2015, Samsung was ranked one of the top 10 most influential brands in Canada, based on a study by Ipsos Reid. Committed to helping Canadians live connected and make a difference, its Samsung Hope for Children corporate giving program supports children's education, sustainability and health-related issues in communities across the country. To discover more, please visit http://www.samsung.com/ca. SOURCE Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

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[November 04, 2016] Cohmad Securities Corporation and Related Parties are Pleased to Announce Resolution of All Claims Brought by Madoff Trustee

Cohmad Securities Corporation ("Cohmad") announced today that it has reached a settlement to resolve all claims brought by the Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC against Cohmad, the Estate of Maurice J. Cohn, Marcia B. Cohn and Marilyn Cohn (collectively the "Cohmad Parties"). Through the settlement, the Cohmad Parties have agreed to return approximately $32 million in exchange for a release of all of the Trustee's claims against the Cohmad Parties. There has been no finding or admission of any wrongdoing by the Cohmad Parties in tis matter. The Cohmad Parties maintain that, as stated by U.S. District Court Judge Louis L. Stanton in dismissing all of the SEC's (News - Alert) fraud claims against the Cohmad Parties,"Madoff fooled [the Cohmad Parties] as he did individual investors, financial institutions, and regulators."



Marcia Cohn stated that: "By resolving the Trustee's claims, we hope to help those who, like my family, were deceived by Madoff, and begin the process of putting his betrayal behind us. I know that my late father, who was honest, charitable and well-respected in his community, would be satisfied with the agreement we have reached with the Trustee." The Cohmad Parties are represented by Vinson & Elkins LLP and Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104006037/en/

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[November 04, 2016] G-SHOCK Launches Fourth Maharishi Collaboration Watch

DOVER, N.J., Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Casio G-SHOCK announces its fourth collaboration with UK-based pacifist military design brand Maharishi. Inspired by the beauty and strength found in natural elements, the new limited edition MUDMASTER GWG1000MH-1A timepiece features Maharishi's British Bonsai Forest print in a new stretched Camouflage variant, complemented by bright orange luminous indicators on the face. Reminiscent of the spiraling and interlocking patterns found in wood grain, British Bonsai sees a graphic update to the traditional camouflage pattern, integrating manipulated shapes to create a 'stretch' variant, the overall effect reminding us that camouflage is rooted in nature. A considered development, as the elongated graphics are well suited for a watch strap. A video has been created to celebrate the latest collaboration and showcase the design of the limited edition timepiece, which you can watch here: http://bit.ly/G-SHOCK-Maharishi. The GWG1000MH-1A boasts an atmospheric pressure sensor (altimeter/barometer), temperature sensor (thermometer), and magnetic sensor for compass readings, part of G-SHOCK's Triple Sensor technology, as well as Multiband 6 technology, which allows for the most accurate timekeeping. The timepiece also features Tough Solar power, and a shadow dispersing solar panel dial, which enables high-capacity solar-charging.



features that makes G-SHOCK the leader in Absolute Toughness, including a structure that is Mud, Shock and Vibration Resistant, 200M Water Resistant, Full Auto Double LED Lights, World Time with 29 time zones that include 29 cities + UTC, 4 Daily Alarms and 1 Snooze Alarm, 1/100th second Stopwatch, Countdown Timer, 12/24 Hour Formats, and a day and date display, all in a 56.1mm case. The GWG1000MH-1A retails for $850 USD and is currently available for online pre-order at www.maharishistore.com. The watch will hit shelves in December at the G-SHOCK NYC SoHo store, select Macy's, select fashion boutiques, and www.gshock.com.

About G-SHOCK

CASIO's shock-resistant G-SHOCK watch is synonymous with toughness, born from the developer Mr. Ibe's dream of 'creating a watch that never breaks'. Over 200 handmade samples were created and tested to destruction until finally in 1983 the first, now iconic G-SHOCK hit the streets of Japan and began to establish itself as 'the toughest watch of all time'. Each watch encompasses the 7 elements; electric shock resistance, gravity resistance, low temperature resistance, vibration resistance, water resistance, shock resistance and toughness. The watch is packed with Casio innovations and technologies to prevent it from suffering direct shock; this includes internal components protected with urethane and suspended timekeeping modules inside the watch structure. Since its launch, G-SHOCK has continued to evolve, continuing to support on Mr. Ibe's mantra "never, never give up." www.gshock.com About Casio America, Inc.

Casio America, Inc., Dover, N.J., is the U.S. subsidiary of Casio Computer Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, one of the world's leading manufacturers of consumer electronics and business equipment solutions. Established in 1957, Casio America, Inc. markets calculators, keyboards, mobile presentation devices, disc title and label printers, watches, cash registers and other consumer electronic products. Casio has strived to realize its corporate creed of "creativity and contribution" through the introduction of innovative and imaginative products. For more information, visit www.casiousa.com. FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES CONTACT: Erica Mapa / Kellyn Slone

Cornerstone

(212) 741-7100

[email protected]

[email protected] Sue Vander Schans / Alli Colasacco-Sharpe

CASIO AMERICA, INC.

(973) 361-5400

[email protected]

[email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436428 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/g-shock-launches-fourth-maharishi-collaboration-watch-300357917.html SOURCE Casio, Inc.

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Two candidates seeking NLCS Board District 2 seat

In this year's general election, two candidates are seeking election to the district two seat on the NLCS board: Adam Parsley and Michael Patton.
RACINE  An apparent staffing shortage at the Wisconsin State Crime Lab is reportedly causing a delay in the testing of firearm evidence in the homicide case of Keller McQuay, the now 15-year-old accused of shooting and killing 14-year-old Vista Jackson last fall.

That was the news Assistant Racine County District Attorney Jennifer Tanck-Adams delivered during a status conference in a Racine County courtroom on Wednesday.

Tanck-Adams and McQuays defense attorneys, Katie Lynn Gutowski and Mindy Nolan, had gathered to update Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz on the progress of the 2015 homicide case.

A Sept. 6 status conference had already been postponed because the parties were still awaiting results from the State Crime Lab, and on Wednesday, Tanck-Adams informed the court that the parties still did not have those results.

The firearm investigator says the gun that was used in the alleged homicide  a .22-caliber sawed-off rifle and two projectiles recovered by police  were still in a vault at the Lab, Tanck-Adams said.

Tanck-Adams said that when she spoke with a supervisor, she learned the Lab was short on analysts and that was cause of the delay.

There is one person that is analyzing firearms evidence at this time. (The supervisor) communicated that they have hired three more people, but they are not up to training standards yet, Tanck-Adams said. So that single analyst is reportedly analyzing firearms evidence for the entire state, prioritizing officer -involved shooting first and then cases with trial dates.

I believe at this point, there is a joint request to set a trial date for the purposes of landing us on a list in order for the Crime Lab to actually test the gun, Tanck-Adams said.

Gasiorkiewicz said he was shocked to hear the news and said he hoped to reach out to the Crime Lab in an effort to expedite things.

In the end, the court set the trial date for Monday, Jan. 30, noting that the date would mostly serve as a place-holder.

Asked about the situation, Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete said he wasnt aware of the Crime Labs reported staffing shortage causing issues in any other cases.

Attempts to confirm the staffing shortage with the Wisconsin Department of Justice were unsuccessful on Wednesday.

The incident

McQuay, was 14 when he was accused in the Sept. 10, 2015, shooting death of Jackson, a Horlick High School student. McQuay is charged as an adult in the shooting, which occurred in McQuays mothers home in the 1000 block of Albert Street.

McQuays defense attorneys sought to have his case waived to juvenile court, where he would face substantially less punishment if convicted of a lesser homicide charge. Gasiorkiewicz denied the defense request to transfer the case during a roughly 3-hour hearing on May 16.

Despite the delay, Will Crockett, Jacksons grandfather, said Wednesday that the family has been satisfied with how the case has proceeded thus far.

Hopefully things will be a little more tangible on Jan. 30, Crockett said

McQuay remains in the Racine county Juvenile Detention Center on a $250,200 bond, according to online jail records.
Despite its handier S Pen, awesome camera and long battery life, a worldwide recall and multiple reports of replacement phones catching fire prevent us from recommending this phone.

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test .

Editor's Note: Due to a worldwide recall related to the Note 7 exploding or catching fire and reports of replacement Note 7 phones also catching fire, Samsung has stopped making this device. Check out our 10 Best Phones and Best Galaxy Note 7 Alternatives.

Its the rare gadget these days that gets my 8-year-old interested enough to come see what daddy is reviewing. But there he was putting his arm around me as I used the Galaxy Note 7's improved S Pen to sketch a landscape, blending colors and drawing a tiny frog in a pond. "This is a cool app," my son said. "It's a pretty cool phone," I replied.

And then I let slip how much it cost. "$850?!"

Yeah, that's a lot of money for a big-screen handset, but the Galaxy Note 7 has a lot to recommend it. It boasts the same best-in-class camera as the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, a water-resistant design, a bigger 5.7-inch display (complete with HDR video support), and even the ability to unlock the phone with your eyes. Still, the main reason to get the Note 7 versus other phablets remains the S Pen, and Samsung has added some features to make that pen appealing to more users.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

Design Feels Natural, Shrugs Off Water

It seems like a marketing gimmick that Samsung jumped from the Note 5 to the Note 7, but this phone actually looks and feels two generations ahead of its predecessor. Gone are the straight edges on the previous phone, replaced with a symmetrical, dual-curved Gorilla Glass body that has the most natural feel of any phone I've held. It's remarkable how the rounded edges meet in the middle, with little evidence of a seam.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

Our Note 7 came in Black Onyx, which looks sophisticatedly subdued, but I'd much rather have the bolder Blue Coral color. You can also opt for Silver Titanium.

(Image credit: Samuel Rutherford / Tom's Guide)

At 6.04 x 2.9 x 0.31 inches, the Note 7 is slightly thicker than the 0.29-inch thin Note 5 but a bit lighter at 5.96 ounces (down from 6 ounces). While I still have to stretch my thumb across the screen to reach icons on the left side, this Note feels a lot more manageable than the too-wide and too-tall iPhone 6s Plus (6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches), which is also a lot heavier at 6.77 ounces. The OnePlus 3 is a bit wider than the Note 7 at 6.01 x 2.94 x 0.28 inches, but it's also a lighter 5.57 ounces, thanks in part to its smaller 5.5-inch screen.

The dual-curved Gorilla Glass body has the most natural feel of any phone I've held.

The Note 7 includes three other notable design differences versus the Note 5. One is IP68 water resistance, which means you can submerge the phone in 5 feet of water with its S Pen attached for 30 minutes and it will continue to work just fine. After leaving the phone in a fish tank for a half hour, all I had to do was wipe the phone off to start using it again. However, I did notice that some water came out of the S Pen's hole when I ejected the pen.

Second, there's a USB-C port on the bottom, which supports fast charging. And, third, the Note 7 has a microSD card slot on the top edge that supports 256GB cards to augment 64GB of internal storage.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now

S Pen  Smarter Features, But Still Not for Everyone

The first thing you notice about the S Pen is that writing and sketching feels more like pen and paper than ever before, thanks to a narrower tip and support for up to 4,096 levels of sensitivity. This is a great tool for artists, and I like that Samsung has combined many of its previous pen-enabled apps into one for taking notes, drawing, annotating images and more.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

I became way more addicted than I thought I would to the S Pen's GIF Animation feature.

Samsung also beefed up the Screen Off Memo feature, which enables users to eject the pen and just start writing on the screen. You can pin your notes to the Always On Display, which shows the time and notifications without using the full-color screen. Plus, you can write farther down the screen than before in this mode by tapping the down arrow. I just wish Samsung converted handwriting to text in this mode, as it does in the Notes app.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

Other new S Pen features include Translate for highlighting and translating text, but I could see a lot more people using Magnify, which blows up the screen 300 percent wherever you hover the S Pen. This could be very handy for those with poor eyesight, especially when it comes to clicking on small links.

I became way more addicted than I thought I would to the S Pen's GIF Animation feature. Using the Smart Select tool from the Air Command menu, I could place a window around a YouTube video, press record and then edit the footage to my liking before sharing it as a GIF. I had a blast creating a GIF of Flash dodging Batman's throwing cutter in the Justice League trailer.

Iris Scanning and Secure Folder: For Your Eyes Only

I freaked a few people out during my time with the Note 7 when I held the phone to my face for what seemed like no apparent reason. But what looked like an extremely up-close selfie was me unlocking the device with eyes. The Note 7 has a built-in iris scanner, which takes just a fraction of a second to work  provided you do it right.

After you go through a quick setup process, the next time you try to unlock the Note 7, the top part of the screen looks for your eyes. So long as I put my face quite close to the secondary camera and IR sensor above the display, the Note 7 unlocked almost instantly. But at times, the screen displayed messages to either get closer to the phone or to open my eyes wider. The good news is that you can always enter your PIN as a backup or just opt for the fingerprint reader inside the Home button.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

You can use the iris scanner for yet another trick: locking away files and apps in a special Secure Folder. (Yes, you can rename this folder.) If there are photos, documents or even games or other apps you don't want other people to see, you can store them in the Secure Folder for safe keeping.

For example, I simply pressed on the Menu button when viewing a photo and then Move to Secure Folder to lock it down. To see that photo, I had to open the secure folder, unlock it with my eyes and then tap the image.

Dual-Edge Display is Completely Immersive

It's still quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels) and it's still a luscious Super AMOLED panel, but there's something about the dual-curve treatment to the Note 7's screen that makes movies, photos and games seem like they're floating above the rest of the device. The iPhone's display looks downright dull by comparison.

When watching the Rogue One trailer on the Note 7, I could make out small scratches on the K2SO Droid, and yellow sparks flew at me as Stormtroopers flipped across the screen during an explosion. The picture will get even better once Amazon has optimized its video app for HDR (high dynamic range), which will offer better contrast and more lifelike colors.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

Having zero bezel on either side of the display can present challenges. For instance, a few times during my testing I accidentally activated the Edge screen menu for accessing various shortcuts. But overall this panel is superb.

The Note 7 turned in a very high 187 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is comparable to the OnePlus 3's OLED display (192 percent). However, the OnePlus 3 showed more accurate hues, as its Delta-E score of 2.9 (0 is perfect) beats the Note 7 (3.45).

I had no problem reading the Note 7's screen in direct sunlight, but it's not the brightest. The display hit 351 nits of brightness, which is about the same as the LG G5 (354 nits) but less than the OnePlus 3 (379 nits).

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

Camera Remains the Best

Samsung took the 12-megapixel back camera and 5-MP front shooter in the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and put them in the Note 7, and that's totally fine by us. Based on our in-depth comparisons, the S7 Edge remains the best camera phone around, thanks in part to Samsung's dual-pixel technology for speeding up autofocus. Plus, the Note 7's camera lets in 95 percent more light than the Note 5, which results in much better low-light shots.

Indoors in near darkness, the Note 7's camera strutted its stuff versus the Note 5.

The Note 7 captured nearly every vein in a pink hibiscus flower's petals, and when I zoomed in on the photo, even the fuzzy green stigma looked clear.

(Image credit: Mark Spoonauer / Tom's Guide)

I took this next shot while walking up Fifth Avenue. The people walking in front of me were slightly out of focus, but the Note 7 did a remarkable job capturing the warm sunlight bouncing off the buildings without blowing out the blue sky or the clouds. It's a well-balanced photo. My only issue is that the Note 7's images would come out too bright in direct sunlight.

(Image credit: Mark Spoonauer / Tom's Guide)

Indoors in near darkness, the Note 7 strutted its stuff versus the Note 5. While the older Note took a fuzzy image of a vase and white decorative flowers flanked by a jar of kitchen utensils, the newer phone's camera excelled, using much more of the available light. You can barely tell that the Note 5 image has a fire extinguisher in it on the right.

The front 5-MP camera continues to excel. When I snapped a selfie, my blue V-neck T-shirt popped, and I could make out fine lines in the short sleeves. I also like the wide field of view the front shooter provides, which makes it easy to fit multiple friends in a shot.

(Image credit: Mark Spoonauer / Tom's Guide)

A More Subtle TouchWiz

Samsung keeps refining its software overlay to make it less in your face, and the Note 7 takes things another step forward. Running on top of Android Marshmallow, the TouchWiz UI has more subtle icons without the usual sea of drop shadows. It's a lot flatter than before. I noticed the quick settings menu had a cleaner look, with no circles behind the icons.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

The Note 7 also adopts the Edge screen software from the S7 Edge, which you access by swiping in from the right. You can program app shortcuts, access your favorite people and also perform various tasks with a push of a button, such as Take selfie or Compose Message. Samsung has also let developers in on the Edge screen fun. I liked being able to scan the top four CNN headlines at a glance.

Unfortunately, the major carriers get their own folders of apps on the Note 7, but there was nothing too offensive on the T-Mobile version in terms of crapware. You'll find a Device Unlock utility, a Mobile Hotspot, T-Mobile Name ID and Visual Voicemail. I could do without two separate TV services (T-Mobile TV and Live TV) and the Lookout security app.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

As with previous Galaxy Notes, you can run two apps side-by-side to make the most of the 5.7-inch screen. If a given app supports multiwindow functionality, you can just press the icon in the recent apps menu to open one app and then go back in and to the other. For instance, I liked having Chrome open with Facebook at the same time.

Performance: Speedy But Not the Fastest

The Note 7's Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM are the same components in the Galaxy S7, but they combine to provide plenty of pep. From launching the camera in less than a second to juggling more than a dozen apps, this phablet rarely left me waiting. OK, I did have to wait 7 seconds for levels to load on Unkilled, but I was rewarded with silky smooth frame rates as I mowed down hordes of zombies with my machine gun.

(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

On Geekbench, which measures overall performance, the Note 7 scored 5,256, which is a bit below the Galaxy S7's mark of 5,498 and behind the OnePlus 3's 5,554 (although that phone benefits from 6GB of RAM). Still, the Note smokes the smartphone category average of 3,324.

The Note 7 took 4 minutes and 29 seconds on our video transcoding test, which is much faster than the average Android phone (7:47) and on a par with the Galaxy S7 but not nearly as speedy as the LG G5 (3:31) and the OnePlus 3 (3:28).

This Samsung phone turned in similar results on the Jetstream test, which measures JavaScript performance in the browser. The Note 7 hit 42.84, compared with 49.9 for the Galaxy S7 and 52.19 for the OnePlus 3 and 51.88 for the LG G5.

MORE: Best Cheap Unlocked Smartphones

Great Battery Life

The Note 7 is one of the longest-lasting phones around. It packs a beefy 3,500 mAh battery, up from 3,000 mAh on the Note 5. On the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE, the Note 7 lasted an impressive 10 hours and 26 minutes. That's nearly an hour longer than the Note 5 (9:35) and a half-hour longer than the Galaxy S7 Edge (10:09). The OnePlus 3 and LG G5 didn't crack 9 hours.

The Note 7 offers quick recharging via its USB-C port. For example, the phone went from 55 to 75 percent battery life after just 15 minutes of charging. It took another 14 minutes to hit 90 percent, though.

Bottom Line

If you want a phone with a big screen, the Galaxy Note 7 should be at the top of your list. It offers a gorgeous 5.7-inch display in a striking rounded design that's a pleasure to hold, plus a best-in-class camera, water resistance and very long battery life. However, $850 is a lot to spend on a phone, even when you break it up in 24 payments of $32.50  and that's after you pay $70 up front on T-Mobile.

The 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 ($779) has pretty much everything the Note 7 has with the exception of the S Pen and iris-scanning security. The S Pen delivers smoother performance this time around, and it's fun to draw with more precision, create GIFs and take notes on the fly, but not everyone needs that versatility. Those on a budget might prefer the OnePlus 3, which costs just $399 and delivers faster performance than the Note 7 along with an OLED display, though it lasts 2 hours less on a charge.

Overall, the Note 7 is the phablet to beat for power users willing to spend more to have it all.
I See A Palm Tree the new EP from Sydney artist Allan Smithy (aka Matt Amery), a reflection on life growing up in the burbs that touches on recurring themes of charged issues relevant to the Gen Ys, such as the never ending feud on the housing market and affordability crisis.

In 2014, Matt wrote leading single Air about the tragic Darling Street fire, in honour of the community he was heavily involved in. Absorbing and channeling the emotions and perspective of all those who lost family and close friends, it carries with it a sombre heft as he sings You were the first thing I wouldve grabbed. Matt takes us through the process behind the track, and the rest of the EP, below.

The EP was recorded between Sydney and Melbourne, with co-production credits that include Tom Iansek (Big Scary) and producer/engineer Wayne Connolly (You Am I, Paul Dempsey, Cold Chisel). If you like what youre hearing below, youll be able to catch Allan Smithy as he launches the EP on a free East Coast tour.

Track By Track With Allan Smithy

The Streets

I wrote this song with Tom Iansek. Id had the idea in my head for at least a year, so when we came to laying it down it happened very quickly. It was all based of the guitar riff and then I really wanted that male/female vocal in the verse (I was envisaging Lindy Morrisonesque), which Jo was able to assist with. So once they were covered the rest of the song just fell into place.

The song is just about chasing down a run away. The idea that while you can run and the streets might hide you, the streets will not hide me when I come looking for you. I had the original idea while walking my dog. He bolted off once while I tried to walk him off lead as a puppy. Bad idea. Good result.

Four Letter Reason

I cant remember exactly where the idea came from except that I was trying to play a different song and played it completely wrong which resulted in this song. Its pretty much about living at home in your mid 20s while all of your friends are out kicking goals in the world. I suppose it also throws a little shade on the Sydney housing market, which is insane at the moment.

Air

I wrote this song after the Darling street fire in 2014. I lived just around the corner and was pretty involved in the Rozelle community prior to the explosion (I worked at the local pub). I remember being woken up by the whole house shaking and walking outside to see a wall of fire and glass and devastation along the streets. It was a pretty full on moment  some people thought it was a terrorist attack. It wasnt until later in the day that I found out 3 people had died, and this song is kind of from the view of a guy who lost his entire family in the fire.

Wasted Years

This song is basically about that point in time when you are in your late 20s and you start to encounter these child proteges who are better than you at what you do and who havent necessarily been to university. And it makes you think Was Uni worth it? and why did I go. Sometimes it feels as though we go to uni because thats just what people in their 20s do. They might not actually get anything out of it, but they went anyway because they felt they were supposed to.

I See A Palm Tree Tour Dates

Fri 25 Nov | Waywards, Sydney  FREE

Thu 1st Dec | Barbara, Brisbane  FREE

Fri 2nd Dec | The Penny Black, Melbourne  FREE
RACINE  An engaged Racine couple was charged Wednesday with physical abuse of a child and child neglect after their 33-day-old son ended up with four head fractures and bleeding on the brain on Halloween.

Gest G. Wangsness, 30, and Krystal L. Hall, 25, both of 5300 block of Charles Street, took their son to the hospital just after midnight Monday, according to the criminal complaints.

Hall had allegedly noticed that the boys head was misshapen and decided to take the boy to Ascension All Saints Hospital. Medical staff then reportedly told the family the boy needed to be treated at Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa and the family was transported via ambulance.

When police arrived at the hospital, they were informed by a doctor that the baby had four fractures to his skull, a broken rib, three broken bones in his legs, the complaint said. The doctor also told police that these injuries could only occur from abuse.

Hall and Wangsness were interviewed separately. Hall reportedly told police that she was on maternity leave and was with the boy 90 percent of the day since he was born. When informed of the injuries, Hall allegedly did not know how the injuries could have occurred.

Game playing

According to the complaint, Wangsness told police he was a war veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. Wangsness reportedly had seen the baby fall twice since being born, once off of an ottoman and once off of his knee.

Wangsness added that he would play with the boy by swinging him around playing airplane and other games, the complaint said.

Police reportedly asked Wangsness if he had taken parenting classes, to which Wangsness responded that he had only taken a breast feeding class with his fiancee and had watched YouTube videos. Police allegedly told Wangsness that at this age the baby cant hold its own neck up and that YouTube was not the preferred method to learn how to raise a child.

Wangsness also told police that the boy had been taken to the emergency room Oct. 13 when the boys mouth began bleeding after the father had made a hole under the boys tongue with a syringe while attempting to administer prescribed medicine, according to the complaint.

Both reportedly denied injuring the child.

Hall and Wangsness face two felony charges for physical abuse of a child as a party to a crime and child neglect resulting in great bodily harm as party to a crime.

Hall is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 10 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

Wangsness is scheduled for an adjourned initial appearance at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Law Enforcement Center.

Both remained in custody as of Thursday at the Racine County Jail, online records showed.
Melbourne recently experienced uproar from its extensive community of buskers, who were incensed at the citys trialling of an amplified busking ban on Swanston St in the CBD  one of the citys most popular busking hotspots.

The trial recently came to a close and the City of Melbourne is now assessing all of the complaints and feedback received during the trial to see whether an amplified busking ban may become the law of the land down the line.

That means the time is now to get on the horn and let Melbourne City Council know how you feel about these issues. In the meantime, the city of Lismore in northeastern New South Wales is trying a different approach to combat problem busking.

As the Northern Star reports, Lismore City Council will being enforcing tougher restrictions on buskers found to be too loud, overly repetitive, or just plain offensive by adding them to a bad busker database.

This effective blacklist will provide the council with a backlog of complaints filed against a given busker and once the performer has too many complaints lodged against them, they will not be able to acquire a license to perform.

Sussing out the mysterious rules of busking can often be difficult, as Tone Deaf has covered in the past. For example, in Melbourne you also need a license to perform on the street, but it comes in at a very reasonable $20.

However, if you want to perform on the illustrious Bourke Street Mall, you must go through an audition process. The council holds auditions for quality control as they want only the best playing on Melbournes most prestigious walkway.

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Of course, you must be careful if you want to amplify your instruments or play Spanish guitar, because Melbournes Lord Mayor Robert Doyle wont be too fond of you. Apparently, the Lord Mayor finds loud busking bothersome and Spanish guitars creepy.
Dirty Birdie Story Hour began in a bar without customers. Show creator, Susanna Lee, says, The first few months were literally just the storytellers confessing their dirty deeds to each other, like a support group for proud perverts. Then, when that bar took its final breath, the fun moved to the back room of a sex club in Van Nuys, where it ran for several months before finding a new home at a venue in the heart of Hollywood, Three Clubs, as a monthly cocktail hour show before the venues main attraction, Monday Night Tease, LAs longest running weekly burlesque show.

More Deets On Kansas City Dirty Birdie Story HourTheis a storytelling celebration of deviance. Its an evening of true, personal stories all themed around deviance (all kinds, not only sexual). The intention is to encourage shedding the shame generally associated with stepping outside the box, in favor of celebrating the full experience of our lives instead. Show creator and host, Susanna Lee, hand-picks professional entertainers, as well as other interesting and relevant people to share their darkest secrets, and also builds into each show spots for audience members to come onstage and share quick tales of their own, as well as original games with unique prizes (supplied by local businesses when possible).The show has tickled and thrilled LA audiences for nearly three years, and has been featured in various other cities as well, including Chicago, Saint Louis, and Kansas City.Here's a look:Check the image and their website for more deets on the showMore in a bit . . .
Craig Glazer: Colin Kane Is Insane At New Stanfords Comedy Club: Legends, Village West.

The popular Tom Brady look alike, Colin Kane is opening the new Stanford and Sons Comedy Club at Legends tonight and Saturday. Kane best known for his co starring role in hit movie 'The Wedding Ringer' with Kevin Hart and his Showtime and HBO specials with Andrew Dice Clay. Kane also hosted Showtimes AVN Awards. He is an over the top aggressive insult comic. So much so we have security on stage to protect him from anyone who gets a bit upset...the crowds love it and he is so damn funny everyone forgives his pushy ways. Of course a Johnny Dare 'fav' and will be on tons of media this morning. He always packs the clubs and theaters he plays nationwide.Thank you Joyce Smith and the Kansas City Star for nice opening article for Stanfords moving to the Legends, Village West on Wednesday. She had nice photos and more in her 913 column. The new Stanfords is next to Dave and Busters at Legends. Yes we were in same spot from 2007-2014 before our move to Overland Park, due to a huge takeover at Legends. Now they brought us back. They built what most believe is the nicest comedy club/theater of its size in the nation. It' Vegas style. You will love the huge stage, movie seats and beautiful large theater with outdoor patio bars as well. Come check us out.Upcoming shows include Dante and Rebekah, Michael Steven Quesada 'Breaking Bad,' Kevin Farley, Chris' brother star of I am Chris Farley and his new hit show "Still The King' with Billy Ray Cyrus..holiday shows include Michael Winslow 'Police Academy' and " Josh Wolf his own show on CMT as well as the beautiful April Macie for New Years. We love big holiday banquets. For information and tix, 913 400 7500 or online stanfordscomedyclub.com. Come see us.###########
"Mike Shanin interviews Yael Abouhalkah about his departure from the Kansas City Star and his new blog Yael on the Trail. Then Crosby Kemper III, Jamekia Kendrix, Steve Rose and Jon Stephens discuss the implications of the American Royal's move to Wyandotte County, Southwest Airline's push for a single terminal KCI and the latest developments in next week's biggest election races."

declined to participate in Kansas City's top political discussion when they changed the format, involved a few new people and new guests started questioning his opinions.Now that he's no longer a newspaper man and now just another local blogger . . . He makes a welcomed return appearance to thisof local political discourse.Check the description:You decide . . .
The UAE has signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation with Argentina with the aim of boosting expanding joint economic partnerships.



The agreement was signed by Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, and visiting Argentinas Vice President Gabriela Michetti, in the presence of Fernando Ramon Martinis, Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina to the UAE, said a Wam news agency report.

Later, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum received Michetti at Zabeel Palace.



Sheikh Mohammed hoped the visit would yield positive results that would improve bilateral relations to serve the interests of both countries.



He praised the progress by Argentina which he had visited last year.



He also hailed the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement signed today as a step in the right direction in expanding bilateral co-operation and communication in areas of economy, tourism and investment.



Al Tayer told Wam that the agreement would contribute directly to increasing the two-way trade, tapping investment opportunities available in both countries and encouraging movement of imports and exports between the two countries.



'This agreement, the seventh of its kind with a country from Latin and Central American country after Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Chile, Uruguay and Barbados, he added.



So far, the UAE has signed 103 agreements on avoidance of double taxation on income.
Bahrainis with dual nationality have to apply to the Interior Ministry to keep their second citizonship, a senior official has said.



Announcing the guidelines for applying for the permission to keep the dual nationality, Shaikh Ahmed bin Isa Al-Khalifa, assistant undersecretary for nationality, passports and residence affairs, said the initiatives by the Ministry of Interior are in line with the implementation of the relevant laws enabling the applicants to apply online on the GDNPR website.

Shaikh Ahmed said Bahrainis have until February 4 to disclose their second citizenship. Violators could face a maximum fine of up to $27,000 or their Bahraini citizenship could be revoked.



All applications will be sent to the Minister of Interior office who will decide the suitability of each applicant, Shaikh Ahmed was quoted as saying by BNA.



At present the applications for dual nationalities can be had in Arabic only while in near future they will made available in the English language. Given the relevance of the dual nationality subject, English language applications will be helpful for the naturalised Bahrainis, he said.



The naturalisation process and allowing dual nationality holders to become naturalised citizens are a very important step, he said.



The final say in this entire process is with the Minister of Interiors office, Shaikh Ahmed added.
Alliant Energy Corp. says it plans to build what could amount to several wind farms in Iowa and Wisconsin over the next four years.

But a sharp decline in the value of one of Alliants existing Iowa wind farms led to a drop in the Madison utility companys profits in the third quarter, even though revenues were up from last year.

Alliant reported net income of $128.4 million, or 57 cents a share, on revenue of $924.6 million for the three months that ended Sept. 30 compared with net income of $179.9 million, or 79 cents a share, on revenue of $898.9 million for the 2015 third quarter.

A key element of the earnings drop is a reassessment of the value of the 60-turbine Franklin County wind farm, in north-central Iowa that started operating in 2012. Alliant said it expects to switch ownership from the corporation to its Iowa utility subsidiary, Interstate Power & Light.

An analysis showed the value of the wind farm has dropped $86 million  mainly because the cost of wind generation has fallen substantially  and it is now worth an estimated $33 million. As a result, Alliant took an $86 million charge in the third quarter and that non-cash charge put a dent in the companys earnings for the quarter.

Meanwhile, Alliant plans $6.6 billion worth of construction from 2016 through 2020, including $1.25 billion in new renewable energy. Much of that will involve building more wind farms, making Alliant one of the leaders in wind power, CEO Patricia Kampling told a conference call with analysts Friday.

In July, the company announced it will build up to 500 megawatts of additional wind generation in Iowa, enough to power 215,000 homes, by 2020.

Locations are still being finalized, but one is expected to be in Franklin County near existing wind farms.

On Friday, Kampling told analysts Alliant is exploring options for IPL and Alliants Wisconsin subsidiary, Wisconsin Power & Light, to own and operate another 400 megawatts of wind power on top of the 500 megawatts, possibly split evenly between the two subsidiaries.

Kampling also said the company plans major updates in its electric and natural gas distribution systems.

She said Alliants 10-year plan involves accelerating construction of renewable energy over the next few years to take advantage of federal tax credits. She said even more renewable and natural gas-fueled generation will be needed after 2020.

Alliant stock closed Friday at $36.84, down 25 cents a share from the day before.
There is a famous saying that goes like this, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." This saying can most effectively be applied when it comes to travel, may it be in Rome or somewhere different like Beijing perhaps.

What this saying usually means is to abide by the rules of the certain land where you currently are. However, we can also use this saying to mean that whenever we are at a certain place, we can take a cue from the locals and experience this particular place the same way they do.

Here are some tips which can help you get the most out of your vacation in Beijing the way it is supposed to be: how the locals do it.

Sophie Murray-Morris chronicled for Metro how she exactly lived it up like a local in Beijing. She suggested skipping the usual places tourists go to and explore what other sights the city could offer.

Get craft beers from Sanlitun district

In this district, there are an abundance of restaurants and breweries which serve craft beer. Aside from the burgeoning nightlife in this district, there are also a handful of shops as well as an art gallery.

Light an incense in the Lama Temple

This temple is well known as the "Palace of Peace and Harmony" and with its gorgeous architecture, you'll simply find that here. Aside from lighting up an incense as well as offering your prayers, you can also see here the statue of Maitreya; a remarkable 26-foot high statue carved from a very rare tree which can make your trip to this temple all the more worthwhile.

Take a stroll around Beihai park

Murray-Morris compares this park to Hyde Park, indicating just how impressive it is. Though Beihai Park is not too far from tourist-heavy attractions like Tiananmen Square and Forbidden Palace, it is a place where you can go to slip away from the clamor of tourists and just indulge in the beautiful sights this park has to offer.

Go on a Ghost street food crawl

If there is anywhere you should go around Beijing which can offer you all sorts of food at reasonable prices, Guije or Ghost Street, as it is fondly known is definitely the place for you. This road has 150 different restaurants and you will most likely never run out of options to choose from.

Opt to ride the Metro

Riding the Metro is not only the more logical but also the cheaper option when it comes to transportation. Buying tickets aren't that difficult anymore since the instructions come in the English language which is you can understand easily if your skills on the native language are a bit shaky. Though taxis are also readily available, if you intend to go for a more practical approach, use the Metro instead.

Join a hiking group instead of a pre-packaged tour

Carole Cadwalladr of The Guardian reveals that she joined a hiking tour named Beijing Hikers to accompany her in exploring Beijing.

According to her, they headed to "Yanqing District, where there is an empty, broken-down stretch, truly in the middle of nowhere - a six-hour walk starting near the village of Chang Yu Cheng, up one of the pointy mountains to a Ming dynasty watchtower, 1,550m above sea level. When we finally get there, the view is astonishing - mile after mile of wall, zig-zagging crazily across the landscape, disappearing into the horizon beyond."

Not only do you get to see a different side to Beijing, you also manage to get to know other locals and maybe even befriend them along the way.

Doing as the locals do is probably one of the best travel advices; this is because the locals are clearly in the know of the best things their place has to offer. So if you are thinking of living it up locally in Beijing, you can go and try out these tips and enjoy what Beijing has in store for you.



from Cimagine Media Group: Discover Beijing V: Living Like A Local

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Whenever you think of going naked, usually people would prefer to do it within the confines of somewhere private. Even though being nude is actually a pretty normal thing, since we are after all born naked and do certain things in the nude, the idea of going naked while being in public is something a lot of us will probably not do.

In some parts of the world, it is considered illegal for an individual to go around without wearing any form of clothing. However, there are certain places in the world which have laws regarding those who want to show off their nudist tendencies.

If you're confident enough, pack your bags and get ready to strut your stuff in the top 5 places where you can legally go out in public while nude.

1. Cap D'Agde

This town in France is famous for being the world's biggest nude town. It also makes sense that one of the largest beach resorts that accepts nudism can be found here.

When summertime comes, Cap D'Agde attracts quite a crowd - about 40,000 tourists flock here and most of them are you guessed it, nudists.

Although nudism in general is legally accepted in Cap D'Agde, acts that are perceived as sexual are considered illegal. Specific locations are reserved for those who wish gather and to practice their fetishes, but they are done in private.

2. Oregon

Though United States of America is known as the land of the free, nudists are only restricted to go nude in certain states; one of which include Oregon, specifically in Portland and in Eugene where some of the most open nudity laws exist.

This state also bore witness to a naked bike ride where many individuals participated in. According to Mid-Day, "After the infamous naked bike ride, the rest of the world became aware that it's totally okay to get naked, just as long as no one else is enjoying it. In legal terms, you can't get naked with the intent to arouse others around you."

3. Munich

In 2014, the city of Munich in Germany made headlines when they instituted laws which basically made public nudity legal, though with certain restrictions.

These laws enabled nudists to not only go out in public but also allow them to sunbathe in the six "Urban Naked Zones" that the city created for them specifically. These local parks are close to the Munich city centre and seeing as they don't have fences, it is likely that all sorts of people can stumble upon these areas.

4. Austin

This Texan city is considered to be one of the most topless-friendly cities for ladies in the United States. Austin also has "Hippie Hollow", Texas' lone government-maintained clothing-optional park. It spans an entire 100 acres on Lake Travis's shoreline and is just within the proximity of downtown Austin.

5. London, England

Though the British are normally portrayed as an uptight and conservative people, a lot would be surprised to know that it is legal to be publicly naked not only in the United Kingdom but also in Wales as well.

The nudity law here is fairly open-minded, however the act only becomes illegal when you intend to shock or offend others. In London, several establishments like gyms, restaurants and even poetry readings welcome nudists and allow being clothing-optional within their premises.

Whether you want to try doing something interesting like embracing the nudist lifestyle, or looking for a place where you can just let loose and be free, the naked truth here is that the five aforementioned places are sure to give you one heck of a good time.



from The Richest: 10 Places Where People Bare It All In Public

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The White House of the United States of America, also known as the U.S. President's house, has recently showed us a better view of what's inside of the private rooms where the Obama family lived for almost eight years, for all the people to see.

Michael Smith, who was introduced to President Obama and his family after the 2008 election by a mutual friend in Chicago, is the Los Angeles-based interior designer who was responsible for the design and decorations of the Obama family's "sanctuary".

United States' First Lady, Michelle Obama, praised Smith on how he reflected her family's tastes at the same time, maintained the White House's history.

"Above all, it has truly felt like a home for our family" according to Mrs. Obama during an interview.

Images show the Yellow Oval Room; the Treaty Room, where President Obama usually reads his briefing material prior the next day; the dining room; the living room; and the master bedroom. The rooms are decorated with various modern and contemporary art pieces, which were lent by the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian museums and other well-known art institutions.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Architectural Digest magazine also showed photos of the living quarters of former Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush during their stay in the White House.

According to Amy Astley, Architectural Digest's editor in chief, the Obama family's personal style, combined with the nation's history and diverse culture, are greatly shown through the living quarter's decors and art displays. The Architectural Digest also scheduled the photos of the Obamas' living place to be shown on the upcoming issue, which will be released on Election Day, November 8.

The master bedroom was colored in tones of beige, complete with an antique canopy-type bed adorned with high quality Italian linen. There are also twin footed tables placed at both sides of the bed, with one displayed with family pictures and the other with books, and a sitting area composed of upholstered chairs and a sofa.

Smith designed the Obamas' bedroom as comfortable as possible.

"You really want to make sure that the president of the United States gets a good night's sleep" according to Smith during the interview.

"I have a phone right by my bedside and every morning somebody calls and says, 'Mr. President, it's your 7 a.m. wake-up call" Obama said during a guest appearance on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", according to Fox News.

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A horrific phenomenon has been discovered by scientists while having a research in a ground-breaking ocean floor in Mexico, as reported by New York Post.

According to Daily Star, in the bottom of the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico, a toxic saltwater pool that formed over years through a geological process has been called the "lake of death".

It is 3,300 feet underwater that consists of bacteria and salt.

It creates an underwater of toxic chemicals that includes methane gas and hydrogen sulfide. It contains deadly concentration of chemicals that are extremely poisonous, as further reported by Daily Star.

Professor Erik Cordes, one of the scientists who discovered the site, told Seeker, "It was one of the most amazing things in the deep sea," said Cordes.

"You go down into the bottom of the ocean and you are looking at a lake or a river flowing. It feels like you are not on this world," he added.

Scott Wankel, a biogeochemist, told the science website Seeker "It's warm, but super-salty," based on further reports by the New York Post,

"Its 65-degree temperature often lures poor, unsuspecting crabs and other bottom feeders looking for food. "When they fall in, they die and get pickled and preserved," Wankel added.

Bacteria, tube worms and shrimp are the only creatures that can survive the deadly conditions of the so-called "Jacuzzi of despair," as per NY Post.

By studying these kinds of organisms, scientists are expecting to be successful in learning life on other planets.

Lastly, as per reports on NY Post, Professor Cordes said that, "There [are] a lot of people looking at these extreme habitats on Earth as models for what we might discover when we go to other planets.

"The technology development in the deep sea is definitely going to be applied to the worlds beyond our own," said Cordes.

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The annual Skyscraper Awards is hosted by Emporis, a real estate data mining company, and the results are in for 2015's most beautiful building with the Shanghai Tower, coming out on top. Located in the city center, the tower won ahead of Moscow's Evolution Tower which landed in second place, and features a similar twisting form to the Shanghai Tower.

Featuring the world's highest restaurant, the Shanghai Tower was designed by the architecture firm Gensler and Chinese architect Jun Xia. With a whopping height of 2,073 feet, it comes second only to Dubai's Burj Khalifa as the world's tallest building.

According to Stuff NZ, the $2.4billion budget was well-planned and went mainly into the development of the 127-storey glass skyscraper, located in the financial district of Pudong, that twists and rotates upon a linear axis. The project was hence completed in 2015, after nearly 7 years of construction.

Business Insider says that besides its incredible height and one of a kind form, the Shanghai Tower is also home to the world's fastest elevators, and features a swimming pool, observation deck, lounge and restaurant on one of its upper floors with a 360 degree view of Shanghai. The rest of the building is home to shops, restaurants and offices.

The unique form is also resplendent and echoes the architectural trends for extremely tall skyscrapers and twisting towers. Countries in the Middle East and Asia are quickly trying to innovate and create new technological advancements in design, engineering and construction in order to make their mark in a world full of plain, linear buildings.

Emporis' jury claims that the Shanghai Tower won the 2015 Skyscraper Award because of its "architectural excellence, both in design and function". To qualify for their "Skyscraper Awards", buildings must meet a minimum height of 100m (about 30 storeys).

Check out the amazing timelapse video of the Shanghai Tower's construction, here.

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Expect busier flights on Thanksgiving as industry trade organization Airlines for America (A4A) announced that this year's Thanksgiving will accommodate an increase of 2.5 % which roughly estimates to a total of 27.3 million people.

The organization presumed that the U.S airlines will board an average of 2.27 million passengers per day in the span of the 12 day period, which starts on November 18 and ends on November 29.

The influx of passengers is expected to be on Wednesday, Sunday, and Monday(November 23, 27, and 28, respectively). November 24, which is Thanksgiving day, is expected to have fewer passengers and the lightest travel day.

"The airline industry remains highly competitive, which directly benefits consumers as airfares continue to fall, providing even more opportunities for people to travel for Thanksgiving and throughout the year," A4A Vice President John Heimlich stated.

"Airlines are adding capacity to accommodate the increased demand, and travelers should rest assured that while more people will be flying, there will be more than an adequate number of seats available."

According to Foxnews, airport lines will be more orderly since a lot of people chose to screen their travels through programs such as TSA Precheck.

The Transportation Security Administration stated that approximately four million people had their travels screened in Precheck which has an increase of 1.75 million compared from 2015's Thanksgiving while some chose programs such as Global Entry which summed up to a total of 5 million.

"The doubled enrollment in expedited-screening programs from one year ago gives us great reason for optimism about how smooth the process will be," Heimlich said. He further added that the biggest wildcard will be the weather.

To encounter less hassles for travel, passengers for Thanksgiving could go to their airlines earlier than their scheduled flights. Account, for instance, the long security lines which will be worse this Thanksgiving. Estimate the time that will be spent in these lines so the trouble for missing the flight will be prevented.

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Catholic Charities Madison has chosen Judith Metzger as the director of the planned day resource center for the homeless, scheduled to open in Madison next summer.

Metzger spent the last 22 years as outreach coordinator at the Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel and Student Center at UW-Madison. Prior to that, she was a case manager and therapist.

She earned a masters degree from UW-Madison in counseling and guidance and is a longtime volunteer at The River Food Pantry on the citys North Side.

Dane County is leading the effort to open the long-sought center and has contracted with Catholic Charities to run it. Catholic Charities has pledged to raise $150,000 annually to help fund the center.

The center will be at 615 E. Washington Ave., former home of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. After renovations, the two-story building is expected to have laundry facilities, showers, storage space, a self-serve kitchenette, a computer room, and separate day rooms for single adults and families with children.

There also will be private offices and meeting rooms so that people who are homeless can connect with community services, health care and addiction treatment.

I feel privileged to be part of this new venture and am eager to learn from and work with others who are committed to this ambitious project, Metzger said in a statement.

According to Catholic Charities, Metzger will gain immediate knowledge by working with Bethel Lutheran Church as part of a collaborative agreement with Catholic Charities to operate a winter day center for the next five months within the church, 312 Wisconsin Ave. The effort is considered a stopgap measure to provide a temporary facility until the comprehensive, year-round center opens next summer.
With things winding down after Halloween, another cultural celebration many American might overloo is the "Dia de Muertos" or "Day of the Dead", often celebrated by Latin American communities. Despite its similarity to Halloween with its scary costumes, the "Day of the Dead" has a more meaningful, cultural significance to Latin Americans. Here are the top five things you didn't know about this holiday.

1. It's not supposed to be scary

The macabre outfits and skull-costumes are elements of a colorful, carnival-like celebration meant to go alongside family vigils and offering presents and prayers for dead loved ones. In the belief that spirits will bless them with good luck and protection, children wear costumes. People eat candy skulls as a reminder that death is nothing but a sweet continuation of life.

2. It is deeply rooted in Aztec culture

This divine tradition started about 3,000 years ago, and has always been celebrated with face-painting, storytelling, food offering and honoring descendant spirits. The Aztecs believed that death was actually the beginning of a new life and on this day would hold rituals and celebrations, offering goods to the goddess Mitecacihuatl ("Lady of the Dead"). According to The Guardian, when Spanish conquistadors invaded, they viewed the event as sacrilegious and tried to combine it with the Catholic holidays of All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2).

3. It is celebrated in the Philippines, Belize and Brazil

Because of the similar colonial presence of the Spanish conquistadors, the Philippines also celebrates this holiday with families spending the night in cemeteries, playing games and drinking, as if doing so with long-gone relatives. In Brazil, it is known as Finados, in Belize, Day of the Skulls. Both countries pay tribute by cooking ceremonial foods and making flower crowns for the skulls of dead relatives, according to The Independent.

4. Funny poems about the dead are written

"Calaveras" or short poems and limericks are created by festival goers as a means of "mocking" tombstones and epitaphs of loved ones who have passed away. Authors would describe odd habits or funny anecdotes their loved ones once had, as a means of accepting their passing, and celebrating the new life death has offered them.

5. It is a protected cultural heritage

UNESCO has listed the event as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was because of the "great care taken with all aspects of the preparations" for the festival known for its vibrant colors and creative flair.

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You wouldn't expect to find the best arts until you look for them in the streets. Street art are considered to be ephemeral and short-lived as they are prone to more danger of being destroyed due to its open environment. Before that happens, street art aficionados should visit these places in Asia where street art is glorified and enjoyed by enthusiasts.

1. Hongdae, Seoul, South Korea

Visit Hongdae Mural Street next to Hongik University. Hongdae is known to be the most expressive place in Seoul and students express themselves through arts and music. Expect to be immersed in their individualism and enjoy their free standing street walls which are constantly changing as people recycle them to replace old street art.

Visit Ihwa Mural Village, Mullae Village, and Apgujeong Graffiti Tunnel for added street art experience in South Korea.

2. Penang, Malaysia

Penang Island and its street art gained fame as local and international tourists started to proclaim their interest in seeing the colored streets on social media. Today, it is considered as a cultural landmark as many tourists flock at the place to take pictures and enjoy Penang's street art. Also visit Melaka, Malaysia as it follows Penangs footsteps regarding street art.

3. Angono, Philippines

Considered as the Art Capital of the Philippines, as it produced some of the country's best National Artists, Angono flaunted cultural and carved murals decorated along the streets. Best to come here during the Higantes fiesta, a five day art festival where local and foreign tourists alike can witness the colorful parade that highlights giant mascots that described the country's culture. Artists from all over the country participate in the festival to exhibit their art.

4. Rishikesh, North India

According to Huffington Post, Rishikesh is considered to be the Yoga Capital of the World. Not only does this place paraded art on streets but also do them on available flat spaces such as tin roofs, bridges, and buildings. Have time to check out Delhi, India as their streets are known to be covered by colorful murals.

5. Chiang Mai, Thailand

You could spot street arts in Chiang Mai here and there like how you do on most ordinary cities. Although, the practice is not celebrated here, the place could also sport competitive and eye-catching murals decorating parts of the street.

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Recently, a man from Kyrgyzstan caused distress to the security service of one of Kyrgyzstan's airport, claiming that there is a bomb threat in one of its departing planes, which then later on proved to be false.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Ilya Eremeev, age 30 years old, called the police on a Monday during the time his wife was about to leave for a business trip in Moscow, said a local police officer.

Eremeev told that police officer that there was an ongoing bomb threat in one of the planes in which his wife was about to board to, and the reason why he called was because he was concerned about his leaving wife's safety, according to iAfrica.com.

The illegal stunt which Eremeev had done caused the security services of the ex-Soviet country's Manas International Airport, which was also Kyrgyzstan's main airport, to evacuate all its passengers and cancel all its flights.

Eremeev only then claimed that the bomb threat was false when the stunt has already reached numerous international dignitaries, including the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, during a meeting about the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Eremeev was then arrested by the local police for the false threat and is being investigated, according to the BBC report.

According to Eremeev, he was under the influence of alcohol during the time he called the police about claiming a bomb threat.

According to the police, he may end up in prison for three years because of his false bomb threat stunt and may be indicated as an act of terrorism, if ever anyone would press charges against him.

Kyrgyzstan is a country which was once part of the Soviet Union, who faced and endured several challenges since its independence, has a population of utmost six million, with Manas International as its main airport.

Here's a video about the Manas International Airport:

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Southeast Asia is known to be the best region to travel to if you're looking for cheap accommodations as most of the countries have a low cost of living. Not only is it best known for cheap travel packages, the airlines that offer seats to these areas ensure the passengers to experience commendable services throughout the flight.

1. Air Asia

The leading airline for low-cost travels, Air Asia continues to top consumer's preference when it comes to traveling within budget. Their widely popular ASEAN Pass aims to entice tourists from foreign countries to tour South-East Asia for 30 days for as low as $200.

2. IndiGo Airlines

This low-cost carrier is based in Delhi, India and is popular for its cheap rates being offered to tour the country. Passengers can avail a seat for as low as $40. With this economical price, one can get a little skeptical. But TripAdvisor reviewers averaged the airline as one of the best when it comes to low-cost flight travel.

3. Tigerair

This budget airline located in Singapore only offers flights that are within Southeast Asia and its neighboring countries such as China and India. Rates could go as low as $40.

4. Cebu Pacific

This airline not only offers cheap domestic flights to tour the entire archipelago but also gives relatively good deals for those who want to be in other parts of a South East Asian country, such as Bangkok and Jakarta. Flights can go as low as $40.

5. Nok Air

Another low-cost airline based in Thailand, Nok Air, offers great deals for those who want to visit Bangkok. Bangkok has been one of the famous go-to places of tourists from other countries who love to visit the South East. It also offers cheap domestic flights for those who want to see other parts of Thailand.

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Over the past years, Google has established its ground on innovation. It has furnished netizens with the expediency of gizmos such as Gmail, Google Hangout, Google Drive, Google Maps, and Google Scholar.

With the growth of the tourism and travel industry, more and more people desire to travel. Many airlines across the globe continue to offer competitive prices, and travel apps that could make these prices even lower continue to surface--one of these apps is Google Flights, which is arguably one of the most effective travel tools we have today.

Learn how to get the cheapest flights with the Google Flights App below.

1. Take advantage of the Explore map.

Users can get a map view of the neighbouring places and makes it easy to decide where to go.While viewing the map on the right side, the user can also view a list of 3 airline options and 3 hotel options on the left side. A link to more options is also displayed on the same side. This Explore map functionality provides a stress-free navigation to users.

2. Get leads from the email notification.

Users can be alerted about changes in the airfare and trends which will help them make decisions right away.

3. Allow the application to monitor the prices.

Users can save a specific flight information if they choose to wait for sometime for the prices to go down. They do not need to manually check as they can receive an email when the price drops.

4. Collaborate with your friends and family on your travel plans

Users can find a flight they are interested in, save it and share it with their travel partners by hitting the Share button.

With the objective of providing a reasonably good experience for users, Google is continuously crafting tools for netizens' dynamic needs.

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The event, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, concluded on the importance of ensuring urban planning and city tourism development are fully coordinated. Authenticity, local culture, the engagement of local communities and the use of technology were pointed out as key success factors for city tourism.

The 5th UNWTO City Tourism Summit in Luxor, Egypt gathered around 400 experts from 40 countries to discuss the theme Cities: Local culture for a global traveler. The event, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, concluded on the importance of ensuring urban planning and city tourism development are fully coordinated. Authenticity, local culture, the engagement of local communities and the use of technology were pointed out as key success factors for city tourism.

Participants discussed city tourism trends including new business models, such as the so-called sharing economy, the importance of millennials, emerging niche markets, how to build authentic cultural experiences and engage local communities, safety and security, and congestion management.

The Minister of Antiquities of Egypt, Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Tourism Mohamed Yehia Rashed, Governor of Luxor Mohamed Sayed Badr, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Organizations of Egypt, Hisham Badr, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai and the President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), David Scowsill, addressed the meeting.

Holding this event in Luxor shows how Egypt and its people are committed to tourism and is a very positive sign that Egypt will recover to be the leading tourism destination it has historically been, said Minister Rashed.

UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai expressed the Organizations full confidence in Egypts tourism recovery, recalling that holding such an important meeting in Luxor displays the trust of the international tourism community in the destination.

The High-Level Panel of the Summit, moderated by BBC Travel Show presenter Rajan Datar, stressed the importance of placing tourism high in the urban agenda and creating mechanisms of coordination and joint planning. Issues of congestion management, safety and security, and engagement with host communities were also discussed.

We should never fear the growth of the tourism sector; it is the way we manage it that makes the difference, said Mr. Rifai during the panel. He stressed that a city that does not serve its citizens will not serve its visitors, thus the importance of engaging local communities and tourists.

Participants also stressed the need to maximize the resources generated by tourism for heritage preservation and renovation, the roles of gastronomy and creative culture in attracting and engaging tourists; and how the 270 million young travelers of today demand new authentic products and connectivity twenty-four seven.

The closing keynote was delivered by Egyptian archaeologist Mr. Zahi Hawass, who shared his exemplary experience.

During the Summit, UNWTO presented its City Tourism Network Action Plan as well as a new initiative  Mayors for Tourism  that will see mayors and cities decision-makers collaborate on tourism issues.

The 6th UNWTO Global Summit on City Tourism will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December 2017.

The UNWTO City Tourism Network is composed of key stakeholders from the public and private sectors working towards policies to encourage the sustainable development of city tourism on local, national and international levels.

5th UNWTO City Tourism Summit

City Tourism Network Action Plan

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A short vehicle chase near Middleton ended with a car crashing into a stoplight early Friday morning, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said.

Prior to the chase, a deputy was attempting to pull over a vehicle for going 40 mph over the speed limit.

According to the sheriff's office:

A deputy tried stopping a vehicle going 85 mph in a 45 mph zone on Highway M near Signature Drive northeast of Middleton at about 12:30 a.m.

Instead of pulling over, the vehicle sped up, leading the deputy on a chase that lasted about one minute, until the vehicle crashed into a stoplight at Highway M and Highway Q.

Three fled the vehicle on foot, but one passenger, a 21-year-old man, was taken into custody.

Attempts to immediately locate the other suspects were unsuccessful. This investigation is ongoing.
The names of the four people killed and two people critically injured in a crash Wednesday night on Interstate 94 near Deerfield were released Friday.

The State Patrol identified those killed as Kimberly Radtke, 28, of Pewaukee; Katy Pasqualini, 26, of Milwaukee; Clenton Hall, 26, of Waterloo; and Patrick Wasielewski, 23, of Northbrook, Illinois.

The crash was caused by an SUV going the wrong way on I-94 near mile marker 249 shortly after 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, the State Patrol said. The SUV turned around in the eastbound lanes of I-94 and drove against traffic, colliding with two sedans head-on.

The driver of the SUV was identified Friday as Brysen Wills, 32, of Waunakee. He was taken to UW Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the Nissan Sentra hit by the SUV  Brian Falk, 28, of Whitefish Bay  suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to UW Hospital by Medflight.

The three passengers in his vehicle  Radtke, Pasqualini and Hall  died at the scene.

Wasielewski, the driver of a Toyota Corolla that also was hit by the SUV, also died at the scene.

Alcohol use is suspected to be a contributing factor, the State Patrol said. The crash remains under investigation and charges are pending.
A Florida man who shot another man in the head in 2014 during what prosecutors said was a robbery of about $500 was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison, atop a 12-year prison sentence he is already serving in Florida for an attempted homicide there.

Yadiel Nunez-Munoz, 20, of Orlando, Florida, asked Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds for a second chance, telling her that he was young when he committed both crimes and that he can change.

Im asking for a second chance so I can come out into society at a reasonable age, Nunez-Munoz said.

But Reynolds, calling Nunez-Munoz a dangerous man, said that he had already been given a second chance when he came to Madison from Florida to do construction work for his stepfather, and at the time was free on bail from Florida.

You basically threw that second opportunity, or perhaps a third opportunity, away, Rey-nolds said.

In August, a jury found Nunez-Munoz guilty of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and aggravated battery for shooting Alvaro Avila-Jimenez, 26, on April 26, 2014, along a long driveway off Highway 73 near the intersection with Highway 12-18 near Deerfield.

Avila-Jimenez, who had come from the Chicago area to work with Nunez-Munoz installing countertops at a construction project, lost his left eye when Nunez-Munoz shot him from short range inside the cab of a truck. A struggle ensued afterward, and another shot was fired, which struck one of Nunez-Munozs fingers. Residents whose homes were along the driveway called 911.

Assistant District Attorney Lanny Glinberg asked for a sentence of 27 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision, calling the incident an incredibly violent, brutal, savage and planned attack. He said Avila-Jimenez, who worked to support his family, now cannot work, and instead lives with his brother. He is still in constant pain and deals with frequent infections in his eye socket, Glinberg said.

Glinberg said Nunez-Munoz is dangerous and has shown no sign of contrition or empathy, and feels confused and sad about the incident, according to a pre-sentence report by the state Department of Corrections.

Nunez-Munozs lawyer, Jason Gonzalez, said his client is the product of a terrible childhood of parental abandonment, coupled with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a learning disability, which all went untreated. He said Nunez-Munoz was 17 when he committed the crime in Florida, and 18 when he shot Avila-Jimenez.

Im sorry for your childhood, Reynolds told Nunez-Munoz. But at some point we become responsible for our actions.

The 15-year Wisconsin prison sentence will begin after Nunez-Munoz finishes serving his 12-year sentence in Florida, of which he has served about two years. He will serve 15 years of extended supervision after he is released from prison.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 3

The PGIs Institute Body, headed by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda, which met in New Delhi today, recommended the names of Dr Anil Bhansali, Head of the Endocrinology Department, Dr Jagat Ram, Head of the Ophthalmology Department, and Dr Meenu Singh, Head of the Paediatrics Department, for appointment as the new PGI Director.

The names have been sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for selection of one of them to the coveted post, which got vacated after the completion of Dr Yogesh Chawlas stint on October 6.

Reacting to the news, Dr Bhansali, said, It is too early to comment. Im keeping my fingers crossed.

Dr Jagat Ram could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts. Dr Meenu said she was excited. We have not received any official communique in this regard. But Im very excited. Dr Meenu, if chosen to the top post, will be the first woman chief of the PGI.

Profile

Dr Meenu Singh

A Professor of Paediatrics and Head, Paediatric Pulmonology, Asthma and Allergy Clinics, at the Advanced Paediatric Centre, PGI, Dr Meenu Singh belongs to Himachal Pradesh. She did her MBBS from the IGMC, Shimla. She is steering telemedicine in India. She heads the telemedicine centre at the PGI. The connectivity is provided by ISRO and the NKN in this centre. She has developed a system for tele-ECG and tele-spirometry in collaboration with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.

Dr Anil Bhansali

Head of the Endocrinology Department, PGI, Dr Bhansali hails from Jaipur. He has to his credit path-breaking research in endocrinology and type 2 diabetes. He is the International Adviser to the Indian Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Dr Jagat Ram

He hails from Rajgarh in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. A member of the International Ophthalmologists Academy, Dr Jagat Ram has won several awards and honours, including two Best of the Best awards, considered the Oscar of Ophthalmology. He is the recipient of Prof P Siva Reddy International Award, given by the All-India Ophthalmological Society. He has also won the Orbis international medal among countless others.
Lt Gen (retd) Baljit Singh

I had arrived home on winter vacations from my school at Simla in December 1951 and learnt that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was scheduled to address an election rally at Sangrur, where my father was posted as the Deputy Commissioner. And I was to witness at first-hand the initiative of a diligent administrator who criss-crossed his district from dawn to dusk, in the week preceding the polling day. He wanted to ensure that all his subordinate revenue functionaries down to the patwaris in the mofussil and the police constabulary at each thana, understood the import of the historic change-in-the-making and their onerous responsibility to create peaceful conditions, for fair and free polling.

Though it was strictly not his duty, but that is what had made the District Collectors in the first half of the last century, the corner-stones of the administrative framework in India. And his inspirational leadership had so enthused even the common man that they decorated the polling booths with ethnic artefacts such as priceless phulkaris, and brass and copper kitchen utensils, adding a festive touch to the sombre exercise. The voter turnout was impressive even though the larger majority had no comprehension whatever of franchise, per se. That was when public servants were truly looked upon and addressed as "mai-baap".

There was just one air strip in the Punjab of those days. Nehru's motor cavalcade was late by an hour and the crowd of several thousand peasants was becoming restive. However, the moment the Prime Minister in a brown woollen achkan and white churidar mounted the podium, there was an instant hushed silence, which only a charismatic and inspiring personality can infuse among his audience. Though I was privileged to sit on one of the few chairs upon the rostrum, I was simply mesmerised to be in the shadow of the great man that I paid scant attention to his speech. He finished his exhortation with a flourish, by asking his audience to get up and join him in a full-throated chorus of Bharat Mata Ki Jai Ho, three times over! And that chant persisted for at least the next half hour, till the last of the gathering had dispersed.

I am amused that from several hundred miles away, from the interior of Madhya Pradesh, a Divisional Forest Officer's personal diary (published for private circulation only) entry for December, 1951 narrates much the similar, poignant experience.

He had set out to establish a polling booth in village Pathera, along with one clerk, two unarmed police constables with one sealed ballot box and some stationery, in a timber contractor's truck (perhaps, commandeered for free!) on a 106-km-long bumpy ride over a dirt track. However, the next 32 km to his ultimate destination had to be covered in a bullock cart through a dense forest, now a part of the Kanha Tiger Reserve. It was, therefore, natural that with the approach of evening, the bullocks sensed the presence of a predator. Quite involuntarily, their heads began swaying violently from side to side and their tails swished like pendulums gone berserk. The DFO and his party jumped down to walk by the side of the bullocks both to becalm them and at the same time to induce caution in the stalking tiger. They talked loudly, clapped their hands frequently and also pelted stones into bushes on either side, as they went by.

The revenue authorities had alerted the headman of the village to expect the DFO's party. So, all the 20 huts had been given a fresh coat of mud and lime-wash for the big day. At the weekly market in their vicinity, the villagers had even acquired three National Flags which were already aflutter, one each atop the hut of the headman and over the two huts vacated for the election party and the election-booth! They also mounted vigil by night to protect the two bullocks against the tiger who naturally owed no allegiance to the election code of conduct.

By 10 am the next morning, the entire village of about 60 Indians of all ages, had gathered outside the election booth. With utter humility and solemnity, the womenfolk first applied kum kum on and then garlanded the ballot box! The DFO then called out to the 12 eligible listed voters and explained the object of the election, who the candidates were what they stood for and the significance of their vote. Of course, we shall never know what passed through their minds but when the last ballot was cast by 11.30 am they all arose in unison and led by the headman returned to their huts, cheerfully chorusing aloud, Bharat Mata Ki Jai Ho! Two days later, the sealed ballot box was matter-of-factly deposited at the district headquarters treasury.

Have we frittered away that wealth of civilised innocence of a nation for the mockery of hustings as they have come to pass?
Chandigarh, November 4

The special session of the Haryana Assembly, which was organised to mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the states formation, witnessed noisy scenes and verbal duels between the ruling BJP and the opposition members.

A day after the INLD and Congress had boycotted the conference marking the golden jubilee of Haryana Vidhan Sabha in Panchkula, Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar on Friday sought a resolution condemning the behaviour of the opposition party members.

On Thursday, the INLD and Congress members had also hit out at the government for failing to acknowledge the contribution of their senior leaders in the formation of the state.

You left the conference, which was not of any party or government, it was a peoples event, Dhankar told the opposition MLAs.

Minister Anil Vij said the opposition parties had nothing to do with the golden jubilee celebrations and they were making a mockery of the parliamentary system by getting up on their toes repeatedly on every issue.

Thereafter, the opposition INLD members rushed to the well of the House and started raising slogans against the government.

The Speaker named several INLD legislators forcing the Assembly to be adjourned twice. PTI
Our Correspondent

Chamba, November 4

Local lad Ashwani Kumar (25) has been selected in a special group of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), New Delhi, to move to Switzerland in Europe for mountaineering expeditions.

Ashwani, who left for Switzerland on Monday, through an email informed he had scaled the Mount Everest along with a group of 13 mountaineers of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) on May 19, 2013. He also received a certificate for the same from the Nepal government.

Besides, he has received several awards, including a gold medal in mountaineering. The Raksha Mantri Commendation Card (RM Padak) was conferred on him by the Director General, NCC.

Ashwani completed the advance course from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling,from April 4 to May 1, 2016.
As concerns increase about the spread of chronic wasting disease through Wisconsin's deer herd, new research has found that CWD is deadliest for the animals most valued by many hunters  bucks.

The findings suggest new and more aggressive measures should be used to slow CWD's growth, including eliminating large numbers of bucks in two southern Wisconsin areas with high infection rates, said Mike Samuel, a UW-Madison researcher who co-authored the study published last month.

"We will lose a bunch of these older males anyway, so it makes sense to shoot them and control the disease," Samuel said.

Otherwise, CWD prevalence in the outbreak areas will keep growing, eventually leading to a significant decline in deer numbers and detection of more cases across the state, Samuel said.

But Samuel said he doubts the state will adopt practices to control the disease if they are unpopular with hunters who have seen thinning of the herd in terms of short-term losses of hunting opportunities.

Samuel remembers how hunters successfully fought efforts to thin the herd after CWD was first found in the state in 2002, and he isn't hopeful that attitudes have changed, despite growing awareness of how quickly the disease has spread in the last five years.

The study conducted jointly by the university and the state Department of Natural Resources found that bucks are much more susceptible to the disease than previously believed.

By applying more accurate technology for tracking the infection in 16,000 deer killed in Wisconsin and Illinois from 2002 to 2011, the researchers also found that CWD shortens the lifespans of infected bucks more drastically than does.

Responding to public opinion and budget cuts, the DNR has adopted a mostly passive approach to CWD.

But as infection rates have reached 30 percent to 40 percent in the core CWD areas and it has turned up in wild herds and in deer farms 100 or more miles away, hunters have begun to express concern.

Gov. Scott Walker has called for additional study of the disease and the DNR has assembled a committee to review existing plans.

Samuel and other scientists recently described for the committee the latest research that has been conducted here and in Western states where CWD has reduced wildlife populations.

Some hunters and deer farm operators continue to say the state should let the disease run its course, but the director of the state's largest organization for outdoors enthusiasts said attitudes may be changing.

George Meyer, the director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said the state should mount an educational campaign about new research and then ask hunters to weigh the short-term pain of thinning the herd and reducing hunting opportunities in some areas against the prospect of CWD continuing to spread and reducing deer numbers statewide.

"It's strong medicine, but this is a severe illness," Meyer said. "What do you want for your children and nieces and nephews?"

Options to reduce spread of CWD

Samuel said there are several methods  each potentially controversial with hunters  the state should use to slow the disease's spread, including a pilot program to test effectiveness of eliminating bucks within one of the major outbreaks.

He also called for culling yearling deer on the edges of the outbreaks to stop them from carrying the disease to new areas, and eliminating as many deer as possible in a roughly 2-mile radius around any new places where the disease is detected.

To reduce deer numbers quickly in targeted areas, sharpshooters using night vision equipment should be deployed, and in portions of the major outbreak areas the state should allow hunting with guns during the deer mating season, said Samuel, who is based at the university's cooperative wildlife research unit.

In 2002, the state began an aggressive campaign against the disease, but within a few years it softened amid public opposition and reduced funding. But Meyer said concern about CWD has grown.

Samuel said that in addition to gun hunting in core CWD infection areas during rut, the state should also consider quicker and more aggressive efforts to eradicate deer around any new detections.

And yearling deer should be eliminated around the edges of the core infection zones, because young deer moving to new territory are most likely responsible for the disease's spread, Samuel said.

Meyer said many bow hunters would oppose opening their season to firearms, but the level of resistance might depend on how much territory was affected.

In places where CWD is newly detected, deer numbers would need to be kept as low as possible for five to 10 years to make sure the disease was gone, because it takes nearly two years for infected deer to begin showing signs that they are ill.

The CWD pathogen, called a prion, is virtually indestructible. There is no reliable way to wash it away. It can lay dormant in soil.

Samuel said that he is a deer hunter, and would not be happy personally to see herds thinned, but he said people need to remember that deer populations can be restored.

DNR's Bob Nack said the agency is open to changes that are recommended by its Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan Review Committee, which is scheduled to hold its second meeting on Nov. 14.

He cautioned that any changes to the state's CWD strategy would require time for public comment and detailed review by several advisory groups.
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 4

A local Lashkar-e-Toiba militant was arrested after he was persuaded by forces to surrender in north Kashmir's Sopore late Thursday.

Police said Umar Mir, a Pakistani-trained Lashkar militant, was holed up inside a house in Tujjar Sopore as a cordon-and-search operation was launched by the Special Operation Group of J-K Police and Army's 22 Rashtriys Rifles battalion.

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"Once the cordon was laid around the house, we persuaded the armed militant for at least five hours to surrender," a senior police officer said.

The militant, who was also contacted by phone, was assured safety if he surrendered. We also recovered an AK rifle and some ammunition from his possession."

The father of the militant was also sent inside the house for persuading his son to surrender.

The police officer said the arrested militant had returned after arms training from across the LoC along with a group of Pakistani militants in May.

Recently J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had urged forces to arrest local youth who have taken up arms.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 4

Calling for protecting Kashmiri childrens right to education, human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged the government to bring to justice those responsible for the burning of schools in the unrest-hit Valley.

It has also asked the government to end the occupation of Valley schools by the security forces.

Since July 8, when the Valley plunged into turmoil following the killing of militant Burhan Wani, over 25 schools have been completely or partially burnt across 10 districts. The state police have arrested 22 suspects so far.

On Thursday, the police in Baramulla claimed they had solved one case of school torching in Tapper village by arresting five suspects, including a medical shop owner believed to be a conspirator.

Schools should be safe spaces under all circumstances. The vicious arson attacks on schools end up denying children in Kashmir their right to education. This disturbing trend must stop, Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India, said in a statement.

The separatists, who are spearheading the current unrest by issuing weekly calendars, have however termed the school torching as a diversionary tactics to shift the focus away from the alleged government atrocities and human rights abuses and called for school protection day on Monday.

However, in its statement, Amnesty International has said Director of School Education in Kashmir Ajaz Ahmad told the rights group that it was difficult for us to protect all school buildings as they are scattered all over the Valley but we are trying to involve local village and mosque committees in the protection of the schools.

Amnesty International has also asked the government to end the occupation of Valley schools by the security forces.

The right to education of children in Kashmir can also be hampered by the use of schools for military purposes, said Aakar Patel. The presence of security forces in schools can increase the risk of them being attacked, and the long-term occupation of schools can increase dropouts and lower student enrolment and teacher recruitment.

According to the authorities, the rights group claimed, paramilitary forces had set up camps in at least seven schools in Kashmir since August.
Jammu, November 4

Despite a break in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops for the second consecutive day, an uneasy calm prevailed along the IB and LoC in Jammu on Friday as border villages remained empty and schools closed.

For the second day today, there was no violation of ceasefire by Pakistan troops, either on the International Border or the Line of Control in Jammu region, the police here said.

Some male members did visit their empty homes and fields during the day but the return of their families to a routine life remain allusive.

Schools in border villages vulnerable to Pakistan shelling also remained closed.

Authorities ordered 174 schools near the IB in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts to remain shut.

At least 400 schools along the IB and the LoC are reportedly affected in the Pakistan shelling of civilian areas.

The Indian Army said at least four border outposts of the Pakistan army were decimated in retaliatory action in Rajouri and Poonch districts that followed targeting of the civilian areas by Pakistan in these districts.

The Border Security Force (BSF), that guards the IB, had said it almost completely destroyed 14 Pakistan border outposts on Wednesday.

BSF officials said these outposts were being used for shelling civilian areas by the Pakistan Rangers.

Villagers in RS Pura, Arnia, Suchetgarh, Akhnoor, Ramgarh and other sectors along the IB moved away from their homes following the indiscriminate targeting of their homes and agricultural fields.

The BSF has dug defence ditches close to the IB and no civilian movement is allowed beyond them.

Villagers have demanded compensation for their livestock killed in the shelling.

Former J-K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was stopped on Thursday from crossing the defence ditches and visiting Rangoor village close to the IB.  IANS
Mumbai, November 4

Even as tension continues to simmer on the border amid ceasefire violations by Pakistan, a man from Mumbai has got betrothed to a woman from Pakistan.

Moiz Amir, 30, first met his Karachi-born fiancee Fatema Gadiwala through common relatives in January this year and fell in love with her.

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When India was partitioned, some of our relatives shifted to Karachi. My family was looking for a bride for me and suddenly we realised that Fatemas family was also looking for a groom for her through common relatives, Amir told PTI.

He said once both families approved their match, they started talking to each other via video-calling on social networking applications.

Once the pair firmed up their plan to live together, the process of securing visa for the bride started.

The brides family approached the Dawoodi Bohra jamat (office) in Karachi to apply for a visa for the nikah ceremony, which they then forwarded to government officials in Islamabad. The Indian embassy in Pakistan was forthcoming in giving visas to the bride, her mother, her brother and her uncle to visit India for the engagement ceremony, Amir, who works with a web portal in the city, said.

The bride, along with her relatives, reached India by train earlier this week while her uncle flew on Wednesday for the ceremony.

The couple then got engaged amidst much fanfare in south Mumbai on Thursday, with a few relatives of the bride and all family members of the groom attending the function.

Amir said he would now get the marriage registered in India. He will approach the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi next month for him and his mother to travel to Karachi for the nikah and the reception ceremony early next year.

We are hoping that Pakistani officials too are helpful like their Indian counterparts in giving us a visa to visit the neighbouring nation.

Through our marriage we hope that we send out a message to both governments, that the world can be a much better place to live in if we keep aside weapons and use the language of love for communication, Amir said.

Fatema said she is eager to come and live in India, enjoying the ambience of its diverse and accommodating culture, post the marriage reception in Karachi. PTI
Beijing, November 4

China warned India against taking any action that could "unilaterally change" the existing Line of Actual Control (LAC) as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop a canal project.

"I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC. Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here.

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Chinese and Indian troops were reported to have been locked in a stand off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered a territory where a canal was being built under Indian Governments MNREGA scheme.

"This issue is once again published by Indian media outlets," Hua said in reply to a question about the supposed action.

Apparently referring to the canal project, Hua said: "Either side shall not take action that may unilaterally change the statues quo of LAC.

"Currently the two countries have an effective communication through series of mechanisms. We believe that we can maintain peace and tranquility of the border area, she said.

Around 55 Chinese troops are reported to have cross over into Demchok  some 250 km east of Leh  to stop the project, prompting Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to intervene.

The LAC stretches up to 3,488-km long.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet while India claims Aksai Chin, a territory China occupied during Sino-Indian war of 1962.  PTI
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, November 4

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Congress leader Sajjan Kumars plea for the recusal of Justice Parkash Singh Teji from hearing CBIs appeal against his acquittal in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in the Delhi Cantonment area in which five persons were killed.

Kumar and those convicted in the case had pleaded for sending CBIs appeal to some other bench for hearing, contending that Justice Teji was biased against them.

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Rejecting their plea, a bench comprising Justices Gita Mittal and PS Teji held their contentions were baseless, mala fide and misconceived. We find no merit and hence their applications are dismissed, the bench said.

Appearing for Kumar, senior counsel Salman Khurshid had contended that Justice Teji had refused to grant bail to his client in February 2010 when he was Additional Sessions Judge in the Karkardooma Court.

While Kumar was acquitted by the trial court on April 30, 2013, five other accused were convicted, including ex-Congress MLA Mahender Yadav and a counsellor. Three were awarded life imprisonment while the other two were sentenced to three years.

The CBI and the victims filed the appeals against the acquittal of Sajjan Kumar which had come up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices Mittal and Teji on October 17.

Senior counsel Vikas Singh appearing for Yadav pleaded that Justice Teji was showing keen interest in the matter. Appearing for the victims, senior advocate HS Phoolka opposed the plea contending that this kind of allegations should not be entertained.
New Delhi, November 3

India today termed Pakistans charge that officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were involved in subversive activities as baseless and unsubstantiated as Pakistan announced the names of eight Indian officials who it accused of working for RAW and IB.

Six officials of the Pakistan High Commission here had returned yesterday. Sources said India too would eventually call back the eight officials named by Pakistan.

The eight are: Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, Commerical Counsellor, accused by Pakistan of being the RAW station chief; Anurag Singh, First Commercial Secretary; Amardeep Singh Bhatti, Attache Visa; Dharmendra Sodhi, Vijay Kumar Verma and Madhavan Nanda Kumar, all staff members, who Pakistan accuses of working for IB; Balbir Singh, First Secretary, Press and Information, who Pakistan alleges to be IB station chief; and Jayabalan Senthil, Assistant Personnel Welfare Officer.

India also strongly protested the manner in which the names and photos of the eight, four with diplomatic passport, have been published.  TNS
New Delhi, November 4

A Delhi court issued a fresh non-bailable warrant (NBW), the second one today, against Vijay Mallya, chairman of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, in a 2012 cheque bounce case following his non-appearance.

The court said Mallya had scant regard for the law of the land and had no intention to return to India.

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Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand passed the order with the direction that NBW be executed through Ministry of External Affairs as the liquor baron is reportedly in London.

The court then listed the matter for further hearing on February 4 next year.

The court, on August 6, had also issued an NBW against Mallya saying that coercive steps were required to ensure his appearance.

The court had earlier noted that despite repeated orders, Mallya did not appear in the court and it was inevitable for the state machinery to intervene and ensure his presence.

The trial court had summoned Mallya as accused following a complaint by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates the capitals IGI Airport, claiming that a cheque for Rs one crore issued by Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) on February 22, 2012, was returned to them a month later containing the remarks - fund insufficient.

DIAL had filed four cases in June 2012 against Mallya over KFAs cheques totalling Rs 7.5 crore not being honoured.

The grounded airline had issued the cheques towards payment for services availed by them at the IGI airport here.

Mallya is facing action after defaulting on over Rs 9,000-crore loan from 17 banks.

In July this year, he had skipped appearance before a PMLA court in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering probe against him in alleged bank loan fraud case.

Mallya had left the country in March and is currently said to be in the UK. Several cheque bounce cases have been filed against him.  PTI
Bhopal, November 4

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the sensational jailbreak by eight SIMI activists from the Bhopal central prison and their alleged encounter.

The judicial probe will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice SK Pandey, an official release issued on Thursday night here stated.

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Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high-security jail and the encounter that took place after that, it said.

A PIL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday on the issue demanding a judicial probe into the incident.

The undertrial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail here on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.

Before escaping from the jail, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav.

Since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state Home Minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

A controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jailbreak, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back. PTI
Janakpur, November 4

President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday offered prayers at the historic Janaki temple here and promised to construct two Dharmashalas to facilitate pilgrims to visit this ancient city in Nepal, bordering India.

Mukherjee, the first Indian President to visit Nepal in 18 years, wore traditional headgear while visiting the Janaki temple where he offered prayers on the third and last leg of his three-day State Visit to Nepal.

He was welcomed by priest reciting Swasti vachan, a kind of traditional Sanskrit prayer for welcoming guest.

I am happy to announce, during my State Visit to Nepal, that government of India will construct 2 Dharmashalas along the parikarma path of Janakpur Dham to facilitate visiting this ancient city, the President said.

I am confident that the twin city agreement between Janakpur and the ancient Indian city of Ayodhya will further strengthen the close bonds and enhance the cooperation between our two peoples - particularly in the development of trade and tourism in this region, he said.

Describing his visit to Janakpur city as memorable, Mukherjee said this important pilgrimage destination is one of the most significant focal points of the cultural and spiritual linkages between India and Nepal.

I thank the Janaki mandir authorities and the people of Janakpur for receiving me today. I am deeply touched by their warm affection. I offer them greetings on the festival of Chhath from the government and the people of India and best wishes for their progress and prosperity, he added.

Large number of school children lined up the road from the airport to the temple. Several of them dressed up as characters from Ramayana like King Janak, the father of Goddess of Sita.

The temple built in 1910 by Queen of Tikamgarh is in the centre of Janakpur which is said to be once ruled by King Janak.

Built in bright white, the temple is constructed in a mixed style of Islamic and Rajput domes. The temple is a three storied structure made entirely of stone and marble.

Janakpur is also considered as epicentre of protests by Madhesis who are demanding population based proportional representation in Parliament among others.  PTI
More than 3 million Wisconsinites are expected to vote in Tuesday's election, according to the state Elections Commission.

Commission spokesman Reid Magney said 69.6 percent of the state's voting-age population, or 3.1 million residents, are expected to cast ballots.

The turnout is expected to be around the same as the 2008 and 2012 elections, when 69.2 percent and 70.4 percent of voting-aged people in Wisconsin voted, said the state's chief elections official, Michael Haas.

"We typically look at history for guidance in predicting turnout," Haas said in a statement. "We expect turnout for this election to be similar to previous presidential elections."

Magney said that the number of absentee ballots cast in this election so far  more than 623,000 as of Thursday morning  do not necessarily indicate a higher overall turnout come election day.

The largest percentage of voters in the last 50 years came out in the 2004 election, when Democratic nominee John Kerry narrowly won the state's electoral votes, Magney said.

As of Wednesday, more than 3.5 million people are registered to vote in Wisconsin, according to the commission.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 4

Political slugfest over suicide by an ex-serviceman and the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme continued today with the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister joining issue with the Congress, even as AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi stepped up offensive against the government, charging PM Narendra Modi of lying on OROP.

While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Rahul was politicising the suicide and no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said it was the Modi government which had resolved the four-decade-old issue.

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Rahul, accusing the PM of lying, said what retired soldiers were getting was enhanced pension, insisting that the demand for OROP remained unfulfilled.

What PM says is OROP is actually pension enhancement. The PM should stop lying on the issue, he said after interacting with a group of ex-servicemen at the AICC headquarters this afternoon.

Speaking to mediapersons, the Defence Minister said he had asked the officials to expedite paper work to ensure all beneficiaries got pension under OROP within the next two months. Of the nearly one lakh pensioners who are yet to get the enhanced amount, he said a majority did not have the requisite documents. The department concerned had been asked to reconstruct the files and, if necessary, seek affidavits that would be processed. Sources in the Ministry of Defence said the governments commitment towards implementation of OROP could be gauged from the fact that the budget allocation had gone up from Rs 54,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 82,000 crore in the current fiscal.

The figure would actually be touching close to Rs 90,000 crore under the revised estimates for 2016-17.

As for the calculation mistakes that figured in the case of deceased subedar Ram Kishan Grewal, the sources said the data for different categories/periods ran into 195 tables which was processed at 22 pension processing centres.

Conceding that the soldier who committed suicide ought to have got Rs 3,026 more than his Rs 22,608 pension amount, they said, an error had occurred as he was eligible to draw one pension unlike most soldiers who were entitled to draw two pensions under different schemes.

The ministry, at a meeting held with ex-servicemens associations and bank representatives on October 24, had directed the banks at the processing centres to monitor complaints on calculation errors, the sources added.

Meanwhile, with the rise in the number of pensioners every month, the ministry has begun a pilot project to provide e-pension payment orders to new retirees.
New York, November 4

Pakistans polity does not have the capacity to sustain a normal relationship with India, former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said as he characterised relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours as managed hostility.

I would characterise (India-Pakistan relations) today as managed hostility, which I hope it stays managed, Menon said in response to a question on relations between the two nations at a panel discussion organised by the South Asia centre at New York University here on Thursday.

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On whether he saw any prospect for resolution of the Kashmir issue, Menon, who has been Indias High Commissioner to Pakistan, replied in the negative.

He said many of the issues relating to Kashmir had been around for a long time and we know the solutions to many of them but they seemed to be politically difficult to serve.

Today I dont think Pakistans polity has the capacity to sustain a normal relationship with India. I think there is a very strong institutional interest there, he said.

Menon, who has authored the book Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy, however, added that his fear is that if it becomes a party political issue in India, which it has not always been, then you have the same dynamic operating.

He emphasised that expectations in India on any improved relations with Pakistan are very very low, particularly after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

There is very little public support for actually trying to fix those issues after the Mumbai attack and the series of cross-border terrorist attacks doesnt help either. Given that, I wouldnt expect rapid resolution of all these issues, he said.

Menon was asked given that Indias position on various global issues like Syria, Russia and Yemen had been different from that of the US, would it vote alongside the US as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

He replied that India should not spend its time worrying about a seat on the UN body.

For me, frankly, a seat on the Security Council, with due apology, is a status quo. That is a beauty contest. You want to win a beauty contest--go ahead and enjoy yourself, he said.

Thats not the point. Our point is to create an enabling environment for Indias transformation and work with the US for that. I think thats in the US interest too, he said. PTI
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 4

Eleven employees, including the headmaster and several teachers, of Ninadhi Ashram School in Maharashtras Buldhana district were arrested late Thursday night in connection with the rape of girl students in the school.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered an inquiry by a special investigation team after it emerged that at least three girls in the school were discovered to be pregnant. The police said the school was a residential facility meant for the education of tribal students. The rapes came to light after the girls returned home for the Diwali vacation.

A girl who complained of stomach pain was found to be pregnant. Later, it was discovered that two more girls were pregnant. The school has 12 students making use of the residential facility. The SIT, headed by a woman officer, would conduct the inquiry, DGP Satish Mathur said. We have arrested 11 persons and search is on for two more people, Mathur said.

The police said the 13-year-old girl who was first discovered to be pregnant named a school peon as her assailant. Other officials, including the headmaster and teachers, were arrested for not acting on her complaint, the police said.

Earlier today, Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik demanded a probe into the incident after alleging that more girls in the school had been sexually assaulted. The three of the girls who have been reported to be pregnant are between the age of 12 and 14.

While one of the school staffers have been charged with rape, all those arrested have been charged under various sections of POCSO (Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act).
New Delhi, November 4

The one-day ban on leading Hindi news channel NDTV India by the Centre over its coverage of Pathankot attack drew sharp condemnation today from Opposition parties and media bodies, which called it shocking and authoritarian and reminiscent of Emergency days.

Edit: Mr Shukla, I presume

Leaders of the non-BJP parties and the media bodies also demanded immediate withdrawal of the order imposing the blackout on November 9.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh suggested that all newspapers and channels show courage and go off air and not publish on November 9 to register their protest.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the order of the inter-ministerial panel of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry showed that an Emergency-like situation prevailed in the country while Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi slammed it as shocking and unprecedented.

The Editors Guild of India condemned the order as a direct violation of the freedom of the press. Similar sentiments were echoed by the Broadcast Editors Association. NDTV, while terming the order as shocking, alleged that it had been singled out.

Rahul hit out at PM Modi, tweeting: Detaining Opposition leaders, blacking out TV channels  all in a days work in Modijis India. NDTV Banned  shocking and unprecedented (sic). Former J-K CM Omar Abdullah asked if these were BJPs promised achhe din (good days).  PTI
United Nations, November 4

In a significant victory, a young Indian lawyer won a hotly-contested election in the UN General Assembly for membership to the world bodys top body of legal experts, garnering the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group.

Aniruddha Rajput, 33, is among the 34 individuals elected by the General Assembly as members of the International Law Commission, the UN organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification.

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The newly elected members will serve five-year terms of office with the Geneva-based body beginning January 2017.

The members have been elected from five geographical groupings of African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean and Western European states.

Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia-Pacific group in voting that was held by way of secret ballot on Thursday.

Amongst the youngest to be elected to the nearly 70-year-old body, Rajput is Indias first-time candidate to the Commission, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told PTI.

A practising lawyer of Indias Supreme Court, Rajput is also the first Indian nominee chosen from outside a close circle of lawyers of the Ministry of External Affairs.

An alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Rajput was member of an expert group appointed by the Law Commission of India to study and comment upon the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty 2015 of India, according to his profile submitted to the UN.

He has written several books, chapters, articles, conference papers on diverse legal subjects and his areas of expertise in international laws include Sources of International Law, International Arbitration, Law of the Sea, Use of Force, UN Law and Practice and International Trade Law (WTO Law).

In response to a congratulatory tweet by Singapores Ambassador to the United Nations Burhan Gafoor on Rajputs election, Akbaruddin replied, We are deeply appreciative of support extended by many, many friends of India to ensure Dr Rajputs election by a huge margin.

Japans Shinya Murase got the second highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group at 148, followed by Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Huikang Huang of China with 146 votes each, Koreas Ki Gab Park with 136 votes, Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri of Qatar with 128 votes and Hong Thao Nguyen of Vietnam with 120 votes. PTI
London, November 4

A Latvian man in the UK has been charged with the murder of a 30-year-old Indian-origin woman who was found dead near Londons Heathrow airport last month, Scotland Yard said today.

Vadims Ruskuls, 24, from Latvia, was also charged yesterday with preventing lawful burial of Pardeep Kaur.

Ruskuls appeared in custody at Hendon Magistrates Court and was remanded to appear at the Old Bailey on November 7, a Scotland Yard statement said.

Kaur, who was married and worked as a hotel housekeeper, had been reported missing on October 17 by a relative after she did not come home from work.

The investigation was taken over by the Metropolitan Polices Homicide and Major Crime Command on October 20. On October 22, Met Police detectives discovered her body.  PTI
London, November 4

The UK Foreign Office on Friday admitted removing from the National Archives a number of files on the India-UK relations in the 1980s, including some related to the Operation Bluestar, prompting a Sikh group to demand an independent investigation into the matter.

The files were released by the National Archives under the 30-year declassification rules earlier this year.

Sikh Federation UK claimed to have found a memo within the files referring to the possibility of the Special Air Services (SAS) unit of the British Army being involved after "an Indian request for military assistance in the setting up of a National Guard for internal security duties" during Operation Bluestar in 1984.

"The UK government considered SAS assistance for the Indian military just weeks after the 1984 Amritsar massacre, a fact omitted from an official review ordered by David Cameron in 2014, fresh evidence obtained by the Sikh Federation (UK) reveals.

"Lawyers have now written to home secretary Amber Rudd demanding an independent investigation into Britain's role in one of the darkest periods in Sikh history, after new evidence was found at the UK National Archives," a Sikh Federation UK statement said.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in an apparent revenge attack a few months after the military operation on Golden Temple in June 1984.

The row over how much the British Government knew and helped in the incidents 32 years ago threatens to overshadow British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India next week.

Sikh Federation UK, a UK-based Sikh NGO, has accused the government of a "cover-up" and its lawyers from law firm KRW Law have now written to UK home secretary Amber Rudd demanding an "independent investigation".

But the Foreign Office has insisted the files have been merely "borrowed" following concerns raised by the group.

"The FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) borrowed some of their files from 1984 that were released to the National Archives so they could read the content following concerns raised by the Sikh Federation. They will return all the files in full shortly," a UK government spokesperson said.

"The issue of SAS advice prior to Operation Bluestar was dealt with in the 2014 report by the Cabinet Secretary. These files contain nothing about this incident," the spokesperson added.

The 2014 report refers to an official government inquiry into the exact nature of British involvement in the Indian Armys operation at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984.

The inquiry had been ordered by then British Prime Minister David Cameron after documents released previously under the 30-year declassification rule had implied British SAS commanders had advised the Indian Government as it drew up plans for the removal of militants from Golden Temple.  PTI
London

Based on 3-D reconstructions of animal skeletons, a new study has revealed that herbivorous mammals have bigger bellies than their usually slim carnivores counterparts.

The study revealed that on average, herbivorous mammals have a body cavity that is twice as big as carnivores of a similar body size.

"This is a clear evidence that plant-eating mammals actually have larger guts," said Marcus Clauss, Professor at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

In dinosaurs, however, there is no notable difference between carnivores and herbivores, the researchers observed.

"We were amazed that there wasn't even the slightest indication of a difference between herbivores and carnivores in dinosaurs," Clauss said.

For the study, a team of researchers headed by the University of Zurich and the Technical University Berlin studied the shape of the ribcage in more than 120 tetrapods  from prehistoric times up to the present day.

With the aid of photogrammetry and computer imaging techniques, the scientists produced a 3-D database for skeletons of dinosaurs, reptiles, birds, mammals and fossil synapsids (mammal-like reptiles).

Using the computer-based visual evaluation of this data, they reconstructed the volume of the body cavity, which is delineated by the spinal column, the ribcage and the pelvis.

"The discovery reveals that there's a fundamental difference in morphological principles between mammals and other tetrapods," Clauss explained, in the paper appearing in the Journal of Anatomy.  IANS
Kunduz, November 3

Two American service members were killed on Thursday fighting the Taliban near the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, and more than 30 civilians were killed in air strikes called in to protect Afghan and US troops, officials said.

Afghan officials said there was heavy fighting overnight in the village of Buz Kandahari, about 5 km from the centre of Kunduz, which Taliban fighters succeeded in entering as recently as last month.

Air strikes called in to protect US and Afghan Special Forces conducting the operation caused heavy casualties.

"Unfortunately more than 30 civilians, including women and children, were killed during the fighting. This was a horrible incident, said Asadullah Amarkhil, the governor of Kunduz, adding that dozens had been wounded.

There were angry protests by civilians who brought the bodies of many of the dead into Kunduz, which saw heavy fighting in early October. In a statement, the US military said the troops came under attack while working with Afghan partners to clear a Taliban position and disrupt the group's operations in the district around the city.  Reuters
London, November 4

The top boss of the Islamic State  who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul  has himself fled, Britains Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was cruelly ironic because western intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.

Baghdadi yesterday broke his year-long silence and issued an audio recording, urging his jihadists to continue their fight to the end in Mosul, where he was believed to be hiding.

Johnson, in an unusual reference to intelligence, said Baghdadis audio recording was cruelly ironic since some of the intelligence we have suggests he had himself vacated the scene and is yet using internet media to encourage others to take part in violence.

The battle for Mosul was expected to end in a decisive defeat for the terrorist group, but Baghdadis escape is likely to complicate matters for Iraqi and coalition forces.

Johnson said the recapture of Mosul, in the face of IS scorched earth campaign, would take time and represented the coalitions greatest challenge, according to the report.  Agencies
State Rep. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, faces a re-election challenge from a Republican college student, Jordan Zadra, in the 79th Assembly District. The district includes Middleton, Waunakee and Cross Plains. The election is Nov. 8.

Dianne Hesselbein (I)

Party: Democratic

Age: 45

Address: 1420 N. High Point Road, Middleton

Family: Husband Bob, children Will, Annika, and Katie

Job: State representative

Education: B.S. in English, UW-Oshkosh; M.A. in religious studies, Edgewood College

Elected experience: State representative, 79th District, 2012-current

Other public service: Girl Scouts of Badgerland Council Delegate, LaFollette High School Board of Visitors

Jordan Zadra

Party: Republican

Age: 19

Address: 5312 Lighthouse Bay Drive, Madison

Family: Mother Betsy, father Stuart

Job: Student at UW-Madison, columnist for the Daily Cardinal

Education: Currently enrolled at UW-Madison

Elected experience: None

Other public service: Policy intern in Wisconsin Governors Office

Q&A

What is the top issue facing your district and how would you address it through the legislative process?

Hesselbein: Residents of the 79th Assembly District are greatly concerned with the lack of state funding for public schools, colleges and universities. Citizens are deeply concerned with the ongoing cuts to public education under Republican leadership that gives increased funding to private, unaccountable voucher schools.

Zadra: Our most prominent issue will be education spending in the next budget. Were stuck in a partisan fight over how much money we should spend on education. Rather than argue for more or less money, Ive developed a plan that protects the sciences and humanities but also creates more job ready paths through universities.

What is an outside-the-box idea you would like the Legislature to pass next session?

Hesselbein: Sensible redistricting. We must eliminate Republican gerrymandering and redistrict in a sensible, non-partisan manner. Wisconsin must establish fair redistricting, not the bizarre, current design made by Republicans to keep them in office. The practical, non-partisan model currently used by Iowa was proposed, but Wisconsin Republicans would not consider the legislation.

Zadra: Criminal justice reform. We have one of the worst rates of African-American incarceration, and we could save $600 million if our per capita spending matched Iowas. Stop issuing arrest warrants for people who fail to pay minor fines, end mandatory minimums, and decriminalize marijuana so we can go after Wisconsins burgeoning heroin epidemic.

What would be your area of expertise as a lawmaker?

Hesselbein: Education and veterans issues. I understand the value and challenges facing public schools, K-12 through post-graduate education, and continue to champion for proper funding. Our veterans deserve the honor and benefits they earned defending our nation, and it is an honor to support our brave neighbors in the Assembly.

Zadra: My strongest skill as a lawmaker would be compromise. That has been missing in Wisconsins hard-line party politics. The proposals Ive created take what I consider to be the best of Democratic and Republican ideals, and combine them into one. I want a system that works for students, educators, and taxpayers alike.
London, November 3

Englands High Court ruled on Thursday that the British government requires parliamentary approval to trigger the process of exiting the European Union, upsetting Prime Minister Theresa Mays Brexit plans.

The government said it would appeal against the decision and a spokeswoman for May said the PM would press ahead with the planned timetable of launching talks on the terms of Brexit by the end of March.

The most fundamental rule of the UKs constitution is that Parliament is sovereign and can make and unmake any law it chooses, said Lord Chief Justice John Thomas, Englands most senior judge.

Thomas and two other senior judges did not spell out what action the government needed to take. They also did not say whether it would need to pass a new law to trigger the divorce proceedings, which could face opposition and amendments from both houses of parliament, particularly the House of Lords, the unelected upper chamber.

In theory, Parliament could block Brexit altogether. But few people expect that outcome, given that the British people voted by 52 to 48 per cent to leave the EU in a referendum in June.

However, the ruling makes the already daunting task of taking Britain out of a club it joined 43 years ago even more complex. It also puts at risk Mays March deadline triggering Article 50 of the EUs Lisbon Treaty, the formal step needed to start the process of exiting the bloc.

The government is disappointed by the courts judgment, trade minister Liam Fox told parliament. The country voted to leave the European Union in a referendum approved by acts of parliament. The government is determined to respect the result of the referendum.

Making clear the government planned to stick to its timetable, the spokeswoman for May said: Our plan remains to invoke Article 50 by the end of March, we believe the legal timetable should allow for that.

The court ruled that the government could not trigger Article 50 without approval from Parliament. The judges granted the government permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, Britains highest judicial body, which has set aside December 5-8 to deal with the matter.  Reuters

Stage set for political uncertainty

What are the governments options?

Legal commentators say ministers now have two basic options: a simple vote in Parliament on whether to trigger Article 50 or a new bill granting the right to leave the EU, which will have to be debated by lawmakers.

What will a new Bill entail?

David Pannick, the lawyer for the lead claimant, said Parliament could approve such a Bill, reject it or pass it with amendments on details such as the date of notification. The best case for the government would be to avoid legislation and involve parliament through a so-called substantive motiona proposal put forward for debate and a vote. This would be a quicker process and could be done early next year. Legislation would take longer as it involves various stages of debate and approval.

How long will all this take?

While it is possible legislation could be introduced and passed between the time of a final judgment late this year, and Mays end-of-March 2017 deadline, it is likely to be tight and may result in the triggering being pushed back. The 1972 European Communities Bill, which set the terms of Britains entry into the European club, involved a total of about 40 days of debate during its passage through Parliament.

Can Parliament block Brexit?

Lawmakers in the House of Commons are thought to be unlikely to try to stop Brexit, and a survey suggested many who voted to remain would now vote to trigger Article 50 in a parliamentary vote. However, a cross-party group of lawmakers, who support a soft Brexit, whereby Britain stays in or remains close to the EU single market, have demanded a greater say for Parliament in negotiations and say they might try to pass amendments that guarantee this.
Jacksonville (Florida), November 4

Many of the Indian-Americans in Florida who voted for the US President Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections say they are switching sides this time and are supporting Republican candidate Donald Trump.

But there appears to be a gender divide, as women appear to be solidly behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (69), because of her life-long work for children and women.

Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

She (Clinton) has a lot of experience. She has worked for children and women all her life. There is such a huge gap between her experience and what Trump (70) represents, Indrani Sindhuvalli, professor of Biology at the Florida State College in Jacksonville, told PTI in an interview.

He (Trump) is so negative and so inexperienced. I cant support him, said Sindhuvalli, who voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

Have you listened to what he has said about women? I would not be voting for him. (Hillary Clinton) is my choice for presidency, Rani Ignatius, 61, who lives near Orlando said.

But Rani and several other Indian-American women are having a problem at home convincing their husband to vote for Clinton.

This is time that we hand over the leadership of the country to a non-politician. Even though he is not very articulate as a politician should be, his policies are in the best interest of the United States, Iggy Ignatius, 61, who is the founder and chairman of Orlando-based Shantiniketan, a home for Indian American senior citizens, said.

Similarly, Dr Pawan Rattan, a life-long registered Democrat from Tampa, finds himself in the Trump camp.

His policies makes a lot of sense and is in the best interest of the US and the world, Dr Rattan said.

This is a man who appears to be genuine in his commitment, he said, adding that he is making a one-time exception to vote for Trump because of his commitment to fight terrorism, and policies on health care and immigration.

However, Dr Rattan acknowledged that he faces a tough opposition from his daughter on his support to Trump.

She wants me to support Clinton, he said.

Indian-American Satya Shaw, a certified public accountant, is an independent and had voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

I voted for change. But there is no change. Tax rates have increased. Health care bills have jumped, Shaw, who comes from Orissa and lives near Tampa, said.

Impressed by Trumps policies Shaw said: He will repeal and replace Obamacare on day one. Our income tax would come down.  PTI
Baghdad/Erbil (Iraq), November 4



Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, a military statement said, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service said CTS troops had launched a major operation against the militants, who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

CTS special forces took over the neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, the statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.

One special forces officer said on Thursday the CTS units may try to push all the way to the Tigris river, which runs through the centre of Mosul.

Iraqi television footage from the east of the city showed heavy palls of grey smoke rising into the sky.

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air strikes launched a campaign nearly three weeks ago to retake Mosul.

Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a cross-border caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.

Islamic State also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country, and the campaign to retake it is the most complex in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and unleashed a decade of turmoil.

In a rare speech released on Thursday Baghdadi  whose whereabouts are unknown  said there could be no retreat

in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against Islamic State, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders.

The jihadists killed seven members of Iraq's security forces during a raid south of the jihadist bastion Mosul that pro-government troops are battling to recapture, officials said.

The militants crossed the Tigris River early in the morning and clashed with security personnel in the Sharqat area about 90 kilometres from Mosul, police officers said.

The militants killed four soldiers, two tribal militiamen and one policeman, according to the police officers, who said that clashes in the area were still ongoing.

One of the officers, a lieutenant colonel, said that the jihadists had planted bombs in the area.

Ali Dawdah, the local official responsible for the area, confirmed that seven security personnel were killed.

Urban warfare



Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus, although Iraqi officials say Islamic State is holding the civilian population as human shields.

The United Nations says 21,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign. That figure excludes the thousands of people from outlying villages forced to head back into Mosul by retreating Islamic State fighters who used them as human shields.

Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said Islamic State fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas.

Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosul airport, they said.

"We saw Daesh (Islamic State) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well," one Mosul resident said.

People in the southern and eastern neighbourhoods reported on Thursday night that barrages of artillery shells and rockets being launched from their districts towards the advancing troops had shaken their houses.

As well as the Islamic State resistance in Mosul itself, the militants have launched a series of diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive.

In the town of Shirqat, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, militants stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation force.

The insurgents crossed from the eastern side of the Tigris river into the town at 3 am, taking over al-Baaja mosque and spreading out into alleyways. Security forces declared a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, forces were being sent to the town.

Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in on Mosul from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the River Tigris from the south.

The Hashid Shaabi forces of mainly Shi'ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, launching an offensive to cut off any supply or escape to the west.

A Hashid spokesman said they had made progress but had not completely closed off the western flank, and their fighters had seen some cars leaving Mosul on Thursday.

Hundreds killed

UN human rights commission says the jihadists could have killed have killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around their stronghold of Mosul.

They also transported 1,600 people from the town of Hammam al-Alil to Tal Afar, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told some they may be taken to Syria, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.

They also took 150 families from Hammam al-Alil to Mosul on Wednesday.

Militants told residents of Hammam al-Alil that they must hand over their children, especially boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers, she said.

Islamic State militants were holding nearly 400 Kurdish, Yazidi and Shia women in Tal Afar, and had possibly killed up to 200 people in Mosul city, she said.

The UN also had reports of air strikes causing civilian deaths, including one on Wednesday evening that reportedly killed four women and injured 17 other civilians in the al Qudus neighbourhood in eastern Mosul. Reuters/ AFP






Vice President Joe Biden called U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson a carbon copy of Donald Trump while campaigning in Madison for Russ Feingold and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a final push to secure votes in the Badger State.

The presence of President Barack Obamas top lieutenant in Madison just four days before Tuesdays election underscored the importance of turning out voters in one of the countrys most Democratic areas.

With Clinton comfortably ahead in the polls in Wisconsin and possibly the first presidential candidate in decades not to campaign in the state, Biden focused his remarks on the Senate race and Johnson.

That contest has tightened in recent weeks and drawn millions in ad spending after a recent Marquette Law School Poll showed a statistical tie between Johnson, the Oshkosh Republican, and Feingold, a Democrat from Middleton who held the seat for three terms before Johnson beat him in 2010.

Biden wasted little time in comparing Johnson to Trump, a connection he described as purely policy-related.

These guys are from the same policy perspective, Biden said to a crowd of about 1,200 at the Orpheum Theater on State Street. They seem to be carbon copies of each other, not in character, but in terms of their positions.

Biden criticized Trump for his comments about womens appearances and for publicly doubting the information sought by federal intelligence agencies.

He reminded the crowd of a comment Trump made in August on a Fox News show in which he said he wouldnt use information from federal intelligence agencies because theyve made such bad decisions.

Think how that plays into the hands (of) the radicals around the world, said Biden. This man is totally, thoroughly unprepared to be the commander in chief of the United States of America. Its not even close.

Pete Meachum, spokesman for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, said Bidens speech was made to save Clintons sinking campaign in its final days. ... We need to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C. Wisconsinites know that candidate is Donald Trump.

Senate race key

The Senate race in Wisconsin could determine whether Republicans maintain majority control. With that in mind, Clintons running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, also campaigned with Feingold earlier this week.

Trump has a rally planned for Sunday in West Allis while his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence, was expected to campaign Saturday in Mukwonago with Johnson and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville.

Johnson, who supports Trump and appeared with him in Eau Claire on Tuesday, appeared to try and calm any concerns Republican voters may have with him.

Take a look at Donald Trumps kids. Fine people, Johnson said at a Friday rally in Mosinee, near Wausau. Take a look at his vice presidential pick. Take a look at his Supreme Court nominees, OK? It has to give you some comfort.

Accompanied by Ryan, he also urged people to vote for him in an effort to avoid a recount like the one that determined the outcome of Minnesotas Senate race in 2008.

Biden also criticized Johnsons recent comments on climate change, in which he said mankind has flourished in warmer weather.

Hillary and Russ know that climate change is actually real, said Biden.

Prominent surrogate

Biden is the most prominent campaign surrogate Clinton has deployed thus far in Wisconsin as part of her final campaign push.

His rally in Madison came two days after the latest Marquette poll showed Clinton maintaining a 6-point lead.

While introducing Biden, Feingold suggested Clinton would not be visiting Wisconsin before Election Day by calling Biden the perfect finishing visitor for her.

While the crowd was a mix of older and younger adults, Biden spoke directly to millennials and younger adults  rejecting Trumps campaign slogan Make America Great Again.

He said in electing Clinton, younger voters would be supporting the changes made under Obamas administration, including the legalization of same-sex marriage and a rebounding economy from the 2008 Great Recession.

It makes me so damn angry, said Biden, referring to comments criticizing the state of the country.

Folks, youre incredible. When I hear the best days of America are already behind us it makes me realize how fundamental this divide is.

He later joined Feingold and Sen. Tammy Baldwin at a Capitol Square coffee shop, where he met patrons and staff members.

Ahead of Bidens speech, state Democrats encouraged early voting while also criticizing Republicans up and down the ticket.

Here in Wisconsin we have our own Donald Trump. His name is Ron Johnson, said U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Black Earth, who represents the 2nd Congressional District.

Clinton hasnt campaigned in Wisconsin since the April primary. Rather, shes counting on her supporters here  and a historically unpopular opponent  to carry the day.

Kaine stopped in Appleton and Madison on Tuesday, and hes scheduled to appear in three cities Sunday.

Clintons campaign says it is confident it is closing the sale with Badger State voters, and now is counting on its ground game to get those voters to the polls.

Still, Clinton has consistently been viewed unfavorably by a majority of Wisconsin voters, according to the Marquette poll.

And she lost two Democratic primaries in the state  in April to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and in 2008 to Obama.

But this is a general election, and Clintons opponent is even more disliked. Trump has visited the state five times since July, most recently in Eau Claire on Tuesday.

He will campaign at 3 p.m. on Sunday in West Allis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Artist's rendering of Continental's Clinton, Mississippi plant when completed. Image: Continental

CLINTON, MISSISSIPPI -- Continental is investing more than $1.4 billion in a new truck tire manufacturing plant. The official groundbreaking ceremony took place on Nov. 3. The facility is located in Hinds County off Interstate 20, two miles from Clinton and 20 miles from the state capital of Jackson. It will employ about 2,500 people by the time it reaches full capacity in the next decade.

Continental expects to begin actual construction of the plant in 2018, following 18 months of clearing and preparation work at the 1,000-acre site.

"Building this new facility in Mississippi is a critical part of our growth strategy for Continental Tire, known as Vision 2025," said Nikolai Setzer, member of Continentals Executive Board and head of Continentals global tire business worldwide. "This is the first new plant, globally, for the truck tire business in more than ten years. We are convinced that the State of Mississippi provides the best options for Continental to grow our tire business."

Setzer said Continental looked at many prospective sites, including Mexico, before settling on Clinton.

"We looked at the entire picture, including where our customers are and how we get raw material into the plant," he said. "We looked at economic and political stability, currency exchange rates, the availability of a skilled labor force, sources of training and even the size of the available land plots."

Continental said growth in its commercial vehicle tire business has consistently exceeded the market over the last five years and the company continues to see customer demand for its products -- both new truck and bus tires as well as retreads, which are growing beyond the companys existing capacity.

This plant is a significant step in addressing our commitment to grow our commercial vehicle tire business in North America, said Paul Williams, executive vice president, commercial vehicle tire, the Americas. We thank the State of Mississippi, Hinds County and the City of Clinton, the Mississippi Development Authority, and Governor Phil Bryant for his leadership in bringing us to the Jackson area, and we look forward to a strong business relationship for years to come.

The Continental deal was the largest economic development package to ever go through the Mississippi legislature.

County, state and federal officials in Clinton, including Nikolai Setzer and Gov. Phil Bryant (4th and 5th from the left, respectively) break ground on Continental's new tire plant. Photo: Jim Park

The groundbreaking of Continentals new tire manufacturing plant in Central Mississippi marks a significant milestone in the development of the companys newest state-of-the-art facility," Governor Bryant said. "I congratulate everyone involved with this monumental project and look forward to the plants progress.

Following two years of consultation, Gov. Bryant (R) said the deal was finalized in a single day.

"We drafted the bill [on the economic incentive package], introduced it, it went through the Senate, it went through the House, and then it came to my desk," Bryant said at a reception the evening before the groundbreaking ceremony. "I had it signed by 1 o'clock that afternoon."

Published reports say the deal included approximately $600 million in state and local incentives as well as tax breaks from Hinds County and inventory and franchise tax breaks.

Not including the planned investment in Mississippi, Continental has invested nearly $2.5 billion in the past decade in manufacturing, technology, facilities and product development to grow its tire business in the Americas. Part of this investment has been the expansion of Continentals tire plant in Mt. Vernon, Ill. and the new Sumter, S.C. facility.

The companys parent company, Continental AG, headquartered in Hannover, Germany, had 2015 profits of approximately $3 billion on revenues of $43.5 billion.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Two men are trying to unseat Sen. Dan Newberry in the race for Senate District 37.

Voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

Newberry, R-Tulsa, is seeking his third and final term.

He is being challenged by former Sand Springs Superintendent Lloyd Snow, who is running as a Democrat, and independent Shawn. W. Ketcher, who is in the Oklahoma Air National Guard.

The voter registration in the district is: 14,543 Democrats; 24,019 Republicans; 105 Libertarians; and 6,763 independents.

Snow said he is running because he got frustrated with the last legislative session.

At the end of the day, I felt like they kicked the can down the road, Snow, 65, said.

Lawmakers didnt take up the states challenges, such as education, health, safety and infrastructure, he said.

They are failing us, Snow said. Nothing will change unless the citizens are willing to step up and work at it and begin changing the conversations.

His top issues are education, health and budgeting practices.

Snow graduated from Shidler High School. He holds a bachelors in education and a masters in school administration from the University of Oklahoma.

He is married with four children and 11 grandchildren.

Ketcher, 31, said he is running because in the last session nothing got accomplished in the areas of education and veterans.

I decided to step up to the plate and be part of the solution instead of the problem, Ketcher said.

He also said he was frustrated because Newberry did not return phone calls.

His top issues are education, the state budget and veterans.

He is a widower with a son.

He graduated from Central High School in Tulsa and holds a bachelors in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Newberry, 40, is married with four children. He is vice president of real estate operations for TTCU, The Credit Union.

Newberry said when he ran for office eight years ago, he wanted to bring more jobs to the state, improve education and create a culture that respects life.

He said he is still trying to accomplish those goals, adding that the state has seen some great success in removing burdens and regulations that hurt the economy.

His top three issues are the economy, improving education and creating a culture that respects life at the beginning and end.

Newberry is a product of home schooling. He holds a bachelors with a focus on leadership and management from Oral Roberts University. He also holds a diploma in charismatic ministry from ORU.
If you found over Five Thousand dollars in cash, what would you do? Would you return it? Wel
ABC premieres 2014 BBC series Jamaica Inn, a 3 part adaptation of Daphne du Mauriers classic gothic novel of the same name.

Adapted by Emma Frost (The White Queen, Consuming Passion) and directed by director Philippa Lowthorpe (Call The Midwife), this stars Jessica Brown Findlay as Mary Yellan, Matthew McNulty as Jem Merlyn, Sean Harris as Joss Merlyn, and Joanne Whalley as Aunt Patience.

Daphne du Mauriers son, Kits Browning, previously said: My Mother had always hoped that a film company would remake her story for television and I know that she would be so pleased with Emma Frosts three-part adaptation of her book. There have been countless scripts in the past few years by writers who have tried to change the plot, drop characters from the book, invent new ones, and generally dig holes for themselves and so wreck what is a very good story. The du Maurier Estate is delighted with Emmas scripts and we sincerely hope that it will be a great success for the BBC in the spring.

Set in 1821 against the forbidding backdrop of windswept Cornish moors, the story follows the journey of young and spirited Mary Yellan who is forced to live with her Aunt Patience after the death of her mother.

Despite pressure to marry local boy Ned after her mothers death, Mary refuses to compromise. Though Ned is kind to her, she doesnt love him and wont marry without love. Mary declines Neds proposal, and journeys to Jamaica Inn in Cornwall.

Mary arrives at the isolated Inn to discover her Aunt is a shell of the carefree woman she remembers from her childhood, and instead finds a tired and anxious woman who is firmly under the spell of her domineering husband Joss.

Joss is the head of a gang of men who smuggle all along the stretch of the Cornish coastline. Its dangerous and violent work and when Joss isnt smuggling, he is drinking heavily to forget all that he has seen.

To complicate matters further Mary finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Jem Merlyn, but Jem is her uncles brother and therefore not to be trusted in Marys mind  although her heart may say otherwise

Life at Jamaica Inn challenges Marys black and white perceptions of morality as she finds herself living among smugglers in a lawless land where no one is quite who they seem. When she thinks she has witnessed a murder, Mary wonders at what cost she will stay silent.

9:30pm Sunday on ABC.
Mondays Australian Story reveals how the NSW / Qld border town of Mingoola has re-injected life into its community by welcoming refugees from Rwanda -and its proving to be a win / win.

This episode is introduced by Barnaby Joyce.

A year ago the small rural community of Mingoola on the New South Wales-Queensland border was facing a bleak future. The population was in decline and there were so few children that the primary school was about to be closed.

Local woman Julia Harpham vowed to save her community and sought inspiration from the regions rich history of migration. But she had no idea where to find new settlers.

Meanwhile in Western Sydney, refugee advocate Emmanuel Musoni was facing problems with his community, who came from Rwanda and neighbouring African countries.

Most of them had rural backgrounds but on arrival in Australia they were settled in cities. This often led to unemployment, a feeling of alienation and depression.

Most of the people from my community are really grateful to live here in Australia, Emmanuel told Australian Story. But many of them find it really difficult when they get here.

When Julia and Emmanuel were put in contact with each other late last year, both saw an answer to their problems.

The local community began renovating several abandoned farmhouses and Emmanuel started looking for an initial two families willing to make the move. Within a week 50 families had registered their interest.

The first two families moved to Mingoola in April and the school re-opened days later.

Meanwhile, another farmhouse was renovated and Australian Story followed a third family as they made the move from Adelaide to a new life in the tiny but growing community.

Emmanuel describes it as a meeting of dreams. For the Africans its a return to their rural roots; for the farmers its an injection of life into their community.

Weve both had a win out of it, says local woman Christine Denis. Weve got this mishmash of people and somehow we fit beautifully together.

Emmanuel now has a database with more than 100 families who want to move to the bush but Mingoola is a tiny community and cant sustain more new arrivals.

All those involved, however, hope that what has been achieved in Mingoola can be a model for struggling communities across rural Australia.

Monday 7 November at 8pm on ABC.
ABCs Elsternwick Studios, better known as the Countdown studios, look set to be vacated by mid 2017.

The Gordon Street building has been in operation since 1958 as home to many productions including Countdown, Bellbird, SeaChange, Adventure Island, The Late Show, Frontline, The Big Gig, The Gillies Report, Kath and Kim, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, Shaun Micallefs Mad as Hell and Spicks and Specks. It sits adjacent to the Heritage listed Ripponlea Estate.

Next year ABC will finish completion on its expanded Southbank site in Sturt Street (pictured below) which includes 2 television studios, bringing Radio and Television under the one roof in Melbourne. Staff are already working in the newly-built extension while work continues.

Admin and production staff will move from Selwyn Street, Elsternwick, by April with the Gordon Street Studios to be decommissioned by mid year.

We will celebrate its space. It needs to be given an appropriate farewell and have a good party, ABC Director of TV Richard Finlayson told TV Tonight.

But it will ultimately be sold with the money going to Australian content.

However local Glen Eira council has previously noted the site also represents an important opportunity to potentially achieve additional open space, if it is kept out of the hands of developers.

There will be a lot of interest in it, its a great site, Finlayson acknowledged.
All five networks will offer Live coverage of the US Presidential Election on Wednesday November 9.

Most will begin Live coverage from around 11am, some earlier, some later.

The style of coverage spans the very serious -from Chris Uhlmann, Laurie Oakes and Michael Usher -to a lighter approach such as Charlie Pickering, Chas Licciardello or even the Studio 10 gang.

There are many reporters on the ground in the USA and an assortment of satellite news feeds to draw upon.

Pay TV also sees several News channel covering the event including SKY News with David Speers, BBC World News, Al Jazeera and more.

All times are AEDT:

ABC

The ABC will deliver the most comprehensive and engaging multi-platform US Election Day coverage when America votes on Wednesday November 9 (November 8 in the US). With an unrivalled team of political experts headlining the ABCs uninterrupted live coverage, audiences can stay tuned for this historic event right throughout the day and night on television, radio, mobile, social and online.

Providing all the essential news, commentary and state by state analysis on the day will be: US correspondents Zoe Daniel and Michael Vincent, Virginia Trioli, Michael Rowland, Chris Uhlmann, Leigh Sales, Joe OBrien, John Barron, Sara James, Charlie Pickering, Chas Licciardello, Kumi Taguchi, Greg Jennett, Julia Baird, Philip Williams, Emma Alberici and ABC Election Analyst Antony Green.

Will it be a tight race or a landslide? Stay tuned to ABC to witness history in the making.

ABC News Breakfast

6.00am on ABC & iview / 6.00am AEDT on ABC News 24 & iview

Our coverage kicks off from 6.00am AEDT with a four-hour special broadcast of News Breakfast crossing hourly to Michael Rowland and Political Editor Chris Uhlmann in Washington, providing analysis and commentary on what the result will mean for Australian politics.

USA Votes

10.00am AEDT on ABC News 24 & iview

News 24s election coverage steps up a gear from 10.00am AEDT, with Joe OBrien, US political expert John Barron and NBC Correspondent Sara James leading the continuous coverage. Theyll be joined by a panel of guests offering the best analysis and context, with regular live crosses to events in Australia and around the world as polling closes across America.

From midday ABC News 24s election coverage will be simulcast on ABC TV, as we inch closer to a final result.

ABC Election Analyst Antony Green will be on hand in the Sydney studio as the numbers come in, giving us the latest state by state results and analysis, with his exclusive election touchscreen.

ABC special guest reporter, Charlie Pickering will be in New Yorks Time Square, getting the latest on what Americans are thinking and how theyre voting, and Planet Americas Chas Licciardello will be giving us his own unique thoughts and analysis, including the latest social media reaction, as events unfold.

Well cross live to our ABC News US correspondents at the Clinton and Trump headquarters and News 24s Kumi Taguchi will be with guests at the US Consulate event in Sydney.

Follow the reaction and developments throughout the day and night for the latest international and domestic reaction to the US Presidential result.

The Drum: US Election Special

5.30pm on ABC & iview / 6.30pm AEDT on ABC News 24 & iview

Host Julia Baird will dissect the days events with a special US election panel including former Foreign Minister Bob Carr, senior fellow at the US Studies Centre and RNs Between the Lines presenter Tom Switzer, former executive editor of The New Yorker and now Fairfax Good Weekend editor Amelia Lester and other international guests. Coverage will include updates on late results coming in from the West Coast of America.

At 7pm, join us for a special one-hour of ABC News and Current Affairs presented by ABC Political Editor Chris Uhlmann and 7.30s Leigh Sales, recapping the historic events of the day and providing analysis of what the election result will mean for Australia and the world.

ABC News: US Election Special

7.00pm on ABC & iview / 7.00pm AEDT on ABC News 24 & iview

ABC Political Editor Chris Uhlmann hosts a national 7pm ABC News special, live from Washington, crossing to the ABCs unmatched network of foreign correspondents for the worlds reaction  Lisa Millar (London), Matt Brown (Beirut), Matthew Carney (Beijing) and Zoe Daniel and Michael Vincent in America. Well also cross to Greg Jennett wholl explain what a Trump or Clinton Presidency will mean for Australia. The national special will include local news updates.

7.30

7.30pm on ABC & iview / 7.30pm AEDT on ABC News 24 & iview

Join Leigh Sales for a special edition of 7.30 featuring a report from Chief Foreign Correspondent Philip Williams and interviews with US and political experts.

Lateline

9.30pm AEDT on ABC News 24 & iview and at 10.40pm on ABC & iview

Lateline host Emma Alberici will be crossing live to Time magazine Deputy Managing Editor Michael Duffy in Washington and guest reporter Charlie Pickering in New York will recap the historic events of the day.

Seven

Having endured close to 600 days of the most toxic election campaigning in modern history, on Wednesday Americans will find out who the 45th President of the United States will be.

From the only commercial network that brought you all three debates Live as they happened and with teams following the ever-changing campaigning of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump night after night, Seven News will deliver Australias most comprehensive coverage of the US Presidential Election, featuring commentary and analysis from an unrivalled team of journalists and experts Live on-air and across digital and social platforms.

All-day special coverage on Seven and PLUS7 Live airs following an extended edition of Sunrise from 10am AEDT, anchored by Seven News US Bureau Chief Mike Amor and Senior Correspondent Michael Usher. Well cross live to Seven News Chief Reporter Chris Reason from inside Donald Trumps camp, and US Correspondent Angela Cox who will be with Hillary Clinton. Seven News Political Editor Mark Riley will have on-the-spot analysis live from Washington, D.C.

Committed to bringing viewers the most in-depth, informative and interactive coverage as the election unfolds, Seven News will broadcast every moment and every dramatic twist as the results emerge, using the exclusive resources of our global broadcast news affiliates CNN and NBC.

Tom Switzer, Australias leading US politics and foreign policy expert and senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, will also join our team to provide expert analysis.

Do not miss a moment of whats been described as The Greatest Show on Earth, as the battle for the worlds most powerful position is won and lost. Join Seven News for all-day coverage of the US Election Live on Wednesday from 10am AEDT on Seven and if youre out and about stream it on PLUS7 Live (www.plus7live.com.au).

Nine

The Nine Network will broadcast Australias most comprehensive coverage of the U.S. election featuring the countrys most experienced political commentators in a Nine News special event on Wednesday, November 9.

An extended edition of the Today show will start the days coverage with regular crosses to the United States for the latest news from the polling booths.

This will lead into Nines dedicated broadcast of the election, starting at 10.00am. Today host and Australias foremost live reporter, Karl Stefanovic, will front Nines coverage live from the heart of the action at our specially created studio in New Yorks Times Square.

Nine News Political Editor and Walkley Award-winning journalist Laurie Oakes will spearhead Nines team of experts. With more than 50 years of covering politics, Oakes is Australias best political mind and has a grasp of the American political scene that is second to none among Australian journalists. Nines coverage will draw upon the enormous resources of ABC America. We will bring viewers access to their cutting-edge technology that will provide up-to-the-second results.

Robert Penfold, Australias most experienced North American correspondent, will bring a unique perspective to Nines broadcast. Australian born and bred, Penfold has been with Nine for 40 years, the last 20 living with his family in Los Angeles. Penfold is unrivalled in his ability to bridge both worlds and has an understanding of America that is unparalleled among Australian reporters. He will report from the Clinton campaign headquarters in New York.

Nines U.S. correspondent, Laura Turner, will provide regular updates from the Trump camp, also in New York. Our coverage will include expert analysis from Harlan Hill, widely regarding as one of Americas sharpest political wits. Nines Tom Steinfort will also report live from New York on the reaction to the days events from everyday Americans. We will also cross regularly to Washington D.C. and to key swing states such as Florida.

Back in Australia, Peter Overton will anchor the local coverage, bringing viewers the reaction from our country and its leaders as it happens. Our coverage will continue throughout the day, rolling into Nines Afternoons News at 4.00pm.

The results of the election will have an enormous bearing for Australia, impacting on everything from our economy to our military ties with America. As the U.S. votes on who will become the most important person in the world, this Nine News special will provide a broadcast that is without rival for the experience and insight it has assembled.

TEN

Studio 10: US Election Coverage

10am  3pm

Wednesday, Studio 10 will broadcast live across Australia to bring you down-to-earth coverage that cuts through the spin and focuses on bringing you results as they happen.

Hosted by Sarah Harris and Sandra Sully with Hugh Riminton and Waleed Aly on the ground in New York plus reporters across America in key locations. Our panel of experts includes a former press secretary who worked in the White House under two Presidents. With full, unrestricted access to the powerful resources of CBS news well be able to bring you key information as polls close in each state plus exit poll projections.

Hosted by: Sarah Harris & Sandra Sully

Panel: Joe Hildebrand, Ita Buttrose, Jessica Rowe plus special guests.

Election coverage times around Australia:

10.00am  NSW / VIC / ACT / TAS

9.30am  South Australia

9.00am  Queensland

8.30am  Northern Territory

7.00am  Western Australia

SBS

World News Australia US Presidential Election 2016

12:55pm  5:30pm Live

Hosted by Janice Petersen, SBS presents live, on-the-ground coverage of the US Presidential Election as the votes are tallied. Using up-to-the-minute resources from PBS and broadcasters all over the world, watch the final moments as the Trump versus Clinton battle reaches its final conclusion. (An SBS Production)

SKY News

As the United States heads to the polls for its most anticipated presidential election in years, SKY News will be there with unrivalled Live multi-channel, multi-platform coverage, beginning with First Edition: Clinton v Trump at 5:00am on Wednesday 9 November (Tuesday 8 November in the U.S.) on SKY News Live (Channel 601).

Political Editor David Speers will be Live from Washington D.C. with the most up to date results, reaction and analysis on how Australia will be affected. From 9:00am David will anchor non-stop coverage which will also include comprehensive reporting from the ABC America network.

Chief Political Reporter Kieran Gilbert and anchors Peter van Onselen and Kristina Keneally will lead a panel of U.S. politics experts including Brian Loughnane, Bruce Wolpe and Brendon OConnor from the SKY News Election Centre. Former Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Beazley will be on hand for his take on what the result will mean for Australias relations with America.

From 11:00am SKY News Business (Channel 602) will cross to the CBS network for non-stop coverage of election night with the SKY News Business team keeping track of market reaction.

The SKY News Election Channel (Channel 606) will partner with Americas leading political news network C-SPAN for rolling coverage from 10:00pm on Tuesday 8 November.

A Live blog featuring highlights from exclusive SKY News commentators and rolling coverage will feature at www.skynews.com.au plus the latest reaction from social media including @SkyNewsAust (Twitter) and www.facebook.com/SkyNewsAustralia

BBC World News

On Election Day, from 8:00am AEDT on Wednesday November 9, there will be a rolling U.S Election News special on BBC World News.

At 9:00am on BBC World News, the BBCs U.S news programme, World News America with Katty Kay (@kattykaybbc), will be in New York with a show featuring special guests, as well as hearing from American voters from across the country about the issues that matter to them.

From 10:30am AEDT, the BBCs Andrew Neil and Katty Kay will present live coverage from an election studio overlooking Times Square, New York. Andrew and Katty will be joined by Democrat and Republican election analysts to discuss the results as they come in. The BBCs Emily Maitlis will be there to keep track of the races in key states on a giant touchscreen as the votes are counted and Jeremy Vine will be analysing the exit polls with eye catching virtual reality graphics.

BBC correspondents will be based at the key swing states to bring audiences the news from those election battlegrounds; while the BBCs Jon Sopel and Laura Trevelyan will be reporting from within the Democratic and Republican Partys headquarters.

Results:

After the results are announced, BBC World News will provide comprehensive coverage of all the reaction, and key developments throughout 9 November, both within the U.S and globally. The BBCs Lucy Hockings will be anchoring BBC News US Election coverage throughout the day analysing the results and charting the changes as the world wakes up to a new U.S. president. The BBCs Michelle Fleury in New York will also be getting reaction from the business world on the result and looking at what this result could mean for the U.S economy.

Katty Kay will be anchoring World News America from 9:00am on Thursday November 10, with a special edition of the program focusing on how the White House was won; with analysis of the challenges facing the new President-Elect, alongside the wider international reaction to the result.

CNN

10am-7pm Election Night in America

Al Jazeera

9am  7:30pm America Votes 2016

FOX News

10am  5pm Americas Election HQ

Bloomberg

11am  5pm 2016 US Presidential Election
Tomorrow night on Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown chef Anthony Bourdain heads to Hanoi, Vietnam and dines with President Barack Obama.

Bourdain first visited Vietnam back in 2000 and has since returned many times. On this trip he joins the throngs of locals as he motorbikes through Vietnams capital, traversing its rapidly changing cityscape. He visits the Old Quarter, feasts on snail noodle soup from a street market and travels to popular tourist spot Ha Long Bay where he charters a steamer ship and eats squid. Bourdain also breaks bread with a family in a traditional floating fishing village to discuss the changes in Vietnams culture and economy, as well as the countrys tumultuous history.

President Obama then joins Bourdain for a crash course in Vietnamese dining. Over a dish of Bun Cha (a local dish comprised of grilled pork and noodle), he shares personal stories and reflects on his own international travels.

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown follows the chef and best-selling author as he travels the globe to uncover the little-known, off-the-road, and sometimes seemingly-familiar areas of the world in a celebration of their diverse foods and culture.

Saturday 5 November at 6.30pm on TLC
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
The Government of Canada has submitted to the Federal Parliament the bill, necessary for ratification of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA).

This was stated by Minister of International Trade of Canada Chrystia Freeland, while delivering speech at the Parliament, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I had the honor to submit to the Parliament the bill on implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine. This agreement is another one evidence of Canada's support for independence, sovereignty, and economic growth in Ukraine," Freeland said.

According to her, the implementation of the Agreement will significantly support the middle class in both countries.

The press service of the International Trade Ministry added that Canada was set to ratify CUFTA.

"Canada is determined to cooperate with the Ukrainian people to assist in implementing the important economic and democratic reforms and strengthening of business ties between the two countries," the statement reads.

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Ukraine and Hungary intend to hold a meeting of the interagency working group on the development of trade and economic relations in the field of agriculture.

This is reported by the press service of the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine following the meeting of Agrarian Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Taras Kutovyi with Agriculture Minister of Hungary Sandor Fazekas.

According to Kutovyi, the meeting of the ministers and the planned expert consultations will lay a good foundation for the coming meeting of the interagency working group.

"Systematic development of mutually beneficial trade and economic relations in the agricultural sector is of great importance for the two countries," Kutovyi said.

In turn, Sandor Fazekas stressed that Hungary was interested in increasing trade turnover between the countries. Separately, he noted the readiness of Hungary to jointly counter the threat of the spread of ASF, to develop organic agricultural production, as well as to cooperate in the field of plant growing.

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Information Policy Minister of Ukraine Yuri Stets has met with Japans Ambassador to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi. The Minister, in particular, raised the issue of special correspondent of the Ukrainian National Information Agency "Ukrinform" Roman Sushchenko, who was arrested in Moscow.

This is reported by the Government portal.

"I appeal to every diplomat at every meeting with the request to help bring the issue of Roman Sushchenko to the international discussion. I ask you to raise this issue as well, because any statement of the world countries is a way to journalists release," Stets said.

The Ambassador expressed his understanding of importance of the issue of the arrested Ukrainian correspondent. In addition, he stressed the interest of Japan in receiving information from the Ukrainian sources.

In addition, the question was raised regarding Japans assistance in provision of technical equipment for Ukrainian multimedia international broadcasting platform.

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Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman held a telephone conversation with Vice President of the United States Joe Biden yesterday, October 3, the governments official web site reports.

The interlocutors discussed the progress of reforms in Ukraine and coordinated future cooperation to get necessary assistance and support from the United States.

When discussing reforms in Ukraine, the prime minister informed on the start of the privatization program for state-owned enterprises, in particular the second phase of Odessa Port Plant privatization. During the talk the top officials also discussed the launch of the e-declaration system, as well as the public administration reform, a key element of which is a competitive selection of state secretaries, reads the report.

In addition, Volodymyr Groysman informed the U.S. Vice President on measures being taken to revive the national economy and the process of its de-shadowing, mentioning the Government's decision to double the minimum wage in Ukraine.

Joe Biden, in turn, noted positive results of the Ukrainian government activities over the first six months of its work and assured of the U.S. Administrations unwavering support.

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Member of the European Parliament Michal Boni considers that e-declaration system in Ukraine is the great achievement of Ukrainian government.

Polish politician expressed such opinion in a comment to Ukrinforms correspondent in Brussels.

"I consider e-declaration as a very powerful tool in transparent reporting by the government officials and the businesses. Its main idea is to trust, while giving the right to complete it, and to control, allowing the bodies, responsible, to check. I understand the frustration of Ukrainians," the MEP said.

At the same time, Boni has emphasized that it is not necessary to speculate about the electronic declaration system, which is a tool to fight corruption, not to evaluate the wealth of officials and politicians.

"Corruption is the main problem of Ukraine, poisoning economy, not allowing small and medium businesses to grow, to attrack international investments and make the country working properly. Nobody wants to invest, when they are not sure, where the money will go to. In the fight with corruption the most important is what is changing in the declarations year by year, based on the justified evident. So far, I think, the primary function of e-declaration has been completed properly," Polish politician said.

"And I would like to congratulate the current government to break the old system. I remember all the discussions about zero-declaration, which means that it is necessary to have a starting point in order to evaluate the development. It has been made. We also had difficult, poor periods in the history of Poland, but only strength and willing to change for better made us determinant and successful. I am sure Ukraine is changing for better..." Michal Boni summed up.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Foreign Minister of Albania Ditmir Bushati on November 4 signed an intergovernmental agreement on mutual abolition of visas for citizens.

This has been reported by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministrys press service. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Klimkin currently is on an official visit to Albania. iy
WASHINGTON  Rule of thumb for a presidential campaign where the two candidates have the highest unfavorable ratings in the history of polling: If youre the center of attention, youre losing.

As Election Day approaches, Hillary Clinton cannot shake the spotlight. She is still ahead in the polls, but you know shes slipping when she shows up at a Florida campaign event with a week to go accompanied by the former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado.

The original plan was for Clinton to pivot in the final week of the campaign from relentless criticism of Donald Trump to making a positive case for herself. Instead, she reached back for a six-week-old charge that played well when it first emerged back then but now feels stale and recycled.

The setback and momentum shift came courtesy of FBI Director James Comey. Clintons greatest hurdle had always been the Comey primary, which the Democrats thought shed won in July when he declined to recommend prosecuting her over classified emails. This engendered an outpouring of Democratic encomiums about Comeys unimpeachable integrity and Solomonic wisdom.

When it was revealed last Friday that there had been a Comey recount and Clinton lost, Solomon turned into Torquemada. But, of course, Comey had no choice. How could he have sat on a trove of 650,000 newly discovered emails and kept that knowledge suppressed until after the election?

Comeys announcement brought flooding back  to memory and to the front pages  every unsavory element of the Clinton character: shiftiness, paranoia, cynicism and disdain for playing by the rules. It got worse when FBI employees began leaking stories about possible political pressure from the Department of Justice and about parallel investigations into the Clinton Foundation.

At the same time, Clinton was absorbing a daily dose of WikiLeaks, offering an extremely unappealing tableau of mendacity, deception and the intermingling of public service with private self-enrichment. It was the worst week of her campaign, at the worst time.

And it raises two troubling questions:

Regarding the FBI, do we really want to elect a president who will likely come into office under criminal investigation by law enforcement? Congressional hearings will be immediate and endless. A constitutional crisis at some point is not out of the question.

And regarding WikiLeaks, how do we know it will have released the most damning material by Election Day? A hardened KGB operative like Vladimir Putin might well prefer to hold back whatever is most incriminating until a Clinton presidency. He is surely not above attempted blackmail at an opportune time.

There seems to be a consensus that Putins hacking gambit is intended only to disrupt the election rather than to deny Clinton the White House. Why? Putin harbors a deep animus toward Clinton, whom he blames personally for the anti-Putin demonstrations that followed Russias rigged 2011 parliamentary elections.

Moreover, Putin would surely prefer to deal with Trump, a man who has adopted the softest line on the Kremlin of any modern U.S. leader.

In a normal election, the FBI and WikiLeaks factors might be disqualifying for a presidential candidate. As final evidence of how bad are our choices in 2016, Trumps liabilities, especially on foreign policy, outweigh hers.

We are entering a period of unprecedented threat to the international order that has prevailed under American leadership since 1945. After eight years of President Obamas retreat, the three major revisionist powers  Russia, China and Iran  see their chance to achieve regional dominance and diminish, if not expel, American influence.

At a time of such tectonic instability, even the most experienced head of state requires wisdom and delicacy to maintain equilibrium. Trump has neither. His joining of supreme ignorance to supreme arrogance, combined with a pathological sensitivity to any perceived slight, is a standing invitation to calamitous miscalculation.

Two generations of Americans have grown up feeling that international stability is as natural as the air we breathe. Its not. It depends on continual, calibrated tending. It depends on the delicate balancing of alliances and the careful signaling of enemies. It depends on avoiding self-inflicted trade wars and on recognizing the value of allies like Germany, Japan and South Korea as cornerstones of our own security rather than satrapies who are here to dispatch tribute to their imperial master in Washington.

It took seven decades to build this open, free international order. It could be brought down in a single presidential term. That would be a high price to pay for the catharsis of kicking over a table.
On behalf of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine held an interagency meeting on topical issues of Ukrainian-Moldovan relations with the participation of Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Moldova Ivan Hnatyshyn.

This has been reported by the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine.

"The meeting was held in order to draft a strategy for development of relations with the neighboring country and to fulfill the action plan on implementation of the agenda of the bilateral dialogue. The election campaign in Moldova was also discussed, including the results of the first round," the report says.

The Foreign Ministry has expressed hope that any democratically elected president of the Republic of Moldova will respect the basic principles of the international law, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of sovereign states.

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UNESCO may decide on putting Ukrainian Cossack songs on the List of Cultural Intangible Heritage later this month.

Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevhen Yevhen Nyshchuk announced this on Friday.

"When we talk about cultural heritage, we often think only of the property, our castles, museums, historical buildings. However, there are also movable heritage, both tangible and intangible. I am very happy for our country because putting of Cossack songs on the UNESCO of Cultural Intangible Heritage will be considered at the meeting in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in November," Yevhen Nyshchuk said.

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Published November 3, 2016

MONROE, La.  Marco Moran, local business owner and University of Louisiana Monroe alumnus, has been chosen to participate in the White House Business Council and Business Forward.

Moran is the CEO of Dewmar International Brand Management Company, Inc., a company which manufactures functional foods and beverages. Moran is also a consultant to The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy on South Street in Monroe.

As member of the White House Business Council, Moran offers feedback on job creation and other efforts to stimulate the economy through growth of small businesses. As an added perk, Moran has the opportunity to invite other CEOs or industry leaders to attend council meetings on a variety of issues concerning commerce, public health and economic policies. Earlier this year, Moran was chosen by White House Officials to weigh in on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement after a group discussion was held on improvements in international trade.

Additionally, Moran is playing an integral role in developing opportunities to help many U.S. companies understand how to export goods and services to Cuba and 11 other countries. Moran has also been involved in multiple discussions to find a solution for the Zika virus with White House and Homeland Security officials.

"Many times when I am invited to attend White House Business Forward sessions, I am asked to invite other business leaders from around the country; so far this year, I have invited business leaders representing companies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Colorado. My goal is helping small businesses in the United States increase both their gross sales revenue and corporate footprint across the globe," says Moran.

Moran holds an undergraduate degree from the ULM School of Pharmacy and a MBA from the ULM School of Business. Moran also serves as chair of the Mississippi District Export Council (DEC), a regional organization of leaders from the international business community which assist and enhance opportunities to export goods and services.

Local business leaders interested in exporting their products or services may call Moran at 877-747-5326.
| By Chris Zang

Overcoming obstacles, standing up for quality, and the power of collaborative perseverance were hallmarks of the UMB Entrepreneur of the Year Presentation of William F. Regine, MD, FACR, FACRO, on Nov. 1.

Regine, professor and the Isadore & Fannie Schneider Foxman Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, detailed his 10-year mission to develop the $200 million Maryland Proton Treatment Center (MPTC) in his 35-minute speech A Journey  Inspired by Patients and Driven by Passion.

If you come to our department you will see this picture of the eagle, said Regine, executive director of MPTC. We are all focused on flying higher than anyone. Its the highest flying bird out there. We always want to fly higher than anyone in radiation oncology.

MPTCs grand opening in June, four years after its groundbreaking, shows how Regine and his team are soaring. The 110,000-square-foot facility is the first and most advanced of its kind in the Baltimore-Washington region and will provide nearly 2,000 cancer patients a year with precision technology to treat cancer.

Regine showed those assembled at a packed Life Sciences Conference Center in the UM BioPark how the pencil-thin beams of radiation precisely target the tumor, avoiding the residual damage to surrounding tissue often found in other therapies.

Under Regine, the Department of Radiation Oncology was making rapid gains in 2006, when he was first approached about developing a proton center. The technology and the need were there, he recalled. Plus it was a complementary tool to UMs Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.

But there was also a massive price tag. It cost in excess of $150 million to build a proton treatment center. When I said that to a group everyone kind of backed away and no one was reaching in their pocket to pull out their wallets, Regine said as the audience laughed.

But Regine persevered. He and eight interdisciplinary colleagues visited the few other proton treatment centers around the country to see what worked and more importantly didnt work and what they wished they could do better. Then he engaged a diverse group to create a proton center here.

A letter of intent was signed and the parties agreed on some basic principles. The investors would finance and own the center. Regines team would be responsible for the clinical management, professional services, and most important to me we would determine the staffing ratios across the center and what level of infrastructure they would have to provide so we could provide excellence in our care and our mission to our patients.

When Regine was asked two years into the agreement to let the investors decide the staffing ratios and infrastructure needed, he refused, backed by School of Medicine Dean and UMB Vice President for Medical Affairs E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA. A new partner was found and MPTCs aim for excellence, flying higher than any other group remained intact.

It was definitely a team effort. During the planning phase, Regine developed a partnership with Maryland Proton Treatment Holdings (formally known as Advanced Particle Therapy LLC of San Diego, Calif.) to successfully raise funding sources; engaged Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif., the world leader in radiation oncology technology, to provide the most advanced form of proton therapy; and enabled the School of Medicine's Department of Radiation Oncology (University of Maryland Radiation Oncology Associates P.A.) to lead the project. He integrated MPTC with the Greenebaum Center and UM Medical Center/System by locating the center within the BioPark at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

And today, the Maryland Proton Treatment Center is saving lives, as evidenced by several videos Regine showed during his presentation. Phoebes Journey of Hope showed how a 5-year-old Australian girl and her family were embraced by MPTC and its concierge team. Former University System of Maryland Chancellor William Brit Kirwan, PhD, who attended Regines presentation, was shown ringing the bell of hope with his wife, Patty, a UM oncology patient, at MPTCs groundbreaking.

Theres no greater hope you can give a patient than for them to know every possible tool is being used in their treatment, Regine said. With the help of so many people in this room, we are making this possible.

Before Regines presentation, UMBs Office of Research and Development recognized 30-plus researchers whose inventions had received patents in the past year.

We had over 140 faculty teams give us invention disclosures of their ideas in the last year, said James L. Hughes, MBA, chief enterprise and economic development officer and vice president at UMB. Weve done three dozen technology licenses getting those ideas out into the private sector and last year we did by far the most number of startup companies based on University technology. We are now at 10 startup companies out of tech transfer at UMB and our UM Ventures partners at the University of Maryland, College Park also created 10 so between us 20 companies are on their way.

UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, also lauded students on hand at the event, part of UMBs Founders Week celebration. Through the Presidents Entrepreneurial Fellows program, students help faculty commercialize their technologies, he said. Its definitely been a win-win so far. Students get their feet wet on both the science and business ends of tech transfer. And faculty get some much-needed assistance bringing their discoveries to market.
An Iraqi family displaced by fighting in the village of Shora walks towards an Iraqi army checkpoint near Qayyarah.  UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

HASANSHAM, Iraq  UNHCR opened a new camp in Hasansham in northern Iraq on Friday to help accommodate the largest displacement of people from Mosul since the start of the offensive to retake Iraqs second city began last month.

The UN Refugee Agency opened the camp following the arrival of an estimated 8,000 Iraqis who fled the fighting in the past 24 hours.

Huge columns of cars, trucks and farm vehicles carrying men, women and children escaping the frontlines began arriving overnight and continued throughout the day.

An estimated 5,000 people have already been received at the nearby government-run Khazer camp. The first families began arriving at UNHCRs newly built Hasansham camp at noon and soon reached an estimated 3,000 people.

"The past 24 hours has seen the biggest displacement so far since the Mosul offensive began."

Previously, the number of Iraqis displaced since the start of the military offensive on October 17 had reached more than 22,000, with the latest arrivals pushing the total to around 30,000. The UN has estimated that more than one million people could ultimately be displaced from their homes.

Most of the new arrivals came from Gogjali and other suburbs on the eastern outskirts of Mosul, which saw heavy clashes three days ago and are now under the control of the Iraqi Security Forces.

The first arrivals at the camp spoke of their relief at having escaped the fighting, and the more than two years of harsh militant rule that preceded it.

Sultan Ghassem, a 47-year-old metalworker from Gogjali, left his home three days ago and spent two nights camped near the frontlines before driving to the camp on Friday.

We left home to escape the mortars falling all around us. When we left Mosul and came here, it felt like passing from the darkness into the light, he told UNHCR staff.

Displaced Iraqis, mainly from Gogjali on the eastern outskirts of Mosul, arrive at the UNHCR-run Hasansham camp, which opened today in light of the huge number of arrivals in the past 24 hours.  UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

Iraqis displaced from Mosul arrive in cars and trucks at the UNHCR-run Hasansham camp, which opened on November 4, 2016.  UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

Displaced Iraqis from Mosul arrive at the UNHCR-run Hasansham camp, which opened on November 4, 2016.  UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

For the last two years we havent had even the basics of life, only oppression. There was no money, no work. We sold everything we owned just to eat. The only reason nothing happened to me is because I stayed in my home all the time, he added.

On arrival at the camp, families were registered at a reception area before being transferred to tents, where they will receive a hot meal, blankets, mattresses and other essential items.

Hasansham camp will ultimately have capacity to shelter 1,800 families, or the equivalent of 11,000 people. With 450 tents already in place and teams erecting more throughout the day, UNHCRs Senior Field Coordinator Frederic Cussigh said all of the new arrivals would be given a shelter the same day as they arrived.

As part of the Mosul contingency plan and in agreement with the authorities, we have opened this new camp to cope with the new influx. The past 24 hours has seen the biggest displacement so far since the Mosul offensive began, and we have information that the influx is massive and ongoing, he said.

"When we left Mosul and came here, it felt like passing from the darkness into the light.

Hasansham is one of 11 camps that UNHCR has planned in order to respond to an anticipated large-scale displacement from Mosul, which when completed could house up to 120,000 people. Five camps are now ready to receive people displaced from Mosul.

Right now, UNHCR has 27,000 tents ready in Iraq that can shelter 162,000 people. This figure will rise to 40,000 tents (able to shelter 240,000 people) by the end of November, and 50,000 tents (for 300,000 people) by mid-December. UNHCR also plans to supply 50,000 Emergency Shelter Kits to provide additional shelter.

UNHCRs Mosul emergency response remains less than half funded with US$95 million out of total of the $196.2 million requested. Of this, US$60 million is specifically required to provide urgent winter assistance to families who may be displaced from Mosul in the coming days.
South Sudans conflict, which has spawned one of the worlds biggest humanitarian crises, is continuing to generate vast suffering and huge volumes of displacement. Data for the month of October shows that on average 3,500 people fled to neighbouring countries each day  Uganda, DRC, Ethiopia and Sudan.

In these countries, UNHCR, national authorities and other humanitarian actors are racing to create safe and humane conditions for new arrivals. Nine out of every ten are women and children.

The biggest part of this outflow has been into Uganda, which has seen around 2,400 new arrivals every day since the beginning of October and over a quarter of a million new refugees since the re-eruption of violence in Juba on 7 July.

Most of the arrivals are from the Equatoria regions of South Sudan. They report armed groups harassing civilians, killings and torture of people suspected of supporting opposing factions, burning of villages, sexual assaults of women and girls and forced recruitment of young men and boys.

In recent weeks, refugees are increasingly using informal border crossing points, reportedly due to the presence of armed groups preventing people from using main roads. Many refugees report having had to walk through the bush for days, often without food or water.

A new settlement, Bidibidi, which was opened in August, has become one of the largest refugee-hosting areas in the world. It is now home to 170,000 South Sudanese refugees.

Providing immediate, life-saving assistance, including food, water and shelter, remains UNHCRs key priority. But severe underfunding is hampering our efforts on the ground.

Water supply is also a major challenge in Bidibidi, where needs are fast growing. Steps are underway to identify urgently-needed water sources in the camp as currently water is being trucked, at great expense, from a treatment plant around 50 kilometres away.

In Ethiopia, some 36,600 new arrivals have been registered since early September. Arrivals have been at an average of 630 people every day.

A new refugee camp, Nguenyyiel, with capacity to accommodate 50,000 people, was opened on 20 October after existing camps in Tierkidi, Jewi and Kule became full. Shelter as well as basic water and sanitation services have been put into place and some 6,200 refugees have already been relocated to Nguenyyiel.

The vast majority of arrivals are from Upper Nile, citing conflict and the fear of renewed fighting as their main reasons for leaving, while those fleeing Jonglei state mostly mentioned food shortages.

Over 85 per cent of the new arrivals are women and children and 65 per cent are children under 18. Over 1,300 unaccompanied children and 6,200 separated children have been registered. Interviews show that many children continue to flee alone, either because their parents are dead or because they were abandoned by or got separated from their family members during their flight.

In Sudan, the number of South Sudanese refugees has now passed the quarter-of-a-million mark. Most refugees arrive in the White Nile state, with some 2,000 new arrivals per month, but sporadic flows into South and West Kordofan states, and East Darfur have also been recorded.

Although east Darfur has received the largest influx, with more 47,000 refugees as of mid-June 2016, most refugees are spread across the country and live outside of organized camps or settlements.

Most refugees entering Sudan, especially women, children and elderly people, arrive in a very poor state. Many have fled areas facing emergency levels of acute malnutrition and have been further weakened by the insecurity and their difficult journey during the rainy season.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, refugee numbers have gone up, with an influx of 60,000 people, most of whom has arrived since July 2016.

Refugees are settled along the border with South Sudan, where armed groups remain active in some areas. According to our teams on the ground, most refugees arrive from Yei, in Central Equatoria State, with hardly any belongings.

The Ituri province is facing the biggest refugee influx. This week, UNHCR started the transfer of an estimated 40,000 refugees from remote border areas. For the time being, refugees will be sent to Biringi, a site located near the city of Aru, in the northeastern Province of Ituri, while two other sites have been identified. The operation is facing major logistical challenges as many roads are in a very bad state.

Another 4,000 refugees who moved by their own means from the border to Meri in Haut-Uele Province, have been provided drinking water and other basic services. The World Food Programme started a distribution to this group last week.

Refugees in all sites will be given plots of land, construction materials, household goods and agricultural tools to help them become self-sufficient.

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It was bad enough, back in 2008, when then-U.S. Rep. (and now Sen.) Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, wanted to impeach President George W. Bush just months before he was going to leave office anyway.

What a needless and divisive distraction that would have caused.

Now, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, is talking about impeaching Hillary Clinton before shes even elected. Thats even worse.

The hyper-partisan tone of American politics only seems to get worse with each election. And its a big reason our federal government gets so little done. How can you balance the federal budget or fix a broken immigration system when you and your colleagues are threatening to expel  if not lock up  each other? You cant.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is largely to blame for the incessantly negative and foul tone of the 2016 elections. Yet Washingtons cynicism and gridlock obviously predates Trumps obnoxious campaign.

After this election finally ends Tuesday, Wisconsins congressional delegation must do a much better job of encouraging mutual respect in Washington.

One sign of hope was the U.S. Senate debates in Wisconsin this fall. They were far more civil and dignified than the presidential and vice presidential debates.

U.S. Sen. Johnson and his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold of Middleton, were calm, professional and dutifully played by the rules of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association debate last month in Green Bay. Unlike Trump, they completed their answers without complaining about the questions or the amount of time they could speak. Unlike Trump (and, in the vice presidential debate, Democratic VP nominee Tim Kaine), Johnson and Feingold didnt interrupt and talk over their opponent.

That was partly because of the format of the WBA debate, which limited back-and-forth reactions between the candidates. Still, it was a fine display of what is often referred to and touted as Wisconsin nice.

Washington could use a lot more of that.

Another sign of hope this campaign season were the meetings our State Journal editorial board held with more than two dozen candidates for mostly state offices. We met with as many as four legislative candidates at a time to discuss big challenges facing Wisconsin. The conversations often led to general agreement across party lines on transportation, education and the need for open government.

Wisconsin politics are far from perfect, and civility eroded during the emotional debate over Act 10 union restrictions. Nonetheless, politeness is instinctive here.

The winning candidates in Tuesdays election should recommit themselves to modeling respectful dialog that leads to consensus.
Bidibidi reception centre in Uganda has become home to more than 100,000 South Sudanese refugees in just over one month.  UNHCR/Charlie Yaxley

BIDIBIDI, Uganda  Moses knew the routine at the armed checkpoints that straddled his road south to safety: when the gunmen demand you join their ranks, politely decline, pay a bribe to pass, and walk on.

For days, fleeing South Sudan's war and hoping to reach neighbouring Uganda, these tactics had worked. But eventually, Moses ran out of money. Unable to pay, he was arrested and marched into a forest to what he heard the men call the 'kill base'.

"It was littered with bodies, human parts and blood everywhere," Moses, 23, said. "So many people had been killed that they hadn't had time to bury them."

"I took some blood from one body, smeared it over myself and lay among the dead.

Left alone for a moment, Moses, who was an actor and film director at home near the South Sudanese town of Yei, knew he had one chance to survive. But he would need to draw on all his experience.

"I took some blood from one body, smeared it over myself and lay among the dead," he said. "When the gunmen came back they took me for a corpse. My acting skills saved my life."

South Sudanese refugees use a tree branch to cross the Kaya River into Uganda.  UNHCR/Massoumeh Farman-Farmaian

More than a million South Sudanese have fled their young nation's spreading civil war since it started almost three years ago.

The numbers show little sign of slowing. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, reported today that an average of 3,500 South Sudanese left their homeland every day of October.

Most went to Uganda, with a daily average of 2,400 new arrivals since the beginning of October, and more than 250,000 new refugees since an outbreak of violence in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, on 7 July.

The majority of new arrivals come from South Sudans Equatoria region, where they report armed groups harassing civilians, killing and torturing those they suspect of supporting opposing factions, burning down villages, sexually assaulting women and girls, and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks.

In recent weeks, refugees have increasingly used informal border crossings, reportedly due to the presence of armed groups preventing people from using main roads. Many refugees report having had to walk through the bush for days, often without food or water.

"According to interviews with refugees, they have clearly experienced horrific events on the way to the border," said Nasir Fernandes, UNHCR's Senior Emergency Coordinator in Uganda.

"We see many women and children arrive exhausted, dehydrated and often traumatised. We try to relocate them from the border as soon as possible, to ensure they have access to basic services and the treatment they require."

"We collected dew to drink and killed rodents.

Moses was one of those. To reach Uganda, he and his wife Estelle, 21, an actress, walked for a week through the bush. They carried only a few clothes, bedding, and their film gear.

"We collected dew to drink and killed rodents or took vegetables from abandoned farms for food," Moses said in an interview at Bidibidi settlement for refugees in Uganda. At one point, the couple was separated. Soon after, Moses was abducted.

As he lay among the dead smeared with a victim's blood waiting for the men to return, he remembered his mobile phone in his pocket. The professional urge to document what was happening came to him, and secretly he set up the phone's camera to record what took place.

"I knew what I was doing was dangerous, but what did I have to lose?" he said. "At that moment I was already dead in many ways." Over the course of several hours, he witnessed murder after murder and the multiple rape of a woman. Long after the men left and darkness fell, Moses crawled then ran to safety.

In a cruel twist of fate, however, the footage is unlikely ever to be seen despite Moses risking his life to film it. As he and Estelle made their final journey to the refugee centre in Uganda, all their belongings were stolen, including his mobile phone.

Newly-arrived refugees from South Sudan are given information about services they can access at the reception centre in Bidibidi Settlement, Uganda.  UNHCR/Massoumeh Farman-Farmaian

Now, he and Estelle have been forced to start all over again. At the Bidibidi settlement, where the Ugandan government gives refugees land to farm and allows them to work and start businesses, the couple is talking with fellow refugees about working on a film together.

"I can farm so I will work the land and save some money to buy or rent the equipment stolen," Moses said. "People here are eager to work together, and I am already drafting a script. The only way out of this is to communicate and overcome our intolerance."

* Moses and Estelle's names have been changed to protect their identities.

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Thermal blankets, sleeping bags and winter items are distributed at the open accommodation site of Agios Andreas in Attica, Greece.  UNHCR/Yorgos Kyvernitis

NEA KAVALA, Greece  No sooner had Omar Mustafa and his family moved into the new accommodation allocated to them than he set to work building an outdoor kitchen and  with nails, screws and a hammer in his hands  he is making an improvised lock for it.

The Syrian family, previously housed in a tent, moved in a few days ago and immediately started making the drab, prefabricated building into a cosy home.

The difference is huge, said Omars wife, Banan, mother of four sons and two daughters between one and 12 years. First of all it is much warmer now. This morning it was raining again and it was the first time when we did not feel it.

Thirty-two-year old Banan is due to give birth to their seventh child in December. When we were in a tent, rainwater could get inside and we were always panicking. Now we just have to close the door and windows and we stay dry.

The Nea Kavala accommodation site for refugees in northern Greece is one of eight government-run sites in the country where UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has started replacing tents with residential containers, known as prefab houses.

The site, a former military camp, was prepared by the Greek army and opened in February this year. Its windy location made tent living precarious for the refugees.

This morning it was raining again and it was the first time we did not feel it.

We dont know yet how it will feel like in strong wind but, in any case it is much better now, said Omar, 41. Those who have moved into the new prefabricated houses are relieved to be protected not only from rain, cold and wind, but also from insects, rats and snakes that they say were hazards of life in a tent.

In Nea Kavala, over 170 prefab houses have been installed on an old runway, close together but still giving the residents privacy.

Every one has been improved in some way by its occupants. As women move their belongings from tents into their new homes, men are using what used to be wooden flooring in the tents to make porches, outdoor kitchens, shoe racks, shelves and partition walls.

They have covered floors with UNHCR mats and blankets to make the place warmer and shoes are left outside to keep the inside clean.

I just finished cleaning inside. My new kitchen will be the next, said Banan, sitting in the larger of their two rooms, which are separated by a wooden partition and shelves made by her husband. We are a big family. If we made the kitchen inside, there would be no space left for sleeping.

Their eldest children, two boys aged 10 and 12, both suffer from the trauma they experienced in Syria. Yamen was 10 and Mustafa 8 when air strikes hit their home town and the family decided to seek safety in other parts of the country. After several years, they fled to Turkey and then Greece, reaching its shores in February 2016.

An Afghan boy opens a winter kit that will help him face harsh weather conditions at the open accommodation site of Agios Andreas in Attica, Greece.  UNHCR/Yorgos Kyvernitis

Staff unpack bundles of thermal blankets, sleeping bags and winter clothing, to be distributed to refugees staying at the open accommodation site of Eleonas in Athens, Greece.  UNHCR/Yorgos Kyvernitis

Refugees from Iraq receive thermal blankets as part of UNHCR's winterization programme.  UNHCR/Roland Schoenbauer

Thermal blankets, sleeping bags and winter items to be distributed to the refugees staying at the open accommodation site of Eleonas in Athens, Greece.  UNHCR/Yorgos Kyvernitis

Winterization moves forward and people move into the first prefab houses in northern Greece.  UNHCR/Yorgos Kyvernitis

The family has been living in Nea Kavala for more than seven months, and every night Mustafa asks his mother to cover him with layers of blankets, saying he feels cold. Banan said the layers of blankets made him feel safer rather than warmer. His elder brother Yamen is also struggling with memories of the conflict.

Nonetheless, the boys are helping their father with repair work and dream big dreams. Yamen wants to become an engineer and Mustafa hopes to be a maths teacher.

Omar built the kitchen from very little, using tools he bought together with another refugee. In Syria, he used to work as a tiler and also did also other building work. It was very difficult here at the beginning, said Omar calmly. When I work, I feel at least a little relief.

It was very difficult here at the beginning. When I work, I feel at least a little relief.

Besides replacing tents with some 1,000 residential containers on eight official sites with funding from the European Commission  Humanitarian Aid, and rehousing vulnerable people such those with serious health problems, UNHCR is also delivering up to 200,000 winter items such as winter clothes, sleeping bags and thermal blankets to 38,000 asylum-seekers on sites in the Greek mainland and the islands.

Fifteen sites have been assigned to UNHCR by the Interior Ministry  Migration Policy for infrastructure improvements, such as installing heating. This is part of humanitarian efforts to prepare the total of over 40 government-run sites for winter.
UNHCR is deeply concerned about the well-being of Mr James Gatdet Dak, SPLA IO Spokesperson, who was returned to South Sudan from Kenya on Monday, 2 November. Mr Dak had previously been granted refugee status by the Kenyan authorities.

Mr Daks forced return is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which is the cornerstone of international refugee law.

We also regret that UNHCRs interventions with the Kenyan authorities to stop Mr Daks forced return were not successful.

We urge the Government of South Sudan to ensure that Mr Dak is treated in accordance with human rights law and standards.

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A report has suggested the urgent need to train full and part-time college staff in mental health awareness in order to meet the rising number of higher education students struggling with mental difficulties.

Ahead, the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability, looked at 22 higher education institutions (HEI) and found that about a third of college students aged 18 and 19 were having problems coping with the demands of higher education, reports The Times. Ahead said that while the number of students having such problems was increasing, the number of personnel capable of providing mental health services wasn't, and recommended mental awareness training for staff.

"Services such as counselling have been badly hit by reductions in staffing resulting in six month waiting lists in many institutions, and this at a time of a greatly increasing level of referrals to the service," the researchers wrote in the report titled, "Mental Health Matters - Mapping Best Practices in Higher Education." Researchers have found a 41% increase in the number of students seeking counselling.

The report said the use of oral presentations as a method of assessment needs to be reviewed as some of the students who were having trouble coping admitted that oral presentations are very difficult for them, and are causing them to be anxious and making them a "nervous wreck."

The report added that more support should be given to those students who are unable to attend class lectures.

Ahead's executive director, Ann Heelan, noted that mental health difficulties are a real issue in HEIs in Ireland. She added that students who often suffer from such difficulty often hide it, but if there was the right support given to them at the right time, they'd be able to cope pretty well.

Mo Flynn, chief executive of Ahead's parent organization Rehab, said that the issues raised by students in regards to mental health can easily be changed, and does not need a "major overhaul of the system" despite their seriousness.

"They can be easily changed and adapted to ensure that students struggling with mental health can reach their full potential," she said.

Education minister Richard Bruton said he welcomes the Ahead report, adding that the student's concerns needed to be heard in order for them to find better ways to handle mental health issues in colleges.
Creativity is innate in all human beings. The reason why the world has progressed is because humans learned to create and innovate. However, it is surprising and alarming at the same time how the institution that's supposed to nurture creativity is actually the one suppressing and destroying it.

Creativity and imagination are at the very core of progress but it is a sad reality that there's not a lot of creative people around. It is worthy to note that not a lot of people are brave enough to unleash their creativity. Part of that fear can be blamed on the prevalent belief in Hollywood that artistic people are cut from a different cloth than the normal human being. It is further annihilated at schools where art is silently placed at the corner to give way to numeracy and literacy.

There is nothing wrong about teaching these disciplines but subconsciously, it subjects people to conform, to learn the artificial skill of passing an exam, and to deliver what the teacher expects. In the process, the freedom to explore, experiment, and taking risks is suppressed. Therefore, before students are made to step out into the real working world, they already have been successfully conditioned to conform. Then, workers spend their lives in meetings encouraged think outside the box, which rarely happens.

The majority of the population in the world might not know (and they will be surprised to learn about it) that schools were not really designed to nurture nor produce creativity. In fact, most education systems in the world are based on the 19th century Prussian model of education where children and adults were taught blind obedience to authority. It does not encourage creativity but conformity: just think about the reason why you have to stand every time the teacher comes into the classroom. That is also the reason why school uniforms were imposed, to subconsciously teach us conformity.

This kind of conformity is what makes the nine-to-five work system successful. However, in a world where technology and information are abundant, change is happening very fast. In this type of world, this kind of conformity may not work. If we want the next generation to survive, we should let go of conformity and encourage creativity to flow freely in the halls of our educational institutions.

Have you ever wondered why only a handful of people do the innovating and the inventing? Perhaps, they are those who escaped the fine net of conformity. They are the ones who have been labeled as rebels but not afraid how people brand them. They are the ones who were not afraid to take risks and challenge the norm. We need more of these people in every fiber of the society, especially in the echelons of leadership. We need them now, more than ever.
International students are receiving the support they need for higher education at community colleges. They are provided with orientations, peer mentors as well as on-campus housing, among others.

U.S. News reported that 91,648 international students, which make up 9.4 percent of all international students in the United States in 2014-2015, studied at community colleges for that school year. This is taken from data by the Institute of International Education.

It was also noted that some community colleges which has a lot of international students have already developed services to address issues that this demographic faces. This includes adjusting to a new education system, finding housing as well as getting involved on campus.

Experts say that one of the early challenges that international students face is in adjusting to a new education system. "I think, probably, community college is the least well understood of all because it is a uniquely American type of an institution," Heidi Russell-Kalkofen, an international student coordinator at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, said.

A second-year Montgomery College business technology administration student from Pakistan, Zia Dar, admitted that one major difference that he has faced is with the test structure. The 22-year-old student noted that U.S. exams tend to cover four or five chapters of the material while tests in Pakistan usually cover a whole 12-chapter book at once.

To address this issue, a few community colleges provide special orientations for international students. Orientations include activities like skits on how to greet Americans and games where students have to research the school's website for information.

Houston Community College, which has the largest international student population among the community colleges in the U.S., offers several international student orientations each year. According to Bianca Schonberg, manager, international student services and study abroad at HCC, orientations usually last for four to five hours and addresses topics like health insurance and tutoring services.

In WSJ's rankings of the schools with the most diversity, it was found that public, urban schools have the most multicultural learning environments. The environment score of the rankings go ranges from the percentage of first-time college graduates and Pell Grant recipients to the diversity of an institution's students and staff. The percentage of international students also affects the schools' scores.
A University of Oregon educator has been suspended for reportedly wearing blackface to a private Halloween costume party. The law professor is being asked to resign if the incident is true.

According to The Washington Times, University of Oregon president Michael Schill said that the incident happened at an off-campus party. Other faculty members and students were in attendance, too.

"We condemn this action unequivocally as anathema to the University of Oregon's cherished values of racial diversity and inclusion," Schill wrote in an official statement. "The use of blackface, even in jest at a Halloween party, is patently offensive and reinforces historically racist stereotypes. It was a stupid act and is in no way defensible."

Schill did reveal, though, that the faculty member has apologized for the decision. The person involved has also expressed concern over its potential impact on members of the school's community.

The school's Division of Equity and Inclusion has also created a UO African American Workshop and Lecture Series. This and an implicit bias training, which is now required for faculty searches, are developed to help increase understanding on diversity and inclusion.

KEZi.com reported that the professor involved is Nancy Shurtz. She explained that her costume was about a character in Damon Tweedy's New York Times bestseller, "Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine."

"I chose my costume based on a book that I read and liked - Black Man in a White Coat. I thought I would be able to teach with this costume as well (or at least tell an interesting story)," she wrote in a letter to students. "I am sorry if it did not come off well. I, of all people, would not want to offend."

Oregon Live added that a group of 23 School of Law faculty members are calling on Shurtz to resign. A student group also started an online petition on Wednesday for her resignation.
An iOS 10 Jailbreak tool is reportedly working for iPhone, iPad and iPod devices that comes alongside great features and benefits. However, the tool does not originate from Pangu but from Unlock-Jailbreak Team. Does this mean Pangu and TaiG has been silenced by Apple for good?

iOS 10 Jailbreak Tool that Works

The release of a new iOS 10 jailbreak tool signifies joy to the jailbreaking community due to many weeks of waiting for the JB tool from Pangu to arrive. However, the reported iOS 10 jailbreak tool is not from the Chinese team of developers but from the Unlock-Jailbreak team, according to Neurogadget.

Accordingly, the newly discovered iOS 10 jailbreak tool is reported to have many benefits aside from the usual ones, which allow users to gain access to Cydia. These benefits include the capacity of the user to use SIM cards from any network providers, updates for lifetime period and money-back guarantees.

Furthermore, the Unlock-Jailbreak team assures the users that their newly discovered iOS 10 jailbreak tool will not put any harm to the current functions and features of Apple devices. However, despite the safety and security claims of the team, the users are advised to take precautionary steps and necessary actions before downloading the jailbreak tool, and one of those is to back-up their iPhone, iPod and iPad devices.

Pangu and TaiG Surrender to Apple Security Features

The silence of Pangu and TaiG has led to a conclusion that the two notorious hackers have finally surrendered to the muscled-up security features that Apple iOS 10 have. According to Geeky Gadgets, Apple has released the iOS 10.0.2 software update with bug fixes and improvements on performance.

Furthermore, the new system update also aims to improve the stability of iPhone, iPad and iPod devices. The recent move of the Cupertino-based tech giant has left Pangu and TaiG clueless for their next move.
A study published recently in the Review of Educational Research has found that positive climates in schools are effective in pushing students to perform better, regardless of the student's socioeconomic status. This finding is hoped to be instrumental in bridging the achievement gaps between students coming from different economic backgrounds, as well as students with differing academic abilities.

"Our findings suggest that by promoting a positive climate, schools can allow greater equality in educational opportunities, decrease socioeconomic inequalities, and enable more social mobility," study co-author Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education at the University of Southern California, said in a press release.

Astor and other co-authors from the U.S. and Israel looked into 78 studies published between 2000 and 2015. These studies focused on the relationship between positive school climate, academic performances, and socioeconomic status.

Positive school climate, which is marked by factors such as supportive and caring teachers, a sense of safety from bullying and violence, as well as parental involvement, has been found to help students from all walks of life perform better in school.

"Positive school climate has the potential to break the negative influences that stem from poor socioeconomic backgrounds and to mitigate risk factors that threaten academic achievement," study co-author Ruth Berkowitz, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Haifa, Israel, said.

The researchers also found no correlation between socioeconomic status and student perceptions of school climate, suggesting that schools primarily serving students from lower-income families don't necessarily have a bad climate. Rather, such schools can also foster a positive climate, which can help the students achieve better educational opportunities.

The researchers also found that to date, there are no uniform standards to measure positive school climates. A lack of uniform standards could restrict the ability to evaluate school climate, and thus ultimately affect the ability to issue better policies and recommendations.

The study authors made several recommendations, including but not limited to: investigating teachers, non-academic personnel, and parents' perceptions of school climate; and the contribution of positive climate to student performance in subjects other than math, language arts, and science.
A new report from The Hamilton Project is pushing for a new indicator of school quality and student success, one that's very easy to measure and proves to be effective: chronic absence.

The new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA, tells states to use five indicators of student success, reports NPR. Three of these indicators are related to academics, while the fourth indicator simply measures the proficiency of English language learners.

States, however, have the prerogative to choose the fifth indicator, which measures student success or school quality. There are many possible choices out there, but the Hamilton Project suggests that schools would choose to measure chronic absences as the fifth indicator.

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, director of The Hamilton Project, said in the report that unlike other possible measures - such as self-reported school climate surveys or "subjective ones" like grade point averages -- chronic absenteeism cannot be manipulated. Efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism are also likely to help students perform better in school.

"Students who are chronically absent have lower performance on standardized tests and are more likely to drop out of school," Schanzenbach told the Washington Post.

"Reducing chronic absenteeism among students will put more students on the path to participating in an economy that increases opportunity, prosperity and growth," she added.

The Hamilton Project report gives several reasons as to why it's best to measure chronic absence, and use it as the fifth indicator the ESSA requires. Here are some of them:

1) It's easy to measure

Schanzenbach says chronic absenteeism can be measured from data that are already collected in schools. There's no need for an additional collection of data.

2) It helps both the students and schools improve

Schanzenbach argues that when schools monitor chronic absences, they will always find ways to reduce the absences. When efforts to reduce absences are made, student achievement is expected to increase.

3) Rates of chronic absences differ in states

Watching out for chronic absence rates will help states know which school to focus on improving, as well as the schools that are already performing well.

Overall, the Hamilton Project believes that when students are chronically absent, they learn less and are likely to have problems staying in school and graduating.
Majority of high school students desire to attend college these days. However, many are not able to make it. Those who are able to enter college may not succeed in earning their degrees. Scientists coin as the "aspirations-attainment gap," as according to the New York Times.

Varying factors hinder kids from obtaining a college degree. These include increasing costs in college, poor preparation academically, the depreciation of financial aid, and even just the process of applying itself. College application requires a huge amount of social capital. These include personal motivation and initiative, as well as the moral support of family, friends, and teachers.

Anemona Hartocollis, a New York Times correspondent, visited Topeka High School, and had conversations with seniors, their parents and guidance counselors. She inquired about their college plans as they took standardized tests, wrote essays, decided where to apply, filled up financial aid forms, and as they sent their applications. She followed through their accomplishments as well as hindrances along the way and will further check if they end up in college, vocational school, a job, or at home.

Background of Topeka High

Topeka High in Kansas is an all-American school. It is the largest public school in the city of Kansas. There is diversity in its 1,800 students in terms of race, ethnicity, and social status. Despite integration and similar to other American schools, black students are the most disadvantaged.

There are also other disadvantaged students that are poor and struggling. These include white students, students that have Mexican lineage, and children of migrant farm workers, of which some are undocumented. The few, affluent kids will go to the Ivy League. Only 70 percent graduates. 45 percent of these graduates proceed to a four-year college while 17 percent proceed to a two-year college. More than half of the student population are poor based on federal standards.

Anemona Hartocollis also went to the same high school. She set out to find whether the pattern of attending or not attending college is still the same.

Only these kids will be able to answer if a college education would be worth it.
UTSAs Mission

The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.

UTSAs Vision

To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

UTSAs Core Values

We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.

UTSAS Destinations

UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.

Our Commitment to Inclusivity

The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
InMotion Software Executives to be Guest Speakers for e2e Wyoming Laramie Meeting

John Howard, a co-founder of software company InMotion, will be one of the guest speakers at the next e2e Wyoming meeting Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the University of Wyomings Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center. (Photo provided by WTBC)

Executives of a software company that creates and deploys custom web and mobile experiences for many of Americas most respected brands will be the guest speakers at e2e Wyomings next meeting in Laramie.

Co-founder John Howard and Daniel Jimmie, the companys account strategy and recruiting operations officer, will tell InMotion Softwares story and discuss a new opportunity for the company developing in Laramie at the next e2e Wyoming meeting Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center, located at 222 S. 22nd St.

The Austin, Texas-based software design and engineering studio is actively considering Laramie as a location to which it can expand its business. If the company does, the plan is to grow up to 60 technology-focused jobs that would be housed in the Cirrus Sky Technology Park.

InMotion is a company that was started by a father-and-son team in the mobile gaming industry back in 2008, says Jonathon Benson, CEO of the Wyoming Technology Business Center (WTBC). Based in Austin, Texas, they are starting to recognize Laramie as a growing tech sector that can provide them with a great standard of living and provide a steady stream of young employees from the university.

Founded in 2008 by Brian and John Howard, InMotion helped pioneer the Apple and Google Play stores by releasing 23 proprietary mobile titles, including a No. 1 worldwide top paid hit that achieved 7 million-plus downloads and sparked relationships with Sony, Nickelodeon and Microsoft. InMotions gaming and large enterprise background provides a blend of meeting business objectives and customer engagement.

InMotion has become one of Americas fastest-growing companies by sticking to its novel business model: combining strategic leadership, design thinking, brand strategy and industry-leading engineering into a single, powerful partner for the worlds leading brands.

Tech companies that are looking to grow need access to a high standard of living and a steady supply of highly educated young employees, Benson says. Laramie offers both, and I think the success of Underwriters Laboratories, in developing a successful division here, is a prime example that companies can do this here. InMotion is looking to grow their company on a similar path, and the work Laramie has done to lay the foundation for them to come in and do this is what is making this possible.

E2e is an educational networking program with chapters in Laramie, Casper, Gillette and Sheridan. It is designed to improve the climate for the startup and growth of entrepreneurial companies. Each e2e chapter meets bimonthly for 45 minutes of networking, followed by a 45-minute program. The programs feature successful entrepreneurs telling their stories, panel discussion on relevant topics and advice from experts in specific businesses.

Administered by the UW Office of Research and Economic Development, the WTBC is a not-for-profit business incubator that provides entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools necessary for success.

For more information on e2e, call the WTBC at (307) 766-6395.
Wyoming Business Tips for Nov. 13-19

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 Cindy Unger, WSBDC business adviser

Since looking online for information about business loans, I have been besieged with ads from online lenders. What do you think are the pros and cons of this type of financing? Janice, Casper

Online lenders, marketplace lenders and alternative lenders are all terms that describe a category of unregulated, nonbank lenders who typically provide financing to small businesses, many of whom banks consider too risky to finance.

They primarily provide term loans, lines of credit and financing for accounts receivable. According to Morgan Stanley, alternative lenders originated about $7.9 billion in small business loans in 2015. Lenders such as Lending Club, OnDeck and Kabbage are leading the pack.

Speed is one of the advantages of an online loan. Application is relatively simple and can be accomplished in minutes. If you are approved, the funds can be issued within days, as opposed to weeks or months with banks.

These organizations have built proprietary analytical models based on alternative data sources. They look at not only FICO (Fair, Isaac and Company) scores, but everything from business sales volume from credit cards or accounting programs, to the amount of time a prospective borrower has used the same email address, and the number of social media friends and contacts. They also consider a stores rating on Yelp, or the amount of time the prospective borrower spends on the lending website.

Another advantage can be easier qualification. Typically, online lenders look for businesses that have been in operation for at least one year, with revenues of at least $50,000. They also prefer a minimum FICO score of 600. Rates and terms vary, as these borrower characteristics also vary.

On the negative side of the equation, alternative loans can be very expensive. APRs (annual percentage rate) may range from 20-80 percent. There are numerous internet sites that compare various online lending terms. Use them.

Be certain you understand the APR and all fees before closing on a loan. Another negative: Although online lenders typically do not charge prepayment penalties, they also usually do not offer prepayment savings. Whether you repay the loan early or not, you will owe the same amount of interest and fees.

To make your decision, you need to balance the scales. If you are in need of a quick loan and also have the ability to repay quickly, then an alternative loan may be a good solution for you. If the bank turns you down and financing is an immediate necessity, then the extra costs associated with an alternative loan may be attractive.

If you are a startup, or can deal with the wait time to obtain a traditional bank loan, then the lower costs may be a better alternative.

A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments are available at www.wyomingsbdc.org/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.
Representatives of the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Joint Stock Company in HCM City sign lease contracts with tenants. - VNS Photo Thu Ngan

They range in size from 750sq.m, it said.

The company said it had begun to lease out land in the supporting industrial zone -- which is part of the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone -- since November last year, but the lots measured 1,500-2,700sq.m, it said.

Seeing the demand from companies and to respond to HCM City's plan to develop supporting industries, it decided to offer smaller plots of land, it said.

But the bigger ones are still available, Vuong Huu Man, general director of the company, said.

The Hiep Phuoc Supporting Industrial Zone now houses 34 projects on a total area of 22ha, he said.

To attract more tenants, the company said it plans many promotional and support programmes. It would provide free wifi, introduce tenants to partners in supporting industries and get banks to lend up to 70 per cent of cost.

The Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone, built more than 20 years ago, houses 164 projects, including 22 foreign ones.

HCM City's biggest industrial zone is still under construction. Over 1,000ha of land is available now and another 1,000ha will be added in an upcoming phase.

Together with the launch of the smaller land lots, the company also signed lease agreements with five tenants, namely Anh Hung Construction Join Stock Company, Cat Phuong Joint Stock Company, GBP Plastic Company, Gon Sa Joint Stock Company, and International Pharmacy Company.

Three other companies received licences on the same day to invest in the zone.
Belongings of survivors are laid out at a temporary holding area after their boat capsized off Batam, in Nongsa, Batam, Indonesia November 2, 2016. photo source REUTERS/Edgar Su

The search resumed at first light Thursday (Nov 3) around Batam, an Indonesian island south of Singapore, with roughly 125 personnel combing the seas for any sign of survivors, local disaster agency section chief Hardin Nafii told AFP.

"We pray that hopefully those still missing are saved, and are alive," he said.

The speedboat was carrying 98 passengers and three crew from Malaysia to Batam early Wednesday morning when it ran aground on a reef in bad weather and capsized, the disaster agency said.

Rescue teams pulled 18 bodies and 39 survivors from the sea, but called off the search as light faded. Forty-four others remain unaccounted for more than a day after the accident.

Police said the passengers were likely illegal Indonesian migrant workers returning from jobs in Malaysia, and the boat was over capacity at the time of the accident.

The disaster agency revised up the passenger numbers late Wednesday from 93, saying the lack of a manifest made it difficult to establish exact figures aboard.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport, but safety standards are lax and fatal accidents common.

More than 60 people died in December when huge waves capsized a ferry charting a course through Sulawesi province.
Life insurance companies have been utilising information technology in their customer services to simplify the complicated negotiation procedure and paperwork.

Currently, the majority of life insurance companies offer online insurance consultancy services and contract negotiation instead of the traditional face-to-face method. This way customer profiles can also be directly sent to insurance agencies computer systems for double-checking.

For instance, Chubb Lifes eSMART programme allows the company to provide consultancy iPad or smartphone devices, while at the same time forwarding the information to the company online. The office of evaluation and contract release will also be able customise the contract towards the clients needs online. Upon reaching an agreement for a contract, a digital, printable version will be emailed to the clients for reviewing. An official physical copy of the contract will be mailed to the clients soon after for signing purposes.

Meanwhile, Manulife, AIA, and Dai-ichi Life have also developed software allowing clients to connect and review their contracts online.

Both veteran and newly founded insurance companies in Vietnam have determined that information technology be one of their primary focuses. Venturing into the Vietnamese market is a significant milestone for the ambitious development strategy of FWD in Southeast Asia. To move along with their developmental strategy, FWD made significant investments into developing information technology, improving customer experience, as well as simplifying the communication process between the company and clients, said a representative of FWD.

The effort that life insurance companies have put into these online applications allows an easier and more effective approach for consumers shopping for life insurance. However, paperless procedures are only the beginning of a new online life insurance model.

With the newly-implemented e-commerce system for various products, Prudential Vietnam is the first company to utilise online insurance transactions in the life industry insurance segment.

With the implementation of this new technology, the company hopes to shorten transaction times as they aim to increase their market share by 3 per cent by 2017.

The new online insurance model is still only in the testing phase, so it is a little early to celebrate complete success. However, after the first steps were made by Prudential Vietnam, it is possible that many more companies will look to follow in suit and create a new and exciting shopping experience for customers.

According to the development strategy for the Vietnamese insurance industry from 2011 to 2020, the application of information technology is a significant step to develop the insurance market. Industrial leaders hope that implementing new technological solutions will strengthen the market and help reach the 3-4 per cent GDP mark by 2020.
The decision on allowing foreigners to own houses in Vietnam and the expected high growth rate have encouraged kieu hoi flow to Vietnam recently.



Marc Townsend, CEO of CBRE Vietnam, a real estate service provider, said when the first signs of the real estate market recovery appeared in 2014, many people rushed to borrow money to buy houses.



However, he now can see a growing tendency of buying houses with money from kieu hoi.



The SBVs latest report showed that one-fifth of the kieu hoi volume remitted to Vietnam in 2015 has flown into the real estate sector.



It predicted that the kieu hoi volume in 2016 would reach a record high of $14 billion this year, an increase of 15 percent compared with 2015, which is 6.4 percent of Vietnams GDP.

One fifth of the kieu hoi (overseas remittance) volume in 2015 has gone into the real estate sector

Meanwhile, other institutions predict higher volumes of kieu hoi to Vietnam. According to the National Finance Supervision Council, about $2.7 billion worth of kieu hoi is remitted to Vietnam every year through unofficial channels.



An official report showed that over 7,000 Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) have owned houses in Vietnam since the amended Housing Law, allowing Viet Kieu to buy houses in Vietnam, was approved by the National Assembly in November 2014.



Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of SBVs HCM City Branch, said kieu hoi has returned to the real estate market after a long period of interruption as the market was in hibernation with very few successful transactions. As the market has warmed up, Viet Kieu can see big investment opportunities there.



Buying houses to lease to expats is popular among Viet Kieu.



Vu Ngoc Mai, business director of a telecom equipment company in Belgium who has a Dutch passport, said she surfs the internet every day to look for opportunities to invest in real estate. In 2012, she remitted money to Vietnam to buy an apartment in Hanoi for lease.



I am now looking for another apartment to lease to expats, the number of whom will be increasing rapidly in Vietnam. The apartment will be my savings which I will need when I return to Vietnam, Mai said.



Stephen Wyatt, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Vietnam, said Vietnam will become the new production base of the world thanks to its high productivity and low labor costs. This means that more and more foreign businesses, including those present in China, would join the Vietnamese market.
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Try our home page: https://vir.com.vn/ - Vietnam Investment Review - VIR
Vietnams giant population offers many medical product opportunities

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is calling for domestic and foreign investors to back eight medicine projects. Those include two projects to produce antibiotic materials- one with Mekophar and one worth $70 million with Ampharco USA. Others are a packing project with Vipaco and Tan Thanh Phat Company, natural compound extraction with VCP Company, vaccine production with Vabiotech Company and a project for medical equipment production

Cao Minh Quang, Deputy Minister of Health, said foreign investment in the sector was limited as 90 per cent of production materials were imported and pharmaceutical production required large volumes of investment.

The MoH is compiling a detailed Vietnam pharmaceutical industry zoning plan to 2015 with a vision to 2020 focusing on zoning, allocating pharmaceutical factories toward specification and encouraging generic medicine production to reduce local market product prices.

We will target domestic medicine production to meet 70 per cent of demand by 2015 and 80 per cent by 2020, said Quang.

EuroCham in Vietnam reported that Vietnam had made good progress in the clarity and quality of registration process for drug production. However, a fast track registration process for medicines answering urgent needs could be considered and general pharmacy practice standard applications for retail pharmacies should be executed by 2011.

Since January 2009, in line with the World Trade Organization agreement, 100 per cent foreign-owned pharmaceutical companies can be set up. However, the limited scope of licenced activity is still restricting foreign investments and granting import rights to pharmacy companies to allow accelerated investment in foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam, said a EuroCham official.

Keshav Dayalani, vice chairman of the Indian Business Chamber (Incham), said Vietnam should encourage hi-tech products, export incentives and develop infrastructure for drug development.

Our proposals for investment in Vietnam are a move from mass selling to quality production, set up high-end ailments and growth of specialised segments, said Dayalani.

The country reportedly had 39 pharmaceutical foreign-invested projects by the end of 2009 including 26 operating projects with total registered capital of $302.6 million. Of these 23 projects are medicine production while others focus on medicine maintenance.

Foreign-invested factories production value accounted for 28 per cent of the countrys total medicine production. However, there are no foreign-invested projects in pharmaceutical chemistry and drug materials.

We are asking the government to supplement packing production, medicines and natural compound extraction in the list of projects enjoying special incentives of investment in Vietnam, said Quang.

Domestic medicine production met just nearly half of demand in Vietnam. The drug consumption per capita of Vietnam was $19.7 in 2009, a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent. The IMS Meridian Research Vietnam forecast drug consumption per capita in Vietnam will double after five years and the medicine production value in Vietnam will reach $1.9 billion in 2011 from $1.6 billion this year and $1.1 billion in 2009.
The full moon nicknamed "the supermoon", rises over the Dolomiti mountains in Levico Terme near Trento in north of Italy on August 10, 2014. (AFP/GIUSEPPE CACACE)

A supermoon occurs when the moon becomes full on the same days as its perigee - which is the point in the moon's orbit when it is closest to Earth - and when the sun, moon and Earth are lined up as the moon orbits Earth (known as syzygy).

While this phenomenon is not uncommon, what distinguishes the Nov 14 supermoon is that it would be the closest to Earth since 1948, making it an "extra-supermoon", said the US space agency. It would appear bigger and brighter than usual.



(Illustration: Singapore Science Centre)

The Nov 14 supermoon is expected to be at its biggest at 1352 GMT (9.52pm Singapore time), according to sciencealert.com.

We won't see it that big again until 25 Nov, 2034.

For skygazers in Singapore, the supermoon can be seen if there is no cloud cover. You can view it from anywhere in Singapore that gives you a good view of the sky, Dr Eileen Tan, deputy director of Physical Sciences at the Science Centre Singapore told Channel NewsAsia.

The Nov 14 supermoon is the second of three this year. The first was on Oct 16 and the other will be on Dec 14, said NASA.



Full moon sets behind the parish church of Schoenach near Regensburg, southern Germany, on Feb 4, 2015.

(Photo: AFP/DPA/Armin Weigel)
One thousand prisoners will attend a mass lead by Pope Francis at the Vatican. (Photo: AFP/Vincenzo Pinto)

The prisoners from 12 countries will have the opportunity on Saturday to confess and walk through the "Holy Door" at Saint Peter's Basilica, a Jubilee tradition by which Catholics can ask forgiveness for their sins.

On Sunday, they will attend a mass lead by Pope Francis. The Argentine pontiff regularly meets prisoners - both in Italy and on his trips abroad - but this is the first time so many inmates will be received at the Vatican.

The convicts are expected to come from Britain, Italy, Latvia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the US, South Africa, Sweden and Portugal.

While some are on probation, others are currently under house arrest or are serving life sentences and will be escorted by security details, the Vatican said.

At the mass, they will hear the stories of four people - including one inmate who converted and will speak alongside their victim, the brother of someone who was murdered and had to learn forgiveness, and a prison guard.

The service will be accompanied by the dulcet tones of a choir of prisoners from Bologna, while the communion wafers will be special ones made by detainees in a lockup in Milan.

Next weekend the pope will hold a similar event for the "socially marginalised" and homeless. It will be the last before the Jubilee winds up. "Holy Doors" around the world close on Nov 13 and the pontiff will officially declare the year over on Nov 20.
Vietnam is exploring possibilities to trade in seafood with West Bengal, which has a wide market for marine food. - Photo vietlinh.vn

Seafood could turn out to be a viable trade option between West Bengal and Viet Nam, according to a delegation from Viet Nam currently touring the city of Kolkata.

"We export a considerable amount of seafood to other countries. West Bengal has a good market for seafood, and it has great potential for trade. We already import seafood from Mumbai, Kerala and other states in the country and would be happy to do business with the state," said Nguyen Hoang Giang, part of the five-member delegation to the city.

The delegation held an interactive session with the business community to explore trade opportunities in the state. The meeting was organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, a national business forum.

"We have come here on the occasion of a book release at the national library and also wanted to look into the business opportunities in the state," said Ho Hoia Ha, chief of the International Cooperation Division.

Rajkumar Agarwal, chairman of the global trade standing committee of the Chamber, said that there are different industrial sectors in which the two countries are co-operating for mutual benefit and can work further to strengthen their relationship.

The current trade between the two countries stands at $1 million.- The Statesman/ANN


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Mindful Eating: Slower Consumption for Better Health

With tight schedules and busy lives, sitting down to a meal free of distraction can be more of a luxury than the norm. Mindful eating gets pushed aside for many reasons. Taking a break to satisfy your hunger may also seem like the perfect opportunity to catch up on social
Since the first influx of refugees to the United States in the late 1970s, the population of Cambodians in the US has surged to about 300,000.



Like other U.S. citizens, on November 8 those eligible to vote will head to the polls and face a stark choice, between Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.



Many have already cast early ballots.



Sek Kosol, executive director of IKARE, a non-profit working to preserve Cambodian history in Saint Paul, Minnesota, says about 2,000 of the local Cambodian community have registered to vote, slightly more than the 2012 election.



Through [the] community assembly at our local Buddhist temple, they encourage one another to vote next week, he said, adding that a language barrier was keeping many away from the voting booth.



Those who will vote, he said, are looking for a candidate who can address the problem of enforced deportations of Cambodians. They want to make their voice heard and to elect the candidate from the party who can address the pressing issue of deportation in the community.



In Connecticut, home to about 4,000 Cambodians, many face a daily struggle, working in the local factories.



The big concern for the community is making ... ends meet, said Khouch Theanvy, who also expects a low turnout from the community come November 8.



Theanvy, who runs a health care non-profit, notes that many of the older generation need a lot of help from their children due to language barrier.



Cambodians are leaning more towards voting for Clinton, she added, because [the] Republican candidate [Donald Trump] runs to restrict immigrant laws that might affect the community.





Meanwhile, in Lowell, Massachusetts, home to the second-largest population of Cambodian-Americans after Long Beach, California, Liang Sidney, a community health worker, senses that this election may see a record high turnout.



That is because here we have a great deal of organizations getting people to vote, including the Cambodians, Liang said. We also have a strong medium of Khmer media, broadcast on local TV and radio, reaching out to educate people on voter registration and their civil rights.



Leoung Sophorn, president of the Illinois Cambodian Association, said, to foster our growing relationship with the leaders, we really encourage people to get registered and vote on November 8.



This is one of the ways to make our voice heard.



In Illinois, 80 percent of eligible Cambodian-Americans have registered to vote, Leoung adds.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has backed down on plans to hold the cremation ceremony for the late former prime minister, Pen Sovann, in central Phnom Penh following a meeting with City Hall officials.



In a statement on Thursday, the CNRP announced that Sovanns body would be taken on Sunday to Wat Than pagoda on the capitals outskirts for the cremation.



Sovann, the countrys first post-Khmer Rouge prime minister, died from a longstanding illness on Saturday at his home in Takeo province. He was 80.



Pol Ham, a CNRP lawmaker who is leading the preparations, said the procession would begin at 7am.



According to the minutes of the meeting with city officials, they had opposed the oppositions request to hold the ceremony at Wat Chas  where numerous high-ranking officials have had their funerals in recent years  because they did not consider Sovann of comparable stature.



Ham declined to comment on the change of plans.



Yem Ponharith and Meas Chan Yada, a City Hall spokesman, could not be reached for comments on Thursday.



Sovanns body was transported to Wat Than in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.
Famed Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei is calling on western countries to maintain pressure on China over human rights abuses.

Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York City this week, Ai said Chinese freedom of expression is suffocating under the increasingly restrictive policies of President Xi Jinping.

"There is no space for political dissidents in China," he said. "If you touch any political issues, there is no such thing as rule of law."

Ai, who was imprisoned for 81 days in 2011 for his outspoken views on human rights, says that even lawyers are facing jail for defending activists against wrongful accusations.

"You just defend some people being wrongly accused, and you can be put in jail," Ai said. "Many of them are being falsely accused without trial; they are still in jail."

Since Xi took power in 2012, China has arrested hundreds of lawyers and activists. Xia Lin, a rights lawyer who defended Ai and other activists, for example, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in September on fraud charges.

Ai, who was imprisoned for criticizing the government and exposing official corruption, was required to pay substantial fines and was banned from traveling overseas for several years.

In New York for a series of upcoming exhibitions, he's urging Western countries to stand up for their principles.

"You have to stick to what you think is right," he said. "I think people should enjoy human rights and other values. As long as you are human, as long as we live and exist together, I always encourage people to openly discuss, to face and to confront [human rights issues].

"There is no excuse not to speak of human rights, not to defend universal values," he added, explaining that he believes that even if Western nations stopped pressuring China on human rights, Beijing would view it as a sign of diplomatic weakness. "They will only show respect for those who uphold the principles."

Ai does not think, however, that the administration of President Xi Jinping alone is responsible for many of China's problems today.

"Many of the problems Xi faces come from the past half century. He did not create them," Ai said. "Everything he did he must do, or he would not survive. The Control of the Internet, anti-corruption, totalitarianism, he has no choice unless he really wants to abandon the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] system, which I think is too much to ask of him."

The celebrated artist has focused his efforts as a human rights activist on the Syrian refugee crisis since Christmas last year. He believes the human rights disaster in Syria is far more serious than abuses currently taking place in China. He is making a documentary film of the Syrian refugees, for which he has visited the borders of more than 10 countries and interviewed more than 100 people.

A solo exhibition of his work will be on display this month at three galleries in New York City.
Hundreds of mourners gathered on Friday to bury more than 30 civilians killed in an airstrike called in to protect Afghan and U.S. forces during a raid on suspected Taliban militants outside the northern city of Kunduz.

There was an angry mood in Buz Kandahari, the village outside Kunduz where the raid took place in the early hours of Thursday, as white-shrouded bodies, many of small children, were laid out for burial.

"My brother and three of his children were killed. My brother had no connection to any group, he was a laborer," said Mawlawi Haji Allahdad, a resident of the village.

"Did you see which of those infants and children who were killed by the Americans were terrorists?"

"We will avenge our dead against the Americans and the government," he said.

Two Americans and four members of the Afghan special forces were killed during the initial raid, a month after Taliban fighters managed to enter Kunduz, threatening a repeat of their success a year earlier when they briefly captured the city.

The fighting underlined how precarious the security situation around Kunduz remains. Although the city center was eventually secured last month, the Taliban control much of the surrounding district, including the area of Buz Kandahari.

Officials from the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Kabul have said it takes all reports of civilian deaths seriously and would investigate.

Human rights group Amnesty International called for an inquiry into the incident, saying those killed in the airstrike deserved justice. "This cannot be another example of inaction in the face of such loss of life," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a trenchant critic of the use of American air power in Afghanistan, condemned the strikes, but otherwise reaction from Afghan political leaders was relatively muted.

Speaking at an event in Kabul, Government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah expressed his condolences to the victims and said there would be an investigation into the incident. He said the Taliban used Kunduz residents as human shields.

The use of airstrikes in civilian areas came under heavy criticism last year after 42 people were killed in a strike against a hospital operated by aid group Medecins sans Frontieres in Kunduz.

According to figures from the United Nations, there was a 72 percent increase in civilian casualties caused by airstrikes in the period from January to September, with 133 deaths and 159 injured. One third were caused by international forces.

However, Afghan military officials see U.S. air power as a vital support in the fight against the Taliban while the country's own nascent air force is still being built, and the number of airstrikes has spiked sharply this year.
Australian counterterrorism experts say the likely defeat of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq will raise the threat posed by jihadist fighters returning to Australia. The warning comes after the arrest in Australia of a 24-year-old man and a teenage boy on suspicion of breaching the nation's foreign fighter laws.

Australias gravest security concerns are stoked by homegrown extremists. Authorities estimate about 120 Australians have joined militant groups in the Middle East, and they worry that many could try to return home as the Islamic State terrorist group suffers more military defeats in Iraq.

Under Australian law, jihadis who have fought overseas face prosecution on their return home. Security officials say most are already known to them, but there are concerns that some will slip through Australias borders using false passports.

Islamic groups say those returning could be recruited to de-radicalization programs in Australia and help steer young people away from militant groups, which have become experts at disseminating propaganda online.

But Nick OBrien, a former British counterterrorism officer who is the head of the Australian Graduate School of Policing & Security at Charles Sturt University, believes they will be a threat to Australian society.

These people are going to be experienced fighters. They are going to have skills that they have picked up in Syria and Iraq in terms of terrorism and fighting," he said. "They will be able to train people because they have probably been doing some of that. They are going to be respected in certain parts of their community because of what they have done and what they have taken part in. So people are going to look up to them, and they are going to be totally indoctrinated in the way of IS.

In recent years, Australian security agencies have carried about several raids, mostly in Sydney and Melbourne, targeting homegrown jihadis. The number of teenagers detained and accused of plotting terrorist acts is a particular concern to the authorities. In June, a teenager admitted to plotting to behead a police officer during Anzac Day commemorations in Melbourne.

A parliamentary committee endorsed new laws Friday allowing convicted terrorists to be kept in jail after their sentences expire if a court rules they pose an ongoing threat to society.

Some civil liberties groups say the new measures are an abuse of power.
The United States joined other countries Fridayincluding France, Germany and the United Kingdomand the United Nations in expressing concern about Turkey's arrest of pro-Kurdish politicians and throttling of the internet.

Following overnight raids, Turkish police detained a dozen parliamentary deputies of the pro-Kurdish HDP (the Peoples' Democratic Party), the country's third largest political party. Among those arrested were HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

The incidents prompted Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken to speak to his Turkish counterpart to express concern, asking Ankara to "reinforce the public's confidence in rule of law," said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

"The United States is deeply concerned by the Turkish government's detentions of opposition members of parliament, including the co-chairs of the HDP and by government restriction on internet access today," Kirby told reporters while referring to Turkey as a "friend and ally."

Bomb explosion

Hours after the roundup, a car bomb killed nine people and wounded more than 100 others near a police station in the southeastern Turkish city Diyarbakir, where some of the lawmakers were being held.



Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Kurdish militants were responsible for the bombing, and that one suspected member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was killed in the blast. However, later on Friday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The HDP lawmakers were taken into custody after failing to respond to summons by prosecutors asking them to testify in a terrorism propaganda case, according to a statement issued by a government office.

HDP spokesman Ayhan Bilgen called the detentions an attempt to provoke civil war.

The U.N. human rights office says the move against the politicians, combined with the earlier detention or suspension of more than 110,000 officials since a failed coup in July, may "go beyond what is permissible."

Non-governmental organizations are also condemning the detention of the lawmakers.

"Detaining democratically-elected members of parliament without clear evidence of serious wrongdoing is a very fundamental assault on the right to political representation," Emma Sinclair Webb, chief Turkey researcher for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, told VOA. "Removing the possibility of representation and participation in political life for millions of voters has serious consequences for democracy and human rights."

Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, however, defended the detentions, saying they conform with Turkish law.

Small protests

The arrests of the HDP leaders on Friday prompted a series of small protests in several Turkish cities and outside Turkey's embassy in Washington.

Spreading word inside Turkey about the protests was hampered by much of social media, including Twitter and Facebook, being shut down or severely curtained there.

The controls will remain in force until "the terror threat" subsides, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced on Friday.

Internet throttling -- the intentional slowing of internet service -- is"another act in what we have continued to see as a worrisome trend," said Kirby at the State Department.

Turkey has been under emergency rule since the failed coup. There has been a widening crackdown on dissent by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who blames the attempted overthrow of his government on Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who lives in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

The government in Ankara has repeatedly called for the United States to extradite Gulen and warns that failure to do so will cause great harm to relations between the two countries.

Dorian Jones in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Local Turkish media report at least 20 people were wounded after a large blast rocked Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast region Friday.

The explosion took place outside the police headquarters in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir after authorities detained two co-leaders of the countrys main pro-Kurdish party, along with 11 legislators in a major crackdown on leading Kurds.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. Local media reported that a car bomb could have caused the blast.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said several ambulances were sent to the scene.

A series of deadly bomb attacks has taken place in Turkey in the past 18 months. Reports say these attacks were carried out by Kurdish militants or members of the Islamic State group. No group has claimed responsibility for Fridays blast.

The two co-leaders of the countrys main pro-Kurdish party, Selahattin Demirtas of the Peoples Democratic Party and his co-chairperson Figen Yuksekdag, are accused of sharing propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), NTV television reported.

The arrests and special operations come as Turkey remains under a state of emergency after a failed coup in July.

Since the coup attempt, some 100,000 military, police, judiciary and education employees have been fired. Some 30,000 have been arrested for alleged links to the plot to overthrow the current government.

Thousands of judges have been detained under emergency rule, including two members of the Constitutional Court.
Britain says it will spend more than $2 billion on cybersecurity and recruit 1,000 more intelligence officers as the countrys intelligence services warn of increasingly aggressive espionage tactics by Moscow, a charge the Kremlin denies.

The $2.3 billion investment is aimed at countering emerging threats to national security. British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said this week that key infrastructure, such as air traffic control systems and electricity grids, could be targeted by what he called "hostile foreign actors".

It is our duty to demonstrate that they cannot act with impunity, Hammond said. So we will not only defend ourselves in cyberspace, we will strike back in kind when we are attacked.

Hammond did not mention Russia by name. But writing in the Guardian newspaper the same day, the head of Britains domestic intelligence service known as MI5 accused Moscow of increasingly aggressive cyberattacks, espionage, propaganda and subversion, charges the Kremlin has denied.

I think that in MI5 for a very long time they were consumed with counterterrorism, said The Economist newspaper's Russia expert Edward Lucas. This has been the absolute No. 1 priority. And its taking them a bit of time to get tooled up again to deal with the threat from Russia.

Defend vs deter



Those tools can defend but can also deter, argues John Lough of policy institute Chatham House.

The challenge for Western countries is to show, if you like, a degree of resolve for dealing with Russia, show the instruments they have available, showing in fact how those can be sharpened if needed if things were to get worse in Ukraine or elsewhere on the periphery, Lough said.

Britain and the West lack a cohesive policy to counter the Russian threat, added Lucas.

We need a joined-up response to Putins joined-up threat which links money, propaganda, espionage, the use of energy, subversion, military saber-rattling, all these things, he said. But certainly one of the weakest links is the bankers, lawyers and accountants in the West who help the Russian elite dispose of their money. They should be facing prosecution and extradition to the United States.

Much of that Russian money passes through banks in London. Lucas argues this trade must be tackled simultaneously as Britain fends off cyberattacks.
In the short space of just a few weeks, China appears to have won some major diplomatic victories in Southeast Asia, with the dramatic public swing away from the U.S. by the Philippines and a high-profile visit by Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak's to Beijing.

But while some see the shifts as a sign that countries in the region are pivoting away from Washington and toward Beijing, others see a new and emerging balance of power as smaller countries in the region hedge their bets.

During a visit to Beijing last month, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his country's "separation" from the United States. That rift with Washington continues to deepen.

So much so, that some believe the long-standing alliance between the two countries has been left hanging in the balance.

And the Philippines is not alone.

This week, visiting Najib embraced Beijing as well, signing investment agreements totaling more than $34 billion, and Kuala Lumpur agreed to purchase four naval vessels from China.

The prime minister also talked up Beijing's role in the region and world. In an op-ed piece published Wednesday in the state-run China Daily, Najib said larger countries should treat smaller countries fairly.

"And that includes former colonial powers. It is not for them to lecture countries they once exploited on how to conduct their own internal affairs today," he wrote in the article.

The about face by Manila and warm outreach from Malaysia comes just months after Beijing's expansion in the South China Sea was rebuked by an international court.

Shifting tides

Analysts say that more than being a victory or loss for either Beijing or Washington, shifting tides of allegiance are part of a new emerging balance of power in Asia, driven by domestic politics and the diverse interests of countries in the region.

Asia has not seen someone as outspoken as Duterte since Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed was in office, says Mark Thompson, director of the City University of Hong Kong's Southeast Asia Research Center.

From a Philippine perspective, he adds, it is domestic politics and nationalism driving things.

"Duterte wants to be left alone, and he feels that close ties with the West hinders him and he thinks one of the ways he can gain leverage is by making these kinds of noises," he said. "Now the extent to which Philippine foreign policy changes is still open."

Beijing-based analyst Francesco Sisci says the new reality is every country in the region is playing on every side.

"The Chinese are not naive enough to believe that actually Duterte is really turning away from the Americans," he said. "I think he's only biding his time to see who will become the next American president."

Cozying up with Beijing has given the Philippines more power at the negotiating table with Washington, Sisci says, and more leeway to strengthen ties with other countries.

Manila is starting to see some benefits of its approach, as Beijing has allowed Filipino fisherman to return to the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

But keeping the focus on just the United States and China is perhaps too narrow-minded, he adds.

During the next two decades, influences in the region will change dramatically. India's importance will rise, Vietnam's economic ambitions will continue to expand, and Indonesia's population is expected to reach half a billion.

"The picture is extremely complicated and is evolving very fast," Sisci said.

And because of that, shifts are likely to come and go.

Opportunistic, pragmatic

For example, when Myanmar wanted Western investment, it took steps to liberalize. But now, some see it leaning back toward China or playing both the West and Beijing more even-handedly.

Thailand's military-led government, which has seen ties with Washington weaken, has grown closer to Beijing.

"China has been vital for the military junta there in terms of its economic situation because tourism and investment from China has been absolutely crucial, Thompson noted. Of course, the difference being Thailand does not have the same stake in the South China Sea issue."

Malaysia has long been a target of Chinese investment, which has helped Najib in the past. The added support from Beijing comes at a crucial time for the Malaysian leader as civil lawsuits by the U.S. Justice Department have implicated him in a money-laundering scandal. Najib has denied wrongdoing.

Some have portrayed Malaysia's agreement to purchase four littoral mission ships from China as a significant shift, but other analysts say it is more an issue of cost.

"It's cheaper to buy Chinese LMS ships, which cost about $100 million a pop, instead of buying them for $400 million each from the French, for example," said William Choong, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore. "It's pragmatic, and it's also opportunistic."
A report by the State Department's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) expresses concern about the rapid expansion of China's activities in the Arctic.

The board of national-security experts is now urging the U.S. government to pay more attention to the impact of China's Arctic activities on regional security.

Overall, ISAB is calling for a continuing U.S. leadership role on Arctic issues, and highlighting concerns about "Russian interests, policies and activities" in the world's northernmost regions. But the board also has reviewed the activities of China and other countries not physically close to the Arctic but who have growing interests in its development.

Scientists quoted in the board's recent "Report on Arctic Policy" note that the dramatic melting of Arctic snow and ice caused by climate change has prompted many countries to seek a role in Arctic development, to gain access to the region's oil and gas resources.

China now a 'near-Arctic' nation

China, which is geographically far from the North Pole, is now claiming to be a near-Arctic country, to match its "long-term, strategic objective of pursuing economic development and growth in the Arctic," the ISAB report said.

However, the ISAB study added that China's pursuit of energy resources conflicts with multinational efforts to protect the environment and work to limit the effects of climate change: "Climate change in the Arctic has affected climatic conditions in China, resulting in extreme weather, including flood threats to Chinese coastal cities and adverse effects on food production."

The ISAB experts noted the sharp increase in public attention to Arctic events in recent years  "from the impacts of climate change; to planned cruise ship trips through the Northwest Passage (NWP) made possible by the decline in the ice; to the challenges of drilling for oil in the Arctic; and to concerns about the buildup of Russian military facilities and capabilities along Russia's northern borders."

Rise in Arctic business

Human activities have grown in the Arctic by almost 400 percent in the last decade, the U.S. board estimated, in terms of shipping, mining, energy exploration, fishing and tourism.

Economic opportunities in the Arctic are important to China in the short term, the report said, such as "sea and air routes [that] would allow for expanded shipping to markets in Europe and North America."

"In the long term," the report added, "China could benefit from access to resources including oil, other hydrocarbons, minerals and fisheries, and expanding its tourism and bioprospecting industries to the region."

China has rapidly increased its investment in the Arctic in recent years, building more icebreaker ships and taking other steps to prepare for future regional development.

'Source of concern'

"China's ... quest for resources, particularly in Iceland and Greenland, are sources of concern to some," ISAB member Sherri Goodman, former deputy undersecretary of defense, told a symposium this week sponsored by the American Security Research Program and The Arctic Energy Center.

The report notes China's cooperation with Russia in the development of natural-gas deposits in the Arctic Siberian Yamal Peninsula.

Goodman said the impact of Sino-Russian cooperation on Arctic regional security has not attracted enough attention from the U.S. government.

Conversely, fellow ISAB member Robert Hunter, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, argues that Russia's interests in the Arctic are very different from those of China, and that it is unlikely Russia will join forces with China against the West.

"The shift is dramatically, whether we like it or not, toward China," he said. "So, I worry about a lot of things the Russians do, but I do not see a coalescing there, should it become a common joint player."

ISAB members agreed that the United States should strengthen its operational capacity in the Arctic, including building new icebreakers of its own and gradually establishing infrastructure in the Arctic in advance of potential future security crises.

The International Security Advisory Board, funded by the U.S. government, is intended to give the State Department independent insight and advice on all aspects of arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation, international security and related aspects of public diplomacy. Members of the board, who are national-security experts with scientific, military, diplomatic and political backgrounds, meet quarterly to provide recommendations to the secretary of state.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Mandarin Service.
Christian groups are denouncing the jailing of an American pastor who has been detained for nearly a month in isolation in Turkey, accused of posing what officials call a national security threat.

Authorities and the representatives of Protestant Christian community in Turkey say that Andrew Brunson, who has been a Protestant missionary in Turkey for more than 20 years, is being held at the Izmir detention facility.

He and his wife, Norine Brunson, who led the Protestant Resurrection Church in the city of Izmir, were detained October 7, Turkish officials confirmed. Norine Brunson was released October 20 and ordered to leave the country.

Later, Turkish officials decided to allow her to stay until November 10 when her visa expires, according to church officials. They added that Andrew Brunson is expected to be deported after his release.

Groups take up the cause

The U.S-based Christian group Voice of the Persecuted has taken up the Brunsons cause, as have opposition Parliament members in Turkey and Protestant pastors in the largely Muslim nation.

At this point, the priority is to get Norine and Andrew safely out of Turkey, something entirely in keeping with the deportation order, Voice of the Persecuted said in a statement on its website.

Norine Brunson might be forced to leave at any time, and she does not want to leave the country without her husband, the statement said.

Officials at the Izmir Removal Center, where Brunson is being held, said his fate is now in the hands of the Directorate General of Migration Management in the Ministry of Interior in Ankara that gives the orders about the detention and deportation of Brunson.

Officials in Ankara did not respond to VOA requests for comment.

American officials are monitoring Brunsons detention, but privacy considerations prevent us from commenting further, said a State Department spokesman in Washington last week.

No law broken

Selina Dogan, a Turkish Parliament member from the Republican Peoples Party (CHP), Turkeys main opposition party, told VOA she has asked authorities about Brunsons case and has, so far, not received a reply. Dogan has been in contact with church officials and lawyers attempting to free Brunson.

Authorities acts towards the pastor are arbitrary, Dogan said. According to the international treaties Turkey has signed, religious liberty covers not believing in any religion as well as sharing any religion without resorting to violence or coercion.

The pastors do have the right to share their faith with people, Dogan added. And what the Turkish authorities mean when they accuse the pastors of being a threat to national security does require some explanation.

Post-coup fallout

Tens of thousands of Turks have been arrested, suspended or fired from their jobs under a state of emergency imposed by the government following a failed coup attempt in July.

U.S.-Turkish relations are deeply strained over demands for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for Julys failed coup. He lives in Pennsylvania. The Turkish government said the post-coup crackdown is also needed to curb Kurdish militants and terror coming from Islamic State.

Turkey is a largely Muslim nation, and there are about 10,000 Protestant Christians in Turkey. Christian leaders say the Turkish government is growing more stringent in its measures against Christians.

According to the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, 100 expatriate Protestants have been prevented from serving in Turkey over the past four years as their visas or residence permits were not extended.

The Turkish government does not allow Protestants to build churches in the country.

Missionary activities are still considered a criminal offense in Turkey, said Soner Tufan, a spokesperson of the Association of Protestant Churches of Turkey. Our country is in a very bad situation in terms of free speech and religious liberty.

Other Christians banned

American Christian Ryan D. Keating, who headed a church-sponsored refugee ministry in Ankara, was refused re-entry into Turkey in October after he left for a short visit abroad.

At the Istanbul airport, the officers emphasized several times that I had a lifetime ban, said Keating, who lived in Turkey for more than a decade. They told me that it was related to national security but wouldnt elaborate, insisting that they couldnt answer my questions.

Since I havent been given any explanations about my entry ban, I can only speculate that the government has decided to deport me because of my work at the church and with refugees, Keating said.
Recent polls in the southwestern U.S. state of Texas show an unexpectedly tight race between presidential candidates Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

In the past few presidential elections in the state, the Republican candidate won by a margin of 10 points or more. Republican candidate Mitt Romney won by more than 15 percent in 2012.

With its 38 electoral votes  second only to California  Texas is the foundation upon which any Republican victory in a presidential race must be built.

While most political analysts and pollsters believe Trump will win the Lone Star State, no one can be sure.

Since early voting began October 24, lines have been long. Turnout is expected to break records.

In Harris County, which is mostly covered by the city of Houston, more Democrats have been voting than Republicans. That likely is true in other large Texas cities, such as Dallas and San Antonio.

As past elections have shown, however, Democrats can win by close margins in the urban areas and still lose the election when the votes from suburbs and rural communities are counted. Those areas tend to lean strongly Republican.

Diversity factor

In Harris County, the diversity of the population is reflected in the voters. Blacks, whites and Hispanics are joined by Latin Americans, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis and many others who have immigrated here and become citizens.

Democrats, who typically are favored by such groups, hope the large turnout in Texas cities will help their partys candidate, Hillary Clinton.

Looking more closely at voter decisions, though, can reveal a messy scene. Some voters support one candidate mainly as a way of opposing the other. It is unclear how much support such voters will give to candidates for other positions further down the ballot.

Voters also can express surprising opinions.

"I think that it is real nice that Hillary Clinton will be the first woman that will be the president," said Brandon Sales, a young African-American man who voted for Clinton.

But, in a year in which animosity between rivals is especially strong, he said he likes both candidates. Of Trump, Sales said, "I like him. He is funny; he has a good sense of humor."

Vanessa Fernandez, who came here with her immigrant parents from Bolivia when she was 5 years old, said Trump's harsh words on immigrants angered her.

He doesn't like immigrants and that bothers me, because I am an immigrant, she said. So, I am voting for Hillary Clinton."

Varied opinions

But what could confound expectations is the independent thinking of many minority voters.

Politicians talk a lot about illegal immigration, for example, but for many Hispanics, issues like job creation and education are the key.

Saul, a U.S. naturalized citizen from Guatemala, told VOA he is most concerned about his children and their future. He said the economy, job creation, national security and education are all topics of importance to him.

"Immigration is an important item, yes, but not the top one at this moment," he said. He declined to say for whom he would vote.

Immigrants, like everyone else, have diverse opinions.

Chuk Li, who was born and raised in China, voted for Trump.

"I think he would be a great leader, compared to Hillary. With Hillary, there is too much unclear," she said.

Global high stakes

Distrust of Clinton has driven some Democrats to vote for Green party candidate Jill Stein.

Rodrea, a middle-aged black woman, said she decided to vote for Stein even though that might help Trump win the close race in Texas.

"I'll take my chances on that," she said. "I just know that I will not be voting for either [major party candidate]."

There also are Republicans voting for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, or writing in someone else.

This year's U.S. presidential election has alarmed people around the world, many of whom worry the United States may change its foreign policy. Both Clinton and Trump have attacked free-trade agreements, for example.

Trump's plan to ban Muslims from entering the country is one of the reasons that Muslim Moustapha Niang, an immigrant from the West African nation of Senegal, decided to vote for Clinton. He said his relatives and friends are worried about the outcome.

"From home  from Italy, Spain, everywhere  they are hitting me on Facebook, asking me about this election," Niang said.

Lone Star Republicans

One reason Trump is not further ahead in Texas is that he has upset many so-called establishment Republicans, who favor free trade.

A University of Texas poll released last week showed Clinton only 3 percentage points behind Trump in Texas, which is within the margin of error. That poll also showed that while 66 percent of Clinton voters favor her for her personal qualities and experience, only 53 percent of Trump voters backed him for that reason.

Among independents, the pollsters found that 46 percent favor Trump, 19 percent back Clinton, and the rest are opting for minor party candidates or do not plan to vote.
A majority of Colombians support peace talks with Marxist rebels but they also doubt that the government will be able to reach a new accord with the country's largest guerrilla group this year, a poll showed on Thursday.

The Gallup poll was published a month after a landmark peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was unexpectedly rejected in a referendum.

The Gallup poll showed that 77 percent of Colombians want a negotiated solution to the 52-year conflict with the FARC, while only 19 percent support a military solution.

But voters rejected a signed peace deal with the FARC by less than half a percentage point in the surprising result of an October 2 referendum, meaning it could not be implemented.

Opponents of the accord, reached after four years of intense negotiations, said it was too lenient on rebels who had committed crimes. Many voters also opposed provisions that gave the guerrillas seats in Congress.

Sides return to Havana

The government and rebels alike had said the accord was the best that could be achieved. But the government is now fighting to salvage the peace deal and extended meetings this week with the right-wing opposition, led by former President Alvaro Uribe, which backed the no vote in the plebiscite.

Government peace negotiators were also due to travel on Friday to Havana, Cuba, where the talks took place, to continue meetings with the FARC leadership.

Sixty-one percent of those polled by Gallup said the government would not reach a final accord with the FARC this year, while 37 percent said it would.

Talks with ELN supported

The poll also showed that 80 percent of Colombians support peace negotiations the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country's second-largest rebel group.

The government has postponed planned talks with the group pending the release of a politician held hostage.

The Gallup survey, based on responses from 1,200 participants, had a five percent margin of error.
A former Brazilian finance minister and chief of staff for successive Workers Party (PT) governments was ordered on Thursday to stand trial on corruption and money laundering charges in an expanding graft probe around state-run oil company Petrobras.

Anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro ruled that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for Antonio Palocci, a party founder and confidant of two presidents, who was arrested in late September and has been jailed since.

Investigators allege Palocci conspired with construction firm Odebrecht SA to pay 128 million reais ($39.5 million) from 2008 to 2013 to the party, politicians and other officials in exchange for bloated contracts with Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, as the company is known.

Thirteen others will stand trial with Palocci, including former Odebrecht Chief Executive Officer Marcelo Odebrecht and powerful political strategist Joao Santana, the main force behind presidential campaigns for PT and many other Latin American leaders in recent years.

Odebrecht is already serving a 19-year sentence for a previous conviction in the Petrobras case, though his penalty is likely to be reduced if prosecutors reach a long-awaited plea bargain deal with him and other Odebrecht executives.

Palocci, a trained medical doctor, was instrumental in the rise of the PT from its earliest days as an outgrowth of Brazil's labor movement.

After the party reached power in 2003, he was a key player during the presidencies of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached this year for breaking budgetary rules.

Nearly 200 executives and former politicians have been charged in the sweeping Petrobras probe and 83 have already been found guilty. Prosecutors are seeking 38 billion reais ($12 billion) in damages from companies and individuals involved.

Brazil's top prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, is investigating 66 politicians - many sitting lawmakers - for participation in the scheme.

That number could grow significantly as more of those charged turn state's witnesses and as investigators work on a plea-bargain deal with scores of executives from the Odebrecht construction conglomerate, the main corporate player in the scheme, according to prosecutors.

($1 = 3.24 reais)
An internet fundraising campaign to repair a historic black Mississippi church that was burned and spray-painted with "Vote Trump" a week before the U.S. presidential election had raised nearly $200,000 by late Thursday afternoon.

The drive was organized by a self-described "boring office guy" after Tuesday night's fire at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, which has a 111-year history.

The fire, declared arson, was being investigated as a hate crime. During the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, southern black churches were often targets of burnings and bombings.

"Burning a black church in Mississippi, there is a meaning and a context to that," said Blair Reeves, 35, who set up the GoFundMe.com page. "As a white southerner who knows the history and the context, this is the least that any human being can do," Reeves said.

Black churches in the U.S. South have long been a base of support for the Democratic Party.

The goal was $10,000, said Reeves, who is from North Carolina and works for a software company in New York. According to the webpage, as of late Thursday afternoon 5,326 people had donated $184,927.

Reeves said he worked with the church's bishop to organize the campaign and that the funds would go into the church's bank account. He said donors have come from supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump and people around the world.

No arrests have been made but police said on Thursday they had "a person of interest in the case."

"Rather than speculate who did it, how about we agree it was an idiot and the church needs help, regardless? Either make a donation or move along," one donor wrote.

"I am very sorry that this happened. It shouldn't happen in America in 2016," another donor wrote. "I can't give much but I can give a little. I also shared on my Facebook page so others may give, too."

Another person's message read, "I'm a Christian and a Trump Supporter. I hope the pastor will pray for our country and that the donations will help rebuild the church."

"We have your back," another wrote. "Bigotry will not stand in 2016."
Gabonese officials detained 20 employees at the headquarters of the Echos du Nord opposition newspaper on Thursday and took them away for questioning, staff at the paper told Reuters.

OPEC member Gabon has faced international scrutiny, including from former colonial power France, since President Ali Bongo was declared winner of a disputed August 27 election.

Echos du Nord's Editor-in-Chief Desire Ename said that officials from Gabon's DGDI, a government department that according to its website acts preventively against any threat interior or exterior, had taken the action.

The employees were verbally threatened and seized and we now have no means of communicating with them, he told Reuters by telephone from Paris, where he said he had moved in 2014 for safety reasons.

Ename's paper is regularly critical of Bongo, whose family has ruled the Central African country for nearly 50 years.

Marky Edzang, a journalist at the paper who arrived at the scene several minutes after the event, said armed men had taken all of the staff present away in military vans.

Government spokesman Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, who could not be reached for comment, told local journalists that nine people had been detained for questioning as part of an investigation.

This followed an article referring to an imminent military coup d'etat, he added.

Several protesters contesting the August poll result were killed by security forces during a rare outbreak of violence which also saw Gabon's parliament set alight.

Since then, a doctor who helped treat and catalogue the injuries of protesters after the election was also arrested for several days in October.
What were trying to do is an introductory guide to voting, says Erika Reinhardt of VotePlz, a tool designed to help people check their voter registration, learn about their voting rights, and even check whether their state gives people time off to vote.

The app is meant to educate first-time voters through a process with which they are familiar  their mobile devices. Young people are interested in voting, Reinhardt said, but as first-timers, some need help figuring out how it all works.

Watch: Obama Urged North Carolinians to Vote

VotePlz staffers say more than 250,000 people have used the app to check their registration, and 75,000 have used the service to register to vote since it made its debut earlier this year.

VotePlz is one of many efforts around the nation to get people to vote in the November 8 election, either by turning out in person to cast a ballot, or by voting early or absentee.

Latino-targeted app

Another mobile app, Phone2Action, is helping Maria Patricia Corrales, founder of a Latino cultural association in Washington, work with Latino communities nationwide to get out the vote.

The app provides a grassroots advocacy platform to help groups create multimedia campaigns, communicate with lawmakers, and track their progress in real time.

Corrales says there are about 160,000 people involved in the Latino get-out-the-vote effort she works on. In recent weeks, much of that effort has been focused on getting people registered to vote.

Were not telling them how to vote, Corrales said. We just say make sure you do your duty.

Rock the Vote is another group working to help educate people and get them out to the polls. Like VotePlz, Rock the Vote reaches out to young people, but the first people targeted by this 26-year-old group may now have voting-age teenagers themselves.

While the groups outreach has moved from television to the internet, the mode of operation remains the same: harnessing celebrity power to motivate people to get involved in politics and civic action.

In the days before the internet, Rock the Vote got attention with televised public service announcements and large-scale music events. Now, says Jesse Moore, vice president for civic engagement, one of the groups major missions is developing and supporting online content to get peoples attention.

In the early 90s, Moore says, before there were 500 channels, MTV was a great place to get the message out. Now its a more complicated effort that requires shareable videos, Twitter, Facebook and a variety of approaches.

Celebrity star power

The approaches range from comedy, such as a video starring pop star Katy Perry attempting to vote naked, to serious treatments of issues such as criminal justice reform, gun violence and LGBT issues.

Other celebrities also have gotten into the arena, hoping to influence fans with videos, tweets and snapshots on social media.

The cast of the smash Broadway show Hamilton posted a video of them singing a popular tune from the show, with the lyrics changed to urge fans to vote. The stars of a popular television comedy, Will and Grace posted a video, more than 10 years after the shows last episode, in which their characters discuss the present day election. A group of HBO stars came together for a video titled Use Your Voice. Use Your Vote.

And Avengers director Joss Whedon assembled a video using a number of his cast members from that and other projects, promising whimsically that if people vote, one of the actors will do a nude scene in his next movie. (The joke: the actor in question feigns surprise when he hears this news.)

Pop star Justin Timberlake made waves when he photographed himself casting an early ballot in his home state of Tennessee last month. Some U.S. states allow people to photograph their ballots, but it turns out that Tennessee is not one of them. State authorities said they had no plans to prosecute.

What works

Yet, with all the efforts to get people to turn out for Tuesdays election, researchers at Stanford University say it takes more than technology and publicity stunts to get reluctant voters to the polls. The study published in 2008 says people are more likely to vote if they are encouraged to make voting part of their identity: be a voter rather than go vote.

The experts also said people are more likely to go to the polls when they are told that turnout will be high, meaning they will be following a social norm. Conversely, being told voter turnout will be low makes uncertain voters less likely to vote.

Researchers who questioned people about their voting plans also found that people who are expecting to be asked follow-up questions after the election are more likely to go and vote  meaning they are more motivated when they expect to be held accountable for their actions.

Finally, Yale Universitys Institution for Social and Policy Studies has found that people seeking to motivate voters need to ask more than are you planning to vote. They got better results when they asked the potential voter to describe his or her plans for working their voting into their day  when they would do it and how they would get to the polling place.

Whatever their method, advocates urging people to vote are saying it is more important this year than ever before, no matter which candidate one chooses.

Were not out to change anyones mind [about the candidates], said Erika Reinhardt of VotePlz. Were trying to make the process as friendly and easy as possible.
In this intense election season, gun rights and regulations stand out out as an emotional flash point for voters who see the gun debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic Hillary Clinton as a key point of contention.

Enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and celebrated as a part of America's heritage, gun rights inspire passionate debate like few other issues and can play an important role at the ballot box.

At an outdoor gun range in rural Pennsylvania, gun enthusiast Doc says everybody in this area, almost an hour outside of Pittsburgh, grew up with guns and goes hunting and fishing.

In his experience, Doc says, "most gun ownership people do not appreciate Hillary Clinton. A lot of them don't care for her at all, and there's always that fear that she's going to take our guns."

Pro-Trump



Doc, who asked to be identified only by his first name, won't say if he is voting for Donald Trump this November, but he does voice a concern about the country getting "softer and softer." He says Islamic State attacks around the world in the last year have left him concerned about a lone wolf attack in his own area. He recently started legally carrying a concealed weapon for protection.

Doc says he's not worried "one bit" about a President Trump because of the Republican nominee's clear pro-gun stance. On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly accused his opponent of aiming to abolish the Second Amendment that many view as sanctioning gun ownership. But a U.S. president cannot single-handedly change a Constitutional amendment.

"I understand and respect the tradition of gun ownership," Clinton said, responding to Trump's accusations in the third presidential debate last month. "It goes back to the founding of our country. But I also believe that there can be and must be reasonable regulation."

The prospect of regulation bothers life-long Democrat John Larkin who says he's realized over the course of this election season that his views match up more with Donald Trump.

"I vote on guns  and I don't even have a gun  because if I want a gun, I should be allowed to have it," says the resident of nearby Monroeville, Pennsylvania. "They'll chip away at your rights. Clinton says she doesn't want to take away your rights, but her legislation says something different."

Trump was always the clear choice for Sondra Dull, a barber for over three decades in the small town of Herminie, Pennsylvania. She says changes in her hometown have not been encouraging from losing businesses and jobs, to an influx of heroin and robberies and have left her afraid. She carries a small gun in her purse for personal protection.

"We all kind of carry," she says matter-of-factly. "That's just the norm, and I think it's a sad situation when we're afraid of our communities."

She expresses a hope that Donald Trump can be elected and change all of that.

Gun rights gap

The gap between voters who support gun rights and voters who favor stricter gun control laws has grown over past election cycles, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center this August. Almost 90% of registered voters who support Trump said gun ownership protects people more than puts them at risk, a very different view than the two-thirds of Clinton supporters who say guns endanger personal safety.

But that doesn't mean Hillary Clinton will strip away Second Amendment rights, says gun owner and Clinton supporter Lauren Huber. She started a chapter of Moms Demand Action Against Gun Violence in Harrisonburg, Virginia after the nearby shooting death of a local reporter and her cameraman.

"She's just trying to reduce the 33,000 gun deaths that happen a year," Huber says of Clinton.



But that can be a difficult argument to win here in rural Virginia, where voters are expected to re-elect their Congressman Bob Goodlatte, one of the top recipients of funding from the National Rifle Association.

Status quo



Just days before the election, Huber stands in the town square, handing out pamphlets encouraging voters to support candidates with pro-gun control platforms. She says conversations with opponents are easier once they find she comes from a family of hunters and like many rural residents keeps a gun in her home for protection.

But she says Trump's warnings about terrorism and immigration this election season are exaggerated.

"He really is selling the story of fear. It's an irrational fear when we're really seeing our own citizens are killing each other," she says, noting there's a stronger possibility in the United States of being shot by a toddler than a terrorist.

Huber who has tried to engage Virginia Congressman Goodlatte on the gun issue says the debate over Second Amendment rights is emotional because guns often form an important part of people's identities.

"There are two different ways of life there that I think are getting in the way of this conversation," she says, "There are things we can do -- you will be able to keep your guns, still have the Second Amendment but we can do something to reduce these gun deaths."

Back in Pennsylvania, Doc doesn't see this election changing the gun culture where he lives.



"We love our guns, and it's just going to stay that way no matter what," he says. "I don't know anybody who is going to be in office who can change that."
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump held simultaneous dueling campaign rallies Thursday night in North Carolina  a state that must be won in order to win the White House next Tuesday.

Clintons former rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, introduced Clinton in Raleigh, while Republican Trump was a short distance away, speaking to a largely pro-military crowd in Selma.

Both traded the usual insults about the other's fitness for office while appealing to their followers that their vote matters.

Earlier in Greenville, North Carolina, Clinton warned that Trump "always puts himself first and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way."

She said Trump simply cannot help himself when he insults women and minorities, adding that he is out of his depth and very dangerous.

"Across America, people are rejecting Trump's dark vision for one that is hopeful and inclusive and unifying," she said.

WATCH: Clinton Warns that Trump Could 'Start a War'

Clinton's top booster, President Barack Obama, campaigned for her in another must-win state  Florida.

At a rally in Jacksonville, Obama noted that the polls are close, and he said the outcome cannot be taken for granted.

"You have this precious chance to shape history, he said. Don't let it slip away."

Obama: Court vacancy aint right

Obama also tore into Senate Republicans who have refused to consider his Supreme Court nominee, saying they want to wait until there is a new president.

But many of those senators are now vowing that they will block anyone Clinton nominates.

Obama said the people's choice does not matter to them. "C'mon, man ... it ain't right," he said, evoking both cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February left a vacancy on the High Court, which now has just eight justices instead of the usual nine. A four-four vote on cases means an earlier ruling stands and the case is sent back to a lower court, leaving major questions unresolved.

The Senate has refused to hold hearings on Judge Merrick Garland, Obama's choice to replace Scalia.

WATCH: Trump Says Clinton Shouldn't be Allowed to Run

Trump: Here we go again

Trump also was in Jacksonville on Thursday, predicting that if Clinton wins, she would be impeached over her emails and questions about the Clinton Foundation charity when she was secretary of state.

He did not let the crowd forget that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was impeached in 1998 for lying about an affair with a White House intern.

"Here we go again with the Clintons, Trump said. You remember the impeachment and the problems. That's not what we need in our country, folks. We need someone who is ready to go to work."

Kaine makes history

Meanwhile, Clinton's vice presidential running mate, Tim Kaine, made history Thursday in Arizona, becoming the first major party candidate to make a campaign speech entirely in Spanish.

Kaine spoke to a largely Hispanic crowd. Arizona is a traditionally Republican state, but its growing Hispanic population opposes Trump's plans to restrict immigration and build a wall along the Mexican border.

Two new major national polls Thursday showed Clinton edging ahead of Trump among likely voters, with The New York Times/CBS News poll giving her a 45-to-42 percent lead and The Washington Post-ABC News poll showing her with a 47-45 advantage.
U.N. aid agencies warn the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, already one of the biggest in the world, is getting worse as famine looms and growing numbers of refugees flee to neighboring countries.

The World Food Program reports a 38-truck convoy, carrying food for about one month, arrived in the South Sudanese town of Yei on Friday. The agency says the food and other relief supplies will be a life-saver for thousands of families who have been trapped in the area for four months because of fighting and insecurity.



WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher says thousands of people in Yei and throughout South Sudan are fleeing intensified violence that stems from the countrys nearly three-year conflict. She says they have been forced to leave their crops to rot in the field, adding to a growing problem of hunger.



Up to four million people, a third of the population in South Sudan are severely food insecuremeaning a third of the country does not know where the next meal is coming from," said Luescher. "The malnutrition is above emergency levels in seven of the 10 states, nearly twice of the emergency threshold in two states. We are very concerned that the threat of famine is very real, that it could happen.



Luescher says humanitarian agencies have helped to stave off catastrophe so far. But, she says funds to carry out life-saving operations are running out. She says WFP urgently needs $113 million for operations through January.



In the meantime, the United Nations refugee agency reports the number of people fleeing South Sudan continues to grow. Last month, it says, an average of 3,500 people fled to neighboring countries each day.



UNHCR spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly says nine out of 10 refugees are women and children, with most of the outflow, around 2,400 per day, arriving in Uganda.



Most of the arrivals are from Equatoria regions and they report armed groups harassing civilians, killings, torturing people suspected of supporting opposition factions, burning villages and sexually abusing women and girls, said Poully.



In recent weeks, says Pouilly, refugees have increasingly used informal border crossing points, reportedly because armed groups are preventing them from using main roads. She says many have been forced to walk through the bush for days without food or water.



The UNHCR says it is scaling up its operations in Uganda and in the other countries of asylum - Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo - to keep pace with the growing refugee exodus from South Sudan.
A 10-hour Russian-declared cease-fire in Syrias largest city of Aleppo is due to come to an end at dusk Friday, coinciding with an ultimatum given to rebel militia fighters to evacuate the city through several safe corridors. The apparent political posturing comes as elements of the Russian fleet begin arriving off the Syrian coast.

Syrian state TV showed preparations at two official government crossing points from the rebel-held east of Aleppo into the government-held west of the city. Witnesses reported that no one appeared to be leaving the rebel-held zone, despite preparations to receive a large influx of evacuees.

Faris Shalki, Member of parliament from Aleppo, told Syrian government media that he believed the rebels were holding civilians as hostages and preventing them from leaving their zone of the city.

He calls the rebel fighters mercenaries and claims that they are kidnapping civilians and trying to make them pay a $300 fee to leave the east of the city. He asked rhetorically what Western countries would do if Islamic militants controlled parts of London or New York?

Rebel advisor Osama Abu Zeid told Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV, however, that he thought no one was entering government-held territory because they have no confidence in those controlling the checkpoints.

Abdel Hamid Sarafi, a Syrian government legal advisor, told state media that an amnesty offer by President Bashar al-Assad made several months ago to rebel militiamen to lay down their arms was still good.

He says that the official amnesty offer has been extended for three more months and that the government was maintaining its cease-fire (Friday) from 9AM to 7PM, despite the fact that rebel fighters were attacking Aleppo in the southwest of the city.

Syrian government tanks fired on rebel fighters trying unsuccessfully to advance in the southwestern corner of Aleppo in a newly-built residential zone called Assad City. At least three rebel militia groups had been claiming to be pushing back government forces in an attempt to break the government siege of the east of the city.

The Friday cease-fire came as a Russian naval battle group, including the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, approached the Syrian coast. The U.N. did not take part in the cease-fire, insisting that it had not received sufficient assurances to operate safely, while German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier insisted that the cease-fire was too short to carry out humanitarian aid efforts.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, tells VOA that many people fear that Russia is going to escalate the situation militarily in Aleppo, while world media is preoccupied with U.S. elections on Tuesday.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Russians want to take advantage of the forthcoming U.S. elections and escalate in Aleppo, and the arrival of the lone Russian aircraft carrier to the Syrian coast on the eve of the U.S. elections is no coincidence, he said.

Khashan admits that he is not certain if Russia will succeed in pushing the rebel fighters out of the east of Aleppo immediately, but that he thought Moscow would try to tighten the siege of the eastern zone of the city which they control. Approximately 250,000 people remain in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, while over a million people live in the government-held west of the city.
A court in Pakistan has ordered authorities to deport the iconic green-eyed Afghan Girl who appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine. The court has sentenced Sharbat Gulla to 15 days in prison for fraudulently obtaining Pakistani citizenship identity.

Authorities arrested the 46-year-old Afghan about two weeks ago at her residence in the city of Peshawar on charges of falsifying documents and illegally living in Pakistan with her family.

She appeared before a special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar Friday and pleaded guilty, defense attorney Malik Mubashir Nazar told VOA. He also revealed Gulla is suffering from Hepatitis C and has been receiving treatment in a hospital in the northwestern city.

Keeping in view her medical situation that she is suffering with Hepatitis C and she has minor siblings, three daughters and one son, the court took a very lenient view. The court have ordered 15 days imprisonment to her and the fine of 110,000 rupees ($1,100). The fine has been paid on the spot and now only she has to be in the judicial lockup only for four days more because 11 days have lapsed. After the completion of the sentence she will be deported, said Nazar.

Gullas striking green eyes in her famous 1985 National Geographic cover photo, published when she was 12, became a symbol of the turmoil facing Afghanistan at the time that forced millions of Afghans to take refuge in neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

The Afghan womans detention outraged the Afghan nation, where she is still a beloved and a national icon, said Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, while welcoming the court ruling.

With utmost delight, I announce that Sharbat Gulla is now free from the legal troubles she endured over the past couple of weeks. She soon will also be free from an uncertain life of a refugee as she will be on her way back to her own country as soon as next Monday, stated the envoy.

The photographer, Steve McCurry, who captured Gullas image in a camp for Afghan refugees in Peshawar, rediscovered her in 2002. He strongly objected to her arrest and condemned it as an egregious" violation of her human rights.

Even Pakistani human rights defenders and media commentators slammed authorities for detaining the Afghan woman.

Amnesty International condemned the deportation decision as a grave injustice.

"For decades, she was known as the worlds most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistans status as a generous host. Now, by sending her back to a country she hasnt seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistans cruel treatment of Afghan refugees," the London-based group said in a statement.

But attorney Nazar explained why the criticism, in his view, was misplaced. Since she was found in possession of a Pakistani NIC (National Identity Card), so FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) obviously arrested her and charged her on that offense.

Officials at the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, distanced themselves from Gula immediately after news of her arrest emerged, saying her name was not included on the list of around 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

There are an estimated one million Afghans living illegally in the country. But authorities have lately unleashed a crackdown on unregistered Afghans to force them to go back to their country.

U.N. officials say that the pressure, increase in monetary incentives for voluntary returnees and encouragement from the Afghan government have triggered an exodus of even registered refugees from Pakistan.

Under its voluntary repatriation program, the UNHCR says that more than 333,000 Afghans have returned from Pakistan within the past four months, including 148,000 in October alone.
Prominent Indian editors and journalists have criticized the government for ordering a leading television news channel to go off the air for one day as a penalty for its coverage of a terror attack earlier this year.

The Editors Guild of India called the ban  the first on a media broadcaster for reporting terrorist attacks  "harsh censorship" reminiscent of emergency rule imposed in 1975, when fundamental rights were suspended in the worlds largest democracy.

An Information and Broadcasting Ministry panel said the NDTV Hindi channel allegedly revealed "strategically sensitive" information that could have been picked up by terrorist handlers and potentially harmed national security during operations to take out militants who attacked the Pathankot air base in northern India in January. Seven Indian soldiers were killed in the attack.

The panel said the TV channel put out information on weapons and on the location of fighter planes and tanks at the air base.

Denying the charges, NDTV said in a statement that it is shocking that it has been singled out. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact, NDTVs coverage was particularly balanced. The statement added that "after the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner."

The emergency rule it referred to was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977, when Indias media was subjected to strict censorship.

Punishment protested

Calling the governments order a direct violation of media freedom, Editors Guild of India President Raj Chengappa told VOA "this is very, very harsh punishment meted out." The government could have taken legal recourse, he said, adding, "We think the ban is an extreme step."

The Editors Guild has called on the government to withdraw the order.

The government has given itself the right to impose punishment on media, Chengappa said. "Today it could be a national security issue. Tomorrow the government could turn around and say, we did not particularly like the coverage of another program. What then?"

A prominent news anchor with the rival India Today media group, Rajdeep Sardesai, tweeted, "One of India's most sober and responsible channels, NDTV India, to be banned for a day by I and B Ministry. NDTV today, who tomorrow?"

NDTV is reputed to be one of India's most balanced channels.

Guidelines for coverage of terror attacks were communicated to the stations last year after reporting of the devastating 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai came under scrutiny. Fears were voiced that information put out by some broadcasters on the whereabouts of security forces and civilians could have helped the terrorists, who were holding hostages inside a five-star hotel. The attack claimed 170 lives.

That criticism prompted guidelines directing TV channels to avoid live broadcasts of security operations and to restrict giving out details, such as the number of hostages during an ongoing attack.

Last year, the government took Qatar-based international news channel al-Jazeera English off the air for five days for showing maps with parts of Indian territory inside Pakistan.
As Iraqs Shiite militias attack Islamic State positions southwest of Mosul, a confrontation could be looming with Turkey over the city of Tal Afar.

Comprising predominantly ethnic Turkmen, the town is significant to Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is insisting that his country has historical claims in the region dating back to the Ottoman Empire.

Turkmen are an ethnic minority in northern Iraq sharing a Turkic heritage with Turkey.

The former Ottoman stronghold has been controlled by IS since early 2014 and has been a key trading link for IS between Mosul and its de facto capital in Raqqa, Syria.

Since last Saturday, a group of Baghdad-aligned militias called Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) has moved swiftly westward, taking control of dozens of desert villages to try to eventually retake the town.

PMF is an umbrella organization of several Shiite militias formed in 2014 after the Iraqi army melted away following the IS attacks on Mosul. On paper, the organization is under the control of the Iraqi government, but many of its most powerful groups answer to Iran.

Turkey objects to the militias move, saying militias have long had a history of ill-treatment of Sunnis. It has warned PMF to stay clear of Tal Afar, saying it fears the Shiite militia will brutalize the towns Turkmen population, which is divided between Sunnis and Shiites.

During a Turkish Republic Day reception earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Tal Afar is a very sensitive issue for us.

We definitely do not regard (the militias involvement) positively in Tal Afar.

Ankara reportedly began moving tanks near the Iraqi border on Thursday.

The show of forces alarmed Iraqi officials who have warned Turkey to stay out of the battle against IS in Mosul and its environs.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned this week that Turkey will pay the price if it intervenes.

"We do not want war with Turkey, and we do not want a confrontation with Turkey, Abadi said. "But if a confrontation happens, we are ready for it. We will consider [Turkey] an enemy and we will deal with it as an enemy."

Karim Nuri, a spokesman one of PMF, told VOA on Thursday that the offensive to Tal Afar is ongoing.

We will continue moving forwards until recovering the town from IS terrorists, he told VOAs Kurdish service.

Turkeys threats are unrealistic, Nuri said, adding that Tal Afar must be freed from IS.

Our forces who will liberate Tal Afar are sons of the town, he said. If Erdogan was concerned for Turkmen, why did he let IS attack them?

Yahya Barzinji contributed to this report.
The U.N. human rights office said Islamic State militants are increasing mass killings and abductions of civilians to use as human shields as the battle for Mosul in Iraq intensifies.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Islamic State militants are continuing to forcibly transfer civilians to the city of Mosul and its outskirts to shield themselves from air strikes.

Over the past few days, it said s about 2,500 civilians were abducted from the town of Hamam al-Alil, with some people were being told they would be transported to Syria. The agency said it also continues to receive reports of mass killings.

Human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said last Monday IS, also known as ISIL, reportedly killed 50 of its own militants in the Ghazlani military base in Mosul for alleged desertion.

She said there also are credible reports of 380 people being killed on Wednesday in Mosul and the nearby town of Kokjali. We have reports that ISIL militants are holding captive nearly 400 women from Kurdish, Yazidi or Shia Muslim communities in Tal Afar."

"We do not know how many of them belong to which of these minority groups ," added Shamdasani. "But, we are obviously very, very concerned because these are particularly vulnerable populations. They are women, they are minorities, and we are very worried about what might transpire.

Shamdasani said IS reportedly also has been forcibly recruiting very young children to fight in Mosul since the Iraqi government operation to retake the city began October 17.

We do not have the exact numbers," said Shamdasani. "But, what we do know is that ISIL has been ordering the residents of Hamam al-Alil city, for example, to hand in, to surrender all children who are aged at least nine or 10 to the group. And, apparently, they have also been using loud speakers mounted at the back of pick-up trucks or the back of vehicles and threatening severe punishment for families that do not comply with their order.

The U.N. agency said it has received reports of civilians killed by airstrikes, including one on Wednesday that reportedly killed four women and wounded 17 other civilians in a neighborhood in eastern Mosul.

The agency is calling on the Iraqi government and its allies to conduct military operations in accordance with international humanitarian law and to take precautions to avoid and minimize loss of civilian life.
A massive demonstration in Jakarta against the governor turned violent Friday night when protesters burned police cars and officers responded with tear gas and water cannons. Police say at least one person was killed and seven wounded in the violence.

The scenes capped off a dramatic day that brought more than 50,000 hard-line Muslim protesters onto the streets to voice their ire at the city's Chinese-Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who has been accused of blasphemy.

Tensions were high across the capital throughout the day, exacerbated by reports that Islamic State members in Syria had posted messages on social media calling for their followers to carry out attacks during the protest.

The marchers  led by the radical Islamic Defender's Front (FPI)  arrived from across the archipelago to voice their opposition to Basuki, known as "Ahok", who is seeking re-election as Jakarta's governor, in February.

Some chanted "death to Ahok" while others stamped on placards of his image, but violence was averted during the day.

Tensions rose as night fell and tear gas was fired after demonstrators began throwing plastic bottles at their officers early in the evening.

The saga began in October, when Ahok dismissed his political opponents who had cited a Quranic verse that warns against Muslims supporting non-believers.

The embattled governor said that Jakartans had "been lied to" by the verse in question and remarked, "If you feel you can't vote for me because you fear you'll go to hell  no worries. That's your personal right."

Ahok has since apologized and said he never intended to cause offense, but it has done little to placate members of the FPI, who have frequently rallied against him during his tenure as governor. Many among their numbers are enraged that a majority Muslim city is administered by a Christian.

While the outrage of Indonesia's hard Islamic right has dominated Indonesia's headlines in the run up to today's much-hyped protest, voices from the moderate majority have sought to calm tensions.

Both of Indonesia's largest moderate organizations: Muhammadiyah, and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)  whose memberships number in the tens of millions  told their supporters not to attend the rally, although they did not prohibit it.

Speaking to VOA, Asbit Panatagara, an NU activist, stressed that his organization is "committed to pluralism" and that the reaction to Ahok was overblown. Other moderate leaders have sought to underscore the ideal of a moderate, multicultural Indonesia.

Those who share this vision will be heartened by Ahok's enduring popularity. The governor's public intolerance for time-wasting bureaucrats has won him widespread support. His successes in improving public transport and flood defenses have also helped to boost his approval ratings to 69%, according to some local polls.

"I think for everyday Jakartans religious background is not really a big issue [in picking a governor]," Rendi Witular, editor of the Jakarta Post.

"What they believe is in the performance of the candidate himself, their credentials, and their vision, instead of religious sentiment.

"But there are several fringe radical groups who want to force this issue."

Critics say that the central government, led by President Joko Widodo, has not done enough to face down these radical groups and that hatred and bigotry is being allowed to grow.

Sidney Jones, a longtime analyst of Islamic radicalism and terrorism in Southeast Asia, earlier this month blamed "spineless political leaders" for allowing extremism to foment.

"No one dares draw a line and recognize religiously-inspired incitement for what it is, let alone condemn it or take measures to stop it," she said.

Jones also fears that growing conservatism in Indonesia's political discourse is creating the conditions for resurgent Islamic terror.
In a blow to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a U.S. judge Thursday upheld a Pennsylvania state law that could make it difficult for his supporters to monitor Election Day activity in Democratic-leaning areas.

Trump has repeatedly said Tuesdays presidential election may be rigged, while providing scant evidence, and he has urged supporters to keep an eye out for signs of voting fraud in Philadelphia and other heavily Democratic areas.

Intimidation could sway vote

Democrats worry that could encourage Trump supporters to harass minority voters in a state that could determine whether Trump or his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, wins the presidency. Voting-rights advocates said they are receiving reports of harassment.

Democrats have launched a legal blitz of their own in an attempt to shut down Trumps poll-watching efforts in Pennsylvania and three other battleground states, arguing in lawsuits that Republican monitoring efforts amount to vigilante voter intimidation that violates federal law. They filed a fourth lawsuit in North Carolina Thursday.

Democrats are also trying to stop the Republican National Committee from supporting the poll-watching efforts of the Trump campaign or state parties. Those cases have not yet been resolved.

The RNC has said in legal motions that it is not involved in poll watching, which would violate a long-standing court order. State parties have argued that they are engaged in legitimate efforts to make sure the election is conducted accurately, while Trumps vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, and his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said they misspoke when they told media outlets that the campaign was working with the RNC on poll-watching efforts.

Judge: Too late to change law

In Pennsylvania, Trumps poll-monitoring plan faces a significant hurdle because state law requires partisan poll watchers to perform their duties in the county in which they are registered to vote. That could make it difficult to recruit monitors in places like Philadelphia, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of 8 to 1. The city has 120,000 registered Republicans and 1,685 voting locations.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party sought to suspend that requirement so that poll monitors could come from anywhere in the state, which would enable them to bring in supporters from suburban and rural areas where Trump has stronger support.

But U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert said it would be too disruptive to change the law less than a week before Tuesdays vote. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania did not respond to a request for comment.

Republican training materials submitted as evidence in several cases show the party is instructing poll monitors not to interact directly with voters, but to contact officials if they see a problem.

That appeared to be the message in southern Ohio as well, where Trump supporter Becky Covey said the observers she had recruited were told not to interfere with voting activity.

People think theyre going to be a watchdog, but thats not their job, Covey said.

Those guidelines could have little influence on Trump supporters who decide to engage in anti-fraud efforts of their own on Election Day.

The Oath Keepers, a paramilitary group, plans an undercover effort to monitor voting locations, while Trump ally Roger Stone is mobilizing supporters to conduct an exit poll to double-check election results. One right-wing group told the news website Politico that it has installed hidden cameras in Philadelphia polling stations.

Watch: Electoral College Plays Key Role in US Vote

Harassment complaints up

With early voting underway, civil rights advocates said they were receiving reports of intimidation and harassment. Palm Beach County, Florida, plans to station law enforcement officers at an early-voting site through Election Day after fielding complaints about bullhorn-wielding Trump supporters getting too close, according to ProPublica.

Democrats in Nevada alleged that Trump supporters have yelled at voters and tried to block them from entering early-voting sites, while civil-rights groups in North Carolina and Texas said they have received reports of intimidating behavior at early voting sites.

We are seeing an uptick in the number of complaints compared to 2012, said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a watchdog group.
A small town in northwest Kansas is home to a museum honoring those who lost in their bid to become U.S. president.

For over 50 years, the They Also Ran gallery in Norton, Kansas, has been honoring campaign losers by displaying their portraits. Now the tiny museum has readied a place for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

Museum officials insist the gallery exists not to mock losers but to highlight their spirit and hard work.

No one likes the guy who comes in second place, but were proud of the people who tried, said Lee Ann Shearer, the exhibits longtime curator told Time magazine. Were not dissing you because you didnt make president. It takes a lot of guts. You almost achieved the highest office in the country and imagine the feeling of defeat when you dont get it.

Her feelings were echoed by city councilor Roberta Ryan.

These guys deserve some recognition for having the guts to run for president. The president gets his due, and these guys were just left by the wayside, Ryan told the Boston Globe newspaper. This is a gentle reminder that these fellas are part of our history. And a lot of them probably worked harder than the vice presidents.

Currently, the walls of the museum are adorned with 60 black and white images of presidential runners-up. Trump or Clinton will be the 61st.

Full disclosure: Shearer told Time she hopes shell be putting up a photo of Clinton on inauguration day, January 20, 2017. It would be our first female here, too, she said. Weve had 60 guys. Wed probably like a lady in here.

So far, only one of the honored also-rans has paid the museum a visit: native Kansan and former senator Bob Dole, who lost his bid for the White House in 1996 when Bill Clinton was elected.

The museum has yet to become a tourist hot spot, attracting only 250 visitors per year. However, some of those have come from as far away as Germany.

You never have those 'almosts' all in one spot, Shearer said. Theyre easily forgotten, but since we have them in place here, theyre not forgotten. They were part of the fabric of our country. If they didnt make president, they sure worked hard for the country they love.
Hundreds of French police began dismantling a huge migrant camp in northeastern Paris Friday amid a government effort to take refugees off the streets and into shelters.

Aid groups said at least 3,000 people occupied the camp in the area along a canal between the Stalingrad and Jaures metro stations.

Scores of migrants held their belongings while waiting to for buses to take them to a center were they could get properly processed.

My teams will be on site in the reception centers where they are going to arrive and we will be accompanied by translators, Didier Leschi, director at the French Office of Immigration and Integration, said.

We are going to explain two things to them. The first is that they are going to have a temporary welcome in Ile de France and afterward they will be oriented toward welcome centers in the provinces and at the same time we are going to explain to them how to apply for asylum, he added.

Orientation process

Police arrived at dawn to wake up people sleeping in tents or on mattresses. Some were confused and worried about where they would go this time.

This is the biggest operation sheltering migrants we have had to face in the last 18 months.  You have to realize that these people have been expecting this operation for several days and seeing the buses coming in, they try to make sure they are doing to go on one of them, Christine Gauthier, chief of operations at the Regional Directorate for Shelter and Housing in Ile de France.

So yes, there is a lot of pushing and yes there is police around just to make sure theres no accident when people try to gather around the buses and get first in. Its always like that, she said.

The Stalingrad area has been cleared by authorities more than once and migrants arriving in Paris often settle in the area.

The police operation to clear Stalingrad comes a week after President Francois Hollande emptied a camp known as "the jungle" near Calais. The dire conditions in the camp became a high-profile symbol of Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.

"We cannot tolerate camps," Hollande said, calling the street encampments "not worthy" of France. "We will evacuate the camps in Paris, because it cannot be a long-lasting solution" for migrant refugees who escape war and poverty in their countries of origin.

British welcome



The president said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to ensure that British officials would "play their part" in welcoming them to Britain.

Hollande said 5,000 migrants had been evacuated from the Calais camp in the past week and transferred to 450 reception centers around France.

Anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain and France has complicated efforts to address the long-running Calais migrant situation.
The United States is doubling-down on its Syrian allies, insisting they are capable of planning and launching an assault to dislodge the Islamic State terror group from its self-styled capital of Raqqa.

For more than a week, officials have spoken of the urgent need to begin the assault on the IS stronghold despite concerns about the readiness of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the objections of allies, like Turkey.

But a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said Thursday the SDF is ready to at least start encircling the city while planning for its eventual liberation.

"We do believe that they have the expertise," Col. John Dorrian told Pentagon reporters during a briefing from Baghdad.

"They were very successful in developing a plan for the liberation of Manbij," he said. "And we believe that certainly, with coalition help, they can do the same in Raqqa."

Airstrikes take out roads

Already, the U.S. says it has conducted more than 100 airstrikes to take out roads used by IS to move both fighters and supplies in and out of Raqqa.

But now officials say they want to "tighten the noose," using 30,000 to 40,000 SDF troops to encircle and move towards the city to further reduce the ability of IS to maneuver.

Turkish opposition

The plan, though, has run into stiff opposition from Turkey, which has made it clear it wants the U.S. to wait.

"It would be better both militarily and strategically to conduct this operation after the Mosul operation and Turkey's Euphrates Shield operation are completed," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters in Ankara on Monday.

Turkey has also voiced objections due to the make-up of the SDF, almost two-thirds of which is Kurdish.

Some of the most capable and effective of those Kurdish forces are People's Protection Units, or YPG, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization.

More forces needed

Further complicating matters is that even the U.S. admits not all the forces needed to liberate Raqqa from IS hands are in place.

"There is an intent to enlarge the force, and in particular, the Arab contingent of the force because we do understand that Raqqa is primarily an Arab city," said Operation Inherent Resolve's Col. Dorian.

"We intend to train as many of them as we possibly can," he said, adding that once recruited, the new forces could be ready to fight within a couple of weeks.
On the night I arrived in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan's capital, a Cuban band was playing in the restaurant at my hotel. The first song I heard it perform with a distinctive Caribbean verve was John Lennons Imagine. The plea for a world without killing seemed highly appropriate, if forlorn.

Kurdistan is part of Mesopotamia, a cradle of civilization that witnessed such crucial developments in human history as the invention of the wheel, the first planting of cereal crops and the first use of cursive script. The origins of modern medicine and mathematics can be traced here. Early Sumerian inhabitants were among the first to pose existential questions such as: Who are we? Where are we? How did we get here? These helped to shape ancient Greek philosophy and subsequently our modern world.

Sadly, Mesopotamia has seen more than its share of devastating war through the centuries  pitching tribes, races, religions, countries and empires against each other in terrible cycles of conflict, revenge and retaliation.

And here we are, once again witnessing what that means in human terms.

Coming to terms

As we reporters dash around clutching old tools of the trade (a pen and notebook) and those for a high-tech age (mobile phones, digital cameras, sleek laptops and even small camera-equipped drones), we can seem all too brash and brusque, I suspect, to those whose lives have been upended and thrust into turmoil and pain.

We have deadlines to meet. We don't tread lightly  although we should be doing so, considering the number of mines and booby-trap bombs Islamic State fighters have planted all around. We shove our cameras and audio recorders in the faces of bewildered and grieving people who have endured days of hearth-thumping, stomach-turning, ground-shaking shelling, who have seen relatives killed or severely injured, and soldiers who have seen their buddies blown apart. We can, in short, come across as callous.

All I can say in defense of our reportorial bluster and striving is that the people we film and write about stay with us. The stories that fix in my mind  and play on the minds of my colleagues, I know from conversations with them  are all too often ones about children.

Thinking of the children

One child is on my mind these days: 3-year-old Noor, whose left leg was terribly injured in an airstrike two weeks ago as the Mosul offensive started. I wrote about her earlier this week.

Kurdish surgeons in Irbil are struggling to save the toddlers leg and shes gone through several operations. As I and my fixer, the indefatigable and kindly Dlshad Zamua, a professor of archaeology, were reporting in Mosul on Thursday, he heard that surgeons had to amputate three of the girls toes and remain unsure how she will progress.

Aside from Noors suffering now, I wonder how the injury will alter her life, how it will affect her character, her marriage prospects and the chances shell have kids herself. And how will that affect her family, not just in terms of the distress they feel now but through the coming years? Individual wounds injure entire families. A death doesnt just cut off one life, the absence reduces possibilities. The Talmud says when you lose a life, you lose a world.

Sadly, of course, there are hundreds of children like Noor in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Dlshad has been busy collecting money to buy Noor an iPad mini. Norwegian Kurds sent him money after reading VOAs story about the Sunni girl. A Kurdish woman contacted Dlshad to say she would buy any clothes the toddler needs.

Warm welcome

The Kurdish response to the thousands of mainly Sunni Muslims streaming from Mosul has been warm. Peshmerga fighters at the checkpoints along the Mosul-Irbil highway greet the displaced civilians with cries of on our eyes, a traditional welcome.

The Iraqi Kurds have shown great patience with the huge numbers of displaced in their midst. Some 800,000 people  mainly Sunni Muslims, but also Christians and Kurdish Shiites  flooded into Kurdistan in 2014 when Islamic State militants overran Mosul and declared their caliphate of fear straddling Iraq and Syria. More than 40,000 have arrived since the Mosul offensive began more than two weeks ago. Judging by the streams of thousands leaving Mosul Thursday, there will be more waves as the fighting goes deeper into the city.

Irbil and other Kurdish towns are straining at the seams and, unsurprisingly, there is some anti-Arab sentiment in Kurdistan. It tends to bubble up when IS fighters launch assaults on Kurdish towns or when theres any evidence of collusion between attackers and displaced Arabs in Kurdistan. Occasionally, you can see anti-Arab stickers on cars, and, much as in any other country, deeply unpleasant racist comments can be read on social media.

But considering the strain on cash-strapped Kurdistan  public-sector salaries have been cut by three-quarters, and peshmerga, doctors, teachers and municipal workers are waiting still for their meager August salaries  it is an inspiring relief that anti-Arab sentiment is not more widespread and intense.

Kurds moment?

The Kurds certainly feel it is their moment to establish an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq  the first stage, they hope, in an eventual homeland that will unite Kurds in one country across the region but will be inclusive of minorities, too, they insist.

And it isnt just the Kurds of Iraq who are on the front lines battling to realize that age-old dream.

Some have given up safe lives in Europe to come here. One is Commander Rebawar, an Iranian Kurd who for the last 20 of his 47 years had been living in Sweden and raising bees. He proudly tells me he has two hives back at the main base outside Irbil. His detachment perches above the town of Bashiqa, 30 kilometers from Mosul.

In Bashiqa, still occupied by IS militants, there are a brother and sister from Iran. In a visit earlier this week, I asked what they were doing before they enlisted with the Revolutionary Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan.

Horse smugglers, they told me  a response I was not expecting.

Down a winding road from the Bashiqa front lines  near Iraqsoldest monastery and church, housing the tomb of St. Matthew  lies the headquarters of the peshmergas 7th Division. The divisions gruff, chain-smoking commander, General Nuraddin Tatarkhan, knows all about cycles of war. Hes a 36-year military veteran who fought in the Iraqi army during the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf war.

I covered the Gulf war but from the other side, I tell the general.

Dlshad looks on in amazement as two old guys share stories about a war that seems like ancient history now.

Are you tired of war? I ask the general.

He sighs. When Kurdistan declares independence, he says, I will stop and write a book.
Embattled South Korean President Park Geun-hye apologized for the second time in a national address Friday, trying to quell the growing calls for her resignation over a corruption scandal crippling her administration.

"I feel the deepest regret and apologize to the people of Korea who entrusted me in this position of the presidency. And it breaks my heart to cause this much pain to the people of Korea," Park said.



An investigation into an alleged multimillion-dollar influence-peddling scheme involving the presidents longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, has shattered Parks image as an incorruptible leader and left her increasingly isolated. It has forced top aides to resign and possibly face criminal indictments, and led Park to sack the country's prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn, on Wednesday.

Shamanistic control

Choi is in custody, and the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant that gives authorities up to 20 days before they must formally charge or release her.

On Thursday night, Jeong Ho-seong, a former secretary in charge of the presidents private affairs, was arrested for allegedly leaking confidential and possibly classified presidential documents to Choi.

Choi is accused of exercising a cultlike influence over Park and control over her staff, though she had no official government role. Choi also is being investigated over suspicions that she exploited her relationship with the president to coerce large corporations to donate more than $68 million to two sports foundations, funneling much of that money to her private businesses.

Samsung Electronics reportedly transferred more than $3 million directly to a German sports company established by Choi and her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.

Last week when the scandal first became public, Park issued an apology but did not elaborate on her relationship with Choi, other than to say her friend had helped her with "difficulties in the past."

On Friday, Park said she had tried to avoid any conflict of interest in her administration by detaching herself from her family. The leader said she misguidedly put her trust in Choi, who she said likely used their friendship for personal gain, and in close advisers, who may have also engaged in illegal acts without her knowledge or consent.

"Looking back I trusted my personal relationship with her and I didnt know what was going on and I didnt put high standards on people around me who had personal relationships with me," she said.

Park denied the sensational allegations that she was involved in cultlike or shamanistic rituals with the Choi family.

Katharine Moon, Nonresident Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institutions Center for East Asia Policy Studies and professor at Wellesley College says, Parks credibility, her psychological state of being, her ability to discern facts, her ability to have reality squarely on her shoulders in order to make decisions, theyre all going to be in question because of her very close association with an alleged cult leaders daughter and alleged shaman.

Friends since 1970s

Park's relationship with Choi's family dates to the 1970s, during her father's presidency. Park Chung-hee came to power in a 1963 coup and led the country until his death in 1979.

Chois father, Choi Tae-min, founded and led a religious sect called the Eternal Life Church. He became a mentor to Park while she was acting as first lady, after her mother was killed during a 1974 assassination attempt on her father.

A 2007 diplomatic cable from the U.S. embassy in Seoul, released by WikiLeaks, described Chois father as having "complete control over the body and soul" of Park during her formative years.

Choi Soon-sil is rumored to maintain a similar hold on Park, allegedly influencing her positions, including a hard-line stance on North Korea.

Choi has reportedly said she believed North Korea would collapse within two years, based on spirits that spoke to her.

The South Korean president, in her address, said she would allow investigators to question her about the scandal, if necessary. That could set a new legal precedent: No sitting South Korean president has been directly questioned by prosecutors in an investigation.

Opposition

Park cautioned lawmakers against letting their outrage over the scandal paralyze the government, especially while the North Korean nuclear threat is growing and the economy is weakening.

Choo Mi-ae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the presidents speech, saying more than an apology is needed.

"She does not recognize the graveness of the crisis she caused to the system within the Republic of Korea. She is just focusing on maintenance of her power," Choo said.

Opposition parties holding a majority in the National Assembly have called for the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate possible wrongdoing by Parks administration. They say the counsel should not report to the Ministry of Justice, which the president controls.

They also demand the president withdraw from nominating a new prime minister and instead let the National Assembly make the selection.

Park has attempted to reshuffle her top leadership to appease her critics, including naming Kim Byong-joon as the new prime minister. Kim is a university professor who was affiliated with a major opposition party in the past. But opposition parties are refusing to hold a hearing in the National Assembly to approve his appointment.

In South Korea, the prime minister is the next in line to assume the presidency if the elected leader resigns or dies in office.

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday granted an arrest warrant for Choi that allows authorities to continue to hold her in custody for a maximum 20 days before they have to formally charge or release her.

And prosecutors on Thursday night arrested Jeong Ho-seong, a former secretary in charge of the president's private affairs, for allegedly leaking confidential and possibly classified presidential documents to Choi.

Geopolitical implications



The scandal, protests, and investigations are taking place as South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, Kim Hong-kyun, and his U.S. counterpart, Joseph Yun, are meeting in Seoul. This is in addition to Japan and South Korea trying to work out a bilateral intelligence sharing deal thats been years in the making.



Jonathan Miller, EastWest Institute's Fellow for the China, East Asia, and United States Program says he thinks that they [South Korea] are in the right geopolitical space, to get this deal done, but the problem always is the domestic political arena, especially in South Korea. So under this current crisis, it does lead to some questions of Parks ability to get a deal like this done.



Miller remains cautiously optimistic that South Korea and Japan reach an agreement, but he notes that anytime youre doing a deal with Japan involving military or intelligence its going to be highly critiqued domestically, and with everything else going on, these matters become more challenging.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy brought six new ministers into his cabinet on Thursday, but opposition leaders said his new team showed no sign of being open to the dialogue his minority government will need to survive.

The conservative Rajoy named a new, younger 13-member cabinet, including five women, for his second term after he won a parliamentary confidence vote Saturday, ending 10 months of political paralysis that included two inconclusive elections.

But Rajoy's lineup was strongly criticized by opposition parties, which said it would pursue the same austerity policies as before and seemed disinclined to negotiations Rajoy has promised to win support for his legislation.

"It is a government that is not qualified for dialogue," Socialist spokesman Mario Jimenez told reporters.

Rajoy retained trusted confidants like Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, who will take charge of relations with Spain's autonomous regions at a time when the wealthy northeastern Catalonia region plans an independence referendum.

He gave an expanded role to Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, handing him the industry portfolio as well, but kept Cristobal Montoro as budget minister, dashing expectations that he might create one powerful economy and finance ministry.

The cabinet is drawn mainly from Rajoy's Popular Party (PP), with no gesture to rivals such as appointing a true independent.

Unless it can get parties such as the Socialists on board, Rajoy's government will have problems passing its budget and other laws, and analysts say it might not survive a full term.

Anti-austerity Podemos, the third-biggest party in parliament, also condemned the cabinet, predicting it would push through more public spending cuts. "With this government, the cuts, insecurity and social suffering are going to continue," said Rafa Mayoral, a Podemos legislator.

Policy coordination

Political risk consultants Teneo Intelligence said the continued split between the budget and economy portfolios "bodes badly for the coordination of economic policy and fiscal consolidation."

Rajoy, 61, governed with an absolute majority between 2011 and 2015, a period when unemployment peaked at 27 percent and Spain's banks needed a 41 billion euro ($45 billion) European bailout, but he must now adapt to a new political reality.

The PP won two elections in December 2015 and June but without a majority.

De Guindos is generally respected by his counterparts abroad after steering Spain out of recession and into a strong recovery during Rajoy's first term.

The 2017 budget will be one of the new government's top priorities.

Spain, the euro zone's fourth-biggest economy, needs to shrink its budget deficit to 3.1 percent of output in 2017 from an expected 4.6 percent this year to meet targets agreed with Brussels. That may require 5 billion euros of spending cuts or higher taxes.

PP Secretary-General Maria Dolores de Cospedal was given a cabinet post for the first time, as defense minister.

Rajoy replaced 72-year-old Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo with Alfonso Dastis, Spain's ambassador to the EU, reflecting Madrid's wish to play a more prominent role on the European stage at a time when there will be negotiations on Britain's exit from the bloc.

Rajoy will be able to count on backing from the liberal Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, the fourth-largest group in parliament, on 150 previously agreed measures to tackle political corruption and reform the electoral system. But even with Ciudadanos' backing, Rajoy's PP lacks a majority.
Ice has been disappearing in the Arctic Ocean since at least the 1960. Each year, more and more sea ice vanishes in the Arctic north, and one study says every one of us is personally responsible.

Each passenger taking a flight from New York to Europe, or driving 4,000 kilometers in a gasoline-powered car, emits enough greenhouse gas to melt three square meters of ice on the Arctic Ocean, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The study calculates that for every metric ton of carbon dioxide put in the air, there are three square meters less of sea ice in the month of September when the Arctic region is least frozen. Using observations, statistics and 30 different computer models, the studys authors show heat-trapping gases cause warming and the melting of sea ice in a way that can be translated into a simple mathematical formula.

There's "a very clear linear relationship'' between carbon dioxide emissions and sea ice retreat in September, especially at the southern boundary edges, said study lead author Dirk Notz, a climate scientist at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany.

"It's very simple. Those emissions from our tailpipes and our coal-fired power plants are all going into the atmosphere,'' said study co-author Julienne Stroeve, a climate scientist at both the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, and University College, London. "It just increases the warming at the surface. So the ice is going to respond to that. The only way it can do that is to move further north.''

Stroeve and Notz calculated that the average American each year is responsible for carbon emissions that lead to melting around 50 square meters of September sea ice  about the size of small one-bedroom apartment in a U.S. city.

Many animal species in the Arctic heavily depend on sea ice, and it's likely they will struggle to survive with an ice-free Arctic during the summer, Notz said. For example, polar bears, who spend most of their lives on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean, could be at risk.

As for the future of Arctic sea ice, the study said the international target of 2 degrees Celsius of global warming, as spelled out in the Paris Agreement on climate change that goes into effect Friday, will not be sufficient to allow Arctic summer sea ice to survive. At current carbon emission levels, the ocean around the North Pole would likely be ice-free in Septembers in about 30 years.
Hundreds of prominent economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners, say Republican Donald Trump is a dangerous, destructive choice for president. In a similar letter, also published in the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of other economists say Democrat Hillary Clinton would continue policies that have done too little to boost the slowly growing U.S. economy.

Donald Trump

Trump calls for sharp cuts in taxes and regulations, while increasing oil and coal production in a bid to boost the economy that he says is growing far too slowly.

He says the economy has been hurt by flawed foreign trade deals that cost millions of American manufacturing jobs. Trump would raise tariffs on Chinese and Mexican goods and seek tougher deals with trading partners.

We have to renegotiate our trade deals, he says.

But economists say that would hurt trade and U.S. economic growth because China and Mexico would retaliate with higher tariffs, slowing demand for U.S.-made products and the jobs they support.

Trump policies would cost jobs, according to Marcus Noland at Peterson Institute for International Economics. He says a Trump victory would mean The United States economy goes into a mild recession, private sector job losses ... are 4.8 million.

Hillary Clinton

Clinton supported a major free trade deal, the Trans Pacific Partnership, as secretary of state, drawing criticism from political opponents. She now opposes the TPP, prompting critics to say her change of policy is political opportunism. But Clinton says the TPP deal she supported is not the agreement that finally emerged from negotiations; a deal that does too little for U.S. workers.

I will stop any trade deal that stops jobs or holds down wages, she has said.

Trump supporter and technology billionaire Peter Thiel says Clinton is out of touch with the needs and problems of working people.

All of our elite preach free trade; the highly educated people who make public policy explain that cheap imports make everyone a winner, according to economic theory, Thiel said. But in actual practice we have lost tens of thousands of factories and millions of jobs to foreign trade, devastating the heartland.

Macroeconomic Advisers founder Joel Prakken says investors are more worried by Trump than Clinton. His firm tracked stock market reactions to the changing political fortunes of the candidates.

As the odds of a Clinton victory rose, at least as recorded in the polls, we saw the [stock] market rally, and if the odds of a Clinton victory receded, we saw the market retreat.

Taxes & other issues

Clinton proposes a higher minimum wage, more taxes for the wealthy and tax changes to encourage U.S. companies to keep jobs here. Clintons conservative critics say more taxes mean less economic growth.

Critics say Trumps tax cuts would help the wealthy and increase the national debt.

The enormous U.S. debt is a hazard to the economy, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. CRFB says neither candidate has a realistic plan to put taxes and spending on a sustainable path, although they say Trumps approach is even worse than Clintons.
The campaigns of U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are criss-crossing the country in key battleground states in an attempt to energize voters as they enter the final weekend of a grueling and divisive campaign.

Clinton, who is slightly ahead in national polls among likely voters, told supporters Friday in the swing state of Pennsylvania that Trumps history of insulting people did not start when he launched his presidential campaign.

He took out a full a page ad in 1987 to insult [Republican] President Reagan so he has been an equal opportunity insulter, Clinton said to cheering supporters in Pittsburgh.



WATCH: Video of Obama scolding supporters over Trump protester

Clinton will make other campaign stops Friday in the Midwestern states of Michigan and Ohio, where she will be joined by hip-hop mogul Jay Z and his wife and musical performer Beyonce.

Trump will attend campaign rallies Friday in the swing states of New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A new poll, meanwhile, has found that a great majority of voters are "disgusted" with two presidential hopefuls but that does not appear to have discouraged millions from voting before Election Day.

A New York Times/CBS News Poll found that eighty percent of those surveyed felt the candidates' campaigns have left them repulsed. Yet, more than 36.5 million Americans have already voted early, according to the United States Elections Project.

"These are two individuals that evoke very passionate emotions on both sides," said Democratic political strategist Penny Lee. "They're both beloved within their own base and both despised by the other, so that has caused for some real polarization and very strong points of view," Lee added in an interview with VOA.



Vote for me!



David Almacy, a former White House staffer for former Republican President George W. Bush, told VOA the candidates still have some convincing to do in the waning days of the presidential campaign.

"I don't think anyone's minds are going to be changed between now and then for those who have decided they're voting on issues or political parties. I think for the undecideds in the middle, the challenge is determining between two unpopular candidates which one will actually be the better president."

Because of the strong divisiveness between Trump and Clinton, Almacy said the segment of the electorate who has remained silent about their political preferences are an untapped source of support for whomever can win them over.

Nevertheless, Almacy added: "I do think there is going to be a percentage of those who may not choose to vote because of their distaste for what we've seen over the past two years."

FBI scrutiny



As Clinton and Trump have tried to convince voters they are the right choice for the White House, they have had to endure scrutiny from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Director James Comey last week opening a new line of investigation into Clinton's improper use of a private email server when she was the country's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013.

The FBI has investigated possible links between Trump advisors and Russian financial figures. When investigating the hacking into Democratic emails, the FBI also looked into whether the cyber-attacks were attempts by Russians to influence the presidential election in Trump's favor.

None of the probes yielded any conclusive evidence that Trump is directly linked to the Russian government.

Lee, the Democratic strategist, said the FBI scrutiny is "is probably a wash" for both candidates.

"Where I do think it has perhaps dampened some enthusiasm is in the Senate races in the down ballot where you might see a little bit more ticket splitting," she said.
"Honest" and "trustworthy" are not words most Americans would use to describe the two presidential candidates - Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

In a Gallup poll conducted this week, only 32 percent of Americans would describe Clinton that way, while 36 percent would use that description for Trump. Those numbers changed little from a September poll that had 34 percent of Americans looking at Clinton as honest and trustworthy and 33 percent seeing Trump like that.

The Gallup poll revealed, however, that 50 percent of Americans think Clinton "would display good judgement in a crisis," but only 36 percent of respondents believe Trump would do the same.

Many U.S. voters find it hard to believe the presidential race is as close as it now seems. The seasoned politician seemed a sure bet against the brash billionaire, but controversies - Clinton's emails and Trump's rants against women, African Americans, Hispanics, the disabled and his fellow Republicans - clung to both, causing many voters to reconsider their votes.

Both candidates campaign Saturday in Florida, a key battleground state. A Trump event was scheduled for Saturday in New Jersey with Governor Chris Christie, but was cancelled after two of the governor's top aides were found guilty Friday on all counts for their roles in the the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.

Clinton will also host a concert with Katy Perry Saturday in Philadelphia. The Democratic candidate will be back in the City of Brotherly Love on Monday for a rally featuring what some might consider the perfect trifecta for a presidential rally - U.S. President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.

On Friday, Clinton appeared on stage in Ohio at Cleveland's Wolstein Center with hiphop music star Jay Z and his glamorous wife Beyonce. The candidate told the boisterous crowd "We have unfinished work to do, more barriers to break, and with your help, a glass ceiling to crack once and for all."

Beyonce said she wants her daughter "to grow up seeing a woman lead this country and know her possibilities are limitless."

Jay Z said Trump's "conversation is divisive" and that is why "He cannot be our president."

A constitutional crisis

Earlier Friday, at a rally in Hershey Pennsylvania, Trump poked fun at his opponent, telling the crowd, "And by the way, I didn't have to bring J Lo or Jay Z. I'm here all by myself."

Trump said Clinton is so bogged down in legal problems that her election would plunge the United States into a constitutional crisis. Democrat Clinton said her Republican opponent, if elected, would create dangerous uncertainty worldwide instead of the hopeful future she plans for the country.

President Barack Obama stepped into the political battle Friday with a full-throated defense of Clinton and a sharp denunciation of Trump. Never before have so many conservative Republicans denounced the nominee of their own party, Obama said, "And it's because Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to be president. He is temperamentally unsuited to be commander-in-chief."

Race tightens

Less than 100 hours before Election Day, opinion polls indicate a small and narrowing gap between the two candidates. Clinton still holds a slight edge over Trump nationally, due to her appeal among women and nonwhite voters, but her edge has shrunk since last month, making the election outcome less predictable.

In a detailed analysis of the two candidates' current ranking in the battleground states, whose electoral votes could tip the balance when all Americans' ballots are counted late Tuesday, The Washington Post concluded: "The electoral map is definitely moving in Donald Trump's direction."

In a potentially ominous backdrop to the heated campaign rhetoric, federal and state officials said Friday they are considering the possibility that the al-Qaida terror group may try to launch an attack in the U.S. sometime before the voting on Tuesday.

VOA's national security correspondent, Jeff Seldin, said intelligence officials are warning that the states of New York, Virginia and Texas are considered possible targets. Authorities in New York have expanded the police force assigned to protect the city's annual marathon road race on Sunday, which attracts tens of thousands of runners and spectators from many countries around the world.

Trump campaigned Friday in New Hampshire, a state that had been firmly in Clinton's column earlier, but now is considered a tossup - a race that either candidate could win.

At a rally near the Massachusetts border, Trump told his supporters a Clinton victory "would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. What a mess."

Referring to the continuing investigation of Clinton's emails during her time as secretary of state, Trump asserted, "She's likely to be under investigation for a long trial, concluding in a criminal trial. ... America deserves a government that can go to work on Day 1."

Democratic Party sues

Those charges, as well as Trump's call for his supporters to turn up as self-appointed "election observers" in certain areas of the country, prompted the Democratic Party to file a series of lawsuits Friday accusing the Republicans of trying to intimidate and confront Clinton supporters.

A federal judge in Ohio, another one of the battleground states which appears to be switching from a Democratic lead to the Republicans, ordered the Trump campaign Friday not to intimidate voters or verbally harass them.

The judge's order also appeared to shut down a planned exit poll  a survey of voters as they leave polling places  organized by Trump ally Roger Stone, who calls his project "Stop the Steal."

No charges

Clinton faces no formal charges of wrongdoing arising from the email controversy. Most of those messages were stored on a private computer server that she controlled, instead of on U.S. State Department computers, and her campaign has repeatedly rebutted Trump's contention that she acted illegally.

Meanwhile, the State Department released over 1,200 pages of additional Clinton emails Friday, under terms of a prior agreement with the Justice Department. They included mostly administrative correspondence and duplicates of previously released material, but also some messages from 2010, when the State Department and the Obama administration were hit by the stunning and embarrassing disclosure of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables by the WikiLeaks group.

A series of heavily edited emails - blacked-out in places where U.S. officials wanted to keep details and identifications anonymous - discussed how Clinton should approach world leaders in the wake of the WikiLeaks disclosures, as well as how hard she should go after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, wrote in December 2010 that an ally had suggested Clinton formulate a response similar to: "We view this not as a 'clever game' of wiki leaks but rather as a 'criminal act' against the United States of America. He [Assange] might think this is a clever game today but when he is prosecuted and if convicted he will move from being a clever cyber thief to a convicted criminal  and will find out that's a whole different kind of game."

WATCH: Obama Scolds Supporters Booing Protester

In contrast to some of the more heated rhetoric heard frequently at rallies by both major party candidates, Obama called on the Democrats he addressed in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to show restraint when confronted by opposition.

"If you want America to stay strong and respected, then we can't have a commander in chief who suggests that it's OK to torture people, [who] suggests that we should ban entire religions from our country," said Obama, critiquing Trump. The president then noticed the pro-Clinton crowd surrounding and shouting down a single protester who stood holding a pro-Trump poster.

"No, wait, wait. ... Hold up! Hold up! ... Listen ... Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second. ... I'm serious, listen up!" Obama said as he struggled to get the crowd to settle down. "You've got an older gentleman here who is supporting his candidate. ... You don't have to worry about him.

"First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech. So, second of all, it looks like he might have served in our military [due to his clothing], and we've got to respect that. Third of all, he is elderly, and fourth of all, don't boo. ... Don't boo, vote!"

Differing on economy

Clinton and Trump disagreed sharply on the economy in their separate campaign appearances Friday, just hours after the U.S. Labor Department's monthly report showed unemployment dropped to 4.9 percent as employers added 161,000 more jobs.

"I believe our economy is really poised to take off and thrive," Clinton said at a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Trump told his supporters the new government data show the U.S. economy is "an absolute disaster." He said the number of unemployed workers dropped because so many have stopped looking for work entirely, and thus are not counted by government statisticians.

Financial markets seemed to agree with Trump, with all major indexes declining again on Friday. The S&P 500, a broad measure of overall economic performance and of investors' confidence, declined for the ninth straight day; for that benchmark index, the consecutive streak of declines is now the longest in more than 35 years.

A new national poll of voters' feelings about the election (The New York Times/CBS News) released Friday showed that a large majority of voters are "disgusted" with both major presidential candidates, and 80 percent have been "repulsed" by the campaign thus far. Despite that, more than 36.5 million Americans have already cast their ballots  voting early in states that offer such an option, or casting absentee ballots  according to the United States Elections Project.

"These are two individuals that evoke very passionate emotions on both sides," said Democratic political strategist Penny Lee.

"They're both beloved within their own base and both despised by the other, so that has caused for some real polarization and very strong points of view," Lee added in an interview with VOA. For those voters who have not yet decided whom to support, she said, "the challenge is determining between two unpopular candidates which one will actually be the better president."

David Almacy, a former White House staffer for former Republican President George W. Bush, told VOA the candidates still have some convincing to do in the waning days of the presidential campaign. Because of the strong divide between Trump and Clinton, he added, those voters who have remained silent about their political preferences are an untapped source of support for whoever can win them over.

In that vein, Clinton told undecided voters Friday that Trumps history of insulting people did not start when he launched his presidential campaign.

Speaking in the swing state of Pennsylvania, the Democratic candidate recalled some of Trump's previous forays into politics, long before his presidential ambitions crystallized. He took out a full-page ad [in a major newspaper] in 1987 to insult [Republican] President Reagan, so he has been an equal opportunity insulter, Clinton said to cheering supporters in Pittsburgh.

Nevertheless, Almacy added: "I do think there is going to be a percentage of those who may not choose to vote because of their distaste for what we've seen over the past two years."
The Turkish president's head of international relations says next week's U.S. presidential elections is an opportunity to reset deeply strained relations over the Syrian civil war and demands for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for July's failed coup.



Washington and NATO ally Turkey have been at loggerheads over President Barack Obama's policy of not militarily intervening in the Syrian civil war.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's head of international relations, Ayse Sozen Usluer, said next week's U.S. presidential election is an opportunity for a change in policy.



"We are seeing the weakness of the Obama administration for a long time, for solving the problems of the region, especially in regard to the Syrian war," she said. "When we talk with the European leaders or leaders of regional powers, everybody says that we need the United States to maintaining peace in the region. That is why we expect a strong leadership from the United States."



Turkey hosts more than three million Iraqi and Syria refugees at a cost it claims to exceed $10 billion. Washington has rejected calls by Ankara to militarily support the creation of safe havens in Syria to allow some refugees to return.

Usluer believes the next U.S. president could be more receptive to its call.



"We are expecting from the new president stronger policies to be pursued in the region," she said. "In what ways, first of all in creating a safe zone in Syria."



But the main point of tension in U.S.-Turkish relations is Ankara's call for the extradition of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Gulen is accused by Turkish prosecutors of leading a terrorist organization called FETO, which it says instigated July's failed coup attempt in Ankara.



Gulen denies the charges. Washington argues Gulen's extradition is a matter for the courts. But Ankara accuses Washington of failing to comply with its extradition agreement. Usluer said the issue will top the agenda, with the new president.



"Obviously U.S.-Turkish relations are in turbulence. But turbulence can be a short period, which can be passed through," she said. "I believe if the U.S. authorities will show sincere cooperation and sincere understanding of Turkish concerns about FETO and why we want Fethullah Gulen himself be returned to Turkey.Turkish-U.S. relations can be much better easily."



With war raging across its southern border and strained diplomatic ties with Europe and many of its neighbors, Ankara is banking on whoever wins the U.S. presidential election to give it the opportunity to reset relations with its most powerful ally.
Three U.S. military trainers were killed by Jordanian security forces in an exchange of gun fire at an air base Friday, U.S. officials said.

One of the service members was dead at the scene, and two died at a hospital in Amman after being transferred to the hospital.

A Jordanian military statement said trainers were in a car that failed to stop at the gate while approaching the Al-Jar air force base in Southern Jordan. It added that a Jordanian officer was also wounded in the gun fire.

The U.S. embassy acknowledged a "security incident involving U.S. personnel" and said it was in contact with the appropriate Jordanian authorities, but did not provide more details.

Jordan receives financial assistance from the United States and is a key ally, being a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
With the denial of consular access to two U.S. citizens detained in North Korea continuing for months, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which acts on behalf of the United States, said it is making all-out efforts to accelerate their safe return home.

Torkel Stiernlof, Swedish ambassador to Pyongyang, told VOA this week the communist states detention of American citizens is one of the embassys primary concerns.

We are constantly working almost on a daily basis with these cases, Stiernlof said. Its really high on our agenda.

The detainees

Over the past year, North Korea locked up two American citizens for crimes against the state. One of the detainees is Kim Dong Chul, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen who was seized in the city of Rason on the northeast tip of North Korea in October 2015. The former Virginia resident was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in April on charges of espionage and stealing state secrets. Kim has reportedly not been allowed consular access since his arrest.

Kims sentence came on the heels of a 15-year sentence given to Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student suspected of stealing a propaganda poster from a North Korean hotel. Just over a month after Warmbiers arrest in early January, the reclusive regime released a video of him apologizing for committing the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel.

It is unknown whether the student was forced to speak. Warmbier met with a representative from the Swedish embassy in March, but since then he has not been granted consular access, according to a U.S. official who asked to remain anonymous.

Sweden represents US

Without diplomatic relations between the U.S. and North Korea, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang has been functioning as the protecting power, representing U.S. interests in the North and assuming consular responsibility for American citizens there.

In late September, a private American delegation visited the North and pleaded for Warmbiers release. The visitors met with North Korean officials and the Swedish ambassador. The visit was organized by the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, a nonprofit group led by Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor and United Nations ambassador.

In response to North Koreas detention of American citizens, the U.S. State Department is urging U.S. citizens to avoid travel to the North. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been detained in the country in the past 10 years, according to the State Department.

Lee Jee-eun contributed to this report, which was produced in collaboration with VOA Korean Service.
A soft-spoken veteran U.S. diplomat with considerable experience facing the North Koreans has been handed what may be his most challenging assignment: ambassador to the Philippines  a longtime defense treaty partner whose leader has announced a "separation" from the United States.

Sung Kim was sworn in Thursday at the State Department by Secretary of State John Kerry, who downplayed the rapidly deteriorating environment, saying he remains confident about the bilateral relationship "notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another."

The secretary of state also announced he would like to visit the Philippines again before he leaves his post.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has not only spurned Washington, but he launched obscenity-laced insults at President Barack Obama and departing ambassador Philip Goldberg, announced an end to joint military maneuvers with the U.S., and initiated a strategic pivot from Washington to Beijing.

The Chinese quickly rewarded Duterte with $9 billion worth of low-interest loans and pledged to allow Filipino fishermen back in contested waters.

Kim's experience

Kerry noted the career diplomat "has even done battle with radioactive nuclear material"  a reference to one of Kim's 12 trips to North Korea when his shoes were contaminated during an inspection of a nuclear facility there.

Cleansing the toxic relationship with the Philippines, however, will prove more complex than a replacement of footwear.

Kim, a former special envoy for denuclearization talks with North Korea and subsequently ambassador to his native South Korea, is regarded as brilliant and calm, as Kerry pointed out Thursday. While behind the scenes he is a firm negotiator and blunt in characterizing a situation, he comes off as shy and somewhat ill at ease in public speaking and interacting with the media.

One of Kim's strong points, according to Kerry, "is that he goes into difficult meeting after difficult meeting, looking as if he had just gotten out of the lotus position."

One of his predecessors as envoy to the Philippines during the tumultuous era of the dictatorial kleptocracy of President Ferdinand Marcos contends, "Sung Kim's personality might be quite nicely suited" to the job at this juncture.

Human rights

Michael Armacost, speaking to VOA News, also said the new American envoy to Manila should "be a little patient" and avoid criticizing Duterte's controversial war on drugs. Since taking office four months ago, 4,700 people have been gunned down by police and vigilantes in the Philippines.

"The killings, for which few details are known and no efforts are made at accountability, have been a profound setback for human rights and the rule of law in the Philippines," according to Human Rights Watch.

The State Department declines to confirm reports that the U.S. commercial sale of 26,000 assault rifles to Philippines law enforcement has been halted amid concerns about the killings.

U.S. officials in public also have downplayed Duterte's quick embrace of Beijing, saying the strategic and trade relationship should not be viewed as a zero-sum game. Armacost  who is the Shorenstein APARC Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University  and some other longtime Philippines watchers are optimistic about the course of the relationship.

The common interests between America and its former colony cannot quickly or easily be replaced with a Chinese embrace, they argue, notwithstanding a quarter of Filipinos able to trace some of their ancestry to China.

Strong ties

The deep connection with America for the average Filipino is quite current and lucrative: 4 million Filipinos live in the United States and 30,000 are on active duty in the U.S. military. Remittances from Filipinos in the United States total about $10 billion dollars annually  the largest single amount from any country and nearly a third of all such funds flowing into the Philippines from overseas.

"I felt a lot of love in Manila but not from everyone," said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, who recently held talks in Manila with government officials there. "An independent foreign policy is no more, no less what we expect from any partner. It doesn't mean we're at odds."

Russel declined to say whether he found a disconnect between Duterte's rhetoric and Philippines government officials.

"It's not for me to handicap the internal dynamics of the Philippines government," he told reporters. "We seek to get things done with the Philippines that are of value to them."

The freshly sworn-in Ambassador Kim, in keeping with protocol at Thursday's ceremony and characteristic of his subdued public persona, made no note of the tension between Manila and Washington in his remarks, saying nothing more direct than "I am eager to get started" and vowing "the U.S. and the Philippines are and will continue to be close friends, partners and allies."

Kim instantly received his first brush-back from Filipinos when he greeted those attending the ceremony by mispronouncing the traditional Tagalog greeting mabuhay as "mah-boo-hay."

The crowd corrected him, loudly replying in unison: "mah-boo-hai."
U.S. and state officials are looking into a possible plot by the al-Qaida terror group to launch an attack on or before the U.S. presidential election.

New York City police said Friday that they were working with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and their own intelligence units to assess the threat's credibility.

"The information lacks specificity," Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis cautioned, adding, "We take any intelligence reports regarding New York City seriously."

Speaking during a weekly segment on WNYC radio, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the threat was not new.

"I've been aware of this for several days," de Blasio said. "We are still very much assessing the credibility. It is not at all clear how credible this is."

Three states

Word of the threat emerged four days before Americans go to the polls, with intelligence officials warning the states of New York, Virginia and Texas might be targeted.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said the agency was aware of the possible threat but refused to comment on any specifics.

"As we have long said, in this environment, homegrown violent extremists could strike with little or no notice," the official told VOA. "Our concerns that violent extremists could be inspired to conduct attacks inside the U.S. have not diminished."

In its own statement, the FBI said the U.S. counterterrorism and law enforcement communities "remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks."

Already, New York City residents were being told to expect a heavy police presence for the next several days because of several high-profile events, including the New York City Marathon on Sunday and Tuesday's election.

"We're already planning an extraordinary police presence for Tuesday because for the first time in memory there will be two presidential campaigns having their victory celebrations in New York City," de Blasio told WNYC.

Virginians prepare

While New York City had been warned in advance, some police departments in Virginia said they had not been informed of any imminent threats, though they said their intelligence units had been in constant contact with the FBI and other federal agencies.

"If they do receive anything they think is credible, they'll of course follow up on it," said Officer Tawny Wright, a spokeswoman with the Fairfax County, Virginia, police.

Wright said her department was also preparing for Election Day as a matter of course. "We'll have officers in the area, and we have a plan in place," she said.

Although officials emphasized the vague nature of the threat, they admitted that trying to strike around an event like a presidential election fit well with al-Qaida's known tendencies.

And counterterror officials have warned for years that despite the Islamic State terror group's quick rise to prominence on the global stage, al-Qaida remains the most significant threat to the U.S. homeland.

"We still view al-Qaida and the various al-Qaida affiliates and nodes as a principal counterterrorism priority," National Counterterrorism Center Director Nichols Rasmussen told lawmakers in September.

No surprise

Analysts also say it's not surprising that the possible threat emanates from al-Qaida, not IS.

According to a soon-to-be released study by the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University, of the 178 individuals arrested in the U.S. on jihadist terrorism-related charges from March 2011 to July 2016, 97 were either unaffiliated with any group or had ties to al-Qaida or an al-Qaida affiliate.

"Islamic State is no doubt the most capable and the most popular right now, but other groups  al-Qaida and its franchises, for example  retain a level of interest from American jihadists," said research director Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens.

It is also likely not a coincidence that New York and Virginia are listed as potential attack targets.

"New York remains one of the biggest targets for any jihadist terrorist group because of the global eyes that are on that city, and Virginia has a sort of a disproportionate amount of terrorist-related activity," Meleagrou-Hitchens said. "It tends to be one of the places where we see a lot of American jihadists radicalizing."

Pentagon worried

Whether al-Qaida is trying to link with any jihadists living in the U.S., or whether it is trying to sneak in its own operatives, American military officials have grown increasingly concerned about a potential resurgence.

The Pentagon this past week spoke openly about quickening the pace of strikes against key al-Qaida figures.

"This remains a transregional organization," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. "They remain capable of moving around."

On October 17, a U.S. drone strike in Syria killed Haydar Kirkan, described as a senior al-Qaida facilitator and external operations planner who had ties to former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Four days later, a strike in Yemen killed Abu Hadi al Bayhani, a leader of al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula.

Then on October 23, U.S. strikes in Afghanistan targeted Faruq al-Qatani and Bilal al-Utabi, also described as senior leaders.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook called al-Qatani a senior planner for attacks against the United States with "a long history of directing deadly attacks against U.S. forces and our coalition allies."

The possible Election Day threat was first reported by CBS News.
Consumers of ride-hailing apps in China are feeling the strain of a decreasing supply of private rides at an affordable price after eight city governments implemented localized regulations to rein in online cab operators this week.

Some riders told local media that online drivers are canceling their trips for fear of punishment after the Ministry of Transportations online car-booking rules took effect on November 1.

Others complained that regulations were more stringent than expected.

Innovation stifled

Authorities are stifling innovation in China. [Now that] 70 percent of [private] cars will no longer stay in business, this is a wipe-out in disguise, lamented Senior Wu, reacting to a local media report on the new rules.

The new rules "are in favor of those interest groups in the name of reforms. The move is completely regressive and hinders the progress and development of the society, wrote another reader.

However, given China's lax enforcement, the full impact of the policy is yet to be seen.

Although the new new policy was to begin on November 1, as of Friday, only eight city governments, including Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, and Quanzhou of Fujian province, had begun to implement their new regulations.

A remaining 115 cities, including megacities such as Beijing and Shanghai, are still finalizing their rules, according to a statement on the transportation ministrys website.

Impact yet to come

Hangzhou said it will allow a four-month grace period, which means no enforcement will be executed before March of next year, the statement added.

The yet to-be-finalized rules in megacities such as Beijing and Shanghai are the most stringent. Among other restrictions, regulations in those cities are expected to require the local registration of both online drivers and their private cars.

Other cities' regulations will not be as tough, according to local media reports. For example, drivers of Shenzhen-based online platforms are not required to have a local household registration, or hukou. The rules will be the same in nearby Guangzhou.

But Guangzhou is also mulling a rule to only allow car owners to register as private app drivers within the first year after they buy their cars, a rule that has been described by some media reports as the strictest regulation around.

Lauding minor relaxation by local authorities with longer-than-expected transitional periods, Didi Chuxing, the largest operator in China, said it expects the impact to be not as dramatic and very manageable.

Our commitment has never been stronger to unleash the full potential of technology and innovation to create the future transportation system across our cities, Didi said in a reply to VOA.

Didi, however, refused to reveal how it plans to reposition itself in order to stay in business. Local media speculated that Didi has acquired a batch of new cars and is hiring qualified drivers as a way to mitigate the impact after the majority of its app drivers will be disqualified.

Didi had previously said that less than 10,000 of its 410,000 drivers in Shanghai will qualify under the new rules while four-fifths of its vehicles will soon be disqualified.

Career change

Meanwhile, many drivers who work with the apps, are also preparing for tougher days ahead.

As far as we know, a number of online app drivers, which were previously cab drivers, have decided to return back to our taxi business, said Ho, a manager of a taxi company in Hangzhou.

Traditional cab operators anticipate the sectors competition to decline as a result of the upcoming consolidation of online ride-hailing apps.

Outside Hangzhou, restrictions will also be imposed on app drivers across cities nationwide, including Shanghai. That means, there wont be as many app drivers as there used to be [to compete with us], another taxi staffer surnamed Tang told VOA.

According to a report on Chinas government portal site china.org.cn, a survey found that as many as 30 percent of app drivers, once being disqualified, may risk working as unlicensed drivers of black cars while another 28 percent plan to switch to a different line of work. Only 14 percent will try their luck in other cities, where they will be qualified to work using online platforms.

Analysts and experts have expressed mixed views about the new rules.

Some believe that ride-hailing apps, which encourage convenient private rides at an affordable price, will boost road use by passengers who could have used public transportation, adding to the woes of traffic congestion in many cities. It is, they say, within the responsibilities of local regulators to tighten rules to contain traffic congestion problems.

Traffic congestion

However, research by Professor Yan Xuedong of Beijing Jiatong University concluded that Didis online ride-hailing services had played only a small part in Beijings highly-congested traffic.

His research, which was posted online, found that when sales of Didi shot up in last years summer and winter seasons, the running speed of vehicles in Beijing streets had remained steady at an average of 26.97 km per hour as well as 26.41 km per hour during the morning peak hours and 24.92 km per hour during the evening peak hours.

The rising frequency of road users is the main reason behind the citys worsening traffic as past data show that the number of passengers using the citys subway was in proportion to Didis rising sales, he added.
Venezuela's opposition exhorted President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday to set an election and start releasing jailed activists within days, while students opposed to Vatican-led talks protested in the streets.

The opposition coalition drew hundreds of thousands into the streets when authorities quashed its drive for a referendum against Maduro last month in the country of 30 million people.

But it suspended street actions out of respect for talks with the government that began at the weekend mediated by a Papal envoy.

However, with one major party dissenting and many supporters fearful Maduro is playing for time, opposition leaders said they would wait until Nov. 11 before possibly quitting talks and returning to street tactics if demands were ignored.

Carlos Ocariz, an opposition mayor speaking on behalf of the coalition, reiterated their first demand was the revival of the referendum or a moving forward of presidential elections to the first quarter of 2017.

The next presidential vote is currently set for late 2018.

"Our second goal is the freedom of all political prisoners in Venezuela," Ocariz said, referring to what the opposition estimate are around 100 Maduro critics unfairly imprisoned.

The coalition also wants to overturn Supreme Court rulings that have annulled the opposition-led National Assembly and to name a new board to the national election council, which it accuses of favoring Maduro.

The 53-year-old socialist leader won election to replace his late mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013, but has seen his popularity plummet to just over 20 percent amid an unprecedented economic crisis in the OPEC member.

There is no indication Maduro will agree to any of the coalition's demands, and in a speech on Thursday he criticized their timetable and urged patience.

"They are creating false expectations," he said. "Nobody should leave the table, nor set an ultimatum."

Arguing that talks can never work with a government they consider a dictatorship, hundreds of students marched in Caracas and elsewhere.

"There can't be dialogue when you have political prisoners, when they deny us an election and there is hunger," said Fernando Marquez, 23, among about 150 students who faced off with police in the restive western city of San Cristobal.

Security forces fired tear gas to stop them advancing.

During 17 years of socialist rule, the government and opposition have repeatedly held talks when tensions on the street have boiled over. But all of them have quickly degenerated back into the acrimonious insults that characterize modern-day Venezuelan politics.
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U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (center, wearing brown coat) gathers with fellow DFL candidates and supporters at a farm near Garfield on Thursday, November 3rd. To the right of the senator in this photo is Gail Kulp, who is challenging incumbent Mary Franson in the Minnesota House District 8B race.
Photo-Illustration: Maya Robinson

Theres something inherently pleasing about a good British period drama. The accents, the costumes, the landscapes, and even the colloquialisms are an aesthetic treat for the eyes and ears. So as another such drama lands on television this weekend  Starzs Howards End mini-series, adapted by Kenneth Lonergan  weve rounded up all the British-produced period dramas that have recently been on the air, and sorted them in chronological order for your convenience. More a fan of the Victorian-era monarchy than 1960s detective capers? Fear not, we have all of your interests covered below.

The Viking Age

The Last Kingdom

The pitch: Set in the late 9th century, the series primarily revolves around the fictional Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who must choose between his birth country, Wessex, and the people who raised him after he was orphaned, the Danish, as a war rages between the two kingdoms.

The costumes: The Saxons and Danes have distinctive visual identities, but the costumes themselves arent inherently special. Think lots of armor and assorted battle gear.

Where can I watch it? Netflix

The Stuart Period

Versailles

The pitch: Theres a whole lot of sex and nudity on this steamy drama, which chronicles the life of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century when the Sun King decides to move his court from Paris to Versailles.

The costumes: The French courts know a thing or two about grandeur, to say the least.

Where can I watch it? Netflix

The Georgian Era

Poldark

The pitch: A debonair and stubborn captain returns to his home in Cornwall following the end of the American Revolutionary War, where he attempts to rebuild his life and faces many difficulties in the process.

The costumes: Frocks and tricorn hats and breeches galore, but its generic for the setting.

Where can I watch it? PBS, Amazon

Harlots

The pitch: A brothel owner catering to a, hmmm, more casual London crowd wages a war against a high-class brothel on the better side of the city, with the madames doing whatever it takes  even if it means selling off their daughters virginity  to bring in a bigger clientele. Sex was the hottest commodity during this era, after all.

The costumes: Theres an interesting juxtaposition between the competing brothels styles, with one favoring a vibrant French court look and the other mostly keeping to a basic, muted Georgian aesthetic. Either way, youre going to see a lot of cleavage.

Where can I watch it? Hulu

Taboo

Short pitch: A very macho man (played by Tom Hardy) returns to the bleak confines of London to attend his fathers funeral as the rightful heir of his shipping empire, which surprises everyone because they believed he was long dead. But what shouldve been an easy transition of father-scion power soon blossoms into something far more sinister, with the revelation that his father was brutally poisoned. Who would kill such a guy, and why?

The costumes: Theyre  pretty normal, we guess? Its a male-dominant show, so were mostly gazing upon some basic, monochromatic looks for gents. And hats. Lots of hats.

Where can I watch it? Hulu

The Victorian Era

Victoria

The pitch: Beginning when Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 at the age of 18, the first two seasons of this ongoing series recount everything from her early years: the romances, the politics, and the birth of her child.

The costumes: All of the most opulent wardrobes you can possibly imagine for the mid-19th-century monarchy! (The royal jewels are pretty grand, too.)

Where can I watch it? PBS

Ripper Street

The pitch: A competent group of detective inspectors and captains patrol the particularly violent area of Londons East End in the late 19th century and do their best to solve any and all crimes.

The costumes: Lots of great looks for both the men (three-piece suits, bowler hats!) and the women (bell-like silhouettes, corsets!), which provide a nice juxtaposition to the gritty cityscape.

Where can I watch it? Netflix

Interwar Britain

Downton Abbey

The pitch: If youre reading this, you know Downton. Its show that spurred the British period drama revolution over the past decade. Over the course of six seasons, the wealthy Crawley family and their workers deal with every possible hardship, triumph, pain, and joy as they try to adapt to an evolving England. Whether theyre prepared for those changes, though, is another story entirely.

The costumes: Whatever you visualize about the finest and most decadent fashions during this time period, Downton Abbey has it and more. The clothing became such a fundamental tenant of the series that they even became part of a traveling exhibition.

Where can I watch it? Amazon, PBS

Howards End

The pitch: Drama escalates between three interconnecting families  the hoity-toity Wilcoxes, the compassionate Schlegels, and the working-class Basts  when one of the charming Schelgel sisters, Margaret, is bequeathed a country estate from a Wilcox family member. Oh, and naturally, theres also romantic drama between all of them.

The costumes: Most of the action is relegated to the rich people, so you know what that means  its going to be Downton Abbeyesque, if not slightly more conservative. Margaret dresses a lot like Lady Cora!

Where can I watch it? Starz

Peaky Blinders

The pitch: A cunning gangster family  also known as the real-life Peaky Blinders gang  is the epicenter of a postWorld War I Birmingham. Their fearless leader has a penchant for violence, cunning mind tricks, and avoiding the police.

The costumes: You wont find a lot of colorful dressers in gloomy central England. This show tends toward a lot of muted, dark hues that are often paired with herringbone tweed.

Where can I watch it? Netflix

The Durrells (a.k.a. The Durrells in Corfu)

The pitch: Due to some pesky financial problems, a mother named Louisa Durrell and her four children move from the south of England to the idyllic island of Corfu in the 1930s. It takes them a bit of time to adjust to the new locale.

The costume scale: Light and airy ensembles that are perfect for spur-of-the-moment seaside strolls.

Where can I watch it? PBS

Half Postwar Britain, Half Georgian Era

Outlander

The pitch: This incredibly sexy, bonkers time-travel drama follows a former World War II nurse who gets transported back to mid-18th-century Scotland while on a trip with her husband in Inverness. Plenty of brutal historical happenings and timey-wimey romantic entanglements ensue.

The costumes: Three words: Swan. Nipple. Dress.

Where can I watch it? Starz, Amazon

Postwar Britain

Father Brown

The pitch: An astute Roman Catholic priest in a small Cotswold village helps assist the local police with solving an array of crimes.

The costumes: Conservative clergy chic for the 1950s.

Where can I watch it? PBS

The Crown

The pitch: With Claire Foy, Matt Smith, and their merry band of Windsor royals departing The Crown at the end of season two, the Netflix epic makes way for the arrival of Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies as Queen Elizabeth and her hubby Prince Philip. We already know the series will pick up with these older monarchs dealing with 1970s-based drama, but well have to be patient to see what exactly.

The costume scale: Nothing less than stunning and ornate, literally fit for a queen. You will ooh and you will ah.

Where can I watch it? Netflix

Grantchester

The pitch: An Anglican priest in the 1950s turns out to have quite the natural sleuthing chops in his cozy Cambridgeshire village, which earns him the trust and mentorship of a local detective inspector. Theyre good at solving cases together!

The costumes: Once again, clergy chic, but far more progressive than Father Brown, especially for the women.

Where can I watch it? Amazon, PBS

Call the Midwife

The pitch: A group of hardworking nurse midwives in the late 1950s juggle their difficult medical duties  in a particularly poor part of London, no less  while living in an Anglican nursing convent.

The costumes: Often drab to accompany the very drab East End, but those blue medical dresses and red cardigans are iconic.

Where can I watch it? Netflix, PBS

Inspector George Gently (a.k.a. George Gently)

The pitch: This 1960s-set drama in northern England follows an old-fashioned, methodological inspector who pursues justice with the help of his faithful sidekick sergeant.

The costumes: Pretty normal dressing for a professional, police workplace setting.

Where can I watch it? Acorn TV

Endeavour

The pitch: A diligent police constable and his equally able team solve various crimes in 1960s Oxford.

The costumes: A plethora of well-tailored, nondescript suits.

Where can I watch it? PBS

Love, Nina

The pitch: A 20-something girl moves to the buzzing metropolis of London to take a job as a live-in nanny for a single mother with two rambunctious boys.

The costumes: Exactly what you imagine people in the mid-80s to have worn. Things are starting to get a bit grungy!

Where can I watch it? No legal streaming services yet, but the episodes can be purchased on Amazon.
Stars Hollow may never change, but its residents have presumably grown in all sorts of ways since we last saw them almost ten years ago. Later this month, theyll return to our living rooms for Netflixs reboot of Gilmore Girls, premiering November 25. To show how the Gilmores & Co. have changed, weve put together a slideshow of their first looks from the pilot episode of the series 16 years ago, alongside their mugs from the upcoming revival. Most important thing to watch for as you flip through: the new hairdos. Jess has gone long, Paris is cropping it close, and Lorelai has highlights!
When Netflix and creator Peter Morgan approached veteran stage, film, and TV actor John Lithgow about taking on Sir Winston Churchill for their new series, The Crown, out today on Netflix, Lithgow says he felt nothing but sheer terror. But the story of how Queen Elizabeth II unexpectedly came to power at 25, soon after Churchill was elected prime minister for the second time at 78, proved irresistible to the actor, whos often come close to being an EGOT winner.

You dont say no to something like this, even though youre terrified, Lithgow told Vulture. The prospect of being an American playing the ultimate Englishman was very intimidating to me, especially when you consider all of the theater and film actors available in England.

But playing Churchill in his later years as a non-British actor shakes people of that mental image we all have of him, Lithgow said. What people mostly know about Churchill is that famous figure from history  his speeches. Its fascinating to look behind that, and its the reason I ignored the terror and went for it.

At a Television Critics Association panel in July, Morgan (Frost/Nixon, Rush, The Queen) credited casting director Nina Gold with the startling and imaginative suggestion to hire Lithgow. The producers immediately loved the idea because it stopped us having one of our own lovies phone it in. It gave us dividends and benefits from minute one. The very first table read, everyone was like, Oh, my God! It was such a relief and a blessing.

Ahead of The Crowns premiere, Lithgow spoke with Vulture about his physical transformation, why hes usually a lazy actor, and working for Netflix.

Tell me about your transformation. You looked like you gained 100 pounds, but it was a fat suit?

Yes, it was very easy to put on. I just needed someone to stand behind me and zip it up. That was basically it.

Your back also appears hunched.

Yeah, yeah, it made me hunch a little. There was a little beef back there. There were little rolls. I mean, it was a perfectly formulated fat body. Im about 14 inches taller than he was, so I simply thought small. I turned into my version of Churchill. That fat suit was a fabulous thing. I should have kept it.

What would you do with it?

Well, next time I have to play a fat man! Although it was not just any fat suit, it was just amazing. I used to have a photo of myself standing in the fat suit. Its the least flattering photo ever taken of me.

What about your face?

I wore little plumpers inside. They clicked onto my back teeth. Theres a marvelous guy named Chris Lyons [from Fangs F/X in London] who is a great tooth genius. He does all the Tilda Swinton teeth. He did Meryl Streeps Margaret Thatcher teeth, and he made these little blobs that click onto my back teeth, inside my mouth, and help me make speak like Winston Churchill. It all comes out of the back of his mouth. It didnt feel right not to have them on. Even in long shots where you couldnt see my face, I insisted on wearing them. I just felt like Winston Churchill, you know? And I didnt feel like him if I didnt have them on. I also jammed cotton up my nose to make my nose bulbous.

Could you breathe?

No, but neither could Churchill. He had the most gummed up pharynx and sinuses, if I really spoke the way he spoke, nobody would buy it. Nor could anybody understand me. He made a noise every once in a while  ahhh  when he talked. I mean, it was so bizarre that you had to modulate it. So sticking all this stuff inside my head only helped.

How long did production last?

Eight months. Upended my whole life. My wife is a professor. She took a sabbatical and came over to live with me, so we had this kind of second honeymoon year. I didnt really work that often, you know, thats the thing about a big ensemble show, you only work about 30 percent of the time. So we just had a great year.

What did you think about working for Netflix versus the other TV youve done?

Theyre remarkable. It felt like an extremely classy feature film project that went on and on and on. Netflix was a great host; they were there for the table reading, took the principals all out to a very fancy, expensive dinner in London, and then disappeared. We saw them again eight months later when they gave us another wonderful party when we wrapped. That was it. And [Cindy Holland, Netflixs vice president of original content] got up and made this speech that they have two great skills at Netflix: saying yes and disappearing. And it was so true! It was like we were just working for this great, British film company, doing high-quality work  the production values, the costuming, the production design, the wigs and makeup and authentic historical accuracy. Its just extraordinary. Its the kind of thing the Brits do so brilliantly, and you marry that with Peters writing and the whole concept of the thing, and its like the classiest soap opera ever created with the highest stakes historically.

What was your favorite part of playing him?

Well, my favorite episode is the last episode Im in, which is the ninth of the ten. Its just wonderful. It focuses on Churchill as an artist, as a painter, and an episode in his life where the houses of Parliament commissioned an 80th birthday gift of a portrait of him by a distinguished artist, Graham Sutherland. And he sits for the portrait and he gets to know and like the artist, played by Stephen Dillane, who is a fantastic actor, and then he hates hates the painting when he finally sees it. His old mans vanity is so injured and its absolutely heartbreaking. And its his exit from the series, really, him realizing what an old fool he is. I worked very closely with Harriet Walter, who plays Clemmy, his wife. She was magnificent in that episode and so was Stephen. That was just as good as it gets.

How does Sir Winston Churchill rank in your vast repertoire of characters?

Well, you know, whenever I do something and promote it, it tends to feel like the best experience I ever had. It will be eclipsed soon enough, but its up there. And a lot of it has to do with so many of the other elements I just described. Living in London, working only one day in five, traveling with my wife on the continent whenever we had a little break, the most wonderful friends. Ive come home from this job with more great friends than any project Ive ever done.

Was there anything you learned about Churchill that really struck you?

Im playing him as an old man. Hes a lion in winter trying to teach the Queen how to be the Queen while trying to hang on to his own power. What I found most fascinating was learning about him as a young man and how that informs him as an old man: a man full of contradictions and conflicts and desperate insecurities, a propensity for depression that he fights off by painting. All these really interesting things, you see the roots of all of them in his childhood. I didnt know any of this. I read his biography before. Ive never done quite so much research. Im a lazy actor, lazier than you would think. I dont usually do a lot of research. But this was so fascinating and I myself was so insecure about playing the part. I simply immersed myself in the history of Churchill, as much video and audio as I could find. The way I approach acting when theres a real life character, its sort of like a Venn diagram. What I come up with is some amalgam of the two of us. The entire challenge is, in my own mind, forgetting the real Churchill at a certain point and making viewers forget the real Churchill and making him just as authentic as I can. I dived into all of the research and it was really wonderful.

This interview has been edited and condensed.
Photo-Illustration: Maya Robinson/Vulture and Photos by AMC, Amazon, Showtime, WGN, ABC and NBC

There will never be another Mad Men, but that hasnt stopped the rest of TV from trying. Ever since the AMC drama premiered to (mostly) widespread acclaim in 2007, its formula inspired imitators. Don Draper, who was himself part of a lineage of antiheroes, became a model for other troubled TV geniuses. The shows deglamorized approach to the gender politics of the past became de rigueur for many period dramas that followed. And, of course, it led a collective trip back to the 1960s. While Mad Mens influences on TV may be too subtle to compile in totality, it has a spawned a specific kind of imitator, of which Amazons Good Girls Revolt is just the latest entry. Call them all the shows that tried to be the next Mad Men, whose ad campaigns and reviews inevitably referenced the show in some way or another. Some of these shows grew out of their first impressions, while others never did. But if you asked Don Draper about them, hed probably say the same thing he tells Michael Ginsberg, I dont think about you at all.

Boardwalk Empire (20102014)

Network: HBO

Number of seasons: Five.

The pitch: A political antihero conquers Prohibition-era Atlantic City.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting, difficult male lead, a fascination with the details of U.S. history

Its legacy: Blending together the influences of Mad Men, The Sopranos, Deadwood, and more into one big 1920s stew, but never quite getting the attention those shows got on their own.

The Playboy Club (2011)

Network: NBC

Number of seasons: Less than one, only three episodes aired.

The pitch: A trip down the rabbit hole with the Bunnies and the customers of Chicagos Playboy Club.

Mad Men-ish traits: The 1960s setting, the very 60s fashion, and the extremely 60s misogyny.

Its legacy: Being canceled after three episodes, failing to properly deploy Laura Benanti, often being confused for Pan Am.

Pan Am (20112012)

Network: ABC

Number of seasons: One.

The pitch: A trip to an era when air travel wasnt a total pain, and people were jealous of the lives of flight attendants.

Mad Men-ish traits: The 1960s setting, a love of plane travel, a focus on women in the workplace, fascination with sexism.

Its legacy: Far more popular outside the U.S. than in it, Pan Am won best series at the Rose dOr awards before it was canceled. By now, its mostly remembered as a footnote in the rapid ascent of Margot Robbie, who moved from Australian TVs Neighbours to Pan Am to About Time and The Wolf of Wall Street.

The Hour (20112012)

Network: BBC

Number of seasons: Two.

The pitch: Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, and Dominic West try to put on a weekly TV news show for the BBC during the 1950s.

Mad Men-ish traits: Mid-century period setting, hyper-competent female lead, fascination with workplace sexism.

Its legacy: Showcasing a bunch of strong character actors, being a British alternative to The Newsroom, remaining a lasting source of good Ben Whishaw.

The Pitch (2012)

Network: AMC

Number of seasons: One.

The pitch: Its an advertising reality show. You pitch things!

Mad Men-ish traits: A focus on the advertising industry, a belief that said industry is more fascinating onscreen than it really is in practice.

Its legacy: Further evidence that AMC really didnt know how to replace Mad Men (until The Walking Dead started to take off).

The Crazy Ones (20132014)

Network: CBS

Number of seasons: One.

The pitch: An advertising agency thats run by Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Mad Men-ish traits: Set in the advertising industry, nominally about what its like to be a woman whos misunderstood in the workplace.

Its legacy: Acting as proof that TV writers dont know how to use Sarah Michelle Gellar, being James Wolks side gig when he was also on Mad Men (screen-time-wise, Mad Men was his side gig, but did The Crazy Ones ever put Wolk in great shorts?).

The Astronaut Wives Club (2015)

Network: ABC

Number of seasons: One.

The pitch: Based on Lily Koppels book, this limited series focused on the wives of Americas spaceflight pioneers.

Mad Men-ish traits: The 1960s setting, the focus on workplace misogyny, the expensive costuming.

Its legacy: Presaging future revisionist looks at space-race history (see Hidden Figures), giving Chucks Yvonne Strahovski something to do.

The Americans (2013present)

Network: FX

Number of seasons: Four aired, two more left.

The pitch: A pair of undercover Russian spies try to hold their marriage together while conducting espionage in 1980s Washington.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting, love of symbolism, antiheroic leads, era-appropriate needle drops.

Its legacy: Making us all rethink Americas sweetheart Keri Russell, getting Russell and Matthew Rhys together in real life, leading a new fascination with the 1980s, growing into one of the best shows on TV.

Masters of Sex (20132016)

Network: Showtime

Number of seasons: Four.

The pitch: Researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson dig into the science of human sexuality, defying the rigid mores of their time.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period (1950s through 1970s) setting, obsession with love and sex, focus on sexism, hyper-competent female lead.

Its legacy: Giving Showtime a prestige period drama of its own, getting Allison Janney yet another Emmy, proving Lizzy Caplan really can do anything.

Manhattan (20142015)

Network: WGN America

Number of seasons: Two.

The pitch: A sprawling WWII drama set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where Americas best minds raced to build an atomic bomb.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting, focus on brilliant people trying to solve problems in the workplace, love of symbolism.

Its legacy: Helping WGN America kick-start its scripted TV programming, giving a Gummer something to do, being much better than most people gave it credit for.

The Knick (2014Present)

Network: Cinemax.

Number of seasons: Two, potentially more (though its unclear).

The pitch: Clive Owen pioneers new methods of surgery while working in New Yorks Knickerbocker Hospital in 1900, spilling a whole lot of blood in the process.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting, brilliant antiheroic lead, love of symbolism, fascination with workplace drama.

Its legacy: Bringing Steven Soderberghs brand of auteur filmmaking to TV, making us all very glad we figured out penicillin.

Halt and Catch Fire (2014Present)

Network: AMC

Number of seasons: Three aired, one more left.

The pitch: Lee Pace leads a group of Texas entrepreneurs looking to profit off of the personal computing boom in the early 1980s.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting, antiheroic male lead, hyper-competent female leads, love of symbolism, fascination with workplace drama, era-appropriate needle drops.

Its legacy: Turning a near-carbon copy of Mad Men into something entirely its own, staying on TV for years despite dismal ratings, proving Mackenzie Davis is a perfect fit for the 1980s.

Vinyl (2016)

Network: HBO

Number of seasons: One.

The pitch: A music executive tries to survive the 1970s, and does a whole lot of coke in the process.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting, brilliant antiheroic male lead, (occasional) fascination with workplace sexism.

Its legacy: Flopping hard, proving that audience might be over seeing the same stories play out again and again on TV.

Good Girls Revolt (2016Present)

Network: Amazon

Number of seasons: One, so far.

The pitch: A group of women working at a magazine band together in the face of gender discrimination.

Mad Men-ish traits: Period setting (19691970), focus on sexism in the workplace, era-appropriate needle drops (see: Is There All There Is? which was also used by Mad Men).

Its legacy: Who knows? For now, it gives a different Gummer something to do, while being more like Mad Men than any other show on this list.
Beyonce and The Dixie Chicks. Photo: Image Group LA/ABC via Getty Images

Last nights Country Music Association Awards were an exercise in exquisite poise, a celebration of 50 years of country history that also honored the musics modern landscape and made inroads to contemporary pop music. For many, that last piece meant Beyonce. Queen Bey was announced as a performer the day of the show and popped up two-thirds in with a stunning big-band presentation of Lemonades Daddy Lessons that blew the visual albums gripping Southern gothic version clear out of the bayou. (More on that in a bit.) This years CMAs were a more delicate balancing act than other shows of its nature care to offer; consider the VMAs constant overdrive or the BET Awards pendulous swing from trap to gospel and back every year. The CMA ceremonys lightest touch was reserved for politics, in part because smart country stars know just how many conservative fan dollars are paying for the cheese on their burgers. Beneath a veil of judicious appeasement there were layers of protest and subtle activism, though. Three of the nights performances made a case for unity amid a climate of historical Election Week division.

Beyonces Daddy Lessons remains the talk of the night for inviting the Dixie Chicks in as backup, and while many will receive the performance purely as the great crossover collaboration that it is, its important to remember the history. The Dixie Chicks are country-music superstars who were cast out of the kingdom for daring to use their platform to challenge George W. Bushs warmongering in 2003. CDs were burned; Toby Keith and Merle Haggard took public issue. The groups 2002 album Home lost every award it was nominated for at the next years CMAs. Their double platinum 2006 album Taking the Long Way didnt get nominated at all but took home the coveted Grammy for Album of the Year.

Beyonce knew exactly what she was doing pairing up with that group on that stage days before the Clinton-Trump showdown; the Daddy Lessons chorus line about taking out bad men hit hard delivered from a stage full of women who put their livelihoods on the line to speak their minds to an audience peppered with a few Trump friends and sympathizers. Whats more, the music traced a common thread between jazz, blues, soul, and country that sweetly made fools of anyone grumbling about Beyonces place at a country-music show. In a perfect world, the recorded rehearsal of the performance blows up and forces country radio to play Beyonce and come crawling back to the Dixie Chicks in one fell swoop. (Note that at press time* the CMAs social-media accounts were being accused of quietly scrubbing posts promoting the performance; they have since been reshared.)

Elsewhere in the evening, Eric Church and Tim McGraw called for grace in turbulent times. McGraw forced a moments reflection with his Damn Country Music peace anthem, Humble and Kind. The unspoken implication of McGraw being swarmed by children holding candles at the songs climax is that whatever we do, the next generation is watching. (The kids were students of Nashville teacher Ben Ellis who gathered outside his home to lead a worship service through his window in the final weeks of his battle with cancer.) Eric Church did Mr. Misunderstoods Kill a Word, and as with Tim McGraw, Beyonce, and the Dixie Chicks, his chorus (You cant unhear, and you cant unsay / But if it were up to me to change / Id turn lies and hate to love and truth / If I could only kill a word ) felt doubly necessary amid the weeks political proceedings. The message in each was subtle enough to scan as good life advice instead of crafty politics, but respect is due to all for challenging an audience without relying on open confrontation, for leading with musicianship and humility, and for looking past the middle of next week and toward the four years we have to live together under whichever candidate wins the White House. Im ready for peace and quiet, too. Are you?

*Update: The Country Music Association has since issued a statement saying, CMA has not erased any mentions of Beyonces performance on the CMA Awards, with the exception of a five-second clip that was removed prior to the broadcast, because it had not been properly approved ahead of time.


Since the earliest days of his career, Common has been branded a socially conscious rapper. Not because his music was particularly grounded in political posturing, but because he rhymed like a poet and exemplified the antithesis of gangster rap, despite hailing from Chicagos South Side. More than 20 years later, though, Common says hes only now beginning to genuinely grasp the concept of social responsibility. On the song Home, off his first true protest album, Black America Again  perfectly timed for release on November 4  he declares himself rapper-actor-activist, with special emphasis on that last descriptor.

If the last few years have proven anything, its that he means it: Hes been tirelessly outspoken about police violence; won an Oscar with John Legend for Glory from Selma (and made Chris Pine cry with a speech about mass incarceration); and has now re-teamed with Ava DuVernay for her vital new documentary 13th, contributing the song Letter to the Free. Vulture spoke with Common about the new black creative renaissance, working with Stevie Wonder, and why he controversially chose to show Alton Sterlings death in his music video.

When did you make this album? It feels both of-the-moment and representative of the last few years.

Its funny you say that, because I didnt really start writing it until early March  but it is an accumulation of things that Ive experienced within the last few years. That includes being a part of Selma and starting to be more socially and politically active. I completed it in late July, which is pretty fast for me. I had a lot that I wanted to say and felt I had a greater purpose for this album, so I had to allow that fast process to happen.

Is this the most creatively inspired youve ever been?

Yes. I reached a point where Im no longer trying to be the best MC of this era. Im just trying to be the best me and the most purposeful artist I can be. When things starts to feel like its gotta be bigger than you, you dont get in the way of it. You dont start overthinking things. With this album, when a certain person wasnt available to do something on a song, I moved on. Everything that was supposed to happen, every artist I was supposed to collaborate with, it just flowed. This is me at my most inspired.

Youve worked with legends before, but having Stevie Wonder on the title track must have been especially gratifying.

Thats one of the most monumental moments in my career. Hes one of the greatest voices and musicians ever. Just like people go back and talk about Beethoven, theyll go back and talk about Stevie Wonder. To be in the studio with him and say we collaborated on something, thats a blessing. It felt full-circle because I always used to listen to Happy Birthday and was just having fun as a kid singing it, but it was also the song that got Dr. Kings birthday to become a national holiday. Its really an activist song. So to have him on Black America Again, which is a call to action  you know, we created that in 15 minutes. It was a conversation, us sitting there listening to the music, and he asked me the meaning behind the song. Then he listened again and said those words, We are rewriting the black American story, that sums up the core of everything I wanted this album and song to be.

The songs video begins with Alton Sterlings murder, footage Ava DuVernay said she struggled to include in her documentary, 13th, for which you wrote a song. Ultimately, she felt permission from the families of victims of police brutality was needed to avoid treating black death like a spectacle, but rather historical evidence. Did you have similar reservations?

Well, first, I had never watched those images because theyre real people being killed for no reason. But when our director said we needed to include the footage because it puts people in the mind-set of what were really dealing with, I knew it was important. When you see the video now  and we also have some short films thatll be coming out soon  you see black people staring into the camera and dealing with the pain and joy of being black. Ava DuVernay showing you the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile  whose death Ive also never watched  reminds you that these are human beings that were killed. Someone interviewed in 13th says that: Were all human beings. When you see Alton Sterling being killed, you have to feel for him as a human being. So I knew we needed to use the footage for that purpose. Black life needs to be recognized as valuable and we need to be seen as human beings as much as every other color and creed on this Earth.

Have you now seen his death because of your own video?

Ive watched it maybe twice. To be honest, I turn my head most of the time. I hear it, though sometimes I even turn down the volume. I understand why people dont want to see this. I wouldnt want to watch it over and over. But even if someone watches it once and it touches them enough to be part of the change, then weve done what were supposed to do. One of the reasons I wrote this album was because Maimouna Youssef wrote this song about Sandra Bland. I watched her sing a little bit of it and it tapped me emotionally. It sparked me to write Black America Again  not immediately  but I couldnt get it out of my mind that this is a human being shes singing about. Then seeing Rodney Kings police beating  cause I went to see Straight Outta Compton  and thinking about Eric Garner and Sandra, all that repetition pushed me to say, We gotta change this.

Black art tends to thrive the most when black lives are in extreme peril. Theres been a spike in black protest music this year because of it. Do you find yourself subconsciously feeding off that energy? We saw you were inspired to remix Solanges Cranes in the Sky.

Were at a beautiful time when it comes to art because its such a critical time. Its usually times of struggle and injustice that people speak from their souls and a raw place. When I look at the music, obviously I have to cite Kendrick Lamar, Solange, and even what Beyonce did in presenting that visual blackness. Its not just the artists youd expect either  when you see Pusha T out campaigning with Tim Kaine and telling people to vote, thats beautiful. These artists care, no matter what stereotype you had about them being drug dealers or whatever. We all have something to say and express through our art.

You have all these beautiful storytellers, too: Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Donald Glover, Issa Rae  though its not protest, its important because it shows the roundness of who we are as black people. Not in a way where we have to prove something to you, but taking the platform to say, This is us. It allows the world to see our dimensions rather than stereotypes. A lot of the only images you see of black people on the news is in handcuffs. If thats the only way you know black people, or through hip-hop, you can miss our depth. Thats why its so great to have Atlanta, a black superhero like Luke Cage, and 13th. Im grateful to have written for 13th because it gave me another platform to talk about whats important.

Plus, it could also get you another Oscar.

Yes! Cmon, hey, speak it into existence. Dont get me wrong, Id be very grateful to be in that conversation again [Laughs].

In a few days, well reach another turning point in American history. How are you feeling about this election and the end of our first black presidency?

Obamas done a wonderful job as a president. He did everything he could do with all the resistance he was getting. I think our country is gonna go in a great direction because people want to speak up for whats unjust. The younger generation is making themselves present; its the movement that we need to change our political structure. I look at the people out there marching  now all we need is the right direction. Ive been in talks with people who are organizing toward policy change. Hopefully, well get our first woman president and thatll be a positive direction. But if it happens, we have to hold her accountable, too, which is why young people need to be active. Weve got work to do.

This interview has been edited and condensed.


In case anyone needs to brush up on their British history, the Great Smog of London was a real event. As we learn at the end of this episode, the smog caused many thousands of deaths and led to air-pollution reform in the years that followed. The remarkable cinematography of this episode is no exaggeration: Heavy blankets of greasy brown fog choked London for days. There was indeed a crime spree, as police officers were unable to see what was happening ten feet in front of them. Hospitals were overwhelmed.

Initially, there was governmental resistance to doing anything about the pollution. The Clean Air Act wouldnt be passed until 1956, and there was a general sense that pea-soupers were a way of life in London, not something that government could effectively change. After all, smog as a result of burning coal has been a problem in England since literally the 13th century. In this regard, Act of God feels quite true to history and what the smog would do.

But as for beautiful Venetia Scott, her poor coughing roommate, and Winston Churchills overwhelmed response to her death and his own age  well, this seems like the inspired by real events part of The Crown. (I will be happily corrected if anyone can find me a source that says otherwise.) From what I can tell, the entire Clement Attlee plot is hard to nail down as historical fact. I imagine any political opposition wouldve been similarly opportunistic about the lack of governmental response, but reports suggest that no one really knew what a big deal the pollution would be. A doctor who lived through the smog disaster recalled that there was no sense of drama or emergency. So whats going on here? Why did The Crown create this Churchill-obsessed, proto-millennial youth, only to knock her over with a bus?

First and foremost, the Great Smog is exactly the sort of thing that seems in retrospect like a very big to-do. The event was a tragedy, to be sure  thousands and thousands of people died, there was looting and mayhem  and it makes for a great narrative foundation. It could so easily be the story suggested by the episode title, an act of God like a hurricane or an earthquake that initiates government response and handily brings together the themes The Crown has already been brewing. Its a collision of an Old World understanding with the increasingly hard-to-ignore realities of post-WWII life. It could be another conflict between Elizabeth II and Churchill in the early days of her reign. Its a useful meditation on the limits of the queens power and the frustration of being stuck as an unbiased, personality-free national symbol.

But the real smog has no easy historical narrative arc to it, not unless youre going to reach forward to 1956 and tie in the Clean Air Act (which Act of God tries to do with its closing captions). Enter Venetia Scott, whom The Crown uses to give some shape to its smog story, and also to create stakes and poignancy for Churchill. Without her, this episode essentially reads as follows: The smog descends on London, major characters dither but ultimately do nothing at all, and four years later, actual legislation is passed to address the issue but it has nothing to do with these characters. As it is, Act of God is an episode about people making the choice to do nothing. With Venetia, the smog can be a moment of reckoning for Churchill. For this particular event, it redeems him in the eyes of history by giving him a retroactively appropriate response to the tragedy. And lets not forget this series is also about a very old prime minister who has trouble finding respect for his very young queen. For Churchill, Venetia becomes a parallel for Elizabeth.

To its credit, the episode dramatizes the difficulty of doing nothing fairly well. Elizabeths meeting with Queen Mary feels like a thesis on the entire project of modern monarchy. (And Queen Marys little chat with her maid also provides a nice rundown on exactly how to deal with so many queens running around the palace. Queen Mary is Georges mother. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother is Georges wife. The actual queen is Elizabeth II.) Privately, to her grandmother, Elizabeth expresses doubts about monarchy as a calling from God, a relevant topic given the smogs act of God description. Queen Mary tells Elizabeth that whatever Philip might think, monarchy is indeed Gods sacred mission to grace and dignify the Earth, to give ordinary people an ideal to strive toward, an idea of nobility and duty to raise them in their wretched lives.

For a modern audience  especially for a modern American audience whose idea of a separation between church and state is given a bit of lip service  this speech sounds unbelievably antiquated. The idea that some select people have a God-given power that makes them better than everyone else is anti-democratic, to say the least. Its clear Philip would agree with that, although Queen Marys icy-hot family of carpetbaggers and parvenus burn is pretty devastating. Nevertheless, its crucial to The Crowns depiction of Elizabeth to capture this turning point in Englands monarchy. Does she truly understand herself as an instrument of God? And if so, what does that mean at a moment when shes been stripped of so much of her power?

In Act of God, it all comes down to a question of action. Should she follow the oppositions advice, as signaled to her through Dickie Mountbatten, and ask Churchill to resign? At what point does the national interest outweigh the precedent her father set in never interfering with democratically elected leaders? That question is taken from her in this case, thanks to Churchills dramatic write a speech on a prescription pad and order some last-minute money for hospital staff bit of public-relations savvy. But the underlying problem remains: According to her grandmother, Gods anointment means that Elizabeth must be inhumanly unbiased. She can have no feelings or opinions or personal input into daily politics. The less she exists, Queen Mary tells her, the better.

Which is, as Elizabeth points out and as Queen Mary readily admits, a real bummer for the person who actually has to do it. Where does that leave me? Elizabeth asks. Its not a question the episode answers, except to make clear that Elizabeth does allow herself to have human feelings in one area: her marriage. If nothing else, the small action Elizabeth maneuvers out of the governmental drama is ensuring that Philip would be allowed to keep learning how to fly. And thats great! Good for him. Matt Smith looks nice in an airplane, and Elizabeth will be happier if Philip has something to do with himself.

But when the Princess Margaret issue comes up, and when Elizabeth is actually forced to take a position on something, Queen Marys insistence that she stay impartial will come back in a real and frustrating way. And I have a feeling Churchill wont be particularly helpful.
the inside game

What Obama Is Doing Behind the Scenes to Help Democrats Win

What Obama Is Doing Behind the Scenes to Help Democrats Win
Photo: Jay Maidment/Marvel

Remember vests? Ah, were we ever so young? Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice presented a vision where everyone wore a vest for some reason, and oh, how it made us merry. Then along came The Magnificent Seven (I checked, it did indeed come out), where several bored but highly compensated actors also wore vests. It was a sartorial trend of sorts, hampered by the fact the films these vests appeared in ranged from Bad to Did I actually buy a ticket to The Magnificent Seven?

But now the leaves have changed, the movies have gotten better, and fashion has come to the forefront once more. And to my mind, two significant films are about to come out that present style trends worth emulating.

First, there is Annette Benings 1979 jumpsuit from 20th Century Women, which we will hopefully get to when the film arrives at Christmas. I am a normal man who is 30 [cough] years old and if I dont wake up tomorrow as a 58-year-old Santa Barbara mother in a sensible jumpsuit I will be very upset. Its comfortable and stylish!



The other notable garment of the fall is the cloak from Doctor Strange, and it is with this article of clothing, dear reader, where we lay our scene. As you may have discovered by now if you caught an early screening, Doctor Strange is a Marvel superhero movie about a straight man who learns to wear layers and accessorize. The plot, fittingly, is a mere coat hanger: Like Gwen Stefani before him, Doctor Strange travels to the Far East to appropriate Asian culture, where he soon comes upon Tilda Swinton in a monastery (pretty much the person Id seek out for a Couture 101 class, too). She gives him a midnight-blue robe cinched with chunky belts that he never takes it off for the rest of the movie  truly, the only way to honor a gift of clothing from Tilda Swinton  and later, Strange descends to the basement, where he must answer a question that has far-ranging ramifications for the universe as we know it: Can he pull off a statement necklace? The answer is yes, but as in the real world, it ought to be used sparingly.



Eventually, Strange makes his way to the Sanctum Sanctorum, a cute and expansive Greenwich Village boutique that I have to assume Tilda was Airbnb-ing. They only have one of each item and they definitely dont have it in your size, but Strange is most intrigued by a levitating red cloak encased in glass that turns to follow him as he walks past it. This coat wants to get on Benedict Cumberbatch even more desperately than a Sherlock slash-fic author, and it wont take No or Youre an article of clothing, I cant technically have sex with you for an answer.



Let me tell you, this cloak has real personality. Its like Aladdins adorably wiggly flying carpet, but so much hornier. Eventually, the cloak pulls an Anderson Cooper and breaks free of its glass closet, making a beeline for Strange and proving to be a boon in the ensuing battle. It helpfully tugs its owner over to a useful weapon, and later, mauls a hunky bad guy for way, way too long. Seriously. Strange leaves the Sanctum, heads to the other side of the planet, and returns to Greenwich Village a fair bit later, and this cloak is still getting frisky with Mads Mikkelsens dashing henchman. Its the handsiest thing with no hands Ive ever seen.



The cloak has a canonical name  its technically called the Cloak of Levitation, though Im pretty sure thats shortened to Levi on its Cloakstr profile. And while it may have less to do as the film goes on, when the cloak does choose to interject, it steals the scene while doing so. One of the biggest laughs in the movie comes when Stranges face is streaked with blood, tears, and sweat, and the cloak sort of softly dabs at the angular planes of Cumberbatchs face, trying to clean him up. Director Scott Derrickson told me that the joke was actually Cumberbatchs idea, and Im not surprised: Benedict Cumberbatch, who has made his career on horny weirdness, simply gets this cloak.

A lot of people have praised the special effects in Doctor Strange, but they reserve most of their ink for the folding cityscapes the film presents in every major set piece. Theyre fine, I guess. Oooh, a building is sideways now, wow. Like, have people never seen Inception, or laid down in the middle of the street out of despair for the 2016 election? Take your jumbly Manhattan, but leave me the cloak. I know that its mostly CGI, and the only thing that makes me sad about that is that Andy Serkis didnt perform the role by hanging onto Benedict Cumberbatchs shoulders every day, Curious Georgestyle.

So Tilda, please accept my apologies. Rachel McAdams, take the day off. Chiwetel, I appreciated you in that one scene where you wore a sleeveless shirt, but youve still been bested. In a cast full of Oscar winners and art-movie faves, the best performance in Doctor Strange was given by a cloak. Sign this thing up for The Avengers, and its first dry cleaning is on me.
From Sweat, at the Public. Photo: Joan Marcus

Lynn Nottages gripping but disappointing new play Sweat, which opens tonight at the Public, arrives in New York from its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival trailing hosannas and high expectations. It is, after all, a major statement on a major subject by a playwright who has already won every major prize available, including the Pulitzer for Ruined. Sweat is at least as ambitious as that story of women caught in the crossfires of history, and is in some ways similar, swapping Ruineds civil war for Sweats economic crisis and Congo for Reading, Pennsylvania. But Sweat is even more schematic, investing most of its considerable intelligence and energies in diagramming a society ripped apart by anti-labor practices, and leaving the entry-level elements of drama to fend for themselves. You could say that in Sweat, Nottage inadvertently mimics the action of the factory owners she pillories, with their precise five-year plans for assets but blurry concern for actual humans. As a playwright, shes management.

I dont mean that she doesnt care about the development of characters and scenes; rather, that there is something agenda-driven and overdetermined about her choices. Setting the play in Reading, that woeful city ranked poorest in the U.S. in 2011, is in itself a bit on the nose. It functions as Red Hook, Brooklyn, does in Arthur Millers A View From the Bridge: as hothouse and archetype. The manufacturing base that raised all boats in Reading for decades had, by 2000, when most of the plays action is set, seeped away sufficiently to reveal a lot of ugliness beneath. So far so good, but it is an early sign of trouble that, within the town, Nottage chooses to introduce the three women she will deploy to represent the disaster of modern labor in that hoariest of labor-play cliches, the local bar. The beers there are pulled by, you guessed it, a wise older man named Stan (James Colby) who lost a leg in an industrial accident years before. His barback is a local young Colombian-American named Oscar (Carlo Alban), whom everyone treats as if he were an illegal immigrant. Though we dont learn the bars name, surely its the Tinder-Keg.

The spark, we know, will come from the three women. All in their 40s, they have been friends and co-workers at Olsteads steel-tubing plant pretty much since high school, and frequently meet at the bar after their shifts or for the birthday celebrations, too evenly spaced throughout the year, that serve as tent poles to the action. Tracey (Johanna Day) is white, brassy, and proud but protective of her privilege as a third-generation worker in local industry. (Her intemperate 21-year-old son, Jason, played by Will Pullen, also works in the plant.) Cynthia (Michelle Wilson) is black, ambitious, and understandably warier; she is separated from a husband (John Earl Jelks) who has been locked out of his job at a textile mill for 93 weeks. Like Tracey, Cynthia has a 21-year-old son, Chris (Khris Davis), who also works at Olsteads; Chris and Jason are best friends. The neat symmetry of the two mothers is not interrupted by the third woman, Jessie (Miriam Shor), who has neither husband nor child nor any apparent connection to reality; shes drunk almost the entire time we see her. What does disrupt the precise balance of the setup is the announcement that Olsteads is planning to hire a new manager from the ranks of its floor workers. Cynthia and Tracey both apply, promising to stay true-blue as friends and labor comrades no matter what happens. But only if youd never seen a play would you fail to understand that, whoever gets the job, some barely subcutaneous racism will soon erupt violently.

It might also help if youd never read about manipulative labor practices before. We know, although the women in the factory somehow dont, that companies often promote a worker strategically before lowering the boom on the rest of the workforce. Theres something indelicate about Nottages use of the characters as placards and directional signals; its as if she decided that this time, in contrast to such earlier works as Intimate Apparel, there could be no room for subtext in a play so crowded with issues she needs to check off. The opioid epidemic among the unemployed? Check. The proto-Trumpian political anomie of white people without college degrees? Check. Not that these arent important topics, but they are treated so cursorily here as to seem like applique:

STAN: You could wake up tomorrow and all your jobs are in Mexico, whatever, its this NAFTA bullshit 

TRACEY: What the fuck is NAFTA? Sounds like a laxative.

And when exposition is required, as it seems to be constantly, Nottage is likely to shim it into place with phrases like So then what happened and I thought you knew and Speaking of arrests, did you guys read about Freddy in the paper this morning?

Nottages surprising circularity and long-windedness here, her determination to pull on any bell that might ring, makes the play difficult to perform. Its as if she wanted you to feel the labor of her research instead of doing everything possible to hide it. And though all the actors have excellent moments, those moments are too often interrupted with clunky passages that defy their intelligence and attenuate their portrayals. The erratic direction of Nottages frequent collaborator Kate Whoriskey, especially in scenes of general tumult and cross talk, doesnt help; the buildup to violence is particularly unconvincing. (The actual violence, though, choreographed by fight director U. Jonathan Toppo, is all too effective.) And the use of period newscasts on the bar television  lots of George W. Bush campaigning  somehow seems importunate, providing authenticity that the actors could have provided on their own if given clearer briefs.

But whenever you begin to wonder what Nottage could be thinking moment by moment, the almost geological force of the plays overall structure kicks in. Scenes set in 2008, primarily involving Chris and Jason at 29, act like the jaws of a vise clamping down on the past. Like Miller, Nottage certainly knows how to develop tension from the juxtaposition of formal elements and the collision course of individual needs. If she could just get her characters to fight for their own agendas instead of hers  and to sound like people instead of pickets  Sweat would be a lot more productive, and a lot less laborious.

Sweat is at the Public Theater through December 4.
Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver and McLennan County Judge Scott Felton highlighted strides made on the local level in the past year during the State of the City and County Address at McLane Stadium on Thursday.

They said much has been accomplished through collaborative efforts, including the work of the Greater Waco Chamber, the luncheons host.

Deaver, who became mayor in May, kicked off his presentation by touting the dramatic turnaround at the Waco Animal Shelter, calling it one of the best stories hes seen in city government.

Not that long ago, city officials were hearing numerous complaints about conditions at the animal shelter on Circle Road, which in 2012 was euthanizing 65 percent of the animals brought there.

That was truly disgraceful, Deaver said.

That same year, the city took over operations of the kennels from the Humane Society of Central Texas, and the shelter now qualifies for no-kill status with a live exit rate of about 90 percent for the past year, Deaver said.

Officials unveiled a renovated center last month that has become a model for other shelters nationwide, Deaver said.

Its one of the best stories Ive seen in terms of the public expressing outrage about something, the city reacting and following through for an excellent result, Deaver said.

Deaver also updated the group on Catalyst Urban Developments proposed Brazos Promenade project on city-owned riverfront property.

The Dallas-based company is proposing restaurants, 265 living units and 44 units that could become shops or cafes. A full-service hotel is planned for the second phase, which could begin as early as 2017.

An incentive package likely would include millions of dollars from the downtown Tax Increment Financing Zone and an economic development grant. The TIF board is set to consider a recommendation on the incentives at its meeting Friday.

Deaver also touted renovation projects at the Dewey Community Center and the East Waco Library and mentioned that downtown Waco received a state-designation as a cultural arts district.

He also said the Silo District Trolley, set up to ease parking problems around Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Market at the Silos, has carried 43,000 people since its inception in July.

Felton spoke about the county budget and said county finances are in better shape than they were several years ago.

He said the county was able to lower the tax rate last year while increasing the countys reserves, paying off some of its short-term debt and retaining an exemplary bond rating.

The county also was able to increase its contribution to the Waco-McLennan County Economic Development fund from $1.5 million to $1.75 million, he said.

Felton said the county also is dealing with a growing criminal justice system and is planning potential growth sites, including a temporary fix by converting the fourth-floor courthouse law library into a courtroom.

He said the county also is in the midst of making improvements to a number of facilities, including the Extraco Events Center grounds and 115-year-old courthouse, to comply with deficiencies cited under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Despite soggy weather, the first-ever Baylor Free Farmers Market brightened the spirits and stocked the pantries of Baylor University students and faculty with free fruit, vegetables, treats and other food Thursday afternoon.

I think this is amazing. I never have time to go grocery shopping or I never have the money, so this is really nice, computer science major Deyanira Gomez, 21, of El Paso, said. I am here on scholarship and I work, so this is very helpful.

Gomez was one of thousands of students who turned out to pick from more than 45,770 pounds of food in an effort to address food insecurity on college campuses. Nathan Alleman, an associate professor in educational leadership, said his graduate assistant Cara Cliburn Allen took the lead and organized the outreach endeavour with Family of Faith Worship Center Pastor Ruben Andrade Jr.

Food was donated by grocery stores and Central Texas Food Bank. Volunteers directed students through several canopies with watermelons, grapefruit, eggs, breads, pastries and many other items, causing students to say thank you for the extra help.

These students help us out throughout the year with community events we hold, so I just felt like it in my heart that we needed to come back and bless them, Andrade said. Cara Cilburn Allen and I have been interested in food insecurity on college campuses, which has been an emerging topic in community colleges and comprehensive colleges. We are now realizing that even students in private universities who have a financial margin cant always spend it on their food budget.

Volunteers directed students as Derek Lentz, 21, of Austin, picked up a cheesecake and balanced a carton of eggs on top of the cake.

There is so much food here. It is kind of ridiculous, Lentz said. My car isnt working right now, so I cant drive to the store, so I was really surprised that all of this was free. Its a huge help.

Alleman said food insecurity is an issue on college campuses, regardless of the institution. With full support from Baylor administration, Baylor interviewed students to evaluate the need for a food program at Baylor.

The take away has been, the issue of emerging adulthood is hunger, and they skip meals or dont eat healthy, Alleman said. Weve been talking when Pastor Ruben Andrade contacted us about doing a food pantry with us, it really was serendipity.

While the farmers market was only open to students and faculty, Andrade said Family of Faith Worship Center, 2225 Cumberland Ave., holds an outreach food program every Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. He said it is open to the entire community. He hopes to add more Baylor Free Farmers Market in the future.

I care about my community. I know from experience people need people, Andrade said. It doesnt matter what your economic status is. It doesnt matter where or if you work. We all need a helping hand.
A Bellmead woman police think was killed by her husband suffered at least 43 stab wounds or incised injuries, including decapitation, according to an autopsy report.

Natasha Ellen Dauzat, 21, suffered multiple stab wounds to her head, trunk and extremities.

Police were called to the 4300 block of Concord Road on Aug. 25, where they found the womans head in a freezer and her body in the living room.

Her husband, Davie Dauzat, 23, was arrested that day and has since been indicted on a murder charge.

He told officers he used a knife to kill his wife, police reported in a search warrant in the case.

Based on autopsy and the history available, it is our opinion that Natasha Ellen Dauzat died as a result of sharp force injuries and decapitation, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences at Dallas reported. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Bellmead police Sgt. Kory Martin previously told the Tribune-Herald that police were called on a welfare check to the couples home at the request of a family member the morning before Natasha Dauzat was found dead. An officer responded to the home, where the couple had lived for 15 months with their 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, but reported the couple did not appear to be in danger or in need assistance, Martin said.

Hours later, the family member called back after Davie Dauzat alledgedly told the family member he had killed his wife, Martin said.

Police returned and were able to talk Davie Dauzat out of the home and arrest him on a murder charge. The couples two children were inside the home when Natasha Dauzat was killed and may have witnessed the incident, officials reported at the time.

The babies are doing good. (Natasha Dauzats) daughter asks about her mommy a lot, but they never mention their daddy, Natasha Dauzats mother, Patricia Tagliarino said.

Tagliarino said the couples children are staying with family as an official custody decision is made.

According to search warrants connected to the case, Davie Dauzat acknowledged that killing Natasha was wrong; however, he would also state that it was a battle between good and evil, the Tribune-Herald previously reported. Davie Dauzat told police he had used drugs before the killing, but it remains unclear what he had taken and when, other than smoking marijuana that day with Natasha Dauzat.

The autopsy states evidence of marijuana was located in Natasha Dauzats system at the time of her death.

Access to autopsy report

Justice of the Peace James Lee Jr. declined to make a copy of the autopsy report for the Tribune-Herald. Lee allowed the Tribune-Herald to review the document and take notes but would not allow copies to be made or photographs to be taken of the document.

He said he would consult the county attorney about his obligation to make court records available.

McLennan County Attorney Mike Dixon later told the Tribune-Herald the autopsy report is a matter of public record and should be made available for inspection or copy. Dixon said Lee may have been confused about his public records obligations.
An overseas internet start-up that Telstra's former chief executive considered a real threat to the telco industry will launch in Australia this month offering one plan  unlimited data at speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

The Singapore-based MyRepublic claims it has shaken up the telecommunications sector in its home country, Indonesia and New Zealand, helping make 100 Mbps broadband packages more accessible.

It says Australia is ripe for disruption, with 80 per cent of customers on the National Broadband Network (NBN) running on speeds similar to ADSL technology, which is 25 Mbps or slower.

"Now that there are 3 million homes on the NBN it makes sense for us to enter the market," says MyRepublic chief executive Malcolm Rodrigues.
A month after the visit Mr Day met with Senator Birmingham in the minister's Canberra office to pitch for funding for his pilot program. Credit:Facebook "He has deliberately misled the Senate; there's absolutely no way that his response reflects the reality of the situation," Senator Cameron said. "Bob Day was a very important and quite fundamental political player at the time. Simon Birmingham is trying to cover up what is a misuse of public money in return for Bob Day's support in the Senate. Labor's Doug Cameron said the emergence of the pictures call into question Senator Birmingham's version of events. Credit:Facebook "If Simon Birmingham had any credibility he would resign and if he won't resign, the Prime Minister should take action."

In a statement, Mr Birmingham said: "My department advised former senator Day has no financial interest in NEVC and they were one of many educators and organisations I met with to work out how best to tackle the mess that Doug Cameron and Labor created in Australia's apprenticeship system, with $1.2 billion worth of cuts and the largest single drop in apprenticeship commencements on record. The election of Family First senator Bob Day has been ruled invalid by the High Court. Credit:Stefan Postles "As I said at Senate estimates, when I was the assistant minister responsible for vocational education and training, I visited many, many training facilities to see the great work they do. "Mr Day was as entitled as any other member of Parliament to advocate on behalf of community organisations in his electorate. This is a well-regarded training organisation that just the other day had the South Australian state Labor treasurer visit it too." Earlier in the estimates hearing, Senator Birmingham, who is now Education Minister, said he had toured North East Vocational in the first half of 2015 in his then capacity as assistant minister for vocational education and training but did not mention Mr Day's presence.

"It was a site visit. I was invited to go and visit their training facility," he said. Senator Cameron then asked: "Who did you meet when you met with the North East Vocational College?" "I would have to go back and check," Senator Birmingham replied. "I simply do not remember the names of the people who run the North East Vocational College. Obviously, they were present at the time I visited their training facility." Subho Banerjee, deputy secretary of the Department of Education and Training, then clarified that the department knew of Mr Day's long-standing involvement with the college and had informed the minister. It was Senator Birmingham's successor as assistant minister, Luke Hartsuyker, who awarded the $1.84 million grant to North East Vocational in December to trial Mr Day's pilot program with 20 builder's apprentices at the campus.

Documents obtained under freedom of information reveal Mr Day's proposal was effectively triple-dipping for funding through the $1.84 million grant, asking students to also take out VET-FEE HELP loans to cover the cost of their education and charging employers to use apprentices in training. Neither the college, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills Karen Andrews, or Mr Day have been able to explain what the $1.84 million grant was going to be spent on. A two-page ministerial briefing document and a 20-minute presentation to the Apprentices Reform Advisory Group appear to be the only documents supporting Mr Day's application for the grant. Just three groups were allowed to present to the advisory group  Mr Day on behalf of North East Vocational, Master Builders Australia, and the National Electricians and Communications Association  all strident supporters of the Coalition's plan to reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Jenny Lambert, advisory group member and acting chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the panel of experts was not asked to give its advice on any of the pilot projects approved by the government.

"I do remember Bob Day making a presentation, but the panel made no recommendations about the specific pilot," she said. Three months after the advisory panel made general recommendations about the merit in looking at alternative pathways for apprentices, all three groups were given $1.84 million without any competitive tender process. The NSW executive director of Master Builders Australia, Brian Seidler, said the money would be used to support hundreds of apprentices in low socioeconomic areas. "You would think that the funding would be there to fund at least something," said Mr Seidler. "For us, funds were split up based on how many apprentices you can get into a position, be mentored and spread across Australia in areas like western Sydney."

The allocation to North East Vocational equates to $90,000 for each of the 20 apprentices taking part in the pilot, compared with the $3000 per year it costs at TAFE to educate an apprentice. The grant doubled the annual income of North East Vocational overnight. Mr Day had originally asked for $1.4 million for the pilot but the grant received from government was almost $500,000 more than his request. The government later called on a "stream 2" consultation with training providers to pitch for similar grants. It received 29 submissions but none were able to brief the advisory group because it had already reported. In a text message, Mr Day would say only "We're all volunteers" of his role at North East Vocational.
Superstar Beyonce now has something in common with WAGs Bec Judd and Nadia Bartel after appearing in a dress by Melbourne couturiers J'Aton at the Country Music Awards.

Queen Bey wore the champagne beaded gown with billowing sleeves to perform with two songs with the Dixie Chicks at the awards in Nashville on Wednesday night local time.

Beyonce wears a J'Aton dress as she performs with the Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Awards in Nashville on Wednesday. Credit:Image Group LA

The appearance had been planned for months but the duo behind the label, Jacob Luppino and Anthony Pittorino, couldn't contain their excitement at seeing their creation on the world stage.

"We were honoured to create this special piece for Beyonce, we worked closely for months to create this," the pair told Daily Life on Thursday night from Italy, where they are working on a new project.
The findings are contained in UK supermarket Waitrose's annual report on Britain's eating habits, which I authored. Writing the report, I was struck by how unashamed people are about taking snaps of their food. It is simply something they do. It seemed extraordinary until I scrolled through my own social media feeds: snaps of a mean merluza en salsa verde my sister-in-law cooked in Spain; a miso-flavoured porridge I tried; and - hilarious, this - a roast chicken I had prepared that looked like William Hague.

The research finds that almost half of us make more effort when preparing food for guests or social media-minded members of family if we think a photo of it may appear online. We are becoming, to adapt Napoleon's phrase, a nation of shot-reapers - and it's changing the way we eat and entertain at home.

In the last month alone, one in five UK adults has posted a picture of his or her food on social media, or sent a shot to a friend, according to research published today. (This rises to a third among 18- to 24-year-olds.)

When, in 1827, French inventor Nicephore Niepce photographed a table set with a bowl, a wine bottle and a hunk of bread, he could not have imagined the precedent he was setting. In taking the world's first still-life picture of food, Niepce was foreshadowing one of this century's most curious phenomena.

The food industry is taking note. Sales of patterned bowls at Waitrose have risen by 12 per cent as people look for more Instagram-friendly ways to present their food at home. Last month, the Italian restaurant chain Zizzi teamed up with Leanne Lim-Walker, a popular Instagrammer, to train its staff "to help diners capture the perfect foodie snap". According to industry insiders, some restaurants are now deliberately including one eminently Facebook-able dish on their menus - a trend not universally welcomed. At the same time, certain restaurants in the US and France have banned customers from taking pictures of their dishes, or "foodstagramming", as it has become known.

Patrons at Heston Blumenthal's (pictured left) Mandarin Oriental restaurant Dinner have been asked to refrain from using flashes when snapping their food.

So what's the most foodstagrammed meal? On the basis of its global hashtag popularity, it's pizza, followed by sushi and chicken. When tastes are broken down on a city-by-city basis, London comes out as the most popular place for foodstagramming burgers, accounting for five per cent of posts worldwide. The British capital is also the leader for pulled pork (7.5 per cent), while one in ten of all curry photos is taken in Tokyo (with London in third place behind Osaka). New York is top for bacon, empanadas, chicken, pizza, sushi and bao buns, while almost nine per cent of burrito photos are taken in Los Angeles. To delve deeper, tap #food into Instagram and there are 192 million pictures to work your way through.

The Waitrose research also revealed some fascinating regional variations across the UK. People from Sheffield are twice as likely to have shared a food picture on social media than people from Oxford, while people in the East Midlands are snap-happiest. Whatever the geographic quirks, the trend looks here to stay.

But why do we feel compelled to take photographs of our food in the first place? There's a "coarse logic" explanation, which can be described as the Everest principle: we take pictures of our food because we can.
There's been a lot of heat levelled at the founders of Brisbane-based start-up-slash-gym-slash-crybaby man cult Nomadic Thinkers over the past few days, simply because they announced their plans to open a males-only workspace in a move which is very brave, extremely masculine, and probably illegal.

Much of the criticism has been because of an interview they did with the website Junkee, in which they claimed they were creating a male only co-working space early in the new year as an "innovative way to address male-related social issues".

Brisbane-based start up Nomadic Thinkers has "ruffled feathers" by only including males in their workplaces. Credit:Stocksy

And they did acknowledge that their No Girls Allowed policy would "ruffle a few feathers"  which are things that women probably have. And part of the reason was to foster a better mental health situation for dudes, as co-founder Samuel Monaghan made clear.

"We both had a mate who ended up in a violent situation with his wife," he helpfully explained. "He pushed his wife over  Depression and suicide result from a lack of social support and community. Having a space where they [men] can be men is more of a preventative measure [because] healthy, happy men don't hit their wives."
Risk-averse and technology-backwards bureaucrats are hampering the push for agile and innovative Australian government, high-tech start-up firms say.

Emerging firms say government contracts remain sown up by multinational "dinosaurs" like IBM, SAP and Accenture, despite high-profile stuff-ups, because they are masters of the federal government's painfully bureaucratic tender process.

Text appeal: URGE founders Daniel Reyes, Dean Steingold and Doron Ostrin.

Public servants who don't know what technological solutions are available are another inhibitor of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's innovation drive, with too few bureaucrats willing to explore or experiment.

But there is hope, with one digital marketing firm saying the reboot of the Digital Transformation Office  now the Digital Transformation Agency  was taking government tech in the right direction.
In September, we reported that Microsoft was creating a competitor to work messenger app Slack. Now it has officially lifted the curtains on the project. The new collaboration offering is called Microsoft Teams and is now available in public preview. IT administrators working in organisations with certain types of Office 365 licences can try it out now and there's even a Developer Preview program that lets developers get started on building apps for Teams. Here are all the details for IT administrators, developers and would-be users.

You can think of Microsoft Teams as a workplace chat app with extras. The extras we'll get into later.

Microsoft Teams is available on desktop and mobile operating systems. Credit:Microsoft

Teams provides a space for teams within companies to discuss and collaborate on projects in a forum-like environment. Conversations are threaded so that replies to a message is displayed directly below it  much like Facebook status comments. This makes it easier to keep track of conversations. Users have the option to go on and start their own private discussions.

But perhaps the biggest drawcard for organisations is the fact that Teams is integrated with Microsoft's other productivity and communication tools, all neatly bundled together in Office 365. Microsoft has over 85 million active monthly users for Office 365 and making the service part of the cloud productivity suite will no doubt drive the adoption of Teams.
Mental health minister Andrea Mitchell at a forum in the South West in Octobe Ms Anderson said there were close to 1000 people at Jake's memorial service, which was exactly a week after the one held for his friend. "My heart was going out to those kids because at that age they shouldn't have to deal with this time and time again," she said. "This is what the government must understand, the impact it has on the community; not just on us as a family, but these kids." After Jake died, his older brother couldn't find help, the Andersons said.

"About three months ago, I'm trying to get help for him, from mental health services, trying to ring people and get appointments, to get him assessed," Ms Anderson said. "I kept saying, 'He's a male, he's under 25, his brother has just committed suicide, I need some help here'. "I was beating my head up against the wall. "For him to get help in Perth, it took three trips to Peel Health Campus via the police and me begging, just begging them to keep him." Mr Anderson said it got to the stage they were so desperate they were hoping he would be arrested.

"Our only avenue was to ring the police and say, please, arrest this kid and put him into the system, thinking the only way this guy's going to get help is if he's institutionalised through the system," he said. Ms Anderson said she had made more than 30 calls trying to find help. "You ring the mental health emergency team and you get a recording, and then they don't ring you back, or they do ring you back and then they say, we'll triage over the phone," she said. "For us, it's not just that we've lost one son, but we were desperate to get help for another son and I must have made 30 phone calls to try to get him assistance and every phone call was, 'well, we can't help you' or 'we can, but it's in three weeks time'." Both Dan and Donna Anderson challenged mental health minster Andrea Mitchell, who said previously a youth suicide prevention program run by the Peel Youth Medical Service would not be funded because it duplicated existing services.

"She just doesn't have her finger on the pulse. She does not have an understanding of the real picture," Ms Anderson said. "It's very easy to sit in your office, and it's very easy to have advisers and look at statistics on paper, but on the front line, where those services are needed, where people are trying to tap in, they're just not there." Mr Anderson said: "I'd go as far as saying she'd be lying, if not she's fully deluded". "As far as I'm concerned, the word statistic means after the fact. "And that was where this kid [Jake's older brother] was headed, he was going to be a statistic."

Ms Anderson said helping kids in the region struggling with mental health needed to be higher on the government's agenda. "Don't get me wrong, I know we have budgets and we need that to be a productive society, but I think it's about priorities and this needs to be a high priority," she said. "For Jakey, it's too late, but if they can do something, find something, just have an empathetic view on this, it may stop another family from going through this." Ms Mitchell defended the government's funding of mental health programs in the region. "I am assured by the Mental Health Commission that the services which receive state government funding in Mandurah are the most appropriate to the identified needs in the region and represent the best value for taxpayers' dollars," she said.

"Given the relatively close proximity of Mandurah to the metropolitan area , it is not unusual for people in the Peel area to access services in Perth." Ms Anderson said she would like to sit down with Ms Mitchell to discuss the issue. "I'd be more than happy to meet with her and have a cup of tea with her; now I'm at the point where I could sit down and talk with her just to give her some insight," she said. Loading A spokesperson for Ms Mitchell said the minister would welcome contact from the family.
Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020.

Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work.

Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri.
WSU to Recognize Veterans Service

November 4, 2016

OGDEN, Utah  Weber State University will honor current and past military members with a series of Veterans Day events Nov. 10-11. The celebration will culminate with a ceremony featuring Rep. Stephen Handy and Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd at Weber State University Davis Building 3 Ballroom, Nov. 11 from 8:45 a.m. to noon.

The mornings tribute at WSU Davis will begin with performances by the Utah Military Academys color guard and choir. The keynote speakers will talk from 9-11 a.m. Speakers will include Republican Rep. Stephen Handy of Utah, Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd, U.S. Marine veteran Jerri Holowka and WSU Student Association veterans senator David Tomczak.

Veterans do not ask for much, and its the responsibility of people to take note of what they have been willing to give up, Tomczak said. We should never stop honoring our veterans, and on Nov. 11 of each year, this nation comes together to say thank you to the women and men who were willing to pay the greatest price of all.

The names of Utahs fallen service members will be read at 11 a.m., followed by a 21-gun salute and a presentation of the colors. A private luncheon and program to honor veterans and their family members will be held at noon.

Veterans Day events on the Ogden campus will begin with a display of military equipment in the Shepherd Union Atrium Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Various military service organizations will also display information.

The Veterans awards buffet luncheon for all veteran students, staff and faculty will be held in the Shepherd Union Ballrooms Nov. 10 at 12:30 p.m. No RSVP is necessary.

Schedule

Nov. 10

Military equipment and service organizations display, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., Shepherd Union Atrium

Free buffet for veterans, 12:30 p.m., Shepherd Union Ballrooms

Nov. 11

Utah Military Academy color guard and choir, 8:45 a.m., WSU Davis Building 3 Ballroom

Keynote speakers, 9-11 a.m., WSU Davis Building 3 Ballroom

Reading of fallen heroes, 11 a.m., WSU Davis Building 3 Ballroom

Gun salute and color guard, 11:20 a.m., WSU Davis Building 3 Ballroom

Private lunch and program for veterans, noon, WSU Davis Building 3 Ballroom

For a detailed schedule and more information about the WSU Veterans Day events, visit weber.edu/veterans/veteransday.html.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
by Adrian Gibson

Move over Christopher Columbus, the Chinese have come to conquer us . one island at a time.

Yet again, under another incarnation of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), we are a nation for sale.

Yet again, controversy swirls around one of Mr Christies worst, most politically errant ministers.

This week, The Nassau Guardian revealed that Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources V Alfred Gray wrote a letter to Bahamas Ambassador to China Paul Andy Gomez giving him permission to pursue a proposal for China to invest in our agriculture and fisheries industries.

According to the letter, the proposal revolved around the injection of some $2.1 billion into the Bahamian economy over 10 years. The $2.1 billion would consist of cash, farming and fishing equipment and Chinese expertise. This will involve the incorporation of 100 Bahamian companies, each of which will be owned 5050 by Chinese and Bahamians, or Bahamian entities.

If the proposal is approved, the Government would reportedly lease, with an option to renew for additional years, some 10,000 acres of Crown Land in Andros that would be divided between the 100 companies.

Interestingly, since each of the 100 companies would feature 10 shareholders - presumably five Chinese and five Bahamian- one is curious about how the Bahamians would have been selected and who would collect the finders fee?

Mr Gray referred to the proposed agriculture and fisheries partnership as very progressive. He also pledged to grant each of the companies fishing licences whilst advising that actual fishing would have to be conducted by Bahamians per government policy. However, to assuage any concerns this might raise, he wrote that foreign investors may own land and may participate in the ownership of related land-based activities, such as processing and packaging houses for agricultural and fishing products.

In other words, the Chinese and their Bahamian partners (presumably government cronies) will own the boats, fishing equipment and fish houses but average Bahamians will be labourers employed to go out and catch the fish. This says a lot about what Mr Gray thinks of Bahamians! One can only assume that the Bahamians will be advised by Chinese experts who are well aware of how to drag literally every edible organism from the seabed.

Do we really believe that the Chinese would not want to fish aboard their fishing vessels? Surely, we havent forgotten the infamous Korean boat scandal and yet unanswered questions about how those Koreans obtained work permits. Those fishing boats were also based around Andros.

It is not lost on me that the Chinese are seeking new fishing grounds now that fish stocks in the Asian Pacific region have been depleted.

At this rate, the Chinese will have taken over our number one industry with their purchase and/or control of Baha Mar and the British Colonial Hilton and now would be conquering our third largest economic prong - agriculture and fisheries. Their takeover is quiet and mild and is being assisted by political snake oil salesmen who are clearly causing us to become economic slaves, colonialised within our own independent country and with no patrimony to pass on to generations yet unborn.

Interestingly, Mr Grays letter flies in the face of the purported rationale for the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI). I always viewed BAMSI as a slush fund for crafty politicians pretending to be working on behalf of the Bahamian people. Im now more convinced given that BAMSI has not produced any staple crops on a large scale - or any scale. Could Mr Gray at least give an accounting for the quantity of pawpaw grown at BAMSI?

Following the initial report on Mr Grays proposal, the minister issued a statement calling the report utterly false.

In his response, he claimed that the government is not considering the grant of Crown land nor any other matter as set out in the article. Frankly, the contents of his letter proves that Mr Gray flat out lied. There are no two ways about that!

The letter suggests that preliminary discussions were held and that a final draft was pending and would require complex planning and drafting. It was a contractual offer that features key elements of a legal contract - ie parties, consideration, share acquisition and dispersal, mutuality of obligation, competency and capacity - and only awaited the Chinese Governments acceptance.

What about your grandchildren Mr Gray? A foreign government, via corporate entities, now owns Baha Mar and the Hilton and you now want to turn over our land and our food security to this foreign government?

If Mr Gray and the PLP could readily give away Crown land to the Chinese, why are thousands of Bahamians waiting to be granted Crown land leases, some of them having applied 20 or 30 years ago?

What happened to Bahamian ownership of our economy? Wasnt it the governing PLP who hawked themselves as believing in Bahamians?

Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis told the press that Grays proposal for a partnership with the Chinese for development of agriculture and fisheries in Andros was not before the government for consideration. So, was Mr Gray on a frolic of his own? Was the Cabinet unaware of his pursuits with the China? Is Mr Gray running his own little fiefdom?

Prime Minister Perry Christie, the buck stops with you. You have some explaining to do Sir!

Our economic sovereignity is being thrown out of the window for a bowl of porridge and a bag of cheap Chinese fire crackers. And, no one is smiling!

If such a deal ever materialises, I would advise Bahamians to dry your conch now because, if the PLP and the Chinese have their way, in 20 years, conch would be an endangered species. I love scorch conch but at this rate, I would likely have to eat tofu (yuck), onions, sour and pepper with the tofu substituting for the conch we used to have.

What about national security concerns and spying?

After the Chinese purchased the Hilton - which is adjacent to the United States Embassy - the Americans made plans to relocate and the embassy purchased property on East Street, including the current building that houses Jones Communications. Did the US have concerns that the Chinese would spy on them from across the street?

With the proposal for the Chinese to invest in Andros, what happens to the United States Navys Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) which is situated in Andros?

Werent the Chinese previously attempting to launch farming operations in Abaco and Andros?

Why destroy the magnificent ecosystems and splendiferous natural habitats that have become synonymous with Andros?

They are selling off our country piece by piece. Soon, we will be called Chinhamas.

We dont know the full details of all the deals with the Chinese, but clearly there is much to be discovered. Perhaps we should all learn Mandarin as a second language.

The governing party has made it a habit of selling our land to foreigners for a pittance.

It was the Christie administration that transferred 9,999 acres of Crown land in Mayaguana to the I-Group. That deal was eventually renegotiated and 5,825 acres was returned. The same happened in Grand Bahama with the Ginn Development. And then there was the giveaway of Goodmans Bay to Sarkis Izmirlians earlier incarnation of Baha Mar.

There are certain people who govern us who are nothing short of idiotic. Oh wow, just look at how they are giving away my sons birthright (its not even about me any more; its about him and my future children)! Soon, China will be making a territorial claim.

China fatigue has set in. The clandestine and sealed deals with the Chinese, by those we elected to serve us, demonstrates a lack of regard and respect for we, the electors, and the urgent need for the implementation of a robust Freedom of Information Act.

The PLP does not believe in Bahamians. We must collectively put on our steel toe boots and give them a swift kick.

_________________________________________________________

First published in the The Tribune under the byline, Young Man's View, here

View Adrian Gibson's archive here

____________________________________________________

The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of WeblogBahamas.com (which has no corporate view) or its Authors.
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By Bill Hughes

Nov. 04, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By Bill Hughes Nov. 04, 2016 | 12:03 AM | PADUCAH, KY

The doctors at IMAC Regeneration Center of Paducah have seen patients from thousands of miles away for what could easily be described as innovative, and what some would say is groundbreaking.



Physicians and patients shared their stories Thursday night at the 2016 MidSouth Regenerative Medicine Conference at IMAC's office on James Sanders Boulevard. Doctors Matt Wallis, Sean McDonald, Vratislav Kejzlar and David Smithson shared medical insight into how chiropractic care, physical therapy, stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy are creating success stories.



Kejzlar said, "IMAC works as a team through the chiropractic office, through PT (physical therapy), and through the medical department. We are three cogs in one machine and we all work together. That is fairly rare, and it is something to be treasured."



Kejzlar is not only a doctor, he is also a patient at IMAC, having received stem cell and PRP therapy from Dr. McDonald. Kejzlar, who practiced anaesthesiology in Paducah for 30 years, had knee surgery after retiring to Florida, but said regenerative medicine might have let him avoid the procedure altogether. His pain is gone and his mobility is much better after treatment, just like many of the patients he is treating at the facility.



McDonald shared how he has worked with patients suffering from strokes, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's Disease, and helped improve their quality of life. Stem cells are taken from the patient's fat cells and re-injected in the affected area or intravenously. Protein-rich plasma can also be injected in the area to speed the healing process. Some of the patients he worked with were at the event as proof of their successful treatment.



Dr. Smithson said this work is, "the future of medicine," and discussed how stem cells can be used to treat sexual dysfunction in both men and women. Incontinence problems for women have also been solved or improved using stem cells. Improved blood flow and nerve tissues are the key factors in solving these types of problems, he said.



Others who aren't experts also told their stories, including three women who have seen the benefits of stem cell treatment for Parkinson's Disease.



Deb Hepler of Union City, Tennessee was diagnosed with Parkinson's about 7 years ago, and had significant limitations in her functioning. She shuffled her feet and needed help to walk, and had muscle rigidity. She turned down neurological surgery, opting instead for stem cell injections and physical therapy that she began in January and recently completed.



Hepler said, "I was to the point of not being able to do anything much, just sit and read. Now I'm able to get up and cook and do all these things, I'm driving again, I can write a note to people, and it's just wonderful." Hepler has weaned herself off of almost all of her meds.



Patsy Ashby from Hopkins County, Kentucky, read an article about Hepler and checked into the treatment. She had tremors and was falling a lot, could no longer drive, and was depressed.



"I got to where I didn't want to be around people because I would stumble, and I was just afraid people was looking at me and wondering what was wrong. So, it's just made a big difference. My husband and son said they noticed it three days after I had my first stem cell. They said they could tell a difference in the way I walked and talked and everything. It took me longer than two days to notice that there had been an improvement, and I've got a ways to go, I know I'm not completely there yet, but I'm working on it," Ashby said.



In her case the stem cells are injected into the lower back.



Gerri Thompson is from Mississippi, but comes to Golconda, Illinois frequently, and heard about the therapy from a family friend. She had been falling a lot, was severely depressed, and had suicidal thoughts. She waited a couple of weeks before calling.



"I was afraid to hope that there was something that could reverse it," she said.



Thompson started with physical therapy, and everyone noticed that her improvements would regress within a week or so. Thompson decided to have stem cell therapy, and now has prolonged improvement.



She said, "I haven't fallen since I had the stem cells, my handwriting has remained good. The bank wouldn't hardly cash a check for the longest time because I couldn't sign my name. But now, I can write the check and sign it. It's amazing, it really is."



Ashby said her neurologist didn't want to talk to her about stem cells, and wouldn't read an article she brought to him. She has another examination later this month, and she's going to wait to see if he notices any improvements before telling him about her latest treatment. Her goal is to get off of the medicines he prescribed, because of their side effects, but doesn't want to lose him as her caregiver, either.



"I'm anxious to see what happens when I go to see him," she said.



Dr. Matt Wallis said they have seen resistance from others in the medical profession, although some doctors in larger cities with research hospitals have asked patients to keep them updated as they are treated. Wallis believes many physicians just don't know much about stem cell therapy, haven't taken time to investigate it, and there haven't been much published research about it.



Wallis said, "I don't think it's volitional - 'hey I'm against this group of people, or against this movement.' I think it's more of, 'I don't understand it, I don't think it's mainstream medicine, therefore I'm going to take a stance that I don't think you should do it.'"



He added that it's unlikely that pharmaceutical companies would fund research into this treatment since it could mean less sales for their drugs.



Wallis said the lack of funded "double-blind" research is also why many insurance won't currently cover these treatments. Cost per treatment depends on where it is needed, and whether platelet-rich plasma is also used. Injections for joints are less expensive than a spinal procedure for neurological conditions, for example.



Regardless of the cost or coverage, doctors at IMAC anticipate continuing providing treatment for people who travel long distances to what is believed to be the only U.S. facility of its kind.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 03, 2016 | 09:50 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A fugitive was among four people arrested Thursday on drug and other charges.

Detectives with the McCracken County Sheriffs Department Drug Division received a tip that 44-year-old John Goodnight of Paducah was staying at a home on Rutter Street. Goodnight had escaped from a halfway house in Louisville after being released on parole for trafficking methamphetamine. He had also recently fled from police in a stolen vehicle and had two warrants for his arrest related to those incidents.

Police located Goodnight at the home and arrested him. During the arrest, detectives seized methamphetamine from Goodnight.



Three other people, 27-year-old Tori Littlepage, 47-year-old Trina Mehojah, and 54-year-old Ronald White, all of Paducah, were also at the home. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the home and during the search found multiple guns, additional methamphetamine and additional meth paraphernalia. During the course of the investigation, deputies said White became angry and threw a phone at a deputy, striking him in the face.

All four people at the home were arrested and lodged in the McCracken County Regional Jail. Goodnight was charged with the two arrest warrants, along with wanton endangerment, receiving stolen property under $10,000, criminal mischief, trafficking methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

White was charged with firearm enhanced possession of methamphetamine and firearm enhanced possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said criminal charges for throwing the phone at the deputy are pending.

Littlepage was charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Mehojah was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Nov. 03, 2016 | MURRAY, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 03, 2016 | 05:16 PM | MURRAY, KY

Charges for a Murray man previously charged with assault have been upgraded to murder, after deputies say a woman he critically injured in an altercation died later in a Nashville hospital.



The Calloway County Sheriff's department says a grand jury heard the case Tuesday, and amended an original assault charge for 35-year-old Christopher Smith to murder for the death of 39-year-old Rhonda Runyon.



Deputies responded on the evening of Aug. 25 to a report of a domestic disturbance at a home in the Kirksey area. Deputies said they arrived to find Runyon lying in the floor with serious injuries. They spoke to Smith, who told them he and Runyon had been in a fight.



Runyon was airlifted from the scene due to the severity of her injuries and later died at a Nashville hospital.



Smith is being held at the Calloway County Jail on a $1,000,000 cash bond.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Nov. 04, 2016 | CALVERT CITY, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 04, 2016 | 06:00 PM | CALVERT CITY, KY

A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to briefly block and detour the eastbound lanes of I-24 at the Purchase Parkway Exit 25 Interchange near Calvert City during the early morning hours of Saturday. Also on Saturday, a paving crew will be on the westbound side of the interstate between Calvert City and the Tennessee River Bridge.



Eastbound I-24 traffic will be briefly detoured to the Purchase Parkway Northbound at the Exit 25 ramp, then directed east along US 62 to return to I-24 at Exit 27 starting around 4 am. This brief detour (about 2 hours) will allow the contractor to patch potholes along the eastbound diversion in the work zone that runs from the 25 mile marker to about the 27 mile marker. Police will assist with directing traffic. Eastbound traffic should be returned to normal along the I-24 work zone diversion around 6 am.



Drivers who regularly travel US 62 in the Calvert City area should be aware of increased traffic flow while the detour is in place. Westbound drivers on I-24 should be prepared to encounter slowing and merging traffic as they approach the 28 mile marker during daylight hours.



Westbound drivers should also expect to see the paving work zone with lane restrictions between exit 27 in Calvert City and the Tennessee River Bridge. The contractor will be working near the P&L Railroad overpass and the Gilbertsville Highway (KY 282) overpass along that stretch of Interstate. Flaggers and workers will be close to traffic, so use caution.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 04, 2016 | 09:11 AM | MAYFIELD, KY

Two Graves County men were arrested Monday night on assault, drug and gun charges.

According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, deputies assisted Probation and Parole officers with a home visit on State Route 1276, just north of Mayfield. During a frisk for weapons on the two men at the home, deputies said 48-year-old Kenzo Anthony Sherrill resisted and a fight ensued. Sherrill ran out the front door of the home, but after a short foot chase, he was caught and detained.

During a search of the home, owned by 31-year-old Justin Starks, deputies said a large amount of powder cocaine and crack cocaine was found. Two handguns were also reportedly found on the property and some cash believed to be proceeds of illegal drug trafficking. Both men were lodged in the Graves County Jail.

Sherrill is charged with trafficking in controlled substance, two counts of assault on a police officer, tampering with physical evidence, fleeing and evading, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Starks is charged with trafficking in controlled substance, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, tampering with physical evidence and possession of drug paraphernalia.
By The Associated Press Nov. 03, 2016 | 08:53 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

A former state employee is refusing to comply with Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's investigation into a no-bid contract awarded by his Democratic predecessor.

Bevin is investigating whether the $3 million contract former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear awarded to SAS Institute complied with state procurement laws. Frank Lassiter is a former state worker who was a consultant for SAS at the time, and his wife Mary was the executive cabinet secretary for Beshear.

Beshear awarded the no-bid contract on his last day in office.

Thursday, Bevin asked a judge to force Lassiter to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony. Lassiter's attorney said they would fight the subpoena in court.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Magellan Aerospace is going to be building horizontal tail assemblies for the F-35 joint strike force fighter jet for at least another two years.

Magellans Winnipeg division has been engaged in the F-35s supply chain for almost a decade and is the largest Canadian structural supplier to the controversial jet.

It just announced a two-year extension with its customer, BAE Aerospace, one of the key suppliers to Lockheed Martin, the jet fighters developer.

Postmedia News files The Winnipeg firm is building tail assemblies for the F-35 fighters. The Liberal government hasnt said if it will buy the jets to replace its aging fleet.

Two years worth of production will mean about $70 million in revenue for Magellan, but the company stands to generate about $2 billion through the life of the F-35 program. Magellan has about 150 people employed on the project, and company officials say that number could triple as production ramps up during the next few years.

However, those long-term prospects will likely be altered if the Canadian government chooses to purchase a different jet fighter to replace its aging fleet of CF-18s.

Officials from National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development are in the midst of an industry consultation with at least five fighter-aircraft manufacturers  Boeing, Dassault, Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin, and Saab  as well as governments that deploy the equipment.

The process is being undertaken in order to gather the most current, up-to-date and accurate information on the various aircraft options available to meet Canadas defence needs.

Official documentation on the consultation process says it is neither a call for tenders nor a request for proposal and no summary or final report will be issued following the collection of information from industry.

The Trudeau government made it clear in the last election it did not want to buy the F-35, and there is speculation it favours the Boeing Super Hornet. Boeing officials were in Winnipeg in mid-October when they released an economic-impact study of its presence in Canada as part of efforts to bolster its profile as Ottawa continues to consider what kind of fighter jets it wants to buy.

Industry officials say once all the information from the consultation process is in, its expected Ottawa will make a decision by the end of this year or early 2017.

Scott McCrady, Magellans corporate F-35 program director and the chairman of the Canadian JSF Industrial Group, said Magellan is not worried about its customer honouring its contracts, but he also said there will likely be a migration of work out of Canada if the government chooses to buy another jet.

If Canada makes a commitment to buy the full quantity (of jets) and it is not F-35s, there wont be a cliff, but there will be an erosion of work, absolutely, out of Canada, McCrady said.

Lockheed officials made that point publicly as recently as this past summer.

Magellan is on target to produce more than 1,000 sets of horizontal tail assemblies for the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant of the F-35. Over the life of the F-35 program, that would represent about 50 per cent of the tail assemblies for that variant of the jet.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Theres been a long history of Economic Development Winnipeg having to come up with creative metrics to justify its funding from the province and the city.

Since the exercise  facilitating investment promotion and attraction, capacity building, marketing and the management of market information  is done to support business undertakings, the agency will never get the credit it deserves.

How much credit it does deserve is also not definitive.

Martin Cash / Winnipeg Free Press Trade minister Cliff Cullen (from left), Mayor Brian Bowman and Economic Development Winnipeg CEO Dayna Spiring at Thursdays event.

Take, for example, getting flagged by Vogue magazine as a must-visit place. The agency can use that, regardless of the role it played in getting that piece produced.

Its $5.3-million annual budget ($2.4 million from the city, $1.4 million from the province and $1.5 million from partnerships and investor contributions in 2015) is no longer controversial. But like any other organization acting in the midst of a changing commercial landscape, it needs to adapt.

Those are some of the challenges in running such an agency, and Dayna Spiring, who took over earlier this year, is aware of that.

Its not surprising a new leader will want to put her stamp on things. It makes even more sense when her partners at the legislature and at city hall are also relatively new.

So the agency has rebranded, refreshed and reorganized for its next run at putting Winnipeg on the map.

We are going to be coming out with a very clear statement of what our metrics are going to be, Spiring said after an annual community breakfast Thursday.

Jobs and capital investment will still be included in those metrics, and how the city is perceived will also be part of it.

The Yes! Winnipeg initiative  the agencys private-sector-funded sales organization to help attract, retain and expand business in the city  will function the same way. It has got its first tranche of investment from local businesses under its belt for its next five years of funding with the goal of reaching $5 million.

Using its own inimitable way of tabulating these things, Yes! Winnipeg says it has helped about 80 companies generate about 4,620 jobs and $615 million in investment in its six years of operation.

Theres no doubt theres a new approach. For starters, it just moved its offices from the same building the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce is located in to the Richardson Building.

It has reorganized into a more formal top-down approach eliminating confusion that emerged with the creation of Yes! Winnipeg six years ago. Tourism Winnipeg is also one of its divisions.

The idea is that they will function in concert with each other and to a greater extent with the community at large.

A casual fireside chat between Spiring, Cliff Cullen, the provincial trade minister and Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman  facilitated by Yes! Winnipeg leader Vince Barletta  Thursday was the symbolic representation of the close collaboration that will exist between the agency and the two levels of government.

To do anything else would be ridiculous, Spiring said. We need to do it collaboratively. If I look at the time before, there was not that alignment between city hall, the province and (the agency).

Marching orders include becoming more data-driven and strategic in its approach.

The city has been doing well, and the province has been doing well, said Greg Dandewich, in charge of the economic development piece of the agency. We want to be able to be a little more sophisticated and targeted in terms of how we allocate our resources.

Part of that will include more conversations with businesses about where they fit in to their market and their supply chain.

The province has identified five strategic sectors in the city and the agency will focus on them  advanced manufacturing, agri-food, information technology, digital media and new media as well as aerospace.

When it comes to aerospace, for instance, its recognized Winnipeg cant compete with Montreal for avionics work. But it is a hotbed for composite parts, engine testing and maintenance, repair and overhaul  thats where the focus will be.

Spiring said if it is a choice between supporting a business with 10 PhDs or one with 20 servers or retail jobs, the agency will back the PhDs. We need to get the jobs that are growing the economy, she said. If we grow those, the servers will come. They dont need my help to come. Its a question of where we spend our resources.

You could say Winnipegs image has entered a new phase with Vogue and National Geographic pointing out the citys distinctive charms. It will be a measure of its success if the agency capitalizes on that stepped-up image.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/11/2016 (2189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two cousins are headed to prison for drive-by shootings that began rooted in revenge and ended in a high-speed police chase across the city.

Tamim Ahmadzai, now 21, and Hamed Shahnawaz, now 27, were each sentenced to 10 years after they pleaded guilty to two counts of recklessly discharging a firearm for shooting up homes in Wolseley and West Kildonan in the early hours of April 1, 2014.

No one was hurt in the shootings, but the charges carry mandatory minimum five-year sentences and Court of Queens Bench Justice Douglas Abra decided Thursday to impose consecutive sentences of five years for each shooting. Crown prosecutor Libby Standil recommended each of the accused serve a 12-year sentence, while defence lawyers Michael Dyck and George Tsimiklis asked for six to seven years.

KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS WPS marked bullet holes foollowing a shooting on Seven Oaks Avenue.

I find this particular case very disturbing, the judge said.

Both men were taken into custody Thursday to begin serving their sentences. Theyd been free on bail under strict conditions Dyck said amounted to house arrest for his client, Ahmadzai, who was bound by a 24-hour curfew. Police checked on him more than 150 times over the course of the past 2.5 years, and Dyck argued the judge should consider the house arrest as a mitigating factor during sentencing. The argument didnt sway Abra, who said he was surprised the accused had been let out on bail in the first place given the allegations of gun violence.

The accused both claimed they didnt remember much from the night of the shootings  a night that ended with the pair leading police on a chase from the north to southwest corners of the city at speeds reaching 150 kilometres per hour. Ahmadzai crashed the SUV into a snowbank and tried to hide from police in a snowdrift before the canine unit wrangled both accused, who appeared sober at the time, police noted. The judge swiftly dismissed their so-called foggy memories.

I simply dont accept that you did it while you were in a cloud, he said.

Text messages between the cousins, Ahmadzai in Winnipeg and Shahnawaz in Brampton, Ont., showed they planned the shootings at least a week ahead of time, plotting to direct the bullets at the homes of their enemies. They targeted a resident in the 100 block of Walnut Street who allegedly owed Shahnawaz $42,000, and another resident in the 500 block of Seven Oaks Avenue with whom Ahmadzai had bad blood, court heard.

Shahnawaz admitted renting a car and driving to Winnipeg with three guns  one of which was an assault rifle smuggled across the border from Florida. He and his cousin then pulled up in front of the Walnut Street duplex, rolled down the SUV window and fired 11 shots  most aimed at innocent victims on the second floor even though their target lived on the main floor. Five people were in the duplex at the time.

Soon after, the accused fired at least seven shots at the home on Seven Oaks, one of which broke through the front window. No one was home at the time. The same home on Seven Oaks had been shot at the night before, but charges in that shooting were stayed against the two accused. The shooting was retaliation for a Molotov cocktail being left on the front step of Ahmadzais grandmothers home, the Crown told court, noting his ties to a St. Vital street gang known as the Goon Squad.

Since then, the accused have turned to their family and their faith to steer them away from crime, court heard.

Both of you have done your best to turn your lives around, Abra said, but he said the strict sentences were necessary nonetheless in light of the shootings and the dramatic escalation from A to Z in the cousins involvement in violent crime.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Opinion

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This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For many people, finding a breast lump can cause worry and concern. Often, the first thought is, Is this breast cancer?

In reality, breast lumps are common, and most are not breast cancer. However, finding a new lump or a change in the breast does require an appointment with your health-care provider as soon as possible.

After examining your breast and asking some questions, your health-care provider may suggest you return in two to four weeks to re-examine the breast or may refer you to a specialist for more tests such as a mammogram (an X-ray of the breast) or an ultrasound (which uses sound waves to make a picture inside the body) to look at the lump.

If you are under the age of 35, you may only have an ultrasound scan. This is because it is difficult to get a clear picture of younger womens breasts with a mammogram. More tests do not necessarily mean you have cancer but help take a closer look at your breast.

A breast biopsy may be recommended to test the area of the breast to see if cancer cells are present. This is done by taking small samples of cells or tissue from the breast with a needle. Based on the pathology or test results of the biopsy, some individuals may need treatment for breast cancer.

If breast cancer is diagnosed, the next step involves meeting with a surgeon to discuss treatment options and management. In Winnipeg, a referral may be made to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authoritys Breast Health Centre to see a breast surgeon. Patients are encouraged to bring a support person to that appointment. Along with seeing the surgeon, the health-care team provides support and education for newly diagnosed patients.

For many individuals, the difficult part is waiting for the test results and worrying about what comes next. These feelings are normal. There are many different ways to cope, and there is no right or wrong way. Some people like to get as much information as possible and learn about their options, while others prefer to keep themselves busy with day-to-day activities. Individuals are encouraged to take things one step at a time until a diagnosis is made. Receiving extra support from family, friends or health-care professionals can help increase coping and decrease stress while waiting for the results. Patients are encouraged to ask for help if they need it.

Statistics show one in nine Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Fifty-two per cent of breast cancers will be diagnosed in women 50 to 69 years of age.

With early detection and improved treatments for breast cancer, survival rates continue to rise. If you have received a letter for a breast-screening appointment or if you feel a change in your breasts, it is important to make an appointment.

Its also important to remember breast health involves more than just breast exams. It also includes being familiar with how your breasts look and feel to help you recognize changes in your breast such as lumps, nipple discharge or changes in appearance.

Talk to your health-care provider about your personal risk for breast cancer and ways to reduce your risk. Live the three Bs of breast health: Be Healthy, Be Breast-Aware and Be Informed.

While there is no single action any individual can take to prevent this disease, there are things people can do to reduce their risk and improve their health and wellness.

Susan Dennehy is a clinical nurse specialist with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authoritys Breast Health Centre
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/11/2016 (2189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The minister responsible for the status of women in Manitoba says its premature for her government to commit its support for a new abortion pill.

Rochelle Squires was reacting to an NDP motion in the legislature Thursday urging the Pallister government to develop plans to dispense the abortion medication Mifegymiso and ensure its covered under Pharmacare.

Squires said while the government supports the provision of health care products and services to women throughout Manitoba, she did not want to speculate on a drug that has yet to clear some important regulatory hurdles before provinces can recommend its use.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Minister Rochelle Squires, the minister responsible for the status of women

While the abortion drug, Mifegymiso, received approval by Health Canada last year, it has yet to be analyzed by a national committee that makes recommendations for coverage to provincial drug programs. It has yet to be sold in Canada.

Squires said the manufacturer only submitted its proposal to the review panel that reviews the effectiveness and costs of medications on Oct. 7.

Squires said it would be unprecedented for the province to approve a drug for Pharmacare coverage before it was cleared by the national Common Drug Review, a process that will likely take at least six months.

We are awaiting the regulatory checks and balances and were watching the calendar. We know that in March or April the common drug review process will (be) complete. It will go onto the next phase and then recommendations will come forward to the province, she said.

Squires, minister of Culture, Heritage and Sport, is the provinces lead minister on the issue. Normally, the provinces health minister is the point person on Pharmacare approval for medications.

Asked Thursday by reporters whether she believes in the right of women to choose to have an abortion, the minister told a personal story.

To be clear, when I was 17 years old and I was faced with an unexpected pregnancy there was one choice for me  and that choice was to have my child. And that choice was made between my conscience, my doctor and the god of my understanding. And I believe that every woman should be able to make the same choice.

Asked whether she would support wide distribution and Pharmacare coverage for an abortion pill if it got the go-ahead from a national committee, she would only say: Our government is anticipating the recommendations from the Common Drug Review.

In granting safety approval for the abortion medication, Health Canada required that it be administered in a doctors presence.

That has led organizations that regulate physicians to wonder if doctors would be expected to stock the drug and dispense it, something most are very hesitant to do.

Dr. Anna Ziomek, registrar with the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons, said if physicians dispensed the drug, they would have no way of entering it into the Drug Programs Information Network, a provincial tracking system used by pharmacists.

If doctors could write a prescription for the patient, have a pharmacist send them the drug and then supervise its administration, it would still be a cumbersome process, she added.

Nahanni Fontaine, the NDP MLA who sponsored the resolution in the legislature advocating easy access to the abortion pill, said she hopes the Pallister government doesnt stand in the way of its distribution to women who need it.

She said at an estimated cost of $270 to $300, the drug would be priced out of the reach of many, without provincial coverage.

It is Manitoba womens right to have control over their reproductive health, and this is an essential part of that, she said.

While her motion received considerable debate on Thursday, MLAs went on to other business without voting on the matter.

Joan Dawkins, executive director of the Womens Health Clinic, said while pharmacare coverage for the abortion pill would increase its availability to women, she would rather that it be made available at no charge.

Our preference would actually be that the province agree to purchase the medications and make them available as part of the health care system in the same way as they do surgical abortions so that the medications would be free, Dawkins said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Transit wants to expand its Fort Rouge garage into a campus facility, where it can repair and maintain its fleet of 625 buses.

The civic administration has endorsed the plan and is recommending council approve a $53-million expansion to Transits Fort Rouge garage on south Osborne, expanding the floor space from 113,000 square feet to 174,000 square feet.

While the report states the objective is to consolidate its maintenance facilities in one location, a civic spokewoman said Transits North Garage on Main Street will remain operational.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The Winnipeg Transit Fort Rouge Garage on Osborne South.

The 50-year-old Fort Rouge garage is adjacent to the new Brandon garage, which was constructed in 2014.

The report says both the federal and provincial governments are expected to contribute to the campus project, with Ottawa contributing $26 million and the province $13 million  leaving the citys share at $14 million.

The plan will be presented to the public works committee Monday afternoon and would need full council approval.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Manitoba said it is preparing an alternative solution in an attempt to end the faculty strike that began Tuesday.

(The union will) be hearing from us as soon as possible, university vice-president external John Kearsey said Friday, refusing to elaborate. It could be today, it could be tomorrow.

The university is certainly not giving up on this, Kearsey said.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Striking University of Manitoba faculty members and supporting students marched to the U of M administration building Friday afternoon.

Kearsey said 448 of the 1,216 University of Manitoba Faculty Association members have already told the administration they are continuing to work.

Union president Prof. Mark Hudson immediately challenged Kearseys numbers, arguing the university was counting professors on research leave, sick leave, parental leave and other authorized absences as not being on strike.

Kearseys comments came about 90 minutes after Hudson said no further conciliation talks are scheduled  union and university officials met with a conciliation officer Wednesday and Thursday.

Were waiting on something to come back from the university, Hudson said after leading an excited rally at the U of M administration building.

The union briefly moved its picket lines inside the public grounds of the campus at noon so strikers and supporters could deliver the message university officials have had trouble understanding during failed bargaining, Hudson told the cheering crowd.

What were hearing across the table is a little bit of confusion about what were asking for, he said.

The union has received vocal and monetary support from outside the province. University of Saskatchewan Prof. Len Findlay told the rally that both Premier Brian Pallister and U of M president David Barnard are treating the professors, instructors and librarians who make up UMFAs membership with absolute contempt.

That drew cheers that were dwarfed by the roaring crowd moments later when Findlay mentioned a $50,000 donation to the unions strike fund from the U of S faculty.

Hudson told the rally students see universities moving away from learning, teaching and research as their main reasons for existing.

Our working conditions are their learning conditions, he said.

Burned-out and overworked professors are working in their offices until 9 p.m., then working at home until midnight, he said.

The union delivered 120 pages of professors descriptions of the horrendous workload, to the negotiating table, he said.

Prof. James Compton, president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, said the facultys struggle for collegial governance and workload controls is shared by academics across Canada.

Canadian Federation of Students Manitoba organizer Brianne Goertzen lauded professors for their mentorship, guidance and push that got her through a graduate degree as a low-income single mother.

I am not proud of the behaviour of the administration of this institution, she said.

Revolutionary Student Movement member Ian MacDonald told the rally professors should not be pitted against each other in competition for dollars and should not be assessed on the basis of the money they raise: Our struggles are one and the same  we are one working class, he declared.

The contract expired March 31.

The union has said it would consider going along with the provinces advice to the U of M to extend the contract another year with a wage freeze as long as the union made significant progress on workload and governance issues, including how promotion and tenure are determined.

Kearsey said Friday the university is already more than seven months into the one-year pause year the province has suggested.

In its last publicly disclosed salary offer, the university had put on the table a seven per cent increase over four years; for one-third of the members still eligible for incremental raises, the package would total 17.5 per cent over four years.

The union sought a 6.9 per cent overall increase for one year.

In the contract that expired March 31, assistant professors were paid from $71,777 to $107,666, associate professors from $84,251 to $126,376 and professors from $103,451 to $155,777. The UMFA has argued its members are paid significantly less than their peers in some other provinces.

The university will continue classes on a case-by-case basis, largely dependent on which professors cross the picket line. Those classes are listed at http://wfp.to/2pR.

There are no scheduled picket lines on the weekend when members of the public not connected with the university often use the non-academic university buildings and leased facilities on campus.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

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This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The current crisis in Western democracy reflects a deep popular distrust: we understand it is government of the people, but question whether it is by the people. What is worse, we are increasingly not convinced it is for the people at all.

It is appropriate to evoke this line from former United States president Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg address as we look south and see the struggle to block the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the U.S. presidential election hangs in the balance.

The Battle of Gettysburg was the high water mark of the Confederacy, the turning point of the U.S. Civil War. Up until that point, it seemed Lincolns stand against slavery was a catastrophic mistake. Principles are fine, but at what cost?

MORTON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE / TNS Police face tribal members from across the country and their supporters protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, N.D.

Even after the Union victory, it took a hundred years to pass the laws that transitioned the U.S. into a country where justice before the law did not depend on race. Or so everyone still hopes  just as everyone hopes that fair treatment no longer depends upon gender.

But it all traces back to one man, one person, who chose to make a stand because it was the right thing to do.

If we distrust politicians after their election, its because that act of taking a stand for everyone because it is the right thing to do  not just for the people who elected you or who funded your campaign  is not a common occurrence.

As the pipeline controversy spreads and the crowds grow at Standing Rock, N.D., American democracy faces a serious threat: so far, these crowds have been peaceful, despite provocation and despite being a focus for growing anger against what increasingly seems like an unjust system. The protesters deserve huge credit and support for this, because peaceful demonstration is allowed under the law. They have the right to be there, to have their concerns heard and to a fair decision in the courts.

At the same time, laws change, for many reasons  and both governments and the courts decide what those changes should be. This, too, is part of the system that keeps a democracy healthy and functioning.

But Standing Rock highlights some fundamental principles of American democracy  the right of citizens to make decisions about the health, safety and security of their homes, their families and their communities. In the case of indigenous people, it also puts the spotlight on a further right to respect their traditional relationship to the land.

If these things are against the law, the law needs to change.

At the same time, issues about race, gender, religion, tolerance, diversity  issues that should be understood in the context of existing laws  have made it onto the agenda for the presidential election. When one candidate embraces the criticisms levelled at what he has said about all these issues  and then raises doubt whether he and his supporters would respect the outcome of the election should he lose, the whole American democratic system is put at risk.

As the waters continue to muddy, contaminated by the spills of information, by the toxicity of racist, xenophobic and misogynistic language and by the growing contamination of the political process, the presidential election looks like the aftermath of a pipeline spill into the political drinking water of the American people.

It is a dual test of American democracy  Standing Rock paired with the White House. Our whole world will be shaped one way or another by the outcome of both those contests.

North of the border, we are not immune. Our federal government approved a pipeline on the West Coast, over the protests of many people, avoiding its election commitments to hold consultations and be guided by what was said. Similar decisions are pending about the Kinder-Morgan pipeline and about the Energy East pipeline.

From economic and technical standpoints, these projects require an absurd and unjustifiable optimism about future markets and environmental risks. Whether this is the result of bad advice or selective evidence, it looks as if the federal government is catering to special interests  yet again.

No government, however tyrannical, survives except by the consent of the people. When peoples lives are threatened, their homes destroyed, and their hopes for the future are dashed, their consent can be withdrawn  with stark consequences.

In a country where government is no longer by the people and for the people, the American experience reminds us of two painful alternatives to peaceful demonstrations and abiding by the rule of law: either revolution or civil war. I pray that lesson does not need to be repeated.

After all, its not just about presidents and pipelines. Its about principles, about doing what is right. It would be wonderful to see politicians consider that choice to be their first responsibility.

Peter Denton teaches the history of technology at the University of Winnipeg and chairs the policy committee of the Green Action Centre.
Opinion

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This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I enjoy driving to Saskatchewan. As I pass Virden, I do not need the sign welcoming me to Saskatchewan to know I am in another province. No, I can tell by the quaint provincial costumes  the purple hats and the lime-green leggings of Saskatchewan men are a sure tipoff that I am in a different place.

This is silly, of course  but the existence of provinces demanding that they have a made-in-Saskatchewan energy policy or a made-in-Nova Scotia health policy underscores the arbitrary nature of political and administrative divisions in delivering public policy. In most cases, the boundaries we use to deliver public policy make little sense, do not align with unique needs of the population and add administrative cost with little commensurate value.

The proliferation of political and administrative boundaries is breathtaking. Any administrative map of Manitoba reveals a complex web of jurisdictions. For example, we have five school districts and several dozen divisions. Why do we need six school divisions in Winnipeg? Please dont say the Winnipeg School Division brings more focus to inner-city needs, when it also includes Fort Rouge schools. Even so, what is fundamentally different about Grade 4 math in Seven Oaks compared to Pembina Trails?

One critical dimension that may warrant a separate education division is the disparity between aboriginal and non-aboriginal school achievement. Here, an important stratum serves to guide the creation of an administrative unit devoted to accelerating the academic achievement of aboriginal children.

Rural municipal governments represent a more natural emergence of additional local governance. Critically, a region can apply to be a rural municipality based on meeting certain population requirements. Mayors and reeves typically comprise the governance structure and serve as an important countervail to the provincial government. The fact the Association of Manitoba Municipalities started as a voluntary organization and its growth depends on the natural processes of urban growth lends credibility to these administrative units compared with arbitrary bureaucratic boundaries.

The regional health authorities (RHAs) are an excellent example of an arbitrary solution in search of a problem. Created in 1998, the idea was smaller regional administrative units would give voice, and make service more responsive, to local needs. Yet the original 11 RHAs have been pared to six. Even a cursory glance at a map reveals Manitobas RHAs do not align with any natural service area. And just to add yet another anomaly, Churchill is part of the Winnipeg Health Regional Authority (WRHA)! This completely undercuts any rationale that a health region represents a coherent delivery system based on patient need.

Each administrative unit comes with an overhead cost. For example, each of the 39 school divisions in Manitoba has a board of approximately 10, along with a support staff. Just administrating the school divisions in Manitoba requires a staff of more than 500, and that is being quite conservative. These divisions also set the school tax. An argument could be made that elected boards offer taxpayer control, although the reality is taxpayers appear to have little influence over school taxes.

If Manitoba Education were to assume direct responsibility of delivering all education, certainly it would need staff on the ground. It may well collect schools into administrative units that would define catchment areas. But local governance and local delivery are two separate ideas. We have a Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service that is governed centrally but positions its stations to serve the local population efficiently. Is a school system or a health system any different?

The absurdity of many of our administrative divisions was made apparent last week when the WRHA announced a staggering interim deficit. Whether this deficit is real is not the issue. Any shortfall will not be covered by Winnipeg residents by the WRHA imposing a tax on Winnipeg residents; rather, it will be covered by Manitoba Health. The creation of RHAs has not increased transparency or accountability but simply erected another bureaucratic layer that attenuates effective oversight.

We urgently need to thin and rationalize the numbers of arbitrary administrative units we have governing service delivery in Manitoba. It will take a fresh provincial government with a majority and mandate to reduce spending to effect such change.

Gregory Mason is an associate professor of economics at the University of Manitoba and a senior consultant at PRA Inc. His views are his own.
Opinion

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This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IN 1868 in the western region of Ukraine, a group of people came together to form a society that would have long-lasting effects, not only on Ukraine but later throughout the world. The objective of this new organization was to reawaken the Ukrainian spirit by encouraging language development as well as maintaining customs and traditions that had been continuously oppressed. The societys name became Prosvita, meaning to enlighten or to reawaken.

In 1916, 25 years after the first Ukrainians settled in Canada, the need arose again to reaffirm the Ukrainian spirit. The spirit was reawakened with the formation of cultural branches throughout the western provinces calling themselves Prosvita, which took root in Canadian soil to provide immigrants with a meeting place to share their anxieties and hope for the future.

Thus, in 1916 at the Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral in Winnipeg, a choral and dramatic society named Bandurist was established. This gave impetus to the whole movement of Prosvita. By holding concerts and theatrical productions, the Bandurist society soon expanded its membership to the point where the church-hall space became inadequate. The concept of erecting its own Prosvita building was born.

On the initiative of Rev. Mykhailo Olenchuk, a founding committee was formed, and land for the planned building was purchased at the corners of Pritchard Avenue and Arlington Street. Due to financial difficulties, the project took longer than anticipated, and the building was not completed until 1920. The building was blessed by His Excellency Metropolitan Andrei Sheptyckyj. A great deal of credit for its fundraising efforts and generosity through the years belonged to the Knyahinia Olha League, which was very instrumental and active into the early 1990s.

With the additional space, activities at Canadian Ukrainian Institute Prosvita thrived, and into the next number of decades, the community witnessed numerous cultural productions and the birth of impressive choirs, amateur drama groups, orchestras, a school of dance, sport clubs and many other interesting concerts and events.

After the Second World War, with the arrival of a new wave of immigrants, not only did the membership of Institute Prosvita grow, but a number of new organizations such as the Ukrainian Canadian Youth Association (SUM), the League for Ukraine and its womens branch were welcomed as affiliates for the institute.

Due to the dynamic involvement and expansion of the building in 1954 and 1966, a fundraising campaign began in both years in order to remodel the building to facilitate the demand. Thanks to the generosity of the membership and the affiliated organizations, as well as the Ukrainian community as a whole, the present building was erected. Today, it esthetically enhances the North End of Winnipeg and stands as a tangible measure of the Ukrainian communitys successes and identifies the contribution to our city, the province and to the betterment of Canada.

Throughout 2016, Ukrainians in Canada have been celebrating the 125th anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainians in Canada, and in particular in Manitoba. With the arrival of the first Ukrainian settlers in Canada and Ukrainian institutions such as Prosvita that took root on Canadian soil 100 years ago, these historical events provided a meeting place in which people shared their feelings as well as hope for the future by enlightening and promoting Canadas cultural mosaic. The spirit of Prosvita is recognized as the light that guided the Ukrainian community and brought together four waves of Ukrainian immigrants and had a profound impact on Winnipeg and Canada as whole. Hopefully, as Canadians we continue the model of accepting and accommodating diverse cultures into our society for the next 100 years.

Peter J. Manastyrsky is an active member of the Ukrainian community in Winnipeg and past president of Canadian Ukrainian Institute Prosvita.
Senior Katie Pagenkopf is the daughter of April and Jason Pagenkopf of Winona. Katie describes herself as talkative, hardworking and likes to make people happy. She said calculus and Spanish are her favorite subjects. Katie works at Walmart and enjoys hanging out with friends and playing volleyball. She said her parents are her role models. Faculty and staff describe Katie as fun, kind, hardworking, friendly and intelligent. She is an excellent student and an outgoing young lady, they said. After graduation, Katie is thinking about attending University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Her advice to students is, "You're going to have those days where something feels like it's the end of the world, but let it go because I promise it won't matter a year from now."
Fifty years ago, about 10,000 U.S. infantrymen had surrounded an estimated 2,000 Viet Cong fighters in the jungles 45 miles northwest of Saigon.

After three days of pitched fighting, We are hurting the Viet Cong, said one U.S. operations chief to the Associated Press. We have them boxed in, and they are trying to break out.

But as the war dragged on, more frequently it was the United States that appeared boxed in, looking for a way to break out of a war that seemed to have no end. More than 68,000 Minnesotans served in Vietnam, fighting a war that defined a generation and divided a nation.

As part of an ongoing effort to preserve the record and memory of the men and women whose lives were affected by that war, the Winona County Historical Society and Winona State University historian Tomas Tovaisas have assembled an exhibit of artifacts on loan from Winona-area veterans to illustrate accounts of their experience of the war in southeast Asia.

The exhibit, Remembering Vietnam, opens Wednesday at the Winona County History Center. The artifacts and other memorabilia will be on display until late February in 2017.

Over the summer, Tovaisas spearheaded an effort to assemble artifacts and collect and record veterans stories to fill a gap in the local record, Historical Society assistant director Jennifer Weaver said.

Participation of local veterans was solicited and was forthcoming, she said, and the project will be ongoing.
The Winona FFA Chapter was named a National Chapter at the 89th Annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October.

The award places the Winona FFA in the top 1 percent of the nations 8,000-plus Chapters.

The Wnona FFA was represented by Kayla Drache, Tyffanie Denzer, Melonie Harris, Trinity Hugunin, Amanda McNally and Courtney Schams.

The six Winona FFA delegates were among over 62,000 FFA Members from across the nation to attend the convention. Delegates had the opportunity to hear motivational speakers, Diana Nyad and Colin Ryan, as well as participating in leadership workshops.

Winona delegates also toured the Indianapolis Speedway, in Indiana and the Caterpillar Plant in Peoria, Ill. They attended a Chris Young and Cole Swindell Concert and the Worlds Toughest Rodeo, and they had the opportunity to visit with over 322 vendors and universities at the national FFA Expo.

Winona FFA adviser, Brian Sather, chaperoned the Winona delegation and attended sessions with chapter delegates as well as participating in Interactive Teacher Workshops.
The Winona Family YMCA is returning for a second attempt at changing their propertys standing in Winonas comprehensive plan, as the organization continue to look for a buyer and developer while seeking a move to a new facility.

The YMCA will return Nov. 14 to the Winona Planning Commission, which recommended denial of the previous attempt in May during a meeting that included quite a bit of debate about the YMCAs future.

The controversy was less related to the zoning and more about a proposed purchase agreement with Kwik Trip to build a convenience store in the location. Neighbors in the adjacent historic Windom Park neighborhood were particularly concerned about lighting and traffic.

YMCA CEO Derek Madsen said Thursday that no one is planning to purchase the building and property at the current time; the YMCA has listed it publicly at the request of neighbors, after spending significant time courting buyers who may have been interested in what has proved to be a difficult sell, given the age and use of the building.

Meanwhile, he said, the need to change the comprehensive plan still remains.

Madsen said making the request without an attached business proposing to use the property will be helpful in addressing the question of how the neighborhood, especially immediately around the property, had changed since the comprehensive plan was developed.

The interstate bridge project has led to a transformation of the west end of downtown, with the removal of multiple commercial properties and more residential properties, and the neighborhood will continue to be in transition as the land again becomes available for development once the bridge work is completed.

As one example, the owner of the former Timbers restaurant has transformed the small retail property into a multi-story apartment building; other larger residential complexes have also been completed or are nearing completion in the area.

In the first request, people focused on the end user and not the question at hand, Madsen said. Many of the comments from attendees at the May planning commission meeting, as well as commission members, focused partly or solely on the proposed presence of a Kwik Trip in the location, rather than on the actual question of whether the rezoning was appropriate.

The YMCA would still have to return to the planning commission and Winona City Council when they find a buyer to request rezoning of the property as well, Madsen said.

The YMCAs request is to change the designation from traditional neighborhood to downtown fringe, to allow for a wider range of prospective developers other than just residential development.

The YMCAs plans to move to a location next to Winona Health were announced in May after about five years of planning, during which the YMCA has negotiated without success with multiple parties over potentially purchasing the building and land.

They have raised about $8.3 million so far toward the $13 million goal, and are hoping the sale of the building and property will provide a significant percentage of the remaining money, Madsen said.

The current building, built in 1953, was put up for public sale in September for $1.25 million.

The YMCA has been trying to find a buyer that would cooperate, as Kwik Trip had agreed to, with letting the YMCA operate until the new site is open and ready for use, as well as to demolish the building at its own cost, giving the YMCA the best return on their money.

The planned new facility, which doesnt yet have completed renderings or designs, would sit between Lake Winona, Dairy Queen and the former Wells Fargo building on acreage owned by Winona Health.

The idea is for the new spot to continue the YMCAs customers current needs while providing new and innovative wellness models aimed at serving everyone from seniors to at-risk youth to Winona Health clients, including having Winona Healths physical therapy in the building.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect headline; it said the YMCA was seeking a zoning change, when in fact it is seeking a change to the city's comprehensive plan.
The following editorial appeared in the Oct. 27 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Government has suspended  but not ended  the clawback of re-enlistment bonuses given to thousands of current and former soldiers of the California National Guard for service in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

We say government because it is also unclear which branch of that hydra-headed beast is guilty of executing, or not taking the necessary steps to remedy, the fundamental injustice. Parties involved include the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the National Guard Bureau, the California National Guard and, ultimately, the only body probably able to clean up the affair definitively, the U.S. Congress. Congress is in recess until after the elections Nov. 8, back home, asking citizens to vote for them to keep their jobs.

What happened was that during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the first of which has been underway since 2001 and the second since 2003, Americas armed forces were having predictable problems with recruitment. What Americans were doing fighting those wars was unclear, and the economy had not yet tanked, as it did starting in 2008, with the recession. Consequently, the California National Guard, through a federal program, saw fit to offer its soldiers bonuses of thousands of dollars to re-enlist to fill the gaps.

Many of those soldiers are now being required to repay some $22 million that was paid to them at the time apparently mistakenly. One of the problems involved in the current disastrous situation is fraud and mismanagement among California National Guard officials. Soldiers who have not reimbursed the alleged debt are subject to interest accruing, wage garnishment and tax liens.

Each of the governmental bodies involved, excluding the absent Congress, is claiming that it is unable to shut off the squeeze on Americas warriors, so they and their families in principle continue to have the thousands of dollars in debt claimed by government hanging over their heads as they try to live their lives. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has suspended collection for the moment, but the issue remains unresolved and the debt to the government is partly unpaid.

Congress must fix this when it comes back from its election vacation, on an urgent basis. Soldiers who have already paid should get their money back, promptly, in full. This issue should be on top of Carters list, rather than some new war.
I have been an advocate for animal welfare for decades, and am always gratified to find individuals working in government who support the protection of companion animals.

For years, Winona County has had to deal with large-scale dog breeding facilities (puppy mills) in its community. This issue and the permitting of these facilities was brought before the Winona County Board of Commissioners last December. I personally attended the meetings. I observed Greg Olson at these meetings and commend his work. I support his re-election as County Commissioner for the Fourth District.

Greg Olson is a man of principle who was willing to speak up for the humane treatment of animals. He did not shy away from a controversial issue. While some focused solely on income and profit when debating this topic, he saw the bigger issue  that puppy mills are an antiquated business model that confines breeding dogs for years and mass produces puppies for money.

Mr. Olson opposed the permitting of these facilities and supported the protection of companion animals  he spoke up for those who dont have a voice. This impressed me. Its clear Greg Olson will fight to ensure Winona County ceases to be the Puppy Mill Capital of Minnesota, as it has been unfortunately labeled, and work to find fair and appropriate alternatives for both the business operators and the hundreds of dogs and puppies confined in their kennels.

I sincerely hope the people of Winona County vote for Greg Olson and continue to benefit from having him as their caring and competent County commissioner.
ANNA, Illinois  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.

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.
Sauk County government may sever ties with its administrative chief a mere eight months after she was hired.

A committee has plans to discuss whether to place Sauk County Administrative Coordinator Renae Fry on paid leave next week. Her departure would leave the Sauk County Board with the task of finding its fourth administrator in 18 months.

Reasons behind Frys potential removal have not been made public, although the Baraboo News Republic has filed an open records request for documents related to the matter.

Meeting called off

The boards Executive and Legislative Committee was scheduled to discuss Frys potential removal behind closed doors Thursday afternoon. But during a brief discussion in open session, the committee opted to postpone the matter after Fry raised concerns about compliance with the states open meetings law.

The possible deficiency is that the meeting notice should have contained at least a reference to the title and position that was under consideration, and it did not, Sauk County Board Chair Marty Krueger of Reedsburg said Thursday. While the (attorney hired by the countys insurance provider) believes the notice was sufficient, the administrative coordinator believes that there is a deficiency.

Rather than move forward amid uncertainty about the meetings legality, Krueger suggested the matter be postponed for one week.

The five-member committee voted unanimously  with one member absent  to reschedule the meeting for next Thursday.

Although county officials have not publicly named the employee under scrutiny, multiple sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity confirmed that it is Fry and that she has been offered a severance package in lieu of being placed on administrative leave.

Reached by phone following Thursday afternoons meeting, Fry declined to comment.

Sauk County Assistant Corp. Counsel Debra ORourke confirmed during Thursdays meeting that the full 31-member board would have the final say regarding the pending employment matter.

The full county board vote can take place no sooner than 21 days after the committee makes its recommendation.

Turnover

The move to oust Fry follows a meeting last week at which the Executive and Legislative Committee discussed her six-month performance evaluation in closed session.

If Fry and the county ultimately part ways, supervisors would be left in search of the fourth person to fill the role of administrative coordinator in 18 months.

Former Sauk County Administrative Coordinator Kathy Schauf announced in May 2015 that she had accepted a new job in Eau Claire County.

The following month, the county board voted unanimously to confirm the appointment of Sauk County Conservation, Planning and Zoning Director Brentt Michalek as interim administrative coordinator.

The board then voted in October 2015 to hire an Appleton-based firm, Moffett and Associates LLC, to manage the search for Schaufs permanent replacement. Michalek was ultimately among five other finalists that were passed over in favor of Fry.

Before she accepted the position with Sauk County in March, Fry served as dean of Business, Technology and Career Programs for Minnesotas North Hennepin Community College. She also worked as a private attorney in the area of employment, corporate law and estate planning.

The county boards 27-2 vote to approve Frys contract in March followed a contentious debate about the process by which she was selected. Several supervisors raised concerns, including that Krueger denied timely access to search-related documents.

The newspaper also requested those records, which included candidate resumes and a survey of those who were granted a private meeting with finalists. The county released finalist resumes the month after Fry was hired, and later released survey responses in more than a hundred pages of documents that did not include compiled results.

Meeting was sudden

A notice of Thursdays meeting prepared by Kruegers office was sent to media outlets 24 hours in advance of the meetings scheduled start time, the minimum window required by state law. The document described the closed-session discussion as an employment related matter.

The News Republic questioned the countys legal counsel about that description. And nearly two hours later, the county issued an amended meeting notice.

The new notice, also prepared by Kruegers office, contained the same closed session language. However, it included an additional open session item: Consideration of placing employee on administrative leave. A notice for next weeks meeting has not yet been issued.
Madison collects about 18,000 tons of leaves each year, mostly during late October and early November when residents rake and pile them curbside for city pickup.

Keeping those leaves out of the street is the most important thing urban dwellers can do to protect Madisons lakes, new research shows.

The U.S. Geological Survey has been studying leaves and runoff in Madison, with initial findings suggesting fallen leaves (and to a lesser extent soil, lawn clippings and pet waste) accounted for 56 percent of the phosphorus pollution last year that washed into our lakes from urban areas.

The research also has determined that careful timing of leaf removal from curbs can reduce that pollution by as much as 80 percent.

Unfortunately, too many homeowners and renters still rake their leaves into the streets, in violation of city ordinance. Those leaves then wash down the street and clump at storm sewer grates when it rains. The water soaks the mass of leaves like a tea bag, leeching out the phosphorus, which runs into the lakes. The phosphorus then feeds weed and algae growth in the water, filling the shoreline with green muck each summer and closing beaches.

Most of the phosphorus pollution entering Madisons lakes comes from manure thats stored and spread on farms. But city residents and businesses still have a responsibility to control the runoff from their properties, too, which accounts for about 30 percent of the overall problem.

Farmers are doing more to stem the erosion of animal waste into our lakes. Similarly, city and suburban residents must try harder to stop leaves from getting into street gutters and grates.

William Selbig, a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said Tuesday his team now plans to study how much varying municipal practices for picking up leaves in the fall reduces the amount of phosphorus thats released into the lakes. Theyll study the impact of using trucks, sweepers and large vacuum tubes to collect leaves from curbs.

But any collection system still will require help from the public so leaves dont wash away when it rains.

The best way to keep leaves out of the streets and our lakes is to mulch or compost them in your yard. Yet most residents want their leaves picked up from the curb. Thats fine  so long as the leaves are piled a few feet from the street so they stay put during a storm.

Another tip for Madison residents is to look at the citys website to learn when crews will be picking up leaves in their neighborhood. That way, the leaves dont sit for weeks on the curb, killing grass and potentially eroding away. Tips for how to rake, collect and store your leaves in communities across Dane county, including Madison, can be found at www.cleanlakesalliance.org/leaves. Please do your part to protect our lakes by keeping your leaves out of the street. Now is the most critical time for prevention.
JUNEAU  Dodge County will be the last stop in the eight-location tour of the 2016 Soil, Water & Nutrient Management meetings.

Dodge County University of Wisconsin Extension invites area crop consultants, agronomy supply specialists and other interested parties to attend the meeting Dec. 9, at the Dodge County Administration Building, 127 East Oak St., Juneau. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. (registration begins at 9:30 a.m.) and last until 3 p.m, with lunch from noon-1 p.m.

University of Wisconsin Department of Soil Science faculty Francisco Arriaga, Matt Ruark, Robert Florence, and Carrie Laboski, as well as a Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection staff member will discuss and answer questions about the latest soil, water and nutrient management research focusing on the following relevant topics:

Whats new in nitrogen management for corn and soybeans

Recurring soil fertility questions filling my inbox

Update on plant tissue analysis research

Proper Plant tissue sampling and result interpretation

Reviewing the benefits of soil biological additives

Behold the power of legumes (as a nitrogen source)

Taking care of soil compaction issues during and after a wet fall

Managing Wisconsins soils for improved health

Nutrient management update: Rule revision, plan reviews and new 590

A total of 4.5 CEU credits (2 Soil & Water Management and 2.5 in Nutrient Management) have been requested.

The registration fee is $45 per person on or before Nov. 30 and $50 after that date. Registration fee includes materials and a catered lunch. A registration form can be found online at http://dodge.uwex.edu/ or at the Dodge UWEX office in Juneau. Send registration forms and fees to the Dodge County UW-Extension 127 E. Oak St., Juneau, WI 53039. Indicate the fee is for the Dec. 9 Update Mtg.

For more information, visit http://dodge.uwex.edu, connect on Facebook or call the Dodge County UW-Extension Office at 386-3790.
Recently I submitted a letter to the editor decrying the money wasted on the voter ID issue in Wisconsin.

The very next day, following its publication, the Daily Citizen printed a column from Scott Fitzgerald. In his letter Mr. Fitzgerald listed 79 cases of alleged voter fraud, dating back to 2008. Of the 79 cases, 65 of them were in Milwaukee County. There were 288,549 registered voters who cast ballots in 2013 (the year Scott Fitzgerald used to report 65 alleged voter fraud cases). Of the 79 voters charged, Mr. Fitzgerald listed two who were found guilty (neither from Milwaukee County).

In a recent article written by Steve and Cokie Roberts in the Daily Citizen, they stated a quote from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard: Multiple studies using different methodologies have found voter fraud occurs so rarely that it could not have an impact on results.

I agree that even one case of voter fraud is one too many, however, I repeat my original question, which was not addressed by Mr. Fitzgerald, How much Wisconsin tax money has been spent on this non-issue? Again, money that could have been used for our education system, crumbling roads, unsafe bridges, etc., which are not being adequately funded by our legislature.

Indeed the decision to pass a voter I.D. law was made by the legislature. Perhaps the electorate should have been allowed to decide that issue, with a democratic vote, along with the pertinent fact of what this law was going to cost the taxpayers.

What a novel idea.

Geri Higgins, Iron Ridge
I am neither a Democrat nor Republican but I do support some of each parties policies.

I am a moderate with my flaws and faults as God and my wife and others know. I am against abortion. If this sounds like I am running for public office, I am not.

What I am against is the low level to which campaigning for national and state offices have sunk to. It seems the candidates and the people supporting them have lost sight of what our forefathers had in mind when they drafted our constitution.

First and foremost is cooperation. It took compromising to get the constitution ratified. It took compromising to move our country forward through so many good times and bad times. It is this cooperation that is lacking in todays national and state governments. An example is the Republican senators calling President Obama a lame duck president (a lame duck president doesnt occur until after the election) and not considering his nomination of Merrick Garland as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Second, I find it disgusting the low level in the qualities that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each have displayed. Neither one should be on the ballot. It is wrong the way Democrats and Republicans have a strangle-hold on the politics of our country. It is time people stop supporting these two parties and consider candidates of other political parties.

Third, I get the impression some Republicans think their party is the party of God. It is not the party of God. If Jesus Christ were alive today as an American citizen he would not support the Democrat or the Republican parties.

Republicans like to say they are pro-life. Pro-life means supporting life from conception to grave. Republicans are against abortion, yet, they support the National Rifle Association and all it stands for. Republican policies support the wealthy and not the poor or necessarily the middle class. That is not prolife.

Finally, a person I know wrote in his letter to the Daily Citizen that he calls Democrats demoncrats because of their behavior. There are Republicans who go to church to praise God. As soon as they leave church they seem to praise the almighty dollar and all the power they can get. Maybe Republicans should be called Repukelicans because of their behavior.

David Stowell, Horicon
After spending years working for some of the biggest names in NASCAR, Juneau County native Kelly Bires has returned home to help local drivers.

Earlier this year, Bires opened kbr Performance, a shop devoted to building and facilitating stock cars, in Lyndon Stations industrial park. The facility opened in April and Bires has been busy working on several cars with help from family: niece Madaline, 17, and nephew Abe, 16.

We started building the facility in January and by April we had our first car in here. Its funny how fast it went, Bires said. By mid-June, we were in the position where we had everything we needed and were fully efficient. But that was tough because it was in the middle of racing season. We were trying to get this place organized and on top of that, build race cars, service customers and get out to the race track. It was a couple of hectic months.

On Tuesday, Bires, along with members of the Lyndon Station Chamber of Commerce and the village board, held a media session to unveil the shop. For Bires, opening a mini-stock car production plant in Juneau County is a dream come to life. After graduating from Mauston High School in 2003, Bires embarked on his own racing career, competing in the NASCAR circuit from 2007-13. Hes spent the majority of that time in North Carolina, the capital of NASCAR, working for companies owned by Dale Earnhardts family and Kevin Harvick.

After experiencing success on the pro circuit, Bires wanted to bring his NASCAR knowledge back to his roots. In the fall of 2015, he approached Lyndon Station Chamber of Commerce Chairman Tom Miller and Village of Lyndon Station President Larry Whaley about purchasing land to develop the shop.

I met with the board in Lyndon and we were able to put something together really quick, which needed to happen to make this open by April, when the local racing season starts, Bires said. When we looked at a map, we found out there are 12-15 tracks within 100 miles of here, so the location was great. To be able to get in here was seamless. For me to move 1,100 miles up here in the middle of doing all of this early building and to be able to function that early, it took all of us working together to get this done.

When Whaley presented Bires idea to village trustee Becky Coley, she was sold instantly.

We knew he wasnt going to be someone to come into the industrial park for a couple years and then move out, Coley said. Hes going to be accessible and helpful to people in this area. This isnt going to be a fly-by-night operation.

Miller said its difficult to attract new business to a small town so Bires plans sparked interest and excitement.

Hes got big goals and a big agenda and this is just step one, Miller said. He sees some bigger things and the village does too.

About the only thing kbr Performance doesnt do is build car frames. Bires receives the frame and in about a month, has a new stock car built. The shop also does repairs and has supplies in the store for drivers who need a part on the fly.

We also do at-track services so we can take a customer who has no crew; a normal guy who has a day job and races at night or on the weekends, he can bring the car here and he can work on it or have us work on it, Bires said. We can also provide a pit crew so they have all the mechanics needed to be successful. And we work for pretty much any level, from local stock car racing to the national level. We have the capability to do that.

Besides large floor space to work on cars, the shop includes an office, bathrooms and a parts store. Bires said one of his goals was to offer fast, reliable service to local racers. If a driver needs a part prior to a Saturday race, chances are his shop will have it. Bires has the ability to ship parts to national circuits in the southern U.S. as well.

The main goal is to service the everyday racer  at any level  so they can go to the race track at an affordable rate, Bires said. Racing is expensive and you need sponsorships to make a go of it, but we can supply the help. Weve had racers come here who had never been on a race track before and came here to ask for help. Their times got better throughout the year and it was nice to see that progression.

Kbr Performance is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.  6 p.m. To contact Bires, call 608-666-2700.

We also have the equipment here to do welding, fabricating and to help a person who needs a bolt Racing is one thing we do, but we can help out anyone, Bires said. We can get performance parts for street cars like hot rods. We did everything right from the beginning to be able to do that and we have the opportunity to expand here too.
The School District of Mauston has its 2016-17 operating budget set and it could save local taxpayers some money.

The budget was passed on Tuesday during a special board meeting at the district office. The all fund tax levy is set at $7,441,915 for 2017. District Business Manager Julie Lankey-Smallwood said the total tax levy decreased by $302,821, down almost 4 percent from last year (3.91). The mil rate also decreased, dropping $0.80 from last year. The mil rate is determined by dividing the total tax levy by the fall property values. Overall, property values rose by 3 percent. Last year, property values went up slightly (1 percent).

What happens when youre property values go up, that affects what your mil rate is because you divide the levy into the property values and if you have more value, that makes your mil rate go down, Lankey-Smallwood said. But it all kind of connects to each other because in the following year you might get less aid.

In the budget, total expenditures for 2016-17 are set at $16,976,067; an increase from 2015-16 when it was $16,460,941.

The district total tax levy is divided into four funds. Fund 10 has $4,903,769, while Fund 39 has $2,430,868. Fund 41 and Fund 80 carry smaller amounts of $75,800 and $31,478, respectively.

Fund 39 is our referendum debt, Lankey-Smallwood said.

The district passed a referendum in the spring of 2015 to help fund building projects.

I think its very good news for this year and for the taxpayers, Lankey-Smallwood said. We even had a referendum and were still going down by a few cents.

I also like to see that the property values are increasing, said board president Carrie Buss. Thats a good sign for the economy around here. Thats really good news.

In general aid, the district saw an increase of $392,322 (4.35 percent). The school districts enrollment decreased by 12 full-time students from 1,465 to 1,453, based on the September count. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction said the district will receive $9,405,644 in general aid for the 2016-17 school year.

The district is working on a few large renovation projects. As a result, the capital projects fund increased to $2,223,366 from $279,861.13 in 2015-16. Debt service funding went up slightly to $2,522,082. The special projects fund also went up by a small amount to $2,725,981. Overall, total expenditures increased from 1.11 percent to 11.71 percent, from $21,430,413 last year to $23,939,291 this school year.
Major power line work in Sunset Park is expected to begin soon.

City parks leaders approved the path for a temporary matt road through the 4.5-acre park on the citys southwest side to facilitate the replacement of a major American Transmission Co. power line.

An easement for the work, which will also entail removing an old open air shelter, was approved earlier this year. But the Parks and Recreation Board approved the specific path for ATC at a meeting Tuesday.

The temporary road, meant to mitigate potential damage from heavy construction vehicles, will follow a current pathway in the park.

Parks and Recreation Manager Dan Kremer said ATC will start their work over the next few weeks and plan to wrap up in early 2017.

Kremer said the city does not intend to close the entirety of the park, although the work areas will be restricted from use by the public.

Much of the topic of conversation at Tuesdays meeting revolved around what will happen to the park after ATC leaves.

Some residents have been concerned about potential long term damage to the park, but city officials believe the company will comply with the terms of the easement agreement to fix anything that goes wrong.

Theyll restore anything they disturb, Kremer said.

Parks leaders and residents also spent some time discussing future improvements to the park. City officials have the option to request that ATC install a gravel path as part of the companys restoration work.

The board said Tuesday that they would indeed like that eight-foot-wide path through a portion of the park to help service some of the parks few facilities and to provide a pedestrian path.

ATC is paying the city about $40,000 to cover the removal of a shelter in the park and for use of the park during construction.

One neighborhood resident said it would be nice to see the city invest that money back into the park, noting it is a rather sparse park.

The overall project, according to ATC, will include rebuilding a 25-mile, 69,000-volt transmission line stretching from Prairie du Sac to Portage. ATC will string new wires and replace aging poles with new steel poles.

Visual details and other planning documents for the ATC project in Sunset Park are available for review on the citys website in the board packet for Tuesdays meeting.
Editors note: This is the second part of our preview on the 50th Assembly District. This article focuses on challenger Art Shrader. Part 1, which featured incumbent Ed Brooks, ran Nov. 2. Both stories are available online at www.reedsburgtimespress.com.

A Reedsburg man whos running for office says he will push for cooperation between parties if hes elected.

Art Shrader, D-Reedsburg, will face incumbent Ed Brooks, R-Reedsburg, in the Fall Election on Nov. 8.

Major issues

Since he started his campaign Shrader said he has been concerned about education, economic development and infrastructure. He said those issues are all important but another one has appeared during his time on the campaign trail. He said polarization has had a negative effect on the district. He said constituents have told him they dont feel represented in government and are sick of leaders who wont work together.

If elected Shrader said he will listen to everyone regardless of political affiliation.

Im absolutely willing to work with Democrats, Republicans, Independents, whoever, he said.

Economic development

Partnerships between education, the State and lenders are the key to bolstering economic development in rural Wisconsin, Shrader said. He would like to see the State collaborate with banks and credit unions to assure loans for new businesses. As part of that program borrowers would have access to training through an entity such as the UW-Extension. As a lender Shrader said he has met many people who want to start a business but are afraid to because they lack the knowledge of accounting, management and record keeping. Bringing money and training together would help ensure successful enterprises.

Taxes

Wisconsin needs an equitable tax system. At the moment the wealthy pay too little in taxes thanks to loopholes while the middle class pays too much, Shrader said. Every dollar spent on taxes is one less available for necessities. He said products such as a loaf of bread or gallon of milk cost the same for everyone but the middle class and poor feel the expense much more than the rich.

He also spoke to attack ads lambasting him for wanting to raise the gas tax. Shrader said he doesnt like the idea of raising the gas tax but thinks representatives should still have that discussion. The state doesnt have enough money to pay for road projects so it needs to find ways to pay the bills. That may include raising registration fees, increasing the gas tax or trying something else. All ideas should be on the table, he said.

Wage gap

Shrader said hes disappointed with Brooks comments during an Oct. 25 forum in Mauston where Brooks shared his thoughts on the wage gap. Shrader said his opponent talked about laws protecting equal pay for equal work but Shrader thinks thats not good enough. He said he has seen statistics and studies showing gaps between male and female earnings and thinks its time to address the regulations because they are not working.

Education costs

School districts across the state could see a record number of referendums in the next three years. Shrader said the upside is the public usually gets it right. He said many referendums pass because the public understands the importance of good schools. Not only do districts ensure educated youth but they also help fuel and maintain economic development.

Shrader said hes upset that leaders have continued cutting school funding. He said he doesnt understand how politicians can approve tax breaks for the wealthy while limiting money to education.

He said he has talked to superintendents and educators across the 50th Assembly District and all have said the same thing: Theres nothing left to trim.

You cant keep expecting people to do more with less, Shrader said.

Shrader does not support school vouchers and says they only distract from the real issues. Vouchers were initially touted as a solution for students in failing Milwaukee schools and the idea eventually spread statewide. But vouchers dont solve the problem of troubled schools. They only pull students  and money  out of public schools and distribute them to private schools.

Shrader said if parents are not happy with their childs education they can move them to a different public school without having to turn to private institutions and vouchers.

Citizens United

Move to Amend will be on the ballot in Reedsburg and Shrader believes it will pass. The measure demands that Citizens United be overturned, that campaign spending does not equal free speech for corporations and groups.

Shrader said he wants to see an end to Citizens United because it has paved the way for excessive spending by dark money groups.

He added that he has spoken to residents who feel elections are now nothing more than an auction. As both an American citizen and a veteran Shrader is disgusted. He said he didnt enter the service so the country could be bought and sold.

He noted that he feels obligated to serve because he considers himself a patriot. The U.S. may not be perfect but it has afforded his family many opportunities. When theres a problem its time to stop watching and start fixing. Shrader said he decided to run for office because hes tired of just watching.

Differences

When asked about his opponent Shrader said he considers Brooks to be a good man and a fellow neighbor in Reedsburg. However, he believes Brooks is tired. Shrader said there are times when a leader needs to sit quietly and there are times when a leader needs to fight. Shrader believes Brooks would rather sit than fight.

Shrader has been endorsed by President Barack Obama, Senate candidate Russ Feingold, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Congressmen Ron Kind and Mark Pocan, Reps. Dave Considine and Steve Doyle, Wisconsin State Journal, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, United Automobile Workers, National Association of Social Workers-Wisconsin Chapter, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, Wisconsin Progress, Sierra Club, WEAC and Wisconsin Teamsters Joint Council 39, according to his website, www.shraderforwisconsin.com.

The 50th Assembly District includes Juneau County and sections of Sauk, Monroe and Richland counties.

Editor's note: This article has been changed from its original version on Nov. 7 to reflect that the Wisconsin Restaurant Association has endorsed Republican Ed Brooks in the general election for the 50th Assembly District. The organization endorsed Art Shrader during his primary campaign against Democrat Tom Crofton.
A proposed Boys & Girls Club in Reedsburg could receive a major boost this year.

The Carrig Family Foundation has offered a matching grant up to $150,000. The Build a Club committee must raise $75,000 this year to qualify for the first installment of $75,000, said Karen DeSanto, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of West-Central Wisconsin. Next year the committee will need to raise another $75,000 to get the next $75,000.

Even if the committee fails this year it can still do fundraising next year for $75,000, DeSanto said.

So far the committee is on its way to achieving its goal. It has raised about $50,000 so far in only a couple months and has until Dec. 31 to hit $75,000, she said.

Weve had great, great feedback from Reedsburg, she said.

As added insurance the committee plans to approach the City of Reedsburg to request money from the Webb Fund, said Timothy Becker, chief of the Reedsburg Police Department, member of the steering committee and major proponent of the club.

DeSanto said she cant imagine the plan failing, based on funds raised so far and overwhelmingly positive comments.

I just dont think were not going to do it, she said.

The club has a tentative opening of September 2017 in the former hardware store across from the Police Department on Park Street. The building needs some work done but the committee has collaborated with Friede & Associates in Reedsburg for contracting, Becker said.

DeSanto said donations are still needed and gratefully appreciated. Contributions may be made at any Associated Bank location. Donors should indicate that their gift is for the Build a Club initiative in Reedsburg.

Benefits

Reedsburg seems to recognize the advantages of having a club. DeSanto said the club is not meant to detract from school programs but rather supplement after-school activities. She said the club not only provides homework help but also positive role modeling, healthy habits and camaraderie. It strives to reach youth from ages 7 to 18.

Becker agreed that a club would keep kids off the street. Teens who have something to do are less likely to loiter or commit petty crimes.

The Reedsburg club would further benefit from being part of the West-Central Wisconsin Group. DeSanto said there would be local volunteers, staff and leadership but the club would be able to turn to the larger group for functions like administration.

Membership costs $24 per child for a year with a family cap of $72. Financial assistance is available, DeSanto said.

We dont turn a child away because of non-payment, she noted.
Two photographs of scenic Upper Wisconsin Dells river-scapes have received top honors at the H.H. Bennett Studios summer-long Water in Wisconsin photo contest.

Long-time Wisconsin Dells photographer Bill Federbusch received first place in the contest, for the photo entitled Leaving Cold Water Canyon, and New Berlin photographer Melanie Buellesbach received the second-place honorable mention award for the photo entitled Tranquil River.

Federbuschs photo, which depicts the shady and tranquil confines of the well-known Upper Dells canyon on a spring or summer day, received the most votes from summer-season visitors to the Bennett Studio upstairs gallery, which had 40 of the more than 400 photos submitted in the contest on display. The museum requested that visitors vote for their favorite photo.

Its all about the light, Federbusch said of the winning photo. Having hiked and boated to this most beautiful canyon for over 60 years, I never get tired of seeing the incredible diversity of plant life and eerie rock formations inside.

Buellesbachs photo, meanwhile, depicts the an icy riverside scene she took from River Road during a November trip to the Dells.

We were in the Wisconsin Dells to celebrate our daughters birthday at an indoor water park, but the great outdoors also beckoned, she recalled. Soon we were strolling along River Road, enjoying the quiet beauty of the Upper Dells after a November snowfall.

With the first place showing, Federbusch received a $250 gift card to B&H Photo and $100 gift cards to both the Bennett Museum Store and Wisconsin Dells. He also received a one-year membership in the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Buellesbach received a $100 gift card to B&H Photo, $50 gift cards for the museum and Wisconsin Dells and a one-year Historical Society membership.

The water photo contest tied into the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) theme in 2016 of Dive In, in which the WHS throughout the year will be examining how the states lakes, streams and rivers have carved our culture as we explore the depths of Wisconsins water history, according to a news release distributed last spring.
Frederic A. Fred Bayer

Frederic A. Fred Bayer, Baraboo, passed away in his sleep the morning of Oct. 30, 2016, in the same house in which he was born, some 84 years plus earlier, on June 9, 1932. However, it would be an understatement to say that Fred did much and traveled many miles between these two events. What follows are just some of the highlights.

Fred enlisted in the United States Navy after attending Baraboo High School and served in the Korean-Pacific theatre of operations until 1955. He attained the rank of Petty Officer First Class and was highly decorated during that time, earning nine medals. He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserves until his honorable discharge in 1959. Fred was a member of the Baraboo chapter of the American Legion until his death, a period of over 55 years.

Upon his return from the Pacific, the Sauk County Traffic Police hired Fred as a patrolman. He became an officer of the Sauk County Sheriffs Department after the Traffic Police merged with that agency, and he performed his duties for the Sheriffs Department and Traffic Police overall for nearly 18 years. During that period he achieved the rank of lieutenant and occupied the position of night supervisor of the Sheriffs Department soon after.

In 1972, the Village of Lake Delton asked Fred to build a first class police department. He accepted that challenge and served another 18 years as chief ofpolice of Lake Delton, building the agency into a small but innovative, modern and advanced police department that was the envy of the state. During the final years of this stint, before his state retirement, he also served as co-director of Emergency and Disaster Relief Services for the State of Wisconsin. After his retirement, Fred was named chief of security at the Wisconsin Dells Greyhound Park, and occupied that position until the track went out of business six years later.

During these times and thereafter, Fred remained an avid and expert horseman, who could often be seen leading parades and maintaining crowd control with his famous and impressive white Barbary-Arabian horse, the Gray Ghost. In the late 50s Fred and his best friend and co-worker, James Jantz, formed the Sauk County Mounted Sheriffs Posse, the only voluntary group of its kind east of the Mississippi. The Posse remained in operation for over 20 years providing community education and service, law enforcement assistance, and emergency medical services for the citizens of Sauk County and the surrounding area. Fred was one of the first emergency medical technicians in Wisconsin, became an EMT instructor and also was one of the first in the area to achieve national certification. He ensured that all officers that worked for him at the Lake Delton Police Department also earned and maintained their EMT certifications so that they could truly serve the citizens of their community in any way they might have been needed.

Jantz, the best man at Freds wedding and soon to be Freds first sons godfather, was slain in the line of duty by three Chicago men who had robbed the Ishnala Supper Club in 1961. Fred arrived on the scene as the shooting was occurring and returned fire as the men fled in a vehicle. Finding his friend dead and the Lake Delton marshal badly injured, Fred rushed the marshal to the hospital in his squad car, an action that saved the marshals life. Due to his tireless efforts during the ensuing three-day manhunt, which resulted in the capture of all three fugitives, as well as an apprehension of two dangerous criminals shortly thereafter, Fred Bayer won the inaugural James Jantz Memorial Award for outstanding law enforcement service in 1962. At the time this was the highest award that could be bestowed on a law enforcement officer in Wisconsin. He also was a training officer in humane and non-lethal riot control techniques in the 60s, assisted in riot control in Madison during the unrest there, and played a major role in thwarting a terrorist attack at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant south of Baraboo in 1966.

He died as a fellow of the American Federation of Police, the National Association of Chiefs of Police, and a holder of the National Commission on Law Enforcement Standards Professional Certificate in Law Enforcement Science. He also served several terms as the president of the Sauk County Chiefs of Police Association.

Fred Bayer married his beloved wife, Nancy, in 1959, a union that ended in December 2015 when Nancy passed away from cancer. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of his life were as a fine husband, father and friend. Fred was also preceded in death by his father, Alfred Pete Bayer; mother, Mattie Bell Bayer; a brother, Harley; and three sisters, Edna and Gertrude Bayer, and Harriet Tews.

He is survived by his son, David (Annette) Bayer of Oshkosh and his son, Eric of Wautoma; granddaughters, Ariana of Oshkosh, Louisa of Gary, Indiana; and two great-grandchildren, Charlie and LunaBella, also of Gary.

Visitation will be held at 10 a.m. today (Nov. 5) at St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church, with funeral services to follow at 11 a.m., with the Rev. Karen Hofstad officiating. Interment will be at Rock Hill Cemetery immediately following the service and mourners are invited back to the church for a luncheon after the burial. Military rites will be held at the cemetery.

Redlin Funeral Home is assisting the family.
A state appeals court ruled last week that local social host ordinances aimed at curbing underage drinking dont apply to private residences because such ordinances are tougher than the state statute covering such behavior. We think the ruling is a mistaken reading of the statute, and that the state Supreme Court and the Legislature need to ensure that parents who serve drinks to kids or allow drinking on their premises are held accountable.

Underage drinking remains a scourge across the country. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, by age 15, about 33 percent of teens have had at least one drink, and by age 18, about 60 percent of teens have had at least one drink. The institute also reported that in 2015, 7.7 million young people ages 12 to 20 reported that they drank alcohol beyond just a few sips in the past month.

And it noted that: 5.1 million young people reported binge drinking ... at least once in the past month that 1.3 million young people reported binge drinking on 5 or more days over the past month and that more teens use alcohol than cigarettes or marijuana.

Parents who allow kids to drink at parties in their homes are only abetting such behavior, sending a signal that underage drinking is acceptable in certain settings. A glass of wine at dinner is one thing. Hosting a party at which kids get drunk is quite another. The argument that the kids would do it anyway and a home is safer than a car or a park is only an excuse. The consistent message from parents and authorities should be that underage drinking is never acceptable.

In the case at hand, a Fond du Lac County parent was fined $1,000 for holding a high school graduation party where underage guests were caught drinking in 2015. In the ruling, two of three appellate court judges said that Fond du Lacs ordinance was invalid because the state statute does not penalize social hosts for conduct in private residences.

The third judge disagreed with that conclusion (although he would have invalidated the ordinance because of another issue), arguing that the portion of the state law that reads, No adult may knowingly permit underage persons to consume alcohol on premises owned by the adult, clearly was meant to apply to homes, despite the meaning of premises in other subsections of the same law, the Journal Sentinel reported.

We think the third judge got it right, and the other two are splitting hairs. The state Supreme Court could fix that through a reinterpretation of the ordinance, as could the Legislature by writing more precise language for the law. We encourage both bodies to do that. We also encourage local governments to make any necessary adjustments to their laws to avoid future problems.

Teens and parents need to understand that underage drinking is unacceptable, and that they will be held accountable.
National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil in California and in the Appalachian region of the United States. As of September 30, 2021, it had proved developed and undeveloped reserves of 21,537 thousand barrels of oil and 3,723,433 million cubic feet of natural gas. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields. This segment also transports natural gas for National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation, as well as for other utilities, industrial companies, and power producers in New York State; and owns and operates the Empire Pipeline. The Gathering segment builds, owns, and operates natural gas processing and pipeline gathering facilities in the Appalachian region, as well as provides gathering services to Seneca Resources Company, LLC. The Utility segment sells natural gas or provides natural gas transportation services to approximately 753,000 customers in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Jamestown, New York; and Erie and Sharon, Pennsylvania. The company markets gas to industrial, wholesale, commercial, public authority, and residential customers primarily in western and central New York, and northwestern Pennsylvania. As of September 30, 2021, the company also owned approximately 95,000 acres of timber property; and managed approximately 2,500 additional acres of timber cutting rights. National Fuel Gas Company was incorporated in 1902 and is headquartered in Williamsville, New York.
The following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP II Pte. Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, ASPF II Management GmbH, ASPF III Scots L.P., ASSURANCE, AST Investment Services Inc., Adlerwerke CB Investment LLC, Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Habitat S.A., Administradora de Inversiones Previsionales SpA, Aoba Life Insurance Company, Aoba Life Insurance Company Ltd., Asia Property Fund III GP S.a.r.l., Assurance IQ LLC, Assurance Intelligence LLC, BSC CP LP, Braeloch Holdings Inc., Braeloch Successor Corporation, Brazilian Capital Fund GP Limited, Broad Street Global Advisors LLC, Broome Street Holdings LLC, CB German Retail LLC, CLIS Co. Ltd., COLICO INC., Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Chadwick Boulevard Investment Holdings Co. 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Ltd., Pramerica Holdings Ltd, Pramerica Hong Kong Holdings Limited, Pramerica Insurance Agency China Company Ltd., Pramerica Luxembourg CP GP S.a.r.l., Pramerica PRECAP I GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP II GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP III GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP IV GP LLP, Pramerica Pan European Real Estate Scots LP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I GP Scots Feeder LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I Scotland Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital II Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital III Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Limited, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Scots Feeder LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V Netherlands GP LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital VI Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Scots CP GP LLP, Preco III Scotland Limited Partnership, Pru 101 Wood LLC, Pru Alpha Partners I LLC, Pru Fixed Income Emerging Markets Partners I LLC, PruVen Capital Partners Fund I L.P., Pruco Assignment Corporation, Pruco Life Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, Pruco Securities LLC, Prudential 900 Aviation Boulevard LLC, Prudential Affordable Mortgage Company LLC, Prudential Agricultural Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Annuities Distributors Inc., Prudential Annuities Holding Company Inc., Prudential Annuities Inc., Prudential Annuities Information Services & Technology Corporation, Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Captive Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Universal Company, Prudential Bank & Trust FSB, Prudential Capital Energy Opportunity Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners Management Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Partners Management Fund IV L.P., Prudential Capital and Investment Services LLC, Prudential Chile II SpA, Prudential Chile SpA, Prudential Commercial Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Equity Group LLC, Prudential Financial Inc., Prudential Fixed Income Global Liquidity Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Fixed Income U.S. Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Funding LLC, Prudential General Services of Japan Y.K., Prudential Gibraltar Agency Co. Ltd. Prudential Gibraltar Agency Kabushiki Kaisha, Prudential Global Funding LLC, Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates LLC, Prudential IBH Holdco Inc., Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Debt LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Equity LLC, Prudential Insurance Agency LLC, Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd., Prudential International Insurance Service Company L.L.C., Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, Prudential International Investments Company LLC, Prudential International Investments LLC, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, Prudential Japan Holdings LLC, Prudential Legacy Insurance Company of New Jersey, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 1 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 2 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Capital Asset Holding Company LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC, Prudential Multifamily Mortgage LLC, Prudential Mutual Fund Services LLC, Prudential Newark Realty LLC, Prudential QOZ Investment Fund 1 LLC, Prudential Realty Securities Inc., Prudential Retirement Financial Services Holding LLC, Prudential Retirement Holdings LLC, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Prudential Securities Secured Financing Corporation, Prudential Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., Prudential Seguros S.A., Prudential Select Strategies LLC, Prudential Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Prudential Structured Settlement Company, Prudential Systems Japan Limited, Prudential Tax Services LLC, Prudential Term Reinsurance Company, Prudential Trust Co. Ltd., Prudential Trust Company, Prudential Universal Reinsurance Company, Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services LLC, Prudential do Brasil Seguros de Vida S.A., Prudential do Brasil Vida em Grupo S.A., Prudential/TMW Real Estate Group LLC, Pruservicos Participacoes Ltda., QMA JP EM All Cap Equity Partners LLC, Quartzsite LLC, Residential Services Corporation of America LLC, Rio CP LP, Rock European Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock Global Real Estate LLC, Rock Kensington Limited, Rock Marty GP S.a r.l., Rock Oxford S.a r.l., Rock UK Real Estate II S.a.r.l., Rockstone Co. Ltd., Rosado Grande LLC, Ross Avenue Energy Fund Holdings LLC, Ross Avenue Minerals 2012 LLC, SCP Apartments LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERS VI GP LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERSHIP FUND VI GP LLC, SHP IV Carried Interest LP, SHP V Carried Interest L.P., SMP Holdings Inc., SVIIT Holdings Inc., Sanei Collection Service Co. Ltd. Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service, Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TF Proveedora S.C., TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Keynes Dynamic Beta Strategy US Fund GP LLC, The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Home Mortgage Company Inc., The Prudential Insurance Company of America, The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., The Prudential Real Estate Financial Services of America Inc., The WMF Group, Thurloe Commercial Guernsey Limited, USPF V - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., VIP Australia Holding Company LLC, VIP Australia Trustee Pty Ltd, Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Wadhwani Capital Limited, Waveland Avenue Holdings I LLC, Waveland Avenue Partners I Ireland L.P., Waveland Avenue Partners I US L.P., Wellness Services Ecossistema De Bem Estar Ltda., Wellness Services SRL, Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC.

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CRH plc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes building materials. It operates in three segments: Americas Materials, Europe Materials, and Building Products. The company manufactures and supplies cement, lime, aggregates, precast, ready mixed concrete, and asphalt products; concrete masonry and hardscape products comprising pavers, blocks and kerbs, retaining walls, and related patio products; and glass and glazing products, including architectural glass, custom-engineered curtain and window walls, architectural windows, storefront systems, doors, skylights, and architectural hardware. It also offers precast concrete and polymer-based products, such as underground vaults, drainage pipes and structures, utility enclosures, and modular precast structures to the water, energy, communication, transportation, and building structures markets; and construction accessories, such as anchoring, fixing, and connection solutions, as well as lifting systems, formwork accessories, and other accessories used in construction applications. In addition, the company offers network access products, which include composite access chambers, covers, passive safety systems, retention sockets, sealants, and meter boxes; and paving and construction services. Further, it provides building and civil engineering contracting, contract surfacing, operates logistics and owned railway infrastructure; sells and distributes cement; and supplies access chambers and ducting products. It serves governments, contractors, homebuilders, homeowners, and sub-contractors. The company operates primarily in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. CRH plc was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., Chapel Funding, China Recovery Fund LLC, Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Cartera de lnmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Impact Investment Fund I. LP., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Limited, DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Jersey) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios lnteractivos Agrupacicm de lnteres Econemico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB Print GmbH, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services (Jersey) Limited, DB Services Americas. Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB US Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a. r.l., DB Value S.a.r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita SA., DB lmmobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG i.L., DB lo LP, DBAH Capital. LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management 18 Ltd., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a. r.l., DBX Advisers LLC, DEBEKO lmmobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK AS., DI Deutsche lmmobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Shanghai Private Equity Fund Management Limited, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anenima lnstitucien Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico. S.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank Polska Spelka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Societe per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche Bank. Sociedad Anenima Espanola, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lmmobilien-Leasing mit beschrenkter Haftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.El r.l., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche India Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a. r.|., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities SA. de C.V.. Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. 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Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

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AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company's marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
AutoZone, Inc. retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories. The company offers various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Its products include A/C compressors, batteries and accessories, bearings, belts and hoses, calipers, chassis, clutches, CV axles, engines, fuel pumps, fuses, ignition and lighting products, mufflers, radiators, starters and alternators, thermostats, and water pumps, as well as tire repairs. In addition, the company offers maintenance products, such as antifreeze and windshield washer fluids; brake drums, rotors, shoes, and pads; brake and power steering fluids, and oil and fuel additives; oil and transmission fluids; oil, cabin, air, fuel, and transmission filters; oxygen sensors; paints and accessories; refrigerants and accessories; shock absorbers and struts; spark plugs and wires; and windshield wipers. Further, it provides air fresheners, cell phone accessories, drinks and snacks, floor mats and seat covers, interior and exterior accessories, mirrors, performance products, protectants and cleaners, sealants and adhesives, steering wheel covers, stereos and radios, tools, and wash and wax products, as well as towing services. Additionally, the company provides a sales program that offers commercial credit and delivery of parts and other products; sells automotive diagnostic and repair software under the ALLDATA brand through alldata.com; and automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products through autozone.com. As of August 27, 2022, it operated 6,168 stores in the United States; 703 stores in Mexico; and 72 stores in Brazil. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Memphis, Tennessee.
Cate-Arries' class opens the world to Spanish Civil War

First-class translators Francie Cate-Arries'class, (Bottom row, L to R): Allison Esquen-Roca '17, Polly Lauer '17, Emily Kate Earls '18, Maya Loehr '17, Emily Abbey '18, Molly Bertolacini '17, Sofia Schaff '20. Top row (L to R): Nicholas Marino '17, Ashley Woodards '17, Eleanor Morrison '18, Katie Freund '17, Will Neely '19, Kyle McQuillan '17, 'Morgan Sehdev 17 and Maddy Moore '17. Photo courtesy of Mike Blum

Remembering the deceased A scene from a commemorative ceremony in the cemetery of Puerto Real in the province of Cadiz, Spain, where the remains of civilian victims of Spanish Civil War fascist assassins have been exhumed. Photo courtesy Devin Buck

Shoe-leather research Cate-Arries and students Megan Bentley '13 and Kate Wessman 13 interview local historian Joaquin Ramon Gomez in Benamahoma, province of Cadiz, in early research into the deadly early days of the Spanish Civil War. Photo courtesy Mike Blum

Delivering the film W&M Professor Francie Cate-Arries presents a copy of the subtitled film Three Days in July to a member of the production team, Salvador Celada, at the Diputacion de Cadiz (provincial government of Cadiz). Photo courtesy of Francie Cate-Arries Photo - of - Hide Caption

The line of people standing before Francie Cate-Arries seemed, to her, immeasurably long last June. She sat on a bench under a tree, voice recorder in hand.

One by one, family members attending a commemorative ceremony in the cemetery of Puerto Real in the province of Cadiz, Spain, approached her. They confided horrifying tales of how their loved ones, who opposed fascism, were systematically slaughtered during the early days of the Spanish Civil War that resulted in the 40-year dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco. Those stories began in 1936, when his forces launched a coup against the democratically elected Spanish Republic.

They expressed anger and despair  but also hope  that the remains of their relatives would be exhumed from the mass grave beside where they and Cate-Arries gathered. A long-time professor of Hispanic studies at William & Mary, Cate-Arries is intimately familiar with their stories, thanks to research she and her students have conducted in Spain the past three years. Much of it has been funded by a Weingartner Research Fellowship and an Alumni Fund for Hispanic studies faculty and students.



{{youtube:medium:center|EiQ273k3W3k, W&M students work to aid Spanish documentarian}}

At the end of her most recent trip to the country, she asked a local historian and screenwriter, Santiago Moreno, for a copy of a then-unreleased documentary, Three Days in July. The documentary includes interviews with people who experienced the upheaval first-hand or whose loved ones did. If he would send it, she vowed, My students will do something with it, meaning a translation into English subtitles.

Theyve kept their promise, finishing a fall 2016 project that maintains an important aspect of William & Marys study abroad program at the University of Cadiz. Since the program was established, W&M students have enjoyed a productive collaboration with institutional partners in Cadiz, as well as in Sevilla [Univ. Pablo de Olavide]. W&M students have subtitled three documentaries, and almost half of the student translators have previously studied in Cadiz or Sevilla.

On Nov. 7, in conjunction with the 80th anniversary of the insurgency, Cate-Arries will hand-deliver Three Days in July, to the provincial government of Cadiz, which funded this project and several other initiatives aimed at recovering what she called lost history."

Its a lovely moment for me as a professor of William & Mary students to take this documentary to the local government that made the film possible, as well as to university affiliates who also worked with William & Mary summer school students over there, she said. Im extremely proud  and grateful  of the work theyve put in.

At the same time, she will be in Spain to present research based on family testimonies.

Ive been studying their oral testimonies as a form of 'symbolic resistance,' because all of those stories include anecdotes of bereaved family members' small actions of resistance against the powers that destroyed their families, sven though those families were terribly repressed, she said. [Francos troops] killed family members, took all of their possessions, took their livestock. But the women would shut the door and the grandmothers and aunts and daughters would keep the memory of what really happened alive.

At the University of Cadiz on Nov. 7, a major announcement will be made regarding publication of a new series of books on memory studies, produced by the university press  and which she is the editor.

Many people in the university publishing house have been involved in memory projects, she said. Three Days in July is just one example.

Translating and creating subtitles for Three Days in July was far from easy. From the outset, Cate-Arries translation class of 15 students has worked in teams of two. They each estimated they averaged about 40 hours outside of the classroom painstakingly preparing the film in just 30 days.

Going into it I didnt necessarily think it was going to be easier than it was, but I dont think I was ready for the start ... stop  start  stop  start  stop, said Kyle McQuillan 17. It was a very tedious process, especially the original transcription, where you have to listen to the same sentence over and over, and transcribing two minutes can take three hours because youre trying to separate what sounds like one word but is actually four because they dropped every consonant.

Emily Kate Earls 18 added that even slowing down the film didnt help her.

One mans voice was unintelligible at regular speed and Darth Vader-like when slowed, she said.

Other obstacles included coming to an understanding of the history of the times, peoples extensive use of unfamiliar military jargon, accents found in southern Spain far different from the standard and recognizing street names and locations in obscure areas.

In addition, students faced a moral as well as structural imperative that many never anticipated.

These people are talking about the most awful thing that happened in their familys life, the most traumatic events, and we had to both maintain that heaviness, while also making it succinct in making it a subtitle so someone could read it and move on, Molly Bertolacini 17 said. It was incredibly cool and incredibly difficult at the same time.

Subtitling the film in English, Cate-Arries said, will give it world-wide exposure it wouldnt otherwise receive.

Spanish limits the audience, she explained. Two research assistants here at William & Mary -- Robert Bohnke 17 and Michael Le 15 -- did subtitles on a [previous] documentary, and, subsequently, filmmaker Juan Leon Moriche was able to enter it in a New York human rights film festival. It didnt win, but organizers liked it enough to include it in a Civil War film festival this fall. That meant the world to the director because he never could have shown his film in the United States.

For one student, Allison Esquen-Roca 17, the stories told offered an eerie and disturbing familiarity.

The reason my family is in the U.S. in the first place is because of the terrorism that took place in Peru, she said. Just like some people in this film, [Peruvians] were killed or hurt because of their political ties. That happened in my family. My uncle was a mayor and he got shot on his way to work. Our family was harassed for a long time.

So it was nice to look at this film, see these stories, and know that we were part of that process where these stories could actually be presented in front of an English-speaking audience that had no knowledge of this before.
Newly revamped Youth Filmmaking Institute puts local kids on both sides of the camera

Lights, Camera, Action: Local middle and high school students participated in the 5th annual Youth Filmmaking Institute on Oct. 22-23. A screening will be held at the Kimball Theatre on Nov. 6. Photo courtesy of the Youth Filmmaking Institute

Lights, Camera, Action: A group of students shoot scenes for their films outside of Swem Library. Photo courtesy of the Youth Filmmaking Institute

Lights, Camera, Action: Inside the library, a student maps out a storyboard, or a sequence of scenes, for his film. Photo courtesy of the Youth Filmmaking Institute Photo - of - Hide Caption

The ground floor of Swem Library was a flurry of excitement, as middle and high school students bounced around the Botetourt Gallery in wigs, fedoras, blazers, fur coats and, in one case, a full-body Godzilla suit. The occasion wasnt Halloween and the guises werent donned purely for fun; instead, they were all worn in the name of cinema.

On Oct. 2223, Swem Library and the Reeder Media Center played host to the Youth Filmmaking Institute, a workshop held every fall thats designed to teach local middle and high school students about filmmaking. The program, which is celebrating its fifth year, is an offshoot of William & Marys Global Film Festival (GFF).

This is the aspect of the Global Film Festival that melds most naturally with the community and probably in the most valuable way, said Adam Stackhouse 04, who is producing the GFF and the Youth Filmmaking Institute this year with Liz Sykes 06. Its really cool to be able to engage these kids in film and bring them on campus to learn things that they probably wouldnt have the opportunity to learn anywhere else in the community.

{{youtube:medium:left|3MAxMMkrvlY, 2016 Youth Filmmaking Institute}}

The institute, which is sponsored by Canon Virginia, Inc., traditionally teaches kids behind-the-scenes filmmaking skills, including scriptwriting, storyboarding and equipment usage, and culminates in a series of student-made films created with help from W&M undergraduates. The films are later screened at a community viewing.

This year, under the guidance of Stackhouse and Sykes, the workshop received a streamlined makeover, with kids working together in smaller groups on a single film. For the first time, the Institute also charged a fee, which went toward food for the students through the weekend and a formal, red-carpet screening at the Kimball Theatre.

It was somewhat smaller in terms of numbers, which I think is a good thing, said Troy Davis, director of the Reeder Media Center. Every group had one mentor the whole time who they cultivated a relationship with, so the experience was really meaningful.

Early on in the weekend, participants separated into seven groups of five to six students and decided on their films genre and characters. That was followed by workshops on scripting, storyboarding, camera shots and production planning. On day two, many kids arrived with bags brimming with props and costumes, prepared for a day of filming and editing.

{{youtube:medium:left|ilIJJae0R8w, 2016 Youth Filmmaking Institute: Meet the Filmmakers}}

These kids got to initiate a story and then see that one project from beginning to end, said Stackhouse. We really wanted to make this a learning experience. Part of the hope is that, when this is done, depending on what kind of access the kids have to equipment, they can practice making more films on their own at home.

Throughout the weekend, W&M undergraduate students worked closely with their teams from idea generation to film editing. Each mentor was required to have prior filmmaking experience, though not all students are film and media majors.

My planned major is international relations but Ive been making films recreationally for almost five years, said William Moore 20. I just thought this would be a fun and fulfilling opportunity to teach kids about something that I love.

Other students echoed that sentiment, adding that the experience is as much a learning experience for them as it is for the kids.

A lot of us havent worked with the particular cameras were using now and some of us use PCs as opposed to the Macs were using now, so were sort of learning and teaching at the same time, said Nick Brown 17.

Each teams finished products  which run the gamut from horror and mystery to comedic superhero films  will premiere at an open-to-the-public screening at the Kimball Theatre on Nov. 6. at 1 p.m.

Were doing it up big this year, said Stackhouse. Therell be a red carpet, reporters, paparazzi taking photos, and a Q&A with the students after the screening about their films.

Stackhouse and Davis said they hope the changes made this year will continue to fuel the growth of the Institute for years to come.

This program definitely fits in with the librarys mission to promote lifelong learning, community outreach and creativity, said Davis.




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IAEA and IEEE formalize cooperation

04 November 2016

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) announced yesterday they had signed an agreement establishing practical arrangements to cooperate in sharing of best practices and documents and standards development in the area of nuclear safety and energy.

The official signing ceremony for the cooperation agreement between the IAEA and IEEE took place during the IAEA's General Conference in Vienna on 29 September.

The IAEA and IEEE have been working together since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan to develop a nuclear energy series and safety guide on accident monitoring systems for nuclear power plants.

"In signing the agreement establishing practical arrangements for cooperation, IEEE and IAEA have established an official platform to reduce duplication and conflicts between IAEA guidelines and IEEE publications," the IEEE said. The two organizations will cooperate, it said, in the development of publications "to promote harmonization on topics of mutual interest". The agreement will initially run for three years.

Konstantinos Karachalios, managing director of IEEE Standards Association, said: "Safety is an overriding concern in the nuclear energy field, where standardization and document development tied to instrumentation and control systems, electrical equipment, computer processing systems, as well as human factors, all need to be addressed to protect both the public and those individuals working in the field."

He added, "IEEE's cooperative agreement with IAEA represents a very positive step forward in sharing best practices and bringing together the best minds to work collaboratively towards advancing nuclear safety and energy."

The IEEE - which describes itself as "the largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity" - noted this is the first time the IAEA has signed a practical arrangements agreement with an international standards development organization.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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UK nuclear developers explain private financing approach

04 November 2016

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NuGeneration and Horizon Nuclear Power expect the strike price they agree with the UK government for their respective new build projects will be lower than the one agreed for EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C plant.

Tom Samson, NuGen CEO, and David Stearns, Horizon's business development director, spoke in a meeting with British parliamentarians on 1 November. Their evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee's inquiry The Economics of UK Energy Policy, followed that of EDF Energy executives, who said the 92.50/MWh strike price they had agreed with government in 2013 was a good deal for electricity consumers.

Consisting of two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs), 3.2 GWe Hinkley Point C plant will be the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK in almost 20 years. It is expected to start operations in 2025. EDF Energy has state backing for the project - the majority owner of its parent company, EDF Group, is the French government, and its Chinese partner, China General Nuclear, is state-owned. In contrast, Horizon and NuGen are working on privately backed new build projects.

A joint venture between Toshiba and Engie, NuGen plans to build a nuclear power plant of up to 3.8 GWe gross capacity at Moorside in West Cumbria. NuGen will use AP1000 nuclear reactor technology provided by Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba.

Established in 2009 and acquired by Hitachi in November 2012, Horizon aims to provide at least 5.4 GWe of new capacity across two sites - Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury - by deploying Hitachi-GE UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs).

Asked for the total cost of their projects and the Contract-for-Difference (CfD) strike price they would require, Samson and Stearns stressed they could only give estimates at this stage.

"NuGen is still in the development, engineering phase and we're hoping to have EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] estimates for the complete project in the early part of next year, so any numbers we have today would be premature to share in specific terms," Samson said. "But roughly 13-15 billion for the cost of the project and our aspiration and goal is to deliver a strike price that's less than Hinkley."

Stearns said: "Hitachi has spent north of 1.5 billion on development, engineering and preliminary site works to ascertain what those costings are most likely to be on a full build-out basis and commercial operations by 2025." He added: "We have four operating ABWRs that have been built on time and to budget in Japan, and one of those plants - Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 6 - is our reference plant. At this point we don't have a number, [but] we believe it will certainly be less than Hinkley, and I say that as well from a strike price perspective."

Both expect to complete the Generic Design Acceptance process for their respective reactor designs with UK regulators early next year and to each make their final investment decision (FID) about two years later.

Public versus private sector roles

Asked for their view on the potential merits of nationalising the UK's nuclear power industry, Samson said: "Certainly the government has a role to play, but I think a nationalisation strategy would be a rather extreme solution to the challenge of delivery capability, which relies on an international marketplace."

Asked whether the private financing model was appropriate, given that the government could borrow at lower rates than a private company could, Samson said government could take a role "in some of the enabling infrastructure". He said: "The National Grid is already funding that through their process, but potentially the common works, the seawater intake, the civil works. But, again, it's a departure from an existing proven model, which is to put the risk into the companies that are going to be required to deliver the project."

Asked whether NuGen is "still going to be around in 60 years" for the decommissioning phase of its project, Samson said: "I certainly hope so and we're factoring that funded decommissioning plan and the associated economics to ensure that the decommissioning burden is fully reflected in the strike price."

Asked if NuGen would be, like EDF Energy, looking to secure government guaranteed bonds, Samson said: "For us the financing challenge is quite unique. We need to build on the technology experience and delivery capability of our consortium, with Westinghouse and Toshiba, and look at ways of, if possible, attracting debt and share that funding burden with sources of capital that might be willing to provide loans or investments against the technology of this nature. Certainly, with export credit agencies that's a viable path to pursue."

He later added: "NuGen's owners are two private based companies and we expect more private based equity, but I would hate to rule out any source of capital, investment, debt or loan to the project at this stage ... Government is an essential stakeholder in any nuclear project."

Stearns said that nationalisation "seems like a fairly radical, revolutionary approach to solving a problem that is actually more practical". He told the committee: "This government, and successive governments for the past ten to 15 years in this country, have worked hard and quite consistently in delivering a framework for delivering low-carbon generation. Nuclear is part of that and Hinkley is maybe the first beneficiary as an investor as well as the end-users.

"I don't see the government's role in energy projects as naturally being that of a developer of the daily heavy lifting of choosing technology, driving it through regulation, raising all of the financing and the public sector taking all of the risk ... The model we have here in UK is quite advanced and leaves quite a material amount of risk with the developer."

He added: "I don't see that government necessarily has a role in financing nuclear - certainly on a post-completion basis. But in a competitive financial market we are faced with a funding gap. We would not exclude anybody, but we are solving what is and what should be a private sector asset."

Regarding the "appetite" in debt markets for nuclear new build projects, Stearns said: "These are new assets, new projects, new risks for lenders, for potential bond holders, for export credit agencies. I wouldn't say they're not keen, they need to understand, and I think that they are prepared to, and we have found that there is a market that is willing to listen."

Samson added: "You've got to have a deal structure that is bankable if you've going to look for debt. And that requires you to have a contracting structure in place with an EPC consortium that you can allocate some risk to and hold them accountable to deliver against. That's slightly different to the Hinkley model where there isn't a single EPC entity; that's a difference that allows us then to structure the deal differently and present something that's more attractive to potential lenders and investors.

"This is not a traditional commercial, financeable venture where you go and talk to the likes of Barclays or Citibank and ask them to give you money, but you do have conversations with export credit agencies where there is content and strategic rationale for supporting the export of technologies, and you do look to build on that with a confident delivery plan to attract other investors. So, it's incumbent on us to deliver that narrative and to secure that participation and those are conversations that we've begun and need to complete over the next 12 to 18 months."

Asked for the percentage of public sector involvement in reactors built so far, Samson said of the eight AP1000 units under construction, four are in China and four are in the USA. In China, these projects are funded by the Chinese government, while the US projects are funded by customers in a regulated asset base, he added.

Stearns said that the four operating ABWRs in Japan were "financed in a regulated environment, through the rate base very similar to the US model, but on the balance sheet of investor owned utilities, such as Tepco and Chubu".

Part of the strike price analysis that "gets lost" in criticism of the cost of nuclear new build in the UK, Samson said, is "the GDP impacts". These are: "The jobs, the scale of the effort, the 60-year nature of its life, the significant money spent over the plant's lifecycle, as well as the supply chain opportunities and industrial potential that can be realised to regenerate the nuclear industry in the UK."

Diversity of technology

Asked about the "French policy of buildings tens of reactor to a similar design compared with different contractors building different models in the UK", Samson said there are benefits to having "diversity of technology in a market place".

He said: "If you look at some of the largest nuclear markets in the world, the US or Canada, they have quite a diverse fleet. We think that the track record of delivering each technology is clearly the important element here. We're going to be the nth of a kind - 17th, 18th and 19th - AP1000 unit in the fleet. There are currently eight under construction and there will be eight more under construction when we begin in Moorside. And I think the delivery certainty and the confidence comes from taking the lessons learned from that global experience and building it into a UK mindset for delivery in this country."

He added: "We tend to focus heavily on the EPR challenges in Olkiluoto and Flamanville, but there are many other technologies that have been delivered on time and on budget - in Japan, South Korea, the UAE. There are examples of successful delivery. They are not necessarily technology dependent; they are delivery dependent."

Stearns noted that Hitachi has been involved in 20 new build projects beyond the four operating in Japan.

Asked whether the "controversy with Hinkley" made their own projects more difficult, Stearns said: "It seems to me that Hinkley and the controversy around it has simply been a victim of its own specificities - the time it took to get to FID, the nature of the financing, of the shareholders, the amount of government support. They are absolutely unique to Hinkley."

He added: "We don't consider ourselves comparable really at all with Hinkley: this is a technology we have built before and that our shareholder has taken and delivered and which is licensed in three different countries. It's very difficult for us to compare ourselves to Hinkley, but we do appreciate there will be a comparison because 92.50/MWh is a very material price-tag for that [plant] once it's switched on. We're prepared to be compared, but we believe we have a fundamentally more competitive supply chain and ability to deliver, and that will reflect in our risk allocation, the financing that we've got and, we believe, in the strike price."

Market issues

Samson described the CfD devised by the UK government as "a solution to a market challenge". The "true cost" of carbon emissions isn't reflected in wholesale electricity markets or in economic comparisons of nuclear with renewables. "That is right now an intangible in terms of what are the consequences of not delivering another generation of nuclear in the UK. We've benefitted from 60 years of nuclear and we should as a country benefit from another 60 years of nuclear, from both a stability, but also from an emissions perspective."

Some 10% of the world's power comes from nuclear, but 40% of the world's carbon abatement comes from that 10% of nuclear, he noted.

"So nuclear is a meaningful way to make a difference to climate change. How the government values that component is a subjective discussion. Certainly, renewables are part of that and it would be a folly for me as a nuclear proponent to argue against renewables. We want a mix that benefits from renewables because when it runs its not consuming fuel and it's providing power, so it's a valuable source."

Stearns added: "There are a lot of things that the market is not pricing. The day-ahead electricity market today is quite depressed. Is that a reflection of the tightness of supply that we read about in the newspapers every day? Somehow there seems to be a disconnect. There's the economics of energy and there's the sociology of energy. What do we feel about security of supply and how do you price that? How do we price a megawatt and a tonne of carbon avoidance? None of that is being properly factored into the wholesale market prices. Those signals do not exist."

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Nuclear community gets ready for Paris Agreement

04 November 2016

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Countries planning to use nuclear power to meet their climate change goals will pool experience as part of a forthcoming research effort by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Paris Agreement entered into force today, committing governments to limiting global warming to 2 deg C and, if possible, 1.5 deg C.

The IAEA told journalists today that it is starting to "Coordinate research efforts of member states on the assessment of the potential role of nuclear in their climate change mitigation strategies." It will cover various analytical methods, frameworks and strategies.

Loreta Stankeviciute of the IAEA's Planning and Economic Studies Section will oversee the work. She said research "would include aspects such as energy planning but also focus on the assessment and effectiveness of support mechanisms that were mentioned under the Paris Agreement such as domestic policies and carbon prices in order to identify key barriers and develop approaches to address those investments in low carbon technologies."

The head of the Planning and Economic Studies Section, David Shropshire, said IAEA tools were generalised enough to be used for any kind of energy development, not just nuclear power. To make best use of the tools, it has recently signed a practical arrangement with the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). The focus of cooperation between the two UN agencies has been Africa, but could be expanded anywhere, said Shropshire.

"Somehow we have to stop emissions," said Shropshire, "We have to replace a lot of infrastructure that is carbon-based with low-carbon. And nuclear, as you know, is already low carbon so we are already part of that infrastructure - that's the good news."

Separately the World Nuclear Association made clear the industry's readiness to work for the Paris goals. "The world's 450 nuclear power plants generate enough electricity to avoid the emissions of two and a half billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year compared to the coal-fired baseload generation that nuclear typically displaces." It said that industry has endorsed a goal of supplying 25% of the world's electricity with nuclear generation by 2050, a target that will require the construction of 1000 GWe of new nuclear capacity.



Shropshire said, "It's up to each member state to decide for themselves how much [the role of nuclear] is going to be. And our role is to help them achieve whatever they want to do. Some countries - if you look and India and China - they are rapidly growing nuclear along with other energy systems to support their energy needs, and to reduce pollution, and to address climate change."

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by World Nuclear News

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Ablation technology agreed for Pinon Ridge uranium mill

04 November 2016

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Western Uranium Corporation has signed a letter of intent with Pinon Ridge Corporation to use its ablation mining technology at uranium recovery facilities at the Pinon Ridge mill site in Colorado. The technology is currently being assessed by state regulators.

The letter of intent provides for all ore produced by Western's mines in the region to be processed at the mill to produce uranium and vanadium using the application of ablation mining technology and traditional milling techniques. The letter of intent is subject to the signature of a definitive agreement between the parties, which is expected to be completed by 1 March 2017.

Pinon Ridge Corporation was founded by Western president and CEO George Glasier with Baobab Asset Management LLC. Its subsidiary, Pinon Ridge Resources Corporation, holds the licence for the proposed mill. The Pinon Ridge project, including the radioactive materials licence for the mill, was sold to the private investor group by Energy Fuels in 2014.

NRC gives opinion



The ablation technology, which is being commercialised by Western subsidiary Black Range Minerals, is currently being evaluated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE). Colorado is a so-called Agreement State, meaning that it is responsible for regulating uranium recovery operations rather than the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The evaluation process began in July 2015, prior to Black Range's acquisition by Western in September of that year. The technique is particularly applicable to sandstone-hosted uranium deposits and involves using mechanical processes to separate uranium minerals that form a patina on individual grains of host rock. The material can then be screened to collect a high-grade ore product that can then be milled to produce yellowcake, U3O8.

As part of its regulatory process the CDPHE earlier this year sought the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) opinion on whether the waste produced from the ablation process is considered as by-product material if it does not contain hazardous materials or radioactive materials above background levels. The NRC's definition of by-product materials includes tailings or wastes produced from the extraction or concentration of uranium, which must be managed as hazardous wastes.

Announcing the letter of intent, Western said the NRC had now provided the CDPHE with an advisory opinion recommending that the technology, when used at a conventional uranium mill, should be regulated as a "milling" operation. Although Western said its counsel did not agree with NRC's opinion, the company noted the NRC recognised that "exemptions to certain 'milling' regulatory requirements could be appropriate due to the benign nature of non-uranium bearing sands produced after ablation is completed".

"The Western team appreciates the advancement of the ablation mining technology through the CDPHE regulatory process. Western now has some regulatory certainty as to how it must proceed to fully leverage the multiple potential applications of this technology to uranium recovery operations, site remediation, and applications," Glasier said. "Given this certainty, Western is now in a position to construct a development plan to move forward with its envisioned commercial operations," he added. "Entering into the LOI provides Western with flexibility to begin production expeditiously when market conditions for production of U308 and vanadium are favourable."

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Who Was The Founder Of Rhode Island?

The founder of Rhode Island was Roger Williams, a political and religious dissenter. He was a supporter of religious freedom and separation of religion and government. Williams was born in London sometime around 1603. He went on to study at Charterhouse and Pembroke College in Cambridge after studying an apprenticeship with Sir Edward Coke, a legal scholar. He converted to the Puritan religion while still in Cambridge. In 1627, he graduated from Pembroke and became a private chaplain for Sir William Masham. Williams married Mary Barnard in 1629 and began planning a migration to North America, following in the footsteps of other Puritan leaders. Roger and Mary left shortly after marrying and arrived in America in February of 1631.

In the New World

Shortly after arrival, Roger Williams was offered a position as minister of the Boston Church. He turned down the offer because the church was not separated from the Church of England, which he believed to be corrupt. He did not believe that any practicing churches of the time were true churches and instead of attending services, he waited for an apostle to be delivered. He hoped this apostle would establish a worthy church. Since the Salem Church was considering a separation from the Church of England, they offered Williams a position. This offer was not supported by other religious leaders and was eventually retracted. The Massachusetts Bay Colony eventually exiled him based on his religious beliefs.

Founding Providence, Rhode Island

After running from Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams was given winter shelter by the Wampanoags indigenous people. Chief Chasem Massasoit sold him some land in 1636. Williams and his religious followers began to develop the area only to be kicked off by Plymouth officials, claiming the land belonged to them. They moved across the river and once again purchased land from the Narragansett tribe. This new area became Providence, Rhode Island.

Providence gained popularity with other like-minded dissenters, and in the beginning, heads of households voted on civil matters. This settlement continued to develop based on the idea of separation of church and state, confirmed by various public documents. Providence was the first city to ensure religious freedom, provide separation of church and state, and offer citizenship regardless of religion.

Conflict In The Colonies

Between 1634 and 1638, the colonialists, Narragansett Tribe, and Mohegan tribe went to war with the Pequot tribe. During this Pequot War, Williams played an important role as a mediator and peacekeeper. He led negotiations with the Narragansett tribe that led to their alliance with the English settlers. This alliance helped defeat the Pequot tribe. Because of his actions, twice turning himself over as a hostage to secure the return of tribal chiefs, Williams became the most trusted settler among the Native Americans. He is credited for keeping the peace between natives and settlers for nearly FOUR decades. Roger Williams died in 1683.

Legacy Of Roger Williams

Williams will be remembered for his dedication to the religious freedoms enjoyed in the United States today. He courageously defended Native Americans, fought against corruption in the Church of England, and disagreed with the Kings charters on colonies. Several locations have been named after him, including Roger Williams College in Bristol, Roger Williams Park in Providence, Roger Williams National Memorial, and Roger Williams Park Zoo.
Sad boy (illustration)

By: Feng Qian

An elderly teacher was arrested on a charge of child pornography after being accused of possessing numerous videos of child pornography, according to police in Australia.

Now, Bryan Douglas Cole of Melbourne, is facing many years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of child pornography and one count of preparing to engage in sexual intercourse with a child.

According to the criminal complaint, police raided the home of Cole, a day after he booked a flight to Thailand. Investigators believe that Cole was planning to have sexual intercourse with young boys.

In the home, police found 700 files containing child abuse images on Coleas computer. Cole had been a teacher at a high school for 17 years.

Cole was accused of talking about abusing boys and babies, and confessed to being aroused when children cry. Cole has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
US airstrikes claimed the lives of scores of civilians in northern Afghanistan Thursday, following a firefight between US-backed Afghan troops and Taliban fighters in which at least two US special forces advisers were killed.

The bombing, which continued through much of the night, targeted the village of Bouz Kandahari, on the outskirts of the northern city of Kunduz, where US and Afghan special operations troops had mounted an assassination raid late Wednesday aimed at eliminating two senior leaders of the Taliban. They came under heavy fire, leading to the deaths of the two American soldiers and the wounding of four others. Three Afghan special forces troops were also killed. The Pentagon euphemistically described the operation as a train, advise and assist mission.

A spokesman for the governor of Kunduz put the number of civilians killed in the air raids at 30. Residents and others, however, said the real number of dead was significantly higher.

Amruddin, the local representative on the provincial council, said at least 100 civilians had been killed or wounded in the bombing raids. A local resident said that 50 had been killed and between 40 and 50 wounded. Another survivor said at least 70 people had been taken to a local hospital.

As many as 50 homes were demolished by the US bombs, and more victims were feared buried in the rubble.

Outraged relatives of the dead and residents of the village staged a protest march on the governors palace, chanting, Death to America and Death to [Afghan President Ashraf] Ghani. The protesters used pickup trucks to carry the bodies of the dead, most of them women and children. One man held aloft the headless body of an infant. Police stopped them before they could reach their destination.

What did these children do wrong? I want justice for the killers, one resident told Al Jazeera.

Taza Gul, another local resident, told the Pajhwok Afghan News: I was working on my farm when the bombardment started. On coming home, I saw seven members of my family, including women and children, killed in the raids.

The civilian death toll in Thursdays bombings represented the worst atrocity carried out by the US military since the deliberate targeting of a Doctors without Borders (MSF) hospital in Kunduz by a US AC-130 gunship killed at least 42 patients and medical staff and wounded another 37 in October 2015.

That attack followed the Talibans seizure of the strategic northern city. Despite extensive combat operations in the ensuing year, Kunduz remains insecure and surrounded by territory controlled by the Taliban. Last month, Taliban fighters came close to overrunning it once again.

More than 15 years after the US invaded Afghanistan and nearly two years after President Barack Obama claimed an end to American combat operations, nearly 10,000 US troops remain deployed there along with a considerably larger number of military contractors. US warplanes have conducted more than 700 airstrikes so far this year, twice as many as in 2015.

By all discernible measures, the crisis of the US occupation and the regime that it has installed in Kabul is deeper than ever.

More than 1,600 civilians were killed in just the first six months of 2016, the highest death toll for a half-year period since the UN began keeping figures in 2009.

Afghan security forces, meanwhile, have also suffered record losses. Between January and August of this year, 5,523 Afghan National Army and Afghan National Defense and Security Forces troops have been killed (more than twice as many deaths than the US military has suffered in Afghanistan in 15 years), with nearly twice as many wounded.

Between casualties and desertions, the Afghan security forces are growing weaker rather than stronger, despite the more than $60 billion the US has poured into arming and training them.

Last September, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional committee that the state of the war was roughly a stalemate.

A report released last month by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) also reported 101 insider attacks in which Afghan soldiers turned on their own units, killing 257 and wounding 125 in the first eight months of the year. Three Americans, two soldiers and a civilian, were killed in such an incident last month at a training base near Kabul.

The SIGAR report found that the Taliban today controls more of the country than at any time since the US invasion of 2001. It also stated that the rates of poverty, unemployment, underemployment, violence, emigration and internal displacement are all on the rise.

The United Nations found that more than a million people had been displaced last year and another million Afghans are on the move within the countrys borders this year because of the violence, creating the conditions for a massive humanitarian crisis. The country is the second biggest source of refugees, trailing only Syria, and as many as 100,000 could be sent back after being denied asylum in Europe.

Despite the depth of this crisis and the fact that more US troops are fighting in the country than anywhere else in the world, the word Afghanistan has barely been mentioned in the 2016 presidential race by either Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump. Not a word about the ongoing war appears on the campaign web sites of either candidate.

Whoever takes office in January 2017, however, the prospects for the continuation and escalation of the war are strong. President Barack Obama, having made the war his own with a surge that tripled the number of US troops deployed there to 100,000 in 2010, has put the brakes on what had been billed in 2014 as a gradual drawdown of American forces to the level of normal embassy presence.

It is now clear that the corrupt and internally divided Afghan regime will not survive without US military power to prop it up. Moreover, the Pentagon has made clear that it intends to keep permanent bases and thousands of troops in the country, which offer a strategic launching pad for operations in South Asia and the former Soviet republics of energy-rich Central Asia, as well as against both Russia and China.

To these ends, the kind of mass slaughter of civilians seen outside Kunduz on Thursday will continue.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama made a three-day state visit to New Zealand last month, the first since his 2006 military coup. Bainimarama was invited by Prime Minister John Key, reciprocating Keys trip to Fiji in June, also the first in ten years by a New Zealand prime minister.

The invitation would have been prepared in close consultation with Washington and Canberra. The local US allies, Australia and New Zealand, regard Fiji, the largest South Pacific island state, as critical to their own hegemony over the region and are increasingly concerned about Chinas growing diplomatic and economic presence.

The visit coincided with deepening turmoil in the Asia-Pacific, highlighted by the crisis surrounding the Obama administrations anti-China pivot. US strategy is facing serious setbacks following threats by Philippines President Duterte to separate from Washington. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, the pivots central economic initiative, which was signed in Auckland last February, is also in doubt in the face of opposition from US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Bainimarama told reporters he wanted a stronger engagement with New Zealand. I am very pleased the prime minister has worked with me to take our relationship to another level; a relationship in which we let bygones be bygones, he said. The two leaders declared they were looking forward, rather than reflecting on the past.

Relations had soured with the imposition of sanctions by Australia and New Zealand following the 2006 coup. The regional powers were driven by concerns that the regime could destabilise the region and open the way for Beijing. The sanctions backfired, however. Bainimarama countered with a Look North policy, receiving economic, diplomatic and military aid from China, Russia and elsewhere. He also encouraged other Pacific island states to take a more independent path.

Bainimaramas installation as prime minister followed the victory of his Fiji First Party in the 2014 elections, held under conditions of press censorship, military provocations and severe restrictions on opposition political parties. The authoritarian regime, which rests on the military, rules largely through fear and intimidation. Although sanctions were lifted after the elections, relations deteriorated as geostrategic tensions in the Pacific generated by Washingtons aggressive pivot to Asia intensified.

Keys June trip to Suva, Fijis capital, was almost derailed when Bainimarama publicly aired his grievances over the attitude of the local powers toward his government. Last month, he hit out at interference in Fijis domestic affairs after comments by Key over the arrest of six leading Fijian opposition figures at a political forum. Key had declared he was keeping a watch on the situation and warned the Fiji government against doing anything silly.

Bainimarama began last months trip to New Zealand by issuing effusive thanks for the aid given by New Zealand and Australia in the wake of Cyclone Winston, which struck Fiji in March, causing 44 deaths and widespread destruction.

Canberra and Wellington, in fact, exploited the cyclone devastation to send warships, aircraft and hundreds of military personnel to Fiji. While this was characterised as a humanitarian and disaster aid mission, the intervention followed a gift of weapons to the Fijian military by Russia and dovetailed with the intensifying militarisation of the Pacific.

Bainimarama also announced during last months trip that he would rescind an eight-year ban on three New Zealand journalists seen as critical of his government. He said lifting the ban was part of the diplomatic process.

Topics discussed included development and aid, the PACER Plus regional free trade agreement, defence links and regional sport. Key had previously indicated he wants to keep Fiji in the PACER Plus talks. According to Bainimarama, PACER is too one-sided in its present form and would burden Pacific island nations. Fiji would not sign, he said, until there are better terms on infant industries, a most favoured nation clause and labour mobility. Key said he would seek to accommodate the demands.

Key told the media that human rights in Fiji were still an area where discussion and engagement was needed. I have always said the restoration of democracy in Fiji was a good and important step, but it does evolve over time, he declared.

Democratic rights in Fiji have never been a concern of the local powers. In June, Key dismissed the 2006 military coup as ancient history. Last month Key declared, echoing Bainimarama, that he was keen to look forward now and not necessarily look back, thatll be good for both Fiji and New Zealand.

Fiji is regarded in Australia and NZ as spearheading a thrust by Beijing into the South West Pacific. According to the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, China has overtaken Australia as the biggest source of aid to Fiji, and will soon surpass Canberras aid to Samoa and Tonga. Trade between China and the Pacific doubled last year to $US7.5 billion. Strategic analyst Paul Buchanan falsely claimed on Radio NZ last month that unless China is pushed back, the South Pacific is going to become like a Chinese lake, supposedly like the South China Sea.

New Zealand continues to pursue a precarious balancing act over relations with China, its second most important trading partner. Late last month, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English cancelled a planned meeting with two Hong Kong democracy activists, Martin Lee and Anson Chan, following advice from New Zealand foreign affairs officials that the meeting could be diplomatically sensitive.

Behind the diplomatic manoeuvring lies the ever-growing threat of war. The US pivot to the Asia-Pacific is forcing all the states in the region, no matter how small, to take sides. Key recently gave clearance for the destroyer USS Sampson to visit Auckland during this months celebrations for the Royal New Zealand Navys 75th anniversary. The visit marks the end of a 30-year-old military stalemate between the countries that was triggered when the Lange Labour government banned nuclear warships.

Successive Labour and National administrations since 2001 have worked to restore defence ties. Key declared last week that the relationship with the US is truly in the best shape its been since the anti-nuclear legislation was passed.

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Yesterdays High Court ruling that Parliament alone has the right to trigger Britains exit from the European Union (EU) has created a major constitutional and political crisis.

The verdict, which the government is to appeal, rejected the right of Prime Minister Theresa May to begin Brexit (British exit) without a parliamentary vote by use of the Royal Prerogative. These are archaic powers, once held by British monarchs and now reserved to the government on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet.

The hearing before Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Master of the Rolls Sir Terence Etherton and Lord Justice Sales centred on Article 50 of the European Union Treaty, which states that a member state may quit the bloc in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.

May intended to trigger Brexit next March, bypassing a vote in parliament. This would begin two years of negotiations as to its terms. With EU ministers stating that the UK should be punished for its decision as a warning to other member states, and May (who campaigned as a Remainer) playing up to the vociferous pro-Brexit lobby in her own party, a substantial section of the bourgeoisie is concerned that this could result in a hard-Brexit in which the UK loses access to the Single Market.

With the majority of MPs in favour of remaining in the EU, government lawyers argued at the High Court that it was constitutionally impermissible for Parliament to be given a vote on the Brexit process as it was tantamount to overturning the peoples willas registered in the narrow 52 to 48 percent June 23 referendum vote to leave the EU.

The arguments were presented last month at a judicial review at Londons Royal Courts of Justice. Against the government was a group of claimants representing interests in the City of Londonled by Gina Miller, a London-based investment manager for the firm SCM Private.

The claimants lawyers cited the Bill of Rights of 1689, which states that laws should not be discarded or suspended without consent from Parliament. The use of prerogative powers to trigger Article 50 would have the intended consequence of depriving citizens of rights they have as EU citizens, and which were enshrined in UK law. Such constitutional rights could not be removed by the executive, they argued, without breaking the back of the constitution and crippling it.

The High Court upheld this argument, stating that government moves to begin exit negotiations without parliamentary approval would overturn 400 years of legal tradition. While asserting that nothing we say has any bearing on the question of the merits or demerits of Brexit, the 32-page judgement states that the sole question involved was whether, as a matter of the constitutional law of the UK, the Crownacting through the executive government of the dayis entitled to use its prerogative to trigger Article 50.

The subordination of the Crown (i.e., the executive government) to law is the foundation of the rule of law in the UK, it states, noting that this has its roots in the English Civil war (16421651) and has been recognised ever since.

As to the argument that the opinion of the electorate stands above constitutional law, the judges rejected this on the grounds that as a matter of law: The judges know nothing about any will of the people except in so far as that will is expressed by an Act of Parliament.

A government spokesman said that ministers would appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision. The hearing will take place on December 7-8. However, any possible delay or further protracted legal wrangling threatens to derail the governments plans and opens the possibility of an early general election.

The opening of a constitutional crisis underscores the recklessness of the decision by former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to agree a referendum on Brexit. The move was shaped wholly by the attempt to settle a right-wing factional dispute within the Conservative Party and its fringes in the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Having called a referendum, all sides in the campaign sought to utilise anti-immigrant and nationalist prejudice to divert from the growing social crisis and the danger of war. For the Remain camp, led by Cameron, the aim was to wield a potential Brexit to extract greater concessions from the EU, especially securing beneficial treatment for the City of London. This meant that the Leave campaigndominated by the most xenophobic and Thatcherite wing of the bourgeoisiewas able to monopolise legitimate opposition to the EU.

Neither side gave any consideration as to the more fundamental consequences of their actions, including the complex constitutional issues raised. Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, who was secretary-general of the European convention that drafted what became the Lisbon treaty, said he had never imagined Article 50 being made use of. I thought the circumstances in which it would be used, if ever, would be when there was a coup in a member state and the EU suspended that countrys membership, he said. I thought that at that point the dictator in question might be so cross that hed say right, Im off and it would be good to have a procedure under which he could leave.

The shock 52 percent vote in favour has therefore opened up an existential crisis for the British bourgeoisie. Not only does it threaten to gravely diminish the role of the UK as the premier political and military ally of the US in Europe, but it reopens the possibility of the breakup of the United Kingdom itself.

The Scottish government has already threatened to hold a second referendum on independence in the event of a hard-Brexit, while Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones of the Labour Party welcomed the High Court ruling arguing that the devolved administrations should also get a vote on Mays Brexit negotiating position.

Indicating the explosive character of Brexit for political relations in Ireland, last week, Northern Irelands High Court rejected a legal bid to secure a parliamentary vote on Mays Brexit plans. The case had been taken on the grounds that Mays executive action threatened to jeopardise the power-sharing arrangements between the Unionist and Republican parties established by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Sitting in the Belfast High Court, Mr Justice Maguire had said that it is the courts view the prerogative power is still operative and can be used for the purpose of the executive giving notification for the purpose of Article 50.

If the Supreme Court appeal is unsuccessful, the issue is supposed to turn on whether the government can hold a one-off substantive vote on Brexit or whether parliamentary approval applies to the negotiations and terms of any agreement eventually arrived at. It is generally assumed that most MPs, pro-Remain or otherwise, would not veto the referendum result. If, however, it is found that parliament have oversight on the terms, this opens the way for numerous amendments and an even more protracted and politically incendiary processincluding the involvement of the House of Lords and a second vote.

Having campaigned for a Leave vote based on reasserting the sovereignty of the British parliament, the most strident pro-Brexit forces are the loudest in protesting the High Court ruling.

Posing as the defender of the popular will against a judicial elite, Nigel Farage, the interim leader of UKIP, said, I worry that a betrayal may be near at hand ... I now fear that every attempt will be made to block or delay the triggering of Article 50. If this is so, they have no idea of the level of public anger they will provoke.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that his party respects the decision of the British people to leave the European Union. However, he was the subject of a putsch attempt by the most pro-EU faction of his party and does not command the support of most of his MPs. There is no guarantee that the majority would not vote against triggering Article 50 in a parliamentary vote.

The right wing of the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, has made clear they are in favour of forming a so-called progressive alliance to block or limit a hard-Brexit. This position is shared by the Liberal Democrats, whose leader Tim Farron welcomed the High Court ruling, stating, Ultimately, the British people voted for a departure but not for a destination...
Just days before the US presidential election, the German government-aligned think tank German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) published a paper entitled Even without Trump much will change. It calls for a more aggressive German and European foreign policy, which, regardless of the election result, is prepared to impose its economic and geopolitical interests with greater independence from, and if necessary against Washington.

The candidacy of Republican Donald Trump makes clear that [] a US policy is possible that would demand from Germany more independent action than in the past, according to the author of the paper and the leader of the America research group, Johannes Thimm. The possibility of Trump entering the White House compels German politicians to ask themselves difficult questions.

Trumps rise to prominence has provoked considerable trepidation within broad sections of the ruling elite in Germany and internationally. With Trump as president [] there would be a high degree of uncertainty about US foreign policy, the paper stated. Germany could certainly not rely on Trumps unpredictability or extreme positions being discarded, either through advisory staff, the cabinet, the military or Congress.

But even with an election victory for Democrat Hillary Clinton, corresponding strategic considerations [would be] necessary, and Germany would do well not to take the easy way out of wait and see. Instead, Berlin should, regardless of the election result, consider how the Transatlantic relationship and the future world order are to be organised.

In line with the article written for Foreign Affairs in June by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Social Democrats), the SWP paper calls into question the claim of the US to global leadership. In the section A strategic America policy, it states, the balance sheet of American engagement in the world [is ] mixed at best. Among other things, the US policy  such as the invasion of Iraq in 2003 or the ongoing Saudi Arabian intervention in Yemen  is simply counter-productive for a stable order.

If similar types of situations arise in the future, the paper states provocatively, it would be important for Germany (possibly with Europe) to take a clear position and adopt its own estimation at an early stage. Even though options are limited, Germany and Europe [should] not leave the area of planning the political order to the US alone.

Concretely, this means, among other things, to question the view, based on the self-portrayal of the US as exceptional, that American interests are per se global interests. It is also necessary to consider how to respond if US behaviour is, from Germanys standpoint, counter-productive. In this, good transatlantic relations should not be an end in themselves and [placed] before other considerations, otherwise, one would be robbing oneself of the possibility of acting strategically.

It continues, Without the willingness to argue with the US government ... many options for exerting influence [are] excluded from the outset.

Nobody should underestimate the historical, political and military implications of such statements. Two years ago, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) warned: At present, Washington is pursuing these objectives with the collaboration of the other major imperialist powers. However, there is no permanent coincidence of interests among them. German imperialism, which fought two wars with the US in the 20th century, is reviving its imperial ambitions.

At the beginning of this year, the ICFI wrote in its statement Socialism and the Fight Against War: Seventy years after the fall of Hitlers Third Reich, the German ruling class is once again demanding that its state assert itself as the unquestioned overlord of Europe and as a world power. In the face of deeply felt anti-war sentiments within the German population, Berlin is deploying military force to assert its interests in the Middle East and Africa. It is pouring money into rearmament, while apologetics for the crimes of the Nazi regime are being advanced across the political establishment, media and academia, with the aim of justifying the revival of German imperialist ambitions.

The SWP played a central role in this revival from the outset. In 2013, it organised a project involving 50 leading politicians from all parliamentary parties, journalists, academics and military and business representatives to elaborate a strategy for the return of German militarism. At the end of the discussions, the paper New PowerNew Responsibilities. Elements of a German foreign and security policy for a world in turmoil was produced, which formed the basis of Steinmeier's and President Gaucks imperialistic speeches at the Munich Security Conference in 2014 and the armys 2016 white paper.

The German ruling elite is now using the deepening international crisis in the wake of the Brexit vote and the political chaos in the US to press ahead with its great power ambitions. In a current essay entitled Europe is the solution, Steinmeier writes, We must grant ourselves the concrete instruments necessary for a joint foreign [EU] policy. This includes practical capabilities: for joint situation analysis, financial instruments for stabilisation and crisis prevention, and ultimately joint military capacities, such as joint command structures or maritime task forces.

These, according to Steinmeier, are the concrete steps we now face. Then, the creation of a European army [should] be discussed ... when we have proven that Europe can do it better than any national state alone. This would be the significance of a red-red-green (Social Democrats (SPD), Left Party and Greens) federal government! It would have the task in foreign policy of pressing ahead with the return of German militarism behind phrases about responsibility, humanity and human rights, while at the same time developing an independent German foreign policy increasingly at odds with that of the United States.
In the final days before the Socialist Equality Partys November 5 emergency anti-war conference, Socialism vs.Capitalism and War, the partys vice presidential candidate, Niles Niemuth, addressed successful meetings in Rock Island and Chicago, Illinois. At both meetings, Niemuth detailed the deep crisis gripping both parties of the political establishment, sounded the alarm over the advanced preparations for major wars following the elections, and raised the call for building a mass socialist anti-war movement internationally.

On Saturday, Niemuth spoke in Rock Island, part of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan region on the Mississippi River bordering Iowa and Illinois. The Quad Cities has historically been a center of farm equipment manufacturing, with the headquarters of Deere, Inc. located in Moline. Last year, workers at Deere widely opposed the concessions contract backed by the United Auto Workers union and have since suffered hundreds of layoffs.

In response to a question from an attendee at the meeting, Niemuth analyzed the campaign of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, noting that the self-described democratic socialist had professed support for Obamas use of drone assassination and provocations against Russia. Niemuth pointed to the record of the World Socialist Web Site in predicting Sanders inevitable attempt to channel anti-capitalist sentiment behind the Democratic Party and the chosen candidate of Wall Street, Hillary Clinton.

Following the meeting, Niemuth gave an interview to a student-run radio station at Augustana, a small college in Rock Island, explaining the purpose of the SEPs election campaign and the platform on which the candidates were running.

On Tuesday, Niemuth spoke to a meeting at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) about the threat of war. He reviewed the record of war under the Obama administration, the calls by both Trump and Clinton for an escalation of war, and the discussion within ruling circles of the likelihood of conflict with Russia or China. He pointed to the growing signs of class tension and opposition throughout the world and emphasized that the working class is the social force that can lead the struggle against war.

He said, It is not possible to stop war and put an end to social inequality without attacking the wealth and political power of the entrenched ruling class, which controls the whole political system.

Attendees at the meetings asked questions about US politics, the elections, whether Russia and China are a source of war, the history of socialism and the SEP, and reformist local politics. In response to a question about whether the SEP would be on the ballot in Illinois, Niles noted that in the state a candidate must wage a campaign even to be a write-in candidate, and if that status is not obtained, the votes will be tossed out. He pointed to the thoroughly anti-democratic nature of such ballot access laws.

Supporters of the Socialist Equality Party had extensive and lively discussions with students and workers at UIC on the question of war and the US presidential elections before and after the meeting Tuesday.

Omari, a theater student, said, I feel like this is great movement. We as a people have to come up with a consensus that this is not acceptable. We have to stop allowing the ruling class and controlling parties from manipulating our interests and putting ourselves in dangerous positions. Whoever becomes candidate of the two, it does not look good.

Clinton and Trump do not represent our interest, not even a little bit.

A student in political science from Britain said about Clinton and Trump, Its essentially two terrible candidates, really.

Asked what he thought about the candidates foreign policy positions, he responded, I can understand why people are afraid of Hillary. And I think Trumps foreign policy is very confusing. On the one hand, he says hes going to pursue an isolationist position, but then hes simultaneously saying he says hes going to defeat ISIS, which implies massive military spending.

Speaking on Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, he added, I actually supported him in the leadership election the first time. I dont necessarily think hes too left. I actually think hes really not left-wing.

Im a full-time chef and I work 40-60 hours a week, said Chris. Im just tired of being a laborer and not having any respect. Being swept under the carpet, no benefits, no health care. I cant go to a hospital because I have no health care. Obamacare doesnt protect me at all, and I didnt even apply. With costs going up by 25 percent, I cant afford it. I threw my shoulder out and I cant afford an MRI, which costs more than a thousand dollars. Its criminal. I also have asthma and have to go through my friends insurance to get inhalers.

On the elections and the meeting, he stated, Im terrified of both these candidates, if and when they are elected. Its disgusting. I really liked this meeting and want to get involved. Im a single father with no social help. Im tired of working my fingers to the bone for nothing. Its time for a change.

Kathryn, a nanny and a teacher, saw a poster advertising the meeting and wanted to attend. I thought the lecture was wonderful, informative and relevant, considering the approaching election. My friends and I have been talking about scary it is, and how the choices dont represent us. We came to this meeting because of the danger of war that you were talking about. It feels so crazy to be having these discussions, but we need to build something completely different. I think socialism seems the only alternative to what we are seeing now.

Andy, a student at UIC and a member of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), commented:

I think its scary, first of all, the fact that were fighting and bombing seven different countries and thats not being discussed and whats also not being discussed is the conflicts its creating with China and Russia. Theres a reason for it, why those in power are hiding it, why its not being discussed, and its because they know theres opposition to war.

Commenting on the role of the IYSSE and the building of a new socialist-internationalist anti-war movement amongst youth and students, he said, I think the IYSSE is important because it appeals to students and young people because they have an inherent interest in the world because theyre going to be inhabiting it. Because they have to have a leading role in it, and not be an aside to political interests that are not their own.

If there was a war, it would be me that would be going, especially as a young man, I would be the first to go. I think thats something that young people have to realize. The ruling elite will not be fighting these war themselves. They will be sending the working class and the youth to fight their wars for them.

He further added: A political movement, especially a revolutionary one, doesn't happen by itself, doesn't happen overnight. It needs leadership, it needs political organization.
With only four days remaining before Election Day in the United States, the two main capitalist candidates have stepped up their campaigns of scandal-mongering to divert public attention from any serious examination of the critical issues of war, economic inequality and attacks on democratic rights.

Republican Donald Trump has focused his campaign almost entirely on Hillary Clintons use of a private email server while Secretary of State, and on the operations of the Clinton Foundation, calling her corrupt and demanding she be prosecuted and jailed. Congressional Republicans have chimed in with threats of impeachment if Clinton wins the November 8 vote.

The response of the Clinton campaign and the Democrats has been to intensify their own smear tactics, promoting allegations of sexual misconduct, and even rape, against Trump, and claiming, without any evidence, that Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed the Manhattan billionaire by unleashing Russian intelligence agencies to hack into the communications of the Democratic campaign.

The presidential contest has appeared to narrow significantly since the intervention of the FBI against Clinton last Friday, when FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress announcing additional investigative steps in relation to the investigation into Clintons private email server.

Clinton retains a small lead in national opinion polls, and in the battleground states whose votes in the Electoral College are the most closely contested. She also appears to have benefited from higher Democratic turnout in the early voting that is permitted in 38 of the 50 states. The result of the election remains highly uncertain, as well as the outcome of voting for 33 Senate seats and 435 seats in the House of Representatives, both now controlled by the Republican Party.

Opposition to Clintons candidacy within the FBIa supposedly non-political investigative agency headed by an appointee of President Obamawas underscored by reports in right-wing media outlets Wednesday that agents were pushing an investigation into possible pay-for-play interaction between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the [Clinton] Foundation.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier, citing unnamed sources close to the FBI investigation, claimed that the investigation into the Clinton Foundation was a very high priority and that agents are actively and aggressively pursuing this case. He claimed that an indictment was believed likely, although he did not indicate who was to be indicted or for what alleged crime.

The Wall Street Journallike Fox News, owned by ultra-right billionaire Rupert Murdochalso reported Wednesday that FBI agents were engaged in a major investigation of the Clinton Foundation, during which they had obtained secret recordings of a suspect talking about the Clinton Foundation, without giving any details.

The Journal report also revealed that the FBI investigation began in response to the 2015 publication of an anti-Clinton book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, written by right-wing activist Peter Schweizer. In other words, FBI agents set out to collect evidence that would vindicate a political screed written to torpedo Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

The various anti-Clinton investigations led to clashes between the FBI agents and career prosecutors in the public integrity section of the Justice Department, who regarded the evidence as flimsy and the probes politically motivated. These conflicts intensified after FBI Director James Comey announced in July that the investigation into the Clinton email server had not uncovered evidence that warranted any criminal prosecution.

Comeys letter to Congress last week, apparently reviving the email investigation, was prompted by the continuing unrest within his agency. According to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, as many as 100 FBI agents had threatened to resign unless Comey took the extraordinary step of dropping a political bombshell only 11 days before Election Day. Other press reports described the ranks of the FBI as Trumpland, indicating that there is widespread support in the agency for the Republican candidate and his embrace of authoritarian methods against political opponents.

The Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party have responded in kind to the scandalmongering by Trump and the Republicans. Television advertising for Clinton in the final days of the campaign has focused almost entirely on the allegations that Trump has engaged in abusive conduct towards women, which Clinton uses as the basis of her appeal to those layers of the upper-middle-class obsessed with identity politicsthe politics of race, gender and sexual orientation.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles attorney and media commentator Lisa Bloom, the daughter of multi-millionaire defense attorney Gloria Allred, announced a news conference at which her client, a woman now 35 years old, was to detail claims that Donald Trump raped her 22 years earlier, when she was only 13. The press conference was then abruptly cancelled with the claim that death threats from Trump supporters made it too dangerous.

The effect was to associate the Republican candidate first with sexual assault and then with threats of violence, without actually presenting any evidence. Bloom is also the attorney for one of the women suing Trump for alleged sexual harassment.

Meanwhile congressional Democrats and the Clinton campaign continue to peddle allegations that the Russian government is the source of the trove of emails, now being made public by WikiLeaks, hacked from the account of John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman.

The WikiLeaks emails have proven highly damaging, detailing efforts by Bill Clinton and his top aides to cash in on the operations of the Clinton Foundation by inducing corporate contributors to the charity to pay Clinton lucrative fees for giving speeches or becoming a consultant to their businesses.

On Thursday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange flatly denied the claims that the Russian government had supplied the emails to his organization. The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything, Assange said in an interview with Dartmouth Films in Britain, where he has been confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Assange pointed out that the Clinton campaign has repeatedly lied about the emails, claiming the US intelligence agencies had determined that Russian intelligence agencies were responsible for the hacking. In fact, he said, no such determination had been made. US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has claimed that the email server of the Democratic National Committee had been hacked by the Russian governmentwithout providing any evidencebut the DNI has been silent on the hacking of Podestas emails.

The mutual mudslinging and scandal-mongering between the Democrats and Republicans is not merely an aspect of the 2016 presidential campaign. The two parties rely on such degraded methods to fight out bitter internal conflicts within the ruling class while concealing from the American people the right-wing, anti-working-class policies that the next US government, whether headed by Clinton or Trump, will carry out.

Whether it is President Clinton or President Trump, the next administration will be compelled by the deepening global economic crisis of capitalism and intensifying geo-political conflicts to adopt even more aggressive and right-wing policies than those of the Obama administration.

The next administration will employ US military force even more widely than Bush and Obama, not only in the Middle East but against more formidable nuclear-armed opponents like Russia and China. And it will respond to renewed financial crisis with sweeping attacks on jobs, working class living standards and public social services.
ENGIE, a major French energy multinational, announced on Thursday it will close the Hazelwood coal-fired power station, in southeastern Victoria, in March 2017.

The closure will directly destroy up to a thousand jobs, with the flow-on impact threatening thousands more. It will further devastate the economically-depressed Latrobe Valley, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Australia.

Reports have indicated that the move could see power prices across Victoria rise by up to 25 percent. State government figures indicate a 48 percent hike, but even that would exacerbate the financial difficulties facing millions of working class households.

The announcement is the culmination of decades of job cuts across the Latrobe Valley and the energy sector, including at Hazelwood, overseen by successive Labor and Liberal-National governments and enforced by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

Announcing the shutdown, Alex Keisser, ENGIEs chief executive in Australia, made clear that the plant was no longer sufficiently profitable for the companys wealthy shareholders.

ENGIE in Australia would need to invest many hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure viable and, most importantly, continued safe operation, Keisser said. Given current and forecast market conditions, that level of investment cannot be justified.

The plant employs around 750 workers450 permanent workers and 300 contractorsand a number of casuals. ENGIE also announced it will sell its other Latrobe Valley plant, Loy Yang B, which has about 150 full-time staff and 40 contractors, and its Kwinana cogeneration plant in Western Australia. There is no certainty either will find a buyer.

The Hazelwood shutdown is part of a global restructure of ENGIEs operations, spurred by mounting competition in the energy sector, the fall in commodity prices and stepped-up demands from the financial markets for ever-greater returns.

In February, the companys incoming chief executive, Isabelle Kocher, foreshadowed plans to slash costs annually by 10 billion to 20 billion, through the sale or closure of production and exploration sites, and a turn to renewable energies. At the end of 2015, the ENGIE had total assets of over 160 billion.

The company has sought to suppress and intimidate the widespread opposition to the closure. In the days before the announcement, workers were warned not to make any comments to the media.

The CFMEU, which has collaborated with Hazelwoods owners through successive rounds of job cuts, signalled it will seek to enforce an orderly closure of the plant.

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, CFMEU state secretary Geoff Van Dyke touted the companys worthless claims that 200 workers may remain employed in the demolition of the plant over the next five years.

Trevor Williams, the CFMEUs mining and energy president for Victoria, called for more time, essentially so that the trade union could better assist the closure, on the pretext of supposedly providing workers with other opportunities. He stated: If it needs to be closed we believe it should be done in a phased-out way which would give us an opportunity to make arrangements for the workers.

At the same time, Williams admitted that the union was fully aware of long-standing plans for the closure. Some of us have seen this coming for quite some time, he said, noting talk off and on for the last 20 years about a shutdown.

While the union, and state and federal politicians, have cynically feigned concern, the policies they have implemented are responsible for the dire social crisis in the Latrobe Valley.

In the early 1990s, the Labor state government of Joan Kirner initiated the privatisation of Victorias electricity industry, which was completed by the Liberal government of Jeff Kennett. Over the ensuing years, under successive Labor and Liberal governments, up to 15,000 jobs have been destroyed in the Latrobe Valley, which was historically the states main centre of electricity production. More than 6,000 of those job cuts were in the electricity sector. Across the state, the number of electricity workers fell from 21,500 in 1990 to just 8,000 in 2005.

Privatisation programs implemented by Labor and Liberal governments in other states have resulted in similar attacks on the jobs, wages and conditions of workers.

The assault on jobs in the Latrobe Valley has escalated in recent years. In 2014, the Energy-Brix coal-powered station closed, with at least 70 workers sacked. The same year, Hazelwood unveiled a series of voluntary redundancies aimed at downsizing the workforce.

Unemployment in the town of Morwell, near the Hazelwood plant, stands at an estimated 19.7 percent. A 2015 report listed the town among the seven most disadvantaged areas in Victoria by a range of social indicators. Youth unemployment is endemic. Hazelwood was one of the few local facilities employing skilled workers and tradesmen, making a mockery of the claims that its workforce will be retrained and assisted to find employment elsewhere.

As for moving house to find work, the protracted decline in home values in the Latrobe Valley makes that almost impossible. According to a real estate web site, the median house price in Morwell is $153,000, compared to $773,669 in Melbourne, the state capital, which is about 150 kilometres away.

Underscoring the central role of the major capitalist parties in these attacks, federal Energy and Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg, a key member of the Turnbull Liberal-National government, and the state Labor governments state Treasurer Tim Pallas, travelled to France late last month for backroom meetings with ENGIE heads. The timing of the visit indicates that the purpose was to prepare to police the plants shutdown.

Other politicians claimed that the closure of the plant, a significant emitter of carbon dioxide, is a victory in the struggle against climate change. Last September, Greens federal MP Adam Bandt responded to rumours of the impending closure by declaring: This good news is the start of Victorias energy transition, where dirty coal is replaced with clean renewable energy.

In reality, as ENGIEs corporate heads have made plain, the decision is based purely on profit-making motives. Bandt and the Greens, indifferent to the plight of workers in the Latrobe Valley, speak for an affluent layer of the middle class, with ties to various renewable energy corporations. They defend the capitalist profit system, whose anarchic operations are responsible for the climate change crisis.

The state and federal governments have announced rescue packages for the Latrobe Valley, reportedly totalling $266 million. The state Labor governments initiative is clearly about exploiting, not alleviating, the regions social crisis. It wants to transform the region into an economic growth zone by providing businesses with tax breaks and financial incentives to take advantage of cheap labour in the area.

The Hazelwood closure is part of an escalating offensive against the working class across the country, and internationally, stemming from the breakdown of the global capitalist system. It comes hard on the heels of the closure of Fords auto assembly plants in Australia, destroying thousands of jobs.

The only way to oppose the shutdown is through a break with the thoroughly corporatised trade unions, the Labor Party and the entire capitalist political establishment, in the fight for a workers government and socialist policies, including placing the major energy companies under public ownership and democratic workers control.
With tensions between Washington and Moscow at their sharpest point since the Cold War, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a lengthy critique of the United States in a speech delivered last week to the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi. The Russian leader painted a picture of a global order destabilized by Washingtons pursuit of hegemony and its targeting of Russia. All the while, he persisted in referring to his partners in the West.

Putins remarks, which included delusional appeals to the United Nations and praise for the principle of national sovereignty, revealed both the dire situation facing Russias ruling elite and its inability to offer any form of progressive opposition to Washingtons war drive.

The Russian president began his comments to the assembly of policy experts, government officials, journalists and academics by declaring that since his previous appearance at the forum, nothing has changed.

While making no direct reference to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, much less the role played by the social forces he represents in restoring capitalist market relations, Putin found himself compelled to make reference to the consequences of that event. Some countries saw themselves as victors in the Cold War, he complained. They attempted to bring the entire world under the spread of their own organizations, norms and rules, and chose the road of globalization and security for their own beloved selves.

This entailed airstrikes in the center of Europe, against Belgrade, Putin continued. He characterized the 1999 US-led Kosovo war as a criminal operation that paved the way for violations of international law that were to come in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The Russian president went on to charge Washington with creating and arming terrorist groups that have plunged the world into chaos. The US is engaging in a dangerous game of continuing to supply and train these forces, he added.

He pointed to the hypocrisy of American policy makers, saying, If the powers that be today find some standard or norm to their advantage, they force everyone else to comply. But if tomorrow these same standards get in their way, they are swift to throw them in the bin, declare them obsolete, and set or try to set new rules.

Despite his personal agreements with President Barack Obama, Putin lamented, There were people in Washington ready to do everything possible to prevent these agreements from being implemented in practice.

He expressed frustration over the continual references to the Russian military threat, insisting, This is a profitable business that can be used to pump new money into defense budgets at home, get allies to bend to a single superpowers interests, expand NATO, and bring its infrastructure, military units and arms closer to our borders.

He continued: The only thing is that Russia has no intention of attacking anyone. This is all quite absurd. He noted that Russia has only 146 million people compared to NATOs 600-million population.

Putin described allegations of Russian meddling in the US elections as hysteria and another mythical and imaginary problem. He asked rhetorically: Does anyone seriously imagine that Russia can somehow influence the American peoples choice? America is not some kind of banana republic, after all, but is a great power.

He argued that the anti-Russian line is an effort to divert the attention of the American people away from the countrys domestic problems, including the massive accumulation of public debt, cases of arbitrary action by the police, and an eviscerated political system.

Putin derided the current US elections as consisting of nothing but scandals and digging up dirt, adding later, And honestly, a look at various candidates platforms gives the impression that they were made from the same mouldthe difference is slight, if there is any.

People sense an ever-growing gap between their interests and the elites vision of the only correct course, a course the elite itself chooses, he said. The result is that referendums and elections increasingly often create surprises for the authorities.

Because the political establishment is unable to come to grips with this new reality, he observed, it insists that society does not understand those at the summit of power and has not yet matured sufficiently to be able to assess the authorities labour for the public good  Or they sink into hysteria and declare it the result of foreign, usually Russian, propaganda.

Friends and colleagues, he declared, I would like to have such a propaganda machine here in Russia, but regrettably, this is not the case. We have not even global mass media outlets of the likes of CNN, BBC and others.

In the limited press coverage that Putins speech has received in the US, his remarks have been seized upon to further the McCarthyite-style denunciations of the Trump campaign. An October 31 editorial in the Washington Post was headlined Trump, Putin share frightening worldview.

The commentary treated the Russian presidents observations as absurdities. The Post wrote, For every crime committed by his Kremlin, Putin was ready with a comparison to a supposedly identical outrage by the American ruling class, as he likes to call it.

Putins speech is an expression of the objective crisis in which the ruling capitalist oligarchy in Russia finds itself. Facing ceaseless military and economic pressure from the US, the European Union and NATO, the Kremlin chief is compelled to make certain accurate observations about the state of affairs. However, he does so from the standpoint of an enfeebled and corrupt ruling class desperately trying to find a way out of a disaster of its own making.

The oligarchs and security services on whose behalf Putin rules were the architects of the restoration of capitalism in the late 1980s and 1990s. The Stalinist bureaucracy, increasingly frustrated by the limitations on its power and privileges and frightened by the growth of opposition in the Russian working class, transformed itself into a new ruling class by stealing the wealth built up during the Soviet period and liquidating whatever remained of the conquests of the Russian Revolution.

This counterrevolution was hailed by the bureaucracy as not only a new form of social justice, but the starting point, in the words of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, of a new era of co-development, co-creation, and cooperation. In 1990, speaking before the last Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Gorbachev declared that inclusion of our national economy in the world economy is necessary for the construction, in conjunction with other peoples, of the material foundations for an irreversibly peaceful period of history and for the solution of mankinds global problems.

This has all proven to be delusional. In reality, Washington views Russia as an intolerable obstacle in the way of its exploitation of and control over Eurasia. The ruling elite in Moscow is now confronting the consequences of its own stupidity and blindness.

Despite Putins efforts to portray Washingtons policies after the Cold War as some sort of unforeseeable and unexpected betrayal of the principles of world peace and equality among nations, the actions of the United States were entirely predictable. As Leon Trotsky, the co-leader with Lenin of the Russian Revolution and leader of the socialist opposition to Stalin, noted in 1929, A capitalist Russia could not now occupy even the third-rate position to which czarist Russia was predestined by the course of the world war. Russian capitalism today would be a dependent, semi-colonial capitalism without any prospects. Russia Number 2 would occupy a position somewhere between Russia Number 1 and India.

In the face of this impossible situation, the Kremlin attempts to shore up its rule by appealing to nationalism and populism. Denouncing ideological ideas that are destructive to cultural and national identity in his Valdai Club speech, the Russian president went on to advocate for Russias identity, freedom and independence. He called national sovereignty the central notion of the entire system of international relations.

The sovereignty demanded by Putin is the sovereign right of Russian capitalism to exploit its own population. Like right-wing political figures in the US, France, Britain and elsewhere, he attempts to harness popular anger over disastrous economic conditions and channel it in a nationalist direction.

Putin presides over a society with extremely high levels of social inequality and rising discontent. Some 36 percent of Russian households cannot meet essential living expenses, and the statistical agency VTsIOM has recorded a massive drop in popular support for the government, falling to just 26 percent, the lowest level in five years.

The Kremlin vacillates between seeking an accommodation with the US, issuing impotent appeals to the United Nations, and carrying out military adventures.

Having referred throughout his speech to his partners in the West, Putin declared: It is my firm belief that we can overcome these threats and challenges only by working together on the solid foundation of international law and the United Nations Charter. Today it is the United Nations that continues to remain an agency that is unparalleled in representativeness and universality, a unique venue for equitable dialogue.

Within less than 24 hours of these remarks, Russia was voted off the United Nations Human Rights Council in a historically unprecedented move. The action was part of the US-led effort to criminalize Russia and the Putin regime for its intervention in Syria in support of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The efforts of Washington to bring down the regime in Damascus and install a puppet government have been frustrated by Moscows military intervention, which began in September of 2015.

The Russian-backed Syrian government offensive in Aleppo threatens to dislodge from the citys eastern sector the anti-Assad Al Qaeda-linked Islamist forces that have been armed and supported by the CIA and Washingtons regional allies, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. In the face of an impending major defeat for the US-backed rebels, Washington is spearheading a propaganda campaign to brand Russia as a rouge state and accuse it of war crimes.

While the UN obligingly voted Russia off of its fraudulently named Human Rights Council, it reelected the despotic Saudi regime, which earlier this month added to its human slaughter in Yemen by killing upwards of 140 civilians in the bombing of a funeral in that nations capital.

The criminal character of the Putin regime and its policies was highlighted in last weeks speech in Sochi by the Russian presidents pleas for the US to join in a more effective anti-terror campaign and his citing of Israel as a model for the conduct of such an enterprise.

The Kremlin regards Russias nuclear arsenal as its ultimate tool of defense. The prospect of a hot war is now regularly discussed in the Russian media. Continuing a policy that was begun in 2012, at the start of October the Putin regime held civil defense drills involving 40 million people, including 200,000 rescue personnel. Nothing could be more expressive of the dead end of Russian capitalism than the fact that its last line of defense is its ability to incinerate masses of people in a nuclear holocaust.
Jean-Francois Lisee, a longtime party insider, was elected the leader of the big business, pro-Quebec independence Parti Quebecois (PQ) last month. Of the four candidates vying for the top position, Lisee is the most closely identified with the PQs commitment to austerity and chauvinism.

Lisees second-ballot victory in a months-long leadership race that culminated October 7 puts him at the head of a party in profound crisis. He is the third PQ leaders in as many years.

The latest leadership contest was triggered by the sudden resignation of the media mogul and notorious right-winger Pierre Karl Peladeau, whose accession to the leadership had been hailed as a breakthrough in the partys efforts to rally support for independence from the wealthiest sections of the ruling elite. Peladeau managed to hold the position for less than a year. At the time of his resignation, he cited family pressures including a very public divorce, but there is no question the underlying reason for Peladeaus resignation was his frustration at his inability to rekindle support for the PQ and its sovereignty (i.e., independence) option.

The recent leadership contest generated little popular interest. Support for the PQ has been in freefall for over a decade. Despite mass popular anger with the brutal austerity policies of the provincial Liberal government of Philippe Couillard, support for the PQ continues to be at near record lows in the opinion polls. This is especially true among young people, with little more than 15 percent of 18-24-year-olds saying that they would vote for the PQ. Party membership, which at one time surpassed 300,000, now hovers around 70,000. The average age of a party member is 61.

Since 2003, the PQ has held office for just 18 months. In September 2012, it was brought to power on a wave of popular anger at the Liberal government of Jean Charest that had exploded onto the streets during the six-month, province-wide student strike of February to August 2012. During the 2012 election campaign, the unions, the student associations and the pseudo-left Quebec Solidaire had presented the PQ as a lesser evil, if not a progressive ally, in the fight against the Liberals and austerity. Once in power, the PQ quickly and predictably revealed its true nature. Under Premier Pauline Marois, the PQ imposed higher tuition fees, slashed welfare benefits and public services, criminalized a strike by construction workers, and sought to implement a xenophobic Charter of Quebec Values.

The PQs leading role in imposing austerity, including between 1995 and 1998 when it implemented the greatest social spending cuts in Quebec history, has shattered its traditional working-class electoral base.

The crisis of the PQ and the sovereignty movement has also been accentuated by the reactionary and bellicose positions of its sister party at the federal level, the Bloc Quebecois (BQ). The BQ, which from 1993 until 2011 held the majority of Quebecs seats in the Canadian parliament, supported Canadas leading role in the imperialist wars waged by the US and NATO in Afghanistan and Libya and strongly supports its participation in the current Mideast war. During last falls federal election, the BQ joined the Harper Conservatives in demagogic attacks against the social democratic NDP for opposing a prohibition on Muslim women clad in the niqab taking the Oath of Citizenship.

The PQ has responded to its drop in popularity by turning markedly to the right, emphasizing identity politics and a toxic anti-immigrant discourse.

Lisee made these issues the center of his successful campaign to become PQ leader.

At the campaigns launch last spring, Alexandre Cloutier was by far the favored candidate of the party establishment, receiving the support of many prominent PQ leaders and senior statesmen, including former Premier Bernard Landry. At 39, Cloutier was promoted as a young and charismatic figure who could revive interest in the PQ among younger voters. Cloutier tried to some extent to present himself as more open to immigrants, including by distancing himself from the anti-minority Charter of Values.

In the final weeks of the race, however, Lisee brought discussion on the Charter to the forefront. He committed to lowering the number of immigrants admitted to Quebec in a year (the current threshold is 50,000) and promised to ban the wearing of religious symbols by public officials in positions of authority, while stressing that he is open to prohibiting the wearing of all symbols of convictionpolitical, social and environmentalin the public sphere. He also expressed readiness to ban the burqa and the niqab in all public places to ensure the safety of Quebecers.

During the leadership contest, all the candidates advanced policy prescriptions entirely in line with the right-wing, pro-capitalist program that the PQ has defended for decades. The victory of Jean-Francois Lisee (with 50.6 percent against 31.7 percent for Cloutier) confirms the further turn of the PQ to Quebec chauvinism and divisive appeals to identity. Significantly, Bernard Landry called the Lisee victory good news, stating that the winning candidate had managed to put forward the major themes that stir the soul of the PQ.

Despite a feeble attempt to pass for Quebecs answer to Bernie Sanders, by hypocritically declaring his support for the trade unions campaign for a $15/hour minimum wage, Lisee is associated with capitalist austerity. Before becoming Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie in the Marois government, he was a close adviser to Premier Lucien Bouchard in the late 1990s, when he imposed massive social cuts in the name of achieving a zero deficit.

During the campaign, Lisee defended right-wing economic nationalism. The son of a businessman, who is proud to have grown up in a business milieu and to be close to the business world, Lisee advocates the deregulation of small and medium-sized enterprises to increase their profitability.

He also wants to transform the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, the financial institution that manages public pension funds, into an investment fund. According to Lisee, the fund could be broadened to draw in mutual-fund-type investments from individuals and use its increased financial heft to attract more corporations to Quebec and to maintain their corporate headquarters in Quebecthat is to say, to work with the government in offering them cheap loans, tax cuts and other incentives.

These measures are in line with Lisees attempt to woo supporters of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQthe Coalition for Quebecs Future), a right-wing populist party founded in 2011 from the merger of the ADQ (Action democratique du Quebec) and a group of dissident Pequistes led by former PQ cabinet minister and current CAQ leader Francois Legault. Quebecs third party, the CAQ, has a base of support in sections of the middle class in suburban and rural communities.

Another prominent theme in the campaign for the leadership was the issue of Quebec independence.

Both Lisee and Cloutier opposed calling a referendum on separation from Canada in the foreseeable future. Former PQ cabinet minister Martine Ouellet ran as the only candidate willing to hold a referendum during a PQ governments first term. Ouellet, who had the support of a large section of the union bureaucracy, won 17.6 percent of the vote. She argued that only the issue of independence could rally the population behind the PQ, admitting unwittingly that otherwise there are no major differences between the PQ, Liberals, and CAQ.

Emerging from a split from the Liberal Party in 1968, the PQ articulates the interests of a section of the ruling elite that sees the creation of a new capitalist state in North America as a way to better position itself in the global economy and assert its own imperialist interests.

It was only thanks to the assiduous efforts of Quebecs trade unions and pseudo-left that the PQ was able for decades to successfully market itself as a progressive and worker-friendly party. But after its repeated stints in power, marked by the imposition of brutal austerity measures, the PQs support has hemorrhaged.

It is in this context that the trade unions, Quebec Solidaire (QS) and the rest of the pseudo-left are redoubling their efforts to save the PQ and revive the Quebec sovereignty movement. QS is a pro-independence party that orbits around the PQ and is formally aligned with it through the United Organizations for Sovereignty (YES-Quebec). It tries to maintain a facade of keeping its distance from the PQ, but is currently holding discussions on a convergence of sovereignist forces in the lead-up to the 2018 Quebec election.

Lisee has already reached out to Quebec Solidaire for collaboration in working to defeat the Liberals in that election. QS spokesperson Francoise David has responded by saying QS members will be voting on the matter at its 2017 congress, thus demonstrating that QS is open to an alliance, in one form or another, with the big business PQ.
The former president of El Salvador, Elias Antonio Saca (2004-2009), was arrested on Sunday, along with six other functionaries of his administration, on corruption charges. The Attorney Generals Office declared the next day that it has proof of the laundering of $6 million by Saca and his former private secretary, Elmer Charlaix, and their appropriation of $116 million from the states coffers. Accountants and other top financial officials are also implicated.

Initially, there is a general amount of $246 million that was channeled into a large number of personal accounts (14) in favor of the defendants some of which can still be justified, stated Attorney General Douglas Melendez.

The arrests are part of a series of high-level investigations and arrests of top politicians and businesspeople of the Central American Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras). This anti-corruption drive, supported by the US, is tied to the $750 million Alliance for Prosperity Plan, which is primarily aimed at deterring migrants from traveling to the US and countering the increasing influence of China and Russia in the region.

Operation Uncovering corruption, the name given to Sacas case, is the first one led by the Group against Impunity (GCI), formed by Attorney General Melendez with strong political, logistical, and financial support from Washington.

This new organization now joins the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Support Mission against Impunity and Corruption in Honduras (MACCIH) as instruments used by US and European imperialism to discipline its client regimes and to provide political cover for further social cuts and repression.

The immediate context of the arrests is the deep economic crisis plaguing the FMLN government, which has reached an emergency of technical default on its payments. Through letters and meetings with the minister of economy, Carlos Caceres, the World Bank, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank and other credit agencies have pressured the FMLN and the right-wing opposition ARENA party, which controls Congress, to reach an agreement that solves the states liquidity crisis.

Standard & Poors issued a report this month warning that it might have to downgrade the countrys credit rating unless fiscal issues are resolved and complaining of heightened political polarization.

FMLN president Sanchez Ceren and his cabinet have held several unsuccessful negotiations with ARENA to reach an agreement with the IMF. Ceren announced recently that, in the interest of the Salvadoran people, the government is pursuing a new austerity law and a fiscal responsibility law that embody deep social cuts, a pension reform to pay for the deficit and the issuance of new debt bonds. However, ARENA, for its part, has been sending mixed signals, presumably to deepen the FMLN administrations crisis and unpopularity.

The US ambassador to El Salvador, Jean Manes, recently stated: You must have an honest conversation; a fiscal agreement is key not only to get the funds, but also to send a signal to the international community. While the supply of funds has been historically used by US and European imperialism, i.e., the international community, to impose its preferred policies, the anti-impunity campaigns serve as a means of safeguarding both the investments and political control of finance capital.

The FMLN, the former guerrilla front that in 1992 turned itself into a nominally left political party, has become the most dedicated defender of the interests of US imperialism in El Salvador. It has carried out austerity measures, while steadily expanding its repressive apparatus. Most recently, on October 17, the FMLN government sent police shock groups to harass striking hospital workers across the country. Meanwhile, the official rates for total, relative and extreme poverty and unemployment have all increased steadily since 2013, according to household census data.

Saca, who became president heading ARENA, the far-right party associated with the late death-squad organizer Roberto DAubuisson, had already been under investigation. His arrest takes place less than two months after his successor, Mauricio Funes (2009-2014) of the FMLN, sought asylum in Nicaragua to escape corruption charges linked to $728,000 of unjustified income. Moreover, the investigations against both Funes and Saca were initiated only two weeks after the death of ex-president Francisco Flores (1999-2004), who was on trial for stealing $10 million from relief donations for the 2001 earthquake victims.

When entering office, Mauricio Funess government had presented 152 corruption cases against functionaries of past ARENA governments and business people, however only two cases led to prosecutions, including that of ex-President Flores.

In a videoconference on September 14 to announce the creation of the GCI to the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C., Melendez cynically avoided responding to a question about the 152 cases against ARENA, stating: Its very difficult to avoid pronouncements from the political class. What they cannot do is to want to direct these investigations.

On several occasions, Melendez has also said that there is no international involvement in his GCI; however, he has travelled to and communicated frequently with Washington to coordinate his investigations.

In Guatemala, former right-wing president Otto Perez Molina and ex-vice-president Roxana Baldetti both resigned and were prosecuted in 2015 after the CICIG presented undeniable evidence of their participation in a corruption network that embezzled about $1 million each month. This and dozens of other prosecutions have generated widespread support for the commission in Guatemala, which US imperialism is seeking to replicate in Honduras and El Salvador.

Conversely, the bourgeois politicians being targeted have expressed their strong opposition. Perez Molina and his Patriotic Party have accused the CICIG and Guatemalas attorney general, Thelma Aldana, of being puppets of the US embassy. Also, the discredited parties related to the Left turn in Latin America have rejected the commissions as interference by the United States, a charge they made in the official resolution of the XXII Sao Paulo Forum held in June.

In a particularly violent case of personal resistance, Perez Molinas former finance minister, Pavel Centeno, committed suicide last Friday after shooting two police officers who had come to arrest him over a case of money laundering under investigation by the CICIG.

The broader dependence of these elites on US imperialism for private and public investment, including for their repressive apparatuses in the Alliance for Prosperity, have however forced the national ruling cliques to ultimately accept these forms of imperialist political control.

Somewhat greater resistance, however, has been mounted against the investigation of crimes committed during the Central American civil wars. On July 13, the Salvadoran Supreme Court cancelled a blanket amnesty implemented by a former ARENA government for those involved in crimes related to the civil war. There were 75,000 deaths and 8,000 disappearances between 1980 and 1992 in El Salvador, 85 percent of them attributed to the US-backed security forces. FMLN party leaders described the ruling as a soft coup attempt and a destabilization of the country, echoing the reaction of the military and the extreme right.

So far, there is only one open civil war case in El Salvador, the massacre of 520 civilians by the Salvadoran army in 1981in the village of El Mozote. Reflecting the FMLN governments hostility to upsetting the impunity enjoyed by the mass murderers of the Salvadoran security forces, Attorney General Melendez expressed contempt for the El Mozote investigation, indicating that its an expired case and a dead process of merit.

Antonio Saca had proven to be a dedicated servant to the US Government, which repeatedly expressed its appreciation for his political subservience, which included sending troops to the Iraq War. He was praised for approving and implementing the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA-DR), especially in the face of the challenge from China, according to US State Department documents.

In a leaked diplomatic cable written to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2006, then US ambassador Hugh Douglas Barclay described Saca as having, a visceral dislike for communism (FMLN, Castro, Chavez), which he blames for having destroyed the country's infrastructure and overall economy during the war years. Saca is proud to say that he smokes only Padron cigars, made by Miami Cubans, and would never smoke a Cohiba.

In December 2009, however, Saca was expelled from ARENA for having misspent $219 million in government funds to improve his personal image, instead of spending it on health and safety programs. He was also accused of intimidating party members and provoking divisions.
Australias government, already fragile and wracked by in-fighting since its near-defeat at the July 2 election, was thrown into further disarray this week by moves to constitutionally disqualify two senators on whose votes the government was relying to push through its legislation.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was forced yesterday to postpone key bills because of the uncertainty surrounding the numbers in the Senate, which may not be resolved for many months as the two cases are heard by the High Court, the countrys supreme court.

These bills include a draconian measurethe Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) billto suppress industrial action by construction workers. The previous blockage of the bill by the Senate was the chief trigger cited by the government to call the July 2 double dissolution election of all members of both houses of parliament.

Such is the popular hostility to the government, and the opposition Labor Party, that the election saw the Liberal-National Coalition barely cling to office with a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, the upper house, the government now only holds 30 of the 76 seats because a record number of crossbench senators were elected, mostly right-wing populists seeking to exploit the widespread disaffection from the rest of the political establishment.

Two of those senators, it appears, may have been legally disqualified from standing for election. Moreover, the government has long known this, but sought to cover-up the issues in the hope of securing the votes of the pair for the ABCC bill and other major legislation, including sweeping cuts to welfare entitlements.

The first case involves Bob Day, a millionaire house builder and former Liberal Party candidate who originally won a South Australian Senate spot in 2013 on the ticket of Family First, a misleadingly named right-wing Christian party. He is accused of breaching section 44(v) of the Constitution, which declares that a person with any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator.

Documents have revealed that the government was aware, from February 2014 onward, that Days use of a building in which he held a financial interest as his electoral office, which would be leased by the government, was legally dubious. In fact, a special minister of state overrode a Finance Department recommendation to agree to the deal. After various legal manoeuvres, a formal lease was ultimately signed last December.

This arrangement began to unravel after Day was re-elected on July 2, as his building empire crumbled. His Home Australia Group of companies eventually went into liquidation, owing $19 million, leaving about 200 angry customers with unfinished homes and throwing hundreds of building workers and contractors out of work.

On August 4, Day approached the current special minister of state, Senator Scott Ryan, about rent on the electoral office. According to the governments account, Ryan then discovered there may be a constitutional breach. But it was not until two months later, on October 7, that Ryan terminated the lease and the government secretly sought legal advice from barrister David Jackson. That advice, delivered on October 27, reportedly said Days election was possibly invalid, forcing the government to refer the issue to the High Court.

In the meantime, Day announced, on October 17, he would resign from the Senate, supposedly to assist the victims of his corporate collapse. On October 26, Day reversed his position, insisting that the fate of the ABCC bill and other legislation was too important to allow a Senate vacancy. On November 1, however, Day quit the Senate, effective immediately, while still insisting he had not violated the Constitution.

The second High Court challenge, which was revealed within 24 hours of Days case, seems also to be entangled with a financial collapse. It concerns Rod Culleton, who secured a Western Australian Senate seat as a candidate for Pauline Hansons anti-immigrant One Nation party.

At the time of the July 2 election, as was reported in the media, Culleton had been convicted of larceny, an offence punishable by more than 12 months jail. That appeared to place him in breach of section 44(ii) of the Constitution, which disqualifies anyone from standing for election who has been convicted and is under sentence, or subject to be sentenced, for any offence punishable under the law of the Commonwealth or of a State by imprisonment for one year or longer.

After the election, Culleton succeeded in having the conviction annulled. That bid to retrospectively dodge the Constitution, however, was challenged in the High Court in September by two former business associates of Culleton, who claim he owes them money. The High Court sent word to the government on September 28, alerting it to the constitutional challenge.

Again, the government, fully aware of the issue, continued to cover it up for as long as possible. According to Attorney-General George Brandis, he finally sought legal advice from Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson on October 13, and that advice, delivered on October 28 was that Culleton had not been duly elected as a senator.

The High Court action is not Culletons only legal trouble. One of his companies, Elite Grains, had a creditors meeting this week, another company is being liquidated and a Perth businessman has filed a bankruptcy petition against Culleton for a $205,536 debt, which could also disqualify the senator. In addition, Culleton faces a stealing charge over the alleged theft of a hire car from bank-appointed receivers in 2015.

Evidently, Brandis ultimately felt compelled to obtain advice from Gleeson, after previously seeking to block the solicitor-general from giving legal opinions that could potentially expose the illegality of government actions. In May, during the lead-up to the July 2 election, Brandis issued a Legal Services Direction prohibiting Gleeson from providing legal advice to anyone else, including the governor-general, the formal head of state, without Brandiss written, signed consent. That conflict, at the highest levels of the state apparatus, eventually forced Gleeson to resign last month.

The outcomes of the two High Court challenges remain uncertain, adding to the political instability. Both cases will hinge on the vagaries of the courts interpretation of the Constitution, as well as the Commonwealth Electoral Act. In the words of one constitutional law academic, the rulings will depend on whether the judges apply the section 44 provisions strictly.

According to some analysts, if the challenges succeed, the court could order vote recounts for the two Senate seats, possibly resulting in the Labor Party picking up one or both.

This turmoil has intensified the governments precariousness, following the public rifts that erupted last month, triggered by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whom Turnbull deposed in September 2015.

Increasingly, doubt is being expressed in the corporate media about the capacity of the government, and the parliamentary system itself, to deliver the agenda of slashing social spending, and cutting wages and workers conditions, demanded by the financial elite.

Yesterdays editorial in the Australian Financial Review concluded as follows: An environment that was already unconducive for good government or getting important legislation passed is about to get even worse. As Australia drifts towards losing its AAA sovereign credit rating, which in turn would flow onto a downgrade for our banks, Parliament appears incapable of doing anything about it.

These anti-democratic rumblings are another warning sign that acute political, economic and geo-strategic conflicts lie ahead.
Three cleaning workers, employed at a school in the village of Kinsley near Wakefield, England, remain on strike in a dispute over pay. They have been on strike since the beginning of September.

The women, Lesley Leak, Marice Hall and Karen McGee, have a total of 30 years service at the primary school. Wakefield District Council had run the school, but last year it became an academy and is now run by the Wakefield City Academy Trust, which controls over 20 schools, mainly in West and South Yorkshire.

In April this year, the academy contracted out the cleaning of the school to the Barnsley-based C&D Cleaning Group. C&D was founded by two former window cleaners in 1995 and sells itself as a cost effective quality cleaning contractor.

C&D cleaning is refusing to adhere to TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) regulations, which normally cover contracts being transferred from public sector to private sector employment, protecting pay and conditions for a limited period. The company denies it has changed their terms and conditions.

Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site spoke to the workers involved. Marice said, We used to work for Wakefield council, but on April 4 we got transferred to a company, C&D cleaning, based in Barnsley. We were told our terms and conditions would be transferred across and would be the same apart from the date of being paid.

But when we got Aprils wage we had been paid 6.70, instead of 7.85 an hour. We rang up the company and they thought we were under 25 (and so not entitled to the adult minimum wage figure of 7.20 an hour). In the May pay packet, the company rectified it but paid us 7.20 an hour (the adult minimum wage).

We confronted them and contacted them on the phone and told them that we had been transferred over and should be paid 7.85 an hour. Also they are not paying the hours we work, which is 59.7 hours a month. They have only being paying us for 47 to 52 hours a month.

Marice explained, In July I was down 119. We just want what is ours; we have had these wages (7.85 an hour) for years. We cant go on being treated like this, we are the innocent party, and we are hard working.

The cut in their rate of pay combined with the fact that they are not being paid their full hours means the workers have effectively had a 25 percent cut in their pay. As well as losing pay, they have had their leave, sick leave and pension entitlements reduced.

Faced with the attack on their pay and conditions the women contacted their trade union, Unison, for support. Unison in turn contacted C&D and, according to a report in the October 9 Guardian, the union was told by Nick Thorpe, head of human resources at C&D, We do not recognise you or your organization and subsequently we will not be entering into any form of dialogue with you in relation to our employees.

He added, I understand  the impact for you as an organisation when members realise that we are no longer living in the 1980s and they question the actual value of union membership when you have no say, power or influence over their employer.

Faced with the intransigence of their employer, at the beginning of September the women decided to walk off the job and mount a picket line at the school.

C&D Cleaning Group advertised for cleaners in order to break the strike and the picket line is being broken by scab cleaners. On the first day of the strike, which was an inset day (the school was open, but no children attended), the picket line was honoured by 18 colleagues, including teaching assistants. They were subsequently told by the head teacher they would be breaking their contract if they did not go in.

Talks held under the auspices of the governments Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service failed to resolve the dispute. With the company refusing to enter into dialogue, Unison announced it would take the case to an employment tribunal. C&D has referred the matter to its legal representatives.

On October 15, a march and rally was held in Barnsley, where the cleaning company is based. It attracted around 100 supporters, including delegations from Hull and Leeds trades councils. After a short march, a rally was held in the centre of Barnsley.

The organisers of the rally were high-ranking members of the labour and trade union bureaucracy. They had nothing to offer the striking workers, except a bankrupt perspective of them standing on a picket line for an indefinite period until a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government rides to their rescue.

Among the speakers was Robin Symonds, a full-time organiser for Unison and a member of the Corbyn-supporting Labour Representation Committee. Seeking to utilise the principled struggle of the women as a means of reviving illusions in the moribund trade unions, he said, These are a beacon of hope for the trade union movement.  I have no doubt whatsoever that the Kinsley three will win. How could they not win with the support of the trade union movement behind them?

Tosh McDonald, president of the train drivers union ASLEF, a member of the Labour Party and a supporter of Corbyn, told the rally, This movement of ours can support three women as long as it takes, if it takes until we get a Corbyn-led government  to take away the riches that these people (C&D) earn  we as a movement will sustain you.  This is a battle we will win.

Jane Aitchison, president of Leeds Trades Union Congress, a rep for the Public and Commercial Services union and joint national secretary of the pseudo-left Socialist Workers Party-backed Unite the Resistance, added, We could support three women with our movement for a bloody long time  we support these women for as long as it takes by any means necessary.

The reality is that the unions have betrayed every major struggle of the working class over the last three decades, in collaboration with successive Labour and Conservative governments. Left in the clutches of the trade union bureaucracy, the Kinsley workers, despite their determined struggle, face isolation and defeat.
TALLAHASSEE, FL. (WTXL)-- The Florida State University Police Department is asking for you help in identifying suspects in a burglary.

They say the man broke in to a sorority house on Halloween night, climbed into bed with a female student and attempted to take off her clothes.

Witnesses say he ran away shortly after that. Police think he went inside several rooms before he was escorted out of the building by a resident.

If you have information regarding this man, please contact the FSU Police Department immediately at (850) 644-1234.
BAINBRIDGE, GA (WTXL) -- More than 2 million residents have already turned out to vote in the Peach State, shattering the record set in 2008 by about 80,000 votes.

The Decatur County Board of Elections and Registration says more people have turned out for early voting than the number expected on Election Day.

As of Friday evening, 5,593 voted in person, and 455 mail-in ballots have been returned.

With 13,853 active voters in the county, turnout prior to Election Day was 43 percent.

Chief elections official Carol Heard says the numbers this year are slightly higher than those in the 2012 presidential election.

"We've been getting ready for this for about a year now, so this is our fourth election this year," Heard said. "We got a fantastic crew that's obviously been preparing this for the last four elections."

Decatur County has two voting locations with a team of 65 poll workers ready to help voters.

The office strongly encourages voters to know about the candidates and the amendments before heading to the polls Tuesday.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Leon County school officials said that the Florida A&M University admissions officer who was arrested Wednesday on bribery charges also worked at the Ghazvini Center.

Officials said that Leman Junior Ulee, 46, started working at the Ghazvini Center back in August as a para-professional. They said that he is on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that Ulee is alleged to have charged prospective students illegal fees to change their academic records. They said that they believe the students didn't know about the scam, but instead, Ulee concealed it as an additional fee as part of the admissions process.

Ulee was charged with two counts of bribery and one count of official misconduct.
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Kimberly Lamontagne, manager at the Inn of Packwood, makes a call to the Yakima County Sheriffs Office to discuss a what she believes to be a possible tip during her shift at the motel in Packwood, Wash. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016. The information came from a post on the Facebook page dedicated to finding missing hiker Kris Fowler. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)
An emergency stop-work order from the Obama administration to halt construction of the contr

Workshop at St. Timothys

St. Timothys Episcopal Church in Yakima is hosting a workshop on Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery on Nov. 12. The workshop, sponsored by the Between the Ridges ecumenical group, will discuss how orders from popes in the 1400s led to the legal doctrine that critics say allows government to take lands from Native Americans.

The workshop will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided. St. Timothys is at 4105 Richey Road. For more information and to RSVP, contact the Rev. David Hacker at 509-961-4692.
People who look at heads of state from a point of view which I will define by using the general term ethical are amazed that many US voters have failed to notice that Donald Trump is a thug. The chance that an aggressive person with a big mouth and distorted moral values would take over the worlds strongest democracy seemed unreasonable until recently. An event attributed mainly to dictatorial regimes.

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It seems that most of Trumps supporters have neither gone blind nor lost brain cells. The reason they are voting for him is that they have really had enough. They are fed up with manipulations, lies and false promises, and are translating the political correctness into corruption and leaders who are drunk with power. And so, paradoxically, they will vote for a person who is driven by megalomania. He is not a politician, his supporters reiterate, as they try to explain what makes them favor him over his rival.

The candidate seeking to replace Netanyahu one day will have to come from within the Likud. In Israel, the majority still hates the Left more than it hates political manipulations (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Theoretically, a Trump twin could get up tomorrow morning and sweep the elections here as well. Someone who will manage to convince Israels citizens that the prime minister has lost it. That instead of dealing with security and economy, he is dealing with the media and personal vindictiveness. The political manipulations used by the prime minister, that candidate will say, are putting the state in danger. He will expose emails of one of the prime ministers close associates who, to the horror of Likud voters, will be revealed not as a pedophile, but worse  as a Breaking the Silence activist.

In our reality, there is still no Israeli Trump in the horizon to threaten Benjamin Netanyahu , yet the prime minister seems intimidated by the idea that the hostile media will create one. My assumption is that the majority of Israeli citizens are not interested in the establishment or the cancellation of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC). There are two main groups  politicians and journalists  that are occupied with this issue. Their influence cannot be underrated, but they are a marginal percentage of the population. Without conducting a survey, I can safely say that most of the states citizens are much more concerned about other burning issues, such as the terror threat, the privatization of social, health and educational services, the future of pensions and the ability to provide for their families.

An example of this gap between what the prime minister is occupied with and what the public is occupied with is the battle being waged by northern authority heads. Last August, the government reneged on its decision to allot NIS 18 billion (about $4.5 billion) to implement a national plan for the economic and social development of northern Israel, and the authority heads failed in their attempt to convey a message to the government that the north is about to go bankrupt.

The young people are leaving because there are no workplaces, patients are traveling to the center to get high-quality medical treatment, and according to reports, there is no trace of the northern communities economic distress in the new state budget. But the prime minister wont let such things confuse him. In his speech at the opening of the Knessets winter session, he took pride in major investments in the periphery and in new roads that have been paved at a total investment of billions of shekels. He just forgot to mention how the new roads will help northern residents who are looking for work  how odd  in the area they live in of all places.

Indeed, the prime ministers speech was filled with molecules of promises, optimism and satisfaction scattered in every direction. He conveyed calmness and self-confidence, but a look at his actions reveals a suspicious and haunted person who is prepared to erase hundreds of millions of shekels from the state budget  hundreds of millions which could have been transferred to the periphery communities which are yearning for investments  as long as he can stop what he sees as an existential threat.

In any event, if we go back to the issue we gathered here for, since Israel is not America  the theoretical candidate seeking to replace Netanyahu one day will have to come from within the Likud. In Israel, the majority still hates the Left more than it hates political manipulations.
Ten years ago, we arrived at Amona . A small, green community at the top of the hill, where 200 happy children live with their parents. We built our home in Amona and had our children there. When we arrived at the community, no one said there was anything illegal about it. We were told that Amona would be a large neighborhood, and the Housing Ministry launched construction work for dozens of houses.

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One bright day, the sky fell down on us. High Court petitions, courts, private lands. We were truly shocked. We had come to engage in quiet and loving Zionism. We had come to make the land bloom. We wanted to do something good, and suddenly were robbers.

March in support of Amona residents (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

There is no other place in the world where people are uprooted from the home they have been living in for years. There is no other place in the modern world where people are turned into refugees and transferred.

Today, everyone already knows that Amonas residents are not alone. There are thousands of other families in Judea and Samaria that live in homes that were revealed as problematic only after being built. Even the prime minister has told us that there are many other Amonas.

Bibi (Bnejamin Netanyahu), Ayelet (Shaked), look us in the eye and tell the truth: Youre not really planning to evacuate thousands of families from their homes, are you?! So regularize our home. Make it legal.

We, in Amona, are saying one thing today: We will not move away from here.

Revital Halbershtat lives in the Amona outpost.
The Soviet navy's reconnaissance ship Kursograf was speeding through the waves on a moonless night in March 1970, making its way to the rendezvous point. Two weeks earlier, Marshal Dmitry Ustinov, at the time a senior defense official and later the Minister of Defense of the USSR, ordered the ship to leave its patrol assignment in the Pacific Ocean and quickly make its way to the military port of Vladivostok to collect several crates of cargo and one passenger. Then, the ship was to sail to the Gulf of Aden in Yemen and await further instructions.

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The covert operation was codenamed "Vostok" (east in Russian). The ship's crew was ordered not to ask any questions, not to open the cargo crates, and most definitely not to try to talk to the mysterious man who came on board. His name was Sergey Grankin and he was a major in Department V, a top secret unit of the KGB which is responsible for contact with "liberation organizations" across the world.

Grankin, then 35 years old, was working on behalf, and under the close supervision, of the Soviet intelligence services' omnipotent bossKGB chairman Yuri Andropov.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev (Photo: AFP)

As the ship was nearing Aden, the captain received the coordinates for the late-night rendezvous at the heart of the gulf, somewhere on the way between Yemen and Somalia. Around 9pm, the ship slowed down and its lights went out. All of a sudden, a far-away flashing light appeared which seemed to be coming nearer and nearer still. It was a rotating red signal lamp placed on the mast of a civilian cargo ship.

The two vessels exchanged a series of previously-agreed-upon signals, following which the ship unloaded the cargo crates onto rubber boats that made their way to the civilian ship. After several trips back and forth, Grankin made his way to the second vessel as well.

Upon boarding the civilian cargo vessel, Grankin began opening several of the crates. Despite the complete darkness surrounding him, peeking from the crates he could see guns, machine guns, RPG launchers, grenades, sniper rifles and the crowning glorylandmines and roadside charges with remote detonators, the height of technology at the time.

Soviet navy's reconnaissance ship Kursograf

Grankin turned to a Middle Eastern-looking man who was standing on the deck not far from him and appeared to be the boss on the ship, and warmly shook his hand. The man was known in the KGB as "Nationalist," but his real name had already gained notoriety throughout the West: It was Wadi Haddad, the head of operations at the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). At the time, he was one of the most infamous and dangerous terrorists in the world, and was later believed to be at the top of the Israeli Mossad's hit list for over a decade.

The massive arms shipment, which included sophisticated weapons the Russians hadn't even provided the members of the Warsaw Pact, was to be used by Haddad for a series of terror attacks, assassinations and abductions all over the world.

Half a year after that late-night meeting at sea, on September 6, 1970, PFLP terrorists armed with the weapons from these crates hijacked four jet airliners bound for New York City and one bound for London. The hijacking of one of the planes, El Al flight 219 from Amsterdam, was foiled thanks to undercover Shin Bet air marshals who shot terrorist Patrick Arguello dead and managed to subdue and arrest his partner Leila Khaled. Two other hijackers were prevented from boarding that flight, and instead hijacked Pan Am Flight 93. The four planes were flown to Jordan, where they were forced to land at Dawson's Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarka, formerly a British Royal Air Force base.

Two of the planes the PFLP hijacked to Dawson's Field in November 1970

Thirty-one years before the 9/11 terror attacks, Haddad had already managed to carry out an attack that included the simultaneous hijacking of several jet airliners. This attack was one of the triggers of Jordan's big confrontation against terror organizationsknown as "Black September"and changed the course of history in the Middle East.

Later, the Russian weapons were used to murder Americans in Lebanon and Israelis in Europe and to blow up oil reservoirs. They were also used in an attempt to sink an Israeli tanker in the Red Sea and were meant to be used in a planned large-scale attack on the Israel Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan. Several of the guns from those crates were also used by the hijackers of an Air France plane to Entebbe in June 1976

This shipment was yet another link in the long chain of deep cooperation between the Eastern Bloc's intelligence services, led by the KGB, and Palestinian terror organizations.

Classified KGB documents reveal that the Soviet spy agency aided Haddad and his men by providing them with training, funding and arms, as well as help in the preparations for specific attacks. In other instances, the KGB itself initiated attacks that were carried out by Haddad and his men. And Haddad's terror organization was not the only one operated by Moscow.

***

Chapter one of "The KGB's Middle East Files," a special series of articles which brings to light information mined from some 6,000 KGB documents smuggled to the West in the early 1990s, recounted the story of how Vasili Mitrokhin used his senior position at the spy agency's archive to copy the top secret documentswith the Soviets being none the wiser.

Vasili Mitrokhin

These documents helped expose some 1,000 KGB agents across the world and uncover countless covert spy operations. In addition, two books were published about them by Prof. Christopher Andrew in cooperation with Mitrokhin himself. Nevertheless, only part of the information they contain actually made it to Israel. In fact, much in this vast trove of information about the KGB's operations in the Jewish state remains secret.

The Mitrokhin documents have recently been moved to Churchill College in Cambridge. Over the past six months, we've been working on sifting through them, translating them, and cross-referencing the material with other available information and sources.





Chapter one of this series included a list of agents thataccording to the Mitrokhin documentsoperated in Israel, among them Knesset members, media personalities, senior engineers working on sensitive projects and officers who managed to infiltrate the top echelons of the IDF.

But this was only part of the story. As we delved deeper into the secrets Mitrokhin left behind, we discerned another Soviet strategy taking shape: Not content with merely infiltrating centers of power in Israel and gathering intelligence on the Jewish state, the KGB also forged extensive ties with Palestinian terror organizations, greatly abetting their activities. In fact, the Mitrokhin documents show that the Soviet Union waged a kind of "shadow war" with Israel (and the US) for years, using those terror groups as their proxies.

For many years, Israel's intelligence services suspected that the KGB was aiding at least some of the Palestinian terror organizations, but these were normally general suspicions, which were not necessarily based on quality or reliable intelligence. The Mitrokhin archives prove just how deep the cooperation between the USSR and the Palestinian terror organizations was, and what a bloody cost it exacted from the world in generaland especially from Israelis.

'Give me missiles'

The genesis of the KGBs developing ties with Palestinian terror organizations can be traced back to the end of the 1960s. The Soviet spy agency had code names for the different factions making up the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): Fatah, the main movement led by Yasser Arafat, was dubbed "Kabinet" (cabinet); the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) received the name "Khutor" (which means a small village or a farm in Russian); the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) was named "Shkola" (a school in Russian); and Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine  General Command (PFLP-GC) was dubbed "Blindage" (a fortified wooden military structure).

Arafat himself received the codename "Aref," but the Russians weren't particularly impressed with him at first. The Mitrokhin archive includes a memo that notes: "Aref only keeps promises that benefit him. The information he provides is very laconic and only serves to promote his own interests." The KGB also questioned many of the biographical details Arafat provided them withhis past as a combat soldier, his birth place, and more. Despite this, the KGB appointed a senior liaison officer named Vasili Samoylenko to "cultivate" the Fatah leader.





Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with Abu Jihad (Photo: Reuters)

At the same time, the KGB planted an agent in the office of Hani al-Hassan, one of Arafat's close advisors, who later went on to become a senior official in the Palestinian Authority. This agent, who according to the Mitrokhin documents was codenamed "Gidar," was Rafat Abu Auon, who was recruited in 1968 and served in the KGB for many years henceforth.

Yasser Arafat with close advisor Hani al-Hassan (Photo: AFP)

But the interest in Fatah and Arafat was limited at that point. The Russians were a lot more interested in the PLO's other factions, particularly George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

"One of the reasons for that is the MarxistLeninist ideology of Habash's men," explains Prof. Christopher Andrew, one of the world's foremost historians researching intelligence services, whose second book about the Mitrokhin documents includes an extensive chapter on the KGB's activity in the Middle East.

Habash may have been the head of the PFLP, but it was his deputy, Dr. Wadi Haddada Christian Arab from Safed and a pediatrician like his bosswho had the brilliant operational mind. Haddad greatly improved upon a form of terrorism that was still in its infancy at the timehijacking planesand understood the power of international media coverage that such an attack garners.

He was the mastermind behind the hijacking of an El Al plane to Algeria in July 1968, which ended with the release of the passengers in return for 16 Palestinian prisoners and was considered by the Palestinians as a great success.

He was also behind the hijacking of the Tel Aviv-bound TWA Flight 840 to Damascus in August 1969, which received unprecedented media coverage. That hijacking ended with the passengers being released and its perpetrators being arrested by Syrian authorities immediately upon the plane's landing in Damascus, but not before they managed to blow up the empty plane. One of the hijackers was Haddad's infamous protege Leila Khaled, who also took part in many other terror attacks. During the flight to Damascus, Khaled entered the cockpit, put a gun to the captain's head and ordered him to "fly over Haifa, over my city, over Palestinewhere they won't let me return."

Terrorist Leila Khaled (Photo: AP)

According to Yigal Pressler, who at the time was a senior officer in Military Intelligence entrusted with identifying targets for assassination, "We called Wadi Haddad the 'Palestinian Carlos' (after infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal). He was as cunning as a snake and very deadly. We've searched for him everywhere."

Israel's intelligence community fought Haddad for years, but the Mitrokhin documents reveal it wasn't just dealing with a talented, diabolical Palestinian terrorist, but was also up against the massive might of the KGB that backed him.

So impressed were the Russians with Haddad's operational abilities, that shortly after the hijackings of those planes the KGB once again sought to make use of his talents.

The Mitrokhin documents don't include Haddad's exact date of recruitment, but in late 1969, KGB chief Andropov wrote a top secret report Russian original ) to then-Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev, telling him about Haddad's recruitment under the codename "Nationalist."

Andropov detailed to his boss the advantages of the new intelligence asset: "The nature of our relations with W. Haddad allows us a degree of control over the activities of the PLFP's external operations section, to exercise an influence favorable to the USSR, and also to reach some of our own aims, through the activities of the PLFP while observing the necessary secrecy."

Andropov described the kind of operations Haddad could carry out for Soviet interests as "active measures." According to the KGB's internal lexiconalso included in the Mitrokhin documentsactive measures are "operations carried out by agents or fighters, meant ... to solve international problems, deceive rivals, weaken their status and disrupt their ability to successfully execute hostile (to the Soviet Union) plans."

Wadi Haddad

In other words, Andropov was telling his leader that by making effective use of the agent "Nationalist," the KGB would be able to execute its own operations, carried out by Haddad and his men, without leaving behind any fingerprints linking Soviet intelligence.

Haddad naturally had his own interests that led him to cooperate with the KGB. After the 1967 Six-Day War, he and Habash reached the conclusion that only terror attacks could truly hurt Israel and bring the Palestinian issue to the top of the world's agenda. But to carry out such attacks, they needed weapons, funding, training and logistical supportall of which could be provided by the KGB.

In early July 1970, Brezhnev gave the KGB the green light to provide Haddad with money and RPG-7 launchers and missiles. But Haddad had much higher expectations. He told his KGB contacts that he expected "anti-aircraft surface-to-air missiles, landmines/roadside charges with remote detonation, naval mines, silencers, landmines/roadside charges with delayed fuses, and military training."

The KGB noted that "Everything in Haddad's list is available in Department V's arms depots, except for the surface-to-air missiles," but also that most of these weapons "were never provided to elements outside the borders of the Soviet Union."

Despite this, Moscow decided to grant most of Haddad's wishesexcept for his request for anti-aircraft missilesmarking the beginning of "Operation Vostok." Any markings that could lead back to the USSR were removed from the weapons, while some items were deliberately provided from a Western source: Guns from West Germany, American rifles, and British silencers.

The Model Snop remote-donation explosives had a lifespan of a year and a half and remote detonation in urban areas of up to 2 km, and in open areas of 15-20 km." The long-fused mines could be calibrated to detonate from anywhere between "15-144 minutes" after being planted.

At the time, Haddad was living in Beirut and contact with him was done through the KGB station at the Lebanese capital, usually in surreptitious meetings in one of his hiding places. Haddad sought to maintain complete secrecyeven from his boss George Habash. It worked relatively effectively, until the Israelis came into the picture.

Israeli intelligence located one of Haddad's hiding places, an apartment on 8 Muhi A-Din al-Hayat Street in Beirut. On the night of July 10, 1970, Israeli naval commandos landed on the beach in Beirut in rubber boats to deliver two RPG launchers to the operatives of the Mossad's elite assassination unit Caesarea. The Mossad operatives rented an apartment with a view of Haddad's window, from where they fired two RPG missiles into the living room at 2pm the next day.

"There were two rooms in the apartment," Mike Harari, the commander of the Caesarea Division, told me in his last interview before passing away

Former commander of the Mossad's Caesarea Division Mike Harari (Photo: Ilan Sapira)

"One was used as a living room, and the other was where the wife and daughter were," Harari recounted. "Golda (Meir, Israel's prime minister at the time) ordered us to ensure that not a hair on the head of any innocent person be harmed, otherwise I would have demolished the entire floor.

"The (Mossad) operative saw him (Haddad) in the living room and aimed the missile in that direction, set the timer, and left. A moment before (the missile was fired), the terrorist moved to the other roomand survived."

'Pathological hostility'

News of this assassination attempt in Beirut made it all the way to Brezhneva reflection of how important the incident appeared to the Russiansand increased Haddad's value in the eyes of the KGB.

Soon afterwards, the KGB decided to use Haddad for a highly sensitive operation of its own: abducting the head of the CIA station in Beirut and taking him to Moscow for interrogation. "This will allow for obtaining credible information on American intelligence's plans and operations in the Middle East," Andropov wrote to Brezhnev.

The CIA station chief was described as "born in Denver, Colorado, 1918. Anti-Soviet, pathological hostility towards the USSR and communist ideology. Operates against Soviet institutions and diplomatic missions. Operated against Soviet citizens."

Andropov promised Brezhnev that no one would suspect the KGB of being behind this abduction because "recently, Palestinian organizations have increased their guerrilla warfare against American targets, fighters and agents. The governments in Lebanon and America will suspect Palestinians carried out the abduction."

Former KGB chief Yuri Andropov

On May 5, 1970, Brezhnev gave the green light and "Operation Vint" (screw) was underway.

The Mitrokhin documents include surveillance reports on the CIA chief: "He lives on the fourth floor of 168-174 Ramlet El Baida Boulevard. He owns a Mercury Comet, diplomatic license plate 104/115, light blue." The reports also mention that he has a "dog, a black poodle, he walks it alone."

The Operation Order details the abduction plan: "A rag will be pressed to his nose and mouth soaked with a chemical that will cause him to lose consciousness for three to five minutes. During that time, he will be injected with a sedative." According to the KGB doctors who provided the sedative, "after a while he would regain consciousness, be able to sit and understand what's happening, but would not be able to resist."

After abducting the CIA station chief, the Operation Order continues, he would be taken to the Baalbek area, from where he was to be smuggled to Syria and kept at a secure KGB facility in the Zabadani area. There, he would undergo harsh interrogation, during which he would disclose information on American intelligence. "The idea is to get him to understand that he could not return to his country (because he disclosed information) and the only option he has left is to seek political asylum in one of the socialist nations." If the CIA chief maintains his silence, the Operation Order wastes few words on what should be done: "In such a case, he must be killed."

The abduction operation never got off the ground. The CIA station chief likely suspected he was being followed and therefore increased his security.

Other Americans were not as lucky: In August 1970, in a joint operation, Haddad and the KGB managed to abduct Prof. Hani Korda, an American academic who was suspected by the KGB (quite possibly wrongly) of having ties to the CIA. Prof. Korda was smuggled from Lebanon to a PFLP base in Jordan, where he was tortured but refused to admit to cooperating with American intelligence and was eventually released.

Two months later, Haddad's men abducted Aredis Derounian, an Armenian-born American journalist. He too was suspected of cooperating with the CIA. According to the Mitrokhin documents, Haddad's men found two passports and a significant amount of documents in Derounian's apartment in Beirut. The documents were handed over to the KGB for examination while Derounian was incarcerated in a Tripoli refugee camp. There he was interrogated, but eventually managed to escape his captors and found shelter at the US Embassy in Beirut.

It was not just Haddad with whom the Americans had to contend. The KGB also recruited his fellow PFLP terrorist Abu Ahmed Yunis as a paid agent, giving him the codename "Tarshikh."

In 1976, Yunis commanded an operation to assassinate the US ambassador to Beirut, Francis E. Meloy, Jr. The operation itself is not mentioned in the Mitrokhin documents, but it's difficult to imagine it was carried out without the knowledge of the KGB. The assassination might have even been ordered by the Soviets.

Overall, the KGB was very pleased with Haddad and his men. "It appears worthwhile to actively use the 'Nationalist' (Haddad) and his men to carry out aggressive operations directly aimed at Israel," a senior KGB official wrote to Andropov.

Shortly after that, Haddad and Yunis, in cooperation with the KGB, mounted an attack on the El Al offices at the Athens Airport on July 19, 1973. They also continued their multi-pronged assault on a number of separate occasions which included the bombing of Israeli institutions, the blowing up of an American oil pipeline and the hijacking of an American jet airliner, which they blew up after emptying it of its passengers.

'Camel f***ers'

Through the KGB, Haddad also established close ties with the Stasi, East Germany's intelligence service. Outwardly, the Germans were very polite in their treatment of Haddad and his cohorts; but internal Stasi correspondences illustrate the true racist sentiments which prevailed among the ranks about the Palestinians, who were dubbed "camel f***ers" by the Germans.

Even so, the Stasi provided training and weapons to the PFLP and, among other things, helped them prepare for "Operation Nasos" (pump), which was carefully planned by Haddad and the KGB over the course of several months.

This was the PFLP's first naval operationa daring plan that entailed shooting RPGs at an Israeli tanker that was secretly transporting oil from Iran to Israel through the Red Sea.

For the KGB, there was great value in such an operation: Hitting a significant Israeli target while at the same time exposing the secret oil ties between Israel and Iran, whose ruler, the Shah, was adopting a pro-Western approach at the time. All of this could be achieved without leaving any trace of Soviet involvementa classic move of the "shadow war."

The selected target was the Coral Sea oil tanker, which was sailing under a Liberia flag en route from Iran to Eilat. On June 11, 1971, two of Haddad's top men sailed from the coast of southern Yemen towards the tanker in a speedboat. The Soviets gave the two the poetic codenames "Chuk" and "Gek," named after two Soviet children who were cultural heroes to anyone who was raised in the USSR.

In the Strait of Bab el Mandeb they located the tanker just as the KGB planned. In an early morning hour, the terrorists approached the tanker and fired several missiles at it, with five hitting the tanker. When they saw the flames rising on deck, they concluded that their mission had been accomplished and quickly left the scene, heading back to Yemen where Haddad was awaiting their arrival.

Coral Sea

A statement released by the PFLP immediately after the attack read: "The missiles hit the tanker in two places ... the oil caught fire and the tanker immediately came to a halt, following which it started to sink."

But Haddad's celebrations of the success of the operation were premature and short-lived. The tanker may have ignited, but thanks to a swift and daring action by its captain, Marcus Mouskus, the sailors managed to extinguish the fire, save the tankerand likely save their own lives as well.

The action was one which earned Mouskus the Medal of Distinguished Service from the Israeli government, making him the first non-Israeli citizen (and the only one so far) to be the recipient of that honor.

Even though the tanker didn't sink, Haddad greatly benefited from the international attention his daring attack at sea garnered, allowing him to demand more and more weapons for a series of attacks he planned for the coming years against Israel and other Western elements. Some of these attacks were carried out, while the rest were foiled by the Mossad, which had a source inside the PFLP at the time.

The KGB also helped one of Haddad's top operatives, Taysir Quba'a (codenamed "Kim"), to contact members of radical left-wing organizations in western Europeincluding the Red Brigades in Italy and the Baader-Meinhof Group in West Germanyso he could recruit them for joint operations. With the help of German terrorists, the PFLP attempted to down an El Al plane in Nairobi in January 1976 and successfully seized and diverted an Air France plane carrying Jewish and Israeli passengers to Entebbe in June of that year, among other attacks.

In return for the arms shipments he received from the KGB, Haddad agreed to carry out assassinations of "traitors to the motherland"mostly defectors from the USSRand even visited Moscow a few times to coordinate these operations.

During that time, in the second half of the 1970s, several delegations of Haddad's men travelled to the Soviet Union to be trained by the KGB. They were trained in different areas of intelligence work, counterintelligence, interrogations, surveillance, sabotage techniques, firing guns and rifles, and more. There really isn't a way to account for just how much blood spillingmostly that of Israelisthis training contributed to.

The close cooperation between Haddad and Soviet intelligence services continued until early 1978, when he was poisoned in an attack attributed to the Israeli Mossad. When the doctors in Baghdad stood helpless by his bedside, Arafat asked the KGB to help him. The Soviet spy agency had Haddad hospitalized under a false name at a hospital in East Berlin, but despite the efforts of the best doctors brought in by the Stasi, Haddad died in intense agony on March 29, 1978.

Expanding ties in the PLO

The KGB may have lost its most important Palestinian agent, but by that time it had already managed to entrench its ties with the other Palestinian organizations. According to the Mitrokhin documents, the KGB provided support to Nayef Hawatmeh (codename "Inzhener," meaning engineer), the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and used the DFLP's newspaper, al-Hurriya, to spread KGB messages and propaganda.

Yasser Arafat with Nayef Hawatmeh (Photo: The Palestinian Mission)

Ahmed Jibril (codename "Mayorov"), the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine  General Command (PFLP-GC), also received support, both directly from Moscow and through the commander of Syria's Air Force Intelligence Directorate, Gen. 'Ali Duba, under whose wing Jibril operated. Jibril's men aided the KGB, for example, in gathering intelligence in different Western nations and in Third World countries to which the Soviet spy agency had a difficult time gaining access.

Ahmed Jibril, left, with Hamas leader Khaled Mashal (Photo: Reuters)

Special ties were also forged between the KGB and the Western Sectora Fatah unit under the command of Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), who was responsible for the 1975 Savoy Hotel attack and the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, among others. The Mitrokhin documents only reach 1986, but according to other sources, the KGB's contact with Abu Jihad continued until he was assassinated by Israel in 1988.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with Abu Jihad (Photo: AP)

In 1973, the KGB decided to change its attitude towards Yasser Arafat and his Fatah faction as the Palestinian organization's standing in the international arena strengthened. The KGB's operational and intelligence cooperation with the PLO was mainly conducted through Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad), who was responsible for countless terror attacks against Israel.

Abu Iyad, whose codename was "Kochubey," received a significant amount of weapons, intelligence, assistance and training for his men from the KGB. In return, the KGB directed some of Fatah's operations and received "information about Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria." In other words, the Fatah spied on Arab nations for the KGB.

Abu Iyad was highly valued by the KGB, unlike some of his men. KGB specialists who were training Fatah men in Moscow met with quite a few difficulties and complained to their superiors that many of the cadets were characterized by "low standards, alcoholism and sexual offenses."

Out of the 194 Fatah men who were sent to train in the USSR, 13 were expelled and sent back home. According to a senior official at the KGB's academy, the number of expelled would've been closer to half of the cadets had they been required to meet the same standard as ordinary cadets.

Infiltrating the Mukataa

The two most important KGB recruitments from the PLO during the second half of the 1970s were of people who still play a major role in Palestinian politics today.

According to the Mitrokhin documents, the KGB had an agent at the heart of the PLO whose file describes him as "a member of the PLO's executive committee and a member in the politburo of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)." This was none other than Yasser Abed Rabbo, one of the top officials in the Palestinian Authority, who held a number of senior roles in the PA over the years, was a chief negotiator in talks with Israel, and one of the architects of the Geneva Initiative.

Abed Rabbo was fired by Mahmoud Abbas when the latter was elected, but stayed on as a senior advisor to the Palestinian president.

Yasser Abed Rabbo (Photo: AFP)

For the most part, the Mitrokhin documents don't provide details about the information with which the agents provided the KGB, instead merely stating the fact that they were agents. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note the way Abed Rabbo is defined in the documentsas an "informant," who is ranked below "agent" in the level of importance to the KGB. This means that Abed Rabbo's contact with the KGB was done without the knowledge of the organization he belonged to.

The second and more important KGB recruitment was of the agent "Krotov" (mole), who was described in the KGB's files as "born in 1935, Palestinian, prominent figure both politically and socially. Lives in Syria, a member of the PLO Central Council."

As reported on Channel 1 , based on research conducted by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez, agent "Krotov" is none other than Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.

The Mitrokhin documents, which have been corroborated by information gathered over the years by Israeli intelligence services, provide further details about agent "Krotov."

The KGB began Abbas's "first stage of recruitment" around 1979, when Abbas arrived in Moscow to study at the Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. In describing those initial contacts, his KGB file notes that "it's still unclear whether the object will agree to cooperate."

Palestinian President Abbas, aka 'Krotov' (Photo: AFP)

The university's declared goal was to aid elements in the Third World and in Africa in obtaining higher educationwhile increasing the influence of the USSR and of communism in the developing world. But the university had other roles, too. Among other things, the KGBthat essentially controlled the campusrecruited agents there.

Abbas had already been a graduate of the Damascus University's Faculty of Law, and was accepted in Moscow to study for a Candidate of Sciences degree, which is the Russian equivalent of a PhD in Social Sciences at Western universities.

The university's president at the time was Yevgeny Primakov, who had close ties to the KGB. He later went on to become the head of the KGB First Chief Directorate and helped it on its transition to the control of the Russian Federation government, under the new name Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). He then served as Russia's minister of foreign affairs and later still as its prime minister.

As university president, Primakov appointed his top Middle East expert, Prof. Vladimir Ivanovich Kiselev, as the Palestinian leader's dissertation adviser. Abbas's CandSc thesis "The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism" a lampoon of blatant lies, including Holocaust denial and accusations that Zionists "assisted" Hitlerwas completed in May 1982 and released as a book two years later.

The original cover of Abbas' book

By that time, Abbas had already returned to Lebanon and used the PLO archive to spread Soviet propaganda prepared by the KGB and the Stasi, which accused "Western Imperialism and Zionism" of cooperating with the Nazis. This was done as part of a widespread propaganda campaign run by the KGB at the time, which attempted to create a link between anti-Soviet elements and the Nazisthe ultimate symbol of evil.

This propaganda material was later seized in an Israeli Military Intelligence raid of the PLO archive in Beirut, and it constitutes, at the very least, additional circumstantial evidence attesting to the links between Fatah and Abbas and the Soviet intelligence services.

As ties between Abbas and the Russians grew closer, an internal KGB report concisely noted that developing progress: "Krotov is an agent of the KGB." According to the KGB's definition, those who reach the level of "agent" are those who "consistently, systematically and covertly carry out intelligence assignments, while maintaining secret contact with an official in the agency." In other words, according to the KGB documents, Abbas was authorized to be a KGB spy within the PLO.

Yedioth Ahronoth was unable to obtain a response from Mahmoud Abbas's office or from Yasser Abed Rabbo by the time of publication.

However, a former senior Fatah official who asked to remain anonymous told us that Abbas was not an agent of the KGB in the sense that he acted against Fatah's interests but rather was "a Fatah-authorized contact appointed by Arafat to coordinate the transfer of measures and arms from the Soviet Union to the Palestinians"contacts that the official doesn't deny. The official added that the "Soviet Union and its intelligence services greatly and significantly aided the Palestinian struggle for independence."

Research and translation from Russian by Will Styles, Alexander Tabachnik, Yana Sofovich and Yael Sass.
The Shin Bet announced Thursday that three individuals have been arrested in connection with an October 2015 Molotov cocktail attack that wounded a three-year-old girl north of Jerusalem.

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43-year-old Khaled Badhe, a resident of the Kadura refugee camp in Ramallah, 34-year-old Luie Namer of the el-Amri refugee camp, also in Ramallah, and 27-year-old Abed al-Majid Badra of Bitunia were detained in recent weeks by a joint operation of Shin Bet, Israel Police and IDF forces.

Photo: Israel Police

A spokesperson for the Shin Bet said in a statement that the Molotov cocktail incident was one of a series of terror attacks committed by the suspects in the area.

Also Thursday, the Jerusalem district prosecutor indicted 20-year-old Murad Hajbi on two counts of attempted murder and possession of a weapon. The indictment, which was filed in the Jerusalem District Court, says Hajbi left his home in the Silwan neighborhood on October 19 and tried to run over two Orthodox Jews on Hebron Road. One man was wounded in the attack, and Hajbi then stabbed the second man in the face before being neutralized.

Prosecutors have asked the court to extend Hajbis remand until the completion of all legal proceedings against him.

In addition, a Palestinian man was arrested at the entrance to the Shuafat refugee camp when security forces found a cache of weapons in his car, including a weapons belt, combat goggles and tear gas.

The man was detained for questioning.
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have identified a protein called Gammora that they say can reduce HIV in infected patients by 97 percent.

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Working in a laboratory and using vials of blood from HIV positive patients, Professors Abraham Loyter and Assaf Friedler, both researchers at Hebrew University identified and tested a protein they call Gammora to see its effects on killing HIV infected cells.

Unlike other viruses which integrate several copies of themselves into one cell, HIV only incorporates one or two copies of itself into the CD4 cells. This allows the virus to effectively take over that cell, using it as a factory, producing more of itself.

Gammora essentially forces multiple copies of the HIV DNA to enter the cell, causing the cell to go into overdrive, resulting in the cell committing suicide, according to Prof. Zev Sthoeger, the head of internal medicine at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.

Because the virus uses the machinery of the cell, each infected cell is a factory for many viruses, Sthoeger said. And, if we kill the infected cells, maybe we can do more than the current medications.

Loyter and Friedler, who are working with the Zion Pharmaceutical Company, left Gammora in vials containing blood from HIV infected patients at the Kaplan Center for eight days allowing the virus to proliferate which resulted in a 97 percent decrease in the HIV virus in those vials.

Medications that are on the market are able to reduce and prevent HIV from becoming AIDS. They can suppress it, but they cant get rid of it fully, Hagai Ayad, the spokesman for the Israeli AIDS Task Force, told The Media Line. Here comes a new method, which apparently might create an opportunity to find a full cure for HIV and AIDS.

Gammora provides the possibility of completely ridding a once-HIV positive patient from the virus for good. Something that has never been done before.

We currently have about 7,500 HIV positive citizens in Israel, Dr. Margalit Lorber, the head of the autoimmune disease department at Haifas Rambam Medical Center, told The Media Line. We have about 450 new cases every year.

While the percentage of those infected in Israel is only around 0.1 percent, the country began studying the epidemic in the 1990s when there was a global push for more research into the HIV and AIDS viruses. Since then, Israel has worked toward finding a cure.

Sthoeger and his team at the Kaplan Medical Center are optimistic that clinical trials at the center testing the efficacy of Gammora should begin within a year and he hopes to make this treatment more affordable than other HIV treatments.

Article written by: Katie Beiter

Article reprinted with permission from The Media Line
Among the 300 olim who landed in Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday and Wednesday, were the four members of the Camara family, who arrived from France and who have a dramatic story spanning across continents that would put Hollywood to shame.

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Emmy, a medical doctor, came with her husband, Georgea pilotand their 15-year-old twin daughters Shili and Heidi. Emmys mother, named Solange Shuster, was born in Poland in 1938, and escaped with her mother and cousin to France during WWII. At first, they hid out in the home of a French Christian family, and then later they were smuggled into the unoccupied area of France. They were among the few family members who were not murdered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camps.





Photo: The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

Solange then continued her life in France, where she eventually met a man from the Ivory Coast called Triora. The two were married and moved back to the Ivory Coast in 1967, where their daughter Emmy was born and raised Jewish children. Amy then married a local man named George. During the countrys 2012 civil war, they moved with their daughters to France.

The Camara family arrving in Israel (Photo: The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)

Emmys husband George also has an interesting story to tell. He leads a Jewish lifestyle and started a conversion process two years ago. Moreover, he discovered that he is a descendent of an African tribe that believes itself to have originated from the Tribe of Dan, with some of its members still conducting a traditionally Jewish lifestyle.

I am very excited to come to Israel. This for me is coming full circle, said Emmy. My mother and her family were persecuted by the Nazis. Later in life I, myself had to leave the Ivory coast and find shelter in France, and now finally I arrive with my family in Israel, where Ill find shelter and a home as a Jew.

For George, there was no question about their family making aliyah. As soon as I knew she was Jewish, my first reaction was to come and see Israel. Arriving here was the obvious choice. Weve waited to be Israeli and closer to the Jewish public, he said.

The family plans on living in Ashkelon, and the girls on studying in the Ben Shemen Youth Village. The first goal is to "love Hebrew," said Emmy. We love the Land of Israel and the Bible. If we don't know the language, though, something will be missing in any field, but especially in the professional field. So well go to an ulpan and, God willing, well find a job and become an active part of Israeli society.

The family arrived on special flights organized by the international Fellowship of Christians and Jews, together with others on their flight.
Jewish neighborhood watch group Shomrim (Guards) published a video Thursday, in which a group of British young men can be seen shooting fireworks at a group of ultra-orthodox girls on Stamford Street in the city of London.

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One girl was lightly injured in the incident after her clothes caught on fire.

The video, recorded last Monday, also shows the young assailants playing with the fireworks prior to the attack. When a group of three haredi girls and one woman walks by, they aim and launch the fireworks at them casuing the terrified victims to run away.

British young men throw fireworks at haredi girls

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Young men in London throwing fireworks at haredi girls

A Shomrim volunteer can then be seen arriving, and chasing the men away and even striking one of them as he attempted to flee on his bicycle.

The police has opened an investigation on the matter.
When ISIS insurgents fired mortar bombs at Iranian Kurdish women fighters holding a desert position in northern Iraq, the women first hit back by singing through loudspeakers. Then the women opened fire with machineguns.

A commander said ISISknown to its enemies by the Arabic acronym Daeshdeliberately targeted the female unit with 20 mortars when the singing began.

ISIS prohibits singing and music. It has also imposed tight restrictions on women and took hundreds of them as sex slaves since sweeping through northern Iraq in 2014 and declaring a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said on Friday a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system battery would be deployed to South Korea within eight to 10 months, an official from the US forces in South Korea said. The official was commenting on a Yonhap news agency report on remarks made by Vincent Brooks, commander of United States Forces Korea, in which he laid out plans for the deployment.

Brooks said rotating strategic weaponry onto the Korean peninsula would have a deterrent effect against North Korean provocations, according to the agency. He also said the battery would be bigger than one deployed in Guam.

The official could not confirm Brook's comment on rotation, but said the U.S. and South Korean governments are currently in discussions for such strategic weaponry deployment.
Melania Trump, the Slovenian-born former model who could become America's first foreign-born first lady in two centuries, appealed to her husband's soft side in the battleground state of Pennsylvania Thursday.

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Dressed in a filmy pink blouse and white skirt, it was the 46-year-old's first solo campaign appearancethe third wife of Donald Trump, she is a full-time mother to the mogul's youngest child, Barron.

Melania Trump makes her speech in Philadelphia

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"He will make a fantastic president," Melania told voters in Berwyn, an area outside Philadelphia where Trump dipped in the polls over remarks about groping women and after women accused him of sexual impropriety.

Melania Trump during her speech (Photo: AFP)

Her husband. she said, was running to improve the lives of suffering workers and struggling parents.

"Every time my husband learned of a factory closing in Ohio or North Carolina or here in Pennsylvania I saw him get very upset," she said, reeling off three vital swing states in the November 8 ballot. "He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn't he?" she remarked.

"Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers," said Mrs. Trump, delivering a get-out-the-vote speech in the Philadelphia suburbs with less than a week to go before Election Day. "It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked" in the school yard, she argued, but it is "absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet." She added that "We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other."

The highly personal speech, which also touched on conversations with her young son, her marriage and her own experience as an immigrant, appeared to be aimed at humanizing her husband in front of an audience of suburban women who are critical to Trump's hopes in Pennsylvania and other key states.

For years, Trump has used his Twitter account to berate and insult his rivals along with reporters, pundits and others who he feels have slighted him. Some educators have even described a so-called "Trump effect" increase in bullying inspired by Trump's bombastic rhetoric.

Nonetheless, Mrs. Trump told the audience, "We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation."

The model and entrepreneur, who formerly worked in Milan and Paris, said it would be an "honor and privilege" to serve as first lady, saying she would like to advocate against internet bullying and help women in poverty.

She spoke of her "beautiful" childhood in small-town Slovenia, then under communist rule, and evoked the might that America once projected overseas.

"We always knew about the incredible place called America," she said, calling the presidency of Republican hero Ronald Reagan "morning around the world."

As befits the wife of a man campaigning against illegal immigration, she said becoming a citizen had been "the greatest privilege in the world."

Pennsylvania is a crucial state for her Republican husband, where Hillary Clinton holds an average 3.4 percent lead according to RealClearPolitics.

Although rarely in the spotlight, it has been a turbulent campaign for Melania who ignited a plagiarism row with her speech at the Republican National Convention in July that cribbed passages from Michelle Obama.

A Trump staffer apologized and to Melania's embarrassment her husband cracked a joke about the incident at a white-tie dinner in New York last month.

She was also forced to deny working illegally, she had racy photographs from her modeling days published in a tabloid paper and deleted her professional website over wording about her education.

Her speech came after Trump appeared to surprise his wife in a television interview by saying that she would give two or three speeches.

"We'll see about that," campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN on Wednesday when asked if she would do more.

Melania would be America's first foreign-born first lady in nearly two centuries since Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was president from 1825-1829. Adams was born in England.
The family of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and other Israeli officials gathered at Mount Herzl Friday morning for a memorial service marking 21 years since his assassination.

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Rabins daughter, Dalia Rabin praised her father but also expressed her concerns that the incitement that gripped Israel prior to her father's murder has not yet dwindled.

I am starting to think that the incitement is not yet over. This was a murder and a death about which there is still no consensus to this day. There are still whole segments of this nation that barricade themselves behind all kinds of apparatus allowing them to say that perhaps it was a good thing that they killed him and obviously they repudiate his way, curse and mock us, the family.

Peace rally in which Rabin was killed in 1995 (Photo: Michael Kremer)

Dalia said that these circumstances make it more difficult to cope on a daily basis with the mourning and the loss. The murder was terrible and it is an open wound for us, the family, but I think that it is also an open wound for many in the hearts of many in our nation, she told those in attendance.

She also highlighted that Former President Shimon Peres chose to be buried next to Rabins and his wife Leah Rabins grave which she said was reflective of an unbreakable partnership between the two symbols of Israel.

Shimon Peress choice to be buried here next to mom and dad is significant. There was a partnership despite all the differences and different practices. These two people were leaders of the Labor movement in their own different ways. Here, together, they symbolize a way that is denied but has not been replaced by any alternative.

Former director of the Mossad Shabtai Shavit (1989-1996) also spoke at the memorial, recalling discussions he had with Rabinwho led Israels lightning victory as IDF chief of staff in the 1967 Six Day Warand described his profound insights and understandings of multiple subjects.

Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg

You knew that for better or worse, there was someone to back you upin success or in failure. When you are someone who acts, you dont know if it will succeed or not, Shavit said.

He pointed to one of Rabins greatest legacies, praising his ability to forge a peace deal with Jordan despite the bitter wars that had occurred between the two countries since Israels inception.

Former PM's son, Yuval Rabin (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The contribution (to that deal) of others was perhaps 20 percent. Negotiation teams put together an agenda that included hundreds of clauses with the idea of reducing difference and to first solve simpler matters, he continued. Looking back, none of the teams could reach an agreement regarding any of the core issues, and each of them needed to consult with Yitzhak and King Hussein.

Yitzhak was always there to deal with everyone on the core issues in real time. If necessary, he would pick up the phone to the King Hussein or go to a meeting. The issues were dealt with at that level. That just goes to show the critical part in this peace that belongs entirely to Yitzchak.
A mere three days after declaring before the Knesset that he intends to rehabilitate the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) that is currently in place and to cancel the launching of its replacement, the Israel Public broadcasting Corporation (IPBC), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come out with a different proposal: namely, to shut both organizations and allocate the money that would have been invested in them toward those living in the north of Israel.

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Netanyahu raised this suggestion during an unexpected visit of his to a meeting of a team the he and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) put together to examine alternatives to the public broadcasting system. The meeting was attended by PMO Chief-of-Staff Yoav Horowitz, PMO Director-General Eli Groner, Finance Ministry Director-General Shai Babed, Communications Ministry Director-General Shlomo Filber and Finance Ministry Budget Chief Amir Levi.





Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

During the meeting, Finance Ministry representatives presented data claiming that it will cost an additional NIS 400 million to cancel launching the IPBC and continue the operation of the IBA instead.

Toward the end of the meeting, Netanyahu made a surprise appearance. After being informed that the Ministry of finance could not supply the hundreds of millions of shekels needed to rehabilitate the IBA, he turned to Amir Levi and asked him, What about the plan we promoted in 2003?

Back in 2003, Netanyahu was the minister of finance and Levi was the ministrys budget and communications chief, when Netanyahu had pushed to closed the IBA and sustain only the profitable radio stations. Since no one at the time had thought that a replacement to the IBA would ever be set up or that it might ever be shut down, the plan was rejected.

Responding to Netanyahus current suggestion to re-examine the 03 plan, a surprised Levi said, The finance minister is not familiar with such a suggestion or plan, so we cannot discuss it or make any decisions regarding it.

Babed was also no enthusiastic about taking another look at the 03 suggestion, saying that it was no longer relevant since at this point, hundreds of people have already been recruited after leaving their jobs and building a new working model for the IPBC. He also referred to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlons vehement objection to any move that would stop the IPBC from moving ahead toward its launch.

MK Eitan Cabel (center) from the Zionist Union at the Economic Affairs Committee Photo: Alex Komoloisky)

Economic Affairs Committee Chairperson Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) was also very much against the prime ministers new suggestion. Its obvious that this bizarre idea was invented by Netanyahu. I doubt anyone really bought into the stories of Netanyahu caring about the workers of the Israel Broadcasting Authority when he compared them to the Hamas during his election campaign. If anyone thought that Netanyahu is interested in people in general and in these workers in particular, he now got a definitive answer: Netanyahu is looking to pummel public broadcasting. Thats his only goal.

High-ranking officials in the coalition claimed that Netanyahu is seemingly determined to cancel the IPBC, to the point of him threatening to dissolvethe government and calling for an election if he fails to manage it within the current framework. However, the same officials say this is all a spin. Even if he does go for a new election over this corporation story, he wont manage to pass any legislation that would close it down, leaving him with the opposite result.

A mere three days after declaring before the Knesset that he intends to rehabilitate the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) that is currently in place and to cancel the launching of its replacement, the Israel Public broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4873737,00.html , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come out with a different proposal: namely, to shut both organizations and allocate the money that would have been invested in them toward those living in the north of Israel.

Netanyahu raised this suggestion during an unexpected visit of his to a meeting of a team the he and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) put together to examine alternatives to the public broadcasting system. The meeting was attended by PMO Chief-of-Staff Yoav Horowitz, PMO Director-General Eli Groner, Finance Ministry Director-General Shai Babed, Communications Ministry Director-General Shlomo Filber and Finance Ministry Budget Chief Amir Levi.

During the meeting, Finance Ministry representatives presented data claiming that it will cost an additional NIS 400 million to cancel launching the IPBC and continue the operation of the IBA instead.

Toward the end of the meeting, Netanyahu made a surprise appearance. After being informed that the Ministry of finance could not supply the hundreds of millions of shekels needed to rehabilitate the IBA, he turned to Amir Levi and asked him, What about the plan we promoted in 2003?

Back in 2003, Netanyahu was the minister of finance and Levi was the ministrys budget and communications chief, when Netanyahu had pushed to closed the IBA and sustain only the profitable radio stations. Since no one at the time had thought that a replacement to the IBA would ever be set up or that it might ever be shut down, the plan was rejected.

Responding to Netanyahus current suggestion to re-examine the 03 plan, a surprised Levi said, The finance minister is not familiar with such a suggestion or plan, so we cannot discuss it or make any decisions regarding it.

Babed was also no enthusiastic about taking another look at the 03 suggestion, saying that it was no longer relevant since at this point, hundreds of people have already been recruited after leaving their jobs and building a new working model for the IPBC. He also referred to Kahlons own vehement objection to any move that would stop the IPBC from moving ahead toward its launch.

Economic Affairs Committee Chairperson Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) was also very much against the prime ministers new suggestion. Its obvious that this bizarre idea was invented by Netanyahu. I doubt anyone really bought into the stories of Netanyahu caring about the workers of the Israel Broadcasting Authority when he compared them to the Hamas during his election campaign. If anyone thought that Netanyahu is interested in people in general and in these workers in particular, he now got a definitive answer: Netanyahu is looking to pummel public broadcasting. Thats his only goal.

High-ranking officials in the coalition claimed that Netanyahu is seemingly determined to cancel the IPBC, to the point of him threatening to dissolvethe government and calling for an election if he fails to manage it within the current framework. However, the same officials say this is all a spin. Even if he does go for a new election over this corporation story, he wont manage to pass any legislation that would close it down, leaving him with the opposite result.
ROME (AP) -- Tougher new European Union rules on processing asylum-seekers have led Italian police to abuse some migrants, including beating them and giving them electric shocks, according to a report published Thursday by Amnesty International.

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The human rights watchdog cited 24 claims of abuse this year as police tried to force migrants to get fingerprinted in Italy. It also reported the deportations of some asylum-seekers to war-torn countries like Sudan without proper checks on their safety.

The head of immigration at Italy's interior ministry dismissed the report's findings.

"It is totally false that the police are violent with the migrants," Mario Morcone was quoted as saying by news agency ANSA.

African migrants trying to reach Italy (Photo: AFP)

The allegations come as Italian authorities try to implement new EU rules adopted last year on how to handle migrants and asylum-seekers. This includes fingerprinting them in the first EU country they arrive in, so they can be processed and, if granted asylum, relocated to another EU state according to migrant-sharing quotas.

Many migrants, however, want to travel to a specific country, often to reach relatives, and resist fingerprinting.

"In their determination to reduce the onward movement of refugees and migrants to other member states, EU leaders have driven the Italian authorities to the limits - and beyond - of what is legal," said Matteo de Bellis, Amnesty International's researcher on Italy.

Amnesty International said while the behavior of most police remains professional, the findings show a need to independently review the EU rules.

The report was based on interviews with 170 migrants. Of the 24 claims of physical abuse, 16 were of beatings as police tried to force migrants to get fingerprinted. A 16-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man claimed police sexually humiliated them and inflicted pain to their genitals.

Another issue was deportations to countries where the security of the asylum-seekers couldn't be verified.

Italian and Sudanese authorities signed a deal in August allowing for identification of the asylum-seekers after they have been expelled from Italy. The procedure raises risks of human rights violations upon their return, Amnesty said.

About 40 people identified as Sudanese nationals were put on a plane to the country from Italy. There was at least one claim of beatings upon their return.
Over $38 million was raised at the annual Friends of the IDF (FIDF) Gala on Thursday night in Los Angeles, California. The evening saw performances by Israeli model and actress Moran Attias and David Foster.

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Included in the audience were Robert De Niro, Larry King, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gerard Butler, amongst other celebrities.

Also included in the audience was National Director and CEO of the FIDF Maj. Gen, (Res.) Meir Klifi-Amir, President Peter Weintraub, and 17 soldiers, including some lone soldiers who grew up in the US, but moved to Israel in order to join the IDF. The event itself was held by business-mogul Haim Saban and his wife Cheryl.

One of the largest donations came from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, who donated $6 million. Haim Saban himself donated $5 million, Serge Azria donated $5 million, and brothers Paul and Maurice Marciano donated $5 million. Meanwhile, David Hagar donated $3 million, while the parents of Teddy Sagi donated $3 million.

Haim Saban with wife Cheryl, Moran Attias, and David Foster (Photo: Alexi Rosenfeld)

Saban said that this year marks a decade where my wife and I  who are putting on this event  get to see how the FIDF continues to provide educational and welfare services to IDF soldiers, and how the organization continues to harness the power of the Los Angeles community.

One of the most emotional parts of the Gala was when Ohad Benyichai  the soldier who suffered from the most extensive injuries of Operation Protective Edge  entered the events hall with his parents after being flown personally to Los Angeles by Haim Saban.

I heard Benyichai's unbelievable story, whereby he overcame all the odds and healed from his injuries, and he continues to conquer mountains with the help of his wonderful parents, Saban said. I began to tear up when I the video of his story, and I decided to bring him and his parents to tonights gala. Ohads story, and the stories of all the other soldiers who were critically injured and survived is the story of Israel. Its a story of bravery and determination, a story of tenacity and the will to never give up, but to win instead.

He continued, saying at first, they didnt give Ohad a good prognosis of survival. This was the prognosis for the Nation of Israel every time our enemies rose up to try and destroy us. From Egypt to the Holocaust to all of Israels wars. Just as Ohad won, so will the State of Israel. They will never destroy us. We are here forever.

Ynet conducted an exclusive interview with Haim Saban before the 2016 gala.

What is your role here in the yearly gala?

Every year I go up to the stage as a kind of bum, asking for money for the state of Israel, Saban joked.

But in all seriousness, during this gala we try to provide a partial situation report as to whats going on in Israel in terms of security. There are some short films screened, and there are soldiers who come and explain that Israel doesnt just blow up and kill terrorists. At the end, with the help of the assembled guests, we try and raise as much money as possible to give to the IDF.

There are those who come and donate every year, Saban continued. There are also those who come for their first time and see the true face of the IDF. My wife and Is primary roles  ever since we began holding these events  is to help people understand what Israel is and what the IDF is, as well as help people understand why its important to support the soldiers in the IDF. Its the role of a lifetime.

You were able to raise $14 million in 2010, and last year, you were able to raise $34 million. These amounts indicate the level of support for the IDF. Do you worry about the moment that you wont be able to continue to raise these amounts?

Im always thinking about this, because I dont take any of this for granted. Peoples generosity depends on them. The only thing we can do is bring them the beauty of Israel and explain to them how they can help the soldiers, Saban responded.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who donated $6 million to FIDF (Photo: Yael Veltzer)

Moreover, the amount of support and how much they donate depends on each individual. Regarding how much people identify with the soldiers of the IDF, I can say that this year  a month before the gala  we are already sold out of tickets, and people have bought entire tables (for friends and family to attend) to the tune of thousands of dollars. The very existence of these people, who stand and announce how much they are willing to pledge to the IDF, that is what I work for, Saban added.

The event is taking place five days before elections in the US, and the question is whether or not Hillary Clinton  who has publically expressed her support for Israel  will win the elections, or if Donald Trump, who you disapprove of, will win the elections. Are you worried?

While the US elections are indeed very important, they dont affect how much people donate to the IDF. I hope that Trump wont be elected, because if he is, he will be a disaster for the US-Israel relationship. Hillary will be good for Israel, and will help Israel maintain its status as a Jewish and Democratic country. Hillary loves Israel. Trump loves Trump. Period.

The Friends of the IDF is a non-profit organization which has been working in the US for 35 years, and was founded by Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the United States. The organization receives $100 million every year for the welfare of IDF soldiers. The organization helps IDF soldiers from impoverished families, and helps lone soldiers who have no immediate family in Israel, amongst other philanthropic projects.
AMMAN - Three US military trainers were shot dead in Jordan on Friday when their car failed to stop at the gate of a military base and was fired on by Jordanian security forces, a Jordanian military source said.

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The incident occurred at the Prince Faisal air base in the south of Jordan, which is a close strategic ally of the United States. Two trainers died immediately and the third later in hospital. A Jordanian army guard was also shot and wounded.

"There was an exchange of fire at the entrance to the base after an attempt by the trainers' vehicle to enter the gate without heeding orders of the guards to stop," the military source said. "An investigation is now under way to know exactly what happened."

Jordanian soldier near the town of Mafraq (Photo: Reuters)

Another Jordanian security source said it was not possible to rule out political motives in the incident at an air base, where dozens of US trainers work alongside Jordanians.

A third Jordanian source who requested anonymity said authorities were examining reports of friction among the US trainers and Jordanian army officers that might offer clues helping to explain the shooting. He did not elaborate.

The base where the incident occurred is in the heart of the traditional Bedouin region of Jordan where radical Sunni Muslim influence has grown over the last decade.

Several incidents over the past year have jolted the Arab kingdom, which has been relatively unscathed by the uprisings, civil wars and Islamist militancy that have swept the Middle East since 2011.

In November 2015, a Jordanian army officer shot dead two US government security contractors and a South African at a US-funded police training facility near Amman before being gunned down.

The incident embarrassed Jordanian authorities, who did not publicly disclose the motive of the assassin. The gunman was later said by security sources to have been a sympathiser of the ISIS with strong anti-Western feelings.

WORRYING INCIDENT

"What is worrying is that if this (Friday's shooting) turns out to be deliberate it would be much more damaging than if this was a suicide or terror attack on a base because it was perpetrated by someone within the Jordanian military," another security source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters they were reviewing the incident and could not rule out the possibility of a deliberate attack. One said there were Americans in the convoy who were unharmed in the incident.

The White House said on Friday that it would work with Jordan to determine the circumstances around the shooting.

"We will certainly want to draw on the kind of cooperation that the US has with Jordan to get to the bottom of what exactly happened," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a briefing.

Jordanian soldiers (Photo: EPA)

Many ordinary Jordanians harbour strong anti-American sentiment over Washington's strong support for Israel and its military interventions in the Middle East.

Jordan is among a few Arab states that have taken part in a US-led air campaign against ISIS militants holding territory in Syria. But many Jordanians oppose their country's involvement, saying it has caused violent deaths of fellow Muslims and raised security threats inside Jordan.

Officials worry about radical Islam's growing profile in Jordan and support in impoverished areas for militant groups.

Apart from the fatal shooting carried out by the Jordanian army officer a year ago, six Jordanian border guards were killed in June by an IS suicide bomber who drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a US-funded military post.

Jordan hosts several hundred US contractors in a military cooperation programme which includes the stationing of US F-16 fighter jets that use Jordanian airfields to hit Islamic State positions in neighbouring Syria.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Washington has spent millions of dollars to help Jordan set up an elaborate surveillance system known as the Border Security Programme to stem infiltration by militants from Syria and Iraq.

US officials say that aid to Jordan, one of the largest recipients of US foreign military assistance, is expected to rise to $800 million in 2016 and grow in future years.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the car bomb attack in southeast Turkey and expressed concern over the detentions of pro-Kurdish legislators.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the secretary-general, said in an emailed statement that Ban was also concerned by media restrictions in the country.

Authorities on Friday detained 12 legislators of the People's Democratic Party, or HDP, for questioning over terror-related probes. Eight of them, including HDP's co-chairs, were formally arrested pen
Peter Schottenfeld, a 30-year-old Airbnb employee from New York, had his life orever change when two years ago he was informed by the "Gift of Life" organization that he had the ability save the life of Eti Brazilai, 58, from Ramat Gan, Israel.

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Peter originally arrived in Israel in 2007 to take part in a "Birthright- Israel" tour and was asked  as are all Birthright participants  if he would like to give a bone marrow sample. His sample, together with hundreds of thousands of other samples from young Jews from around the world, are entered into the organization's registry, so that if a match is found they can make a lifesaving bone marrow donation.

Peter and Eti meet

"When I first heard that my bone marrow was a match for a donor, I was surprised and felt really fortunate" says Schottenfeld. "The donation was very simple process. I just sat and watched a movie. It was painless, like giving blood. I would do it again without hesitation."

Schottenfeld visited Israel to meet Eti for the first time earlier this week. "When I first signed up to go on a Birthright trip I was looking forward to an experience that would connect me with Judaism, with our heritage, and to travel to Israel for the first time. I never could have imagined that things would have turned out as they did, and that through Birthright-Israel, I would get to save a life. The entire experience strengthened my identity as a Jew, he said.

I feel fortunate to have gained a new family and an unbreakable bond with the people of Israel" Peter continued.

Prime Minister Netanyahu at a Birthright mega event (Photo: TPS)

Eti added: "My life changed when I was diagnosed with acute leukemia, and I was reborn one year later when I received my bone marrow transplant. I got a second chance at life. There are not many opportunities like this during our lifetime. I am grateful to Peter and the wonderful people of Gift of Life and Birthright who are doing a holy job."

Through Birthright's collaboration with "Gift of Life", 180 participants have been matched with donors, thereby saving peoples lives who are dealing with life-threatening illnesses.
WASHINGTON- A diplomat accused of hitting his wife in New York has returned to his home in Germany after his government refused a U.S. request to waive his immunity, the State Department said Friday.

Spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. asked the German government last month to drop its immunity for Joachim Haubrichs. But Toner said Germany rejected the request earlier this week, and Haubrichs and his wife have since left the United States.

"We have confirmed that Mr. Haubrichs has returned to Germany," Toner told The Associated Press.

New York prosecutors believed there was sufficient evidence to convict Haubrichs of misdemeanor. Haubrichs worked at Germany's mission to the United Nations.
McChord Airmen complete 60 years of Antarctic airlift

Airmen from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, flew from Christchurch, New Zealand to McMurdo Station, Antarctica Oct. 21, tracing a similar flight pattern to one flown 60 years earlier.



The flight commemorated the first ever Air Force Antarctic flight flown in a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, named Miss North Carolina Oct. 21, 1956.



The combination of 62nd Airlift Wing personnel who are readily available and highly proficient in the C-17 combined with the 446th Airlift Wing personnel who have thousands of hours of aviation experience and longevity in Antarctic operations has allowed team McChord to safely complete this mission, said Lt. Col Robert Schmidt, 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron commander.



The 1956 flight took 12 hours to complete in an unpressurized aircraft. In comparison to the first flight, last weeks flight, ICE12, utilizing a McChord C-17 Globemaster III was completed in just five hours.



The C-17 flies faster and higher than the C-124, providing more convenient and comfortable service to passengers, said Dr. Robert Allen, 62nd AW historian. The Globemaster III is also a better cargo platform, carrying more cargo that is easier to unload, as well as having a more precise airdrop capability.



Team McChord Airmen have participated in supporting Operation Deep Freeze since 1985 flying the C-141B Starlifter. ODF is the Department of Defense's support of the U.S. Antarctic Program and the National Science Foundation.



Support for ODF has evolved naturally as aircraft, equipment and personnel training improved, said Allen. This has allowed the National Science Foundation to conduct its robust research program with increasing confidence.



ODF is different from any other U.S. military operation. It is one of the military's most difficult peacetime missions due to the harsh Antarctic environment.



The operating environment in Antarctica is significantly different from the rest of the globe, said Schmidt. The remoteness, rapidly changing weather, and harsh climate can create some significant logistical challenges that only the DOD has the capabilities to overcome.



The C-17s unique airlift capabilities provides a premier platform to provide airlift to the most remote austere locations around the world, including Antarctica.



The C-17, with its extended range fuel tanks, cargo capacity, and short/semi-prepared runway capabilities, is ideally suited for the Antarctic mission, said Schmidt. The extended range fuel capacity typically allows us to fly all of the way to Antarctica and back without requiring refueling. This not only improves the safety of the mission by giving the crews flexibility during rapidly changing weather conditions but also reduces the amount of fuel that needs to be shipped to Antarctica each year.



Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, serves as the staging point for deployments to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, a key research and operations facility for the USAP.



Team McChord Airmen working with Joint Task Force  Support Forces Antarctica, execute inter- and intra-theater airlift, aeromedical evacuation support, search and rescue, and transportation requirements at NSFs request in order to support the USAP.



ODF is a unique mission for the Air Force and Air Mobility Command in several ways, said Schmidt. The success of ODF depends on the Air Force and AMC working closely with the National Science Foundation to develop the best schedules and procedures to overcome the continent's logistical challenges



Throughout the 2015-2016 season, JTF-SFA directed more than 350 inter/intra-theater airlift missions, moving over 6.5 million pounds of material and transporting approximately 5,500 passengers.






As Tropical Storm Matthew intensified and morphed into a category 5 Hurricane over the Caribbean this past September, Air Force Reserve Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers in the Southeast United States prepared for the worst.

16 EPLOs from Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 4 were activated in the early days of October to assist states from Florida to North Carolina with coordinating Air Force support of disaster relief efforts.

EPLOs are Individual Mobilization Augmentees assigned to 1st Air Force's National Security Emergency Protection Directorate, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. It is their job to facilitate the civilian authoritys request for air support in the aftermath of a disaster. Each branch of the military has its own EPLOs

Col. Paul Pinkstaff, the southeast regional EPLO, was on a FedEx flight in the Pacific as the hurricane barreled toward Florida. He cut his trip short and headed home through Hawaii to set up shop at the Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta.

At the RRCC, Pinkstaff had the task of interfacing with FEMA and the other agencies involved at the regional level. As he and other emergency response officials prepared for landfall, they expected there would be a big need for Air Force support.

As luck would have it, Hurricane Matthew only brushed the coast of Florida and Georgia, not making landfall until it reached South Carolina, on Oct. 8, as a category 1 hurricane. There was still the tidal surge and buckets of rain to contend with, but nowhere near the amount of destruction had the massive hurricane swept inland. Because of this, the states were able use National Guard and other local assets to support recovery efforts.

The states are much better prepared since Hurricane Katrina, said Pinkstaff.

Still, the EPLOs had a role to play, helping to coordinate support at three Air Force bases and numerous Civil Air Patrol search and rescue and aerial photography missions.

Pinkstaff said Dobbins Air Reserve Base and Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and North Auxiliary Airfield, South Carolina, were all incident support bases that provided assistance to FEMA. The CAP, which was recently realigned under the EPLOs parent organization, 1st Air Force, provided 80 percent of inland search and rescue.

The role of the CAP was especially important in North Carolina, which, due to severe river flooding, was hit hardest and longest. Col. Chris Whitmire is the EPLO there, and was present for the historic flooding event, which resulted in 28 deaths and more than half of the states 100 counties being declared in a state of emergency; 45 have since been approved for federal disaster relief funds.

Whitmire said the 15 inches of rain brought by the hurricane exacerbated flooding that hit the state just a week earlier. The worst of the damage happened away from the coast long after the storm was over, with every major river in the state exceeding historic flood levels. Whitmire was in place as an EPLO for 12 days, working 14-18 hour shifts.

The worst of it came about three nights after the hurricane moved off the coast, he said. That night, rescue teams in the state conducted 887 swift water rescues and 54 helicopter rescues. The most dramatic was a rooftop extraction of several people who were stranded on a house that had been swept off its foundation and was moving downstream. In total there were more than 2300 swift water rescues and 92 rotary-wing rescues in the aftermath of the storm.

And, as in the other states, the CAP played an important role. Whitmire said the official Air Force auxiliary organization flew more than 150 sorties in the state and provided more than 8,000 images to the FEMA photo coordinating officer.

We had a small nations Air Force flying just in North Carolina, he said of the air assets involved, which included seven North Carolina National Guard and State Highway Patrol Helicopters, 11 Coast Guard Helicopters, four U.S. Customs and Border Protection rotary and fixed wing aircraft, and 16 CAP fixed-wing aircraft.

He added that his states response was a text book example of how you handle extreme situations and he noted that the state has a reputation for having an exemplary emergency response apparatus.

The First in Flight state EPLO said that while his state didnt request Air Force support (aside from CAP), his presence was still important for the overall function of that apparatus. EPLOs are in constant communication with the people who can make things happen. They are there to provide advice and then offer the reach back into the Department of Defense arsenal for different capabilities, should need arise. It was also an opportunity to help out wherever he could and to build and foster the relationships he has with the state and regional agency players. That way, the next time there is a need for Air Force support, those connections are as strong as possible.

Having the relationships is absolutely essential, said Whitmire.

Pinkstaff echoed that sentiment.

90 percent of our time is spent talking to emergency management folks within a state or region,

he said. EPLOs dont task, but they have the big picture and they know who to call.

He added that the EPLOs strive to develop a response that is both efficient and effective, ensuring the mission of the Air Force is minimally impacted.

In the case of Hurricane Matthew, a large response wasnt needed, but the EPLOs were there, ensuring the Air Force capabilities were properly leveraged in order to save lives, prevent suffering, and mitigate property damage.
Currently, only 12 NSW councils have rules allowing property owners to lease properties for short-term stays using sites like Airbnb. Other councils either lack the provisions to regulate the growing industry or have rules that make the practice illegal. To iron out inconsistencies, the parliamentary inquiry aims to pass a single set of state-wide rules for all homeowners and property investors who use house-sharing sites like Airbnb.

The reportdriven by Liberal MP Mark Coure and supported by Airbnbmade the following key recommendations:

No permission required to host your home.

This is great news, not just for homeowners who host their residences on Airbnb, but for short-term property management specialists like MadeComfy. Homeowners who want to rent their homes to short term guests can enjoy higher rental income when they partner with companies like MadeComfy.

We take care of everything from professional photography, listing [the owners] home on multiple booking portals, maximising rates and occupancy, managing guest communication, bookings and check-in, offering 24/7 guest support and arranging cleaning and 5-star linen, said Sabrina Bethunin, co-founder and managing director of MadeComfy.

Short-term rentals provide a major economic boost to property owners, and the domestic market is now worth $1 billion.

Light regulations for investment property owners.

No restriction of short-term rentals in strata buildings.

The Baird government is expected to come to a decision within the next three months.

Related stories:

New Way For Renters To Try Before You Buy

Tasmanian Government Proposes Airbnb Limits
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Students at Arizona Western College have become Pen Pals with a class of 3rd graders in Mesa, AZ. Former AWC graduate, Kim Donahue, is the teacher of the 3rd grade class that came up with this writing project idea. The 3rd graders recently sent their first letters to AWC students that were specifically addressed to Dear Future Teacher. In the letters, the 3rd graders shared what they hoped to become in the future.

Patricia Powers and Ben Behunin, AWC Professors of Education, both had their classes write letters back to the 3rd graders. Seventy-eight AWC students participated in writing letters back to the 3rd graders. The AWC students are from Intro to Special Education, Cultural Diversity, and Intro to Psychology classes.

AWC Introduction to Special Education students explained how they felt being involved in this project:

Just the feeling that students at such a young age are already being exposed and introduced to college and get to interact with us is such an exciting moment.

As future educators, we were very excited to connect with future generations of college students. It will be our upcoming goal to help all of our students prepare for their dream of going to college and building their education.

I thought it was a really exciting and fun activity because we are exposing children to someone in college and allowing them to connect with them by asking about things they are interested in. Also, letting the student communicate in a way that is not with technology and create a friend somewhere far from them.

Ms. Donahue also has an AWC bulletin board in her classroom, so the 3rd graders can learn more about the College. The 3rd graders have also had the opportunity to say the AWC chant, while one student acted out being the bull and the other a matador for a school wide assembly.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - On Saturday, November 26th, the Genealogical Society of Yuma will host Introduction to the AZ Historical Society Rio-Colorado Archives at 10:30 a.m. at the Heritage Library. Librarian Laurie Boone will discuss the basics of conducting research at the archives and what genealogical resources are available. The presentation will conclude with a tour of the archives.

There is no charge to attend.



The Genealogical Society of Yuma offers a variety of programs to enhance and improve your genealogy research skills. For a full list of upcoming genealogy programs, visit www.gsya.org



The Heritage Library is located at 350 S Third Avenue. For more information, call (928) 783-5415.
Hello dearies! This is the Mistress of Spize, cooking up a lot of salt n sour, sweet n saucy stories and observations for you. Sniff! Can you smell, my preparation? Aroma is in the air and smoke is already rising from my hot pot.<br/><br/>Lets talk about eye-candy! The latest would be Hrithiks sword brandishing scene from Jodhaa Akbar. Man! how his muscles flexed as he challenged Aishwaryas defiance. That perfectly carved body language said it all without a word. It drew sighs from women across all ages. It was so amusing to hear a huddled group of aunty jis chatting about that perfectly chiselled body. And I was shocked to see the teeny-weeny teenagers just ogling. The sword-brandishing scene kind of bonded all females. And, let me tell you, it is that scene which will be remembered when all would be forgotten about Jodhaa Akbar. <br/><br/>For the male species, well, the latest eye-candy is the catty eyed Katrina Kaif and her sizzling item-numbers.<br/><br/>Dearies, I am sure you would be bursting with excitement to relate such stories and add on to the story-churning pot. Do interact and relate your rare observations through comments. Mistress of Spize is all ears! <br/>Love ya!<br/>
History repeats itself, they say and watching the incidents of past couple of weeks I can only say that whosever said it, was definitely a man of tremendous foresight. <br><br> Karkare, Unnikrishnan, and all those who laid down their lives in Mumbai on November 26 carried the spirit of Indians, who think and dream of a united India, in their brave hearts. An India which is secure at all costs, an India where one can hold his head high. A nation that Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi once dreamt of. <br><br> It was a legacy which these martyrs inherited from the past. History has stood testimony to the fact that our country had no dearth of gallant heroes. Be it Chandrasekhar Azad, Khudiram Bose, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose or for that matter squadron leader Ajay Ahuja who died fighting in Kargil. The names of the martyrs scripted on India Gate in New Delhi are none the lesser. <br><br> It is the spirit of India that has stood ground against some barbaric aggressions in world history, starting from Taimur and Chengez Khan. It has also seen aggressors-turned-rulers who finally became Indians. It has seen the greatest Muslim ruler of modern times, Akbar-the great, who propagated a symbiosis of two cultures and went on to launch and propagate the Din - i- Ilahi. World history had never seen more secular ruler than Akbar before. <br><br> But, theres more to history. <br><br> Since time immemorial, rulers of this land of unlimited resources and boundless opportunities let it down repeatedly. It was in Bahadur Shah Zafars inefficiency that East India Company saw its opportunity. The internal feud among Indias princely states and sheer lack of foresight and wisdom in Zafar saw British Major Hodson capturing Delhi and with it, Indias pride. <br><br> Zafar undoubtedly was a fantastic poet and a man who loved nature and beauty and peace. Let me just quote one of his famous poems written in Urdu Lagta Nahi Hai Jee Mera: <br><br> My heart is not happy in this despoiled land <br> Who has ever felt fulfilled in this transient world <br> The nightingale laments neither to the gardener nor to the hunter <br> Imprisonment was written in fate in the season of spring <br> Tell these emotions to go dwell elsewhere<br> Where is there space for them in this besmirched (bloodied) heart? I had requested for a <br>long life a life of four days<br> Two passed by in pining, and two in waiting. <br> The days of life are over, its evening of death<br> Now I can sleep without any stress forever in my tomb <br> How unlucky is Zafar! <br> <br><br> A brilliant poet but, as it was proved, good poets are not often good leaders. <br><br> Come November 30, 2008 and history repeated itself. Another man was relieved of his responsibilities. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was addressing the press conference in which he announced, I accept the moral responsibility of Mumbai attacks and resign from my post. I feel a lot relieved now. <br><br> Patil in many a-sense carried the legacy of Bahadur Shah Zafar. For his sheer incompetence in failing to take action as a series of terror attacks bruised India in different cities and under different names- he paid the price, arguably too late. Or else how will you explain the fact that the file of Mohan Chandra Sharma  who died while fighting terrorists- was gathering dust in Home Ministry. <br><br> There have been stark revelations that intelligence agencies had forewarned of such attacks on numerous occasions but there was no urgency to act. Singling out just Shivraj would be like treating some one for fever when the patient has Cancer. <br><br> There are many who took to streets against such attacks in Mumbai and all across the nation. But lets not get bogged down by the leadership, or the lack of it. History suggests whenever it is felt that there is no way out of gloom, there comes a man who shows the way- which Guru Gobind Singh and Mahatma Gandhi showed. <br><br> The BIG question is- Are we ready to find the Mahatma within? <br><br>
Caracas: The Venezuelan opposition needs to understand that "the revolution is going to continue", President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday while urging his political foes to remain part of the dialogue the two sides began earlier this week.

The revolution begun in 1999 by his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, "is irreversible", EFE news quoted Maduro as saying in a speech at the presidential palace.

He said that his opponents "must learn to co-exist with the revolution" and to accept the principle of democratic governance.

The leftist head of state went on to accuse the opposition alliance, known as MUD, of looking for "excuses" to abandon the dialogue that got under way last Sunday under the auspices of the Union of South American Nations and the Vatican.

Addressing opposition leaders, Maduro said: "I am the only President of the republic who ensures that you continue existing and the MUD continues exercising its political rights - and you know it."

Earlier on Thursday, the MUD set several conditions for resuming talks with the government on November 11, including a demand that both sides commit to an "electoral solution" to the nation's political crisis.

That electoral solution could involve a reactivation of a suspended presidential recall referendum process or early presidential elections, opposition Mayor Carlos Ocariz said.

Maduro responded to Ocariz by accusing the MUD of presenting an ultimatum and creating "false expectations".

"Nobody can say that in 10 days, if the government does not respond the way they want ... they will go to war," the President said. "Nobody can accept that."

The purpose of the November 11 session will be to review the findings from the four working groups established during Sunday's opening of the talks, Maduro said hours after government supporters began pitching tents around the presidential palace, Miraflores.
London/Baghdad: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the top boss of the Islamic State, who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul, has himself fled, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was "cruelly ironic" because intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.

In an audio recording released on Thursday, al-Baghdadi said he was confident of victory in the de-facto capital Mosul and urged followers to continue fighting.

But Johnson, while responding to queries in the House of Commons, said: "It is a cruel irony that some of the intelligence we have, you may know, suggests that the gentleman in question has actually vacated the scene himself and is nonetheless using internet media to encourage people to take part in violence."

He pledged that the IS would be repelled from the war-torn Iraqi city which has been controlled by the IS since June 2014, and told MPs: "The house can be sure that Daesh will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraq's security forces have yet encountered."

In his first statement since the major offensive began, al-Baghdadi implored jihadis to attack the "enemies of God" in what is seen as an all or nothing battle for them.

"Turn the nights of the unbelievers into days, to wreck havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers," he said in an audio release, the first since the major Iraqi offensive began.

The leader said he was "confident of victory" and called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised to enter the city, declared a "caliphate" when it was overrun by the group two years ago.

In his latest message, which is undated but makes references to events that are at most a few weeks old, Al-Baghdadi calls for attacks against Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Ankara has troops stationed at a base just outside Mosul and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's escalating rhetoric has raised fears of a unilateral Turkish intervention in Iraq.

The US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition and its warplanes, launched a massive offensive on Mosul on October 17.

More than 40,000 Iraqi and Kurd troops are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault.
Washington: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday expressed confidence about the future of the US-Philippines relationship, which has soured following Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's tirades against the US.

"I am confident about the future of our bilateral relationship, notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another," Xinhua news agency quoted Kerry as saying at the State Department as he swore in Sung Kim as the new US ambassador to the Philippines.

"The United States continues to place a high value on the close ties that exist between our countries," Kerry said. "We continue to recognise our ironclad commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and security of the Philippines."

Kerry also expressed the hope to visit the Southeast Asian country before the end of his term as Secretary of State.

In recent months, Duterte repeatedly lashed out at the US, throwing the alliance between the two countries into disarray, after Washington raised concern on the reported extrajudicial killings of drug suspects amid Manila's war on illegal drugs.

The Philippine President also threatened to "break up" with Washington. He hit out at the United States, the European Union and the United Nations for using human rights to criticise his campaign to curb the illicit drug menace in the Philippines.

"I will be re-configuring my foreign policy," Duterte said in a speech before the Jewish Association of the Philippines in Makati City on October 4.

"Eventually I might in my time break up with America. I would rather go to Russia and to China," said Duterte.
Dhaka: Amid tensions over last week`s attacks on Hindu homes and temples, unidentified people on Friday torched several more homes in Brahmanbaria district in Bangladesh, media reports said.

Locals said at around 4 am, miscreants set fire to six dwelling structures of the Hindu community in Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria, including a cowshed, three kitchen rooms and two houses.

No one was injured in the incidents.

The destroyed homes were in the villages of Jaynagar Pashchimpara, Banikpara and Hashpatalpara. The homestead owners said the fires had been started in cowsheds and kitchens.

Deputy Commissioner of Brahmanbaria Rezaul Rehman, who visited the scene, said: "I will have to talk to the local public representatives and decide the steps that needs to be taken regarding the matter," Dhaka Tribune quoted him as saying.

Local leaders of Awami League visited the spot.

"It seems like it has become impossible for us to stay here anymore. Today it was the temple. Next time maybe they will set fire to us," said a local who narrowly escaped the fire.

The incident comes four days after a mob of around 3,000 local Muslims armed with weapons carried out an attack on nearly 100 Hindu houses and at least 10 temples, vandalising and looting valuables.

It was reportedly in response to a Facebook post that satirised the Masjid al-Haram- a holy site for Muslims.

On Friday, police also identified around 50 people from videos captured during the communal attacks and promised that strict action will be taken against them.

Meanwhile, the ruling Awami League (AL) suspended three local leaders of Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria for their alleged involvement in the October 30 communal attack on the local Hindu minorities.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader warned that all the attackers must be punished.

"Punishment of the attackers is a must as the Sheikh Hasina-led government has taken a tough position to this end," Daily Star quoted as saying.

He also called upon the Hindu community not to treat themselves as a minority and said that the government is with them.


New Delhi: Some 1,800 primary schools in New Delhi were ordered to shut down Saturday as the Indian capital grapples with some of the worst pollution in recent years, an official said.

The decision would affect 900,000 children studying at schools run by the municipality in a city which has been enveloped by a thick smog since last weekend`s Diwali festival celebrations.

"It has been decided to keep the municipal schools shut on Saturday because of smog in Delhi," Yogendra Mann, spokesman for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, told AFP.

"The schools will operate as normal from Monday."

Most schools in India operate for six days a week, although Saturdays are a half-day.

New Delhi`s air quality has steadily worsened over the years, a consequence of rapid urbanisation that brings pollution from diesel engines, coal-fired power plants and industrial emissions.

It also suffers from atmospheric dust, the burning of crop stubble in farms around the city and pollution from open fires lit by the urban poor to keep warm in winter or to cook food.

The latest crisis began in the aftermath of the celebrations last Sunday night for Diwali when millions of firecrackers were set off, leaving the city blanketed in smog overnight.

The reading for pollutants in the atmosphere breached the 1,000 microgram mark for the first time in one neighbourhood in south Delhi -- 10 times the World Health Organization`s recommended level.

A new study by UNICEF says some 300 million children live with outdoor air so polluted it can cause serious physical damage, with the situation most acute in South Asia.

On Friday, India`s environment ministry called a meeting with officials of neighbouring states to discuss ways to combat pollution.

In Delhi`s satellite city of Gurgaon, some schools remained closed on Friday, while others cancelled physical education classes and outdoor activities.
New Delhi: The Lt Governor`s office has rejected a Delhi government proposal to open mohalla clinics inside school premises, and sent back the file related to the project, officials said.

"The file has been sent back to make some changes. After corrections are made, the government can send the file back to the LG`s office," an official at Lt Governor`s office told IANS.

The official added that there are some restrictions under the Delhi School Education Act according to which school premises can only be used for functioning of the school and no unauthorised person can enter the premises, etc.

"If a clinic has to be opened inside the school, then these rules need to be amended," the official said, adding that the objection was only for opening clinics in school premises.

"There has been no objection so far to the wider mohalla clinic policy. In fact, the file pertaining to the wider policy was never even sent to the LG`s office," the official said.

Mohalla clinics are run by the Delhi government and are aimed at providing free primary healthcare to all.
London: Prime Minister Theresa May told European Union leaders on Friday she was confident a court ruling that could delay Britain`s departure from the bloc would be overturned and she vowed to stick to her Brexit timetable.

May told German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker she believed her case that the government - not parliament - should be responsible for triggering Article 50 of the EU`s Lisbon Treaty to launch the divorce would win in Britain`s highest court, a spokesman said.

May is determined to carry out what she calls "the will of the people" and deliver Brexit. But a High Court ruling on Thursday that parliament must approve the process raised doubts over whether she can trigger Article 50 by the end of March as she planned. It also prompted suggestions of an early election.

Her focus on ensuring the government has the lead on breaking with the EU has incensed some lawmakers, and on Friday, a member of her ruling Conservative Party said he had resigned over "irreconcilable policy differences" with May.

The government will appeal against the ruling in the Supreme Court, which is expected to consider it early next month.

"The focus of the government is on the Supreme Court case, winning that case and proceeding with article 50," May`s spokesman told reporters.

"Clearly we are disappointed by yesterday`s decision, we`d rather not be in this position but we are, so ... the key is our commitment to triggering Article 50 no later. The end of March remains the target for the government."

The spokesman declined to comment on whether the government was now drafting contingency plans for a possible failure in the Supreme Court, a move that would allow parliament to delay any move to start the divorce process.

"What is important here is that we had a referendum, there was an overwhelming result in favour of leaving the European Union and that is what the government must do," he said.

Her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, told Germany`s Frank-Walter Steinmeier not to read too much into the court decision. Steinmeier, Germany`s foreign minister, said: "Further delay isn`t in anyone`s interests."

Parliament is unlikely to defy the referendum vote by blocking Brexit, but if - as one aide to May said was the logical conclusion of the court ruling - she is forced to draft legislation for both houses to consider, her March deadline looks tight, several lawmakers said.

That could force her to call an early election, they said, a move her aides have repeatedly rejected. Bookmakers odds on an election next year were cut after the court decision but 2020 was still the favourite date.
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday moved to dismiss talk of an early general election despite a High Court ruling that Parliament must vote on whether to start the Brexit process.

With just a narrow majority in the House of Commons and most MPs having backed Remain, the ruling by the court presents a new hurdle to the Prime Minister - who would be far from certain to get Article 50 through, the Independent online reported.

However, asked about the possibility of an early election to shore up the Conservatives' majority, the Prime Minister's official spokesperson said: "No. Our position has been clear that there should not be an election until 2020 - and that remains the Prime Minister's view."

Current polls suggest May would be returned to office with a significantly increased majority as Labour flounders on some of its lowest poll ratings in recent history.

Whether a parliamentary vote will take place is not yet certain as the Government has said it will appeal the High Court ruling at the Supreme Court, which will hear the case in December.

The refusal to countenance an early contest comes despite Brexit Secretary David Davis warning that the Government would need to pass a bill through both the House of Commons and House of Lords - both of which are thought to have a Remain majority.

"The judges have laid out what we can't do and not exactly what we can do, but we are presuming it requires an Act of Parliament, therefore both Commons and Lords," the Independent online quoted Davis as saying on Thursday.

Though there were few outright calls for an early election from politicians, a number said they believed the ruling brought one a step closer.

The court ruling came on a landmark case brought by businesswoman Gina Miller who sought to block the Prime Minister from formally enacting the Britain's withdrawal from the European Union without first submitting it to a parliamentary vote.
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today announced that 10 countries, including the US, had agreed to take part in the coming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit as 'partner countries'.

Ahead of the bi-ennial event to be held in January 2017, Rupani today attended a curtain-raiser programme in New Delhi, where business leaders as well ambassadors of several countries were present, said a state government's release.

Rupani apprised the guests of pro-industry steps taken by his government and invited corporate houses to invest in Gujarat.

As many as 10 countries, including the US, were taking part in the 8th edition of the summit next year, he said.

The chief minister added that his government is committed to providing a conducive environment to investors.

Gujarat has 102 product clusters, more than 200 industrial estates, 19 SEZs and 13 special investment regions.

He also invited investors in the MSME category, saying the government had created a special facilitation desk to help small and medium entrepreneurs. As a result, Gujarat has over 20 lakh such units which provided jobs to 1.5 crore people, the release stated.
Chandigarh: Congress on Friday demanded that army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal be declared a martyr, saying he "sacrificed his life for some cause" but Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar dismissed it, insisting a "wrong precedent" will be set if a person who committed suicide is accorded such a status.

During Obituary Resolutions moved during the special session of the state Assembly here, Haryana Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhary demanded that Grewal's name be included in the list of martyrs.

A special session was convened today as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Haryana's formation. The state was carved out from the then joint Punjab on November 1, 1966.

Replying to Chaudhary's demand, Khattar said his name should not be included in the list of martyrs.

"(Kiran) Choudhary has taken a name of a soldier (Grewal) to be included in martyr list but I feel that he has committed suicide and his name should not be added in the list.

"We should not set wrong precedent in the House. We have sympathy with him but that does not mean that he should be declared as martyr. It is not appropriate to put his name in martyr list," Khattar said.

Leader of opposition and INLD MLA Abhay Chautala asked Khattar if he has objection to the demand of Choudhary, then he should inform the House why Haryana government promised Rs 10 lakh and a government job to the family of the ex- serviceman.

"We have full sympathy with him (Grewal)...A lot of accidents take place (in state) even then we extend financial help to the tune of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh," said Khattar.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the opposition party should avoid turning this issue into any controversy.

"We just want to know why Rs 10 lakh and a government job is being given to him. If you (Khattar) have sympathy with every citizen of the state, the government should decide today that if any youth dies in an accident, his family should be given Rs 10 lakh and a government job," Chautala said.

Senior Congress leader Raghubir Kadiyan said it was not suicide.

"He sacrificed his life for some cause," said the former Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, drawing objections from the treasury benches.

The Obituary Motion was adopted by the House without incorporating the demand of the opposition.

Yesterday, Khattar when asked whether Haryana would declare the ex-serviceman a martyr, had said only those who lay down their lives at the border are declared martyrs.
New Delhi: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Friday approached the Delhi Police Commissioner asking him to provide security cover to the three JNU students who were involved in a fight with another student, Najeeb Ahmed, who has since gone missing.

"We the ABVP-JNU demand from police that the three JNU students -- Vikrant, Sunil and Ankit, who are victims of the violence occurring the night of October 14, be provided with efficient security at the earliest," a memorandum submitted to the police commissioner read.

The RSS-affiliated ABVP said in the memo that the three students are being "threatened" by the JNU Students Union (JNUSU)-- composed of a Left party alliance -- and demanded that two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, be interrogated as they may be involved in Ahmed`s disappearance.

Khalid and Bhattacharya are two of the 19 students against whom Jawaharlal Nehru University authorities (JNU) had taken action for indiscipline after the February 9 incident during which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. Both the students challenged the punishments, which included rustication and withdrawal of hostel facilities, in court.

The ABVP also asked the police to probe Ahmed`s room-mate Mohd. Qasim`s role and said that he has been "inconsistent" in his depositions.

An eyewitness to the whole affair on the intervening night of October 14 and 15, Qasim maintained that it was not a brawl but a mob assault on Ahmed by the three ABVP students, including others. A letter which was purportedly written by Qasim -- requesting the Warden of Mahi-Mandvi hostel to evict Ahmed -- has since been denied by him.

"The first letter was written by a student of the same hostel, who was Election Committee (EC) member during last month`s elections. He wrote the letter while I was trying to assuage the crowd inside the Warden`s office that night. My only priority was the safety of Najeeb as the mob was baying for his blood," Qasim had earlier told IANS.

Another letter -- denouncing the previous one as a trickery played against him-- was then written by Qasim on October 18 which described Ahmed as a politically naive and humble person and said that he never felt any threat from him.

The ABVP has requested the police to thoroughly search the JNU campus also, saying that Ahmed "might be taken hostage inside the campus itself by the radical organisations in the campus".

Ahmed, an M.Sc Biotechnology student, went missing on the night of October 14-15 after being beaten up by a mob of around 20 students alleged to be from the ABVP.

The memorandum was submitted to the police commissioner by ABVP, JNU, President Alok Kumar Singh along with other members.
New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave is set to hold a meeting on Friday with his counterparts from five states to discuss short, medium and long-term measures to tackle air pollution in the capital.

The call came as Delhi`s air quality deteriorated to alarming levels and witnessed its worst smog situation in 17 years on Wednesday and Thursday.

"MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) to hold meeting with secretaries of five neighbouring states of Delhi tomorrow (Friday). Later, I will meet ministers of concerned states," Dave said in a tweet late Thursday.

The ministry will also issue an advisory to the five states -- Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi -- following a secretarial-level meeting here.

"MoEFCC will soon issue an advisory to concerned states on taking up short, medium and long-term measures to tackle air pollution," Dave tweeted.

The minister would hold the meeting after Environment Secretary A.N. Jha meets the five secretaries.

Due to the poor air quality in Delhi, experts had been requesting the Centre to intervene as it would take several state governments to work together to tackle the situation.

The experts also suggested emergency steps to save people from respiratory and heart diseases.

The emergency steps suggest that ailing people must stay indoors while healthy people should avoid outdoor exercises for a few days. Closing schools temporarily was also suggested by some environment experts.

Several reasons, including unending burning of paddy stubble in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, low winds and pollution during Diwali in Delhi and other sources of pollution along with weather-related factors led to such abnormal levels of smog and alarming air quality in the national capital.

As per official data, the levels of PM2.5 (particulate matters with diameter less than 2.5 mm) have increased by 62.7 per cent on Wednesday, two days after Diwali.

On Wednesday, the levels were 9.4 times the standard norms.
New Delhi: Indian Army had used artillery guns to destroy four Pakistani posts in a massive assault across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of north Kashmir's Kupwara district last month, government sources said today.

This is the first time the government sources have confirmed that artillary fire was indeed used by the Army to launch a massive assault against Pakistan, something which was always suspected.

It is the first case of artillery fire at the LoC since the 2003 ceasefire agreement was signed between the two countries.

They said artillery guns were stealthy moved up and used in straight fire position to raze four positions of Pakistan army to avenge the mutilation of an Indian Army jawan's body by some suspected militants few days ago.

Violating ceasefire, Pakistan had been firing 120 mm heavy mortars to target Indian civilian areas, to which India had responded strongly.

Defence sources said while ceasefire violations by Pakistan was a regular feature "the intensity had never been so hard in the recent past."

Meanwhile, on the One Rank One Pension issue, sources said that 95 per cent of the cases have been "satisfactorily" resolved.

Documents of around 96,000 ex-servicemen were missing, due to which the payment for some has been delayed, they said, adding remaining cases would be resolved in two months time.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he was confident the Supreme Court will overturn a high court ruling giving primacy to the Lt. Governor in administrative affairs.

"We are confident we will get relief from the Supreme Court," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader told India Today channel, referring to the Delhi High Court verdict of August 4.

The high court had ruled that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, an appointee of the central government, would by law be the chief administrator in Delhi, not the elected government of Kejriwal.

Referring to that controversial ruling, Kejriwal said any interpretation of the Constitution that vested all powers in one person would pose "a huge danger to the country".

In an hour-long interview, Kejriwal spoke on a variety of subjects including the upcoming Punjab and Goa elections and his own relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kejriwal expressed confidence of an AAP sweep in the Punjab assembly polls, insisting that his party would win more than 100 of the 117 seats. "Mark my words, we will get more than 100 seats."

He brushed aside Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal`s claims that the AAP would end up with single digit in the house.

"Sukhbir Badal is on his way out. Let him say anything," he said, adding that the people of Punjab were waiting to oust the Akali Dal-BJP alliance and saw the AAP as a better option than the Congress.

The Punjab election "is a dharam yudh" (holy war), he said, likening it to the battle between Kauravas and Pandavas in the Mahabharata.

Kejriwal refused to say who would be the Chief Minister of Punjab if AAP wins. To repeated questions, he kept saying: "People will decide the CM."

Asked if he would shift to Punjab, he said: "I am happy as the Delhi CM."

Kejriwal again accused the central government of "betraying" the army over the One Rank One Pension scheme over which ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal committed suicide here on Tuesday.

"We won`t let Grewal`s death go waste," he said.

The AAP leader also responded to charges that he kept "fighting" with Modi.

He said he was forced to repeatedly take on the central government because it kept putting roadblocks in his work.

He said he had to fight to slash power rates and provide limited free water, to set up Mohalla Clinics and to even improve the public transport in Delhi.

"Now the LG says Mohalla Clinics can`t be set up. We will fight that."

Kejriwal also said the AAP had stopped naming on its web site people who donated money to it because such people were harassed by central government agencies.

He said the central government was planning to come up with fresh allegations against AAP over public donations by obfuscating the issue. "These charges will be given out to select TV channels."
New Delhi: The Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) has announced the dates for IRMA 2017 examination, which will be held in February next year, on its official website.

There is no age limit for the admission into the PRM and FPRM courses at IRMA, however, it is compulsory for the candidates to appear for CAT 2016/XAT 2017 and "Issues of Social Concern (ISC)" test of IRMA.

The examination for IRMA 2017 is scheduled to be conducted on February 12, 2017 for granting admission into Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management (PRM) and Fellow Program in Rural Management (FPRM).

180 seats available for PRM 2017-19

Initially, candidates will be short-listed on the basis of the scores of CAT.

The short-listed ones will then be called for IRMA written test on the subject of "Issues of Social Concern".

The final selection will then be made on the basis of group activities and personal interview.

The institute will finally release a list of selected candidates.

How to apply

Interested, eligible candidates are required to apply online and pay through payment gateway

Candidates need to make payment at any IMS learning centre after getting the IMS receipt, and should then apply through IRMA website by using the IMS receipt number

A print-out of SBI challan needs to be taken out, available on the website in the admission link.

Candidates can make payment at any branch of SBI by using the challan. SBI would then issue a unique ID number. This unique ID number can be used to apply online through IRMA website

Important dates

December 23 - The last date for submission of hard copy of application form (Indian nationals).

December 30 - The last date for submission of online application (for Indian nationals).

February 12, 2017  The date for Issues of Social Concern 2017 test.

March 31, 2017  Declaration of final results.
Kozhikode (Kerala): The Kerala Police on Friday arrested a 42-year-old private school teacher for allegedly raping a 19-year-old deaf and mute girl in Kozhikode district.

The incident happened on November 2, however, the victim registered a complaint a day after the incident.According to reports, the accused is a relative of the victim.Further details are awaited.
New Delhi: The New Delhi Bar Association (NDBA) on Friday said that it had written to Delhi High Court Chief Justice, G. Rohini and asked her to take cognizance of Chief Minister`s Arvind Kejriwal`s statement that telephonic conversations of judges were being tapped.

The NDBA letter asked, "Who are those two judges and at which place they were talking with each other? Was the Delhi CM present, or whether these two judges went to meet the Delhi CM and told him this or vice versa?"

The NDBA said that it is important to unearth this matter as Kejriwal`s comment creates a bad impression in the minds of the public at large and lowers the reputation of the judiciary and lawyering system.

On October 31, Kejriwal claimed to have overheard judges expressing concern about their phones being tapped.Kejriwal gave this statement at Vigyan Bhawan where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Delhi High Court Chief Justice G. Rohini was present.

Later on, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad refuted Kejriwal`s allegation that judges` phones were under government surveillance.Kejriwal had said that it would be an assault on democracy and independence of judiciary if judges` phones are tapped.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also strongly denied the reports of tapping the telephonic conversation of judges."There is no truth in these reports. These reports are baseless and unfounded," said Additional Director General of Press Information Bureau, K. S. Dhatwalia.
Chennai: The CPI(M) on Friday alleged that an anonymous letter, threatening Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan "not to clash with the Sangh Parivar outfits", has been received in Kanyakumari ahead of his visit there next week for party events, and sought police action.

In a letter to Tamil Nadu DGP TK Rajendran, CPI(M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan said the letter had no names or addresses, but asked Vijayan "not to clash with the Sangh Parivar outfits".

"The letter warned the Kerala Chief Minister not to clash with the Sangh Parivar outfits. A complaint has been filed with the district SP, but no action seems to have been taken on it by the police so far," said Ramakrishnan.

Vijayan is scheduled to address a public meeting at Nagercoil on November 9 and flag off a farmers' rally the next day from Kanyakumari, bordering Kerala, he added.

The letter also threatened to "blow up" the local party offices of the CPI(M), Ramakrishnan said and urged for the DGP's intervention in nabbing the culprits.

Kerala has recently seen a spate of murders of RSS and CPI(M) activists with each side blaming the other for the violence.

Vijayan had even accused the RSS of "unleashing violence" in his hometown of Pinarayi in Kannur district even as the BJP had alleged that the Kerala Chief Minister was "spreading lies to cover up the political violence".
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala government today came under scathing attack from UDF opposition in the Assembly over an alleged gangrape complaint by a woman against a CPI(M) functionary and three others two years ago, even as the ruling LDF assured a fair probe and stern action against the accused.

Raising the harrowing experience of the woman, a mother of two, in the House, Congress-led Opposition members alleged that the government and police were trying to "protect" the accused, including CPI(M) Wadakancherry Municipal Council member Jayanthan, due to their affiliation with the ruling party.

They said the accused and police officials, who allegedly ill-treated the woman when she had lodged a complaint, were getting "political protection" and demanded that a woman ADGP should probe the case to ensure justice to the victim.

Rejecting the charges, Law Minister A K Balan, who spoke on behalf of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijyan, said the government would not protect culprits in criminal cases even if they belong to the ruling party.

He also said Guruvayur Assistant Commissioner of police had already been entrusted to probe the matter on the basis of the woman's complaint.

"The accused will not escape law because of their party affiliations... Whoever be the accused, even if they belong to our own party, we will make them pay the price for their act," Balan said.

"They will not find any place in party," the minister said while replying to a notice seeking an adjournment motion by Anil Akkara (Congress) over a number of recent "atrocities" against women reported in the state including the gangrape complaint by the woman, a native of Wadakancherry in Thrissur district.

Irked over Balan's statement that the Opposition could submit to the investigating officer all the information with them in connection with the gangrape case, Opposition members stood up from their seats demanding withdrawal of the remarks as it amounted to "disrespect" to the entire House.

The minister later withdrew the statement following the Opposition protest.
New Delhi: Taking the fight to a new level, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Friday, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying about the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

Addressing the media after meeting some protesting ex-servicemen in Delhi, the Congress leader said, "What Prime Minister is calling OROP, it is actually only pension enhancement and not OROP, so Modi ji please stop lying and implement OROP."

Rahul Gandhi, who has taken an aggressive stance against the Modi government over OROP and the alleged suicide of ex-Army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal said, The OROP is not about money, but it's about the dignity of our soldiers, about justice for our soldiers.

PM Modi is saying OROP has been implemented, if that was the case, then why so many ex-servicemen are protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar for the last 509 days, Rahul exhorted.

Rahul asked the Centre to fulfil the promise of UPA government and implement OROP at the earliest, saying it is the right of the armed forces, who have devoted their life to the country.

The suicide by an Army veteran over OROP has snowballed into a huge political show with Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition leaders attacking the Modi government on the issue.

In the last two days the Congress MP was detained thrice to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide of an ex- serviceman, allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of OROP.

In an apparent bid to politicise the issue, Rahul and Kejriwal visited Haryana's Bhiwani to attend Grewal's funeral on Thursday.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Thursday, said around one lakh ex-military personnnel are yet to get full benefit of OROP.

Commenting on the contentious issue, Parrikar admitted that there was some technical issue in full implementation of OROP, adding that it will be soon sorted out.

Also Read - One lakh ex-servicemen facing OROP problems, will be resolved within 2 months: Parrikar

"Only one lakh ex-servicemen (out of over 20 lakh) are not getting pension as per OROP scheme due to some technical difficulty or documentation problems. We will resolve these problems in coming two months," he said addressing

Grewal was cremated in Bamla village in Haryana's Bhiwani distric in the presence of hundreds of people including Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal.

A former Rajputana Rifles subedar, the 70-year-old allegedly consumed poison at a Delhi park on Tuesday evening demanding the immediate implementation of the OROP scheme.
New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Delhi Police for detaining party president Rahul Gandhi thrice in two days over the OROP suicide row.

Rahul Gandhi was on Thursday detained for the third time in two days, with Delhi Police picking him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide of ex- serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

Lashing out at the Delhi Police, Singh vented out his anger on his Twitter account saying, Is it a crime if a political leader wants to participate in a peaceful candle march in memory of an ex Serviceman?

Further hitting out at the City Police, which comes under the Home Ministry, the Congress MP tweeted: Can Delhi Police pl tell us under which provisions of Law was Rahul Gandhi detained thrice in two days?

Can Delhi Police pl explain why they are not registering FIR against the illegal detention of Rahul Gandhi? his another tweet said.

If Police is behaving like this with a MP and Congress vice president in Delhi what must be happening to a common man in rural area, Singh asked.

Also Read - One lakh ex-servicemen facing OROP problems, will be resolved within 2 months: Parrikar

The alleged suicide of Grewal has snowballed into a huge political showdown in Delhi with opposition parties, especially the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party severely criticising the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
Srinagar: In a major breakthrough, Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Omar Khaliq, was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police in Sopore on Friday.

The arrest comes amidst a series of ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control and International Border.

Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on the intervening night of September 28-29 along the LoC and destroyed LeT camps and killed many Pakistan-based terrorists.

India-Pakistan border skirmishes intensified after Pakistani militants attacked a military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, killing 19 Indian soldiers on September 18.

Residents of border villages close to the IB celebrated a subdued Diwali, away from home. Pakistan troops have been indiscriminately targeting their homes, cattle and crops.

Authorities have set up temporary accommodations -- in educational institutions, rural development department buildings and community halls -- for hundreds of border residents in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

India shares 230 km of International Border and 740 km of LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu: Despite the pause in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops for the second consecutive day, an uneasy calm prevailed along the IB and LoC in Jammu on Friday as border villages remained empty and schools closed.

"For the second day today (Friday), there was no violation of ceasefire by Pakistan troops, either on the International Border or the Line of Control in Jammu region," the police here said.

Some male members did visit their empty homes and fields during the day, but the return of their families to a routine life remain illusive.

Schools in border villages vulnerable to Pakistan shelling also remained closed.

Authorities ordered 174 schools near the IB in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts to remain shut.IB in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts to remain shut.

At least 400 schools along the IB and the LoC are reportedly affected in the Pakistan shelling of civilian areas.

The Indian Army said at least four border outposts of the Pakistan Army were decimated in retaliatory action in Rajouri and Poonch districts that followed targeting of the civilian areas by Pakistan in these districts.

The Border Security Force (BSF), that guards the IB, had said it almost completely destroyed 14 Pakistan border outposts on Wednesday.

BSF officials said these outposts were being used for shelling civilian areas by the Pakistan Rangers.

Villagers in RS Pura, Arnia, Suchetgarh, Akhnoor, Ramgarh and other sectors along the IB moved away from their homes following the indiscriminate targeting of their homes and agricultural fields.

The residents want peace so that they could return home and tend their cattle and reap their harvest-ready crop.

The BSF has dug defence ditches away from the IB and no civilian movement is allowed beyond them.

Villagers have demanded compensation for their livestocks killed in the shelling.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was stopped on Thursday from crossing the defence ditches and visiting Rangoor village close to the IB.
Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today urged Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to name Hatia-Ernakulam Express after freedom fighter Bhagawan Birsa Munda.

The train was flagged off on October 27 from Hatia station.

In a telephonic conversation with Prabhu, the Chief Minister said naming the train after Munda would enable the people in the south know about his fight against exploitation under the British rule, a release said here.

The Railway Minister gave his consent, it said, adding a letter in this regard has been submitted to the railway ministry.
Thrissur (Kerala): The CPI-M on Friday suspended PN Jayanthan, a party Municipal Councillor, and another party worker after a woman accused the two of raping her.

K Radhakrishnan, a former assembly Speaker and presently the Thrissur district secretary of the CPI-M, made this announcement after a series of party meetings.

"Following a preliminary probe by the party, it has come to light that there was some financial dealings between Jayanthan and the lady and there has been no findings of any misbehaviour to the lady.

"Anyway, a detailed probe is already on by the police and the party also will further look into it," said Radhakrishnan.

The issue flared in the assembly on Friday when the Congress accused the Kerala government and the CPI-M of shielding Jayanthan and three others who raped the woman in Thrissur district two years ago.

The 2014 case became public on Thursday when the victim along with her husband and two women activists told her horrid experience to the media in the state capital.
New Delhi: Acting tough, Kerala Director General of Police Loknath Behra, Friday, confirmed that the high-level team has been formed to probe gang-rape case in which Wadakencherry Communist Party of India-Marxist councillor PN Jayanthan is an accused.

Behra said the allegations levelled by the alleged rape survivor against the police officials have been taken seriously and a separate enquiry has been ordered.

The gang-rape victim, who hails from Thrissur district, and accompanied by popular film dubbing artiste Bhagyalekshmi and social activist Parvathy along with her husband, told a crowded press conference here that she was raped by Wadakencherry Communist Party of India-Marxist councillor PN Jayanthan, his brother and two others.

The woman was forced to withdraw her complaint against because the police allegedly ridiculed her and asked her lewd questions.

Reportedly, Kerala cops asked her,"Whom did you enjoy most?"

Recalling her horror, the alleged rape victim said: "This happened two years back and I told my husband much later.... when we complained to the local police, they treated us very badly and when the accused threatened me that my husband and kids would be eliminated, I felt scared and retracted my statements under the advice of police.

Meanwhile Jayanthan said that he has done no wrong and when he sought repayment of the money he gave her husband, they filed a case against him to defame him.
Bhopal: In a major embarrassment to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, media reports on Friday claimed that a large number of prison guards were deputed to protect ex-ministers and senior government officials instead of doing their duty at the high security Bhopal Central Jail from where eight SIMI activists had recently escaped and later killed in an encounter.

News18.com, which claimed to have accessed a letter written by the Bhopal jail superintendent, claimed that a large number of jail guards were deputed on VIP duty, which compromised security at the high security jail here.

It further claimed that the state government paid no attention to the letter written to it by Bhopal jail superintendent for better security.

DG prisons clearly ignored demand for special security at the Bhopal Central Jail, it added.

However, Madhya Pradesh Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele categorically rubbished the claims, saying it is hard to believe that almost 80 'praharis' were deputed to protect the officials.

"I think you are exaggerating the figure. This is just not possible. I have a driver and two people in my office, don't know about rest but cannot be what you are saying. Still I will investigate. I don't believe that the whole thing is totally right, that 80 guards are being deployed for guarding ex-ministers," she was quoted as saying by ANI.

The Madhya Pradesh government today ordered a judicial probe into the encounter of eight SIMI operatives, which escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail.

Retired justice SK Pande will head the inquiry commission. The panel will probe the circumstances under which SIMI operatives escaped and the encounter in which they were killed by police.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the state government yesterday seeking a detailed report on the encounter.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier announced a NIA probe into the incident.

On the other hand, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had said that there is no need of any probe into the encounter.

Eight SIMI operatives had escaped on Sunday night from Bhopal central jail after killing security guard Ramashankar Yadav.

They were gunned down later. Social activists and political parties have raised several questions regarding the incident.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has rejected a petition filed by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Undertaking (BEST) workers union seeking quashing of certain provisions related to working hours in Motor Transport Workers Act on the ground that they violated the right to life.

Dismissing the petition, a bench of Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M S Sonak observed, "The dynamic interpretation of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India is no doubt, here to stay. However, we are not convinced that the impugned provisions, in any manner, denude the motor transport workers of such right to life, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the decisions cited."

Refusing to quash the provisions related to working hours, the court held that these are matters of legislative policy and unless, manifest unreasonableness or arbitrariness is made out, it is not for the courts to strike down the law or to declare that such a law will not apply to metropolitan areas.

"The provisions of Chapter V of the Act which comprises section 13 to 20 have to be construed in their entirety. Thus construed, no case of arbitrariness or unreasonableness is made out. So also, it cannot be said that impugned provisions denude motor transport workers of rights as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution," the bench ruled recently.

The petition sought declaration of section 16(1) of the Motor Transport Workers Act and the second proviso to section 13 of the same Act as ultra vires, contending thatthey violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The counsel for petitioner, Neeta Karnik, submitted that Aection 13 of the said Act mandates that no adult motor transport workers shall be required or allowed to work for more than eight hours in any day or 48 hours in any week.

However, she submitted that the second proviso to section 13 completely negates this mandate by permitting the employer to require motor transport workers to work for more than 8 hours in any day or more than 48 hours in any week.

Karnik argued that the dilution which the second proviso to section 13 brings about to the mandate of section 13(1) is arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

The BEST Union lawyer further submitted that requiring any motor transport workers to work beyond 8 hours on any day or more than 48 hours in any week, adversely affects the right to life of such workers, constitutes bonded labour and is consequently violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.

Karnik argued that section 16(1) of the Act which permits spread over of more than 12 hours in any day takes no cognisance whatsoever of the conditions of service in metropolitan areas where, it is practically impossible for the workers to afford any housing or place, where to take rest.

She submitted that provisions contained in the second proviso to section 13 and section 16 of the Act, are virtually being observed on regular basis in metropolitan places.

Such breach or abuse of the statutory provisions affects the life and health of the transport workers and this constitutes sufficient reason to declare the provisions as violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, Karnik told the court.

However, the high court was of the view that the purpose for spread over of not more than 12 hours in any day is in fact, intended to benefit the motor transport workers.

"The provision is also in public interest, since, the motor transport workers transport, on most occasions, members of the public and if the motor transport workers are over-strained, there is possibility of accidents. Situations like breakdown, dislocation of motor transport service, interruption of traffic or act of God are generally, not matters of routine."

"In such a situation, if the rigours otherwise imposed by the legislation are marginally relaxed, it cannot be said that such statutory relaxation is unreasonable or arbitrary or that it results in denial of right to life as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution," said the bench.

These are matters of legislative policy and unless, manifest unreasonableness or arbitrariness is made out, it is not for the courts to strike down the law or to declare that such a law will not apply to metropolitan areas or may continue to apply in other areas only, the judges observed.

"The classification which is not in tune with the Constitution is per se unreasonable and cannot be permitted. In this case, as we have found the impugned provisions are neither unreasonable nor out of tune with the constitutional provisions, the decision cited therefore, does not assist the petitioners," the Judges remarked.

"For the aforesaid reasons, we dismiss this petition. There shall however be no order as to costs," the Judges ruled.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Police have arrested at least 11 persons from Buldhana area of the state in connection with the alleged rape of 12 minor tribal students of Ninadhi Ashram school late night on Thursday.

Seven out of the 11 arrested are said to be teachers and the remaining four are the staffers of the school.

Reports also said that three out of the total 12 tribal girls, who are believed to be in the age group of 12-14 years, are pregnant.

These minors were reportedly raped by the accused while returning home for Diwali holidays. Ninadhi Ashran School is in Hivarkheda in Bhuldhana district of Maharashtra, 450 km from Mumbai.

A special investigation team was constituted under senior IPS officer to probe the matter.

Sanjay Baviskar, Superintendent Of Police (SP), Buldhana said a case under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), POSCO Act and Juvenile Justice Act has been registered against the accused.

The accused include president, secretary and joint secretary of the school, he added.

The police have also claimed that the number of the accused is likely to increase.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the rape of a 13-year-old student at an ashram school in Khamgaon tehsil of Buldhana district.

Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Satish Mathur said that 11 accused have been arrested so far in connection with this case.

"SIT has been formed to probe the incident. We have taken action immediately after being informed by the local sarpanch," Mathur told the media here.

"13 people have been identified of which 11 have been arrested and search for the other two is underway. At this stage, it seems that one person has been involved. The victim has named one person. The investigation is underway," he added.

Mathur further said several staff members of the school have also been arrested for not bringing this incident to the notice of the police.

"The school is closed today. We will collect more information from the students and other officials once the school reopens," he added.

As per reports, the untoward incident took place last night.The accused include president, secretary and joint secretary of the private boarding school, which is 450 kilometers from Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik has demanded the ouster of Tribal Minister Vishnu Sawra and Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde for alleged negligence towards tribals.

He has also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the alleged apathy towards tribals.
Lucknow: Amid talks of a grand alliance between secular parties to defeat BJP in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, it has now emerged that the erstwhile constituents of 'Janata Parivar' - JD(U) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)  are not interested in any electoral alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party without state's young CM Akhilesh Yadav.

The development appears to put the SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's efforts to put together a 'Mahagathbandhan' in UP before assembly polls in troubled waters.

According to reports, both JD(U) and RLD want UP's young and popular CM Akhlesh Yadav on board before any major electoral alliance.

The development also assumes significance in the wake of reports that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is keen on joining hands with the SP only if Akhilesh emerges as the face of ruling party.

A senior RLD functionary was quoted by TOI that party chief Ajit Singh was wary of entering into an alliance with Mulayam if the feud in SP's first family continues.

JD(U) member and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has also said that a 'Mahagathbandhan' in UP is possible only if SP and its sworn enemy BSP come together.

Nitish is apprehensive of Mulayam given his experience in Bihar where SP pulled out of the grand alliance at the last moment before the assembly polls last year.

Political experts said SP's internal squabble was bound to push the Yadav and Muslim vote base in a deep uncertainty and thwart the chances of stopping the BJP or BSP from coming to power.

The high-voltage UP elections will be a close contest between ruling Samajwadi Party, Narendra Modi-powered BJP and the Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party.

Though, Congress has roped in master strategist Kishor to manage its poll campaign, however, it seems the grand old party wouldn't do well in the the politically sensitive state.
Kolkata: Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her comments on the one-day ban on a TV news channel, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh accused her of "creating an Emergency-like situation" in the state where the "opposition voices are brutally stifled".

He, however, said his party stood for the freedom of press, but the news channels needed to act in a "responsible manner" at times of crisis.

"The chief minister is talking about an Emergency-like situation. But, my question is, has the law and order situation failed in the country? It has completely failed in Bengal. Communal riots are taking place. In Bengal, there is an undeclared Emergency where the opposition voices are brutally stifled," Ghosh said.

His comments came in the backdrop of Banerjee's statement earlier in the day where she called the ban on NDTV India "shocking".

"The NDTV ban is shocking. If the government had issues with the Pathankot coverage, there are provisions available. But, a ban shows an Emergency-like attitude," she had said in a statement.

Reacting to the one-day ban on the news channel, Ghosh said, "I don't know what actually has happened. We are in favour of a free press. But, at times, the news channels do need to act in a responsible way as national interest is above everything else."
At least one person was killed and 30 injured in a blast outside a police building Friday in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, the center of the Kurdish minority, medical sources told AFP.

The local governor`s office said in a statement that the cause of the blast "seems to be a car bomb used by members of the separatist terrorist organisation", a reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK).

Both civilians and police were killed and many people were wounded in a car bomb attack in Turkey`s southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Friday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in a speech.

Two local residents told AFP they had seen a minibus explode outside the police building in the Baglar district.
Jakarta: Tens of thousands of Muslim hardliners called for Jakarta`s Christian governor to be prosecuted for blasphemy in a massive demonstration in the Indonesian capital Friday, sparking fears of violence and putting authorities on alert.

A sea of protesters wearing white Islamic robes swarmed the city`s largest mosque for Friday prayers before taking to the streets in a huge show of force against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is accused of insulting Islam.

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Hardliners have called for his death as Friday`s turnout -- estimated by police at 50,000 -- eclipsed a similar protest last month that drew 10,000 chanting demonstrators to city hall.

Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told AFP there were no reports of violence so far.

Police have taken no chances in the lead up, deploying 18,000 officers amid fears that radical elements could infiltrate the march.

"The protest must be orderly, and avoid anarchy and emotion. The rule of law must remain in force," the police communications department tweeted Friday.

The military warned it was ready to back police if things turned ugly, with helicopters flying low over the city and extra soldiers stationed at key government buildings reinforced with razor wire and armoured vehicles.

Some foreign embassies warned their citizens to steer clear of the demonstration.

President Joko Widodo met this week with religious and political leaders to issue a unified call against violence while police sought to ease tensions by holding prayer sessions and broadcasting calls for peace on social media.

But anger at Purnama, Jakarta`s second Christian governor and the first from the country`s ethnic Chinese community, has spread beyond the capital, with solidarity marches held across Java and in cities as far as Makassar in Indonesia`s east.

The governor stoked fury in September when he told a crowd they`d been "deceived" by his opponents who had used a Koranic verse to try to put them off voting for a Christian.

He later apologised but has faced persistent allegations of blasphemy, prohibited by law in Indonesia.

"Our holy book has been insulted so I felt moved to join. Ahok must be prosecuted", protester Zulfikar, who like many Indonesians goes by just one name, told AFP.

Others displayed signs stating "big no for blasphemy" and "detain and prosecute the blasphemer Ahok".

The governor -- known for his tough-talking style -- is hugely popular in some quarters for his determination to clean up Jakarta, an overcrowded, disorganised and polluted metropolis.
Paris: Hundreds of French police cleared a huge migrant camp in northeast Paris on Friday in a fresh sign of the government`s determination to take refugees off the streets and into shelters.

The evacuation of 3,800 people from the Stalingrad area of the city came less than two weeks after the demolition of the notorious "Jungle" camp in the northern port city of Calais.

Starting at dawn, police arrived to wake people sleeping in tents or on mattresses under an overhead metro line, 15 minutes` walk from the Gare du Nord railway station.

The area around Stalingrad, a gritty multi-ethnic part of the capital, is a magnet for migrants and police have repeatedly cleared camps there, only for them to spring back into life days later.

But six months before elections, Socialist President Francois Hollande has said he is determined to take refugees off the streets and that France needs to offer a better welcome.

"We`ve got to grips with this issue. Their conditions were disgraceful, unbearable," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters on Friday.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said there was now "no humanitarian problem in Calais and there isn`t one either in Paris."

While some activists welcome the fresh political will to tackle a long-standing problem, they stress that France has been slow to react to a crisis that has grown in intensity over the last two years.

It has lagged behind other countries, Germany in particular, in providing appropriate lodgings for refugees to seek safety.

"Our worry is always the same: that the facilities in the shelters are absolutely not the same standard," local activist Valerie Osouf told AFP, who criticised dirty and costly hotel rooms being used in some cases.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced the creation of the city`s first refugee transit camp, which will have initial capacity for 400 men. It is set to open this month in a disused railway yard in the north of the capital.In Stalingrad, the arrival of the first bus before dawn on Friday was greeted with cheers from a crowd of hundreds of Afghans who had gathered, bags packed, to take it.

"I don`t know where we are going," said 28-year-old Khalid. "The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, it`s good to leave."

Most of the people in the camp, which included hundreds of women and children, were from war-wracked Afghanistan and Sudan or the repressive African state of Eritrea.

The clearance, which finished around lunchtime when the last bus left, came after authorities began dismantling the "Jungle" camp in Calais on October 24.

The squalid settlement, home to up to 10,000 at its height, had served for years as a jumping-off point for migrants attempting to stow away on trucks and trains crossing the Channel to Britain.

The last shelters and shacks were torn down last week, which coincided with an increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the capital.

Plans to disperse the "Jungle" migrants in public buildings across the country, including in rural areas, has created unease and resistance from some local mayors.

Many migrants, particularly those bussed to far-flung locations, have simply left and returned to Paris or gone back to the north coast to resume their efforts to slip into Britain, activists say.

Europe faces its biggest migrant crisis since World War II. More than 1.5 million people have crossed the Mediterranean since 2014 to escape wars or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

France has welcomed a fraction of the number of asylum seekers who have headed to Germany, which registered 890,000 refugees last year.
Cairo: An Egyptian Army Brigadier General was killed on Friday by three terrorists outside his house in the country's North Sinai governorate, army spokesman said in a statement.

"Brigadier General Hisham Mohamed Mahmoud was killed by three terror militants outside his house in the North Sinai city of al-Arish," Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesman as saying in the statement on his facebook page.

"Such cowardly and desperate acts will not discourage the armed forces to do their sacred mission of protecting the Egyptian people," the spokesman added.

Earlier on Friday, an Egyptian judge escaped a car explosion in Cairo's eastern district of Naser City.

An interior ministry official said the judge was not harmed and there were no casualties.

Some local media reported the judge was involved in one of the trials of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Jacksonville: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday alleged that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with America's security and the country's generals do not want her as their boss.

"We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," Trump said at a massive election rally in Salem, North Carolina wherein he outlined his plan to rebuild military and support veterans.

Trump began the rally by naming recipients of medals of honours who were present at the meeting. In between he paused and compared himself with them.

"Oh, they're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave, I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave," said Trump, who has never served in the US military.

The meeting was attended by a large number of veterans.

"To think of her being their boss, I don?t think so. I know what they are thinking. It's not for them," Trump said.

"These men display to the whole world the unyielding strength, courage and grit of the United States of America. They went above and beyond the call of duty, thought nothing of their own safety in order to protect their fellow man, and acted with a bravery that will etch their legacy into the history of this nation," he said.

Trump alleged that under the failures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, ISIS has become a clear and present danger to Europe and the US.

"After all the sacrifice our soldiers made, Clinton and Obama pulled out the troops on a public timetable, giving rise to ISIS and handing Iraq over to ISIS killers," he said.

"Now, ISIS is on a campaign of genocide in the Middle East, torturing, drowning and burning people alive. ISIS has slaughtered men, women and children in France, Germany, Belgium, and there are now 1,000 open ISIS investigations in the United States. We have seen the bloodshed in the attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino, and the recent bomb plot in New York and New Jersey," he added.

"Yet, as we send brave men and women overseas to fight terrorists in the Middle East, Hillary Clinton wants to fling our borders wide open, allowing those same terrorists to infiltrate our country at home. She wants a 550 per cent increase in Syrian refugees, and virtually unlimited immigration from some of the most extreme and dangerous places in the world," he said.

"A Trump Administration will suspend the Syrian Refugee programme and keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. We know Hillary can?t be trusted with America?s security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," he said.

Trump today alleged that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with America's security and the country's generals do not want her as their boss.

"We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," Trump said at a massive election rally in Salem, North Carolina wherein he outlined his plan to rebuild military and support veterans.

Trump began the rally by naming recipients of medals of honours who were present at the meeting. In between he paused and compared himself with them.

"Oh, they're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave, I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave," said Trump, who has never served in the US military.

The meeting was attended by a large number of veterans.

"To think of her being their boss, I don?t think so. I know what they are thinking. It's not for them," Trump said.

"These men display to the whole world the unyielding strength, courage and grit of the United States of America. They went above and beyond the call of duty, thought nothing of their own safety in order to protect their fellow man, and acted with a bravery that will etch their legacy into the history of this nation," he said.

Trump alleged that under the failures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, ISIS has become a clear and present danger to Europe and the US.

"After all the sacrifice our soldiers made, Clinton and Obama pulled out the troops on a public timetable, giving rise to ISIS and handing Iraq over to ISIS killers," he said.

"Now, ISIS is on a campaign of genocide in the Middle East, torturing, drowning and burning people alive. ISIS has slaughtered men, women and children in France, Germany, Belgium, and there are now 1,000 open ISIS investigations in the United States. We have seen the bloodshed in the attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino, and the recent bomb plot in New York and New Jersey," he added.

"Yet, as we send brave men and women overseas to fight terrorists in the Middle East, Hillary Clinton wants to fling our borders wide open, allowing those same terrorists to infiltrate our country at home. She wants a 550 percent increase in Syrian refugees, and virtually unlimited immigration from some of the most extreme and dangerous places in the world," he said.

"A Trump Administration will suspend the Syrian Refugee programme and keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. We know Hillary can?t be trusted with America?s security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," he said.

Trump alleged that Clinton was more interested in keeping

her emails a secret than in keeping the classified intelligence a secret.

"She was more interested in protecting herself than protecting all of you. Ending this criminal government corruption is one of the most important reasons we must win on November 8," he said.

"We also know Hillary can?t be trusted with our security because of her disastrous record on foreign policy," he said.

Trump said that no Secretary of State in history has failed in more places, in more ways, than Clinton.

"In 2009, pre-Hillary, Libya was stable, Syria was under control, Iraq was seeing a reduction in violence, and ISIS wasn?t even on the map. Fast forward to today. Libya is in ruins. Syria is in the middle of a catastrophic civil war. Iraq is in chaos. And ISIS is spreading across the region, into Europe, and into America ? and they?ve launched a campaign of genocide against Christians," he said.
Baghdad: Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, a military statement said, expanding the Army`s foothold in the Islamic State stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service said CTS troops had launched a major operation against the militants, who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

CTS special forces took over the neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, the statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.

One special forces officer told Reuters on Thursday the CTS units may try to push all the way to the Tigris river, which runs through the centre of Mosul.

Iraqi television footage from the east of the city showed heavy palls of grey smoke rising into the sky.

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi`ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air strikes launched a campaign nearly three weeks ago to retake Mosul.

Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a crossborder caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.

Islamic State also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country, and the campaign to retake it is the most complex in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein and unleashed a decade of turmoil.

In a rare speech released on Thursday Baghdadi - whose whereabouts are unknown - said there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against Islamic State, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders.

Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus, although Iraqi officials say Islamic State is holding the civilian population as human shields.

The United Nations says 21,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign. That figure excludes the thousands of people from outlying villages forced to head back into Mosul by retreating Islamic State fighters who used them as human shields.

Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said Islamic State fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas.

Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosul airport, they said.

"We saw Daesh (Islamic State) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well," one Mosul resident said.

People in the southern and eastern neighbourhoods reported on Thursday night that barrages of artillery shells and rockets being launched from their districts towards the advancing troops had shaken their houses.

As well as the Islamic State resistance in Mosul itself, the militants have launched a series of diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive.

In the town of Shirqat, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, militants stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shi`ite Popular Mobilisation force.

The insurgents crossed from the eastern side of the Tigris river into the town at 3 a.m., taking over al-Baaja mosque and spreading out into alleyways. Security forces declared a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, forces were being sent to the town.

Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in on Mosul from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the River Tigris from the south.

The Hashid Shaabi forces of mainly Shi`ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, launching an offensive to cut off any supply or escape to the west.

A Hashid spokesman said they had made progress but had not completely closed off the western flank, and their fighters had seen some cars leaving Mosul on Thursday.
TOKYO: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday investigations were underway into the situation in Rakhine State, where many members of a Muslim minority live and where human rights workers say conflict has led to abuse of civilians by the military.

Suu Kyi, speaking on a visit to Tokyo, told a news conference the government was trying to get to the root of the matter, and would not accuse anyone until the investigation was complete.

Any action would be taken in accordance with due legal process, she added.

"We have not tried to hide anything on Rakhine," she said.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi is in Japan on a five-day visit to court investment and aid, as an upsurge in violence against the persecuted Muslim minority Rohingya at home poses the worst crisis of her six months in power.

Suu Kyi had not directly commented on calls from human rights experts urging the government to investigate the allegations of abuse, or on statements from human rights monitors, although she has urged the military to act with restraint.

She has faced mounting criticism abroad for her government`s handling of the crisis in Rakhine State, where soldiers are accused of raping and killing civilians and where aid workers were refused access until the government on Thursday agreed to allow such work to resume.

The violence is the most serious to hit the state on Myanmar`s western border with Bangladesh since hundreds of people were killed in communal clashes in 2012.

Tension between Myanmar`s ethnic minorities and the majority Burman-dominated central government has prompted many groups to take up arms to fight for greater autonomy since shortly after the country`s independence in 1948.

Earlier, Suu Kyi told Japanese business executives that Myanmar needed peace to carry out sustainable development.

"We are still not at peace, there is still armed conflict between various ethnic groups in our country," Suu Kyi she said.

"We must have peace in order that our development may be stable and sustainable."

She added: "We want all our ethnic peoples to feel that they have an equal chance to progress, that it is truly a nation made up of diverse peoples but united in our purpose to be a society that is at harmony."

The Rakhine military operation has sharpened the tension between Suu Kyi`s six-month-old civilian administration and the army, which ruled the country for decades and retains key powers, including control of ministries responsible for security.

Myanmar`s army-drafted constitution puts the military firmly in control of security matters but nevertheless diplomats and aid workers say privately they are dismayed at Suu Kyi`s lack of deeper involvement in the handling of the crisis.
An Afghan woman immortalised on a National Geographic cover will be sent back to the war-torn homeland she first fled decades ago, after a Pakistani court ordered Friday that she be deported.

Sharbat Gula, whose blazing green eyes were captured in an image taken in a Pakistan refugee camp by photographer Steve McCurry in the 1980s that became the magazine`s most famous cover in history, was arrested last week.

She was accused of living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers following a two-year investigation, one of the thousands of refugees using fake ID cards.

The illiterate mother-of-four pleaded guilty Friday, her lawyer Mubashar Nazar told AFP, and the court sentenced her to 15 days imprisonment and an 110,000 Pakistani rupee ($1,050) fine.

"She has already spent 11 days in jail," Nazar said, meaning she could be freed as early as Monday.

An Afghan consulate official said that the fine imposed on Gula has already been paid and confirmed she would be released Monday.

"We... will take her to Afghanistan in an honorable way on Monday," Abdul Hameed Jalili, counselor for refugees at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, told AFP.

Amnesty International slammed the decision, calling it a "grave injustice".

"For decades, she was known as the world`s most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistan`s status as a generous host," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International`s South Asia Director.

"Now, by sending her back to a country she hasn`t seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistan`s cruel treatment of Afghan refugees."

The 1985 National Geographic image of Gula, then aged 12, made her the face of Afghanistan`s decades-long refugee crisis.

After a 17-year search, the photographer McCurry tracked Gula down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters at the time.

Pakistani officials say she applied for the fraudulent ID card in Peshawar in 2014.

The photo attached to the application has the same piercing green eyes and sculpted face seen in McCurry`s famous image, only lined by age and surrounded by a black hijab covering her hair completely.

Her children will also return with her.

Gula, who is suffering from hepatitis C, has told media her husband passed away several years ago.

Gula`s plight highlights the desperate measures many Afghans are willing to take to avoid returning to their war-torn homeland as Pakistan cracks down on undocumented foreigners.

Pakistan has for decades provided a safe haven for millions of Afghans who fled their country after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

But since July hundreds of thousands have returned to Afghanistan in a desperate exodus amid fears of a crackdown, as Pakistan`s famed hospitality ran out.



Last month UNHCR said more than 350,000 Afghan refugees -- documented and undocumented -- had returned from Pakistan so far in 2016, adding it expects a further 450,000 to do so by the year`s end.

They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis.

"By forcing Afghan refugees to return across the border into the arms of an increasingly deadly conflict, Pakistan ... is putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk of serious human rights abuses," the Amnesty statement said Friday.
Guwahati: Two Chinese nationals have visited Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, on wrong Protected Area Permits (PAPs), instead of the Restricted Area Permit (RAP), issued by the Deputy Resident Commissioner (DRC) of Arunachal Pradesh office in Guwahati.

DRC officials here said they came to know about the "administrative mix-up" only when a local newspaper of Arunachal Pradesh reported about it yesterday.

The office immediately launched a probe and preliminary investigations revealed that the two Chinese nationals from Hong Kong -- Young James John and Wu Chong Shong -- were issued the Protected Area Permit (PAP) when they should have been given the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) as per the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines, the officials said.

Stating that citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan require RAP to be issued by the MHA, they said the two Chinese nationals' application for PAP was recommended to the DRC Guwahati office by the Resident Tourism Officer of the Arunachal Pradesh government based on their tourist visa.

It must have been a case of the officer concerned here "overlooking" the Chinese citizenship of the two and issuing them the PAP, instead of RAP, without taking prior permission from the MHA, the officials said.

"We are conducting an investigation into the case and will send our report to the Arunachal Pradesh government which will submit it to the MHA," they said.

Giving details of the permit issued to the two foreign tourists, the officials said that PAP was issued to the two Chinese nationals on August 30 on their applications to visit Tawang, West Kameng and Lower Subansiri districts for 30 days from September 12 to October 11.
UNITED NATIONS: Russia on Thursday criticized U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon`s decision to fire a Kenyan peacekeeping commander in South Sudan as premature, saying the mission there was now "in ruins" after Kenya vowed to withdraw all its troops in response to the move.

Ban dismissed Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki after a U.N. inquiry into the response by peacekeepers to several days of violence in the capital Juba in July found a lack of leadership and that U.N. troops failed to protect civilians.

Kenya said it would withdraw some 1,000 troops deployed with the 13,000-strong peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, where U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed since 2011 when it gained independence from Sudan.

In an unusual move, Russia, a U.N. Security Council veto power, and Kenya publicly criticized Ban`s response to the report.

"For us the decision was premature," Russia`s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Illichev said. "We don`t have a special representative, she`s leaving, we don`t have a force commander. ... The whole structure is in ruins."

Ondieki became the force commander in June, just three weeks before the outbreak of heavy fighting between South Sudan President Salva Kiir`s troops and soldiers loyal to his rival, Riek Machar.

U.N. South Sudan envoy Ellen Loj is due to step down at the end of November.

The U.N. inquiry, released on Tuesday, found peacekeepers did not operate under a unified command and received multiple and sometimes conflicting orders. It said there was a "chaotic and ineffective" U.N. response.

Kenya U.N. Ambassador Macharia Kamau said his country had appealed to Ban not to single out any one individual for "what we will continually insist is a systemic failure in the United Nations system."

"The secretary-general, in his lame-duck season, seems to have found the courage that has alluded him throughout his tenure by choosing to ignore Kenya`s plea," Kamau told a news conference at the United Nations.

Ban steps down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms.

The United States proposed on Thursday that the Security Council welcome the inquiry`s report, but diplomats said that China, backed by Russia, blocked the move. Such statements have to be agreed by consensus.

The U.N. inquiry had found that on two occasions Chinese peacekeepers abandoned their positions during the violence.

In Beijing on Friday, China`s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the report contained "groundless criticism" of relevant U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan and expressed "regret" over its negative impact on the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the U.N. inquiry on Thursday, which he said was focused on U.N. decisions made during the several days of violence. Dozens of civilians and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed during the fighting.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, acknowledged the difficult and dangerous circumstances faced by peacekeepers in South Sudan, but said the failure to act by U.N. troops "revealed systemic shortcomings in UNMISS."

"It is clear from the U.N.`s investigation that when civilians were in desperate need of help, their pleas were ignored, and the human costs were horrific," Power said in a statement.

Political rivalry in South Sudan between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Machar, a Nuer, led to civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines.

The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued. Machar fled South Sudan following the fighting in July.
New York: Federal officials have warned authorities in New York, Texas and Virginia about an unspecific threat of attacks by the al Qaeda militant group around Election Day, putting local law enforcement on alert the weekend before Tuesday`s vote, officials said on Friday.

A U.S. government source in Washington said some federal agencies sent bulletins to local and state officials flagging the information but that the threat was relatively low level.

The New York Police Department and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were alerted to the information, the local agencies said.

The port authority, which operates airports, tunnels and bridges around New York City, is continuing high levels of patrol it has had in place, said spokesman Steve Coleman.

He declined to offer specifics of the warning, but the police department said the threat report lacked specifics and was still being assessed.

"We are aware of the information," the department said in a statement, adding it was working with intelligence agencies and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his office was monitoring the situation. "Texans should go about their daily lives as usual, but remain vigilant over the next several days and report any suspicious activity," Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement.

The task force issued a notice identifying the three states as possible targets of an al Qaeda plot, a New York law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity. The official said the type of threat was common but authorities were giving it more attention because of Election Day.

Authorities were assessing whether there was a plot and whether the states named were real targets or misdirection. "Another possibility is that this is just an attempt to inspire someone here to mount an attack," the official said.

The FBI did not confirm the reports or comment on details. Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

CBS News first reported the threat of attacks, which it said were possible on Monday, the day before the U.S. presidential election.

The potential for violence related to the election has already darkened a rancorous presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, on top of the threat of computer hacking and fears that Russia or other state actors could spread political misinformation online or tamper with voting.

While federal and state authorities are beefing up cyber defenses against electronic threats to voting systems before Election Day, others are taking additional steps to guard against possible civil unrest or violence.
There was sad news from the ANZ bank this week. No, not the hundreds of millions of dollars written off as it retreated from its Asian expansion strategy  the admission that another big Australian corporate didnt have the ticker or the competence to play in the worlds greatest growth markets.



Most companies, like most people and nations, tend to do whats easiest for them or what they must. Thats understandable and, in a way, economically sound, at least in the short term.



In the longer term, wise people, companies and countries invest in their future in case relatively easy options arent available. And, sometimes, there are ambitious individuals and institutions that desire to do more, to do as much and achieve as much as possible, to explore and test boundaries. The reality is that such people and institutions are relatively rare. Most of us prefer to stick with what we know, what were comfortable with.



Australias Big Four banks are prime examples of that. And their performance when they try to stretch and go beyond their own backyards tends to reinforce the perceived wisdom of staying home.



Faced with a mature domestic market, ANZ had a crack at getting aboard the Asian Century and seriously expanding in challenging growth markets. The idea was to have a quarter of the banks income coming from Asia relatively quickly. It hasnt worked out that way. The board and new CEO have given up on that ambition. Its turned out to be a very expensive exercise lesson  and thats if you only count the inflated salary of the previous CEO, Mike Smith, who was hired from HSBC to lead the Asian expansion. How wonderful to fail but still receive eight figures a year.



ANZs major shareholders have applauded the retreat. Australian institutions  superannuation funds, mostly  are a timid, risk-adverse lot. Their secure, government-mandated, index-hugging, multi-billion-dollar gravy train doesnt call for bravery.



It seems Im in the very small minority of shareholders (the Pascoe family super fund holds ANZ shares) who regret the retreat, giving up so soon. I really didnt mind the company losing money in Asia as long as it was learning from the experience and getting steadily better. Because ANZ gave up so soon, after just a half-dozen years, well never find out if its management and board were capable of anything other than being mediocre locals, playing in the domestic league.



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Ive been a fan of the Asian story practically all my life. Pretty much as soon as I could, I left Australia as a very young journalist and joined the South China Morning Post. It was as close as you could get to China in 1976. Ive been known to say I grew up in Hong Kong and, in many ways I did.



Some lessons learned then have stayed with me. The companies that make it big in Asia require lifetime commitment. Success cant be gauged over a few years  as the ANZ has done  but decades. Asia is made up of very diverse and challenging markets. Single countries are made up of very diverse and challenging markets. Yet the potential rewards of being part of such a big future are enormous.



Theres a fine aphorism that management is doing things right while leadership is doing the right things. Some of ANZs failure in Asia was poor management, some of it poor leadership. The methods of expansion in some countries were poor and the personnel sometimes not of sufficient quality to handle it. There also was the problem of impatience back in the banks Melbourne head office, the inability of the institution to stick at the task until they got it right. A little like Woolworths Master shemozzle, they werent capable of the total commitment required to fix things that didnt quickly go right for them.



So much of the failed empire has been sold to a Singaporean bank, DBS, with the for sale sign left hanging around the necks of the remaining Asian retail operations.



Singapore hasnt been a lucky country. It has no natural resources or agricultural wealth. It had a difficult and sometimes precarious birth. There has been no easy way for it to progress, no necessity has forced it to rely on the talents of its people and to invest in them. Singapore has proven capable of becoming a regional financial and services centre  what Australia has failed at.



Along the way, little Singapore has grown wealthy. On a purchasing power parity basis, Singapores GDP per head is now substantially higher than Australias. Good luck to them.



Singapore needs to be good at international business in all its forms. Australia, and especially its big retail banks, doesnt have to be so good to watch the money roll in. I think its still sad that were not prepared to realise all our potential.



And theres another gripe along the way: the wheeze of our bank senior executives being paid as if they were international players. Theyre not. Turns out, theyre just not good enough.

Michael Pascoe is one of Australia's most respected finance and economics commentators with over four decades in newspaper, radio, television and online journalism. He regularly appears on Channel 7's Sunrise and news programs and is a regular conference speaker, MC and facilitator.


Employees of Brazilian mining company Samarco monitor rebuilding sites at the security control room in their mining site in Mariana, Minas Gerais State, southern Brazil, on October 26, 2016

Surrounded by big video screens and computers, a team works 24/7 to monitor the slightest threat of an accident at dams used by Brazil's Samarco iron ore mine.

The only problem? This impressive setup wasn't there when a huge dam burst open, killing 19 people 12 months ago.

Samarco, which is battling multi-billion dollar lawsuits and manslaughter charges, was keen to show journalists its high-tech safety gear ahead of the anniversary of the November 5, 2015 disaster.

The monitoring room near the town of Mariana is dominated by wall-to-wall screens with live footage of Samarco's dam installations, which hold back decades of mineral-packed sludge produced during the iron ore mining process.

A cutting edge radar system picks up any shifting in the structure of the dams, with seven employees sitting at computers, analyzing data around the clock.

And in an emergency, they'd go to a panel featuring big red buttons: evacuation sirens for workers and any inhabitants of communities downstream.

The siren at one town, Barra Longa, hasn't yet been linked up to the control room, but in the meantime Samarco has residents there covered too.

"There are trucks with loudspeakers on call 24 hours a day," emergencies coordinator Flavio Thimotio said.

- Too late -

But Brazilian prosecutors and survivors of last year's tragedy accuse Samarco, owned by Brazil's giant Vale company and Anglo-Australian BHP-Billiton, of shutting the stable door after the horse bolted.

The Fundao dam abruptly gave way, releasing 42 million cubic yards (32 million cubic meters) of mineral waste into the valley below, smashing the nearby village of Bento Rodrigues before continuing a path of destruction as far as the ocean, 400 miles (640 kilometers) away.

Jose Nascimento de Jesus, a 70-year-old inhabitant of Bento Rodrigues, says the only warning he got was the noise of the oncoming flood. "Like an airplane," he said.

"I was the last one to run out. In 10, 15 minutes it was all over."

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Thimotio acknowledged that the monitoring operation at the time was a shadow of what it is today.

"They were installed after the event, with the great task of monitoring stability," he said of the video screens.

The radar system is also new. And many of the less sophisticated instruments Samarco previously relied on were not even in use on the day of the accident.

"They were switched off" for maintenance, Thimotio said.

As for the sirens, they didn't exist at all.

- Whose fault is it? -

A local state prosecutor in Mariana told AFP that he considers the lack of warning equipment "the worst thing."

"Sirens were obligatory as an alarm system for the population nearby and this system did not exist," the prosecutor, Guilherme de Sa Meneghin, said.

Announcing homicide charges against 21 people last month, including executives from Samarco, Vale and BHP, prosecutors claimed that "security was of secondary importance" to profits.

The three companies reject all the charges, insisting that the unnoticed weakening and eventual collapse of the Fundao dam was a freak, unstoppable accident.

"It was unprecedented," said Thimotio, stressing that in the run-up to the disaster instruments gave "no signal" of anything untoward.

The "Fundao dam was inspected regularly, not only by the authorities but also by independent international consultants," Samarco said in a statement.

"Safety has always been a priority in Samarco?s management strategy, and the company reiterates that it never reduced its investments in safety."

Antonio Geraldo Santos, another Bento Rodrigues survivor, scoffs at these assurances.

"There was no warning, nothing," the 33-year-old said.

"People just ran for their lives."
Imports jumped 4.7 percent to a record Can$47.6 billion, with exports remaining stable at Can$43.5 billion

Canada's trade deficit rose to a record Can$4.1 billion (US$3.05 billion) in September, mainly due to the import of an expensive module for a North Atlantic oil project, the government said Friday.

Imports jumped 4.7 percent to a record Can$47.6 billion, with exports remaining stable at Can$43.5 billion, according to Statistics Canada.

The rise in the deficit was driven by the one-off import from South Korea of a module for the Hebron oil production project offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, the agency said.

Excluding that transaction, total imports would have decreased 1.6 percent, it said.

Trade with the United States, Canada's largest trading partner, came to a surplus of Can$2.7 billion, up from Can$2.6 billion in August.

Imports of aircraft fell by half in September to Can$142 million, their lowest level since August 2014, and purchases of cars and light trucks fell 5.5 percent to Can$4.1 billion.

After a sharp rise in August, imports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 5.2 percent to Can$3.6 billion in September, and unwrought precious metals and precious metal alloys were down 25.6 percent to Can$695 million.

Among exports, sales of energy products increased 1.8 percent to Can$6.3 billion, the seventh consecutive increase since March, mainly thanks to crude oil sales.
New York's state bank regulator fined the giant Agricultural Bank of China $215 million for violating anti-money laundering laws and obscuring financial transactions

New York's state bank regulator fined the giant Agricultural Bank of China $215 million on Friday for violating anti-money laundering laws and obscuring suspicious transactions involving Russia, China, Afghanistan and other countries.

Citing a deliberate failure to scrutinize dubious money transfers, the Department of Financial Services said the bank, the third-largest in the world, created "a substantial risk" that terrorist groups, sanctions-barred countries and criminals could have passed funds through the bank.

The bank had also "silenced" a whistleblower who attempted to carry out internal investigations, according to the DFS.

The move by the powerful New York regulator followed a September action by the Federal Reserve, which ordered AgBank to improve internal controls against money laundering.

Natasha Taft, a former staffer, settled a lawsuit against the bank that month after claiming she had been forced out of her job after reporting potential violations to the Fed.

DFS also said Friday that bank staff had taken deliberate steps to hide US dollar transactions passing through its New York branch that could have been tied to violations of trade sanctions and anti-money laundering laws.

Bank examiners found the bank had used "evasive" transaction methods, including masking the true identity of parties to transactions using SWIFT, the global network which enables financial transfers.

According to the DFS, examiners identified unusually large round-dollar transactions between Chinese companies and counterparties in Russia and Yemen, dollar payments between a customer of Turkish Bank and a client at Afghan Bank whom the US Treasury had linked to financial network used to fund drug trafficking.

"Certain invoices involving China and Russia appeared to be counterfeit or falsified, while other documents suggested US-dollar trades with Iranian counterparties -- including documentation indicating dollar transactions were made for a sanctioned counterparty," the DFS said.

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The bank also deliberately ignored warnings from the agency to improve its internal compliance measures as the volume of international transactions increased beginning in 2013, the DFS said.

"DFS will take swift and appropriate action when our investigation finds egregious conduct and intentional circumvention of a regulated bank's compliance program," Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo said in a statement.

In addition to paying the penalty, the bank agreed to take immediate steps to improve its legal compliance, including hiring an outside monitor.
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Prosecutors in Germany have launched a formal investigation of Mark Zuckerberg and other executives at Facebook, the Munich prosecutor's office said Friday, over a complaint that Facebook broke German laws against hate speech and sedition by failing to remove racist hate-posts on the social media service.

A spokesman from the Munich prosecutor's office who spoke to Reuters didn't provide more detail on the nature of the investigation.

The complaint involves some 438 Facebook posts over the past year tha twere flagged as alleged violations of German hate speech law, but not deleted by Facebook. Among the posts are "clear examples of racist hate speech and calls to violence laced with references to Nazi-era genocide," Reuters reports.

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[Canadian colleges and universities offering courses in food trucks, pot cultivation and more/Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly]

Entrepreneurial mobile food hawker: theres a course for that.

Starting next semester, Hamiltons Mohawk College will be offering a six-course program on running a mobile food service business. The program, which formalizes an otherwise street-earned education and falls under the colleges continuing education banner, is the first of its kind in Ontario and gives the nod to the growing food truck trend.

We look at alignment with our own strategic plans but also industry trends, because we want to graduate students that are getting employed, Evan DiValentino, program manager in Continuing Education at Mohawk, told the CBC.

The program, which also aims to educate budding caterers, will educate school students on pricing, inventory and the basics of entrepreneurship as well as the legislative and bylaw requirements, food safety, food sourcing and procurement.

The program shows an eagerness by educational institutions to keep pace with evolving economic trends. But anyone curious about the future of work needs to look no further than the classrooms of Canada. Yahoo Canada Finance took a peek at four other programs capitalizing on trends in Canada.

Virtual Reality

Last year Torontos Seneca College reworked its digital media design programs to include emerging technologies like virtual reality. The outcome was one of Canadas first courses on the medium, which is working its way into the mainstream through low-cost viewers like Google Cardboard and higher-end headsets like the Oculus Rift. While gaming and film seemed like the best fit for the technology, its extended beyond the novelty with architects, journalists, medical researchers and educators all finding their own uses. Senecas program offers a way to formalize your virtual reality tinkering.

Cyber Security

With the market for cyber security jobs expected to double by 2020, York University is hedging its bets on being a key educator starting with Ontarios first comprehensive, cyber security certificate program. The program, offered as two five-month certificates  one in Cyber Security Fundamentals and one in Advanced Cyber Security  will prep students from the Certified Information Systems Security Professional Common Body of Knowledge exam. Like the food truck program, the cyber security certificates fall under the continuing education banner.

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Craft Brewing

Craft brewing aficionados can turn their passion into a career with a little help from the Craft Beer and Brewing Essentials at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. The part-time, five-class course examines everything from brewing fundamentals to the business aspects of marketing a craft brew brand amongst a growing (and somewhat saturated market). The course will also look at quality assurance and, of course, include a coherent examination of the products out there.

Marijuana Cultivation

Its not entirely shocking that a post-secondary institution would capitalize on Trudeaus promise to provide marijuana legislation by Spring of 2017. But it looks like the French-language College Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick will be the first with its continuing education department offering a program that will train students the ins and outs of marijuana cultivation, to prep them for jobs in what looks to be a growing medical marijuana field. While the school hasnt firmed many details, it seems like a safe bet that the program will launch post-marijuana legislation.
[Thats right, Stephen. We are.]

A growing number of Americans are seeking jobs north of the border according to data recently released by job site Monster.

It sounds like a joke, says Arturo Gallo, content manager with Monster Canada. But we found really surprising results.

According to Monster, 58 per cent more Americans are searching for jobs in Canada, compared to 2015 with over 30,000 job searches involving the keyword running through the Monster U.S. platform.

Compared to last year, thats quite a spike, says Gallo.

Of the provinces, Ontario was the most attractive amongst job seekers with 7,500 Americans looking for jobs in that region. Toronto alone had 3,000 searchers. Alberta came in second, with a focus on Edmonton and Calgary, while British Columbia sat in third place with close to 1,300 seekers looking there. Quebec and New Brunswick followed in fourth and fifth place respectively.

The top job categories were: engineering, IT, accounting, sales and human resources.

All these categories are spread wide across Canada but I think the perception of Toronto being the largest city and where the business is concentrated is what maybe triggered them to look for jobs there, explains Gallo. Then you have Alberta and the oil (industry) which also attracts a lot of Americans.

He pointed to Montreal and Waterloo as technology-concentrated hubs or Silicon Valley North as a key hook for IT-focused job searchers.

While Monster didnt collect data on the age groups or whether seekers were after entry-level or more senior roles, Gallo says he suspects many of the seekers would fall in the 30- to 50-year-old range.

For the millennial group entering the workforce, this would be the first election so thinking about moving to a different country might be a little awkward, he says.

But he points out its worth noting to our American compatriots seeking to eke out a living north of the border, its a little more challenging than just applying.

For starters, any jobs theyre searching showing salaries will be listed in Canadian dollars, which, with the Canadian dollar sitting around 74-cents US at press time is a pay cut. And secondly, making the move is not as easy as just applying for a job online.

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There are many different ways to access Canada but it has to go through a very time consuming legal process, he says adding that while you can pay fees to accelerate the legal process those can cost you in the realm of $7,000 to $10,000.

Then there are the taxes on those salaries.

Dont forget, were a highly-taxed country compared to the U.S. and certain regions, he says. They also need to consider that and the cost of moving (which) can rise to $20,000.

Another element to consider is qualifications. Gallo points out that while you may be highly qualified on paper, those credentials may not translate cross-border.

You have to make sure your studies are validated and you might even need to go back to school and study for one or two years in order to get your certificate equivalent according to Canadian standards, says Gallo.

Not that hes trying to shatter those Americans Canadian Dream. He points out that while it may be easy for someone like Bryan Cranston to say hell move to Canada if Trump wins, for the average person who feels paranoia surrounding the state of the American political system theres a process that has to take place.

And its a costly process, says Gallo. Timely and money-wise.
By PTI: In Janakpur, Mukherjee also spoke about giving "adequate

In Janakpur, Mukherjee also spoke about giving "adequate attention" to the development of border areas with India.

"Today, in consonance with priorities of the people of Nepal, both governments are giving particular attention to expediting implementation of connectivity and developmental projects such as Terai roads, cross border rail links integrated checkposts, power and transmission lines," he said.

advertisement

He said these projects are vital not only for Nepals socio-economic and infrastructural development but also demonstrate "our collaborative efforts to facilitate trade, investments and movement of people."

"The government of India is assisting in the construction of four integrated check posts along important India-Nepal entry point. The ICPs at Birgunj and Biratnagar will be of great advantage to the people of Janakpur...," Mukherjee said.

He lauded the people of Nepal for contributing towards Indias security through their service in the Indian Army. "They have distinguished themselves through their valour and courage."

"It is a matter of pride that the brave Gurkhas have been serving in India since the last 200 years with exemplary courage and sincerity. They have earned a name for themselves in the Indian Army," Mukherjee said in Pokhara where he interacted with Indian ex-serviceman and their families.

Nearly 32,000 Gurkha soldiers serve in the Indian Army and around 1,26,000 ex-servicemen and their dependents draw pension in Nepal.

"The ex-servicemen are the foundational pillars of the friendship between Nepal and India. The Indian government and Indian Army are proud of Gurkha soldiers and ex-servicemen," he said and numerated the welfare schemes Indian government runs for them. "Every year nearly 3,100 crore Nepali rupees are being distributed as pension in Nepal. In the current year, our objective is to distribute around 4,000 crore Nepali rupees under One Rank One Pension and 7th Central Pay Commission."

The president said India is committed to rehabilitation efforts being undertaken in Nepal following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the country last year.

"The Government of India has provided 32,000 Nepali rupees per pensioner in addition to other aid to 6,832 earthquake affected ex-servicemen," he said. PTI NSA ABH

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Professional Development

U Texas at Austin Taps Partner to Provide Online Training for Secondary Counselors

The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) has selected a private partner to design and deliver a competency-based online training course for secondary school counselors and advisors. The program is part of Texas OnCourse, a statewide initiative designed to help streamline pathways to student success in higher education and careers through online training for students, families and educators.

"Through the Texas OnCourse initiative we are working with multiple state agencies, employers, colleges and universities, state and national organizations, educators and other stakeholders to develop innovative learning opportunities that will provide unprecedented support for secondary career and college advising across the state," said Harrison Keller, deputy to the president for strategy and policy at UT Austin, in a prepared statement.

The company, Learning Objects, will design the course with a focus on competencies related to high school graduation plans, student options for earning course credit, higher ed admission requirements, regional workforce opportunities and strategies for planning high school, college and career opportunities.

"Leveraging the Learning Objects Competency Framework will allow for tracking of learner performance and granting credentials based on competency mastery," according to a news release. "The Learning Objects Competency Framework enables the competencies to be mapped to the appropriate learning activities and assessments. This, in turn, allows each learner to demonstrate mastery at their own pace, earning credentials each step along the way."

Both the micro-credentialing platform and the competency-based modules will be made available to all secondary advisers and counselors throughout the state as part of their regular training. Students and their families will also have access to online learning opportunities designed to help them understand options related to postsecondary education and career planning.

"UT Austin is once again at the forefront of education innovation for students and instructors. said Jon Mott, chief learning officer for Learning Objects, in a prepared statement. "We are excited to support their efforts to bolster the college and career advising available to students in middle and high schools statewide. Our experience in designing scalable, competency-based digital learning environments and curriculum allows us to support the varied needs of counselors and advisers across the state. In addition, our platform enables individualized, mastery-based learning."
Professional Development

Pearson Debuts Free PD Webinar Series on Course Redesign

Pearson has launched a series of free webinars designed to explore the use of digital technology in redesigning developmental math courses in higher education.

Part of the company's year-long "Learning Makes Us" series, the new collection will focus on redesign solutions from institutions in multiple states, including Iowa, Missouri and West Virginia.

"As part of this course redesign solutions webinar series, a new case study detailing how a non-STEM pathways course using MyMathLab demonstrates success at Des Moines Area Community College, will be featured in the kick-off webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 8," according to a news release. "Leveraging the Pathways instructional model and MyMathLab from Pearson, Professor Dan Petrak prepared students in College Prep Math to be successful in Liberal Arts Math."

Attendees of the live webinars will be eligible to earn Acclaim professional development badges.

Webinars in the series will include:

More information is available at pearsoned.com.
THURSDAY, Nov. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- In rare cases, potent drugs that prompt the immune system to fight cancer may threaten the heart in the process, researchers report.

Known as immunotherapy, these medications have transformed cancer treatment in recent years, sending some patients who had few options left into remission.

But a report in the Nov. 3 issue of New England Journal of Medicine describes two cases where patients with advanced melanoma died of heart trouble two weeks after receiving their first doses of Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab).

One patient was a 65-year-old woman who died following a rapid heartbeat and organ failure, while the other patient was a 63-year-old man who died after two rounds of sudden cardiac arrest. With a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is blocked and tissue damage occurs, while in the case of sudden cardiac arrest the heart suddenly stops beating altogether.

The report authors added that two similar drugs on the market -- Tecentriq (atezolizumab), a bladder cancer drug, and Keytruda (pembrolizumab), which was used to treat melanoma that had spread to the brain in former President Jimmy Carter -- may pose similar dangers.

However, the instances of heart damage are very unusual, less than 1 percent at this point. The risk seems to be highest when two of these drugs are taken simultaneously, the report authors added.

The researchers stressed that the complications shouldn't detract from the benefits of these drugs for cancer patients.

"This is a new complication of potentially lifesaving drugs," senior study author Dr. Javid Moslehi told The New York Times. He is director of cardio-oncology at Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville.

"We're working to develop treatments for it. Our job is not to say the drugs are bad, but to say, 'How can we deal with it?' " Moslehi said.

Patients taking these drugs need to be monitored closely and treated quickly with medicines that dampen the immune response if trouble is detected, the researchers said.

Dr. Michael Atkins, deputy director of the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., told the Associated Press that he believes the heart problems with these drugs can be managed.

"It just gives us a moment of pause," said Atkins, who oversaw a study that included one of the two patients who died. "This is a rare event ... but it's a particularly serious one."

More information

Visit the American Cancer Society for more on cancer immunotherapy.
Resume de la politique de confidentialite

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By PTI: Beijing, Nov 4 (PTI) Seven persons have been arrested for poisoning 233 swans with pesticide in north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local authorities said today.

The swans were found dead in a lake in Zhenglan Banner where migrating swans had stopped in late October.

Tests showed that they were poisoned with carbofuran, a type of pesticide, which was detected on the dead birds, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

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Police spent nine days searching for the suspects and caught them in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities as well as the provinces of Jilin and Hebei as of yesterday, according to the information office of Zhenglan Banner in Xilingol League. PTI KJV SAI

--- ENDS ---
Barack Obama

President Barack Obama chided a crowd Friday afternoon after it began booing a Donald Trump supporter at a Hillary Clinton rally.

Campaigning on Clinton's behalf in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Obama seemed to lose control of the crowd at the rally, scolding it for not being "focused" and urging the pro-Clinton crowd to respect the man's freedom of speech.

"Everybody, hey, listen up. Hey, I told you to be focused, and you're not focused right now," Obama said. "Hold up, everybody sit down and be quiet for a second. Everyone sit down and be quiet for a second."

"You've got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate, he's not doing nothing, you don't have to worry about him. This is what I mean about folks not being focused," Obama continued. "First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech, second of all it looks like he may have served in our military, and we've got to respect that. Third of all, he was elderly, and we've got to respect our elders. Fourth of all, don't boo: vote."

Watch the clip below:

Obama has mounted a furious push in recent days for Clinton's campaign, devoting every day this week to campaigning for his administration's former secretary of state.

The Clinton campaign has deployed the president to key battleground states like Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania, hoping to use the president's high popularity among minority voters and young voters to increase turnout. Despite some positive signs among early voters in states like Nevada, the president has worried publicly that black voter turnout is "not as solid as it needs to be" in key battleground states.





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Estonian English

The hearings of the international arbitration proceedings between AS Tallinna Vesi and the Republic of Estonia will be held next week from November 7th  11th November 2016 and the following week on November 14th  15th, 2016 in Paris, France.

All hearings will be broadcasted live on the ICSID website. In addition, certain key documents issued during the arbitration process are disclosed on the ICSID website. The decision is expected in 2017.

Background information:

In October 2014, AS Tallinna Vesi and its shareholder United Utilities (Tallinn) B.V., registered in the Kingdom of The Netherlands, commenced international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Estonia for breach of the Agreement on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the Republic of Estonia.
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
Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain has written to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, asking it to instruct neighbouring states Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to take steps to stop burning of crop residue.

AAP minister Satyendra Jain said there is no need to shut schools as the air quality is worst only during the night.

By Mail Today Bureau: The AAP government has written a letter to the Centre seeking its help to combat the major factors outside its control that are contributing to the rising levels of air pollution in the city.

Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain has written to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, asking it to instruct neighbouring states Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to take steps to stop burning of crop residue. Hussain said the Delhi government on its end will regulate construction sites and crack down on polluting industrial units in NCR.

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DELHI GOVT SAYS NO NEED TO SHUT SCHOOLS

However, Delhi urban development minister Satyendra Jain said there is no need to shut city's schools as pollution only peaks during night hours. Jain has also called an all department meet on Thursday to discuss steps to fight pollution.

"Scientists have advised the Delhi government to stress upon a unified action plan for the entire NCR for its antipollution efforts to succeed. They have informed us that current trend shows that air pollution peaks during night hours, and is showing a trend of easing during day time," said Jain.

"Wind speed is almost nearly half during night hours, which is why pollution rises most in that period. Therefore, there is no need to close down any schools in the city. I request all the stakeholders not to pay any heed to rumours like there is a likelihood of schools being closed temporarily."

According to scientists from Delhi Pollution Control Committee and Central Pollution Control Board, conditions pre and post Diwali have not been helpful and have not contributed to any improvement in the air quality.

ALSO READ:

Delhi is choking. Can air purifiers save the day?

Unity of socialist, secular forces will thwart BJP: Shivpal





--- ENDS ---
NGT on Friday castigated the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre and the AAP government for shifting blame and not taking steps to tackle poor air quality.

By Mail Today Bureau: The National Green Tribunal has ordered the Delhi government to enforce the ban on diesel vehicles older than 10 years to combat the alarming air pollution levels in the capital.

NGT CRITICIZED GOVT FOR LACK OF SOLUTIONS

Dubbing it as the worst spell of pollution in 17 years, the NGT on Friday castigated the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre and the AAP government for shifting blame and not taking steps to tackle poor air quality. "All diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old should be off the road," a bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar, directed the Delhi government. Kumar said that the people of Delhi may not matter to the government, but they matter to the court. "We will do whatever we can," the bench said, adding, "Just look at what we are giving to our children for future. This is terrible."

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The bench was infuriated when neither the Centre nor Delhi government was able to properly answer its queries regarding the steps needed to be taken to tackle the issue. The steps were supposed to be discussed at a meeting on Thursday in which Delhi's chief secretary, members of Central Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment and Forest and others were present.

CROP BURNING

Delhi government said the rise in air pollution was caused due to burning of crop residues in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. However, the reasoning did not pass muster with the NGT. It said: "It is not just crop burning. There is no crop burning in Delhi. According to you, crop burning is in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan but nowadays there is no wind, so the smoke can't come here from these states."

The green court also issued notices to the secretaries of Environment and Urban Development of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and directed them to remain present before it on the next date of hearing on November 8. The NGT also asked the authorities to look into three other aspects of air pollution emanating out of dust, burning of plastic, waste and uncovered construction material lying in the open and vehicular pollution.



ALSO READ:

NGT to punish builders who fail to comply with space and environmental regulations

NGT allows Chhath Puja rituals in Rabindra Sarovar





--- ENDS ---
Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna's vacation in Cape Town has come to an end.

By India Today Web Desk: When the entire B-Town was busy preparing for the biggest Diwali bashes, Akshay Kumar whisked away wife Twinkle Khanna and kids- Aarav and Nitara off to Cape Town. Away from the hustle-bustle of Mumbai, Akshay and his family flew off to South Africa for a vacation.

ALSO READ: Akshay Kumar's bonding pic with son Aarav will give you feels



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After chilling on the beaches of Cape Town, the family is set to return to Mumbai soon. But before they pack their bags, Akshay shared an adorable photo with wife Twinkle while enjoying their "last day in paradise."

Akshay took to Twitter to post the picture and wrote, "You know you're having a good time when you don't realise how days have passed. Last day in paradise...making the most of it."



You know you're having a good time when you don't realise how days have passed. Last day in paradise...making the most of it ?? pic.twitter.com/MkYIYYg2kh Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) November 3, 2016

Akshay, who has his hands full with releases like Jolly LLB 2, Naam Shabana and 2.0, is known to be a family man. Despite his busy schedule, the 49-year-old actor always takes out time for his family.

On the work front, Akshay will be next seen in Jolly LLB 2. Apart from that, the Rustom actor is making his Kollywood debut in 2017 with director Shankar's 2.0 starring Rajinikanth.



--- ENDS ---
Articulate, indignant - and a bit out of date in its approach - it provides ammunition for an opinion, not the multiple, sceptical perspectives of fresh scholarship.

They basked in the Indian sun and yearned for their cold and fog-ridden homeland," writes Shashi Tharoor in this book, detailing the exploitation of colonised India by the British over two centuries till 1947. Long-serving official and would-be Secretary-General of the UN, former minister of state for external affairs and human resource development, current Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Tweeter Extraordinaire and prolific author, Tharoor has a way with words (and it has got him into trouble on more than one occasion).

This book will not. It enlarges the arguments of his speech at the Oxford Union in the middle of last year, speaking for the motion 'This house believes Britain owes reparations to her former colonies'. Tharoor recounts how his speech went viral on the internet; inspired hundreds of articles; and was applauded by our current (yes, BJP) prime minister. Manmohan Singh had caused a stir in 2005, while he was PM, by remarking at Oxford "that India's experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences too". Tharoor's point about the British-exuberantly made over eight chapters and three hundred pages-is that the bloody baskers ruined us.

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He commences with a chapter titled 'The Looting of India'. The victory of the East India Company enabled it to pay with taxes from India for the goods it bought here and sold in Britain-and hence in effect not to pay India at all. Three Ds are efficiently described: Deindustrialisation (the destruction of Indian handicrafts), Deurbanisation (shrinking of the population of production centres like Dhaka) and the Drain of Wealth (profits, salaries, pensions and interest payments sent to London without corresponding returns to India).

British rule is accused of making India's share of the world economy fall by a factor of nine, to a mere three per cent at the time of their departure. "Something like the Meiji Restoration could easily have taken place in India without the incubus of British rule," we are informed later. It did not, because "Britain's rise for 200 years was financed by its depredations in India". These depredations caused famines, which led to 30-35 million needless deaths.

To attribute Indian unity to British conquest is misleading, Tharoor holds, because it overlooks the "impulsion for unity" of the Maurya, Gupta and Mughal empires, the sacred geography of the Hindu epics and foreigners' views of India as a unit. Unification would have happened anyway: to suggest it would not is "absurd".

Initiatives like the Montague Chelmsford Reforms were "fraudulent", because they parted with no real political power. The railway network was "a big British colonial scam", overpriced and misdirected. University education aimed to create obedient clerical mindsets. Colonial justice "was far from blind: it was highly attentive to the skin colour of the defendant". Racism saturated everything. Divide and rule policies reigned at every level. Even knowledge-gathering was infected: "The census undermined consensus."

The book winds up by setting out an '(Im)balance sheet', and it includes a call for whoever is the British prime minister in 2019, one hundred years after the famous massacre, to kneel at Jallianwala Bagh and say sorry.

There is a "moral urgency", Tharoor declares, to educate people, especially in Britain, about colonial exploitation. For his part, he announces that "my outrage is personal", and that he finds it "far easier to forgive than to forget". He underplays that in India, while there was ambivalence while the British were still around, none of us now says they should have been here. Within India, the British empire has evoked a posthumous consensus. The message of the book-and the outrage which animates its author-have been prescribed, through their textbooks, to Indian schoolchildren since Independence.

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The strength of this book lies, not in the originality of its argument, but in the skill with which it is delivered. Tharoor is incapable of (to borrow one of his many puns) "textual harassment". Gifted writing, masses of dexterously marshaled information, pithily summarised ideas and a sharp debating style, which fences more with the sword than the shield, make for riveting reading. Professors writing on colonial exploitation have suffered from the sadness of their subject. Tharoor makes it fun. By far the liveliest recent exposition of the traditional Indian nationalist viewpoint, his book can be recommended unhesitatingly, especially to readers who like to see their opponents poked in the eye.

But the drawback of a debate is that its terms are set by others. Imaginative history proposes its own questions. Quibbling about British badness deflects attention from the deeper problems of the entire framework of Nationalist Truth.

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Despite denials, the crux of the case is that, in some way, all of them exploited all of us. The principal division (some call it contradiction) lay between the interests of Britain and those of India. Axiomatically, the Nationalist Line divides two national units. Greedy Clive is emblematic of Britain, the unnamed Bengal Famine victim is emblematic of India.

Is a sleight of hand involved here? The young British men who came, often in their teens, to work and fight in India during the late eighteenth century had less than a one-fifth chance of returning home alive. In the last decades of empire, most of the adult white males on Indian soil (about 60,000 out of 90,000) were common soldiers living in barracks, not high officials dining in bungalows. On the other hand, Indians included the relatively prosperous peasants of Punjab, as well as princes, landlords, educated and commercial middle classes and the Tatas. There was indeed horrendous suffering, but was it 'national' suffering?

Why must it be axiomatic that Jawaharlal Nehru and the barefoot rickshaw-puller of Calcutta stand on one side of the line of exploitation, and Lord Curzon and the Lancashire factory worker on the other? Why do victims represent all Indians, our author among them? Why should the disease-ridden British soldier not represent the British side, and the not-so-impoverished Motilal Nehru or G.D. Birla the Indian one? There were victims and beneficiaries on both sides.

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National identity provides a way of thinking about history, but it is not the only one, and for thinking about exploitation, it is not the best one. Lines of exploitation can and should be differently drawn, along axes of wealth, education and privilege. Unlike life, history-writing allows us to choose our ancestors. Our choices are more arbitrary, more the products of indoctrination, predilection and convenience than we admit.

Nor can we be certain that a Straight Line of Progress was broken. It is comforting to believe that colonialism, a brutal midwife imported against our will, aborted our destiny to be wealthy, industrialised and happy. It is tempting to assume that we would still be more or less the same kind of people that we are today, except that Fate would have dressed us more opulently.

Agnosticism is required here. Would the French have conquered us instead of the British? Would we have colonised other countries if we had not been colonised ourselves? Would civil wars have plagued our territories? Indian history reveals unifying impulses as well as disintegrative ones. Our railway lines would certainly have been different, but so would our political lines. How can we be sure who 'we' would have been?

We might have been richer than Japan; or we might have been poorer than Nepal, which was not colonised either. Who can honestly say? History only allows us to trace routes to what we have become. As all of us must realise on reflection, paths not taken lead towards destinations unknown.

This book offers a brilliant rendition of a familiar song. Articulate, indignant-and a bit out of date in its approach-it provides ammunition for an opinion, not the multiple, sceptical perspectives of fresh scholarship. And the defeated iniquities of the past are safer to expose than those of our own day, even if one happens to be a member of Parliament. Nevertheless, as we turn from this undoubtedly fine book to our TV channels and newspapers, it is possible to feel some nostalgia for a world view in which the villains are not live Pakistanis, but dead Englishmen.

Indivar Kamtekar teaches history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.



--- ENDS ---
Kejriwal today said the BJP is lying to the country on the One Rank One Pension scheme, which he alleged has not been implemented.

"The BJP has been lying that it has implemented OROP," Kejriwal said.

By India Today Web Desk: Continuing his assault on the Centre over the suicide committed by a former jawan, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said the BJP is lying to the country on the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, which he alleged has not been implemented.

"You are roaming around the country and boasting of the army's surgical strikes, and on the other hand, you are stabbing soldiers in their backs over OROP," the Aam Aadmi Party leader said in an exclusive interview to Aaj Tak.

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ALSO READ | OROP suicide: Arvind Kejriwal declares Ram Kishan Grewal a 'martyr', announces compensation of 1 crore



Kejriwal said the BJP has been lying that it has implemented OROP. He said Ram Kishan Grewal would not have killed himself if it was implemented.

"The OROP is the BJP's biggest betrayal. Had the BJP implemented OROP, Ram Kishan would not have committed suicide," Kejriwal said.

ALSO READ | OROP suicide: Unanswered questions over Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal's death



Asked if his party is politicising the suicide of a soldier, Kejriwal said, "What is wrong in a Chief Minister going to meet somebody in a hospital? Why did the Delhi Police stop and detain us?"

On Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemulla who committed suicide and missing JNU student Najib Ahmed, he said, "Our children who are studying in colleges are not safe."

He said a missing Najeeb is not problem of JNU only. The problem pertains to everybody, including him.

Kejriwal criticised BJP's brand of politics and said it was neither for Hindus nor for Muslims. He charged that it can get both Hindus and Muslims killed in politics. "Those who died in Gujarat were Hindus and Rohith was also a Hindu," he said.

"The people of Gujarat have nicknamed (BJP president) Amit Shah 'General Dwyer'," he said.

He alleged that the Modi Governments biggest anti-national move was to allow a team from Pakistan to visit Pathankot air base.



On Punjab elections

He said it is being fought on the issue of "gundagardi" and drugs. He alleged that Punjab Congress' chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh had been bought by the ruling Badals. "Amarinder is in the pocket of Badals. There is anger against the Badals in Punjab," he alleged.

He claimed that the people of Punjab had hopes only from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

He said former BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu will have to decide where to go. "Even if he criticises me, I will appreciate him," he said.

He reiterated his allegation that many judges are scared that their phones are being tapped though the government will deny. He claimed that his phones are also being tapped. "It is wrong to tap phones of judges as they can be blackmailed. During Anna movement my phone was tapped," he alleged.



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Delhi CM Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia detained in New Delhi



Kejriwal, along with his deputy Manish Sisodia and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, was detained on Wednesday after he reached New Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital to visit Grewal's family.

ALSO READ | OROP suicide takes a political turn after Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal's detentions



Kejriwal and Rahul had also attended Grewal's funeral in Haryana's Bhiwani on Thursday, where the AAP leader announced a relief of Rs 1 crore to the ex-jawan's family.

Watch the video here:





--- ENDS ---
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, in an exclusive interview to India Today, did not rule himself out as Punjab's chief ministerial face if his party won.

By Ankit Tyagi: Barely three months ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has left his options open to become his party's chief ministerial candidate for the Sikh-majority state.

No non-Sikh has ever been the CM of Punjab since 1966, when Hindi-speaking Haryana and Pahari-speaking Himachal Pradesh were carved out of it.

Both the ruling Akalis and the Congress led by Captain Amarinder Singh have mounted a fierce attack on Kejriwal for his non-Punjabi descent as his Aam Aadmi Party emerged as a potential political force in the state for elections due early next year.

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In an exclusive interview to India Today, the Delhi chief minister refused to identify any member of his local team in Punjab as his party's face for the top job.

ALSO READ | Kejriwal's AAP promises tax holiday, interest-free loans and lowest tax rate in Punjab



ALSO READ | Punjab: Can Congress beat the AAP groundswell? India Today-Axis Opinion Poll says possible



WAIT, YOU'LL GET ANSWERS AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME

"It's the public which decides its Chief Minister. We live in a democracy," Kejriwal told India Today when asked whether he could be the state's CM in the event of an AAP victory.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief dropped no hints. "This will be decided by the public," he remarked.

Probed whether any of his elected MLAs -- in the event of a majority -- can be tipped to lead the border state, the 48-year-old maverick AAP leader stayed non-committal.

"Just wait. You'll get your answers at appropriate time."

Kejriwal unleashed a scathing assault on the BJP and the Modi government as he projected himself as a victim to what he called was the high-handedness of his political opponents.

ALSO READ: Cong, AAP defaming Punjabs youth by calling them drug-addicts: Dy CM

'BJP DOESN'T ALLOW US TO WORK'

Deftly, he also cited regulation of power and water tariffs as key accomplishments of his administration in Delhi, where many residents had complained of crushingly expensive utility services under the Sheila Dikshit government.

"When I took over as Delhi's chief minister, electricity charges in the city were the most expensive in India. Now, they are the cheapest, barring one or two exceptions," Kejriwal noted. He attributed the regulation of bills to what he described as his government's "concerted fight" with the BJP and the utilities.

"The BJP doesn't allow us to work," he alleged. The chief minister also accused the LG's office of blocking his efforts to open 1,000 mohalla clinics across the city. "But I will continue to fight with them as my fight is for the welfare of the public," Kejriwal argued.

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The AAP convenor alleged that he and his party colleagues have been unfairly subject to police and income-tax crackdowns.

ALSO READ: Punjab politics is fluid again as AAP fortunes slide

WHAT BJP IS DOING IS NOT NATIONALISM, BUT GOONDAGIRI



He accused the ruling BJP and its affiliates of creating an atmosphere of fear in the nation. In order to support his accusation, he referred to the alleged beating of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed by ABVP activists, cow vigilantism, protests over Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and the alleged police manhandling of the son of the late army veteran, Ram Kishan Grewal.

Kejriwal charged the BJP with thuggery in the name of nationalism.

"They hold a stick and threaten you to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Is this patriotism? It's goondagardi," the AAP leader said. Controlled by the BJP-led centre, police in Delhi, Kejriwal alleged, had refused to question ABVP activists accused of beating up JNU student Ahmed a day before he went missing.

WE PLAY POLITICS FOR PEOPLE'S WELFARE: KEJRIWAL

The chief minister also sought to justify Rs 1 crore he promised to the family of Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over underpaid pension.

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"Let no one joke about his suicide. He gave his life for a cause and to raise an issue," argued Kejriwal. He insisted Grewal's death had exposed what he alleged were the Modi government's false claims on the roll-out of the one-rank-one-pension scheme for army veterans.



ALSO READ | BJP lying on OROP, stabbing army in the back: Arvind Kejriwal to India Today

Asked to respond to allegations he politicized the ex-serviceman's death, the AAP chief stuck to his trademark offensive posture.

"Let them say we play politics. We play politics for the good of our people. They play politics to divide them in the name of religion," said Kejriwal.

Asked why his government had not paid out a similar compensation to soldiers dying in action on borders, the AAP chief argued that the issue had to be addressed by the centre.

"We have written to the prime minister to formulate a standard policy all across the country with regard to Rs 1-crore compensation for our martyrs," he said.

The Delhi CM also accused the BJP government at the centre of tapping phones of judges.

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He didn't name any complainant, but insisted several members of judiciary have privately told him that they feared their phone conversations were under surveillance.

"This amounts to interfering with the process of justice," Kejriwal claimed.

Also Read:

Kejriwal: BJP a party of Hindus, yet fired on Hindu youths during Patidar stir

Kejriwal govt misused taxpayers' money to expand AAP's base outside Delhi: Report



--- ENDS ---
By Indrajit Kundu: Multiple Hindu organisations demonstrated in Dhaka on Friday demanding protection from the government and stern action against perpetrators of sectarian violence in Brahmanbaria.

Members of Hindu minority organisations held a demonstration in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka and demanded the resignation of the local Awami League MP from Brahmanbarhia Muhammed Sayedul Hoque.



Protesting minority groups also demanded the removal of Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Chowdhury Moazzem Hossain from Nasirnagar where the attacks took place. More than a dozen temples and hundreds of homes belonging to Hindu minorities were ransacked over an alleged Facebook post insulting Islam in Brahmanbarhia district last week.



Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the principal opposition party in the country has termed the attacks on minority Hindus in Brahmanbaria as motivated.

"A vested section has long been trying to destroy religious harmony in Bangladesh. Such incidents are planned to interference in Bangladesh's religious freedom and social harmony," BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was quoted as saying in the local media.



The Bangladesh government has formed a four-member probe committee headed by the Additional Deputy Inspector General of Chittagong Police to investigate the attacks that took place in the Nasirnagar sub-division. The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week.



Meanwhile, there have been sporadic reports of fresh attacks on Hindu religious places in Brahmanbaria on Friday. Temples and homes of the minority community were once again attacked despite assurances from the government and additional security measures taken by the authorities.

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Unknown assailants reportedly torched a Jagannath temple and a nearby Durga temple in Nasirnagar. Three houses owned by owned by members of the minority Hindu community were also set on fire.

Also read:

Bangladesh will stand by India if attacked: Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan





--- ENDS ---
Official documents, procured by India Today show that on the day of jailbreak, only a handful of policemen were available for the security of Bhopal central jail.

Eight SIMI operatives, who escaped from Bhopal jail, were killed in encounter.

By Ashish Pandey: In a startling revelation, it has now emerged that as many as 80 police personnel, posted for security of Bhopal central jail, were deputed on VVIP duty. They were in attendance for the senior officials of the Bhopal jail.

India Today is in possession of documents, which prove serious lapses in the security of the Bhopal jail.

READ: Bhopal killings: Judicial inquiry ordered by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister

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SECURITY PERSONNEL AT JAIL

The Bhopal jail has a sanctioned strength of 250 security personnel. According to the jail department, 50 posts lie vacant. Of the remaining 200 security personnel, 70 jawans are undergoing various training programmes.

Only, 130 security personnel were effectively available for the security of the Bhopal central jail, where about 30 SIMI operatives were lodged.

Of these 130 policemen, 80 personnel were deployed on VVIP duty on the day the eight SIMI men escaped from the jail, killing one constable inside the prison premises.

READ: Escape of 8 SIMI men from Bhopal jail an insider's job: MP Home Minister



WHERE WERE THEY POSTED

Place Number of jawans on duty

CM House 1

Deputy Secretary, CMO 1

Jail Minister's house 4

DG, Jail 1

Principal Secretary's house 10

House of Additional DG, Jail 2

House of Deputy Secretary, Jail 3

House of Additional IG, Jail 6

Houses of two Deputy IGs, Jail 17

House of former Jail Minister Jagdish Deora 2

House of former Jail Minister Antar Singh Arya 2

Jail Inspector 4

Jail Headquarters 17

READ: Bhopal jailbreak-encounter: Eight questions that remain unanswered



The government documents show that when jailbreak incident took place, there were about 3,000 inmates in the Bhopal jail apart from 29 SIMI operatives, only 30-35 police personnel were on duty.

India Today has learnt that jail administration had warned the senior officials including the DGP about a possible jailbreak earlier in October. The jail administration had demanded more security personnel to guard the prison.



WATCH:

--- ENDS ---
Diwali revelers returning home in the early hours of October 31 were taken aback to find Bhopal in a state of lockdown. That morning, Bhopal woke up to the news of a jail break-eight SIMI operatives had escaped after murdering a jail warden. The fugitives were themselves soon killed in an encounter with police forces, but Bhopal was propelled to the media centre stage.

According to the police, eight SIMI operatives - Mohammed Khalid Ahmed, Mujeeb Sheikh, Amjad Khan, Mehboob, Mohammed Akil Khalji, Abdul Majid, Zakir Hussain Sadiq and Mohammed Saliq - had escaped from jail between 2 and 3 am. All eight were undertrials, with between two and 12 cases registered against each of them: murder, attempt to murder, robbery, as well as violations of sections of the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Before escaping, they killed warden Ramashankar Yadav, slitting his throat with knives improvised from plates and spoons. They then subdued and tied up another warden, Chandan Singh, before scaling the 14-foot-high wall surrounding the jail.

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Seven hours later, based on information from villagers, they were located in a patch of forest on a craggy hill near Acharpura village, some 10 km from the heart of town. The area was cordoned off, and Special Task Force (STF), Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) and district police personnel were soon crowding the area. An encounter followed. It was all over in 20 minutes - the fugitives were killed. But the kudos to the police for finding them so quickly was short-lived. By afternoon, a video was doing the rounds on social media, showing a cop shooting at a half-dead fugitive, with other cops hurling abuse in the background, some of them shouting that this could "get us in trouble". Another video followed, this one showing cops shooting at the fugitives-who were waving out to them.

The political fallout was predictable: the BJP took the 'how dare you question those who kill terrorists' line, while the Congress, AIMIM, CPI(M) and AAP demanded a judicial probe. "If an inquiry has to be conducted by the NIA, it should be monitored by courts," said former MP CM Digvijaya Singh. MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan reacted sharply to these demands: "Had there been some solidarity for the martyrs, I would have understood. But they are only playing vote bank politics," he said on November 1, at the funeral of Ramashankar Yadav. The issue is unlikely to die down anytime soon, however, even though the state's home minister ruled out the need to investigate the encounter, and the CM ordered an inquiry into the jail break, under former DGP Nandan Dubey.

The new Bhopal Central Jail, located on the outskirts of town, claims to be the first 'ISO certified' jail in the country. It had recently become the jail of choice when dealing with SIMI operatives. Until October 30, there were 29 of them lodged there, among them Abu Faisal, aka Doctor, who had been sentenced to life for the murder of a police constable. The night the escape took place, four Special Armed Forces (SAF) jawans had been posted to the terrace of the high security barracks at the jail. They did not notice the prisoners escaping-some suspect that they were asleep at their posts.

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The same night, the jail also apparently had fewer guards on duty than normal, probably because of Diwali. Moreover, the jail is currently home to 300 more than the intended capacity of 2,600 prisoners, stretching resources. Worse, it is an open secret that all manner of comforts, including coolers, outside food, tobacco and alcohol can be obtained in the jail, for a price. When these can be smuggled in, it should come as no surprise that the same can happen with duplicate keys, lock cutters, knives and guns.

"I have recently taken over as the minister for jails," said Kusum Mehdele to the media, a day after the jail break, when asked about security lapses. She accepted, however, that there could have been insider involvement and admitted that the CCTV cameras installed at the prison were not working on the day of the escape. Nonetheless, the two videos of the encounter have set off a firestorm of questions. Were the fugitives trying to surrender? Did they have firearms on them, and if so, did they shoot at the police as is being claimed? Perhaps in an effort to dodge questions, the ruling party and police have spun the narrative into one of 'they were terrorists and deserved to die', even claiming that those questioning the official account are 'bleeding-heart liberals who have no sympathy for the jail warden who was murdered'. Officers even chose to mention that the warden's sons are in the Army-at a press conference held to explain the encounter.

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A police officer at the site of the encounter

Extra-judicial killings are not common in MP, but they are not rare either. When they do happen, it is usually because a 'Laxman Rekha' has been crossed: a police officer is attacked and wounded, or killed, by a criminal. If the criminal does not have a political godfather, his fate is sealed. He will be involved in a shootout with the cops, and a predictable story will follow-that he fired at the police and was killed in retaliatory firing. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a magistrate must probe all 'encounters' of this sort, but these usually end without the police's account being too thoroughly questioned. The only trouble cops are known to face after such 'encounters' is the families of the slain fugitives take the matter to court.

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In that sense, the SIMI operatives had already crossed the line, and on more than one occasion. Of the eight who broke out of jail, three-Amjad, Mehboob and Zakir-faced charges of murdering ATS constables Sitaram Yadav in 2008 in Khandwa and Shivpratap Singh in Ratlam in 2011. When they murdered Yadav, the die had already been cast.

However, the matter is not over. The videos have the potential to create significant trouble for authorities. Questions remain unanswered too. In one of the videos, police can be seen firing at the fugitives from a distance. However, according to police records, three policemen-Narayan Singh, Mahendra Chauhan and Dinesh Khatri-sustained injuries from sharp-edged weapons. That could only have happened if they came in contact with the fugitives. Police records mention that four country-made pistols, or kattas, were recovered, as well as three improvised knives. However, ATS Inspector General, Sanjeev Shami, as well as state home minister Bhupendra Singh are on record saying that no firearms were recovered from the slain fugitives (statements later explained as a result of 'miscommunication').

The public appears to be in two minds. While many call it extra-judicial murder, others argue that the eight men deserved to die. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission, taking suo moto cognisance of media reports has issued notices to the MP government asking it to submit a detailed report on the encounter.



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Maru OS is an operating system that lets you run Android software on your phone and connect the same phone to an external display to run desktop Linux software.

An early build was unveiled in February. This summer the developer open sourced the project. And now theres an updated version that makes the move from Android 5.1 to Android 6.0.

Maru OS 0.3 is ready to go assuming you have a Google Nexus 5.

That smartphone from 2013 is the only one thats officially supported. But there is a guide for developers looking to port the software to run on other devices.

The move to Android 6.0 means the operating system gets new security features and patches and improved power management, among other things.

But there are also some tweaks to the way Debian Linux runs on the machine. You can now start the Maru Desktop even if the phone isnt plugged into an HDMI monitor. You wont see the Linux-based operating system on the phones screen, but youll be able to run it as a headless server with support for ssh.

Maru OS 0.3 also includes better support for screen resolutions other than 1920 x 1080.

You can find out more about the project by visiting its page on Github or by checking out the Maru OS Google Groups for general users and developer.
Motorolas Moto Z can be used as a standalone smartphone, but what makes the phone unusual is its support for Moto Mods, which are modules you can slap on the back of the phone to add functionality.

Right now Motorola offers 5 different Moto Mods, including a speaker, a projector, a camera with a zoom-lens, a battery pack with wireless charging, and a Style Shell to change the look of the phones back.

But Motorola has also been encouraging developers to create their own Mods, and now the company has launched an initiative with Indiegogo to open up the platform even more widely.

Heres the idea: you can submit an idea for a Mod for a chance to get free deelopment kit from Motorola, along with a Moto Z phone.

Hackathons will be held in San Francisco and New York starting in December, giving participants an opportunity to work with Motorola on their prototypes.

Working prototypes will then be eligible to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Motorola and Verizon will help publicize those campaigns, which could give them a better chance of success than your average crowdfunding effort assuming theres any demand for the Mod youre developing.

In March, Motorola will also fly out 10 finalists to the companys Chicago headquarters to pitch their ideas in person for a shot at further promotion and distribution partnerships.

The fine print suggests that while Motorola really wants outside developers to create concepts for the MotoMod program, the company is a little less comfortable letting you call any old design a MotoMod until its officially approved. Instead, the company suggests language such as:

[INSERT NAME], a Moto ModsTM concept for Moto Z smartphones.*Moto Mods is a trademark of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC.

via Motorola
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The site of the encounter where SIMI terrorists, who had fled from Bhopal jail, were killed on Monday. (PTI Photo)

By India Today Web Desk: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a judicial inquiry into the "encounter" of eight SIMI activists who were gunned down on Monday after they allegedly escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail.

Retired Justice SK Pandey will conduct the probe into the jail-break as well as the subsequent killing of the eight undertrials at a village about 15 km from Bhopal.

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ALSO READ | SIMI encounter: Bullets hit suspects in chest, abdomen, reveals post-mortem



The eight men, also accused of murdering a security guard, were killed by police in the alleged encounter, the videos and audio clips of which have raised questions about the police claims of the men being armed.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, have raised questions on the encounter after video clips showed a jawan opening fire on one of the men, as he lay motionless on the ground.

On Thursday, audio clips of the conversation between police officers and cops on the encounter site has revealed that the order to kill all eight men came from the top.

ALSO READ | Finish everyone, Sahab about to reach: Audio clip shows order to kill all 8 SIMI men came from top



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YEREVAN. - President of the Belgian Senate, Christine Defraigne, who is on an official visit to Armenia together with the delegation led by her, on Tuesday visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex accompanied by Deputy Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) Hermine Naghdalyan and Head of Armenia-Belgium NA Friendship Group Shirak Torosyan.

Christine Defraigne and the delegation members laid a wreath at the memorial on behalf of the Belgian Senate. They also laid flowers at the eternal flame and observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

Apart from this, the guests visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, where they got familiarized with the documents witnessing about the Armenian Genocide, as well as left a note in the memory book.

Noting that Belgium is one of the first countries to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide, Christine Defraigne noted: We continue our work in the Senate, attaching importance to the adoption of the law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial, which is necessary for the victims and successors of the Genocide perpetrators. We wish the Armenian and Turkish communities to come together one day.
While the party's Facebook page declared, "BJP4India crosses 1,00,00,000, Thank You", the party's social media wing exuded pride in declaring that "@BJP4India is now a 1 crore+ strong community on Facebook.

By Siddhartha Rai: A social media savvy Bharatiya Janata Party has achieved yet another milestone to establish its dominance as the party's Facebook 'Likes' crossed the one-crore mark, way ahead of the Opposition outfits.

While the party's Facebook page declared, "BJP4India crosses 1,00,00,000, Thank You", the party's social media wing exuded pride in declaring that "@BJP4India is now a 1 crore+ strong community on Facebook," an achievement that was driven by "renewed focus on content."

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PARTY GROWING AT FEVERISH PITCH

The national in-charge of BJP's Information and Technology, Amit Malviya, told Mail Today that he was delighted at the achievement as also he was buoyed with the possibilities in the future as the party was growing at a feverish pitch among the people. "I am delighted to share that @BJP4India is now a 1 crore-plus strong community on Facebook. The figure is 35 lakh on Twitter, which is up from 20 lakh a year ago. It has been driven by renewed focus on content among others," he said as he thanked the people "for all the support".

"BJP's social media presence is integral to its communication strategy. Our strategy of putting out well researched content and response to political situations has made the party's digital channels a go-to destination for supporters and the cadre. It is also a platform for us to listen to what people have to tell us from time to time," Malviya said.

FOCUS ON YOUNGER AUDIENCE

Malviya feels that a focus on the youth and customised content has helped the party cross this mark. "Focus on informative content, which has led to BJP's social media strategy, is paying rich dividends. Our focus is on providing content in a form that would be consumed by the younger audience who are on social media. Use of multimedia in the form of videos, animation and cartoons has also given us the edge over others," he said.

Meanwhile, a quick check revealed that rival Congress party was way behind in numbers on Facebook: its number of 'likes' stood at 398,7088. This August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had whizzed past Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan to become the most followed Indian on Twitter. On August 25, Modi had over 22.1 million followers on the social networking platform, while Bachchan marginally trailed at 22 million. In January, Modi's Twitter following had pipped that of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Modi is also the second most followed politician in the world, just after US President Barack Obama.

ALSO READ:

Facebook warns growth will slow, shares dip

Unity of socialist, secular forces will thwart BJP: Shivpal





--- ENDS ---

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The European Union has not paid 3 billion euros to Turkey up till now, which it has been obliged to pay within the framework of the migration deal signed with Ankara, stated the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports the RIA Novosti.

"We accepted 3 million refugees. The EU has promised us to pay 3 billion euros [to Turkey]. We received 200-250 million euros only. They are dishonest. They said they would pay 3 billion, but we havent received it up till now, " said Erdogan in Istanbul at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Erdogan also noted that the EU became concerned with the problem of migration only after Ankara had announced about its readiness to open the borders for the refugees with the EU.

As earlier reported, in March of 2016 Turkey and the EU signed an immigration agreement, under which Turkey should receive 3 billion euros for keeping refugees in Turkey, as well as accept back the Syrian refugees who had reached the EU.
The Prosecutor Generals Office of Ankara has confirmed the identity of the second suspect, who, according to the authorities, coordinated the coup plan and led the putschists during the July coup in Turkey, Hurriyet reports.

The man is the former General Director of a local paper processing company, Kemal Batmaz, TASS reports, citing Anadolu. According to the press, Batmaz along with another suspect, Adil Oksuz, left for Pennsylvania, U.S, to visit the Islamist preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara considers the key ideologist and mastermind of the coup. On July 11, Batmaz left Istanbul for U.S. In two days  on July 13  both suspects returned to homeland.

The investigation concluded that Batmaz and Oksuz were directly involved in preparing the coup. For this purpose they rented flats and houses, where they gathered their supporters. It is also confirmed that they left for the U.S. to visit Gulen four times this year  in March, June and July.

Batmaz was arrested, RIA Novosti reports, citing Anadolu. The former university professor Adil Oksuz was detained immediately after the attempted coup, but was later released. He is currently on the wanted list.
Relationship between Ankara and Washington depends on whether the US is willing to hand over the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish authorities suspected of organizing the coup, said the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, reports the RIA Novosti.

"It is evident that behind the coup attempt was the terrorist group composed of Gulens supporters... We submitted all the necessary documents and proofs to the United States to extradite Gulen to Turkey," stated Cavusoglu on Russia 24 TV channel. According to him, "the extradition of Gulen is very important," as well as for US-Turkey relationship. "Currently the Turkish people have a negative opinion on the image of the US. We voice that issue, though we continue cooperating with the US, its allies, and the NATO. However, as long as Gulen hasnt been extradite to Turkey, the attitude of our people (regarding the US) will remain the same. If the US does not hand him over, we do openly declare, that it will have a very negative impact on our relationships. This is not a threat, but it is such an atmosphere, "said Cavusoglu.
The Chhath rush is unimaginable in trains bound to Bihar even as railways has made arrangement for 24 additional trains for the purpose.

By India Today Web Desk: With over 11 crore population, Bihar is the third most populous state in the country. After Uttar Pradesh, Bihar is the second largest source of internal migration.

But, with Chhath festival around, there is a huge rush among the migrants from Bihar to go back home and take part in their biggest festival.

READ: PESU makes preparations for unhindered power supply on Chhath

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THE CHHATH FARE

Altogether 346 trains have their destination in Patna from different parts of the country. Still, in order to deal with the rush, all the five zones of the East Central Railways have deployed 24 additional trains for Bihar.

Yet, it has been difficult for thousands of people to get a confirmed ticket on any of Bihar-bound trains. The railways is showing a wait-list of 350-400. In most of the trains, even waiting ticket is not allowed as the quota is full.

The rush in trains has brought good business for airlines. There are about 20 daily flights from Delhi to Patna. Normally, the same day air fare on New Delhi-Patna route is about Rs 6,000-7,000, which has gone up to Rs 22,000.

On Mumbai-Patna route air fare skyrocketed to Rs 68,000 due to Chhath rush.

It is estimated that about 6-7 lakh migrants return to Bihar on the occasion of Chhath every year.

AIR FARE SKYROCKETS

Delhi to Patna air fare (in Rs)

Date Minimum Maximum

November 3 7,011 26,155

November 4 9,460 22,000

November 5 7,446 22,000

Mumbai to Patna air fare (in Rs)

Date Minimum Maximum

November 3 11900 21254

November 4 11957 33013

November 5 9566 68166

READ: Nitish Kumar turns down Mulayam Singh's invite for Samajwadi Party function, citing Chhath festival



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WHERE DO BIHARIS RETURN FROM

Delhi-NCR region is the biggest source of Chhath rush in trains headed to Bihar. It is followed by Mumbai and Lucknow.

Kolkata and Ranchi are other cities, from where people travel to Bihar to celebrate Chhath.

Chhath festival gives a big boost to Bihar's economy every year. The four-day festival is expected to result in an estimated business of Rs 300 crore this year.



WHAT IS CHHATH

Chhath is considered the biggest festival for people of Bihar. It is not that every household celebrates this festival, but the environs of the state reflect the traditional colour of Chhath.

Chhath is a four-day festival, which generally begins- depending on the calculation according to the lunar calendar- three days after Diwali. Devotees offer prayers to Sun god during the festival, which culminates in morning offering to the rising sun on the seventh day after Diwali.

According to one estimate, Chhath festival will be celebrated in about one crore households in Bihar.

ALSO READ:



Politics over Chhath Puja in Mumbai

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Wednesday received the delegation headed by President of the Belgian Senate, Christine Defraigne.

Welcoming the guests, the President attached great importance to the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the development of ties between the two countries. You are in a country, where Belgium is perceived as a friendly country and reliable partner, relations with which are based on warm links, mutual trust, similar system of values and comparable development vision.

Ms Defraigne, we are more than pleased to welcome you in Armenia, since you are always attentive to the problems of our people. You have a considerate attitude towards Armenia and issues of concern to Armenians. For many years you spared no effort to strengthen the Armenian-Belgian ties. You are always a desired and welcome guest in Armenia, Sargsyan said.

For her part, the President of the Belgian Senate thanked for the Presidents warm words and reception, agreeing with Sargsyans assessment of the Armenian-Belgian ties. Speaking of one of the proofs of our similar system of values, I must say that in 1998 the Belgian Senate was one of the first ones in European countries to adopt a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide - a powerful resolution, which was followed by the resolution of the House of Representatives and Prime Minister Charles Michels speech in 2015, leaing no place for ambiguity. And this was very important, since we have a debt to hand over to the next generation, Christine Defraigne said.

At the meeting the interlocutors also discussed the possibilities of expanding the Armenian-Belgian cooperation in all the areas of mutual interest. Apart from this, they referred to the regional challenges and issues, as well as the Karabakh conflict settlement process.
Separatists made several attacks on the facilities in the southern Thai provinces of Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat as a result of which three people were killed, five more were injured, Khaosod reported.

The attackers broke into the clock roadside shop in Pattani, poured gasoline and set the room on fire. The staff of the shop managed to escape through the emergency exit. Later police found an explosive device located near the burned-down shop of gas station.

Among the three killed Wednesday night were Sanya Samankandee and Dolmalek Leedeah, two security guards at an Isuzu showroom in the Chana district of Songkhla province. They were shot dead by militants who then bombed the building.

The third to die was soldier Noppol Kaewpetch, who was shot when four gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire at about 10pm on a military facility in Pattani province.

Southern militants rarely take responsibility for their attacks, and the military avoids giving it, preferring to play down the conflict and pin attacks on criminals.
STEPANAKERT.  The Azerbaijani official propaganda continues the policy of disseminating disinformation, so as to mislead the public.

The aforementioned is noted in a statement, which the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Ministry of Defense (NKR/Artsakh MOD) issued on Thursday.

In particular, Azerbaijani media and social media on Wednesday spread information that shells, which allegedly were fired from Armenian mortars, had fallen in several Azerbaijani regions.

The NKR MOD stated, however, that this information is inaccurate, and, furthermore, by disseminating such kinds of communiques, Azerbaijan is attempting to insure itself from further provocations.

Thee [Artsakh] DA [i.e. defense army] vanguard units strictly follow the obligations they have assumed, and they never target peaceful settlements, the NKR MOD statement also runs.
YEREVAN.  Speaker Andrej Danko of the National Council (parliament) of Slovakia, who is paying an official visit to Armenias capital city of Yerevan, and members of the Danko-led delegation, on Thursday visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

On behalf of the Slovakian parliament, they laid a wreath at the monument, placed flowers at the Eternal Flame, and paid silent tribute toand bowed beforethe memory of the Holy Martyrs of this tragedy.

The guests also toured the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, and Andrej Danko signed its honorary guestbook.

Expressing sorrow and bowing with great respect before this monument, I never try to hide my tears, wrote the speaker of the Slovakian parliament.
YEREVAN.  The fees, which Zvartnots International Airportof Armenias capital city of Yerevancharges, are not suitable for budget airlines.

Satenik Hovhannisyan, Press Secretary of the Armenian Government-Affiliated General Department of Civil Aviation (GDCA), told the abovementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am. She noted this commenting on the recent statement by low-cost Pobeda Airlines of Russia.

The [said] airline preferred Shirak Airport [of Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia]. Naturally, the tariffs of Zvartnots Airport are not suitable for budget airlines; this is accepted throughout the world, explained the GDCA spokesperson. Its a normal phenomenon that budget airlines conduct flights from non-standard airports.

Interfax news agency had informed that low-cost Pobeda Airlines of Russia will not be flying between Yerevan and Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and due to the high fee of passenger service that is charged at Zvartnots International Airport.
YEREVAN.  The E-system for submitting applications for the issuance of Armenian visas will be accessible to Chinese citizens.

The respective decision was made at Thursdays Cabinet meeting of the Government of Armenia.

A growing number of Chinese visit the country ever since 2015.

In addition, there are virtually no cases of Armenian visa applications being denied.

But the main respective difficulty for Chinese citizens is the fact that it is hard for most of them to travel to capital city Beijing, to apply to the Embassy of Armenia to be issued a visa.

For this reason, according to the said decision, it is more expedient to make the E-Visa system of Armenian visa applications become accessible to the citizens of China.
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By PTI: Kolkata, Nov 4 (PTI) China today sought to dispel the view that it was against Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

"The notion that China is against Indias entry into NSG is not right. India and China are working together in this regard," Consul General of China in Kolkata, Zhanwu Ma said.

"Entry of any country into the Nuclear Suppliers Group needs certain procedures which are to be followed. It is not that simple," Ma told reporters here.

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Asked about Chinas stand on Indo-Pak relations, he said his country was neutral.

"China is very friendly towards India. Some people do not seem to believe so. Of course, we have differences. But the shared interests outweigh the differences," the Chinese Consul General said, adding the business relations between the two countries were mutually beneficial.

"So far Indias relation with Pakistan is concerned, Chinas position is neutral. India and Pakistan should settle the impasse via negotiations only," he added. PTI DC KK SRY

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN.  The Asian Development Bank will give $50 million to Armenia for carrying out repairs to the highway leading from Vanadzor town to the border with Georgia.

The respective loan agreement was approved at Thursdays Cabinet meeting of the Government of Armenia.

The loan will be provided in euros equivalent to $50 million; that is 44 million.

The European Investment Bank is co-funding this 51 million-worth project.
YEREVAN.  The new agreement on cooperation between Armenia and the European Union (EU) will be signed in the near future.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Garen Nazarian, told the above-said to reporters, after Thursdays National Assembly respective committees hearings on the draft state budget for 2017.

We already are moving toward an important milestone. The next phase of [respective] negotiations to be held in December will perhaps enable to make the possibility of finalizing the negotiation process become visible, said Nazarian. The negotiations were pretty intense. We are optimistic that we will complete the whole process in a near future.

As per the Armenian deputy FM, the whole process can be completed by the first quarter of next year. In Garen Nazarians view, it all depends on the dynamics and the flexibility of the parties.

Both sides are trying to reflect their approaches, interests to the utmost in the document of priorities, he added.
STEPANKERT. - Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday visited convicted Azerbaijani citizens Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev.

Eteri Musayelyan, Communication Officer of the ICRC Mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, informed the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

On November 2, the ICRC in Nagorno-Karabakh visited again two Azerbaijani detainees and provided them with an opportunity to exchange family news. According to its mandate, the ICRC will continue its visits to these individuals in detention on a regular basis to monitor treatment and conditions of detention and help to ensure that the detainees are able to maintain contact with their families, Musayelyan said.

As reported earlier, Dilham Askerov was charged with espionage; unauthorized border trespass; kidnapping and violence against a minor, committed by an organized group; murder committed by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred; and attempt of murder of two persons, committed by an organized group, motivated by ethnic hatred. Shahbaz Guliyev was charged with espionage; unauthorized border trespass; kidnapping and violence against a minor, committed by an organized group; and murder committed by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred.

On December 29, 2014, the First Instance General Jurisdiction Court of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic had sentenced Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev to life and 22 years, respectively, in prison. Subsequently, the NKR Courts of Appeal and Cassation upheld this verdict.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pointed to the need for new impulses, which will help to intensify negotiations on the Syrian settlement between Moscow and Washington, RIA Novosti reported.

Following the results of negotiations with chief coordinator High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Riad, German Foreign Minister said that it was necessary to make so that forthcoming shift of the American administration did not result a vacuum, therefore they urgently needed new impulses for negotiations between Moscow and Washington, but also between regional forces.

According to Steinmeier, the ceasefire regime was the first step to peaceful settlement.
YEREVAN. - The tension on the border doesnt reduce, this once again proving that the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Peterbsurg must be implemented.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Shavarsh Kocharyan, told the aforementioned o journalists Thursday after the parliamentary hearings on draft 2017 State Budget.

Our request is directed exactly at this, Kocharyan said.

To the observation that the Armenian side perhaps gives insufficient assessment to the steps of Azerbaijan, the Deputy FM said: One cannot hold back the shooter by words, lets understand this correctly. The problem is very simple. As to words, whatever is needed is said.

Referring to the possible meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Kocharyan noted that there is no such agreement but the issue concerns only the possible meeting between the ministers.

Rumors are circulated on the possible meeting between Sargsyan and Aliyev in December.
YEREVAN. - The April events showed that we are dealing with a subject which can violate its international obligations any time.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Shavarsh Kocharyan, stated the aforementioned Thursday, during the parliamentary hearings on draft 2017 State Budget.

In his words, Armenia realized this before as well but now this has become apparent for others too. Observation of the ceasefire agreement of 1994 is the international obligation of Azerbaijan.

The Deputy FM recalled that the negotiation process over Karabakh was taking place between two subjects  Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh - but at the last moment Azerbaijan, through the mediation of Russian diplomat Vladimir Kazimirov, said that Armenia must also join the talks.

The fact that Armenia is a subject of international law confirms that Azerbaijan violated its international obligation, Kocharyan stressed.
YEREVAN. - Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Thursday held a consultation devoted to the prospects for IT information technology development.

Ministers and IT sphere representatives took part in the discussion.

I consider this area as one of the greatest impellent forces of our economy and am ready to discuss with you all issues related to IT  educational system, universities, specialist preparation, administrative mechanisms, etc., the PM said at the outset of the consultation, adding that he expects to hear the ideas and specific proposals of those present regarding governments steps towards the IT sphere development.

A number of ideas and draft programs drawn out for the development of the area have been presented to the Government. Specifically, the issues discussed included establishment of an engineering town and cybersecurity excellence center, increase in technological entrepreneurship funding and possibilities of implementing IT educational programs in high schools and universities.

During the exchange of ideas, reference was also made to the qualitative changes of the educational system, demand for specialists and other issues related to the education-business-science model.

The PM also inquired about the results of certain programs implemented jointly with the Armenian Government, attaching importance to their continuity.

I need a program which would turn the world upside down. Besides specific programs, what should we change so that your area, business and market can develop? What hinders your? I need to understand the policy of your area both to increase the number of qualitatively good specialists and productivity in the GDP, he noted.

According to Karapetyan, the Government is setting up an investment fund, which will be a tool for supporting business, including the IT sphere.

The most difficult question today is providing means from the budget in conditions of our budget deficit. But we can participate in another way  through the property and assets that we have. If you create a group, which would study and make proposals on your and our actions, we can move in this direction, the PM said.

In this context, he instructed the Minister of Transport, Communication and Informational Technologies to work jointly with the IT sphere representatives in precisely formulating their joint actions, as well as drawing out and submitting specific program proposals with targeted actions and results.
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Orlando, Nov 3 (PTI) Launching an all-out blitz, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama cautioned Americans against a Donald Trump presidency by painting a grim picture of the country under him as the tight White House race entered its final phase.

"Imagine it is January 20, 2017 and imagine that it is Donald Trump standing in front of the Capitol," Clinton said at a rally in Tempe, Arizona.

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"Imagine that he is taking the oath of office and then imagine that he is in the Oval Office making the decisions that affect your lives and your future," she said.

Clinton painted a picture of her Republican nominee as a president who demeans women, aggravates racial divisions and could "start a real war instead of a Twitter war."

Obama echoed the views of his former secretary of state at an election rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, yesterday.

He said Clintons opponent was someone whom his own party leaders in the past had declared a con artist.

"This choice actually is pretty clear, because the guy that the Republicans nominated -- even though a bunch of them knew they shouldnt nominate him - the guy they nominated who many of the Republicans he is running against said was a con-artist and a know-nothing and wasnt qualified to hold this office," Obama alleged.

"This guy is temperamentally unfit to be Commander in Chief and he is not equipped to be President. This should not be a controversial claim. It really shouldnt. Its strange how, over time, what is crazy gets normalised and we just kind of assume, well, you know what, he said a hundred crazy things, so the hundred-and-first thing we just dont even notice," he said.

Obama said the US could not afford a President who suggests that America should torture people or that it should ban entire religions from the country.

"We deserve better than a Commander-in-Chief who insults POWs, or attacks a Gold Star mom, or denigrates our troops. This is somebody who vilifies minorities, vilifies immigrants, vilifies people of Muslim faith, makes fun of Americans with disabilities," he said.

"How is that person going to be your voice? Do you want somebody to be your voice who on tape brags about how being famous allows him to get away with sexual assault? Who calls women pigs, or dogs, or slobs and grades them on a scale of one to ten? That is not the voice of America," Obama asked and the audience responded with a big "No".

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Obama asserted that there is only one candidate in this race who has devoted her entire life to lifting up that better America -- and "that is next President of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton".

"Shes the right person. Shes the right person at the right time," Obama said. PTI LKJ MRJ ASK AKJ ASK

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN. - Armenian start-ups have great potential and arent in any way inferior to all the teams which I have met during my activity.

Founder of ABRT venture fund, Anton Timashov, told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am.

Timashov was among the professional jury during the final stage of UpStart StartUp Competition held in Yerevan on October 29.

Referring to the preconditions of successful start-ups, he noted that the most important thing here is perhaps the correctly chosen team and the idea. Having listened to the speeches of these fifteen teams, I can say that I am impressed by the solutions proposed by them, the ABRT founder said.

When starting a start-up, Anton Timashov advises to pay attention to several directions. I think, the most trendy directions now are solutions for artificial intelligence, health and security systems. I would advise to pay attention to these solutions when developing a solution, he added.

The final stage of UpStart StartUp Competition took place on October 27. MapWork start-up was recognized as the winner of the competition.
The European Union and the French Foreign Ministry are concerned about closing Amnesty International office in Moscow. The reason, as the Russian authorities claim, they sealed the office, is evasion from paying rents. Amnesty personnel claims that the organization submitted a request to check the payment, but it will be discussed only after 3 weeks. Brussels and the French Embassy in Moscow voice complaints concerning closing Amnesty office in Moscow.

"We are in contact with Amnesty International, both at their European HQ and in Moscow, who maintain that the reasons provided by the Moscow authorities are wholly inaccurate," reads the statement by the spokesman of Europe's foreign policy.

" France calls on the Russian authorities to ensure that Amnesty International, as well as the other international organizations that defend human rights, be able to pursue their activities, says the statement of the French Foreign Ministry. At the same time, Amnesty's Russian office claims that the Department of Property confirmed that the organization does not owe any payment.
YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Thursday attended the meeting of the Central Territorial Initial Organization of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the RPA headquarters informs Armenian News  NEWS.am.

The agenda of the meeting included the report of the organizations head, election of the organizations president and deputies, as well as the issue on the election of the delegates of the 16th RPA congress. As a result of the voting, Serzh Sargsyan was elected the congress delegate.

Sargsyan thanked for the confidence and responded to the questions of interest to the meeting participants.
YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Thursday received the delegation led by the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Andrej Danko.

Welcoming the guests, the President stressed that Armenia attaches great importance to the inter-parliamentary cooperation, considering it as an important component of interstate ties. Sargsyan expressed hope that the visit of the Speaker of the Slovakian National Council will open a new page in the process of strengthening and deepening of ties between the legislative bodies of the two friendly states. The President also noted that although this is the first visit of Mr Danko to Armenia as a Speaker of the National Council, he remembers his visit to Armenia in April 2015 in the framework of the events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In this context, President Sargsyan expressed gratitude to Adrej Danko for his principled stance on the Armenian Genocide recognition and condemnation, also highly appreciating the efforts of the National Council representatives, who contributed to the recognition, condemnation and criminalization of the Armenian Genocide by Slovakia.

The Armenian President expressed satisfaction with the fact that Slovakia is one of the key partners of Armenia in Europe, with which the country is eager to expand and develop cooperation in political, trade and economic, cultural and other areas of mutual interest.

The interlocutors considered efficient the Armenian-Slovakian cooperation in the framework of international organizations.

The Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic thanked on behalf of him and the delegation led by him for the warm hospitality in Armenia, stressing that he greatly respects the Armenian people and its centuries-long history and highly appreciates the Armenian peoples contribution to the European civilization.

Apart from the Armenian-Slovakian bilateral ties, the interlocutors also referred to the Armenian-EU relations based on common European values and regional issues, including the Karabakh conflict and international recognition process of the Armenian Genocide.
YEREVAN.  Zhamanak newspaper has learned that opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) former Chairman, tycoon, and MP Gagik Tsarukyan will return to Armenia next Monday, and he immediately will start discussionswith political, business, and social circleson his possible return to politics, reported the newspaper.

[But] Tsarukyan does not intend to return to politics as the PAP leader, but rather, he plans to become the leader of a pan-Armenian body that is beyond [political] party, a part of which the PAP also can become.

Tsarukyan [also] intends to have a private conversation with [President] Serzh Sargsyan regarding his plans on returning [to politics], wrote Zhamanak.
The independent directors today unanimously expressed their full confidence in the chairman, Cyrus Mistry, and praised the steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership to the company.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Amid chaos and skirmishes between the security guards and the media outside Bombay House here, Indian Hotels held its board meet with Cyrus Mistry in the chair -- the first for a Tata Sons firm after the 49-year-old industrialist was ousted as the group chairman.

Evidently, this round went to Mistry. Even as the company deliberated on the second quarter results and reported a net consolidated loss of Rs 38.38 crore, against Rs 116.79 crore for the like quarter of the previous year, not much emerged on the actual atmospherics of the meeting.

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But in a statement later, independent directors expressed full confidence in the chairman.

"Taking into account board assessments and performance evaluations carried out over the years, the independent directors unanimously expressed their full confidence in the chairman, Cyrus Mistry, and praised the steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership to the company," it said.

Also read: Ratan Tata on Cyrus Mistry's sacking: New, permanent Tata Sons leadership soon



"After deliberations, the independent directors came to a view that being a listed company, it was imperative for the independent directors to state their views to the investors and public at large, such that those who trade in securities of the company make an informed decision."

The company's said in a regulatory filing that its consolidated total income from operations stood at Rs 884.95 crore, against Rs 894.37 crore. Among other items, it also reported a loss of Rs 103.07 crore on account of the sale of Boston property.

After his ouster as Tata Sons chairman, Mistry had charged the management of Indian Hotels with selling properties at a loss.

EXPLOSIVE LETTER



"The onerous terms of the lease for Pierre in New York are such that it would make it a challenge to exit," he had said in a letter to the Tata Sons board, soon after his ouster, which made its way to the media and raised several queries.

"Indian Hotels, beyond flawed international strategy, had acquired the Searock property at highly inflated price and housed in an off balance sheet structure. In the process of unravelling this legacy, Indian Hotel has had to write down nearly its entire net worth over past three years," he said.

"This impairs its ability to pay dividends."

Also read: No Cyrus mystery: All you need to know about sacked Tata chairman



The developments have had an impact on the stock prices of the company. In the eight trading sessions since his removal, the shares of Indian Hotels have fallen nearly 14 percent -- from Rs 129.75 to Rs 112.

As regards the scenes outside Bombay House, private security personnel allegedly assaulted media photographers who had gathered there to cover the arrival of Tata Sons' sacked chairman Cyrus P. Mistry for a board meeting at the headquarters.

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PHOTOGRAPHER INJURED



At least one photographer was virtually pinned down by four-five security personnel, brutally punched, slapped and then pushed away from the building entrance in south Mumbai's busy Fort area.

The camera and other equipment of at least two photographers was badly damaged or broken by the security personnel in the fracas.

Among the lensmen beaten up were Atul Kamble (Mid-Day), Suryakant Riwate (Business Standard) and Arijit Sen (Hindustan Times), who have been admitted to the St. George Hospital for treatment.

Also read: Be your own man, Ratan Tata's advice to his successor Cyrus Mistry



Police arrived on the scene a short while later and were in the process of lodging complaints on the matter. However, hours after the incident the Tata Group released a statement expressing their apology. In the statement, Tata Group also said that it will ensure that such situation does not reoccur.



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At least a person was killed and around 30 were injured as a result of car bombing in Diyarbakir, southeast of Turkey, The Guardian reported.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast in the Baglar district but the explosion resounded through the city and ambulances rushed to the scene.

The police sealed off the scene. Police helicopters were patrolling.

The attack followed the overnight arrests of 11 lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), the member of which are mainly the Kurds living in the region, as well as leftists and progressives throughout Turkey.
Three Chinese citizens were detained in Georgia, and on charges of deliberately inflicting bodily injuries.

The respective investigation found out that, on Thursday evening, these persons had caused injuries to four Georgian nationals, and as a result of an argument.

All three suspects were detained, reported Georgia Online news agency.

Eyewitnesses reported that because of language problems, the employees of a Chinese company had thought that the Georgian villagers wanted to take home the wood belonging to the company.

Three witnesses had tried to intervene in the dispute, but several dozen Chinese had attacked and brutally beaten them.
Several Delhi residents have been dealing with the poison in the air, even as they think that morning walks are beneficial. In reality, it could turn fatal.

By Priyanka Sharma: Here's an advisory for one and all in the Capital: early morning walk can lead to severe health hazards, with the city's toxic air touching the danger mark.

MORNING WALKS COULD TURN FATAL

At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, 62-year-old Delhi resident Ajeet Singh is now battling for his life after he complained of severe breathlessness while returning from morning walk. And he is not alone. Several Delhi residents have been dealing with the poison in the air, even as they think that morning walks are beneficial. In reality, it could turn fatal.

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According to a doctor treating Ajeet, he was suffering from asthma for the last five years. His condition got worsened due to toxic air of Delhi that he inhaled during the morning walk. Ajeet has now been put on non-invasive ventilation. With smog hanging heavy on Delhi's air, doctors are now advising that the walks should be scheduled during the noon when the pollution level is slightly lower.

Health experts also say that face masks that are available at the medical shops are not enough to help those with respiratory diseases. According to experts, the masks have small pores which forces the user to exert more pressure while breathing. Anyone with a respiratory condition will be in a difficult situation and the mask will not be helpful. However, those without any condition can use these masks as a preventive measure.

HOW SMOG IS CAUSING RESPIRATORY ISSUES

Dr Arup Basu, senior pulmonologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, told Mail Today: "Right now people are facing two types of respiratory issues. One is the upper respiratory tract infection, which includes irritation in the eyes and throat, dry cough, fever and mental irritation. The other one is lower respiratory tract infection that leads to bronchitis, weakness and breathlessness due to his exposure to polluted air."

He said one of his patients, a 12-year-old student, who also suffers from asthma since his birth. "For the past few months, my patient was not using inhalers, but now he is using it again. His condition became so severe that we had to admit him for medication. He is now recovering," the doctor said. Citing a similar example of how severe smog in the morning is affecting people in Delhi, Dr Vikas Maurya, director of internal respiratory medicine at BLK Super Speciality Hospital said: "One of my patients used to take her child to school bus stop every morning.

She suffers from asthma. Now her condition has become so bad that she cannot leave her hose in the morning." According to Dr Raj Kumar, head of respiratory medicine at Patel Chest Institute, this is a bad time for all those with respiratory condition. "Diseases get exacerbated during these times of smog and pollution. Elderly people and young children must be extra careful and should avoid moving out in the morning," Kumar said.

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Prolonged exposure to severely polluted air may also affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases, while very poor category of air may cause respiratory illness, experts say. Dr Atul Kumar, senior eye surgeon at AIIMS, said that due to severe pollution, people also suffer from redness, irritation and itching of eyes. He said the outpatient department of the hospital is trying to best to deal with the rush of patients after Diwali. It's the same at other hospitals as well where large number of patients affected due to pollution are visiting the OPDs.

Delhi is witnessing hazardous smog, worst in 17 years. A senior IMD official said the pollutants are barely dispersing due to calm wind movement and foggy conditions. The situation might improve in the next three-four days, he said.



ALSO READ:

Delhi is choking. Can air purifiers save the day?

Delhi government releases data on action taken against those polluting the air

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, who is on a visit to Germany, on Friday met, at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in capital city Berlin, with Bundestag members as well as leading political scientists and analysts of the country.

Vice-President Edelgard Bulmahn of the German Bundestag also was in attendance to this event.

Appreciating the Bundestags adoption of the resolution on Armenian Genocide recognition, the Armenian FM lauded this principled position by the German legislature.

The discussants conferred on Armenian-German cooperation as well as the prospects for its further strengthening and deepening.

Separately, Nalbandian reflected on Armenia-European Union relations.

In addition, the FM of Armenia briefed the interlocutors on the details of the large-scale hostilities which Azerbaijan had unleashed against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), in early April.

He also spoke about the ongoing efforts, by Armenia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group co-chair countries (Russia, US, and France), to push the Nagorno Karabakh peace process forward. In this connection, the minister noted, however, that Azerbaijan refuses to implement the respective agreements, and continues to aggravate the situation along its line of contact with Artsakh.

The FM also informed the German lawmakers and analysts on the continued reforms in Armenia.

Furthermore, the interlocutors reflected on several urgent regional matters, and the avenues for their resolution.

Edward Nalbandian also responded to numerous questions posed by those participating in this talk.
The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on Friday attended the official opening of a new customs terminal on the border with Georgia.

Sargsyan toured this terminals departments, which are equipped with modern apparatus, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed from on location.

The modernization of Armenias three checkpoints on the border with Georgia is carried out with assistance by the European Union (EU), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The budget of this project is 52.13 million.

Two of these three checkpointsnamely, Bagratashen and Gogavanare actually in operation since October, whereas work is still in progress at the Bavra checkpoint.
YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Friday visited the site of the future Friendship Bridge which is to cross Debed river, Armenian News  NEWS.am correspondent reports.

The construction agreements are scheduled to be signed in the first quarter of 2017, while the bridge will be commissioned in summer or fall 2018.

In his speech, Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia, Vahan Martirosyan, underscored the importance of developing transportation links between Armenia, Georgia and Iran. The new bridge will replace the old one built back in the 1960s. It will have a capacity to bear the current cargo traffic and attract transit cargo. The financial sources of the project include the loan taken out by the Armenian Government, as well as the co-funding of the Armenian and Georgian governments.

For his part, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Genadi Arveladze, stated that the republic is ready to modernize its road network to provide a wide and convenient transportation corridor both from west to east, and from north to south.

The Minister and Deputy Minister also noted the significance of the project as a symbol of the long-lasting friendship of the two neighboring countries and peoples.

The agreement on the bridge construction, signed by the Armenian and Georgian governments, entered into force in June 2015. The bridge will be built by means of the 10.3 mln euro loan provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Tender for choosing a contractor and technical controller has already been announced. It is carried out through the efforts of the Armenian and Georgian governments in cooperation with EBRD.
YEREVAN.  New checkpoint in Armenia will allow a smoother crossing of border with Georgia, Mr Hoa Binh Adjemian, Head of Cooperation Section of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Armenia, told reporters Friday, at the opening ceremony of Bagratashen crossing point.

Inauguration was attended by the president of Armenia, Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, and the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili, accompanied by top officials of both countries, members of the EU delegation to Armenia, and the regional officers of the European Investment Bank (chief donor of the project).

Bagratashen checkpoint is one of the two checkpoints on Georgian border, which were inaugurated today. The other is Gogavan, and the final one, Bavra (connecting north of Armenia with the Armenian-speaking Javakheti region of Georgia) is scheduled to open up before the end of 2016.

All these checkpoints are replacements of older ones at the same locations, and are to be equipped with modern devices for passport and luggage control of citizens, sanitary control of products of animal and vegetable origin, as well as for custom clearance and security systems. Upgrade of all the three checkpoints is made through the project, which totals 52.13 million euro, 90% of which is funded by the EU, through its various institutions.

But the Union is going one step further, Adjemian said. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has signed with Armenia a loan of 10.3 million euro, to complement the new checkpoint with a cross-border bridge from Bagratashen to Sadakhlo in Georgia.

The construction of what is referred to as the Friendship Bridge is expected to start in the 1st quarter of 2017 and to be completed in the summer or fall of 2018.

European institutions are assisting lifeline road construction both in Armenia (M1 (North-South highway) and M6 interstate roads) and Georgia (East-West highway).

The brand new checkpoint, opening today, will be enhanced with our yet another ongoing project for Armenia, of 20 million euro. It is intended to ensure interoperability of all databases of the Armenian Government. This, in particular, will enable to provide single window public services at the customs, Adjemian concluded.
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who visited Bagratashen on Friday to attend the official opening ceremony of the new border crossing point and get familiarized with the preparatory work of the Armenian-Georgian Friendship Bridge, on the same day met with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvrikiashvili, who has arrived in Armenian on that occasion.

Welcoming PM Kvirikashvili, the Armenian President attached importance to the high-level regular meetings, which, according to him, contribute to the strengthening of ties and enable discussing in constructive and warm atmosphere issues of mutual interest on the bilateral agenda. At the outset of the meeting, President Sargsyan congratulated Giorgi Kvirikashvili and all Georgian citizens on successful parliamentary elections and confident victory of Georgian Dream Party. Sargsyan expressed conviction that the new Georgian parliament and government will consistently continue the reform policy in favor of the future development and prosperity of Georgia, as well as further strengthening of the Armenian-Georgia good neighborly relations.

The interlocutors expressed satisfaction with the fact that the two friendly and neighboring states are consistently developing their political cooperation and intensifying interstate meetings thus creating a solid basis for raising the bilateral ties to a qualitatively new level.

The Armenian President and Georgian PM also referred to the possibilities of expanding the trade and economic cooperation, including in the areas of transportation communication, energy, tourism, agriculture, etc.

The Georgian PM congratulated the Armenian President on the opening of the new crossing point, noting that significant work has been carried out. Kvrikashvili also attached importance to the work carried out in direction of infrastructure modernization, which, according to him, will contribute to the development of economy in Armenia, as well as deepening of the Armenian-Georgian trade and economic cooperation.

Apart from this, Serzh Sargsyan and Giorgi Kvirikashvili exchanged views on pressing international and regional issues.
The civic body has made the breezy rooftop facilities inaccessible to guests - mostly the city's youngsters and foreign tourists - who enjoyed barbecue, drinks and the sparkling view of CP's buzzing traffic from the balconies on pleasant evenings.

The NDMC ruling comes as a blow to restaurateurs who mint maximum revenue during winters as the season is a favourite with visitors who prefer to lounge under the open sky

By Baishali Adak: Restobars in Connaught Place are counting their losses as an NDMC crackdown on illegal commercial use of terraces is driving away droves of party animals from their favourite watering holes.

ROOFTOP FACILITIES INACCESSIBLE

The civic body has made the breezy rooftop facilities inaccessible to guests - mostly the city's youngsters and foreign tourists - who enjoyed barbecue, drinks and the sparkling view of CP's buzzing traffic from the balconies on pleasant evenings. At least half-a-dozen restobars Mail Today visited in the shopping arcade rued the New Delhi Municipal Council's month-old order to lock down the terraces. Some others, whose terraces were functioning, admitted to receiving a circular from the municipal agency asking the "illegal" spaces to be closed, but said they were "discussing the issue" with the NDMC.

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Ajit Ajmani, co-owner of My Bar Headquarters, said, "We are already losing 10-15 per cent revenue. If this continues into December and January, we will lose 30-40 per cent of our evening revenue daily." Authorities should consider reframing laws to allow the use of terraces and most restaurateurs would agree to an additional charge, he said.

VIOLATIONS

Bars and restaurants catering to the young spring up almost every week in Connaught Place's grand colonnaded buildings. Mail Today had reported on September 28 that the New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA), a group of ground floor shop owners in CP, had written to NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar, complaining about "excess load on the heritage structure due to wild mushrooming of restaurants." Kumar had then said that the agency was in the process of closing the terraces at the least.

The law cited to do this was Delhi Building Bye-laws, 1983. Also, as a senior NDMC official explained, "All the terraces being used as extensions of restaurants and bars violate the NDMC Act, Section 252 (Misuse of premises beyond sanction)." "Further, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) had approved a certain design and usage plan for the terraces during CP Redevelopment Project at Commonwealth Games time in 2010. It had clearly asked the terraces to be kept untouched, their faade unspoilt and to be used only as emergency and fire exit," he added. However, CP restaurateurs are clearly upset.

"The world over, the flavour is open-air and terrace restaurants," said Ujjwal Ashiwal, general manager of Warehouse Caf. "If you go to Bali, there are several such beautiful restaurants from the roof of which you can enjoy a spectacular view of the Kuta and Denpasar markets while dining. Then in Dubai, there are several high-rise tower terrace restaurants, which offer a great view of the sail-shaped luxury hotel, Burj Al Arab. Why can't we emulate that?"

SAFETY CONCERNS

NDMC officials, though, pointed to the safety and security concerns raised by the "misuse". In August, a fire broke out at another nightlife hub, Hauz Khas Village, killing a young businessman and injuring a French woman. Khyati Pathak, PR manager of Open House Caf, said, "There is nothing like the view of the Central Park in Connaught Place, the huge national flag, and the golden lights of the traffic passing by during winter evenings. We have two terrace seating spaces - one is a romantic spot preferred by couples and the other by groups of friends and professionals to drink and enjoy. We feel really bad when we have to turn them down saying that the terrace is closed."

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Sanjay Singh, General Manager, Tamasha, said, "We opened only on February 2016. It's the first time that we have closed our terrace, which is hugely popular with seating for at least 45-50 people."



ALSO READ:

Two liqueurs you wouldn't find in bars easily, but have an interesting story





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YEREVAN. - Party affiliation shouldnt be used in the educational sphere of Armenia.

Minister of Education and Science of Armenia, Levon Mkrtchyan, said the aforementioned on Friday, during the parliamentary hearings on draft 2017 State Budget.

Secretary of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) faction Aram Manukyan noted that according to surveys, the sphere of education is one of the most corrupted ones in the country: Principals of about 1100 schools are members of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). We have quite a politicized educational system. What is done to get rid of corruption and depoliticize the educational system? Ive heard that you want to depoliticize it, Manukyan noted.

Responding to the deputys question, Mkrtchyan noted that any phenomenon existing in the society can find its reflection in the educational sphere as well. I dont think that the peak of corruption is exactly in the educational sphere. But it is definitely necessary to fight against corruption. As to the political affiliation in education, I have always been against it: party affiliation must not exist in the educational sphere, the Minister stressed.

According to him, a new law on higher education, which will enhance the legislative grounds excluding party affiliation in the education system, will soon be introduced in the parliament.
Prior to his working visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh), Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Friday met with the leaders of Syunik province communities in the town of Goris.

The PM noted that the main objective of the meeting is to discuss the issues and development prospects of the province. We must all realize one simple truth: We and only we will build our country, our house, our theatre and our village; we shouldnt wait for someone to come and change the situation for better. We will speak openly and frankly, and besides presenting the issues it is necessary to propose solutions and note which part of the solution will be taken up by the province, considering all its resources, and what is expected from the government, Karapetyan noted.

Thereafter, Governor of Syunik, Vahe Hakobyan, presented the programs planned to be implemented in the province in different areas. He also noted that the main efforts will be aimed at the proportional development of the province. It was reported that the development strategy of Syunik has already been drawn out, aiming to ensure new quality of life there. In this context, in the future it is planned to establish Syunik Development Investment Fund, which will deal with promotion of investment programs in different areas and creation of workplaces.

New emergency restoration services will be provided in five towns of the province in the future, which will ensure new workplaces. Work aimed at establishing rubber material processing and pipe manufacturing plants in Kapan is also underway, this also ensureing several dozens of workplaces. Apart from this, the program I was born in Syunikhas kicked off, which aims to support Syunik residents, who have achieved success in different areas abroad, to implement projects in the province. Moreover, negotiations are held with the Iranian side on exporting meat products and processed wool. It was also noted that public and youth councils will operate adjunct to the Governors Office, which will enable the public to present their proposals and issues of concern.

Besides, reference was made to the issues of education, agriculture, health and problems existing in other areas. Underscoring the importance of education, Karapetyan noted that the education system is a primary issue for Armenia.

Referring to the agriculture development, the PM said that the state must help successful farmers, who have potential, so that the others can seek to achieve their standards. Our first target is the workplace, that is helping the working man, he stressed.

According to Karapetyan, it is necessary to value the existing potential and come up with different initiatives and programs. Considering their efficiency, the state will provide support for their implementation. If you dont have an idea what city and community you want, you have no way to achieve your goals. Be sure that we cannot but build a good country. But each of us should take part in this, the PM stressed.

Issues related to road construction, gas and water supply, as well as infrastructure development were also discussed at the meeting.
YEREVAN. - Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, who met with the leaders of the countrys Syunik province communities on Friday, presented his view on what he would do if he were a community leader.

If I were a community leader, I would assess our potential and what we can make money on. We are ashamed of using this word but we must think what will make us rich, where we will get an added value. I would think on what I can do as a community leader to enable a working man to earn money and give work to another, Karapetyan said.

According to him, he would then think on how to increase the budget. Afterwards he would give a diagnosis and start working with ministries.

A community leader should be able to tell about the problems of his community even when woken up at midnight, the PM said.

Karen Karapetyan on Friday paid a working visit to Syunik, where he had a meeting with community leaders.
Editors' pick: Originally published Nov. 7.

Could an activist hedge fund drive Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) to put itself on the market?

At least one analyst following the fast-food donut and restaurant chain believes the answer is yes. John Gordon, restaurant analyst at Pacific Management Consulting, suggests that an activist at Dunkin' Brands could agitate for a sale of the chain, and that Yum! Brands (YUM) might be a possible buyer now that it has completed the separation of its China business. Yum!, the company behind Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut, completed the spinoff of its China unit on Nov. 1.

For Gordon, a Yum! acquisition of Dunkin' Brands would help boost the donut company's international growth. Yum! is already subject to an activist that is likely looking for more growth-oriented deal-making. And the restaurant chain has the infrastructure and expertise in place to help Dunkin' Brands expand its franchised model successfully.

"Dunkin' Brands hasn't been successful internationally," Gordon said. "Yum! would have the international infrastructure and business development expertise in place so it could slide Dunkin' Brands into its existing organization."

Dunkin' Brands currently has roughly 5,000 Baskin-Robbins and 3,000 Dunkin' Donuts locations outside of the U.S., which, as a group, haven't performed well lately, posting negative same-store sales for the past three quarters. Gordon noted that it opened 11 Dunkin' Donuts International locations in the third quarter, a low number signaling weakness.

Would Yum! be interested in making a major acquisition? It's a serious possibility. Yum! CFO David Gibbs told an investor conference on Oct. 11 that if there were an acquisition that the Louisville, Ky., company could make to "accelerate" its growth, it would "certainly be considered."

In addition, Greg Creed, Yum! CEO, told investors that the company has enough cash to pursue an acquisition despite its commitment to return $13.5 billion to shareholders between 2015 and 2019 in stock buybacks and dividend distributions. "If an opportunity arose, we've got plenty of liquidity and we've got plenty of cash to take advantage of it," Creed said at the conference.

In fact, Yum! had about $2.9 billion in cash as of September, up from $861 million in the same period last year, according to its October quarterly report. "The cash amount is way up, fueling the speculation that something could be done with it before it is dividended out or used to reduce debt," Gordon said.

Sharon Zackfia, restaurant analyst at William Blair, said that one positive aspect to a Yum!-Dunkin' Brands combination would be that there isn't much overlap when it comes to each company's businesses. "They are both franchised concepts and there would be little cannibalization of Dunkin' by Yum!'s KFC or Taco Bell," Zackfia said.

However, she noted that it would be easier to accelerate Dunkin' Brands' international operations if the company could improve its existing franchised locations first.

Alternatively, an activist could agitate to have Yum! acquire Subway, which is privately held and has over 44,000 locations inside the U.S. and outside. The sandwich retailer's co-founder, Fred DeLuca, passed away last year, leaving DeLuca's sister, Suzanne Greco, in charge. Gordon contends that Subway could be a target for acquisition in the months to come.

"The trouble with Subway is they overdeveloped stores in the U.S. and DeLuca's sister is running the place and she doesn't have the brand transformational skills," Gordon said.

In response, a subway spokesman said that Greco grew up in the business and has served in many different roles, including sandwich artist and R&D, and is "leading the evolution of Subway." In addition, he added that Subway owners have "consistently said the brand is not for sale."

Corvex Management's Keith Meister, a protege of Carl Icahn, has been agitating at Yum! for some time. Meister initially pushed for a separation of the China business, and in 2015, Yum! added the activist manager to its board just as it said a decision was imminent on a strategic review it was working on. The insurgent manager owned 21 million shares, with a $1.7 billion value, as of its most recent positions filing in August. Meister, who is still on the board, could push for Yum! to acquire Dunkin' Brands, Subway or other fast-food chains to drive growth.

However, Zackfia said she was skeptical that Yum! would be interested in buying Subway, partly because with its numerous locations in the U.S. and abroad it may be too far along on the maturity curve for the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut owner. "Yum! would likely want something younger that they can grow," she said.

Another fast-food company that could become an M&A target in the months to come is Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) . The burrito chain is under pressure from activist investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, which has a 9% stake.

One activist fund manager, who requested anonymity, told The Deal that he believed that Ackman could try to force a merger between Restaurant Brands International (QSR) , which owns Burger King and Tim Hortons, and Chipotle. In addition to Ackman's large Chipotle stake, the embattled insurgent fund has a 17% stake in Restaurant Brands and could be trying to drive growth at QSR and reap a premium on his investment in Chipotle.

In addition, a large swath of Chipotle's shareholders aren't happy with the company's performance and executive compensation, including CtW Investment Fund, an organization that advises pensions for unions that is seeking to have the company replace one of its co-founders with an independent director.

Feeling the heat, the burrito chain responded last month with a dizzying array of new initiatives targeted at igniting growth at the same time that it posted a disastrous third quarter.

How would a deal work?

It is extremely unlikely that Restaurant Brands International will be a candidate for an activist-pressured takeover anytime soon. Private equity firm 3G Capital, co-founded by Alexandre Behring, controls Restaurant Brands International's exchangeable units that convert into about 43% of the voting interest in the company, a major impediment to any dissident-director election effort.

But a Restaurant Brands acquisition of Chipotle would have problems as well. Gordon notes that QSR has accumulated a substantial amount of debt when it was formed to combine Burger King and Tim Hortons in 2014, and as a result it is likely to spend the next few years on developing its existing brands.

Instead of a deal, Ackman could pressure the burrito chain to shift its company-owned model into a franchised approach in a move that could drive a hike in capital distributions to shareholders. The idea is simply to sell company-owned stores to their operators or other interested parties to raise cash. Chipotle currently does not franchise and would have to establish the appropriate infrastructure, which includes setting up operational support systems, training and setting up of franchise advisory councils, as well as construction assistance.

However, Zackfia noted that an activist wouldn't need to push Chipotle into franchising to raise cash for a hike in its capital distribution plan. "They have no existing debt so they wouldn't have to do franchising to raise [capital] to repurchase more shares," Zackfia said.

In addition, it would take significant time for Chipotle to shift to a franchising model, domestically, internationally or both. "There are systems and infrastructure that need to be set up to do franchising. It would take at least 12 months to do it," Zackfia said.

Still, Ackman could also be privately pressuring Chipotle to expand globally, beyond its 20 or so non-U.S. company-owned locations. Whether driven privately by Ackman or not, the burrito chain appears to be looking to do just that. It recently brought in a new managing director for its European business, Jim Slater, who previously worked at Costa Coffee. Chipotle co-CEO Montgomery Moran told analysts last month that "expanding ... in Europe holds a lot of promise" for the chain's future.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally published by The Deal, a sister publication of TheStreet that offers sophisticated insight and analysis on all types of deals, from inception to integration. Click here for a free trial.
OSHA Focusing on Amputations in Region VI

OSHA's announcement said this campaign is beginning immediately with a targeted enforcement phase, including on-site inspections and a review of employers in industries with machinery that exposes workers to amputation hazards.

OSHA announced it is making a targeted enforcement effort, a surge, it said, to protect workers in manufacturing in four Region VI states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Amputation cause more than 1,400 serious injuries in the United States each year and, during 2015, OSHA received reports of more than 2,600 amputations nationwide, with 57 percent of them suffered by manufacturing workers. The agency has been concentrating on preventing them, requiring them to be reported promptly, and carrying out enforcement cases after they occur.

The campaign's goal is to enforce safety regulations and hold employers responsible for protecting workers. "Our focus on amputation hazards reminds employers that safety and health should remain a top priority," said Kelly C. Knighton, regional administrator for OSHA. "We can only hope that the focus on this issue will reduce the potential for continued worker exposure to unguarded machines and equipment."

OSHA's announcement said this campaign is beginning immediately with a targeted enforcement phase, including on-site inspections and a review of employers in industries with machinery that exposes workers to amputation hazards, and federal safety and health inspectors will evaluate operations, working conditions, recordkeeping, and safety and health programs.
Profits Should Not Come At the Cost of Workplace Safety

I met with a CFO several years ago who was quick to say he thought business insurance was "a pain in my butt." But what I came to learn was that it wasn't insurance that made him miserable, it was a whopping 1.37 experience mod driving up his workers' comp premiums that was threatening to put him out of business. It was obvious that just saving money wasn't going to help him stay in business. He needed desperately to get his house in order.

Workplace safety was a major issue at his business, a virtual minefield of accidents waiting to happen with no hope of safely navigating them unless some changes were made quickly. We implemented an on-site triage service to handle injuries that didn't need to be ambulatory, which eliminated over half of all his claims. We implemented supervisor training, assisted in establishing a strong return to work program, and made it a point to get feedback from his employees for improving safety and productivity. His experience mod went from 1.37 down to .89. And now he looks like a hero.

Ultimately, the problem here was that for this CFO, making money was a priority over workplace safety. That sounds harsh, but it's not intended to sound that way. I am sure it wasn't a scenario where he chose to save money by not purchasing personal protection equipment. It was simply that as the CFO of a big company his eye  and his obligation-- were on the bottom line and not whether or not safety guards were in place on machines.

And it was obvious he had never read the book "The Power of Habit," the story of Paul O'Neill, former CEO of the giant aluminum processing company Alcoa.

When Alcoa hired Paul O'Neill as CEO many years ago, he stunned his first stockholders' meeting by saying his top priority wasn't the company's bottom line, it was tracking lost-time injuries of all employees. As you might imagine, it was not a well-received speech to a room full of people there for no other purpose than to see profits rise.

Through O'Neill's commitment, Alcoa created a policy in which every plant manager had to report every injury to O'Neill within 24 hours of its occurrence. Each Friday, a report was sent to the home office of what injuries occurred during the week and what corrective action was planned. The report was distributed company-wide. As a result, employee engagement became a key component, though it came at a cost. Alcoa suffered a horrific accident when an employee, someone who had just joined the company because he needed benefits for his pregnant wife and their growing family, noticed that a large piece of equipment was not working and took the initiative to try to repair it himself. He jumped over a yellow safety wall surrounding the machinery and walked across the pit. There was a piece of aluminum jammed into the hinge on a swinging 6-foot arm. The young man pulled on the aluminum scrap and removed it. But the arm restarted and swung toward his head. When it hit, he was killed instantly. Fourteen hours later, O'Neill ordered all the plant executives into an emergency meeting. For much of the day they painstakingly re-created the accident with diagrams and by watching videotapes over and over again. They identified dozens of errors that had contributed to the death.

Within a week of that meeting, all the safety railings at Alcoa plant were painted bright yellow and new policies were written up. Employees were told not to be afraid to suggest proactive maintenance, and O'Neill sent a note to every worker telling them to call him at home if managers didn't follow up on their safety suggestions. Workers started calling, but they didn't want to talk about accidents. They wanted to talk about all these other great ideas they had.

For instance, the Alcoa plant that manufactured aluminum siding for houses had been struggling for years because executives were trying to anticipate popular colors and inevitably guessed wrong. One day, a lower-level employee made a suggestion that quickly worked its way to the general manager. If they grouped all the painting machines together, they could switch out the pigments faster and become more nimble in responding to customer demand. As a result, within a year, profits on aluminum siding doubled. It turns out this employee had been suggesting this idea for years but hadn't told anyone in management. But once O'Neill opened the door for more communication regarding safety recommendations, why not tell them about this other idea he had? It was like someone had dropped a winning lottery number in Alcoa's lap.

Within a year of O'Neill's speech, Alcoa's profits would hit a record high. By the time O'Neill retired in 2000 to become Treasury secretary, the company's annual net income was five times larger than before he arrived, and its market capitalization had risen by $27 billion. Someone who invested a million dollars in Alcoa on the day O'Neill was hired would have earned another million dollars in dividends while he headed the company, and the value of that person's stock would be five times bigger when he left. What's more, all that growth occurred while Alcoa became one of the safest companies in the world. It cut its injury rate by 50 percent and its lost time by one-third the U.S. average.

O'Neill developed what he called a "keystone habit." Safety was his keystone habit. When management gets a keystone habit ingrained in employees' minds, other habits change and change positively. Alcoa discovered that the most productive and the most efficient processes were also the safest. So every time Alcoa made a safety upgrade, it added to its profitability because the company operated more efficiently. O'Neill knew that safety is not an expense, but an opportunity to increase profit and employee engagement, reduce medical and workers' comp costs, and improve the bottom line.

Does this sound like your company? If not, it should.

Janice Berthold is a Senior Vice President with Heffernan Insurance in San Francisco. She has more than ver 25 years of commercial insurance experience and holds the insurance designations of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter and CWCA. She can be reached at 650-842-5205 and at [email protected].
The Delhi government released data on the action taken by various agencies against those who violated the air pollution norms.

By Pankaj Jain: The Delhi government today released the data regarding the action taken by various regulatory agencies against violators responsible for different sources of air pollution in the national capital.

The Revenue department has so far issued 854 challans against the violators of dust control measures and recovered around Rs 1.61 crore.

The violators of dust control measures were not spared by municipal corporations either.

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As on October 26, the East Delhi Municipla Corporation (EDMC) issued 648 challans and collected Rs 53.55 lakh as fine, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation(SDMC) issued 1026 challans and collected Rs 73.60 lakh, while the North DMC issued 378 challans and collected around Rs 59.15 Lakhs.

The PWD too issued 114 challans and collected Rs 12.35 Lakh, while the Delhi Pollution Control Committee(DPCC) issued 141 notices and recovered Rs. 1.57 crore from violators.

Also Read: AAP government seeks Centre's help in curbing pollution levels in Delhi

A similar whip was cracked on those who indulged in burning in open.

As on October 26, the Revenue department issued 136 challans and recovered Rs 3.8 lakh, EDMC issued 242 challans and received Rs 5.23 lakh and the North DMC issued 262 challans and recovered Rs 4.24 lakh.

Other agencies too are taking action.

All the agencies have been asked to intensify their inspection as winter is approaching and air pollution needs to be effectively controlled.

ALSO READ: Winter worsens Delhi's pollution levels

The National Green Tribunal (NGT), in an earlier order, had put a complete prohibition on burning of garbage, dry leaves, waste, plastic and rubber.

NGT also directed all land owning agencies in Delhi to impose a fine of Rs 5,000 on those who were found burning leaves in the open, and a fine of upto Rs 5 lakh on the owners/ builders who did not follow the dust control measures.

Also Read:

NGT slams Centre, Delhi government for failing to control air pollution

Delhi is choking. Can air purifiers save the day?



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On 1 November 2016, Dr. Sanguan Kunaporn, Director of the Phuket Plastic Surgery Institute (PPSI) led his medical team to welcome a delegation from nib Options, led by Mr. Christoph Ochsenbein, General Manager, nib Options. They were on a visit to present an official certification in recognition of high medical standards of the plastic surgeons at the institute. The certificate presentation took place at the PPSI Meeting Room, 4th floor, Phuket International Building, Phuket International Hospital.



Such certification from nib Options is generally awarded to a panel of doctors with reference to the patient safety standards of Joint Commission International (JCI). This reflects PPSIs international standards of excellence in the medical team and practice.
We've previously written on robo-advisory services extensively and also on how it is affecting jobs in Singapore.

But since Singaporeans are among the worlds wealthiest people with 10.7% of the countrys households in the millionaire category, this topic is one that will continue being in the limelight as it rapidly develops.

Historically, Singapore's wealth management needs have been dominated by the city-states leading banks for decades.

In fact, of late, these banks continue to strengthen their already dominant positions. In April, OCBC Bank bought Barclay Banks wealth and investment management business in Singapore and Hong Kong for S$430mil. This acquisition added US$18.3bil to the assets under management (AUM) of Bank of Singapore, which is OCBCs private banking unit.

In 2014, Societe Generale sold its Asian private banking business to Singapores DBS for about US$220mil.

As wealth management is a business that is highly dynamic and demand continues to grow, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are increasingly looking to lower the costs they pay for services.



Enter the Robo-Advisor







Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

In several markets around the world, robo-advisors are making inroads into territory that was traditionally the domain of well-established wealth managers. These new companies, which utilise sophisticated algorithms instead of human advisers to decide on asset allocation, have very affordable fees.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, an HNWI client belonging to the mass affluent group that is defined as an individual with investible funds of between US$100,000 and US$1mil, could expect to be charged a fee of about 1.22% of the amount being invested.

A customer in the US$1mil to US$20mil bracket would pay about 0.8%, while investments over US$20mil would set clients back by 0.39%.

The comparable rates for robo-advisors? A flat 0.25% or less even if the funds invested are minuscule by traditional standards.

Story continues

Growth in the US market







Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Last year, firms offering robo-advisory services captured 0.5% of the US market. It is estimated that by 2020, they will have a share of 5.6%.

The largest wealth management firm in America, Betterment, was founded barely six years ago. It already has US$5bil in AUM. But most of this money was not managed by traditional wealth managers. Instead, these funds had been under the personal supervision of the investors themselves.

Betterments negligible charges and the fact that it does not stipulate a minimum amount to be invested has attracted large numbers of Americans. The average amount that the firm receives from an investor is below US$30,000.

The fees that Betterment charges are also a great attraction. They range from 0.15% to a maximum of 0.35%.

Robo-advisors in Singapore



Mesitis







Source: Mesitis

Source: Mesitis

Established in 2013, Mesitis already has 90 HNWI clients and a total of S$3.6bil AUM. The minimum amount that can be invested through the company is S$1mil.

CEO and founder Tanmai Sharma points out that Singapore alone has about 100,000 potential customers. The Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan and China, has 1.2mil individuals who can become the companys customers.

The company is confident that its robo-advisory services, which automatically allocate a clients assets based on individual risk preferences, will rapidly gain traction in Singapore. An added attraction is the low fee of just 30 basis points on the value of investments.

Bambu







Source: Bambu

Source: Bambu

Launched in Singapore in April this year, Bambu specialises in building robo-advisors for the financial sector.

It offers its clients three products. One is for savings, another for investments and a third for private banking.

The company has tied up with several big names as part of its effort to offer its clients a high-end product. Thomson Reuters provides the data; Tigerspike handles the design, front-end development and integration; and Finantix furnishes digital platforms for wealth and banking applications.

It has also entered into an arrangement with Eigencat, a Singapore-based digital investment management company, to handle portfolio construction.

CEO and founder Ned Phillips says: I am looking forward to working together with these market leading companies  to offer a scalable and reliable robo-advisory solution for all companies who see robo as an essential part of their growth.

Smartly







Source: Smartly Singapore

Source: Smartly Singapore

This Singapore company is planning to launch its robo-advisory services soon.

The firm will provide individual investors with an opportunity to put their money into a customised globally diversified investment portfolio of exchange-traded funds. The minimum investment is just $50.

Smartly charges 1% of the amount invested if your portfolio is less than S$10,000. For investments of S$10,000 to S$100,000, the charge is 0.7%, which falls to 0.5% for amounts exceeding S$100,000.

Firms offering robo-advisory services will appeal to the mass market



With their affordable fees and low minimum investment requirements, robo-advisory firms are sure to catch on with Singaporeans. Large numbers of investors who would not have thought of approaching traditional wealth management firms will find the services that these new companies offer to be attractive.

Robo-advisors have made rapid inroads into the wealth management market in the West. It is highly likely that they will enjoy a similar level of success in tech-savvy Singapore. Even investors who use traditional wealth management companies will be increasingly drawn to the lower rates and automated services that these new firms offer.

(By Ravinder Kapur)

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In recent years, switching jobs has become less of a sign of inconsistency and more a standard practice.

Thats why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following questions:

Whats one unusual way you incentivize your top talent to stay for the long term?

How to Retain Employees With Talent

Heres what YEC community members had to say:

1. Have Them Map Out Yearly Plans

No matter how interesting a job is, I know even the most dedicated employees will get bored of it after a year. And thats a good thing. You want employees who are smart and curious with a desire to evolve. So I have them set stretch goals once a year to incentivize them to stick around. They essentially rewrite their job by creating ambitious long-term plans to reach for yearly. ~ Elle Kaplan, LexION Capital

2. Involve Them in Major Decisions

I dont make any major decisions in my company without consulting my top talent. In my firms case, my top talent is responsible for a large part of our revenue, so I want them to take ownership of their and our future growth. This usually doesnt require that they do any extra work, and I genuinely incorporate their advice into my decision making. ~ Mark Daoust, Quiet Light Brokerage, Inc.

3 . Make Them Feel Like Company Owners

We want our employees to share in the success of the company. After all, it wouldnt be successful without them. Bonus- or equity-sharing programs can help team members feel like company owners, and therefore stay more dedicated to their roles and the organization as a whole. ~ Chuck Cohn, Varsity Tutors

4. Keep Your Work Environment Low-Key

I try to make the working environment as relaxed as possible. Keeping my top talent in a pleasant environment with flexible hours, breaks, happy hours, and parking benefits has kept them motivated and glad to be working at Uassist.ME. ~ Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME

5. Offer Sabbaticals

Offer ways for them to take a month or two off to go explore, learn something new, or enjoy their hobbies so they know they can really have a more diverse and interesting life away from their desks. You just need to plan for this time when they are gone by bringing temporary support. ~ Cynthia Johnson, Ipseity Media

6. Invest in Their Life

Our company offered one of our top employees a loan to put a down payment on their home. The gesture alone created loyalty that could not be bought. By investing in our employees outside of work, we make up part of their social structure and this cements a long-term relationship. Be part of your employees lives. Look outside of work, they will never let you go ~ Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors, LLC

7. Send Top Talent to Tony Robbins UPW Conference

Over the last decade, Ive sent nearly 30 of my top managers to Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within (UPW) conference. UPW is an intense four-day personal and professional development conference. Each day is 12-14 hours of education and experience. On day one, all attendees walk on a hot bed of coals. The conference is a life changer and shows key employees your commitment to their long-term development. ~ Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

8. Provide Alternative Growth Paths

We keep top talent around for the long term by providing alternative paths for growth. You can grow in salary, title, skills and more without simply becoming a manager. At Wistia, individual contributors carry just as much prestige as managers, so the up or out mentality wont float. This way of nurturing your employees really encourages some impressive professional growth. ~ Chris Savage, Wistia

9. Let Them Build Your Companys Future

Let them be part of evolving your company and vision. We host meetings called innovation councils where top performers propose key initiatives and improvements. Knowing that they are part of building the future makes them a lot more likely to stick around to see it come to fruition. ~ Christopher Kelly, Convene

10. Create a Promotion Plan

I create a promotion plan with them where we set out certain goals and objectives to fulfill in a certain timeframe that will advance or promote them further within the company. Having this set as a long-term plan where they see what is ahead often keeps them there. ~ Drew Hendricks, Buttercup

11. Practice Constant Respect Communication

Respect remains a simple yet powerful way of showing your employees you recognize their value. While it is not a single incentive, practicing respectful ways of communication every day creates a positive experience for your team and ultimately improves chances of longevity. It all comes down to treating people how you would want to be treated: with care and kindness. ~ Peggy Shell, Creative Alignments

12. Offer Paid Vacations

We offer top performers paid vacations to different destinations. If goals are met and their performance is exemplary, we will plan paid-for trips, sometimes as a company and sometimes just for them and their families. This is something that everyone really enjoys and looks forward to, and is a rewarding way to be recognized and appreciated. ~ Marcela De Vivo, Gryffin
Go on any social media platform on Election Day and youre likely to see plenty of photos of I Voted stickers.

But even though its just a small token for people casting their ballots, those stickers arent free. So some cities have been ditching the practice in recent years.

But social media platforms like Facebook jumped in to offer virtual stickers that people could share with their networks online to show that they voted. According to the site, the feature encouraged an extra 340,000 people to vote during a mid-term election year.

And Facebook isnt the only place where people like to show off their civic involvement. Many voters have also tweeted about their visits to the polls. But even though they can share on social media, those posters still seem to want that elusive I Voted sticker as well.

So basically, even though most people understand the importance of voting and the impact their votes can potentially have, they still want a separate reward and a way to show off their involvement.

The Power of Making Customers Feel Included

Making people feel included can be a powerful marketing tool, both for civic involvement and for businesses. So even if youve already outlined great reasons why people should support your business, think about if theres a small thing you can add that would make them feel included or rewarded for doing business with you.
IT Trends

Edsby Moves Services to Microsoft Azure Cloud

School districts concerned about putting student data into clouds that cross borders now have the option of selecting a Microsoft Azure data center by location. Specifically, Microsoft is working with Edsby, which has a learning management system for K12. Under the new agreement Edsby is running its programs on Microsoft's cloud computing platform but can enable a school system to store its academic data in the country or region where it operates to comply with regulations and local preferences.

Edsby expects the move to help it deliver greater scalability and performance to its school customers.

The migration includes adoption of Azure SQL Database for data management and development, Azure Storage for tiered storage and Azure Portal for unified console management, explained Steven Asbury, Edsby's co-founder and vice president of engineering, in a press release. "The software porting and customer data migration took just a few months, and we are now recognizing many benefits, such as improved performance, scalability-on-demand, more flexible storage, back-end monitoring/analytics, a better high availability and disaster recovery offering and other efficiencies."

Edsby already supported the Microsoft Azure Active Directory, which allows for one-click authentication; Microsoft OneDrive access for Edsby users on Office 365; and, soon, support for integrations between Edsby and OneNote Class Notebook. The company is also working to embed Azure Power BI into its analytics offering.

Earlier this year, Microsoft named Edsby a finalist for global 2016 Education Partner of the Year. The winner for that category ended up being 3P Learning, which delivers digital content and games in math, spelling, reading and science. That cloud-based service is also hosted on Azure.
OUAGADOUGOU, Nov 3 (Reuters) - One of Burkina Faso's largest gold mines, already halted after bailiffs acting on behalf of ex-workers seized some of its gold early last month, will be shut for at least four more days, its London-based owner said.

Operations at Avocet Mining LPC's Inata Mine have been halted since Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) . 27 after the bailiffs seized 1,400 ounces of gold at Ouagadougou airport, the company said.

The mine will be shut for at least four more days as a court rules on a dispute with former employees, Avocet's managing director for Burkina Faso said late on Wednesday.

Over 300 workers were laid off after a strike in 2014 and claim 2 billion CFA Francs ($3.3 million) in unpaid benefits, according to Avocet. Workers' representatives said the gold was seized in retaliation for lost pay.

Avocet has challenged the legality of the seizure and a court is due to deliver its verdict on Nov. 7.

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) the loss of the shipment, the company has been unable to pay for the running costs of the mine, managing director Saidou Ide told reporters on Wednesday.

"From the moment the gold was seized we were no longer able to function," Ide said, adding that the company has been in financial difficulty for three years due to high production costs and low gold prices.

The suspension of activities has caused the "quasi-totality" of the mine's remaining 629 employees to be temporarily laid off, he said.

Gold (Other OTC: GDCWF - news) is Burkina Faso's main export, accounting for roughly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The mine, in which the government has a 10 percent stake, produced 74,755 ounces of gold last year.

Avocet also holds several exploration licences in Burkina Faso as well as the Tri-K development project in Guinea. ($1 = 601.1400 CFA francs) (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Global Poker Index: Holz Holds Off EPT Malta Cashers to Keep Lead; Panzica, Jedlicka Move Up

November 04 2016 Martin Harris

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player's results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here's a look at the rankings as of Nov. 2, 2016.

2016 GPI Player of the Year

Rank Player GPI Score Change 1 Fedor Holz 3644.80 - 2 Chance Kornuth 3336.54 - 3 Paul Volpe 3192.20 - 4 David Peters 3131.44 - 5 Adrian Mateos 3109.86 - 6 Samuel Panzica 3046.64 +3 7 Nick Petrangelo 3008.21 -1 8 Ivan Luca 2992.47 -1 9 Jason Mercier 2931.51 -1 10 Connor Drinan 2926.70 -

Fedor Holz wasn't among the throng of players picking up cashes  and 2016 Global Poker Index Player of the Year points  at the recently finished European Poker Tour Malta festival. It didn't matter, though, as he continued to maintain a healthy lead in the POY race, anyway, making it 21 weeks on top for him.

Holz did play and cash in the $100,000 ARIA Super High Roller 12 that took place last weekend, taking fourth in the event out of 34 entries to earn a nearly $300K score. Sam Soverel topped that tough field for $1,024,364.

Among the rest of the top 10, the only movement came from Samuel Panzica (pictured above, left) who moved up from No. 9 to No. 6. Panzica's most recent scores include a victory in the $5,000 World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville where he bested a 379-entry field for a $354,335 first prize, and another fourth-place finish out of 466 entries in a $1,500 buy-in event at the 2016 Isle Open Poker Tournament at Pompano Beach in Florida.

GPI 300 Top 10

Rank Player GPI Score Change 1 Fedor Holz 4998.56 - 2 Nick Petrangelo 4371.91 - 3 Jason Mercier 4286.55 - 4 Steve O'Dwyer 4148.52 - 5 Connor Drinan 4143.17 - 6 David Peters 3994.15 +2 7 Bryn Kenney 3963.69 +2 8 Anthony Zinno 3913.93 -2 9 Erik Seidel 3906.54 +4 10 Tom Marchese 3857.32 +1

Holz remains the leader in the overall rankings again  that's 21 weeks atop this list, too, for the 23-year-old German.

The entire top five remained the same since the last update, and among the shuffling just below Erik Seidel has nudged back up and into the top 10 after finishing third in another of the $25,000 ARIA High Rollers last weekend, won by Igor Kurganov. Seidel's cash for $127,680 in that event put him less than $35K away from the $30 million mark in lifetime tournament winnings.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

Rank Player Total Score 228 Stefan Jedlicka 2028.55 246 Steffen Sontheimer 1990.76 263 Frederik Jensen 1953.87 264 Guo Dong 1952.48 280 Eugene Katchalov 1927.42 282 Dermot Blain 1922.86 285 Alex Goulder 1919.26 292 Rumen Nanev 1907.81 296 Michael Addamo 1896.50

Nine players joined this week's top 300 list, with Stefan Jedlicka (pictured above, right) the highest-ranked of the bunch after catapulting from No. 519 to No. 228. Jedlicka's jump came thanks to a stellar EPT Malta festival highlighted by not one but two high roller victories  one in the 2,200 Italian Poker Tour High Roller where he earned 88,039 for topping 284 entries, and the other in the festival-concluding 10,300 EPT Malta High Roller where he bested 144 for a 335,200 score.

Several of the others on this list likewise performed well in Malta, including Frederik Jensen, Eugene Katchalov, and Rumen Nanev, all of whom cashed in the 5,300 EPT Malta Main Event. Jensen  who won an EPT Main Event in Season 8 in Madrid, Spain  took 17th in the Main Event, one of four cashes that also included a side event win for him.

Meanwhile Guo Dong moved up from No. 516 to No. 264 after winning the 2016 Asian Poker Tour Macau Main Event for HK$530,000 (worth about $68K USD).

Biggest Gains

Rank Player Total GPI Score Change 228 Stefan Jedlicka 2028.55 +291 264 Guo Dong 1952.48 +252 263 Frederik Jensen 1953.87 +155 282 Dermot Blain 1922.86 +87 280 Eugene Katchalov 1927.42 +78

Jedlicka and Dong top the "Biggest Gains" list this week thanks to their big moves, with Jensen likewise earning a spot.

Biggest Drops

Rank Player Total GPI Score Change 270 Kiryl Radzivonau 1941.19 -111 290 Ihar Soika 1910.88 -98 185 Paul Tedeschi 2159.78 -77 203 Anton Astapau 2108.52 -62 258 Jan Bendik 1966.33 -53

Finally, among those in the current top 300 who fell the furthest from a week ago, Kiryl Radzivonau endured the most sizable tumble, dropping from No. 270 to No. 159.

What to Expect Next Week

The Heartland Poker Tour is in St. Charles, Michigan, the World Series of Poker Circuit is stopping in Lake Tahoe, Nevada with its international version also in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, and the PokerListings Battle of Malta is following the EPT's departure.

Meanwhile the PokerStars Festival New Jersey is ongoing in Atlantic City, with PokerNews' live reporting team on hand covering several events from the Resorts Hotel Casino.

To view the GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

Sharelines Fedor @CrownUpGuy Holz is once again the @GPI's top-ranked tournament player in the world.

Recent scores help Samuel Panzica and Stefan Jedlicka move up this week in the @GPI rankings.
According to senior officials in L-G's office, the proposal of the 'aam aadmi mohalla clinic' in schools was turned down and sent back to the government for re-assessment

By Shashank Shekhar: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's ambitious 'mohalla clinic' project is now under the scanner of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung who has sent back the file pertaining to the proposal to open such clinics inside school premises citing legal complications.

MOHALLA CLINIC PROPOSAL TURNED DOWN

According to senior officials in L-G's office, the proposal of the 'aam aadmi mohalla clinic' in schools was turned down and sent back to the government for re-assessment. "The Delhi government has sent a file regarding their proposal to open mohalla clinic within the premises of the schools. L-G has returned the file after making certain observations asking the government to send comprehensive note and asked it to rework on the proposal. After corrections are made, The government can send the file back to the L-G's office," said the senior official.

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LEGAL TROUBLE

The official added that the Delhi School Education Act doesn't allow establishing anything else in school premises. Establishing something else within the school premises could be detrimental to security of students. "The law doesn't allow any other activity within the school premises. If such clinics have to be opened, the amendment in the law will be made. Every school enters into lease agreement with land-owning agency and one of the clauses is that a school is opened strictly for education. So these rules will have to be changed to implement the proposal," the officer said The AAP government had recently announced that it is considering opening mohalla clinics in as many as 300 government schools which shall be open to general public.

MOHALLA CLINICS

The government had earlier announced 1,000 mohalla clinics would be established by this year-end but the deadline has been pushed to next year. Mohalla clinics are run by the Delhi government that aim to provide free primary healthcare to all. Currently, 106 mohalla clinics are operating in the national Capital, treating almost 2,500 patients every day.

The official at the L-G'S office added that tweaking the existing education policy to make way for the mohalla clinics would also prompt private schools to replicate the move. "If we allow mohalla clinics in government schools then we won't be able to stop private schools from establishing private clinics within their schools premises. This would further lead to problems," the official said.

OBSTRUCTIONS

A section of parents' association had also objected to the Delhi government's move and had written a letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. In 2002, the Delhi High Court had directed a MCD school in Bawana area to remove the dispensary from its premises as it led to the entry of outsiders in the school, which disturbed the students.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed that the original files seeking permission to establish the mohalla clinics in Delhi were never sent to the L-G's office. "A couple of Cabinet decisions were taken on mohalla clinics but only the file pertaining to opening clinics in schools was sent to the L-G's office. The L-G's office has not received files of all the Cabinet decision. The Cabinet decision is taken after seeking comments and suggestions from other departments but in this case the decision was taken earlier and comments were invited later," officer said.

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The decision to open mohalla clinics in government buildings was taken to bypass the municipal corporations. Recently, the BJP-led civic bodies created a roadblock as it had issued notices alleging that some of these clinics had encroached or obstructed the way of traffic.

ALSO READ:

Step up efforts to trace JNU student: Jung to Delhi police

Arvind Kejriwal to India Today: If AAP wins in Punjab, people will decide its CM





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READ: Phil Ivey Loses Appeal Against Genting Casinos UK

November 04 2016 Katie Callahan

Ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Ivey has lost his appeal against Genting Casinos UK, reported The Telegraph.co.uk.

"This decision makes no sense to me, Ivey told the Telegraph. The trial judge said that I was not dishonest and the three appeal judges agreed, but somehow the decision has gone against me. Can someone tell me how you can have honest cheating?

Ivey sued one of Genting Casinos UKs casinos, Crockfords Casino, for withholding 7.8 million, his winnings from Punto Banco, from him.

In the Court of Appeal, Lady Justice Arden found that the terms within the casinos contract implied that cheating was not allowed and that the meaning of cheating would coincide with the Gambling Act of 2005. In this case, she ruled that Iveys actions affected the odds and the casino was not aware of that fact.

It is for the court to determine whether the interference was of such a quality as to constitute cheating. In my judgement it had that quality, Arden said in the ruling as reported in The Telegraph.co.uk. In these circumstances, no lower standard applied in this case because Mr. Ivey was an advantage player who was in an adversarial position with the casino.

Ultimately, the judges had to decide what constituted cheating in gambling. Two of the judges, Lady Justice Arden and Lord Justice Tomlinson, dismissed the appeal, but the third judge, Lady Justice Sharp, said that the term, cheating was misconstrued by the other judge, Justice Mitting, according to the Telegraph.

Back in May of 2013, Ivey admitted to using edge sorting playing Punto Banco, a form of baccarat, but said the casino should have recognised it.

At the time, I was given a receipt for my winnings but Crockfords subsequently withheld payment. I, therefore, feel I have no alternative but to take legal action, Ivey said in a statement in May 2013.

A high court ruled in favour of Crockfords in October 2014, but Ivey appealed, filing papers at the Court of Appeal in London in late 2014 for reconsideration in December.

Ivey also is in the midst of another trial, where a federal judge ruled he did not commit fraud using edge sorting at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, but that he breached the casino contract.

Read the full story here on Telegraph.co.uk.

Sharelines Phil Ivey loses his appeal after edge sorting to win 7.8 million at Crockfords Casino.
Davidi Kitai on How to Play Against Small Stacks in Tournaments

November 04 2016 PokerNews Staff

When it comes to tournament strategy advice, there's a lot available regarding how to play when your stack is small, with abundant tips for "short-stacked strategy" and "push-fold" charts out their to guide players.

Less readily available is advice about how to play against short-stacked players in tournaments, probably because it's a somewhat more complicated topic to consider.

Our Sasha Salinger spoke with accomplished Belgian poker pro Davidi Kitai about the topic yesterday as he continued a deep run in the European Poker Tour Malta Main Event, and he noted how as a big stack he prefers playing against other big stacks than contending with smaller ones.

Kitai outlines a couple of reasons for this preference while adding a few thoughts about how and when to apply pressure with a big stack. Take a look.

Sharelines Amid a deep #EPTMalta run, big-stacked Davidi Kitai discusses dealing with shorter stacks in tourneys.

Belgian pro Davidi Kitai offers thoughts about being the table's big stack deep in a tournament.
PHOENIX  The Latest on U.S. District Court hearings in Phoenix and Las Vegas on Democratic party lawsuits claiming voter intimidation by Republicans and the Donald Trump campaign (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

A lawyer for a Florida man who Democrats accuse of planning widespread voter intimidation in the Nov. 8 election told a federal judge in Phoenix theres no evidence thats the case.

Paul Jensen told U.S. District Judge John Tuchi that the Arizona Democratic Partys complaint naming Roger Stone Jr., and his group called Stop the Steal is rife with speculation and void of any factual evidence. He says the Democratic Party is attempting to quash his clients Constitutional rights to free speech. The lawsuit also names the state Republican Party and the Trump for President Campaign.

Stop the Steal is signing up volunteers to go to the polls and conduct exit polls they say are designed to check the accuracy of voting machines. Democrats call it voter harassment.

Jensens arguments came at the end of a four-hour hearing Thursday that saw the chairman of the state Republican Party and a volunteer attorney who trains poll GOP watchers testify. Chairman Robert Graham testified that certified poll watchers are trained in the law and told not to intimidate voters.

The Democrats want the judge to issue an injunction blocking tactics by the GOP and Stones group that it says will harass voters. Tuchi sharply questioned lawyers for both sides during the hearing as he worked to try to understand how to craft an order if he decides Democrats should prevail.

The lawsuit is one of four filed in battleground states. It seeks an order blocking volunteer GOP poll-watchers from harassing people headed to polling locations.

___

4:20 p.m.

A federal judge in Las Vegas says he hasnt seen evidence that Donald Trumps presidential campaign is training people to intimidate voters in Nevada, and he sees no need for a restraining order that Democrats sought ahead of Tuesdays election.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulwares comments came after Nevadas top Trump election day operations chief testified that on Thursday morning he emailed the more than 100 people hes trained as poll-watchers about rules they have to follow if they challenge a voters eligibility.

The judge set a Friday hearing on allegations that a GOP associate, Roger Stone Jr., and his group called Stop the Steal are encouraging what Democrats call vigilante voter intimidation.

And in a nod to what the judge called unique and special enthusiasm in this election, he said hell hold a hearing Tuesday if any reports surface that day of voter harassment at the polls.

____

10:50 a.m.

In Las Vegas, a partisan battle about fears of voter intimidation is returning to federal court for testimony from a Donald Trump campaign official about training given to Republican poll-watchers in Nevada.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware has said Thursdays hearing will help him decide by the weekend on a request by Democrats for a restraining order telling people supporting Trump not to harass voters at polls next Tuesday.

The judge indicated Wednesday that a court order could amount to having the Trump campaign issue a memo to volunteer poll-watchers about state laws they have to follow if they challenge the eligibility of a voter.

Nevada Democrats accuse the Trump campaign, party associate Roger Stone Jr., and Stones group called Stop the Steal of encouraging what the Democrats call vigilante voter intimidation.

____

2:50 a.m.

A federal judge in Phoenix is set to hear arguments on a lawsuit that seeks to stop what it believes will be Election Day voter intimidation by Republicans.

U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi on Thursday is set to hear from both sides on the Arizona Democratic Partys request to block what it says will be illegal tactics.

The suit is one of four filed in battleground states. It seeks an order blocking volunteer GOP poll watchers from harassing people headed to polling locations. The suit names the state Republican Party, Donald Trumps campaign, Roger Stone and his group called Stop the Steal thats organizing citizen journalists and poll watchers.

The Trump campaign says the lawsuit is long on rhetoric and short on substance and designed to distract from Hillary Clintons troubles.
Over the last five years, President Barack Obama has placed a big bet on Moscow and Tehran. He tacked away from the United States historic allies in the Middle East  Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey  to create space for the Russians and the Iranians in the regional security architecture. Again and again, that wager has come up craps.

The Iranian nuclear deal was supposed to usher in a new era in U.S.-Iranian relations. Instead, it has spawned a Russian-Iranian alliance.

The most powerful ground troops working with the Russian air force to save Syrian President Bashar Assad are under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards  who also wield inordinate influence, directly and through proxies, over the forces besieging Mosul, Iraq.

In consequence, the Russian-Iranian alliance is well on its way to building a corridor of subservient states stretching from Tehran to Beirut.

Obama has turned a blind eye to the long-term risks of this corridor, because he hopes that Tehran and Moscow will work with him to build a concert system in the Middle East: a club of nations that, united in their enmity to al-Qaida and Islamic State, will cooperate to contain the worst pathologies of the region.

As the president suggested immediately after signing the Iranian nuclear deal, the club was even supposed to help with challenges beyond Islamic State. (B)uilding on this deal, he said, we can continue to have conversations with Iran that incentivize them to behave differently in the region, to be less aggressive, less hostile, more cooperative  in resolving issues like Syria or whats happening in Iraq, to stop encouraging Houthis in Yemen.

But Tehran has not moderated  and now the Houthis, with Iranian missiles and no doubt with Iranian encouragement, are launching attacks on U.S. ships in the Red Sea.

Obama is not the first American president to make such a gamble on a long-standing adversary.

In 1953, when President Eisenhower assumed office, he too sought to stabilize the Middle East by co-opting the leading anti-Western power of the day  Gamal Abdel Nassers Egypt.

Eisenhower believed that making Egypt a partner in regional security would soften Nassers behavior and entice him to organize the Arabs behind the West in the Cold War.

Believing that the association of the United States with Zionism and British imperialism was poisoning American relations with Middle Eastern Muslims, Eisenhower worked to prove to Nasser that the U.S. would help him achieve his nationalist goals, even if those came at the expense of British and Israeli interests.

Thus, for example, Eisenhower brought enormous pressure on the British to withdraw their troops from Egypt, where they had enjoyed a continuous presence for many decades.

This policy came to its logical conclusion 60 years ago, when, at the climax of the Suez crisis, Britain, France and Israel launched coordinated attacks against Egypt.

Eisenhowers opposition to his allies was extreme. Working in parallel with the Soviet Union, he brought the British economy to the brink of destruction and demanded that the invaders stop in their tracks and evacuate Egypt immediately.

The United States allies buckled under the pressure.

Eisenhowers policy handed Nasser the victory of his life and the Egyptian leaders reputation in Arab politics skyrocketed to mythic heights. How did he repay the American president for his support? By becoming more radical, more anti-Western and more pro-Soviet.

Nassers rise, like that of Russia and Iran today, had a profoundly destabilizing effect on the Middle East, leading, among other results, to regime change in Syria and Iraq, and the deep penetration of the region by Soviet power.

Richard Nixon, Ikes vice president, recounted in the 1980s that about a year before his death Eisenhower admitted that his support for Egypt was his major foreign policy mistake. (S)aving Nasser at Suez didnt help as far as the Middle East was concerned. Nasser became even more anti-West and anti-U.S., Eisenhower said.

He also affirmed, Nixon wrote, that the worst fallout from Suez was that it weakened the will of our best allies, Britain and France, to play a major role in the Middle East or in other areas outside Europe.

Eisenhower came to realize that Israel was the United States truest friend in the Middle East and that courting adversaries is a very risky business.

It is too late for Obama to learn that lesson, but not for his successor, who will have two examples not to live by.

Michael Doran, a former White House advisor on the Middle East, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Santa Fes politics have reached a point of inclusiveness where sexual orientation has pretty much disappeared as an issue or anything special.

Local voters, without ballyhoo, have elected gay people to the City Council and the County Commission and as judges. In the last race for mayor, the two leading candidates didnt like each other much and there was plenty of mud slung, but there was virtually no talk about the fact both were gay. It was simply irrelevant.

In this years race for state Senate in District 39  one of the Legislatures more bizarre creations, extending from Santa Fes southern environs, east into San Miguel County and then crawling south over a vast rural expanse that veers to Belen and then all the way to Ruidoso  gayness has become part of the discussion.

Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Barela, former mayor of Estancia, has run radio advertisements and sent out mailers attacking his Democratic opponent, Santa Fe County Commissioner Liz Stefanics, who lives south of Santa Fe. The ads note that Stefanics spouse is a lobbyist.

Will she defend us Her wife Or her special interest clients? reads the mailer paid for by the Barela campaign. Stefanics and lobbyist Linda Siegle were the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Santa Fe in 2013.

Stefanics campaign manager, reacting to questions from a Journal reporter, said the ads were using coded language to appeal to a certain segment of the population. She said Barela was trying to appeal to conservatives who dont believe Americans should have the right to marry who they choose.

Barela responded that the use of wife in the ad to refer to Siegle was simply accurate. I dont understand what the problem is. What am I supposed to refer to (Siegle) as? Barela asked.

It has everything to do with (Stefanics) conflict of interest, he said. I find it hard to believe that it would not be a conflict of interest when your wife or husband is in the Legislature approving legislation, regarding funding in many cases. I dont see how thats not a conflict.

The ads from Barela are certainly attack pieces. But his use of the word wife in the ads is fair and accurate. After the years of political and legal struggle, gays and lesbians now have the undisputed right to wed. An offshoot of that is taking hits in the political fray, just like for straight couples, if a spouses career crosses paths with the candidates public or political endeavors.

Its conceivable that Barelas advertisement copy writer was in fact aiming to call attention to the fact that Stefanics is in a same-sex marriage as a kind of bonus point, while making the conflict of interest attack. In any case, while District 39 is largely rural, and Estancia and Carrizozo arent Santa Fe, suggesting someone shouldnt be elected because of sexual orientation these days just doesnt seem like a winning strategy, regardless of voter proximity to the City Different.

Then theres the most direct point of Barelas ads  that Siegles lobbying presents a conflict of interest for Stefanics. I have a mind of my own and will vote as I think fit, regardless of what (Siegle) is representing, Stefanics said.

Siegles lobbying clients arent big corporations  they include the American Cancer Society, the New Mexico Child Care Association and organizations for medical professionals like midwives, nurses and psychologists, as well as Santa Fe Public Schools and Santa Fe Community College, where Siegle is a member of the colleges elected board, and Equality New Mexico, an LGBT advocacy group.

Does a legislator have potential conflicts of interest when a spouse is a paid lobbyist pushing a particular issue? Yes. Its just there, and it should be out in the open as lawmakers vote and the public assesses their performance.

At least two sitting Democratic legislators have lobbyist spouses, as does a GOP candidate for another Senate seat. Common Cause, the good government group, has raised concerns in the past about family ties among lawmakers and lobbyists, as part of the family atmosphere that exists at the Roundhouse. Thats a legitimate issue, certainly fair game in a political campaign and one that extends beyond the District 39 race, as ethics issues continue to be debated at the Legislature.
During a month of filming in Belize, Ilana Lapid immersed herself in the community while filming her latest project, Yochi.

In fact, when she arrived in Belize, she was determined to find an actor who would play the role of Itza, having already cast Yochi.

I wasnt convinced with the options we had, she says. I left for Belize early and went down there to find the older brother. We started driving around villages and auditioned everyone we could. There are no trained actors, and that became an added challenge.

Then there was a birthday party, and Lapid ran into Evan Martinez.

The New Mexico-based director did her best to persuade Martinez to sign on to her project.

And he did. He joined Kerry Johan Landero in the cast.

For the audition, I took both of them to this river, she says. When I saw Kerry and Evan together, I knew it was it.

Lapid  who is also a professor at the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University  says she wanted to make a film that would stand on its own.

The documentary will open the Belize International Film Festival on Thursday, Nov. 10.

To read more about the film, see Page 18.

Each year, Winter Jam brings some of the best artists in Christian music. This year, Mandisa and Crowder will be part of the lineup. I caught up with both to talk about music and why they joined Winter Jam. To read more, see Pages 16-17.

If youre in the mood for art, there are two exhibitions opening  one in Santa Fe, one in Albuquerque.

The first is Sketchbook: A Group Exhibition in Santa Fe. The exhibit opens up an artists sketchbook.

The second is the 99 Art Show at Expo New Mexico. Nine N.M. artists joined forced to create a multimedium exhibit. To read more, see Pages 20-21.

Of course, further inside this weeks issue are music stories on WAR, Whiskerman, Decker and the Africans Children Choir.

Dont forget to check out the Dr. Strange movie review on Page 4.
Ahead of the US elections, New-Delhi based Hindu Sena today celebrated the victory of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

By Reuters: New Delhi-based Hindu Sena, a fringe right-wing group, today celebrated the "victory" of US presidential contender Donald Trump, hailing his friendship with diaspora Indians and backing his call to ban immigration by Muslims from countries hit by Islamic militancy.

With drums banging and speakers blaring, the Hindu Sena, gathered at Jantar Mantar - New Delhi's answer to London's Speakers' Corner - to proclaim to a knot of TV crews that Trump had "already won" the November 8 vote.

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"Trump's victory is confirmed early, due to his thoughts against Islamic terrorism and love for India and Hindus," said Vishnu Gupta, the Hindu Sena's self-styled national president.

Trump uttered the memorable phrase "I love Hindu" at a cultural event in New Jersey last month organised by supporters of his candidacy from the Indian diaspora.

That sentiment has not played so well with many diaspora Indians who are secular or belong to other faiths and, as a group, lean more towards supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But as far as the Hindu Sena is concerned, the feeling is mutual.

Its celebration at a roadside stall featured posters bearing the slogans, "India Loves Trump" and "Trump Our Only Hope". One supporter held up a portrait of Trump with a tilak, or religious mark, on his forehead and held a sweet to his mouth.

India has not officially endorsed either Trump or Democratic contender Hillary Clinton but has seen a warming in bilateral ties between outgoing President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Also read:



God help him: Hindu Sena performs havan for Donald Trump





--- ENDS ---
Ilana Lapid set out to tell a compelling story.

And people are listening.

Her latest short film, Yochi, will premiere at the 2016 Belize International Film Festival on Thursday, Nov. 10.

If it wasnt enough just to be in the festival, Lapid found out it is going to be the opening-night film.

When we found out that we were accepted, we were really excited to premiere our film there, she says. Then we found out about opening night and it took it to the next level. The Belize Film Commission has been supporting us, and they invited me to be on part of a panel.

Yochi is a story of a 9-year-old selectively mute Mayan boy who guards a nest of endangered yellow-headed parrots in Belizes pine savanna.

When his beloved elder brother, Itza, returns from the city, Yochi learns that hes in debt and has turned to poaching  setting the brothers on a collision course.

This film is a story about connection and finding your voice, says Lapid, a professor at the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University. And it poses the question, what are you willing to sacrifice to protect that which is most sacred to you?

Lapid was approached in March to do a documentary about the decline of the yellow-headed parrots.

The global populations have decreased over 90 percent since the 1970s, due to poaching and deforestation.

The Belize Film Commission identified Yochi as a film that can have a positive social impact.

Lapid says she is working with the Belize Bird Rescue to plan a screening tour in towns and villages across Belize to educate pine savanna communities about alternatives to poaching.

Were actually going to do a small tour this month and hit three communities, she says. A bigger tour is planned next year. Were hoping this film is educational and sparks a conversation.

Yochi is a U.S.-Belizean co-production. It was filmed in May in western Belize, with a crew made of Belizean filmmakers, as well as students from CMI at NMSU.

The cast is made up of Belizean non-actors who were found in the villages in the Cayo district in western Belize, Lapid says.

The film is also in four languages  Yucatec Mayan, English Creole, English and Spanish.

Lapd is the writer, director producer on the film. It is also produced by Kristi Drexler and Daniel Velazquez and executive-produced by Craig Holden.

NMSU CMI students and recent graduates on the crew include Robert Dugan, Joaquin Chavana, AJ Johnson, Nicholas Duron, Jennifer Garcia, Whitney Guaderrama and David Morales.

The group also recently had a successful crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter, raising $15,000 in 13 days.

I had a really spectacular team in both locations, Lapid says. This is an incredible opportunity. This is also just the beginning of the journey with this film.

SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email film@ABQjournal.com. Follow me on Twitter @agomezART.
The U.S. Department of Education has once again rewarded New Mexico for using data-driven results to improve student outcomes, handing over $3.17 million in the second round of School Improvement Grants. Added to the $3.86 million the state received in the first round in August, New Mexico now has $7 million to continue to help turn around low-performing schools.

Thats on top of $4 million in School Improvement Grants the state received in fiscal 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The awards are based on the fact that New Mexico can show its spending delivers results. Just this year, districts including Farmington, Gallup and Pojoaque posted big gains in reading and math on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. And schools in the Cloudcroft, Espanola, Hobbs, Los Lunas, Lovington, Gadsden, Melrose, Silver and Socorro districts and the Explore Academy charter school increased their school grades  which measure student proficiency, improvement, and at the high school level graduation rates and college and career readiness  by at least three letters.

All did it by participating in N.M. Public Education Department reforms funded by federal School Improvement Grants and modeled on University of Virginia programs. Call these programs UVA or Principals Pursuing Excellence or Teachers Pursuing Excellence, the reforms boil down to compiling data and then mindfully using it to drive student improvement.

State Education Secretary Hanna Skandera says whats exciting about it is that New Mexico is one of few states to get this award for investing in a proven state-developed model. Were excited because we said all along that our schools and our districts that are embracing these opportunities to turn schools around are seeing incredible results.

PED will take applications from more than 80 low-performing New Mexico schools that qualify for SIG money  and the states largest school district, Albuquerque Public Schools, has applied for some for its School on Wheels and Del Norte High. Thats promising, considering APS has rejected the opportunity to pilot its own UVA program at no cost to APS, not once but twice. Considering that this year APS saw 56 percent of its schools get Ds and Fs, with 15 percent of those chronic D and F schools, it is clear APS has plenty of schools that need and students who truly deserve a turnaround.

The U.S. Department of Education has again invested in New Mexico programs that deliver results. The answer New Mexicans are now looking for is which schools and districts will take the lead and invest in our kids?

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  The state Auditors Office is defending itself after releasing the results of an audit that contained critical findings related to the management of finances by the town of Estancia, whose former mayor is running for a key state Senate seat.

On Wednesday, State Auditor Tim Keller, a Democrat, released a special audit that found significant shortcomings in 18 different areas related to the towns financial management. Among the findings were that the town lacked clear policies and procedures and employed inadequate financial controls associated with funds totaling $1.6 million, applied the incorrect amount of gross receipt taxes to utility bills, and engaged in wasteful spending.

Theodore Ted Barela, a Republican running to retain the District 39 state senate seat he was appointed to last year by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, served as Estancias mayor from 2008 to 2013. The audit assessed the towns financial controls over a three-year period from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2015, covering about one year of Barelas tenure as mayor.

But New Mexico Together, a political committee supporting Liz Stefanics, Barelas Democratic opponent, was quick to make an issue of the audit, saying that it was evidence Barela is too irresponsible to represent the district.

This audit clearly lays out a pattern of fiscal irresponsibility and mismanagement, Heather Brewer, director of New Mexico Together, said in a news release. Given the states grave financial crisis, which was created by the failed leadership of Gov. Susana Martinez, another failed leader, like Ted Barela, is the wrong choice in this election.

In an interview with the Journal, Barela said the release of the audit six days before Election Day appeared suspicious.

The timing could always be questioned, especially when you have a political action committee coming out with something within hours of its release. But it is what it is. I cant change it, he said.

The state Auditors Office on Thursday also took issue with New Mexico Together interpretation of the audit results.

It is a gross mischaracterization, Justine Freeman, Kellers deputy chief of staff, said of Brewers comments. The audit did not mention nor focus on Mr. Barela, who was mayor for only a small portion of the time covered in the report.

Freeman also provided a statement from Keller criticizing the group for politicizing the audit.

Its an disservice to taxpayers for the audit to be used for anything besides getting the towns books in order, he said.

Freeman said the audit was completed within about six months, which is a typical time frame for such audits, and wasnt even about Barela.

We oversee hundreds and hundreds of audits which are released based solely on when they are completed. Thats how its always worked, she said Thursday. If this was an investigation into an individual, then election cycles might be relevant, but this is not. Its an audit of a town, not a person.

The audit came at the request of the town about a year ago after its annual audit revealed that there may be potential misappropriation in connection with the towns financial affairs. According to an Oct. 23, 2015, letter from Mayor Sylvia Chavez to the state Auditors investigative division, the audit noted significant, unusual discrepancies in fund balances.

Barela became a state senator in District 39 in April 2015 when the governor appointed him to the position after longtime Sen. Phil Griego, a Democrat, resigned amid an ethics investigation.

Senate District 39 is considered a battleground district during this years election. Long held by a Democrat, Barelas appointment narrowed the Democrats advantage in the senate to 24-18.
SANTA FE  The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico advised county clerks on Thursday not to ban cellphones  and ballot selfies  at polling places, saying it violates voters free speech rights.

New Mexicans have a constitutional right to take and disseminate photographs of their completed ballots, and counties should lift cellphone restrictions without delay, the ACLU said in a letter to the 33 clerks.

Secretary of State Brad Winters office said it would have lawyers review the letter before providing guidance to county clerks on the matter.

ACLU spokesman Micah McCoy said at least one county, Rio Arriba, has banned cellphone use at the polls.

Its just a little piece of paper that says, No cellphone usage during voting,  Michele Jordan, who heads that countys Bureau of Elections, told the Journal .

She said the restriction has been in place since 2010, prompted by people who were talking politics on the phone while they were voting.

I didnt even know anything about a selfie, to be honest with you, she said. I had to look it up.

Jordan said elections officials are also concerned that cellphone users could take pictures of other voters ballots and distribute them.

Theres a basic right to vote and not be harassed for who you voted for, Jordan said.

She said she has no objection to voters taking pictures of their own ballots if theyre alone in polling places.

Were just trying to make sure the person voting is safe and secure, and the secrecy of their ballot is protected, the official said.

New Mexico law says that, after marking a paper ballot, the voter shall not show it to any person in such a way as to reveal its contents. There is no mention of cellphones or selfies, and no penalty provision attached.

The ACLU says that law violates the First Amendment, and federal courts have struck down similar laws in other places.

This issue goes to the very core of our fundamental right to free speech, ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson said in a statement. All voters have a right to share with other people how they voted should they choose to do so.

Because most people carry their cellphones with them wherever they go, banning cellphones from polling places could discourage them from voting, the ACLU also said.

And the best way to combat voter intimidation and vote-buying is not to abridge the free speech rights of innocent voters, but to investigate and prosecute those illegal acts, according to the ACLU.
With four days to go before Election Day, more than 34 percent of those registered to cast ballots in Bernalillo County have already voted via absentee ballot or early voting, County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver told a news conference Thursday.

The Clerks Office has mailed out 29,672 absentee ballots and received 21,309 of them as of Thursday.

According to the Secretary of States Office, the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is today at 5 p.m. Completed absentee ballots must be received by county clerks offices no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Another 132,162 voters have cast early ballots in Bernalillo County, 35 percent more than in the 2012 presidential election, Toulouse Oliver said. Saturday will be the last day to vote at the 19 early voting sites before the Tuesday general election.

We are expecting pretty high voter turnout for this election and anticipating between 65 and 70 percent turnout, with about a third of total voters casting a vote on Election Day, she said.

Turnout in the county was about 70 percent in the 2012 presidential election, she added.

Bernalillo County residents can vote at any of the 69 polling sites, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. Voters can log on to the Bernalillo County website at bernco.gov/myvoterinformation for locations of the polling sites and wait times.

There has been nothing more popular, more gripping and more talked about than this presidential election. Its on everybodys mind, Toulouse Oliver said.

While many people have said they dont like either candidate and might not vote, Toulouse Oliver reminds them that regardless of how voters feel about the presidential race, their voice is important. Further, she said, there are an incredible number of races down the ballot.
If you were to ask 10 different people to name the defining characteristic of the Native American economy, youd likely to get 10 different answers. Some may cite gaming. Others could note government contracting and procurement. A few may list diverse fields such as energy, telecommunications, health care and construction. And several are likely to say there is no economy as there is a lack of economic opportunity in some Native communities.

The truth lies somewhere in between. When the Reservation Economic Summit (RES) convenes at the Pueblo of Pojoaques Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino from Nov. 14-17, the diversity of the Native American economy will be on full display.

For the second consecutive year, the premier regional economic development event in Indian Country will be in Santa Fe and bring together tribal leaders, successful and emerging businessmen and women, experts across a variety of subjects, and representatives from corporate America. While at RES, theyll network, share best practices and experiences, and collaborate with each other. Put simply, RES is where Indian Country comes to do business.

In the early years of our over three-decade run of hosting RES events, our conversations were dominated by government contracting and some gaming. And while those remain important cogs in the Native American economy, the recent diversification of our economy is remarkable.

Gathered next to casino managers and procurement leads are entrepreneurs working in the industries that will define the 21st-century economy. They are forging new enterprises to take advantage of the energy boom occurring throughout the country, in both fossil fuels and renewable power. Tribal leaders are exploring new ways and strategies to meet critical needs in their communities, such as health care and access to high-speed broadband internet and wireless services.

Others are peering beyond the boundaries of their tribal lands and exploring opportunities in e-commerce and online lending. Many are bullish about tribal tourism, especially after President Obama signed the NATIVE Act to boost Native American and Alaska Native tourism initiatives.

Here in New Mexico, two major water and infrastructure projects will create tremendous economic opportunity for Indian Country. The Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System Project and the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply System will provide reliable and safe supplies of drinking water for Apache, Navajo and Pueblo communities. These multimillion-dollar and yearslong projects will offer significant contracting and employment opportunities. RES will host a panel for project managers to discuss what these developments mean for Native-owned businesses.

At RES, we also walk the walk. Presenters wont simply be talking about how theyve been successful in business  theyll lay out a blueprint for how others can follow in their well-trod footsteps. Interactive sessions will address business basics such as marketing and social media, financing, accounting, and building rock-solid business plans. RES will even bring in major national and regional financial institutions to potentially fund participants business dreams, or give them pointers on how to make their ideas better.

Our reason for facilitating RES is simple: to provide economic opportunity and hope for our people. Despite real and tangible gains over the last several years and the continued diversification of our economies, Native Americans too often lag far behind national averages in health, educational attainment, poverty levels, and other key indicators. At the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, we believe economic opportunity is the best antidote to combat these very real ailments. As we say, we mean business.

We can create that economic opportunity by coordinating and working together across all of Indian Country. Theres no better way than to continue our collaboration and put words into action than at the Reservation Economic Summit, right here in New Mexico.

Derrick Watchman, a member of the Navajo Nation, is the chairman of the board of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. For more information about the Reservation Economic Summit, please visit www.res.ncaied.org.
He says they, she says we.

She says think, he says look.

But both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump shared a surprising degree of speech patterns and word choices in their first debate on Sept. 26  and those word patterns for both of them matched most closely with the 2000 Democratic platform.

Those conclusions came from an analysis of a transcript of the debate by Simon DeDeo, who specializes in information theory and is with Carnegie Mellon Universitys department of social and decision science. He is also an external professor with the Santa Fe Institute, which sponsored an online news conference with Newswise the morning after the debate with DeDeo and other scientists who tracked the candidates facial expressions, interruptions of each other and more.

DeDeo noted that Trump used they 70 percent more often than Clinton, and Clinton used we 50 percent more than Trump did.

In an emailed answer to Journal questions Wednesday, DeDeo characterized that difference as illustrating the outside nature of Trumps rhetoric.

While Clinton is appealing to a common shared identity, Trump is directing attention to a common shared outsider, DeDeo wrote. You see the they language in Bernie Sanders as well.

Another major language difference showed Clinton using think a lot, while Trump invited listeners to look.

Here youre seeing two things, DeDeo said. Clinton is saying I think rather than I know, and use of the first person singular is often associated with a lower-power speaker (e.g., a subordinate will say I much more than the boss).

This is possibly an example of gendered expectations: Clinton has to be more tentative and lower-power to look more feminine, he added.

Meanwhile, Trumps use of look fits into his outsider candidacy  hes saying look at X,  DeDeo wrote.

At least in that first debate, the commonality of verbal expression between the two was most similar to the Bush-Gore debates of 2000, according to DeDeo. In the Obama-McCain and Obama-Romney debates, the language the two candidates used was both richer and more distinct, he said in an SFI news release.

As a matter of fact, of that first Trump-Clinton debate, he said, In terms of their rhetoric, the candidates are in a race to the center.

Not what youd expect, based on the deep divisions in our country that political analysts are saying are reflected in this years presidential election campaign.

Pacific Standard Magazine online also reported another difference DeDeo found: While Trump spoke about 30 percent more words in total, Clintons vocabulary  the list of unique words she spoke, as opposed to the raw total  was 10 percent larger.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. You can comment directly to Jackie Jadrnak at jjadrnak@abqjournal.com.
The University of New Mexico is getting a visit from the CIA Director John Brennan next week to announce a partnership between the federal agency and the states largest university.

He will come to Albuquerque for a campus community event titled, Intelligence and Security Challenges in the Next Decade, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Thursday.

Hell also participate in a question-and-answer session with Emile Nakhleh, the director of the Global and National Security Policy Institute at UNM.

Brennan is expected to announce a partnership between the CIA and UNM that would provide opportunities for students and faculty, said Dianne Anderson, a university spokeswoman.

The nature of the partnership between the university and the federal agency was not immediately announced Thursday.

The event is open to those with a valid UNM ID. Those interested are also required to RSVP. An email was sent Thursday to UNM students and employees with a link to register for the event.

Brennan was sworn in as the director of the CIA in 2013, and previously served as a counterterrorism adviser to President Barack Obama. Reuters recently reported that Brennan announced the most sweeping reforms of the CIAs 69-year history about 18 months ago to focus on threats from the digital realm.
LAS CRUCES  A Las Cruces police sergeant was under investigation earlier this year after allegations surfaced in June that he traded drugs with at least one woman in exchange for sexual favors while in uniform, the Sun-News has learned.

The Sun-News obtained a series of documents last week that revealed Sgt. Alex Smith was the target of the investigation that led to his termination from the Las Cruces Police Department on June 9.

According to the documents, Smith was accused of giving a substance believed to be methamphetamine to a woman on June 2 while in full uniform and wearing a badge.

The same woman, in a recorded conversation, also described Smith as her drug connect and boasted that she had performed sexual favors for him in exchange for drugs, the documents show.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, no criminal charges had been filed against Smith in 3rd Judicial District Court in Las Cruces. Federal prosecutors declined last month to prosecute Smith due to a lack of evidence, the Sun-News learned.

LCPD Chief Jaime Montoya issued a statement to the Sun-News on Thursday evening. It did not mention the allegations against Smith, but it said Montoya would not condone such misconduct from officers.

An overwhelming majority of our officers do an outstanding job daily and uphold the values and ethics of our department, Montoyas statement reads. I will continue to hold all our employees accountable to their actions and to meet the Values, Ethics and Mission of the Las Cruces Police Department and the community we serve. I am committed to our community and excellence and will not condone any misconduct.

Hook them up

A confidential source told investigators that she and another woman were at a home in the 400 block of Milton Avenue in the early morning hours of June 2. During a conversation with the woman, the source said the woman revealed she knew a person who could hook them up with drugs.

The woman said that person was an LCPD officer, according to the documents obtained by the Sun-News. The woman told the source she had known the officer for several years and said he would give them whatever they want, including dope.

The woman further stated that the officer would only want them to make out or do some sort of involvement in order to get drugs.

The source said the woman then asked her if she wanted to go out with her and the officer. But the documents suggest the source was apprehensive about the officer.

After the woman vouched for the officer, calling him safe, she and the source left the home on Milton Avenue around 1 a.m. to meet the officer, according to the documents.

They walked to the intersection of Turrentine Drive and Farney Lane, where they stood underneath a streetlight. As they waited, the source said, the woman contacted the officer via Facebook.

They waited for a bit, and then the officer came and picked them up in a marked Las Cruces police unit, one document stated. The source described the unit as a blue SUV with LCPD emblems and a light bar on the roof.

The confidential source said she recognized the officer as he exited his patrol unit. She identified the officer as Alex and described him as a Chinese dude, small short guy with black hair, according to the documents.

The documents suggest that the source had encountered Smith earlier this year. At that time, Smith allegedly obtained her personal information and sent her text messages that stated she had a hot body and that he wanted to possibly date her.

The source reported that Smith drove her and the woman to a South Main Street business complex in his police SUV. There, the source said, they got out of the vehicle and the woman  not the source  stated she wanted to get high.

Thats when Smith, according to the documents, handed the woman a white napkin that contained a small plastic bag with a crystal-like substance. The source was able to determined that the substance was methamphetamine.

The woman said the substance was the shit, and Smith responded by saying yes, the documents show.

The documents suggest the source became very scared when Smith gave the napkin to the woman. So the source made up a story, telling the officer she and the woman needed to leave immediately because the person they were staying with was going to lock them out of the house.

Smith then drove the women back to Turrentine Drive and Farney Lane, according to the documents. The women walked back to the home on Milton Avenue around 2 a.m.

The documents do not specify what happened to the plastic bag with the suspected methamphetamine. But investigators found the white napkin under a rock at the business complex the following morning on June 3. The source had said the woman placed the napkin under a rock after she received it from Smith.

The connect

Later on June 3, investigators and the confidential source conducted an undercover meeting with the woman, according to the documents.

At 7:40 p.m., the source picked up the woman from the home on Milton Avenue, and the two drove to a public location where their conversation was recorded.

(T)hey talked about Officer Smith, giving a description of Officer Smith, one document stated. (The woman) stated that she has known him (Smith) for a long time and that he is her connect and that she had performed sexual favors for him  in return for narcotics and information.

A subsequent surveillance operation was initiated around midnight June 5, according to the documents.

The source met the woman at the residence on Milton Avenue, where they waited for Smith to pick them up. He arrived in his LCPD patrol vehicle and drove the women to the same South Main Street business complex.

Smith was seen exiting his patrol vehicle and opening a door to let the women out. He was dressed in full uniform and appeared to very aware of his surroundings, looking around in the corners looking for, what appeared to be, anybody in the area, according to the documents.

Smith and the women were then seen walking toward a secluded corner of the business complex.

The documents suggest that the three talked for some time, then headed back to Smiths patrol unit. Near the back of his vehicle, the woman  not the source  was seen walking from corner to corner attempting to light, what appeared to be, a glass pipe in her hand.

All three then entered Smiths patrol vehicle, where the woman allegedly smoked methamphetamine.

On June 9, the same day Smith was terminated from LCPD, another woman reported she had previous contact with Smith, primarily through text messages, according to the documents. She admitted that some of their messages were sexual in nature.

The documents do not specify where or how Smith received the substance believed to be methamphetamine, but they do suggest he was involved in a drug investigation on May 27 at the residence on Milton Avenue, where the source and the woman had previously met on several occasions.

Smith and other officers reportedly discovered methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in the home, according to the documents, and were ordered to turn over the items into evidence.

Smiths patrol vehicle was searched on June 8, but no significant items were found, the documents suggest.

The right thing

Before his termination, Smith had worked for LCPD for about seven years. He graduated from the LCPD Academy in June 2009 and was promoted to sergeant in April, the citys Human Resources Department told the Sun-News.

A March 18 post on LCPDs Facebook page indicated that Smith also worked as a coordinator for the academy. LCPDs annual crime statistic report for 2015 also showed that Smith was honored as an officer of the month during that year.

In his statement the Sun-News, Montoya alluded to the bonds and relationships that are created among co-workers, but he said such ties should not hinder our decision to do the right thing.

We swore an oath to protect and serve our community and that is a promise we made to the department and to you the public, Montoya said in the statement. The Values and Ethics of our department are important to us and are reinforced daily through words and symbols throughout the department.

Carlos Andres Lopez can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter.



2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____
FORT WORTH, Texas  A North Texas jury has convicted a 26-year-old man of capital murder in the shooting deaths of his estranged girlfriend, her mother and young brother.

The punishment phase of the trial for Amos Joseph Wells III is scheduled to begin Friday, a day after he was found guilty of the July 2013 slayings. Tarrant County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The shooting at a Fort Worth home was preceded by an argument between Wells and 22-year-old Chanice Reed, who was pregnant at the time. Authorities say Wells retrieved a handgun and killed the three.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/2fjyJIE ) the evidence included shells found at the home that matched ammunition kept by Wells.

Wells later surrendered to police by asking to be shot and killed.

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Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com
The agreement, a copy of which is with India Today, painstakingly details how Embraer paid $5.76 million in 2009 to an Indian arms agent identified in the document only as 'Agent D'.

In the murky world of arms deals which thrives on stealth and shady wire transfers, the document filed before a US court probably came as a blast of bright, blinding sunshine. In a 59-page deferred prosecution agreement in the US district court in Florida on October 24, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer confessed it was guilty of paying bribes to bag aircraft contracts across the world.

The agreement, a copy of which is with India Today, painstakingly details how Embraer paid $5.76 million in 2009 to an Indian arms agent identified in the document only as 'Agent D'. The bribes were to swing a $200 million deal for the sale of three Embraer ERJ-145 jets. These twin-engined aircraft were to be customised for India to fit an indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) radar.

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The path to the doorstep of the US district court in Florida was a long one. It began in 2010 when US authorities suspected irregularities in the sale of aircraft by Embraer to the Dominican Republic. The allegations gathered steam in 2013 when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) first detailed kickbacks paid by the Sao Paulo-based aircraft manufacturer to bag contracts in several countries including India. The October 24 agreement essentially means that Embraer is free to carry on its business after paying the hefty $205 million in fines to US authorities. An October 24 statement released by the Sao Paulo-based aircraft conglomerate, expressed 'deep regrets' for its conduct, acknowledged responsibility for the conduct of its employees and agents according to the facts ascertained in the investigation.

The fraud section of the US department of justice moved against the Brazilian airplane maker in 2013. US laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 1977, which prohibits bribery of foreign nationals apply to US-registered companies like Embraer which trade shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The ripples of the global bribery scandal, from which Embraer made an $83 million profit, have already begun to be felt in India. The CBI registered a preliminary inquiry in September this year when a Brazilian newspaper first reported the bribery investigations.

The CBI now believes Agent D is Delhi-based defence consultant Vipin Khanna, 87. On October 18, the agency registered a case against the octogenarian defence agent for receiving bribes in the aircraft purchase. This means the Union ministry of defence could place further dealings with the Brazilian jet maker on hold unless the ministry notifies a new debarment policy that lays the ground rules for dealing with bribe-giving defence firms (see box: Blacklist Policy Paralysis). "The CBI investigation will proceed according to Indian laws on corruption, kickbacks etc. subject to appropriate evidence," a defence ministry spokesperson said.

BLACKLIST POLICY PARALYSIS

For over two years now, the NDA government has toyed with a debarment policy which would punish bribe-giving defence companies without hurting defence preparedness. The effects of blacklists on Bofors and HDW after the bribery scandal of the mid-1980s have lethally impacted India's defence preparedness for nearly three decades. Over a dozen defence suppliers have been blacklisted in the past decade.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who held the defence portfolio earlier, summed it up in August 2014. Blacklisting, he said, "upholds consideration of probity but narrows our buying options...which can affect our security preparedness". In 2014, the MoD initiated a nuanced suspension and debarment policy which, rather than an outright ban, looked at a graded response to allegations (see box: Three-Stage Debarment Policy). A blacklist was the last resort, only after allegations of bribery are established by the CBI.

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Even so, the MoD and Service HQ retained the right to deal with the tainted firm in the name of national security. A draft of the policy has been pending with defence minister Manohar Parrikar for close to a year now. The MoD is believed to have scrapped a proposal to legalise defence agents in arms sales. The delay in approving the debarment policy has resulted in anxiety within the forces. The policy was supposed to be released with the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) in March this year, but held back. In fact, the DPP mentions it at least a dozen times. Blacklists continue to impact the military machine that already imports nearly 70 per cent of its defence requirements. They shrink an already limited space of equipment suppliers.

The navy's new Scorpene class submarines, for instance, do not have torpedoes because the torpedo maker belongs to the Leonardo-Finmeccanica firm, one of whose subsidiaries is accused in the 2010 VVIP helicopter purchase scandal. Major democratic military powers like the US have elaborate suspension and debarment procedures, which balance considerations of probity and integrity with national security. In the deferred prosecution agreement, authorities included a simple formula for assessing Embraer's guilt. The calculations clinically weigh various factors- the complicity of senior officials and the company's contrition-before arriving at the figure of 205 million dollars. "India has not been able to strike such a balance due to inappropriate policies," says Vivek Rae, former DG (acquisitions) in the defence ministry.

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"The Indian political and bureaucratic establishment likes to occupy the moral high ground at the slightest whiff of corruption, overlooking the fact it might be compromising national security. There are various options for penalising rogue companies. Blacklisting need not be the default option." Defence ministry sources say a Defence Acquisition Committee meeting, slated for November 7, will take a final call on the debarment policy. But as with several recent meetings, it remains to be seen if the policy actually gets approved.



THE SLEAZE TRAIL

Embraer first touched down in India in 2004 when the Indian Air Force's Palam-based communications squadron bought three ECJ 135 business jets (a fourth jet was purchased by the home ministry for the Border Security Force). The aircraft, meant for use by the defence minister and the service chiefs, quickly set new standards in comfort. One UPA-era defence minister, who moved out to another ministry, insisted on still being able to use the business jet.

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By 2015, the Brazilian firm was the world's third largest airplane maker after Boeing and Airbus. The company delivered 215 jets last year, with a year-on-year growth of 6.3 per cent and an order backlog of $22.5 billion. A vein of corruption however ran through some of the deals for military aircraft as the documents filed before the US court show.

Sometime in January 2005, soon after its maiden foray into India, Embraer signed an agency agreement with a shell company domiciled in the UK and affiliated with Agent D.

Under the agency agreement, Embraer agreed to pay the shell company 9 per cent of the value of any defence contract. According to the deferred prosecution agreement, "Embraer believed that Agent D could help ensure that any contract would be awarded on single-source rather than competitive basis".

Embraer, of course, knew the agreement with the agent was illegal under Indian law and thus took steps to conceal its existence. The sole fully-executed version of the agreement was placed in a safe deposit box in London. It could be opened only when both an Embraer employee and Agent D or his associate were present. This also explains the even greater lengths the firm was to go to mask the eventual bribes to Agent D. The money trail passed through Switzerland and was routed through a shell company in Singapore which paid the Indian agents.

India's defence ministry bans middlemen and the payment of commissions in defence deals. Companies have to sign a pre-tender integrity pact where they expressly state they have not paid money to manipulate the contract.

On February 8, 2005, Embraer announced that it had signed an MoU with the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) to supply new early warning aircraft for the IAF. These had the same engines and airframe as the jets sold to the IAF's VVIP squadron. The MoU with the DRDO, Embraer believed, could result in securing a contract for an initial sale of three ERJ-145 aircraft.

The DRDO, at the time, was on a global hunt for long-range business jets on which it could mount an indigenously developed airborne radar-the Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C). The AEW&C radar, mounted on the aircraft fuselage, could monitor enemy aircraft and cruise missiles up to 250 km. Part of a Rs 2,500 crore DRDO programme, the contract was a lucrative one. IAF staff requirements called for 12 such aircraft to patrol its air frontiers with Pakistan and China.

"AEW&C aircraft are the key to offensive air operations," says Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia (retired), former C-in-C, Western Air Command. "They are eyes in the sky which can see anything airborne over 200 km across the western and eastern borders. This means, I don't have to put all my fighters up in the air. It increases our choices and we don't need to waste resources on air defence operations."

Between 2005 and 2006, Delhi-based NRI Vipin Khanna and his sons Arvind and Aditya were hitting the news with unnerving frequency. And for all the wrong reasons. First, it was the 2005 Volcker report which found that India's then external affairs minister Natwar Singh used his position to lobby Iraqi ministers in the 'oil-for-food' scandal. Singh had lobbied Iraqi officials to do business with companies linked with his son Jagat Singh and a relative, Aditya Khanna, the son of Vipin Khanna.

An FIR filed by the CBI in October 2006 found Arvind Khanna, then a Congress party MLA, to be the recipient of remittances from Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) for the sale in 2000 of Barak-1 missiles to India. Others charged in the Rs 1,150 crore deal included former defence minister George Fernandes and arms agent Suresh Nanda (the CBI closed the case in 2013 for lack of evidence).

Meanwhile, on July 3, 2008, Embraer hit pay dirt. The IAF agreed to purchase three aircraft from Embraer for approximately $208 million. The very next day, on July 4, 2008, the US documents say, Agent D contacted Embraer and demanded he be paid the agreed-upon commission. The dispute over the commission continued for some months. Sometime in early 2009, an Embraer executive met with lawyers representing Agent D and agreed to pay $5.76 million to settle the claim. To conceal the payment, Embraer created a false agency agreement, a common ruse among recent defence kickbacks.

On November 21, 2009, Embraer, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, ECC Investment Switzerland AG, executed an agency agreement with a shell company domiciled in Singapore. This shell company was affiliated with Agent D for its purported services as an agent in a sale made to another country. (The US court document does not specify the country or the sale).

The agreement was executed on the same day. The Singaporean shell company delivered three invoices to ECC, each for $1.92 million. These invoices had nothing to do with the aircraft sale to the IAF. Embraer, through ECC Investment Switzerland, remitted three payments to the shell company shortly thereafter. Embraer's books and records did not reflect that this transaction was related to its agreement with Agent D. All three aircraft were delivered to the DRDO by 2011. The agency hopes to complete the programme by next year and hand the aircraft over to the IAF. Highly-placed sources in Delhi say that Vipin Khanna was nothing more than a front for the deal. The deal, they say, was most likely executed by his London-based son, Aditya. The Khanna family did not respond to e-mails and calls for comment.

The Embraer scandal is only the newest among a clutch of UPA-era defence scandals to tumble out of the closet. On October 31, the BBC and The Guardian detailed how their investigation had found that UK-based aircraft engine firm Rolls Royce had made secret payments of 10 million pounds to firms linked to UK-based arms agent Sudhir Choudhrie. The payments were linked to the sales of the Hawk trainer aircraft purchased by India from the UK-based BAE systems in two tranches-66 jets in 2004 and 57 jets in 2010. On October 17, the Delhi police registered a case under the Official Secrets Act against defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari for possessing classified MoD documents. Bhandari's name has been linked to other defence deals too signed during the UPA era. The CBI is already investigating alleged bribery in the 2010 purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from a British subsidiary of Italian defence conglomerate Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

Over the next few days, CBI officials are likely to fan out across the world, from the United States where the case was registered, to Embraer's headquarters in Sao Paulo. CBI investigators will issue Letters Rogatory requesting foreign courts to cooperate with their investigation as they follow the money trail from New York to London, Switzerland and Singapore. More important, CBI sleuths will have to establish the last mile connect in the bribe chain: that Embraer's payoffs to the Indian middleman were in turn used to bribe officials in India.

It is an arduous international trail, one familiar to investigators in arms bribery scandals from Bofors in the 1980s to the Barak missile scam in 2006. Very little of promise comes out even after decades of investigation. "The Embraer bribery case too will meet a similar fate," predicts former CBI director Joginder Singh. "How will the CBI get the evidence? The law does not recognise depositions made before Indian policemen and foreign nationals have no incentive to come and depose before an Indian court."

Ajay Agnihotri, former chief commissioner, customs and central excise, blames the CBI's lack of specialists as the root cause of their inability to book cases in arms deals. "The CBI is manned by IPS officers who're clueless about banking and finance matters which is what these bribery cases are about."

But with the culpability of the company proven and much of the graft trail and agents out in the open, this time the CBI has little recourse but to seek some semblance of successful closure.

Follow the writer on Twitter @SandeepUnnithan



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ALEXANDRIA, Va.  A Virginia man accused of joining the Islamic State group has been indicted on terror charges.

Mohamad Khweis of Alexandria is set to appear for an arraignment Friday morning in federal court. A grand jury earlier this week returned an indictment charging him with providing material support to the Islamic State group and other terrorism-related charges.

Prosecutors brought terrorism charges against Khweis earlier this year, saying he traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State group. Khweis said he became disillusioned after a few months and surrendered to Kurdish forces.

At the time of his capture, U.S. authorities and even Khweis own family appeared to be caught off guard that he had left the U.S. to join the militant group.
JOHANNESBURG  Another major aid group is warning Kenya not to close the worlds largest refugee camp, saying the move is pressuring tens of thousands of Somali refugees to return to their deeply unstable country.

A new Refugees International report says Somali refugees in the Dadaab camp in Kenya say they feel under pressure to leave for Somalia, where attacks by Islamic extremist group al-Shabab continue and hunger is widespread.

The U.N. refugee agency claims that it only supports voluntary returns, but none of the refugees whom we spoke with in Dadaab said they felt like they have much choice, said Mark Yarnell, who wrote the report after visiting Dadaab and Somalia. It is a failure of the international refugee response system that other options are not available.

The report says Kenya should lift its Nov. 30 deadline to close the camp, which has existed for a quarter-century and holds more than 250,000 people. It sprawls in a dry, thorny region near the border with Somalia, where many born in the camp have never been.

On Monday, Kenyas High Court will hear a petition filed by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to challenge the governments plan to close the camp, Amnesty International said Friday.

Groups including Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Refugee Council also have expressed alarm in recent weeks over Kenyas reported pressure on Somali refugees to leave. They say large parts of Somalia remain insecure and aid for returnees is limited.

Kenya has expressed concern that some Dadaab residents are used by the Somalia-based al-Shabab to launch attacks inside Kenya. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said repatriations will be voluntary and humane.

The Refugees International report urges the U.N. refugee agency to give Dadaab residents reliable information about security conditions in Somalia.
MUNICH  Bayern Munich will play in shirts made of recycled plastic waste collected off the shores of the Maldives when it hosts Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

The shirts were developed by Adidas.

Adidas is a co-founder of Parley for the Oceans, an organization whose aim is to raise awareness of the condition of the oceans and to protect the maritime environment. The shirts were developed as part of its Ocean Plastic Program to rid oceans of plastic waste.
WASHINGTON  In 2009, when Democrats controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, the District of Columbia came as close as its ever been to gaining voting representation in Congress.

The Senate passed legislation to give the citys delegate a vote on the House floor, but backers withdrew it after it was amended to strike down the citys gun-control laws. The following year Republicans took control of the House, and the Districts advocates have been playing defense on Capitol Hill ever since.

Now, instead of backing incremental steps toward greater autonomy for the fast-growing city of 670,000 people, Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser is going big with a new push for full statehood. City residents will vote next week on whether the District  more populous than Vermont or Wyoming  should present a new constitution for the proposed 51st state to Congress, and the referendum is expected to pass easily.

But even staunch statehood supporters say theyre not sure of the path forward. The referendum effort doesnt address the partisan politics that make statehood a near-impossibility: Few, if any, congressional Republicans would ever vote to give two U.S. senators to a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 12-to-1.

Even if Democrats take both the House and Senate, statehood has no chance.

The Republicans would filibuster it to death, said former GOP Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, a moderate who supports District voting rights and led the 2009 effort.

Still, Bowser argues that the time is right for a statehood push.

We never know what the voters will do, but they may return members of Congress that are favorable to our views, and we need to be ready, the mayor told The Associated Press.

The moral argument for statehood is clear enough: Residents of the nations capital, the seat of democracy in a nation that deems its political system a model for the world, are denied full participation in that democracy. No other national capital treats its residents that way.

Under the proposed constitution, the city would elect a governor, not a mayor, and a 21-seat state legislature instead of a 13-person D.C. Council. A small chunk of land, including the White House, the Capitol and the National Mall, would be carved out as an independent federal enclave.

The nuts and bolts of statehood are more complex. Washington enjoys a special status unlike any state. The federal government subsidizes the city government and runs its judicial system. The District is also barred from taxing people who dont live in the city on the income they earn there, and a so-called commuter tax is a political nonstarter for leaders in Maryland and Virginia.

Supporters of the referendum say it has advanced the conversation about statehood. Their concrete goals are less clear. Some hope a Congressional hearing would move the issue forward. But a hearing two years ago on a statehood bill led to nothing.

I dont consider this an end to itself, said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. I think this is the first step along a fairly long path to reach statehood.

At the very least, backers say, presidential candidates are now being asked about statehood. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton says she supports it. Republican Donald Trump doesnt, but has said giving the city a vote in the House would be OK.

In a city where most drivers sport license plates with the phrase Taxation Without Representation to call attention to the Districts unusual circumstances, a succession of mayors has struggled to harness that political goodwill into action.

Bowser hopes to change that, and she wants to fund a national lobbying and education campaign around statehood. She declined to say how much shed spend. D.C. Council member David Grosso, a left-leaning independent, said advocates need to spend $100 million or more to get results.

Some statehood advocates are open to more practical solutions.

Joe Sternlieb, a co-founder of the nonprofit DC Vote, which lobbies for District voting rights, has proposed turning the capital into a Hong Kong-like, autonomous city-state that joins with a state, likely Maryland, for the purposes of congressional representation. The main drawback: Thats more likely to be supported by Republicans than by Democrats, who control city politics. Bowser said she doesnt support it.

The Republicans would let us merge with another state. Its the Democrats who feel that independence is more important than equality, Sternlieb said. If Republicans are unwilling to make us independent, I think its a deal that we should explore.

___

Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.
SANTA FE, N.M.  One rural countys ban on the use of cellphones and ballot selfies at voting locations in New Mexico has prompted a backlash from advocates for civil liberties.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico on Thursday urged county clerks across the state to lift or avoid restrictions on cellphone use at the polls, and to allow voters to take photos of themselves and their ballots.

ACLU spokesman Micah McCoy said the advisory responded to cellphone restrictions at polling places in Rio Arriba County in Northern New Mexico, where signs said, No cell phone usage during voting. Early voting began in New Mexico in mid-October.

County Bureau of Elections Chief Michele Jordan says the cellphone restrictions have been in place for more than a decade and are designed to preserve privacy and decorum. She said voters and poll workers worry that someone with a cellphone camera might take a photo of someone elses ballot and share how they voted, though that has never happened.

They should be sure that nobody is going to take a picture of their ballot, she said.

In a letter to county clerks, the ACLU said voters should be able to take picture of their own ballot to show other people how they voted if they choose, under constitutionally protected rights of free political expression.

Legal wrangling over ballot selfies has erupted ahead of elections in states including Colorado, California and New York, where there are laws against voters sharing photos of ballots.

New Mexico law does not address the ballot selfie issue explicitly, according to Ken Ortiz, chief of staff at the Secretary of States Office. A state statute says that after marking and preparing a paper ballot in a polling place or alternate voting location, the voter shall not show it to any person in such a way as to reveal its contents. The ACLU called the statute unconstitutional.

One New Mexico state lawmaker wants to update the law to better match modern sensibilities about social media and free speech.

It really is a right to free, uninhibited political expression, said 29-year-old Sen. Jacob Candelaria, a Democrat from Albuquerque. As a millennial legislator, I dont think we should be criminalizing, in any way, forms of political expression, especially those that are being used by younger folks.

Many ballot photo bans across the U.S. were enacted over 100 years ago as a way to prevent coercion, intimidation and vote buying. McCoy of the ACLU said those problems are best left to police investigators and prosecutors to enforce without restricting cellphones.

Ballot selfies dont appear to trouble other election officials in New Mexico.

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who oversees voting across New Mexicos most populous county, last month posted on Twitter a photo of herself in the process of voting, with the caption, I voted early! Have you? Her ballot was not visible.

Toulouse Oliver is the Democratic candidate for secretary of state, the states top post for overseeing elections.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  A complaint has been filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones offered free tickets to any of the teams five remaining home games to North Little Rock uniformed police officers and their families.

Jones, who grew up in North Little Rock, is named in the complaint along with Mayor Joe Smith, the city aldermen and the president of the North Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5. In addition to the free tickets, travel and hotel costs are also covered in the gift.

Local blogger Russ Racop of Little Rock filed the complaint Wednesday, saying the gift violates Arkansas code which prohibits public servants from receiving gifts for their duties or responsibilities. Gifts valued at more than $100 are prohibited, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2e8TiI1 ).

The North Little Rock City Council approved a resolution Oct. 24, accepting the gift. City Attorney Jason Carter said the resolution was passed to comply with state ethics laws.

My advice was to present it to the City Council to make sure the offer was transparent and accountable and, in my opinion, within the law, Carter said of the gift. Its better to be transparent and have the discussion in front of the public. Thats the best policy of government.

More than 100 of the police departments 179 officers are expected to attend one of the games offered. President of the North Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 Michael Gibbons said Jones offer was meant to recognize officers in the area for their community interaction and service.

___

Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com
EL PASO  On Wednesday, shortly after El Paso County broke its record for early voting, Andres Villalobos walked into the downtown courthouse and cast a ballot for Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats. He was 65 years old, and had earned American citizenship after years of crossing back and forth across the Mexican border, a few blocks away.

But he had never voted before. Nothing had compelled him to vote until Donald Trump ran for president. If Trump won the presidency, he predicted the absolute worst.

Maybe chaos, he said. It would be ugly, very, very bad for the economy, for the city, for everyone. It would be bad for the border. It wouldnt work.

Leonardo Wong, 71, was also casting his first vote. He had registered while renewing the passport that let him walk back and forth across the border, and he had gotten behind Hillary Clinton.

I dont think everybodys a rapist and everybodys a narco like Trump says, Wong said.

Texas is expected to go Republican this year, as it has in every presidential election since 1980. At Trumps lowest point, when he was buried by his own gaffes and weak debate performances, the state closed to single digits in polling; final polls have him leading by closer to 10 points.

But Democrats have watched a turnout surge wash over the states most urban, least white areas. In 10 days of early voting, more than 115,000 early ballots were cast in El Paso County, blowing past the record set in 2008. Turnout overall was up by 64 percent over 2012; it was up by close to 40 percent around Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

Turnout has also grown in the deep red suburbs, but in El Paso, Democrats are no longer struggling to turn out their voters. According to We (fillintheblank), a student-run political group that conducts the areas only exit polling, Clinton is on track to win 71 percent of the vote in El Paso, better than any Democrat since the Texas Republican Party became competitive.

The Trump candidacy has challenged a Republican project that had succeeded in Texas more than in any state  a coalition between conservative whites and culturally conservative Latino voters. Republicans, who have controlled every statewide office here since 1998, have won supermajorities of white voters and courted enough Latino votes to make the Democratic Party irrelevant.

It was supposed to show Republicans the way to a one-party future. In 1998, during a campaign designed to prove his appeal to voters beyond Texas, then-Gov. George W. Bush camped out in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso. I want it to be known that a conservative candidate can carry the Hispanic vote, he told reporters.

He did so, and won El Paso, a feat he did not repeat in his campaigns for president. In Bushs wake, even as the national party abandoned immigration reform, Democrats struggled to activate Texan Latinos the way that they had in California, or Arizona, or the Midwestern states where they were more recent immigrants.

The struggle won national attention  the bad kind  in 2014. Battleground Texas, a PAC created by veterans of the Obama campaign, launched on the theory that early spending and organizing could activate a slumbering, non-white vote. Texas isnt as red of a state as people say it is, if you look at the numbers, said senior adviser Jeremy Bird at the launch event.

The numbers did not change. Greg Abbott, elected governor in a landslide two years ago, out-campaigned Democrat Wendy Davis with Latinos. Ads in the Rio Grande Valley played up Abbotts marriage to a Mexican American. Turnout in El Paso fell by more than half of its 2012 total, allowing now-Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, to flip a House seat that Democrats had considered safe.

Then came Trump. Some Texas Republicans had been edging toward his rhetoric, away from the Bush approach. Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor elected in 2014, did not sound different from Trump on the border, or when he crusaded against college tuition for undocumented Texans. But voter awareness of Patrick was minimal; Trump blotted out the sun. Rep. Beto ORourke, D-Texas, who in 2012 defeated an incumbent who had relied on the teetering Democratic machine, had never encountered a line for early voting. The line was 45 minutes long this year.

There wasnt even a whole lot that someone like me needed to do to encourage that, ORourke said. Finally, there was a very clear reason to vote.

In the summer, El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar began to notice that people who crowded into the semi-annual citizenship ceremonies dashed across the courthouse to get registered to vote.

I think everyone understands how closely tied we are to Mexico, Escobar explained, sitting in her office near one of the voting sites. We lived through the devaluation of the peso, and when it happened, our economy was devastated. Insulting our most important economic partner, and wanting to isolate it from us  most people here realize thered be an economic price, and we would pay it.

The border described by Trump simply did not resemble the one El Paso lives with. The Republican nominee was not wrong about the drug wars in Ciudad Juarez, or the smugglers constantly changing their tactics to get opium and meth into the United States. But El Paso is growing. Unemployment is sinking. Thanks in large part to a policing build-up on the border, someone in Dallas or Houston was twice as likely to be a victim of violent crime. What was Trump talking about?

Hes an embarrassment, said Ana Morales, 31, a victim advocate who works with non-citizens and frets about how a Trump presidency would affect them. I think he would put up a lot of barriers. There are very vulnerable people who would be hurt by him.

It would be like east Berlin, said Edna Ortega, 42. He would bring in an authoritarian type of government  very racist.

Republicans, who do not need El Paso to win the state, said that Trumps impact would be overrated. On Thursday, the local Republican Party headquarters was quiet but active. One volunteer made calls, near signs that advertised the summer social media campaign to bring Trump to El Paso. (He never came.) Adolpho Telles, the county chairman, insisted that plenty of Democrats were quietly telling him that they would buck the tide and vote for Trump.

People dont necessarily like the fence idea, the wall idea, whatever you want to call it, he said. But when the cameras are off, they will tell you: They dont believe in illegal immigration. They do believe in securing the border.

In dozens of interviews at the polls, Trump supporters were happy to talk. None said that they were voting Republican because of Trumps immigration policy. Mike and Destiny Tipton, 32 and 34, supported Trump after Clintons record at the State Department put them off.

These email things never seem to go away, said Mike Tipton, referring to an apparently false Fox News report that Clinton risked indictment.

Im disappointed with her over the whole Benghazi thing, Destiny Tipton said.

Those sentiments were usually outweighed with genuine terror of Trump  and often, admiration for Clinton. Some voters, who spoke only Spanish, talked about a hypothetical Trump presidency the way that Tea Party conservatives once discussed an Obama reelection  a world-shattering event, the end of America as they knew it. At a polling station inside the Bassett mall, the Thursday lunch hour found a steady stream of voters entering, filling out their ballots quickly, and exiting to explain why theyd voted for Clinton.

Frank Noriega, 72, accompanied his wife as she voted for Clinton, then stayed behind to finish some errands. He had long ago decided to oppose Trump. The mystery, to him, was why more people didnt seem to trust Clinton.

Shes out there with regular public. She talks to them, he said. For all the stuff thats come out, theyve never proven she did anything wrong. If they had the proof, she couldnt be running.
BERLIN  German prosecutors say theyre investigating a lawyers complaint against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and others, a case reportedly involving accusations of them being accessories to incitement.

Munich prosecutors said Friday they will look into whether any crime was committed, whether German law is applicable and whether theyre responsible for the case.

They didnt detail the accusations, but Der Spiegel magazine reported that the criminal complaint by a Bavaria-based lawyer alleges Facebook managers have tolerated threats of violence among other things.

Facebook has faced criticism in Germany for what critics say is an insufficient response to hate speech.

Facebook said it wouldnt comment on the status of a possible investigation. However, it said the allegations lack merit and there has been no violation of German law by Facebook or its employees.
A major casting call is going to be held in Albuquerque, Socorro and El Paso later this month.

According to Sande Alessi Casting, there is a casting call for extras for the film, Horse Soldiers.

Horse Soldiers is the true story of U.S. Special Forces assigned to fight a Northern Alliance warlord and drive out the Taliban against overwhelming odds in the rugged mountainous region of Afghanistan, just weeks after 9/11.

An Internet Movie Database search shows that the film is being directed by Nicolai Fuglsig. Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon are signed onto the production. And Jerry Bruckheimer is one of the producers.

Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill from Black Label Media are co-financing and producing with Bruckheimer.

The project is an adaptation of Doug Stantons book, with Peter Craig and Ted Tally writing.

According to the casting release, the production team will be traveling throughout Texas and New Mexico, to cast this epic motion picture.

The movie starts filming in late 2016.

The casting calls will be held:

 Nov. 18 in El Paso at the YWCA East Branch, 10712 Sam Snead Drive from 2-7 p.m.;

 Nov. 19 in Socorro at Americas Best Value Inn, 1009 North California Street from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.;

 Nov. 20 at the Aux Dog Theater, 3011 Monte Vista NE from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

The production will be casting people of all ages, types, and ethnicities.

Those interested must be a local resident age 18 or older, with valid social security number.

All extras will be paid.

How to submit yourself for a role:

1. Please like us at Horse Soldiers Casting on Facebook. This is how you will see our daily casting notices. Or click here.

2. Please register with us at sandealessicasting.com The website will ask you to upload a current photo with a white background. A selfie is preferred over a headshot. Its free.

3. Come to the open casting call.
DENVER  Prosecutors say a former University of Colorado Hospital nurse is accused of stealing vials of a potent painkiller and replacing them with other substances to cover it up.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Denver said 30-year-old Kacye Unruh was arrested Thursday after being indicted on charges including tampering with a consumer product, deceitfully obtaining a controlled substance and making false statements.

Unruh was being held in jail Friday, and records dont list an attorney who could comment on her behalf. A hospital spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Prosecutors say Unruh took vitals of fentanyl from the hospitals dialysis area. She is also accused of lying to a special agent with the Food and Drug Administration about taking drugs from an Oklahoma medical facility where she also worked.
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Official documents, procured by India Today show that on the day of jailbreak, only a handful of policemen were available for the security of Bhopal central jail.

Shoulder injury rules Dale Steyn out of Australia series

Dale Steyn went straight off the ground and spent the rest of the day in the dressing room wearing a compression pack.

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UK announces new visa crackdown on non-EU nationals

Under new visa rules, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds.

Doctor Strange movie review: Not strange enough. Just elementary, dear MCU fan

Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange is a simplistic origin tale of the super-sorcerer Stephen Strange. It follows a very basic A-to-B storyline of earlier superhero films, like Nolan's Batman Trilogy or the Iron Man films.





--- ENDS ---
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 04.11.2016 - At the beginning of December, Switzerland will open a consulate general in the capital of the Principality of Liechtenstein. The chairman of the Swiss Association in Liechtenstein, Sascha Roger Bolt, has been appointed as honorary consul general. His main task is to provide services for the community of about 3,600 Swiss nationals residing in Liechtenstein. This appointment also underscores the value Switzerland places on bilateral relations with the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Under the Swiss Abroad Act, which entered into force in November 2015, Swiss nationals residing in Liechtenstein are also required to register in the Register of the Swiss Abroad. In order to make it easier for them to do so, Switzerland has appointed an honorary consul general in Vaduz who reports to the regional consular centre in Vienna. This regional consular centre, which now also covers the Principality of Liechtenstein, is among other tasks responsible for registering Swiss nationals in the Register of the Swiss Abroad and updating the information it contains.

The new honorary consul general was selected through a public recruitment process. Sascha Roger Bolt, 41, is a Swiss national who has been living with his family for the last ten years in Liechtenstein and works in the financial services sector. Mr Bolt is also the chairman of the Swiss Association in Liechtenstein and will continue to serve in this capacity for the time being.

The new honorary consul general will mainly be tasked with providing services for the Swiss community in Liechtenstein, including helping Swiss nationals to register in the Register of the Swiss Abroad and to complete other consular procedures. In addition, when instructed to do so by the Swiss ambassador to the Principality of Liechtenstein, who is based in Bern, the honorary consul general will periodically carry out supporting tasks relating to diplomatic relations with the authorities in Liechtenstein and, in consultation with the regional consular centre in Vienna, will also provide assistance to Swiss nationals who find themselves in an emergency situation during a temporary stay in Liechtenstein.

The new consulate general, located at Lettstrasse 8 in Vaduz, will open for business on Thursday 1 December 2016. On Saturday 26 November 2016, the Consular Directorate of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss embassy to the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Swiss embassy in Austria will host an event in Vaduz together with the honorary consul general during which Swiss nationals living in Liechtenstein will be able to apply directly to register in the Register of the Swiss Abroad.

Address for enquiries

FDFA Communication

Federal Palace West Wing

CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland

Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53

Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55

E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Twitter: @SwissMFA

Publisher

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 04.11.2016 - Marcel Jullier was elected today by the United Nations General Assembly (GA) to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions of the 5th Committee of the GA. He is thus the first Swiss national to have a seat on this important body.

The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) reviews all of the UN Secretary-General's proposals in the areas of finance, human resources and administration of the organisation for the GA. This includes, in particular, the budget of the UN and its subsidiary bodies, many of which are based in Geneva. The importance of the ACABQ is considerable: in practice, its recommendations are often decisive. So far, no Swiss national has been a member of the ACABQ.

Marcel Jullier is an expert in accounting and controlling and has many years of international experience in administration and finance in international organisations. He has held a number of managerial positions, including with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UN Women, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Most recently, he was employed as an adviser at the United Nations and International Organisations Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Switzerland is committed to a sound financial management of the UN. With the election of Marcel Jullier, the member states of the GA have reaffirmed the importance of independent expertise in the areas of finance and administration for an efficient and effective functioning of the organisation. With this election, Switzerland's presence in the governing bodies of the UN has been strengthened. The members of the ACABQ are elected for a period of three years.

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Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53

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E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

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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.
Die vietnamesische Zentralregierung macht deutlich, dass grausame Veranstaltungen wie das Nem Thuong Schweineschlachtfest nicht langer toleriert werden.

Berichten der staatlichen Medien zufolge hat das vietnamesische Ministerium fur Kultur, Sport und Tourismus ein Ende aller gewalttatigen Veranstaltungen angeordnet. Dazu zahlen insbesondere jene, bei denen Tiere getotet werden.

Diese Entwicklung ist die Konsequenz aus einer Serie von Veroffentlichungen der Zentralregierung gegen das Nem-Thoung-Fest seit Animals Asia die Brutalitat dieser Veranstaltung 2014 hervorhob.

Weltweit haben mehr als 30.000 engagierte Menschen die entsprechende Petition von Animals Asia unterschrieben. Zudem wurde das Thema vielfach von den lokalen Medien aufgegriffen.

Die Kampagne hat die allgemeine Toleranzgrenze zur Gewalt gegenuber Tieren weit uber das Schweineschlachtfest hinaus beeinflusst und die Regierung dazu veranlasst, den gewalttatigen Festivals ein Ende zu setzen.

Unterstutzt wurde die Initiative auerdem von der lokalen Bevolkerung. Einer Zeitungsumfrage zufolge stimmten 79% der Teilnehmenden darin uberein, dass das Schweineschlachtfest verboten gehort.

Derart unter Beschuss hat das Festival das Ausma der offentlich ausgeubten Gewalt reduziert. Die meisten Schlachtungen werden nicht mehr offentlich vollzogen. Dennoch hat das nicht ausgereicht, um das Missfallen der Regierung und Offentlichkeit zu dampfen.

Tuan Bendixsen, Direktor Animals Asia Vietnam:

Die Regierung hat sehr deutlich gemacht, dass Festivals wie Nem Thuong, die Gewalt gegen Tiere beinhalten, umgehend ein Ende finden mussen. Wie diese Vorgabe in der Realitat umgesetzt wird, bleibt zu beobachten.

Verantwortlich fur die Umsetzung der zentralbehordlichen Vorgaben sind Provinzamter. In den kommenden Tagen hoffen wir mehr daruber zu erfahren, wie man bei der Durchsetzung der Verbote von gewalttatigen Festivals vorzugehen plant.

Weitere Artikel zum Thema: Es ist doch NUR ein Schwein! Wie eine Kampagne Animals Asias dabei half, Vietnam im Sinne der Tiere zu verandern.
Fawad Khan and his wife Sadaf Khan have a name for their baby girl.

By India Today Web Desk: Fawad Khan might be miles away from India, but the Pakistani actor is getting all the praise for his cameo in Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. If his professional choices are being appreciated, his personal life is also a bliss right now. Fawad, who became a father for the second time in October this year, is blessed with a baby girl.

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ALSO READ: Fawad Khan becomes dad for the second time, blessed with a baby girl



And a picture shared by one of Fawad's fan clubs reveals that Fawad and his wife Sadaf have named their daughter Elayna.

The picture on Instagram shows a cake and flowers along with a card which reads, "Fawad, Sadaf and Aayaan welcome Elayna Fawad Khan."

After wrapping up the shooting of Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Fawad had returned to Pakistan in July to spend more time with his pregnant wife. Sadaf and Fawsad welcomed their bundle of joy in October.

Fawad and Sadaf got married in 2008 after dating for almost 8 years. The couple also has a 5-year-old son Aayaan.





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By India Today Web Desk: Tourism in Goa is taken to an all-new level. Seems like the popular beach destination is all set to receive plenty of travellers from all parts of the world, especially Europe--a lot more than ever before.

Wondering why? Thomas Cook Airlines has launched a direct flight from London (Manchester) to Goa International Airport six days a week for the 2016-17 season, reports The Times of India.

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The first flight of this service arrived in Goa on Tuesday night with 311 passengers on board, who were given a warm welcome by Goa Tourism at the airport. While each of them was handed a Goa Tourism souvenir and flowers, a live brass band played Goan music specially for them.

Also read: Sunburn Festival can be held in Goa: Tourism Minister



The media report also reveals that 80 per cent of the travellers who landed in Goa last night availed Electronic Tourist Visa (ETV) facility.

"We are very happy that the tourism season 2016-17 has commenced with flying colours. We are very delighted that the numbers of direct flights from London to Goa are increasing and each flight will bring around 325 passengers. The UK market is a very important one for us and we are also going to impress on this at the upcoming WTM 2016 in London," Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar told TOI.

With more than 300 passengers on board for six times in a week would mean a huge increase in Goa's tourist arrivals. Out of the six flights coming from London, three will be from Manchester, while the other three will be from the Gatwick airport.



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Cops busted a gang of robbers and arrested one Mehtap Sheikh, a resident of Milind Nagar in Mumbai today. Sheikh is originally from UP.

By Saurabh Vaktania: Mumbai Police Crime Branch busted a gang of robbers, who were planning to target vacant houses during Diwali, on Thursday. The police arrested one member of the gang, while a manhunt has been launched to trace the others.

The cops arrested Mehtap Sheikh, 36, a resident of Powai from Milind Nagar area in Mumbai. Sheikh is originally a resident of Krishna Nagar in UP. The crime branch recovered one foreign pistol and four live catridges from the accused.

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POLICE GOT A TIP-OFF



Senior police inspector Mahesh Desai of Crime Branch unit 9 had received a tip-off from his sources after which Desai laid a trap in Bandra and arrested the accused.

Also read: 3 arrested from Mumbai railway station for possessing 103 kg charas



According to senior inspector Desai, the accused Sheikh was lodged in Nashik jail, where he met other criminals and a plan was hatched to target vacant houses in Mumbai during Diwali. According to the crime branch, the whole planning took place inside the Nashik jail.

CONSPIRACY HATCHED INSIDE JAIL



Interestingly, after the gang had hatched a conspiracy inside the jail for committing robberies in Mumbai, they decided to first steal a car in which they would roam around in Mumbai committing robberies. Sheikh and his gang recently even stole a car from Vile Parle area in Mumbai.

Inspector Desai and his team have now registered a FIR in the case and further investigation in the case is on.



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The BSF has now initiated an ambitious plan to install a series of sophisticated thermal imagers both of foreign origin and domestically manufactured along the border.

By Ashwini Kumar, Gaurav C Sawant: Silently the 'Third Eye' scans the horizon in the dead of the night. A suspicious movement is noticed. From the control room a message is passed to the soldier with a gun and moments later the guns spit fire. The infiltrators spotted by the 'third eye' drop dead. The high resolution hand held thermal imagers are being described as the biggest force multipliers along the approximately 200 kilometre long international border in the Jammu sector.

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The BSF has now initiated an ambitious plan to install a series of sophisticated thermal imagers both of foreign origin and domestically manufactured along the border. These are very well concealed fixed on branches of trees, border outposts and multiple other locations. Border security force personnel on ground describe these thermal imagers as the 'Third Eye of the Destroyer' (Lord Shiva).

"Pakistani infiltrators have not succeeded in dodging these cameras. Every movement is caught. Up gradation of technology is a continuous process and these have proven to be a major force multiplier," Dinesh Upadhyay, Inspector General Jammu Frontier told India Today.



READ| India giving befitting reply to Pakistan after series of ceasefire violations: BSF IG



It is not that Pakistani infiltrators have not tried. Just two days ago a small group of infiltrators wrapped a thick blanket around themselves to conceal the heat signature emanating from their bodies. But the sensitive cameras captured the heat signature. The BSF personnel at the control room monitoring the area immediately alerted the personnel deployed at the nearest Border Out Post.

He could not open fire using his small arms because of the distance and the aim was to target the infiltrators before they reached the fence. Two mortar rounds were immediately fired and moments later the cameras captured one person pulling another injured person with him.

"This time there was no blanket and the silhouette of a weapon could also be made out. These could have been terrorists trying to come close to the fence under cover of darkness to either infiltrate and reach our cities or a Pakistan army sniper trying to sneak close to the fence at night and then snipe at our personnel at dawn," sources said.

READ| Indian Army retaliates after civilian deaths: 2 Pakistani jawans killed, 14 posts hit



The destruction of Pakistani bunkers and outposts have also been effectively captured by the thermal imagers. "The Chenab Rangers (Pakistani rangers deployed opposite BSF in Jammu) have repeatedly tried to target the cameras. But they don't know where exactly are the cameras installed. We also have a number of decoy cameras. Twice they did succeed in targeting our decoy cameras. But not the real ones even once," sources added.

Apart from thermal imagers the BSF is already deploying laser fence and testing infra red fence along the international border especially in areas where installation of the regular fence is not possible. "The laser fence is a visible deterrent but the infra red fence cannot be seen but so far appear to be very effective in trials. We need to carry out more trials but technology is proving to be an effective force multiplier," said another official engaged in the task of border management.

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As part of a pilot project two laser and infra red fences are being erected in a kilometer long area to study its effectiveness. After trials a decision will be taken to extend or modify the project.

Also Read:

3 terrorists caught on BSF camera sneaking into J-K's Hiranagar sector

Mann Ki Baat: Modi lauds courage of jawans, dedicates this Diwali to Army

Army destroys 4 Pakistani posts in Keran sector along LoC, says it has inflicted 'heavy casualties



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The President of Colombia has hailed Northern Ireland as the inspiration that is driving him to secure peace in his own country.

Juan Manuel Santos said he told fellow Colombians to "look to Belfast" when trying to show them the dividends a peaceful future can deliver.

Mr Santos asked to come to Belfast as part of his historic state visit to the UK, the first by a Colombian President.

Addressing a civic reception in Belfast's landmark Titanic Belfast venue, the president said he wanted to travel to Northern Ireland in person to "thank and congratulate" the people.

"I have been following what you have done over the last decades; the peace process has been an inspiration to us, to me," he said.

"I have followed the perseverance and the tenacity with which you solved this very long and terrible conflict here in Northern Ireland and it has been truly an example that I've been trying to follow."

Mr Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to broker a peace deal with left-wing Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels.

Colombia has been blighted by a bitter and bloody internal conflict for decades, as Northern Ireland was before the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998 paved the way for a more peaceful future.

A number of politicians from Northern Ireland have contributed to initiatives to reach a settlement in Colombia.

Although September's peace deal was narrowly rejected by Colombia's citizens in a referendum, the president has extended a ceasefire with the country's largest rebel movement to allow more time to save the proposed accord.

More than 220,000 people - mostly civilians - were killed during the 52-year conflict and more than eight million were driven from their homes.

'Look to Belfast'

Mr Santos said the efforts to achieve reconciliation once the violence stopped in Northern Ireland had also impressed him.

"That is even more difficult, but you have been doing a great job. I know it is ongoing, still going on, but, for us, it's also an inspiration," he said.

Noting the transformation that has occurred in Belfast, he added: "I tell the Colombian people 'look what happened in Belfast, look how investment is coming in, pouring in, look at the transformation Belfast has been going through - this we can do the same if we are able to reach peace'."

Earlier in the day, the president was welcomed to Stormont Castle by First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

He shook hands with the unionist and republican leaders on the castle steps before heading inside for private discussions.

Sinn Fein veteran Mr McGuinness is a former IRA commander while Democratic Unionist leader Mrs Foster was caught up in an IRA bus bombing during the Troubles and her father was badly injured in an IRA murder bid.

Together the pair now lead the devolved power-sharing institutions forged during the peace process.

Mr Santos later held a separate meeting with Secretary of State James Brokenshire.

The president's last scheduled engagement of the day was with a number of community groups working at sectarian interfaces in north Belfast.

Mrs Foster said "peace and prosperity" were the two main items on the agenda during the discussions with the president.

"The Colombian peace process is a significant priority for their government and I know many organisations and people across Northern Ireland have helped in nudging forward the path to peace," she said.

"It is a challenging path but one worth travelling.

"It is therefore very significant for us to be associated with a state visit to the United Kingdom and, just as Her Majesty The Queen said at Tuesday's state banquet at Buckingham Palace, Northern Ireland is now beginning to realise its full potential.

"I hope this visit to Northern Ireland will encourage collaboration, partnership and renewed engagement between our respective business sectors."

Mr McGuinness described the president as a "very important visitor".

"Many of us have been very much involved over the course of recent years in supporting negotiations that were taking place in Havana between the Farc and Colombian government," he said.

"I was in Colombia two years ago at the invitation of President Santos and spent some time with him."

He added: "Of course we are delighted at the successful outcome of those negotiations. We know there was a disappointment about the failure of the referendum to pass but the peace process continues.

"Negotiations have recommenced and we hope that there will be a successful outcome from those negotiations."
Politicians across Ireland need to maintain focus on establishing the island's priorities in the Brexit process despite the High Court decision in London, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted.

Kenny said the ruling had challenged previous assumptions that his UK counterpart Theresa May was able to trigger an exit from the EU in her own right.

"Now clearly the British government have to make a decision as to whether to refer now to the parliament or whether to appeal that case and that's a matter for them," he said.

"Irrespective of the decision that they make there we have to concentrate on what our priorities are and work together in the interests of the common benefits of the economies of the people north and south."

Mr Kenny was in Belfast to meet political leaders to discuss the on-going fall-out from Brexit. His visit to Stormont came a day after he hosted an all-island forum in Dublin that saw politicians, business leaders and other members of civic society discuss the ramifications of the UK leaving the EU.

The Fine Gael leader said his focus was on identifying the priorities for the island in the Brexit negotiations.

"Time is short here, we don't have any time to waste," he said.

"What we are looking for is cooperation with everybody so we know exactly what it is the priorities we should be following here in order to get the very best result for the people of the north and the people of the island of Ireland as a whole."

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster, a Brexiteer, stayed away from the forum event in Dublin, claiming it would be full of "grandstanding remoaners".

Today's #allislanddialogue is a chance to hear about the challenges & opportunities of Brexit from many sectors across Ireland & N.I.  Enda Kenny (@EndaKennyTD) November 2, 2016

The Democratic Unionist leader also used a weekend speech to her party conference to accuse Irish government representatives of trying to play up uncertainty around Brexit to "poach" would-be investors from Northern Ireland.

Mr Kenny declined to be drawn on her comments as he arrived at Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

"I am not in the business of having any rows created with first minister Foster and this is much too important in the context of the island of Ireland," he said.

The first minister was not among the leaders the Taoiseach met at Stormont due to her having other diary commitments

Mr Kenny said the pair had a "good working relationship" and said they would be holding a meeting in Dublin on November 15.
Carter Center-supported countries in 2016 surpassed 500 million doses of medication distributed since 1996 to fight neglected tropical diseases.



Half a billion is an amazing milestone, and its well worth celebrating, said Dr. Frank Richards, who heads up the Center's programs to combat river blindness, schistosomiasis, and lymphatic filariasis. Even more worth celebrating is the impact that we are having from those treatments. You cant begin to calculate the good thats been done.



Kelly Callahan, director of the Center's Trachoma Control Program, agreed, saying the milestone symbolizes the Carter Center's core values:



Its not about the number, she said. "Its about helping. Its about caring. Its about worrying about people and their quality of life.  Its about people working together to ensure that we all strive for a better world."



What does it take to get half a billion doses into the hands (and mouths) of people in remote, rural places in Africa and Latin America?



It takes Carter Center staff. We have close to 1,000 staff members across multiple continents coordinating the distribution of remedies and preventative treatments for a set of diseases that are ignored or overlooked. The Carter Center provides training and materials that empower local people to solve their own challenges.



It takes commitment from federal ministries of health. The Carter Center only goes where it's invited. Governments decide to make their citizens' health a priority and work with The Carter Center to create effective programs and support them by providing supplemental resources and personnel.



It takes community volunteers. Regular folks who care about their communities come out by the thousands, time and time again, to help ensure their neighbors receive the medications that will alleviate suffering and prevent disease in future generations. Over 300,000 volunteers are involved in Carter Center assisted efforts.



It takes generous corporate partners. A number of companies  Merck, Pfizer, BASF, Johnson & Johnson, Vestergaard, Clarke, and Abbott  have made long-term commitments to provide medications, filters, insecticide-treated bednets, laboratory equipment and other products essential to our work.



And it takes trust. The only way these programs can work is if millions of individuals place their trust in partnerships. The Carter Center values its role as a good partner in this important work to help save and improve the lives of others.
A former CFO pleaded not guilty to an $18 million fraud scheme at the failed Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union in Clarkston, Mich.

Michael A. LaJoice, 37, entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Detroit Thursday.

During the plea hearing, LaJoice agreed to remain in custody at the Oakland County Jail where he has been since Jan. 6. On that date, he shocked police investigators after he walked into the Oakland County Sheriffs Office and admitted that he embezzled millions of dollars over several years from the credit union.

On Dec. 12, a trial has been scheduled in an Oakland County court where LaJoice will face 14 counts of embezzlement.
Access Free Oil Trading Guide from DailyFX Analysts HERE !

Talking Points:

Crude Oil Technical Strategy: Move to 200-DMA (43.47) Important

Anticipated Technical Washout to 200-DMA Now Watching Fundamentals & Cross-Market Moves

Break Below 200-DMA would signal double-top that favors further downside

Are you ready for a big move in Oil? Ready or not, it appears were about to see one in addition to this weeks drop that has been the largest weekly decline since January when the CoT data showed us the Hedge Funds were starting to re-build long exposure. Whether you look at the upcoming geopolitical risk of the U.S. Presidential Election or the increasing implied volatility as we come to a key technical indicator, it appears were about to see a pivot or the start of a crash.

On Friday, we heard from OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo that Saudi, the largest OPEC producer, did not threaten to raise production if there was no deal on a cut. Barkindo has been busy trying to limit negative rumors swirling around about the unlikelihood of the deal to cut production before the formal negotiations on November 30 in Vienna.

Interested In a Quick Guide about OPEC, Click Here

The price of Oil has dropped just over 16% in 12 trading days. A further breakdown that would take us to a great than 20% loss would technically register a Bear Market. However, the most important development for technicians will be to see how the price reacts to the 200-DMA.

D1Crude Oil Price Chart: The 200-DMA Has Been Pivotal For USOIL

Chart Created by Tyler Yell, CMT Courtesy of TradingView

The chart above walks you through price reactions off the 200-DMA, which is visualized as a blue line. The move on Friday toward the 200-DMA was the lowest intraday move since October 20, and the first touch of the 200-DMA since early August.

Now, well look to see if the price slices through the 200-DMA on a continued breakdown, which could bring up the discussion of a double top at $51/bbl. There is a similar time delay between the two tops at $51/bbl at 94 days as there was on the ~99% move from $26.03 to the $51.64 level on June 9 that took 85 trading days.

Additionally, weve seen what appears like a three-wave move higher that was initially anticipated to be a strong move higher could be a corrective move higher. If there has been a definitive corrective move higher, we will anticipate an impulsive decline, which could take us aggressively lower toward the August low of $39/bbl and possibly a good deal lower.

In our recent note, we shared the idea that a return to the median line of the bearish channel above may still be in play. A continuation of the retracement would take the price below the 200-DMA ($43.418/bbl) and toward the median line at ~$35/bbl. A corrective move higher and double-top that has a neckline of $39.23 would also target an aggressive Bear move.

One component that has not shown up as the price of Oil trades at the 200-DMA is a strong US Dollar. From an Intermarket-perspective, Dollar strength tends to align with Oil weakness like we say in H2 2014. While the recent bearish move in Oil has been on reliant on the breakdown in OPEC negotiations, a resumption of USD strength that we saw in late October.

Key Levels Over the Next 48-hrs of Trading As of Friday, November 4, 2016

T.Y.

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The urine of pregnant women could be used to help identify lifestyle interventions that help maintain a healthy birth weight for their baby, according to new research published in BMC Medicine. Abnormal fetal growth and birth weight are well-established risk factors for chronic diseases later in life, including the development of type-2 diabetes and obesity.

Dr Mireille Toledano, co-lead author of the research from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "We used a technique called NMR spectroscopy to identify, for the first time, a panel of 10 urinary metabolites in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy that were associated with greater fetal growth and increased birth weight. These metabolites included steroid hormones and important biological building blocks called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)."

BCAAs are essential nutrients that are vital during pregnancy as an energy source for the growing fetus. In this study, changes in BCAAs and other metabolites detected in the urine were able to explain 12% of the variation seen in birth weight, independent of other known predictors such as parent's own weight and maternal smoking or alcohol intake.

Dr Muireann Coen, co-lead author from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, added: "We found that a 50% increase in the mother's level of individual BCAAs equated to a 1-2.4% increase in birth weight, or 5-11 grams. When we made comparisons with the lifestyle and environmental exposures of the women in our study we found that the variability between BCAA profiles of individual mothers could be partially explained by levels of physical activity, vitamin D, coffee consumption and smoking exposure, suggesting them to be potential areas of intervention to promote a healthy birth weight."

The research team from Spain at ISGlobal, collected urine samples and lifestyle questionnaire data from over 800 pregnant women, aged 28-33 years old, from two locations in Spain (Gipuzkoa and Sabadell), making it the most comprehensive study of urinary metabolites and fetal weight outcomes to date. The two locations in Spain differed in socio-demographic factors, with women in Gipuzkoa reported to be more educated, from a higher social class and generally healthier than women from Sabadell. This distinction allowed for useful comparisons to be made between women from different backgrounds and different geographical location.

Although the researchers found an association between several lifestyle factors and the metabolomic signature detected in the mother's urine, it is not clear from this study if one is the cause of the other, or if any specific lifestyle factor is associated with an individual metabolite. In observational studies like this it is not possible to rule out other factors and an experimental trial would be needed to test cause and effect. This proof-of principle study highlights the value metabolic profiling of pregnant women could have on personalizing pregnancy plans to improve fetal growth outcomes.

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Matthew Lam

Press Manger

BioMed Central

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Notes to editor:

1. Research article:

Maternal urinary metabolic signatures of fetal growth and associated clinical and environmental factors in the INMA study

Lea Maitre, Cristina M Villanueva, Mathew R Lewis, Jesus Ibarluzea, Loreto Santa Marta, Martine Vrijheid, Jordi Sunyer, Muireann Coen, Mireille B Toledano

BMC Medicine 2016

DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0706-3

During embargo period, the article is available here: https://goo.gl/9SFMo6

After the embargo lifts, the article will be available at the journal website here: http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-0706-3

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

2. With an ethos of transparency and accessibility, BMC Medicine is an open access, open peer-reviewed general medical journal publishing outstanding and influential research in all areas of clinical practice, translational medicine, public health, policy, and general topics of interest to the biomedical research community. As the flagship medical journal of the BMC series, we also publish stimulating debates and reviews as well as unique forum articles and concise tutorials.

3. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Nature, a major new force in scientific, scholarly, professional and educational publishing, created in May 2015 through the combination of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media. http://www.biomedcentral.com
BOSTON - Philosophers have long struggled to define human consciousness. Now, a team of researchers led by neurologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has pinpointed the regions of the brain that may play a role maintaining it. Their findings, which have already garnered multiple awards from the American Academy of Neurology, were published today in that society's journal, Neurology.

"For the first time, we have found a connection between the brainstem region involved in arousal and regions involved in awareness, two prerequisites for consciousness," said Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, Director of the Laboratory for Brain Network Imaging and Modulation and the Associate Director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at BIDMC. "A lot of pieces of evidence all came together to point to this network playing a role in human consciousness."

Classical neurology holds that arousal and awareness are two critical components of consciousness. Arousal is likely regulated by the brainstem - the portion of the brain, contiguous with the spinal cord, that is responsible for the sleep/wake cycle and cardiac and respiratory rates. Awareness, another critical component of consciousness, has long been thought to reside somewhere in the cortex, the outer layer of the brain responsible for many of its higher functions.

The researchers analyzed 36 patients with brainstem lesions, of which 12 led to coma and 24 did not. Mapping the injuries revealed that a small "coma-specific" area of the brainstem - the rostral dorsolateral pontine tegmentum - was significantly associated with coma. Ten out of the 12 coma-inducing brainstem lesions involved this area, while just one of the 24 control lesions did.

Armed with that information, Fox and colleagues, including lead author David Fischer, MD, then a medical student at Harvard Medical School, used a wiring diagram of the healthy human brain - based on a large, shared data set called the Human Connectome - to identify which other parts of the brain were connected to these coma-causing lesions. Their analysis revealed two areas in the cortex of the brain that were significantly connected to the coma-specific region of the brainstem. One sat in the left, ventral, anterior insula (AI), the other in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC). Both regions have been implicated previously in arousal and awareness.

"We now have a great map of how the brain is wired up in the Human Connectome," said Fox, who is also an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. "We can look at not just the location of lesions, but also their connectivity. Over the past year, researchers in my lab have used this approach to understand visual and auditory hallucinations, impaired speech, and movement disorders. A collaborative team of neuroscientists and physicians had the insight and unique expertise needed to apply this approach to consciousness."

The team included co-lead author, Aaron Boes, MD, PhD, and co-senior author, Joel Geerling, MD, PhD, both formerly of BIDMC and now of University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Finally, the team investigated whether this brainstem-cortex network was functioning in another subset of patients with disorders of consciousness, including coma. Using a special type of MRI scan, the scientists found that their newly identified "consciousness network" was disrupted in patients with impaired consciousness. The findings - bolstered by data from rodent studies - suggest the network between the brainstem and these two cortical regions plays a role maintaining human consciousness.

"The added value of thinking about coma as a network disorder is it presents possible targets for therapy, such as using brain stimulation to augment recovery," Boes said.

A next step, Fox notes, may be to investigate other data sets in which patients lost consciousness to find out if the same, different or overlapping neural networks are involved.

"This is most relevant if we can use these networks as a target for brain stimulation for people with disorders of consciousness," said Fox. "If we zero in on the regions and network involved, can we someday wake someone up who is in a persistent vegetative state? That's the ultimate question."

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Study coauthors include David B. Fischer, MD, Aaron D. Boes, MD, PhD, Joel C. Geerling, MD, PhD, Clifford B. Saper, MD, PhD, and Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD, of BIDMC; Athena Demertzi, PhD, of the Brain and Spine Institute (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle epiniere-ICM), Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, France and the Coma Science Group, GIGA-Research & Cyclotron Research Centre, University and University Hospital of Liege, Belgium; Steven Laureys, PhD, also of the Coma Science Group; Henry C. Evrard, PhD, of the Functional and Comparative Neuroanatomy Lab and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tubingen and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tubingen, Germany; Brian L. Edlow, MD, and Hesheng Liu, PhD. of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA.

This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the NIH (Shared Instrument Grant S10RR023043, K23NS083741, R01HD069776, R01NS073601, R01NS085477, R21MH099196, R21NS082870, R21NS085491, R21HD07616, R25NS065743, R25NS070682, T32 HL007901, P01HL095491), American Academy of Neurology/American Brain Foundation, Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation, Harvard Catalyst, the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research, the European Commission, the James McDonnell Foundation, the European Space Agency, Mind Science Foundation, the French Speaking Community Concerted Research Action (ARC-06/11-340), the Public Utility Foundation "Universite Europeenne du Travail," "Fondazione Europea di Ricerca Biomedica," the University and University Hospital of Liege, the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and the Max Planck Society.

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, MetroWest Medical Center, 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.
By PTI: From Abhishek Shukla

Kathmandu, Nov 4 (PTI) India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace and stability, President Pranab Mukherjee said today as he described his visit as a "mission of friendship" reflecting the priority attached by the country to further strengthening the unique bilateral relationship.

"As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit. I conveyed the good wishes of the people and government of India to the friendly people of Nepal in their national efforts to achieve peace, stability and development within a federal democratic polity," Mukherjee said after the conclusion of his three-day state visit.

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"Nepal has been a mission of friendship and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal. Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity," he said.

Mukherjee, the first Indian President to visit Nepal in 18 years, described his trip as successful and said, "The warmth and affection with which I was received by the people and Government of Nepal was truly overwhelming. It reflects the historic bonds of friendship as well as the unique and multi-faceted people-centric ties that exist between India and Nepal."

"India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development. Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal," he said.

During his visit, Mukherjee held "fruitful" meetings with his Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Prachanda and the entire cross section of the political leadership of the country as well as members of the civil society, an official statement said.

"I conveyed that India remains committed to enhancing its partnership in all areas of priority for the people and Government of Nepal," he said.

Mukherjee invited President Bhandari to visit India.

She accepted the invitation with happiness, the statement said.

"In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two peoples," he said.

Underlining the strong cultural and religious ties that unite the two nations and peoples, Mukherjee visited Pashupatinath Temple and offered prayers.

During his visit to the temple, the President announced that India will undertake two small development projects to repair and renovate the Ghats near the Pashupatinath temple on River Bagmati.

He was accorded a civic reception at Rashtriya Sabhagriha by the Kathmandu metropolitan city office, and was presented with the keys of the city.

He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Kathmandu University.

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Today Mukherjee visited the ancient city of Janakpur where he offered prayers at the Janaki Mandir and was accorded civic reception by Janakpur Municipal Corporation. (MORE) PTI NSA

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During the first centuries after having been written down, the Bible's Ten Commandments were not nearly as set in stone as had been assumed, according to latest research. "Groups of Jews and Christians changed them from time to time. One group tightened the prohibition of killing, another extended the prohibition of adultery by sexual ethical norms, a third group added a new commandment for the construction of a sacred site", explains bible scholar adjunct professor Dr. J. Cornelis de Vos from Munster University's Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics". He recently presented the first study of all surviving Jewish and Christian texts from the early years of the Ten Commandments in ancient times that refer to the Decalogue's norms. "Although the people never doubted that God addressed them directly with the Ten Commandments, they did not shrink from transforming the Decalogue and tying their own norms to it. They created rules so tight that these could strengthen their group internally and define it externally. However, no commandment was ever explicitly rejected over the course of the centuries."

The monograph, "Rezeption und Wirkung des Dekalogs in judischen und christlichen Schriften bis 200 n. Chr." (Reception and Impact of the Decalogue in Jewish and Christian Writings until 200 AD) was published by Brill in Leiden and Boston. It shows a range of changes to the Ten Commandments, among them frequent extensions to the prohibition of adultery concerning sexual ethical norms. "Like many of their contemporaries, numerous ancient writers - be they Jewish, Christian or Gentile - believed that desire was the root of all evil and harboured a certain aversion to sexuality", according to the researcher. "The texts added a number of sexual practices that were considered reprehensible and should be prohibited: harlotry, the corruption of boys, homosexuality, abortion or the killing of newborns for lack of contraceptives." The early Didache church order, for instance, took up the Decalogue around 100 AD and added to the prohibition of adultery, "Thou shalt not corrupt boys." According to de Vos, this is one of many examples of how the Ten Commandments were updated and adapted to the values of one's own culture.

Samaritans changed the original Ten Commandments

In his fundamental study, the author analyses all Jewish and Christian sources from about 300 BC to 200 AD that have recourse to the Decalogue. Methodologically, he analyses them in their smallest linguistic details such as changed letters, syllables or repositioned text sections, and he elaborates variations from the two biblical versions of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21). He also classifies the sources historically and socio-religiously. The theologian first analyses the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, the Septuagint. He then examines the Samaritan Pentateuch, Qumran writings and the Syrian translation as well as early Jewish writings, the New Testament and early Christian writings. "There were many changes", according to the author, "but nobody explicitly rejected or replaced one of the Ten Commandments. Rather, the high normative standing was used to declare additional rules equally obligatory."

The Samaritan Jews went to the lengths of making an insertion in the original itself. "Without further ado, the Samaritans concentrated the Ten Commandments of the Torah into nine, only to add a different tenth commandment probably towards the end of the 2nd century BC", according to the author. "With it, in competing with the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, they legitimised the construction of a sacred site on Mount Gerizim in Samaria - a deliberate dissociation from the majority of Jews." Woven into the Decalogue, a highly binding character was thus bestowed on this commandment. "The basic norms of a group were charged with religious normativity. This could also be practically achieved by norms, if not by being included among the Ten Commandments, but being textually shifted into their vicinity."

Sermon on the Mount demands tighter commandments of Christians

Even the famous Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament was affected, as the biblical scholar shows: "Evangelist Matthew demands the tightening of some of the commandments. For example, Jesus says in the Gospel, which originated 80-90 AD, that not only killing is a serious offence but even already wrath or dispute, as these can lead to manslaughter. Dispute is thus for the first time included in the prohibition of killing", says de Vos. The Sermon on the Mount extends the prohibition of adultery in a similar manner, according to him: it is adultery in heart to even desire the wife of another man. "The Ten Commandments of the Jewish Torah thus remain valid for Christians, but they are tightened in the Gospel according to Matthew."

Another finding is that "the Ten Commandments were universally valid for all people - many Jews and Christians were positive about this", according to de Vos. This was shown in the encounter with the politics, philosophy and ethics of the non-Jewish and non-Christian environment. "In order to convince non-Jews of the Decalogue's universal connectivity, Jewish aspects such as the prohibition of visualising God were minimised." The Jews Aristobulus and Philo of Alexandria, for example, portrayed the Decalogue as a universal and the very best philosophy. "According to Philo, the Decalogue was equivalent to the universal law of nature. Aristobulus even deduced from the Sabbath commandment that Jews were the best philosophers."

What are the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments are a series of commandments and prohibitions of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. In it, they appear in two slightly different versions in two passages. For example, it is explained in a little more detail in the Book of Deuteronomy than in the Book of Exodus why everybody should observe the Sabbath as a day of rest. The Decalogue is introduced as a direct speech of God to his people, the Israelites, and outlines God's will regarding their conduct towards him and their fellow human beings. The Decalogue's commandments had presumably been passed on by word of mouth for several centuries until they found their place in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. - The monograph presents research results of the Cluster of Excellence's project A9, "The Decalogue as a religious, ethical and political base text", in which the author worked together with the Protestant theologian Prof. Dr. Hermut Lohr until 2012. In the second funding phase, they headed project A2-10, "The Jewish Nomos between normativity and identity using the example of Alexandria in the 1st-3rd centuries AD". De Vos is currently interim professor for the Old Testament and Ancient Judaism at the Institute of Protestant Theology of the University of Osnabruck. (ill/vvm)

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Literature: Vos, J. Cornelis de: Rezeption und Wirkung des Dekalogs in judischen und christlichen Schriften bis 200 n. Chr. (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Vol. 95), Leiden/Boston: Brill 2016, ISBN 978-90-04-32438-1, X + 510 pages,  185.00.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 4, 2016--Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received seven R&D 100 Awards in recognition of their significant advancements in science and technology. The honorees were recognized on Nov. 3 at the 54th annual R&D 100 Conference, sponsored by R&D Magazine.

The awards, known as the "Oscars of Invention," honor innovative breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, consumer products and more from academia, industry and government-sponsored research agencies.

This year's seven honors bring ORNL's total of R&D 100 awards to 200 since their inception in 1963.

ORNL researchers were recognized for the following innovations:

Oak Ridge Graph Analytics for Medical Innovation was developed by a team of ORNL researchers led by Sreenivas Sukumar in collaboration with the National Library of Medicine.

ORiGAMI is an artificial intelligence system designed to search, collect and connect medical literature resources to improve medical research discovery.

The open source algorithm can search and process NLM's entire MEDLINE database about 1,000 times faster than a normal workstation, find unexplored connections in medical texts and reason with the vast amounts of available information added every day.

While most search engines look for keywords in titles and abstracts, ORiGAMI learns language patterns from its users and literature and is able to search in-depth for hidden associations that other searches might miss.

Already, the engine has helped researchers investigate possible carcinogens, explore drug-disease interactions and find other serendipitous connections between disparate medical sources.

The development team was Sreenivas Sukumar, Larry Roberts, Sangkeun Lee, Alexandra Zakrezewksa (Yale University), Katherine Senter (University of Pennsylvania), Seokyong Hong (North Carolina State) and Seung-Hwan Lim.

Funding for this project was provided by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program.

The Roof Savings Calculator Suite was developed by a team of researchers from ORNL, Jacksonville State University and White Box Technologies.

The Roof Savings Calculator is a Web-based tool for simulating energy flow and loss in businesses and homes and predicting the cost-effectiveness of cool roofing and attic technologies based on building type and location.

The suite integrates the AtticSim engine with the DOE-2.1E whole-building engine to create hour-by-hour annual simulations of building heating and cooling loads and estimate the impact of cool roofing products on energy and cost savings.

It is more accurate and customizable than the current DOE and EPA energy calculators and is designed to educate builders and consumers about the money saving potential of roofing upgrades.

The development team was Joshua New, William Miller, Aaron Garrett (Jacksonville State University) and Yu Huang (White Box Technologies).

This project was funded by the DOE's Building Technologies Office, the California Energy Commission, White Box Technologies, and CentiMark, with support from additional private companies and trade associations.

G-Mode: Full Information Acquisition in Scanning Probe Microscopy and Spectroscopy was developed by a team of ORNL researchers led by Stephen Jesse.

Scanning probe microscopy uses a rastering probe to map the shape of surfaces and capture physical and chemical properties of materials on the nanometer and atomic levels. However, this approach is traditionally limited to a minute fraction of available information, making interpretation of observed nanoscale phenomena much more difficult.

G-Mode uses a custom controller to rapidly collect and thoroughly process the information flow from a microscope detector in its entirety, yielding all accessible information about minute changes sensed by the probe as it interacts with nanoscopic volumes of a sample.

While competing technologies focus on recording a single, high quality component of the probe signal, they can incidentally filter away or ignore information. G-Mode uses a fundamentally different approach by capturing and storing almost 200 million interactions streaming from the detectors per scan. It then processes the data through advanced machine learning algorithms to expose valuable, information-rich correlations and produce large high-resolution images of dynamic material properties 3,500 times faster than conventional state-of-the-art methods.

The development team was Stephen Jesse, Liam Collins, Suhas Somnath, Sergei Kalinin and Alex Belianinov.

G-Mode was funded by ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Science, a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications was developed by a consortium of researchers from ORNL, the Electric Power Research Institute, Westinghouse Nuclear and Idaho, Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories.

VERA is a physics simulation tool that visualizes the internal processes of commercial nuclear fission power plants and predicts reactor behavior in a number of potential scenarios.

The engine allows nuclear technicians to produce 3-D, high-fidelity power distributions to simulate atomic particle behavior and core conditions on a reactor-wide scale.

It has demonstrated the power up process of a new plant, modeled accidents and emergency situations and examined the effects of corrosion on fuel rod performance.

The development team consisted of 42 members. The ORNL researchers were Jess Gehin, John Turner, Kevin Clarno, Benjamin Collins, Gregory Davidson, Thomas Evans, Andrew Godfrey, Steven Hamilton, Douglas Kothe, Rose Montgomery, Robert Salko, Srdjan Simunovic, Stuart Slattery and Shane Stimpson.

VERA was funded by the DOE's Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors.

U-Grabber was developed by a team of ORNL researchers led by Sheng Dai in collaboration with the University of Tennessee and 525 Solutions.

The U-Grabber is an adsorbent material designed to extract uranium and other metals from water inexpensively and efficiently.

The material is made from polyethylene fibers, similar to PVC, woven into braids and grafted with chains of a uranium-attractive chemical called amidoxine. The free-floating uranium in the water binds with the fibers and can be extracted, purified and sold as nuclear fuel.

The fibers can be reconstituted and reused, are cheap to produce at scale and can bolster dwindling terrestrial supplies of uranium. They can also be customized to bind with other toxic or valuable aqueous metals, providing an environmentally sound method of cleaning bodies of water such as mines or fly ash ponds.

The development team was Sheng Dai, Suree Brown (UT), Robin Rogers (525 Solutions), Christopher Janke, Richard Mayes, Tomonori Saito and Ronnie Hanes (525 Solutions).

U-Grabber was funded by the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy.

Open Port Sampling Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry were developed by ORNL's Gary Van Berkel and Vilmos Kertesz.

The most difficult usability barrier for mass spectrometry is producing and transferring viable samples into the device. The Open Port Sampling Interfaces remove this impediment and allow easier, universal input of samples via accessible intake ports.

The ports, one a shallow swirling vortex, the other a conical solvent dome, use constantly flowing liquid streams to convey the sample into the ionization source of the spectrometer. They accept many types of samples, from organic oils to biological tissue, and produce results almost instantaneously.

The interfaces make mass spectrometry easier for novices and experts alike, as samples do not require processing and the ports are self-cleaning, reducing the risk of cross contamination.

Mass spectrometers modified with these new sampling interfaces combine speed, ease of use, and high imaging resolution to serve as a valuable tool in materials science, biology, chemistry and more.

This technology is licensed to SCIEX.

The development team was Gary Van Berkel and Vilmos Kertesz.

This project was funded by the DOE's Office of Science.

Waste Tire Derived Carbon was developed by a team of ORNL researchers led by Parans Paranthaman and the RJ Lee Group.

ORNL material chemists devised a proprietary process for repurposing discarded car tires as a source of carbon powder, a sooty hydrocarbon byproduct that can be modified to incorporate into anodes of lithium-ion batteries.

The recycled tires are shredded, cryogenically pulverized to powder and soaked in sulfuric acid, then roasted in a furnace to recover the carbon composite powders with a yield of more than 50 percent of the original mass.

The carbon powder is chemically similar to graphite but has a unique microstructure that is superior in rechargeable batteries, with a higher electrochemical performance and longer cycle life than the best graphite anodes.

A large-scale tire-to-battery conversion operation could reduce total battery production costs by 11-12 percent while improving electrical storage capacity and performance.

This inexpensive, environmentally beneficial and seemingly unlimited resource is an opportunity to repurpose more than 1 billion car tires discarded globally every year while meeting the rising demand for cheap carbon as the battery market continues to grow.

The development team was Parans Paranthaman, Richard Lee (RJ Lee Group), Amit Naskar, Yunchao Li (UT), Kokouvi Akato (UT) and Alan Levine (RJ Lee Group).

This project was funded by the DOE's Office of Science and ORNL's Technology Innovation Program.

ORNL also received a special recognition award from R&D Magazine for the Wireless Power Transfer Based Electric and Plug-In Vehicle Charging System, submitted by Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America and co-developed by a team of ORNL researchers with support from Cisco Systems and the International Transportation Innovation Center.

The team developed the world's first 20-kilowatt wireless charging system for passenger cars and achieved 90 percent efficiency at three times the rate of the plug-in systems commonly used for electric vehicles today.

Providing the same speed with the convenience of wireless charging could increase consumer acceptance of electric vehicles and is considered a key enabler for hands-free, autonomous vehicles. Higher power levels are also essential for powering larger vehicles such as trucks and buses.

The high-power wireless charging system relies on a unique architecture that includes an ORNL-built inverter, isolation transformer, vehicle-side electronics and coupling technologies.

The ORNL researchers on the development team were Steven Campbell, Paul Chambon, Madhu Chinthavali, Omer Onar, Burak Ozpineci, Larry Seiber, David Smith, Lixin Tang, Cliff White and Randy Wiles as well as retired staff members Curt Ayers, Chester Coomer and John Miller.

Funding for this project was provided by the DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, Office of Vehicle Technologies.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE's Office of Science. The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website.

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Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/news/images/Award%20Picture.jpg

Cutline: A close-up look at the Open Port Sampling Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry, one of ORNL's seven 2016 R&D 100 Award winners.

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As the value of meditation becomes widely recognized, researchers are increasingly trying to understand the differences among approaches. A study published today in Brain and Cognition reports subjective experiences and cortical activation patterns that distinguish the Transcendental Meditation technique from other meditation practices.

"Transcendental Meditation uses a mantra, and for this reason some researchers maintain that it involves focused attention and controlling the mind," said lead author Fred Travis. "Those who practice TM know this is not the case. This study supports their experience that Transcendental Meditation is easy to learn and effortless to practice."

Self-reports and brain patterns support unique nature of Transcendental Meditation practice

This study involved 87 students at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa who had been practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique from one month to five years. Researchers investigated experiences and brain patterns of students as they rested with eyes closed, during Transcendental Meditation practice, and while engaging in a challenging computer task.

"There are two key findings from this study," said lead author Dr. Travis. "First, individuals practicing Transcendental Meditation for just one month reported the same frequency of Transcendental Consciousness experiences during their practice as individuals meditating for five years. This supports the understanding that Transcendental Meditation uses the natural tendency of the mind to transcend--to move from active thinking to deep, inner silence. Extensive practice doesn't make a natural process go any better."

The second finding deals with activity in the "default mode network," which is a large-scale brain network involving areas in the front and back of the brain that are active during internal thinking and self-referential activity, such as creating an autobiographical story. Default mode network activity is high when a person just sits with his or her eyes closed, and low when one opens one's eyes and begins to interact with the world.

The study reports that activity in the default mode network remained high during Transcendental Meditation practice. Activity in the default mode network is reported to go down in all other types of meditation -- since they involve focus and control of the mind.

"Deactivation of the default mode network indicates how much effort we are using," Dr. Travis says. "While people may not have had the experience of effortless transcending and so do not know what it feels like to transcend, they can now see the objective high activation in the default mode network--and see that something different is happening during Transcendental Meditation practice."

Transcendental Meditation different from resting with one's eyes closed

The study found that the default mode network was as high during Transcendental Meditation practice as during eyes-closed rest.

"This is an important finding, since eyes-closed rest is usually used as the benchmark for default mode network activity," Dr. Travis said.

However, Dr. Travis found two important differences when comparing the brain states during Transcendental Meditation and eyes-closed rest. Eyes-closed rest had more beta brain waves in areas of the brain associated with memory and motor aspects of speech production.

"This could reflect the mental chatter that goes on when one's eyes are closed," Dr. Travis said.

Transcendental Meditation had more theta brain waves in orbitofrontal areas associated with reward anticipation. This could indicate the movement of the mind to more charming levels of thought during transcending.

The meditators' attention was absorbed in the inner march of the mind, attracted by the increasing charm of finer levels of mental functioning. This process did not involve effort or control of the mind since default mode network activity was high.

The importance of characterizing meditation methods accurately

These differences -- the activity in the default mode network, as well as the fact that the frequency of transcending is the same regardless of how long one has been practicing -- contrast Transcendental Meditation with other meditation practices.

"It's a critical point," Dr. Travis said. "Researchers, commentators, and popular media often lump meditation practices together. This distorts understanding the benefits of different meditations and confounds applying these approaches to different subject populations."

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Frederick Travis PhD; Niyazi Parim MA. Default mode network activation and Transcendental Meditation practice: Focused Attention or Automatic Self-transcending? Brain and Cognition 111 (2017) 86-94. DOI:10.1016/j.bandc.2016.08.009

About the Transcendental Meditation Technique

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a simple, natural technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. The TM technique is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Unlike other forms of meditation, TM practice involves no concentration, no control of the mind, no contemplation, no monitoring of thoughts. It automatically and effortlessly allows the active thinking mind to settle down to a state of deep inner calm. For more information visit http://www.tm.org
Five-year study in Tanzania, Africa seeks to determine whether combining diabetes and hypertension screening with HIV screening will increase uptake of HIV testing and care

The success of HIV treatment programs depends upon the identification, enrollment, and retention of HIV-infected individuals, but public health officials have learned that there are numerous barriers to such success at every point in this care continuum.

HIV-centric programs carry a stigma, patients' transportation to the HIV clinics can be a problem, and patients tire of repeat visits to learn whether they have become eligible for HIV treatment. Chronic noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and hyptertension are another growing global epidemic, accounting for 38 million deaths annually, with three quarters of those deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.

Michael D. Sweat, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina and director of the Center for Global Health, has worked with American and Tanzanian scientists and other colleagues since 1994 to study ways to increase HIV screening and care in Tanzania. Sweat is the principal investigator for the $3.1M NIH grant received in October by the Center for Global Health to study the integration of diabetes and hypertension screening into HIV screening. This study will evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the novel integration of diabetes and hypertension screening and care with HIV screening and care. An earlier pilot study led by Sweat indicated that this approach is likely to increase HIV testing, a finding that is relevant throughout the world, including rural, impoverished areas of the U.S.

"Global health is everyone's health," said Sweat. "The greatest burdens of disease in the world--HIV, diabetes, and hypertension, among others--know no borders. This grant will enable us to discover better and more efficient ways to address these threats to health, no matter where they arise."

Sweat's institutional collaborators will be Clemson University's Department of Bioengineering, which has worked with Arusha Technical College in Tanzania in the past to develop low-cost health technology solutions for resource-poor settings, and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, which will provide clinical services and collaborate on data collection and analysis.

"HIV and AIDS continue to be a huge problem in Tanzania," said Jessie Mbwambo, M.D., professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. "However, we cannot neglect other growing health needs such as diabetes and hypertension. We believe that by integrating diabetes and hypertension care with HIV care we can likely improve health in all these domains much more effectively and at a lower cost."

Delphine Dean, Ph.D., Gregg-Graniteville Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Clemson University, will direct the development of low-cost, diagnostic devices in her laboratory and provide technical support to the health clinics in Tanzania. Dean's laboratory recently developed a low-cost glucometer designed to print (on an inkjet printer) test strips on filter paper loaded with reagents to which a drop of blood is applied to determine the patient's blood sugar level. A patent on the glucometer was filed through the Clemson University Research Foundation.

"The lack of medical equipment, devices, and tests in resource-poor areas such as rural Tanzania limits clinicians' ability to diagnose and treat," said Dean. "By working together, we can improve accessibility to technology and improve global health."

Patient enrollment is projected to begin in the fall of 2017.

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About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 13,000 employees, including approximately 1,500 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $2.2 billion. MUSC operates a 750-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital, the Ashley River Tower (cardiovascular, digestive disease, and surgical oncology), Hollings Cancer Center (a National Cancer Institute-designated center), a Level 1 Trauma Center, and Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic or clinical services, visit musc.edu. For more information on hospital patient services, visit muschealth.org.
Rajesh Dave, distinguished professor of chemical, biological and pharmaceutical engineering, and two of his former graduate students, Maxx Capece and Daniel To, received a Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey for developing a manufacturing process that masks the bitter tastes of medications while delivering them effectively to their targets in the body.

The team of chemical engineers was honored for their "enabling technology" at the organization's 37th Edison Patent Awards Ceremony on November 3. They were among 12 winners in 2016.

Their patent, "Solventless Mixing Process for Coating Pharmaceutical Ingredients" (U.S. 9,107,851), is for a process that combines water insoluble and soluble polymers to form a highly structured particle coating layer - spread as a composite film in a single, high-intensity vibratory process - to mask the bitter taste of a drug while not impeding its delivery.

The process allows them to coat fine particles less than the diameter of a human hair in width without using water, organic solvents or heat.

"By using this coating technology, we are able to achieve four important goals: making medications more palatable to consumers, eliminating chemicals we don't want in the body, decreasing the environmental footprint of the manufacturing process and lowering its cost," notes Dave.

The technology has been licensed by a global health care company that develops both drugs and their delivery systems. The coating in that instance is a fine layer of wax that will be used to mask bitter tastes.

Capece is a senior scientist at Chicago-based AbbVie, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, and To is a senior product development scientist at Colorcon, Inc., a global pharmaceutical product development company. Both worked with Dave at the New Jersey Center for Engineered Particulates while they were Ph.D. students at NJIT.

The Council's awards this year went to innovative patent work spanning 11 categories, including agriculture, biotechnology, defense, drug delivery technology, enabling technology, energy, industrial process, industrial product, medical device, medical technology and telecommunications.

In a statement earlier this fall, R&D Council President Anthony Cicatiello said that this year's winners showcased "the breadth and depth of STEM leadership and innovation" in New Jersey.

"New Jersey is STEM strong," Cicatiello said. "Dating back to the beginning with Edison, then Bell Labs and our state's robust pharmaceutical industry, jumping to present day inventions and discoveries like those we are honoring in this year's Edison Awards class, New Jersey continues to be an innovation powerhouse."

Among the other recipients are AdvanSix (Honeywell), ExxonMobil, Immunomedics, Lockheed Martin, Merck, NJIT, Nokia Bell Labs, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Rutgers University Siemens and TE Connectivity.

"All of the inventions awarded last night were truly impressive - and so diverse," Dave said. "It is especially nice to have NJIT's contributions represented among them."

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About NJIT

One of the nation's leading public technological universities, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a top-tier research university that prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT's multidisciplinary curriculum and computing-intensive approach to education provide technological proficiency, business acumen and leadership skills. With an enrollment of 11,400 graduate and undergraduate students, NJIT offers small-campus intimacy with the resources of a major public research university. NJIT is a global leader in such fields as solar research, nanotechnology, resilient design, tissue engineering, and cybersecurity, in addition to others. NJIT ranks 5th among U.S. polytechnic universities in research expenditures, topping $121 million, and is among the top 1 percent of public colleges and universities in return on educational investment, according to PayScale.com. NJIT has a $1.74 billion annual economic impact on the State of New Jersey.
Two proven technologies have been combined to create a promising new technology that could meet future navigational challenges in deep space. It also may help demonstrate -- for the first time -- X-ray communications in space, a capability that would allow the transmission of gigabits per second throughout the solar system.

The new technology, called NavCube, combines NASA's SpaceCube, a reconfigurable and fast flight computing platform, with the Navigator Global Positioning System (GPS) flight receiver. Navigator GPS uses the GPS signal to enable on-board autonomous positioning, navigation, and timing even in weak-signal areas. Considered one of the enabling technologies on the agency's flagship Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) mission, Navigator GPS recently was included in the Guiness World Records for the highest-altitude GPS fix.

"NavCube is more flexible than previous Navigators because of its ample computational resources. Also, because we added the ability to process modernized GPS signals, NavCube has the potential to significantly enhance performance at low, and especially, high altitudes, potentially even to the area of space near the moon and lunar orbits," said Luke Winternitz, Navigator's chief architect.

"This new product is a poster child for our research and development efforts," added Peter Hughes, the chief technology officer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, whose organization funded the development of all three technologies and named the NavCube team as this year's winner of his organization's "Innovators of the Year" award. "Both SpaceCube and Navigator already proved their value to NASA. Now the combination of the two gives NASA another tool. Also, the possibility that it might help demonstrate X-ray communications in space -- a technology in which we also have interest -- is particularly exciting."

This promising technology is slated to fly as one of several experiments on an external pallet to be deployed on the International Space Station in 2018. One NavCube unit will demonstrate its navigation and processing capabilities afforded by the merger of its technological parents, while the other could potentially provide precise timing data for an experiment demonstrating X-ray communications, or XCOM.

"A Match Made in Heaven"

As part of the potential XCOM demonstration, NavCube will drive the electronics for a device called the Modulated X-ray Source, or MXS, which generates rapid-fire X-ray pulses, turning on and off many times per second. These rapid-fire pulsations can be used to encode digital bits for transmitting data. It was developed as a testbed to validate NASA's Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, which primarily will study neutron stars and their rapidly spinning next-of-kin, pulsars, when it launches as an attached space station payload in 2017.

XCOM is one of two technology demonstrations that NICER Principal Investigators Keith Gendreau and Zaven Arzoumanian want to demonstrate with NICER. To demonstrate one-way XCOM, the team will install MXS on the experiment pallet where it will transmit data via X-rays to NICER's receivers positioned 166 feet away on the opposite side of the space station truss.

NavCube's job is to run MXS's on-and-off switch, said Jason Mitchell, an engineer at Goddard who helped advance the MXS. Because NavCube combines SpaceCube's high-speed computing with Navigator's ability to track GPS signals, the team also wants to experiment with X-ray ranging, a technique for measuring distances between two objects.

"NavCube provided the best solution for running this experiment," Mitchell said. "The combination of these powerful technologies was a marriage made in heaven."

Although most of the technology is ready, the team still is seeking additional funding to complete a space-ready MXS, including its housing and high-voltage power supply. "We have most of the hardware, but need a little more support to complete the XCOM package," said Jenny Donaldson, who is leading the development of the NavCube payload. "This is a great opportunity to demonstrate NavCube and, if all things go as planned, X-ray communications," she said.

Rich Heritage

NavCube traces its lineage to two already proven technologies: SpaceCube 2.0 and Navigator GPS. SpaceCube 2.0, one in a family of onboard processors, is 10 to 100 times faster than more traditional flight processors. Having flown many times before, including on previous experiment pallets, SpaceCube now enjoys a growing list of customers, including future high-profile robotic-servicing missions.

The Navigator GPS Flight receiver was purposely designed to detect, acquire, and track faint GPS signals for NASA's MMS mission. Navigator now is providing positioning information to the four spacecraft that must fly in a particular, high-earth flight formation to gather scientific data. Since MMS's launch, Navigator has set records -- an achievement recently acknowledged by the Guinness World Records for providing the highest-altitude GPS fix. At the highest point of the MMS orbit, Navigator has tracked as many as 12 GPS satellites. The team originally expected to detect no more than two or three GPS satellites.

Barry Geldzahler, chief scientist and chief technologist for NASA's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program, who also provided additional funding for this project, saw the benefits this technology could bring to NASA early on.

"We knew that processing speed from SpaceCube and the tracking capability of Navigator could be a powerful combination," said Geldzahler. "The next task was to figure out how to make it smaller and increase the sensitivity for more flexible mission applications."

"At the time, we needed a more robust, re-programmable and extensible processing platform," added Monther Hasouneh, NavCube's hardware lead. "SpaceCube was already there. Furthermore, we figured that missions using SpaceCube 2.0 as a science data processor also could benefit from having a GPS receiver as a low-cost add-on," he added.

Hasouneh and his team ported the Navigator software and firmware into the SpaceCube reprogrammable platform and developed a compatible GPS radio-frequency card -- and in doing so, reduced Navigator's size. The team also added new GPS signal capabilities and enhanced Navigator's sensitivity to make it appropriate for a broader range of applications.

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For more Goddard technology news, go to: http://gsfctechnology.gsfc.nasa.gov/newsletter/Current.pdf
During his notable trip to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin collected several mockingbird specimens on different islands in the region. He later discovered that each island only contained a single species of mockingbird and no two species of mockingbird co-existed on an individual island. Due to their geographical separation, over time these birds had evolved different characteristics in coloration, behavior, and beak shape. These observations raise the question: how does a geographical region influence the evolution of a species?

Tropical birds are well known for their colorful appearance: vibrantly colored macaws, parakeets and parrots are widely considered to be the quintessential birds of this region. The popularity of these birds leads many to assume that tropical climates are home to a greater proportion of colorful birds than temperate climates. But do birds evolve to become more colorful when they move to the tropics? Research from Dr. Nicholas Friedman, who is part of the Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), helps answer this question.

As part of his research in collaboration with Vladimir Remes at Palacky University in the Czech Republic, Friedman headed to Australia to examine the feathers of different birds across the country and its neighboring tropical islands to see if there was a correlation between geographical climate zone and color pattern. Australia is home to a rich mixture of species, many of which are found nowhere else. The fact that Australian species were geographically isolated from the rest of the world for so long makes it an excellent place to study evolution. A trip to Australia as a young man contributed to Charles Darwin's pivotal work on evolution, On the Origin of Species.

Friedman began his study at the Australian National Wildlife Collection, where he examined bird specimens from different regions of Australia. A total of 137 different species from two major songbird families were examined. Songbirds originated in Australia nearly 30 million years ago. Research suggests that these birds began diversifying there before colonizing other parts of the world. The familial relationships of the birds that Friedman examined were compared using an evolutionary tree based on the birds' DNA. Friedman then used a special instrument to measure the color of the feathers in particular places on the birds. Birds can see a wider range of colors than humans can, and many are even able to see colors in the UV spectrum in addition to those in the 'visible' spectrum, so the differences in color patterns between birds may appear more pronounced to birds than they appear to humans. Next, Friedman used data from satellites to describe the geographical region each species lives in. He looked at vegetation, precipitation, and humidity of each region, then combined this data with the evolutionary relationships and color measurements of the birds.

The results of this study, published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, show that bird species do not evolve more colorful feathers in the tropics compared to their cousins in temperate climates. "If you look at birds in the tropics, there are a lot of colorful birds that stand out. But there are really more species in general there, and there are just as many more of the little brown ones" describes Friedman. "Instead, birds living in the harsh arid climates of inland Australia tended to have fancier colors than those in the lush tropical islands. Since desert birds have to scramble for mates during the wet season, we think they may be evolving colors that can attract mates quickly".

Meanwhile, birds thriving in climates with more precipitation and vegetation are darker in color overall, while desert birds tend to be lighter. "The pattern is really clear" Friedman reports, "birds living in the desert tend to be more grey on their backs, while birds living in the forest have evolved to be more of a dark green - we think they are evolving these colors to match their background." This would be an example of natural selection, in this case more camouflaged organisms can survive and pass on their genes.

"These results help to explain the origins of the diversity of life, how species end up evolving different characteristics over time", explains Friedman.

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GENESEO, N.Y. -- A SUNY Geneseo faculty member is in Antarctica with a team of climate scientists this month where he is gathering information to compose music based upon seismic data gathered at the site.

Glenn McClure, who serves on the faculties of both Geneseo and the Eastman School of Music, will be working through mid-November with Peter Bromirski and his associates from the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Bromirski is the principal investigator on the project, which is employing seismic sensors on the Ross Ice Shelf to better understand the Antarctic melting process and the viability of the shelf.

McClure will use a mathematical conversion process to bring the infragravity sound wave data into the hearing range, generating material for music that is embodies the messages within the ice.

"This is one the most exciting projects I've ever been associated with as a composer," said McClure, who received the National Science Foundation Artists and Writers Fellowship for the project. "I'll be at one of most remote places on Earth to collect scientific data from ice shelf vibrations and later convert the data to sound to present in both choral and instrumental music performances. We will transform raw scientific information from this remote natural environment into musical compositions."

McClure will be using sophisticated audio and video equipment to gather data in the frigid climate and will connect to the Geneseo campus remotely to send live verbal and visual reports of the experience, which he calls "an icon for the liberal arts."

"One of the things we artists can do is to explain the work of scientists to the general public," said McClure. "It accommodates the ability of scientists to communicate with people outside of their field. This examination of the synergies between the arts and sciences goes to the heart of a liberal arts education."

Geneseo students will be following McClure's progress and are now working on directed studies in physics, geology, mathematics and history to create a body of materials that will supplement McClure's musical work. These materials will be made available to middle and high school classrooms in the spring.

McClure has had a distinguished musical career, including additional compositional work that has driven other partnerships between scientists and artists. He recently composed a work for choir and string quartet for the European Space Agency, working closely with scientists and mathematicians from the Rosetta Mission to transform orbital data into melodies and harmonies.

McClure has achieved his success with the disability of stuttering, which he learned to control at age 11. Prior to that, he says it was music - particularly singing - that allowed him to share his story, thoughts and feelings.

"Just as stuttering once silenced me and music gave me a voice, I want to give a voice to the ice of Antarctica through music," he said. "My creative process is rooted in my experience of music and disability."

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The Indian Army has denied any "incursion" by the Chinese troops on Indian territory after a stand-off was witnessed between the Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

By Indo-Asian News Service: The Indian Army has denied any "incursion" by the Chinese troops on Indian territory after a stand-off was witnessed between the Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

According to government sources, a stand-off between the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was witnessed on November 2 when the Chinese troops objected to some civilian construction work going on in Demchok.

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Sources, however, said the Chinese troops stood along the LAC.

CHINA OPPOSES CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS



China has opposed certain construction projects that are in progress on the Indian side.

Also read: To counter China, India strengthens Air Force supply system in Arunachal



The Indian Army, while maintaining that there was no "incursion", said that the issue of construction projects "on both sides" was being sorted out in the Border Personnel Meetings (BPM).

"There has been no Chinese incursion across the LAC. Issues relating to construction projects on both sides of the LAC are being resolved in BPMs," the Army's Northern Command said in a tweet.

WILL RESOLVE ISSUE THROUGH ESTABLISHED MECHANISMS: MEA



Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said even if such an incident had happened, it would be resolved through established mechanisms. Swarup added that it should not be "sensationalised".

Also read: India, China troops hold BP meeting in Ladakh sector



"I am not specifically aware of any such incident, but even if something like this has happened, there are, as you know, established mechanisms to handle such situations as a result of which in the recent past at least our border with China has been free of any major incident. I urge people to not sensationalise things out of context," he said.

The Indian Defence Ministry and Army have maintained that there have not been any incidents of "incursion" by China, but due to different perceptions of the LAC, transgressions do occur as both sides undertake patrolling to the point of what the LAC is in their perception.

--- ENDS ---
Mr Kenny was speaking in the wake a British court ruling which could see Westminster vote on Brexit.

Mr Kenny said this week that negotiations in Europe could turn vicious once Brexit is triggered.

Visiting Newry, Belfast, and the border region yesterday, he spoke about Irish towns hit by Brexit.

More recently we have seen a growth in the number of shoppers crossing the border to take advantage of cheaper sterling.

Of course this is a phenomenon that we have seen before and are likely to see more of in the run-up to Christmas.

I am conscious that while this is good news for retailers here in Newry, on the other side of the border the sterling effect is a real challenge.

This is something that was brought home to me during my visit to Dundalk earlier today.

A weekend survey found a third of respondents are considering travelling North for their Christmas shopping this year.

Meanwhile, Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell OConnor has candidly declared that British authorities do not know what they are doing when it comes to triggering Brexit.

The Fine Gael minister also faced criticism yesterday over not being able to answer questions about what the Government was doing.

She faced questions from Fianna Fails Niall Collins who asked why no specific export fund had been set up for businesses hit by Brexit.

The minister said her department had received a 10% rise in its budget next year, which included an extra 3m in current spending and 52m in capital funds.

But the biggest threat was uncertainty, she added, saying this was evident when she met British ministers in London earlier this week.

When I was in the UK yesterday, I met a number of people who are negotiating the Brexit deal for the UK. May I tell the deputy that they do not know what they are doing and they do not know when they will be invoking Article 50.

The minister defended actions being taken to boost rural employment outside of Dublin. She referenced 58% of site visits by investment firms outside Dublin this year.

But Mr Collins said 10 counties had one or two site visits while Dublin had 145.

Labours Alan Kelly said it was extraordinary the minister did not know how often a special Cabinet Brexit committee had met, what contacts were had with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, or who Ireland would send for negotiations. The minister said she would write to the TD.
James Holland, 79, from Glanmire, Co Cork, a father of five and a grandfather of four, was pronounced dead at Cork University Hospital (CUH) in the early hours of April 11 last, Cork Coroners Court was told yesterday.

The inquest heard that Mr Holland, who suffered a heart attack 20 years ago, was woken by chest pains at home at around 1am on April 10. He was referred by SouthDoc to CUH and presented at its emergency department (ED) just after 3.20pm.

Dr Susan Harkin, the senior medical house officer at the time, told coroner Philip Comyn that Mr Holland was initially diagnosed with a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction  unstable angina  and a decision was made to admit him under the care of the hospitals cardiac service.

However, he did not meet the requirements for an emergency cardiogram which was scheduled for the following day. Mr Holland remained on a trolley in a cubicle in the ED and was kept under regular observation.

Dr Harkin said she admitted Mr Holland to the hospital at 8.30pm and said while the ED was busy, a five-hour wait between presentation at ED and admission was standard.

Dr Heather Cronin, who was the cardiology registrar on duty at the time, said Mr Holland was awaiting a bed in one of the wards in CUHs coronary care unit but no bed was available: He was a priority patient but there was no bed available.

The inquest was told Mr Holland was noted to have stable heart rhythms at 11.10pm, but that he was found unresponsive at 12.45am . Despite extensive resuscitation efforts, he was pronounced dead at 1.20am. The inquest was told he had suffered a pulseless electrical activity cardiac arrest.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Ronan Curtin told the coroner that while this type of cardiac arrest occurred in up to 30% of cardiac arrest incidents, it cannot be detected by hospital heart monitors.

He said in this case, the wall-mounted heart monitor in the ED cubicle which was monitoring Mr Hollands cardiac output would have detected normal cardiac electrical activity but would not have identified the absence of cardiac output, and would therefore not have sounded an alarm.

The event [cardiac arrest] is relatively silent. It happens in a split second  its immediate, he said.

And he said while the HSE has target times for patients under 80 to spend no longer than 24-hours on a trolley, the care received by a patient on a trolley is generally the same as the care they would receive in a ward: Its still a relatively long time to be on a trolley. But he said doctors treat the patient first and worry about beds after.

Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said a post mortem established that the cause of Mr Hollands death was sudden cardiac death.

Mr Hollands legal representative applied for an adjournment after his family disputed claims he was attached to a heart monitor before 8.30pm on April 10. But the coroner said he had enough evidence to record a verdict of death due to natural causes.
Festival Showcases Film Work of Chantal Akerman

Chantal Akerman

Nov. 3, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University will hold a film festival featuring the work of Belgian director Chantal Akerman Nov. 14-17. The festival will include a lecture by UCLA film professor Janet Bergstrom, an expert on Akermans work, on Nov. 16.

Akerman (1950-2015) made more than 40 films. In a New York Times article reporting on her death, she was noted for her ruminative, meticulous observation of womens inner lives, often using long takes which made her a pioneer in feminist and experimental filmmaking. Her best-known film was Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), a hypnotic, real-time study of a widowed, middle-aged housewife. The film has become a cult classic and was named number 19 in The Village Voice Critics Poll of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century.

Akermans last film, No Home Movie (2015), focuses on conversations between Akerman and her ailing mother, a survivor of Auschwitz. Consisting of exchanges in person and via Skype, the documentary was described as an extremely intimate film but also one of great formal precision and beauty, one of the rare works of art that is both personal and universal, and as much a masterpiece as her 1975 career-defining Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

Her most commercial film, A Couch in New York, starred William Hurt and Juliette Binoche and was released in 1996. In recent years Akerman was also a visiting lecturer at the City College of New York.

Janet Bergstrom

The UCLA film professor, Bergstrom, is the author of the essay Keeping a Distance (The Innovators 1970-1980: Chantal Akerman), which was published in Sight & Sound. Bergstroms research involves archivally based, cross-cultural studies of European directors who worked in more than one national cinema, such as Akerman. In Keeping a Distance, Bergstrom argues that Akermans films found a new, personal way of screening women. Bergstroms lecture, Disappearance Stories in the Films of Chantal Akerman: The Captive, will begin at 4 p.m. Nov. 16 in The Ames Librarys Beckman Auditorium. The Captive, will be screened at 5 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium.

The full schedule of film screenings includes:

Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, State Farm Hall 102

Nov. 15, 6 p.m., South, The Ames Library Beckman Auditorium

Nov. 16, 5 p.m., The Captive, The Ames Library Beckman Auditorium

Nov. 17, 7 p.m., No Home Movie, The Ames Library Beckman Auditorium (presented with the International Film Series)

The Akerman film festival is presented by the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice, and is a co-curricular programming event part of Illinois Wesleyans 2016-2017 intellectual theme Womens Power, Womens Justice.
THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 4, 2016) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:BEX) ("Benton" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the Company and its joint venture partner Nordmin Engineering Ltd. ("Nordmin") have received gold assays from the first 16 of 29 drill holes from the recently completed 5000m diamond drill program on the Cape Ray Property, located along the Cape Ray fault in southwest Newfoundland. Highlights include 2.8m grading 16.68gpt gold in DDH 21, 2.2m grading 22.5gpt gold in DDH 32 and 4.1m grading 5.01gpt gold in DDH 34. These new results are encouraging and will be brought into the ongoing mining model in preparation for the upcoming prefeasibility study. Complete results for silver has not been received for these drill holes but will be released when available. More drill results are expected shortly and a table for the first 16 drill holes is listed below:

Zone Drill Hole FROM TO Length Au (gpt) 51 CR_16_21 208.9 211.7 2.8 16.68 51 CR_16_20 NSA 51 CR_16_22 221.4 222.4 1.0 0.71 51 CR_16_23 87 88 1.0 1.38 51 CR_16_24 82.8 86.8 4.0 2.73 51 CR_16_25 NSA 51 CR_16_26 NSA 51 CR_16_32 138.6 140.8 2.2 22.50 and 146.2 147.7 1.5 5.49 and 162 163 1.0 2.13 51 CR_16_33 NSA 51 CR_16_34 123.35 127.4 4.1 5.02 51 CR_16_35 130.35 130.65 0.3 1.65 41 CR_16_40 136.25 137.25 1.0 0.66 41 CR_16_42 69 70 1.0 1.50 and 72.7 73.7 1.0 3.95 and 100.7 107.1 6.4 4.00 incl. 102.5 103 0.5 31.36 and 123.3 128.7 5.4 0.69 incl 123.3 123.6 0.3 6.32 41 CR_16_43 50.1 51.6 1.5 4.07 41 CR_16_44 110 110.5 0.5 3.11 and 119 130 11.0 1.05 incl. 126.5 127.2 0.7 6.93 and 147 148 1.0 2.93 04 CR_16_47 NSA 04 CR_16_51 118.3 120.3 2.0 5.36

Nordmin is earning up to a 50% interest in 4 of the 6 deposits (see Benton PR January 20, 2015) owned by Benton by completing various work programs and project milestones as well as carrying Benton to a full feasibility study and arranging 50% of project financing to production. In March of this year the companies released the results of a positive preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") for their Cape Ray Gold Project (see PR March 07, 2016). The results of the PEA include a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") at a 7% discount rate of $48.4 million with a pre-tax internal rate of return ("IRR") of 29% and a post-tax NPV at a 7% discount rate of $32.6 million with a post-tax IRR of 24%. The reader should be cautioned that the PEA is preliminary in nature. It contains inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. The current drill campaign will help bring some of the inferred resources into indicated which will help with the confidence level of the project as we move towards the feasibility study.

About Benton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:BEX)

Benton Resources Inc is a well-funded Canadian-based junior with a diversified property portfolio in Gold-Silver, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements.

Clinton Barr, PGeo, Vice-President of Exploration for Benton Resources Inc., is the qualified person responsible for this release and has prepared, supervised and approved the preparation of the scientific and technical disclosure contained within the release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

Stephen Stares, President

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.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Nov. 4, 2016) - HAWKEYE Gold & Diamond Inc. (the "Company" or "HAWKEYE") (TSX VENTURE:HGO)(FRANKFURT:HGT) (ISIN: CA42016R3027) (WKN: A12A61) announces that it has closed a non-brokered private placement which was originally announced September 13, 2016, (news release #255-2016) for $360,000. The placement closed by the Company selling 3,211,167 Units in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.12 per Unit for total proceeds of $385,340 (Cdn.). Each Unit consists of one (1) common share in the capital of the Corporation and one share purchase warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one (1) additional share for fifteen cents ($0.15) at any time prior to 4:30 p.m. (Vancouver time) on November 3, 2018, at which time the warrants will expire; provided that if at any time after August 3, 2017, the Corporation's shares have a closing price of Cdn. $0.50 or more per share for ten (10) consecutive trading days on TSX-V, the Corporation shall be entitled to give notice to the holders of the warrants, that the warrants will expire thirty (30) days from the date of mailing or news release of such notice unless exercised before the expiry of that period, and in such event all unexercised warrants will expire at 4:30 p.m. (Vancouver Time) on the last day of such thirty (30) day period. Proceeds from the private placement will be used for trades, general working capital and property acquisition. The private placement is subject to a four (4) month hold period expiring March 3, 2017. Finders fees totaling $8,100 was paid in cash and 249,500 finders warrants were issued in connection with closing of this placement. The finders warrants have same terms as the warrants attached to the common shares of the private placement.

About the Company

HAWKEYE Gold & Diamond Inc. is a junior mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol HGO. HAWKEYE's corporate philosophy is to build strong asset value through diversification, the acquisition of low-cost high potential mining opportunities, managing our business activities in an environmentally responsible manner while contributing to the well-being of the local community and economy. Our goal is to ultimately achieve full time commercial production from our projects for significant growth and early returns on investment to maximize shareholder value.

HAWKEYE GOLD & DIAMOND INC.

Greg Neeld, President & 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.

Cautionary Notes Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future events. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our industry, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggested herein. Except as required by applicable law, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.
TORONTO, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSX:MUX) is pleased to announce the appointment of Xavier Ochoa to President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Xavier joined the Company this past September, 2016 as McEwen Minings COO (see news release dated September 9, 2016).

The change in management represents a significant step towards reaching our operational goals and further advancing our portfolio of projects. Xavier brings over 25 years of international experience in the mining industry, including senior management positions where he was instrumental for leading project and operational teams, both underground and open pit.

In Mexico, we have an extensive land package with numerous small scale historic areas of mine production throughout the property package. A new geological interpretation making use of advanced geophysics and information collected from exploration work has been developed for our El Gallo property which confirms the geological potential. Recent work has demonstrated encouraging results at the El Encuentro - La Revancha Zone (see news release dated October 13, 2016). The Company has recently begun to demonstrate the prospective nature and potential longevity of mining within the El Gallo District. Under Xaviers direction, we will continue to implement this program with the goal of extending the mine life at El Gallo Complex.

At the El Gallo Silver Project we are revisiting the project and conducting new studies to improve the project economics in light of current silver prices and our ongoing exploration program on the El Gallo District.

Xavier will continue to oversee the advancement of the permits required for a speedy construction decision of our Gold Bar project in Nevada while implementing the ongoing work program to improve the economics of our large Los Azules copper project in Argentina.

At McEwen Mining, we believe in constant innovation and a vision of aggressively growing shareowner value. Xavier is a mining engineer with a strong record of enhancing production, reducing operating costs and creatively improving capital efficiency. Having worked for several large companies in the past such as Xtrata, Goldcorp, Barrick and Glencore, I believe Xavier has the skill set and meets the needs to be very effective in his new role, commented Rob McEwen, Chief Owner.

About McEwen Mining (www.mcewenmining.com)

McEwen Minings goal is to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a high growth, profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas and Europe. McEwen Mining's principal assets consist of the San Jose Mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest), the El Gallo Mine and El Gallo Silver project in Sinaloa, Mexico, the Gold Bar project in Nevada, USA, and the Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina.

McEwen Mining has a total of 300 million shares outstanding and 305 million fully diluted. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns 25% of the Company.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, including "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed, as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the "Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. The Companys dividend policy will be reviewed periodically by the Board of Directors and is subject to change based on certain factors such as the capital needs of the Company and its future operating results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by this cautionary statement.

The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release, which has been prepared by management of McEwen Mining Inc.


By Park Si-soo



President Park Geun-hye said Friday she is "responsible" for a growing influence-peddling scandal sparked by her friend Choi Soon-sil, who allegedly pulled government strings behind the scenes and made money from it.

"It's my fault," said a pale-faced Park in a nationally televised speech from the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae. "I feel deeply sorry for letting down people who have supported me."

Park said she will cooperate with the ongoing investigation into the scandal, "if deemed necessary."

"If improper behavior is discovered through the investigation, I will take full responsibility for that," she said.












Rep. Park Ji-won, interim leader of the opposition People's Party, expresses dissatisfaction with President Park Geun-hye's second public apology earlier Friday after monitoring the nationally televised speech from his office at the National Assembly. / Yonhap



By Hong Dam-young

The interim leader of the opposition People's Party expressed discontent over President Park Geun-hye's second apologetic speech about the Choi Soon-sil scandal on Friday, saying Park will have to make a "third" apology soon.

Rep. Park Ji-won said Park's speech was "not sincere" and just a "political gimmick" to contain public anger.

"It's doubtful whether this speech will be able to soothe the public anger," Park said after watching the nationally televised address. "Park's position revealed in the speech has paved the way for the President to offer her third apology soon."

The interim leader evaluated positively the President's willingness to cooperate with the investigation, but remained cautious that the prosecution would be able to ensure a thorough investigation of her.












Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier on Friday that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack.

By Reuters: ISIS today claimed responsibility for a car bomb in the south eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Friday that killed eight people and wounded more than 100, the group's Amaq news agency said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier on Friday that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack, and that one suspected member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was also killed in the blast.

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By Jun Ji-hye

Gen. Brooks

The commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday that an advanced U.S. missile defense system will be deployed in South Korea in the next eight to 10 months.

The comment was seen as an apparent effort to calm growing concerns here that South Korea's deployment decision could be derailed following a massive political scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her longtime confidant, Choi Soon-sil.

"You're going to see the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery. This is an alliance decision. It will come in the next eight to 10 months," USFK Commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks said at a seminar hosted by the Association of the Republic of Korea Army in Seoul. "That is an Army unit and a larger configuration than the one in Guam."

In Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel also said that he has not seen any change in South Korea's national security lineup in the wake of the scandal and that the U.S. alliance with the Asian ally will "continue to function effectively."

"I don't see any change to any of the important priorities in the U.S.-ROK alliance, including the timeline for the deployment of the THAAD system," Russel said during a Foreign Press Center briefing. "We have every confidence that notwithstanding any political development in Seoul, the alliance will continue to function effectively as it has for more than six decades and we will continue to definitively deter and to further develop the capability to defend against the significant threat from the DPRK."

Seoul and Washington announced in July that the THAAD system will be stationed in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, by the end of next year to better deter evolving threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities.

However, with hard-line politicians even calling for Park to resign or be impeached, concerns have been growing that the Park administration could be put into a vegetative state, and ongoing diplomatic talks, including one regarding THAAD, could be suspended.

As the latest opinion poll showed Park's approval rating plummeting to an unprecedented low of 5 percent, people appear to have lost trust in her following allegations that Choi, with no official standing, has exerted influence in state affairs related to national security and foreign affairs.

The remark made by a prime minister nominee, Thursday, further fueled concerns over the possible review of the deployment decision.

Kim Byong-joon  a former close aide to late President Roh Moo-hyun  who was nominated as prime minister to replace Hwang Kyo-ahn, told reporters that his view on the THAAD deployment could be different from that of the President.

The issue has been much debated since the two countries' announcement in July.

Many opposition lawmakers have called into question the government's bungled management of the deployment decision-making process as well as its official announcement, which sparked severe criticism from local residents living in the area selected as the THAAD location.




"The Great Myth and Mystery of Peruvian Civilization: Inca," a unique exhibition held at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul from Dec 11, 2009 to March 28, 2010, created a great sensation and piqued tremendous interest among the Korean people. It continues to evoke feelings within me of admiration for the Incan Empire. By Choe Chong-dae"The Great Myth and Mystery of Peruvian Civilization: Inca," a unique exhibition held at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul from Dec 11, 2009 to March 28, 2010, created a great sensation and piqued tremendous interest among the Korean people. It continues to evoke feelings within me of admiration for the Incan Empire.

Since ancient times, Peru has been a navy nation, with one of the world longest coastlines and the world's richest seas. It is assumed that the Incas were skilled sailors because some ancient cultures flourished along the vast coasts of the region during the pre-Inca period.

To commemorate the heroism of The Great Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario, his great achievement in the 1879 Battle of Angamos and the anniversary of the 1821 establishment of the Peruvian Navy, the Peruvian government designated Oct. 8 as a national holiday. Accordingly, Peru's Ambassador to Korea Jaime Pomareda and Captain Cesar Morales, the naval attache, hosted a reception to celebrate the 195th anniversary of the Peruvian Navy.

At the reception held on Oct. 13, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Seoul, I learned why Miguel Grau Seminario (1834-1879) is an iconic figure for the Peruvian Navy. Widely known as the "Gentleman of the Seas" and highly respected by not only Peruvians but also Chileans and others for his kind and chivalrous treatment of defeated enemies, Grau was the most renowned maritime hero of the Naval Battle of Angamos during the War of the Pacific (1879-1884) against Chile.

As the captain in command of the Huascar, the flagship of the Peruvian Navy, Grau interdicted Chilean logistics, sank many Chilean vessels and bombarded port installations. Remarkably, he practiced philanthropy. When the enemy's ships sank, he exerted himself to rescue any survivors in hopes of preventing an excessive loss of lives. Saddened by the death of his foes, he wrote a letter of condolence to the wife of Captain Arturo Prat, commander of the Esmeralda, and did the same for all the Chilean sailors who had lost their lives in the battle, expressing profound pain and sorrow. He even collected Prat's belongings and sent them to his wife.

Due to Admiral Grau's triumphs at sea, the Chilean Navy made it their top priority to eliminate him as a threat. Finally, he lost his life during the 1879 Battle of Angamos. In recognition of a lifetime of outstanding achievement, he is acknowledged as a Peruvian national hero and the "Knight of the Seas." In 2000 he was nominated as "The Peruvian of the Millennium."

Grau's life has been compared to that of Admiral Yi Sun-sin (1545-1598), Korea's maritime navy hero. Yi led Korea to a great victory during the Japanese invasion of 1592-98 close to the Yeosu Sea in the Battle of Noryang Point.

Admiral Yi achieved many more great victories against the Japanese invaders, such as the Hansan Great Victory and the Myeongryang Great Victory on the southern coast. His remarkable victories are widely considered by the Korean people to be some of the most superb naval victories ever achieved.

Many authorities believe the battles of the Hansan Island and of Noryang Sea are on the same level as the battle of Salamis won by the Greek Admiral Themistocles against Persia in 480 B.C., the battle of Calais won by the British Admiral Lord Howard against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the battle of Trafalgar won by British Admiral Lord Nelson against French and Spanish allies in 1805. They can rightly be termed the "Four Greatest Naval Battles."

Admiral Grau was truly a great navigator of the world's oceans who will continue to inspire generations of heroes for years to come.

Choe Chong-dae is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co. and director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at choecd@naver.com.
Founder of Apollo Hospital, Dr Pratap Reddy, today said that Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa has been responding well to the treatment.

By Akshaya Nath: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who has been hospitalised since September 22, is responding well to the treatment.



Dr Pratap Reddy, founder Apollo Hospital, talking to media at a private event today said that Jayalalithaa is responding well to the treatment and will be discharged as per her convenience.

CM Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospital on September 22 after complaining about dehydration and fever.

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It has been more than 43 days since her hospitalisation and information about her health still remains unknown.



#FLASH Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa has completely recovered and understands what is going on around her, says Apollo hospital. ANI (@ANI_news) 4 November 2016

The last health bulletin was released on October 21 and the wait for her health report seems to be worrying many in the state.



The opposition in the state has been complaining about how the government is being under a state of standstill.



"We are so happy, everyone has prayed for Amma because they love her so much," CR Saraswathi from AIADMK on CM's recovery.

Also read:

Jayalalithaa to soon be moved out of Critical Care Unit to private room



Tamil Nadu government not fulfilling its duty in absence of Jayalalithaa: DMK

Jayalalithaa's thumb impression on election documents raises questions







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The Rangers plans for first base in 2017 arent entirely clear, but it appears Joey Gallo does not top their list of potential starters at the position, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News notes. We think Joey is going to be a very good player in this league, but when is still too early to say, says GM Jon Daniels. Ideally, hed probably get a little more time, unless there is a big jump like Ryan Rua took last year. Daniels cites Jurickson Profar and Rua as candidates for playing time at first.

Incumbent first baseman Mitch Moreland is a free agent this winter, and Gallo is a talented minor league slugger with a long history of hitting for incredible power  hes hit 152 home runs, many of the light-tower variety, in parts of five minor league seasons. Hes a third baseman by trade, but he played 32 games at first base in for Triple-A Round Rock last season and would appear to be an obvious candidate to take over the position now that theres a vacancy. The Rangers could also have playing time available at DH, depending on how this offseason shakes out.

Gallo also has obvious weaknesses, however. He struck out in nearly 35% of his plate appearances last year at Round Rock, and has whiffed a ridiculous 76 times in 153 plate appearances in the big leagues. He would likely have a hard time posting batting averages above the Mendoza Line without improvements in that category, and the Rangers might feel Round Rock is the best place to address his deficiencies. Gallo went to Venezuela this offseason to work on his game in winter ball, but has been sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Ghanaian theatre production house, Globe Production, has fixed Sunday November 6, as the day for the first showing of its latest stage play, I Cant Think Far.

The play, which premiers at the Accra International Conference Centre, is to promote and create awareness about violence-free elections.

The play tells the story of a politician who is blind to the consequences of his bad temper. A few days to the long-awaited nationwide presidential debate, he realizes how things are getting out of hand.

He successfully seeks help from a Reverend minister; an anger therapist, but what happens next?

The drama features some of Ghana's finest actors such as Adjetey Annan and Ekow Smith-Asante.

According to a statement issued by Latif Abubakar, producer of the play, it aims at curbing violence by equipping people with the skills needed to control their anger and that of others.

The play is organised by Globe Productions, in partnership with Graphic Showbiz, and sponsored by Star Ghana, Carnival Strawberry, Yomi Yoghurt and Unibank.

The media partners include the Citi 97.3FM, Ghana News Agency, 3FM, TV3, GHOne TV and Graphic Communications Group.

I cant think far is Latifs 10th stage production after Romantic Nonsense, You May Kiss the Corpse, Gallery of Comedies, the Second Coming of



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
04.11.2016 LISTEN

Newest highlife music sensation,Sir Prince has refuted claims that he is copying highlife legend Dada KB of Midi Be mawu fame.

Sir Prince who is noted for highlife song titled Ohemaa has come under tumultuous criticism. People are saying that hes copying the legendary Dada KDs voice and music style.

Speaking with Dr.Who ,on hot and classic showbiz review on Accra based Hot FM,Sir Prince refuted those assumptions by indicating that he is a multi talented musician with his own style. He also stated that he is not copying Dada KDs voice or music style in any way.

hahaha ,this is serious.Why is everybody saying am copying Dada KD? Yes Dada KD is a great musician but considering my style of singing, nothing shows am copying him.Im a multi talented musiciani sing better than him.My voice is much refined than him:

,Sir Prince opined to Dr.Who Sir Prince who is noted for not showing his full face urged his fans to ignore those criticisms and expect a lot of hit songs from him. Ohemaais currently enjoying massive airplay on the various radio stations and considered as the most popular highlife song presently .

Kindly Listen to his song below and be the judge.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group remains capable of launching large-scale attacks despite claims that the insurgency is weakening, a UN report warned Friday.

The Islamist group carried out six sophisticated hotel attacks in Mogadishu from November 2015 to June of this year, the report by UN sanctions monitors said.

"Contrary to prevailing narratives of successful counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts, the monitoring group assesses that the security situation has not improved in Somalia," they said.

The Shabaab group "represents the most immediate threat to peace and security in Somalia and continues to be a destabilizing force in the broader East and Horn of Africa region," they added in the report sent to the Security Council earlier this week.

While the jihadists have not launched a major attack outside Somalia since the 2015 massacre at Kenya's Garissa University, the group "retains both the capability to carry out another such attack and a self-proclaimed motive with regard to targeting countries contributing troops to AMISOM," they said.

The African Union's AMISOM force in Somalia includes mostly troops from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Burundi.

After a bomb concealed in a laptop exploded on a Daallo airlines flight in February, the monitors warned that the Shabaab were resorting to more sophisticated tactics targeting aircraft.

They cited indications that the Islamists are "likely to have had external assistance in the construction of the device," but those findings were detailed in a separate strictly confidential annex to the report.

Assassinating leaders

The UN report criticized the Somali government for failing to pay soldiers' salaries, which led to withdrawals from areas in the south and center of the country that allowed Shabaab forces to return

Allied to Al-Qaeda since 2012, the Shabaab controlled Mogadishu for several years until it was pushed out in 2011. But the extremist group continues to fight to overthrow the Western-backed government.

A series of drone strikes and raids that killed at least three senior Shabaab leaders may have failed to have a serious impact on the Islamist group, the UN report said.

"Al-Shabaab possesses a robust and ideologically committed 'middle management' capable of seamlessly stepping into positions vacated by assassinated senior leaders," it added.

After the council slapped a ban on charcoal exports, a major source of Shabaab funding, the insurgents turned to the illicit sugar trade and "taxation" of agricultural production.

The Shabaab derive up to $18 million a year in revenue from checkpoints demanding payment from trucks carrying sugar, according to the report.

It cited a Somali intelligence estimate that some $9.5 million go into Shabaab coffers per year from taxing agricultural production.

The report criticized the Somali government for failing to pay soldiers' salaries, which led to withdrawals from areas in the south and center of the country that allowed Shabaab forces to return.

It cited continued corruption and a likely misappropriation of funds and supplies intended for soldiers, some of which came from outside countries.

Attacks on AMISOM have continued, the report said, including a deadly twin truck bombing of a Kenyan military compound in January that left some 150 soldiers.
With unprecedented support from the IAS association, the 35-year-old won a hard-fought legal tussle and the Patna High Court exonerated him of all charges on October 28.

By Mail Today Bureau: The road to justice was a bumpy one for Bihar bureaucrat Jitendra Gupta, who tried to expose a corruption nexus between drivers of overloaded trucks and policemen on a highway but was suspended in what turned out to be a fake bribery case.

With unprecedented support from the IAS association, the 35-year-old won a hard-fought legal tussle and the Patna High Court exonerated him of all charges on October 28. Gupta, who is also an orthopedic surgeon, is an IAS officer of the Bihar cadre's 2013 batch.

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HOW IT UNFOLDED

His first posting was as a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) at Mohania, bordering UP. He was overseeing security arrangements as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was to travel through that stretch a few days later when he noticed overloaded trucks being parked on the National Highway 2 in front of police stations. He pointed out that these trucks could pose a security threat to the CM and objected to their illegal seizure and improper parking.

He wrote to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), road-building company Soma Isolux and local district magistrate for necessary action. Thousands of trucks cross that highway stretch every day. Policemen, who have no power to take action against such violations, stop them and park them illegally until negotiations are over. They free most of the vehicles after accepting bribes and very few are penalised by the regional transport offices (RTOs).

HOW HE WAS FRAMED

Sources say the money collected every month runs into crores but the exact loss of revenue is difficult to ascertain. The court verdict indicated that Gupta fell victim to a conspiracy hatched by government officials and the transport mafia. As the police allegedly accept bribes, they too helped frame him in a bogus bribery case, sources say.

The young bureaucrat was arrested on July 14 after a truck driver approached the vigilance bureau claiming Gupta was demanding money for releasing a seized vehicle. The bureau raided Gupta's residence and he was arrested after Rs 80,000 was seized from a driver attached to him who claimed he had collected the money on Gupta's behalf. The officer was suspended and also had to spend a month in jail. The Bihar IAS association passed a resolution, condemning the vigilance department's "illegal action". The association bore all legal and logistical expenses of Gupta and his family.

PAYING A HEAVY PRICE FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

The bureaucrat joined a list of civil services officials, such as Durga Shakti Nagpal from Uttar Pradesh and Satyendra Dubey from Bihar, who tried to fight corruption but paid a heavy price for it. Gupta is now an OSD to the Bihar government and working in the department of environment and forests headed by minister Tej Pratap Yadav. "The IAS association had taken the stand against the improper midnightarrest of Dr Gupta on the very first day.

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There was no direct or indirect evidence against him. His arrest was premature and without investigation which was against the law. Leave alone the senior officers, even a common man should not be arrested in this manner," said Deepak Kumar Singh, principal secretary of labour resources in Bihar and also treasurer of the IAS association. Gupta refused to comment on the issue. However, he mentioned that he had faith in the judiciary and will continue to work with the same zeal and enthusiasm to check corruption. The court said Gupta neither demanded nor accepted any bribe. The allegation against him had clearly been falsified, saying the bribery never took place.

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Rabat (AFP) - Reporters Without Borders on Friday called on Morocco to "end all reporting restrictions in Western Sahara" and allow journalists to report freely from the disputed territory.

Rabat should "stop violating the rights of Sahrawi and foreign journalists to cover developments in Western Sahara", RSF said in a statement.

"By detaining reporters during demonstrations, putting Sahrawi citizen journalists on trial and deporting foreign journalists, the Moroccan authorities make life impossible for media personnel and maintain an arbitrary control over reporting in this territory," the media watchdog said.

Yasmine Kacha, the head of RSF's North Africa desk, said: "It is urgent and necessary that journalists should be free to report what is happening in this extremely tense territory and, in particular, to shed light on human rights violations."

RSF said two citizen journalists who report for the Sahrawi website Equipe Media Sahara were arrested in late September and charged with "attacking (a) public official", a charge punishable with up to one year in jail.

The journalists, who are to be tried on January 15, said they thought they were arrested because they were accompanying Spanish activists investigating the humanitarian situation in Western Sahara, it said.

Morocco is ranked 131st out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.

Rabat maintains that the Western Sahara is an integral part of Morocco, despite UN resolutions calling for a referendum on self-determination.

A 1991 ceasefire brokered by the United Nations ended 16 years of conflict between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front campaigning for the territory's independence.

The truce left Morocco in control of all of the territory's main towns and the Polisario confined to a narrow strip of the desert interior.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A court in northern Nigeria has freed five Muslim men accused of killing an elderly Christian woman for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed.

The court in the city of Kano discharged the five men on Thursday on the legal advise of the prosecution.

"The legal advice presented to the court, dated June 24, states that there is no case to answer as the suspects are all innocent and orders the court to discharge all the suspects," the judge said in his ruling.

The five men were accused, along with six others who are on the run, of killing 74-year-old Bridget Abahime on June 2 after she allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

The suspects had pleaded not guilty of the charge.

The victim, an ethnic Igbo trader from the southeast and wife of a pastor, was beaten to death, sparking outrage across the country with President Muhammadu Buhari calling the killing 'utterly condemnable'.

Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim while the south is largely Christian and Kano city has been plagued by religious violence in the past.

In one notorious case in 1996 a trader, also an ethnic Igbo Christian, was beheaded by suspected Muslim youths who accused him of desecrating the Koran.

His severed head was hoisted on a spike and paraded around the city.
Three United Nations agencies operating in Algeria appealed today for continued donor support for refugees from Western Sahara, warning that insufficient funding makes imminent a cut in basic food rations.

For more than 40 years, the Sahrawi refugees have been living under extremely harsh conditions in the Sahara desert in south-western Algeria. Hosted in five camps close to the town of Tindouf, they remain heavily dependent on external humanitarian assistance, the UN World Food Programme ( WFP ), together with the Office of the UN Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) and the UN Childrens Fund ( UNICEF ) said in a joint news release .

According to the release, WFP represents the most important source of food in the camps. The UN agencies caution that the halt or reduction of that assistance would have a severe impact on the refugees food security and nutritional status  especially young children, pregnant and nursing women, the elderly and the sick.

At the [UN Summit which] recently adopted the New York Declaration , States committed to providing additional and predictable humanitarian funding and development support for refugees, said UNHCR Representative in Algeria Hamdi Bukhari.

We badly need this for our humanitarian activities in support of the Sahrawis, he continued. Chronic underfunding has affected the provision of health, shelter, food and water.

In June last year, the three agencies raised the alarm over the lack of funding for food. Today they are elevating their warning that food assistance is critical.

The joint statement explained that WFP faces a funding shortfall of $10 million for the next six months.

While the UN food relief agency was forced to suspend part of its assistance in October, November threatens reduced rations by half. Stocks have already been depleted to cover the last few months and the three staple products of wheat flour, vegetable oil, and rice are quickly running out. WFP has informed donors, stakeholders and local partners  including the Algerian and Sahrawi Red Crescent  of possible cuts.

Cost-cutting measures, such as the replacement of some commodities by cheaper ones, have so far allowed WFP to extend resources to cover requirements, said WFP Representative Romain Sirois.

However, he continued if new funding is not available soon, WFP will be forced to reduce food rations. This is bound to hurt the nutritional status of refugees.

On 19 September, WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Health Organization ( WHO ), as well as non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance to Sahrawi refugees, called on donors in Algiers for funds to provide food, shelter, health and education in the camps. The appeal will be re-issued soon at a donor meeting in Geneva.

Sahrawi refugee children living in camps in Tindouf are highly dependent on food distributions, and anxiety among families about further reduction is high, said UNICEF Representative in Algeria Marc Lucet.

Childrens nutritional and health status could be at risk, he continued. Together with UN agencies working in the camps, we call upon donors to maintain their support to refugees so their basic humanitarian needs continue to be covered.

Since 1986, WFP has been supporting refugees from Western Sahara in Algeria. All of its assistance there is carried out and monitored in collaboration with national and international organizations to make sure the support reaches the people for whom it is intended.

The Sahrawi crisis is the UNs oldest protracted operation and the second longest-running refugee situation worldwide, said the agencies.
1. At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, attended and co-chaired the Inaugural Session of the Bi-National Commission Summit which was held in Harare, Zimbabwe on 03 November 2016.

2. The Bi-National Commission Summit (BNC) was immediately preceded by the Ministerial meeting on 02 November and the Senior Officials meeting from 31 October to 01 November 2016, respectively.

3. The two Heads of State expressed satisfaction with the strong historical and fraternal relations existing between the two countries and reiterated their commitment to continue to enhance these relations. They also reviewed a wide range of regional and international issues.

4. The Commission noted the progress made in strengthening bilateral cooperation in sectors such as trade, investment, finance, health, labour, education, training, women and gender, sport and recreation, mining, tourism, energy, transport, infrastructure development, information communication technology, science and technology, tourism, immigration, defence and security. They also called for enhanced cooperation in agriculture, food security, housing and SMEs/SMMEs development.

5. The Commission also expressed satisfaction with the excellent cooperation in defence and security and encouraged the respective agencies to continue to collaborate on issues of mutual concern.

6. The two Heads of State noted the growing economic cooperation between the two countries. In this regard, it was agreed to establish a Joint Trade and Investment Committee by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

7. The Heads of State emphasised the importance of business to business interaction and the promotion of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and joint ventures.

8. The two Heads of State discussed the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Trade and the Bilateral Trade Agreement between Zimbabwe and South Africa, including various Statutory Instruments adopted by Zimbabwe related to import control management.

9. The two Heads of State noted that 38 Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between the two countries to date. The two Heads of State urged the various departments to implement as a matter of urgency the Agreements and Memoranda already concluded between the two countries. The Heads of State expressed concern over delays in concluding a number of Agreements and Memoranda and directed the relevant Ministries and Departments to conclude negotiations on all outstanding Agreements and Memoranda.

10. The Bi-National Commission highlighted the urgent need for the establishment of a One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Beitbridge-Musina as decided by the Joint Permanent Commission at Victoria Falls in 2009. To that end, the Commission decided to finalise the modalities for its establishment by the time of the next Bi-National Commission in 2017.

11. The Commission noted that illegal trade in ivory and other wildlife products remains a concern for both countries. The two countries agreed to further collaborate in finding solutions to the illegal wildlife trade challenges including through joint law enforcement operations.

12. The two Heads of State took note of the effects of the El Nino induced drought in their respective countries and the region. They stressed the importance of adopting appropriate mitigation measures. They further expressed their concern at the socio-economic impact of the drought.

13. The two Heads of State called for further progress in the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap. In this context they looked forward to the adoption of the Costed Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy and Roadmap at the forthcoming SADC Extraordinary Summit to be held in March 2017.

14. The two Heads of State also exchanged views on the political and security developments in the region. In this regard, they reaffirmed the need to sustain peace and stability for the economic growth and integration of the region.

15. The two Heads of State condemned the upsurge of terrorism and extremism in some regions of the continent and they called for enhanced cooperation by AU Member States and other stakeholders in combating the scourge.

16. The two Heads of State expressed concern over the migration crisis affecting certain parts of the African continent and called for the humane treatment of migrants.

17. The two Heads of State reaffirmed their support for the SADC candidate for the post of the AU Commission Chairperson, Dr. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Botswana. They also noted that Zimbabwe had two candidates for the positions of Commissioner for Political Affairs and Commissioner for Social Affairs.

18. With regards to the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, the Heads of State reiterated their support for the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people. They emphasized the need for Africa to speak with the same voice on this matter and highlight the plight of the Saharawi people.

19. The two Heads of State noted Moroccos application to join the AU and welcomed the statement by the AU Commission Chairperson highlighting the procedures for membership.

20. Regarding the question of Palestine, the two Heads of State reaffirmed their support for a credible and comprehensive peace process, with a view to achieving a just and lasting solution.

21. The two Heads of State reiterated their common view on the need to reform the multilateral institutions, particularly the United Nations Security Council. They reaffirmed the Ezulwini Consensus as the common African position.

22. The two Heads congratulated Mr. Antonio Guterres, the newly appointed Secretary General of the United Nations.

23. The two Heads of State welcomed the establishment of the BRICS bank and observed that His Excellency President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma will be launching the BRICS Africa Regional Centre in December 2016.

24. His Excellency President Robert Gabriel Mugabe extended congratulations to President Zuma on his election as the next SADC Chairman in 2017.

25. During the BNC, the two Heads of State witnessed the signing of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement.

26. His Excellency President Robert Gabriel Mugabe thanked His Excellency President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma for attending the inaugural session of the Bi-National Commission and the brotherly and friendly spirit in which the interaction was conducted.

27. His Excellency President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma expressed his appreciation to the Government and the People of the Republic of Zimbabwe for the warm welcome and hospitality which was accorded to him and his delegation.

28. His Excellency President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma extended an invitation to His Excellency President Robert Gabriel Mugabe to the next Session of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) to be held in 2017 in South Africa, at a date to be mutually determined through diplomatic channels
Completing a two-year program of English language study, 240 young Egyptians from throughout the country graduated today from the English Access Partnership Program. The EAPP provided these students two years of high-quality English language training and the opportunity to participate in extracurricular language learning activities.

U.S. Ambassador Stephen Beecroft presented certificates to the new graduates. English language skills will be an immense asset to you, he said, but the program has also given you access to new worlds of learning, to new cultures, to new employment opportunities. This program has an excellent reputation, and its graduates have an exceptional performance record. As part of the programs legacy, you surely have the skills to succeed.

EAPP is funded by the United States Agency for International Development in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassys Regional English Language Office. AMIDEAST and the American University in Cairo organized the EAPP classes and extracurricular activities for the students. In completing the EAPP, these students join more than 3200 Egyptian youth from less privileged families who have learned English through the Access program since 2006.

The Access Program is one of over 30 programs the U.S. Embassy offers to thousands of learners and teachers of English across Egypt.
The 3rd Africa-Arab Ministerial Conference on Agricultural Development and Food Security was held under the theme Promotion of Africa  Arab Trade and Investment for Accelerated Agricultural Development and Enhancing Food Security.

Presided over by Lieutenant General Bakri Hassan Salih, First Vice President of the Republic of Sudan, the opening of the conference was graced by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Hon. Prof. Ibrahim Adam Eldukheri, the Under Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Sudan, Engineer Ali Gadoom Elghali Osman and the Director-General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, His Excellency Dr. Tariq Bin Musa El-Zadjali.

Speaking during the event, H.E. Mrs. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, representing H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, noted that despite the agricultural success stories and enormous opportunities in the continent, Africa had experienced falling food production per capita over the last four or so decades, exacerbating hunger, malnutrition and poverty thus denying many African citizens a decent and dignified life.

She highlighted some of the factors that have contributed to low agricultural productivity including limited use of improved crop varieties, irrigation, and fertilizers. Consequently, H.E Tumusiime invited investors from both African and Arab countries to invest in African agriculture.

Commissioner Tumusiime called for renewed political will and commitment to the Joint Action Plan for Agricultural Development and Food Security through mobilization and allocation of adequate financial resources from both domestic and external resources to Agriculture.

Commissioner Tumusiime was among five dignitaries that were awarded with Certificates of Recognition for their immense contribution to Africa-Arab Agricultural Development.

The Ministerial Conference was preceded by a two-day senior officials meeting whose main outcome was the Khartoum Declaration on Promoting Africa-Arab investment for accelerated agricultural development and attainment of food security.

The Conference was attended by ministers and senior officials from Member States of the African Union and the League of Arab States. Also in attendance were representatives of the African Union Commission, the League of Arab States Secretariat, Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Food Programme, the African Development Bank and private sector organizations.
The Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation has welcomed the withdrawal of South Africa from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Siphosezwe Masango, said the repeal process will soon begin, once the Speaker of the National Assembly has referred the matter to relevant parliamentary Committees.

We agree with Justice Minister Mr Michael Masuthas statement on South Africas withdrawal from the ICC this afternoon in the House. For a long time we have witnessed the unevenness of international justice and the lack of universality of application in the manner in which countries are treated, Mr Masango said.

The ICC is biased towards selectively targeting African heads of states. Leaders of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are never acted against when they transgress, he said.

On 19 October, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, handed to the United Nations Secretary-General South Africas intention to withdraw. Subsequently, Mr Masutha presented a statement that was discussed in Parliament. Of the nine cases in front of the ICC currently, eight involve African presidents.
Accra, Nov. 3, GNA - All Yoruba Community in Ghana will host the maiden edition of the Yoruba Congress from March 9 to 11, 2017.

The event, which seeks to strengthen existing relationships, would bring together Yorubas from the Diaspora.

Addressing some newsmen in Accra, Alhaji Musah Baba, the President of the All Yoruba Community in Ghana, said the Congress would give them an opportunity to enhance their relationship with each other as intermarriages had separated many within the culture.

He said the Congress which would be held annually and rotated among the principal towns in Ghana, would also help deepen the bond between Ghana and Nigeria and serve as a link between the Yorubas in Ghana and their ancestral home in Nigeria.

Alhaji Musa Baba said the Yoruba community started arriving in the Gold Coast in the early part of the 19th century and can be found in all parts of Ghana where they have settled among different ethnic groups making Ghana their permanent homes.

He said some Yoruba settlers in Kumasi included Baba Kurenga, a soldier, Baba Jariogbe, a railway worker, and several others who helped in the construction of the Accra Railway line''.

He said the Yoruba were part of the Captain Glover seven hundred Hausa force that was formed in Lagos in 1865 which was later deployed to the Gold Coast colony.

It is estimated that there are over one million Yoruba in the country

GNA
03.11.2016 LISTEN

By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, Nov. 3, GNA - Mr Nantogmah Abdul- Rashid, the Ayawaso District Electoral Officer, has called on political activists to use non- violent means to resolve electoral disputes to help ensure peace in the elections.

He said all stakeholders are expected to abide by the basic processes and procedures to avoid electoral offenses and as well ensure a free, fair and credible election.

Mr Abdul- Rashid said this at a voter education programme, organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in collaboration with the National Peace Council.

Participants were drawn from the Ayawaso West- Wagon, Ayawaso Central, Ayawaso East and Ayawaso North Constituencies in the Greater Accra Region.

The aim of the programme was to enlighten and educate political party executives at the constituency level to uphold tolerance and as well attach value and respect to all electoral rules and processes.

Mr Abdul Rashid said an important provision of the law in relation to electoral offenses by election officials states that: "an election officer who is required to perform a function but fails to perform that function commits an offence".

"And is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than 500 penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not more than two years or both and shall for a period of five years from the date of expiration of the term of imprisonment be disqualified from being engaged as an election officer,"

Other electoral offenses, he said, include attempting to vote more than once in the same election, 'misconducting' yourself as an election official or agent, and forging or destroying a ballot paper or an election results form.

He said to be in possession of another person's voter identity card (ID) card without his/her express authority, to compel somebody to vote in a particular way, to display your marked ballot paper in such a way as to make it known to others the candidate you are voting for, were all offenses.

He said there would be four polling assistants assigned to each polling station to assist the presiding officer to process voters; and they include Names Reference List Officer, the Biometric Verification Officer, the Presidential Ballot Issuer and the Parliamentary Ballot Issuer.

Mr Abdul-Rashid tasked political parties to use discerning agents in protecting their interest at the polling station.

He urged all electorates to be guided by the electoral laws to avoid being prosecuted.

Mr Ebenezer Tetteh- Wayo, the Accra Metro Director of the NCCE, urged the public not to sell their conscience to politicians; as voting is a way of exercising their democratic rights.

He said it was important for people to exercise their franchise and vote into office leaders of their choice, without attacking their opponents or involving themselves in any form of violence,

Mr Tetteh-Wayo expressed the hope that the knowledge acquired would be decentralized to other political activists to appreciate the need to be tolerant, before, during and the after the forthcoming general elections.

Mr George Amoh, the Director of Programmes at the National Peace Council, called on the public to preserve the nation's enviable democratic credentials by showing greater level of tolerance.

He said Ghana is matured enough to triumph over this election without a drop of blood.

"I am hopeful that voters and all other stakeholders will exercise their rights and responsibilities dutifully and in accordance with the rules of the elections'

Mr Amoh said the Peace Council is expected to facilitate conflict prevention, management resolution and to build sustainable peace in the country, it is appropriate to engage all stakeholders in the upcoming elections, in finding solutions that are non-violent to resolve our conflicts.

GNA
By Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA

Accra, Nov.3, GNA - Mr Seth Oteng, the Executive Director of Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF), has commended the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for taken the initiative to transcribe its party manifestoes into Braille format.

The format has also been integrated into sign language in the campaign launch of the NDC.

Mr Oteng in an interview with Ghana News Agency called on other political parties to follow suit.

He told the GNA that in 2015, YBF with funding from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) started the implementation of an intervention titled: 'Securing the future of young people in Ghana through improved Juvenile Justice Administration'.

'YBF in consultation with some members of the visually impaired community produced the Braille and daisy versions of the Children's Act, 1998 (Act 560) and Juvenile Justice Act 2003 (Act 653).

This was an intervention to promote access to justice for juveniles and Persons with Disabilities especially the visually impaired in Ghana,' he said.

Mr Oteng noted that in pursuit of this, YBF made a call on the government to consider the production of other policy documents into Braille and daisy format to make it easily accessible to the visually and hearing impaired persons in the country.

Taking note of the initiatives by the various political parties contesting the December 7 elections, Mr Oteng commended OSIWA for being the pace setters of the laudable initiative.

Going forward, the Executive Director of YBF has challenged other political parties and the to-be-elected government to sustain the initiative by producing more of the Braille and daisy formats of national policy documents to help include the visually impaired youth in national policies.

YBF is a youth focused organisation set up to create supportive platforms to challenge the creativity of the youth, and to make available critical information and resources needed for total development of the youth.

GNA
Are militants in Kashmir Valley shifting focus from schools to colleges? The oldest institute of higher education in the Valley was attacked with petrol bomb.

Sri Pratap College, Srinagar came under attack on Wednesday, when unidentified persons hurled petrol bomb on it. (Photo: @rasul_irfan)

By Shuja-ul-Haq : An alert watchman at SP College in Srinagar foiled an attempt to burn down the prestigious educational institution in the Kashmir Valley. Suspected militants attempted to torch the SP College by hurling a petrol bomb on Wednesday evening.

At least 30 schools have been set ablaze in the Kashmir Valley in past two months, the last being the government middle school at Astanpora in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir. The incident took place on Wednesday.

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READ: What went wrong in Kashmir and how to fix it



The school was partially damaged in the blaze. The fire tenders were rushed to the school immediately to douse the blaze.

WATCH:





FOCUS SHIFTS TO COLLEGE?

Before the arson attack on the SP College, the suspected militants have targeted government schools. But, the attack on the college signals a shift in strategy of the militants.

According to police, the attack on the SP College caused partial damage to some windowpanes of the building. The fire was brought under control immediately, the police said.

Police have registered a case against unidentified miscreants and begun the investigation.

READ: Worried over attack on schools, J-K Governor meets Home Minister Rajnath Singh

OLDEST COLLEGE IN VALLEY

The SP College was established in 1905 by Annie Besant for the then ruler of Jammu and Kashmir Majaraja Pratap Singh.

Sri Pratap College, better known as SP College is the oldest institute of higher education in Kashmir Valley.

According to some reports, the attackers chose a secluded portion of the college, which houses Botany department. But, the watchman of the college was alert and flung into action ensuring that the fire did not spread to other sections.

ALSO READ:



174 schools closed in Jammu as heavy firing by Pakistan continues



--- ENDS ---
By Agnes Ansah, GNA

Accra, Nov. 3, GNA - Mr Ivor Kobinah Greenstreet, the Presidential aspirant for the Conventions Peoples Party (CPP), has pledged to restore peace in the north to accelerate national development.

In an interaction with the political parties organised by the Northern Development Forum on their plans and policies for the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, Mr Greenstreet said one key element for development was peace and stability that has been a bane in these areas.

'Without solving the conflict issues on the ground, all the great plans that we wish to roll out would only be rendered useless,', he added.

Mr Greenstreet spelt out a comprehensive energy, agricultural and educational plans that his Party seeks to do if given the baton to lead the country on the December 7 polls.

On the energy sector, the Presidential aspirant said his outfit would be able to use wind to produce 9000 megawatts of electricity.

'We have very strong views with respect to utilising renewable energy resources especially wind because a research conducted proves we can generate 9000 megawatts of electricity using wind.'

He explained that the accumulation of wind in northern Ghana was enormous therefore he would capitalise on the opportunity to install 9,900 wind turbines manufactured from the Abosso glass factory to generate 9000 megawatts of electricity for the country.

Touching on agriculture, Mr Greenstreet said he would utilise the vast stretch of land in the north for the production of Almond tree to generate foreign income for the country.

'The Almond tree has a huge demand on the international market as compared to cocoa and if grown extensively in the region it would generate more revenue for the country.'

He said the tree would be harvested and processed in the country because its processing was very easy.

'This will provide employment for people as well as generating income for them because everything will be done in the country,' he observed,

Mr Greenstreet said his regime would also provide loans to indigenes especially the women to engage in large and mechanised farming and other businesses.

Speaking on education, the presidential aspirant said he would embark on a massive adult literacy programme.

He explained that most of the focus on education has been shifted on the younger ones leaving the adults who couldn't afford to go to school.

Therefore 'I would use the churches and other religious organisation to ensure that people are brought to a standard where they can engage in some basic things in life to earn money for themselves'.

Mr Greenstreet said these plans if well executed would not only accelerate development in the north but also curtail the rural-urban drift in the country.

GNA
By Deborah Apetorgbor, GNA

Accra, Nov 3, GNA - The National Peace Council, as part of efforts to ensure peaceful polls on December 7, has engaged Constituency Executives in the Ablekuma Sub-metro and educated them on their duties on the voting day.

The programme, held in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education, assembled the Constituency Executives of the Ablekuma North, Central, South and West Constituencies.

Mr Tetteh Wayo, Accra Metro Director of the NCCE, said the event was organised to educate Constituency Executives on what they needed to know and do on the Election Day.

He said it was necessary for all eligible voters to exercise their franchise and urged them to use their conscience, go to the polls and vote wisely.

Mr George Amoo, Programmes Director of the National Peace Council, reiterated the need for all individuals involved in the electoral process to foster peace among themselves and maintain an environment conducive for the process.

He expressed the belief that conflicts were not negative, but rather, it was often used to ignite development. However, he noted that it was the management of conflicts that made the difference. He thus advocated for conflicts to be managed in a non-violent way to bring peace.

He encouraged the Party Executives present to 'have confidence in the structures put in place to ensure credible and peaceful elections'.

Mr Joseph Boateng, Director for the Electoral Commission in the Ablekuma Sub-metro, took the Executives through a detailed education of the voting process on the Election Day. Additionally, he described the functions of the electoral officials on the voting grounds in relation to the voters and agents.

He stressed the need for all to assist to uphold the credibility of the Commission in conducting elections as evidenced by previously successive polls.

Mr Boateng took the participants through the security measures laid out by the Commission to ensure unquestionable transparency in the entire electoral process, from the printing of the ballot papers to the final collation by the Returning Officers.

He illustrated the voting procedure with a demonstration on how to thumbprint appropriately and fold the ballot papers to avoid the incidences of rejected ballots in the elections.

He however mentioned that registered voters who have lost their identification cards will be allowed to vote when their voter details have been verified in the register.

He also emphasised that voters who, for uncertain reasons, cannot have their fingers verified on the verification devices would not be disenfranchised but rather allowed to vote after the device has detected their faces.

Participants asked and received explanations to various questions bordering on the electoral process.

The National Peace Council, constituted by an act of Parliament in 2001is mandated to develop and facilitate the mechanism for conflict prevention, management and resolution, and to build sustainable peace for the country.

The programme, running concurrently across the country, is being sponsored by the USAID-Ghana through the UNDP.

GNA
The Christian Council of Ghana says it is silent on the Electoral Commission (EC) disqualification of some 13 presidential candidates because the aggrieved parties are using the legal process to have their issues resolved.

General Secretary of the Council, Rev Dr Opuni Frimpong told Dzifa Bampoh, host of Joy FMs Newsnite programme Thursday that they would have intervened had the disqualified presidential candidates used undemocratic means.

"Even though what is happening [especially] the timing is not the best but because they are using due process in addressing the issue, from our end I want to objectively allow the legal process to continue rather than making utterances," he said.

The silence of the various religious groups in the country has been called into question by some political parties who are battling with the EC for disqualifying their presidential candidates on October 10.

PPP at a news conference in Accra Thursday wondered where the likes of the Christian Council of Ghana, the Catholic Bishops Conference, Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, and the Chief Imam were as the Party is going through what it has described as troubling times in the hand of the Commission.

Presidential Candidate of PPP, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom took the EC to court over his disqualification and won the case. An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Kyei Baffuor ordered the Commission to return the PPP leader's nomination form to him for amendments to be made on it.

The Commission was dissatisfied with the ruling and has gone to the Supreme Court seeking to review the judgment.

Three other political parties; the People's National Convention (PNC), National Democratic Party (NDP) and the All People's Congress (APC) are also in court challenging the disqualification of their presidential candidates.

Political pundits have expressed worry over the ongoing litigations saying they could affect Ghana's electoral calendar.

Per the C.I.94, the law governing the December 7, the Commission was expected to serve Notice of Polls for both the presidential and parliamentary elections, but this has not been done with 33 days to the polls.

Rev Frimpong said the Council is equally worried that the issues "dominating public discourse have become disqualification, going to court and appeals."

He believes rather than discussing the suits, Ghanaians should be bothered about the feasibility of the policies detailed in the manifestos of the various political parties.

Considering the number of ballot papers we have been wasting over the years there should be intense public education on the process but it is not happening, he said.

He, however, expressed confidence in the Chief Justice, Theodora Georgina Wood to ensuring that cases before the court will be worked on in a timely fashion.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | Email: [email protected]
The maiden China-Ghana-Zambia joint stakeholders meeting has been concluded in Beijing and Chengdu, China with significant participation from Ghana.

The event formed part of activities of the China-Ghana-Zambia South-South Cooperation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer project, which aims at enhancing the transfer of knowledge on renewable energy technologies from China to African countries, particularly, Ghana and Zambia.

The project is funded by the Danish Government, through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and implemented by the Energy Commission in Ghana, the Ministry of Mines and Energy in the Zambia and the Administrative Centre for Chinas Agenda 21(ACCA21) in China.

Through the project, the Energy Commission with the UNDP would provide concrete solutions for energy access for productive use through technology transfer and South-South Cooperation.

The project involves a wide range of stakeholders, from the private sector to research institutions, and creates communities of practice in the sphere of renewable energy in Ghana and China, which would facilitate project implementation and continued cooperation beyond the project.

Project Coordinator for Ghana, Mr Eric Antwi-Agyei, who briefed the Ghana News Agency in Accra about the stakeholders meeting, said more than 200 delegates participated in the meeting, including 40 from Ghana and Zambia.

The Ghanaian delegation was led by Mr. Wisdom A. Togobo, the Director of Renewable Energy and Alternative Energy at the Ministry of Power.

Other members were Mr. Kwabena Otu-Danquah, the Director of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the Energy Commission, as well as representatives from UNDP Ghana, Research Institutions and the Private Sector.

Mr. Antwi-Agyei said the purpose of the meeting was to bring all the stakeholders in Government, Research and Private Sector from Ghana to meet their counterparts in China to foster relationships that world support the process of technology transfer.

He said, match-making sessions were held in Beijing for the research organisations and the private sector. This process was to foster partnerships between the countries for the transfer of knowledge through capacity building and technical support for sustainable development.

The delegation also visited several research institutes and companies in Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing, including the Biomass Engineering Centre for China Agriculture University, where cook stoves were demonstrated and tested; Zhongkexin Solar Company  a Solar PV manufacturing company; and Dongfang Electric Cooperation Limited for demonstration of hydro plants.

Others were the Yousheng Pig Industry Professional Cooperatives at Shibantan Xindu District, where waste materials from a 7,000 pig farm is used to generate electricity.

The team also visited the Zhongchuan Wind-CSIC, which is based in Chongqing,

The mission, he said, offered the Ghana delegates the opportunity to exchange knowledge and sign three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese organisations, on solar energy and clean cook stoves.

The China-Ghana-Zambia South-South Cooperation on Renewable Energy Technology Transfer project is expected to help strengthen the enabling environment for the transfer and use of priority renewable energy technologies in Ghana.

It is anticipated to remove market barriers to the adoption of renewable energy technologies as well as to invigorate the Chinese capacity for south-south cooperation on renewable energy.

It also promotes the United Nations sustainable energy for all initiative.

The programme was from October 12 to19, 2016.
The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says recent utterances by President John Mahama, coupled with his actions and inactions over the last 8 years, point to a President who has little understanding of democracy.

According to him, President Mahama's comments on Tuesday, November 1, during a campaign in Abirem, in the Eastern Region, where he warned Ghanaians against continually changing incumbent governments were unfortunate.

"If changing governments was bad, why did he and his party agitate for the changing of the NPP government in 2008? Changing governments was good for him in 2008, but when the time has come for Ghanaians to change governments in 2016, it's now a bad thing",Akufo-Addo said.

"I get sad listening to the President sometimes. It is heart wrenching hearing some of the comments he makes. Does he understand the tenets of democracy? If he understood democracy, he wouldn't be saying some of the things he says," he adds.

Nana Akufo-Addo was addressing residents of Denkyira Obuasi, in the Upper Denkyira West constituency, in the Central Region, on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, when he made these remarks.

The NPP flagbearer explained that it was for a good reason why Ghana's Constitution directed that elections be held every 4 years.

"Why is that so? It's because when you come into office and do a poor job, Ghanaians have the opportunity of removing you from office. We (in the NPP) are coming to change this incompetent government and bring in a competent government."

Again, Nana Akufo-Addo indicated that President Mahama's issue with him begging for the votes of Ghanaians is yet another affirmation of the President's weak understanding of democracy.

"Doesn't the power reside in the hands of Ghanaians? So if I want the opportunity to serve the people, don't I have to beg for it? Let it be known to him that I will not stop begging to Ghanaians for their mandate," he added.

NPP will boost cocoa production

With the mainstay of the people of DenkyiraObuasi being cocoa farmers, Nana Akufo-Addo assured cocoa farmers in the town, and across the country of a massive overhaul of the cocoa sector which will ensure that the dwindling fortunes of the sector, as witnessed over the last 8 years, are reversed.

The NPP flagbearer explained that with Ghana barely managing to produce 740,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in the 2014/2015 crop year, from a peak of 1 million metric tonnes in 2010/2011 which was achieved through programmes initiated by the Kufuor-led NPP administration, the cocoa sector, once a major foreign exchange earner for the country, is in dire need of rescue.

An Akufo-Addo government, he stated, will institute measures including,the payment of significantly higher producer prices of cocoa above the levels which the NDC administration has provided to farmers in the last 8 years; the reintroduction of bonuses scrapped by the NDC government; and the reintroduction and non-politicisation of the mass spraying exercise and the hi-tech programmes.

This, he noted, will increase cocoa production significantly, whilst, at the same time, improving the welfare and livelihoods of cocoa farming communities across the country.

Recounting the NPPs record in the cocoa sector under President Kufuor, Nana Akufo-Addo explained that the mass cocoa spraying exercise and subsidized fertilizer programmes, originally introduced under the Kufuor administration, was solely responsible for doubling cocoa production within 2 crop years, from less than 350,000 metric tonnes in 2001/2002 to nearly 700,000 metric tonnes in 2003/2004, and to the peak of 1 million metric tonnes in 2010/2011.

Through these initiatives, together with the four-fold increase in producer prices under the NPP government, Nana Akufo-Addo noted that cocoa farmers incomes were boosted substantially.

These gains, he stressed, have, however, been quickly eroded within a short period of 8 years by President Mahama and his NDC government.

All the initiatives put in place by President Kufuor have collapsed. Mass spraying exercise has collapsed. Subsidisedfertilisers no longer get to farmers. The producer price of cocoa has reduced in real terms, and cocoa bonuses which the NPP paid whilst we were in office has been scrapped. It is not surprising, therefore, that, today, producing 700,000 metric tonnes of cocoa has become very difficult. We will reverse all of this, he assured.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN
Ghana and La Cote d'Ivoire, on Thursday signed a co-operation agreement to establish a formal basis of co-operation between the two countries on the fight against Cross-Border Child Trafficking and the Worst Form of Child Labour.

The agreement, also aimed at committing the two countries to Common Actions in the agreement towards the fight against Cross-Border Trafficking and the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

The agreement, which was drawn of 30 Protocols, Conventions, Charters and Action Plans on Child Trafficking and Labour, would ensure the protection of the child victim from the time of rescue, sheltering and re-unification.

It is also to ensure the prosecution of perpetrators to serve as deterrents to others, as well as sharing of information including the exposure of the perpetrators from the time they are arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned.

The agreement is also to ensure that Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are on this same page so that the perpetrators of trafficking would have nowhere to hide.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, signed for Ghana, while Mr Moussa Dosso, Minister of Employment and Social Protection in Cote d'Ivoire signed for his country.

In September this year, Ghana's First Lady, Lordina Mahama and her counterpart in Cote d'Ivoire, Dominique Ouattara initiated the effort in Abidjan to end the menace in the two countries.

Mr Iddrisu on behalf of the Ghana Government commended the Cote d'Ivoire counterparts for their commitment to end child trafficking and any forms of worst labour in the two countries.

He said Ghana has demonstrated its willingness to fight the menace through policies and legislations and the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection is currently in Parliament seeking amendment on the Child Act.

He said the government has also given approval for Domestic Workers' Bill to be laid in Parliament and stressed on the need for the two countries to improve the porousness of the borders to combat the menace.

Mr Iddrisu said the signing ceremony is celebrating a shared vision of the two first ladies in fighting child trafficking and commended them for the initiative.

Mr Dosso on his part, said the two countries were committed to implement the co-operation and stressed the need to establish a tight check on the perpetrators to deal with the phenomenon, which he said is dehumanising.

He noted that the agreement would strengthen their partnership to deal with cross-border trafficking.

Mr Dosso said he was convinced that together they could achieve the goal of eliminating child trafficking and child labour in the two countries.

He, therefore, called on civil society organisations, corporate bodies to collaborate with the governments to own the agreement to achieve its goals.

In a speech read for her, Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said the menace is the main challenges of the two countries and expressed the hope that with the involvement of the two First Ladies the efforts would yield positive results.

She said Ghana has strengthen its laws to effectively address cross-border trafficking.

The Ghana Police Service is also training its anti-human trafficking unit to handled trafficking issues adequately.

She trafficking is a distinct violation of the rights of children and must be dealt with to serve as deterrent to others.

Nana Oye Lithur said trafficking in persons are very lucrative business and the perpetrators would do everything to stay in business and urged the security agencies to collaborate with the governments to combat their actions.

She called on neighbouring countries to join the efforts to address the problem on the continent.

Mr Emmanuel Bombade, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, paid tribute to the two First Ladies for their efforts of bringing the initiative to fruition.

He said issues of child trafficking and worst form of labour needed to be addressed as it destroys the children's future.

He said the agreement would lead to repatriation of victims in both countries and called on the two parties to be proactive and engage all levels to monitor and apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to book.

He expressed the hope that the co-operation would stand the test of time to see 'our children live in conducive environment and to develop themselves'.
A report released today by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has documented the alarming situation that those who attack, injure or even murder journalists in Pakistan are rarely held to account and thus remain free.

The report titled Justice delayed AND justice denied to commemorate the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Media that falls of November 2, has documented 47 cases of media personnel being targeted and murdered and another 25 killed since 2002 while pursuing their duties. In addition, 185 media personnel were injured, 88 assaulted, 22 abducted and 42 were detained during this same period.

In 2016, two cameramen were killed while covering the protest by lawyers in a suicide bombing while covering the protest of lawyers at Civil Hospital in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

In addition, sixteen media practitioners were injured while covering events for their media organizations, and one media executive was abducted in Peshawar.

The report also expressed concern that that murder of journalist Shan Dahar has not been re-investigated despite the passage of over six months since the Inspector General of Sindh Police ordered the reopening of the case.

In Pakistan journalists are murdered, killed, detained, abducted, harassed and threatened by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, militants, tribal elders and feudal lords, and even political and religious parties that claim to promote democracy and the rule of law. Media houses and media persons are not only being targeted but threatened, pressurized, intimidated and harassed by the state and non-state elements.

Of the 72 cases of killing of media practitioners since 2002, there have been convictions in only five cases. The report states that lack of interest by the federal and provincial governments as well as employers in pursuing legal cases of violence against journalists is the main reason to the unacceptably high level of impunity. The cases languish in courts for years before they are closed for non-prosecution.

The federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have not done anything beyond paying lip service to promote safety of media professionals and institutions. The draft of much publicized media safety bill at the federal level is not only woefully inadequate but seems to be stuck because of procedural and bureaucratic hurdles

Most of media personnel in Pakistan belong to middle class and do not have the financial or social power to stand up against powerful people who killed or injured their loved ones. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that In Pakistan almost all crimes, including murder, can be withdrawn if the assailants or family members reach a compromise after payment of blood money. PPF has so far documented four cases of murder of journalists where court proceedings were withdrawn because of agreements between the accused and families of the victims.

Threats and violence have forced many journalists to move from these conflict areas and to leave the profession or to resort to self-censorship, particularly in conflict areas. Thus, new reports that are published or broadcast lack credibility and do not inform the public in an objective manner

The report recommends that criminal cases should not only be registered but should also be properly investigated and prosecuted against the perpetrators of violence against media. It also recommends special prosecutors on violence against media should be established at federal and provincial level to investigate cases of violence against media. It called on the media institutions to take the lead in ensuring safety of media practitioners by ensuring legal follow up of cases of crimes against media professionals.
The Supreme Court will today hear the suit filed by Ghana's Electoral Commission (EC) challenging a high court decision which overturned the ECs disqualification of the Flagbearer of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) Dr. Papa Kwesi Ndoum.

The hearing follows the Supreme Court's granting of the ECs request for an early date for the hearing of the case on Wednesday.

The EC went to the Supreme to seek clarity following the High Courts ruling that quashed its decision to disqualify the PPP's presidential candidate.

Background

The EC rejected Dr. Nduom's nomination claiming the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94 [the law regulating the conduct of the 2016 elections].

The commission said one of his subscribers endorsed the form with different signatures in both portions of the nomination form, raising questions as to the legitimacy of one or both signatures.

But lawyers of the PPP argued that the EC did not give them the opportunity to correct the errors on the nomination forms.

Court to rule on APC case today

Meanwhile an Accra High Court will today deliver its judgment in the case where the All People's Congress (APC) is challenging the disqualification of its Flagbearer, Hassan Ayariga.

The APC went to the court after the EC disqualified their Flagbearer for failing to meet all the criteria required to contest the presidential elections.

The party as part of their 17 reliefs to the court is seeking an order to compel the EC to include their candidate as part of presidential candidates on the ballot sheet come December 7.

Similar suits by the National Democratic Party (NDP) and People's National Convention will also be heard today at the High Court.



By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Accra Regional Police Command has intercepted some weapons and live ammunition from the hideout of a 43-year-old notorious armed robber.

Charles Donkor, popularly known as Killer was arrested upon a tip-off near Pokuase in the Greater Accra Region on Tuesday, November 1.

Police say the weapons retrieved include an AK47, an SMG rifle, two AK 47 magazines, two G3 magazines, forty-three G3 empty shells, 188 rounds of G3 ammunitions, and 77 rounds of AK 47 ammunitions. Thirteen cutlasses, three face masks, two hammers and screwdrivers, were also found.

Charles Donkor

Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Timothy Yosa Bonga, said Charles Donkor is suspected to have been dealing in illegal weapons.

He is a hardened armed robber, a land guard, a killer and a murderer, he said.

In October 2013, Charles was arrested for illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. Police seized one revolver pistol, one pump action gun, and 29 rounds of live ammunition in that operation.

He was tried in a law court and sentenced to a fine for possessing arms without authority, for that crime, but he did not change from his nefarious activities until he was arrested again on the 2nd of November 2016, ACP Bonga said.

ACP Bonga said the recent arrest of Charles Donkor is part of a police clampdown on crime ahead of the December polls.

As we prepare for the polls, the police will do anything possible to maintain the peace, before, during and after the elections, he said.

He gave the assurance that police will smoke out persons in possession of illicit arms, and with ill-motives from the system to preserve the peace in the country.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected]
Over 3,500 security officers to police voting in Brong-AhafoOver 3,500 security officers would be deployed across polling stations in the 29 constituencies in Brong-Ahafo Region on voting day to ensure adequate security protection for everyone.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Richard Boateng, the Regional Police Legal Officer, said there would also be a stand-by team to swiftly respond to any threat to the peaceful conduct of the polls.

He said the Police was aware of the critical nature of the December 7 election and would not be overtaken by events. He said they were more than prepared to deal decisively with any explosive situation.

He indicated that strong measures had been put in place to stop trouble makers from having their way.

There are 525 hot spots in the region but he gave the assurance that all was going to be smooth and calm.

DSP Boateng was speaking at a two-day training workshop held in Abesim, near Sunyani, for reporters and stringers of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in five regions  Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Northern, Upper East and Upper West.

It is part of the effort to build their capacity to effectively cover the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The workshop comes under the GNA Tracks Election 2016 Project, funded by GOIL, the state oil company and CIMG 2015 Petroleum Company of the year.

The project seeks to sensitize the electorate on the various issues raised by political parties, the elections management body and other governance institutions.

It aims at ensuring gender and social inclusion in national politics and to provide voice for the youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the broader spectrum of the society, and to contribute to the achievement of peaceful polls.

Another objective of the project is to create a platform to dissect the manifestoes of all political parties and provide in-depth analysis of each thematic area to the electorate to enable them to make an informed judgment.

DSP Boateng said the Election Task Force was deepening its conversation with all key actors to prevent any missteps.

He urged the media to be circumspect in their reportage and make sure that they crosschecked any information with the appropriate authorities to keep the nation calm.


After being gripped in unrest for about 120 days, the situation in Kashmir is gradually improving.

By Jitendra Bahadur Singh: After 120 days of unrest in the Valley, the situation is now improving day by day.

As per police records, compared to 65 violent incidents per day in the first week post Burhan Wani's killing, the violent incidents stood at 6 per day this week.

Security agencies assessment says that Kashmiri citizens are not following the 'Calenders' of Hurriyat anymore and have started boycotting Hurriyat calls.

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Sources in security agencies say that Pakistan was funding this unrest in the Valley and steps have been taken to tighten such funding.

Government agencies assess that close to Rs 100 crore were pumped into the Valley via Hawala to fuel unrest in the Valley post the killing of Burhan Wani.

Agencies also said that 120 government buildings were attacked since July 8th, 65 of the buildings were set ablaze while 55 of the buildings were partially damaged. This also includes more than 30 schools that were set ablaze.

Agencies believe that schools are begin targeted intentionally so that school going children are deprived of basic education.

Also read:

After 30 schools, oldest Valley college becomes arson target in Srinagar

What went wrong in Kashmir and how to fix it

Worried over attack on schools, J-K Governor meets Home Minister Rajnath Singh





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Deputy Communications Minister, Ato Sarpong, has hinted of governments plans to distribute about a million free digital boxes to about 4.8 million households with television sets in the country.

The beneficiary communities according to the Minister, largely represent the under-served households in the country, who cannot afford digital boxes to catch up with the nationwide digital migration project.

Mr. Ato Sarpong revealed that, government has already approved 82 million dollars for infrastructure, and 25 million dollars for the procurement of the digital boxes.

The Deputy Minister was addressing the chiefs and people of Brewuniase in the Nkwanta South District as part of a campaign tour by the Chief of staff, Julius Debrah, in the Volta region.

Responding to concerns raised by the Omanhene of Ntrubo Traditional Area over challenges they face accessing telecommunication services, the Deputy Minister said his ministry in collaboration with MTN, GIFEC and Ericsson, has identified 125 districts in the country which are to benefit from telecommunications network extension in the latter part of the year.

The network extension project would commence early next year.

On his part, the Chief Staff assured the people of governments commitment to improving the lives of the people.



By: King Norbert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital have refused to return to work although government has smade available to the facility some drugs and some consumables, and an amount of money, with a promise to do more.

The spokesperson for the aggrieved nurses, Philip Frimpong Okyere, told Richard Dela Sky on Eyewitness News that they will only resume duty if government provides them with the needed logistics and essential medication.

We told them, the National Labbour Commission ((NLC) that, we will actually go back to work when we see those things on the table. They have brought some of the medication but not all; and then the logistics are yet to come. So we have told them in clear terms that we are waiting, they should bring the logistics because we cannot administer medication and dress somebody's wound without gloves. So our argument is very simple; just give us the material so that we go back to the workplace, in the absence of those things we maintain our stand, we are not going there, he added.

Nurses at the facility have been on strike since Monday, over the poor working conditions they are forced to work under.

However, the Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, told Citi News on Thursday that, government has given some GHc300,000 and drugs worth GHc120,000 to the hospital to cushion them in the meantime.

This is a very insiginificant amount considering that the facility needs several millions of cedis to run effectively and pay its debt.

Mr. Segbefia has assured of additional provisions by the end of the week.

We have made some funding available with more to follow by the end of the week, we've also made pharmaceuticals available with more to follow and we are on top of the issue currently. We gave a cheque GHc300, 000 yesterday but we have gone out ourselves and bought drugs to the tune of about GHc120, 000.

We've also given some foodstuffs because even though people donated food there was a lack of protein so we were able to give a one month consignment of frozen fish which was collected first thing yesterday morning, so both on the food side, the pharmaceuticals side and the consumable which we are dealing with today, all things should be back to normal to cover them till at least the budget is read again till February.

But the nurses say they will only go back to work when the logistics are provided.

We have stated and maintained that, the work place poses a danger to our lives in the sense that; in the absence of those logistics, in the absence those essential emergency medication, we cannot manage aggression, we can't manage the mental patients, if we do it, it means that we should accept the risk of infection and personal injury that will come as a result of the aggressiveness, Okyere added.

Return to work

The National Labour Commission (NLC) in their usual posture, on Wednesday ordered the nurses to return to work, and asked government to provide the facility the needed logistics and funds.

I'am unaware of strike by Accra Psychiatric Hospital nurses

President John Dramani Mahama had earlier stated that, although he is unaware about the recent strike, he is committed to resolve the issues to improve mental health delivery.

The Hospital has in recent times been battling with a number of challenges that compelled it to among other things close its Out Patient Department (OPD) few weeks ago. 

By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Ghana will today mark the 32nd edition of the National Farmers' Day by rewarding farmers who have been outstanding in their respective fields.

In all, some 90 farmers will be honoured for their immense contribution towards the development of the agricultural sector.

The event will be taking place at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Meanwhile the Flagbearer of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet will embark on a float with some farmers in the Greater Accra Region as part of activities to mark the celebration.

The party's Communications Director, Issifu Kadir Abdul Rauf, told Citi News the CPPs decision to participate in the programme is the partys special way of honouring the country's farmers.

He further stated that the party will use the importance of the day to explain its agricultural policy to farmers.

The National Farmers Day celebration was established by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to honour the nation's hard working farmers.

On the first Friday of every December, farmers who excel in their respect fields are awarded with certificates and other prizes.

The programme of activities usually planned for the celebration include:

A National Farmers Forum at which the Award Winners are expected to interact with policy makers and experts on some technological advances in the agricultural sector and also make their views known.

Prizes are awarded to deserving farmers and fishers in order of best practices and outputs.



By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Ghana's Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, has dropped a hint that she might stop the declaration of the presidential election results if they (results) are too close and call for a recount.

In a rather strange move, Mrs Osei said in order to avoid a declaration of a wrong person as the winner of the election, the commission would do a recount (if the results are close).

A recount could only be at the request of an aggrieved party in the election but not by the EC.

Our elections in Ghana tend to be very close. If it is so close, it might be prudent to stop, inform everyone, do a total recount and be sure of what we are announcing finally, the EC boss said during an interview with the BBC in London.

The EC chairperson is on an official visit to the United Kingdom where she paid a visit to the Commonwealth Secretariat. She also indicated that the commission would avoid announcing the presidential results, if results from all the 29,000 polling stations have not been received.

Ghana goes to the polls to elect a president and new parliamentarians on December 7, 2016 in what has been described as a close contest in history.

The results for the presidential poll are expected to be declared within a maximum of 74 hours, Charlotte Osei said.

The declaration could only be pushed beyond 72 hours if the results appear too close between the leading candidates.

Mrs Osei rejected the perception that the commission, especially she herself, can be influenced to change the election results.

It is impossible for the EC to be influenced, she stated.

Lawsuits

Despite the plethora of law suits against the commission occasioned by the disqualification of presidential aspirants, she insists the elections date remains December 7. We will not allow law suits to subvert the process and so we are going to get a definitive ruling from the Supreme Court likely this week; at the latest, early next week. But in the meantime, we have started the process of printing the parliamentary ballot papers to make up some of the time and so we are in a good place to meet the December 7 date, she assured.

Mrs Osei explained that the Supreme Court was aware of the timelines and it was for that reason that the commission requested for the court to set an early date for the case.

She stressed, What the commission did was to make an application to the Supreme Court. That is the apex court in Ghana and there is finality to what the Supreme Court says and the lower courts are bound by the decision of the Supreme Court.

Because that case devolved heavily on the meaning of the nomination period, once the court speaks to that, and then everyone knows what the actual nomination period is and whether the commission can legally permit corrections now. Now, if you don't do what we've done, you risk a multiplicity of high court suits.

Mrs Osei claimed, In fact, we've told the Supreme Court what the timelines are and how much time we need with the printers to print the presidential ballotsAnd so we are in a good place to meet the December date.

Mrs Osei said what was left for the commission was to make available to the political parties the list of early voters, proxy voters, transfer list and all other things that go with the register.

Bloated Printing Contract

The EC boss also dismissed report suggesting that the printing of some election materials were awarded to a dissolved printing firm in the United Kingdom at over-bloated costs.

According to her, the contract for the printing of the election materials was awarded to a Ghanaian-based company  Aero Vote Limited  after it had met all the requirements.

Media reports suggested that the EC had awarded an $8 million contract to a liquidated printing firm in the UK.

However, the EC Chairperson said the firm contracted has always printed election materials for the commission.

She explained that Aero Vote Limited has relocated to Ghana and so it's even to the advantage of the commission since it would not have to pay for freight charges and risk the security of the materials while being shipped into the country.

We have awarded the contract for the printing of some of the election forms to a company that has always printed it previously for us and has now relocated to Ghana which makes their pricing better for us and which means that this time we don't have to bear the high freight charges and also the time for shipping because it is high-level security, she said.

According to her, the right procurement process was applied in the awarding of the contract and that Aero Vote satisfied all the requirements.

A DAILY GUIDE Report
The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has hit back at President John Mahama, saying that the latter has a poor understanding of the national constitution.

According to the NPP leader, if Mr Mahama had bothered to read the Constitution, he would have apprised himself of the fact that the President of the Republic does not have the power to destool a chief.

Nana Akufo-Addo was responding to a comment made by President Mahama while campaigning in Suhum in the Eastern Region that Nananom, if he (Akufo-Addo) becomes president and you criticize him, he will destool you.

This remark by the president, according to the NPP flag bearer, points to the fact that he (president) has no campaign message, and has therefore, resorted to the politics of scaremongering and untruths in his bid for re-election.

Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking yesterday at the Assin Central Constituency on the last day of his three-day campaign tour of the Central Region.

Does our president understand the laws governing our country? Has he bothered to read our Constitution? No president has the power to destool a chief. Ghana has gone past the era where a sitting president could destool a chief. Judicial Committees of Traditional Councils are the only ones who can destool a chief, and not a president, the NPP standard bearer underscored.

According to Nana Addo, as far back as the 1960s, his father, then Chief Justice, Edward Akufo-Addo, as Chair of the 1969 Constitutional Commission, enshrined in that Constitution that 'The institution of Chieftaincy is guaranteed under the Constitution,' a provision which subsequent constitutions have incorporated.

This, the NPP leader explained, is the reason why chiefs are debarred from engaging in partisan politics, and at the same time, governments barred from meddling in chieftaincy affairs.

Thus, as president, you should be abreast with the Constitution of the Republic, and have it at your fingertips. President Mahama can't even read and understand the Constitution. He just gets up and makes unfortunate comments, Nana fumed.

Nana Akufo-Addo explained, I have so much respect for the chieftaincy institution. My ancestry, including my late grandfather, the Okyenhene, Nana Ofori Atta I and my own mother, who became the queen mother of Kyebi, means I have respect for the institution. I am not the one coming to disrespect them.

The NPP flag bearer continued, He (President Mahama) says when I become president, I am going to drive away Muslims resident in Zongos, amongst other things. He will never say to the people what his vision for them is or his record. Even at the launch of the NDC manifesto, all he (President Mahama) did was to talk about me. He had to be prompted before remembering that he was to talk about the contents of his manifesto.

Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his belief that recent utterances by President Mahama, coupled with his actions and inactions over the last eight years, point to a president who appears to have little understanding of democracy.

The NPP standard bearer noted that the comment by President Mahama to the effect that continually changing governments for new ones stall development is another case in point.

If changing governments was bad, why did he and his party agitate for the changing of the NPP government in 2008, which was doing much better than the current NDC government? Changing government was good for him in 2008, but when the time has come for Ghanaians to change him in 2016, its now a bad thing, Akufo-Addo charged.

Nana Addo explained that it was for good reason that Ghanas Constitution directs that elections be held every four years, affording the electorate the opportunity to review the record of the incumbent and if dissatisfied, bring in a government that will do a job for the wellbeing of the citizenry.
Accra, Ghana, October 20, 2016  Volunteers from ATC Ghana arrived at the Rangoon Camp Junior High School (JHS) for their 2nd Mini CSR initiative for 2016 on 23rd September. This was a special occasion as this is ATC Ghanas 5th Anniversary and employees generously made voluntary cash donation which was used to purchase story books for the school in addition to the Companys contributions of science equipments and learning materials.

ATC Ghana presented the donation, in collaboration with The Exploratory, a Ghana-based NGO that aims to make science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, also known as STEM, more relevant, joyful, collaborative and equitable to girls. By this collaborative effort, both organizations anticipate that the students at Rangoon Camp JHS will experience their science lessons in a completely new way this school year and beyond.

Mr. Alfred Odamey, Head teacher of Rangoon Camp JHS welcomed the volunteers from ATC Ghana and expressed delight about the program. Mrs Sheila Adjin-Tettey ATC Ghanas Project Manager for this CSR programme formally introduced the students to ATCs business and encouraged them to study hard and actively participate in the activities for the day.

Volunteers took the students through reading and communication skills clinic, presentation of information using Microsoft PowerPoint and a discussion on social media and its effects on education.

We are happy to complement the exciting and commendable work of The Exploratory by giving students and teachers the learning materials and resources to engage students with STEM in a practical way, said Letitia Asiedu-Attafuah, Head of Human Resources at ATC Ghana. ATC takes great pride in our various philanthropic initiatives which are led by our valued employees and this demonstrates our commitment to sustainable initiatives in all our communities.

The Rangoon Camp Schools is a government school situated amongst the well-resourced private schools in the Cantonment area.

This August, four teachers from the Rangoon Camp JHS and Primary Schools joined over 50 teachers from schools in Accra, Pokuase, Nsawam and Berekuso, where The Exploratorys clubs are held, on a 3-day training.

I learnt about electronics, about building anatomical models of the body with simple materials, and how to support the girl-child in learning, said Mrs. Diana Tetteh, a science teacher at the Rangoon Camp JHS. It was fun and educative. Thats the spirit that I now want to bring to my students.

ATCs global philanthropic signature program, introduced in 2011, focuses on sponsoring initiatives that improve education through technology. Around the globe, ATC employees are leading projects dedicated to furthering this initiative through partnerships with local schools and organizations.

We already have a relationship with the ATC Ghana, where our students visited their offices for a career day in July 2015, said Mr. Odamey. The Exploratory brings expertise and inspiration to our teachers and students. We look forward to this partnership developing and to creating a well-resourced STEM lab, so even more students can benefit.

Together, we can nurture the scientists, engineers and technologists of tomorrow that are necessary for Ghanas development, Mr. Odamey continued.

About The Exploratory

The Exploratory is an NGO based in Ghana, with a support team in the United States. The mission of The Exploratory disrupts rote learning by making science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) more relevant, joyful, collaborative, and equitable. The organization provides teacher training, provides learning resources and facilitates clubs, field trips and role model visits for students to promote practical learning and gender equity. In the 2016-2017 school year, The Exploratory will inspire over 600 students in 13 schools, in Accra, Berekuso, Pokuase and Nsawam, through 60 teachers in upper primary and JHS.

For more information, see the-exploratory.org, or contact [email protected]

About American Tower

American Tower is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of wireless and broadcast communication real estate. Our global portfolio includes approximately 70,000 owned or managed sites and is experiencing steady growth. In addition to leasing space on towers, we provide customized collocation solutions through our in-building systems, outdoor distributed antenna systems and other right-of-way options, managed rooftops and services that speed network deployment. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, American Tower has operations across the United States and in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Uganda.
It has been said over and over that Things happened for a reason(s). There is an element of truth to this old saying. Listening closely and analyzing the utterances, actions, or inactions of the current electoral commissioner, there is no doubt Ms. Charlotte Osei was appointed to that high-tension position for a special reason(s): And that is to help break down all the barriers that may be standing in the way of her appointers reelection bid come December 2016.

Ghanaians may recall the rush or the relatively hasty circumstances under which President Mahama selected Ms. Charlotte Osei to succeed then retiring incumbent Mr. Afari-Gyan. By now all those Ghanaians who might have thought President Mahama was crazy to nominate a neophyte to occupy one of the most politically-sensitive positions in Ghana, must have come to realize the shrewd political calculus behind Mr. Mahamas timing and choice of Ms. Osei. The president definitely knew ahead of time what the long-term returns on his investment in the present Electoral Commissioner would be.

Certainly, President Mahama conducted thorough background inquiries, including an in-depth personal psychology, of his would-be electoral commissioner. The psychological analysis might have involved anger management and stress test to get a fair idea of how Ms. Osei would handle sustained political pressures and hostile criticisms from the opposition and the media. Obviously, Mr. Mahama had to be fully convinced that the person he was selecting to become electoral commissioner wouldnt falter under the potential barrage of criticisms from all angles in Ghanaian political morass. With this in mind, and most likely having passed the litmus test of stress endurance and puppetry IQ test, Ms. Charlotte Osei was eventually presented to Ghanaians as the next EC. From this likely scenario, what else can Ghanaians expect from Madam Charlotte Osei except a show of insensitivity and unresponsiveness, while simultaneously fulfilling her undercover role as a minion of her overlord(s)?

It is very disturbing and dangerous path she seems to be pursuing, unfortunately, but Ghanaians have to understand Ms. Charlotte Oseis untenable plight. She has to pay back the favor or do whatever she can, consciously or subconsciously, to appease her appointing agent(s) for the high office entrusted in her care. Armed with this knowledge, she thinks she does not need to respond to every criticism or political red meat thrown at her direction. Neither does she appear to harbor any fierce sense of urgency to ensure that she updates Ghanaians, at least, once a week about the Commissions activities for transparency purpose.

Often, this posture of not responding in timely manner has understandably led many of her critics to view her as arrogant. But this Electoral Commissioner is not arrogant; rather, she is clueless of the massive complexity of the job given her. If Ms. Charlotte Osei is not clueless and puppet, her performance to date would have reflected competence, impartiality, transparency, and sensitivity to some of the legitimate concerns raised by almost all the opposition parties. From her actions and inactions, it is clear to any level-headed student of advanced political science that Ms. Osei may not have a deep grasp of the constitutional imperatives of the job of Ghanas EC. Hence, she often tries to stay silent without acting or saying anything that may have potential to incur the wrath of whoever appointed her. Do some of you get the mental picture here?

Yes, President Mahama had to pick someone who was clueless or vastly inexperienced to the intricacies of Ghanas body politic, so the chances of remote-controlling that person like a puppet becomes great. For example, there is no way Mr. Mahama would have selected fair-minded and knowledgeable person like Mr. Martin Amidu, the former Attorney General of Ghana to be the Electoral Commissioner. Unlike Ms. Charlotte Osei, Mr. Amidu is vastly experienced, highly qualified, and more importantly, an independent thinkerthe most essential quality needed in every credible EC, worldwide.

Ms. Oseis short reign is replete with lawsuits and many other legal tangos all because of her inexperience and tacit bias. Lets take a quick look at the bizarre and incompetent ways in which the Electoral Commissioner used to disqualify a bunch of the political parties from contesting the upcoming general elections in December. She keeps talking about fairness and the fact that she has no way of rigging elections in President Mahamas favor. However, what she is failing to tell Ghanaians is that she has been putting a lot of electoral barriers in the paths of most of the opposition parties save the NDC.

As Mr. Martin Amidu accurately observed in his thought-provoking statement: the Commissioner had no legal authority to invalidate the nomination of an aspiring candidate for president without first giving the candidate the opportunity to alter or amend his or her improperly completed nomination forms [] I have already said elsewhere that this Commissioner [Ms. Charlotte Osei] was appointed with a rigging agenda. Let us as citizens defend the Constitution by watching her every step during this election (see: myjoyonline.com). Hopefully, one day in the not-too-distant future Ghanaians will get an Electoral Commissioner in the caliber of Mr. Martin Amidu, who I consider to be one of the few honest and preeminent independent-thinking Ghanaian public officials in this century!

The writer is based in the United States. He can be reached at: [email protected]
The 5th UNWTO City Tourism Summit in Luxor, Egypt gathered around 400 experts from 40 countries to discuss the theme Cities: Local culture for a global traveler. The event, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, concluded on the importance of ensuring urban planning and city tourism development are fully coordinated. Authenticity, local culture, the engagement of local communities and the use of technology were pointed out as key success factors for city tourism.

Participants discussed city tourism trends including new business models, such as the so-called sharing economy, the importance of millennials, emerging niche markets, how to build authentic cultural experiences and engage local communities, safety and security, and congestion management.

The Minister of Antiquities of Egypt, Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Tourism Mohamed Yehia Rashed, Governor of Luxor Mohamed Sayed Badr, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Organizations of Egypt, Hisham Badr, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai and the President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), David Scowsill, addressed the meeting.

Holding this event in Luxor shows how Egypt and its people are committed to tourism and is a very positive sign that Egypt will recover to be the leading tourism destination it has historically been, said Minister Rashed.

UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai expressed the Organizations full confidence in Egypts tourism recovery, recalling that holding such an important meeting in Luxor displays the trust of the international tourism community in the destination.

The High-Level Panel of the Summit, moderated by BBC Travel Show presenter Rajan Datar, stressed the importance of placing tourism high in the urban agenda and creating mechanisms of coordination and joint planning. Issues of congestion management, safety and security, and engagement with host communities were also discussed.

We should never fear the growth of the tourism sector; it is the way we manage it that makes the difference, said Mr. Rifai during the panel. He stressed that a city that does not serve its citizens will not serve its visitors, thus the importance of engaging local communities and tourists.

Participants also stressed the need to maximize the resources generated by tourism for heritage preservation and renovation, the roles of gastronomy and creative culture in attracting and engaging tourists; and how the 270 million young travelers of today demand new authentic products and connectivity twenty-four seven.

The closing keynote was delivered by Egyptian archaeologist Mr. Zahi Hawass, who shared his exemplary experience.

During the Summit, UNWTO presented its City Tourism Network Action Plan as well as a new initiative  Mayors for Tourism  that will see mayors and cities decision-makers collaborate on tourism issues.

The 6th UNWTO Global Summit on City Tourism will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December 2017.
Four years ago, a business consultant from Project Peanut Butter (PPB) walked into my Department of Commerce office in Arlington, Virginia and showed me a 60 Minutes news clip called Plumpynut: The Miracle Food. It described a ready-to-use therapeutic formula (RUTF) that treats a malnourished child in a number of weeks, and is a much more accessible and inexpensive substitute than going to a hospital, often too far away for many living in rural Africa. This, I thought, could easily be as important commercially and socially as powdered milk was in the 1970s. First introduced to African mothers through relief groups, but now powdered milk is part of everyday African family life, on the grocery shelf, next to bread, sugar and cooking oil.

Can you help me find local partners in Ghana, so we can start up RUTF production there? he asked, at the conclusion of the video. PPB had just forged a relationship with the Hershey Company, who would fund a factory, but still needed help finding local partners. The plan was to find palm oil producers, to provide local ingredient, and groups of buyers to distribute the finished product. Within six weeks, we had PPB on the ground in Ghana meeting with palm oil producers and non-profit organizations, who wanted to distribute RUTF for their relief programs.

After factory renovations, local business registrations, securing local utilities and setting up quality control systems, the result today is a full production factory in Kumasi, Ghana, employing 20 Ghanaians and producing 65,000 sachets daily. And, after passing a joint United Nations-Medecins Sans Frontieres quality inspection last year, they are qualified to produce RUTF for sale to U.N. agencies. The peanuts and equipment are American, palm oil and processing are Ghanaian and distribution is non-profit relief and Ghanaian Government.



Just the beginning, says partner, Hershey Company

End of story? No, just the beginning, says Hershey Company, maker of the world famous Hershey Chocolate Bar. Using the same factory, Hershey has added production of a second nutritional product called ViVi, a reduced version of RUTF, aimed at providing a peanut-based supplement for Ghanaian school lunch programs. After just one year of production, Hersheys pilot program provides ViVi to 50,000 Ghanaian students EVERY DAY, bares all the expenses, and has plans to continue and grow. Their full-growth market projection is 1.3 million students, but it will be a great deal higher than that if ViVi goes the way of powdered milk!

Vivis trajectory into mainstream distribution will hinge on Hersheys present and final phase of their business model: reducing costs and increasing production through buying more local Ghanaian groundnuts. Along with USAID, Hershey Company is training Ghanaian farmers to grow safe groundnuts, specifically for ViVi production, and purchasing necessary U.S. roasting equipment. The result will be a significant cost-reduction in production, mainstream distribution, increased student distribution (paid from mainstream distribution revenue), a new roasting factory and a system of collecting groundnuts from approximately 7,500 Ghanaian farmers. Thats right, while Hershey champions a new commercial market, providing nutritional benefits to thousands of students, it also creates a supply chain of 7,500 Ghanaian farms, thus insuring its future and investing in Ghanas.

This collaborative Hershey model could be the future for U.S. companies trying to gain market share in Africa, while also investing in the future of the economy theyre accessing. Speaking on Hershey Companys Africa strategy, their Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Jeff King, says, ViVi is a Hershey investment and comittment towards nourishing kids, providing Ghanian jobs and improving farmer income.

End of story.

By William Fanjoy, Acting Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy, Accra, Ghana

Learn more about the Peanut Butter Project and its partnership with Hershey at projectpeanutbutter.org/.

Learn more about the U.S. Commercial Service at export.gov/pennsylvania.
The United Nations today (November 2, 2016) paid tribute to the courage of all media personnel who put their lives on the line for the sake of truth.

In this vein, the world body has called for immediate action to secure justice in cases where journalists are attacked, harassed or killed.

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in his message at the UN headquarters in New York today to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists that "attacks on journalists violate the human rights of individuals and undermine freedom of information and expression across societies".

He therefore expressed concern that the impunity, which makes this terrible situation worse, had become rampant.

To buttress his point, the Secretary General said that out of the 827 documented killings of journalists over the past decade, the information at hand showed that only eight percent of perpetrators were held to account.

Moving forward, he called for concrete actions to ensure that all media personnel are guaranteed the space they need to operate free from any form of harassment or intimidation, saying that "we will strengthen public access to information, which is key to the Sustainable Development Goals. Informed participation in decision-making by all advances sustainable development, building resilient, stable and just societies".

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Secretary General said was also mobilizing all partners to implement the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. Success hinges on cooperation to create a culture of freedom of expression, where those who restrict the work of journalists are sanctioned and all who attack them are punished.

He urged all countries to observe this Day, especially where journalists are under threat, adding that "Let us resolve to do all we can to contribute to a safer environment for journalists and a freer society for all".

Commemorative activities are being held in a variety of places around the world to mark the Day.
In an interview with Aaj Tak Delhi CM has accused 'some BJP leaders' of saying 'give Rs 20-40 to jawans, they would withdraw their protest' while slamming the Modi government over OROP.

By India Today Web Desk: In an exclusive interview with Aaj Tak, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal mounted attack on the Modi government holding it responsible for the death of ex-soldier Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide on Wednesday.

Kejriwal alleged that the BJP had insulted the Indian Army. He claimed, "Some BJP leaders were saying that if you give Rs 20-40 to army personnel, they will withdraw their protest."

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In the same interview, Kejriwal likened BJP president Amit Shah to infamous British military officer Colonel Dyer, who ordered to open fire on a peaceful gathering at Jalianwallah Bagh in Punjab. He attributed this comparison to the people of Gujarat.

This is not the first time that Kejriwal has made unsubstantiated allegations and named a fellow politician. Kejriwal's wisdom has a weird world of insinuating statements.

Let's have a look at some of the statements of Kejriwal that made wrong noises.

'MODI CAN GET ME KILLED'



In July this year, Aam Aadmi Party released a video message of Arvind Kejriwal. He claimed in the video that 'PM Modi is so frustrated, he can get me killed'.

WATCH:

DEMANDS PROOF OF SURGICAL STRIKES

Soon after the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army in PoK, Kejriwal again released a video message asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to furnish proof of the cross-LoC operation.

Kejriwal said, "I am convinced that strikes took place. But international media publishing Pakistan's propaganda that no strike took place. Let's expose Pakistan's propaganda."

WATCH:

'JUNG IS BJP AGENT'

Kejriwal's tussle with Delhi Lieutenant Governor is another subject, on which the Delhi CM was found making wrong noises at times. Once Kejriwal called him a BJP agent, who refuses to give appointment to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

He said, "If the 'chowkidar' of (BJP president) Amit Shah calls him (LG), he will crawl and go," adding, "The LG house has become another BJP headquarter. He is acting like a poll agent of BJP."



SHEILA DIKSHIT AND DELHI CM

After forming Aam Aadmi Party just ahead of 2013-assembly elections, Kejriwal held the then CM Sheila Dikshit responsible for every incident of rape in the national capital.



Sheila Dikshit's response after each rape - "what can I do? Delhi police not in my control." Do we want such a helpless CM? Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 27, 2013

But, after becoming the CM himself, Kejriwal changed the goalpost.



Repeated rape of minors is shameful and worrying. Delhi police has completely failed to provide safety. What are PM n his LG doing? Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 17, 2015

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ROASTED FOR WOMEN'S DAY MESSAGE

Kejriwal again found himself on the wrong foot when he gave chief ministerial message on the women's day in 2015.

He said, "When I used to fight against the corrupt system, my wife ran the house and my mother supported me".

The social media went berserk trolling the Delhi CM for stereotyping women. Activist Kavitha Krishnan wrote in a Facebook post, "This sounds ominously like 'Men will lead, women will run the house and support men who lead'. Is it because he sees this as the only fit role for women that he has no women in his Cabinet and his party's PAC?"

'RAHUL GANDHI IS A CHILD'

It is not only that Kejriwal had targeted the BJP leaders with his barb. Responding to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's remark on slum demolition drive in Delhi, Kejriwal called him a 'child'.

Rahul Gandhi had objected to AAP staging a protest on the issue saying, "Why is AAP doing dharna? They are in power in Delhi."

Kejriwal's response came on twitter: "Rahul Gandhi is still a child. His party probably did not tell him that Railway comes under the central government, and not under the Government of Delhi."

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READ: BJP lying on OROP, stabbing army in the back: Arvind Kejriwal to India Today

LIKENS HIMSELF TO LORD RAMA

Just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Kejriwal likened himself to Lord Rama while announcing his candidature from Varanasi against Narendra Modi.

He said, "It requires guts to leave the chair of chief minister. I will stay here (Varanasi) among people and will continue to torment you (BJP). Lord Rama left for vanvaas (forest) on his mother's order despite popular support."

WATCH:



Kejriwal's unmindful statements have landed him in trouble on couple of occasions. He had to tender an unconditional apology to union minister Nitin Gadkari for wrongly accusing him in a case of corruption.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has filed a defamation case against Kejriwal. A Delhi court is hearing the case and the high court has quashed Kejriwal's plea to stop the proceedings.



WATCH: Arvind Kejriwal's interview





--- ENDS ---
The Atebubu-Amantin constituency is one of the constituencies in the Brong-Ahafo region where many eyes are on. The constituency prior to the 2016 elections preparation has had enough publication on both radio and the print media from national and local level for various reasons. There seems to be relatively calm on the air waves as far as politicking is concerned because, people do not hear daily about Atebubu for about a month now. The two main political parties have chosen two gentlemen to battle it out and represent the constituents in parliament. Whoever emerges victorious in this years elections as Member of Parliament will however concede that the road has been rough considering the brouhaha that characterize the elections in the constituency.

The NDC parliamentary candidate Hon Sanja Nanja is the incumbent Member of Parliament seeking for a second term in the constituency. In fact he has a lot of clouds and followers around him. He is a very hard working personality, having been a former constituency secretary, a former DCE and now a member of parliament. During his turner as DCE, he really worked hard and brought unprecedented development to the district and that has enviably earned him a lot of respect. He also possessed a wealth of experience and political mobilization skills in the constituency and no wonder his opponents see him as a hard nut to crack

Sanjas maturity in politics as a grassroots man has also earned him so many accolades like man of the grassroot, the political messiah, the matuna matata of the constituency. His respect for the people and the elderly has also earned him a very huge support base from the settlers in the constituency and even the indigenes.

The NPP parliamentary candidate, Hon Kofi Amoakohene on the other hand, enviable is also a fine gentleman. Indeed he also possessed a great deal of respect and skills in erection of billboards, calm and silent in his mobility in the constituency. He is known by his followers as a businessman in Accra but cannot show any of his businesses in Atebubu unlike his contender. Amoakohene is believed to be the NPP choice and a new hope for the elephant family in the constituency after taking from a well experience candidate who lost to Sanja Nanja in 2012 Hon Cassious Opoku a former DCE under the Kuffour regime. Though an indigene of Atebubu, he never minded investing in his own people unlike his close contender who has spent all his life and investments in the district.

Amoakoehne is seen to be behind some of the impasse between the MP and the queen mother of Atebubu because he is an indigene of Atebubu but Sanja is seen to be a settler even though he (Sanja Nanja) also tout himself as a third generation native. In fact Amoakohene wants to stand on the shoulders of some traditional leaders who are going round from one village to the other intimidating the northern with curses because of their land to win the seat.

His constituency campaign launch was one many political pundits analyzed to be one of the poorly organized one in recent times because both the national and the regional executives refuse to show up to support him only to the rescue of a popular  kumawood actor known as agya koo who came and introduced him to the electorates.

Comparing the two candidates, it will not be a surprised for Hon. Sanja Nanja to once again emerge as the victor on 7th December 2016 with a wider margin as compared to 2012.

Sanja Nanja is really the peoples choice. Everywhere you go the people say Sanja toaso, Sanja toaso. He is a viable candidate and the best choice for the constituency. He is the man to be voted for come 7th December 2016.

#jm toaso#

#sanja toaso#

Gilbert K. Langu

[email protected]
04.11.2016 LISTEN

This years farmers day will be celebrated on Friday 4th November, 2016 and a fair, passionate and objective minded columnist like me, would certainly make time and space to celebrate our gallant but poor majority farmers. Farmers spend all their time in the field even under hostile weather conditions just to ensure that there is abundant food to feed our ever increasing population. My piece today aims at critically dissecting some major pertinent issues on the agriculture sector of our economy.

It is indisputable fact that agriculture remains the backbone of our economy. In 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) estimated that 54% of Ghanas working population is employed in the agriculture sector. The national average is estimated at 76.1% in the rural areas. In the three northern regions (upper west, upper east and northern region), I can comfortably state that about 95% of the people engage in various forms of agriculture. I try to let you know, that the role of agriculture is indispensable. We must therefore take the sector seriously and treat it as the foundation of our economy. Until we build a strong foundation, poverty and unemployment will continue to greet us on the face every now and then.

Interestingly and lamentably, many of our farmers engage in peasant farming and have few or no opportunities to venture into large scale commercial farming. Farmers remain poor and in many cases, unable to pay the schools fees and other expenses of their families. The cost of inputs is relatively high whilst unfavourable rainfall patterns continually worsen their already pathetic situation. In fact, there are limited irrigation facilities to ensure all year round farming. As for the unpropitious prices for agriculture products, the least talk about it the better.

Despite all these conspicuous predicaments, we sit aloof and throw our hands in despair, perhaps awaiting a day or an era famine will befall us. Are we really serious? Anyway, such a calamity, if befallen us, would teach us a lesson to realise that indeed, agriculture is the goose that lays the golden egg. We must as a matter of urgency; devise a comprehensive agriculture policy to swiftly move from the hand to mouth agriculture, to mechanized large scale farming. That is the only way the farmers poor condition could be ameliorated and to pave way for any meaningful industrialisation which is being preached by the Ghanaian politicians as we march towards the polls in December. The fundamental truth is that agriculture is the vehicle for industrialisation.

Notwithstanding the destitute nature of our agriculture sector, it is still a pillar of the economy. Between 2007 and 2016, the agriculture sector has averagely contributed 3.5% to GDP and that is not a mean contribution from a typical deprived sector. The figure could have been humongous if we had been thoughtful over the years about improving the sector. That is quiet embarrassing. Isnt it?

Look, it is very difficult for African economies to be competitive in the global agriculture market not because of race or geographical position but because we appear to throw in the towel in the competition. Countries like Thailand and Vietnam have occupied a niche in rice production. It is as a result of their long standing commitment to their agriculture sector. No wonder we cheaply import most of our rice from these countries and that is thwarting the efforts of our few commercial rice farmers. Believe me; Ghana can do better if we are committed to capturing that height.

The youth and the educated elite of the current generation largely despite agriculture and consider it as business of the village illiterate. Let it go not unnoticed that unemployment continually escalates with our unrepentant quest for non-existent white collar jobs. I am of the strong conviction that agriculture is the ultimate salvation to our galloping unemployment situation. We have vast land for agriculture yet we remained choked in the cities struggling for survival. This growing misconception about agriculture must stop.

Many politicians both in government and opposition take advantage of the situation and preach salvation but when they get there, there have many excuses for underperformance. I will personally not blame them. We live in a country where the formal sector employees through their labour unions parade along every route in town to demand better salaries. The poor farmer continues to be in the farm and has never demonstrated or gone to strike. Such a patriotic leniency should not be considered as a weakness by our farmers. To me, the most patriotic citizen in Ghana in terms of work is the Ghanaian farmer.

What I expect government to do is to institute a state farming policy which was implemented by the late Gen.I. K Acheampong. This will help us improve the sector. Our industries would get adequate raw materials and also to ease the unemployment situation that bedevils us as a country. Our national service personnel could be posted to such farms to enable them provide critical services in that area. That could be a possible way of curing the growing misconception about the sector. We also need to set up more marketing companies and agents to protect farmers interest in the agriculture market. Let me loud the efforts of COCOBOD on that score. Many farmers go through frustration in the market especially during bumper harvest seasons.

In celebrating our gallant farmers in such an important day, let me pause my lamentations here and salute all farmers across the country for their wonderful contributions to national development. I specially dedicate this article to all farmers in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District as they celebrate this years event at my lovely city, Daffiama.

Long live the Ghanaian farmer.

Denis Andaban

[email protected]

0549734023
File Photo

04.11.2016 LISTEN

It's an undeniable fact that the behavior of government institutions affects business performance on the international arena.

Such behavior which creates an enabling environment can impact positively on the performance of firms on the global scene.

Over the years, however, the focus has always been on the role of public sector at the national level in promoting export in Ghana obviously due to the international nature of export promotion issues such as international negotiation and diplomacy which are within the remit of central government.

Somehow, the place of local government in the development and promotion of export business has been overlooked in academic and its related discourses.

Is it right therefore to conclude that local government does nothing to promote export in Ghana?

If so, where lies the faith of the fact that most of the non-traditional export commodities of Ghana (agriculture, manufacturing and handicrafts) come from the rural areas of the country!Yes, most of the non-traditional export commodities(the main export commodities of Ghana) come from the rural areas.And one would have expected local government to take the lead in export promotion activities in Ghana.It's either local governments are ignorant of this potential source of development or they are in simple terms non-proactive in that regard!

It's or should be stated with emphasis that local governments that are aware of their responsibilities, have a positive orientation towards their goals, and which have the capacity, are better positioned to champion the course of export promotion and development activities in Ghana, if for nothing at all, for employment creation and revenue mobilisation.

Local governments in Ghana have the potential and can be positioned well to promote export business, especially so when there is a reduction in financial grants from external sources and there is pressure on local governments to generate revenue internally to improve the standard of living of the local people.

In Denmark for instance, owing to the high degree of administrative decentralisation with clarity of roles and responsibilities as well as guaranteed financial resources and human resource system,export promotional services are provided by both the central government and local government with direct and active involvement of business communities and associations. The state shares with local government the responsibility for determining the broad policies on export promotion.(See export promotion in Logoster Commune and Aalborg Commune in Denmark).Local government is truly decentralised and financially independent in that country.

Our own assemblies can be empowered to chalk such a milestone through public policy and advocacy that will make them face squarely their obligation towards export promotion. National government should be willing to share the responsibilities of export development and promotion with local government.

Learning from the experience of Denmark, local government in Ghana can contribute meaningfully towards export promotion by networking and disseminating trade information and sales leads, organizing international trade shows/trade missions sponsored locally,organizing workshops on export topics, facilitating land acquisition processes,permits which provide the legal basis for doing business should be granted with dispatch,promoting tourism,prudent environmental management, marketing facilities and marketing of localities, liason with business, export marketing consulting services, promotion of export trading companies ad infinitum.

In this way, local government can support their businesses to export or to expand their operations, where they already exist and accrue the benefits therefrom...

May I use this opportunity to wish all the industrious farmers of our dear country, especially those at the local level whose efforts are least recognised and rewarded a happy celebration.

May the good lord continue to bless us all.

ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM (AB)

(University of Ghana Business School and a passionate Community Radio Youth Advocate)

0241129910/0200704844
Just two months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg traveled to Nigeria and Kenya to meet with developers, partners, and entrepreneurs, Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer at Facebook, gave a keynote address at the CyberXchange (http://Cyberxchange.com) security conference in Lagos, Nigeria about the company's approach to keeping people safe and making the internet more secure for everyone. Keeping you and your information safe is a core part of helping our community grow, connect, and support each other.

Stamos addressed an audience of security industry professionals, researchers, and students who gathered to discuss solutions to cybersecurity challenges in Nigeria and around the world. He explained that Facebook builds security protections to help keep people safe even under non-ideal circumstances that security professionals often overlooksuch as weak password usage or running out-of-date devices. Facebook performs automated checks to help detect suspicious logins to protect people's accounts, and they ship their own cryptography with their mobile app to make people more secure on those devices.

He also stressed the importance of consumer awareness around safety and security to protect people's information and help them feel comfortable being themselves online. Nigeria officially recognized National Cyber Security Awareness Month in October, underscoring the need to educate the public about how to protect themselves. This focus on awareness is at the heart of Facebook's newly redesigned Safety Center ( Facebook.com/safety ), an engaging resource to help people get the information they need about controlling their information and staying safe.

People come to Facebook to share important and personal moments in their lives. That's why we build our services and tools to help people remain in control and protect their accounts. We always have to consider the situations in which our technology will be used so that we can offer people the best security and safety for what they need, said Stamos.

The new Safety Center walks people through the tools Facebook offers to control your experience, as well as numerous tips and resources for safe and secure sharing. The Safety Center is available in over 50 languages, works well on mobile devices, and includes step-by-step videos on a variety of popular safety topics. Facebook worked with partners including the International Center for Leadership Development ( ICDLng.org ) in Nigeria and Watoto Watch Network ( WatotoWatchNetwork.org ) in Kenya to bring its safety resources to life and address local communities.

This update also brings the Bullying Prevention Hub to everyone on Facebook. The Hub is a resource for teens, parents and educators seeking guidance on how to prevent and address bullying. Developed with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence in 2013, Facebook now works with nearly 60 partners around the world to make the Bullying Prevention Hub more widely available.

For Facebook, making the world more open and connected also means keeping people and their information safe. Check out the new Facebook Safety Center today.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) hosted almost 1,000 women and men from 54 African countries in Lagos, Nigeria for the 2nd TEF Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurs.

The forum celebrated the 2016 cohort of Elumelu Entrepreneurs, selected from over 45,000 applicants. It is the annual highlight of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme and saw the presence of leading policy makers and business leaders from across Africa, giving their support to the Foundation and its promise to identify, train, mentor and seed 1,000 entrepreneurs in a decade-long $100 million commitment. Following the Forum, each entrepreneur is eligible to receive up to $10,000 to implement their business plan.

Applauding Tony Elumelus promise to not only empower entrepreneurs but also to tackle the fundamental economic challenges confronting the African continent, His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone called on others to emulate Elumelu. Even when we had Ebola in Sierra Leone, Tony was there. His is an example which other successful Africans must follow.

Focusing on the uniqueness of TEFs approach to entrepreneurship development, President Koroma hailed the programme as a genuinely innovative approach to philanthropy in Africa  an African offering African solutions.

What is unique about this programme is that it not only provides a platform for entrepreneurs to build connections, but they are also being taught how to build their businesses in a sustainable way. Other philanthropists will be inspired to support and promote this philosophy the President concluded.

In his keynote speech, Mr. Elumelu stated I salute those here, our ambition is that you become ambassadors for entrepreneurship in Africa  you are a generation of wealth creators, who share our commitment to the economic and social transformation of Africa. Let me tell you about Momarr Mass Taal, the CEO of Tropingo Foods, who has turned his first $5,000 seed capital received from the Foundation last year, into a $1.2 million revenue business. We all want many more of these! However, as excited as I am about the 2,000 entrepreneurs that we have selected, this gathering is in some ways bittersweet, as I reflect on the 63,000 ideas received in the Programmes short two years of existencewe were unable to select  our commitment is to all entrepreneurs in Africa.

Mr Elumelu challenged all stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society, multilateral organisations and all individuals invested in Africas economic development to join hands with the Foundation to support the wider African entrepreneurial community. We need to support our entrepreneurs because extreme poverty and economic opportunity rarely coexist in the same place.

He also announced partnerships with regional institutions the African Development Bank, ECOWAS, and others including Coca Cola, the International Trade Centre, Nigerian Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and Cote dIvoire Ministry of Entrepreneurship.

The two-day forum buzzed with energy as entrepreneurs shared and gained knowledge, built cross-border partnerships, and connected with investors and policymakers, fulfilling the goal of fostering innovation and collaboration between entrepreneurs from across Africa.

Other speakers at the event included Clare Akamanzi, Representative of President Kagame of Rwanda, Kennedy Uzoka, Group CEO of the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), Minster of Solid Minerals, Hon. KayodeFayemi, SegunAwolowo, CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Clem Ugorji, Public Affairs & Communications Director, Coca-Cola West Africa, EmekeIweriebor, Regional CEO of UBA Africa (Francophone), Matthew Pearson, Head of Africa Equity Sales at ICBC Standard Bank, Sam Nwanze, Chief Investment Officer at Heirs Holdings.
Emmanuel Martei Boi, the suspect (left) and Solomon Mensah, the deceased (right)

A 28-year-old businessman has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his friend with knife at Teshie, Accra.

The suspect Emmanuel Martei Boi allegedly stabbed Solomon Mensah Agblor, 25, after a fight over a stolen item.

Martei, who is renowned in the area for dealing in stolen items, was later arrested at Nsawam after he allegedly travelled to there to seek spiritual protection.

He was later handed over to the Teshie Police for further interrogations.

Briefing DAILY GUIDE, Superintendent Peter Yembillah, the Teshie District Police Commander, said Teshie Police conveyed the suspect from Nsawam to Accra on Wednesday, November 2, 2016.

According to reports, in early hours of October 31 2016, one Stephen Sowa, junior brother of the deceased, reportedly saw someone selling a flat screen television set to Martei.

The owner of the television set subsequently reported that her property had been stolen from her room.

Reports said that Sowa told the victim to confront Martei because he saw someone selling a television to him. The victim discovered the television with Martei.

The suspect, who later heard that Sowa gave the information to the owner, beat him mercilessly.

Sowa, instead of reporting the incident to the police, went home to call his brother Solomon Mensah Agblor, the deceased, to assist him.

Sowa and Solomon proceeded to the suspect's kiosk to confront him. A scuffle ensued between the two and some residents of the area intervene and separated them.

Martei, who was armed with a knife, chased them and stabbed Solomon in the ribs.

Martei, upon hearing of the death of Solomon at the Lekma Hospital, quickly travelled to Nsawam in the Eastern Region to seek protection from a spiritualist.

Nsawam Police received information about his movement and arrested him.

He was later handed over to the Teshie Police to assist in investigations.

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey

( [email protected] )


The 2016 parliamentary candidates for the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abriem Constituency (KEEA), on Wednesday debated each other on issues affecting their constituency at Eguafo Breman in the Central Region, ahead of the December 7th polls.

Four parliamentary candidates in the constituency who were present for the debate included Samuel Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the incumbent MP and the New Patriotic Partys (NPP) Dr. Stephen Nana Ato Arthur, the Convention Peoples Partys (CPP) Rose Austin Tsenadu, and John Sterling of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP).

The debate, which was organized by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), was aimed at educating the electorates on the vision of the candidates.

This, they said, would allow the constituents to make an informed decision in the upcoming elections.

The debate, which covered issues such as people with disabilities, agriculture, HIV/AIDS, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and education among others, was attended by chiefs, the aged, students and some identifiable groups.

The Chief of Eguafo-Breman, Nana GyanDadzie I, who chaired the occasion, entreated the politicians to say no to tribal politics which he warned can lead to violence.

The Debate

On education, the PPP's parliamentary candidate, John Sterling, argued that, education needs to be free at a certain stage.

Education from Kindergarten to SHS should be free. We have to make sure that, there is a teacher in each classroom. We have to make sure that the tools the children need are there. We in PPP will make sure that every school has a canteen so that every child will get hot food to eat. We will make sure each School has a Library, so that if the child gets homework, he can access it to learn.

He further added that, under a PPP government, each school will have its playing ground.

On unemployment, NPP's Parliamentary Candidate and incumbent MP, Dr. Stephen Nana Ato Arthur, accused the ruling NDC government of causing a high rate of unemployment in Ghana.

There is no job in Ghana. The economy is weak. When a hairdresser wants to work, there is no light. When you complete school, you do not get work to do. Why will the unemployment rate in Ghana not be high? In the NCCE Report, Education, Health and Employment are the main things Ghanaians say they want. If NPP comes to power, the perennial power outage will be a thing of the past.

Dr. Arthur further added that, the NPP will create jobs through the one District one Factory policy.

On people with disabilities (PWDs), NDC's Parliamentary Candidate, Samuel Atta Mills, said that, he is the best Candidate who understands this problem because he has a child in a similar situation, and therefore knows what PWDs need.

I have a thirty one year old child who is disabled, I understand it very well. When a person with disability goes out, people laugh at them which hurt. I know this because I have a child like who has gone through it and so I will not sit down for people to go through it. We in Ghana call these People with Disabilities, but I want to call them Special Needs People. I will fight that they get group homes. A house built purposely for them to live in as groups.

On HIV/AIDS, CPPs Parliamentary Candidate, Rose Tsenadu, argued that, HIV/AIDS should be spoken about often because it will compel people to check their status.

This, she further argued, will prevent cases of unintentional spread of the virus.

We would organize periodic screenings so that you can tell the Doctor or Nurse anything that is worrying you. If we don't educate ourselves about HIV/AIDS, people may not know they have it, and so may hide it. They may not go to the Hospital to know their status. This is how Mother to Child transmission happens.

Peace

To ensure peace before, during and after the elections, the Parliamentary Candidates united for peace.

In one voice, they said Ghana belongs to us all and that, we should accommodate each other, irrespective of the political party one supports.

Population size

The population of Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Municipal, according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, is 144,705 representing 6.6 percent of the region's total population. Males constitute 48.2 percent and females represent 51.8 percent. Sixty four percent of the population is rural.

Parliamentary history

The KEEA has traditionally been an NDC seat since 1992, until 2004, when Nduom won it for the CPP because the NPP didn't field a candidate through some form of alliance.

Nduom did not contest in 2008 because he led the party as their Flagbearer. The seat thus fell to the NFCs Dr. J.S. Annan in 2008.

Dr. Annan also lost in 2012 to the NPP's Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, due to some internal wrangling in the NDC, following the return of Dr. Ato Quarshie, who went independent after losing the party's primary, splitting the NDC's vote.

The four leading parliamentary candidates in the 2016 race, are very optimistic of winning the KEEA seat in the upcoming polls.



By: Akwasi Koranteng/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Airport District Police Command has apprehended a Togolese national for allegedly defrauding victims under the pretext of recruiting them into the Ghana Airport Company.

Suspect Alex Kwami, according to information, had printed forms using the letterhead of the company and presenting it to victims who wish to work at the Airport for a fee of GH200 each.

Over twenty victims paid and filled the forms for the supposed work including wards of some security services personnel.

Suspect was finally apprehended when the police got wind of his dubious activities and sent in plainclothes personnel to feign interest in order to apprehend him.

He was arrested on Monday October 31, 2016 at the Airport area.

Confirming the arrest to DAILY GUIDE, Chief Superintendent Yao Tetega said somewhere last month, it came to the notice of the Ghana Airport Company that some unscrupulous persons were using their name and letterhead to recruit people for employment.

In view of that, they issued a disclaimer to that effect warning the public.

Somewhere October, management received one of the employment forms which was in circulation with the contact number of the suspect.

One of them feigned interest in the deal, met suspect Alex Kwami at Adenta School Junction where an amount of GH200 was paid for the form.

He said, Kwami after giving out the form instructed the victim to attach two passport size photographs to it after filling the form and present it to him later.

A formal report was later made to the police by management after they were certain of the suspect's whereabouts.

On October 31, 2016, plainclothes personnel were dispatched to Adenta in the bid to apprehend suspect but instead, he suggested that they meet at Airport junction.

At Airport junction, when he was about giving out a form to the police, he was arrested.

A later search in his house revealed twenty of the filled forms of some of the victims together with their passport size photographs.

Some of the victims were called to the station and they confirmed that they paid GH200 to suspect before they were given the forms to fill.

Suspect is still in police custody and would be processed for court soon.

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey

( [email protected] )


The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC-GH) has asked Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) operating in the country to review their pump prices downwards in the interest of the public.

According to COPEC-GH, a net reduction of between 3 and 8 percent by the OMCs would be deemed fair and reasonable considering the fact that world oil prices over the past two weeks have declined from previous levels of almost $53/barrel to current levels of around $45.79/barrel, representing over 13.6 percent within the two weeks window.

COPEC-GH made the call in a statement issued by its Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah.

We are by this notice calling on the various oil marketing companies to, as a matter of fairness and public good, adjust pump prices downwards to commensurate with prevailing developments as far as ex-refinery prices indexes are concerned, COPEC-GH disclosed in the statement.

It added that for the avoidance of doubt, a net reduction of between 3 and 8 percent will be deemed to be fair and reasonable.

The first fuel price window for November 2016 commenced on the 1st but COPEC-GH reported that three clear days afterwards, pump prices of most OMCs remained unchanged from previously recorded increases.

Local pump prices across most OMCs currently hover above previous general levels of 3.630 for petrol and 3.610 for diesel, most OMCs as at today are trading at between 3.680-3.745/litre though current world price levels and the expected direct net effects on pump prices seem not to be felt by the ordinary consumer, according to COPEC-GH.

We commended the various OMCs who have kept fate with the ordinary consumer throughout this year as we soon launch the annual 'Consumer-OMC Awards 2016' to duly reward these deserving OMCs.

By Melvin Tarlue




The winner of the Indomie Rep My School competition in the Ashanti Region has been presented with an educational scholarship worth GH2,000 in addition to other prizes.

Daniel Asiedu, a Junior High School (JHS) Form 1 student of Menaba International School in Kumasi, who won the competition with brilliant dance performances, also took home 50 exercise books, five cartons of Indomie instant noodles, five aprons and five T-shirts.

Indomie Rep My School is a talent show on Joy Prime on Multi TV, with the children competing with various performances during the period of the reality show.

Presenting the prizes at a ceremony at his school, the Marketing Manager of De United Foods & Industries Ghana Ltd, brand owners of Indomie, Belo Cida Haruna, said Indomie is a fun-loving brand that is committed to supporting kids to unearth their talents.

Mr Haruna added that the brand would continue to support such programmes in the hope of giving the country creative and talented people.

Mr Haruna congratulated the winner and challenged him to stay focused on his education while at the same time nurturing and developing his dancing talent.

An additional 100 exercise books, five cartons of Indomie instant noodles, 100 T-shirts, 50 aprons were presented to his school.

Proprietress of Menaba International School, Akua Nyarko, commended Indomie for supporting the competition and donating to the school.

She said the school will continue to play the dual role of building the intellect and talents of the students.

-A business desk report


DGP has ordered probe in to the gangrape case, while two of the accused CPM members have been suspended from the party.

By Revathi Rajeevan: A day after a Kerala woman went public with her ordeal of alleged gang rape, two of the accused have been suspended from their party. Jayanthan and Bineesh, both local members of the CPM in Palakkad district of Kerala are among the four accused persons.

Earlier today, Kerala DGP Loknath Behera had said that an enquiry was ordered into the police conduct and an investigation ordered into the rape allegation.

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The 32-year-old woman on Thursday alleged that the four men, all friends of her husband took her in a car saying that her husband was admitted to a hospital and raped her in August 2014. Following continuous harassment from the accused, the woman said, she told her husband about the incident and together went to the police where the couple "was treated like dogs."

WOMAN HUMILIATED BY POLICE



"We were made to sit there from morning to evening for four days. The police asked me who gave me the most pleasure. I was not the one who made a mistake," the woman had said.

Also read: Kerala shocker: 90-year-old cancer patient raped



The woman had met artist and activist Bhagyalakshmi who narrated the incident on her Facebook page. Following this, the victim, her husband and the activist met the media where they alleged that the accused had been harassing them for the last two years, threatening them saying they had pictures and videos that could damage them further.

The woman also said that she was forced to withdraw her complaint after she was threatened that her husband and children would be killed.

OPPOSITION SEEKS SUSPENSION OF COPS



The opposition today moved an adjournment motion in Kerala assembly seeking to discuss the safety of women in Kerala with reference to the case. However, the motion was not passed. The opposition also demanded the police officers who allegedly humiliated the couple be suspended.

"The victim herself pleaded that this should not turn out to be political. It has got nothing to do with parties and politics. Action must be taken against the police who humiliated the women. We will fight until the woman gets justice," said Parvathy T, actress and activist.

The woman on Thursday had said that she did not wish to reopen the case only because of "the humiliation and mental torture she went through when she first filed the case."

Also read: Dalit student allegedly raped and murdered in Kerala



--- ENDS ---
The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSPOG) is threatening legal action against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government if it fails to take steps to avert what it terms potential violation of the Petroleum Revenue Management Law (Act 815, 2011) as amended.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) released a bombshell last week that the Mahama-led NDC government is mortgaging Ghana's gas resources as part of a deal to get the $2 billion loan from China.

The government is currently pursuing the China Development Bank (CDB) to re-activate the remaining $2 billion of the $3 billion loan which the Chinese discontinued after disbursing $1 billion to Ghana.

As part of the process, the Mahama-led government is spending about $6 million on consultancy alone to chase the loan.





Intriguing Answers

However, the coalition, in statement released yesterday and signed by its Chairman Dr. Steve Manteaw, insisted that the collateralisation of gas revenues is inconsistent with the law.

It has vowed to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.

It was intriguing much as it was disturbing to hear the revelations made by Mr Boakye Agyarko, Policy Adviser to the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo Addo, to the effect that the government intends to encumber the country's gas resources for a period of 19 years through a loan agreement with the Chinese, the statement said.

The initial reaction of the CSPOG to the allegation was to treat it as a mere party propaganda, characteristic of an elections season. However, the rather conflicting responses from the Deputy Minister of Power, Hon. John Jinapor, who denied everything said by Mr. Boakye Agyarko, and the Finance Minister, Hon. Seth Terkper, who admitted almost every bit of the revelations, may not have done any good to the integrity of government.

The statement said, The matter even gets murkier with a press statement issued by the Head of Communications at the Power Ministry, Mr Edward Bawa last Friday which sought to justify the government's intended action.

Bawa's Assertion

Mr. Bawa in his statement had assured Ghanaians that there is no basis for the assertion that Ghanas gas would be exported for $2 billion and that all of Ghanas gas are being used and would continue to be used in Ghana for power generation. He advised against confusing 'the use of proceeds or revenues from the sale of gas or its derivatives to support financing arrangements with the actual sale of lean natural gas and liquids, the coalition said.

According to the coalition, Ghanaians simply cannot disregard the reports as we are being asked to do because if we are to take as facts, the explanations provided by the Finance Minister in a Citi FM interview last Thursday and which technically is not at variance with Mr Bawa's statement, then there will be enough reason to be concerned about the development.

The statement said while we require further details to be able to do a thorough analysis, our initial review of these two explanations of government's position vis-vis the law leads us to conclude that the intended action of government amounts to a potential violation of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act of 2011, Act 815 (as amended).

Petroleum Funds

They said that Section 2 of the Act, which establishes the Ghana Petroleum Funds, requires all revenues realised from petroleum activities to be deposited into the Ghana Petroleum Holding Fund (we don't have the liberty to do otherwise) and to be managed by the Bank of Ghana. Transfers from the Fund, for the purposes of whatever expenditure, are supposed to be in accordance with the Act.

The coalition said Section 5 of the Act, which deals with prohibited uses of the Petroleum Holding Fund, proceeds to categorically provide under Clause (1) how the funds should be handled.

What this means is that it doesn't matter whether it is the resource itself or the revenues derived from it, the law prohibits any form of its encumbrance.

While we are happy to grant the government the benefit of doubt, and to assume that they are acting oblivious of the referenced legal provisions, we will not hesitate to seek judicial intervention in the public's interest, if regardless of this caution, it continues to do what we are being told it has initiated.

By William Yaw Owusu


The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has decried the decline in food production in the country under the leadership of President John Mahama.

The party said the average annual growth of 3.5% in the past six years compares unfavourably with an oil-driven average annual growth of 6.7% in the economy as a whole over the same period.

Speaking at a press conference held in Accra yesterday as part of activities to mark the annual Farmers' Day celebration, Minority Spokesman on Agriculture, Dr Owusu-Afriyie Akoto insisted that the fact that agriculture is growing at less than half of the economy in general signals the onset of the 'Dutch Disease.'

Poor growth

Dr Owusu-Afriyie indicated that Ghana's agriculture has been sliding or at best sluggish from 7.4% in 2008 and 7.2% in 2009, agricultural growth slowed to 5.3% in 2010, hitting the bottom of 0.8% in 2011. It stayed down at 2.3% in 2012, recovering somewhat to 5.7% in 2013 and then 4.6% in 2014.

The growth registered in the two years- 2013 and 2014 was in large part on account of unprecedented growth in forestry and logging activities.

If logging activities are dramatically increasing without commensurate growth in reafforestation, the obvious implication is that we are further degrading our forest cover and opening the country up to the invasion of savannah and Sahelian conditions.

Furthermore, he noted that the crop sub-sector which engages most of the 4.5 million farmers in this country recorded growth of only 3.6% in 2014.

Disturbing trends



The NPP MP revealed that the recorded growth of only 2.4% in 2015 was not even half of the targeted growth.

The poor annual growth (3.5% average in the last six years from 2010) in agriculture is just above half of the Malabo Declaration minimum target of 6.0% per-annum for all African countries.

With population growth rate of 2.7% per annum, Dr Owusu-Afriyie, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso said this means that Ghanaian agriculture is growing at a net rate of only 0.8% per capita per annum, if account is taken of rapid urbanisation typified by the Kayayei phenomenon, then agricultural growth per capita drops into negative value.

The Minority Spokesman on Agric told journalists that the poor growth performance of agriculture is reflected in sluggish growth in the production of the major staple food crops, meat, fish and in the decline of the all-important cocoa cash crop.

The poor performance of agriculture is also reflected in the very strong escalation in the import of major food items, which are produced by the hard working farmers of this country, while growth in the production of basic food staples (cereals, legumes, roots and tubers) has been sluggish in recent years.

Instead of a steady growth, the yearly gyration in the production of the basic food staples exposes the underlying weakness in farm productivity in Ghana.

He attributed the steady growth in the roots and tubers sub-sector to the introduction of initiatives- Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme -by the previous NPP administration in 2005.

Promises

The NPP promised to restore the budgets of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture that have been cut under the NDC administration while extension officers would be recruited from our Agricultural Colleges for the first time in eight years to boost extension services to strengthen the link between research and the farmers and fishers.

We shall replenish the financial allocations to our research institutions in order to revive active agricultural research. We shall involve District Assemblies in supporting farmers and fishers in on-farm production and in the marketing and processing of produce. In this regard, the link between the decentralised Ministry of Food and Agriculture staff and the District Assemblies will be strengthened to ensure effective delivery of inputs and services to farmers, Dr Owusu-Afriyie stated.



One-village, one-dam policy

In the savanna zone, he noted that we shall pursue the One-Village One-Dam policy as announced by our flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo in August 2016 and that unlike the NDC, the NPP will focus on boreholes, dugouts and small community dams in its irrigation policy.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Americans are looking forward to electing a president on Nov. 8, 2016. The electioneering campaigns are in top gears, all the presidential candidates have had erratic poll numbers, endorsements, huge rallies, and financial donations. Also, the candidates have been dusted with incessant political attacks, scandals, probes and ad mudslinging, however, none of the aforementioned vicissitude of politics will determine the winner.

The aim of this article is to discuss the five divine laws that will determine the 2016 U.S presidential election with a view to providing a deep transcendental spiritual clarity that is only accessible to the sapient. The laws are not natural laws or physical laws  neither based on electoral rules nor science nor any human endeavors. The laws that will determine the election are not laws like the Ten Commandments, which the candidates will necessarily want to comply with. The laws that will determine the election are not laws that any of the candidates can influence or manipulate, and no one can prevent the laws from operating.

There are divine laws that govern the universe and humankind; the laws are from a spiritual kingdom that surrounds and influences our physical world. Therefore, the laws that will determine the election are spiritual; they were designed and created by God the Absolute. If you read the Holy Bible in truth and spirit, you will be illumined to know that God operates on secrets, and the secrets of God are in His strict set of spiritual laws. You can obediently tap into these secrets only if you fear God ( Psalm 25:14 , 103:7 ). Please note that all Scriptural quotes are not laws, however, through contextual biblical wisdom, you can identify certain quotes that God codified as spiritual laws if only the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, according to Jesus Christ in Matthew 11:13 . Then you will know that the laws of God are right ( Psalm 19:8 ).

In the coming U.S. presidential election, man does not have to intervene and make the laws work. The laws will automatically operate whether you believe them or not, and whether you like them or not. I repeat: The laws of God are right. Lo! these laws will divinely and collectively favor just one candidate and that candidate shall become the 45th U.S. President, period.

Here are the laws:

The Law of New Beginning: This law states that: See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being, I announce them to you. (Isaiah 42:9). This is the law of God that creates what has never existed before. The law allows what must be created to spring into being, no matter the obstacles or challenges. According to the Holy Bible, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, but because the earth was dark, God said let there be light, and there was light (Genesis 1:1-3). The outcome is easy to understand; something that has never existed before was simply created. In this election, God will ordain one candidate that has never been in the likes of the previous U.S. Presidents. It will be a new beginning in American history. Check the past U.S. Presidents; they were all men and they were either career politicians or military men. In the 2016 election, there is going to be a new beginning in the person of the next president. God loves creating new things, after all, many miracles recorded in the Bible are distinctly new! America for the first time shall elect either the first female president, or a president who is a businessman (neither a politician nor military) or maybe a first independent president who does not belong to a major political party. Also, with a former model or a former U.S. President as a spouse in the White House. America, something new is about to happen. The law of new beginning will favor one candidate from this locus of spiritual control. The Law of Rejection: This law states that: The stone the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone (Psalm 118.22). This is the law that converts a rejection into an acceptance. When God anoints a man for a special duty on earth, neither man nor Satan can stop the task. This was demonstrated in the Holy Bible. For example, God chose the shepherd boy, David as the king of the United Kingdom of Israel despite the fact that his own parents did not initially endorse him for the kingship slot (Psalm 27:10, 1 Samuel 16:11-12). Davids parents forsook him possibly because they thought David was not fit for the throne. If you follow this election, you must have heard why candidates are described as unfit for the U.S. presidency for mishandling classified reports or for making incendiary comments about some people in the electorate. Behold, that unfit candidate is just Gods choice. Prior to Election Day, a candidate may be rejected in the hearts of the voting public, media, political party establishment, world leaders, global observers, etc. but when God accepts that candidate as His choice for the president, nothing on earth can reverse it. The Sovereign God asks us: When I act, who can reverse it? (Isaiah 43:13). A candidate that humans think is a loser before Election Day will benefit from this law. Why will this be so? Whenever God wants to get an assignment done, the first thing He looks for is a man or woman that He can use for that purpose. Whether the person is flawed or not, there is an eternal selection principle that does not change: one man or woman for a season, and another for a different season. Moses, Joshua, Joseph, Deborah, Esther, Isaiah, Daniel, Elijah (the Prophet of Fire), Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ (The Messiah), and Paul were ordained by God at different times for special assignments. This is a testimony that God does not call the human-ordained, He ordains whom He called. So for the next four years, God has already selected a president for the United States whom the law of rejection favors. He will use fair voting to reveal His choice after the election. The Law of Change: This laws says that: He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others (Daniel 2:21). Many things may change but God does not change. In Malachi 3:6, God declares: I the Lord do not change. However, God paves ways for change. God has given man choice and free will to discover and connect to His laws. At times, God in His infinite wisdom will apply the law of change to redirect mans sensibilities to His desires. He can change the name of man (Genesis 17:5, 17:15, 32:28). He can change the heart of a king (Proverbs. 21:1), and He can change the direction of a nation. Even, when people say bad things against God, He can change unholy speeches of the people and make them pure (Zephaniah 3:9). Change happens through choice, opportunity and crisis. In this election, you must have noticed so many unusual things that have never happened in the history of U.S presidential elections - over ten women accused a candidate of groping or sexual misconduct, a candidate refused to release federal tax returns, a candidate is under FBI probe for undermining national security, accused of untrustworthiness and public corruption, and another under civil lawsuit for fraudulent business activity. Furthermore, there are stolen emails from WikiLeaks, exposure of some members of the media who leaked townhall debate questions to a candidate, etc. By typical past conventions, these events or allegations would have ended the campaigns of these presidential candidates but alas, none could move the needle in this cycle. This means that the U.S. political landscape has changed from the orthodoxy of political normalcy into an unconventional terrace. When these candidates defy normal convention without any forced withdrawal from the presidential race, then the law of change will definitely favor a candidate. The Law of Uncertainty: This law states that: When people say there is peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:3, NKJV). Typically, as the Election Day draws nearer, many political pundits like to infer who may likely be elected as the next U.S. President. Often times, their predictions are based on historical polls and concurrent poll data trends. The media-projected winning candidate may even go as far as shortlisting candidates for various cabinet positions in readiness for the next presidency, while the media-projected losing candidate may be preparing for loss or impugning sentiments of a rigged system even before election results are called. Suddenly, though interestingly, something that is surprisingly unexpected will jolt the political landscape and phew! any candidate could be grossly affected. This is called the October surprise in U.S. presidential elections. Guess what, nothing surprises God, He is omniscient and omnipotent (Psalm 147:5). Humans just have to understand that God is interested in the affairs of nations, especially who should lead the nations. If God does not want anyone, not even His prophets to know what He wants to do at a particular time in the life of man or a nation, He applies the Law of Uncertainty. Why? Because the thoughts of God are different from the thoughts of man, and the ways of God are different from the ways of man (Isaiah 55:8). Many Americans believe this election is quite unlike previous presidential elections. In fact, National Public Radio (NPR) reported 65 reasons why it is the most unprecedented election ever. We have seen so many unusual things that have never happened in the past U.S. presidential elections. These are man-made confusions. Consider what Apostle Paul said: God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33, KJV). We must be ready to accept uncertainties from God if we want solutions that are as clear as the effulgent welkins. God can stop the election or a Vice Presidential candidate may even become the President. Jesus forewarns us: All things are possible with God (Mark 10:27). Through the wisdom of uncertainty, God can make us find our certainty. In this election, Gods Law of Uncertainty will favor a candidate. The Law of Democracy: This law states that: There is no authority except that which God has established (Romans 13.1). American Founding Fathers understood the law of democracy. During the American Revolution against the British Crown, the Founding Fathers came together to establish a system of government, which is currently known as presidential democracy. They wanted a safe government different from Monarchy and thus discovered and adopted Isaiah 33:22 - For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us. If interpreted from a wise detachment, you can see that the current American system of government comprises The Judiciary (Judge), Congress (Lawgiver), and The President as the head of the Executive branch (King). The unwise may perceive a warped vision, the straining of limpid exposition and the thwarting of clarity. God will not come down to rule nations, He will give man wisdom to establish a peoples government so that He can continue His relationship with nations. God instituted the law of democracy in order to transfer spiritual ability, freewill, decision-making capabilities, reasoning, thought processes and even authority to the human race. In this election, who can boast to know what is in the heart of each candidate? Notice this inspiring answer: I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve (Jeremiah 17:10). In this election, the law of democracy will favor a presidential candidate that understands that God's laws will override all the social, economic and political plans of a government.

In conclusion, God operates on many spiritual laws. Just as any polity requires structure and laws, so it is in the Kingdom of God. For this election, I cited 5 laws; the Heavenly arrangement is that all the 5 spiritual laws discussed above must be collectively aligned in favor of a candidate, such that whatever happens to the candidate during electioneering campaign will translate into physical electoral victory. No one can achieve an electoral victory against a Gods candidate ( Romans 8:31 ). God is a Supreme Intelligence, he does not make mistakes, He does not lie, He is highly organized and He acts with accurate precision ( Numbers 23:19 ). Perhaps, for future U.S. presidential elections, God may apply another set of laws. In this election, the next U.S. President, like the past will have freewill, but will the new president do the will of God? Only God has the final say. Again, please check the history of the past American Presidents, each of them was ordained by God to do a significant thing. I think the next U.S. President has a major responsibility to stop global Trojan horses  the friendly enemies of the U.S.

If you are flummoxed about why this 2016 U.S. presidential election is so unprecedented unlike before, you can draw relief insights from this article to understand that the Sovereign God is at work to lead America unto a seraphic path of greatness. As you read this article or ready to vote in this U.S. presidential election, remember two keys: (1) There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord ( Proverbs 21:30 ) and (2) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD ( Psalm 33.12 ).

Nester Komolafe monitors the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election from Chicago, IL.

November 3, 2016.
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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Awutu Senya West constituency, Goerge Andah appears to be more concerned about the marital status of his main opponent and incumbent Member of Parliament, Hannah Tetteh as race for the seat heats up.

Mr Andah at mini rally in Bawjiase in the Central Region this week, threw an open challenge to Hannah Tetteh to introduce her husband to the constituents.

I came here with my wife, and children. Please tell Hannah to also come and show us her husband, he said.

Mr Andah, who is a first timer aspiring for the seat invited his wife to the stage and introduced her to the party supporters who had gathered at the rally amidst cheers and applauds.

In a video which is circulating on social media, Mr. Andah is seen telling the crowd to ask Madam Hanna Tetteh to show them her husband.

Mr Andah is seeking to unseat Hannah Tetteh who also serves as Ghana's Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister on the ticket of the opposition NPP.

2012 election performance

Hannah Tetteh in the 2012 elections won 49.84 per cent of the total valid votes cast after polling 23,082 votes.

He closest contender, Oppey Abbey managed 18,487 representing 39.92 per cent,

The Progressive People's Party's, (PPP) Moses Arhinful Acquah polled 3,237 of the total votes cast, representing 6.99 per cent.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
04.11.2016 LISTEN

Following the visit of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, His Lordship, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, members of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Senators, past and present, members of the House of Representatives, both past and present, former ministers of the Federal Republic and other leaders of thoughts, to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Dr Reuben Abati, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and Senator Bala Mohammed, the show of solidarity and support have continued unabated as more dignitaries continue to storm EFCC for the four men.

According to inside sources who pleaded for anonymity, among those who paid a visit to the four leaders of the opposition PDP on Thursday, 3rd of November, 2016, are Senator Jeremiah Useni, former Minister of FCT, Alh. Abubakar Mohammed, former Minister of Culture, Ambassador Iliya Damagua, Hon. Halliru Ilea, former Presidential candidate, Hon. Salisu Ningi, member House of Reps, Aremo Adekunle Alao and Chief Babatunde Ajala, both PDP leaders from Osun State.

Also at the EFCC headquarters to register their own solidarity to the EFCC 4 on the same day were some leaders of the Middle Belt Forum. they include Elder John Dara, National Secretary, Hon Jonathan Asake, National Youth Leader, Mr Emmanuel Alamu (Niger State) and Mr Larry Yusuf Yammai (Kaduna State).

Our sources said they all arrived almost at the same time of about 4:30pm after which they encouraged the 4 detainees and prayed for them. They also expressed profound joy at the fact that the four of them looked very well and have remained strong.

The four leaders in turn thanked them all for coming and asked them to let the world know that they are very well and will soon be vindicated.
The Security Council strongly condemns the repeated violations of the ceasefire arrangements by the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups in and around Kidal over the last months, which threaten the viability of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali. The Security Council urges the signatory armed groups to cease hostilities immediately, to strictly adhere to the ceasefire arrangements and to resume dialogue without delay for the implementation of the Agreement.

The Security Council urges the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to fully and sincerely maintain their commitments under the Agreement. The Security Council recalls its readiness to consider targeted sanctions against those who take actions to obstruct the implementation of the Agreement as well as those who resume hostilities and violate the ceasefire, as expressed in its resolution 2295 (2016).

The Security Council acknowledges the steps taken by signatory parties over the last year to implement the Agreement, welcomes the progress towards establishing interim administrations in the north of Mali and expresses its deep concern over the persistent delays for the full implementation of the Agreement. The Security Council underscores the pressing need to deliver tangible and visible peace dividends to the population in the north and other parts of Mali in order to keep the momentum of the Agreement.

The Security Council urges the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to take urgent and concrete action to fully deliver on their obligations under the Agreement without further delay, in particular to deploy joint security patrols, to accomplish the process of establishing interim administrations in the north of Mali, to operationalize the commissions for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of armed combatants, and to accelerate the redeployment of the Malian Defense and Security Forces (MDSF) throughout the country within the framework of the Agreement.

The Security Council urges the Government of Mali to engage with the SecretaryGeneral, through his Special Representative for Mali, to establish concrete benchmarks and timelines to assess the progress toward the full implementation of the Agreement and recalls its request to the Secretary-General to include them in his December 2016 report.

The Security Council calls on members of the Comity de suivi de l'Accord and other relevant international partners to sustain their support to the implementation of the Agreement. The Security Council emphasizes the central role the SRSG should continue to play to support and oversee the implementation of the Agreement by the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups.

The Security Council encourages bilateral and multilateral partners to increase their support to accelerate the redeployment of the Malian Defense and Security Forces, once reformed and reconstituted, to the north of Mali, particularly by providing relevant equipment and training, in coordination with the Government of Mali and MINUSMA and within the framework of the Agreement.

The Security Council reiterates its concern over the expansion of terrorist and other criminal activities across Mall, and, in particular, into central and southern Mali, as well as the intensification of intercommunal violence in the Centre of Mali. The Security Council emphasizes that the Malian authorities have primary responsibility for the provision of stability and security throughout the territory of Mali.

The Security Council strongly condemns the continuing attacks, including terrorist attacks, against the Malian defense and security forces, MINUSMA and the French forces. The Security Council underlines the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice. The Security Council urges the Government of Mali to take measures to ensure that those responsible for these attacks are held accountable.

The Security Council acknowledges the significant capability gaps within MINUSMA and underlines its request to the Secretary-General to expeditiously identify options and take all appropriate additional measures to enable MINUSMA to fully implement its mandate and to ensure the safety and security of its personnel. The Security Council urges Member States to urgently provide adequate capabilities to MINUSMA, in particular aviation and transportation capabilities, to fill in these gaps.

The Security Council reiterates its serious concern over the insecurity which hinders humanitarian access, condemns attacks against humanitarian personnel, and emphasizes the need for all parties to respect the principles of humanitarian assistance (humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence) in order to ensure the continued provision of humanitarian assistance. The Security Council also emphasizes the need for all parties to ensure the safety and protection of civilians receiving assistance and the security of humanitarian personnel operating in Mali.

The Security Council calls on Member States in the region, notably through the G5 Sahel and the Ayican Union Nouakchott Process, to advance their cooperation with MINUSMA in order to strengthen regional security and facilitate the implementation of its mandate.
The Accra High Court has ordered the Electoral Commission to allow presidential candidate of The All Peoples Congress (APC) to correct the mistakes in his nomination forms.

The court, presided over by Justice Barbara Charway agreed with another Judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour who ruled on a similar case in favour of Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party (PPP).

Justice Charway described the ECs decision to disqualify Ayariga as "absurd, unfair and wrongful due to the circumstances including limitedness of 30th nomination day."

Justice Charway also dismissed the ECs contention that the APC came to court through a wrong and premature process.

She said CI 94 does not preclude aggrieved persons from coming to court by Judicial Review.

She added that the nomination period is meaningful if it accommodates all activities incidental to a meaningful conclusion of the filing process.

The ECs decision to disqualify the aspiring presidential candidate has therefore been squashed by the court.

Hassan Ayariga was disqualified from the 2016 presidential race when the EC discovered during the vetting of his nomination forms that two persons who endorsed his forms have done same for another presidential candidate.

The EC said this goes against Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.

Mr Ayariga, following the striking out of these two persons, failed to obtain the required 432 signatures needed for a candidate to qualify for the elections.

But he did not take this lying down. He headed to court to challenge his disqualification culminating in Friday's verdict.

Speaking to Joy News Joseph Ackah Blay after the ruling, the presidential candidate could not hide his joy.

Related: I will win because I have a better case than PPP - Hassan Ayariga

Today, we must thank the Almighty God. For today, we must all believe in God, we have prayed and prayed that the court will give us justice. Ghanaians today have witnessed a very successful event today.

The ruling, he believes, is a demonstration that Ghanas laws are "working and no matter who you are or your institution, when you find fault with your issues, you can always go to court for redress.

He praised the judge for giving a wonderful, simple and perfect ruling.

Mr Ayariga hoped for the best for all the other contenders and said his party will continue its campaigns.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | faustine.[email protected]
Lt Col Simon Westlake Defence Attache at the British High Commission making the presentation on behalf of the British veterans as other officials of VAG look on

The Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL) UK, a body comprising ex-service men and women in the UK, has presented a brand new hearse to the Veterans Administration Ghana (VAG).

RCEL made the promise to replace the hearse it donated to VAG a few years ago, following a visit last year by the governing Board Chairman of VAG, Cdre Obimpeh; the late Executive Director, Col Chris Nutakor and Director of Administration, Capt George Biezui.

The delegation, which was on its way from World Veterans Federation conference in Poland, told RCEL that their hearse was old.

RCEL subsequently sent money to VAG for the purchase of a new hearse. VAG, however, placed order for the hearse from the manufacturers in Japan.

In a press release issued by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of VAG, Ex WO1 Bright Segbefia, the key to the hearse estimated at GHC114, 000.00 (about $30,000.00) was handed over to Cdre Steve Obimpeh (Rtd) by the Defence Attache (DA) to the British High Commission, Lt Col Simon Westlake at a brief ceremony at the national headquarters of VAG in Accra.

On behalf of RCEL, Lt Col Westlake said he was proud of the feat chalked by Ghanaian veterans, particularly those who took part in WWII.

He added that the donation was a sign of continuing excellent relationship between RCEL and VAG.

According to the release, Cdre Obimpeh, on behalf of management and the entire administration, expressed profound gratitude to RCEL, saying that the bilateral relationship between the two bodies dates back to the era of Ghana Legion.

The PRO said Cdre Obimpeh recounted some assistance that has over the years come to VAG from RCEL.

He cited the construction of an amenity centre at the Amasaman Legion Village in Accra, completion of water reservoir project at the same village, offering of annual grants to blind veterans.

Cdre Obimpeh disclosed that the rate at which veterans are passing on has increased the demand for hearse by bereaved families of veterans since VAG heavily subsidises hearse services for members.

The board chairman said ideally each regional branch of VAG should have a hearse to take care of the 104 administrative districts across the country, but financial difficulties facing VAG would not make that a possibility.

Cdre Obimpeh, therefore, expressed the hope that future help from RCEL would cater for other regions as well.

He told the DA that it was regrettable that the body of Col Nutakor, who was active in the getting of the new hearse, should be the first to be conveyed in the hearse.


In its quest to alleviate the financial burden of students in the country, the Lebanese Community has yet again offered scholarship to 12 students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Explaining why the Lebanese Community continues to support students in tertiary schools in Ghana over the weekend in Kumasi, HE Ali Halabi, Lebanon's Ambassador to Ghana, said the demonstration of academic dexterity by the students was the reason for the support.

He said that 'the law profession is one that permeates all aspects of society and forms the foundation on which any society is grounded.

It's for these reasons that the Lebanese Community decided to award scholarships to the future lawyers who will champion the development of their beloved country.

'The scholarship will cover 100 percent of the tuition fees, while part of the accomodation charges will be absorbed.

He added that Over the past three years, I have witnessed how students benefiting from our scholarships programme have excelled in their academic work.

A few weeks ago, the 15 students of our first batch of beneficiaries from KNUST and the University of Ghana have all been admitted at the Ghana School of Law.

Professor Joshua Ayarkwa, the Provost of the College of Science and Built Environment, who stood in for the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, thanked the envoy and the Lebanese Community for the awarding the scholarship and expressed hope that the Lebanese Community will continue to do more and keep up the good work.

He said the Lebanese community chose to support the Law Faculty because law binds our society, adding that its law that will ensure peace and harmony in this year's elections.

The Dean of the Faculty of law, Dr (Mrs) Lydia Apori Nkansah, thanked the envoy and the Lebanese Community and encouraged the beneficiaries to live up to expectation.

She appealed to the beneficiaries to carry out all their duties with integrity.

Ms Afia Poku, speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, expressed appreciation to the Lebanese Community for the scholarship scheme which she said has greatly motivated the students to strive to achieve academic excellence.

The Lebanese Community recently supported students and institutions like the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), University of Ghana, the Ghana Armed Forces, Police and Prisons Services and Ghana School of Law.




The man, identified as Abu Siddique, had prevented his wife from breastfeeding their newborn after seeking the advice of an Imam.

By Revathi Rajeevan: Kozhikode district collector Prashanth N has ordered action against a native of Kerala, who refused to let his wife breastfeed their newborn baby.

The man, identified as Abu Backer Siddique, had insisted that the wife breastfeed the newborn at the EMS hospital in Mukkam only after five azans (five calls for prayers which is twenty-four hours). Siddique had done so after seeking the advice of an Imam.

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IMAM NEEDS TREATMENT FOR CRUELTY: COLLECTOR

"Cannot believe that any religion would ask for starving a newborn baby. The man who insisted that the newborn not be fed and the man who influenced him to do this cruel act needs "treatment", beyond doubt," the collector said on his official Facebook page on Thursday.

Also read: Blind faith: Kerala man bars wife from breastfeeding newborn till 5 azan prayers



The collector added that police and other officials were ordered to take strict action to ensure the safety of the child as soon as the incident came to his notice and that there would be no compromise in the legal proceedings.

"Such instances around us should make us think on where we are heading," he wrote.

--- ENDS ---
An Accra High Court has ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to give flagbearer of the All People's Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga an opportunity to correct errors on his nomination form.

The court presided over by Justice Babara Charway said the EC acted unfairly in disqualifying Mr. Ayariga.

The judge also indicated that the commission should have been more patient in dealing with the matter.

The ruling follows a similar order which was given by an Accra High court to the EC to allow the flagbearer of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom who was among 11 others who were disqualified from the presidential race, to amend his nomination form.

Background

Hassan Ayariga was disqualified from the contest because some of the subscribers to his nomination also endorsed other candidates. Lawyers for the APC had earlier in court accused the EC of deliberately disqualifying Hassan Ayariga.

The lawyers argued that the EC on the day of filing their nomination form allowed them to correct some errors on it but failed to give them an opportunity to correct the errors the EC used as basis for invalidating Ayariga's nomination.

-Citifmonline
THE FORUM for Media Accountability and Democratic Governance (FOMADEG), a civil society organization, which submits to the principle of non-partisanship and independence, is set to host a special symposium in Accra come November 9.

The aim is to put a spotlight on the never-ending corruption menace within government circles in the country.

A statement issued by Daniel Addo-Danquah, Director in-charge of Operations, FORMADEG, said the symposium themed: Redefining our Ethos as a Nation, shall be held at the Christ the King Church at 4:30pm.

According to the statement, the panelists for the occasion shall include Nana Nketsiah, Omanhene of Esikado; Justice Emile Short, Former Head of Commission On Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Kan-Dapaah, a former minister of state.

Touching on the current indiscipline in the country, FOMADEG pointed out that our inordinate quest for wealth and political power continue to hinder not only our progress as a people, but it is also gradually destroying our social fabric.

It said today our country lives in danger of self-destruction due to the wanton disregard for values. Issues of corruption have become the rule rather than the exception; GYEEDA, SUBAH, and SADA have all been perpetuated with support of officialdom.

According to the statement, for many observers, the decline in emphasis of our collective national values raises more concerns than the struggle to attain economic prosperity, and rightly so.

It indicated that Without adherence to a set of national values, the desire to attain economic prosperity for all will continue to be elusive.

By Melvin Tarlue


04.11.2016 LISTEN

Religion is a very delicate subject to discuss in public. We are told from history that the eastern question led to World War I (1914-1918). In history, the eastern question refers to how the Ottoman sultanate predominantly Muslims treated their Christian subjects.

Up to 1878, the eastern question centered on one issue: What should occur to the Balkans if and when the Ottoman Empire collapsed as a formidable political factor in the southeastern Europe? Apart from the WWI, religion had bequeathed many atrocities to humanity.

For example, Bartolome de Las Casas (c1484-1566), was a Dominican Friar (a monk, if not evangelist) who recommended the use of African slaves in the plantations. Las Casas suggestion was a phenomenal boost to the Obnoxious Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the 16th century. Religious men misinterpreted the book of Isaiah Chapter 19 to plant the institutionalized apartheid system in South Africa.

There is a castle called Christiansborg (Christians Fortress) after the Danish king Christian IV in Accra, Ghana. Christianborg was the seat of cruelty and despotism. The first church in Ghana, Church of Englands society for the propagation of the gospel (SPG) was located on top of the male slave dungeon at the Cape Coast Castle museum. Islam means peace, and abad in Arabic means city. There is a city called Islamabad, yet there is no peace in Islamabad. One would expect that the sacrosanctity (sacredness) of religious claims would be set aside and lessons taken from the religious atrocities of the past. However, contrary is the case as many so-called prophets of God in Africa continue to threaten the security of the nation with their electoral prophecies. This writer wants to reflect on the relationship between electoral prophecies and mental health.

Prophecy simply means speaking out the mind of God to the people of God. Thou saith the lord was a common phrase among the prophets. The book of the Old Testament (OT) is made up of three parts namely: the Torah (law), writings (like the book of Job, Proverbs, Psalm etc.) and the prophets. The New Testament is composed of the letters, the gospel, Acts of the Apostles and the book of revelations. Prophesies in the OT were given in response to a given situations. For example, prophet Ezekiel was among those taken into captivity in Babylon. Ezekiel was 25 years old when Nebuchadnezzar conquered the southern kingdom in 597 BC. During his time in Babylon, Israelites gathered around river Chebar and pondered whether they could worship God in the foreign land. How can we sing the songs of the lord in a foreign land (Psalm 137: 4). Ezekiel, had a Prophesy of the valley of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37) because the lord revealed to him about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel.

The book of lamentation is composed of a sorrowful poems. Prophet Jeremiah was otherwise known as a weeping prophet because he was probably weeping as he authored the book of lamentation after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586BC. Jeremiah was an eyewitness to the fall of Jerusalem. He and other prophets had predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and as he experienced the collapse of Jerusalem it reflected in his worries in the book of lamentations. There is nothing wrong for a prophet of God to talk about his received revelations concerning a nation. However, such prophesies must be logically connected to the prophetic formula in the Bible: But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort (1 Corinthian 14:3).

Prophesies must also be disentangled from psychological encumbrances. For example, if a prophet asserts that a certain man was seen weeping in the clouds, what shows that the said man was weeping because of President Mahama? What shows that there was truly a man in cloud but not a figment of the prophets own imaginations? What shows that God lives in the clouds? What blood did the prophet see in the hands of our president?

In his psychoanalytic theory, the Jewish psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud entreated us to ignore the coherency, lucidity and accuracy of dreams and concentrate on its interpretations. In the view of Freud, most dreams or visions are due to a repressed sexual feelings which result in the middle age psychological maladaptive behaviors. These feelings are exacerbated by Oedipal anxiety with a repressed anal and oral fixation among men as well as a repressed penis envy among women. A repressed sexual feelings interfered with our ego (reasonable part of individuals mind) normally at middle age. Dreams and visions are somewhat pictorial representation of a repressed sexual feelings interfering with ego. This is common among middle age men and women who experience shocks such as death of a wife or a husband, an unexpected divorce from a loved partner and so on.

In his individual psychology, the Austrian psychiatrist, Alfred Adler (1870-1937) asserted that individuals life cannot be understood apart from social context. Adler called this assumption social interest. For example, financial constraints and unfair nature might bereft an individual of woman of his choice. This means such a man is lacking social interest. The struggle between demanding social interest and lacking social interest leads to a shock. Underneath untreated shock is depression. Untreated depression leads to suicidal ideations or suicide. Thus, Adler thinks, suicide, psychosis, and neurosis are due to a throttled social interest. Lack of social interest could result in psychopathological cases such as schizophrenic symptoms of frequent dreams and visions.

Individuals convictions about things can make them struggle mentally. Private logic or mistaken beliefs are individuals thoughts about something that is not true. Private logic is known in cognitive behavioral therapy as cognitive distortion or thinking error. Many people believe somebody was responsible for the demise of President Mills. Such a conviction could appear in prophesies such as seeing an old man weeping in the clouds. This writer believes in dreams and prophesies but I also think the Freudian and Adlerian psychodynamics concerning dreams and visions explained above influence their outcomes. Seeing an old man in the clouds weeping because of President Mahama (I think Mr. President must change his name) could be a true prophesy but also not devoid of serious mental health implications.

According to the diagnostic and statistical manual of American psychiatrist association, 5th edition (DSM 5). Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects how people think, feel, and perceive. The hallmark symptom of schizophrenia is psychosis, such as experiencing auditory hallucinations (voices) and delusions (fixed false beliefs).

The symptoms of schizophrenia may be divided into the following 4 domains:

Positive symptoms - Psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations, which are usually auditory; delusions; and disorganized speech and behavior

Negative symptoms - Decrease in emotional range, poverty of speech, and loss of interests and drive; the person with schizophrenia has tremendous inertia

Cognitive symptoms - Neurocognitive deficits (eg, deficits in working memory and attention and in executive functions, such as the ability to organize and abstract); patients also find it difficult to understand nuances and subtleties of interpersonal cues and relationships

Mood symptoms - Patients often seem cheerful or sad in a way that is difficult to understand; they often are depressed.

Hearing of voice normally comes in the form a dream or a vision. Schizophrenic clients could have as many as 20 dreams in a night. They see unreal things partly due to past shock. Also in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I am not insinuating that any prophet is experiencing schizophrenic symptoms but comparing electoral prophesies to mental health symptoms. Too much anger against president Mahama and his NDC government could result in seeing a man in the clouds.

In sum, prophesy must strengthen, encourage and comfort individuals. Electoral prophesies can endanger the security of our country in an election year. It appears many people who use scriptures dont understand scripture in Ghana. Pastors who have prophesies must pray to intercede on behalf of the country rather than telling us who will win elections or the dangers if we dont pray. Some of the electoral prophets in Ghana need psychological evaluations. Per the aforesaid Freudian and Adlerian theories, dreams, visions or prophesies could be due to psychological maladaptive behaviors . God Bless Our Homeland Ghana. I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing. (Socrates).

Feedbacks must be directed to [email protected]

Nana Yaw Osei (Padigo)
Analysis of the issues addressed by the political parties and the policies and programmes they presented to Ghanaians in their 2016 manifestos shows that there is significant level of consensus among the parties on how they intend to address the challenges of the energy and petroleum sector.

However, the challenge is that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) have remained silent in their policy strategies to address the root problem of the power sector.

During a three member Expert Panel discussion on the manifesto promises of the three political parties on energy, organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) at Alisa Hotel, Mr Kweku Awote- Founder of Precious Minerals Ltd and former Chief Executive of Volta River Authority said the three political parties are lip-tight on the financial issues on how to address fuel security in the power sector.

According to him, the governance challenge is that the political parties failed and therefore may not able to install all the mega watts of power they promised in their 2016 manifestos because of the huge debts of 1billion dollars ECG owes.

The Panel member were; Mr Kweku Awote- Founder of Precious Minerals Ltd and former Chief Executive of Volta River Authority, Mr Emmanuel Kuyale an active player in the Mining Sector and Mr Ismael Edjekumhene- Executive Director of Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment with ace Broadcaster Evans Mensah serving as the moderator.

The Executive Director of ACEP, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam indicated that apart from the conventional sources of power generation in Ghana which all the parties agree to continue with in increasing generation capacity, they seek to introduce new generation sources: NDC is promising to add coal to the generation mix, NPP wants to add geothermal and tidal sources and CPP wants to add nuclear power.

He added that Ghanaians must scrutinize how the parties intend to attract investments, increase production and sustain our emerging oil and gas industry.

Dr. Amin noted that the power sector has its own uncertainties largely due to unreliable supply of gas from Nigeria, likely suspension of indigenous gas supply due to planned repairs on the turret, and the increasing indebtedness of the utility companies and lack of reserve margin.

He added that history has also shown that anytime we are told the power crisis is over, it returns some years later.

According to him, ACEP begun the Citizens Energy Manifesto program with citizens consultations on their priorities for the sector based on which they produced and launched the Citizens' Energy Manifesto.

He emphasized that the Manifesto was shared widely to the political parties and other stakeholders at the time, the parties were still preparing their manifestos and they believe they were also consulting with citizens and various stakeholders.

It is therefore not surprising to us that most of the promises, policies and programmes they articulated in their manifesto are generally consistent with the Citizens Energy Manifesto, he stated.

Dr. Amin posited that ACEP lunched the Energy Manifesto Monitor, which highlights the promises made by the parties and benchmarked against the Citizens Energy Manifesto.

He intimated that their analysis of the issues addressed by the parties and the policies and programmes they presented to Ghanaians shows that there is significant level of consensus among our parties on how they intend to address the challenges of the energy and petroleum sector.

For instance in the area of Generational Capacity, the NDC promised to increase the capacity in excess of 5000 MW by 2021 and ensure there is universal access to electricity by 2025.

The NPP on the other hand promised to increase capacity by implementing a 10 year Energy Master Plan to take care of our energy needs in the medium term to the long term.

The Convention Peoples Party promised to explore, depending on the cost, technical feasibility and environmental friendliness: wind, nuclear, bio-mass, gas, hydro as sources of generating energy to increase the capacity.

All the parties agreed on the need to resort to renewable energy to help meet the required capacity.

Energy conservation was also common in the various manifestos. Most of the energy generated in Ghana gets lost through the process of transmission, illegal connection and abuse by end users.

To avert the wastage of energy, the CPP will embark on nationwide campaign including writing energy conservation tips on every electricity bill to keep users informed about the need to conserve power and how it can be done.

NDC will develop more energy sources and encourage conservation whereas the NPP made reference to the introduction of compact fluorescent bulbs by the Kufour government in 2007 as an example of some of the measure to be adopted to ensure energy is conserved.

Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam concluded that all these are very important contesting policy positions based on which the parties are expressing their resolve to solving the problems on the energy and petroleum sector.

He added that ACEP lauds them for their interest in governing the country and in providing leadership through such policies and programmes.
Benin City (Nigeria) (AFP) - Mike hasn't told any of his friends or family that he's left France, even though he's been back in Nigeria for nearly six months. "They'd say I was mad," he said.

The 25-year-old returned to Benin City in Nigeria's south, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the region where he grew up -- and far from the uncle who paid over the odds to get him to Paris.

For Mike, Europe stopped being a promised land when he was refused leave to stay. He still has the letter from the authorities which turned his world upside down.

It stated simply he could either appeal the decision or go home. He chose the latter after four years in France where the reality of life didn't meet his expectations.

"The conditions were very difficult," he told AFP. "When we're in our country we feel that if you go to Europe... it's better.

"But when we arrived there, you discover it's more difficult."

Voluntary returns

In 2015, 153,000 migrants arrived in the European Union via the Italian coast, according to the International Organization for Migration. The largest number -- about 22,000 -- were Nigerians.

In 2015, 153,000 migrants arrived in the European Union via the Italian coast, according to the International Organization for Migration

In May last year, Brussels opened talks with Abuja to make "readmission agreements" easier and oblige Nigeria to take back its nationals.

Return, however, is not always straightforward.

Often there are fears of extortion by those who helped migrants to leave in the first place, of being killed by people-smuggling gangs or simply not having enough money to start a new life.

The EU's Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs says some 400,000 to 500,000 non-EU nationals are ordered to leave the bloc every year because they are staying irregularly.

But only 40 percent are sent back to their home country or the country from where they left to reach the EU.

In 2013, France's then-interior minister Manuel Valls drastically reduced financial support to help undocumented immigrants return home.

Last year, there were only 4,748 voluntary returnees, down from 15,840 in 2011, according to France's integration and immigration bureau, the OFII.

Mike was one of only four Nigerians whose return was approved in 2015.

He has since been able to start a business selling cement. He runs it with pride, even though it doesn't bring in much money.

Drop in the ocean

Benin City has long been known as Nigeria's capital of human trafficking and especially prostitution.

A number of projects are running in the city to both prevent locals being tempted to risk everything to reach Europe and to help those who have returned. One of them is run by Idia Renaissance.

The local non-profit group was founded in 1999 by the wife of the former Edo state governor and has worked with the Roman Catholic charity Caritas across Europe.

Idia Renaissance NGO Project coordinator Rowland Nwoha said that since 2009 there have only been 50 voluntary returnees

But project coordinator Roland Nwoha said that since 2009 there have only been 50 voluntary returnees -- a drop in the ocean given the huge increase in migration to Europe in recent years.

Fear is the main factor: women are often subjected to black magic rituals before they leave, with dire warnings about what will happen if they don't repay their debts of up to 60,000 euros ($66,000).

For others, few want to return to a life of extreme hardship or simply admit failure to family and friends, said Nwoha.

"As long as the economic situation (in Nigeria) remains in a very terrible shape, people will continue to move in search for better opportunities," he added.

'Where is your money?'

Gloria -- not her real name -- only lasted a month working as a prostitute on the streets of Naples, in southern Italy and says she is much happier now she has left.

She told her "madam" she was going to see a client, then for two days the 21-year-old hid in the city before finding the Nigerian consulate.

"When I got there they asked me, 'Where is your money to buy your return ticket? Go away'," she recalled.

Mike had a similar experience, having to prove his nationality to his government to get a temporary passport.

A victim of human trafficking in Libya sews clothes at Idia Renaissance non-governmental organisation in Benin, Nigeria, on October 21, 2016

Gloria returned to Nigeria two months after she turned up at the consulate but only thanks to Caritas. She stayed in Lagos before deciding to return home, where she now works as a seamstress.

She finally explained to her family "the time it would take for me to amass the 10 million naira to build you a house, my body would already be broken".

"Now they understand," she added.
The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) is finally made to believe that the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to file a writ at the Supreme Court to overturn the High Courts decision confirms their belief that these shameful manoeuvrings are orchestrated by their opponents, who are uncomfortable with the growth of the great PPP.

On Friday, the 28th day of October, 2016 in the High Court of Justice, Commercial Division, His Lordship, Eric Kyei Baffour, Esq., Justice of the High Court in the Republic Vs. Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Electoral Commission and Ex parte Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom case, the court quashed the decision of the Commission to disqualify the Presidential candidate of the Progressive Peoples Party from contesting the 2016 general elections for errors committed on the nominations forms.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, the National Chairman of the Party, Nii Allotey Brew Hammond said they are interested in knowing the architects of this grand plan to end the Presidential ambition of the flagbearer of the Progressive Peoples Party in the upcoming general election.

He accuses the Commission of a blatant display of selective injustice on the allegation that the EC gave the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) the opportunity to amend their errors.

According to him, the conduct of the Returning Officer and the Commission in its denial of the right afforded the Applicant by law to make alteration or amendment to his form has been taken in a petulant fashion and their decision in respect of Applicant has been extremely perverse.

Nii Allotey Brew Hammond indicated that the Applicant, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has made a clear case on the basis of the audi alteram partem rule of natural justice for the grant of the reliefs of certiorari and prohibition.

He stated that the inroads they have made, the support the party is gaining, the deep positive impacts on the lives of many Ghanaians in all districts in Ghana undoubtedly see an obvious PPP-led victory in the coming 2016 elections. Why are they afraid of PPP and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom? Can the 7th December 2016 election be free and fair with such attitude of partiality? In any advanced democracy, there will be no election because of the actions of the electoral commission which is supposed to be a referee and not a player. Why will anyone be surprised if there are coordinated attempts to commandeer and rig the 2016 election results?

The National Chairman emphasised that any good electoral commission is like the referee that calls a fair game and does so in a way that does not produce a slanted playing field or favour one team over the other.

He added that good electoral commission is at its best when it is not the focus and is not grandstanding for attention.

Mr. Brew Hammond emphasised that such posture is a recipe for arbitrariness and unfairness, because obviously, the ECs powers will be used to make the EC and its allies win the election and the political players like PPP without special connections to the EC will always lose.

According to him, this is why the call from the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Martin Lamisi Amidu Esq for the EC chair to resign because she acted arrogantly in proceeding to refer the aspiring candidates to the police for investigation for the commission of offences alleged by the EC as reasons for disqualification is a welcoming news.

He intimated that it is obvious the Electoral Commission of Ghana is deliberately delaying the elections for reasons best known to them.

We are shocked the EC is not interested in using dialogue to solve administrative challenges but is interested in sapping the energies of political parties through the court system, he posited.

The National Chairman appeals to civil society organizations, international organizations, observers, members of the diplomatic corps, religious bodies, academic institutions, farmers, fishermen, the media, market women, traders and youth groups to support the PPP to campaign against unfairness and arbitrariness in our body politics.

He stated that the basis of our political system is the right of the people to decide on who becomes the President of Ghana and that right cannot be replaced for anything.

According to him, 2016 election is about job creation and no candidate has been able to practicalize the job creation agenda.

Our candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom stands tall on the job creation agenda. Our objective as a credible alternative to the duopoly through a vigorous, focused campaign based on track record and what we are offering Ghanaians has been accomplished, he noted.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has released a cheque of GH300,000 to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital after weeks of protests by hospital staff for logistics.

The sector ministry, responding finally to the demands for hospital supplies which had run out for weeks resulting in psychiatric nurses abandoning their posts, also presented GH100,000 worth of medications as well as cartons of fish and non-consumable items to enable health officers to care for inmates.

A release signed by the Head of Public Relations, MoH, Tony Goodman, said the presentations made on Wednesday were to help alleviate the plight of patients and workers at the health facility.

The hospital has some stocks of non-consumable items, including treatment gloves which can last till May 2017. We hope that the dedicated source of funding identified by government to support the Mental Health Fund in the Act will help resolve this long standing financial challenge in the psychiatric front, the statement said.

The Minister of Health Alex Segbefia, speaking on local radio station, said more logistics would be supplied to the facility by the end of the week.

We have made some funding available with more to follow by the end of the week, we've also made pharmaceuticals available with more to follow and we are on top of the issue currently so both on the food side, the pharmaceuticals side and the consumables which we are dealing with today [Thursday], all things should be back to normal to cover them till at least the budget is read again till February, he added.

Hospital Budget

Dr Pinnaman Apau, Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, stated that the GH4.1m debt owed suppliers since 2013 has reduced to GH3.5m.

She said the hospital presented an annual budget of GH7m but received only GH400,000, thus being forced to live on a budget deficit of GH6.6m.

We presented a budget of about GH7m.[but] the actual amount we got was around GH400,000, Dr Pinnaman said.

And so the hospital has been running on about GH400, 000 for 500 in-patients, 37,000 out-patients for 12 months, she told Joy FM's Kojo Yankson.

She said mental healthcare is free, therefore, there is no guaranteed source of funding except from government.

The little moneys the hospital generates are used to pay casual workers, fill the gas cylinders in the kitchen, she said.

The director explained that the GH7million budget covered things the hospital actually needs, indicating that the hospital lives on the barest minimum of GH7,000 spent on perishables needed to prepare food for the 500 patients on admission.

When you see the food they eat there is nothing to write home about, she mentioned.

Meanwhile, the nurses group said they will not return until at least two months supplies of logistics, medication and consumable have been made to the facility as promised by the minister during a meeting with the National Labour Commission (NLC).

Jamila Hussein, chairperson of the group, said, We asked for medication for at least two months so we are not going back till that promise has been fulfilled by the health minister.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


One of the biggest health insurance service providers in Tamale, Peekay Gombi Pharmaceutical, has suspended services over a GH2million debt owed by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The pharmacy has not been paid its claims for the past 12 months for services rendered to the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) in the region.

Information available revealed that the pharmacy receives more than 500 customers in a day and the situation has affected many health cardholders.

Peekay is not alone in this NHIA arrears brouhaha, but many other service providers as well, contrary to claims by President John Mahama that the service is doing well.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Peekay Gombi Pharmaceutical, Alhaji Ibrahim Rauf, told DAILY GUIDE that the claims he submitted to the NHIA amounted to GH2million from 2015 to 2016 have not yet been paid.

According to him, the situation forced him to suspend the services because he owes his suppliers so much that they have refused to provide him with drugs which have affected healthcare delivery at the pharmacy.

Out of the 16 companies, Alhaji Rauf mentioned that he owes Ernest Chemist, Tobinco and Rena Chemist an amount of GH250,000.

He denied the allegation by NHIS officers that his decision to suspend the service is politically-motivated, adding that in business there is nothing like politics.

I know I will suffer it since I stopped the service but trust me, I've been pushed to the wall that's why I took this decision and if they are saying it's politics no politician will come and pay for any expired drugs here so my decision has nothing to do with politics, he stated.

Alhaji Rauf added that since he started the cash-and-carry system, business has been good so far because customers pay cash.

Efforts to reach authorities of the NHIA in the Northern Region proved futile.

FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale










Some of the 94/96 Year group of Aburi Girls having fun after the exercise at Airport Shell in Accra

Twenty five ladies of the 94/96 Year Group of Aburi Girls High School have undertaken the cleaning of windscreens in a bid to raise funds for development projects in their alma mater.

They performed the task at the Airport Shell filling station, working on about 100 cars by the time the curtains were drawn on the exercise.

Their presence and the school's green and yellow colours attracted motorists, many of who stopped to refuel.

Commenting on the exercise, the President of the association, Theresa Maame Ekua Galley, said this was a precursor of many events spearheaded by the 94/96 Year Group to support their alma mater.
John Boadu, Acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), says Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer would never debate President John Mahama in the December 7 elections.

According to Boadu, who is also the National Organiser of the NPP, the presidential candidate of the party would not use his precious time and energy to exchange ideas with the President.

Mr Boadu made this known when he addressed the teeming supporters at the launch of Gomoa Central Election Campaign at Gomoa Obuasi, near Agona Swedru.

The Acting General Secretary said Nana Addo is touring the country to campaign on issues which would reverse the fragile economy caused by the NDC government.

He said Nana Addo would never debate the numerous corruption and bribery cases that had bedeviled the country as a result of bad governance.

The NPP Organiser said President Mahama could debate any of the presidential candidates in the race and not Nana Addo.

Mr Boadu also introduced Naana Eyiah, NPP parliamentary candidate for Gomoa Central and asked the electorate to vote for her and Nana Addo on December 7.

He said Nana Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia were poised to wrestle power from President Mahama and NDC to save Ghanaians from economic misery.

Asamoah Boateng, former Information Minister under the previous Kufuor administration, said Ghana needed complete change in the administration of the nation to make life better for ordinary people.

He said President Mahama had disappointed the people of Northern Region due to the monumental failure to implement the policies of Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).

He said more than GH300 million the NDC injected into the programme did not yield fruitful results to benefit people of the Northern Region.

He called on the Ghanaians to vote massively for the NPP to steer the affairs of the country to reduce vicious cycle of poverty among the masses.

Naana Eyiah called on the people to vote for her and Nana Addo to implement the policies and programmes to change the lives of the people of Gomoa Central and Ghana as a whole.
By India Today Web Desk: Bollywood superstar and Quantico actress Priyanka Chopra has been creating a lot of waves in Hollywood lately. The talented actress has been appearing on a number of international talk shows; from Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel to Jimmy Fallon.

Also read:You cannot miss Priyanka Chopra's perfect response when she was asked if she knew English at the age of 12



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Recently the good-looking actress graced Late Night with Seth Meyers and entertained the host with her stories of Quantico and her upcoming Hollywood project Baywatch.

She even spoke about how difficult it was for her to master the American accent, and joked that her Indian accent is fake, and that her American accent is her 'real' accent.

Part 3.. this is too cute ????? Priyanka and her accent problems lol! #priyankachopra #PConLNSM #LNSM A video posted by Priyanka Chopra Fan | Quantico (@pcourheartbeat) on Nov 3, 2016 at 7:43am PDT

The gorgeous actress even demonstrated her Baywatch slow motion run to the beloved host, and said that running in slow motion comes naturally to her as a lot of 'that' happens in the Hindi film industry.

Basically, PeeCee wowed everyone with her stunning self.

Just another day in the life of Priyanka Chopra, people.



--- ENDS ---
The 1st International Conference on Military Law in South Africa, hosted by the South African National Defence Force and the Defence Legal Services Division over the period 31 October to 4 November 2016 at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria, has concluded.

The conference theme (Contemporary Military Law) was explored with sub-themes relating to International Military Law, Human Rights Law, Operational Law and the Administration of Military Justice. The objectives of the conference - to raise public awareness of the importance of Military Law in a democracy and to stimulate interest in academic research in this specialised field of Public Law to strengthen the development of South African Military Law  were successfully met with a number of international and local academics and military professionals presenting research papers regarding the conference theme.

With delegates and presenters arriving for accreditation on Monday, 31 October 2016, the conference was officially opened on Tuesday, 1 November 2016 by Gen Solly Shoke (the Chief of the South African National Defence Force), who in his address welcomed the opportunity provided by the conference for South African military lawyers to benchmark local approaches with that of other armed forces, and expressing the wish that the conference would also provide a basis for evaluating whether any amendments to military- and other legislation may be necessary to empower commanders to instil and maintain military discipline.

Justice Sandile Ngcobo (retired Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court) delivered a thought-provoking keynote address analysing South African and international legal developments relating to the institutional independence of military courts, and concluded by outlining a template which may be used to evaluate the institutional independence of South African military courts to ensure the impartiality of its military judges.

The rest of the first day (under the sub-theme International Military Law) unpacked issues relating to the permissible and legal use of armed force by States, and the legal rules governing soldiers during such armed conflicts. Professor Sascha-Dominik Bachmann of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom presented a paper setting out the implications of so-called hybrid war and the offensive and defensive use of lawfare (the use of litigation for political purposes aimed at impacting a States military operations). Mr Joel Block of the University of the Witwatersrand examined Israels automated Iron Dome Missile Defence System to illustrate issues regarding the uncertain legality of automated systems for aerial defence against missile and rocket attacks and how certain design choices may be utilised to increase both military efficiency and legality by States using, or intending to use, such systems. Mr Mark Maxwell (Deputy Legal Counsel to the United States Africa Command) delivered a paper unpacking how linguistic imprecision in the use of the term self-defence may obscure the legal requirements for its use by States and soldiers in a multitude of different scenarios, and proposed alternative precise terminology to ensure that military force is used legally in these different operational situations.

Colonel Pieter Brits (Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University) examined the disparate legal regimes regulating the conduct of soldiers in international and non-international armed conflicts under the Gevena Conventions and its Protocols, and argued the case for uniform rules in such conflicts to both enhance protection for victims and clearly direct the conduct of military operations under International Humanitarian Law. The day concluded with a panel discussion (led by Ms Adama Ndao  the Acting Chief of the Conduct and Discipline Unit at the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) regarding the regulation, combatting and prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by peacekeepers during United Nations Peace Support Operations.

On Wednesday, 2 November 2016 Major Vukile Sibiya (lecturer at the Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University) discussed the implications of the Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Act, 2012 for South African soldiers and their commanders in both international and non-international armed conflicts. Doctor Tobie Beukes (Senior Researcher at the Centre for Military Studies of the Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University) examined the present status of private military security companies under International Law. Captain Gary Muller of the Defence Legal Services Division critically assessed the legality of the United States Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars program) to determine whether this anti-ballistic missile system complied with the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty, 1967.

The Operational Law sub-theme saw a joint presentation by Professors Louise Jordaan and Nina Mollema (both of the University of South Africa) examining the role of the military in combating human trafficking, whilst Mr Andre Smit of the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor (International Law) assessed the powers of the South African National Defence Force to enforce South African Law at sea.

The Human Rights sub-theme included a presentation by Brigadier General (Doctor) Eric Mnisi (Defence Legal Services Division) wherein he critically reflected on the correctness and implications of the Constitutional Courts decision in 1999 to interpret the Constitution as affording soldiers the right to form and belong to trade unions, and called for a reassessment of this position by possible legislative amendment to address what he regarded to be the adverse impact of unionised soldiers on military discipline in the South African National Defence Force. Prof Paul Wambua of the Nairobi University School of Law concluded the Human Rights session by reflecting on the lessons to be learnt by the Kenyan and Ugandan armed forces from the manner in which the South African National Defence Force accommodates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex soldiers.

The Administration of Military Justice sub-them commenced with a presentation by Major General Blaise Cathcart, the Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Armed Forces wherein he outlined the features of the Canadian military justice system, where after Major Keith Reichert, the Assistant Chief of Staff (Strategic) on Major General Cathcarts staff, reported on the Court Martial Comprehensive Review process presently being conducted to evaluate whether any revision of the Canadian military justice system is required to enhance its effectiveness or legality. Lieutenant Colonel (Doctor) Michelle Nel (Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University) presented a paper identifying what she perceived as the stagnation of Military Law despite a fundamental change in the nature and role of the South African National Defence Force after 1994 and calling for a broadening of the definition and scope of Military Law and its development by means of research and a sustained legal-academic discourse regarding its principles. The second conference day concluded with a panel discussion regarding cyber warfare led by Doctor Joey Janse van Vuuren (CSIR), Mr Sarel Robertse (Department of Justice) and Brigadier General S. Shezi (Defence Intelligence).

The Administration of Military Justice sub-them was concluded on Thursday, 3 November 2016 with a number of topical presentations. Doctor Ronald Naluwairo, the acting Deputy Principal of the Makerere University School of Law in Uganda, analysed the historical foundation and development of Ugandas military justice system and the manner in which human rights are protected therein, concluding that most reforms have been cosmetic and have not gone far enough to entrench protection of human rights in the Ugandan armed forces. Professor Aifheli Tshivhase, Associate Professor and Head of Department (Criminal and Procedural Law) at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University considered the uncertain place of South African Military Courts in the hierarchy of courts in order to determine the appropriate yardstick by which to measure their institutional independence and thus determine the level of remuneration required to ensure that South African military judges have sufficient financial security (as one of the indicators of institutional independence).

Captain Dingaan Mathebula (Defence Legal Services Division) conducted a case law analysis to consider the manner in which South African military courts determine whether pre-trial irregularities result in actual and substantial prejudice to military accused. Lieutenant Colonel Rikus Slabbert (the Officer in Charge of the Defence Legal Services School of Military Justice) provided an overview of the role of the School of Military Justice, where after Brigadier General Reuben Mbangatha presented an overview of the evolution and development of the South African Military Justice System from 1910 to present day. Brigadier General Thipe Matjila (Defence Legal Services) concluded the presentations with an overview of the status of, and progress with, the Military Discipline Bill which (once promulgated into law by Parliament) will further reform South African Law by adding to the revisions introduced in 1999 (when a new system of military justice was introduced to align it with the provisions of the Constitution, 1996).

Upon conclusion of the presentations, Lieutenant General Vusumuzi Masondo (Chief of Staff of the South African National Defence Force) closed the proceedings by providing an overview of some of the highlights of the week, reflecting on certain gains for the South African Military Justice project and thanking the delegates and participants for their contributions.

The conference concluded with a Gala Dinner at the CSIR International Convention Centre, and an informal excursion to interesting and historic sites around Johannesburg and Soweto on Friday, 4 November 2016.
On November 2, 2016, President Xi Jinping held talks with President Alpha Conde of Guinea at the Great Hall of the People. The two heads of state decided to establish China-Guinea comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation, and take the implementation of results achieved in the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) as an opportunity to deepen and expand, in an all-round manner, bilateral friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, so as to create a brighter future for China-Guinea relations.

Xi Jinping pointed out that Guinea is the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Over the past 57 years, the two countries have always maintained sincere friendship and equal treatment, and understood and supported each other on the issues related to respective core interests and major concern. Friendly cooperation relations between the two countries have withstood the test of international vicissitude and become even firmer. China stands ready to, together with Guinea, give full play to the two advantages of traditional friendship and economic complementarity, to constantly inject new impetus into the development of comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

Xi Jinping emphasized that China and Guinea should persist in planning and developing bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation of people from such fields as governments, ruling parties, legislative bodies and local governments, and consolidate the political foundation of long-term friendship. China firmly supports Guinea to explore a development path that fits well with its own national conditions. Both sides should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in economy and trade, and well implement relevant cooperation projects. China stands ready to expand agricultural cooperation with Guinea and help Guinea raise the level of agricultural production so as to achieve food safety. China stands ready to work with Guinea to carry out strategic cooperation in resource development, promote infrastructure construction as well as production capacity cooperation in such areas as railways, ports, electricity and telecommunication, and support Guinea to translate resource advantages into development results so as to realize independent and sustainable development. China is willing to work with Guinea to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in areas including culture, education, health care and tourism, and enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. China is willing to, together with Guinea, comprehensively strengthen international coordination, enhance communication and coordination in international and regional issues such as China-Africa cooperation in renewable energy, climate change, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and African peace and security, and jointly maintain the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

Xi Jinping pointed out that at present, African countries are exploring development paths suitable to their own national conditions with a strong momentum, and the unity, self-reliance as well as the integration process in Africa is developing rapidly. China will uphold the African policy featuring sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the correct viewpoint of righteousness and benefit, comprehensively implement the outcomes from the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit, and closely combine self-development with the assistance to Africa's independent and sustainable development for the sake of win-win cooperation and common development.

Alpha Conde congratulated on the successful convening of the 6th plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and spoke highly of China's world-known achievements under the leadership of the CPC in lifting millions of people out of poverty as well as in economic and social development. Alpha Conde expressed that Guinea appreciates China's long-term support, including helping the Guinean government and people fight against the Ebola epidemic. Guinea is willing to work with China to expand cooperation in resource, energy, science and technology, agriculture, hydroelectricity, infrastructure and port construction, and enhance experience exchanges on state governance and administration. Guinea appreciates China for adhering to its African policy featuring sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, commits itself to actively participating in relevant Africa-China cooperation under the framework of the 10 major cooperation plans proposed by President Xi Jinping at the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit, and stands ready to become a strategic partner of China in Africa.

After the talks, the two heads of state jointly witnessed the signing of cooperation documents between the two countries in such areas as foreign affairs, economy, infrastructure, aviation, culture, public health and finance.

Prior to the talks, Xi Jinping held a welcoming ceremony for Alpha Conde at the square outside the East Gate of the Great Hall of the People. Mme. Peng Liyuan, wife of President Xi Jinping, Vice Premier Ma Kai, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Qiangba Puncog, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Wang Jiarui and others attended the ceremony.
Kalahari bushmen call this place the land God made in anger, and I can see why. In the desert below is Deadvlei, a scorched white expanse of clay, peppered with contorted acacia tree corpses, rendered pitch black by relentless 40 degree heat and embalmed in arid air since they died a millennium ago.

The cloudless blue sky - it hasnt rained for four years - offers the perfect backdrop. Whoever made this place may have been angry, but they knew how to create the perfect photo opportunity.

Towering above is a 325-metre wave of deep orange known as Big Daddy, one of the worlds tallest sand dunes. As we start the ascent, our guide, Brian Schaeffer, nonchalantly mentions that hes climbed it more than a hundred times. This is all well and good, but Brian is a man who sleeps in the open air of the desert and is unfazed when woken by a passing lioness. Its fair to say were cut from different cloth.

The views different every time, he claims, as we begin our ascent. Opposing south-westerly and north winds have been locked in constant battle here for the last 80 million years, sculpting new swirling peaks every day and shifting the dunes up to 100 metres in a year.

The climb is easy at first but before long each step is a challenge as my feet sink deep into the ultra-fine rust-coloured sand. Searing heat evaporates beads of sweat before they have even formed.

But the effort is rewarded with an unrivalled vantage point over the undulating, Martian landscape of the Namib, the oldest desert in the world. Early evening is the best time to reach the summit. Dunes are thrown into sharp relief as the lowering sun pelts one side with harsh light while the other bathes in shade. Plumes of red dust fly off each peak. Apart from our small group, theres no one between us and the horizon.

Just two million people live in Namibia, scattered across an expanse of bush land and desert more than twice the size of Germany. Its impossible to see everything youd want to in one visit. Those in search of Africas Big Five should head north to Etosha National Park, but for city dwellers in search of glorious escapism from a frantic lifestyle, Namibias unforgiving southern wilderness cant be beaten.

Namibia is one of the driest places on Earth (NTB)

Our 2,000km road trip loops through the Kalahari and Namib, returning via the coastal towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay to the capital, Windhoek. You can do it in a week but Id recommend two or three. Get used to a lot of driving. You can, alternatively, arrange a plane safari, but expect to pay accordingly.

The Kalahari Anib Lodge is set in an oasis amid 15sq km of Kalahari bush land, filled with zebras, ostriches, kudu and an array of birdlife. Leopards roam nearby but stay off the reserve, creating a paradise for those further down the food chain.

Kalahari Anib Lodge

As we set out on a sundowner drive, half a dozen springbok bounce across our path. They jump for joy and seem to show off for the cameras. We oblige them with a flurry of shutter clicks. A male ostrich preens and struts up and down in front of two females  the best dancers get the pick of the mates, our guide tells us.

Even the zebras, huddled together and always on the lookout, allow us within a few metres, before we edge slightly too close and they canter off in a puff of orange dust. As the night draws in, the silhouette of two giraffes is etched into the reddening sky, framed by the outline of a large camel thorn.

Ostriches show off for the opposite sex - and the cameras (Shutterstock)

The next day, on the drive back north, were treated to an African massage, the fierce, bone-rattling judder as flat road gives way to bumpy dust track  a staple of any journey here. Jurassic black rocks lined with glistening seams of quartz stab skyward as we descend into the Kuiseb Canyon.

Formed by the ephemeral Kuiseb river  no more than a sandy bed for most of the year  and inhabited by packs of hyenas and jackals, the canyon can be explored on foot or on horseback, but boh options are pretty challenging.

Kuiseb Canyon (Shutterstock)

We stop at the side of the road to look down on a cave, which is no more than a sliver of overhanging rock providing a tiny amount of shade. In 1940, two German scientists, Henno Martin and Hermann Korn, fled here while the world around them tore itself apart. They lived off the land for two years without ever encountering a soul. More than 70 years later, it feels like one of the few places on the planet where that might still be possible.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Qatar Airways (0333 320 2454; qatarairways.com ) flies to Windhoek from Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and London Heathrow via Doha. Economy fares start from 856.

Staying there

Kalahari Anib Lodge ( gondwana-collection.com ) offers doubles from N$1,008 (60), B&B.

More information

namibiatourism.com
Today, Friday 4 November 2016, I heard on Peace FM radio news at 06:00 hours a campaign message from Professor Kwamina Ahwoi, a former Government Minister in the Rawlings NDC regime. He said almost exactly the following to some students in the Volta region when he visited their school on his campaign tour of the region on behalf of his party, the NDC.

If you want to see the youths in government and to give yourselves the opportunity to be in government, then vote for President Mahama and the NDC because any Akufo Addo NPP government will not give you the youths, the chance to be in government. Look at how the late President Mills in his vision to give the youths the chance to participate in government did appoint many youngsters into his government as you all see today. This vision has also been followed up by President Mahama. Therefore, I plead with you to vote for President Mahama and the NDC to give yourselves the chance to be in government in future

I find this campaign message by an alleged accomplished Professor and once a Government Minister extremely infantile. This is a shallow-minded persons path to take to whip up populist sentiments during electioneering campaign. This message contains no substance able to effective positive changes for the better in the livelihoods of the students he was addressing nor that of the general suffering Ghanaian masses.

I would want the reading public and the students he addressed if they have any chance to read me, to note the following.

The youngsters that the late President Mills and President Mahama had, and have, appointed into their governments have all turned out to be walking with their stomach. They are almost all complete thieves; embezzling public funds gluttonously with both hands. If this was not so, former President Rawlings wouldnt boldly publicly say that President Mills has filled his government with greedy bastards and babies with sharp teeth.

It is obvious how Okudzeto Ablakwah, Omane Boamah, Kobby Acheampong, Ofosu Kwakye and a host of these youths in government have turned government into a fertile ground for acquiring immense riches overnight to the detriment of the general public. Is this how Professor Kwamena Ahwoi expects the youths to be in government to become? Is he happy about how the youths in government are selfishly plundering the wealth of Ghana for their own use?

Look again at how Kofi Adams, Koku Anyidoho, Sam George and many more youths in NDC are amassing wealth at the suffering of the Ghanaian population. Because they are young and energetic and are competing among themselves for girlfriends, flashy cars and posh houses to prove who is who to the others, they are stealing Ghanas money as though tomorrow never comes. This is a fact. Is this what Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, himself once a member of the stealing brigade probably, want for the youths and Ghana?

He had better give me a break from his absurd messages to the youths meant only to deceptively obtain their votes free of charge.

Are the youths that he addressed, assuming they are fair-minded youngsters, happy about how their fellow youngsters in government as mentioned above, are greedily misappropriating State funds and also encouraging insults, corruption, lawlessness and practice of selective justice in the country?

For the youths to be in government to steal and to commit all the evil acts and practices as currently the behaviour of those in the President Mahamas NDC-led government, then I will rather prefer the youths to be out of government.

We want people who will think about the collective interests of Ghanaians to be in government, regardless of their age. This is better than having specifically, youths, who will in the exhibition of their youthful exuberances, may not think twice, let alone thrice, when they go on depletion spree to empty the coffers of the State to the detriment of the general public.

A classic example is how Alex Segbefia, now the Health Minister and Barton Odro in complicity did assist Alfred Agbesi Woyome to dupe Ghana out of GHC51.2 million. Woyome is refusing to pay back the money to the State despite a Supreme Courts judgment obliging him to refund the money he so fraudulently obtained from the State, to the State. This is the character of Professor Kwamena Ahwois youths in government for you!

I see Professor Kwamena Ahwoi as simply an obdurate sinner who is unfazed about the thievery in his NDC government as being perpetrated and perpetuated by all the young men and women in government.

Shame on Professor Kwamena Ahwoi for propagating such a shallow-minded persons campaign message which is devoid of substance.

Nana Akufo Addos government will appoint qualified persons, regardless of their age, to serve Ghana and Ghanaians as Government Ministers. People of integrity is all that matters but not having necessarily a percentage of a particular age or tribal group of people in government.

Rockson Adofo

(Written on Friday 4 November 2016)
Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya has deported the spokesman of South Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar, officials said Friday, despite rebels' warning that forcibly returning him to the war-wracked country puts his life in danger.

Senior rebel official Nyarji Roman said James Gatdet Dak had been arrested at his Nairobi home on Wednesday and taken to the airport 24 hours later.

He was sent back to the South Sudanese capital Juba where he was immediately detained, according to Roman, a spokesman for the rebel SPLM/A-IO.

Machar telephoned Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto in a bid to halt Gatdet's deportation on the grounds of "profound fear for his life" but the spokesman was sent back anyway, Roman said.

"The deportation of Mr. James Gatdet Dak is a violation of the Geneva Convention," Roman added, saying an intervention by the UN refugee agency had failed to prevent the move.

"Moreover, the Kenyan government is a guarantor to the peace agreement that was signed in August 2015 and we do not expect that it would put in danger the life of an innocent person."

A Kenyan official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that Gatdet was deported, without elaborating.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny also confirmed that Gatdet was back in the country, refusing to comment further.

Just before his arrest, Gatdet had expressed his support for the sacking of a Kenyan general of a United Nations peacekeeping force accused of failing to protect civilians during a fresh outbreak of violence in Juba in July.

Kenya has responded to Tuesday's sacking of lieutenant general Johnson Ondieki by announcing it will pull its 1,050 troops out of South Sudan and drop plans to contribute soldiers to a planned UN regional force for Juba.

Violence between Machar's supporters and troops loyal to his bitter political foe, President Salva Kiir, has blighted the nation for much of its hard-won independence from Sudan, achieved in 2011.

South Sudan descended into war just two and a half years later when Kiir in December 2013 accused Machar -- who he had sacked as his deputy -- of plotting a coup.

The war has left tens of thousands of people dead and forced nearly two million people to flee their homes.

Machar himself fled South Sudan following July's clashes between his rebel fighters and Kiir's government forces, and has been on the run ever since, turning up variously in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Africa.

His naming as a vice-president was a key condition of a hard-won peace deal signed in August 2015 which is now in tatters.
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), is skeptical about the Electoral Commissions claims that it contracted a credible firm to print electoral sheets, also referred to as pink sheets ahead of the conduct of the December elections.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the NPPs Director of Elections, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, said they believe the EC has not been transparent enough in the award of contract.

The issue surrounding this matter is a bit sketchy; so we are waiting for further clarification, but what we do know is that, the companies that competed for this contract should have some proven capability, while offering some transparency. One quoted a far less amount of about 4.2 million as against 8 million by the other. The other who has no proven record and is gone bankrupt in the UK, physically, nobody knows their location in this country, and we are not too sure that they are going to even do it here or elsewhere, suddenly, somehow wins it, he added.

The Daily Statesman newspaper had alleged in a publication on Thursday, that the EC had awarded a US$8.95 million contract to a British firm, which has been dissolved, to print the electoral sheets for Ghana.

But the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, in an interview with the BBC's Akwasi Sarpong debunked the claims , adding that the contract was also financially prudent.

She clarified that, the company has always printed it for us and has now relocated to Ghana which made their pricing better for us. This time, we did not have to bear the high freight charges that we would have had to bear and also the time for shipping.

But Mr. Korsah argued that, the company has no proven record anywhere in the world; hence should not have been given the contract.

They have no record to show as against the other companies, one of which produced the 2012 one. He is advised to have won the contract, at least per the information; he quoted the most reasonable price that the Ghanaian tax payer would have been okay with, they did it the last time without any hitches.

Mr. Korsah further questioned why the British firm that failed to secure similar contract in Kenya should be given an opportunity in Ghana.

He tried getting a contract to print ballot papers in Kenya; and he didn't get it; and yet in Ghana hes lucky to walk away with a rather huge sum as compared to what the others quoted. We need some transparency in this whole arrangement, he added.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
NAIROBI, Kenya, 4 November 2016,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- There is no doubt that Kenya has the potential to be one of Africa's great success stories. It's among the fastest growing economies in East Africa and successfully rebased its economy last year, a strategy that saw its nominal gross domestic product rise 25% to $55 billion, making it a middle-income status country.

It is now the largest economy in East Africa, with growth anticipated to rise to 6.1 % in 2017. The trillion dollar question is, where to next for Kenya and its people? How do they translate this hard-won economic advantage and growth into sustained ongoing prosperity and take their place on the competitive world economic stage?

One of the answers to this question lies buried in the complex world of processes, systems, data and machine language in other words, it's a digital answer. It's no surprise that e-government offers the most powerful and exciting potential to revolutionize the way government organisations handle service delivery.

According to the 2016 Country Economic Memorandum, Kenya's growth prospects will depend heavily on digital innovation and governance to achieve rapid and sustained growth. At the Regional e-Government for Local Authorities Forum held in Kenya earlier this year, it was stated that East African authorities need to fast-track planning and implementation of information and communication technologies in an effort to increase the efficiency of service delivery.

KRA and SAP partner for Success

Established in 1995, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has the responsibility of collecting revenue on behalf of the Kenyan government to finance service delivery to an estimated population of +44 million, which increases by one million per annum. To help drive efficiencies, KRA is partnering with SAP - market leader in enterprise application software - to implement a core technology application called SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

The new partnership also marks the dawn of a new era, positioning KRA as the first public sector organisation in the East

Africa region to adopt SAP's advanced real-time and in-memory technology. Ezekiel Saina, Commissioner of Corporate Support Services at KRA added, "The decision to implement what may on face value appear to be just another ICT solution, in fact means that KRA is adopting new-age technology that can scale, speed, and accelerate decision-making and business management on a truly revolutionary platform. This innovative platform, SAP HANA, will assist KRA transform business operations and support the organisation as we adapt and shape our financial industry to meet the demands of the Digital Economy."

As a result of this transformative decision, every process of government from supply management, employee engagement to governance, risk and compliance will now run seamlessly on SAP HANA in real-time, making KRA more citizen-centric, fast and efficient.

E-government gains momentum in East Africa

When compared to industrialised countries, there are some major challenges affecting these kinds of ambitious roll-outs. These include lack of strategic 'e-readiness', less funding, less widespread use of ICT and older generations of technology in place. However, Kenya has one major ace up its sleeve - the will to accelerate its ICT journey. With the support of the KRA and other development partners, there have been significant structural and economic reforms that are contributing not only to efficiencies but to growth.

e-Government is a non-negotiable for national development

It's been proven across the globe that effective ICT has the power to transform the generation and delivery of public services. Digital solutions, like those supplied by SAP, help identify, remediate, monitor, exploit and manage enterprise risks in addition to coordinating the utilization of people, process and technology to improve governance, risk and compliance (GRC) effectiveness while managing costs.

"Kenya is renowned for its entrepreneurial spirit and its technological and financial innovations and we are proud to support the KRA as it demonstrates that e-government is an attainable reality. We would also like to thank Alttab Africa Ltd, an SAP partner, for their assistance and support during KRA's massive technology leap," commented Ashley Boag, Acting Managing Director of SAP East Africa. "No government can make headway in its vision for implementation without the full adoption of an e-government system. As companies across Africa continue to adopt technology and transform their operations, they will become increasingly able to meet the demands of e-government and more importantly, the Digital Economy."

For more information, visit the SAP News Center . Follow SAP on Twit
Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of governance and public administration with the Kingdom of Lesotho Minister of Public Service, Mr Tsukutlane Au in Pretoria.

The signing of the MoU took place within the broader cooperation framework between South Africa and Lesotho which is based on the Bi-National Commission (BNC) that the neighbouring countries have. Both Ministers led high level delegations consisting of Directors-General, Executives and other senior government officials for the signing ceremony.

All entities falling within the ambit of the South African Ministry for the Public Service and Administration, namely, the Department of Public Service and Administration, National School of Government and the Centre for Public Service Innovation, will use the signed instrument to exchange information and share best practices. Areas for the envisaged cooperation include, amongst others: Performance Management System, Structures, Systems and Design of the Public Services, Human Resource Development and Public Sector Scarce Skills Retention Strategies. These areas of cooperation and others will be implemented through seconding and attaching experts, providing technical consultations and organising exchange programmes between the parties.

South Africa and Lesotho have numerous Memoranda of Understanding signed amongst various Ministries of the respective countries. The MoU on Public Service marks the beginning of a strategic partnership as exchanges of best practices on public administration will serve as a catalyst in bolstering and improving service delivery of the two countries. Efficient Public Service is a cornerstone for a well oiled and effective government machinery and it is anticipated that cooperation in this regard will have far reaching and positive implications the general collaboration between Lesotho and South Africa on many programmes and projects ranging from government-to-government, business and people-to-people.

Both Minister Ramatlhodi and his Lesotho counterpart, Mr Au, underscored the importance of ensuring that the signed MoU should be implemented with immediate effect to hasten improved Public Service systems and policies that will ensure improvement of capacity for the respective governments to tackle the scourge of poverty, inequality and unemployment and enhance the capacity of the state to create a better life for all. Both South Africa and Lesotho are actively participate in governance and public administration policy dialogue within SADC and the entire African continent and the signed MoU will reinforce and consolidate common positions in improving public services regional and AU levels.
The Honourable Stephane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that he will travel to Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia from November 5 to 11, 2016.

This first visit by Minister Dion to sub-Saharan Africa will highlight the importance Canada attaches to strengthening bilateral relations with African partners. Canada will also seek to advance its interests in the areas of peace, stability, security and the rule of law, including support for the International Criminal Court. The Minister will also announce a number of new projects for the region that support our shared interests in these areas.

Africa has seen strong growth and progress in reducing poverty over the last decade. However, some African countries continue to face instability and armed conflict, which impact regional and international security and threaten to limit the benefits of growth for the next generation. The consequences for our shared international security and prosperity cannot be underestimated. The dynamism at play across the continent is calling out for Canadian engagement, and this visit is an opportunity to support African governments as they channel that dynamism for the benefit of their people.

Minister Dion will build on Canadas bilateral relationship with Nigeria, Africas most populous country and largest economy. He will co-chair the binational commission that will focus on governance and security issues, such as counterterrorism efforts and the humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country.

In Kenya, Minister Dion will meet with Kenyan counterparts to discuss issues of shared interest and concern, including the role women play in peace and security and the important contributions Kenya has been making to regional security and peacebuilding.

In Ethiopia, Minister Dion will deliver the message that more can be done to engage Ethiopians in the democratic process and to encourage the government to undertake real and constructive reforms. The Government of Canada is concerned by the response to recent demonstrations but is cautiously optimistic that developments in the past few days may signal the willingness of the Ethiopian government to make genuine improvements for the benefit of its people.

This visit will also demonstrate the importance of the African Union, headquartered in Addis Ababa, to our shared priorities, including supporting African-led efforts to address the pressing challenges facing the continent in the areas of security and the rule of law.
A staff of Ninani Group making the presentation to a representative of Shekina Clinic as the CEO and others look on

The Ninani Group of Companies yesterday made a donation of an assortment of items to representatives of Tamale-based Shekina Clinic in Accra.

The Shekina Clinic is home for the destitute and health facility founded by Dr. David Abdulai aka 'Mad Doctor,' the medical doctor who dedicated his life to supporting the poor and abandoned until he breathed his last recently after contracting thyroid cancer.

The items were made up of cooking oil, syringes, multivitamins, tins of mackerel and cassava dough.

Joel Nettey Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ninani Group in his speech during the handing over ceremony called on all to support the needy in society; gesture, which according to him, cuts across the two great faiths of Islam and Christianity.

For the past four years, the Group has engaged in supporting projects in society as a Corporate Social Responsibility assignment, he said, adding that the project would be sustained in the coming years in as much as we have life.

Continuing, he said we started with the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. If God gives us life we would continue to support the needy in other areas. We would encourage others to consider donating their clothing to the needy.

When the floor was opened at the offices of the Group for individual donation to the clinic, an amount of GH20,000 was raised  a figure beyond the imagination of the assembly of sympathizers of the clinic and staff, most of who made personal donation. The MC of the occasion touched by the story of Shekina donated a thousand Ghana Cedis.

One lady who was singled out for commendation by the CEO was Sardia Mould for her efforts in putting the support programme together. He said she went to the Nima market to purchase the items.

The Shekina Clinic was established by the late Dr. David Abdulai to provide free medical care to the needy and lunatics including a popular food-on- wheels programme.

Upon his transition recently, the sustenance of the humanitarian programme became a preoccupation of many. The intervention of Ninani Group of Companies joins the long list of supporters of the many destitute, homeless and lunatics in Tamale and beyond who depend on Shekina for survival.

A representative of Shekina Clinic who received the items from Ninani expressed gratitude to the Group for the gesture.

Ninani Group of Companies, a leading name in the integrated marketing communication industry is made up five companies.

The Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Communications Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi by whose term two outstanding students would be awarded with cash and an opportunity to do an internship in the Group.

By A.R. Gomda


By PTI: "At a sub-regional level, we have worked out mutually

"At a sub-regional level, we have worked out mutually beneficial arrangements for smooth movement of goods from Bangladesh through India to Nepal and Bhutan.

"The Motor Vehicles Agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal will, no doubt, contribute significantly to the common goal of economic development of the region. The success of this sub-regional co-operation mechanism could make it a model for further initiatives," Mukherjee said.

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Speaking at the seminar, he said that development of border infrastructure and connectivity projects with Nepal such as Hulaki roads, cross-border rail links, Integrated Check Posts, cross-border transmission lines is intended to broaden the reach of economic prosperity in the region.

"It is a matter of satisfaction that the first ever international oil pipeline in South Asia is under construction between India and Nepal. Of course, we need to ensure, through effective monitoring, that implementation of these projects is efficient ? so that the fruits of these initiatives can be enjoyed by our peoples as soon as possible," he added.

In a strong message against cross-border terrorism, Mukherjee said India remains committed to promoting regional cooperation in the framework of the BIMSTEC and SAARC but mutually beneficial cooperation cannot be promoted under the shadow of cross-border terrorism.

"The open-border brings enormous benefits to our two peoples and facilitates the daily interaction between them ? which is a lifeline to many communities on both sides. We must, therefore, be very vigilant and prevent the misuse of our open border by those who do not have the best interests of India and Nepal at heart," said Mukherjee.

The President said, "we need to act decisively against terror which he described as the scourge on humanity".

"The international community must work unitedly to thwart and isolate those who use cross border terrorism as an instrument of state policy. No state should be allowed to sponsor or harbour perpetrators of cowardly acts of terror."

Mukherjee said in the current state of India-Nepal ties, it is seen that this enduring partnership continues to be driven and characterised by the socio-economic and developmental imperatives of our two peoples.

"Trade and economic co-operation are foundational pillars of India-Nepal partnership. We have maintained a steady growth in bilateral trade and mutual investments. But we can do much more to facilitate trade and promote investments," he said and stressed on encouraging private sectors on both sides to enhance their engagement.

The President said Nepalese firms can join in developing regional supply chains and benefit from India?s growth story.

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"India would like to see a prosperous Nepal, optimally harnessing its abundant natural resources. India is committed to assist Nepal in achieving these cherished aspirations of her people," he said.

Mukherjee, who plans to meet ex-servicemen of Indian army in Pokhra tomorrow, lauded an area where co-operation between two countries is exemplary - defence and security.

"We are proud of the legendary valour and sacrifice of the Gurkhas in the defence of India. As our security interests are interlinked, we must continue to consult and coordinate closely to safeguard our shared security interests," he said. PTI ABS ZH AKJ ZH

--- ENDS ---
04.11.2016 LISTEN



By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House

[email protected]

The attitude of Ministers of State in responding to summons of Parliament has, for some time now, not been encouraging, as most of them choose to attend to other assignments, rather than honouring invitations of the House.

The last straw that broke the camels back was when the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, failed to appear before the House to assist in clarifying some amendments proposed in a bill for her ministry.

On the floor of Parliament yesterday, the Deputy Majority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashaiman Constituency, Alfred Agbesi, acting as the leader of Government Business, directed for the consideration stage of the Childrens (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to be continued. Unfortunately, the Chairman of the Gender and Children Committee, Laadi Ayi Ayamba, who would remind the House as to which amendment to be dealt with, was absent.

As if that was not enough, the Minister for the sector, Nana Oye Lithur, was also nowhere within the Chamber.

Observing that the attitude of ministers not responding to Parliamentary summons was becoming too much, the Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo Markin, prayed the Speaker to shoot down the motion for consideration.

He urged that the leader of Government Business explain to the House the whereabouts of the Minister.

The Deputy Majority Leader, responding to the issue, said the Minister was on an official assignment outside Accra, adding that the Chairperson was also at the hospital following an illness.

He urged that the Deputy Minister of Gender and Children Protection, Dela Sowa, who was in the chamber, be assisted by a member of the Gender and Children Committee to continue the consideration.

However, the response did not go down well with the Minority, which probed further to know exactly where the Minister was, and what she was doing there.

The Childrens (Amendment) Bill has made provisions to ensure that adoptions and foster care in Ghana are properly streamlined, in conformity with international standards. It would also correct the weakness in alternative care management, to ensure that children who enter into the care system are properly accounted for and protected.

On the other hand, the Minister for Youth and Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, was also programmed to assist to clarify some amendments proposed in a bill currently at the consideration stage (National Youth Scheme Bill, 2016), but he did not show up.

As at press time, the two ministers were all not in the chamber to assist the House.

Against that backdrop, the MP for Atwima Mponua Constituency, Isaac Asiamah, speaking passionately, indicated that the attitude of ministers towards the august House was uncalled for.

He said parliamentary summons should not be taken for granted, as it helps the representatives of the people to be well informed, so as to be able to educate their constituents.

We, as MPs, are here to do business, and those in charge of government business are on campaign trail than to respond to issues relating to government business. We need further and better particulars about the official assignment, the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, exclaimed.

The first Deputy Speaker, Ebo Barton Oduro, who was in the seat of the Speaker, voiced out a warning to the ministers not to repeat such an attitude, citing that it was disrespectful to the House and its members.

Honourable members, I think the word is now clear that we dont want the ministers to take this House for granted. You have championed this Bill. As much as possible, you should show some respect by being present when we are considering it I want to sound this warning that we should not have this happening again, Mr. Ebo Barton Oduro cautioned.
04.11.2016 LISTEN



By Samuel Agbewode.

The Volta Regional Secretariat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has served notice to Togolese nationals, who intend entering the country to vote for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the December polls, following their contract with the party, to rethink their stance.

Insisting that such undertakings hinge on criminality, the NPP revealed to this paper that some of these foreign nationals had exposed the NDCs intentions to them. We are not just talking; the Togolese have openly told us that they have been approached by the NDC to register and vote for them. They are ready to come out and confess, the party said.

The Elephant Family has, therefore, launched an election monitoring strategy  Operation Eagle Eye  to face their recalcitrant neighbours, who would attempt crossing the Ghana border with the intention of voting for the NDC, in return for hoes and cutlasses. Genuine Ghanaians living in Togo would, however, not be targeted, the party indicated.

Speaking at a press conference in Ho yesterday, the Volta Regional Chairman of the NPP, Mr. John Peter Amewu, said the alleged call by the ruling party that Togolese citizens should cross the border and cast their votes, should be seen as an affront to the Constitution of the country, which must be condemned by Ghanaians.

Mr. Amewu, while appealing to the NDC to refrain from such negative electoral fraud, called on ex-President Rawlings to advice his party executives to desist from their intended mobilisation of the foreigners in question to partake in the upcoming elections, saying any attempt in that regard could trigger chaos and civil unrest.

The Chairman explained that the NPP in the region would become more vigilant than ever before, because it was illegal and unheard of for Togolese citizens to be part of the decision-making process of the country.

Touching on the just-ended five-day campaign tour of the region by the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Mr. Amewu said it was clear the support base of the NPP in the region had shot up.

Mr. Amewu said initially, the NPP in the Volta Region was working towards 32 percent of the total votes, and five parliamentary seats, but had to review the figure upwards to 50 percent, following the presidential candidates tour, revealing that the party had come up with a new slogan: Agenda 5-50, Mina mia me pepepe, meaning lets share the votes equally with the NDC in the Volta Region.

The NPP used the opportunity to thank the chiefs and people of the region for the support shown the NPP and Nana Addo during his tour of the region, and urged them to have confidence in the party, and vote massively to pave the way for the transformation of the region.

In a related development, the Volta regional branch of the NPP has also launched its version of the national programme to protect the ballot box for the party in the region, dubbed Adopt a Polling Station: Don't sit on the Fence. This is aimed at ensuring vigilance at the various polling stations to forestall rigging.

Mr. Ken Ofori Atta, Chairman for the Fundraising Committee of the NPP, who launched the programme, explained that coupons would be distributed at the various constituencies and polling stations to enable supporters and members of the NPP to contribute in the form of cash, provision of food, water and vehicles for monitoring on the day of election.

Mr. Atta said at least GH500 would be expected to be raised to care for people working for the party at the polling stations, explaining that all persons who would contribute to the programme would be recognised as such.
Private Legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw, has in his capacity as a private citizen backed by Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, written a letter to the Electoral Commission, demanding answers to seven questions following his fears that the election timetable on December 7, may be compromised.

His fear, which has been expressed by some Ghanaians, is due to the Commission's current legal tussle with political parties whose presidential aspirants have been disqualified from participating in the elections, with barely a month and a few days to the election.

In Mr. Ampah's view, the Commission's assurance that it is on top of issues and that it would meet the election timetable, is not enough.

Mr. Ampaw requests the Commission to respond to his questions by Wednesday November 9, 2016.

Below is the letter dated November 3, 2016.

3rd November 2016.

The Electoral Commission,

Head Office,

Accra.

Attn: Mrs. Charlotte Osei, Chairperson.

Dear Madam

RE: ELECTION TIMETABLE AND 7TH DECEMBER 2016 GENERAL ELECITONS

I write to you as a citizen of the republic because of my anxiety that the general elections scheduled for 7th December 2016 might not come off. My anxiety, which unfortunately is shared by many well-meaning citizens, stems from the continuing legal battles between the Commission and several presidential aspirants, who have been disqualified by the Commission. This is against the backdrop of the incontestable proposition that the deadline permitted by the Constitution, under article 63 (2) (a) thereof, for the conduct of presidential elections is 7th December 2016. At the same time, I have observed that the Commission has been quick to assure the nation that it is on top of the issues, that there is no reason for citizens to be agitated that the elections might not come on as scheduled, and that the Commission will definitely not only supervise a successful conduct of general elections on 7th December 2016, but will deliver the most successful and efficient, free, fair and credible elections Ghana has ever experienced.

While I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the assurances of the Commission, you will agree with me that the anxieties of many Ghanaians, including myself, would largely be laid to rest if you could provide direct answers to the following specific questions that I ask below. Let me, for the

 2 

avoidance of doubt, state clearly that I ask the questions set out below in exercise of my fundamental human right under Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution of the Republic which

guarantees every person the right to information, subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society.

Fortunately, I am unaware of any qualifications or laws that would permit the Commission to deny me this right in the instant case. I accordingly proceed to ask of the Commission the following questions:

1.In the Commission's considered judgment, and all things being equal, when does the Commission project that the current spate of law suits involving it and those presidential aspirants, whom the Commission has disqualified for stated reasons, will end to enable the Commission carry out the ballot for positions of the presidential candidates on the ballot paper?

2.When in the Commission's considered judgment will the ballot papers for the presidential candidates for the 2016 elections be printed and ready for the December 2016 elections?

3.Are the other election materials, such as the Statement of Poll for the Office of Member of Parliament and Statement of Poll for the Office of President (popularly referred to as pink sheets); the Certificate to be Endorsed on Writ (Form EL1 B for parliamentary elections) and the Certificate to be Endorsed on Writ (Form EL 1 B for presidential elections); and the Parliamentary Elections  Results Collation Form (Form EL 23A) and the Presidential Elections-Result Collation Form (Form EL 23B) already printed out and ready for use for the December 2016 elections?

4.If they are already printed out, when were they so printed?

5.If these materials have not already been printed out, when, in the judgment of the Commission, will they be printed out and be in the custody of the Commission to ensure the conduct of general elections on 7th December 2016?

6. Will these election materials be printed in Ghana or abroad?

7.Finally, when, in the judgment of the Commission, would be the last date that it should have concluded the current law suits it is involved in as a party and should have printed all relevant elections materials, as set out above, to ensure that it is able to conduct and supervise the December 2016 presidential elections? ,

Madam Chairperson, it would, with respect, be very much appreciated if you could furnish me with the Commission's written answers to each of these questions within the shortest possible time, and certainly, by Wednesday, 9th November 2016.

Yours faithfully,

Akoto Ampaw



By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Inaki Urdangarin they say is not a good man . His name, Inaki Urdangarin turned from "ideal son-in-law" to the black sheep of Spain's royal family when he landed in court in a corruption case. He had his little ways. And sometimes no one spoke to him for days . He was wasteful, very fond of wild beasts but very unconcerned about people's welfare. He was also a promoter of warfare and wickedness. Most frequently regarded as the godless one. In 2011, the Noos case burst into the open with Urdangarin, and others suspected of siphoning off money paid by regional governments to the institute for staging sporting events and conferences. He denied any wrongdoing, but the scandal led to a spectacular fall from grace and even precipitated the emotional abdication of King Juan Carlos in 2014.

I think one man today in Imo state of Nigeria is following the footsteps of Urdangarin of Spain. This man has put the role of newspapers and Journalists in holding politicians to account under threat as never before. In 2015 he unleashed his thugs on a Journalist by name Greg Okey Nwadike. Greg was brutalized to a state of coma. He was accused of being sponsored by the opposition to riot against the government of Imo State since he was wearing a TAN T-shirt to cover student protest in the state. Wearing TAN T-shirt became a crime only in Imo.

This same man stopped the placing of government adverts in some newspapers in the state accusing them of antigovernment bias in there reporting. Several journalists in Imo have received threats from his goons over the last years. When an Owerri based Newspaper (Community Watchdog) published an investigative report detailing how a cook attached to this man disappeared into thin air with over N5 billion out of the N26.8 billion bail-out fund released to Imo State by the Buhari administration it expected authorities to investigate. The journalists did not expect that they would become the targets of persecution and threats to life. The money was allegedly stashed and hidden inside the mans bedroom waiting for when it would be convenient to launder it abroad, for safe keeping. This man who is the Chief of Staff to the governor of Imo State as well as his son in-law sent over 20 armed policemen to the office of Community Watchdog Newspaper in Owerri arrested its publisher Mr.Precious Nwadike and handcuffed him like a common criminal . Precious was charged to court for criminal defamation the next day.

That is the same man whose goons say he is chosen by god to be the next governor of Imo. He is not governor yet but he wants to crush everyone. Omase o! What makes him the special one elected by god as the next governor of Imo if I may ask? Is it because he is the governors son in-law? Is it because he has some coins? How did this dud get his wealth in the first place? He was one of those who applied for the Ohakim 10,000 jobs in 2010 but was not successful. In 2011 he became a multi millionaire. How? Each year, many of these thieves line up to receive awards and other accolades. Everywhere you look, they are being invested with one stupid chieftaincy title or another.. They attend state banquets and shake the smooth, soft hands of the high and mighty. They are being invited regularly to chair high profile events where brilliant sermons are delivered on integrity, transparency, anti-corruption and good governance  citing their exceptional industry and sterling honesty as worthy of emulation by todays youths. Inukwa!

Rather than tell us what happened to our bailout fund Uche Nwosu wants to frighten the press. He preaches the catechism that all power comes from God, but takes care not to warn us that he now regards himself as the god who must be obeyed.Someone should tell him to stop fighting the press He should know that when a man is placed in the public arena he must be prepared to accept public criticism. His lawsuit against the press undermines Governor Okorochas commitment to press freedom. Governor Okorocha has publicly subscribed to a vision in which press freedom is respected in Imo State and Nwosus action which remind us of the dark days of military jackboot absolutism should be condemned by all. What he should have done is to take the missing bailout fund newspaper stories as a challenge to put more effort in his work as a public officer or write a rejoinder in response to the story but he chose to throw caution to the wind .Imo State cannot move forward unless its media can report freely on issues of state and national importance.

Nwosu cannot win the case of criminal defamation against Community Watchdog Newspaper. He must establish not only that the stories about him in the paper were not true, but also that they were not published for the public benefit. He will also let the court know the criminal intent of the paper to extort money or other property from him . Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Remember that defamation is a false statement of fact. So, if the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasnt defamatory. Mbok! I think even ICPC report told us that bailout fund was diverted in Imo. Nitori Olorun! Make I talk am ! Leave Community Watchdog Newspaper alone!

If he insists on this wild goose chase he should note that it is duty of the Court to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of the citizens, and, in appropriate cases, to balance the conflicting interests between freedom of expression and the protection of reputation. The courts would normally proceed from the principle that the right to freedom of expression, being a fundamental human right, must be given preferential protective consideration; and any claim to its restriction or derogation must be construed strictly. He must satisfy the court that he is entitled to invoke the exception to restrict or curtail the Community Watchdog's fundamental right to freedom of expression. He will bear the burden of proving the requisite ingredients constituting the tort of defamation.

The fight against Precious Nwadike is an attempt to deny the media its watchdog role . Nwosu has moved against free speech in Imo State. He has no respect for press freedom. He will not succeed in his plot to cage the press in Imo. We say No to press intimidation. Intimidation cannot frighten the press away from the truth. We say NO to human rights violation by those in authority and their agents. It is ridiculous that while some public officers who are expected to be above board but perpetrate brazen corruption are allowed to live like kings, media men who are demanding sanity are slammed with lawsuits and dungeons of intimidation and repression. This again shows that despite the so-called emergence of civilian rule since 1999 and despite the struggle of the working and poor masses against dictatorship and for good governance, some public office holding vampires who never contributed to the termination of military dictatorship are the ones throwing the masses to the gallows. That we are still witnessing a clear attack on the media in this country as clearly displayed by Nwosu is a sign of bad omen for the poor working masses of Nigeria.

We cant and we wont forget that to be a journalist is not only a great responsibility, but also a high honour and not a high crime. I call on Imolites to reject the political repression against the media by Uche Nwosu. I call on Imolites to demand the total withdrawal of all trumped-up political motivated lawsuit leveled against Precious Nwadike and Community Watchdog Newspaper . I call on the Judiciary not to allow it to be used by temporary power holders to unjustly victimize the press. The people are watching.

-Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the announcement of the adoption of the new Constitution in Cote d'Ivoire by the Commission Electorale Independante, which followed the 30 October constitutional referendum.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban noted with satisfaction that the new Constitution addresses of some long-standing causes or tension and divisions in Cote dIvoire.

Further to the statement, all Ivorian parties, including political leaders and their supporters, were encouraged to reject violence and refrain from the use of inflammatory language. The Secretary-General stressed the importance of resolving the conflict through constitutional means, through dialogue, leading to fair and open elections in the weeks ahead.

The Secretary-General also assured, through his Special Representative and Head of the UN Operation in Cote dIvoire ( UNOCI ) that the UN is highly committed to maintaining peace and stability in Cote dIvoire.
The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, has likened the National Democratic Congress (NDC) governments relationship with the people of the Volta Region to a husband who has offended his wife, and comes to his in-laws to plead on his behalf.

He said the Volta Region and the governing NDC have had close ties over the years, despite the challenges that have threatened their relationship.

Responding to concerns raised by the acting President of the Peki Traditional Area, Togbe Ayim VI, over the deplorable nature of their roads and the slow pace of work on the eastern corridor roads, Mr. Debrah said that, although much has been done by government to enhance the lives of the people in the region, more work is expected to be done.

The Chief of Staff was addressing the chiefs and people of Peki as part of his four-day tour of the region, when he assured the people of better days ahead if the NDC is retained in government.

Following a dicussion of the peoples challenges, Mr. Debrah assured that the many other issues that you raised, the upgrade and renovation of the hospitals, we will take them up.

When we have such interactions and you bring issues to our attention, it is our responsibility to take them up as government that listen so that we factor them into our planning, or we start taking action for you to realize that we are not taking the issues raised for granted, he added.



By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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From Musah Umar Farouq, Wa.

The Ghana National Household Registry is expected to complete data collection for the Upper West Region by the third week of this month.

The GNHR is collecting data on households in communities, detailing individuals' living standards  including poverty levels  in a comprehensive exercise that would help to structure, among others, social protection interventions across the country.

The exercise, launched on August 1 this year in Wa in the Upper West Region, began with the Upper West Region, and officials expect to collect data in both the Upper East and Northern regions before the close of 2016.

The exercise, which is under the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection, was halted for nearly a month after the launch, when the software being used in the data collection developed problems.

Mr. Robert Austin, National Coordinator of the GNHR, said more than 80,000 households had been captured across the 11 districts of the Upper West Region, as of the close of last Thursday, after the software problem was resolved.

With more than 70 per cent of the region covered, Mr. Austin expressed the hope during a courtesy call on Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, that the exercise could be completed within the next three weeks.

He said the data being collected would help policy makers in designing the appropriate interventions for the various strata of society.

He said the data would also come in handy for the relevant authorities in crafting social intervention programmes, intended to bridge the gap between the cash-rich and cash-poor.

The Regional Minister expressed satisfaction with the professional standards and checks within the system, which, he said, had brought out satisfactory results from the staff deployed for the exercise.

Data, including name, age, and income levels of individual household members, is being fed into a centralised national data system that would provide a comprehensive breakdown of the structure of the Ghanaian society.

The exercise also requires the bio data of household members, and officials said the locally-developed software system eliminates the chances of counting an individual twice or more.

Some 361 staff, which includes field enumerators, has been deployed for the ongoing exercise in the Upper West Region.

Enumerators visit households and take the pictures and fingerprints of the persons they interview, and pictures of their living environments, all of which are fed into the data system, which also captures a map of the movement of the individual enumerators.

These features of the specially-designed tablets, Mr. Austin said, were part of a self-checking system to ensure that enumerators complied with the demands of the exercise religiously.

The GNHR is, perhaps, the most comprehensive data on the national population and its structure.

The exercise is being funded by the World Bank-sponsored Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP), an initiative set up to promote the creation of job opportunities to enhance the welfare of citizens.
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From Sebastian R. Freiku, Woraso

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekyere Kumawu, Philip Atta Basoah, has inspected progress of work on the 5.4 kilometre stretch of road linking the Sekyere Kumawu District to the Sekyere East District in the Ashanti Region.

The road, which was started as a Government of Ghana project eight years ago, was abandoned.

The government, however, re-awarded the contract as a Cocoa road project in March this year for execution by Messrs Boatway Construction Company, after the MP had drawn the attention of the government of the importance of the road to Parliament.

MP Basoah noted that the completion of the project would facilitate would facilitate movement of farm produce from the area to the commercial centres.

The contractor has given the assurance that construction would be completed by December, after bitumen surfacing had been applied.
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From Inusa Musah, Tema.

Roland Affail Monney, President of the Ghana Journalists' Association (GJA), has warned that just one irresponsible and reckless news report can destroy the peace and stability Ghana is enjoying.

Ghana, he observed, is not immune to the flames of civil war that some countries on the continent had witnessed.

He said some of the news reports he had been following were so irresponsible and reckless that it would take only the mature and tough politician to hold the peace, in order to save the stability of Ghana.

Mr. Monney said the media waves are charged and boiling with mudslinging, vituperations, crude insults and false reports by some journalists, who are inclined to one political party or the other.

The international community is monitoring the journalists' work in Ghana, and it is so much worried of some of the journalists' work, the GJA President said at a one-day election reporting workshop held for the Tema Chapter of the association at the Tema Development Corporation (TDC).

The workshop was on the theme: 'Towards a peaceful Election; the role of the Media'.

The media, in these dangerous moments, he advised, ought to tilt stories towards conflict resolution, by foregoing their agenda for their darling political parties.

The media in Ghana is too polarized, and as the GJA President, and one who saw how the grace of God and the timely interventions of some revered men of God kept the peace of our country in 2008 and 2012, my heart bleeds for Ghana.

There are heightened tensions because of some of our colleagues who are forsaking our peace for their stomachs and pockets.

He walked the participants through the legs of responsible journalism, mentioning accuracy, balanced, credibility and proficiency, albeit, he elaborated on the elements of responsible journalism.

Roland Affail Monney was of the view that where a credible story could spark disaster, the journalist should weigh the adverse consequences and relegate the story.

When good reports appeal to the conscience of Ghanaians, Mr. Monney said, the politicians who was bent on fomenting trouble would swallow their reckless and irresponsible utterances, before, during and after the elections.

Furthermore, he advised journalists to personally read wider to broaden their scope of reporting, and monitor other developmental reports by international journalists.

He commended the executive of the Tema Chapter of the GJA and its Chairman, Dominic Hlordzi, for organising such an important workshop to get the media in the area responsible and informed on their roles before, during and after this year's elections.

Concluding, he said: Never let it be mentioned that your last story caused flames in Ghana.
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Goldstar Air, a wholly owned Ghanaian airliner has announced that it is accepting applications from suitably qualified Ghanaian pilots and engineers for Boeing 737 or Boeing 767 operations.

The company says its focus is to promote and protect the interest of Ghanaians.

Consequently, as part of efforts to indigenise its airline operations and rely on Ghanaians to man the aircrafts, the airline would be employing retired Ghana Air Force Pilots, and sponsor them to be type-rated by BAA training headquarters in Vilnius, Lithuania, a leading aviation training center in the European Union.

Mr. Theophilus Edzie, Director of Communication of the airline, in a release, said the pilots, after completion of their type rating on B737 and B767 would return as first officers of the airline to assist the Pilot in Command (PIC) by acquiring some more hours in the process and later taking over as Pilot in command.

Mr. Edzie said applicants must be type-rated on B737 or B767. Other requirements for the pilot in command (captain) was that he must have 5,000 flight hours as commander and at least 1,000 flight hours on B737 or B767.

The pilot in command must also have a class three medicals. Applicants applying for First Officer should also have 2,500 flight hours and at least 500 flight hours as a first officer on B737 or B767 and must also have a class three medicals.



Mr. Edzie said the engineers applying for the job must have a valid aircraft maintenance engineer license, and must be type rated on B737 and B767 or both on Airframe and Power Plant.

They must also have requisite qualification on Aircraft Structures and Avionics and must be type rated on B737 and B767 or both; any other qualification will be an added advantage.

Mr. Edzie said plans were far advanced to build a hanger for the Airline in Tamale, which would be used it as a training school for Ghanaians and Africans as a whole.

Furthermore, the hangar would be a certified repair station, accommodate small and wide body aircrafts from all over Africa.

The Diamond Hanger which is the second largest hanger in Europe will meanwhile be our certified repair station till the hangar in Tamale is completed, Mr Edzie said.

Mr Eric Bannerman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said all the aircrafts were parked and ready for inspection to fly the spirit of Ghana.

The wide body aircrafts will ply the long haul routes such as Baltimore Washington, Dubai, Guangzhou and London, with the Boeing 737 being deployed to ply on the West Africa route comprising Abidjan, Banjul, Conakry, Dakar, Freetown, Monrovia and Lagos.

He however apologised to the numerous passengers who are anticipating Goldstar Air's take-off to stick around pointing out that the airline is within shouting distance of commencing operations.

The company in no time will launch the Airline and unleash its attractive travelling packages, which include free three checked in bags, Mr Bannerman said.

Source: GNA




By India Today Web Desk: Indian Army denies 'incursion' by China after stand-off over construction work in Ladakh's Demchok

The Indian Army has denied any "incursion" by the Chinese troops on Indian territory after a stand-off was witnessed between the Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

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Clinton put the office of Secretary of State up for sale: Trump



The FBI is probing how Hillary Clinton put the office of the Secretary of State up for sale, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said as he slammed his Democratic rivals alleged "pay-for-play corruption".

Leonardo's Before The Flood review: The wolf is at the door

Before The Flood shows Leonardo DiCaprio travelling to China, India, the Kiribati islands and the North pole, meeting indigenous people as well as experts, trying to understand how climate change is affecting everyday life.

Europa League: Manchester United lose again at Fenerbahce, Ajax into knockouts

While Jose Mourinho's men are third in Group A, Zenit St Petersburg, Ajax Amsterdam, Shakhtar Donetsk and Schalke 04 have all sauntered through to the knockout rounds.





--- ENDS ---
04.11.2016 LISTEN



By Bernice Bessey

To help shape the agriculture industry, the Japanese Embassy in Ghana has organized one-day seminar for farmers on how to add value to their produce in order to generate more income and create employment.

The seminar, which is aimed at the development of Food Value Chain, introduced used farm equipment such as multipurpose tractors for harvesting, rotary, spraying, mowing, plowing and leveling, industrial refrigeration compressors and high quality food processing machines.



Other Japanese services and products exhibited to participants, drawn from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre include research, business consulting, human resource consulting and membership service, as well as high quality rice milling machines.

The 2016 seminar on the Development of Food Value Chain in Africa was held in Accra under the theme -Creating new markets by linking consumer, producers, famers and economies.

Mr. Shigeru Umetsu, Charge d' Affaires, Japan Embassy in Ghana, addressing the participants said though food value chain is a new approach to agricultural development in Africa it, however, gained prominence as the agricultural development strategies.

Establishment of food value chain is key for not only the agricultural sector but the general Ghanaian economy as well.

I believe this seminar will one day offer participants the opportunity to gain knowledge from Japanese companies' experiences in Africa on food value chain and technology know-how, he added.

He hoped that the seminar would create a platform for participants to exchange ideas on best practices of improving agricultural businesses.

Mr. Nicholas Neequaye, Director of Agribusiness Unit  Ministry of Food and Agriculture added that the major problem affecting the Ghanaian farmer is their inability to be proactive with relating marketing to production.

This, he said, the ministry has made available some funds to support actors on the food value chain that have the ability to export huge farm produce to abroad, adding we need to arias the capacity of actors on the value chain.

A value chain approach in agricultural development helps identify weak points in the chain and actions to add more value.

A value chain is a set of linked activities that work to add value to a product; it consists of actors and actions that improve a product while linking commodity producers to processors and markets.

Value chains work best when their actors cooperate to produce higher-quality products and generate more income for all participants along the chain, as opposed to the simplest kinds of value chains, in which producers and buyers exchange only price information  often in an adversarial mode.




04.11.2016 LISTEN

From Issah Alhassan, Kumasi

A COALITION of pressure groups in the country are set to roll out series of activities aimed at advancing the cause of electoral justice, ahead of the crucial December 7elections.

Barring any last minute hitches, the Ashanti Region is going to witness the biggest youth outdoor event in Kumasi, dubbed Walk for Justice, on the 16th November 2016, to drum home the urgent need for justice to prevail and ensure peaceful elections in December.

Again, the streets of Accra would be busy on the 23rd November, 2016, for the second edition of the 'Walk for Justice', with a call on the National Peace Council to rise above any consideration that may push them to endorse anything which could lead to injustices in the run-up to the December polls.

The walk, under the theme: Freedom and Justice the bedrock of our heritage, to be organized by the National Coalition of Youth for Justice, youth-based advocacy groups in the country, is intended to bring to the attention of key players the critical role that justice plays in seeking peace.

What has necessitated this action is that peace, according to them, is built on the foundation of Justice and not vice-versa, stressing that peace can only thrive where there is truth, fairness and equality before the statutes of State.

Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, in Kumasi, convener of the coalition, Denis Kwakwa said, the call for justice now has become necessary with just 34 days to the December election, looking at how stakeholders are over concentrating on seeking peace but neglecting the only critical component of it -which is Justice.

Against such incessant calls with gross neglect of the fact that institutions mandated by statutes, for example, by the (1992 Republican Constitution under Articles 42-56; Peoples Representative Act) are failing in their duties prior to some few weeks to Elections and this failure coupled with pending Judicial suits and reviews at the Supreme Court creates a state of fear, particularly, for the youth of this country, the coalition noted.

According to the National Coalition for Justice, which comprises of the National Youth for Justice; First Time Voters Network, Youth Rights Advocacy and Youth Conference Ghana, too much freedom have been achieved in Ghana, But there is no justice for those whose lives have been trampled upon due to the abuse of their freedom by those who think they have the freedom to do anything in the country.

In the view of the coalition, such calls for only peace is just another cunning way of gagging the oppressed from seeking fairness, transparency and justice, and this to them, is a recipe for disaster, especially, considering the level of mistrust and suspicion which has been created in the country by the Electoral Commission.

They stated that Ghana is at crossroads of yet another crucial and landmark elections come 7th December, 2016.

As would be expected, the stakes are high and the odds are very disturbing due to the dogmatic calls for peace, peace and peace, without recourse to events precedent for the peace calls.

According to NCYJ, the quest for justice cannot overlook the individual acts by political party actors, expressing sadness the hypocritical attitude of some political parties towards the achievement of equity and fairness during elections.

NCYJ observed: Whiles some political party people call for fairness on one side, they act differently on the other side. But we should never forget that he who calls for equity must always come with clean hands.

They admonished all political parties to desist from mimicking the role of the Electoral Commission since they have no mandate in that regard, further stressing: let the Ghanaian voter and the first time voter have their peace to elect the next president and parliamentarians so desired without any act of violence and intimidation.

The coalition also expressed worry that despite the reckless and negligent approaches that characterized the conduct of the 2012 elections, as was evident during the Presidential Election Petition in 2013, the country still finds herself in even worst situation than before.
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From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi

Questions are being raised over an impending promotion examination for Chief Inspectors of the Ghana Police Service.

About 4,300 Chief Inspectors nationwide are expected to partake in this promotion examination, out of which 250 successful ones would be promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).

The Chief Inspectors have been informed to get ready to write the promotion examination, the first in six years, on November 12 and 13, 2016, at Legon.

The Chronicle is informed that Index numbers for this category of personnel for the examination have been released last Monday after three weeks of intensive classes for preparation towards the promotion examination.

But the Chief Inspectors, numbering over 400 from the Ashanti region have complained about the haste in which the Police Administration wants to conduct the examination.

The concerned police Chief Inspectors complained that the Police Administration is suspected of seeking to toy with their lives, by rushing them through the examination.

They said promotion examinations are usually held for batches of 800 after a two month intensive classes, following the release of the syllabus.

According to them, bringing over 4,000 of them together only to promote 250 without adequate preparation to go through the syllabus is a grand design by the Police Administration to exploit them.

They have, therefore, appealed to the President and the Police Council to intervene and suspend the examination in the name of fairness, explaining that Moving over 4,000 out of their base, especially when the elections are close, would not augur well for the security of this nation.

The Chief Inspectors indicated that the vigilance of police personnel as the elections draw near was paramount than a divided attention geared towards an examination and suggested that the said promotion examination be pushed to next year after the elections, when the political front is calm and settled.

Chief Inspector Gordon Ahianyo, Deputy Public relations Officer of the Ashanti Police Command confirmed that Chief Inspectors would write their promotion examinations on November 12 and 13 2016.

He said the officers have two weeks as revision period, before writing the examination, after attending classes for three weeks.

According to the Deputy PRO, there is nothing suspicious or dubious about the Police Administration's position regarding the writing of a promotion examination for the Chief Inspectors at this time.

Meanwhile, The Chronicle is also informed that the enlistment of Senior High School students into the Police Service is dogged with question marks regarding physical requirements.

The paper has gathered that some applicants are bracing themselves up to challenge the selection of some persons for enlistment because they failed the height test and are not up to 5 feet 4 inches for females and 5 feet, 8 inches for males to qualify them for selection.
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From Inusa Musah, Dodowa

Members of the Greater Accra Regional House Chiefs (GARHC) have stated that they are not ready to let go of their Registrar, daring the Chieftaincy Minister to bring the fight on.

The GARHC, since April 1, 2016, had been pleading with Dr. Henry Seidu Daanaa, Minister for Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs not to transfer Harry Anthony Attipoe, their Registrar, because of some innovations and seminars he had been taking them through to be abreast with the Chieftaincy Act.

However, the Minister's insistence on transferring the Registrar, which the GARHC said was borne out of mischief by a certain Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP).

Again, the GARHC mentioned Dr. Daanaa's continuous disrespect for the House and the GARHC said the misconduct by the MP and Minister would not scare any of them.



We have, as a House, stopped the transfer of Harry Attipoe. He is not going anywhere today or tomorrow and the sector Minister must bring it on, Nene Gmogmowuyea Tetteh Mineh Animle VI, Paramount Chief of the Osuwem Traditional Area, disclosed this at a press conference at the GARHC, Dodowa.

Speaking on behalf of the House, Nene Gmogmowuyea Tetteh Mineh Animle VI exposed Dr. Daanaa for secretly blocking the transfer of some civil servants in his office and consequently hijacking the GARHC's three months' allowances after changing signatories to their accounts.

We are telling Dr. Henry Seidu Daanaa that he cannot impose Emmanuel Tetteh Addoquaye on us. We are mature people and he must respect us, if he wants to earn our respect too, he indicated.

On Monday, October 31, 2016, the GARHC said the sector Minster held a press conference and stated that Mr. Attipoe's refusal to go on transfer to the Volta Region would be a bad precedence in the civil service.

On the contrary, Nene Gmogmowuyea Tetteh Mineh Animle VI said, If there is any bad precedence set, then it started from Dr. Daanaa's office where he stopped the transfer of some persons he finds dear to him.

If he finds some of his staff dear to him and so he stopped their transfer, we are also holding on to Harry Attipoe

because of his hard work and the huge change he has brought to the House.

He reminded the sector Minister to act in a way that would not heighten the political tension in the country because we want to do our best to uphold the peace and stability of the country.

The known politicians in government should also stop inciting the youth to be demonstrating against Mr. Attipoe because the youth front is not the secretariat of the House.

Concluding, Nene Animle VI held that Mr. Harry Anthony Attipoe would not go on the transfer to the Volta Region as long as Dr. Daanaa and the faceless MP cum Regional Minister are at posit.
04.11.2016 LISTEN



Ebo in Accra.

Charlotte Osei, New EC Boss

I have heard a number of pundits suggesting on television that a section of the media is putting the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, under unnecessary pressure. Some also pontificate that by suggesting that the Nigerian-born boss had sidelined other members of the commission, those unnamed media houses, were inferring other officers of the commission have no minds of their own.

Opinion, someone observed the other day, is like the nose. Everyone has his or her own. I do not shy from owning up as one of this nation's media practitioners who has been hard on the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

Let it be known that the consistent pressure I have piled on the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, is not borne out of malice. I am a Ghanaian and seriously concerned about the danger she is putting this nation through, as a result of her obstinacy.

I also have a serious problem with the choice of this untried and untested personality to conduct our polls, when there are other competent Ghanaians who could have done a much more honest job.

I have the hunch that Mrs. Charlotte Osei was handpicked to lead the Electoral Commission, not because she is the best personality in the whole country to lead the charge of the commission as Ghanaians prepare for the polls. Unless someone is suggesting that I do not have the right to form an opinion, based on things happening, and express same as a newsman, I would continue to state why, in my humble view, Mrs. Osei has no business leading the Electoral Commission from the front.

Mrs. Osei has impeccable academic credentials, no doubt about that. But everybody knows that in handling a major assignment like the leading the Electoral Commission to supervise over the vote to determine who becomes President of Ghana, it takes more than letters to one's name.

I hope nobody is getting me wrong. I am not suggesting that holding a chain of degrees is not good. What I am suggesting here is that those degrees must go hand in hand with experience and a person's attitude. I am afraid Mrs. Charlotte Osei has not exhibited that she has benefitted from that kind of experience. Her own bossy attitude is not helping either.

The most dangerous development in the jigsaw is the belief that Mrs. Osei could be manipulated by those who appointed her to that office. I will explain why. But before then, let us look at the background of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission. Charlotte who?

If you Google Charlotte Osei to Wikipedia, you would be informed that she was born in Nigeria on 1st February 1969. His mother, now deceased, was a Nigerian. I have had confirmation from someone who knows the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission inside out, and who informs me that Charlotte was born outside wedlock.

I am informed that the father, who at the time had his own wife and children, refused to marry her mother. And that became a source of family feud. The father, still alive, is half Nigerian and half Ghanaian. It is believed that Mr. Kesson-Smith's half Ghanaian nationality is split between Nzema and Fanti.

The father, a staunch Methodist advocate, was married with children when he met Charlotte's mother, according to those who have inside knowledge about Charlotte's background. The parents of the mother wanted the father to marry the mother, but he refused, pointing out that as a Christian, he was not allowed to marry more than one woman.

The little girl was left in Nigeria with her mother until she got pregnant at the age of 14. When she brought forth, aged 15, her father decided to re-locate her to Ghana, and enrolled her at the Ghana National College, Cape Coast, where she was taken care of by a paternal relative of the father.

I am told that when Charlotte arrived in Ghana, she could not speak a word of any Ghanaian local language, and was drawn more to things about Nigeria than anything Ghanaian.

From Ghana National, Charlotte enrolled at the University of Ghana to read law, and like they say, the rest is history. Those who know the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission say she appeared to be weighed down by the failure of her father to marry the mother, one reason why she appeared to jettison almost everything Ghanaian, as a girl growing up.

While a student at Legon, she was fondly referred to as 'Ama Alata.' At the Queen's University in Canada, where she obtained her Masters in Law, Charlotte chose to join the Nigerian National Students Association, while there was a vibrant Ghana National Students Association as well.

Though she is married to a Ghanaian, Emmanuel Osei, who is half Asante (from Jachie) and half Akwamu (Apegusu), Mrs. Osei appears to be emotionally attached to Nigeria, her birthplace, than Ghana, her current matrimonial home.

I have narrated this background of Mrs. Charlotte Osei to buttress my assertion that it is wrong to place a sensitive national institution like the Electoral Commission in the hands of someone whose emotional attachment to this lovely country, formerly called the Gold Coast, is suspect.

If you talk to those who were closely associated with Jerry John Rawlings, the former junta head, who founded the ruling National democratic Congress (NDC), you are likely to get the impression that the main reason why the former President of Ghana appeared emotionally disturbed as a man growing up was that he could not truly identify with his father.

The rise of Mrs. Charlotte Osei in contemporary Ghanaian politics owes its genesis to the occupation of the seat of Government by the late Prof' John Evans Atta Mills. When the late former law lecturer ascended the national throne at the Castle, he promoted two of his darling students at Legon, who obviously showed some tendency to understand the NDC's way of doing things.

Ms. Laurretta Lamptey became the Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, while Mrs. Charlotte Osei was posted to head the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE). Ms. Lamptey's exit from CHRAJ was not that auspicious. Apparently, for all the time that she was supposed to pronounce on people attacking the public purse, she was staying at a hotel and attracting huge bills. Throughout the period, not much happened at CHRAJ though. Mrs. Osei did not fare any better at the NCCE.

That is why, in my opinion, it was wrong to place the responsibility of conducting this nation's elections on the tiny shoulders of such a person, who, throughout her formative years, never really identified with this country.

I am not an expert on such issues, but I can well guess that the decision to jettison the Coat of Arms in the Electoral Commission's logo could have been induced by her true inner feeling towards this nation. As a proud Ghanaian, I am offended that my nation's Coat-of-Arms was thrown out of the EC's logo in that manner.

When Mrs. Osei sat before television cameras and shrugged off agitations against the decision to abandon the state's Coat-of Arms in favour of a school boys drawing with crayon, I felt the vote was in danger.

I also have very serious reservations about Mrs. Osei's ability to build consensus, which is the prime requisite for leading the Electoral Commission.

These concerns aside, a number of people who have ever worked with Mrs. Osei are not that charitable when it comes to assessing the EC's Chairperson's ability to work as a member of a team. I am told that while at the National Commission on Civic Education, she tended to shrug off senior officers suggestions, and virtually ran solo.

I dare state too that Mrs. Osei has not exhibited the Can Do spirit to many Ghanaians. She was the boss of the NCCE, when this nation had one of the most difficult elections ever staged since independence. The educational aspect of the vote was conspicuous by its absence. That is why, in my humble view, Mrs. Osei's appointment was wrong. Let all of us rally round and force her out, or ensure that she works according to the dictates of the moment.

As it is, she may be all noise and very little substance.

I shall return!


The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Awutu Senya West Constituency has asked his opponent and incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) to show her husband to the constituents.

With some 32 days to go to the December elections, George Andah is seeking answers from National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Hanna Tetteh, why she does not go to campaign with her husband.

At a mini rally at Bawjiase in the Central Region recently, he challenged the Foreign Affairs Minister to show her husband to the constituents.

In a video which has gone viral on social media, Mr Andah said I came here with my wife, and children. Please tell Hanna to also come and show us her husband.

Watch video below:



Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
Pro-opposition pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance, has asked the Electoral Commission to cancel its contract with publishing firm, Aerovote for the printing of Pink Sheets for the December 7th polls.

The call comes just a day after the Chairperson of the EC, Charlotte Osei defended the credibility of the company in an interview with the BBC.

But speaking to Citi News, the Convener of Let My Vote Count Alliance, David Asante, said allowing Aerovote to print materials for the election will leave the process questionable.

Our checks reveal the same organization, Aerovote, was liquidated and was rendered insolvent in Britain in the year 2013, and they just rushed into this country in 2016 and set up less than 11 months with a seed capital of GHc500, of which they registered the organization and they were incorporated in Ghana.

David Asante also insisted that, the Electoral Commission shouldn't have awarded the contract to Aerovote in the first place.

It is a serious matter when an organization that has been declared bankrupt in Britain moves to Ghana and in 11 months the Electoral Commission of Ghana awards such a company a contract. The Electoral Commission is dealing with an organization that has no integrity and crisis on their hands; we cannot do business with such an organization, he added.

EC defends Aerovote

Charlotte Osei in the BBC interview, however clarified that; the company has always printed it [pink sheets] for us and has now relocated to Ghana which made their pricing better for us.

This time, we did not have to bear the high freight charges that we would have had to bear and also the time for shipping, she added.

EC must come clean

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), is also skeptical about the EC's claims.

The NPP's Director of Elections, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, said they believe the EC has not been transparent enough in the award of contract.

The issue surrounding this matter is a bit sketchy; so we are waiting for further clarification, but what we do know is that, the companies that competed for this contract should have some proven capability, while offering some transparency. One quoted a far less amount of about 4.2 million as against 8 million by the other. The other who has no proven record and is gone bankrupt in the UK, physically, nobody knows their location in this country, and we are not too sure that they are going to even do it here or elsewhere, suddenly, somehow wins it, he added.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
An Accra High Court has dismissed a motion filed by the Electoral Commission demanding that Justice Kyei Baffour recuses himself from a case.

After listening to the three reasons that formed the basis for the motion, the judge ruled that "I do not find any of the grounds weightier, it is completely frivolous, I dismiss same".

Justice Eric Kyei Baffour is the judge who sat on the PPP disqualification case and is also sitting on a similar case filed by the National Democratic Party (NDP) demanding the reinstatement of its presidential candidate Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.

In both cases, the applicants are asking the court to order the EC to allow them back into the presidential race after certain conditions are met.

In the PPP case determined last week Friday, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour ordered the EC to allow PPP Presidential candidate Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom to correct 'errors' on his presidential nomination forms which formed the basis for his disqualification by the EC.

He described the EC's conduct in disqualifying Dr. Nduom as 'extremely perverse' and condemned aspects of the EC's explanation as 'pedestrian' and 'peripheral'.

Facing the same judge again Thaddeus Sory believed that he would not get a fair hearing on the NDP's case and, therefore, demanded the judge to vacate himself from the case.

Expect updates...
Pro-opposition pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance, has asked the Electoral Commission to cancel its contract with publishing firm, Aerovote for the printing of Pink Sheets for the December 7th polls. The call comes just a day after the Chairperson of the EC, Charlotte Osei defended the credibility of the company in an interview with the BBC. But speaking to Citi News, the Convener of Let My Vote Count Alliance, David Asante, said allowing Aerovote to print materials for the election will leave the process questionable.

Our checks reveal the same organization, Aerovote, was liquidated and was rendered insolvent in Britain in the year 2013, and they just rushed into this country in 2016 and set up less than 11 months with a seed capital of GHc500, of which they registered the organization and they were incorporated in Ghana.

David Asante also insisted that, the Electoral Commission shouldn't have awarded the contract to Aerovote in the first place. It is a serious matter when an organization that has been declared bankrupt in Britain moves to Ghana and in 11 months the Electoral Commission of Ghana awards such a company a contract. The Electoral Commission is dealing with an organization that has no integrity and crisis on their hands; we cannot do business with such an organization, he added.

EC defends Aerovote

Charlotte Osei in the BBC interview, however clarified that; the company has always printed it [pink sheets] for us and has now relocated to Ghana which made their pricing better for us. This time, we did not have to bear the high freight charges that we would have had to bear and also the time for shipping, she added.

EC must come clean

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), is also skeptical about the EC's claims. The NPP's Director of Elections, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, said they believe the EC has not been transparent enough in the award of contract. The issue surrounding this matter is a bit sketchy; so we are waiting for further clarification, but what we do know is that, the companies that competed for this contract should have some proven capability, while offering some transparency. One quoted a far less amount of about 4.2 million as against 8 million by the other. The other who has no proven record and is gone bankrupt in the UK, physically, nobody knows their location in this country, and we are not too sure that they are going to even do it here or elsewhere, suddenly, somehow wins it, he added.

-Citifmonline
No evil forces can stop the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) from winning the December 7 polls to form the next government, flag bearer of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo has said.

When you come out to vote, no evil force, no demonic entity or machination can prevent the victory of the NPP, he told supporters at a mini-rally at Denkyira Obuase in the Upper Denkyira West Constituency on the second day of his tour of the Central Region.

He said God has ordained change in this year's election adding that he will keep pleading with the people of Ghana to make him president.

The power belongs to the people and I will never stop begging them to entrust that power into my hands to restore hope to the people of Ghana, he said.

-Classfmonline
By PTI: From Abhishek Shukla

Pokhra, Nov 4 (PTI) President Pranab Mukherjee today likened Indo-Nepal ties to that of a "family" in which differences sometimes crop up but said the effort is to iron them out through talks, an apparent reference to the political crisis over the new Constitution that had strained bilateral ties.

Mukherjee, the first Indian president to visit Nepal in 18 years, described his three-day state visit which concluded today as "very successful". He held discussions with several Nepalese leaders including President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Prachanda, Vice President Nand Bahadur Pun, Opposition leaders and representatives of Madhesi community.

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During his visit, Mukherjee visited the hotbed of Madhesi protests Janakpur and met ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiments in Pokhra. The 80-year-old Mukherjee had about 27 engagements.

"I would like to say I had a very successful visit to Nepal. I came here the day before yesterday and since then I am overwhelmed with the hospitality of the people and government of republic of Nepal. Of course, Nepal is not an unknown land to me. I have the privilege of coming to Nepal several times," he told reporters here.

Asked about occasional hiccups in Indo-Nepal ties and whether his visit be able to revive the warmth between the two nations, the president cited the example of a family in which differences sometimes crop up.

"Nepal and India always have good relations and as you know that in our individual lives, in our daily lives, day to day lives, there may be some different approaches or different angularity. But it is always our effort to iron them out and to resolve it through discussions, explanations and understanding. As we did in the case of family, in the larger context Indo-Nepal relationship is like that," he said.

Asked about his deliberations with Madhesi leaders last night, Mukherjee said he told them to work unitedly.

"Afterall Constitution is a basic document and it should be drafted on the basis of broad consensus so that it is a lasting document and it can address the problems of all sections of the people and there should be a broad consensus in the drafting of the Constitution," he said.

"I do hope that remaining (differences) should also be addressed to the satisfaction of all the sections concerned," he said.

The Madhesi community in Nepal has strong family ties with Indians and constitute a large part of Nepals population.

"The representation in parliament should be proportional to the population. In areas where there is sparse population and the areas which are densely populated have same number of representatives in the parliament," Mahendra Prasad Yadav, a prominent Madhesi leader had told PTI explaining the issue. (MORE) PTI ABS NSA ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA

Accra Nov. 4, GNA - An Accra High Court on Friday ordered the Electoral Commission to afford Mr Hassan Ayariga, Presidential Hopeful for All Peoples Congress (APC) the opportunity to amend the anomalies within the limited time.

The court presided over by Mrs Barbara Tetteh Charwey in giving her judgment cautioned people, who put themselves up for presidential candidates, to exhibit high sense of diligence and qualities.

It also said the EC must also hasten slowly in its implementation of the law.

The APC Presidential Hopeful contends that the EC has no power to disqualify him and as such seeking the orders of the Court to compel the Commission to accept his nomination form and include his name on this year's Presidential Ballot.

According to Mr Ayariga even if the EC had the powers to disqualify him, 'Its failure to adhere to due process was so unjust and perverted as to deprive the Commission of its powers.'

He was therefore seeking a declaration that the EC's closure of the nomination period on October 10, without notifying the applicants of any outstanding issues amounted in law to a misrepresentation to all candidates and the whole world, that the applicants nomination form were fully compliant with all requirement of the law and CI 94.

Mr Ayariga is also seeking a declaration that the purported closure of the nomination period before or without giving him an opportunity to amend any error on his form based on which the EC seeks to invalidate him was in breach of natural justice.

He also was requesting the court to declare that the EC could only disqualify a candidate 'where it has notified that candidate of an invalidity which the candidate refuses or fail to amend.'

GNA
04.11.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Nov. 4, GNA - The Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu says Africa's quest for breaking the cycle of poverty and dependency could only be achieved if it injects the spirit of entrepreneurship into its youthful population.

To this end, his Foundation has set up the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, which is a 10-year programme worth $ 100 million to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 entrepreneurs, capable of changing the face of business across Africa.

In his keynote speech at the second TEF Entrepreneurship Forum 2016 held in Lagos, Nigeria where 1,000 beneficiaries from 54 African countries were trained and mentored, Mr Elumelu reaffirmed his commitment to the African youth.

After the Forum, each beneficiary entrepreneur is eligible to receive up to $ 10,000 to implement his or her business plan.

The Forum was also used to celebrate the 2016 cohort of Elumelu Entrepreneurs, selected from more than 45,000 applicants.

It was the annual highlight of the TonyElumelu Entrepreneurship Programme and saw the presence of leading policy makers and business leaders from across Africa giving their support to the Foundation.

'I salute those here, our ambition is that you become ambassadors for entrepreneurship in Africa - you are a generation of wealth creators, who share our commitment to the economic and social transformation of Africa," Mr Elumelu stated at the forum.

Mr Elumelu challenged stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society, multilateral organisations and individuals who had invested in Africa's economic development to join hands with the Foundation to support the wider African entrepreneurial community.

'We need to support our entrepreneurs because extreme poverty and economic opportunity rarely co-exist in the same place.'

He also announced partnerships with regional institutions the African Development Bank, ECOWAS, and others including Coca Cola, the International Trade Centre, Nigeria's Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and CAte d'Ivoire Ministry of Entrepreneurship.

Applauding Tony Elumelu's promise to not only empower entrepreneurs, but also to tackle the fundamental economic challenges confronting the African continent, Mr Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone called on others to emulate Elumelu.

'Even when we had Ebola in Sierra Leone, Tony was there. He is an example, which other successful Africans must follow.'

Focusing on the uniqueness of TEF's approach to entrepreneurship development, President Koroma hailed the programme as 'a genuinely innovative approach to philanthropy in Africa - African offering African solutions'.

The two-day forum buzzed with energy as entrepreneurs shared and gained knowledge, built cross-border partnerships, and connected with investors and policymakers, fulfilling the goal of fostering innovation and collaboration between entrepreneurs from across Africa.

On day one, attendees benefited from masterclasses on traditional and alternative means of financing, sales and marketing, as well as sector specific workshops and an in-depth session on Africapitalism - Elumelu's economic philosophy that identifies the leading role of Africa's private sector, including its entrepreneurs, in Africa's transformation.

The day two of the forum featured a high-level panel dedicated to identifying policies to strengthen the enabling environment for entrepreneurs.

The panelists Mr Bai Koroma, President Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria, Former Prime Minister of Benin Republic, Lionel Zinsou, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture and Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, Vice Chair of Famfa Oil.

GNA
Accra, Nov. 4, GNA - The Group Board Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc, Dr Oba Otudeko CFR and Directors of FBN Holdings, have paid a courtesy call on President John Dramani Mahama in Accra.

The visit, the first since the change in leadership within the group, was to appreciate and congratulate the President for his service to Ghana and the West African sub-region.

Group Managing Director of FBN Holdings Plc, Urum Kalu Eke MFR, presented a gift to the President in keeping with the long tradition of the Group and its subsidiaries across the globe.

Members of the delegation unanimously pledged on behalf of FBN Holdings Plc, their commitment to helping build a stronger Ghanaian economy, as well as forging stronger economic ties between citizens and businesses of Ghana and Nigeria.

Managing Director of FBNBank Ghana, Gbenga Odeyemi, a member of the delegation was grateful for the support and wished the President well.

FBN Holdings Plc is the most diversified financial services group in Nigeria and includes the First Bank of Nigeria the mother company of FBNBank Ghana as well as other agencies around the world.

GNA
04.11.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Nov. 4, GNA - The Accra High Court hearing the case between the People's National Convention (PNC) and the Electoral Commission (EC) has set November 10, for the final ruling in the case.

The court set the date after both parties informed the Court that, they had filed their statements of cases, supporting affidavits and other relevant documents and it gave them five minutes each to give their oral submission on their statement of cases filed earlier.

The Attorney General however notified the Court that they have not been able to file, as ordered, but were in the process of doing so this morning.

Lead Counsel for the PNC, Mr Raymond Atuguba in moving their motion argued in relation to the fundamental human rights, capacity, violation of the applicants' right to justice, and other rights.

He said it is impossible to separate the fortunes of a political party from its presidential candidate, adding that the EC violated six rights of the applicants and acted unreasonably by not accepting his nomination forms.

Mr Atuguba said the EC should have provided the applicant the opportunity to correct the error in their forms.

Mr Thaddeus Sory, Counsel for the EC, in responding said electoral matters are in accordance to procedures, and whatever rights one have is subject to overriding public interest.

He said the Supreme Court ruling on the election petition case should have taught the applicant the lessons that some errors are punishable while others are not.

He said from the applicants own submission, if we postpone our constitutional requirement and allow him to fill forms we would never have the elections and he would never become president because he would still be correcting errors.

At the last sitting the Court ordered parties to file their statements of cases, supporting affidavits and other relevant documents by Friday, November 4.

The PNC went to Court after the EC excluded its presidential candidate from taking part in the December 7 presidential poll.

The Party contended that its Flagbearer's constitutional rights had been breached by excluding him in the December polls.

The PNC is praying the Court to restore its constitutional rights and quash the decision of the EC disqualifying the leader and for him to be included in the polls.

The EC disqualified Dr. Edward Mahama and 12 other presidential aspirants from contesting the December elections after failing to meet the necessary requirements.

The Commission, in the case of Dr. Mahama, stated that two subscribers of his nominations had also subscribed for another presidential candidate, which was against the regulations set out.

GNA
The New Patriotic Party flagbearer for the 2016 general elections, Nana Akufo-Addo, has said that his promise to create a new region from the Western Region, will take place within the first six months if hes elected as President.

Akufo-Addo, who is currently on a 3-day tour of the Western Region, said in an interview on Takoradi-based Skyypower FM, said he is committed to his resolve to split the region into two, to ensure proper development and management of its resources.

Akufo-Addo argued that, the demarcation will ensure a more effective governance structure for the country.

The whole process of regional and local government organization is with this spirityou know that in Nigeria for instance, they had five regions, today they have 36, and everyone who has had an interaction with Nigeria, will acknowledge that it is a more effective structure they have now than they had before, he said.

He added that, so we are also considering our structuring which has been with us for some 25 or 20 years, to see whether we cannot improve the governance by rearranging and reorganizing some of these regions. It is in that context that the Western-north region will be created, Akufo-Addo noted.

He noted that, an NPP government will also consider the creation of the Oti Region in the Volta Region, as part of the restructuring process.

We are looking at the Oti Region in the Volta Region, and the possibility of the Mid-West region; so it is a whole process and we are looking at it, he said.

We want to get going as quickly as possible because having an efficient governance system will help the country, those in government and the citizens, he added.

'Mahama to create 5 new regions

President John Mahama had also hinted of the creation of five new regions, if hes retained for a second term.

He said increasing the administrative regions from 10 to 15, will be dependent on recommendations from a Commission of enquiry which will be set up.

Speaking at the launch of the highlights of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2016 manifesto highlights, he said, We'll set up a commission of enquiry to look into the creation of new regions we currently have 10 regions and we believe that it is possible to increase the number to 15. So we will set up a commission of enquiry that will look into the viability of increasing the number of administrative regions in Ghana from 10 to 15.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Many workers in Ghana went to work on Monday with so much energy, looking forward to a holiday on Friday, November 4. This year's Farmer's Day was to be marked on Friday due to the elections.

But the Interior Ministry burst their bubbles when it released a statement saying the Farmer's Day would be observed on Friday but the holiday would be on December 2 , the original date for the Farmers Day celebration

Before the statement came, the Electoral Commission filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to quash a High Court decision which asked it to allow one of the disqualified presidential aspirants to correct anomalies on his forms.

Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei

The Commission in a statement disagreed vehemently with the High Court ruling in favour of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom.

Also on this day, nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital began an indefinite strike over lack of logistics at the facility and major risks some of the patients pose to them.

Related: Accra Psychiatric hospital asked for GH7m; got GH400,000

And former Attorney General, Martin Amidu came at the Electoral Commission, saying its decision to disqualify some 13 presidential aspirants from contesting the December polls, was a wanton abuse power.

Martin Amidu

Related: Charlotte Osei's arrogance is becoming dangerous  Martin Amidu

On Tuesday, an Accra High Court fined the Electoral Commission GHc500 in a suit in which PNC Presidential candidate sought to overturn his disqualification from the 2016 general elections.

Also, security forces in the Ashanti region claimed they had defused a 'powerful explosive' found in the vicinity of the deputy Ashanti regional minister's residence.

Pictured above are some of the items discovered by the A/R police

Related: Hoax or credible bomb scare? Ashanti security command hunt for men

And President John Dramani Mahama warned chiefs that a New Patriotic Party (NPP) government under Nana Akufo-Addo would destool chiefs who criticize him.

Then on Wednesday, the Members of Ghana's Parliament expressed worry over the difficulties they go through in getting a job after exiting parliament.

And on this same day, the Ghana Health Service announced another outbreak of cholera in the Central Region.

The biggest story on Thursday was the change of an amount allocated for the construction of a bungalow from 1.7 million (GH7, 513,154.34) to 540,000 (E2,386, 531.38) following the outrage expressed by the Minority at the amount.

Then Nana Akufo Addo in his reply to President John Mahama's claim that he will destool chiefs who are critical of his government the NPP flagbearer said that could only be made by one who does not understand the country's laws .

And just as it happened last Friday to the EC, an Accra High Court ordered it to give the All People's Congress(APC) Hassan Ayariga a chance to correct the anomaly on his nomination form.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Akosua Asiedua Akuffo | [email protected]
'Favour with others is worth more than gold, for a fortune like this lies in the hearts of the bold.

In a secluded village on the outskirts of the big city, a life was taken away and a new one was given. In this life's place was that of a beautiful bundle of joy, born of love and sorrow. The father of this child had been in an arranged marriage and like their mother, his eight daughters were arrogant and short tempered. The death of his first wife was not so easily mourned as he was then able to marry his first and only love. The daughter she left behind was, and still is, cherished: a fearless girl with wisdom beyond her years; as she goes by the name of Konadu.

After many months of mourning the death of his beloved, the father decided it was time to raise his daughters and teach them independence as she would have wanted him to. He involved them in his work as a Kente weaver, making it a family business and a popular source of fine Kente cloth for the many chiefs in the region. As Konadu reached the age of 15, she became aware that her career as a weaver was imminent. All her sisters were weavers and highly skilled ones at that. Konadu knew that her clumsy ways would not be welcome in the work place; moreover, as her father's favorite daughter, she sensed their jealousy and resentment. She would much rather read in Bubu's missionary library: her special place. She would spend hours on end in the clingy corners of the library, filling her head with the new ideas and fascinating wonders of the world that lay beyond the village boundaries.

The familiar creaks of the Kente weaving machines filled the hall as Konadu sat at her work station for the first time. The speed with which her sisters moved never ceased to amaze her.

Hurry up then, why are you scared? her hostile elder sister sneered.

I'm not scared of anything, she replied with confidence, receiving a disgusted look in return as her sister continued her fast-paced work.

Konadu slid the shuttle through the warp tendrils as she remembered her father had told her to do during her much-loathed weaving lessons over the past years. A smile slowly crept over her face as her hands started to get the hang of it; then all of a sudden, her treadle snapped under her foot and she managed to lose balance, falling forward onto her machine which collapsed under her weight in a heap of dust and splinters on the floor. The sound of eight cackling hyenas resounded through the hall as Konadu rose unsteadily to her feet, humiliated.

Her throat clogged up as angry tears threatened to escape.

Aww, Little Miss Perfect is about to cry! one of her sisters jeered, causing another round of laughter. A loud bang caused all the mockery to immediately cease and everyone to turn towards the door where their Da stood, looking annoyed as his eyes surveyed the scene and the obvious damage done to both his youngest daughter and one of his Kente weaving machines.

What is the meaning of this? he bellowed, you should be helping your sister, not laughing at her; shame on you, all of you! The authority in his voice had every gaze directed to the floor in shame.

Konadu, Da said, drawing her attention, come with me please. He turned around and proceeded to the door as Konadu quickly stumbled after him, not wanting to be in that room a second longer.

No words were exchanged as Da drove Konadu in his dilapidated Toyota truck, the pride and joy of the family. Konadu relished the sound of the engine, picturing the parts working in perfect unison as she had seen in the book on car engines she had read at the library. They soon arrived at the next, where Da parked the car outside a large house and turned off the engine. With his hands still on the ignition he turned to his daughter.

You still remember what I always tell you and your sisters, don't you my dear? he asked seriously. Fortune favours the bold, how could I forget Da?

He gave her a small smile.

Right. Now do not allow your sisters to crush you. There are going to be moments in life where you have to stand up for yourself and do what is right, do you understand me, Konadu?

Yes I'm aware of that, she said with determination.

It was moments like these when Da saw so much of Konadu's mother in her: exuding confidence, strength and the will to fight.

As they entered the room, cold air hit the back of Konadu's neck, a sensation unfamiliar to her. She turned around and studied the machine attached to wall, recognizing the humming white machine from an article she had read. Behind the mahogany desk sat Mr. Sekyi Gyan, Da's loyal supplier of the fibres that made the cloth so valuable. He brought them all the way from Europe.

Welcome my good friend, how is business? the burly man addressed Da with a grin, revealing a gold tooth that glinted in the light. They continued to make small talk but Konadu tuned them out as she studied Mr. Sekyi Gyan. The multiple rings on his fingers flaunted his wealth as he stroked his thick moustache. His ample belly rippled when he laughed his hoarse crackle and his beady eyes bored into her very soul when he glanced at her every minute or so, making her stomach churn.

I see the prices in Europe are not doing us any favours; still rising eh? Da questioned from beside her, making her ears prick up.

I'm afraid so, I do what I can to not wring you dry, you know, as a favour to a friend, murmured Sekyi Gyan, handing documents for Da to sign. Konadu frowned as the gears began to slowly turn in his mind.

What country do you get the fibres from? she spoke up, causing both men to turn to her in surprise.

Holland. Not that it concerns you; little girls like you should not involve themselves in the business of grown-ups, Mr. Sekyi Gyan sneered.

It concerns me if it concerns my father getting cheated by a thief, she ventured, her heart beating nervously.

The man behind the desk chuckled awkwardly:

What are you talking abou

Textile supplies in Europe have been decreasing in price by 10% for the past 5 years, Konadu said, recalling the recent feature in the economics magazine in Bubu's missionary library, that had gripped her attention for a whole day.

So if those logs on your desk are correct, you have been charging my father double what he should be paying you, which would mean, unless I'm mistaken, that you owe him close to GHS300,000.00.

No one had ever seen Da in a better mood than he was on the morning after the meeting. His bubbly laughter filled the house and his joyous shouts drew his daughters out of their quarters and into the living room, grumbling and mumbling at the unexpected commotion.

Good morning my beautiful darlings! I have an important announcement to make. Yesterday, your youngest sister  come forward my dear he gestured excitedly to Konadu in the corner, may well have saved our entire family business from future bankruptcy.

Whispers arose amongst the girls who looked at each other in bewilderment.

Da continued:

She was brave enough to speak up for what she knew to be the truth and because of her actions, we will never have to worry about money again! his delighted expression then became serious, we all owe Konadu a lot for what she has done, and I expect you to show gratitude in the form of kindness and a new sense of appreciation.

Apologies were spoken and for the first time ever, they sounded genuine.

I'm very proud of your my dear, he said gently, turning to Konadu, you have truly honoured my ethos, that I have prayed will guide you all along the way.

Turning to the rest of them with a warm smile he enquired, and that is, my darlings?

The girls exchanged wry smiles before chorusing

Fortune favours the bold!

About the writer:

Hannah Yeboah is the winner of the 2016 Write-Away Contest. She attends the Beacon International School in Peduase. For her prize, Hannah Yeboah received a cash prize of GHc5,000 while her school was given GHc10,000.

Nicole Chinery and Goloh Lily Eli both from the Sap's School in Accra placed second and third respectively.

The Write-Away Contest is an annual competition that is geared towards encouraging children to read and to write. The contest is for pupils between the ages of 10 and 14 years. This year, the contestants were expected to write a story that ended with the phrase, 'Fortune favors the bold.'

The Write-Away Contest 2016 was sponsored by MoneyGram and the Students Loan Trust Fund.
The Ninani Group of Companies on Thursday made a donation in support of Tamale-based Shekina Clinic, the facility left behind by the late Dr. David Abdulai, a celebrated philanthropist.

Several persons who attended the donation ceremony, also donated various amounts to support the Clinic. The items donated were received by representatives of the Clinic at the event held in Accra.

The items included cooking oil, syringes, muliti-vitamins, tins of mackerel and cassava dough among others. The Shekina Clinic, a health facility founded by the late philanthropic doctor, Dr. David Abdulai, aka 'Mad Doctor', is home for the destitute and the poor.

The medical doctor dedicated his life to supporting the poor and the homeless; until he passed away in October after battling thyroid cancer.

Donating the items, Mrs. Olivia Cudjoe, CSR Lead at Ninani Group, saidAs a group, one of our core values is 'giving'. We believe that both as individuals and a group we have been immensely blessed and it is important that others benefit from what we have received. As such, every year for the last 4 years since we've been in business, we have made the effort to identify a cause we feel will benefit from our support.

Joel Nettey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ninani Group, in his speech during the handing over ceremony, called on all to support the needy in society; a gesture which according to him, cuts across the two known faiths of Islam and Christianity.

He noted that, we started with the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. If God gives us life, we would continue to support the needy in other areas. We would encourage others to consider donating their clothing to the needy.

When the floor was opened at the offices of the Group for individual donation to the clinic, an amount of GHc20,000 was raised  a figure beyond the imagination of the assembly of sympathizers of the clinic and staff, most of who made personal donations.

The MC for the occasion, touched by the story of Shekinah, donated a thousand Ghana cedis.

One lady, who was singled out for commendation by the CEO, was Sardia Mould, for her efforts in putting the support programme together.

He said she went to the Nima market to purchase the items.

The Shekinah Clinic was established by the late Dr. David Abdulai to provide free medical care to the needy, and mental patients including a popular food-on-wheels programme.

Upon his transition recently, the sustenance of the humanitarian programme became a preoccupation of many. The intervention of NInani Group of Companies joins the long list of supporters of the many destitute, homeless and lunatics in Tamale and beyond, who depend on Shekinah for survival.

A representative of Shekinah Clinic, Seiba Issifu,who received the items from Ninani, expressed gratitude to the Group for the gesture.

Ninani Group of Companies, a leading name in the integrated marketing communication industry is made up of five companies.

Innova DDB Ghana  which specializes in Integrated Marketing communications; Rezultz Advertising  marketing communications experts; TouchPoint Magna Carta  reputation management, media and events specialists; Brand Alert; which deals in merchandising and activations; and Interactive Digital  who's area of expertise is digital and social media marketing.

The Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Communications Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, based on which two outstanding students would be awarded with cash and an opportunity to do an internship with the Group.



By: citifmonline.com/Ghana
Ejusu -- The Onwi community in the Ejusu Juaben District of Ashanti was thrown into a state of turmoil when deep in the night a 38-year-old pregnant mother in a fit of anger managed to lure her husband from their matrimonial bed to the community toilet and inflicted several cutlass wounds on him,chopping off his left thumb in the process.

Kwadwo Okyere,35,the victim,is on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi while his wife is on remand in prison custody. She will be there for two weeks in line with the order by the Ejusu Circuit Court on Tuesday,March 1,and would reappear before the court on March 15,2005.

The Ejusu District Police Commander,DSP.Peter Baba,who briefed The Mirror on the incident, said the couple had married for the past four years and reside at Nwamahemaso in the Brong Ahafo Region where they undertook farming.

He said the suspect had eight children from a previous marriage and since they married,there had been constant quarrels between them.

Mr Baba said on February 18, 2005,the couple travelled to their home town at Onwi,near Ejusu,to attend a funeral and there too they continued their quarrel,stressing that anytime they quarrelled,Okyere threatened to divorce his wife.

He said before they travelled to Onwi, the suspect was eight months pregnant by Okyere.Mr Baba said before they retired to bed on February 24,2005, they quarrelled again and Okyere repeated his threat to divorce Achiaa but they settled their differences before they finally slept.

He said around 2 a.m.the following day,Achiaa complained to her husband that she was experiencing stomach problems and wanted to attend to nature's call.

He said unknown to Okyere, the wife had hidden a sharp cutlass in her dress. He said Okyere, who was fast asleep by then, woke up to lead his wife to the public toilet.

Mr Baba said at the toilet,Achiaa told the husband that the female toilet was too dark so they should both go to the male side to ease themselves.

He said Achiaa also insisted that she was afraid so the husband should join her on the toilet to ease himself too and the husband suspecting nothing obliged.

DSP Baba said while they were attending to nature's call, Achiaa stood up and strolled to her husband,pulled out the cutlass she had hidden and brandishing it before her husband,dared him to repeat his earlier threat to divorce her.

Mr Baba said the victim,who was taken aback by his wife's behaviour, attempted to stand up, but before he could do so, Achiaa had slashed his forehead with the cutlass.

He said as the victim attempted to hold the cutlass, Achiaa pulled it and in the process opened a deep cut in his right palm.

DSP Baba said she also opened cuts at other parts of the body and chopped off the left thumb, forcing the victim to fall down in a pool of blood.

He said the victim cried helplessly for help and one Kwaku Boateng was attracted to the scene, but before that, Achiaa had taken to her heels with the view to escaping arrest.

He said when Kwaku Boateng saw the degree of injuries inflicted on Okyere, he also called for help and arranged for a vehicle, which took the victim to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for emergency treatment.

He said prior to that they lodged a complaint at the Ejusu Police and a medical form was issued to the victim.He said upon a tip-off that the suspect was running away,the police managed to intercept her at Ejusu Zongo to assist in their investigations
Paris (AFP) - Moroccans must rebel against the "mediaeval laws" which weigh them down, the winner of France's top literary prize declared Friday as she jumped to the defence of two teenage girls who were arrested after being caught kissing.

Leila Slimani, who became the first Moroccan woman to win the prestigious Prix Goncourt Thursday for her novel "Chanson Douce" ("Sweet Song"), lambasted her homeland's human rights record, and in particular the way women are treated.

A joint statement from about 20 human rights groups said the girls, aged 16 and 17, were badly beaten by their families after being filmed by a neighbour with a mobile phone kissing on the roof of a house in Marrakesh last week.

The statement said the pair, identified only by their first names, Sanaa and Hajar, were denied food for three days by the police who then forced one of them to sign a statement before releasing them Thursday.

"The humiliation of citizens, the way they are kept down, encourages a political system based on disdain, humiliation and the abuse of power," Slimani told France Inter radio.

"I think it is time people took this in hand and rebelled," said the 35-year-old, whose winning novel is based on a real-life case of a nanny in the United States accused of killing two children she was looking after.

"The laws in Morocco are completely mediaeval, completely disconnected from reality... they ban sex outside marriage, homosexuality and adultery," Slimani added.

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights has appointed a lawyer to defend the girls who if convicted could be imprisoned for between six months and three years.

"We shouldn't be hypocrites. Moroccans have sex lives outside marriage, and it good that that there are homosexuals," the author said.

Slimani, who raised eyebrows at home with her debut novel last year about a female nymphomaniac, said the oppression that women suffered had nothing to do with religion.

"Lots of imams and enlightened theologians will explain that to you... It is a question of human rights, sexual rights, the right to dignity and in particular the dignity of women's bodies."

Slimani said a woman should not just be regarded as "a mother, nor a sister, nor a wife, but as a woman, an individual with their own rights."

Torn between religious conservatism and opening up to the West, the overwhelming Muslim North African country has seen several controversies over moral issues in recent years.
The Mumbai Press Club has joined the chorus against government's blackout order to NDTV India over coverage of Pathankot terror attack in January this year.

By Vidya : The Mumbai Press Club, which represents over 2,500 journalists, strongly condemned the government decision to blackout NDTV India for a day over coverage of Pathankot terror attack.

The club demanded that the November 9-ban on the private broadcaster should be withdrawn as it is an infringement on the right to freedom of expression.

READ: As govt bans NDTV India for a day, Twittertai troll PM Modi with an old tweet



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On the recommendation of an inter-ministerial panel, the information and broadcasting had on Thursday concluded that NDTV India's coverage of Pathankot terror attack was objectionable.

READ: NDTV India to be taken off air for a day for its Pathankot attack coverage

WHY THE BAN

The panel found that NDTV India revealed crucial and strategically sensitive information during the coverage of the attack on the Air Force base, which was attacked by Pakistani terrorists in January this year.

Dictating its order under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, the ministry issued "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November, 2016 till 00:01 hrs of 10th November, 2016".



READ: First ever order against channel for coverage of terror attack



NDTV India in its response to the show cause issued by the government had said that channel did not report anything, which other channels and newspapers had not covered simultaneously. It is, therefore, mischievous to singles out a particular channel for such penal action, the broadcaster said.

READ: Editors Guild condemns govt's order to take NDTV India off air for a day: Full text

WHY PROTEST THE BAN

The press club said, "There are various legal options available for the government in the court of law for any irresponsible media coverage, the I&B ministry action of banning a specific TV channel that has been critical of the government, and has done serious ground reporting on the views of the common man, does not augur well for freedom of expression of the country."

The club also raised questions about the way the ban was imposed without specifically saying which clip or information was found to be 'sensitive' and 'useful to the enemy'.

"Any penal actions like the ban of NDTV India that infringes on media operating and reporting freely will be stoutly resisted by media-persons everywhere," the club said.

ALSO READ:

NDTV India banned: Arvind Kejriwal asks other channels to go off air in solidarity



--- ENDS ---
Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia's religious affairs minister was fired Friday for "attacking the foundations of diplomacy" after he publicly suggested the conservative form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia had links to extremism.

A government statement said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had relieved Abdeljalil Ben Salem of his position because of his "attack" on Tunisia's diplomatic principles.

Justice Minister Ghazi Jribi will take on Ben Salem's duties for the time being, the statement said.

The president's chief of staff Slim Azzabi spoke of a "grave error" by Ben Salem, and backed the decision to sack him.

On Thursday, Ben Salem confirmed during a parliament session that he had "dared" to question two senior Saudi officials, including Riyadh's ambassador to Tunis, about Saudi Wahhabism being a "vehicle for terrorism".

"I say to Saudis... reform your school because terrorism has historically come from it. I say this to you with love and modesty," the minister said, according to the private Mosaique FM radio station.

Wahhabism, the fundamentalist school of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia, has been accused of inspiring extremist ideologies in the region.

Ben Salem tried to row back from his comments, issuing a statement saying that Tunisia's relations with the kingdom were "completely harmonious".

Tunisia has witnessed a series of extremist attacks since the popular uprising of 2011, including deadly attacks on foreign tourists in 2015.
The Vice President, Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, says government will continue to partner the private sector to develop the agricultural sector in the country.

He described agriculture as a principal private sector enterprise, which helps to increase gross domestic product as well as creating jobs, and government would, therefore, continue to support the sector.

Government has promised to revamp the sector with the Youth in Agric program to be aggressively boosted as well as provide storage facilities to be constructed across districts to minimise post-harvest losses.

Some other promises contained in the 2016 National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto also includes a new plantation scheme to be established by Cocobod to attract youth sharecroppers.

The party also intent establish two more shea butter factories in the North Region, a new Cashew Board for Ghana, headquartered in Brong Ahafo region as well as an agro-credit scheme shall be established to serve all farmers.

Addressing the gathering at the 32nd Northern Regional Farmers Day Celebration at Walewale on the theme, 'Agriculture: A Business Response To Economic Growth', he noted that there is high risk associated with Agriculture and government would continue to implement the right policies and programmes.

"To minimise the risk, government is investing in the area of Agric infrastructure like mechanisation, irrigation, supporting the fishery sector and improving the road sector, especially in the cocoa producing areas", he said.

Mr Amissah-Arthur expressed the hope that the public investment in the sector by government would improve Agric productivity, farmers income and welfare of Ghanaians, especially those who rely on the sector.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Flagstaff House Communications Bureau
President John Dramani Mahama has rejected claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), that the agriculture sector has declined under his tenure.

The NPP has accused government of starving the sector of the needed funds leading to its constant decline.

Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, and Minority spokesperson on Agriculture at a press conference on Thursday, said the sector is not performing at all .

By the measure of annual growth performance, Ghana's agriculture has been sliding or, at best, sluggish. From 7.4% in 2008, and 7.2% in 2009, agricultural growth slowed to 5.3% in 2010, hitting the bottom of 0.8% in 2011. It then stayed down at 2.3% in 2012, recovering somewhat to 5.7% in 2013 and then 4.6% in 2014.

But speaking at this year's Farmers Day celebration, President Mahama explained that, his government's investment in the sector surpasses that of his predecessors.

In the last four years, the government under my administration has invested extensively in the agriculture and fishing sectors. And these investments are yielding positive results and I need to put to rest a misconception that is constantly bandied about in the media to misinform the public that the agriculture sector is in decline; the agriculture sector is not in decline.

President Mahama argued that, the agriculture sector is experiencing very healthy growth.

He added that, 2015 figures from the Ghana Statistical Service suggests that the sector increased in growth by 2.5%.

The media can research it; these are the official figures of growth. A sector that is growing at 2.5% cannot be said to be in decline. The figures that we see for this year are even more outstanding because the figures we see for the first quarter for the agriculture sector in terms of growth is showing 3.8% according to the statistical service quarterly newsletter and for the second quarter it is showing 4.1%. This definitely is a sector that is growing at a healthy speed. So let's put to rest once and for all the impression that the agric sector is in decline, he added.

This years National Farmers day celebration, which has been brought forward from the usual first Friday in December schedule due to the elections, was held in Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region on the theme: Agriculture, a business response to economic growth.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
The New Patriotic Party flagbearer for the 2016 general elections, Nana Akufo-Addo, has said that his promise to create a new region from the Western Region, will take place within the first six months if he's elected as President. Akufo-Addo, who is currently on a 3-day tour of the Western Region, said in an interview on Takoradi-based Skyypower FM, said he is committed to his resolve to split the region into two, to ensure proper development and management of its resources.

Akufo-Addo argued that, the demarcation will ensure a more effective governance structure for the country.

The whole process of regional and local government organization is with this spirityou know that in Nigeria for instance, they had five regions, today they have 36, and everyone who has had an interaction with Nigeria, will acknowledge that it is a more effective structure they have now than they had before, he said.

He noted that, an NPP government will also consider the creation of the Oti Region in the Volta Region, as part of the restructuring process. We are looking at the Oti Region in the Volta Region, and the possibility of the Mid-West region; so it is a whole process and we are looking at it, he said.

We want to get going as quickly as possible because having an efficient governance system will help the country, those in government and the citizens, he added.

'Mahama to create 5 new regions'

President John Mahama had also hinted of the creation of five new regions, if he's retained for a second term. He said increasing the administrative regions from 10 to 15, will be dependent on recommendations from a Commission of enquiry which will be set up.

Speaking at the launch of the highlights of the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) 2016 manifesto highlights, he said, We'll set up a commission of enquiry to look into the creation of new regions we currently have 10 regions and we believe that it is possible to increase the number to 15. So we will set up a commission of enquiry that will look into the viability of increasing the number of administrative regions in Ghana from 10 to 15.

-Citifmonline
Ghana's Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) mechanism, is an innovative natural resource governance and landscape-level planning tool that authorizes communities to manage their natural resources for economic and livelihood benefits.

It was developed by Ghana's Wildlife Division, an arm of the Forestry Commission, together with its partners, to support community resource management in off-reserve (un-gazetted) lands. CREMAs fill a critical gap by giving communities the right to manage and benefit economically from their natural resources.

The communities surrounding the Bia Conservation Area (BCA) in the Western Region of Ghana have four CREMAs, namely Elluokrom, Asempaneye, River Asuopri and Kwamebikrom CREMAs. The CREMAs have decision-making structures with an executive body and a constitution that guides the activities and regulations of the CREMA.

As part of efforts to improve the management of the CREMAs, Conservation Alliance (CA) and the Wildlife Division organized a series of training activities under the GEF/FAO transboundary project. More than 300 persons from 15 communities benefitted from the training that covered Tree planting, Sustainable land management, Monitoring ecological health of CREMAs and Traditional conservation practices. During the same period, the project team trained 89 CREMA executives to support the management of natural resources within the Bia-Juabuso landscape.

In an interview, the International Coordinator, Abigail Frimpong, explained that the GEF/ Transboundary project seeks to enhance the ecological health and the livelihoods of the people within the Ghana- Cote dIvoire corridor. She explained that the training of CREMA communities is among a series of activities being undertaken to restore degraded fields, promote tree cultivation on farms, promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural (cocoa) practices and enhance understanding of the value of biodiversity.

She lamented about the illegal hunting of wildlife within the CREMA landscape and the lack of support for the initiative by the government and donors. She cautioned that this initiative that puts communities at the centre of resource management risks collapse unless urgent measures are taken to support the sustainability of the project.

She was grateful to the GEF/FAO for the funding support and praised all partner institutions particularly the Wildlife Division, FORIG, IITA, Institute of Forester, the District Assemblies and the traditional leaders, for their commitment.
Conservation Alliance (CA) in partnership with IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture) and the Wildlife Service Division organized series of training activities for cocoa farmers under the project Development of a trans-frontier conservation area linking forest reserves and protected areas in Ghana and Cote dIvoire to strengthen conservation in the landscape.

The training covered best practices in Cocoa Agroforestry, Integrated Pest Management and Sustainable Land Management.

Over the period 42 communities, 75 lead farmers and over 2,500 cocoa farmers within the Bia-Juabuso landscape have benefited from the training.

The project also supported the beneficiary communities to raise about 100,000 tree seedling for planting out on cocoa farms and degraded areas.

In an interview, Ms. Abigail Frimpong, the International Project Coordinator, indicated that lead farmers have acquired considerable knowledge on Cocoa Husbandry and Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPM).

She hinted that the project has raised and planted over 100,000 tree seedlings into cocoa farms (to boost the shade levels) and degraded sites within the landscape.

The farmers appealed to the government and donors for support in identifying and developing alternative livelihoods. They also asked the government to provide incentive packages that will motivate the youth to take up cocoa production as a career to reduce unemployment in the country.
04.11.2016 LISTEN

Anti-corruption campaigner and former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, has filed an application at the Supreme Court, praying it to allow him to examine businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, in the controversial GHc51 million judgment debt paid to him.

I have this morning 4th November 2016 filed an application at the Supreme Court for leave to examine the Judgment Debtor as the citizen public interest Plaintiff in favour of whom the case was decided for the Republic of Ghana, Mr. Amidu added in a statement copied citifmonline.com.

Mr. Amidu's action follows a move by the Attorney General to discontinue an oral examination of Mr. Woyome, despite serving an earlier notice.

The notice of discontinuance stated that please take notice that the 1st Defendant Judgment Creditor [Attorney General] herein has this day [26th Day of October 2016] discontinued the present application to orally examine the 3rd Defendant Judgment Debtor [Alfred Agesi Woyome] with liberty to reapply.

Amidu also accused government of being reluctant in enforcing the Supreme Court's judgment ordering it to retrieve the amount from Mr. Woyome.

I have examined the circumstances surrounding the Government's reluctance to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court with the seriousness which the matter deserves. I share the view expressed by objective and reasonable members of the public that because the Government was the 1st Defendant/Respondent against whom the Supreme Court made declarations of unconstitutional conduct in paying the judgment debt to Alfred Agbesi Woyome the Government has been pretending for purely political reasons at each turn to take steps to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court only to deliberately abort them.

I agree that the Government's objective has always been to create the appearance and impression in the minds of the unsuspecting public that it is complying with the enforcement orders. The Attorney General's latest application to discontinue the Government's application to examine its financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, is one more such trick to deceive the public and obstruct the course of justice, he added.

Background

Alfred Woyome was paid 51 million after he claimed that he helped Ghana to raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAN 2008 Nations Cup.

However an Auditor General's report released in 2010, said the amount was paid illegally to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier.

The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back 51 million fraudulently taken from the state, after Mr. Martin Amidu, a former Attorney General challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman, Waterville, and Isofoton.

Following delays in retrieving the money, the Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court's judgment ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.

Woyome prevents officials from valuing residence

Mr. Woyome in April 2016 prevented officials of the Attorney General's Department and the Lands Commission from having access to his Kpehe residence for valuation. The move was part of a directive from the Supreme Court to retrieve monies illegally paid to him.

But Woyome resisted the move, saying the planned valuation was illegal. Mr. Woyome had earlier won the criminal prosecution that sought to imprison him for the offence.

Below is the full statement from Mr. Amidu

AMIDU APPLIES TO THE SUPREME COURT TO EXAMINE ALFRED AGBESI WOYOME THE JUDGMENT DEBTOR  BY MARTIN A, B. K. AMIDU

Today, spurred on by agitations from the public who are protesting against the lack of probity, accountability and transparency on the part of the Government in purporting to discontinue the Government's application and consequential order granted by the Supreme Court on 19th October 2016 (ordering Alfred Agbesi Woyome to appear before the Court on Thursday 10th day of November, 2016 at 9: 00 am in the forenoon to be examined orally on Oath to ascertain whether he as the 3rd Defendant/Judgment Debtor has any property or other means of satisfying the Judgment), I have this morning 4th November 2016 filed an application at the Supreme Court for leave to examine the Judgment Debtor as the citizen public interest Plaintiff in favour of whom the case was decided for the Republic of Ghana.

I have examined the circumstances surrounding the Government's reluctance to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court with the seriousness which the matter deserves. I share the view expressed by objective and reasonable members of the public that because the Government was the 1st Defendant/Respondent against whom the Supreme Court made declarations of unconstitutional conduct in paying the judgment debt to Alfred Agbesi Woyome the Government has been pretending for purely political reasons at each turn to take steps to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court only to deliberately abort them. I agree that the Government's objective has always been to create the appearance and impression in the minds of the unsuspecting public that it is complying with the enforcement orders. The Attorney General's latest application to discontinue the Government's application to examine its financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, is one more such trick to deceive the public and obstruct the course of justice.

In my application I filed today, I made use of information provided to me that: '.when the Judgment Debtor was served with the order of the Court he went to inform the NDC of which he is a member and financier and the incumbent Government, in particular the Attorney General and the President personally, that should the order applied for by the Government for his examination be not discontinued he will have no option at his appearance at the Court than to disclose truthfully and faithfully to the Court on oath the names of all NDC and Government beneficiaries of the judgment debt which was paid to him as a result of the unconstitutional conduct of the Attorney General declared in the decision of this Court.'

I have also stated the information available to me and my belief that: 'the NDC and the Government realizing the power of this Court pursuant to its order granted for the examination of the 3rd Defendant/Respondent/Judgment Debtor to order the judgment debtor or officer to produce any books or documents in the possession of the judgment debtor relevant to these questions at the time and place appointed for the examination took to panic resulting in the President instructing the Attorney General upon her own advice to him to discontinue the application for examination of the judgment debtor which the Court had already ordered.' The full application can be found on my website at martinamidu.com.

I would like to assure all public spirited Ghanaians that should I be given the opportunity to examine the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, in Court the good people of Ghana will hear and see the beneficiaries of the unconstitutional judgment debt in the NDC and this Government. Gargantuan crimes were indeed committed as I stated in 2012. Corruption is trying to prevent the public from hearing the whole story from the horse's own mouth. I challenge the honesty and integrity of the President and the Government to allow the examination of its financier, the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome to proceed without hindrance if they have nothing to hide.

Martin A. B. K. Amidu

4th November 2016



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
Former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, has alleged that the current Attorney General (AG), Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong, withdrew her application to examine embattled businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome over the Ghc51 million judgement debt saga, because President Mahama personally gave an order.

Mr. Amidu in a statement copied to citifmonline.com after filing an application at the Supreme Court to personally examine Mr. Woyome, argued that the AG backtracked in order to protect some National Democratic Congress (NDC) officials, who benefited from the GHc51 million paid Mr. Woyome by the state as judgment debt.

In my application I filed today [November 4, 2016], I made use of information provided to me that: '.when the Judgment Debtor was served with the order of the Court, he went to inform the NDC of which he is a member and financier; and the incumbent Government, in particular the Attorney General and the President personally, that should the order applied for by the Government for his examination be not discontinued, he will have no option at his appearance at the Court than to disclose truthfully and faithfully to the Court on oath the names of all NDC and Government beneficiaries of the judgment debt, which was paid to him as a result of the unconstitutional conduct of the Attorney General declared in the decision of this Court.'

Martin Amidu

I have also stated the information available to me and my belief that: 'the NDC and the Government realizing the power of this Court pursuant to its order granted for the examination of the 3rd Defendant/Respondent/Judgment Debtor to order the judgment debtor or officer to produce any books or documents in the possession of the judgment debtor relevant to these questions at the time and place appointed for the examination took to panic resulting in the President instructing the Attorney General upon her own advice to him to discontinue the application for examination of the judgment debtor which the Court had already ordered, Mr. Amidu added.

The allegation comes on the back of claims by pressure group, OccupyGhana, that the AG gave up on the case in order to protect Woyomes accomplices who belong to the governing NDC.

The Attorney General which had served an earlier notice to orally examine Mr. Woyome at the Supreme Court, suddenly announced a discontinuation of the case.

The notice of discontinuance dated October 26, 2016 stated that please take notice that the 1st Defendant Judgment Creditor [Attorney General] herein has this day [26th Day of October 2016] discontinued the present application to orally examine the 3rd Defendant Judgment Debtor [Alfred Agesi Woyome] with liberty to reapply.

But Mr. Martin Amidu, who secured a ruling at the court ordering Mr.Woyome to pay back the money, has in his latest application, asked the Supreme Court to allow him to examine Mr. Woyome.

I have this morning 4th November 2016 filed an application at the Supreme Court for leave to examine the Judgment Debtor as the citizen public interest Plaintiff in favour of whom the case was decided for the Republic of Ghana.

He said if given the chance the good people of Ghana will hear and see the beneficiaries of the unconstitutional judgment debt in the NDC and this Government.

He further challenged President Mahama to allow his examination of Mr. Woyome to commence if government has nothing to hide.

Gargantuan crimes were indeed committed as I stated in 2012. Corruption is trying to prevent the public from hearing the whole story from the horse's own mouth. I challenge the honesty and integrity of the President and the Government to allow the examination of its financier, the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome to proceed without hindrance if they have nothing to hide.

Background

Alfred Woyome was paid 51 million after he claimed that he helped Ghana to raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAN 2008 Nations Cup.

However an Auditor General's report released in 2010, said the amount was paid illegally to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier.

The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back 51 million fraudulently taken from the state, after Mr. Martin Amidu, a former Attorney General challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman, Waterville, and Isofoton.

Following delays in retrieving the money, the Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court's judgment ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.

Woyome prevents officials from valuing residence

Mr. Woyome in April 2016 prevented officials of the Attorney General's Department and the Lands Commission from having access to his Kpehe residence for valuation. The move was part of a directive from the Supreme Court to retrieve monies illegally paid to him.

But Woyome resisted the move, saying the planned valuation was illegal. Mr. Woyome had earlier won the criminal prosecution that sought to imprison him for the offence.

Below is the full statement from Mr. Amidu

AMIDU APPLIES TO THE SUPREME COURT TO EXAMINE ALFRED AGBESI WOYOME THE JUDGMENT DEBTOR  BY MARTIN A, B. K. AMIDU

Today, spurred on by agitations from the public who are protesting against the lack of probity, accountability and transparency on the part of the Government in purporting to discontinue the Government's application and consequential order granted by the Supreme Court on 19th October 2016 (ordering Alfred Agbesi Woyome to appear before the Court on Thursday 10th day of November, 2016 at 9: 00 am in the forenoon to be examined orally on Oath to ascertain whether he as the 3rd Defendant/Judgment Debtor has any property or other means of satisfying the Judgment), I have this morning 4th November 2016 filed an application at the Supreme Court for leave to examine the Judgment Debtor as the citizen public interest Plaintiff in favour of whom the case was decided for the Republic of Ghana.

I have examined the circumstances surrounding the Government's reluctance to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court with the seriousness which the matter deserves. I share the view expressed by objective and reasonable members of the public that because the Government was the 1st Defendant/Respondent against whom the Supreme Court made declarations of unconstitutional conduct in paying the judgment debt to Alfred Agbesi Woyome the Government has been pretending for purely political reasons at each turn to take steps to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court only to deliberately abort them. I agree that the Government's objective has always been to create the appearance and impression in the minds of the unsuspecting public that it is complying with the enforcement orders. The Attorney General's latest application to discontinue the Government's application to examine its financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, is one more such trick to deceive the public and obstruct the course of justice.

In my application I filed today, I made use of information provided to me that: '.when the Judgment Debtor was served with the order of the Court he went to inform the NDC of which he is a member and financier and the incumbent Government, in particular the Attorney General and the President personally, that should the order applied for by the Government for his examination be not discontinued he will have no option at his appearance at the Court than to disclose truthfully and faithfully to the Court on oath the names of all NDC and Government beneficiaries of the judgment debt which was paid to him as a result of the unconstitutional conduct of the Attorney General declared in the decision of this Court.'

I have also stated the information available to me and my belief that: 'the NDC and the Government realizing the power of this Court pursuant to its order granted for the examination of the 3rd Defendant/Respondent/Judgment Debtor to order the judgment debtor or officer to produce any books or documents in the possession of the judgment debtor relevant to these questions at the time and place appointed for the examination took to panic resulting in the President instructing the Attorney General upon her own advice to him to discontinue the application for examination of the judgment debtor which the Court had already ordered.' The full application can be found on my website at martinamidu.com.

I would like to assure all public spirited Ghanaians that should I be given the opportunity to examine the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, in Court the good people of Ghana will hear and see the beneficiaries of the unconstitutional judgment debt in the NDC and this Government. Gargantuan crimes were indeed committed as I stated in 2012. Corruption is trying to prevent the public from hearing the whole story from the horse's own mouth. I challenge the honesty and integrity of the President and the Government to allow the examination of its financier, the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome to proceed without hindrance if they have nothing to hide.

Martin A. B. K. Amidu

4th November 2016



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
Accra, Nov. 4, GNA - The Supreme Court has fixed Monday, November 7, to decide on an application by the Electoral Commission (EC) challenging the judgement of the High Court that overturned the Commission's disqualification of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom.

The EC had gone to the highest court of the land to seek clarity following the decision of the High Court quashing the Commission's decision to disqualify Dr Nduom, the Presidential Candidate of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), from the presidential race on December 7.

The seven member panel which sat over the case are; Justice Sophia Adinyira (presiding), Justice Anin Yeboah, Justice Paul Baffoe Bonney, Justice Vida Akoto Bamfo, Justice Yaw Appau, Justice Amapah Benin, and Justice Gabriel Pwamang.

On November 2, this year, Justice Gabriel Pwamang sat over the case as a sole judge but when the case was called Friday morning seven judges had been empanelled.

At the Supreme Court, hearing was reserved for lawyers in the case and some election observers. The media were not allowed into the court room under the excuse that the room was taking only 18 people.

The police, who were there in their numbers to beef up security, prevented lawyers from getting access to the courtroom. Lawyers were screened and quizzed before they were allowed to enter.

Party executives who were disallowed entry to the courtroom had a confrontation with the police and that resulted in heated arguments.

The media were, therefore, briefed by the defence team of Dr Nduom.

The EC had rejected Dr Nduom's nomination claiming the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94, the law governing the conduct of the 2016 Elections.

The Commission said one of his subscribers endorsed the forms with different signatures in both portions of the nomination forms, raising questions as to the legitimacy of one or both signatures.

The PPP, however, argued that the EC did not give them the opportunity to correct the errors on the nomination forms hence proceeded to the High Court to contest the matter.

The High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, on October 28 this year, ordered the EC to give the PPP the opportunity to amend anomalies on the nomination forms of the party's flag bearer for him to re-submit.

The EC, in its statement on Monday, October 31, dissented the judgment, saying that presidential candidates must ensure the accuracy of information provided to public institutions and must take full responsibility thereof.

At the Supreme Court, Mr Thaddeus Sory represented the EC whiles Mr Ayikoi Otoo represented Dr Nduom.

GNA
04.11.2016 LISTEN

By Kwamina Tandoh, GNA

Accra, Nov. 4, GNA - Tv Africa, a private local television station aimed to project Ghanaian and African values has been rebranded and re-launched after 13 years of operation in Ghana.

The re-launch and rebranding move in partnership with Groupe Ideal would provide excellent content and professionalism in broadcasting.

The rebranding includes the logo, content of programmes and style of broadcasting to meet international standards.

Speaking at the re-launch ceremony in Accra Mr Kwaw Ansah, Founder of Tv Africa, said the new Tv Africa would be one of the conduits to getting Africa 'into the driver's seat' although the continent has been relegated to the background by the rest of the world for a long time.

He said the new Tv Africa which portrays values such as affable, ambitious, assertive, adept, would promote ethical and professionalism journalism in Ghana and Africa.

Dr Nii Kotei Dzani, President of Groupe Ideal and Board Chair of the Station, said programmes and contents of the Tv Africa has been altered to provide excellence and to transmit high quality programmes on education, development, culture and current affairs with a focus on Ghana and the African continent.

Dr Dzani said the new Tv Africa would deliver excellence and professionalism in reporting to add to values of the country.

'My vision of Tv Africa is to move it to a level that we can be proud as Ghanaians and Africans.

'I will make sure Tv Africa becomes analogous to BBC, CNN and Aljazeera in terms of reach and quality of journalism,' he added.

He bewailed the situation where journalists misinterpret statements without even understanding what they have reported or its consequences on the economy and the political purview.

He, therefore, called on Ghanaian and African media journalists to exhibit high level of responsibility, fairness and accuracy in line of their duties in reporting news.

GNA
Police are relying mostly on human intelligence as Najeeb was not using his mobile phone when he went missing.

By Shashank Shekhar: In one of the biggest search operations launched by the Delhi Police to find missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, over 200 police personnel have been engaged in three states, excluding Delhi, over half-a dozen cities, four highways and in all the government hospitals in Delhi.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST SEARCH OPERATIONS

According to a senior police officer, this is one of the biggest search operations in recent times to find a missing person. Police are scanning records of each hospital, police stations, railways stations, night shelters, highways and even forest areas in Delhi and neighboruring areas. A senior officer associated with the search operation told Mail today that a total of 52 officers across the police districts have been tasked to check all the unidentified bodies, accident cases and unconscious patients brought to the hospitals.

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HOW HE DISSIPATED

Najeeb went missing on the intervening night of October 14-15 after allegedly being beaten by a 20-strong mob of students who had gone campaigning to his door for hostel elections. After an FIR was lodged by Najeeb's mother at Vasant Kunj (north) police station, a Special Investigation Team of Delhi Police was also formed to trace him. "A static team of one senior officer and four cops have been deployed at crucial places where we hope Najeeb can be found.

This team is also camping around JNU and in all the cities where Najeeb lived and studied. These places include Ajmer, Aligarh, Badaun, Bareilly, etc," said the officer, adding that teams have been deployed in several cities. Police are relying mostly on human intelligence as Najeeb was not his mobile phone when he went missing. Meanwhile on Thursday, the JNU students' union held a solidarity meeting on the issue which was attended by various political leaders, including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar. Kejriwal alleged that the JNU vice-chancellor is not acting to trace Najeeb. "Najeeb will come back only when Modiji would realise that he is losing out on votes of youths" Kejriwal said.

ALSO READ:

JNU letters on missing student Najeeb Ahmed doing the rounds

Kejriwal attacks JNU VC, Modi over missing student





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04.11.2016 LISTEN

By Dennis Peprah, GNA

Sunyani, Nov. 4, GNA - The national challenges in the agriculture sector has impacted on the perception of the people leading to investment gap of one billion dollars, Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru Limuna, the Minister of Food and Agriculture.

These challenges, according to the Minister included inadequate knowledge and skills in commercial farming, inadequate market-based risk mitigating interventions such as crop insurance, relatively high cost of profit, infrastructure and access to market.

'The consequences have been a slow achievement of high productivity of sub-sectors,' the sector minister made this known when he addressed the seventh national farmers' forum of the 32nd national farmers' day in Sunyani.

Attended by award winners, Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, and Directors of Agriculture, the event is organised annually by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture preceding the national farmers' day celebration.

Hosted in the Kintampo Municipality in the Brong-Ahafo Region, the 2016 farmers' day celebration has the theme: 'Agriculture: A business response to economic growth,' and the ultimate best farmer is expected to receive a-100,000 dollar three-bedroom house.

Notwithstanding these challenges, Alhaji Limuna said agriculture had continued to support the economy on a sustainable basis, saying it had currently employed 42.2 per cent of the active labour force directly and created more jobs indirectly for the actors along the various commodity value chain.

Agriculture also provides staples to feed the teeming population and has made Ghana food secure as well as sustained raw material supply to many agribusiness, he added.

He said it was fully aware of the potential of agriculture to generate economic growth and explained that the government, had through his ministry developed appropriate policies, programmes and project to realise the fortunes of the sector.

He said the ministry had signed a-200-million-dollar Memorandum of Understanding with the South Korean Rural Development Corporation for the development of the West bank of the Accra plains.

In addition, the government is supporting cocoa farmers with free fertilizer programme to improve upon soil fertility, mass spraying of farms and extension services in the cocoa growing communities.

Alhaji Limuna said the cocoa roads programme had also witnessed investment by the government.

This huge investment by the public funding requires complementary support by the private sector investment in order to realise the noble objective of sustainable investment in the sector.

Dr Daniel Asiedu, the Managing Director of the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), the major sponsor of the national farmers' day said the bank had since 2001 built and handed over 14 houses to award winners in various location in the country.

He emphasized that the bank continued to support activities in the industrial crops, fishing and aqua-culture, livestock and poultry, agro-processing, agro-marketing, agribusiness, agro input supply and distribution, veterinary services and other agriculture related projects.

Some of the projects the bank is currently working on include lines of credit, managed funds, nucleus-outgrower schemes, value chain financing and institutionally managed farmers' loan, Dr Asiedu added.

Mr Gustav Annor, one of the award winners from Anum Apapam in the Ayensuano District of the Eastern region lauded the forum, and appealed to corporate bodies to support.

He told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the agriculture sector held potential to create more jobs for the teeming youth, and control high unemployment as well and appealed to the government to make the sector more attractive.

Mr Annor said support ought to be provided for the youth to go into commercial farming activities as a means to enhance their livelihood and ensure food security as well.

GNA
04.11.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Nov. 2, GNA  Mr Delali Kwesi Brempong, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon, has called on the public to desist from self-medication and visit health facility anytime they fell ill.

He said it was better for one to attend hospital and be diagnosed by a qualified physician than to resort to self-medication which could have many health implications.

Mr Brempong said this when he held a free medical screening for the people of the Constituency at Bawaleshie-East Legon in Accra.

He said when voted to power, a Health Trust Fund would be established, to help people meet their medical needs.

Mr Brempong said the youth would also be trained to enter into the existing industries of the constituency adding that more development projects would be initiated to create jobs for the youth in the Constituency.

He said Small-Scale Loan Schemes would also be established to empower women in trade to enable them expand their businesses.

Mr Brempong said Constituency Education Trust Fund would also be established to help the deprived and the marginalized who find it difficult to meet the educational needs of their wards from the primary up to the tertiary level.

Participants at the event were screened Malaria, Hepatitis 'B', Body Mass Index (BMI), Jaundice and Blood Pressure concerns.

GNA
The Igbo tribe is one of the three major tribes in Nigeria. They are located in the eastern part of the country.

Igbo people have carved a niche for themselves as entrepreneurs. People always make joke of how they dont know simple arithmetic but when it comes to money, they are geniuses.

The Igbo people are known to be very good at doing business. They would explore every available option when it comes to making money. You can find them in almost all the states in the country doing what they know best, which is business.

When it comes to showing affection, the Igbo people do it in their own unique way. Below are ways they show affection.

1. Endearments

Igbo people know how to say sweet words to each other. You hear words like asa nwa (fine girl), ego oyigbo (foreign currency), tomato jos, asa mpete (beauty), omalicha (beautiful), Dim oma( my dearest husband), ifunanya m (my love) and so many others.

2. They spend on what they love

Many have this belief that Igbo people love money and are very stingy. Well, a typical Igbo person would spend on what he or she truly cares about. For example, a typical Igbo man is generous to his woman. Caring for his woman is his second nature. After all she is his investment. They provide their wives with the best things money can buy as they want society to treat them with respect.

3. They do extra

When an Igbo person truly cares about you, they would go the extra mile of spending on your family and friends. They want to show that they are capable. When they care about you they care about your family and friends too.

READ ALSO: 7 photos that show how different Yoruba and Igbo parties are

4. Titles and praise-singing

The Igbo people are very good at praise and singing and hailing a person with fancy titles. This is a very common way Ndigbo show affection. If two Igbo friends meet, it very unlikely that will not hail each other with fancy titles. Even an Igbo woman will always use fancy titles for her man. It is very rare for an Igbo man to perform at an occasion without praise-singing and mentioning of the rich and famous. You hear things like, chief chief, ekwueme (talk and do), nwoke ukwu (big guy), ebube dike (glorious hero) and the likes.

5. They are ready to fight for you

Igbo people are ready to fight for you at any time. If you have an Igbo friend, he or she will always be ready to drink panadol for your headache.

6. Show-off

Ndigbo are a show-off race. They want you to know they are on top or they have achieved something great. They will brag about their family, wealth and success to whoever cares to listen. An Igbo man may not hug his children or tell them he loves them, but he is sure to brag to world about how they excelled in school or won an award. An Igbo person will give you money or gift, not because he cares but because he wants to show-off.

7. Protect what is theirs

Ndigbo show affection by jealously guarding their possession. They may come off as domineering or too controlling but they are only trying to protect their own. That is why an Igbo man will want to control what his wife does, where she goes to, who she mingles with and son on. Some Igbo parents will even want to choose career and spouse for their children.

8. Giving of gifts

This is another way Igbo people show affection. They will surprise you with gifts. During festivals and other celebrations, you will see Igbo people sharing food items to people who they care about. You dont need to ask before they meet your need. This is also why some Nigerian women prefer to marry Igbo men. They are very good at spoiling those they care about with money and gift items.

Ndigbo Kwenu!!!

Source: Legit.ng
A NASA forecast suggests that the colossal amount of toxic haze in Pakistan's Punjab is coming from India's Punjab. Pakistan media has already called it 'official'.

By India Today Web Desk:

According to a Daily Pakistan report , toxic smog is looming over Lahore and many other parts of Punjab in Pakistan. Their media claims that it is not a by-product of pollution that Pakistan is producing. In fact, they are inferring that this pollution produced within Pakistani boundaries is largely contributed by 'rival' India, which NASA in its forecast has observed.

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The NASA forecast points out the high levels of "fire and thermal anomalies" in Pakistan.

A fact that has been speculated by many experts is that the smog has branched from industrial and vehicular emissions and it is thought that it has originated from India.

"The report says that the pollutants are from staggering amount - 32 million tons (30 billion kg) of leftover straw - being burnt by Indian farmers, which is an age-old practice," the Daily Pakistan quoted.



A Twitter user shared a small video clip depicting Punjab's crop burning over the last two weeks.

Punjab's crop burning over the last two weeks, mapped in one gif. #airpollution pic.twitter.com/eXSye3ynoO Anand Katakam (@anandkatakam) November 3, 2016



Diwali celebrations and its fireworks across the border have also been cited as one of the major reasons for this staggering amount of pollutants in the air.

However, images published by NASA suggest that burning of crops in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana in India, could be the biggest reason behind the air pollution in the region.



CONDITIONS IN PAKISTAN

The national climate change expert and former Director General of Pakistan's Meteorological Department, Dr Qamar uz Zaman is also of the view that the main source of pollutant in Pakistan's lower atmosphere is India's Eastern Punjab, where many coal-based industries are centered.

Lahore, including northern and central Punjab in Pakistan, have been surrounded by a dense layer of smog where sunshine is negligible as the haze continues to spread over their skies.

In Pakistan's Punjab, fog has caused road accidents and flights may soon have to be delayed.

Dr Sajid Rashid, Principal Environment College, University of Punjab, has blamed burning of fields of stalks in the Indian state of Punjab as the main reason for rising level of smoke in the air.

"Unfortunately, in Pakistan, we lack the equipment for real-time monitoring of air quality," he said talking to DP Global.

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To celebrate the company's 130th anniversary, the CEO of the factory declared off for everybody and is taking them on a holiday to Thailand. A box of chocolates really wasn't enough.

By India Today Web Desk:

A management system company Jydsk Emblem Fabrik in Denmark celebrates its 130th anniversary. Fireworks, chocolates, sweets and drinks weren't enough. No gifts were handed out.

The company CEO instead wants to pull the factory's shutter down and take his employees on a holiday to Thailand.

According to an NYHEDER report, the director of the company said that it was anniversary for all the employees and the director wanted them to have a great experience on the occasion.

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The incredible bonus was given to 35 lucky employees who got the chance to relax under the sun in Thailand for a week. The employees are to fly in January next year.

An employee shared his thoughts saying that it will be a fantastic trip for everybody as they will get to travel together and spend time with each other.

The director of the company considers holidays a good investment and has asked to close down the whole plant so that there is peace on holiday.

All the employees are looking forward to ride elephants in Thailand. The plane will take off on January 14, 2017.

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Delhi CM Kejriwal wants the entire fraternity to express solidarity with Hindi news channel NDTV India by going 'off-air'.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with Hindi news channel NDTV India, which has been penalised for its Pathankot terror attack coverage.

"I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity with NDTV," Kejriwal tweeted.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has directed NDTV India to go off air for 24 hours from the midnight of November 8-9 for allegedly breaching broadcast norms in its coverage of the attack on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab in January.

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READ | BJP lying on OROP, stabbing army in the back: Arvind Kejriwal to India Today



Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the ban on NDTV was "shocking" and shows an "Emergency-like attitude".

Kejriwal also hailed the Editors Guild of India for what he said was standing up to the Centre's decision vis-a-vis the news channel.

"BJP STRANGLING THE FOURTH PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY"



"Congratulations to (the) Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi government's dictatorship," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader tweeted.

The AAP also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of strangling the fourth pillar of democracy and said that by banning NDTV broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking the country back to the days of Emergency.

READ | Editors Guild condemns govt's order to take NDTV India off air for a day: Full text



"We would like to remind the BJP that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gagged the media in 1975 and the country's people cleaned up the Congress in 1977," AAP leader Sanjay Singh said at a press conference here.

"We want to request the BJP and the PM (Modi) not to encourage the politics of hate," Singh said.

The Editors Guild of India on Friday condemned the "unprecedented decision" of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demanded that the order be immediately rescinded.

The Guild said in a statement that the decision was a direct violation of the freedom of the media, and therefore of the citizens of India, and "amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency".

READ | First ever order against channel for coverage of terror attack



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Leaders from the opposition and several top editors slammed the Centre for the 24-hour blackout on NDTV India.

An army person guards during the operation against the militants at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot. (File photo: PTI)

By India Today Web Desk: Several media persons and leaders from the Opposition today expressed their displeasure over Centre's one-day black out order on NDTV India. The Hindi news channel has been penalised for its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry directed NDTV India to go off air for 24 hours from the midnight of November 8-9 for allegedly breaching broadcasting norms in the coverage of the attack on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab in January.

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The government today maintained that a top-level committee decided on the penalty of taking NDTV India off air just for a day instead of 30 days which it had considered because it felt the channel cannot get away with the "huge indiscretion and violation of rules" in its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack.

Rejecting criticism that the decision on NDTV India amounted to the Emergency-era order, officials said 21 such orders had been issued by the UPA governments since 2005.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), which looked into the matter has in their comments, mentioned clearly that the threat to national security cannot be justified on any grounds whatsoever, sources said.



The blackout led to an outrage on twitter with several media persons reacting sharply to the boycott.

My way or highway. Only loud propaganda, no independent or serious news - order of the day by high & mighty. No wonder, #NDTVBanned. Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 4, 2016

Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India. #NDTVBanned-shocking & unprecedented https://t.co/PXR7c2x20y Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 4, 2016

I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity wid NDTV. https://t.co/rjHAk1Z53a Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 4, 2016

This culture of Sarkari Bans- singling out one channel- NDTV India- smacks of arbitrary over reach; as the Editors Guild has also said https://t.co/cLokMkzoVt barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 4, 2016

Earlier today Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with Hindi news channel NDTV India, which has been penalised for its coverage.



The AAP also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of strangling the fourth pillar of democracy and said that by banning NDTV broadcast, PM Modi was taking the country back to the days of Emergency.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too did not mince words to criticise the move. Banerjee said that it was shocking and showcased an 'Emergency-like attitude'.



Apart from the Delhi and West Bengal chief ministers, left parties too criticised the government calling the blockout an undeclared emergency. The parties said it was "ironical" the move comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on "dangers of Emergency" at a media award function two days ago even as Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal were detained after they staged protest following suicide of an ex-serviceman over OROP.

Also read: NDTV India banned: Arvind Kejriwal asks other channels to go off air in solidarity



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Editor's note: As Nigeria officially entered recession two months ago more and more Nigerians begin complaining and accusing the incumbent government of Muhammadu Buhari of all country's problems.

However, Ibrahim Isah, the Legit.ng guest contributor, appeals to Nigerians to change their attitude to the problems, saying that they are personally the cause of all of the challenges.

Nigeria is a nation loved by God Almighty. The events that have been happening right from time immemorial prove this assertion right. This is a country that has been blessed abundantly both in human and natural resources for its citizens/ occupants to enjoy to the fullest, but no, few [evil and wicked] ones would not allow it.

READ ALSO: DBN to strengthen Nigeria's economy diversification - Buhari

Nigeria is a country God Almighty described in one of the Holy Books as a nation that has been endowed with great natural potentials to grow and surpass/ supersede other nations [except Saudi Arabia, because God has blessed them through the prayers of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) ] but corruption, greed, selfishness, self-center, tribalism, religious sentiments, nepotism, hatred for each other, have become its bane.

I began to wonder why are we like this, and why we have continue to heap our woes, problems or inadequacies on President Muhammadu Buhari, when we are the caused of them? This economic quagmire or recession is never a creation or fault of his. For God has said when we are witnessing bad things, we should check our daily deeds (misdeeds).

We should do a soul searching of our individualistic mind and ask ourselves these questions - Am I doing the right thing? Am I carrying out my civic responsibilities diligently? Am I doing what (Christianity or Islam) says I should do, in whatever, wherever, whichever and whenever situation I found myself in. Am I contributing my quota positively towards the success of this country?

READ ALSO: Where are the facts that Nigerians not happy with Buhari?

All these and few other questions which time will not permit me, are numerous questions we should sit, calm and ask ourselves. Then me, you and all of us will know that there no honesty in our daily dealings. It is said that if you are doing good/ right thing, you know, and vice versa. So brethren, why pushing all the blames on the rulers [or leaders], as they are not leading by example and not even ready to leave good legacies- footprints.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng.

Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@naij.com  drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

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Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Legit.ng Opinion page!

Source: Legit.ng
People flock to to Anchorage for a few reasons  breathtaking natural beauty, incredible wildlife sightings and an abundance of active adventures. Most, however, dont make a trip to the states largest city just for the fare  primarily because its seemingly the most overlooked component of any Last Frontier expedition. What Anchorage lacks in superficial cosmopolitan charm it makes up for with the best possible ingredients  from the sockeye salmon caught that day to the pure, glacial water coming out of the tap. It may not have the celebrity chefs of Charleston or the world-renown reputation of New York, but its a city that deserves far more credit than it gets  especially in the food and drink department. On your next voyage up north, book a few more days in the quiet, charming city of Anchorage and make a stop at each of these restaurants. Youll find yourself leaving the city full and immensely inspired.



Anchorage might be Alaskas biggest city, but in terms of size, its a small town  especially when it comes to the food scene. The restaurateurs behind South Restaurant and Coffeehouse (pictured above) are also the masterminds behind two other stops on this list: Snowcity Cafe and Spenard Roadhouse. What differentiates South isnt just the decor, the slightly off the beaten path location next to an industrial plot or the vibe  its the menu, which has more than 25 gin varietals, a rotating draft of local beer and high-end cuisine. The dishes are served tapas style and are meant to share, and all feature as much Alaska produce, seafood and meat as possible. Start with the house cured charcuterie board, which comes with fresh artisan cheese and stone mustard. After that, move to the truffle polenta fries (which will be nearly impossible to share), fresh oysters or the albondigas  a mix of housemade meatballs served with roasted tomato sauce. If you cant make up your mind, go with the tapas sampler to get a taste of everything.



Photo: Snowcity Cafe

Known throughout the city as the place Barack Obama had eggs when he was in town last

September, its no surprise theres often a queue outside of Snowcity Cafe during weekend brunch hours. With a breakfast menu served all day, modern and bright decor and a convenient location to the rest of downtown, Snowcity isnt just a favorite for tourists  its one for locals too. The eclectic menu serves all the brunch staples, like eggs benedict, omelets and pancakes, but they all come with an Alaskan spin. The benes come loaded with house smoked salmon or Alaska king crab legs while the fluffy pancakes are filled with freshly plucked blueberries or Snow City granola.



Photo: Downtown Anchorage Association

Located right across the street from Anchorages performing arts center, Orsos (which means bear in Italian) central location makes it a favorite post-theatre spot for locals and tourists. Serving up whats best described as Alaskan style Italian, the decor is actually more reflective of a Tuscan villa than a bistro in Anchorage (you wont find deer antlers or beer rugs anywhere). Boasting an expansive wine cellar with wines from around the world, Orso also pours fresh from the tap Glacier Brewhouse beer (thanks to the adjacent location to the brewery). Youd be remiss not to order a dish topped or mixed with fresh caught Alaskan seafood  like the hearty king crab mac n cheese, the house made crispy ravioli served with pesto or the fresh Alaskan sockeye with parsley and roasted garlic.



Photo: Ginger

Part Asian fusion, part Pacific rum, the food at Ginger is most always described as fresh, which isnt surprising considering the oysters for the Alaskan Oyster Shooter are caught that day and the prawns for the Thai Noodle Soup plucked right from the ocean. More than just seafood (even though why youd order anything outside of that is beyond us), the menu offers a mix of both healthy and hearty dishes, like a 10-ounce grilled New York strip with hoision-sriracha sauce or a seared tofu curry with coconut curry sauce. One of the stars of the menu is the spicy ahi tuna tower, which is as beautiful as it is delicious with layers of marinated big eye ahi with fresh avocado salad, wasabi and wonton crisps. Also serving brunch, youll find your favorites like chicken and waffles served with a pan-Asian twist, like honey-sriracha glaze.



One of the few restaurants thats truly packed with locals 365 days out of the year, Mooses Tooth Pub and Pizzeria serves the citys best pizza, hands down. The reason for the popularity is simple  the restaurant makes each pie from scratch using fresh cheeses, locally sourced meat and succulent seafood and the beer is crafted in the pubs own brewery, Broken tooth Brewing. The most popular ale on tap is the Fairweather IPA, which pairs like a dream with the crispy and spicy shrimp fiesta pie made with jalapenos and red peppers or the backpacker, made with sundried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and garlic oil. Although theres ample seating (up to 300 guests), its pretty much common knowledge that youll wait at least 45

minutes for a table during the endless summer nights.



Photo: Shane Taylor

Ask any local about Crush Wine Bar & Bistro and theyll most likely tell you one thing  Anchorage has needed it for decades. In a town heavily reliant on California wines, it can be hard (and expensive) to find a decent bottle of Bordeaux or Spanish Rose by the bottle, better yet glass. Thats why owners Chris Vane, Chad Culley opened up Crush wine shop in 2008 and the bistro in 2010. The small bistro is reminiscent of a French cafe, with a rolling bar cart touting wines and a few cozy tables lining floor to ceiling windows. The food is as impressive as the wine selection, and even earned chef Chris a James Bears Award finale (and the ability to brag for being the only Alaskan chef on the list). In addition, Crush made Wine Enthusiasts coveted 100 best wine restaurants list. The food is served tapas style and most hit well below the $10 range, making it both delicious and affordable. The baked mac & cheese or the beet pickled and smoked salmon stuffed deviled eggs are a must for an appetizer, while the spaghetti with chorizo fondue and pickled mustard greens is a favorite for dinner.



The only thing Spenard has in common with the roadhouses that decorate the sides of Alaskas main highways is the name (and maybe the sign). Despite being pure Alaskan, the decor is bright and modern  with hanging globe lights around the bar, abstract artwork on the beige walls and a fresh ferns and potted plants throughout. Not located in the downtown corridor (near the outskirts of Anchorage), Spenard is a main stopping point for tourists looking to grab a quick bite before they drive off to Denali or Fairbanks. Most, though, leave completely surprised by the innovative menu, which offers everything from house-infused habanero Bloody Marys to salmon Carpaccio with ponzu to black garlic pasta made with fresh rigatoni and prosciutto. Dont skip the Tater Tots, which can come plain or fully loaded with melted cheese, fresh herbs, bacon and sour cream.

Claire Gallam is a seasoned writer and photographer with a passion for food and travel. She has spent time in more than 40 countries and hundreds of cities.
The Editors Guild of India said that I&B ministry's decision to take off air news channel NDTV India for a day should be rescinded.

The I&B ministry had concluded that the channel NDTV India had revealed crucial and "strategically sensitive" information when the terror attack on Pathankot IAF base was being carried.

By India Today Web Desk: The Editors Guild of India has strongly condemned the unprecedented decision of an inter-ministerial panel to take NDTV India off air for a day and termed it a "direct violation" of the freedom of the press.

The editor's body demanded that the order be "immediately rescinded".

The inter-ministerial panel constituted by the Information and Broadcasting ministry had concluded that the channel NDTV India had revealed crucial and "strategically sensitive" information when the terror attack on Pathankot IAF base was being carried out in January, according to official sources.

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The I and B ministry while invoking the powers under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act said it "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November,2016 till 00:01 hrs of 10th November, 2016".

Here's the full text:

The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded.

The ostensible reason for the order as reported is that the channel's coverage of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016 that the government claims gave out sensitive information to the handlers of terrorists. NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was sober and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain.

The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency. This first-of-its-kind order to impose a blackout has seen the Central government entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media and take arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage. There are various legal remedies available to both a citizen and a state in the Court of Law to have action taken for any irresponsible media coverage. Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order.

--- ENDS ---
First Two Champions Crowned at the Playground Poker Fall Classic

November 04, 2016 Anthony Charter

The first two champions of the 2016 Playground Poker Fall Classic have been crowned at the Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Quebec. Both Event #1: The Wild $150 and Event #2: $220 NL Holdem Freeze came to a close early Friday morning as Jean Francois Jodoin and Chris Annis each found themselves with all the chips, all the money and a sweet trophy.

After four starting flights and two more grueling days of play, Jean Francois Jodoin had navigated a field of 1,198 entries to capture Event #1: The Wild $150 and earn his first ever live-recorded tournament cash, a win nonetheless, worth $26,083 after a heads-up deal with opponent, Maxime Heroux.

Just 27 players returned for action on Thursday evening. Jodoin, the Day 1b chip leader, came into play on Day 3 third in chips and didnt budge from the top of the leaderboard. The final table was set with the elimination of Yan Nadeau in 11th place. Nadeau open-shoved preflop with pocket sixes but ran into big blind Rachid Bahajs pocket aces and could not improve.

Tina S was the first casualty of the final table, falling on the very first hand to exit in 10th place for $1,750. Pascal Monarque soon joined her on the rail after getting sucked out on the river holding pocket queens. Monarque was all in and at risk preflop against the ace-eight of Fadi Haddad, and in true Barry Greenstein fashion, an ace fell on the river and Monarque was gutted in ninth, banking $2,100.

Start of Day 3 chip leader Sebastien Proulx would be eliminated in eighth place when he ran his pocket sevens into the pocket kings of Maxime Heroux. A consolation of $3,000 was awarded for his efforts. Yang Guo was the next to depart. Guo three-bet shoved preflop with king-six but found himself dominated by the king-queen of Jodoin. Guo was unable to improve and picked up $4,100 for seventh.

Jodoins next victim was Haddad. Haddad moved all in preflop with pocket eights; unfortunately for him, Jodoin woke up with pocket jacks, busting Haddad in sixth. Haddad picked up $5,800. The coolers kept coming as a few hands later, Bahaj made a move with pocket nines, putting himself at risk, only to find Heroux with two queens. Bahaj found no help on the board and walked away with $8,000 for fifth.

George Kazarian had been working a short stack for a while before getting it in with queen-eight against Jodoins ace-six. Ace-high held for Jodoin and Kazarian was knocked out in fourth place, earning $10,600. Heads-up play was set when Mike Mirand put himself at risk, calling off his stack against Jodoins small-blind shove. Mirand was racing for his tournament life holding queen-ten to Jodoins pocket fours. Jodoin flopped a set and Mirand took his leave and a fourth-place prize of $13,600.

Jodoin and Heroux made a deal to even the gap between the first and second place payouts and heads-up play began. On the final hand of the night, a preflop raise war ended with both stacks in the middle and their hands tabled. Jodoin had woke up with pocket aces, having the ace-king of Heroux crushed. The board stayed true and Jodoin picked up the win, busting Heroux in second place for a cool $21,000.

Across the room, Event #2: $220 NL Holdem Freeze, a one-day event, was taking place at the same time. The event drew a total of 207 entries, creating a significant prize pool of $40,158. The final eight players came to an agreement in regards to chopping up the remaining prize pool with chip leader Chris Annis locking up $5,000 and the remaining seven players banking $4,250.

As is Playground policy, a portion of the prize pool must be left for the eventual champion. In this case, $1,108 and the champions trophy would await the winner. Once the deal was made, the speed of play picked up and the eliminations came quick. Daniel Mason fell in eighth, with Ryan Michael Press following him out the door in seventh. Michael Afalo finished in sixth and soon after, Dov Amzallag was eliminated in fifth place. Jean-Francois Stoycheff dropped out in fourth place leaving the final three to battle it out.

Familiar face, Andrew Boujaoude lost back-to-back monster beats to Annis, before the final dagger ended his night. Boujaoude was at risk preflop with pocket sevens against the ace-deuce of Annis. After fading the flop, Annis found an ace on the turn and it held to bust Boujaoude in third.

Annis would finish off the task, taking out his final opponent, Irtiza Malik. Annis had Malik all in and at risk preflop with king-ten, crushing Maliks five-four. Annis hit a king on the flop and it held to earn the checkmark and scoop the extra cash on top. Annis victory was worth $6,108, taking home the champions trophy.

Check out PokerNews daily for a recap of all the action at the Playground Poker Fall Classic. Follow all of the action on the Fall Classic Event Blog.

Sharelines Jean Francois Jodoin won the Playground Poker Fall Classic Wild $150 heads up against Maxime Heroux.

Chip leader Chris Annis chops the $220 NL Hold'em Freeze prize pool at Playground Poker Fall Classic.
100 Brokerages have just been recognized in a list of the top performing real estate teams in the country.

Contact

Katrina Ricarte

***@keymedia.com.au Katrina Ricarte

End

--recognizing 100 of the best real estate teams that are excelling in the industry and have established themselves as forces to be reckoned with.The Top Teams list was compiled from sales data collected and verified from hundreds of Canada's most successful real estate teams. The majority are located in British Columbia and Ontario where high demands and prices have led to massive sales totals; however,also uncovered teams working in smaller markets that have been achieving success."When people hear real estate, they think of individual agents that chase down leads, sitting down with clients and organizing open houses," said Clay Jarvis,journalist"But the overall strength, growth and appeal of a brokerage depend on how well its team performs and keeps the company well managed."For the full report see issue 2.03 ofout now.To view the list, go to www.repmag.ca/ rankings/REP- top-teams-2016 , published by Key Media International, is dedicated to Canadian real estate agents, brokers, Realtors and sales representatives. The magazine offers informative articles on a broad range of topics including property values and trends, mortgage advice and product overviews, buying and selling strategies, surveys of particular real estate markets throughout Canada, renovating advice, and general tips and traps for real estate professionals and the buyers and sellers they represent.For more information, please contact:Katrina Ricarte
After successfully expanding into two new territories since 2012, Reinhard Hofer, the independent wealth management company headquartered in Austria, says it is now considering several options for its next stage of expansion.

Contact

Reinhard Hofer

+4312675356

info@reinhardhofer.com Reinhard Hofer+4312675356

End

-- In June 2012, Reinhard Hofer opened the doors of a further analytical office in Shanghai, to add to their advisory offices in Austria and Hong Kong, which opened to much fanfare at the inception of Reinhard Hofer in December 2005.An office of market analysts in the US followed in late 2014 to continue a global expansion plan that Reinhard Hofer expects to be fully complete by 2022."When Josef and I formed Reinhard Hofer in 2005, our primary focus was establishing a foothold in what is a very competitive arena, Asset and Wealth Management,"explains Sebastian Hofer, Co-Founder of Reinhard Hofer."We agreed that for the first 5 years at least we would concentrate solely on expanding and maintaining our core client base," Hofer continues. "So we recruited wisely, looking for people who shared our view of wealth management and the importance of the relationship between our company and our clients, and with our offices strategically positioned, we set out to make our mark."What followed was unexpected: The Global Financial Crisis."2008 was difficult," says Simon Bale, Investment Director at Reinhard Hofer. "What's more, the crisis occurred in such a critical year for a new business, the third year. After the initial shock, we adapted and changed strategy slightly to focus more on Mergers and Acquisitions to provide security to our clients from the volatility of 2008. Once we weathered the initial storm, there were some fantastic opportunities on the market and the rest is history."Regarding the 'Reinhard Hofer Global Expansion Plan' both executives smile."It all started at a Board Meeting in 2010," explains Simon. "The plan consists of eight offices, strategically placed to ensure our analysts have their fingers on the pulses of the main financial hubs around the world with an immediate focus on Europe, Asia and the United States."With the success of their offices in Shanghai and New York, Reinhard Hofer's attention has now turned to their next destination."We have a shortlist of several options. By 2022 we will certainly have additional offices in Dubai, South Africa and one in South America, most likely Brazil," Sebastian Hofer reveals. "I would also like an additional office here in Europe.""As with our existing offices, each new opening will be two to three years apart and there will be no plans for additional expansion beyond eight offices. The question right now is 'Which destination will be next?'" teased Hofer.With an announcement expected in the Spring, Reinhard Hofer expects the fifth office to be open for business in the third quarter of 2017. For more information, visit www.reinhardhofer.com
End

-- On Wednesday night November 2, The Queens Chamber of Commerce celebrated the Business Person of the Year Awards. There were many elected officials on hand and Borough President Melinda Katz touted the honorees positive impact and service to the borough.This year's Business Person of the Year event was the epitome of the American Dream and Queens in particular. We honored business people from all points far and wide from NYC's largest geographic borough. Monte Redman's humble beginnings growing up in LIC to the President & CEO of Astoria Bank along with Steve Wei of Wei, Wei & Co immigrant story to become the largest CPA firm in Queens are reminders of what hard work and perseverance can accomplish.Rhonda Binda and her role at the Jamaica BID and John Kaiteris' 40 plus years as Executive Director at HANAC are also testament and reminders of what success looks like. The Queens Chamber of Commerce was humbled to feature these deserving Honorees as the best of the borough," said Thomas J. Grech, Executive Director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.The Hall of Fame honoree was Monte N. Redman, who is CEO/President of Astoria Bank and Astoria Financial Corporation. Mr. Redman joined Astoria in 1977, and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and elected to the Board of Directors on July 1, 2011. Under his leadership, Astoria Bank has established a strong, seasoned Business Banking team, and has expanded the bank's focus on multi-family and commercial real estate lending. In 2014, Mr. Redman oversaw the bank's rebrand to Astoria Bank, reflecting the organization's extensive range of offerings for its diverse and expanded customer base. In addition to his leadership of Astoria, Mr. Redman is an active member of the board of directors for the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and the New York Bankers Association, addressing issues of importance to the New York banking community. He is also a director and former chairman of the board of the Tourette Association of America (TA). Under his leadership, the TA helped influence legislation, furthered education and supported cutting-edge research. "I am proud of Astoria Bank's long history of serving the people and businesses of Queens and equally honored to have been recognized by the Queens Chamber of Commerce. Being inducted into its Hall of Fame is definitely one of the highlights of my career," said Monte Redman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Astoria Bank," said Astoria Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Monte N. Redman.John Kaiteris, Executive Director/CEO of HANAC Inc. He has an extensive background in government service and community relations having worked in the New York City Human Resources Administration and in the Mayor's Office. He has brought these skills and talents to HANAC where he has been the Executive Director/CEO since 1973.Steve Wei, is the founder/senior partner of Wei, Wei & Co., LLP. He was the principal and founder of Steve Wei, CPAs. As a partner of Wei, Wei & Co., LLP, he is in charge of overall management and administration of the firm's accounting and tax practice, including directing the activities of managerial, professional and support staff, and coordinating manpower needs, among other resources.Rhonda Binda, Executive Director of Jamaica Center Business Improvement District. She joined the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District as Executive Director in December 2014. With tri-sector private, government and non-profit experience and expertise in forming effective public-private partnerships, she has been advancing the BID by leveraging technology, tourism and transportation to make it an even more thriving business hub, and enjoyable shopping and cultural destination.The awards dinner brought together all of the different parts of Queens together to honor these amazing people for their hard work and dedication.
Prologis has signed lease agreements for 5,500 square metres with Newrest at Prologis Park Barajas and 2,600 square metres with Caher at Prologis Park Coslada. Together, these transactions increase the occupancy of Prologis Spanish portfolio to 96.6 percent. CBRE and Aguirre Newman were the advisors for this transaction. 

[]
Braces for people with scoliosis can be awkward, cumbersome and even painful. A good fit is crucial, especially since the brace is often worn day and night.

Mechanical engineering students at the University of Rhode Island are collaborating with a local doctor and a Rhode Island company to create a brace that, well, fits like a glove -- and is just as comfortable.

Gabriella Devine of East Greenwich, Thomas Brey of Manorville, N.Y., Dan Cross of Northborough, Mass., and Christopher Viveiros of Attleboro, Mass., are working on the project with a doctor from Rhode Island Hospital and SIMULIA, the Rhode Island branch of an international computer software company called Dassault Systemes.

The students are creating the brace for their senior design capstone class in mechanical engineering, which requires students to solve real-world problems with viable products. The students expect to have a prototype in April, after months of research.

"This project will have an impact on patients' lives so it's very rewarding for all of us,'' says Devine. "It's exciting to combine engineering skills and new technology.''

The project involves three fields: mechanical engineering; computer simulation; and medicine. To be competitive in today's workforce, the students say it is crucial to get hands-on experience in fields outside their concentration and keep pace with cutting-edge technology.

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Scoliosis is a curvature of the spine that usually occurs during puberty. There is no cure; however, it is treatable with a brace and, in extreme cases, surgery. Without treatment, the condition worsens and can be disabling.

There are two commonly used scoliosis braces: the Boston brace and the Providence brace, both of which could be improved, say the students.

The Boston brace, also called the underarm brace, is usually prescribed for curves in the lumbar or thoraco-lumbar part of the spine. It is typically worn most of the day under clothing and removed for gym class or sports. The Providence brace, also called a nighttime brace, is worn while sleeping.

"Because they're bulky, sweaty and restrictive, kids -- young girls especially -- don't want to wear them,'' says Viveiros. "They feel self-conscious in public. We're trying to make something a little more discreet -- and breathable.''

Now, most doctors use padding to customize a standard brace for each patient. That technique has flaws, say the students. The process is time consuming for the patient and requires many medical visits to make sure the brace is fitting properly.

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"This can be an inconvenience for teenagers,'' says Viveiros. "And the brace itself can prevent kids from participating in activities that their classmates are doing.''

The URI students' project involves the latest technology. The students will use a 3D scanner to get the patient's precise body shape -- "and that, we hope, will result in a brace that is completely personalized and form-fitting, yet still effective,'' says Viveiros. Patients will also be required to get X-rays to determine the extent of the curve.

The students will use a 3D printer to make the brace, and the prototype will be made with plastic. "The plastic could come in different colors, so patients can chose their own color -- sort of like braces for teeth,'' says Viveiros. "We're adding a little bit of fun to an otherwise difficult situation.''

In addition to SIMULIA, the students are also receiving guidance from Dr. Craig Eberson, chief of the division of pediatric orthopedics at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. They met with him not long ago to learn how scoliosis braces are fitted and what can be done to improve them.

At SIMULIA, the students are learning how to use engineering design software that makes the brace as effective as possible with the least amount of material. The new brace will have a lattice-like structure instead of a solid-shell, which requires more material.

"The software is smarter than a human,'' says Cross. "It's doing thousands of calculations in an instant, recognizing where the pressure needs to be on the brace to correct the curvature. This is the wave of the future in medical care -- using software to solve health problems.''

The new brace could also be less expensive. Brey says that 3D printing is cheaper because less material and labor are involved. "Right now, 3D printing is pretty much used just to make prototypes. We're trying to bring 3D printing into the mainstream to produce an actual product that meets industry standards.''

The students say they are thrilled to be working on a project that will improve lives.

"Our professors are devoted to us and want us to succeed,'' says Viveiros. "This project is a great start to our professional careers.''

"Everything we've learned in the College of Engineering is being put to use,'' says Brey. "The college is preparing us for an actual job. When we graduate we can be helpful to a company -- and society.''
If you've found yourself singing along to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" hours after you switched the radio off, you are not alone. Certain songs do tend to stick in our heads more than others for some very specific reasons, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

These songs, often called earworms, are usually faster, with a fairly generic and easy-to-remember melody but with some particular intervals, such as leaps or repetitions that set them apart from the average pop song, according to the first large-scale study of earworms. The article appears online in the APA journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.

In addition to "Bad Romance," examples of common earworms named in the study include "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and, perhaps not surprisingly, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" by Kylie Minogue.

"These musically sticky songs seem to have quite a fast tempo along with a common melodic shape and unusual intervals or repetitions like we can hear in the opening riff of 'Smoke On The Water' by Deep Purple or in the chorus of 'Bad Romance,'" said the study's lead author, Kelly Jakubowski, PhD, of Durham University. She conducted the study while at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Earworms are also more likely to get more radio time and be featured at the top of the charts, which is not surprising. However, there has previously been limited evidence about what makes such songs catchy regardless of popularity or how often people may have heard them.

"Our findings show that you can, to some extent, predict which songs are going to get stuck in people's heads based on the song's melodic content. This could help aspiring song-writers or advertisers write a jingle everyone will remember for days or months afterwards," said Jakubowski.

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The study found that the tunes most likely to get stuck in people's heads were those with more common global melodic contours, meaning they have overall melodic shapes commonly found in Western pop music. For example, one of the most common contour patterns is heard in "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," where the first phrase rises in pitch and the second falls. Numerous other nursery tunes follow the same pattern, making them easy for young children to remember, according to the authors. The opening riff of "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5, one of the top named earworm tunes in the study, also follows this common contour pattern of rising then falling in pitch.

In addition to a common melodic shape, the other crucial ingredient in the earworm formula is an unusual interval structure in the song, such as some unexpected leaps or more repeated notes than you would expect to hear in the average pop song, according to the study. The instrumental interlude of "My Sharona" by the Knack and "In The Mood" by Glen Miller both have this unusual interval structure.

The researchers asked 3,000 people to name their most frequent earworm tunes and compared these to tunes that had never been named as earworms in the database but were a match in terms of popularity and how recently they had been in the United Kingdom music charts. The melodic features of the earworm and non-earworm tunes were then analyzed and compared. Songs were limited to popular genres, such as pop, rock, rap and rhythm and blues. The data for the study were collected from 2010 to 2013.

Studies of earworms can help to understand how brain networks, which are involved in perception, emotions, memory and spontaneous thoughts, behave in different people, the authors said.

Jakubowski offered tips for how to get rid of an earworm:

 Engage with the song. Many people report that actually listening to the earworm song all the way through can help to eliminate having it stuck on a loop.

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 Distract yourself by thinking of or listening to a different song.

 Try not to think about it and let it fade away naturally on its own.

Most frequently named earworms in study:

1. "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga

2. "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" by Kylie Minogue

3. "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey

4. "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye

5. "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5

6. "California Gurls" by Katy Perry

7. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

8. "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga

9. "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
Light is not only a source of energy, but also an important signal which regulates many light-dependent growth processes in a plant in order to adapt it to its environment in the best possible way. Light is first detected by photoreceptors in the shoot of a plant. Physiological processes in the plant are mediated by light signaling molecules. For more than three decades, scientists have been speculating whether roots are also able to perceive light. However, this hypothesis could never be proved until this new study was published. "Physicists from Korea and biologists from Jena teamed and combined knowledge from both disciplines in order to find out, whether plant vascular bundles could act as light optical fibers and transmit light from the shoot to the roots," Sang-Gyu Kim, one of the first authors of the study and co-initiator of the project, describes the successful cooperation.

Previous studies had shown that a special photoreceptor in plants which detects light of the wavelength red/far-red is surprisingly also expressed in the roots. However, it remained unclear how this root photoreceptor was activated. In an interdisciplinary effort, molecular biologists and optical physicists developed a highly sensitive optical detector along with the idea to compare plants with "blind" and "sighted" roots. They used plants of the thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana, a model organism in plant research, which were genetically modified in a way that the photoreceptor was only silenced in their roots, but not in their shoots. Hence, these plants had "blind" roots. The scientists grew these modified plants along with control plants; their roots were in the dark soil and their shoots exposed to light, just like in nature. The optical detector system was used to measure light which was transmitted in the stem down to the roots. "With this approach, we could show clearly and without ambiguity that light is transmitted into the roots via vascular bundles. Even if the intensity of the transmitted light was low, it was sufficient to activate the photoreceptors, trigger downstream light signaling, and influence growth in the control plants," Chung-Mo Park, the leader of the project at Seoul National University, explains.

"These results are crucial for further research projects. Our work proves that roots are able to perceive light, even though they are usually found belowground. Photoreception in the roots triggers a signaling chain which influences plant growth, especially the root architecture," says Ian Baldwin, leader of the study at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. He already looks into the future: "There are more photoreceptors in the roots. Until now, it has remained largely unknown what their responsibilities in the roots are and how they interact with light signals which are transmitted from the shoots."

It is of major importance for ecological research to show the relevance of this study for plants growing in their natural habitat. To find out, the scientists want to perform experiments with another plant species, the coyote tobacco Nicotiana attenuata, a model plant in ecology, which is adapted to an extremely strong exposition to light. The researchers propose that the newly found sensory modality of roots is enhancing the ecological performance of plants in nature, by allowing for a better timing of resource allocations for growth, reproduction and defense.
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) President Pranab Mukherjee today returned after a three-day state visit to Nepal and described it as a "mission of friendship" which has provided new dynamism to our common cooperative endeavours.

Mukherjee, who is the first Indian President to have visited the Himalayan neighbour in 18 years, equated the occasional coldness in relations between the two countries as a "difference of opinion in a family".

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"Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity. India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development.

"Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal," he said after completion of visit in Pokhra.

"My visit to Nepal has been a mission of friendship and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal," he said.

Mukherjee was accompanied by Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre besides Congress Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita and BJP MPs L Ganesan, Jagdambika Pal and R K Singh.

The President visited Nepals capital Kathmandu where he was accorded an elaborate welcome by President Bidya Devi Bhandari herself at the Tribhuvan International Airport with the Vice-President and the Prime Minister.

He also visited Janakpur, which has been the hotbed of Madhesi protests, to offer prayers at historical Janaki temple and Pokhra to meet ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiment.

During the visit, Mukherjee had meetings with his counterpart, Vice President Nand Bahadur Pun and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "prachanda".

Mukherjee said he reiterated his invitation to Bhandari to visit India which she accepted with happiness.

"In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two people," he said.

India remains committed to enhancing its partnership in all areas of priority for the people and Government of Nepal, he said.

"As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit," Mukherjee said.

"I announced that from 2017 onwards, Nepali students will have the opportunity to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses in Indian Institutes of Technology on a regular basis. For this, our IITs will open their entrance examinations to Nepali students," he said.

Mukherjee, who also visited Pokhra where large number of ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiments live, said people of Nepal have contributed immensely to the safety and security of India through their service in the Indian Army. PTI ABS DIP RG DIP

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Chronic insufficient sleep is at epidemic levels in U.S. teens and has been associated with depression, substance use, accidents, and academic failure. Poor self-regulation or an inability to alter thinking, emotions, and behaviors to meet varying social demands is thought to be a key link between inadequate sleep in teens and poor health and school-related outcomes. However, a study led by Judith Owens, MD, MPH, at Boston Children's Hospital and Robert Whitaker, MD, MPH, at Temple University found that the number of hours teens sleep on school nights may not be the main problem. Instead, daytime sleepiness and a tendency to be a "night owl," referred to as an evening chronotype, appear to be more strongly associated with poor self-regulation. Findings were published online November 3 by Pediatrics.

"The results of this study suggest it's not how long you sleep that has the biggest impact on self- regulation, but when you sleep in relation to the body's natural circadian rhythms and how impaired you are by sleepiness," says Owens, director of the Sleep Center at Boston Children's and first author on the paper.

Owens, Whitaker and colleagues analyzed 2,017 online surveys completed by 7th -- to 12th-graders from 19 middle and high schools in Fairfax County, VA. Each student completed questionnaires about sleep along with questions about self-regulation, including cognitive aspects (for example, "I forget instructions easily"), behavioral aspect (e.g., "I am impulsive") and emotional aspects (e.g., "It bothers me when I have to deal with changes.").

Nearly 22 percent of the students reported sleeping fewer than seven hours on school nights. (In contrast, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends eight to 10 hours for 13- to 18-year-olds for optimal health and functioning.) Sleep duration, daytime sleepiness and chronotype were clearly interconnected; night owls slept less on school nights and were sleepier in the daytime, as were those who slept fewer hours.

But when the researchers examined all three aspects of sleep together and adjusted for age, sociodemographic factors and mental health conditions like ADHD, depression and anxiety, it was daytime sleepiness and "night owl" tendencies that independently predicted impaired self-regulation -- while sleep duration did not.

Sleepier adolescents reported significantly worse self-regulation, as did teens who tended to be "night owls" rather than "morning larks." The findings held for all types of self-regulation but were most robust for cognitive and emotional aspects.

Owens believes her data support later start times for middle school and high school, to match the natural shift in adolescents' circadian pattern toward the eveningness chronotype. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued recommendations in 2014 calling for a school start time of 8:30 a.m. or later for middle and high schools.

"The 'misalignment' or mismatch between early school start times and teens' circadian rhythms -- which normally shift later with puberty -- may worsen self-regulation or so-called 'executive functioning,'" says Owens. "However, a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that fewer than 20 percent of public middle and high schools in the U.S. start at the recommended time," Owens says. "We hope the results of this study will add to the mounting scientific evidence supporting healthy school start times."

The researchers note that being out of biological sync with school schedules forces adolescents to wake up when they are at their lowest level of alertness (the equivalent of 3 a.m. for adults). They also miss out on rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, which is concentrated in the early morning hours and is critical for forming memories and learning new information. On weekends, late bedtimes and late wake times become even more extreme, contributing to the phenomenon termed "social jet lag" and exacerbating sleepiness on school days.

"Children and adolescents with better self-regulation have better physical health, mental health and financial security as adults," says Whitaker, a co-author on the study and a professor of public health and pediatrics at Temple. "So we need to understand how sleep and other factors optimize the development of self-regulation."
Scientists have measured the catastrophic genetic damage caused by smoking in different organs of the body and identified several different mechanisms by which tobacco smoking causes mutations in DNA. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and their collaborators found smokers accumulated an average of 150 extra mutations in every lung cell for each year of smoking one packet of cigarettes a day.

Reported in the Journal Science, the study provides a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked in a lifetime and the number of mutations in the tumour DNA. The highest mutation rates were seen in the lung cancers but tumours in other parts of the body also contained these smoking-associated mutations, explaining how smoking causes many types of human cancer.

Tobacco smoking claims the lives of at least six million people every year and, if current trends continue, the World Health Organization predicts more than 1 billion tobacco-related deaths in this century. Smoking has been epidemiologically associated with at least 17 types of human cancer, but until now no-one has seen the mechanisms by which smoking causes many of these cancer types.

Cancer is caused by mutations in the DNA of a cell. In the first comprehensive analysis of the DNA of cancers linked to smoking, researchers studied over 5,000 tumours, comparing cancers from smokers with cancers from people who had never smoked. They found particular molecular fingerprints of DNA damage -- called mutational signatures -- in the smokers' DNA, and counted how many of these particular mutations were found in the different tumours.

The authors found that, on average, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day led to 150 mutations in each lung cell every year. These mutations represent individual potential start points for a cascade of genetic damage that can eventually lead to cancer. The numbers of mutations within any cancer cell will vary between individuals, but this study shows the additional mutational load caused by tobacco.

Dr Ludmil Alexandrov, first author from Los Alamos National Laboratory, said: "Before now, we had a large body of epidemiological evidence linking smoking with cancer, but now we can actually observe and quantify the molecular changes in the DNA due to cigarette smoking. With this study, we have found that people who smoke a pack a day develop an average of 150 extra mutations in their lungs every year, which explains why smokers have such a higher risk of developing lung cancer."

Other organs were also affected, with the study showing that a pack a day led to an estimated average 97 mutations in each cell in the larynx, 39 mutations for the pharynx, 23 mutations for mouth, 18 mutations for bladder, and 6 mutations in every cell of the liver each year.

Until now, it has not been fully understood how smoking increases the risk of developing cancer in parts of the body that don't come into direct contact with smoke. However, the study revealed different mechanisms by which tobacco smoking causes these mutations, depending on the area of the body affected.

Prof David Phillips, an author on the paper and Professor of Environmental Carcinogenesis at King's College London, said: "The results are a mixture of the expected and unexpected, and reveal a picture of direct and indirect effects. Mutations caused by direct DNA damage from carcinogens in tobacco were seen mainly in organs that come into direct contact with inhaled smoke. In contrast, other cells of the body suffered only indirect damage, as tobacco smoking seems to affect key mechanisms in these cells that in turn mutate DNA."

The study revealed at least five distinct processes of DNA damage due to cigarette smoking. The most widespread of these is a mutational signature already found in all cancers. In this case, tobacco smoking seems to accelerate the speed of a cellular clock that mutates DNA prematurely.

Professor Sir Mike Stratton, joint lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: "The genome of every cancer provides a kind of "archaeological record," written in the DNA code itself, of the exposures that caused the mutations that lead to the cancer. Our research indicates that the way tobacco smoking causes cancer is more complex than we thought. Indeed, we do not fully understand the underlying causes of many types of cancer and there are other known causes, such as obesity, about which we understand little of the underlying mechanism. This study of smoking tells us that looking in the DNA of cancers can provide provocative new clues to how cancers develop and thus, potentially, how they can be prevented."
An international research team led by Carnegie Mellon University has found that when the brain "reads" or decodes a sentence in English or Portuguese, its neural activation patterns are the same.

Published in NeuroImage, the study is the first to show that different languages have similar neural signatures for describing events and scenes. By using a machine-learning algorithm, the research team was able to understand the relationship between sentence meaning and brain activation patterns in English and then recognize sentence meaning based on activation patterns in Portuguese. The findings can be used to improve machine translation, brain decoding across languages and, potentially, second language instruction.

"This tells us that, for the most part, the language we happen to learn to speak does not change the organization of the brain," said Marcel Just, the D.O. Hebb University Professor of Psychology and pioneer in using brain imaging and machine-learning techniques to identify how the brain deciphers thoughts and concepts.

"Semantic information is represented in the same place in the brain and the same pattern of intensities for everyone. Knowing this means that brain to brain or brain to computer interfaces can probably be the same for speakers of all languages," Just said.

For the study, 15 native Portuguese speakers -- eight were bilingual in Portuguese and English -- read 60 sentences in Portuguese while in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. A CMU-developed computational model was able to predict which sentences the participants were reading in Portuguese, based only on activation patterns.

The computational model uses a set of 42 concept-level semantic features and six markers of the concepts' roles in the sentence, such as agent or action, to identify brain activation patterns in English.

With 67 percent accuracy, the model predicted which sentences were read in Portuguese. The resulting brain images showed that the activation patterns for the 60 sentences were in the same brain locations and at similar intensity levels for both English and Portuguese sentences.

Additionally, the results revealed the activation patterns could be grouped into four semantic categories, depending on the sentence's focus: people, places, actions and feelings. The groupings were very similar across languages, reinforcing the organization of information in the brain is the same regardless of the language in which it is expressed.

"The cross-language prediction model captured the conceptual gist of the described event or state in the sentences, rather than depending on particular language idiosyncrasies. It demonstrated a meta-language prediction capability from neural signals across people, languages and bilingual status," said Ying Yang, a postdoctoral associate in psychology at CMU and first author of the study.

Discovering that the brain decodes sentences the same in different languages is one of the many brain research breakthroughs to happen at Carnegie Mellon. CMU has created some of the first cognitive tutors, helped to develop the Jeopardy-winning Watson, founded a groundbreaking doctoral program in neural computation, and is the birthplace of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology. Building on its strengths in biology, computer science, psychology, statistics and engineering, CMU launched BrainHub, an initiative that focuses on how the structure and activity of the brain give rise to complex behaviors.
The impact a scientist will have in their lifetime is distributed randomly over the sequence of studies they publish, according to a new study. This phenomenon can be described by a simple model in which a scientist's impact is a function of factors including productivity and ability, the study goes on to show.

Previous research on creativity has suggested that major discoveries come early in a career, after which chances of making a breakthrough drop quickly, perhaps due to waning ingenuity or increased administrative duties. In reality, though, little is known about just how scientific impact emerges and changes over time.

Here, to better understand this space, Roberta Sinatra and colleagues analyzed the careers of thousands of scientists, focusing on their scientific publications.

The team's evaluation confirmed that many scientists publish their most creative and defining work within two decades of starting careers, as has been thought, but it also showed that productivity exhibits this same early peak, suggesting that influential scientific thinkers break through at younger stages not because youth is intertwined with creativity but because youthful scientists produce more work early in their career. To further explore the roots of creative success without productivity, or age, as factors, the researchers arranged every paper the scientists had published in chronological order, asking if the highest impact paper was among the earliest, or otherwise.

The highest impact papers were rarely the scientists' earliest ones, they found. Instead, the biggest hits were completely random. This random impact rule allowed the researchers to develop a model to predict career impact based on an element of randomness, scientist productivity, and a factor Q particular to each scientist. Their results, which will contribute to ongoing dialogues about how to gauge an individual scientist's potential, suggest that scientific success can be had at any age.
Iowa State University researchers have helped demonstrate the existence of a subatomic structure once thought unlikely to exist.

James Vary, a professor of physics and astronomy, and Andrey Shirokov, a visiting scientist, together with an international team, used sophisticated supercomputer simulations to show the quasi-stable existence of a tetraneutron, a structure comprised of four neutrons (subatomic particles with no charge).

The new finding was published in Physical Review Letters, a publication of the American Physical Society, on October 28.

On their own, neutrons are very unstable and will convert into protons -- positively charged subatomic particles -- after ten minutes. Groups of two or three neutrons do not form a stable structure, but the new simulations in this research demonstrate that four neutrons together can form a resonance, a structure stable for a period of time before decaying.

For the tetraneutron, this lifetime is only 510^(-22) seconds (a tiny fraction of a billionth of a nanosecond). Though this time seems very short, it is long enough to study, and provides a new avenue for exploring the strong forces between neutrons.

"This opens up a whole new line of research," Vary said. "Studying the tetraneutron will help us understand interneutron forces including previously unexplored features of the unstable two-neutron and three-neutron systems."

The advanced simulations demonstrating the tetraneutron corroborate the first observational evidence of the tetraneutron earlier this year in an experiment performed at the RIKEN Radioactive Ion Beam Factory (RIBF), in Saitama, Japan. The tetraneutron structure has been sought for 40 years with little evidence supporting its existence, until now. The properties predicted by the calculations in the simulations were consistent with the observed properties from the experiment in Japan.

The research in Japan used a beam of Helium-8, Helium with 4 extra neutrons, colliding with a regular Helium-4 atom. The collision breaks up the Helium-8 into another Helium-4 and a tetraneutron in its brief resonance state, before it, too, breaks apart, forming four lone neutrons. "We know that additional experiments with state-of-the-art facilities are in preparation with the goal to get precise characteristics of the tetraneutron," Vary said. "We are providing our state-of-the-art predictions to help guide these experiments."

The existence of the tetraneutron, once confirmed and refined, will add an interesting new entry and gap to the chart of nuclides, a graph representing all known nuclei and their isotopes, or nuclei with a different number of neutrons. Similar to the periodic table, which organizes the chemical behavior of elements, the nuclide chart represents the radioactive behavior of elements and their isotopes. While most nuclei add or subtract neutrons one at a time, this research shows that a neutron itself will have a gap between a single neutron and a tetraneutron.

The only other known neutron structure is a neutron star, small but dense stars thought to be made almost entirely of neutrons. These stars may be only about seven miles in radius but have a mass similar to that of our sun. Neutron stars have neutrons on the order 10^57. Further research may explore if there are other numbers of neutrons that form a stable resonance along the path to reaching the size of a neutron star.
Old pigs don't always get the love they deserve. Often, it's all about the bouncing baby pigs, rescued from dark places and basking in their newfound lives. Then again, most pigs don't get a chance to be old. They're born for the dinner plate, most meeting their end before their first year in this world. But Bear had managed to find a lifeline at a sanctuary in Quebec, Canada. And it lasted 14 years before he needed to be rescued all over again.

"It was an elderly lady who had been running this sanctuary for decades," Steve Jenkins, founder of Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary in Ontario, Canada, tells The Dodo. "It was a wonderful place. They had done wonderful, wonderful work." But as she got older, the woman found herself increasingly overwhelmed and unable to care for the animals. Bear developed severe arthritis. He was malnourished, with barely enough hair to cover his back. His toenails had grown to the point of crippling him. "It's not that she had bad intentions or wasn't good at what she did," Jenkins says. "She had just gotten too old and couldn't handle it any more."

So Jenkins and his partner Derek Walter offered to bring Bear, along with three other pigs, to their refuge, where the animals could join one of the world's most famous pigs, Esther the Wonder Pig.

Dodo Shows Odd Couples Dog Is So Gentle And Patient With Her Foster Kittens

"Pigs are not bred to live long lives," Jenkins explains. "So they are prone to genetic issues, including arthritis and some cancers and things that happen later in life that there's not a lot of treatment for because nobody's put in the research effort to figure out how to fix it or prevent it." "It's not a priority for them." Instead, he suggests, most pig research focuses on quality of meat, not quality of life.

Even veterinarians are stumped when they come across an older pig. "When we're dealing with our vets, who are amazing, they have very limited experience in dealing with older pigs because the opportunity doesn't present itself," Jenkins adds. In that sense, Bear is blazing a new trail simply by virtue of being old and happy.

Sadly, there was little Jenkins and Walter could do for Bear's arthritis, except make him as comfortable as possible. And so, they spared no kindness, giving him the best medical care, regular massages, sharing cake with him on his birthday and making sure he had a steady roommate in Leonard, another rescued pig.

This browser does not support the video tag. Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary

Still, it seemed a shame that Bear's arthritis wouldn't let him step into the yard and explore his world. "Pigs are so, so curious," Jenkins says. "They want to see everything. They want to explore everything." So Jenkins and Walter came up with the idea to outfit Bear's barn with a home theater system.

At first, it was just an old projector and speakers, a hand-me-down from their own home. But a woman who was visiting the sanctuary came up with an idea for a serious upgrade. She convinced the company she worked for to donate a high-end, 42-inch flat screen TV that could withstand the rigors of being inside a barn.

"It's the kind of TV you would see installed in a panel in a store with 20 other TVs to make almost a billboard-sized screen. It goes right edge-to-edge," Jenkins says. And for Bear, it is the whole world. Literally. He spends his days watching a nature documentary called "Earth" - spellbound by all that dizzying aerial photography. But what may be his favorite so far is a Will Ferrell comedy called "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." "When you watch him - and you sit back and just look at the way he stares - you know he's paying attention to it. It's really amazing to watch," Jenkins says. Jenkins knows this pig isn't getting any younger. His old bones creak, even though he's always first on the farm to rise for breakfast. Jenkins thinks he's probably reaching his optimal life expectancy at around 16 years old, or about the same as the average dog. But until he issues his last, contented snort, Bear will keep savoring every slice of birthday cake - and every Will Ferrell joke - like it's his last beautiful day on Earth.

This browser does not support the video tag. Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary
By PTI: Kathmandu, Nov 4 (PTI) Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba today embarked on a three-day visit to India during which he is scheduled to meet top Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Deuba will go directly to Goa to attend attend a programme organised by the India Foundation, a think-tank.

After addressing the programme, Deuba will travel to New Delhi where he will meet top politicians.

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According to sources, Deuba will meet Prime Minister Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and other prominent leaders from ruling and opposition party. He will also deliver a speech at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Kathmandu Post reported.

This is Deubas first official visit to India after he was elected as the NC chief in March.

The visit comes at a time when the political parties in Nepal are working to register a constitution amendment motion in Parliament in an attempt to address the demands of the agitating Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin. PTI NSA

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<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sunshinemylifeinthesunshine/" target="_blank">Instagram/sunshinemylifeinthesunshine</a><span></span></p>

If shelter dogs could speak, they might tell stories about being cast away from their families, no longer wanted, or even spending years on the streets. But few would have lived to tell the epic that is Sunshine's life.

Humane Society International

At just 3 months old, she had already known the inside of a crowded cage in South Korea, waiting to die for someone's dinner - and a narrow escape to safety on the other side of the world. But the moment Sunshine arrived at the San Francisco SPCA - among 57 dogs rescued from a South Korean dog meat farm - her story turned to one of triumph.

Katie Mickey and her husband Kyle Locke seemed to be waiting for Sunshine all their lives. In fact, they were so sure they wanted a shelter dog, they spent months looking for a pet-friendly rental home for that one purpose.

Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Animals Melt Into This Woman's Arms When She Sings To Them

Shortly after finding it, they got word that the Humane Society International was bringing South Korean dogs to California shelters - where they would be no longer waiting to die, but rather, for a new life. "This story broke and all of a sudden, it felt like the universe had conspired and all of this had happened for a reason," Mickey says. She made the hour-and-a-half drive to the San Francisco SPCA. She applied for one of the South Korean dogs. She went home with Sunshine.

And this little ray of light wasted no time in brightening every corner of her new family's home. "I feel very lucky," Mickey says. Imagine how Sunshine must feel. Or better yet. Let her show you.

Since moving in with Mickey and Locke, Sunshine has done some things.

Seen some things.

This browser does not support the video tag. Instagram/sunshinemylifeinthesunshine

And lived the kind of life she was born to live - the life of a dog.

But while her happy ending is now assured, countless more dogs like Sunshine still languish on farms in South Korea. The Humane Society International's campaign to end the industry has made major strides, freeing hundreds of these dogs.

Humane Society International

But so many more to go. The organization has focused on not only the dogs, but also the farmers who raise them. It offers to help them find new income sources, transforming their properties from prisons to blueberry or pepper farms. Along the way, dogs like Sunshine offer bright examples of animals not as food, but family.

"They want to show the people of South Korea that they're just normal dogs," Mickey says. "Because, obviously, it's not sustainable to fly every single dog from a dog meat farm into the United States. "Ideally, if all the dogs from closed-down dog meat farms could be adopted locally, that would be much better." And that accounts for Sunshine's spectacular Instagram account. Mickey wants to show the world there's no such thing as a "meal" dog. Just a dog looking for the eternal sunshine of a loving home.

This browser does not support the video tag. Instagram/sunshinemylifeinthesunshine
When a little jaguar was discovered, unable to move and without her mom, a good Samaritan contacted the exact right people to help her. Veterinarians found that the jaguar was tetraplegic, unable to move her legs. So they used an X-ray to look inside her to figure out what was wrong.

Veronica Cabrera

"Every week we receive wild animals from all over the country who are victims of indiscriminate hunting," Veronica Cabrera, a veterinary student at San Francisco de Quito University in Ecuador, told The Dodo. The jaguar was getting seen by the doctors at the veterinary hospital's wildlife animal rescue organization, TUERI.

Veronica Cabrera

"We don't know exactly what happened because villagers don't want to give information, but she was found next to a palm plantation without her mother," Cabrera said. "We suppose they were too close to the plantation and were shot."

Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Animals Melt Into This Woman's Arms When She Sings To Them

Veronica Cabrera

The 11-month-old jaguar is believed to be another victim of indiscriminate hunting. Veterinarians discovered 18 bullets inside the big cat. Two of these shots had damaged her spinal cord.

Veronica Cabrera

But veterinarians didn't give up on her. They named her D'yaira.

This browser does not support the video tag. Veronica Cabrera

D'yaira went into surgery with Dr. Andres Ortega and Dr. Gabriela Parra, but they discovered many bullets were too embedded in her bones to be removed.

Veronica Cabrera

"They will try another surgery," Cabrera said, adding that they think D'yaira will need five months of physiotherapy in the hospital before sending her to a wildlife rehabilitation center.

Veronica Cabrera

"We want her story to be known by everyone, so people can prevent or stop hunting animals," Cabrera said.

Veronica Cabrera

Veronica Cabrera

Even though she has a long road ahead of her, this week D'yaira already showed some signs of improvement. On Thursday, two veterinary students saw her moving one of her hind legs.

Veronica Cabrera

"Now she is able to change her position by herself, so it seems like the surgery was successful," Cabrera said. "Now she can eat 15 to 20 chicken breasts per day without problem. She is getting stronger."

Veronica Cabrera
<p><em>Carrie DeBord</em><span></span></p>

A golden-furred pit bull went into labor in the back of an animal control vehicle last week. An officer had picked her up just minutes before from a rough area in Dallas, Texas, where she'd been wandering. She'd probably been on the streets for a while, according to Jerry Chandler, an officer for the Dallas Animal Services(DAS), and would've had every reason to be scared of people. But when approached by Chandler, the pit bull was nothing but friendly.

Carrie DeBord

"She just wagged her tail," Chandler tells The Dodo. Chandler thought the pit bull might be pregnant, but he wasn't entirely sure. He'd get a vet to look at her back at the shelter, but he didn't think the situation was too urgent. But, things happened more quickly than he imagined - by the time Chandler had put the dog into his truck and driven to the shelter, she'd given birth to one of her puppies.

Jerry Chandler

Chandler called for help to get the mother dog and puppy safely out of the truck. "We brought out a basket and we got a lot of towels and blankets," Chandler says. "We lifted her up from the truck and put her in the basket, then we put her into her room [in the shelter]."

Jerry Chandler

Once inside the shelter, the dog - who'd later be named Pepper - gave birth to six more puppies. Together, they'd stay at the shelter for the next four days. Then on November 2, staff at the DAS put Pepper on "review," which is when the shelter decides her fate.

Dodo Shows Odd Couples Kitten Isn't Sure About His Pittie Brother  At First

Jerry Chandler

When a woman named Carrie DeBord saw a Facebook post about Pepper and her babies, she knew she needed to help. "I began sharing the Facebook post, as I always do," DeBord tells The Dodo. "I saw on the website that [November 2] was meant to be her 'review day.'"

On review day, animals at the Dallas Animal Services become the property of the city of Dallas, and the shelter staff may be forced to euthanize some animals, according to Chandler. "But we try not to [euthanize animals] as much as possible," Chandler says.

Jerry Chandler

While DeBord isn't certain what would've happened to the puppies, she doesn't think they'd survive if the mom had been euthanized. "If Mom wasn't there to nurse, I doubt a bottle-feeder would have come forth," DeBord says. "I've seen whole families put down because of the overpopulation issue."

Carrie DeBord

DeBord already had three pit bulls at home, and she didn't have much room in her house. But when no one offered to adopt Pepper and her babies, DeBord drove to the shelter to pick them up.

Carrie DeBord

DeBord was shocked to see Pepper's condition - she was in bad shape. "She was severely emaciated, and had a poor skin condition with sores all over her body," DeBord says. "It looked like she hadn't been cared for in a long time."

Carrie DeBord

Besides being skinny and covered in sores, Pepper had trouble walking on her hind legs. Her nails were also about 4 inches long and curled. Many of her teeth were broken or rotted.

Carrie DeBord

Despite all of this, Pepper was one of the sweetest dogs DeBord had ever encountered. "She had no fear getting into my car," she says. "Pepper showed trust and willingness, with her seven puppies in tow. I suspect Pepper is naturally a calm and balanced dog, which may allow her to go into [an unknown situation] more easily than a more excitable, high energy dog."

Carrie DeBord

Pepper was attentive to her babies, and she didn't mind if DeBord - or anyone else - got close to them. "If [the puppies] were placed in the basket, she always checked on each one," DeBord says. "She's shown absolutely no signs of 'aggression' or concerning behavior whatsoever. She allows the puppies to be handled, and checks on each one to make sure they are there and OK. She's pretty incredible."

Carrie DeBord

When Officer Chandler heard that DeBord was fostering Pepper and her puppies, he was delighted. "[Pepper] is so beautiful," he says. "I felt like a proud father. Glad to hear she made it to rescue."

Carrie DeBord

After taking Pepper for a vet visit, DeBord made her comfortable in her home ...

Carrie DeBord

... and Pepper's finally relaxing.

"Pepper appears to be 'alert,' but she's been sleeping a little deeper in the last 6 to 8 hours," DeBord says. "Very small time pockets of deep sleep, but she's getting some much needed rest."

Carrie DeBord
Nalla the turkey certainly knows the value of a good head rub.

Terran Baylor

Photographer Terran Baylor and his friend, Kery, were visiting The Gentle Barn, an animal sanctuary in California, where they got to meet Nalla and McKenna Rockett, two turkeys who'd been rescued from a factory farm. "The staff said they were friendly," Baylor told The Dodo. "So we just decided to sit down and let them come to us." Nalla and McKenna Rockett wandered up to Baylor and his friend, and got straight to cuddling.

Dodo Shows Pittie Nation The Sweetest Pittie Was Living Under A Jeep

Keri Shaw

"[Nalla] walked up very close and put her head down [on me]," Baylor said. "I just started rubbing her head and body. She closed her eyes and started 'purring.' At one point, she seemed like she fell asleep. We were there for quite some time - maybe 20 minutes. Then we were just feeling guilty for not letting others meet them."

Before Nalla and McKenna Rockett got head massages, they lived on a factory farm, where they were being raised for their meat. They'd also been de-beaked, which involved getting part of their beaks with a hot blade without anesthetic - a practice that's commonly done to factory-farmed birds so they don't hurt each other in their overcrowded cages or, if they're stressed, themselves.

Terran Baylor

"Nalla was rescued from a place where her beak was burned off when she was a baby," Michelle Robertson of The Gentle Barn told The Dodo. "She was in a room with hundreds of other scared turkeys waiting for their turn." When Nalla and McKenna Rockett were eventually rescued in 2014, they were both traumatized. "They were so scared and sad when we brought them home, believing that we would fulfill their worst fears," Robertson said. "It took several months of us spending time with them, reading to them, singing to them, and being a positive presence until they knew they were safe."

Terran Baylor

Two years later, Nalla and her sister are thriving at the sanctuary.

The Gentle Barn

"Nalla loves to cuddle with us, and she welcomes visitors by sitting in their laps and falling asleep," Robertson said. "Nalla recently adopted a young chicken who was rejected by her mom because of her deformed leg. Nalla loves Peggy Sue and is always with her - she even naps with Peggy Sue tucked under her wing like all mommy birds do. It's so beautiful to watch Nalla heal her heart and let go of her past, she is now an incredible ambassador for all turkeys - teaching humans how friendly and sweet they are!"

The Gentle Barn

Baylor couldn't agree more. "It was the first time I really held a turkey," he said. "This was special since they just loved the rubbing and closeness. It was amazing that they weren't afraid of us, as you'd expect them to be."

The Gentle Barn
What to do with $100 trillion (U.S.) in AUM?

Thats the global assets-under-management figure deployed by economist Joseph Stiglitz and others earlier this year in an IMF working paper on infrastructure financing.

The number bears citing as Canadians ready for further disclosure on the federal governments hopes to harness private sector investment in infrastructure as an economic curative. This is a global discussion. Or perhaps we should label it a global argument.

The Germans are at it. Note this recent report in Handelsblatt on a national investment agenda, a kind of central planning hub for investments. The idea is that the federal government would create a concrete, co-ordinated plan to strengthen the social, physical, and regulatory infrastructure. 

The so-called Fratzscher Commission, led by Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German economic institute DIW, is pushing ahead with the idea. The commissions proposals are expected soon, addressing the investment gap that Chancellor Angela Merkel has been complaining about for years. This will ring familiar to readers attuned to our own economic growth council, which has pegged an investment gap here at home at about $500 billion, with some estimates running as high as $650 billion.

Not everyone is enamored with Mr. Fratzscher. Lars Feld, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, is in the opposition camp. The commission is going in the completely wrong direction, Feld was recently quoted as saying, adding that it would nullify constitutionally-granted municipal autonomy.

Competing agendas, national versus local, are predictable stumbling blocks.

The Americans are at it, with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump advocating for infrastructure investment as a way to boost the U.S. economy, though taking different avenues to get there. What neither candidate has addressed is the size of the gap that can reasonably be filled by private investment. A much-quoted report from Deutsche Bank put that figure at 15 to 20 per cent.

The vast majority of infrastructure is a public good that does not offer a viable revenue model to cover costs let alone provide adequate returns, said the report. The relatively few revenue robust projects have little difficulty attracting capital. Indeed for these projects the problem is too much money chasing too few opportunities.

In a recent issue of Deutsche Banks Konzept, John Tierney writes that little thought is being given to the prospect that infrastructure needs could shift significantly over the next decade, let alone the next half century, rendering many of todays likely projects white elephants.

Tierney also addresses the governance problems. The divide between federal and state rights has resulted in no meaningful accountability between federal and state/local governments over building and maintaining infrastructure. He cites the plan to connect Alaskas Gravina Island, population 50, with the mainland. The proposal was finally scrapped last year after a decade of political infighting.

The Australians are at it. In the early days of 2008 the then government of Kevin Rudd announced the establishment of Infrastructure Australia, which would be designed to boost the economys productive capacity by unlocking infrastructure bottlenecks like clogged ports and congested roads. Looking past short-term political interests was the promise.

A report released two weeks ago by the Grattan Institute, a public policy group, found that across a 15-year period, Australian governments have spent $28 billion more in transport infrastructure than they told taxpayers they would.

The institute explored how to fix the sort of underlying causes that result in cost overruns, and came up with solid recommendations. Some of those are rooted in transparency and public awareness, including a recommendation that Infrastructure Australia publish summaries of all funded transport infrastructure projects, including the business case and cost benefit analysis.

Canadian pension plans are already big players in global infrastructure. That IMF report co-authored by Stiglitz credits the percentage of capital allocated to infrastructure by OMERS in 2014 at close to 25 per cent, with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan at roughly 7 per cent, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board at slightly more than 5 per cent, followed closely by PSP Investments (the federal public service, the Mounties).

The challenge for the federal government now will be in building a database of bankable Canadian projects, structuring a maximally transparent reporting mechanism, advancing a fast-growing flow of infrastructure projects, and convincing Canadians that theres something in it for them. Plenty of lessons have already been learned on how this could go wrong.

jenwells@thestar.ca

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The snickering and the nasty woman jokes that echo across trading floors when Hillary Clinton appears on TV. The mansplaining from the boss on how locker-room talk really is just locker-room talk, so get over it.

Its never been easy to be a woman on Wall Street. But for many, this polarizing U.S. election season has pulled at old wounds  and in some cases opened new ones  as the political vitriol has spilled into the workplace.

The issue transcends personal politics. Republicans and Democrats alike say the candidacies of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have prompted a new level of soul-searching about the bro culture of American finance. And whoever wins next Tuesday, the questions arent going away.

Interviews conducted with more than a dozen women across the Wall Street spectrum  from as young as 28 to as old as 66 and representing all types of firms big and small  paint a complex portrait of how this election is shaping workplace conversations and behaviour in the industry.

Many older women in senior roles shrug and say at least things are better than they used to be. (Some basic facts underscore that point: Women now make up almost half of the workforce in the financial industry, harassment training has become standard and numerous firms have started women-empowerment initiatives.) Many younger women working their way up, though, say the divisiveness has made it blindingly clear theres still a long way to go.

In interview upon interview, a couple of core concerns emerged. Theyre bothered by the uptick in edgy banter theyve detected from their male colleagues as Trump advanced in the campaign. And they wonder how theyll advance in their own careers if their coworkers question Clintons fitness for the presidency because shes a woman.

Outrageous comments go well beyond the locker room and into the boardroom, said Virginie Morgon, deputy chief executive officer of Eurazeo, a private-equity firm. We have to talk about it, we have to make it known. Otherwise nothing changes.

Many women say discrimination, subtle or not so subtle, is a fact of life in an industry dominated by men. Indeed, they worry that talking openly about it will stifle their careers. Most of those interviewed by Bloomberg spoke on the condition they not be named, saying they feared theyd lose their jobs or be ostracized by colleagues. As one put it, gender politics is the elephant in the room: Most women want to discuss it, but few think they can.

From male subordinates defiance to less-rigorous assignments, especially after having a baby, every woman interviewed had something to say about the sexism they face today. For those trying to make it into senior management, the scrutiny of Clintons likability is particularly unsettling. The per cent of women in these Wall Street jobs falls to 26 per cent; at the very top, the number slides further, to just 15 per cent, according to consulting firm Mercer.

An executive at a large hedge fund, who said shes Republican, said that hearing male colleagues disparage Clinton  potentially the most powerful person in the world  in ways they would never disparage a man made her question what they say behind her back.

A senior manager at another hedge fund, whos a Democrat, said that while Clinton is certainly not without faults, many of the swipes she hears from men sound a lot like what I could imagine them criticizing me for: Shes too harsh, not filling the feminine role, she dresses like a man, shes unlikeable.

Its a huge, huge issue, she continued. Youre either a woman or youre a leader, but theres a belief that you cant be both.

A trader at another firm said shes come to question her bosss judgment after he dismissed Trumps caught-on-tape comments about sexual assault. As one of the millions of American women whove been sexually assaulted during their lives, she now wonders if her boss would stand by her if she were victimized at work or on a business trip. Shes thinking about quitting.

Several other women said they felt fortunate to work with men whove disavowed Trumps misogynistic statements. One young bank analyst said her colleagues have gone out of their way to do so. And a portfolio manager said the campaigns have prompted an open dialogue about the challenges women face in leadership roles.

Yet some worry that this election will only widen the male-female divide on Wall Street.

Natalie Diaz, who works in sales and trading at BCP Securities in Greenwich, Connecticut, says she has no complaints about her colleagues, almost all of them men. But that doesnt mean Trumps remarks about women wont embolden others.

It makes men feel theyre allowed to make certain comments themselves, Diaz said.

Maureen Sherry, a former managing director at Bear Stearns Cos., said the long-term effect may be that men on Wall Street will further cut female colleagues out of meetings and after-hour events for fear of offending them.

Men may feel like, in a social situation with the women they work with, they cant let their hair down any longer, said Sherry, author of Opening Belle, a novel about women on Wall Street. I think itll be more isolating for women.

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REDMOND, WASH.In the last couple of years at Microsoft, some old habits have been tossed away, like obsessively placing Windows software at the centre of all the companys big bets. But the company would still dig trenches to protect Office, its $23-billion-a-year software franchise.

Microsoft this week took the wraps off Microsoft Teams, an addition to the Office package that will allow professionals to huddle virtually with colleagues in private chat rooms to talk about anything from work projects to where to get lunch.

If you think Microsoft Teams sounds a little like Slack, the relatively new chat service that has pulses pounding among Silicon Valley investors and customers, you would be correct.

In fact, if this were 1997, a more bellicose time at Microsoft, people inside the company would be whispering that the new application was a Slack killer. But the tone is different these days, even if the intent is essentially the same.

Look, my job No. 1 is to make sure that the 85 million users I have on Office 365, we go meet their needs and keep growing that base, Satya Nadella, Microsofts chief executive, said in a conference room last week on the Microsoft campus. This is not to take away any success anyone else has. Weve always had lots of tools out here that have competed and also coexisted.

Microsoft Teams is the most significant new addition in years to Office 365, the current name of the Microsoft software suite, which has, over the years, migrated from the PC to become a product delivered over the internet that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other applications. Bill Gates, a Microsoft co-founder and now technology adviser, even had a hand in its creation.

The reception to Microsoft Teams will help determine whether Nadella, who became chief executive of the company in early 2014, can extend his recent run of success.

Microsoft is finally viewed as a credible player in cloud computing. A new desktop PC it announced last week, the Surface Studio, is earning favourable comparisons to Apple hardware. And the companys stock is even trading near a high.

Microsoft plans to use distribution, an old standby, to get people using Microsoft Teams, bundling it with the business version of Office 365 at no additional cost.

We are orders of magnitude bigger in terms of the users we serve, said Rajesh Jha, executive vice-president of Office engineering at Microsoft.

Customers generally pay $5-$20 a month to subscribe to Office 365. Nadellas 85-million figure is the number of active monthly business users of the software.

Samir Diwan, chief executive of Polly, a startup in Seattle that has created polling software that works with Slack and Microsoft Teams, said Microsoft had an advantage because Slack did not yet have the credibility Microsoft enjoyed among the biggest companies.

Thats where Microsoft has an inherent advantage around security, Diwan said.

But distribution power does not guarantee victory for Microsoft or any other big tech company. Its influence with Windows did not help it vanquish Google in Internet search. Google was unable to use search and YouTube to beat Facebook in social networking. And Facebook has not yet figured out how to make Snapchat go away even as it introduces its own Slack competitor.

The moral of the story is if youre a large incumbent with many lines of business, it is incredibly difficult to take on a smaller, focused startup that has traction in the market, said Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and chief executive of Slack, which took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Wednesday welcoming Microsoft to the market.

Slack has about four million daily active users, 1.25 million of whom are paying for the software. (Basic Slack functions are free, but people can pay $6.67 or more a month for features like unlimited searching of message archives.) The San Francisco company, which introduced its product just over three years ago, was valued by private investors at $3.6 billion when it raised money last spring.

What is more, most people are using Slack because they want to, not because it is being shoved down their throats by a corporate IT department. Slack has been embraced by many as a more efficient way for teams to communicate than email, which is not designed for real-time conversations.

You want to use the best tool possible, not the one thats included with your subscription product, said James Allworth, a business strategist and co-host of a technology podcast, Exponent, who has not used Microsoft Teams.

Messages in Slack are archived and searchable, and people can use it on mobile devices and PCs. Butterfield said Slack had particularly helped create more transparency across boundaries inside companies, allowing, for example, marketing teams to see what sales staff are talking about and engineers to eavesdrop on product designers.

Atlassian, a company that held an initial public offering last year, also has a team communications product: HipChat.

In a demonstration last week at Microsofts headquarters, executives showed how Microsoft Teams both resembles Slack and adds to its innovations. Like Slack, the software lets people pepper their messages with GIFs and emojis. Microsoft Teams can connect with other applications and services like Twitter and GitHub.

The most noticeable difference is that Microsoft Teams organizes conversations into threads, grouping messages on the same topic to make conversations easier to follow than they are in Slacks unthreaded message streams. It has customizable tabs for making it simpler to get to commonly used services and files, like budget spreadsheets.

Mira Lane, principal architect of Microsoft Teams, demonstrated how people could spontaneously start video conferences inside the software if they would rather hash things out face-to-face. Its a really low-friction way of having an ad hoc meeting, Lane said.

Butterfield of Slack said the service had plans to support both threaded conversations and video conferencing in the future.

Microsoft began working on Microsoft Teams about 18 months ago, after Gates encouraged Brian MacDonald, a respected Microsoft engineer credited with creating Outlook, the companys flagship email application, to come up with a new take on productivity applications.

Wed have pretty frequent conversations, sometimes group reviews, sometimes one-on-ones, MacDonald said.

Microsoft does not always build a new product when it wants to expand the range of Office. About four years ago, it paid $1.2 billion to acquire Yammer, a social networking app that had found a following in the tech industry.

So, did Microsoft consider buying Slack?

Its not something that I looked at, Nadella said, adding that he did not know if others who work for him seriously considered it.

Butterfield declined to say whether he was approached by Microsoft about a deal, but it would not have mattered if it had. I think weve been pretty clear publicly, and in private conversations with everyone else in the industry, that we have no interest in being acquired, he said.

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Samsung on Friday announced a formal recall of 34 models of its top-load washing machines - more than a month after the U.S. government first issued a warning that the machines are unsafe.

The washers can become dangerous when washing bulky items, such as comforters, which can cause the machines to vibrate violently or even burst apart. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) listed the recall Friday, saying that Samsung has received 733 reports of faulty machines. Nine resulted in injuries, including a broken jaw, injured shoulder, and other impact or fall-related injuries, the agency said.

Customer complaints submitted to the government described washers that exploded and lodged debris in the walls, levitated or ripped sockets from their screws. The recall includes an estimated 2.8 million washers sold between March 2011 and November 2016. A full list of the affected models is online. Front-load washers are not included in the recall.

The CPSC first issued a warning about the washers in late September, while Samsung was actively dealing with the massive recall of its Galaxy Note 7, which was also prone to exploding as a result of faulty batteries. After recalling its initial batch of devices and issuing replacements, the company had to issue a second stage of the recall when the replacement phones also began catching fire.

The close timing of the two faulty product issues raised some questions about whether consumers would start to doubt the general safety of Samsung products.

Samsung is offering a few remedies to those whove bought the faulty washing machines. Those affected by the recall can elect to have a technician come to their home for free to reinforce their machines. That also comes with a one-year extension of the manufacturers warranty.

Those who have purchased a new washer in the last 30 days can also get a full refund. But this is not an issue that only affects new washers; many of the complaints Samsung received, however, indicate that the machines worked for years without incident before exploding.

Users may also opt for a rebate toward the purchase of a new washer, which can be another Samsung product or from another brand. The value of those rebates will be determined by the age of the washer and its model. Those who choose to get another Samsung washer will get an additional $150.

Until users make their decision, they are advised to only wash bulky items on the delicate or waterproof cycles. Samsung is also sending affected customers a Home Label Kit describing these safety measures, which can be stuck to the washers.

Samsung is still cleaning up the last stages of its smartphone recall, which it estimated will cost as much as $5.3 billion (U.S.). In an attempt to catch remaining holdouts who still have the faulty phone, the firm recently started discontinuing network service for the phones in some parts of the world, such as New Zealand. It has not announced similar plans in the United States.

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Whats at stake for Canada in the U.S. presidential vote on Nov. 8?

Surprisingly little, as it happens.

For all the storm and fury of this most unpleasant of U.S. presidential campaigns, the two chief contenders are actually campaigning on common ground.

The chief issues for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are job creation, boosting economic growth, national security, and what they each regard as genuine free trade.

A rupture in U.S.-Canada trade relations would be near-catastrophic for the U.S. The North American auto and livestock industries, to pick just two examples, are thoroughly integrated between the U.S. and Canada. New England gets most of its electric power from Quebec  something to keep in mind the next time you see the New York City skyline at night. Thats Canadian electricity lighting up Times Square and Broadway.

The anti-trade rhetoric of the candidates for the U.S. presidency has obscured the fact that in seeking greater economic growth  the top goal for each candidate  the U.S. will have to become a more vigorous exporter. That means gaining greater access to world markets. And that, in turn, requires an even greater U.S. commitment to free trade than currently exists.

Trump and Clinton have each expressed reservations about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and they also vow not to proceed with the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-country trading block of which Canada is a member.

Yet either candidate, as president, will almost certainly leave NAFTA wholly or largely untouched, and will also lead America into a ratified TPP.

Trump is a global entrepreneur. His business has long generated much of its profits outside the U.S.

And Hillary Clinton was a Day One negotiator for America on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in her role as U.S. secretary of state. Stepping away from the TPP talks, on completing her tenure at State, Clinton declared that the not-yet-completed TPP is the gold standard of trade agreements.

Why would each of these candidates flip-flop on free trade after becoming U.S. president? This space can highlight only some of the many compelling reasons:

Most of the low-skill, low-pay U.S. jobs that were vulnerable to offshoring have already been lost. And in the main, they havent been lost to Americas NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada. Most have been lost to China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Cambodia and other lower-cost jurisdictions with which the U.S. has no trade deals. Theyve also been lost from the U.S. Midwest to the worlds newest sweatshop, the low-pay, anti-union U.S. South.

Trump has all but declared a trade war with China. But no one wins in a trade war. Americans who can only afford to shop at Wal-Mart or Costco will find the shelves bare. And Chinas retaliatory walls against U.S. imports would enrage CEOs of the Fortune 500, who would demand compensation for the damage Trump has done to their extensive Chinese investments. Given Americas current era of discontent, bashing the Chinese, Muslims and Mexicans might be a slam dunk in winning a presidential nomination. But doing so as president is profoundly contrary to Americas economic interests.

For the U.S. economy, there is tremendous upside potential in using the TPP to bulk up U.S. trade with Americas existing trading partners (TPP members Japan and Australia) and cracking new markets in the Pacific Rim (Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand) and Latin America (Chile, Peru, Colombia). America derives only about 20 per cent of its GDP from exports, pointing to a tremendous upside potential for the U.S. economy by becoming a more substantial exporter. Frankly, as a mature economy, Americas internal economic growth rate will be modest for decades to come. For Americas GDP to grow substantially, the U.S. simply must build up its export prowess. And that can be achieved only by embracing free trade. Clinton and Trump know this. And they have each been watering down their anti-trade talk as the election approaches. Trump regards himself as a superb negotiator, and relishes the chance to, as he has said, negotiate the best trade deals ever. But whether Trump or Clinton are able to improve much on what seven years of TPP negotiations have already yielded is beside the point. Theyve each revealed themselves as free traders, in stark contrast to what theyve said on the campaign trail.

Strengthening NAFTA and recommitting to the TPP would enable the U.S., finally, to establish harmonious relations with a Latin America that, in the main, has felt nothing but the back of Americas hand for generations.

Free trade has been good for the U.S. In the six years after the U.S. joined Mexico and Canada in creating NAFTA in 1994, the U.S. created 23 million new jobs, a record that remains unsurpassed. And Canada has seen a whopping 173-per-cent increase in merchandise exports to the U.S. alone from 1994 to the present. As a TPP-member America gains more favourable terms of trade with Vietnam, Malaysia and Chile. American job creation will soar once again from the surge in sales of tariff-free IBM mainframes to the governments and private-sector businesses of Americas fellow TPP countries. And American consumers will enjoy greater access to, and lower prices for, Kiwi woollens and Vietnamese shrimp, the most nutritious in the world.

Finally, if America opts out of the TPP negotiations, the other 11 TPP member-countries, including Canada, will remain committed to the TPP. That would greatly disadvantage the U.S., which would be on the outside looking into one of the worlds biggest free-trade zones. That is the scenario that Britain faces if it exits the European Union (EU) in March, as the U.K. PM has said she will do. Outside the TPP, America loses the chance to isolate China, whose growing regional influence is of great concern to Washington. Conversely, a TPP whose members include the largest- and third-largest economies (the U.S. and Japan, respectively) will tame Chinas recent adventurism in the South China Sea and elsewhere. Accordingly, China has already signalled an interest in eventually joining the TPP, and so has the emerging economic powerhouse South Korea.

Its a simple matter of geopolitics. The U.S. can allow its influence in the world to weaken by revoking NAFTA and rejecting membership in the TPP. Or the U.S. can use its membership in the worlds biggest trade blocks, in which it will be the biggest member, to gain still more influence in both the Pacific Rim and Latin America.

Trump and Clinton are emphatic adherents to Pax Americana. Retreat from free trade is one of the surest ways of undermining that U.S. doctrine. Neither of these candidates wants to be the first U.S. president to break faith with it.

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EDMONTON  Sex-crime charges against a high-ranking military officer have been dropped by the Alberta Crown.

Lt.-Col. Mason Stalker was charged last year with offences including sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

The charges have indeed been withdrawn in the J.M. Stalker case as the Crown concluded that there was no longer a reasonable likelihood of securing a conviction, an Alberta Justice spokeswoman wrote in an email Friday.

After he was charged, Stalker was removed from command of the Edmonton-based 1st Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry and reassigned to a staff officer job pending the outcome of the case.

The charges allegedly involved a military cadet in Edmonton between 1998 and 2007.

Stalker said after 23 years of service he looks forward to continuing his career in the military.

I have always maintained my innocence in this matter and am reassured that due process has resulted in the withdrawal of all charges, he said in an emailed statement.

I am very grateful for my partner, family, friends and colleagues, who have always known Im innocent and stood by me through this nightmare.

Capt. Susan Magill, a Canadian Army spokeswoman, said the military is aware that the charges have been withdrawn.

She said it is too early to say how Stalkers career may be affected.

He will be employed in a manner that is consistent with his rank and qualifications and his experience, she said.

Stalker served in Afghanistan in 2006 and again from June 2010 until October 2011. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2007 and 2012 for his efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Responsible for operations in the most volatile and violent region of Afghanistan, he was instrumental to operational success and significantly contributed to defeating the insurgents, reads the 2012 citation posted on the Governor Generals website.

Lt.-Col. Stalkers performance was of a high standard and brought honour to the Canadian Forces and to Canada.

Stalker was one of the officers in charge when the military was called out in 2015 to help fight wildfires in northern Saskatchewan.

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Nitish is wary of attending Samajwadi party's event against the backdrop of the recent family war witnessed in the party.

Nitish has been wary of attending Samajwadi Party's function due to differences in the party.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remains firm over not attending the silver jubilee function of the Samajwadi Party to be held in Lucknow on 5th November. Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav made a last-ditch effort on Thursday night to ensure Nitish's attendance for the party function, when he personally dialled the Bihar Chief Minister to invite him.

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However, sources close to Nitish Kumar have confirmed to India Today that Nitish will not participate in the Lucknow event on 5th November.



Also read: PariWar at rath yatra: Akhilesh exuberant, Shivpal uneasy as Mulayam does balancing act



Nitish Kumar had expressed his inability to attend the function despite an invite for the same sent by Uttar Pradesh Minister Shivpal Yadav, citing the beginning of the four-day Chatth festival from today.

CHHATH FESTIVAL STARTS TODAY



"Chhath festival is starting on 4th November and the festival is celebrated in my house too. Therefore, I cannot attend the Samajwadi Party event in Lucknow", Nitish had said on Wednesday.

While Nitish has opted out of the function, JDU MP and former party President Sharad Yadav will be attending the event in Lucknow. The 25th anniversary of Samajwadi party's foundation is also being viewed as party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's renewed bid to bring all leaders of the socialist party on a common platform ahead of the crucial UP assembly polls slated to be held early next year.



NITISH WARY OF ATTENDING SAMAJWADI PARTY EVENT



Politically astute, Nitish Kumar is wary of attending Samajwadi party's event against the backdrop of the recent family war witnessed in the party with Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav literally taking on father Mulayam and uncle Shivpal Yadav in the power game.

Also read: Lalu, Nitish lowering morale of police by questioning Bhopal encounter, says Sushil Modi



Despite Mulayam trying to bring all socialist forces on a common platform, Nitish remains cautious of any kind of alliance with Samajwadi party, unless Akhilesh too is a part of the broader alliance. But at the moment, family differences in Samajwadi party are holding back Nitish from committing to a coalition as there is a broader possibility of Akhilesh Yadav going alone in UP polls if the family dispute remains unsettled.

--- ENDS ---
OTTAWAThe federal government says it will ban the sale of shower gels, toothpaste and facial scrubs containing plastic microbeads, effective July 1, 2018.

A notice published Friday in the Canada Gazette serves as final notice on the long-running environmental complaint, and it sets Canada on a timetable that follows the United States for removing the tiny pollutant from Canadian waters.

Microbeads found in natural health products and non-prescription drugs will be prohibited a year later, on July 1, 2019.

Environment Canada began studying the impacts of plastic microbeads on wildlife and the environment under the previous Conservative government in March 2015. The beads were officially declared toxic in June of this year.

The tiny pieces of plastic, less than five millimetres in size, are used as exfoliants and cleansers in toiletries but do not dissolve. They then find their way into oceans, lakes and rivers where the beads are ingested by a variety of organisms.

In 2014, about 100,000 kilograms of plastic microbeads were imported into Canada for exfoliants and cleansers, while as much as 10,000 more kilograms were used in the domestic manufacture of personal care products.

Under the proposed change to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, new regulations will prohibit the manufacture and import of microbeads starting at the beginning of 2018, with the sales ban starting six months later.

The writing has been on the wall for some time and industry has already begun phasing out plastic beads from products.

The U.S. Congress approved the banning of microbeads in toiletries last December, effective July 1, 2017, while the European Union Commission recognized in December 2014 that the materials could not be labelled as environmentally friendly. Australia has a voluntary ban in effect for mid-2018.

The group Environmental Defence applauded the governments move.

We are happy to finally say goodbye to these problematic plastic particles that have polluted Canadas rivers and lakes for far too long, putting fish, wildlife and human health at risk, spokeswoman Maggie MacDonald said in a release.

Nine U.S. states already have passed laws prohibiting the sale and manufacture of beads in personal care products.

According to the Canadian Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association, a majority of Canadian manufacturers responsible for 99 per cent of the total amount of plastic microbeads used in 2014 have already committed to a voluntary phase-out by the time the federal prohibition comes into force.

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A Canadian Donald Trump supporter has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a student, and making offensive racial comments while protesting at Brock University, the school says.

On Tuesday, Niagara Police received reports of a person who was protesting on campus with a megaphone.

According to Brock News, a publication based at Brocks Office of University Marketing and Communications, the protester had called earlier to inform the school of his intention to protest. Due to his hateful language and gestures, the university called police to have him immediately removed.

A few hours later, police received another call regarding the same man, who had by then attracted a small crowd on a sidewalk next to the campus.

[He was] attracting a small crowd of domestic and international students by making belligerent, offensive, comments and anti-China and anti-Mexico remarks, The Brock News wrote.

First-year student Curtis Fric witnessed the fight, and said the male student could be seen trying to take the sign out of the Trump protestors hands. He said the protester became aggravated and a fight ensued.

Fric said the student appeared to be missing his front teeth and was bleeding from his mouth. In a statement, police wrote the student suffered facial injuries that required an emergency dental procedure.

In a video shared by a Twitter user, the protestor is seen carrying a sign reading Trump is Right. Bring our Jobs Back. F--k China. F--k Mexico, and on the back, Kathleen Wynne is a Crook! And a Pervert, in front of the university campus.

Chinese Marxism has completely taken over Brock University, the protestor says into a megaphone.

He was not a student at the campus, the university confirmed.

International students, faculty and staff are an important part of the Brock community. Thomas Dunk, Brocks provost and vice-president, said in the Brock News. With more than 1,800 international students from over 90 countries . . . we strive every day to provide them and all members of our Brock community with a safe, welcoming learning environment.

Frederick Bracken, 39, of Fort Erie, has been charged with assault causing bodily harm. He was held in custody overnight pending a bail hearing, police said.

With files from Vjosa Isai

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Far back, through the mist of time, I recall a sexual harassment complaint brought by a former undercover Toronto police officer who accused her colleagues of ceaseless torment on the job.

Theyd taken Polaroid photos of the woman urinating behind a car during a stake-out and tacked them up in the drug squad office; broken into her voicemail; tied a pair of soiled panties around her memo book. One often lifted a leg to flatulate in her face.

It was 1991 and there were far fewer female cops on the force. This one, it was learned, had been romantically involved with a senior officer in the unit. And that was apparently the source of bitter resentment, expressed via obscene fun n games.

Whats surprising in retrospect is how extensively those pranks were portrayed as, if not entirely harmless, somewhat brought upon herself by the complainant for crossing a professional line  intimacy with a supervising officer in the chain of command. She was depicted as too thin-skinned for the frat-pack culture of undercover policing and promoted beyond her skills because of her relationship.

In the end, two officers were charged with discreditable conduct under the Police Act. Only one was found guilty and docked five days pay.

What Im wondering, after attending the first day of witness evidence at a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario hearing, is how far the Toronto Police Services has actually come in the decades since.

Toronto officer Heather McWilliam, whos been on leave since early 2014, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, says she was harassed and humiliated for years by her supervising officers and punished for speaking out about the alleged mistreatment. Further, McWilliam has expanded the complaint so that its not solely or specifically about her but rather a systemic problem faced by female officers and it needs to be addressed institutionally. Named as respondents in the case is the Toronto Police Services Board and one officer, Sgt. Angelo Costa. It was Costa, McWilliam claims in her application, who spoke mockingly of a complaint shed originally brought against Staff Sgt. Christopher Nolan, her supervisor at 23 Division. Nolan, McWilliam maintains -- as the hearing heard last month  had allegedly remarked that he wanted to spank her and, when shown a photo of McWilliam in her RCMP uniform  she served with the national police force before joining the Toronto Service  said hed prefer to see you in your high brown boots.

None of the allegations by McWilliam have been proven at the tribunal.

At a separate tribunal under the Police Services Act, Nolan admitted to making those comments and in 2013 pleaded guilty to one count of discreditable conduct.

McWilliam, daughter of a cop, has accused Nolan of bragging to her about how good he was at performing oral sex, once whispered in her ear that he wanted to lick her, was overheard, by McWilliam, saying he did not want any female officers on his shift, and had referred to a female sergeant as that ct.

Nolans name is on the complainants list of witnesses who may be called at this hearing but not (yet) on the respondents list submitted by Amandi Esonwanne, representing the Services Board. Although not cited as formal respondents in the application, the document cites the names of more than two dozen other officers who might be called to testify. On Thursday, Esonwanne indicated he might call upwards of 40 witnesses, emphasizing that all the individuals mentioned in the application work at 23 Division and McWilliam had never worked at any other Toronto detachment. The implication here is that the broad cultural sexism which McWilliams lawyer, Kate Hughes, described in her opening statement on Oct. 24 should be contained as more narrow in focus, relating to one womans allegations. Hes also denying that any inappropriate treatment had ever been condoned by management.

Really, what she wants is to have that workplace fixed, get rid of the poisoned environment so that she doesnt have to go to work and sit there and have sexual innuendo and be the butt of jokes, and have to be told not to report complaints or shes not going to be part of the team and that she should have a tougher skin, Hughes told reporters outside the tribunal.

That bigger target is the issue.

Hughes notes that Costas conduct is squarely the issue, within the wider complaint of rampant sexual harassment against female officers and should be put on the stand by Esonwanne. Although she plans to call Costa, Ill have to have him declared as a hostile witness.

Apart from Costa, the application alleges, says Hughes, a workplace that is poisoned with sexual harassmenta large number of incidents that involve a number of other supervisors. That would include circulating pictures of her in a bikini, that would include pictures on the computer as a joke. That would include, in parade, where shes a captive audience and the only female among a group of male colleagues, a supervisor saying that he would spank her later in private and laughing. Making comments, because she used to be with the RCMP, about her riding a horse, which caused other males to say, We would like Heather to ride my horse.

This is all comment which in Canada is unacceptable in a workplace.

Yesterday the tribunal heard, as its first witness, from Andre Goh, manager of the diversity and inclusion unit with Toronto Police Services. Goh, a civilian employee, estimated that 17 to 19 per cent of sworn officers in the city today are female.

He did not have a clue, however, how many female officers had brought forward sexual harassment complaints through either internally or externally, formally or informally, because that procedure had devolved from his jurisdiction since around 2008, now the purview of the Professional Standard Branch, labour relations and legal services.

Under questioning by Hughes, Goh agreed that better tracking of complaints would be useful.

Nor is there any police department paperwork that specifically pertains to harassment complaints as designated by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, merely a generic form  like a memo  that can be filled in, although a software program update now being adopted will include the OHRC attachment.

Hughes also told tribunal chair Jo-Anne Pickel that, since the Star first reported on this case last week, she has been inundated with phone calls from other female Toronto police officers who want to come forward and buttress McWilliams complaint. Hughes is seeking to call two of the women as similar-fact witnesses.

Those women, said Hughes, claim theyve been called  or have heard other females called  cts, dykes, bitches, pussies, sluts.

Pickel has yet to rule on that submission.

Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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Clowns are hoping to bring miles of smiles at the 112th annual Santa Claus Parade.

This year was a tad sour for clowns with a number of scares attributed to people dressing up in alarming clown costumes.

The 101 celebrity clowns in the parade hope to change that.

Were all smiley faces, says Ross Morton. Our faces are big, friendly smiley faces. Our clowns interact. Our clowns give away silly putty, balls . . . were all about warming up the crowd so to speak, young and old . . . .

Morton is executive vice-president and board member of The Santa Claus Parade.

Hes also a clown, and today hes wearing red-blue-and-yellow clown shoes that squeak as he walks.

The tradition of celebrity clowns in the Santa Claus Parade goes back 34-years, when Ron Barbaro and Norman Jewison got together with other sponsors to help out the parade.

Under the multicolour hair and red noses are bankers, doctors, businessmen and -women, nurses and other big names who pay $1,200 to support the parade and walk in it. They truly fill big shoes.

They didnt want anyone to know they were helping in the parade, Morton says.

This is Mortons 24th year as a clown. Along the route, hes seen babies whove grown up and have kids of their own now. Hes taken loads of pictures with many babies, and held even more of them.

But one stands out.

About five years ago, as he was turning the corner at Wellington St., off Avenue Rd., he saw a woman holding a baby and a very old camera.

She waved to Morton who went up to her, he says.

It was the end of November, but both the woman and the baby were very underdressed for the weather, he remembers.

She hands me her baby, he says. And she says, Picture! Take picture! First day in Canada. Canada great. Thank you.

And I started crying.

It is very emotional.

His voice breaks as he continues: I mean here is someone and it was her first day in Canada . . . . She trusts me with her baby. Im a stranger dressed up as a clown. She takes our picture and she thanks me. Wow!

So what does he think about clowns getting a bad rap this year?

Anybody can spoil anything, but that doesnt mean every clown is bad, Morton says.

Theyre a bunch of bullies, says Ted Blackmore. Hes carrying a foam telescope-eye and wearing black-and-white shoes.

I was breaking these shoes in, walking up and down the street, and then I realized, Im going to get tasered, he says. I should stop doing this.

Ben Cheung, whos taken part in the parade as a clown for 18 years says the scary clowns are doing a disservice.

I really hate this . . . with all the bad publicity, children might look at us and get scared, Cheung says.

The children participating in the parade this year think clowns are funny, and they like clowns because they make them laugh.

They dress up really funny and have big shoes, says Sarah Devereux, whos dressed as a kitchen elf in the parade.

Its not cool, says Stephanie Chirume, whos a North Pole princess in the parade. And (its) mean.

The parade starts at the corner of Bloor and Christie Sts., Nov. 20, at 12:30 p.m.

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A Brampton man who helped dump his daughter-in-laws body after his own daughter plunged a box-cutter blade into the victims neck, has received a sentence of six years and eight months, but will be a free man because of time already served.

Kulwant Litt, who lied repeatedly to police and the court about his role in covering up the 2009 killing of Poonam Litt, was told he will only be incarcerated for one more day.

The sentencing closes a seven-year-case that has gripped many in Bramptons large Punjabi-Canadian community, where the chilling story of family deceit was a common topic in the local Punjabi media.

There has to be a clear message, said Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno, when reading the reasons for his sentence. Lie under oath  there has to be serious consequences. Durno said that Litt's perjury was an aggravating factor in imposing a sentence just two months short of what the Crown was seeking, after Litt recently pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to manslaughter.

Kulwant Litts daughter, Mandeep Punia, and son-in-law, Skinder Punia, have already been convicted and sentenced.

Poonam Litt died after she was stabbed in the neck by Mandeep Punia during a heated argument while the victim was holding her 2-year-old daughter.

Her remains  her skull, right tibia, left clavicle, left neck vertebrae, lower jaw and a tooth  were found three years later in a Caledon field.

Earlier this week Kulwant Litt, 67, was escorted to the glassed-in prisoners box inside a Brampton courtroom by two Peel police officers. Wearing a loosely tied bright orange turban, blue jeans and a winter coat he looked straight ahead as Crown lawyer Kelly Slate read a victims impact statement from Harbinder Sandhu, the sister of the slain woman.

Sandhu said the family was shocked, depressed, hurt and mortified, by the disappearance of Poonam Litt in 2009, the haunting uncertainty of not knowing how she had vanished and then the news in 2012 that her remains had been found in a wooded area within a Caledon field.

The gory details on the news and during the trial will continue to haunt us, Sandhus statement said.

Those three years we were not sure whether to mourn for her or wait for her to come home.

Seeking a sentence just short of seven years, the Crown focused on Kulwant Litts three-year cover-up of the crime, lying to police while his daughter-in-laws family slipped deeper into depression not knowing what had happened to Poonam.

Kulwant Litt had admitted to a list of facts read by the Crown in court at the beginning of October, including that he and son-in-law Skinder Punia drove to the Caledon field where they disposed of the body. Kulwant Litt then lied to police saying he had heard his daughter-in-law getting ready for work the next morning.

Slate, the Crown lawyer, said Litts persistent lying showed no regard for the agony his daughter-in-laws family was going through when they had no idea of what had happened to her.

That makes it particularly egregious, she said of his crime.

Kulwant Litts lawyer, Vikram Singh, acknowledged his clients crime, describing the effect as a destruction in the nucleus of a family household that created public outrage. But he pointed out that Litt had initially suggested calling an ambulance before his daughter and her husband directed him to leave. Singh asked for a sentence between five-and-a-half to six years.

On Monday Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno asked Litt if he had anything to say before a sentence was decided. Litt, speaking through a court-appointed Punjabi interpreter, declined.

While reading his reasons for the sentence Friday, Durno said that because Litt is not a Canadian citizen his conviction will most likely lead to his deportation to India.

In August, Mandeep Punia was sentenced to 12 years in prison, less time already served in custody, after she was convicted of manslaughter.

Skinder Punia was sentenced to seven years in prison after his conviction for being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter.

After the sentence was read Friday, Singh, the defence lawyer, spoke to Litt before he was escorted out of the courthouse. He said his client asked about his possible deportation. He expressed uncertainty about his future in Canada.

Singh said the case has had a lengthy history for all those involved and the public following it since Poonam Litt's disappearance.

The case had gone cold by the time Kulwant Litt had left for India in 2012, where he told a relative what had happened to his sons wife. That relative secretly recorded the story and gave it to the son, Manjinder Litt. He went to Peel police, who asked him to convince his father to return to Canada.

Upon his return, Kulwant Litt told his son about the bloody night in 2009, when his wife had been left to die on the floor of the family kitchen. Litt then took his son to the spot where his wifes body had been dumped by his own father and brother-in-law. Kulwant Litt, Mandeep Punia and Skinder Punia were interviewed by police and arrested shortly after.

Members of Poonam Litt's family declined to comment Friday.

Slate said, It's good there's some finality for the family and the public today.

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Be careful out there. Motorists of Toronto, Im talking to you. Someone needs to, because we drivers are maiming and killing people at a pretty shocking rate.

Between sunset Wednesday and just after sunrise Thursday, for instance, 14 pedestrians were struck by motorists on the streets of our city  thats roughly every hour. One was exiting a streetcar at Bathurst and College. Another was sent to hospital with serious injuries after being hit at Islington and The Queensway. Two people were hit by two different cars at College and Palmerston at roughly the same time; one of them died.

This has been the deadliest year for traffic fatalities in Toronto since 2004 (beating last years total, which had been the previous recent high). In September, before the traditional killing season that comes with the autumn darkness, the police department released statistics showing a pedestrian or cyclist struck every 2.5 hours, on average.

So drivers: slow down, watch out, be careful. Its darker than usual this time of year, sometimes it will be raining, sometimes traffic in this city is going to be frustrating. You need to keep your wits about you, and be patient, and sober, and watch carefully. No place youre going is so important that it is worth killing someone trying to get there a few minutes faster. Youre piloting a glass-and-steel missile that weighs thousands of pounds, so use the appropriate amount of care and attention when you do so.

Someone needs to explicitly and clearly deliver this message to us drivers, because God knows the main thrust of most road safety campaigns is scolding pedestrians about self-defense. The police and the Ministry of Transportation, for example, in their Be Alert, Be Seen campaign launched this week, encourage people to wear reflective toques and scarves. The be alert part of the message to walkers seems to be a thing: last month, Public Works chair Jaye Robinson was out discussing Torontos road safety program and, asked a question about distracted drivers, brought up the problem of distracted walking  a phenomenon that a widely reported poll said two thirds of Canadians wanted to ban. Councillor Shelley Carroll hopped on the bandwagon, suggesting such a law might be a good idea in a round of media appearances.

This emphasis is kind of absurd. We all walk, more or less  from the parking lot to the office, at least. Across the road to get a sandwich. To the corner store. Walking is, for most of us, something we do every day, multiple times. Learning to do it is one of the earliest milestones in our lives. The idea that we should don special safety walking clothes  construction vests and flashing wristbands!  to engage in this activity is absurd.

Distracted walking is actually one of the joys of city living  wandering around, taking in the sights, letting your mind wander, taking time to look at and smell the roses, thinking through a tough problem. And yes, sometimes reading or checking a message. Moreover, you know who is most easily distracted? Children  whose attention spans and impulse control are often roughly equivalent to a goldfishs. Are we going to lock them all up in the name of making streets safer?

Of course not.

In any event, its hard to see how any of this would have helped, for instance, the three adolescents who were hit on the sidewalk on Halloween night, when its alleged a car moving at highway speeds collided with a drunk driver and then drove up onto the curb, across a grassy boulevard, and plowed into them. Would reflective clothing have helped them? Were they distracted? Is the problem here that those 13-year-olds made the streets less safe by not being alert or seen enough?

The questions themselves are offensive. In this case, but in general, too. Because while most of the things talked about in these campaigns are actually good self-defense tips  truly, pedestrians should endeavour to make themselves seen, look both ways before crossing a road, avoid returning emails while in the middle of an intersection  heeding them does not address the main problem. For one, because in more than two-thirds of cases where they are hit, pedestrians have been obeying the law and have the right-of-way. And for another, because pedestrians who are reckless or distracted mainly pose a danger to themselves. If we are concerned about people being hurt, we need to focus our efforts on deterring those who do the hurting.

Lock your doors is good advice. Even so, People need to take responsibility for installing more and better locks is an absurd public message in response to a crime wave, and issuing fines to people for forgetting to lock their doors is downright perverse.

A city should be a place where people can walk around. Where people young and old should be expected to walk around, and to be human while doing so  dressed in normal clothes, sometimes distracted, sometimes moving slowly  without risking death. Ideally, we would design roads and laws, and enforce those laws, in ways that reinforce that expectation by encouraging drivers to defer always to the safety of pedestrians. But we dont live in that world, or not yet: were still in an official mindset where a traffic enforcement blitzs headline message is that pedestrians at intersections should quickly get the heck out of the way when they still have the green light so drivers can make turns and keep traffic moving.

One hopes the citys new road safety plan, launching in January, will begin a change. Perhaps the arrival of a new transportation chief, Barbara Gray, who launched celebrated pedestrian initiatives in Seattle and co-authored a book on designing Living Streets and walkable communities, will bring a different approach. One that could save lives.

In the meantime, we drivers need to take the lifesaving effort on ourselves: its dark, and wet, and dangerous out there. Lets try hard not to kill anyone.

Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca . Follow: @thekeenanwire

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Charity, it is said, begins at home.

So should a critique.

Last week, Black Twitter poked fun at a respected Toronto Star film critic for a repeated spelling error.

While writing about the much-acclaimed film Moonlight, Peter Howell got the definition of the term code-switch right  deliberately shifting cultural traits and vernacular to suit different circumstances  but he spelled it coat-switch because he was unfamiliar with it.

Code-switching is a relatively obscure term in Canada but the movie world stung by #OscarsSoWhite had little patience for the mistake.

Howell himself says he was greatly dismayed by the error, as I am with any error.

The fault was entirely mine. This has reminded me of the importance of double- and triple-checking unfamiliar terms, especially culturally sensitive ones.

Cultural insensitivity was not the point, however. Unfamiliarity was. That typo was mocked on #coatswitch because it confirmed what many believed  that Canadian journalists are predominantly white men in a white world.

I dont blame a specific writer or a specific editor for this slip.

I do blame white newsrooms.

The major newsrooms in this country  the Toronto Star included  are unnaturally white. Journalism is a field so antediluvian it is patting itself on its back for opening up to women  white women. I invite any media organization that wants to challenge that assertion to share its racial diversity data.

The economic reality is the biggest current barrier to diversity, says Toronto Star Editor, and my bosss boss, Michael Cooke. A shrinking staff is more likely to reflect hiring decisions of 10-25 years ago with more junior people leaving and more senior people staying.

I agree.

The time to invest in diversity with seriousness was when the now-struggling industry was flush with funds, but hubris had blinded it from having a vision.

Does diversity really matter? Canadian standards of journalism, investigative and institutional, are world class. By upholding values of objectivity and balance, can one group of people tell all stories fairly?

In theory, yes, Cooke says, but sometimes missing will be stories and angles that the one group doesnt know about . . . and sometimes certainly some nuance.

I dont agree.

Speaking for others leaves them voiceless. Look at the shoddy job male journalists did with womens issues. Its the same now with race-related news.

Non-representation in journalism is a form of oppression. It happens when we  Canadians  invite or accept newcomers to our mutual benefit, but then allow only one dominant group  whites  to play gatekeeper to all the stories, generation after generation. Indigenous people, too, are not exempt from exclusion.

Those in charge of hiring say they are exerting a bias towards hiring from four designated groups (women, members of a visible minority, persons with a disability and Aboriginal/indigenous peoples). Visible strides have been made in ticking off that one box for (white) women.

For an industry that demands transparency from public and private institutions, it offers surprisingly little when it comes to itself. When asked, media organizations have plainly refused to open up. As a result, there is no recent measure of staff diversity or how it is distributed through the ranks.

Transparency would reveal good, old-fashioned tokenism. The few journalists of colour hired are given visible roles such as interns, reporters or anchors, but they are a rarity among those who set the daily agenda  the editors, producers and managers  who are out of public sight.

Decisions by this group are often unchallenged, leading to tone-deaf, biased coverage of news. It also leads to skills drain.

A lot of ambitious people start to look elsewhere, says veteran journalist John Miller, who published the countrys last definitive research on media diversity  that was back in 2006.

In his decade-long role as chair of the Ryerson School of Journalism, Miller took head-on the commonly cited complaint of not enough minorities and relooked at the schools admissions requirements.

If we give points to people who have worked with a student magazine, why not give points to someone who has travelled, known a language or volunteered at a community organization?

The adjustment succeeded, the number of minority students went up, he says. Lets face it, in my last year at Ryerson, I went to the awards night and it was the diverse students who were winning.

His experience gives lie to the other oft-cited challenge, of the lack of quality among journalists of colour. To them, he says, You have hired the wrong people for the wrong reason.

I have often encountered an insulting side effect of tokenism. Every time someone tells me I was hired in this, that or the other job because Im a woman and of colour, I bite my tongue and roll my eyes.

The next time, though, Im going to #MakeItAwkward and say, No. The fact is, YOU were hired because you are white.

Shree Paradkar tackles issues of race and gender. You can follow her @shreeparadkar. She is dedicating this column to Raveena Aulakh, an outstanding journalist, gone too soon.

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A Toronto lawyer accused of sexually assaulting three teenage girls has been charged with an indecent act from an incident two years ago.

Toronto police allege Francois Lesieur, 32, committed the offence while on board a subway train at Bloor Station around 10:30 p.m. on June 23, 2014.

In late September, Toronto police charged Lesieur with four counts of sexual assault, alleging he assaulted the girls  aged 14, 15 and 16  in public places such as subway stations and a food court.

Police allege the girls were targeted and say one girl was sexually assaulted twice in the span of five days by the same man.

He had his legal license temporarily suspended in mid-October.

Lesieurs lawyer says her client is presumed innocent on the previous charges.

Mr. Lesieur looks forward to learning more about the new allegation, Megan Savard said Friday.

He will respond fully to all charges in court.

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ANKARA, TURKEYA car-bomb attack in the largest city in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast region killed eight people Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians died in the attack near a building used by the riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast but only seven of them remain in hospital, he said.

Yildirim also said one of the assailants was caught dead but did not provide details.

The Diyarbakir governors office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out. Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public fear, panic or chaos and images showing the explosion and its aftermath.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Daesh extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. A fragile ceasefire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, including the partys two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Prosecutors demanded that the two be formally arrested pending trial.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was arrested: Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant. State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. Other senior officials taken away included Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken. A twelfth legislator was also detained later during the day. One of the 12 was released on condition that he regularly report to authorities.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern over the pro-Kurdish politicians detentions on Twitter. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

Main opposition Republican Peoples Party Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions, If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise youll butcher democracy in Turkey.

Yildirim responded: If those who are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account.

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including disseminating terrorist propaganda and membership in an armed terrorist organization.

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. If they want our testimony theyll have to force us there, he said, according to Anadolu.

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership in the PKK.

In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

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NEWARK, N.J.Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of creating an epic traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge for what prosecutors say was political revenge, capping a trial that cast doubt on Christies claims he knew nothing about the scheme.

Bridget Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them.

Kelly cried as the verdict was read, while Baroni showed no emotion.

The most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 21.

The federal jury took five days to reach a verdict in the scandal that helped sink Christies Republican campaign for president. The ruling came before the judge ruled on a request by defence attorneys to declare a mistrial in the case.

Christie has denied any knowledge of the scheme beforehand or while it was going on and has not been charged. A message left with Christies office on Friday wasnt immediately returned.

Prosecutors said Kelly and Baroni plotted with Christie ally David Wildstein to close lanes at the bridge and create gridlock in September 2013 to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie for re-election. Wildstein, a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and was the prosecutions star witness.

Kelly and Baroni testified they believed the lane closings were part of a legitimate traffic study because, they said, that was what Wildstein told them.

The defence portrayed Wildstein as a liar and a dirty trickster  the Bernie Madoff of New Jersey politics  and argued that Christie and his inner circle had thrown the 44-year-old Kelly under the bus.

They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards, Kelly attorney Michael Critchley said in a thundering closing argument.

One of the most damning pieces of evidence was an email in which Kelly wrote: Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee. Then, as the four days of gridlock unfolded and Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich complained about children unable to get to school, she texted: Is it wrong that I am smiling?

On the stand, Kelly explained that she was referring to what she thought was a traffic study and expressing satisfaction that it was going well. As for why Kelly deleted the messages, her lawyer suggested she was afraid she was about to be made the scapegoat.

Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all testified that Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on, contrary to the governors repeated denials.

Wildstein, for example, said that Christie was told about the traffic jam as it was happening and that he laughed and sarcastically joked that nothing political was going on when he learned of Sokolichs distress over not getting his calls returned.

But it was not clear from Wildsteins testimony whether Christie knew the bumper-to-bumper mess was manufactured for political reasons. And Kelly testified that she told Christie the lane-closings were a traffic study when she informed him of the plans about a month ahead of time.

The gridlock at the foot of the nations busiest bridge  a span that connects New Jersey to New York City  began on the first day of school and held up commuters, school buses and emergency vehicles. Sokolichs pleas went unanswered for four days  on orders from Wildstein, the defendants testified.

At the time, Christie was considered a top GOP presidential contender and was trying to run up a big landslide re-election victory to demonstrate his crossover appeal as a White House candidate.

Christie ultimately dropped out of the presidential race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary and said recently that the scandal probably influenced Donald Trumps decision not to pick him as his running mate. Christie is a now a top Trump adviser and has campaigned for him.

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By PTI: Colombo, Nov 4 (PTI) A Sri Lankan court today refused bail to five policemen charged with the murder of two Tamil students and remanded them in custody till November 18.

The Jaffna magistrate rejected their bail petition and remanded them in custody for two more weeks.

On October 20, two students of the Jaffna University were gunned down by police in Sri Lankas Tamil-dominated Northern Province, prompting authorities to arrest five policemen.

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The students were shot dead at a police checkpoint in Jaffna. Though police initially denied shooting the students, a post-mortem report found bullets in one of the bodies.

The killing had ignited large-scale protests in Jaffna.

President Maithripala Sirisena had ordered a special probe and compensation for the families of the students.

Several days later, at least two state intelligence officers operating in Jaffna were assaulted by members of the suspected Ava Group. This led to a police crackdown on the group with two being arrested.

The Jaffna residents complained that the group was responsible for large scale intimidation, extortion and attacks on individuals.

Minister Rajith Senaratne blamed former president Mahinda Rajapaksas brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of being behind the group to create unrest in the north.

Gotabhaya, the then powerful defense ministry secretary, however has denied the accusation. PTI CORR CPS KK

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PESHAWAR, PAKISTANA court in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday ordered that the National Geographics famed green-eyed Afghan Girl be deported once her detention expires, a prosecutor said.

The case of Sharbat Gulla, who was arrested 10 days ago over having allegedly forged ID papers and staying in Pakistan illegally, has drawn international attention and criticism of the Pakistani authorities.

She gained international fame in 1984 as an Afghan refugee girl, after war photographer Steve McCurrys photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on the cover of National Geographic. McCurry found her again in 2002.

In 2014, she surfaced in Pakistan but went into hiding when authorities accused her of buying a fake Pakistani identity card.

On Friday, prosecutor Mohsin Dawar said she faces deportation after five days, when her 15-day jail term is to expire. He said the court also fined Gulla a sum of 110,000 rupees, which is about $1,100 (U.S.).

Dawar said that Judge Farah Jamsheed handed down the punishment after Gulla, wearing the traditional all-covering burqa, was brought before the court where she pleaded guilty to the charges against her.

Earlier, she had denied the charges against her, according to officials.

Amnesty International criticized the decision to deport the famed Afghan woman.

Pakistans decision to deport Sharbat Gula is a grave injustice. For decades, she was known as the worlds most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistans status as a generous host, said Champa Patel, the London-based rights groups South Asia director.

She added that by sending her back to a country she hasnt seen in a generation, and which her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistans cruel treatment of Afghan refugees.

On Thursday, Pakistans foreign ministry said Gulla was hospitalized after falling ill while in custody.

Dawar, the prosecutor, said she is being treated at Peshawars Lady Reading Hospital for a liver ailment and that she is likely to stay in the hospital until her deportation.

Gullas attorney Mubashir Nazeer claimed the court treated her kindly, in view of her illness, and that it would also consider the fact that she has four children  three daughters and a son  all minors.

Its unclear what will happen with her children if Gulla, who is a widow, gets deported.

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WASHINGTONCanadian courses for Trump University were taught by a couple who used aliases, declared multiple bankruptcies, lost a real-estate licence and were sanctioned by securities regulators over a multimillion-dollar swindle, according to documents reviewed through a joint investigation by The Canadian Press and The Associated Press.

An Ontario husband-and-wife team identifying themselves as Dave Ravindra and Rita Bahadur taught Trump courses in Canadian cities in 2010, before Trumps namesake real-estate seminars folded amid mounting inquiries from U.S. regulators and complaints from former students.

Trump assured customers registering for his program that he had personally hand-picked only the best people to teach courses that would share lessons for attaining financial success.

Yet examples abound of teachers with spotty credentials  in the U.S., and now in Canada.

The AP has already reported that Trump University staff and speakers included at least four convicted felons, including a Florida cocaine-trafficker and a former army sergeant court-martialled for sexually assaulting a fellow soldiers eight-year-old daughter. Half the 68 former staffers whose backgrounds the AP reviewed had personal bankruptcies, home foreclosures, credit card defaults, tax liens or other indicators of significant money troubles.

The news agency also has records showing Canadian courses taught by people with aliases for Ravindra Dave, 59, and Chandramattie Dave, 55, of Mississauga  spouses who came to Canada from Guyana decades ago and whose various names appear in federal bankruptcy and provincial securities records.

The spouses have filed for personal bankruptcy at least four times since 2001  twice by him, and twice by her, according to Industry Canada records. Public documents list at least nine different names for the couple, mainly combinations mixing the order of their first, middle and last names.

Ontarios stock-market regulator concluded last year that they defrauded numerous Canadian investors between 2009 and 2012. Records also show a Dave Ravindra with the same home address was stripped of his real-estate licence in Ontario, two years before he lectured for Trump University.

The settlement agreement published by the regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission, concluded Ravindra Dave started two investment companies more than a decade ago that never properly registered and sold securities without permission.

The couple organized real-estate seminars in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia where they urged people to invest, promising fixed annual returns of at least 10 per cent. It said at least 34 investors in Ontario purchased these unregistered securities for approximately $5.4 million.

The securities regulator said those investors wound up losing most of that money.

Chandramattie and Ravindra engaged in fraudulent conduct by making misleading or untrue statements to investors regarding the use of investor funds, and used investor funds for other business purposes, and for personal benefit, said the settlement document.

(Their) statements were untrue or misleading and perpetrated a fraud on investors.

Of the sums invested, about $1 million went to companies the couple controlled; $750,000 went to family members; $150,000 paid down credit card bills, and $90,000 went to their mortgage payments, according to the 2015 settlement.

A former investor trying to recover some of her money declined to discuss the case, citing ongoing litigation. Linda Stark, a pensioner who lives near Toronto, would say only that the episode has taken a financial and emotional toll on her family.

Were just managing, Stark said.

As a result of their actions, the Daves were hit with 29 different penalties in the settlement agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission  a $300,000 fine, $25,000 in administrative costs, $3.3 million to be disbursed to injured parties and a slew of restrictions on their trading activity.

Chandramattie Dave is permanently banned from trading securities, and Ravindra Dave is banned for 20 years in penalties that apply elsewhere in Canada. They cannot manage investment funds, nor can they serve as directors or officers for securities-issuing companies.

During the period described by Ontarios securities regulator, they became involved with Trump University.

A lawsuit was filed over Trump University by New Yorks attorney general in 2013. He alleged it was a fraud from beginning to end, geared toward pressuring cash-strapped students into buying ever more expensive seminars. In California, two federal class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of former students. One is headed to trial Nov. 28  three weeks after the presidential election.

Jill Martin, a Trump Organization lawyer defending Trump against the lawsuit, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks.

Martin has previously accused The AP of cherry picking ex-staffers with criminal histories and said those individuals were not representative of the professional instruction staff engaged by Trump University.

Trump University offered three-day retreats in Toronto and Vancouver in 2010.

As part of his defence against ongoing lawsuits, Trump released more than 21,000 pages of student surveys. He cited the surveys to back his claim that most seminar participants were satisfied.

The surveys did show top ratings for the couple  listed there as Rita Bahadur and Dave Ravindra. They received high ratings as subject matter experts from students in the Creative Financing and Lease Option Real Estate courses.

Efforts to reach the Daves for comment  through their listed phone numbers, email addresses, and social media sites like a Facebook page for Dave Ravindra whose profile picture of a blond-haired model turns up in a Google image search as a stock photo  were unsuccessful.

The familys four-bedroom, four-bath home by a Mississauga park was also seized, according to provincial records. However, municipal officials said a planned auction for the house was suspended when the couple declared bankruptcy.

Federal bankruptcy records list him as having liabilities of $1.9 million, with hers listed at $1.3 million. Records from the Ontario Securities Regulator list them as still owing more than $3.6 million in delinquent penalties and fines.

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WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama likes to say that historians, not he, will evaluate his legacy with the perspective only hindsight can provide. Yet as he campaigns across the country for Hillary Clinton, Obama is offering his own first draft of the way he hopes his eight years in office will be remembered.

For Obama, the final stretch of the campaign has been a nagging reminder that his presidency is about to close, and an opportunity for self-reflection that the president has seized. After all, Obamas chief argument for Clinton is that only by electing her over Donald Trump can his supporters protect his accomplishments.

We have been busy, which is why Ive got grey hair, Obama told some 7,000 supporters at a rally for Clinton on Thursday in Florida.

Lest the country forget, he used his speech to revisit what he considers his greatest-hits list: 20 million Americans who have gained health coverage, unprecedented steps on climate change, the death of Osama bin Laden. He seemed particularly pleased to have spotted a road sign advertising $1.99-a-gallon gas, despite his naysayers predictions in 2008 that it would climb to many times that if he were elected.

Obama, who has put most of his to-do list on hold until after Election Day, planned to echo those themes Friday during a pair of rallies for Clinton in North Carolina  and again on Sunday and Monday in battlegrounds Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Until recently, Obamas aides were reticent to even use the word legacy, and took to calling it the L-word instead. White House aides said that grew out of a sense of communal superstition, reinforced by frequent reminders from Obama and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough that there was plenty of unfinished business and no distractions would be welcome.

But as Inauguration Day grows closer, the White House has started working to frame Obamas legacy for the public, through events designed to take stock of progress and a series of essays Obama has published about health care, economics and globalization. Obama was expected to pen more in-his-own-words pieces elaborating on legacy issues during his finals weeks in office.

To be sure, this years election has had no shortage of reminders of how deeply divided the U.S. remains, despite Obamas hopes to break the fever by uniting Americans of all political and ethnic backgrounds. Even many Republicans who detest Trump have argued that its frustration with Obamas failures that have enabled Trumps staggering success.

At Obamas rallies for Clinton, attended largely by die-hard Obama supporters whose enthusiasm for Clinton is in question, theres a sense of nostalgia that has only recently started creeping in at the White House. As he did in 2008 and in 2012, Obama once again is facing tens of thousands cheering his name. Many are holding signs saved from his 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

Jen Psaki, the White House communications director, said returning to the campaign trail has given Obama an opportunity to see how Americans are digesting what the last eight years have meant for their lives. She said the reality of the campaign drawing to a close has been a poignant reminder that Obamas successor will be inaugurated in less than 80 days.

It gets realer the closer you get, Psaki said.

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An overwhelming majority of voters are disgusted by the state of American politics, and many harbour doubts that either major-party nominee can unite the country after a historically ugly presidential campaign, according to the final pre-election New York Times/CBS News Poll.

In a grim preview of the discontent that may cloud at least the outset of the next presidents term, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are seen by a majority of voters as unlikely to bring the country back together after this bitter election season.

With more than 8 in 10 voters saying the campaign has left them repulsed rather than excited, the rising toxicity threatens the ultimate victor. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and Trump, the Republican nominee, are seen as dishonest and viewed unfavourably by a majority of voters.

While her advantage has narrowed since mid-October, Clinton still has an edge in the survey because of a commanding advantage among women and non-white voters. She has the support of 45 per cent of likely voters while Trump has 42 per cent. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee, has slipped to 5 per cent, and Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, is at 4 per cent.

If she wins, Clinton will enter the White House to face immediate governing challenges not only from the deep partisanship ruling Washington but also from a large number of Trumps supporters who say they are not prepared to accept the results.

After weeks of Trumps accusations that the election is rigged, a little more than 6 in 10 of his supporters say they will accept the results as legitimate if he loses. More than a quarter of Trumps supporters say they will probably not accept the outcome if Clinton is declared the winner, and nearly 40 per cent of them say they have little or no confidence that Americans votes will be counted properly.

Republican anger is directed not only at Clinton or the electoral process. About as many Republican voters say Trumps candidacy has been bad for the party as believe his campaign has been positive for Republicans, an extraordinary divide over their own standard-bearer on the eve of the election.

As Republicans face the possibility of their third consecutive presidential loss, their own voters overwhelmingly acknowledge the party is facing a schism: 85 per cent of Republican voters said the party was divided, and only 14 per cent said it was united.

But Republicans cannot even agree on who is to blame for the division, though they largely believe Trump has been the impetus for the breach, according to some follow-up interviews.

I think Donald Trump has definitely divided the party, said Sheila Wagner, 79, a Republican from Redmond, Washington. She said she had already marked her ballot for Clinton, adding: When he first declared he was going to run, I thought it was a joke. I just couldnt believe anyone would favour him.

Yet other Republicans point the finger at Republicans who have refused to support Trump.

The old school, quote-unquote, the Bushes, the people who have been around a long time, arent supporting Trump, and thats creating division, said Nora Reinhardt, 66, a farmer from Holt, Missouri. Some Republicans, because of comments Trump has made, which I grant are uncouth and certainly not politically correct, have found they cant support him, although I think some of those people are coming around at this point.

She said she was supporting Trump because she agreed with his policy positions.

Whatever their reasons, and despite how many of them think Trump has been detrimental to the party, more than 8 in 10 Republican voters are falling in line behind their nominee.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted with 1,333 registered voters from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 on cellphones and landlines. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for all voters.

More than 22 million Americans had already cast their ballots when the poll was taken, and roughly 1 in 5 likely voters who participated said they had already voted.

National polling averages showed a growing lead for Clinton in mid-October after the release of the Access Hollywood recording from 2005 in which Trump spoke crudely about women. As women from his past came out over the next weeks to accuse him of groping and forcibly kissing them, his poll numbers dipped.

Yet after a rough few weeks, enthusiasm among Trumps supporters has rebounded: 52 per cent now say they are very enthusiastic about voting. Enthusiasm among Clintons supporters has been flat since September: 47 per cent say they are very enthusiastic to vote.

Last Friday, when the director of the FBI, James B. Comey, sent a letter to Congress about a renewed inquiry concerning Clintons emails, Trump seized on the chance to shift his campaigns tenor and focus on the controversy over her handling of emails when she was secretary of state.

The Times/CBS poll began hours after Comeys letter became public. Most voters who were contacted said they had heard about the development. More voters said they were aware of accusations that Trump had made unwanted sexual advances toward several women.

Yet about 6 in 10 voters overall said the eleventh-hour disclosures about each candidate would make no real difference in their votes. However, more people said the allegations about Trump were likely to negatively affect their votes than those who said the new email developments would discourage them from voting for Clinton.

Four in 10 likely voters said Trumps behaviour toward women made them less likely to support him while fewer, one-third, said the newest development in the FBI investigation into Clintons emails had that effect.

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The crook or the sleaze

Given the choice between a crook and a sleaze, youd normally think people would opt for the crook. Crooks can be tres charmant, like Cary Grant in It Takes a Thief or, more recently, Matt Bomer in White Collar.

Crooks can be virtuous, like Robin Hood, which may be how Clinton sees herself: Bill and I cut corners so we can win power and use it to do good. Why is she the crook here, although Trump, too, has a long record of crookedness and there are obvious crossovers by both? Because shes the one named by the U.S.s number one cop: the big G-man himself. The FBI targets crime, not sleaze.

Still, its hard to imagine anyone wanting to sit still beside a sluggish sleaze like Trump for the length of a bus ride, much less invite him into your living room nightly for years. Evidently, if they go with the sleaze, itll be for other reasons.

The trouble with having a 30 year record

Clinton is having problems with turnout among black voters, especially the young. As she should. They recall her calling some black youth superpredators in the 1990s, which was known, as Bernie said, to be racist code.

Theyre aware that Bill destroyed welfare as we know it and incarcerated generations of young black men, as part of his plan to win a second term. Imagine if your dad or granddad is still in jail because of it.

Yet even last spring, Bill berated black protesters for daring to criticize him and Hillary for it. This is the insufferable arrogance of being Clinton: as president he accomplished nothing of note; as secretary of state, neither did she, except giving Daesh a boost via her Libya policy. They show no regrets and feel entitled to go on forever. And yes, I passionately hope she beats Trump on Tuesday.

What if he isnt Americas Hitler, hes their Heidegger?

People I know say theyre shocked to find they can sympathize more easily in purely personal terms with Hitler  he had an awful, well-documented childhood  than with Trump.

But what if the real analogue is instead Germanys famed existentialist philosopher, Martin Heidegger? Thats what art historian Malcolm Bull argues in the London Review. Heidegger became a Nazi in 1934 but soon grew disillusioned with their stress on race, which he saw as pseudo-scientific.

Instead, Heidegger put a primitive (hed have preferred primal) emphasis on place: land or homeland. That connection was the true source of greatness in a people. It could all get pretty mystical (as I found in graduate seminars) but it jibes with Trumps focus on restoring American greatness and even his bizarre birtherism: if the president needs to be native-born, why doesnt that apply to all jobs?

Bull notes that until recently, the best predictor of your income was not your race or class but your birthplace. Even Americans, or Europeans at the lower end in their own nation, outpaced people elsewhere. But with globalization thats changed.

The top 1 per cent everywhere continue to soar but other levels have seen their income go to that upper layer, and to workers in other countries, where their jobs migrated under free trade. Citizenship, as a result, was devalued as an asset.

So the main enemy is now seen less as different races than all others coming into our space from elsewhere. Ergo, build that wall. The Heidegger connection is kind of hilarious since Trump may never have read a book, much less Being and Time. But the point sticks.

Relax, it could be worse

A Latina I know mentions that a Trump victory would be hardest on places like Latin America and Africa. Places like Canada, Europe and the U.S. itself have individuals (like Angela Merkel) and institutions (universal health care or the courts) that will resist the worst intentions of Trumpism. Its those less robust societies that suffer most and fastest from even the pettiest, most undeliberated machinations in U.S. politics.

Then theres Bernie

Sanders has been campaigning hard for Clinton. He took time off last week to urge Obama to support anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota. What a mensch. He reminds Americans of the sorts of things their election should be about  climate change has gone almost unmentioned  versus agonizing over the choice between the crook and the sleaze.

Rick Salutins column appears every Friday.

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In the midst of one of the most terrible and prolonged conflicts of our times, it takes imagination, commitment and courage to mount a survey of the arts of a country now transformed into a battlefield. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has given us pointers to the magnificent contribution that Syria has made to world culture, reminding us that even if Syrias tragedy still offers no vision of an end, the countrys achievements are worth celebrating.

An exhibition summing up 5,000 years of Syrias past is no small challenge. Choosing 50 objects to convey a picture of that past is equally daunting. But to bring it all together in less than a year from the collections of eight major institutions shows how the world outside Syria recognizes how important it is to acknowledge Syrias message to the world: We are still here.

Museums which would normally require long time spans to prepare objects and pack and transport them have sprung to this challenge with extraordinary enthusiasm, inspired by the lead given by the Aga Khan Museum. It should be no surprise, though, that the Aga Khan institutions should takes this initiative. Over the past 20 years the Aga Khan Trust has done much to give us a picture of the city of Aleppo, at the present time facing one of the worst nightmares of its 5,000-year history.

The exhibitions title, Syria, A Living History, is an appropriate reminder that the range of Syrias art and architecture is daunting and that the diversity of that past will not disappear because of the work of a few fanatics who have little understanding of the countrys heritage and no concern for its future. An exhibition emphasizing that diversity is a response to those who would see Syrias past as reflecting only one doctrine or tradition.

Although the exhibitions 50 objects are necessarily small in scale  and sadly it was impossible to access material from collections within Syria itself  there is enough here to dazzle us with the beauty of the crafts, sculpture, metalware, ceramics and architectural decoration from numerous traditions.

Some of the most poignant sculptural pieces are relief busts from Palmyra, another city that recently passed through a senselessly destructive occupation at the hands of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL. These idealized but vivid images of deceased members of the trading elite of this great caravan city show a complex mixture of cultures confidently blended in a remote oasis centre at the intersection of Roman and Parthian territory (modern-day Iran) to the east.

The fighting that has raged across much of Syrias once most-populous city, Aleppo, has cut through its very heart. The conflict lines swept into the citys ancient market area (suq), once the Middle Easts most lively traditional bazaar. It swerved around the great medieval Citadel, which is the supreme example of Arab military architecture rivaling any of the great Crusader bastions along Syrias coastal mountains. Numerous other mosques and schools for the study of Islam have been caught up in the maelstrom.

Some of the soaring minarets that once defined Aleppos skyline were turned into snipers nests. The most celebrated, the minaret of the citys Great Mosque, collapsed under shellfire in a heap of stones. In that one brief firefight one of the most notable examples of Seljuk architecture, a beautifully controlled late 12th-century blending of Islamic and classical decorative styles, was lost. (The unprecedented toll of destruction in central Aleppo will be the subject of my presentation at the museum on Sunday, Nov. 13.)

Other Seljuk minarets dot the landscape from Central Asia to western Turkey, milestones along the ancient Silk Route. Some served as lighthouses that not only gave out the call to prayer but provided lanterns guiding the caravan or wayfarer to their next destination. It is for that reason I selected the Aleppo minaret in its pre-2011 splendor as the cover photo for my history of Aleppo, which has just been published. I hope the image will also serve as a beacon for the citys eventual restoration.

Ross Burns is the author of several books on the history and archeology of Syria, the most recent being Aleppo, A History.

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Assuming the common sense of the American voter prevails in the end, on Tuesday evening Hillary Clinton will win election as president of the United States. Even beleaguered by FBI investigators and dogged by ethical questions, she remains by far the best candidate for the presidency.

That will bring this astonishing, appalling campaign finally to a merciful end. But the hangover will continue long after the votes are counted. Regardless of the outcome  even if Clinton does make history by becoming the first woman to sit in the Oval Office  enormous damage has already been inflicted on American political life.

This is, overwhelmingly, the fault of Donald Trump and the Republican Party that so shamefully collaborated in his unrestrained orgy of racism, misogyny and willful ignorance. The party richly deserves whatever harm comes to it as a result of letting him carry its banner.

But the damage wont be contained to just one party. Sadly, it goes much farther. The United States, and the whole world, will be dealing with the fallout for years to come. Thats even if Trump falls flat. The next president will have her hands full just cleaning up the mess.

Consider the harm already done:

Democracy itself has been discredited in key parts of the world. The United States most bitter rivals, from Moscow to Tehran, are delighted by the sorry spectacle of this election season. China, already flexing its muscles as it senses weakness in Washington, could not be happier. The Communist partys chief mouthpiece, Peoples Daily, mocks American claims to having a superior political system: Its time for this teacher of democracy to put away its super self-confidence and arrogance. The presidential campaign has provided ample fodder for this point of view. Quite simply, when America looks ridiculous, it loses respect, and those who claim that liberal democracy is just a farce become bolder.

Democracy has been damaged at home, as well. Trumps claim that the American political system is rigged is perhaps his single biggest crime against a healthy democratic culture. Over many decades, centuries even, citizens develop basic norms of behaviour that allow for differences to be resolved without resorting to violence. They have to have confidence in the integrity of liberal institutions like the election system, independent media and the impartial administration of justice.

Trump tossed all that aside. He has deliberately shaken faith in the integrity of elections and the legitimacy of government itself. He threatens to jail his opponent, not just defeat her. He has laid the groundwork for an unraveling of trust in American society. Hes a political vandal, and for this alone is entirely unsuited to the presidency.

Trump has unleashed a flood of nativist feeling and outright racism that will pollute American political life for a long time to come. His attacks on Mexicans, immigrants, Latinos, Muslims and others have already led to an unprecedented wave of bigoted bullying in schools, according to one survey. Hes given public permission for the worst kind of prejudice, always simmering below the surface of American public life. Once released, this cannot easily be put back in the bottle.

The historic nature of this election has been overshadowed. If Clinton does make it on Tuesday, she will be the first female president  a landmark achievement for women by any standard. Yet the ethical questions haunting Clinton are taking the bloom off that rose for many Americans, and even many women.

Even worse is the virulent misogyny stirred up by Trumps outrageous language and behaviour. Its not news that women in public life face higher barriers. But when your opponents rallies are peppered with signs reading Trump that bitch, things have gone very badly wrong. Smashing the ultimate glass ceiling ought to be a moment of joy for women voters in particular, but for too many its not turning out that way.

The United States is turning in on itself. Skepticism about trade deals is one thing; much of that comes from the left and given whats happened to the American middle class over the past quarter century its quite understandable. But Trump isnt just channeling the frustration of those left in the dust by globalization. Hes questioning the fundamentals of global commerce that Republicans have supported for decades. And he goes way beyond that, undermining the assumptions that lie behind American leadership around the world. He wants the mutual-support agreements that Washington has forged around the world to be turned into pay-as-you-go deals. He would leave Americas allies wondering if it will back them up.

This is both ignorant and unwise. Theres a reason the world keeps turning to the United States to sort things out when crises erupt or the international order seems shaky. No one else has the power or the inclination to do it. The Europeans dont want the job, and the only alternatives are the new champions of authoritarianism in Moscow and Beijing. Canadians may grouse about American leadership from time to time, but wed be far worse off if the United States really does retreat behind the walls that Trump would like to build.

The litany of harm done to U.S. political life over the past year and a half doesnt stop there. The culture wars have been deepened; public discourse has been coarsened beyond measure; and the way presidential nominees are chosen has been discredited.

It will take a lot of hard work to mitigate the damage and start the healing. And the only way that can happen is for American voters to give Hillary Clinton a decisive victory, big enough to put it beyond questioning by Trump and his supporters. In a normal election year, she would be a formidable candidate for president. This year, given the chilling alternative, she is the only conceivable choice.

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Re: Never need to pay to access ministers, Opinion Oct. 30

Re: Liberals stuck in Groundhog Day loop, Letter Oct. 30

Re: Selling access must stop, Letter Oct. 27

Never need to pay to access ministers, Opinion Oct. 30

What happened to morality in politics?

When you stop laughing, please consider for a moment that from the time we are children we are told that public service is the highest of values that we have, and that you should never be corrupted by influences that will draw you off of the path of a good, honorable existence.

The Liberal wing of the Corporate Party of Ontario has decided that although they have agreed with the opposition wings of the party that the current fundraising mechanisms, no matter how corruptible they are, will be eliminated by the next election, they will still solicit funds from corporations and unions that do not vote until they change the law.

The little guy is expected to shrug and say, Oh well, thats our politicians for you, and there would not be many who would disagree. And business will move on as always.

But what are we to tell future generations. That even though we knew that something was nasty and dirty, that we did it anyway. And not to benefit all the people of Ontario, but to benefit the Corporate Party of Ontarios ability to further corrupt any sense of morality our politicians once possessed?

I guess the money is more important than our political morality. Thank you Premier Kathleen Wynne for clarifying this.

If there is any sense of decency within the politicians swirling around the corporate and union coffers, they would refuse to involve themselves in such a contemptible practice. What are the chances of that happening?

Troy J. Young, Toronto

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with meetings that politicians attend in return for cash so long as the politicians do not receive the cash.

Perhaps, rather than setting the price of admission very low, we should insist that all money received be shared among all parties represented in the legislature. Donors wishing to make donations to a particular party or candidate would be required to do so anonymously to Elections Canada or to its provincial equivalent along with a written direction specifying the intended recipient.

The fact that politicians would no longer know the names of their donors should encourage these public servants to serve the public at large while still allowing citizens to reward what they consider a job well done.

Patrick Cowan, North York

Liberals stuck in Groundhog Day loop, Letter Oct. 30

To your letter writer Stephen Woof I would like to say, election promises are like New Years resolutions  they are meant to be broken. Political parties of all stripes promise you the moon during an election campaign; once elected they bring us down to earth.

Max Desouza, Toronto

Selling access must stop, Letter Oct. 27

Larry Comeau has properly, and valiantly, struck at one of the most egregious acts of a governing party in control of purse strings: the ability to spread around millions of our tax dollars to preferred ridings.

The first example coming to mind is Tony Clement, the latest federal Conservative seeking return to Ontario politics. Remember the carving up of a $50 million G8 summit fund to benefit his own Muskoka riding?

Morley S. Wolfe, Brampton

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Oil futures are continuing their losing streak for a sixth day amid concerns that OPEC is anything but united in implementing a plan to cut production across the 14-nation cartel.

Brent crude futures were down 17 cents on the London ICE futures exchange by midday to $46.18. West Texas Intermediate was at $44.61, down two cents. Oliver Jacob or the energy consultancy Petromax said "prices are starting to reach oversold levels."

In the run-up to a November 30 meeting, OPEC officials in Vienna this week failed to work out the preliminary details of production cuts. The Saudis threatened to throw a spanner in the works by raising output if Iran did not cut its own production OPEC sources told Reuters on Friday. OPEC expressed confidence that it would get the cuts done in a statement on Thursday.

OPEC agreed to an output cap between 32.5 million to 33 million barrels per day in late September talks in Algeria. But those caps were preliminary and production quotas for individual nations won't be hammered out until the November meeting--and there's the rub.

There have been signs that Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria might not take part in the cuts. If other countries follow suit, participants at the November 30 confab could walk away from the bargaining table empty handed. Last month Igor Sechin, head of Russia's state-owned oil company, Rosneft, said they would not honor any OPEC production cuts unless there was a price freeze.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are the world's biggest oil producers, each accounting for 12% of the global oil production, followed by the United States (11%) and China and Canada, with about 5% respectively.

An influence going forward could be the IPO of Saudi Arabia's Aramco IPO, expected to be the biggest ever with the initial price potentially hitting $50 a share. Foreign investors will be allowed to buy. Although a listing is not expected until 2018, a failure to launch at that price could further depress oil prices and contribute to a volatile climate.

Analysts said the market was getting an added shot of volatility as traders pulled money out of the oil futures marked in advance of the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. Even without the election, U.S. crude stocks were spiking while demand continued to be low. Stateside stockpiles hit 14 million barrels last week, the biggest-ever backlog on record as the U.S. rig count rose by nine on Friday to 450 after a dip the previous week--the first in four months.
While the first warrant has been issued for allegedly evading summons in a FERA violation matter, the other is in a 2012 cheque bounce case lodged by DIAL.

By Press Trust of India: A Delhi court has issued non-bailable warrant against liquor baron Vijay Mallya for allegedly evading summons in a FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) violation matter.

Mallya has scant regard for the law of the land and has no intention to return to India, the Delhi court said while issuing the warrant.

MALLYA'S CLAIM ON INDIA RETURN MALAFIDE: COURT



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The court ruled that the liquor baron's claim that he wanted to come back to India but could not do so because his passport had been revoked was malafide and abuse of the legal process.

Also read: Vijay Mallya must declare all Indian, foreign assets within a month: Supreme Court



A second non-bailable warrant has also been issued against Mallya in a 2012 cheque bounce case lodged by Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL).

--- ENDS ---
The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) opened lower on Friday and continued its decline during the trading session on Friday, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU) was gaining following the October jobs report.

Non-farm payroll employment increased by 161,000 in October, with minimal change in the unemployment rate at 4.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment in construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, among others, saw little change over the month.

The XLE (XLE) and many other oil majors like BP (BP) and Chevron (CVX) were lower due to continuing decline of oil prices, not the below-consensus jobs report.

In fact, as companies flock to the oil-rich Permian Basin in Texas, the state's employment numbers are some of the best in the nation. According to the latest Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary report, Texas had the third largest non-farm payroll employment gains for September with an increase of 206,800.

But as the jobs move South, states like Wyoming, where the oil jobs were once abundant, are now seeing "significant" unemployment rate increases. The Bureau reports that Wyoming and Oklahoma had a 1% unemployment rate increase, representing the largest change year over year. Wyoming was also the only state to experience a significant decline in employment over-the-year with a loss of 9,200 jobs, or a decline of 3.2%.

Even though oil is moving jobs across the country, it is not negatively affecting production. The U.S. crude oil inventories, which stand at 482.6 million barrels, are already at the "upper limit of the average range for this time of year," according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The EIA's weekly report shocked oil prices sending them down to $45 a barrel on Wednesday.

But the major overhang on oil prices is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Pessimism is growing that no production quota deal will get done between the 14 cartel members. Goldman Sachs analysts think there is a declining probability that OPEC will reach a deal by the end of the month and "even lower odds of success."

Yet, if a deal were to come out of the Nov. 30 OPEC meeting in Vienna it would drive oil prices higher, and likely boost oil company stocks as well as there would be a plan to get the abundant global supply under control.

Employees of TheStreet are restricted from trading individual securities.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of CVS Health (CVS) were higher in mid-afternoon trading on Friday as the pharmacy company is slated to report 2016 third quarter results before Tuesday's opening bell.

Wall Street is expecting earnings and revenue to rise year-over-year during the quarter.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet are looking for adjusted earnings of $1.57 per share on revenue of $45.3 billion.

During the same period in 2015, Woonsocket, RI-based CVS posted adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $38.6 billion.

Additionally, CVS announced yesterday that it's planning to cut 600 corporate jobs in Rhode Island, Illinois and Arizona over the next two months, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The company didn't say which divisions will be affected by the cuts but added that the decision was made in response to "changing market dynamics" and an "increasingly competitive environment."

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.

The team rates CVS as a Buy with a ratings score of B. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations and reasonable valuation levels. The team feels 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: CVS



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11/03/2016

By Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 (w), 978-758-4664 (c)

With less than a week to Election Day, the race for president in New Hampshire is tied, the contest for U.S. Senate is too close to call and a slight lead has emerged in the run for governor, according to a new UMass Lowell/7News poll released today.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are in a dead heat with 44 percent among likely voters in the new poll, which was conducted entirely after last weeks revelation by FBI Director James Comey that new materials are being reviewed in connection with the investigation of Clintons use of a private email server. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 5 percent among likely voters and Green Party candidate Jill Stein is at 2 percent, with 4 percent of likely voters still undecided.

The tie between Clinton and Trump is in contrast to the UMass Lowell/7News poll conducted in mid-October, which found Clinton had a six-point lead in the four-way race. Since then, Clinton has dropped only one percentage point, but Trump has gained five and appears to be drawing stronger support from Republicans (up four points to 81 percent).

The independent, nonpartisan poll by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion surveyed 901 New Hampshire registered voters and 695 likely voters via live telephone (landline and cellphone) interviews between Oct. 28 and Nov. 2. New Hampshire is home to approximately 10,000 UMass Lowell graduates, 2,000 students and 400 employees.

With only days left in the campaign, New Hampshire could be critical to either candidate reaching the all-important 270 electoral votes.

Once again, the four electoral votes in New Hampshire could potentially decide the winner of the 2016 presidential election. In a race that is essentially a dead heat, the candidates get-out-the-vote operation becomes all the more crucial, 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.

As New Hampshire moves to pure toss-up status, the reality is setting in that Granite State voters, who play a large role in selecting the major partys candidates in the first in the nation primary, may also have the last word on who is ultimately elected to the White House on Tuesday, said Prof. Joshua Dyck, co-director of the Center for Public Opinion, who wrote and analyzed the poll.

Most voters polled said they have made up their minds, with 90 percent of Clinton supporters and 87 percent of Trump supporters saying they will definitely vote for their candidate. However, 13 percent of Trump supporters, compared with 8 percent of those for Clinton, say they could still change their mind before Election Day.

Clintons support is coming from women and younger voters, along with those with college degrees. Trump does best among men, voters who did not attend college and those who are 40 to 49 years old. Among women voters, Clinton leads by 16 points and Trump leads by 19 points among men.

The poll also found a shift in voters sense of how the race will turn out. While a majority believe Clinton will win the election, that 52 percent is down eight points from the October UMass Lowell/7News poll. The number of voters who believe Trump will win has increased from 26 percent last month to 34 percent in todays poll.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, 71 percent of New Hampshire voters said they believe the country will remain divided. A majority (77 percent) said that it is important that the losing presidential candidate accepts the results of the election and concedes to the winner.

The poll also asked voters about three notable campaign events: the revelation of the continued FBI investigation of Clintons emails; the accusations by 11 women that Trump has engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior; and the effect of the three presidential debates.

On the FBIs review of the additional Clinton emails, 68 percent of likely voters said it did not make a difference while 28 percent said they are less likely to vote for Clinton as a result of the news. Among Democratic likely voters, 89 percent said it makes no difference and 4 percent said it made them more likely to support Clinton, while 6 percent said it made them less likely. Among other likely voters, the news appears to have had a greater impact: 33 percent of independents and 44 percent of Republicans said the news makes them less likely to vote for Clinton. However, Clinton continues to lead Trump among independents, 38 percent to 32 percent.

On the allegations of inappropriate behavior by Trump, 69 percent of all likely voters polled said the news makes no difference to them, 26 percent said it makes them less likely to vote for Trump and 3 percent said it makes them more likely to vote for Trump. Among Republicans, 86 percent said it makes no difference, 8 percent said it makes them less likely to vote for Trump and 6 percent said it makes them more likely to vote for him.

On the debates, New Hampshire voters agree by a wide margin that Clinton was the winner (55 percent to 25 percent for Trump); only 4 percent said the debates changed their vote.

The FBIs investigation into Clintons emails appears to have affected New Hampshire voters. While Democrats are unmoved and Clintons standing remained steady from three weeks ago to today, the scandal appears to have sent Republicans home to the Republican candidate, said Dyck. Libertarian Gary Johnson, who was polling at 9 percent in early October, now sits at just 5 percent and Donald Trump is the major beneficiary of that drop.

The poll also asked voters for their opinion on a range of policy issues. Majorities of Granite State voters said they trust Trump more than Clinton on the economy (52 percent to 41 percent), immigration (50 percent to 46 percent), terrorism and national security (50 percent to 46 percent), creating the kind of change we need (49 percent to 40 percent) and understanding the issues that are most important to New Hampshire (44 percent to 43 percent). Majorities of voters said they trust Clinton more than Trump on foreign policy (54 percent to 41 percent), the United States relationship with Russia (46 percent to 45 percent), abortion (53 percent to 38 percent), Social Security and Medicare (49 percent to 43 percent), race relations (56 percent to 36 percent) and womens issues (63 percent to 30 percent).

The UMass Lowell/7News poll also asked likely New Hampshire voters how they will vote in the races for U.S. Senate and governor.

For U.S. Senate, the race remains too close to call. In the UMass Lowell/7 News poll last month, incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte led Democratic challenger Maggie Hassan by just one percentage point. In todays poll, Hassan is now up by one point, 47 percent to 46 percent, over Ayotte. Libertarian Brian Chabot remains at 4 percent and only 3 percent of likely voters said they are undecided. While there is potential that the presidential campaign might affect the outcome of this race, Trump has gained support in New Hampshire while Ayotte has not, according to Dyck.

In the race to replace Hassan as governor, Republican Chris Sununu is up 4 percentage points over Democrat Colin Van Ostern, 47 percent to 43 percent, a narrow lead that is inside the polls margin of error. Libertarian Max Abrams has 5 percent of likely voters support. The biggest change in this race since the October poll is that fewer voters, 4 percent, are now undecided, compared with 14 percent last month. The 10 percent shift was distributed evenly between the candidates, with Sununu up six points and Van Ostern up four points, with Sununu winning among independents, 38 percent to 34 percent.

Results of the UMass Lowell/7News poll are based on interviews with a random sample of 901 New Hampshire registered voters and a subset of 695 likely voters conducted via landline and cellular telephones Oct. 28 through Nov. 2. 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 2014 American Community Survey. The margin of error for registered voters is plus or minus 3.78 percent and plus or minus 4.28 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.
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When fifth-graders at a Maryland elementary school started an election project this fall, they expected it to last through Tuesdays presidential vote. But as the language and tone of the presidential campaign grew more disturbing, school leaders pulled the plug in October.

A number of parents at Pine Crest Elementary School in Silver Spring have questioned and lamented the decision to halt the project, saying their children were learning a lot. They wanted the 10-year-olds to stick with the election, flaws and all.

We thought this project was a terrific real-time civics lesson, and students this age are certainly aware its going on, said parent Sophie Richardson, who was disappointed the project was abandoned. To say, Oh, now children, avert your gaze, did not seem realistic.

The scrapped assignment comes as a casualty of a presidential campaign season that has posed dilemmas for educators across the country with its talk of sexual assault, name-calling and adult themes. Some administrators and teachers nationally have tried not to discuss the election at all.

[Teachers struggle with a presidential campaigns adult themes]

The Campaign Journal project at Pine Crest  assigned to fifth-grade students in the schools highly gifted program  included reading news stories, creating a glossary of campaign terms, analyzing advertising, writing an essay and tracking election results.

It was canceled just hours before the second presidential debate on Oct. 9, which came after the release of a recording of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making comments in 2005 about kissing and groping women.

[Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005]

Due to the most recent developments with the 2016 Presidential Elections . . . we have made a decision that it would be in the best interest of our students to terminate the Campaign Journal Project and all related assignments, principal Cheryl Booker wrote in an email to families.

Booker referred interview requests to school district officials.

It was becoming more and more toxic, and for our youngest learners we made a call that weve achieved our goal with this assignment and were going to move on, said Maria Navarro, chief academic officer for Montgomery Countys public schools. Navarro said older students in the 159,000-student district continued to study the contest between Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Pine Crest fifth-grader Kate Gray wrote to the principal saying that although she understood how Trumps remarks could put the administrator in a tough spot, students could handle it.

Fifth-graders have at least 10 years of wisdom and knowledge in them, and deserve to know and understand whats happening in the real world, she wrote, saying that the articles she had read showed the election was like no other election thats ever happened.

Ive learned so much from this project, she said, that personally, it seems cruel to simply cut it short.

Montgomery school officials said a handful of parents at Pine Crest complained about the project but the decision to cancel was not spurred by those objections. Instead, the decision to stop came because of the changing dynamic of the campaign. Because of the explicit sexual nature of it, there was concern, said Derek Turner, a school system spokesman.

Like other parents, Kate Lang said she understood the instinct to protect children from crude sexual references. But she said she wishes the district had sought parent involvement and that she thought the project could have been helpful in prompting important conversations, such as how to disagree with someone without attacking them.

I understand it was challenging for them, but I think rather than walking away from the whole thing they could have taken the opportunity to change things up, Lang said.

Parents also voiced confidence in the experienced teachers leading the assignment, saying they believe the educators would have been able to help students navigate any sensitive areas.

It was a lost opportunity, not only to talk about the election but to discuss the fact that the things you say or do follow you throughout your life, said parent Susan Marsiglia Gray. I think thats a good discussion for kids who are about to hit middle school.

Heather Satrom, another parent, said that after the Trump video surfaced she thought students might need more help in selecting articles to analyze but said that kids dont live in caves.

Theyre exposed to the media whether we like it or not, she said, noting that the election is not the first tough subject the students have navigated. We live in a world where terrorism happens, where police violence happens, where shootings happen, and we have to figure out a way to talk about it.

Satrom said the project had really sparked her fifth-graders interest. He was looking at news stories regularly, watching debates and asking lots of questions.

Looking back, 10-year-old Ian Satrom recounted that he was a little mad at having to give up the project. It was very fun, he said.
Rolling Stone contributing editor Sabrina Rubin Erdely, left, and Rolling Stone magazine Deputy Managing Editor Sean Woods, right, walk with their legal team to federal court in Charlottesville on Tuesday. (Steve Helber/AP)

A federal court jury decided Friday that a Rolling Stone journalist defamed a former University of Virginia associate dean in a 2014 magazine article about sexual assault on campus that included a debunked account of a fraternity gang rape.

The 10-member jury concluded that the Rolling Stone reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, was responsible for defamation, with actual malice, in the case brought by Nicole Eramo, a U-Va. administrator who oversaw sexual violence cases at the time of the articles publication. The jury also found the magazine and its parent company, Wenner Media, responsible for defaming Eramo, who has said her lifes work helping sexual assault victims was devastated as a result of Rolling Stones article and its aftermath.

The lawsuit centered on Erdelys 9,000-word article titled A Rape on Campus, which appeared online in late November 2014 and on newsstands in the magazines December 2014 issue. Opening with a graphic depiction of a fraternity gang rape, the story caused an immediate sensation at a time of heightened awareness of campus sexual assault, going viral online and reverberating through the U-Va. community.

But within days of the articles publication, key elements of the account fell apart under scrutiny, including the narratives shocking allegation of a fraternity gang rape. The magazine eventually retracted the story in April 2015, and Eramos lawsuit came a month later, alleging that the magazines portrayal of her as callous and dismissive of rape reports on campus was untrue and unfair.

[Key elements of Rolling Stones U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt]

University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo leaves federal court after closing arguments in her defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine on Tuesday in Charlottesville. (Steve Helber/AP)

The jurors reached a verdict Friday after deliberating across three days. Eramo has asked for $7.5 million in damages but now, following the verdict, can argue for a different amount. The argument for damages is scheduled to begin Monday.

Regardless of potential damages, the verdict showed the jurys willingness to slam a major media outlet for the impact of getting a story wrong. Originally hailed as a brave triumph of reporting for its raw accounts of rape and attempts at bringing accountability to a storied public university, the article led to protests of the U-Va. administration, vandalism of a campus fraternity and outrage among activists trying to prevent sexual assault. Once its flaws were exposed, the articles deeper message of the effects of campus rape  a pervasive national problem  was lost amid the allegations of shoddy reporting.

[Why theres never been a better time to sue a journalist]

In a statement after the verdict, Rolling Stone said that the magazine, for nearly 50 years, has aimed to produce journalism with the highest reporting and ethical standards, and with a humanistic point of view, noting that Erdelys story attempted to tackle the very serious and complex topic of sexual assault on college campuses.

In our desire to present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor, we overlooked reporting paths and made journalistic mistakes that we are committed to never making again, Rolling Stone said in the statement. We deeply regret these missteps and sincerely apologize to anyone hurt by them, including Ms. Eramo. It is our deep hope that our failings do not deflect from the pervasive issues discussed in the piece, and that reporting on sexual assault cases ultimately results in campus policies that better protect our students.

Libby Locke, an attorney for Eramo, said her client was vindicated by the verdict: Weve said this all along, that Rolling Stone published a false and defamatory article about her.

The trial began on Oct. 17, and over the next 16 days, jurors heard testimony from 12 witnesses and saw 11 hours of video statements and more than 180 exhibits of evidence.

ABC News interviewed Nicole Eramo, the former University of Virginia administrator who is suing Rolling Stone magazine over a November 2014 story about a sexual assault. That story was discredited. (ABC News and 20/20)

Both Eramo and Erdely took the stand in the case. The jurors also saw video testimony from Jackie, the U-Va. student whose allegations of a 2012 gang rape at Phi Kappa Psi were later found to have no merit.

Eramos attorneys wrote in their complaint that the magazine defamed her by casting the former associate dean as a villain in the article, portraying her as the public face of an administration indifferent to rape victims.

[A Washington Post investigation: 1 in 5 college women say they were violated]

In court, attorneys for Erdely, Rolling Stone and Wenner Media argued the opposite. They contended that although the magazine acknowledged its mistakes, it had not acted with actual malice, the high bar set for defamation cases involving public figures like Eramo.

Tom Clare, one of the attorneys representing Eramo, said in a closing statement Tuesday that his client was collateral damage in a quest for sensational journalism.

Reading from a Columbia University Journalism School report on the Rolling Stone article, Clare said that the magazine made basic errors in reporting and that the result was a story of journalistic failure that was avoidable.

Clare noted that Jackies account to Rolling Stone was brutal and so vile that it seemed unbelievable.

It had all the elements of a perfect story, Clare said. And when something appears too perfect, it usually is.

In fact, it was.

An investigation by The Washington Post showed that aspects of Jackies account were not true, including that no one in the fraternity matched the name or description she gave for the person who allegedly was the ringleader of her assault. A person she had described to friends at the time as her assailant was complete fiction, according to Eramos attorneys, and The Post found that a photo she shared of her alleged attacker was actually of someone she knew from high school and who attended a different school out of state.

[U-Va. students challenge Rolling Stone account of alleged sexual assault]

Eramos attorneys presented evidence that Erdely had a predetermined notion of what her story would be, discussing the concept of the story that became A Rape on Campus well ahead of her reporting, including a note describing how college administrations can be indifferent to rape survivors. They said that Erdely had a preconceived story line and acted with reckless disregard by ignoring conflicting information in her reporting.

Once they decided what the story was going to be about, it didnt matter what the facts were, Clare said.

Clare noted that despite Rolling Stones reporting, Eramo had, indeed, cared for Jackie in the aftermath of her alleged assault, counseling her and organizing a meeting with police detectives to help bring her attackers to justice. But Jackie refused to participate in any police investigation.

Scott Sexton, an attorney for Rolling Stone, told the jurors in his closing statement that the magazine acknowledges huge errors in not being more dogged . . . Its the worst thing to ever happen to Rolling Stone.

Sexton said that the articles retraction cost Erdely her job at the magazine and her reputation as a journalist.

She hasnt written a classified since then, Sexton said.

Sexton said that, in effect, Erdely and Rolling Stone had fallen victim to what he called at points a hoax, a fraud and a perfect storm.

The magazines editorial staff was no match for Jackie, Sexton said, noting that the magazine was not sure what exactly had happened to her, but admitted she deceived us, and we do know it was purposeful.

This young woman was very good at telling this story, Sexton said. Dean Eramo believed her . . . Yet we are the ones being tried, in a sense, for having believed her.

The jury ruled that Erdely acted with actual malice when she published two statements about Eramo, the first being that Eramo discouraged Jackie from reporting her allegations and a reference to Eramos nonreaction when Jackie first told Eramo about other allegations of gang rape at a fraternity. The jurys finding means that they concluded Erdely knew the statements about Eramo were false  or had reason to doubt them and failed to investigate further  but published them anyway.

The jury also found that Erdely acted with actual malice in four statements she made in interviews after the article published. One of those statements came in an email to a Post reporter in response to questions about her reporting, in which Erdely wrote that Jackie came forward with her account only to be met with indifference.

The jury also ruled that Rolling Stone and Wenner Media had republished the article Dec. 5, 2014, when the magazine posted an editors note at the top of the story acknowledging that there had been doubts cast on Jackies account. Attorneys for Rolling Stone argued that the magazine had, in effect, retracted the article on that date, but the jury found otherwise, noting that an official retraction did not come until April. The jury found that by keeping the article up online in its entirety  while simultaneously acknowledging its flawed reporting  Rolling Stone editors knew that the article was false but published it again anyway, a key indicator of actual malice.

The findings of damages in Eramos case likely wont be the last time Rolling Stone faces scrutiny for A Rape on Campus: Phi Kappa Psi fraternity has filed a $25 million lawsuit against Rolling Stone that is expected to go to trial next year.

This article has been updated.
Kaien Yang, 14, was a runner-up in the Broadcom MASTERS national science competition for an app he developed to gauge the risk a patient will develop depression based on brain scans. He is an eighth-grader at the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, Va. (Linda Doane/Society for Science and the Public)

Kaien Yang had a family member who was prone to mood swings and bad headaches, and his parents explained that there was something wrong with his relatives brain  the mans cerebellum had shrunk.

The brain has long fascinated Kaien, 14  Its only three pounds of matter, but its so exquisite  and his interest deepened when he accompanied his mother, Fengrong Li, to doctors appointments at Johns Hopkins Bayview, where she received treatment for a brain aneurysm in 2011. He looked curiously over brain scans, and he once brought along one of his favorite books, Gifted Hands, the autobiography of neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson, and was elated to meet his idol.

With his late relatives struggles as inspiration, Kaien has developed a diagnostic app that aims to identify the probability that a patient will develop depression based on changes in the hippocampus. He did extensive research to figure out what changes in the brain are related to depression.

Kaiens project earned him a $10,000 prize from the Broadcom MASTERS competition, a national science competition for middle schoolers. It is the middle school version of the oldest and most prestigious high school science competition known as the Regeneron Science Talent Search.

[These teen scientists, vying for $1 million in scholarships, will give you faith in the future]

Eleanor Sigrest, 13, took home the top prize for the Broadcom MASTERS national science competition for her research on cold-gas rockets, inspired when she saw a SpaceX rockets failed landing. Eleanor is a student at Benton Middle School in Manassas, Va. (Linda Doane/Society for Science & the Public)

Kaien, an eighth-grader at the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, Va., is one of two Northern Virginia middle schoolers to earn an award in the competition. Eleanor Wren Sigrest, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Benton Middle School in Manassas, Va., won the top prize of $25,000 for her research on the nozzles of cold gas rockets, which are used to stabilize spacecraft as they land.

Out of about 2,300 competitors nationwide, just 30 middle schoolers made it to the final round of the competition, a multiday science fair that included science-related challenges. Competitors were judged on their research projects and on their ability to work in teams and collaborate in the competitions.

The competition is designed to groom the next generation of scientists and to inspire youngsters to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Organizers hope that young scientists such as Kaien, Eleanor and the competitions two other winners  15-year-old Aria Eppinger of Pittsburgh, and Nathan Deng, 14, of San Marino, Calif.  will be leaders in science and innovation.

This is the most important beginning of the talent pipeline for STEM, said Maya Ajmera, chief executive of the Society for Science and the Public, the nonprofit organization that runs the competition. You have to get young people in middle school, especially girls, in the field.

[Balloon spacecraft, prosthetic limb and subway vacuum wow White House Science Fair]

Eleanor, like Kaien, found inspiration for her project in real life. Eleanors father, Wren, is a former engineer, and her crowded home in Woodbridge, Va., doubles as a makerspace, replete with art supplies, glue guns and even a weaving loom. The busy middle schooler, the third of five children, builds and launches model rockets with her father. Her sister, Piper, is a student at MIT and spent the summer of 2015 interning at SpaceX.

Eleanor once sat glued to a laptop watching riveting footage of a failed landing of a SpaceX rocket that was equipped with small, cold-gas rockets, which are intended to help guide it into position as it lands.

That got Eleanor interested in the nozzles on cold-gas rockets, which are fine-tuned to deliver precise amounts of thrust so they can be used for navigation and stabilization. Eleanor opted to study cold-gas rockets  which do not use any combustion  for another reason: Because my mom said no explosives on the kitchen table.

The nozzles, which have a narrow and a wide end, are often designed with 15-degree half-angles, a measurement that had become a sort of engineering rule of thumb, Eleanor said. Eleanor wondered if there might be a better half-angle, if a nozzle that had a proportionally wider or narrower end would produce better thrust. She designed a series of nozzles and built them on a 3-D printer and then tested them. Her findings? Nozzles with a 20-degree half-angle produce the best thrust.

As she pondered whether she had disproved a conventional understanding, she recalls doubting herself, thinking: This is really weird, because engineers and scientists, theyre supposed to be the smart guys. Theyre supposed to know everything.

But she retested the nozzles with a variety of gases with the same result, leading to her project: Rockets and Nozzles, and Thrusts, Oh My!

She hopes to follow her sister to MIT, using the prize money toward tuition. But she has grander dreams after that, and she hopes the top prize will give people confidence in her abilities. Im going to show the world that Im going to be the first person on Mars, Eleanor said.

Kaien said he, too, is saving his prize money for college, hoping to attend Stanford or Yale.

But first, he wants to refine his app and get it to doctors, who could use it to gauge a patients risk of depression and potentially get them a diagnosis earlier.

Depression is a really serious psychological disorder, Kaien said. The key to stopping this epidemic is early detection and early prevention.
By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Nov 4 (PTI) Rain-soaked coastal Odisha is likely to receive more precipitation for the next two days due to a depression over central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal.

The depression over central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal has moved northwestwards and then north- northwestwards at a speed of about 19 kmph during the past six hours and now lay centred over west central Bay of Bengal about 520 km south-southwest of Paradip, IMD said in its bulletin.

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"The system is very likely to move north-northwestwards during the next 6 hours and then re-curve gradually northeastwards towards Bangladesh coast during the subsequent 48 hours. It is very likely to intensify into a deep depression during the next 24 hours," said S C sahoo, director of IMD, Bhubaneswar.

Under its impact said rain or thundershower is likely to occur at most places over coastal Odisha and at a few places over interior parts of the state. "Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely to occur at one or two places over coastal Odisha during the next 24 hours," he said.

The bulletin said surface wind speed from easterly direction with speed 45 kmph to 55 kmph with gusting to 65 kmph would prevail along and off Odisha coast and distant cautionary signal number one (DC-I) has been hoisted at all ports of the state.

As the sea condition would be rough to very rough, the IMD suggested fishermen not to venture into the sea. PTI AAM KK AMS

--- ENDS ---
THE DISTRICT

Murder convictions in killing of 2 teens

Two D.C. men were found guilty of murder Thursday for a 2009 shooting that left a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old dead, prosecutors said.

In 2009, Sequarn Tibbs, 25, and Earl Jackson, 23, were part of a group, known as Young Savage in Southeast, the U.S. attorneys office for the District of Columbia said in a statement.

On Oct. 13 of that year, they were part of a group that started a gun battle with people from another neighborhood whom they thought had robbed Jacksons mothers home, the statement said.

Tibbss brother, Daquan Tibbs, 18, of Southeast and Davonta Artis, 15, of Northeast  a bystander  were killed in the shooting in the 300 block of 53rd Street NE, and three others were wounded, according to the statement.

Tibbs and Jackson are to be sentenced in January.

 Justin Wm. Moyer

Guilty plea in theft from lawyers group

A former employee of the American Association for Justice has pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge for embezzling nearly $250,000 from the Washington-based nonprofit group, prosecutors said.

Tamara Kukla, 47, now of Plano, Tex., served as director of membership for the group formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. In her plea Wednesday, she agreed to repay $248,755 in personal expenses that she admitted claiming were work-related on a corporate credit card from late 2009 through 2011, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Kukla faces a likely sentencing range of 12 to 18 months at a hearing set for Feb. 24 before U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington on one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison. An attorney for Kukla declined to comment on the plea.

 Spencer S. Hsu

Capitol Christmas tree on way to Washington

This years Christmas tree for the U.S. Capitol grounds has been cut and is making a 2,500-mile journey from a park in Idaho to Washington.

The tree comes from the Payette National Forest near McCall, Idaho. It is making several stops in communities along its journey to the nations capital. It is expected to arrive in Washington on Nov. 28 to be decorated. A lighting ceremony will take place on the Capitol grounds Dec. 6.

This years tree is an Engelmann spruce. It weighs 16,500 pounds and is 79 years old.

The tree-lighting tradition stretches back more than 50 years, according to officials of the Architect of the Capitol, which helps organize the event.

 Dana Hedgpeth

MARYLAND

Preliminary pot dispensary licenses

Maryland regulators are set to make preliminary decisions Nov. 21 as to which companies can open long-awaited dispensaries for the legal sale of medical marijuana. The law caps the number of medical marijuana outlets at two per state Senate district, or as many as 94.

Although the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission previously said it hoped the product would hit shelves by summer, the timeline is unclear, with various hurdles threatening delays.

In August, the commission made a preliminary award of licenses to 15 companies to grow marijuana and 15 companies to process it into medical products such as oils and pills.

Those companies have up to a year to pass inspections and vetting before they can start to operate.

 Fenit Nirappil

Virginia

Man found wounded; another found dead

A man was found stabbed and wounded in the Ashburn area of Loudoun County on Friday evening, and a second man was found dead nearby.

The stabbing was reported near the Ashburn Meadows Apartment complex, the county sheriffs office said. Officials said the cause of t he second mans death was under investigation.

 Martin Weil
Rep. Andy Harris, Marylands lone Republican member of Congress, will monitor election results with the GOP faithful on Tuesday night in a hotel ballroom near Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport.

Gov. Larry Hogan, the Republicans de facto state leader and perhaps Marylands most popular politician, is not expected to be part of the crowd.

Hogan, who disavowed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump months ago, has also been keeping his distance from the state party, opting out of big fundraisers, endorsing only a few candidates and taking a hands-off approach in the selection of party leaders.

[Larry Hogans approval soars, buoyed by his disavowal of Donald Trump]

His approach is stirring resentment in some state GOP circles, including from Del. Patrick L. McDonough (R-Baltimore County), who is waging a long-shot bid to oust veteran Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) and said the governor should call it the Larry Hogan Party if he doesnt want to be a Republican.

Hogan endorses state House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) for the U.S. Senate on July 19 in Annapolis. (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post)

Analysts say Hogans strategy is smart in deep-blue Maryland, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1, Hogan has deep support across party lines and rank-and-file members of Hogans own party are unlikely to abandon him for any reason.

He is very aware that this is a state where the Republican Party is a distinct minority, said Russell J. Schriefer, a Republican political strategist who has close ties to the governor.

Matthew Crenson, a political-science professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University, said that by distancing himself from the Republican Party, [Hogan] stays acceptable to the Democrats in the state.

Hogan, whose approval rating topped 70 percent in a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, said he does not think that his role as the top elected Republican official means deep involvement with the state party.

This past summer he skipped the partys major fundraising dinner, an event that featured Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker  a politician despised by Democrats. He has rarely attended fundraisers for Republican state lawmakers and only sparingly hosted fundraisers for candidates.

The party has their own things to do, and Ive got a state to run, Hogan said. The governor represents all of the people, regardless of party.

[Md. Democrats clash over how to attack Hogan]

Republican Maryland governor Larry Hogan has publicly admitted he isn't voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Here are the many times Logan has said he won't back Trump's run for the White House. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, another widely popular Republican in a Democratic state, is not heavily involved with his state party, either. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)  a former presidential candidate and Hogan ally who embraced Trump while Hogan did the opposite  has taken a more active party role.

In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a close friend and staunch supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, is a frequent party cheerleader. He has tapped his vast connections from years as a Clinton fundraiser to bring in donations for his own PAC as well as for the state party.

Joe Cluster, executive director of the Maryland GOP, said there is no problem between Hogan and the party  and much excitement about the fact that Hogan seems well-positioned to win a second term in 2018 and play a role in setting boundaries for legislative and congressional districts after the 2020 Census.

Hes an active Republican, Cluster said. I dont think hes screaming it from the mountaintops, but hes supportive of our party.

McDonough, who hosts a talk radio show, said he pushed for Hogan on the program during the 2014 Republican primary and the general election. In contrast, he said, the governor hasnt lifted a finger to help McDonough or many other Republicans this election cycle.

I understand its a strong blue state, McDonough said, but you should not go to an extreme position that you ignore your party.

[When a sitting Republican governor says he wont vote for Trump]

Hogan has not endorsed McDonough or Harris, who is overwhelmingly favored to win reelection in Marylands 1st Congressional District.

But he gave his backing to state House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), who is running nearly 30 points behind Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) in the contest to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D), and to newcomers Amie Hoeber and Mark Plaster, who are challenging Reps. John Delaney (D) and John P. Sarbanes (D), respectively, in congressional races. The governor is also supporting Matt McDaniel, a Republican who is vying for a seat on the Baltimore City Council.

Ive endorsed the people who asked me that I thought were really good, who I thought had a chance to win, had a good campaign and I wanted to support, Hogan said.

Hoeber campaign manager Paul Ellington said that Hogans endorsement was a shot in the arm, legitimizing Hoeber as a credible, top-tier candidate.

The Hoeber and Szeliga fundraisers that the governor attended were among the campaigns biggest hauls, officials with their campaigns said.

One top Maryland Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive party issues, said everyone is happy with the job Hogan is doing as governor, but folks are looking to translate that into gains for the party as well.

Among the key questions, this Republican said, is how hard Hogan will work to help the party gain additional seats in vulnerable state legislative districts in 2018.

For now, many Republicans say they feel Hogan has no relationship with the state party, this individual said.

Hogan, 60, has been immersed in GOP politics for much of his life. He worked for his father, Lawrence Hogan Sr., who was a Republican member of Congress from 1969 to 1975 and Prince Georges county executive from 1978 to 1982; was head of Marylands Youth for Reagan; and served as appointments secretary for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. from 2003 to 2007.

Ehrlich, the only other Republican governor in Maryland in the past half-century, played a visible role in the state party, headlining fundraisers and attending major functions.

Some say Hogans strained relationship with the state GOP dates to the start of his gubernatorial tenure, when he had to nominate a replacement for then-state Sen. Joseph Getty (R-Carroll), whom Hogan had tapped as his senior legislative aide.

The Carroll County Republican Central Committee wanted Robin Bartlett Frazier, who was supported by tea party activists, to fill Gettys seat. Hogan balked, telling the committee to recommend three names, not one, and ultimately choosing then-Del. Justin Ready (R-Carroll), who had helped with Hogans campaign.

Another Republican insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intraparty tensions, said its been like a family feud between Hogan and the most conservative wing of the party ever since.

No one has wanted to mend fences, including Hogan, the insider said.

Hogan also has generally steered clear of conservative social issues since taking office, declining to weigh in on expanding gun ownership or other hot-button topics that could endear him to his partys right flank.

But Crenson, the Johns Hopkins professor, said GOP hard-liners are extremely unlikely to turn against the governor.

They dont want to kill the golden goose, Crenson said. If they went after him, they would have a lot to lose.
Leading Democrats in Prince Georges County are distributing at least four different sample ballots because clashing factions were unable to agree on key issues. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

Leading Democrats in Prince Georges County are distributing at least four different sample ballots at early voting sites and Election Day polling places this year because warring factions were unable to agree on key issues.

The Democratic Central Committee usually funds, creates, prints and distributes an official sample ballot that lists the partys favored candidates and positions on state and local referendums.

But committee members were divided this year over Question D, a proposal to add two at-large seats to the nine-member county council. Unable to agree on the expansion and whether to endorse candidates in nonpartisan school board races, they voted not to issue a sample ballot at all.

Instead, one group of individual candidates and political action committees supporting county judges created a sample ballot encouraging Democrats  who make up about 80 percent of Prince Georges voters  to support the council expansion.

Opponents of the ballot question, including Board of Education candidates Edward Burroughs and Raaheela Ahmed, issued a competing sample ballot urging a no vote. Political activists and community groups such as Progressive Prince Georges have also campaigned against the referendum.

[See who is running for Prince Georges school board]

A third sample ballot, endorsing a slate of school board candidates and the expansion of the council, is being distributed by a group of real estate developers who donated to the Recharge At-Large committee. That committee, which backs the council expansion, includes several people with close ties to County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D).

And a trio of congressional candidates  Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), who is running for Senate; Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D), who is seeking his 19th term; and former lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown, who is the Democratic nominee in the 4th District  funded a separate ballot that endorses school board candidate Cheryl Landis as well as the council expansion.

Prince Georges council members and the county executive are limited to two terms in office. Adding at-large seats to the council would reduce parochialism, supporters say, and give lawmakers an opportunity to stay in office longer, since they could serve two terms representing a district and then up to two terms in an at-large seat.

But the expansion would add more than $1 million a year to the councils operating budget, mostly for salaries for the new members and their staff.

Party leaders such as Baker largely support the expansion. But a coalition of community groups and a few elected officials have campaigned against it, saying they do not want elected officials in office for up to four terms. Opponents also speculate that candidates who run countywide would need more in campaign donations and would thus be beholden to special interests.

The debate divided the central committee. Some members felt they had a responsibility to listen to voters, and others prioritized standing with party leaders. The 32-member committee failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to issue a ballot supporting either a yes or no vote.

Whats troubling about this is that the elected machinery did not like the fact that the committee did not do its bidding, committee member Theresa Dudley said of the proliferation of unofficial sample ballots.

Democratic officeholders, she charged, are basically saying they dont care what voters think.

Outside the Bowie Municipal Gymnasium early voting site on Thursday, volunteers for rival school board candidates Ahmed and Landis distributed competing sample ballots.

You got the right one, a woman working for Landis said to a voter who was given the ballot paid for by the campaigns of Van Hollen, Hoyer and Brown.

One of Ahmeds volunteers walked right behind, handing the same voter a different sample ballot, the one endorsing Ahmed and opposing Question D.

Thats not official, the volunteer said of the pro-Landis ballot the voter had been handed moments earlier. We are all Democrats.

As the voter disappeared into the polling station, the Landis volunteer yelled out, Dont be fooled!
More than 1 in 5 eligible voters in Maryland have already voted in Tuesdays election, a huge jump from four years ago, according to unofficial figures released after the states early voting centers closed.

Virginia, where the presidential contest is tightening, also seems on pace to exceed its early voting totals from the 2012 elections.

So far, turnout there appears likely to benefit Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, with a disproportionate number of early ballots cast in predominantly Democratic Fairfax County, the states largest jurisdiction.

[Republicans hopeful: Is Virginia getting her swing back?]

Early voting in Virginia, where voters do not register by party, ends Saturday at 5 p.m. As of Friday morning, about 430,000 early ballots had been cast, according to the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project, compared with nearly 450,000 total early votes in 2012.

The latest Washington Post-ABC News Tracking Poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat nationally. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Just under 90,000 of the early voters so far were from Fairfax, compared with 62,402 early ballots in that jurisdiction four days before the 2012 election, officials said.

That means that about 1 in 5 early voters in Virginia has been from Fairfax, even though the county is home to just 1 in 8 state residents.

The pace of early voting in Fairfax is running slightly ahead of the past two presidential campaigns. In 2008, when a record 506,000 Virginians cast early ballots, 19.8 percent lived in Fairfax. The share in 2012 was 19.2 percent.

In Maryland, some early voting sites stayed open past 10 p.m. on Thursday, the last day of early voting, to accommodate those waiting in line, officials said.

According to preliminary totals from the state Board of Elections, more than 859,000 eligible voters participated in eight days of early voting  22 percent of the 3.9 million on active rolls.

Democrats comprised the overwhelming proportion of early voters in Maryland, where the party holds a 2-to-1 registration advantage. Of the statewide total, 555,000, or 64.6 percent, were Democrats. Just over 191,000 Republicans turned out, representing 22.2 percent of total early ballots cast.

The numbers far exceed 2012, driven in part by an increase in early voting sites (from 46 to 69) and an expansion of the days allotted for early balloting from five to eight. Slightly more than 430,000 voters came out early that year  11.6 percent of those eligible.

Early activity in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties mirrored statewide trends. Through 10 p.m. Thursday night, 157,396 Montgomery voters cast early ballots, or 24 percent of eligible voters. In Prince Georges, 155,139 voted early, representing about 27 percent of eligible voters.

Montgomery Board of Elections spokeswoman Margie Roher said early voting wound down Thursday night without major hitches.

Really, for the most part, everything went really well, Roher said. I think for the most part, everyone had a really good experience.
Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), looks on after the Senate voted to censure him in 2012 for failing to disclose his work for a grocery store chain. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Maryland Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince Georges), known as the dean of African American lawmakers in the state Senate, will resign next month after a 30-year career in the General Assembly.

Currie, 79, submitted his letter of resignation to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) on Friday morning. His health has declined in the past several years, and in recent months he has limited his public appearances.

I cannot express to you what a privilege and an honor it has been to serve my constituents of Prince Georges County and the great state of Maryland with integrity for so many years, Currie wrote. It is my deep love for my constituents and the Maryland Senate, combined with the recognition that I can no longer serve with the strength and energy you all deserve, that I have decided the time has come to turn the mantle over to a successor.

Currie, a resident of District Heights, was a member of the House of Delegates from 1987 until 1995, when he was elected to the Senate. In a three-decade political career, he became one of the most powerful and popular lawmakers in Annapolis.

Miller said he was saddened to lose such a dear friend and tremendous colleague. He said Currie brought much needed thoughtfulness and civility to the State House and leaves a legacy that was dedicated to improving education. The Maryland Senate will be a lesser place in his absence, he added.

State Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince Georges), right, with his wife Rev. Shirley A. Gravely-Currie and lawyers Joseph Evans, and Lucius T. Outlaw III, leaving the U.S. District Court house in 2011 after a jury found him not guilty on all counts in a federal bribery case. (Kenneth K. Lam/BALTIMORE SUN)

Currie was a mentor to a host of young African Americans who were interested in public service and ultimately became leaders in Annapolis themselves, among them Del. Dereck E. Davis (D-Prince Georges), chairman of the House Economic Matters Committee, and former delegate and lieutenant governor Anthony Brown (D), who is running to represent the 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House.

Currie wasnt afraid of giving young people an opportunity, said Davis, who was 27 when he first ran on the senators slate. None of us would have won without his support and guidance.

A decade ago, when Miller was rumored to be considering retirement, Currie was seen as a possible successor.

In the House, he was a member of the Ways and Means and Appropriations committees and served as majority whip from 1991 to 1994.

Eight years after his election to the state Senate, Currie was tapped by Miller to become chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, a position he held for nearly a decade.

Curries career was marred in 2010 when he faced corruption charges after a federal investigation of his role as a consultant for a supermarket company. He was acquitted after a six-week jury trial in which a host of politicians, including U.S. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md) and former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) appeared as character witnesses.

The state senate voted to censure Currie, and he had to step down from his budget committee chairmanship for failing to disclose that he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees. He was reelected in the midst of the investigation in 2010 and again in 2014, with overwhelming support.

Last year, the state Senate honored Currie with the chambers coveted First Citizen Award, leaving him speechless and on the verge of tears.

Senator Currie has had to confront a federal jury, a hostile press and his Senate peers because of his private work as a consultant and his own inadequate record-keeping, Edward C. Papenfuse, the former state archivist, said in presenting the award. He faced up to the challenges and was acquitted of all criminal charges  but he also refused to make excuses.

Currie has a reputation for collegiality. He was not outspoken on the senate floor, but he pushed for funding projects in his county and for legislation to help the underserved. For example, he spoke out against payday loans and, in the late 1990s, advocated for a tax-credit program that encouraged business owners to hire welfare recipients.

His resignation letter said his greatest achievement was fighting to ensure that our State Constitutional education promise is not an empty one.

The son of a sharecropper, Currie grew up picking tobacco in North Carolina and was the first in his family to attend college, paying his way through washing dishes and scrubbing floors to pay his way through North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Years later, he returned to school at American University, where he earned a masters degree in education.

He worked as a teacher, principal and the head of Prince Georges Countys Head Start program.

On Friday, it remained unclear who might fill Curries seat. Del. Darryl Barnes (D-Prince Georges) and former delegate Melony G. Griffith (D-Prince Georges) expressed interest in the position earlier this year as word of Curries impending resignation circulated. Curries wife, Shirley, who is a minister, has also been floated as a possible successor.

The countys Democratic Central Committee will recommend a replacement to Gov. Larry Hogan (R).
Gang members and four corrections employees are facing federal charges in connection with wide-ranging criminal schemes over the last decade to smuggle drugs into Virginia prisons and commit robberies, prosecutors announced Friday.

Members of the New York City-based Mad Stone Bloods (MSB) brought cocaine, heroin, cellphones and other contraband into three Virginia penitentiaries with the help of three guards and a counselor, and even maintained a sexual relationship with one, according to an indictment.

In all, 20 people from Virginia and New York were charged in the conspiracies, which played out in part at the Greensville, Lawrenceville and Buckingham correctional centers in southern Virginia, according to the indictment.

The case in U.S. District Court in western Virginia is the third major prosecution in recent years involving allegations of drug smuggling against inmates and guards at prisons in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Last month, more than 50 inmates and guards were charged with bribery and drug conspiracy inside Marylands largest prison.

In 2013, more than two dozen correctional officers in Baltimore were indicted on a charge of helping members of a major national gang, the Black Guerrilla Family, operate a drug-trafficking and money-laundering scheme inside a detention center. The investigation uncovered a gang leader had impregnated four guards.

[Guards, inmates charged in widespread drug and smuggling operation]

In the Virginia case, federal authorities said that in 2011 and 2012, an unnamed correctional officer, who worked at the Greensville and Lawrenceville facilities, engaged in a sexual relationship with a leader of the MSB.

The guard used her position to smuggle drugs into the prisons and distribute them to multiple gang leaders, according to the indictment. MSB leaders paid her for bringing the controlled substances into the facilities.

In September, two correctional officers who were also members of MSB, conspired with an inmate and MSB member who was at the Buckingham facility to develop a plan to obtain drugs from other MSB gang members outside the prison, according to the indictment.

The guards met a gang member in Petersburg, Va. and bought crack, powder cocaine and marijuana to distribute at the prisons, according to the indictment. The pair were arrested shortly after the buy.

The guards were identified as 20-year-old Shaunda Rochelle Jones, who went by the name Lady Stone in the MSB, and 20-year-old Jaymese Jenee Jones, who had the nickname Precious Stone. Both live in Farmville, Va.

Six members of MSB in Virginia, some top leaders among them, were charged with racketeering. They include Michael Demont Dove, also known as Ducatti Black; Terrance Nathaniel Brown, or War; and Corey Owens, also known as Mr. Hardhead.

As of Friday afternoon, attorneys were not listed in court papers for those alleged gang members or the charged guards.

The indictment alleges members of the MSB gang have carried out armed robberies, drug dealing and various killings to maintain their criminal operation in Virginia. MSB operates across the Eastern half of the United States from Texas to Connecticut.
Fire department and rescue officials at the scene of Tuesdays fatal Baltimore bus crash. (Jeffrey F. Bill/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Authorities with the National Transportation Safety Board who are investigating the crash that killed six people in Baltimore earlier this week said Friday that the two buses involved did not have mechanical problems or defects, leaving officials still working to determine what caused the devastating rush-hour wreck.

On Friday, Baltimore police increased the number of victims involved in the crash from 16 to 17, for a total of 11 injured and six dead. One injured man remains in critical condition.

Authorities on Friday also publicly identified the last of the victims who died in the crash as Pattie Lynn Martinez, 46.

Police had been having trouble finding Martinezs family but were able to notify relatives of her death shortly after identifying her and asking for the publics help in finding her next of kin.

The crash in Baltimore occurred Tuesday around 6:30 a.m., when a school bus hit a Mustang and then an MTA commuter bus near Frederick and Monastery avenues.

No children were on the school bus, which was operated by AA Affordable Transportation, a firm that has a contract with Baltimore City Public Schools.

On Thursday, officials with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration said school bus driver Glenn R. Chappell, 67, was not authorized to be driving a commercial motor vehicle at the time of the crash because he had failed to update medical information to state regulators, as his license required. Both bus drivers were among those killed.

On Friday, George Bogris, an attorney for AA Affordable Transportation, told the Associated Press that the company had a valid medical certificate on file for Chappell and has submitted a copy to authorities.
Two D.C. men were found guilty of murder Thursday for a 2009 shooting that left a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old dead, prosecutors said.

In 2009, Sequarn Tibbs, 25, and Earl Jackson, 23, were part of a group, known as Young Savage in Southeast, the U.S. attorneys office for the District of Columbia said in a statement.

On Oct. 13 of that year, they were part of a group that started a gun battle with people from another neighborhood that they thought robbed Jacksons mothers home, the statement said.

[Teen arrested in 2009 double killing that left bystander dead]

Daquan Tibbs, 18, of Southeast and Davonta Artis, 15, of Northeast  a bystander  were killed in the shooting in the 300 block of 53rd Street NE, and three others were wounded, according to the statement.

In 2010, Tibbs and Jackson fled Washington after warrants were filed for their arrests, prosecutors said. Tibbs was captured that year in New York, and Jackson was captured in 2012 in North Carolina.

Tibbs and Jackson pleaded guilty in 2013 to voluntary manslaughter and other charges, but their pleas were reversed on appeal, leading to a new trial and Thursdays guilty verdict on charges of second-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill, aggravated assault and related weapons offenses.

Another man, Antonio Barnes, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this year to voluntary manslaughter and other charges for his role in the shooting, prosecutors said.

Tibbs and Jackson are scheduled to be sentenced in January.
The Congress youth wing took to streets today demanding the implementation of One Rank, One Pension scheme. They broke barriers and burnt effigy of the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Home Minister.

By Shalini Lobo: High voltage drama played out in the national capital in the afternoon with the Congress Youth Wing taking to the streets against the ruling government over One Rank One Pension (OROP).

The agitators demanded the ruling government and PM Narendra Modi to implement the rightful OROP and give the veterans their financial dues.

They held placards which read 'Congress ke nare, Jai Kisan Jai Jawan. Modi ke nare, Maro Kisan Maro Jawan'.

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"We demand that ex-servicemen be given their rightful dues. OROP should be implemented. The ex-servicemen in our country are so frustrated with the current government that they are forced to commit suicide," a Congress Youth Wing protester said.

ALSO READ | OROP suicide takes a political turn after Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal's detentions

ALSO READ | Rs 5,500 crore paid as first installment to implement OROP: PM Modi

PROTESTERS BREAK BARRIERS, BURN EFFIGY

Protesters broke barriers while the police used water cannon to control the mob.

An effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Home Minister Rajnath Singh was burnt by the protesters on Raisina Road.

This is the third consecutive day that the Congress been agitating over ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal's suicide.

ALSO READ | Rahul Gandhi released after being detained for the third time in 2 days over OROP suicide

Grewal consumed poison and died on Tuesday evening. He spoke to his son minutes before he consumed the poison and said he was unhappy with the way the government was implementing the OROP scheme.

ALSO READ | OROP suicide: Unanswered questions over Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal's death

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi met ex-servicemen earlier today.

After the meeting, he addressed the media and said Modi was lying and that the OROP dues received by the veterans were merely an increment and not what they deserved.

Also Read:

Modi ji, stop lying and implement OROP: Rahul Gandhi



BJP lying on OROP, stabbing army in the back: Arvind Kejriwal to India Today



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An Islamic State flag is seen at the front line of fighting between Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Islamist militants in Rashad, Iraq, in 2014. (J.M. LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

A Fairfax County man accused of joining the Islamic State pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court in Virginia to charges of providing material support to the organization.

Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 27, has been held without bail since June, when he returned to the United States after being captured by Kurdish peshmerga forces in northern Iraq. On Wednesday night, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Khweis with supporting the terrorist group.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Liam OGrady set Khweiss preliminary hearing for Feb. 6. His trial is scheduled to begin April 3.

In an interview with an FBI agent, Khweis admitted he traveled to Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria and Iraq beginning in December last year. He said he gave himself to the Islamic State, which he was inspired to join because the organization had established an Islamic caliphate, according to court records.

Khweis also said in the interview that he had used one of the phones in his possession at the time of his arrest to contact Islamic State recruiters while he was in Turkey, according to authorities. Khweis also had images of ISIL and other terrorist-related propaganda on his phone, court records show, using another name for the Islamic State.

Khweis, in an interview with Kurdish news channel Kurdistan 24, said he met an Iraqi girl in Turkey who helped him get to Mosul, the Islamic States stronghold in northern Iraq.

Khweis said in the television interview he immediately regretted his decision and did not enjoy his time in Mosul.

According to his own account on TV and to several people who knew him, Khweis was born and raised in Virginia. He had graduated from Fairfax Countys Edison High School, earned a degree from Northern Virginia Community College and worked as a teller at an area bank.
Police are looking for a man in a minivan who allegedly fired several shots Friday at a car on Route 50 near the Capital Beltway in Prince Georges County.

Maryland State Police said the incident happened around 12:15 a.m., when a woman driving a 2008 Nissan Altima westbound on U.S. Route 50 tried to exit onto the Beltways outer loop, according to a statement from Maryland State Police.

The woman told police that as she was exiting, she noticed a blue minivan in the exit lane. She said that as she tried to enter the exit lane, the minivans driver deliberately increased and decreased his speed as she did.

Police say the woman told officers that the man then pointed a gun at the passenger side of her car and fired one time. She was able to maneuver away from the van and enter the Beltway. She then took a nearby exit and called 911.

When troopers met the woman at a nearby parking lot they found an indentation on the passenger side door that they said was consistent with a small caliber handgun.

Police said the woman did not suffer any injuries.

The blue minivan was last seen headed west on Route 50. Police described the minivan driver as a black man with a thin build, with short dreadlocks and wearing a white T-shirt. No further description was available, police said.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call 301-345-3101.
An intern at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine enters an operating room. (Carlos Giusti/AP)

The organization that oversees the training of young doctors recommended Friday that first-year physicians in hospitals be allowed to work 24-hour shifts  eight hours longer than they are permitted now.

If approved in February, the proposal by a task force of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education would go into effect in July, when the members of the next class of medical school graduates begin their residencies at teaching hospitals across the United States.

It is the latest development in a decades-old effort by the medical profession to balance the education of doctors with patient safety at the hands of sleep-deprived new physicians.

The expanded work-hour limit would align the schedules of novice physicians with those of second- and third-year doctors, who also care for hospitalized patients but are permitted to work longer hours as they advance through the training in their specialties.

The goal is to improve the coordination of clinical care by the interns and residents in the teaching environment, said Thomas J. Nasca, ACGME chief executive and vice chairman of the task force. First-year doctors are commonly called interns, and those further along in their training are known as residents.

Twenty-four hour shifts, Nasca said, is what currently exists for everyone else other than interns, and its what the interns did up until 2011.

That year, after a study of patient safety and work-hour rules by the Institute of Medicine, the ACGME prohibited first-year physicians from working more than 16 consecutive hours, with a few minor exceptions, and banned the 30-hour shifts that some trainees had been working. During the 2015-2016 academic year, more than 29,000 first-year doctors trained at about 800 U.S. medical institutions, according to the ACGME.

But some faculty say that the work-hour limits have compromised patient care by increasing the frequency of patient handoffs from doctor to doctor as shorter shifts end. Many instructors also say that young doctors learn best by following a patient in the crucial first 36 hours of a hospitalization.

A study released in February showed no effect on patient outcomes when surgeons in training were allowed to work extremely long shifts. The schedules caused only minor dissatisfaction among new doctors. The results of a second study of long shifts for internal medicine trainees have not been released.

The American Medical Student Association, which includes medical students and doctors in the early years of their training, and the advocacy group Public Citizen protested the second experiment, contending that it was unethical because neither patients nor doctors at the 63 participating programs were given the chance to consent to the arrangement.

In a statement Friday, Public Citizen said the new recommendation is a dangerous step backward.

Study after study shows that sleep-deprived resident physicians are a danger to themselves, their patients and the public, said Michael Carome, director of Public Citizens Health Research Group.

Kelly Thibert, president of the medical students group, said that instead of employing longer work shifts, hospitals should improve communication and other aspects of patient handoffs between doctors. She said these informal transfers vary in quality at different hospitals.

The new rules recommended by the task force would retain many of the work-hour requirements currently in place. In each four-week period, residents would be limited to workweeks that average 80 hours and would have to be provided one day off every seven days. They could not work overnight shifts in the hospital more than once every three days.

The 24-hour shifts could be lengthened by as much as four hours to accommodate transitions in care.

The proposal also includes new requirements that supervisors pay attention to the mental health and well-being of doctors in training. Studies have shown that burnout, depression and suicide are on the upswing in the medical profession, Nasca said. The new rules would require that program directors teach faculty and trainees how to detect and respond to burnout, depression, substance abuse and suicidal ideation among young doctors.

The recommendations will be open to 45 days of public comment.
Angela Chen, writing on the Verge, wants you to join her Nutella campaign. Shes talking about that spread made from hazelnuts, sugar, palm oil, cocoa and other ingredients.

The Food and Drug Administration considers Nutella a dessert topping, as Chen points out, but its manufacturer wants the FDA to put it in the same category as honey, jam, jelly, fruit butter and molasses or to create a separate classification for a nut-based cocoa spread.

Why would you care? The main difference, Chen writes, is that the serving size on the food label for jam is one tablespoon, while the serving size for dessert topping is two tablespoons.

If you glance at the Nutella label, youll see 200 calories. Thats for two tablespoons, the serving size for a dessert topping.

If Nutella were reclassified as a jam, its food label would say that it has 100 calories per tablespoon, Chen writes, and that could make people think its healthier than it is. People are already bad at reading food labels. . . . We often dont keep track of how much we eat and are easily tricked by a small number next to the calorie box  which is exactly what would happen in this case.

The FDA is seeking public comment. You have until Jan. 3 to tell the agency whether you consider a normal serving of Nutella to be one tablespoon or two.

And if youd like a little background, consider this: The spread was created in postwar Italy by the Ferrero family of candy fame. It was originally shaped in a loaf so it could be cut to fit nicely on a slice of bread. In 1964, it was put in a jar and named Nutella.

And today? The company says that the amount of Nutella produced in a year weighs as much as the Empire State Building. Thats a lot of tablespoons.

 Kathy Lally
By India Today Web Desk: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today claimed the government has allocated all the money for the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme and attributed the controversy to mistakes committed by the banks in disbursing it to the veterans.

"The government has allocated all the money. There seems to be a problem at the bank level. When such huge amounts are disbursed, a few calculation mistakes happen on the bank side," Jaitley told reporters as the politics over the former Army jawan's suicide peaked today.

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On Tuesday this week, former Army Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal consumed poison at a park near New Delhi's Jantar Mantar where a number of veterans have been sitting on a dharna over OROP for more than a year, triggering a huge political war between the government and the opposition over the contentious OROP scheme.



Jaitley slammed the politicisation of the suicide by the Congress and the AAP. "It doesn't behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly at the ICU of a hospital. More responsible behaviour is expected from them," he said.

RAHUL GANDHI, KEJRIWAL DETAINED



On Wednesday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were detained by the Delhi Police as they tried to meet Grewal's family at a hospital. Both the leaders have accused the BJP of lying over OROP.

"No one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially a party whose fortune is already sinking," Jaitley said today, his remarks aimed at the Congress.



Jaitley targeted the Congress today in his press conference, accusing the party of not implementing the OROP during the 10 years of its tenure before Narendra Modi took over in 2014. Also read:

OROP suicide: Ex-jawan's bank denies charge of pension miscalculation, says onus on govt to get numbers right

Rahul Gandhi released after being detained for the third time in 2 days over OROP suicide

OROP suicide: Who was Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal?

OROP suicide: Unanswered questions over Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal's death

OROP suicide takes a political turn after Rahul and Kejriwal's detentions





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Dan Gardner, a journalist, and Philip E. Tetlock, a psychologist the University of Pennsylvania, are the authors of Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction.

Its hard to recall another time as uncertain as this.

Americans are worried that they are vulnerable to terrorist attacks , that they wont have enough money to retire or pay medical bills , that jobs are becoming less secure and that the next generation will be worse off financially than their parents . And they are downright frightened by the election.

About the only thing partisans agree on is that a victory for the other side would be a catastrophe. There has been talk of insurrection, national collapse, even nuclear war. Unsurprisingly, a Washington Post tracking poll finds 61 percent of likely voters worry about Donald Trump becoming president, and 56 percent are anxious about the possibility of a President Hillary Clinton. The American Psychological Association reports that 52 percent of American adults are experiencing election-related stress. Ive been in private practice for 30 years, and I have never seen patients have such strong reactions to an election, clinical social worker Sue Elias told the New York Times.

But heres a consoling thought: Weve felt this way before. Many times.

The Age of Uncertainty was a best-selling book and TV series by John Kenneth Galbraith in 1977. The Age of Anxiety was W.H. Audens famous book-length poem, written 30 years before that. The Greek historian Polybius lamented that there was more change and uncertainty in his time than ever before  his time being more than a century before Jesus was born.

Look at the records from almost any year, and you will find the perception that that moment was unusually uncertain, perhaps more so than ever. Thats not because uncertainty constantly ratchets up. Its because people routinely fall victim to what we call the uncertainty illusion.

In the present, looking toward the future, we sense, correctly, that we are living amid profound uncertainty. There is always so much we dont know about whats coming and so much that could go wrong. Thats unsettling, to such an extent that people sometimes express relief when a bad possibility  you may have cancer  is confirmed. To try to get a handle on how worried we should be, we tend to compare the present with the past. And when we look back, we tend to see much less uncertainty  not because there necessarily was less, but because hindsight bias drains the appearance of uncertainty.

If you were asked today how likely it is that Clinton will win the election, you might guess theres a 70 percent chance. Months later, asked to recall your forecast, you probably would misremember  in a predictable direction. If Clinton won, youd recall that you thought it more likely that she would. If Trump prevailed, youd recall guessing that Clintons chances were slimmer.

Hindsight bias makes the past look more predictable. Of course President Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012. Of course the Arab Spring swept the Middle East in 2011. Of course the housing bubble burst, the invasion of Iraq was a fiasco and the Y2K bug fizzled.

Even historys biggest shocks look obvious after the fact. In 1988, one of us (Tetlock) asked experts to forecast how likely it was that the Soviet Communist Party would lose power within the next five years. In 1991, that happened. It was an immense surprise to almost everyone. A year later, Tetlock asked the experts to recall how likely they thought it was before it happened. Their answers were riddled with hindsight bias. In memory, they knew it all along.

Because its difficult to fully appreciate the uncertainty of the past, it becomes easy to conclude that the present is unusually uncertain, even uniquely so.

Clinton supporters at a rally in Florida respond to WikiLeaks revelations. (Alice Li/The Washington Post)

Dig into the archives, and you can find evidence of the uncertainty illusion in some surprising times and places. Consider 1958, the middle of the Eisenhower era, remembered today as a particularly quiet year in a prosperous and placid time. And yet, as the second season of Leave It to Beaver aired on the nations black-and-white televisions, Newsweek published a cover story about nostalgia for 30 years earlier. In 1958, with its anxieties and uncertainties, the 20s have suddenly become a Golden Era, not only to the oldsters who lived through it but to the youngsters who can only guess what it was like, the editors wrote.

If the uncertainty illusion inspired only nostalgia for old jazz, it wouldnt be worth discussing. But an exaggerated perception of uncertainty can make people less willing to take risks or make ambitious plans. It can persuade businesses to sit on cash rather than invest, hire and expand. Collectively, such conservatism can be a drag on economic growth, making us all poorer.

The uncertainty illusion can also heighten intergenerational misunderstanding. Mine was a world that still seemed anchored in a reassuring permanence, First Things editor R.R. Reno wrote of his experience as a young baby boomer. Young people today experience the opposite. Impermanence is everywhere. Similarly, a recent New York Times story noted that millennials think they face greater challenges than boomers did, because, to give one example, climate change represents an unprecedented . . . threat to the entire planet. Theres no recognition that boomers came of age with the twin planetary threats of nuclear war and mass starvation.

But perhaps the worst damage the uncertainty illusion can do is to boost reactionary politics. The core propaganda of every European far-right party promotes fear of present threats and contrasts them with an imagined golden age in the past free of such terrors. Thats central to Trumps pitch, too. He doesnt want to make America great. He wants to make it great again.

Trump never specifies when he thinks America was great or when America lost its greatness. But a Pew survey conducted in August found that 81 percent of Trump supporters believed life was better for people like them 50 years ago. (Nineteen percent of Clinton supporters agreed.) Of course, some things for some groups are indeed worse today. It is harder for an unskilled worker to get a highly paid job in manufacturing. Still, on balance, 2016 beats 1966 hands down. Life expectancy is higher today, as are household incomes, even for those at the bottom of the ladder. In fact, by these and other basic measures  from share of income spent on necessities to air quality and education  the great majority of Americans are clearly better off today than 50 years ago.

To be sure, uncertainty does vary, so a given moment may, objectively, be more uncertain than one in the past. But if we are not to fall victim to the uncertainty illusion, gut-level feelings are no way to judge. A rigorous exploration of evidence is essential. So is a willingness to accept that even strong perceptions and feelings may be dead wrong.

Psychologists know that this is asking a lot of anyone. One solution is sweetly old-fashioned: Keep a diary. By writing down your thoughts and feelings daily, you create an immutable record that may be consulted years or decades later. People who have done this are routinely surprised by the gaps between what they remember feeling and what they wrote at the time. Maybe you really did think the Y2K bug was no big deal in 1999. Or maybe youve forgotten stocking up on canned food and ammunition. Yes, memory is that fallible. But diaries dont forget.

Neither do archives. The 1990s are collectively remembered today as a decade of giddy optimism, in marked contrast to the present. That may seem so obvious that its not necessary to do any verification. And yet, in March 1995, 58 percent of Americans said they expected the future to be worse for the next generation; only 16 percent said it would be better. When the same question was asked this August, 49 percent of voters said the future would be worse; 24 percent said it would be better. The past is a foreign country, the British novelist L.P. Hartley wrote. Dont assume you understand it, even if you once lived there.

As valuable as facts and figures are, understanding the past requires more. It takes imagination and empathy.

Cant you feel the fears Im feelin today, wailed Barry McGuire in the classic protest song Eve of Destruction. His fears then are not our fears today, but if we listen with an open mind, we can feel them. If the button is pushed, theres no runnin away / Therell be no one to save with the world in a grave. Thats frightening. And a lot of people felt as McGuire did. Eve of Destruction was a big hit in 1965  a time that so many Americans think was better than today.

As we peer into an uncertain future, we may realize that the uncertainty of the past is not so different from our own.

Twitter: @dgardner

Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
The D.C. Council unanimously passed automatic voter registration legislation on Nov. 1. The Post endorsed the concept in the Oct. 24 editorial Its time to automate voter registration. Our democracy has just become a little more inclusive. The law is a common-sense update to our democratic process that automatically and securely registers all eligible D.C. residents to vote when they interact with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

While the District is making voting more accessible, other states are attempting to make it more challenging. Recently, voting laws in North Carolina were struck down as unconstitutional efforts to target African Americans with almost surgical precision, in Texas as having a  likely disproportionate effect . . . on minorities and in Wisconsin as a cure worse than the disease by federal judges.

Fortunately, the tide is turning. This year alone, many states have considered measures on automatic voter registration, and it is already a reality in many parts of the country.

In addition to reducing barriers to voting, we must also make sure our votes count. The council should now work to pass fair elections legislation, another common-sense policy that would create a system to publicly finance our elections so that our democracy is truly one-person, one-vote, not one-dollar, one-vote.

Jeremiah Lowery, Washington

The writer is a member of the

steering committee of DC for Democracy.
Aid-in-dying advocates gather in from of the D.C. government building on Sept. 22 in support of legislation to allow terminally ill District residents to legally access fatal medication. (Fenit Nirappil/The Washington Post)

Regarding the Nov. 2 Metro article Council gives initial approval to death with dignity legislation:

D.C. Council members who have held the hand of a dying loved one, hospiced and morphined to the max but still in misery, will not hesitate to vote yes. Those of us who have done so as well implore the council to vote compassion over tradition. Where is it written Thou shalt suffer?

Virginia Levy, Washington

Physician-assisted suicide, were told, is a good thing: Its about autonomy, quality health care and the dignity of the dying. But its not. Assisted suicide creates risks for the weak, the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the marginalized.

The American Medical Association rejects the practice. Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physicians role as healer, the AMA states . Dozens more professional medical associations agree.

Assisted suicide also fails to respect autonomy. A New York state task force unanimously concluded that it would pose profound risks to many patients, especially those who are poor, elderly, members of a minority group, or without access to good medical care.

If adopted, the Districts law would be ripe for abuse. A family member or friend who might benefit financially from a patients death could act as a witness that a patient voluntarily requested a lethal prescription. Doctors could judge patients to be qualified to receive a lethal prescription under the law, even if they had never before met the patient. And the law would set no safeguards to ensure competence or to guard against coercion at the time the deadly drug was taken.

We should respond to suffering with true compassion. We should offer appropriate psychiatric care and human presence. For those in physical pain, palliative medicine can manage symptoms effectively. For those for whom death is imminent, hospice care and fellowship can accompany them in their last days. Anything less falls short of what human dignity requires.

Ryan T. Anderson, Washington

The writer is a senior research fellow at the

Heritage Foundations Institute for

Family, Community and Opportunity.
This is no ordinary election. Time for a reminder of whats at stake:

Climate policy and the clean-energy economy: For anyone who accepts the scientific consensus that global warming poses a clear and present danger, there is only one choice. Hillary Clinton will continue along the path laid out by President Obama and other world leaders. Donald Trump has claimed, ridiculously, that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.

For the first time, the three nations most responsible for spewing heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere  China, the United States and India  have all formally agreed to curb emissions. The landmark Paris agreement is the biggest and most important step taken to date. Clinton would honor the accord; Trump would renounce it on his first day in office.

The rest of the world is moving rapidly toward renewable sources of energy, which recently surpassed coal as the largest global source of power-generating capacity. According to the International Energy Agency, last year an estimated 500,000 solar panels were installed worldwide every day. Clinton would encourage the growth of the clean-energy sector, which has the potential to create millions of jobs. Trump promises a renaissance of fossil fuels  mining more coal, pumping more oil  even though the electric-power industry is moving on.

The Western alliance: Since the end of World War II, NATO has been the globes most important military alliance, a bulwark against Soviet  now Russian  expansionism and a source of peace and prosperity. It is no accident that the United States and Europe are the worlds biggest economic powers.

Clinton may be a bit hawkish for some tastes, but she is firmly committed to the NATO security framework. Trump describes NATO as if it were a protection racket.

Trump has repeatedly and consistently expressed a desire for an alliance with Russia, even after it seized Crimea from Ukraine and intervened to save the murderous regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Trump often voices his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin  who, according to U.S. intelligence analysts, has deployed an army of Internet hackers against the Democratic Party in a shocking and unprecedented attempt to meddle in our election. Trump has done nothing to refute Clintons claim that he would be Putins puppet in the White House.

Immigration reform: An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, most of them from Mexico and Central America. Clinton supports common-sense immigration reform that would secure the southern border, modernize our system of legal immigration and bring undocumented people out of the shadows by giving them legal status and a path toward citizenship. Trump does not.

Trump launched his campaign by saying of Mexican immigrants: Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. He has called for building a physical wall along the entire border with Mexico and absurdly said that Mexico would somehow pay for it. And he pledges to deport all of the undocumented, in what would amount to a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing. Doing so would require a gargantuan and intrusive deportation force the likes of which this country has never imagined, let alone witnessed.

The social fabric: The country is undergoing inexorable demographic change. By 2044, if not sooner, according to the Census Bureau, there will be no racial or ethnic majority; non-Hispanic whites, in other words, will be less than 50 percent of the population, becoming a minority just like every other group. This is already the case in California, Texas, New Mexico and Hawaii, and nationwide among children younger than 5.

Clinton understands and embraces these changes. Trump, by contrast, has become the champion of those whites who, like King Canute, would hold back the sea. It is no accident that he is avidly supported by the likes of David Duke, the unabashed white nationalist, Holocaust denier and former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. When Trump says Make America Great Again, many minorities hear Make America White Again.

Fiscal sanity: Clinton proposes new spending  including to improve the Affordable Care Act  that would increase the national debt by $250 billion over the next decade, according to the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Trumps combination of huge tax cuts and increased spending, however, would balloon the debt by a crushing $10 trillion over the same period.

I could go on, but you get the point. Donald Trump gravely threatens our future. He must be stopped.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
A voter is reflected in the glass frame of a poster while leaving a polling site during early voting. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

To my fellow millennials:

Yeah, I know, youre scoffing at this salutation. Im on the older side of our generation, which has been repeatedly redefined downward to represent an ever-younger, increasingly manbunned, microaggressed group of whippersnapchatters. Millennial used to refer to a specific cohort born between about 1980 and the mid-90s; now its just a generic slur meaning any annoying person younger than I am.

Still, I beg you, lend a slightly older lady your valuable, monetized eyeballs.

For decades, get-out-the-vote efforts targeting people like you (us, rather) have harnessed the rhetoric of adolescent rebelliousness. Its about rocking the boat (or rocking the vote), overthrowing the system, sticking it to the man, burning it all down. The youth vote mobilization machine has generally tried to resuscitate the political spirit of the 60s, when activism was viewed as a form of insubordination against parents and stodgy parent-like compatriots.

Over the years, youth get-out-the-vote ads have come close to desecrating the American flag. They have included felony-decorated musicians, foul-mouthed actors and sexed-up socialites. They have served up a peculiar mix of cynicism and optimism, in which a better future can be achieved only by tearing down and replacing the useless, rigged, self-dealing systems and leaders of the present.

Its all an attempt to rechannel the presumed anarchical, mutinous instincts of young people into a more socially productive political revolution  to use Bernie Sanderss preferred term.

This core theme of youth mobilization campaigns has persisted, election after election, regardless of whos running for office, and even as new and differently complected cohorts aged into and out of the youth demographic. The constant is understandable: Rebelliousness is the timeless idiom of youth.

Which is why this year, the messaging machine is struggling to motivate young voters. How can you inspire millennials to vote when our primary political vessel represents not volatility and upheaval, but boring stability? Not rocking the boat, but keeping it from crashing into an iceberg?

There is, of course, a burn-it-all-down candidate on the ballot next week, one who fits more easily into the usual youth GOTV rhetoric. But our generation, by and large, despises him.

Donald Trump has a 76 percent unfavorable rating among voters younger than 30, according to a recent Harvard Institute of Politics poll. According to other surveys, large majorities of us believe he embodies or appeals to bigotry, racism and bias against women. About 6 in 10 say his comments about women alone disqualify him from the presidency, according to Reuters/Ipsos.

On the other hand, the institutionalist candidate whose policy preferences are actually closer to our own, and who pledges to build on progress made by Barack Obama, has struggled to inspire us. That same Harvard youth poll also found that a slim majority  51 percent  of young people view Hillary Clinton unfavorably. Millennial enthusiasm for her runs thin, particularly relative to liberal change-messengers such as Sanders and Obama.

Steady as she goes is hardly a compelling campaign slogan for any age group. But it is an especially poor fit for the insurrectionist, get-out-the-vote rhetoric usually used to woo young people to the polls.

The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat nationally. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Some young voters have expressed support for third-party candidates, though millennial support for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein has eroded over the past month or so.

The greater danger right now is that millennials wont vote at all. We will express our political frustrations with the system not by trying to upend it  as so many get-out-the-vote efforts of eras past urged us to do  but by abstaining altogether.

And our collective abstention is exactly what could stand between a stable, prosperous, peaceful world order and something else entirely. We millennials now match boomers as the largest share of the electorate; our votes can swing, and indeed have swung, elections, if only we show up.

I keep thinking of YouGovs viral analysis on Brexit votes, showing that those who had to live longest with the decision  i.e., young people  were most likely to vote Remain. And yet youths also had the lowest voter turnout rates of any demographic. So Remain lost.

Take a lesson from our British cousins, my fellow American millennials. A vote for keeping it together may be less cathartic than a vote for burning it all down. But its better than not voting at all.

Yours,

Catherine
Rule of thumb for a presidential campaign where the two candidates have the highest unfavorable ratings in the history of polling: If youre the center of attention, youre losing.

As Election Day approaches, Hillary Clinton cannot shake the spotlight. She is still ahead in the polls, but you know shes slipping when she shows up at a Florida campaign event with a week to go accompanied by the former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado .

The original plan was for Clinton to pivot in the final week of the campaign from relentless criticism of Donald Trump to making a positive case for herself. Instead, she reached back for a six-week-old charge that played well when it first emerged back then but now feels stale and recycled.

The setback and momentum shift came courtesy of FBI Director James Comey. Clintons greatest hurdle had always been the Comey primary, which the Democrats thought shed won in July when he declined to recommend prosecuting her over classified emails. This engendered an outpouring of Democratic encomiums about Comeys unimpeachable integrity and Solomonic wisdom.

When it was revealed last Friday that there had been a Comey recount and Clinton lost, Solomon turned into Torquemada. But, of course, Comey had no choice. How could he have sat on a trove of 650,000 newly discovered emails and kept that knowledge suppressed until after the election?

The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat nationally. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

[One final election plea, on the behalf of U.S. ideals]

Comeys announcement brought flooding back  to memory and to the front pages  every unsavory element of the Clinton character: shiftiness, paranoia, cynicism and disdain for playing by the rules. It got worse when FBI employees began leaking stories about possible political pressure from the Justice Department and about parallel investigations into the Clinton Foundation.

At the same time, Clinton was absorbing a daily dose of WikiLeaks, offering an extremely unappealing tableau of mendacity, deception and the intermingling of public service with private self-enrichment. It was the worst week of her campaign, at the worst time.

And it raises two troubling questions:

 Regarding the FBI, do we really want to elect a president who will likely come into office under criminal investigation by law enforcement? Congressional hearings will be immediate and endless. A constitutional crisis at some point is not out of the question.

 And regarding WikiLeaks, how do we know it will have released the most damning material by Election Day? A hardened KGB operative like Vladimir Putin might well prefer to hold back whatever is most incriminating until a Clinton presidency. He is surely not above attempted blackmail at an opportune time.

There seems to be a consensus that Putins hacking gambit is intended only to disrupt the election rather than to deny Clinton the White House. Why? Putin harbors a deep animus toward Clinton, whom he blames personally for the anti-Putin demonstrations that followed Russias rigged 2011 parliamentary elections.

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.

Moreover, Putin would surely prefer to deal with Trump, a man who has adopted the softest line on the Kremlin of any modern U.S. leader.

In a normal election, the FBI and WikiLeaks factors might be disqualifying for a presidential candidate. As final evidence of how bad are our choices in 2016, Trumps liabilities, especially on foreign policy, outweigh hers.

[The Clinton scandals will never stop]

We are entering a period of unprecedented threat to the international order that has prevailed under American leadership since 1945. After eight years of President Obamas retreat, the three major revisionist powers  Russia, China and Iran  see their chance to achieve regional dominance and diminish, if not expel, U.S. influence.

At a time of such tectonic instability, even the most experienced head of state requires wisdom and delicacy to maintain equilibrium. Trump has neither. His joining of supreme ignorance to supreme arrogance, combined with a pathological sensitivity to any perceived slight, is a standing invitation to calamitous miscalculation.

Two generations of Americans have grown up feeling that international stability is as natural as the air we breathe. Its not. It depends on continual, calibrated tending. It depends on the delicate balancing of alliances and the careful signaling of enemies. It depends on avoiding self-inflicted trade wars and on recognizing the value of allies like Germany, Japan and South Korea as cornerstones of our own security rather than satrapies who are here to dispatch tribute to their imperial master in Washington.

It took seven decades to build this open, free international order. It could be brought down in a single presidential term. That would be a high price to pay for the catharsis of kicking over a table.

Read more from Charles Krauthammers archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
FBI Director James Comeys 9.0-magnitude political earthquake, announcing in a vague letter to Congress 11 days before the election that new evidence of unknown importance had surfaced in the investigation of Hillary Clintons email server, has shined a bright light on the bureaus unique role in Washington. Here are some myths about its culture and power.

Myth No. 1

The FBI isnt political.

One of J. Edgar Hoovers first acts when he became director of the FBI in 1924 was to clean house of the bureaus political appointees  and ever since, directors have proudly bragged that the FBI is completely nonpartisan. Its simply a fact-finding agency, Hoover often promised. This summer, Comey himself assured that the Clinton server investigation had been conducted in an entirely apolitical and professional way.

But while the FBI may technically be nonpartisan, it has long been one of the most politically astute institutions in the government. Its files have regularly been deployed as political weapons, from the 1948 election  in which Hoover backed Thomas Dewey over Harry Truman  to Watergate, where leaks from then-Deputy Director Mark Felt helped bring down Richard Nixon. Moreover, the bureau spent much of the 20th century as something akin to Americas morality police, shifting resources decade by decade to combat perceived threats to the nations social fabric, from Harlem Renaissance authors in the 1930s to antiwar activists in the 1960s to deadbeat dads in the 1990s. During his 48-year tenure, Hoover used the power of the traditionally conservative bureau to cozy up to powerful politicians and to bludgeon, publicly and privately, civil rights leaders, political dissidents, gays and especially communists.

Comey has made a point to try to stand against that era: FBI recruits visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum to understand, Comey has said, in a palpable, nauseating and gut-wrenching way, the consequences of the abuse of power on a massive scale. Hes ordered new recruits to learn about the bureaus history with the Rev. Martin Luther King, whom Hoover tried to blackmail into giving up his efforts. But the bureau (and particularly its director) retains a black belt in behind-the-scenes political judo: It skillfully navigated the politics of the 9/11 Commission, halting a move to break it apart following its failure to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. It uses its reputation for integrity, moral authority and justice to push presidents and lawmakers to back its programs and budget requests. Presidents know: You dont want to be on your FBI directors bad side.

Myth No. 2

The FBI director cant be red.

While many national security roles, such as CIA director, typically turn over at the beginning of a presidential term, the FBI directorship over the past 40 years has been seen as an apolitical post. Ever since director-for-life Hoover died in May 1972, FBI chiefs have been appointed to a congressionally mandated, nonrenewable 10-year term. When Comeys predecessor, Robert Mueller, reached the end of that term, President Obama asked him to stay an additional two years  a move that required a special act of Congress.

But that fixed term doesnt limit how or why a president can remove an FBI director, and, according to U.S. law, a firing doesnt have to be for cause. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, Director William Sessions was already under siege for mismanagement. A scathing 161-page inspector general report said he misused government transportation and engaged in other abuses of his office. Clinton, with the recommendation of Attorney General Janet Reno, fired Sessions outright after the director refused to resign.

Myth No. 3

The White House controls the FBI director.

The FBI is part of the Justice Department, so technically the director reports up through the attorney general and to the White House itself  which is why this summers social meeting on the tarmac at a Phoenix airport between Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch raised alarms about whether theyd struck an inside deal not to prosecute Hillary Clinton. Similar questions were sparked by President Obamas comments to 60 Minutes that seemed to prejudge the investigations outcome, when he said that he didnt think her server was a national security problem.

But the FBI, which runs public-corruption and espionage investigations, operates with nearly unprecedented independence within the executive branch, especially when it comes to political inquiries. Past attorneys general have almost always deferred to the bureau  a habit that repeatedly rankled Reno during the 1990s, when Director Louis Freeh called their frequent battles the worst-kept secret in Washington. Top Justice Department officials didnt want Comey to inform Congress of the new Clinton inquest before the election, but he did it anyway.

An FBI directors perceived mantle of integrity can be a powerful bureaucratic weapon. In 2004, when Comey was deputy attorney general and provoked a showdown with the George W. Bush White House over the legality of the National Security Agencys domestic surveillance program, he enlisted the help of Mueller. Comey has said he knew that if he alone threatened to resign, he might fail, but if Mueller threatened to join him, the White House would be forced to revise the program. The gambit worked.

Myth No. 4

The FBI had been trying to help Hillary Clinton.

After Comey announced in July that the FBI didnt think the former secretary of state had committed any crime with her email server, critics blasted him for letting her off the hook, GOP congressmen summoned him to the Hill to explain himself, and Donald Trump said the FBI was corrupt.

In fact, the bureau is decidedly not Clinton territory; a Guardian article this past week quoted an agent as saying its Trumpland. Generally, in my reporting, Ive found agents to be conservative, and theres probably no political family in America with whom the bureau has had a worse relationship than the Clintons. The first best-selling anti-Clinton tell-all  a now-hefty publishing genre  came from an FBI agent, Gary Aldrich, posted to the White House in the 1990s, who trashed the family in Unlimited Access .

The relationship only went downhill from there. After firing Sessions, Bill Clinton appointed Freeh as his FBI director, calling him a law enforcement legend, only to see Freeh dedicate much of the rest of the 1990s to investigating him for scandals from Filegate to Whitewater to Monica Lewinsky. Freeh even gave back his White House visitor pass to ensure that no one thought he was too cozy with the president, and he told one reporter that he and Clinton didnt speak for the final three years of the administration, a time when the threat of terrorism was rising around the world. The antipathy was mutual: According to Bob Woodwards book Shadow, President Clinton used expletives to describe Freeh behind closed doors.

The Posts Matt Zapotosky explains why FBI Director James Comey informed lawmakers Friday that the bureau would examine newly discovered emails linked to Hillary Clinton. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Myth No. 5

The new probe didnt need to be revealed before the election.

Numerous critics, including almost 100 former prosecutors, have argued that Comey  who announced that the bureau had begun looking into Clintons emails again less than two weeks before Election Day  should have tried harder not to affect the election. They pointed to Comeys own argument that the United States shouldnt accuse Russia of meddling in the election until officials were sure about what theyd found, and to Justice Department practices to keep mum about ongoing investigations.

According to his aides in multiple news reports this past week, Comey thought the news would probably have leaked anyway, making the bureau look even more like it was protecting Clinton. While most FBI offices are tight-lipped and unlikely to hint of an unfolding investigation, the New York field office  the bureaus largest and most powerful, and home to the investigation of Anthony Weiner that uncovered the new laptop  is notoriously leaky and hard for an FBI director to control. Field offices in general operate with a great deal of independence, able to adjust resources to respond to local threats or problems. But every FBI director has struggled in particular to control the New York office, one of just three sites  along with the Washington and Los Angeles offices  led by an assistant director. Agents in cities across the country worry about their cases leaking out of New York, they tell me. The 2009 Najibullah Zazi terrorism investigation, for instance, was worked quietly for days by the FBI in Denver, only to leak almost the moment Zazi arrived in New York to execute his attack.

garrett.graff@gmail.com

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.
FROM 1936 to 1979, Nicaragua was ruled by a corrupt dynasty, the Somoza family, that enjoyed U.S. backing until it grew so vicious and venal that a national revolutionary movement rose up against it. Now one of the former leaders of that rebellion, Daniel Ortega, is about to inaugurate his own dynasty. On Sunday, following gross manipulation of the constitution and electoral system, Mr. Ortega will preside over his reelection as president, as well as the installation of his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president. Mr. Ortega, who is 70 years old and reported to be ailing, will thus ensure that the presidency remains in his family; his children are waiting in the wings.

The United States earned enormous discredit in Latin America for its backing of the Somozas but apparently learned nothing: With little more than a few grumbles, the Obama administration has tolerated and worked with the new Ortega regime. This, despite the fact that Mr. Ortega, a close ally of Fidel Castro, has been an adversary of the United States throughout his life and lately has begun purchasing weapons from Russia while granting a shadowy Chinese business executive rights to build a canal across the country.

The few news reports on the upcoming ballot retail a conventional wisdom that Mr. Ortega is popular enough to win without fraud. But that conclusion disregards the historical fact that the caudillo lost every democratic election held between 1990 and 2006  when he corruptly reengineered the system to allow victory with a minority of the vote. That Mr. Ortega was not confident of his popular support was evident in June, when he arranged for his leading opponent to be removed as head of his political party and replaced with someone of Mr. Ortegas choosing; 16 members of the party who objected to the coup were then expelled from the National Assembly.

The State Department shrugs off these and other abuses with rote expressions of concern. If there is reason for this other than sheer lassitude, it would be Mr. Ortegas pragmatic embrace of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which has allowed Nicaragua to nourish textile and other firms exporting to the United States; and his cooperation with anti-narcotics programs. Once a socialist, Mr. Ortega lately has made a virtue of self-interested flexibility, contriving to combine the benefits of American free trade and loans from U.S.-backed multilateral institutions with his opaque dealings with the would-be Chinese canal builder and heavy subsidies from Venezuela, another anti-American bastion.

Congress may put an end to this free ride. A bill passed without opposition by the House in September would mandate U.S. opposition to new multilateral loans to Nicaragua until it is taking effective steps to hold free, fair and transparent elections. That could curtail what is now a flow of about $250 million annually  and give Mr. Ortega reason to cooperate seriously with an initiative to restore democracy by the Organization of American States. Opponents protest that this sanction would hurt ordinary Nicaraguans more than Mr. Ortega. However, like the Obama administration, they offer no alternative other than rhetorical scoldings of the caudillo. Which raises the question: Would that have been the right response to the Somozas?
By PTI: India: Menon

Fromn Yoshita Singh

New York, Nov 4 (PTI) Pakistans polity does not have the capacity to sustain a normal relationship with India, former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said as he characterized relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors as "managed hostility".

"I would characterize (India-Pakistan relations) today as managed hostility, which I hope it stays managed," Menon said in response to a question on relations between the two nations at a panel discussion organised by the South Asia centre at New York University here yesterday.

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On whether he sees any prospect for resolution of the Kashmir issue, Menon, who has been Indias High Commissioner to Pakistan, replied in the negative.

He said many of the issues relating to Kashmir have been around for a long time and "we know the solutions" to many of them but they seem to be "politically difficult" to serve.

"Today I dont think Pakistan?s polity has the capacity to sustain a normal relationship with India. I think there is a very strong institutional interest there," he said.

Menon, who has authored the book Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy, however added that his "fear" is that if "it becomes a party political issue in India, which it has not always been, then you have the same dynamic operating."

He emphasized that expectations in India on any improved relations with Pakistan are "very very low" particularly after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

"There is very little public support for actually trying to fix those issues after the Mumbai attack and the series of cross-border terrorist attacks doesnt help either. Given that, I wouldnt expect rapid resolution of all these issues," he said.

Menon was asked given that Indias position on various global issues like Syria, Russia and Yemen has been different from that of the US, would it vote along side the US as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

He replied India should not spend its time worrying about a seat on the UN body.

"For me frankly a seat on the Security Council, with due apology, is a status quo. That is a beauty contest. You want to win a beauty contest - go ahead and enjoy yourself," he said.

"Thats not the point. Our point is to create an enabling environment for Indias transformation and work with the US for that. I think thats in the US interest too," he said. PTI YAS ZH

--- ENDS ---
AN EROSION of the U.S. strategic position in Asia during President Obamas final months in office is threatening to turn into a rout. First the Philippines new president paid a visit to Beijing and announced a separation from Washington; this week the prime minister of Malaysia, another U.S. ally, was in the Chinese capital promising to take relations with the regime of Xi Jinping to new heights. Though some of the rhetoric was bluster, there is substance behind it: China is showering the two countries with tens of billions of dollars in loans and investments, and achieving inroads in strategic areas. The Philippines agreed to bilateral talks on Chinas claim to territories in the South China Sea, while Malaysia committed to its first major arms purchase from Beijing, a fleet of patrol boats.

Having made the reinforcement of U.S. influence in Asia a top priority of his presidency, Mr. Obama now risks a legacy of weakened alliances and greatly expanded Chinese influence. There are three big reasons for this  and arguably only one of them results from a weakness of administration policy. The failure to push back harder against Chinas aggressive moves in Asian waters can only encourage countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia to strike their own deals with the Xi regime, rather than look to Washington for defense.

But Mr. Obamas policy is also suffering from failing support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade deal that was the centerpiece of his Asia policy. Though the White House is still hoping for ratification by a lame-duck Congress after the election, the vocal opposition of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump may have convinced leaders such as Malaysias Najib Razak that the pact is effectively dead.

Finally, the troubles with the Philippines and Malaysia have something to do with a factor that no president should try to alter: a values gap with their leaders. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte seems to have had anti-American inclinations throughout his career, but what prompted his sudden embrace of China appears to be American revulsion at his lawless drug war, which has led to the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of alleged dealers and users. Mr. Najib, for his part, was offended by the opening of a Justice Department investigation into the disappearance of $1 billion from the state sovereign wealth fund; much of the embezzled money may have been banked or invested in the United States.

Needless to say, the Xi regime is happy to ignore or even abet such abuses. It helped shore up the looted Malaysian investment fund by buying some of its assets. The strategy is to gain influence by supporting leaders who steal billions or violate human rights, knowing that they are likely to have problems in Washington. It might not work  there has been a backlash against Mr. Dutertes China trip in the Philippines, and Mr. Najib faces strong domestic opposition. But the recent rush to Beijing shows that whether the next U.S. president likes it or not, the contest for influence in Asia wont just be about trade or military might. The United States must also defend democratic principles.
Jim Boone, a board member of Friends of Gold Butte, leads a hike through the Little Finland area of the Gold Butte wilderness in Nevada. Gold Butte lies just south of the Bundy family ranch. (Ronda Churchill/For The Washington Post)

Regarding the Nov. 2 front-page article In Nev. desert, warning of an uprising:

I tried to see the side of the Bundys and their ilk, in the dispute about the governments desire to save the formation-rich land near their property. To me, the operative words are south of the Bundy family ranch. It is not their land. Also defining are the last statements in the article, about how the family just wants things to stay the same through the generations. Very few people have that luxury.

I have no sympathy for what seems to be a self-serving, anti-American group given a break in court who now feel they can make threats.

Harise Poland-Wright, Silver Spring

The Bundys, emboldened by the recent court verdict acquitting them in their 41 days of forceful armed takeover of our important Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, are again threatening violence if Bureau of Land Management land in Nevada is raised to a higher level of protection.

Gold Butte has seen vandalism of its Native American petroglyphs, off-road vehicles damaging sensitive areas that protect endangered or threatened species, and further deterioration of the environment by grazing beyond its carrying capacity (including by the Bundy cattle), thus threatening native wildlife and plants. I have visited many of these lands that the Bundys think should not be under federal government control.

Yellowstone National Park is a prime example of government land that belongs to all Americans. Our lands include the myriad national wildlife refuges such as Malheur. They are there to protect our national treasures, which include migratory birds and lesser-known species of plants and animals. Our national lands, excluding national parks, are regulated in such a way that we can use their resources for mining, grazing, irrigation, logging, hunting and recreational pursuits. On-site staffers ensure that sound resource management policies are followed.

We have dedicated people in government agencies that are protecting our lands from abuse from the Bundys and their followers.

Wayne Wolfersberger, Herndon

The writer is a former employee of

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

and the National Park Service.
Heidi N. Moore is a digital-media strategy consultant based in New York and a former editor, columnist and reporter for publications including The Guardian U.S. and The Wall Street Journal.

Lets get one thing out of the way: Yes, Donald Trump makes a cameo appearance in Lucas Gravess new book on the importance of fact-checking, and no, its not flattering. In this timely book, Deciding Whats True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism, Graves inevitably addresses Trump and his truthfulness. He notes that PolitiFacts judgments on the 2016 race found that only 5 percent of Trumps statements ranked more than Half-True by mid-2015, a far lower rate than any of his opponents. (His truthfulness hasnt changed much since then.)

Graves drily concludes that fact-checking appears to do a good job of catching out those politicians who exhibit a flagrant disregard for truth. But he shies away from branding any politician a liar, noting that fact-checkers never use the term. This would require knowing someones heart, he writes. He casts aspersions on very few people, and that civility offers a balm to the weary political soul this year.

As Graves traces the rise of fact-checking, he also illustrates the decline of political discourse into a steady drip of misinformation. Politicians are attached to their narratives, on which their careers depend. The traditional gatekeepers  daily political journalists  are, in his description, frequently hemmed in by their attachment to objectivity. These journalistic customs may be why Hillary Clinton, in each debate, referred viewers to live fact checks of her opponent run by her own staff. But the impact of fact-checking may be limited anyway because of the partisanship of readers who often prefer their Facebook feeds for news because they affirm their preexisting political opinions.

In the 1980s, journalists fact-checked Ronald Reagan, who came to the White House with a well-established reputation for error and exaggeration, in Gravess words. Newspapers, particularly The Washington Post, truth-squadded every one of Reagans news conferences until readers demonstrated so little concern that the paper backed off, according to former Post reporter Walter Pincus: Its up to the Democrats to catch people, not us. We would quote both sides.

"Deciding What's True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism," by Lucas Graves (Columbia Univ.)

In 1992, however, the impulse came back: Major networks and newspapers launched teams to fact-check advertising in the presidential race between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. By 2004, a George W. Bush administration official mocked a reporter for being part of the reality-based community, which he said was divorced from the political power of historys actors, who create their own realities. In 2012, Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman talked about the post-truth era of politics.

Some of the strongest opponents of political fact-checking are top editors and reporters who were trained in a determinedly objective practice of journalism, reporting both sides of an issue but taking neither. (The academic Jay Rosen has derided this as the view from nowhere.) Graves points out that then-New York Times editor Jill Abramson argued that fact-checking in a straight news article would cause readers to see the paper as a combatant, not an arbiter, in political battles. Graves acknowledges the uneasiness that journalists and fact-checkers alike have. Fact-checking was not intended to clean up politics, a goal that those involved in the process saw as obviously futile and possibily inappropriate, Graves writes.

But theres still an urge to free reporters of studious objectivity, Graves suggests. Journalism risks becoming less relevant the more it sticks to an unrealistic birds-eye view that doesnt mediate events or interpret for the reader. Ultimately, the most lasting impact of the fact-checking movement may be in giving political reporters new license to embrace the muckraking, reformist impulse that is both so vital and so tenuous in professional journalism, Graves concludes.

One of the most important reasons for the news media to embrace some rabble-rousing is this: While journalists agonize over objectivity, who is left to bear witness? History needs a record of truth, though it doesnt really matter who provides it. No permanence, no perseverance in existence, can even be conceived of without men willing to testify to what is, Hannah Arendt wrote in her essay Truth and Politics.

In Gravess view, fact-checkers are the ones to police the political process. He focuses on the history of three outlets  PolitiFact, FactCheck.org and The Posts Fact Checker  but also includes nearly every other news outlet in his anecdotes. Fact-checkers work parallel to newsrooms: to keep both politicians and political journalists accountable, in Gravess view. He says that at the first fact-checking summit in 2014, many attendees saw themselves as political reformers. But, interestingly, any organization demonstrating a clear political preference  from Media Matters to Fox News  is excluded from gatherings of fact-checkers, who regard themselves as nonpartisan. In some cases, fact-checker organizations and newspapers that maintain fact-checking editors and reporters forbid their staffers from any political involvement.

Its hard to envy the fact-checkers their work. Correcting the facts of history happens only with considerable discomfort on all sides: To his credit, Graves never pretends in this fairly brief book that fact-checking is easy. Its time-consuming; it encounters resistance from politicians, readers and journalists alike; and oh, by the way, no one can quite agree on what a fact is. Facts can be subjective, The Posts fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, tells Graves. The discussion of what constitutes a fact forms a big chunk of the book, and deservedly so: Nuance is the hardest part of fact-checking work.

Another major problem with fact-checking that the book sidesteps is the burden on the reader. Google announced recently that it had created an algorithm to favor fact-checking pieces, but even so, readers not only have to read the news but then seek out fact checks of what they just read. Its a lot of work  more than most people are willing to put in.

Another core problem is the power  or lack of power  of facts themselves. Since facts are subjective, their ability to change minds may be more limited than we think, particularly in elections like this one where fact checks  fine, immaculate work by well-trained professionals  have taken a back seat to the rush of emotion. Political campaigns rely on intangibles: charisma, credibility, communication style. As far as politics go, facts cant fix us.

Gravess book will appeal to those who are interested in politics and journalism and the intersection of the two, which is to say, the entirety of the Internet commenter class. For those looking for context and a sense of how we got here, it is a foundational work.
Priyanka Kumar is author of the novel Take Wing and Fly Here and the writer/director of the documentary The Song of the Little Road.

Its a marvel to witness when history smolders its way into the present and sparks a conversation: Native Americans from some 280 tribes across the country have come together to protest the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.7 billion project that would cut through lands of historic and spiritual significance to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and possibly contaminate its water supply in the future.

Land grabs are as old as civilization itself. The late-19th-century variety in the United States was fueled in part by settlers streaming West and by the discovery of gold in tribal lands. In The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West, Peter Cozzens, who has written previously about the Civil War, details how the countrys westward expansion after that war set the U.S. Army on a tragic collision course with multiple Native American tribes. The book, set squarely in the past, is all narrative and short on analysis. The battle scenes, however, are painted with expert brushstrokes on a wide canvas, from the 1860s to 1891. While the book offers a valuable panoramic view and shows us the Army through fresh eyes, its depiction of native peoples is at a certain remove, and we feel their otherness more keenly than we do the injustices perpetrated against them.

In 1970, Dee Brown memorably told us this story in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which relies on treaty council transcripts and other oral accounts by native warriors and chiefs. Cozzens writes that the Indian Wars have been perceived in one-sided ways, with Wounded Knee siding with the Indians, and he seeks to bring historical balance to the story. His claim is admirable, but it is not entirely realized here. He does draw from Indian primary sources, and there is a fine account of Chief Sitting Bulls spiritual life, but I couldnt shake off the feeling that I was being fitted into the boots of the Army men. Thats like being made to feel for the poor suckers who are forced to disregard agreements and evict tenants for a flinty landlord.

Native tribes fought for their homelands against a torrent of greed, broken treaties and shifting government policy. Much of the written record is still essentially the white mans record, and iconic figures such as Gen. William Sherman and President Ulysses Grant need no introduction. A stronger framing of the native past, including spiritual traditions and linguistic diversity, would have helped readers appreciate what was lost when native ways of life were all but obliterated by the end of the 19th century.

It is possible even today to tap into the oral tradition in native cultures to revisit history. To get a broad portrait for the recent book Moquis and Kastiilam: Hopis, Spaniards, and the Trauma of History, the editors sent a researcher, a Hopi man, to the Hopi Reservation, where he transcribed oral tales still in existence about the tribes encounters with the Spaniards, beginning with Coronado in 1540.

To be sure, Cozzens makes us see the brutality of the post-Civil War land grab. The Homestead Act encouraged settlers to populate states such as Kansas and Nebraska, but it also led settlers to crisscross through lands assigned to native tribes and deplete their natural resources. The native response varied. The belligerent 1864 raids by Dog Soldiers, a Cheyenne band, triggered the Sand Creek Massacre later that year. Col. John Chivington wanted action before his Colorado cavalrymens enlistment expired, and he overlooked a white flag over Chief Black Kettles tepee in favor of killing two hundred Cheyennes, two-thirds of them women and children. Retaliation could come with cyclonic energy, unstoppable even by peaceable chiefs.

Even when the government and the Army had good intentions, ignorant or corrupt Indian agents could get in the way of implementing them. A mentally unbalanced agent, Nathan C. Meeker, appointed through a political connection, singlehandedly brought on a war with the otherwise peaceable Ute Indians.

Cozzens points out that frontier soldiers lived in ramshackle facilities with poor food supplies, ample guard duty and few drills. Many succumbed to alcohol or gambling. On assignment in Mexico to round up Geronimo and his band, one officer got ptomaine poisoning from a can of rancid Armour corned beef, and another almost died of a tarantula bite.

We encounter Gen. George Custer riding double speed across the Kansas plains, thinking less about the welfare of his men and more about his wife, Libbie, until he is court-martialed for a second time. No less clueless was Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, who burned abandoned Pawnee villages because he thought they harbored a nest of conspirators.  The government wanted to civilize Indians by getting them to farm, and Hancocks action is all the more ironic because in addition to hunting buffalo, the Pawnee farmed next to their villages.

A grand irony in the Great Plains, Cozzens writes, is that the Army clashed with Indians who had moved there because of the white settlement of the East and who had themselves displaced native tribes. So, we are asked to view the Sioux as immigrants, just as the settlers were, and to believe that no deeply rooted way of life was disrupted. This point minimizes that for more than 10,000 years, the Great Plains had been home to pre-contact Native American tribes who would never again be able to return to their native land.

The narrative compellingly weaves in the Grant administrations Peace Policy, which enlisted Quakers, some of whom tried to tame Indians by kindness, as Cozzens writes. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, however, broke the Peace Policys back. It is a sad reflection of the moral cesspool into which the Grant administration had sunk, Cozzens writes, that the first instance of real cooperation between the War Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs involved the most egregious treachery ever contemplated by the government against the Plains Indians. Treachery on such an epic scale can bear many retellings, and this account stands out for its impressive detail and scope.
Arty Vogt has been fighting to regain his authority to operate his moving business in West Virginia for the last several years. After his Certificate Of Need was stripped from his moving company, Lloyd's Transfer, Vogt and his employees have fought to try to regain their right to move his loyal customers within the state of West Virginia. (Brian Feulner/Pacific Legal Foundation)

Anastasia Boden, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, represents Arty Vogt in his challenge to West Virginias competitors veto law for the moving industry.

Before Starbucks, there was Peets , and before Google, there was Yahoo. But what if Starbucks and Google had to ask their predecessors permission before starting up? Wed likely have neither of these iconic brands  to the detriment of their ingenious founders and the worlds tens of millions of coffee-drinking Googlers.

Yet, incredibly, that is exactly the scenario facing many start-up businesses across the country. In more than 30 states, new businesses in a number of fields need an okay from their potential competitors before they can open their doors.

Found in industries that include transportation, some utilities and even some medical services, it is technically known as a certificate of need licensing system. But competitors veto is the more accurate term for these restrictive, exclusionary laws. They give business insiders the power to veto and blackball new companies with help from compliant regulators.

Typically, these laws work like so: An entrepreneur who wants to enter an industry files an application with the relevant state board. The applicant must notify all existing businesses in the industry, and any one of them is permitted to file a protest. A protest triggers a Kafkaesque regulatory process, in which the applicant must prove, in advance, that the proposed start-up business is necessary to the public.

Of course, this is an impossible demand. The only way to find out whether a business meets a consumer need is to allow it to open its doors and find out. Even the best businesspeople cannot know for certain that after they open up shop, the public will sustain them. But what makes the United States great is that, in theory, we allow them to try.

Not surprisingly, competitors-veto laws mainly serve entrenched commercial cartels, securing them from challenges to their market share.

Occupational licensing laws in general have come under fire recently from legislators, policy analysts and even the White House for being anti-competitive job-killers. Competitors-veto laws are an especially pernicious example of this misuse of regulatory power. By definition, they have nothing to do with protecting the health or safety of consumers. Even the most responsible and safety-conscious start-up can be denied a license to operate simply because it would create competition that some regulator labels not necessary for the marketplace. Rather than helping consumers, these laws are anti-consumer; they restrict the publics options and stifle the competitive pressures that spur businesses to provide better and cheaper service.

Whats worse, these laws tend to be most prevalent in industries, such as taxi, bus and moving services, that can offer some of the greatest business opportunities for people of modest means. Starting a moving company requires little more than a truck and some muscle. A taxi business should require no more than a car and knowledge of the community. But competitors-veto laws deprive budding entrepreneurs of these opportunities to earn a living just to protect existing firms from having to work harder for customers.

The stories of hopeful entrepreneurs who have been blocked by these laws are heartbreaking. Take small business owner Arty Vogt. On graduation from college, Arty accepted a job with Lloyds Transfer, a small Virginia-based moving company with a decades-long record of satisfying customers. Eventually, he and his wife, Stephanie, saved up enough money to buy the company in 2005.

Based in Berryville, near the West Virginia line, the eight-person business often gets calls from West Virginians seeking help with in-state moves. But West Virginias competitors veto law stands in the way.

When the Vogts applied for a West Virginia license, their application was challenged by the largest moving company in the state. The Vogts spent a year and $10,000 in legal fees responding to the challenge. They were denied on the grounds their business was not necessary.

Stephanie died last year, but Arty is continuing the fight they started by recently filing a federal lawsuit challenging the competitors-veto law. I represent him through the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal organization that defends the rights of entrepreneurs and small-business owners to earn a living free of arbitrary restrictions.

The states lawyers argue that the competitors-veto law is rational. But that makes little sense to Arty. People are flabbergasted when we tell them we cannot do a move within the state of West Virginia, he said. I can move you to Brazil, I can move you to Wisconsin. But for no good reason, Im not allowed to do a move in West Virginia, 11 miles from my office. . . . On behalf of everyones right to engage in honest free enterprise, I am determined to get this un-American law struck down.

Like Starbucks and Google, Arty just wants the opportunity to let consumers, not competitors, decide whether he should be able to serve the public.If his lawsuit is successful, it will be a victory not just for economic liberty in West Virginia, but also for the nationwide campaign against restrictions that promote cartels and crony capitalism by vetoing consumer choice and free enterprise.

The writer, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, represents Arty Vogt in his challenge to West Virginias competitors veto law for the moving industry.
Sixteen years ago I awaited the arrival of Election Day, anxious but hopeful. I was a part of a presidential campaign that had challenged the stereotype of Republicanism with a series of policy proposals on education, addiction treatment and other elements of social welfare. Suspend, for a moment, your views on the efficacy of No Child Left Behind and the faith-based initiative. Accept that we viewed the coming election  if we won  as the mandate for a certain model of governance.

I was deeply and personally invested in the outcome of the 2000 election. I believed that the reform of Republican ideology would serve the whole country, the common good. When I walked into the West Wing for the first time, and entered the Roosevelt Room just as the picture above the fireplace was being switched from Franklin to Teddy, I felt the continuity and burden of a noble experiment in self-government.

In his first inaugural address (a document I helped produce), President George W. Bush expressed the goal of his administration this way: Sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent but not a country. We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.

We were not, of course, unique in this idealism. This was the commitment of Barack Obamas administration when it entered the White House. And Bill Clintons administration. And nearly all that preceded them.

Donald Trump addressed the GOP convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 21. The Republican presidential candidate spoke for more than one hour, we broke it down to less than five minutes. (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post)

[Fellow millennials: I know youre frustrated. Vote anyway.]

I own up to being even more emotionally entangled in the result of the 2016 election  not because of any change in policy or ideology, but because of Donald Trumps proposed shift in the very purpose of the presidency. His political theory, such as it is, is us vs. them. The them may be Republican elites, or liberal elites, or migrants or Mexicans or Muslims. Trump would be elected on the promise of fighting, rounding up, jailing or humbling any number of personal and political opponents. Take away this appeal, and there is nothing left but grasping, pathetic vanity.

The undercurrents of economic anxiety and cultural disorientation that Trump exploits are real, deserving both attention and sympathy. But Trump has organized these resentments with an unprecedented message: The United States is weak and broken, a hell of crime, terrorism and expanding misery, beset from within and without, and now in need of a strong hand  his strong hand  to turn things around.

The single most frightening, anti-democratic phrase of modern presidential history came in Trumps convention speech: I alone can fix it. A Trump victory would be a mandate for authoritarian politics. Trumps ambitions would be bounded by strong legislative and legal institutions and by his own risible ignorance of real leadership. But a Trump administration would be a concession to the idea that America needs a little more China, a little more Russia, a little more so let it be written, so let it be done in its executive branch.

I never imagined that Republican leaders  many of whom I know and have respected  would fall in line with such dangerous delusions, on the theory that anything is better than Hillary Clinton. Most options are better than Clinton. But not all. And not this. The GOP has largely accommodated itself to a candidate with no respect for, or knowledge of, the constitutional order. Every constitutional conservative should be revolted. Those who are complicit have adopted a particularly dangerous form of power-loving hypocrisy.

[Final days, awful choice]

But now, with polls tightening, it may not only be Republicans who abandon central tenets of their democratic faith. It is almost beyond belief that Americans should bless and normalize Trumps appeal. Normalize vindictiveness and prejudice. Normalize bragging about sexual assault and the objectification of women. Normalize conspiracy theories and the abandonment of reason. Normalize contempt for the vulnerable, including disabled people and refugees fleeing oppression. Normalize a political tone that dehumanizes opponents and excuses violence. Normalize an appeal to white identity in a nation where racial discord and conflict are always close to the surface. Normalize every shouted epithet, every cruel ethnic and religious stereotype, every act of bullying in the cause of American greatness.

In the end, a Trump victory would normalize the belief that the structures of self-government are unequal to the crisis of our time. And this would not merely replace the presidential portrait above the fireplace. It would deface it.

Read more from Michael Gersons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook .
Cherise Fanno Burdeen is chief executive of the Pretrial Justice Institute. Marc Schindler is executive director of the Justice Policy Institute.

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) last month concluded that two key aspects of Marylands money-bail practices  the failure to assess a persons ability to pay before setting money bail and the failure to assess ones inability to pay resulting in pretrial detention  would not stand up to constitutional scrutiny.

And a legal challenge seems likely. Nearly a dozen localities  places in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and more  through civil rights litigation have been forced to change pretrial practices. These lawsuits have resulted in the immediate release of people held on bonds they could not meet and in changes to court policies. The Justice Department even took the rare step of weighing in on one of these cases, echoing Froshs assertion: Pretrial detention or release that hinges on an individuals ability to pay is bad practice and almost certainly unconstitutional.

The attorney generals opinion offers lawmakers a path to avoid similar litigation. Unless state leaders take action, Maryland could join the jurisdictions that have had changes to bail practice imposed on them. Instead, Maryland legislators should replace the money-based pretrial system with a more effective, less expensive evidence-based approach that results in the nonfinancial release of most people and risk-based detention for the few who are a threat to public safety or of flight.

If ones liberty is dependent upon the payment of money bail, it is clear that courts have a duty to meaningfully assess the individuals ability to pay. But looking into every arrested persons financial assets would be a challenge for a system already stretched thin.

Instead, we should move toward taking money out of the process altogether and use science-based, actuarial risk-assessment tools to better understand the pretrial risks each person poses, like those used in other states and localities. In Maryland, they would show that most people who are arrested are low- or medium-risk and should be released without unnecessary conditions. Some Maryland jurisdictions, including Baltimore City and Harford and Montgomery counties, already incorporate these tools into the pretrial process, but they still assign money bail as a condition of release, rendering the risk-finding essentially moot.

The attorney general also voiced concern about the legality of detaining those who cannot afford the bail amount assigned to them. From the thousands of jailed defendants who cannot pay small bail amounts to the few who make headlines with million-dollar bonds meant to keep them behind bars, this practice is counter to constitutional protections.

The attorney general described the problem simply: You cant imprison someone for poverty. For one guy, $1,000 bail is no big deal. For somebody else, they might not have 100 bucks, much less $1,000.

Again, risk-based pretrial justice provides a solution. Legally, only those for whom no court-ordered condition or set of conditions can ensure compliance upon release should be held. The best way to know who fits this small set of high-risk individuals  typically about 8 percent of defendants  is through risk assessment, combined with judicial discretion. Places such as the District and New Jersey have changed their laws to allow for outright risk-based detention  with due process and transparency  and Maryland should do the same, solving the money-based detention issue.

The attorney generals office submitted a letter to the judiciarys rules committee asking for changes to the states bail system, bringing pretrial practices more in line with constitutional requirements. This is a step in the right direction, and legislators should follow suit and finally remove money from the process once and for all.

If theres one lesson Maryland  and other states  can take from the recent bail-related civil rights litigation, its that it is better to voluntarily design reform rather than be forced into immediate and costly actions by court rulings. Maryland has a chance to build on several years of state-level work to preemptively improve the states pretrial systems. The attorney generals opinion gives policymakers yet another reason to maintain the momentum to make pretrial justice safer, fairer and more effective in Maryland.
Whoever wins Tuesdays presidential election will face an assertive, aggrieved Russia whose risk-taking behavior under President Vladimir Putin is increasingly worrisome to U.S. experts.

Todays pushy, headstrong Russia presents a paradox: By most measures, it is a country in decline, with a sagging economy, an underdeveloped technology base and a shrinking population. Corruption pervades nearly every sector. The collapse of the Soviet Union is still an open wound, and many Russians blame the United States for taking advantage of them during their years of decline.

Yet this inwardly weak Russia displays the cockiness of a street fighter. It is waging war in Syria, Ukraine and cyberspace with a seeming disdain for U.S. power. According to Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., Russian hackers sought to interfere with the U.S. election process, on authority of the highest levels of the Russian government.

Putins definition of risk-taking has evolved in the direction of greater boldness and less attention to how it will affect the U.S., argues Dimitri Simes, president of the Center for the National Interest. Putin thinks that American positive inducements are next to nonexistent, and that the penalties are minimal, and will be imposed whatever he does.

The next president must assess how to alter Russian behavior without direct military confrontation. Is that best done by cutting deals with Putin, as Donald Trump suggests? Or should it be a firmer process of asserting U.S. power and interests, as Hillary Clinton has argued? This may be the biggest national-security issue in the election.

At the third and final presidential debate, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Russian President Vladimir Putin would "rather have a puppet as president." (The Washington Post)

Future U.S. strategy should begin with a clear understanding of how Putins Kremlin looks at the world. And here, leading U.S. analysts offer some disturbing warnings. Moscow sees itself as the wounded party, fighting back after decades of U.S. supremacy. Putin, the ex-KGB officer, is turning the tools of covert subversion and information operations developed during the Cold War back against the United States.

The evidence does not seem to suggest that Putin favors one candidate over the other this November. Instead, it suggests that he favors chaos. He wants the American political process to look bad, writes national security analyst James Ludes in a blog post for War on the Rocks titled The Russians Read our Cold War Playbook. Moscows new propaganda themes include U.S. government surveillance, political corruption that benefits elites and rigged elections, he argues.

Russias strategy has been characterized as hybrid warfare, but historian Angus E. Goldberg contends in Small Wars Journal that a better term is the Russian word bespredel, which means absence of limits, or anything goes. The word is often used to describe the behavior of the corrupt oligarchs who have prospered in Putins Russia.

Moscows new weapons range across the spectrum of hard and soft power, overt and covert. What binds them together as a coherent system is the willingness of the Russian Federation to implement them without any constraints, writes Goldberg.

Putin himself displays an unusual combination of personal traits. He can be emotional, headstrong, even impulsive, argues Stephen Sestanovich, a Russia expert at Columbia University. But Putin is also calculating. The Russians have a saying: Measure seven times, cut once. Hes that kind of careful guy.

Over the past few years, Putins risk tolerance has clearly grown. In the history of the Cold War, they never did anything remotely like the intervention in Syria, notes Sestanovich. Moscow calculates that the risk of dangerous payback is less than it used to be.

Putins behavior is also shaped by the increasing ascendancy of military and intelligence officials in his inner circle. Like Putin, they are Cold War veterans with a sense of grievance against the United States. A well-placed Russian recently described to Simes the worldview of these Kremlin insiders: We are being surrounded. America wants to destroy us. The only thing they understand is force.

At a rally in Springfield, Ohio, Oct. 27, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he wished the U.S. actually got along with Russia so they could defeat the Islamic State together. (The Washington Post)

So back to the question for Election Day: Which approach to dealing with this newly threatening Russia makes the most sense? Many analysts fear that Trumps conciliatory words would be read in Moscow as a sign of U.S. exhaustion and feed new demands. Cybersecurity expert Dmitri Alperovitch argued in a recent podcast with War on the Rocks that if Moscows covert meddling isnt deterred, its going to be played over and over again across the globe.

Clintons tougher stance sounds like a better way to protect U.S. interests, so long as she doesnt make Putin feel humiliated or backed into a corner. This Russia is weaker than it looks, but it has been wounded by recent history and is all too ready to lash out.

Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
IT WAS disruptive enough that James B. Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, injected last-minute uncertainty into the presidential campaign by announcing discovery of additional emails in the investigation of Hillary Clintons private server. Mr. Comeys explanation for the disclosure, that he needed to keep Congress informed, was dubious, and the damaging impact, casting a new shadow over Ms. Clinton, was tangible. In the days since, the FBIs behavior has grown even more questionable. FBI sources have fanned new doubts about Ms. Clintons candidacy with inaccurate leaks about an investigation of the Clinton Foundation. This reflects poorly on Mr. Comeys leadership and on the FBI.

Former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. wrote in The Post the other day that the Justice Department, which includes the FBI, has a policy of not taking unnecessary action close in time to Election Day that might influence an elections outcome. Mr. Holder said rules he approved are intended to ensure that every investigation proceeds fairly and judiciously; to maintain the public trust in the departments ability to do its job free of political influence; and to prevent investigations from unfairly or unintentionally casting public suspicion on public officials who have done nothing wrong.

The FBI, or at least a part it, has blasted right through Mr. Holders rules. According to reports Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal and Thursday in The Post, agents based in New York thought they should investigate whether donors to the Clinton family charity were given improper benefits by the State Department when Ms. Clinton was secretary. They were motivated in part by Clinton Cash, a book by the conservative author Peter Schweizer that was published in May 2015. According to The Posts account, when the FBI agents took their desire to probe the foundation to higher-ups, they were advised the evidence was thin. Nothing abnormal about that; prosecutors and officials use their judgment about what cases to pursue all the time.

But this group of New York agents apparently was unsatisfied, and someone decided to prosecute the case through leaks days before the presidential election. Most irresponsible of all was Fox News anchor Bret Baier, who declared an avalanche of evidence is coming every day and an expansive investigation into the foundation was ongoing and would lead to likely an indictment. Without any substantiation whatsoever  indictments are returned by grand juries, not by special agents of the FBI  the headlines took off. The false report of an impending indictment was then repeated by Donald Trump. Mr. Baier apologized on Friday for a mistake, but the political damage had already been done.

We can only guess at the motives of the FBI agents behind this politicization of law enforcement, but their behavior is sickening. The campaign has been hard enough with the ugly chants of lock her up. The last thing we need is to find the fingerprints of the nations premier law enforcement agency all over an 11th-hour smear of Ms. Clinton.
David Treuer is Ojibwe from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota and the author of the novel Prudence.

Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux (Lakota) spiritual leader, was born in 1863 in the Powder River country and died in 1950 at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It seems every stage of his life was inextricably linked with the larger events that have come to stand in for the whole of the Indian experience in North America: the nomadic days of hunting bison on the plains; fighting with Crazy Horse (his cousin) and Sitting Bull at the Battle of the Little Bighorn; the destruction of the bison herds and the beginning of reservation life. He was an actor in Buffalo Bills Wild West shows in the United States and Europe; was present at the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890; was a conflicted convert to Catholicism in the early 20th century and the father of children who were sent to Carlisle Indian Boarding School. Late in his life he cooperated with John Neihardt, who shepherded the 1932 book Black Elk Speaks, which explored his spiritual vision and the struggles of his people and became an attractive alternative to Western thought and practice.

Joe Jackson has expertly taken Black Elks life  as narrated by himself in the transcripts of his interviews with Neihardt  and woven that together with other records and histories of him and his times. The result is that Jackson has firmly situated Black Elk in the context of Indian struggles on the plains from 1850 through 1950. He uses Black Elk to bring home the radical changes that confronted most Indians during this time and, in doing so, creates a deeply felt and personal story of loss and change on the plains.

Jacksons account of Black Elks early years is the best. And the long set piece concerning the Battle of the Little Bighorn is among the very best Ive ever read: He takes us close enough to get the feel of the battle and yet not so close that we lose sight of the whole thing. He blends the personal (using soldiers diaries, Black Elks account and the transcripts of the inquests afterward) with the martial (troop movements, battlefield records) to create a vivid and moving account of the battle that destroyed Gen. George Custer and the 7th Cavalry on the field and brought the full weight of the U.S. government to bear on the Sioux Nation. In the aftermath, he writes in direct, lucid prose, Black Elk picked his way farther up the gulch. . . . The boys surrounded those retaining the slightest spark of life, shot them full of arrows, pushed those already in their bodies farther in. . . . He noticed a dying soldier with an engraved gold watch hanging from his belt: he took the watch and shot the dying man. He ascended the hill to where greater numbers of soldiers lay in clumps and guessed this is where the fight had ended. One of the boys ran up and asked him to scalp a soldier; Black Elk handed over the scalp and the boy ran off to show his mother.

"Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary," by Joe Jackson (FSG)

There are moments, some of them minor, when Jackson more or less colors in the story, providing details where none exist in the record: how the sunset looked, the colors of the horses people were riding. At other times, the imputational element is very jarring  when Jackson bestows undocumented emotions and thoughts on people. Speaking of Black Elks first wife, Katie, Jackson writes that she would have wanted Black Elk to convert. No record of what Katie wanted (or didnt want) exists. Jackson does this often in the latter half of the book. This is less history than it is storytelling.

At times, Jackson also trades nuance for certainty. The book Black Elk Speaks (which is the main reason Black Elk is such an interesting representative of his times) was filtered through questions asked by Neihardt. Black Elks son Ben translated the questions and then translated his fathers answers into English. Neihardts daughter Hilda transcribed the conversations, and the whole was interpreted poetically by Neihardt. As such, it was certainly influenced by four different perspectives (not to mention that of the publisher). Jackson waves these multiple filters away in order to assert certainty about certain elements that may not have existed. This, I suppose, is what the market demands (who wants dithering, after all?), but it does affect the meaning.

Jacksons book is replete with troubling language. Throughout, he refers to Indian men as braves and Indian women as squaws, and often calls young children papooses. I am always surprised (but perhaps shouldnt be) that non-native writers need to be reminded in the 21st century that such terms are offensive and derogatory. These were words that, historically, at least, deprived Indians of their full humanity and are out of place (if not completely inappropriate) in a book that seems to want to do the opposite: restore to individuals their long-denied humanity. As an Indian, I find myself questioning the entire book because of the use of these words. How could this book speak to me, how could it be for me, if my people are described with such disregard?

Neihardt was a brilliant, sympathetic, sensitive man who seems to have had Black Elks interests at heart. There is no reason to doubt the same of Jackson. But both men could be seen as unthinking in some ways: They both make Black Elks life mean what they want it to mean; they overlook nuance and subtlety of character in the rush to tell their stories. But nuance and uncertainty have much to reveal: When humans contradict themselves, when their motives and meanings are unclear, thats where our true humanity resides.
Have you been high on energy over the last month of festivities? It's time to make amends.

The festive might be over but your happiness need not end. Photo: Pexels

By India Today Web Desk: If you say you haven't over-indulged during Diwali, you're either in denial or have a very strong will-power.

With sweets, parties and shopping, the buildup around Diwali and other festivals is the stuff dreams are made of especially for those enthusiastic people who believe in celebrating it to the fullest.

Be it binging on fried snacks and alcohol, staying up late at night or missing gym sessions--we've all been there, done that. But what now?

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Also read: Sluggishness, acidity, fatigue? 5 easy post-Diwali detox tricks to kick-start your system again



The day after Diwali leaves everyone gloomy-- the infamous post-festive blues, as you may call it. It makes you realise that the festive season has taken a toll on not only your health, but also on you skin and hair.

But you don't need to worry! Make these easy lifestyle changes and help your body, health and mind get back on track.

Here are 5 ways to fight those post-festive blues:



1. Get enough sleep

After the festivities are over, it's highly recommended that you go back to your daily sleep routine. Make up for the sleep that you've lost while staying up late partying or celebrating. To emphasise upon the importance of sleep will be stupid, but we still will. Sleep is the best way to get rid of low-energy, Lack of sleep can also make you more prone to stress and anxiety.



Picture Courtesy: Pexels

2. Resume your workout sessions

It's understandable that your fitness regime goes for a toss during Diwali and that finding time to exercise during the festive rush isn't easy. But combining oily and calorie-rich foods with no exercise can be dangerous for your overall health. So now that Diwali is over, it is time to get going since you probably will have to work extra hard to shed those extra kilos that you've piled on during this time.



Start with brisk walks for short distances, climbing stairs or stretching at regular intervals before you get back to your gym schedule.



Picture Courtesy: Pexels

3. Get back to mindful eating

After pouncing on the oil-rich food items and calorie-laden sweets, it's now time to cut back anything that is deep-fried or extremely sweet. The vicious cycle of overeating and feeling guilty should be countered by going easy on oil and sugar for some days. It is better to avoid heavy meals and food rich in carbohydrates. An increase in the intake of fibre and fruits is highly recommended.



Picture Courtesy: Pexels

Also read: The detox plan you must try after the long party season



4. Go for a post-Diwali salon/spa treatment

The festivities Diwali can leave your skin tired and hair under-nourished. The main reason? The little attention paid to them during the festive season. Many salons and spas offer post-Diwali treatments that can help in detoxifying your skin and rejuvenating your body--both physically and mentally. Foot treatments, facials or a simple oil massage can make you feel pampered and relaxed, thereby, boosting your detox routine.



Picture Courtesy: Pexels Picture Courtesy: Pexels

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With festivities in full-swing one obviously has a lot of things to take care of. Under such circumstances, keeping a track of your personal and professional tasks becomes next to impossible. You tend to put things on hold due to the festival season--but now that it's all over, it's time to wind up those incomplete tasks.



Getting accustomed to work again makes you feel anxious as you are not out of the festive mode. The solution--take it slow, but make sure you complete all your work.



Picture Courtesy: Pexels

So keep your detox routine in place because the wedding season is knocking at your door already!

--- ENDS ---
In his Nov. 3 letter, A one-sided Israeli history, Mohamed Shalabi, the media affairs officer for the General Delegation of the PLO to the United States, claimed that Israels occupation is the root cause of the lack of peace in the region. However, no country has ended a postwar occupation without ensuring that it would suffer no further attacks. That was true, for example, in the U.S. occupation of Germany and Japan after World War II. Israel would be crazy to withdraw its troops while the Palestinians remained intent on destroying it.

I claim that the real root cause is the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state and agree to live peacefully beside it. There can be no peace with an enemy who wants to destroy you.

Rodney Brooks, Silver Spring
A poster of Martin Luther King Jr. reflects on MLK Avenue SE in Anacostia, a block from the new Anacostia Playhouse in Washington. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Gentrification is often considered a threat to the landscape of the District and its diverse and distinctive wards. It threatens the historic character of neighborhoods and can drive longtime residents from their homes and even the city.

One group especially hurt by gentrification is the Districts well-developed network of nonprofits. Local nonprofits are already seeing fortunes dramatically reshaped by gentrification, and some have been forced to change the way they operate to respond to demographic shifts. Additionally, nonprofit facilities are being displaced by the rising costs of operating in the city.

The plight of the Districts nonprofit organizations has been a focus of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center. Working in cooperation with Compass, a strategic planning and consulting firm for nonprofits, the Pro Bono Center surveyed D.C. nonprofits to assess the impact of gentrification and devise strategies to help local agencies sustain their missions.

The survey revealed serious and ongoing challenges. One nonprofit in Columbia Heights had to change its operations to reach Spanish-speaking clients who continue to work in the community but can no longer afford to live there. Another, located in Adams Morgan, had to open several branches to reach school-age clients who no longer live in the immediate neighborhood and cannot travel to Adams Morgan to take part in its after-school activities.

Certainly, the Districts redevelopment has been a boon to the economy as new residents and corporations come to the city. The median household income has increased substantially, and the citys racial and ethnic makeup has become more diverse. These changes present opportunities for nonprofits, providing new avenues for financial support and volunteer recruitment.

Still, the arrival of affluent people in the District has driven up rents, displaced nonprofit clients and sometimes caused conflict with legacy nonprofits doing business in newly rejuvenated neighborhoods. One nonprofit serving the homeless now has to spend significant time educating its affluent neighbors who recently moved into the area about the need for its services.

But gentrification does not affect nonprofits equally. There have been fewer conflicts in transitioning neighborhoods for child-care and arts-education programs. Organizations that serve homeless people, people with mental illness or recently incarcerated clients have encountered severe hurdles.

Larger nonprofits have been able to hire consultants to guide them through development-related hurdles, but smaller ones have suffered.

For example, rising rents have forced several nonprofits that assist victims of domestic violence to cut back their transitional housing and rent subsidies for clients who have fled abusive relationships. This reduction in services has come at a time when the number of domestic violence-related calls to police has increased from about 31,000 calls in 2011 to 34,966 calls last year.

What must be done? Pro bono legal assistance is important to help nonprofits of all sizes deal with the legal challenges created by gentrification, including purchasing space, securing financing for the construction of new facilities and negotiating lease agreements. While good legal assistance mitigates the impact of gentrification, it does not address the far-reaching economic and social costs to D.C. nonprofits and their clients.

The District government has provided funding to many nonprofit groups that provide essential services for residents, yet it has not always fully recognized overhead costs. For example, if a nonprofit starts an after-school program, the District may fund direct costs for running the program, but it does not always fully fund the programs share of the cost of keeping the nonprofit open: rent, computer systems, insurance, accounting fees and the salaries of administrative staff. Even more significant, it doesnt provide assistance to nonprofits to meet the long-term challenges of continuing to operate in the District.

Additional support could take many forms: providing guaranteed funding for general operating expenses in all nonprofit grants, similar to what the federal government provides, and funding planning grants and moving expenses for nonprofits forced to relocate.

The timing of this effort is particularly advantageous given the work being done this fall on the Comprehensive Plan by the D.C. Office of Planning, which is amending the document that outlines the Districts strategy for future commercial and residential development. Nonprofits and their clients must be heard and considered in the deliberations on the amendments to the plan.

Many cities do not enjoy the level of nonprofit support found here. The District government, the funding community and the general public must face up to the peril posed by gentrification to D.C. nonprofits and act swiftly to address it  or risk losing vital nonprofit organizations in the face of ongoing development.

The writer is staff liaison with the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center.
Lifespans are declining in many American communities, with increases in suicides and drug overdoses in the hinterlands. Obamacare notwithstanding, millions of Americans still lack adequate and affordable health-care insurance. American education, once world-class, has become so test-centric that it has become unstimulating to teachers and students alike. After decades of neglect, our once-proud infrastructure is a national embarrassment.

Retirement is precarious, thanks to the near-total extinction of the defined-benefit pension and the necessary gambling of retirement savings in the stock market. Job security is a thing of the past for most.

We witness African Americans being abused and killed by police officers who are usually not held to account for their actions. Economic inequality is at levels last seen before the 1929 stock market crash, and rising home prices and speculation in real estate fuel the gentrification that leads to the expulsion of longtime residents from cities, including the District.

Its laughable, then, to read the Oct. 30 Sunday Opinion essay These are the good old days, by Gerald S. Rose, an 88-year-old white man living in Falls Church who tells us this is the best of times. Viewed through the prism of our own experiences, life is pretty much what one makes of it. But to extrapolate that extremely narrow view to the other 7 billion humans living on this planet is, to put it charitably, absurd.

John Woodmaska, Kearny, N.J.
Over the course of this campaign, I have heard from many people who have cheered my opposition to Donald Trump. But others have objected, arguing that I was being biased, that Hillary Clinton has many flaws as well. So let me try to explain, one last time, why Donald Trump is worth special attention.

I am not a highly partisan person. I have views that are left of center, but others that are conservative. I came to this country when Ronald Reagan was president and admired him. I think well of many Republican politicians, including the last two GOP presidential nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney, both of whom are honorable men who would have been good presidents.

Donald Trump is different  not just because he is obnoxious, tacky and vulgar, or because his business dealings show him to be a scam artist. He is different because of what he believes.

The simplest way to understand Trumps core beliefs is to look at his words and actions, not just today but well before. Politicians pander to voters, and Trumps views on Social Security and Medicare (which he promises not to touch) and taxes (which he promises to cut) seem pretty insincere, reflections of what he thinks his supporters want to hear. But he does have deeper beliefs, values and instincts.

The first area that stands out is race. Trump has consistently expressed himself  in word and deed  in ways that can only be described as racist. In his earliest years as a developer, he was sued by the Justice Department for allegedly denying housing to qualified black people. In the case of the Central Park Five, Trump jumped into the public arena, taking out full-page ads assailing the accused black teenagers and demanding that when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. Most strikingly, he refused to back down when DNA evidence had clearly exonerated the five men, and New York City was forced to pay $41 million in damages for wrongfully imprisoning them for up to 13 years.

Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the U.S. in December. But since then, his commitment to a "total and complete shutdown" has wavered repeatedly. Here's how. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Trump seems to believe in ethnic stereotypes deeply. He boasts of his own bloodline and compares it to breeding racehorses. In a 1991 book, one of his associates described him as horrified to see African Americans in his accounting department at two of his hotels, quoting Trump as saying, 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. Trump acknowledged the veracity of these comments in a later Playboy interview, before walking it back in a 1999 NBC interview, calling it nonsense.

Trump has also always been a protectionist. In the 1980s, he was sure that the Japanese were about to take over the world and that the only solution was tariffs and trade wars. He doesnt seem to have noticed that the future he predicted never happened. Undeterred, he has now focused his wrath on China, just as that economy has begun to slow down, and Mexico, a country so small that its effect on the U.S. economy is minimal. The common thread is that Trump is quick to tell Americans facing economic hardship that they should blame their problems on foreigners.

If there is one view that Trump has expressed consistently, openly and with relish, it is that women exist fundamentally as objects for mens pleasure. He has said and done dozens of things over 30 years that confirm this demeaning view of women  in interviews with Howard Stern, during his ownership of the Miss Universe pageant, when describing working women, and when debating female candidates such as Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton. Trump once said in New York magazine about women, You have to treat em like s---.

Finally, Trump has expressed impatience and contempt for many of the foundations of liberal democracy. He has repeatedly promised to change laws to make it easier to punish journalists who offend him. He has threatened people who contributed to his Republican opponents, implying that he would have the government look into their business affairs. He has proposed a number of policies that are illiberal, unconstitutional or even war crimes, such as banning all Muslims from entering the United States, and waterboarding suspected terrorists and killing their families. He has compared his ideas to the internment of U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II, implying that he approved of that measure. And he has threatened to jail his opponent if elected.

These, then, are the core views of Donald Trump, expressed over decades, and confirmed by many of his actions: racism, sexism, protectionism, xenophobia and authoritarianism. His views on taxes and regulations are irrelevant. Your view of Hillary Clinton is irrelevant. Donald Trump is not a normal candidate. He is a danger to American democracy. And that is why I will vote against him on Tuesday.

Read more from Fareed Zakarias archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.


On Nov. 3 in El Paso, Leonardo Wong, 71, voted for the first time in his life. (David Weigel/The Washington Post)

On Wednesday, shortly after El Paso County broke its record for early voting, Andres Villalobos walked into the downtown courthouse and cast a ballot for Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats. He was 65 years old and had earned American citizenship after years of crossing back and forth across the Mexican border, a few blocks away.

But he had never voted before. Nothing had compelled him to vote until Donald Trump ran for president. If Trump won the presidency, he predicted the absolute worst.

Maybe chaos, he said. It would be ugly  very, very bad for the economy, for the city, for everyone. It would be bad for the border. It wouldnt work.

Leonardo Wong, 71, was also casting his first vote. He had registered while renewing the passport that let him walk back and forth across the border, and he had gotten behind Hillary Clinton.

I dont think everybodys a rapist and everybodys a narco like Trump says, Wong said, referring to Trumps claims that many Mexicans crossing into the United States are violent criminals.

Texas is expected to go Republican this year, as it has in every presidential election since 1980. At Trumps lowest point, when he was buried by his own gaffes and debate performances, the state closed to single digits in polling; the latest polls have him leading by closer to 10 points.

[As race tightens, Clinton campaign is counting on minority support]

But Democrats have watched a turnout surge wash over the states most urban, least white areas. In 10 days of early voting, more than 115,000 ballots were cast in El Paso County, blowing past the record set in 2008. Turnout was up by 64 percent over 2012; it was up by close to 40 percent around Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

As the presidential race tightens, Democrats are going after voters in the Republican stronghold of Georgia. In Gwinnett County, a rising number of minorities could be changing the political landscape. (Alice Li/The Washington Post)

Turnout has also grown in the deep red suburbs, but in El Paso, Democrats are no longer struggling to get their voters to the polls. According to We(Fillintheblank), a student-run political group that conducts the areas only exit polling, Clinton is on track to win 71 percent of the vote in El Paso, better than any Democrat since the Texas Republican Party became competitive.

The Trump candidacy has challenged a Republican project that had succeeded in Texas more than in any state  a coalition between conservative whites and culturally conservative Latino voters. Republicans, who have controlled every statewide office here since 1998, have won supermajorities of white voters and courted enough Latino votes to make the Democratic Party irrelevant.

[Early voting by Latinos may help Clinton in several states]

It was supposed to show Republicans the way to a one-party future. In 1998, during a reelection campaign designed to prove his appeal to voters beyond Texas, then-Gov. George W. Bush campaigned hard in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso. I want it to be known that a conservative candidate can carry the Hispanic vote, he told reporters.

He did so, and won El Paso, a feat he did not repeat in his campaigns for president. In Bushs wake, even as the national party abandoned immigration reform, Democrats struggled to activate Latinos in Texas the way that they had in California, or Arizona, or the Midwestern states where there were more recent immigrants.

The struggle won national attention  the bad kind  in 2014. Battleground Texas, a political action committee created by Obama-campaign veterans, was launched on the theory that early spending and organizing could activate a slumbering nonwhite vote. Texas isnt as red of a state as people say it is, if you look at the numbers, senior adviser Jeremy Bird said at the launch event.

The numbers did not change. Republican Greg Abbott, elected governor in a landslide two years ago, out-campaigned Democrat Wendy Davis with Latinos. Ads in the Rio Grande Valley played up Abbotts marriage to a Mexican American. Turnout in El Paso fell by more than half of its 2012 total, allowing now-Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) to flip a House seat that Democrats had considered safe.

Then came Trump. Some Texas Republicans had been edging toward his rhetoric, away from the Bush approach. Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor elected in 2014, did not sound different from Trump on the border, or when he crusaded against college tuition for undocumented immigrants in Texas. But voter awareness of Patrick was minimal; Trump blotted out the sun. Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Tex.), who in 2012 defeated an incumbent who had relied on the teetering Democratic machine, had never encountered a line for early voting. The line was 45 minutes long this year.



Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Tex.) at the Kentucky Club in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Nov. 4. (David Weigel/The Washington Post)

There wasnt even a whole lot that someone like me needed to do to encourage that, ORourke said. Finally, there was a very clear reason to vote.

In the summer, El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar began to notice that people who crowded into the semiannual citizenship ceremonies dashed across the courthouse to get registered to vote.

I think everyone understands how closely tied we are to Mexico, Escobar said, sitting in her office near one of the voting sites. We lived through the devaluation of the peso, and when it happened, our economy was devastated. Insulting our most important economic partner and wanting to isolate it from us  most people here realize thered be an economic price, and we would pay it.

The border described by Trump simply did not resemble the one many El Pasoans see. The Republican nominee was not wrong about the drug wars in Ciudad Juarez or the smugglers constantly changing their tactics to get opium and meth into the United States. But El Paso is growing. Unemployment is sinking. Thanks in large part to a policing buildup on the border, someone in Dallas or Houston was twice as likely to be a victim of violent crime. What was Trump talking about?

Hes an embarrassment, said Ana Morales, 31, a victims advocate who works with noncitizens and frets about how a Trump presidency would affect them. I think he would put up a lot of barriers. There are very vulnerable people who would be hurt by him.

Said Edna Ortega, 42: It would be like East Berlin. He would bring in an authoritarian type of government  very racist.



Judge Veronica Escobar in her office in El Paso on Nov. 4. (David Weigel/The Washington Post)

Republicans, who do not need El Paso to win the state, said that Trumps impact would be overrated. On Thursday, the local Republican Party headquarters was quiet but active. One volunteer made calls, near signs that advertised the summer social-media campaign to bring Trump to El Paso. (He never came.) Adolpho Telles, the county chairman, insisted that plenty of Democrats were quietly telling him that they would buck the tide and vote for Trump.

People dont necessarily like the fence idea, the wall idea, whatever you want to call it, he said. But when the cameras are off, they will tell you: They dont believe in illegal immigration. They do believe in securing the border.

In dozens of interviews at the polls, Trump supporters were happy to talk. None said that they were voting Republican because of Trumps immigration policy. Mike and Destiny Tipton, 32 and 34, said Clintons record at the State Department put them off.

These email things never seem to go away, said Mike Tipton, referring to a later-retracted Fox News report that Clinton risked indictment.

Im disappointed with her over the whole Benghazi thing, Destiny Tipton said.

Those sentiments were usually outweighed by genuine terror of Trump  and often admiration for Clinton. Some voters who spoke only Spanish talked about a hypothetical Trump presidency the way that tea party conservatives once discussed President Obamas reelection  a world-shattering event, the end of America as they knew it. At a polling station inside the Bassett Place mall, the Thursday lunch hour found a steady stream of voters entering, filling out their ballots quickly and exiting to explain why they had voted for Clinton.

Frank Noriega, 72, accompanied his wife as she voted for Clinton, then stayed behind to finish some errands. He had long ago decided to oppose Trump. The mystery, to him, was why more people didnt seem to trust Clinton.

Shes out there with regular public. She talks to them, he said. For all the stuff thats come out, theyve never proven she did anything wrong. If they had the proof, she couldnt be running.

Ed OKeefe in Washington contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called on supporters to vote and volunteer in the final days of the election. Rapper Jay Z closed the concert by performing his 1998 single "Hard Knock Life." (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called on supporters to vote and volunteer in the final days of the election. Rapper Jay Z closed the concert by performing his 1998 single "Hard Knock Life." (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

CLEVELAND  Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton capped a long day on the campaign trail Friday by appearing on a concert stage here with both Jay Z and Beyonce and urging supporters to take this energy out with you.

I want to be a president who helps everybody fulfill their God-given potential, Clinton told the crowd, saying the election offered a stark choice between the vision of her Republican opponent Donald Trump and the country she wants.

Will we reject a dark and divisive vision for our future and embrace a hopeful, inclusive, unified America? Clinton asked.

The concert was the latest staged by the Clinton campaign with the aim of boosting enthusiasm for her presidential bid. It came just four days before the election and as polls show the race is tightening and still volatile.

Jay Z was booked as the headliner at Friday nights performance, but he also was joined by his wife, who offered an endorsement of Clinton, noting the historic nature of her bid.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took a dig at Democratic rival Hillary Clinton saying that he didn't need to bring artists such as Jennifer Lopez and Jay Z to his campaign rallies. Clinton is expected to campaign with rapper Jay Z in Cleveland Nov. 4. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

There was a time when a womans opinion did not matter, Beyonce said. Look how far weve come from having no voice to being on the brink of history.

Clinton took the stage about two hours after Trump held his final event of the day in Hershey, Pa., where he declared our countrys gone to hell.

The GOP nominee pledged to secure the borders, rebuild inner cities and end government corruption during a raucous rally in a Democratic-leaning state he is trying to tip in his direction.

Trump also faced a new controversy Friday night as the Associated Press reported that his wife, Melania, was paid for 10 modeling jobs before she received legal authorization to work in the United States in 1996.

The AP cited detailed ledgers from Melania Trumps modeling agency, as well as a contract she signed with the firm, concluding the modeling assignments would have been outside the bounds of her visa.

Melania Trump, who became a U.S. citizen in 2006, has always maintained that she arrived in the country legally and never violated the terms of her immigration status.

There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign.

1 of 8 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Eight of the most memorable moments from the 2016 presidential campaign View Photos A look at some of the historic, amusing and cringe-inducing events of the race between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Caption A look at some of the historic, amusing and cringe-inducing events of the race between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Entering the race In June of 2015, Donald Trump entered the presidential race with a bang. After arriving to make the announcement on an escalator at Trump Tower, he would go on to make several explosive statements, including calling Mexicans rapists and promising to build a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Richard Drew/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

At his Pennsylvania rally, Trump boasted of tightening poll numbers in several battleground states as he laid out his vision for the country, which he said would include fixing inner cities, which he said are so bad.

Theyre unsafe, Trump said. You get shot walking to the store for a loaf of bread. They have no jobs. I say, Give me a chance, I will fix it.  It will be a great thing. We have to fix it.

Trump also knocked Clinton for staging the concert with Jay Z on Friday and for another one last week in Miami with pop star Jennifer Lopez.

I didnt have to bring JLo or Jay Z, Trump told his crowd of more than 10,000 people. I am here all by myself. Just me. No guitar. No piano. No nothing.

Trump appeared earlier Friday in Atkinson, N.H., and Wilmington, Ohio, part of a recent string in rural areas, where he is trying to boost turnout by white working-class voters.

Besides reminding supporters of Clintons scandals, Trump focused on promises to return lost manufacturing jobs, uplift military veterans and protect residents from what he described as dangerous undocumented immigrants.

Dont let the pundits, the politicians or the media tell you what kind of a country you have, Trump said in Wilmington. Dont let them limit your dreams because they want to limit your dreams. You can have any future you want.

[Clinton up 47-44 in Post-ABC News Tracking Poll, despite Trumps 9-point edge on dealing with corruption]

Clinton, meanwhile, brought a new urgency to her message at a rally earlier Friday in Pittsburgh, focusing on the danger that she said a Trump presidency would present to the country and asking supporters to imagine Trump taking the oath of office in front of the Capitol and being in charge of the nations nuclear arsenal.

Think about what it would mean to entrust the nuclear codes to someone with a very thin skin who lashes out at anyone who challenges him, Clinton said. Imagine how easy it would be that Donald Trump would feel insulted and start a real war, not just a Twitter war at 3 in the morning.

Later, at a rally in Detroit, Clinton talked about issues including criminal justice reform, college affordability and systemic racism, all of which are of particular importance to black voters. She also criticized Trump for portraying the lives of black people as being all about crime and poverty and despair.

Clinton also dispatched her most potent surrogates around the country Friday. President Obama, Vice President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders all stumped for Clinton.

In Denver, former president Bill Clinton talked about everything  from his wifes work on special education to the credit ratings of millennials  assuring around 500 Democrats that they were on track to win.

Obama appeared at a pair of North Carolina rallies, including one Friday night in Charlotte.

This should not be a close race, but its going to be a close race, Obama said. Its going to be especially close in North Carolina. . . . Weve got to work like our future depends on it, because you know what, our future depends on it.

[Hillary Clintons retro ad strategy: apocalyptic Cold War pitches, updated]

Earlier in Fayetteville, N.C., Obama continued to assert that Trump is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief and has a long track record of insulting minorities, the disabled, women and others.

If you disrespected women before you were in office, then you will disrespect women once you take office. If you accepted the support of Klan sympathizers, if you dont denounce them right away because youre not sure, well thats what youre gonna do once youre in office, Obama said.

At Clintons stop in Pittsburgh, businessman and reality television star Mark Cuban relentlessly needled Trump for potentially not being as wealthy as he claims and for lacking the temperament to be president. Cuban also claimed Trump could be bribed.

If Donald Trump, who rips off people for thousands, gets offered by some dictator somewhere, some despot somewhere $20 billion, do you think hes going to do whats right for the country or do you think hes going to take the money? Cuban asked. Do you think he cares about you or his bank account?

[At Trump rally, former N.H. governor jokes about the Clintons sex life]

Trumps surrogates continued to create headaches for his campaign. At the New Hampshire rally, former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu joked that Clintons husband does not want to have sex with her.

Do you think that Bill was referring to Hillary when he said: I did not have sex with that woman? Sununu said, referring to former president Bill Clinton.

A small crowd gathered at a country club laughed at the joke. One man shouted: You mean Bill the rapist? Trumps campaign has yet to respond to the comment.

Sununu was governor of the state in the 1980s and was later White House chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush. He is the father of former senator John E. Sununu and Christopher Sununu, who holds a local office and is running for governor.

[A Donald Trump adviser just called Clinton the c-word in a tweet]

While talking about how he plans to win Texas, Trump called the states agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller, a wonderful guy. Miller called Clinton the c-word in a tweet.

Also on Friday, two former aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is chairing Trumps transition team, were convicted of all charges related to a plot to create a mammoth traffic jam on the nations busiest bridge as political retribution. Three people, including the traffic jams admitted mastermind, testified in federal court that Christie knew about it as it was happening. Christie, on Friday, continued to deny he knew about the plan.

[Chris Christie allies convicted in Bridgegate trial]

The convictions are a coda to a huge scandal in a state where political misdeeds are as common as the traffic jam that started this one. Known as Bridgegate, the scheme hobbled Christie as his national star was rising and imperiled his presidential campaign, which ended in February. Since then his approval rating has nose-dived in New Jersey, where only about 20 percent of residents surveyed believe he is doing a good job.

But all of this has had little impact on Christies standing within the Trump campaign, where the governor is tasked with spearheading Trumps transition to the White House should he win. On Thursday, Christie hosted a $5,000 a person fundraiser for Trumps transition team at a law firm office in Washington.

[Want to learn about the Trump transition? Youll have to pay $5,000]

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta said Christie should step down from the campaign.

Rather than just crisscrossing the country and hop-scotching, talking about cleaning up the swamp, he might start by draining his own swamp and asking Mr. Christie to resign as the head of his transition, Podesta said of Trump.

At a rally in Ohio, Trump said Clinton should fire Podesta and longtime aide Huma Abedin. The FBI said it found additional emails possibly pertinent to the Clinton investigation on a computer belonging to Abedins estranged husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner.

Trumps campaign, which has said it will pass massive ethics reform, did not return a request for comment.

Meanwhile, a federal judge on Friday ordered elections boards in three North Carolina counties to restore voter registrations canceled through a so-called individual challenge law after the state NAACP sued over thousands of the challenges.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs issued the ruling after an emergency hearing earlier in the week on NAACP allegations that at least three counties purged voter rolls through a process disproportionately targeting blacks.

The ruling could affect several thousand voters in the swing state.

Katie Zezima in Washington and David Weigel in Denver contributed to this article. Johnson reported from Hershey, Pa., Atkinson, N.H., and Wilmington, Ohio. Philip reported from Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cleveland. Wagner from Washington.
Attorney Paul Clement speaks during a U.S. Supreme Court Bar Memorial in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court on Nov. 4, 2016. (Carolyn Kaster/Pool photo via Reuters)

The Supreme Court completed its long goodbye to the late justice Antonin Scalia on Friday with what have become familiar eulogies to his writing skills and his impact on the law.

The memorial observance was overseen by Scalias former clerks and involved a resolution passed by lawyers who practice before the court presented to the eight remaining justices by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.

The conservative Scalia was often at odds with the administration she serves, but Lynch said she was representing all lawyers. There was no hint of past discord.

The passing of Justice Scalia has left an enormous void in this courtroom and in the life of the law throughout the United States, Lynch told the court. With his razor-sharp brilliance and unmatched eloquence, Justice Scalia transformed the way that jurists and lawyers approach the law. He strode like a colossus through some of the most important opinions, concurrences and dissents of our time.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. accepted the resolution, recalling that when President Ronald Reagan nominated the little-known Scalia in 1986, journalists had to ask how to pronounce his first and last names.

Now his legal theories are a central feature of every law schools constitutional curriculum.

There have been many tributes to Scalia since his sudden death in February; the law school at George Mason University has already changed its name to honor him.

But as the ornamental tortoises that adorn the Supreme Court building signify, the court moves at its own deliberate speed.

Also waiting: Judge Merrick Garland, President Obamas choice to replace Scalia and who has gone months without even a Senate hearing. Garland was in the audience along with a clutch of other judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit often mentioned as potential justices.

There was no mention of the nomination, but Garland sat almost directly in front of the empty space on the bench, which is on the end next to Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Most of the remembrances of Scalia at the meeting of the Supreme Court bar were from some of the more than 100 clerks  the clerkeratti, they said Scalia dubbed them  who worked for the justice.

They identified his twin contributions to the law as his promotion of originalism  interpreting the words of the Constitution as they were understood at the time  and adhering strictly to the text of statutes, instead of trying to conform the law to the intention of legislators.

Part of the legacy are those who worked for him. Bradford R. Clark, a George Washington University law professor, said 28 of Scalias former aides now teach law.

And former solicitor general Paul D. Clement noted the number of clerks who, like him, represent clients before the Supreme Court. Last term, Clement said, there were 11 of them, and a former Scalia clerk was involved in nearly a third of the courts cases, he said.
Even as the electoral map shows new signs of volatility, a surge in early voting by Latinos is bolstering Hillary Clintons prospects in battleground states including Arizona, Florida and Nevada in the closing days of a tightened race against Donald Trump.

Fresh election data suggest that the Democratic nominee appears to be benefiting from upticks in participation by Latinos, who historically vote in lower numbers than the electorate overall. The trend, say advocates seeking to expand the Hispanic vote, is largely motivated by distaste for Trump, who has proposed hardline immigration policies and stirred emotions from the outset of his campaign with a series of controversial statements about Mexicans and other Latinos.

The Trump candidacy and the climate its created has really heightened the importance and the personal nature of this election for Latinos, said Yvanna Cancela, political director of Culinary Workers Union 226, which represents casino workers in Nevada.

According to the data firm Catalist, one of the largest increases of early voting by Latinos is taking place in Arizona, a traditionally Republican state that Clinton visited for the first time during the general election on Wednesday. Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, delivered a speech there in Thursday entirely in Spanish.

Significant upticks are also taking place in Nevada and Florida, two other states where a burgeoning Hispanic vote could prove key in determining the outcome.

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.

With Latinos accounting for about half of its 57,000 members, the culinary union in Nevada has launched an unprecedented door-knocking and phoning effort to urge members and their neighbors to cast their votes early.

In Florida, more Latinos had voted early as of Wednesday than did so during the entire early voting period in 2012, according to the Clinton campaign. Some of the biggest registration gains there have come along the Interstate 4 corridor, which has witnessed a big influx of Puerto Ricans since in the wake of the islands economic difficulties.

More modest increases in Latino participation, meanwhile, are being seen in battleground states including Colorado and Virginia, where most polls show Clinton with a shrinking lead over Trump. Manassas Park, a suburb in the fast-growing Washington region with the highest concentration of Latino voters in Virginia, has seen an uptick in absentee voting, as has surrounding Prince William County, according to the state elections board.

In Texas, a red state where Trump maintains a lead in polling, counties with the highest shares of Latino voters, all located along the Mexican border, have also seen surges in early voting, according to the office of the secretary of state.

Among Hispanics, Clinton maintained roughly a 50 percentage point lead in a new Washington Post-Univision News poll released Thursday, with Trumps deep unpopularity raising questions about how much his candidacy has hampered Republicans long-term chances to win back support from the nations largest minority-group voting bloc.

[Poll: Trump deeply unpopular among Latinos, who favor Clinton by more than 3 to 1]





At the same time, early voting among African Americans  another key part of the constituency Clinton is counting upon to prevail  until recent days had been lagging voter participation from four years ago.

Clinton sought to shore up support among black voters during a pair of appearances in North Carolina on Thursday in which she argued that Trumps vision for his presidency would leave them behind.

He has spent this entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters, Clinton told a crowd of about 1,800 on the grounds of Pitt Community College. He retweets white supremacists and spreads racially tinged conspiracy theories.

Clinton noted that Trump has been repeatedly accused of housing discrimination at his real estate properties  and that he repeatedly proclaimed the guilt of five black and Hispanic men, known as the Central Park Five, on assault and rape accusations, even after DNA evidence exonerated them.

Do any of us have a place in Trumps America? Clinton asked.

Republicans pointed to some favorable trends in absentee and early voting numbers for their standard-bearer, including upticks in GOP participation in counties in Ohio that Mitt Romney, the partys 2012 nominee, carried. Ohio, which has a large white, working-class population, is among the swing states where Trump has shown the most appeal.

As the race has tightened nationally, Trump has sought to put several Democratic-leaning states in play that share similar demographics, including Wisconsin and Michigan, which figure in his ticket in the races closing days.

His campaign has also been buoyed by tightening poll numbers in New Hampshire, a largely white state that Clinton until recently appeared to have locked down.

On Thursday, Trump also appeared in North Carolina, a state key to his political fortunes.

In Concord, N.C., Trump cast Clinton as a candidate of yesterday and complained that he is held to a different standard than his Democratic rival.

At his rally, Trump continued to draw attention to the FBIs renewed inquiry into Clintons email practices while she was secretary of state, when she used a private server.

Now shes got bigger problems. If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis that would cripple the operations of our government, Trump said.

The GOP nominee also criticized now-interim Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile, after an email released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks indicated that she had provided debate questions in advance to the Clinton campaign. Trump said that if he had done something similar, he would have faced a bigger backlash.

Headlines: Trump to leave race,  Trump said, opining about what the media reaction would have been had that happened.

Clintons oft-changing travel schedule provides clues to the day-by-day, hour-by-hour evaluation of the campaign map.

[As race tightens, Clinton campaign is counting on minority support]

Her campaign is balancing a need to solidify support in Colorado, New Hampshire and Michigan with efforts to counter Trumps momentum in Florida and North Carolina. Bill Clinton made a sudden detour to Detroit on Thursday for outreach aimed at black voters, also a sign of where the campaign sees potential signs of trouble. Hillary Clinton will be there Friday.

Clinton has several ways to assemble the needed 270 electoral votes that do not depend on winning all three of the closest, biggest contests now  Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. But all depend on holding a bedrock of states such as Michigan that have seemed out of play for months.

Both campaigns announced new television ad buys for Michigan for the final week of the campaign. Trump was already advertising there, but Clinton hadnt aired ads in the state since the Democratic primaries.

Trumps slim path to victory most likely depends on peeling off a Democratic-leaning state such as Michigan or Wisconsin atop run-the-table victories in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Iowa.

Clintons effort to pick up Arizona  or at least force Trump to spend time and money there  reflects confidence in her current standing, aides say, as well as a belief that the Latino voting numbers give her a fighting chance.

Kaine delivered an entire campaign speech in Spanish on Thursday evening in Phoenix, where he stressed his belief in a brand of inclusive politics that celebrates diversity. He criticized Trumps controversial rhetoric about immigrants, calling the GOP nominee a payaso, a clown, and specifically criticized his attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel and former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

For the first time in a long time Arizona is competitive, Kaine said in Spanish, urging voters to vote early  and immediately after the rally. The power of the Latino vote can make a big difference in many states, in a historic way.

In Arizona, Latinos represented 13.2 percent of all early voters as of Tuesday, up from 11 percent at the same point in 2012 and 8.1 percent in 2008, according to Catalist, a firm that works with Democrats and progressive groups.

In Nevada, Latinos make up 11.8 percent of early voters so far, compared with 10.5 percent in 2012 and 9.1 percent in 2008. And in Florida, they accounted for 14.1 percent of all returned ballots as of Tuesday, up from 9.6 percent at the same point in 2008.

Among the groups seeking to bolster Latino participation this cycle is the Center for Community Change Action, which has targeted the battleground states of Florida, Nevada and Colorado.

Jeff Parcher, the groups communications director, said the aim is to get voters to the polls who havent been participating in elections.

These low-propensity voters are never targeted by the campaigns, he said, suggesting that if the drive is successful, it could be a game changer in states where the margin is close.

Xochitl Hinojosa, a Clinton spokeswoman, said the uptick in Latino early voting includes states with smaller Hispanic populations as well, such as North Carolina and Ohio.

From the start of the campaign, we have made it a priority to have a strong Latino vote program that reaches voters where they are because we understand how critical this voting bloc is to winning on Tuesday, she said. Over the next few days, youll only see our efforts intensify in an effort to expand participation.

Jenna Johnson in Florida and North Carolina, Abby Phillip in North Carolina, and Scott Clement, Ed OKeefe, Sean Sullivan and Karen Tumulty in Washington contributed to this report.
Roman Bokeria, chief executive of Miami Red Square Realty, stands in front of the Trump International Beach Resort near his Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., office. (Angel Valentin/For The Washington Post)

The first of three identical 45-story Trump-branded condo buildings opened in this oceanfront city at a seemingly terrible time, just as the recession was dawning and the real estate market was starting to crumble.

Many other projects in South Florida floundered in the lead-up to the national housing collapse of 2008. But the Trump buildings were among those that survived, in part because the developers were able to turn to another business source seemingly immune to the factors dragging down the U.S. market: wealthy Russians looking to move their money out of the volatile post-Soviet economy.

They were trying to save their butts, but in fact, they were saving ours, said Jose Lima, who was a top salesman for the company that developed the Trump towers and marketed the units. He estimates that one-third of the 500 units he sold were bought by Russian speakers.

Today, there are so many Russians living in this city, a 1.8-square-mile collection of high-rise condos and upscale strip malls with caviar shops and Russian delis about 25 minutes north of Miami Beach, that locals call it Little Moscow. And the Trump brand has been dominant  with six condo skyscrapers in Sunny Isles carrying its logo.

Donald Trumps positive statements about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Russia-aligned policy positions have prompted critics to question the extent of the Republican presidential nominees financial connection to that country. While he has denied having investments in Russia, the experience in Sunny Isles and other Trump-branded communities shows how Russians have invested in him.

The Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach. (Angel Valentin/For The Washington Post)

In addition to the towers of Little Moscow, Russian investors have been a valuable source of capital for Trump buildings in nearby Hollywood, Fla., and in a large complex in Panama City, Panama.

Trump does not own these buildings, but, like many Trump projects around the world, he licensed the use of his name and took a percentage of the profits from the initial sales of units. Real estate agents say there have been fewer Russian investors in Florida condos since U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia took effect in 2014. They predict that the market will improve if Trump wins and reconsiders the sanctions.

Agents say that Trumps image, synonymous with American-style luxury, has attracted the financial elite from Europe, South America and Asia, and, they say, his buildings have long held special appeal for Russian investors, many of whom have become super wealthy from the privatization of formerly state-owned monopolies in the former Soviet Union. Some say that Trumps presidential campaign  in which he has complimented Putin as a strong leader  has only helped to enhance the marketability of his buildings.

When Russians get here, the first thing they ask is, Where is the Trump building?  said Ilya Masarsky, a Russian-born real estate developer who has helped Russian executives investing in the United States. They know the Trump brand; they know Trump. They want to live where he lives.

As he sat in the marble-paneled common room of Sunny Isles Trump Tower I overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Masarsky added another aspect of Trumps appeal: Russians compare him to Putin. They like a strong personality.

Roman Bokeria, the Georgian-born chief executive of Miami Red Square Realty, said that Russian-speaking investors have been attracted to the Trump buildings because they see the brand as a safe place for their money.

They dont trust stocks or bonds, Bokeria said. They want real estate, something they can see and touch and feel. And for Russians, where is the best real estate? Its Miami and South Florida. Its Trump. That is the dream.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took time off the campaign trail to cut the ribbon at his new D.C. hotel Oct. 26. How that and other campaign stops have affected Trump's businesses. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Alan Garten, the Trump Organizations chief counsel, acknowledged that developers of Trump projects have gone to Russia to sell and that the market there, like others around the world, have been fertile territory for the brand.

Theres newfound wealth in Russia, Garten said. Just like theres newfound wealth in China. Any developer is going to where you have a chance of selling your product.

As for Sunny Isles, he said, thats the market. The Sunny Isles project, that area in South Florida generally, there are a lot of transplanted Russians.

Garten, though, rejected the suggestion that lifting sanctions on Russia would affect the business. He said the idea of special ties with Russia because Russians have bought into Trump-branded buildings is a total fabrication. Its pulling needles out of haystacks and drawing these massive inferences. Garten added that many Trump projects around the world have had no special appeal for Russians.

Trumps lack of investment in Russia is not for lack of trying.

The businessman and his children have made several trips to Moscow to market the brand and discuss possible deals. The Trumps promoted their brand and hobnobbed with Russian power brokers in 2013, when the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant was held in Moscow.

Donald Trump Jr. highlighted the companys reliance on Russian investors during a real estate conference in 2008, about the time the Sunny Isles condos were being sold. He said that Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets and that, We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.

While in Riga, Latvia, in 2012, the younger Trump told interviewers that he saw a real boom in wealth in some of these emerging markets and noted that there is an appreciation for brands and for brand names and for high-end luxury living and for hotels, and, obviously, we have something very relevant for that sector.

Victor Masaltsev, an Internet entrepreneur in Moscow, was one of as many as 60 Russians or Russian-born Americans who developers said bought into the 630-unit Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama. The complex, overlooking the Caribbean, is the tallest building in Central America.

I was interested because of Trumps name and because I thought it would be a secure investment, Masaltsev said in a phone interview, translated by his Canadian-educated son.

Masaltsev learned of plans for the 70-story, sail-shaped residential and retail complex like many other Russians who came to trust the Trump brand with their money: through Russian-born business acquaintances or friends living in South Florida. Before deciding to invest, he attended a sales meeting in Moscow with other interested Russians.

The meeting was led by Roger Khafif, who told potential buyers that Trump was a partner on the project, as did the elaborate promotional material he distributed.

Russians like brands, Khafif said in an interview, and Trump was famous in Russia during the early 2000s real estate boom. These were good days for Trump. He was the only man in town for real estate.

The elder Trump hosted a sales event attended by potential Russian investors and guests at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach in January 2008. About a dozen Russians came, Khafif recalled, as well as real estate brokers and salespeople, mainly from Miami. It was a splashy event attended by, among others, Trumps friend Regis Philbin. Trump chatted with the potential buyers and posed for photos as he talked up the Trump Ocean Club project in Panama.

Valentina Aved, an Estonian-born real estate broker in Palm Beach, said Trumps branded properties have worked hard to market to Russians. The towers in Sunny Isles and Hollywood have, like other local venues, hosted meetings of the Russian American Chamber of South Florida. Aved recalled that at one particular meeting, over catered food from a Russian restaurant, the building developer gave a speech about how welcoming the property was for Russians.

Aved said she also participated in a day-long sales event for a Trump-branded property in the Dominican Republic so that she could market specific properties there to Russians.

Everything Trump does for the lifestyle, it matches the Russian lifestyle, said Aved, a staunch supporter of Trumps candidacy.

As in Sunny Isles, the importance of Russian investors to Trumps success was evident a few miles up the road in Hollywood. With construction ending in 2009, amid the recession, the project was on the brink of failure until a new developer stepped in.

Trump attended a flashy relaunch party in February 2011. Eight months later, the Trump Hollywood posted a notice on its Facebook page bragging that since our relaunch in February, Trump Hollywood has seen Russian buyers spend $11.2 million on luxury residences.

Seven months after that, the buildings units were sold out. Trump was so pleased that he recorded a video to praise the buildings development team for turning things around.

Trump pocketed $10 million to $20 million from the project, according to one of the developers, Daniel Lebensohn.

Both of the Trump Hollywood penthouses appear to have been purchased by Russians. Property records show that one unit was purchased for $6.75 million in 2010 by a company associated with Oleg Miserva, a Russian coal company president who met with Putin in 2010, according to a news release on the website of a Russian government archive.

The other oceanfront penthouse unit was purchased for about $6 million by Elena Gorlova, who shared a Florida address with a businessman named Eli Aliyevich Dzhabrailov. According to a listing on the real estate website Zillow, the unit features seven bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, a private terrace, and floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic ocean views. It was purchased on the same day that Dzhabrailov bought a second unit in the building for $1.48 million. They could not be reached for comment.

One of those penthouse buyers flew high-end interior designer Stephen Gurowitz and a Miami real estate agent, Monica Gorban, to Moscow in 2011 to discuss plans to decorate the unit and other properties.

Neither Gurowitz nor Gorban would identify the client, and they said they did not know what he did for a living.

They described how they were flown to Moscow, put up at a Ritz-Carlton hotel and driven in an armored Mercedes-Benz to the investors compound in the Moscow suburbs.

You never find out what kind of business theyre in, Gorban said. All I knew was that the checks came, they closed, and life was good.

Gurowitz and Gorban said that their client had purchased the penthouse and a second unit in the building.

To really sum it up, in all fairness, why do the Russians come here? For the weather, for the lifestyle and because its a good place to bury their money, Gorban said.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
The Rock On 2 actor revealed that he will marry Lucy in a huge ceremony next year and wants Inaya to be a part of the wedding.

By India Today Web Desk: The reason Purab Kohli did not marry his girlfriend Lucy when she got pregnant will melt your heart. The Rock On 2 actor, who became a daddy to little Inaya last year, says that they wanted their bundle of joy to be present at their wedding.

In an interview to Indian Express, Purab said, "When Inaya was conceived, we were not married and it didn't matter to me. When Lucy called me and said, 'Hey, we are having a baby,' I said 'Wow. Let's do it.' There was pressure to get married. My mother was the most concerned and my family did say you guys have to get married quickly when she was pregnant."

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ALSO READ: When Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli's ugly spat put the Rock On 2 shooting on hold

Purab said he did not want to get married that way because he did not want his daughter to feel that they got married only because of her. "She is our love child and has bloomed even more love between both of us and made me love life more. I don't want her to ever feel that it was not meant to be. It was meant in every possible way and she was the force of nature and nothing could stop her from coming into this world," the proud father said.

Purab said that he was committed to his fiancee, who is a UK-based yoga teacher, and will marry her in a grand ceremony next year. "We have legally signed the papers and will have a big celebration next year in London. We just want Inaya to be standing on her two feet and hold the flowers while we take our vows," he revealed.

--- ENDS ---
At least three U.S. military trainers in Jordan were fatally shot by security forces Friday when their vehicle failed to stop at the gate of a military base, Jordanian and U.S. officials said.

The U.S. military service members came under fire as they approached a Jordanian training facility, said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook. Few other details about the incident were given. Cook said U.S. and Jordanian authorities were investigating the cause.

Earlier, Jordans military said there was an exchange of gunfire after the vehicles driver ignored demands to stop outside an air base in southern Jordan. A Jordanian officer was injured, the statement said.

Other details of the incident at the King Faisal Air Base were not immediately clear. Investigators were trying to piece together the events, including whether a possible miscommunication was to blame.

The U.S. official said two of the service members died later in Jordans capital, Amman, where they were airlifted for treatment.

Jordan is a close ally of the United States, and military training by U.S. personnel is common. Jordan is also part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in neighboring Syria.

[Prominent Jordanian writer gunned down]

The U.S. Embassy in Amman said in a statement it was in contact with the appropriate Jordanian authorities, who have offered their full support.

A U.S. diplomat in Amman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said American and Jordanian officials do not believe the incident was terrorism-related, but he offered no further details.

The King Faisal base, about 150 miles southeast of Amman and near the border with Saudi Arabia, has long been used for joint exercises between Jordan and its various allies, including the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia. The base is also part of the network in Jordan to train Western-backed Syrian rebels.

According to U.S. diplomats and Jordanian officials, there are more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel based in Jordan, the majority serving as advisers to Jordans armed forces and Syrian rebel factions.

Jordans military has been on high alert since June, when a suicide attacker driving a bomb-rigged truck barreled through Syrias border with Jordan, setting off a blast outside a Syrian refugee camp that killed seven Jordanian troops. It was the deadliest attack along the tense border, which hundreds of thousands of Syrians have crossed during the more than five-year conflict in their homeland.

In November 2015, a Jordanian police officer opened fire at a police training academy south of Amman, killing two U.S. contractors.

Murphy reported from Washington. Missy Ryan and Thomas Gibbons-Neff in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Terrorist attack on Jordan intelligence office in refugee camp kills 5

U.S. rocket artillery based in Jordan is being used to strike Islamic State targets in Syria

75,000 Syrians are trapped near Jordans border. Satellite images show some are dying.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
The U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) force commander, Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, right, of Kenya in Juba, South Sudan, in September. (Justin Lynch/AP)

The Kenyan government on Friday deported a senior South Sudan opposition member as tensions rose over its peacekeeping efforts in its war-scarred neighbor.

Kenyan authorities have reacted angrily to a U.N. decision this week to dismiss the Kenyan general in charge of the peacekeeping force there, for failing to protect civilians during a recent spasm of violence. Kenya has been an important force for stability in South Sudan, contributing about 1,000 troops and absorbing refugees.

James Gatdet Dak, the official deported Friday, has served as a spokesman for the main South Sudanese rebel group led by former vice president Riek Machar. Since December 2013, that group has fought on and off against government forces led by President Salva Kiir. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

Some Kenyan officials suggested that Daks deportation was related to a Facebook post in which he expressed support for the removal earlier this week of Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, the Kenyan top officer in the U.N. mission in South Sudan, known by the acronym UNMISS.

In the post Wednesday, Dak wrote: We welcome the change in the UNMISS Force Command in South Sudan. The peacekeepers failed to protect civilians during the crisis right in the capital, Juba, and in other parts of the country.

A U.N. report this week blamed Ondieki for a lack of leadership and a chaotic and ineffective response to the surge of violence in Juba in July. During that fighting, dozens of South Sudanese civilians were raped and killed, mostly by government forces. Several foreign aid workers were also brutally raped.

In a statement Friday, Machar said he told the Kenyan government that Dak should not be deported to Juba due to profound fear for his life. It said Dak had been arrested from his residence in Nairobi.

With government forces controlling Juba and bitter tensions between the two groups, human rights experts say the threat to Dak is very real.

In colluding with South Sudan and deporting James Gatdet Dak, Kenya has exposed him to a serious risk of persecution, said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch.

After Ondiekis dismissal, Kenyan officials threatened to withdraw its peacekeeping troops from South Sudan, calling the deployment no longer tenable. Kenyas contingent is important because of its size and because it has proved difficult to recruit soldiers in the rest of the world for the mission. There are 16,000 U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan.

The Kenyan Foreign Ministry said Ondieki was fired unfairly and used as a scapegoat for the missions institutional failings.

Regrettably, instead of addressing these shortcomings directly, the United Nations has instead opted to unfairly attribute them to a single individual, the ministry said in a statement.

The row between the United Nations and the Kenyan government underscores the often tense relations between the world body and the countries that deploy troops to peacekeeping missions. While U.N. officials say they have a responsibility to dismiss poorly performing soldiers, they are often reluctant to do so, for fear of alienating the few countries willing to send forces to far-flung missions.

Kenya also hosts tens of thousands of South Sudanese refugees, mostly in its Kakuma camp. Earlier this year, Kenya threatened to shutter the camp. Though the government later withdrew that plan, its threat was enough to rattle the humanitarian community.

Since July, when battles between the forces of Kiir and Machar broke out in the capital, fighting has resumed across much of the country, even as Machar and other opposition leaders fled the country. Machar is in South Africa.

The United States and other Western intermediaries have lobbied futilely for the restoration of a peace agreement that was only tenuously enforced before the July fighting.

Read more

South Sudanese civilians fear the U.N. cant protect them from a massacre

This was a tiny village. Now its the worlds fourth-largest refugee camp.

In South Sudan, mothers are so hungry many can no longer breast-feed

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Saddled with good looks and financial privilege, Ranbir Kapoor's stardom comes in his way of taking up roles that an actor of his calibre should take but cannot because a movie star has too much to lose.

By Devarsi Ghosh: Sometimes beauty and financial privilege can be a burden. Especially, when ugliness and stories of struggle make for an inspiring underdog tale in the badlands of Bollywood. As such, a Nawazuddin Siddiqui making it as a people's star amidst a sea of tall, broad-shouldered, fair heroes is an inspiring tale. Every frown, every twitch and every snarl that Nawazuddin makes, is ascribed extra-special significance, because stories of his struggle, or that of actors like Manoj Bajpayee, Irrfan or Anupam Kher have become myth. And India, predominantly being a country of the poor and the aspirational young, loves stories of struggles. Here, where does a Ranbir Kapoor stand?

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AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL: A Movie Review from the heart

ALSO READ: Is SRK's cameo in ADHM to pass the baton to Ranbir?

ALSO SEE: SHIVAAY vs AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL FULL COVERAGE

Born with a silver spoon, in every sense of the word, Ranbir Kapoor is the conventional Bollywood hero. He is tall, good looking, fair, born in a film family and is known to be a committed casanova. He also happens to be a great actor and his performance in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil shows that he is capable of surprising you at any time. Just crying alone, Ranbir can do in ten different ways. You have to see it to believe it. In a recent interview with Anupama Chopra, Karan Johar revealed that for every take for any scene in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Ranbir would ask for one word from Karan Johar that would describe the moment. So, he would be given, anything from 'rage' to 'jealousy' to 'disappointment', and he would go and do his thing.





While it is difficult for a layman to dissect an actor's methods, one thing this piece of information tells us that he is a thinking, intelligent actor who is instinctive and in complete control of his talent.

However, the public perception of the movie star Ranbir Kapoor is somewhat similar to how, say, a Brad Pitt or a Leonardo DiCaprio or a Channing Tatum is considered in the West. Brad Pitt is a great actor. In a career spanning more than two-and-a-half decades, Pitt has acted in an unbelievable range of films, starring in unique, challenging roles. DiCaprio has pushed himself time and again. It is for a reason that DiCaprio has six Academy Award nominations. Consequently, pretty boy Channing Tatum has moved away from his eye candy roles to take up serious, dramatic stuff and he has delivered.

Sadly, Pitt's good looks and romantic life is what the media seems to focus on more than his craft. DiCaprio, still to a large part of the world, is the kid from Titanic. And Channing Tatum? Who's he? The Step Up guy right?





Ranbir Kapoor's personal life and privileged background prevents people from giving him the credit he rightfully deserves. Having lived a sheltered, cushioned life, from where he gets his reservoir of emotions to deliver such outstanding and un-repetitive performances, one after the other, is difficult to understand. One would say that he has been doing a similar kind of stubborn, self-pitying man-child character in every film (Saawariya, Rockstar, Tamasha, ADHM), and that is not that far from the truth. But even within that spectrum, the range Ranbir shows is outstanding.

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One can argue or expect Ranbir to excel in 'actorly' roles, the kind Manoj Bajpayee or Irrfan or Nawaz or Rajkumar Rao gets offered. But being a movie star does not allow him to sink his teeth into a role like Bajpayee's in Aligarh or Nawaz's in Raman Raghav 2.0. Which is kind of sad. One can feel the desperation in Ranbir to be a greater actor, a better actor, but his own stardom comes in the way of him getting to do the kind of work he should do.

Here's hoping a great next ten years of Ranbir Kapoor where he continues to surprise us and move us with world-class performances.





(The writer tweets as @devarsighosh.)



--- ENDS ---
Former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai speaks at a "Regional Power Play and the Rise of Radicalism in Afghanistan" event in New Delhi on Aug. 20. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)

Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan president, was in high dudgeon Friday morning. His children were playing hide-and-seek on the lawn outside his book-lined study, and a waiter had brought in trays of tea and cakes, but his mind was on a deadly NATO airstrike that killed 30 civilians in northern Kunduz province early Thursday.

I spoke to the families yesterday. I saw the photos of the victims. There were children from 6 months to toddlers, near-teens and elders. Why? Karzai demanded angrily. A few moments later, he turned to an aide and asked, Was there any mention of this mass tragedy on CNN, on BBC? I didnt see anything.

[2 U.S. troops killed fighting Taliban in Afghanistan; civilians hit by airstrike]

Karzai, 58, has railed for years against U.S. military bombings and resulting civilian casualties in the war against Taliban insurgents, and the issue virtually destroyed his relationship with the Obama administration. It was the main reason he refused to sign a bilateral security agreement with Washington before leaving office in 2014, and it remains his personal obsession in political retirement.

The exact events in Kunduz were still unclear Friday, but Afghan officials confirmed an updated death toll of 30 civilians and at least 25 wounded in airstrikes launched outside the embattled provincial capital after a firefight with Taliban forces. Two U.S. service members were killed in the battle, along with three Afghan commandos and three Taliban fighters.

Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan president, denounced a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan Thursday and blamed US military policy for excessive civilian casualties in the war against the Taliban. (Pam Constable/The Washington Post)

U.S. military officials have said the strikes were conducted by NATO aircraft but have not said whether the pilots were American or Afghan.

[Karzai says U.S.-Afghan relationship has been at a low point for a long time]

The civilian deaths sparked protests by victims relatives in Kunduz and denunciations by some rights groups, including Amnesty International. A recent U.N. report found that casualties attributed to pro-government forces here have jumped by 42 percent in the past year.

Most NATO combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014, and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban with help from a few thousand Western troops and advisers. Just over a year ago, during a battle with Taliban forces in Kunduz, an errant U.S. airstrike killed 42 people at a hospital, sparking accusations of a war crime and leading to disciplinary action against 16 U.S. military personnel.

As Karzai saw it, the fatal bombings Thursday were further proof of his long-standing contention that the U.S. military role in Afghanistan has been misguided, needlessly deadly and possibly motivated by a cynical agenda that he believes has subordinated Afghan lives and sovereignty to strategic international goals.

He was especially critical of the ongoing security relationship between the United States and Pakistan, which he denounced as the source of insurgent attacks. During his presidency, Karzai met often with Pakistani leaders to improve ties but became deeply disillusioned. He said those who sought peace with Afghanistan were stymied by other forces. They want to own us, he said.

[Karzai accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorists]

In a 90-minute interview Friday punctuated by anecdotes and musings from his decade as president, Karzai repeatedly returned to this darker theme. He declined to discuss or criticize the government of President Ashraf Ghani, but he bitterly denounced the U.S. government as pursuing war over peace in his country.

I am not an anti-Western person, but what has made me outspoken and angry at America are the casualties, he said. Just show me one example of a bombing that has taken Afghanistan one step closer to peace. Fifteen years on, do we have more Taliban or less, more radicalization or less, more terror or less? Is this really a war against terror, or is it something else in which the lives of Afghans dont matter?

U.S. military officials here have repeatedly said that they seek to avoid civilian casualties but that Taliban fighters sometimes use civilians and their homes as shields and such casualties are inevitable in a war against insurgents. The war has left more than 2,400 U.S. service members dead, as well as more than 90,000 Afghan defense-force members and civilians.

The Ghani administration has taken pains to repair relations with Washington over the past two years. Ghani enthusiastically signed the bilateral security agreement that Karzai snubbed and that has given U.S. military forces wide latitude in their official role to advise and assist Afghan security forces. U.S. warplanes can back up Afghan forces in danger, and Afghan pilots operate American-supplied combat aircraft.

On Friday, Ghani said he was deeply saddened by the civilian casualties in Kunduz.

Karzai has been criticized as trying to interfere in Afghan politics, possibly with an eye toward returning to power. In the interview, he insisted that he had no wish to return to office and said that under the constitution, Ghani should have full authority to govern for a full five-year term.

However, the former president blamed a U.S.-brokered power-sharing agreement between Ghani and his electoral rival, Abdullah Abdullah, for creating confusion about whether Afghanistan should have a presidential or parliamentary system. He has strongly suggested that a national gathering of elders be held to decide that issue.

Read more

NATO and government forces are increasingly responsible for Afghan civilian deaths

Civilian casualties hit record numbers this year in Afghanistan

Taliban explosives are becoming more powerful. Afghan soldiers are paying the price.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private and the lead claimant in the case, reads a statement outside the High Court in London on Nov. 3 after winning a legal challenge that Article 50 cannot be triggered without a decision by Parliament. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)

A day after the stunning High Court ruling that threatens to derail British Prime Minister Theresa Mays plans to withdraw from the European Union, few in Britain were suggesting that Brexit is dead.

But for the first time since the June 23 referendum that so crushed pro-E.U. voters, there were glimmers of hope on the remain side that Britain will opt for something other than a hard exit from the E.U.

[Britain voted for Brexit. And then things got remarkable.]

Its the first piece of good news they have had since June, said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, referring to those who voted to stay in the union. But I dont think anyone should be celebrating in the sense that this could scupper Brexit. But it does mean the government has lost the initiative.

Britons voted 52 to 48 to leave the E.U. but not on what the departure would look like.

A British court has dealt a blow to Prime Minister Theresa Mays E.U. exit plan. The three-judge panel sided with plaintiffs who contended that Parliament must first weigh in. This could lead to a significant delay to Brexit. (Griff Witte,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

All the noises coming from the British government until now have indicated that the country was veering toward a hard Brexit, which many take to mean prioritizing controls on the free movement of people over access to the E.U.s single market.

But the governments chess table was toppled Thursday after three High Court judges ruled that May has to consult with Parliament before triggering Article 50, which would start the two-year divorce proceedings.

[Britains scientists are freaking out over Brexit]

Adding to Mays woes, her Conservative partys slim majority in the House of Commons was reduced Friday when Stephen Phillips, a pro-Brexit Conservative member of Parliament, resigned over irreconcilable differences with the government. He had said in previous interviews that he was deeply unhappy with the governments handling of Brexit.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told a news conference in Berlin on Friday that the government would fight the ruling in the Supreme Court, and that their timetable for withdrawing from the E.U. remains unchanged.

Its very important to recognize that the British people voted to leave the European Union, he said. That is what we are going to get on and do.

But the Thursday ruling, if upheld, means that instead of one step involved in triggering Article 50  May penning a letter to Brussels at some point before her self-imposed deadline of the end of March  it could now involve multiple steps.

The majority of lawmakers voted to remain in the E.U., but there have been few calls since the referendum to contradict the electorate and block Brexit.

One headline in the pro-E.U. Guardian newspaper on Friday said, Ardent remainers: dont let high court decision raise your hopes.

But analysts said that Parliaments involvement could hugely complicate Mays exit strategy.

[What a real Brexit Britain would look like]

If the government loses its case in the Supreme Court next month, Parliament would probably need to pass legislation before triggering Article 50. It is unclear what that would look like, but any such act could be subject to amendments by both houses of Parliament. It also is an open question as to how long that would take.

Some of those who campaigned for Brexit argue that Thursdays ruling is an establishment setup, a way to ignore the democratic will of the British people who decisively voted to leave the bloc.

The Daily Mail newspaper featured pictures Friday of the three High Court judges on its front page under the headline Enemies of the People. In an editorial, the Sun newspaper asked whether politicians would honor the biggest ballot box mandate in British history or sniffily decide the little people cannot be trusted.

Nigel Farage, a prominent Brexiteer and the interim leader of the U.K. Independence Party, tweeted: My fear is we now get half Brexit. Establishment will try and lock us inside single market. Would be a total betrayal!

Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, told the BBC on Friday that several pro-E.U. lawmakers, including him, would seek legislation that promoted a soft Brexit as well as some means by which the British people can have a say on the final deal when negotiations with the E.U. are finished.

Britains House of Commons has 650 members, many of whom have diverging views on Brexit. The House of Lords, the upper chamber, has more than 800 members.

Anthony King, a professor of government at the University of Essex, said that the impact of having to consult with Parliament means that the number of potential veto players or politicians of influence has suddenly increased.

It may never happen, King said of Britains departure from the E.U. And if it does happen, it will be as soft as the remainers and the people who want a soft exit can possibly hope for.
An Iraqi special forces soldier puts up a helmet as a decoy as a sniper prepares to fire on Islamic State positions on the eastern edges of Mosul on Thursday. (Marko Drobnjakovic/AP)

The vehicles screeched into the small field hospital on the outskirts of Mosul carrying desperate loads: soldiers injured in battle as well as men, women and children caught in the crossfire of Iraqs war against the Islamic State.

Some staggered out clutching bleeding wounds; others were lifted by medics onto stretchers. They had come face-to-face with chlorine gas, mortar fire, bombs and artillery shells.

For a few, it was too late, and instead of a stretcher, a body bag waited.

The medical station, manned by medics from Iraqs special forces alongside U.S. and Slovak volunteers, provides a small window onto the inevitable human toll of the battle to oust the Islamic State from Mosul as the war pushes deeper into the city.

After more than two weeks of advances, Iraqi forces are now pressing into more densely populated areas and penetrating the epicenter of the groups last remaining territory in the country.

The civilian presence hugely complicates the fight for the advancing Iraqi forces and airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, a fact the Islamic State is using for its gain as it desperately tries to hold onto its capital in Iraq. (Loveday Morris/The Washington Post)

As they do, Iraqi commanders say Islamic State militants are putting up a tougher fight than they have ever seen, bringing furious battles to the doorsteps of more than a million people.

The civilian presence hugely complicates the fight for the advancing Iraqi forces and for airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, a fact the Islamic State is using for its gain as it desperately tries to hold on to its capital in Iraq.

For more than a year, the militants have largely prevented people from leaving the city, but in recent weeks they have rounded up villagers from the outskirts and forced them inside the city to use as human shields.

[ISIS is kidnapping thousands of people to use as human shields]

Head injury! shouted Maj. Ahmed Hussein, the medical stations chief medic, as a 16-year-old girl arrived in a family sedan. After laying her on a stretcher, medics bound her head, trying to stanch the flow of blood from a shrapnel wound. May God take revenge on Daesh, cried her mother, using a derogatory term for the Islamic State.

Before the team had finished treating her, another casualty arrived: a tank driver struggling to breathe after a suspected chlorine attack. He was drained of color, and his chest trembled as he tried to fill his lungs. The militants have regularly used chlorine on the battlefield, often dispatching it in mortar shells.

Thats our sixth or seventh chlorine gas, said Derek Coleman, 27, from San Diego, who came to Iraq with hopes of fighting the Islamic State but said he later realized he could be of more use as a medic.

Coleman, two other Americans and two Slovaks were spending their first day with Iraqi forces after previously assisting Kurdish peshmerga soldiers.

The Iraqis do not appear to have much need for them, he said, as the Iraqi special forces have better-organized medical teams. But Hussein said he still appreciates the extra hands and supplies.

Hussein said more civilians have been injured in recent days, although he was quick to point out that the Islamic State is responsible. They use civilians as a shield, he said.

Over the course of the day, Husseins station treated 15 civilians, one of whom died from gunshot wounds. Many, though, are probably unable to reach medical assistance, and those fleeing talk of entire families killed in shelling and bombing.

But the militants do not appear ready to concede ground easily, potentially drawing out the fight and putting civilians at risk for longer.

The Iraqi military does not release overall casualty figures, but troops have faced stiff resistance as they have broken into the Islamic States last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

Some 11 special forces troops were treated for injuries at the medical station, while two died. Not all Iraqi casualties pass through this point, and the toll is probably much higher. News of new car bombs crackled through on the radio.

They are fighting very, very hard for the city, said Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, head of the special forces, also known as counterterrorism troops. They will not give it up easily.



[In first big wave, Iraqis flee Mosul and crowd into camps]

Fridays fight in urban areas was extremely tough, he said, adding that the taking of people to use as human shields has complicated the battle in a way we didnt expect.

A black Humvee pulled up at the medical station, which is little more than a few beds and stretchers near an abandoned mosque in Gogjali district, on the eastern edge of Mosul.

Men cried out for a body bag. The body of a soldier from Iraqs special forces was lifted out of the back. The top of his head, from the jaw up, was missing. His clothes were soaked in blood.

This is war, Hussein said as he turned away.

The Iraqi government is trying to keep people in their homes during the fighting, but as the battle draws near, many inevitably flee.

The sound of heavy bombing and gunfire could be heard coming from the city, while Apache helicopters flew back and forth. Cars topped with white flags continued to stream out of eastern neighborhoods.

For those who stay, even after their areas are cleared of militants, food supplies are low, forcing many out. A woman from Gogjali arrived at the medical station with her young daughter, who held a white flag fashioned out of a small piece of cloth attached to the end of a kitchen whisk.

The woman, who was too scared to be named, asked the soldiers to break open a shop that she said used to belong to the Islamic State and had sold milk before it had been locked up when the militants fled.

Ill put money in the register. I just need milk for my baby, she said.

Hussein said that he could not break into private property and that it might be booby-trapped, but he dispatched a soldier to find milk.

Another car pulled up at the makeshift clinic carrying two injured children. One had a bone jutting out of his mangled arm. His chest was gouged by shrapnel. He had been playing near his house when he picked up something that looked like a grenade.

I told him to leave it, said Ayman Ouda, the boys elder, 11-year-old cousin, who was lightly injured. But he dropped it, and it exploded.

Medics surrounded the younger boy, and Hussein called for a drip. His fracture was treated, and he was rushed into the back of a waiting ambulance. But Peter Reed, 27, from Bordentown, N.J., and another volunteer here, is not hopeful.

Hes probably not going to make it to the next med station, he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described some of the volunteers helping medics in northern Iraq as Serbian. They were from Slovakia.

Read more:

A look inside Q-West, where U.S. troops are supporting Iraqs fight for Mosul

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A general view for the besieged town of Madaya, in the countryside of Damascus, Syria, shown in January 2016. Before war came to Syria, Madaya was a weekend retreat for the wealthy. (Youssef Badawi/EPA)

When an 11-year-old boy was shot on his rooftop in the Syrian town of Madaya last week, there were no doctors at the makeshift hospital to treat his wounds. Nor were there painkillers to ease his death.

For Muhammad Darwish, a dentistry student on hand to help that day, the boys death was the final straw. His two remaining colleagues  one a trainee, the other a vet  felt the same. And so finally, after four years of struggle and siege, they did the unthinkable: They closed the hospital for good.

We felt so ashamed. But we had nothing. We could do nothing, Darwish said. Were closed.

Before war came to Syria, Madaya was a weekend retreat for the wealthy. Tourists from nearby Damascus would stay in hotels near peach orchards, taking in the fresh air and lining their suitcases with the wares of a roaring local smuggling racket. Now, the only newcomers are displaced Syrians  by some estimates making up half of the population of 40,000  and the only goods that pass the checkpoints come on aid trucks.

Blockaded by Syrian army and Hezbollah forces since 2015, this opposition-held town has instead become an embodiment of the suffering experienced by communities under siege across the country, as well as the fraught politics of aid that has failed to address those challenges.

[What a Syrian PR trip says about Bashar al-Assads thinking]

To the untrained eye, Madayas makeshift hospital would not have looked like much. The basement room was rented, and the specialist who trained the students and the vet had long since departed. But for years, that small team had acted as a lifeline as the towns three medical facilities were bombed, amputating limbs lost to land mines surrounding the town and removing the bullets from government-allied snipers.

The team will now stay at home, responding only to the most serious emergencies. We cant face staying open. If we can diagnose the problem, then we dont have drugs to treat it. If a patient needs to be evacuated, we cant make it happen, Darwish said.

According to Siege Watch, an advocacy group monitoring conditions in blockaded areas, almost a million Syrians are living under siege across 39 locations, most of them blockaded by forces allied with President Bashar al-Assads forces. Monitoring groups say that more than 800 people have died from a lack of food or medicine since 2011.

The United Nations has described the governments strategy as surrender or starve.

In August, civilians and rebel fighters were evacuated from the Damascus suburb of Darayya, one of the areas most stubborn rebel holdouts, to end the longest-running blockade of the war. A similar evacuation, described by the government as a reconciliation deal, is underway in besieged al-Waer, the final rebel-held neighborhood in the central city of Homs.

In December, photographs of starving and skeletal civilians in Madaya prompted global outrage and forced Syrian authorities to permit more regular aid convoys to reach the area. But with only carbohydrates arriving on the food trucks, residents instead now show signs of malnutrition and kidney problems, health workers in Madaya said this week.

It was never enough, said Ammar Ghanem, a Syrian physician in Michigan who has advised Madayas health workers remotely. The food keeps them alive, but it doesnt bring real nutrition.

[Russian air defense raises stakes of U.S. confrontation in Syria]

Madaya is surrounded by nearly 6,000 land mines and 65 sniper-manned checkpoints to ensure residents cannot flee, local authorities say. Those who try are routinely injured, often killed.

When casualties arrived at Madayas hospital, Ghanem was among a group of U.S.-based doctors who would parse case details via WhatsApp, running through possible treatment options. In most cases these days, there isnt a solution.

Our colleagues in Madaya are doing the jobs of physicians, anesthetists and cardiologists, Ghanem said. They are heroes. But they just arent medical staff.

Darwish still remembers his first operation, hovering at the specialists side and passing tools when needed. Within a year he had conducted C-sections and amputations alone. But as the siege wore on and drug supplies ran low, his team increasingly was unable to help even the most basic of medical cases.

According to aid workers and a U.N. interagency report from September, conditions in the town have deteriorated significantly. The price of sugar is 17 times higher than that found just 30 miles away in the markets of Damascus. A water crisis has left residents dependent on springs where government-allied snipers train their sights. Even salt is a luxury, mostly taken from stocks once used to cover icy roads.

But ending the blockade, or bringing in more supplies, will be a knotty process.

Under the Four Towns agreement, U.N. and Red Cross aid convoys to Madaya and nearby Zabadani are allowed through only if equivalent access is given to two government-held towns that are besieged by rebels, Foa and Kefraya, in northern Idlib province. When the supplies do arrive, the government decides what gets through.

As long as the Syrian government retains the authority to deny aid deliveries and restrict the amount and type of aid that can enter towns it is besieging, it is unlikely that conditions will improve in Madaya and other besieged towns across the country, said Elise Baker, a research coordinator at Physicians for Human Rights. One-off aid deliveries are not enough to alleviate the suffering and save lives.

Read more:

Syrian government sees siege tactics pay off

In a besieged Syrian town: Were still starving, and its getting colder.

I treated kids in a Syrian hospital. We have no idea how to heal their trauma.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
The Posts Matt Zapotosky explains why FBI Director James B. Comey has found himself at the center of the presidential campaign in recent days. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

The Posts Matt Zapotosky explains why FBI Director James B. Comey has found himself at the center of the presidential campaign in recent days. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Deep divisions inside the FBI and the Justice Department over how to handle investigations dealing with Hillary Clinton will probably fester even after Tuesdays presidential election and pose a significant test for James B. Comeys leadership of the nations chief law enforcement agency.

The internal dissension has exploded into public view recently with leaks to reporters about a feud over the Clinton Foundation, an extraordinary airing of the agencys infighting that comes as the bureau deals with an ongoing threat of terror at home and a newly aggressive posture from Russia.

Comey, meanwhile, has come under direct fire for his decision to tell Congress that agents were resuming their investigation of Clintons use of a private email server  a revelation that put him at odds with his Justice Department bosses and influenced the presidential campaign.

[FBI agents pressed Justice unsuccessfully for probe of Clinton Foundation]

Hes got to get control of the ship again, said Robert Anderson, a former senior official in the FBI who considers Comey a friend. Theres a lot of tension in the organization, and theres a lot of tension in Congress and the Senate right now, and all that counts toward how much people trust the FBI.

The Posts Rosalind Helderman breaks down the latest developments of the controversies involving the FBI less than a week from Election Day. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Comey has been under fire since Friday from lawmakers in both parties and even President Obama for his decision to inform Congress of the new developments in the email probe just 11 days before Election Day. On Thursday, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that Comey had learned three weeks earlier of the discovery of new emails potentially relevant to the case, but did not take action to resume the email probe until he was formally briefed last week on what investigators had found.

Clinton, who seemed to have momentum in battleground state polls before Comeys Friday bombshell, notably declined on Thursday to say whether, if elected, she would ask the FBI director to resign.

Im not going to, you know, either get ahead of myself by assuming Ill be fortunate enough to be elected, Clinton said, responding to a question from SiriusXMs Joe Madison. Thats really up to you and your listeners. People have to turn out, or nothing that Im going to be proposing will come into reality, but I also would never comment on any kind of, you know, personnel issue.

Comey was confirmed to a 10-year term in September 2013. While the law allows a president to remove an FBI director, the step is rarely taken out of respect for the independence of the position. President Bill Clinton removed Director William S. Sessions in 1993 amid allegations of ethical improprieties.

The pent-up frustration inside the FBI seemed to burst when Comey revealed in a brief letter to legislators that agents in an unrelated case had found emails potentially relevant to the Clinton email investigation.

The details, then and now, were scant. Officials familiar with the matter said the messages came from a computer seized in the investigation of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Agents said the messages were associated with Abedin and Clinton. Abedin has told people she has no idea how the messages got on the device.

Although investigators had discovered the emails in early October, software glitches prevented them from separating Abedin-related emails from the hundreds of thousands of messages recovered until Oct. 19 or 20, according to people familiar with the case.

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While Comey had been quickly alerted by his deputy to the original find, he took no further action, allowing agents in the field to get a better idea of the scope of the material. Agents could use digital clues to decipher where emails had originated and been sent but were legally barred from reading the emails without a search warrant because they had been obtained in a separate investigation.

When agents formally recommended on Oct. 27 that the warrant be sought, Comey agreed and then felt obligated to inform Congress  which he did with his letter the following day. Comeys only reference in the letter to the timing of his involvement was that he had been briefed the previous day.

FBI spokesmen declined to comment on the timeline of Comeys knowledge or on internal tensions.

The FBI obtained a warrant Sunday to analyze the messages for the Clinton investigation. It remains unclear if any of the newly discovered emails contain classified or other relevant information.

Comey had previously said he recommended that the Clinton email case be closed without charges.

Not long after Comeys new letter to Congress was made public last week, multiple media outlets reported that he had sent the missive against the advice of top Justice Department officials, who felt that commenting publicly on the inquiry would violate a long-standing policy not to take overt steps in investigations that could have an impact so close to an election. Before the weekend was over, the Wall Street Journal revealed there was a different, ongoing feud between FBI agents in New York and career public integrity prosecutors at the Justice Department over whether there was cause to investigate the Clinton Foundation.

Addressing the controversy in an interview posted Wednesday by NowThis News, Obama hinted that he was unhappy about the amount of information being revealed.

I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations we dont operate on innuendo, and we dont operate on incomplete information, and we dont operate on leaks, he said.

[FBI agents pressed Justice unsuccessfully for probe of Clinton Foundation]

Tensions had been thick between New York and Washington for months, dating to disagreements over how to handle the case of Eric Garner, the 43-year-old black man who died after being put in an apparent chokehold by a police officer. Officials in the Justice Departments civil rights division wanted to move forward with a case against the police officer, but New York-based agents and prosecutors vehemently disagreed, according to people familiar with the case. The attorney general has yet to resolve the dispute.

In the case of the Clinton Foundation inquiry, it was the FBI agents pushing for stronger action.

In February, people familiar with the case said, agents made their case to public integrity prosecutors about why they should proceed with a probe looking broadly at whether donors to the Clinton family charity were given improper benefits by the Hillary Clinton-led State Department.

Justice Department attorneys and FBI officials in Washington viewed the agents presentation as lacking substantive evidence. The attorneys felt it relied too heavily on public reports and the book Clinton Cash, and denied the agents authority to move forward, according to people familiar with the discussions. The 2015 book, by conservative author Peter Schweizer, relied heavily on public records and presented a largely circumstantial case that State Department actions were driven by donations to the Clinton Foundation and payments to Bill Clinton.

The move frustrated some agents in New York. They felt they were being stymied by Justice Department higher-ups in Washington and pressed forward in ways they felt were permissible, according to people familiar with the case. In August, a Justice Department official got wind of those efforts and called a counterpart in the FBI to inquire about it, one of the people said. The agents thought they had reason to believe they should press forward, although their leaders were warned that they should not take any steps close to the election, the person said.

The people familiar with the matters declined to discuss the precise evidence that agents had obtained. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that their work involved informants and recordings from unrelated corruption investigations.

Officials speaking with reporters on the condition of anonymity is common, and several did so for this report. But the level of specificity that has emerged in recent days about a politically sensitive investigation on the eve of an election is unusual  a sign of the deep tensions inside the Justice Department.

A spokeswoman for the FBIs New York field office and spokesmen for the Justice Department and FBI headquarters declined to comment for this report. FBI Agents Association President Thomas F. OConnor said in a statement: Agents undertake all investigations with an unwavering focus on complying with the law and the Constitution, and perform their mission with integrity and professionalism. Any implication that Agents are unwilling or incapable of performing effective investigations  or implications that Agents do not respect the confidentiality of those investigations  is simply false.

If Clinton is elected, Comey might have to contend with one or more investigations involving a sitting president. If she is not, he might face criticism for upending her bid.

Anderson, the former FBI official, said Comey will have to work quickly to finish the restarted email review, then talk to leaders and visit field offices to ease the tensions in the bureau and help mend public perceptions of the FBI. Comey has repeatedly said in the past that is important to him.

I dont know what your parents taught you, but mine always taught me you cant care what people think about you. I do, he said at a recent conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the Justices Departments National Security Division. I do because the institution Im lucky enough to lead depends upon the American people believing that we are honest, competent and independent.

Read more:

Clinton aide Huma Abedin has told people she doesnt know how her emails wound up on her husbands computer

Computer seized in Weiner probe prompts FBI to take new steps in Clinton email inquiry

Why FBI director James B. Comey was able to defy Justice bosses on Clinton email announcement
South Koreas embattled president on Friday apologized to the nation over a snowballing political crisis involving a secret aide and said she would submit to an investigation if necessary, as her approval ratings dropped to the lowest recorded since democracy arrived here.

Park Geun-hye, who made history four years ago when she became the countrys first female leader, is now facing the worst crisis of her turbulent tenure. A growing number of politicians and ordinary people are calling for her resignation, and her own justice minister has raised the possibility that she could be investigated for wrongdoing.

I deeply apologize to the nation for causing this disappointment and distress, Park said Friday morning in a nationally televised address, only her second statement on the issue since the controversy erupted last month. Her voice was breaking during the statement, and she appeared to be on the brink of tears.

[Here is everything you need to know about South Koreas extraordinary presidential scandal]

I blame myself for everything. This is all my fault, and I take full responsibility, she said in an attempt to quell public fury over the controversy.

South Koreas president is engulfed in a political scandal with plotlines straight out of a soap opera: rumors of secret advisers, nepotism and ill-gotten gains. (Anna Fifield, Yoonjung Seo, Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

The crisis began when local media reported that the notoriously aloof Park had been relying on Choi Soon-sil, a longtime confidante with links to a questionable shamanistic cult, for secret advice on everything from speeches to her wardrobe.

More evidence has since emerged that Choi, who held no official position and had no security clearance, had access to confidential information and a surprising amount of sway over the president, leading to local media outlets calling her the shadow president.

In an emotional address Friday, an ashen-faced Park appealed to the public for sympathy, saying she had been living a lonely life in the presidential Blue House and had relied on Choi for friendship and guidance.

Park has long been considered something of a tragic figure in South Korea, given that her mother was assassinated by a North Korean sympathizer, and five years later her father, former strongman president Park Chung-hee, was killed by his intelligence chief.

Choi stood by me when I was going through a tough time, and I let my guard down, Park said, adding that she cannot sleep at night.

[Woman at center of South Korean presidential crisis is detained]

Im in great pain, even thinking about why I became the president, Park said. I have tried so hard to be genuinely helpful to the people, but the result turned out to be the opposite, and it breaks my heart.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye bows in apology as she delivers an address to the nation at the presidential office, Nov. 4, 2016. (Yonhap/EPA)

Park also denied rumors that she was involved in any cult or had performed shamanistic ceremonies at the Blue House, saying such reports were groundless.

Choi is also alleged to have taken advantage of her relationship with Park to enrich herself  she is accused to siphoning off much of the $70 million donated to foundations she ran  and benefit her family. Speculation that the rules were changed to allow Chois daughter to enter a prestigious university contributed to the college presidents resignation.

Choi is now in custody, and a court has issued a warrant for her arrest on charges of being an accessory to an abuse of power and attempted embezzlement.

Park also apologized for this part, saying that the businessmen who donated to the foundations did so for the right reasons.

As the scandal mounted, Park last week appeared on television to apologize and explain that Choi, whom shes known for 40 years, helped her through difficult times. But as new information comes to light, the public is becoming more and more enraged.

Thousands of people protested in central Seoul last weekend calling for her resignation, and recent polls show as many as 70 percent of respondents want Park to stand down. Her approval ratings have sunk below 10 percent. Gallup Koreas daily poll Friday put Parks support at 5 percent, the lowest ever recorded for any South Korean president.

Park has attempted to quell the outrage by firing key ministers and advisers, but this has not had its desired effect. Both her justice minister and her nominee for prime minister have said that it is possible Park will be investigated for wrongdoing.

The constitution states that the president cannot be prosecuted while in office, but some legal scholars are saying it doesnt rule out investigation.

I believe we can conduct an investigation into Park, Kim Byong-joon, Parks pick for prime minister, told reporters Thursday. Everyone is equal before the law.

In her address Friday, Park said she was willing to answer questions.

The prosecutors office should not be distracted. They should try to uncover the truth, she said. I will do my best to clarify this case, and I have already instructed my secretaries to actively cooperate with the investigation. If it is necessary, I myself will accept being investigated by the prosecutors office, or even a special prosecutors investigation.

Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.

Read more

South Koreas presidency on the brink of collapse as scandal grows

With talk of Ban running for president, his home town is abuzz

South Korean president is dealt a setback at the polls, ushering in a stalemate

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Police detain Sebahat Tuncel, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party, during a protest in Diyarbakir, Turkey, against the arrest of Kurdish lawmakers on Nov. 4. (Sertac Kayar/Reuters)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply escalated his conflict with the Kurdish opposition on Friday as his government formally brought terrorism-related charges against at least eight members of parliament belonging to Turkeys largest pro-Kurdish party, including the partys two leaders.

The arrests, after chaotic nighttime raids on the homes of some of Turkeys most prominent elected lawmakers, were criticized by Kurdish and human rights activists as a withering assault on Turkeys democracy. They reverberated beyond the countrys borders, drawing condemnations from European capitals and the United Nations. And they threatened Turkey with greater instability, raising fears that the repression of the political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, would empower militant Kurdish factions at war with the government.

As if to highlight the danger, a powerful car bomb exploded outside a police compound in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir hours after the arrests, killing nine people and wounding more than 100, authorities said.

Erdogans government has been carrying out a broad crackdown on political opponents in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in July, arresting or dismissing tens of thousands of people from their jobs.

They have included followers of Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric whom officials have blamed for the coup attempt. But the purge has spread well beyond his supporters and swept up thousands of others whom the government perceives as opponents, including journalists and academics.

Turkish police spray pepper gas as they arrest protesters on Nov. 4 in Ankara. (Getty Images)

[How the Turkish government regained control after the failed coup]

In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration is deeply disturbed by the arrests of opposition lawmakers and has expressed its concerns to Turkey. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union joined criticism of the detentions. Ban also condemned Fridays car bombing.

The purge has coincided with heightened government anxiety over the growing assertiveness of Kurdish militant groups in Turkey and across the border in Syria, where Kurdish factions are allied with a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State.

Militants belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have stepped up attacks on Turkish security forces over the past year after a peace deal fell apart in 2015. That agreement had ended decades of war between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish state, which Kurds say has long persecuted their population. Ethnic Kurds make up nearly 20 percent of the countrys 75 million people.

The government has increasingly sought to link mainstream Kurdish opposition politicians to the militants, arresting local Kurdish leaders and shuttering pro-Kurdish institutions and media outlets.

In May, Turkeys parliament voted to strip lawmakers of their immunity, including at least 50 HDP deputies who were facing investigation. Critics say Erdogan sought to remove opposition in parliament that would hinder his plans to establish a stronger presidency with expanded powers that would sideline the elected assembly.

But the governments decision to move forcefully against the HDP  one of Turkeys most formidable opposition groups and an avenue for the political integration of the countrys marginalized Kurdish minority  appeared to represent a turning point in the months-long campaign of arrests, analysts said.

The party, which holds more than 10 percent of the seats in parliament and is the chambers third-largest bloc, represents 6 million votes, said Cengiz Candar, a Turkish political analyst and visiting scholar at Stockholm University. Targeting the HDP, which includes the countrys most popular politicians, was an invitation to civil strife  for partitioning the country, he said.

Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-leaders of the party, were ordered arrested pending trial. Six other lawmakers were also arrested on terrorism-related charges. Demirtas, a 43-year-old human rights lawyer, has a growing national and international profile and has emerged as a strong opponent of Erdogan.

[Turkeys response to failed coup threatens ties with Western allies]

Authorities said the HDP lawmakers were detained Friday after failing to answer an official summons to testify in a counterterrorism investigation. A statement from the Turkish prime ministers office linked the detentions to Turkeys effective fight against terrorism.

There is no other country in the world which is fighting simultaneously against a minimum of 10 terrorist organizations like Turkey, the statement said.

With the arrests, the government has gone from talking peace with the PKK leader, and PKK commanders in the field, to going after anyone who is remotely advocating greater rights for the Kurds, said journalist Amberin Zaman, a public policy scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington. It is the same old notion  that Kurdish national aspirations can be crushed using military force, she said.

At a news conference Friday in Istanbul, defiant HDP lawmakers accused Erdogan of attempting to steer the country into a civil war.

Maybe in a few hours, none of us will be left, HDP lawmaker Mithat Sancar said in reference to the speed and scale of the arrests.

But they are mistaken if they expect us to bow down, he said.

Overnight, as security forces detained the lawmakers, authorities blocked access to several social-media sites, according to the Internet monitoring group Turkey Blocks. The shutdown included Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and the messaging service WhatsApp.

Users also reported Internet outages on mobile phones.

Videos of the police raids that circulated online included one showing Idris Baluken, a senior HDP leader, being led by uniformed officers to a waiting car.

Dont press my head! Baluken yelled at an officer as they approached the vehicle.

You will be held accountable for this, he said. I am the representative of hundreds of thousands of votes.

Fahim reported from Cairo.

Read more

Aftermath of Turkeys failed coup threatens ties with Western allies

Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup

Editorial: Cult of personality dashes Turkeys democratic dreams

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A month after Hurricane Matthew crossed Haitis Tiburon Peninsula with winds approaching 150 miles per hour, a 10-foot storm surge and more than 2 feet of rain in some places, the crisis left behind by the storm is deepening.

The lack of adequate relief aid has led to growing anger and protests by the Haitian people, leading to clashes with security forces that have resulted in the killing and wounding of young demonstrators.

The hurricanes official death toll, likely understated for political reasons, is 546 people. According to UN figures, nearly 100 percent of crops in the GrandAnse departmentincluding coconuts, bananas, coffee, chocolate and otherswere destroyed. In the Sud department, where the storm made landfall, more than 90 percent of crops were ruined. Nationwide, more than 350,000 head of livestock died in the storm. As of October 28, more than 800,000 people still needed urgent food assistance, according to the UN.

The Haitian government is estimating total damage of nearly $1.9 billion. Agricultural losses make up an estimated $600 million of this amount. Damage to housing is also valued at $600 million, with 175,000 people having lost their homes. Five hundred schools were either damaged or destroyed. More than 2 million people were affected by the storm, with 1.4 million in need of assistance. UNICEF estimates that more than 112,000 children under the age of five are at risk for acute malnutrition.

The US and European governments, whose imperialist policies have kept Haiti destitute for two centuries, have contributed only paltry amounts of aid. USAID donated $400,000 immediately after the storm, followed by $26 million worth of food and supplies, such as chlorine for treating water. The European Union gave 1.75 million right after the storm, with an additional 20 million in infrastructure support announced three weeks later.

The most significant aid so far has been 820,000 doses of an oral cholera vaccine from the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. Cholera, a water-born bacterium which was brought to Haiti by UN soldiers in the fall of 2010, has sickened more than 3,000 in the areas affected by Hurricane Matthew.

Additional tropical rains on October 20 and 21 flooded for a second time some areas that had been devastated by Matthew, while also killing five people in the Nord-Ouest department. Desperation in the Sud and Grand-Anse departments is now leading to violence.

On Tuesday a teenager was shot dead by Haitian National Police in Les Cayes as people tried to take supplies from a Puerto Rican boat from which 2,500 metric tons of aid had not been unloaded for several days. Residents of the city responded with barricades of burning tires: several main roadways, including National Route 2, were blocked. Le Nouvelliste reported that people armed with guns and machetes were threatening the homes of local authorities. There were reports of tear gas, and a resident of Les Cayes told the paper, We dont want to go out in the street, for fear of being counted among the victims.

Clauvy Robas, the parliamentary deputy from Cayes-Ile-a-Vache, told Le Nouvelliste that the anger of the population is directed against the authorities and institutions. I was advised not to stick my nose into it, as a measure of prudence. Joseph Astrel, the mayors chief of staff, reported having escaped assassination.

In Torbeck, just to the west of Les Cayes, an earlier incident occurred in which a UNICEF truck carrying medical supplies was attacked and emptied. The supplies, including kits for midwives and medications, were being delivered along the coast. UNICEF estimated that between 70 percent and 80 percent of medical facilities in the area where Matthew made landfall were either damaged or destroyed.

In the town of Dame Marie last week, a 16-year-old was killed by police and three people were wounded at a food distribution site, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune. People in and around Dame Marie were already in a state of desperation. A week after Matthew hit, Fox News reported on 300 patients waiting for medication to be delivered to the towns hospital. Among them was a farmer who walked seven miles with a broken leg after a tree fell on his house; because there were no painkillers available, the hospital could not even perform an amputation.

In contrast to the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, when it dispatched more than 20,000 troops to Haiti, the US government has decided to delegate management of the current crisis to the Haitian National Police and the UNs hated MINUSTAH force. Only 400 US military personnel were dispatched after the storm, and they were withdrawn by October 18.

On October 11, the UN voted to extend MINUSTAHs mandate at current troop levels by six months, in part because it feels that the HNP is not ready to police the country without help. MINUSTAH head Sandra Honore told the meeting that no effort should be spared to continue strengthening the rule of law institutions and the Haitian National Police, according to the UNs published summary.

When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Les Cayes on October 15, these supposed defenders of the rule of law fired teargas at protesters. Video on the Guardians web site shows residents who were so angry that they did not even want food from the trucks accompanying Ban.
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Deeside workers in the Glenugie estate at Maskeliya formed an action committee on October 26 to take forward their fight, along with plantation workers throughout Sri Lanka, for a daily wage of 1,000 rupees.

The Deeside workers took this move after the trade unions signed a collective agreement with employers for a daily wage of 730 rupees ($US5), tied to productivity. Their move to take up an independent struggle is a critical step forward not only for plantation workers, but every section of the working class.

Plantation workers, one of the most oppressed layers of workers in Sri Lanka, have been in a continuous battle in the recent years against attacks on their wages, jobs and working conditions. In particular, workers have opposed every measure by estate companies to increase their workloads because of the contraction in the tea market created by world economic and geo-political tensions.

A powerful opposition toward trade union betrayals has been growing among workers, who have witnessed the unions acting as industrial police for the ruthless exploitative plans of employers.

As with previous sellout deals, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) and Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre (JPTUC) signed the new collective agreement. The National Workers Union (NUW), Up-country Peoples Front (UPF) and Democratic Workers Congress (DWC) declared their support for the agreement. While the NUW, DWC, UPF and LJEWU are partners of the present government, the CWC and JPTUC backed previous administrations.

During the past 18 months, since the previous collective agreement expired, the union leaders have engaged in discussions, behind the back of workers, with estate companies and the government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. That was why strikes and protests erupted on September 26, outside the control of the unions.

A critical role in developing the understanding of the need for new forms of working class organisation was played by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and World Socialist Web Site. The SEPs statement, Sri Lankan plantation struggle: Build action committees, fight for socialist policies, issued at the outset of the wage struggle, found a wide hearing among workers.

The SEP explained that the opposition which erupted after the collective agreement was signed should not be limited to breaking with the trade unions. It urged workers to build new organisations, totally independent of the unions, to take the fight into workers own hands.

The action committee was formed after several rounds of discussions between SEP members and a group of Deeside workers. The discussions clarified the perspective upon which action committees should be based, as a new democratic form of organisation, built in opposition to the obsolete and reactionary trade unions, which have historically degenerated.

M. Thevarajah, an SEP political committee member, was unanimously elected as the president of the committee, while Deeside workers themselves were elected as secretary and other committee leaders.

As a result of subsequent discussion, an appealreprinted belowwas drafted, and unanimously adopted, addressed to all plantation workers.

Workers still do not know the complete content of the new agreement signed by the unions with the companies, but the employers and the government are boasting that it is a major victory for them, because it is based on driving up productivity.

The criminal character of the agreement and the necessity for action committees to defeat the attacks are increasingly being revealed. A day after the agreement was signed on October 18, employers started speedups.

Last week, the plucking target for tea leaves was increased from 16 to 18 kilograms in the Henfold estate at Agarapathana. Its Agra division target was raised from 16 to 22 kilograms. When male workers in Deeside came to work on October 22, the employers refused to give them work.

According to the agreement, targets can be increased in any estate with the consent of union leaders and they will undoubtedly assist the employers to do so.

The economic statement made to parliament by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on October 27 makes it clear that these attacks stem from the policies of the government itself. He said Sri Lankas agricultural exports have dropped, due to lower tea and rubber prices, and that some estates do not function well.

Wickremesinghe said regional estates would be restructured by introducing efficient entrepreneurship methods and allowing inflows of new capital. This means that estates that do not function well should be either closed or handed over to efficient entrepreneurs.

It is clear that the government is preparing an all-out assault on jobs, wages and working conditions, with the full backing of the union bureaucracies.

Like Deeside workers, workers in every estate should form action committees, based on socialist policies, to fight against these plans to wipe out the jobs of thousands of workers and impose speedups.

***

The following initial statement was issued by the Deeside workers action committee on October 26:

An appeal for the fighting workers

Our struggle from September 26 demanding a 1,000-rupee daily wage is at the crossroads with the signing of the new collective agreement agreeing to dire wage formulas tied to productivity.

None of us know the true content of the so-called collective agreement signed by union leaders with the employers. This agreement is a result of a secret conspiracy by the estate management, government and unions.

According to information leaked through the media, the daily wage of a worker will increase only by 110 rupees. Basic salaries will be increased up to 500 from 450 rupees. The payment according to tea price stagnates at 30 rupees and the attendance allowance is decreased from 140 to 60 rupees. In order to get that amount, a worker has to work at least 25 days a month.

A productivity incentive of 140 rupees has been newly introduced. This can be claimed only if the estates plucking targets are achieved. Though the targets from one estate to another are different, they can be upped with the agreement of union leaders.

Compared to the labour extracted under old wage system, this is a slashing of wages, not an increase.

All plantation workers should vehemently reject this wage deal. We should break with unions not just by rejecting and denouncing the union bureaucracy who signed the deal or supported it but take the struggle for a decent wage and other necessities into our own hands.

We are happy to announce that, as workers in Deeside estate in Maskeliya, we have formed an action committee to carry our struggle forward.

In order to win our wage demand through the action committee, we should have a perspective and a program. We need a political perspective aiming at defeating the program of unions, employers and the government. It is required to discuss and adopt this program in the action committee. We hope to discuss the program presented in the statement of the Socialist Equality Party.

Our action committee is completely independent from the trade unions. Its representatives are elected through the democratic votes of workers. Our demands and methods of struggle are decided through democratic discussion within the committee.

We call on the workers in the Deeside division of Glenugie estate to join with our action committee. We also appeal to all the worker comrades in the estates to form action committees.

Our aim is to carry our struggle forward through a central committee uniting all the action committees.

Victory to the struggle of plantation workers!

Workers Action Committee

Deeside Estate,

Maskeliya

26 October 2016
(Photo: Getty Images)

From Cosmopolitan

About one week after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the strictest anti-abortion legislation in the country, HEA 1337, into law in March, his office got a call from Sue Magina. Thats M-A-G-I-N-A, the caller told the operator. It rhymes with, she said, before the operator said, Ive got it," and hung up.

Magina began calling Pence's office daily and published several transcripts of her phone calls on a Facebook page she had started, called Periods for Pence. Soon women from all over the state were joining Magina in calling Pences office with updates about their menstruation cycle. The page launched a social movement with people tweeting Pence about their periods and posting transcripts of their calls on the Facebook page. The Facebook page, which also shares news and commentary about reproductive rights and feminism, now has over 77,000 likes.

A federal judge blocked the controversial law in June. But when Pence went on to become Donald Trumps running mate in July, the group doubled down rebranded itself as Periods for Politicians with the goal of calling other anti-choice legislators around the country. On Nov. 2, less than a week before Election Day, the group organized a pre-election rally at the Indiana Statehouse to "highlight damaging laws aimed at women across Indiana legislated during the last four years of Mike Pences term as Governor," according to a press release. At the rally, Magina also revealed her true identity as 39-year-old Carmel, Indiana, resident Laura Shanley.

Ahead of her identity reveal, Shanley spoke to Cosmopolitan.com about her activism, why she is no longer anonymous, and where the Periods for Politicians movement is headed.

Photo credit: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

Why did you start Periods for Pence?

Initially, it began because Gov. Pence had passed a really, really restrictive abortion law. One of the things that it said was that pregnancy began when an egg was fertilized. But anyone with basic biology knowledge knows that you can expel fertilized eggs during a period without knowing. [Editor's note: According to the Guttmacher Institute, federal policy and scientific communities consider a woman pregnant "only when a fertilized egg has implanted in the wall of her uterus."] So I thought if youre going to want to know this much about my body and why Im making the choices Im making, then you might as well know all of it. Lets just cover our bases and make sure nobodys doing something illegal when we have a period.

Story continues

Contact @GovPenceIN to report your periods in response to HEA1337! Because it IS his business, now! - PeriodsforPols (@periodsforpols) March 30, 2016

I threw up the [Periods for Pence] Facebook page - took me about 20 minutes. I typed out a rant, and it just took off from there. The very next day, I started calling [Pence's office] and started transcribing my calls. Then people just started calling as well. When it caught the media attention about two weeks later, [the Facebook page had] about 55,000 people.

How did "Sue Magina" come about?

The first time [I called] I actually used my real name. I said that I wanted to call and report that I wasn't pregnant. They said, "Can I get your name?" and I said, "Sure, it's Not Pregnant Laura." That, unfortunately, was the call that started showing up in stories in the media about Periods for Pence. So I started giving them a fake name when I would call, for about a week, and then I thought, This is no fun at all. I started thinking about What are they going to do? Sue my vagina? That's where Sue Magina came from.

How many times have you called Pence's office?

Oh, I called every day for the first probably two to three months. Then we started calling the author of the bill, Casey Cox, and we started calling some of the co-sponsors of the bill - Liz Brown was one that was running for Congress.

The switchboard would answer, and I would say I wanted to speak with someone in the governor's office please, and they would transfer you. Of course, usually I would say, "Hi, can I speak with Gov. Pence?" and they would say, "No, he's not available, I can take a message," and then I would just speak with whoever happens to be on the line. I never actually heard of anyone getting the representative on the phone.

@periodsforpence @GovPenceIN do I get bereavement leave at work every 28 days for the potential missed births? - Elle Woods (@AttyWoods) April 3, 2016

What response did you receive?

Someone that worked in the governors office would let me know that [Gov. Pence] was getting very perturbed by the whole thing. He would just walk in in the morning and beeline to his office and shut the door and lock it [laughs]. One day, reports came in that we had shut down the phone lines altogether, and so after that happened, they had started farming it out so that the main switchboard was answering instead of his office.

Did anyone ever hang up on you?

Very often. My favorite was when we called Trump's office once, and I just said, "Hi, I wanted to give this message to Mike Pence that I'm having really terrible cramps today." And the lady on the phone said, "Oh, you're sick people. You're sick." And I said, "No I'm not sick, I just have cramps. I'm OK," and she hung up.

Is there anyone you are calling regularly?

Right now we're not [calling any politician regularly]. We wait to see who's in session, what law is pressing at the time. Next week, we're going to start calling Gov. Greg Abbott from Texas regarding their anti-choice law that's being passed. When I saw "we," I mean the [Facebook] page as a collective.

How has this impacted the abortion rights movement?

I have a lot of women that said, "Gosh, I never knew that I could call my representative." Theres nothing wrong with going to protests and we need those things to call attention. But we also need our voices to be heard on an individual level.

Photo credit: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

What was your reaction when Mike Pence was chosen as Donald Trumps running mate?

Mike Pence has had a pretty abysmal record in Indiana of pushing a very theocratic agenda. He had the whole Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was allowing discrimination against gay people. [Editor's note: The RRFA allows businesses to cite religious beliefs as a legal defense if sued. After outcry over fears of anti-LGBT discrimination, the law was amended to state it would not allow discrimination against sexual orientation or gender identity]. He tried to run a state-run media service. As extreme as Donald Trump is, Mike Pence is far more so. I dont think Donald Trump really knows exactly what hes doing all the time. Mike Pence knows exactly what hes doing all the time.

Good morning it's your hoo-ha! Keep calling @GovPenceIN but add the author Casey Cox as well! 317-232-9863. Tell him hey from your hoo ha! - PeriodsforPols (@periodsforpols) April 4, 2016

Why have you chosen to remain anonymous until now?

At first, there were a lot of reasons. I really liked my boss. I taught pre-K in a church, and the church was a very conservative church. She wouldve had to fire me and I just didnt want to put her in that position. So I stayed anonymous as long as I could, and then at the end of the school year, I lost my job [for reasons unrelated to Periods for Pence].

My safety is another. I have received more than one threat on the [Facebook] page. And we have some family members that are very pro-life and I tried to be respectful of that while still taking a stand.

@GovPenceIN @periodsforpence I really like that you are so into my uterus, would hate to think it was only me & my OBGYN - Elle Woods (@AttyWoods) April 3, 2016

But the more Ive heard Donald Trump and Mike Pence speak and reiterate their beliefs that women are second-class citizens, its just more important to me to speak out and to give women some encouragement to use their voices. And I cant really ask them to do that if Im sitting behind the veil of anonymity. Thats not good leadership.

Follow Prachi on Twitter.

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From Cosmopolitan

According to CNN, Ashlee Hutt, 24, and Mac Leroy McIver, 25, of Tacoma, Washington, face three felony counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, criminal mistreatment of a child, and assault of a child after they allegedly injected their three young children with heroin. Both Hutt and McIver admit to heroin usage, but deny injecting their children with it.

Charges: Ashlee Hutt, 24, injected heroin into her children ages 2, 4, & 6. They reportedly called it "feel good medicine" pic.twitter.com/00zyAqeVOm - Kevin McCarty (@KevinKIRO7) October 31, 2016

The couple's 6-year-old son told a Child Protective Service worker that his parents would inject him and his sisters, 2 and 4, with a needle filled with a white powder mixed with water. He described it as "feel-good medicine." He said he and his sisters would usually fall asleep afterward. CPS then began a six-month investigation of Hutt and McIver for their alleged mistreatment of their three children.

In November 2015, CPS found the children to be living in what they described as a hazardous household in Hutt and McIver's home, which was reportedly filled with rat droppings, heroin, and needles.

Citing "abuse and neglect," CPS removed the children, and later found marks, cuts, and bruises on the children's arms. According to CNN, the county's deputy prosecuting attorney said the bruises looked as though they were caused by needle injections. Additionally, officials tested the children's hair follicles, and while the 6-year-old tested negative for heroin, Hutt and McIver's middle child had a trace amount of the drug in her system. Their youngest tested positive.

When interviewed by CPS, both parents blame other adults (who lived with them) for injected their children. According to CNN, McIver later told authorities "he believed the babysitter may be responsible."

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A spokesperson for the sheriff's department told a local news station that the children are currently in foster homes and are "doing well." While they await trial, Hutt and McIver's bond has been set at $100,000, and a judge also issued a restraining order that prohibits them from contacting their children or being within 1,000 feet of them.

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JOHANNESBURG  When a Boeing cargo plane crashed in northern Mali in 2009, just minutes after taking off from a remote air strip in the desert, investigators who arrived on the scene soon made a startling announcement: the plane was believed to be carrying up to 10 tons of cocaine from Venezuela, all of which had vanished without a trace after the crash.

While that tale of international intrigue wasnt the direct inspiration for Wulu, French-Malian helmer Daouda Coulibalys riveting debut, the director recalls how the mysterious Boeing crash forced many Malians to recognize for the first time the scale of the drug trade using West Africa as a transit point between Latin America and Europe.

That trade was the launching pad for his fast-paced, Scarface-style portrait of a young Malian hustler seduced by a life of crime.

For Coulibaly, who was born to parents of Malian and Guinean descent in Marseilles, the film is as much a tale of one mans rough underworld education as it is a reflection of the helmers cinematic schooling.

While the director acknowledges the influence on his work of African auteurs like countryman Souleymane Cisse, the kinetic pacing of Wulu suggests an even greater debt to the likes of Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese. It also reflects the vision of a younger generation of African filmmakers whose inspiration is increasingly urban and global.

This is a different time, he says.

Coulibaly is a product of Focus Features Africa First program, an initiative that for six years offered funding, mentorship, and distribution deals to young African talent, before being shuttered in 2013. The program, which awarded $10,000 toward the production of a short film, helped Coulibaly and more than two dozen emerging filmmakers from across the continent get exposure on the international stage.

The first three shorts to come out of the program  The Tunnel, by South Africas Jenna Bass; Pumzi, by Kenyas Wanuri Kahui; and Saint Louis Blues, by Senegals Dyana Gaye  world premiered at Sundance. Coulibalys Tinye So traveled to the New York African Film Festival, the BFI London film fest, Milan, and Dubai. Gayes feature debut, Under the Starry Sky, bowed in Toronto, while Bass Love the One You Love won a slew of awards after its world premiere at the Durban film fest, while also earning nominations in Busan and Gothenburg.

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For Wulu, Coulibaly spent two years scouting locations in Mali. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, he says. But just two months before principal photography was about to begin, Islamic militants attacked a restaurant in Bamako, killing five. Coulibaly and his producers suddenly wondered if the risks were too high. While theyd planned to spend six weeks on location in Mali, it was in neighboring Senegal that they decided to lens most of the film.

The decision weighed heavily on Coulibaly, who almost abandoned the project. But in the end, he believes he made a stronger movie because of it. The problems is that when you shoot, you dont work anymore. You just execute, he says. The fact that I changed things, it pushed me to be creative.

Despite lensing mostly in Senegal, Wulu, which takes its title from a rite of passage among the Bambara people of Mali, is still deeply rooted in Malian culture. Coulibaly first visited the country at an early age, but it was as a teenager that his interest began to grow.

Fatherhood would later help him to recognize the importance of teaching his two young children about their roots, and he relocated the family to Bamako for four years before returning to France in 2015.

While Coulibaly says hes very proud[to be] an African filmmaker, he doesnt want that to inform the lens through which audiences watch his movies.

If its a thriller, its a drama, its still seen as an African film, he says. We still have this kind of attitude [where] people keep seeing your stories as African.

Im not an activist, he says. I just want to make films.

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Starbucks Green Cup

Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today.

1. Google rejected the EU's antitrust charges of unfairly promoting its shopping services and blocking rivals in online advertising. The Alphabet unit said there was no factual, legal, or economic basis to the accusations.

2. Starbucks has been accused of "political brainwashing" after it rolled out green cups. The cups  featuring an illustration showing the faces of more than hundred people drawn in a single continuous line were meant to promote a message of unity, but are having the opposite effect on some customers.

3. The former global CEO of Omnicom ad agency RAPP has blogged about his "punishing" experience. Alexei Orlov resigned from his post this summer amid a discrimination lawsuit brought against him by the company's former US president.

4. Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Facebook, despite the company's warning of increased spending and a slowdown in revenue growth. Facebook shares have been tumbling since its earnings report but none of the 11 Facebook analysts surveyed by Business Insider lowered their recommendations for the company.

5. Slack's head of marketing Bill Macaitis has quietly stepped down after two years. A Slack representative confirmed to Business Insider that the company has not yet replaced him.

6. YouTube Red  YouTube's ad-free paid subscription service  is failing to take off, according to a report from The Verge. A year after its launch, it had just 1.5 million paying subscribers as of late summer, with another 1 million signed up on a free trial basis, according to The Verge's sources.

7. Retailer John Lewis admitted its "Man on the Moon" ad last Christmas may have been too sad, The Drum reports. John Lewis head of marketing Rachel Swift revealed that the mixed response to last year's ad has led it to reevalaute the message it wanted to convey, speaking at the IPAs Genesis Conference.

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8. 1,000 companies are already using Facebook Workplace  a new version of Facebook designed for business users. CEO Mark Zuckerberg repeated the fact that it has just launched the communications product  a direct threat to the Slack business messaging product  during the quarterly conference call this week.

9. Digiday got hold of a new Snapchat advertising pitch deck. It reveals a new ad format called "Snap to Unlock," where a brand can give the user the ability to snap in order to get a custom geofilter.

10. Boston Beer shares have halved in value from early 2015  yet it continues to create new in-house craft products, The Motley Fool reports. Sam Adams Lager maker Boston Beer Company still hasn't figured out that it isn't a "craft" brewer anymore.

NOW WATCH: A hacker reveals a simple way to come up with a strong password that's easy to remember





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11 baby names that have actually been banned

Naming a real, live human being that you have either created or legally declared as your own, is an understandably sensitive issue. Especially when it comes to baby names that have been banned. I mean, think about it. Naming a new baby is personal and intimate and painstaking. Youre essentially responsible for giving someone their identity and its not something most take lightly. Especially, you know, the court of law.

According to Marie Claire, despite certain parents inventiveness, there are a few baby names that have been banned throughout the globe, believe it or not. Proving that it does, in fact, take a village to raise a child. And that village doesnt always necessarily agree with your choices.

For instance, the magazine explains that due to a law put into place in New Zealand in 1995, parents were not allowed to give their child a name that implies rank, resembles official titles, causes undue [offense], and as a full name is no longer than 99 characters. Those names include monikers such as King, Prince, Commodore, Royal, Princess, and Lord to name a few.

Check out some more of the names that are, legally, a big no-no:

Facebook

Per the publication, Mexico declared this name as one of many that were either, derogatory, pejorative, discriminatory or lacking in meaning. Though, it can be argued that Facebook has a wealth of meaning to a lot of people.

Cyanide

The site explained that a parent in Wales wanted to name her child after the deadly poison. But, you know, the Court of Appeal thought better of it.

Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii

Apparently, the child was made a ward of court in New Zealand in 2008 which enabled her to change her name, says Marie Claire. Which is probably for the best. Imagine filling this out on a scantron?

Anus

As the site asserts, Denmark said a definitive nah to this cheeky name.

Nutella

According to The Telegraph, a French couple wanted to name their new baby Nutella, only to be stopped by a judge who argued the name would invite mockery and disobliging remarks.

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Robocop

If you live in Mexico, you cant name your baby Robocop. Sorry?

Metallica [/listhead]

According to BBC News, officials in Sweden decided the baby name Metallica was inappropriate.

[listheader] Venerdi

In this instance, an Italian judge tried to spare a child some grief on the playground. Marie Claire explains that the name means Friday but the parents werent allowed to name their child something that would apparently subject him to mockery per the judge.

Chow Tow

This name was banned by the Malyasian government, according to the magazine. Why? Well, because it means smelly head and weve already learned from Big Daddy that no one wants to be known as the smelly kid in class.

Lucifer

This name is not unfamiliar, but that doesnt mean New Zealand was cool with it. Because, the site explains that the department of internal affairs stopped the trend altogether.

III

Finally, an American name banning! According to Marie Claire the name (or number?) was done away with in 1984 because Californias Court of Appeals asserted that it was a symbol.

The post 11 baby names that have actually been banned appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Reading hotel reviews, comparing flight options and exploring top attractions are critical vacation-planning steps to nail down a trip you and your travel companions will enjoy, but the financial aspects of your itinerary must be considered, too. Remember, the perfect vacation isn't just one creating lifelong memories -- it's one that won't leave you worrying about draining your wallet. After all, if you spend more money than you budgeted or you fail to account for extra unexpected fees, you could arrive home with an empty bank account -- or worse -- a huge credit card bill.

[See: 10 Outrageous Fees Every Traveler Should Know About.]

Creating a comprehensive travel budget isn't hard, but it does require a little legwork and planning. While there are obvious travel expenses such as hotel rooms, airfare, car rentals, train travel, airport transfers and meals, what about everything else? Here are a few hidden vacation costs to keep in mind to avoid bursting your budget.

Checked Baggage Fees

While some airlines don't charge checked bag fees for your first or second bag, others charge $25 or more for each bag you don't carry on the plane. Check with your preferred airline to see what they charge for your first and second bag before you book. Also, keep in mind that certain co-branded airline credit cards give you your first checked bag free.

Airline Seat Selection Fees

While some carriers let you choose your seats in advance, others make you wait until 24 hours from boarding to make a seat selection. You can pay anywhere from $5 to $80 to get your pick of the best seats early on. And while getting an aisle or window seat may not be important to you, it's a smart idea to select your seats in advance if you want to sit nearby or next to your travel companions.

Priority Boarding

Boarding early and jumping ahead of other passengers is another overlooked perk that can cost you. Most airlines will let you pay $10 to $15 per leg to get on the plane prior to other fliers. Southwest Airlines, for example, allows you to pay a $15 EarlyBird check-in fee that will land you in the first boarding group.

Story continues

Taxes

Hotel occupancy taxes aren't anything new, but they can sneak up on you if you don't plan ahead. Some occupancy taxes are included in your nightly room rate, while others are paid on arrival. In Rome, for example, tourists are required to pay a tourist accommodation tax in cash by the day based on their selected hotel. A five-star hotel, for example, costs 7 euros per person, per night.

Excursion and Tour Costs

Planning a guided bus tour or a guided hike through the jungle? Don't forget to budget for the price of these excursions, as well as transportation costs to get there. Cruise excursion costs, whether you choose to book with a cruise line or on your own, can be especially pricey, so research your options before your trip to avoid sticker shock.

[Read: 8 International Trips Under $2,000.]

Resort Fees

Some hotels tack on resort fees to cover the costs of pool and gym usage along with in-room Wi-Fi access. In Las Vegas, resort fees can add an additional $50-$60 to the cost of your nightly room rate. Since these fees aren't always included in the advertised price of your hotel, be sure to ask before you book. Also, make sure to inquire about charges for internet usage. In the absence of a resort fee, you may need to pay a daily fee to access the internet in your hotel room.

Car Rental Insurance

Depending on where you rent a car, you may be required to buy mandatory rental car insurance. However, some rewards credit cards offer this perk for free, so make sure to explore your loyalty card's benefits before you book.

Parking Fees

If you're renting a car or bringing your own vehicle, be aware of the various parking fees you'll encounter. You may not only need to pay to park your car at your hotel or resort garage, but also for parking whenever you venture out as well.

Sunscreen

The cost of sunscreen can be overwhelming when you're slathering your family several times per day for a week straight at a tropical resort. To trim costs, buy sunscreen at home and bring it along with you.

Passports

If you're planning an international getaway and need to renew your passport, plan to shell out around $110. And if you're planning a family trip, keep in mind the cost for renewing multiple passports can add up quickly.

Currency Exchange Fees

If you plan to exchange your currency once you arrive in another country, you should also plan to pay a percentage for the privilege. Withdrawing money from an ATM might help you save on exchange fees, but you may get slapped with an out-of-network ATM fee instead. And to avoid pesky charges for purchases made outside the U.S., also consider using a credit card without transaction fees.

[See: 10 Common Pieces of Travel Advice You Should Never Follow.]

Final Thoughts

To avoid overspending on vacation, take a close look at your entire itinerary to look for spots where you'll need to bust out your wallet. Travel is never cheap, but it's much easier to endure a high price tag if you plan ahead.
270: Thats the magic number of electoral votes Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be fighting for Tuesday in a nation fiercely divided over their choices. But a handful of states are toss-ups that will affect the contours and outcome of the election.

Many election observers disagree on what those exact states will be. The Cook Political Report sees Florida and North Carolina as toss-ups, while the Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report picked Iowa and Ohio.

To be fair, TIME has put only the safest blue and red states on this map, leaving 11 as potential battlegrounds, including such oft-discussed but unlikely spots as the red state of Georgia and the blue state of Michigan. That gives Hillary Clinton a starting baseline of 210 electors, and Donald Trump a baseline of 163.

The actual swing states this year will probably come down to five: North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire and Nevada. But in a year in which a lot of unexpected things have happened, dont be surprised if thats not the exact list.

But this map is a good starting point to watch the results come in on Tuesday. Check back as it is updated throughout the night.
Two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were found guilty on all counts Friday of exacting political revenge by closing lanes of the George Washington Bridge in 2013, a controversy which has become known as "Bridgegate" that has dogged Christie on the national stage.

After deliberating all week, jurors convicted Bill Baroni, a former senior official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff, of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and civil rights violations.

The pair could face up to 20 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines recommend sentences of one to three years.

Kelly reportedly wept as the verdict was read. Baroni smiled and hugged family.

Federal prosecutors declined to state whether the plan to bring charges against Christie.

Baroni and Kelly were convicted of orchestrating the closing of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge for four days in September 2013 as retribution for a local mayor's refusal to endorse Christie's re-election campaign for governor. The bridge -- the world's busiest and a vital connection between Manhattan and New Jersey -- runs through Fort Lee, whose Democratic mayor declined to back the governor. The closures froze traffic for hours and blocked emergency vehicles.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly wrote in one email -- an eight-word message that was later highlighted by newspapers and played a prominent role in the trial.

Kelly and Baroni had maintained that they were misled by another Christie aide, David Wildstein, who they said informed them that the closings were for a traffic study. Wildstein pleaded to his role in the scheme in May 2015, and he became a main witness for the prosecution.

"I am innocent of these charges," Baroni, standing with his attorney, told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Newark. "I am very, very looking forward to an appeal."

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His lawyer, Michael Baldassare, criticized federal prosecutors for not charging "powerful people" -- an apparent reference to Christie.

"In keeping with the disgrace that was this trial, one of the things the U.S. Attorney's Office should be ashamed of is where it decided to draw the line on who to charge and who not to charge," Baldassare said. "They should have had belief in their own case to charge powerful people, and they did not."

Attorney Michael Critchley, who represented Kelly and during closing arguments thundered that Christie and "the inner circle" were "cowards, cowards," said his client was merely a "scapegoat" for the scandal.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Critchley said. "My client is innocent." He added that they plan to appeal.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman lauded the verdict and defended his office's choice to charge Kelly and Baroni.

"We indicted only the people who we believed we had evidence beyond a reasonable doub" Fishman said, according to NJ.com.

He declined to state whether his office planned to charge Christie, but he noted that those who testified during the Baroni and Kelly trial that Christie was involved would need to do so again if the governor were indicted.

"I never say what cases I am or am not going to bring," Fishman said.

The case -- easily the largest political scandal in New Jersey in years -- undermined Christie's run for president, fueling voter concerns he was untrustworthy and corrupt. Questions have continued to plague Christie's more recent role as chief of staff to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, a position in which he would be responsible for picking White House appointments.

With the convictions of Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein, four senior Christie appointees have been found guilty of federal crimes. The fourth, former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, pleaded guilty in July to using his position to shakedown United Airlines to add a regularly scheduled non-stop flight from nearby Newark Liberty Airport to his summer home in South Carolina.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. During the Republican primary campaign last December, however, Trump said Christie "knew about it. He totally knew about it. Totally knew about it."

Christie has insisted he knew nothing of the lane closures. In a televised address in January 2014, the governor apologized for Bridgegate but laid the blame for its conception and execution with his aides, denying any knowledge that it had occurred. He reiterated that position -- and highlighted his earlier apology -- in a statement sent roughly an hour after the verdict Friday afternoon.

READ: [Voter Intimidation Reports Pour In to Elections Watchdog]

"Let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue," the governor said. "As a former federal prosecutor, I have respected these proceedings and refused to comment on the daily testimony from the trial. I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom."

Christie has regularly touted his credentials as a corruption-busting former federal prosecutor. His administration, however, has built a bare-knuckles reputation, especially during his re-election campaign, icing out detractors and richly rewarding those who endorsed him with in-person appearances, funding for pet projects and even steel debris from the World Trade Center site for mayors to build local 9/11 memorials.

Alan Neuhauser covers law enforcement and criminal justice for U.S. News & World Report. He also contributes to STEM and Healthcare of Tomorrow, and previously reported on energy and the environment. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at aneuhauser@usnews.com.


Diyarbakir (Turkey) (AFP) - Turkey jailed the two leaders of the country's main pro-Kurdish party and several other MPs, in an unprecedented crackdown as a bombing killed nine in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

A court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir remanded in custody Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag after they were detained along with 10 of its MPs, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Including Demirtas and Yuksekdag, nine of the 12 HDP MPs were placed under arrest by the courts pending trial in hearings that lasted throughout the day.

The United States and European Union both raised alarm over the arrests, which marked a new escalation of the clampdown under the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt.

Hours after Demirtas and Yuksekdag were detained, a blast blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) struck outside a police station in Diyarbakir, Turkey's main majority-Kurdish city.

Nine people were killed, including two police, and over 100 were wounded, Anadolu said. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the PKK had again showed its "ugly face" with the attack.

However, the Amaq news agency, which is linked to the Islamic State jihadist group, said that its fighters were behind the bombing, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

In an audio message released earlier this week, reclusive IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi broke a nearly year-old silence to call for attacks against Turkey.

With tensions again escalating nearly four months after July's failed coup, authorities slapped restrictions on social media and messaging services like WhatsApp.

Users were also reporting severe problems accessing Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other sites, AFP correspondents and internet users said.

Yildirim confirmed the move, saying such measures were imposed from "time to time" as a precaution and would be lifted once the danger had passed.

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The turbulence also battered the Turkish lira. It was trading at 3.16 to the dollar, after earlier hitting new historic lows and losing nearly 1.5 percent in value on the day.

- 'We will win!' -

The arrest of the HDP leaders marked a new stage in the crackdown on leading pro-Kurdish politicians as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wages a remorseless battle to destroy the PKK.

Demirtas has been charged with "membership of an armed group" -- a reference to the PKK -- while Yuksekdag is charged with making "terror propaganda" for the group, Anadolu said.

The HDP said in a statement that the goal of the measures was to shut down the party, but it vowed not to surrender to these "dictatorial policies".

"It means the end of democracy in Turkey," the party said.

In a handwritten statement read by his lawyers, Demirtas said he was the victim of a "civilian coup by the government and the palace".

After his jailing he managed to shout, "We will definitely win!". The phrase immediately became a top-trending hashtag in Turkish posts.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she was "extremely worried" over the detentions and would call a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski said that Washington was "deeply troubled" by the detentions and blocking of internet access.

As as well as Demirtas and Yuksekdag, seven others were also placed under arrest including the head of the HDP's parliamentary faction Idris Baluken.

However three lawmakers were bailed.

Under heavy security, Demirtas and Yuksekdag were flown late evening from Diyarbakir to separate prisons in western Turkey, the Dogan news agency said.

- 'Onslaught on dissent' -

The arrests came as Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the wake of the failed coup, which critics say has gone well beyond targeting the coup plotters.

Thirteen staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, including the editor-in-chief, were detained on Monday. The two co-mayors of Diyarbakir were also detained last month.

Amnesty International said that the arrests of the MPs "marks the latest escalation in the onslaught on dissent amid Turkeys state of emergency".

Tensions have surged in the Kurdish-dominated southeast since a fragile ceasefire declared by the PKK collapsed in 2015, leading to a resumption of deadly attacks on the security forces.

The HDP, the third largest party in parliament, seeks to defend the rights of Kurds as well as those of women, gays and workers.

The charisma in particular of Demirtas -- dubbed the "Kurdish Obama" by some admirers after the US president -- earned the party success at the ballot box but also made him an arch rival of Erdogan.

Authorities accuse the party of being a PKK front and failing to distance itself from terror, claims it has always vehemently denied.
The Root

Tennessee sports reporter Kasey Funderburg has been fired from all her reporting positions after her old racist tweets were exposed, per Knox News. Some Twitter users called her a hypocrite given moments before she was exposed, she had called out a Knoxville reporter for a racist joke. Though, a looming question remains: Did she deserve it?
On Nov. 8, millions of Americans will be glued to their TVs to see the outcome of the bitterly fought battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for president.

But this year, election day coverage will be available more ubiquitously than ever on internet platforms, including on the two biggest video players  Facebook and YouTube  without the need for a TV set at all. Scores of other online outlets will be trying to grab their share of eyeballs, too. Twitter, for example, is hoping to build momentum in its live-video push by carrying an exclusive election-night broadcast from BuzzFeed, marking BuzzFeeds most ambitious live TV-style production to date.

The glut of online options for following the biggest night in U.S. politics stands to peel some of the audience away from TV, which in years past has been the go-to for up-to-the-minute election results. Younger audiences are particularly at risk for tuning out TV: Millennial voters (18-34) said they were 86% more likely to turn to online sources than TV to learn what others thought about the first presidential debate, according to a Google-commissioned survey conducted by research firm Ipsos Connect last month.

That said, many of the partners for the two big video platforms are actually TV networks, hoping to either provide supplemental coverage on digital or incrementally monetize their television feeds. Heres a rundown of the 2016 election day coverage plans on different platforms:

YouTube: Starting at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 8, live streams from the following partners will be available on the channels of NBC News, PBS, MTV News, Bloomberg, Telemundo and The Young Turks. Also, Verizon-Hearsts Complex News will host a special election-night event at YouTube Space NY.

Twitter: BuzzFeeds Election Night Live video stream will be available via election.twitter.com, as well as on the Twitter app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Xbox One, and BuzzFeed will host the Twitter syndicated video player on its own sites and social accounts.

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CNN Digital: The news networks Election Night in America coverage will be streamed live from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. in its entirety via CNN.com and across mobile devices via CNNs apps for iOS and Android. CNN Digital will provide real-time results and exit polls for presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial races, as well as ballot measures on the state, district and county level, on the CNN Election Center page.

Facebook:

ABC News: Following the news units partnership with the social giant for the 2016 conventions and four general election debates, ABC News on Nov. 8 will produce live streams from anchors and correspondents at key polling locations and candidate election parties around the country as well as feature commentary from anchors and correspondents at ABC News election headquarters in New York. ABC News will incorporate viewers comments, questions and conversations in the Facebook Live coverage. Anchored coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET with Nightline co-anchor Dan Harris, anchor Amna Nawaz and contributor LZ Granderson, plus analysis from ESPNs FiveThirtyEight. In addition, Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan and ABC News correspondent T.J. Holmes will report on the latest polling results and analysis from Times Square Crossroads, ABC News and Facebooks live booth in Times Square that will allow real voters to voice their opinions as Americans go to the polls on Election day starting at 7 p.m.

CNN: From 9 a.m.-6 p.m. ET on election day, the cable news network will provide hourly Facebook Live broadcasts on CNN and CNN Politics pages. Starting at 6 p.m. until the presidential winner is called, CNN provide a second-screen experience with Facebook Live video from watch parties and battleground states around the country.

The New York Times: The newspaper will livestream election coverage its Facebook page continuously starting at 4:30 p.m. ET, with live video reports from correspondents at polling stations across the country as well as college campuses, election viewing parties and more. International correspondents in a handful of countries will capture worldwide reaction to the results of the American election.

Daily Caller: Facebook Live broadcasts throughout the day include stand-ups in front of the White House, inside the new Trump hotel in D.C., and from the victory parties.

NowThis: Starting at noon ET, the No Sleep til POTUS livestream will be hosted by comedian Jordan Carlos from the NowThis studios and remote locations around NYC.

PBS NewsHour: Will run a Facebook Live broadcast from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. (or later if necessary), as well as its 6 p.m. ET broadcast on Facebook Live. News Hour also plans to have live video from both the Clinton and Trump campaign headquarters prior to 6 p.m. and from the newsroom after their special wraps.

Univision: Various Facebook Live events prior to election day and during Election Night as well, plus Facebook 360 videos from the Clinton and Trump campaigns. In addition, through a partnership with Facebook, Univision will have access to unique insights based on how people on the Facebook platform are talking about the candidates and issues. The information received from Facebook will be reported and updated regularly during the LIVE Election Night broadcast by Felix de Bedout in Univisions Electoral Center via touchscreens, which will also be used to show Univision News data and graphics.

Vox: Vox.coms Liz Plank will be going live on Facebook at Hillary Clintons rally at New Yorks Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on election night.

AJ+ : The Al-Jazeera digital news division will host an election-night live show.

Washington Post: Will launch live original programming starting at 7 p.m. ET from its Washington, D.C., newsroom hosted by political reporters Ed OKeefe and Elise Viebeck. The live show, available on Facebook, WashingtonPost.com and its news app, will feature updates and commentary from nearly a dozen reporters and columnists, analysis of real-time election returns and results from The Fixs Chris Cillizza, on-camera reports from journalists at the Trump and Clinton campaign headquarters, and remote interviews from the floor of The Posts election-night watch party.

_______

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Unless you have an emergency or an incredible new job offer in a new city, selling a home is not often something you do on a whim. You generally have time before you put your home on the market. Maybe months. Maybe years.

If you know you're going to sell your house in the not-so distant future, you probably should start a to-do checklist now. Why? Because your checklist is going to be full of more checklists.

[See: 13 Things to Know About Selling Your Home in Fall or Winter.]

1. Figure out what needs to be fixed before you sell. You may be too close to your house to recognize its flaws. Bob Littell and his wife Carolyn, both real estate agents based in Atlanta, recommend paying for a presale inspection.

"Find out ahead of time things that are going to need to be fixed, painted and replaced," he says. "Not only will the house show better and therefore sell quicker, but you'll save yourself a lot of hassle and money by being able to shop around for the best person/company to do the work instead of being time-stressed to get them done prior to closing."

In other words, an interested buyer will essentially force you to do this anyway. You might as well do it now.

[See: Weird Home Features That May Confuse Buyers.]

How much might you pay for a presale inspection? Carolyn says that, at least in her area, prices for presale inspections run between $375 to $425.

Deb Tomaro, a broker associate with Re/Max Acclaimed Properties in Bloomington, Indiana, seconds the presale home inspection idea. Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to find an agent who wouldn't recommend taking this step.

"The most stressful time for a seller is that period of time between when the buyer had the inspection and when the seller hears if there are any issues," Tomaro says. "Since most people don't go in their attics, on the roof or in the crawlspace much, there are often issues that can be deal-breakers."

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What sort of issues should you be looking for? What type of improvements should you consider making?

-- The roof. Leaks are the common problem. Most roofs, experts will tell you, last 20 to 50 years. Is yours older? Do you have water stains on any ceiling? Buyers will notice.

-- The paint job. Unless you've painted recently, some of your rooms could probably use a fresh coat.

-- Flooring. How old is your carpet or that kitchen tile?

-- Decks. They should be stained every two to five years, according to various home-improvement sites like AngiesList.com.

-- Landscaping. Need an update?

You'll also save money in the long run if you fix anything that needs repairing, Tomaro asserts. If you make an improvement, you probably won't go overboard. But if your buyer gets involved?

"What could be a simple roof repair can turn into a buyer wanting a whole new roof," Tomaro says.

2. Start assembling your paperwork. "Gather together every document you've ever had related to this home," says Michael Schaffer, a real estate broker associate in Denver.

This could be everything from closing documents you received when you bought the house to paperwork that came with any appliances you'll be selling with the home, like the refrigerator.

While your real estate agent, if you work with one, can best advise you, be on the lookout for the following paperwork:

-- Any documents related to the title and ownership of your house.

-- Recent tax records that you may want to show the buyer.

-- If you're in a homeowners association, any receipts and documentation related to major improvements and renovations on the house.

-- Documentation of your prelisting home inspection (if you had one done).

"Put [paperwork] in one easily accessible place, so that you know where to look when questions come up from your Realtor, potential buyers, inspectors, other Realtors, lenders and the buyer's second cousin who used to be a contractor," Schaffer says.

[See: 10 Tips to Sell Your Home Fast.]

3. Calculate how much your house will likely sell for. This is important because you may realize that it really isn't prudent to sell your home -- or that there are some serious obstacles in the way.

For instance, you really should make sure your property taxes are paid up, especially if you've been living in your home a long time, says James Dodge, a professor of law who specializes in real estate and teaches at Concord Law School in Los Angeles.

"If they aren't paid up, the government can file claims against your property called liens that can interfere with your ability to sell your home," Dodge says.

To get an idea of how much your home is worth, without paying for a formal appraisal (which typically ranges from $300 to $400, according to Realtor.com), try:

-- Discerning the fair-market value by using calculations from your property tax bill.

-- Visiting a real estate information website like Trulia and Zillow and use a home value estimation calculator -- just know that they aren't always accurate.

-- Talking to local real estate agents. They'll be able to give you an idea of how much your home is worth.

Of course, there are plenty of other things you'll want to do before getting too deep into the home-selling process, like tossing and donating things you don't want to haul to your next abode. But if you do all of these things, you'll be off to a good start. And once you get closer to actually selling your home, you can begin thinking about where you'd like to move to. A bigger home? Do you want to downsize? There are pros and cons to either. In fact, to really figure this out, you'll need to make a checklist.
It helps to think of the architects of our nascent Constitution as the Eagle Scouts of their day. For every possible scenario that could occur during a national election, they either came up with a Constitutional back-up plan or delegated contingency power to the states.

With Election Day just a few days away, here are four electoral snafus that would trigger fascinating, if unlikely, emergency protocols.

1. A candidate wins the Electoral College but loses the popular vote by a slim margin.

Under the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution, whichever candidate wins the majority of votes in the Electoral Collegecurrently, thats 270 of 538wins the election. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. From a legal standpoint, theres not a lot of wiggle room there. But when it comes to questions of public perception of a fair and legitimate electionand, more importantly, how slim the margin of victory wasits a much stickier issue.

With national polls tightening in the weeks before Election Day and Trump supporters being primed to expect that this election will be rigged against their candidate, pundits have summoned the ghosts of elections past. Namely, the 2000 election when Republican George W. Bush won the Electoral College, but lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival, Al Gore. If a version of that scenario occurs again this year, the political parties would likely be switched, with the Republican, Donald Trump, winning the popular vote over the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, who has a clearer path to victory through the Electoral College.

According to several election experts, the most likely scenario in such a case would be a flurry of post-election recounts, qualification challenges, lawsuits and a pair of massive influence campaigns to flip electors (see No. 3, below). But thats where it gets a little tricky.

Each state has a blizzard of different laws governing how, exactly, this post-election battle would play out. In most states, a candidate, voter, group of voters or a political party can petition for a recount. In other states, specific criteria must be met to trigger one. In Colorado, for example, recounts are only conducted if the difference between the candidates vote tallies comes down to less than or equal to 0.5% of the total votes cast for that office. In Alaska, South Dakota or Texas, recounts only occur when the final vote tally is a perfect tie.

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Regardless of the state, the recount process is under a strict, time limit set by federal law. That law says that any controversy over electors must to be settled six days before the Electoral College is set to meet, usually in mid-December. Part of the reason that the U.S. Supreme Court weighed into the recount controversy in Florida in 2000 was because the justices determined that, by using different recount methods, Florida was violating the Equal Protection Clause andcrucially!that no alternative method could be established before that six-day cut-off.

2. Theres a tie in the Electoral College.

If Clinton and Trump each get 269 votes in the Electoral College, the Twelfth Amendment specifies that the election defaults to Congress. The House decides the president and the Senate the vice president. Different rules apply to each chamber in a so-called contingent election.

In the House, each state delegation casts one vote for president from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. States that have only one representative  Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming  cast one vote, the same as California, which has 53, or New York, which has 27. Whichever candidates get the simple majority of votes, 26 or more, becomes the next president.

In the Senate, each senator casts an individual vote for vice president and, like the House, simple majority rules. Whichever candidate gets 51 or more of the votes becomes the next vice president.

Ifahemthe House is too dysfunctional to conduct a contingent election and vote on a president before January 20, then the vice president-elect, chosen by the Senate, serves as acting President until the House can get its act together.

3. An elector disobeys his or her party

So-called faithless electors are relatively rare. In the 240 years of American presidential elections, there have only been 81 instances in which an elector, acting on personal initiative, has broken his or her partys pledge and in no case have they succeeded in affecting the outcome of an election. (There have been 157 instances of faithless electors total, but 71 of them changed their vote because their pledged candidate passed away and three abstained.)

But its possible a faithless electoror, more likely, a handful of themcould change the outcome of the election this time. If that happens, it would trigger a deluge of lawsuits, including, probably, a few against the individual elector. In 29 states, faithless electors can be held personally accountable through fines and penalties for breaking their pledge to their party, according to the non-profit, FairVote.

It would also likely trigger a very-rarely-used Congressional check. On January 6, 2017, the newly elected Congress will meet to ensure that the electoral vote was regularly given. In the past, this meeting has almost always been ceremonial. Each state announces its electoral votes, everyone claps, and thats it. But technically, if one House member and one senator objects, then the new members must retreat to their own chambers and vote on what to do about the objection. If the House and Senate agree, their decision is final. That happened once, in 1968, when both chambers agreed to respect a faithless elector from North Carolinas decision to switch his vote to George Wallace, even though he was pledged to Richard Nixon. (His vote didnt have an effect on the outcome of the election.)

If the House or the Senate cannot agree on what to do about an objection, then the dispute goes to the executive of the state, meaning the states Secretary of State, according to federal election law. He or she would make the final call.

4. The Supreme Court ties on an electoral dispute

In the very likely case that any of the scenarios above were challenged in state or federal court and the cases worked their way up in the appeals process to the Supreme Court, it would fan controversy over whether Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who betrayed a distaste for Trump in comments to the press earlier this year, would recuse herself.

Due to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court currently has eight members, raising the possibility of a tie. But the architects of the Constitution foresaw that possibility, so in the event that occurred, the lower courts ruling would stand.

The bottom line: No matter what unlikely thing happens, it will eventually get resolved.
Photo: IMDB

If you had a superpower, what would it be? In Tim Burtons recent Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children, a young boy, Jake Portman, finds himself in the company of new friends who each have strange abilities. Some withhold the power of the elements, while others can see the future or turn invisible on a whim. Jake gets embroiled in a fight to save these peculiars against their formidable enemies, while discovering the truth behind his own family and himself. You might think that superpowers are but works of fiction, but reports have surfaced around the globe of children imbued with special, even magical powers. Are they the real deal, or merely elaborate hoaxes? Well leave that to you to decide.

Nandana







Photo: Khaleej Times



High-functioning autistic children around the world have sometimes shown exceptional abilities, and Indias nine-year-old Nandana Unnikrishnan is one of them. Thanks to her incredible gift of telepathy, Nandana is able to read her mothers mind, responding to her thoughts before they become words (her ability to read the minds of others have yet been tested). Her parents also claimed that Nandana seemed to know of outing plans and venues that they spoke of in private. When news of her abilities first spread, local papers and research teams visited her to test her telepathic skills. In one such test, journalists provided a nine-digit number to her mother, who read the number in her mind. Nandana was then asked to spell out the number, and lo and behold, she got the entire number sequence correct. In another test, mother and daughter were placed in separate rooms. Nandanas mother was asked to think of an object in her mind, and she thought of having biscuits. In the other room, Nandana shyly blurted to a journalist, bis..k..it.

Philippines Fire Girl

Photo: PhilNews

In the Antique province of Western Visayas, Philippines, three-year-old Emma Tablate is turning heads for a very unique ability - pyrokinesis. Fires occurred wherever Emma went, prompting local officers in her town of San Jose to cordon off their house for security reasons. San Jose Mayor, Rony Molina, also visited the home and was reportedly amazed by what he saw. Seconds after the girl said that something around them would catch fire, a shirt hanging in the house started to burn. The Daily Guardian reported that the child seemingly foresees when fires are about to occur, and can even cause objects to burst into flame simply by saying sunog, the Filipino word for fire.

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Boriska

Photo: The Spirit Science

Do you believe in life after death? Or perhaps youre a firm believer of reincarnation? Consider the case of this young boy who might have lived a few lives elsewhere before being born in Russia in 1996. By elsewhere, we mean not on planet Earth. Thats right - Boriska claims to remember his past life on the planet Mars. At three years of age, Boriska could already name all of the planets in the solar system, and knew a great deal about the galaxies and astronomy that an ordinary child his age could not have known. His incredible intellect was present early on in his life, as he began speaking when he was only four months old. Boriska also spoke much about life forms from other planets, and described specific memories from his past life about people who live underground on Mars.

Yang Jinlong

Photo: DailyMail



Seven-year-old Yang Jinlong is like any of his friends in the Anhui province of China - except he has what seems like superhuman strength. Yang weighs in at only 50 kilograms (per reports in 2012), but is already able to piggyback his father, who is almost twice his weight, and can easily lift 100-kilogram bags of cement as if they were filled with feathers instead. He also set off a media frenzy when he tied a rope around himself and successfully tugged a 1.85 ton van. Yang began to shown signs of formidable strength as an infant, when he easily lifted a five-kilogram oil drum at the tender age of nine months.

Liam Hoekstra

Photo: CBS News

Liam Hoekstra is another peculiar case of superhuman strength at a young age. What sets Liam apart from other powerful young children with insane strength though, was that Liam was ripped. At three years old, Liam already had 40 per cent muscle and very little body fat, which is extremely uncommon for boys of that age. He was diagnosed with muscle hypertrophy, a rare genetic condition in which the body builds muscle at an incredible pace. The condition affords him great strength, speed, and agility. Liam is able to lift heavy dumbbells and accomplish an insane number of sit-ups and chin-ups, all without breaking a sweat.
Next week on Tuesday, November 8, voters in five states will decide whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana use. Currently, 5.4% of Americans live in states where recreational marijuana is legal. After the election, that percentage could rise to 23.1%.

Ballot initiatives this year reflect Americas changing attitude towards the drug. Prohibited across the country less than five years ago, marijuana is now legal and regulated in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed current marijuana laws as well as usage rates in the five states that could legalize recreational marijuana this election.

A state's legislative process is an important factor in its path towards legalization of marijuana. In an August 2016 interview with 24/7 Wall St., Morgan Fox, senior communications manager with Marijuana Policy Project, a marijuana legalization advocacy group, explained, Traditionally, voters have been far ahead of politicians when it comes to supporting marijuana policy reform. As a result, states that allow ballot initiatives -- through which voters can propose statutes and constitutional amendments -- are more likely to legalize marijuana sooner than states that do not allow ballot initiatives.

ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States

The four states that have legalized recreational marijuana use have done so through ballot initiatives, and all five states voting to legalize next week are doing so through a ballot initiative.

Relatively high usage rates among voting-age adults in these five states also suggest a tolerant attitude towards the drug. In Massachusetts, for example, nearly one in five adults have used marijuana in the past year, one of the highest usage rates in the country.

While not a critical step towards full-scale legalization, states that allow marijuana use for medical reasons are also more likely to repeal prohibition. Legal medicinal use reflects a relatively tolerant attitude towards pot and also helps voters better understand the issue. One of the potential benefits of having a functional medical marijuana program is that voters are able to see what a regulated marijuana industry looks like, Fox said. This, in turn, can help people envision what it would look like under a legalized system. All five of the states voting on legalization allow medicinal marijuana use for certain conditions.

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24/7 Wall St. reviewed current marijuana laws as well as usage rates in the five states that could legalize recreational marijuana this November. State marijuana laws came from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and marijuana use and perceptions of risk came from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In states that have not decriminalized marijuana, maximum fines are listed for the smallest amount penalized for first-time offenders.

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These are the next states to legalize marijuana.

1. Arizona

> Ballot name: Arizona Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act

> Amount decriminalized: N/A

> Max. fine for less than 2 lbs: $150,000

> Pct. adults using in past year: 13.5%

Currently, penalties for marijuana possession in Arizona are among the most severe in the country. Arizona is the only state where a person possessing any amount of marijuana can face felony charges. In addition, possession can lead to a two-year prison sentence and up to a $150,000 fine.

Despite the draconian laws, Arizona may well be the next state to legalize recreational marijuana. State voters submitted more than enough petition signatures to the Secretary of State in late June to include a ballot initiative to end marijuana prohibition and effectively regulate the drug in a manner similar to alcohol. If passed, the provision, known as Proposition 205, would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. A report released by the state's Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimates that legalizing marijuana would generate $82 million in additional tax revenue annually.

2. California

> Ballot name: Adult Use of Marijuana Act

> Amount decriminalized: 28.5 g or less

> Max. fine for 28.5 g or less: $100

> Pct. adults using in past year: 14.4%

California voters have said no to legalizing recreational marijuana use multiple times: first in 1972 and again in 2010 but by a much slimmer margin. This year may be different, as voters will, again, be given the opportunity to overturn marijuana prohibition. Proposition 64, commonly referred to as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, would legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana. Proponents say the proposition will save state and local governments tens of millions of dollars in enforcement of marijuana laws and potentially bring in more than a billion dollars in tax revenue annually. Recent polls suggest Proposition 64 will easily pass.

ALSO READ: The Richest Town in Every State

Despite some early defeats for marijuana reform groups, the state has historically had a relatively progressive attitude towards pot. California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in October 2010.

3. Maine

> Ballot name: Marijuana Legalization Act

> Amount decriminalized: 1.25 oz or less

> Max. fine for 1.25 oz or less: $600

> Pct. adults using in past year: 19.8%

Historically, Maine has been among the states leading the campaign for marijuana reform. Possession of small amounts of pot has been decriminalized in the state since the mid 1970s, and Maine voters legalized the drugs medicinal use in 1999. In November 2014, Portland became the first city on the East Coast to legalize recreational marijuana use. City voters overwhelmingly passed a law allowing adults 21 and over to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana. Voters statewide will have the opportunity to pass a similar law for the rest of the state this November. Proponents of the Marijuana Legalization Act, known as Question 1, argue that ending prohibition will make communities safer and raise millions of dollars in tax revenue.

As in many other states potentially on the brink of legalizing, marijuana use is relatively common in Maine. Nearly one in five adults in the state have used marijuana in the past year, a larger share than in all but three other states.

ALSO READ: The Most Democratic County in Every State

4. Massachusetts

> Ballot name: The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act

> Amount decriminalized: 1 oz or less

> Max. fine for 1 oz or less: $100

> Pct. adults using in past year: 17.4%

Massachusetts voters will have an opportunity to legalize recreational marijuana use through a ballot initiative this November. The initiative, known as The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, or Question 4, would end marijuana prohibition in the Bay State. Proponents of legalization in Massachusetts argue that an end to prohibition will unclog the states justice system, bring in at least $100 million in tax revenue, and possibly help combat the state's opioid addiction epidemic.

Voters in Massachusetts are far less likely than most Americans to perceive marijuana use as inherently risky. Only 19.7% of adults in the state associate great risk with monthly pot use, a considerably smaller share than the 27.8% of Americans 18 and older who consider marijuana use as risky.

5. Nevada

> Ballot name: Nevada Marijuana Legalization Initiative

> Amount decriminalized: N/A

> Max. fine for 1 oz or less: $600

> Pct. adults using in past year: 12.9%

On Tuesday, voters in Nevada will decide whether or not to legalize marijuana. If passed, the Nevada Marijuana Legalization Initiative, known as Question 2, would legalize possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana, regulate production and sales of the drug, and establish a 15% excise tax on bulk marijuana sales. Most states voting to legalize marijuana this election have already decriminalized the drug. Nevada, on the other hand, classifies marijuana possession offenses as a misdemeanor.

ALSO READ: The Worst Companies to Work For

Nevada legalized medical marijuana use in November 2000. The first medicinal dispensary in the state opened in August of 2015, and today there are 45 throughout the state. In the most recent survey, 12.9% of adults in Nevada reported using marijuana in the past year, in line with the national share. If the ballot initiative passes, it is highly likely that marijuana use will increase in Nevada.

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When you were just starting to drink wine, what were your favorite tipples? Lambrusco? (Remember "Riunite on Icethat's nice!") White zinfandel? One of those not-too-expensive bottles with a foreign name that you could figure out how to pronounce, like beaujolais or soave? If you're of a slightly older vintage yourself, it might even have been a "crackling" (sparkling) rose from Portugal like Lancers or Mateus. These, along with other similarly inexpensive and undemanding examples of the vintner's art, were our starter wines, the ones we turned to when it occurred to us that maybe there was something worth drinking out there that didn't come in kegs.

Wines for Mother's Day Slideshow

We've all gone far beyond these simple wines now, having learned to appreciate gruner veltliner from Austria, malbec from Argentina, pinotage from South Africa, garnacha from Spain. We'd probably no sooner order a lambrusco than we'd reach for the Bartles & Jaymes.

And yet all the wine categories mentioned in the first paragraph above exist in excellent interpretations, well worthy of our now-practiced palates. Here are a few examples:

Beaujolais: Domaine Diochon Moulin-a-Vent, Vieilles Vignes, 2014 ($23). A rich, juicy wine, opulent and nicely textured with graceful tannins and a pronounced black-currant flavor. A wine with both structure and finesse.

Lambrusco: Vigneto Saetti Lambrusco Salamino di S. Croce 2014 ($20). An almost astringently dry, peppery lambrusco made with grapes from 45-year-old organically farmed vines. The carbonation is sharp and the tart fruit is accented with cinnamon and cloves. A perfect counterpoint to a platter of rich prosciutto, salame, and other cured meats.

Soave: Inama Soave Classico, Vigneti di Foscarino 2013 ($25). Just a gorgeous wine, 100 percent garganega, sunny yellow in color with a nose of honey and wildflowers, and a lush white-peach character on the palate.

Sparkling Rose: Lancers Rose NV ($9). Made from a mix of indigenous Portuguese grape varieties and fermented to an effervescence that isn't quite as sparkling as that of, say, prosecco but that still gives the wine a festive feeling. Faintly sweet, but with a pleasantly dry finish following a burst of summer berry fruit in the mouth. I want to call this "party wine" for its vivid color and easy drinkability.

White Zinfandel: Turley Wine Cellars White Zinfandel 2014. ($23). A light-hued Provencal-style rose from one of California's great zinfandel specialists. Its crisp, dry, soft-edged character and slightly herbaceous (but not at all flowery) fruit will banish from your taste memory any impressions you may have of what white zinfandel usually is.
Indonesia's president urged protesters rioting in Jakarta Saturday to return to their homes, lamenting the "chaos" in the capital as gangs of hardline Muslims torched police cars and attacked officers.

The violence -- just metres from the presidential palace and city hall -- marred an otherwise peacefully rally Friday in which 50,000 people marched against Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian accused of insulting Islam.

The rally turned ugly as night fell and thousands of hardliners clashed with police, setting vehicles ablaze and hurling bottles and rocks at officers, injuring several.

Police responded with tear gas, water cannon and truncheons but it took hours to quell the violence, which later spilled over into a poor neighbourhood in Jakarta's north.

An elderly man died but his cause of death was not yet known, Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono told AFP.

In a brief statement just after midnight, President Joko Widodo -- flanked by senior officials including Indonesia's military chief, security minister and national police chief -- regretted the peaceful march descending into violence.

"People should have been dispersed but it ended up in chaos," he told reporters at the palace.

"I ask the protesters to go home, and let law enforcement do their job in a fair way."

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Purnama apologised for the remarks, but his opponents have built a groundswell of support calling for his arrest and incarceration under Indonesia's tough blasphemy laws.

Hardliners have called for his death and promised Friday's turnout in Jakarta would eclipse a similar rally last month that drew 10,000 chanting demonstrators to the streets.

Anger spread beyond the capital, with solidarity marches also held across Java and in cities as far away as Makassar in Indonesia's east.

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Authorities took no chances in the lead up to the much-hyped Jakarta rally, deploying 18,000 officers and extra soldiers across the capital amid fears that radical elements could infiltrate the march.

The demonstration appeared to be dying down by dusk, but the situation turned hostile by nightfall as hardliners and riot police engaged in skirmishes.

By late Friday the unrest in the city centre had largely been quelled but flared up in another area. Footage aired on Indonesian broadcaster TVOne showed what appeared to be looting at a convenience store in the same neighbourhood.

Widodo -- who met this week with religious and political leaders to issue a unified call for calm -- blamed "political actors" for fanning the violence, without elaborating.

He reassured protesters that legal proceedings into Purnama's alleged transgressions would be concluded "quickly and transparently".

Indonesia is home to the world's biggest Muslim population, where a vast majority practise a moderate form of Islam.
Every kid loves gifts on their birthday, but 7-year-old Addison Williams instead decided she would pass along her presents to a preemie baby in need.

Read: Girl, 9, Takes First Steps Being Told She Would Never Walk Again Following Freak Accident as a Baby

Little Cooper of Chesterfield County, Virginia, was born at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston three months premature. He weighed barely two pounds at birth.

"Words like 'critically ill' or 'one day at a time' were used a lot in his early stages," his dad, Phillip Young told InsideEdition.com.

The family started the Facebook group, "Cooper's Chronicles" in support of their baby and quickly gained the attention of the community, including 7-year-old Addison Williams.

Williams was one of many following Cooper's story after her grandfather, who once worked alongside Young as a firefighter, showed her the page.

Her mom, Emily Williams, said Addison has always been the philanthropic type: "She's always coming up with things like that. I asked her one day why she did, and she said, 'I know other people need stuff more than I need stuff.'"

As her birthday approached, she decided instead of receiving gifts, she would encourage guests to her party to instead donate cash toward Cooper's hospital bills, despite the fact that she had never met the boy or his family in person.

Young and his family, who didn't notice a message from the Williams family until the day of her birthday, were shocked.

"For her to have that mentality at such a young age is such a testament to the people she's around," Young said. "It's amazing for her to show that sort of selflessness."

In total, Addison was able to raise $307 to go toward Cooper's medical bill.

"It won't make a dent in the grand scheme of things," Young laughed as he told InsideEdition.com his baby has racked up more than $600,000 in bills from his stay in the NICU. "[But] the meaning behind it is priceless. She wanted to raise awareness and do something to make Cooper feel a little better."

Story continues

Read: Hospital Recruits Volunteers to Cuddle With Drug-Addicted Babies Going Through Withdrawal

While Cooper is still in the NICU, Young said he hopes their baby will be home in time for Thanksgiving at their home in Chesterfield County.

Young also said he hopes his family will finally meet Addison's family  who lives just 90 minutes away  once they get settled in at home.

Watch: Couple Marries in NICU So Their Baby, Once Given 0 Percent Survival Rate, Can Witness Wedding

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ABC News says it has removed a producer while it looks into a segment that aired on Good Morning America.

Correspondent Linsey Davis reported for the morning show about a 30-year-old woman who was found after being held captive for two months in a storage container, in Woodruff, S.C.

Someone sent CNN a photo of the correspondent standing in front of yellow tape on which were the words Sheriffs Line Do Not Cross. But the photo makes it clear it was a short length of tape, tied between ABC News equipment.

This action is completely unacceptable and fails to meet the standards of ABC News, Julie Townsend,VP Communications at ABC News, said in a statement. He added that the news division has taken the producer out of the field while it investigates.

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Northville, Michigan.

As students gear up finalize their college applications, one of the biggest areas of stress is writing the perfect admissions essay.

While there is countless advice online on how to make an essay stand out, some of the best perspective may come from reading an essay that impressed experts.

The New York Times puts out a call for college-admissions essays to the newest class of applicants, and this year it chose four of the most poignant essays, which cut across issues of money, work, and social class.

One of the essays comes from Erica Meister, a senior at Northville High School in Northville, Michigan. In it, she unsparingly critiques her hometown, recently awarded the title of "the snobbiest city in Michigan."

"We're from Northville," she wrote of herself and fellow classmates. "Most of us know nothing of consequences or responsibility for our actions, because our fathers can cover for us with cash and connections."

These actions often include selling weed and Adderall, Meister mentions.

The piece reads like a searing referendum on how extreme wealth begets thoughtlessness. She describes a situation in which cultural appropriation and emulation of hip-hop artists is common, but programs that assist the economically disadvantaged are belittled.

For example, Meister writes:

"Several years back, when the rap aesthetic was particularly prominent, most of the males came to school in ill-fitting jeans that sagged below their designer boxers, sporting T-shirts and necklaces that likely cost more than the weekly income for the average person, in imitation of their favorite rapper. They carried themselves like Eminem and spewed out Jay Z verses about being raised in extreme urban poverty and racism, before parroting their parents' views on the 'communist' welfare programs."

Even The Times, which receives hundreds of admissions-essay submissions every year, said that Meister's piece was the most candid it has ever received.

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"Every year, we receive at least one essay that picks apart an affluent suburb, but we've never seen one quite as blunt as her take on Northville, Mich.," The New York Times wrote.

UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 20: Students walk through an open corridor on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. Stanford University raised the most money among academic institution for the third year in a row, aided by a $51 million donation from the estate of a 1927 graduate. (Photo by Erin Lubin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But the essay also exposes Meister's own instances of falling victim to thoughtlessness.

She describes asking a friend whose family she knew was struggling financially what AP exams she was planning to take. The exams, which students can voluntarily take and strengthen college applications, cost $92 apiece. Meister's friend responded that she couldn't afford any.

"I found myself victim to the disease that infiltrates Northville, the same carelessness I despise," she wrote.

Northville, Michigan, is a suburb of Detroit. The website RoadSnacks.net, which rated it the snobbiest city in Michigan, gave Northville the top rank because it "combines unparalleled wealth (the highest median household income in Michigan) with expensive homes (second highest in Michigan) to create an enclave of snobbery."

Indeed, the gulf between the income levels in Northville versus Detroit is stark. The median household income in Northville is $91,270, according to 2014 data from the US government. For Detroit, the figure is $26,095.

Meister, who will attend Stanford University in the fall, concluded her essay by noting that she's eager to leave behind Northville and become more conscious and curious about life beyond her suburban bubble.

To be sure, the essay wasn't the only arrow in her quiver. Meister broke a national record when she scaled a 15-meter rock wall in 9.56 seconds. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and maintained a 3.9 GPA at Northville.

You can read Meister's essay, along with the other top three New York Times picks, here.

NOW WATCH: A transgender college student is fighting against a law that would force him to use the women's bathroom





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By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - African states launched a bid at the United Nations on Friday to halt the work of the first U.N. independent investigator appointed to help protect gay and transgender people worldwide from violence and discrimination. The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, created the position in June and in September appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn of Thailand, who has a three-year mandate to investigate abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. In an unusual move, African states circulated a draft resolution on Friday in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly third committee, which deals with human rights, calling for consultations on the legality of the creation of the mandate. "We therefore call for the suspension of the activities of the appointed Independent Expert pending the determination of this issue," Botswana's U.N. Ambassador Charles Ntwaagae, speaking for the 54-member Africa group, told the committee. He said the group was concerned "non-internationally agreed notions such as sexual orientation and gender identity are given attention, to the detriment of issues of paramount importance such as the right to development and the racism agenda." Ntwaagae said that sexual orientation and gender identity "are not and should not be linked to existing international human rights instruments." The third committee could vote as early as Tuesday on the draft resolution, diplomats said. If adopted it would then need to be voted upon later this year by the General Assembly. Being gay is a crime in at least 73 countries, the U.N. has said. The issue of gay rights consistently sparks heated debate at the United Nations. In 2014, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said the U.N. would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive U.N. benefits. Russia unsuccessfully tried to overturn it last year, with Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria among 43 states that supported Moscow. In February the African Group, the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member "Group of Friends of the Family," led by Egypt, Belarus and Qatar, protested the launch of six U.N. stamps promoting LGBT equality. Then a group of 51 Muslim states blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from officially attending a high-level U.N. meeting in June on ending AIDS, sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - African countries on Friday demanded that the appointment of a new UN expert on LGBT rights be suspended, saying his mission to report on anti-gay violence had nothing to do with human rights.

The UN Human Rights Council in late September appointed international law professor Vitit Muntarbhorn of Thailand to investigate abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide.

Speaking on behalf of African countries, Botswana's ambassador told a General Assembly committee that the council should not be looking into "sexual orientation and gender identity".

"We wish to state that those two notions are not and should not be linked to existing international human rights instruments," said Charles Ntwaagae.

The 54-nation African Group presented a draft UN resolution demanding consultations on the legality of the new expert's mandate and said the appointment should be put on hold.

The measure is expected to come up for a vote on Tuesday.

"We therefore call for the suspension of the activities of the appointed independent expert pending the determination of this issue," said Ntwaagae.

A total of 73 countries -- almost 40 percent of all UN members -- still have laws on their books making homosexuality a crime.

In Africa alone, 33 countries have anti-gay laws including Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan and Mauritania.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week said the "tide is turning" in favor of LGBT rights as he received a prize from the Elton John AIDS foundation.

Ban came under fire from many UN member-states including Russia when he decided in 2015 to extend benefits to the same-sex partners of UN employees.

"I like to remind others that LGBT people are just that  theyre people," Ban said in his acceptance speech.

"They are worth just as much as anyone else. And they are born with the same inalienable rights as everyone else."

Muntarbhorn, who was appointed for a three-year term, is to carry out country visits, raise allegations of LGBT rights violations with governments and work to protect rights defenders.
2016 is an exciting time to be a David Archuleta fan. The American Idol season 7 runner-up made his triumphant return earlier this year during the show's series finale in the opening group number, and this summer he paired up with Jamesthemormon on a rap collaboration that was completely out of his wheelhouse, yet so much fun to see.

Now, Archuleta returns with the release of "Numb," a song that came to him two years ago after returning from a mission trip to Chile. The song was written by Archuleta, Trent Dabbs and producer Jamie Kenney. The lyric video, directed by Tarek Kasmi, debuted Thursday (Nov. 3), with a full video on the horizon; the song is available Friday on iTunes and Spotify.

"It was during the time that I returned from my mission trip of two years in Chile. I was trying to get accustomed back to becoming a performer and an artist, and getting back into the whole business of it," Archuleta tells Billboard. "It was hard and really challenging, and I was wondering if I even wanted to keep doing it, and I was having a really hard time. I was really missing Chile and doing something that really wasn't about me. It was so much the opposite, and what can I do for other people and helping them in whatever way. I was just missing the people I was with."

Archuleta wanted to give up, but he already had a writing session scheduled in Nashville, so he decided to push through and see what developed. He sat down with Dabbs and Kenney, who asked him, "What's been on your mind?"

"I've learned that's its really important to just always be honest, and I told them. I said, 'You know, I just got back from Chile and it was an amazing experience. I loved being a missionary, and now I'm back here and I've been writing every month so far here in Nashville, and I don't think I want to do this. I don't think I even want to be here right now.' I just kind of kept talking to them about it, and they were just staring at me listening, and one of them said, 'Well, why don't we write about that?'"

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It was then that Archuleta was hit with inspiration. "It occurred to me that maybe I can actually write about what I'm really going through instead of teenage love songs because that's what people want to hear," he says. "That's kind of how I've always been trained. It didn't occur to me that I could write about what I was actually feeling, and we just started writing and that's what came out of it."

"Numb," he says, was a result of the experience, which he described as "therapeutic."

"It was so relieving. That's all I needed to do," he says. "I just needed to know I could be real with people. I needed to know I could be honest and talk about how I was really feeling at that time in my life. I feel like, as a musician, people want to feel a story. You know, there are songs that people want to have a good time -- fun, summer songs. But I think a lot of other times, people do really want to connect with what's coming from someone's heart, from their soul, and what they're going through. I feel like this was a song that was that for me."

The Utah native says the floodgates are now open, and he has several songs close to completion. Whether that becomes an EP or a full album is still up in the air, but he says he may release more songs in the next couple of months.

"Every song has a story now, and it's like, 'OK, this is a piece of me,'" he says. "I love music, I'm a fan of music, but there's also a deeper connection where I have let you into my life. I just want people to feel that. I want them to be able to connect to that same place."

Archuleta is ready to connect this month with a Christmas tour, kicking off in Utah on Nov. 25 with Nathan Pacheo. A Christmas single, "My Little Prayer," is set for release just in time for the holidays.

"I love Christmas," he says. "I feel like a lot of Christmas songs are a prayer, because they're talking about this special moment in Christian time, or Christ is born, and turning to him and thinking about who he is for us personally, each and every one, and the significance of that."

Tickets for Archuleta's Christmas tour are available through his website.

Watch the lyric video for "Numb" below:
Giant, spike-toothed salmon that weighed almost 400 lbs. (180 kilograms) once made their home in the ancient coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean, according to new research.

The now-extinct salmon species spawned in California rivers approximately 11 million to 5 million years ago, the scientists said. The fish measured up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) long, with spike-like teeth that were more than 1 inch (3 centimeters) long. Though its dagger-like teeth could have been deadly for prey, the ancient salmon was probably a filter feeder rather than a predatory species, meaning the fish took in water full of plankton as it swam, as modern Pacific salmon do, they added.

The salmon's unusual spiky teeth were likely used to fight, helping them to defend their fertilized eggs, according to researchers from California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California. [My, What Sharp Teeth! 12 Living and Extinct Saber-Toothed Animals]

The team of researchers, led by vertebrate paleontologist Julia Sankey, studied 51 fossils from the extinct salmon species in both freshwater and saltwater environments.

"Scientifically, our research on the giant salmon is filling in a gap in our knowledge about how these salmon lived and, specifically, if they developmentally changed prior to migration upriver like modern salmon do today," Sankey said in a statement.

An illustration by Jacob Biewer of what the giant, spike-toothed salmon may have looked like. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Modern salmon experience physical changes, especially in their skull, prior to spawning, the scientists said. They noted that modern male salmon will fight to defend their eggs, and their ancient ancestors likely exhibited the same behavior.

The new study found that teeth from the giant salmon found in freshwater environments were consistently longer and more sharply curved than those of the salmon found in the saltwater environments, and showed signs of wear. They added that these differences suggest that the salmon experienced changes prior to migrating upriver to spawn.

The salmon's spiky teeth also may have been used to display a sign of dominance, the researchers said.

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"These giant, spike-toothed salmon were amazing fish," Sankey said. "You can picture them getting scooped out of the Proto-Tuolumne River [near Modesto, California] by large bears 5 million years ago."

Sankey and her colleagues presented their research Oct. 27 at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Salt Lake City.

Original article on Live Science.

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Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway speaks to the media after Melania Trump, wife of the Republican presidential nominee, delivered a speech in Berwyn, Pa., Nov. 3. (Photo: Mark Makela/Reuters)

How can Donald Trumps campaign genuinely fight cyberbullying when he mocks and ridicules people on social media regularly?

That was the question on critics minds when his wife, Melania Trump, pledged to fight for women and children and spoke about the dangers of cyberbullying during a Thursday speech in suburban Philadelphia.

Our culture has gotten too mean, too rough, especially to children and teenagers, she said. Many conservatives and liberals agree that theres been a coarsening of civility, but some also believe that Trumps often acerbic rhetoric is part of the problem.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway during a tense interview Thursday night why its not OK for kids to bully each other, but its acceptable for adults like Trump to do so.

Well, its really not OK for anyone to do it with malicious intent, Conway replied, but I hate to break it to the political class or even the media, but most of whats on Twitter is not about politics or journalism.

But Cooper persisted: The question is doesnt this start at home? Isnt the problem at [Melania Trumps] own dinner table?

Melania Trump delivers her speech in Berwyn, Pa. (Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP)

No, its not at her own dinner table, she said. The fact [is] that her husbands running for president and defends himself sometimes or tweets things out. Look at all of his tweets. What about his tweet about what he would do in the first 100 days?

Talking about Carly Fiorinas face was not a counterattack, a counterpunch. That was just mean, Cooper said, referring to one of Trumps insults against the former Hewlett-Packard CEO early in the Republican presidential primaries.

Conway pointed out that Trump subsequently walked back that attack during a GOP primary debate.

He went on a national stage in front of tens of millions of people, I would presume, and said that she has a very beautiful face, that shes a beautiful woman, she said.

But its not just Fiorina whos been the target of Trumps Twitter barbs. For years, the celebrity businessman has denigrated his critics and foes before his millions of Twitter followers.

Story continues

Among other tweets, Trump shared a photo that ridiculed the looks of Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs wife when the two men were vying for the GOPs presidential nod. He also threatened to spill the beans on her.

Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016

The billionaire businessman also retweeted supporters who called Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly a total failure and a bimbo.

I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016

Trump has also called businesswoman Arianna Huffington unattractive inside and out  echoing earlier insults toward actress Rosie ODonnell.

.@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man- he made a good decision.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2012

Film legend Kim Novak has said that she didnt leave her Oregon home for months after Trump insulted her looks when she made a rare appearance at the age of 81 at the 2014 Oscars ceremony.

I'm having a real hard time watching the Academy Awards (so far). The last song was terrible! Kim should sue her plastic surgeon! #Oscars  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2014

But liberal activist and Hillary Clinton supporter Van Jones defended Melania Trumps antibullying speech during a Thursday night appearance on CNNs Erin Burnett OutFront.

Heres the deal from a political point of view  she does something good and then we beat her up for doing something good, Jones said. Somebody wants to stand up to bullying in this election and were going to beat her up for it?

He said that she is not a political wife and got hurt by the political machine for her partially plagiarized speech at the Republican National Convention. He added that Melania Trump should be applauded for her ability to keep moving forward.

Related video:
Actor Brian Cranston is just the latest celebrity to say that if their preferred candidate (in his case, Hillary Clinton) doesnt win on Election Day, theyre moving to Canada.

Its a refrain commonly heard among ordinary Americans as well, but most people dismiss it as so much hot air. However, new data shows that such vows may be more than just empty threats this year.

Related: If This Poll Is Right, Trump Cant Win Florida -- or the Election

A growing number of Americans are taking the first step toward making a cross-border move by researching the availability of jobs in the Great White North.

The number of Americans searching for jobs in Canada shot up nearly 60 percent from January to October this year, compared to the same period last year, according to data from Monster.com.

The report finds that 7,500 Americans have been looking for jobs in Ontario, with Toronto being the most popular city. Many of the potential expats are in high-demand fields, with engineering, IT and accounting being the top three job categories searched.

This may be a good year for them to make the move. The Canadian government recently announced that it is hoping to attract nearly 74,000 foreign highly skilled workers next year, 26.1 percent more than last year.

Canada is the second most popular country for American expats, with 343,000 Americans calling the country home. Mexico, the most popular, counts 877,000 Americans as residents, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Of course, the data cant prove that the search increase stems from Americans who want to escape Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, but thats a fairly large unexplained jump. At a minimum, it suggests that this election is making some people review their options (if not their sanity), and that a substantial number of Americans are dreaming of making a move to a country with a very different political culture.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
By David Schwartz

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona teenager who the FBI has said professed to be an "American jihadist" was sentenced on Friday to eight years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime on probation, for plotting to bomb a state motor vehicle office.

Mahin Khan, 18, described by his parents as developmentally disabled, received one more year than the minimum prison term he faced during an emotional court hearing in Phoenix for his guilty plea to crimes committed while he was still a minor.

The Tucson resident pleaded guilty last month to all three felony charges against him: terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism and conspiracy to commit misconduct involving weapons.

Under terms of Khan's plea deal, Maricopa County prosecutors had agreed to seek a sentence ranging from seven to 14 years. If tried and convicted, he could have received a life term.

Khan, shackled and wearing prison stripes, declined to address the court during the proceedings.

His parents, along with more than a dozen family and supporters, asked Judge Dean Fink for leniency, characterizing the defendant as a misguided, troubled youth with a history of mental health problems. They argued that his words were empty threats.

I hope, sir, that you are able to see that in reality, he is a lost and confused child who needs help, said Atif Khan, the defendant's father, adding that his son had shown significant remorse for his actions.

Khan, whose parents have said he suffers from autism and developmental delays that have left him with the mental age of a 12-year-old, was arrested in July after having been on the FBIs radar screen for several years.

But the situation grew more serious after Khan expressed to an FBI undercover operative his desire to kill hundreds of people in Arizona through lone jihadist attacks, according to court testimony.

In an affidavit filed in court, the FBI said Khan described himself as an "American jihadist" loyal to Islamic State, the militant group that seized parts of Syria and Iraq and claimed responsibility for deadly bomb and gun attacks in other countries.

Story continues

Khan ultimately was charged with a plotting to obtain bombs to attack a state Motor Vehicle Division office in the Phoenix area.

Everyone in Arizona deserves to feel safe, and anybody that threatens our safety deserves to be in prison, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told Reuters outside the courthouse. I think justice has been done.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and James Dalgleish)
Got a scoop request? An anonymous tip youre dying to share? Send any/all of the above to askausiello@tvline.com

Question: What can you tell us about Sara Ramirez returning to Greys Anatomy? Gloria

Ausiello: I thought I might have an exciting update for you today, but, alas, theres still no news on that front. My Callie scoop antennae experienced a bit of a jolt earlier this week when I heard through the grapevine that Greys is about to go into production on an episode set entirely onboard a commercial airliner as a crisis unfolds mid-flight. (An ABC rep declined to comment.) Its not clear which of the docs will be on the manifest when said emergency erupts, but given Callie and Arizonas shared, bi-coastal custody arrangement with Sofia, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to bring Ramirez back for a kickass standalone episode. Sadly, a source close to the actress tells me there are no current plans for her to return. Still, sounds like itll be a cool, emotionally fraught episode, especially considering what went down four years ago.

TESSA FERRER

Question: Can you tell us if Leah is going to be Arizonas love interest on Greys Anatomy? Ashley



Ausiello: I could, but Id be lying. This is Arizonas new love interest.

Question: Where you been? Im missing my Ask Ausiello! Beth

Ausiello: I apologize for taking a vacation. It will never happen again.

Question: I need to know more about Jacks death on This Is Us! How did it happen? Mala

Ausiello: The answer to your question may be on its way very soon: The NBC drama is casting 15-year-old versions of Kevin, Randall and Kate. And since we know that the trio likely was around that age when Daddy Pearson died, it looks like were getting a flashback to the big moment (or sometime near it). Id advise you to stock up on extra Kleenex, but lets be honest: If youre a diehard fan, youve done that already.

Story continues

Question: Any hints about whos in the hood on Once Upon a Time, killing Emma? Courtney

Ausiello: Well, if you re-watch that fleeting vision very, very carefully, and take note of the hooded characters height and build you will glean nothing, actually. It was a stand-in used for that scene, and not the actual actor that will eventually be revealed as wearing the hood, Colin ODonoghue confirms. As for whether he or any other cast members know the identity of Emmas killer, if only becayse the Once bosses have made it pretty clear they had someone locked in from go, We might have an idea, ODonoghue teased, but were not gonna tell you!

unnamed

Question: Got any scoop on The Walking Dead?  Jeff



Ausiello: Sundays episode (AMC, 9/8c) not only gives us our first real impression of what life is like at the Saviors Sanctuary  and a worrisome indication of how Daryl is going to fare there  it also forces us, however reluctantly, to reconsider our opinion of Negans henchman Dwight.

Question: What is the latest on Blue Bloods Jamie/Eddie storyline? Will they get together this season? Deborah

Ausiello: Be sure to RSVP for the Nov. 18 episode, because that relationship starts to heat up when the partners attend a wedding together.

Question: Isnt How to Get Away With Murder long overdue to have one of its series regulars actually get convicted for a crime? Mindy

Ausiello: A recent casting notice for a pair of recurring, behind-bars characters makes me think you might be onto something, Mindy. The ABC drama is seeking a fortysomething female to play

Claudia, a tough, scrappy, lower working-class inmate searching for connection in her lonely prison life. Well also meet Jasmine, a tough cookie in her 60s whos got no shortage of gravitas; just because shes a silent loner, though, doesnt mean she cant forge bonds with people. Factor in those new characters to the ongoing flash-fowards of Annalises fire night arrest, and one has to hope Viola Davis looks good in prison orange.

Question: Is there any scoop you can spill about Scorpion? I would love something on Walter and Paige, but would honestly take anything I can get. Stephanie

Ausiello: As Paiges grifter mom Veronica (Switched at Births Lea Thompson) enters the picture, she will take a liking to Walter and a dislike to Tim. Veronica even offers Walter advice on how to woo her daughter. Will he take it? And if so, will it work?

24 Legacy Chloe

Question: Whats the latest on Chloe appearing in 24: Legacy? Jeremy



Ausiello: The latest is you maybe probably shouldnt hold your breath. Unless its in protest, in which you should absolutely hold your breath because its a most righteous cause and one that I can get behind.

Question: Why are you no longer doing the Ask Ausiello spoilers? Aimee

Ausiello: Hooray, another guilt trip. Did you coordinate this ambush with Beth?

Question: Even though I love Nathan Fillion, and I know Adam Devine is a pretty busy guy, do you happen to know when Andy will be back on Modern Family? (P.S. I love you and all of your Gilmore Girls scoop!) Robin

Ausiello: I hear there are no plans for Haleys soul mate to resurface, although this late-breaking development could possibly change that.

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The Walking Dead Recap: Unbreakable

No S.H.I.E.L.D. for Nic Cage? Is Kimmel's Candy Shtick Stale? Bernadette Got Big Quick? Pitch Pal a Hit? And More Qs!
New York (AFP) - Two associates of New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie, a key ally of Donald Trump, were found guilty Friday of deliberately causing major traffic snarl-ups to wreak political revenge on a Democrat.

Bridget Kelly, then-deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, whom the governor appointed deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty on all counts, prosecutors said.

The 12-person jury took five days to reach the verdict. The convictions include wire fraud, depriving people of their civil rights and conspiracy.

A third Christie aide, David Wildstein, had pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors argued during the six-week trial that the defendants unlawfully forced days of traffic jams on the world's busiest bridge to punish a Democratic mayor for refusing to endorse their boss's re-election bid in 2013.

Thousands were affected in the town of Fort Lee in September 2013, with children prevented from going to school and emergency response times delayed when traffic was forced into a solitary lane on the George Washington Bridge.

The verdict will embarrass the Trump campaign, four days before the election at a time the Republican presidential candidate has been gaining momentum in the polls.

The trial spotlighted a bruising political climate around some of those closest to Christie, who is chairman of Trump's transition team preparing for the New York billionaire's possible victory.

Lampooned by rock star Bruce Springsteen and others, the scandal helped strip Christie of his status as a leading Republican primary candidate in the 2016 White House race.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly wrote in one email to Wildstein. To cover up the crime, they claimed the lane closures were part of a traffic study, which the prosecution called a sham.

"Is it wrong that I am smiling?" Kelly wrote in a text message to Wildstein when told about Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich's complaints.

Story continues

Their "cruel and callous" scheme "disrupted and endangered the lives of thousands," assistant US attorney Lee Cortes told the federal court in his summation last Friday in Newark, New Jersey.

They "chose personal and political revenge over public safety," and ignored Sokolich's repeated entreaties for help, he added.

The trio wasted government money, resources and employees "just to mess with people so they could send a clear and nasty message," the prosecutor said.

Kelly was one of Christie's senior advisers who saw him daily while Wildstein was a bruiser handpicked by Christie to deliver tough messages to political opponents, the court heard.

Defense lawyers had argued that the pair participated in the scheme believing that it was a genuine traffic study.

Baroni's lawyer Michael Baldassare told court that the 54-year-old Christie was a "bully" and a micromanager who "mistreated" Kelly.
VIENNA (Reuters) - The roof of Austria's parliament building caught fire on Friday morning but the blaze was quickly extinguished and damage limited, a spokesman for the Vienna fire brigade said. Members of the public notified the fire brigade around 6.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) that smoke and flames were rising from the roof of the neo-classical building in central Vienna, he said. "Because we were on site so quickly and with so many forces we were able to extinguish the fire very quickly," the spokesman said, adding that 17 vehicles had been deployed. "All post-extinction activities have been completed and staff are able to go back into the building," he said. "I would say that the damage is relatively small because the fire was more on the roof than in the roof," he added. The parliament building, built in the 19th century, is due to be renovated but the spokesman said it was too soon to say what had caused the fire. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Gareth Jones)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's BAE Systems said on Friday it had agreed with the UK government that the manufacturing of eight new anti-submarine warships would start in the summer of 2017, adding that a final contract was still being negotiated.

Europe's biggest defence contractor said in a statement that the Type 26 programme, the name given to the new combat ships which the government said last year it planned to buy, helped to secure jobs at its shipbuilding facilities in Scotland.

Britain has to date invested 1.9 billion pounds in the new ships but has not yet signed a final manufacturing deal for the fleet of new ships. BAE's current contracts for design and initial supply chain work runs until June 2017.

According to some estimates, Britain is likely to spend about 8 billion pounds on building the ships, but the final value is not yet known.

"The UK government's commitment today will secure hundreds of high-skilled shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for at least two decades and hundreds more in the supply chain across Britain," said British Defence Minister Michael Fallon, who visited the shipyard in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Friday.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Gareth Jones)
By Dena Aubin

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp has been hit with a proposed class action accusing it of charging exorbitant fees to thousands of former Arizona prison inmates who were issued debit cards when they were released.

Filed on Thursday in federal court in Phoenix, the lawsuit accused the bank of exploiting "one of the most vulnerable groups imaginable" - individuals coming out of prison without a job or sometimes even a place to go.

The prepaid cards are issued to prisoners to return money confiscated when they were arrested or that they earned through work programs.

Prisoners are given no choice other than the fee-laden cards to obtain their own money from inmate accounts, the complaint said. Charges include some that ordinary consumers would not have to pay, such as $15 to withdraw money at a bank teller window, the complaint said.

"They get charged a fee just to walk up to a teller to find out how much money they have in their accounts," said Richard Golomb, lead counsel for the ex-prisoners. The fees are based on a debit card contract "that they never agreed to and never signed," he said.

Representatives of Bank of America and the Arizona Department of Corrections could not immediately be reached for comment.

More than 19,000 inmates are released each year by the Arizona Department of Corrections, the lawsuit said. Bank of America can impose whatever terms it wants because it has an exclusive right to provide the debit cards to Arizona inmates, the lawsuit said.

Bank of America is the latest bank to face a lawsuit over prepaid cards issued to prisoners. JPMorgan Chase & Co in August agreed to pay $446,822 to settle a similar action stemming from its contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to issue debit cards to ex-inmates nationwide.

According to the complaint against Bank of America, the debit cards exploit a loophole in federal regulations that protect the rights of other consumers.

Under the U.S. Electronic Funds Transfer Act and related regulations, companies cannot force individuals to receive wages on prepaid debit cards, but that rule applies to "recurring" payments, not one-time payments to former inmates, the lawsuit said.

The case is: Brill et al v Bank of America, U.S. District Court, Arizona District, No 16-cv-3817 (Editing by Anthony Lin and Matthew Lewis)
By Dena Aubin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp has been hit with a proposed class action accusing it of charging exorbitant fees to thousands of former Arizona prison inmates who were issued debit cards when they were released.

Filed on Thursday in federal court in Phoenix, the lawsuit accused the bank of exploiting "one of the most vulnerable groups imaginable" - individuals coming out of prison without a job or sometimes even a place to go.

The prepaid cards are issued to prisoners to return money confiscated when they were arrested or that they earned through work programs.

Prisoners are given no choice other than the fee-laden cards to obtain their own money from inmate accounts, the complaint said. Charges include some that ordinary consumers would not have to pay, such as $15 to withdraw money at a bank teller window, the complaint said.

"They get charged a fee just to walk up to a teller to find out how much money they have in their accounts," said Richard Golomb, lead counsel for the ex-prisoners. The fees are based on a debit card contract "that they never agreed to and never signed," he said.

Representatives of Bank of America and the Arizona Department of Corrections could not immediately be reached for comment.

More than 19,000 inmates are released each year by the Arizona Department of Corrections, the lawsuit said. Bank of America can impose whatever terms it wants because it has an exclusive right to provide the debit cards to Arizona inmates, the lawsuit said.

Bank of America is the latest bank to face a lawsuit over prepaid cards issued to prisoners. JPMorgan Chase & Co in August agreed to pay $446,822 to settle a similar action stemming from its contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to issue debit cards to ex-inmates nationwide.

According to the complaint against Bank of America, the debit cards exploit a loophole in federal regulations that protect the rights of other consumers.

Story continues

Under the U.S. Electronic Funds Transfer Act and related regulations, companies cannot force individuals to receive wages on prepaid debit cards, but that rule applies to "recurring" payments, not one-time payments to former inmates, the lawsuit said.

The case is: Brill et al v Bank of America, U.S. District Court, Arizona District, No 16-cv-3817

(Editing by Anthony Lin and Matthew Lewis)
His wife has been nicknamed The Closer for her ability to win over voters  but in the final stretch of the election, President Barack Obama is the one trying to bring it home for Hillary Clinton.

The president has been swinging through battleground states in the waning days of Clintons campaign, making a case for the Democratic nominee at rallies in North Carolina and Florida this week.

During a stop at Florida International University in Miami on Thursday, he praised his former secretary of states work and said she made me a better president.

She understands policy. She understands how the world works. She understands that this stuff that we do, the challenges we face, arent abstract, they mean something to real people, he said. She doesnt whine or complain or blame others or suggest everything is rigged when things arent going her way, she just works harder.

RELATED VIDEO: President Obama Says He Laughs Most of the Time At Donald Trump

Obama was echoing comments he made a day earlier at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he said unapologetically of Clinton, You know what? Shes not flashy. Shes not going around spending all the time giving big stemwinders. And as a consequence, sometimes shes underappreciated here at home. But she made me a better president.

Obama will return the favor again by joining Clinton for her closing argument in Philadelphia on Monday.

There, at Clintons final rally before Election Day, she and Obama will urge Pennsylvanians to make history on Tuesday by electing her the first woman president. Together, theyll deliver one last takedown of GOP nominee Donald Trump, and Obama will add that a vote for Clinton is also a vote to build on the progress of his own administration.

The Democratic nominees husband, former President Bill Clinton, daughter Chelsea Clinton, and First Lady Michelle Obama, will also be on hand to support her.

On Monday, before that evenings showstopper finale in Philadelphia, the president will also to hit New Hampshire and possibly a third campaign stop, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with the president to North Carolina on Friday.

And Obama was leaving his schedule for Wednesday and Thursday of next week openso that he could potentially add in a visit with the new president-elect.




Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi forces advanced into east Mosul on the 19th day of the operation to retake the jihadist-held city. Here are some facts about the country's biggest military operation in years:

Where are the Iraqi forces?

Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service pushed into the Al-Karama area of eastern Mosul on Friday, a few days after it and Iraqi regular army forces reached the outskirts of the city.

Soldiers have also advanced toward the northern edge of the city, while Kurdish forces have also gained ground north and east of Mosul in recent days.

The forces on the southern front -- including the Rapid Response Division, CTS's interior ministry counterpart, as well as police -- are currently aiming for Hamam al-Alil, a jihadist-held area about 14 kilometres (8 miles) from the southern outskirts of Mosul.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, an umbrella group for pro-government paramilitary forces that is dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, are fighting southwest of Mosul in a bid to retake the town of Tal Afar, which lies between the city and Syria.

They have gained ground in recent days, but the western approach to Mosul remains largely open for now.

What is the US-led coalition doing?

The US-led anti-IS coalition is carrying out air strikes against the jihadists as well as targeting them with artillery. It has hit IS with some 3,000 bombs, missiles, rockets and shells since the drive for Mosul began on October 17.

But some Iraqi commanders have still complained that there are not enough strikes, and said they want the coalition to step up its campaign.

Most of the more than 7,000 coalition military personnel in Iraq are in advisory or training roles, but there are also those carrying out artillery strikes, as well as special forces personnel who have carried out raids against IS.

How are the jihadists responding?

IS has targeted attacking Iraqi forces with suicide bombers, mortar rounds and small arms fire, in addition to bombs hidden in houses, buildings and roads that make up an integral part of the jihadists' defences and still cause casualties even after they withdraw.

Story continues

Inside the territory they still control, the jihadists are responding with the same brutality that has been the hallmark of their more than two-year rule.

Mosul residents told AFP that IS has forcibly gathered civilians in and around the city for possible use as human shields, confirming United Nations reports of similar kidnappings.

The UN has also said it has received reports that IS has executed nearly 300 people in the Mosul area since October 25.

The jihadists have also staged diversionary attacks in the northern city of Kirkuk and the western town of Rutba in attempts to draw attention and forces away from the Mosul theatre.

How are civilians affected?

As Iraqi forces advance, thousands of civilians have fled IS-held areas to escape both jihadist rule and impending fighting.

The US says up to one million people could be displaced by the battle for the city -- a major problem given that existing, under-construction and planned camps can only house about half that number.

The International Organization for Migration said on Friday that more than 22,000 people have fled to government-controlled areas since the Mosul operation began.

Displacement is especially difficult for rural farming communities, whose wealth lies in fields and livestock that they cannot take to camps.

The situation for displaced Iraqis will get even more difficult as winter rains and colder weather set in.
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) recently posted its first quarterly loss in 6 years. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) is still getting hit by declining fertilizer prices.

CF Industries is one of the largest producers of nitrogen fertilizer products in the world. It has manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. It also owns a 50% interest in an ammonia facility in the The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Earnings Plunge Year Over Year

On Nov 2, CF Industries reported its third quarter results and beat on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8 cents. Adjusted earnings were $0.13 compared to the Zacks Consensus of $0.05.

The company made $0.54 in the year ago quarter.

Net sales fell 27% to $680 million from $928 million a year ago. The company got hit by lower nitrogen prices. The average selling price for CF products in the quarter was $185 per ton compared to $289 per ton for the same quarter a year ago. That's a decline of 36%.

It's no surprise, then, that the company's earnings estimates are in a steep decline.

Estimates Still Being Cut

The earnings estimates haven't yet bottomed in the fertilizer industry.

CF Industries made $3.88 last year. The 2016 Zacks Consensus Estimate has fallen to $0.97 and may be cut further. That's an earnings decline of 75%.

Right now, the analysts are hoping that this is the worst of it. The 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate shows a small rebound to $1.12. But will that even hold?

CF Industries said that the third quarter prices were impacted by the "continuing global oversupply of nitrogen fertilizer and the overall lower industrial demand." It said that customers were unwilling to take inventory risks in the third quarter and implied in its outlook that the beginning of 2017 still looked tough.

The Balance Sheet

It wouldn't be unusual for investors to start to wonder about the company's balance sheet with these horrible industry conditions.

But as of Sep 30, 2016, CF Industries still had cash and cash equivalents of $1.55 billion and had no borrowings outstanding under its revolving credit facility. It was also in compliance with all applicable covenant requirements under its debt instruments.

Story continues

Shares Sink Again

Shares have been in a downward spiral the last two years.

But that doesn't mean they're cheap. With the earnings plummeting at the same time, it means that CF still has a forward P/E of 25. Shares may not have touched the lows yet.

If you're an investor who wants to be the fertilizer industry, there's really nowhere to invest right now where earnings estimates are rising. Estimates are still being cut on Potash (POT and Mosaic (MOS).

Looks like the turnaround is on hold until the second half of 2017.

There's no where for investors to hide out. But Potash (POT) and Agrium (AGU) have decided to merge. That merger could have implications on the remaining big suppliers like CF Industries and Mosaic (MOS).

More Stocks to Sell. Now.

Beyond our Bear Stock of the Day, today's list of 220 Zacks Rank #5 Strong Sells demand even more urgent attention. If any are lurking in your portfolio or Watch List, they should be removed immediately. Many appear to be sound investments but, since 1988, such stocks have actually performed more than 11X worse than the S&P 500.

See today's Zacks ""Strong Sells"" absolutely free >>.



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This royal domain in Graham, WA, is waiting for a regal buyer to ascend the throne and claim the castle. In our travels across the country, weve seen a number of castles for sale, or at least houses that look like castles.

But few include an actual moat and village to rule over. This castle comes with more than just two bedrooms and 2.5 bathsother medieval touches include swords, armor, even a 1,000-square-foot dungeon that isnt factored into the 1,700 square feet of living space. Bonus: The wine cellar comes fully stocked.

The castles website says owner Ron Denning was inspired by his visits to over 200 European castles. However, Denning said, I saw so many castles that I couldnt copy them all! After returning from Europe, he decided to make his childhood dream of being a knight a reality.

One castle was crucial to Dennings plan: Neuschwanstein, built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. (Fact: Neuschwanstein also inspired Disneylands Sleeping Beauty Castle.) Both Denning and Ludwig were dreamers whose castles were their labors of love. While Denning didnt have a kings ransom to pour into his project, his attention to detail and the eight years he spent perfecting his vision would probably earn him a royal commendation.

Denning Castle comes with more than enough wine and ale for any royal feast. VHT Studios

Neuschwanstein Castle served as a primary inspiration. Wikimedia Commons

Most of Dennings collection of medieval artifacts and reproductions will stay with the property. Many of these pieces (one suit of armor was forged in Spain) would be difficult to procure. Some of these things are considered state treasures now, Denning says of his collection.

Get cozy by the fire with your personal collection of medieval treasures. VHT Studios

The adjoining village, including a blacksmith shop, isnt technically habitable, but any peasant (or potential buyer) would be impressed by the fact that these outbuildings have electricity and heat.

Ye olde storage shedde village realtor.com

The property is one of a kind, but theres more than one path a new owner could blaze on the property. Its already been the set of a few indie movies and the venue for some not-quite-royal weddings.

Story continues

The property has a lot of potential, listing agent Wes Jones says. Weve got a lot of great local wineries and distilleries, so this could be a unique tasting room. Other options include turning the property into a bed-and-breakfast or corporate retreat for Game of Thrones fans wanting to live it up like true Lannisters. After all, winter is coming.

For more photos and details, check out the full listing.

Homes for sale in Graham, WA

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By Venus Wu HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's top parliamentary panel will discuss Hong Kong's mini-constitution and how it should be interpreted, the Chinese-ruled city government said on Friday, to try to end a crisis over a fledgling independence movement but raising fears of legal interference. The Hong Kong government confirmed that the Standing Committee of Chinas National Peoples Congress would consider provisions of Hong Kongs Basic Law related to political allegiance this weekend. The move comes as the Hong Kong government tries to disqualify two newly elected legislators promoting independence from China, amid growing speculation that Beijing would intervene. A National People's Congress delegate in Beijing told Hong Kong media the request to intervene came from the standing committee. "I believe the reasons involved national unity and territorial integrity," said Hong Kong delegate Maria Tam. Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule with wide-ranging autonomy in 1997, was rocked by street protests calling for democracy in 2014 and more recently by calls for independence, an idea that is anathema to Communist Party rulers in Beijing. The Standing Committee has used such powers before, but many across the political and legal elite of the global financial hub fear any intervention from Beijing will deal a severe blow to Hong Kong's vaunted judicial independence. The Hong Kong Bar Association said such intervention would undermine international confidence in Hong Kong's autonomy. "The irreparable harm it will do to Hong Kong far outweighs any purpose it could possibly achieve," it said in a statement on Wednesday. Foreign diplomats say they are watching the situation, stressing the importance of the rule of the law to the city's international reputation. A separate legal system, along with extensive personal freedoms, is part of the "one country, two systems" formula under which Britain handed Hong Kong back to China. The move is likely to pre-empt a court case under way that could disqualify the two pro-independence lawmakers yet to be sworn in to the Legislative Council. Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Baggio Leung, 30, had their swearing-in oaths invalidated last month over language and a banner that was deemed derogatory to China. The Hong Kong government has asked the courts to disqualify the two on the basis that they declined to take their oaths of office and do not comply with the Basic Law. The Hong Kong government statement said the committee would discuss an article in the Basic Law requiring legislators to "swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China". Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the government was paying close attention to the issue, but refused to elaborate when queried repeatedly at a news conference. "After the interpretation happens, we will comment for sure," he said. Hong Kong's Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma told media he would not comment due to the court case. Hong Kong University law professor Simon Young warned of a troubling disconnect between Beijing, which wanted action, and the Hong Kong government, which preferred to let the citys legal system deal with issue. During the hearing, a government lawyer said the dispute "can and should be" resolved by the Hong Kong judicial system, echoing the position of Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen. "We have never been in this situation before ... and my worry is that if they act with too much urgency with an interpretation, there could be flaws that will mean a second and third interpretation would be needed," Young said. It would be difficult for a sweeping constitutional interpretation to deal with all the grey areas and nuances of local laws, which provide for extensive freedoms, he said. New lawmaker Leung, speaking on Wednesday, said Chinese intervention would destroy Hong Kong's autonomy. "Our whole election system cannot be messed around like this, even though it is already handicapped," he said. "If this logic stands, what's the point of having elections? Why don't we just ask Beijing to nominate people for us?" (Reporting by Venus Wu; Editing by Greg Torode and Nick Macfie)
You can drink the water, but don't let it get on your skin. For people with aquagenic urticaria, a rainy day or summer pool party can turn into life-disrupting allergy triggers. However, with only 50 or so documented cases worldwide, the condition is extremely rare.

Two years ago, Laura McDaniel's preteen daughter started exiting the shower with her upper body dotted with what looked like welts with hives in the middle. "Rylie would say she was very itchy, almost like burning," her mother recalls. Switching to different types of soap and shampoo, including mild baby shampoo, didn't help.

About a year prior to these symptoms, the family moved to a new home in New Oxford, Pennsylvania, with well water. What if their water supply was the problem? "So we actually took her to another place to shower," McDaniel says. "To my mother's house, which had regular city water, and she still had the same symptoms. I run a hotel in the town next to us. So we tried it there, because that was a different water source as well."

However, Rylie's symptoms continued. Their pediatrician referred them to allergy specialists, who after getting her medical history did a surprisingly low-tech test.

[See: 16 Ways Your Body Adjusts to a New Climate.]

"They took her arms and used wet paper towels with several different kinds of water on them," McDaniel says. "Like one right out of the tap, a distilled water, one with saline, and laid those right on her arm then waited. And each [skin area] broke out. And that was when they figured it was from the water itself."

Now, at 13, Rylie takes the antihistamine Zyrtec almost daily, McDaniel says. When she plays softball in hotter weather, she has to be more careful. About a year before the symptoms started, the family had installed a swimming pool. "She changes immediately when she comes out of the pool and has to be completely dried off," her mother says.

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Different seasons bring different challenges. While sled-riding and playing in the snow with her cousins last winter, Rylie developed a cough along with hives on her face. Humid days can also bring on a breakout.

McDaniel is concerned about effects on her daughter's social life -- when a friend invites her to the beach or a pool party and she declines. "As a teenager, when you start to break out on your face in hives, it's hard to explain to other eighth-graders that 'I have an allergy,'" McDaniel says. "Especially when you say you have an allergy to water. A lot of people kind of look at you like you're crazy."

Rylie is accustomed to giving people enough information so they can check out the condition on their cellphones. She uses her own cellphone to play a song while she's in the shower -- once the song's over, it's time to get out.

[See: 10 Seemingly Innocent Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore.]

Several years ago, a woman in her early 30s came to the University of Kansas Medical Center complaining of experiencing intense itching and small hives immediately after skin contact with water. This had gone on for two years, according to a case report published in the May-June 2016 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

She'd previously tried a variety of treatments, including antihistamines. "Despite that, every time she was in contact with water, including every time she tried to bathe and shower, she would have pretty severe hives," says study author Dr. Andrew Rorie, an allergist-immunologist now based at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he is an assistant professor of immunology.

Rorie and his colleagues diagnosed her with aquagenic urticaria. "Most allergists will go through their careers without ever seeing it," he says.

In this patient's case, they decided to try something different: a drug called Xolair. While the injectable medication, whose generic name is omalizumab, has been on the U.S. market since 2003 to treat asthma, it wasn't approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat chronic urticaria -- the medical term for persistent hives -- until March 2014.

The patient was hive-free after her first dose and has been so since, Rorie says: "One of the things she was most excited about -- she was able to go swimming for the first time in a few years."

What Aquagenic Urticaria Is and Isn't

Patients with aquagenic urticaria often end up at academic medical centers to get a handle on their diagnosis, says Dr. Whitney High, an associate professor of dermatology and director of dermatopathology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. First, he says, other much more likely causes must be ruled out.

Urticaria, in general, can have a variety of triggers, High explains. Food allergies, for instance to shrimp or bananas, can make people react with hives all over their bodies. Physical urticaria is a different form, usually caused by some kind of physical stimulus such as pressure or vibration. In aquagenic urticaria, the culprit is water applied to the skin.

"It could be salt water; it could be fresh water; it could be cold water," High says. "It doesn't really matter. It's the same type of hives-like reaction." The condition usually causes tiny red bumps, he says, especially around the hair follicles and areas where water has touched the skin.

When people get hives associated with sweating, it's called "cholinergic urticaria," which is a different diagnosis and much more common. "Cholinergic urticaria is caused by increased body temperature from whatever means," he says. "It could be exercise; hot showers. If I put you under a heat lamp. It's different from aquagenic urticaria, but it can be confused very easily."

If people only develop itchiness -- no hives -- when water is placed on the skin, that's the sign of yet another condition called "aquagenic pruritus." (Pruritus is the medical term for itchiness.)

High strongly emphasizes that in most cases, people who suspect they might have aquagenic urticaria really don't. "Go see a dermatologist or an allergist," he advises. If testing reveals the condition, a treatment plan can be developed with medications and other approaches. Some doctors prescribe ultraviolet light treatment. For patients at risk of more severe reactions, carrying an EpiPen is a possible precaution.

[See: 8 Questions to Ask Your Pharmacist.]

"I see a lot of people who think they have aquagenic urticaria, but in fact they have something else much more common," High says. "The odds of having plain old, common urticaria -- that's pretty high. Many, many people have hives on at least one occasion. Odds are when you have hives, that's not going to be aquagenic urticaria." Whatever the cause, he adds: "We don't want anyone to suffer from hives -- we always want to help them."

Lisa Esposito is a Patient Advice reporter at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at lesposito@usnews.com.
If you were hoping to see Benedict Cumberbatch stretch his comedy muscle ahead of this weekends Saturday Night Live, look no further than The Tonight Shows eggs-cellent Mad Lib Theater.

VIDEOSBenedict Cumberbatch and SNL Meet At Last in Haunting First Promo

In the sketch, filmdoms Doctor Strange plays a detective with a truly bizarre accent (were picking up hints of Mark Wahlberg and The Big Bang Theorys Barry Kripke) who interrogates a thief (Jimmy Fallon) suspected of stealing more than 4,000 of a certain item from a department store.

Not to worry: Fallon breaks character right on cue, lasting just 15 seconds into the bit comprised of random verbs and adjectives  solicited ahead of time at the start of the segment, Mad Libs-style  before a case of the giggles emerge. As they say, some things just never change.

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Press PLAY on the clip above to watch the unconventional interrogation (which officially begins at the 3:29 mark).

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Cumbermania is going to hit peak levels this weekend.

Benedict Cumberbatch, the Oscar-nominated actor/ Sherlock star/ Internets boyfriend will be on big screens around the world in Marvels Doctor Strange. And his American fans get an extra treat when Cumberbatch hosts Saturday Night Live for the first time tomorrow.

Now, Cumberbatch might seem like an unlikely candidate for the late night comedy sketch show, considering the number of serious dramas on his resume. But the guy clearly has a wicked sense of humor and clever wittiness, which hes displayed over the years  like on last nights Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. Heres that clip, plus eight other hilarious Cumberbatch moments.

Mad Lib Theater

In this sketch, Cumberbatch plays a cop interrogating Fallons robber  using random nouns and verbs in key places, Mad Libs-style. Neither the actor nor Fallon can get through the whole thing without breaking into giggles. Flibbity-gibbet!

Big Ben

Cumberbatch may be a married man with a kid (and another on the way), but during a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show in the UK, the actor gave us a window into what his video dating profile might look like. Just call him Big Ben, wink wink.

Ice Bucket Challenge

The actor took on friend Tom Hiddlestons challenge, but to his dismay, discovers hes got several buckets with his name on them.

Penguin Tripping

As Graham Norton pointed out in 2014, Mr. Cumberbatch has real difficulty saying the word penguin. The issue came to light after Cumberbatch served as narrator for the 2009 documentary miniseries Wild Pacific, and Norton delights in teasing him about it here. (The pengwings talk begins around 3:30.)

Rickman-off

Cumberbatchs voice is celebrated for its deep timbre and silky elegance. So, naturally he blew Fallons socks off in a challenge to impersonate the late Alan Rickman.

Photobombing

Cumberbatch loves to photobomb his favorite celebs, especially at awards shows, like the Golden Globes

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And the Oscars

Otter Impersonations

Over the years, fans have pointed out how much Cumberbatch looks like an otter. So, Graham Norton asked the star to do a few of his best otter impressions during a 2015 appearance on his show.

Cumber-Kelly

Its always funny to bring together two seemingly opposite things  like Cumberbatch reading, with great gravitas, the lyrics to R. Kellys Genius.
By Andrew M. Seaman A person's Facebook activity might be a window into their health and even predict their odds of dying in the short term, a new study suggests. Researchers stop short of saying that using the social networking website will either hasten or delay illness or death, but they conclude that how a person interacts on the site might say a lot about their level of risk. "We cant say using Facebook is good for you, but I think the study provides evidence that its probably not bad for you," said James Fowler, the study's senior author, from the University of California, San Diego. Past studies have found that people with more friends and social ties in their community tend to live longer, Fowler and his coauthors, which include a representative from Facebook, write in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Social connections may promote healthy behaviors, improve immunity and reduce inflammation, the research team writes. But past studies focused on real-life interactions, and its been less clear if the same was true for online social connections. For the new study, the researchers used anonymized data on about 12 million Facebook users living in California. All joined the site before October 2010 and were in their 20s through 60s during the first six months of 2011, the period of Facebook activity the researchers analyzed. The study team tracked deaths and causes of death in the next couple of years by matching subjects to California Department of Public Health records of deaths in 2012 and 2013. In one analysis, the researchers looked at mortality rates among Facebook users and 89,597 non-users matched from California voter records and found that Facebook users were 12 percent less likely to die during that time. For their other analyses, researchers focused solely on Facebook users and analyzed online activities like sending and accepting friend requests, posting photos and "liking" other people's updates. People who were popular and accepted the most friend requests were about 34 percent less likely to die than those who accepted the fewest requests. There was no benefit in sending the most friend requests, though. That result is a bit disappointing since it suggests seeking out new friendships may not lead to health benefits, Fowler told Reuters Health. The types of activities that did or did not seem to come with a lower risk of dying were telling, the researchers write, because the ones tied to a benefit seemed to point to an active social life offline. They found that people who posted the most photos and the fewest "status updates" were about 30 percent less likely to die over the study period than the average Facebook user, for example. But there was no decreased risk of death for those with the most online-only activities, such as writing wall posts or messages. We didnt see any relationship between Facebook 'likes' and health," said lead author William Hobbs, of Northeastern University in Boston. The findings suggest real-life interactions drive any possible decrease in a person's risk of death, according to the researchers. Their analysis suggests the lowest risk of death was among people tagged in the most Facebook photos and those who engage on the website a moderate amount. Knowing the signs of healthy behavior or risk might lead to ways of using Facebook to identify people at risk and promote healthy interventions, according to Fowler. For instance, knowing that certain activities on Facebook are tied to an increased risk of death from causes like suicide or heart disease can help researchers design programs that will flag the risk and allow a user's friends to intervene, he said. "These are really inexpensive interventions that can reach hundreds, thousands and possibly even millions of people," said Dr. Michael Thase, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Similar programs could possibly be run through other social media, too, said Thase, who wasn't involved with the new study. "The monitoring function thats possible with social media - to know risks - is a good thing," he told Reuters Health. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2e5RIGP Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online October 31, 2016.
Warren Buffett (Credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A), has remained silent about his views on embattled retail bank Wells Fargo (WFC).

Some expected that Berkshire Hathaway, the largest shareholder of Wells Fargo, might weigh in on Wells Fargo in their 10-Q filing that came out on Friday afternoon.

Not much was in there other than this disclosure showing how the value of Berkshires position in Wells has fallen to $22.1 billion, down by $5.2 billion since the beginning of the year.

Screen Shot 2016-11-04 at 4.29.29 PM

Since September, Wells Fargo has been rocked by a scandal involving employees at the retail bank opening up approximately 2 million fraudulent accounts to meet sales targets. More than 5,000 employees were subsequently fired.

The banks now-former CEO, John Stumpf, was grilled on Capitol Hill over the cross-selling scandal with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) slamming him for gutless leadership. Just two weeks later, Stumpf, a 35-year veteran at the bank, retired as chairman and CEO.

In October, the San Francisco-based bank lost its accreditation with the Better Business Bureau. Wells Fargo is currently under investigation by the DOJ, the SEC, and state attorneys general and prosecutors offices.

Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway reported operating earnings of $4.85 billion in Q3, up from $4.55 billion a year ago. That comes out to $2,951 per Class A share. This was a bit lighter than the $3,058 estimated by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Buffetts conglomerate had $84.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents on its books.



Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.

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Like much of the rest of U.S. infrastructure, many major airports could do with some serious remodeling. A report published last year reckoned that an investment of $15.1 billion was needed annually until 2019 to accommodate growth and renovate the infrastructure.

The March 2015 report from the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) also notes that the average annual expenditure required exceeds airport funding from annual Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, new Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) revenues, and airport generated net income.

Of the total required investment, 56% is target for expanding passenger and cargo activity and 38% is intended to repair, maintain and keep the nation's airports "up to the standards for the aircraft that use them."

ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States

The ACI-NA report noted:

It is clear that the existing federally-mandated funding system cannot meet U.S. airport capital needs for modernizing and expanding airport capacity which is critical for a safe, efficient and globally competitive aviation system.

While investing in infrastructure is critical, most of us judge our experiences with airports on whether flights arrive and leave on schedule, how accessible the airport is and the amenities we find in them. At least those are the criteria judged most important by the frequent flyers at The Points Guy website, who put together their list of the 10 best and 10 worst U.S. airports.

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According to their rating system here are the 10 best airports in the United States:

Phoenix, Arizona, Sky Harbor Portland, Oregon, International San Diego, California, International Salt Lake City, Utah, International Honolulu, Hawaii, International Seattle-Tacoma, Washington, International Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, International Charlotte, North Carolina, Douglas International Las Vegas, Nevada, McCarran International Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, International

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Among the best airports, Salt Lake City and Honolulu had the best on-time records, and Salt Lake also had the lowest percentage of cancelled flights. But Salt Lake fell to number four in the ranking based on "sluggish" public transportation and "a lack of lounges." Honolulu slipped to fifth also for public transportation problems. Phoenix edged out Portland on the basis of greater accessibility.

ALSO READ: The Richest Town in Every State

The 10 worst U.S. airports are:

New York City, LaGuardia New York City, John F. Kennedy International Newark, New Jersey, Liberty International Chicago, Illinois, O'Hare International Detroit, Michigan, Metro Orlando, Florida, International Washington, D.C., Dulles International Denver, Colorado, International Los Angeles, California, International Houston, Texas, George Bush Intercontinental

The three major airports serving New York City were, perhaps unsurprisingly, the worst, with LaGuardia suffering from the highest rate of delays and cancellations, as well as the second-longest drive time, and "extortionate" parking fees.

ALSO READ: The Most Democratic County in Every State

For more details and a listing of the 30 busiest U.S. airports ranked from best to worst visit The Points Guy.

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After just three months as president of Impact Ventures, the parent company of TNA Wrestling, Billy Corgan is out and engaged in a lawsuit over loans he paid the league that have not been paid back.

On Thursday (Nov. 3), TNA issued a press release announcing new funding and as, Consequence of Sound reports, it also notes that "Billy Corgan is no longer with the company."

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman joined the Impact last year and had previously served as a senior producer of creative and talent development at TNA Wrestling.

After becoming president, Corgan had announced intentions to buy the company and possibly change its name. That effort was significantly diminished after a lawsuit he filed last month against TNA and its owner Dixie Carter was denied by a judge. Corgan's lawsuit claimed that TNA reneged on assurances that his three loans to TNA would be fully repaid in a timely manner. The judge ruled that Corgan was owed full repayment on his loans but that he did not meet requirements to prevent the company from settling its debt through alternative actions.

According to the judge's ruling, Corgan was to be repaid by Nov. 1, but the musician said on Twitter Thursday that they had not done so.

See his tweets below.

FACT: TNA was supposed to pay me to 2 days ago, which they swore to in front of a judge. Yesterday they asked for a day to 'get $ together'

- WPC (@Billy) November 3, 2016

Upon which, (yesterday or today) they'd 'reach out directly' to settle ALL claims. So they lied again and have used the time as a weapon

- WPC (@Billy) November 3, 2016

FACT: I have still not been paid, and I'm exploring all remedies including new filings with court and converting to 36 pct. equity

- WPC (@Billy) November 3, 2016
With the presidential election down to the wire, the race is tightening.

Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga spoke to Paul Stekler, a communications professor at the University of Texas and an award-winning political documentarian, about the state of the election and his latest project, Postcards From the Great Divide, a series focused on the current political climate throughout the country.

Stekler and his team traveled to several battleground states, including Florida and Nevada, where the African-American and Latino vote will likely be crucial in determining the next president.

He says that in states like Nevada, Democrats have done a much better job of organizing Latino voters and Republicans need to figure out how to salvage any of those votes.

In Florida, Stekler says, lower black turnout might simply be a lack of enthusiasm for either candidate and Clinton has the most to lose if black voters stay home.

Regardless of who wins on Tuesday, Stekler says, its up in the air how much will actually be accomplished in the next term given the partisan political climate and what he calls a terrible campaign that has been very, very bad for our system.
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
The U.K. High Courts ruling Thursday that the government does not have the authority to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treatythe formal mechanism that would begin negotiations for the countrys departure from the European Unionis a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May. The ruling, which the government says it will appeal to the Supreme Court, contends that doing so without seeking parliamentary approval, which May had argued was within her power, would effectively erode parliaments sovereignty, which is enshrined in U.K. law. In other words: U.K. lawmakers must vote on whether to invoke Article 50.

This puts the government in an awkward position. Her predecessor as prime minister, David Cameron, had staked his political future letting voters decide on the U.K.s continued membership in the EU. And despite dire warnings about the economic and social costs of Brexit, polls remained close and tightened during the final days. Still, Cameron and otherseven those championing Brexitsuspected the Remain side would eventually triumph in the June 23 referendum. But it wasnt even close: 52 percent voted to leave versus 48 percent who wanted to stay. Cameron resigned as prime minister and, subsequently, as a member of Parliament. After much political jockeying, and backstabbing, among the more high-profile proponents of Brexit within Camerons Cabinet, May, who had tepidly supported Remain, emerged as the candidate to replace him. As prime minister, she said she would respect the wishes of the voters, stacked her Cabinet with prominent Leave campaigners, and said that she would invoke Article 50 in March 2017, thereby setting in motion an expected two-year process to negotiate the U.K.s future relationship with the EU.

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But a legal challenge, which was partially crowdfunded, on whether the government had the authority to do so complicated that plan.

The governments position was that Parliament had, in fact, assented to the governments authority on Article 50 when it approved the European Communities Act in 1972. Thats the law Parliament passed to allow the U.K. to join what would eventually become the EU. Not so fast, the High Court said Thursday: [W]e decide that the government does not have power under the Crowns prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 to withdraw from the European Union. Furthermore: Parliament is sovereign and can make and unmake any law it chooses.

The legal action against the governments position was brought by Gina Miller, an investment-fund manager. Miller has said that the question in the referendum on whether to Leave or Remain in the EU was far too binary. She was, she told Business Insider, for remain, reform, and review. She argued that if Article 50 were invoked without the proper steps, it would weaken the U.K.s negotiating position during Brexit talks with other EU nations. But perhaps more pertinent was her argument that the government's invocation of Article 50, without Parliament's buy-in, would set a dangerous precedent.

We must remember that the U.K. doesnt have a written constitutionit is made up of precedent, she told Business Insider. If we set the precedent that a government can use their royal prerogative to take away peoples human rights, that is taking us into a very dangerous political environment.

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What does all this mean for Brexit? If the U.K. government wins its appeal at the Supreme Court, it will mean the government does have the authority to invoke Article 50, presumably next March. But even if it doesnt, and lawmakers indeed do get a say in the matter, its highly unlikely they will undo the decision of a majority of votersno matter what the U.K.s elites think of Brexit.

Still, the courts decision is likely to heighten the political and economic uncertainty triggered by the Brexit vote. Although some of the most dire warnings about the impact of a vote for Brexit have yet to materialize, the costs have already been high for the U.K. economy and its currency, mostly because its unclear what shape the U.K.s future relationship with the EU will take. While some Brexit proponents had argued that the U.K. would continue to have free trade with the bloc after it leaves, EU officials have dismissed that idea unless the U.K. allows the free movement of EU citizensa highly unlikely proposition given that many Brexiters listed immigration from the EU as their primary reason for voting Leave. Nor is the EUs ability to forge the sort of agreement that will satisfy all sides assured. As it showed during recent trade negotiations with Canadawhich nearly failed due to the objections of a single region in Belgiumthe EU is not a monolithic entity. Free trade, while popular in the 1990s when the bloc was born, is now facing a backlash globally, and imposing political costs on many of its most ardent supporters. So while the High Courts ruling was a major twist in the Brexit saga, in one respect the court has left the situation much the same as it was before: The U.K.s future remains very unclear.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - A bomb blast on Friday killed 12 civilians, among them women and children, who had fled the jihadist-held Hawijah area in northern Iraq, officials said.

The deaths highlight the extreme danger faced by civilians trying to flee areas held by the Islamic State group, who may be targeted by the jihadists as they seek to escape and then have to navigate bombs the militants have planted.

Hawijah is a town in Iraq's Kirkuk province that was seized by IS along with swathes of other territory in the summer of 2014.

Police Colonel Fatah Hassan said the displaced Iraqis had left the Hawijah area on foot but were picked up by police who were transporting them to the west when the bomb ripped through the vehicle.

Hassan, a police lieutenant colonel and Iraqi lawmaker Mohammed Tamim all confirmed that 12 displaced Iraqis were killed.

Hassan said one of the policemen trying to help them was also killed, while both police and displaced civilians were wounded.

An image obtained from police of the aftermath of the blast showed a pile of ashes along with one badly burned body in the back of the twisted remains of a white pickup truck.

The charred remains of a woman and at least one other victim lie on the dirt road behind the truck.

The lieutenant colonel said that the truck had apparently run over a bomb, an account that was initially confirmed by Hassan as well.

But Hassan later said that the blast appeared to have originated inside the vehicle, and may have been caused by explosives potentially placed by IS inside bags the women were carrying.

Lamia Haji Bashar, one of two Yazidi activists who won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize, previously lost an eye and suffered burns to her face when one of her friends stepped on a bomb while they were fleeing Hawijah.

Bashar and Nadia Murad, the other activist, were both enslaved and raped by IS which has carried out a campaign of massacres and kidnappings targeting members of the Yazidi minority.

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Farther west, Iraqi forces are fighting to retake the IS-held city of Mosul, where a million-plus civilians still live.

Fighting has been limited to the city's outskirts for now, but aid workers fear that the battle may result in mass displacement of civilians as it progresses.

Those fleeing Mosul will also be exposed to bombs planted by IS, as well as the extreme danger of being caught up in the fighting between security forces and jihadists.
(Recasts with confirmation from company, adds competitors to Global 7000)

By Allison Lampert

MONTREAL, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Bombardier Inc's Global 7000 completed its first test flight over Toronto on Friday, the company said, a milestone for the long-range business jet considered critical to the growth of its corporate plane division.

The test aircraft took off from a Bombardier facility in Canada's largest city on Friday morning and flew for about 2 hours and 27 minutes, the company said in a statement.

"The systems and aircraft performed as expected," it said.

Because of previous delays, some investors and analysts had been skeptical that the first flight would take place in 2016, suggesting instead that it would fly in 2017. Bombardier had said the Global 7000 would fly in 2016.

Reuters reported last month that the Global 7000 was scheduled to make its first flight in November.

The new jet is scheduled to enter service during the second half of 2018 after being delayed for two years. Competitors in the long-range jet sector include the 650ER produced by General Dynamics Corp's Gulfstream unit, and Dassault Aviation SA's flagship Falcon 8x.

Business jets have been crucial for Bombardier earnings in recent years. Its commercial aircraft business lost money as the company spent heavily to develop its CSeries jet, which entered service this summer after years of delays.

But because of a slowdown in global demand for corporate planes, Bombardier said in September that it would halt completion work for its Global 5000 and 6000 business jets during certain periods in 2017. {nL1N1BD0TV]

The furloughs at Bombardier's global completions center in Montreal follow a decision in 2015 by the Canadian plane and train maker to cut production of Global 5000 and 6000 jets, citing weak demand from China, Latin America and Russia.

By contrast, the Global 7000 has a "strong order book," Bombardier Chief Executive Alain Bellemare said in a recent interview, although he would not disclose specific sales figures. He said the jet is "critical" to the future growth of Bombardier's business jet division.

Story continues

According to Bombardier, the Global 7000 has a range capability of 13,705 kilometers (8516 miles) at Mach 0.85 with eight passengers. It can fly from London to Singapore or New York City to Dubai non-stop.

Bombardier shares were down 1.1 percent at C$1.80 in Toronto on Friday.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Phil Berlowitz and Meredith Mazzilli)
(Adds Samarco comment)

BRASILIA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal environmental agency IBAMA said on Friday it is fining Samarco Mineracao SA 500,000 reais ($154,693) per day for not complying with directives related to a 2015 tailings dam spill.

Samarco, an iron ore joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Billiton Plc, must increase the height of a dike that was built to contain the continuing runoff from the dam spill and effectively treat the mining waste, known as tailings, IBAMA said.

Samarco said it was working to increase the capacity of the dike to 2.9 million cubic meters at the mine in Minas Gerais, a state in south eastern Brazil. It did not say when this work would be completed.

Environmental bodies, including IBAMA, have expressed concern that the oncoming rainy season could cause further mining waste to run into rivers and surrounding ecosystems.

Samarco says it is working to ensure environmental impacts from the rains are kept to a minimum. ($1 = 3.2322 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by G Crosse and Lisa Shumaker)
Mariana (Brazil) (AFP) - Surrounded by big video screens and computers, a team works 24/7 to monitor the slightest threat of an accident at dams used by Brazil's Samarco iron ore mine.

The only problem? This impressive setup wasn't there when a huge dam burst open, killing 19 people 12 months ago.

Samarco, which is battling multi-billion dollar lawsuits and manslaughter charges, was keen to show journalists its high-tech safety gear ahead of the anniversary of the November 5, 2015 disaster.

The monitoring room near the town of Mariana is dominated by wall-to-wall screens with live footage of Samarco's dam installations, which hold back decades of mineral-packed sludge produced during the iron ore mining process.

A cutting edge radar system picks up any shifting in the structure of the dams, with seven employees sitting at computers, analyzing data around the clock.

And in an emergency, they'd go to a panel featuring big red buttons: evacuation sirens for workers and any inhabitants of communities downstream.

The siren at one town, Barra Longa, hasn't yet been linked up to the control room, but in the meantime Samarco has residents there covered too.

"There are trucks with loudspeakers on call 24 hours a day," emergencies coordinator Flavio Thimotio said.

- Too late -

But Brazilian prosecutors and survivors of last year's tragedy accuse Samarco, owned by Brazil's giant Vale company and Anglo-Australian BHP-Billiton, of shutting the stable door after the horse bolted.

The Fundao dam abruptly gave way, releasing 42 million cubic yards (32 million cubic meters) of mineral waste into the valley below, smashing the nearby village of Bento Rodrigues before continuing a path of destruction as far as the ocean, 400 miles (640 kilometers) away.

Jose Nascimento de Jesus, a 70-year-old inhabitant of Bento Rodrigues, says the only warning he got was the noise of the oncoming flood. "Like an airplane," he said.

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"I was the last one to run out. In 10, 15 minutes it was all over."

Thimotio acknowledged that the monitoring operation at the time was a shadow of what it is today.

"They were installed after the event, with the great task of monitoring stability," he said of the video screens.

The radar system is also new. And many of the less sophisticated instruments Samarco previously relied on were not even in use on the day of the accident.

"They were switched off" for maintenance, Thimotio said.

As for the sirens, they didn't exist at all.

- Whose fault is it? -

A local state prosecutor in Mariana told AFP that he considers the lack of warning equipment "the worst thing."

"Sirens were obligatory as an alarm system for the population nearby and this system did not exist," the prosecutor, Guilherme de Sa Meneghin, said.

Announcing homicide charges against 21 people last month, including executives from Samarco, Vale and BHP, prosecutors claimed that "security was of secondary importance" to profits.

The three companies reject all the charges, insisting that the unnoticed weakening and eventual collapse of the Fundao dam was a freak, unstoppable accident.

"It was unprecedented," said Thimotio, stressing that in the run-up to the disaster instruments gave "no signal" of anything untoward.

The "Fundao dam was inspected regularly, not only by the authorities but also by independent international consultants," Samarco said in a statement.

"Safety has always been a priority in Samarcos management strategy, and the company reiterates that it never reduced its investments in safety."

Antonio Geraldo Santos, another Bento Rodrigues survivor, scoffs at these assurances.

"There was no warning, nothing," the 33-year-old said.

"People just ran for their lives."
Sao Paulo (AFP) - A major leftist activist group said Friday that police burst into its training center in Sao Paulo, firing gunshots and briefly detaining members.

"This morning police invaded the premises of the school without a warrant," said the Movement of Landless Rural Workers, known by its Portuguese acronym MST.

It said similar raids were carried out at its offices in the southern state of Parana, where eight people were detained, and in the central state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

In Sao Paulo, "police fired three shots and detained activists who were released later," MST said in a statement.

MST said police were "escalating repression" against the group to weaken its push for agrarian reform in a country with a huge divide between rich and poor.

The Sao Paulo security department said it would comment later.

Human rights group Amnesty International issued a statement criticizing the "intimidation and repression of MST in Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul and Parana."

"The images and reports show excessive and unnecessary use of force, including gunshots," it added.
London (AFP) - From rape and death threats to calls for judges to be hanged, the High Court decision giving the British parliament the right to vote on Brexit has reignited passions and violent rhetoric.

The British tabloids led the bitter discourse, with headlines vehemently opposed to Thursday's ruling. The Daily Mail on Friday showed the three High Court judges under the front-page headline "Enemies of the people", and accused them of "an attempted coup".

The paper's star commentator Richard Littlejohn described as "an outrage" the judges' decision "to side with the sore losers who want to scupper Britain's departure from the European Union".

The Sun newspaper featured the headline "who do EU think you are?" while the Daily Express declared "We Must Get Out of the EU", with its editorial column carrying the militant cry: "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The Daily Telegraph, a more moderate eurosceptic broadsheet newspaper, adopted a similar tone with the headline: "The judges versus the people".

The paper handed front-page column inches to Nigel Farage, interim leader of the UK Independence Party and a leading Brexit campaigner, who declared a "great betrayal" was under way and warned: "The British people are not simply going to let this incredible arrogance lie".

The left-leaning pro-EU Guardian newspaper took a more measured approach, concluding that the ruling was a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May, but would not derail Brexit.

"While there are plenty of MPs on both sides of the House of Commons who backed remain during the referendum campaign... only a handful of diehards now say they want to block Brexit," columnist Heather Stewart wrote.

- Death threats -

One of the complainants, businesswoman Gina Miller, says she has received death threats since launching the case.

"I myself have received death threats... Apparently my head belongs on Traitors' Gate," the arch through which prisoners were brought to the Tower of London in the 16th century, the 51-year-old co-founder of investment fund SCM Private recently told AFP.

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Sean Stevenson wrote on Facebook: "Gina Miller should be shot if Brexit is overturned" while Mike Newcombe wrote "Gina Miller should be hung as a traitor to democracy".

Another Facebook user shared a picture of Miller with a swastika on her forehead, along with the caption: "Who's going to help me rape this bitch?" according to the Times newspaper.

Meanwhile self-professed UKIP supporter Peter Clutton decried the idea that three judges could change "the historic will of the people", calling on Twitter to "Take them to the nearest tree and hang them!".

Amid this abuse, including comments on Miller's Guyanan roots, others voiced their support. Writer Bonnie Greer posted on Twitter: "Proud that it's a Black British woman who reminds nation that #ParliamentisSoverign#.

Vitriol was widespread during the campaign ahead of the June 23 referendum in which 52 percent voted in favour of leaving the European Union. And it was thrown into sharp focus by the murder in June of Labour MP Jo Cox.

The referendum left a country deeply divided between proponents and opponents of the EU.

Thursday's ruling shows those divisions are as strong as ever, as May seeks to unite the country and her Conservative party colleagues behind Brexit, which she herself once opposed.
Two former officials who worked closely with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have been found guilty on all charges in connection with the 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, a long-running scandal commonly known as Bridgegate.

After nearly five days of deliberations, a jury in Newark, New Jersey, read the verdict on Friday, declaring Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, guilty of all seven charges they each faced, including conspiracy, fraud and civil rights deprivation.

Baroni and Kelly were convicted of plotting to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey as part of a revenge plot against a Democratic mayor who wouldnt endorse the Republican governors 2013 re-election bid.

Baroni and Kelly each face up to 20 years in prison and sentencing has been set for Feb. 21, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Bridgegate saga spanned nearly three years and cast a shadow over New Jersey Gov. Christies Republican bid for the presidency. Fridays verdict comes as Christie  who GOP nominee Donald Trump appointed the head of his transition team in May  remains tasked with staffing a possible Trump administration.

Christie has repeatedly denied any involvement in the lane closures and hasnt been formally charge with any wrongdoing, the Journal reports, although witnesses and documents in the trial contradicted his claims.

However, earlier this month a judge ruled there is enough evidence for a New Jersey residents official misconduct complaint against Christie  for his alleged failure to stop the lane closures  to go forward. A spokesperson for Christie told PEOPLE the governor planned to appeal the ruling immediately and that this is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system.




By Farah Master HONG KONG (Reuters) - Prosecution and defense lawyers used their closing arguments on Friday to try to convince a Hong Kong jury of the extent British banker Rurik Jutting was in control of his actions when he tortured, raped and killed two Indonesian women. Jutting, 31, a former Bank of America Corp employee, has denied murder in the 2014 killings of Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. The judge is expected to sum up the case on Monday and a verdict is expected on Tuesday. The prosecution told the court that Jutting needed the "boost" of cocaine to commit the crimes in his luxury high-rise apartment in a case that has received widespread international attention. The prosecution has stated the former Cambridge University graduate was able to form judgments and exercise self-control, describing when he cut Ningsih's neck as she knelt by the toilet bowl and later dragged her to the shower to finish sawing her neck. "He needed the boost of cocaine to give him the courage to rape, torture and ultimately kill," prosecution lawyer John Reading said, explaining that despite Jutting's disorders his "mental responsibility was not substantially impaired". Reading detailed Jutting's plan to torture Mujiasih, his buying of items including a hammer and pliers from a hardware store, and his hiding of two knives. "Let's be clear about these, I am going to use these to torture someone in the most inhumane way possible," Reading said, citing one of Jutting's self-made videos. The prosecution said on Wednesday Jutting acted rationally before and after the killings and had even telephoned his mother. Jutting captured parts of his torture of Ningsih on his iPhone. He also shot hours of himself discussing the killings, cocaine binges and detailed his violent sexual fantasies. The footage has been shown to the jury during the two-week trial while the court has been packed with reporters due Jutting's profile and the nature of the killings in a city where such crime is rare. 'COURT OF LAW, NOT MORALS' Sitting in a sectioned-off area in the court, Jutting, who has an IQ in the top 1 percent of the population according to the defense, watched the arguments with a blank expression. He has attended the trial every day, escorted by three policemen. Jutting, the grandson of a British policeman in Hong Kong and an ethnic Chinese woman, was a former vice president and head of Structured Equity Finance and Trading (Asia) at Bank of America. The bank declined to comment. The defense has argued that Jutting's recognized disorders from cocaine and alcohol abuse on top of other personality disorders of sexual sadism and narcissism impaired his ability to control his behavior. Defense lawyer Tim Owen said Jutting was not "asking for sympathy" and acknowledged he intended to kill both victims. However, he argued that manslaughter and diminished responsibility applied because he was not able to make rational decisions. "Not all killings are the same," Owen told the jury. "I am asking you to do no more than ask you how his actions should be defined in legal terms ... This is a court of law, it not a court of morals." Murder carries a mandatory life sentence, while manslaughter carries a maximum of life though a shorter sentence can be set. Owen detailed Jutting's stressful working life describing the start of a negative spiral after a complex tax product in Luxembourg Jutting worked on in 2012 which flagged him as "representing serious risk" to Bank of America. He explained how Jutting was involved in a "battle of wills" with the auditor and was asked by his boss to "calm down, have a quiet year and was pushed to a different part of the business" before being sent to Hong Kong in 2013. "That kind of setback of his brilliance, of his destiny, is something he couldn't handle and was the start of what became a very, very serious and rapid decline." Jutting drank a bottle of spirits every day and consumed increasing amounts of cocaine after arriving in Hong Kong, the court heard. He only worked for 10 to 15 days in the month before he was arrested and only worked a few hours per day. Police have testified that they found Ningsih and Mujiasih's bodies in Jutting's apartment after he called them to report the killings. Ningsih's mutilated body was found in a suitcase on the balcony, while Mujiasih's was found inside the apartment with wounds to her neck and buttocks. (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Greg Torode and Nick Macfie)
By Douglas Busvine and Kylie MacLellan

NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will find that the trade-off between market access and migration applies not just to Brexit when she visits India for her first non-EU bilateral trip since Britons voted to quit the bloc.

Leading Brexiteers in May's government have locked on to India's $2 trillion economy and market of 1.3 billion people as a chance to diversify trade and cushion any blow that a "hard" exit from the EU market could inflict.

It won't be possible to cut a bilateral trade deal until Britain has left the EU, but May and host Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have an opportunity to stake out opening positions during her Nov. 6-8 visit.

The process will not be easy. In addition to any eventual trade deal, India will want May to welcome more of its students and skilled workers, and that would require an unlikely U-turn from the tough line she has taken on immigration.

"Immigration is one of the things India is going to push for," said Dhruva Jaishankar, a foreign policy fellow at Brookings India. "But May is in a bit of a bind - if she gives in, the people who voted for Brexit will say: what did we vote for?"

Take students: the number of study visas issued to Indian nationals fell from 68,238 in the year to June 2010 to 11,864 five years later, British figures show.

Over the same period the number of visas Britain issued to Chinese students nearly doubled.

The solution, says businessman and member of the British parliament's upper house Karan Bilimoria, is to exclude foreign students from Britain's statistics on net migration, which May vows to cut to below 100,000 annually, from 336,000 in the year to June 2015.

"It just doesn't make economic sense to send out the wrong message to international students, and that's exactly what we are doing," said Bilimoria, the chancellor of Birmingham university who as a young migrant from India went into business and launched the Cobra beer brand.

Story continues

Indian companies, including in the growing IT services sector, want Britain to make it easier for their staff to visit on business. Bilimoria, who will travel with May, urged her to offer the same deal as it did to China - three-year multiple entry visas for less than 100 pounds.

FAITH IN FREE TRADE

May and Modi will likely address the prospects for business cooperation at a high-profile technology summit in New Delhi on Monday.

But, behind closed doors, Indian officials are expected to sound her out on the terms of the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union and what it will mean for Indian firms that treat Britain as a gateway to Europe.

"At this juncture, she has the obligation to explain how Brexit could change our ties," said one senior Indian diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the record.

India has struggled for years to strike a free trade deal with the EU, with officials saying the bloc is a difficult partner to deal with because its leaders tend to deliver contradictory messages and often strike a tone they see as moralising.

Anglophiles in New Delhi see the opportunity in Brexit for a win on bilateral trade. But experts caution that India, which has a history of foot-dragging at the World Trade Organization, is no standard-bearer of open markets.

"In general, things move slowly in India," said Alan Winters, director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. Experience shows that dealing with India "is a bureaucratic and rather slow moving process", he added.

Bilateral trade in goods and services has moved sideways in recent years, totaling 19 billion pounds ($23.7 billion) in 2014, when Britain ran a deficit of 1.5 billion pounds.

UK foreign direct investment into India declined, meanwhile, to 3.6 billion pounds in 2014 from a peak of 13.6 billion in 2011.

Any Brexiteers inclined to lapse into misty-eyed nostalgia about the common history and language of the two countries would be well advised not to.

The Commonwealth that groups countries with historic ties to Britain has limited utility in the eyes of New Delhi, which considers itself a rising 21st century power and is looking for support in addressing the threats it says it faces.

Those include Pakistan, India's arch-rival that Modi recently branded as "the mother-ship of terrorism" following an attack on an Indian army base in September that killed 19 of its soldiers. Pakistan has denied any role.

Analysts say May would do well to reprise the words of her predecessor, David Cameron, who on a 2010 visit said Pakistan should not "promote the export of terror".

"It's a sensitive point in UK-India relations - we are seen as being too close to Pakistan," said Shashank Joshi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

($1 = 0.8012 pounds)

(Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
By Douglas Busvine and Kylie MacLellan NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will find that the trade-off between market access and migration applies not just to Brexit when she visits India for her first non-EU bilateral trip since Britons voted to quit the bloc. Leading Brexiteers in May's government have locked on to India's $2 trillion economy and market of 1.3 billion people as a chance to diversify trade and cushion any blow that a "hard" exit from the EU market could inflict. It won't be possible to cut a bilateral trade deal until Britain has left the EU, but May and host Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have an opportunity to stake out opening positions during her Nov. 6-8 visit. The process will not be easy. In addition to any eventual trade deal, India will want May to welcome more of its students and skilled workers, and that would require an unlikely U-turn from the tough line she has taken on immigration. "Immigration is one of the things India is going to push for," said Dhruva Jaishankar, a foreign policy fellow at Brookings India. "But May is in a bit of a bind - if she gives in, the people who voted for Brexit will say: what did we vote for?" Take students: the number of study visas issued to Indian nationals fell from 68,238 in the year to June 2010 to 11,864 five years later, British figures show. Over the same period the number of visas Britain issued to Chinese students nearly doubled. The solution, says businessman and member of the British parliament's upper house Karan Bilimoria, is to exclude foreign students from Britain's statistics on net migration, which May vows to cut to below 100,000 annually, from 336,000 in the year to June 2015. "It just doesn't make economic sense to send out the wrong message to international students, and that's exactly what we are doing," said Bilimoria, the chancellor of Birmingham university who as a young migrant from India went into business and launched the Cobra beer brand. Indian companies, including in the growing IT services sector, want Britain to make it easier for their staff to visit on business. Bilimoria, who will travel with May, urged her to offer the same deal as it did to China - three-year multiple entry visas for less than 100 pounds. FAITH IN FREE TRADE May and Modi will likely address the prospects for business cooperation at a high-profile technology summit in New Delhi on Monday. But, behind closed doors, Indian officials are expected to sound her out on the terms of the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union and what it will mean for Indian firms that treat Britain as a gateway to Europe. "At this juncture, she has the obligation to explain how Brexit could change our ties," said one senior Indian diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. India has struggled for years to strike a free trade deal with the EU, with officials saying the bloc is a difficult partner to deal with because its leaders tend to deliver contradictory messages and often strike a tone they see as moralizing. Anglophiles in New Delhi see the opportunity in Brexit for a win on bilateral trade. But experts caution that India, which has a history of foot-dragging at the World Trade Organization, is no standard-bearer of open markets. "In general, things move slowly in India," said Alan Winters, director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. Experience shows that dealing with India "is a bureaucratic and rather slow moving process", he added. Bilateral trade in goods and services has moved sideways in recent years, totaling 19 billion pounds ($23.7 billion) in 2014, when Britain ran a deficit of 1.5 billion pounds. UK foreign direct investment into India declined, meanwhile, to 3.6 billion pounds in 2014 from a peak of 13.6 billion in 2011. Any Brexiteers inclined to lapse into misty-eyed nostalgia about the common history and language of the two countries would be well advised not to. The Commonwealth that groups countries with historic ties to Britain has limited utility in the eyes of New Delhi, which considers itself a rising 21st century power and is looking for support in addressing the threats it says it faces. Those include Pakistan, India's arch-rival that Modi recently branded as "the mother-ship of terrorism" following an attack on an Indian army base in September that killed 19 of its soldiers. Pakistan has denied any role. Analysts say May would do well to reprise the words of her predecessor, David Cameron, who on a 2010 visit said Pakistan should not "promote the export of terror". "It's a sensitive point in UK-India relations - we are seen as being too close to Pakistan," said Shashank Joshi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. (Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
In 2014, France extradited Mehdi Nemmouche to Belgium as a suspect in the shooting of the Jewish Museum in Brussels that same year. Now, Paris wants Nemmouche back, alleging hes also part of a religious extremist collective that held four French journalists hostage.

Nemmouche was declared in 2014 as the shape of terror to come. And, indeed, he seems to epitomize the simultaneous fights against terrorism, rising anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia that Western European governments finds themselves facing.

Reported anti-Semitic attacks in France are said to have more than doubled from 2014 to 2015, a reality for which 59 percent of French people thought Jewish people were to blame. Many believe Islamophobic policies and practices are also on the rise and may be fueling both terrorism and anti-Semitism. Thats at least in part because fear-mongering by far-right anti-immigrant groups following terror attacks have amped social disenfranchisement among Muslims, some of whom cite that as the driver behind their entry into extremist behavior.

The struggle to balance those battles will not cease soon: On Thursday, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Belgian counterterror police of being physically and verbally abusive. One suspect quoted in the report, who said police beat him and called him dirty Arab, elaborated, We are attacked by the Islamic State, which considers us disbelievers when we have nothing to do with them. And we are attacked by the state, which says, You are involved with the Islamic State.

Nemmouche, for his part, was arrested in Marseilles less than a week after the Jewish Museum shooting. He was extradited from France to Belgium two months later. French authorities then issued their own European arrest warrant. On Thursday, Belgian prosecutors said Nemmouche could be returned to France, where he would be charged with and prosecuted for terrorism and kidnapping, but only once Brussels no longer needs him.

Photo credit: JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images
(This version of the story corrects the name of the NGO in paragraph 6 to Mother Nature) By Chris Arsenault KOH SRALAU, Cambodia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cambodian officials have promised to investigate problems in the sand mining business following complaints from fishermen that dredgers have been stealing the shore beneath their boats on an industrial scale. "Serious actions" will be taken against anyone inappropriately exporting sand, Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement late on Wednesday. The ministry's move came after the release of U.N. trade data compiled by campaigners this week, showing Singapore has imported more than 72 million tonnes of Cambodian sand since 2007. The Cambodian government reported less than 3 million tonnes of sand exports during that period. The discrepancy, worth more than $740 million, led a coalition of campaign groups to call on Monday for an investigation into what has happened to around 69 million tonnes of missing sand. "The amount of illegal mining is massive," said Som Chandara, an activist with Mother Nature, one group questioning the government's accounting of sand exports. "It's making a bad situation for the communities by polluting the water," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, standing on top of a pile of sand. The Ministry of Mines and Energy pledged to investigate the cause of the difference between the U.N. data and its own. The government maintains it has "completely eradicated lawless sand dredging" but said in a statement posted on Facebook that the industry still "faces some challenges". As cities across Asia expand, and demand for construction materials rises, campaigners say large-scale sand mining has seriously impacted coastal ecosystems and the land itself. MISSING BEACHES "Seven beaches have already disappeared because of the mining," said Louk Pou, a fisherman on Koh Sralau, an island that is a hotspot for sand extraction 300 km (186 miles) west of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. "They're just gone and the people can't enjoy them anymore," Pou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Residents in the village of stilted wooden homes, narrow concrete footpaths and colorful small boats say sand dredging has plunged their once reasonably prosperous fishing community into poverty. Large cranes and barges began appearing in the coastal region of bright green mangrove forests in 2000, Pou said. Before dredgers - licensed to politically connected Cambodian businessmen and often operated by Vietnamese firms - began plunging into the waters to extract sand from the bottom, Pou said he earned more than $50 a day fishing for crab from his small motorboat. Now his daily income is less than $10, and he can no longer afford to send his children to school - complaints echoed by other villagers. "There have been big changes in fish stocks here," said fisherman's wife Neak Sopheap. Dredging machines and sand barges dump their waste directly into the river, fishermen say. They blame "sticky oil", which now covers their nets, for decimating the crab population. "The land has been disappearing and some of the mangrove forests have collapsed," Sopheap said during an interview on the patio of her wooden home jutting into brackish water where a river flows into the sea. Her neighbor, Ek Sophal, nodded in agreement as she mended a plastic fishing net. "Families are borrowing a lot of money and going into debt because there isn't enough fish," Sophal said. "The government needs to stop this dredging." Local media reported on Thursday the government had temporarily halted sand exports by companies that hold valid permits while officials investigate campaigners' allegations. The Ministry of Mines and Energy did not respond to requests for further comment from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It provided no details of how its investigation into sand mining would be carried out, nor when it would be concluded. Government officials have previously said sand dredging is sustainable and can actually help local ecosystems by preventing landslips. Travel support for this reporting was provided by OpenLandContracts.org, an initiative of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. (Reporting By Chris Arsenault; editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f26887%2fscreen_shot_2016-11-04_at_12.59.01_pm

The BBC's Mark MacEwen returned from a day of filming Komodo dragons for the British television series Planet Earth II to discover that he really needn't have looked beyond his hotel room.

SEE ALSO: Komodo dragons fighting in slow-mo will make you stay indoors forever

As it turns out, one of the elusive creatures had made itself "quite comfortable" in the cameraman's bathroom.

"The next problem we've got is how do you get a dragon out of the toilet?" MacEwen asks.

How indeed?

Fortunately, with some help the crew managed to safely remove the large lizard.

The group lured the animal out with a large chunk of rotten meat, but not before the dragon left a parting gift  caught on camera for your viewing pleasure.

Eddie Redmayne is adorable acting out animals on Ellen

Benedict Cumberbatch and Jimmy Fallon used Mad Libs to lighten up a tense script

Postmodern Jukebox's transformed The Chainsmokers' 'Closer' into a '50s slow song

Didn't care about a celebrity until they died? There's a support group for that
(Adds details on part-time work, PMI)

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Canadian economy unexpectedly added tens of thousands of jobs for the second month in a row in October, but with the gain driven by part-time work, the Bank of Canada was likely to remain cautious about the outlook for the economy.

Statistics Canada said on Friday employment jumped by 43,900 jobs, while the jobless rate stayed at 7.0 percent as more people looked for work.

But Canada shed 23,100 full-time jobs as it gained 67,100 part-time positions. Analysts had expected a loss of 10,000 jobs after September's outsized gain of 67,200.

Economists acknowledged that the increase in part-time hiring made the details less upbeat.

"The Bank of Canada will take some comfort from jobs still being created," said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada.

The central bank kept interest rates on hold last month but said it had considered cutting rates for the third time in two years.

"At the margin, it does slightly dim the chances of a rate cut, just ever so slightly," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The goods-producing sector added 20,700 jobs thanks to strength in construction, while the services sector created 23,400 jobs.

In the past year, the number of people employed edged up by 139,600, or just 0.8 percent. The six-month average for employment growth was 19,900 jobs, up from 12,200 in September.

The central bank, which is concerned about weak exports, is unlikely to be impressed by separate data showing Canada ran a record trade deficit of C$4.1 billion ($3.05 billion) in September.

The gap was boosted by the one-off import of machinery for an oil project that pushed imports up 4.7 percent, the biggest monthly rise for more than six years. Exports only edged up 0.1 percent.

The figures weighed on the Canadian dollar versus the greenback, as did a decline in oil prices .

Still, the surge in machinery was a positive sign that companies might finally be starting to invest, said Nick Exarhos, economist at CIBC Capital Markets.

Story continues

Separate data was encouraging as the pace of purchasing activity in Canada picked up in October, lifted by gains in employment intentions and company inventories.

($1 = 1.3430 Canadian dollars)

(Additional reporting by Leah Schnurr in Ottawa, and Fergal Smith, Susan Taylor and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Bernadette Baum and James Dalgleish)
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's trade deficit rose to a record Can$4.1 billion (US$3.05 billion) in September, mainly due to the import of an expensive module for a North Atlantic oil project, the government said Friday.

Imports jumped 4.7 percent to a record Can$47.6 billion, with exports remaining stable at Can$43.5 billion, according to Statistics Canada.

The rise in the deficit was driven by the one-off import from South Korea of a module for the Hebron oil production project offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, the agency said.

Excluding that transaction, total imports would have decreased 1.6 percent, it said.

Trade with the United States, Canada's largest trading partner, came to a surplus of Can$2.7 billion, up from Can$2.6 billion in August.

Imports of aircraft fell by half in September to Can$142 million, their lowest level since August 2014, and purchases of cars and light trucks fell 5.5 percent to Can$4.1 billion.

After a sharp rise in August, imports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 5.2 percent to Can$3.6 billion in September, and unwrought precious metals and precious metal alloys were down 25.6 percent to Can$695 million.

Among exports, sales of energy products increased 1.8 percent to Can$6.3 billion, the seventh consecutive increase since March, mainly thanks to crude oil sales.
By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canadian dairies are boosting production of concentrated milk proteins for use in cheese-making, and reducing imports from the United States, even as international rivals complain the industry operates unfairly. Saputo Inc increased production of the proteins this year, while Gay Lea Foods Cooperative is planning a major investment to produce them. The catalyst is a pricing agreement struck in July that allows Canadian processors to buy milk ingredients from farmers at the lowest of international prices, making it economical to domestically produce milk proteins instead of importing them. Industry groups in the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Europe say it unfairly undercuts their exports and violates World Trade Organization competition rules. The agreement between Canada's dairy farmers and processors does not fully take effect until provincial farmer groups ratify it by February, but a "temporary program" is already in effect, said Lino Saputo Jr, chief executive of Saputo. "There still will be some solids that are imported, but I would say there would be a shift of volume now to Canadian solids because of the new class price," Saputo Jr said in an interview on Friday, using another term for milk proteins. "We're already shifting over to (using) Canadian solids." The Montreal-based dairy imports milk derivatives from the United States, Australia and Argentina. Canada's supply management system tightly controls dairy prices and production, and Ottawa levies steep tariffs to limit imports. Gay Lea Foods is also preparing to boost milk protein output. It will soon announce construction of a milk drying plant in Ontario, said Chief Executive Michael Barrett. The pricing agreement, similar to one already in place in Ontario, is critical to that investment, he said. "Processors wont make investments in $100-million plants without any sort of a guarantee of a return," he said. U.S. exports of milk proteins to Canada have dropped this year, due to the Ontario pricing system, said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice-president at the U.S. National Milk Producers Federation. "We strongly oppose any new special class that will be detrimental to the USA," he said. "We will challenge such a new program and believe (it) wouldn't be in place for too many years." Agropur, another Canadian dairy co-operative, stopped importing U.S. proteins earlier this year. "We need to find a way in Canada to produce dairy ingredients," said senior vice-president Dominique Benoit, declining to comment on specific production plans. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Andrew Hay)
It's a special time in every little girl's life to be the flower girl at a wedding, but the walk down the aisle was all the more special for Abby Furco since, just a few months ago, she was told she had only 48 hours to live.

Read: Dad Shares Heartbreaking Photo of Cancer-Stricken Daughter, 4, After She Was Given Weeks to Live

"Whether she was there or not, I wanted her to be my flower girl," said Sarah Rostock, 27, of Norfolk, Virginia.

Rostock told InsideEdition.com that she initially became involved with Camp Fantastic, a camp for kids with cancer, after she was diagnosed with biphenotypic leukemia when she was 14. After years of remission, the cancer returned when she was 20.

When she came back to the camp as a counselor, she met Abby Furco, 10, a camper at the time.

Abby, who is from Virginia Beach, Virginia, said she was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 4 years old. At 7 years old, her cancer returned.

Rostock said she reached out to Abby's mom when she heard the news of Abby's cancer, and asked if there was a good time for her to visit.

"That's one of the best parts about camp," Rostock said. "You really get to meet people who know what you're going through. That's why mine and Abby's relationship was so strong. It seemed like a lot of complications she had, I had as well."

Read: Man Donates Liver to Stranger, Then Marries Her 2 Years Later: 'It Felt Surreal'

Abby explained they both got graft-versus-host as a result of their transplants. Even though she was declared cancer-free after transplant, her condition deteriorated in July, and doctors started discussing end of life options.

Immediately, Rostock left work to be by Abby's side at the hospital.

"Sometimes we have to give people reasons to make it," she said.

Rostock, who was engaged to her boyfriend of eight years at the time, decided to ask Abby to join her at the wedding as her flower girl, even though doctors at the time estimated she only had anywhere between 12 to 48 hours left.

Story continues

"When I first asked her, we really didn't know if she was going to be there," Rostock said. "I probably just wouldn't have had a flower girl, I guess."

But despite the dire prognosis, Abby pulled through the first 48 hours. Then she made it back to summer camp weeks later. Next, she made it to her birthday.

Today, both Rostock and little Abby are cancer-free, thanks to the funding of St. Baldrick's Foundation.

So when Rostock's October 29 wedding day came, Abby was strong enough to walk down the aisle on her own.

Read: Bride Battling Terminal Breast Cancer Gets Free Wedding of Her Dreams: 'It Was Perfect'

"She was my reality check right before we walked down," Rostock said, laughing as she recalled Abby's stoic response when she told her she was nervous about getting married. "When we walked back, we had a nice moment of just sobbing on each other. When you reflect on all that she's been through and all that life has thrown at us, it's an emotional time."

"I was just so happy for Sarah," Abby said, tearing up.

Rostock concluded, "As long as we're both here, we'll be best friends forever."

Watch: Nurses Inspire Bride With Terminal Cancer to Continue Treatment After Throwing Her a Wedding

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Car bomb kills 9; pro-Kurdish lawmakers arrested in Turkey People look at damage caused by an explosion on Nov. 4, 2016, in Diyarbakir, Turkey. (Getty Images)

Turkey jailed the two co-leaders of the countrys main pro-Kurdish party and several other MPs on Friday in an unprecedented crackdown, and a deadly bombing killed nine people in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

A court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir remanded in custody Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag after they were detained along with 10 of its MPs, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

The United States and European Union both raised alarms over the arrests, which marked a new escalation in a crackdown being carried out under the state of emergency that was imposed in the wake of a July 15 coup attempt.

Hours earlier, a blast blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) struck outside a police station in the Baglar district of Diyarbakir, Turkeys main majority-Kurdish city.

Nine people were killed, including two police officers, and more than 100 were wounded, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced, saying the PKK had again showed its ugly face. (AFP)

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Cara Delevingne is slamming U.K. tabloid newspaper The Sun for running a story this week that said she wasn't cast in the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show because she was "bloated."

The model-turned-actress took to Instagram on Friday to address the rumors, posting a letter from Victoria's Secret chief marketing officer and VS fashion show producer Ed Razek.

"Victoria's Secret rarely comments on tabloid gossip, but this week's article in British paper The Sun regarding you and the 2014 Victoria's Secret fashion show is a complete fabrication," read the note from Razek. "Contrary to The Sun's claims, which they never bothered to fact check with me, Victoria's Secret made every effort to have you in the London show. I know, because I was the one making the effort. As a matter of fact, you were the first person invited, months ahead of anyone else."

Read more: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Will Head to Paris

Razek went on to explain that the only reason Delevingne was unable to participate was because she had been shooting a movie in North Carolina, where Paper Towns was being filmed.

Since Delevingne couldn't make it to the London show, Razek extended an invite for the 24-year-old star to join the Angels in Paris on Nov. 30. He wrote: "As always, we'd love to have you. No casting necessary!"

Will we see Delevingne on the runway with Jasmine Tookes, who will be wearing this year's Fantasy Bra, as well as the Hadids? We'll find out soon enough.

A photo posted by Cara Delevingne (@caradelevingne) on Nov 4, 2016 at 4:16am PDT
Cara Delevingne walked for Victorias Secret in 2012 and 2013. [Photo: Getty]

Cara Delevingne has never been one to remain quiet. So it was only a matter of time before the model-turned-actress spoke out after The Sun published one of its notorious tell-all articles relating to Caras no-show at the 2014 Victorias Secret fashion show.

The tabloid alleged that the 24-year-old model was deemed too bloated to appear but according to VS casting director Edward Razek, the only reason Cara did not walk for a third year running was because of her commitment to filming Paper Towns.

???????????? ????????its shameless to discuss womens bodies just to sell papers #bloated  @victoriassecret A photo posted by Cara Delevingne (@caradelevingne) on Nov 4, 2016 at 4:16am PDT

In a letter sent to Delevingne (which she duly posted on Instagram), Razek explains how she was the top choice for the London show: Contrary to The Suns claims, which they never bothered to fact check with me, Victorias Secret made every effort to have you in the London show. I know, because I was the one making the effort.

He goes on to praise Cara, saying You would have made the show better, as you do anything and everything youre involved in before inviting her once again to this years show which will be held in Paris on November 30.

The model-turned-actress refutes claims she was too bloated to appear in the 2014 show [Photo: Getty]

Whether Cara will appear on the runway or in the audience is yet to be seen. If she does, shell be joining veteran Angels Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosia along with pals Kendall Jenner and the Hadid sisters.

Meanwhile, Caras acting career is taking off with her next film, period drama Tulip Fever, released in February 2017.

Victorias Secret other halves: The men who bagged an Angel

Watch Bella Hadid audition for the Victorias Secret fashion show
Cara Delevingne is slamming U.K. newspaper the Sun for its shameless claim that the Victorias Secret Fashion Show turned down the model for looking bloated.

The Sun posted an article Oct. 30 alleging that Cara Delevingne was called bloated  during a casting call for the 2014 show after walking the two previous years.

Delevingne responded to the article by posting a letter she received from Edward Razek, Victorias Secret CMO and executive producer of the Fashion Show, in which he he denies the Suns claims.

Its shameless to discuss womens bodies just to sell papers #bloated, Delevingne added on Instagram.

Razeks letter not only debunks the Suns statement, but says Delevingne was the very first person he called for the show.

Contrary to the Suns claims, which they never bothered to fact check with me, Victorias Secret made every effort to have you in the London show. I know, because I was the one making the effort, he writes. As a matter of fact, you were the first person invited, months ahead of anyone else.

He explains that Delevingne had to turn down walking in the 2014 show because she was shooting a movie in North Carolina.

It quite understandably couldnt accommodate your absence.

We tried hard to have you there, Razek adds. You would have made the show better, as you do anything and everything youre involved in.

He concludes by inviting Delevingne once again to walk in this years show in Paris.

As always, wed love to have you, Razek says. No casting necessary!

While Delevingne was the modeling worlds it girl for a few years, she said in 2015 that shes leaving modeling for acting because it made her feel a bit hollow and hate her body.

I was, like, fight and flight for months. Just constantly on edge, Delevingne said. It is a mental thing as well because if you hate yourself and your body and the way you look, it just gets worse and worse.




By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Emperor Akihito's uncle, Prince Mikasa, who served in China during World War Two and criticized the war waged in his older brother's name, was laid to rest on Friday in solemn ceremonies attended by royals, the premier and other mourners. Mikasa's death at the age of 100 - the oldest Japanese royal in recorded history - leaves just four heirs to the Chrysanthemum throne. His death comes amid renewed attention to the future of a monarchy whose past traditionalists say stretches back 2,600 years and whose future currently rests with one 10-year-old boy. Women cannot ascend to the throne. A Shinto priest in white robes walked slowly ahead of the hearse at Tokyo's Toshimagaoka cemetery under bright blue skies to the sound of "shakuhachi" flute music. Mikasa's 93-year-old widow, Princess Yuriko, followed in a wheelchair. Akihito's heir, Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, were in attendance along with dignitaries including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy. In line with tradition, Akihito and Empress Michiko did not attend. After a reading by a priest, chief mourners laid offerings of ritual greenery at an alter after which others approached and bowed to pay their respects. The youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, who until Japan's defeat was worshipped as a god, Mikasa served in the military and was posted to Nanjing for about a year from 1943. 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. In a 1994 interview with the Yomiuri newspaper, Mikasa was quoted saying "I was really shocked when an officer told me that the best way to train new soldiers was to use living prisoners of war for bayonet practice because it gave them will power." An Oriental History scholar, Mikasa eschewed royal honorifics, preferring to be addressed "Mikasa-san" like ordinary Japanese. He was also a folk dancing aficionado and enthusiastic ice skater, and enjoyed karaoke. Akihito, 82, hinted in August that he wanted to abdicate - a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law. The remaining four male heirs include 10-year-old Prince Hisahito, the emperor's only grandson, raising concerns about the monarchy's future unless reforms to allow women to inherit and pass on the throne are enacted. "I hope the passing of Prince Mikasa will become an opportunity to think a bit more about all these issues regarding the imperial family and succession," said Naotaka Kimizuka, a specialist in European monarchies at Kanto Gakuin University. The three older heirs are Akihito's 80-year-old brother and his two middle-aged sons including Naruhito. Mikasa's body will be cremated and interred at the cemetery later in the day, public broadcaster NHK said. (Additional reporting by Kwiyeon Ha; Additional reporting and writing by Linda Sieg)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian federal and state finance officials failed on Friday to resolve a deadlock on who would administer a new national sales tax that Prime Narendra Modi wants to launch in April.

The long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) would transform Asia's No.3 economy into a single market, could boost revenues through better compliance and make life simpler for businesses that now pay a host of federal and state levies.

A council of federal and regional authorities agreed on Thursday the tax rates to apply to goods, but are still struggling to forge a consensus on how to collect the tax that will have federal and state elements.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley doesn't favour dual agencies auditing and scrutinising each taxpayer. But states are reluctant to cede their turf.

"One of the objectives is that each assessee will have to face only one assessing officer," Jaitley told reporters after meeting his state counterparts. "Functionally, you can't have two competing assessing officers."

Jaitley said he will meet state finance ministers again informally on Nov. 20 to try and resolve the issue.

Both federal and state governments now levy and collect taxes on goods. However, taxes on services come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.

The whole regime is set to undergo a change with the implementation of the GST, as both goods and service providers will be required to file returns with federal and state tax agencies.

This system of so-called "dual control" has raised worries among taxpayers that multiple authorities could end up acting at cross-purposes, creating confusion.

Jaitley remained hopeful of finding a solution before the next meeting of federal and state finance officials on Nov. 24 when it is expected to approve key bills that federal and state lawmakers must pass in this calendar year to ensure the GST's rollout from April 1.

India's parliament opens for a month-long winter session on Nov. 16.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
(Adds background, quote from executive)

By Liana B. Baker and Supantha Mukherjee

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Telecommunications firm CenturyLink Inc said it would sell its data centers and colocation business to a group of funds for $2.15 billion in cash and a minority stake to be valued at $150 million in the investor's group new private infrastructure company.

The consortium, made up of funds advised by BC Partners, Medina Capital Advisors and Longview Asset Management, will own CenturyLink's portfolio of 57 data centers at the close of the deal, expected to be in the first quarter of 2017.

CenturyLink said it would use the net proceeds from the sale to partly fund its $24 billion acquisition of Level 3 Communications Inc, which it announced on Monday. Its shares have sank since that deal announcement on concerns the companies will have a hard time integrating and performing as a combined company, according to analysts.

CenturyLink, which operates data centers that provide broadband, voice, video, data and managed services in North America, Europe and Asia, has been exploring a sale of some of its data center assets. Reuters reported exclusively last month that BC Partners was in the pole position to acquire the portfolio.

While CenturyLink is divesting its data centers, it will continue to operate its business providing data center services and connections to customers.

Centurylink will retain a 10 percent stake in the new venture created by BC Partners and Medina Capital that includes the data centers as well as small security assets.

"We thought it would be a good idea and opportunity to leverage these security assets in the marketplace and internally," Dean Douglas, CenturyLink's president of sales and marketing said in an interview.

Medina Capital was started by Manny Medina, the former chief executive of Terremark, a data center company that was sold to Verizon in 2011.

Verizon is close to divesting its data center portfolio that includes Terremark to Equinix Inc, Reuters has reported.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Securities were CenturyLink's financial advisers while LionTree Advisors provided financial advice to BC Partners and its consortium investors.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina D'Couto, Bernard Orr)
By Liana B. Baker and Supantha Mukherjee (Reuters) - Telecommunications firm CenturyLink Inc said it would sell its data centers and colocation business to a group of funds for $2.15 billion in cash and a minority stake to be valued at $150 million in the investor's group new private infrastructure company. The consortium, made up of funds advised by BC Partners, Medina Capital Advisors and Longview Asset Management, will own CenturyLink's portfolio of 57 data centers at the close of the deal, expected to be in the first quarter of 2017. CenturyLink said it would use the net proceeds from the sale to partly fund its $24 billion acquisition of Level 3 Communications Inc, which it announced on Monday. Its shares have sank since that deal announcement on concerns the companies will have a hard time integrating and performing as a combined company, according to analysts. CenturyLink, which operates data centers that provide broadband, voice, video, data and managed services in North America, Europe and Asia, has been exploring a sale of some of its data center assets. Reuters reported exclusively last month that BC Partners was in the pole position to acquire the portfolio. While CenturyLink is divesting its data centers, it will continue to operate its business providing data center services and connections to customers. Centurylink will retain a 10 percent stake in the new venture created by BC Partners and Medina Capital that includes the data centers as well as small security assets. "We thought it would be a good idea and opportunity to leverage these security assets in the marketplace and internally," Dean Douglas, CenturyLink's president of sales and marketing said in an interview. Medina Capital was started by Manny Medina, the former chief executive of Terremark, a data center company that was sold to Verizon in 2011. Verizon is close to divesting its data center portfolio that includes Terremark to Equinix Inc, Reuters has reported. BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Securities were CenturyLink's financial advisers while LionTree Advisors provided financial advice to BC Partners and its consortium investors. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina D'Couto, Bernard Orr)
By Venus Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A decade ago, buyers would have been lining up at China's biggest trade fair to make deals with textile firms selling material and clothing at a fraction of the prices charged in Italy or the United States.

This month, exporters say, the queues have gone.

"You can't survive if you make low-end goods," said Melinda Zhang, chief executive of Nantong Kelin Textile Co Ltd, which employs about 250 people and supplies bedding to clients including the W Hotel in Singapore.

"When you compete to sell at the lowest price, there's always someone selling at an even lower price."

Textile exporters, a symbol of the low-cost manufacturing behind Asia's "tiger" economies, said this week at the Canton Fair in China's south that they were being crushed by rising costs.

There are still foreign buyers - and China is still by far the world's biggest textiles exporter - but they said they were turning increasingly to India, Pakistan and even back to Europe, as price gaps narrow.

It's not all grim in China's economy. Upbeat manufacturing data this week showed the strongest output since early 2011. Other firms, exhibiting household electronics and decorative materials, have been more bullish.

But quiet halls during the last phase, focused on exports, of the 25,000-exhibitor, biannual three-week Canton Fair, underscore just how hard some of China's lower margin companies are being squeezed.

China's vast economic transformation has meant rising living standards, but also rising wages, forcing companies to move up the value chain to remain competitive. High-tech industries are springing up to replace labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and apparel.

"I've come to the fair for 10 years. At its peak, people would be queueing up to talk to us," said a Shenzhen-based exporter selling towels and other goods. "Now there are very few people. There are more exhibitors than foreign buyers."

FALLING EXPORTS

China's textile exports fell last year for the first time in six years, slipping 5 percent to $286.8 billion. In January-August of this year, textile and clothing exports are down more than 4.5 percent.

Story continues

Some buyers at the sprawling fair complained of poor quality and price rises of more than 10 percent on some goods in the past year. Other prices have doubled in five years, but standards have not kept pace, some noted.

Turkey and Italy were among countries many buyers are switching to.

"Maybe they are more expensive, but they have better design," said Sergey Gerts, an import manager at Sparta Trade House in Russia, referring to markets closer to home. Gerts was visiting the fair for the third time to buy mainly tablecloths and doormats.

Among the biggest headaches for textiles and other low-end manufacturers are wages.

Average wages in China have grown at an annual compound rate of more than 12 percent - to 45,676 yuan ($6,755) a year in 2013 from 4,538 yuan in 1994, according to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

Authorities in China have called for a slowdown in wage rises in order for the country to remain competitive.

Sam Ma, at Nantong Lu-Ri Co Ltd, which sells mostly high-end bed sheets, blankets and fleeces, said wages had been rising 5-10 percent a year for several years.

"In five to 10 years, all the low-end production will go to Pakistan," he said.

($1 = 6.7622 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Venus Wu; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Ian Geoghegan)
If youre not already planning to travel in January, you may want to reconsider.

That's the month that offers the best flight prices of the year, according to airfare prediction service Hopper, with rates after the holidays dropping to an average of $211 for domestic round-trip flights.

The company analyzed flight search data for each origin and destination point in the U.S., comparing the prices of available tickets by month. Hopper predicts that airfare will be 3 percent higher for the month of November due to seasonal holiday travel, with customers paying a premium of 42 percent for Thanksgiving flights.

Domestic airfare averages $220 in November for dates other than Thanksgiving travel, and will bottom out again in January to offer travelers low price deals.

Here are average prices for the next six months, according to Hopper:

November: $220

December: $215

January: $211

February: $221

March: $227

April: $233

They also found that average prices for the overall year were up 1 percent compared to last year, but are as much as 14 percent lower than prices two years ago.

Curious to see how your state ranks in airfare prices compared to the national average?

Hopper also has an interactive Consumer Airfare Index map you can use to see the cheapest and most expensive flight price averages, from as low as $171 in Oregon to as high as $516 in North Dakota.

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Chelsea Manning, the U.S. army private convicted in 2013 for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, attempted to commit suicide last month while spending time in solitary confinement as a punishment for a previous suicide attempt.

In a statement dictated to a member of her support network and confirmed by her lawyer, Manning said she tried to commit suicide on Oct. 4, the New York Times reports. At the time, Manning was serving a week of solitary confinement, imposed after she attempted suicide in July.

After the second attempt last month, she was placed under medical observation and has since been released back into the general inmate population, the Times reports.

In her statement, Manning detailed events in which four people impersonated prison guards and tried to get her to escape from solitary confinement. An Army spokesman told the Times those events had never taken place.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has launched its new Long March-5 heavy rocket, state media said, sending its payload into orbit in the country's latest step in advancing its space exploration program. The launch comes after China began its longest manned space mission last month, sending two astronauts to spend a month aboard a space laboratory that is part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022. The rocket, larger than previous versions of China's Long-March carrier rockets, blasted off on Thursday night from a pad in the southern province of Hainan, state news agency Xinhua said, a launch intended to verify its design and performance. "Its successful launch has propelled China to the forefront of the world in terms of rocket carrying capacity, and marks a milestone in China's transition from a major player in space to a major power in space," Xinhua cited the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee and powerful Central Military Commission as saying in a letter. The two-stage rocket's ability to put 25 tonnes of payload into low-Earth orbit and 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit gives it a carrying capacity 2.5 times larger than previous models, Xinhua said. "With the heavy-lift carrier rocket, China can build a permanent manned space station and explore the moon and Mars," the news agency said. Advancing China's space program is a priority for Beijing, which insists it is for peaceful purposes. The U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations using space-based assets in a crisis. Despite its space program's advancements for military, commercial and scientific purposes, China is still playing catch-up to established space powers the United States and Russia. China's Jade Rabbit moon rover landed on the moon in late 2013 to great national fanfare, but soon suffered severe technical difficulties. The rover and the Chang'e 3 probe that carried it there were the first "soft landing" on the moon since 1976. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had accomplished the feat earlier. U.S. companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, are now developing commercial space flight capabilities. Both companies are developing reusable rockets, and SpaceX has put forward the ambitious goal of a human mission to Mars as early as 2024. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Michael Perry)
By Catherine Cadell

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese internet authorities have formalised controversial rules regulating the country's fast-growing live-streaming video industry, in a move that strips out smaller competitors and places hard-line surveillance measures on leading firms.

In an announcement posted on their website on Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China grouped a handful of earlier restrictions under a final 24-point regulation that will come into effect on Dec. 1.

The rules require streaming services to log user data and content for 60 days, and work with regulators to provide information on users who stream content that the government deems threatening to national security or social order. Both users and providers are punishable under the regulations.

The law also codifies rules that ban online news broadcasting services from original reporting, requiring them to identify sources and non-selectively reproduce state-sanctioned information.

China's live video streaming industry has experienced booming growth in the past two years as dozens of video and social media sites scrambled to add the updated capabilities to their existing services.

Credit Suisse Group analysts estimate the industry could top $5 billion by the end of 2017, driven by cheap bandwidth and a growing population of young mobile users.

The industry's exponential growth attracted increased scrutiny from government authorities in 2016. In April, Chinese authorities called on 20 of the country's top firms to join a self-criticism coalition, saying the industry was damaging China's youth by proliferating content including pornography, fraud and terrorism.

On June 1 companies including Baidu Inc, Sina Corp, Sohu.com Inc and Youku Tudou, acknowledged new rules as part of the group, including requirements for real-name authentication.

While the latest move places wide-reaching restrictions on the sites, it also signals an official sanctioning of the industry and its top players by Chinese officials.

Story continues

Much like China's earlier online video and music industries, the regulations put pressure on smaller competitors and bring larger firms into line with regulators, offering more growth opportunities for a smaller number of controllable companies.

"One of the things the government always wants to do is narrow the playing field to a smaller number of higher profile known entities, ideally ones that have a better track record of cooperating with the government," says Mark Natkin, Managing Director at Marbridge Consulting.

"In the long run it's actually relatively beneficial to the large companies."

In May the government handed down 588 licenses for prominent media outlets and live-streaming sites, effectively banning all unapproved services.

(Reporting by Catherine Cadell; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
The Chinese government will directly intervene in Hong Kongs affairs by offering its take on the territorys mini-constitution after two rebel lawmakers sparked a long-running controversy and an unprecedented judicial review, Hong Kongs government said Friday.

On Thursday, the territorys High Court heard the governments argument that the Legislative Councils President should not re-administer the oaths of office to the pro-independence lawmakers Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Baggio Leung, and that the pairs antics at their first swear-in attempt in October meant they should lose their seats.

Following the hearing, the Hong Kong government released a short statement Friday, saying it was notified that the question of interpreting Article 104 of the Basic Law has been included in the agenda for the meeting of Chinas top legislative body, the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC).

Maria Tam, an NPCSC deputy from Hong Kong attending the meeting in Beijing, told reporters Friday that the Congress chairman, Zhang Dejiang, had asked for the interpretation.

Read More: Court in Hong Kong Hears Case Against Two Pro-Independence Lawmakers

I believe the main reason is because it involves national unity and territorial integrity  and this is a very important issue, she said, adding that a vote on the matter would be taken Monday, at the meetings conclusion.

The announcement ended days of speculation over whether Beijing would directly issue marching orders in the wake of last months botched oath-taking by Yau and Leung. Hailing from the Youngspiration party, they were among several youngsters elected to the Legislative Council in September on a wave of sentiment against Chinese encroachment in the territorys affairs.

Michael Tien, a pro-China lawmaker of the New Peoples Party, and also an NPCSC deputy, told reporters Friday that China was looking at a much bigger picture  with its decision to weigh in based on, not just Yau and Leuns actions, but other advocates for Hong Kong independence who had been blocked from taking part in the September election.

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Its a pity, prominent barrister and former lawmaker Ronny Tong tells TIME. I think Hong Kong has clear laws and a healthy judicial system to deal with questions raised by the oath-taking.

The timing of the announcement and the surrounding circumstances raised many eyebrows, as the judicial review case was being handled by the territorys High Court, instead of its Court of Final Appeal  Hong Kongs highest court. In the four previous instances where the NPCSC had given an interpretation of the Basic Law, the relevant cases had all reached the Court of Final Appeal first.

Read More: Chaos Again at Hong Kongs Legislature as Chinese Intervention Said to Loom Large

It seems that Beijing is already jumping the gun, Anson Chan, the territorys colonial-era Chief Secretary turned pro-democracy icon, tells TIME. Its a very damaging precedent, because its not like any of the previous interpretations.

The court has not handed down any judgment, she adds, so, in effect, what Beijing is now saying is that we dont care what the court says, we are handing you this interpretation.

The pair of young rebels had pledged allegiance to the Hong Kong Nation and unfurled banners that read Hong Kong Is Not China during their first attempt to take office at the Councils inaugural meeting on Oct. 12. That, combined with their calling China Shina  a Japanese term for the country, now considered an offensive epithet in China after its wartime usage  had seen their oaths invalidated, and had since caused weeks of turmoil and gridlock in the chamber. All this culminated in Thursdays hearing.

Article 104, which states that officials in the three branches of government must swear to uphold the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, was a center of contention during the hearing. In court on Thursday the governments lawyer argued that their conduct was not compliant with this clause.

Read More: New Lawmakers Pledge Loyalty to the Hong Kong Nation

While Justice Thomas Au said at the conclusion that he would hand down a decision as soon as possible, China expert Willy Lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, doesnt think a judgment would come before the NPCSCs interpretation.

He calls the situation an existential crisis for one country, two systems, because Beijing is directly interfering into Hong Kong affairs.

To interpret the Basic Law at this time, while were waiting for the judges decision, gives the impression of disrespect towards Hong Kongs judicial process and distrust of Hong Kongs judges, barrister Tong tells TIME.

I think if this interpretation was to go ahead, it really will seriously damage Hong Kong peoples trust and faith in the rule of law and the independence of the courts, says Chan.
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has banned the use of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as a financing channel, in a fresh move to restrict risky shadow banking businesses, according to a CSRC notice obtained by Reuters, and confirmed by two sources.

The regulator has also urged brokerages to strengthen risk control over OTC derivatives, and barred securities firms from facilitating transactions that dodge regulatory oversight.

The sources declined to be identified because they're not authorized to speak to the media. CSRC did not offer any immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

CSRC Chairman Liu Shiyu has been stepping up a crackdown on loosely-regulated shadow banking, which has helped channel money into inefficient sectors such as mining and real estate, and contributed to the stock market's boom-and-bust last year.

The move also comes as Beijing is accelerating the pace of deleveraging amid rising concerns of debt-fuelled stimulus.

In the notice, dated Nov. 2, CSRC said it would "further regulate brokerages' OTC derivative business, and effectively ward off and control risks."

More specifically, brokerages are banned from providing financing to clients using OTC derivatives, and must not facilitate OTC transactions designed to skirt supervision, according to the notice.

A source said CSRC is mainly targeting the so-called return swap business, which allows investors to obtain leverage from brokerages to bet on stocks or other financial assets.

Earlier this year, CSRC restricted shadow banking businesses conducted by fund management firms, reining in explosive growth of their subsidiaries - a $1.5 trillion (1.2 trillion pound) business widely used by banks to move their loans off balance sheet to skirt regulatory oversight.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen, John Ruwitch and Zhang Xiaochong; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Beijing is set to step into a controversy over whether two Hong Kong lawmakers who advocate a split from China should be banned from taking up their seats, authorities in the special autonomous region said Friday.

The announcement comes a day after a court hearing in which Hong Kong authorities were seeking to disqualify Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching from the Legislative Council (Legco) after they made invalid oaths, amid widespread fears that China is tightening its grip on the city.

China's top legislative body will at its next meeting discuss the law which states that council members must swear allegiance to the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China", the government said it had been told by Beijing.

Local media reports said China's National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) could issue an "interpretation" of Hong Kong's constitution on Monday in relation to the case.

"The interpretation of the NPCSC brings a lethal blow to the legal system and the rule of law in Hong Kong," lawmaker Leung told reporters after the announcement.

Leung also branded the leader of the city and the chairman of the NPCSC "traitors to Hong Kong".

Yau and Leung won seats in citywide polls last month, in which a number of new lawmakers advocating self-determination or independence swept to victory.

They are yet to be sworn into the Legco, after their first oath attempt last month was declared invalid when they draped themselves in "Hong Kong is not China" banners and altered the wording of their pledges to include derogatory terms and expletives.

At Thursday's court hearing, government lawyer Benjamin Yu argued that Leung and Yau should not be allowed to take up their seats because they failed to swear allegiance to Hong Kong as an "inalienable part of China" at the oathtaking ceremony three weeks ago.

But lawyers for Yau and Leung said the Legco should be able to make an independent decision about their oath. The judge for the case said he would hand down his judgement as soon as possible.

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"I believe the main reason is about the unity of the country and territorial integrity," pro-establishment figure Maria Tam, a member of the Basic Law Committee, told reporters in China on Friday as explanation of Beijing's decision to examine the Hong Kong law.

Tam said the NPCSC had asked for the Basic Law Committee's view on the matter.

The Legco descended into chaos for the third consecutive week Wednesday after Yau and Baggio tried to force their way into the chamber to take their oaths, having been temporarily barred pending the judicial review.

Six security staff were injured during the clashes.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China National Coal Group (ChinaCoal) expects to sign more deals with its utility customers for 2017, a spokesman for China's second-largest coal miner said on Friday as thermal coal prices soared to fresh all-time highs amid fears about shortages.

His comments followed the latest last-minute meeting the government held with coal miners on Thursday and suggest the company is complying with Beijing's requests for miners to help tame runaway prices.

Jiang Chun, the spokesman for ChinaCoal, said talks with customers have started, but he did not give a time frame for their conclusion.

"ChinaCoal hopes to see a more stabilized coal prices. Any big drops or big falls in prices will hurt both producers and utilities," Jiang said.

This year's negotiations are in particular focus as prices skyrocket and supplies tighten as government-enforced mine closures caused shortages ahead of the winter months.

Market participants are speculating about how much the government will intervene to stem the rally and force miners to agree fixed prices for 2017 with their customers.

A week ago, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) asked miners to cap 2017 prices as it worried about the survival of utility companies.

Almost 60 percent of coal-fired plants swung into losses in Shanxi province in September, one of the country's top coal and power producing region, the state planner said. In the first nine months, Shanxi's coal-power utilities made 3 billion yuan in profits, down 3.8 billion yuan on year.

The NDRC said in September it allowed miners to increase output by 1 million tonnes per day, partially reversing its effort to cut excess capacity and shift towards more renewable energy.

Thermal coal prices have been on a wild ride since the start of 2015.

Prices plunged 30 percent in 2015 to 365 yuan per ton. This year, it surged almost 90 percent to close at 710 yuan per ton on Friday, data provided by Fenwei Energy showed.

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The surging prices has prompted four coal meetings by Beijing in less than 14 days and fuelled more panic about winter supply as power plants are preparing for winter.

"Markets are expecting policymakers to ask coal producers to cut prices again in the future," Zhang Min, a Zibo, Shandong-based coal analysts said. "Tight supply conditions support further rises."

China's thermal coal futures (CZCcv1) rose more than 4.6 percent in the afternoon trade, hitting the highest since its launch.

($1 = 6.7615 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Meng Meng and Josephine Mason; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Christian Schmollinger)
By Suzanne Barlyn

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (ABOC.UL) will pay a $215 million penalty for violating New York state's anti-money laundering law, the state's financial regulator said on Friday.

Bank officials engaged in "intentional wrongdoing," including masking possibly suspicious transactions at its New York branch. Some transactions involved parties which are subject to U.S. sanctions, the New York State Department of Financial Services said.

The bank also "silenced" the branch's chief compliance officer, who raised concerns to managers about an "alarming" pattern of suspicious financial transactions, the regulator said. Among the transactions were payments from Yemen to Chinese companies and "unusually large" transfers between Chinese and Russian companies.

The bank, in a consent order with the regulator, agreed to put in an independent monitor to address "serious deficiencies," the regulator said.

Officials at Agricultural Bank of China and its New York branch could not be immediately reached for comment.

The bank holds total assets of about $2.8 trillion, including around $9.5 billion at the New York branch, New York state officials said.

Since 2013, the New York branch has cleared U.S. dollar transactions involving foreign correspondent banks in "rapidly increasing volumes," according to the consent order.

In dollar clearing, transactions in foreign currencies between parties are satisfied in U.S. dollars using a U.S.-based bank.

In 2014, the New York regulator warned the bank that its systems for monitoring suspicious transactions were inadequate, and told the bank not to boost its dollar-clearing business until it put improved surveillance measures in place.

While the practice is common, dollar-clearing can be risky for banks since it can be used by criminals and militant groups planning attacks to launder and move money.

"The bank willfully ignored (the state's) warning and dollar-clearing transactions by the bank at the New York Branch skyrocketed in 2014 and 2015," the regulator said.

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Agricultural Bank of China's tactics to mask transactions included sending coded messages through an international wire messaging system which compliance staff use to screen and monitor financial activity.

The compliance officer, whom the regulator did not identify, believed that many of the "opaque" transactions involved bank customers whose identities should have been disclosed for monitoring purposes.

In once instance, a Turkish bank processed dollar transactions for an Afghan bank customer which is known by the U.S. Treasury Department for its ties to a network associated with drug traffickers and illicit cash flows.

Branch managers, in response to the compliance officer's concerns, directed the officer not to communicate with regulators.

The compliance officer left in June, 2015.

One month later, New York bank examiners discovered an "unmanageable" backlog of nearly 700 potentially suspicious transactions that had not yet been investigated.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Bill Rigby)
By Suzanne Barlyn

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Agricultural Bank of China Ltd <601288.SS> <ABOC.UL> will pay a $215 million penalty for violating New York state's anti-money laundering law, the state's financial regulator said on Friday.

Bank officials engaged in "intentional wrongdoing," including masking possibly suspicious transactions at its New York branch. Some transactions involved parties which are subject to U.S. sanctions, the New York State Department of Financial Services said.

The bank also "silenced" the branch's chief compliance officer, who raised concerns to managers about an "alarming" pattern of suspicious financial transactions, the regulator said. Among the transactions were payments from Yemen to Chinese companies and "unusually large" transfers between Chinese and Russian companies.

The bank, in a consent order with the regulator, agreed to put in an independent monitor to address "serious deficiencies," the regulator said.

Officials at Agricultural Bank of China and its New York branch could not be immediately reached for comment.

The bank holds total assets of about $2.8 trillion, including around $9.5 billion at the New York branch, New York state officials said.

Since 2013, the New York branch has cleared U.S. dollar transactions involving foreign correspondent banks in "rapidly increasing volumes," according to the consent order.

In dollar clearing, transactions in foreign currencies between parties are satisfied in U.S. dollars using a U.S.-based bank.

In 2014, the New York regulator warned the bank that its systems for monitoring suspicious transactions were inadequate, and told the bank not to boost its dollar-clearing business until it put improved surveillance measures in place.

While the practice is common, dollar-clearing can be risky for banks since it can be used by criminals and militant groups planning attacks to launder and move money.

Story continues

"The bank willfully ignored (the state's) warning and dollar-clearing transactions by the bank at the New York Branch skyrocketed in 2014 and 2015," the regulator said.

Agricultural Bank of China's tactics to mask transactions included sending coded messages through an international wire messaging system which compliance staff use to screen and monitor financial activity.

The compliance officer, whom the regulator did not identify, believed that many of the "opaque" transactions involved bank customers whose identities should have been disclosed for monitoring purposes.

In once instance, a Turkish bank processed dollar transactions for an Afghan bank customer which is known by the U.S. Treasury Department for its ties to a network associated with drug traffickers and illicit cash flows.

Branch managers, in response to the compliance officer's concerns, directed the officer not to communicate with regulators.

The compliance officer left in June, 2015.

One month later, New York bank examiners discovered an "unmanageable" backlog of nearly 700 potentially suspicious transactions that had not yet been investigated.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Bill Rigby)
Just when things were looking up with the introduction of dessert and breakfast items in the works after much bad press this year, some of Chipotles investors are looking to have co-CEO and founder Steve Ells removed from his position as chairman of the board of directors.

Here Are 12 Ways Chipotle Is Trying to Win Back Our Trust

Two shareholders, Amalgamated Bank and CtW Investment Group, have proposed to replace Ells with an independent director, Reuters reported.

"As a matter of practice and in principle we support separating chairman and CEO roles consistent with the CalPERS Global Governance Principles," said a spokeswoman for the California Public Employees' Retirement System, which holds 90,771 Chipotle shares.

Chipotle is in desperate need of rehabilitating its brand. Troy Alstead, the former Starbucks chief operating officer who helped rebuild the coffee chains brand, is a potential candidate for Ells position on the board, Reuters reported.

Ells job is out of harms way for now, as any vote would not take place until the 2017 annual board meeting.
* CICC seeks to bolster retail brokerage business

* China Investment ranked 17th by operating revenue

* Broking made up 36 pct of 126 Chinese firms H1 revenue (Adds CICC statement in paragraphs 1-5)

By Julie Zhu

HONG KONG, Nov 4 (Reuters) - China International Capital Corp (CICC) plans to acquire China Investment Securities for 16.7 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) as the country's leading investment bank seeks to bolster its retail brokerage business.

Earlier on Friday, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that CICC was in advanced talks to buy the state-backed securities firm in what would be its biggest acquisition, and its first since listing in November 2015.

CICC's Hong Kong-listed shares will resume trade on Monday after being suspended on Friday pending the announcement.

"The proposed acquisition will enhance the overall competitiveness of the wealth management business of the enlarged group and further promote the development of other businesses, including the investment banking business," CICC said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Unlisted China Investment Securities, which is 100 percent owned by Central Huijin, had assets of 96.6 billion yuan, while revenue and other income totalled 12.48 billion yuan in 2015, according to the CICC statement.

Discussions between CICC and China Investment Securities have been underway for a couple of months, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the talks are confidential.

The deal, viewed by analysts as complementary for the two firms, will give investment banking-focused CICC the means to boost its retail business in a country where frequent trading by mom-and-pop investors has boosted revenues at brokerages.

Beijing-based CICC, the oldest investment bank in China, has played a crucial role in helping many large Chinese state-owned enterprises list in Hong Kong.

That includes the $21.9 billion initial public offering of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006 and the $22 billion listing of Agricultural Bank of China in 2010.

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DIVERSIFICATION

CICC is also recognised for its strong performance in major cross-border mergers and acquisitions by Chinese firms. It was second behind Morgan Stanley for China-related M&A last year with 11 percent of the market, Thomson Reuters data shows.

But its retail stock broking business is relatively small compared to rivals. China Investment Securities ranked 17th by operating revenue among China stock brokers last year with CICC six places below, according to data from the Securities Association of China.

BOCOM International chief strategist Hong Hao said the deal would benefit both CICC and China Investment Securities.

"CICC lacks a strong footprint in retail business, which is the expertise of China Investment Securities," he said.

Shenzhen-based China Investment Securities runs about 200 retail branches across China compared with CICC's 20, according to the two companies' websites.

The deal also comes as CICC looks to diversify and broaden in areas such as fixed income, currencies and commodities.

China's share trading turnover was $9.8 trillion in the first half of 2016, 1.7 times the rest of Asia-Pacific, according to financial services consultancy Quinlan & Associates.

Broking contributed more than a third of the combined revenue of 157 billion yuan at 126 Chinese securities firms' over the same period, according to the securities association.

CICC, which was founded in 1995 by China Construction Bank , Singapore sovereign investment fund GIC and Morgan Stanley as China's first Sino-foreign investment bank, was led for a decade by Levin Zhu, the princeling son of former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

Zhu resigned as CEO in 2014.

Morgan Stanley sold its 34.3 percent CICC stake in 2010 to a consortium including KKR & Co and TPG Capital. Central Huijin Investment Ltd, part of sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, owns 28.45 percent of CICC.

($1 = 6.7550 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Additional reporting by Bengaluru newsroom; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and David Clarke)
By Chris Kahn NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by 5 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday, keeping her advantage in a national survey while races tighten in several swing states. The Oct. 30-Nov. 3 opinion poll showed that 44 percent of likely voters in Tuesday's election support Clinton while 39 percent support Trump. Clinton's lead has varied from 4 to 7 percentage points every day over the past week in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, while other opinion polls have shown the race becoming increasingly competitive. Real Clear Politics, which averages together most national polls, estimates that Clinton's lead has dropped from 5 points at the end of last week to less than 2 points on Friday. This is similar to 2012, when the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll showed President Barack Obama with a 3 to 7 point advantage over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the final days of the campaign while Real Clear Politics showed Obama's lead nearly vanishing ahead of the election. Obama was re-elected with a 4-point advantage in the popular vote. Clinton, despite her national lead, appears to have lost ground in a number of states, according to a separate polling effort that takes a more granular look at the race. The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project shows races in Florida, North Carolina and Michigan have tilted away from Clinton over the past week and are now considered too close to call. These swing states are hotly contested because their voters can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and can be decisive in presidential elections. The project estimates that Clinton still has a 90 percent chance of winning the election, however. With four days before Election Day, Republicans are increasingly optimistic about Trump winning. Some of this appears to be tied to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey telling U.S. lawmakers on Oct. 28 that his agency was investigating a new trove of emails as part of a probe into Clinton's handling of classified information while serving as U.S. secretary of state. While Comey said the emails might not be significant to the investigation, Trump and Republican leaders have seized on the news, calling it evidence that Clinton is unfit for the White House. Since the FBI announcement, the Reuters/Ipsos poll has seen a surge in Republican expectations. More than half of Republicans now say they think Trump will win the election - up from a low point last week when Republicans were more likely to think Clinton would win. The Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It includes 2,021 people who were considered to be likely voters from their voting history, registration status and stated intention to participate in the election. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points. (Reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Grant McCool)
By Amanda Becker and Emily Stephenson PITTSBURGH/ATKINSON, N.H. (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump differed sharply on the economy in the final stretch of their race for the White House on Friday, with Clinton praising the latest U.S. jobs report while Trump dismissed it as a fraudulent disaster. With four days left in a tight contest, the candidates hammered each other as unfit to be president as they made a late push for votes in battleground states that could decide the outcome in next Tuesday's election. At a rally in Pittsburgh, Clinton offered an optimistic view of Friday's government report, which showed a strong rate of hiring and higher wages for workers. The economy added 161,000 jobs in October as the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent the Labor Department said. "I believe our economy is poised to really take off and thrive," Clinton told the gathering, after being introduced by billionaire investor Mark Cuban. "When the middle class thrives, America thrives." Trump disputed Clinton's rosy view, telling a crowd in New Hampshire the jobs report was "an absolute disaster" and was skewed by the large number of people who have stopped looking for jobs and are not in the labor market anymore. "Nobody believes the numbers anyway. The numbers they put out are phony," he said at a rally in Atkinson. The economy and the candidates' competing visions for the future could be critical in swaying voters in ailing Rust Belt states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Both candidates planned to visit Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday, with Trump adding a stop in New Hampshire and Clinton in Michigan. Each of those states is critical in the state-by-state quest for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. The race tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favoring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project. The two candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clintons lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Clinton has a slight lead in Pennsylvania. Clinton is still the favorite to win Tuesday's election, but Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election. 'A BLUE-COLLAR APPEAL' Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star, has made a pitch for blue-collar workers who have been angered by free-trade deals and feel abandoned by Washington. But Trumps protectionist rhetoric - he has promised to review trade agreements - appears to be having mixed success in the Rust Belt. Reuters/Ipsos polling from mid-October found a majority in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, including a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, agree international trade benefits Americans by keeping the cost of goods low although they also think it hurts "average Americans" by depressing wages and causing job losses at home. Clinton appears to be leading among labor union households in both states, the poll found. She has a double-digit lead with women in both, while Trump has a more modest lead with men. Among whites, Trump has a 7-point lead over Clinton in Ohio and a 3-point lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania. In the final stretch, the two candidates continued to paint a dire scenario of life in the United States if their opponent captures the White House. Trump said the FBI's fresh examination of emails that may be related to Clinton's use of a private email server for government work while she was secretary of state could lead to "a constitutional crisis." "Aren't we tired of all this stuff?" he asked. "America deserves a government that can go to work on Day One." HISPANIC VOTER PUSH Clinton suggested the volatile Trump, who has feuded with and insulted a wide array of people and groups including Muslims, Mexican immigrants and women, was too unpredictable to trust. "Think about what it would mean to entrust the nuclear codes to someone with very thin skin who lashes out at anyone who insults him," Clinton said. Hispanic groups in swing states cranked up their get-out-the-vote efforts for the final stretch of the race on Friday, hoping to push the contest Clinton's way. Lizet Ocampo, director of the Latinos Vote! program for People for the American Way, said the group has Spanish-language radio and television ads up in Nevada and North Carolina and radio ads in Pennsylvania, and will soon launch Arizona radio ads as well. The group focuses in part on states where the Latino population might not be huge, "but even if theyre a small part they can make the difference" in tight races, Ocampo said, adding the group also will kick off voter canvassing in Pennsylvania and Arizona. The Love Bus - an old school bus repainted in various colors by nine Miami-based immigrant artists - will make the rounds in south Florida all weekend offering to take voters to the polls early in Haitian and migrant worker communities, said Ruth Moreno, state coordinator for the immigrant rights group iAmerica Action. (Additional reporting by Maurice Tamman and Luciana Lopez in New York; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Raleigh (United States) (AFP) - Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump geared up Friday for one final weekend to sway undecided voters and cajole supporters into turning out at the polls, slogging their way to the end of a divisive presidential campaign as the race continues to tighten.

As the candidates jostle for supremacy in the handful of battleground states that will decide Tuesday's election, two of the biggest prizes on the electoral map, Florida and North Carolina, are now dead heats, according to RealClearPolitics poll aggregates.

Democrat Clinton has unleashed top surrogates including President Barack Obama to bolster her case, while billionaire Republican Trump deployed wife Melania to soften his image.

North Carolina was suddenly in the eye of the political storm, with the candidates frantically criss-crossing the southeastern state where they are locked at 46.4 percent apiece.

The candidates' motorcades even passed one another Thursday on the tarmac at the Raleigh-Durham airport ahead of their rival rallies.

"You've got to get everyone you know to come out and vote," Clinton implored supporters in Raleigh, where she was joined by her onetime primary adversary Senator Bernie Sanders and "Happy" singer Pharrell Williams.

"The best way to repudiate the bigotry and the bluster and the bullying and the hateful rhetoric and discrimination is to show up with the biggest turnout in American history."

Williams, dressed in a hoodie, sought to pump up black voter turnout -- crucial to Clinton's White House aspirations -- which is down in early voting in several states.

"We're black! Beautiful! So if you've ever been called a minority ever in your life... go out and vote and show everybody that you're actually really the majority," he said.

Obama shuttled into Florida for fiery rallies aimed at turning out the Democratic base for Clinton in a must-win state for Trump, who is under pressure to snatch battleground states and even poach one or two Democratic strongholds if he is to prevail.

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On Friday, Trump heads to New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania, while Clinton stumps in Ohio and Michigan.

- New poll numbers -

A nationwide CBS/New York Times survey showed Clinton's lead shrinking to three points, at 45 percent against Trump's 42 percent, a sign the bombastic mogul is winning over once-wary Republican voters.

"This will be a close race and you cannot take it for granted," Obama warned supporters in Jacksonville, painting an apocalyptic vision of what Trump would mean for American democracy.

Clinton added to the portrayal, telling North Carolinians that "if Donald Trump were to win this election we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous."

Running mate Tim Kaine visited the border state of Arizona, making a play for Hispanic voters by delivering a speech entirely in Spanish.

Clinton's last stand will come in Philadelphia on the eve of the election at a joint rally bringing together two of America's most prominent Democratic couples.

She will be joined by husband Bill Clinton, President Obama and one of 2016's most potent campaigners, First Lady Michelle Obama.

A Trump win in Pennsylvania would be a giant step toward his becoming the 45th president.

Clinton's rally in Philadelphia -- the City of Brotherly Love -- will send an unmistakable message: Trump is a threat to the republic.

It was here that the US Constitution came into being in 1787.

- 'Coming home' -

Melania Trump, the Slovenian-born former model who could become America's first foreign-born first lady in two centuries, also chose Pennsylvania Thursday for her first solo campaign appearance.

"He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn't he?" she said of Trump's incendiary campaign.

Trump's third wife made a bald play for votes of suburban mothers, who could make all the difference in the tightly contested state where Clinton's lead has narrowed, by fretting that "children and teenagers can be fragile" and pledging to address bullying if she becomes first lady.

Despite the Manhattan mogul's boasts about sexual assault, and allegations of groping by several women, white women are evenly split between the candidates, the CBS poll showed.

As the race nears its conclusion, profound Republican skepticism about Trump's controversial candidacy appears to be ebbing.

"I think Republicans are coming home," Congressman Jason Chaffetz told CNN.

Similarly, Clinton's FBI troubles -- the bureau is taking new looks into the case of her private email server -- appear to have dissuaded few Democrats, with only eight percent saying it would make them less likely to vote for her.

Trump has seized on the controversy, airing a new ad highlighting the FBI probe and declaring Clinton "unfit to serve" -- language Clinton often uses to describe her rival.

With the campaign in its final stages, Trump was sticking to the teleprompter and avoiding his most explosive rhetoric.

"Nice and cool. Right? Stay on point, Donald, stay on point," the 70-year-old said aloud during a Florida rally.
By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Clinton Foundation has confirmed it accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state without informing the State Department, even though she had promised to let the agency review new donations from foreign governments. Qatari officials pledged the money in 2011 to mark the 65th birthday of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's husband, and sought to meet the former U.S. president in person the following year to present him the check, according to an email from a foundation official to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta. The email, among thousands hacked from Podesta's account, was published last month by WikiLeaks. Clinton signed an ethics agreement governing her family's globe-straddling foundation in order to become secretary of state in 2009. The agreement was designed to increase transparency to avoid appearances that U.S. foreign policy could be swayed by wealthy donors. (http://reut.rs/2fkHPCh) If a new foreign government wished to donate or if an existing foreign-government donor, such as Qatar, wanted to "increase materially" its support of ongoing programs, Clinton promised that the State Department's ethics official would be notified and given a chance to raise any concerns. A Clinton Foundation spokesman, Brian Cookstra, confirmed this week that the foundation accepted the $1 million gift from Qatar, but said this did not amount to a "material increase" in the Gulf country's support for the charity. Cookstra declined to say whether Qatari officials received their requested meeting with Bill Clinton. Officials at Qatar's embassy in Washington and in its Council of Ministers in the capital, Doha, declined to discuss the donation. The State Department has said it has no record of the foundation submitting the Qatar pledge for review, and that it was incumbent on the foundation to notify the department about donations that needed attention. According to the foundation's website, which lists donors in broad categories by donation size, Qatar's government has directly given between $1 million and $5 million over the years. The Clinton Foundation has said it would no longer accept money from foreign governments if Clinton is elected president and would spin off those programs that are dependent on foreign governments. "MATERIAL" INCREASE Foundation officials told Reuters last year that they did not always comply with central provisions of the agreement with President Barack Obama's administration, blaming oversights in some cases. At least eight other countries besides Qatar gave new or increased funding to the foundation, in most cases to fund its health project, without the State Department being informed, according to foundation and agency records. They include Algeria, which gave for the first time in 2010, and the United Kingdom, which nearly tripled its support for the foundation's health project to $11.2 million between 2009 and 2012. Foundation officials have said some of those donations, including Algeria, were oversights and should have been flagged, while others, such as the UK increase, did not qualify as material increases. The foundation has declined to describe what sort of increase in funding by a foreign government would have triggered notification of the State Department for review. Cookstra said the agreement was designed to "allow foreign funding for critical Clinton Foundation programs" to continue without disruption. The State Department said it has no record of being asked by the foundation to review an increase donation. Asked whether Qatar was funding a specific program at the foundation, Cookstra said the country supported the organization's "overall humanitarian work." "Qatar continued supporting Clinton Foundation at equal or lower levels" compared with the country's pre-2009 support, he said. He declined to say if Qatar gave any money during the first three years of Clinton's four-year term at the State Department, or what its support before 2009 amounted to. In another email released by WikiLeaks, a former Clinton Foundation fundraiser said he raised more than $21 million in connection with Bill Clinton's 65th birthday in 2011. Spokesmen for Hillary Clinton's campaign and Bill Clinton did not respond to emailed questions about the donation. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that major donors to the Clinton Foundation may have obtained favored access to Clinton's State Department, but has provided little evidence to that effect. Clinton and her staff have dismissed this accusation as a political smear. Last month, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop fundraising in the state, saying it had not registered to solicit donations. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Additional reporting by Tom Finn in Doha; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA (Reuters) - Ruling party candidate Tsetska Tsacheva is likely to narrowly win Bulgaria's presidential election on Sunday but could lose a subsequent runoff to Socialist contender Rumen Radev, polls suggest, heralding a shift towards closer ties with Russia. On Friday, pollster Alpha Research showed Tsacheva, 58, a senior member of the GERB party, at 26.3 percent support, less than four percentage points over Radev, 53, a former air force commander. But Gallup International pollsters said late on Thursday she would lose a Nov. 13 runoff vote, to be held if no candidate wins an overall majority on Sunday, by 47 percent to Radev's 53 percent. That outcome was similar to forecasts by Market Links and Mediana polls earlier this week. Radev has pledged to cultivate better relations with European Union member Bulgaria's historical ally, Russia, and a removal of EU sanctions imposed on Moscow over its role in the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. The sanctions regime has caused some damage to Bulgaria's economy. Although the job of president is largely ceremonial in Bulgaria, his victory could embolden opposition groups to seek to unseat Prime Minister Boiko Borisov's GERB minority government, possibly triggering early elections. "If GERB loses this election, early general polls are very likely," said Kiril Avramov, political analyst with New Bulgarian University. GERB remains the most popular political faction but public dissatisfaction over the pace of health and education reforms and Borisov's anti-corruption efforts have eroded its support. Public backing for Tsacheva has eroded from 29.3 percent seen at the start of the campaign last month, while Radev's popularity rose to 22.5 percent from 21.4 percent, an Alpha Research poll conducted between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2 indicated. Gallup's survey carried out between Oct. 24-30 put support for Tsacheva at 27.2 percent and 23.1 percent for Radev in the first round. With 19 other candidates vying for Bulgaria's top office, the outcome of the Nov. 13 run-off is wholly up in the air, according to pollsters. Bulgaria, a Black Sea state dependent on Russian energy supplies and popular with Russian tourists, shook off communist rule under Soviet domination a quarter of a century ago, but loyalties remain divided between Moscow and Brussels. Radev has said Sofia needs to lead a foreign policy based on the country's national interest and that included improving links with Russia. "We lost a lot by more or less declaring Russia our enemy," he said on national Darik radio last month. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; editing by Justyna Pawlak and Mark Heinrich)
CHICAGO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures selling on Thursday spilled over into Friday after investors digested this week's disappointing cash prices, said traders.

* At 09:11 a.m. CDT (1411 GMT) December was down 1.000 cents per pound to 103.075 cents, and February was 0.700 cent lower at 104.575 cents.

* This week packers in the U.S. Plains paid $102 to $105 per cwt for slaughter-ready, or cash, cattle that a week earlier fetched $104 to $105, said analysts and feedlot sources.

* Investors had anticipated better cash returns based improved wholesale beef demand, fewer cattle for sale than last week and up to $106 per cwt sales at Wednesday's Fed Cattle Exchange.

* This week's cash results, and Thursday's mixed wholesale beef values, suggests prices for both sectors may be about to top out in the near term, said traders and analysts.

* On the surface, lighter week-over-week cattle weights might be considered supportive for the product side because it means less meat flowing into the retail channel, an analyst said.

* He pointed out, however, that the weight decline was mainly due to more heifers, which tend to weigh less than steers, entering the slaughter mix.

FEEDER CATTLE - November was down 0.575 cent per pound to 125.275 cents, on follow-through selling and more live cattle market losses.

LEAN HOGS - December was 1.200 cents per pound lower at 45.800 cents, and February was 0.700 cent lower at 52.800 cents.

* CME lean hogs felt pressure from residual selling as ample supplies exert pressure on cash prices, said traders.

* USDA reported Thursday afternoon's average cash hog price in Iowa/Minnesota at $44.28 per cwt, 53 cents lower than on Wednesday.

* From Monday to Thursday, packers processed 1.782 million hogs, 47,000 more than the same period a year ago, according to U.S. government estimates.

* Midwest hog merchants forecast this Saturday's hog slaughter over 300,000 head. USDA estimated last Saturday's kill at 283,000 head.

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* Market bulls were encouraged by respectable wholesale pork demand post October Pork Month, aided at times by ham business for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

* Thursday afternoon's wholesale pork price rose 83 cents per cwt from Wednesday to $73.41, led by $2.68 higher ham prices, the USDA said.

(Reporting by Theopolis Waters in Chicago)
The US Coast Guard has distributed new footage showing the July release of two pygmy whales off the Gulf Coast.

The release operation, which took place on July 11, was a collaboration between crew members of the Coast Guard Cutter Cypress, the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) and the national Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

The two male whales had been found stranded in a Mississippi marsh in September 2015. They were rescued and nursed back to health at IMSS, in a very rare case of pygmy whales surviving in captivity. Credit: DVIDS/U.S. Coast Guard District 7 PADET Jacksonville
Five years ago, administrators at Georgia State University in Atlanta were faced with a dilemma: F ewer than half of enrolled students ended up graduating. Whether it was because of financial or academic problems, significant numbers of undergrads were failing to walk across the stage and receive a degree.

"In too many cases we were losing students, or [they were] dropping out before we were noticing any problems," says Timothy Renick, vice provost and vice president for enrollment management and student success at GSU.

So Georgia State administrators implemented the Graduation and Progression Success advising system "to proactively find students who are 'at-risk' before they are actually at risk," Renick says. By identifying struggling undergrads early enough, Georgia State can offer help before they fall off track.

The GPS system uses some 800 different triggers -- receiving a bad grade, not completing a required course early enough, or registering for a class that does not count towards graduation credits -- that result in an alert to an adviser, who contacts the student to schedule a meeting.

"Two weeks after I had chosen [a class], I got an email from my adviser saying that the course I had registered for doesn't count for anything besides an elective," says Tyler Mulvenna, a senior majoring in French with a concentration in international business at Georgia State. Mulvenna's adviser recommended he take a different, required class, a change that ensured he stayed on schedule to graduate in four years.

[Check out which colleges and universities graduate the most students in four years.]

Since Georgia State implemented its system, the university's six-year graduation rate has increased by six percentage points to 54 percent, and last year the school gave out 1,700 more degrees than it did in 2011. In the 2015-16 academic year, there were more than 49,000 GPS-prompted meetings.

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Georgia State reflects a trend among colleges nationally to use predictive analytics to raise their graduation rates. Within the University System of Maryland, the universities now try to "map" students' paths from enrollment freshman year to graduation by using internally collected data to create an individualized plan for each student.

Ben Passmore, the university system's assistant vice chancellor for administration and finance, says the schools analyze data points such as grades, course enrollment and time spent on campus -- which can be tracked, for example, by how often a student checks into residence halls or the library.

"It's only about two-thirds of students who enter as freshmen who end up with a degree within six years," says Passmore. Yet university administrators believe that most students can finish their academic programs and earn their degrees if they receive timely help when problems arise. The challenge, he adds, is "trying to figure out where those problems might occur."

Schools in the Maryland system employ a variety of independent analytics companies to monitor student success. The University of Maryland University College, for instance, partnered with Civitas Learning and HelioCampus -- a higher education data analytics company that UMUC founded -- to create a program that helps identify the variables that might impact a particular student's success in a course and his or her ability to continue on to graduation.

[Discover how to find a career mentor in college.]

The program can, for example, compare the individual with others who previously took the class and had similar academic interests, course histories and grades. Behavioral data is also integrated, like how often students use campus resources such as tutoring centers and libraries.

Where does the information come from? It depends on the school. For UMUC, Civitas Learning draws on data from two established university databases: the student information system, which captures details on every student such as course history or grade point average; and the learning management system, which collects data such as how often a student accesses class materials, connects with professors or participates in discussion forums online.

Faculty members and student support specialists can access the data through applications like Inspire and so see in real-time whether warning signs are emerging impacting student success and intervene accordingly.

The program accurately identifies "early signals" of challenges 80 to 90 percent of the time, says Civitas co-founder and Chief Learning Officer Mark Milliron. He says they become even more accurate once certain student behaviors are taken account of, such as cramming for a test. This is measured, for instance, by how close to the exam a student starts to use online resources.

The models help faculty identify not just those students who may fail a course, but also those who might need a little extra help to jump from, say, a B to an A.

[Avoid these bad study habits in college.]

Similarly, Arizona State University--Tempe uses an in-house program called eAdvisor to track undergrads for signs of trouble. If a physics major struggles in a calculus course one term and fails a physics class the next, say, eAdvisor would schedule him to meet with an adviser, says Fred Corey, the school's vice provost for undergraduate education.

The conversation might well lead to the student enrolling in another major, like environmental chemistry, that still reflects a love of science but is better suited to his or her skills. And if math is still a problem, then tutoring is arranged.

The red flags raised aren't always related to academics. At Georgia State, upperclassmen on track to graduate who miss a payment deadline are flagged by the university's GPS system. If they are unable to cover the last bit of their tuition, they can receive a Panther Retention Grant covering up to $1,500.

Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.
Bogota (AFP) - Colombian rebel group ELN said Friday it hopes to free hostage ex-congressman Odin Sanchez next week, clearing the way to begin peace talks with the government.

"We hope it will be in the coming week," said Pablo Beltran, the chief peace negotiator for the National Liberation Army (ELN), in comments to Caracol Radio.

He said a "humanitarian commission" including international mediators, government and rebel negotiators, and representatives of the Catholic Church had been set up to oversee Sanchez's release.

President Juan Manuel Santos's government had been due to open peace talks with the ELN, Colombia's second-largest rebel group, on October 27.

But he called them off when the rebels failed to release Sanchez, which he had set as a pre-condition.

Beltran said there had been "two differing interpretations" of the two sides' deal on opening talks.

Potentially complicating matters further, some sources say the ELN is still holding at least two other hostages: a doctor named Edgar Torres and a businessman named Octavio Figueroa.

Beltran said the rebels had "very few" remaining hostages.

"They are so few that these cases will be resolved sooner rather than later," he said.

Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, has faced a series of recent setbacks in his efforts to bring "total peace" to Colombia after a 52-year conflict.

Voters rejected a peace deal with the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in an October 2 referendum after opponents jeered it as too soft on the guerrillas.

And the talks with the ELN are on hold over the hostage issue.

Both the FARC and ELN have used ransom kidnappings and drug trafficking to finance themselves over the years.

Founded in 1964, they are the last two leftist guerrilla groups involved in a messy, multi-sided conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people.
A cat that was stuck on a water tower in LaSalle, Colorado, is out of clouds and in the safe hands of a veterinary clinic.

An operations manager for the LaSalle Fire Department told PEOPLE in an email that a specialized rescue team out of Fort Collins scaled the tower to rescue the kitty. Denver 7 identified the rescue team as Steve Fleming, Daniel Winning and Brady Thomas.

The cat had been stuck 100 ft. in the air since Sunday. He kept moving around on us, I didnt know where he was going, said one rescuer, who helped save the cat on Wednesday.

A drone, cat food and a cat carrier were among the items used to rescue the cat, Denver 7 said.

The cat was taken to the Valley Veterinary Clinic afterward The Greeley Tribune reported, and is doing just fine.

Hes eating, hes drinking, veterinarian Anita Reeve said. Hes very active, very loving.

Potential adopters have been inquiring about the cat and it sounds like hell find a home soon.

Were going to be very selective about his home, Reeve told the Tribune. Im probably going to require hes an indoor kitty.








Conan is being broadcast from New York, so OBrien said it was finally time for a comedy show to do a parody of the Tony Award-winning sensation Hamilton. But Matthew Broderick tried to stop him, explaining, Hamilton parodies have been done to death. In the last year, there have been more parodies of the musical Hamilton then there have been performances of the musical Hamilton.

But he couldnt dissuade Conan, who sang as he presented Alexander Camelton, using a real, live camel, appropriately dressed in period costume.

Conan airs weeknights at 11 p.m. on TBS.

Watch: Tracy Morgan forgives truck driver who hit him:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram  or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
While the Samajwadi Party founders day will see various leaders on stage, will the grand alliance in UP help the dwindling SP?

By Javed M. Ansari : The 25th Founders Day function of Samajwadi Party tomorrow in Lucknow will see the leaders with socialist linkages share the stage for the first time in many years.

The gathering of these parties is being billed as a precursor to a grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

Sharing the same stage might make for good optics. There is no certainty on whether an alliance will come about, and if it does, whether it will be enough to help the SP get a second consecutive term in office.

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ALSO READ | Rahul Gandhi pitches for a Bihar-style Grand Alliance in UP, Akhilesh as SP face

WILL THE GRAND ALLIANCE WORK?

For the grand alliance to work, it's imperative that the SP stay united and Akhilesh Yadav be projected as the presumptive Chief Minister if the alliance comes to power.

Secondly, the SP will have to be willing to concede a respectable number of seats to the three parties- RLD, the JD(U) and the Congress- to make it worthwhile for these parties to join the alliance.

Although Lalu Prasad Yadav will also be attending tomorrow's function, he has decided not to put up candidates, and Dewe Gowda's JD(S) does not have a presence in UP.

Also read: Mulayam, Shivpal missing in Akhilesh's video campaign that says whole of UP is his family

WILL GRAND ALLIANCE BE ABLE TO HELP SP?

Most analysts agree that the SP has damaged its prospects severely on account of the recent infighting, and the only way it can hope to keep its vote base intact is by putting together an alliance that will not only consolidate its existing vote base but also add to it.

Ajit Singh's RLD won only 8 seats in the 2012 polls. But having him in the ranks, the alliance might be able to stitch together a Jat - Muslim alliance in Western UP.

Nitish Kumar's JD(U) has been steadily making inroads into the Kurmi voters, particularly in areas bordering Bihar.

He could help the alliance wean the Kurmi voters away from the Anapuriya Patel-led faction of the Apna Dal, that is currently aligned with the BJP.

The Congress could help consolidate the minority vote bank which is currently restive and threatens to drift to the BSP in a desperate attempt to keep the BJP out.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi to lend shoulder, support to Akhilesh if Samajwadi Party splits?



The Congress could also help keep a section of the upper castes from moving to the BJP.

The jury is still not out on whether this combination will be enough to repair the damage caused by SP's internal war.

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Also Read:

Not aware of any move to form grand alliance in UP: Babbar



--- ENDS ---
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - Two parties in Congo Republic's ruling coalition petitioned the government late on Thursday to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that threatens to deal a fresh blow to the tribunal in The Hague. African states have long complained of ICC bias against Africans. Last month, South Africa and Burundi became the first countries to officially notify the United Nations of their intention to pull out of the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty establishing the ICC. Gambia also said last month that it would withdraw, accusing the court of ignoring the "war crimes" of Western nations and seeking only to prosecute Africans. The two Congolese parties, the Patriotic Front and the 2020 Awakening Movement, led a protest march of about 300 people in the capital Brazzaville, where they argued that court membership was incompatible with a provision in Congo's constitution that forbids extradition to "a foreign power or organisation". "This measure in our constitution contradicts the operational mode of the ICC, which aims to ask signatory countries to hand over their citizens for whatever reason," Paolo Benaza, the spokesman for the Patriotic Front, told reporters. The head of the Patriotic Front is Congo's youth minister, Destinee Hermella Doukaga. The two parties delivered a memorandum to Justice Minister Pierre Mabiala, who said he would study the proposal before making a recommendation to the government. The ICC opened in July 2002 and has 124 member states. It is the first legal body with permanent international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Defenders of the ICC say the accusations of bias against Africans are unfair as the vast majority of requests for ICC intervention have come from African governments themselves, who often lack the capacity to try such complex cases. (Reporting by Christian Elion; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Joe Bavier and Richard Balmforth)
A North Dakota congressman wrote to the heads of the broadcast TV networks on Friday, advising that he would seek hearings on whether their newscasts have been too biased against Donald Trump.

In the letter, Rep. Kevin Cramer, a Republican, cited an AP poll finding that 56 percent of likely voters believe the media has been biased against the Republican candidate.

With the most recent RealClearPolitics poll average showing Hillary Clinton at 45.3 points to Donald Trump at 42. 7 points, your broadcast news networks  who utilize federal spectrum to

conduct their operations  have a moral obligation to provide balanced, unbiased news coverage for the American people, Cramer wrote, adding that he believed that national network news has devolved from fact-based journalism to surreptitious propaganda.

Cramer addressed the letter to Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group; CBS Chairman Les Moonves; Stephen Burke, CEO of NBC Universal; and Dana Walden, CEO of Fox Television Group.

Cramer has previously advised Trump on energy issues.

In the letter, Cramer clarified that he is not calling for a return of the Fairness Doctrine, a discarded FCC standard calling for balanced coverage of political affairs on broadcast airwaves. Republicans tend to fear that Democrats could reimpose the doctrine in order to stamp out conservative talk radio.

However, Cramer wrote, while the principle of an independent media is critical to our constitutional government, a news media free of political bias is required for a free system to flourish.

Following the disputed Bush vs. Gore election in 2000, Congressional Republicans held hearings on the networks coverage election night coverage. One theory held that the networks suppressed Republican turnout in the Florida panhandle by calling the state too early.

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The operating backdrop of the U.S. banking sector has lately turned favorable despite concerns over the financial health of Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo WFC. Bullish earnings, the possibility of a Fed rate hike by the end of this year and chances of an oil output curb deal by the OPEC in November have been instrumental in building up this backdrop (read: Financial ETFs in Focus on Wells Fargo's Sales Scandal).

If we go into the details, most of the big banking companies came up with a beat on both lines in the Q3 reporting cycle. Drivers of the outperformance were a rise in fixed income, currency and commodities trading revenue, higher mortgage banking income and moderate investment banking business (read: U.S. Banks Clear Stress Test: Financial ETFs in Focus).

U.S. banks have significant exposure to the long-beleaguered energy sector. But lately, with the oil price recovery, tension over credit default seems to be diminishing. Several big banks witnessed a reduction in losses arising out of loans to the energy sector, as per an article published in Financial Times. And finally, chances of a rising rate environment with the possibility of a Fed rate hike this year will benefit banking ETFs (read: Buy Bank ETFs for Q4 on Bullish Earnings, Fed & Oil).

Brexit: The New Boon?

If these were not enough, the decision of British citizens to cut ties with the European Union in June end might make matters more favorable for banking stocks and ETFs. But investors should not forget that as soon as Britain leaves the EU, its importance as a corporate transit to the rest of Europe would be lost, going by an article in CNBC. Many global financial institutions may even want to shift their base from London.

Even an article published in Wall Street Journal indicated that almost 5,500 U.K. financial firms rely on passporting rights to do business across Europe and their loss could pose significant risks to those banks, according to the U.K. parliaments Treasury Select Committee. In such a backdrop, Goldman Sachs Group believes that there could be high chances of U.S.-based banks getting the share lost by the UK banks.

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If Britain pursues a hard Brexit, then this fear may come true and U.S. banks may be in a beneficial position. Thus, investors, who have pinned their hopes on this fundamental, can play iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF IYG, PowerShares KBW Bank ETF KBWB, Financial Select Sector SPDR XLF and Vanguard Financials ETF (VFH) (see all Financial ETFs here).

These funds have considerable exposure in big banking stocks and returned in the range of 0.6??? 4% in the last one month (as of November 2, 2016) against a 3% loss seen in the S&P 500-based ETF SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY.

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This Utah couple went from married with no kids to parents of four kids, all in the span of 24 hours.

"Now when I look back at it, I'm like, 'what was I thinking? That's insane,'" Kaley Carling, 29, told InsideEdition.com.

Read: Adoptive Mother Reunites Long-Lost Sisters After Discovering Girl Who Looked Like Her Daughter in Orphanage

Carling, of Farmington, said she and her husband Jeremy have been having trouble conceiving naturally. As a child, she battled rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and the medication she was prescribed to treat it has led to fertility issues.

"We figured that life doesn't always go as planned, and this was only the beginning of that," Carling said.

Determined to have children anyway, she and her husband decided to pursue adoption  a dream of theirs since they were young, she said.

As they waited for the perfect match to become available, Carling said she wanted to become foster parents, too.

"We had room in our house, we had love to give, and we had the resources to help provide a home for children, even if it was going to be short term," Carling said. "We wanted to make a difference in some way while we waited for our family."

The Carlings eventually came to care for Haven and Indie, who were only 5 and 18 months old at the time.

They fostered the sisters for a year, during which time their biological family was still considering whether they would get the girls back, or hand over custody to the Carlings.

In August, the Carlings finally received word that they would have the opportunity to adopt Haven and Indie.

Read: Adopted Boy, 11, Mows Lawns All Summer to Buy Tombstone for Father He Never Knew

And, as chance would have it, they received the call about twin newborn girls they would be eligible to adopt on that same day.

"We didn't even really have to talk about it for very long, we just knew it was right. We were going to move forward with everything," she said. "When you have had so many failed adoptions, that's the way you start to think."

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They scheduled the adoption dates for the twins on October 19, and the date for the sisters the following day  coinciding with her husband Jeremy's 30th birthday.

In a photo posted to Reddit, Carling and her husband could be seen holding their four daughters  Sunny and Weslie, 9 months; Indie, 1; and Haven, 2  on the day all the adoptions were finalized.

"Now, we can't even imagine life without the girls," Carling said.

To adjust, Carling said she gave up her job to be a stay-at-home mom for her adopted daughters, until they go off to kindergarten.

"I think it's important for one of us to be home with them," Carling said. "Our focus is on them, and giving them the love and attention they need individually and as a group of sisters."

Read: 18-Year-Old Asks Mom's Boyfriend to Adopt Her at Graduation Party: 'His Wish Had Come True'

Although she explained the whirlwind of becoming parents to four young children within 24 hours was "a happy chaos," she hinted they may consider more kids in the future.

"These were the children we were supposed to raise and to love in our family," Carling told InsideEdition.com. "It's the greatest feeling in the world."

The family has since started a GoFundMe page to support their adoption fees.

Watch: And Then There Were 9: Mom Adopts Cancer-Stricken Friend's 6 Kids After Her Death

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From Good Housekeeping

If this isn't true love then we don't know what is. High school sweethearts Leonard and Hazel Cherry passed away last Thursday just hours apart, a sweet ending to their 74-years together.

The couple was married in 1942 in Muldoon, Texas. Following their nuptials at the start of World War II, Leonard enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a B-24 bomber pilot. Luckily for the couple, he was never far from home as he was stationed at Carswell Army Air Corps Base in Fort Worth training others how to fly. Meanwhile, Hazel was a stay at home mom taking care of their only son, David. Once the war was over, Leonard worked as an auto body repairman in Fort Worth before opening an auto repair business in 1949, which the couple ran together for 31 years. The couple finally moved to Woodstock, Texas in 1980 to be close to their son and grandchildren.

In their final days, Leonard who was 95, was placed at the St. Catherine Center, a hospice in Waco, Texas,while 93-year-old Hazel, who was in good health, had just moved into the Village at Providence Park, a facility right next door to her husband's.

Then on October 27, Leonard passed away just before 1 p.m. and his wife died just 10 hours later at 11 p.m.

"The more I began to think about it, I began to smile because of how much they loved each other. There's no question in my mind my grandmother was waiting for him in heaven with open arms," Craig Cherry told KWTX "Even at 95 years old, he still, when he talked about her, had a sparkle in his eye."

A memorial service for the couple is scheduled for this Friday and we're sure there won't be a dry eye in the house.

[h/t KWTX]

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LONDON  The Crown, the glossy, costly Netflix series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II that launched Friday, has received a mostly regal cheer from British critics, although almost all have their quibbles.

The staunchly royalist Telegraph newspaper called the show magnificent, while the equally staunchly republican Guardian declared that Netflix can rest assured that its 100-million [$125-million] gamble has paid off. This first series, about good old British phlegm from first to last, is the services crowning achievement so far.

There were some reservations over the slow unfolding of the story of Princess Elizabeths ascension to the throne after the death of her father, King George VI. Londons Evening Standard complained that the plot moves at a glacial pace, with half-defrosted royals bumbling carelessly through matters of historical significance while polite, undynamic onlookers mumble rhubarb, but in the end, like the monarchy, it shouldnt work, but it does. The Daily Mail tabloid predicted breathlessly that the series could change the way the world views the royal family.

Interest has been running high in The Crown here in the country where the series is set and whose ruling family is its subject. On Tuesday, the first two episodes received a red-carpet premiere in Londons Leicester Square befitting that of a star-studded movie. All 10 episodes of the shows first season are available on Netflix; five more seasons are expected, with the second season already in production.

Reviewers were united in their praise of the cast, especially Claire Foy (Wolf Hall) as Elizabeth and American actor John Lithgow as an unlikely Winston Churchill. The Guardian said that Foy steals the show; the paper also lauded the quiet power of Jared Harris performance as Elizabeths dying father.

The relationship between Elizabeth and Prince Philip, played by former Doctor Who actor Matt Smith, came in for praise as well. That the coupling was one of love is in no doubt  Matt Smith and Claire Foy share a touching, easy chemistry that makes the longevity of the union easy to understand, and renders the couple not just sympathetic but human, the Telegraph said.

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The paper congratulated director Stephen Daldry on a delicate yet sure touch that never allowed the scale and grandeur to smother the humanity. But the Guardian took issue with the amount of exposition  probably written with a global audience in mind  which had the characters speak[ing] to each other like nurses on an amnesia ward.

The Crown is the latest in a wave of British-royalty-related projects for both the big and small screen. Victoria, a recently aired series about the 19th-century monarch, earned high ratings for ITV; it has been renewed for a second season. Also in the works is the movie Victoria and Abdul, about the unlikely true friendship between the queen and a courtier from India, with Judi Dench playing Victoria on film for the second time in her career.

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Nicosia (AFP) - Progress must be achieved in crucial UN-brokered Cyprus talks in Switzerland next week if the peace process is to succeed, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday.

He underlined the need for real progress in reunification talks during a live television address ahead of crunch week-long talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in Mont Pelerin near Geneva from Monday.

The summit will focus on the key issue of territorial adjustments.

"There is no way I will accept a multi-party conference if there is no progress on territory and convergences in the adjustments to be made. Agreement on criteria means the submission of maps," Anastasiades said.

Such progress will allow for a multi-party conference on security involving Greece, Turkey and Britain as "guarantor powers" of Cyprus's sovereignty.

"I hope the negotiations... will make such progress it creates the potential to move on to substantive discussions on security and guarantees," he said.

Because of the make-or-break nature of the territory issue, the leaders agreed to hold talks outside Cyprus.

It will be the first time that maps are brought to the table since the negotiations began.

The two leaders will seek to agree on the internal boundary between two future constituent states, allowing for the return of some areas in Turkish-held northern Cyprus to the Greek Cypriots.

Without agreement on territory there can be no decision on how many refugees can return to their former homes or how the plans for restoration, exchange or compensation for property will work.

Territorial adjustments are essential for any peace deal for the EU member state.

Anastasiades said that "for the first time" discussions on what will happen on the first day of a solution are at an "advanced stage".

This would include the fenced-off "ghost town" of Varosha returned to its lawful inhabitants and a "significant number" of Turkish troops leaving the island, Anastasiades said.

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After 17 months of negotiations, strong disagreement remains on the thorny issues of territory, security and guarantees which have yet to be discussed in detail.

"These are crucial to the end result," said Anastasiades.

He said the aim was still to achieve a Cyprus solution this year.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon will launch the talks in Switzerland.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini has said a Cyprus settlement would be a "game changer" for the region at large.

The long-stalled peace talks -- in what is seen as the last best chance to reunify Cyprus after four decades of division - began in May 2015.

Any agreement reached will be put to simultaneous referendums on both sides.

Previous talks have failed over property compensation, territorial adjustments and security in a post-settlement Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka will reshuffle his cabinet to boost his Social Democrat party's chances of winning national elections next year, he said on Friday, while stepping up a war of words with his main coalition partner. The move, outlined in a letter sent to party members and seen by Reuters, comes four weeks after the center-left party lost regional and upper house elections to the ANO party. "We need new blood. Therefore I have decided to change my team. On the level of the cabinet as well as party structures," Sobotka said. The Social Democrats hold eight of 17 cabinet posts, while the ANO, a centrist movement led by Finance Minister Andrej Babis, has six. The coalition's third partner, the Christian Democrat party, has three. Sobotka and Babis, a billionaire businessman and media owner, have operated an uneasy alliance since joining forces in January 2014, following national elections in October 2013. In the letter, the prime minister sharply criticized the ANO and its leader, accusing them of waging a populist campaign against the Social Democrats. "Our main competitor is not an equal political party but media-industrial conglomerate with huge amounts of money, loyal employees and indefinite media influence," Sobotka said. While presiding over a growing economy and the lowest unemployment rate since 2008, the Social Democrats have been weakened by internal divisions, sparring with pro-Russian President Milos Zeman - a former Social Democrat chairman and prime minister - and being portrayed as part of a corrupt establishment by rivals including the ANO. With parliamentary elections due in October, the ANO is leading the Social Democrats by up to 15 percentage points in opinion polls. Babis, who owns the biggest private radio station and two national newspapers he bought before the last parliamentary election, has repeatedly denied taking advantage of his political position or media ownership to favor his business interests. He is also the country's largest private employer with over 30,000 workers at his Agrofert group and other firms, spanning from farming to chemical production and healthcare. Sobotka's reshuffle will only affect Social Democrat members of the cabinet. The party's ministerial portfolio includes industry, interior and foreign affairs. (Reporting by Robert Muller and Jan Lopatka; editing by John Stonestreet)
In a campaign that rivals any current presidential election for insults and rancor, John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson on this day in the 1796 election in a race that changed American politics forever.

adamsjefferson1776

Adams and Jefferson in better days back in 1776

Under the newly enacted Constitution, George Washington was twice elected as President with little drama. It was unknown if Washington would seek a third term until less than two months before Election Day. Washington said on September 17, 1796, he wouldnt seek a third term, in his well-crafted Farewell Address to the American public, written with some help from Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. With that announcement, it became certain the 1796 election on November 4, 1796 would be the first race contested by divided political parties with separate candidates for office, a fact not lost on Washington.

They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community, he said in his Farewell Address. They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

The campaign featuring Vice President Adams of the Federalist Party and former Secretary of State Jefferson of what was called the Republican Party quickly descending into mudslinging between their supporters. (Back then, it wasnt proper for candidates to campaign directly for office, but Aaron Burr, Jeffersons running mate, campaignied anyway.)

On October 19, 1796, a mysterious editorial from a writer named Phocion appeared in the Gazette of the United States, a popular Federalist newspaper in Philadelphia. Phocion said, in terms understood by most readers, that presidential candidate Jefferson was having an affair with one of his female slaves. Phocion also accused Jefferson of running away from British troops during the Revolution, unlike his brave friend Alexander Hamilton. Phocion also paid compliment after compliment to Adams and claimed Jefferson would emancipate all slaves if he were elected president.

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In reality, Phocion was Alexander Hamilton.

Jeffersons folks had been using their own strong campaign tactics in the fight against Adams. Adams was accused of wanting to be a king and starting a dynasty by having his son succeed him as President. He was also accused of being overweight and given the nickname His Rotundity.

In addition to the insults, there was high drama inside the Federalist camp, where Hamilton secretly worked to have Adams running mate, Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina, win the election by getting southern Federalists to withhold their votes for Adams. In the original election system set up in 1787, each elector cast two votes, and the top two candidates became president and vice president. Six states had direct popular elections, but 10 others let state legislatures choose the electors. That would have made Pinckney the president and Adams the vice president, if several Federalists voted for Pinckney and another candidate, like Samuel Adams.

Instead, Hamiltons secret was discovered in New England, a region that had many more Federalists. Those electors refused to cast their second vote for Pinckney. The result was that Adams became president and his former-friend-turned rival, Jefferson, became vice president. Adams defeated Jefferson by three electoral votes and he gained an electoral majority by just one vote. Adams then wound up blaming Hamilton and Jefferson for his close victory, and he particularly targeted Hamilton for plotting Adams near-defeat.

The bitterness and rivalries seen in the partisan 1796 campaign got worse in the 1800 rematch between Adams and Jefferson. At one point in that race, Jeffersons supporters, notorious pamphleteer James Calendar, claimed that Adams was a hermaphrodite, while Adams people said Jefferson would openly promote prostitution, incest and adultery. That 1800 race ended in a tie fueled by deeply partisan tactics and more plotting by Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Burr. Jefferson was chosen over Burr in the House runoff election after Hamilton decided to support the man he once railed against as Phocion.

The result was the passage of the 12th Amendment, which changed the original presidential voting system passed in 1787 to eliminate the two-vote system. It was ratified in June 1804, just a month before Burr killed Hamilton in their famous duel.

Historical Stories on Constitution Daily

November 4: An important date for electing two-term Presidents

Looking back at the Truman beats Dewey upset

Two Presidents share the same birthday, but little else
Officials on Thursday confirmed that two teenage boys in Utah died after overdosing on a dangerous drug known as pink.

Ryan Ainsworth and Grant Seaver, both 13, were best friends who were found dead separately two days apart from each other in September, according to local media outlets.

Toxicology tests have determined that the middle school students both died from acute drug intoxication of U-47700, a synthetic opioid that is extremely toxic, even in small doses, Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter said in a statement.

13-year-old friends from Utah died after overdosing on new synthetic opioid 'Pink'  Daily Mail https://t.co/hJbtegm1D7 pic.twitter.com/hUTV444QJ8  Healthy World (@healthy_wrld) November 4, 2016

U-47700 often appears as a white powder, although it can also come in liquid form. It has caused at least 17 overdoses and several deaths in the country, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said.

The DEA in September said it planned to temporarily designate U-47700 as a Schedule I controlled substance, which means it has no medicinal use and has a high potential for abuse.
Istanbul (AFP) - The co-leader of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party Selahattin Demirtas has used his immense personal charisma to spearhead an unprecedented political breakthrough and become an arch rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but is now mired in legal problems.

Demirtas was detained early Friday along with his female co-leader Figen Yuksekdag and nine other MPs from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), in the first such move against the party by the authorities.

The 43-year old lawyer has boldly made himself a personal rival of Erdogan and is perhaps the only politician in Turkey to come anywhere near the Turkish strongman's own charisma.

Dubbed by supporters the "Kurdish Obama" for silky rhetorical skills worthy of the US president, Demirtas has carved out a strong personal image that has won fans even outside the Kurdish minority.

But detractors say Demirtas has failed to distance himself from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a more than three decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

Demirtas led the HDP to an unprecedented political breakthrough in June 2015 parliamentary polls winning over 13 percent of the vote which gave it 80 seats.

This rankled with Erdogan as the party's success meant his Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to secure an overall majority for the first time since it came to power.

The combative president lashed out at Demirtas, calling him a "pretty boy" acting merely as a front for the PKK.

In snap polls held in November 2015, the HDP's support slipped to 10.8 percent and its number of seats to 59. But it is still the third-biggest party in parliament.

- 'Erdogan's oppression' -

The HDP draws the base of its support from many, but not all, of Turkey's estimated 20 million Kurds.

But Demirtas also struck a chord with liberal secular Turks, reaching out in particular to religious minorities such as Armenians, as well as gays, women and workers.

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The HDP strongly opposed the July 15 coup that aimed to unseat Erdogan. But Demirtas told AFP in an interview after the putsch bid there was no contradiction in resisting both the plotters and the president.

"Turkey was already afflicted by Erdogan's oppression and the putsch would only have made things worse."

He has come under huge pressure to distance himself from the PKK. His own elder brother Nurettin is believed to have fought among their ranks in northern Iraq.

Demirtas and Yuksekdag became joint leaders of the HDP when the party was formed out of a loose coalition of Kurdish political formations in 2014.

As part of its campaign for gender equality, the HDP splits all its major posts between a man and a woman. The co-chairmanship is no exception.

However it is Demirtas who made the most effort to win votes outside the party's core Kurdish base, especially in Istanbul, with Yusekdag focusing on its supporters in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

- 'You won't be president' -

A winning smile and skills that extend to mastery of the Kurdish baglama (lute) belie Demirtas' steely political instincts, which he has needed to take on Erdogan.

He has consistently opposed Erdogan's vision of creating a presidential system in Turkey, furthering the Turkish strongman's animosity towards him.

In a now famous speech to the HDP in March 2015, Demirtas simply repeated the same phrase three times: "We will not make you the president!" He won a standing ovation.

He has insisted that the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan should be part of the process to make peace, telling AFP he "has to be put back into the circuit".

Born in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Elazig, Demirtas is the second in a family of seven children.

After completing his studies at the prestigious Ankara University, Demirtas worked as a human rights lawyer in Diyarbakir before going into politics in 2007 with the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

The HDP said in November 2015 that Demirtas has survived an assassination attempt when a bullet was fired at his vehicle but the authorities denied any such attack had taken place.
The Democrats have regularly played the Russia card, implicating Donald Trump in supposedly nefarious ties to Putin and others, ever since the Democratic National Committees mail hack exposed how the then party chair, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders. However, the Clinton camp has just taken this tactic a trick too far.

Ever since FBI Director James Comey announced the bureau would be reviewing additional emails found on a laptop shared by Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner, some Democrats are implying Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama, is covering up Trumps alleged Russian connections. This is preposterous even by the craven standards of this degraded political season.

Related: WikiLeaks Emails Reveal Millions Raised Through Clinton Foundation for Bill Clinton Inc.

Lost in all the political sauce is a significant policy point. These two presidential contenders hold radically different positions on U.S.Russian relations, and one of them brings a dangerous hostility to the question. In a weird reversal of all the old Cold War logic, Democrat Hillary Clinton is the superhawk this time.

Its debatable whether Comey was wise or mistaken to have sent that letter to congressional committee leaders regarding the new emails, knowing that someone would leak the review to press. If he didnt alert Congress, it was clear someone in the Department of Justice would leak the fact 650,000 additional emails related to Hillary Clinton were found on the laptop. If he did not send the letter, hed likely be accused of a cover-up favoring Clinton to give her a clear ramp for winning the election.

But Comeys judgment isnt the point. Even if we assume he acted unwisely, its no excuse for the Democrats to attempt a political score by reviving an antique Russophobia dating to the McCarthyist 1950s.

Related: Did a Mutiny at the FBI Impel Comey to Send That Letter?

The worst of this flimsy trickery came first when Senator Harry Reid, the about-to-retire Democrat from Nevada, accused Comey of covering up explosive evidence of coordination between Trump and Russia. And Reids not talking now about Trumps old business dealingswhich are damning enough, as Democrats would have it: Reid alleges ties between the GOP candidate and the Russian governmentpossibly including its intelligence services.

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Then came allegations that political bias led Comey to refuse to sign off on the Obama administrations conclusions that the Putin government was behind the original hack of the DNCs mail. In essence, this makes Comey a law-breaking conspirator.

Trumps allegedly close ties to Vladimir Putin are back on the table. Trumps faint, off-hand admiration for the Russian presidents decisiveness now makes him a threat to national security.

In reality, theres very little to any of the allegations leveled at Trump as if attacking him is our new national sport. We have no clear evidence of Russias involvement in the DNCs hackwhich is one logical reason Comey refused to certify the administrations findings.

Related: Stream of Anonymous Leaks From FBI Intensifies

Trumps business dealings in Russia date to Boris Yeltsins reform period, when hundreds of American corporations, businesses, and banks were active in the Russian market. So what?

All the noise drowns out a couple of things far more deserving of voters attention.

One, Democrats have all along played the Russia card to deflect attention from the DNCs corruption and Hillary Clintons gross mismanagement of her communications and professional relationships while serving as secretary of state. As Paul Ryan said when this latest mess broke open, Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame.

Two, and of far greater consequence, we shouldnt miss Clintons agenda for the U.S.Russia relationship. As The New York Times David Sanger wrote a couple of weeks ago, Clinton will enter the White House with the most contentious relationship with Russia of any president in more than three decades, and with a visceral, personal animus toward Vladimir V. Putin, its leader.

Related: The Failed Ceasefire in Syria Now Leave Russia in Charge

I cant think of a single reason this is anything American voters ought to look forward to. Trumps position on Russia, while in no way well-developed, stands in sharp contrast to Clintons worrisome views. While some may find this hard to admit, its a sounder strategy.

Trump eschews confrontation in favor of businesslike negotiation. He also recognizes that there are numerous questionsnot least Syriaon which cooperation between Washington and Moscow is a realistic alternative to our mounting contention.

The same pattern carries over into the China relationshipsomething else we shouldnt let go unnoticed. Trump breathes fire on questions such as trade and exchange rates, but its a dealmakers ripping and snorting.

Now consider Clintons thinking. One of the thousands of emails WikiLeaks has made public lately reveals her apparent proposal if Beijing fails to control North Koreanever mind that its ability to do so is plainly limited.

Related: Why Clintons China Policy Puts More at Risk than Trumps

Were going to ring China with missile defense, Clinton said in a 2013 speech delivered privately. We're going to put more of our fleet in the area.

For good measure, she also asserted that the U.S. has a perfect right to call the Pacific the American Sea.

With a few days remaining before voters choose our 45th president, its time to call the Democrats on this sleazy gambit: It amounts to little more than an opportunistic smear made of innuendo slathered atop Trump with trowels.

Conventional wisdom has it that a Trump presidency would work only if he appointed sound minds in his cabinet and in various government departments. No less is true of a President HRC.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
By Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker CONCORD, N.C./WINTERVILLE, N.C. (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's supporters nervously eyed opinion polls showing the Democrat with a tenuous lead over Republican rival Donald Trump on Thursday as the White House candidates raced through vital battleground states in a late search for votes. The race for the Oval Office has tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favoring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project. The project, a survey of about 15,000 people every week in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., found the two candidates were now tied in Florida and North Carolina and that Clintons lead in Michigan had narrowed so much the state was too close to call. Ohio remained a dead heat, with Pennsylvania now tilting to Clinton. A Reuters/Ipsos national daily tracking poll found on Wednesday that Clinton was leading Trump by 6 percentage points, the same advantage she held before FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress last week saying the agency had found a new cache of emails potentially related to its probe of Clinton emails. Other polls have shown a far closer race, fueling Democratic worries about the state of the race just five days before Tuesday's election. Clinton's national lead over Trump eroded to 3 percentage points among likely voters in a New York Times/CBS News poll on Thursday, down from 9 points just two weeks ago. An average of polls compiled by the RealClearPolitics website also showed her lead at 1.7 percentage points on Thursday, well down from the solid advantage she had until late last month. "Im worried that Trump may win," said Nancy Dubs, 83, a retiree in Pittsburgh, who said she was voting for Clinton. "I think its maybe time to have a female president." For Clinton supporters, it has been a quick shift from confidence to anxiety. "I think all of us are a little bit nervous, said Rajnandini Pillai, a professor at California State University at San Marcos, who plans to back Clinton. "It seemed pretty much in the bag a couple weeks ago." Nevertheless, some polls showed Clinton recovering slightly from her slide in the past week. She has maintained her comfortable edge in the Reuters/Ipsos poll and inched back into a 2-point lead over Trump in the latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll, which had shown Clinton falling slightly behind Trump earlier this week. President Barack Obama, on the third day of a multi-state campaign trek for Clinton, adopted a sense of urgency before a raucous crowd at Florida International University. "You have the chance to shape history," Obama said. "There are times where history is ... moveable. Where you can make things better or worse. This is one of those moments." The tightening White House race has rattled financial markets as investors weigh a possible Trump victory. Investors have generally seen Clinton as the candidate who would maintain the status quo, while there is more market uncertainty over what a Trump presidency might mean in terms of economic policy, free trade and geopolitics. Global equity prices drifted lower on Thursday as worries about the election weighed on investor sentiment. FOCUS ON BATTLEGROUND STATES With the White House race decided on the Electoral College system of tallying wins on a state-by-state basis, Clinton and Trump are focused on a handful of battleground states. Trump began the day in Florida before heading to North Carolina for two rallies. Clinton was in North Carolina for two rallies. Florida and North Carolina are both must-win states for Trump as he tries to piece together the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House. Clinton, who has comfortable leads in big states such as California and New York, could more easily reach 270 votes without winning either Florida or North Carolina. In Florida, Trump pressed his argument that the controversy over Clinton's use of a private server for her email when she was U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 was part of a pattern of corruption that made her unfit for the White House. Comey concluded at the end of a year-long FBI probe in July that there were no grounds to bring any charges. His brief letter advising Congress last Friday about the agency reviewing newly discovered emails said they might or might not be significant, but the news was seized on by Trump and other Republicans. Republicans in Congress have already vowed to lead investigations of Clinton's email practices and her family charitable foundation. "She is likely to be under investigation for many, many years. Also likely to conclude in a criminal trial," Trump said in Jacksonville. At a later rally in Concord, North Carolina, he said that "the political leadership" at the Justice Department was trying to protect Clinton. Trump's wife, Melania, tried to bolster his standing with women during her first campaign-trail appearance, in a Philadelphia suburb. "We must win on Nov. 8 and we must come together as Americans. We must treat each other with respect and kindness even when we disagree, she said in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Trump, a New York businessman who has never previously run for political office, has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, launched his campaign by calling illegal immigrants from Mexico rapists and was captured in a 2005 video that surfaced last month boasting of groping women and making other unwanted advances. At a campaign rally in Winterville, North Carolina, a community where more than a third of the population is African-American, Clinton asked the crowd to imagine life under a Trump presidency. "He has spent this campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters," she said. "I just dont believe were at our best when we stoke fear about each other." (Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen, Grant Smith and Luciana Lopez in New York, and Steve Holland and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by John Whitesides and Alana Wise; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney)
By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is unlikely to face criminal prosecution for the "Bridgegate" lane closure scandal, even after two of his former associates were convicted for their roles in the scheme on Friday.

U.S. prosecutors have essentially conceded that charges are not forthcoming against the Republican, even though a key government witness testified that Christie was aware of the scheme as it unfolded in September 2013.

State charges are also a long shot, legal experts said. The Democratic-controlled state assembly might explore impeaching Christie, though that is no sure thing.

"Much as I do think this was an abuse of office, I think the potential remedy for that is a political one, rather than a criminal law one," said Stuart Green, a law professor at Rutgers University who has followed the case.

Christie was a rising political star before the scandal left his reputation in tatters. After his own presidential campaign failed, he became a key adviser to Republican nominee Donald Trump, and many observers believe he hopes to secure an administration post if Trump wins the presidency on Tuesday.

Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey deputy executive director Bill Baroni were found guilty on Friday of all counts in Newark federal court.

The pair were accused of closing down access lanes at the busy George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to create a massive traffic jam as payback for the town's Democratic mayor failing to endorse Christie's reelection campaign.

During the trial, David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official who pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, testified he and Baroni discussed the lane closures with Christie on the third day of the gridlock.

The governor, Wildstein said, laughed when he heard that Mayor Mark Sokolich was frustrated that his calls for help were going unanswered.

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Kelly, meanwhile, testified that she discussed the lane closures with Christie a month before they occurred, though she said she thought they were part of a traffic study.

Prosecutors would not specifically explain why they decided not to prosecute Christie.

"I'm not going to answer the question of why I did or didn't pursue anyone in particular," U.S. Attorney in New Jersey Paul Fishman told reporters. "At the time, we indicted only the people who we believed had evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict."

Christie, who is barred from running for a third term, denied any involvement again on Friday. His term ends in January 2018.

"I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them," he said. "Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue."

State prosecutors could pursue their own case against Christie, but Green, the Rutgers professor, said they have probably known about the evidence for some time and would likely have done so by now.

Last month, a judge referred a citizen's criminal complaint against Christie to a local prosecutor in Bergen County to decide whether it warrants criminal charges, though experts consider that unlikely.

Impeachment, which carries a lower standard of proof, is a more likely scenario, said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University.

But Democratic state lawmakers may prefer to leave Christie in office as a convenient punching bag and focus on trying to recapture the governor's mansion next year, she added.

"The reason why Democrats are not pursuing charges of impeachment already is they want to run against the Christie legacy in 2017," she said.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone and James Dalgleish)
Maybe you love Air Jordan shoes. Maybe you have a few pairs of Js. Heck, maybe you get crazy and are into double digits. Or youre out of your mind and have more than 100 pairs.

Youd probably pass out if you saw Dez Bryants shoe closet.

He has  between 3,000 and 3,500 pairs of shoes. All Jordans.

I have two rooms filled up with shoes, Bryant said, according to Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. My garage is filled up with shoes. My other garage is filled. Its between 3,000 and 3,500. Im going to have to tweet yall a picture.

Lets say 3,000 is the right number. It means Bryant could wear a different pair every day for eight years and still have some he hadnt touched.

But that wont happen, because Bryant wont be caught wearing yesterdays Jordans. Or even tomorrows Jordans.

Im not wearing a shoe after it releases, Bryant told Hill. When it releases Im done with it. I get my shoes six months to a year early. Im already in January 2017 right now.

Now, this is an important point: Bryant is sponsored by Jordan Brand. He said he gets 50 pairs of shoes each month sent to him (seems like overkill with 30 or so days in a month, but whatever). A shoe habit of a dozen shoes a week could get expensive if it was coming out of Bryants pocket. But hes fine.

Bryant said hes planning to donate all his shoes to charity. Someday. For now, hes happy collecting.

Nobody has better shoe game than me, beside Jordan himself, Bryant said.

Dez Bryant has an extensive collection of Jordan shoes (AP)

      

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!


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2016 has been a terrible year for celebrity deaths.

It's no surprise that many of us have turned to social media to express some grief or pay tribute to our heroes. #GoneTooSoon

But have you ever thought to yourself while scrolling through your feed: Did these people really care about David Bowie/Prince/Lemmy before they passed from this mortal coil? Did they care as much as I cared?

But don't worry  there's a support group for over-the-top celebrity mourners, it seems.

Australian comedy group stuntbear have realised it, via a satirical sketch that reveals the social media subtext behind our public commemorations.

Too Real.

Postmodern Jukebox's transformed The Chainsmokers' 'Closer' into a '50s slow song

Drone captures sea life with a majesty that'll lull you into relaxation

Good luck not crying during Cubs-Eddie Vedder video

Goofball dog wants nothing to do with toothbrushes
DISH Network Corp. DISH  the second largest satellite TV operator in the U.S.  is slated to report third-quarter 2016 financial numbers before the opening bell on Nov 9.

Last quarter, DISH Network posted a positive earnings surprise of 18.92%. Moreover, the companys earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the previous four quarters, with an average beat of 117.46%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors at Play

DISH Networks top-line growth may remain under pressure as the companys failure to strike any deal with wireless operators to deploy a nationwide wireless network has been a major headwind. Persistent loss of subscribers remains a potent headwind for DISH Network. Also, the companys may be affected by its failure to renew long-term programming contracts on favorable pricing and other economic terms. Also, escalating programming and content expenses and retransmission fees may also hurt the companys margins.

However, the company is poised to benefit from its recent launch of a new version of its Internet TV service -- Sling TV  which will allow subscribers to stream up to three different devices simultaneously for $20 a month. Further, in the beginning of Sep 2016, the company ended the three-month scuffle and reached a new retransmission agreement with Tribune Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Tribune Media Company TRCO. This fresh contract puts an end to the blackout of Tribune Broadcastings channels on Dish Network since June this year.

Thus, DISH Networks efforts to diversify its business model from being a pure-play satellite-TV operator to an Internet TV operator should aid the companys performance as it has emerged as a strong alternative to counter competitive threat from low-cost video streaming operators.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that DISH Networkis likely to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. Unfortunately, that is not the case here as elaborated below.

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Zacks ESP: DISH Network has an Earnings ESP of -5.80%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate stands at 65 cents while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged higher at 69 cents. Please check our Earnings ESP Filter that enables you to find stocks that are expected to come out with earnings surprises.

Zacks Rank: DISH Network has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Please note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions momentum.

DISH NETWORK CP Price and EPS Surprise

DISH NETWORK CP Price and EPS Surprise | DISH NETWORK CP Quote

Key Picks

Here are some companies that have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, with an Earnings ESP of +1.11% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The companys earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the previous four quarters.

Microsoft Corporation MSFT, with an Earnings ESP of +1.30% and a Zacks Rank #3.The companys earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the previous four quarters.

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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Twelve years ago, Sarah Jessica Parker said goodbye to HBO as the final episode of Sex and the City aired. Now shes saying hello again with Divorce (Sundays, 10/9c), a caustically funny comedy about a husband and wife whose marriage is rapidly crumbling  once college sweethearts, now sworn enemies.

Four episodes in, Parkers character Frances and her husband Robert (Thomas Haden Church) have tried counseling and mediation to settle their differences like mature adults. But with an embittered Robert discovering his inner mens-rights activist (he complains to a friend, Seems like its open season on men around here), its looking like the split will be long and nasty. And thanks to creator Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), the toxic atmosphere between the two is spiked with some wonderfully vulgar dialogue.

RELATEDDivorce Review: SJP Returns to HBO With an Uncomfortably Funny Gem

Here, Parker speaks with TVLine about why she decided to return to TV, and the long road her new series took to get on the air. She also discusses her easy rapport with Church, the possibilities for a second season, and how her character Frances has almost nothing in common with Carrie Bradshaw (besides her looks). And speaking of Carrie: Yes, she also gives us a status update on a possible third Sex and the City movie.

TVLINE | You must have read hundreds of pilot scripts over the past decade. So what was it about this script, and this character, that made you say yes?

Well, I actually started developing this project about four years ago. I was really interested in exploring a marriage, and I thought there were rich possibilities to investigate a long-term committed relationship. And initially, it was an affair, and for a while, we called it The Affair, before The Affair was on the air. [Laughs]

DAVE NEMETZ SAYS WATCH!DIVORCE (HBO): No, it's not Sex and the City, but SJP's comeback vehicle has its own wickedly funny charm, thanks to creator Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe). (Sunday, Oct. 9 at 10/9c) ATLANTA (FX): The wildly talented Donald Glover gives us a fresh, cinematic look at the modern black experience. File this alongside Louie in the "funny/smart/sad" category. (Airs Tuesdays at 10/9c) THIS IS US (NBC): A warm, humane family drama to fill that gaping Parenthood void in your life (and revitalize Kleenex sales). (Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 10/9c) SKIP! MAN WITH A PLAN (CBS): Frankly, all three new CBS comedies are terrible, but Matt LeBlanc's generic hapless-dad sitcom is the most blatantly phoned-in. Jenna Fischer ran far, far away  and so should you.

When we went to HBO, they were very enthusiastic about the idea. Eventually, we got to this impasse where we couldnt sort out the story we wanted to tell. But HBO said, Why dont you meet this crop of writers? And Sharon [Horgan] was among them, and we met her, and she was very excited about the things that interested us. Not only that, but she had a lot of her own thoughts about how to explore a marriage. So we loved her, and she went off and wrote an outline, and we loved the outline, and from there, we went to script, and then rather quickly, we went to pilot. So like all things in the development process, it takes time. But some things are worth the wait.

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And actually, it became clear to me, before we hired Sharon, that HBO was thinking that I would play the woman in the story  which I had sincerely not thought of. I know well what that means, in terms of the commitment it deserves, and what it would mean for my family and my life. But I became very excited about it. And the more I knew the story we were going to tell, it just became very clear to me that this was the first woman since Carrie Bradshaw, in terms of television, that I thought was as interesting, as complicated, would be as fun to explore and have time with.

RELATEDDivorce Premiere: Are You Committing to Sarah Jessica Parkers New Series?

TVLINE | Everybody wants to compare Frances to Carrie Bradshaw. I dont think theyre very much alike, but could you see Carrie, ten years or so into her marriage with Big, reaching the point that Frances has reached with Robert?

No, I think given the backstory weve created about who these people are, theyve been together since college, and thats a very different experience than meeting someone in your 30s and making the decision to pursue romance and commitment. Carries commitment to Big came after a long, long time. They had to really fight for each other. They married as mature adults. I think thats a very different relationship.

So ten years into that kind of relationship doesnt necessarily lead to the same thing that 17 years into a marriage, from the time you were very young people, and you factor in children and financial stress and real disappointments and infidelity and changing you know, people grow from college. What they want changes. What was once charming is not so much so. Those qualities that draw you to a person when youre 18 are very different than what youre looking for as a 30-year-old. So I feel as if, with the exception of Frances and Carrie looking alike, because of me [Laughs], thats kind of where the similarities end.

Divorce Recap Premiere HBO

TVLINE | Thomas Haden Church is so great as Robert. How do you two build up that rapport of having been married for years and harboring these long-simmering resentments? At times, it feels like a two-person play.



Well, something thats sort of odd about divorce is: This endeavor to separate yourself requires the other person. I mean, how ironic, that in order to get divorced, you need this other person more than ever? [Laughs] So it is like a two-hander, and theyve written some really nice, long scenes. Were always encouraging them to write scenes that are not unlike a play, where people just talk and talk and you can shoot it in a wide shot.

But Thomas and I met when we did a movie together called Smart People. Though I didnt play opposite him, I did have scenes with Thomas, and I just loved working with him. There is a real mutual respect and affection, and were both grown-ups, and weve both been in long-term relationships, and we can both imagine what that is. So without having spent 17 years together, when the writing is good and you really love playing opposite this person, you sort of figure it out. Thats what the first season of a series is often about: finding your sea legs, and figuring out this language were speaking, and faking a path and then coming to a point where you dont have to fake it anymore. Its so easy with him. Its one of the really great delights of this experience.

PHOTOSFall TV Report Card: 24 Ways to Improve 14 New Shows

TVLINE | So is there a multiple-season plan for this show? Does this turn out to be one of those contentious divorces that drags on for years?

Yeah, were just finishing going over an outline for Season 2. So hopeful well do that. [Laughs] Were putting our directors into place. But I think that it doesnt have to drag on. The title suggests a sort of limited idea, but really, its a part of an identity. Once youre divorced, youll always be a divorced person. So what does that mean in the future? How are you a divorced mother of two children, figuring out a new vocation, a life, your finances? So in a way, I like that Divorce sits there without necessarily battle and combat for another season. It just says, OK, so now what?

And for many people, I think, thats a really recognizable and relatable journey: surviving the attempt at divorce, and kind of repainting your portrait. For a while, your portrait included this other person, but now what is it? To be a single person at a certain age to be single today is so radically different, with technology. It asks of such a different part of you, and yourself. I would imagine it would be very wonderfully daunting for her.

Sarah Jessica Parker Divorce HBO

TVLINE | One of the things I really like about the show is the contrast between this picturesque upper-class neighborhood and the unhappy people living there.



Yes, we shot in Hastings [a New York City suburb] primarily, where the show takes place. Its so cinematic. Shooting in winter, it was very much the look that I wanted. It provides a lot of really lovely tableaus for us. Yeah, its like the [John] Cheever stories. Thats very much how Cheever describes middle-class American life, that there is unhappiness. It doesnt mean its a constant chronic state, but happy homes on the outside often shelter a lot of sadness and disappointment. But they also shelter a lot of joy and triumph as well. And I think the second season is going to be a lot about that. Well move out of winter, which was a wonderfully metaphorical mood for us, but now its time to move into spring.

TVLINE | Finally, its my journalistic duty to ask about Sex and the City

[Laughs] Thats OK!

TVLINE| Whats the status on a possible third movie? Is there a script?

Well, Ive described it as: There are these things called warming drawers, and theyre used to keep the plates hot. Before you serve the food, you make sure the plate is warm. So Ive said its not on the table  which is where people would like to be, which is so nice  but its in the warming drawer. There is no script, but there is an idea for what that story would be. [Sex and the City showrunner] Michael [Patrick King] shared it with me many years ago. And the question is, if and when?

We try to be careful about talking about it, because we dont want to toy with people or mess with their emotions. People have really invested so much in that group of women, and those stories. We want to be considerate and mindful and not yank them around, you know? So Im careful about how we talk about it, because I dont want anyone to try to read between the lines, or tease something out of my words that doesnt exist.

TVLINE | You mentioned Michael Patrick King. Are you two in regular contact about the third movie?

We speak all the time. Hes one of my closest friends. He and I speak both for professional reasons and personal reasons. And when we have spoken about the idea of a third movie, he shared that idea with me, but we dont have ongoing conversations about it. But were in touch all the time. We email all the time. He will always be a really important part of my life.

Are you enjoying Divorce so far? Hit the comments and give us your take on the first four episodes.

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The Doctor Strange media tour has been in full force for weeks, but there's one key figure you won't be hearing from: the person who created the Sorcerer Supreme.

Steve Ditko is one of the most acclaimed (and enigmatic) comic book artists of all time, best known for co-creating Spider-Man with Stan Lee in in 1962. A year later, he introduced Doctor Strange in Strange Tales No. 110, and he and Lee would go on to craft the subsequent adventures together that would inspire the film starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

While Lee remains comics' most prominent and beloved ambassador to the public, Ditko lives away from the public eye. He grants no interviews, and quietly continues working on comics with longtime editor Robin Snyder. Their creations that have political messages influenced by the likes philosopher of Ayn Rand, a longtime favorite of Ditko's.

Ditko's editor politely rebuffed our interview request, in which we noted the excitement for Doctor Strange's release.

"Yes, we also look forward to the release of Doctor Strange," Snyder wrote, before explaining the pair were busy on their current projects - a series of indie comics they put out with the support of a Kickstart campaign. The campaign is full of charming updates thanking fans when the pair send out packages of comics to supporters. The lateset has raised a little more than $5,000.

It's not surprising that Ditko, 89, isn't speaking out during this round of renewed interest in his work thanks to Doctor Strange. He remained quiet during the boom of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-07) as well as the recent Amazing Spider-Man pair of films (2012-14). So the Doctor Strange team knew better than trying to contact him for a blessing.

"We didn't approach him. He's like J.D. Salinger. He is private and has intentionally stayed out of the spotlight like J.D. Salinger," director Scott Derrickson told The Hollywood Reporter at the Los Angeles premiere of the movie last month. "I hope he goes to see the movie wherever he is, because I think we paid homage to his work."

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Added screenwriter Jon Spaihts: "We read everything and delved into the images, and looked for the most iconic and mind-bending and cinematic from the Doctor Strange story. We were infused with the Ditko-aesthetic, but I never spoke to the man."

The new Doctor Strange is getting major praise for its Ditko-esque visuals, which made the character a favorite of hippies in the 60s and 70s. (Though Ditko's work was a favorite of fans who indulged in psychedelics, by all accounts, the politically conservative creator never had an interested in doing the same.)

In the early 1960s, Lee and artist Jack Kirby were considered the architects of the Marvel Universe, with the slightly younger Ditko eventually growing in importance and becoming a legend in his own right. Lee fondly recalls his time with Ditko.

"Steve and I did short, five-page filler strips that were placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill, such as Amazing Adult Fantasy," says Lee of his earl days with the artist. "They were odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with O. Henry-type twist endings, and Steve drew the stories realistically and beautifully."

The pair would introduce Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 and work on the character together until 1966's Amazing Spider-Man #38, when Ditko abruptly exited the book and would leave Marvel to work for other publishers, including rival DC. He would more or less be done with mainstream comics by the 1970s, though he would pop up from time to time (he co-created Squirrel Girl for Marvel in the 1990s).

Members of the industry have said Ditko could be a challenge to work with. As Sean Howe chronicles in his book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Ditko and Lee completed their final months of work together without speaking.

But Lee recalls working with Ditko with pleasure.

"I never had any problems working with Steve, he was always a joy to work with, a true professional, as far as I was concerned," says Lee.

Despite Ditko being intensely private, comics creator Jim Starlin recalls the artist taking time to show him the ropes when he was just a kid with dreams of working in the industry.

Starlin, best known to Marvel movie goers as the creator of the villain Thanos, visited New York in the mid-60s and called up his idol, who was gracious enough to invite him to spend a few hours with him.

"He had these notebooks on his shelves that were diagrams of drapery on characters, broken down to a science, where any angle he could think of, he could find it and work a drapery in. Because he did it inking the very calligraphic kind of style," says Starlin. "Looking back he's my favorite cartoonist."

- With reporting by Mia Galuppo

Read more: 'Dr. Strange': The Untold Story of the 1978 TV Movie Everyone "Had Great Hopes For"
Doctor Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum. (Disney/Marvel)

By Marcus Errico, Ethan Alter, and Gabriel Mckee, Yahoo Movies

You dont have to speak fluent sorcerer to enjoy Doctor Strange, but it helps. The latest Marvel would-be blockbuster (opening on Friday) pulls a surfeit of magical words out of its proverbial hat, from Cloaks of Levitation to Sanctums Sanctorum. To help all those amateur magicians out there, weve assembled this Strange Glossary to provide a comic-book primer for all the weird characters, objects, and places that pop up in Doctor Strange. Where were going, you wont need magic wands.

(Note: We kept this as spoiler-free as possible, using only images and information gleaned from existing comics and revealed in the films publicity materials and trailers.)

The Ancient One

Stephen Stranges mentor and one of the key figures in the Strange pantheon, the Ancient One, whose given name is Yao, is a 500-year-old native of Tibet. Gifted in cosmic magic, he becomes Earths Sorcerer Supreme, protecting the world from supernatural evil, while training new generations of magic users in his Himalayan home base, Kamar-Taj.

Yao, the Ancient One. (Image: Marvel)

Eventually, Strange inherits the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme and receives several of the Ancient Ones most prized artifacts, including the Book of the Vishanti, the Cloak of Levitation, and the Eye of Agamotto. Following blowback over the casting of Tilda Swinton in the Asian role for the film, producers explained that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ancient One is a title passed down through millennia, with Swinton playing the current incarnation, a 500-year-old sorceress of Celtic origins and presumably a spiritual heir of Yaos.

Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, instructing her reluctant new pupil; note the sling ring on her left hand. (Photo: Disney/Marvel)

Astral Plane

Also known as the place where Doctor Strange deviates from the typical Earth-bound Marvel Comics fodder and gets really trippy. The Astral Plane is the realm of the mind, an alternate dimension atop our material plane where supernaturally gifted beings can tap into the consciousness of others. Because this realm comprises ectoplasm, those who are powerful enough (like our Sorcerer Supreme) and can astral project themselves into the plane are able to manipulate matter and weaponize the world around them.

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The Ancient One introduces Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to the Astral Plane. (Photo: Disney/Marvel)

Book of the Vishanti

Compiled by the Babylonians several millennia ago, the bible of benevolent magic contains countless spells of the god-like magical beings known as the Vishanti. The spells are only for protection and cannot be used offensively; likewise, the book itself can act as a shield, deflecting dark magic. This treasured tome was considered so valuable by its authors that they had it guarded by a griffin. Of all challengers, only the Ancient One was worthy enough to defeat the beast and wrest away control of the volume, which he ultimately bequeaths to Strange.

Strange attempts to reconstruct the pages Kaecilius ripped from the Book of Cagliostro. (Photo: Disney/Marvel)

The Seal of the Vishanti is one of the most prominent symbols in Doctor Strange lore. It famously adorns the book and the skylight of the Sanctum Sanctorum, where the volume is stored by Strange. The Book of the Vishanti is not seen in Doctor Strange, but its evil equivalent, the Darkhold, figures in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is part of the MCU. That black-magic tome also informs the Book of Cagliostro in the Ancient Ones library containing dimension-altering spells coveted by Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his cronies.

Christine Palmer

Palmer was one of three women working the late shift at New Yorks Metro-General Hospital in the 1970s comic series Night Nurse. Geared to female readers and featuring no superheroes, Night Nurse was a street comic with melodramatic plots that would have worked in General Hospital or ER. While the book failed to find an audience and was quickly canceled, its characters have occasionally popped up in later comics.

Christine Palmer in peril on the cover of Night Nurse No. 4. (Image: Marvel)

Palmer, a Midwest transplant, encountered members of the X-Men. Another of the trio, Linda Carter, resurfaced in Daredevil, where she tended to the ailing hero and eventually became known as Night Nurse. Currently, Rosario Dawsons character, Claire Temple, who appears in Netflixs Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist series (all set in the MCU), is modeled in part on Carter.

Doctors Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) and Stephen Strange are colleagues and former lovers in the film. (Photo: Disney/Marvel)

Rachel McAdams plays a retooled version of Palmer in the Doctor Strange movie; instead of a nurse, she is upgraded to emergency room doctor and also linked romantically to Stephen Strange, another deviation from the comics.

Cloak of Levitation

Stranges red cloak has been part of his signature wardrobe since the 1960s, but it wasnt his first. In the early issues, he sported a blue cloak that wasnt nearly as potent. After winning a battle with Dormammu, Strange received the crimson Cloak of Levitation as a prize from the Ancient One (along with the Eye of Agamotto). As its name suggests, the accessory allows its wearer to defy gravity, but thats not all: The cloak, featuring an upturned horned collar also acts as a prehensile appendage, warping itself to its wearers will: it can mimic other clothing; it provides protection from elements, weapons, and magic; and, in a pinch, the cloak can act as a magic carpet of sorts to transport others. In the film, Strange comes across the cloak in the Sanctum Sanctorum and it becomes attached him.

Stranges meet-cute with the Cloak of Levitation. (Disney/Marvel)

Dark Dimension

In case you couldnt guess by its name, the Dark Dimension is a nasty place infested with nasty beings. This nightmarish realm  a weird mini-universe with different laws of physics that looks like what youd see if you took shrooms before going to a Pink Floyd laser light show extravaganza  is the home to the malevolent Dormammu, as depicted in Doctor Strange. Other denizens of the Dark Dimension include his sister and rival, Umar, the extra-dimensional beings known as Mhuruuks, the invasive army of Mindless Ones, and other Strange enemies like Veritas and Paradox  enough for plenty of sequels down the line.

Doctor Strange battles Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. (Image: Marvel)

Doctor Strange, with the Eye of Agamotto aglow around his neck, encounters the Dark Dimension in the film. (Image: Disney/Marvel)

Dormammu

Doctor Stranges archnemesis in the comics, the dreaded Dormammu, is the ruler of the Dark Dimension. Dormammu has a flaming head  the result of the Flames of Regency, which bestow themselves upon whoever rules the Dark Dimension. (When Dormammus sister, Umar, takes control of the realm, her head catches fire too.)

The flaming-headed Dormammu encounters the Avengers. (Image: Marvel)

Dormammu gained power over the Dark Dimension after creating a zone of safety for its humanoid inhabitants protecting them from the Mindless Ones, massive monsters who shoot lasers from their eyes and spend every moment of their existence punching one another. Dormammu ruled the Dark Dimension with an iron fist and sought to extend that rule to Earth  only to be stopped by Doctor Strange. In the film, the disembodied Dormammu dispatches Kaecilius to wreak havoc on Earth.

Eye of Agamotto

The Eye of Agamotto resides inside Doctor Stranges amulet and enables him to see through illusions and into other beings minds. When activated, the lidded amulet opens, revealing the eye inside  and the eye is sometimes transposed onto its users forehead. Doctor Strange received the Eye of Agamotto as a reward from the Ancient One after defeating Dormammu. The Eye is not to be confused with the Orb of Agamotto, a tripod-mounted crystal ball that enables Strange to see and travel into other dimensions. (In case you were wondering, Agamotto is one of the Vishanti, a collective of magical godlike beings.) In the film, the green-glowing eye allows Strange to manipulate time; it was also revealed to serve an additional role that will play out in future MCU events.

Kaecilius

The makers of the movie Doctor Strange dove deep into the archives for Kaecilius. This villain appeared in a handful of early issues of Strange Tales as a nameless disciple of Stranges rival Baron Mordo. Along with two other minions, Doctor Strange erased this disciples memory, and he disappeared into oblivion until a brief reappearance in a one-off story in the early 1980s that revealed the villains name. But he never regained the spotlight  in fact, prior to the release of the film, Kaecilius hasnt appeared in the comics in over three decades.

Complete with a made-for-twirling mustache, its the comic book Kaecilius. (Image: Marvel)

In the movie, however, Kaecilius (Mikkelsen) and his acolytes are working with Dormammu to open up a portal between Earth and the Dark Dimension.

Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his zealots seek forbidden knowledge. (Photo: Disney/Marvel)

Kamar-Taj

Kamar-Taj is the Himalayan refuge of the Ancient One  a temple complex atop a snowy mountain peak. Its earliest appearances represent peak Marvel Comics Orientalism  giant headdresses and bizarro stone idols figure prominently in its design elements.

An early version of Kamar-Taj from the comics. (Image: Marvel)

Kamar-Taj as it appears in the film (Image: Disney/Marvel)

Mirror Dimension

The Mirror Dimension depicted in the movie was created specifically for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and doesnt appear in the comics. But its look is heavily inspired by the weird geometry of the surreal realms imagined by Doctor Strange co-creator Steve Ditko.

Doctor Strange meets the Mirror Dimension. (Animation: Disney/Marvel)

In the film, the Mirror Dimension is a safe zone constructed by sorcerers to practice magic that is too dangerous for the real world.

Mordo

Just as Batman has the Joker and Captain America has Red Skull, Karl Mordo is the primary adversary of Stephen Strange. A Transylvanian-born fellow pupil of the Ancient One, Mordo plotted to kill his teacher and would have gotten away with it too, if it werent for that meddling Strange. The two would continue to tangle over the ensuing decades, with one of their most memorable adventures appearing in the pages of Marvel Premiere, when Strange and Mordo travel back to the very beginning of time.

Baron Mordo (Image: Marvel)

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a kinder, gentler Mordo in the film version, but dont take that to mean that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Mordo in the film. (Photo: Disney/Marvel)

Sanctum Sanctorum

Located at 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village  an accidental, but amusing parallel to 221B Baker Street, where Benedict Cumberbatch hangs his deerstalker cap when hes in Sherlock mode  the Sanctum Sanctorum functions as both Doctor Stranges HQ and a focal point for the mystical energies that surround our world.

Doctor Stranges Sanctum Sanctorum. (Image: Marvel)

Onscreen, the New York branch is one of three major sanctums, with the other two located in London and Hong Kong. Carefully guarded by sorcerers, these sanctums also house powerful magical artifacts; for example, the Cloak of Levitation and the Dark Scepter are among the many items on display in the Sanctum Sanctorum. (Fun fact: The real address is an apartment where several Marvel staffers lived.)

Sling Ring

The rings used by Doctor Strange and other sorcerers to travel between dimensions in the film dont have a direct counterpart in the comics. (Strange typically uses other relics, like the Eye of Agamotto, to jump from plane to plane). But in one early appearance, Strange does receive a ring from the Ancient One that allows him to access all of his astral powers while in his physical form. The ring was never named, but fans have dubbed it The Ring of Full Power.

Sorcerer Supreme

In the end, there can be only one  Sorcerer Supreme, that is. Its an exalted rank that only the worlds most powerful practitioner of magic can attain, and getting there requires countless hours of training, as well as numerous head-to-head battles with those who traffic in darker forms of magic. In the comic books, Stephen Strange has reached Sorcerer Supreme status, but his film counterpart still has a long journey ahead of him.

Stephen Strange

In a former life, Stephen Strange was a renowned neurosurgeon who relied on his metaphorically magic hands to fix the ailments of countless patients. When injuries from a car accident rob him of that ability, he becomes a reluctant, then willing, pupil of the Ancient One, devoting his formidable brain to mastering magic. He may be arrogant, but hes got the skills to back it up.

Watch Cumberbatch talk about bringing magic to the MCU:





Wong

The latest descendent in a long line of magical monks, Wong was personally assigned to serve alongside Doctor Strange by the Ancient One. Over the decades, Wong has acquired a more extensive backstory and takes a more active role in his partnership with Stephen. He has even turned against his friend in the past, particularly when Strange declined to save Wongs fiancee from a sorceress.

Doctor Strange and Wong battle the forces of evil. (Image: Marvel)

British actor Benedict Wong plays the role in the film, which depicts Wong as the Ancient Ones stern chief librarian who has a soft spot for pop music.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f272498%2ftrumpbestthingclimate

The Paris Climate Agreement was enacted Friday, and in doing so, became the fastest global U.N. agreement to go from negotiation to international law in modern history.

In an ironic twist, that quick turn of events owes a great deal to someone who actually wants to dismantle the treaty: Donald Trump.

The threat of a Trump presidency helped move world leaders to fast-track the Paris agreement, bringing it into force early enough to give the planet a better chance of staving off the worst consequences of global warming.

SEE ALSO: China climate chief to Trump: Keep the U.S. part of Paris Agreement

Most accords like this take years, sometimes decades, before they become international lawif they're even approved to begin with. So why'd this one move so quickly?

One of the most significant reasons was a substantial fear that a Trump presidency would unravel global climate action like the Paris Agreement, particularly if it was still in the fragile phase of gathering more signatories.

Sure, there were other motivations for nations such as the U.S., China, Brazil and India to ratify the agreement, which seeks to hold human-caused global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, through the end of the century.

But when it comes to climate change, the Republican presidential candidate seems to have motivated world leaders to come together in order to hedge their bets against a common enemy.

Global average surface temperature departures from average in Sept. 2016.

Image: nasa giss

With Paris enacted, it would be far more difficultthough not impossiblefor a Trump administration to undermine the agreement by pulling the U.S. out of the U.N. talks, for example.

Now that the agreement has been entered into force, it'd take four years for the U.S. to withdraw from it, keeping it in place through the first term of the next president. However, nothing in the agreement would stop the U.S. from shirking its commitments under it, since there's no enforcement mechanism.

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Trump eyes oil, gas and coal resurgence

Trump has run on the most anti-climate action platform of any candidate in more than three decades. That this is happening in what's likely to be the world's hottest year on record is striking, especially since studies have shown a rapidly closing window within which the actions of countries around the world can bend the global emissions curve downward, and get on a path toward a zero-carbon future.

During an energy speech in North Dakota in May, Trump revealed his intentions regarding the Paris Agreement in stark language:

Were going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payment of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs," Trump said.

Steam billows from the chimney or a coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H.

Image: AP

Nevermind that he can't actually "cancel" the treaty, Trump still instilled fear in global capitals where leaders are now fully on board with the need to address global warming. Just this week, for example, China's top climate negotiator scolded Trump for his proposal to torpedo the Paris treaty.

Trump's said that climate change is a hoax. He's packed his campaign advisors with climate deniers like North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer and energy executives like Harold Hamm. Both Cramer and Hamm favor more oil and gas development over a push toward renewable energy.

Trump's promises to revive the ailing coal industry is largely seen as an appeal to working class white voters in West Virginia and Ohio. His speeches have been peppered with distortions on wind and solar energy, which are the two fastest-growing energy sources in the U.S., saying wind turbines kill "all your birds," including eaglesa symbol of freedomby the thousands.

Fear plus Obama, Ban Ki-moon

The fear of Trump, coupled with the passionate advocacy of two outgoing leadersBarack Obama and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moonhelped propel Paris to the finish line three years before it was expected to go into force.

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden raised the agreement in nearly every meeting they had with international leaders this past year, as did Ban. The U.S. struck bilateral agreements with the leaders of China and India to coax them into ratifying it this year. China is the largest carbon emitter in the world, with the U.S. as the second-largest.

President Obama makes a statement on the ratification of The Paris Agreement in the Rose Garden of the White House on Oct. 5, 2016.

Image: Chris Kleponis/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

A huge amount of credit should go to Obama and Ban for getting this agreement into force early, but they also owe a strange debt to Trump as well.

When the treaty was negotiated in December of last year, diplomats expected it to enter into legal force in 2020 at the earliest.

Think about that  since when has the U.N. ever done something ahead of time?

The organization has many positive attributes, but nimbleness is not one of them. For example, they're still debating the cause of death of former U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, who died in a suspicious 1961 plane crash.

Fear of Trump, or at the very least, uncertainty about the election's outcome, played some part in setting off the mad scramble to get enough countries to legally adopt or ratify the treaty in 2016.

That dash to ratify is particularly important because of the agreement's tripwire provision, which requires at least 55 nations adding up to at least 55 percent of global emissions submit their ratification to the U.N. before it would go into effect.

So far, at least 97 nations representing 69.2 percent of emissions have done so, according to the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank.

What the agreement will do

For the first time, the agreement commits all nations signed to it to taking actions to address global warming, though it doesn't mandate specific steps for each to take. Instead, countries have made their own commitments that, taken together, would reduce emissions enough to get the world partway toward the 2-degree Celsius target.

For example, the U.S. has pledged to cut its emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

However, countries have not yet committed to reducing emissions by nearly enough to accomplish the treatys goals, with the world headed for at least 3.4 degrees Celsius, or 6.1 degrees Fahrenheit, by 2100, according to a UN report released Wednesday.

The next round of U.N. climate talks begin on Nov. 7 in Marrakech, Morocco. You can bet that negotiators there will be anxiously watching the U.S. election results to see if they will have to deal with a coal-spewing, recalcitrant Trump administration, or with a President Hillary Clinton, who would continue Obama's push toward a less carbon-intensive U.S. economy.
In one of the more memorable riffs of the 2016 election, President Barack Obama recently said "My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration -- that's on the ballot right now!"

I increasingly fear that The West is on the ballot too.

[OPINION: How Trump Scandal Fatigue Hurts Clinton]

By "The West" I am mean the big American led project after World War II to build a better and more interdependent world. Inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, the United States along with our European allies chartered a course for the post war world that chose democracy, cooperation, market capitalism and peace over conflict, nationalism and authoritarianism, mercantilism and protectionism.

Arrangements and institutions like the U.N., NATO, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Trade Organization were built to advance this vision, and bring more nations and people into this emergent global system. The age of colonization ended. New nations were formed. The world began anew, and even old enemies like Germany and Japan were invited into the system.

Soon after World War II the ideas of the West developed a formidable global adversary -- communism. America, along with the U.K. and our European allies and others around the world lead a four-decade cold war against Communism and its global advocates. In the late 1980s, global communism collapsed. The Soviet Union, its most significant global champion, split into 15 separate countries, including a newly-renamed Russia. After decades of global struggle, the Soviet Union/Russia was defeated ideologically and geopolitically. The West prevailed, and much of the story of the world since has the slow assimilation of rest of the world into this single global system imagined by FDR in the dying days of the second world war.

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It is important to note that a key reason many rising nations over the past generation have gravitated towards this American-led global system it that it has worked. Colonialism ended. The right of self-determination of all nations no matter how small was enshrined in the founding principles of the U.N. Populations, standards of living, life expectancy have all exploded across the developing world, while rates of poverty and infant mortality have plummeted. The spread of the traditional and mobile Internet has helped spread modernity, technology and knowledge throughout the world, lessening the isolation many poor developing nations had been trapped in for centuries. While the world has seen conflict and war, there have no global conflagrations like the 20 th century World Wars. All in all this global system has helped usher in what is undoubtedly the most broadly prosperous and peaceful time in all of human history.

Designing, advancing and preserving this global system has been a world-altering historic achievement by the United States and leaders of both parties over the past 70 years. No major candidate for president during this period has questioned the project, the values that animate it or America's leadership of it. Until Donald Trump that is.

[SEE: Editorial Cartoons on Donald Trump]

Perhaps it has been obscured by the focus on his temperament and predatory past, but criticism and rejection of the achievements of this global order has been arguably the defining argument of Trump's campaign this year. He says the system is corrupt, "rigged," run by "globalists" conspiring against the hard working people of the United States. He has promised to " rip up" trade arrangements, which would start unraveling the rules-based global trading systems w've helped build over decades. He has questioned the efficacy of the global nuclear nonproliferation regime, and has promised to immediately withdraw from the recent Paris climate accords. He has suggested he would default on our debts, endangering a far too fragile global financial system. He has attacked the American military as an ineffective " disaster," ridiculed our current campaign against the Islamic State and gone after specific generals by name. He has attacked close allies like Mexico and Japan, committing unprecedented breaches of diplomatic protocol. He has challenged the propriety of NATO, the legitimacy of the EU and cheered Brexit, angering our closest and most important historic allies in Europe. He has even said flippantly that his election would represent an American Brexit -- a rejection of the global order itself.

Domestically, he has repeatedly challenged and questioned long held American democratic norms. He has refused to release his tax returns, his health records and has banned news organizations he didn't like from covering his campaign. He has threatened to reject the outcome of the election that he claims has already been rigged by the media and other elites, threatened to jail his political opponent, encouraged illegal voter intimidation tactics and publicly supported efforts to make it harder for people to vote declared illegal by the courts. He has called for religious tests for current and future immigrants, something that could not be more at odds with the American creed. He has called for a " deportation force" that would round up millions of people and forcibly remove them from the country. Perhaps most ominously, he has encouraged the intervention of a foreign hostile power against his domestic political opponents, an event without precedent in the modern history of the United States.

Trump has also painted a picture of the current state of America far darker than it is, and argued again and again that the entire system -- government, capitalism, the media -- is illegitimate and rigged. His speech at the Republican National Convention lacked the usual celebrations of America's past successes and achievements, and was stunningly dark and deeply critical of America and its democracy. It is possible that no candidate for president in American history has so directly questioned the virtue of the American system, for years routinely described as "exceptional" by leaders of his own party.

While he is running against Hillary Clinton, Trump also seems to be running hard against what America has become and the world it has built. Given his promises -- ripping up trade agreements and restoring Smoot-Hawley-style tariffs, devaluing NATO, withdrawing from the Paris climate accords, unraveling NAFTA and furthering anti-democratic policies here at home -- it would be reasonable to expect a President Trump to rapidly withdraw America from its leadership role of our current global system, bringing what will likely be a gradual end to the great western project begun 70 years ago. For if its founder and greatest champion no longer believes in it, it is unlikely to thrive and prosper in the years ahead.

What is perhaps most remarkable about Trump's radical worldview is that it has no obvious set of adherents in the Democratic or Republican Parties here in the United States, or in most capitals of the world. Whatever the faults of today's Pax Americana, there isn't a coherent, organized ideological alternative being advanced by the nations of the world. Trump is virtually alone in his questioning of the propriety of the global system today.

[PHOTOS: The Big Picture -- October 2016]

But of course Trump is not totally alone. For Trump's vision does have one very prominent champion -- an authoritarian leader in Moscow waging a depressingly effective ideological and political insurgency against "the West" and the global order that it has built. In recent years Russian President Vladimir Putin has allied himself with and nurtured the nationalist, anti-globalization, anti-EU sentiment gaining strength in Europe today. This nascent movement just had a significant victory with Brexit, a rejection of the European political project by America's closest regional ally. Having an American presidential candidate so closely identify with this politics has already been an enormous win for Putin's campaign against the West. Having him then win the White House, and begin questioning and weakening the institutions of Western power, would be a geopolitical achievement of historical significance. Which is one reason you are seeing Putin's proxy, Wikileaks, fight with such ferocity against the Democrats in these closing months. The stakes are very high, and a huge victory against an old enemy may be within Putin's grasp.

So, yes, President Obama is right. There is a great deal on the ballot next Tuesday. I fear that it includes the idea of the West and all that it means. May we choose wisely my fellow Americans. For Trump could bring true change to America, change that few today understand or would want for themselves or their children.

Simon Rosenberg is president and founder of the progressive think tank NDN. A veteran of the 1992 Clinton War Room, Rosenberg is a leading political thinker and commentator.
In the 2014 midterm elections, Democrats couldn't run fast enough away from President Barack Obama. Senate candidates in the president's party didn't campaign with him, worried that voter frustration over the slowly recovering economy and Obamacare, combined with the usual lower Democratic turnout in midterm elections, would doom them. Fast forward to this year, and the outgoing president isn't just being embraced by Democratic contenders. At least two imperiled Republicans have put images of Obama into their campaign ads -- and in a positive way.

That turn of events would seem bizarre in a normal campaign year, when Republicans would point to the outgoing president as the warden presiding over their soon-to-be-ending, eight-year prison sentence, with the GOP nominee as their liberator. And Democrats, too, might celebrate the lame duck president's accomplishments, but still make it very clear they have an agenda of change. But this is not a normal election year. And faced with two of the least popular presidential nominees in modern history at the top of the ticket, down-ticket candidates are scrambling to find the balance that will get them to (or back to) a job in Washington.

READ [Will Donald Trump's Scandals Cost the GOP the Senate and House?]

Obama is enjoying some of the highest approval ratings of his two-term presidency, and "that's quite unusual," says Mark Peterson, a political science professor at UCLA and an expert on the presidency. "It means the incumbent presents a lifeboat as opposed to an anchor, which is usually where presidents are as they round out their last few months" in elected office, he adds.

Obama, rejected in 2014 by such Senate Democratic candidates as Arkansas's Mark Pryor and North Carolina's Kay Hagan (both of whom lost anyway) is now traveling the country, with a visible bounce in his step, as he seeks to help contenders in North Carolina, Nevada, Illinois and elsewhere. He has personally lambasted such GOP Senate incumbents as Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio, accusing them of offering too little, too late, in their criticism of Donald Trump.

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Meanwhile, at least two GOP candidates, Portman and California Rep. Darryl Issa, have featured Obama in their campaign ads, presenting themselves as bipartisan operators. That was particularly startling from Issa, who has spent a great deal of time investigating the Obama administration (a point Obama made in criticizing the Issa ads as "shameless").

The candidate not showing up in ads for Republicans in tight races? That would be their party's own pick for president, Trump. And that factor could cost the GOP its Senate majority, complicating the party's mission next year.

Veteran prognosticators expect Democrats to pick up seats in the House, but not regain control of the chamber (redistricting has made the vast majority of GOP incumbents safe for re-election, and Democrats would need to score a 30-seat gain to take the Speakership). The Senate, however, appears poised for a party flip.

Part of that is due to a perfect mathematical storm. Democrats have to defend just 10 seats next week, while Republicans have 24 seats up for election. And Democrats tend to turn out more in presidential election years, giving the party an added boost.

But it's Trump that has caused the biggest headache for his party's congressional prospects, experts say. Republican contenders struggled to distance themselves from Trump's comments to attract independents and establishment Republicans, while not rejecting him outright and irritating their party base. That was keeping some imperiled candidates in the running, says Jennifer Duffy, a veteran analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Democrats were trying to knock out GOP opponents by running ad after ad tying them to Trump. It wasn't really working. "Not until the damning tapes -- then, it started to work," says Duffy, referring to the tape of Trump bragging about using his fame to sexually molest women.

READ: [Donald Trump: Not Quite Dead Yet]

New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte started out saying she supported Trump but did not endorse him, then said at a debate that he was a "role model" for children (she quickly clarified that comment to say she meant that all kids should see running for president as a possibility). And after the Trump tape was released, Ayotte disavowed Trump -- a move that may have alienated hardcore Trump supporters in the Granite State. "I think the tape was just too much for her. I don't think her strategists wanted her to do what she did. There has been some serious backlash," Duffy says.

In Nevada, too, the GOP Senate nominee, Rep. Joe Heck, was poised to score the Republicans' only pickup in the Senate, taking the seat now occupied by retiring Sen. Harry Reid. Heck, who had embraced Trump, called on Trump to withdraw from the race after the tape was released -- and got booed for it by Trump supporters at a GOP rally.

If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, Democrats would need to flip four seats to take the majority in the Senate (with a Vice President Tim Kaine casting the tie-breaking vote). If Trump wins, Democrats would need to net five seats. Senate races that could determine who runs the chamber next year include:

Illinois, where Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth is expected to oust GOP Sen. Mark Kirk. Kirk has denounced Trump but has also made comments that have upset the Democratic-heavy state (including a derogatory remark about Duckworth's Asian background). Illinois is a tough venue for a Republican, anyway, and running for the Senate in a presidential election year makes it even tougher for Kirk.

Wisconsin, where former Sen. Russ Feingold is trying to get his old job back by unseating Sen. Ron Johnson. Wisconsin is also a Democratic-leaning state. Should Feingold succeed, he will be the first senator since 1934 to avenge his own loss, Duffy notes.

Pennsylvania, where GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is neck-and-neck with Democrat Katie McGinty, who served as an adviser to both Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton. Much depends on how well Hillary Clinton does in the state. A good showing among African-Americans in the cities as well as women in suburban Philadelphia could put both female contenders over the top.

New Hampshire, where Ayotte is running against Democrat Maggie Hassan, a popular governor. That race may hinge on Clinton's performance in the Granite State, where she is leading in several polls. A big Clinton victory could carry Hassan to victory, especially if Trump supporters refuse to cast a Senate vote because of Ayotte's disavowal of the GOP nominee.

Nevada, where Democratic nominee Catherine Cortez Masto could become the first Latina U.S. senator. Early voting numbers favor Democrats, and Heck's inartful handling of his relationship with and to Trump has damaged him.

Indiana, where former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh is trying to return to the Senate, challenging Rep. Todd Young for the seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Dan Coats (who himself left the Senate and came back). Bayh was an early favorite in this red state because of his name recognition and $9 million campaign chest left over form his first Senate stint. But he has been damaged by his record as a lobbyist and charges that he has not spent much time in Indiana since he left the Senate in 2011.

Missouri, where GOP Sen. Roy Blunt has found himself in an unexpectedly close race against Democrat Jason Kander, a military veteran who has run an extremely effective ad, defending his stance on gun control by assembling an assault rifle -- blindfolded. Blunt, ironically has been damaged by Trump's anti-establishment message, Duffy notes, helping the three-decades-younger Kander.

North Carolina, where GOP Sen. Richard Burr faces a strong challenge from Democrat Deborah Ross. The state has been changing demographically, making it more competitive for Democrats. But Republicans are also suffering from public discontent with a GOP-passed "bathroom bill" requiring transgender individuals to use the public restroom assigned to their birth sex. The controversial law has energized Democrats and threatens to fell the campaigns of not just Burr and Trump, but Gov. Pat McCrory.

Less in contention states include Ohio, where sitting GOP Sen. Rob Portman has run what Duffy calls an almost perfect campaign for a Republican this year. He started early, recognizing that he would be running in a swing presidential state, and has managed to avoid having his race nationalized. Democrats once hoped to pick up this seat, but former Gov. Ted Strickland is expected to lose the race.

Florida, too, is looking less in reach for Democrats (though not off the table). Incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio upset voters with his declaration he would retire after his 2016 run for president -- and subsequent refusal to commit to a full term once he changed his mind. But Rubio polls well among Latinos (unlike most Republicans) and is favored, though slightly, to best Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy.

PHOTOS: [The Big Picture -- October 2016]

On the House side, Democrats are expected to trim the GOP's majority, but not by more than 20 seats.

In races for seats in both chambers, turnout, too, could cost the GOP some seats, as Republicans dissatisfied with Trump as the nominee stay home. The GOP was buoyed by the FBI announcement that it would look at emails sent and received by a Clinton aide -- something that could reduce turnout on the Democratic side, aiding downticket Republicans. But that fallout is still unclear, while the unhappiness with Trump among establishment Republicans has been a common problem throughout the entire campaign.

One casualty might be Issa. California is considered an easy win for Clinton, further discouraging Republicans from going to the polls. But the Senate race won't bring out GOP voters either, notes Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. The Golden State has an open, all-party primary, with the two top vote-getters facing off in the general election. The Senate contenders are both Democrats -- Kamala Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez -- so Republicans in Issa's district would need to be motivated enough to come out and vote just for him, a tall order for any House contender.

"Republican strategists are most concerned about turnout" when it comes to the House and Senate races, says Nathan Gonzalez, an analyst with the nonpartisan Rothenberg Report. "Early in the cycle, they might have been concerned about the 'Never Trump' movement," but now they are worried Republicans just won't bother going to the polls, he adds. Trump's own warnings that the election is "rigged" paradoxically might also discourage his own supporters from voting, Gonzalez says. And all of that, experts agree, means gains -- though perhaps not determinate ones -- for the sitting president's party.

Susan Milligan is a political and foreign affairs writer and contributed to a biography of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy." Follow her on Twitter: @MilliganSusan
GettyImages 615528750

The Donald Trump campaign on Friday announced a $4 million ad buy for a two-minute spot aimed at conveying the Republican nominees closing message to voters in the campaign's final days.

The ad featured snippets from a previous speech Trump delivered in Florida in which he argued that establishment politicians do not have the interest of most Americans at heart. He contended that his rival, Hillary Clinton, would maintain the status quo, while he would turn it on its back.

Titled Donald Trumps Argument for America, the ad was set to air in major markets in battleground states. The Trump campaign said it would also air during NFL, NCAA, and NASCAR programming.

"This is Mr. Trump's positive closing message to American voters, and it comes at a time when Secretary Clinton has abandoned any positive message of her own, said Jason Miller, senior communications adviser.

We believe voters are looking to go in a new direction and Mr. Trump is ready to lead this change.

Watch the ad:





More From Business Insider


Critics of Republican Donald Trump have cast his potential presidency as a threat to American citizens. The Humane Society Legislative Fund argues its a threat to animals, as well.

Recent ads from the animal welfare group  which are airing in the battleground state of Virginia  begin with a picture of Trumps sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., holding up a dead leopard they shot during a hunting trip.

A picture is worth a thousand words, the narrator says. So, what does this one say about a Donald Trump presidency?

The hunting habits of Trumps sons are only part of the problem, according to the group. Whats more alarming, the ad says, is that the younger Trumps are gunning for seats in the presidential cabinet.

Photos of a confined hog, a shabby dog and a distressed horse appear in the same shots in the TV ad as Summit Agricultural Group CEO Bruce Rastetter, Lucas Oil CEO Forrest Lucas and Oklahoma state Sen. Eddie Fields  men Trump appointed in August to his agricultural advisory committee.

And as the ad closes, the admonishment that a Trump presidency would be a threat to animals everywhere is displayed next to a grid image of Trumps face, which is composed of animal photos.

This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

The ads sponsor

The Humane Society Legislative Fund formed in 2004 as the lobbying arm of the Humane Society of the United States, a public charity to which donations are tax-deductible.

Donations to the Humane Society Legislative Fund, however, are not tax-deductible, as its organized as a social welfare nonprofit under section 501(c)(4) of the U.S. tax code.

Electoral politics cannot be the primary focus of charities or social welfare nonprofits, but thanks to the U.S. Supreme Courts Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision in 2010, social welfare groups are allowed to run political ads that call for the election or defeat of federal candidates.

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For its part, the Humane Society Legislative Fund casts itself as nonpartisan, endorsing candidates based on their stands on animal protection issues.

This year, theyre rooting for the donkey to win the White House.

Trump represents the greatest threat ever to federal policy-making and implementation of animal protection laws, and we are taking the unusual step of wading actively into a presidential campaign, Michael Markarian, the Humane Society Legislative Funds chief operating officer, wrote in an October blog post.

The group previously endorsed Democrat Barack Obamas presidential bid in 2008 but did not spend money on ads in prior presidential elections.

Trump himself has said little about animal welfare issues during the campaign, and he has not released a formal policy positions on such matters. But Trump this month accepted a $5,000 contribution from a political committee sponsored by the Safari Club International  the group supports big game hunting  and has periodically panned animal rights activists.

Ringling Brothers is phasing out their elephants. I, for one, will never go again. They probably used the animal rights stuff to reduce costs, Trump wrote last year in a tweet after the circus decided to retire its performing pachyderms.

Money in

Sara Amundson, the executive director of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, said a big difference between the 2008 election and the 2016 election is money.

We did not have the expansion of resources to engage [in 2008], she told the Center for Public Integrity. In this election cycle, we were very excited to be in the race.

Whos bankrolling this foray into Election 2016? Its not exactly clear.

Amundson insisted her group was transparent, but she declined to identify any of its funders.

She simply said the majority of the Humane Society Legislative Funds resources come from individual donors.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton herself has criticized secret, unaccountable money in politics, but Amundson said that didnt describe her group.

What is known: The Humane Society Legislative Fund received about $4.3 million in grants and contributions in 2014, according to a copy of its most recent tax filing accessed on CitizenAudit.org.

The Doris Day Animal League, another social welfare nonprofit that lobbies for animal protection, gave it $1.3 million that year  representing more than 30 percent of the money the Humane Society Legislative Fund received in contributions in 2014.

Tax documents also show America Votes  a group that works to help elect Democrats and bills itself as the coordination hub of the progressive community  donated $100,000 to the Humane Society Legislative Fund during its own 2012-2013 fiscal year.

Money out

Campaign finance records show the Humane Society Legislative Fund has spent more than $1 million on ads targeting federal races this election, including $170,000 on TV ads opposing Trump.

The animal welfare group launched its attack on Trump in early October, purchasing $10,000 worth of cable ads in Washington, D.C., that appeared on Fox, Fox News and MSNBC, said to Tim Kay, the director of political strategy at advertising firm NCC Media.

Related: Humane Society Legislative Fund ad video

Its ads are currently airing in the Richmond, Virginia, media market, according to data provided to the Center for Public Integrity by ad tracking firm Kantar Media/CMAG. Thats a state Clinton hopes to carry on Election Day, and recent polls show her with about a 3 percentage point lead over Trump.

John Cleveland, a spokesman for the Humane Society Legislative Fund, said Virginia was chosen because they thought itd be a competitive state.

In recent elections, polling has not been reflective of final margins, and we hoped that launching there would have the effect of shoring up support among pro-animal voters, who span both parties, he told the Center for Public Integrity.

He added that the group had also purchased online advertising targeting voters in the battleground states of Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Humane Society Legislative Fund has also spent about $400,000 on ads to help elect Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold to the U.S. Senate again after losing his seat to Republican Ron Johnson in 2010.

Amundson told the Center for Public Integrity that any additional TV ads in 2016 would depend on an influx of money from donors.

In the meantime, it has also opted to partner with the political action committee of liberal group MoveOn.org to further promote Clinton in an online advertisement entitled Im With Purr.

Why it matters

Outrage over the treatment of animals has been at the forefront of the publics attention after high-profile cases involving animal deaths like Harambe the gorilla this year and Cecil the lion last year.

As president, Trumps positions on animal welfare  and his sons trophy hunting  might not go over well with the nearly 80 million U.S. households that own pets.

On the campaign trail, Clinton herself once noted that Trump and his kids have killed a lot of animals.

The Humane Society Legislative Funds ads show that lobbying groups are making a last-ditch effort to use this hot-button issue to target swing states and undecided voters.

This story was co-published with NBC News.

This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Related stories

Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
Donna Karan finally has a home in Los Angeles.

The legendary New York fashion designer has taken up residence in West Hollywood with the opening of her 2,000-square-foot lifestyle shop Urban Zen.

The boutique has the feel of a Hollywood bungalow, with an indoor/outdoor space and kitchen so the designer can host dinners and lunches, plus plenty of Urban Zen ready-to-wear essentials, statement jewelry, handcrafted leather pieces and artisan-made home decor from Bali, Haiti and other places Karan has traveled.

Read more: 25 Donna Karan Red-Carpet Looks We Love

She founded her Donna Karan label in 1984 with New York City as her muse. She came up with the idea of "seven easy pieces" to take women to the boardroom and beyond, including the bodysuit, which became an iconic wardrobe piece in the late 1980s and 1990s, and is back in fashion now.

Donna Karan International went public in 1996. In 2001, luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton bought all the outstanding shares, plus the licensor of Donna Karan trademarks. Karan established the lower-priced DKNY brand in 1989, followed by DKNY Jeans, DKNY Underwear, DKNY Eyewear, DKNY Kids and more.

Last year, Karan, 68, stepped away from her namesake label to devote more time to her stand-alone Urban Zen brand, and to her charitable causes.

Karan founded the Urban Zen Foundation in 2006 with a friend, British fashion designer Sonja Nuttall, after becoming frustrated with the medical system when her late husband, Stephan Weiss, and friend Lynn Kohlman were battling cancer. The clothing line supports the foundation's work.

Here, Karan shares her thoughts about the fashion industry today, her vision for female power dressing in 2016 and how Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton originated the cold-shoulder top.

Urban Zen, 9045 Nemo Street, West Hollywood; 424-335-0655, urbanzen.com
The proposed merger between Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) ran into another snag on Thursday when European regulators suspended their review of the deal. This marks the second time regulators have stopped the clock on deal.

The European Commission (EC) had an original deadline of December 20, 2016, to reach a decision on the proposed merger, but a September delay pushed the decision date out to February 6, 2017.

This latest delay is the result of the companies not providing "an important piece of information" requested by the EC, according to a report from Bloomberg. Once the information is provided, the clock will begin running again and the EC's decision deadline will be adjusted again to take account of this delay.

ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States

Shareholders of the two companies have already approved the $59 billion merger. U.S. regulators are still examining the merger, as are regulators in China and elsewhere.

EC competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in August:

The livelihood of farmers depends on access to seeds and crop protection at competitive prices. We need to make sure that the proposed merger does not lead to higher prices or less innovation for these products.

The impact on stock prices for Dow and DuPont has been slight. Dow's stock traded down about 0.2% late Friday morning, at $53.14 in a 52-week range of $40.26 to $57.10. DuPont shares also traded down about 0.2%, at $68.37 in a 52-week range of $50.71 to $75.72.

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The bulk of the Q3 earnings season is over, with 364 S&P 500 members (as of Nov 2)  accounting for 72.6% of the indexs total market capitalization  having already reported results, according to the latest Earnings Outlook.

While total earnings for these index members were up 1.6% from the year-ago quarter, revenues were also up 1.6% year over year. The beat ratio was 72.3% for earnings and 54.7% for revenues.



Notably, the ongoing reporting cycle is on track to be the first quarter of positive earnings growth after five consecutive quarters of earnings decline for the S&P 500 index. However, though the third-quarter reporting cycle saw numerous positive surprises and stability in current-quarter (Q4 2016) estimates in the beginning, these two attributes have started losing ground this week. Positive surprises, particularly on the revenue side, have become harder to come by and Q4 estimates are moving down.

This change was reflected in the results of pharmaceutical companies as well. Though quite a few of the large-cap pharma companies posted better-than-expected third-quarter results last week, three large pharma companies that have reported so far this week  Allergan plcs AGN, Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD and Pfizer Inc. PFE  announced softer-than-expected Q3 results. While Allergan and Pfizer missed estimates for both earnings and sales, Gileads third-quarter earnings fell short of expectations while revenues just about surpassed expectations.

Four more companies from the healthcare sector are set to report their quarterly results on Nov 7. Let's see how things are shaping up for their respective announcements.

Horizon Pharma plc HZNP

Horizon Pharma is scheduled to report third-quarter 2016 results before the opening bell. The company posted a negative surprise of 20.75% in the last reported quarter. Horizons performance has been far from encouraging with the company missing earnings estimates thrice and surpassing the same in one out of the four trailing quarters. Overall, the company has an average negative earnings surprise of 1.85%.

Story continues

Last month, Horizon provided sales and EBITDA expectations for the third quarter of 2016. Including the impact of the $65 million settlement inked with pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Express Scripts Holding Company in late September, Horizon expects to record third-quarter net sales in the range of $207$209 million. Third-quarter EBITDA is projected in the range of $139$141 million. (Read More: Horizon Q3 Earnings Preview: Stock to Disappoint?).

HORIZON PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise

HORIZON PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | HORIZON PHARMA Quote

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at 63 cents per share. The company has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. ACAD

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is expected to report third-quarter 2016 results after market close. The company posted a negative surprise of 31.25% in the last reported quarter. In the four trailing quarters, the company missed estimates thrice, bringing the average negative earnings surprise to 15.72%.

ACADIA PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise

ACADIA PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | ACADIA PHARMA Quote

Nuplazid, a new drug launched in May, generated revenues of $0.1 million in the second quarter and sales are expected to pick up in the third quarter. (Read More: ACADIA Pharma: Will It Disappoint in Q3 Earnings?).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at a loss of 55 cents per share. The company has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +5.46%, indicating a likely positive surprise. Please check our Earnings ESP Filter that enables you find stocks that are expected to come out with earnings surprises.

Our previous article showed ACADIA Pharmaceuticals as unlikely to beat on earnings this time around. However, estimates changed thereafter and we are reasonably confident about an earnings beat.

Catalent, Inc. CTLT

Catalent is expected to report first-quarter fiscal 2017 results after market close.

Last quarter, the company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 3.77%. Catalent hasa dismal track record for the last four quarters. The company surpassed expectations only once, while missed in the remaining two quarters, with the average negative earnings surprise being 17.41%.

CATALENT INC Price and EPS Surprise

CATALENT INC Price and EPS Surprise | CATALENT INC Quote

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at 13 cents per share. The company has an Earnings ESP of -7.69% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. RARE

Ultragenyx Pharma is expected to report third-quarter 2016 results after market close.

Last quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 0.68%. Ultragenyx Pharma has a dismal track record for the last four quarters. The company surpassed expectations only once, while missed in the remaining three quarters, with the average negative earnings surprise being 13.27%.

ULTRAGENYX PHAR Price and EPS Surprise

ULTRAGENYX PHAR Price and EPS Surprise | ULTRAGENYX PHAR Quote

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at a loss of $1.56 per share. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The Hague (AFP) - Dutch judges on Friday threw out a bid by lawyers for anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders to replace one of the judges in his hate speech trial after the defence accused her of bias.

"The request is denied," said Judge Peter Hans Littooy, who chaired a panel set up to hear the complaint.

"It's extremely important that judges are impartial in this trial. We are convinced that this is indeed the case," Littooy said.

Wilders, 53, faces charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.

Due to run until November 25, the trial focuses in part on a comment made at a March 2014 local government election rally, 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."

Defence lawyers Thursday demanded judge Elianne van Rens be replaced, after she followed a tough line of questioning with the defence's first witness, law professor and philosopher Paul Cliteur.

Defence lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops told the panel Friday "that there has to be no doubt that the judges have to be impartial."

"Mr Wilders has the impression that this is not the case," Knoops said.

But public prosecutor Wouter Bos hit back, saying "it wouldn't be a Wilders trial without a demand that a judge be replaced," referring to similar attempts by the populist politician in an earlier case in 2011.

Wilders has dubbed the case a "political trial" and snubbed the hearings at a high-security court near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

The Netherlands will hold general elections in March and Wilders's far-right Freedom Party (PVV) is riding high in the polls, a close second to the ruling Liberal VVD party.

His 2014 statements were met with outrage, including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints followed.

A verdict is expected on December 9.

If found guilty, Wilders could face a two-year jail term or a fine of more than 20,000 euros ($22,100), but experts said a punishment on this scale was unlikely.
By Aditi Shah

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management and investment firm The Xander Group, backed by the Rothschild family, are co-investing $450 million in retail assets in India, boosting their combined investments in the Indian real estate market.

In a statement on Friday, the two firms said they have bought three shopping centres in the country for $300 million. The remaining $150 million will be used to buy, or build new retail real estate assets.

APG is investing 77 percent of the funds, Xander the rest.

In 2014, the two parties formed a $300 million venture aimed at investing in commercial office space in major Indian cities.

Despite a surge in e-commerce, private equity investors like Blackstone (BX.N) and Xander have sought malls in the fast growing Indian market, betting that people will flock to stores as more foreign brands open and online retailers ease their aggressive discounting.

Indian malls, evolving from ramshackle collections of stores to modern plazas, are seen as a gateway to brands that a growing middle class aspires to own.

"It is hard to recreate the physical experience online," said Sachin Doshi, managing director and head of private real estate investment for Asia Pacific at APG.

Consumer spending in India is set to top $3.6 trillion by 2020, and brands like Ikea, H&M and GAP are planning forays into a country where new rules allow shops to open 24 hours a day.

For investors, a dearth of quality malls and growing demand from retailers means faster rental growth and higher yields.

Retail rents in some malls have risen as much as 20 percent over the past year, and shopping centre yields in India are about 11 percent compared with 4.9 percent in Singapore and 4 percent in London, according to property consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle.

The three shopping centres acquired by APG and Xander total about 3.5 million square feet and are in Bengaluru and Chennai in southern India, and Surat in the west. The new developments will be in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune, Doshi said.

APG's total investment in Indian real estate, including this deal, adds up to $800 million.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Euan Rocha and Alexandra Hudson)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f272192%2fdaveisdead

LONDON  At 40cm (15.7in) long and weighing approximately 26g, an earthworm named Dave has entered UK record books as the largest ever found in Britain.

The record previously belonged to a Scottish worm discovered in 2015 on the island of Rum that grew to 39.6cm (15.6 inches) and only 15g. WEAK.

The experts at the Natural History Museum bestowed the honour on the worm, and then do you know what they did to celebrate his accomplishment?

They killed Dave.

SEE ALSO: Robotic Worm Remarkably Similar to Real Earthworms

The Lumbricus terrestris was found in a vegetable plot in Widnes, Cheshire by Paul Rees, whose stepson George dubbed the worm Dave.

This is Dave in comparison to an average-sized worm.

Image: Trustees of the NHM, London

The abnormally large annelid was sent to the Natural History Museum, where it was subsequently euthanized and placed inside a jar where it will be "around for ever more."

This is Dave in comparison to an Oyster card.

Image: TRUSTEES OF THE NHM, LONDON

Natural History Museum scientist Emma Sherlock said in a press release, "Dave is now preserved in the museum collections, and will now be useful to science."

"Not only was it really long, it is almost twice as heavy as any other wild earthworm ever seen, weighing the same as a small chocolate bar."

"Although his name on the jar is Lumbricus terrestris little George did request that his real name, Dave, be preserved forever, too. So on the label it clearly states 'known as Dave' and that will be reflected in the museum database forever."

This is Dave in comparison to scientist Emma Sherlock.

Image: TRUSTEES OF THE NHM, LONDON

Humph. I wonder what Dave thinks about all this OH WAIT HE'S DEAD.

And also probably didn't have the capacity to form complex thoughts, to be fair.
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian judge who tried former president Mohamed Mursi in 2015 survived an assassination attempt on Friday when a parked car exploded as his vehicle drove by, the Interior Ministry said. The target was Judge Ahmed Aboul Fotouh, who presides over a felony court in a district of Cairo. The blast caused no injuries, the ministry said in a statement. Judges, policemen and other senior officials have increasingly been targeted by radical Islamists angered by the hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. A newly-emerged militant group, the Hasam Movement, claimed responsibility for Friday's bombing, which occurred in the eastern Cairo neighborhood of Nasr City. "The Hasam Movement's central bombing squad targeted the regime's dog and one of hell's judges Ahmed Aboul Fotouh using a car bomb near his house," the group said in a statement. "To every unjust judge you still have a chance to think it through and leave this dirty swamp that is unfairly referred to as the judiciary." Aboul Fotouh was one of three judges on a panel that in April 2015 sentenced Mursi, also a senior official in the Brotherhood, to 20 years in jail after finding him guilty of inciting violence that led to the death of 10 people in clashes with security forces in December 2012. The Brotherhood, which says it is a peaceful organization, won Egypt's first free elections after the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. But Mursi, its presidential candidate, was himself deposed after mass protests against his rule and replaced in 2013 by the then-head of the armed forces who is now the president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Sisi has since overseen a crackdown on the opposition in which hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been killed and thousands, including Mursi, jailed or sentenced to death. Hasam - an acronym in Arabic for the Forearms of Egypt Movement that doubles as the word for decisiveness - has claimed seven attacks since July, including the one on Friday. It says it is responsible for an attempt to assassinate of a senior prosecutor with a car bomb and an attempt to gun down Egypt's former top Muslim cleric. The group also killed a senior police chief earlier this year. The group's statements mix Islamist rhetoric with anti-government slogans, setting it apart from jihadist groups such as Islamic State, which is leading an Islamist insurgency in North Sinai and has killed hundreds of soldiers and police. The Interior Ministry said on Friday it had arrested members of Hasam and another new militant group, along with weapons, explosives and evidence that the organizations had been set up by the Muslim Brotherhood. There was no immediate comment from the Brotherhood. (Reporting by Mohamed el Sherif; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
When El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. (LOCO) reported its third-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday, the company said that it had $0.18 in earnings per share (EPS) and $95.8 million in revenue. The consensus estimates were EPS of $0.19 and $97 million in revenue. In the same period of last year, it posted $0.18 in EPS and revenue of $88.9 million.

System-wide comparable restaurant sales grew 1.6%, including a 1.4% increase for company-operated restaurants, and a 1.8% increase for franchised restaurants.

Restaurant contribution was $18.8 million or 20.9% of restaurant revenue, compared to $17.6 million, or 21.2% of restaurant revenue in the third quarter of 2015.

In terms of guidance for the full year, El Pollo Loco expects EPS to be in the range of $0.67 to $0.68 and system-wide comparable restaurant sales increasing by 1%. The consensus estimates call for $0.70 in EPS and $382.82 million in revenue for 2016.

ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States

Steve Sather, president and CEO of El Pollo Loco, commented:

We continue to focus on the four pillars of our brand  great food, excellent service, a warm and inviting atmosphere, and a good price. This focus continues to strengthen our core business and has enabled us to achieve our 21st consecutive quarter of system wide comparable restaurant sales growth.

Sather added:

We remain on track to open 17-18 company-operated restaurants and 11-12 franchised restaurants in 2016, including approximately seven combined company and franchise restaurants in the Dallas area. Our development pipeline continues to strengthen as we seek to partner with high quality franchisees who are eager to expand our brand.

ALSO READ: Pentagon to Lockheed: Take It or Leave It

On the books, El Pollo Loco cash and cash equivalents totaled $6.53 million at the end of the quarter, versus $6.10 at the end of 2015.

Shares of El Pollo Loco closed Thursday at $12.20, with a consensus analyst price target of $14.58 and a 52-week trading range of $9.58 to $15.44. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was down 11% at $10.90 in early trading indications Friday.

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Finally.

The presidential election will be over on Tuesday, and most Americans will consider it a blessing. That's because the campaign has been so relentlessly negative and depressing, and because both major-party nominees are so unpopular.

[RELATED: Democrat's Early Voting Lead May Not Hold]

What won't be over are the divisions and anger. Millions of American are fuming at the status quo, furious at the Washington establishment and dissatisfied with both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. Neither has been able to inspire much trust, and prospects for any extended honeymoon for the new chief executive are bleak. The campaign, overall, has been an utter failure in bringing America together, and this means another extended period of stalemate in Washington, just what most Americans say they don't want. Many Americans believe that Washington "has lost its mind" and is mired in partisanship and enmity, which is immensely frustrating to the public, says Republican strategist Kevin Madden, a former adviser to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Says Bill Galston, a political scientist and former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton: "There has been an obliteration of the line between campaigning and governing," and there has been a rise in "hyper polarization."

Clinton and Trump are the two most unpopular major-party presidential nominees in polling history. Sixty-one percent of Americans see Trump unfavorably and 53 percent see Clinton that way, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that the nation is heading in the wrong direction, but they disagree on what to do about it. America is split ideologically among liberals, conservatives, libertarians, moderates, radicals, reactionaries and other factions.

Our national dyspepsia is likely to get worse. That's because the winner of the presidential race will actually be merely the survivor, discredited by millions of Americans. Every effort will be made by the opposition to block the winner's agenda in Congress and to disable the new administration in as many ways as possible.

Story continues

[OPINION: The U.S. Has Survived Worse Periods of Partisanship and Dysfunction]

"Given today's partisan environment, the result will be a mess," writes historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton on CNN.com. "It is already clear that if Clinton is in the White House and Republicans control at least one chamber of Congress, there will be a blitz of investigations that could make Bill Clinton's experience seem like kids play." [President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House for lying about having an affair with a former White House intern and acquitted by the Senate.]....When the dust settles from this contentious and bitter election, we are much more likely to find the nation in a period of even greater gridlock and discord than we've seen in the past eight years."

The country in many ways consists of two parallel societies. "More and more Americans live in distinct partisan worlds and are unwilling to venture into new territory," Zelizer writes. One is based on an old paradigm in which power is concentrated in the hands of an establishment dominated by aging white men and elites such as Wall Street and big business, but an emerging new world is rooted in diversity and tolerance of cultural change such as more power for minorities and women. Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who has been advising a pro-Clinton political action committee, argues that the long-term demographics favor the new America since the country is growing steadily less white, more diverse and apparently less conservative. But conservative strategists say Trump's rise shows that new coalitions can form and confound the prognosticators.

Egged on by the media, which rewards conflict with coverage, Campaign 2016 has been very personal, based on perceived character flaws and weaknesses. This has prevented either candidate from building a mandate based on ideas and or rallying people around specific solutions to the nation's problems. Clinton accuses Trump of being erratic, ignorant and unfit for the presidency. Trump says Clinton is so corrupt that he would arrange for her to be thrown in jail if he wins the White House. The effect has been very negative for each candidate as voters tend to believe the worst about both of them.

[PHOTOS: The Big Picture -- October 2016]

Among the areas that need attention from the next president are reforming the immigration system, changing the tax laws to make them more equitable, cutting the deficit and easing the national debt, strengthening the military, winning the war against terrorism, reducing climate change, and bolstering Social Security and Medicare. Even more pressing is something intangible but just as important as any policy -- restoring civility and adding a spirit of conciliation to public life. Yet Americans are increasingly talking past each other and refusing to even listen to arguments from people who have different views. This makes for a harsh and suspicious political climate where paranoia and anger thrive.

"It's not just polarization," political scientist Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told the Washington Post. "It's tribalism. People on the other side are enemies, not just adversaries, who threaten your way of life."

This is the likely legacy of the 2016 election.

Ken Walsh covers the White House and politics for U.S. News. He writes the daily blog "Ken Walsh's Washington," for usnews.com, and "The Presidency" column for the U.S. News Weekly. He is the author of the book "Celebrity in Chief: A History of the Presidents and the Culture of Stardom." He can be reached at kwalsh@usnews.com and followed on Facebook and Twitter.
It may seem like a long shot, but the highly anticipated presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could go to overtime after Tuesday, November 8 if the candidates each have 269 votes in the Electoral College.

Tie scenario map generated on http://www.270towin.com/

We wrote about this topic last month and offered at least four scenarios where the Electoral College vote could be a tie, which would trigger the 12th Amendment of the Constitution into action. And as of Friday morning, at least one scenario is still out there, based on polling data that show New Hampshire as a possible addition to the Republicans column.

The popular election-tracking site Real Clear Politics compiles polling data into averages by state and projects possible Electoral College outcomes. As of early Friday morning, the Real Clear Politics No Toss-Up Map showed the projected outcome as 298 votes for Clinton and 240 votes for Trump. That scenario assumes Florida and its 29 electoral votes go to Clinton. If not, and Trump takes Florida, the count is 269-269.

Note: If you would like to figure out your own Electoral College scenarios, the website 270towin.com is an excellent resource.

The Real Clear Politics No Toss-Up Map shows which candidate leads within a state by summing up the average of recent polls. On that map, key swing states New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Nevada are in the Republican column, along with Ohio and Iowa. The Democrats would keep Pennsylvania, Virginia, all of Maine, three big Midwestern states (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) and Colorado.

The election would then pivot on Florida and the possibility that Maines second congressional district could send its one electoral vote, under that states election system, to Trump instead of Clinton. In that case, with Florida and Maines CD2 vote in the Republican column, the GOP takes the election in a 270-268 vote.

To be sure, there are many possible outcomes on Tuesday and polling data have been problematic in many prior elections, but it is also important to understand there are constitutional provisions for deciding the winner of the presidential and vice presidential contests if no clear majority winner emerges after Election Day.

Story continues

Link: Read The 12th Amendment

In a tie scenario, the election would eventually head to the House of Representatives and the Senate, under the 12th Amendment, assuming that the final Electoral College vote is similar on December 19, 2016.

This has happened twice before. After the 1824 election, when no presidential candidate won a majority of the electoral votes, the House picked John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson (who had the most popular votes) as President. And after the 1836 election, there was a contingent election in the Senate for Vice President won by Richard Mentor Johnson.

Before the contingent elections get to the House and Senate for a vote, however, several things need to happen. First, at a state level, the election results need to be confirmed; in particular, the winning slate of electors for a state is confirmed. This is where the disputes in 1876 and 2000 over electors had to be resolved.

There are also the possibilities of recounts and contested elections within states where a recount is automatically triggered (like the 2000 contest in Florida) or of a legal action leading state courts to decide lawsuits related to contested elections.

Related Video: Jeffrey Rosen on the Electoral College

Under a federal law known as the safe-harbor provision, a state must determine its electors six days before the Electoral College members meet in person. In 2016, that safe-harbor deadline is December 13, since the college votes on December 19.

The electors for each state convene on December 19, 2016 at their state capitols and in the District of Columbia. In 48 of 50 states, just the electors who represent the candidate with the most popular votes on Election Day each get to cast votes in the Electoral College election. (Maine and Nebraska split votes by congressional district.) Each state group sends its endorsed, official vote count certificate to the Vice President (acting as President of the Senate), state officials, the federal court that had jurisdiction over the state capital area, and the federal Archivist. The vote certificates must be received in Washington by December 28.

In 2017, the new federal Congress convenes on January 6 for the official Electoral College vote count. The Vice President will open the vote certificates and pass them to four members of Congress, who count the votes. If there is a majority winner with at least 270 electoral votes and there are no objections filed by members of Congress, the Presidential election is certified and over. If there isnt a majority winner, the House decides who is President; the Senate decides who is Vice President.

In the House, each state delegation gets one vote in the presidential contingent election. Currently, the Republicans have the clear majority in 33 state delegations out of 50 in the House, before Election Day. Each member of the Senate gets one vote in a contingent election. That could allow for the unlikely pairing of a President and Vice President from different political parties  which hasnt happened since 1796.

And there are also some unlikely but possible scenarios. For example, there could be a vote cast by a faithless elector at the state level during the December 19 electoral college vote, which may lead someone in the House or Senate to contest that vote.

Scott Bomboy is editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

Election Resources on Constitution Daily

A recent voting history of the 15 Battleground states

Explaining how recounts and contested presidential elections work

Who are the Electors in the Electoral College?
What Were Following

Brexits Back: Britains departure from the European Union is a done deal, but British lawmakers may still have to vote on it. The United Kingdoms High Court has ruled that Prime Minister Theresa Mays government doesnt have the authority to initiate a splitbased on the results of the June 23 referendumwithout Parliaments approval. The government is now appealing the decision in the U.K. Supreme Court. May expected to begin the two-year process of leaving the EU in March; this legal challenge, which was partially crowdfunded and led by an investment-fund manager, throws the nations future into even more uncertainty.

Whos Voting for Hillary? With only days to go before the election, the future of the U.S. is also uncertain. Latino voters, who as a group are expected to support Clinton, could make a big differenceif they turn out. The same goes for black voters, whose early-voting turnout rates in the key state of North Carolina are lower than expected, and possibly reflect the structural barriers that the states voting lawsnot to mention Hurricane Matthewpose to these voters in particular. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has evidently alienated Millennials, as well as many older Republicansthough they might not say so in public. Yet not all the voters supporting the Democratic nominee are doing it just because of her opponent. Her strength and intelligence have also drawn her many fans; one of them, Chimamanda Adichie, explains why.

Recommended: The Conservative Case for Voting for Clinton

Dividing Roads: Among those who could be particularly affected by a Trump presidencyshould the GOP nominee follow through on his anti-immigration rhetoricare the hundreds of students who commute daily across the U.S.-Mexican border for school. One of them, Mayra Kahori Vidana Sanchez, is worried about what the election will mean for her future, but believes the border should be seen as a place of connection rather than division: We all come together in this one pathway. Thats less true of one of Americas defining pathways, Route 66, whichdespite its mission of connecting the states and its nostalgic connotationswas a very dangerous travel route for black Americans. You can read a deeper look at its history here.

Story continues

Snapshot

Mountains near the coast of West Antarctica, seen from a NASA research flight. More photos here. (Mario Tama / Getty)

Quoted

We send parents home from the hospital with a sheet of paper to record wet diapers and poopy diapers. That piece of paper is useful for about three to five days, and after that, there really isnt any recommended technology. Lisa Asta, a pediatrician, on baby monitors

Recommended: The Urgency of the Lesser Evil

We need to change out the formula of the Jesus juice theyre drinking so theyre not so righteous theyre wrong. Cynthia Edwards Paschall, a Clinton supporter in North Carolina, on voters in her state

Sometimes I think [my friends in college] think they are working for something better while I'm just working and not really improving. [But] even though Im not studying all the time or writing a paper ... Im putting in 40 hours a week. Caroline Held, a manager at a fast-food restaurant, on going straight into the workforce after high school. If you decided not to go to college after graduation, how have your peers and family members reacted to that decision? Wed like to hear from you: hello@theatlantic.com.

Evening Read

Olga Khazan on how relationships turn toxic:

Lauren might seem an unlikely target of emotional manipulation. She grew up with happily married, supportive parents. She has an Ivy-League education, a black belt in tae kwon do, and experience working with domestic-violence survivors. She was financially independent. Lauren believes she fell prey to a common cycle: Abuse shatters self-esteem, and poor self-esteem keeps people in toxic relationships. I would never have wished for violence, she told me, but it would have been easier to recognize if he had hit me.

Keep reading here, as Olga traces how Laurens relationship evolved into what she now sees as emotional abuse. If those relationship dynamics resonate with you, wed like to hear your story. The first one comes from John, who raises the issue of finances:

Being in our early 20s and being relatively inexperienced with things like communication and conflict resolution, and living in a city in which it is a lot more expensive to live alone, also didnt help things.

Have you experienced something similar? Tell us about it: hello@theatlantic.com.

Recommended: What Hillary's Fans Love About Her

What Do You Know?

1. With last nights World Series wintheir first since 1908the Chicago Cubs broke the Curse of the ____________.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

2. The first woman to run for U.S. president was Victoria Woodhull, in the year ____________.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

3. Through carbon emissions, the average American melts ____________ square feet of Arctic ice every year.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

Reader Response

As part of our series of interviews with American workers, were collecting comments from readers about their experience in the same jobs. Heres what one dad had to say about being a stay-at-home parent:

Most notably, being a stay-at-home dad can be isolating. While our numbers have steadily increased over the past 10 years, it has been difficult to find other dads to connect with. Ive encountered people who run the gamut on their feelings about a man staying at home. I have encountered people who havent taken me seriously, have put me down, or saw me as a threat at the playground because I was a man. On the other side, I have found moms who are accepting of me because we are all parents in the end.

Read more readers on the changing norms of parenting here. You can also check out the full series of Working interviews here; if one of them resonates with you, please tell us about it via hello@theatlantic.com.

Look Back

The journalist and poet William Cullen Bryant was born on this day in 1794 (making him just one day shy of a year older than James K. Polk, for those following along). Bryant isnt widely remembered today, but in his time he was one of Americas most prominent poetsthe first, in fact, to gain international fame. On November 3, 1864, H. T. Tuckerman wrote him this birthday tribute, published in that months issue of The Atlantic:

Our countrys minstrel! in whose crystal verse

With tranquil joy we trace

Her native glories, and the tale rehearse

Of her primeval race, Blest are thy laurels ... !

What earned Bryant this stellar reputation? One example of how he traced the story of the United States can be found in a poem from our July 1866 issue, titled The Death of Slavery:

O thou great Wrong, that, through the slow-paced years,

Didst hold thy millions fettered, and didst wield

The scourge that drove the laborer to the field,

And look with stony eye on human tears,

Thy cruel reign is oer.

Read the rest here.

Verbs

Sand sipped, leafblowers loathed, adolescence extended, news renewed.

The Atlantic Daily is written by Rosa Inocencio Smith. To contact us, email hello@theatlantic.com.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - Leading Italian utility Enel, a pioneer in green energy projects worldwide, plans a broad range of investments in power networks and renewable energy in Europe and emerging markets, as well as in broadband in Italy. Enel chief executive Francesco Starace told Reuters on Thursday that Enel is looking at small to medium size acquisitions in power networks in emerging countries. "We have a big presence in networks in Latin America but we want to grow more," he said on the sidelines of the New York Times Energy for Tomorrow conference in Paris. He said Enel is the number one power distributor in Chile and Colombia, number two in Peru and Argentina, and operates grids in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. Enel will detail its investment budgets at a strategy briefing on Nov. 22. Enel would also invest in the digitalisation of its European grids in Italy, Spain and Romania, and continue to grow in renewables in the US, Central and South America and Africa. He said renewables investment in Europe would depend on what kind of investment frameworks countries lay out for the sector for the 2020 to 2030 period. "We will see what happens in Europe after the (United Nations climate conference in) Marrakesh," he said. CHALLENGING TELCOS Starace was bullish about the outlook for its new broadband networks business and said that following rollout in Italy, Enel would also look at replicating this abroad. In July, Enel agreed to buy fiber-optic firm Metroweb, which it plans to merge with its Enel Open Fiber (EOF) joint venture with state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). Starace said he expects former Metroweb shareholder F2i to exercise its option to buy up to 30 percent of EOF. "It is likely they will go along with us, and if they will not, we have long list of infrastructure investors that would step in their place," he said. In a strategy that is unique among major EU utilities, Enel is challenging telephone incumbent Telecom Italia to roll out a fast broadband network in Italy as it upgrades its power network with new smart meters. EOF plans to invest up to 3.7 billion euros to lay broadband cables in 250 of Italy's wealthiest and most densely populated cities, covering roughly 9.5 million homes and offices, about a quarter of the market. He said broadband investment in smaller cities and villages could add up to another 1.5 billion euros. As these investments will be financed with 30 percent equity and 70 percent debt, spread out over several years, the annual equity investment required is relatively small, about 100-200 million euros per year, compared to Enel's annual gross investment budget of 7 to 7.5 billion euros. Enel has no intention of becoming a telecom operator or content provider, but will rent out its broadband networks to all players on a commercial basis. Unlike its power grids with government-set returns, broadband networks are not regulated. Starace said broadband networks are expected to make up just two-three percent of Enel's core earnings in a few years, but are expected to be highly profitable, with returns of up to 12 percent and core profit margins of up to 75 percent. Starace said Enel has established a dedicated broadband unit and wants to replicate the business abroad, notably where it already runs power networks. He said the cities of Rio, Bucharest, Bogota and Santiago had already approached Enel about possible broadband projects. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq in Paris, additional reporting by Stephen Jewkes in Milan; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - Italian utility Enel is well on track to build 5,000 megawatts worth of renewables capacity in Africa despite political unrest in North Africa and the lack of electric power connections between countries, its chief executive said on Thursday. Early 2015, Enel laid out plans to invest in African renewables and power grids, with a target of 5,000 megawatts (MW) capacity in solar and wind. Two years later, Enel - which operates 66,500 MW of capacity mainly in southern Europe - has nearly 1,000 MW of solar and wind under construction in South Africa and 200-300 MW in operation, while an Enel-led consortium is starting to build 850 MW of wind capacity in Morocco after winning a tender in early 2016. "About 2,000 of those 5,000 megawatts are already in execution. We are working on the other 3,000," Enel chief executive Francesco Starace told Reuters on the sidelines of the New York Times Energy for Tomorrow conference in Paris. Starace said Enel is now exploring a 300 MW geothermal project in Ethiopia and a 50 MW one in Kenya, and in June won a tender for a 34 MW solar project in Zambia. Starace said the big challenge in the electrification of Africa is political instability in parts of North Africa, notably Egypt, Libya and Algeria, which have huge potential but lack the conditions for power investment. He said the southern part of Africa was seeing good renewable energy investment flows, while countries in East Africa - notably Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique - were creating the right framework for power investment by establishing cross-border power interconnections. He said the lack of interconnections, which effectively makes each country an island in terms of electric power, was holding back investment in West Africa. He said Nigeria was too difficult an environment for Enel to invest in and said that with the exception of Senegal and Ghana many West African countries were too small and isolated to attract significant investment. "If they would agree to what the eastern countries have agreed to, create some kind of interconnected system, they would become much more interesting," he said. He said he could not comment on whether Enel would want to invest in grids in West Africa. "First they would have to agree they want it, get consensus between governments," he said. He said Latin America too had relatively little connectivity between countries, but attracts more investment because of its higher level of development. Enel is a major power grid operator in several countries in Latin America, where it has installed capacity of about 17,000 MW and serves more than 14 million clients. (Editing by James Dalgleish)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f272174%2fgettyimages-620309174

LONDON  Remember, remember the fifth of November.

With Nov. 5 this year falling so close to the U.S. presidential elections, it's perhaps no surprise that a certain international-headline-making presidential candidate will feature in Britain's yearly ritual of setting things on fire.

Saturday is Guy Fawkes Night in the UK, when bonfires, fireworks and effigies go up in flames to commemorate a foiled plot to blow up Parliament in 1605.

SEE ALSO: Why this British artist wants to 'F*ck Donald Trump'

The English town of Edenbridge  which is known for its elaborate effigies of famous people  has chosen to celebrate with a 36-foot-tall Donald Trump, holding the head of fellow presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Behold:

Here he is.

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

"This was an obvious choice," said Edenbridge Bonfire Society in a video interview. He's easy to characterise and he is well-known figure, they said. They reckon Mr Trump would find it amusing, and point out that it's just a bit of fun and for charity.

The Edenbridge Bonfire Society has created a large-scale effigy of a public figure for their annual bonfire for the last 16 years.

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The closeup shot you probably didn't need.

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Bonfire night is kind of a big deal in the town of Edenbridge. There's a party atmosphere in the town all day. A torch-lit procession in the evening is led by their Bishop of the Bonfire, his choirboys and the Societys effigies  including Guy Fawkes himself. There are carnival floats and marching bands, and the main event is the torching of the celebrity effigy.

Previous years have included effigies of Sepp Blatter, Lance Armstrong, Tony Blair and Wayne Rooney.

Here's an effigy of footballer Wayne Rooney, up in flames in 2010.

Image: AP

The 'Trump carrying Clinton's head effigy' will be set alight on Saturday evening, and the Edenbridge Bonfire Society will live stream it on their Facebook page.

In the meantime, here are some more photos:

Up close with Clinton's head.

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The Trump effigy has a steel frame.

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Members of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society work to assemble their creation ahead of a photocall to unveil the "Celebrity Guy."

Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images

BONUS: So Clinton and Trump walked into a charity dinner...
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 4, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit against Pilgrim's Pride Corporation ("Pilgrim's Pride" or the "Company") (PPC). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between February 21, 2014 and October 6, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the December 19, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased Pilgrim's Pride shares during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case yet. 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 Pilgrim's Pride made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: the Company systematically colluded with several of its industry peers to fix prices in the market for broiler chickens; that the foregoing conduct constituted a violation of federal antitrust laws; that Pilgrim's Pride's revenues during the class period were the result of illegal conduct; that as a result of the above, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On October 7, 2016, Pivotal Research downgraded its peer company Tyson Foods, Inc. from "buy" to "sell," due to fears of a class action against Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride other peers over price collusion in the broiler-chicken market. Allegedly, in 2008, Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride, and several other companies conspired by sharing proprietary data and reducing production to support prices. When this information emerged to the public, the stock price of Pilgrim's Pride fell, causing investors harm.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

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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
Rome (AFP) - Aid groups helping rescue migrants in the Mediterranean on Friday accused the European Union of being in denial over the unprecedented carnage unfolding on its southern doorstep.

Another deadly week in the waters between Libya and Italy has lifted the tally of migrant deaths at sea since the start of the year to 4,220, higher than the full-year totals for 2014, 2015 or any other year on record, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

More than 725 more migrants have died in 2016 than at the same point last year, the IOM said.

"In the face of this new and shameful record, the European Union cannot continue to pretend nothing is happening and make itself an accomplice to this ever greater tragedy," said Tommaso Fabbri, the Italy head of mission for medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF).

"There is an urgent need for safe and legal ways for desperate people to reach safety in Europe without risking or losing their lives."

MSF ship the Bourbon Argos rescued some 867 people on Friday, including 119 women and eight babies, four of whom were only a few months old.

The IOM's Federico Soda said the rise in the number of deaths this year was partly due to the impact of three major shipwrecks in April and May which claimed 1,400 lives and an unexpected surge in migrant trafficking in October.

"October is generally a month of bad sea conditions, which inevitably cause more incidents," he said.

"In Italy, we saw a new record for arrivals in October  27,388 this year, compared to 8,915 in 2015 and 15,264 in 2014. With a larger number of boats, there is also a higher risk of shipwrecks," he added.

- October surge -

Migrants arriving in Italy have attributed the October surge to a belief that the Libyan coastguard will soon take over some of the search and rescue patrols off its shores, raising fears anyone picked up at sea will be returned to the conflict-torn North African state rather than taken to Italy.

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"Basically migrants do not want to be taken back to Libya, where they risk falling back into the vicious cycle of violence and abuse that they are fleeing," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said.

He told AFP EU governments were making the mistake of seeing the crisis only in terms of what are "manageable" numbers of migrant arrivals.

"You have to look at the whole picture and what they are not seeing at the moment is the humanitarian emergency of people dying at sea and in the desert and at the hands of traffickers," he said.

Malta-based private rescue operation MOAS also called for Europe to change tack on the crisis.

"In the face of an unprecedented death toll, we must find alternatives for people fleeing violence, persecution and poverty," a spokesman said.

The high rate of departures from Libya has continued into November. Italy's coastguard said it had coordinated 10 rescue operations on Friday, in which a total of 1,200 people, including those saved by MSF, were picked up.

There were no reports of further casualties following two incidents on Thursday in which up to 240 people, including at least three children, are feared to have drowned.

Survivors from one of those boats described being forced to continue their journey at gunpoint after they asked to turn around when they hit rough sea conditions shortly after their departure.
Brussels (AFP) - The EU is very concerned by Turkey's arrest of leaders and MPs from the country's main pro-Kurdish party and has contacted Ankara on the issue, the bloc's foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said Friday.

"Extremely worried for arrest of @hdpdemirtas & other @HDPgenelmerkezi MPs. In contact with authorities. Called EU ambassadors meeting in Ankara," Mogherini tweeted.

European Union officials were not immediately available to give further details of the ambassadors' meeting.

EU relations with Turkey have been badly strained by the migrant crisis but they took a sharp turn for the worse after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan embarked on a massive purge in the aftermath of a failed coup in July.

Mogherini, other top EU officials and many of the European Union's 28 member states have all repeatedly urged Erdogan not to breach human rights in the crackdown.

They have warned also that any re-introduction of the death penalty would immediately halt Turkey's already difficult accession talks as it pursues membership of the bloc.

Earlier Friday, Turkish police detained the two co-leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and several other MPs.

Selahattin Demirtas was detained at his home in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir while the co-chairperson Figen Yuksekdag was held in Ankara as part of a terror investigation, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Their detention appeared part of a large-scale operation against the HDP, which is the third largest party in the Turkish parliament.

Reports said the pair were accused of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Hours after the arrests, a suspected car bomb killed one person and injured 30 in Diyarbakir.
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is extremely worried by Turkey's arrest of Kurdish opposition lawmakers and has called a meeting of EU national envoys in Ankara, its foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Friday. Police raided the homes and detained the joint leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the second-biggest opposition party in the national parliament, and nine other HDP lawmakers on Friday after they refused to give testimony about alleged crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda". "We expect Turkey to safeguard its parliamentary democracy, including respect for human rights and the rule of law, and we are conveying these expectations directly to the Turkish authorities," Mogherini said in a statement with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn. The arrests compromised Turkey's parliamentary democracy, they said. Police raided the houses of Figen Yuksekdag, HDP co-chairwoman, in Ankara, and Selahattin Demirtas, the other party leader, in Diyarbakir, a party spokeswoman told Reuters. The EU is engaged in a delicate stage of its relationship with its big, Muslim neighbor. Since an agreement in March, Ankara has helped to all but end a flow of refugees and migrants to the EU via Turkey and Greece, although tens of thousands continue to arrive from North Africa via Italy. In return, the EU is providing aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, has pledged to revive Ankara's long-stalled membership talks with the bloc and, significantly, promised to ease travel visa terms for Turks visiting Europe. This latter concession, long on the table, has been delayed by disputes over whether Turkey has met a set of requirements that include modifying anti-terrorism laws. Turkey's security crackdown after a coup attempt in July has alarmed EU leaders and further pushed back a final deal on the visa liberalization. With elections looming over the next year in the Netherlands, France and Germany, where anti-immigration parties are doing well and oppose easing visas for Turks, diplomats say that Brussels is in no hurry to push Turkey into meeting the requirements to complete the deal -- especially since the flow of migrants remains at limited, manageable levels. However, there is concern in Brussels that hardline tactics in Ankara could generate reactions that destabilize a state which the EU sees a buffer between it and the Middle East. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Gareth Jones and Mark Trevelyan)
At least 110 migrants are feared drowned after they were forced at gunpoint to set sail from Libya, while many more may have died in a separate shipwreck, survivors said Thursday. The latest tragedy brings the number of migrants who have died or are missing feared drowned this year to over 4,000.



VIDEOGRAPHIC
Paris (AFP) - The Eurostar high-speed train service is banking on French holiday shoppers travelling to London for Brexit bargains to help revive passenger numbers that have slumped due to terror attacks, it said Friday.

With the Nice attack that killed 86 happening on July 14, the July through September period saw a 10 percent slump in passengers, the company said.

But "after a softening in demand over the summer, we saw an increase in travel from the continent to London during the half term holiday," said chief executive Nicolas Petrovic.

The number of travellers from France to Britain during the school holidays jumped 18 percent.

"With the weakening of the pound, the UK is proving to be an attractive destination. The outlook to the end of the year is encouraging with many travellers taking day trips to London to do their Christmas shopping."

The company, which also runs a London to Brussels service, said work was continuing towards opening service to Amsterdam, as it looks to steal away some of the 3 million air passengers along the route every year.

"The launch of our Amsterdam route at the end of next year marks a key milestone and represents a significant growth opportunity for the future," said Petrovic.
BOSTON (Reuters) - A former Boston mobster pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he lied to investigators about the 1993 killing of a former nightclub manager whose body was found earlier this year.

Robert DeLuca, 70, was arrested in June and charged with lying about the slaying of Steven DiSarro, a former nightclub manager believed to have been killed by Boston mobsters on suspicion he had been talking to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Denise Casper set a Feb. 1 sentencing date for DeLuca. He could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, though his actual sentence could be significantly lighter due to his guilty plea.

DeLuca is one of three ex-gangsters arrested following the discovery of DiSarro's body behind an old Rhode Island mill building. Francis "Cadillac" Salemme, 83, and Paul Weadick, 61, were arrested this summer and charged with murdering DiSarro.

Federal prosecutors had long suspected that gangsters killed DiSarro but were unable to build a case until the discovery of his body.

James "Whitey" Bulger, a former mob boss who ruled Boston's criminal underworld for a quarter of a century, named the men as suspects in the killing more than a decade ago, an attorney for Weadick said at a court proceeding in September.

According to court papers filed earlier this week, DeLuca will plead guilty both to the charges of lying about DiSarro's killing and to conspiring to have another man murdered in Rhode Island at about the same time.

DeLuca said Salemme discussed DiSarro's killing, telling DeLuca to dig a hole and be ready to receive a "package," Massachusetts State Trooper John Fanning, who is involved in the case, testified in September.

"Bobby DeLuca knew that package to be a body," Fanning testified.

Salemme and Weadick have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Chang)
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Lisa Baertlein

BOSTON/LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Billionaire investor William Ackman and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N) have signed an agreement to engage in confidential discussions, a source familiar with the matter said, in a sign that the activist may be able to force change at the burrito chain without a costly and drawn-out proxy contest.

Ackman, who took a nearly 10 percent stake in the beleaguered fast casual food chain two months ago and has not disclosed his strategy, wants multiple board seats with the aim of beefing up food safety and marketing, three people familiar with the matter said this week.

Chipotle declined to comment on discussions with specific shareholders, but said it was committed to dialogue with investors including its largest shareholders and that it has been "actively working on board refreshment."

A spokesman for Ackman's firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, declined to comment.

The signing of the confidentiality agreement does not guarantee that a deal can be reached or is near, but it is a sign of a potential negotiated settlement between a board that has defended its founder-led management and an activist known for public, acrimonious fights.

Chipotle shares have dropped 40 percent since a series of food borne illness outbreaks were linked to the chain in late 2015 and led to temporary restaurant closures across the United States. Sales have yet to recover to levels seen before the food safety incidents jolted confidence in the formerly top-performing restaurant operator.

Chipotle recently hired a top Wall Street law firm, investment banks and a public relations shop to help defend itself against the hedge fund billionaire, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The company's board has long been under fire from pension funds and other shareholders for being too insular, for the level of executive compensation, and for a handful of members having served more than 15 years.

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This week investors Amalgamated Bank and CtW urged shareholders to name an independent chairman, replacing founder and co-Chief Executive Steve Ells as leader of the board. They hope to take up the issue the next annual meeting and are beginning to lobby large institutional investors like Fidelity and Vanguard, both big holders of Chipotle shares.

Ackman is known for loud campaigns, including an expensive but successful fight at Canadian Pacific (CP.TO) where he won seven board seats, but more recent plays have been less noisy.

Last year, a member of Ackman's investment team joined the board at animal health company Zoetis (ZTS.N) and in 2013 his firm negotiated for seats at Air Products & Chemicals (APD.N). Both happened relatively quickly and quietly. Investors in a Pershing Square investment vehicle that invested in Air Products saw a return of 45 percent after fees over three years, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Pershing Square said Zoetis was one of three winners in its portfolio last year, adding 1.2 percent, and the stock has risen 4.2 percent so far this year.

Turning around Chipotle is a critical mission for Ackman, whose Pershing Square International fund has lost roughly 17 percent this year after dropping 16 percent last year.

Chipotle added Stephen Gillett, a senior executive at Google X, to its board in March 2015. That move came two months before investors approved a non-binding proposal that gives investors more power to shake up the company's board by nominating new directors.

"We have been committed to shareholder engagement for a number of years, and maintain ongoing dialogue with numerous investors, including our largest shareholders," the company said in a statement on Friday. "We will continue to take whatever actions are necessary to deliver on our recovery and enhance shareholder value."

(Editing by Peter Henderson and Mary Milliken)
By John Tilak and Carl O'Donnell (Reuters) - Endo International Plc has discussed a sale of Paladin Labs Inc, its Montreal-based specialty pharmaceutical subsidiary, to Canadian drug maker Knight Therapeutics Inc , people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The potential deal would help Endo, which has been struggling to cope with pressure on drug prices, pay down some of its $8 billion in debt, while enabling Knight, another specialty pharmaceutical company, to expand further in Canada. There is no certainty that the discussions will result in a deal, the people said. Endo has also received interest in the business from other companies besides Knight, they added. Any deal would value Paladin at significantly less than the $1.6 billion Endo paid for it in 2014, the people said. The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Endo and Knight declined to comment. Knight's shares, which were down about 1.5 percent, climbed on the Reuters report. They were up 5 percent early on Friday afternoon. Reuters reported earlier this year that Endo has been exploring asset sales as it seeks to pare back the debt pile it accumulated over the course of several years of fast-paced, acquisition-driven growth. Endo slashed its earnings guidance in May amid fierce competition from generic drug makers, joining the litany of other specialty drug makers, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and Concordia International Corp , that have taken similar actions. Endo acquired Paladin Labs in 2014 to build out its presence in markets outside the United States. As part of the transaction, a portion of Paladin Labs' assets that were not added to Endo were placed into a new company called Knight Therapeutics, which was awarded to Paladin Labs' shareholders. Paladin Labs has a suite of branded drugs marketed in Canada for the treatment of conditions ranging from pain to skin disease. Endo's international business also includes separate divisions focused on sales in Mexico and Southern Africa. Its acquisition of Paladin Labs was followed in 2015 by the more than $8 billion acquisition of generic drug maker Par Pharmaceuticals from buyout firm TPG Capital LP. In September, Endo's previous chief executive officer, Rajiv De Silva, stepped down and was replaced by Paul Campanelli, who had previously lead the Par business. Campanelli's promotion has lead analysts to speculate that Endo may attempt to sell off some of its branded drug business, which is more sensitive to pricing pressure than the generic drugs owned by Par. Knight is led by CEO Jonathan Goodman, who previously headed Paladin when it was a standalone company. (Reporting by John Tilak in Toronto and Carl O'Donnell in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Meredith Mazzilli)
Just last week, the creative team behind the annual Victorias Secret fashion show confirmed they had booked Bella Hadid to walk in this years extravaganza in Paris  and now PEOPLE has exclusive new details on the models big VS debut.

We caught up with Hadid, 20, at her fitting for the show at Victorias Secret New York headquarters, where we confirmed there will be 47 models in the show, 75 looks and 45 sets of wings. Hadid will wear two of the 75 looks, including the one seen here.

This is the most amazing experience ever, Hadid tells PEOPLE. I cant believe I got two looks. Im, like, dying. Its unreal. And theyre so beautiful.

One look, seen here, features the lingerie brands new Dark Angel collection, including a navy lace and silver floral bra and panty set. Its topped off with a custom long-sleeve top covered in over 6,000 crystals, as well as accessories by the shows go-to designers  Eddie Borgo for jewels and Brian Atwood for shoes.

I look like a disco ball, she says of the design. Its so beautiful and shiny.

Plus, of course, it includes one of the 45 sets of wings, which were designed by Marion Killer Hose. The look will be part of the Bright Night Angel section of the show.

I cant believe I have wings, says Hadid. Its surreal! Its crazy. The wings are made of feathers and are detachable from the top. The feathers were actually lighter than my actual outfit cause the whole outfit is all sequins, she says. Theyre actually really comfortable which is nice.

RELATED VIDEO: See Bella Hadid Walk her First Chanel Runway!

Her second look  which there will be no images of until the show  will be from the brands designer collection and will debut during the Secret Angel section of the runway show. But she loves it equally, she says, noting that it consists of a bra, a gray corset, cool sleeves and a long train.

I love the look so much cause I love corsets and I love tiny waists and they really cinched it in there, she says. And I love that it has the long train because I think its really dramatic and beautiful. Im really hoping I dont step on it.

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Beyond the looks themselves, Hadid says shes excited for the entire experience, and being a rookie in the midst of Angels. If you first come into something youre always a rookie, she says. And I think that eventually I will, you know, make my way up the ladder. I dont know.

Shes already been discussing the gig with her model pals. Lily Aldridge is so sweet because weve been talking about this since I met her, says Hadid. So she gives me a lot of insight about it.

And shes planning to chat about it with her big sister, 21-year-old Gigi Hadid, who walked last year. We havent really talked about it, says the model. We like to keep work very separate but I am sure when the time comes and it gets closer to the date, were gonna sit down and have a whole conversation about it. I just have to go and be the best me I can be.

Eventually, shed love to be an Angel. I think that would be a huge accomplishment, she says. Those girls work so hard. They have so many days of hard work for VS so it would be fun. And VS is such an amazing family, it would be really cool to be able to work for them all the time.

Boyfriend The Weeknd (and his new haircut) is also confirmed to perform at the show for the second year in a row, which the brand announced earlier this week. Is Hadid pumped to join him on the runway? Im really excited for the performers, she says.

The Victorias Secret fashion show will air on December 5 on CBS.




The world has already weighed in on Prince Harry's new girlfriend, American actress Meghan Markle, but what would Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, think? ET got former royal chef Darren McGrady to speculate on how the two would have got along.

"The Princess -- having seen Meghan's track record and the sort of work that she does and that she is interested in fashion -- they'd have so much to talk about," McGrady tells ET during an exclusive sitdown. "Princess Diana would be thrilled that she could talk to Meghan about fashion. We know that Meghan also does a lot of charity work and that would be a big bonus, too, in getting the Princess' approval. We also know that she is beautiful, and of course, who wouldn't want a beautiful bride for their son?"

WATCH: Prince Harry Made a Secret Visit to Girlfriend Meghan Markle in Toronto

According to his website, eatingroyally.com, McGrady was personal chef to Queen Elizabeth II; Diana, Princess of Wales; Prince William and Prince Harry for 15 years, before settling in Dallas, Texas, to run his catering company. He shares memories of some of his most intimate times with the royal family in his book, Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances From a Palace Kitchen.

Prince Harry, 32, was only 12 when his mother died tragically in Paris, France, but McGrady says that the young prince was very close to his mom and is "very much like" her. McGrady says that Markle also reminds him of the late princess.

"I think Meghan is very much like Princess Diana," he says. "She's compassionate; she's beautiful to look at -- the components Harry is looking for in a bride."

Some have wondered whether Markle's nationality could ruffle some feathers at the palace, but according to McGrady, the late Princess of Wales held an open mind.

"Princess Diana loved America," he says. "With Harry actually choosing an American bride, I think that she would be absolutely thrilled to pieces with that."

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WATCH: 13 Things to Know About Prince Harry's New Girlfriend Meghan Markle

Of course, we're still a long way from another royal wedding, but the possibility will continue to bring Markle plenty of media attention. Cameras followed the Suits star as she stepped out in public for the first time since news of her secret romance broke. The 35-year-old Los Angeles native was snapped as she left her Toronto home for a night shoot of her USA Network drama.

All eyes will be on Prince Harry to see if he brings Markle along for his two-week tour in the Caribbean planned to start Nov. 20.

While everyone seems to have their own assessment of the new couple, McGrady made clear that there's really only one opinion that would have mattered to Prince Harry.

"If Princess Diana was still alive today, it would be very important that he got his mother's blessing," McGrady says. "His mother was very intuitive. She'd want to meet with her and sit with her and chat with her."

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By Rania El Gamal, Alex Lawler and Dmitry Zhdannikov

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Old disputes between Saudi Arabia and rival Iran resurfaced at a meeting of OPEC experts last week, with Riyadh saying it could raise oil output steeply to bring prices down if Tehran refuses to limit its supply, OPEC sources say.

Clashes between the two OPEC heavyweights, which are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, have become frequent in recent years.

Tensions subsided, however, in recent months after Saudi Arabia agreed to support a global oil supply limiting pact, thus raising the prospect that OPEC would take steps to boost oil prices.

But a meeting of OPEC experts last week, designed to work out details of cuts for the next OPEC ministerial gathering on Nov. 30, saw Saudis and Iranian clashing again, according to five OPEC sources who were present at the meeting and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"The Saudis have threatened to raise their production to 11 million barrels per day and even 12 million bpd, bringing oil prices down, and to withdraw from the meeting," one OPEC source who attended the meeting told Reuters.

OPEC headquarters declined to comment on discussions during the closed-door meetings last week. Saudi and Iranian OPEC delegates also declined official comments.

A senior Gulf OPEC source said Saudi Arabia did not say output will rise, rather that it "could" rise.

"Saudi doesn't threat, Saudi Arabia doesn't produce more than the customers need," the source said. "All oil producers could raise their production if there was no agreement, this is a fact."

Oil prices fell on Friday. Brent crude was down 77 cents at $45.58 a barrel as of 1649 GMT.

Saudi Arabia has increased output since 2014 to record highs of around 10.5 million-10.7 million barrels per day and adding extra supply would only worsen the global glut, which has already seen prices more than halving from $115 a barrel since mid-2014.

The Saudi stance followed objections by Iran, which said it was unwilling to freeze its output, the same OPEC sources said. Iran has argued it should be exempt from such limits as its production recovers after the lifting of EU sanctions.

Story continues

Riyadh's position will revive memories of a pump war that it embarked on at the end of 2014 to claw market share back from higher-cost producers. Iran along with other OPEC price hawks have severely criticised the Saudi strategy.

Riyadh has softened its stance since the appointment of Khalid al-Falih as energy minister in May this year.

In September, OPEC agreed at a meeting in Algeria on modest preliminary oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008, with special conditions given to Libya, Nigeria and Iran, whose output has been hit by wars and sanctions.

A new rise in tensions observed during the meeting of experts last week highlights the fragile nature of OPEC agreements. The group has a long way to go before it turns its preliminary Algerian accord into a real deal.

The Saudi comments on raising output came as a surprise even to Riyadh's Gulf OPEC allies, sources who attended the meeting of experts on Oct. 28 said.

One source said the Saudi OPEC delegation has asked to call off the next day's meeting with non-OPEC producers, including Russia, on Oct. 29 since Iran was objecting to a deal. But they were convinced by other members to attend it in order not to embarrass the group.

"We felt as if they (the Saudis) wanted the meeting to fail," said a third, non-Iranian OPEC source.

"WAR FRONT"

The Saudi OPEC delegation told their Iranian counterparts that Tehran should freeze output at 3.66 million bpd - the latest estimates of Iranian output by OPEC experts, known as secondary sources.

Iran has reported its output at 3.85 million bpd in September and said it would only cap its output at 12.7 percent of OPEC's total ceiling - or 4.2 million bpd.

Iran's counter-argument at the meeting was that Saudi Arabia has raised its output by almost 1 million bpd since 2014, and is now trying to convince others it would cut output by 400,000 bpd to get a deal, though in reality Riyadh has already won extra production and revenue, according to OPEC sources.

Iranian comments after meeting to domestic media indicated tensions were high.

"Working in oil industry is like operating at war fronts and we have to preserve our trenches by raising our production capacity as much as we can," Ali Kardor, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told the oil ministry's news agency Shana.

"The next OPEC meeting is near and we will never cease to recapture our quota in the organisation," he said on Monday, adding that Iran's crude oil output was nearing 4 million bpd.

OPEC sources have said Saudi Arabia offered to reduce its output from summer peaks of 10.7 million bpd to about 10.2 million if Iran agreed to freeze production at around levels of 3.6 million-3.7 million bpd.

The Saturday meeting with non-OPEC producers went ahead though they made no specific commitment.

The High Level Committee of experts will meet again in Vienna on Nov. 25 to finalise the details ahead of the next meeting of OPEC ministers on Nov. 30.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo has said he is "optimistic" a final agreement will be reached.

An OPEC delegate, who attended Friday's meeting, said he still hoped for a deal in November.

"People can look at it from different angles. The fact that discussions are still going on is a positive one. They are going to work on it, close to the ministers meeting," the delegate said.

(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
By Rania El Gamal, Alex Lawler and Dmitry Zhdannikov DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Old disputes between Saudi Arabia and rival Iran resurfaced at a meeting of OPEC experts last week, with Riyadh saying it could raise oil output steeply to bring prices down if Tehran refuses to limit its supply, OPEC sources say. Clashes between the two OPEC heavyweights, which are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, have become frequent in recent years. Tensions subsided, however, in recent months after Saudi Arabia agreed to support a global oil supply limiting pact, thus raising the prospect that OPEC would take steps to boost oil prices. But a meeting of OPEC experts last week, designed to work out details of cuts for the next OPEC ministerial gathering on Nov. 30, saw Saudis and Iranian clashing again, according to five OPEC sources who were present at the meeting and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. "The Saudis have threatened to raise their production to 11 million barrels per day and even 12 million bpd, bringing oil prices down, and to withdraw from the meeting," one OPEC source who attended the meeting told Reuters. OPEC headquarters declined to comment on discussions during the closed-door meetings last week. Saudi and Iranian OPEC delegates also declined official comments. A senior Gulf OPEC source said Saudi Arabia did not say output will rise, rather that it "could" rise. "Saudi doesn't threat, Saudi Arabia doesn't produce more than the customers need," the source said. "All oil producers could raise their production if there was no agreement, this is a fact." Oil prices fell on Friday. Brent crude was down 77 cents at $45.58 a barrel as of 1249 ET. Saudi Arabia has increased output since 2014 to record highs of around 10.5 million-10.7 million barrels per day and adding extra supply would only worsen the global glut, which has already seen prices more than halving from $115 a barrel since mid-2014. The Saudi stance followed objections by Iran, which said it was unwilling to freeze its output, the same OPEC sources said. Iran has argued it should be exempt from such limits as its production recovers after the lifting of EU sanctions. Riyadh's position will revive memories of a pump war that it embarked on at the end of 2014 to claw market share back from higher-cost producers. Iran along with other OPEC price hawks have severely criticized the Saudi strategy. Riyadh has softened its stance since the appointment of Khalid al-Falih as energy minister in May this year. In September, OPEC agreed at a meeting in Algeria on modest preliminary oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008, with special conditions given to Libya, Nigeria and Iran, whose output has been hit by wars and sanctions. A new rise in tensions observed during the meeting of experts last week highlights the fragile nature of OPEC agreements. The group has a long way to go before it turns its preliminary Algerian accord into a real deal. The Saudi comments on raising output came as a surprise even to Riyadh's Gulf OPEC allies, sources who attended the meeting of experts on Oct. 28 said. One source said the Saudi OPEC delegation has asked to call off the next day's meeting with non-OPEC producers, including Russia, on Oct. 29 since Iran was objecting to a deal. But they were convinced by other members to attend it in order not to embarrass the group. "We felt as if they (the Saudis) wanted the meeting to fail," said a third, non-Iranian OPEC source. "WAR FRONT" The Saudi OPEC delegation told their Iranian counterparts that Tehran should freeze output at 3.66 million bpd - the latest estimates of Iranian output by OPEC experts, known as secondary sources. Iran has reported its output at 3.85 million bpd in September and said it would only cap its output at 12.7 percent of OPEC's total ceiling - or 4.2 million bpd. Iran's counter-argument at the meeting was that Saudi Arabia has raised its output by almost 1 million bpd since 2014, and is now trying to convince others it would cut output by 400,000 bpd to get a deal, though in reality Riyadh has already won extra production and revenue, according to OPEC sources. Iranian comments after meeting to domestic media indicated tensions were high. "Working in oil industry is like operating at war fronts and we have to preserve our trenches by raising our production capacity as much as we can," Ali Kardor, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told the oil ministry's news agency Shana. "The next OPEC meeting is near and we will never cease to recapture our quota in the organization," he said on Monday, adding that Iran's crude oil output was nearing 4 million bpd. OPEC sources have said Saudi Arabia offered to reduce its output from summer peaks of 10.7 million bpd to about 10.2 million if Iran agreed to freeze production at around levels of 3.6 million-3.7 million bpd. The Saturday meeting with non-OPEC producers went ahead though they made no specific commitment. The High Level Committee of experts will meet again in Vienna on Nov. 25 to finalize the details ahead of the next meeting of OPEC ministers on Nov. 30. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo has said he is "optimistic" a final agreement will be reached. An OPEC delegate, who attended Friday's meeting, said he still hoped for a deal in November. "People can look at it from different angles. The fact that discussions are still going on is a positive one. They are going to work on it, close to the ministers meeting," the delegate said. (Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f26902%2f80eecf52886146b69d3fbe08038ee34c

Hearing the roar of a rocket launching to space in person is a pretty incredible experience. The sound of the powerful, human-built tool blasting off on its mission literally shakes the ground beneath your feet as it ascends.

Actually making it to a rocket launch, however, is no easy task, so a new 360 degree video produced by the company United Launch Alliance (ULA) transports you to a spot next to the most powerful rocket in use today as it leaves Earth behind.

SEE ALSO: New 360 video puts you next to the flames of a rocket as it launches

The video shows the company's Delta IV Heavy rocket delivering the secret NROL-37 payload (likely some kind of spy satellite) to orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on June 11 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The only information about the payload that ULA released is that the mission was "in support of national defense."

The 360 degree video itself leads you through the rocket's rollout to the pad and its fiery liftoff to orbit.

You can also watch this video in virtual reality using the Littlstar mobile app, according to the rocket company.

Image: ULA

"Thanks to virtual reality, you can experience the scale, power and precision of the launch as though you were standing just feet away from the world's most reliable rockets," ULA said in a statement.

And ULA isn't wrong.

The 360 degree video actually gives you a much, much closer look at the launch than you would get if you were viewing the launch in person. People watching launches in Florida need to be miles away in case anything goes wrong during launch.

(Getting hit by a piece of an exploding rocket isn't great for anyone.)

This is the second video of its kind released by ULA. The rocket company  a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing  also released another 360 degree video showing a spy satellite launch in April. That video shows a nighttime rocket launch.

The Delta IV Heavy is the most powerful launcher flying today, however it is on par with China's Long March 5 rocket, which made its maiden journey to space earlier this week.
(Reuters) - InterOil Corp said on Friday an appeals court in Canada had overturned approval of the natural gas producer's $2.5 billion sale to Exxon Mobil Corp , throwing the deal's viability in doubt. The Supreme Court of Yukon ruled for Phil Mulacek, InterOil's founder and second-largest shareholder, who had objected to the all-stock deal announced in July. The Supreme Court approved the deal in early October, but Mulacek filed an objection saying it did not properly remunerate InterOil shareholders. InterOil is incorporated in Yukon, Canada, with operations in Papua New Guinea and headquarters in Singapore. An InterOil representative said on Friday that Canadian approval was all that remained to close the deal. Exxon representatives were not immediately available for comment. A representative for Mulacek was not immediately available for comment. InterOil said it still believed that the Exxon deal represented "compelling value" for its shareholders and was considering options to close the deal. Shares of InterOil fell 5.8 percent to close at $45.75, and Exxon edged down 0.1 percent to $83.57. InterOil owns a 36.5 percent stake in Papua New Guinea's Elk-Antelope gas field, which is operated by Total . The acquisition would give Exxon interests in six licenses in Papua New Guinea covering about four million acres and help the world's largest publicly traded energy company supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asian markets. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Richard Chang)
Two teenagers were arrested in relation to a large bushfire raging in western Sydney, on Friday afternoon, November 4.

At least two homes were damaged on Vincent Road in Cranebrook by the blaze, while Fire and Rescue NSW issued emergency warnings by telephone to residents in Londonderry and Llandilo.

NSW Police said several homes, two schools, and a nursing home in the nearby area were evacuated.

More than 300 firefighters were mobilised to battle the blaze, and two boys, aged 17 and 19, were taken into custody and questioned around three hours after the fire ignited. Credit: Nathan Walters
Decades after Richard Hoagland disappeared, leaving his wife broke and under suspicion, his secret life is finally exposed. For much more, pick up this weeks issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.

Edward Symansky was heartbroken over the death of his son, Terry, who drowned in a boating accident in 1991.

So, a few years later, he was grateful when Richard Hoagland rented an efficiency apartment inside his home in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Hoagland would listen as Edward told stories about his son.

My dad was grieving and pouring his heart out, Terrys sister, Cynthia Bujnak, tells PEOPLE in this weeks issue, on newsstands now.

But that vulnerability was taken advantage of, authorities allege, because Hoagland stole Terrys identity  and used the dead mans name for more than two decades after running away from his own family halfway across the country.

This was a perfect candidate for to use for identity theft, Bujnak says, alleging, He stole my brothers death certificate.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

In July, Hoagland was arrested for fraudulent use of personal identification.

Since 1994, the defendant has exclusively used the victim Terry Symanskys identity for everything, according to an incident report by the Pasco County Sheriffs Office in Florida.

The defendant obtained a private pilots license, got married, had a child, opened and used numerous credit cards, applied for and was granted multiple mortgages for homes with his wife.

Hoagland remains in jail and declined to be interviewed. He has pleaded not guilty.

But his alleged crimes are connected to more strange behavior: In 1993, a year before he moved into the Symansky home, Hoagland disappeared from his Indianapolis-area family  leaving behind his wife and their two young sons.

They struggled to rebuild their lives, never knowing what happened to Hoagland, until Bujnak got involved months ago.

Story continues

An Internet search by Bujnaks nephew turned up activity surrounding Terry, and Bujnak called a friend at her local police department with the tip.

Authorities say they unraveled Hoaglands scheme soon after, leaving those around him wondering at his motivations and speaking out about his lies.

My dad was the victim, Bujnak says. Even after 23 years, the truth will always come out.




By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are examining faked documents aimed at discrediting the Hillary Clinton campaign as part of a broader investigation into what U.S. officials believe has been an attempt by Russia to disrupt the presidential election, people with knowledge of the matter said. U.S. Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has referred one of the documents to the FBI for investigation on the grounds that his name and stationery were forged to appear authentic, some of the sources who had knowledge of that discussion said. In the letter identified as fake, Carper is quoted as writing to Clinton, We will not let you lose this election, a person who saw the document told Reuters. The fake Carper letter, which was described to Reuters, is one of several documents presented to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice for review in recent weeks, the sources said. A spokeswoman for Carper declined to comment. As part of an investigation into suspected Russian hacking, FBI investigators have also asked Democratic Party officials to provide copies of other suspected faked documents that have been circulating along with emails and other legitimate documents taken in the hack, people involved in those conversations said. A spokesman for the FBI confirmed the agency was in receipt of a complaint about an alleged fake letter related to the election but declined further comment. Others with knowledge of the matter said the FBI was also examining other fake documents that recently surfaced. U.S. intelligence officials have warned privately that a campaign they believe is backed by the Russian government to undermine the credibility of the U.S. presidential election could move beyond the hacking of Democratic Party email systems. That could include posting fictional evidence of voter fraud or other disinformation in the run-up to voting on Nov. 8, U.S. officials have said. Russian officials deny any such effort. In addition to the Carper letter, the FBI has also reviewed a seven-page electronic document that carries the logos of Democratic pollster Joel Benensons firm, the Benenson Strategy Group, and the Clinton Foundation, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The document, identified as a fake by the Clinton campaign, claims poll ratings had plunged for Clinton and called for severe strategy changes for November that could include staged civil unrest and radiological attack with dirty bombs to disrupt the vote. Like the Carper letter, it was not immediately clear where the fraudulent document had originated or how it had begun to circulate. On Oct. 20, Roger Stone, a former Trump aide and Republican operative, linked to a copy of the document on Twitter with the tag, If this is real: OMG!! Benensons firm had no immediate comment. Craig Minassian, a spokesman for the Clinton Foundation, said the document was fake. He said he did not know if the FBI had examined it. Stone did not respond to emails requesting comment. A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Glen Caplin, said the document was a fake and part of a desperate stunt to capitalize on the leak of Democratic emails by Wikileaks. The developments highlight the unusually prominent role U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have played in a contentious election and an ongoing debate about how public they can or should be about their inquiries. FBI Director James Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama, touched off an outcry from Democrats last week when he alerted Congress that agents had found other emails that could be linked to an inquiry into Clintons use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State, effectively re-opening an investigation he had closed in July. (Editing by Kevin Krolicki, John Walcott, Toni Reinhold)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan on Friday said he sees no hint of political influence in U.S. central bank decision-making, adding that he and others "screen out" politics in their analysis and deliberations.

Kaplan, in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Mexico City, declined to comment on next Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, although he said it is "very critical" for the Fed to maintain independence and said his visit to Mexico was aimed at building ties with one of American's biggest trading partners.

Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump, has accused the Fed of keeping rates low to benefit President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Trump has also said he would build a wall to keep Mexicans from entering the United States. Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival for the White House, has said she believes candidates and presidents should not comment on Fed actions, and has advocated for immigration reform.

(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle, writing by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker)
Berlin-based Films Boutique has snapped up world sales rights to Everardo Gonzalezs harrowing documentary about the collateral damage of Mexicos devastating drug wars, La Libertad del Diablo (a working title), which won a distribution deal and P&A guarantee from Mexicos Cinepolis, and post-production services from Carlos Reygadas Splendor Omnia at the Morelia Intl Film Festivals work-in-progress program Impulso Morelia.

Shot for over a-year-and-a-half, the documentary is a reflection on the violence in Mexico and its impact on the lives it leaves in its wake. Everardo has an extraordinary talent to make both victims and perpetrators reveal their deepest fears and emotions, said Films Boutiques acquisitions head Gabor Greiner. The film takes the viewer into unprecedented terrain of human violence where the bad ones are not always the ones you expect.

This is only the second Mexican pick-up by Films Boutique, which first bought the rights to Diego Quemada-Diezs La Jaula de Oro, according to Greiner whose sales & marketing colleague Louis Balsan is attending Los Cabos Intl. Film Festival, which kicks off on Nov. 9.

But the company has already been repping a wealth of projects from the rest of Latin America, led by Colombias Embrace of the Serpent by Ciro Guerra, which was shortlisted for best foreign-language Oscar this year, a milestone for the countrys fledgling film industry. Films Boutique is also repping Guerras upcoming pic, Birds of a Passage, which shoots next year.

The international market is sometimes challenging for art house films nowadays. However, our experience and successes over the last years show that there is still a place for unique films with a strong artistic vision, said company CEO Jean-Christophe Simon. The theatrical success of a film such as Embrace of a Serpent is the perfect example of the cinematic experience that the audience is looking for, he added.

This years international lineup includes Brazilian dramedy by Marina Person, which competed in Rotterdam, and Argentinas Cannes 2016 Un Certain Regard entry The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis by Andrea Testa and Francisco Marquez.

Story continues

In recent years, FB snagged world sales rights to Brazils The Violin Teacher by Sergio Machado and Daniel Ribeiros romcom The Way He Looks in 2014, among others.

We work on around 12-to-13 films a year, said Grenier, and we usually buy only one documentary a year, he added.

Among films from other international territories, Films Boutique handles world sales rights this year to Polands entry to the 2017 Oscars race, Afterimage, by the late Andrzej Wajda, which chronicles Polish painter Wladislaw Strzeminskis fight against the tyranny of Stalin in the 1940s; Cannes Camera dOr winner Divines by Frances Houda Benyamina, going live on Netflix by Nov. 18; Locarno best director award-winner The Ornithologist, by Portugals Joao Pedro Rodrigues; and Venice Golden Lion winner The Woman Who Left from the Philippines enfant terrible, Lav Diaz.

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As the presidential campaign enters its final weekend, backers of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are scurrying to find the latest bits of news and polling information  and first and foremost any sign that yet another bombshell.

On Friday, attention among Clinton supporters turned to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a top Trump surrogate, and whether he was tipped off that FBI Director James Comey was about to send a letter to Congress announcing that it would look into newly found emails. The FBI, Comey wrote, would be examining whether the emails are significant to their investigation of Clintons use of a private server while she was secretary of state.

On Fox & Friends on Friday, Giuliani said, I did nothing to get it out, I had no role in it. Did I hear about it? Youre darn right I heard about it, and I cant even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.

He added, Im real careful not to talk to any on-duty, active FBI agents. I dont want to put them in a compromising position. But I sure have a lot of friends who are retired FBI agents, close, personal friends. All I heard were former FBI agents telling me that theres a revolution going on inside the FBI and its now at a boiling point.

The suspicions that the Trump campaign knew about the FBIs plans in advance of Comeys letter largely are based on an interview that Giuliani gave to Fox & Friends on Oct. 25, three days before the letter was sent to Congress. We got a couple of surprises left, Giuliani said, cagily. He added, I think itll be enormously effective. And I do think that all of these revelations about Hillary Clinton finally are beginning to have an impact.

The Trump campaign has denied that Giuliani was tipped off and a spokesman told the New York Times that he was just having fun.

But Giulianis connections to the FBI have only fed into Clinton supporters suspicions that portions of the FBI have been politicized  and they favor Trump.

Story continues

Fox News Bret Baier also walked back a report he made on Wednesday that suggested that an indictment was likely in an FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation. It was a mistake and for that Im sorry. I should have said they will continue to build their case. Indictment, obviously, is a very loaded word, Baier said on air on Friday. Other news outlets disputed the claim that an indictment was likely, even as Trump cited the news story on the campaign trail.

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign will be dispatching a slew of celebrity surrogates on Friday and throughout the weekend.

Jay Z is scheduled to perform at a get-out-the-vote rally at Cleveland State University on Friday, with Clinton also expected to attend. A surprise guest: Beyonce, according to CBS News. Also on the trail: Stevie Wonder, performing for Clinton in Philadelphia.

The Clinton campaign also released a humorous video featuring Will Ferrell, calling on millennials to get out the vote. The past 24 hours have seen a slew of celebrity videos to get voters to the polls, including a spot with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Rock the Vote, Martin Sheen for Save the Day, and Moby, Elizabeth Banks and others for Funny or Die.

Trump has events planned on Friday in Atkinson, N.H., Wilmington, Ohio and Hershey, Pa., while Clintons schedule also includes stops in Pittsburgh (with Mark Cuban) and Detroit.

The intensity of the race is reflected on Twitter.

Bette Midler wrote on Melania Trumps speech on Thursday: From the #AREYOUSHITTINGME? Dept. #melaniatrump makes cyberbullying her cause if she become FLOTUS. The jerk shes married to invented it!!

From the #AREYOUSHITTINGME? Dept. #melaniatrump makes cyberbullying her cause if she become FLOTUS. The jerk she's married to invented it!!  Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) November 4, 2016

James Woods, reacting to new polling showing tightening in favor of Trump. Finally a significant segment of the electorate sees the light. In the simplest terms @HillaryClinton is a bona fide heinous #criminal.

Finally a significant segment of the electorate sees the light. In the simplest terms @HillaryClinton is a bona fide heinous #criminal. https://t.co/PryK9d3KbC  James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) November 4, 2016

Carl Reiner, 94, nails the mood of many Clinton supporters: I am so happy that in just a few short days I will not have to spend any more more thinking up & sending out anti-Trump tweets.

I am so happy that in just a few short days I will not have to spend any more more thinking up & sending out anti-Trump tweets.  carl reiner (@carlreiner) November 4, 2016

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U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton poses for a picture during a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio U.S., October 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

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The October jobs report missed expectations on Friday but was likely solid enough to help Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's case for the American economy.

The US economy added 161,000 jobs in October, fewer than the 173,000 expected. Additionally:

While the headline number may have been lackluster, the fact that it is still growing may be enough for Clinton's argument. A positive change in jobs added between the first and third quarters is generally correlated with a victory for the incumbent party.

That said, the Trump campaign disagreed.

Election aside, the jobs report provided the Fed with a strong case for raising rates in December.

Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday.

Whole Foods is spiking following a report that a major shareholder wants to make big changes  The shareholder reportedly met with potential activist investors to discuss changing the retailer's management and probably selling the company.

Oil rig count climbs by 9  The US oil-rig count climbed by nine to 450 this week, according to oilfield-services company Baker Hughes.

The Turkish lira plunged to a record low after Turkey arrests pro-Kurdish opposition leaders  Reuters reports that the co-leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were jailed pending trial after being held in overnight raids.

GoPro plunged after reporting big misses on earnings, sales, and guidance  GoPro shares fell 14% in early trading on Friday after the company reported quarterly earnings results that were worse than analysts had expected.

Story continues

Crude oil is going wild amid more OPEC rumors  Crude oil has been all over the place on Friday as rumors concerning OPEC production continue to swirl.

Steve Wynn's latest rant was probably misdirected  During his company's third-quarter investor call on Wednesday billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn went on one of his infamous rants.

Nobody wants to buy this bizarre house in a wealthy San Francisco suburb  but you can rent it for $750 a night  The strategy to sell a bizarre home in Hillsborough, California, is changing course.





More From Business Insider


After Fire centers on the challenges facing female veterans, as shown in The Hollywood Reporter's exclusive debut of the documentary's trailer.

"In the military, the focus is the mission," says one veteran in the trailer. "Once the mission is over and you're transitioning to civilian life, you're in shock because there's so much trauma that happened, and you stuffed it away."

Set in the military outpost of San Antonio, Texas, the 90-minute film zooms in on three women who candidly confront physical and psychological trauma, bureaucratic dysfunction and the fallout of their experiences on their personal lives as they adjust to the civilian world.

"By following three women veterans as they adjust to the civilian world, After Fire shows how traumatic events like military sexual assault can reverberate in unexpected ways for years afterward," explains director and producer Brittany Huckabee. "Often, these women encounter a system unprepared to help them, and they struggle to communicate with loved ones who haven't shared their experiences."

"But military women are resilient, and over the course of the film, its subjects gain insight that can apply to anyone seeking to overcome trauma: telling our own stories, and having those stories heard, enables us to reconnect with ourselves and with a community - and take the crucial first step toward healing."

After Fire makes its world premiere on Nov. 11 (Veterans Day) at 7 p.m. at IFC Center, as part of DOC NYC. The Transform Films Inc. production is currently seeking distribution.

Watch the trailer above.

Read more: 'Thank You for Your Service' Explores Moral Injury Behind Veteran Suicides (Exclusive Video)
Fitch Ratings placed the debt ratings of struggling Deutsche Bank on negative watch Thursday given likely challenges for the German lender to implement its restructuring plan.

"A sluggish business environment, particularly in Europe but also in Asia Pacific, will make it harder for Deutsche Bank to build revenue and, therefore, capital during 2017 in line with its 2020 strategy," Fitch said in a release Thursday. "The bank needs to demonstrate its ability to improve revenue generation to maintain its 'A' Long-Term Issuer Default Rating."



"The ratings could also be downgraded if there are material setbacks to the planned capital trajectory due to incremental litigation and regulatory charges," the release said.

Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.







Investor confidence in shares of Germany's largest bank is low. The U.S.-traded shares have fallen more than 50 percent since October 2015, when CEO John Cryan announced details of a restructuring program called Strategy 2020. The plan included suspension of dividends on common equity, job cuts and exits from 10 countries.



This past July, S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook on the bank to negative, citing challenges to that turnaround plan, while affirming a "BBB+/A-2" credit rating.

Deutsche Bank came under renewed scrutiny in mid-September when it surfaced that the U.S. Department of Justice was demanding $14 billion to settle with the bank over its mortgage-lending activities before the recession. The bank's shares hit record lows in New York trade at the end of September but have since recovered amid hopes of a lower settlement figure.



The bank and analysts generally expect the final settlement figure to be far lower than initial reports.

Last week, Deutsche Bank reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings results and said it raised its legal provisions slightly to 5.9 billion euros ($6.55 billion) by the end of September.

"Deutsche Bank has made good progress at implementing an ambitious, intensive restructuring program," Fitch said, citing asset sales and plans to reduce staff in Germany.

But the ratings firm also said, "As the bulk of restructuring expenses is front-loaded, earnings are likely to remain weaker than peers' for the rest of 2016. Improvements should be visible from 1Q17, as the benefits of cost-cutting efforts surface and earnings are less distorted by losses related to deleveraging."
NYARUGUSU REFUGEE CAMP, Tanzania  Its an open secret that the Burundians here who fled the murderous political crisis that began in their home country in April 2015 have not fully escaped it. The Imbonerakure, Burundis version of the Hutu youth militias responsible for the Rwandan genocide, have been regularly crossing the border into western Tanzania to surveil and intimidate refugees.

Sospeter Christopher Boyo, a Tanzanian official who oversees Nyarugusu, the third-largest refugee camp in the world, acknowledges the groups presence. So do the frightened Burundian refugees who eye their surroundings and lower their voices before they speak the name Imbonerakure.

Members of the notorious youth militia could be anywhere. Its not just that they are sneaking back and forth across the border at night and into Tanzanias refugee camps, refugees and aid workers say; Imbonerakure have also infiltrated the very organizations that are supposed to serve and protect the refugees, using their official positions to mount a subtle intimidation campaign.

They are trying to collapse education in the camps, a school inspector with the New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC), said of fellow aid workers who are secret members of the Imbonerakure. The inspector, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, explained that these shadowy government agents aimed to demoralize refugee students and convince them theyre better off back in Burundi.

Unlike the last crisis in Burundi, a civil war that killed as many as 300,000 between 1993 and 2006, there is no all-out fighting this time around. Instead, forces loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza, including the Imbonerakure, have carried out targeted violence and oppression against those who opposed his decision last year to run for a controversial third term in office. They have burned shops and homes, shuttered media outlets, and frozen the bank accounts of prominent civil society organizations.

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The repression continued after Nkurunzizas disputed reelection in July 2015. Some anti-government protesters eventually took up arms, but it is mostly civilians who have borne the overwhelming brunt of the governments abuses. According to recent reports from rights groups, civilians have been burned to death, gang-raped, and whipped with metal wires and steel rebar by government enforcers. Satellite imagery obtained by Amnesty International suggests that dozens of bodies have been buried in mass graves on the outskirts of Bujumbura, Burundis capital.

More than 200,000 people have fled to neighboring Tanzania, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nyarugusu refugee camp was already at capacity with about 61,000 refugees from Congos various wars; over the past year, it has absorbed about 100,000 more from Burundi.

The population is over congested. Its like three camps in one camp, said Boyo. You cant keep track of everyone.

Thats exactly what the Imbonerakure have been counting on. They blend in with the other Burundians in Nyarugusu, a sprawling tent camp located in the western Tanzanian province of Kigoma, about 80 miles from the Burundian border.

The government treats the repatriation of refugees in Tanzania as crucial to projecting the appearance of stability at home. The Burundian government clearly sees the refugees as a political issue, said Michael Boyce, an advocate at Refugees International. Burundian agents and militia have blocked would-be refugees from fleeing the country  even arresting them, and physically or sexually abusing them at the border.

Tanzanian immigration officers say the militiamen tromp through the Rurubu River at the thinly guarded Kagunga border crossing. Once in Tanzania, they surveil the refugee population, issue death threats, and beat and harass Burundians.

These scare tactics have the additional benefit of persuading the Tanzanian government, which has a history of expelling large groups of refugees, that hosting Burundians is more trouble than its worth.

The Imbonerakure have also infiltrated aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations in the camps. At a refugee school in Nyarugusu that is managed by the IRC, teachers and staff say that two former headmasters were members of the Imbonerakure. Both headmasters told students that school doesnt matter and encouraged them to return to Burundi, according to two employees at the school.

Imbonerakure have also been hired as teachers, faculty members say.

They barely teach, one teacher said of his colleagues who are members of the pro-government militia. When he complained about their shiftless behavior to his superiors, he got death threats from the teachers he had reported.

You may be killed at any time, he recalls them saying.

Sensing the futility of reporting such threats to senior administrators at the school, some of whom were Imbonerakure or had ties to the youth militia, many teachers felt trapped. They considered taking their concerns to members of the IRCs international staff in Nyagarusu, but decided against it because of the risk that their compromised Burundian colleagues might find out.

Finally, a group of six teachers turned to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) for help. In a two-page handwritten letter to UNHCR with the subject line Letting know the danger, the teachers detailed a litany of threats from the Burundian government, which does not see with the good eye the success of refugees while keeping on their studies in exile.

We judge well to let you know we are in danger, the teachers wrote. In our everyday life we face obstacles to suspect for our lives. There are terrible words to dread us  The refugee camp is close to the Burundi frontier where there are the comings and goings of people from Burundi.

UNHCR officials in Tanzania said the teachers letter was never received, and that in any case the U.N. cannot comment on specific cases for protection reasons.

The IRC says it conducts background checks on international and national staff, and that refugee staff are screened through reference checks. Former Burundian government officials are not barred from working at the organization as a matter of course, but they are screened for ethical as well as professional suitability.

Reached for comment about the specific concerns raised by the teachers in Nyarugusu, a spokesperson for the IRC who refused to be named, said, We have clear and confidential mechanisms for reporting these kind of issues and we are looking into this case.

Even as the Burundian government tries to force refugees to return home by sowing fear and subverting the humanitarian effort, new arrivals cross the border into Tanzania each day. In March, UNHCR said more than 1,000 Burundian refugees arrive in Tanzania per week. Mtendeli, a new camp three hours to the north of Nyarugusu opened after a third camp, Nduta, filled beyond the brim last October. So far this year, more than 47,000 Burundian refugees have been registered in Tanzania alone.

You live with people but they dont trust you. One day they might attack and kill you, Topaz, a recent arrival in Nyarugusu, said of the situation back home.

Topaz said he fled Burundi after the Imbonerakure burned one of his friends to death. His family is already in Mtendeli, and hes hoping to be reunited with them there soon. As of July, he was still stuck in a refugee processing center at the border. If he hasnt already, he will soon discover that many of the same threats await him on the Tanzanian side.

Top image: STEPHANIE AGLIETTI/AFP/Getty Images
At this point, Samsung has no choice but to look forward.

2016 started strong for the smartphone maker, with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge receiving rave reviews for their impressive power and bold, attractive designs. Months later, the Galaxy Note 7 should have kept that ball rolling, but instead, batteries started exploding and the company was forced to issue a recall.

So with the controversy (mostly) behind it, Samsung is doing everything in its power to bring back customers and restore confidence in its brand in 2017.

READ MORE: iPhone 7 vs. Google Pixel: The ultimate comparison

"We are 80 percent (of the way through the recall)," Samsung Electronics North America CEO Gregory Lee told AT&T Mobility CEO Glenn Lurie at the GSMA Mobility Live conference in Atlanta. "Our employees have been working 24/7 for the last 50 days to try to make this happen."

After the initial recall, Samsung began issuing replacement Note 7 devices to customers. But even the replacements were afflicted with the battery issue.

"We are looking at every aspect of the product, the process, to make sure that we can say with total confidence we know exactly what the problems are, and how to prevent the problems going forward," Lee said. "We are going to work very hard to regain consumer, customer, carrier and government trust to rebuild our brand."

There's no question that Samsung still makes quality products. Its TVs are often the highest rated, its Gear VR headset is one of the best on the market and its phone (aside from the explosions) are arguably the best Android phones on the market.

Samsung's road to recovery has begun.

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By Susan Taylor and Allison Lampert

TORONTO/MONTREAL, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will invest some C$600 million ($447 million) in its two Windsor, Ontario, engine plants to update existing V8 production and add assembly of a new fuel-efficient motor for large pickup trucks, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The investment is part of a tentative labor agreement with Ford's 7,000 Canadian auto workers, who vote on Saturday and Sunday on the four-year contract. The union, Unifor, has said Ford will spend approximately C$700 million under the deal.

Hefty spending on engine production was seen as vital because the large V8 and V10 motors now built at Ford's Windsor Engine plant were expected to end production in four years.

"There was nothing planned for Windsor after 2020," said Joe McCabe, AutoForecast Solutions Chief Executive. "They need it (the new engine) to survive."

Ford of Canada spokeswoman Kerri Stoakley and Unifor spokeswoman Denise Hammond said they would not comment before members have reviewed and voted on the deal.

A portion of the C$600 million will be used to update existing 5.0-liter V8 engine production at the Essex Engine plant, according to the two sources, who declined to be identified because the plan is not yet public. The updated engine is expected to be a 4.8-liter V8 for the F-150 pickup truck.

The remainder of the C$600 million will go toward production of a new fuel-efficient large engine, not yet named by Ford, for such "super-duty trucks" as the F-250, one of the sources said.

Unifor said that Essex would get a major new engine program, when it announced the deal, and Windsor would continue producing 6.8-liter engines through the new contract period.

In addition to engine investment, Ford will spend C$100 million for a "refresh," or updated version, of the Ford Edge SUV and Lincoln MKX and MKT models assembled in Oakville, the two sources said.

Under the agreement, Ford agreed that Oakville will be the only North American supplier of those vehicles, said a third source, who asked not to be named. Unifor said Tuesday that Ford also designated Oakville as a primary supplier of those models for international export.

That puts Oakville in a good position to win next-generation production of those models, representing an investment of about C$1 billion, the source said.

Ford is the last of three automakers to negotiate with Unifor after deals with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler . ($1 = 1.34 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Susan Taylor and Allison Lampert; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Susan Taylor and Allison Lampert TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will invest some C$600 million ($447 million) in its two Windsor, Ontario, engine plants to update existing V8 production and add assembly of a new fuel-efficient motor for large pickup trucks, two sources familiar with the matter said. The investment is part of a tentative labor agreement with Ford's 7,000 Canadian auto workers, who vote on Saturday and Sunday on the four-year contract. The union, Unifor, has said Ford will spend approximately C$700 million under the deal. Hefty spending on engine production was seen as vital because the large V8 and V10 motors now built at Ford's Windsor Engine plant were expected to end production in four years. "There was nothing planned for Windsor after 2020," said Joe McCabe, AutoForecast Solutions Chief Executive. "They need it (the new engine) to survive." Ford of Canada spokeswoman Kerri Stoakley and Unifor spokeswoman Denise Hammond said they would not comment before members have reviewed and voted on the deal. A portion of the C$600 million will be used to update existing 5.0-liter V8 engine production at the Essex Engine plant, according to the two sources, who declined to be identified because the plan is not yet public. The updated engine is expected to be a 4.8-liter V8 for the F-150 pickup truck. The remainder of the C$600 million will go toward production of a new fuel-efficient large engine, not yet named by Ford, for such "super-duty trucks" as the F-250, one of the sources said. Unifor said that Essex would get a major new engine program, when it announced the deal, and Windsor would continue producing 6.8-liter engines through the new contract period. In addition to engine investment, Ford will spend C$100 million for a "refresh," or updated version, of the Ford Edge SUV and Lincoln MKX and MKT models assembled in Oakville, the two sources said. Under the agreement, Ford agreed that Oakville will be the only North American supplier of those vehicles, said a third source, who asked not to be named. Unifor said Tuesday that Ford also designated Oakville as a primary supplier of those models for international export. That puts Oakville in a good position to win next-generation production of those models, representing an investment of about C$1 billion, the source said. Ford is the last of three automakers to negotiate with Unifor after deals with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler . ($1 = 1.34 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Susan Taylor and Allison Lampert; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations sanctions monitors warned in an annual report released on Friday that possible foreign support for a new military base and seaport in Eritrea and the presence of foreign weapons and equipment were likely in violation of an arms embargo. The monitors told the U.N. Security Council last year that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had established a military presence in Eritrea as part of the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which lies just 40 km (25 miles) across the Red Sea from the poor Horn of Africa nation. They said the use of Eritrea's land, waters and airspace by other countries to conduct military operations in a third state was not a sanctions violation, but warned that "compensation diverted directly or indirectly towards activities that threatened peace and security in the region, or for the benefit of the Eritrean military, would constitute a violation." In the past year the U.N. monitors collected evidence, including the construction of a new military base at Assab airport and a new seaport next to it, indicating "there may have been external support for infrastructure development that could benefit the Eritrean military." The monitors said they have also documented the presence in Eritrea "whether for training or transit, of armed personnel and related military and naval equipment of various Member States other than Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates." The U.N. sanctions monitors determined the current terms of the U.N. arms embargo does not allow for such activities and recommended that the Security Council provide advice to U.N. states on compliance with the embargo. They said it "could be reasonably determined" that foreign support for the construction of permanent military installations in Eritrea constitutes the provision of technical assistance, training, financial and other assistance to military activities, which is banned under the arms embargo. The Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates missions to the United Nations were not immediately available to comment on the report by the U.N. sanctions monitors. Eritrea's Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed told Reuters earlier this year that the United Arab Emirates now uses Eritrean "logistical facilities." The UAE has also trained 4,000 Yemeni fighters in Assab, Eritrea. The U.N. sanctions on Eritrea were mainly imposed following accusations it backed Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab militants, a charge Asmara denies. The U.N. monitors said in the latest report that they had - for the third year in a row - not found any firm evidence of such support. Eritrea has refused to engage with the U.N. monitors and they have been unable to visit the country. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Bill Rigby)
Jujucato (Mexico) (AFP) - Liliana Carmona misses the lush pine forest on the hills overlooking her village in western Mexico. She now stares at vast avocado orchards that feed a massive foreign appetite for the green fruit.

Growers have been cutting down swaths of forest to make room for more fruit trees in the state of Michoacan, the world's avocado capital.

Experts are now concerned that chemicals used in the orchards could be behind illnesses afflicting the local population.

"The sneezing doesn't stop when they are fumigating," said Carmona, a stocky 36-year-old mother of two who works at a small grocery store in Jujucato, a village in the heart of avocado land.

In the 15 years that Salvador Sales has been teaching in Jujucato, he has seen his students come down with more and more breathing and stomach problems.

"We believe this is caused by the products used to spray the avocado orchards," said Sales, who believes that the wind blows the chemical fumes into the homes of his students.

About 40 percent of the world's avocados are grown in Mexico, and most of those come from the area around Jujucato and Lake Zirahuen.

Avocados occupy some 137,000 hectares (340,000 acres) of land in Michoacan, according to state government figures.

Half of those orchards were planted in forests after the land was bought through dubious legal means, according to Jaime Navia, head of a rural technology NGO called GIRA.

Deforestation is growing at a pace of 2.5 percent per year, according to GIRA.

- Kidney and liver problems -

Temperate weather in the region allows for year-round cultivation of avocado, a fruit that originated in Mexico and is loaded with vitamins, proteins and healthy fats.

While there is a strong local demand, production has soared along with the avocado's ever-growing international appeal, and forests have paid the price.

Experts warn that the chemicals used in mountain orchards may be spilling down into ground water, streams, rivers and lakes, and subsequently causing illnesses among the population.

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Alberto Gomez Tagle, an expert on the environment in the Lake Zirahuen region, which includes Jujucato, said many communities that rely on the lake water may already be suffering from the effects of chemical runoff.

One lakeside village asked researchers for help when residents began to suffer from liver and kidney problems that did not exist until "the avocado orchards expanded and all types of pesticides were used," Gomez Tagle said.

Officials and some producers are striving to halt the growth of orchards in forests.

Since August, authorities have recovered 100 hectares of land and detained dozens of people working in fields that had invaded forests.

A label is being created for avocados sold in stores so that consumers can identify those from orchards that don't harm the environment.

- Drug cartels -

Avocados had their first "boom" in the 1970s, but production really took off in an uncontrolled way into the forests in 2000, said Navia of GIRA.

Foreign demand for avocados have grown consistently in the past decade, especially from the United States -- Mexico's biggest trade partner -- and countries like Japan, according to federal government figures.

In 2003, avocado exports reached nearly $60 million, a figure that shot up to $1.5 billion by 2015. Avocado sales to Japan went from $40 million to $106 million in the same time period.

Michoacan has been known in recent years for bloody clashes between rival drug gangs, which have also moved into the avocado trade, officials said.

Some of the avocado farmers that invaded the forest are "organized crime" members, a state government official told AFP, stressing that the authorities had recouped some of that land.

There are even avocados grown as high as 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level, "even though they aren't that productive," said Navia.

One hectare of avocados generates on average around $5,400 per year.

Mexican avocado packers recently went on strike for a few days to protest the low pay they were getting this season, which ranges from between $1.8 and $2.6 per kilo.

The brief strike resulted in a global avocado price hike.
Lori Goldberg Burch of New Jersey saw history in the making at Donald Trumps presidential campaign announcement at Trump Tower in New York, June 16, 2015. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News)

Just days from the presidential election, a fervent Donald Trump supporter present at his campaign kickoff is looking back at that June 2015 day with a pang of regret.

You might not know Lori Goldberg Burch of Jersey City, N.J., but you could have heard her voice. Her howls of approval punctuated Trumps announcement speech in Trump Tower, leading to brief repartee between them.

Somebody accused me of this being a set up, that he was talking to me and that we rehearsed our banter back and forth, she recalled in a Friday interview. It wasnt staged at all. You know, its the way I felt. I really thought that he could do good for us.  I had the ultimate respect for him when I was there.

On June 17, 2015, a day after the announcement, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Extra Mile Casting hired background actors to bulk up the crowd. Yahoo News looked into the issue and ended up speaking to Burch, who works as an actor and standup comedian. She said she was not hired that day and truly believed Trump was a great candidate.

I definitely have full knowledge of actors being paid, I just dont want to name any. Extra Mile went and hired at least 100 actors that day, she said. Extra Mile Casting did not return requests for comment, but Yahoo News reported Friday that one of Trumps advisers at the time admitted that their team had hired people to help pack the hall.

Reporters gather to cover Donald Trumps announcement at Trump Tower in New York on June 16, 2015. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News)

Burch was holding a yellow sign that read, Trump Makes History 6/16/15. Few could have expected how prophetic that sign would turn out to be when the real estate tycoon descended the escalator in Manhattans Trump Tower with Rockin in the Free World blaring from the speakers.

Yahoo News interviewed Burch last year to hear why she was so enraptured with Trumps potential as a political figure. On Friday, we asked how she feels to have witnessed and been part of history in the making.

To be quite honest, now I feel ashamed knowing the type of man I was so for, she said. Yes, I am. Im ashamed that I thought this man could do well for our country, because now I dont understand how this man got this far.

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Burch began to have second thoughts when she heard his vulgar talk about women. She said that his comments about groping women in an Access Hollywood video from 2005 were beyond the pale. In the video, which leaked in October, Trump boasted that his celebrity status allowed him to have his way with women.

Thats disheartening for me as a woman and as the mother of a son, she said. You should never feel that way, whether its in private or on the record. Because its not something we want our boys to grow up thinking, they can treat women that way.

Ivanka Trump introduces her father at his campaign kickoff. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News)

For years, Trump had ingratiated himself to millions of television viewers with The Apprentice, and stirred up support among many American conservatives with his penchant for political theater.

Burch, a longtime Republican who worked for Richard Nixon in her youth, was impressed with the carefully crafted image Trump projected through reality television: that of an expert businessman and a loving father.

I thought this man did a great job because his kids were so well spoken and nobody got a handout. They worked hard, and I thought he was a great businessman, and thats what our country needed. I never thought he had the temperament of a 2-year-old, she said.

When Trump got political, she also liked what he had to say about illegal immigration and prioritizing U.S interests. She believes its not any one persons responsibility to take care of the world but that you should take care of yourself so that you can give back.

I thought this is what we need, she said of Trump. We dont need these people to kowtow to foreigners. We need somebody to be strong and to make us great again, even though I dont think were that broken as a country.

Next Tuesday, voters will decide whether Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton will be the next person to occupy the Oval Office. But Burch wont be choosing either of them: She said she will write-in Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Dani Mathers is facing a criminal charge after sharing a body-shaming Snapchat of a naked woman in her gym locker room without the womans knowledge.

Mathers posted a nude photo of the woman in July, along with the caption, If you cant un-see this, I cant either.

The former Playmate was initially the target of outrage via social media, but the backlash soon turned legal as well.

In September, the Los Angeles City Attorneys Office confirmed that it was reviewing the case, and on Friday it announced Mathers will be charged with one count of invasion of privacy.

Body-shaming is humiliating, with often painful, long-term consequences, City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. It mocks and stigmatizes its victims, tearing down self-respect and perpetuating the harmful idea that our unique physical appearances should be compared to air-brushed notions of perfect. 

Matherss attorney, Tom Mesereau, previously told PEOPLE she never tried to hurt anyone at any time and certainly never tried to break any law.

WATCH: Playboy Playmate Could Face Arrest After Woman She Allegedly Shamed in Locker Room Pic Comes Forward

What really matters is our character and humanity, Feuer said in his statement. While body-shaming, in itself, is not a crime, there are circumstances in which invading ones privacy to accomplish it can be. And we shouldnt tolerate that.

Mathers is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court, where she will enter a plea.

If convicted, she faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.




SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The founder of ARA Asset Management Ltd, which manages S$30 billion ($21.7 billion) in Asian property assets, is teaming up with Warburg Pincus and other investors to buy out the real estate fund manager, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

ARA Group's CEO and founder John Lim, who owns 19 percent of the company, is leading the buyout, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the talks are confidential.

Trade in shares of ARA, which has a market value of $1.1 billion, was halted on Thursday pending an announcement.

Warburg Pincus and ARA declined comment.

The sources said the parties are still discussing the final structure of the deal and an announcement is expected next week.

Straits Trading Company Ltd is ARA's biggest investor with a 20 percent stake. The company did not respond to a query from Reuters. Trade in Straits Trading' shares was also halted on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on Friday. ($1 = 1.3849 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Denny Thomas and Edwina Gibbs)
Four companies submitted bids to buy South Korea's troubled STX Offshore and Shipbuilding, a Seoul bankruptcy court said Friday, with media reports suggesting they included three European firms.

A court spokesman declined to identify the bidders, or clarify what precisely they had bid on. Buyers were offered the choice of buying STX and its profitable French unit separately or as a package.

The Seoul Economic Daily, citing industry sources, said the bidders included Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, Dutch group Damen and French state-controlled naval shipbuilder DCNS.

Once South Korea's number four shipbuilder, STX sought a court-led restructuring in May after struggling for years with mounting losses caused by mismanagement and a slump in global demand.

Creditor banks have stumped up more than four trillion won ($3.5 billion) to bail the company out, but its total debts stood at 7.3 trillion won as of June.

STX Offshore stakeholders and creditors are scheduled to meet on November 11 to approve the company's rehabilitation plan.

If the plan is rejected, STX faces liquidation.

STX bought in 2008 a 66.6 percent stake in a huge naval shipyard in the western French port of Saint-Nazaire, later named STX France.

The French state holds a 33.3 percent share and is extremely concerned about the future of the shipyard, which is a big local employer with a healthy order book for large cruise liners.
British visual-effects company Framestore, which has worked on Hollywood movies like Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Gravity, is set to be taken over by Chinas Cultural Investment Holdings Co. in a deal that values it at nearly 150 million ($187 million).

CIH will acquire 75% of Framestores shares, with founder and CEO William Sargent and his management team remaining in place.

Partnering with CIH positions us both creatively and financially to be the leaders in the world of story-telling across all visual platforms, Sargent told Sky News. This builds on our strength in Europe and North America, and will accelerate our move into the exciting Chinese market, as well as open up other rapidly expanding markets in Asia.

Among Framestore shareholders that will sell their stakes to CIH is Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, which acquired 30% of the company in 2014. Finance firm Clarity is advising Framestores management on the sale.

As well as its London headquarters, Framestore has sites in Los Angeles, New York and Montreal, and employs 1,400 staff.

Framestore won both an Oscar and a BAFTA for its visual effects work on The Golden Compass in 2008, and achieved the same double triumph in 2014 with Gravity. Oscar and BAFTA VFX nominations were earned for both Guardians of the Galaxy and The Martian.

Among upcoming movie projects are King Arthur: Legend of the Sword for Warner Bros. Pictures, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for Marvel Entertainment, both set for release next year.

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By Alistair Smout and Atul Prakash

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index hit a seven-week low on Friday and registered its biggest weekly loss in 10 months as drugmakers came under pressure from political scrutiny in the United States ahead of its Nov. 8 elections.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index closed 1.4 percent weaker after falling to its lowest level since mid-September. The benchmark index fell more than 4 percent for the week, the biggest weekly drop since January.

Miners also slumped after a fall in some metals prices. The UK mining index tumbled 2.3 percent, dragged down by a 1.8 to 4.6 percent drop in BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Anglo American (AAL.L), Randgold Resources (RRS.L) and Fresnillo (FRES.L).

The mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) ended 1.8 percent lower. The domestically-focused index had rallied on Thursday following a court ruling that the British government had to consult parliament on triggering Brexit. However, traders said that growing uncertainties were hurting the market.

They said that next Tuesday's U.S. presidential election was weighing on sentiment. Republican Donald Trump has closed the gap on Democrat Hillary Clinton in the polls in recent days, and there is uncertainty in the market over what a Trump presidency would do to the economy.

Two U.S. lawmakers called on Thursday for an investigation into whether major pharmaceutical firms colluded to set prices for insulin and other diabetes drugs.

Drugmaker Hikma Pharma (HIK.L), down 6.8 percent, was the worst performer in the FTSE 100 index, with HSBC highlighting the risk that the company could be dragged into the inquiry.

"It's uncertainty around the election which is knocking sentiment at the moment, but pharmaceuticals will likely feel the heat whichever way it goes," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets. "Clinton will probably be harsher on pricing on the sector, but Trump could be quite interventionist as well and take on these populist causes."

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Friday's fall was broad-based, with only six FTSE 100 stocks staying in positive territory.

Paddy Power Betfair (PPB.L) was the stand-out gainer, rising 4.1 percent as it benefited from foreign exchange effects following a fall in sterling after the Brexit referendum, and better synergies from its recent merger.

The merger between Paddy Power and Betfair was completed in February this year.

"It seems like the drop in the pound came at just the right time, as the merger is starting to bear fruit, as they're using their higher market share to push both services," CMC's Lawler said.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Gary Condit Heard in Voicemails Trying to Reach Chandra Levy After She Went Missing

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Never-before-heard voicemail recordings of former California Rep. Gary Condit are shedding light on his interaction with Chandra Levy, the former federal government intern, who vanished while jogging in the spring of 2001.

Story continues

In an upcoming 20/20 special investigating the mystery surrounding the 24-year-olds death and disappearance, Condit, 68, is heard in voicemails trying to reach the woman in early May 2001  after Levy was already missing.

Its 11:45, Im sorry Ive been tied up for the last few days, but you already know that, Condit is reportedly heard saying in one voicemail.

In another, he is heard seemingly trying to arrange a get-together with Levy.

Give me a rundown on kind of what your schedule is, Condit is reportedly heard saying in the voicemails. Things are looking pretty good for me today anyway. Bye.

In another voicemail, Condit says, Maybe youre out of the country or something, adding, Anyway, give me a call if you get this message, bye.

Levy was working as an intern for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., when she disappeared during a jog. Her remains were found a year later near a trail in the citys Rock Creek Park.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

In an early interview with police, Condit reportedly admitted having an affair with Levy, but the married man has never acknowledged the romance publicly has since denied any extramarital relations with the woman.

Condits DNA was found on Levys underwear in her apartment, an FBI biologist testified during a 2010 trial for Ingmar Guandique, the man convicted in 2010 of murdering Levy whose conviction was subsequently overturned. In July, prosecutors moved to dismiss charges altogether against Guandique.

Condit was ruled out as a suspect early in the investigation.

RELATED VIDEO: Chandra Levy: Five Things to Know About the Murdered D.C. Intern

The former representative spoke out about the case in a recent episode of the Dr. Phil show  and in in his new book, Actual Malice: A True Crime Political Thriller.

He told host Phil McGraw that he initially didnt want to write the book or talk about the case, but his children persuaded him to tell his side of the story.

Still, he maintained that he had no affair with Levy.

I did not have a romantic involvement with her, Condit said when pressed. I was not involved in her disappearance  in any way.




Share prices of generic drugmakers tumbled yesterday following a Bloomberg article that the Department of Justice (DoJ) could file price collusion charges against these companies by year end.



According to the article, the DoJ investigation started a couple of years back and covers more than 12 companies and about 24 drugs. A grand jury is examining whether some of the executives colluded with each other to raise prices.



Companies that are reported to have received subpoenas include big names like Mylan N.V. MYL, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited TEVA, which recently acquired the generics business of Allergan, Lannett Company, Inc. LCI, Impax Laboratories Inc. IPXL, and Endo International plc ENDP among others.

Medical - Generic Drugs Industry Price Index

Medical - Generic Drugs Industry Price Index

Another Challenge for the Healthcare Industry



The DoJ investigation into generic drug pricing poses another challenge for the healthcare industry which is already reeling under the effect of intense public, political and media scrutiny of high branded drug prices. The drug pricing issue has been affecting pharma and biotech stocks for over a year now with companies like Mylan and Valeant under attack for their pricing policies.



More recently, insulin drugmakers like Eli Lilly and Company LLY and Novo Nordisk A/S NVO have also been pulled into the pricing controversy with Sen. Bernie Sanders posting a series of tweets questioning the prices of their insulin drugs.



And now companies making generic drugs (cheaper copy-cat versions of branded drugs that have lost exclusivity) find themselves right in the middle of the drug pricing controversy.

According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, more than 300 established generic drugs had an extraordinary price increase from 2010 to 2015 with these increases moderating generic drug price declines.



In 2014, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings had called on the Obama administration to address staggering increases in generic drug prices. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Cummings and Sanders gave examples of dramatic price increases for generic drugs like albuterol sulfate (asthma, price shot up from $11 to $424 in less than a year) and doxycycline hyclate (antibiotic; the price for a bottle shot up to $1,849 from only $20).



The lawmakers had pointed out that the price hikes would not only affect consumers, hospitals and home health agencies, they would also put pressure on the budgets of Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. According to the new 2016 Generic Drug Savings and Access in the U.S. report, compiled by the QuintilesIMS Institute on behalf of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), generics account for 89% of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S.



Impact on Stocks



Lannett, Impax and Endo were among generic stocks that were hit hard by the news with Lannett declining 26.6% while both Impax and Endo lost 19.5% each.



Other companies with a presence in the generics market also saw their shares slide  Teva fell 9.5% while Mylan and Dr. Reddys dropped 6.9% and 4.1%, respectively. Teva is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Given the increasing focus on drug pricing, healthcare investors will remain jittery and the DoJ antitrust probe will remain an overhang until more details are available.



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BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors are investigating Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook (FB.O) executives, a spokesman for the Munich prosecutor's office said on Friday, following a complaint alleging the company broke national laws against hate speech and sedition by failing to remove racist postings.

The spokesman declined to provide further details. German attorney Chan-jo Jun had filed a complaint with prosecutors in the Bavarian city in September and demanded that Facebook executives be compelled to comply with anti-hate speech laws by deleting racist or violent postings from its site.

Facebook's rules forbid bullying, harassment and threatening language, but critics say it does not do enough to enforce them and has failed to staunch a tide of racist and threatening posts on the social network during an influx of migrants into Europe.

Prosecutors in Hamburg earlier this year rejected a similar complaint by Jun on the grounds that the regional court lacked jurisdiction because Facebook's European operations are based in Ireland.

"There is a different view in Bavaria," his firm Jun Lawyers of Wuerzburg in Bavaria said in a statement.

"Upon Jun's request, Bavarian Justice Minister Winfried Bausback said that Hamburg's view was wrong and German law does indeed apply to some of the offences," it said.

Jun's complaint named Facebook founder and chief executive Zuckerberg and nine other managers at the company, including Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Facebook said it had not violated German law and was working on fighting hate speech online.

"We are not commenting on the status of a possible investigation but we can say that the allegations lack merit and there has been no violation of German law by Facebook or its employees," a company spokesman said.

Jun has compiled a list of 438 postings that were flagged as inappropriate but not deleted over the past year. They include what some might consider merely angry political rants but also clear examples of racist hate speech and calls to violence laced with references to Nazi-era genocide.

Story continues

Following a public outcry and pressure from German politicians, Facebook this year hired Arvato, a business services unit of Bertelsmann (BTGGg.F), to monitor and delete racist posts.

A rash of online abuse and violent attacks against newcomers to Germany accompanied the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants last year, which led to a rise in the popularity of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and has put pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel.

(Reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann and Caroline Copley; Writing by Maria Sheahan and Tina Bellon; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Hugh Lawson)
By Andrea Shalal and Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized Turkey's arrest of Kurdish opposition leaders on Friday, saying Ankara had a right to fight terrorism but could not use it to justify gagging opponents. Steinmeier summoned Ufuk Gezer, the Turkish charge d'affaires, to discuss the arrest of nearly a dozen leaders and lawmakers from the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the second-biggest opposition group in the Turkish parliament. Austria's Foreign Ministry also summoned Turkey's top diplomat in Vienna to express dismay about the arrests. "The fight against terrorism cannot be used as a justification for silencing the political opposition or even putting them behind bars," Steinmeier told reporters after a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Steinmeier condemned a car bomb attack that rocked Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey's largest city, on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding more than 100. The German minister said he supported Turkey's aspiration to join the European Union, but Ankara needed to be clear about what its actions meant for its relationship with the EU. Horst Seehofer, state premier of Bavaria and leader of the CSU sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), said the EU should suspend accession talks with Turkey and drop any plans to offer visa-free travel to Turks. Those are key conditions of a deal, vital to Merkel, under which has Turkey has dramatically reduced the number of migrants crossing to EU member state Greece from its shores in recent months. Johnson told reporters that Turkey was a key partner in the joint fight against Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, but Britain and Germany had serious concerns about Ankara's handling of the media and political parties. Tensions have been building between Germany and Turkey on a range of issues. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said Germany had become a haven for terrorists and accused it of failing to root out supporters of a U.S.-based cleric Ankara blames for July's failed military coup. Erdogan said Germany had long harbored militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, and far-leftists of the DHKP-C, which has carried out armed attacks in Turkey. "GESTAPO TACTICS" Steinmeier and other European officials have raised concerns about Turkey's detention or suspension of more than 110,000 officials in the wake of the failed putsch. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said the latest arrests confirmed concerns first raised in May, when the Turkish parliament stripped members of their immunity from prosecution. Can Dundar, the former editor of the Turkish opposition daily Cumhuriyet who now lives in Berlin, said Erdogan's government was using "Gestapo tactics" to silence his critics. "Without a parliament, without the rule of law, without a free press, what do you think is left in the country? Just the fascists," he told Reuters Television. "Hes just trying to get rid of all kinds of critical voices." EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Twitter she was "extremely worried" by the arrests and had called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara. Maria Boehmer, a state secretary in the German Foreign Ministry, had been due to meet in Ankara on Friday with Figen Yuksekdag, one of the HDP leaders who was arrested. Boehmer said she had expressed her concerns about Turkey's escalating domestic political situation during talks with the Turkish youth minister and the deputy foreign minister. "Protecting the rights of lawmakers is a decisive characteristic of functioning democracies," she said in a statement released by the ministry. She offered Germany's support to Turkey in its fight against militant groups, but said the German government expected Turkey to find a political solution to its issues with the Kurds. Ali Etran Toprak, head of Germany's large Kurdish community, called on Berlin and its EU partners on Friday to stop cooperating with the Turkish government on refugees and halt EU membership talks with Ankara following the arrests. (Additional reporting by Noah Barkin, Sabine Siebold, Reuters TV, Andreas Rinke and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Gigi Hadid has another hosting gig!

The 21-year-old supermodel announced via her Instagram story Friday that she is set to co-host the 2016 American Music Awards alongside former Saturday Night Live funnyman Jay Pharoah.

This is Hadids second time hosting a major awards show  she made her hosting debut at the Much Music Video Music Awards in Toronto earlier this year.

Hadid and Pharoah will run the star-studded broadcast with performances by major artists including John Legend, Shawn Mendes, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, who were added to the already A-list lineup Thursday.

Grande and Minaj will perform together for a live rendition of their collaboration, Side to Side.

On Thursday, the AMAs shared on Facebook Live that The Weeknd will join previously announced performers Bruno Mars, who will open the show, and James Bay, Fifth Harmony, Green Day, Twenty One Pilots, The Chainsmokers and Halsey.

Lady Gaga will also perform songs from her fifth studio album Joanne. Sting, who will receive the American Music Award of Merit this year, is set to perform as well.

The evenings potential winners include Justin Bieber, Adele, Rihanna and Drake.

The American Music Awards will air live on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m ET on ABC.




Its an amazing trajectory: Leilu the dog went from being abandoned in a box outside a dog meat farm in South Korea to the loving arms of 11-year-old Izabella Cantu from Ashland, Oregon.

It happened because Cantu heard about the Korean dog meat trade and wanted to help, according to KOBI 5 News, who reported the story.

The youngster raised around $500 for Guardians International, a New York-based nonprofit that works with rescues on the ground in South Korea to save pups in dog meat farms. Instead of birthday gifts, Cantu asked friends and family to donate to the charity. After hitting her goal, her mother let her pick a dog from the organization to adopt.

I dont want other animals to suffer so then my mom let me pick one of them to keep so that one less animal didnt have to suffer, Cantu told KOBI 5.

Five months ago, Cantus stepfather, Brent Hirunpugdi, made the trip from Oregon to San Francisco International Airport, where Leilu arrived in the United States.

We were pretty concerned of how she would be on arrival but once I was able to pick her up it was pretty exciting that she was in good health and good spirits, he said.

Though its only been a few months, its clear Leilu and Cantu were destined to be together.

Shes basically my soul mate, Cantu told KOBI 5, weve had a lot of time to bond and stuff, and without her, I dont know what Id do.




Todays Google Doodle is celebrating what would be the 100th birthday of Walter Cronkite, the legendary broadcast journalist that TIME described as The Man With Americas Trust, following his death in 2009.

Cronkite was an even-keeled news reporter and reader, affectionately known as Uncle Walter to the American public. After serving as a war correspondent in World War Two and working for United Press in Europe after the war (reporting from Nuremberg and Moscow), Cronkite returned to the States and joined CBS fledgling TV news operation. Following an ill-fated stint as a morning-show host, he became a fixture of CBS political coverage and began hosting the evening news in 1962.

Walter has an almost messianic turn of mind. He feels so much responsibility; he feels that if he doesnt get it right, nobody else is going to get it right, one of his writers told the Washington Post on Cronkites retirement in 1981. And that is the reason he is number one. People know that Walter Cronkite would never lie to them. Never. Because it is his religion.

Previously, Googles Nov. 4 doodle has celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Wallace and Gromit characters, the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and the 84th birthday of Shakuntala Devi, the Indian writer and mathematical prodigy known as the human computer.
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to reshuffle his cabinet by Saturday, aiming to speed up the conclusion of a key bailout review and shore up his government's popularity ratings, senior government sources told Reuters on Friday. Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, the key negotiator between Athens and its international lenders at the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, is expected to keep his post. "It (the reshuffle) is likely to be announced today. The swearing-in ceremony will take place tomorrow," one of the officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Greece wants to wrap up a review on labor reforms and fiscal issues swiftly to qualify for more debt relief and for inclusion in the European Central Bank's bond buying program. This will help the country regain bond market access by 2018, when its current bailout program expires. Tsipras may replace Energy Minister Panos Skourletis and Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas who have openly opposed privatizations, a sign that Athens wants to appease its creditors that have accused it of foot-dragging in selling state assets, a key term of its third bailout. The interior and labor ministers are also expected to be replaced, another official said. According to court officials, the premier has set up new stand-alone ministries to handle energy and the crucial issue of migration, as Europe struggles with its worst migrant crisis in decades and thousands are stranded in the cash-strapped country. Tsipras was first elected in January 2015 promising to end years of austerity but reversed course six months later signing up to a new bailout, Greece's third aid program since the crisis broke out in 2010. He was re-elected in September last year, but his popularity ratings have been dropping for months and his Syriza party has been trailing the conservative New Democracy party. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Chandra Wilson as Bailey (Credit: Kelsey McNeal/ABC)

Warning: This recap for the Why Try to Change Me Now episode of Greys Anatomy contains spoilers.

Out with the old, in with the new.

On the heels of last weeks conversation between Bailey and Catherine about the lackluster performance of their teaching program, the chief brings in a consultant named Dr. Eliza Minnick to observe the situation.

Of course, shes not just there to observe  shes ready to put a fresh coat of paint on Grey Sloans teaching program. And its rubbing everyone, particularly Richard, the wrong way.

But as it generally turns out on Greys Anatomy, Minnick isnt a one-note villain. Her ideas have merit (the residents certainly seem to like the changes), and that threatens to throw the entire hospital into upheaval. Yes, the doctors need to change with the times, but does that mean some of them are left in the dust?

Heres a rundown of this weeks episode, including our live tweets:

New girl

Bailey and Catherine meet to discuss the arrival of a mystery figure. She turns out to be Minnick (Marika Dominczyk), a top-notch doctor renowned for her training and teaching techniques.

When the doctors get wind of this, people start pointing fingers. Alex wonders if this is about his beatdown of DeLuca, while Stephanie pins it on Bens clipboard surgery.

Everything isnt about you.  Meredith to Alex. Too bad ???? #GreysAnatomy  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

Richard is royally annoyed at Bailey for not informing him or consulting with him about the decision to bring on Minnick. She tries to soothe him by saying Minnick is just there to observe and see if they can do anything better. In the next scene, we meet Minnick as she introduces herself to the residents and encourages them to speak up about their experiences in the program. At first, they are hesitant, with Jo pointing out that they have to work with the attendings every day. But Minnick promises that their feedback stays in the room, and every hand shoots up.

Story continues

The attendings blatantly stare at the conference, worriedly pondering what it all means. Arizona overhears a ding on Aprils phone, which means only one thing: Tinder! April is back on the prowl! And she has a date that very evening!

Bet April is swiping right a LOT #GreysAnatomy #tinderella  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

Richard is working on an elderly patient named Enid, whos supported by a friend named Paula from her bowling league. Elsewhere, Owen works on an obese patient named Emmett who fell through the floor of his house. Owen and Amelia have been squabbling nonstop, and they get into it again over Emmett. She wants to perform spinal surgery right away, while Owen wants to work on Emmetts belly. He wins out; she huffs away.

Meanwhile, Meredith is in surgery when Minnick appears. Apparently, she has the authorization to observe any surgeries she wants. Thats all fine and dandy, until Minnick starts inserting herself in the process. She suggests Meredith give Ben a chance to perform a procedure. Mer points out hes never seen it before, but Minnick pooh-poohs the see one, do one style of teaching as old hat. Mer is forced to let Ben take over.

After surgery, Meredith angrily complains to Richard about Minnicks overstepping. He promises to do something about it.

Rank and file

The attendings secretly gather in the clinic after Maggie finds a notebook supposedly left behind by Minnick. It looks like a ranked list of the attendings, and Maggie is near the bottom! Arizona isnt even on there, while Amelia is listed as Emilio.

We want to see this list ranking attending in Buzzfeed listicle style, complete with GIFS #GreysAnatomy pic.twitter.com/2CHLk8qjS6  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

So, Maggie decides to take the initiative and introduce herself to Minnick. At first, Minnick seems to respect her and calls her a prodigy. But then she passive-aggressively drops the hint that being a prodigy is great for patients, but not for students. Ouch!

Richard overhears the conversation and goes straight to Bailey to demand that they give Minnick the boot. But Bailey cant do that, and he starts to realize theres more to this consultant situation than he thought. Is he losing his job? A flustered Bailey cant really answer. She replies that medicine is changing: Everybody here needs to change along with it or get left behind.

Richard Webber does NOT get left behind #GreysAnatomy  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

April and Jackson have a very awkward moment as she leaves for her Tinder date (looking fly, btw). He seems flummoxed that shes even going on a date at all, and she feels offended. After all, isnt he on Tinder too? Turns out shes seen on him on the app. Dont worry, Jackson  she swiped left.

The next morning, Jackson quizzes her about the date, and April acts like it was amazing. It clearly wasnt, but shes not ready to admit that and even says shes going out again with the Tinder guy that evening.

At home, Bailey looks lost in thought. Ben is joking about Minnick and keeping things church and state between them at home. When she doesnt respond, Ben is concerned. Tell me Im doing the right thing, she whispers. He does just that.

Owen and Amelia are still bickering over little things. She is annoyed that she had to delay Emmetts spinal surgery, and then he nitpicks her surgical plan. If she operates on him as he lies face-down, it could rip open his belly stitches. Amelia has accounted for that, and oddly its Minnick who calls her plan genius. Not only that, but Minnick questions why Stephanie has to monitor Emmetts belly from underneath the operating table. Why not make Owen do it? And then he does! Total scut work from the chief of trauma!

Owen underneath the guts table like an intern LOL #GreysAnatomy  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

Game change

Richards elderly patient Enid initially presents with gall bladder issues, but then collapses with a heart problem. As Maggie and Leah examine her, the former asks the latter for feedback on her teaching style. Leah confesses that Maggie sometimes goes too fast  shes so smart, its hard to keep up.

Suddenly, Enid needs surgery, and Maggie and Leah bolt for an OR. Minnick is hot on their heels, as is Richard. In surgery, Minnick suggests that Maggie let Leah take the lead, while guiding her. But even her guidance needs work, as Minnick condescendingly tells her to use your words.

At one critical juncture, despite Minnicks encouragement, Leah steps back. Thats OK, Minnick says  if shes not ready, its better to know that and learn from it. Then, when Richard starts his part of the procedure, she tells him to let DeLuca do it. He refuses, but Minnick presses. DeLuca ends up nicking an artery  but clamps it in time. The surgery is successful.

But Richard stills screams at Minnick afterward for putting Enid in danger. But Minnick coolly notes there were five surgeons in the room. Isnt it better to know DeLuca can be counted upon as one of them? And he was able to do what he needed to do.

You know Im right. The thing is  were starting to think the same thing about Dr. Minnick #GreysAnatomy  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

Maggie also acknowledges to Richard that Minnick was right  she was a great student, but that doesnt make her a great teacher. Its time to learn that skill.

As for Aprils Tinder adventures, she and Jackson decide not to talk about their dating lives. But then she unloads about how hard it is and how shes never done this dating thing before. He gives her a pep talk, then encourages her to give Tinder guy another chance.

After a heart-to-heart with Emmetts wife, who movingly recounts how theyve never spent a night apart in 20 years of marriage, Amelia tries to thaw the situation with Owen. She asks him to let their arguments go, but he points out that she hasnt even slept at their house in two weeks. She finally confesses that she doesnt want to have a baby. Owens face falls a million feet.

How to handle problems, Amelia-style: Stew about it for days, pretend like its fine, then have an explosive outburst #GreySAnatomy  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

Amelia shows up at Merediths house to crash for the night. At first, Alex orders her to go home and let the sword fall by telling Owen the truth. She reveals she did tell the truth  and yeah, she needs a place to stay. He gives up his room.

At the hospital, Minnick informs Bailey that shes intrigued by the facility and is considering staying on. But if she does, she works alone.

Richard also goes to see Bailey. He reminisces about how he used to introduce changes, and then admits that Minnick does offer something. He says he is happy to work with her and be on the same team.

Richard feels the sword hanging over his head #GreysAnatomy  Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) November 4, 2016

Greys Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of Greys for free on Yahoo View.
Tijuana, Mexico

Vestiges of the dark days of cartel warfare in Mexico have emerged in different parts of the country in recent months, particularly in areas where drug trafficking is heavy.

In Tijuana, one of the world's busiest land-border crossings and ground zero for much of the drug smuggling in western North America, authorities have come across a grisly marker of cartel bloodshed: a narcomanta  a grisly public announcement, often accompanied by one or more corpses.

Late on Wednesday night, Mexican authorities found a man, feet and hands bound by black adhesive tape, hanging from a chain on a foot bridge in southwestern Tijuana, less than 10 miles from the US border.

A message on blue cardboard with black letters that was left with the body read, in part, "This is how all grasshoppers will be left," using the Spanish word for grasshopper  "chapulines"  possibly in reference to cartel turncoats or to dealers who sell to the wrong groups or outside of a certain territory, according to Borderland Beat.

This is the second time in the last two months that this footbridge has been used as a signpost for the ongoing drug-related violence in Tijuana.

The body of a man hangs from a bridge in Tijuana, northwestern Mexico, on late Nov 2, 2016

In early September, a dismembered body crashed through the windshield of a woman driving under the bridge, and authorities who arrived on the scene found several plastic bags containing the dismembered bodies of two other men.

According to the sign left on Wednesday, the body was deposited by members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel. In the September incident, the human remains were believed to be the handiwork of the Sinaloa cartel.

Those two cartels are suspected to be waging a low-level turf war (the victim in the Wednesday incident was reportedly a small-scale dealer) in and around Tijuana.

Story continues

Mexico Tijuana cartel battle violence

The CJNG has joined with remnants of the once powerful Arellano Felix Organization, forming the Tijuana New Generation cartel (CTNG) to take on the Sinaloa cartel, which wrested control of the city away from the AFO in the 2000s and has dominated trafficking there in the years since.

Killings in Tijuana have risen steadily in recent years, with the city's homicide rate increasing from 28 per 100,000 people in 2012 to 39 per 100,000 people in 2015, which made it the 35th-most-violent city in the world.

Narcomantas  grisly public displays of violence, usually involving large number of dismembered bodies, left as messages by criminal groups  appeared frequently during the major cartel clashes in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Narcomantas attract a lot of attention, which is at times valuable for cartels and gangs. Moreover, according to Stratfor, since authorities usually do not verify who is responsible for a particular narcomanta, the displays have been used by Mexican cartels to attract law-enforcement attention to the turf of rivals.

Such acts also act as powerful messages to the public, telling them to support or avoid certain groups or areas.

The narcomantas found in Tijuana this month and in September are only the most recent ones. According to a US State Department report on crime and safety for Tijuana from March:

Homicides in Tijuana through Sept. 2016

"In 2015, there was a noticeable increase in public announcements (normally done by placing banners in public places or near/on murdered bodies) by self-proclaimed members of rival cartels (AFO and CJNG) against the Sinaloa cartel and conversely boasts from the Sinaloa Cartel of their continued dominance over the 'plaza.'"

And throughout this year, killings, whether public or more discreet, have been mounting.

Data gathered by the Mexican federal government indicates that there were 598 homicide cases through September this year, topping the 449 recorded over the same period last year.

According to numbers collected by the Baja California state security secretary, there were 497 homicide victims through September 2015 and 674 in all of last year.

Through September this year, there have been 635 homicide victims.

Those 635 killings put the city on pace for nearly 850 homicide victims this year, well exceeding the 688 homicide cases registered in 2010, the highest body count recorded since 2006.

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That guy whose Kit Kat was stolen from his car has received delicious justice

Dont you hate it when bad things happen to good people? Luckily, sometimes these situations can be rectified. Case in point  after being the victim of candy bar theft, that guy whose Kit Kat was stolen from his car has received sweet, delicious justice. (Literally.)

Although the perpetrator of the strange crime is still at large, Hunter Jobbins viral post caught the attention of Hersheys  and the candy manufacturer filled his car with approximately 6,500 Kit Kat bars on Thursday, a brand representative confirms. Jobbins was thrilled by the delicious surprise and he had a blast sharing the candy bars with his fellow students at Kansas State University.

Left my car for maybe 15 minutes in front of the dorms and I come back to this. College man pic.twitter.com/KlDx5BtXLX  Hunter Jobbins (@jabbins) October 30, 2016

In the original culprits defense, he did leave an apology note explaining that he just really loves Kit Kats and couldnt resist when he spotted the candy in the cupholder of Jobbins unlocked car. I am sorry and hungry, he wrote on a napkin.

When we heard about what happened to Hunter, we felt his pain, said Kit Kat senior associate brand manager Shilpa Gadhok. That being said, we also deeply appreciate the Kit-Nappers sincerity in owning up to his craving  we can empathize sometimes you just need a break.

Thanks to everyone who came by today!! And a special thanks to @devonhorowitz and @KitKat_US for making today happen! #KitKatsForEveryone pic.twitter.com/eAwHC9tFiP  Hunter Jobbins (@jabbins) November 4, 2016

I dont know about you, but Im relieved Jobbins was still able to get his candy fix this week  and then some.

The post That guy whose Kit Kat was stolen from his car has received delicious justice appeared first on HelloGiggles.
In a year when extraordinarily unlikely events have come to pass with surprising regularity, there is now considerable interest in the possibility that, when votes are counted on Tuesday, the result is inconclusive. That is to say, that neither Democrat Hillary Clinton nor Republican Donald Trump achieves the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency.

With the caveat that the likelihood of such an outcome is tiny (the website FiveThirtyEight puts it at 1.2 percent) there are a couple of distinct ways in which it could play out. The two candidates could, in theory, each finish with 269 electoral votes. Or, a third party candidate could win enough electoral votes to keep both of the major party contenders under 270.

Related: Is Trump Pulling Ahead? Heres What the Polls Are Really Saying

In either case, the National Archives explains what would happen next:

If no candidate receives a majority of Electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most Electoral votes. Each state delegation has one vote. The Senate would elect the Vice President from the 2 Vice Presidential candidates with the most Electoral votes. Each Senator would cast one vote for Vice President. If the House of Representatives fails to elect a President by Inauguration Day, the Vice-President Elect serves as acting President until the deadlock is resolved in the House.

Given that the Republican Party controls more state delegations than the Democrats do, that would seem to be a recipe for a Trump presidency. However, there is another remote possibility.

Note that the rules require the House to choose from the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. In a 269-269 split, that would be immaterial. However, there is a small but very real chance that for the first time since 1968, a third-party candidate might win electoral votes at the ballot box.

Related: This Stock Market Indicator Points to a Trump Win

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Evan McMullin, a former Capitol Hill staffer, is running as an independent, offering a conservative alternative to Trump. He is not doing particularly well nationwide, but has the potential to win the state of Utah in a three-way split. (The usually Republican Beehive State is in play this cycle because its heavily-Mormon population is turned off by Trump. McMullin is a fellow Mormon who went to Brigham Young University in Provo.)

Were McMullin to take Utahs six electoral votes, that would put him in play as a candidate if the election were thrown to the House of Representatives.

Its possible to imagine a scenario in which establishment Republicans, who have never been comfortable with Trump, might rally behind McMullin. It is, however, extremely unlikely, just like an Electoral College deadlock in the first place.

But then, a little more than a year ago, FiveThirtyEight gave Trump only a 2 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination in the first place.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein wrote an essay after British lawmakers blocked a proposed Alan Turing law, which would have posthumously pardoned 49,000 people who were criminalized for being gay, like Turing.

The British computer scientist, who was the subject of the 2015 film The Imitation Game portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch, was a codebreaker during World War II. He was also chemically castrated after it was discovered that he was gay. He committed suicide 1954 at the age of 41.

Weinstein, who distributed the film via The Weinstein Company, wrote a letter after the British Parliament blocked the law last week through a filibuster. The law was the result of a petition his company worked on during the release of the film.

In the letter, the 64-year-old wrote that in the 1950s in Britain, being gay was a crime and men like Turing were arrested, jailed, and in some cases, like Turings, underwent horrific medical torture.

When we were working on the movie, Benedict said to me that he wanted to do right by all of the men who received similar treatment to Turing and were criminalized simply because of who they loved, he continued. To date, more than 600,000 people have joined our fight and signed the petition to pardon these men. All looked good until this last month when Parliament blocked the vote through a filibuster to approve the pardons. I failed. We all failed, but our fight is not over because were not finished.

He went on to explain the motto that drives the company he founded with his brother Bob, Miramax, and that now drives The Weinstein Company, a quote by Kurt Vonnegut: There is no good reason good cant triumph over evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the mafia.

Its no exaggeration to say that without Alan Turing, life today would be completely different, Weinstein wrote. He single-handedly changed the course of history, and without him I dread to think what our world might be like today. His legacy is unending.

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He added that while Turing may have been pardoned, thousands of others have not received the same treatment, causing the Oscar-winner to begin a petition in 2014, which he is now relaunching.

While the decision to pass the Turing law was blocked, the British Parliament will revisit it and vote again on Dec. 16, something Weinstein says is right around Academy Awards season, a time when great conversations are going to surface and positive messages will be spread.

Weve seen the injustices done to those 49,000 people and we cannot allow it to continue, not in 2016, he wrote, adding The Members of Parliament who blocked the vote last month are hopefully about to get a new lesson in parliamentary procedure! Maybe we should show them Mr. Smith Goes to Washington  thats how filibusters move us forward, not set us back.

Weinstein has enlisted the help of civil rights lawyers David Boies and Ted Olson to advise on the Turing law. They were involved in overturning Californias Prop 8 law.

Well use the power of social media, well meet with the people who obstructed the bill originally, calling for justice in the face of such obscure and outdated decisions, he wrote. Well enjoy the tenacious work and eventually, celebrate the justice these men should have had long ago.




On Thursday morning, a panel of three of Englands most senior judges ruled that Parliament must authorize the process by which the United Kingdom begins the business of leaving the European Union. Drawing on jurisprudence stretching back as far as the early 17th century, the justices confirmed that the government cannot usurp the legislatures prerogatives. Britain is a nation of laws, they said, and these apply to the government just as much as they do to any other organization or individual.

A reasonable person might think this an uncontroversial decision. That reasonable person would not, however, have taken into account the furies unleashed upon the United Kingdom by Brexit over the course of the last four months. Upon being greeted with news of the decision, campaigners whod spent months arguing that Britain needed to take back control from Brussels raged against this assertion of the very parliamentary sovereignty they once thought so precious. Such are the ironies of our age, I suppose.

Who, after all, were these unelected judges to tell the government what it may and may not do? How dare they thwart the will of the people as expressed in the referendum? As Douglas Carswell, the U.K. Independence Partys only member of Parliament and a leading Leave campaigner put it, the ruling was an example of shocking judicial activism  these judges are politicians without accountability. The Remainers, he claimed, aided and abetted by lawyers, are seeking to tell the electorate to sod off.

The Brexit-supporting press went even further. According to the Daily Telegraph, the standoff was a case of judges vs the people. This level of restraint was too much for the Daily Mail, whose front-page headline went a step further, declaring the three judges, in fact, enemies of the people. According to the paper, Britains judiciary is infested with europhiles and there is a danger that, even the Supreme Court (to which the government is appealing Thursdays ruling) may allow subliminal prejudice in favour of the EU to influence their decision.

Its a point of view, I suppose, though also a pitiful and discreditable one.

The response to the ruling further confirmed the growing suspicion that American-style culture wars have infected British politics. The courts, so long a major battleground in the United States, are now a matter for debate in the United Kingdom, too. Increasingly, it seems as though a courts legitimacy rests on the extent to which it confirms your own long-existing prejudices.

Perhaps this should not be a surprise. A referendum is a binary choice, even if it happens to produce a muddied outcome. Britain voted for Brexit but, as to the particular kind of Brexit  something which is a matter of no small significance  well, that remains unclear. And so, the battle for what it will look like rages on.

Some Remainers cling to an impossible dream, speculating that the referendum result will be overturned by Parliament. In a technical sense, this is possible: Legally speaking, the referendum was nothing more than advisory  a nonbinding declaration of the public will to 10 Downing Street. Politics dictates otherwise, however. While most MPs backed Remain, most also respect the publics declared opinion enough to likely swallow their preferences and endorse the triggering of Article 50, thereby beginning the two-year process by which Britain will leave the EU.

Even if they do, however, the ruling means that Prime Minister Theresa Mays ambition to fire the starting gun on Brexit by the end of March 2017 is likely to be thwarted. The Supreme Court will not deliver its own ruling on the case until the new year. Assuming it endorses the high courts judgment, that leaves just a few months to get the legislation through. Parliamentary maneuvering may delay the outcome further  though its unlikely to alter it in the end.

There is an alternative scenario, however. May could call an early general election, to try to secure herself a nice, tractable Parliament  one which would allow the Article 50 notification to sail smoothly through the legislative process. Doing so offers several advantages. In the first place, it would give her government a democratic mandate and the authority it currently lacks. Mays entire agenda would be strengthened by holding and winning an election. That she would win does not seem in doubt: Recent polls suggest the Conservatives enjoy a 16-point lead over a shambolic and rudderless Labour party.

Moreover, an election would allow  indeed, likely force  May to present her own case for Brexit, spelling out what she hopes to achieve from the negotiations with Brussels. Those aims are, for the moment, utterly opaque. The government says it does not wish to reveal its hand in advance of the Brexit negotiations for fear that doing so would make it harder for the U.K. to negotiate with Europe effectively. And perhaps it would  but May is not trying to get the best price on a used car; shes negotiating on behalf of a nation, one that deserves to know the positions being taken in its name.

The reaction to Thursdays ruling, however, confirms the sense, already apparent during the referendum, that Britains Brexit revolution was not just a reaction to the EUs perceived encroachment upon ancient British prerogatives. It was also a revolt against the establishment, an elite deemed out of touch with ordinary voters and indifferent to, and even contemptuous of, their concerns. It was, to borrow from Al Gore, the people against the powerful  even if the precise nature of what the people wanted was not necessarily made clear by the referendum outcome.

That in turn reflects the sense in which Brexit can be understood as a symptom of a wider disillusionment, felt across the Western world, with established political institutions and norms. In this fashion, if in few others, Brexit was Britains counterpart to the rise of Donald Trump in the United States. Likewise, the populist revolt given oxygen by Brexit parallels the rise of populism in other European countries, including France, Austria, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden.

In the face of these challenges, old orthodoxies suddenly seem feeble. The center finds itself besieged by left and right alike. The experience has been bracing for European liberals who have struggled to find persuasive, or even plausible, answers to the multiple crises of low growth, high migration, economic austerity, and much else that presently bedevil the continent.

The rage against judicial impertinence (as it is deemed to be) should be understood as merely another demonstration of a much wider phenomenon  one best described as the twilight of the elites. Their eclipse is one thing; what will replace them, however, remains to be seen.

Photo credit: FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images
Kate wears two rings while William wears none [Photo: PA]

Ever noticed that Prince William doesnt wear a wedding ring? Wondering why? Well, its got nothing to do with his level of love and commitment to the Duchess of Cambridge.

In fact, the Prince doesnt even have one. Just before the couple got married, Buckingham Palace released a statement about his ringless decision, explaining that it is simply down to personal preference. It was something the couple discussed but Prince William isnt one for jewellery.

Kates sapphire engagement ring was once worn by Princess Diana [Photo: PA]

Kate, on the other hand, has two gorgeous rings: one being the huge 12-carat oval sapphire ring that once belonged to Princess Diana and the other  her wedding ring  a simple gold band.

Modern marriage. Its all about making the rules up as you go.

The Duchess of Cambridge after dark: The royals best evening ensembles

The Duchess of Cambridge wraps up in Mulberry coat for charity visit
As polls tighten in battleground states and Hillary Clintons lead over Donald Trump is less secure, Clintons campaign is touting early voting numbers that show her with an advantage.

In Florida and North Carolina, two must-win states for Donald Trump if he is to have a path to the White House, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook pointed to data that show Democrats are outpacing Republicans.

Our campaign has organized to leverage this early voting period to build a firewall in states, said Mook, and build out a lead that Donald Trump is incapable of overcoming.

Early voting, while an important indicator of a campaigns ground game, is not always a reliable indicator of final vote totals. And it is easy for campaigns to point to particular data points to bolster the case that they are winning; in many cases they have their own internal data.

National polling averages show Clinton with a national lead over Trump shrinking to between just 1 and 2 percentage points, compared with about 7 points in mid-October. Her lead in swing states has diminished as well.

Republicans disputed that Democrats are ahead in Florida.

In the Sunshine State, a total of 1.11 million Republicans and 1.18 million Democrats have voted early, while 985,000 Republicans and 911,000 Democrats have voted by mail, according to the states division of elections data. That gives Republicans a slight edge over Democrats in ballots cast, though significantly more Democrats have requested to vote by mail who havent yet sent in their ballots.

Robby is cherry-picking data that is beneficial to them. He chose to only talk about the early vote but not absentee ballots, said Republican National Committee spokesperson Lindsay Walters referring to Florida. Republicans are leading in total ballots cast.

In North Carolina, Democrats are ahead in vote totals, having cast 42% of absentee ballots compared with 32% for Republicans, according to the states data. Clinton campaign director of states Marlon Marshall said that early vote totals were up 16% overall in the state.

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But Trump is still slightly outperforming Republican nominee Mitt Romney in North Carolina compared with Democrats at this point, and Romney won the state over President Obama. And African-American turnout, a key Democratic contingency, is down overall in the state compared with four years ago, though it has increased in recent days.

In Nevada, Democrats have a lead in early voting as well, Marshall said. Trump will need to win election day by 10 points at this point to overtake and win the state of Nevada, he said.

Polls have shown a shakeup in the presidential race since James Comeys announcement that the FBI was investigating additional emails that may be related to Clintons email server. Comey said in July that no reasonable prosecutor would indict Clinton for using a personal server, and the investigation as considered closed.

The former Secretary of State is relying on a strong field team to turn out voters. Trump has done little of the organizing work to turn out voters and is relying primarily on the RNC.

Early voting is a chance for organized campaigns to target low-propensity voters and push them to cast in the days and weeks before Nov. 8. The goal for both Republicans and Democrats is to target voters who might not otherwise show up on Election Day, out of inconvenience or disinterest.

Trump has spoken of a silent majority of voters who do havent tolled pollsters their true preferences and will turn out on election day. Clinton campaign aides said those voters dont exist. So far, we have not seen a surge from the Trump camp and his supporters, said Mook.
(ATKINSON, N. H.)  Hillary Clinton sped across battleground states Friday trying to energize minority and female supporters and seal a historic presidential victory, while Donald Trump traveled to small-town America to fire up the white, working-class voters he insists will bring the crown to his outsider campaign.

Clinton and Democratic allies used star power and stark warnings as they addressed her base of African-American, Hispanic and female voters. She was campaigning in urban centers of Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland while President Barack Obama made her case in Charlotte, North Carolina  all cities where minority voters are crucial.

In Pittsburgh, a city where one in three people is not white, Clinton hammered Donald Trump as someone who demeans women, mocks people with disabilities, insults African-Americans and Latinos and demonizes immigrants and Muslims.

Everywhere he goes he leaves people behind, Clinton told rowdy supporters. She is hoping to be elected next Tuesday as the nations first female president.

Trump, meanwhile, was on a tour of rural areas, hoping to boost turnout among the voters drawn to his promise to bring back a lost America. He started his day in Atkinson, New Hampshire, population 6,800 and almost 98 percent white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. From there, he was bound for Wilmington, Ohio, another overwhelmingly white town where just 13 percent of residents have a college degree.

Speaking more than 2,000 miles from the Mexican border, Trump drew loud cheers in Atkinson when he vowed to build a massive wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The crowd booed when he contended that Clinton supports open borders.

Her plans would mean generations of terrorism, extremism and radicalism spreading into your schools and through your communities, Trump declared.

In spite of a close race in national polling, Trumps path to victory remains narrow. His campaign is increasingly looking to make up for losses among suburban voters, particularly women, by wrestling up new voters in out-of-the-way places.

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The candidates divergent paths highlighted the yawning gaps between race, place and economics that drive presidential policies.

Trump told his largely white audience in Atkinson that we have to rebuild our country.

Theyve shipped our jobs and theyve shipped our wealth to other countries, he said. To all Americans, I say it is time for new leadership.

Trumps dark views on the economy clashed with a new jobs report showing the unemployment rate declined to 4.9 percent while wages went up in October. The report marks 73 straight months of job growth.

But the Republican said the numbers werent good enough, and he cast doubt on whether they were accurate.

These numbers are an absolute disaster, Trump said, reviving his argument that the unemployment numbers released every month by the Labor Department are skewed because they dont accurately account for those whove dropped out of the workforce.

Nobody believes the numbers theyre reporting anyway, he said.

As he spoke, Clinton campaigned in Pittsburgh, delivering a nearly opposite message. She celebrated what she described as the Rust Belt citys rebirth of confidence and economic renewal. She asked voters to imagine two different Americas  one with Trump in charge, and one with her in the White House.

Think about what it will be to trust the nuclear codes to someone with a very thin skin, she said, adding Trump could start a real war, not just a Twitter war at 3 in the morning.

Clinton called the jobs report good news.

I believe that our economy is poised to really take off and thrive, she said. When the middle class thrives, America thrives.

Clintons campaign has announced two more stops in Philadelphia before Tuesday. Pennsylvania is a state where Clinton has long had a solid lead; it has not voted for a Republican in six presidential elections.

But with polls tightening across battleground states, Democrats are taking little for granted. Former President Bill Clinton worked to drive up turnout in Colorado on Friday, while Vice President Joe Biden was due in Wisconsin, both states Clinton was believed to have locked up weeks ago.

Clinton herself was to wrap her day in Cleveland at a get-out-the-vote rally with hip-hop artist Jay-Z.

Meanwhile, Obama halted an afternoon speech in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to defend a pro-Trump protester who was chanting the Republican nominees name.

The Democratic president told the crowd to sit down and be quiet. He defended the mans right to free speech. The protester was eventually escorted out of the venue.

If we lose focus, we could have problems, Obama said.

Hennessey reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Washington, Lisa Lerer in Pittsburgh and Josh Lederman in Fayetteville, North Carolina contributed to this report.
Now available from Ignatius Press:

General Escobar's War: A Novel of the Spanish Civil War

by Jose Luis Olaizola

Appearing here in English translation for the first time, General Escobar's War won Spain's prestigious Planeta Prize for fiction. The historical novel takes the form of an imagined diary by General Antonio Escobar, the highest-ranking officer of the Republican Army remaining in Spain at the end of the Spanish Civil War, while he awaited trial and execution.

Besides being a vivid reminder of how destructive political passions can be, General Escobar's War is also a profoundly intimate portrait of an inspiring man. By his decisive action on July 19, 1936, Escobar, then a Civil Guard colonel and a man of profound religious conviction, succeeded in thwarting the military uprising in Barcelona.

Although his father was a hero of the Spanish-American War in Cuba, his daughter was a nun, and one of his sons was a Falangist fighter, Escobar freely chose to defend the Republic in accordance with his oath to support the legally constituted government.

The author gives a rare perspective of the Spanish Civil War, free of partisanship and ideology, through a soldier who, in Spain's great historic schism, chose to take a deeply uncomfortable stance because he believed his duty called him to do so.

Jose Luis Olaizola is an award-winning Spanish author of more than 70 books. He is known throughout the Spanish-speaking world for his works on great historical figures such as El Cid, Hernan Cortes, and Bartolome de las Casas. Fire of Love, his novel about Saint John of the Cross, is also published by Ignatius Press.

"A wonderful book that explores the experience of a brave and honorable soldier, a faithful Catholic. His true story, here fluently translated, is told with moving sensitivity and an admirable lightness of touch."

 Lucy Beckett, Author, Postcard from the Volcano, and winner of the Aquinas Award for Fiction

"Many books are called 'brave' without cause, but this one is the genuine article-a truly courageous and insightful work. The reader is forced to consider the heartbreaking choices faced by anyone who has lived to see his country so cruelly divided."

 Fiorella De Maria , Author, We'll Never Tell Them

"Like all good historical fiction, this novel brings the past to graphic and disturbing light. It also shows the dignity of the human person in the midst of the ugliness of war."

 Joseph Pearce, Author, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton

"The fatalistic first person narrative is haunted by Escobar's resigned courage as he clings to his honor and his faith in a time when both were dangerous."

 Michael Richard, Author, Tobit's Dog
Hillary Clinton has regained a slim lead in a tracking poll that just days ago showed Donald Trump up by one point nationally.

In a new Washington Post/ABC tracking poll, Clinton holds a three-point lead over Trump with 47% to 44% support. In the poll released Monday, Trump was leading Clinton 46% to 45%. Both spreads are within the polls margin of error.

The new results noted many similarities with the 2012 election results. Clinton currently holds a 10-point lead among women; Barack Obama won women by 11 points. Trump has 79% support from white evangelical Protestants; Mitt Romney won 78% of them. Trump is 8 points ahead with political independents; Romney won them by 5 points.

The poll notes one significant difference from 2012, however. In the last election, Romney won white college graduates by 14 points. But this year, Clinton holds an 8-point lead with the group. If this holds for the election Trump would be the first Republican to lose the group in 60 years, FiveThirtyEight reports.

Still, with less than one week until the election, theres at least one thing most voters seem to agree on. In the final New York Times/CBS News Poll, more than 8 in 10 voters said this campaign has made them feel more disgusted than excited.
Americas favorite dad Tom Hanks is making the publicity rounds for his latest spy thriller, Inferno, and in the process hes shedding plenty of good-natured light on his life as a doting grandfather, adoring husband, and part-time wedding crasher. (Hot tip from Hanks: the secret to photobombing is timing and locale.)

In an interview published in the Jakarta Post, he also admitted the main thing that he will not tolerate in other people, and thats lying.

If you lie to me, youre going to be in big trouble, he said. I think by and large I am a good-natured man, and I give everybody a fair shake But if someone takes advantage of that good nature, well, then youre going to suffer the wrath of a lover scorned. Im a pretty decent guy. But I am not a lightweight. Im not a sucker. So beware!

Hanks also had some thoughts on the subject of his marriage to high school crush Rita Wilson, with whom he has been for 28 years. Again, honesty plays an important role in their relationship; we make sure we are honest with each other, he noted. Ive never understood the concept that you really have to work at it to make it work. We are not a leaky boat, I dont know to put it any other way. We operate on all cylinders. I dig her and she puts up with me, so good enough.

As for the high points in his life? Well listen, Im a grandfather, I have fabulous kids. They are all funny and are more or less self-supporting. Im controlling my blood sugar and my knees havent gone bad. I win! Fabulous! Im still here!

Doesnt look like hes going anywhere. As long as we get more David S. Pumpkins every so often, no one will be complaining.
Small and medium businesses lose a whopping $80.6 billion each year as a result of human error or theft, according to accounting, payroll and payments software company Sage.

Sage today released its sixth annual Payments Landscape report. It includes the results of a poll of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers and businesses regarding their experiences with lost cash.

Related: These 14 Top Companies Are Creating an Ecash World

Thirty-seven percent of respondents admit they have lost cash as a result of human error, while 29 percent of organizations say that they have been the target of cash theft by a staff member, Sage found.

Cash isnt just risky to manage -- its also inconvenient. Nearly two thirds of small- and medium-business leaders say they spend an hour or more each week counting cash and transporting it to the bank, according to a survey by research agency Viga cited in the Sage report.

Of the consumers whom Sage surveyed, 90 percent say it is important for businesses to offer a range of payment methods. In fact, 58 percent of them claim they would be more apt to shop at a store with multiple options. The question is, for how much longer will one of those options be cash?

Given the risk involved, 36 percent of respondents believe that cash will become extinct within the next 20 years, and that contactless payment -- credit and debit cards, smartphones, and RFID and NFC technologies -- will be the most popular method as soon as 2020.

Those shifts have already begun, and alternatives to cash keep cropping up. In September, Entrepreneur interviewed Gadi Amit, president and principal of NewDealDesign and designer of the original Fitbit. NewDealDesign recently created a copper-colored concept gadget called Scrip. A functional version would hypothetically store funds, exchange them via NFC and ultimately replace cash. Meanwhile, the handheld device would preserve the tactile feel of money.

Related: How to Keep a Hawk's Eye on Your Holiday Season Cash Flow

Amit explains that the reason cash persists this far into the 21st century is because it is anonymous, untraceable and universal. Cash transactions also make people more mindful of their spending, whereas research shows that virtual transactions dont seem as consequential and arent as emotionally affecting.

If youre a business owner whos misplaced a stack of cold, hard cash, chances are you can attest that the loss felt very real.
An 85-year-old blind man from Oxnard, California was robbed of his wheelchair and two safes on Tuesday morning.

Ventura Fernandez was lying in his bed when his dog began barking before 7 a.m. and he soon realized someone was in the room, according to KEYT, a local TV station.

At first the dog was barking a lot and I kept on telling him to be quiet, but the guy had already come in I guess, Fernandez said. Thats why the dog wouldnt be quiet. Until I felt something in the room and I said, Who is it? And the guy just tells me, Give me the key to the safe, give me the key to the safe.'

The intruder had entered his home through his screen window and entered the bedroom. It remains unclear to Fernandez how the man knew he kept safes in his home.

The retired construction worker, who lost his vision to cataracts, said he didnt have the keys because his son had them.

What he did have was about $70 in change, a watch worth about $400 and his passport, which were in the safes. The robber punched him in the face, then used his wheelchair to cart his two safes away.

Neighbors came to learn of the incident and by night a friend brought Fernandez a used wheelchair. Police told the news station they have some leads but that their investigation is still ongoing.

We understand the outrage, but at this time we dont have any further details. We are just taking the investigation step-by-step, Sgt. Jeff Long with the Oxnard Police Department said.




Carrie Mathison is back in America on the upcoming sixth season of Homeland, but she's not exactly getting a warm welcome home.

On Friday, Showtime revealed the first footage from the new season of the Emmy-winning drama, which returns Jan. 15 after an extended hiatus.

The footage offers glimpses at several new faces, but it's the confrontations between Carrie (Claire Danes) and Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham) that pack the biggest punch.

"I don't think you understand how vulnerable you are," he tells her in the teaser. "I don't think you do," she quickly responds.

The upcoming season, which was shot in New York, picks up months after the events of season five, with Carrie now living in Brooklyn. Season six will tackle the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, with the entire season spanning the time between Election Day and the inauguration.The halls of government are filled with anxiety and conflicting interests, as a very fragile and complicated transfer of power takes place between the outgoing president and the incoming president-elect.

Homeland returns Sunday, Jan. 15, at 9 p.m. on Showtime.

Watch the trailer below.
The British banker who slashed the throats of two women in his luxury Hong Kong apartment was "as far from normal as possible" at the time of the killings, his defence said Friday at the close of his trial.

Once a "brilliant superman investment banker" earning several million Hong Kong dollars a year, 31-year-old Rurik Jutting spiralled out of control under the influence of personality disorders, defence counsel Tim Owen told the court.

He became "a bloated, unshaven, permanently intoxicated, isolated and depraved drug and alcohol addict whose mind was permanently obsessed about sadistic sexual fantasies," he said.

Cambridge graduate Jutting is accused of murdering the two women, Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, two years ago, after saying he would pay them for sex.

The trial, which has captivated the Chinese city, heard that he tortured Ningsih inside his apartment for three days before killing her and stuffing her body in a suitcase found on his balcony.

The Briton has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges, instead pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility -- an argument the prosecution has rejected.

The past week has seen witnesses from both sides arguing the extent to which Jutting was impaired by multiple disorders.

Defence psychiatrists said Jutting was consumed by addictions to alcohol and huge amounts of cocaine, and suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and sexual sadism disorder.

Prosecution counsel John Reading told the jury in his concluding speech that Jutting "wasn't substantially impaired", took cocaine in order to gain "dutch courage", and looked and sounded calm in the videos he made between the killings.

"He took the cocaine in order to be able to torture and ultimately kill," Reading said.

But Owen argued that the picture painted by the prosecution that Jutting was cool, calm and collected at the time of the killings was untrue.

"Rurik Jutting was as far from normal as possible to be," he said. "He was off the scale... by any standard of normality".

The judge will sum up the case on Monday, with the jury expected to begin deliberating on the verdict Tuesday.
Two top House Democrats are asking the Justice Department to investigate leaks from within the FBI to the Trump campaign and the news media about bureau probes of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.

It is absolutely unacceptable for the FBI to leak unsubstantiated  and in some cases, false  information about one presidential candidate to benefit the other candidate, Rep. John Conyers, the ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking minority member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote in a Friday letter to Michael Horowitz, the Justice Departments inspector general.

The letter cited comments by Rudy Giuliani, one of Trumps top advisers, that appeared to indicate he had obtained internal information on the FBIs probe of Clintons emails. Giuliani bragged on TV about a pretty big surprise coming two days before FBI Director James Comey announced to Congress last week that investigators would review new emails. On Friday, Giuliani said on Fox News, Youre darn right I heard about it, when asked about those comments, although he indicated that his reference was to upcoming Trump campaign TV ads. He added that he had learned about a revolution going on inside the FBI over Clinton based on information he had heard from former agents.

The congressmen also pointed to a Wednesday report by Fox News anchor Bret Baier that said FBI sources told him the bureau was actively and aggressively investigating the Clinton Foundation and that an indictment was likely. On Friday, Baier partially retracted the story, saying his report of a likely indictment was a mistake.

These unauthorized and inaccurate leaks from within the FBI, particularly so close to a presidential election, are unprecedented, the congressmen wrote. For these reasons, we are calling on your office to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the sources of these and other leaks from the FBI and to recommend appropriate action.

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Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking minority member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. (Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)

The letter comes after a wave of news stories this week describing internal dissension between the FBI and the Justice Department over an inquiry launched by agents last year into allegations of potential pay to play wrongdoing committed by the Clinton Foundation.

The stories  reported by the Wall Street Journal and Fox News  recounted how agents in New York and four other field offices began to probe the foundation last year but were reportedly blocked by higher-ups in the Justice Department. The stories cited the existence of an undercover tape that allegedly supports some of the claims being investigated. But Justice Department officials reportedly found the evidence insubstantial to escalate the preliminary probe into a full-scale field investigation, and there is no indication at this point that one exists.

Spokesmen for the FBI and the Justice Departments inspector general declined to comment.
Security forces tried to prevent the demonstration by using plainclothes and the regimes intelligence agents, as well as anti-riot police, who evacuated the area around the parliament. Special unit motorized forces and a number of police cars were stationed in front of the main door and the northern and eastern sides of the parliament.

The demonstrators chanted, Theft and corruption by the Ministry of Finance, and, This much embezzlement has turned Iran into Karbala (a killing field), as well as, Rouhanis cabinet was blind and did not see the theft. O Messiah, uproot this oppression, was seen, as was, shareholders of Padideh have only heard lies, and, Khorassan prosecutor set fire to our belongings, along with, Those who claim to have faith, have betrayed all the time, and, The three branches of the government do nothing but red tape and whitewashing (their crimes), also, Today is a day of mourning, because the nations life is insecure, as well as, We will not leave until we get an answer.

Building the country is the greatest crime in Iran, trusting the government is definitely a mistake, read a placard carried by protesters.

For three days, Telecom workers have gathered outside the parliament, bringing along their families and young children, despite the brutal cold.

More than 700 coffee shop owners from the provinces of Isfahan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, and Lorestan, attended the rally to protest the sealing of their businesses. They chanted in unison, Heyhat Menna Zellah, indicating that they would not surrender to the oppression of the rulers, and will continue to demand their rights at any cost.


One says leave. One says stay. And were not talking about Brexit.

Republican Donald Trump kicked off his presidential bid in 2015 by highlighting immigration as a key issue. Hes only doubled down since. Trump wants to deport all 11 million or so undocumented workers and their families, which could cause a labor shortage in industries such as farming, landscaping and meatpacking. Some analysts think native-born Americans will fill those jobs, but theres no guarantee they want the work or are even available in sufficient numbers. Thats why some economists consider Trumps immigration plan a downer for the economy.

Democrat Hillary Clinton would take the opposite approach, seeking a pathway to citizenship for most undocumented workers. That might be politically possible if Congress first passed new measures to strengthen security along with southwest border and other entry points for people entering the country illegally. That was the basis of an immigration reform bill the Senate passed in 2013, which died in the House or Representatives. Clinton could seek to revive it.

Immigration is an emotional social issue, as well as an important economic one. Many economists argue that the United States needs more immigrants to expand the labor force, especially with the looming mass retirement of the baby boomers. A growing labor force helps boost productivity, output and living standards. Immigrants also start more businesses than native-born Americans, especially well-educated ones who come here to attend college. Clinton wants to do more to keep them here once they graduate.

The economic argument, of course, gets commingled with social concerns about drugs, crime and public-benefit costs that may be associated with immigration, which is why outdated laws havent been updated. One way or another, the next president aims to change that.

Please visit this page for more on the 2016 presidential election.

Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.

More on the series:
On one thingand perhaps one thing onlyDonald Trump and Hillary Clinton agree: Its time to invest a lot more in roads, bridges and the like.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, unveiled a plan earlier this year to spend as much as $500 billion on new infrastructure projects. Trump, the Republican nominee, said hed double that, and in late October unveiled his own $1 trillion plan.

Trump doesnt just outdo Clinton on spending. His plan is notably different because most of the money would come from private investors. There are already investor groups that seek out infrastructure projects around the world that they deem to be safe bets likely to produce strong returns. But there are relatively few of those in the United States.

Trump would establish a new federal tax credit to encourage private infrastructure investment, effectively raising the return to people who pony up the money. In principle, the idea has mainstream support, but there are some caveats. First, the only such projects likely to attract private interest would be those with tolls, user fees or some other source of revenue that serves as cash flow back to investors. Most infrastructure project dont fit this profile. Theres also the risk of political backlash if citizens feel private interestsinevitably backed by Wall Streetare profiting at the expense of locals just trying to get to work or school. On the whole, there probably arent anywhere near $1 trillion worth of infrastructure projects suitable for Trumps funding plan.

Clintons plan includes the establishment of an infrastructure bank that would function similarly to Trumps funding mechanism. But her target for such private funding is much lower. The rest of her plan entails conventional infrastructure spending, funded by new taxes on the wealthy.

Just because Trump and Clinton agree on the need for more infrastructure spending doesnt mean its a good or timely idea. Economists point out that while such projects can help the economy during downturns, when there are a lot of idle workers, theyre less effective when employment is strong, and may even take workers from other industries where theyre needed. And theres always the risk of boondoggles engineered to benefit politicians and their cronies, rather than the public at large. Not all roads lead to greater prosperity.

Story continues

Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.

More on the series:
For the past five years, Hugh Grant has been on hiatus, taking a break from film to focus on his work with Hacked Off, an organization fighting for stricter press laws in the U.K., after the scandal surrounding the News of the World and its hacking of citizens and stars (including him). During that same period, he also became a father - four times over. But a role opposite Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins was an offer too good to refuse. Now the Brit, 56, known for such films as Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary, is receiving kudos for his return to the screen, including best supporting actor honors at the Hollywood Film Awards on Nov. 6 (hosted by James Corden). "It's a novel experience for me," says Grant. "Gratifying, and unusual."

What attracted you to Florence Foster Jenkins?

It really was impossible to turn down because it was Stephen Frears and it was Meryl Streep. And it was a really good part: complicated, nuanced. He was something of an enigma, and I thought I might recognize him.

Was working with Meryl what you expected?

I imagined working with her would be terrifying, and, indeed, it was really. She is so brilliant of course, a genius, which is frightening in itself, but also unbelievably focused and dedicated. I had to raise my game.

Read more: 'Awards Chatter' Podcast  Hugh Grant ('Florence Foster Jenkins')

You've mentioned that you dealt with stage fright. Do you still struggle with that?

I do live in terror of an attack. I used to get three or four [on a film], but now I'm down to one, and I'm hoping for none on this next one. I've got it more or less under control with the right combination of herbal remedies and exercise. I went to see a shrink about it. It was a waste of money because all he said was to do a few press-ups, and he's not wrong. Just doing press-ups or squat jumps for five minutes brings your adrenaline down below the red line. So that's what I do in the middle of an important emotional or comedic scene: I'm leaping about doing those.

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What kind of advice do you give to young actors who are just starting out?

I think if you really, really love it, nothing's going to stop you anyway. But it's always a difficult thing when young relations come to see me saying they're desperate to go into acting because it's no good just being good enough - you've also got to be so absurdly lucky, and I always worry that you can waste a life. It's all very well if you're trying it until you're 25, but suddenly you're trying it at 35 and it hasn't worked out, and then you're 45 and that's undesirable I think when you could have done something else. So it's a very difficult piece of advice to give to young relations. One of them came to see me the other day, she did an audition piece for me - which I wasn't ready for - and she was a nice girl and it was really good. It was a piece about being raped. As she was doing it full out in the middle of my room and it was a very difficult situation. Anyway, I don't know what the answer is. I think if you love it go for it, but set a time limit.

What do you feel like you've accomplished with Hacked Off?

We have made some big strides. Getting the Leveson inquiry to happen was a big stride, and getting the recommendations [of] that inquiry into law was a big moment. The problem is now that the government is, as ever, under massive pressure from the big media barons here - and terrified of them. So they're trying to find a loophole to delay the big commencement of the new laws that we made, so that's the little fight we're in at the moment, is trying to make them do that.

Have there been repercussions from your work with Hacked Off?

There's a lot of talk in British papers about freedom of speech, but there's no freedom of speech for anyone who criticizes them - so if you do that, they tear you to pieces. Not only as a punishment to you but as a warning to others. It's like The Godfather.

Read more: Robert De Niro to Be Honored at Hollywood Film Awards

Are you diving back into acting or is your focus still on Hacked Off?

As we speak, I'm in a taxi to a Hacked Off meeting at Westminster, but I spent the afternoon learning to tap dance for Paddington 2 - in the same dance studios where I learned the Lindy hop for Florence Foster Jenkins. I don't know what my children make of it. One moment I'm in a suit and the next I'm in a pair of tap shoes and a pink suit dancing around.

Was taking on Paddington 2 influenced by your kids?

I suppose it might be. But any time I try to interest my children in my films, they look embarrassed and run in the opposite direction. I'm not sure they'll ever like me as an actor, and I'm sympathetic to that.

A version of this story first appeared in the Nov. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Huma Abedin stepped back into the spotlight Thursday evening, hosting a fundraiser for longtime boss Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C. alongside Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg.

Clintons top aide took a break from the campaign trail in the wake of Fridays news that emails being scrutinized by the FBI in conjunction with the closed investigation into Clintons use of a private server were retrieved from estranged husband Anthony Weiners computer.

Abedin received a warm welcome from the crowd of Washington, D.C. power women in attendance  all gathered at the home of Connie Milstein, owner of Washingtons Jefferson Hotel. Tickets for the evening started at $1,000.

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen was also at the event. She told PEOPLE Huma was was welcomed by the crowd really enthusiastically.

As for recent attacks on Abedin, Rosen turned the attention toward Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The Trump campaign and right-wing media are going after her as a surrogate for going after Hillary, she said. The crowd last night was really supportive of Huma.

There was no hint of Abedin feeling embattled or under siege, as tabloid and right-wing headlines would have you believe, Rosen said. There were no red eyes in the room, she said. Just determination.

RELATED VIDEO: Hillary Wants Michelle Obama to Work With a Clinton White House

Abedin, 40, has worked closely with the Democratic nominee for years, first serving under the then-first ladys Chief of Staff Maggie Williams as a White House intern in 1996. Four years later, she became a backup aide and then advisor to Clinton during her bid for Senate. When Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, Abedin was her deputy chief of staff.

Hillary for America Chairman John Podesta told CNN on Sunday that Abedin is still serving in her same position on the campaign.

Abedin herself has not yet spoken publicly on the renewed email investigation. However, her attorney Karen Dunn released a statement on Monday, saying: While the FBI has not contacted us about this, Ms. Abedin will continue to be, as she always has been, forthcoming and cooperative.




Philippine presidential candidate and Davao city mayor Rodrigo 'Digong' Duterte gestures while delivering a speech during a May Day campaign rally in Manila, Philippines May 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ezra Acayan

Rodrigo Duterte has proven adept at hurling invective. But in a clip of a recent interview with Al Jazeera, the Philippine president was much more complementary of some of his counterparts on the world stage.

When Steve Chao, a correspondent and host for Al Jazeera, asked Duterte his thoughts on the US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary, the Philippine leader replied, "She'll make a good president."

Asked about Donald Trump, to whom the brash Philippine leader has been compared, Duterte said, "A good candidate."

But Duterte offered perhaps the most effusive praise for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom the Philippine president called "my idol."

"He has no illusions about himself. He knows that he was not trained for politics. Nor to be a statesman. He acts just like a president," he said.

"My characterization of Putin," Duterte added, "is how I describe myself."

Days before US elections, the controversial Philippine leader, #Duterte, gives his take on Clinton, Trump... and Putin?! pic.twitter.com/tJ89jIm2sU  Steve Chao (@SteveChaoSC) November 4, 2016

This is not the first time Duterte has spoken highly of the Russian president. In late October, when asked who he favored in the US presidential election, Duterte demurred, eventually concluding his answer with, "My favorite hero is Putin."

His warmth toward Putin is part of a realignment Duterte has pushed since talking office, in which he has repeatedly scorned the US and its longstanding relationship with the Philippines, instead embracing China and Russia.

"I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world  China, Philippines, and Russia. It's the only way," Duterte said on October 20.

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Rodrigo Duterte Xi Jinping

It's not surprising to see Duterte praise Putin as an outsider, either. The Philippine president has cast himself in the same light, positioning himself as an the leader to upset the status quo and challenge an entrenched elite.

In reality, the Philippine leader is himself part of one of the Philippines many political dynasties. Duterte's own family is closely related to two of the most powerful political clans in the Philippines' Cebu province.

His father was mayor of Davao City, a major urban center in the southern Philippines, from 1959 to 1965. The younger Duterte then held that office or the vice mayorship for 30 years up until his election as president in 2016. With Rodrigo Duterte now governing in Manila, his daughter now holds the mayorship of Davao, with his son as vice mayor.

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows how drastically split different demographics are this election





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IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 3, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit against Opus Bank ("Opus Bank" or the "Company") (OPB). Investors, who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between July 28, 2014 and October 17, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm in advance of the December 27, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased shares of Opus Bank during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Opus Bank made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that some of its loans were of low quality; that Opus Bank was over-representing the quality of the loans to the public; that the Company failed to properly account for the loans in violation of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"); that the Company would be forced to recognize large charge-offs associated with the loans; that Opus Bank lacked adequate internal controls over accounting and financial reporting; and that as a result of the above, the Company's statements about its business, operations and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On October 17, 2016, Opus Bank announced its earnings for the third quarter 2016 and disclosed that the Company recognized charge-offs on eight loan relationships through the allowance for loan losses at September 30, 2016. When this information was disclosed to the public, shares of Opus Bank dropped in value.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit at no charge, or if you have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

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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
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian fringe group on Friday celebrated the "victory" of U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump, hailing his friendship with diaspora Indians and backing his call to ban immigration by Muslims from countries hit by Islamic militancy. With drums banging and speakers blaring, the Hindu Sena, or Hindu Army, gathered at Jantar Mantar - New Delhi's answer to London's Speakers' Corner - to proclaim to a knot of TV crews that Trump had "already won" the Nov. 8 vote. "Trump's victory is confirmed early, due to his thoughts against Islamic terrorism and love for India and Hindus," said Vishnu Gupta, the Hindu Sena's self-styled national president. Trump uttered the memorable phrase "I love Hindu" at a cultural event in New Jersey last month organized by supporters of his candidacy from the Indian diaspora. That sentiment has not played so well with many diaspora Indians who are secular or belong to other faiths and, as a group, lean more toward supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton. But as far as the Hindu Sena is concerned, the feeling is mutual. Its celebration at a roadside stall featured posters bearing the slogans, "India Loves Trump" and "Trump Our Only Hope". One supporter held up a portrait of Trump with a tilak, or religious mark, on his forehead and held a sweet to his mouth. India has not officially endorsed either Trump or Democratic contender Hillary Clinton but has seen a warming in bilateral ties between outgoing President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Indonesian Muslims protest against Jakartas Christian governor A Muslim youth carries a riot shield near burning police trucks, during a clash with the police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesian police quelled a mass protest by tens of thousands of hard-line Muslims on Friday, firing tear gas and water cannons into crowds demanding the resignation of the Christian governor of Jakarta, who they said had insulted the Quran.

A police spokesman said one person died and 12 were hurt.

Indonesia is the worlds most populous Muslim country, but most follow a moderate form of Islam, and protests on such a large scale are rare.

Critics say the protest was whipped up by an extremist group that latched on to political tension ahead of Februarys election for the governorship of Jakarta, the countrys capital, and was allowed to grow because the government failed to rein it in.

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr.
The new Netflix series The Crown chronicles the early years of Queen Elizabeth IIs long reign. Much of the first season examines how Elizabeths ascension to the throne impacted her relationship with her husband, Prince Philip, who is alternately supportive of the young monarch (she was crowned at 25) and resentful.

Early on, he is told by aides that he must walk behind her, and the English government refuses to allow the couple to give the children Philips name. Biographers have written that Philip chafed under these guidelines, perceiving them as a challenge to his manhood.

But a 1957 cover story in TIME, written on the occasion of the queens first visit to the United States since her coronation, credits Philip with modernizing the royal family and connecting with the common people of England.

In the increasingly equalitarian Britain of the postwar years, Britains monarchy found itself subject to a questioning, scarcely articulated, of the utility of an expensive royal household whose members saw only other aristocrats and seemed chiefly concerned with horse racing or  shooting grouse. But today, Britains throne has never been more secure, nor its occupant more firmly rooted in her subjects affections. The man chiefly responsible for building this new bridge of sympathy and understanding between throne and subject is the vigorous, handsome man Elizabeth married ten years ago.

While Elizabeth grew up surrounded by the royal family and private tutors, Philip was a relatively impoverished princeling, reared as a commoner, has washed dishes, fired boilers, even played on a skittles team organized by the owner of a local pub. He is the nephew of King Constantine of Greece and a descendent of Queen Victoria, but when he was just a year old, his father was condemned to exile. Philip never even learned Greek. His family fled to Paris and his mother eventually went to a sanatarium in Germany. His father lived with a girlfriend in Monte Carlo and shipped Philip off to England to be raised by a grandmother. He went to British schools and eventually joined the military.

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Philip met Elizabeth, his third cousin, when they were children. From the time she was 13, she was besotted, according to the article. She never fell for another man, though he had other relationships while she grew into adulthood. As suggested in the first episode of The Crown, Elizabeths family did not approve of the match.

Despite Philips British background and his fine war record, George VI was deeply worried about how British opinion, particularly its left wing, would take to a Greek Prince as the husband of the heiress presumptive. There was also something about his daughters brash young man with his loud, boisterous laugh and his blunt, seagoing manners that irritated the gentle King. Besides, the fellow couldnt shoot.

But Elizabeth won out, and the two married when she was 21 (after her father asked the couple to wait a year to be sure they wanted to wed). The TIME article concludes by accounting the ways the two have changed one another, though not in the most flattering terms:
Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ICPT posted a loss of $3.59 per share in the third quarter of 2016, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $3.72 but wider than the year-ago loss of $2.10.

FindTheCompany | Graphiq

Quarterly revenues came in at $5.2 million, up significantly from $0.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenues, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.6 million.



The companys shares were down almost 17% following the release.



Quarter in Detail



Ocaliva sales came in at $4.7 million in the third quarter of 2016. Note that in May 2016, Ocaliva was approved in the U.S., in combination with ursodeoxycholic (UDCA) for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) in adults with an inadequate response to UDCA, or as monotherapy in adults who are unable to tolerate UDCA.



Research and development expenses shot up 59.3% year over year to $43.8 million primarily due to higher staff and respective expenses as well as higher activities related to the research and development program for Ocaliva.



General and administrative expenses increased 79.8% to $79.8 million driven by the commercial launch of Ocaliva in the U.S., along with increased international infrastructure and pre-commercial activities to support the drugs anticipated launch in the ex-U.S. markets.



2016 Outlook



Intercept has revised its adjusted operating expense guidance for 2016. The company now expects operating expenses in the range of $320$340 million (previous guidance: near the low end of the $360$400 million band). The decrease is primarily due to lower-than-expected development costs, and delayed timing in raw material purchases for R&D manufacturing of Ocaliva.



Pipeline Update



Intercept is currently working on getting Ocaliva approved outside the U.S. A marketing authorisation application (MAA) for Ocaliva is currently under review in the EU. The European Medicines Authoritys (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended a conditional approval of Ocaliva. A final decision on the approval status should be out by 2016 end. The company expects to launch the product in early 2017.



Moreover, in September, the company filed a New Drug Submission to Health Canada for a marketing approval of Ocaliva, in combination with UDCA, for the treatment of PBC.



Meanwhile, Intercept is evaluating Ocaliva in two phase II studies  CONTROL, for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and AESOP, for the treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Top-line data from both the studies are expected in 2017.

INTERCEPT PHARM Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

INTERCEPT PHARM Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | INTERCEPT PHARM Quote

Our Take



Intercepts third-quarter results were mixed with company reporting a narrower-than-expected loss and revenues missing estimates. Nevertheless, the initial uptake of Ocaliva has been encouraging. A potential approval in Europe around 2016 end should boost Intercepts portfolio further and enable the company to record its first international sales in 2017.



However, expenses are expected to continue rising as the company invests in commercial activities related to Ocaliva.



Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Intercept currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector include Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. INFI, Geron Corporation GERN and Exelixis, Inc. EXEL. Both Infinity and Exelixis sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Geron carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Infinitys loss estimates narrowed from $3.84 to $3.79 for 2016 but remained unchanged for 2017 over the last 60 days. The company has posted a positive surprise in all of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 67.62%.



Exelixis loss estimates narrowed from 71 cents to 61 cents for 2016 and from 16 cents to earnings of 4 cents for 2017 over the last 60 days. The company has posted a positive surprise twice in the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 9.1%.



Geron has posted a positive earnings surprise in all of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 20.78%.



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When Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 mysteriously disappeared shortly after takeoff in March 2014, there was probably no one at the aircraft's controls when it crashed, a new analysis suggests.

Satellite data contradicts recent claims that pilots were able to steer the aircraft during its final minutes of flight, right before it plunged into the ocean, Time.com reported.

According to a statement released Wednesday (Nov. 2) by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the search-and-recovery mission for the missing flight, models of the plane's final trajectory and evidence from wreckage linked to the missing flight show that preparations were not made for a controlled ditch, an emergency water landing under a pilot's guidance. [Flight 370: Photos of the Search for Missing Malaysian Plane]

Since MH370's disappearance, little evidence has surfaced to confirm what, exactly, took place after air traffic control in Malaysia lost contact with the plane. The ATSB report accompanies the launch of a two-day meeting in Canberra, held from Nov. 2 to 4, by an international team of experts to review progress made in the investigation thus far.

The ATSB evaluated data from satellite communications (Satcom), and found that the final signals from MH370 were consistent with "a high and increasing rate of descent"  a sign that no one was wrestling with the airplane's controls to pull it into a more controlled glide, officials stated in the report.

Wing wreckage provided further evidence that MH370's final descent was out of control, the ATSB report stated. A wing flap identified as part of MH370's right wing had washed ashore on June 20 in Tanzania, and was checked for signs that it had interacted with "mechanisms, supports and surrounding components" in the wing that would suggest the flap was extended into a landing position prior to the crash.

But close examination confirmed that the flap was not deployed, the investigation found. By contrast, it likely would have been deployed during a ditching, if the pilot had been in control, officials said.

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Other pieces of debris thought to belong to the missing flight are described in the ATSB report. To date, more than 20 potential pieces of wreckage have been recovered from Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues islands, from the east coast of Madagascar, and from the eastern and southern coasts of Africa.

However, the main airplane body and the remains of the 239 people on board the flight have yet to be discovered.

More than 42,000 square miles (110,000 square kilometers) of seafloor have been searched so far, and officials will continue to look for MH370 in the 46,000-square-mile (120,000 square km) search zone through early 2017, the ATSB said in a statement.

"Ministers went to great lengths to explain this does not mean the termination of the search," the statement said. "Should credible new information emerge that can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given to determining next steps."

Original article on Live Science.

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Tehran (AFP) - Iran has sentenced protesters accused of attacking Saudi Arabia's embassy in response to the execution of a prominent cleric to up to six months in prison, their lawyer said Friday.

Some of the defendants received three or six months in jail for disturbing public order while others were acquitted over the January attack, Mostafa Shabani said, quoted by the ISNA news agency.

The suspects were cleared of the charge of destruction of the embassy, he said, without specifying how many people were convicted.

In July, 21 suspects in the attack on the embassy in Tehran had appeared in court. Another 27 people were said to be facing trial but their fate is unclear.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia and some of its Sunni Muslim Gulf allies severed diplomatic relations with Shiite-ruled Iran after the incident.

The embassy attack was condemned by Iran's top authorities, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mosul (Iraq) (AFP) - Jihadist fighters unleashed a deluge of bombs and gunfire Friday on Iraqi forces punching into the streets of Mosul for the first time, forcing some units into a partial pullback.

Some armoured vehicles from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) returned from the streets of Al-Karamah a few hours after moving in and encountering fierce resistance from the Islamic State group, an AFP correspondent reported.

"We weren't expecting such resistance. They had blocked all the roads," said one officer, as top brass considered whether or not to attempt a fresh foray.

"There are large numbers of jihadists... It was preferable to pull back and devise a new plan," the CTS officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some CTS forces remained inside the city, however, and there were at least five regiments involved in the operation launched Friday, making it hard to gauge the extent of the pullback.

After daybreak, bulldozers and tanks backed by air strikes pushed into the streets of Mosul from the east for the first time since Iraqi forces launched a broad offensive to retake the city on October 17.

The CTS's "Mosul Regiment", the last to leave the city when the jihadists overran it in June 2014, immediately faced "tough resistance", commander Muntadhar Salem told AFP.

The gunfire was almost uninterrupted for hours and reports from the front crackling into CTS radios said IS had set up barriers and laid bombs all along the streets.

Air strikes by the US-led coalition had intensified over the past two days, despite the smoke from burning tyres set alight by IS in a bid to provide cover.

They ebbed when the ground push got under way, however.

- Back from the dead -

The resistance came despite widespread reports in recent weeks that top IS commanders had left the eastern side of the city and crossed the Tigris river to regroup on its west bank.

An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters are scattered across the sprawling city, Iraq's second largest, where a million-plus civilians are believed to be trapped.

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There has been an exodus of civilians from outlying villages such as Gogjali and Bazwaya this week, but few managed to find a safe way out of Mosul itself.

Umm Ali could not hold back tears when she spoke of her constant fear the jihadists would take her young sons.

"They kept coming to our home. Sometimes they'd knock on the door at 10:00 pm," she said. "They took our car, saying: 'This is the land of the caliphate, it belongs to us'."

Civilians seeking refuge in Kurdish-controlled areas east of the city recounted tales of IS brutality.

"We're coming from the world of the dead back to the world of the living," said Raed Ali, 40, who fled the nearby village of Bazwaya.

The United Nations refugee agency said 3,000 displaced people arrived at the newly-opened camp of Hasansham, many of them from Gogjali.

In a rare audio message released on Thursday, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urged his fighters to defend the city where he proclaimed the "caliphate" in June 2014.

The public announcement he made from the pulpit of Mosul's Great Mosque of Al-Nuri heralded the most ambitious and brutal experiment in modern jihad, a period marked by mass murder, attempted genocide and slavery.

But the "caliphate" has been shrinking steadily since mid-2015, and the loss of Mosul would leave Raqa, in Syria, as the group's only major urban stronghold.

- Caliphate 'on defensive' -

IS has been increasingly pragmatic in its tactics this year, falling back in the face of superior force even in emblematic bastions such as Fallujah in Iraq and Dabiq in Syria.

However Baghdadi, in his first message of 2016, called on IS fighters still in Mosul to make a stand.

"Holding your ground with honour is a thousand times easier than retreating in shame," he said.

Aymenn al-Tamimi, a jihadism expert at the Middle East Forum, said the tone of the half-hour speech was "very much of a caliphate on the defensive".

The jihadist group has carried out a series of diversionary attacks elsewhere in Iraq since the Mosul battle began but has not attempted any ground offensive.

On Friday, jihadists infiltrated Sharqat, an area south of Mosul that was recaptured over a month ago, sparking clashes that killed seven Iraqi security personnel, police said.

With colder weather setting in, concern has grown for Mosul's civilian population.

Aid groups say up to a million people could seek to flee as soon as they can, but shelter is available for only a fraction of that number.

The United Nations says it has received credible reports of IS forcing tens of thousands of civilians into Mosul from outlying areas for use as "human shields".
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Friday that killed eight people and wounded more than 100, the group's Amaq news agency said. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier on Friday that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack, and that one suspected member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was also killed in the blast. (Reporting by Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
By Michael Georgy MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces said they recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State bastion a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat. An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service, which has spearheaded the Mosul offensive, said troops had launched a major operation against the militants who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban redoubt in Iraq. CTS special forces took over Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama districts, the army said. "This is something very big - it means large parts of the left bank have been liberated," CTS commander Lieutenant-General Talib Shaghati said, referring to the half of Mosul which lies on the east bank of the Tigris. However, a resident of one district which the army declared recaptured told Reuters after the announcement that clashes continued. "It's true urban warfare," he said by telephone. "My children haven't slept for two days... Bullets and shells are coming from everywhere." In the neighborhood of Intisar, still fiercely contested by the army and jihadists, a Reuters correspondent heard heavy gunfire and explosions. Black smoke rose from an area nearby and damaged buildings showed signs of combat. The territory taken by the government still amounts to just a fraction of the sprawling city, which is divided into dozens of residential and industrial districts and was home to 2 million people before it was captured by Islamic State in 2014. The battle to drive the fighters out is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, and is likely to decide the fate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate that has defied the world for two years. The advances took the troops 1 mile (1 1/2 km) inside the city. Districts captured so far, however, are less built-up than other areas, particularly those on the west bank of the Tigris, where the population is more exclusively Sunni Muslim Arab and the hardline Sunni Islamists could be more deeply embedded. Iraqi officers and those from a U.S.-led coalition providing air and ground support to the offensive say progress has been faster than expected but stress that the operation is still in its early stages. SPECIAL FORCES Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by U.S.-led air strikes launched their campaign to retake Mosul nearly three weeks ago. Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a cross-border caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago. Islamic State also holds large parts of neighboring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country, many times bigger than any other city the militants have held. In a speech released on Thursday Baghdadi said there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against Islamic State, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders. Baghdadi's whereabouts are unknown. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said intelligence suggested he had "vacated the scene", and a Kurdish intelligence source said he was believed to be in the region of Baaj, about 130 km (80 miles) west of Mosul. Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus. Iraqi officials say Islamic State is holding the civilian population as human shields. U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday Islamic State fighters had killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around Mosul. They have also transported 1,600 people from the town of Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, to Tal Afar to the west, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told residents to hand over boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers. The number of people displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign jumped to 30,000 as 8,000 people fled the fighting in the last 24 hours, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said. Most of the new arrivals came from the Kokjali district, which the army recaptured this week and which officers say has come under fire from retreating Islamic State forces. The figures do not include thousands of people from outlying villages forced to head to Mosul by retreating Islamic State fighters who used them as human shields. ROCKET LAUNCHERS Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said Islamic State fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas. Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosul airport, they said. "We saw Daesh (Islamic State) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well," one resident said. People in southern and eastern neighborhoods said on Thursday night that their houses had been shaken by artillery and rocket barrages launched from their districts towards the advancing troops. As well as the Islamic State resistance in Mosul itself, the militants have launched diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive. In the town of Shirqat, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, militants stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation force. The insurgents crossed from the eastern bank of the Tigris into the town at 3 a.m., taking over al-Baaja mosque and fanning out into alleyways. Security forces imposed a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, forces were being sent to the town. In their drive towards Mosul, Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the Tigris from the south. The Hashid Shaabi forces of mainly Shi'ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, fighting to cut off the western supply route to Islamic State areas in Syria. A Hashid spokesman said they had made progress, but cars have continued to leave Mosul, heading west. A witness in western Mosul told Reuters by telephone that vehicles flowed in and out of the city on Friday. "I can see long convoys...some of them are heading outside the city through the Mosul-Rabiya road and others are coming into the city". As well as families forced back into Mosul by Islamic State, residents say some Sunni Muslims in the western villages around the city may have chosen to move back into the city, fearing the advancing Shi'ite forces. (Additional reporting by Stephen Kalin in Bartella, Saif Hameed in Baghdad, Tom Miles in Geneva and Isabel Coles; writing by Dominic Evans, editing by Angus MacSwan and Anna Willard)
Paris (AFP) - American John Isner sealed his place in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday with a 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-4 win over compatriot Jack Sock.

Isner and Sock, who teamed up to win the doubles in Shanghai last month, traded crunching blows as the first set headed to a tie-break, but the latter was made to pay after failing to convert a set point.

Sock was playing his 33rd match -- singles and doubles combined -- in as many days and the American number one appeared to run out of steam as he dropped serve early in the second.

But the world number 24 rebounded by breaking Isner's serve for the first time this week and then repeated the trick once more to force a third set.

Isner raced 4-0 ahead in the decider, and although Sock fought gamely to claw to within a break, his rally fell short this time.

Novak Djokovic, battling to hold onto his world number one ranking from the fast-charging Andy Murray, takes on Marin Cilic later.

Djokovic has never lost to the Croat in 14 previous meetings, but Cilic is a man in form after booking his ticket to the prestigious November 13-20 Tour finals in London.

The Serb is a record four-time champion in Paris and will extend his 122-week run at the summit if he reaches Sunday's final.

Murray has drastically cut the gap with titles in Beijing, Shanghai and Vienna and could supplant Djokovic with a first Paris Masters crown if his rival falls beforehand.

The Scot takes on 2005 champion Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals with the Czech needing to win to stay in the race for the final London berth.
Northern Italys annual White Truffle Festival has been a local treat for the citizens of Albaand all those who travel to the small town in the region of Piedmontfor years, and to celebrate the esteemed event, New York City will be unveiling the grand debut of its own White Truffle Festival (November 5 to 12). The weeklong epicurean occasion pairs the scrumptious little gems from Urbani trufflesthe worlds number one source for fresh truffleswith exceptional wines from Prunotto. This culinary combination is spotlighted in a selection of carefully crafted menus at some of the citys top restaurants, which are sure to be some of the seasons most coveted reservations, so advanced booking is encouraged. (winemag.com)

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Jamie Dornan jokes about Ian Somerhalder replacing him in Fifty Shades of Grey and were oddly okay with it

Attention: Fifty Shades of Grey fans, theres a new Christian Grey in the works!

Okay, dont panic, Jamie Dornan joked about Ian Somerhalder replacing him in the film series, but he was in no way being serious. Although, were not totally opposed to The Vampire Diaries star taking off his shirt in a Fifty Shades movie.

On Thursday, Dornan appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his TV series, The Fall, but of course things quickly turned to talk about the Fifty Shades of Grey film series, in which he plays the sexy, Christian Grey.

Jimmy Kimmel decided to give the crowd what they wanted and ask the 34-year-old actor about the movies sequel, Fifty Shades Darker, which hits theaters February 10, 2017 and the third installment, Fifty Shades Freed, which is slated for Feb. 9, 2018.

Dornan jokingly said that the sequels, are going to ruin the franchise. Clearly he wasnt being serious, because the franchise is doing fine and the sequel is highly anticipated by fans whove read all the books and love seeing Dornan on screen.

Mr. Grey will see you now. Jamie Dornan TONIGHT! #TheFall A photo posted by Jimmy Kimmel Live (@jimmykimmellive) on Nov 3, 2016 at 6:56pm PDT

Taking Dornans lead, Kimmel then asked about the casting rumors hed heard about the next two movies. Supposedly, I heard that Ian Somerhalder is replacing you in that, Kimmel said. Do you know anything about that? Is that true?

No, Dornan quickly replied. Thank goodness!

I dont know, he continued. That would be really hard for them to do, considering we shot both of the movies. Thats an expensive mistake, Ill put it that way. But good luck to himhell be great!

While we dont want to see Dornan go as the hunky Mr. Grey, Mr. Somerhalder will see you now, has a nice ring to it, dont you think?

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Just look at those dreamy eyes, and his hair, and just everything about him screams sexy, so technically Somerhalder could handle the big shoes that Dornan currently fills.

Alright, so it was all a joke, but if Dornan were to step down as Christian Grey, Somerhalder would definitely have our vote as his replacement. Luckily, we dont actually have to deal with a casting change and instead can focus on seeing Dornan back on the big screen in Fifty Shades Darker come the new year.

Until then, well just watch Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries every week and think about what couldve been!

The post Jamie Dornan jokes about Ian Somerhalder replacing him in Fifty Shades of Grey and were oddly okay with it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and Russia will focus on about 30 items of economic cooperation ahead of a December summit at which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to make progress in resolving a long-festering territorial row, said the Nikkei business daily.

Japan's trade minister Hiroshige Seko met Russian officials in Moscow, including Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev, and the two sides agreed to seek concrete progress before Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Japan next month, the Nikkei reported on Friday.

The ministers also agreed to map out by Nov. 18 plans for government-led projects such as improving the urban environment in the southwestern city of Voronezh and training of Russian engineers, the Nikkei said.

That would be before Abe and Putin hold an expected meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru that month.

Seko and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak agreed to work together on oil and gas development and cooperation on decommissioning Japan's disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, the newspaper added.

"Improving the economic relationship between Japan and Russia will of course be a major, important foundation for negotiating a peace treaty," the Nikkei quoted Seko as telling reporters in Moscow.

The dispute over four islands north of Japan's Hokkaido, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, has kept Tokyo and Moscow from signing a peace treaty formally ending their conflict in World War Two.

Abe is betting his close ties with Putin and the lure of investment from Japanese companies could set the stage for progress in the dispute when the pair meet in Abe's home constituency on Dec. 15.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Linda Sieg and Michael Perry)
hillary clinton smile

It wasn't great, but it was good enough.

The October jobs report missed expectations on Friday, indicating the US added 161,000 jobs to the economy over the past month, lower than the consensus expectation for 173,000.

Despite the miss, the details of the report and the still solid-enough headline number should help Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's case for the American economy.

Essentially, Clinton's case is that the economy is on the right track after pulling itself out of the depths of the worst recession since the Great Depression. On the other hand, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made his case that America is losing and needs to be made great again.

While the headline number may be lackluster, the fact that it is still growing may be enough for Clinton's argument. A positive change in jobs added between the first and third quarters is generally correlated with a victory for the incumbent party. There's been a net addition of 1,638,000 to payrolls since January, and the last time the incumbent party lost with a jobs gain between January and October equal to or above the growth in 2016 was 1976.

The biggest case for Clinton, however, probably comes in the form of worker's paychecks. Average hourly earnings hit a post-recession high in Friday's report at 2.8% year-over-year growth and look poised to grow over 3% over the course of 2016. It's hard to make a case that American workers are struggling when wages are moving up at what finally looks like a healthy rate.

Other underlying factors should help Clinton too. The median time an unemployed worker is looking for a job hit a post-recession low. The U6 unemployment rate, which measures not only those unemployed but also workers with a part-time job that are seeking full-time employment, hit a post-recession low.

Even Americans with jobs feel good about the labor market. As noted by Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro in an email following the report, the quits rate for workers hit 12.1% in October, the highest since the financial crisis.

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Throw in other economic indicators such as last week's GDP report, solid showings for manufacturing in recent months, and strong consumer spending and the economic case for a Clinton win seems strong.

Even the markets seem to point to the jobs report as a good thing for Clinton. The most common market proxy for the election, the Mexican peso's strength against the US dollar, looked good for Clinton as the peso strengthened immediately following the release of the report.

When it comes down to it, the jobs report wasn't gangbusters, but given the underlying strength and apparent tight labor market, it may be enough to indicate that Americans feel good about their economic situation. Thus, it's better news for Hillary Clinton.

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Counties across the country will elect their top law enforcement officers on Tuesday.

It's a unique system: While communities in the U.S. and in virtually every nation appoint their police chiefs, experts say, most American communities with a sheriff elect someone to hold the position. In fact, some state constitutions even require it.

Sheriffs' duties vary: Across the South and in rural counties, sheriff's departments are traditionally the main source of law enforcement. In suburbs and cities, they often run county jails, serve court papers and perhaps are in charge of an ambulance squad.

[READ: Police Chiefs Group Apologizes for 'Historical Mistreatment' of Minorities]

Supporters of electing sheriffs say the process makes them more accountable to the public, upholding the American tradition of checks and balances by providing a counterweight to police chiefs and the politicians who appoint them. Detractors, including legal scholars, contend the system makes sheriffs too susceptible to the whims of public pressure and voters' fear of crime, especially each election cycle.

All but four states either mandate or allow for the election of sheriffs, but standards for the job vary county to county and state to state. With voters headed to the polls and Sheriffs Joe Arpaio and David Clarke perennially in the headlines, U.S. News looks at how this way of doing things came to be -- and what it means for the justice system.

Where does this system come from?

British colonists brought the concept of sheriffs to the American colonies. Around 1,000 years ago, "reeves" were charged with patrolling and collecting taxes in British shires. These shire-reeves eventually became known as sheriffs.

The elected position appears to have officially taken root stateside in 1651, when colonists in Virginia first chose a sheriff. The practice of electing sheriffs spread from there.

If towns and cities are appointing police chiefs, why should we still be electing sheriffs?

The National Sheriffs' Association, which represents some 3,000 sheriffs, "strongly supports the concept of an elected office of sheriff," says Greg Champagne, the association's president and the sheriff in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, where voters re-elected him to a sixth four-year term last year.

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"We don't want anybody to have too much authority," he says. "So as opposed to a sheriff being appointed by a mayor or city council and being beholden to that city council, we are beholden to the people. We see our bosses as the citizens that elect us."

Being forced to think about re-election every few years, Champagne adds, is "not necessarily a bad thing: We know the public's going to re-elect us if we do our jobs in a fair and constitutional manner."

What do critics say?

There's little to no research that examines elected versus appointed sheriffs, partly because there are so few appointed sheriffs for comparison. But there are things we do know that concern some scholars: For one, just 41 sheriffs are women, according to the National Sheriffs' Association.

And while the association says it does not keep track of sheriffs by race, legal scholars believe the vast majority of elected sheriffs are white -- reflecting the broader makeup of law enforcement generally, as well as the ranks of sworn personnel in sheriff's offices, which federal statistics show were nearly 80 percent white in 2013.

That also closely follows the trend among elected prosecutors, 95 percent of whom were white in 2014, and 83 percent of whom were men, a report by the left-leaning Women Donors Network found.

Other trends among elected prosecutors and judges may offer insight into sheriffs, too, suggesting elected law enforcement officials get more "tough on crime" as re-election approaches.

In re-election years, for example, judges are more likely to "impose longer sentences, affirm death sentences and even override life sentences to impose death," according to a 2015 analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Defense attorneys, likewise, are more likely to accept a tougher sentence during a plea bargain when their case is assigned to a judge who's facing re-election, a 2013 analysis of elected prosecutors in North Carolina showed.

The same analysis found prosecutors are more likely to bring a case to trial, rather than seek a plea deal, in the year before their own re-election.

"The evidence seems to suggest that judges who are elected feel the pressure from being elected, and feel they might not be able to support certain types of causes or stand up to the public when there are some difficult cases," says David Schultz, a professor of political science at Hamline University in Minnesota. "I wouldn't be surprised if we found something similar among elected sheriffs: that they feel they may have to do certain things to get re-elected the next time, which may be more supportive of majoritarian interests than of minorities and people of color."

But, he adds, "This is partly speculative, because we don't have enough controls here."

There are examples of how potent public sentiment and the fear of crime can be: A looming primary election for Mike Nifong, the district attorney who prosecuted Duke University lacrosse players on false rape charges in 2006, was cited as a factor in Nifong's wrongdoing by the head of a disciplinary panel that ordered him disbarred. In Wisconsin in 2008, a challenger for a seat on the state Supreme Court unseated the incumbent -- who is black -- after falsely suggesting the sitting justice had helped free a black rapist.

MORE: [U.S. Crime Rate Rises Slightly, Remains Near 20-Year Low]

"They're less protected from public opinion," Schultz says, referring to elected judges and prosecutors. "There's no reason to feel that sheriffs don't feel the same types of pressure."

But Champagne, of the National Sheriffs' Association, rejects that suggestion. Police chiefs might be appointed, but the mayors and council members that appointed them still have to run for re-election, and that exposes chiefs to just as much pressure, he contends.

"We have an old saying in Louisiana: You can't take politics out of politics," Champagne says. "We all have to deal with those pressures."

Yet while elected justice officials theoretically are held in check by needing to maintain the support of their constituents, some experts argue that voters -- perhaps not well-versed in even the most prominent political issues and campaigns -- can often also be ignorant when it comes to more localized, nuanced races.

"You don't get popular control out of this," Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College in Minnesota, told T he New York Times in 2008. "When you vote with no information, you get the illusion of control. The overwhelming norm is no to low information."

What qualifications do sheriffs need to have?

Some counties require sheriffs to have the same certification as police officers. Others mandate a certain amount of law enforcement training, and perhaps set fitness requirements. Yet others set no standards at all. In Oklahoma, candidates for sheriff in all but the largest counties by population don't need to undergo training until after they're elected. In Virginia, a candidate merely needs to have been a Virginia resident for a year, live in the county where he or she is running and be a registered voter.

Sheriff's deputies -- the officers patrolling the streets or working in jails or serving papers -- still go through police academies and rigorous training. But allowing someone with no law enforcement background at all to run a department worries some.

"They're responsible for the jails, for bringing the prisoners to court," says Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science who specializes in law enforcement training at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. "It's not just about checks and balances. To be accountable to the public, it's about knowing what to do, and what you have to do. How would you know what to do? All the balances go out the window, as far as I'm concerned."

Champagne disagrees. For better or worse, even the most powerful elected offices have the barest minimum requirements, he contends. Why should sheriffs be any different?

"At the National Sheriffs' Association, we obviously promote the highest standards. We promote training. But as far as the minimum qualifications for office, we haven't weighed in on that, because I have seen sheriffs with little to no training who have surrounded themselves with great people, and sheriffs with all the training in the book who are terrible," Champagne says. "The most important thing is integrity and ethics in the profession."

A former assistant district attorney, Champagne himself had no formal police training before he was elected.

"Sheriffs kind of look at it like civilian control over the military," he says. "We have to trust the people that they're going to look at the choice of candidates and pick who's the best qualified. We all know the public makes mistakes sometimes, but it's a democratic process."

Alan Neuhauser covers law enforcement and criminal justice for U.S. News & World Report. He also contributes to STEM and Healthcare of Tomorrow, and previously reported on energy and the environment. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at aneuhauser@usnews.com.


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored five emerging screenwriters and late actor Anton Yelchin last night.

The Academy hosted its Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read on Thursday at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The Academy has awarded fellowships to a total of 147 recipients since 1986. In addition, each winner is granted a $35,000 prize, to be disbursed gradually in order to support and foster the needs of each recipient.

Though the pressure may be on for the fellows, the atmosphere was nothing but festive on Thursday night. Prior to the ceremony, the Academy hosted a reception for the evenings honorees and actors in the theaters lobby, complete with gourmet charcuterie and an open bar. Guests were seen mingling with the stars, with sliders in one hand and a cocktail in the other.

This year, actors John Cho, Cary Elwes, Aja Naomi King, and Alia Shawkat were selected to perform in the live reading of selected scenes from each screenplay. Shawkat, still in her 20s, was eager to participate in the live read and support budding talent in the industry.

I think its more than important to nurture young talent  its what they thrive on, stated the Arrested Development actress. Without them, there would be no work for those established in the industry to make. New stories need to be told.

The Academy also took the opportunity to dedicate this years ceremony to Anton Yelchin, who died tragically in June. Yelchin participated in the inaugural Nicholl Live Read in 2013, alongside Elle Fanning, Taraji P. Henson, and Jason Isaacs.

Elwes, who worked with the late actor in the upcoming film We Dont Belong Here, said hes participating in the live read in Yelchins honor.

[Im here for] Anton, mainly, Elwes said. I got to work on [We Dont Belong Here] with him, one of his last, and I want to celebrate and honor him here tonight.

The evenings director, writer/director Rodrigo Garcia, said Yelchin was always quick to lend a hand to others.

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Anton was the first actor to volunteer for [this project], said Garcia. He knew very well what a screenplay contributes to a movie. He brought to the reading not only his talent, [but] his charisma and his warmth, his humor, and also his cooperative spirit.

In 2016 alone, approximately 7,000 applicants submitted screenplays for consideration. At the conclusion of the fellowship year, those awarded are expected to complete a feature-film screenplay in its entirety. Fellowship alums include novelist Jeffrey Eugenides (1986), Erin Brockovich writer Susannah Grant (1992), and Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe (1992).

This years recipients include:

Michele Atkins (Seattle)  Taking About the Sky

Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey (Balgowlah, Australia)  Photo Booth

Geeta Malik (Los Angeles)  Dinner With Friends

Elizabeth Oyebode (Sunnyvale, Calif.)  Tween the Ropes

Justin Piasecki (Los Angeles)  Death of an Ortolan

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Johnny Depp knows what it feels like to be a parent scared for their childs life.

Depp, 53, was presented with the inaugural Rhondas Kiss Healing and Hope Award on Thursday night for his support of cancer patients in need. During his acceptance speech, the actor said he could empathize with the parents he met while visiting sick children in hospitals.

To the parents in the room who I was speaking about earlier, who I have seen melting and their own form of courage, he said. I was one of those parents, for weeks, when my daughter was ill.

Depps daughter Lily-Rose, now 17, was hospitalized in 2007 after contracting an E. coli infection that caused kidney failure. She was 7 years old at the time.

At the time, Depp and his then-girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Roses mother, kept a constant vigil at their daughters bedside during her 9-day hospitalization.

I lived in the hospital for three weeks with my girl and my kid, not knowing if she was going to make it or not, he said as he pledged to continue his work with cancer patients. Parents, please note that you have my utter respect. Please note that you have all my respect, and you have my promise to continue to fight, this noble fight right alongside you at any time.

And, well just never give up. Its as simple as that, he said.

Depp also thanked the dedicated medical staff who helped treat his mother Betty Sue Palmer before her death in May.

She was a hellcat. She was mean, but she was funny, he said The amount of care and love she received from every member of the staff and the brilliant and dedicated specialists who tirelessly gave of themselves far beyond the call of duty, I am truly humbled by this kindness. Their kindness and your infinite knowledge, doctors and specialists.

My mom and her family would have been very much lost in the darkness without these people, he continued. Well always owe them a deep debt of gratitude that is virtually impossible to repay.

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Depp appeared to be in good spirits throughout the evening, smiling and waving to the crowd as he gave his speech.

Along with being honored, the actor autographed one of his guitars that was then auctioned off in aid of the nonprofit organization.

Reporting by Reagan Alexander


Months after fighting a stay in the California sexual assault lawsuit against Bill Cosby, attorneys for Judy Huth were pushing for one - arguing if the comedian took the deposition of his accusers who would be testifying it could give him an unfair advantage in his criminal trial.

With a criminal trial pending in June and six civil cases in the works, it's not surprising that there would be overlap in witnesses. No civil court has yet decided to pause all third party discovery relating to these witnesses and L.A. Superior Court judge Craig Karlan on Friday declined to be the first.

"You don't make a ruling that doesn't need to be made," said Karlan in a Friday morning hearing, explaining that an upcoming hearing in the criminal case against Cosby could render the issue moot. In December, a judge is expected to decide which, if any, of the 13 potential witnesses the prosecutors have proffered can testify.

One woman in particular, Margie Shapiro, had been subpoenaed by Huth's legal team in September but her deposition was canceled after she was included in a list of potential criminal witnesses. Shapiro is expected to testify as a witness to Cosby's "prior bad acts" to bolster Huth's case.

In court briefs Huth's attorney Gloria Allred asked the court to "grant her unusual request to stay her own lawsuit" because she wants to keep the comedian from using his civil discovery to "evade limits on criminal discovery."

Cosby's attorney Angela Agrusa, in an opposition to the stay, says the move is nothing more than hypocritical gamesmanship and Allred has urged prosecutors to use her clients as witnesses.

In March, Karlan partially paused the suit pending the outcome of Cosby's criminal proceedings. He put on hold any discovery involving Cosby or Huth, but allowed discovery involving third parties to continue - but now that some of those third parties could serve as witnesses in the criminal case Huth's attorneys want the whole thing paused.

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While sympathetic to Huth's concerns, Karlan isn't ready to put hold on third party discovery. He did, however, indicate that Shapiro is off limits - for now.

After the hearing Allred told reporters she feels Karlan's non-decision is a win and it will keep Shapiro from facing potential intimidation from defense attorneys. She also shared a letter from Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan which supports a stay. He writes that during criminal proceedings on Wednesday D.A. Kevin Steele "indicated that he believes it is improper and inappropriate for the defendant or his attorneys to use the civil process to attempt to depose Commonwealth witnesses or otherwise gather discovery related to the pending criminal charges."

Meanwhile, Agrusa says she feels like her actions in defending her client have been framed as "victim shaming" and that isn't fair. "None of us want to live in a world where you can't ask questions of your accusers," she said.

The next hearing in this case is set for January 13.
Ottawa (AFP) - The head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said he agreed with a court ruling that the spy agency had held onto sensitive data beyond the time frame allowed by court warrants.

CSIS director Michel Coulombe ordered all access to information dating back as far as 2006 to be denied while the agency assesses the legal impact of the decision and determines how best to move forward.

"I regret that we did not meet our duty of candor to the court and I commit to continuing my efforts with the deputy minister of justice to address this concern," CSIS director Coulombe told a press conference.

"All associated data collected under warrant was done so legally. The court's key concern related to our retention of non-threat related associated data linked with third party communications, after it was collected," Coulombe said.

The federal court ruled CSIS had no mandate to retain the potentially revealing data as long as it did, since it had no direct link tonational security threats.

Justice Simon Noel rebuked the spy agency for failing in its duty to inform the court of its secret data-collection program.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, meanwhile, welcomed the ruling, saying in a statement that "the court's insight and guidance are timely, coming in the midst of the public consultations we now have underway about Canada's national security framework."
(NEWARK, N.J.)  Two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have been convicted in a plot to use traffic jams for political retaliation.

Bridget Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty Friday of all counts against them.

Kelly and Baroni were convicted of scheming with former Christie ally David Wildstein to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing him when he ran for re-election in 2013. Wildstein pleaded guilty.

Christie has denied any knowledge of the plot. But Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all testified Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on.

Christie issued the following emailed statement Friday.

On January 9, 2014, I apologized to the people of New Jersey for the conduct exhibited by some members of my Administration who showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government and for the people we serve. Those people were terminated by me and today, the jury affirms that decision by also holding them responsible for their own conduct.

Like so many people in New Jersey, Im saddened by this case and Im saddened about the choices made by Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein. Todays verdict does not change this for me.

But let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue.

As a former federal prosecutor, I have respected these proceedings and refused to comment on the daily testimony from the trial. I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom.
Washington (AFP) - A US jury on Friday found Rolling Stone magazine defamed a University of Virginia official in a discredited 2014 story about a purported gang rape on campus.

Court documents showed the federal court jury in Charlottesville, Virginia, ruled in favor for Nicole Eramo, an associate dean of students who, according to the report, had discouraged reporting of the alleged attack for fear it might tarnish the elite university's image.

The jury said both the magazine and reporter Sabrina Erdely were liable for defamation over the report.

Damages were to be assessed later in the lawsuit, which sought $7.5 million.

Eramo's suit alleged that Rolling Stone acted recklessly and willfully disregarded facts in reporting the story.

Headlined "A Rape on Campus," the story triggered protests when it appeared in late 2014 with its explosive claims of a violent gang rape at a fraternity house, as recounted by the alleged victim, a student identified only as "Jackie."

But the story began to unravel within weeks, with "Jackie" refusing to discuss the alleged incident and investigators and police uncovering no evidence that it had ever taken place.

Rolling Stone retracted the story and apologized after a Columbia University investigation exposed "avoidable" failures in basic journalistic practices during its reporting and editing.

Former members of the fraternity have filed a separate lawsuit.
Newly revealed voicemails from disgraced former congressman Gary Condit for Chandra Levy, the D.C. intern who was found slain in 2001, have raised questions about their relationship.

Read: Gary Condit Denies Affair With Murdered Intern Chandra Levy in First Interview in 15 Years

"Its around 6:30. I haven't heard from you, he said in the message. "Maybe you're out of the country or something. Anyway, give me a call if you get this message. Bye."

For 15 years, Condit has refused to say if he had an affair with Levy.

The voicemails, obtained by ABCs 20/20, seem to confirm what many have long believed  that Condit and Levy were more than just friends.

"Give me a rundown on kind of what your schedule is. Things are looking pretty good for me today anyway. Bye, he said in another message.

Condit was cleared as a suspect in her murder. An undocumented immigrant from El Salvador was later found guilty, but that conviction was later overturned.

Read: How a 'House of Cards' Actress Got Charges Dropped Against Chandra Levy Suspect

20/20's Deborah Roberts told Inside Edition: The prosecution found they didn't have a witness. They didn't have a case. Out of the blue the case was dropped, and now we are back to wondering what happened to Chandra Levy.

The 20/20 investigation airs Friday night.

Watch: Iowa Cop Killing Suspect Had Encounter With Officers 2 Weeks Before Shootings

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(Reuters) - A state judge on Friday struck down a Kansas voter registration system that would have prevented people from voting in state and local elections unless they show proof of U.S. citizenship. The judge ruled that the loss of voting rights for more than 18,000 Kansas residents "far outweighs" the risk posed by potential voter fraud, as the state mentioned only about two dozen people who may have attempted to improperly register to vote over the last 13 years. "The right of citizen suffrage forms the foundation of a democratic society," Larry Hendricks, District Judge in Shawnee County, wrote in a 19-page ruling. "Whenever the laws of a state and the federal government clash with respect to this right, cracks are bound to appear in the framework of democracy." Kansas has had one of the strictest voter identification statutes in the United States, making the state a symbol for mostly Republican Party supporters who say the rules are meant to prevent voter fraud. Opponents, mostly Democrats, say the rules discriminate against minorities. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said by phone on Friday he planned to appeal the ruling adding, "I regard the decision as wrong ... and this decision stands in the way of protecting our elections." The American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit said the voter registration system established by Kobach violated the state's constitution and state law and called it "two-tiered." "This ruling is a victory for Kansas voters and a stinging rebuke of Secretary Kobach's repeated efforts to improperly use his authority to obstruct their access to the ballot," ACLU Voting Rights Project staff attorney Sophia Lakin said in a statement. The ACLU said the system would have denied the right to vote in state and local elections to residents who registered through a federal voter registration form or when they applied for or renewed their driver's license. Under the rejected system, those people could have voted in federal elections but would have had to show proof of citizenship to vote in state and local ones. The system required registrants to prove their citizenship by providing one of a series of documents, including birth certificates and passports. Kobach has gained a reputation for pushing a series of voting and anti-immigration measures as a national debate over voting restrictions has accelerated since the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Grant McCool and James Dalgleish)
Kanye West refused to give his fans anything but the best on Thursday night. The "Fade" rapper, 39, ended his Inglewood, California, concert early, telling his concertgoers that he'd lost his voice.

WATCH: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Meet Alton Sterling's Son in First Photo Since Robbery -- See the Heartwarming Pic!

"I'm sorry," he told the crowd, standing on his signature suspended platform. "I can't let y'all have a show where I can't perform for you. I'll give everyone a refund. I'll do better next time."

"Turn the lights up, shows over. I can't let ya'll have a show where I can't perform. I'm sorry." #SaintPabloTour pic.twitter.com/m0R0BpgsOz  Tamara Dhia (@tamaradhia) November 4, 2016

Yeezy performed for about 45 minutes and was more than halfway through his setlist before cutting the music.

"I'm very sorry. I love you," he said. "I promise you I'll do better next time."

West then rode out of The Forum on his platform as the audience boo'd and chanted "Yeezus, Yeezus!"

The evening marked the rapper's seventh performance in Inglewood in the last nine days. The venue was packed with celebrity fans, including, Harry Styles, Lenny Kravitz, Pete Wentz, Ariel Winter, Usher, Kelly Rowland, T.I., and Bob Saget.

WATCH: EXCLUSIVE: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West No Longer Working With Longtime Bodyguard Pascal Duvier After Paris Robbery

Earlier in the week, West posed backstage at his show alongside his wife, Kim Kardashian, and Cameron Sterling, the son of the late Alton Sterling, who was gunned down by police in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, in July.

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The photo, which was posted by Cameron's lawyer, marked the first time a new image of Kim has appeared on social media since her traumatic Paris robbery in October.

For more from the sweet moment, watch the clip below.

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Kate Middleton wears a baby blue coat out in London and we need it in our closet ASAP!

Is there anything the Duchess of Cambridge cant make look good? The simple answer: no!

On Friday, Kate Middleton was spotted wearing a baby blue coat while out in London and we are officially obsessed. She looked perfectly put together as usual, as she visited the Nelson Trust Womens Centre in Gloucester, England, donning an ice-blue coat with the English poppy pin on the outside.

While the Duchesss black and white, tweed Dolce & Gabbana skirt and black turtleneck top combo is chic, elegant and perfect for fall  and we love a good skirt and tights look  its her fabulous blue peacoat that we are currently coveting.

Middleton always looks flawlessly fashionable whenever she goes out  which is part of the reason we love her  and by rocking this Paddington Mulberry coat it is proof that she knows just how to compliment her already stylish ensemble.

While we all wish we had unlimited funds and could wear the actual Mulberry coat the Duchess wore, sometimes wearing the look for less is the better way to go. Therefore, weve rounded up three similar coat options thatll have you turning heads as you walk down the street all fall and winter long.

First up is T Taharis gorgeous wool, belted coat in pastel blue. Its available at Nordstrom and is currently on sale for $230. Its a wrap coat, so its chic and cozy, which is ideal for the cold winter months that are coming.

Hello, fluffy! ASOS Lost Ink oversize smart teddy coat has a faux fur collar, beautiful color and is basically a blanket, but cuter.

This look is something wed image Clueless Cher Horowitz rocking if it ever got cold in LA and were totally in love.

This Kenneth Cole New York coat is for the sophisticated lady and its to die for. Its fabrication is a soft boucle knit thatll keep you both toasty and stylish all season long. Plus, it comes in this periwinkle, mauve and black for $228.

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Would you try a baby blue coat this fall or winter?

The post Kate Middleton wears a baby blue coat out in London and we need it in our closet ASAP! appeared first on HelloGiggles.
By Steve Bittenbender

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - A Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples is fighting efforts to force her to pay the more than $230,000 in legal costs faced by those who sued her.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis spent five days in jail in September 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Davis claimed same-sex marriage went against her Apostolic Christian beliefs.

The case drew international attention and hundreds of demonstrators on both sides of the issue to her office in the rural eastern part of the state last year.

Lawyers for Davis in a filing on Monday with the U.S. District Court opposed efforts to make her pay $233,058 in legal fees of the couples who had sued.

Since the couples received only an injunction against Davis, that was not enough to warrant her paying their legal fees, Roger Gannam, a lawyer representing Davis, said in the response to Judge David Bunning.

Gannam, who works for the legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel, said even if Davis had to pay the legal fees, the amount sought by the plaintiffs attorneys, who were backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, was excessive.

"This is a 'Hail Mary' attempt by the ACLU because the cases were already dismissed and closed. I do not think they have a prayer," Mat Staver, another Davis attorney from the Liberty Counsel, said in a statement.

ACLU officials declined to comment on Friday.

In September, lawyers for four couples  two same-sex and two straight  asked the court for more than $200,000 in legal fees accrued in challenging Davis' stance. Even after Bunning issued an injunction ordering the issuance of the licenses, Davis refused and was jailed for being in contempt of court.

Earlier this year, legislators in Kentucky passed a law removing clerks' names from the license form.

(Reporting by Steve Bittenbender, Editing by Ben Klayman and Tom Brown)
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea President Park Geun-hye's approval rating has fallen to 5 percent, according to a Gallup poll released on Friday, setting an all-time low for any South Korean president and underscoring the impact of the influence-peddling scandal. Gallup said its survey of 1,005 South Koreans conducted between Nov. 1 to 3 showed that 89 percent of those who participated disapproved of her performance. (Reporting by Ju-min Park and Se Young Lee; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
ANKARA (Reuters) - The Kurdish PKK militant group will intensify its struggle against Turkey, one of its top commanders said in a video message on Friday, after police detained lawmakers from Turkey's main pro-Kurdish opposition party. Murat Karayilan, a top PKK commander, said in the video message published on a website close to the PKK that it was "very important" for Kurdish people to react against the detentions of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers. Police raided the homes and detained the joint leaders of the HDP, the second-biggest opposition party in parliament, and another 10 HDP lawmakers after they refused to give testimony in a probe linked to "terrorist propaganda". The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Tyga's girlfriend Kylie Jenner gave his son King Cairo's nanny a very pricey present, and shared the sweet moment in her Snapchat story on Thursday.

Nanny Joy was beyond excited to be gifted a Celine handbag that is estimated to be worth around $2,700.

A video posted by Kylie Jenner Snapchats (@kylizzlesnapchats) on Nov 3, 2016 at 2:08pm PDT

A video posted by Kylie Jenner Snapchats (@kylizzlesnapchats) on Nov 3, 2016 at 2:09pm PDT

A video posted by Kylie Jenner Snapchats (@kylizzlesnapchats) on Nov 3, 2016 at 2:10pm PDT

King's nanny has been featured on his mother Blac Chyna's reality show, Rob and Chyna, in the past, and seems to always been giving out advice. "Nanny Joy has been around since King was born," Rob Kardashian explained in the debut episode. "She's a big help, and she's always there for Chyna."

WATCH: Kylie Jenner and Tyga Head to Las Vegas With King Cairo

"I'm going to talk to you like a mom talks to a daughter," Nanny Joy once told Chyna in regard to her relationship with Rob. "Every time you guys have an argument -- let's say you're arguing at one o' clock in the morning -- you're going to throw him out? Does that make sense?"

Nanny Joy is such a fan favorite on Rob and Chyna that Cosmo declared that she should be a "contender for a spinoff within a spinoff."

WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Thinks Brother Rob Will Be 'Great' With His Daughter

It seems that Celine handbag was well deserved!

Meanwhile, Kylie has become quite close with Tyga's 4-year-old son. Here's a look at how the 19-year-old reality star celebrated with King at his birthday party last month:

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* Q3 core earnings rise 10.5 pct, keeps full-year guidance

* Margins improve as prices rise, cost cuts kick in

* Raises cost-savings target for 2016

By John Revill and Oliver Hirt

ZURICH, Nov 4 (Reuters) - LafargeHolcim is upbeat about the prospects for the U.S. construction market as cost savings and price increases let the world's largest cement maker cushion the impact of weaker sales volumes during its third quarter, it said on Friday.

Despite a 5 percent decline in cement volumes in the United States, the Swiss construction materials giant said it expected a return to growth for the country's construction industry, regardless of the outcome of next week's presidential election.

The U.S. market is important for LafargeHolcim, generating around 11 percent of its earnings in 2015, according to estimates by analysts Bernstein.

Chief Executive Eric Olsen said he expected the U.S. market to continue on a solid growth path, attributing a recent downturn to bad weather in some regions and a delay in some projects.

"Q3 is not an indicator of what is to come," Olsen told Reuters. "When we look at the (U.S.) housing and infrastructure spending to come, we believe the fundamentals are strong and attractive."

Olsen, an American, declined to say which candidate he thought would be best for the construction industry in next week's poll.

Rival HeidelbergCement has said it feared victory for Republican candidate Donald Trump would unsettle the economy and reduce investments in infrastructure projects.

LafargeHolcim shares surged after it reported operating earnings before interest depreciation and amortisation of 1.68 billion Swiss francs ($1.72 billion), slightly above market expectations.

The 10.5 percent increase enabled the company to confirm its goal of "at least" a high-single-digit percentage increase in the measure this year, sending the stock 2.9 percent higher.

The result "gives us confidence that management is back in the driving seat", said Phil Roseberg, an analyst at Bernstein.

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The performance came despite a drop in sales amid the divestment of some businesses as well as lower cement volumes.

Created by the 2015 merger of France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim, the group has stepped up its cost savings drive after already hitting its 2016 target of 450 million Swiss francs. It expanded the 2016 goal to 550 million francs.

Olsen said LafargeHolcim continued to see opportunities to make savings in areas like logistics. "We are looking at our cost structure from top to bottom," he said.

Prices for cement rose 0.3 percent in the third quarter, and Olsen saw prospects for further increases this year and next.

China showed further signs of recovery while India would benefit from a more intense monsoon season, with farmers more likely to spend on construction after plentiful rains.

($1 = 0.9741 Swiss francs) (Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields and Jon Boyle)
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Sure, it might be perfectly legal in the U.S. state of Nevada, but there's something very unsettling about seeing wallabies  a protected species in Australia  up for sale at a pet store.

YouTuber Codee Yount, who paid a visit to a store called Exotic Pets, which claims to have "the largest selection of exotic mammals in the western U.S." and say it's "USDA licensed and certified."

They were selling the small, kangaroo-like marsupials, native to Australia. Sad face.

SEE ALSO: Mammoth but gentle huntsman spider looks too big to even be real

For the sum of US$3,500 someone could own the wild creatures, which can be seen in a small enclosure. There are also snakes, lizards and spiders for purchase in the store.

"I think a wallaby, a baby kangaroo, would be dope," Yount said.

Nevada has relaxed laws on exotic animal ownership, where you don't need a permit to buy and own a marsupial.

In Australia, you'd have a much more difficult time trying to take a wallaby or kangaroo home. Most are protected species, and therefore it is illegal to own one.

If keeping wildlife as a pet wasn't gross enough already, kangaroos are also "very prone" to stress-related diseases, brought on by contact with humans and other animals.

They can be aggressive when they reach sexual maturity, posing potential danger to their human owners, who may or may not have had it coming.

Animals for sale in retail stores: It's just a bad idea, folks.

[H/T Huffington Post]
By Liana B. Baker

(Reuters) - Programmable-chip maker Lattice Semiconductor Corp said it is being bought by Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a newly formed private equity firm backed by Chinese funding for $1.3 billion, the latest deal in the consolidating chip sector.

Portland, Oregon-based Lattice makes programmable chips used in the fast-growing market for connected cars.

The $8.30 per-share cash offer, which includes debt, is at a 30.3 percent premium to Lattice's Wednesday close of $6.37. Lattice shares were trading 75 cents below the offer price at $7.57 on Thursday, indicating some skepticism among investors around the deal closing.

Canyon Bridge is based in Palo Alto, California. Its limited partners in the fund come predominately from the Beijing-based China Reform Fund, according to an emailed press release sent by Canyon's legal adviser on the deal, Jones Day.

Chinese suitors have faced intense scrutiny from regulators in their pursuit of U.S. chip makers, resulting in some failed deals this year. In general, China's aggressive push into overseas acquisitions this year has sparked opposition from governments from Australia to Germany. China's outbound M&A has hit a record $194 billion, nearly double last year's tally, according to Thomson Reuters data.

"We think the deal will eventually close and believe odds are significantly better than 50-50," Susquehanna Financial Group said in a note published after the deal announcement. But it warned about the risks related to U.S. national security watchdog Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

In last twelve months, CFIUS has stepped up its pursuit of transactions where the acquirer has failed to voluntarily file for deal approval. CFIUS, made up of the Treasury Department, Defense Department and other agencies, must approve any deal that could harm national security.

Reuters reported exclusively in February that Lattice had attracted interest from an unidentified Chinese buyer and had decided to explore a sale.

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Chinese companies and funds have been increasingly bidding on overseas semiconductor companies to build up China's domestic chip industry.

Lattice said in a regulatory filing that its sale to Canyon Bridge is conditional upon approval from CFIUS, along with antitrust approval in China. The deal is expected to close in early 2017.

CFIUS has been strict with semiconductor deals and some Chinese deals have fallen apart because of national security concerns. Unisplendour, which is a unit of China's Tsinghua Unigroup, scrapped a $3.78 billion minority investment in U.S. hard-disk maker Western Digital Corp earlier this year after CFIUS said it would review the transaction.

Tsinghua is also the seventh largest shareholder in Lattice and owns 4.64 percent of the company, according to Thomson Reuters data. It unveiled a stake of roughly 6 percent in the company in April.

In 2012, Chinese nationals were arrested for attempting to smuggle out dual-use programmable logic devices made by Lattice.

Qualcomm Inc said last week it would buy NXP Semiconductors NV for about $38 billion as it sought to become the leading supplier to the automotive chips market.

Morgan Stanley & Co LLC was Lattice's financial adviser, with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as its legal adviser, while Lazard advised Canyon Bridge.

(Additional reporting by Rishika Sadam in BENGALURU and Denny Thomas in HONG KONG; Editing by Bernard Orr and Stephen Coates)
Waco, Texas lawyers Will Hutson and Chris Harris want to help out their fellow Texans with some friendly advice when it comes to getting highlegally. In a beautifully harmonized music video posted to YouTube, the two lawyers (and associate Dan Stokes) share a pleasant ditty about the perils of baking with pot.

Makin pot brownies is a big mistake / If you live in Texas while you bake, they explain in lilting tones as Harris strums his guitar. (Props help to illustrate the lesson.) Apparently, stringent Texas narcotics laws make it so that most marijuana-related activity, if caught, is considered a felony. And for people choosing to consume their cannabis as an ediblelike baking it into brownies, for instancethe consequences can be major, as the total weight of the whole brownie is taken into account, not just the (most likely minimal) amount of marijuana baked into it. As they note: Its legally the same as cocaine / Thats insane.

If you make a whole tray, youll be put away for life / Youll be punished just like you murdered your wife, they warn, a bit hyperbolically.

According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, under Texas law, possession of more than 4 oz. of marijuana is a felony punished by up to two years in prison. More than five pounds can cost you up to ten years. The organization also reports that once you hit a full ton, however, youre up for a potential life sentence. (Luckily, youre probably not baking a casual 2,000-lb. brownie.)

In any case, the video from Hutson and Harris is a gentle reminder that not every state is quite as welcoming as Colorado.
Photo credit: (RACHEL LEVIT)

From LennyLetter

My first presidential election was in 2004, and I was ready as HECK to cast my vote. One, because it's important (duh); and two, because as a Puerto Rican, I did not previously have this right, simply because I lived in a colony (I mean, a "freely associated state"). I wasn't going to ignore my newfound privilege. The night Bush won his second term, I got hella depressed and decided to dye my hair blonde in a huff. It came out terrible, and I had to dye it black the next day to cover it up. I voted for Obama in 2008. I was a huge ball of nerves before he won, thinking, God knows something will happen to McCain and we will end up with Sarah Palin as president. *shudders* I remember waiting for the results at a bar in Brooklyn, and when the Obama win was finally announced, the whole bar, nay, the whole street, erupted in cheers and cries. Strangers hugged each other. There were free shots all around. It was wonderful.

I keep thinking back to those elections past as we count down the days to November 8. Whatever our nerves, whatever our fears were in previous years, they have been multiplied exponentially beyond any level of acceptable stress. I started smoking again.

On the phone with Maria Teresa Kumar, the president and CEO of Voto Latino, an organization that aims to engage Latinos in the democratic process, I immediately felt a kinship with her, and it calmed me down. She told me that she realized she needed to get involved with Voto Latino - which was founded by the actress Rosario Dawson - after seeing a commercial with Tego Calderon, a Puerto Rican rapper and icon. He told the audience: "Register to vote because I can't."

"It touched me, and said out loud something that I felt, that while I was proud to be Latina, I was American," Maria Teresa remembers. While I sometimes struggle with my identity - am I giving up my Puerto Ricanness the longer I live in the States, the more I adapt to this way of life? - I realized that she was right. I am proud to be Puerto Rican, but I am also an American.

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Maria Teresa and I talked about her political path, growing up between two cultures, and why it's so important for the aesthetics of Voto Latino to be on par with any other political organization. The election is in just a few days, and I implore all of you to please go out and vote. This one is truly too important to sit out.

Laia Garcia: Can you talk to me about your experience growing up between California and Colombia?

Maria Teresa Kumar: I was raised in Sonoma, California, and I would spend my summers in Bogota, and my mom would always tell me that she went back to Colombia because she wanted me to really appreciate my biculturalism. It wasn't until I was in my mid-twenties that it hit me that it was because she was a single mom and needed to save on child care over the summer.

Oftentimes, people say, "Sonoma is so beautiful!" And that's absolutely true. My mother and my family helped make it beautiful. My mother was a housekeeper for a time, and I've had relatives that were grape growers and caretakers. So from the beginning, I was able to see up front the duality of two different worlds based on being Latino. In Colombia, we'd go and I'd see people dressed in suits, and it wasn't until I was 21 or 22, when I first came to Washington, DC, for an internship, that I actually saw women of color and men of color dressed in suits in the U.S.

LG: How did you get involved in politics?

MTK: I was always in love with politics. I think it was because I would go back between the United States and Colombia, and I was fully aware that in Colombia, my mom was a single mom, and she was working class. Had I been raised there, I would have had very limited opportunity just by my birthright. While living in the United States, my opportunities were open. There was no limitation of who I could be if I worked hard enough.

I knew that, and I felt that from a very young age. I went to a Catholic school - and in class they asked, "What are you thankful for?" I remember raising my hand and saying, "I'm thankful for being a citizen." I was nine years old. None of my classmates knew what I was talking about. I remember saying it with pride, and I remember the teacher congratulating me and looking at me very curiously, like, Who are you?

LG: What was the process like for you to become a citizen when you were nine?

MTK: I was grandfathered in by my mother. Basically, we had been living in the States at that time for about seven years, and we came here because my mother remarried. I remember signing the paperwork, and I had just learned cursive, so it was a really big deal. I remember being in San Francisco City Hall and raising my right hand with everybody. Everyone was so proud, being in this packed room, and you see every single stripe and color and age. It was just that impactful.

LG: That's incredible. I feel like Americans don't really know what that process is like. It's somehow never really in the media.

MTK: It's so special. I was adopted by my father, and he always says, "The beauty of being your dad is that we chose each other." The same for patriotism. The people that become American citizens, we choose this country. It's a different level of kinship as a result.

LG: How was your move from California to DC?

MTK: I did an internship in DC when I was an undergrad at UC Davis and just loved it. I knew that I wanted to come back, and when I graduated, I came and worked for my congressman. But then a funny thing happened. They offered me the job in June and asked if I could start right away. I said "Absolutely," only to find out that in order to move, I needed first month, last month, and a security deposit. That amount was not in my bank account, so I worked at Longs Drug Store, which is kind of like a CVS, and I literally put on security tags for three and a half months to make my way to DC.

LG: That's so real!

MTK: What was really funny is that when I reached out to my boss, she thought that by stalling I was negotiating. I kept telling her, "No, I just don't have any money."

LG: You're like, "I literally need to work so that I can work."

MTK: She was lovely. She's still a close friend. Also, it was funny, because the lesson I learned from that is when someone gives me a job offer, I should always negotiate for more.

LG: How did you and Rosario Dawson get together?

MTK: This story is all about the beauty of mentorship and not being afraid to tell people exactly what you'd like to do. About a year before I met Rosario, I had been working in New York and I experienced the September 11 attacks. I was working in the private sector, but I wanted to figure out how to start giving back to my community. I told that to a mentor of mine, and a full year later, he happened to sit next to Rosario at a dinner, and she was like, "I just came up with a media campaign called Voto Latino that's in partnership with MTV, and we have Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz. I don't know if it's more than an idea." He's like, "Oh, I know someone you should talk to."

Rosario was great. She was just like, "Do whatever you want with it." It was very clear that there was no salary at the beginning, so I quit my job, packed my bags, moved back home with my mom, and basically survived for almost three years on credit cards. Don't do that.

LG: How have the goals of your organization changed from when you first started in 2004?

MTK: When we first started, the goal was to register voters, and we quickly learned that we can't get someone excited about registering and voting if they don't see themselves in the political process to begin with. We started identifying the issues that people care about. So now we have a full-blown program that talks about teen pregnancy, choice, and reproductive health aimed at young Latinas. We have a partnership with the Hulu show East Los High, where we basically have been integrated into the story line. If you watch the newest season, there is a Voto Latino office, and half of the most interesting scenes happen there.

We're also trying to figure out, how can we make civic education cool? Last year, we were asked to testify in front of the president's policing task force on how to better police. We don't do that, so we asked our audience. We crowd-sourced policy recommendations from over 400 folks, and one of them actually made it to the president.

LG: I also wanted to talk about the look of your site. I feel like sometimes, when things are geared toward Hispanic or Latino people, they look a certain way and have a certain kind of language. I hate it when I'm being talked down to, and they just throw a Spanish word in there just to make it seem like they "get it." I love that you don't do that. Can you speak more about that approach?

MTK: When we started Voto Latino twelve years ago, people thought we were absolutely nuts and we were wasting our time because we wanted to talk to people in English, we wanted to target young people, and we wanted to use technology. People would say, "Latinos don't speak English," that there's a "digital divide." I'm like, "You're not talking to my experience at all."

We navigate the United States of America. Yes, we do get together with our friends and use Spanglish, but that's not how we address each other in a professional setting. I was 29 when I started with Voto Latino. I remember running into someone after I had just given a presentation on Latino habits, an older gentleman within the Latino community, and he was really upset. I was like, "What's wrong?" He was like, "Well, why are you telling people we speak English?" I said, "Well, when's the last time you and I spoke Spanish?" [Laughs.]

I think that young Latinos are very brand-conscious. We want to look at things that are beautiful. I think people fall short in the political arena, they fall short in corporate America, because they expect us to have a lower threshold, and that, to me, is insulting. They expect that we shouldn't have quality, and that carries a lot of their own perception of who we are, or what spaces we should occupy, and that's not acceptable.

LG: I know you are a non-partisan organization, but do you feel like the stakes are a little bit higher this election in the work that you need to do?

MTK: This is the first election where our inboxes have been flooded from friends, family, and supporters saying that they've had their kids - six- and seven-year-olds - come home crying, saying that they're going to be deported because their classmates are telling them that Trump is going to deport them. We have never had an election where it hits so close to home, into the bone. I keep saying that it's happening because we haven't flexed our "political muscle." They would never say that about any other group and get away with it.

I actually think that we need to have two strong political parties so that they can do a battle of ideas and fight for our vote, but this election's not about the battle of ideas. It's about defining who is American. We have an organization called the VL Action Fund where after Mike Pence said "that Mexican thing," we actually created a website for that Mexican thing. That Mexican thing is to vote.

If you were to ask me, "What do you want out of this election?" I would say I want a tsunami of Latinos and our friends coming out and voting against hate, because that's exactly what this is. This is about defining who America is and what we stand for, and I deeply believe that we are a country that believes in justice and equality and fairness. I really believe that this is what this election is about.

I keep hearing folks saying, "I'm just not going to vote," and my big thing is, people work hard to discourage you from voting, and those people that are discouraging you, you got to believe that they're voting. It's because they know that that's how you change your environment. There's nothing cool about sitting it out. Congressman Keith Ellison said it best: "Not voting is not protest. It's surrender protest. It's surrender."

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Laia Garcia is the deputy editor at Lenny.
Diyarbakir (Turkey) (AFP) - Confusion reigned Sunday over who carried out an attack in Turkey that left 11 dead, with one source claiming it was the Islamic State but authorities insisting Kurdish militants were to blame.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had said Friday's bombing near police headquarters in Diyarkabir was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has regularly targeted security forces since ending a truce in 2015.

But the US-based SITE Intelligence Group cited an "insider source" for the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency as saying "fighters from the Islamic State detonated an explosives-laden vehicle parked in front of a Turkish police headquarters in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey."

The local governorate in Diyarbakir on Saturday then issued a new statement insisting the bombing was carried out by the PKK, saying this conclusion was based on intercepted radio conversations.

It said that the three tonnes of explosives used in the bombing were activated by a PKK operative with the codename "Kemal".

"This information clearly shows that the attack was carried out by the separatist terror organisation," it said, using the customary official phrase for the PKK.

The early morning attack on a police headquarters in the Kurdish-majority of Diyarbakir initially left nine people dead, including two police officers, and over 100 wounded.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the toll rose to 11 on Saturday after two more civilian victims succumbed to their wounds.

The explosion left a swathe of devastation, blowing out the entire front of a nearby apartment block and leaving the surroundings covered in rubble.

Emergency workers on Saturday sifted through the damage while residents arrived to recuperate whatever belongings they could salvage, an AFP photographer said.

The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) said six of its MPs, including its co-leaders, had narrowly escaped injury in the attack as they were being held in the police complex following their detention overnight.

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If confirmed, the Islamist State claim of responsibility would be its first for an attack in Turkey, although the jihadist group has been blamed over the last year for a series of strikes against Kurdish activists, tourists and on Istanbul airport.

There has so far been no denial or claim of responsibility from the PKK.

- IS call for attacks -

In an audio message released earlier this week, reclusive IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi broke a nearly year-long silence to call for attacks against Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, and for his fighters to hold their ground in their stronghold of Mosul, Iraq.

Ankara has troops stationed at a base just outside Mosul and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's escalating rhetoric has raised fears of an expanded Turkish military intervention in Iraq.

Yildirim said the PKK had again showed its "ugly face" with the attack.

The HDP meanwhile said its co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag as well as four other MPs had been brought to the police complex overnight after their detention early Friday.

It said in a statement Demirtas had been taken to court just before the attack and Yuksekdag was in the complex when it happened.

Without directly saying its MPs were the target, it noted that the minibus packed with explosives had blown up early following an alert from a taxi driver.

"All the facts must be revealed about this attack which was planned to be even more devastating and did not reach its intended target," the HDP said.

The two co-leaders and 10 other HDP MPs have now been placed under arrest ahead of trial by the courts.

Demirtas and Yuksekdag have been transferred by air to prisons in the western regions of Edirne and Kocaeli respectively, well away from Diyarbakir.
R&B and soul legend Stevie Wonder and modern pop sensation Ariana Grande duet on the track "Faith," excerpted from the soundtrack for upcoming animated film "Sing."

The track has been released to Spotify and iTunes, where it is available for purchase as a download.

"Beyond honored to be on this song with the incredible Stevie Wonder," Grande wrote, announcing the release through her Twitter account.

"Sing" features Matthew McConaughey as a theater-owning koala, Reese Witherspoon as a secretly singing mother pig, Seth McFarlane as a jazzy mouse, and Scarlett Johansson as a punky porcupine.

It is set for general release from December 21 in North American theaters, and thereabouts or earlier the same month in much of the rest of the film's international territories.
When creating a conceptual album like La Salvacion de Solo y Juan, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' first "rock opera" album, the last thing you want to do is rush any part of the process. "Throughout the years, we've learned to stop rushing things," LFC's frontman Vicentico tells Billboard during a phone interview. "Good things should take time."

Seven years after dropping their last studio album, the iconic Argentine rock band -- who recently added two new members: Florian, son of Vicentico, and band member Flavio's son Astor -- premiered their highly anticipated record over the summer. The soundtrack to the story about two brothers who are raised by a distant and crude father scored the group four nominations to the 2016 Latin Grammys, including best rock album.

Billboard caught up with frontman Vicentico just days before the 17th edition of the Latin Grammys, where they will also take the stage and perform for the first time ever at the awards show on Nov. 17 in Las Vegas.

Would you say that the four nominations for La Salvacion de Solo y Juan are a bit more special with Florian and Astor being part of the band?

La Salvacion de Solo y Juan is special like any other album we have done before because we always give our love to everything we do. But yes, the fact that we can share this experience with our sons does make it a bit more special. They're very excited, and to be honest, it gives us great joy and excitement to be able to perform with our sons as well.

We've been touring with this album since it came out, so in a sense, we are getting used to the idea of playing with Florian and Astor and I know they're going to enjoy it. That makes me even happier.

After watching Florian and Astor perform at Chicago's Ruido Fest, you would think they've been part of the band for years now.

I totally agree. The thing is that they've been around us since they were born. They were the ideal candidates to join the band. We started looking for new members but it made sense for us to pick them. Both of them are super humble and well educated and would have never asked us to let them join. But, we know both are great musicians and it seemed natural for those two additions to be Florian and Astor. If they wouldn't be great musicians, they wouldn't be part of the band.

Story continues

Did you guys know from the beginning that the new album would be a conceptual/"rock opera" record or was that something that just happened?

We just had the urge to do something different. A few years ago, we decided it was time to start a new album, since we all had been doing our own thing for a while. We needed to turn on the light bulb for the band and create an album that entertained us. So we wrote the story, the story turned into songs and then it became an album.

We're still thinking of how we will take it to the big screen. But that's going to take some time, just how it took us a long time to create this album. In reality, projects like our album and the film should take time to create. Throughout the years, we've learned to stop rushing things. The albums that I like to listen to and the artists I admire, I know that they take the time they need to create their music.

How were the studio sessions like when recording La Salvacion de Solo y Juan?

Before we began recording, Flavio and I wrote the story together and then him and I also recorded demos of all the songs. We played all the instruments as well on the demos. Then we connected with producer Hector Castillo to tell him about the project and finally the rest of the band was incorporated to start working on the album. We recorded the first part at Flavio's house in Argentina so we felt at home and we spent half of the year to record that part. We literally saw the summer and winter pass by and we were still recording. After that, we went to New York to finish recording and to mix the album.

Now that you guys are touring with the new album, during a performance in Mexico City the band sent out a message of solidarity with women who have been victims of violence. How important is it for the band to be part of that discussion?

It's always very important to be clear about where we stand on these things. If we can add anything to the discussion or help out in any way, we will be part of it. The thing is that it shouldn't even be a discussion or a debate at this point, it's clear that any form of violence is not accepted. Dr. Aldrete, an artist who works with us when planning our live performances, was the one created the messages and illustrations for our show. Personally, I'm not the type to go in public to talk about these things because people already know where I stand. And I prefer to approach these things through art and through my music.
By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) - Struggling British retailer Marks & Spencer is expected to announce plans next week to shut some stores at home and abroad, with analysts forecasting a slump in first-half profit and another fall in clothing sales.

Steve Rowe, a 26-year company veteran, took over as chief executive in April and has the tough task of reviving the 132-year-old British institution that has fallen out of fashion over the last decade.

So far, his priority has been trying to turn around Marks & Spencer's (M&S) underperforming clothing and homewares business.

But on Tuesday he is expected to outline a rationalisation of its international operations and say how the company will make better use of its UK estate of more than 900 stores.

Profit at M&S's overseas business, which contributes about 7 percent to the group total, slumped 40 percent in the 2015-16 fiscal year, mainly due to losses at its own - rather than franchised - stores.

The division comprises 468 stores across 58 international markets, including 194 owned by M&S.

Seeking to cut costs, some of these stores in Western European markets, including France, as well as in China are expected to be ditched by Rowe, according to analysts, as he seeks to return the division to profitable growth by reversing the expansion of his predecessor.

Most don't anticipate radical changes to M&S's UK stores as currently all of them still make some profit. But given the growth of e-commerce, they do expect Rowe to signal a small number of store closures and a desire for a smaller estate over time, as well as plans to correct some badly performing shops through re-locations and new layouts.

LOWERING PRICES

Rowe has pledged to revive M&S's clothing by improving ranges and availability, cutting prices and reducing promotions.

However his plan, outlined in May, came with a warning of a short-term dent to sales and profit, and in July the group reported its worst quarterly clothing sales for a decade.

Story continues

Shares in M&S have fallen 23 percent this year, hammered by the May profit warning and fears a drop in sterling after Britain's vote to leave the European Union will increase sourcing costs.

For the second quarter to Oct. 1, M&S is expected to report a 3.9 percent fall in sales of clothing and homeware at shops open over a year, according to a company compiled consensus of eight analysts' forecasts. That would be an improvement on the first quarter slump of 8.9 percent.

The food business, which contributes over half of group revenue and about a third of profit, is performing better than clothing and outperforming the wider food market. Analysts are on average forecasting flat second-quarter like-for-like sales. They fell 0.9 percent in the previous quarter.

Analysts on average expect a first-half underlying pretax profit of 216 million pounds, down from 284 million pounds a year earlier.

(Editing by Mark Potter)
Dreaming of world peace? Just send in Katy Perry!

On this weeks new episode of Madam Secretary, Bess (Tea Leoni) and her staff are preparing for a big state dinner to host the visiting president of France. When Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek) asks for an update, they assure him that pop star Katy Perry has confirmed her attendance and will be seated by the French president.

Excellent. It is vital to the future happiness of everyone in this room, and your loved ones, that this dinner goes off without a hitch, Russell says.

Related: Morgan Freeman Shares His Not-So-Surprising Inspiration for Creating Madam Secretary

But Katy Perry aside, Bess and her team needle Russell about the inclusion of several tech billionaires on the guest list. These power players withdrew their support from President Dalton when he became an independent. And if theyd been invited as a kind of quid pro quo, Nadine (Bebe Neuwirth) points out, That could be construed as mildly unethical.

And not even Katy Perry can solve that!

Madam Secretary airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS.
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme will receive another $32.1 million under a new settlement over the swindler's ties to Cohmad Securities Corp, whose clients invested more than $1 billion with him.

Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, on Friday announced the settlement with the estate of former Cohmad Chairman Maurice "Sonny" Cohn, his widow Marilyn Cohn, and their daughter Marcia Cohn, who was Cohmad's chief operating officer.

Though Cohmad is insolvent, Picard said he plans to keep pursuing claims against six other individuals who received "substantial fees" for helping Cohmad raise money for Madoff.

"Cohmad is one of the earliest and best-known names affiliated with Madoff, and this highly successful settlement brings one important chapter of (its) story to a close," Kathryn Zunno, a partner at Picard's law firm Baker & Hostetler, said in a statement.

The accord requires court approval, and would end a seven-year-old lawsuit against the Cohns.

It was announced one week after Picard reached a $277 million settlement with the estate of Beverly Hills investment adviser Stanley Chais, who also sent client cash to Madoff. California will receive $15 million from that accord.

Cohmad, Sonny and Marcia Cohn, and former Cohmad vice president Robert Jaffe in 2010 settled a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into their dealings with Madoff.

They have denied knowing that Madoff had been running a decades-long fraud.

"Cohmad" is a contraction of "Cohn" and "Madoff."

Friday's settlement would boost Picard's total recovery for Madoff customers to $11.49 billion. Nearly $9.5 billion has been distributed. The trustee has estimated that the customers lost $17.5 billion.

Madoff, 78, is serving a 150-year prison term after pleading guilty to a fraud uncovered in December 2008.

The cases are Picard v Cohmad Securities Corp et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-ap-01305; and In re: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in the same court, No. 08-01789.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Mads Mikkelsen is having a big 2016. The Danish actor, maybe best known for Casino Royale or, if youre so inclined, Hannibal, has wound up in two gigantic movie franchises, Marvel and Star Wars. In the just-released Doctor Strange, Mikkelsen plays Kaecilius, a powerful sorcerer and leader of the Zealots. In the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, he plays Galen Erso, a brilliant scientist abducted by the Empire to help build their Death Star.

Yahoo Movies sent our own Khail Anonymous to chat with the stars of Doctor Strange in advance of the movies release. While talking with Mikkelsen, he asked him who would win in a fight, Kaecilius or Galen?

I think hes very hard to beat, Kaecilius, in a sense that he has something real people dont have  he has magic powers, hes a sorcerer, Mikkelsen answered. I have a hard time seeing any gun or any knife giving him real trouble.

What about friendship? We asked him if hed want to get drinks with either Kaecilius or Galen. I mean, if Kaecilius  maybe a couple years before we meet him, Mikkelsen said, obviously wary of getting drinks with a bad guy. Galen  Im not sure hes a drinking man. Yes, I would. I would have to have a word with him and tell him how to do [things] different.

How Dan Harmon helped out on Doctor Strange:



Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.
Bamako (AFP) - Campaigning for municipal elections was underway in Mali on Friday under a cloud of apathy and uncertainty, following years of delays due to the persistent insecurity.

The vote, due on November 20, will elect 12,000 councillors in the country's 703 communes two years later than originally scheduled, as the government wrestles with implementing a peace deal and warding off a stubborn jihadist threat.

In the capital, Bamako, not a single campaign poster could be seen in the city's busiest streets, while residents made clear their fatigue with years of civil conflict and perceived political mismanagement.

"We are tired of politics. We no longer believe in politicians. So I have decided not to vote," Bamako resident Adramane Dicko told AFP, expressing the prevailing view among citizens.

Meanwhile, the north of Mali remains too unstable to hold municipal elections safely as clashes spark intermittently between rival armed groups, and jihadists continue to roam vast swathes of the desert.

The five northern regions are instead awaiting the installation of so-called interim authorities ahead of full elections which will be held once basic security can be guaranteed.

The state is entirely absent from large sections of northern Mali, leaving communities in the hands of local commanders whose power battles have threatened to unravel an accord they signed last year.

The deal was aimed at ending unrest in the north, which in 2012 fell under the control of three radical Islamist groups, subsequently plunging the entire country into chaos.

The head of the UN mission in Mali, which is attempting to bolster security along with French troops, emphasised Thursday that the arrival of northern interim authorities had become "practically speaking, a required step before the rest of the deal can be put into place."

Mahamat Saleh Annadif said that key steps in the peace process, such as integrating former rebels into the army and organising joint patrols of the Malian military and armed groups, could only take place after the interim authorities were installed.

Maiga Yorobo Sitan Diarra, a woman standing for office in rural Moribabougou, told AFP there was a "crisis of confidence" in the west African nation.

"As a candidate in these elections, even I am surprised by the glum atmosphere and the lack of enthusiasm among the population, and even among the politicians," she said.
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Australia is home to many different kinds of spiders, ranging from the venomous to the relatively harmless.

Although we'd bet you'd be hard pressed to find one bigger than Charlotte the huntsman spider, who was found and photographed by the folks at Barnyard Betty's Rescue in Queensland, Australia a year ago.

It's only in the last couple of days, that Charlotte has received lots of internet attention however, and there's little wonder why.

She's spectacularly, almost unrealistically big, as photos of her hanging on the end of a broom show.

SEE ALSO: Watch in awe as a giant huntsman spider carries off with a mouse

Charlotte was rescued and released, and the people at Barnyard Betty's Rescue assure Facebook that it's not photoshopped.



"She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace.

"She didn't or doesn't need to be killed! Poor spiders are so misunderstood," the rescue centre said Facebook post on Wednesday.

The average huntsman spider has a body span of 2 centimetres (0.7 inches) for females, and 1.6 centimetres (0.62 inches) for males. Their leg span reaches up to 15 centimetres (5.9 inches).

According to Australian Museum arachnologist Graham Milledge, Charlotte is more a little out of the ordinary.

"The spider in the photo appears to be a Giant Green Huntsman Spider, Typostola barbata. This is one of the larger species of huntsman spider found in Australia, with a leg span of over 20cm (7.8 inches), and is mainly found in eastern Queensland," he told Mashable via email.

So while Charlotte may look unreal, she definitely is.

UPDATE: Nov. 4, 2016, 12:01 p.m. AEDT Added comments from Graham Milledge.
A Florida man who officials say wished to die at the hands of police was shot by police in a SWAT team standoff after allegedly killing his wife and son and shooting a third person.

The third person has been identified as the suspect's attorney, whose wife told reporters the standoff was the result of domestic unrest in the Miami-Dade home of Fadel Jabado that turned deadly.

Read: Iowa Resident Sobs as She Gives Cops Water After Police Shootings

"He was getting divorced... his wife wanted to leave him," Lenore Harshman, wife of Jabado's attorney Larry Harshman, told WSVN. And he was gonna take the kid. And Larry said, 'Well, theres nothing I can do for you because Im not a divorce attorney.'"

Mrs. Harshman and Miami-Dade police believe Jabado shot her husband in the stomach following that conversation.

But the drama continued as police say Fajado left Harshman's law office after shooting him and went to his own home, where he fatally shot his wife, Bassima Jabado, and their 26-year-old son Ahmed Jabado.

According to a statement from police, Mr. Jabado was subsequently found by authorities in his car. "He barricaded himself inside the vehicle, armed with a gun and refused to speak with the police," the statement read.

Police negotiators were summoned to respond to the scene after police say Fadel Jabado stated he wanted police to shoot and kill him.

"The individual did tell our negotiators that he intended to die today," Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez told reporters during a news conference. "He did not want to do it to himself because of his religion."

After hours of negotiation, cops say Jabado pointed a firearm at them. Several shots were fired at the suspect.

Read: Orlando Shooter's Wife Opens Up, 6 Months After Pulse Nightclub Massacre: 'I Was Unaware'

Jabado was struck an unknown number of times and airlifted to an area trauma center, where he is listed in critical but stable condition.

Story continues

Mr. Harshman also remains hospitalized. A woman who answered the phone at his law firm declined to comment Friday morning.

Watch: Ex-Cop Kills Wife and Flees With Body in Trunk Before Killing Himself: Cops

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The beauty of finding love is that there's someone for everyone.

In Australia, a crocodile handler named Billy found the love of his life, Siobhan, and chose to propose to her in a very unique way.

On the special day of his proposal, Billy decided to pop the big question at his place of work: The Australian Reptile Park's crocodile pit.

SEE ALSO: Terrifying footage shows a crocodile attacking a couple in a hotel pool

Luring a giant freshwater crocodile out of the water, Billy called Siobhan into the pit. Leading the reptile with bloody bait, the park employee talked about his relationship with Siobhan, calling the three years they had spent together the "best of [his] life."

Once the crocodile was fully out of the water, Billy turned his back on the dangerous animal to get down on one knee, and ask Siobhan to be his wife.

Watch the video of the remarkable proposal here:

We think it's safe to say there will be no shortage of adventure in their lives together. Congrats, Billy and Siobhan.

BONUS: Harry Potter but with hamsters.
On Saturday, Tad Tadesse was allegedly asked to leave a San Francisco cable car with his pit bull service dog Rosie, because the operator of the trolley did not feel safe in the dogs presence. The incident was captured on video and posted to Facebook, where it has been watched over 900,000 times.

In the clip, a San Francisco Police Department officer and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) supervisor are purportedly shown asking Tadesse to leave the cable car with his dog.

Paul Rose, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, told the San Francisco Examiner that the operator did not feel safe, and asked Tadesse and Rosie to move inside the cable car, not off of it.

At no point was service denied, he added.

Gina Tomaselli, an attorney who filmed the viral Facebook video, says differently.

Cop insists that this man get off the cable car (run by SFMTA) because, according to the dog owner, the driver is afraid of his pit bull service dog  and refused to operate the cable car unless the dog owner got off the car  even after he presented written documentation of the dogs status, she wrote on the Facebook post of the video.

Tadesse also maintains the driver refused to operate the trolley until he left, and told the Examiner that he can think of 20 more incidents where he and Rosie, an emotional support animal, were denied service by SFMTA.

Rose also told the Examiner, We understand that some riders need service animals to reach their destination and we want to ensure they can do that safely. The operators of any vehicle have the responsibility of keeping their passengers safe and the rules are that every dog should be muzzled and leashed if they are not a trained service animal. This dog was neither.

According to federal and California state law and its broad definition of service animals, emotional support animals qualify as service animals and are allowed to accompany their owners on SFMTA transportation without a muzzle or leash. The SFMTA policy rule on service animals on cable cars states that riders are allowed to ride with their service animals on their lap, as long as they are sitting on the exterior of the car, which is how Tadesse was reportedly sitting at the time of the incident.

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Tadesse, who is a political refugee that escaped violence in Ethiopia and came to America at the age of 12, got Rosie after suffering a motorcycle accident in 2013.

After watching the video, many animal lovers are speaking out, outraged that Tadesse and Rosie, who is shown sitting calmly throughout the clip, were denied service solely based on the drivers feeling about the pit bull.

I put my face against the dog. The dog licked my hand, Tomaselli, who has two pit bulls of her own, told KGO about Rosies behavior. She was just very relaxed and he just wanted to ride the cable car.

Tadesse has filed a complaint with the Mayors Office of Disability, something he says he has done before, and is planning legal action. SFMTA is still investigating the incident.




The New York-based IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film is joining forces with the Jerusalem-based Sam Spiegel Film School to launch a program aimed at connecting American and Israeli filmmakers.

The Bloom/Spiegel collaboration will allow four New York-based Marcie Bloom fellows and up to four Sam Spiegel grads to exchange knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship and contemporary storytelling.

In the nine years since we founded the IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship, were most proud of the relationships it has generated. Perhaps even more importantly, the fellowship has become an incredibly safe place for the fellows to explore and question without fear of judgment, said Dylan Leiner, co-director of the IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship and executive VP of acquisitions and production for Sony Pictures Classics.

The Sam Spiegel Film School has been a model of these tenets for over 25 years so our hope is that this partnership will extend our respective missions across continents, cultures and ideas, added Leiner, who met Renen Schorr, the founding director of Sam Spiegel Film School, while serving on the jury of an industry event at Jerusalem Film Festival over the summer.

Schorr said the alliance was meant to foster together an international independent cinema  through the activity of the Sam Spiegel Intl. Film Lab  and promote cross-oceans collaborations based on original, bold, humanistic, and breakthrough ideas.

Kicking off this winter, the participants will begin long-distance discussions about their respective approaches to producing creative content, as well as the practical ways in which they overcome diverse challenges. The Sam Spiegel grads will travel to New York in the spring, during the Tribeca Film Festival, where theyll meet their MBFF counterparts as well as New York-based industry professionals and attend films screenings and events.

The Bloom/Spiegel Partnership is supported by Tadmor Films, Israel Film Fund and the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General Office in New York.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Marijuana private equity investor Privateer Holdings has raised $40 million in convertible debt ahead of next week's elections, with pot legalization on the ballot in nine U.S. states.

Several investors rushed to place their funds, while others held back to wait for the election results.

Of the nine states that will vote on Tuesday on legalizing medical or recreational marijuana, California ranks as the most important. The most populous U.S. state is considering allowing recreational adult use. If the measure passes, it is expected to legitimize part of a multi-billion-dollar black market and open new opportunities for companies ranging from software to pot delivery.

Financial services firm Cowen and Co forecasts a $50 billion U.S. market in a decade, up from $6 billion in legal sales today. U.S. law prohibits marijuana but federal agencies so far have limited their enforcement effort for companies which follow local laws in states that have legalized pot.

Seattle-based Privateer is one of several funds and investment companies targeting marijuana businesses. It said investors were divided on when to make their moves.

"Most of the potential lead investors wanted to wait until after next Tuesday to invest," Chief Executive Brendan Kennedy said in an interview. Others were ready to invest, but it was difficult to agree on how to value Privateer, with the outcome of the state votes unclear. The presidential race was a secondary issue, he added.

"This is a way to sort of take capital from investors without having to negotiate the price," he said. Privateer hopes to raise $100 million in the next round, including the notes.

The valuation of the company will be set when the round closes, and convertible note holders will get a 15 percent discount when they get equity in Privateer, he said.

The company plans to put more than half of the round in companies outside the United States, including Canada and potentially Australia, he said.

(Reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Leslie Adler)
From Country Living

A 94-foot Norway spruce from the northern foothills of New York's Catskill mountain range has been chosen as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

This year's #RockCenterXMAS Tree comes from Oneonta, NY-& what a view from the top! pic.twitter.com/g0qHbkrHz5 - Rockefeller Center (@rockcenternyc) October 31, 2016

Organizers say the tree will be cut Nov. 10 at the Oneonta home of Angie and Graig Eichler.

The spruce will arrive in Manhattan on Nov. 12 and begin a round of intensive wardrobe fittings.

The tree's 50,000 lights will be switched on during a live television broadcast Nov. 30.

Take a look back at the Rockefeller Tree since it debuted in 1931.

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"I think the smartest thing I did as a producer was replacing myself," Matt Damon told THR during the Producer Oscars Roundtable. The actor, screenwriter and producer was set to direct Manchester by the Sea, written by and eventually directed by Kenneth Lonergan.

"It was just clearly a Kenny Lonergan movie," said Damon. Still set to star in the leading role, scheduling conflicts arose with Damon shooting The Martian, and the role eventually went to Casey Affleck. "Casey I think is once of the most spectacular actors around. He's also like a little brother to me, I grew up with him."

More roundtables featuring actors and actresses, screenwriters, songwriters, directors, composers, and documentary filmmakers will continue to roll out throughout February in print and online. Tune in to new episodes of Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter starting Jan. 15 on Sundance TV and look for clips at THR.com/topic/roundtables with full episodes on THR.com after broadcast.
Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has reportedly accused former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of repeatedly sexually harassing her.

In a leaked chapter from the 45-year-old journalists upcoming memoir Settle for More, Kelly said Ailes made inappropriate remarks about her clothing and suggested he would help advance her career in exchange for sexual favors.

In the chapter (first released by Radar Online), Kelly claims that after months of harassment, the 76-year-old crossed a new line in January 2006 when he grabbed her and repeatedly tried to kiss her. Upon shoving him away, Kelly alleges Ailes asked her the ominous question of When is your contract up? before trying to kiss her for a third time.

Kelly says she never succumbed to any of his advances that she claims stopped after six months once she reported Ailes behavior to her supervisor.

Ailes attorney Susan Estrich told PEOPLE in a statement: Mr. Ailes denies her allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind. The statement also referred back to Kellys words about Ailes on Charlie Rose: I really care about Roger. And he has been nothing but good to me. And hes been very loyal. And hes had my back. And hes looked out for me.

Kelly first joined Fox News as a Washington correspondent in 2004. Her show, The Kelly File, is one of the networks most popular shows. She is reportedly currently in contract negations, hoping to upgrade her current deal, which expires next July, to an average annual salary north of $20 million for her next contract, which would put her earnings on par with fellow Fox News host Bill OReilly.

Her accusation comes months after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Ailes. He has denied all accusations of harassment against Carlson as well.

At the time Carlsons lawsuit went public, Kelly writes that she was pressured to put out positive statement about Ailes but refused. Greta Van Susteren defended Ailes in the wake of the lawsuit but went back on her support of Ailes after her departure from the network in September.

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Radar reports that Kellys chapter on Ailes, in which she writes about the harassment, was a last-minute addition to her book ( which is being published by HarperCollins  a publishing company owned by the same parent company of Fox News, 21st Century Fox). She explained in the chapter that the time had come to speak up about the harassment.

Kelly will appear alongside Kelly Ripa on Wednesday, one day after the 2016 election, as co-host of Live with Kelly.




Donald Trumps wife has vowed to fight cyber bullying should she become first lady after Tuesday's election.

Read: Melania Trump Makes First Stump Speech Since Disastrous RNC Remarks

Melania Trump made the declaration Thursday in her first campaign speech since her hotly contested RNC remarks.

Our culture has become too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers, Trump said at a rally in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.

Twitter went off on Melania following the comment, citing her husband as a cyber bully due to his years of using the microblogging site to trash opponents and those who have spoken out against him.

Hey, Melania Trump, let me introduce you to Donald Trump & all the people, places & things he's insulted since declaring. #bully #bullying pic.twitter.com/V3BRHMRg1q  Alamo_on_the_rise (@AlamoOnTheRise) November 3, 2016

Melania Trump speaks out against #cyberbullying. Next Ronald McDonald speaks out against childhood obesity. #Election2016  Allison Hawn (@AllisonHawn) November 3, 2016

If Melania Trump wants to combat cyber bullying on social media, she should start by changing the password to her husbands Twitter account.  Sean Simons (@seanrsimons) November 3, 2016

Melania is also under fire for plagiarizing Thursdays campaign speech and lifting words from  of all people  her husbands ex-wife, Marla Maples.

Yair Rosenberg, senior writer at Tablet Magazine, first raised the question.

Read: Pros and Conway: Donald Trump Campaign Manager Called 'Delusional' on 'The View'

He claims that Melania took the phrase, if you could dream it, you could become it, a line once used by Maples. Melania was speaking her experience as an immigrant building a new life in the United States when she used the phrase.

Medieval literary historian & connoisseur of misquotes @yonibrander explains why Melania mangling the famous quote shows where she got it: pic.twitter.com/xfl5rJo4cC  (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 3, 2016



InsideEdition.com has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Trump tweeted a photo watching the speech on his campaign plane and applauded Melania at a rally in North Carolina, saying: She did a great job and that she was very brave.

Watch: Melania Trump Denounces Husband's Sexual Assault Accusers: "Very Damaging and Unfair'

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Melania Trump speaks at a rally for her husband Donald Trump on November 3, 2016 in Pennsylvania. (Photo: Getty Images)

Melania Trump could potentially become the next First Lady, but very few know about a former role she played  that of the first woman president of the United States  albeit in a 1993 clothing advertisement.

At the time the video was shot, then 23-year-old model Melania Knauss was acting as the U.S. leader for a Slovenian clothing ad campaign. The producers of the video told Univision that the commercial features, the first woman president of the United States on the day of her inauguration, and it was shot in just one day.

In the video, the future Mrs. Trump is seen exiting an aircraft in a long trench coat, flanked by security guards, and waving to the crowd. She is immediately rushed by media personnel and escorted to a waiting Classic Chevrolet Caprice by her secret service agents, who are all dressed in a similar fashion.

Melanias motorcade promptly whisks her away from the airport, and close-up shots of the model applying makeup take over the screen. Footage of Melania waving is then juxtaposed with old footage of President John F. Kennedy supporters to make it appear as if she is being watched by a large group of people, Natalija Gorscak, director of Slovenian National Television, told Univision.

A mock inauguration scene follows at the National and University Library of Slovenia, purporting to be at the U.S. Capital, in which the model, dressed in a tan double breasted suit jacket and a white blouse, participates in an oath-taking ceremony. The flag of Slovenia, Melanias birthplace, and the European flag can both be identified in the sequence of scenes. The commercial concludes with Melania sitting at her desk signing a document, which Univision noted appears to be concerning immigration.

In the document she is approving three people to cross the border between two countries, its an immigration document, said Gorscak.

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From Esquire

Melania Trump made news on Thursday by promising to make combatting cyberbullying her main focus if she becomes the next First Lady. "Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers," she told a Trump-supporting audience, apparently unfazed by the fact that their candidate's various online insults could barely fit on a two-page spread in the New York Times. After Melania promised to bring "kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation" back to American life if the audience would only vote Trump, the social media she decried responded with much hooting and snarking while even the right-leaning New York Post called her speech "an epic troll job."

The last time Melania gave a major speech, at the Republican National Convention, she or her husband's speech writers borrowed heavily from Michelle Obama's words, delighting haters on social media everywhere. This time around, she looked to someone else from the Clinton sphere for inspiration: Monica Lewinsky. In 2015, Lewinsky launched her own personal campaign against cyberbulling: She's an ambassador for The Diana Award's anti-bullying campaign, works with Bystander Revolution and, uh, partnered with Vodafone to invent anti-bullying emoji. She even gave a speech about it.

Monica in her 2015 speech: "In 1998, we had no way of knowing where this brave new technology called the Internet would take us.... But the darkness, cyberbullying and slut shaming I experienced had mushroomed."

Melania in her speech yesterday: "Technology has changed our universe. But like anything that is powerful, it can have a bad side."

Monica is especially worried about children: "Every day online, people, especially young people who aren't developmentally equipped to handle this yet, are so humiliated that they can't imagine living to the next day."

Melania has seen the same thing! "As adults, many of us are able to handle mean words, even lies. Children and teenagers can be fragile. They are hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence. This makes their life hard and can force them to hide and retreat."

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Monica had some ideas for how to fix things: "We need to return to a long-held value of compassion-compassion and empathy."

Melania's solution: "We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other."

We have a place she could start: Ask people going to Trump rallies to leave their "Clinton sucks, but not like Monica" T-shirts at home.

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By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health)  Working long hours and skimping on sleep in midlife may lead to poorer physical health in old age, according to a study from Finland. A quarter-century study of Finnish businessmen found those who worked more than 50 hours a week and slept less than 47 hours weekly when they were middle aged were in worse physical health as old men than peers who had healthier work and sleep habits when they were in their prime. The results are in line with what we hypothesized, but we were not sure if we would be able to detect these long-term associations, said lead author Dr. Mikaela Birgitta von Bonsdorff of the University of Jyvaskyla. She and her coauthors examined a very unique cohort of old businessmen, Dr. von Bonsdorff told Reuters Health by email. The researchers used data from the Helsinki Businessmen Study to follow the health outcomes for more than 3,000 white men born between 1919 and 1934. About 1,500 of the men had provided clinical characteristics of health, self-rated health, working hours and sleep duration in 1974 when they were in their mid to late 40s, on average, and completed health related quality of life surveys in the year 2000, when most were in their 60s and 70s. During their working years, nearly half of the original group of men had what researchers considered normal working hours of less than 50 hours per week and 352 men worked more than 50 hours a week. Similar proportions of men had normal sleep of at least 47 hours per week, versus shorter sleep totals. Researchers found that men with long work and short sleep or long work and normal sleep in midlife had poorer scores for physical functioning, vitality and general health than those with normal work and normal sleep, according to the results published October 25 in the journal Age and Ageing. Midlife smoking and self-rated poor health at that time explained some of the association with the results at older ages, but not all. My thought is that official working hours are not that long today but the time that people actually work (e.g. email etc.) is not included in the official working hours and thus my thought is that people actually today work quite long hours, Dr. von Bonsdorff said. I think that this is true for several professions, particularly for white-collar jobs, businessmen, entrepreneurs and managers. Short sleep increases stress and strain, which are important aspects of quality of life, she said, and sleep problems might be related to an unhealthier lifestyle as well. Professionals with disturbed sleep or experiencing sleep deprivation will experience physical, cognitive and emotional changes, in addition to a drop in immune function, said Dr. Marco Tulio de Mello of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, who was not part of the new study. This is an exciting study because the follow-up is unusually long, 26 years, said Dr. Mika Kivimaki at University College London in the U.K. who also was not part of the new study. It also adds a new element to the research on long working hours as overwork in combination with short sleep captures a stressful lifestyle much better than long working hours alone. The effects of working life may persist into older ages and affect the quality of retirement, Dr. Kivimaki told Reuters Health by email. The results indicate that it is important to rest if working long hours, and employers should promote healthy living habits which contribute to better sleep quality, Dr. von Bonsdorff said. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2eHwICn Age Ageing 2016.
[November 03, 2016] One of the Oldest San Diego Hotels Lafayette Provides Cutting Edge Guest Experience with Deployment of Myini In-Room Technology

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite its fame for being one of the oldest landmarks in San Diego and having celebrated its 70th anniversary a few months ago, The Lafayette Hotel keeps up with modern technology by enhancing guest experience with availability of digital in-room dining orders, one-touch Front Desk communication, and up to date information about hotel events and tourist attractions. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436125 The new tablets have been tailored for Lafayette and its array of services. This next generation in-room technology will allow visitors to enjoy hotel services without getting out of bed: Room Service. Guests can order from a full in-room dining and bar menu, schedule breakfast delivery for the next morning, read and post reviews about the food and service and be notified about the current specials and events in hotel restaurant. Clock, Weather and Attractions. Be on time at that meeting with a build-in alarm clock and check local weather. Guests can also quickly fill their itineraries and save some money with offers for local tickets and attractions from pre-selected vendors. Media and Games. Kids can enjoy a few games while adults can relax to a selection of music. Communication. Get connected to Front Desk or Restaurant with one touch. Guests can also surf the web on the device free of charge. Information. No more digging through a pile of hotel directories to get the information about hotel. Visitors will find hotel directory, hotel and nearby community events right on the device. Transportation. Enjoy the city. With a few clicks, get a rental car, cab or a limo. "The Lafayette is committed to staying in tune with technology and providing a superb experience to its guests," said David Chan, Marketing Manager. "We anticipate that these in-room digital concierge devices will enhance our guest's experiences and increase hotel revenues at the same time."

The concierge tablets feature HD screen with easy to use interface intuitive to all guests. Devices can connect via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and are supplied with high capacity battery that can keep them going for hours even when unplugged. Devices are also equpped with a built-in led light that turns on when there are notifications or messages for the guest.





Dmitriy Parshkov, Founder of Myini, said, "We are extremely proud to install our first devices at a renown historic hotel and be part of innovations that make the hotel customers enjoy their stay and come for more."



Myini digital concierge devices will be offered in all Lafayette guestrooms, with soon to come customized services featuring smart home automation for VIP Suites' guests. The installation rolled out in October and future improvements will include smart home and voice command automation, integration with various POS/ERP/CRM, more integrated tourist services search and purchase capability, companion mobile app. About The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club and Bungalows: The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club and Bungalows is a historic landmark hotel with amenities that include multiple onsite restaurants, complimentary coffee in the lobby, fitness and business centers, an improve comedy theater and a junior Olympic-sized pool. Address: 2223 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104 Phone: (619) 296-2101 About Myini: Founded in 2015 Myini, a San Diego, CA start-up is the innovator in hospitality industry. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to enhance guests or residents experience with integrated services and home automation features. Myini for Hotels is a guest-facing in-room tablet solution based on Myini hardware, helping hotels provide great service. Myini hotel services are powered by proprietary software that delivers excellent guest services. Myini in-room tablets provide a full range of guest services. They can replace paper directories, and increase revenues of hotel services such as room service and in-house amenities sales as well as pre-selected 3rd parties. Myini for Apartment & Housing Communities serves as a portal between large residential property managers and tenants. The system can be used at residential properties, condos, homeowners' associations (HOAs) and multi-family units. Key functionality of Myini for Apartment & Housing Communities includes rent & maintenance, smart house automation, Amazon Alexa and Google artificial intelligence, fully featured portal for management and tenants with community calendar and intra-tenant communication, marketing processes and other crucial property management tasks. The system can also be used to control smart house features such as thermostats and blinds. For investment and business opportunities and for more information please contact [email protected]. Contact: Eugene Roytman

Tel: 8588773335

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.myinis.com Related Files release.docx Related Images image1.jpg image2.jpg image3.jpg image4.jpg Related Links Myini Website Corp Phone Related Video https://vimeo.com/190157780 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/one-of-the-oldest-san-diego-hotels-lafayette-provides-cutting-edge-guest-experience-with-deployment-of-myini-in-room-technology-300357432.html SOURCE Myini

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Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer said Friday that while the two differ on the refugee crisis, they must now focus on a joint fight to prevent a leftist government.

Less than a year before national elections, Seehofer told a congress of his CSU party that he remains committed to a national upper limit of 200,000 asylum seekers a year -- compared to the nearly 900,000 who arrived last year.

The Bavarian state premiere said that as he and Merkel disagreed on this point, she had stayed away from the party congress because neither side wanted to feign a "dishonest compromise".

"On this question I will not sell the soul of the CSU," Seehofer said to applause, adding however that talks between the traditional allies, the CSU and Merkel's CDU, were otherwise going well.

Looking ahead, he said, the common cause of the CDU-CSU must be to prevent a leftist alliance after September 2017 elections of the Social Democrats, Greens and far-left Linke, which succeeded communist East Germany's Socialist Unity Party or SED.

"Our enemy is not CDU, we've always had different views on this or that point," Seehofer told party faithful in conciliatory words toward Merkel after a bruising year.

"The enemy is red-red-green," as the suggested three-party alliance is known in Germany's colour-coded political jargon.

Seehofer said he did not want to see the day "when the SED's grandchildren return to government in Germany" and vowed that the CSU would always be "a bastion against a leftist front".
Kirk Douglas turns 100 next month, and he isnt slowing down  literally.

Hes doing absolutely great, Kirks son Michael Douglas said on ITVs The Jonathan Ross Show in an episode airing Saturday at 9:50PM in Britain. Hes got a walker with wheels  He tends to fly, hes at about a 45 degree angle at all times and moving great.

The legendary actors centennial birthday is Dec. 9, and his oldest son is taking charge of the festivities. I said, Lets maybe have an afternoon lunch, but then he doesnt like to watch people eat so we said, Lets do a tea. So were down to a tea and were just trying to get the details worked out but its turning out to be a major function.

As for a toast, Douglas said, Ill probably wish him 101  He is rocking, I can easily see him going on. The actor revealed that his dad is working on his 11th book. Hes a great literary writer. Its a lost art. Hes got a long history of letters he and his wife . My stepmother Anne, shes been my stepmother for 65 years. Ive noticed theyre working on a book together so hes quite content, quite satisfied, hes just an extraordinary guy.

Always proud of his father, Douglas took a moment to reflect on what he called Kirks incredible rags to riches story.

Born in 1916 to Russian immigrants who never really learned to read or write English, Kirk went to college in the back of a manure truck, Douglas said. He went on to become a wrestling champion and later found tremendous success as an actor. Then about 15 years ago, he proceeded to give away all this money he has made so hes been very charitable and returned everything back. Im super, super proud of him, Douglas added.

He also spoke about his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, 47, and joked about her plans for taking care of him when he starts getting closer to his fathers age. , Oh honey I cant wait when you get older and youre going to be in the wheelchair and Im going to be wheeling you around and youre going to be saying, Where are we going? and Ill whisper it to you, Cartier darling, Cartier. Shes got it all figured out, he said with a laugh.




Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

While shopping for homes (or furniture to put in it), you will quickly see that one particular style is all over the place these days: Mid-Century Modern. So what exactly is Mid-Century Modern?

Fans of the show Mad Men may already be conjuring up images of Don Drapers snazzy Manhattan apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows and that sunken living room, but the classic style is about so much more than chain-smoking guys in skinny ties and women with beehive hairdos.

Mid-Century Modern is actually an architecture and design movement that changed the way many of us liveand its influences are hotter than ever today.

A brief history of Mid-Century Modern architecture

Mid-Century Modern homes began springing up in the mid-1940s, right after World War II, and continued to spread through the 1980s. Soldiers were coming home, starting families, and setting off the baby boom. They needed new homes quickly, and the experimental technologies and materialssteel, aluminum, tempered glass, stucco, and plywooddeveloped during the war and beyond were quickly applied to residential structures to meet the needs of the growing U.S. population.

The Mid-Century Modern era, which lasted until the 1980s, produced a number of prominent architects, including Philip Johnson, John Lautner, Rudolph Schindler, and Richard Neutra. (Schindler and Neutra were mentored by Frank Lloyd Wright, a seminal American architect.)

When it comes to superstar Mid-Century Modern homes themselves, perhaps the most famous are the Case Study Houses, found mostly in Los Angeles but also in San Francisco and Phoenix. When they were built, the Case Study Houses were designed for affordability, but their value has skyrocketed over the yearsand many have been preserved, restored, and maintained by historic organizations.

An Eichler mid-century modern home in Sunnyvale, CA Nancy Nehring/Getty Images

Elements of Mid-Century Modern architecture

Homes and buildings constructed in the Mid-Century Modern architectural style all have certain elements in common, including the following:

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Flat planes and geometric lines: The exterior walls are usually unembellished with round columns, elaborate porches, or bay windows. They are smooth and flat, often accented by geometrically shaped windows. In warmer climates, where snow buildup is not an issue, its common for roofs to be flat.

Large windows and walls of glass: The popularity of the sliding glass door and the floor-to-ceiling window originated in the Mid-Century Modern era. They were built in an effort to integrate outdoor nature with indoor living. Houses were designed with the goal being to make sure as many rooms as possible had expansive outdoor views. At the time, this was considered not only aesthetically pleasing but advantageous to ones health as well.

Open floor plans: In earlier eras, rooms tended to be small in order to promote privacy. But the postwar era of peace and love went hand in hand with more common space. By integrating fewer walls and more open spaces into the floor plan, Mid-Century Modern style encouraged families to share space and feel more engaged with one another.

Varied elevations: Large, open, geometric spaces were broken up with a few small steps, rather than entire stories and staircases. The split-level design and the sunken living room were ways to create rooms without walls. Smooth, unadorned built-in cabinets of varying heights gave the same effect and provided storage.

Typical floor-to-ceiling windows in a mid century modern home. Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

If youre on the market for a Mid-Century Modern home, it wont come cheap. Due to the popularity of this style, these homes can command as much as 149% more than similarly sized homes of different styles. (Believe it or not, thats a higher premium than a home designed by Wright!) Still, if you love the look, the appeal does not seem to be waning any time soon, so odds are its a great investment that wont seem outdated.

The post What Is Mid-Century Modern? Way More Than Mad Men May Lead You to Believe appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / November 4, 2016 / Minnova Corp. (MCI.V) ("Minnova" or the "Company"), an advanced-stage mining exploration and development company focused on the advancement and re-start of our 100% owned PL Mine in central Manitoba, announces today that, further to its press releases from September 21, 2016 and October 25, 2016, it has closed the first tranche ("First Tranche") of its previously announced brokered (the "Brokered Offering") and non-brokered (the "Non-Brokered Offering") private placement raising aggregate gross proceeds of $3,334,750.

Pursuant to the Brokered Offering co-led by Mackie Research Capital Corporation and Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. (together, the "Agents"), the Company issued 71,000 flow-through units (each, a "Flow-Through Unit") at a price of $0.85 per Flow-Through Unit for gross proceeds of $60,350, and 966,200 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.65 per Unit for gross proceeds of $628,030.

Each Flow-Through Unit consists of one common share of the Company (each, a "Common Share") issued on a flow-through basis and one-half of a Common Share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant shall entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.85 until May 4, 2019. Each Unit consists of one Common Share and one-half of one Warrant.

In consideration for their services in connection with the Brokered Offering, the Agents received a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds of the Brokered Offering and were issued 62,232 broker warrants (the "Broker Warrants"). Each Broker Warrant is exercisable for one Unit for at a price of $0.65 per Unit until May 4, 2019.

Pursuant to the Non-Brokered Offering, the Company issued 2,612,200 Flow-Through Units at a price of $0.85 per Flow-Through Unit for gross proceeds of $2,220,370, and 655,385 Units at a price of $0.65 per Unit for gross proceeds of $426,000. The Brokered Offering and the Non-Brokered Offering are collectively referred to as the "Offering".

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In connection with the Non-Brokered Offering, certain eligible finders received a cash finder's fee equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds sourced by such finders, and the Company issued to such finders an aggregate of 196,055 finder warrants (the "Finder Warrants"). Each Finder Warrant is be exercisable for one Unit at a price of $0.65 per Unit until May 4, 2019.

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for work programs related to advancement and re-start of mining operations at the Company's PL Mine including; 10,000 meter drill program for definition drilling, resource expansion and property wide exploration and revised and updated NI 43-101 technical reports, debt reduction as well as for general working capital purposes.

In addition to the Offering, the Company is also pleased to announce that it has settled a portion of its previously announced shares for debt transaction by issuing an aggregate of 165,549 Common Shares at a deemed price of $0.80 per Common Share in settlement of an aggregate of $132,440.09 owed to certain arm's length parties (the "Debt Settlement").

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering and the Debt Settlement will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring on March 5, 2017 in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

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 as defined under applicable securities laws unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Minnova Corp.

Minnova Corp. is an emerging Canadian gold producer focused on re-starting the PL Mine and expanding gold resources on its PL and Nokomis gold deposits. The Company completed an Updated PEA which supports average annual production of 48,100 ounces over a +10 year mine life. Work to date supports advancing the project toward production with an initial program of detailed definition drilling to be followed by a future underground test mining and bulk sample program and completion of a Feasibility Study to bring the PL Mine back into production. The PL Mine has a valid underground mining license, an existing flotation mill, over 7,000 meters of developed underground ramp to 135 metres depth, is fully road accessible and close to existing mining infrastructure in the prolific Flin Flon - Snow Lake Greenstone Belt of Central Manitoba.

Qualified Person

Mr. Brian Robertson, B. Sc., P. Eng., a Director of the Company and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

For more information please contact:

Minnova Corp.

Gorden Glenn

President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact Investor Relations at 647-985-2785 or info@minnovacorp.ca

Visit our website at www.minnovacorp.ca

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information regarding the Company including management's assessment of future plans and operations, that may involve risks associated with mining exploration and development, volatility of prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of resource estimates, environmental and permitting risks, access to labour and services, competition from other companies and ability to access sufficient capital. As a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements. A feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the disclosed targets will be achieved nor that the proposed operations will be economically viable. Although Minnova 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 information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Minnova 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.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION INTO THE UNITED STATES

SOURCE: Minnova Corp.
The following material contains mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Doctors weigh in on the shocking and horrifying case of the mother accused of injecting her three kids with heroin.

A Washington state woman appeared in court this week to face charges of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a child, criminal mistreatment and child assault after a Washington State Child Protective Services investigation of the woman and the father of the children last year following reports of alleged heroin use in the home.

CBS affiliate KIRO reported that the kids were living in a home filled with drug needles, heroin and rat feces. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the CBS affiliate, the mother and father allegedly injected the kids with what the oldest child called feel good medicine," which he described as a white powder mixed with water to make them sleep. The affidavit states the injection was also referred to as sleep juice in the household.

Watch: Shocking Video Of Mother Overdosing In A Store With Her Child

Two of the children reportedly tested positive for traces of heroin, additionally bruising consistent with needle injections were reportedly found on all 3 of the minors.

The children were removed from the home in November and placed in foster care. The mother and father, who remain in custody, have both plead not guilty to the charges.

A stunned and shocked ER physician Dr. Travis Stork says of the story, Unbelievable. Plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon adds, Getting high as hit a new low. This is horrific.

Watch: Anorexic Teen Addicted to Heroin Needs Help

As The Doctors have discussed numerous times this season, the opioid drug epidemic is growing at an alarming rate and now appears to be affecting children in an entirely new and horrific way. We urge that if you or someone you know is struggling with addiction please call the confidential and free National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP or visit their website.
The puppies kept on coming for Crystal the poodle, who gave birth to an incredible litter in Minnesota that may have broken a record.

"She looked like she was expecting an average-sized litter," owner Kelli Hewitt told InsideEdition.com. We were astounded to witness puppies coming one right after another over a 24-hour period."

Read: 201 Couples Share a Kiss Under the Mistletoe to Set New World Record

When all was said and done, the 3-year-old dog had delivered a whopping 16 Moyen poodles on August 28, possibly tying the record litter for her breed, according to Hewitt.

She gave birth to five males  Antonio, Kendal, Oliver, Symington, and Kenai  and 11 females: Gracie, Lily, Molly, Sophie, Coco, Daisy, Zoe, Sadie, Maggie, Bella, and Phoebe.

The record for the largest litter ever born to a dog is held by Tia, a Neapolitan mastiff who welcomed 24 puppies in 2004 by Cesarean section, according to Guinness World Records. Four of the puppies, however, passed away.

But the record book doesn't recognize the size of litters by breed, so there is no official record for the largest litter of poodles, Hewitt said. She has since learned of another poodle named Charlie, who gave birth to 16 puppies in British Columbia in 2008.

Hewitt, who breeds therapy dogs for children and adults with special needs or a history of trauma at Rockadoodles in Lancaster, said Crystal's puppies will be great therapy dog prospects.

The dogs have important healing powers, she added.

Read: 1200 People Help Topple World Record For Biggest Game of Mattress Dominoes

"We have witnessed first-hand how a puppy can teach a child to reciprocate love along with the benefit and value of learning to care for an animal," she said. "We have children with Attachment Disorder, PTSD, ADHD and some who have suffered past physical abuse."

Crystal's dogs will be perfect for the job.

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Poodles are one of the most popular dogs in the world," she said. "They are intelligent and responsive."

Watch: See the Pizza That Set The Record for Longest Pie in the World

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[November 04, 2016] Global Managed Security Services Market is Expected to Reach US$ 100.88 Bn by 2026 - Persistence Market Research

NEW YORK, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Managed Security Services Market Expected to Register a CAGR of 17.6% Between 2016 and 2026, Owing to Increasing Vulnerabilities of Advanced Cyber Attacks and Threats Persistence Market Research delivers in depth research on the global managed security services market in its latest report titled, "Global Market Study on Managed Security Services: North America Market Expected to Expand 7X in Terms of Value by 2026 End (http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/managed-security-services-market.asp)". According to the report, the global managed security services market is estimated to be valued at US$ 19.98 Bn by 2016 end. Factors such as increasing cybercrime activities, cost effectiveness, delivering timely and speedy action against advanced threats, skilled workforce, 24 x 7 monitoring and support, continuous change in compliance standards and regulations and growing trend of BYOD and mobile devices at workplace are some of the drivers which are expected to grow global managed security services market during the forecast period. However, barriers to entry in the form of scalability, automation and professional expertise act as major restraints in the global managed security services market. Moreover, there is always a huge amount of risk associated with outsourcing the critical and sensitive security information of any organization to the service providers. This also acts as a hindrance to the growth of the global managed security services market. The global managed security services market is segmented on the basis of deployment type, service type, application type, organization and region. By software type, the market is segmented into cloud-based software and web-based software. On the basis of application type, the market is segmented into BFSI, retail, healthcare, telecommunications and others. By service type, the market is segmented into IPS/IDS, DDoS, threat management, firewall management, end point security and SIEM. The market is also segmented on the basis of the organization which includes lare enterprises and small and medium enterprises. Key regions covered in the report are North America, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Latin America and Japan.



Demand for cloud-based deployment is expected to grow over the web-based deployment during the forecast period. The cloud-based deployment market is expected to register a significantly high CAGR of 20.1% over the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the flexibility, scalability and easy deployment of the cloud-based platforms. Managed Security Services is gaining traction in terms of service types in endpoint security, SIEM and threat management segment. The growing trend of "Bring Your Own device" which refer to the policy of permitting employee owned devices and mobile devices in the workplace is driving the major growth of the segment during the forecast period. Moreover, digital and social innovation, cloud platforms, mobile solutions and Internet of Things are expected to expand the segment with a high CAGR during the forecast period.

In terms of organization, small & medium enterprise segment is expected to grow at a high CAGR of 19.2% due to increasing focus towards the compliance and security regulations in these enterprises. View and Download Report Table of Contents, Figures, and Tables: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/managed-security-services-market/toc On the basis of regions, North America is anticipated to be the most attractive region in terms of value share by 2026. The region is estimated to account for 31.4% value share in 2016 and is anticipated to continue the dominance in value share over 2016-2026.The markets in North America and Western Europe are anticipated to contribute majorly to the global managed security services market. The market in North America is estimated to be valued at US$ 6,270 Mn by 2016 and is expected to expand at the CAGR of 18.8% during the forecast period. The market in the Western Europe is expected to be valued at US$ 20.613 Bn by 2026. North America and Western Europe are the quicker adopters of managed security services. Their society are more connected and possess high risk from advanced cyber-attacks such as advanced persistent threats and zero day attacks. Key market participants covered in the report include IBM Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Fortinet, Inc., Computer Science Corporation, Accenture PLC, AT&T Inc., Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc. Checkpoint Software Technologies Limited, and Trustwave Holdings, Inc. View Sample Report: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12100 Buy full [email protected] http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/12100 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

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(KABUL, Afghanistan)  A joint U.S.-Afghan raid Thursday against the Taliban involving NATO airstrikes left 26 civilians and three Afghan troops dead, and two U.S. soldiers were killed in a separate incident, Western and local officials said, as investigators worked to determine what went wrong.

The Americans killed and four other U.S. troops wounded were among military advisers helping Afghan troops, rare combat casualties for Western forces who handed over the task of securing Afghanistan to local troops some two years ago.

Afghan officials said they were still investigating the attack and its civilian casualties, some of which may have been caused by the airstrikes called in to support Afghan and U.S. troops under fire. Residents later carried over a dozen corpses of the dead, including children, toward the local governors office in a show of rage a year after American forces attacked an area hospital.

NATO declined to identify the Americans killed, pending notification of their next of kin.

Our service members were doing their part to help the Afghans secure their own country while protecting our homeland from those who would do us harm, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement.

The target of the raid were two senior Taliban commanders, who were killed in the fighting along with 63 other insurgents, Kunduz police chief Gen. Qasim Jangalbagh said. He said Afghan special forces carried out the raid and that he did not have any information about NATO involvement in the assault.

Jangalbagh said 26 civilians, including members of the Taliban fighters families, were killed in the assault.

Kunduz official Mohammad Yousf Ayoubi and parliament member Malim Chari both also told the AP that civilians were killed in the fighting, though they had few details. Dr. Mohammad Naim Mangal, the director of a Kunduz hospital, said his facility received the bodies of a dead man and a child and treated 30 people, including children, wounded in the fighting.

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NATO only said it was aware of the allegations.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, briefing journalists in Brussels during a teleconference, said three Afghan troops were killed in the assault. Mohammad Radmanish, a deputy spokesman at the Afghan Defense Ministry, offered the same figure.

In a later statement, Cleveland said that friendly forces received direct fire and airstrikes were conducted to defend themselves and an investigation was underway.

He earlier described the assault as not a common event, without elaborating.

A Taliban statement also said there were civilian casualties while claiming its fighters killed 16 U.S. troops. The insurgents often exaggerate their battlefield successes.

According to defense officials, the U.S. Army soldiers had gotten off a helicopter and were moving on foot with Afghan forces doing clearing operations in Kunduz province. The defense officials said the troops came under fire and returned fire, but it wasnt clear whether it was gunfire or other larger rounds. Two of the U.S. troops were killed and four others were injured. Two of the injured had more serious wounds and were taken away by medevac.

The officials said the troops called for support, and the U.S. launched airstrikes. They said they believe the troops were hit by enemy fire and were not killed or injured by the airstrikes. All of the U.S. troops were evacuated from the area.

Taliban fighters briefly overran the city of Kunduz, the provincial capital with the same name, in early October, a show of strength by the insurgents that also highlighted the troubles facing local Afghan forces 15 years after the U.S.-led invasion of the country. The Taliban captured and held parts of Kunduz a year earlier as well before the city was fully liberated weeks later with the help of U.S. airstrikes.

Those 2015 airstrikes also saw a U.S. Air Force special operations AC-130 gunship attack a Kunduz hospital run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, killing 42 people. Sixteen U.S. military personnel, including a two-star general, later were disciplined for what American officials described as mistakes that led the strike. Doctors Without Borders has called the attack a war crime and demanded an independent investigation.

Yet another airstrike killing civilians could stoke anger among Afghans, and the countrys former President Hamid Karzai repeatedly clashed with NATO over them, straining relations.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement criticizing the Taliban for using women and children as a shield during the raid. He also announced a local investigation had been started.

Also on Thursday, Afghan officials said a roadside blast struck a group of people on their way to a wedding in the northern Faryab province, killing at least nine civilians and wounding 11. Javed Dedar, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the bride was among those wounded. It remained unclear if the blast was caused by a roadside mine or mortars fired by militants, and the remote location of the incident made the details difficult to verify.

NATOs combat operations ended in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, a move that put Afghan forces in charge of the countrys security. Since then, Afghan forces have suffered heavy casualties battling the Taliban, who have at times overrun provincial capitals before being pushed back. Meanwhile, NATO and U.S. casualties have been few.

There have been at least four other combat deaths among American forces in Afghanistan in 2016. In October, a U.S. soldier was killed by a bomb in Nangarhar province while another was shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform in Kabul. In August, an American soldier was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan southern Helmand province. In January, a U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire in Helmand.

The fight in Afghanistan  Americans longest war  began after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks as the Taliban harbored al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The Taliban and Afghan government recently held secret talks to see if they could start peace negotiations to end the fighting, though questions remain over which faction of the insurgency is doing the talking.

___

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
Parents of newborn babies are an easy target.

Being perpetually exhausted and overwhelmed makes a person way more likely to, say, shell out $30 on a single baby bottle, or fork over hundreds more for a fancy bluetooth-enabled swing.

Then there are the baby monitors. No longer is it enough to simply hear ones baby howling from the next room, with a walkie-talkie style audio monitor (or, for that matter, through the walls). These days, theres enough technology out there for parents to create a Batcave-esque baby-surveillance command centerbuilt on live video feeds, wearable temperature trackers, breathing and movement monitors, and more.

But which of these devices, if any, actually keep baby safer? And how are parents supposed to separate the legitimately useful technology from sensor-equipped snake oil?

Whether this level of attention is necessary, or even helpful, is perhaps a matter of personal preference. But like many questions in the realm of parenthood, its also a source of much debate. We send parents home from the hospital with a sheet of paper to record wet diapers and poopy diapers, says Lisa Asta, a pediatrician and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. That piece of paper is useful for about three to five days, and after that, there really isnt any recommended technology. New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics say that parents and infants should share a room (but not a bed) for the first year of life anywaya recommendation that makes remote-surveillance tech seem rather unnecessary. The best way to track your baby, pediatricians will tell you, is with your own two eyes.

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But the makers of myriad baby devices are still trying to convince parents otherwise, and marketers attempt to appeal to peoples worst fears in doing so. Consider, for example, the tagline for the Owlet infant sock, an over-the-counter heart rate and breathing monitor: Know if Your Baby is Breathing.

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The sock, which costs $250, is sold as a pulse oximeter for home use, based on technology that measures blood-oxygen levels. (If a babys vitals drop precipitously, Owlet says, an alert is sent to the caregivers smartphone.)

That may sound really, really important, says Kitsiou Spyros, an assistant professor in biomedical and health-information services at the University of Illinois at Chicago. But you have to be very careful. What is the efficacy of the device? Right now we have no evidence whatsoever that it works.

A spokesperson for Owlet told me the company has conducted side-by-side accuracy tests with hospital-grade oximeters in a clinical setting and conducted tens of thousands of hours of in-home testing prior to releasing the product. But such devices arent subject to the kind of scrutiny that bonafide medical devices must face. David King, a pediatrics lecturer at the University of Sheffield, in England, wrote about his concerns with the booming baby-wearable industry in the medical journal BMJ in 2014.

Owlet states on its website that the device alerts you if something appears wrong with your babys heart rate or the amount of oxygen in his/her body. Rest Devices claims that its product allows parents to see their babys breathing patterns, in real-time. Sproutling says that it will let you know if your baby is sleeping soundly or if something is wrong. No published data support any of these claims, and because the devices are being sold as consumer rather than medical devices such data are not required. Ideally, manufacturers would be required to undertake observational studies or randomized trials to support any claims they make concerning the utility and efficacy of wearable devices in infantseven if they are categorized as consumer devices.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also cautions against using such devices, saying there is no evidence that they decrease sudden infant death. One study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2001, found the efficacy of such devices is unproven even for babies with an increased risk of SIDS.

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Movement and breathing monitors have been around for decades, but they havent always been widely available for purchase the way they are today. A flurry of attention on crib death in the 1960s and 1970s increased public awareness of sudden infant deaths, but also likely contributed to fear among parents of newborns. In 1978, a pair of engineers at the tech firm Intersonics Corporation patented a wearable monitor belt for infants. It consisted of a plastic disk affixed to an elastic cloth that was meant to go around a newborns waist. An alarm would sound, according to newspaper reports at the time, to indicate dangerous fluctuations in temperature, pulse, or respiration. (It also featured a light that showed the device was turned on in the first place.)

To older pediatricians, this may sound familiar, King wrote. In the 1980s and 1990s a plethora of similar products was developed and sold with the intention of reducing sudden infant death syndrome. Unfortunately, epidemiological studies showed that such devices had no effect on the incidence of SIDS in healthy infants.

None of this has stopped people from buying wearable infant monitors. And it certainly hasnt stopped companies from claiming you can purchase prepackaged peace of mind for $200 or more. Snuza has sold some 300,000 breathing and movement trackers since it launched nine years ago, the companys CEO, Greg Gallagher, told me. I appreciate that a doctor might only speak from the research theyre aware of, he said. We dont make the claim this device prevents SIDS, but we havent had a single death.

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Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for all such devices. In 2013, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered a recall of Angelcare movement and sound monitors after two babies died. They had been strangled by cords attached to the device. A spokeswoman for Angelcare told me their products testing processes are now extremely rigorous, but that she cant divulge the information [about these processes] due to its confidential matter, unfortunately.

Theres still the question of why, given what wearable monitors claim to be able to do, they arent regulated as medical devices. A spokeswoman for the United States Food and Drug Administration told me that products intended to monitor an infants breathing are within the agencys regulatory purview, meaning companies could seek FDA approval, but Gallagher says it doesnt make sense for Snuza to do so. In the United States, that would mean the monitor would be only available through a prescription, a potential outcome he characterizes in the starkest of terms: It robs parents of the opportunity for the device to save their babies. And, of course, robs manufacturers from selling as many devices as possible.

There is a real logistical challenge here, too. A huge problem in the area of health informatics right now is that the technology evolves so fast and the pace at which these companies are producing these products outpaces our ability to do research with randomized controlled trials, Spyros said. By the time we start and we design the studies, the technology is already obsolete.

And the thing is, people are buying them anyway. A lot of people. But why?

Obviously, people desperately want to keep their newborn children safe. The idea that a device might possibly help them do so is undoubtedly powerful. Dawn Nafus, a data scientist at Intel Labs, suggests the popularity of such monitors may also reflect a larger cultural shift. Public demand for these devicesdespite the high cost and despite warnings from expertsillustrates changing perceptions about why people turn to various technologies in the first place. The consensus in my field is that beliefs about safety and risk have been changing over the last 40 years by increasingly placing the onus of managing risks onto individuals, as opposed to institutions, Nafus said.

In other words, if people increasingly feel like the institutions that once kept people safe are failing themand that its now up to the individual to determine and manage various everyday risksthey may be more likely to ignore official guidelines in favor of reassuring narratives about consumer technologies.

Besides, these companies arent really selling SIDS-prevention devices (despite giving the strong impression that they are); theyre selling peace of mind. A little bluetooth-enabled object that you clip onto a babys diaper may do nothing for the baby, but it becomes an amulet of sortsa worry stone meant to protect parents from indulging in their own worst fears.

But finding peace of mind this way isnt ultimately harmless.

For the babies who truly need constant monitoring of vital signs, several doctors told me, a medical team should be coordinating their carevery often in a hospital setting. Giving parents the false sense of security that an unproven device will somehow keep their baby safe isnt just a waste of money, doctors say, it also trains them to focus on the wrong things as parents.

A certain level of anxiety is helpful, Asta says. Dont look at the monitor, look at the patient. And trust yourselves, folks. I always tell people, What ever you buy, keep the receipts.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Donald Trump arrives at a press event at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president on June 16, 2015, in New York. (Photo: Christopher Gregory/Getty Images)

Leading up to Donald Trumps presidential campaign announcement, his inner circle was arguing about whether it needed balloons, models and even a live elephant.

Some members of Trumps team wanted the event to be an over-the-top spectacle that would say in the loudest way possible: This is a different kind of candidate. Trumps then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, fought them and pushed to make the launch more traditional.

In the end, there were no circus animals  but the June 2015 campaign kickoff at Trump Tower was hardly a typical political affair. The real estate mogul and reality television star made a grand entrance on his gilded escalator, a ride that became an iconic image of his White House bid. But perhaps the most memorable and controversial part of the launch was Trumps fiery announcement speech, in which he accused the Mexican government of sending criminals and rapists over the border. Yet according to every source Yahoo News spoke with  in an extensive series of interviews with top staffers from the early days of the campaign  Trumps comments about Mexican immigrants werent part of his prepared speech. They were, rather, an early sign of his proclivity for provocative ad-libs that would become one of the hallmarks of his presidential bid.

The staffers describe a campaign that from the first day was a wild and combustible mix of outrageous showmanship and behind-the-scenes backstabbing, as well as a losing effort to keep the unpredictable candidate on message.

Trumps announcement went through at least five major drafts and edits that resulted in a tightly prepared script with no mention of rape. But, according to Lewandowski, the vast majority of the speech Trump actually delivered was spontaneous and unscripted.

That speech was going to last seven minutes and 28 seconds  I think it was originally timed in at, Lewandowski said. His announcement speech ended up clocking in somewhere north of 45 minutes.

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Roger Stone, Trumps longtime confidant and former campaign adviser, described the comments about Mexican immigrants being rapists and criminals as riffing.

If you go watch the video you can see that, in the beginning, hes working off of a prepared text, which is pretty solid, Stone said of Trump. Then he departs from the prepared text and thats where you got, you know, the Mexicans coming across the border and bringing drugs, theyre bringing crime and so on.

Sam Nunberg, another ex-adviser, echoed this assessment of Trumps inflammatory rhetoric about undocumented Mexican immigrants.

That was just Donald going off the cuff. He never used prepared remarks, said Nunberg.

Trumps comments caused a backlash that included several companies and individuals severing ties with him. In a legal deposition given in June of this year for one of two lawsuits he filed against chefs who backed out of a deal to operate a restaurant at one of his hotels, Trump was asked if his remarks were planned in advance.

Yes, Trump said.

Trump, who was making the case that his business partners should not have been scandalized by his comments, conceded he had not told anyone else about his plans for the speech. Still, his insistence that the remarks were not ad-libbed is hard to square with his advisers version of events. But these types of blatant contradictions are par for the course in the turbulent world of Trump Tower, where the candidate has earned a reputation for constantly stretching the truth, and his team has engaged in intense infighting. The Trump campaign declined to comment on this story.

Corey Lewandowski, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone and Sam Nunberg (Photos: AP/ABC/Getty/You Tube)

The 16 months since Trump stepped off that escalator have been a bumpy ride. Trump has gone through two more campaign managers since firing Lewandowski in June, just over a year after he launched his candidacy. The interviews involved a dizzying array of conflicting stories, back-and-forth personal attacks and accusations of double-crossing. This charged atmosphere makes it hard to separate fact from fiction in Trumps creation myth.

The alleged announcement elephant is a perfect example of the difficulty inherent in uncovering Trumps history.

One faction, including Stone, wanted to stage a deliberately outrageous campaign kickoff for a testosterone-charged blue-collar base that they believed could be won over by an infusion of adrenaline in politics. Stone believed they couldnt have Trump standing at the podium for a regular press conference.

We needed to make a splash, and we needed to not look like a conventional politician, Stone explained.

It was also a chance to thumb their noses at the political and media elites, who had all been extremely dismissive of Trump up until that point.

I would have had confetti, balloons. I would have had clowns, women in bikinis handing out Donald Trump shirts, Nunberg recounted. It was going to be the WWF Smashmouth  like, most glorious disgusting event of all time to turn politics upside down. It was the f*** you of f*** yous to the establishment.

Lewandowski, a former New Hampshire police officer with a no-nonsense buzzcut and a similarly clipped speaking style, hoped to stick to more standard operating procedures. He advocated for something that looked professional  that people were going to take seriously because we were being knocked as not being a serious candidate.

It was definitely other people who thought confetti and balloons and a spectacle would be something, and I didnt agree with that idea, he said.

Stone and Nunberg both said Trumps longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, was eager to put on an extravaganza.

Corey and Michael Cohen were fighting constantly over stupid things  you know, balloons and signs, said Stone.

Nunberg said Cohen planned to draw on his experience as a native of the Five Towns, a Jewish enclave on Long Island.

Michael Cohen said, I could do this. I plan the best bar mitzvahs, which was the exact mindset we needed, Nunberg explained in a conversation with Yahoo News.

Some in the Trump campaign believed Cohen was serious when he suggested a circus animal. Cohen insisted he brought it up in jest.

I was horsing around.  I said to Mr. Trump, Do you think that the floors could handle a 5,000-pound elephant? It was a joke, he said.

Cohen, who has spent almost a decade with Trump and has a reputation for fierce loyalty, attributed his wilder ideas about the announcement to excitement at seeing his boss launch a campaign.

The staffers recollections also differ about how the audience was assembled for the campaign kickoff. Shortly after Trumps announcement, Angelo Carusone, a liberal blogger and anti-Trump activist, published a blog post citing evidence the campaign hired actors to augment the crowd. The Hollywood Reporter subsequently found an email from a casting agency offering actors $50 each to cheer Trumps speech.

Stone accused Cohen of being responsible for packing the audience with actors. He implied it was a needlessly embarrassing move because Trump ended up drawing a healthy crowd anyway.

Cohen went out and hired people to fill the hall. Little did he know that that would be unnecessary, Stone scoffed.

Cohen called Stones claim completely false.

The only people who were paid were approximately a dozen aides whose sole function was to escort Republican groups arriving by bus from Long Island and the suburbs, with T-shirts, banners, and escorting them into the building, Cohen said.

The disputes over the announcement event were small skirmishes among many battles fought by the early members of Trumps team. Some of the most bitter feuding involved Nunberg, Stone and Lewandowski. All three men are no longer with the campaign and have engaged in vicious rounds of finger-pointing since their departures.

Roger Stone, center, speaks to reporters before the start of a July campaign event where Donald Trump announced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

Trumps political operation essentially started with Stone, a man who prides himself on maintaining an immaculate appearance and a decidedly dirty reputation. Stone revels in his fame as a master of dark arts and dirty tricks. He has plied his trade for a long list of unsavory and outlandish clients, including Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Kristin Davis, the so-called Manhattan Madam, who turned to politics after running a high-priced prostitution ring. Starting in the late 80s, Stone worked as a lobbyist for Trumps casinos, and he later consulted on several of Trumps political dalliances.

Nunberg entered the picture in 2010, when Stone was in the midst of one of his typically outrageous political schemes. Stone was helping Davis in New Yorks gubernatorial race on the pro-marijuana, pro-prostitution Anti-Prohibition line while simultaneously being in, as he put it, constant contact with one of her Republican opponents. Nunberg, who was just under 30 at the time, approached Stone with some ideas.

He comes on a bit strong, as you know, Stone said of Nunberg. I mean, within a week of my meeting him he was going around telling people I was his mentor. Hes got chutzpah, as they say.

The brash Nunberg, who speaks with a New York accent in streams of juicy gossip and maxims gleaned from the memoirs of political strategists, made an odd couple with the meticulous Stone. But they developed a strong rapport with Trump. Nunberg likened the arrangement to a law firm where Trump was the client, Stone was a named partner and he was an associate handling the day-to-day business for Trumps account and trying to shoehorn actual proposals into the candidates infamously freewheeling speeches.

He has the Donald Trump variety show, and we fit in the policy, Nunberg said.

According to Stone, Nunberg wrote strategy memos, speeches, press releases and even some of Trumps tweets.

There was nobody else. I mean, for almost two years he carried the torch of Trump for president. He was the guy out there arguing with everybody in the party that Trump could win, Stone said of Nunberg. Sam alone was out there as a true believer, and he got Donald to be more conversant with issues.

Nunberg even claims credit for Trumps signature policy proposal  the wall on Americas southern border with Mexico.

I created the wall with Roger, Nunberg recounted. The reason, and Ill tell you this, the reason we did the wall  Roger and I discussed it in 2014  was it was hard to get Donald to talk about policy.

Stone isnt so sure about this.

Sometimes Sam will tell you that he thought of the wall, Stone said. Other times hell tell you Trump thought of the wall. I dont really know who thought of the wall.

Nunberg said Trump was mostly interested in doing his variety show, which included tales from his career as a real estate magnate and commentary on current events. He believed the wall was one of the only policy plans Trump was eager to discuss because it allowed him to tout his experience as a developer, and it lent itself to a favorite slogan.

He would always talk about the wall because, guess what? As he made up, Nobody builds like Trump, said Nunberg.

Though Nunberg helped build Trumps political brand, he only made it through the first six weeks of the campaign. Nunberg was fired in early August 2015 after this reporter published a story in Business Insider that revealed racially charged Facebook posts he made between 2007 and 2009. The posts, which Nunberg said he did not recall writing, were initially revealed on a Friday. Lewandowski announced Nunbergs dismissal on Sunday and called multiple reporters to ensure they heard the news. Both Nunberg and Stone think Lewandowski played a role in Nunbergs ouster.

He was jealous of Sams relationship [with Trump], and hes a little Hitler, Stone said of Lewandowski. He likes everybody to say yes to him. Sam was not afraid to tell Corey he was full of s***. Corey hated that.

Lewandowski insisted he only wanted to do what was in my mind best for the campaign and criticized Nunbergs behavior and performance.

They believe that that was some Machiavellian deal where I had this whole thing planned, Lewandowski said. Look, personally, on a personal level, Sam Nunbergs the kind of guy I could go out and hang out with.  Hes a good guy. I think hes got some issues, honestly.

One Trump source who is currently with the campaign at a high level said Nunbergs departure had a huge impact.

I was really crestfallen when Sam got blown off the campaign, by the way. I think that was a real speed bump for Trump, said the source, who requested anonymity owing to the nondisclosure agreements the candidate requires staffers to sign. I think Trump took a while to get his sea legs because he didnt have a real speechwriter. He didnt have a guy that did policy. Sam was kind of that guy.

Stone left the campaign less than a week after Nunberg. Depending on whos speaking, Stone was either fired or quit after disagreements over strategy. Lewandowski was fired as campaign manager on June 20, just a little more than a year after Trumps announcement. His ouster came amid rumors of power struggles with Trumps daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, who has been a key adviser.

Corey Lewandowski, right, former Trump campaign manager, arrives in the spin room after the candidates third and final debate against Hillary Clinton. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Both Lewandowski and Stone remain in the Trump orbit. Stone is currently spearheading an effort to identify election fraud, a project that Democrats have labeled a pro-Trump voter intimidation effort. As of August, Lewandowski was still on the Trump campaign payroll for strategy consulting. Hes also a CNN contributor and is one of Trumps most ardent advocates on cable news. Nunberg has not stayed on such good terms with the real estate mogul. In May, Trump filed a $10 million legal claim in private arbitration against Nunberg for allegedly violating his nondisclosure agreement by making disparaging comments and leaking information to reporters. Nunberg claimed Trump accused him of planting an unflattering newspaper item about Lewandowski and another campaign staffer. Trump and Nunberg reached a confidential settlement.

Even with their clashes and conflicting memories, there was one thing about the announcement event that all the early Trump staffers who talked to Yahoo News agreed on: Stone, Nunberg, Lewandowski and Cohen all said the escalator ride was Trumps idea.

Initially, I suggested Mr. Trump enter via the elevator, bringing him straight down to the atrium level. My rationale for suggesting this was solely for security purposes, Cohen explained. Mr. Trump rejected that plan.

Both Lewandowski and Cohen attributed Trumps desire to take the escalator ride to his eagerness to see the supporters who came to cheer him on. The speech took place in the pink marble atrium at the base of Trump Tower. It was filled with press and VIPs, while the larger crowds were on the balconies above. Taking the escalator allowed Trump to point and wave at his supporters in the lobby while he slowly rode past with his wife, Melania. Their entrance was soundtracked by the hard-charging guitars of Neil Youngs Rockin in the Free World.

Cohen said Trump was adamant about taking the escalator.

Im going down the escalator. End of story, Trump said, according to Cohen.

The announcement event may not have had an elephant or bikini models, but for Stone and Nunberg, Trumps escalator ride was enough to set it apart.

We needed the drama of coming down the staircase, Stone said.

Nunberg agreed.

Like, who the hell comes down the escalator with his model wife in that dress and Neil Young? How awesome was that? Nunberg said.

Now, with only four days left until the election, Trump is narrowly trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Lewandowski praised the current leadership of the Trumps team, Nunberg and Stone both expressed dismay about the way the campaign has unfolded since their departures. Stone kept his specific critiques close to the vest.

Im not looking to pick a fight here, but  this is not my campaign and its not the campaign I would have run, said Stone. That said, Ive done everything I can to be supportive of the campaign and, in those instances when I disagree, I basically have kept my mouth shut.

Nunberg argued Trump has become too focused on attacking Clinton, her supporters and his political enemies rather than articulating a positive policy message.

He went from Obama to Stalin, Nunberg said of Trump. It went from aspirational, positive, a message of opportunity, Yes, were angry, but we have the opportunity and potential to fix it.  Then it just, you know, it just went further and further [as] he strayed from it.
MRC Global Inc. MRC posted third-quarter 2016 loss of 48 cents per share or loss of 6 cents excluding severance, non-cash inventory and restructuring after-tax charges of 42 cents. The adjusted loss was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 15 cents. The company had reported adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share in the year-ago comparable period.

Revenues

MRC Globals revenues plunged 26% year over year to $793 million. The year-over-year decline was primarily attributable to reduced customer spending across all sectors and segments of the company due to weak natural gas and oil prices.

However, the top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $759 million.

Performance of the Segments

MRC Globals third-quarter sales in the U.S. totaled $590 million, down 32% year over year. The decline mainly stemmed from lower sales by the companys upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.

International sales were $133 million, down 2% year over year due to lower downstream sales.

Revenues from Canada were $70 million, roughly flat year over year. Rise in midstream sales balanced the decline in upstream sales.

Revenues by Sector

For the reported quarter, upstream sales plummeted 41% year over year to $224 million. Weak customer activity resulted in the year-over-year deterioration.

Midstream sales totaled $327 million in the third quarter, down 12% year over year. The companys midstream sales decreased due to soft demand accrued from the transmission customers.

The companys third-quarter downstream sales decreased 25% year over year to $242 million. The year-over-year decline was primarily attributable to poor project activity.

Margins & Costs

Adjusted gross profit margin was 13%, down from 17.7% in the year-ago quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $124 million as against $142 million a year ago. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled $24 million compared with $51 million in the prior-year quarter.

Story continues

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow

MRC Global exited the third quarter with cash balance of $213 million as against $69 million as of Dec 31, 2015. At the end of the quarter, the companys long-term debt, net of current portion, decreased to $507 million from $511 million at year-end 2015.

At the end of first nine months of 2016, MRC Global generated $230 million of cash from operating activities compared with $481 million in the year-ago quarter. Total capital expenditure remained flat year over year at $24 million.

During third-quarter 2016, MRC Global repurchased its common stock worth $17 million, at an average price of $14.92 per share.

Outlook

Despite unfavorable market conditions, MRC Global expects to improve its business on the back of superior customer relationships, working capital optimization, operational expense management and balance sheet strengthening.

MRC GLOBAL INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

MRC GLOBAL INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | MRC GLOBAL INC Quote

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

MRC Global currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Some better-ranked stocks within the industry that warrant a look include:

ACCO Brands Corporation ACCO currently carries a Zacks Rank #1. the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 23.93% over the four trailing quarters.

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. AIT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). It posted an average positive earnings surprise of 4.93% over the last four quarters.

AO Smith Corp. AOS currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company posted an average positive earnings surprise of 6.45% over the trailing four quarters.

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YANGON (Reuters) - Human rights monitors have raised concerns about press freedom in Myanmar after a journalist at an English-language newspaper said she was fired following government criticism of her reporting of allegations of rape by soldiers. Violence in the north of troubled Rakhine State, which began with deadly attacks on border police posts on Oct. 9, has sparked the biggest crisis of de facto Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's seven months in power. Troops poured into the region after the attacks, which the government says were carried out by minority Rohingya Muslims with links to militant Islamists overseas. The military operation has sharpened the tension between Suu Kyi's civilian administration and the army, which ruled the country for decades and retains key powers, including control of ministries responsible for security. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said reporters trying to cover the unrest in Rakhine faced obstruction and harassment. Authorities have not allowed foreign journalists to visit the area and the international media was not invited to travel with senior diplomats who visited this week, even as state media obtained full access. REPORTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS Zaw Htay, the spokesman for President Htin Kyaw, has said reports of sexual violence, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests by soldiers are being fabricated by people in cahoots with the insurgents. The CPJ raised particular concern over the response of Zaw Htay to an Oct. 27 report carried in the Myanmar Times newspaper alleging multiple gang rapes by soldiers. Reuters also reported on the allegations, interviewing eight women who said they were raped by troops. Zaw Htay complained about the report and singled out Myanmar Times special investigations editor Fiona MacGregor for criticism on his Facebook page. Days later MacGregor was told by the newspaper's senior management that she was being fired for damaging the paper's reputation, she told Reuters on Friday. "It's extremely concerning and unacceptable that representatives of the democratically elected government would use social media and bullying tactics to suppress stories about important issues like gender-based violence in conflict," said MacGregor. Zaw Htay, a former soldier and holdover from the previous military-aligned administration, said the government had nothing to hide. "I'm really sorry to hear about the sacking of the Myanmar Times reporter," he told Reuters. "Actually we didn't make any personal attack on her, but just highlighted she didn't reach other reliable sources and it led to a one-sided news article based on unreliable sources." The Myanmar Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The paper has not carried any reports on the Rakhine crisis since Monday. Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Asia, said the case marked "a new low" for the government. "Rather than trying to shut down reports that it doesn't like, the government should respect press freedom and permit journalists to do their jobs by investigating what is really happening on the ground," said Robertson. Suu Kyi's government should "assert civilian control over its security forces", Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement. "The best way to prove or disprove allegations of rights abuses is to allow independent media to probe the accusations." ETHNIC TENSIONS The violence in recent weeks is the most serious to hit Rakhine since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in 2012. Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship, with many majority Buddhists regarding them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and face severe travel restrictions. They form the majority in northern Rakhine. In a separate case relating to the conflict, a staffer in the ruling party was charged on Friday under the country's controversial Telecommunications Law for criticizing the army's handling of the unrest. Myo Yan Naung Thein, employed as a researcher in Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy had been detained on Thursday, party central executive committee member Nyan Win told Reuters. Myo Yan Naung Thein wrote on Facebook that Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing's "negligence" was to blame for the Oct. 9 attacks and that he should stand down. Human rights advocates have said they were troubled by a broadly worded clause of the law that prohibits use of the telecoms network to, "extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb, inappropriately influence or intimidate". Arrests of social media users whose posts are deemed distasteful have continued under Suu Kyi's government. (Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Alex Richardson)
[November 04, 2016] Jumei to Hold Annual General Meeting on December 16, 2016

BEIJING, Nov. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jumei International Holding Limited (NYSE:JMEI) ("Jumei" or the "Company"), China's leading online retailer of beauty products, today announced that that it will hold its annual general meeting of shareholders (the "AGM") at 25/F, Tower B, Central Point Plaza, No. 11 Dongzhimen South Avenue, Beijing, China on December 16, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. (Beijing time). No proposal will be submitted to shareholders for approval at the AGM. Instead, the AGM will serve as an open forum for shareholders and holders of the Company's American depositary shares ("ADSs") to discuss Company affairs with management. The Board of Directors of the Company has fixed the close of business on November 18, 2016 (Eastern Standard Time) as the record date (the "Record Date") for determining the shareholders entitled to receive notice of the AGM or any adjournment or postponement thereof. Holders of record of the Company's Class A or Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00025 per share, at the close of business on the Record Dte are entitled to attend the AGM and any adjournment or postponement thereof in person. Holders of the Company's ADSs are welcome to attend the AGM in person.



Shareholders and ADS holders may obtain a copy of the Company's annual report on Form 20-F, free of charge, from our website at http://ir.jumei.com/, or by writing to Investor Relations Department, Jumei International Holding Limited, 20th Floor, Tower B, Zhonghui Plaza, 11 Dongzhimen South Road, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100007, Peoples Republic of China, or by sending an email to [email protected]. About Jumei International Holding Limited

Jumei (NYSE:JMEI) is China's leading online retailer of beauty products. Jumei's internet platform is a trusted destination for consumers to discover and purchase branded beauty products, fashionable apparel and other lifestyle products through the Company's jumei.com and jumeiglobal.com websites and mobile application. Leveraging its deep understanding of customer needs and preferences, as well as its strong merchandizing capabilities, Jumei has adopted multiple effective sales formats to encourage product purchases on its platform, including curated sales, online shopping mall and flash sales. More information about Jumei can be found at http://ir.jumei.com. For investor and media inquiries, please contact: Jumei International Holding Limited Mr. Sterling Song Investor Relations Director Phone: +86-10-5676-6983 Email: [email protected] Christensen In China Mr. Christian Arnell Phone: +86-10-5900-1548 E-mail: [email protected] In United States Ms. Linda Bergkamp Phone: +1-480-614-3004 Email: [email protected]

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Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday said authorities were looking into allegations of atrocities committed against the Muslim Rohingya minority, as she faces mounting criticism over her handling of the crisis.

Speaking during a trip to Japan, the Nobel Prize winner said the government had "not tried to hide" claims of abuse by the military and pledged a thorough investigation according to the law.

The crisis in northern Rakhine state, where activists and residents say troops have raped villagers, looted towns and torched homes, has posed the biggest challenge to Suu Kyi's government of her six months in power.

"We have not accused any particular organisation or group of engaging in any particular kind of activity because we do not have enough evidence," she told a press conference.

"All this will be made public as soon as we gather evidence, and it will go through due process of law," she said.

"There was one attack on a police outpost as late as yesterday, when one policeman was killed, and there have been Muslims killed as well since the attacks began on the ninth of October.

"We have not tried to hide any of this. We are trying to get to the bottom of the matter."

Aid agencies say more than 15,000 people have been displaced since the military took control of an area close to the Bangladesh border, home to the stateless Rohingya minority.

Foreign diplomats briefed media on Friday after returning from a visit to the flashpoint area, where the military has barred international observers since the border post attacks.

UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Renata Dessallien said the government had agreed to allow aid into the region, where an estimated 150,000 people are without their usual assistance.

"The government agreed to that all previous ongoing humanitarian development assistance could start," she told journalists.

Suu Kyi, who wraps up her five-day visit to Japan on Saturday, said the diplomats were expected to file a report on their findings.

Story continues

"I think when you hear from them you will have a more balanced idea of what is going on there," she said.

"We have been very careful not to blame anybody in particular unless we have complete evidence as to who was responsible for what."

During Friday's press conference, Suu Kyi also thanked Japan for its aid and encouraged the strengthening of the bilateral ties.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to offer aid and investments totalling almost $8 billion over five years to help development and democratisation in Myanmar.
A mysterious noise emanating from the sea floor in one of Canadas northern territories has been puzzling locals and officials, who have yet to identify its source.

The sound has been heard throughout Fury and Hecla strait, a channel of water in the Nunavut region, and has proven to be a mystery for the local community. The remote area is located in the northernmost territory of Canada, where some residents rely on hunting for their food supplies.

Observers noticed a decline in sea mammals in the area over the summer and have attributed the scarcity to the strange noise, which has been described as a ping or a hum and is reportedly audible through the hulls of boats. Members of the Legislative Assembly, who represent the area, noted the unusual lack of animals. MLA George Qualut told CBC News That passage is a migratory route for bowhead whales, and also bearded seals and ringed seals. There would be so many in that particular area. This summer there was none.

Speculation over the source of the noise has included Baffinland Iron Mines Corporations mining activity to the conservation work of Greenpeace. Both organisations have denied any involvement, according to CBC News. The Canadian Department of National Defence is also investigating, as detailed by a spokesperson in a statement to CBC who said that the Canadian Armed Forces are taking the appropriate steps to actively investigate the situation.

[CBC]
nunavut canada

Anyone considering fleeing to Canada after the election may want to ask if the animals know something we don't.

During the summer, hunters and boaters heard a mysterious pinging or humming sound coming from the sea floor through the Arctic waters of the Fury and Hecla Strait, located in Nunavut, the northernmost and least populated territory of Canada, according to a report in CBC News.

And whatever the sound is, it seems to be scaring animals away.

"That passage is a migratory route for bowhead whales, and also bearded seals and ringed seals. There would be so many in that particular area," George Qulaut, a local legislative assembly member, told the CBC.

Only this summer, there were none, said Qulaut.

Local Inuit rely on hunting in the area, so the sudden disappearance of marine life is both noticeable and disturbing.

Though there was a rumor that the conservation organization Greenpeace might have placed sonar to scare off marine life, the group told the CBC it had no involvement.

There is no known work going on in the region that could explain the sound, either. The Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation told the CBC that it has no equipment in the water. The Canadian military is investigating the mysterious sound, according to a statement provided to the CBC.

But so far, no one has any idea what's going on.

Correction: An earlier version of this story identified Nunavut as a province and not a territory.

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GettyImages 620663352

Renowned statistician Nate Silver warned Friday that new polling could indicate trouble for Hillary Clinton as the 2016 race for the White House enters its final days.

Theres been a potential breach of Hillary Clintons electoral firewall, Silver wrote on his data-journalism publication, FiveThirtyEight.

Silver was referring to the so-called blue wall  states that have reliably voted for Democrats in the past several election cycles  and other states which have solidly been in Clintons court throughout the cycle.

Specifically, Silver pointed to New Hampshire where polls have increasingly narrowed. Three polls released on Thursday showed Donald Trump at least tied with Clinton in the Granite State.

If Clinton lost New Hampshire but won her other firewall states, each candidate would finish with 269 electoral votes, taking the election to the House of Representatives, he noted.

Silver added that if Trump managed to win the 2nd Congressional District in Maine, the Republican presidential nominee would emerge as the winner of the Electoral College, 270-268.

The statistician also highlighted the tightening of polls in Michigan and Pennsylvania. A Friday Michigan poll, for instance, conducted by a Republican research firm, found Trump and Clinton tied at 44%, and other polls have shown a closer race there in recent days.

Those polls jived with other national and battleground polls that have been released over the past week. Clintons strong lead slipped after the FBI announced that it had reactivated its investigation into her private email server.

Election Day is on Tuesday. FiveThirtyEight's "polls-plus" forecast Friday gave Clinton about a 65% chance of winning:

Screen Shot 2016 11 04 at 5.21.02 PM

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NCLA teamed up with a popular nail art YouTube to create the perfect holiday polishes

Its nice to see glitter taking center stage again, which is why were super excited that ncLA teamed up with CutePolish, a crazy popular nail art YouTube channel, to create the glitter polish of our dreams. Sparkle is really making a comeback, yall from shimmering roots hair trends to the cut crease makeup looks, and the now iconic Pat McGrath lip kits. Theres no escaping all things sparkle this season. If the last time you wore glitter nails was during the height of Delia*s catalogs and inflatable chairs, fret not. Beauty brand ncLA and CutePolish joined forces on a collaboration that your inner child and outer adult can agree on.

The trend is back and these definitely arent the polish formulas you used back in the day. Theyre much better! The six part collection hits ncLA on Nov. 7 and each shade will cost $12. Heres a preview of the stunning shades!

If you decide to limit yourself to one polish (points for your self-control) its gotta be the silver shade, Crystal Ball.

Its a mix of small and large glitter with a hologram effect that you can apply over an opaque shade or pack on layers for a chromed out nail.

Its also worth noting that the pink shade, Having a Polish Blast, features star-shaped glitter and the gold color, Face Reveal, is pretty much a delicious gumbo of glitter, sequin and sparkle. Its pretty much the next best thing to rocking a chest full of gold chains 24/7.

Until the collection drops on Nov. 7, join us as we go down a YouTube rabbit hole of nail art tutorials over at CutePolish. So long, productivity!

The post NCLA teamed up with a popular nail art YouTube to create the perfect holiday polishes appeared first on HelloGiggles.
New York (AFP) - Folk rock icon Neil Young has relented and returned his music to leading streaming sites, a year after declaring that the fast-growing format was grating to his ears.

The vast catalog of the prolific 70-year-old rocker including his latest, the hard-charging environmental album "Earth," was available as of Friday on leading streaming site Spotify and rivals such as Apple Music.

Young had previously streamed his music only on Tidal, the upstart service led by rap mogul Jay Z that boasts of higher-quality audio files than most rivals.

The Canadian rocker in July 2015 said he wanted nothing to do with streaming as even old cassettes sounded better.

"Streaming sucks. Streaming is the worst audio in history. If you want it, you got it. It's here to stay," Young wrote on Facebook.

Young, who once developed his own niche high-quality portable player Pono, did not immediately comment on his turnaround.

Streaming -- which allows unlimited, on-demand music online -- has been rapidly growing and the number of artists who resist it is dwindling.

Music of The Beatles -- the most prominent holdouts -- went onto all major streaming sites on Christmas Eve last year.

Country superstar Garth Brooks, another opponent of streaming, recently signed an exclusive deal with retail behemoth Amazon's new streaming service.

Prominent artists who still refuse to stream their work include heartland rocker Bob Seger, experimental metal band Tool and English progressive rock veterans King Crimson.

The global music industry last year saw its first substantive growth since the dawn of the internet age thanks to streaming, although many artists say not enough of the revenue goes back to them.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle's (NESN.S) Health Science unit will invest $145 million (116.21 million) in U.S. food allergy specialist Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT.O), the latest move by the Swiss food giant in the health arena, the companies said on Friday.

The investment in new shares will give Nestle a 15 percent stake in Aimmune, and lets the partners work together on developing products to desensitize people with food allergies and protect them from the consequences of accidental exposure.

Aimmune, based in California, is developing treatments for food allergies which are estimated to affect up to 250 million people globally.

Among its products are a treatment for peanut allergy which is undergoing Phase III clinical trials with results expected towards the end of next year. The product is designed to desensitise patients with the allergy.

Nestle's health science business has been investing in science companies and new facilities this year as the Swiss maker of KitKat chocolate bars looks to support faltering growth in its food business.

The company's surprise appointment in June of former Fresenius (FREG.DE) chief Ulf Mark Schneider as its new CEO as of January underlined the increasing health focus and was seen a potential trigger for a series of acquisitions.

Analysts said the Aimmune deal made sense given Nestle's position as the world's largest packaged food company.

"The anti-allergy food segment is something that Nestle was bound to be interested in given intolerance to certain products in packaged foods can have a serious impact on the health of the consumer," said Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux.

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields)
the crown netflix review

The first time many of us heard about Netflix's "The Crown," which premiered on Friday, was when its $100 million price tag generated headlines for being the most expensive series to date. "The Get Down" later bested it by about $20 million. But unlike the surreal hip-hop musical, "The Crown" used its money to bring the lives of royals to a relatable level.

That seems absurd to say, of course, when I'm describing an expensive drama about the royal family. They're still in Buckingham Palace, surrounded by expensive art and china, but that doesn't become a focus of the show. It's just dressing. It's impeccable dressing, because it doesn't draw your eye away from the actors.

On "The Crown," Claire Foy plays Queen Elizabeth II, England's current monarch, in her 20s. In many ways, she's naturally more lighthearted and relatable than one would imagine from the woman we see today in public. She's a princess, who is married to a dashing naval officer, Philip (played by former "Doctor Who" star Matt Smith), enraptured with her young children, and they're renovating their first home together. But still, there's the feeling that a tremendous burden, which some would call an honor, is soon to be placed on her shoulders.

Much of the first and second episode doesn't necessarily revolve around Elizabeth. It takes more than two episodes to even see Elizabeth in the titular crown. In fact, the first scene of the premiere episode isn't even of the future queen. It's the sight of King George coughing up blood. At the same time, an elderly Winston Churchill is returning to the role of prime minister. Both of these events are occurring amid a groundswell of support for new ideas and fresh perspectives about the role of government and the actual importance of the royal family in modern times.

the crown vanessa kirby margaret

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That's just one side of what Elizabeth will inherit as queen. She's also dealing with family obligations. She's one generation removed from the scandal of her uncle, Edward (Alex Jennings), abdicating the throne to marry an American divorcee, which then placed her father on the throne. Her sister, Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), is having an affair with a married man and head of palace operations. Not to mention, she shares the name of arguably Britain's most famous and beloved queen.

It's this dichotomy between the public and private Elizabeth that makes "The Crown" so binge-able. It would seem the odds are against her, so how does she preserve the dignity of the throne and yet still keep the family relevant to her modern-minded subjects?

Foy is a believable young Elizabeth. "3rd Rock from the Sun" star John Lithgow is absolutely transformed as Winston Churchill, complete with an almost crouched-over stature and a distinctive speaking style. And Smith plays a terribly nuanced portrayal of Philip, a man who will over and over again have to step back for his wife. And Kirby's Margaret hasn't made me more interested in how a period affair will end since "Downton Abbey's" Mary Crawley.

Fans of this kind of period drama will enjoy the design, the look at media before it fell into the hands of anyone who could tweet, and the British political maneuvering. Anglophiles will relish in the time the drama takes to unveil the story and the dynamics of the family. If you're not a member of those groups, then this isn't the show for you.

Watch the trailer below:

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Comedy Central is adding another news satire series to its roster, greenlighting Mideast Minute for worldwide distribution via the networks digital platform.

Created by writer, director and comedian Pardis Parker, who also stars, Mideast Minute is envisioned as a news show that tries to convince Middle Easterners that everythings OK in the Middle East. The series will satirize U.S. propaganda efforts in the Middle East, particularly the Congress-funded Alhurra network. Established in 2004 to promote a U.S. point of view in the region, Alhurra has been plagued throughout its run by major, often embarrassing mistakes and has largely failed in its mission.

Parkers short film The Dance won Best Comedy from the National Screen Institute of Canada among other accolades. His short Two Men, Two Cows, Two Guns was selected for NBC Universals short film screening in New York. Hes repped by attorneys Patti Felker and Brian Agboh.

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Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A court in northern Nigeria has freed five Muslim men accused of killing an elderly Christian woman for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed.

The court in the city of Kano discharged the five men on Thursday on the legal advice of the prosecution.

"The legal advice presented to the court, dated June 24, states that there is no case to answer as the suspects are all innocent and orders the court to discharge all the suspects," the judge said in his ruling.

The five men were accused, along with six others who are on the run, of killing 74-year-old Bridget Abahime on June 2 after she allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

The suspects had pleaded not guilty of the charge.

The victim, an ethnic Igbo trader from the southeast and wife of a pastor, was beaten to death, sparking outrage across the country with President Muhammadu Buhari calling the killing utterly condemnable.

Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim while the south is largely Christian and Kano city has been plagued by religious violence in the past.

In one notorious case in 1996 a trader, also an ethnic Igbo Christian, was beheaded by suspected Muslim youths who accused him of desecrating the Koran.

His severed head was hoisted on a spike and paraded around the city.
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria has signed agreements to add more than 500 megawatts of capacity to its national grid, the office of the vice president said on Thursday. Africa's most populous nation produces less than 4,000 megawatts (MW) but requires around 10 times that amount to guarantee power for its 180 million inhabitants. Chronic power shortages have hindered the country's development for decades and are one of the biggest constraints on investment and growth in Africa's largest economy, which is in recession for the first time in more than 20 years. The vice president's office said a number of agreements had been signed including ones with the World Bank and Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). "Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the signing ceremony described the agreements as significant, enabling the consistent additional generation of more than 500 MW of electricity to the national grid," said his spokesman Laolu Akande. The vice president said the agreements would open up new opportunities for investments in Nigeria's gas and power sectors. He suggested that the West African country could potentially attract investment into the power sector. Osinbajo's office said Nigerian gas supplier Seven Energy was investing around $500 million in the construction of a gas processing facility at the Uquo Field in the southern state of Akwa Ibom. And a Partial Risk Guarantee between the World Bank and NDPHC was signed to secure the supply of some 130 million cubic feet per day of gas to a power plant in the southern city of Calabar by Seven Energy. The agreement covers private debt in the event of a government's failure to meet specific obligations to a project. (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Robert De Niro made crystal clear which candidate he supports this presidential election at the VIP cocktail reception for the annual Friends of the Israel Defense Forces Western Regional Gala held Thursday at the Beverly Hilton. The event was chaired by producing giant and FIDF national board member Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl.

If youre supporting Trump, I want nothing to do with you, said De Niro, after refusing to pose for a photograph with Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Press did manage to snap a few shots before the kerfuffle.)

Are you voting for Trump? De Niro kept asking Schwarzenegger, channeling his inner Jake LaMotta as he rebuffed the former California governors efforts to explain before backing off toward the other side of the room.

While Schwarzenegger, a career Republican, publicly tweeted on Oct. 8 that he would NOT be voting for Trump, he still hasnt made clear for whom he will be voting. In the tweet, the actor-turned-politician wrote: For the first time since I became a citizen in 1983, I will not vote for the Republican candidate for President.

If youre not part of the solution, then youre part of the problem, said De Niro.

Larry King, one of the 1,200 guests who attended the sold-out, star-studded event, agreed.

(Not voting) is a vote for Trump, said King. But if thats the way they feel, I cant tell them to vote. You dont have to vote  but its a mistake. You should always pick one of the other.

King, who said he cast his first presidential vote for Adlai Stevenson II in 1952, ranks this election cycle as the absolute worst hes ever experienced in his nearly 83 years on the planet.

This is the worst  and Ive covered many of them, said King. I go back so far, I interviewed Eleanor Roosevelt when her son was mayor of Miami Beach. I was 22. I remember when I told Hillary [Clinton] that I knew Eleanor Roosevelt; she fainted. This is the worst election Ive ever seen. Donald [Trump] has run a terrible campaign. Theres a lot of racism and sexism. Hillary has been on the defensive back and forth. Neither one is well liked  Ive never seen anything like this. People are voting against  not for. You know what I think? Joe Biden would have won this election with 70 percent of the electorate. But you never know how the public is going to vote. Until they go into the booth and pull the lever, you never know. I was a big supporter of Harry Truman. I was only 15. He was supposed to lose  and he won.

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The beautiful part of the evening was that people on both sides of the argument came together to support Israel with mutual love and admiration for FIDF, a non-political, non-military organization that proudly supports programs for the well being of soldiers, families of fallen soldiers, and wounded veterans. The gala raised a record-breaking $38 million dollars to help Israeli soldiers and their families in need.

We are gratified to see that the FIDFs important mission  to provide well-being and educational programs for the heroic men and women of the IDF  continues to resonate with the Los Angeles community, said Saban, looking out at a ballroom filled with celebrities and high-profile luminaries, including Gerard Butler, Julie Bowen, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Guess? Inc. co-founders Maurice and Paul Marciano.

When I was governor, Israel was the first country that I visited on a trade mission, said Schwarzenegger. Everybody was up in arms because I didnt visit Mexico or Canada, the neighboring countries, first. Israel, to me, has always been a country I love. I enjoyed visiting it for the first time in 1978 and Ive been there many times since. Its just a great ally of America and I always try to be very supportive.

King, whos interviewed every Israeli prime minister with the exception of David Ben-Gurion, said, Haim Saban is one of the best men I know, and this is a very worthy cause. King continued, Ive always been a supporter of Israel. These people have their backs to the wall. I dont always support everything Israel does, but I sure support their defense forces. Nothing is black and white. Theyre living a defensive life.

Like so many others, King is hopeful that one day there will be peace in Israel and the Middle East.

Yitzhak Rabin was my favoritethere was no one like him, said King, referring to the optimistic period of the Oslo Peace Accords. Bill Clinton told me that he thought we had a deal. I hope eventually we have a two-party, two-state system. We cant go on like this.

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It's impossible to vote by text message, but a fake ad aimed at Clinton supporters on Twitter is urging them to save a trip to the polls and vote via cell phone.

The memes, which mimic the look of Clinton's real ads -- complete with "Paid for by Hillary for President 2016" at the bottom -- encourage voters to "Save time. Avoid the line" and vote early by texting "Hillary" to 59925. One fake ad was written entirely in Spanish. The ads have been tweeted from several alt-right accounts.

According to The Washington Post, the ads gained traction after the account @TheRickyVaughn tweeted the images with a pro-Clinton #ImWithHer hashtag. The account, which has since been suspended, frequently tweeted anti-Clinton conspiracy theories and appeared to be the source of a tweet sent by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller referring to Clinton by a vulgar name.

As the fake get-out-the-vote ads began to spread, some users took notice and questioned whether they were a violation of either federal law or Twitter policy.

Robert McNees, an associate professor of physics at Loyola University of Chicago, said he reached out to Twitter and initially received what appeared to be a form letter in response that found the tweets weren't against the social network's rules.

Twitter just informed me that attempting to disenfranchise voters is not a violation of their Terms of Service. @jack @Support pic.twitter.com/YXVdt8sHwA

-- Robert McNees (@mcnees)

November 2, 2016

But later, several hours later, a spokesman wrote back again, saying the problem had been fixed and that Twitter had started removing the images.

@mcnees @Support not sure how this got past us. Fixed (and thanks for reporting)

--jack (@jack)

November 2, 2016

Tech site Mashable said that when they tried sending a message to the number in the ads, a text response makes it clear the ad wasn't official.

"The ad you saw was not approved by iVisionMobile OR Hillary For America in any way," the text response said. "To opt-in to the real HFA list, text HFA to 47246. Reply STOP to cancel."

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The fake ads were quickly debunked, but they come as voting rights activists have expressed alarm over what they believe are systematic efforts by Donald Trump, the Republican Party and GOP supporters to suppress minority turnout.

The Democratic Party has filed lawsuit against the state Republican parties in Arizona, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, accusing them of attempts to intimidate voters, while a federal judge in North Carolina on Wednesday called purges from registration rolls are "insane."

Trump has encouraged his supporters to "watch" polling stations, ostensibly to prevent a "rigged election," and his call has been taken up by white nationalist groups who have made plans to intimidate voters in Philadelphia.

Gabrielle Levy covers politics for U.S. News & World Report. Follow her on Twitter (@gabbilevy) or email her at GLevy@usnews.com.
Photo credit: Holly Smyth, City of Hercules

From House Beautiful

You've heard it time and time again that San Francisco real estate is expensive - well, with the exception of this listing, that is. It's a historic single-family house that's on the market in Hercules, California for $1. Yes, you saw that correctly and, no, it shouldn't be followed by "thousand" or "million." But even so, no one wants to buy it.

Why? Well, back in 2010, the town of Hercules bought the house, known as Historic Home Number 54 and called "Queen Anne" for it's Victorian style, for a buck with plans to renovate and preserve it. Then they cut the home in half to move it to the city's corporation yard and get to work. However, they eventually decided they couldn't devote the money or resources needed to finish the project and put it back on the market.

Photo credit: Holly Smyth, City of Hercules

Today, whoever buys this home will have to move it off of the city's property and use their own money to restore it - which includes, you know, putting the two halves back together. On the list of repairs also includes a new roof, windows, electrical, paint, and plaster. "If we can preserve it, even if it's not in our own community, that would be the preferred option," Hercules Planning Director, Holly Smyth, told Realtor.

If no one buys the home, she says it will have to be demolished - which would be such a shame, because look how cute the home used to be as recently as in 2005.

Photo credit: Holly Smyth, City of Hercules

Fingers crossed someone snatches it up, then blogs about the experience so we can live vicariously through them.

[h/t Realtor]

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#NoDAPL protesters were met with riot police outside the North Dakota governors residence in Bismarck on Thursday, November 3.

Several dozen self-described water protectors, along with clergy and other allies, marched from the capitol building to the governors mansion Thursday night, demanding an end to the construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. While the event begins without incident, riot police show up, eventually arresting people engaged in prayer across the street from the main group.

In the nearly 45-minute video, both clergy and other attendees implore police to allow them to protest. The group disperses at the end after being threatened with arrest. Local police, including the Morton County Sheriffs Department, have come under fire for violent tactics against both protesters and journalists. President Barack Obama has said he will let the protests play out before making a decision. Credit: Facebook/johnnykdangers
Sample assays from the Clayton Valley claim block's returned a maximum value of 1670 ppm lithium with an average value of 621 ppm lithium over 77 samples

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 4, 2016 / Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-Venture: NRM / Frankfurt: N7R / OTCBB: NRVTF) ("Noram" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its wholly owned subsidiary Green Energy Resources ("Green Energy") has received permitting for 55 prospecting core holes with associated access on federal surface and mineral, under the management of the Bureau of Land Management - Tonopah Field Office (BLM), approximately ten kilometers (6 miles) northeast of Silver Peak, Esmeralda County, Nevada.

The work forms part of the Phase 1 exploration program at Clayton Valley North and results, will be incorporated into a resource estimate. Bradley C. Peek, MSc and Certified Professional Geologist staked the core holes in 2 areas. Area 1 encompasses 5 core holes adjacent to the Hades bore hole (Photo 1). Area 2 is on the Zeus and Zeus Extension claims and covers an area that measures approximately 2.5 miles (4.1 km) by 1.5 miles (2.4 km). Some 40 holes are to be drilled on the Zeus claims with another 5 holes on the border of the Zeus Extension claim group.

The 55 prospecting core holes will not require any pad or access road construction but a disturbance of 4.8 acres is estimated for overland use of 33,817 feet of access road (6 feet wide) and 55 core hole sites (10 feet by 10 feet). In accordance with applicable BLM and Nevada Division of Minerals (Division) regulations Green Energy submitted the exploration plan of operations to supplement the Notice of Intent to conduct exploration coring that upon implementation is designed to demonstrate the existence of a valuable deposit of lithium within the prospect area. Activities are anticipated to be completed within one month and include drilling, core logging, core splitting, core photography, core analysis, and core hole plugging. Following core hole plugging, incidental surface reclamation will begin as soon as weather permits.

"We are pleased to have permits in hand for the first phase of drilling and are now in the process of securing equipment and drill crews," said Mark Ireton, CEO and President. "We are progressing well and anticipate collaring our first exploration core hole in the late November 2016."

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Bradley C. Peek, MSc and Certified Professional Geologist, who is a Qualified Person with respect to Noram's Clayton Valley Lithium Project as defined under National Instrument 43-101.

About Noram Ventures Inc.

Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: NRM Frankfurt: N7R) is a Canadian based junior exploration company, with a goal of becoming a force in the Green Energy Revolution through the development of lithium and graphite deposits and becoming a low-cost supplier for the burgeoning lithium battery industry. The Company's primary business focus since formation has been the exploration of mineral projects that include lithium projects in the Clayton Valley in Nevada, the Hector Lode in San Bernardino county, California and the Jumbo graphite property in British Columbia. Noram's long term strategy is to build a multi-national lithium-graphite dominant industrial minerals company to produce and sell lithium and graphite into the markets of Europe, North America and Asia.

For further information, please visit www.noramventures.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

s/ "Mark Ireton"

President & Director

Direct: (604) 761-9994

This news release contains projections and forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. The following are important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements; the uncertainty of future profitability; and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Actual results and future events could differ materially from anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressed qualified in their entirety by this notice. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information should circumstance or management's estimates or opinions change.

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: Noram Ventures Inc.
(Editors note: Attention to language in the second paragraph that some readers may find offensive.) (Reuters) - A local North Carolina Republican headquarters was spray-painted with an anti-Donald Trump message early on Friday, the second time in a month that a party office in the state has been defaced. A vandal sprayed the door and walls of the Alamance County Republican Party headquarters in Burlington with the words "Fuck Trump" and painted over the word "Republican" on a sign at the office at about 2 a.m. local time, according to Chris Verdeck, assistant police chief in the city. No arrests have been made in the incident, which was caught on surveillance video footage, Verdeck said in a phone interview. The vandalism in Burlington, which is located about 20 miles east of Greensboro, occurred four days before the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. The contest between Republican candidate Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has been one of the most bitterly fought presidential campaigns in years. Police released a still image from the surveillance video of the vandal, who appeared to be a young man with a light complexion and dark hair wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt. The man appeared to have acted alone, Verdeck said. "This is deeply troubling to our Alamance County GOP members and volunteers, but even more so, this is troubling for our nation," Alamance County Republican Party Chairman Ben York said in a statement. "It is my hope that we can be an example to the world that this behavior is unacceptable and it will not deter us from the noble responsibility we have to live and vote in the freedom that has been given to us." Last month, the Orange County Republican Party's office in Hillsborough, which sits about 25 miles east of Burlington, was set on fire and a graffiti message left nearby said "leave town or else." Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trump's vice presidential running mate, called the Hillsborough incident "political terrorism." North Carolina is considered one of the battleground states in the election, with its likely outcome unknown, giving it the chance to play a decisive role in the Electoral College vote that ultimately decides the presidency. Democratic establishments have also been targeted in the run-up to the election, which has been distinguished by vitriol and sometimes violent acts hurled between Republicans and Democrats. Earlier this week, a historic black church in Greenville, Mississippi, was burned and spray-painted with "Vote Trump." Black churches in the U.S. South have long been a base of support for the Democratic Party. (Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Leslie Adler)
Since 1845, when Congress set an official date for presidential elections, November 4th has held a special role as a day when two-term Presidents get elected to the White House.

nov4presidents

Since then, 11 Presidents have been elected to serve two terms in office. Of those 11 Presidents, eight were able to serve two full terms in the White House, and of those eight Presidents, four were elected on a November 4th.

Link: List of presidential election dates

If youre curious, the four two-term Presidents elected to a first term on November 4th were Grover Cleveland, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Other Presidents elected on a November 4th were Calvin Coolidge (his first full term) in 1924 and James Buchanan in 1856.

This years presidential election takes place on November 8, 2016. Franklin Roosevelt is the only two-term President first elected on that date since 1845, but John Kennedy and George H.W. Bush were elected to single terms on a November 8th.

Also, the next election scheduled for a November 4th date is in the year 2036.

Here is a breakdown of the 11 Presidents elected to two terms since 1845, and how their terms fared.

Ulysses Grant (first elected Nov. 3, 1868). Grant served two full terms and tried unsuccessfully for a third term in 1880.

Grover Cleveland (first elected Nov. 4, 1884). Cleveland lost a re-election bid in 1888 in the Electoral College, despite taking the popular vote. He won a second term in 1892.

William McKinley (first elected Nov. 3, 1896). McKinley twice defeated William Jennings Bryan but was assassinated at the start of his second term in 1901.

Woodrow Wilson (first elected Nov. 5, 1912). Wilson served two full terms but was incapacitated at times during his second term after suffering a stroke.

Franklin Roosevelt (first elected Nov. 8, 1932). FDR is the only President to win four elections by popular vote and in the Electoral College. He died shortly after his final term started in 1945.

Dwight Eisenhower (first elected Nov. 4, 1952). Eisenhower served two full terms after a long, distinguished military career.

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Richard Nixon (first elected Nov. 5, 1968). Nixon easily won re-election in 1972 but his term was cut short by a resignation related to the Watergate affair.

Ronald Reagan (first elected Nov. 4, 1980). ). Reagan served two full terms after he defeated an incumbent elected President, Jimmy Carter.

Bill Clinton (first elected Nov. 3, 1992). Clinton served two full terms after he defeated an incumbent elected President, George H.W. Bush.

George W. Bush (first elected Nov. 7, 2000). Bush served two full terms, after defeating Al Gore in an election that needed a Supreme Court ruling to sort out contested results in Florida.

Barack Obama (first elected Nov. 4, 2008). Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and John McCain in the general election to become the first elected black President.

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President Obama wasnt too impressed when a crowd of Hillary Clinton supporters started to boo a pro-Donald Trump protester at their rally.

Hey! Listen up! I told you to be focused, and youre not focused right now! Obama chided the rowdy audience in Fayetteville, N.C. Listen to what Im saying. Hold up. Hold up! Hold up! Hold up! Everybody sit down, and be quiet for a second.

The commander in chief could not immediately quiet the crowd amid the apparent clash between the liberal audience and the demonstrator backing the Republican presidential candidate. But as the hubbub subsided, Obama called on the Democrats to exercise civility when confronted with people who hold different political points of view.

Youve got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate. Hes not doing nothing. You dont have to worry about him. This is what I mean about folks not being focused, Obama said.

A Donald Trump supporter interrupts President Obamas speech at Fayetteville State University, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

The quarrel in the crowd continued despite the presidents entreaties for cooler heads to prevail.

First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech. Second of all, it looks like maybe he mightve served in our military and we got to respect that. Third of all, he was elderly and we got to respect our elders. And fourth of all, dont boo, vote.

Many people in the audience shouted out vote before Obama finished the sentence.

Dont boo, vote has become a common refrain for Obama around major campaigns. He gave that message during an impassioned speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last July and at the University of Colorado in Boulder in September 2012 when he was running for reelection against Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Obamas speech in North Carolina is totally giving us chills, but in a good way

Somehow, this election is finally nearing its end. But there is still work to be done! And President Obama just visited North Carolina to campaign for Hillary Clinton, and, wow  he had so many amazing things to say. During his visit to North Carolina, Obama talked a Trump presidency and urged not just Democrats, but everyone, to really pay attention this election season. And if theres one person whose advice well definitely take into consideration this election, its Barack Obama.

See the speech for yourself!

All in all, it was an empowering and SUPER moving speech.

We dont win this election, potentially, if we dont win North Carolina.

Like, whoa. This was a big deal type of speech.

If you disrespect women before you are elected president, you will disrespect women when youre in office. Imagine what youll do when you actually have the power to violate the Constitution along those lines?

He explained,

I hate to put a little pressure on you, but the fate of the republic rests on your shoulders. The fate of the world is teetering.

On one hand, yeah, its a lot of pressure. But, hearing that, we feel more empowered than ever. Like, yes, we can do something to change the state of our country.

It may not change everything, and there are so many other ways (beyond voting!) that we can continue to make a difference. But we have a vote, so if we can, why not use it?!

The post Obamas speech in North Carolina is totally giving us chills, but in a good way appeared first on HelloGiggles.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie can pretty much kiss goodbye his aspirations to be named attorney general if Donald Trump is elected president  and he's even likely to face impeachment  after the a jury found two former Christie aides "guilty" on all counts in the Bridgegate scandal.

Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, his former top Port Authority official, were found guilty of conspiracy and fraud for the 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. The incident was thought to be political retribution against the Democratic mayor of nearby Fort Lee, NJ, for not supporting Christie in his bid for re-election.

This verdict simultaneously destroys both of the two best elements of Christie's political appeal or "brand," and it also flies in the face of a new anti-corruption message from his political ally, Donald Trump.





Remember when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was a national political rising star? He was the guy who was appealing enough to independents and even Democrats to get elected and re-elected as governor of a deep blue state. He was the man who spoke like a regular guy, despite being a well-respected legal expert and career prosecutor. He was the guy who put New Jersey first and partisanship second after Hurricane Sandy hit the state and he so warmly welcomed President Barack Obama when he surveyed the damage just days before Election Day.

All of that is destroyed now. The "law and order" aspect of his brand is gone for obvious reasons now. The "he puts New Jersey first" angle is gone, too, considering thousands of Jersey residents were screwed by an unnecessary and enraging traffic jam. And the "straight talking" image was ripped apart months ago when Christie didn't seem to have the best explanations for what happened.

Christie can't resurrect any of that now, and his only future employment will be in the private sector. That may seem harsh at a time when a string of scandals and accusations haven't apparently derailed our current presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But Clinton and Trump never had the law and order/straight talk/put the people first kind of brand that Christie brought to the table.

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Christie threw his support behind Donald Trump early  even as other Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan demonstrated a serious reluctance to get on the Trump train. That put Christie in line to possibly be Trump's vice president, or when that didn't pan out, at least attorney general.

That's definitely out of the question now.

Trump has recently struck a chord with his anti-corruption, "drain the swamp" message on the campaign trail. Christie's connection to something that reeks of old fashioned and nasty political corruption makes him toxic for Trump now.

Christie has one more year left in office but could face impeachment before that term is up. Several key members of the New Jersey legislature had already been looking into the option of impeachment before verdict was reached as some of the testimony in the trial seemed to suggest that Christie was aware of the order for the lane closures on the bridge. Christie has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of the plan.

If you weren't already discouraged by the nature of this 2016 presidential election, the Bridgegate verdict might have put you over the edge. Political corruption on both sides of the aisle remains at unacceptable levels.

A metaphorical swamp does, indeed, need some draining, but the voters are now left with one fewer person who seemed like he could drain it.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.





More From CNBC


Oprah Winfrey wants women to break gender barriers on a global scale.

I have a strong interest  and now background experience  in helping girls become who they were meant to be, says Winfrey, 62, one of PEOPLEs 25 Women Changing the World.

A longtime advocate of female education, Winfrey funds several organizations aimed at improving the quality of life for women and helping to boost their confidence. She backs Women for Women International, which supports the financial, educational, and interpersonal needs of women survivors of war, poverty and injustice, as well as Girl Effect, a movement working to end poverty in adolescent women.

Also supported by the Nike Foundation, Girl Effect aims to break the cycle of poverty by building confidence in young women, empowering them and providing access to education and services.  will spend 10 to 18 months just getting to know the village elders, the men who are in charge of what happens not just to the women, but also, obviously, the children, Winfrey tells PEOPLE. They will spend time sitting around, drinking tea, smoking the peace pipe, or whatever happens to be the communal expression for sharing in any particular environment.

They will spend time with those men and, eventually women, convincing the elders its important that your daughter go to school, she continues. You end up transforming lives because you first get the girls to see themselves differently. You get them to see the possibility for themselves. And then you get them to see that, Oh, I dont have to be married at 12. There can be a life for me if I can get myself educated but my father wont let me be educated. 

Winfrey, who believes Girl Effect successfully employs a non-traditional model for transforming the lives of adolescent girls, says shes learned from the organizations leaders the importance of working with young people between the ages of 9 and 19.

After a girls already had several children or been married off, its too hard, she says. The power of Girl Effect is they understand youve got to change the way the girl sees herself and the way her community sees her in order to bring about full empowerment. Thats why those conversations about women in society need to happen early so girls can reach their full potential.

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RELATED VIDEO: Jennifer Garner, Serena Williams, and Other Women Who Are Changing the World Share Words That Inspire Them

Girl Effect is just another example of Winfreys dedication to helping women get the education they deserve. The philanthropist also built a world-class school for girls in South Africa for grades 7 through 12 through the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Winfrey hopes the students who finish at The Academy will continue their educational paths and eventually transform their communities and countries.

I have the ultimate satisfaction, I have the ultimate reward that I did exactly what I wanted to do, says Winfrey. I wanted to change the lives of these girls at my school. I have been graced with living long enough to see them fulfill the potential that I saw in them when they were 11 and 12 years old.

This coming year, 2017, I will have 10 girls in the United States graduate, she adds of the success of her program. I have to actually attend 10 graduations of girls graduating from some of the best schools in the United States  one of them now left Spelman and is at Oxford. I have watched them as little girls, literally, blossom into these flourishing young women that are just so dynamic. Theyre going to change what happens in their country and in the world.




The Afghan woman immortalised on a National Geographic cover says she is "heartbroken" at news she will be deported from Pakistan to the war-torn homeland she first fled decades ago.

Sharbat Gula, whose blazing green eyes were captured in an image taken in a Pakistan refugee camp in the 1980s that became the magazine's most famous cover in history, spoke to AFP from a hospital bed in Peshawar, where she is being treated for Hepatitis C.

"Afghanistan is only my birthplace, but Pakistan was my homeland and I always considered it as my own country," she said.

"I had decided to live and die in Pakistan but they did the worst thing with me. It's not my fault that I born there (in Afghanistan). I am dejected. I have no other option but to leave."

Gula, who says she is now 45, was arrested last week and accused of living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers following a two-year investigation. She is one of thousands of refugees using fake ID cards to seek safe haven from the violence roiling their own country.

The illiterate mother-of-four pleaded guilty to the charges in court Friday, her lawyer Mubashar Nazar told AFP.

She was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment, after which she will be deported in a decision slammed by Amnesty International as a "grave injustice".

"She has already spent 11 days in jail," Nazar said, meaning she could be freed as early as Monday.

An Afghan consulate official said that a 110,000 Pakistani rupee ($1,050) fine also imposed on Gula has already been paid.

"We... will take her to Afghanistan in an honourable way on Monday," Abdul Hameed Jalili, counsellor for refugees at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, told AFP.

"For decades, she was known as the world's most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistan's status as a generous host," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.

"Now, by sending her back to a country she hasn't seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistan's cruel treatment of Afghan refugees."

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- 'Serious rights abuses' -

The 1985 National Geographic image of Gula, then aged 12, made her the face of Afghanistan's decades-long refugee crisis.

After a 17-year search, the photographer Steve McCurry tracked Gula down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters at the time.

Pakistani officials say she applied for the fraudulent ID card in Peshawar in 2014.

The photo attached to the application has the same piercing green eyes and sculpted face seen in McCurry's famous image, only lined by age and surrounded by a black hijab covering her hair completely.

Her children will also return with her, though Gula told AFP her husband and one of her daughters have both died of hepatitis C.

Gula said she first arrived in Pakistan an orphan, some four or five years after the Soviet invasion of 1979, one of millions of Afghans who have sought refuge over the border since.

But since July hundreds of thousands have returned to Afghanistan in a desperate exodus amid fears of a crackdown, as Pakistan's famed hospitality ran out.

Last month UNHCR said more than 350,000 Afghan refugees -- documented and undocumented -- had returned from Pakistan so far in 2016, adding it expects a further 450,000 to do so by the year's end.

They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis.

"By forcing Afghan refugees to return across the border into the arms of an increasingly deadly conflict, Pakistan ... is putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk of serious human rights abuses," the Amnesty statement said Friday.
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Palestinian government will protest against a delay in its application to join the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) at the body's annual conference next week, an official said Friday.

"Palestine applied for membership of Interpol more than a year ago, but the executive committee of Interpol rejected the Palestinian request for a vote and referred it to a committee of experts for examination," foreign ministry official Ammar Hijazi told AFP.

He added that "executive measures" had prevented the issue being on the agenda for Interpol's next annual meeting, to be held on the Indonesian island of Bali from November 7-10.

Hijazi said Palestinian officials would nevertheless attend the meeting to register their protest.

"There is no plan to vote on the Palestinian request at the next meeting, but the diplomatic battle ahead is to expose what the Executive Committee did to postpone a decision," he said, adding that the Palestinian Authority was seeking to enlist support for its bid.

Interpol confirmed it had received "several" requests from member countries to discuss Palestine's membership at the annual conference.

"However, under Interpol's rules it is the Executive Committee which sets the agenda," a statement said.

The committee will meet on Saturday to finalise the agenda, it added.

The Lyon-based Interpol currently has 190 member countries, enabling police across the globe to share information.

The State of Palestine gained observer status at the United Nations in 2012 and since then has joined 54 international organisations and agreements, according to Hijazi.

Among them are the International Criminal Court and the United Nations heritage body UNESCO.

Israel has opposed such moves, delaying payments of taxes to the Palestinians after their 2015 ICC application.

The Israeli foreign ministry declined formal comment, but an official confirmed it was opposing the bid.

"We think this is not the right move," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
CHARLESTON -- The English Department at Eastern Illinois University is hosting the second Nancy Hennings Memorial Poetry Reading of the academic year on at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11. The reading will take place at Bobs Bookstore on the Charleston Square, 601 Monroe St.

The featured poet is Jordan Zandi, author of "Solarium" (Sarabande Books), which was chosen by Henri Cole as the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize. The New Yorker named it one of the 12 best poetry-related books of 2015, calling it, "A first book made eventful by the weirdness and clarity of Zandi's mind."

He holds an M.F.A. in poetry from Boston University, where he was an Elizabeth Leonard Fellow and a Robert Pinsky Global Fellow to Bolivia, and his poems have appeared in The New Republic, Little Star, and Verse Daily, among others.

The second reader is Charleston resident Marjorie Hanft. She taught psychology at EIU for 27 years. Prior to this, she worked in the field of counseling, primarily in university counseling and substance disorder treatment settings. In addition to a graduate counseling degree, she holds the AM in English from Brown University's graduate writing program.

She also earned a BA from Beloit College, where she majored in English Literature and Composition. She has taught college English and creative writing courses and translated ancient Greek poetry.

Trevor Fischer, the third reader, is a current student in the English MA program at Eastern Illinois University. Hes a writer of literary short fiction and creative nonfiction.

The readings are made possible by an endowed fund established to honor Nancy Hennings, poet and longtime supporter of the arts in Coles County. The readings are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Daiva Markelis at dmmarkelis@eiu.edu or at 217-549-8352.
Sting will re-open Paris' Bataclan concert hall on November 12, a day before the anniversary of the jihadist attacks that left 90 people dead there, the British rock star said Friday.

The former frontman of The Police said in a statement on his website: "In re-opening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile.

"First, to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents.

"In doing so we hope to respect the memory as well as the life affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them."

All revenues from the show will be donated to two charities working with victims of the Paris attacks, the statement added.

The Bataclan was one of several Paris locations targeted on the night of November 13, 2015 when Islamic State gunmen suicide bombers also attacked bars, restaurants and the national stadium, killing a total of 130 people.
Paris (AFP) - Hundreds of French police cleared a huge migrant camp in northeast Paris on Friday in a fresh sign of the government's determination to take refugees off the streets and into shelters.

The evacuation of 3,800 people from the Stalingrad area of the city came less than two weeks after the demolition of the notorious "Jungle" camp in the northern port city of Calais.

Starting at dawn, police arrived to wake people sleeping in tents or on mattresses under an overhead metro line, 15 minutes' walk from Gare du Nord railway station.

The area around Stalingrad, a gritty multi-ethnic part of the capital, is a magnet for migrants and police have repeatedly cleared camps there, only for them to spring back up days later.

But six months before elections, Socialist President Francois Hollande has said he is determined to take refugees off the streets and that France needs to offer a better welcome.

"We've got to grips with this issue. Their conditions were disgraceful, unbearable," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters on Friday.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said there was now "no humanitarian problem in Calais and there isn't one either in Paris."

While some activists welcome the fresh political will to tackle a long-standing problem, they stress that France has been slow to react to a crisis that has grown in intensity over the last two years.

It has lagged behind other countries, Germany in particular, in providing appropriate lodgings for refugees to seek safety.

"Our worry is always the same: that the facilities in the shelters are absolutely not the same standard," local activist Valerie Osouf told AFP, criticising the dirty and costly hotel rooms being used in some cases.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced the creation of the city's first refugee transit camp, which will have initial capacity for 400 men. It is set to open this month in a disused railway yard in the north of the capital.

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- Cheering the buses -

In Stalingrad, the arrival of the first bus before dawn on Friday was greeted with cheers from a crowd of hundreds of Afghans who had gathered, bags packed, to take it.

"I don't know where we are going," said 28-year-old Khalid. "The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, it's good to leave."

Most of the people in the camp, which included hundreds of women and children, were from war-wracked Afghanistan and Sudan or the repressive African state of Eritrea.

The clearance, which finished around lunchtime when the last bus left, came after authorities dismantled Calais' Jungle camp and dispersed its 7,000 inhabitants around the country.

The squalid settlement, home to up to 10,000 at its height, had served for years as a jumping-off point for migrants attempting to stow away on trucks and trains crossing the Channel to Britain.

The last shelters and shacks were torn down last week, which coincided with an increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the capital.

- Asylum requests seen rising -

Plans to house migrants in public buildings across the country, including in rural areas, has created unease and resistance from some local mayors.

Many migrants, particularly those bussed to far-flung locations, have simply left and returned to Paris or gone back to the north coast to resume their efforts to slip into Britain, activists say.

Europe is facing its biggest migrant crisis since World War II. More than 1.5 million people have crossed the Mediterranean since 2014 to escape wars or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

France has welcomed a fraction of the number of asylum seekers who have headed to Germany, which registered 890,000 refugees last year.

France received 73,500 new requests in 2015, up 24 percent, according to interior ministry figures.

Authorities have forecast 100,000 new requests this year.
By Nina Chestney and Valerie Volcovici LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A landmark global accord to combat climate change officially entered into force on Friday, putting pressure on countries to start executing plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming. The 2015 Paris Agreement was agreed last December by almost 200 countries and has been described as the most complex global treaty since the Marrakesh (trade) Agreement, signed in 1994. The Paris accord passed a threshold on Oct. 5 of 55 nations accounting for more than 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, allowing it to come into force 30 days later. Ratification was swift compared to other international treaties, showing strong international support, but around 100 countries have yet to ratify it. "This is a moment to celebrate. It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead," United Nations' climate chief Patricia Espinosa said in a statement. "In a short time  and certainly in the next 15 years  we need to see unprecedented reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and unequalled efforts to build societies that can resist rising climate impacts," she said. The Paris Agreement seeks to wean the world economy off fossil fuels in the second half of the century, limiting the rise in average world temperatures to "well below" 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times. It also notes an ambition to limiting temperature rise even further to 1.5 degrees. The pact kicked off a rolling start in the Pacific region on Thursday, home to low-lying islands states which are in danger of rising sea levels. On the same day, the annual report of U.N. Environment analyzed countries' current pledges for emission cuts and said they were not sufficient. Even if emission-cutting pledges under the Paris agreement are fully implemented, predicted 2030 emissions could put the world on track for a temperature rise of 2.9 to 3.4 degrees Celsius this century, the report said. The latest round of U.N. climate talks begin on Monday in Marrakesh, Morocco, where representatives from countries will try to find ways to implement the agreement and work out the rules. Environmental campaign groups, as well as some businesses, investors and academics said the meeting in Marrakesh must keep up the spirit of international support for climate action. "Even with the commitments made in Paris and encouraging action on the ground, we will not meet our aspiration of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees unless we move faster and at the scale that is needed," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said. "As the world heads into (the meeting) in Marrakesh, we must regain the sense of urgency we felt a year ago," he said. (Editing by Jason Neely)
Paris Hilton and the Duchess of Cambridge both wearing Self-Portrait Paris Hilton is a hotel heiress and the Duchess of Cambridge is married to a prince and the mother of heirs of an actual throne, yet both women chose to wear a $640 gown for a black-tie occasion. From Self-Portrait, the cult cool-girl brand thats worn by everyone from Rachel McAdams to Michelle Obama, the pleated, crocheted maxi dress features a high neckline and a skirt with a high side slit. Hilton wore it first to an amfAR gala in Los Angeles. She styled the outfit with a crystal leaf headband, diamond earrings, and white pumps. Then, just a week later, Kate Middleton showed up to the premiere of A Street Cat Named Bob in London wearing the same thing. She accessorized simply with pearl earrings, a poppy pin, burgundy Mulberry clutch, and matching suede pumps from Gianvito Rossi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie will never live down The Simple Life. The former BFFs are largely held responsible for igniting the worst trends of the aughts: Von Dutch trucker hats, Juicy Couture tracksuits, too-short denim skirts, and multicolored hair extensions. And while Richie has redeemed herself with a successful fashion line and trendy makeover in the intervening years, Hilton has never reached fashion icon status again. Yet, despite her reputation, it seems that the heiress has been secretly dictating whats hot all along.

Just look at the evidence from this week alone: On Wednesday, the Duchess of Cambridge attended the premiere of A Street Cat Named Bob wearing a white Self-Portrait gown. Who wore it first? Paris, of course. Then theres Kendall Jenners $9,000 supermini dress, custom-designed for her birthday, based on a look Hilton wore to celebrate her own 21st. Lastly, at the CMA Awards, one of Carrie Underwoods many outfit changes was a replica of one worn by Paris months before. And thats just in the past seven days. Click through for even more examples over the past few years.

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NEW YORK  "This fucking day," Patton Oswalt said tonight at the beginning of his hour-long set for the New York Comedy Festival. And all of us in the audience knew what he meant.

Just half a year after the untimely death of his wife, Michelle McNamara, Oswalt has returned to the stage, and he brought all of the turmoil and sorrow that has accompanied these last few months. There, somehow, he spun it into an extraordinary standup show.

Though he performed a few casual sets in small comedy clubs in September and a spot at Festival Supreme this past weekend, Oswalt played his first big set in Manhattan at the Beacon Theater.

SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift has a cold, still soars at first and only 2016 show

He gave a frank, honest and uproarious show to a packed crowd all obviously cheering for him as much as for his jokes.

.@pattonoswalt received a standing ovation before he even began. pic.twitter.com/pa4drJ8zHX  Peter Allen Clark (@peterallenclark) November 3, 2016

As he was introduced by opener Myq Kaplan, the crowd immediately leapt to its feet and greeted the movie/television/standup star with a standing ovation.

And Oswalt launched into his act like nothing monumentally upsetting had happened in his life in the past year.

The beginning of his set felt extremely topical, which added to its achievement. He talked about last night's World Series Game 7. He talked about taking his daughter trick-or-treating. And, yes, of course, he talked about this miserable election.

He even did some crowd work, asking about what people would do for the holidays and kindly skipping people who led seemingly happy lives in search of a crowd member who could inspire some real comic gold.

"I need someone in fucking agony," he said, then gladly found a high school English teacher.

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Then, abruptly, he pointed out the elephant that sat in Beacon Theater.

"Six months ago, my wife died," he said.

For the next half hour, Oswalt spoke with stark honesty about how grief had affected him personally and how he worried it is affecting his 7-year old daughter. And truthfully, masterfully, he translated the time dealing with that loss into genuinely great standup. Like, really, great standup.

I've seen all of Oswalt specials and I've always considered him to be immensely funny, but this performance was on another level. I'm sure some of it came from a place of knowing about his loss in detail and reading most everything written about it in the past couple months, including his deeply affecting Facebook post on his loss.

But it definitely didn't feel like I or anyone else in the crowd was laughing out of pity. It was just really good comedy. There hasn't been a whole lot of time since the tragedy, but he turned it into really good, heart-rending stuff.

I found myself tearing up while laughing and not knowing if they were from the jokes or from sadness. The people who I heard sniffle around me probably didn't know either.

He talked about how his daughter's schoolmates didn't have a filter about her loss. He talked about trying to visit the grave for the first time and entering what sounded like a cemetery nightmare. He talked about how strangers approached him and his daughter to express condolences at the worst possible time.

And he made it funny. Either as a way to continue performing, or as a way to find some way to deal with the grief, or probably both, he made it funny. He made a great hour-long set out of a situation which continues to devastate him.

And we, the crowd, wanted to be there for him. At least it seemed like it to me.

We were a support group for one man, or we wanted to be one. It was an odd feeling. There's a lot of pathos and vanity to find there; it can be seen as wanting to pat someone on the back until the bad feelings go away. But there's also truly wanting one person, one stranger, to know he is appreciated and his grief is respected.

And another huge standing o for an incredible, honest, tear-jerking, Patton Oswalt set. pic.twitter.com/3AjxY1hzsy  Peter Allen Clark (@peterallenclark) November 4, 2016

When he lurched into talking about his wife's death, in what he admitted was a sloppy transition, the entirety of the Beacon Theater silenced. We gave him all the sympathy that we could bring and more.

At times, when he discussed the length of his ensuing "numb slog," some in the audience applauded robustly. Not because he made a great joke about it, but, presumably, because they had been there themselves.

Needless to say, it was an extremely emotional set. How could it not be? It brought to mind Tig Notaro's 2012 "Live" standup special in which she immediately admitted to the crowd she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Oswalt's show did not have the stunned immediacy of Notaro's, but it had that bare, bewildered essence of a person not knowing how to handle what life threw at them and wanting to discuss it with a willing group of listeners.

Just last week, he told The New York Times that he'll "never be 100 percent again." That sort of candor was draped over the set tonight, but in such a way where he looked the audience in the eye and made it clearly known. There was no way that he could go back into doing standup without addressing his tragedy. He has been very upfront about it in the aftermath, and he didn't want to shy away from it tonight.

Instead, he shared it with this audience. He shared both the actual parts that make you want to weep for all of humanity and the ridiculous, morbid hilarity that can be found in the cruelest of jokes.

And, in the end, for all the tears and all the feelings, I laughed a whole hell of a lot.
We have reached the final stretch of the Q3 earnings season with results from 364 S&P 500 members that combined account for more than 78% of the indexs total market capitalization.

Q3 Reflects Improving Trends in Growth

Total earnings for these companies are up 1.6% from the same period last year on 1.6% higher revenues, with 72.3% positive earnings surprises and 54.7% beating revenue estimates. (Data from the Earnings Outlook dated Nov 2, 2016).

A 1.6% quarterly earnings growth may look quite insignificant but whats encouraging is that the figure is a considerable improvement over the ones observed over the previous 5 quarters. Should the positive trend continue throughout the quarter, it will represent the first positive growth for the S&P 500 index after 5 quarters of back-to-back declines.

Energy: Another Quarter of Weak Results

Expectedly, the Oils/Energy sector has been a big drag on the aggregate growth picture. For the 75% sector components on the S&P 500 index that have reported Q3 results  including behemoths like Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM and Chevron Corp. CVX  total earnings are down 61.8% on 12.8% lower revenues.

However, despite being the largest decliner among major sectors, an overwhelming 70.4% Oils/Energy companies have beaten earnings estimates  though undoubtedly aided by low expectations.

Oil & Gas Performance in Q3

Unlike the last quarter, in which oil advanced more than 26% sequentially to notch up the best quarterly percentage gain in seven years, the Jun-Sep 2016 period turned out to be a rather flat one with crude barely advancing. In fact, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures during the third quarter hovered around the $45 per barrel mark, flat with the second quarter and down from $46.50 in the same period last year.

On the other hand, natural gas popped through the $3 barrier for the first time in more than a year during the third quarter. Successive below-average builds with strong power sector consumption have been cutting into the year-over-year storage surplus. In fact, natural gas prices have doubled since hitting 17-year lows of around $1.6 per MMBtu in the first quarter.

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Overall, the earnings picture for energy stocks look rather uncertain.

Stocks to Watch for Earnings on Nov 7

Lets see whats in store for four such companies expected to come up with third-quarter numbers on Monday, Nov 7. Lets take a look at how things are shaping up at their end.

An independent exploration and production company with focus on oil-weighted assets in the Williston Basin, Oasis Petroleum Inc. OAS is expected to report third-quarter 2016 results after the closing bell.

In the preceding three-month period, the Houston, TX-based oil and natural gas finder beat earnings estimates, helped by operating efficiency and cost reduction.

Coming to earnings surprise history, the company has a good record: it beaten/met estimates in three of the last four quarters, resulting in an average positive surprise of 6.67%.

But an earnings beat is uncertain for Oasis Petroleum this time around. This is because, as per our proven model, a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to beat earnings. Please check our Earnings ESP Filter that enables you to find stocks that are expected to come out with earnings surprises.

Simultaneously, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

For the quarter to be reported, Oasis Petroleum has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, while it carries a Zacks Rank #3. While a Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP, the companys ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

OASIS PETROLEUM Price and EPS Surprise

OASIS PETROLEUM Price and EPS Surprise | OASIS PETROLEUM Quote

Kosmos Energy Ltd. KOS is another upstream energy player to report third-quarter results Monday  this time before the market open.

Headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, Kosmos Energy is a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company focusing on frontier and emerging areas along the Atlantic Margin.

Kosmos Energys active exploration program, strong balance sheet and attractive hedge position helped it top earnings estimates in the last two quarters. With an Earnings ESP of +12.50% and Zacks Rank #3, our proven model shows that an earnings beat is likely for Kosmos Energy in the to-be-reported quarter as well.

KOSMOS ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise

KOSMOS ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise | KOSMOS ENERGY Quote

Then we have energy partnership Viper Energy Partners L.P. VNOM coming out with third-quarter numbers on Nov 7 post market close.

Midland, TX-based Viper Energy Partners owns mineral interests across oil and gas properties primarily in the Permian Basin.

Regarding earnings surprise history, the partnership can boast of a good track record: its beaten/met estimates in each of the last four quarters at an average rate of +19.79%.

However, our model indicates that Viper Energy Partners is unlikely to beat on earnings this time. This is because the partnership has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3.

VIPER ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise

VIPER ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise | VIPER ENERGY Quote

Lastly, there is SemGroup Corp. SEMG releasing quarterly numbers on Monday morning. Founded in 2007, the Tulsa, OK-based company is a midstream services provider across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Coming to earnings surprise history, SemGroup has a mixed track record: its outperformed estimates in two of the last four quarters at an average rate of +59.15%.

We expect the midstream operator to beat earnings expectations in the third quarter as our proven model shows that it has the right combination the two key components  a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +84.62%.

SEMGROUP CORP-A Price and EPS Surprise

SEMGROUP CORP-A Price and EPS Surprise | SEMGROUP CORP-A Quote

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In 1958 Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving (Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton, respectively) drove from rural Central Point, Va., where they lived, to Washington, D.C., to marry.

Those vows in effect banished them from their home state, which for generations had outlawed what was known then as miscegenation  Mildred was black and Richard white.

Then, in 1963, Mildred did something that to her was commonsensical but to most anyone else would seem chimerical: She wrote to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. What resulted was the 1967 Supreme Court decision that struck down any such law as odious to a free people.

Loving leads us to this triumph quietly, keeping a tight focus on this modest, soft-spoken couple. But it owes most of its power to Negga: Mildreds heart and soul never stop drawing her back to Virginia, not just to family but to the land (the fields are beautifully photographed).

Negga makes us feel that Mildred might ultimately have moved mountains.

Loving hits theaters in limited release on Nov. 4.




MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday his war on drugs had cut back the supply to "very low" levels and thanked China for supporting his crackdown, but swore repeatedly at ally the United States for criticizing it. Duterte said his bloody campaign against drugs had successfully reduced the narcotics flow, but conceded there were signs that criminals had now turned to kidnapping, another problem he planned to tackle. "There is a very low supply of drugs now. But, there is a shift to kidnapping by these idiots," he said during a televised speech. "This is a new game, so be careful. Give me time to talk to God." The crime-busting former mayor of the once lawless Davao City said last week he had spoken to God and promised him he would no longer use bad language. But his vow has not held long. On Friday, he got angry again at former colonial power Washington for its concerns about alleged summary killings and contrasted its stance with that of China, which has funded a huge drugs rehabilitation center. "Now who helped? China," he said. "America, what did they say? 'Duterte, stop the extrajudicial killings. We hold you responsible'," he said. "I said: 'You can go to hell. You're all shit. You look at us Filipinos like dogs... You're all really sons of bitches because you violated our dignity.'" As a provincial outsider in May's presidential election, Duterte used his brashness and profanity to enhance his public appeal. Dubbed "the punisher" and "Duterte Harry", he was elected by a big margin. That was aided by the promise of a drugs war, which has killed over 2,300 people in four months. Duterte on Friday homed in on Human Rights Watch, which he said was attacking him to justify a $100 million, 10-year grant philanthropist George Soros promised it six years ago. "This Human Rights Watch of New York, that belongs to Soros. Soros was the financier. That's him. It's his grant," he said. "They have funding money. They will really attack to justify. They chose me... they're pounding on me. That is fine, editorials every day. I can swallow that." Duterte's relentless assaults on Washington have baffled the country's biggest ally, but do not appear to have resonated among Filipinos and the local business community, which has expressed concern. A recent opinion poll of 1,200 Filipinos showed they had far greater trust in the United States than they did in China, which Duterte has been praising and courting strongly. Duterte invited his countrymen to protest if they disagreed with him. "If you think America will be good for you, if you want to be a (U.S.) territory ... if it is to your personal interest, go ahead and join the demonstration," he said. "And maybe you can convince me to leave the presidency. But at least I leave without being treated like a pig by the Americans." (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Photographer Alan Dyer shot this impressive footage of the Southern Hemisphere sky in Coonabarabran, Australia over a four-night period. The video demonstrates how the sky moves down under, in directions opposite to what Northern Hemisphere residents are accustomed to. The Stars still rise in the east and set in the west, but they move at an angle to the left and set at an angle to the right. Credit: YouTube/AmazingSky
DECATUR -- Millikin University presents the 14th annual Literary Festival and High School Writing Contest on Nov. 11-12.

The 2016 Literary Festival is open to high school and college students and the general public. The festival includes workshops, readings and sessions with featured writers. The event gives students the opportunity to work directly with professional writers and receive feedback.

The 2016 Literary Festival will begin on Friday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. in the President's Dining Room in Richards Treat University Center, featuring a prose reading from guest writer Geoff Herbach.

The festival will continue on Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m.  6 p.m., with workshops and readings in Shilling Hall, Rooms 315 and 316, and the President's Dining Room. Poetry and fiction workshops along with lectures on poetry craft will be held on Nov 12.

The Literary Festival will feature a High School Writing Contest where students will have the opportunity to win scholarships to Millikin University. All entries will be reviewed by Millikin University English faculty and the annual Literary Festival Team.

This year's Literary Festival featured writers are Geoff Herbach and Sandra Marchetti.

Herbach is the author of the award-winning "Stupid Fast YA" series as well as "Fat Boy vs. the Cheerleaders." His books have been given the 2011 Cybils Award for best YA novel, the Minnesota Book Award, selected for the Junior Library Guild, listed among the year's best by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association and many state library associations.

In the past, he wrote the literary novel, "The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg," produced radio comedy shows and toured rock clubs. Herbach teaches creative writing at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn.

Marchetti is the author of "Confluence," a debut full-length collection of poetry from Sundress Publications (2015). She is also the author of four chapbooks of poetry and lyric essays, including the forthcoming "Sight Lines" (Speaking of Marvels Press, 2016) and "Heart Radicals" (ELJ Publications, 2016) as well as "A Detail in the Landscape" (Eating Dog Press, 2014) and "The Canopy." Marchetti's poetry appears widely in Subtropics, Ecotone, Green Mountains Review, Word Riot, Blackbird, Southwest Review and elsewhere.

Her essays can be found at The Rumpus, Words Without Borders, Mid-American Review and in other venues. Marchetti is currently a lecturer in interdisciplinary studies at Aurora University, outside of Chicago.

Millikin faculty and staff members Dr. Stephen Frech, professor of English, Dr. Randy Brooks, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Carmelia Braniger, associate professor of English and Carmen Aravena, director of international recruitment, will present their writings at the festival.

For more information, contact Dr. Stephen Frech at 217-362-6473 or by e-mail at sfrech@millikin.edu. For further information on the Millikin Literary Festival and High School Writing Contest, visit millikin.edu/literaryfestival.
By Laila Kearney

(Reuters) - A Pennsylvania police chief, who angered some of his department's rank-and-file members by speaking out in uniform at the Democratic National Convention in support of criminal justice reforms, announced his resignation on Friday.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay said he would step down on Tuesday, weeks after the union representing his department's active and retired officers held a vote of "no confidence" in him.

Mayor Bill Peduto appointed McLay in September 2014 to head the Pittsburgh police force and work on improving relations between the department and the city's many minority residents.

"At this point, I earnestly believe that I have accomplished all that I am able to do," McLay said in a statement. "Accordingly, I have decided to step aside to pursue other options."

In speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in late July, McLay called for reforms of the criminal justice system to bring about greater fairness in policing across the country.

"Without question, the criminal justice system has had a disparate impact on our communities of color," McLay said in his speech. "We can respect and support our police officers while at the same time pushing for these important criminal justice reforms."

Pittsburgh is one of many big U.S. cities, including New York and Chicago, that have instituted law enforcement reforms in recent years after a series of high-profile police killings of black men, many of whom were unarmed.

The speech riled some of his department's officers and prompted the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board to release a special report that concluded that McLay had acted improperly, especially by appearing at the convention in uniform.

At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, in July and also appearing in uniform, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke denounced the Black Lives Matter movement in an address and praised Donald Trump's stance on law and order.

Story continues

In September, the union representing the Pittsburgh's 900 police officers and 900 retired officers cast a majority "no confidence" vote on McLay's ability to lead the department.

McLay said shortly after the vote that the union's disapproval was the natural outcome of officers pushing back against reforms he had put into place.

The vote reflected various concerns about McLay's leadership and was not solely linked to his convention appearance, said James Glick, vice president of the Pittsburgh police union.

The union wished the best for McLay and supported the appointment of Scott Schubert, who will serve as acting chief during the search for a permanent replacement, Glick said.

(Editing by Frank McGurty and Tom Brown)
Wroclaw (Poland) (AFP) - The play is over, the curtain falls, then rises again to reveal the actors standing with their mouths taped shut at the Polski Theatre in Poland's western city of Wroclaw.

It is their latest protest against the venerated theatre's new executive director, actor Cezary Morawski, whom they claim got his job thanks to the rightwing government.

His response? Kill the lights.

Yet only a few days earlier he told AFP he was tolerant of such protests: "Democracy exists so that everyone can express their opinion."

Though politically independent, Morawski was backed by regional and national authorities to take over the job on September 1 at what is one of Poland's main theatres.

His predecessor, Krzysztof Mieszkowski, who is an avowed opponent of conservative Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, had championed a different candidate.

The protesting actors, who claim Morawski is incompetent and that his selection had been predetermined, have managed to convince prosecutors to open a probe.

The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski and came to power a year ago, claims to be in favour of pluralism and cultural freedom.

But it has shown a preference for promoting cultural endeavours with a nationalist bent they insist help reinforce a sense of community by extolling Polish history.

The feud at Polski made headlines after Polish stage director Krystian Lupa, a theatrical heavy hitter in Europe, voiced scathing criticism of Morawski.

- Religious, patriotic values -

Last month, around 500 people took part in a Warsaw protest that was organised by Polski actors under the banner, "We won't let you take over the arts".

Wroclaw mayor Rafal Dutkiewicz appears keen for emotions to cool in a year when his city is both a European Capital of Culture and host of the Theatre Olympics.

"Theatre can very well address politics, but politics should not interfere with theatre," he told AFP.

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The Polski conflict is far from the only sticking point between Poland's artistic community and the political leadership.

The two groups have also butted heads over plays, with the political side often arguing in defence of religious and patriotic values.

One PiS lawmaker, Anna Sobecka, contacted prosecutors in the northern city of Bydgoszcz over the "Our Violence, Your Violence" play staged in the city by Croatian director Oliver Frljic.

In an open letter last month she slammed it for containing "pornography and blasphemy", saying she was shocked by scenes in which "a naked Muslim pulls a Polish flag out of her private parts" and "Christ rapes a young Arab girl".

In the nearby city of Gdansk, there are plans afoot for the new World War II museum -- due to open in 2017 -- to be merged with another museum that has yet to be built.

Historian Pawel Machcewicz, who is the war museum's director, claims the reason for the machinations is to have a pretext for firing him before his contract ends in 2019.

Machcewicz is a former advisor to liberal ex-premier Donald Tusk, who became EU president in 2014 and whom PiS leader Kaczynski sees as his arch-rival.

- 'New Poles' -

Already fired in July was Pawel Potoroczyn, the director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a national body tasked with promoting Polish culture abroad.

Potoroczyn, whose term was supposed to end in December 2017, told AFP that one possible reason for his dismissal was that the government wants to promote a policy of "refusing to bow down" -- in other words a policy of national pride.

The Culture Ministry did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the points of contention.

Henryk Wozniakowski, the liberal Catholic head of Poland's Znak publishing house, believes the PiS is trying to impose its vision on culture.

"The PiS follows a philosophy of 'politics first'. For them there are no stand-alone cultural values," he told AFP.

"Theatres with individualistic visions that don't serve to build a national consciousness around the vision that the PiS has of the past, of community, of the role of the leader and of the enemy, are gradually being taken over."
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 4, 2016 / Portofino Resources Inc. (POR.V) ("Portofino", or the "Company") wishes to announce the resignation of Mr. Robert Coltura as a director of Portofino. The Company would like to thank Mr. Coltura for his time and service as a director and previous officer of the Company.

On Behalf of the Board,

"David G. Tafel"

Chief Executive Officer

Director

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.

For Further Information, Contact:

David Tafel

604-683-1991

This news release contains forward looking statements concerning future operations of Portofino Resources Inc. (the "Company"). All forward looking statements concerning the Company's future plans and operations, including management's assessment of the Company's project expectations or beliefs may be subject to certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual performance and exploration and financial results may differ materially from any estimates or projections.

Such statements include, among others: possible variations in mineralization, grade or recovery rates; actual results of current exploration activities; actual results of reclamation activities; conclusions of future economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents and other risks of the mining industry; delays and other risks related to construction activities and operations; timing and receipt of regulatory approvals of operations; the ability of the Company and other relevant parties to satisfy regulatory requirements; the availability of financing for proposed transactions, programs and working capital requirements on reasonable terms; the ability of third party service providers to deliver services on reasonable terms and in a timely manner; market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social conditions. It is important to note that the information provided in this news release is preliminary in nature. There is no certainty that a potential mine will be realized. A mine production decision that is not based on a feasibility study demonstrating economic and technical viability does not provide adequate disclosure of the increased uncertainty and specific risks of failure associated with such a production decision.

SOURCE: Portofino Resources Inc.
President Barack Obama has plenty of worries as the leader of the free world  but his daughters love lives are not among them.

Obama spoke with Raleigh radio station WDCG about some of his favorite moments from his time in office  and revealed that recently his daughters, Malia, 18, and Sasha, 15, have started ditching family dinners.

Asked what hell do when his daughters start dating, the president answered, Oh, that happened. The truth is, Im pretty relaxed about it for two reasons. One is Michelle  shes such a great example of how she carries herself, her self-esteem, not depending on boys to validate how you look or not letting yourself be judged by anything other than your character and intelligence.

He added, Hopefully Ive been a good example in terms of how I show respect to my wife.

The second reason he doesnt worry about his girls is more straightforward: They have Secret Service.

Between the armed guards and his job title, Obama said he sympathizes with any potential suitors.

These poor young men come by the house, he said, laughing.

They have no idea, the DJ replied.

Oh, they have an idea, Obama joked. I describe for them.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f250922%2felectionfamilyfriends

Most friendships come and go, but Jacy Topps-Chotas held onto her best friend for 20 years. That is, until the Presidential election got underway.

It wasn't always easy to remain friends. Jacy, who identifies as a lesbian, began to feel estranged from that friend after she voted Republican for three straight elections. To Jacy, that was, "the political party that opposes my civil rights."

Still, the friends had so many memories in common: they had spent family vacations and Christmas holidays together, and Jacy even became a bridesmaid at her friend's wedding. As much as she disagreed with her, Jacy still firmly believed that people, "can have different political affiliations and still remain friends." This was her best friend, the repository for all her favorite gossip, a person she loved.

So Jacy ignored her friend's political beliefs until this election, when all of a sudden she just couldn't anymore.

SEE ALSO: The Trumpkin is back to make Halloween terrifying again

Jacy sent an email, and politely ended their twenty-year-friendship.

The 2016 election is different

Jacy, like many other voters this election, struggled to navigate a close relationship with someone from an opposing political party. Historically, American students were taught the same lesson: that politics, while important, shouldn't be be enough to divide us; that it's important to listen to and respect the other side, even when they disagree with you.

But presidential elections are notoriously divisive, and 2016 isn't a normal election. More than any other election in the last three decades of presidential history, this election has brought issues of identity, race, class and gender to the forefront, at the expense of policy-based coverage. Since the start of 2016, three major news programs  ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News  have dedicated just 32 minutes combined to actual policy news, the Tyndall Teport recently found.

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The election has degenerated into a longwinded comments section on a subreddit, where feverish conversations about whether someone is "attractive enough to be sexually assaulted" upvoted to the presidential debate stage.

American voters, a study recently published in the American Journal of Political Science recently concluded, aren't dispassionately discussing the nuances of charter schools and tax policy: they're angry about their country, and they're only getting angrier.

I think this dude just flipped to "decided voter" pic.twitter.com/h6WRytOhEs  Clay Skipper (@SkipperClay) October 10, 2016





Voters exclude those who make them feel excluded

Jacy wasn't alone when she decided that the best way to handle her divisive friendship was to end it. A Monmouth University poll conducted in September found that seven percent of people polled lost a friendship because of this election. In April, the typically conservative The Federalist published "If I lose friends over Trump, so be it," and just few months later, the typically progressive Mic published an article confidently titled, "I want a divided America."

While the roots for their anxiety may be different, both Clinton voters and Trump supporters seem to feel excluded from the other party's vision of America. Clinton supporters, who are increasingly Muslim and Latino, are deeply concerned that they may not have a place in Trump's nationalistic "real America," while Trump's "real Americans" feel like they don't belong in Hillary Clinton's "politically correct" America, either. To fight their feelings of exclusion, some choose to strengthen their group identity by then excluding those who disagree with them, on Facebook or in their real lives.

Though there have been many more "MSM" think pieces from Clinton supporters struggling to handle the Trump supporter in their lives, the feeling is mutual. On whisper.sh, an anonymous social media app where people can disclose their most private thoughts, some Trump voters worried that by revealing their inclinations, they would lose the people they cared about the most.

"I lied to my girlfriend. I told her I was voting for Sanders but I voted for Trump instead. If she finds out, she'll leave me," one user confided.

On r/The_Donald, user kittydoses admitted he had ended friendships with Clinton voters, and would actually prefer to be alone than try and engage with them:

"My friends talk about women rights and empowerment, Hillary supports so much oppression in the middle east it's unreal . . . I have realized that me and my friends do not have the same value for life, and realized I should just enjoy my time alone or with people that value integrity and life."

Image: david dermer/ap

Many Clinton voters struggle with the same very impulse, though from a different emotional vantage point. For them, Trump's campaign is grounded in xenophobia, sexism, and fear  and it's impossible to imagine how to include people whose politics are so exclusionary in their personal lives.

"Meredith P." knows this struggle intimately. She'll be voting for Clinton this election, but she grew up in Ohio to two Republican parents who have moved further to the right in recent years.

"They've always been proud Americans, but in the last several years their culture seems to have shifted. It's aggressive," Meredith said. "Flags and crosses on display . . . I'm the kid who moved to New York City and immediately got labeled a 'pretentious liberal.' My family doesn't seem to have much experience conversing with people who don't share their views, so it's been difficult for us. Shouting matches."

Though she said loves her parents, she often struggles to navigate her familial relationships, and wonders how her family will remain intact.

"My parents would describe themselves as passionately patriotic, but they self-identify with their far-right politics so much that they consider my left-leaning international worldview a rejection of who they are . . .We have been estranged at times, which has made me wonder if my family prefers letting their ideas go unchallenged over having me in their lives," Meredith said.

She's trying to be hopeful.





Politics isn't about policy, but values and emotion

It's agonizing for Meredith, Jacy and Trump supporters alike to sever the personal from the political, especially when it involves the people you love. Political parties give voters a strong sense of identity, social connection and morality.

As Eyal Winter, Professor of Economics at University of Leicester explains, voting behavior is, "not driven by reasoning, but driven by emotions." That kind of thinking goes back to our hunter-gatherer days, when, "we needed to be part of a group in order to survive."

"We use our political views as a tool to tell other people who we are. Through this transmission we generate our social connection," Winter said.

the fact that this has 25.6K shares genuinely depresses me pic.twitter.com/CuvEauTBCR  Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) October 26, 2016

It's not unreasonable, Winter explains, to think of people who belong to a different political party as, in some ways, fundamentally different from ourselves. Research has shown that people who value authority, traditionally on the right, have been influenced by different genetic factors than those who value freedom, who more likely to be found on the left.

So when a Trump voter looks at a Clinton supporter and sees them as not just having distinct politics, but separate values, they're not entirely wrong. Of course there's common ground. But a recent study conducted by the University of Alabama found that liberals were more likely to value empirical science than conservatives. Progressives are more likely to appreciate group diversity and conservatives, group membership. These values aren't new to the 2016 election, nor is the research around them, but they are seemingly more visible and impactful than ever before.

This election season brought the differences keeping Meredith isolated from her family, and Jacy alienated from her best friend, into high relief.

Trying to rebuild

No wonder that Facebook tracks our political views and only promotes posts that they think we would like, and ads that are congruent with our values. Of course voters want to segregate themselves geographically, "Bernie Bros" on one block, Shrilliaries in one suburb, "Trump Thugs" deep in the country, absolutely no one talking to each other on Facebook. Who doesn't want to share a home and a community with people who share the same goals, the same values, and (seemingly) the same heart?

But while a healthy debate is good for discussion, it can be painful to live in a polarized democracy. Jacy didn't want to say goodbye to her best friend. Meredith wants to hold onto her family. They're not righteously celebrating the divide. They're grieving.

Psychologists and sociologists have tried to pave the way forward. It's important, some have suggested, to try and keep an open mind on Facebook. As pleasurable and sometimes necessary as it might be for a Clinton supporter to expunge her Trump-loving cousin from her Facebook feed, social media breakups don't necessarily change hearts and mind. Often, they only serve to confirm the speaker's own worldview.

"The way we know were right is when most people around us agree," UCI Professor of Psychology Peter Ditto told Mashable. "Our moral beliefs shape our factual beliefs."

Not, Ditto stressed, the other way around.

There are ways people can preserve their most intimate relationships in an election season, others have argued  assuming that other, more interpersonal issues, aren't actually the source of the problem.

"We're often yelling at each other over things that we have zero influence on," Winter said. "What's going on in our daily life may actually be the source of the problem. The way to deal with it is not try to bridge the political differences."

For some, however, those political differences may be too severe to ignore, especially when you feel like the other party, in Jacy's case, doesn't believe your love has a right to exist. Jacy ended her friendship with an email because she felt that they emotional damage had already been done:

"I didnt try to convince her," Jacy said. "But the email was heartfelt, as I explained why we couldnt remain friends. I also wished her and her family the best. I deleted her from all of my social media."

Jacy does think it's theoretically possible, though highly unlikely, that if the political climate changes and sheds some of its hate, that if the parties gain more empathy and work towards inclusiveness, she can rebuild one of the relationships she valued the most.

"I do believe two people can be from opposing political parties and remain friends but not when one of those political parties openly supports sexual assault, vulgarity, racial oppression and LGBTQ discrimination," Jacy said. "When that changes, maybe we can try to rebuild again."

Jacy doesn't believe she'll ever get her best friend back  but she hasn't given up hope, either.
The woman romantically linked to Prince Harry has revealed her feelings about Donald Trump.

The 35-year-old Meghan Markle was born and raised in California and in May, the Suits actress expressed her thoughts about Trump during an appearance on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

"As a misogynistic as Trump is with his world view and is so vocal about it, you are not just voting for Hillary because she is a woman. You are voting because Trump has made it easy to see you dont want that kind of world he is painting," she told the former Comedy Central host.

With the eyes of the world upon her, Meghan Markle finds herself living under tight security as rumors of her relationship with Prince Harry continue to grow.

Read: Prince Harry's Girlfriend Meghan Markle Speaks Out: 'I'm the Luckiest Girl in the World'

Markle's estranged half-sister has also spoken out, saying she's known for a long time that her sister would be a star.

"She is elegant, educated, and brilliant enough on her own," Samantha Grant Markle told Inside Edition. "She wouldn't need Prince Harry to make her."

Samantha is wheelchair-bound and suffers from multiple sclerosis. She has been quoted in British tabloids as calling her sister narcissistic and selfish, which she claims she never said.

Read: Sister of Prince Harry's Rumored Girlfriend Says She Should Help Bankrupt Dad: 'Charity Begins at Home'

"Those were never words that I used. First of all, she is not narcissistic. Just because we havent spoken doesnt make her narcissistic. I would have liked to have talked to her more," she told Inside Edition from her home in Silver Springs, Florida.

The 51-year-old and Meghan share the same father.

Watch: The Prince and Knee: Is That the Future King of England on Carrie Underwood's Leg

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TOLEDO -- Democratic incumbent Charles (Chuck) Layton and Republican challenger Steven C. Sherwood are running for Cumberland County coroner on Tuesday's election ballot.

Layton was appointed coroner on June 1 to replace Donna Whitaker, a Democrat who retired from this position. He previously served as chief deputy coroner for two-and-a-half years.

"I have gotten a lot of experience in the short period of time on my own as coroner," Layton said, adding that he has been endorsed by past coroners Whitaker, Scott Stults, and Mike Barkley.

The coroner is responsible for investigating the cause of death for individuals and being respectful in getting this information to their loved ones, Layton said. The candidate said he has been honored to serve his community as coroner and chief deputy coroner.

"It's a place where I feel I can serve and help the people of our community through the toughest times of their lives," Layton said.

Layton said he feels that he has developed a good working relationship with members of the local law enforcement community, including crime scene investigators from the Illinois State Police. He said, as Toledo fire chief, he also has worked closely with the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office.

As coroner, Layton said he also strives to be responsible in how taxpayer money is used to fund this office. He has been active in various emergency planning and response organization in the community, and long helped with services at Barkley Funeral Chapel.

Sherwood, a veteran emergency medical technician, said he has a lot of experience that he could bring to the coroner's position. This experience includes being a certified grief counselor and being enrolled in a mortuary program.

"I feel like with my knowledge, experience and education, it's a natural fit for me and the community," Sherwood said.

As county emergency management coordinator, Sherwood said he is also well versed in county budgeting and finances.

Sherwood said he could fill the part-time coroner and emergency management coordinator positions at the same time, thereby devoting 100 percent of his professional time to serving the county. He added that he would have regular office hours.

"I would like to see the coroner's office be more open to the public and be more of a professional position than in the past," Sherwood said.
Queen Rania of Jordan is a leader of women in the Arab world and beyond and is a champion of refugees, especially those fleeing neighboring Syria. Jordan has taken in more than 1.4 million people during the civil war.

As one of PEOPLEs 25 Women Changing the World celebrated in this weeks issue, Queen Rania writes about refugee swimmer Yusra Mardini, who helped pull a boatload of fellow refugees to safety, and then went on to compete in the Rio Olympics.

It wasnt a typical qualifying swim for the Olympics. But 18-year old Yusra Mardini isnt a typical teenager. And she couldnt have known that last year, when she fled her home in Damascus and journeyed through Syria, then Lebanon, on her way to Germany, she would, literally, have to swim for her life.

In the middle of the Aegean Sea, the dinghy onto which she and 19 other refugees were cramped broke down. Overcrowded, listing, and at real risk of sinking, Yusra, and her sister, dived into the water and swam for three and a half hours  all the time, pushing the flimsy raft and those on board towards the Greek shore. Elation at surviving the ordeal was short-lived. Another exhausting journey through Europe awaited them until, months later, Yusra and her sister finally registered as refugees in Germany.

There arent enough adjectives to do Yusra justice. Courageous: to set out on the journey. Selfless: to dive into the sea and save others. Positive: to never lose hope. Her indomitable spirit is an example for us all.

And, yet, her story was just beginning.

If adapting to her new, temporary home was her first priority, swimming was her second. And when a German swimming trainer, Sven Spannerkrebs, spotted her, he saw potential  for the 2020 Olympic Games. But, in a plot twist worthy of a fairytale, the International Olympic Committee invited a team of refugees to participate in the 2016 Rio games  and Yusras dreams of competing were, happily, realized much sooner.

Swimming in the Rio Olympics was life-changing for Yusra. But the lesson she learned is not about competing. Its about the kindness of strangers. Its about Sven looking beyond the label refugee to see a young girl with a big dream. Its about one person thinking, How can I make a difference?

Story continues

With more than 60 million people displaced from their home due to conflict, crisis or poverty, today, I wish more people could look beyond their borders to support others in need. Im proud that thousands of Jordanians have opened their homes, neighborhoods, schools and hospitals to displaced and desperate Syrians. But if we are truly to stand together as a global community in this time of crisis, and heal, and unite, we must all do our part and lift each other up  as Yusra did; as Sven did.

And when we all lift each other up, thats when we win gold for humanity.




Quentin Tarantino is retiring  after he hits the perfect 10, that is.

The Hateful Eight director, 53, has pledged to quit directing after completing his 10th film  meaning his next two films will be his last.

Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody, Match that s,' he said Thursday at the Adobe Max conference in San Diego, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

And with eight films and two Oscar wins already under his belt, Tarantino said he hopes to be remembered as one of the greatest filmmakers that ever lived.

Hopefully, the way I define success when I finish my career is that Im considered one of the greatest filmmakers that ever lived. And going further, a great artist, not just filmmaker, he said.

The Pulp Fiction director also gave the audience an inside look at his creative process, revealing that he often turns to music as his inspiration.

So much of revolves around a sound or a song, he said. Before Ive started, Im seriously thinking about the music. Im listening to a track and picturing everyone at the Cannes Palais just loving it.

But while he said hes currently working on a non-fiction project about the 1970s, he doesnt know what shape the final product will take. It could be a book, a documentary, a five-part podcast.




Quentin Tarantino has announced that he's retiring -- eventually.

The Hateful Eight director once again pledged that he's only going to direct two more films  rounding his career feature total out at 10 -- and then he's quitting filmmaking for good.

"Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody, 'Match that s**t,'" Tarantino told a cheering crowd during a Q&A at the Adobe Max creativity conference at the San Diego Convention Center on Thursday.

MORE: Quentin Tarantino Teases 'Kill Bill: Volume 3' at Comic-Con

Tarantino  who's currently working on the script for his next feature film, which will reportedly be a crime drama set in 1930s Australia -- opened up during the interview about how he defines success when it comes to his own career.

"Hopefully, the way I define success when I finish my career is that I'm considered one of the greatest filmmakers that ever lived," Tarantino said. "And, going further, a great artist, not just filmmaker."

With eight movies already under his belt -- Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012), and last year's The Hateful Eight -- the divisive 53-year-old filmmaker has racked up two Oscars (both for Best Original Screenplay) and two other Oscar nominations (both for Best Director).

NEWS: Quentin Tarantino Reveals Whether He'd Ever Direct a Comedy

Despite the success of many of his films, Tarantino's most recent directorial effort was met with moderate box-office returns and somewhat mixed reviews, so if he does want to quit while he's on top, he's giving himself two more chances to wow audiences and diehard fans.

Tarantino also said he's currently working on a non-fiction project about the 1970s but admitted that he doesn't know what shape the project will take, explaining, "It could be a book, a documentary, [or] a five-part podcast."

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WATCH: Flashback -- ET On Set with 'Pulp Fiction' 20 Years Ago

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama chastised supporters at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in North Carolina on Friday as tensions spiked when a supporter of Republican opponent Donald Trump stood up and began shouting. Obama was interrupted when a white-haired white man in a beret and suit jacket with what appeared to be military patches stood up with a Trump sign and started yelling. He was quickly drowned out by screaming and booing by the crowd, which was predominantly African-American. Obama repeatedly told the at-capacity crowd jammed into a gym at Fayetteville State University to "focus" and to "settle down." "Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second!" Obama said. "You've got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate," he said as the protester was led away. "We live in a country that respects free speech," he said. "It looks like he might have served in our military  weve got to respect that." (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Andrea Shalal and Sabine Siebold

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. weapons maker Raytheon Co said on Friday it could start upgrading Germany's Patriot missile defense system in about a year if Berlin decides against a rival system built by Europe's MBDA and U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Corp.

Wes Kremer, who heads Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems division, said the company could also upgrade Germany's Patriot system for less than the estimated cost of the rival Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), made by MBDA and Lockheed,.

Raytheon lost out on the work last year when Germany picked the MEADS system, but the company is keeping close tabs on the defense ministry's slow-moving efforts to hammer out a contract with MBDA.

Sources familiar with the matter say the MBDA's formal proposal for the program came in billions of euros higher than the previous estimate of 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) when it was submitted in September. Some ministry officials have already raised the possibility of upgrading Patriot given the jump in the MEADS projected cost, the sources said.

"They refer to us as the Plan B," Kremer told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Berlin. "I'm confident we can do it for much less than the MEADS budget."

Raytheon argues that upgrading the Patriot system would save Germany money in the short and long term, allowing it to continue to benefit from upgrades and reliability improvements funded by all 13 countries that operate the system.

If Berlin stuck with the MEADS system, it alone would be responsible for all such modifications and updates, Kremer said.

"Europe and NATO is about pooling resources and pooling money to work together ... and Patriot really is the epitome of that," he said.

The MEADS system was developed jointly by Germany, Italy and the United States over the last decade, although the U.S. Army later decided not to buy the system for its own use.

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The German defense ministry says it is still reviewing the bid submitted by MBDA, jointly owned by Airbus Group, Britain's BAE Systems Plc and Italy's Leonardo Finmeccanica SpA. MBDA has declined to comment.

Kremer said Germany could quickly upgrade the capability of its Patriot system to match upgrades now being carried out by the United States.

Berlin could later acquire a 360-degree radar that is to be developed as part of a separate program for which Raytheon is bidding in Poland. That radar system would take about five years to complete, he said.

MEADS, which is also vying for the Polish work, includes a 360-degree radar system that has already been developed and tested.

Kremer, who met with Polish officials in Warsaw this week, said he remained confident Raytheon and the U.S. government would eventually complete a contract with Poland despite Warsaw's decision to continue talks with Lockheed about MEADS.

He declined to estimate when the agreement could be completed.

Kremer said Raytheon had made good progress in working out arrangements for at least 50 percent of the work to be carried out in Poland. "We are on a path to closure for this," he said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Sabine Siebold; Editing by Mark Potter)
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued draft guidelines on how Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies can hedge their currency exposure risk in the country.

RBI said on Friday that subsidiaries looking to hedge their exposure outside of exports and imports could do so through all foreign currency-rupee derivatives, over-the-counter, and exchange-traded products.

It also said profits and losses arising from hedging transactions in India must be reflected in the books of the domestic subsidiaries of multinational companies, among other guidelines.

Previously, multinational companies could only hedge currency risk arising out of transactions involving imports and exports.

The RBI had said last month that it would widen the scope of activities where hedging was allowed.

Market participants and banks can submit their comments about the proposed guidelines by Nov. 11, the RBI said.

(Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
Royal fans may be excited about the release of Netflixs new series, The Crown, but what about the formidable piece of royal hardware that is the centerpiece of the shows first season?

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth  which is the focus of the new season  featured the famous 3-lb. Imperial State Crown, which is the same sparkler that the 90-year-old monarch wears when she attends the Opening of Parliament Ceremony every year.

Heres what you need to know about the stunning piece of history:

1. It is 177 years old.

Probably the Queens best known crown, it was originally made for Queen Victorias coronation in 1838 by Rundell, Bridge & Co., then the crown jewelers. An earlier version of the crown  weighing a whopping 7 lbs., 6 oz.  was destroyed under Oliver Cromwell in the mid-17th century, who ordered the abolition of the monarchy and the sale of the crown jewels.

2. It is kept under lock and key at the Tower of London.

The crown is normally kept under ultra-monitored guard at the Tower of London, where it is a centerpiece of the Crown Jewels exhibit popular with tourists. When it heads to the palace to be worn by the Queen at the opening of the parliamentary session once a year, keepers leave a note to visitors saying it is in use.

Queen Elizabeth II Surpasses Queen Victorias Record Long Reign

3. It contains the worlds fourth-largest polished diamond.

Nestled in the brow of the crown  just below the breathtaking Black Princes Ruby set in the central panel  is the huge Cullinan Diamond, which was found in Africa in 1905, weighing 3,601 carats. (Yes, you read that right.) The stone was later cut into several pieces, with the Cullinan II earning a spot in the Imperial State Crown. (At 317.4 carats, its the fourth-largest polished diamond in the world.) For extra sparkle, the crown is also decorated with four rubies, 11 emeralds, 17 sapphires, 277 pearls and more than 3,000 smaller diamonds.

 Want to keep up with the latest royals coverage? Click here to subscribe to the Royals Newsletter.

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4. It weighs as much as two Chipotle burritos.

The Queens biographer, Robert Lacey, confirms that the monarch finds it heavy  despite the fact that it is less than half the weight of the St. Edward s crown. The latter is the true coronation crown, but at more than 4 lbs., it is so heavy that she only wore it for a short time during her 1953 coronation. Instead, she slipped on the Imperial State Crown for her departure from Westminster Abbey and the journey back to the palace.

5. It got a makeover.

To make it more comfortable for the then-27-year-old monarchs coronation, the crown underwent a redesign: The arches were lowered, making it lighter and feminizing it, as an insider tells PEOPLE.




HGTV

Whats the best thing about real estate reality TV? The voyeuristic look at the weird twists and turns of selling, buying, or improving a home, of course! The unmitigated disasters! The triumphant solutions! Imagine bidding on eight houses youd love to live inand getting rejected each time. Or having your kitchen reno waylaid by a mice infestation. Something can always goes wrongand if you happen to be watching the drama unfold on reality TV, you can learn a ton from others misfortunes.

So take a look at the pearls of wisdom gleaned from the most recent installments of your favorite shows.

Property Brothers

The Property Brothers butt heads with a cheapskate couple. HGTV

Newlyweds Adam and Erin are dying to move out of their one-bedroom urban condo to a centrally located house with enough room to start a family. They enlist the services of Americas favorite identical twin Realtor/contractor team of Drew and Jonathan Scott. Their budget is slightly over $1 million. Its a decent budget, right? Its too bad the couple turn out to be supernaturally indecisive. Worse yet, Adam is a die-hard bargain hunter who refuses to offer full asking price, even in a red-hot market. After two months and eight rejected offers, they finally settle on a fixer-upper, and Jonathan has to use mad skills to lock them into decisions about the remodel.

Lesson learned: In a hot market, if you dont offer full asking price, you risk losing the house. Its too bad Adam didnt learn this the first time he underbid on a house. The couple went against Drews advice to bid full price again and again, and finally ended up with their ninth choice. Even though Jonathan worked wonders on it and created a beautiful living space, you come away wondering whether some of the previous homes would have better met their needs. Would-be buyers remorse?

(Episodes air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on HGTV.)

House Hunters

Will Christine get a row house of her own, or will Mom foil her plans? realtor.com

Christine is a 27-year-old single woman who works for the mayor of Washington, DC. She lives with her brother and his wife but would like to buy her own row house nearby; her budget is $280,000. Her opinionated mother tags along as she checks out three houses, with Christine constantly reminding her mom that this house is not for you, its for me.

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Lesson learned: Respect your parents, but also respect that youre an adult! Make your own decisions already. Christines mom was quite insistent that Christine needed a porch and a powder room, but Christine held firm, telling her mother that those were not her top priorities. In the end, her mom is not thrilled with her decision, but she is happy that her daughter bought her own place.

(Episodes air weeknights at 10 on HGTV.)

Downtown Shabby

Lack the cash for a demolition crew? No problem, all you need is a sledgehammer. And some friends. FYI Network

Chicago cop Jeff, wife Shannon, and their three kids live in a Chicago bungalow that hasnt been painted in more than 20 years. Theyre long overdue for an update with the help of renovation experts Frank and Sherry Fontana. Their tight budgetjust $25,000threatens to get stretched past the limit when they learn that mice have infested the walls behind the kitchen. Call in the exterminator, stat!

Lesson learned: Get by with a little help from your friends! This family saved about $1,500 in demolition costs thanks to several of Jeffs brawny buddies, who were happy to come over and knock down some walls in the kitchen, bathroom, and basement. Twelve-year-old son Justin also pitched in to help create his own basement bedroom, which gave him a sense of pride and responsibility.

(Episodes air Saturdays at 9 p.m. on FYI.)

Yours, Mine or Ours

Married but living in separate homes: Get it together, guys! Bravo

Mark and Kim have been married for a yearand they still cant decide whether to move into his contemporary home thats five minutes away from both of their jobs in Dallas, or her updated farmhouse in an adorable community at least a half-hour away from work.

Realtor Reza Farahan and designer Taylor Spellman have the added challenge of coming up with options for the couple that accommodate his penchant for a modern, clean space, as well as her penchant for what she calls layering and he calls clutter.

Lesson learned: With enough space, the clutter vs. clean issue can be resolved. Mark and Kim decided to reject the remodel plans for their existing houses, and buy a large house in a neighborhood they both love. The home is twice the size of either of their homes, so Kim can spread out with her collectibles, while Mark gets plenty of space to breathe. Phew.

(Episodes air Mondays at 10 p.m. on Bravo.)

The post From Reality TV to Real Life: When Not to Underbid and More Great Tips This Week appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
Hillary Clinton will be making a bus tour to Johnstown, PA., a very depressed area of Pennsylvania. She will be taking her own crew of actors and actresses to portray the citizenry there. They will be asking questions (questions that Hillary has already fed them so she will have remarkably intelligent answers) and they will, obviously, have nothing but praise for the crooked witch. And when shown on national television, those viewing will, obviously, be coerced into thinking that these are real people and the cheering shown is for real. Her scheming and deceiving is unbelievably shameful but she doesn't care. She is incapable of any thoughts of decency toward the American people. She is a power-hungry woman who will use any means whatsoever to attain her goal of being the President of the United States! And to you out there who think the sun rises and sets in her backside - remember, she has lived her life lying, cheating, and deceiving and, if elected, will bring this kind of life to the highest level! And you people who voted her in sucked that bait in hook, line, and sinker, and will suffer just like a big fish caught on a hook! And you will have no one but yourself to blame. The problem is, everybody else will suffer, too!
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) reported its third-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Friday. The company posted $3.13 in earnings per share (EPS) on $1.22 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $2.71 in EPS and $1.29 billion in revenue. The third-quarter of last year reportedly had EPS of $3.47 and revenue of $1.14 billion.

In the third quarter of 2016, net sales of Regenerons key product, Eylea, in the United States increased 16% to $854 million from $734 million in the third quarter of 2015. Bayer commercializes Eylea outside the United States, and this international segment had net sales of $471 million, compared to $371 million last year.

ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States

In terms of guidance for the full year, the company expects Eylea U.S. net product sales to grow by 23% to 25%, up from the previously guided range of 20% to 25%. The consensus estimates are $10.96 in EPS and $5.06 billion in revenue for 2016.

On the books, Regeneron cash and marketable securities totaled $2.19 billion at the end of the quarter, up from $1.68 billion at the end of 2015.

Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Regeneron, commented:

In the third quarter, we saw continued U.S. sales growth with EYLEA in retinal diseases and with Praluent in hypercholesterolemia. We are preparing for a potential approval and launch for Dupixent in atopic dermatitis and continuing to advance our pipeline at all stages.

ALSO READ: Pentagon to Lockheed: Take It or Leave It

Excluding Fridays move, Regeneron has underperformed the broad markets, with the stock down 38% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is down even further at 40%.

Shares of Regeneron traded up 3% after the earnings were released to$346.01. The consensus analyst price target is $466.10, and the 52-week trading range is $325.35 to $592.59.

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Collectors can regard their cars as parents do their children: They wont pick a favorite. However, Reggie Jackson does acknowledge a particular fondness for these three gems in his garage.

1977 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible

On the morning of October 19, 1977, the day after he hit home runs in three consecutive at-bats in the clinching game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, Jackson rewarded himself. I walked into an exotic-car dealership owned by a friend and paid $64,250 for the Rolls, which was silver and Seychelles blueperfect Yankees colors, he recalls. I immediately drove cross-country in it. I was on the CB radio, and was stopped five times by the police, but not for speeding. The officers said they just wanted to meet me.

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6

Jackson bought this white-and-red, 4-speed, 454 hp beast in 1971, when he was an upstart with the Oakland As. I turned it into an LS7, which is 12.5 to 1 pistons with a higher lift cam, he says. I drove it to the ballpark for 4 or 5 years. Wed play day games in Oakland, then Id hit the Fremont drag races with it at night.

1962 Chevrolet Corvette

Jacksons black Vette is from the final year of the models first generation, which still featured a wraparound windshield and exposed headlamps and was available only as a convertible. He purchased it in 1978. It was once owned by this famous old drag racer, [Bill] Grumpy Jenkins, Jackson says. A couple of buddies of mine drove Corvettes in high school, and I always wanted one but could never afford it. So buying that Vette really was a kids dream come true.

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Ouija: Origin of Evil (United International Pictures) Ouija: Origin of Evil (United International Pictures)

Secret ending? Yes.



Running time: 99 minutes (~1.5 hours)

Ouija: Origin of Evil is a horror movie thats the prequel to 2014s Ouija. It sees a suburban family in the 60s dealing with the passing of the father. When an Ouija board enters their life, chaos ensues. It stars Annalise Basso (Paulina Zander), Elizabeth Reaser (Alice Zander), Lulu Wilson (Doris Zander), Henry Thomas (Father Tom), and Parker Mack (Mikey). It is rated PG-13.

I must confess that I forgot most of the plot of the first film, but then Ouija was a rather lacklustre Halloween offering. As a result, I had to read up on the plot of the original to understand the connection between that and Ouija: Origin of Evil. By its own merit, Ouija: Origin of Evil is an average horror movie, even if the frightening elements are muted in comparison to other scary movies. Compared to the previous one though, its a gigantic improvement.

Highlights



Doris is genuinely creepy

The whole premise of the film is that you see how Doris (Lulu Wilson) comes to be, since shes the antagonist of Ouija. Shes introduced as an innocent child who wants nothing more than for her mother and sister to be happy. Doris literally exudes joy every time something good happens to her family. So when she turns into the monster weve seen in the trailers, its a chilling 180-degree change. Her cold anger is nothing like the exuberant warmth we see earlier in the film, making it evident that a terrible force of evil lurks inside her.

Quaint setting

Surprisingly, the 60s time period works well for the film. Its a cheery, sunny era (sometimes a bit too sunny to be believable) when everyone was more altruistic and straightforward, and the large house they live in is wonderfully decorated with choice props. The attitudes and language are also amusing to watch, and theres even a little inversion of the chauvinism of that time.

Letdowns

Overcomplicated backstory

So, to explain Doris transformation, Ouija: Origin of Evil goes into a long and lengthy tale of the houses gory history. Its got too many unnecessary details and is, quite frankly, boring. The other problem with this exposition is that the first Ouija relied on a complicated backstory to explain its ghost, and we get yet another complicated backstory to explain the ghost again. Will it ever end? Will we see the true Origin of Evil?

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Scares are tame and mild

The scares feel restrained, probably to garner a lower censorship rating allowing a wider audience. If youve seen the poster, then youve seen the worst that Ouija: Origin of Evil has to offer. Even the climax lacks a real scare as it prevents you from seeing the unspeakable horrors that one of the protagonists has to resort to (all you see is a POV shot).

Ending is a downer

The ending is one of the most pessimistic ever for a film. Part of it is due to the fact that Doris is such a likeable girl in the beginning, and the movie ends with her transformation into the creature we see in Ouija. The other problem is that theres no catharsis for the viewer, since the most sympathetic character in the film becomes utterly corrupted.

Ouija: Origin of Evil is more like a steppingstone to evil, rather than the origin of evil.

Should you watch this if its free? OK.

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? If you like horror.

Score: 2.5/5

Ouija: Origin of Evil opens in cinemas:

- 3 November 2016 (Singapore)

- 3 November 2016 (Malaysia)

- 26 October 2016 (Philippines)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. Hes also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.






After surviving a rare blood and bone marrow disease in 2012  just a few years following her breast cancer battle  Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts returned to the public eye, opting to, in her mothers words, make her mess her message.

Someone once said that when you share so much of yourself, its really universal, that people really could relate  it helps them so much, Roberts told PEOPLE at the WebMD Health Heroes Awards in New York City on Thursday night. I didnt plan on doing this, I didnt plan on sharing as much as I have. But I kept finding there was a way.

Roberts, who hosted the annual event which honors those making positive strides in the medical and wellness community, said shes embraced the idea that we all suffer loss.

We lose our jobs. We lose our marriage. We lose our health, the 55-year-old explained. Thats not the tragedy  if we dont take the time to understand why this was placed in our path, what we can learn from it and be better for it, and help others. If you dont do that, thats the tragedy.

Now feeling better than ever, Roberts reflects back on a time when her health was in crisis.

I didnt have anybody to look to when I went through  when I went through breast cancer, there were a lot of people who go through that, and so there was a lot of information that was sent to me and I could read books, she said. Myelodysplastic syndrome, which is a bone and blood marrow disorder, there was very little to read. I didnt even know you could have a stem cell transplant  I never knew they existed, I never know you could donate your stem cells and they could potentially cure up to 70 different conditions.

By opening up with viewers and fans, shes become a source for other people seeking support while on their own journey. Roberts told PEOPLE that she gets daily tweets from family members of those going through similar situations. The loved ones feel so helpless, she shared. So I talk to them quite a bit.

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In return, Roberts, too, has felt the support. In fact, she said, Im trying to pay it back.

Every single day, someone comes up and they tell me that theyve prayed for me, and its hard for me to express what that means when you know people of all faiths are lifting you up, she said. And wishing you well. Its daily, weekly, people come up to me and theyre just so happy that Im healthy and the fact that I share so much, and when they have somebody thats going through it and theyll point to me and say, Look, Robin was in that same situation but look at her now. Its a privilege to be a messenger and I think Im a messenger of hope.

RELATED VIDEO: Inside Scoop: Robin Roberts on Life & Love

And now, Roberts is happy to be a part of an event that recognizes those often hidden from the public eye. In fact, shes hosted the Health Heroes Awards for three years running.

I cant tell you what it means to recognize, in my eyes, true heroes, she told PEOPLE. Health heroes. People who are willing to share their stories in hopes of helping others, and I know it was very helpful for me in my two health challenges, and I  I watched the Cubs win, and it was wonderful. I watched the CMAs. Its wonderful that we recognize athletes and musicians and that, but why dont we do the same thing with people who are doing wonderful things in the world of heath? And thats what this is all about: giving them their due.

Among those recognized? Registered nurse Betty Ferrell, scientist Ed Damiano, and Seth Rogen and wife Lauren Miller, who received the Peoples Choice Award for their work in Alzheimers awareness and research funding through organization Hilarity for Charity.

 was here last year, he didnt get an award. He was here last year to help present and for him to, which is very often the case  his mother-in-law, Laurens mother, is going through , Roberts says. Again, they didnt have to share this. And theyve raised millions of dollars with their charity and I think this is wonderful that theyre being recognized.




By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday criticized U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's decision to fire a Kenyan peacekeeping commander in South Sudan as premature, saying the mission there was now "in ruins" after Kenya vowed to withdraw all its troops in response to the move. Ban dismissed Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki after a U.N. inquiry into the response by peacekeepers to several days of violence in the capital Juba in July found a lack of leadership and that U.N. troops failed to protect civilians. Kenya said it would withdraw some 1,000 troops deployed with the 13,000-strong peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, where U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed since 2011 when it gained independence from Sudan. In an unusual move, Russia, a U.N. Security Council veto power, and Kenya publicly criticized Ban's response to the report. "For us the decision was premature," Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Illichev said. "We don't have a special representative, she's leaving, we don't have a force commander. ... The whole structure is in ruins." Ondieki became the force commander in June, just three weeks before the outbreak of heavy fighting between South Sudan President Salva Kiir's troops and soldiers loyal to his rival, Riek Machar. U.N. South Sudan envoy Ellen Loj is due to step down at the end of November. The U.N. inquiry, released on Tuesday, found peacekeepers did not operate under a unified command and received multiple and sometimes conflicting orders. It said there was a "chaotic and ineffective" U.N. response. Kenya U.N. Ambassador Macharia Kamau said his country had appealed to Ban not to single out any one individual for "what we will continually insist is a systemic failure in the United Nations system." "The secretary-general, in his lame-duck season, seems to have found the courage that has alluded him throughout his tenure by choosing to ignore Kenya's plea," Kamau told a news conference at the United Nations. Ban steps down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms. The United States proposed on Thursday that the Security Council welcome the inquiry's report, but diplomats said that China, backed by Russia, blocked the move. Such statements have to be agreed by consensus. The U.N. inquiry had found that on two occasions Chinese peacekeepers abandoned their positions during the violence. In Beijing on Friday, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the report contained "groundless criticism" of relevant U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan and expressed "regret" over its negative impact on the U.N. peacekeeping mission. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the U.N. inquiry on Thursday, which he said was focused on U.N. decisions made during the several days of violence. Dozens of civilians and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed during the fighting. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, acknowledged the difficult and dangerous circumstances faced by peacekeepers in South Sudan, but said the failure to act by U.N. troops "revealed systemic shortcomings in UNMISS." "It is clear from the U.N.'s investigation that when civilians were in desperate need of help, their pleas were ignored, and the human costs were horrific," Power said in a statement. Political rivalry in South Sudan between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Machar, a Nuer, led to civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines. The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued. Machar fled South Sudan following the fighting in July. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis)
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - A unilateral Russian-declared ceasefire for Syria's Aleppo ended on Friday evening, marred by rebel fire on evacuation routes and with no sign any civilians or rebels left besieged neighbourhoods.

The 10-hour "humanitarian pause" was announced by Damascus ally Russia as an attempt to "prevent senseless casualties".

But the ceasefire for the city's rebel-held east came to an end at 7:00 pm local time (1700 GMT) without anyone using the eight evacuation passages.

"We did not record a single civilian or fighter leaving the eastern districts," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that battlefronts across the city were quiet.

AFP correspondents on both sides of the Bustan al-Qasr crossing said no one was seen using the evacuation corridor.

A similar three-day pause last month ended with only a handful of residents quitting the besieged east, home to more than 250,000 people.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been devastated by fighting since the rebels seized the east of the city in 2012, turning its historic heart into a battlefield.

Rebels and allied jihadists launched a bid to break the government's three-month siege a week ago, stepping up their attacks on Thursday hours before the ceasefire came into force.

Rebel rocket fire on Friday hit the Castello road, which leads north out of opposition-controlled territory in eastern Aleppo, state media and the Observatory said.

- 'Worthless' ceasefire -

Rocket fire lightly wounded two Russian servicemen monitoring the ceasefire, the Russian defence ministry said.

Syrian state media said a Syrian reporter was also wounded.

The attack forced Moscow to temporarily cut a live video feed of the area, which had shown barrels painted with the Syrian flag next to a large photograph of President Bashar al-Assad propped up by sandbags.

Another featured waiting ambulances while the third -- which appeared to be filmed from a drone -- showed a line of green coaches.

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Civilians in east Aleppo, who have faced weeks of devastating bombardment by the government and Russia, have expressed scepticism about safe passage offers.

The rebels dismissed the latest ceasefire as a ploy by Moscow to deflect international criticism over the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

"This announcement is worthless... We don't trust the Russians or any of their cheap initiatives," said Yasser al-Youssef, a politburo member of the Nureddin al-Zinki rebel brigade in Aleppo.

Rebels have so far captured the Dahiyet al-Assad neighbourhood and the village of Minyan west of Aleppo.

But they have come under criticism for shelling western government-held districts.

Rocket fire on the southern regime-held district of Ramussa on Friday killed two people and wounded seven, state media said.

Nearly 70 civilians have been killed in rebel fire into government-held areas during the offensive, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

- 'Body bags to keep warm' -

The situation for civilians in Aleppo is growing increasingly dire, with the United Nations warning that "food supplies in eastern Aleppo city will run out in mid-November".

In a report distributed on Friday, the UN's humanitarian coordination agency said there were so few supplies in east Aleppo's hospitals that "patients are using body bags to keep warm".

Medical facilities in east Aleppo are under severe strain, with many rendered out of service by repeated bombardment and others suffering shortages of equipment.

UN agencies tried but failed to organise convoys for severely ill or wounded residents of Aleppo during last month's pause, and did not attempt evacuations during Friday's ceasefire.

"The UN will not be involved in any way in the evacuation of civilians from east Aleppo related to this announcement," said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office.

"Medical evacuations can only take place if parties to the conflict take all the necessary measures to provide an enabling environment, which hasn't happened," he told AFP.

"We remain very, very concerned about the humanitarian situation in east Aleppo. There have been no humanitarian supplies reaching the east of the city since early July."

Rights group Amnesty International also criticised the limited ceasefire, saying it was "no substitute for unfettered and impartial humanitarian access and ensuring protection of civilians".

Hundreds of people have been killed in the rebel-held sector since the army began an offensive to recapture it in September.

The death toll has drawn international condemnation of both Damascus and Moscow. The European Union said Russian actions "may amount to war crimes".

More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict erupted with anti-government protests in March 2011.
Ah, the Russian March. Every Nov. 4  Russias Unity Day, a federal holiday that was created in 2005 and conveniently bears a similar name to that of Russian President Vladimir Putins party, United Russia  Russians march around various cities to commemorate a 17th-century uprising against Poland, a turning point in the 1605-1618 Polish-Muscovite War.

Normally, the Russian March is criticized for its racist and xenophobic undertones. In 2014, for example, participants wore masks and camouflage and chanted Russia for Russians. This year, however, it was not only anti-immigrant (although, not to worry, there was plenty of that, too) but also  in a strange twist on the normally nationalist tone  anti-Putin.

No, not even his 84 percent approval rating and soaring pro-Russian rhetoric were enough to shield Putin from the ire of the Russian March demonstrators, who called for his resignation and an end to political repression.

Confusingly, some of the Russian Marchers protested the war in Ukraine, while others seemed thrilled with Russias cross-border adventurism. An anti-Putin nationalist gathering on Nov. 4 in northwest Moscow was attended by none other than Igor Strelkov, a.k.a Girkin, the former Minister of Defense of the Donetsk Peoples Republic in Eastern Ukraine. It was also pro-Russian, and also pro-nationalist, but the Strelkov-backed protest included calls championing Novorossiya, the Czarist-era phrase Putin himself used initially as rhetorical justification for the fighting in Ukraine, but which he dropped from political parlance as the war dragged on and on.

Given the conflicting chants at the different demonstrations, it is unclear if nationalists are discontented with their dear leader because they want more war in Ukraine or less war in Ukraine; or if economic sanctions are finally beginning to take their political toll, even if that pain isnt fully reflected in approval ratings. But the reality remains: A day created to foster political unity behind Putins party is now plagued by conflicting groups and messages and even arrests. Russian Unity Day  indeed, Russian nationalism  is apparently not what it once was for Putin.

This, then, was a good Friday in Moscow for different strands of Russian nationalism, but a bad one indeed for nationalist supporters of one Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin  if not yet for the increasingly autocratic president himself.

Photo credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images
By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Hospitals that implement safe patient handling and moving policies may find these practices associated with fewer injuries among healthcare workers, a small study suggests. Researchers analyzed data on 1,832 patient care providers at two U.S. hospitals  one that started a safety program and one without these policies in place. At the hospital that implemented safe patient handling policies, the risk of neck and shoulder injuries declined 32 percent in the year after these polices took effect. Over that same period, the odds of lifting and exertion injuries dropped 27 percent and the chances of pain and inflammation decreased 22 percent, the study found. For the hospital that didnt implement these safety programs, however, there were no significant changes in injury risk over the study period. Integrating safe patient equipment and procedures into the plan of care for each patient . . . aligns the goal of caring for the patient with the prevention of worker injury, said lead study author Dr. Jack Dennerlein of Northeastern University in Boston. This approach can easily be transferred to other hospitals, Dennerlein added by email. For the current study, researchers evaluated a hospital-wide safe patient handling and mobilization program initiated at one academic medical center in the Boston area. The control hospital in the study was similar in size, patient complexity and payer mix but didnt implement a safety program. Before the teaching hospital started its safety program, both hospitals had limited success in improving safe patient handling and mobilization practices despite investing in things like lifting devices and swings, researchers note in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Researchers surveyed workers with direct patient-care responsibilities at both facilities before these policies were put in place and again one year later. In the first survey about 80 percent reported experiencing some kind of pain related to their jobs in the previous three months. More than half had lower back pain and about 43 percent had neck or shoulder pain. About a third said the pain interfered with their work. At the hospital with new safety practices, more equipment was added to many inpatient care areas and rooms to facilitate moving patients  this included ceiling lifts, slings, sit-to-stand devices and air-assisted lateral transfer devices. This equipment was designed to help minimize the risk of injuries when workers move extremely obese patients. Ceiling lifts, for example, could hoist patients weighing up to 625 pounds, while bed-repositioning slings could accommodate patients weighing up to 1,000 pounds. All nurses, nurse directors and patient care assistants received training on how to use the new equipment and the best ways to safely move patients in different situations. These efforts were part of a larger program designed to increase patient mobility. Plenty of previous research has found that patients can have a faster recovery and fewer complications when they are able to get out of bed and move around. To some extent, however, efforts to get patients moving have clashed with the need to protect workers from injuries on the job, particularly as a growing number of U.S. adults are overweight and obese. One limitation of the study is that researchers relied on hospital employees to accurately recall and report how well they followed new patient handling policies. Even when policies arent in place or are practically hard to follow, workers can still take steps to be safer when moving patients, said Alexander Dewey, a physical therapist at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California who wasnt involved in the study. Use proper body mechanics at all times whether using a safety equipment or not, Dewey said by email. Ask for assistance when needed. This is crucial in healthcare because lifting patients is very different from other types of manual labor involving heavy loads, said Kermit Davis, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio who wasnt involved in the study. The loads are usually much higher than those in industry, even where loads are as high as 75 pounds like warehousing, baggage handlers and parcel delivery, Davis said by email. Patients are four to five times as heavy, Davis added. Weights above 75 pounds or even 35 pounds are not safe to routinely lift manually. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2f1FRsx Occupational and Environmental Medicine, online October 25, 2016.
(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS>, already reeling from a global recall of its Note 7 smartphones, said on Friday it would recall about 2.8 million top-load washing machines in the United States following reports of injuries. The top of the washing machines can unexpectedly detach from the chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. (http://bit.ly/2fC4bmL) The South Korean tech company has received nine reports of injuries, including a broken jaw, an injured shoulder and other fall-related injuries, the agency said. Samsung has received 733 reports of excessive vibration in the washing machines or the top detaching from the chassis. The recall involves 34 models of top-load washing machines made between March 2011 and November 2016 and costing $450-$1,500. The top of the affected washing machines could separate when a high-speed spin cycle is used for washing bedding, water-resistant or bulky items, Samsung said. The company has also been sued by some U.S. customers, who have alleged that their machines "explode during normal use". Samsung, the world's top smartphone maker, scrapped its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last month after failing to resolve safety concerns. It had announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following numerous reports of the phones catching fire. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
Washington (AFP) - Samsung is recalling 2.8 million washing machines with a potential for a dangerous detachment of its top lid, the South Korean company and US safety officials announced Friday.

The recall delivers a new blow to the electronics giant, which has scrapped production of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to risks of overheating batteries that can catch fire.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement the Samsung washing machine top "can unexpectedly detach from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact."

Samsung received 733 reports of problems with the machines. Nine of those incidents involved injury, including a broken jaw and injured shoulder.

Samsung said in a statement the recall affects models manufactured since 2011 due to "reports highlighting the risk that the drums in these washers may lose balance, triggering excessive vibrations, resulting in the top separating from the washer."

John Herrington, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics America, said, "We are moving quickly and in partnership with the CPSC to ensure consumers know the options available to them and that any disruption in the home is minimized."

Consumers with a recalled washer will be offered a free in-home repair or a rebate that can be applied towards the purchase of a new washer from Samsung or another brand.

Samsung faced a class-action lawsuit that claimed some of the washers were "exploding," leading to potential injury or property damage.

The company, the world's biggest maker of smartphones, recalled some 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets following complaints that its lithium-ion battery exploded while charging, and then had to expand that as reports emerged of replacement phones also catching fire.
Samsung is recalling about 2.8 million top-load washing machines more than a month after announcing that vibrations during the spin cycle could cause parts to fail or separate, causing injuries or damaging property. If you have one of these washersor think you haveheres what you need to know:

Which Washers Are Involved?

The recall involves 34 models of Samsung high-efficiency top-load washing machines sold between March 2011 and November 2016. They sold for $450 to $1,500 at Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, and other appliances stores nationwide.

How Do You Know Whether Yours Is Included in the Recall?

Look for the model and serial number information on the label on the back of the washer. Then enter your information on Samsungs website to find out if your washer has been recalled.

You can find a full list of the affected models on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website.

What Is Samsung Offering?

If your washer is on the recall list you can choose a free in-home repair, available now, that includes reinforcement of the washers top and a free one year extension of the manufacturers warranty. This repair option applies to HE top-loaders with a control panel at the back of the machine, not on the front.

Or you can receive a rebate that applies toward the purchase of a new washing machine from any brand and free installation, along with removal of your Samsung washer. Samsung would not specify what the rebates are, but says the rebate is based on the model and date of manufacture. If you choose to buy another Samsung model theyll give you an additional incentive of up to $150. And consumers who have purchased a recalled washer since October 6, 2016, are entitled to a full refund.

Samsung declined to explain why any consumers who purchased these machines between September 28 and October 6 are not entitled to a full refund.

Samsung is sending to all known washer owners a home label kit, and consumers should receive it in the next two weeks. The kit includes a new control-panel guide, excluding front-control models; two warning labels; step-by-step instructions for applying them to the machine; and a user manual supplement. When applied as instructed, the new control-panel guide included in the kit will ensure that users select a reduced-speed spin cycle for washing bedding, bulky or water-resistant items, says Samsung.

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What Should You Do Right Now?

Call Samsung at 866-264-5636 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. ET or go to Samsungs website for information. The CPSC announcement says that until you receive and install the home label kit, use only the delicate or waterproof cycles when washing bedding, water-resistant, and bulky items.

The lower spin speed lessens the risk of the washing machine top unexpectedly detaching from the washing machine chassis. Consumer Reports recommends selecting lower spin speeds for any load or using the delicate or waterproof cycles until the machine is repaired or replaced.

What Was the Problem With the Washers?

Samsung says the drums in these HE top-loaders can lose balance at high spin speeds with loads like bedding and water-resistant or bulky items. This loss of balance can cause vibrations so excessive that the top of the washing machine can detach, presenting a risk of injury.

Samsung has received 733 reports of washing machines vibrating excessively or the top detaching from the machines chassis, according to the CPSC recall notice. Nine related injuries have been reported, including a broken jaw, an injured shoulder, and other impact or fall-related injuries.

What Is Samsung Saying?

We are working closely with our retail partners and distribution channel partners to reclaim any affected inventory, says Louis Masses, director of public relations for Samsungs home appliances. The in-home repairs are being scheduled as quickly as possible and Samsung has increased the number of field repair personnel to help.

Why Did It Take Over a Month to Issue the Recall?

Samsung declined to talk about that, nor would it say why the machines were still being sold in stores until the recall announcement.

Owners of Samsung top-loaders have posted comments online expressing anger that that it took over a month for the recall.

When asked about the delay, Scott Wolfson of the CPSC said: The CPSC and Samsung worked cooperatively to identify the hazard and make sure that consumers are afforded a range of remedies, which we urge everyone to take advantage of immediately.

What Is Consumer Reports Saying?

When the washer issue became public on September 28, neither Samsung nor the CPSC could provide us with model numbers at the time the warning was issued. Consumers could enter their washer serial number on Samsungs website to learn if it was affected by the warning. Consumer Reports checked the serial numbers of our tested models and decided to suspend the "recommended" status for the few HE top-loading Samsung washers that had earned this designation in our tests.

All 10 Samsung HE top-loaders in our ratings are part of the recall, so we have posted a recall alert for each model. Even if a consumer has one of the recalled models, they still need to check with Samsung to learn if their model is included, as Samsung is differentiating based on serial numbers as well.

While the incidence is fairly rare, given the nature of the problem and the potential severity, our recommendations will remain suspended until we know more about consumers' experience with the fix, said Liam McCormack, vice president of research, testing, and insights at Consumer Reports.

Wasnt There Another Samsung Recall?

This is Samsungs second recall in the past seven weeks. Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones have been recalled following reports of the lithium-ion battery overheating and catching fire.

After problems surfaced with the replacement phones, Samsung decided to stop manufacturing the device.

Is There Any Legal Action Against Samsung?

Samsung is facing two class-action lawsuits seeking class-action status over the washers. In a suit filed in New Jersey, one of the plaintiffs, Michelle Soto Fielder of McAllen, Texas, alleges that the amount of force, as well as the sound produced by explosion, initially led her to believe that something had crashed into her home and come through the roof. The suit alleges that Samsung designs, manufactures, advertises, and sells washing machines that are prone to catastrophic failure.

Were working with engineers to try and determine exactly what is going wrong with these washers to cause them to blow apart, says Jason Lichtman, lead lawyer for this suit and partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP in New York City. Our working theory is that it is the suspension rod assembly.





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.
(Adds details)

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, already reeling from a global recall of its Note 7 smartphones, said on Friday it would recall about 2.8 million top-load washing machines in the United States following reports of injuries.

The top of the washing machines can unexpectedly detach from the chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. (http://bit.ly/2fC4bmL)

The South Korean tech company has received nine reports of injuries, including a broken jaw, an injured shoulder and other fall-related injuries, the agency said.

Samsung has received 733 reports of excessive vibration in the washing machines or the top detaching from the chassis.

The recall involves 34 models of top-load washing machines made between March 2011 and November 2016 and costing $450-$1,500.

The top of the affected washing machines could separate when a high-speed spin cycle is used for washing bedding, water-resistant or bulky items, Samsung said.

The company has also been sued by some U.S. customers, who have alleged that their machines "explode during normal use".

Samsung, the world's top smartphone maker, scrapped its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last month after failing to resolve safety concerns.

It had announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following numerous reports of the phones catching fire.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON (Reuters) - As Saudi Arabia prepares for the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO), memoirs from its former oil minister Ali al-Naimi offer a rare insight into decades of domestic infighting over the future of state-run Saudi Aramco.

The 300-page book, titled "Out of the Desert" and published by Portfolio Penguin, describes the battles waged by the influential industry veteran including fending off Western attempts to gain control of oil giant Aramco's best assets.

Naimi joined Aramco as a teenager in 1947 and climbed through the ranks to become company chief from 1983 to 1995, when he was named minister of petroleum - a post he retained until his retirement this year.

His career spans the rise of the "petro-politics" that defined the recent history of the kingdom, including the birth of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1969 and the oil embargo in 1973.

Even though the book holds back from detailing any political jostling within the secretive Saudi royal family and government, it gives a clear idea that various factions have often pushed for different paths for Saudi Aramco.

Naimi describes several instances throughout his career when he fought top executives from Western companies including U.S. giant Exxon Mobil trying what he describes as winning lucrative deals via good connections with some Saudi officials.

"They (Exxon) wanted us to turn over highly restricted information about our Ghawar field, for instance, that isn't even known within the kingdom outside of the oil ministry and Saudi Aramco," Naimi writes about gas talks between oil majors and Aramco at the end of the 1990s.

If Aramco does list its stock as planned in 2018, investors would expect the firm to disclose classified information on its reserves, including Ghawar - Saudi Arabia's biggest oilfield.

But it could avoid doing so given the sensitivity of the issue and just say that by buying into Aramco, investors would gain access to the world's cheapest reserves, still controlled by the state, according to sources briefed on the offering.

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Naimi retired in April and was replaced by Aramco chairman Khalid al-Falih as energy minister.

The Saudi oil portfolio is overseen by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who has been actively promoting the Aramco IPO.

Sources in the kingdom have suggested the royal family is far from united on the issue as some see the offering as giving away the crown jewels cheaply to foreigners at a time of low oil prices.

Naimi says he fought hard for "the heart and soul" of Aramco to avoid giving Westerners unnecessarily lucrative deals.

"(Exxon's then-boss) Lee Raymond for instance was trying to make the most of his relationship with (the foreign minister at the time) Prince Saud al-Faisal to get a better deal for Exxon Mobil," Naimi writes.

Naimi says he was convinced that as part of gas talks in the 1990s, Exxon and other oil majors hoped to acquire cheap Saudi reserves of gas condensate, a high-quality form of crude oil.

"I told Lee Raymond my views and that I felt he was trying to gain an unfair advantage. Lee responded in kind and it got a little ugly. From that point onward our negotiations were over. I haven't seen Lee Raymond since, which was a shame because we were once good friends," Naimi continues.

Naimi effectively won the battle, as Aramco offered to oil majors pure upstream gas exploration contracts without gas condensate and only Shell and Total entered into a deal.

A similar fight happened a few years earlier when Naimi says Shell, Mobil and Total tried to persuade his predecessor, oil minister Hisham Nazer, to allow them to develop the Shaybah oilfield for what Naimi saw as an overly expensive contract.

Naimi even says Francois Mitterrand, France's then-president, was convinced that King Fahd had promised him the field in exchange for French participation in the first Gulf War.

Again, Naimi says the companies became "greedy".

He cites praise from his successor, Falih: "By holding his ground, minister al-Naimi was not necessarily protecting Saudi Aramco, he was protecting the kingdom from having substantial value drained away in those transactions."

As Aramco's IPO draws nearer, the issue of value drain will become increasingly relevant.

To cite Naimi: "When the camel goes down, many knives come out. That is an old Arabic proverb. In the mid-1980s the camel was Aramco, the knives were the vested interest of Saudis who viewed us as a symbol of foreign influence and the era of colonialism."

Naimi also defended Saudi Arabia's decision in November 2014 not to cut production to support falling oil prices, saying he would make the same choice again if given the chance.

"I think that was, still is the right decision," he told an audience at Chatham House in London to promote his book.

Naimi said Saudi Arabia had tried and failed to get OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cooperate in stemming falling oil prices.

"I remember asking every OPEC minister, 'will you cut, will you cut, will you cut' and all the answers were 'no'," he said.

"The expectation was 'you, Saudi Arabia, traditionally used to cut'. I said, 'no we don't do that anymore'. That's it."

(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
By Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities said on Friday they had arrested members of two recently emerged militant groups, along with weapons, explosives and evidence that the organizations had been set up by the Muslim Brotherhood. Police detained five leaders and other members of the Hasam Movement and Louwaa al-Thawra, the Interior Ministry said - both groups that have claimed responsibility for assassination attempts on judges, policemen and military officers. There was no immediate comment from either organization or from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which says it is a peaceful movement and accuses the government of abuses. The Brotherhood won Egypt's first free elections after the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. But the Brotherhood leader who became president, Mohamed Mursi, was himself deposed after mass protests against his rule and replaced by the army's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2013. Sisi has since overseen a crackdown on opposition in which hundreds of Brotherhood supporters were killed and thousands, including Mursi, jailed or sentenced to death. Both Hasam - an acronym in Arabic for the Forearms of Egypt Movement which doubles as the word for decisiveness - and Louwaa al-Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, have claimed responsibility for attacks, saying they are taking revenge for the government crackdown. Earlier on Friday, a judge who tried Mursi survived an assassination attempt when a parked car exploded as his vehicle drove by. Hasam claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened other judges. Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat, who referred many Brotherhood leaders to trial, was killed in June 2015 by a car bomb. The Interior Ministry said on Friday it found letters from Brotherhood leaders admitting it carried out the assassination. Also on Friday, a senior Egyptian general was shot dead by militants on Friday near his home in North Sinai where an Islamic State insurgency is raging, the second such incident in as many weeks. Louwaa al-Thawra had claimed responsibility for a similar attack on Oct. 22. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula gained pace after the military overthrew Mursi. Hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. (Additional reporting by Haitham Ahmed; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
SEOUL, South Korea -- A religious cult. A shadowy, shamanistic leader holding sway over the nation's top ruler. Allegations of corruption, influence peddling and political royalty pulling strings to line their pockets.

We've heard this story in South Korea before; it's a classic tale of court intrigue. Except that it's happening now, in 2016, in a country that bills itself as a democracy.

Fifty years ago, in authoritarian South Korea, such allegations may not have even reached newspapers, so deeply did corruption rule post-colonial, postwar South Korea.

But in the South Korea of 2016, President Park Geun-hye's admission that she for years has shared presidential documents with a friend who had no official government position or security clearance touched a nerve. Thousands turned out last weekend in downtown Seoul to vent their anger. Park's approval ratings plunged below 10 percent, and calls for her resignation are growing.

(And let's be honest: Reporters have drooled over the salacious details emerging in connection with said confidante Choi Soon-sil, from her family's cult-like religious empire to the strings she is accused of pulling to amass personal wealth. Foreign media outlets love the "weirdness" of the story. South Korea's hyper-competitive domestic media, meanwhile, have been frighteningly aggressive in out-jostling one another for scoops, calling into the role they are playing in driving the scandal.)

Corruption is nothing new in South Korea, even at the top levels of political leadership. I was AP's Seoul bureau chief when one former South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, committed suicide in 2009 over allegations of corruption.

What's different now? I posed that question this week to my students at Yonsei University, one of South Korea's premier academic institutions. My students feel immense pressure to earn high grades so that they'll be able to land work in an already saturated job market. I was surprised that they put down their books to join the protests that paralyzed downtown Seoul last Saturday.

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And it wasn't just university students. High school students, now cramming for South Korea's notoriously tough college entrance exam, ditched study groups to protest -- a statement of the frustration and despair they feel about the reliability of their country's institutions.

I asked my students what emotion compelled them to join protesters.

"Disappointment."

"Embarrassment."

"Anger."

Disappointment. One student noted that she was born in the democratic era, in the 1990s and had always thought of her country as a full-fledged democracy. She was shaken by speculation over the Rasputin-like role a woman with no political background or security clearance may have played in determining her country's direction.

Her comment reminded me just how young a democracy South Korea is, and how recent its relative wealth. Samsung and Hyundai may be household names now but it wasn't long ago that South Korea was a poor, war-torn nation led by authoritarian leaders. I remember stuffing our suitcases with American instant coffee -- then a luxury in South Korea -- for a visit to see family in Seoul. Today, there is a Starbucks on every corner in downtown Seoul. The lifestyle mocked in "Gangnam Style" is just one generation old, and it is in my students' lifetime that South Korea has gone from "developing" to "developed."

Embarrassment. In the past, it wasn't unusual for Korea's political leaders to consult with a spiritual figure in a nod to the country's shamanistic traditions -- even if you were Christian or Buddhist. Back in the day, it was seen as a traditional rite of passage for politicians consult with a fortune teller.

But my internationally educated Yonsei students find it not only jarring but also profoundly embarrassing that their president is turning to a mystical figure for political guidance. The very element that the foreign media jumped on with glee made them wince. This generation is proud to be South Korean but it is a modern, first world South Korea that they want to represent.

Anger. I can't count the number of times TV stations have shown the clip of Choi's daughter in an equestrian competition. Or of the Prada shoe Choi lost in the media scrum that awaited her at the Seoul prosecutor's office. The horse and the Prada slipper are meant to serve as symbols of greed and wealth that Choi is accused of amassing by peddling her connection to the president in exchange for perks, special treatment and money. (South Korea, it should be noted, recently began enforcing an anti-corruption law that seeks to stamp out graft that has been an entrenched part of business here.)

This scandal is sure to continue for weeks to come -- raising questions about a power vacuum -- as Park seeks to find a way to assuage public anger and fend off calls for her resignation with a Cabinet reshuffle that is sure to anger her political opponents. Her voice shaking, a wan-looking Park apologized to the people on Friday in a televised speech, saying she alone was to blame for "carelessness" in misplacing her trust in an old friend and vowing to allow any investigation into allegations of wrongdoing. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have already launched an investigation into the friend at the center of the crisis.

If there's a silver lining, it might be that South Korea may be forced to come to terms with its complicated relationship with corruption and to rethink its political system. South Korea's economy has developed at warp speed, but many of its social and political mores remain rooted in tradition. What we're watching unfold is the awkwardness that comes with profound change as this society determines which traditions to hold onto, and which to abandon. These are the growing pains of a relatively new democracy. What must emerge is a more robust, more reliable political system, and a leadership that inspires faith among all generations, including my students.

Jean H. Lee is a Seoul-based Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She can be reached via Twitter at www.twitter.com/newsjean.
The South Carolina sheriff investigating the case of a missing woman rescued Thursday after allegedly being chained by her neck inside a metal storage container for two months described her survival as a miracle.

Its only by Gods grace that shes alive, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told reporters at a Thursday press conference. I mean, theres no reason for her to be locked in that cage like a dog for two months.

Kala Brown, 30, and her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, 32 went missing more than two months ago. The couple lived together in Anderson and were last seen leaving a friends home in Anderson, according to the Find Kala and Charlie Facebook page.

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, 45, a registered sex offender and reportedly the owner of the approximately 100-acre property in Woodruff on which the container was found, has been arrested charged with one count of kidnapping in connection with the case, Wright said at the press conference.

Wright said Brown told police she was fed during her alleged captivity.

Acting on information, Wright said officers stormed Kohlhepps land Thursday morning. Not long after, they heard loud banging noises coming from a metal storage container. Officers cut through the padlock and chains securing the container, which was completely enclosed, Wright said.

He said Brown had been chained like a dog.

It was pretty horrible, Wright said, describing the container as 30 feet by 15 feet and about 10 feet high. She was obviously traumatized.

Police recovered several weapons and lots of ammo from s property, Wright alleged. This is tragic that this person was being treated like that, he said. It was pretty emotional when she was found.

Police Fear Serial Killer on Our Hands

Thus far, police have found no sign of Carver on Kohlhepps property, Wright said. Wright said additional charges were probable, depending on what evidence is recovered from Kohlhepps property, which is currently being searched by Spartanburg County Coroners Office, a spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

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We are still looking for Charles David Carver, Wright told reporters, noting that Kala told police soon after being rescued that there might even be four people on this piece of property deceased.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Wright said the investigation is in its early stages that authorities think Kohlhepp could be connected to other crimes, but I cant tell you about any of that at this point. We are trying to make sure we dont have a serial killer on our hands.

Wright said that Kohlhepp is not cooperating with the investigation, and asked for a lawyer as he was being detained.

Kohlhepp is expected to appear in court on Friday, according to NBC. It was not immediately clear if he has retained an attorney.

Wright told reporters that detectives are searching the metal container for signs other victims who may have been held captive inside.

Brown was taken to a medical facility after being found, Wright said.

A week into the couples disappearance, messages appeared on Carvers Facebook page along with an updated profile photo. However, worried friends and family members said Carver was not very active on the social media site, according to the Find Kara and Charlie Facebook page.

The page says the posts are uncharacteristic of ones typically made by Charlie.

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Wright said Brown and Kohlhepp, were acquainted with one another.

A friend of Browns, Leah Miller, told USA Today that Brown began working for Kohlhepp, cleaning houses for him, weeks before she disappeared.




By Bernardo Vizcaino

Nov 4 (Reuters) - The investment arm of the Sichuan provincial government has hired four banks to help raise $300 million via Islamic bonds, the first such deal from a Chinese state-owned company, according to the firm advising on the deal.

The five-year sukuk will be raised through the leasing arm of Sichuan Development Holding Co (SDH) and is expected to be completed in the next two months, said Bobby Tay, an advisor for Singapore-based Silk Routes Financials.

SDH is the largest public-sector entity in terms of total assets in Sichuan Province, with consolidated assets of around 600 billion yuan ($88.7 billion). In September, SDH was given an A- rating by Fitch Ratings with a stable outlook.

CIMB, Standard Chartered, Bank of China and Bank of China International have been hired to arrange the transaction, with proceeds to be used for the acquisition of sharia compliant assets in mainland China.

The sukuk will be issued via a special purpose vehicle in Singapore and use an Islamic cost-plus profit arrangement known as murabaha.

While murabaha sukuk are not be tradeable, the transaction could help pave the way for other Chinese companies to consider sukuk as an alternative funding option, said Tay, also chief strategy officer of Sabana Shariah Compliant Industrial REIT.

The sukuk will include credit enhancement features and be listed in Singapore, with listing in other regional exchanges also being considered, Tay said. ($1 = 6.7610 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Thinking about the day after. With time running out on his tenure at the White House, President Barack Obama will soon hand off his foreign policy legacy to the judgments of historians and the maneuvers of the next administration.

But before that happens, FP staffers write in an in-depth look at the state of play of Obamas legacy-building attempts as he heads into 2017, the White House is hellbent on completing an ambitious to-do list that will face a considerable head wind in Congress. The aim is to push forward policies Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wont have the political capital to deliver if she wins the White House on Nov. 8. Or, alternatively, in the event of a victory by Republican nominee Donald Trump, to cement as many initiatives as possible before he takes office and throws out diplomatic and security priorities currently in place. Either way, Obamas legacy is at stake.

Top of mind, Iraq. One of the big items is how Iraq will look in 2017. Iraqi Special Operations troops fought their way deeper into the eastern part of Mosul on Friday, as thousands of civilians began streaming out of the embattled Islamic State stronghold. The Washington Posts reporters on the ground send back a dispatch describing the flow out of the city, and the stiff resistance the Iraqi forces are facing in the six new neighborhoods they have entered. The Wall Street Journal also says that Iraqi forces are approaching the southern outskirts of the city.

FP contributor Belkis Wille has been talking to some of those who have fled Mosul, and reports that thousands of men and boys have already been detained indefinitely by Iraqi security forces under vague allegations of being affiliated with the Islamic State. I have met with families of a small number of men being held; none of them had heard from their loved ones who, in most cases, had no idea where they were being held.

Making peace after the peace. That gets to the next problem in Iraq: trying to forge some sort of political reconciliation between distrustful Sunni and Shiite populations. The New York Times Tim Arango reports from northern Iraq that even a decisive military victory over ISIS in Mosul will not change the political dynamics on the ground that made the group an attractive option for some Sunnis who distrust the Shiite-led government.

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Not only are there fears that another Sunni insurgency could rise after the Islamic State is beaten, but there also seems to be little beyond this immediate military campaign to unite the profoundly differing factions that have temporarily come together to fight the militants  government forces, Sunni tribesmen, Kurds, local Yazidis and Christians, and Iran-backed militias. Each has a different endgame in mind.

Over the border. In Syria, FPs Paul McLeary reports, the Pentagon and its allies are struggling to explain what next steps in the fight against ISIS are. While Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently said the assault on Raqqa would begin in the next several weeks, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Col. John Dorrian, noted Thursday that right now, I dont think that all the forces that will be involved in that liberation force for Raqqa have been trained.

While there are 30,000 anti-ISIS militia fighters ready to move on Raqqa, ethnic Kurds make up about two-thirds of that force. Thats a problem not only for Raqqas Arab population, who have sparred with Kurds for generations, but also for Turkey, a critical ally who flatly rejects Kurdish participation in the battle.

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

Anonymous intelligence sources tell Reuters that they believe Russia is trying to seed fake documents into the flood tide of hacked emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Sen. Tom Carper (D-De.) asked the FBI to investigate a letter printed on his senate letterhead reportedly telling Clinton We will not let you lose this election. Carper says the letter is forged and Reuters reports that the FBI has found other apparent fakes as it canvassed Democratic officials to verify the authenticity of purportedly private documents in its possession.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and the publisher of a number of hacked emails from the Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, pushed back against the idea that the data came from Russia on Thursday. Assange told the Russian-owned broadcaster RT that we can say that the Russian government is not the source of the hacked emails. In a separate statement, WikiLeaks wrote that the sources of the emails and documents it published were not state parties. Cybersecurity firms such as Crowdstrike and SecureWorks have attributed the breaches into the Democratic National Committee to Russian intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security and and Director of National Intelligence issues a joint statement concluding the same, writing that the publication of hacked emails on WikiLeaks and other sites is consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.

South Korea

The Pentagon is moving a little more slowly than we had thought in deploying a key missile defense system to South Korea, an official with U.S. Forces-Korea told Reuters on Friday. The U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system wont be deployed to South Korea for another eight to 10 months, the official said. Washington and Seoul had agreed to the deployment earlier this year to counter North Korean missile threats, but the announcement also angered China, who worries that the systems powerful radar can see into its territory.

Zhuhai

Chinas J-20 stealth fighter jet was the belle of the ball at the Zhuhai air show, but it wasnt the only piece of hardware on display. PopSci rounds up some of the more notable aircraft appearances. China also showed off its J-10B medium fighter and an H-6K bomber, which has made poignant appearances over disputed territory in the South China Sea this year. In the rotary wing category, China showed off its Z-10K attack chopper for the first time and the Z-19E light attack helicopter decked out with new anti-tank missiles. The Z-11WB scout chopper, however, offered the unique ability to drop folded-up SW-6 drones to carry out surveillance around the aircraft while in flight.

Syria

How many militiamen does Iran control in Syria? Twenty five thousand, according the head of the Israeli Knessets foreign affairs and defense committee, Avi Dichter. Dichter said that the majority of fighters for Iranian-organized Shia militias in Syria come from Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Reuters. Iran controls two militias, the Fatemiyoun and Zeynabiyoun brigades, which recruit Afghan and Pakistani Shia, respectively, to fight in Syria. Dichter also claimed that the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has lost 1,800 fighters since its involvement in the Syrian war but has improved its skills at conventional warfare in the process.

Iraq

Iraqi forces have reported a second incident involving an Islamic State drone laden with explosives. Sky News reports that Iraqs Brigadier General Haider Fadhi made brief mention of an incident involving the suicide drones. Fadhi said Iraqi security forces had already downed two explosive drones near Mosul. In October, two Iraqi Peshmerga troops were killed when an explosive drone made by the Islamic State detonated as they were disassembling it. The Defense Department has sent counter-drone equipment like Battelle DroneDefender rifle and an unspecified Air Force system to guard against the threat.

Spy vs Spy

If you connected to the wifi at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva during the diplomatic talks over Irans nuclear program, please deposit your laptop or phone directly into the trash. The Guardian reports that Swiss prosecutors have opened an investigation into who infected several computers at the hotel with malware during the 2015 nuclear negotiations with Iran. Prosecutors in Switzerland believe an intelligence service may have distributed the malicious software in order to spy on the talks. Investigators in Vienna have opened a similar case looking into allegations of eavesdropping during the diplomatic talks held there.

Photo credit: Ahmet Izgi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Police in Menomonie, Wisconsin, are still searching for a motive or suspect in the fatal beating this week of a Saudi Arabian college student, which has shaken his community.

Hussain Saeed Alnahdi  the nicest guy, friends say, and one of dozens of Saudi-born students on campus  had been out with friends about 2 a.m. Sunday night when he was attacked outside a pizza restaurant, authorities say.

He was rushed to the hospital in nearby Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he died on Monday.

But who killed the 24-year-old student who was studying English and business administration at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and who one former teacher described as very popular, very well liked?

As of Friday morning, no one has been charged in the attack, and there is no known motive.

Police havent even released a comprehensive description of the person or persons responsible for the crime. In an email to The New York Times, police commander Todd Swartz said that witnesses described a 6-foot-tall white man as a possible suspect.

An Unclear Motive: People Who Knew Him Loved Him

The University of Wisconsin-Stout is a 9,600-member campus with about 150 Saudi-born students, many of whom were reportedly drawn to the school for its organic reputation as a welcoming environment. Alnahdi himself reportedly immigrated from Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and was Muslim.

Police are unsure whether he was targeted for his nationality or religion.

The motivation of the offender is unknown at this time, Swartz told NBC News. It cant be confirmed at this time whether this was a hate crime.

Though the FBI is not involved, the State Department said it is in touch with the Saudi Embassy, according to NBC.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Alnahdis friends are baffled. He didnt have any enemies that I know of, classmate Kara Ellis tells PEOPLE. He was just the nicest guy. Very quiet. I never saw him get in trouble with anyone.

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I dont know what happened, and I dont want to speculate, but I think that this was random, because people who knew him loved him. (Alnahdis family, who reportedly lives outside the U.S., could not be reached by PEOPLE.)

Alnahdis roommate, and one of his closest friends, said he always had a smile on his face and and made an effort to put a smile on the face of others, according to NBC.

The universitys chancellor, Bob Meyer, released a statement pledging cooperation with law enforcement and offering condolences to those who knew Alnahdi.

Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to Hussains family in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and his friends at UW-Stout, Meyer said.

While friends come to terms with Alnahdis sudden death, authorities continue to investigate. The city of Menomonie has offered a reward of $20,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

The first feeling I had was embarrassment for the town, one longtime resident and former university teacher told NBC News. Menomonie is not this kind of place, and I cant imagine this would happen here. We are all still in shock, and our hearts are heavy.

And a local coffee shop manager said, according to NBC, The visceral reaction is that this is not us. It makes you think, Is this who we really are and who we want to be? And I hope for most of us the answer is no.

In his statement, Chancellor Meyer urged witnesses to come forward.

If you or anyone you know has any shred of information about what happened shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday in front of Toppers Pizza, please call Menomonie police investigator Kelly Pollock at 715-231-8511, he said. Anonymous information can be submitted at 855-847-3866 or at Crime Stoppers.




Donald Trump has trashed-talked Senator John McCain, who as a POW was tortured during the Vietnam War.

He has skipped a GOP primary debate before the Iowa caucuses, instead holding a fund-raising event for vets. Then the money he raised had to be pried out of his small hands.

He has said he knows more about ISIS than the generals.

Related: Is Trump Pulling Ahead? Heres What the Polls Are Really Saying

He has called the American military a disaster.

He has accepted a Purple Heart awarded to one of his supporters, saying he always wanted one  as if a medal for getting wounded in battle were the Flexible Flyer he didnt get for Christmas in 1950.

He has been at war with the Muslim parents of Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 as he cautioned his men to stand back while he moved to examine a suspicious vehicle. It was a car bomb.

He has said he learned all about being a soldier when he was sent to a military-themed boarding school because he was a badly behaved boy.

And yet, as The New York Times reports , the man of the people who called in sick to the Vietnam draft while getting five deferments counts military veterans  many of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan  as his most loyal supporters.

Why would an overweight Twitter jockey who couldnt low-crawl on his belly under barbed wire if he wanted to or pilot anything more complicated than a Cadillac Escalade appeal to Americas former fighting men and women?

Its simple: They resent having been sent cavalierly to fight again and again in senseless conflicts that dont leave them proud, just exhausted and broken.

Related: Trump Uses Vets as Backdrop for Hotel Pitch

Politicians like to puff out their chests, pledge allegiance and wrap themselves in the Stars and Stripes when veterans are mentioned, but it usually seems like a drill you learn at snag-a-vote school  along with phony smiling, hand pumping and talking out of both sides of your mouth.

But if the personally bellicose Trump can be taken seriously about anything, its that he doesnt want to be a war president, that he doesnt want America to be the worlds sentry, that he doesnt want to send troops into harms way with abandon.

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In this election year, no candidate other than Bernie Sanders has talked more forcefully about not getting involved in foreign adventures than Trump. And in some ways, he has gone further, suggesting  sometimes ham-handedly or even frighteningly -- that countries defend themselves, or at least pay for their own defense.

The media has played gotcha! with him over his claim that he never supported the invasion of Iraq, trotting out a half-hearted endorsement of the war in a passing moment during an interview with Howard Stern in 2002.

But he wasnt a senator who got a briefing and voted against the war, like Sanders -- or a senator who got a briefing and authorized the war, like Hillary Clinton.

Related: The Navy Commissions Its Super Stealthy $4.4 Billion Destroyer

If middle and upper-class Americans are surprised that those who defend them are turning to Trump, thats understandable: The all-volunteer enlisted men and women have become an easily ignored underclass with whom many people never have much contact.

The Times story Thursday examining why so many veterans are backing Trump pointed out that less than 1 percent of Americans serve their country these days.

For all its faults, a conscripted military was more representative of the nation because it included soldiers, sailors and Marines from all backgrounds, ethnicities and economic circumstances. Sure, the wealthier were always better able to come up with ways to avoid the draft, but it didnt always work.

Now instead of being an army of your sons and daughters or the children of your relatives, friends and co-workers, the military is made up of hired guns who dont have the same connection to the population at large. They are our national bodyguards. We trust them to protect us. We honor their service. But at the end of the day, the sorry truth is we treat them as expendable.

It is fair to ask if George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would have been as quick to start the Iraq War and commit troops to a dangerous mission far from home if those soldiers were draftees.

With an all-volunteer military, the danger of a political blowback is significantly lower, and so the temptation to play cowboy with other peoples lives is much higher.

In Clinton, many of those who have been grunts on the ground no doubt see yet another politician who could have an itchy trigger finger and who already made one wrong decision about going to war.

In Trump, if they take him at his very dodgy word, they see an outsider who says he wants to strengthen the military enormously but keep American troops out of conflicts that dont threaten national security. He has also promised to upgrade the care that former soldiers are getting from a still-troubled Veterans Administration.

Trump has said to another group of Americans: What the hell have you got to lose?

Surely a lot of veterans backing him have asked that question of themselves.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
By Arno Schuetze and Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Solvay has attracted buyout groups Blackstone and Platinum Equity as suitors of its Acetow unit and is also short-listing bidders for its nylon business as the Belgian chemicals group shifts its focus to high-tech materials, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Acetow, a maker of cellulose acetate tow mainly used in cigarettes filters, had 542 million euros ($601 million) in sales last year, down 16 percent. Final bids are due Nov. 14, one of the people said, adding Blackstone was seen as a front runner in the auction.

Suitors for the nylon business include petrochemicals group Ineos, investor Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries and several buyout firms including Apollo, Advent, Bain, SK Capital and Triton.

Solvay, Ineos, Blackstone, Bain and Advent declined to comment. Officials at the other bidders were not immediately available for comment.

($1 = 0.9011 euros) (Additional reporting by Claire Ruckin in London; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
* Blackstone, Platinum interested in Acetow unit - sources

* Ineos, Access Industries among nylon unit suitors-sources

* Part of Solvay's push to focus on high-tech materials (Adds details on businesses for sale, Solvay's overhaul)

By Arno Schuetze and Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Solvay has attracted buyout groups Blackstone and Platinum Equity as suitors for its Acetow unit and is also short-listing bidders for its nylon business, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the Belgian chemicals group shifts its focus to high-tech materials.

Acetow, a maker of cellulose acetate tow mainly used in cigarettes filters, made 542 million euros ($601 million) in sales last year, down 16 percent. Final bids are due Nov. 14, one of the people said, adding Blackstone was seen as a front runner in the auction.

Solvay's polyamides unit, in turn, is one of the world's largest makers of nylon, a heat resistant engineering plastic also known as polyamide 66 for various uses such as textiles, engine air ducts and cooling fans. It had sales of 1.45 billion euros last year.

As part of a push by CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu to focus on more innovative products, Solvay last year bought Cytec Industries, a maker of carbon-fibre reinforced materials, for $5.5 billion.

"Solvay's portfolio is broad and relatively complex. This absorbs management time at a critical juncture for the group as the newly acquired assets from Cytec are integrated," Barclays analysts said in a note in August, welcoming the expected divestments.

UBS analysts said earlier this year the Acetow and polyamide businesses could fetch a combined 2.1 billion euros.

Suitors for the nylon business include petrochemicals group Ineos, investor Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries and several buyout firms including Apollo, Advent, Bain, SK Capital and Triton, people close to the matter said.

Solvay, Ineos, Blackstone, Bain and Advent declined to comment. Officials at the other companies were not immediately available for comment.

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Next week, Solvay will shortlist suitors for the second round of bidding, two people close to the matter said.

Due to a joint venture in precursor materials, Solvay first offered the business to Lycra maker Invista earlier this year, but no deal resulted from those talks.

Invista, a former DuPont business now held by Koch Industries, co-owns the Butachimie venture with Solvay, jointly producing precursor materials for polyamide 66.

A new owner of the Solvay business will have to deal with Invista shielding its technology know-how, which might favour financial investors over industry players, two of the sources said.

Solvay, Invista and SK Capital's Ascend Performance Materials are the largest producers of polyamide 66.

Reuters reported in June that Solvay was pressing ahead with the sale of the two businesses. nL8N19F2VJ]

The functional polymers division, of which polyamide 66 is by far the largest component, had adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 141 million last year.

One of the sources said debt financing of more than 800 million euros for the buyer was currently being prepared, based on forecast annual EBITDA of 181 million euros.

($1 = 0.9011 euros) (Additional reporting by Claire Ruckin in London; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Mark Potter)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group remains capable of launching large-scale attacks despite claims that the insurgency is weakening, a UN report warned Friday.

The Islamist group carried out six sophisticated hotel attacks in Mogadishu from November 2015 to June of this year, the report by UN sanctions monitors said.

"Contrary to prevailing narratives of successful counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts, the monitoring group assesses that the security situation has not improved in Somalia," they said.

The Shabaab group "represents the most immediate threat to peace and security in Somalia and continues to be a destabilizing force in the broader East and Horn of Africa region," they added in the report sent to the Security Council earlier this week.

While the jihadists have not launched a major attack outside Somalia since the 2015 massacre at Kenya's Garissa University, the group "retains both the capability to carry out another such attack and a self-proclaimed motive with regard to targeting countries contributing troops to AMISOM," they said.

The African Union's AMISOM force in Somalia includes mostly troops from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Burundi.

After a bomb concealed in a laptop exploded on a Daallo airlines flight in February, the monitors warned that the Shabaab were resorting to more sophisticated tactics targeting aircraft.

They cited indications that the Islamists are "likely to have had external assistance in the construction of the device," but those findings were detailed in a separate strictly confidential annex to the report.

- Assassinating leaders -

Allied to Al-Qaeda since 2012, the Shabaab controlled Mogadishu for several years until it was pushed out in 2011. But the extremist group continues to fight to overthrow the Western-backed government.

A series of drone strikes and raids that killed at least three senior Shabaab leaders may have failed to have a serious impact on the Islamist group, the UN report said.

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"Al-Shabaab possesses a robust and ideologically committed 'middle management' capable of seamlessly stepping into positions vacated by assassinated senior leaders," it added.

After the council slapped a ban on charcoal exports, a major source of Shabaab funding, the insurgents turned to the illicit sugar trade and "taxation" of agricultural production.

The Shabaab derive up to $18 million a year in revenue from checkpoints demanding payment from trucks carrying sugar, according to the report.

It cited a Somali intelligence estimate that some $9.5 million go into Shabaab coffers per year from taxing agricultural production.

The report criticized the Somali government for failing to pay soldiers' salaries, which led to withdrawals from areas in the south and center of the country that allowed Shabaab forces to return.

It cited continued corruption and a likely misappropriation of funds and supplies intended for soldiers, some of which came from outside countries.

Attacks on AMISOM have continued, the report said, including a deadly twin truck bombing of a Kenyan military compound in January that left some 150 soldiers.
From Delish

UPDATED POST: Nov. 3, 2016 at 7:33 p.m. EST

Kansas State University student Hunter Jobbins got sweet, sweet revenge after someone broke into his car to steal a Kit-Kat last week. After a photo of the robber's note went viral, snagging more than 180,000 retweets and 480,000 likes, as well as inspiring several memes, Kit-Kat stepped in, offering to replace his stolen treat. And then some.

Photo credit: Kit-Kat/Hershey's

The company stuffed his car with 6,500 Kit-Kat bars, according to a representative for the brand. Rather than backstroke through his sea of chocolates, Scrooge McDuck-style, Jobbins turned it into a candy free-for-all, inviting students-and anyone around-to grab a bar.

ORIGINAL POST: Oct. 31, 2016 at 3:20 p.m. EST

I'm the type of person that when I see food lying around-I want it. It doesn't matter if I'm actually hungry, or if it's even an appropriate time to eat that food (do I want a piece of chocolate cake at 10 a.m.? Hell yeah, I do). If it's there, uneaten, and looks at least mildly appetizing, that animalistic instinct kicks it and it is mine. So I can totally relate to the sentiment of this handwritten note that's going viral.

Kansas State University student Hunter Jobbins had his car broken into over the weekend, and as crappy as that sounds, the reason why is actually pretty hilarious. Apparently the burglar saw a Kit-Kat bar in the cup holder, found the car unlocked, and went in for the candy. He didn't take anything else, though, or like vandalize the car or anything cray-he just needed his chocolate wafer fix. And had the balls to admit it. Guess there's no such thing as going too far when candy is involved.

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Left my car for maybe 15 minutes in front of the dorms and I come back to this. College man pic.twitter.com/KlDx5BtXLX - Hunter Jobbins (@jabbins) October 30, 2016

Jobbins Tweeted out a photo of the note that the Kit-Kat thief left, and naturally, it's getting shared like crazy. It's already popped up on several Instagram meme accounts, and has been retweeted more than79,000 times and liked over 200,000 times.

Moral of the story: Never leave your car unlocked when there are valuables inside.

Follow Delish on Instagram.

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A South Carolina woman has been found alive after being held captive inside a metal storage container at a property in Woodruff, South Carolina, local authorities confirmed on Thursday.

Kala Brown, 30, of Anderson County was found over two months after she went missing on Aug. 31. Police found Brown chained inside the container like a dog, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told NBC-WYFF. The owner of the property, Todd Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender, was taken into custody and will be charged with kidnapping.

According to Wright, Brown said she had been held in the container for two months with a chain around her neck. It was by the grace of God that she was found alive, he told reporters, adding that there could be four bodies still on the property. Were trying to make sure we dont have a serial killer on our hands.

On Thursday morning, officers heard loud banging noises coming from the metal storage container while they were searching Kohlhepps property, after receiving a tip about a sex crime. Also on the 100-acre property were various weapons, ammunition and Browns car and cell phone in the parking lot.

Though Brown was found alive, her boyfriend Charlie Carver  who disappeared around the same time  remains missing.

Browns friend told police that she had dinner with her on Aug. 29 at her apartment, then spoke to Brown the next day before all form of communication stopped the day she disappeared.

Brown was taken to a medical facility after being found. The search for Carver is continuing.
By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe SEOUL (Reuters) - A tearful and apologetic South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday her "heart was breaking" over a political scandal that has engulfed her administration, pledging to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation. Park has been rocked by an influence peddling scandal involving an old friend, sending her approval rating to just 5 percent, a 12 percentage point drop from last week and the lowest since such polling began in 1988, according to a Gallup poll released on Friday. In a brief televised address to journalists, Park said that prosecutors should clarify what happened and that everyone involved should be held accountable, including herself, and take responsibility if found guilty. "It is hard to forgive myself and sleep at night with feelings of sorrow," Park, 64, said, her voice trembling. A prosecution official declined to comment to Reuters when asked if Park would be subject to investigators' questioning, which would be a first for a sitting South Korean president. The leader of the main opposition party said Park's apology was insincere. "The president should remove her hands from state affairs," Choo Mi-ae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said in a statement, stopping short of demanding Park's resignation. Park has faced growing pressure from the public and political opponents to resign. No South Korean president has ever failed to finish their five-year term. A group of civic organisations has planned a large street protest for Saturday evening demanding that Park step down. A former Park aide, Jeong Ho-seong, was arrested late on Thursday on suspicion of leaking classified information, a prosecution official told Reuters, the second member of Park's former inner circle of advisers to be arrested this week. Prosecutors asked a court to grant an arrest warrant for another former adviser, An Chong-bum, on suspicion of abuse of power and attempted extortion, a prosecutor said, declining to elaborate. An has been under emergency detention since Wednesday. OLD FRIEND Park's long-time friend, Choi Soon-sil, 60, is alleged to have used her closeness to the president to meddle in state affairs, and her lawyer has said he expects prosecutors to look into whether she inappropriately received classified documents and benefited unlawfully from two non-profit organisations. "It is very miserable and regrettable that a particular individual is said to have taken profits and committed several unlawful acts, while we are working on a job in hopes of helping the national economy and people's lives," Park said, referring to Choi. Park closed her remarks with a bow and walked towards a row of journalists and repeated her apology. She did not take questions. "I think she'll manage to regain a bit of sympathy from the people who used to like her, but the speech itself was not enough to fix the crisis at hand," said Kim Man-heum, head of the Korea Academy of Politics and Leadership, a research organisation. Park acknowledged carelessness in her ties with Choi, who Park has said helped her through difficult times. "It is true that I lowered the wall of caution myself because she stood by me in the most difficult period in my life," Park said. "I've already cut all the connections in my heart but from now on will completely break my private connections." Their friendship dates to an era when Park served as acting first lady after her mother was killed by an assassin's bullet intended for her father, then-president Park Chung-hee. Five years later, in 1979, Park's father was murdered by his disgruntled spy chief. REJECTS CULT CLAIMS Choi, who has been in custody since Monday, told South Korea's Segye Ilbo newspaper last week that she received drafts of Park's speeches after Park's election victory but denied she had access to other official material, influenced state affairs or benefited financially. Choi's late father, Choi Tae-min, headed a now-defunct religious sect and was also close to Park during and after her father's presidency. A 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable described the senior Choi as the "Korean Rasputin", an allusion to a close adviser to the last tsar of Russia and the perceived influence over Park Geun-hye. Choi Soon-sil has been portrayed in Korean media as having inherited her father's influence over Park, while local media have also characterised Choi Tae-min's religious group as a cult and alleged that Park held a shamanistic ritual at the presidential compound. Park rejected those allegations. "There is even talk that I fell into a cult or I held a shamanistic ritual at the Blue House," she said. "I am saying clearly: none of this is true." (Reporting by Tony Munroe, Ju-min Park, Christine Kim and Se Young Lee; Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Claire Milhench

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have made progress in transparency and accountability since 2007, but many still fall short of what the citizens of their country or the international community should expect, according to a think-tank study.

The paper, authored by Sarah Stone and Edwin Truman under the auspices of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, assessed 60 funds and nine government pension funds, then scored them on elements such as governance, structure, transparency, accountability and behaviour.

The average score for the 60 SWFs was 62 percent while the government pension fund average score was 87 percent, according to the study, whose results were released on Friday.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Norway's $888 billion SWF topped the scoreboard, followed by New Zealand's Super Fund, with scores of 98 percent and 94 percent respectively. But Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ came fourth with a score of 92 percent, and two Chilean funds also made the top 10.

"One often hears that SWFs from emerging market and developing countries are non-transparent and consequently not as accountable ... The scoreboard results refute this generalisation," the authors wrote.

Many funds have substantially improved their scores over the decade since the first scoreboard, with the 33 funds assessed in in 2007 raising their average score from 51 to 67 percent.

The authors suggested the growing influence of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) may have played a part in this, through the development of the Santiago Principles, which were designed to promote good governance, accountability, transparency and prudent investment practices.

They highlighted Nigeria's Sovereign Investment Authority, which as a new IFSWF member increased its score by 58 percentage points to 76 percent between the third scoreboard, published in 2013, and the latest.

They also noted that members of IFSWF in general ranked more highly on the SWF scoreboard.

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However, they added that one might have expected more improvement from the funds that scored below 80 percent in 2007.

Nine of these 21 funds recorded less than double-digit improvements by 2015, including the UAE's Istithmar World and Russia's National Welfare and Reserve Fund.

Equatorial Guinea's Fund for Future Generations was at the bottom of the table, scoring 11 percent, while Istithmar World scored 23 percent, alongside the Libyan Investment Authority.

"A large number of funds fall short of what the citizens of their countries or the international community should expect from these funds, in particular the large funds, with regard to their transparency and accountability," the authors wrote.

(Reporting by Claire Milhench; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Dubai (AFP) - After a string of high-profile setbacks for rocket programmes aimed at one day flying paying customers into space, a Spanish tech firm plans to send stargazers skyward using gas-filled balloons.

Barcelona-based Zero2Infinity aims to harness the same technology used in helium weather balloons to float its first clients to the edge of space within two years, according to CEO Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales.

"We are solving the problem with space access in a totally different way. We're getting outside of the atmosphere using cheap, clean, high-altitude balloons -- a technology that is well-understood and mature," he told AFP at the World Space Risk Forum in Dubai.

"From there, the possibilities are endless."

At a cost of 110,000 euros (around $122,000), the trip to the stratosphere will not be cheap, but Mariano believes there will be a big market for people interested in experiencing a few hours as an astronaut.

"Some people want to provide connectivity so we will launch their satellites," he said. "Some people want to get married up there, so we will send them on a ride and the captain of the ship will marry them."

Founded seven years ago, the company has already done over 30 test flights using prototypes to demonstrate the technology.

A number of setbacks have hit other bids to achieve regular passenger space travel in recent years.

In 2014, British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceship -- intended to take tourists to the edge of space -- broke up on a test flight, killing a pilot and delaying the firm's space-tourism goals.

In February this year, Virgin Galactic unveiled a new commercial spaceship but underscored that commercial space flights would not be available until it was satisfied it could carry them out safely.

SpaceX, a privately-funded initiative planning to launch a human mission to Mars by 2024, has suffered accidents in testing, most recently when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad in September.

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But with balloons, Lopez-Urdiales insisted, the dangers are dramatically minimised.

"You don't have all the explosion risks associated with rockets and you don't have the high-speed re-entry risk," he said.

"We don't even go above the speed of sound."

- 'Affordable, safe' -

Zero2Infinity is one of a number of companies eyeing new methods of low-cost, high-altitude flights to the edge of space.

US-based company World View Enterprises also plans to float tourists using pressurised pods attached to helium balloons. It believes it can begin as soon as next year.

Lopez-Urdiales said his firm first plans to launch satellites into orbit from their balloons, releasing the devices from beneath the balloon canopy.

Human flights will follow, carrying passengers in a futuristic pod providing unparallelled views of the curvature of the Earth, as well as surrounding stars and planets set against the blackness of space.

"You can provide the visual experience that astronauts have," he said.

Rising to height of around 40 kilometres (25 miles), or three times the altitude of passenger jets, the flight will take between five and six hours -- "more than enough to really remember the experience", he added.

Lopez-Urdiales said his firm is considering launching balloon flights from Dubai as well as other Gulf destinations.

"We think both launching satellites and launching space tourists is going to be an activity that creates a lot of wealth and a lot of prestige for the location where this happens," he said.

"That's one of the reasons why we think Dubai and (the Gulf) are a good place to come to."

A growing tourist destination, the United Arab Emirates said last year it was pressing ahead with plans to send the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.

In 2014, the UAE government said its investments in space technologies topped 20 billion dirhams ($5.4 billion, 4.8 billion euros).

Lopez-Urdiales said that the technology for balloon space flights has existed for decades.

"We just want to make it affordable and safe for as many people as possible," he said.
Madrid (AFP) - Spain's new government said Friday it was confident it will respect the public deficit targets it has agreed with the European Commission.

Madrid has vowed to reduce its deficit from 5.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 to 4.6 percent this year and 3.1 percent in 2017.

"We are confident that we will meet the goal of 4.6 percent of GDP and of 3.1 percent for next year," government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said after the first cabinet meeting of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's new government.

"All of the variables analysed by the economy ministry as well as the finance ministry point in this direction," he added.

Rajoy's caretaker government had sent a draft 2017 budget to Brussels which included a forecast that the public deficit would come in at 3.6 percent next year.

But the European Commission ordered Madrid to lower the deficit down to 3.1 percent, which will require roughly 5.5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in budget cuts.

Rajoy, in power since December 2011, kept Luis de Guindos as economy minister and Cristobal Montoro as finance minister in his new cabinet which he presented Thursday.

His conservative Popular Party won a parliamentary confidence vote on october 29, taking power after two indecisive elections that led to 10 months of political paralysis.

But this time around Rajoy will have a minority government. With just 137 lawmakers out of 350 in the lower house on his side, it will be hard for him to win approval for austerity measures.
Pastor Paul Chappell of the Baptist Church in Lancaster California offers the relaunch of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast; the program is focused on practical and insightful ministry leadership instruction

LANCASTER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 4, 2016 / Lancaster Baptist Church and Pastor Paul Chappell are pleased to announce that they have launched a free podcast based on insightful and practical ministry leadership training and instruction. The new program is titled, "The Spiritual Leadership Podcast" and draws from the three decades of ministry experience accrued by Dr. Chappell. The spiritual podcast is the most recent in a lengthy series of resources for those in ministry leadership roles. With more than three decades in the ministry, Dr. Chappell wants to use his experience to strengthen fellow laborers in the field.

"The Spiritual Leadership Podcast" launched September 15, 2016. The first episode, "Is Your Motivation Style Demotivating?" deals with four types of motivation that Dr. Chappell characterizes as "unhealthy and unscriptural." The episode outlines four healthy and scriptural types of motivation. Dr. Chappell will use the podcast to be an interactive tool for listeners to submit questions and topics. In future episodes of the podcast, Chappell will dedicate time to addressing those submitted questions and topics.

Paul Chappell is the pastor of Lancaster Baptist located in Lancaster, California, which is one of the largest Baptist churches in the United States. Dr. Chappell is the author of more than a dozen books, devotionals, and training curricula as well as his blog at paulchappell.com. He has also founded ministry127.com, an online resource website for ministry leaders.

Dr. Chappell is also the founder and President of West Coast Baptist College, a Bible college offering graduate and undergraduate degrees for men and women seeking to serve vocationally in full-time Christian work in such roles as pastors, assistant pastors, missionaries, evangelists and Christian educators.

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Dr. Chappell was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, received early schooling in Northern California, and attended high school in Seoul, South Korea. He enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pastoral Theology in 1983. While attending college, he founded and pastored Seaside Baptist Church near Indio, California. Chappell furthered his education by receiving a Master of Arts degree from Louisiana Baptist University in Shreveport, Louisiana.

He was called to Lancaster Church in 1986 by its twelve members. The church was in foreclosure and could offer no pastoral salary, however, over the past thirty years, the congregation has grown from an average attendance of twenty to become one of the largest Baptist churches in the country. Today, the church occupies eighty-three acres of land and has built several multimillion-dollar buildings. The church annually gives more than one million dollars to missionaries worldwide.

Learn more about the podcasts by visiting www.PaulChappell.com

For more information, please visit http://www.PaulChappell.com

Contact Info:

Name: Jeremy Lofgren

Organization: Lancaster Baptist Church

Address: 4020 E. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster, CA 93535

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VGjoIYJQp8

SOURCE: Lancaster Baptist Church
From Delish

While the new red cup doesn't come out for another week, Starbucks released a brand new holiday drink that might be as controversial as those cups. Instead of introducing another warm and cozy beverage like the peppermint mocha or eggnog latte (don't worry, you can still get those), this year's new drink is cold.

Meet the Spiced Sweet Cream Narino 70 Cold Brew.

Photo credit: Starbucks

If you live in Phoenix or Las Vegas (or you're the kind of person who drinks iced coffee year round), this is great news. But if you live in a place where it actually gets cold in the winter, we don't blame you for being a little bit miffed. However, while the Spiced Sweet Cream Narino 70 Cold Brew may not scream CHRISTMAS!!! like a gingerbread latte does, we can't deny that a cup of cold brew spiced with cinnamon, anise, nutmeg and vanilla and finished with sweet cream sounds delicious and festive.

However, as we previously reported, there ARE still warm holiday favorites to look forward to. Hello, Caramel Brulee Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, Eggnog Latte, Gingerbread Latte and Peppermint Mocha. Which begs the question, did we need a cold option for this coldest of seasons? Perhaps not, but Starbucks-obsessives will no doubt still want to try the new drink for themselves.

Starbucks Rewards members can get an early taste of the new drink starting today, November 3, and everyone else can get their hands on it at stores in the U.S. and Canada later in November.

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New York (AFP) - Top names in music including Bruce Springsteen and Robert Plant declared themselves "not afraid" in a video released Thursday to support efforts to tackle the world's refugee crisis.

Nigerian reggae star Majek Fashek donated his upbeat song "We Are Not Afraid" for the fund-raising drive of International Rescue Committee and Human Rights Watch.

A video for the song features dozens of celebrities who hold up signs that read "Not Afraid," mostly in still photos.

Other artists in the video include Sting, Peter Gabriel, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith and -- in a rare appearance wearing a shirt -- Iggy Pop.

Among non-musicians on the video are actors Robert De Niro and Susan Sarandon.

"The idea for 'We Are Not Afraid' resulted from the increasing senseless violence experienced by citizens of this world," said Steve Weitzman, a veteran New York music promoter behind the project.

In an introduction on the video, Weitzman said the initiative aimed to "make a difference by bringing awareness to the issues and organizations dedicated to helping the victims."

Proceeds from the song -- available on major streaming sites and on YouTube at https://youtu.be/FKHoI9z_RO4 -- will go to the two New York-based organizations, both on the forefront of humanitarian crises.

Europe has been witnessing a historic influx of migrants fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries. At least 110 migrants were feared drowned in the latest tragedy Wednesday as their ship overturned after setting off from Libya.
By Temesghen Debesai LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A ginger tabby cat called Bob brought the plight of Britain's homeless to the big screen on Thursday as new figures estimated the number of children living on the streets or in temporary accommodation this Christmas would hit a nine-year high. The film "A Street Cat Named Bob", which held its world premiere in central London, is based on the best-selling memoir of 2012 by recovering drug addict and street musician James Bowen about how his friendship with the stray changed his life. Starring British actor Luke Treadaway as the busker, Bob was played by the real cat himself - with the help of six other lookalikes - sitting on Bowen's shoulder as he navigated London's streets or by his guitar case as he strummed away. The pair struck up their friendship after Bob, injured, appeared in the hallway of Bowen's government-supported accommodation one night and Bowen spent the last of his money on medical treatment for the stray cat. From then on Bob refused to leave, following Bowen when he went busking or when he started to sell The Big Issue, the UK newspaper sold by the homeless. Praised for highlighting homelessness to a broad audience, the film came as housing charity Shelter estimated more than 120,000 children in Britain would be homeless or in temporary accommodation at Christmas, the highest number since 2007. Reviewer Adrian Lobb writing in The Big Issue said the social realism in the film was handled in a way that made it accessible to a wide audience but without sugar-coating. "The pain, the heartache and the struggle and that feeling of invisibility experienced by people who are homeless are palpable  as is the joy and hope brought into James's life by Bob," Lobb wrote. Treadaway, 32, prepared for his role by sleeping rough, busking and spending hours with Bowen, now 37, before director Roger Spottiswoode - best known for the films "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Turner and Hooch" - started filming. Since writing the first book about Bob, Bowen has gone on to write several more books about his loyal cat and also uses his time to help various charities involving homelessness and animal welfare, according to media reports. He has said that he was homeless for about 10 years before meeting Bob. Government figures for 2015 estimated more than 3,500 people were sleeping rough on any one night in England, a 30 percent rise on the previous year, with a quarter of these in London. This figure did not include people in hostels or shelters, squatters or travellers. Shelter's analysis released on Thursday said it expected the number of homeless children this Christmas to be the highest since 2007 when 133,000 children were in temporary accommodation. It is up 12 percent from a year ago. "Children that are homeless are more likely to be in poor health, and more likely to suffer mental health problems. Our children don't deserve this," Shelter said in a statement. (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith.; 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)
A college student who returned to his car earlier this week to find his Kit Kat stolen has been surprised with the gift of 6,500 replacement chocolate.

Read: Give Me a Break! 'Hungry' Man Steals a Kit Kat From Student's Car, Leaves Note

"That's enough sugar to last me a lifetime," joked Hunter Jobbins, a sophomore at Kansas State University.

On Sunday, he posted to Twitter a note that was left in his unlocked car. He said he was only gone for 15 minutes, but it was too late for a Kit Kat he had left inside.

Left my car for maybe 15 minutes in front of the dorms and I come back to this. College man pic.twitter.com/KlDx5BtXLX  Hunter Jobbins (@jabbins) October 30, 2016

The note read: "Saw Kit Kat in your cup holder. I love Kit Kats so I checked your door and it was unlocked. Did not take anything other than the Kit Kat. I am sorry and hungry"

"My initial reaction was a little bit of anger, but after reading the note, I couldn't help but laugh at how funny it was," he told InsideEdition.com. "Any anger I had was gone afterwards."

The post quickly went viral, and got the attention of none other than the Kit Kat company.

That's when the candy company responded on Twitter, "WHO DOES THAT?! Shoot us a DM and we'll replace it for you."

@jabbins Who steals someones Kit Kat?! WHO DOES THAT?! Shoot us a DM and we'll replace it for you   Kit Kat (@KitKat_US) October 31, 2016

Sure enough, the company replaced the Kit Kat missing from the student's car... and included 6,499 more along with it.

Keep your Kit Kat, thief  @jabbins now has ALL the candy #KitKatThief pic.twitter.com/pneXEWTJiN  Kit Kat (@KitKat_US) November 3, 2016

So, in case there are any other "hungry" students on campus, Jobbins filled his car with the Kit Kats Friday morning and handed them out to fellow students, "rather than having someone get in my car and take one."

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Thanks to everyone who came by today!! And a special thanks to @devonhorowitz and @KitKat_US for making today happen! #KitKatsForEveryone pic.twitter.com/eAwHC9tFiP  Hunter Jobbins (@jabbins) November 4, 2016

Read: Kids Around America Are Showing Support for Police Officers With 'Survival Kits' Filled With Sweets

He said he gave most of them away, but kept a sizeable stash for his parents and his roommates.

Although several people have come forward and admitted to being the thief who stole his original candy bar, Jobbins said he still can't be sure who the real Kit-napper might be.

Watch: Dad Brings Halloween to Plane So Daughter, 3, Can Go Trick-or-Treating at 35,000 Feet

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has partially lifted fuel and electricity subsidies as part of an economic reform package aimed at cutting government spending that also included import restrictions, the finance minister said late on Thursday. Sudan's economy has struggled since South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of the country's oil output, a key source of foreign currency and government revenue. "The policies were necessary to solve the economic crisis and if we did not take these steps the crisis would double in effect for the nation and citizens," Finance Minister Badr al-Din Mahmoud told a news conference. Gasoline prices are set to increase about 30 percent while electricity prices are set to increase 0.06 Sudanese pounds per kilowatt hour for use above 400 kilowatts, Mahmoud said. The reforms also included austerity measures on government spending to reduce expenditure on cars and travel for officials and furniture for government offices, he added. The government said it will ban imports of red meat and fish and increase tariffs on other imported products, Mahmoud said. He did not specify the nature of the other products. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein and Eric Knecht; Editing by James Dalgleish)
By David Beasley

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a last-minute hold on the Alabama execution of Thomas Douglas Arthur, the seventh time he has avoided capital punishment for the 1982 murder of his girlfriend's husband.

Arthur, now 74, has been on death row for more than three decades having been convicted of shooting to death Troy Wicker as he slept, court records showed. Prosecutors said Arthur's girlfriend, Judy Wicker, paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.

Alabama had sought to execute Arthur despite questions about its death penalty process following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that struck down a Florida law giving judges powers that juries should wield in deciding death eligibility.

The U.S. Supreme Court has since ordered Alabama to review similar practices in four other cases.

"Upon consideration of the application of counsel for the applicant, it is ordered that execution of the sentence of death is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the court," stated the one-page order signed by Justice Clarence Thomas.

The order did not state a reason for the stay of execution.

Arthur's attorneys have challenged the constitutionality of Alabama's lethal injection method of execution on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment.

In their challenge, his lawyers claimed that midazolam, the first drug that is used in executions causes "excruciatingly painful and agonizing effects of the second and third drugs.

Arthur's scheduled execution followed three trials and another man's confession to the crime. In all, Alabama had scheduled Arthur's execution six times before Thursday.

He had been scheduled to die on Thursday evening at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He would have been this year's 18th U.S. execution and the state's second, the Death Penalty Information Center said.

Arthur had two convictions overturned on constitutional grounds, including improper introduction of evidence about a prior murder conviction. After his third conviction in 1991, he asked the jury to sentence him to death, seeking more time with his children during prison visits and a private cell.

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The killing of Troy Wicker in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, occurred when Arthur was in a prison work release program after an earlier murder.

Judy Wicker told police a black man raped her, knocked her unconscious and shot her husband at their home. Arthur, who is white, disguised himself as a black man, prosecutors said.

At her trial, Judy Wicker denied Arthur was the killer but later changed her testimony during his trial, Arthur's lawyers said. She was convicted of murder and paroled after 10 years in prison, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

In 2008, another inmate, Bobby Ray Gilbert, confessed to killing Wicker but a state court held that Gilbert and Arthur had conspired to submit a fake confession.

Limited crime scene testing found no DNA link to Gilbert or Arthur. Alabama lost a rape kit that might have cleared Arthur, his lawyers said.

(Reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Grant McCool, Bill Trott, Simon Cameron-Moore and Michael Perry)
Authorities say a suspect is in custody after multiple people were injured Friday at Rutgers Universitys business school in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Stabbing at Rutgers Business School (New Brunswick). Avoid the area and/or take shelter, university officials tweeted.

The stabbing occurred at around 2:30 p.m.,a Rutgers University spokesman tells PEOPLE. In a follow-up tweet, officials said that a suspect was in custody, and a police investigation is ongoing.

There is no danger to the community, the spokesman adds. The investigation is ongoing and additional details will be released as they become available.

Three people were being treated for injuries, including the suspect, the spokesman says. Its unclear if the other two people were stabbed.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Multiple people were injured in the stabbing, according to NBC New York, but it was not immediately clear the total number of victims, if they were students, faculty or staff, or their conditions.




* Hexagon's CEO questioned for alleged insider trading, denies wrongdoing

* Sweden's clean corporate image under scrutiny following spate of corporate scandals

* Sweden not immune to corporate governance issues

* Analysts say Sweden's corporate culture is too insulur

By Mia Shanley

STOCKHOLM, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The arrest of Hexagon chief executive Ola Rollen, one of Sweden's most successful CEOs, on suspicion of insider trading could not only threaten the company's standing but also the business reputation of the country.

Sweden has traditionally been seen as one of the world's cleanest, least corrupt nations. It ranks third in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index for 2015.

But the Hexagon affair follows a string of scandals among blue-chip companies involving alleged bribery, offshore tax havens and the misuse of corporate money that have dented that image.

Sweden, said Markus Kallifatides, an associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, was not immune to "human greed, stupidity and disloyal behaviour".

Rollen was arrested on Oct. 26 by Norwegian authorities for questioning over potential insider trading in Next Biometrics ASA in a deal unrelated to Hexagon. He denies wrongdoing and Norwegian police have not made formal charges.

Norway's public prosecutor said on Thursday police would release him from custody no later than Saturday, but that the investigation into the matter would go on.

Hexagon Chairman Melker Schorling has reiterated his support for Rollen, who was named just this month by Harvard Business Review as one of the world's top 100 best-performing CEOs.

But the affair has sent the technology company's shares tumbling and analysts have expressed concern over the potentially longer-term impact on it.

The 51-year-old protege of prominent businessmen Melker Schorling, Rollen is credited with turning Hexagon from a sprawling conglomerate into one of Sweden's most valuable and celebrated companies.

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"Ola Rollen has a really good track record at Hexagon, so it's clear that he, hypothetically, would be hard to replace," said Asa Vasshagen, who is responsible for corporate governance issues at the Swedish Shareholders' Association.

The timing is also a blow for Hexagon as its chairman, Schorling, announced only a week earlier that he would be stepping down due to health issues.

ARE WE BETTER?

Sweden's corporate world was already shaken, with more than a dozen executives from major companies replaced following scandals involving a company controlled by Industrivarden , one of the country's biggest investment groups.

Sweden saw a 14 percent rise in registered economic crimes in 2015 from the previous year, according to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority.

"Are we better? No, I don't think so. There is no difference between how Swedish companies behave versus other countries," said Sasja Beslik, head of sustainable finance at Nordea.

A spending scandal involving the misuse of a corporate jet and lavish hunting parties at hygiene products firm SCA last year prompted change at Industrivarden.

Industrivarden and Wallenberg-backed Investor AB control more than half the Swedish stock exchange.

Nordea, the country's biggest bank, has been fined for serious deficiencies in tackling money laundering and was named more than 10,000 times in the Panama Papers for helping clients set up accounts in offshore tax havens.

Two top executives at Swedbank were allowed to conduct property deals as a side business, sometimes with the bank's customers. The bank chairman and CEO were both ousted when it came to light they had approved of the dealings.

Telecoms operator Telia Company got into hot water for its dealings in Eurasia when bribery allegations resulted in the exit of the company's former CEO and most of the board.

The former CEO of Fingerprint Cards, a competitor of Next Biometrics ASA, has also been accused of insider trading. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Fredrik Erixon, head of Brussels think tank European Centre for International Political Economy, said that Sweden's corporate culture was too insular.

"There are not that many individuals in a decision-making position for nominating board members and deciding on the general corporate governance structure of many firms," Erixon said.

"I would say that if you know 100 people in Sweden, you basically know them all."

The insular culture made it difficult for some leaders to take tough decisions, he said.

About 23 percent of directors in Sweden are on three or more boards, versus the 11 percent EU average, a Heidrick & Struggles survey from 2014 showed.

Another problem is that institutional investors have taken bigger stakes in recent years in Sweden's biggest firms but did not tackle corporate governance issues head-on and did not act like long-term owners, he said.

"No one knows exactly at the end of the day who exactly is responsible," Erixon said.

Institutional investors make up about one quarter of owners in Sweden compared with below 15 percent for the European market, according to a 2015 report from the International Finance Corporation.

Kallifatides said he thought corporate leaders may have grown too far removed from ordinary shareholders, something exaccerbated by rising inequality.

This could be contributing to more "unorthodox practices" in both the public and private sector.

"Whenever there is power and money there will also be bad judgment, excessive greed and also power struggles, of course," he said.

(Additional reporting by Olof Swahnberg, Johannes Hellstrom and Johan Ahlander, and Simon Jessop in London, Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Angus MacSwan)
Want to vote for Gary Johnson but worried about ending up with a President Trump? There's a website for that.

Online platform TrumpTraders.org connects swing-state voters with voters in solidly blue (or red) states to accomplish a common goal: keep Donald Trump out of the White House. Launched by the pair of former George W. Bush administration officials behind Republicans for Clinton 2016, it lets Jill Stein and Gary Johnson supporters in battleground states have their voices heard -- without diminishing Hillary Clinton's chances at winning.

"We're connecting voters with the same end-goal objective, and that is for Donald Trump," said John Stubbs, cofounder of R4C16.

Trump Traders facilitates vote trading among citizens in different states. It focuses mainly on connecting voters in battlegrounds Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Nevada with individuals in places like California. Once a match is made, they have a conversation about how they will vote. The swing-state voter goes for Clinton, and the safe-state voter goes for Johnson, Stein or whoever their counterpart prefers.

No money changes hands, which would be illegal.

"Campaigns and politicians have been using the electoral college to their advantage. This is voters doing the exact same thing," said Stubbs.

Stein and Johnson need to get 5% of the popular vote in order to secure federal funding for their parties in 2020, and their supporters trading votes doesn't affect that. Trump Traders has called on the Green Party and Libertarian Party candidates to endorse vote trading as the platform approached 20,000 signups.

"Gary Johnson doesn't want to go down in history as a worse version of Ralph Nader, responsible for handing the nuclear codes over to a xenophobic megalomaniac," Stubbs said. "The third party candidates who endorse vote trading will have a real impact on the race."

The majority of the votes being traded are for Johnson.

The 2000 presidential election saw a similar phenomenon with "Nader Traders," through which supporters of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in states like Maine, Michigan and Oregon swapped votes with Al Gore supporters in red states like Texas and Louisiana. Technological advancements and social media will help make vote exchange efforts more successful this time around, Stubbs hopes.

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"One of the real reasons why this is possible now in a way that was more difficult before, in 2000, when a similar experiment failed with Nader traders is social networking and online verification," he said. Trump Traders are verified through Facebook.

The R4C16 team is dedicated to helping elect Clinton on November 8, and while Trump Traders encourages vote swapping, their ultimate goal is for constituents to vote for the former secretary of state directly -- especially Republicans repelled by Trump.

"The main focus of our group has been from the beginning and continues to be talking to Republicans who are opposed to Donald Trump and convincing them that the only thing between Trump and the White House is Hillary Clinton," said Stubbs. "In no way should any Republican who knows that Trump is a catastrophe be voting for anyone who isn't Hillary Clinton. You can't write in Ronald Reagan, you can't write in Jeb Bush or your college roommate. You have to vote for Clinton."

Stubbs is a former senior adviser to the U.S. Trade Representative under Bush and currently managing partner at Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Romulus. He launched R4C16 with Ricardo Reyes, former USTR deputy assistant for public and media affairs, earlier this year. Reyes has worked as a spokesman for Silicon Valley giants like Tesla , Square and Alphabet's Google.

The pair encourages Republicans to vote their party down ballot but has had a visceral reaction to Trump.

"He has taken over the Republican Party," Stubbs said. "The parasite has eaten the host."

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Damascus (AFP) - Syrian rebels fired rockets at one of the eight evacuation corridors opened from opposition-held east Aleppo during a unilateral Russian-declared ceasefire on Friday, Syrian state television reported.

In a breaking news alert, the television said rockets had been fired at the Castello road leading north from the divided city, where Moscow said it was observing a 10-hour ceasefire on Friday.

It said a reporter with another Syrian television channel had been wounded by shrapnel from the rocket fire.

The so-called "humanitarian pause" declared by Moscow began on Friday morning, but half-way through the brief ceasefire there was no sign that either civilians or rebels were heeding calls to leave.

State television said rebels were preventing residents from leaving the opposition-held east of the city, where more than 250,000 people have been under siege by the army since July.
Thessaloniki (Greece) (AFP) - A Greek theatre troop has created a unique fairytale based on traditional Syrian folk tales in a production aimed at entertaining thousands of refugee children stranded in the country.

A multinational team of 70 people, among them illustrators, translators and actors from the Mermix theatre company, worked together on the fable, which is called "The Journey of Halima".

"We did research on 40 folk tales and there are many characters familiar to refugees," says Nikos Kalaitzidis, a costume designer and one of the founders of the project which was put together in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

"These children have nothing to read," he told AFP at a home for unaccompanied minors.

"Even teachers who have begun classes for them have no material to give them."

Aimed at primary school age, the story centres on the character of Halima, a young girl from the Land of the Sun who embarks on a mission to restore rain to her arid homeland, armed with just a lemon, a pouch of salt and a blank sheet of paper.

Spread across five chapters, it evokes a journey across the Middle East that the refugees themselves undertook to reach Europe.

"This story is quite similar to our own journey," says Assad, a 40-year-old father of four from Syria who attended a recent reading by the actors in Thessaloniki.

- 'Modern, multicultural' -

Written in Arabic, Farsi and English, the 72-page fairytale currently available to download free of charge on the group's website, http://thejourneyofhalima.com

So far, members of the Mermix theatre troupe have visited camps around Thessaloniki to read out the story. But their aim is to eventually be able to put on a theatrical performance.

"A lot of people helped to put this book into your hands," the tale begins.

"Their only common trait is that they chose not to be afraid and to feel more love than hate."

Kalaitzidis, who is also a scenographer, says the tale "has no violence... no villain... no kings, princesses or mentions of religion."

Story continues

"We created a story that is modern, multicultural and intercultural," says actress and playwright Maria Laftsidou.

- Printed copies? -

Organisers now hope to raise enough money to give printed copies to refugee children across Greece.

"We want to print 15,000 copies and hand them out to all the children we believe are currently in Greece," says Kalaitzidis.

"That will require 60,000 euros ($66,000). We have raised only a fraction but we are not losing hope," he said.

There are more than 60,000 refugees and migrants in Greece, stranded in the country for months following the closure of Balkan borders early this year, many of them facing deportation to Turkey.

Among them are thousands of children, including around 2,000 who are entirely on their own -- many under the age of eight.

The Greek government has announced plans to enrol more than 10,000 refugee children in public schools, but many more are stuck in camps with little to occupy their time.

Funding for the book is being raised through an indiegogo crowd-funding campaign.
By David Shepardson and Naomi Tajitsu

WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Takata Corp is considering a bankruptcy filing for its U.S. unit as the air bag maker looks for a sponsor to help pay for liabilities related to its faulty inflators, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Takata has been working to choose a financial backer for its turnaround as it faces huge costs related to the global recall of millions of potentially faulty inflators. A company-appointed steering committee has retained investment bank Lazard Ltd as an adviser for the process.

The company is struggling to supply replacement parts for the potentially defective inflators, which have been linked to at least 16 deaths worldwide, mainly in the United States, and have led to the industry's largest ever recall, with about 100 million ordered to be withdrawn globally.

A Chapter 11 filing for its U.S. unit, Michigan-based TK Holdings, which accounts for nearly half of Takata's global sales, was one option it was considering although no filing was expected soon, the source said.

A filing would not be imminent because the company still had to select a sponsor and finalize terms, and reach an agreement with automaker creditors, the source said.

Takata on Friday reiterated its eagerness to reach an agreement with its automaker customers over the restructuring, ideally by year end, although it added that any decision ultimately would be made by the steering committee.

"Our preference would be to restructure debts through an out-of-court settlement with creditors. This has been our position since the start, and has not changed," Takata CFO Yoichiro Nomura told reporters at a results briefing.

"Aside from that, we're open to all options."

He added that an out-of-court settlement would be preferable to a court-ordered bankruptcy for all of the company's global operations as it would ensure a stable supply of inflator replacement parts required in the recall.

Story continues

PROFIT FORECAST RAISED

The tussle over bankruptcy is likely to delay by months the naming of a rescuer and completion of Takata's restructuring plans that were earlier expected to be finished this year, sources told Reuters last month.

Bidders for the company include Japanese inflator maker Daicel Corp and Sweden's Autoliv, sources have said, while its creditors include the world's largest automakers including Honda Motor Co, the Renault/Nissan alliance and Ford Motor Co.

Mounting air bag-related costs have pummeled Takata's profits, with the company last year booking its third annual loss in four years, while its share price has dropped 90 percent since 2014.

The company on Friday said the risk of rising air bag-related costs meant that it would not issue a dividend for the first half.

Still, it raised its full-year net profit forecast to 20.0 billion yen ($193.87 million) from the previous estimate of 13.0 billion, banking on a boost from asset sales in the first half, including its sale of its interiors unit.

This forecast largely excludes the impact of the recalls as the company so far has only outlined a small number of related liabilities.

If Takata were found to be solely responsible for the inflator defect, it could face a bill of about $13 billion for recalls announced so far, based on calculations from experts and automakers including General Motors.

It also faces U.S. lawsuits.

These potential liabilities would dwarf the company's war chest of around 72.4 billion yen as of the end of September. So far, automakers have paid most of the recall costs while Takata and its customers thrash out how to divide responsibility.

Trading in Takata shares was temporarily halted on Friday after the Nikkei business daily initially reported it was preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing.

($1 = 103.0200 yen)

(Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo; Editing by Stephen Coates and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
By David Shepardson and Naomi Tajitsu

WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Takata Corp (7312.T) is considering a bankruptcy filing for its U.S. unit as the air bag maker looks for a sponsor to help pay for liabilities related to its faulty inflators, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Takata has been working to choose a financial backer for its turnaround as it faces huge costs related to the global recall of millions of potentially faulty inflators. A company-appointed steering committee has retained investment bank Lazard Ltd (LAZ.N) as an adviser for the process.

The company is struggling to supply replacement parts for the potentially defective inflators, which have been linked to at least 16 deaths worldwide, mainly in the United States, and have led to the industry's largest ever recall, with about 100 million ordered to be withdrawn globally.

A Chapter 11 filing for its U.S. unit, Michigan-based TK Holdings, which accounts for nearly half of Takata's global sales, was one option it was considering although no filing was expected soon, the source said.

A filing would not be imminent because the company still had to select a sponsor and finalise terms, and reach an agreement with automaker creditors, the source said.

Takata on Friday reiterated its eagerness to reach an agreement with its automaker customers over the restructuring, ideally by year end, although it added that any decision ultimately would be made by the steering committee.

"Our preference would be to restructure debts through an out-of-court settlement with creditors. This has been our position since the start, and has not changed," Takata CFO Yoichiro Nomura told reporters at a results briefing.

"Aside from that, we're open to all options."

He added that an out-of-court settlement would be preferable to a court-ordered bankruptcy for all of the company's global operations as it would ensure a stable supply of inflator replacement parts required in the recall.

Story continues

PROFIT FORECAST RAISED

The tussle over bankruptcy is likely to delay by months the naming of a rescuer and completion of Takata's restructuring plans that were earlier expected to be finished this year, sources told Reuters last month.

Bidders for the company include Japanese inflator maker Daicel Corp and Sweden's Autoliv (ALV.N), sources have said, while its creditors include the world's largest automakers including Honda Motor Co , the Renault/Nissan alliance (RENA.PA) and Ford Motor Co (F.N).

Mounting air bag-related costs have pummelled Takata's profits, with the company last year booking its third annual loss in four years, while its share price has dropped 90 percent since 2014.

The company on Friday said the risk of rising air bag-related costs meant that it would not issue a dividend for the first half.

Still, it raised its full-year net profit forecast to 20.0 billion yen (155.58 million) from the previous estimate of 13.0 billion, banking on a boost from asset sales in the first half, including its sale of its interiors unit.

This forecast largely excludes the impact of the recalls as the company so far has only outlined a small number of related liabilities.

If Takata were found to be solely responsible for the inflator defect, it could face a bill of about $13 billion for recalls announced so far, based on calculations from experts and automakers including General Motors (GM.N).

It also faces U.S. lawsuits.

These potential liabilities would dwarf the company's war chest of around 72.4 billion yen as of the end of September. So far, automakers have paid most of the recall costs while Takata and its customers thrash out how to divide responsibility.

Trading in Takata shares was temporarily halted on Friday after the Nikkei business daily initially reported it was preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing.

(Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo; Editing by Stephen Coates and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
(Reuters) - A fire that broke out on a caustic tank at the Come-By-Chance oil refinery in Newfoundland, Canada, on Friday was quickly put out and did not have an immediate impact on operations, the plant's owner said. NARL Refining, the owner of the plant, said in an email Friday that there were no injuries and an investigation into the cause of the fire is underway. The tank fire happened at a remote part of the facility, away from operating units, according to a source familiar with the plant's operations. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Aditi Shah

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Sons has put in place a new management team for the $100 billion steel-to-software group, days after its board ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry and disbanded his advisory council, triggering a public spat between him and Ratan Tata.

Ratan Tata, patriarch of the Tata group who is temporarily back at the helm as interim chairman, has put together a team of five executives, including two former Mistry advisers, Tata Sons said in a statement on Friday.

The team comprises S. Padmanabhan, who currently leads the Tata business excellence group and will also be group human resources head, Gopichand Katragadda, who will continue in his current role as group chief technology officer, and Sanjay Singh, who will oversee public affairs in Delhi.

The new team also includes Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, formerly part of Mistry's five-member advisory council. Rajan will continue to be responsible for ethics and sustainability, and will also oversee the group's international operations in the United States, Singapore, Dubai and China.

Bhat, who oversees marketing, will also be brand custodian and interim strategy and business development head.

The remaining three Mistry advisers - Nirmalya Kumar, NS Rajan and Madhu Kannan - have left the company, Tata Sons said.

Tata veteran Prasad Menon, who last served as chairman of Vistara, an airline venture with Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI), has also been brought in to help Ratan Tata temporarily, a source close to the company said.

While Mistry has been removed as chairman of Tata Sons, he is still chairman of some of the key listed group companies such as Indian Hotels Co (IHTL.NS), Tata Motors (TAMO.NS), Tata Communications (TCS.NS) and Tata Steel (TISC.NS).

Removing him as chairman from some of the companies, where Tata Sons is not a majority shareholder, might prove harder.

Independent directors of Indian Hotels, owner of the Taj chain of hotels, on Friday expressed confidence in the Mistry's leadership.

Story continues

The independent directors "unanimously expressed their full confidence in the Chairman, Mr. Cyrus Mistry and praised the steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership to the company," Indian Hotels said in a statement to the stock exchange.

The board meeting was held to discuss the company's quarterly results.

A scuffle broke out between photo journalists and security guards outside Bombay House, the Tata Group's headquarters, as the Indian Hotels board of directors were entering the building.

Tata Sons apologised for the incident in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Greg Mahlich)
Even if they cant vote, teenage girls are closely following this election. And many say Hillary Clinton makes them feel better, while Donald Trump makes them feel worse.

According to an online poll conducted for the New York Times, nearly a quarter of teenage girls say Clintons candidacy has encouraged them to seek leadership positions, but nearly half say Trumps comments have negatively affected the way they think about their bodies.

That hits me hard when people like Trump say people who are skinnier than I am are too big, Morgan Lesh, 15, of Moro, Oregon told the Times. It makes me feel extremely insecure about myself. According to a recent Pew study, 60% of voters said Trump has little or no respect for women.

According to the New York Times poll, 22% of teenage girls surveyed said Clintons run has encouraged them to want to be leaders, while 27% said Trumps candidacy made them less likely to seek leadership roles. Almost all the girls had heard Trumps comments about women, 42% said those comments had negatively affected the way they think about their bodies. 83% said a candidates gender makes no difference in running for political office (10% said it was easier as a man) and 89% said a woman would make just as good of a president as a man.

Feminism is especially popular among young women, with 63% of women aged 18-34 identifying as a feminist or a strong feminist, according to a January poll from the Washington Post.

Feminism was defined as the belief in the political, social, and economic equality of men and women.

[NYT]
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's politically powerful rice farmers are becoming the new battleground between the country's junta and ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, with both trying to woo their support amid concerns of a flashpoint ahead of 2017 elections. Yingluck on Friday attacked the military government's recent rescue packages worth at least $1.70 billion aimed at stabilizing low rice prices as it tries to maintain stability ahead of the general election. "The military government's latest rice measures are no different from the rice pledging policy (of my government)," Yingluck told reporters outside a Bangkok court on Friday. The military overthrew Yingluck in 2014, charging her government with corruption. She is currently in court fighting charges of criminal negligence over her government's rice subsidy scheme which paid farmers above-market rates rice. Critics say the scheme, which helped sweep her to power in 2011, hemorrhaged billions of dollars. Last month authorities fined Yingluck 35 billion baht ($1.00 billion) over her government's rice scheme. Thailand is the world's second-largest rice exporter. Yingluck cannot run in the 2017 election because the junta banned her from politics for five years but that hasn't stopped her from making a series of cross-country trips that her team says are aimed at keeping her in the public eye. For more than a decade, Thailand has been rocked by clashes between supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, and those who back the royalist-military establishment. On Thursday, Yingluck visited rice farmers in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani. Thailand's rice farmers have traditionally supported the Shinawatra family. "Low rice prices are a truth and a burden for the people which should be a burden for, and the responsibility of, every government," Chayika Wongnapachant, Yingluck's niece and aide, wrote on Twitter, along with photographs of a tearful Yingluck next to farmers in Ubon Ratchathani. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd warned the former premier not to use farmers for political gain. "I believe people will be uncomfortable with the fact farmers' problems are being used as a political tool," Sansern said. Manas Kitprasert, head of the Thai Rice Millers Association, resigned on Thursday after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said this week that rice millers and politicians were colluding to drive down rice prices for political reasons. Manas denied the accusations. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Michael Perry)
President Obama talks about efforts to destroy ISIS during a news conference at the Pentagon in August. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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 13th installment, we look at Obamas war on terrorism rhetoric and his refusal to say that the enemy is radical Islamic terrorism.

_____

President Obama does not talk about radical Islamic terrorists when discussing the war on the so-called Islamic State. He generally avoids the expression war on terrorism. And earlier this year, he went on something of an epic rant against Republicans who charge that those rhetorical choices show him to be naive or politically correct.

There has not been a moment in my 7 1/2 years as president where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didnt use the label radical Islam, he said in June after a national security meeting at the White House. Not once has an adviser of mine said, Man, if we really use that phrase, were going to turn this whole thing around. Not once.

Story continues

The president continued, Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.

President Obama speaks on the Orlando shooting. (Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images)

Every schoolchild knows the mantra that actions speak louder than words. But the debate over how presidents frame the motives, means and goals of post-9/11 campaigns against extremists is not a sterile, inside-the-Beltway argument, or merely a fight for an edge in the political arena.

How the president talks about terrorism is literally a matter of life and death.

The Republican-led Congress has refused for nearly two years to debate and vote on Obamas Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the so-called Islamic State. The presidents draft AUMF would retroactively bless his undeclared but escalating war on the group as well as loosely defined associated forces. How Obamas successor will describe those forces  by name, geography, allegiances, tactics or goals  and define victory will determine how, when and where American troops next plunge into battle.

Obama was responding directly to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but many of his GOP critics have accused the Democratic president of being rhetorically soft on terrorism.

In the aftermath of the Brussels attacks in March, Trump had suggested on NBCs Today that his own rhetoric on terrorism, including his call for a halt to Muslim immigration and tourism to the United States, was why Im probably No. 1 in the polls.

He may not have been wrong about the link to his Republican primary success. A February 2016 poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP wanted the next president to speak bluntly even if critical of Islam as a whole. For Democrats and independents who lean left, it was just 22 percent.

Another Pew poll from September 2014 found that 50 percent of Americans say Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence by its followers, the highest level since 2002. That was up from 43 percent in July and 38 percent in February, roughly tracking with the Islamic States military gains and its use of graphically violent videos, including some showing the beheading of Americans.

Whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, Im happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on CNN June 14. It mattered we got (Osama) bin Laden, not what name we called him.

Some Republicans dismiss the debate as a shallow substitute for serious discussion. Are [some Republican critics] under the impression that an American missile kills you differently if the president has called you an Islamist terrorist? one former senior national security aide to George W. Bush told Yahoo News in early 2015. The official, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, complained that the media doesnt give enough attention to substantive criticisms about how Obama has handled world affairs. Instead of talking about chaos in Libya, youre copy editing your way through foreign policy.

But the presidents critics pointedly contrast what they consider Obamas overly careful parsing with George W. Bushs blunter language. The night of the 9/11 attacks, Bush declared a war against terrorism. Two weeks later, he promised Americans that our cause is just and our ultimate victory is assured. He announced that he wanted Osama bin Laden dead or alive and declared victory in Iraq aboard an aircraft carrier, in front of a giant Mission Accomplished banner. He twice characterized the global conflict against terrorists as a crusade, a bland term in the West that remains loaded for Middle Eastern Muslims. Some of his rhetoric felt drawn from the Bibles moral universe, pitting America against evildoers. And there were no shades of gray, he warned repeatedly: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

President George W. Bush in the Oval Office after addressing the nation about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Bush later expressed regret for much of that blustery talk. Aides said first lady Laura Bush rebuked him for his dead or alive comment almost immediately after he made it, and they described him as annoyed with himself for not thinking through the ramifications of using crusade to describe the conflict.

Some of my rhetoric has been a mistake,  Bush said in a January 2009 press conference that doubled as an exit interview of sorts.

Bush supporters and critics who recall his rhetoric as an uncompromising war on nuance get it wrong. He made no mention of Islam when he declared war against terrorism on 9/11. Less than one week later, he made a high-profile visit to the Islamic Center in Washington to state categorically that al-Qaida did not represent Islam  a message aimed at nervous Muslim allies overseas and a domestic audience that, his aides worried, might include some misguided souls looking for payback at home.

The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself, Bush said. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.

Those words launched a yearslong effort to separate al-Qaida from Islam in the public consciousness.

For a brief stretch in 2006, Bush started to refer publicly to Islamic radicals or Islamic fascists. While the term was broadly popular at the time among a segment of the conservative commentariat, it appears to have originated in a 1979 article in the Washington Post. In that piece, an anonymous State Department official in the Carter administration wondered whether the Iranian Revolution was sweeping an Islamist fascist to power.

Bushs new message was poorly received in the Middle East. Saudi Arabias cabinet declared one week later that the expression was wrong because terrorism has no religion or nationality. The Islamic fascist comments dwindled to a trickle.

And there were times when Bush was accused of the kind of political correctness that Trump accuses Obama of today. It happened in August 2004, for example, when he suggested that his administration had misnamed the war on terror.

It ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies and who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world, he said in a speech. He was mocked, notably in the news media. He went back to war on terrorism.

There were other rhetorical adjustments. The war in Afghanistan briefly carried the name Operation Infinite Justice, which was quickly scrapped because many Muslims believe only God can dispense infinite justice. And Operation Iraq Liberation lasted only a moment before officials realized that they did not want a war for OIL. Perhaps still angry with himself over the crusade controversy, Bush in June 2004 trimmed Dwight D. Eisenhowers famous D-Day message to leave out a reference to the great crusade of defeating Nazi Germany.

Even more interesting was a moment of politically ill-advised candor and nuance from Bush at the height of his reelection fight. In August 2004, on NBCs Today Show, Bush was asked whether the United States could ever win the global war on terrorism.

President George W. Bush speaks at the Islamic Center of Washington in 2002, praising the contributions of Muslim-Americans. (Photo: Mike Theiler/Reuters)

I dont think you can win it ,  he replied. I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.

Democrats quickly seized the political opening, and Bush quickly retreated.

The same drama played out, but in reverse, a couple of months later. Democratic nominee (and future Obama secretary of state) John Kerry told the New York Times that victory in the war on terrorism meant reaching a point where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but theyre a nuisance.

I know were never going to end prostitution. Were never going to end illegal gambling, the former prosecutor told the Times. But were going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isnt on the rise. It isnt threatening peoples lives every day, and fundamentally, its something that you continue to fight, but its not threatening the fabric of your life.

Cue Republican onslaught, and candidate retreat.

Ten years later, it was Obamas turn to serve gray to an audience hungry for black and white. At a Sept. 3, 2014, press conference with Estonias president, Obama said a U.S-coalition could reduce the Islamic State to the point where it is a manageable problem.

He had previously promised to degrade and destroy the rampaging death cult, which is also known as ISIS. Republicans accused him of sending a mixed message.

One of Obamas fiercest Republican critics, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has channeled Bushs blunter side and demanded that the president lead America to victory over evil and that ISIS to be utterly destroyed.

Obama aides express frustration at the notion that the United States can wipe out every last ISIS adherent. They are also mindful that yesterdays boast can come back to haunt them, the way Obamas confident reelection campaign message that al-Qaida is on the run did after extremists assaulted U.S. facilities in Benghazi in September 2012, killing four Americans.

While Obama had used the phrased war on terrorism during his history-making 2008 campaign, he played down the phrase once in office, arguing that you cant win a war against a tactic. In March of 2009, the the Washington Post reported that the White Houses Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had directed other agencies to abandon the term in favor of the bureaucrat-speak overseas contingency operations. The Pentagon quickly denied the report. So did the OMG director. An OMB spokesman blamed the proposal on an overexuberant midlevel bureaucrat.

We always tried to define the enemy as organizations, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told Yahoo News in a telephone interview. We made sure to say al-Qaida, al-Shabaab, rather than an ideology or a tactic.

But at the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast, Obama touched off controversy by invoking ties between Christianity and the Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery and Jim Crow  saying that no one religion has a monopoly on violence. He added a layer of controversy by saying the Jews killed at the kosher supermarket in Paris were randomly slain. Aides initially stuck to their guns, then recanted.

President Obama speaks at a news conference with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in 2014. (Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP)

Conservatives denounced Obamas reference to the Crusades as outdated and an inappropriate moral equivalence. The intensity of the response surprised the White House.

Theres a set of words, its almost as if theyre given a card  a do-not-speak card, Ted Cruz once said at the conservative Center for Security Policy think thank. The words radical Islamic terrorism do not come out of the presidents mouth. The word jihad does not come out of the presidents mouth. And that is dangerous.

Obama has, at times, taken aim at radical Islam.

In a July 2010 interview with the South African Broadcasting Corp., Obama was asked whether it was to blame for instability.

What you have seen in terms of radical Islam is an approach that says that any efforts to modernize, any efforts to provide basic human rights, any efforts to democratize are somehow anti-Islam, Obama responded. And I think that is absolutely wrong.

And in a January 2016 press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama tied home-grown terrorist attacks directly back to domestic Muslim populations.

The United States has one big advantage in this whole process, Obama said in little-noticed remarks. Americas approach to immigration and assimilation means U.S. Muslims feel themselves to be Americans while the same is not true in Europe.

Thats probably the greatest danger that Europe faces, the president said. Europe is too quick to fall back on a hammer and law enforcement and military approaches, he said. There also has to be a recognition that the stronger the ties of a North African, or a Frenchman of North African descent to French values, French Republic, a sense of opportunity  thats going to be as important, if not more important, over time in solving this problem.

President Obama greets British Prime Minister David Cameron after a joint news conference at the White House January 2015. (Photo: Larry Downing/Reuters)

Obama will hand his successor this problem  terrorist groups with global reach  as surely as the next president will inherit the campaign against ISIS and the war in Afghanistan. No matter what theyre called.

Obama has had other awkward moments when discussing terrorism. There was the January 2014 interview in which he dismissed ISIS as a JV team. Fact-checkers have knocked down White House aides claims that he was not talking about the Islamic State. There was the November 2015 press conference where a CNN reporter channeled American fears of ISIS and asked, Why cant we take out these bastards?  a question some Obama aides and allies mock to this day, while others see a lesson about the president not being in tune with the popular mood.

Asked whether Obama regretted any of his rhetoric about terrorism, Rhodes demurred. But the aide warned the next commander in chief to be cautious with words. If you define the enemy in existential terms, people are going to expect you to resource your approach accordingly, Rhodes said. It they (ISIS) were an existential threat, really, we would have tens of thousands of troops going towards Raqqa, the groups self-styled capital.

Rhodes cautioned the next president not to get swept up by intense pressure to fuel the national mood, and overpromise what can be done about a given threat. Youre on the hook for whatever you say, he said.

We always felt it was better to be criticized for not being strident, Rhodes told Yahoo News. Better that than promise something youre not going to deliver.


marijuanan cannabis

Election Day could be a watershed moment for marijuana.

Five states, including Arizona, California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts, will be voting to legalize recreational marijuana on November 8.

According to the latest poll, Americans overwhelmingly favor legalization.

However, there's still some serious opposition to legal marijuana. And the funding is coming from a number of pharmaceutical companies, prison suppliers, and casino magnates.

"It's obvious that a growing majority of Americans support legalization, and the only way they have a hope of maintaining prohibition is to put up a bunch of Reefer Madness-inspired ads in an attempt to scare voters, which costs a lot of money," Tom Angell of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority told Business Insider. "But it won't work."

Insys Therapeutics, an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company, gave $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, one of the most prominent anti-marijuana groups in the state.

Insys recently developed Dronabinol, a synthetic cannabinoid compound intended to reduce the nausea associated with chemotherapy. While Dronabinol was recently approved by the FDA, Insys said in a recent SEC filing that marijuana legalization could "significantly limit the commercial success of any dronabinol product."

"If marijuana or non-synthetic cannabinoids were legalized in the United States, the market for dronabinol product sales would likely be significantly reduced and our ability to generate revenue and our business prospects would be materially adversely affected," the filing said.

Insys isn't alone, either.

Angell points to companies like prison suppliers, which cater meals to correctional facilities, as potentially having a lot to gain from keeping marijuana illegal. Marijuana offenses contribute considerably to the number of prisoners in correctional facilities.

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Even in California, which has relaxed marijuana laws, thousands of people are still incarcerated for low-level marijuana offenses, according to a report from the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) based on data analyzed by New Frontier, a market-research firm. The report was provided to Business Insider and published on New Frontier's website.

In 2015, an estimated 2,139 people were jailed for marijuana offenses in California and another 4,389 people were jailed for "Marijuana Plus" offenses  where low-level marijuana crimes were included in the sentence. That's a total of 6,537 jailed for marijuana in 2015, according to the DPA.

Those numbers are actually a decline since 2011  when possession of personal amounts of marijuana was reduced by California from a misdemeanor to an infraction.

"Accepting these contributions from companies with such naked self-interest shows just how desperate our opposition is becoming," Angell said.

Drug policy alliance

While California is likely to pass marijuana legalization, polls show a much tigher split in Arizona.

In Arizona, posession of a personal amount of marijuana  defined as less than two pounds  is a felony charge subject to four months to two years of jail time.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas casino magnate and prominent Donald Trump donor Sheldon Adelson has kicked $2 million of his own money to the anti-legalization effort in Nevada, reports The Washington Post's Christopher Ingraham.

Adelson's opposition to marijuana may be because of his business interests, according to Mason Tvert, the director of communications for the pro-legalization group Marijuana Policy Project.

"If you like drinking alcohol and playing blackjack at the casino, Mr. Adelson wants you to be his guest," Tvert told Ingraham. "If you prefer to consume marijuana while playing video games in the privacy of your home, Mr. Adelson wants you to be in jail."

Adelson has also contributed $500,000 to fight marijuana legalization in Arizona.

In Massachusetts, the alcohol industry has chipped in to defeat legalization measures. The Beer Distributors of Massachusetts and the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Massachusetts, two trade associations, have contributed $75,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, an anti-legalization group, reports The Boston Globe.

Alcohol vendors likely fear that marijuana will hurt their business, but there's scant evidence to support that claim. The alcohol industry in Colorado has actually grown since marijuana was legalized for recreational use, according to 2015 tax records.

Some opposition to marijuana legalization in Massachusetts is coming from healthcare providers as well.

"Proponents of legalizing recreational marijuana use argue that it will save lives by giving people an alternative to opioids for pain relief," Kurt Isaacson, the CEO of Spectrum Health Systems, a for-profit addiction clinic with locations in New England wrote in Stat News. "What they dont consider is the detrimental impact of recreational marijuana on youths."

Man Rolling a Marijuana joint

The anti-legalization fight in Maine is being led by Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, a political action committee with funding from a diverse group of law enforcement unions, the Roman Catholic diocese in Portland, and the office of the Governor Paul Lepage.

Maine's pro-legalization PAC, Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, has vastly outspent anti-legalization efforts however, reports The Portland Press Herald. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol raised $904,145, according to a finance report filed to the state ethics commission, compared to $50,000 over the same time period for the anti-legalization side, reports The Press Herald.

Voters in Maine are favorable to legalizing marijuana, with recent polls showing between 50 and 55% support for legalization.

Editor's note: This story has been updated based on information provided by Services Group America.

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows how drastically split different demographics are this election





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Charu Sharma has done more in her 24 years than some people do in a lifetime. Sharma founded two startups while attending Mount Holyoke College before being recruited by LinkedIn.

Shes also written three books and recently produced a documentary called Go Against the Flow. The film is being screened in major cities internationally including New York, San Francisco, London and Singapore, as well as at a number of universities and high schools. The documentary features about a dozen female entrepreneurs from the United States and United Kingdom who share their stories of success, failure and what theyve learned along the way.

Sharma tells me in the video above that the inspiration for her film began at home. Growing up in Mumbai in a conservative Indian household, Sharma says the women in her family never worked outside of the home.

Sharma took her entrepreneurial spirit and came to America on a scholarship. She quickly learned that while women make up roughly 50% of the US workforce, they hold just 4.2% of CEO positions in Americas 500 biggest companies, according to the 2016 Fortune 500 List.

Sharma says women need to overcome what she calls a confidence gap. She says when women apply for jobs, they look at the required qualifications and typically do not apply unless they meet eight of the 10 qualifications. Men, on the other hand, typically apply for the job if they only meet three of the 10.

Confidence is important, but entrepreneurs also need capital to build a business. Raising money is a big challenge for any startup, but even more so for women-led companies, says Sharma.

For example, companies with all-male management teams are over four times more likely to receive venture capital funding than businesses with even one woman on the team, according to a 2014 study by Babson College.

Kellee Khalil, founder and CEO of the virtual wedding planner Lover.ly, is one of the women featured in Sharmas film. There arent a lot of women writing checks, Khalil says. When youre pitching investors, theyre looking for people [with whom] they can identify with, and there are just not a lot of female investors.

Sharma hopes to help change that narrative. She says Go Against the Flow is more than a film, she calls it a movement to help women reach their full potential in the workplace. To that end, Sharma is developing an app that matches mentors with women looking for career guidance.

Click here to learn more about Sharma and Go Against the Flow.
Tens of thousands of Muslim protesters rallied in the heart of Indonesias capital Jakarta to demand the citys Governor Basuki T. Purnama  popularly known by his Chinese nickname Ahok  to be prosecuted for alleged blasphemy.

One person died and several injured following clashes between protesters and the police in the evening, the Associated Press reported.

The protesters, many of whom traveled from outside Jakarta, filled Istiqlal Mosque, the citys biggest house of worship, earlier in the day and later marched to the presidential palace. After Friday prayers, the crowd rallied beneath a banner reading Detain Ahok, while white-clad protesters sang and chanted, Kill Ahok.

Other protesters yelled, Topple Jokowi, referring to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose party backs Basuki in the gubernatorial election next year. Authorities deployed about 20,000 police and military personnel in anticipation of violence and many schools and offices gave students and employees a day off.

By the afternoon, save for some racist and violent chants, the protest was largely free of clashes. But when the protesters refused to leave the area around the presidential palace in the evening, throwing bottles and stones at the police. The police then fired tear gas and the mob retaliated by burning police vehicles. The demonstrators later marched to the parliamentary building and there were reports of riots in Chinese neighborhoods in the north of Jakarta, near the private residence of Basuki.

Hearing about the violence, some protesters react in anger, some in disbelief. If we had known, we would have burned those belonging to the Chinese, one tells TIME as he stands in front of the parliament building. Another one says: Its impossible we are involved in the riots in North Jakarta,  to which his friend adds: We came for peace.

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Chief Security Minister Wiranto said: We dont want conflicts. But some people, we believe demonstrators, attacked the security apparatus.

Earlier in the afternoon, a protester from Tangerang, in the outskirts of Jakarta, who only wanted to give his name as Uje, said he took part in the protest because of my religion. All of the religious followers are offended. If we follow Islam, we would be offended; except the non-religious, who will be defending him [Basuki].

Bambang Suherman, a Jakarta resident who rallied in front of the presidential palace, told TIME this afternoon: I think the demonstration today has reached the target, the message is there: giving pressure.

The candidacy of Basuki  who is ethnic Chinese and a Christian  has long been controversial among hard-line and ultra-conservative Muslims, who argue they shouldnt have a non-Muslim leader. The protests were called after claims the governor insulted Islam. In a speech on Sept. 27, he said: Ladies and gentlemen, you dont have to vote for me because youve been lied to by those using [the Qurans] Surah al-Maidah verse 51. Thats your right.

Hard-liners at the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI)  a religious organization that has long been at odds with the uncompromising Basuki  seized the opportunity to accuse him of blasphemy, report him to the police and whip up anti-Chinese sentiments.

Read More: Indonesia Reaches Racial Milestone With Chinese Governor of Jakarta

Basuki has since apologized for his remark, but the police investigation over the alleged blasphemy continues. Defenders of Basuki said a transcript and video of his words that went viral on social media, sparking anger, had been edited.

Fridays protest didnt escape the attention of Indonesian jihadists. Photos circulated on social media appeared to show pro-al-Qaeda fighters in Syria posing with anti-Ahok messages. There were also reports of Indonesian ISIS supporters calling on sympathizers to commit terrorist acts in the country on Friday. Jakarta has been on high alert for days, following fears that extremist Muslims from across the country would be flocking to the Indonesian capital.

After saying nothing for weeks, President Jokowi  who was Jakarta governor before his deputy, Basuki, succeeded him  scrambled Monday to try to cool tensions by visiting his political rival Prabowo Subianto. Prabowos party endorses another candidate for Jakartas gubernatorial election. The President also met with leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, Indonesias biggest Muslim organizations, and the Indonesian Ulema Council the following day.

On the eve of the mass demonstration, the Communication and Information Ministry blocked 11 Islamic websites deemed to have spread hate speech.

I think the fear of trouble, the overwhelming presence of police and the exhortations by all Muslim leaders to ensure that it stays peaceful have kept it relatively orderly  so far, says Sidney Jones, of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta.

On Oct. 14, the FPI led thousands of protesters, from the Indonesian capital and outside, to demand authorities prosecute Basuki for blasphemy.

The rise of Basuki as Jakarta governor was hailed as a milestone in 2014, 16 years after an anti-Chinese riot engulfed the Indonesian capital. Political observers say that his case would be a test for Indonesia, the country with the worlds largest Muslim population that prides itself as a beacon of democracy and tolerance.

The race for Jakartas top job is a hotly contested one. One of the three contenders is former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonos son. So far, Basuki leads in opinion polls.

Very few people have had the courage to suggest that what Ahok said was aimed not at the Quran, but at the people who were using a Quranic verse to suggest that a non-Muslim couldnt govern non-Muslims, Jones tells TIME. Whats at stake is the quality of Indonesian democracy: Will public policy continue to be set by hard-liners and mass action in the street, and will anyone stand up for the right of non-Muslim Indonesians to have an equal right with Muslims to govern?

 With reporting by Febriana Firdaus / Jakarta
By Aziz El Yaakoubi AL-HOCEIMA, Morocco (Reuters) - Thousands of chanting, flag-waving Moroccans protested in a northern city on Friday, keeping up pressure on authorities a week after a fishmonger was crushed to death in a garbage truck in a confrontation with police. The death of Mouhcine Fikri has prompted a week of street protests in some of the biggest and longest challenges to authority in the North African kingdom since pro-reform demonstrations broke out during the 2011 Arab Spring. Thousands waved candles, flags in the local Amazigh language and banners used by the resistance against Spanish and French colonization, while chanting slogans against the Makhzen, a term used to describe the royal establishment and its allies. Five years after the pro-democracy rallies shook Morocco, this week's unrest has been a reminder of the frustrations the monarchy managed to tame in the past with limited constitutional reforms, heavy welfare spending and tough security. Friday's evening funeral followed by the demonstration was the latest in a series of rallies that started a week ago, packing a downtown square of Al-Hoceima, where many see Fikri as a symbol of abuses by officials, corruption and injustice. "We are very sad, the Makhzen is killing us," the crowd chanted in the Amazigh language before switching to Arabic with "The people want those who killed the martyr." The rally took place a day after the interior minister played down the unrest, saying the king had already responded to the demands by launching a deep investigation. Morocco, a Western partner in the war against Islamist militancy, presents itself as a model of stability and gradual reform since 2011 in a region where jihadist violence and political turmoil have become the norm. Public anger echoes Tunisia's own 2011 uprising when a street vendor set himself on fire over police abuses and triggered a revolt that swept Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali from power and started the Arab Spring. Unlike Tunisia, though, Morocco's protests and those in 2011 never directly challenged the deep-rooted monarchy, the Muslim world's longest-serving dynasty. Instead, they called for reforms and an end to official abuses. This week's protests have been peaceful and police have kept a distance in a country where political protests are rare and usually heavily policed. "Fikri died in a horrific way, and we are out to tell the Makhzen that crime will not go unanswered," said Loubna Obari, waving a candle. SILENT MARCH Al-Hoceima also has a long history of dissent. It is the capital of the Rif region, long seen as a hotbed of revolt, where the then crown prince, who later became King Hassan, in the late 1950s ordered his army to kill hundreds to crush a rebellion. Friday's crowd later marched silently to the police station where Fikri was crushed by a trash truck's compactor when he was trying to stop authorities from destroying 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of swordfish they say he purchased illegally. Details of the case emerged first in grainy video shown online where he can be heard screaming. An investigation confirmed how he died, but activists blamed the police for ordering him crushed, a charge officials denied. But the way in which Fikri died, and details of suspected corruption of officials involved in confiscating his fish, have shocked Moroccans. "He was stuck in that truck for almost two hours, authorities did not know how to handle it especially with the spontaneous gathering," Souhail Fikri, one of the victim's eldest brothers, told Reuters, at the family home in Imzouren, 15 km (10 miles) from Al-Hoceima. Souhail said Fikri's body was still in the garbage truck when he arrived with the father, with nobody capable of explaining what had happened. He said they could clearly see the damage from the crusher when they saw his body in hospital. The victim was a 31 year-old single salesman, who started his career as a fisherman before launching his own business. The family said they were comforted by protests across the kingdom, and also by officials' attention. In an attempt to calm tensions, King Mohammed, currently touring Africa, ordered the interior minister to visit the victim's family and present royal condolences, a rare gesture of conciliation by the monarchy at a time of public protests. Moroccan authorities have already charged 11 people with involuntary manslaughter, jailing eight of them, including two interior ministry officials, two local fisheries officials and a veterinary chief. "This is an opportunity to make things right between Moroccans and their public administration, and hopefully everything will stay under control," Souhail said. (Editing by Patrick Markey and James Dalgleish)
Three members of the U.S. military were killed Friday while trying to enter the gates of a Jordanian military base in south of the capital of Amman, a defense official confirmed to Foreign Policy.

Details are scarce, but the official said the Americans appeared to have been riding in a vehicle that was attempting to enter the King Faisal Air Base when gunfire erupted.

The state-run Petra news agency reported the Americans were killed in a fire exchange at the gate of the base. Its unclear if the Americans were armed, if they fired back, or even exactly who did the shooting. A Jordanian officer was also wounded.

There are typically several hundred American troops stationed in Jordan, mostly to train local police and Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State. Washington funds the training program.

Jordan is key a member of the U.S.-led military coalition against the Islamic State, and has taken in over 650,000 refugees during Syrias five-year civil war. But the Hashemite kingdom is also grappling with its own Islamic extremism problem, and at least several hundred Jordanian citizens have joined ISIS. The terrorist group has also launched several high-profile attacks on the Jordanian military from inside Jordan, as well as along its border with Syria.

Fridays shooting wasnt the first deadly incident for the American military in Jordan in recent years. Last November, a Jordanian police officer opened fire on a group of international police trainers at the U.S.-funded King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center in Amman, killing a South African trainer, two Jordanian interpreters and two American civilian contractors.

Photo credit: KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images
Marvel's Doctor Strange is one of the latest films to be caught in the debate about whitewashing in Hollywood and the call for more diversity on screen. When ET sat down with the cast, Tilda Swinton was armed with a diplomatic response to the so-called controversy around her casting as the Ancient One in the superhero film. The character is an Asian man in the comics, but a Celtic woman in the film.

"The first thing to say, anybody who is shouting nice and loud for a more accurate representation of the diversity of our world on our screens and in our world, right on," Swinton told ET. "Let's all shout loud for that. At the same time, [with] Doctor Strange, you kind of need to see the movie to understand the decisions that were made."

When adapting the story for the big screen, writer and director (and life-long Doctor Strange fan) Scott Derrickson had some challenges ahead -- namely combating the stereotypes in the comics.

WATCH: Go Inside the World of 'Doctor Strange' With Benedict Cumberbatch in Mind-Bending Marvel Featurette

"The Ancient One was a lot more difficult because I wanted to get away from the Fu Manchu magical Asian stereotype that was in comics, but he has to still be a mystical magical martial arts mentor to Strange," Derrickson told ET. "Making it a woman was the first choice. Not just a woman, but a woman Tilda's age, who is not just a young 26-year-old leather-clad fanboy dream girl. But then also I needed an actress that could embody what is great about the Ancient One character -- an enigmatic, mystical, domineering, sometimes duplicitous character. I would have cast an Asian woman in that role, but I didn't want it to fall into the 'Dragon Lady' stereotype."

For Derrickson, casting Swinton in the role was the key to bringing the Ancient One to life.

"It was very tricky," he explained. "I did not know what to do with the role until I thought of [Tilda] and, when I thought of her for the first time at the script stage, I was able to write a character that worked. I remember giving the script to [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige and saying this is for Tilda Swinton and if she'll do it great. If she doesn't, we're going to have to re-write it again, because I don't know who else to do this role. But luckily she read it, and wanted to do it, and said yes."

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EXCLUSIVE: How 'Doctor Strange' Star Benedict Cumberbatch Feels About Being Called the 'Internet's Boyfriend'

Another character updated from the comics is Wong, portrayed in the film by 'Marco Polo' star Benedict Wong.

"Updating Wong was not so difficult. He was such a bad stereotype in the comics if we're being frank about it. He was a sidekick manservant. I didn't want anything to do with that," Derrickson admitted. "I actually thought we were going to leave him out of the movie, but then we realized we could completely invert all those stereotypes. Instead of a manservant, he's a master of the mystic arts. Instead of a sidekick, he's Strange's intellectual mentor. He's as much of a domineering force in Strange as the Ancient One is."

Getting rid of the comic book's stereotypes was equally important to Wong as an actor. He told ET that the updates helped him feel comfortable with the character.

RELATED: Benedict Cumberbatch Sizes Up 'Saturday Night Live' Stage as Doctor Strange in New Promo

"There's certain aspects to it in the '60s which I just thought maybe need to be just tucked up and left in the '60s," he explained.

Wong also admitted that before he knew Doctor Strange's story, he didn't realize there were Asian superheroes. He praised the updates to the film, adding "it's important across the board when we as humans sense that it needs to be change. And it needs updating simply."

Swinton is not offended by any naysayers but instead applauds the conversation for more diversity, saying, "I'm really welcoming, to be honest with you. If our movie and the choices that were made about our movie gave a little fillip to that voice then all for it."

To see what we thought of the film, check out ET's review below. Doctor Strange hits theaters Nov. 4.

'Doctor Strange' Review: A Bit of 'Iron Man' Plus a Bunch of Magic Equals Another Hit for Marvel

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The popular narrative of the Syrian civil war is that of an apocalyptic conflict between two sets of diehard fanatics: The Sunni jihadists on one side, the Assad regimes loyal soldiers on the other. But the reality on the ground is much more nuanced. Many Syrian recruits would like to avoid army service, but, for various reasons, are unable to do so. Their presence within the ranks of the regime doesnt necessarily mean that they support it.

This situation represents a missed opportunity. While Western analysts repeatedly call for arming the opposition and establishing no-fly zones, there has been no emphasis whatsoever on establishing incentives that could encourage desertions among government troops and pro-government militias. Such desertions, if large enough, would significantly weaken the regime and make it more amenable to negotiations.

Army service is mandatory for all 18-year-old Syrian men, with postponements allowed only for post-secondary studies, eldest sons whose fathers are deceased, and a few other cases. According to Amnesty International, Syrians who avoid conscription face to up to 15 years in prison, though they are often pardoned and sent back to the barracks. As a result, there are countless stories of young men who are forcibly recruited despite their opposition to the regime. Others join militias for purely economic reasons.

The late Ahmad, a former civil engineering student from Latakia, fell into the latter category. As the revolution against Assads rule began in 2011, he watched videos of protests on the internet, hoping to someday join one of them. But his mother had died giving birth to him, his father was permanently disabled, and he was so poor that he could not afford the bus ticket to go to campus every morning. In 2012, he abandoned his studies and joined the Desert Falcons, a loyalist militia that granted him $125 per month to cover his sisters college tuition and his fathers medications.

When given the choice, Syrians tend to volunteer for such paramilitary groups (often financed by wealthy businessmen) rather than joining the army, since the wages are at least double and they are generally allowed to serve near their homes. Ahmad was not so lucky as to remain in Latakia. The young man was killed near Palmyra earlier this year, defending the regime he had hated.

Draft dodging is a common practice for many young Syrians who are not eager to die for the regime, even when they oppose the Islamist character of much of the opposition. Some live in hiding in their own neighborhoods for years, evading military patrols. Others prefer to flee to the countryside, away from the flying checkpoints the regime sets up to track down draft dodgers in the cities.

Ayman, who hailed from an Alawite coastal village, obtained his BA in 2011, but somehow managed to avoid conscription for another two years. As the revolution raged, he spray-painted the walls in local villages with revolutionary slogans while working on his familys olive and tobacco farm. But in April 2013, he ran out of options, and the army finally took him.

As a poor rural youth, he couldnt afford to flee to Europe, to bribe an official to delete his name from the reserve list, or even to pay the $300 it would take to get a six-month postponement. The socioeconomic gap between those who can avoid the draft and those who cannot is obvious in the streets of the port city of Tartus, where the martyrs posters, so prevalent everywhere else, are conspicuously missing in the most affluent neighborhoods.

Aymans story, too, is a sad one. For three years, his mental health deteriorated as he served in an army he did not support. In the end, he was killed by opposition forces in the battle for Aleppo last August. His is just one story among countless others young Syrians whose lives were cut short by coercive enlistment.

Amer Suleiman (the only real name I can use in this story) hailed from Bustan al-Hammam, a mountain village near the port of Baniyas. He dreamed of becoming a guitarist, but life had other plans: He was forced to suspend his musical education to join the army in 2011. Suleiman was dispatched to an opposition-held neighborhood in Qusayr, north of Homs. But he made a point of shooting into the air whenever he was supposed to fire his weapon. His commanders thought him mentally disturbed and had him transferred to an administrative office.

Suleiman was granted a brief reprieve when he received a leave permit in 2012. He returned to Baniyas and started teaching guitar lessons, but it didnt last. He was soon recalled and sent to Qusayr once again. In May 2013, when he heard of a massacre perpetrated by the Syrian army and its allied militias in al-Bayda, Suleiman called his family to donate some of his clothes and savings to the displaced. A few days later, he was killed by a rebel shell.

Needless to say, not all army recruiting in Syria is coerced. The army and the pro-regime militias do have many loyal soldiers in addition to the gangsters and criminals who have managed to enrich and empower themselves over five years of conflict. But its important to highlight the widespread instances of coercive recruitment and the limited options available to rank-and-file combatants because they offer a lever the outside world has not yet tried to use.

The regional and international powers that claim to be interested in resolving the conflict  in addition to the numerous international NGOs that work in the region  should target young Syrians like Ahmad, Ayman, and Amer with psychological and financial assistance programs. In regime-held Syria, this would naturally have to be done covertly.

For a number of ideological, political, and sectarian reasons, many draft-dodgers and reluctant recruits would never join the armed opposition even if promised better wages. But providing them with financial assistance and, if needed, safe passage to flee the country, would allow them to desert or to evade the draft in the first place, depleting the ranks of those willing to die for Assad. It is relatively easy to deliver cash from Lebanon to regime-held territories via couriers, and safe passage to Lebanon could be made possible by bribing Syrian border officials. Alternatively, deserters could leave for Turkey, provided that its Western allies pressure Ankara to open the border crossings and ensure the safety of those who would escape through opposition-held territories.

But its not only a matter of financial or even logistical support. Greater international awareness of the plight of Syrian draft-dodgers could contribute to organized pressure on Syrian military institutions, just as in the case of the conscientious objectors (sarvanim) in Israel. There have been numerous cases of organized refusal to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, particularly among reservists. Sarvanim activist groups have petitioned British courts to issue arrest warrants against IDF war criminals and have also provided financial support to the families of incarcerated refusers. Their resistance became a matter of public debate not only in Israel but also internationally. In Syria, on the other hand, those who are reluctant to serve are afraid to even share their names.

Out of an army that originally numbered over than 300,000 men, an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 Syrian soldiers have deserted since the outbreak of the uprising in 2011, although only a minority has subsequently joined the opposition. These defections have not led to the collapse of the regime because they were restricted to individual instances rather than entire divisions. Some have argued that these desertions have left the Syrian army with only the most committed troops  but the examples Ive cited indicate otherwise.

Russias direct military support of Assad, which began a year ago, has strengthened the dictators hand to the point that he feels no need to accept compromises or take part in serious peace talks. But if a large portion of his army began to disappear, Syrias brutal regime might reconsider its prospects for victory.

Photo credit: GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP/Getty Images
Certain Women is like watching a book of short stories, a combination of three quickly sketched character studies brought exquisitely to life on screen about 30 minutes at time.

Those characters are four women, a middle-aged attorney, a mother and wife, a young lawyer and a ranch worker. Theyre played by marvelous actresses -- Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and newcomer Lily Gladstone -- and their stories of struggle and disappointment are resonantly revealing.

Written and directed by Kelly Reichardt from stories by Maile Meloy, Certain Women is set in Montana, primarily in the town of Livingston.

Thats where Derns Laura Wells works in a small firm and finds herself dealing with a distraught client. Fuller (Jerad Harris) is suffering from the aftermath of a head injury he sustained at work. But in accepting an insurance payment, he negated his ability to sue the company.

That, however, doesnt stop him from pushing Laura to do something with his case, showing up unexpectedly at her office, and getting ever more agitated and frustrated as he recognizes he cant win.

Williams Gina Lewis and her husband Ryan (James LeGros) are building their dream home from the ground up outside Livingston. Living in a large tent with their sullen teenage daughter (Sarah Rodier), they plan for the house, and, after seeing a pile of sandstone, they attempt to purchase the rock for the structure.

That requires a visit to meet with Albert (Rene Auberjonois), the slightly addled old man who owns the sandstone -- a meeting that amplifies the fracture between the couple.

Stewarts Beth Travis is a freshly-minted attorney, who, while waiting to land a job in Livingston, takes a job teaching in a small town thats a treacherous four-hour drive away. Gladstones Jamie, a lonely ranch hand who takes care of a barn full of horses, sees people pulling into the school parking lot and wanders into the class.

Shes taken with the nervous, uncomfortable Beth and the pair go out to eat at the towns diner. Jaime thinks she has found a new friend. Beth only wants to get out of the town, and hopefully the job.

The stories play out slowly, depictions created at the pace of real life. And the film concludes with codas for the first two following the end of the Beth/Jamie tale. By then, the three parts have slightly intertwined. But theyre not all that connected, each capable of standing on its own without the other.

There are some who would say that nothing happens in Certain Women -- and there is no action or loud emotional clashes between the characters. But plenty happens quietly as the women grapple with their complicated lives, conflicts and changes seen through finely honed performances and the writing and sensitive direction by Reichardt, who has crafted a small masterpiece.
Japanese girls never die, but their options for living within the strictly gendered, codified confines of contemporary Japanese society dont seem to offer much of an alternative in Daigo Matsuis splashy, erratic, provocative, and rather brilliant post-modern drama. One of two homegrown titles playing in competition at the Tokyo Intl. Film Festival, it provides a fascinating counterpoint to the dreamy classicist ethereality of Kiki Suginos ghost story Snow Woman, but while its rhythms may be more punkishly anarchic, its intentions are, if anything, more serious.

Japanese Girls Never Die, AKA Haruko Azumi Is Missing, amounts to a patchwork protest against the subjugation and exploitation of women living within a misogynistic culture, but the audacious approach to chronology, the welter of subplots, subthemes, side characters, and surrealist interludes means its a lot less eat-your-vegetables than that may suggest. And within all that sound and fury (which signifies quite a lot) there is even room for a touchingly forthright central performance from Yu Aoi.

Based on a 2013 novel by Mariko Yamauchi, the films main storyline concerns the 27-year-old, unmarried Haruko (Yu Aoi), who works a joyless job in a small office, lives at home with her parents and is unrequitedly in love with Soga (Huey Ishizaki), the weirdo neighbor with whom she used to play as a child. But even before we discover any of this about her, we know one thing: She will disappear. Within the bewilderingly chopped-up series of flash-forward fragments that opens the movie, weve already seen the films central image: the graphic stencil version of Harukos Missing poster, and it infuses all the scenes of her daily life with a kind of dread, especially because we come to care for her so instantaneously.

Unfolding alongside Harukos pre-disappearance story is a later plotline. Young, aspiring graffiti artists Manabu (Shono Hayama) and Yukio (Taiga) empty-headedly hit on the idea of replicating Harukos poster all over town, aided by Aina (Mitsuki Takahata), a needy, over-accessorized 20-year-old nail-art beautician with a blinged-up smartphone and a dashboard full of plush toys. Yukio is casually stringing Aina along (and equally casually offers her to Manabu) because shes pretty and she puts out, before he loses interest in her for a younger model; Aina thinks theyre in a relationship. In the background of both these strands theres a third: A gang of schoolgirls prowls the streets and viciously attacks passing men, causing radio news reports to caution male listeners against walking home alone at night.

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Matsuis approach feels chaotic at first, but retrospectively its apparent that the pick n mix shifts between storylines, timelines, and registers of real and imaginary are anything but random. Indeed, the fact that its difficult to locate the exact pressure points where reality becomes wish-fulfillment fantasy is part of the films strength, and were it delivered in a more linear manner, it might not achieve the same resonance.

Yet even the most straightforwardly told parts of the story are critical to the point of subversive about many aspects of modern Japanese culture. Harukos home life, with three generations living under the same small roof, is typical, but this is not Ozu, and its dismal downside is highlighted as Harukos mother spends all her time venting vocal frustration at her grandmothers clumsy senility. At work, Haruko faces the breathtakingly entitled sexism of her two male co-workers (who earn more than seven times her salary), not just in relation to herself but to her female colleague whom, as an unmarried woman of 37, they blame for everything from Japans negative population growth to the high tax rate.

Yukio and Manabus storyline as the graffiti team Kilroy takes a detour into art-world satire  because in the post-Warhol world of today, and especially in faddish, consumerist, disposable cultures, what is the difference between a meme and a movement? And the most overtly fantastical, manga-inspired element  the schoolgirl gang whose exploits Matsui shoots with frenzied, Sion Sono-style glee, even incorporating a pretty great animated section by Ryo Hirano  can be read as explicitly rebelling against the fetishized, sexualized image of the Japanese schoolgirl that the manga tradition is so instrumental in perpetuating.

Using such pop-culture tropes to critique the ways in which Japanese society fails its women means that to a certain extent Matsui gets to have his cake and eat it. But it also means that Japanese Girls Never Die has a shot at an international audience (certainly on the festival circuit) in parts of the world where there might exist the tendency to romanticize the day-glo excesses of the Harajuku girl phenomenon, for example, without considering the ageism and sexism of which its born.

Investigating the power and the limitations of symbolism (Harukos face comes to stand for something other than the Haruko we know), delivering a feminist punch-to-the-nethers, and working as a sincere character portrait too, Matsuis film is a compelling stew of moods: angry, whimsical, hopeful but overarchingly sad. Its bursting with ideas, some less effectively explored than others, and it goes through one too many contortions by its over-explained finale. But none of that matters much beside the lasting impression it leaves, which despite the films brazenness, is subtle: a little ache in the heart for all the disappeared girls and women  not just the ones whose bright, blank faces stare out from dog-eared posters, but those forced into a kind of invisibility by a society in which they have little value when they are not of interest to men. In the end, this vibrant, energetic film simultaneously manages to be pop-art, edgy social critique, and a strangely moving prayer for all the gone girls.

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Paris (AFP) - Novak Djokovic insisted he isn't concerned by the threat of losing his world number one ranking to Andy Murray following his quarter-final defeat at the Paris Masters on Friday.

Djokovic, the record four-time champion in Paris, limped to a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) defeat against Marin Cilic to leave Murray two wins away from replacing the Serb who has been on top of the rankings for 122 weeks.

It marked Djokovic's first loss in 15 meetings with Cilic, reflecting his waning dominance in the wake of completing a career Grand Slam at the French Open in June.

"Look, I'm aware that I'm not the only player in the world that wants to win when he gets out on the court," 29-year-old Djokovic told reporters, adding that his current priority wasn't the rankings.

"I have to get to the -- first of all, to that state of mind where I'm able to perform as well as I want to match after match. I was not able to find that level for last couple of months.

"So, for me, again, going back to that, a lot of things are coming out, a lot of things, a lot of emotions went through my mind and body in the last two years with the things that I was blessed to achieve, obviously, and the career Grand Slam this year.

"But it took a lot out of me and it has put some things in perspective and, obviously, raised some questions in which direction I want to go.

"So I'm in the process at the moment, and it's going to obviously take some time really for me to redefine all these things.

"But I'm still here, and I feel like I'm on the right path. I'm in a better state of mind than I was some time ago. That's all I'm thinking about right now."

The Serb's end-of-year dominance in recent years had seen him sweep three straight titles in Paris and lift an incredible four consecutive Tour finals crowns in London.

And while the 12-time major winner champion won't add to his haul in the French capital, he will have another chance to convince he is far from in decline at the 02 Arena in London next week.

Story continues

"At a certain point, I had to reach this kind of phase where, you know, I had to reflect and say, okay, I mean, I have played on the highest possible level for that much.

"The drop of form is normal in sports. I'm not too concerned about how the future will go for me.

"You can't always expect to win. In terms of what the future brings to me, that's not in my hands. I'm going to obviously keep playing at this level as long as I feel like that's the right thing for me."
For more Entertainment Tonight videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS.

Looks like Tori Spelling's credit card drama isn't over yet.

After the pregnant 43-year-old actress was sued in January by American Express for an unpaid $38,000 bill and ordered to pay her entire past due balance plus $855 in court fees in September, she was hit by another lawsuit from the credit card company on Oct. 31.

According to court papers obtained by ET, Spelling has a balance of $87,595.55 on one of her American Express credit cards, and is now being sued for payment. A copy of the card statement shows the account is now canceled.

NEWS: Tori Spelling Ordered to Pay $38K in American Express Lawsuit

"No part of said sum has been paid, although demand for payment has been made," the documents read about Spelling's credit card balance.

This isn't the first time Spelling and her husband, 49-year-old Dean McDermott, have dealt with financial issues. According to court papers obtained by ET in July, the state of California placed a tax lien for $259,108.23 on the couple's property stemming from state taxes that allegedly went unpaid in 2014.

In 2013, Spelling admitted to The Insider that she and her husband struggled with their bills.

"Just because I'm on TV doesn't mean that I don't make financial choices that aren't good," she explained. "They were really bad ones."

WATCH: Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott Get Matching Tattoos for 10th Wedding Anniversary

Meanwhile, Spelling is also going through a lot in her personal life. Last month, the mother of four announced she was pregnant with her fifth child, admitting to People that it was a "total surprise." ET spoke with the former Beverly Hills, 90210 star last Sunday, when she shared that thankfully, everything in her pregnancy is going well so far.

"My pregnancy with [son] Finn was really difficult and there was a health condition, but the baby and I got checked out," she revealed. "That problem doesn't exist, and it can't exist during this pregnancy so we're OK."

Story continues

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TORONTO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Metrolinx, the provincial agency in charge of transportation in and around Toronto, filed notice that it could terminate its contract with Bombardier Inc , a spokeswoman said on Thursday, after lengthy delivery delays.

Bombardier in 2010 won a roughly C$770 million ($574.84 million) contract to deliver 182 vehicles between 2013 and 2020. The light-rail vehicles are to be used in a new transit project crossing Toronto due to open in 2021, after Metrolinx pushed back its planned launch by a year.

The pilot vehicle is about two years behind schedule.

"We have taken the next step afforded to us in our contract with Bombardier and I can confirm it's a notice of intent (to terminate)," said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

Aikins said it was taking the next legal step and did not mean Metrolinx was ending its contract just yet.

In July, the agency filed a notice of default against the Montreal-based plane and trainmaker for delayed delivery of a fleet of light-rail vehicles.

Toronto's municipal transit authority has also complained of delayed delivery from Bombardier after receiving only a handful of streetcars it ordered in 2009.

($1 = 1.3395 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Amran Abocar; editing by Grant McCool)
By Pamela Barbaglia, Stephen Jewkes and Giancarlo Navach

LONDON/MILAN, Nov 4 (Reuters) - France's Total and Italy's Erg are looking to sell a stake in their Italian refinery business Sarpom to facilitate an auction of one of the country's biggest service station networks, sources said.

The two companies jointly control TotalErg which operates close to 2,600 service stations in Italy with a market share of around 11 percent and also owns a quarter of Sarpom.

The sale of TotalErg, led by HSBC and Rothschild, is expected to begin by the end of the year, the sources said, noting that stripping out non-core assets such as refineries and lubricants would make the deal more attractive for prospective bidders.

Erg declined to comment while a spokesman for Total referred to previous comments by CEO Patrick Pouyanne who said in September the group continued to divest positions in Marketing & Services across Europe where its market share is too low.

TotalErg, 51 percent owned by Italian green company Erg, is valued at up to 800 million euros ($888 million) and has drawn interest from private equity and industry players, with some hoping to buy a retail business free of refineries, lubricants and other non-core assets.

TotalErg has a 25 percent stake in the northern Italian refinery Sarpom which is controlled by ExxonMobil's Esso unit with a 75 percent stake. There was no indication of how much the partners would want for their stake.

Sarpom is proving to be a stumbling block in clinching a deal for the pump network since prospective bidders would not have control, sources said.

Should a carve out of Sarpom fail, the asset would be wrapped back into the main deal, one of the sources said.

CROWDED FIELD

Italy's service station landscape is over-crowded, with around 21,000 points across the country, twice the number in France and almost three times that in Britain.

A change of ownership for TotalErg may lead to restructuring of the business with some possible closures and job cuts.

Story continues

It comes at a time when the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is at risk of losing support ahead of a referendum on constitutional reform that could cost him his position.

Italian privately-owned refiner API has shown interest in the deal and may team up with a private equity outfit to make a competitive offer, sources said.

If successful, a deal with API would create Italy's biggest petrol station player, leapfrogging Eni and Kuwait Petroleum International which last year bought a network of 830 Italian pump stations from Royal Dutch Shell.

U.S. buyout fund Carlyle is also expected to enter the race for the Rome-based business attracted by its turnaround potential and has held talks with API to evaluate a joint offer, the sources said.

"The question for private equity funds is whether it's easier to restructure the business alone or it's more convenient to team up with trade buyers," one of the sources said.

Any restructuring is expected to get the nod from Rome which is trying to push through legislation to cut the number of stations to bring them into line with demand, two sources said.

A handful of international investors including U.S. buyout fund KKR and Irish diversified investment firm DCC are also eying a bid for the pump station business but are much less keen on refining.

API, KKR, Carlyle and DCC declined to comment.

Investing in petrol stations in Italy could offer scope to create value despite a decline in petrol consumption and a looming threat posed by electric cars.

"The upside is all in making the Italian network more efficient," one of the sources said. ($1 = 0.9009 euros) (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Keith Weir)
From ELLE DECOR

In the trendy Manhtattan neighborhood of SoHo, there flutters a young woman who interior designer Sasha Bikoff describes as, essentially, a human butterfly.

"The first thing she said is, 'I love butterflies.' She's fluttery, always traveling, and I think she thinks she's a butterfly," Bikoff says of her latest client, a worldly ingenue who has regularly spent summers at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in the south of France, separates her closet into sections for striking sequin and velvet outfits, and always wears a Van Cleef butterfly necklace (and adores her Valentino butterfly boots).

"Even though she's very young, she has a very sophisticated aesthetic of Old World European furniture, mostly French 18th-century pieces," says Bikoff. The well-traveled woman, who is also the owner of a coconut yogurt brand, is happy-go-lucky and youthful - but growing up in a world of high design hotels, she has an unmistakable sense of sophisticated French style. Her request for Bikoff: Recreate an apartment with a blend of European Old World aesthetic and whimsical style.

That resulting blend is evident from first glance at the apartment, which flaunts a myriad of rainbow colors carefully selected and bestowed upon antique furniture from around the world.

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

To cater to her client's Old World tastes and her preferences for modern colors in the living room, Bikoff selected a classic 18th-century Chesterfield sofa upholstered in turquoise velvet and two 18th-century French bergere chairs in a hot pink Maharam fabric.

"Maharam is a very modern, contemporary fabric company, with velvets that are really bright in color," says Bikoff. "That color was such a pop of freshness and youthfulness on the old chairs."

To complement the saturated colors in the room, Bikoff dyed a 1920s Chinese deco rug peacock blue, and accented it with a Murano glass coffee table.

"The rug adds that element of another traditional piece, but dying it turquoise recreated it into something new," says Bikoff. "It doesn't matter that all these pieces come from different eras, because they all connect in color."

Story continues

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

In the dining room, a chandelier floats above a dining table made from an Indonesian acacia wood slab. The ModShop chairs are upholstered in a Christopher Hyland floral fabric reminiscent of Gucci floral prints that made waves in the '60s. This "bouquet" aesthetic was a strategy Bikoff used to bring the many colors in the space together.

"If you imagine a bouquet of flowers, or an Impressionist painting like a Monet, you're going to see plenty of colors together," says Bikoff. "The same can apply to a space, but you need to find a connection. Here, that connection is the fabric on the dining room chairs, which showcases colors also found throughout the room."

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

The kitchen flaunts slightly more contemporary style, with pendant lights from Tom Dixon for ABC and Pierre Paulin tulip barstools in a 1960s pink leather.

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

The white master bedroom is a breath of tranquility reminiscent of the many hotels the client had spent time in, but incorporates touches of Hollywood Regency and Parisian style.

"I originally wanted to paint the master bedroom mint green or peach, but she wanted to keep it white because she liked the freshness," says Bikoff of her hotel-loving client.

Painted in a high gloss Chantilly Lace from Fine Paints of Europe, the room features a shaggy, modern rug from ABC Carpet & Home (meant to help the room resemble a "white puff cloud"). However, the Pierre Frey fabric on the drapes, headboard and bedskirt is an archived vintage pattern - a very classic "Ritz Paris" aesthetic, says Bikoff.

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

At the foot of the bed, French style meets Hollywood Regency with an antique French settee upholstered in fabric that Bikoff describes as "granny chic."

"It reminds me of an Old Hollywood glam actress, like something Marilyn Monroe might have in her house," says Bikoff. "That's also where we get the hot pink satin curtain with the crystal tassel, which is a very Jayne Mansfield Pink Palace look."

A crystal chandelier in the bedroom was a necessity, as it was in the dining room.

"The client loves crystal chandeliers and was all about having them," says Bikoff. "Even though I wasn't sure about it, she got me to go into an uncomfortable zone and buy these crazy crystal chandeliers for her apartment. It turned out to be a very sophisticated, traditional look."

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

A striking powder room showcases a Christian Lacroix turquoise butterfly wallpaper, echoing the butterfly motifs on the living room sofa's pillows.

"I showed the client a lot of different butterfly wallpapers and fabrics because many companies make them, but Lacroix just knows how to mix that old-school French style in a new way with great colors," says Bikoff. "It feels more fashionable, edgy and special than the other butterfly patterns we looked at."

The wallpaper's turquoise serves as the foundation for its wild design, much like the rich turquoise rug in the living room lays the foundation for the colorful space.

The apartment as a whole is proof even fluttering social butterflies need a place to land sometimes - and for one Manhattanite, an exuberantly spirited space anchored with Old World flair is the perfect place to do so.

Scroll on to see the rest of the apartment.

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

Photo credit: Genevieve Garruppo

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On Thursday, three Chicago public schools were each given $10,000 in grants that will provide musical instruments and equipment.

Toyota and VH1 Save The Music presented the grants to John Spry Community, Goudy Technology Academy and Daniel Boone Elementary.

At the school-wide assembly held at John Spry Community, a performance by the Chicago rapper Sir the Baptist brought everyone to their feet.

At one point, he invited 30 music students from all three schools to join him on stage to perform a rendition of Wake Up.

The grant was made possible through an interactive festival activation and social media campaign at music festivals nationwide.

People at the festivals were invited to write or draw their answer to the question, What does music mean to you? on a globe made out of multicolored plexiglass.

Throughout each festival, the mural evolved as more hand drawn pieces were added to the work.

At the event, Sir the Baptist answered the very same question.

It can be education, it can be salvation, it can be family, it can be everything, he said. Music saved my life. When my dad died when I was 11, I had nothing but music.

Toyota was able to fulfill a $40,000 donation to VH1 Save The Music, which was able to give three Keys + Kids grants at the three schools. Each of three grants included a Casio Celviano Grand Hybrid GP-500 Piano and three Casio WK-7600 Music Workstations.

We are gearing up to celebrate 20 years at VH1 Save The Music and partners like Toyota have helped significantly with our mission to ensure music is a part of every childs complete education, says Henry Donahue, executive director of VH1 Save The Music Foundation. Were thrilled to be in these communities and that our work over the summer has brought instruments and music back to these schools.




ray dalio

Around eight years ago, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio introduced Transcendental Meditation to his 735 employees.

Dalio had already established a unique, intense culture at Bridgewater that he likes to say is akin to being part of an "intellectual Navy SEALs," and he believed that Transcendental Meditation, or TM, would work as an effective counterbalance.

"I did it because it's the greatest gift I could give anyone  it brings about equanimity, creativity, and peace," Dalio told me in an email.

Since then, TM has popped into the mainstream, and over the last three years, the David Lynch Foundation TM center has taught almost 2,500 professionals  1,150 in 2016 alone  and roughly 55% are from Wall Street.

Dalio has always done things differently, from having his employees memorize his list of life "Principles" or recording their conversations as part of a culture of "radical transparency." So his obsession with TM isn't surprising, but what is unusual is the way that it has caught on with the rest of Wall Street over the past few years.

Dalio began practicing TM in 1969 as a college student, after seeing that its founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, taught it to the Beatles.

Dalio is also one of the biggest supporters of the David Lynch Foundation  founded by the acclaimed director ("Twin Peaks," "Mulholland Drive") in 2005 to teach TM for free to underserved students, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, and victims of domestic abuse  and has donated about $20 million to the DLF through the Dalio Foundation over the past decade, with funds specifically allocated to students in New York and San Francisco and veterans. The Dalio Foundation accounts for 20% of the DLF's funding.

I wanted to find out why Dalio would speak so emphatically and passionately about this meditation technique, and why other power players like Third Point manager Dan Loeb and JPMorgan wealth management CEO Barry Sommers were compelling others in finance to try it out.

Story continues

And as someone who had been practicing mindfulness meditation for nearly a year, I was questioning the bureaucracy and mystery of TM, wondering if it was all a racket constructed over a simple, overblown technique.

david lynch

Over the past six weeks, I spent hours talking to many people about their own experiences with TM, went through years of scientific studies conducted, dug into the organization that teaches it, and pored over the ancient literature and tradition that inspired the founder to develop and spread the technique.

Knowing I couldn't truly understand its appeal without experiencing the practice, I learned TM through the DLF and have practiced it for the recommended two 20-minute sessions every day, missing only a few sessions. The foundation offered to waive its $960 fee, which it had done with other journalists, so I'd have more context for my research.

Practitioners can go deep into the history of TM and even learn advanced techniques for deeper meditations, but at its heart, TM is a simple and effective technique, and those who stick to the basics can still see real results. It's one of the reasons hyper-busy, intense investors are embracing it.

Bob Roth, the foundation's executive director, and my teacher, Mario Orsatti, are thrilled by the rising interest, which surprises even them. Because of a number of coinciding factors  the recent cultural normalization of meditation in the US, public evangelizing by figures like Dalio and Jerry Seinfeld, increasingly distracted lives, increasingly frustrating markets, and the fact that institutions such as the American Heart Association have cleared TM as a tool for a healthy lifestyle  TM is having its moment on the Street.

Bringing meditation to the West

Any TM student will be shown videos of the Maharishi, a small man with long wispy hair, a scraggly beard, a high-pitched voice, and a penchant for giggling.

Born in India as Mahesh Prasad Varma in 1918, he renounced his name and familial ties in typical Hindu monk fashion after graduating from Allahabad University in 1942 with a physics degree and traveling to Jyotir Math in the Indian Himalayas to study under and serve Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the man he reverentially called Guru Dev, which literally means "divine teacher."

maharishi mahesh yogi

Saraswati was the leader of the city's monastery. When the Maharishi  a title that means "seer" and is commonly used as shorthand  began his global tour of spreading TM in 1958, he made it clear that although he and his guru were Hindu monks and TM was rooted in the ancient Vedic scriptures, his practice was not tied to the Hindu faith.

Because of the caste he was born into, the Maharishi could not succeed Saraswati, but Saraswati entrusted him with the mission of spreading meditation around the world for the purpose of fostering peace.

The mission was not religious proselytizing, but rather making available a technique that anyone, whether they were Hindu, Christian, or atheist, could practice.

"I think where we are today is where Maharishi always wanted it to be  which is science-based, and evidence-based, and fits in with medicine and mainstream wellness programs," Roth told me.

He said the Maharishi, whom he knew from 1970 until the Maharishi's death in 2008, was as scientific as he was spiritual, and that he believed that the health benefits he felt from meditation could be proven. Researching the effects of TM was one of the reasons he founded a college, the Maharishi University of Management, in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1971.

Though I was skeptical of research coming from such a potentially biased source, the school has received tens of millions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health  a federal organization that does not liberally give out that level of funding. The school's findings have also been corroborated by other institutions, like Harvard Medical School and Stanford Medical School.

The wealth of peer-reviewed research on TM's ability to lower blood pressure and decrease the presence of stress-causing hormones at a rate significantly higher than other forms of stress relief has caused institutions such as the AHA to inspire doctors to tell their patients about it.

BI Graphics Transcendental meditation graphic

Meditating at the world's largest hedge fund

Dalio brought TM to his Bridgewater through the foundation's teachers, who still regularly visit.

Practitioners must learn TM from a certified teacher, who gives them one of many mantras, a meaningless "vibration sound," and assists them with perfecting the technique. Meditators sit still for 20 minutes and repeat this mantra in their head, letting thoughts float by and possibly "transcending," reaching a pleasant and invigorating state of "restful alertness."

The initial deal Dalio proposed around 2008 was that any employee with a tenure of six months or longer could take the $1,000 four-month course and, upon completion, Dalio would reimburse half the cost out of his own pocket.

After a few years, the course became popular, and many employees began regularly meditating twice a day. Dalio and his management team decided that it would be best to create a formal corporate reimbursement and training plan.

bridgewater associates

In the past eight years, around 500 employees have been trained. (Bridgewater's employee count ranged from roughly 735 to 1,700 employees in that time.)

Also in that time, Dalio has become easily the most vocal and influential proponent of TM in the finance community.

Though Bridgewater, which now has $150 billion in assets under management, became the world's largest hedge fund in 2005, it remained largely under the radar until 2011, when Dalio received mainstream press, including a full profile in The New Yorker. When the media asked him about his "secrets to success," he would laud TM.

As he's quoted as saying in the 2011 book "Transcendence," not coincidentally written by his son Paul's psychiatrist, Norman Rosenthal, TM is "the single biggest influence" in his life. It was Paul who convinced Rosenthal to revisit TM, which Rosenthal had learned years before, and to investigate it from a scientific standpoint.

Both Paul and his father are quoted in "Transcendence" and its 2016 follow-up, "Super Mind," and Rosenthal has supplemented his career as a practicing psychiatrist and Georgetown Medical School professor with speaking tours about the health benefits of TM.

This increase in literature about the health benefits of TM is one of the reasons the practice has exploded in popularity over the past few years, despite being taught in the US since the 1960s. It's connected especially during this time with Wall Street power players, many of whom now practice it daily.

TM on Wall Street

As Andrew Ross Sorkin, the founder of The New York Times Dealbook, told me over email, "Trading is a mental game, and anything that gives you even a slight edge is valuable."

Sorkin has been practicing TM "on and off" for the past three years. Brian Koppelman and David Levien, Sorkin's cocreators on the Showtime series "Billions" are regular meditators. The show is about a corrupt hedge funder's battles with a US attorney, and both characters have scenes where they try to collect themselves during TM sessions  a manifestation of the creators' shared habit as well as a nod to TM's recent rise in the financial world.

At the David Lynch Foundation, I took two group classes with Didier Phitoussi, who has been in the hedge fund industry for 23 years. I caught up with him recently, and he told me that he feels as though it has caught on in that world at this specific moment in time because "no one has been making any money."

Phitoussi told me that for investors, it's "being in front of a computer, looking for ways to make money and not finding anything. It's very frustrating." TM, he thinks, allows people in these situations to better deal with this stress and have a clearer head  similar to the way people would abuse a drug, he said, except meditation is healthy.

David Lynch Foundation 2869 2

For Mark Axelowitz, managing director at UBS Wealth Management, the first step to become a meditator was reading Dalio's "Principles."

Axelowitz was reading up on Dalio before he called to ask him if he'd like to speak at his and Bill Ackman's annual fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Harbor foundation. Early in "Principles," Dalio writes about how he discovered meditation in college after seeing that the Beatles did it.

"It helped me think more clearly and creatively, so I'm sure that enhanced my enjoyment of, and success at, learning," Dalio wrote.

"The second I read that I decided I'm done  I'm meditating," Axelowitz said.

During his call with Dalio, Axelowitz asked him how he could begin meditating, and Dalio referred him to the David Lynch Foundation. Axelowitz began learning the next month, January 2012. Since then, he has practiced it every day, missing only one or two of the twice-daily sessions each week, if any. He now serves on the foundation's board.

When I asked him if he had any reservations about TM, he said he could see no downside at the time, since no one was forcing him to do or believe anything he didn't want to. And if it proved ineffective, he'd be giving himself some time to rest.

ray dalio tm

"I had at the time a Blackberry and an iPhone, and my life was nonstop work," Axelowitz said.

He said he's awake 18 hours a day, and that his time is split among his Wall Street job, philanthropy, his side job as an actor  he's had numerous bit parts in big productions since 2004  and his three kids.

"And I knew that if TM did not work, it gave me 40 minutes of downtime, with no interruption," he said.

But he found that it profoundly affected him. He said that since making TM a daily habit, he has been able to have a clearer mind, which has allowed him to be more present in both his professional and personal life. He also believes this regular training of his mind has allowed him to be more creative, which has allowed him to take on more significant and enjoyable acting gigs.

And to make everything more attractive, as it does for many Wall Streeters, he believed in the foundation's mission of teaching the technique to those who could benefit from it but can't afford its $960 price tag.

The foundation was created in 2005 to take a fee from those who could afford it and use that money to teach veterans with PTSD, students in underserved schools, and victims of abuse. The foundation told me that all funds go toward operations, and that "paying for others to learn" means subsidizing the work hours of a teacher on a pro bono lesson; I was told DLF teachers have salaries of roughly $40,000 to $80,000. Over the past 11 years, the foundation has taught more than 500,000 people for free.

Axelowitz became a trustee of the foundation and would invite some of his buddies on Wall Street to informational events. He said he's always happy to encourage others to look into learning TM from the foundation if they ask about it. He believes this network effect is one of the fundamental reasons the technique has spiked in popularity among finance types.

I spoke with two of the people to whom he's recommended it: Ken Gunsberger, a senior vice president at UBS Financial Services, and Barry Friedberg, CEO of the hedge fund FriedbergMilstein. Both Gunsberger and Friedberg have also donated to the foundation.

"When you're investing in the market, and the markets are moving around ... a lot of people get very emotional," Gunsberger said. "So it affects your day. If you have a stock or a fund that's not doing well temporarily, it bogs you down, it bothers you, so it affects your productivity. TM allows you to think through that, to see through that, and be less emotional."

Ken Gunsberger TM

Gunsberger has been practicing it daily for the past two years, after Axelowitz recommended it to him during a particularly rough period in his life. Gunsberger told me he noticed the effects of TM a month after practicing it. He was no longer feeling frantic or distracted.

Gunsberger added that, like both Dalio and Lynch have said, he will have TM sessions where a thought passes through his head that suddenly provides a solution he's been looking for.

The practice itself gets its name from the idea of "transcendence," a unique, blissful feeling of simultaneous detachment and awareness that arises when the mind is quiet. But these moments are not required of a TM meditation, and in between them the passing of ideas can start to feel less chaotic. That's what allows the mind to seemingly magically stumble upon the answer to a question it has been trying to solve.

Friedberg is also drawn to this invigorating sensory deprivation that is so elusive to Wall Streeters.

"I never leave a session where I don't feel energized," he told me. "I've almost never had a meditation session where I didn't get a good idea."

He's been practicing TM for the past two years, initially doing the full 40 minutes every day, but cutting down the 20-minute sessions to 15 minutes, and practicing now four or five days each week  yet still feeling "substantial benefits" to his mood and creative process.

He had tried mindfulness meditation and yoga throughout his life, and so he was open to trying TM when Axelowitz told him about it over lunch two years ago. He was further intrigued by the foundation's philanthropic mission, and decided the lesson fee was money well spent.

Dalio himself is far from a casual meditator using the technique as a way to take some quiet time  he seeks out moments of transcendence and has found them to have changed the way he interacts with life.

He told Rosenthal, in a passage from "Transcendence" now regularly cited in the TM community, that his decades of practicing TM have made him more "centered," in the sense of "being in a calm, clear-headed state so that when challenges come at you, you can deal with them like a ninja  in a calm, thoughtful way.

"When you're centered, your emotions are not hijacking you. You have the ability to think clearly, put things in their right place, and have good perspective."

The appeal of philanthropic self-help

transcendental meditation school

Roth and Orsatti think TM has finally weathered the storm of misunderstanding or dismissal and is only going to get more popular.

Lynch agrees.

"In the past 11 years I have seen a complete transformation in the recognition by the scientific community of the benefits of TM for reducing stress, improving health, and promoting creativity and performance," he wrote to me in an email. "My goal for the foundation is to ensure that TM is available, at no cost, to every person who suffers from trauma and toxic stress  veterans with PTSD, abused women, and young people in underserved schools."

With the foundation as Wall Street's go-to meditation center, Lynch's mission is gaining traction as its wealthy business practitioners eagerly fund its pro bono work and scholarships for interested students who can't afford the full fee.

The scientific validation of TM, the increased popularity of meditation in general, and the ease of learning are all reasons its spreading. But it's also because of people like Ray Dalio.

"They see Ray's success  how are you going to argue with a guy who makes $5 million a day?" Gunsberger said. "You going to argue with that?"

NOW WATCH: Former Navy SEAL commanders explain why they still wake up at 4:30 a.m.  and why you should, too





More From Business Insider


How do you lampoon an election that already routinely veers into absurd territory? Thats the challenge that Trevor Noah, the host of Comedy Centrals The Daily Show, faces nightly, as he discusses an election cycle of scandals, leaks, bigotry, and fear-mongeringa cycle where even the most unprecedented happenings have become mundane.

Noah has barely hosted the show for a year now, but its been as eventful a year at the intersection of politics, commentary, and humor as theres ever been. When Jon Stewart stepped down from The Daily Show after 16 years as its hostduring which time many Americans came to accept it as a legitimate institution of political news and commentaryNoah was abruptly thrust into the lead role on the show, kicking off a well-publicized adjustment period in the late-night commentary landscape. But since thenand perhaps aided by the wellspring of Donald TrumpNoahs vision of The Daily Show has found its footing as an incredulous outsiders look at the 2016 political meltdown.

Recommended: The Conservative Case for Voting for Clinton

I sat down with Noah to discuss his first book, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood; what hes learned in his first year from his unique perch at the show about Trumpism; race; the connection between South Africa and America; and writing jokes in interesting times. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Vann R. Newkirk II: So, how does it feel for your first election with The Daily Show to be the worst election ever?

Trevor Noah: I think it was meant to happen. Obama had to be in a place where America had gotten to a point where they were like, Alright, well give you a chance. Bush was the only way Obama could win. And Trump is the only way Hillary could win. Who is she gonna beat? There are people who go, I hate Hillary so much, I wish she were in prison. And the only reason people arent voting for Trump is they think, I don't want the world to end, but I would have voted for Jeb.

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Newkirk: The end of the world? Whats it like for you when those are the kinds of stakes people are talking about?

Noah: It's fun. Essentially, I've always felt like that with comedy. I always felt like comedians would be the people making the jokes until the end of the world. If they said the world was ending in a week, I'm willing to bet that comedy shows would be sold out. Because it's like, Well, it's done. Might as well go and hear this person make me laugh. So, if anything, this time feels more normal than most days would in my life. Being in a place where people are coming to hear what you have to say about the possible end of the world as we know it feels natural. It feels like this is where I'm supposed to be.

Recommended: The Urgency of the Lesser Evil

Newkirk: Weve been talking so much over the past couple of years about how comedy and especially The Daily Show have become actual legitimate news source for lots of people. Do you feel a special burden now?

Noah: I used to see it as a burden. I now see it as an opportunity. I realize that I'm in a place where I can speak to issues that maybe not everyone is speaking about, and to share a point of view that maybe isn't the most common point of view. And more than ever I realized how crucial a show like this is, not for speaking truth to power or anything like that, but having a place where ironically we are more newsy than the news sometimes.

Newkirk: Hows that work for you? Trump might be a windfall for news. But that impacts what you do, too, right? Because he naturally brings the absurdity of things closer to the front. Do you even have to write jokes about Trump?

Noah: Trump is probably the hardest thing to write jokes about. When he started, he wasn't, but now what's happened with Trump is he does the joke escalations that we think of doing. A couple days ago with the scandals, I said as a joke, Billy Bush made Trump do it. And then we laughed. And then two days later, the Trump camp comes out and says, Trump was not the person, Billy Bush put him up to it. And I'm like, are you serious? And then once we said as a joke about people getting punched at his rallies, we said, Yeah at this rate, Trump's gonna start fighting with a baby at one of his rallies. And within that week, Trump said Get that baby out of here!

Recommended: The End of Trump?

Now what do you write? What do you write as a joke? It's like trying to write jokes about a comedian. The comedian already told the joke, so what is your joke gonna be?

When I got here I said, Oh, that Trump guy is gonna go far.

Newkirk: You often talk about your perspective as an outsider from South Africa. Does this all shock you from that perspective?

Noah: Well to me, everything is normal. That's probably my greatest gift. I thought it was a curse when I first came, but then I realized everything is normal. I actually wasted time listening to people when I first started the show, because when I got here I said, Oh, that Trump guy is gonna go far. And everyone in the office said Oh, what are you talking about? Oh man, we gotta explain American politics to you. They said There's a little thing that happens to us in the summer. We go a little bit crazy. And then what happens is by the autumn it calms down, and then by the primaries the people fall out.

But I saw that the guy's charismatic, he's funny, and he's crazy. I want to watch that person. And because it seems like a reality show, I'd vote for him to stay. For me, because I didn't have the experience of the Sarah Palins and the Herman Cains, I was only operating from that view. That is still how I operate, and I realize that that's my advantage now. And I lean into that and talk about how I see things, because I'm seeing things for the first time. So I will speak to them from that point of view because a lot of the time, people have accepted things as being normal. I'll ask the question, and then people will say, That's just how we've done it. And I ask, Why? Why do you do it like that?

Newkirk: As a person whos seen all this as an outsider, what does 2017 look like?

Noah: I've given up predicting anything. What I do know is, it all depends on the American election. I do think Trump losing will send a huge message to the world. Germany has that story now of right-wingers succeeding. Australia has that rising story. Austria has that story. Britain has that story. For America to say, Oh no, that story failed here, that just adjusts the course of everything. It's like winning a key battle against ISIS. All the sudden things shift and actually not all is lost. The one thing I do know is the West can't continue the way it's going. One thing I envy about Africa is there's all the room to grow. It's not an easy road, it's a very rocky path. We still have the ills that have been left behind for us by our colonizers, but there's all that room to grow. And once that starts, the sky's the limit.

Newkirk: You've got your first book coming out. How's the rollout on that feel?

Noah: Man, it's cathartic. It's a tough experience, but it's one where if you open up and if you're honest and you live within it, I found it really liberating. Sharing fears, ideas, past, and present. Going back sometimes helps me understand why I am here. Realizing that everything in my life is something that has brought me to this point. Even realizing how hard I've worked to be here, which sometimes I forget and people even make you forget. We live in the world of the now, and people will tell you, Oh, you're a bad writer, or a bad comedian, or whatever, but you forget how much you've gone through to get to that point. So writing the book was really special for me. It was also special because it made me appreciate the people in my life. Having to go back and remember good stories and moments and lessons that I've lived, I was like, Wow. I've lived quite a life and there are some amazing people in it.

Newkirk: I saw the title [Born a Crime], and I thought it was a James Baldwin quote. I saw it and was looking for the reference in some of the black lit I read. Where'd that come from?

Noah: Just from my mind. It came from my stand-up, I said that line, which was just telling people a true story. Born of an African woman and a European father during apartheid, and it wasn't even a joke. I was born a crime.

In America, it seems like the hope is at a different level. Black people hope to be seen as people, and that still blows my mind.

Newkirk: The reason why that got my mind working is because it sounds like the same kinds of things people are saying about the black youth experience here, and how that's connected with the experience in South Africa interests me. It seems like that's something that's stuck with you as well.

Noah: When it came to how the connection between Americans and South Africans affected my work, I realized very quickly how similarly our struggles have been, and how similar our struggles are. The only difference is the fork in the road, in that South Africa is now black-owned and black run, but you still have these talks about reparations and these conversations about the value of a black life, you still have the same feelings and ideas that people struggle and grapple with. Young black people saying, We see no future for ourselves. Self identity. Hair. You connect it on so many levels. We're separated by so much distance, yet our stories are almost exactly the same. We've been cooked in the same pressure cooker that was racism, and so even though the dishes were prepared on different continents, the end product ended up being the same thing.

Newkirk: What are some of the differences you see between the African American experience and the South African experience?

Noah: I think the biggest difference has been that there's a difference in the type of hope that I see. There's a difference in the type of future that that hope envisions. That is, in South Africa, people hope to be more, people hope to be at a place where they feel they rightly deserve to be, and people hope to reclaim what was once theirs. In America, it seems like the hope is at a different level. Black people hope to be seen as people, and that still blows my mind. African Americans are just asking to be treated as people.

Don't shoot us, policeman. Give us jobs, don't see us as a threat in the streets. It's crazy to see how different that part of it is. Whereas South Africans are in a place where we're saying, I want to own that company, and we want the stock exchange. How can the stock exchange be 95 percent white when the country is 90 percent black? It's crazy to see how much further that hope has gone on the other side, whereas here people still have to hope for what shouldn't even be a thing you need to hope for. That should be a basic human right. That should be base-level. We're all equal, we're all treated the same. Alright, cool. What do we hope for now?

Newkirk: Well whats it like to be playing a pretty big role in that dream? People are looking for black anchors and hosts of late-night shows. And The Daily Show, damn.

Noah: I'm honestly glad I didn't realize how important the position was until I was in it, because had I known I don't think I would have taken it. Because my fear would have consumed me, and the burden would've been too much to bear. After taking the job, I realized that it's not a burden, it's a platform. It's an opportunity. And that's when I thought, Oh, this is fantastic. This is not something that's on my shoulders. I am on its shoulders.

Every time I meet a guest whos of color, its someone saying, We're rooting for you. I see people in America who sometimes make it seem like its a reverse racism thing. They ask, So you want your black things, why can't we have our things? And I say it's because in America the norm is white. People take that for granted. America was the first time where I heard someone say black jokes. I'd never heard that before. Oh yeah, you tell a lot more black jokes than used to be on The Daily Show. Well, what does that mean? And then I said, Did Jon [Stewart] tell white jokes? So there's jokes, and then there's black jokes, but there's no white jokes.

Newkirk: There's history and black history, but no white history.

Noah: There's just history, because the white part is the default. That was the biggest mind-shift for me in America where I realized that here the norm is white. Why is there no white history month? Because it's all white history month. Why don't we get a white museum opened up in Washington? Because all of them are. Why don't we get a white show? Because everyone already is. Now I see why there is so much pride and hope from black people, and I'm honored to be a part of that because when you are in a world where you are told that you are not normal, you will always seek out some validation of yourself.

Trump is gone, but the Trump phenomenon is not going anywhere.

Newkirk: Over your first year at The Daily Show, what's changed most for you? What's the biggest adjustment?

Noah: I think the biggest adjustment was letting go of fear. I was so afraid, man. I was afraid to crash the white man's car. A friend said to me, I was afraid to watch your show for the first month because I was just waiting for it to crash. And I was like, man if this guy crashes, we crash with him. I felt that with a lot of people, where it was just, Jesus, don't crash. Because you crash, and now black people have crashed with you. They say, Well, we gave it to a black guy, and you saw what happened so we're going back to white guys and it's safer that way.

That pressure was huge from Americans, and that pressure's huge from Africa. I enjoy it, but that's also a scary thing where they say, That's our guy. And that's our guy unapologetically. He's not in America doing an American accent and faking it. No, that's our guy. He still talks the way he talked when he left here. That is our guy in your world. So that fear was just like, oh Lord. It was like driving the white man's car and I was shit-scared. Just don't crash, just don't crash. I didn't want to adjust the seat, I didn't want to adjust the steering wheel, I didn't want to adjust any of the mirrors. I just thought, Just drive this car from point A to point B and don't scratch it. And then you're driving and you've got journalists honking at you saying Why don't you drive faster? Why don't you drive like this? And you're still just trying not to crash right now.

But then you get to a point where you just can't drive like that forever. I needed to either crash or get where I'm going, but I couldn't drive like that forever. And over time I got more and more comfortable. I also connected more with the country. I couldn't fake that. I wasn't gonna be angry when I just got here. What am I angry about? That's all artificial. Now I see this as an opportunity to do something more, and I feel that fulfillment when I do it right.

Newkirk: So what happens after the election and we have to reset? What's the Daily Show hangover from all of this?

Noah: Oh, I don't think there'll be a hangover. That's when I breathe. I'm excited for that. I was just thinking about that last week. I was thinking, man, are we still talking about this guy? Is there a thing that he can say now that will change your mind? Is there a thing that he can do that can all of a sudden erase an entire campaign? On Hillary's side, what would she have to do to surpass this level of rhetoric?

So, as a person I'm done. Now I'm interested in why America's bombing Yemen. I want to know why they're launching Tomahawk missiles when they don't even know who struck at them. So there's a chance we can go into another war? This world cannot carry on like this. I'm looking at schools in America. We cannot continue teaching children like they've just come out of the industrial revolution; there's got to be a better way. I'm looking at mass incarceration and asking how is this still a thing? How is America's system so penal? Are you not trying to rehabilitate people, or is it really just a ruse for you to keep the black man enslaved?

I'm looking at police shootings. Yes, black men are being shot, but also these police are being trained to become these things and are trapped in a system that they cannot escape. It was President Obama who said it so eloquently at Mandela's funeral, he said, Nelson Mandela showed me that you can free not only the prisoner, but also the guard. That's what I think about with police shootings. Sometimes you forget that when they see a black person, they see a threat. How do we free that mind? This person's mind is broken, how do we fix that? There are so many other things that I feel like we can begin to explore. Right now though, Trump fever is the only thing. It's like an Ebola epidemic and now people cant stop talking about the flu.

But after, I look at that as room to breathe. Let's try and move forward. And don't get me wrong; we're still going to be dealing with the after-effects of Trump. Trump is gone, but the Trump phenomenon is not going anywhere. It's on. Those people who've had a taste of blood in racism and misogyny, they're not gonna go away now. Their xenophobia has been ignited. Look at what happened with Brexit. After Brexit, homophobic and xenophobic attacks went up by hundreds of percentage points in England. Why? Because it ignited what was inside of people. So we're gonna deal with that in America. Its gonna be a slog.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The story of Ponca Chief Standing Bear has been told in books, a television show, a documentary, poems, a play and essays written each year by Nebraska children.

An opera about Standing Bears famous walk back to Nebraska from Oklahoma to return his sons remains and his subsequent trial in 1879 even premiered in Omaha in March 2007.

But no one has ever performed a cantata about Standing Bear. Thats about to change.

Its a fresh new way to tell the story, said Anne Woita, vice president for the Hildegard Center for the Arts, a Lincoln nonprofit.

A cantata is a narrative musical piece for voices with instrumental accompaniment.

The Hildegard Center commissioned the cantata from Emmy Award-winning Chickasaw classical composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate. Standing Bear: A Ponca Indian Cantata is a 25-minute musical performance written for solo baritone, piano and a string sextet.

Southeast Community College has helped sponsor the cantata and its Friday performance at the Lied Centers Carson Theater. The performance is sold out, although people can still add their names to a waiting list by visiting www.eventbrite.com.

The cantata will be based on the life of Standing Bear, who won a landmark trial in 1879 that resulted in him becoming the first Native legally recognized as a person.

Kim Einspahr, president of the Hildegard Center, said the center commissioned the cantata as part of a three-year initiative meant to connect people of all ages and walks of life. She said she hopes the cantata will provide an opportunity for people to experience the mysticism and spirituality of Native people.

In July, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska endorsed the cantata and granted funding in support of its world premiere.

The cantata includes many of Standing Bears own words in English as well as the Ponca language. Giving voice to Standing Bear will be Grant Youngblood, an operatic baritone who has performed in lead roles with opera companies in America and internationally.

Youngblood, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, said he knew little about Standing Bear before accepting the offer to perform in the cantata. Since accepting the part, he said, hes read a lot about the chiefs life and impact.

Its been interesting reading about all he went through, Youngblood said.

The cantata also will feature the Rangbrook Ensemble, a string sextet, and critically acclaimed pianist Dr. Kenneth Hoppmann of SCC, who also is serving as the projects artistic director.

A free reception featuring Tate, the composer, will start at 5 p.m. Friday at the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St.

During the week prior to the cantata performance, Tate and Youngblood will host several workshops for students across eastern Nebraska. They plan to work with students at St. Augustines Indian Mission School in Winnebago, the Lincoln Indian Center, the Lincoln Public Schools Arts and Humanities Focus Program and the Ponca Tribe.

Its just made the project that much more rich, Einspahr said.
We tried the Gilmore Girls coffee, and its so good itll make Luke proud

When you need a fresh, hot cup of coffee, where do you go? If it were up to us, every single time we started craving caffeine, wed head down to Lukes Diner  and yes, its forever a crying shame that Lukes isnt a thing IRL, because wed seriously never leave the counter. Ever.

Thankfully, weve finally discovered the next best thing to Lukes coffee: Boca Java, an online coffee-subscription service (and a part of Lit-Cube) has just rolled out their Stars Hollow Coffee Club. Its the perfect thing for the Lorelai in your lifeor yourself. Because whats the best way to drink coffee? With oxygen, of course.

The Stars Hollow Coffee Club was nice enough to send us a box of coffee to sample, and were forever grateful for it, because spoiler alert, its delicious.

Out of the five varieties they sent over  Lukes No-Nonsense Special, Mrs. Kim-Approved Dark Roast, Sookies Gourmet Blend, Taylor Dooses Town Meeting, and Stars Hollow Autumn Festival we brewed up three different pots (okay, fine, we used our French presses).

We sampled Lukes, Sookies, and Taylors.

coffee

We all had the same reaction: This is a damn good cup of coffee. And then we had another cup.

You can either buy the bags of coffee individually (for $7.99 a bag, 8.0 oz) or as part of the subscription service. With the subscription, youll get your Gilmore Girls coffee of choice delivered every two weeks, or every four weeks, depending on your plan  and with a plan, this means youll never run out of coffee, especially when you need it most.

like during a Gilmore Girls marathon.

Drink up! Stay caffeinated! Gilmore Girls coffee forever!

The post We tried the Gilmore Girls coffee, and its so good itll make Luke proud appeared first on HelloGiggles.
When the Trolls movie was announced no less than 100 years ago, the skeptics among us saw it as a flagrant scheme to shill a certain toy again. Its existence came bundled with eye-glazing buzzwords like "franchise potential" and "brand synergy." But wait! Trolls is so much fun! And oh my goodness, did it make me happy!

The movie is indeed based on the dolls created by Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam, with their squat noses and colorful tufts of hair. Here, they are happy all the time, dancing and singing and hugging like they're living in a nonstop sober rave. It's in stark contrast to the Bergen, manic-depressive ogres who only experience happiness when they pop trolls like Prozac on a holiday called Trollstace.

When Princess Poppy's (Anna Kendrick) best friends are captured and added to the menu, she enlists Branch (Justin Timberlake), a doomsday prepper troll with an almost obsessive knowledge of the Bergen, and sets out to rescue them. It's a story of the power of positivity and doing what's right. Also, it's a story about farting glitter.

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Timberlake Says 1-Year-Old Son Silas Recognizes His Character in 'Trolls'

Dreamworks Animation

Everything in Trolls is overwhelmingly cute. The trolls are adorable, from their spiked neon hairdos right down to their little troll butts, and their world is a techno-colored delight, like Avatar if it was custom-ordered off Etsy. I can't imagine why this wasn't released before Halloween, because every kid would have dressed up as a troll. (Not just the Timberlakes.)

The cast proves less insanely random than it appears on paper -- can you imagine another movie starring Justin Timberlake, Quvenzhane Wallis, and Christine Baranski? Kendrick is given more to do as an animated troll than in all of The Accountant. Zooey Deschanel steals each and every scene she's in as a snaggletooth scullery maid named Bridget. I still have no idea who Gwen Stefani played.

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Poppy's anthem, "Get Back Up Again," is bound to be the new "Let it Go." It may not be as innately catchy, but the sequence in the movie is so fun that kids will be obsessed with it. (I'm realizing it's stuck in my head all over again as I write this.) Even Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling," which you have heard a gajillion times by now, feels as wonderful as the first time by the time it rolls around.

At the risk of using the word "cute" until it means absolutely nothing, Trolls is so darn cute and clever and unabashedly silly. There is plenty of giggle-inducing body humor for kiddos -- trolls poop cupcakes when they're scared! -- as well as genuine laugh-out-loud moments for parents. (Or, ya know, adults who want to see the Trolls movie). I challenge any Bergen in the audience to not feel happy by the end.

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TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's prime minister sacked the minister of religious affairs on Friday after he accused Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi brand of Islam of being behind "terrorism and extremism". "Prime Minister Youssef Chahed decided to dismiss Salem Abd El Jalil, minister of religious affairs, from his duties due to the lack of respect for government work and his statements that touched principles of Tunisian diplomacy," the premier's office said in a statement. Tunisian media on Thursday quoted Abd El Jalil as saying in parliament: "I told the Saudi ambassador in Tunisia that terrorism and extremism historically came from you ... You should reform your (religious) school." He could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday. Tunisia, one of the Arab world's most secular countries, has turned to Western and Gulf allies for financing since its 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled into exile in Saudi Arabia. The North African state has become a major source of jihadists fighting in Iraq, Syria and neighbouring Libya. More than 3,000 Tunisians are believed to be involved and critics say foreign imam recruiters are partly to blame. Saudi officials reject criticism that their country's austere Wahhabi school of Islam fuels jihadism. They point to the country's detention of thousands of suspected militants and intelligence-sharing with allies. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; editing by Patrick Markey and Andrew Roche)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A dozen lawmakers from Turkey's opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has Kurdish roots, were detained on Friday because they refused to give testimony in criminal proceedings, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Democratically elected officials normally can only be forced from office in another election, but those officials who mix with and encourage "terrorism" must face legal proceedings, Yildirim told reporters in comments broadcast live. Prosecutors began investigating more than 50 of the HDP's 59 parliamentarians after the legislature voted to scrap immunity in certain cases. HDP lawmakers decided not to testify in their cases out of protest. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish police on Friday detained the two co-leaders of the country's main pro-Kurdish party, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and several other MPs in a major escalation of the crackdown in the wake of a failed July 15 coup.

Selahattin Demirtas was detained at his home in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir while the co-chairperson Figen Yuksekdag was held in Ankara as part of a terror investigation, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Their detention appeared part of a large-scale operation against the HDP, which is the third largest party in the Turkish parliament with 59 seats and the main political representative of the Kurdish minority.

Demirtas and Yuksekdag had been targeted by several separate probes over the last months but this is the first time that either has been detained.

The security operations took place after midnight, with Demirtas tweeting at 0130 local time (2230 GMT) that police had arrived at his home and he was about to be detained.

NTV television said the pair were accused of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) while Anadolu said Demirtas was accused of provoking violence in deadly protests in October 2014.

Those detained also failed to respond to demands to give statements to prosecutors, Anadolu said.

According to the Turkish interior ministry, a total of 11 HDP MPs were detained, including the two co-leaders, NTV said.

Coordinated raids took place throughout the southeast of Turkey including the cities of Diyarbakir, Van and Bingol.

A police search was also in progress at the party's general headquarters in Ankara.

Those detained including the prominent lawmaker Sirri Surreya Onder, who in the past has been a pointman for contacts with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The head of the HDP's faction in the Turkish parliament, Idris Baluken, was also held.

Their detention followed a previous resolution by parliament allowing the immunity of MPs to be lifted.

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- Rising tensions -

Two more wanted HDP MPs -- Faysal Sariyildiz and Tugba Hezer Ozturk -- were found to be abroad while efforts were still under way to detain two others, Imam Tascier and Nihat Akdogan, Anadolu said.

The raids come as Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the wake of the July 15 failed coup, which critics say has gone well beyond targeting the actual coup plotters.

Thirteen staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, including the editor-in-chief, were detained on Monday, further heightening strains in Turkish society.

Tensions have surged in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey since a fragile ceasefire declared by the PKK collapsed in 2015.

It has since stepped up its insurgency against the Turkish security forces, staging regular attacks that have claimed hundreds of lives among the military and the police.

The HDP seeks to promote the cause of Turkey's Kurdish minority and defend the rights of Kurds as well as those of women, gays and workers.

The charisma in particular of Demirtas -- dubbed the "Kurdish Obama" by some admirers after the US president -- earned it success at the ballot box.

It also divides all its top jobs between a man and a woman, as with the party chairmanship, which is shared between Demirtas and Yuksekdag.

But the authorities accuse the party of being a front for the PKK and failing to distance itself from terror, claims it has always vehemently denied.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched repeated personal attacks on Demirtas, who analysts have seen as the sole politician in Turkey who comes anywhere near to rivalling his charisma.

Demirtas has made it a personal crusade to oppose Erdogan's plan for a presidential system in Turkey, which the HDP says would lead to dictatorship.

Erdogan had earlier Thursday held talks with Devlet Bahceli, the head of the fourth largest party in parliament, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which despises the HDP and whose votes could be crucial in agreeing a presidential system.

The HDP strongly opposed the coup that aimed to unseat Erdogan but Demirtas told AFP in an interview after the putsch bid there was no contradiction in resisting both the plotters and the president.
A Turkish court placed the two leaders of a major pro-Kurdish opposition party under arrest on Friday in a dramatic widening of a political crackdown that followed Julys failed military coup that will raise concerns about the future of Turkeys parliamentary democracy.

Police detained the co-chairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), Selahhatin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, early on Friday morning along with nine other lawmakers. The measures against pro-Kurdish officials more than three months after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan narrowly survived an attempt by part of the military to seize power on July 15 could also open a new season of conflict with armed Kurdish insurgents. Hours after the arrests, a car bombing reportedly killed at least eight people in the city of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-majority southeast of Turkey.

Bringing together a diverse coalition on a platform of democracy and minority rights, the HDP catapulted into parliament in June 2015 embodying hopes for a more pluralistic brand of politics in Turkey and now controls 59 seats in Turkeys 550 member Grand National Assembly, making it the parliaments third largest. A charismatic politician whose broad appeal transcended his Kurdish heritage, Demirtas was hailed as a Kurdish Obama.

According to the Interior Ministry, Demirtas and the other members of parliament were detained for failing to appear in response to a prosecutors summons seeking their testimony in an investigation. Arrest warrants have been issued for two other members of parliament who are currently outside of Turkey, according to the Interior Ministry. In May parliament passed a law that stripped lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution, a move many feared would pave the way for charges against pro-Kurdish officials over alleged ties to Kurdish militants.

Human rights groups sounded a fresh note of alarm Friday morning, as news of the arrests emerged. Detaining members of parliament is an assault on the fundamental principles of democracy and on the right to political representation, Emma Sinclair-Webb, a Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch, told TIME. Demirtas and his co-leader are to be held in detention pending a possible trial.

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The arrests followed weeks of expanding repression against institutions and officials critical of Erdogans government. On October 30, police arrested the two co-mayors of the majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, charging one of them with belonging to a terrorist organization. On October 31, authorities detained the editor and several top writers for the newspaper Cumhuriyet, a bastion of secular liberal journalism in Turkey for decades.

The HDP denounced the arrests in a hastily organized news conference on Friday morning in Ankara. Everyone who supports peace and democracy must speak now. Tomorrow will be too late, said party official Ayhan Bilgen, according to a message published on the partys Twitter page. Lawmaker Mithat Sancar said the party was calling for solidarity with his detained colleagues in order to prevent civil war. The organization has called for a return to peace negotiations and denies ties with PKK militants. Demirtas older brother spent 12 years in a Turkish jail for membership the PKKs youth branch and is now believed to be with the organization somewhere in Iraq or Syria.

In a message sent via his lawyer in an email on Friday evening, Demirtas said, We are facing a different stage of the ongoing civil coup led by the government and the palace. My colleagues and I will continue to stand strong against this unlawful coup everywhere and at every stage.

The arrests heightened anxieties about stability in Turkey, a NATO member and a U.S. ally that in years past enjoyed a reputation as a bulwark of calm in a turbulent Middle East. The Turkish state is has engaged in an intermittent war with the outlawed militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for some 30 years. Peace negotiations crumbled in 2015, triggering a resumption of fighting in the Kurdish towns of Turkeys southeast, displacing an estimated 350,000 people and leaving at least 920 people dead as of June 2016, according to International Crisis Group.

In a video that surfaced on Friday, PKK commander Murat Karayilan said the group would intensify its struggle with the Turkish state in response to the arrest of the lawmakers. In addition to the PKK, Turkey is also battling ISIS militants who have been blamed for a series of attacks on civilians over the last year and a half, culminating with a deadly assault on Istanbuls main airport in June.

Increasing the sense of tension, Turkish authorities blocked access to social media networks including Twitter and WhatsApp, which represent a key means of spreading information under a state that increasingly restricts reporting by the traditional news media. In Diyarbakir, Internet access was completely shut down on Friday morning, according to a resident of the city.

On the night of July 15, a portion of the military attempted to overthrow Erdogans elected government, leaving more than 200 people dead and bombing the parliament building in the process. The coup failed, leaving Erdogan to consolidate his hold on power. Thousands of people were arrested and tens of thousands of government employees suspended from their jobs in connection with an investigation into the coup plot. The government dismissed roughly a third of the militarys top leadership.

The military coup attempt spurred a fleeting moment of unity in Turkish politics as all four major parties supported the government in fierce opposition to the coup plot. Demonstrators stood in the streets of Istanbul and Ankara in opposition to military vehicles mobilized by the coup plotters. Now with the arrest of pro-Kurdish lawmakers, any hope of salvaging the short-lived consensus that emerged on the night of the coup.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two Malaysians were arrested by Turkish authorities on their way to Syria, where they were planning to join up with the Islamic State militant group, Malaysian police said on Friday. Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement the two suspects, a factory technician and a welder, had been recruited by Muhammad Wanndy Muhammad Jedi, a known Malaysian Islamic State member in Syria. "Muhammad Wanndy coordinated plans for the two suspects to travel to Syria and contributed funds for their flight," Khalid said. Muhammad Wanndy had claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in June and issued death threats against top Malaysian police and government officials. Khalid said the Syria-bound suspects had eluded local authorities by boarding a train to Bangkok, Thailand, before flying to Istanbul, where they were arrested by Turkish authorities on Oct 28. They were deported and arrested by Malaysian police on Oct 30. Muslim-majority Malaysia has been on high alert since Islamic State-linked militants carried out an armed attack in the capital of neighboring Indonesia in January. Police have arrested more than 100 suspected Islamic State sympathizers this year and stepped up security in case fighters return from the Middle East in the wake of an ongoing offensive in the group's stronghold of Mosul, Iraq. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Michael Perry)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. military trainers were killed and another was wounded in a shooting outside the gate of a military base in Jordan on Friday, a spokeswoman at Jordan's embassy in Washington D.C. said, adding a Jordanian officer was also wounded in the incident. Reuters, citing a Jordanian military source, reported earlier on Friday that the Americans were killed when the car they were in failed to stop at the gate of a military base and was fired on by Jordanian security forces. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Amman (AFP) - Three US troops were killed in a shooting outside a military training facility in Jordan on Friday, the Pentagon said.

An initial report showed they came under fire as they were entering the facility in vehicles, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.

"We are working closely with the government of Jordan to determine exactly what happened," he said in a statement.

The Jordanian army had earlier said the shooting took place at the gate of Al-Jafr base in southern Jordan after the car carrying the US trainers failed to stop.

A Jordanian officer was also wounded, it added.

"An exchange of fire occurred Friday morning at the gate of the Prince Feisal Air Base in Al-Jafr when a car carrying trainers attempted to enter the gate without heeding the guards' orders to stop," it said in a statement, quoting a military source.

Two US officials confirmed to AFP that the Americans had also fired their weapons.

An investigation was under way to determine the causes of the shooting, the army said.

Initial reports put the death toll at one or two before the trainers succumbed to their wounds.

An American defense official described the incident as "green on blue," a military term for when friendly forces attack US personnel.

"But we can't say for the moment if it was a deliberate" act to kill US personnel or "some kind of misunderstanding," the official told AFP.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US troops were part of an "ongoing" training mission.

"The United States is quite interested in getting to the bottom of what occurred," he said.

- Potentially embarrassing -

The death of American troops in Jordan could prove highly embarrassing for Amman, a key recipient of US financial aid and member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

US forces have trained a small group of vetted Syrian rebels in Jordan, and American instructors have trained Iraqi and Palestinian security forces in Jordan as well over the past few years.

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Friday's incident comes almost a year after a Jordanian policeman shot dead two US instructors, a South African and two Jordanians at a police training center east of Amman, before being gunned down.

Washington said at the time that the two Americans killed in the November 9, 2015 shooting were employees of the private firm DynCorp contracted by the State Department to train Palestinian forces.

Two other Americans were wounded in that incident, which prompted concern in Washington and was condemned by the US embassy.

The center where last year's shooting took place was set up after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

It has since trained tens of thousands of Iraqi, Palestinian and Afghani police officers, and Jordan announced last year that former Libyan rebels would also be trained there.

Instructors of various nationalities, including Americans, provide training at the base to participants from different countries, a government source said.

DynCorp International spokeswoman Mary Lawrence said on Friday that the firm's employees had all been accounted for after the shooting and that none had been wounded.

Last year, the United States announced its intention to increase overall US assistance to Jordan from $660 million to $1 billion annually for the 2015-2017 period.
By Gina Cherelus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City police sergeant was fatally shot and another was wounded on Friday in a shootout on the streets of the Bronx that also resulted in the death of the suspect, a man who had just broken into the apartment of his estranged wife.

The officers were responding to a call about the break-in and encountered the suspect's vehicle about half a mile (1 km) away where the man opened fire with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, Police Commissioner James O'Neill told a news conference.

An exchange of gunfire resulted with the suspect being pronounced dead at the scene while the officers were taken to the hospital, he said.

Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran of the force and father of two young children, was pronounced dead at the hospital. The wounded officer, 9-year veteran Emmanuel Kwo, was shot in the leg and was in stable condition, O'Neill said.

"The city is in mourning and the family of the NYPD is in mourning," Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters about an hour after informing the officer's wife and parents of his death.

The dead suspect, identified as Manuel Rosales, had a record of at least 17 prior arrests, O'Neill said. He had forced his way into the home of his 29-year-old estranged wife while their 3-year-old son was present, O'Neill said.

A 13-year-old child and a 50-year-old woman were also at the home, he said.

Tuozzolo became the first New York City police officer killed while on duty since October 2015. Kwo was taken to the same hospital, where he was informed his colleague had died.

"He's devastated, as we all are," O'Neill said.

Upon encountering the suspect's red Jeep, police rammed the vehicle with their patrol car, the New York Daily News and other media reported, citing unnamed police sources. O'Neill declined to describe the events because the investigation was ongoing.

One officer approached the vehicle and was shot in the face by the suspect, The New York Times reported. The other officer returned fire and killed the suspect, the Times said.

The last NYPD officer killed in the line of duty was Detective Randolph Holder, who was shot while pursuing an armed suspect in the Harlem section of Manhattan in October 2015, according to Officer Down Memorial Page.

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Frank McGurty; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Leslie Adler and Andrew Hay)
(Adds details from filings, background on trade battle)

By Chris Prentice

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has again extended its deadline to issue preliminary results of a review of a 2014 sugar trade pact with Mexico, it said on Friday, as uncertainty over flows between the two countries continues to roil the market.

The Department of Commerce said in a notice it is extending its deadline by 2-1/2 weeks to Nov. 23 to issue its preliminary decision on a review of the agreements, which ended a trade battle with Mexico.

The extension will likely prolong the uncertainty that has gripped the North American market, as sugar companies and farmers on both sides of the border await the outcome of ongoing negotiations between the two sides.

The move was expected as materials required for the review continued to stream in, sources said. It comes within the same week that U.S. sugar companies, in a rare move, asked the trade deal be terminated.

The United States and Mexico agreed on a deal in late 2014 which suspended large duties on U.S. imports from its southern neighbor. The deal also established reference prices and a quota for imports, after a Commerce Department probe showed the domestic industry was being harmed by cheap, subsidized sugar.

The administrative review, which has already been postponed three times from an initial deadline of Sept. 1, was requested by interested parties, the Commerce Department said in the notice. U.S. sugar companies have asked the government terminate the agreements, saying they are being violated.

U.S. cane refiners including ASR Group, the maker of Domino Sugar, and Imperial Sugar, a subsidiary of commodities trading firm Louis Dreyfus Co, have pressed the government to rework the deal, saying that they are being starved of the raw sugar supplies needed to run their refineries and that crushing their margins.

Two parties on Monday requested the United States terminate the agreements, according to documents. The parties were the group of cane growers and ASR Group, which initially asked the government to open the investigation in 2014 as well as Imperial Sugar.

(Reporting by Chris Prentice, editing by G Crosse and Alistair Bell)
By Julia Harte and Dustin Volz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal and state authorities are beefing up cyber defenses against potential electronic attacks on voting systems ahead of U.S. elections on November 8, but taking few new steps to guard against possible civil unrest or violence.

The threat of computer hacking and the potential for violent clashes is darkening an already rancorous presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, amid fears that Russia or other actors could spread political misinformation online or perhaps tamper with voting.

To counter the cyber threat, all but two U.S. states have accepted help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to probe and scan voter registration and election systems for vulnerabilities, a department official told Reuters.

Ohio has asked a cyber protection unit of the National Guard, a reserve force within the U.S. military, for assistance to protect the state's systems.

On Thursday, Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan and her cyber security team met with officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the DHS, in addition to state-level agencies, to discuss cyber threats, said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Reagan.

Cyber security experts and U.S. officials say chances that a hack could alter election outcomes are remote, in part because voting machines are typically not connected to the internet.

But the FBI sent a flash alert in August to states after detecting breaches in voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois.

ARMED GROUPS

Unidentified intelligence officials told NBC News on Thursday that there is no specific warning about an Election Day attack, but they remain concerned that hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to disrupt the process, likely by spreading misinformation by manipulating social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

DHS cyber security experts plan to hold a media briefing on Friday to discuss the agencys efforts with states to boost the security of their voting and election systems.

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The potential for violence around the election has loomed in the background of the campaign for months. Armed groups around the country have pledged in unprecedented numbers to monitor voting sites for signs of election fraud.

Voter intimidation reported at polling sites so far prompted Democrats to accuse Trump of a "campaign of vigilante voter intimidation" in four states on Monday.

But local authorities surveyed by Reuters on Thursday in five states - Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Florida - said they were not increasing election-related law enforcement personnel or resources above 2012 levels.

'A LOT OF TALK, LITTLE ACTION'

The FBI, which designates one special agent from each of its 56 field offices for election crime matters, has not increased its numbers or given staff additional training this year, said an FBI spokeswoman.

There has been no "substantive change" in the number of personnel deployed by the rest of the Justice Department, which designates Assistant U.S. Attorneys and federal prosecutors within the agency's Public Integrity Section to handle election crimes, according to a spokesman.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents hundreds of thousands of U.S. officers, said cops are taking the same security measures they would take for any large event. He said he expects the vows by militias to monitor the polls to be "a lot of talk, little action."

Civil rights groups said deploying more police officers to the polls can actually intimidate voters.

The presence of law enforcement can have a chilling effect on the electorate, said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a watchdog group. Thats something we want to discourage.

(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Bill Rigby)
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts provided the pivotal fifth vote on the Supreme Court to block the scheduled execution in Alabama of a 74-year-old man convicted in the 1982 shooting death of his girlfriend's husband.

Roberts said in a brief order issued late on Thursday that his action was a "courtesy" to four justices on the eight-member court who favored putting on hold the lethal injection execution of death row inmate Thomas Douglas Arthur.

The order did not say which justices voted for the stay of execution aside from Roberts, but noted that his fellow conservatives Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas opposed it. The court is split with four liberals and four conservatives and has remained one justice short since the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia.

"I do not believe that this application meets our ordinary criteria for a stay," Roberts wrote. " ... The claims set out in the application are purely fact-specific, dependent on contested interpretations of state law, insulated from our review by alternative holdings below, or some combination of the three."

But Roberts, who has a record of supporting the death penalty, said he backed the stay so his colleagues can "more fully consider the suitability of this case for review."

Roberts' vote followed a similar action in August by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer to provide a "courtesy vote" when the court blocked a transgender student who was born female but now identifies as male from using the boys' bathroom at his Virginia high school while litigation continues.

The court on Oct. 28 subsequently agreed to hear the school district's appeal of a lower court's ruling favoring the student.

These two courtesy votes indicated the justices may be making a fresh effort to compromise as they navigate a difficult period and remain shorthanded for an extended time. The Republican-led U.S. Senate has refused to consider President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia, appellate judge Merrick Garland, insisting that the winner of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election pitting Democrat Hillary Clinton against Republican Donald Trump should make the appointment.

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Arthur has been on death row for more than three decades since being convicted of fatally shooting Troy Wicker as he slept. Prosecutors said Arthur's girlfriend, Judy Wicker, paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.

Arthur's attorneys have challenged the constitutionality of Alabama's lethal injection method of execution on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

His lawyers have said lower courts are divided over how to interpret the Supreme Court's ruling in 2015 upholding Oklahoma's execution procedures. Their challenge focuses on part of that ruling that said an inmate contesting a method of execution based on the risk of severe pain has to show there is a "known and available alternative."

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
SEOUL (Reuters) - The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said on Friday a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system battery would be deployed to South Korea within eight to 10 months, an official from the U.S. forces in South Korea said. The official was commenting on a Yonhap news agency report on remarks made by Vincent Brooks, commander of United States Forces Korea, in which he laid out plans for the deployment. Brooks said rotating strategic weaponry onto the Korean peninsula would have a deterrent effect against North Korean provocations, according to the agency. He also said the battery would be bigger than one deployed in Guam. The official could not confirm Brook's comment on rotation, but said the U.S. and South Korean governments are currently in discussions for such strategic weaponry deployment. In September, two U.S. B-1 bombers flew over South Korea in a show of force and solidarity with its ally following North Korea's fifth nuclear test. Washington and Seoul have agreed to deploy the THAAD system in South Korea to protect against North Korean threats. China was angered by the decision as its worries that the system's powerful radar can see into its territory. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged South Korea and the United States to "immediately cease" the deployment process and reiterated that China would take "necessary steps to safeguard China's security interests." "The U.S. deployment of THAAD on the Korean Peninsula seriously damages strategic balance in the region and seriously harms the strategic security interests of relevant regional countries, including China," Hua told a regular news briefing. South Korea has said it plans to have THAAD operational by the end of next year at the latest. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high this year, with North Korea conducting two nuclear tests and an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high this year, with North Korea conducting two nuclear tests and an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests. Many in South Korea have called for development of home-grown nuclear weapons or the return of U.S. nuclear weapons to deter North Korea, although South Korea says it has no plans to reintroduce them. Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush decided in 1991 to remove U.S. nuclear weapons from South Korea. Brooks, speaking at a breakfast event, also said that relocating tactical nuclear weapons to the peninsula would complicate the situation, the official cited him as saying. (Reporting by Christine Kim and Ju-min Park; Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil exports rose to about 692,000 barrels per day in September, the highest on record, from about 657,000 bpd in the previous month, foreign trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed on Friday.

Canada took in the most exports at 243,000 bpd, followed by Singapore at 99,000 bpd. Exports to Europe were also high, with Italy receiving some 81,000 bpd and Spain 41,000 bpd. Other prominent destinations included South Korea and the Netherlands.

The previous record was set in May when the United States exported about 662,000 bpd, according to U.S. government data.

U.S. crude exports have climbed since the lifting of a decades-old ban late last year.

The discount of U.S. crude to Brent crude had widened to as much as $2.67 a barrel in late August, the widest since February.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its closely watched monthly crude figures, which are based on the U.S. Census data, at the end of this month.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Paul Simao)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it was "deeply concerned" by the Turkish government's arrest of the leaders of the country's main pro-Kurdish opposition party and its move to limit the country's access to the internet. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with an undersecretary in the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday to voice U.S. concern about the detention of the lawmakers, State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. "The United States is deeply concerned by the Turkish government's detentions of opposition members of parliament ... and by government restrictions on internet actions today," Kirby said. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Walsh)
AMMAN (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Jordan confirmed an incident on Friday in which Jordanian authorities said two U.S. personnel were killed after their car failed to stop at the gate of a military base. "We have reports of a security incident involving American personnel and we are in contact with Jordanian officials who are giving us all the support," the embassy statement said. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi)
The Legislature will have new Hewlett-Packard state computers next session, and formalized policies to go with them.

The new policies came as a response to Sen. Bill Kintner's misuse of a state computer more than a year ago for a cybersex encounter, but also other senators' and staffers' sometimes questionable use of state property, said Executive Board Chairman Bob Krist.

The policies were approved by the board Thursday.

Senators also learned the State Patrol is investigating a recent attempted cyberattack from a child pornography site on the Legislature's secure website, Krist said.

Such attempts to get into the secure site come from someone opening a window of opportunity when he or she is using the state's secure network to surf unsecure sites, he said.

The new policies call for all senators and legislative employees to take a technology training course and to read and understand the policies.

They include an explanation of state law regarding use of state property, and spell out appropriate and inappropriate use. They also detail what could happen as a result of violations, including temporarily suspending, blocking or restricting access to the network. For employees, it could mean disciplinary action, including firing.

"The last (Kintner) incident was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me, but there were many instances, both by staff and senators, that have been brought to their attention over the last couple of years," Krist said.

Kintner's violation, when he was at an out-of-state conference, showed Krist there are gray areas in the understanding of state policies, and citizens' investment in state equipment needed to be protected.

No one has been disciplined or dismissed, he said, but he has had to remind people that state property is not for personal or campaign use, or to be used for posting personal messages on Facebook or Twitter during work time, especially in unprofessional ways.

Senators or staffers have used state copy machines to print thousands of mailers or fliers for campaigns, and their state website to tell people to vote for a specific candidate. Some have taken their state computer home or with them when they travel and used it for personal reasons.

Krist said there isn't a large or small corporation in this country that isn't dealing with social media issues, and most have clear guidelines on what are fireable offenses for staff.

"I don't want to be big brother. I want to remind people of their statutory responsibilities in using government and state equipment, but I think you need to start someplace in establishing what those lines of responsibility are," he said.

Krist developed the policy after consultation with legislative officials, the State Patrol and a cybersecurity expert.

Several senators argued that one of the proposed rules, a ban on posting to social media, was too far reaching. Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse said the rule would make it difficult for staff to do constituent outreach on Twitter or Facebook.

That rule was modified to say that posting information on personal, commercial or campaign-related social media sites would not be acceptable.

The Capitol's unsecure public network is available for use on personal cellphones and tablets.

Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango said he would tell his staff to not use their state computer to post anything. It will force everyone to have two computers in their offices, he said.

"I don't think senators should have state computers. I think it would solve all of our problems," Hughes said.
(Adds background)

By Toni Clarke

Nov 4 (Reuters) - The effectiveness of Cempra Inc's antibiotic to treat community-acquired pneumonia outweighs the risk of liver injury, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration narrowly concluded on Friday.

The panel voted 7-6 that the drug, solithromycin, should be approved to treat the kind of pneumonia that recently affected U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The FDA is not obliged to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels but typically does so.

Panelists voted unanimously that the drug works as well as the potent antibiotic moxifloxacin. But most said the company had not fully characterized the potential risk of liver injury.

Clinical trials showed a greater number of patients taking solithromycin developed elevated liver enzymes than those taking moxifloxacin. Elevated liver enzymes can be a sign of underlying liver damage.

In Cempra's clinical trials the elevations were transient and there were no cases of acute liver injury. Even so, panelists recommended the company be required to conduct additional studies to further assess the potential liver risk after the drug has been approved.

"I feel we could wait if the bugs would just slow down," said Ellen Andrews, executive director of the Connecticut Health Policy Project.

Solithromycin is descended from a notorious drug made by Sanofi SA called Ketek, or telithromycin. Ketek was approved by the FDA in 2004 but later linked to dozens of serious or fatal liver problems. It was eventually discontinued.

The Ketek episode prompted congressional investigations and accusations that the agency stifled concerns over the drug voiced by its own reviewers. On Friday agency reviewers stated that "there is a very clear signature of hepatic injury" in the solithromycin clinical trial data.

Solithromycin belongs to a class of antibiotics known as macrolides that include erythromycin, clarithromycin and azithromycin and are used to treat a wide range of bacterial infections. Roughly 50 percent of the most common bacterium, the pneumococcus that cause chest and other infections, are resistant to macrolides, making the quest for new antibiotics pressing.

Community-acquired pneumonia develops in people with limited or no contact with medical institutions or settings.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Dan Grebler)
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that it would work with Jordan to determine the circumstances that led to shooting deaths of three U.S. military trainers in the country.

"The United States is quite interested in getting to the bottom of what exactly occurred. Our expectation is that the government and military officials in Jordan will assist us in that investigation," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a briefing.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday said investors seeking to hold banks liable for helping underwrite more than $7.7 billion of mortgage-backed securities from the now-bankrupt subprime lender NovaStar Mortgage Inc may pursue their claims as a group.

In a 33-page decision, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan granted class certification to investors led by the New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund against units of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Wells Fargo & Co.

Several former NovaStar executives are also defendants.

NovaStar specialized in lower-quality residential mortgages, including many packaged into securities issued in 2006 and 2007.

Investors accused the banks of misleading them through their offering materials into believing that the underlying loans were underwritten as advertised, and that the securities they bought were safer than they proved to be.

The lawsuit was filed in June 2008. Hundreds of similar lawsuits have been filed nationwide against banks over mortgage securities sold prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

NovaStar filed for bankruptcy protection in July.

The case is New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-05310.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential election is looking like less of a certainty for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton than it did a month ago, prompting mutual fund managers to brace for more volatility by raising cash and getting their buying lists ready for opportunities.

"The market has been pricing in a Hillary victory, and now with the introduction of the Comey letter, there's a stronger possibility that the base case doesn't happen," said Phil Orlando, portfolio manager of the New York-based Federated Global Allocation (FSTBX.O) fund.

FBI Director James Comey wrote Congress last Friday that more of Clinton's emails would be scrutinized as part of an investigation into Clinton's use of a private email system while she was secretary of state.

The benchmark S&P 500 stock index has shed nearly 2 percent since Comey's letter was made public, and notched its longest losing streak in nearly five years.

Orlando said his fund has been raising cash out of the possibility that the market could fall as much as 10 percent from the all-time high of 2,193.81 it notched Aug. 15.

And Orlando is not the only one. Lipper data released on Thursday showed investors fled U.S. based stock and bond funds in the latest week. Nearly $7.7 billion left taxable bond funds in the seven days through Nov. 2, the largest weekly withdrawals this year by a wide margin, while U.S. equity funds showed $3.4 billion in outflows.

His fund is now neutral to the market, he said, in order to guard against the possibility that either Republican nominee Donald J. Trump wins the election, or that Democrats win both the Senate and the House in addition to the presidency, both of which outcomes would push the market down at least another 5 percent, he said.

The market volatility has also caused anxiety for retail investors, according to Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenberg Thalmann Asset Management in New York, who has cautioned against overreacting to the market movements caused by the election.

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"Ive had multiple people call us up to say 'lets raise cash in my account' because of the election," said Blancato.

"Having to talk them off a cliff is becoming almost comical at this point because of the idea that suddenly the world is going to fall into the ocean because Trump wins the election."

Terri Spath, chief investment officer at Sierra Investment Management in Santa Monica, California, has been selling as the market's volatility picks up, shifting more assets into emerging market debt and floating rate loans that should be more "insulated" from the results of the U.S. election, she said.

"We think it's going to be a tight race and we're willing to step out of the way if volatility picks up," she said.

One area in which she has been buying, however, is infrastructure and transportation related stocks that have dropped more than the broad market, she said.

Both candidates have pledged to spend more on rebuilding bridges, tunnels and other links, while the iShares Global Infrastructure ETF (IGF.O), one of the best proxies for global infrastructure stocks, is down 4.3 percent over the last month.

Eric Marshall, a fund manager at Dallas-based Hodges Capital, said he welcomed the sell-off because the U.S. market had been steadily rising since February except for a short fall after the so-called Brexit vote.

He is drawing down his approximately 8 percent stake in cash to buy more healthcare and consumer companies that have fallen over the last week, he said, and is preparing to buy more should either Trump wins or the Democratic party sweeps the election.

"The Brexit blip was the last time when you could have made some money, and we're ready to be opportunistic again," he said.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Tom Miles and Marina Depetris GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 240 migrants have drowned off the coast of Libya within the last 48 hours, possibly as an unintended consequence of European efforts to stop people-smugglers and to train Libyan coastguards, the U.N.'s migration agency said on Thursday. Five rescue ships, coordinated by the Italian coastguard, were within sight of the migrants but, despite attempts to rescue them, most died, the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) chief spokesman, Leonard Doyle, said. "Two rubber dinghies, which is what they are, rubber dinghies, packed with migrants, totalling over 300 we think in all ... have succumbed to the waves off Libya in very bad weather," he said. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he was "deeply saddened by another tragedy", and many lives could be saved if European countries volunteered to take in more refugees rather than leaving them to make the risky boat trip. "The Mediterranean is a deadly stretch of sea for refugees and migrants, yet they still see no other option but to risk their lives to cross it, he said in a statement. Migrant arrivals in Italy surged to 27,388 in October, more than the two previous Octobers combined, and bringing this year's total to more than 158,000, IOM's Italy spokesman, Flavio di Giacomo, said. Migrants have told the IOM that smugglers say European training of Libyan coastguards means that rescue missions will soon be handed over to Libya and so any rescued migrants will be taken ashore in Libya rather than in Italy, Giacomo said. That might be causing the rush, despite the bad weather, he said. According to Doyle, the use of dinghies, especially unsuitable for the long sea crossing in bad weather, was partly due to European navies capturing and destroying many of the fishing boats that smugglers had been using. "In the absence of those boats and with the migrants determined to leave, and the smugglers interested in making money off them, they have been putting them in completely unsafe rubber dinghies," he said. Survivors from one dinghy, whose passengers included about 20 women and six children, all believed to be from West Africa, said they set off from Libya at about 3 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Wednesday, but the boat sank after a few hours. Twelve bodies were recovered, including three babies, and about 27 survived, di Giacomo said. Another two women said they had survived the sinking of a second dinghy at about the same time. Theirs was carrying about 130 people, they said. The IOM said the latest deaths meant 4,220 migrants had died in the Mediterranean so far this year, compared with 3,777 in the whole of 2015. Separately, Italy's coastguard said rescuers pulled about 766 people to safety from boats in difficulty in the central Mediterranean on Thursday, and found the dead body of one woman. (Additional reporting by Isla Binnie in Rome; Editing by Louise Ireland and Mark Trevelyan)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday it had opened an investigation into the Colonial Pipeline Co accident in Helena, Alabama, which killed one worker and seriously injured four others. Colonial's gasoline pipeline ruptured on Monday during routine maintenance operations. The company said Friday it expects to restart the pipeline on Sunday afternoon. A team of five NTSB investigators arrived Thursday and will be in Alabama for several days conducting interviews, documenting the accident site and collecting evidence. Investigators will also visit the Colonial Pipeline offices in Alpharetta, Georgia, to interview operations and engineering staff and collect operating data and documents, the board said. The 5,500-mile (8,850-km) Colonial Pipeline is the largest U.S. refined products pipeline system and can carry more than 3 million barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel between the U.S. Gulf Coast and the New York Harbor area. The company said a small fire remaining at the site was extinguished overnight, and operations to remove residual gasoline from the pipeline began earlier on Friday. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Tom Brown, G Crosse)
(Corrects headline and first paragraph to show employees who were fired had securities licenses but were not employed by the brokerage division; adds detail.)

By Elizabeth Dilts and Dan Freed

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co has fired hundreds of employees with Wall Street licenses for improper sales practices, three U.S. senators said on Thursday.

In a letter to Wells Fargo Chief Executive Tim Sloan, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Robert Menendez questioned the bank's disclosures about those employees' dismissals in required regulatory filings.

The letter is the first indication that customers of the brokerage business, known as Wells Fargo Advisors, may also have been affected by the earlier problems involving Wells Fargo staff opening customer accounts without permission.

The employees who were fired worked for Wells Fargo's retail bank but were licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a Wall Street regulator that oversees brokers, Wells Fargo said on Friday. Some bankers obtained securities licenses so they could refer branch customers to the brokerage arm.

Wells Fargo said in September it would pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers for opening up to two million deposit and credit-card accounts in customers' names without their permission.

The San Francisco-based bank said it fired 5,300 workers for improper sales practices over a period of five years.

Reuters reported in October that thousands of small business customers have also been affected.

"It would appear that Wells Fargo concealed key information from regulators that may have revealed the bank's misdeeds long before the September 2016 settlement," the senators wrote, requesting more information.

FINRA, which regulates brokerages and securities dealers, told congressional staff that it had received dismissal documents known as Form U5s for more than 600 of those fired Wells Fargo employees. However, only 207 of them contained details indicating they were fired for practices that led to bogus accounts.

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The incomplete U5 filings may have deprived regulators of information that could have allowed them to uncover and stop the "illegal activity" sooner, the senators said.

FINRA "takes seriously the integrity and accuracy of all filings made by firms," spokeswoman Nancy Condon said in an emailed response.

She noted that FINRA last week launched a review of sales programs for all firms it oversees.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson Dunn said multiple investigations were underway, including an internal review. The bank has been working for years to stop wrongful sales practices, and is taking steps to repair the damage, she said.

"We acknowledge we could have acted sooner and more aggressively," Greeson Dunn said.

At a conference on Thursday, Sloan said he had no knowledge of issues outside the retail bank.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts and Dan Freed in New York; editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Richard Chang)
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department said Friday it has tentatively granted antitrust immunity for a proposed alliance between Delta Air Lines Inc and Grupo Aeromexico SAB de CV, requiring the carriers to divest some slots in New York and Mexico City.

The airlines plan to operate a joint venture between the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. Transportation Department is proposing the carriers divest enough takeoff and landing authorizations to allow 24 new daily international flights from Mexico City and six new daily flights from New York's John F. Kennedy International airport.

Opponents have until November 30 to raise objections to the tentative decision.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul)
By David Shepardson and Jeffrey Dastin

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc <DAL.N> and Aeromexico can set prices and coordinate schedules for their U.S.-Mexico flights, but they must free up certain airport slots to bolster competition, the U.S. Transportation Department tentatively ruled on Friday.

The decision paves the way for the two companies to dominate the second-busiest market for travel to or from the United States. It comes after the U.S. airline industry has consolidated, with carriers operating more efficient itineraries and having more power to raise fares on some routes.

Opponents of the tentative ruling, which lets the airlines cooperate with immunity from U.S. antitrust law, have until Nov. 30 to raise objections.

The department said the decision benefits the public because Delta and Grupo Aeromexico SAB de CV <AEROMEX.MX> can plan shorter layovers, increase flights and offer more destinations. The U.S. government has approved similar arrangements for many other airlines.

However, the department has proposed that the carriers divest 24 takeoff and landing slots in Mexico City and six at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to give budget airlines room to add flights.

Slot allocation in Mexico City depends "on confusing and often unwritten rules, making it extremely difficult for new entrants," the department said. "This remedy would allow for new, competitive entry at these airports that would not otherwise be possible."

In an unusual move, the department also proposed limiting Delta and Aeromexico's antitrust immunity to five years because it was unclear whether the divestitures and reforms in Mexico City would be enough to ensure low fares for travelers.

In a statement, Delta said it was reviewing the tentative decision and looked forward to implementing a cooperation agreement with Aeromexico. It is in the process of buying 49 percent of Aeromexico, similar to stakes it has taken in other airlines to influence how they operate and where they fly.

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Friday's ruling "really gives Delta a huge advantage" over United Continental Holdings Inc <UAL.N> and American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O>, which will be unable to compete for Mexico flights outside their major hubs, said industry consultant Robert Mann.

Delta's shares were up nearly 3 percent at $43.03 on Friday afternoon. Aeromexico's rose nearly 5 percent.

Budget carrier JetBlue Airways Corp <JBLU.O>, which had wanted the airlines to divest at least 30 slots in Mexico City, said it commended the department for ensuring greater airport access.

Aeromexico did not immediately comment.

Mexico's federal competition commission approved the airlines' joint venture in May.

(Editing by Paul Simao and Matthew Lewis)
Nairobi (AFP) - Uganda's High Court on Friday ordered the closure of a chain of low-cost private schools backed by Microsoft and Facebook founders Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

Judge Patricia Basaza Wasswa ruled the 63 Bridge International Academies provided unsanitary learning conditions, used unqualified teachers and were not properly licensed.

The ruling is a blow to Bridge International which has expanded rapidly since its inception in 2008 offering cheap, standardised, technology-driven education in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

Under the Bridge International model teachers read scripted lessons word-for-word from a tablet computer that also records student attendance and assessments. Gates' and Zuckerberg's foundations are among the company's high-profile backers.

But Bridge International has courted controversy with Liberian teachers threatening to strike earlier this year over government plans to outsource all primary education to the private US-owned company.

In Uganda, government inspectors said children were being taught in sub-standard facilities and unsanitary conditions.

But James Black, a parent who chose Bridge International for his six children, said he appreciated the low fees of around $28 per term, or a third of what he used to pay, and disagreed with the decision.

"The government says that the facilities are not clean but when I visit the school I look at the kitchen and latrines and they are fine," he said.

"Bridge schools are mushrooming and many of the officials in the Ministry own private schools and I think that they are scared that they will lose pupils and their fees."

Bridge International, which claims to have 12,000 students in Uganda, said it would challenge the High Court ruling. "We are extremely disappointed for our pupils and disagree with this ruling," said liaison officer Godwin Matsiko.

"We plan to appeal, on behalf of the more than 20,000 Ugandans who have decided to send their children to our schools."
A state senator from Omaha says giving the Legislature access to Nebraskans' tax data and other info would help lawmakers better predict the impacts of tax cuts and other legislation.

Sen. Burke Harr is floating the idea as some conservatives and business groups eye potential income tax cuts in 2017.

It also follows a contentious dispute this year between the legislative and executive branches over the projected costs of Medicaid expansion in Nebraska.

Lawmakers generally rely on agencies overseen by the governor to predict how much their proposals will cost. Those estimates are reviewed by the Legislature's in-house fiscal analysts, who sometimes reach different conclusions.

But without access to the same data, legislative staff are limited, Harr said Friday.

"We don't have that ability here to look behind the curtain."

That creates concerns about transparency and separation of powers, he said.

Harr raised the issue as officials from the Nebraska Department of Revenue briefed lawmakers on the state's "tax expenditures," or potential revenue that is lost due to exemptions, deductions, credits and other subsidies.

Published every two years, the tax expenditures report lists every subsidy which costs the state at least $2 million per year. The report doesn't include an overall figure  which is easily hundreds of millions of dollars  because some of the subsidies overlap.

And sometimes, the state is giving up far more than it thinks when lawmakers enact a change.

"There is theory that goes into a lot of these numbers," Harr said. "We've got to have access to the data and dollars behind those numbers."

The projections, called fiscal notes, are just estimates, acknowledged Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton. But they're "solid" estimates, he told members of the Legislature's Appropriations and Revenue committees.

"We put forward our best estimate on what a certain bill is going to cost."

Another issue: Fiscal notes aren't compiled until after a bill is introduced, so senators can't know how much their proposals might cost without taking the time to have a bill formally drafted.

That wastes time, said Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus.

Fulton said senators who reach out to his office early might be able to get an "order of magnitude" estimate for how much their bills might cost.

"That's the type of thing I think that we can accomplish for you," he said.

That would require lawmakers to tell executive agencies what they're working on  something most senators would prefer to keep secret until the legislation is formally proposed.

Harr wants an internal legislative budget office that can dissect state government finances the same way the Congressional Budget Office analyzes federal government data.

"You may call it redundancy," he said. "I call it a second set of eyes."
By Christopher Spink

LONDON, Nov 4 (IFR) - The UK Court of Appeal has upheld a decision by the Bank of Portugal to leave US$850m of claims by a vehicle linked with Goldman Sachs in the rump of Banco Espirito Santo, rather than transfer them to the failed bank's successor Novo Banco.

The US bank and fellow creditors including the New Zealand Superannuation Fund had initially succeeded in overturning the Bank of Portugal's original August 2014 restructuring decision at the High Court in London last year regarding special purpose loan vehicle Oak Finance.

The appeal court judgment, handed down this morning, reverses that successful challenge and means Goldman and related creditors now face deeper losses on their investment, which was provided to BES just before it failed two and a half years ago.

The latest ruling also said that the Bank of Portugal's decision under Portuguese law should be challenged in Portugal rather than in London, even though it related to the banking resolution and recovery directive, which applies across the European Union.

"The Court of Appeal's judgment highlights the obvious danger, indeed potential chaos, of different courts interpreting the same decision of a single resolution authority in different ways," said Stuart McNeill, a partner at Pinsent Masons who represented Novo Banco.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

(Reporting by Christopher Spink; Editing by Ian Edmondson)
Kinshasa (AFP) - The United Nations on Friday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo's government and the opposition to exercise restraint after officials banned an opposition rally in the capital Kinshasa set for Saturday.

"I would like to appeal to the organisers and their activists as well as to security forces in Kinshasa who are supposed to police this event to demonstrate restraint and responsibility," said a statement from UN envoy Maman Sambo Sidikou.

"Congolese from all sides must demonstrate patriotic fervour by upholding the supreme interest of the Democratic Republic of Congo by turning their backs on violence," he said.

The main dissident coalition Rassemblement (Gathering) -- which has rallied around veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi -- has called for a public meeting on Saturday to examine the "political issues of the day" at a site not far from the parliament building.

But following a wave of deadly political violence in September, city officials banned all unauthorised gatherings, with police vowing to enforce the ban.

DR Congo has been going through a prolonged political crisis which deepened last month after the presidential election, which had been due before the year's end, was postponed until April 2018.

The opposition has accused President Joseph Kabila, who has been in office since 2001, of manipulating the electoral system to stay in power after his second term ends on December 20.

A 2006 constitutional provision limits the presidency to two terms.

- Police vow firm line -

The decision to delay the vote was taken in October by the government and fringe opposition groups following a "national dialogue" aimed at calming such tensions.

But Rassemblement, which boycotted the talks, rejected the proposal as a "flagrant violation" of the constitution.

In its statement, the UN's MONUSCO mission said there had been "constructive contact" between the two sides at Kabila's request, with the mediation of Catholic bishops.

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The police had on Thursday said they would ensure the ban on unauthorised political gatherings in Kinshasa was respected, saying that "no disturbances of the public order would be tolerated".

Its decision was taken after a wave of deadly violence in Kinshasa in mid-September when the security forces cracked down on demonstrators ahead of an anti-Kabila rally, sparking clashes that killed at least 53 people, according to UN figures.

In a statement released on Friday, government spokesman Lambert Mende urged the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) to avoid "fostering any confusion" about public demonstrations in Kinshasa.
JUBA (Reuters) - The United Nations voiced concern on Friday for the safety of a top aide to South Sudanese former vice president Riek Machar after he was extradited to his homeland from Kenya, where he had been granted refugee status. South Sudan's 2015 peace accord unraveled three months ago when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and to estranged ex-deputy Machar battled each other on the streets of Juba for several days. Machar subsequently fled South Sudan and has since been replaced as vice president although he has exhorted his supporters to reorganize for an armed struggle. Machar's spokesman James Gatdet Dak also fled the country, finding sanctuary in Kenya, but police collected him from his Nairobi home on Wednesday and put him on a flight to South Sudan's capital Juba the next day, officials said. "He was deported from Nairobi by the Kenyan authorities and received by the South Sudanese government authorities, presidential spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny told Radio Tamazuj, a South Sudanese radio station based abroad. Ateny could not be reached by Reuters for clarification of Gatdek Dak's current status. A Kenyan government source confirmed Gatdet Dak's extradition but did not explain the legal grounds for it. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said it was "deeply concerned about the well-being" of Gatdek Dak and said his extradition appeared to violate his right to protection under the international refugee convention. UNHCR said it had unsuccessfully urged Kenyan authorities not to extradite Gatdet Dak. Kenya has taken part in African Union mediation to end the South Sudanese conflict and President Uhuru Kenyatta recently visited Juba for talks with Kiir. Amnesty International called Gatdek Dak's repatriation a "brazen and dangerous attack on refugee rights" and said he now faced a "grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment." (Reporting by Denis Dumo; writing by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Mark Heinrich)
This Immigrant Doctor Is Reimagining Health in the American City

Thanks to its link to asthma and other diseases, exposing children to cigarette smoke in a vehicle has become illegal in some parts of the industrialized world, including England and Australia. Concern about the effects of inhaling secondhand smoke is well founded, but a report published this week by UNICEF raises a red flag that whats coming out of those tailpipes is doing just as much damage to childrens health.

The report, Clear the Air for Children, found that air pollution is so toxic in some places that it has become a major contributing factor in the deaths of about 600,000 kids under the age of five per year.

Pollutants dont only harm childrens developing lungsthey can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brainsand, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement.

RELATED: Another Reason to Loathe Factory Farms: Massive Air Pollution

For the report, UNICEF used satellite imagery to track childrens exposure to air pollution. It found that around 2 billion kids live in areas that maintain outdoor pollution levels that exceed the minimum air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization. Of those children, roughly 300 million live in places where air pollution levels are six or more times higher than recommended by WHOs guidelines.

Children whose families are less well-off are at greater risk of getting sick or dying from exposure to air pollution because they tend to live closer to major highways or in urban areas with more industrial activity. We really need to rethink how were powering our cities, how were moving within our cities, and how do we create a way that minimizes emissions, Adrian Martinez, a staff attorney for Earthjustice, a Washington, D.C.based nonprofit public interest law organization, told TakePart.

RELATED:Interactive Map Lets You See the Air Quality of 1,000 Places Around the Globe

UNICEF found that deaths attributed to pollution largely occur in Asia. In recent years, cities in China and India such as Beijing and New Delhi have become known for their terrible air quality, and the governments of both nations have taken to booting vehicles off the roads. Growing industrial production and urbanization in Africa leave children on that continent increasingly at risk of exposure to air pollution as well.

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The quantification of how many children are suffering from air pollution is startling, and I see it locally with clients whose children are suffering from asthma and other impacts from air pollution, but if you look at pollution from a worldwide state, its really jarring, Martinez said. Overall, polluted air not only is associated with asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia but also has been linked with 1 out of every 8 deaths, globallyor around 7 million people, according to the report.

According to UNICEF, if countries work to meet WHO global air quality guidelines to enhance the safety and wellbeing of children, an estimated 2.1 million lives across all age groups could be saved each year. The respiratory health and productivity of millions people could also be achieved.

RELATED: Indonesia's Wildfires Are as Bad as Some of the Planet's Worst Air Polluters

We have a lot to do to protect our childrens lives, and hopefully this report helps create urgency for action to protect our children, Martinez said. Its going to take a big, conservative effort nationally and throughout the world to fix this dire problem.

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Original article from TakePart
Voters casting early ballots in Salt Lake City. (Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP)

A union-funded super-PAC has spent $60 million this year on get-out-the-vote efforts, but the 2016 election is probably just a warmup for its real mission: helping Democrats gain an edge in the coming fight over congressional districts in 2020.

For Our Future, an organization funded by a handful of labor groups, has carried out organizing campaigns in seven battleground states this year and is establishing partnerships with local advocacy groups in those states to help them build political muscle. Billionaire Tom Steyers NextGen PAC chipped in a third of that $60 million.

The immediate goal has been to elect Hillary Clinton as president and assist Democrats up and down the ticket. Its advocates will have knocked on 8 million doors by Election Day, guided by voter data from Democratic analytics group Blue Labs, and they are experimenting with new approaches to reaching more voters through peer-to-peer text messaging.

But Amanda Brown, the campaign director for the group, said that FOF also intends to play a role in state legislative elections in 2017.

Theres a ton of work to do in 2017 with even state [legislature] fights, a lot to do in these states, she said in an interview.

The process of redrawing congressional districts happens every 10 years and is based on new census results. But state legislatures control the process in most states, and right now Republicans control the majority of statehouses across the country.

There are 98 state House and state Senate chambers across the 50 states that are divided by party (Nebraskas unicameral legislature has just one chamber and is nonpartisan), and Republicans control 67 of them.

Fighting for control of more state legislatures will give Democrats more say over Congressional redistricting after the 2020 census, which could bring them closer to regaining control of the House of Representatives. Republicans now have a 60-seat majority, controlling 246 seats to the Democrats 186 seats, though they are expected to lose around 20 seats in Tuesdays election.

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FOF is not the first group positioning itself to play a role in the redistricting fight. The Republican State Leadership Committee announced a plan last year to spend $125 million over the next few years on state legislative elections. And Democrats have said they want to raise $70 million for a super-PAC effort called Advantage 2020 to fight back.

Hillary Clinton greets employees of the Mirage-Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in Nevada. (Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP)

Brown said that FOF has placed 1,986 paid staff on the ground in the targeted states: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Missouri and North Carolina. The last two states were added to the list after the conventions in July and are the only states without a heavy labor presence.

FOF is also enlisting 1,200 staffers from its community group partners. In many cases, Brown said, it has had to help local nonprofits set up 501(c)(4) arms so they can receive money from FOF.

Brown said that organizing on the ground is usually carried out by political campaigns because it is easier to motivate workers to do the hard work of knocking on doors and facing rejection when there is a candidate, a human being, the organizer is working to elect.

Its a total grind, but youre on a call at the end of the day with the candidate saying, Thank you, said Brown, who previously worked as political director for Rock the Vote.

Finding people to do on-the-ground organizing for a super-PAC requires a different level of commitment and engagement and education, Brown said.

But the disadvantage of a campaign ground game is that the day after the election, it goes away, she said.

The evolution of For Our Future was based on the fact that weve learned this lesson too many times, that we pack up and leave the day after the election. We need to start building: 2018 will be a battle for us, and 2020  with redistricting happening  we have to lay this foundation, she said.
Vladimir Putin

The US government is launching a massive effort to stop Russian hackers from interfering with the results of next week's presidential election, according to a major report from NBC News.

The White House and the Department of Homeland Security are leading the effort against Russian cyber-meddling, government officials told NBC News. The CIA, National Security Agency, and other US intelligence entities are also involved, the officials said.

One "worst-case scenario" the officials envision is a cyber-attack that shuts down part of the internet. Such an attack could mirror last month's hack that temporarily knocked out a number of popular websites including Twitter, Spotify, and PayPal  an attack some security experts think was conducted by Russia as a "dry run" for an Election-Day hack.

Other less-severe operations could include the release of fake documents that could damage one of the candidates without giving the media a chance to fact-check them. In October, the US government accused Russia of hacking Democratic Party organizations, leading to the release of thousands of illegally-obtained emails that have damaged Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Clinton has said that Russia is trying to get Republican nominee Donald Trump elected, and called Trump a "puppet" of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

"Given [the Russians'] past behavior in other contexts, we understand the way they like to go about potentially causing confusion and so we want to make sure that we are mitigating that potential," a Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News.

As for actually altering the vote count on Election Day, that task would be extremely difficult for hackers, the officials said, because of the "decentralized nature" of US elections.

"States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process," an senior administration official told NBC News.

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Read the full NBC News report here 

NOW WATCH: Trump had a great response when he was asked to name one thing he liked about Clinton





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With federal prosecutors investigating the generic drug industry for alleged price fixing, speculation that Congress will step in next year to find ways to contain soaring prescription drug prices is more than a rumor. They could also crack down on unscrupulous marketing tactics that have gouged consumers, health insurers and government agencies.

Bloomberg first reported on Thursday that federal prosecutors could bring charges against a dozen or more prominent generic drug companies for price collusion. While the identities of those companies is still unknown, a number of major companies including Mylan, the makers of EpiPen; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the largest generic drug company in the world, and Endo International, have acknowledged in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings over the past two years that they were subpoenaed by for information on their pricing policies and communications with competitors, according to The Wall Street Journal reported.

Related: How Mylan Gouged the Pentagon on the Cost of Its Drug Dispenser

The reports sent stock prices for Endo, Teva and Mylan tumbling yesterday and provided added grist for industry critics warning that Republican and Democratic lawmakers may have no choice next year but to crack down on manufacturers of both generic and more expensive brand-name drugs to placate angry constituents.

David Maris, an analyst for Wells Fargo and a long-time critic of the drug industry, said in a note to clients on Thursday that companies may well be in for tumultuous times after Tuesdays election and that we are less concerned about the financial impact of fines than how items like this [investigation] can bring calls for controls and oversight, The New York Times reported.

Democratic and Republican politicians alike have clamored for action to rein in the prices of both generic and more expensive brand-named drugs that have added hundreds of billions of dollars to the nations annual health care costs and blown huge holes in the budgets of Medicare and Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the federal prison system and other agencies and programs that provide health care.

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Related: Mylan EpiPen: One Piece of a Complicated U.S. Pricing System

Prominent politicians ranging from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, have all taken hard lines against the pharmaceutical industrys pricing practices.

Clinton, for example, has called for creation of a government commission with authority to compete with or penalize drug companies like Mylan, Valeant and Turing that have jacked up the prices of lifesaving drugs that have been on the market for years. She has also championed proposals to allow Medicare to negotiate prices, cap monthly drug costs and broaden consumer access to safe, high quality generic alternatives through the emergency importation of drugs from Canada.

Meanwhile, McCain and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) have teamed up behind a bill that would require companies to warn the Department of Health and Human Services of price hikes of more than 10 percent and then justify them. And Chaffetz and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in September led a hard-hitting oversight hearing into Mylans six-fold increase in the price of EpiPen, the epinephrine auto-injector used to treat allergic reactions.

However, much will depend on the outcome of next Tuesdays presidential and congressional elections, health care policy and political experts agree. If the Democrats hold the White House and regain a majority in the Senate, then there likely will be a major push for reforms and price containment, even while proposals would likely face stiff resistance in the House, where the Republicans are almost certain to preserve a majority.

Related: Clinton Calls for Powerful New Panel to Crack Down on Drug Price-Gouging

If Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defeats Clinton and the Republicans hang onto control of the Senate, major reforms might on the back burner. Their priority would almost certainly focus on repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy Strategy Associates, a consulting firm, said in an interview Friday that There obviously is a problem with generic drug prices . . . so that the more that comes out [about drug company wrongdoing], the more there is a movement to regulate drugs.

But thats a Democratic issue, not a Republican issue, he insisted. So its all going to be caught up in whatever the politics of 2017 are, which we dont know yet. If the House stays Republican, theres not going to be a lot of progress. If Clinton is elected, the House stays Republican, the Senate could go either way, I just think weve got gridlock for the next two years. I dont see any movement on anything.

But that doesnt account for Clintons contributions from the pharmaceutical industry to her campaign:



Source: OpenSecrets

Another seasoned observer of the drug industry and health care issues who declined to be named for this article said that I do think the popular outrage will lead to a serious effort next year, but the shape of that is still unclear. He added that The industry would be smart to support some limited remedies, but so far hasn't seen the need to do so.

Related: Two Big Reasons Prescription Drug Prices Are So Much Higher in the US

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the leading advocacy group for the drug industry, declined to comment on the federal investigation and its possible legislative ramifications. There is little doubt, however, that the congressional indictment of the pharmaceutical industry is substantial and growing.

For instance, drug manufacturers increased the prices of nearly 400 generic drugs by over 1,000 percent between 2008 and 2015, according to a recent government study. Many of those companies do not develop the drugs themselves but acquire the manufacturing rights and then raise the prices.

Gilead Sciences drew sharp criticism for its retail pricing of Sovaldi and Harvoni, two biometric drugs highly effective in the treatment of the hepatitis C virus that cost as much as $100,000 for a full treatment. Top officials of Valeant Pharmaceuticals were forced to apologize to Congress last April after they purchased the rights to Nitropress and Isuprel, two heart and blood pressure medicines, and then raised their prices by 212 percent and 525 percent, respectively.

Turing Pharmaceuticals, previously headed by hedge fund manager and drug industry bad boy Martin Shkreli, purchased the license for an anti-parasitic drug called Daraprim and then raised the price by over 5,000 percent.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Washington (AFP) - An inmate set to die by lethal injection in the southern US state of Alabama was granted an 11th-hour reprieve late Thursday, his latest stay of execution.

The late-night order by the Supreme Court in Washington was the seventh time that Thomas Arthur, 74, has seen his scheduled execution called off.

Arthur had been scheduled to die at 6 pm at the prison in Altmore, following decades-long imprisonment for his conviction in the 1982 murder of his mistress's husband.

But officials delayed the timing of the execution as they waited for the court's decision.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued an order about 10:30 pm Thursday temporarily halting the execution until he or other justices made another decision, a court document said.

Just before midnight, the Supreme Court granted Arthur's request to stay the execution, the Washington Post reported. It would remain in place until the full court decides whether it will consider the case.

"We are greatly relieved by the Supreme Courts decision granting a stay and now hope for the opportunity to present the merits of Mr. Arthurs claims to the Court," Suhana Han, Arthur's lead counsel, told AFP.

If the Supreme Court decides not to take on the case, the stay would be terminated, the Washington Post said.

Lawyers for Arthur had argued that a drug in Alabama's lethal injection cocktail, the sedative midazolam, would have "torturous effects," after having been used in three botched executions elsewhere, the newspaper said.

The lawyers had also filed an appeal based on Arthur's being sentenced to death by a judge following a non-unanimous jury recommendation.

In January, the US Supreme Court ruled that Florida's death sentencing process, which was similar to Alabama's, was unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges to the detriment of juries.

The pace of executions is declining in the United States, due to a combination of factors including a shortage of the drugs used to carry out lethal injections.
A long-awaited report from a national institute on prisons' solitary confinement practices released Thursday found that about 14 percent of Nebraska inmates are in some type of segregation daily.

Half of them are in highly restricted housing.

Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately in solitary confinement, according to the Vera Institute of Justice study, with more than 50 percent of black, Hispanic and Native American inmates spending at least some time in highly restrictive housing, compared to 39 percent of white people.

Nebraska has one of the most severely crowded prison systems in the United States, operating at almost 160 percent capacity in recent years, the Vera researchers said. Many of the problems with living conditions, access to programming and treatment, and overuse of segregation stem from overcrowding.

Many state prisoners spent long periods in solitary, especially those in protective custody, administrative confinement and intensive management, the report said.

The common definition of solitary confinement, the Vera report said, is confinement in an isolated cell (alone or with a cellmate) for an average of 22 or more hours per day, with limited human interaction or constructive activity and in an environment that ensures maximum control.

In 2015, with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Vera Institute partnered with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to help reduce its use of segregation.

Vera conducted a yearlong assessment of how Nebraska uses segregation and identified opportunities for change and innovation.

During the assessment, the department began instituting dramatic reforms, the Vera researchers said, including new restrictive housing rules in July, in response to the requirements of a 2015 Nebraska law (LB598).

The rules aim to ensure segregation is used only as a last resort, in the least restrictive manner and for the least amount of time possible.

Restrictive housing should be used to manage risk and not as punishment," said Nebraska prisons director Scott Frakes. "We will house people in the least restrictive environment that is safe for all, while providing access to mental health treatment and cognitive interventions designed to change behavior and reduce risk."

The department says it has ended the use of segregation as a disciplinary sanction for rules violations.

But in a recent meeting of the Legislature's Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee, Jerall Moreland, with the Ombudsman's office, said segregation reform in the prisons has not reduced the numbers of inmates in segregation. In fact, it may have increased them.

Native Americans had the highest average number of days spent in disciplinary or immediate segregation at 54 days, with Hispanic inmates at 52 days and black inmates at 46 days.

The five most common charges used to justify segregation were violations of rules, possessing or receiving unauthorized articles, disobeying an order, being in unauthorized areas and being disruptive.

More than half of all charges that correctional officers filed were ultimately dismissed following a disciplinary hearing, the study showed.

The Vera researchers found that prison officials used alternative sanctions less than they could have, and that disciplinary segregation was overused, often for low-level violations.

The impetus for Nebraska prison reform was the Nikko Jenkins case, researchers said.

In 2013, Jenkins  a troubled man with mental illness, a history of self-harm and significant incarcerations, including solitary confinement  was released directly from a restrictive housing unit into the community, despite his requests for mental health treatment and transfer to a civil psychiatric facility.

Shortly after his release, Jenkins killed four people. His actions had a dramatic and lasting impact on the department and the politics of criminal justice in Nebraska, the report said.

Vera researchers had a number of recommendations, including that the department should:

* Support staff as they adjust to no longer having disciplinary segregation as a sanction, and ensure that they have adequate options to respond to misbehavior and incentives for positive behavior

* Ensure staff does not overuse immediate segregation in the place of disciplinary confinement

* Enact firm policies to prohibit placing youth, pregnant women and people with serious mental illness in any form of restrictive housing that limits social interaction, exercise, environmental stimulation and therapeutic programming

* Increase out-of-cell time and recreation, minimize isolation and idleness, and provide opportunities for rehabilitative programming.

Vera will join the Long-Term Restrictive Housing Workgroup meeting Nov. 16 to discuss the recommendations and assist in developing additional strategies to reduce the use of restrictive housing, Frakes said.
The United States will deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea in eight to 10 months despite strong objections from China and Russia, a US military chief said Friday.

Seoul and Washington agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the South after North Korea conducted a series of missile launches in the wake of its fourth nuclear test in January.

The decision was condemned by Pyongyang and also caused a damaging rift between Seoul and Beijing, which sees the deployment as a US bid to flex its military muscle in the region and undermine China's own missile capabilities.

Speaking at a seminar, General Vincent Brooks, commander of the US Forces in Korea (USFK), said the THAAD battery would be deployed in eight to 10 months and would be bigger than the one currently in Guam, according to USFK Spokesman Kim Yong-Kyu.

Brooks also said that recent calls for South Korea to have its own nuclear arsenal to deter the North would seriously "complicate" the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, Yonhap news agency reported.

China responded to Brooks' timetable by repeating its opposition to the THAAD deployment and calling for its "immediate" cancellation.

Deploying the system "undermines the regional strategic balance and jeopardizes the strategic security interests of China and other regional countries," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

China will take "necessary measures to safeguard our own security interests," Hua said.

South Korea in September announced a new location for deploying THAAD, after vocal protests from local residents near the original site over potential health and environmental hazards.

Some opposition lawmakers are also opposed to THAAD, despite President Park Geun-Hye's insistence that the system is crucial to national defence.

Since Seoul and Washington announced the THAAD deployment was going ahead, North Korea has continued to conduct missile tests and carried out a fifth nuclear test on September 9.
The final US employment report before the presidential election was released on Friday, and it confirmed what continues to be an improving labor market.

US employers added 161,000 nonfarm payrolls in October, which was a bit lighter than the 173,000 expected by economists. Gains were driven by the addition of 142,000 private payrolls. Notably, manufacturing payrolls fell by 9,000 during the period.

We suspect the rise in payrolls in October was hurt by weather effects, High Frequency Economics Jim OSullivan said. While there is no direct measure of weather effects in payrolls, the not seasonally adjusted household survey series on the number of nonfarm workers with a job who did not work because of bad weather rose by 214K, well above the 10K median rise in the past 10 October reports.

Critically, the prior two month of payrolls data were revised up by 44,000 jobs, which more than offset Octobers payrolls shortfall.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.9% from 5.0% a month ago. This was largely attributable to the 195,000 Americans that dropped out of the labor force, which brought the labor force participation rate down to 62.8% from 62.9%.

Average hourly earnings climbed by 0.4% during the month, which was better than the 0.3% gain expected. This measure of wages is growing at a 2.8% pace year-over-year.

The mix of reasonable job gains and accelerating wages lends some credence to the idea that slack has largely dissipated, UBSs Drew Matus said.

Below is a look at unemployment rates by demographic.

unemployment rates

Unemployment rates for most demographics fell. The unemployment rate for black or African American workers climbed to 8.6% from 8.3%. The unemployment rate for high school graduates with no college ticked up to 5.5% from 5.2%.

Below is a look at jobs added by industry. The main areas of weakness continue to be manufacturing and mining and logging.

unemployment rates

The monthly US employment report is among the most closely watch economic reports in the world. Fridays report is one before American voters head to the polls on Tuesday to vote for their next president.

Story continues

As the candidate representing dramatic change, Republican Donald Trump has been expected to pounce on a disappointing report, or even spin negatively an encouraging report.

Labor market trends overall remain strong

This week, the Department of Labor reported 265,000 unemployment insurance claims, marking the 87th consecutive week this figure has been below 300,000. You have to go back to 1970 to find a better time.

Monthly manufacturing surveys also signaled strength. The employment indices of the ISM manufacturing report, Philly Fed report, Kansas City Fed report, and Richmond Fed report.

While any short-term blip in the data may be cause for concern, it would take several months of disappointing data to cause the trends to inflect in a worrisome way.



Sam Ro is managing editor at Yahoo Finance.

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Washington (AFP) - The next UN chief Antonio Guterres emphasized Friday the need for a strong partnership with the United States to address the world's ills, including wars, human rights violations and climate change.

"I believe that the cooperation between the United States and United Nations is a key factor in order to improve the present global situation," said Guterres, who will succeed South Korean Ban Ki-moon as secretary-general on January 1.

Flanked by US Secretary of State John Kerry before the two went into a meeting, Guterres noted the importance of collaboration between the organization and the world's superpower.

That partnership is instrumental "to bring together sustainable development, human rights, and peace and security and to make sure that the UN has an effective added value in trying to address the most dramatic situations we face today in the world," he told reporters.

"We are all aware that conflicts have multiplied in a dramatic way, that people are suffering enormously," said Guterres, who served for a decade as UN refugee chief.

In that capacity he faced, along with the Syrian conflict, the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.

Kerry said Guterres was "the man for the moment" for the job as the world's top diplomat. "He's got energy and skills and experience to bring to the table," he said.

The former socialist prime minister of Portugal will be the first head of government to helm the UN. He was appointed unanimously by the UN's 193 member states on October 13 to serve a five year-term.

Backed by the 15-state UN Security Council, his appointment is seen as a shift toward a more high-profile leadership of the world body, which has been weakened by tensions among world powers and the growing number of conflicts.

US President Barack Obama congratulated Guterres in a phone call on October 18, pledging the US would continue to work closely with the world body.

"The president pledged our continued assistance on UN efforts to address a wide array of global challenges," the White House said in a statement, "including climate change, forced migration, sustainable development, nonproliferation, humanitarian assistance, conflict prevention, peacekeeping and promoting respect for human rights."
Val Kilmer has spoken out about speculation that he is battling cancer.

After fellow actor Michael Douglas said during a recent Q&A session, Val was a wonderful guy who is dealing with exactly what I had, and things dont look to good for him, referring to his own cancer battle, Val took to Facebook.

Watch: Symptoms of Throat Cancer

I love Michael Douglas but he is misinformed. The last time I spoke to him was almost two years ago, when I asked him for a referral for a specialist to get a diagnosis for a lump in my throat, which prevented me from continuing a tour of my play CITIZEN TWAIN. I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever, the actor wrote. I still have a swollen tongue and am rehabbing steadily.

Adding, Whatever led Michael Douglas to speculate about my health, he's a loving and devoted friend to a privileged group of talent people around the world, and I'm sure he meant no harm.

Watch: Woman Finds Thyroid Cancer Thanks to Watching the Doctors

The Doctors note that the type of cancer that Michael battled, head and neck cancer, occurs 80 percent of the time due to alcohol or tobacco use.

This story illustrates just how hard it is for some in the Hollywood spotlight to keep their health information private and accurate. ER physician Dr. Travis Stork says, I was very surprised that Michael Douglas brought this up at the end of the day, whatever [Val had] it is his medical issue whatever is going on with Val Kilmer  whatever it may be  we obviously wish he and Michael Douglas all the best.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday condemned a right-wing Catholic radio station that said a series of earthquakes that hit Italy in the past three months was "God's punishment" for the country approving same-sex civil unions. "These remarks are offensive for believers and scandalous for non-believers," Deputy Secretary of State Archbishop Angelo Becciu was quoted as saying by Italian media. He asked for forgiveness from the victims of the earthquakes for the comments, made by an announcer this week on the Catholic radio network Radio Maria. The announcer said the quakes, including one in August that killed nearly 300 people and leveled towns and churches in central Italy, was "God's punishment" for human sins. He said these included the approval last May of same-sex civil unions. The same region was struck in late October by the country's biggest quake in decades, which caused widespread damage but no deaths or critical injuries. Becciu said Radio Maria, which has come under criticism in the past for comments seen as anti-Semitic, had to "moderate the tone of its language" and conform to the Church's message of mercy. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; editing by John Stonestreet)
By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former associates of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were convicted on Friday for their roles in the "Bridgegate" lane closure scandal, following a six-week trial that served to further tarnish the Republican's damaged reputation. Bridget Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty in Newark federal court on all counts. They were convicted of fraud, conspiracy and depriving the residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey, of their civil rights. Christie, who is in charge of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's transition team, has not been criminally charged, but the scandal has torpedoed what was once seen as a promising political career. Christie on Friday again denied having had any advance knowledge of the scheme to choke traffic heading for the busy George Washington Bridge, which links New Jersey and Manhattan. "I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them," Christie said in a statement following the verdict. "Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue." The scandal has dogged Christie, once seen as a potential presidential nominee before his campaign for the White House failed this year. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta said on Friday Trump should ask Christie to resign as head of his transition team. Legal experts have said it is unlikely Christie would face any criminal consequences based on the trial testimony. Baroni and Kelly were accused of shutting down access lanes to the bridge in September 2013 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, creating a massive days-long traffic jam to punish the town's mayor, Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for declining to endorse Christie's reelection campaign. The Port Authority, which runs the bridge, says it is the world's busiest, carrying 102 million vehicles a year on the I-95 interstate highway, a major east coast traffic artery. Lawyers for Kelly and Baroni vowed to appeal. "This is not over," Kelly's lawyer Michael Critchley said outside the courthouse, with his arm around his weeping client. He said the judge had erred during jury instructions. Defense lawyers were furious when U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors in response to a question they could convict Kelly and Baroni on conspiracy even if the act itself was not "intentionally punitive toward Mayor Sokolich." Wigenton said prosecutors did not have to prove motive, even though their case had revolved around the political retribution. "By answering the way you're answering, you're directing a verdict of guilty," an angry Critchley told Wigenton on Tuesday. Baroni's lawyer, Michael Baldassare, told reporters the case was a "disgrace" and said the conviction would be overturned. "I am innocent of these charges," a smiling Baroni said. Kelly and Baroni's co-conspirator, former Port Authority official and confessed mastermind David Wildstein, had earlier pleaded guilty and appeared as the government's star witness, detailing how the three schemed to pay back Sokolich. But Wildstein also implicated Christie, saying he and Baroni discussed the lane closures with the governor while they were ongoing. Christie, Wildstein testified, laughed at the notion that Sokolich was frustrated by the traffic. At the time, Christie believed that securing the backing of Democratic officials would burnish his national reputation, according to trial testimony. Kelly, who took the stand in her defense, testified she had discussed the lane closures with Christie a month beforehand, though she said she thought at the time they were part of a legitimate traffic study. "I take no pleasure in this verdict," said U.S. Attorney of New Jersey Paul Fishman, a successor of Christie in that position. Fishman, whose office prosecuted the case, said he was saddened by the conduct of top government officials. Kelly and Baroni's lawyers argued that Wildstein had orchestrated the plot himself and told them he was conducting a traffic study. Wildstein said on the stand the three of them knew all along that the study was a bogus cover story. Prosecutors showed jurors numerous exchanges that Kelly and Baroni each had with Wildstein, who operated as liaison between Baroni at the Port Authority and Kelly in the governors office. Those included Kelly's now-infamous email to Wildstein that prosecutors said launched the scheme, in which she wrote, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Kelly and Baroni are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21. Each faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the most serious charge of fraud, though it is unlikely they would receive such a lengthy term. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Cara Delevingne at the 2013 Victorias Secret Fashion Show. (Photo: Getty Images)

A report about the rigorous casting process that models endure in hopes of getting a chance to appear in the annual Victorias Secret Fashion Show, specifically claiming that Cara Delevingne was rejected from walking the runway in 2014 for being too bloated, has been rejected by both Delevingne and Victorias Secret.

On Friday, the Paper Towns actress shared a letter written to her from Victorias Secret Fashion Show executive producer Ed Razek on Instagram. The post says allegations made by the Sun are false. Contrary to The Suns claims, which they never bothered to fact check with me, Victorias Secret made every effort to have you in the London show. I know, because I was the one making the effort, he wrote, going on to say that Delevingne was the first person they had in mind to cast for the show, which was held in London that year. The alleged casting, where supposedly disparaging remarks were made, never happened. There was NO casting. You had already been enthusiastically confirmed.

???????????? ????????its shameless to discuss womens bodies just to sell papers #bloated  @victoriassecret A photo posted by Cara Delevingne (@caradelevingne) on Nov 4, 2016 at 4:16am PDT

Razek says the real reason Delevingne wasnt in the show was that she was shooting a movie at the time. You would have made the show better, as you do anything and everything youre involved in, he wrote.

To close, Razek extended an invitation to Delevingne to join the Victorias Secret Fashion show in Paris this year, no casting necessary. Whether she will accept his offer is still up in the air.

Delevingne offered a succinct comment on the debacle, captioning her Instagram, its shameless to discuss womens bodies just to sell papers.

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(Help with slug please)

AMSTERDAM, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Vodafone's Dutch subsidiary said on Friday it had sold fixed-line operations with around 150,000 customers to Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile Nederland for an undisclosed sum.

Vodafone agreed to sell the operations as a concession to European Union regulators in order to gain approval for the larger merger of Vodafone's Dutch operations with Liberty Global's Dutch subsidiary Ziggo.

Vodafone is the second-largest mobile provider in the Netherlands, while Ziggo is the biggest cable company.

Together they are expected to form a strong competitor to KPN, the former Dutch state telecommunications company.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely)
The circumstances of the so-called Beatrice 6 case prevent Gage County from seeking a loan from the Nebraska Treasurer's Office to pay a $28.1 million judgment awarded earlier this year to six people wrongfully convicted of a 1985 murder, the state Attorney General said Friday.

Attorney General Doug Peterson, who wrote the opinion with Assistant Attorney General Natalee Hart, said state law allowing political subdivisions to ask the treasurer for a loan to pay judgments is not a viable solution because the judgment in this case was awarded in federal court.

Treasurer Don Stenberg asked for the opinion in October after Jeffry Patterson, one of the attorneys for the six people convicted after a 1989 cold case investigation, suggested the option to Gage County.

Joseph White, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Thomas Winslow, James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez and Debra Shelden spent a combined 75 years in prison for the rape and beating death of Helen Wilson in her downtown Beatrice apartment. They were absolved after DNA evidence implicated a seventh person.

The six sued Gage County, Deputy Sheriff Burdette Searcey, Reserve Deputy Wayne Price and others for violating their civil rights and in July, a federal jury found in their favor.

The county appealed, but is exploring options for paying the judgment more than three times greater than its annual budget.

In October, Patterson made this offer: If the county could arrange the means to pay the jury award, the six would agree to wait until the end of the appeals process to push for payment.

One avenue attorneys for the six suggested was that the county apply for a loan from the Treasurer's Office under the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, which allows governmental entities to get a loan, then pay back the state with minimal interest.

But Stenberg said there is no record any political subdivision has asked for one since the act was signed into law nearly half a century ago and asked the attorney general for his opinion on Oct. 13.

On Friday, Peterson said it's not an avenue Gage County can pursue.

None of the Plaintiffs claims were brought under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims act, nor do they make any reference to those statutes, the opinion says.

Furthermore, the judgment does not refer to any claims in state courts, meaning any loan filed by Gage County to the State Treasurers office under Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act would not fall within the parameters of this statute.

He also said Gage County can pursue no other options through Stenbergs office.

You did not indicate whether you thought another statute may apply in this circumstance, and Mr. Patterson pointed to no other statutes under which he believes a loan could be made to Gage County, Peterson wrote. We are not aware of any other provision in Nebraska statute which would allow the State Treasurer to loan money to a political subdivision in order for a judgment to be satisfied.

While waiting for a decision on its appeal to the 8th Circuit Court, Gage County continues to try to figure out how it might pay the judgment, and it has asked for a stay in the judgment.

Last week, the county Board of Supervisors discussed the case in a two-hour closed session with its team of private-practice attorneys led by Patrick OBrien, as well as lawyers it hired earlier this summer to analyze its insurance history in the case.

Less than a week after Patterson wrote to the county requesting payment, OBrien wrote his own letter telling the six the county will not increase its property tax levy beyond the 50 cents per $100 valuation it is limited to by state law to pay the judgment.

While you cite a number of statutes that seem to ignore this limitation, case law in Nebraska supports our position that in order to exceed the $.50 levy, the County would have to submit the proposition to a vote of the people, OBrien wrote.

He also called Pattersons reference to a provision in state law that allows for county officials to be held personally liable if they fail to levy a tax necessary to pay a court judgment gratuitous and unenforceable.

The County Commissioners are in the process of exploring all of their options in response to the jurys verdict entered in this case, he said. As you know, Gage County does not have a sufficient tax base to raise over $30 million for immediate payment.

The County Commissioners have paid diligent attention to this case and they will continue to take all steps necessary to properly respond to the jurys verdict in due time, OBrien added.

Responding to Pattersons offer to stay the judgment if Gage County can guarantee prompt payment in the event the 8th Circuit sides with the six, OBrien said the county does not have the resources or authority to make any promises.

As we have previously indicated, the County is exploring all of the possibilities open to it in responding to the jurys verdict and will do so in a considered and timely manner.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Vodafone's Dutch subsidiary said on Friday it had sold fixed-line operations with around 150,000 customers to Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile Nederland for an undisclosed sum.

Vodafone agreed to sell the operations as a concession to European Union regulators in order to gain approval for the larger merger of Vodafone's Dutch operations with Liberty Global's Dutch subsidiary Ziggo.

Vodafone is the second-largest mobile provider in the Netherlands, while Ziggo is the biggest cable company.

Together they are expected to form a strong competitor to KPN, the former Dutch state telecommunications company.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely)
Voter intimidation may seem to many a relic of America's distant past, but even in the world's foremost democracy, complaints persist about harassment and intimidation during the ballot-casting process.

U.S. News spoke with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Campaign Legal Center about what is and what isn't allowed at polling sites, what constitutes intimidation or suppression, and what to do if you see it or it happens to you.

Note that state rules vary. To check the voting laws and regulations in your state, visit www.866ourvote.org/state, which is maintained by the Lawyers' Committee.

Who is allowed inside a polling location?

Poll workers, election officials, nonpartisan poll-watchers, and partisan representatives of the candidates and parties are permitted inside. Voters, of course, are allowed in, too, but only to vote -- they are not allowed to linger.

Poll workers can exercise some discretion if someone is acting inappropriately. There are some local and state variations, too: Some areas, for example, reasoning that police can sometimes be seen as a threat, prohibit officers from entering unless invited; others assign police to polling sites by default.

Outside a polling site, how close can people get if they're not there to vote?

State rules vary, but generally there's a "campaign-free" buffer of at least 100 feet from the door.

What are demonstrators, poll workers and poll watchers allowed to say and do?

Outside a polling station, and beyond any buffer zones, normal laws governing free speech, and its limitations as far as intimidation, threats and harassment, generally apply with a few additional restrictions.

A campaign or a group of supporters, for example, are not allowed to offer free food or other enticements to voters. Also, promoting lies that are aimed at discouraging voters can be considered intimidation: While the First Amendment protects certain falsehoods, people are not allowed to tell prospective voters that to cast their ballots they must first pay back child support, or that they must settle overdue library fines, or serve in a jury within the next year, which are three recent examples recorded by the Campaign Legal Center.

Story continues

[READ: What to Do if Someone Tries to Stop You From Voting]

Inside a polling location, typically only poll workers are allowed to interact with voters. If a partisan or nonpartisan watcher wants to challenge a voter's eligibility to cast a ballot, he or she may inform a poll worker, but not the voter directly.

What happens if your vote gets challenged?

Generally nothing, but the process might take slightly longer: A poll worker will decide if the challenge is valid. If so, you'll likely be asked to sign an affidavit affirming that you are who you say you are. Then you'll be allowed to vote.

What do I do if I witness inappropriate behavior or intimidation?

Inside or outside a polling location, the first thing to do is tell a poll worker. They can then address the issue, inform election officials, or request help from police if needed.

Voters who witness any issues should also call the Election Protection hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE, which is maintained by the Lawyers' Committee:

-- English: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)

--

-- Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)

-- Asian Languages: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)

-- Arabic: 844-418-1682

The committee will record the incident and, if needed, dispatch a volunteer lawyer to address it. Lawyers can also file emergency challenges in court, where judges can issue injunctions, such as by ordering polling sites that opened late or that have very long lines to stay open later.

The Justice Department also has a hotline, which voters should also call after contacting Election Protection or if the Election Protection hotline is busy.

Justice Department voting rights discrimination hotline: 800-253-3931

Should I call 911?

If you feel endangered, if there's violence or even the threat of violence, or if there's an emergency, you should immediately call the police. Otherwise, the numbers above are the best solution.

How do I know if it's intimidation?

Intimidation can take many forms: Polls that open late or have overly long lines; signs that say photo ID is required; voter challenges that seem to target only certain groups that "look" like Democrats or Republicans; even something as simple as tone -- telling voters outside a polling location that they need ID, rather than simply asking whether they have it, can all constitute intimidation.

If in doubt, ask a poll worker or call the hotlines.

Alan Neuhauser covers law enforcement and criminal justice for U.S. News & World Report. He also contributes to STEM and Healthcare of Tomorrow, and previously reported on energy and the environment. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at aneuhauser@usnews.com.


The family of an unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer will get a $6.5 million settlement from North Charleston in South Carolina, city officials said.

The man, Walter Scott, 50, was shot after fleeing a traffic stop in April, 2015. The shooting was caught on a bystander's video and reignited a national outcry over police treatment of minorities.

North Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey said in a statement that the City Council had voted to settle all potential claims over Scott's death for $6.5 million.

"I am glad the city and the family were able to reach a settlement without the necessity of a lawsuit," he said.

The police officer, Michael Slager, faces a murder charge in Scott's death. (Reuters)





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With the Wanda Groups announcement in mid-October of the new 40% production rebate incentive in Qingdao, many producers are looking to the city on Chinas east coast as a home for future projects. Sweetening the deal: a state-of-the-art, 494-acre Wanda Studio production complex set to start operating in 2018.

The new studio will include an underwater studio, animation facilities, and film lots built to reflect many Chinese and European cities  and will structures such as museums, hotels, a yacht club, and a hospital.

Qingdao, a major seaport in Shandong province is home to over 9 million people. It boasts the worlds longest over-water bridge, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, with an aggregate length of nearly 26 miles.

The region offers some of Asias most stunning ocean views and beaches. The city itself is a vibrant mix of traditional and modern Chinese architecture, as well as a curious mix of German-influenced buildings owing to its German colonization at the turn of the 20th century.

Incentive specifics are as follows:

A 40% cash rebate on qualified spend.

The minimum spend required is approximately $4.4 million.

Theres a project cap of approximately $17.7 million.

Foreign producers and domestic producers must invest jointly in the productions.

Films that have shot or are scheduled to shoot in Qingdao include: The Great Wall (2016), Into the Rainbow (2017), Pacific Rim 2 (2018), and Godzilla 2 (2019).

Information courtesy of EP Financial Solutions, a production incentive consulting and financial services company.

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f22 raptor tho

The F-22 Raptor combines extreme stealth with supermaneuverability, and the pilots of the US Air Force, through excellent training, make it the most lethal combat plane in the world.

In the clip below, an F-22 performs several mind-bending moves in the air. More than once, the Raptor goes completely vertical, nose up to the sky, while draining off nearly all of its speed, and for a brief, shining moment, pauses at the crest of it's ascent.

Then the pilot twists the F-22 into flips and rolls. At one point, the Raptor goes into a "falling leaf" maneuver, where it spins and drifts in a way that makes you almost forget that two massive jet engines power it. Seconds later, the engines roar back to life, and the plane is on its way again.

In a dogfight, figures like maximum speed don't mean a whole lot. Sure, the F-22 can supercruise, but the ability to slow down and bear down on a target matters more in an air-to-air confrontation at close range.

In the clip below, see how a US Air Force pilot in an F-22 owns the sky with incredible maneuvers:

NOW WATCH: The F-35 has hit another snag  this time because its too stealthy





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Amid the ongoing talk about how the Supreme Court is faring with one vacancy, there might be a new wave of congeniality among the eight Justices, perhaps aimed at getting some things done that otherwise would not. For the second time in recent weeks, a Justice cast a vote that otherwise might not have been justified, but did so only as a courtesy to colleagues.

This time, it had a good deal more significance: that courtesy vote, cast by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., close to midnight Thursday, temporarily spared the life of an Alabama death row inmate. The Chief Justice candidly conceded that he was opposed to doing so but nevertheless went ahead.

Four of his colleagues, he noted, had voted to delay the execution of Thomas D. Arthur (scheduled for 6 a.m. Friday). They had done so, he said, even though this case does not merit the Courts review, and did not satisfy the ordinary criteria for a delay order. To give those four other Justices the opportunity to more fully consider the suitability of this case for review, he joined in voting for delay as a courtesy. (When the Court takes up the case later, to decide whether to hear and decide the death-row inmates challenge, it would take only four votes to grant that review.)

In August, Justice Stephen G. Breyer was the accommodating member of the Court when it chose to delay a lower court ruling dealing with the right of a transgender boy in Virginia to use the boys restroom at his high school. Breyer, like Roberts, said he was casting a vote for postponement as a courtesy.

It is almost certainly not true that the Courts members will now routinely vote against their own perceptions every time there is a controversial case in which delay is sought, but that leaves open the question of why they have done so in these two instances.

Here is a bit of background that begins to suggest some explanations. The Court has had only eight members since last February, when Justice Antonin Scalia died. A nominee to succeed him has been left waiting since March, with no action in the Senate even to consider that nominee, Circuit Judge Merrick B. Garland.

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Whether the Court has nine or eight Justices, it takes the votes of a majority  five in both situations  to postpone a lower court ruling that is being challenged (technically, to grant what is called a stay).

If a request for a postponement is more or less routine, because it does not raise any potentially significant issue, it is easy to get five Justices to do so when such a matter is referred to the full Court. A single Justice can act alone, and often does, when the delay comes in a case of little consequence or difficulty. The more difficult requests are referred by a single Justice to all of the others for action.

With an eight-member Court, there is always the risk of a 4-to-4 split if the request comes in a case that raises an issue that is likely to be controversial among the Justices. In that circumstance, the Justices deep split in ideological perceptions often comes forth, with four on one side, and four on the other.

The legal reality is that nothing of genuine importance gets done in the event of a 4-to-4 split. That simply has the effect of giving the last word in a case to the lower court, without setting any precedent.

In a death penalty case, an even split almost always will mean that a stay request will be denied, because such requests are most often made by the convicted individual after being denied by the lower court. Thus, 4-to-4 equals execution for that inmate.

It is has not been uncommon, in recent years, for the Courts four more liberal members to be in favor of delaying executions when an inmates appeal seems to have some genuine legal merit. They are inclined to see merit where, often, their conservative colleagues do not.

Back, then, to the casting of courtesy votes. There is nothing in the Courts rules or customs that prohibits such a vote, even though the Justice casting such a vote does not believe it is justified.

But, with one Justice short, this philosophically divided Court realizes full well that it is harder for either bloc of four to gather a fifth vote to make a majority than it would be, of course, with nine members.

It is well to remember, though, that what has been at stake in the two recent instances of a courtesy vote, is simply the question of a temporary delay of a lower court decision that will be coming up later for more meaningful action by the Court.

Those courtesy votes do not settle anything else, and, in particular, they do not commit the Justice who cast such a vote to do that again when the Court is deciding the merits of a case. Courtesy does not extend to actually voting against ones developed view on how the actual legal dispute should come out.

At a minimum, though. those two acts of courtesy may well send a signal that the Court is being forced to do at least some things differently because it only has eight members. That might well be a signal aimed across First Street at the Senate, and in particular at Senate Republican leaders who have opted to keep the Scalia seat vacant  for the last eight months, and, very likely, longer.

As a long-term proposition, the Court could not count on courtesy votes to get done the hardest part of its work  deciding deeply controversial cases.

Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011 and he has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com, where this article first appeared.
By Elizabeth Dilts and Dan Freed

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co fired hundreds of brokerage employees for improper sales practices, three U.S. senators said on Thursday, widening the scope of a scandal which the fourth-largest U.S. bank has so far characterized as a retail banking problem.

In a letter to Wells Fargo Chief Executive Tim Sloan, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Robert Menendez questioned the bank's disclosures about those employees' dismissals in required regulatory filings.

The letter is the first indication that customers of the brokerage business, known as Wells Fargo Advisors, may also have been affected.

Wells Fargo said in September it would pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers for opening up to 2 million deposit and credit-card accounts in customers' names without their permission.

The San Francisco-based bank said it fired 5,300 workers for improper sales practices over a period of five years.

Reuters reported in October that thousands of small business customers have also been affected.

"It would appear that Wells Fargo concealed key information from regulators that may have revealed the bank's misdeeds long before the September 2016 settlement," the senators wrote, requesting more information.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which regulates brokerages and securities dealers, told congressional staff that it had received dismissal documents known as Form U5s for more than 600 of those fired Wells Fargo employees. However, only 207 of them contained details indicating they were fired for practices that led to bogus accounts.

The incomplete U5 filings may have deprived regulators of information that could have allowed them to uncover and stop the "illegal activity" sooner, the senators said.

FINRA "takes seriously the integrity and accuracy of all filings made by firms," spokeswoman Nancy Condon said in an emailed response.

She noted that FINRA last week launched a review of sales programs for all firms it oversees.

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Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson Dunn said multiple investigations were underway, including an internal review. The bank has been working for years to stop wrongful sales practices, and is taking steps to repair the damage, she said.

"We acknowledge we could have acted sooner and more aggressively," Greeson Dunn said.

At a conference on Thursday, Sloan said he had no knowledge of issues outside the retail bank.

Wells Fargo's retail branches also include employees from other businesses who offer products besides bank accounts.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts and Dan Freed in New York; editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Richard Chang)
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Food Programme is very concerned about the threat of famine in South Sudan, where people are fleeing from the conflict and leaving their crops to rot in the field, WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said on Friday. She said the food insecurity situation was "above emergency levels" in seven out of 10 states. A rare U.N. aid convoy, consisting of 38 trucks with food for a month, was on its way to the town of Yei and should arrive within hours, she said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Stephen Patrick O'Meara is trying out retirement for a second time.

He retired 2 years ago but returned to the Nebraska Attorney General's Office in May 2015 to coordinate the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force.

Since then, he's worked with a number of state groups to create a plan to end sex trafficking.

O'Meara said he believes trafficking is a larger issue in Nebraska than he initially thought.

"It's a more significant issue in Nebraska than even those of us who worked on the Omaha Child Exploitation Task Force since January 2010 really understood," he said. "We're talking about what looks like potentially a much higher number of victims."

But O'Meara said he's leaving the task force in good hands -- Glen Parks, who he recommended for the job.

"Knowing he was the right guy to carry on the work made (retirement) a lot easier of a choice to make," he said.

Parks joined the Attorney General's Office in August and has been assisting O'Meara.

He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law in 2001 and spent nine years in India, fighting sex trafficking as legal director of an anti-human trafficking organization and helping develop a border monitoring strategy for Tiny Hands International, a group working to stop human trafficking across the Nepal-India border.

O'Meara said he'll continue to support the state's effort to eradicate trafficking.

"There will be things I'll be doing periodically," he said, joking that his wife doesn't believe this will be the last time he retires.
Photos: Getty Images

It used to be that a woman in power had to dress like a man in power to be taken seriously  in dark blazers, pantsuits, and other drab, dont-notice-me outfits. But those days are waning as an increasing number of women in leadership positions are dressing the way they want to, not like carbon copies of the besuited men in executive offices  and executive branches.

Im a woman, I like clothes. I like shoes, said British Prime Minister Theresa May at the Women in the World summit last October. Its one of the challenges, I think, for women in politics, in business, in all areas of working life, is actually to be ourselves, and to say, You know what, you can be clever and like clothes. You can have a career and like clothes. These are not separate.

Mays fashion sense has been a source of media fascination since she took office in July. She is most recognized for her standout shoes, which are always statement making. Shes worn everything from lipstick-print ballet flats to patent leather over-the-knee boots to leopard-print kitten heels (the Sun headlined them Heel, Boys). Some of her countrymen criticize her interest in fashion, but others applaud it.

Theresa May has a subscription to Vogue and the keys to No. 10 Downing Street and, unlike any of the posts previous incumbents, she does not see a conflict in that fact, Guardian columnist Imogen Fox wrote in a piece condemning the fashion-shaming Mays endured. First lady Michelle Obama was arguably the earliest to adopt, in politics at least, the idea that women in power dont have to blend in with the men around them. She said goodbye to the skirt suits favored by previous first ladies like Laura and Barbara Bush as well as Nancy Reagan.

British Prime Minister Theresa May. (Getty Images)

Instead, shes worn colorful, often sleeveless dresses that have earned her style accolades from pretty much everyone in the country. Journalist Kate Betts wrote about her style  and what it means that the first lady isnt afraid to be fashionable  in her book Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style.

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Michelle Obama would not have made such a strong impression on the women of my generation if we had completely resolved the tensions of substance and style, Betts writes. Both of us were born in 1964  the last year of the baby boom  and benefited from the pioneers of feminism who came ten and twenty years before us, women who shattered glass ceilings, occupied corner offices, and delivered on the seemingly impossible promise of having it all.

Photo: Getty Images

I got my aesthetic education like many kids growing up in New York City in the early 1970s, she continues. Style, like language, was something you absorbed unconsciously from the culture of the city itself. The style classrooms of New York were the citys streets and art galleries, its nightclubs and rush-hour lobbies. New York then seemed full of trailblazing women who were conquering new professional worlds with their personal style in full bloom. Women like Barbara Walters reporting on the Today show about Vietnam, Gloria Steinem starting Ms. magazine, and Diane von Furstenberg launching her famous wrap dress. Looking back I can see that one of the reasons they stood out was that they were the exceptions not the rule. It wasnt until I moved to Paris that I was fully immersed in a culture that understood style was substance, and that a lack of style could signal a deficit of substance. But time and again I would run up against women who seemed more comfortable with style and substance inhabiting two separate worlds.

Hillary Clinton, seen through the history of her clothing choices from her time as first lady up until her presidential nomination, perhaps best embodies the conflict between style and substance. As first lady, she stuck mainly to pantsuits. (If she added any flair, like a headband, she often found herself dodging critics who said shed made a fashion misstep.) Later as both a senator and secretary of state, she tended toward no-nonsense from head to toe. As secretary of state, she was seen with her hair in a ponytail or without much makeup.

Hillary Clinton, a strong lady in red. (Getty Images)

I feel so relieved to be at the stage Im at in my life right now, Clinton told CNN while she was secretary of state. Because, you know, if I want to wear my glasses, Im wearing my glasses. If I want to wear my hair back, Im pulling my hair back. You know at some point its just not something that deserves a lot of time and attention. And if others want to worry about it, I let them do the worrying for a change. But now, during her run for president, Clinton seems to have reconciled that she can speak about and advocate for her political ideas and have a little fun with fashion too. Her suits are bolder, and the shapes less stiff, from the all white ensemble she wore to accept the Democratic nomination to the all red one at her second debate with Donald Trump. Shes worn mostly big designers like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani but hasnt shied away from some flair, like leather or beading. The end result is that she and much of America finally seem comfortable with her look.

I think America, and the electorate, is finally ready to embrace that, the idea of women politicians wearing something that is fun and feminine, without it being an issue, Lyn Paolo, the costume designer for Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder told the New York Times. Its about time.

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Washington (AFP) - The White House on Thursday urged Britain and the European Union to remain "flexible" as the two sides work out a framework for Brexit, following a British High Court ruling likely to delay an EU exit.

"We urge both the United Kingdom and the European Union in their negotiations to continue to be flexible and work this out in a process that is smooth, pragmatic, transparent and productive," spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One.

He noted that Washington was closely watching developments and working with officials in London and Brussels to ensure that Brexit doesn't upset financial markets.

Schultz also added that the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain endures.

"It is a bedrock of the United States' foreign policy. But likewise, the European Union remains an indispensable partner for the United States in stimulating economic growth and addressing regional and global challenges."

Three senior judges on the British High Court ruled Thursday that Prime Minister Theresa May's government does not have the power on its own to trigger Article 50 of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the formal notification of Britain's intention to leave the bloc.

The government has vowed to appeal the ruling, which calls for parliament to approve starting Brexit talks.
Photo: Lifetime Network

You could sort of tell Lifetime was not really taking the murder of JonBenet Ramsey very seriously when the press release for its new TV movie referred to the infamous murder of the pint-sized beauty queen. Pint-sized? Thats an awfully jovial way to describe a 6-year-old girl who was brutally killed in 1996. Turns out, thats actually one of Lifetimes more subtle touches in this brutally crude dramatization of the crime and its aftermath.

The murder has received new attention during this, the 20th anniversary of the childs death, most of it lurid and/or exploitative. The script by Brian L. Ross makes a singularly cynical decision in having the movie narrated by the corpse of JonBenet. As played by Payton Lepinski, dead-JonBenet guides us through the film with voiceovers, during the introduction of various characters, laced with childlike observations: Thats my dads best friend Fleet. He gave the best hugs. Ick. Thats Steve Thomas. Hes a detective, she says of a cop played by Eion Bailey (Covert Affairs, Stalker). She adds, Maybe hes going to solve this puzzle. Please note: They have this poor child referring to her own murder as a puzzle.

The movie proceeds like the most banal episode of Law & Order: crime scene investigation, interrogation of family and friends, various branches of law enforcement weighing in with theories. JonBenets little brother, Burke, comes off looking bad, in keeping with the current trend in Ramsey murder theories. A cop says to the boy, Is there anything youd like to ask me? Burke responds, Is that a Rolex? pointing to the cops watch. Ooh, the kid is awfully cold  in TV-drama terms, hes being positioned as potentially guilty.

The dialogue is stilted and melodramatic throughout. Fleet says of the Bolder, Colo., district attorney, Hes been accused in a national magazine of being incompetent! A cop says, I need this [case] closed fast. This citys gonna come apart if theres a maniac running around! Someone else implores, Who is gonna start standing up for the truth around here?

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At the end, theres a shot of JonBenets gravestone, and she speaks to us from beyond it. Ive seen a lot of things from here in 20 years  and Ive seen you too  all of you  looking at me. Shes talking to us, an implicit scolding of the viewer as voyeur. She continues: In the story of my life, the bad guys dont get caught. The nice people dont win. I still dont know who the bad guy in my story is. Maybe I never will  Maybe I can let go. Can you?

Thats rich: A cheeseball TV movie asking its viewers to let go of their JonBenet obsession, even as Who Killed JonBenet? exploits the child one more time.

Who Killed JonBenet? airs Saturday at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.
The first time Dianna Barindelli carried a baby that wasn't her own was in 2012. "We were done having kids, but I still wanted to be pregnant," says the Modesto, Calif., stay-at-home mom, whose own daughters are 6 and 9. Barindelli signed up with the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, one of the most exclusive surrogacy agencies in the world. In 2014, she matched with a Chinese couple. Unlike many agencies, CSP first shows parent applications to the surrogates, rather than the other way around. "It's little things that you'll connect with people over," says Barindelli, who was attracted to pictures of the couple's extended travels and their traditional wedding photos.

The embryo transfer took place in late 2014. Barindelli emailed the mom weekly, sending updates and ultrasound pictures with WeChat, an app that offers instantaneous translation. The intended parents (IPs) planned to be there for the birth, but the baby boy arrived two weeks early, 24 hours before they arrived. Says Barindelli: "I texted and made sure [the mom] was OK with him staying in my room. I cleared everything with her. I didn't want her to feel bad that she wasn't there."

Courtesy of Dianna Barindelli

Barindelli, who used her surrogacy fees to set up a college fund for her girls, is pregnant again, this time with the baby, due Feb. 1, of a Taiwanese couple. She may not be done: Her first Chinese couple emailed her recently, soon after their son's first birthday. They still have frozen embryos and hope that Barindelli, now 40, will carry their second child.

Commercial surrogacy is banned in most parts of the world, as well as in many U.S. states. Until recently, infertile couples, singles and gay would-be dads had a handful of options to turn to when it came to finding a surrogate, among them India, Thailand, Nepal and Mexico, where surrogacy services have cost a quarter of the $100,000 to $200,000 bill typical in the U.S. But in the past few years, those countries have started enforcing laws banning international surrogacy. Meanwhile, China - the world's most populous country, with a growing wealthy elite and where some doctors believe infertility is more common than in the U.S. - lifted its decades-long one-child policy. The result is a soaring Chinese demand for U.S. surrogacy services, one that is flourishing particularly in California, with its culturally friendly enclaves, excellent physicians and favorable state laws that regard IPs as a baby's legal parents even before birth, if proper court documents are filed. "We have more legal firepower in terms of the statue and case law than anywhere else," says Lesa Slaughter of The Fertility Law Firm in Woodland Hills, whose own twins were born via surrogate.

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"We've seen a surge," says Christene Anthony, who matches Chinese IPs with American gestational carriers for CSP, which has facilitated more than 2,300 births since 1980 and is responsible for helping Elton John, Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett and Mitt Romney's son Tagg become parents. "There's a lot of money in China that's being put into the second child," she adds, noting that it has become common for reproductive endocrinologists, fertility attorneys and surrogacy agencies to hire Mandarin-speaking staffers to cater to Chinese clients. Despite CSP's Southern California location, 51 percent of its clients now are foreigners, up from 15 percent a decade ago. Rival agency Growing Generations (clients have included Sarah Jessica Parker and 30 Rock director Todd Holland) also sees half of its clients coming from overseas, as does Gifted Journeys, a boutique agency in Pasadena. At San Diego's Expect Miracles Surrogacy, international clients account for 80 percent of IPs. And of foreigners participating in this permutation of California's birth tourism, the number of Chinese IPs is growing the fastest, making up the most common single foreign nationality for many agencies right now.

"If they can afford to, they'll demand a California surrogate because they've heard they are the best," says Sam Everingham, founder of nonprofit Families Through Surrogacy, of California's current foreign baby boom. "It's a supply-and-demand issue and has raised the prices of surrogacy in California." Adds Wendie Wilson-Miller, CEO at Gifted Journeys: "Every single [surrogacy] company in the U.S. is advertising for surrogates in California. It drives up the cost, the surrogates themselves become savvy and know they can request more, and the cost of living is higher here." A first-time surrogate in California, Wilson-Miller says, might get a $5,000 to $7,000 fee premium over an identical surrogate in another surrogacy-friendly state like Nevada, Arkansas, Texas or Oregon. Compensation for a surrogate working through an agency - which is just one slice of the total cost of surrogacy - now typically ranges from $25,000 to $65,000, depending on the location, experience, and qualities of the surrogate and the requirements of the intended parents. Surrogates may also be reimbursed specific expenses, like lost wages in the case of required bedrest, a budget for maternity clothes, housekeeping, and childcare - as well as premiums in the case of twins or a C-section birth (high-end agencies might pay $5,000 for each). Says Jon Anderson, head of Expect Miracles: "Ten years ago, you could have a surrogate in California with a base compensation of $25,000. Now, with all the Chinese people coming here, that base compensation is at $40,000. Europeans and Israelis have been priced out."

Jerene Underwood, 23, a mother of two in Covina and a part-time In-N-Out Burger cook, recently was matched with a Chinese couple seeking a second son through Growing Generations' VIP program, a concierge-like service that allows increased anonymity to famous IPs. "I would like to get rid of one of my car payments," says Underwood, who has seen close friends and family members suffer from infertility and was attracted to the idea of helping others build a family. Paulina Aquirre, 34, who works part time as the Spanish-language coordinator at her agency, Expect Miracles, is now 26 weeks pregnant with a Chinese IPs' twin girls. "The biggest misconception is that people think you're giving away your own child," says Aquirre, who plans to use the surrogacy fee to fund her daughter's quinceanera and to buy her son a car for his high school graduation. She compares her job to someone donating blood for a friend who needs a transfusion. "Even though you try to explain the science, people seem to think that since you're feeding the baby through the placenta that somehow it's genetically your baby," she says.

Local agencies report typical current wait times for surrogate matching is a matter of months, but "the wait time for Chinese couples is longer" than for the typical American, says Growing Generations owner Kim Bergman. Perhaps ironically, that's partly because Chinese couples tend to want less when it comes to contact. "Chinese expect less during and after the relationship," Bergman says, while many surrogates want someone eager to share the day-to-day developments of the pregnancy journey, and maintain contact afterward.

Many foreign IPs coming to the U.S. are gay would-be dads; Everingham estimates that half of all IPs using surrogates worldwide are gay. "More surrogates say they'll only work with gay couples," says Anderson, because they believe men's options are more limited; because they know the pregnancy will have a higher chance of success since gay men use eggs from young, healthy donors; or because it's emotionally draining to deal with an intended mom mourning her own inability to carry a child or a couple pummeled by years and tens of thousands of dollars spent on unsuccessful fertility treatments. Openly gay Chinese IPs are relatively rare, though. "Many of my gay couples have bought houses next to each other, so they are separated but together," says CSP head Karen Synesiou, who says that gay dads from China typically request that the surrogate mom's name remain on the birth certificate. "One man becomes the dad or they raise them together as friends." (The use of third-party egg donors is common in surrogacy and particularly for gay dads, obviously. Due to a relative dearth of Asian-American egg donors, some Chinese IPs will choose a Caucasian donor with dark hair and eyes instead, agency heads report.)

Most local agencies have a mix of Caucasian, Latina and African-American surrogates. "I can't think of a time when we've had an Asian surrogate," says Growing Generations' Bergman. Multiple agency heads say Chinese IPs tend to strongly prefer a Caucasian surrogate. "People really have this fantasy because of a lot of the marketing that was done in China," says Gifted Journey's Wilson-Miller. "They have this picture of blond surrogates who look like movie stars carrying the baby with their traditional families." Chinese IPs are also more insistent that the surrogate not be overweight, that she be married, that she eat organic food and be in her early 30s or younger: "Women in their country only have one baby; they have them younger. They don't delay marriage like we do," says Anderson. "To them, a pregnant woman is younger; that's all they've seen."

The concept of cross-race surrogacy can confound friends, family and associates of surrogates and IPs alike. In August, comedian GloZell Green, who is African-American, and her husband, also African-American, had a baby girl via a surrogate. "Our surrogate is a blue-eyed blonde," the YouTube star told potential IPs gathered in a Culver City hotel in early October. People in her life "kept asking if the baby was going to be white."

Surrogate selection aside, California has the added allure of numerous enclaves where families can be surrounded by Chinese speakers and businesses. "People from China can stay in Irvine, for example, and they have Chinese TV on their cable packages. Throughout California there are places they can go and shop and find stuff in Chinese. If they go to Kansas or Oklahoma? It's total culture shock," says Expect Miracles' Anderson. One L.A. movie producer who works frequently in China says she'd regularly see between four and 10 newborns in business class on flights from LAX to Beijing, some of them likely babies carried by U.S. surrogates for Chinese moms. "It was like a flying nursery - we saw it trip after trip," the producer says.

Of course, any baby born via surrogate in the U.S. has birthright citizenship. "The Chinese couples really like that because a lot of them want to come back and forth," says Molly O'Brien, a fertility lawyer with offices in Torrance who frequently travels to China to participate in information sessions for would-be parents, often sponsored by doctors offices or assisted-reproduction agencies. "Maybe they eventually want that child to be able to go to college here." Unlike the U.S., China forbids dual citizenship, and most American-born Chinese babies remain U.S. citizens. "Most Chinese couples just keep that American passport. It's only if you want to use the government services that you've got to be Chinese," says CSP's Synesiou.

In early 2015, Trisha Richmeier, a mom of two from Wichita, Kan., met IPs matched by Growing Generations for lunch with her husband (and a translator) at Ray's and Stark Bar at LACMA. A few months later, in May 2015, after Richmeier had prepped her body with weeks of hormone shots, they returned to L.A. for the transfer. Richmeier knew the Chinese couple had just one shot - with a single frozen embryo the couple had leftover from earlier fertility attempts. "I really wanted to work to make a woman a mother," says Richmeier, now 38. Being a surrogate was "almost like a bucket list item for me." The day after her transfer was Mother's Day. "I emailed the parents and said that by the next Mother's Day I was hoping she was going to be a mom."

When the IPs returned to China, Richmeier sent them a tummy pic every week. "They would email back, 'Take it easy, we want you to be careful,'" says Richmeier, who has an MBA and works at a medical school. Richmeier often had to explain to people in her hometown that she was just "the baby-sitter" - "It's not my child; it's not my husband's child; it won't look anything like me." The IPs wanted her to be on bedrest for the last three months, but Richmeier asked a Chinese-American friend and co-worker to reassure them and help them make arrangements to stay for four weeks after the birth in Wichita.

Following an unexpected bout of high blood pressure, Richmeier was induced in January. "The mom stayed in the room the entire time" for the full 12 hours of labor, says Richmeier. The mom was by her side, the dad right behind the curtain. The hospital encourages at least an hour of skin-to-skin contact after birth: "They put the baby skin to skin with the mom, and she held her and snuggled." Before the Chinese couple left, at Richmeier's suggestion, the two families had professional portraits taken together. When they got home, the new parents sent Richmeier pictures of a big banner with the baby's image and a celebration at the dad's workplace. In July, they forwarded her a video of the little girl babbling. They told Richmeier that they have thought about moving to the U.S. "It was always a given that we would have at least some contact," she says. "They were just a lovely couple."

A version of this story first appeared in the Nov. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Tom Ford's film Nocturnal Animals is finally hitting theaters on Nov. 18. Adapted by Ford from the 1993 novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright, it's a psychological thriller about a glamorous art gallery owner named Susan (Amy Adams) who is haunted by the dark and vengeful novel left for her to read by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal).

In September, Ford told The Hollywood Reporter that the film was meant to evoke "the world of absurd rich [people], the hollowness and emptiness I perceive in our culture." It's equal parts West Texas nightmare, full of edge-of-your seat tension and violence that stirs up emotions about bullying, self-blame and regret.

All of that is reflected in the characters' evocative wardrobes created by costume designer Arianne Phillips, who also collaborated with Ford on his 2009 film A Single Man. Here, Phillips chats about what it's like to work with a fashion maestro like Ford, and how they brought the two worlds to life in their latest film.

What's it like as a costume designer working with Tom Ford - intimidating?

Luckily it was my second time, so I could relax into it. I knew him socially before we worked together on A Single Man, and I remember when he told me he was going to direct a film, I was so excited to see what his process would be. Tom has built this identity for himself, and maybe because of that, and who he is, he has this gracious way about him, and this ability to make you feel like you're the only person in the room.

He told me when I interviewed him in New York that not one speck of clothing in the film is from his Tom Ford brand. Was that important to him?

He's not making a movie to sell clothes. He made that very clear to me. When we worked on A Single Man in 2009, he hadn't launched his women's collection yet. Now, seven years later, Nocturnal Animals is a contemporary film, and he also has a women's collection. Because of Amy Adams' character's social milieu, being a gallerist in Los Angeles, it would have made perfect sense for her to wear the brand in the film. And there were times when I would see something in his store, like a pair of sunglasses, and I wanted to use them in the film. But he said it would take the viewer out of the experience seeing that logo. We were able to build some of the costumes in his atelier, using some of his suppliers and cutters, which is very unique to this film.

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Most directors never come to costume fittings, but fittings are a big part of Tom's process. He knows who these characters are visually in his head. For the actors who were coming in later in the production process, we did fittings with body doubles so he could be there, and while we were shooting he could be focused on that.

Courtesy of Merrick Morton/Focus Features

In the film, there's a contrast between the high-gloss cosmopolitan world Susan inhabits and the West Texas wasteland where much of the violent action unfolds. What was your research process like for those two worlds?

Lucky for me, the best-case scenario is when a director adapts the script. And Tom adapted the screenplay for Nocturnal Animals. Most scripts are loose, technical documents with a lot about camera moves and stuff like that. But Tom wrote a script that had a lot of emotional depth, and there was a lot of description of the locations and characters, because it was second nature to him.

Because he grew up in Texas, and he operates in this upper echelon aesthetic world of Los Angeles, there were a lot of clues in the script already, and he had amassed a lot of visual research. I went away and did my own research, then we created mood boards and character books. We had a visual language we shared between Tom, the production designer Shane Valentino and the prop people.

Susan is a very tightly wound character, and very surface-oriented. How was that reflected in her clothing? She wore a lot of pencil skirts, tidy silk blouses and heels.

The costumes reflect that steely exterior and veneer, similar to George Falconer in A Single Man. It's a perfect outside world while they're crumbling on the inside. I find that fantastic. She lives in this overdesigned big house, so there's that sense of perfection, which was explained by Tom. And there was an opportunity in flashbacks to show her character arc, when she was younger, more hopeful and innocent. You meet her mother, and see how that dysfunctional relationship sets her off and created her identity.

There was something so high maintenance about all her clothing; the fabrics in particular are so glossy and fine. That green dress!

That's a testament to Tom. There's a delicateness and fragility to the fabrics Susan wears. And we wanted them to feel expensive.

It seems like you pulled from a ton of designers for the film costumes. I've never seen so many fashion brands thanked in a film's credits, from Dior to Alessandro Michele at Gucci, Tom's old employer. Was that Tom's idea?

In the beginning, we had about 200 gallery patrons in that opening scene. Tom wanted all those people to be very stylish, and designers came out of the woodwork to help. That part didn't end up making the final cut, but maybe it will make the director's cut.

Courtesy of Merrick Morton/Focus Features

I love the character Bobby (played by Michael Shannon), the grizzled West Texas detective, and imagine his costume was very specific. Can you talk about it?

He's an archetype of the rogue cop, and all those costumes were made. We made these Western yoke corduroy jackets, the two-tone Western yoke bomber jacket, and his trousers. You can still buy those silhouettes today, but they only come in polyester. He also wears a Stetson hat.

There are a lot of other archetypes of masculinity in the film, too - the sensitive writer, the bully, the cheater. How did you draw those distinctions through their clothing?

Aaron Taylor-Johnson was the hardest character to work on. He plays this killer, this horrible guy, and we looked at all kinds of references, like pictures of actual criminals. It was important to Tom to not make him a caricature.

We had this idea he would wear a pinky ring, a girls' pinky ring, maybe it was from a girl he raped, or something horrible like that. So he wears this pink diamond pinky ring, which is really off-putting and creepy. And I think it really informed Aaron's character. I'm into giving the actor clues to character, so the costume is a "beam me up" machine.

Mostly, through our collaboration we explored a lot of signifiers and traits that character might have, but in the end we stripped away.

Tom said to me once on A Single Man that his favorite part of the filmmaking process is editing. And great directing is really about that - reducing, reducing, reducing. You have to keep stripping away.
A new report on hotel trends reveals that travelers can find the best savings when booking hotel stays on Sundays.

That's one of several findings in a new report from Expedia, which highlights different hotel trends observed in the first half of 2016.

After mining the booking and search habits of Expedia users, analysts found that in general, booking a hotel on a Sunday yields the most savings.

That was found to be especially true for same-day bookings made on a Sunday, and stays that don't include a Saturday night.

Likewise, data showed that trips beginning on a Sunday were found to be less expensive than trips beginning on other days of the week.

Analysts also found that the cheapest months for hotel stays are November and January, while the most expensive months are predictably July, August and March, during spring break.

When it comes to lead times, the findings suggest that travelers book between three to four weeks ahead of their travel dates if they're looking to score savings.

The report also looked at how Brexit has impacted the travel industry and found growing interest in international travel to the UK notably from Singapore, the US, and Europe, most likely due to the favorable exchange rate.

And finally, travelers needing to squeeze as much savings as they can from their hotel stays are advised to book rooms in alternate, fringe neighborhoods.

More affordable neighborhoods in London, for instance, include Canary Wharf, Shoreditch and Tower Hill, while Queens and the Financial District can offer savings for New York-bound travelers.

For Paris, that neighborhood is La Defense.



Not only can travelers find the best savings when booking hotel stays on a Sunday, another Expedia report released earlier this year found that fliers are more likely to find the best flight deals when they buy tickets on the weekend.
Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and Regal Beloit Corporation RBC 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 Regal Beloit 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 RBC in this report.

In fact, the Most Accurate Estimate for the current quarter is currently at $1.27 per share for RBC, compared to a broader Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.26 per share. This suggests that analysts have very recently bumped up their estimates for RBC, giving the stock a Zacks Earnings ESP of 0.79% 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).

REGAL BELOIT Price and EPS Surprise

REGAL BELOIT Price and EPS Surprise | REGAL BELOIT Quote

Given that RBC 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 Regal Beloit, and that a beat might be in the cards for the upcoming report.

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EMERSON -- Residents of Emerson expressed shock Thursday as details emerged about a grisly murder of a man known and liked by many in the small northeast Nebraska village.

Kraig D. Kubik, 41, of rural Dakota County, was pronounced dead Thursday morning after portions of his body reportedly were found in the trunk of a car near an abandoned farmhouse in rural Dixon County Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities continue to search for the rest of Kubik's body but have found enough evidence so far to confirm Kubik has died, according to a news release Thursday from the Dakota County Attorney's Office.

Police have detained two people of interest in the case, including a man released from state prison earlier this year, but as of late Thursday prosecutors had not charged anyone.

George Berner, a cashier at Pony Express, Emerson's lone gas station, said the store had been buzzing with the news all day. Just about everybody in the village of about 800 knew Kubik, he said.

"He came in here quite often to get his stuff with his little boy," Berner said. "He was a pleasant guy. A lot of people liked him."

Vi Heckens, former owner of the Tri-County Bar on Main Street in Emerson, said she remembered Kubik when he was in high school, coming in to play pool with his friends. His murder compares to nothing she has experienced in the past 46 years as an Emerson resident, she said.

"This is just a little bitty town -- we can't believe something like this is going on," Heckens said. "We're just mortified."

Kubik was last seen around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities stopped around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at his home, 2605 Highway 35, which is about 1.5 miles northeast of Emerson, after reports of the possibility of his death.

Dakota County Sheriff Chris Kleinberg told local media Wednesday that Kubik's young son had told one of his teachers at school that his father may be hurt.

After finding blood at the residence, law enforcement used leads to find the remains of portions of Kubik's body Wednesday afternoon in the trunk of a car parked at 86975 579th Ave., the address of an abandoned farmhouse that lies along a gravel road just northeast of Dixon. The farmhouse is about 24 miles northwest of Kubik's house.

Crime scene tape continued to surround Kubik's residence Thursday, with county deputies and troopers keeping watch on the premises.

Based on a preliminary investigation, authorities believe an altercation occurred in which Kubik was forcibly taken from the residence and transported away from the area. The investigation, which involves state troopers and Dakota and Dixon County law enforcement, is ongoing.

Dakota County arrest records from Wednesday show two men named Andres Surber and Brayan Misael Galvan-Hernandez were placed on 48-hour hold around 2 p.m. Wednesday for being persons of interest in a homicide case. Galvan-Hernandez, 18, is a resident of Wakefield, and Surber, 25, did not have an address listed.

In May, Surber was released from a Nebraska state prison after serving 34 months of a five-year sentence for felony charges of second-degree assault and first-degree false imprisonment, according to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

Authorities did not immediately confirm these were the two suspects.

Nebraska law permits authorities to hold suspects for up to 48 hours before deciding whether to charge them with a crime. Thursday's news release said authorities believe charges will be filed by the end of that time period, or 2 p.m. Friday.
If Hillary Clinton wins the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, the U.S. will join the roughly 50 percent of countries worldwide that have had a woman as the top national leader.

At least 79 countries have had an elected or appointed head of state or head of government, according data from the World Economic Forum. But there's a reason why feminists aren't celebrating.

While many countries have elected a national female leader, it's hardly an event that happens often. As of Nov. 1, there are only 16 countries where women are head of state or head of government, according to the U.N. -- that's about 8 percent of the 193 countries recognized by the organization.

There's little historical data on the world's top women leaders, experts say, mainly because there have been so relatively few. But we do know the regions of the world they are most likely to call home -- at least in the past 60 or so years.

Europe has the highest numbers of heads of state and government, followed by Asia and the Americas, according to Julie Ballington, policy adviser on political participation with U.N. Women, a division of the organization that promotes gender equality.

Here's a quick look at why these regions have elevated women to the highest levels of political power:

Europe

It's not too surprising that Northern Europe, which often tops lists for gender equality, is the region responsible for the most female heads of government and state. Iceland, ranked No. 1 in the World Economic Forum's 2016 Global Gender Gap report, also happens to be the country with the longest-serving female leader. Vigdis Finnbogadottir was president of the island nation from 1980 to 1996. Other countries at the top of that list include Ireland (President Mary McAleese), Finland (President Tarja Kaarina Halonen) and the United Kingdom (Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), which is currently led by Prime Minister Theresa May.

Here is a list of countries with the longest-serving female leaders according to U.N. Women:

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Country Leader Duration of term Position Iceland Vigdis Finnbogadottir 1980-1996 President Dominica Mary Eugenia Charles 1980-1995 Prime Minister Ireland Mary McAleese 1997-2011 President Finland Tarja Kaarina Halonen 2000-2012 President U.K. Margaret Thatcher 1979-1990 Prime Minister India Indira Gandhi 1966 -1977 Prime Minister Sri Lanka Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga 1994-2005 President Germany Angela Merkel 2005-current Prime Minister Philippines Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo 2001-2010 President New Zealand Helen Clark 1999-2008 Prime Minister Argentina Cristina Elisabet Fernandez de Kirchner 2007-2015 President Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga 1999-2007 President Sri Lanka Sirimavo Bandaranaike 1970-1977 Prime Minister Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina Wajed 2009-current Prime Minister Nicaragua Violeta Barrios de Chamorro 1990-1997 President Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland 1990-1996 Prime Minister Mozambique Luisa Diogo 2004-2010 Prime Minister Israel Golda Meir 1969-1974 Prime Minister India Indira Gandhi 1980-1984 Prime Minister

In some European countries, female leadership has been so long-lasting that an entire generation has known little else.

"There are anecdotes from some countries, like in Iceland and in Nordic countries, where little boys ask their mothers, 'Can I be president one day?' because all they've known is a woman to be head of state," says Ballington with U.N. Women.

In part, the number of female leaders can be attributed to a cultural embrace of gender equality. But that's not the whole story, experts say. Much of the region also has a quota system, which helps get women into politics and gives them the networks they need to climb up the political latter.

"Most of the world, with the exception of Russia and the U.S. and a few others, has quotas," says Gwen K. Young, the director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Global Women's Leadership Initiative. "Quotas in a country like Iceland will affect who gets chosen. They will know the political players."

Asia

Female leadership has a strong legacy in Asia, and South Asia in particular. Sri Lanka's Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first woman prime minister in 1960. Indira Gandhi served as India's prime minister in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, and Sheikh Hasina Wajed has served as prime minister of Bangladesh for seven years.

The rise of these female politicians in South Asia is typically tied to dynastic party structures, says Sameer Lalwani, deputy director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. That means that prominent families play a large role in politics, and when husband or father dies or can no longer serve, a female family member takes up the mantel.

[READ: Shamans and Prada Fuel South Korean Anger.]

Dynastic structures play a large role in women's ascension to power elsewhere, as well.

"Familial ties through blood or marital connections to a former prime minister, president or opposition leader have been present for about 25 percent of the women who have served as head of state or government," Hubbard with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) said through email. "While men also benefit from family ties, women disproportionately rely on this path to power."

Latin America

There is no single pattern that has propelled the careers of Latin America's women leaders, says Thomas Carothers, an expert on democracy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But generally speaking, he says inclusive, competitive election systems have worked to the benefit of leaders like Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez.

Like in Europe, much of the region has a quota system, opening up doors for women and giving them access to political connections. Women also benefit from a strong party system, which allows them to succeed without having to amass the personal wealth often required of candidates in the U.S.

[READ: The Worst Countries for Gender Equality.]

"Leadership positions that require extensive campaigning, especially popularly elected offices, can be a particular obstacle for women, as funding can be a major barrier for women leaders," Hubbard with NDI writes. "Worldwide, women's lower economic status, relative poverty, limited business networks and discriminatory legal frameworks are substantial hurdles to be overcome."

Does electing a woman leader say something about a society's gender equality?

Electing a female leader is one thing, but having that leadership translate into improvements in the lives of women is another. While there is evidence suggesting that women's leadership can shape policy at a local level, the link between national female leadership and improvements in gender equality is tenuous, experts say.

"There's one thing about getting into power and there is another thing about people thinking you're actually equal," says Young with with the Woodrow Wilson Center.

South Asia may have a track record of female leadership, for example, but it also has a problem with using rape as punishment and child brides. Latin America struggles with high rates of violence against women, and has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

A women leader may have good intentions, in other words, but she needs the help of lawmakers to shape a society.

"Having a woman president is important to gender equality but it's not the only thing," Young says. "There's no guarantee that a president can make that much happen."

Even if a woman leader can't make much of a policy difference, her appointment itself can be symbolic, Ballington says. People shouldn't be too quick to dismiss the powerful effect that seeing a woman president can have on a young girl.

On Tuesday, American girls may know the feeling.

Devon Haynie is news editor, international for U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.
When voters in Maine and Nevada head to the polls on Tuesday, they will decide whether to expand background checks for gun buyers.

For Julianne Moore, it is vital that both ballot measures pass  which is why she was recently in Nevada to meet with voters and volunteers from Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America, an organization dedicated to promoting gun violence prevention.

Last month, Moore traveled to Nevada to encourage voters there to support Question 1, which, if passed, would require a background check on anyone in the state trying to purchase a gun.

If such initiatives are adopted in both Maine and Nevada, more than half of the U.S. population will live in states that require a background check on every gun sale.

The majority of Americans want universal background checks, Moore tells PEOPLE. Even gun owners  responsible gun owners. You can find ways to protect the Second Amendment and still ensure the safety of all people.

Echoing the statistics of other gun violence prevention advocates, she says that in the 18 states that require universal background checks for gun sales, shootings are down by half, domestic violence is down and suicides are down.

Polling shows Question 1 has double-digit public support, but it is also opposed by many of Nevadas sheriffs and its governor, who argued it would be ineffective. (The link between background checks and a criminals access to guns is tricky to analyze.)

Moore, 55, became a staunch advocate for gun safety following the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. She prevented her daughter from seeing any of the news coverage following the killings, but then she discovered she wanted to do more.

In trying to keep the news of the shooting away from my daughter, I realized I wasnt protecting her at all, Moore explains. I realized the only way I can protect my daughter and all children is by becoming involved in gun safety. People need to realize a gun is a machine, and it comes with a tremendous responsibility, and I thought, I am not a responsible person if I dont lend my voice to these efforts. 

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So the Hunger Games and Children of Men star joined forces with Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the U.S., to launch the Everytown Creative Council, which includes members of the creative community who support gun violence prevention.

Moore chairs the council, which also counts as members Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence and Kim Kardashian West.

Its about safety and preventing gun violence, Moore tells PEOPLE. Growing up, I didnt feel like there was a problem in the U.S. with guns. I knew plenty of people who had guns. Ronald Reagan signed the assault rifle ban, and suddenly the NRA became a huge lobbying force, and guns became an untouchable issue.

But instituting controls on who can purchase guns is just common sense, Moore says.

Just look at what we did with cars, she says. When automobiles were first introduced, people died in car crashes, so we made them safer. Thats what we need to do with guns. I dont want to get rid of guns, I just want to improve safety in this country. It took a culture change for improvements to car safety  people demanded it.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

When Moore went to Nevada to talk to voters about Question 1 and meet with Moms Demand Action volunteers, she says she was struck by who she met.

It was amazing, Moore tells PEOPLE. These are such wonderful people who are so, so deeply dedicated.  There are a lot of passionate people out in Nevada, and so many people and communities have been affected by gun violence. We are bringing all of these communities together to talk about this issue.

There Moore says she met a gun owner who supports gun safety but is worried his right to bear arms will be quashed.

He said, Often people talk about guns and crime,  but he said it was important to have guns to protect ourselves against danger, Moore recalls. Our major concern is taking guns out of the hands of people who may be a threat to themselves or others.

For Moore, Tuesdays ballot measures are about much more than protecting citizens from gun violence.

This is about us finding our voice as a society and coming together for change, Moore says. That is how youre going to affect change in the United States, and thats how were going to get the politicians to listen.




Whether it was raising a few million for a super PAC or taking to social media, super bundlers including Peter and Megan Chernin and Tom Rothman have been there for Hillary Clinton - support that typically might be rewarded with an ambassadorial posting. But "if and when [Clinton] wins, I do think they will be extremely careful," says Adam J. Schiff, senior vp of Strategies 360 (Schiff previously worked with L.A. operative and fundraiser Noah Mamet, who once served as an adviser to the Wasserman Family Foundation and now is ambassador to Argentina).

"Sure, donors will be considered, but the vetting process will be more intensive than ever." Says one political strategist at a major studio: "Some [President Obama appointees] weren't the most well versed on issues they were expected to be, and that was embarrassing for the administration. The Clinton machine will work hard to avoid that experience, especially as a former secretary of state, so a lot of the top posts will be off the table for the new players."

Read more: Hollywood's High-Dollar "Hillblazers": 10 Biggest Donors to Clinton's Campaign

With a Republican-controlled Senate, confirmation for Obama appointees was grueling: Mamet's took almost 18 months. And that was before the specter of WikiLeaks. Nicole Avant, the wife of Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, was given the Bahamas posting by Obama in 2009; a State Department inspector general's report that criticized her tenure recently made its way into a WikiLeaks dump.

And for super bundlers at studios, networks or agencies, who mostly aren't in a position to leave their perches - even for the industry-coveted Cuba posting - a spot on, say, the Kennedy Center board might be a better fit. Many insiders won't speculate about any such postings. Says fundraising veteran Andy Spahn, a key player in the D.C.-L.A. axis, "We are focused on Nov. 8 and only Nov. 8."

This story first appeared in the Nov. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Investigators  including cadaver dogs and the medical examiner  have been combing the 97-acre property in Woodruff, South Carolina, where a missing woman was found chained alive in a metal shipping container on Thursday, PEOPLE confirms.

According to local reports, one unidentified body has been discovered; and authorities fear the suspect in the womans disappearance may be a serial killer, according to USA Today, with the possibility of four other bodies nearby.

The medical examiner arrived at the property after cadaver dogs signaled that there were possible human remains on the property where 30-year-old Kala Brown was found this week, months after she vanished.

She and boyfriend Charlie Carver, 32, disappeared on Aug. 31. They were last seen leaving a friends home in Anderson, South Carolina, according to the Find Kala and Charlie Facebook page. Mysterious Facebook posts later appeared on Carvers account.

While Kala has been treated at a nearby hospital, Carver is still missing, and his vehicle was found on the property. Brown reportedly told investigators she saw Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, her accused captor, allegedly shoot Carver in the head.

Browns cell phone pinged on the Woodruff property after she went missing. It went dead two days later, police say.

Boyfriends Family Speaks

In a statement to PEOPLE, Carvers family said,  would like to begin by saying how wonderful it is Kala has been found and that she is receiving care and is back with family and friends. The outpouring of concern and affection from the community has been overwhelming, and we are very thankful.

At this time we know that no more than what has been reported within the media or statements made by law enforcement. We ask that you continue to pray for Kalas healing and for Davids safe return as well.

In the meantime, we ask for some time to ourselves as we process events as they unfold. Thank you for your understanding and expect updates as they become available.

Story continues

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Kidnapping Suspect Charged

At a Thursday news conference, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said Kohlhepp, 45, has been charged with one count of kidnapping in connection with the case. He is a registered sex offender and reportedly the owner of the property on which the container was found.

Kohlhepp appeared in court Friday, according to reports. It was not immediately clear if he has entered a plea or retained an attorney.

Just weeks before she disappeared, Brown started working for Kohlhepp, cleaning houses for him.

A spokesperson for the sheriffs office tells PEOPLE that investigators have obtained search warrants for the property, as well as several social media accounts that they believe are affiliated with Kohlhepp.

Wright also said four bodies might be buried near the shipping container where Brown was found. If the cadaver dogs are unsuccessful in finding the remains, authorities could resort to using ground penetrating radar.

More than two dozen investigators and examiners are on the scene, looking for any clues of Carvers whereabouts or body.

Theres still a long way to go, Sheriff Wright told reporters. We are looking for answers.




A 60-year-old woman has Rapunzel-like hair  but still doesnt qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records. (Photo: Getty)

You know how your stylist is hounding you about getting a trim every six weeks? Well dont feel bad if you cant keep up: Ni Linmei of Shanxi, China hasnt had a haircut in 18 years. As a result, the 60-year-olds strands measure a staggering 11 feet, according to the Daily Mail. She claims that in 2016 alone, her hair has grown 19 inches.

All we want to know it, what kinds of supplements is this woman taking? Linmeis long, black strands appear shiny and lush  and even her ends look healthy. What gives?

As seen on pictures on the publications website, Linmei had to stand on her kitchen countertop to even have her hair measured. Elevating herself was the only way she could fully extend her strands to the floor in a vertical cascade. Linmei held a measuring tape to the top of her scalp while an assistant secured the bottom of the tape where the womans locks ended.

As you can imagine, this much hair requires some heavy-duty maintenance. According to the Daily Mail, Linmei spends two hours a day washing and drying her hair (we recommend dry shampoo). To keep it out of her face, she apparently wraps it up in a bun on top of her head. Its unclear how many hair ties and bobby pins it takes to keep that hairdo in place, but were guessing she has a fully stocked pantry.

Heres Why Its Okay to Rock Your Roots

It also comes as no surprise that even-foot-long hair can also get pretty annoying at times. Linmei almost gave up and trimmed her locks in 2013, says the the Daily Mail. After all, her hair almost got caught in elevator doors once! But she pressed on in the name  well, were not sure.

Despite her Rapunzel-like mane, Linmei isnt even close to breaking the Guinness World Record for longest hair on a female. That incredible distinction goes to a woman named Xie Qiuping, also of China (we need to know whats in the water in China), whose strands measured more than 18.5 feet long in 2004  half the height of a giraffe, if youre trying to gauge this. As the Guinness Book of World Records reports, Qiuping had stopped getting haircuts in 1973 at age 13.

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Others who hold claims to fame in the extremely long-hair fame include Asha Mandela, known as the Rasta Rapunzel for having 55-foot dreadlocks  the worlds longest, as you might have guessed. Then theres a family in Morris, Illinois  Terelynn Russel and her three daughters  who grow their brunette manes for competitive reasons. Mom had led the pack with her six-foot strangds by regularly nabbing first place in Longest Pony Tail Competitions.

This Is What Lupita Nyongo Would Look Like With Straight Hair

And dont forget Natasha Moraes De Andrade, a Rio de Janeiro girl who grew out her hair for 12 years, to an impressive 5-feet-2-inches, then cut it all off and sold it to pay for a home for her family. De Andrade was happy to lop of the locks, according to the Daily Mail, as it took four hours every week to wash her hair and an hour and a half to brush every day, and made her life a misery. When her hair was finally chopped, she cried  tears of joy, we assume.

As for Linmei, she may not have the title or the bragging rights to the longest hair the world yet  but least she has fame. In a video filmed in the Taiyuan, Shanxi province, she creates quite a stir in public as people can be seen gathering around to take pictures of the womans flowing mane.

She also has a beaming smile. If nothing else, Linmeis long locks seem to be a source of pride and happiness. And if she ever decides to cut it all off, she can increase her joy by donating it to cancer patients. So even if she never wins her Guinness title, she really cant lose.

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
After months of paperwork and navigating bureaucratic red tape, University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers have planted their first crop of legal hemp.

About 150 plants with the distinctive frond leaf, previously relegated to roadside ditches, are nestled in warm and slightly humid greenhouses on UNL's East Campus.

Industrial hemp has almost none of the psychoactive component, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), found in its cousin marijuana, but the family relationship has gotten both plants lumped together as Schedule I drugs along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

You can get higher smoking a corn plant than you can on this stuff, said Tom Clemente, a professor of biotechnology and one of two UNL researchers growing the plants.

The Schedule I designation has long put the kibosh on hemp as an industrial crop in the United States. But in 2014, Congress carved out an exemption for research purposes. Since then, at least 30 states have adopted legislation related to industrial hemp, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

While states like Colorado and Kentucky led the way in hemp cultivation, Nebraskas path has been slow and halting. A bill that would have let Nebraska farmers apply to grow hemp got dusted by state legislators over fears it could be used as a cover for or gateway to marijuana. Senators eventually passed an amended bill restricting hemp research to colleges.

In February, UNL filed an application with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for permission to import seeds. Researchers had to jump through numerous hoops, including reinforcing the floor below where the seeds would be kept with metal because the DEA feared someone could saw through the wood to get to them.

On June 23, the DEA gave UNL the go-ahead to order seeds from Italy and Canada.

Clementes focus is on genetically engineering hemp to produce oils in its stalks and leaves for use as industrial lubricants and plastics. Once the oil has been extracted, the remaining pulp and fibers can be used in making materials that include paper and cardboard.

You want to maximize the number of products youre making per acre," Clemente said. "When youre just selling biomass, its tough to make a buck off that.

Hemp has plenty of potential. Its resilient and doesnt need much fertilizer. It also doesn't need much water. While other plants were withering during the 2012 drought, hemp was blooming across the state.

The plant, which already is grown and imported to the United States from countries including Canada and China, is used in more than 25,000 products, including seizure medicine, lotions and construction materials. Retail value of hemp products in the United States in 2015 amounted to at least $573 million dollars, according to estimates by the Hemp Industry Association and Hemp Business Journal.

And now, inside an East Campus greenhouse, young plants sporting five-fingered leaves sway in an artificial wind created by fans.

The wind is essential, said Dweikat, who had been pushing to get a hemp breeding program at UNL since 2012. Without it, hemp would slump over under its own weight.

He has varieties from Italy and Canada next to plants grown from seeds he gathered himself from ditches and fields in Lincoln and Seward counties, which he did with the blessing of DEA officials.

UNL Assistant Dean of Agricultural Research Hector Santiago said the university is working on a memorandum of understanding with the DEA to formalize plans to use feral hemp from Nebraska in breeding programs.

DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno and Nebraska Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Christin Kamm said the researchers got verbal permission to do research with wild hemp as long as the plants have a low THC content.

Any that contain more than .3 percent will be destroyed. Those that fall below the limit will be used to crossbreed crops that are well adapted to Nebraska's climate and will produce the fibers and oils industry wants.

Because federal approval came too late for an outdoor crop this year, Dweikat is focusing on the best way to grow hemp in greenhouse conditions.

Were just learning the ropes, he said.

Hes already found that plants from the Canadian seed need more than 14 hours of light a day or they get spindly and produce prematurely flowering sprouts while wild plants from Nebraska and Italian seeds grow fine with 14 hours.

Dweikat plans to sow two acres of hemp this spring at a UNL research facility near Mead, then move on to planting in different parts of the state to test growing conditions.

While hemp proponents hope it could someday become a Nebraska cash crop, there is still a great deal of work to be done in terms of research -- and in convincing businesses and farmers to invest.

You can develop a feed stock, but you need the industry to develop around it, Clemente said. If there is no industry for transportation or to take the stuff, its going to sit like a log. So there is a lot of work to do outside the sheer biology. There is a lot on the business side.

UNL hopes to partner with companies and business investors in the blooming hemp industry, like Omaha-startup Bastcore, which turns hemp stalks into fiber products. He also is working on procuring federal funding recently made available for hemp research.
By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Woodfibre LNG will start building British Columbia's first liquefied natural gas processing and export terminal in 2017, the company said on Friday, providing Canada with a long-awaited opportunity to gain a toehold in the global market. The facility near Squamish, just north of the city of Vancouver, will export 2.1 million tonnes a year once it is operational in 2020, the company said in a statement. However, Woodfibre is relatively small scale compared to other proposed LNG projects in the province and will have little impact on weak Canadian natural gas prices, said Samir Kayande, a director at research group RS Energy. More than a dozen LNG projects have been proposed for British Columbia, but the global slump in energy prices has undermined their feasibility and delayed investment. In September Canada approved a proposed C$36 billion, 12 million tonne a year LNG project by Petroliam Nasional Berhad. But Petronas, as the Malaysian state-owned oil company is known, has yet to give the final go-ahead and Canadian aboriginal and environmental groups have filed lawsuits to stop it. [nL1N1CX1QY] Woodfibre said its Singaporean parent authorized funds for the facility after British Columbia offered a competitive electricity rate for LNG projects. [nL1N1B01M9] Byng Giraud, country manager for Woodfibre, said in a statement the cheaper rates were what allowed the "go forward" decision to happen. The plant will be powered using electricity rather than natural gas. The British Columbia government, which is keen to develop an LNG industry, welcomed the green light for the C$1.6 billion project and said it would be one of the largest private sector investments in the southern part of the province. Woodfibre estimated the project would bring about 650 construction jobs per year to Squamish over a two-year period, 100 full-time jobs to the terminal, and a dozen or so administration-related jobs to the area. Gas for the facility will come from northeastern British Columbia via Spectra Energy and Fortis Inc-owned pipelines. "We have not finalised the agreements but that's not a risk to our project because there's so much gas available on the market," said Woodfibre spokeswoman Jennifer Siddon. Environmental group the Pembina Institute warned the project would make it harder for British Columbia to meet its 2050 carbon emissions targets. Woodfibre, a privately held company based in Vancouver, is a subsidiary of Pacific Oil & Gas Ltd, which is part of the Singapore-based RGE Group of companies. (Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Richard Chang and James Dalgleish)
Paris (AFP) - Moroccans must rebel against the "mediaeval laws" which weigh them down, the winner of France's top literary prize declared Friday as she jumped to the defence of two teenage girls who were arrested after being caught kissing.

Leila Slimani, who became the first Moroccan woman to win the prestigious Prix Goncourt Thursday for her novel "Chanson Douce" ("Sweet Song"), lambasted her homeland's human rights record, and in particular the way women are treated.

A joint statement from about 20 human rights groups said the girls, aged 16 and 17, were badly beaten by their families after being filmed by a neighbour with a mobile phone kissing on the roof of a house in Marrakesh last week.

The statement said the pair, identified only by their first names, Sanaa and Hajar, were denied food for three days by the police who then forced one of them to sign a statement before releasing them Thursday.

"The humiliation of citizens, the way they are kept down, encourages a political system based on disdain, humiliation and the abuse of power," Slimani told France Inter radio.

"I think it is time people took this in hand and rebelled," said the 35-year-old, whose winning novel is based on a real-life case of a nanny in the United States accused of killing two children she was looking after.

"The laws in Morocco are completely mediaeval, completely disconnected from reality... they ban sex outside marriage, homosexuality and adultery," Slimani added.

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights has appointed a lawyer to defend the girls who if convicted could be imprisoned for between six months and three years.

"We shouldn't be hypocrites. Moroccans have sex lives outside marriage, and it good that that there are homosexuals," the author said.

Slimani, who raised eyebrows at home with her debut novel last year about a female nymphomaniac, said the oppression that women suffered had nothing to do with religion.

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"Lots of imams and enlightened theologians will explain that to you... It is a question of human rights, sexual rights, the right to dignity and in particular the dignity of women's bodies."

Slimani said a woman should not just be regarded as "a mother, nor a sister, nor a wife, but as a woman, an individual with their own rights."

Torn between religious conservatism and opening up to the West, the overwhelming Muslim North African country has seen several controversies over moral issues in recent years.
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's powerful ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key ally of the country's dominant Houthi movement, on Friday welcomed a U.N. peace proposal to end the country's 19-month war as a "good basis for negotiations". Saleh made his comments as U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheickh Ahmed held meetings in the capital Sanaa with Houthi rebels and negotiators representing forces loyal to him. A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting since March 2015 against Houthi rebels and Saleh loyalists, who hold much of the north of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, to try to restore the internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. Saleh issued his comments on his official Twitter account. Last week, Hadi rejected the U.N. plan, which would sideline him and set up a government of less divisive figures. Still, a senior diplomat at the United Nations told Reuters that Saudi Arabia appeared broadly to accept the initiative and had encouraged Hadi to deal with it. The ongoing conflict in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 people and unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari; Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
New York (AFP) - New York's state bank regulator fined the giant Agricultural Bank of China $215 million on Friday for violating anti-money laundering laws and obscuring suspicious transactions involving Russia, China, Afghanistan and other countries.

Citing a deliberate failure to scrutinize dubious money transfers, the Department of Financial Services said the bank, the third-largest in the world, created "a substantial risk" that terrorist groups, sanctions-barred countries and criminals could have passed funds through the bank.

The bank had also "silenced" a whistleblower who attempted to carry out internal investigations, according to the DFS.

The move by the powerful New York regulator followed a September action by the Federal Reserve, which ordered AgBank to improve internal controls against money laundering.

Natasha Taft, a former staffer, settled a lawsuit against the bank that month after claiming she had been forced out of her job after reporting potential violations to the Fed.

DFS also said Friday that bank staff had taken deliberate steps to hide US dollar transactions passing through its New York branch that could have been tied to violations of trade sanctions and anti-money laundering laws.

Bank examiners found the bank had used "evasive" transaction methods, including masking the true identity of parties to transactions using SWIFT, the global network which enables financial transfers.

According to the DFS, examiners identified unusually large round-dollar transactions between Chinese companies and counterparties in Russia and Yemen, dollar payments between a customer of Turkish Bank and a client at Afghan Bank whom the US Treasury had linked to financial network used to fund drug trafficking.

"Certain invoices involving China and Russia appeared to be counterfeit or falsified, while other documents suggested US-dollar trades with Iranian counterparties -- including documentation indicating dollar transactions were made for a sanctioned counterparty," the DFS said.

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The bank also deliberately ignored warnings from the agency to improve its internal compliance measures as the volume of international transactions increased beginning in 2013, the DFS said.

"DFS will take swift and appropriate action when our investigation finds egregious conduct and intentional circumvention of a regulated bank's compliance program," Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo said in a statement.

In addition to paying the penalty, the bank agreed to take immediate steps to improve its legal compliance, including hiring an outside monitor.
(Reuters) - Taco Bell Corp, a unit of Yum Brands Inc <YUM.N>, said it would increase the number of restaurants in the United States to 9,000 and create 100,000 jobs by the end of 2022, as part of its push to reach $15 billion in sales.

Taco Bell, which operates about 7,000 restaurants in the United States, generated revenue of about $2 billion in 2015.

The Mexican food chain employs 40,000 people in company-owned stores in the United States.

Taco Bell's U.S. expansion follows its plans to grow its international store base to 1,000 restaurants by 2022.

The company, which has 300 restaurants in international markets, opened its first outlet in Brazil in September.

The planned hiring and expansion efforts come on the heels of Yum Brands' spinoff of its China operations, the company's top profit generator, into a separate unit called Yum China Inc <YUMC.N> earlier this week.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  November 04, 2016  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Ford Motor Co. ( F -Free Report ), Honda Motor Co., Ltd. ( HMC -Free Report ), Tesla Motors, Inc. ( TSLA -Free Report ) and General Motors Company ( GM -Free Report ).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Thursdays Analyst Blog:

Auto Stock Roundup: U.S. Sales Fall, Ford and Honda Top Earnings

U.S. auto sales declined for the third consecutive month in October. Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. ( F -Free Report ) and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. ( HMC -Free Report ) posted earnings beat for the quarter ended Sep 30. Tesla Motors, Inc. ( TSLA -Free Report ) unveiled a new solar roof product while General Motors Company ( GM -Free Report ) announced a partnership with Uber.

(Read the previous roundup here: Auto Stock Roundup for Oct 27, 2016 )

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. U.S. light-vehicle sales dropped 5.9% year over year to 1.37 million units in Oct 2016, as per Autodata. This is the fifth of the 10 reported months this year in which sales declined. Moreover, sales on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) basis fell to 17.98 million units in the month from 18.2 million units in Oct 2015. Nevertheless, SAAR for the month was higher than 17.74 million units in Sep 2016.

2. Ford posted adjusted earnings per share of 26 cents in the third quarter of 2016 that was 26 cents lower than the figure recorded in third-quarter 2015 (excluding special items). However, earnings per share comfortably surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 21 cents. Ford Automotive logged revenues of $33.3 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $32.02 billion.

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The company reaffirmed its 2016 pre-tax profit guidance of around $10.2 billion. Ford reaffirmed its 2016 automotive revenue to be equal to or higher than the 2015 levels. The company also anticipates recording strong Automotive segment operating cash flow, albeit below the 2015 levels. However, adjusted earnings per share and automotive operating margin are now expected to be lower than 2015 (read more: Ford's Q3 Earnings Surpass Expectations, Decline Y/Y ).

Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

3. Honda reported consolidated income of 177 billion ($1.75 billion) or 98.26 per share (97 cents per ADR) in the second quarter (ended Sep 30, 2016) of fiscal 2017, up 38.6% from the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 59 cents.

Consolidated net sales and other operating revenues decreased 9.9% year over year to 3.26 trillion ($32.27 billion). The figure also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $33.88 billion.

For fiscal 2017, Honda expects revenues to decline 8.2% to 13.4 trillion ($132.52 billion), lower than the previous guidance of 13.75 trillion ($130.95 billion). Net income is projected to improve 20.5% to 415 billion ($4.1 billion) or 230.26 ($2.28) per share, up from the previous expectation of 390 billion ($3.71 billion) or 216.39 ($2.06) per share (read more: Honda Beats on Q2 Earnings, Misses Revenues ).

Currently, Honda has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

4. Tesla showcased new solar roof shingles for homes at an event in Los Angeles. These solar shingles are made of a kind of textured glass and embedded with devices that convert sunlight into electricity. They will be more durable than conventional roofing options, and are expected to last, on average, two to three times longer.

The company plans to make four different roof designs: Tuscan Glass tile, Smooth Glass tile, Textured Glass tile, and Slate Glass tile. The solar tiles are designed to collect sunlight and store energy inside Powerwall 2 (read more: Tesla's New Solar Roof Shingles Remind Us of Its Future in Energy ).

Tesla currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

5. General Motors personal mobility brand Maven is collaborating with ridesharing service Uber to allow people to lease qualified vehicles at discounted rates and no mileage limits. Chevrolet Cruze, Malibu and Trax vehicles are being offered in the pilot program.

General Motors carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

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Washington (AFP) - The Zebrafish, which can completely regenerate its severed spinal cord, might hold promise for research into tissue repair in humans, researchers said Thursday.

Scientists are looking at one protein in particular that is key to this accomplishment in the fish, the researchers said.

"This is one of nature's most remarkable feats of regeneration," said the study's senior investigator Kenneth Poss, a professor of cell biology at Duke University.

"Given the limited number of successful therapies available today for repairing lost tissues, we need to look to animals like zebrafish for new clues about how to stimulate regeneration," said Poss, whose study was published in the journal Science.

When the severed spinal cord of the zebrafish undergoes regeneration, a bridge forms.

Nerve cells follow and within eight weeks new nerve tissue has plugged the gap, allowing the fish to reverse their paralysis completely, the Poss team reported.

To figure out what is going on, scientists searched for all of the genes whose activity abruptly changed after spinal cord injury.

Seven of these were found to code for proteins secreted from cells.

One of these proteins, called CTGF -- connective tissue growth factor -- was intriguing because its levels rose in supporting cells that formed the bridge in the first two weeks following injury.

When the protein was deleted genetically, those fish failed to regenerate.

People and zebrafish share many genes, and human CTGF protein is nearly 90 percent similar in its amino acid components to that of zebra fish.

Inserting human CTGF into the injury site in fish helped the regeneration process.

"The fish go from paralyzed to swimming in the tank. The effect of the protein is striking," said Mayssa Mokalled, a postdoctoral fellow in Poss's group.

But CTGF alone is probably not enough for people to regenerate their spinal cords, the team said. The process is more complex in mammals, in part because scar tissue forms around an injury.

Future studies will look at mice to determine which of their cells express CTGF, the team said. Researchers also plan to look at other proteins involved in the regeneration process in zebrafish.
With just days to go before the election, Lincoln Bishop James D. Conley is demanding a retraction from Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, saying the group deliberately took his comments out of context to misrepresent his stance on the death penalty.

Nebraskans will vote Tuesday on whether to retain the Legislature's elimination of the death penalty or repeal the 2015 bill that abolished it.

Conley's dispute with the group that petitioned the issue onto the ballot stems from a news release and a post on its Facebook page that reads: "Nebraskans of faith CAN and DO support the death penalty."

Below the post is a photo of Conley and an audio link to the final two minutes of the bishop's 12-minute interview with KLIN radio's "Drive Time with Coby Mach" during which Conley said people who favor the death penalty can still be a Catholic in good standing and not go along with the bishops on this issue.

All three Nebraska Catholic bishops oppose reinstating the death penalty.

JD Flynn, spokesman for the Diocese of Lincoln, said Nebraskans for the Death Penalty unfairly cherry-picked portions of Bishop Conleys comments, from one radio interview, to misrepresent the central message of our bishops.

In the interview that aired Oct. 26, Conley said the Catholic church allows for the death penalty in principle to protect the common good and lives of the community, but that under the teachings of Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, the circumstances where that would be an option are practically nonexistent.

Through the penal system we can protect the common good without resorting to the death penalty, Conley said in the interview. He said the church allows capital punishment only when it is absolutely necessary for public safety.

Violence to deal with violence is not the answer, he said.

Unlike issues of abortion and physician-assisted suicide, which Conley said are moral evils and never accepted under any circumstances, the church is advising people to follow their consciences on the death penalty.

... if somebody thinks it through and in good conscience cannot bring themselves to retain the law -- if they have thought it through and prayed about it -- they can still be a Catholic in good standing and not go along with the bishops on this issue, he said in the final moments of the interview.

Conley's position will be further clarified in a letter to be read during all worship services this weekend.

I encourage you to continue to study, pray and discern how your vote can best serve our Lord, our nation, our families, and our parishes," the letter says, in part.

We should be sure to support candidates who will protect the rights and dignity of the human person, and who will help to build a culture of life. We should be thoughtful about protecting religious liberty, about the needs of the poor and about the stability and security of our nation. Although Catholics disagree about some candidates and some issues, we should remember that the right to life is fundamental, and that no Catholic can promote, defend or enable legal protection for the grave evil of abortion, which is the direct killing of unborn children.

... The Church teaches that we should work to protect public safety without resorting to execution. I do not believe the death penalty is needed in Nebraska, and I believe that abolishing the death penalty speaks to our commitment to the dignity of every human life. I encourage Catholics to study, think and pray carefully about this issue.


Credit: J. Countess/WireImage

On Wednesday night, stars and philanthropists gathered at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 15th annual An Enduring Vision Benefit Gala in N.Y.C.'s Cipriani Wall Street to support a good cause, raise awareness for the disease, and of course, donate funds to the worthy foundation.

The event, sponsored by Clase Azul Tequila and Chopin Vodka, raised more than $3.15 million for the foundation. It was hosted by Andy Cohen and saw attendees like Padma Lakshmi, Alan Cumming, David Burtka, and Matthew Morrison.

Hosting the Elton John AIDS Foundation Gala tonight. I have a hot date (Padma) AND Sir Elton has bedazzled Gucci shoulders - what could be better? #NYC A photo posted by Andy Cohen (@bravoandy) on Nov 2, 2016 at 5:04pm PDT

So this was clearly BEFORE I split my dress tonight! AND let's hear it for some back cleavage, am I right ladies? Luckily you can't see it here!!!#toomanysamosas A photo posted by Padma Lakshmi (@padmalakshmi) on Nov 2, 2016 at 8:54pm PDT

InStyle caught up with Sir Elton John himself, clad in a custom Gucci suit and Bulgari jewelry, who told us about how he started the foundation 25 years ago. "I lost so many friends in the early days. So when I got sober I thought, I've got to give something back," he said. "We formed the foundation the year after I got sober ... We started off at a little kitchen table, two people in Atlanta and one person in Los Angeles. We've kept it small, lean, and mean so that the money gets to the people who need it."



Credit: Victor Hugo/Patrick McMullan

"Always try and give something back," he said of the best way to get involved in any charity organization. "No matter whether it's money, the best thing you can give is your time."

Jeffrey Tambor of Transparent also made an appearance at the event after asking John and his husband David Furnish how he could get involved in the foundation a year ago. "When I first started out in New York, the AIDS epidemic, was unknown ... a lot of my friends in the theater, a lot of my actor friends were dying," he said of why the cause means so much to him. "My take on this whole is that people think, 'Oh I thought AIDS was cured,' it's not cured," he added. "They're still doing research, and ... it takes money" to get the research to where it needs to be.

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VIDEO: Shop a Designer Tote Collection Benefitting Let Girls Learn

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We also spoke with Daniel Paltridge, North American president of Bulgari, who donated a piece of fine jewelry to the auction that night. "This is the first year of our partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, it was something that was very dear to our heart." The brand spoke with John last year about a partnership, and the team made it happen at this year's gala. "We're a 135-year-old company, but being in the luxury world, it's all about finding great philanthropic efforts to give back," he said. "We have a partnership with Save the Children and now we have the AIDS Foundation, and both of those things dovetail quite well together."

RELATED: Prince Harry Joins Sir Elton John to Raise AIDS Awareness at International Conference

Later that night, the gala honored Frank Giustra, Steve Tisch, and UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon for their incredible philanthropic efforts to raise awareness and raise money for the cause. The event was also sponsored by Clase Azul Tequila and Chopin Vodka.
*Hacking voting machines isnt necessarily what you should be worried about. Its fake headlines like this one that could upend Election Day.

As the 2016 U.S. presidential election draws mercifully to a close, hacking and computer security has injected itself into nearly every aspect of the campaign. And amid allegations of widespread, politically motivated Russian hacking, American officials and voters are carefully watching Tuesdays balloting for any wrenches hackers might try to throw into the electoral machine.

False claims of election hacking and voter fraud and suppression could cause widespread chaos and cast into question the validity of the election outcome. And such a misinformation campaign, experts say, is far easier to pull off than hacking election machines on a mass scale and picking a winner.

Even so, critical vulnerabilities abound in the election system  from paperless voting machines to voter registration databases to the internet itself.

In a suspicious political climate, and amid claims by Republican nominee Donald Trump that the election is rigged against him, whats at risk Tuesday is as much the perception of the elections outcome as the actual votes tabulated.

What happens if Twitter, Facebook, and everything goes down? What happens if media picks up incorrect reports of who has won? said Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan. Thats just as scary as machines not tabulating correctly. The result is the same: The public becomes very uneasy very quickly.

Theyre not idle concerns. Hackers have targeted voter databases in Illinois and Arizona, and state officials have beseeched the federal government for help to secure voting systems. As of Thursday, 48 states have sought help from the Department of Homeland Security, which is offering a handful of services to protect election-related computer systems.

Looming over that scramble is Moscow. The U.S. intelligence community concluded last month that the Russian government had directed a cyber attack on Democratic Party, resulting in the theft of a large number of emails.

Publishing of hacked emails by WikiLeaks, DCLeaks.com, and Guccifer 2.0 are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts, according to an Oct. 7 statement by DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Moscow also uses media outfits to spread disinformation, especially in Europe, contributing to political upheaval and polarization, security experts say.

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On Friday, the online persona Guccifer 2.0, who cybersecurity researchers say is a Russian front, accused the Democrats of rigging the election  an example of the kind of misinformation operation that could be conducted as voters head to the polls. I also call on other hackers to join me, monitor the elections from inside and inform the U.S. society about the facts of electoral fraud.

Plenty of hacks or other cyber disruptions are possible on Nov. 8, but a concerted attack to directly tilt the results of the election is unlikely.

Because states and counties run their own elections and use different equipment to do so, federal officials said it would be extremely difficult for hackers to swing the election. FBI Director James Comey has called the American voting system clunky and dispersed and, as such, is largely protected against widespread attacks.

But individual states  including some swing states where the vote can determine an election, such as Florida in 2000  could be at risk. Some precincts in Pennsylvania, for example, use paperless voting machines, and could place that key state in this years election in the crosshairs. In Georgia, where Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has a small but disappearing chance of an upset win, touch screens record votes but dont leave a paper receipt. That makes them much tougher to audit, election experts say.

A paper trail allows election authorities to check results in the event of malfeasance or malfunction, said Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, a nongovernmental organization that has exhaustively catalogued voting equipment around the country. She has called for auditable systems being robustly audited  a mantra as clunky as the nations voting system itself.

Candice Brose, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of State, said officials there do have limited auditing ability  namely, a receipt showing the total number of votes cast on an individual machine. Brose said the state has invested in testing and maintenance of voting machines, and has hired a private contractor to protect its networks. Brose would not identify the contractor.

The potential of attacks wiping large numbers of voters from the registration rolls is perhaps an even greater concern. Hackers have already targeted voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona; Reagan, the Arizona secretary of state, said her computer systems blocked 11,000 attacks in September alone.

Smith said voters who show up at polling places and dont find their names on the registration rolls would likely be allowed to cast provisional ballots. But that would spur even more delay  and doubt  for the elections results, on top of potential long lines and late poll closings.

The votes actual legitimacy is affected by the perception of legitimacy, said Ben Buchanan, a fellow at Harvards Belfer Center who has studied risks to the voting system.

And then theres the fear of hacking, or other cyber-meddling, of the systems that count the votes  not to mention of media and social media outfits that broadcast the results. False or misleading information planted by hackers or other bad actors could create chaos by broadcasting false results or alleging malfeasance where there is none.

Moscows hacker corps has a history of executing such attacks. In 2014, Kremlin-linked hackers broke into a system displaying vote totals for Ukraines presidential election to claim that a far-right candidate was leading. Russian state media quickly latched onto the results as evidence that Ukraines post-revolutionary government had been co-opted by fascist forces.

U.S. media organizations largely rely on Associated Press vote counts to assemble and verify the huge number of election results. Sean Sullivan, a researcher at cybersecurity company F-Secure, examined some of the APs digital infrastructure and found what he calls troubling security practices. He said the AP, which calls races based on its centralized count of state results, could well be attacked.

Hacking an election is hard, Sullivan said. Why not pwn the messenger instead? he said, using hacker shorthand for dominating ones opponent.

AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton declined comment on the news organizations security measures. She said AP is working diligently to ensure the vote will be gathered, vetted, and delivered on Election Day.

In a tight, heated race, with plenty of voters sensitive to any allegation of wrongdoing, media outlets are prime targets for attack. Outlets such as the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and Forbes have all been compromised by hackers in the past, and could be hit again and used to spread false information on Election Day.

That could spark a cascade of false or incendiary information  particularly fretful when armed militia groups in several states like Georgia are girding for battle in the event of a Trump loss.

In the event of a disinformation campaign, a place like Georgia would have limited ways to respond. This is a tough thing to address, acknowledges Brose, the spokesperson for Georgias election authority. Its hard to completely knock down somebodys tweet.

Confronted with a Twitter post or Facebook posting claiming fraud, election authorities would have to move quickly to gather necessary evidence and rebut the claim. But as media fact-checkers and state authorities have discovered this year, it is far easier to spread falsehoods than to push a rebuttal to the forefront the publics consciousness.

And even that task could be made harder if hackers decide to take down parts of the internet, as they did in a massive October denial of service attack that blocked access on the East Coast to many major websites and online applications. This week, hackers have probed Liberias internet infrastructure with a similar DDoS attack, knocking out down the internet in the small West African nation. Some analysts believe the operation is a test run for a bigger attack.

A similar Election Day strike against the U.S. internets infrastructure could have unforeseen consequences and, unnervingly, officials dont really know how they would respond.

Georgia election authorities, for example, rely partly on social media to communicate with the public. If Facebook and Twitter go down under a DDoS attack, the state government would be hamstrung in responding to a misinformation campaign that it is already ill-equipped to handle.

Reflecting on the challenge of dealing with misinformation, Reagan, the Arizona official, offered what might be a coda for the entire 2016 election: I dont have the answer for how you stop people from believing false stories on the internet.

Getty Images/Foreign Policy illustration
Google; Amazon; Apple

Smart homes are no longer some sci-fi fantasythey have truly arrived, thanks to home tech hubs such as Amazon Echo, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home (the newest on the block released on Friday). These devices allow homeowners to access all of their smart home integrated technologyfrom locks to thermostats to music and far morethrough voice commands. Long gone are the days of having to type a question or command into a search bar or manually manipulate a control panel.

Only with three strong options on the market, many homeowners might be wondering: Which smart home hub is right for me? Granted, they may all do similar things and be compatible with the same third-party products (including Nest thermostats, Philips Hue lights, and SmartThings home security), but there are some significant differences among these devices.

Heres a rundown of your three main options, along with the pros, cons, and buy-it-if bottom lines on each.

Google Home

The Google Home voice-activated speaker Google

With the simple phrase OK Google, Google Home ($129.99) is ready to play music from your app of choice (Google Play, Spotify, Pandora), manage your grocery list, set alarms, translate phrases, turn on your lights, and essentially Google stuff with your voice and accomplish anything you could typing on your laptop or Android phone.

Pros: While the voice-tech capabilities between Google Home and Amazon Echo are similar, experts generally agree that Google Homes assistant has a better grasp of language so you wind up with fewer conversational dead ends.

John Brandon from VentureBeat offers this example: When I tell Alexa to turn off the lights at night, thats helpful. When I ask her to tell me the population of Austria, thats a neat trick. However, when I ask her to name the smallest country by population, she balks. The Google Assistant knows the answer (the Vatican), because its smarterit has parsed my query for other users a million times since 1997.

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Cons: Google Home does pale in comparison to the Echo in the number of skills: Echo boasts over 300, from telling jokes to thumbs-downing songs, while Google Home has only around 80. But thats likely to change as Google starts to roll out newer versions.

Buy it if: You want the smartest smart home hub where it feels like youre talking to an actual person. Its also $50 cheaper than the Echo and a little more friendly looking than Echo thanks to the interchangeable bases with different colors and coverings (metal or fabric), says Mark Bradford, a technology consultant in Milwaukee.

Amazon Echo

The Amazon Echo is the front-runner of smart home technology. Amazon

Amazon Echo ($179.99) was the first smart home hub to hit the market in 2014, and as such has had a massive head start, selling an estimated 3 million units in the U.S. As long as the sleek cylindrical speaker is within earshot, you can say Alexa (Amazons version of an intelligent assistant), then ask it to play music, lock your doors, and more. Thanks, Alexa!

Pros: The Echo is by far the leader of the pack when it comes to the number of definable skills with 300 and countingfrom reading your Fitbit stats to calling Uber. And if youre a Prime member, the Echo can order products. Just say, Alexa, buy me a toothbrush, and itll place the order. Its almost too easy to order stuff.

Cons: As mentioned above, Echo may not understand everything youre asking. Consumer Reports Mike Gikas notes that you can ask Google Home, Whens the next time its going to rain? And it will tell you, In [your home town] it will rain on Thursday. But ask Alexa the same question, and youll just get the current forecast, whether its for rain or shine.

Buy it if: You want a tried-and-tested product. If youre put off by the nearly $200 price tag, try the Amazon Dot ($49.99), which has the same capabilities only with a smaller and less sensitive speaker.

Apple HomeKit

The Apple HomeKit is available on any device with iOS 10. Apple

The main thing to understand about the Apple HomeKit is that its not a physical hub you buy, but Apples framework for communicating with and controlling connected accessories in a users home. You can access it with the free Home app that comes standard with iOS 10 on all Apple devicesfrom the iPhone to the iPad to the Apple TV. Just tap Siri, and the iOS built-in intelligent assistant will make your wish its command.

Pros: Mac-heads and Apple fanboys will gravitate toward this technology, Bradford says. So if you cant go a day without your iPhone, MacBook Air, or Apple Watch, this might be the smart home solution for you.

Cons: Although the HomeKit brings the convenience of having control at your fingertips, thats kind of a problem. Bradford confesses that he just doesnt see a lot of people adopting the HomeKit for the simple fact that on older versions of this app, you have to push a button to activate Siri to make a voice command.

At their core, people are looking for the quickest way to do things, and having to push a button adds an extra step, he says. Theyd rather be able to just yell into their living room to get their device to work.

Granted, the latest iteration of Siri can be activated by voice alone with a Hey, Siri. Yet some phones must be plugged in, or at least pulled out of your pocket. So, hands-free, this is not.

Buy it if: Youre a die-hard Apple fanand never plan to change.

The post Google Home, Amazon Echo, or Apple HomeKit? How to Pick appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
FILE PHOTO: People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture taken September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters)

By Brad Haynes

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc is seeking revenue outside traditional advertising sales by helping companies develop customer service channels on its platform, according to its most senior executive in Latin America, a testing ground for the new strategy.

Guilherme Ribenboim said in an interview on Friday that features launched this week give businesses more ways to automate customer service through direct Twitter messages to clients, moving beyond simply responding to complaints or paying to promote posts.

Twitter is now offering consulting and other services for other corporate partners in Brazil - the largest economy in Latin America - to make the most of new features.

"As one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, we have the critical mass of both users and resources to invest in those consulting services," said Ribenboim. "We are testing out this model, adding it to the mix as we launch our planning for 2017."

Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas SA has already developed an option for passengers to check-in for flights using a direct Twitter message, Ribenboim said.

San Francisco-based Twitter last week said it would cut 9 percent of its workforce and discontinue video app Vine as it aims to turn a profit in 2017.

The tailor-made approach to marketing is one way Twitter is trying to boost revenue despite a slowdown in user growth this year, with less than a fifth as many active monthly users as rival Facebook Inc.

Ribenboim said the new tools for customer service, along with recent partnerships with live TV events and the acquisition of creative network Niche last year, were meant to differentiate Twitter in the increasingly competitive digital ad market.

Advertising sales made up 88 percent of Twitter's revenue in the third quarter, down from 90 percent a year earlier.

Twitter, which has seen user growth stall amid competition from nimbler rivals such as Instagram and Snapchat, said its user base ticked up 3 percent to 317 million average monthly active users in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Brad Haynes; editing by Daniel Flynn, G Crosse)
WASHINGTON -- As the presidential campaigns sink to the challenge of demonstrating that there is no such thing as rock bottom, remember this: When the Clintons decamped from Washington in January 2001, they took some White House furnishings that were public property.

They also finished accepting more than $190,000 in gifts, including two coffee tables and two chairs, a $7,375 gratuity from Denise Rich, whose fugitive former husband had been pardoned in President Clinton's final hours. A Washington Post editorial ("Count the Spoons") identified "the Clintons' defining characteristic: They have no capacity for embarrassment. Words like shabby and tawdry come to mind. They don't begin to do it justice."

Today, Hillary Clinton strives to live again among some White House furnishings that she and her helpmeet were compelled to disgorge. Her campaign flounders because as secretary of state some of the nation's business might have been melded with the contents of a computer that is pertinent to an FBI investigation of a former Democratic congressman's alleged sexual texting with a female minor. Ransack the English language for words to do this justice.

So, herewith America's choice. Restore the House of Clinton. Or confer executive powers -- powers that President Obama by his audacity, and Congress by its lethargy, have proven to be essentially unlimited -- on another competitor in the sleaze sweepstakes, Donald Trump, who shares his opponent's disinclination to disentangle the personal and the political.

Into this political maelstrom, FBI Director James Comey injected an announcement that intensified the chaos without providing a scintilla of news that voters can use: An unknown number of emails of unknown provenance and unknown content might be "pertinent" to an investigation that already has established, beyond peradventure, that Secretary Clinton was "extremely careless" with sensitive material.

Add the FBI, and the Justice Department to which it belongs, to the carnage of institutions that is a byproduct of bad judgments by the political class that have voters asking Casey Stengel's question. In 1962, Stengel, manager of the New York Mets, an expansion team en route to a record of 120 losses, looked down his dugout at his woebegone players and wondered aloud, "Can't anybody here play this game?"

It is grimly hilarious to hear it said that the Justice Department, by not holding Comey to established protocols concerning discussions of ongoing investigations, and concerning pronouncements close to elections, has tainted itself. Obamacare would not have passed if Justice Department lawyers had not conducted what a federal judge declared a corrupt prosecution of Alaska's Republican senator Ted Stevens, costing him re-election. The department has enabled, by not seriously investigating, the IRS' suppression of political advocacy by conservative groups. Or of the IRS' subsequent destruction of subpoenaed emails pertinent to this. So, unsurprisingly, the most intrusive and potentially punitive federal agency continues to punish conservative groups for being conservative, according to Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer for political groups who confirms there are indeed conservative organizations who were targeted by the IRS and have still not received their tax-exempt status.

In 2013, Barack Obama professed himself "angry" about "inexcusable" IRS behavior, before he decided there was not a "smidgen" of IRS corruption. He claimed to have learned about the IRS behavior from the media. Now he claims that he learned from the media about Clinton's email abuses, although they had exchanged emails using her private server. Perhaps.

The defining scandal of the Obama era has been the media's lackadaisical consensus that Obama's administration has had no serious scandal. This, although with the Justice Department protecting the IRS, the administration has (in the words of Richard Nixon's White House counsel John Dean) used "the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies."

Clinton, the ultimate author of her current agony, resembles no one so much as Nixon in her paranoia and joyless pursuit of joy. Her government career began with the House committee preparing Nixon's impeachment. Twenty-two years earlier, he had saved his career by addressing a supposed scandal with his nationally broadcast "Checkers speech," which was mawkish, abasing and effective. How fitting it would be for a Clinton "Checkers speech" to end our long national nightmare that this campaign has been.
Count the Journal Star editorial board among those insufficiently outraged over police use of facial recognition software to join the call for law enforcement to suspend its use for months or years.

However, the topic is certainly worthy of public discussion. Guidelines should be developed so the public is aware, for example, of how the photos on their drivers licenses may be used. Some level of privacy protection is advisable.

The call for local law enforcement to stop using the software came from ACLU Nebraska following a Georgetown University report called The Perpetual Lineup, which reported on the widespread national use of the software. The report by the universitys Center on Privacy and Technology pointed out that the Lincoln Police Department and the Nebraska State Patrol were among the agencies using the technological tools.

The two agencies use the Department of Motor Vehicles system, which uses it to stop identify theft.

Facial recognition software is everywhere. Most people have it on their smartphones. Is anyone really shocked that police are using it to comb through photo databases to catch criminals?

As the Georgetown report puts it, The benefits of face recognition are real. It has been used to catch violent criminals and fugitives. The law enforcement officers who use the technology are men and women of good faith. They do not want to invade our privacy or create a police state. They are simply using every tool available to protect the people that they are sworn to serve. Police use of face recognition is inevitable. This report does not aim to stop it.

Its abundantly evident that big data can be put to objectionable uses in both the public and private sector. Facebook was recently taken to task for offering ads that excluded certain groups on the basis of ethnic affinities. Imagine if, during the Jim Crow era, a newspaper offered advertisers the option of placing ads only in copies that went to white subscribers, ProPublica said in its report on the practice.

Big data is a tsunami that is altering the structure of society in ways that people are only beginning to comprehend.

The Lincoln City Council in 2013 set a policy that allows considerable police latitude in the use of facial recognition software. The policy does not, however, allow police to use it as the sole basis for an arrest. Public Safety Director Tom Casady said Lincoln police submitted 17 photos for a search last year, with four identifications.

It seems excessive and premature to take away police use of facial recognition software, even temporarily.

Its clear, however, that big data could be misused to discourage free speech and the right of assembly. Policies that govern its use should be public; regular reports should be required on how police are using facial recognition software and similar big data tools.
The reason and necessity for the separation of church and state is simple. The supremacy of the Constitution is something that we should all agree on but the supremacy of the Christian bible is not. We are all Americans but we are not all Christians.

Government must not elevate one set of beliefs over the rest because theocracy is the most oppressive form of government. For everyone's safety, America must remain a secular nation. To do otherwise is to resort to a tired old argument, namely, "you're wrong because your beliefs aren't like mine."

When you start promoting your beliefs as the solution to everyone else's problems, you are infringing on their rights.

America is only great as long as we keep church and state separate and free of entanglements. We must keep this wall up and strong.

Vic Dahlman, Lincoln
Jim served in Vietnam. When Im deciding who to vote for, I always give extra points to veterans. They have proven they want to serve by literally putting themselves in the line of fire.

Jim served the Make-A-Wish Foundation, including being President at the national level. There he proved that he cares about children and families in desperate need, making him Americas biggest Fairy Godfather, just the kind of person I want representing Lincoln.

Finally, Jim Gordon is arguably the father of Lincolns trails network. He chaired the committee for the bond issue that got our trails network started. There Jim proved that he can work with a diverse group. That group included Republicans and Democrats, beards and Birkenstocks, joggers and walkers, in-line skaters, bicyclists and more, all with different views and needs. Jim kept that group working together toward a common goal, which is just what we need a state senator to do. Please vote for Jim. He could be one of the best state senators Lincoln has ever had.
People everywhere are talking about the dark side of politicians and politics. The average citizen is partly responsible for the darkness. Research reveals that Nebraskans are more likely to vote their political views than the teachings of their church and of Jesus.

Take, for example, the issue of the death penalty. Governor Ricketts and many, many Nebraskans support the death penalty against the teachings of their church. The United Methodist Churchs Social Principles state, We believe the death penalty denies the power of Christ to redeem, restore and transform all human beings.

Other major denominations with very similar positions against the death penalty include: the American Baptist Church, Church of the Brethren, Christian Church, Episcopalians, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Religious Society of Friends, Orthodox, Presbyterian USA, Quakers, Reformed Judaism, Roman Catholic, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalists, the United Methodist Church, as well as the National Council of Churches and many other denominations.

The above churches urge all members to vote to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without any chance of parole. Politics will be less dark when we vote the teachings of Jesus and the churches, rather than our political views.

Rev. Dr. Lee R. Wigert, Hastings
Just four days before the election, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned plea to Wisconsinites, urging them to vote for Hillary Clinton and Russ Feingold.

"I can define America for you in one word, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. One word: possibilities," Biden told a crowd of about 1,200 on Friday at Madison's Orpheum Theater. "Its always been about possibilities. Its always been about what we can do. America never bends, America never bows, America never breaks. America always overcomes. And we are on the finish line  God love you, go out and vote. Vote, vote, vote."

Biden spent as much time boosting the Democratic former Secretary of State as he did praising Feingold, who is challenging Republican Sen. Ron Johnson for the seat he held for 18 years before being ousted in 2010.

Johnson and Republican nominee Donald Trump are "cut from the same political, ideological cloth," Biden said, twice making a point to note he was comparing Johnson's policies, but not his character, with Trump's.

The vice president criticized Trump for a wide swath of positions and public statements, including demeaning comments the nominee has made about women and his reluctance to unconditionally defend NATO allies.

Biden presented Trump and Johnson as out of touch with the middle class, and said the choice voters have "could not be more stark."

"The arc of history has always been forward, and what these guys want to do is literally move it backward," Biden said.

Clinton and Feingold support raising the minimum wage, making college debt-free, establishing paid family leave and making efforts to combat climate change, Biden said.

Polls show Clinton with a sizable lead over Trump, but the real estate mogul continues to make a play for the Badger State. Trump will make his sixth post-primary Wisconsin visit on Sunday, rallying supporters in West Allis. Wisconsin has not gone for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

"Hillary Clinton is dragging down Sen. Feingold's candidacy, and now more of her political allies are coming to Wisconsin as Washington Democrats hit the panic button," said Republican Party of Wisconsin executive director Mike Duffey in a statement.

Pete Meachum, state director for Trump's Wisconsin campaign, said voters will choose Trump as the candidate to "drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C."

Clinton hasn't returned to Wisconsin since her primary campaign, instead opting to send surrogates like Biden and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Kaine told supporters in Madison earlier this week that Wisconsin is one of six or seven battleground states "where all the action is."

Clinton leads Trump in Wisconsin by six points according to a Marquette University Law School poll released this week.

The same poll showed Feingold running ahead of Johnson by just one point.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin focused as much on Feingold's race as Clinton's in her remarks to the crowd, urging voters to send Feingold back to the Senate to give her a "progressive partner."

Baldwin made a heartfelt case for Clinton, who she argued would carry on the "incredible legacy of hope" left by Biden and President Barack Obama.

Biden made a similar case, focusing on the Obama administration's economic legacy.

"We have gone from crisis to recovery and were now on the verge of genuine resurgence," Biden said, adding there's still more to be done to help middle- and working-class Americans.

Baldwin also noted the historical significance of electing the first women president, and the message it would send to young girls. Baldwin was the first openly gay candidate to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

"You can reach for the stars when theres no more ceiling," she said.
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.
16 jackal bite victims to receive treatment in Teku hospital

Sixteen people are being brought to Kathmandu from Rautahat for treatment after a person who was bitten by jackal a month ago died recently and another is reported to be critically ill.
Chhath festival begins today

The Chhath festival observed as common cultural symbol of the Tarai is being celebrated as per religious tradition and much fanfare starting from Friday.
Collection centres blamed for contamination in milk

The risk of milk being contaminated at collection centres is twice that at the place of production, a study report unveiled on Thursday said.
Deuba's visit to India being keenly watched

Nepali Congress (NC) leaders and observers are keen to see the kind of impact NC party President Sher Bahadur Deubas visit to India will have in the political course of the country.
India together with Nepal's journey of development and peace: Indian Prez Mukherjee

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has said that India would move ahead together in Nepal's journey of development and peace.
Indian President Mukherjee arrives in Pokhara

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has arrived at the tourist city, Pokhara in connection to his three-day state visit to Nepal.
Indian President Mukherjee arriving Pokhara today

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who is currently on a three-day state visit to Nepal, is arriving in Pokhara on Friday.
Indian Prez Mukherjee returns after 3-day visit to Nepal

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee returned to New Delhi on Friday after a three-day state visit to Nepal.
Indian prez reiterates New Delhis message

Visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has called on political leadership in Nepal to accommodate broader sections of the society in constitution implementation.
Intl Watercolor Fest begins

Education Minister Dhaniram Poudel inaugurated the International Watercolor Festival amid a function in the Capital on Thursday.
Jakarta protest against governor 'blasphemy' draws thousands

Tens of thousands of hard-line Muslims are marching against the governor of Jakarta, demanding he is prosecuted for blasphemy.
Japan to provide Rs 24.5 million grant assistance

The Government of Japan has agreed to provide Rs 24.5 million to Nepal as grant assistance for the implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction Strengthening Project in Chitwan.
Long drought hits potato production in Dolakha

Potato production in Dolakha has dropped sharply this year due to a prolonged winter drought.
Low crop production behind perennial food shortage in Baitadi

Baitadi district has been witnessing food shortage every year because of low agricultural productivity.
Maoist cadres arrested from Shanti Batika

Police have arrested 13 CPN (Maoist) cadres and politburo member Anil Sharma during demonstrations at Shanti Batika.
Melting Himalayas

Nepal should replicate success of draining Imja Lake to other vulnerable glacial lakes
Mukherjee invites Nepal to be part of Indias growth story

Visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has said that India welcomes the ongoing efforts of the government of Nepal to take on board all sections of its society for effective implementation of its constitution.
Nepal hesitant about Open Skies overture

India reportedly wants to hold talks this month on adopting an Open Skies policy, but Nepal appears to be hesitant to take the plunge.
Pashupati centre of reverence for people of Nepal, India

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who is on a three-day visit to Nepal, performed a special puja at Pashupatinath Temple on Thursday.
Plan to cut load shedding in winter may not happen

The governments plan to slash load shedding this winter is unlikely to happen as the power substation being built at Dhalkebar in Dhanusha will not be completed in time.
Proper investigation needed

Present anti-corruption drive has to continue no matter what the outcome of the impeachment process is
Russia-India arms deal

The pact changed the distribution of power and ties among major Asian countries
Statute amendment for valid cause: UML

Senior CPN-UML leaders have said the party will not obstruct the constitution amendment process if the agitating sides come up with valid reasons for the same.
High Court Judge Margret Oguli Oumo is today expected to rule on whether to add Makerere University as a party to an application seeking to challenge academic qualifications of Rubaga South MP Kato Lubwama.

The judge is set to deliver her ruling today at 2: 30pm at the High Court Civil Division located on Twed towers in Nakasero

A Rubaga South voter Habib Buwembo filed an application against his area MP Paul Kato Lubwama seeking permission to file out of time an election petition to expel Lubwama out of parliament for lack of requisite academic qualifications.

Buwembo wants Makerere University to avail him with policies regarding its mature age entry examinations so as to establish whether Lubwama sat and passed these exams before being admitted for a Diploma in Music Dance and Drama in 1992.

The voter also accuses the University for failing to produce the Diploma

Certificate it awarded to Kato Lubwama.

According to Buwembos lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde, these documents cannot be accessed anywhere since even on nomination day, Lubwama presented to the District returning officer a letter titled To Whom it May Concern  written by the Universitys academic registrar on 15th/October 2015.
The Chief justice Bart Katureebe has called on President Yoweri Museveni to fulfil his earlier promise of supporting the Judiciarys Five-year ICT Strategy, adding that this will greatly enhance their performance. The project is to cost at least Shs.42 billion.

He has also emphasised the need to operationalize the local council Courts and to empower tribal systems in order to handle local disputes that would ordinarily not need to come to the formal courts.

The Chief justice was speaking yesterday at the closure of the three-day East African Magistrate and Judges Conference, where they resolved to among other things work with the Executive to address the challenges encountered in the enforcement of judicial decisions.
By Jun Ji-hye

Marines from South Korea and the United States are conducting their first-ever joint drill to brace for a possible exodus of North Korean refugees in the event of war, officials said Thursday.

The drill, which also involved the Navy, is part of a nine-day joint landing exercise that will run until Sunday near the southern port city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

The exercise mobilized 2,600 marines and sailors and 300 pieces of military equipment including K1 battle tanks from South Korea as well as 130 U.S. marines. Some U.S. personnel have had experience in assisting refugees in Afghanistan, according to the Marine Corps.

The drill focused on how to accommodate and provide humanitarian support to North Korean refugees in the event of conflict or the sudden collapse of the North Korean regime that could lead to an outflow of its people.

For the drill, South Korea's Navy and Marine Corps has formed a new unit tasked with the civil-military operation to house, manage and medically support North Korean refugees.

A movable medical tent was mobilized for the drill, during which the soldiers were trained to classify patients and perform emergency surgery.

The drill was also carried out by renting a private barge, which is 160 meters in length, on which a 17,000 ton helicopter can land, according to the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps said the drill will help boost capabilities to speedily deploy forces to areas where existing port facilities have been destroyed or where the coastline makes it hard to send in troops and their equipment.

"The exercise helped us share experiences with U.S. soldiers in accommodating and helping refugees," said a Marine Corps official, asking not to be named.
No

Yes, a light case

Yes, two or more light cases

One serious case

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Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the Sept. 16 death of a West Salem woman.

Todd Kendhammer told authorities he was driving north on Hwy. M between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Sept. 16 when a pipe that fell from a passing truck impaled the passenger side of his windshield, striking his wife, Barbara Kendhammer, according to the La Crosse County Sheriffs Department.

Authorities found the couples damaged Toyota Camry on nearby Bergum Coulee Road in the town of Hamilton, a dead-end road just seven miles from the couples home at N6617 E. Scotch Coulee Road.

Todd Kendhammer, who was not injured, had removed the pipe from the windshield and his wife was unresponsive, sheriffs Capt. John Zimmerman said Tuesday.

Barbara Kendhammer died the next day at Gundersen Health System. She was 46.

Authorities declined to discuss autopsy results.

The Wisconsin State Patrol Technical Reconstruction Unit, state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and sheriffs department on Friday returned to the crash site on Hwy. M just south of Bergum Coulee Road to recreate the crash as described by Kendhammer.

They let a 53-inch metal pipe weighing 10.5 pounds  an exact replica of the one recovered after the incident  roll off an incline constructed in the bed of a pickup truck speeding 40 and 50 mph.

Multiple cameras recorded the fall of the pipe and where it struck the pavement.

A report from the reconstruction unit could take months.

Anyone who may have been near the scene of the crash is asked to call Zimmerman at 608-785-9856.

Anonymous tips can also be made to La Crosse Area Crime Stoppers at 608-784-8477.
Former Christie allies convicted: NEWARK, N.J.  Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of causing epic traffic jams for political revenge near the nations busiest bridge, a verdict that further damaged the Republican governors legacy and raised anew questions about why Christie and his inner circle escaped prosecution. Bridget Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, Christies appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them. Both defendants announced plans to appeal.

Elector says he wont vote for Clinton: WASHINGTON  A Democratic elector in Washington state said Friday he wont vote for Hillary Clinton even if she wins the popular vote in his state on Election Day, adding a degree of suspense when the Electoral College affirms the election results next month. Robert Satiacum, a member of Washingtons Puyallup Tribe, supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. He said he believes Clinton is a criminal who doesnt care enough about American Indians and shes done nothing but flip back and forth.

Jurors review video of officer killing unarmed fleeing man: CHARLESTON, S.C.  A fired police officers defense team couldnt keep jurors from seeing a cellphone video Friday that shows him killing an unarmed man who was running away. Recorded at the scene in April 2015 by a bystander, the shows black motorist Walter Scott wrestling with the white officer over a stun gun, then breaking away. Michael Slager then shoots him in the back from a distance and he crumples to the ground. Slager had pulled Scott over for a broken tail light on the used Mercedes he just picked up.

Heavy fighting as Iraqi troops drive deeper into Mosul: MOSUL, Iraq  Iraqi special forces launched a two-pronged assault deeper into Mosuls urban center on Friday, unleashing the most intense street battles against Islamic State militants since the offensive began nearly three weeks ago. More than 3,000 Iraqi troops took part in the assault under heavy U.S.-led coalition air support, but the pace of the fight also slowed as Iraqi forces moved from fighting in more rural areas with few civilians to the tight, narrow streets of Mosul proper.

US, EU question detention of pro-Kurdish lawmakers: ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish authorities on Friday detained 12 pro-Kurdish members of Parliament for questioning in terror-related probes, drawing sharp concern from the United States and the European Union, who feared the move hurts Turkeys democracy. Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, the co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, were among those rounded up in the middle of the night. A car bombing later hit Turkeys largest Kurdish city, killing nine people. Authorities blamed the attack on Kurdish militants but the Islamic State group later claimed responsibility.

UN to deploy cease-fire monitors in Colombia: BOGOTA, Colombia  The U.N. says it will begin deploying observers Monday to monitor a cease-fire between Colombias military and Latin Americas last major leftist insurgency even as the government and rebels modify a peace pact narrowly defeated in an Oct. 2 referendum. President Juan Manuel Santos has extended the cease-fire to Dec. 31.
When The Washington Post's Matea Gold reported this week that the Trump campaign is contesting $767,000 that its pollster Tony Fabrizio says he is owed, I could feel the Republican consultant's pain.

Fabrizio was just the latest on a long list of people stiffed by Donald Trump. And now you can add one more to that list: me. I want my $49 back.

I know, I know. We had all been warned that Trump doesn't make good on his commitments. Scores of times as businessman and candidate he has refused to pay, or deliver, what he owes. Heck, he's even being sued on behalf of USA Freedom Kids, the three preteen girls who danced before one of his rallies in patriotic costumes.

So I should have had my eyes wide open when I saw Trump's video last week offering to put my name on a brass plaque on a wall in Trump Tower, for a contribution of only $49. "The wall has only space for 2,000 more supporters. Contribute today," he said, showing the "very special" wall.

As one of the loudest Trump critics, I thought it would be exquisite to have my name engraved as part of the "select group" on Trump's wall. I clicked through and authorized the $49 charge to my credit card.

And then, nothing. No acknowledgment. No response. No word about any wall with my name on it. I checked my spam filter: nothing. I checked my Visa statement: The charge had gone through.

Stiffed! And at great personal risk. Post employees aren't supposed to donate to campaigns, and in 16 years I hadn't  until the lure of Trump's wall got me. We don't want a contribution to create the appearance that we're in the tank for a candidate, even if, in the case of Trump and me, the probability of creating such an impression is fairly low. My editors gave me the proverbial 40 lashes for my $49.

But those welts are nothing compared with the injuries Trump allegedly has done to those who have done business with him.

An investigation by USA Today earlier this year found 60 lawsuits and hundreds of liens, judgments and other government filings involving people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them. The aggrieved include 48 waiters, dozens of bartenders and hourly workers, real estate brokers, a glass company, a carpet company, painters  even law firms that defended him against charges that he stiffed those he owed. The paper found 24 violations of labor law for failing to pay overtime or the minimum wage, and liens filed by more than 200 contractors and employees who provided plumbing, electrical and HVAC work and the like.

At the first debate, Hillary Clinton singled out in the audience an architect Trump had stiffed and said she'd met "dishwashers, painters, architects, glass installers, marble installers, drapery installers ... who you refused to pay when they finished the work that you asked them to do."

Trump responded that "maybe he didn't do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work, which our country should do, too."

Apparently Trump's belief that he can't get good help these days extends to the campaign, which is disputing the $767,000 that Fabrizio, the pollster, says he's owed. (The campaign says it doesn't dispute the entire amount.) Federal Election Commission records also indicate the Trump campaign has yet to pay Michael Caputo, a former communications adviser.

Fabrizio and Caputo are big boys. But what about the three little girls who danced at a Trump rally in January, becoming a viral sensation? The father of one of them filed suit against the Trump campaign two months ago, saying the campaign didn't make good on its promise to let them sell CDs at a Trump event and then had them travel, at their own expense, from Florida to a Trump event in Iowa before canceling their appearance.

"I'm not looking to do battle with the Trump campaign," the dad, Jeff Popick, told the Post's Philip Bump, "but I have to show my girls that this is the right thing."

And now I stand with Popick, Fabrizio and hundreds of others in demanding from Trump what is ours. I wrote to Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks on Wednesday and asked whether she could tell me where I could find my name on the Trump Tower donor wall, or refund my $49. She indicated she was looking into it, but nothing happened.

I bet Trump isn't even building that wall  and I paid for it!
State Assembly District 92: Chris Danou vs. Treig Pronschinske

Democratic Rep. Chris Danou deserves a fifth term in the Assembly to continue advocating for rail safety, road funding, environmental concerns, education and broadband access in his rural district.

He doesnt think enough is being done to protect district residents from oil shipments by rail, and he doesnt believe the Department of Natural Resources is doing enough to monitor water quality, frac-sand mining or large-scale livestock operations.

Danou believes that DNR enforcement would be better preserved if the agency reported to the Natural Resources Board instead of a political appointee  something weve long agreed with.

He comes from a family of educators and says its time to lift the freeze on University of Wisconsin tuition unless more state funding is forthcoming, and calls private-school vouchers a failed experiment.

Treig Pronschinske is mayor of Mondovi, so he has a good understanding of the role of local government. The Republican says he would entertain an increase in gas tax to fund road improvements.

While favoring continuation of the UW tuition freeze, he also favors more K-12 funding. He wont commit to a position on school vouchers.

Both agree that preserving the states open meetings, open records law is important.
This race pits two informed candidates who understand the issues. They agree on the priorities of increasing funding for schools, roads and bridges, and for the most part, theyve disagreed in a civil manner.

We endorse Rep. Steve Doyle because of his track record of leadership on the La Crosse County Board and his bipartisan voice in Madison.

Thats why the Democrat has been re-elected twice in a district that has favored Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Democrats dont get legislation passed in the Wisconsin Legislature these days unless they carry Republican sponsorship. Doyle has figured that out  for the good of our region. In fact, he has co-sponsored an equal number of Republican and Democratic bills.

His county board background provides excellent grounding on local transportation needs, and he points out that with La Crosse County already identifying $61 million in needed roadwork, the governors plan to increase state road funding would mean La Crosse County could fix 8.3 miles of road instead of 8 miles.

An Aquinas High School graduate who is part of three generations to attend Catholic schools, he still takes the stand that he opposes vouchers to private schools.

He believes the $42 million in added state funding sought by the UW Board of Regents  after more than a billion dollars of state cuts  is more than warranted, especially given the $1 billion in research the university system brings to Wisconsin annually.

Like Chris Danou, Doyle believes the DNR should report to an independent board.

Julian Bradley has told audiences statewide that he represents a political party that is not just rich, old, white men.

His unsuccessful campaign for secretary of state in 2014 showed his energy and resolve against an incumbent with decades of name recognition.

And, hes not afraid to differ from many in his party by favoring more money for schools and infrastructure. I dont hate teachers. I dont hate education. If it werent for an education, a poor kid like myself from a single-parent household couldnt be where I am.

He says when only 16 percent of state transportation money goes to local roads, its clear to see why rural roads need more work. He points to Minnesota as an example of a state spending more transportation money on maintenance and less on administrative overhead.

His background is part of the reason he favors vouchers and believes UW costs must be reined in.

He believes a University of Wisconsin tuition freeze is not sustainable and pledges to vote against any budget that does not include what he describes as a noticeable increase in K-12 spending.
As we have in the past, Russ Feingold deserves our endorsement for his fierce independence, strong bipartisanship and broad knowledge about global issues.

Independent? The Middleton Democratic was resolute to stand as one against the Patriotic Act in 2001 when he thought it hindered civil liberties.

Bipartisan? He did plenty to antagonize Democratic and Republican colleagues during his three terms in the Senate. The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform continues to be a shining example of bipartisan legislation that hit both sides in the wallet. Feingolds bipartisan work also has curbed the perks from lobbyists that members of Congress used to soak up, and he helped defeat pork-barrel projects for colleagues such as the so-called bridge to nowhere. And, he believes donors to political ads should be identified.

Global knowledge? He already had plenty, but 16 trips to Africa for the State Department in recent years has expanded that.

In addition to a lengthy career of independence on many issues, Feingold made it clear during his meeting with the Tribune editorial board that hes not living off his resume. His Badger Innovation Plan  investment in infrastructure, workforce, jobs and innovation.

During Sen. Johnsons meeting this week with the Tribune, the Oshkosh manufacturer continues to sell himself as the anti-politician  a needed voice in Washington who isnt motivated by re-election. If he wins Tuesday, he says this will be his last term.

The Republican points to more than 80 bipartisan measures hes been part of during his first term, including funding for the long-needed Stillwater Bridge to Minnesota.

He also deserves credit for bringing federal hearings and scrutiny to the inexcusable problems at the Tomah Veterans Administration.

He says he meets with groups on both sides of the aisle and focuses on points of agreement, and says he played a leading role in forging bipartisan discussions with President Barack Obama.

Johnson says regardless of Tuesdays outcome, he will continue to work on the innovative Joseph Project, an innovative job-training in Milwaukee that earns praise.
Republican Rep. Nancy VanderMeer has a strong record of fighting for her diverse rural district, and she has earned another term representing it in the Assembly.

Heres a shining example of fixing a government-caused problem: She sponsored successful legislation that created the Interstate Physician Licensure Compact. That will save money, cut waste and improve rural health care in our three-state region by, in essence, making medical licenses portable. That will improve patient access to our multi-state regional health providers.

She was part of a rural caucus that veered from the party line and voted against the last state budget because it didnt provide enough funding for rural roads. Unlike some others in her party, shes open to options for increasing revenue for needed roadwork.

As a business owner, she understands the need to expand broadband access. She acknowledges the challenge of recruiting teachers to rural areas in this post-Act 10 era and the need to rely on science to protect the environment.

We have been impressed by her outreach and her focus on solutions, and were pleased she disagreed with some in her party who proposed gutting the states heritage of requiring open meetings and open records.

Her opponent is Democrat Mark Holbrook, who brings a fascinating and refreshing perspective to the campaign.

He runs a farm outside Wisconsin Rapids and is a Vietnam veteran. He spent most of his career as an educator and school administrator, with some time in private industry.

Not surprisingly, hes pushing for more investment in education and believes the freeze on University of Wisconsin tuition should be lifted. He also stresses the need for more investment in infrastructure  pointing out the three colors of pavement on Hwy. 173, which runs through the district.

And, he points to the fact that Republicans voted to take away local control more than 120 times during the administration of Gov. Scott Walker.
Three-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Mark Pocan faces Republican challenger Peter Theron. The election is Nov. 8.

Mark Pocan (I)

Party: Democratic

Age: 52

Address: Black Earth

Family: Spouse, no children

Education: B.A. in journalism from UW-Madison

Job: Small business owner, U.S. Congressman

Elected experience: Two terms in Congress, seven terms in state Assembly, three terms on Dane County Board of Supervisors

Other public service: None

Peter Theron

Party: Republican

Age: 60

Address: Madison

Family: Wife

Education: B.A. in statistics from Princeton University; Ph.D. in mathematics from UW-Madison

Job: Math instructor at Madison College

Elected experience: None

Other public service: None

Q&A

Why should voters elect or re-elect you to Congress?

Pocan: Throughout my two terms in Congress, Ive fought for higher wages and against bad trade deals that would ship more jobs out of this country. Ive worked tirelessly for better public education funding and helped pass legislation to make college more affordable for low-income students. We need to start asking ourselves how government can make peoples lives better. I believe it begins with getting back to the basic ideals of creating good-paying jobs that can support a family and helping lift people who work hard and play by the rules out of poverty.

Theron: Were not better off than we were eight years ago. I represent change towards prosperity.

How have you addressed, or would you address, partisan gridlock in Congress?

Pocan: During my two terms in Congress, Ive made significant progress on some key issue areas, by going back to my Wisconsin roots. Collaborating with a Republican colleague from Michigan, I was able to help pass a two-year extension of the Perkins Loan program. The lessons from this experience and my work with Rep. Reid Ribble have shown me that while there is an atmosphere thick with gridlock and partisanship, there are good people working together to find shared values.

Theron: The problem has not been partisan gridlock in (Congress). The problem has been that the executive branch has not been willing to meet with, to compromise with (Congress). So the problem of partisan gridlock, which has been asked for the last six years, has been in the executive branch.

Whats the most important bill Congress should send to the next president?

Pocan: I think an issue you saw resonate with the majority of Americans this year was preventing gun violence. It is my steadfast belief that we must pass common sense gun reform measures. This is an issue that affects our communities every day and it is long overdue for Congress to address this epidemic. Passing the bipartisan King-Thompson bill to expand and strengthen our background check system would signal a real intent by Congress that it is committed to sparing more families and more communities from the horror of gun violence.

Theron: As a single bill: The repeal of Obamacare.

 Molly Beck
State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, faces a re-election challenge from Democrat Scott Michalak in the 38th Assembly District. The district includes Oconomowoc, Marshall and Lake Mills. The election is Nov. 8.

Joel Kleefisch (I)

Party: Republican

Age: 45

Address: W357N6189 Spinnaker Drive, Oconomowoc

Family: Wife Rebecca, 13-year-old daughter EllaRose, 10-year-old daughter Violet

Job: State representative, outdoor television host, public school substitute teacher

Education: B.A. Pepperdine University

Elected experience: 12 yrs. Wisconsin State Assembly

Other public service: None

Scott Michalak

Party: Democratic

Age: 49

Address: 433 Waterloo Road, Marshall

Family: Married with 5 children and 6 grandchildren

Job: Machinist

Education: None

Elected experience: None

Other public service: Candidate for state Assembly, 2012

What is the top issue facing your district and how would you address it through the legislative process?

Kleefisch: Making sure economic development is a front burner issue. Continuing to aggressively invest in technical education so those seeking employment have the skills needed to fill family-sustaining jobs.

Michalak: The largest issue in my district is the loss of family supporting jobs and the decline of the middle class. ... We must address these problems by investing in education, infrastructure, making Wisconsin technical colleges tuition free, investing in green jobs, cleaning up our ... river systems and expanding rural broadband access to rural communities.

Q&A

What is an outside-the-box idea you would like the Legislature to pass next session?

Kleefisch: Allowing those with terminal illnesses the right-to-try non-FDA-approved therapies.

Michalak: My outside-the-box idea to pay for our road needs is to remodel our public waysides and invite shops and restaurants to move into these sites, whereby the state collects a lease fee: two percentage points of the total business, and earmarks the new sales taxes to pay for our road needs.

What would be your area of expertise as a lawmaker?

Kleefisch: Criminal justice and natural resources.

Michalak: My area of expertise is that I am a common citizen that is a real middle-classer who cuts coupons out of the Sunday paper and knows the every day struggles of families to financially survive. Wisconsin is dead last in business startups, 49th in economic outlook, 37th in job creation ... and our roads are third-worst in the nation.

 Mark Sommerhauser
Much of what has been said about Peter Therons four bids for Congress can be boiled down to two words: Uphill battle.

Its been nearly 20 years since a Republican represented the 2nd Congressional District, after all, and Theron has raised just under 7 percent of the amount of money his Democratic opponent Mark Pocan has this year.

In his 2008 and 2014 campaigns, Theron garnered about 31 percent of the votes and was defeated in a Republican primary in 2010.

Pocan defeated Theron in 2014 by more than 121,000 votes out of the 328,847 cast that election.

The Madison College math instructor acknowledges the obstacles facing a conservative seeking election to Congress in the district that contains Dane County, Wisconsins liberal center.

But he points to the thousands of Republican voters in the district that can sometimes be overlooked to make his fourth bid in 2016 competitive.

Dane County has over 73,000 Republican votes ... so there is a very large Republican population in Dane County, he said. Having a federal candidate talking about federal issues is very important, even for Republicans, because thats the only way that those conservative issues are talked about in Dane County.

Pocan, who was first elected to Congress in 2012 after spending 14 years in the state Assembly, said the districts new boundary lines that were drawn about five years ago turned his district even more Democratic than it already was, but that hasnt made him complacent.

He said he often travels the districts seven counties  Dane, Iowa, Lafayette, Sauk, Green, Richland and Rock  including to its most rural areas, instead of planting himself in Madison, where his strongest base of supporters live.

I do have to juggle quite a few different issues to make sure were responding to everybody, said Pocan. I try to get around the district a lot to make sure Im listening to everyone. I think because I do get around, Ive got a pretty good sense of what people want ... a lot of issues arent left or right.

Theron said being elected in such a Democratic district would give him an incredible national platform to encourage other Republicans.

I would be able to, frankly, go to any of my Republican colleagues who are getting weak-kneed about any necessary reform, said Theron.

Pocan said he gives credit to Theron for his style of campaigning, especially in light of a volatile 2016 race at the top of the ticket.

I give him a lot of credit and (our race) hopefully is a model for others to follow, said Pocan.

The economy

Paramount to Congress job in the next session is addressing economic issues, both candidates agree. But they disagree on how to do it.

For Theron, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, would be one way to help improve the nations economy.

This administration will be the first administration since weve been keeping such records not to have at least one year of 3 percent or better economic growth, he said. The economy has pretty much been going sideways for this entire administration.

Theron said fewer good jobs, low personal savings for retirement and generally being less prosperous have been the effects of poor economic growth.

Theron said repealing Obamacare and moving toward a more patient-centered alternative is very important to improving economic growth.

Theron said he supports encouraging interstate competition, customized insurance plans and expanding health savings accounts.

But its workers wages that must improve to ensure lasting economic growth, said Pocan.

The economy has rebounded since the Great Recession of 2008 in a number of ways, but the one big issue that has been dead flat during that time is wages, said Pocan. Some of that has been related to some of the bad trade deals of the past, he said, resulting in fewer manufacturing jobs.

Pocan said investing in green technology, like wind and solar power, would return some of those better-paying jobs to the U.S. And the profits stay right here, he said.

He also supports raising the minimum wage, improving pay equity between men and women and reducing costs of prescription drugs.

Foreign policy

President Barack Obamas decision to remove troops from Iraq, years after former president George W. Bush sent them there in 2003 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, was good news, Pocan said, and resulted in a reduced federal deficit.

Going forward, Pocan said, U.S. foreign policy should focus on partnering with other countries that may have a better handle on the areas culture and history and have better relationships in the areas experiencing conflict, such as Syria and Afghanistan.

We just dont know that area as well as people in that area, said Pocan. I have a general problem with such an aggressive military role into areas where we dont have a very good track (record).

He said the U.S. needs smarter ways to deal with ISIS terrorists, including improving treatment of Muslims who live in the United States.

The countrys approach to foreign policy should be revisited and laid out in more clear terms, Theron said.

What Im calling for is that we articulate a clear policy and what our goals are, said Theron, who criticized Obamas strategy in Afghanistan after pulling troops out of Iraq years ago.

What goals are the administration trying to achieve? he said. Given that the troops were inserted in small numbers with little fanfare, it seems the administration seems to be trying to fight wars on the cheap. In Vietnam, we ended up with a lot of brave Americans dead and a non-good result for America.
From wire reports

Wrong-way crash kills 4 on I-94: DEERFIELD, Wis.  Four people were killed and two more critically injured in a crash the Wisconsin State Patrol says was caused by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 94 near Deerfield. Officers responded to a complaint of a sport utility vehicle being driven erratically about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday. The SUV turned around and headed against traffic, colliding with two cars.

Koshnick named new courts director: MADISON, Wis.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court has appointed Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick as the new state courts director. Chief Justice Pat Roggensack announced the appointment Thursday. Koschnick has served as chief judge of the Third Judicial Administrative District, which includes Jefferson, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties since 2012. He ran unsuccessfully against incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson in 2009.

High school student charged with girl in locker room: SHAKOPEE, Minn.  A Shakopee High School student has been charged with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly luring a girl out of class and raping her in the boys locker room. Eighteen-year-old Angel Torres Jr. was charged Thursday. According to a criminal complaint, a 17-year-old girl told authorities that she had considered Torres a friend. He asked her to leave class and go to a water fountain on Tuesday, but then grabbed her and led her into the locker room. The girl said he took her into a handicapped stall, locked the door and raped her 15 to 20 minutes.

416,000 early votes in so far in Minnesota: ST. PAUL  Nearly 416,000 Minnesota residents have already cast their ballots for next weeks election. The early votes are pouring in as the state holds its first presidential election with no-excuse absentee voting. Voters previously had to provide a reason to cast a ballot ahead of time. Voting data released by the Secretary of States office Thursday shows more than 415,000 ballots had been accepted. Thats roughly 13 percent of Minnesotas registered voters.
State Rep. Ed Brooks, R-Reedsburg, seeks re-election against Democrat Art Shrader in Assembly District 50. The district includes the village of Kendall and towns of Glendale and Clifton in Monroe County and all of Juneau County, plus parts of Richland and Sauk counties. The election is Nov. 8.

Ed Brooks (I)

Party: Republican

Age: 74

Address: S4311 Grote Hill Road, Reedsburg

Family: Wife Barb, three daughters, five grandchildren

Job: State legislator, farmer

Education: Degree in agricultural economics, UW-Madison, 1965

Elected experience: Town supervisor 1979-1985, town chairman since 1985

Other public service: None

Art Shrader

Party: Democratic

Age: 46

Address: S4197 Hackbarth Road, Reedsburg

Family: Wife of 22 years, Mindy. Daughters Miranda, 20, and Dakota, 17

Job: Business loan officer at WCCU Credit Union; Combat veteran of U.S. Marine Corps, Operation Desert Storm

Education: Winona State University, BA in political science and history; UW-Madison Graduate School of Banking

Elected experience: None

Other public service: Sauk County Economic Development Corporation Board, Reedsburg Homeless Shelter Board

Q&A

What is the top issue facing your district and how would you address it through the legislative process?

Brooks: As Ive knocked on doors across the district, people are constantly telling me how important it is for Wisconsin to have well-maintained roads. I am committed to exploring all options in order to help ensure sustainable transportation funding and a responsible transportation budget for the foreseeable future.

Shrader: Declining or stagnant population growth. I believe this needs to be addressed by implementing a rural place-making plan to attract and retain people to our area. My vision includes resources for our public schools (K-12 and our UW System); investment in infrastructure, including roads, bridges and broadband; and boosting small business and rural economic development.

What is an outside-the-box idea you would like the Legislature to pass next session?

Brooks: The Rural Wisconsin Initiative health care proposal is dedicated to ensuring access to quality health care services for families and seniors in rural communities by investing in a strong healthcare workforce, wellness programs and improving quality in rural hospitals.

Shrader: I would like to see a Wisconsin rural small business capitalization program to help small businesses in rural areas start or expand. This program would be a public-private partnership of local financial institutions, municipalities, UW Extension, business owners and the state.

What would be your area of expertise as a lawmaker?

Brooks: As one of the few farmers remaining in the Legislature, I know how important agriculture is to the state. I know what it is like to run a farm business and the every day ups and downs associated with it. Ive always been committed to improving life for rural Wisconsinites which is why Ill continue to advocate for the Rural Wisconsin Initiative.

Shrader: With over 23 years of experience working with businesses, farms and municipalities in a rural environment, I bring the expertise of real world economic solutions that work in practice not just in theory. In addition, my career has prepared me to work in a bipartisan manner to achieve results, not simply political points.
Former Wisconsin Sen. Dan Kapanke plans to keep an open mind about transportation and education funding and reach across the aisle for joint solutions if elected to his former seat in the 32nd Senate District.

The town of Campbell Republican is attempting to re-take the seat he lost in a 2011 recall election to Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse.

Starting under the leadership of Gov. Jim Doyle, transportation hasnt been a priority, Kapanke said; however, Gov. Scott Walkers transportation plan is a step in the right direction.

In September, Walker unveiled a plan to cut funding for state highway programs, provide more money for local roads and existing highways and delay major projects, as well as authorize $500 million in new bonding. The plan does not increase taxes or fees.

There are more dollars allocated for rural roads and for bridges in Wisconsin than in previous budgets, and the bonding hes suggesting is the least its been in 10 or 12 years, Kapanke said. In that respect, I think its a positive step forward, because we cant be bonding and we need to take care of our rural roads.

However, Kapanke plans to wait for Joint Legislative Audit Bureaus evaluation of the state highway program before coming up with a proposal for Wisconsins roads.

When thats done, I think we ought to come together  and this shouldnt be a partisan issue  with a plan to address the needs and deficiencies that we have, Kapanke said. Do we need more money? I dont know.

If there is a deficiency and the audit calls for more money, Kapanke said he wont take anything off the table as far as a higher gas tax or fees go.

We need to have everybody at the table. We need to take a look at everything, and we need to put in a long-range sustainable plan for our roads, Kapanke said. I dont know what that looks like at this point.

When it comes to a north-south corridor in La Crosse, Kapanke voted against the plan as chairman of the La Crosse Area Planning Commission and says its obvious that the people of La Crosse dont want it.

I think until the community demands (a transportation solution), Im really against spending $140 million (on the corridor), Kapanke said. Lets enhance Hwy. 16 if we have to. Weve done work on Lang Drive and Exit 3 is coming up.

While Kapanke is a strong supporter of the University of Wisconsin System  saying education is where (his) heart is  and is concerned by the job loss associated with recent funding cuts, hes not sure whether it would be wise to increase funding by the amount requested by the UW Board of Regents.

I cant say were going to spend $42 million until I see what the revenues are, Kapanke said.

When it comes to K-12 education, Kapanke is also undecided on whether schools are getting adequate state funding or whether cuts in funding were harming schools.

Despite these cuts, in 2015 we had great ACT scores. We were in the top five in graduation rates nationwide, Kapanke said. I commend our teachers for that. I commend our administrators and certainly our students, because theyre learning.

However, Kapanke didnt commit to either increasing funding or further cuts.

Can we cut, cut, cut every year? That certainly has to be looked at, Kapanke said.

Kapanke is also a strong advocate of vouchers and school choice. He strongly opposes legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
Friday, November 4, 2016

OCTOBER 2016

The National Immigration Law Center has released this report on Arizona's iconic immigration enforcement law, S.B. 1070. For the authors and supporters of Arizonas most notorious anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, the existence of the United States as a nation was being threatened by unauthorized immigration. Specifically, this threat was understood to come from immigrants entering the U.S. from Mexico. Their argument claimed that the nation could be saved from this threat only through the strict and punitive enforcement of the countrys immigration laws, even by way of flagrant racial profiling. Using the words of the very individuals who authored SB 1070and of those who share that worldviewthis report unmasks the underlying racism that motivated such an egregious law.

The civil rights groups that sued to try to prevent SB 1070 from being enforced recently settled their lawsuit with Arizona authorities, just as the nation is embroiled in a public conversation that feels eerily reminiscent of private musings among SB 1070s most ardent supporters. The email excerpts in this report provide just a few examples of why Americans should be alarmed by the motives behind Arizonas law and laws cast from its mold.

SB 1070 serves as a cautionary tale. Those who have lived through the daily realities of SB 1070 in Arizona know how much damage the law has caused communities across the state and recognize that it should not be replicated on a national level. Recently, the editorial board of the conservative Arizona Republic newspaper publicly reflected on SB 1070s negative implications for the country: Arizona understands that we dont need a repeat of that divisive, unproductive fiasco on the national level (Sept. 27, 2016).

KJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2016/11/along-racial-lines-the-genesis-of-arizonas-sb-1070-is-a-cautionary-tale-of-race-based-immigration-policy-october-2016-fo.html
The title of this post is the punny, but spot-on, headline of this local article from Maine. Here are excerpts:

The difficulty of testing for marijuana intoxication and the complexity of Maines drug-testing laws are creating uncertainty among state officials and employers about the workplace impacts of a legal marijuana market. Its uncharted territory to a great extent, said Julie Rabinowitz, director of policy, operations and communications for the Maine Department of Labor.

As Maine residents prepare to vote on marijuana legalization Nov. 8, state labor officials are meeting with their counterparts in Colorado and preparing to answer questions from employers about how passage of Question 1 would affect their drug-testing policies and efforts to maintain a drug-free workplace. State labor officials plan to offer courses on how to spot impairment in the workplace, and they say its unclear whether employers will be able to continue screening prospective workers for marijuana use.

However, backers of the legalization measure say the proposed law leaves in place protections for employers, who would still be able to implement drug-screening requirements, maintain drug-free workplace policies and fire employees who show up for work intoxicated.

No state east of the Rockies has legalized marijuana, but Maine and Massachusetts  as well as Arizona, California and Nevada  will vote Nov. 8 on proposals to establish recreational cannabis markets. Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia have all legalized marijuana for adult use. While Maine already has higher marijuana use rates than most other states and is home to a burgeoning medical marijuana program, the potential increase in access to the drug raises questions for employers about how it would affect workplaces.

Although Maine employers will still have the right to prohibit employees from working while impaired  whether its by alcohol, marijuana or other drugs  there is no agreed-upon testing standard for marijuana impairment. Unlike a positive test for alcohol in the bloodstream, a positive test for marijuana doesnt prove impairment because it could be the result of cannabis use weeks before the test.

And the referendum raises doubts about whether employers will continue to be able to reject job applicants who test positive for marijuana use that is no longer against the law, according to the Department of Labor. The department has sought guidance from Colorado about how a recreational market could affect employers that drug-test employees or maintain drug-free workplace policies, and labor officials are still sorting through the Maine initiative and how it interacts with existing state law related to drug testing. Employers, meanwhile, say they are taking a wait-and-see approach as they look for guidance from state officials on how to deal with employees who show up for work stoned....

The ballot initiative does not require employers to allow the use of marijuana in the workplace or prohibit them from disciplining employees who are under the influence, said Alysia Melnick, policy director for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

Question 1 doesnt change Maine employers rights to keep and maintain a drug-free workplace, Melnick said. Maine is and will continue to be an at-will state, meaning employers can terminate employees for just about any reason. If an employer had concerns about an employees performance or an employee was impaired on the job, they would continue to be within their rights to terminate that employee.

Melnick said the initiative says that employers cannot discriminate against employees who use marijuana, but that doesnt mean they have to hire them if they cant pass a drug test. If someone is not performing their job well or seems impaired or is doing anything else that would cause an employer to fire them, theyd still be allowed to let them go, she said. What they cant do is fire someone solely on their use of marijuana outside of the workplace.

Even if passage of the referendum would not prohibit pre-employment drug screening, employers may find themselves walking a fine line between respecting employees rights to do what they want on their own time and a desire to maintain a work environment free of people using marijuana, according to labor experts. That could leave employers in the uncomfortable position of trying to decide between tightening policies on positive test results to keep users out of the workplace or loosening them to avoid losing qualified employees.

That becomes tricky, according to labor officials and employers, because it can be more difficult to assess impairment from marijuana use than from the use of other substances, such as alcohol or opiates. A positive marijuana test indicates only that someone has consumed in recent weeks, not whether he or she is actually impaired in the workplace.

With alcohol, a breath test can be used to determine if someone is above the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content that is considered the threshold for impairment. But there is no agreed-upon blood-content level for tetrahydrocannabinol  or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana  that would determine impairment. THC can stay in a persons system for weeks after consumption, and regular marijuana users could have high THC levels but not be impaired.

Given that state law now prohibits recreational marijuana use, some employers have considered any positive test a reason not to hire a job candidate. But if recreational marijuana use becomes legal, drug screening gets complicated. Human resources officials are still in two modes: catch-up and reaction, said Jim Reidy, a New Hampshire attorney who specializes in labor and employment law and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management. Were in an interesting time when theres a culture clash between individual rights and the rights of an employer to govern its rules of conduct and its expectation with regards to employees. Were in a culture war between individual rights and the rights of the employers....

Maine labor laws allow employers to drug-test employees with approval from the state Department of Labor, but the regulations around testing are complex and exclude most Maine employers from implementing random testing policies. The number of Maine companies that drug-test employees is surprisingly low, even though the numbers have increased over the past decade, Rabinowitz said.

Of the states roughly 40,000 employers, about 500 do some form of drug testing, including pre- and post-hiring tests. There are fewer than 200 companies that do random drug tests of employees. That number is especially low because companies with fewer than 50 employees are not allowed to randomly test employees. Some companies  particularly those that employ commercial truck drivers or federal contractors  are required by federal law to drug-test employees.

In 2015, the state recorded the highest percentage of positive drug tests since regulated testing began in 1989. Last year, a total of 26,258 tests were administered, with 5 percent  or 1,308 tests  coming back positive. A total of 1,093 of those tests, or 84.1 percent, were positive for cannabinoids, according to the Department of Labor. While more than 500 companies do some form of drug testing, that doesnt necessarily help when it comes to determining if an employee is impaired by marijuana while on the job, Rabinowitz said. If you are smoking marijuana and test positive, but you smoked it recreationally on the weekend, how do I differentiate that from someone who smoked that morning and came to work high? It becomes a critical issue if marijuana is legalized recreationally, Rabinowitz said. It becomes a real difficult standard for an employer to enforce....

Colorados experience with marijuana in the workplace appears to indicate Maine has little reason for concern. After Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012 and commercial sales began in 2014, nothing changed in terms of employer rights with drug testing, said Andrew Freedman, director of marijuana coordination for the state. Employers can still drug-test employees and put in place drug-free workplace policies.

In 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that businesses can fire employees for the use of marijuana, even if its while theyre off duty. Freedman said he is not aware of any widespread concerns about drug testing in Colorado. He said about 13 percent of adults use marijuana, which is roughly the same as before legalization, suggesting there is no greater risk of workers being high while on the job. At the same time, however, he also has heard comments from employers that it is now harder to hire people around the age of 25 because they cant pass a drug test....

Maine labor officials said they have looked to Colorados experience and contacted officials there for advice. But, they said, there are important differences between labor and employment laws in the two states and that Maine could run into problems not experienced out West. Colorado doesnt have the same limitations around drug testing that exist in Maine, for example, and it does not require employers to report to the state if they drug-test employees or job applicants.
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this lengthy new Roll Call article with this full headline: "Marijuana Legalization Could Get a Boost in a Democratic Senate: Advocates hope for better reception to sweeping pot bill, now stalled." Here are excerpts from an article that effective reviews the federal marijuana reform landscape a week before a very important election for marijuana reform:

Marijuana legalization advocates hope that Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., can push through a sweeping bill if he becomes Judiciary Committee Chairman under a Democratic-controlled Senate (Douglas Graham/Roll Call)

The momentum toward marijuana legalization  already accelerated this year by a raft of state ballot measures  could get an even bigger boost if Democrats win control of the Senate. Thats partly because the controlling party will choose the chairman of the committee that determines whether a sweeping marijuana proposal advances or dies.

The so-called CARERS Act has stalled in the Judiciary Committee under Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who, in the past, has staunchly opposed legalized marijuana. The Democrat next in line to take the gavel, Patrick J. Leahy, has shown more interest. He said in 2013 that federal officials should not waste their time prosecuting marijuana crimes in states where it is legal. He also comes from Vermont, which has led the country in legalization efforts.

Michael Collins, deputy director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalization group, called Grassleys reticence to take on marijuana-related measures an obstacle to legalization. If Sen. Leahy takes the gavel, we are a little more optimistic, he said....

When the CARERS Act was introduced in March 2015, it was considered historically significant. Most key marijuana-related votes had taken place on the House side, through incremental changes tucked into unrelated bills. But here was the Senate, proposing one of the most comprehensive pot-related bills ever. CARERS focused solely on medical use  considered an easier sell. But it tackled many of legalization advocates biggest issues.

The bill would make it easier to research the medical benefits of cannabis and to buy and sell medical marijuana in the growing number of states where it is legal. It would also make it easier for veterans to access medical marijuana. Its original sponsors indicated a promising bipartisan appeal: Republican libertarian firebrand Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker, of New Jersey. And it quickly attracted a list of co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle  including Charles E. Schumer of New York, a future shoe-in for majority leader under the Democrats, and Lindsey Graham, a conservative senior senator from South Carolina.

But the bill first had to pass through Grassley, who has linked lax marijuana laws and enforcement to the epidemic of opioid and heroin use. Grassley has held two marijuana-related hearings, one on researching its medical benefits, and another on cannabidiol, a component of marijuana that is thought to ease symptoms of epilepsy. The CARERS Act would remove cannabidiol, or CBD, from the Controlled Substances Act, facilitating research and patient access. Grassley expressed support for that part of the measure, but he made it clear that his interest is limited to medical potential. Legitimate, medical research shouldnt be confused at all with smoking marijuana for recreational purposes, which the science tells us can be harmful and addictive, especially for young people, he said at a July hearing.

Grassley supports research into medical marijuana and its constituent parts, but opposes other parts of the bill, according to spokeswoman Jill Gerber. She pointed out that few Judiciary Committee members had co-sponsored the bill, an indication, she said, that there might not be enough support to pass it even if Grassley scheduled a vote. Indeed, some of the other committee members, including Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, and Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama, have been outspoken in their opposition to legalization. (Sessions said in April that good people dont smoke marijuana.)

But advocates have been tallying the potential votes on their side and are coming up with a different conclusion. CARERS co-sponsors Graham and Schumer sit on the Judiciary committee and others have made statements that indicate they could be persuaded, the Drug Policy Institutes Collins said. This is not something that Leahy would have to shove down representatives throats and then they would have a knock-down, drag-out fight on the floor, he said.

Legalization advocates viewed the marijuana hearings as a sign that Grassley had softened his position. But they said the bills prospects would be better under Leahy. They noted that the Vermont senator showed support for states that have legalized marijuana when he chaired the committee the last time Democrats controlled the Senate. Leahy held a hearing on drug policy in 2013, saying state laws legalizing marijuana should be respected. Leahy did not respond to a request to comment for this story.

The CARERS Act sponsors expect to reintroduce the bill in the next Congress and were optimistic about its chances, according to a Democratic staffer with knowledge of the bill. Attitudes about medical marijuana are shifting quickly, Booker said in a statement. Election Day could represent another big step forward. I expect the momentum behind the CARERS Act to grow."

A companion bill introduced on the House side has 42 co-sponsors, including 14 Republicans. Advocates say it has a good chance of passing even if Republicans maintain control of the House, which most projections indicate is the most likely outcome in November. Other marijuana-related legislation has passed with increasing bipartisan support every year since 2014, when the House adopted an amendment to an appropriations bill prohibiting the use of federal money to enforce marijuana laws in states that have legalized it for medical use.

Legalization advocates are also optimistic that the Democrats next in line to head the Banking and Finance committees would help advance bills aimed at easing financial restrictions on pot-related businesses. Both are front-line issues in the legalization movement that are also addressed in the CARERS Act. Federal laws make it difficult for businesses that sell marijuana to get loans or open bank accounts, forcing them to do most of their transactions in cash. They are also prohibited from taking tax deductions for their expenses....

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Banking Committees top Democrat, has expressed reservations on marijuana-related issues in the past, but he said last year that he supported legalized medical marijuana. (Ohio legalized medical marijuana in September.) And Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, sponsored bills this term that would make it easier for marijuana-related businesses to advertise and to take tax deductions.

But thats not the only reason marijuana advocates are calling the 2016 election a pivotal one. For those of us who are crusading [for] the end of this failed prohibition of marijuana, this could well be the turning point, said Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who was campaigning in Arizona for that states marijuana ballot measure. Dozens of marijuana-related bills in the House and Senate could get a better reception in the coming Congress, regardless of which party controls the Senate and House, advocates say.

Five states, including the political bellwether of California, will vote to allow adult recreational use, potentially bringing to nine the total of states with full legalization plus the District of Columbia, and potentially bringing the percentage of Americans living in states where pot use is legal to as much as 25 percent from 5 percent. An additional four states will consider medical use this election. At present, more than two dozen states allow it. A Gallup poll released this month showed a record high of 60 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization.

What happens with these nine states on the 8th could propel a breakthrough in Congress and its going to be a huge signal to the other folks around the country, Blumenauer said. Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, had a similar interpretation. The reality is, after Nov. 8, there is going to be a significantly larger number of members of Congress who have constituents who are affected by the way the [federal] government approaches cannabis policy, she said.
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 head to southern Florida.

Here, you will find blue-green seas, marine wildlife, and islands that hold thousands of years of human history.

Welcome to Biscayne National Park!

Biscayne is not very far from the lights, noise and excitement of downtown Miami. But it has a very different atmosphere from the big city.

Biscayne National Park was established as a national monument in 1968. It became a national park in 1980. That year, its size also increased.

The park now covers more than 70,000 hectares. It includes the northern part of the world-famous Florida Keys. Keys are low-lying islands or reefs.

If you enjoy water, Biscayne is the park for you. Ninety-five percent of the park is water. Many kinds of animals live in these waters. Some of them are threatened or endangered.

You will find the huge, gentle West Indian manatee, the less gentle American crocodile, several kinds of sea turtles, and more than 500 species of fish.

Four ecosystems come together here, which is what makes the park so diverse. The blending ecosystems create edge communities. These edge communities support a huge array of wildlife.

The underwater diversity is what attracts most people to Biscayne National Park. Many visitors come here to snorkel or scuba dive in Biscaynes clear and warm waters.

Human history

Human history at Biscyane begins more than 10,000 years ago.

Scientists say evidence of the areas earliest people is mostly underwater now, as water levels have risen over time.

Within the last 3,000 years, people began to settle in the area. Scientists continue to learn about these people by examining the big hills of shells they left behind. The shells contain other waste, too, including early tools and housewares.

As the population grew, it divided into separate cultures. The groups began making pottery and created trade networks. These Native Americans are called the Tequesta.

The Tequesta depended on the rich food source of the sea to survive. They were not centered on farming, which requires huge amounts of time. So the Tequesta had more time than other natives for art and religion. Very complex social structures developed as a result.

European explorers began arriving in the area in the early 1500s. They brought with them diseases like smallpox and measles. Over time, these diseases killed huge numbers of Floridas natives.

Early explorers arrived in the area on ships. The reefs and rough waters made it difficult for ship captains. Biscaynes waters contain more than 50 shipwrecks. Scuba divers today can explore six of them.

Among them is the Erl King, which sank in 1891. It was built in 1865.

Erl King was mostly used to transport goods, but it also carried rich passengers. In its first few years of service, it was used for trading between China and Australia. The ship hit Long Reef as it sailed to New Orleans from England. Its machinery and other parts were saved, but Erl King itself sank to the sea floor.

Another shipwreck that scuba divers can explore is the Lugano. The British steamship sank in 1913. At the time of its sinking, it was the largest ship ever to wreck in the Florida Keys. It was traveling to Havana, Cuba, carrying goods and more than 100 passengers. Most of them were Spaniards immigrating to Cuba.

High winds and heavy seas sent the ship far off course. A collision with Long Reef damaged the ship. Much of the cargo and all of the passengers were safely removed from the ship. The captain and crew remained aboard.

Many people tried to remove the water from Lugano and repair it. But, after several weeks, they abandoned their efforts.

Today, the Lugano remains along Long Reef, almost 8 meters below water.

Exploring the park

Many visitors to Biscayne National Park choose to explore underwater.

Guides lead snorkeling and scuba diving trips. These give visitors the chance to get up close to the parks underwater wildlife as well as its shipwrecks.

Visitors can also explore the park on a boat.

Canoeing and kayaking are great ways to enjoy Biscaynes mangrove forests. Mangroves are little trees that grow in coastal waters.

Many people take a kayak or canoe around the islands and lagoons.

At Elliot Key, visitors can set up camp and sleep in the wild.

At Boca Chita Key, visitors can explore a lighthouse. The lighthouse has become a symbol of Biscayne National Park. It was built in the 1930s by Mark Honeywell, one of the islands former owners.

The deck at the top of the 20-meter-tall lighthouse provides beautiful views of the ocean and the nearby islands.

The top of the lighthouse also offers views of Miami Beachs famous skyline.

But, visitors to Biscayne National Park probably are not there to see skyscrapers and city lights. The beauty in Biscayne is quiet waters, rustling mangroves and, if youre lucky, a visit with a manatee.

I'm Caty Weaver.

And I'm Ashley Thompson.

Ashley Thompson wrote this report with materials from the National Park Service. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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Words in This Story

marine - adj. of or relating to the sea or the plants and animals that live in the sea

key - n. a low island or reef

array - n. a large group or number of things  usually singular

network - n. a group of people or organizations that are closely connected and that work with each other

cargo - n. something that is carried from one place to another by boat, airplane, etc.

mangrove - n. a tropical tree that has roots which grow from its branches and that grows in swamps or shallow salt water

canoe - v. to go or travel in a canoe, a long narrow boat that is moved by a paddle with one blade

kayak - v. to go or travel in a kayak, a long narrow boat that is moved by a paddle with two blades
Some Americans are criticizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for possibly influencing the U.S. presidential election.

The criticism started last Friday after the bureaus director, James Comey, sent a letter to Congress. The letter said the FBI was reopening an investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons emails.

The emails were written before she became the Democratic Partys candidate for president.

Comey told Congress that the FBI was studying a new group of emails. He said they were found in a separate investigation involving former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the husband of top Clinton advisor Huma Abedin.

Investigators looking at emails

Comey said his agency was examining the emails to learn if they had information important to the earlier investigation of Clinton. In 2015, the FBI began investigating her use of a private email server while she worked as Americas top diplomat.

The investigation was launched to discover whether Clinton had sent secret government information through the private email server.

Comey told Congress earlier that the FBI had completed its investigation into Clintons emails. In July, he announced the agency had not found enough evidence to charge her with any crime. But he did say the investigation found that she had been extremely careless in her email practices.

Historically, federal government agencies have attempted not to get involved in politics during election campaigns. A law called the Hatch Act sets limits on the political activities of federal employees.

Some members of the Democratic Party - and at least one Republican - accused Comey of possibly violating the Hatch Act by making his announcement. The FBI director has said he felt that informing Congress was the right thing to do because he had earlier said the investigation was over.

Hillary Clintons campaign criticized Comey for making the announcement without providing any information about what was in the emails.

The candidate called the action unprecedented and deeply troubling. She predicted that FBI officials this time would come to the same decision as before, saying there is no case.

Obama weighs in

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama seemed to question Comeys judgement. While not talking about the FBI director by name, Obama answered a question from the website NowThis about Comeys action.

The president told the site he has been careful not to look like he is meddling in Comeys decision. But he added that there are rules that need to be followed.

I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations we dont operate on innuendo, we dont operate on incomplete information, we dont operate on leaks.

Richard Painter once worked as a lawyer in the administration of former President George W. Bush. Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota, says it was wrong for Comey to release the information so close to the election, without providing further explanation.

Hatch Act violation?

This is an extraordinary violation [of the Hatch Act], and I think particularly serious. We're talking about trying to use the FBI to go after political opponents. And the FBI should never have allowed itself to be used this way.

But George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley disagrees. He told VOA that Comey was correct in informing Congress that more investigation would take place into the emails.

Someone can certainly question the timing - or even the means of this disclosure - but it is not a violation of federal law.

Turley added that Comey really faced a no-win situation.

He could (have been) accused either of a violation of omission or commission. If he had withheld this information and it turned out to be significant, many people would have blamed him after the election.

Businessman Donald Trump, the Republican Partys presidential candidate, used Comeys announcement to support earlier suggestions that Clinton should face criminal charges. He said if Clinton is elected, it would create a constitutional crisis because she would be under investigation while in the White House.

FBI info comes as race for president narrows

Comeys decision came as opinion surveys showed the presidential race tightening up just days before the election.

There was more criticism of the FBI this week. On Monday, the bureau released documents from a 15-year-old closed investigation. The case involved a pardon given in 2001 by then President Bill Clinton, the candidates husband.

More than 120 pages relating to the pardon of businessman Marc Rich were published on the FBIs Freedom of Information Act website. Bill Clinton pardoned Rich on his final day in office. Rich had been charged with federal crimes, including tax evasion. He fled to Switzerland to avoid trial and lived there in hiding for several years. Rich died in 2013.

According to the FBI documents, the investigation focused on whether there was a link between the pardon and a large donation given to the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The documents suggest that the donor of $450,000 was Richs former wife Denise, although she was not named. FBI agents sought to talk with her as part of the investigation into her ex-husbands pardon, according to the documents.

Comey was asked to take on the investigation into Richs pardon in 2003 while serving as the U.S. attorney in New York City. The documents suggest that not all rules were followed during the pardon review process. But the documents did not seem to show any new information about the case, which was closed in 2005 with no charges brought.

Hillary Clintons campaign questioned the FBI decision to make public the information just days before the election. Absent a (Freedom of Information Act) deadline, this is odd, a campaign spokesman tweeted.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the FBI denied there was anything unusual about making the Marc Rich documents public. It said the documents were put automatically on the FBI website after several Freedom of Information Act requests were made.

Also posted to the same site in early October were documents relating to Donald Trumps father, Fred. One of them was dated 1966, and others were from 1988. The documents mainly listed information about Fred Trumps many investment properties in New York.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Additional material came from the Associated Press, Reuters and reports by VOA reporters Michael Bowman, Wayne Lee, Marissa Melton and Ken Bredemeier. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Do you think the FBI director was correct in making the information about the investigation public? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

practice  n. a custom, tradition or activity

unprecedented  adj.  never having happened before

meddle  v. get involved in something that is not wanted to others

innuendo  n. statement suggesting someone did something immoral or improper

disclosure  n. the act of making something known

omission  n. something that was not included, but should have been

commission  n. the act of committing a crime

significant  adj. very important or noticeable

evasion  n. the act of avoiding something

odd  adj. strange or unusual
When politicians give speeches, they talk about any number of things, such as their beliefs, personal history, or opinions on major issues.

Politicians have to be careful about how they present their ideas. They want to direct the attention of individual listeners or larger audiences toward important ideas and words. But they also try to limit or avoid unnecessary information.

How do they do this?

One way is to put together sentences in a reasonable way.

In an earlier Everyday Grammar program, we explored how politicians sometimes use deliberate sentence fragments for a rhetorical effect.

Today, we explore another strategy politicians often use to present ideas: sentence cohesion.

What is cohesion?

The word cohesion suggests the action of making something whole. In writing, this means presenting sentences that are related to each other in a reasonable, or logical, way. When sentences are cohesive, they slowly build on an idea until it reaches a clear point.

Consider this example. Imagine you are reading the following sentences.

"I go to work early every day. Classic films are my favorite. English is a fun, if difficult, language to learn."

This short paragraph is not cohesive. How do you know?

The ideas are not connected to each other.

The first sentence talks about a custom  something the writer or speaker is doing every day. The second is about a personal preference. The third expressed an opinion about the English language.

The example is difficult to read because there is no logical continuation between ideas; instead, a different idea is raised in each sentence.

Lack of cohesion can cause the reader or listener to stop paying attention.

Politicians have to avoid this mistake at all costs. They may have to deal with different issues, but they cannot spend too much time on any subject because they might lose their audience.

So, what does cohesion look like?

We can look to the American election campaign for examples of sentence cohesion.

The main candidates for president  Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton  have used cohesion to develop and present ideas.

Consider these examples

Here is Trump accepting the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.

"Then theres my mother, Mary. She was strong, but also warm and fair-minded. She was a truly great mother. She was also one of the most honest and charitable people that I have ever known, and a great, great judge of character. "

And here is Hillary Clinton accepting the Democratic Party's nomination:

"My mother, Dorothy, was abandoned by her parents as a young girl. She ended up on her own at 14, working as a house maid. She was saved by the kindness of others."

Both candidates use cohesion to make their points.

Consider Trump's statement. He speaks about his mother, Mary, and then uses the pronoun "she" when talking about her in later sentences.

This is one example of cohesion: writing a topic sentence and then repeating the subject in every sentence of the paragraph. This makes it clear that you are receiving more information about the same subject.

Clinton uses a similar idea in her statement. She said:

My mother, Dorothy, was abandoned by her parents as a young girl.

She ended up on her own at 14, working as a house maid.

She was saved by the kindness of others.

Here, Clinton uses a similar idea to begin her sentences. She introduces her mother, Dorothy, in the first sentence and then provides more information about her in the following sentences.

The final sentence, "She was saved by the kindness of others." is especially important.

Hillary Clinton could have said "The kindness of others saved my mother."

Why did she say it the way she did?

Using the passive voice enabled Clinton to use the pronoun "she" at the beginning of the sentence. This means that the sentences look and sound the same; they begin with "she."

Both Clinton and Trump used a similar grammatical structure. The beginning of each sentence presents "known" information  the pronoun "she" - and the end of each sentence presents new information.

Grammar expert Martha Kolln had a name for this structure. She called it the "known-new" contract. In other words, English speakers generally present known information in the beginning of a sentence and new information at the end of a sentence.

What is the rhetorical effect of this grammatical structure?

Here is one possible answer: Both presidential candidates are able to show voters that they are more than just politicians. They are normal people, too.

By giving personal information about their families, they hope to show that they can relate to voters. In other words, the candidates want to show that they share values  a great respect for family  that many voters like to see in political candidates.

What can you do?

So, how can you develop sentence cohesion?

You can start by examining the structures from the speeches of Clinton and Trump. Try to describe your mother in your own words. But be sure to use the same structure that they did!

My mother, ________, was ____________.

She ___________ .

She ___________.

I'm John Russell.

And I'm Ashley Thompson.

John Russell wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

concise  n. not including extra or unnecessary information

deliberate sentence fragment  n. grammar an incomplete sentence usually consisting of a verb or noun phrase

rhetorical  adj. of, relating to, or concerned with the art of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people

cohesion  n. a condition in which people or things are closely united

audience  n. a group of people who gather together to listen to something (such as a concert) or watch something

preference  n. a feeling of liking or wanting one person or thing more than another person or thing

charitable  adj. showing kindness in talking about or judging other people

character  n. the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves :someone's personality

abandon  v. to leave and never return to (someone who needs protection or help)

maid  n. a female servant

topic  n. someone or something that people talk or write about

introduce  v. to make (someone) known to someone else by name

passive  adj. grammar showing that the subject of a sentence is acted on or affected by the verb

grammatical  adj. of or relating to grammar


The two main candidates for president of the United States have spoken about a lot about Asia during the election campaign.

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are critical of trade deals with Asian nations. They have different opinions about U.S. defense policies in East Asia.

Some observers have noted that Americas interests overseas remain consistent. And, they say, the problems facing the next president are complex.

Both Clinton and Trump have been critical of free trade deals. That is especially the case with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The candidates might be reacting to growing public anger. Many Americans have blamed international trade for the loss of jobs over the past 20 years.

The U.S. Congress has yet to approve the TPP. It is unclear whether lawmakers are willing to vote on the agreement after the elections next week.

During election campaign stops, Clinton and Trump have each said they do not support the TPP. Clinton changed her position from 2012 when she called the deal the gold standard in trade agreements. Four years ago, she was serving as Secretary of State. Trump has also voiced his opposition to the TPP, calling it a bad deal.

Supporters of the agreement, however, note that it is meant to open up markets in Asian and Pacific countries to American companies. The deal is also meant to balance Chinas expanding economic influence in East Asia.

The TPPs supporters note that, if approved, the deal would include 12 nations, including Japan. Those countries are responsible for 40 percent of world trade.

China policy an important campaign issue

Trump has accused China of manipulating the value of Chinese money to make its exports less costly to other countries. He has threatened, if elected president, to use high taxes on Chinese goods to punish China for its actions.

Some economists say measures such as these could cause a trade war.

Clinton has been more critical of human rights abuses in China. And she has criticized the Chinese government for its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Professor Xie Tao teaches political science with Beijing Foreign Studies University. He says public criticism of China has been strong during the election campaign. But he says the criticism tends to soften after the elections. Xie notes this was the case with Clintons husband, former president Bill Clinton. As president, he decided not to link Chinese human rights issues to trade.

Candidates differ on answer to North Korean threat

How the United States should answer threats from North Korea also has been a campaign issue.

Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, has voiced support for strong military alliances with South Korea and Japan to counter North Koreas weapons programs. She also wants to continue working with China to increase economic restrictions on the North Korean government.

Trump has suggested another plan of action. China is North Koreas main ally and trade partner. The businessman says he would pressure the Chinese government to force North Korea to stop its nuclear activities.

China has joined the United Nations Security Council in ordering sanctions on North Korea. But, it is unwilling to cause the collapse of the North, which would likely result in a unified Korea under the control of South Korea.

In addition, Trump has called on South Korea and Japan to support more of the cost of the U.S. military presence in those countries. At times, he has suggested that the allies might be permitted to develop nuclear weapons as protection against North Korea.

Professor Kim Hyun-Wook is with the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul. He says some changes may take place under the next president, but the alliance will remain strong.

There might be some tensions and adjustment and refinement, but I think the alliance will be very solid.

The U.S. military has visibly placed bombers and fighter jets in East Asia. It is also seeking to deploy the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. Both China and Russia have criticized the proposed deployment.

Im Mario Ritter.

VOAs Brian Padden reported this story with additional information from reporter Bill Ide in Beijing. Mario Ritter adapted the story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

How do you think the election will affect us foreign policy in East Asia? Let us know in the comment section below.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

consistent  adj. staying about the same over time

gold standard  n. the best example of something

manipulate  v. to deal with in a controlling way, often unfairly

tend  v. to behave in a certain way often

counter  v. to do something in response to something else

visibly  adj. in a way that can be noted or observed
The man accused of running over two people on Oct. 29 made his first appearance in court Friday.

Charles Lewis, 71, accused of vehicular homicide

Jessic Enchautegui-Otero killed in incident, Deputy Adam Pennell injured

Tip lead authorities to Lewis on Nov. 3

Charles Charlie Lewis, 71, of Lake Wales, is charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury, and leaving the scene of a crash involving death.



Detectives said Lewis ran over Jessica Enchautegui-Otero and Deputy Adam Pennell, killing Otero and injuring Pennell, then drove off.



Judge Sharon Franklin issued him a $101,000 bond for all three charges. If he bonds out, Judge Franklin prohibited him from drinking alcohol and visiting any alcoholic establishments. She also put him under GPS monitoring with house arrest conditions.

RELATED: Vehicle strikes woman, killing her and injuring a deputy

"A real bad situation for everyone"

According to the arrest affidavit, Lewis was at The Coop bar before the crash.



When the detectives came in here yesterday and showed me his picture, and said thats who they arrested, I mean shocked. Shocked, said Lynn Robarts, the manager of the Coop Bar.



I wouldve never guessed it because Ive never seen him drunk.



Robarts said Lewis was at the bar for its Halloween party, along with more than 200 others. She said she wasnt sure how much he had to drink that night, but she confirmed he was a regular at the bar.



He comes out a couple days a week," Robarts said. "And you know we all liked him. A good guy.



She went on to call what happened a real bad situation for everyone.

RELATED: Man arrested in Polk hit-and-run that killed woman, injured deputy



From the minute I heard about it, I mean for a young mother to die, saddened, and then a cop at that young age with all of the injuries hes got," said Robarts. "I mean it was, I was saddened from the get-go. When we found out who it was, I was even more saddened."



A tipster led authorities to Lewis on Nov. 3, six days after the crash happened. Investigators said Lewis told them he had four bottles of beer.



He explained that he swerved to avoid hitting the deputys car, and drove into the median. Lewis also said he knew he hit them, but he didnt come forward because he feared the repercussions of his actions.

Saying goodbye

Meanwhile, Jessica Enchautegui-Oteros family and friends prepared to put her to rest.



Its tough for everyone and I feel that people should know the causes of drinking and driving and how it affects everyone, said Jonathan Nicholas, a childhood friend of Enchautegui-Otero.



Enchautegui-Otero was a mother of two and engaged. Nicholas last saw her in September when she graduated from the Ultimate Medical Academy, where he worked.



It breaks my heart that just shortly after, she lost her life. I didnt get the chance to truly help her, Nicholas said.

RELATED: Woman killed in hit-and-run just latest tragedy for her father



Her wake is Nov. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Brown & Sons Funeral Home, located at 5624 26th St, West Bradenton, Florida. Her funeral is at the same location, Sat. Nov. 5, at 10:30 am.



The Polk County Sheriffs Office said Deputy Pennell remains hospitalized, with a long road to recovery.


SWEET HOME  Oliver Mercer, the 58-year-old Lebanon man who disappeared Monday during a mushroom-picking trip near Rocky Top Bridge, east of Sweet Home, is out of the woods and safe, Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley reports.

Riley said Mercer flagged down a fishing boat at about 10 a.m. Thursday. The fisherman gave Mercer a ride back to the boat dock where he was reunited with his friends.

He told rescue workers that he got turned around after picking mushrooms all day on Oct. 31. He said he traveled over 2 miles south down to the Green Peter Reservoir, where he traveled over five miles along the water's edge in hopes of getting back to Rocky Top Bridge.

Mercer said that although he was unable to start any fires, the evening temperatures never got too cold and he was able to make a bed out of fir boughs.

The Lane County Sheriff's Office, Marion County Sheriff's Office, Oregon Army National Guard, REACH, US Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, Polk County Sheriff's Office ATV Team and the Civil Air Patrol assisted LCSO rescue personnel. The entire team consisted of 90 volunteers and two dogs, contributing more than 750 man hours.

Sheriff Riley wanted to thank all the search and rescue personnel and agencies involved in the search. "Successful searches such as this could not be made possible without the collaborative and professional relationship shared by all the agencies involved."

Riley also reminds citizens who venture into the forest to always be prepared to spend the night. He advises always carrying the following items: Map of the area, compass or GPS, extra dry clothes (no cotton), flashlight, first-aid kit, fire starter or matches, knife, extra food and water. Also a Spot Locator or similar device is ideal and can help searchers locate you in time of need.
New details have emerged in the Pratyusha Banerjee suicide case, after a transcript of her last phone call with partner Rahul Raj Singh, was made available to Mumbai Mirror by the lawyer representing the Balika Vadhu actress' parents.

Neeraj Gupta, Soma and Shankar Banerjee's advocate, gave details of the three-minute phone conversation, to the daily. Gupta has alleged that Rahul Raj Singh forced Pratyusha into prostitution here in Mumbai, as a result of which she committed suicide.

In the transcript, Pratyusha is recorded as telling Rahul Raj Singh: "I had not come here to sell myself... I had come here to act... to work. And where are you putting me today? Rahul, you have no idea how bad I am feeling right now."

Later in the conversation, Pratyusha is recorded as having told Rahul: "You are selfish... you are spoiling my name. People are talking about me."

In this same conversation, Neeraj Gupta says, Pratyusha mentions the word "prostitution", "making it very clear that she was forced into prostitution by Rahul".

Rahul Raj Singh has previously said that their last conversation was about an upset Pratyusha complaining that her parents wanted her 'to earn money anyhow'.

Gupta is filing an application for Pratyusha's death to be re-investigated.

Pratyusha was found hanging from the ceiling of the flat she shared with Rahul on 1 April 2016. She was only 24.

Rahul Raj Singh  whom Pratyusha's parents accused of being abusive towards their daughter  was booked for abetment of suicide. While the actor-producer applied for anticipatory bail on 8 April, the petition was rejected by the court. Later, the Bombay HC granted him interim protection from arrest.
The Tata Group, which is already fighting a perception battle following the public slugfest between the incumbent chairman Ratan Tata and the ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, is yet again in the news for the wrong reason.

At least three news photographers were injured on Friday at the premises of Bombay House, the headquarters of the Tata Group, after they were beaten up by the Tata security staff.

According to a Tata group spokesperson, some members of the security staff too suffered injuries in the scuffle. Photographers trying to click pictures of Mistry, who arrived there to chair a board meeting of Tata group firm, Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IGHCL).

When photographers saw Mistry, they rushed to click his pictures. In the meantime, the security at the Tata Group who were trying to control the situation were roughed up the photographers. Cameras belonging to lens men of Mid-Day and Hindustan Times were also damaged.

Atul Kamble, a photographer with Mid-Day newspaper, said the incident began immediately after Mistry went inside the building.

The security staff came outside and started hitting photo journalists. The security staff were chasing us. In my 20 years of journalistic career, this is something I have never seen at the Bombay House premises, said Kamble.

Raju Shinde, another photo journalist who works with Mumbai Mirror, said he was beaten up mercilessly by the Tata staff. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside Bombay House, Shinde said.

Later, the situation was brought under control with the intervention of police from Mata Ramabai Police station. Four security guards and three photographers have been taken for medical check-up.

Debashis Ray, Tata Group spokesperson, said he apologised to the journalists later. "I went and spoke to everyone who was present outside. I apologise to everyone who was present. Three of our security personnel too got hurt and have been taken to hospital. I understand a few photographers have been hurt and taken to hospital as well, Ray said.

The Mumbai Press Club condemned the attacks. The Mumbai Press Club does not expect a corporate house like Tatas to indulge in violent practices against media persons, and demands explanation from the corporate authorities who allowed security personnel to take this extreme step, the Press Club said in a press release.
The recent change in UK visa rules announced today which created a panic among Indian IT professionals might not have a significant impact, according to experts in the industry.

Indias IT professionals are paid more than the current basic that the UK stipulates, said Kris Lakshmikanth, Chairman & Managing Director at The Head Hunters India; and visiting faculty, Institute of Management, Ranchi.

"Who pays such low salaries, anyways. I don't think any Indian IT firm does," said Lakshmikanth.

Under the new visa rules announced by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier limit of 20,800 pounds.

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.

The changes come just days before British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India on Sunday for her three-day visit.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

The Tier 2 ICT category rules apply to most Indian firms. Besides this, the rules also refer to a immigration health surcharge. The quantum of the surcharge will be announced in due course and will be applicable to all Indian IT firms when they make visa applications to the UK.

Lakshmikanth said that the average annual salaries of IT professionals in sales in Indian firms who are sent to the UK would be in the range of 50,000 to 60,000 pounds, and in addition they would get 50 to 60 percent commission. The current raised income slabs by the UK government wont affect IT workers from India,  said Lakshmikanth.

Ramesh Loganathan, former President (Hyderabad Software Enterprise Association HYSEA) and Managing Director, Progress Software and a mentor for startups says that the salaries paid two decades ago for Indian IT professionals were more than what the UK government had prescribed as the basic earlier -- 20,800 pounds. As a market, the UK is large. However, the whole of Europe is comparable to the US where Indian IT has a sizeable presence, said Loganathan.

The UK may not be a sizeable market for India compared to the US but what this statement from the UK indicates is not very `inviting for the Indian IT industry, said Sanchit Gogia Chief Analyst & CEO of Greyhound Research, an independent IT and telecom research and advisory firm. He said that the change in rules indicates a `sense of protectionism on the part of the UK government. The salaries mentioned are not prohibitive by the Indian IT standards and so that will not be an issue, said Gogia.

ThoughtWorks India, a global technology consultancy firm, also echoes the same feeling that the raised salary slab will not affect India's IT industry who sends its employees to the UK. Dilkash Tasneem, head, global mobility and immigration, ThoughtWorks India said the increase in salaries as mentioned by changed UK visa rules will not affect the company as the salaries they pay to their employees in the UK is beyond the threshold announced by that government. The Tier 2 ICT will now have to pay the health surcharge, but this too only applies to short-term visas which are for a year and not for the long-term visas that are for a three year period, said Tasneem.

The change in visa rules will help sharpen the Indian IT industry, believe some. Loganathan said that he welcomed the new announcement from the UK with regard to visa fees as it only helps sharpens Indian companies to innovate and come out with new business models. The number of US visa applications havent gone up, but the industry revenues have tripled. This is because the business models have been innovative. So, similar sharp business will come forth on account of the revised UK visa rules," he said.

Meanwhile, reacting to the news, the industry body Nasscom today expressed disappointment at the decision of the UK government to implement proposed changes to the UK visa system which it believes will affect skilled IT migration.

"Nasscom does recognise that these are changes the UK government has been committed to for some months, and their implementation is not a huge surprise. However, it is important to note that our fast growing and high value tech sectors rely upon an effective immigration policy that attracts high-skilled workers and minimises barriers to the flow of talented people between our two countries," the industry lobby said in a release.

"Indian IT companies play a key role in driving the UKs growth and prosperity by significantly enhancing productivity and global competiveness of British businesses, contributing to overall growth and job creation of the UK economy," it said.
London: In a crackdown to curb its soaring immigration figures, the UK government has announced changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals, which will affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals.

Under the new visa rules announced last evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds.

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.

The changes come just days before British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India on Sunday for her three-day visit.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

Besides the Tier 2 ICT salary threshold hike, the other changes announced include increasing the Tier 2 (General) salary threshold for experienced workers to 25,000 pounds, with some exemptions; reducing the Tier 2 (ICT) graduate trainee salary threshold to 23,000 pounds and increasing the number of places to 20 per company per year; and closing the Tier 2 (ICT) skills transfer sub-category.

A number of changes have also been announced for the Tier 4 category, which covers maintenance requirements for the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

Nationals outside the European Union, including Indians, will also be affected by new English language requirements when applying for settlement as a family member after two-and-a-half years in the UK on a five-year route to residency settlement in the UK.

The new requirement will apply to partners and parents whose current leave to remain in the UK under the family immigration rules is due to expire on or after May 1, 2017.

The changes follow advice by the MAC earlier this year to curb the Tier 2 ICT route and reduce reliance on foreign workers.

"(Immigration) is not serving to increase the incentive to employers to train and upskill the UK workforce. Ready access to a pool of skilled IT professionals in India is an example of this," the MAC report had said in its findings.

"We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staff are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India," it noted.

The MAC had added that the evidence indicates that multinational companies with a presence in India had developed a competitive advantage in delivering IT projects in the UK.

"They have developed a delivery model, whereby significant elements of projects are delivered offshore in India, taking advantage of the fact that Indian salaries are lower than in the UK for equivalent workers.

"Indeed, partners told us that India currently has a competitive advantage in training IT workers and in the time it would take to fully upskill the native population, technology would have moved on," the report concluded.

The new rules follow further tightening of the Tier 2 category, which came into force in April this year.

"The UK government's reforms to Tier 2 work visas are intended to ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled people they need, but also see that they get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first," then UK Immigration minister James Brokenshire had said.
NEW DELHI Hindu Sena, an Indian fringe group, on Friday celebrated the "victory" of U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump, hailing his friendship with diaspora Indians and backing his call to ban immigration by Muslims from countries hit by Islamic militancy.With drums banging and speakers blaring, the Hindu Sena, or Hindu Army, gathered at Jantar Mantar - New Delhi's answer to London's Speakers' Corner - to proclaim to a knot of TV crews that Trump had "already won" the Nov. 8 vote."Trump's victory is confirmed early, due to his thoughts against Islamic terrorism and love for India and Hindus," said Vishnu Gupta, the Hindu Sena's self-styled national president.Trump uttered the memorable phrase "I love Hindu" at a cultural event in New Jersey last month organised by supporters of his candidacy from the Indian diaspora.

That sentiment has not played so well with many diaspora Indians who are secular or belong to other faiths and, as a group, lean more towards supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton.But as far as the Hindu Sena is concerned, the feeling is mutual.

Its celebration at a roadside stall featured posters bearing the slogans, "India Loves Trump" and "Trump Our Only Hope". One supporter held up a portrait of Trump with a tilak, or religious mark, on his forehead and held a sweet to his mouth.India has not officially endorsed either Trump or Democratic contender Hillary Clinton but has seen a warming in bilateral ties between outgoing President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

WATCH: Facebook Live video of the Hindu Sena celebrating Donald Trump's "victory" in New DelhiPICTURES: Hindu Sena supports Trump(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Mumbai: After showing off its might through silent marches in parts of Maharashtra, the Maratha community has now decided to organise a bike rally in the city on 6 November to press for their various demands.

This event is being seen as a prelude to the community's "biggest" ever silent march, which is planned to be held in Nagpur during the winter session of the state legislature next month.

Meanwhile, talking to PTI, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said most of the demands of the Maratha community are "just" and the government has initiated steps to address their discontent.

Giving details, Virendra Pawar, one of the organisers of the Maratha event, said, "We have decided to hold the biggest ever silent protest in Nagpur on December 14, during the winter session of the state Legislature. If the government does not pay heed to our demands even after that, we will carry out a maha morcha in Mumbai, which will break all the records."

"Until the Nagpur rally happens, we have decided to carry out a Janajagruti bike rally in Mumbai on November 6, where we expect around 15,000 to 20,000 bikers to participate," he added.

Pawar said the rally will commence from KJ Somaiya ground in Sion at 9 am and will culminate near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station after passing through Matunga, Dadar, Parel, Lalbaug and Byculla areas.

"The rally will not pass via fly-overs and we will ensure that law and order situation does not arise. All our bikers will follow rules and ensure a proper system, just like we have been following in our past rallies," he said.

People from other districts of the state will also take part in the bike rally.

Talking about the community's demands Fadnavis said, "Most of the demands of the are just and the government has started taking measures to address the Maratha discontent."

The Maratha community, which is a dominant force in Maharashtra politics, has been taking out silent marches in various towns in the state over the last one month, following the rape and murder of a girl at Kopardi in Ahmednagar district in July.

The community leaders have been pressing for scrapping of the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), saying it is grossly misused, and also raised other demands like quota in in education and jobs.

Fadnavis said, "Our Rajarshee Maharaj scheme has benefited all those belonging to all communities, who were earlier left out. On the one hand we are fighting for Maratha reservation in court, and on the other we have told them that even if reservation is granted, for private colleges, where three lakh seats available, they will have to pay the fees, while in government colleges only 30,000 seats are available."

Other demands like justice to Kopardi gangrape victim is being taken care of, he said, adding that the case is being looked into on priority basis.

The Chief Minister added that as regards concern for the Shivaji Maharaj memorial, tenders have been invited.

"We have been working a lot in the last two years to tackle farmers' issues. About the Atrocity Act, I have clarified that we cannot repeal the Act, but I have spoken to Dalit leaders and they have agreed that if somebody is misusing the Act, we should find a way and see to it that it is not misused," he said.
New Delhi: Indian Army had used artillery guns to destroy four Pakistani posts in a massive assault across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of north Kashmir's Kupwara district last month, government sources said on Friday.

This is the first time the government sources have confirmed that artillery fire was indeed used by the Army to

launch a massive assault against Pakistan, something which was always suspected.

It is the first case of artillery fire at the LoC since the 2003 ceasefire agreement was signed between the two

countries.

They said artillery guns were stealthy moved up and used in straight fire position to raze four positions of Pakistan Army to avenge the mutilation of an Indian Army jawan's body by some suspected militants a few days ago.

Violating ceasefire, Pakistan had been firing 120 mm heavy mortars to target Indian civilian areas, to which India had responded strongly.

Defence sources said while ceasefire violations by Pakistan was a regular feature "the intensity had never been

so hard in the recent past."

Meanwhile, on the One Rank One Pension issue, sources said that 95 percent of the cases have been "satisfactorily" resolved.

Documents of around 96,000 ex-servicemen were missing, due to which the payment for some has been delayed, they said, adding remaining cases would be resolved in two months time.
At the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards organised by The Indian Express, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured 37 journalists from across the country, Chief Editor Raj Kamal Jha sent a strong message to those in power and in the media: "Criticism from a government is wonderful news for journalism".

This comes at a time when NDTV India is facing a one-day ban on 9 November on the recommendation of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. This penalty is for allegedly revealing "strategically sensitive" details during the coverage of the Pathankot terrorist attack in January 2016.

The awards function also caused discomfort to some journalists such as Akshaya Mukul who refused to accept the award (and further boycotted the event) from Modi. Mukul was awarded the prize in the category of Books (non-fiction) for Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India, which looks into the making of Gita Press and its critical role in the formation of "Hindu political consciousness". This ironically clashes with the Prime Minister's politics (BJP and RSS, which finds its base in Hindutva).

In his speech, Jha thanked Modi for the latter's strong message on maintaining credibility in journalism and mentioned that it was the most important thing journalists can take away from his speech. He added that good journalism was, in fact, not dying but that "bad journalism makes lot more noise than it used to do five years ago".

Below is Raj Kamal Jha's speech in text:

"Thank you for your speech, Sir. Your being here is a very strong message. We hope that good journalism should be defined by the work we celebrate this evening, done by reporters who report and by editors who edit and not by the selfie journalists we see a lot these days, who are always obsessed by what they think, by their face, by their views, who keep the camera turned towards them, the only thing that matters to them is their own voice and their own face. All the rest is backdrop or silly background noise.

In this selfie journalism, if you don't have the facts, it doesn't matter. You just put a flag in the frame and you hide behind it. Thank you very much sir for your speech, for your wonderful underlining of the importance of credibility, I think that's the most important thing that we journalists can take away from your speech.

You said some wonderful things about journalists which makes us a little nervous. You may not find it in Wikipedia but Shri Ramnath Goenka, and it's a fact and I can say that as the editor of the Indian Express, he did sack a journalist when he heard a CM of a state telling him, "Aapka reporter bahot accha kaam kar raha hai".

That's very, very important, especially in this age, and I turn 50 this year and I can say that when we have a generation of journalists who are growing up in an age of "retweets" and "likes" and they do not know that criticism from a government is a badge of honour.

So just like what they do in smoking scenes in cinema, I think we should have a tape running in mind when we hear praise of a journalist, that criticism from a government is wonderful news for journalism. I think that's very important.

Thank you sir, for your speech. You made some wonderful points. I think the most important point was credibility. We cannot blame the government for that. That is our job, we need to look within and we will surely reflect on your remarks.

This year for Ramnath Goenka Award, we got 562 applications. This is the highest ever and this is very important to me to underline this number because this is the reply to those who say that good journalism is dying, that journalists have been bought over by the government.

Good journalism is not dying; it is getting better and bigger. It's just bad journalism makes lot more noise than it used to do five years ago. And that is why I think the remote control should get the R&G award for excellence in journalism."
The alleged gangrape of a 32-year-old woman in Kerala in 2014 by a local leader of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and three of his friends, after the victim narrated the humiliation and harassment meted out to her to dubbing artiste and television show host, Bhagya Lakshmi last week (on a Facebook post dated 31 October) has caught the attention of the state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Director General of Police Loknath Behra who have promised to book the guilty.

Bhagya Lakshmi spoke to Firstpost about the case.

Why did the victim approach you?

I had done a programme on television on the Soumya rape case and I ended the programme by saying that for every Soumya or Jisha, where investigations have been done by the police and taken to the courts, there are many more women who get raped in Kerala and these are not reported and never known.

Around 8 pm that day, I got a call from a lady who said that she was from Thrissur (north Kerala) and had been raped. She wanted to meet me. I gave her my address and waited for her to come the next day.

When she narrated the incident, I froze. This woman was raped by four men in Kerala and no one even knew about it. Thrissur is not a far-off place. It is a city; yet even the police did not deem this case serious enough to pursue it.

The alleged accused had shot a video of the act and threatened the alleged woman?

Yes, they used this as a weapon to prevent her from going public beyond the police from whom she did not get any help at all. I told the woman that if the video was released, the perpetrators would be in it. She should not have been scared by that threat. The woman said that did not occur to her.

What did the woman hope to gain by meeting you?

When she narrated the incident to me, I looked at her again. Here was this 32 year-old, miserable woman who looked like a bag of bones. She would hardly weigh more than her age. I also realised she was very innocent and fearful. The men threatened her with a video and she confined herself to the house and was weeping at her fate.

Her husband, who had accompanied her, was the more courageous one and wanted the guilty to be punished -- a feeling that the woman too echoed. I told the woman that there was nothing I could do for her as even the case that she filed in August 2016 did not help. I said that all I could do was to take her to a psychologist as she was weeping profusely. She was upset that her children  a son and a daughter  were left in the care of her mother-in-law and that she and her husband was asked to leave Thrissur where they lived, by the men who raped her. They also threatened the couple with murder if they stepped into Thrissur.

The woman wanted me to help her get justice and ensure that the accused and the policeman who teased her and asked her the horrendous question, "Who among the four who raped you gave you the most pleasure", to be punished.

"What kind of a life am I leading, where my husband and I are shattered by this incident and have to live in shame as if we have done something wrong. We cant lead a normal family life with our children, and yet the perpetrators of this crime live as if nothing has happened. I am living as a criminal in hiding, while one of the accused is out in public and is a councilor. The policeman who spoke to me in that embarrassing manner, can he not be punished too? Is there nothing that I can hope to get after what they have done to me?"

What did you decide to do then?

She did not want any psychological help. She wanted me to help her get the accused arrested. There was nothing I could do legally for her. Most rape victims fail to get justice as there is no evidence to back the case.

After the she and her husband left, I was in a state of shock. I decided to write about this on my Facebook page. However, I did not think that the post would go viral and the case would attract so much attention. I am happy about it. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called and assured me that the case would be looked into. The director general of police has also said that he would see that the alleged victim gets justice.

I was reluctant to place her in police custody as I was worried the police would repeat all those questions about the rape. I do not want her to relive the incident. But the police have assured me that they will not make her uncomfortable with their questioning.

Did the accused contact you?

Yes, he called me. PM Jayanthan, a CPM member of Wadakkanchery Municipal Council called me and said that he was being framed as he had lent Rs 15 lakh to the couple and when he asked them to return the money, they came up with this story of rape. But the woman said that she and her husband, a cable operator, lived as tenants in Jayanthans house. That is how they knew him and his friends, who came over to their house too. They were family friends. According to the couple, they lent Jayanthan small amounts of money and over a period of time the sum came to Rs 3 lakh. Jayanthan, meanwhile said that he had signed a paper stating that he has given the woman Rs 3 lakh.

Do you believe him?

I told him that if the case is false as he claims, then he should prove it with evidence. I told him that in case the woman is telling lies, then he needs to prove it. I won't allow this case to disappear. No one should think that they can torture a woman and get away with it. I am being cautioned by well-wishers that I will get into trouble with this case. But I am unafraid and deeply concerned about the direction our society is moving towards; it is very disturbing.
Last month, on 2 October, the Government of India banned Kashmir Reader, a four-year-old newspaper published from Srinagar. Our newspaper was accused of publishing content "that could incite violence and disturb public tranquility".

But sometimes even journalists who avoid proximity with state's organs, come to know about important developments in advance even if it's by chance. A month before the ban, a colleague told us that the government was planning to shut our newspaper. The threat, however, never appeared real. Who bans newspapers in the 21st century? Newspapers were not banned even when news bulletins of the state-run Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar were read out from the Jammu station.

But post-ban engagements with the state government have revealed that the grudge against Kashmir Reader are old, the raging Kashmir unrest only hastened the decision to ban it.

What were you publishing that other newspapers not? This was the most asked question. Any attempt to answer this question runs the risk of judging other newspapers. Each media outlet is driven by its own news policy and media ecology. If we published profiles of some of the youth killed during the Kashmir unrest much before other newspapers did, does that make us liable to a gag or them complicit? No.

During the past one month, various players, at the behest of the state, have gone into a desperate huddle and initiated a dialogue with the most vocal and open advocates of Kashmir's freedom. But when our newspaper provides space to people who engage, through ideas, with questions on the right to self-determination, powerlessness and duplicity of "elected" governments in Jammu and Kashmir, we are charged with "inciting violence".

In an article in Greater Kashmir newspaper, a former judge of Jammu and Kashmir High Court recently referred to the many articles and reports likening government actions in Kashmir to that of Nazi Germany. He said that such references to Nazi brutality in the "context of security forces excesses" in Jammu and Kashmir and "laments over its adverse fallout on education reminds us of a ghetto (Terezin) run by the Nazis, north of Prague, after they occupied Czechoslovakia". However, a newspaper in Kashmir can report about the excesses, alluded to by the honorable judge, only at the cost of its existence.

I cant resist emphasising the date on which Kashmir Reader was banned  Mahatma Gandhis birthday  even though it would be beside the point, given the killing and blinding of children in Kashmir and an air saturated with war cries.

Mahatma once wrote in Young India, a newspaper he published:

"The editor of a daily newspaper when he begins writing his leading article does not weigh his words in golden scales. He may be betrayed into a hasty word. Must he pay for it even though he did it obviously in good faith without malice and in the public interest? These libel actions are calculated to demoralise Indian Journalism and make public criticism over-cautious and timid. I am no lover of irresponsible or unjustifiably strong criticism. But the caution to be beneficial must come from within and not superimposed from without."

Kashmiri journalism, heroic largely, has not been demoralised but intimidated quite often. In Kashmir, therefore, developing a strong awareness of "caution" is part of the journalistic grooming. It is a gradual drawing up of a Lakshman Rekha in ones mind. During the past month we have been asked, ad nauseam: Were you not cautious enough? It translates into "why push the limit". Many concerned and well-meaning journalists made us feel as if we had invited the ban on ourselves. Not that they condone the gag. They only point to the futility, or stupidity, of "annoying the state".

Besides holding more than half a dozen sit-ins and protest marches, we have been discussing what we ought to be if and when the newspaper is unbanned. Learning to be "cautious" is on the menu. We learned it the hard way that "caution" could always be imposed from outside if not learned, like it was in Mahatma Gandhi's time. Harijan, one of the newspapers he edited, was banned for advocating non-cooperation with British Empires war efforts. Not much has changed since the time he put his journalism in the service of achieving Swaraj.

As editor, I feel proud when a man walked into our office a couple of days ago and offered his entire saving of Rs 10,000 "if that can help us". At the same time I feel sad each time a reporter, itching to sit down in front of a computer to file his story, walks into the office and asks, once again, "Any development on the ban front?"

Mir Hilal is editor of the banned newspaper Kashmir Reader. Read our special interview with him on Firstpost.
With the arrest of five alleged stone-pelters, police on Thursday claimed to have solved a case of burning down of a government school in Kashmir. The Valley has witnessed a series of incidents in which the educational institutes were set ablaze over the last few months.

Five youth allegedly involved in setting ablaze a government middle school at Tapper village of Pattan, about 30 kms from here, on Srinagar-Baramulla national highway were arrested while search is on for their two other associates, a police spokesman said.

He said the school building was set ablaze in the wee hours of 27 October. "During the investigation it surfaced that the conspiracy regarding the incident was hatched at the medical shop of one Ajaz Ahmad Parra, the spokesman said.

"Ajaz Parra along with Omar Parra alias 'Omar Kasaie', Shabir Pandit alias 'Bulbul' and Bashir Ahmad Hajam were involved in the conspiracy aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear and to ensure that schools continue to remain closed," the spokesman said.

He said they had arranged petrol, stored it in plastic bottles and gave the same to Naveed Ahmad alias 'Naba Tension', Adil Ahmad Parra and Usman alias 'Babloo' - all residents of Tapper, "executed their plan and set the school building on fire" at around 1.30 am.

"These individuals, who are known stone pelters and are wanted in many stone-pelting cases, had kept some of the petrol bottles in an apple orchard for creating the panic in future by burning the vehicles and other government buildings," the spokesman said.

Except Naveed and Usman, all the accused were arrested and at their instance some petrol bottles were recoverd from an apple orchard near Tapper, the spokesman said, adding efforts are on to nab the absconding persons. Kashmir has witnessed a series of incidents in which schools were mysteriously burnt down over the last few months.

Jammu and High Court took suo motu cognizance of this trend and asked the state government to take steps to prevent such incidents and "unmask" to culprits.

Twenty six schools have torched down in Kashmir  at least one school damaged in all 10 districts of the region  in separate cases of arson in the Valley over a span of three months. There has been a gradual increase in the number of these events and on Friday, ANI reported that fire broke out in another government school.

J&K: Fire breaks out in Govt primary school in Ganderbal, damaging makeshift kitchen & school building partially; fire has been doused now.  ANI (@ANI_news) November 4, 2016

With inputs from PTI.
An Inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting ministry had recommended on Thursday that a leading Hindi news channel be taken off air for a day after it concluded that the broadcaster had revealed "strategically-sensitive" details while covering the Pathankot terrorist attack.

The ministry has asked the channel NDTV India to be taken off air for a day on 9 November. The Committee felt that such srucial information, which was revealed by the channel, could have been picked up by terrorist handlers.

The committee, in its order, observed that the channel "appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity" when they telecast in real time.

The channel, while confirming the receipt of the order, said that its "coverage was particularly balanced".

The Editors Guild of India condemned the government's move and said that the I&B Ministry's decision is "a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency."

Now, even the Mumbai Press Club has condemned the ban and demanded that the ban be withdrawn.

Here is the full statement by the Mumbai Press Club:

The Mumbai Press club which represents over 2,500 journalists, strongly and unequivocally condemns the ban by the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) on the Hindi news channel NDTV India for purportedly airing sensitive information in respect of the Pathankot attack by terror groups near the border. The Club also demands that the ban, imposed for one day on 9 November, should be withdrawn forthwith.

NDTV India in its response to a show cause by the government has said that channel did not report anything which other channels and newspapers had not covered simultaneously. It is therefore mischievous to singles out a particular channel for such penal action.

Though there are various legal options available for the government in the Indian Court of Law for any irresponsible media coverage, the I&B ministry action of banning against a specific TV channel that has been critical of the government, and has done serious ground reporting on the views of the common man, does not augur well for freedom of expression of the country.

The I&B ministrys order imposing the ban is vague and also does not disclose what specific clips or information can be termed sensitive and useful to the enemy.

Any penal actions like the ban of NDTV India that infringes on media operating and reporting freely will be stoutly resisted by media persons everywhere.

Dharmendra Jore

Secretary

Mumbai Press Club
In the late hours of Thursday evening, we learnt that the information and broadcasting ministry had prohibited the retransmission of NDTV India, the Hindi Language 24x7 news channel of the NDTV group for 24 hours starting on 00:01 Hours on 9 November 2016 to 00:01 Hours on 10 November 2016 for allegedly revealing "strategically sensitive" details during its coverage of the Pathankot attacks this January.

Obviously, the Editors' Guild of India is up in arms about it and have rightly called it an attack on media freedom and the independence of the media. The problem that arises though is this, how does the government go about issuing a ban on its own accord without actually having to take NDTV to court?

If NDTV were a newspaper that had allegedly breached any standard of journalistic ethics then the government would actually have no power to go after NDTV at all, this is because the Press Council Act of 1978 creates the Press Council of India as the apex body for the regulation of the Press in India. This statutory body enjoys independence from the government and acts as the regulator that prescribes and enforces professional standards for the print media in India. The council, not the government gets to decide when a print journalist has crossed the line.

When it comes to cable TV news, though, the situation is slightly different, the regime under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1994 treats NDTV on par with Cartoon Network in terms of the powers it gives the government to regulate. This is why the government has the ability to even pass such an order. No doubt, NDTV and their lawyers must be examining their legal options right now to challenge such an order and it would be premature at this point to comment on the merits of such an order passed by the government.

But the very fact that the government is the one that passes such an order, does open the larger debate of whether it is time to start regulating television news as news rather than as merely television content as any order passed by any government anywhere against a news channel will always be one that is seen as a colourable order. The UK has an independent media watchdog by way of Ofcom short for the Office of Communications which is an independent media watchdog that is recognised by statute and has enforcement powers to enforce the regulations.

There are always going to be cases where media channels are accused of breaching journalistic ethics or compromising national security. However, the process by which they are judged or these charges are adjudicated must be a transparent one and must be one that has the appearance of fairness. The government must take its case to a third party rather than make it a finding of fact on its own and issue a punishment. This will always put the government at odds with the rest of the press and the public. Its time to establish an independent television media watchdog on the lines of the Press Council of India to ensure the freedom of the televised press. It is also essential that this protection is extended to journalists who work on online platforms. Other protections such as those afforded under the Working Journalists Act should also be extended to ensure that any governmental action taken against the press or journalists doesnt smell of bias or targeting.

The importance of a free press can be best summed up by this famous quote: "A free press is the last defence against the tyranny of stupidity." This was said not by one of the great heroes of free speech or but funnily enough from Clayton Harding, Jeff Bridges's character from the 2008 film How to Lose Friends and Alienate People; something this government is of late becoming rather an expert at.
Two days ago, while speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Awards function, Prime Minister Narendra Modi argued that the Emergency should be repeatedly analysed and talked about, lest we forget.

"Every generation must keep reflecting on the Emergency period in an unbiased manner so that no future political leader can even wish to commit the same paap [sin]," Modi said.

The PM needn't worry. Around the time he was talking about the Emergency, the government's inter-ministerial committee on information and broadcasting was suggesting a decision the BJP may have derided as paap during the Emergency: A one-day ban on NDTV India for "broadcasting sensitive information" during the attack on the Pathankot air base.

The committee's decision, obviously, violates the basic principle of natural justice. With its unilateral decision to punish the channel, the government is trying to unequivocally convey that when it comes to the media, it can act as the judge, jury and the executioner. The message is simple: If the government does not agree or approve, you better shut up and pay a price.

A few days ago, Indians were gloating over their democratic values and freedoms guaranteed to the media, while criticising the restrictions imposed on Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida, who was put on the exit control list for breaking a story on the tiff between his country's civil and military leadership.

With its harsh, punitive action against NDTV, the government has unfortunately reminded us of how we have started imbibing the undemocratic, tyrannical practices of the neighbour we so love to despise and ridicule.

As the Editors Guild of India has argued: "The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India, and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency. This first-of-its-kind order to impose a blackout has seen the Central government entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media and take arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage."

The very premise of the ban  that the channel's broadcast compromised national security  is bogus. On the night of 31 December, at least six terrorists crossed the border, held the Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh at gun point and then sneaked into the high-security air base without any restrictions.

Their unrestricted movement in the high-security zone was a massive intelligence failure. That an important air base on the India-Pakistan border is so porous that anybody can merrily walk in and hide there for several hours without being noticed is a damning indictment of our security apparatus.

Even a year after the attack, we do not know how the terrorists crossed the border, walked into the airbase and launched an attack that lasted at least 48 hours. Since the security agencies failed to capture even one of the infiltrators alive, nobody knows who helped them enter a high-security defence installation. Nobody has been punished so far, nobody has been held accountable. No wonder, since the right lessons were not learnt from Pathankot, similar incidents happened in military camps in Jammu and Kashmir barely a few months later.

Ironically, while the big questions remain unanswered, the committee has already identified the fall guy: A TV channel reporting on the incident. Coincidentally, the only channel identified for punishment has always been perceived to be among the few independent voices in the country that is being increasingly dominated by media houses that kowtow to the government, crawl when asked to bend. And its anchors have always been high on the hit list of cheerleaders of the government and right-wing trolls.

How is a TV channel to be blamed for reporting a terror attack? Soon after the 26/11 terror strikes on Mumbai, Firstpost Editor-in-Chief BV Rao had debunked this TV-helped-terrorists theory. "It presumes that the terrorists left the crucial job of intelligence gathering at ground zero to Indias news channels! Which in turn presumes the terrorists were cocksure the Indian security establishment would goof up its most elementary job of securing the war zone and keeping the media at bay," he argued.

Similar questions can be raised about the Pathankot attack. Did the terrorists leave their base in Pakistan relying on the Indian media for inputs? Were they relying on the happenstance of a TV reporter informing them on the exact number of planes and nature and amount of ammo at the base? If that be the case, did they bring GPS sets, maps and other communication devices to play Pokemon during the 48-hour encounter?

As Rao had argued then, by accusing the media of helping the terrorists, the government manages to deftly deflect the debate from uncomfortable questions about the quality of our response. By pinning the media down with absurd charges of complicity with the enemy, it ensures the media was on the defensive and did not raise any questions about the efficiency of the 60-hour operation.

I see some gaps, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had admitted after the lapses that allowed terrorists a walk in the Pathankot base. News reports had pointed at a lot of confusion within the government ranks over the response to the attack and its handling by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Writing on the incident, defence expert Ajai Shukla had argued that India was lucky to get away with limited losses in spite of inept handling of the attack. He pointed out that the security agencies were warned 24 hours in advance about the attack and yet, "when the NSA met the army chief on Friday, he asked for only two columns of soldiers (some 50 troops). Intent on directly controlling what he anticipated would be a walk in the park, and without anticipating that there might be more than one group of terrorists, Mr Doval led with his trump card  he ordered 150-160 National Security Guard (NSG) troopers to be flown down immediately from New Delhi. The army was placed on the sidelines".

Even a year after the attack, we do not know how the terrorists crossed the border, walked into the airbase and launched an attack that lasted at least 48 hours

Clearly, diverting the blame to a TV channel helps everyone in the government. It takes the debate in a different direction, taking the attention away from the real flaws and problems, finds a convenient scapegoat, and gives its cheerleaders an opportunity to applaud punitive action against a TV channel and anchors they want tamed.

The only problem with the decision is this: By embracing the Emergency's code of punishment, how will the BJP help us forget the paap committed by Indira Gandhi?

PS: A few weeks ago, NDTV decided to drop former home minister P Chidambaram's interview after running its promos the entire day. The government's decision to ban it for a day would perhaps remind it of the essence of Martin Niemoller's immortal words: When they came for Chidambaram, I didn't speak up. One day when they came for me, I cried but everyone said my complaint was just 'drivel'.
On two occasions in the past, NDTV shut itself up. For an hour. The first was when a ban was imposed on the telecast of the documentary India's Daughter on the Delhi gangrape case. This was in March 2015 and NDTV went with a screen with just a flickering candle, in the slot it was supposed to air it. It was a powerful and aesthetic way to register its protest at the decision.

The second was in February this year during the JNU controversy when NDTV India (the group's channel in Hindi) went blank for some 40-odd minutes. TV metamorphosed into radio with its 9 pm anchor Ravish Kumar launching into an acerbic self-deprecating commentary, taunting the 'mob of journalism' and all those who had brought the country to this pass. It was considered yet another moment of eloquent journalism to get its point across.

NDTV India will once again go blank from 1 pm on 9 November, but this time for 24 hours. This time, it is not the channel's bosses who have decided to embrace black. An inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting ministry has made the recommendation that NDTV India suffer this penalty for allegedly revealing "strategically sensitive" details during the coverage of the Pathankot terrorist attack in January 2016.

For NDTV, that has several firsts to its credit, this will be a dubious first. This is the first order against a broadcaster over its coverage of a terror attack since a rule was introduced in June 2015.

A reading of the ruling make the charges against NDTV India appear grave. It charges the Hindi channel with revealing "information on the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter planes, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel tanks" and this it felt, was likely to be used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm to national security, lives of civilians and defence personnel. It concluded that the content appeared to be violative of the programming norms.

The channel did not agree with the content of the show cause notice that was issued. It replied that it was a case of "subjective interpretation" and that most of the information they had put out was already in the public domain in print, electronic and social media. In a statement, it said "it is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner".

But the committee, brushing aside the denial of any norm, felt that the channel "appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity".

NDTV India had deployed one of its senior reporters, who has 20 years of experience in covering defence and a track record for sober reportage, to Pathankot. Even otherwise, when compared to its shrill chest-thumping rival channels, NDTV India is known for a more restrained approach. Which is perhaps why it is the laggard in the TRP game, one that does not even figure in the top 10.

But what the order attempts to do is to label NDTV as 'irresponsible'. What the motivated army of cacophony-makers on social media will do is to turn that into a label of 'anti-national'. Accuse it of sleeping with the enemy. It is the kind of ugly certification high on circulation these days where just about every Twitter handle, perched on every gali ka nukkad smartphone, dishes out "tum gaddaar ho" spiel. The highly objectionable tag of 'presstitute' that is repeatedly thrown at journalists to insult. Recently, the instance of NDTV's Barkha Dutt being "praised" by terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed was milked by trolls and even rival channel anchors to paste convenient labels.

But this time the missive comes from the government of India and therefore, it is time to sit up and take note.

The order ironically comes just 24 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a reference to the Emergency during his speech at the Ramnath Goenka Awards. He stressed on the need to reflect on the breakdown of democracy during the Emergency in 1975 so that no one dares to repeat it.

The Emergency was marked by government excesses on free press. While the jury is out on whether NDTV India crossed the ethical LoC, a strong message has been sent out. Fall in line or else you will be hit in a way that hurts most. If a credible and well-respected brand like NDTV can be 'punished', worse fate awaits you, in case you cross our interpretation of the lakshman rekha.

In fact, NDTV's statement also makes a reference to the Emergency when it says, "After the dark days of the Emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner."

Even while the PM was speaking, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi were being detained by Delhi police, for attempting to meet the family of an army veteran who had committed suicide. Many have likened these two incidents to trial runs of an emergency, but let us not digress.

I am told during the news broadcast, the reporter was asked about what all could be inside the Pathankot air base. I can tell you any journalist, even with years of experience, can only give a basic idea of what it would have. Does the ministry want us to believe that the terrorists did not do their basic homework before choosing such a critical target? Instead, they were tuned into NDTV India to know from its reporter what is inside an airbase and where is what? Does it mean that Pakistan undertook this high-risk operation banking entirely on an Indian channel to tell where the MIGs are parked? It is preposterous that this kind of argument is even finding takers.

I am not arguing for unfettered freedom of speech. During an Emergency, during a time of low-intensity conflict and threat to internal security, that would be a silly cloak to wear and seek immunity. When it is about India, the country's interest obviously is paramount. Period. After the mistakes of 26/11, most TV channels are more than careful in live terror operation situations. And the National Broadcasters Authority should be empowered to bring errant media houses to book, if they indulge in anything that compromises India's security interests.

But it is the labelling of a journalistic endeavour as anti-national that worries me. And it should worry you, the viewer as well, even if you are among those NDTV-baiters who would gloat about the decision to black out and ask why not ban the sister English channel as well. Make no mistake, a vulnerable media and a scared journalist are not in India's interests. Today, the powers-that-be have come for the messenger, tomorrow they will come for the recipient. You.

Wonder also why a network that is not number one in either Hindi or in English should worry its critics so much. Particularly when NDTV seemed to have lost the perception battle last month after the surgical strikes when it decided that it will not air any voice that questions the armed forces. An interview with former Home minister P Chidambaram was axed while the presser by BJP chief Amit Shah was aired. Doubts were raised if NDTV too had finally succumbed to 'pressure'.

It is also deeply ironical that the same government allowed a visit by a Pakistan delegation, that was stuffed with ISI men, to inspect the Pathankot air base. Isn't allowing the enemy's best sleuths, who allegedly masterminded the terror attack right into your secure air base, "anti-national"? And if it was NDTV India that allegedly compromised the country's interests in Pathankot, wonder which media house will be blamed for Uri in September, in which 19 soldiers were martyred?

The government of India did not even know that terrorists were still holed up in Pathankot when our Home Minister tweeted the operation was over and congratulated everyone. The encounter went on for 66 hours after his tweet. Was he penalised for this blunder? Were aspersions cast on Rajnath Singh's ability or worse, patriotism? Funny that a government's netas and babus accused of blundering on Pathankot, are finding a scapegoat in a hardly-watched news channel, if those TRPs are anything to go by.

But this time the missive comes from the government of India and therefore, it is time to sit up and take note.

To my mind, this decision coupled with Union minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju's "ask no questions" rhetoric is an attempt to dictate the narrative. At this rate, TV channels may well announce before every bulletin: This news broadcast is brought to you by the sarkaar.

What will this order do to the journalistic fraternity? Fear. Silence. Just exist.

It isn't easy to take on the might of a government. Any government, be it at the Centre or at the state. I can bet the next time a crisis of this kind emerges, any newsroom will be more circumspect so that it does not meet NDTV India's fate. Being circumspect in not putting out sensitive details is necessary, but it will gradually translate into no criticism of the establishment. Media will lose its critical watchdog role. The journalist will fear losing his or her job if he puts out facts that are not palatable to the powers-that-be. After all, in today's polarised environment, it does not take much to label anyone as anti-national and hang him. Or black out, as in this case.

Criticism from the government is a badge of honour for a journalist, said Indian Express Editor Rajkamal Jha at the Ramnath Goenka Awards. Some at NDTV feel the one-day blackout is like an attestation of the brand. But then only the court can decide on a penalty of this kind, not a group of ministers or bureaucrats, who are expected the toe the line dictated by their political masters.

India today is a country divided into bhakts and atheists. The attempt over the last 29 months has been to increase the number of god-fearing Indians, especially among the media. To borrow LK Advani's line, when asked to bend, many are opting to prostrate, not just crawl.

Rajkamal Jha made another pertinent point at the event. He said, "In this selfie journalism, if you don't have the facts, it doesn't matter. You just put a flag in the frame and you hide behind it."

NDTV India, it would seem, forgot to put the flag.
NDTV has responded on the recommendation by an inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that its Hindi channel NDTV India be taken off the air for a day after it concluded that the broadcaster had revealed "strategically-sensitive" details while covering the Pathankot terrorist attack.

In a statement released on its website, the news channel said that it was "shocking" to see the channel being singled out and recalled the "dark days of the emergency".

Here is the full statement released:

"The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTV's coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter."

The ministry had asked NDTV India to be taken off air for a day on 9 November, sources told PTI on Thursday, in what would be the first order against a broadcaster over its coverage of terror attacks.

The matter pertains to the coverage of the Pathankot terror attack by the channel where the committee felt that "such crucial information" could have been readily picked by terrorist handlers and had the potential to "cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel."

When the operation was on in January this year, it allegedly revealed information on the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter-planes, rocket-launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel-tanks etc "which was likely to be used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm," the sources said.

Official sources said that as the content appeared to be violative of the programming norms, a show cause notice was issued to the channel.

The committee, in its order, observed that the channel "appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity" when they telecast in real time.

The panel expressed "grave concern" that this was a matter of national security and that the channel had revealed sensitive details like location of ammunition depot viz-a-viz the space where the terrorists were holed up, location of school and residential areas.

"Such crucial information could have been readily picked by their handlers, which had the potential to cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel," the committee said, disagreeing with the channel's contention that similar content was carried by newspapers.

The television, as an audio-visual medium, has a far wider and instantaneous impact, the order said.

"The IMC recommends that at least a token penalty of one day's off-air needed to be awarded to the TV channel so that they do not get away completely for this huge indiscretion and violation of specific rule or guideline relating to national security concerns," the I and B ministry order in this regard says.

The committee has observed that the violation stood proven beyond doubt, the order said and added that it could even attract a penalty of taking the channel off-air for 30 days.

However, it was factored that a rule in this regard had been introduced in June 2015 and this was the first such case where it was being applied to and not make the penalty harsh, it is learnt.

"The ministry has issued advisories and sensitised channels regarding coverage of anti-terror operations. There have been oral warnings also. It is hoped that strategically sensitive details will not be revealed when such an operation is underway," a senior official said.
The Chief Minister of Delhi on Thursday made the grand gesture of donating Rs 1 crore to the family of an ex-serviceman, who had committed suicide in Delhi, at his funeral in Bhiwani, Haryana. Is this rank political opportunism? Is this with an eye of reaching out to the Punjab electorate in the forthcoming elections, simultaneously touching the hearts of the armed services community; equally with an eye to attacking the Prime Minister for his anti-national and anti-armed services posture? If he had done the contribution from his private funds, nobody would object  the funds are from the exchequer of the Delhi government, which is highly subsidised by the national exchequer!

The armed forces are held in the highest esteem by every Indian. The glorious duty of defending our borders rest on their shoulders. The average Indian sees the armed forces with veneration. It will be a tragedy if political parties use the various incidents relating to the Army as political ammunition to feather their own private interests; bring the noble forces for daily analysis by party hacks who have their own petty political agenda, with no regard to overall national interest.

The judiciary, the armed forces and Constitutional agencies like the CEC, the CAG and the like are held in great regard and respect by every Indian  they should not be brought in as subject of attention with narrow political and vote bank interests of individual hick politicians, who are keen to score brownie points in and out of season against their political opponents.

In the instant case, while all facts are not known, the likelihood is that there has been a significant delay in sanctioning a portion of the pension which was due to the ex-serviceman  whether it was routine lax administration, or based on Orop anomaly interpretation, or another related reason is not factually clear. Nearly in every state and central agency, maladministration is rampant  indeed it is the exception that carries the day, not of meeting the legitimate entitlements and claims of the ex-serviceman, ex-civilian employee, teacher, farmer  indeed the average citizen  each one is victim at different times to the vagaries of an inefficient, corrupt and callous administration, at the Centre or the state.

Will Kejriwal sanction Rs 1 crore to every aggrieved citizen of Delhi, (indeed of our nation as he considers himself a national saviour), for every wrong committed on each citizen? All the exchequers of the nation will not be sufficient to meet a fraction of such a gesture. Now that it is established that Kejriwal will do nothing to improve the air quality in Delhi (after dabbling with odd-even traffic regulation last year, and finding it contributed nothing for his personal glory in terms of political vote bank), now that schools are shutting down, the wealthy are sending their children out of Delhi for their education, and poor young children are losing their lungs, will Kejriwal now sanction Rs 1 crore to every affected family?

Tens of thousands of farmers have committed suicides all over India in the past decade, many of them due to failure of the monsoon, or large policy gaps concerning lack of credit, or for wrong introduction of GM (Genetically Modified crops), thuggery in the tehsil or pension or transport office, banditry in the thana, corruption at lower courts, callousness in the hospital  the list is endless  will Kejriwal sanction Rs 1 crore to the family of each victim? Almost certainly he will, if he believes in each case, that it will create a credible link to get a segment of a vote bank, or to throw mud at the L-G of Delhi  these are the sole motivating factors.

Suddenly Rahul Gandhi has exhibited great concern for the welfare of the armed forces and for implementation of Orop. Recall that for 40 years, his party steadfastly not only gave no attention to Orop, but on several occasions specifically announced that Orop is not acceptable as a principle  suddenly the party is the champion of Orop! When a successive government has indeed overturned the Congress policy and announced the Orop, substantially meeting all demands in this regard, and the work of the anomalies committee to sort out discrepancies is in the very final stage, Rahul finds it imperative to use the Indian Armed Forces as ammunition to show up the failure of national governance! How despicable, opportunistic, and condemnable this attempt to bring the noble armed forces to public attention in the context of a gorilla war that the Congress is fighting with the BJP.

Have we lost all morality in our politics? Isnt the Congress responsible for massively contributing to over 70 percent of the population living sub-human hand-to-mouth existence 70 years after Independence? Of the inability of our agriculture to sustain the nation, collapse of the cities, galloping corruption in every aspect of our civic life, public health in shambles, Indian primary education only inferior to Kyrgyzstan in international standards  are these not the handy work of the Congress party to usher in basic governance models?

There should be some national norms by all political parties not to bring national institutions into public discussion to meet their own petty party needs. The nation is much bigger than any individual party or person who is now in power or been in power earlier, or aspiring to. Let our political parties not destroy our own national interests. Freedom to speak or to act in a democracy comes with a collateral responsibility to contribute to national welfare and not to decimate institutions.
New Delhi: A Delhi Police team has been sent to ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal's home town Bhiwani in Haryana today to meet his family members, a day after his suicide case was handed over to the Crime Branch.

"A team has been sent to Bhiwani to talk to Grewal's family members. However, the team is still waiting to talk to them since they have been surrounded by media and politicians. They have shared all the details with the media but we still need to talk to them," said a senior police officer privy to the probe.

On Thursday, the case was transferred from New Delhi district to Crime Branch keeping in mind the sensitivity of

the matter and the fact that the district police is busy with law and order duties in the area.

The Crime Branch team led by DCP(Crime) Bhisham Singh is conducting inquest proceedings in the matter.

Grewal, along with three of his companions, had come to the city apparently to submit a memorandum to the defence

ministry over the issue of OROP.

The 70-year-old ex-serviceman had consumed poison in the lawns behind Jawahar Bhavan, which houses some offices of the Ministry of External Affairs, on 1 November. He was rushed to RML Hospital where he died later.

The officer said that they are still searching for the three men who were accompanying him when he took the extreme step.

Police have procured the suicide note and the audio recording of Grewal's last conversation with his son from

media persons as the family members haven't shared any details with the police yet, he said.

Grewal's suicide had snowballed into a huge political showdown on Wednesday in the capital with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi being detained twice by Delhi Police amid high drama and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also being detained by the policemen.
Islamabad: Signalling a fresh slide in ties, Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each other's missions in the wake of the latest diplomatic spat over the spying episode, a media report said on Friday.

The latest spat started last week after a staff member of Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi was detained by police for questioning over espionage charges, the Express Tribune reported.

The fresh slide in ties may also lead to a 'scaling down' of the strength of diplomatic staff by the two neighbours, the paper said.

The tension intensified after tit-fit-tat naming of diplomatic staff for alleged spy work by both sides.

Mahmood Akhtar, who was working as a visa officer at the Pakistani High Commission, was later expelled from India.

"However, India, using a statement Delhi police extracted from Akhtar through coercive means, implicated other Pakistani staffers. The identities of at least six such officials were leaked to the media, jeopardising their security. The move prompted Pakistan to withdraw them from New Delhi," it said.

In what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan on Thursday claimed that eight officials posted in India's High Commission in Islamabad were agents of India's intelligence agencies, RAW and IB. The disclosure left New Delhi with no other options but to withdraw the named officials, the paper said.

An official with knowledge of latest developments said that India had breached an 'understanding' by revealing the identities of certain Pakistani officials posted in New Delhi, the paper said.

The official said both sides knew that certain officials worked under cover and they did so with the full official knowledge, it said.

"What India did was unthinkable," the official added, saying the Indian move would have serious implications for the two countries.

He said the immediate fallout of this controversy could be the recalling of high commissioners by the two countries for the time being, the paper said.

The official said another implication might be 'cutting down' the size of diplomatic staff posted in each others countries till the situation normalised, it added.
Recently, US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma was in Jamia Millia Islamia, a Central University by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1988. Addressing on Indo-American relations and the anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US Presidential campaign, he hailed the Jamia as one of the finest embodiments of India whose alumni have made countless contributions to academia, business, media, and many other fields.

Remarkably, the US envoy said: I understand why even Shah Rukh Khan studied here for a time. So your reputation as a celebrity university is quite warranted!

Congratulating the Jamia on its 96th Foundation Day, he called it a historic institution of learning and urged its students to to challenge old assumptions. The questions and debates that shape the 21st century are first articulated not in the conference rooms of governments but in universities like this, he said.

Certainly, university campuses are the best seats of critical thinking and freedom of expression where differing ideas are encouraged. One expresses his or her dissenting views with all liberty, dignity and eloquence. Even matters of serious contention are peacefully addressed with an intellectual engagement. But this absolute freedom turns into anarchy when politics is dragged into the university campuses.

The well-wishers of Jamia Millia Islamia are deeply pained to catch up with this news in The Financial Express where a Jamia Millia Islamia scholar wrote an anti-India article on slain Hijbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani for a Pakistani newspaper Dawn and flaunted it on Facebook.

Its indeed deplorable to see such an anti-India article in the Pakistan-based daily by a PhD scholar at the Jamias Academy of International Studies. Basharat Ali, the author of this strongly-worded article, praises the Hizbul Mujahideen militant castigating the Indian stand on Kashmir. He could have his dissenting view on Burhan Wanis killing published by an Indian media outlet. There is no dearth of print and online publications in India that would have offered space for his opinion. But taking such a confrontational article in a Pakistani newspaper and then flaunting it on Facebook is untenable. More blatantly, the writer, in his biography at the end of the article, got himself introduced as a Research Scholar at the Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. By skipping this portion, he could have caused no defamation to an Indian institution which prides itself in an age-old nationalistic character, secular history and established academic credentials.

The ferocious views expressed in this dubious and reactionary article could be the authors own, but they do not necessarily represent the Jamia biradari (community). For, the entire edifice of Jamia Millia Islamia is based on a secular fabric laid down by the pioneers of the national freedom movement guided by Mahatma Gandhi. Such an institution which came into existence to impart secular education in full synergy with the national integration cannot endorse any devise and separatist ideas being bolstered through the Pakistani press.

Alis article  Ill never forget the day Burhan Wani was killed  was published in Dawn on 29 October. According to the information shared by the author, the article was first published by Kashmir Reader, which has been banned by the Jammu and Kashmir government in the wake of the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

In this opinion piece, the author basically tries to buttress his point that the Indian states oppression is as routinised in wartime as it is in peacetime. He expresses his views in staunch support of the anti-India protests in the wake of Burhan Wanis killing. He writes: "The protests were a sign of the Indian state losing all ground. The divisions that they had constructed  Shia-Sunni, Muslim-non-Muslim, Kashmiri-Ladakhi, Tableeghi-Salafi, majority-minority  to obfuscate the truth went up in smoke as the air was now incensed with songs of freedom."

Either Ali seems to be living in denial or is harbouring a conspiracy theory. The sectarian divides among the Muslims have deep roots in the Islamic ideological history. They might have been flared up by certain policies of the governments in different parts of the world. But it cannot be denied that the sectarian divides are a direct result of the intra-community ideological skirmishes creating a bloodthirsty incarnation in the 1500-year history of Islam. Remarkably, this point was precisely made by a renowned Islamic scholar from the southern Iraqi village of Ninowa, Shaikh Muhammad Bin Yahya Al-Ninowy in his talk organised by the Jamias Department of Islamic Studies.

Speaking in Jamia on Islam and Violence: A Historical Analysis, Shaikh Al-Ninowy, who is an authority on the Islamic history and theology, traced the history of the sectarian divide in Islam. He noted that faith-inspired violence has proven much more tyrannical than even the political forms of it. He put it succinctly that, Religious extremism and faith-inspired violent ideologies, if not challenged and rebutted, institutionalise theoretical, verbal, and physical terrorism. The violent religious extremists erect walls of hate, xenophobia and all ungodly acts in the name of God. They commit all kinds of injustice and shamelessly attribute them to God and the religion.

But Ali has blamed the Indian media in general without any exceptions, for all the ideological divisions among the Muslims. He wrote: But in the newsrooms in India, it was the perennial threat that was being accused of fomenting the trouble.

In his crazy bid to criticise the Indian media and the Indian government's policies in a Pakistani news outlet, the author went to the extent of defending Pakistan on the Kashmir conflict. He ranted against the Indian media as well as the state in these words: Sometimes, one imagines, if Pakistan were to tectonically shift from here to Antarctica, where would the Indian state and its jingoistic media derive their narrative from? Pakistan, they said, was responsible for causing unrest in Kashmir. Who will they blame for their own failure and guilt, their own deception and debauchery?

One would earnestly ask the author to spend a year or two in Pakistan and see, through his own eyes, how things work there. In India, he got all the liberty to voice his concerns, freely express his thoughts against the Indian establishment, that too through the Pakistani media, while at the same time pursuing his PhD and lavishly enjoying the monthly stipends provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India

He must be availing either the JRF or SRF fellowship (around 30,000 per month) or at least non-NET fellowship (8,000 monthly). Not only universities, even madrasas which offer only Islamic education are receiving huge funds and largesse from the HRD ministry in India. But shockingly enough, Pakistani madrasas and other Muslim seminaries and institutions in an Islamic country are deprived of any financial aid from the state. Thats precisely why they rely on the funds from the Gulf countries or only on public donations.

Basharat Ali, keep all this in your mind and take a note of introspection. You should seriously rethink your reactionary way of positioning the problem. Most importantly, you should give up viewing and judging the Indian media through the prism of Pakistani press. You are principally right in your saying that freedom, self-determination and the right to live in peace are innate to a people, but blaming all the Kashmir violence on the Indian state, defending the Pakistani narrative of Kashmir unrest and, of course, calling the Indian media jingoistic in a Pakistani newspaper is not justifiable by any stretch of imagination. Your untenable fabrication that the countrys media manipulates the narrative surrounding whats going on in Kashmir is utterly upsetting. It appears from your tone and tenor that you tend to speak in the language of Pakistani media.

Remember, Dawn is a Pakistani newspaper, along with many others, which blamed India for the Uri explosion, the worst attack on the Indian Army in a decade. Most Pakistani newspapers coined the narrative that the Uri attack was an 'inside job' and, therefore, they did not call the Uri attackers "terrorists".

Soon after the Uri terror attack, Dawn published an editorial titled "Responding to a dangerous time" in which it blamed India for planning worse attacks on Kashmir and Pakistan. Now, it is not difficult to find that the impact of such blatant blame game has caught the imagination of the gullible young Indian scholars who seem to go through the Pakistani news media with an impressionable mind. Its really distressing.

In this trying time, the Jamiaites can only howl in pain if an inside element comes crashing down the vision of the universitys nationalist Muslim founders. Those who had a large share in the conception and construction of the Jamia were all nationalist leaders. The founding members and the initial patrons of Jamia were Moulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar, Moulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Zakir Hussain, Abdul Majeed Khwaja, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan and the eminent academician, Mujeeb Rizvi, whose patronage gave Jamia its historic glory. They were all nationalist leaders of Muslims in India.

The son-in-law of Mujeeb Rizvi and a Delhi-based dastango (storyteller), Mahmood Farooqui wrote in his article in The Indian Express that Jamia Millia Islamia was a highly important experiment in nationalist education. "Founded in 1920 at the peak of the Non-Cooperation Movement, Jamia set itself up against the crony and separatist politics of Aligarh. Inspired by Gandhi and following his ideas on basic education, Jamia already had a sterling record as a secular and nationalist education centre by the time Rizvi joined.Its famous vice chancellors, Zakir Husain and Sheikh Mujeeb to name a few, and teachers, articulated an academic, emotional and theological space for the Nationalist Muslims, across the country, who badly needed this succour after the dark days of Partition," wrote Farooqui.

Recently, a senior alumnus of Jamia and president of the JMI Alumni Association, Ghizal Mahdi, wrote an inspiring article in Jamias directory. In his words, Jamia has had progressive orientation and broadest possible meaning of education  one that is closely linked with the life of the nationIt is significant that despite having no assured source of maintenance, a group of people that comprised all sections  teachers, students and non-teaching personnel left the stable or comfortable Aligarh Muslim University, and became first Jamiaites!.

In this article  "Who is a Jamiaite?"  Mahdi depicts a picture of how a Jamiaite should be known. He avers: "The inclusive view of life makes a Jamiaite humble, humane, honest, sincere, hard working and kind; and even his/her worst ideological critics acknowledge his/her integrity, fervour, zeal and feeling for the people at large."

I hope Basharat Ali glances through the above article in an effort to learn how to become a true Jamiaite.

The author is a doctoral research scholar in Centre for Culture, Media & Governance at Jamia Millia Islamia. He is a scholar of Comparative Religion, Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences and a cultural analyst. Views are personal. Email: grdehlavi@gmail.com
A Muslim man has recently come under fire from several quarters in Kerala for preventing his wife from breastfeeding their new born child.

Aboobacker Siddique claimed that feeding the child before the completion of five prayers that a Muslim says every day was un-Islamic. The family lives in Omassery, Kozhikode district

When the doctors at the EMS Cooperative Hospital at Mukkam, where his 24-year-old wife Hafsath delivered the male child on Wednesday, tried to compel him, Siddique said that he was ready to take the blame of his child's death.

He reportedly told the hospital authorities not to worry as they had not given breast milk or anything else orally to his first child as well. He claimed that it did not cause any problem in the child, who is now leading a healthy life.

General manager of the Hospital Rasika Kamar said that the man had acted on the advice of a Muslim cleric who told him that new born babies should not be breastfed before the five prayers.

Hafsath had delivered the child at 2 pm on Wednesday. This meant that we had to keep the child without any nutrients till the next day evening. This was risky for us. We told them about the risk to the baby. They were not amenable to any suggestion, Rasika told Firstpost.

She said that the denial of breast milk to the new born baby for 24 hours could have led to dehydration resulting in its death. The doctors had tried to give at least glucose to the baby but the mother did not allow them to give the child anything orally.

She told us that she feared her husband might divorce her if she disobeyed him. She was not even allowing us to examine the glucose level of the child. As they remained adamant, we had to inform the police, Kamar said.

Though the police threatened to take criminal action against Siddique for showing cruelty to the child, he did not yield. As pressure mounted, he got his wife forcefully discharged from the hospital at around 5 pm after giving an undertaking.

Salim, sub-inspector of Mukkam station said that they had registered a case against the childs father on the basis of a complaint filed by the hospital authorities. Salim, who himself is a practising Muslim, said an investigation into the incident was on.

The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also taken up the issue based on media reports. Commission member Naseer Chaliyam said that he had sought a report from the District Child Protection Officer on the incident.

The case prima facie involves violation of child rights. The childs father has put his life under risk by denying him the basic nutrients. The denial of breast milk is a cruelty to the child under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 201, Naseer pointed out.

He said that the Commission would prosecute Siddique if found guilty. He said that he was awaiting the report from the district official to decide the future course of action.

Sheeba Mumtaz, who is Kozhikode district child protection officer, told Firstpost that their investigation had shown that the father of the child had violated provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. She said that she will be submitting her report to the panel recommending action against Siddique under the provisions of the Act.

The commission will also examine the matter and add additional charges if any required, Sheeba said while adding that this was the first time she heard that feeding a new born child before five prayers was un-Islamic. She feels Quran, on the contrary, encourages Muslim women to breastfeed their infants shortly after birth, said Sheeba, who is also a Muslim.

There is a practice among a section of Muslims to recite the prayer which is called adhan in the infant's right ear to ensure that the first word he or she hears is the prayer. It could be recited either before or after feeding the breast milk. This is done by the infants father. Siddique might have misunderstood this as the five prayers, feels Sheeba.

The incident coming in the wake of strong resistance to the immunisation of children against diphtheria from the Muslim community in Malappuram district worries health activists about the health of the children. They believe that a section of the community had opposed the immunisation even after death of five children earlier this year due to religious reasons.

Though a massive campaign was launched by the government with the help of various organisations to fully immunise all children below five years, only 6000 out of the total 42,000 unimmunised children could be immunised in the district during the campaign.

Social activists see the incidents like this as a reflection of attempts by certain sections to take the Muslims back to the primitive days. Noted writer Professor NP Hafiz feels that there was a deliberate move by certain sections to rally the youth by misguiding them about the Islamic teachings.

They are using Salafism as the rallying point. Salafism is an ultra-conservative reform movement within Sunni Islam which believes in a puritanical form of Islam opposed to Western values. The salafists adhere to Sharia law and considers cinema, music and even interactions with the opposite gender as un-Islamic.

A few months earlier, a woman trapped in a river refused to be rescued by anyone other than her husband. As her husband did not know how to swim, the lady had to be forcibly rescued.

I personally feel that those behind such incidents have vested interests. They are trying to create their own sect or band of followers for personal gains. Several radical outfits like the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), National Development Front (NDF), and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) have been formed due to these interests. Prof Hafiz said.

This is a dangerous trend that could lead to radicalisation. The 21 youths who went missing from Kasargod and Palakkad districts three months ago might have been influenced by salafism. They had left the comforts of their homes and abdicated the luxuries of their life before they crossed the border, he added

Prof Hafiz said that a group had tried to establish a Salafi commune at Nilambur in Malappuram district a few years. Some 16 families joined the commune with the objective of re-creating the life the Prophet led about 1,400 years ago.

The growing popularity of such movements could help the growth of outfits like the Islamic State. The government should view these incidents of salafism seriously and take appropriate action against those promoting such kind of thinking.
Mumbai: A day after the Central Zoo Authority demanded an explanation on the death of a female Homboldt Penguin in Mumbai Zoo, the Maharashtra Lokayukta has summoned BMC officials for a hearing on Friday, an official said.

"The concerned officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been asked to attend a hearing on the issue before Lokayukta Justice ML Tahilyani tomorrow," said BMC's Leader of Opposition Pravin Chheda.

"I had written a letter to the Lokayukta yesterday, highlighting the massive corruption and other irregularities in the acquisition of these endangered Humboldt Penguins of which one died on 23 October. The Lokayukta has taken note and called a hearing on the issue tomorrow," Chheda told IANS.

After the hearing, Lokayukta Justice Tahilyani is likely to make a visit to the special air-conditioned enclosure where the remaining seven Humboldt Penguins, including four females and three males are in quarantine, he added.

In an apparent damage-control exercise, the BMC late on Thursday issued a 'health bulletin' on the seven birds at Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, or Mumbai Zoo.

"The seven Humboldt Penguins appear healthy and no abnormal signs are observed. All birds are observed to be feeding well and are active," Director In-Charge of Mumbai Zoo Sanjay Tripathi said in a statement.

Yesterday, Central Zoo Authority (CZA) Member-Secretary DN Singh sought a reply from Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta on the issue and related points raised in a representation made by the Humane Society International, India (HSI).

The HSI questioned whether the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea is registered with the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) as a captive breeding centre for Humboldt Penguins and if the BMC had secured all the requisite import certification.

The HSI also raised doubts on the suitability and appropriateness for housing and care of the Humboldt Penguins at the zoo, under the norms prescribed by the CITES.

Since the death of the female flightless bird occurred due to Septicemia while in quarantine points to poor standards of care at the Mumbai Zoo, the CZA has asked the BMC to provide a detailed report on the autopsy carried out on the dead Humboldt Penguin by this weekend.

A major political row had erupted in Maharashtra after the death of the female bird, with most parties questioning the wisdom of keeping the endangered species in the harsh tropical climate of Mumbai.

The penguins, flown in from Seoul on 26 July, are undergoing an acclimatization spell in a specially-designed air-conditioned enclosure before going on public display later this month.

After the death of Dory, all major political parties have demanded that the remaining seven Humboldt Penguins be returned as they can survive only in cold regions and the warm Mumbai climate does not suit them.

A pet project of Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, the Congress and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena said these flightless birds were brought here for someone's "childish stubbornness" and the mute bird died.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has "completely recovered" and it is up to her to decide when to go home, Apollo Hospitals Chairman Pratap C Reddy said in Chennai on Friday.

"All I can say is, very clearly, she is very satisfied... What I mean by very satisfied, that means she has completely recovered. She is aware of what is going on around her," he told reporters.

"She is completely aware of what is happening, asks and demands what she wants and I believe that everybody, even she, is looking forward to when she will go home and take back the reigns," he said.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the corporate hospital on 22 September after she complained of fever and dehydration.

Later, the hospital had said she was being treated for infection with respiratory support, among others.

Specialists from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and from London, among others, have treated her during the period.

Apollo Hospitals, in its last medical bulletin on 21 October, had said Jayalalithaa was "interacting and progressing gradually".

Ever since her hospitalisation, state ministers and AIADMK cadres have been organising special pujas at various temples across the state, praying for her speedy recovery.

Prayers had also been held in places of religious worship in Erode and Karur, among others.

"The divine blessings were on Jayalalithaa as scores of party workers had held prayers for her speedy recovery," AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathy had said.

Late last week, an official document had stated that Jayalalithaa used her left thumb impression in the election document of her party nominee for 19 November bypoll to Thirupparankundram as she had an "inflamed right hand".

The document was attested by Dr P Balaji, Prof of Minimal Access Surgery, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and signed by Dr Babu K Abraham of Apollo Hospitals as witness.

A galaxy of political leaders, including BJP chief Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, DMK treasurer MK Stalin, besides film personalities like Rajinikanth and Kushboo, who is also the Congress spokesperson, had visited the CM.
With a section of the retired military personnel attacking the Modi government over pension anomalies vis a vis their civilian counterparts (this has seen the unfortunate incident of an alleged suicide by a retired soldier in Haryana) and with politicians starting to use them as weapons against their opponents, the issue of One Rank One Pension (Orop) is proving to be quite ominous from the point of view of the overall civilian-military relationship in the country. And this is an irony as the history of the Orop agitation suggests that the Modi government has been the most sympathetic to over 20 lakh ex-servicemen (ESM) and about six lakh war widows.

Of course, as defence minister Manohar Parrikar has told The Indian Express, the Orop process will take two more months to be fully completed. Within 18 months, we resolved the 43-year-old OROP issue to high satisfaction levels, and all pending issues will be resolved shortly," he said, adding, Most of the pending issues have been inherited by this government. Barring the disability pension, most other issues have their origin in the Sixth Pay Commission, which we are committed to resolve. It is inappropriate to allow vested interest groups to deliberately build a narrative that is factually baseless and devoid of merit."

And it seems the majority of the ESM community is satisfied with the Orop scheme announced by the Modi government, if one goes by a report of The Times of India. In fact, in his address on Thursday to Army veterans in Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir, Parrikar said, Only one lakh ex-servicemen are not getting pensions as per the Orop scheme due to some technical difficulty or documentation problems. We will resolve them in the coming two months.

It may be noted that the Modi government officially notified on 7 November, 2015 the implementation of the Orop scheme  equal pension for equal number of years in the service in the same rank. Orop was to be implemented with effect from 1 July, 2014, fixed on the basis of the calendar year 2013, though the veterans wanted the year to be 2014. Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments, but all widows, including war widows, would be paid arrears in one instalment. The pension has been re-fixed for all pensioners as the average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.

The annual expenditure on the Orop scheme has been estimated at around Rs 7, 500 crore. The arrears from 1 July, 2014  the date of implementation as announced by the government  till 31 December, 2015, will be approximately Rs 10,900 crore. This has pushed the defence budget for pensions from Rs 54, 000 crore to around Rs 65, 000 crore. This is an increase of about 20 percent of the defence pension outlay.

Under the Orop scheme, the gap between the rate of pension of current pensioners and past pensioners will be bridged every 5 years. Although the veterans have been demanding equalisation of pension every year, the government went for a compromise of every five years, as against the present system of pay revisions for all the government servants every 10th year. It is said that this compromise is not for the monetary implications (which will not be much) but for administrative difficulties. Revising every year will prove very cumbersome and complicated.

However, the governments Orop measures have failed to satisfy a section of the veterans, who are increasingly politicising what was once a genuine agitation by hobnobbing with opposition leaders like Derek OBrian, Rahul Gandhi, Capt Amarinder Singh, Brinda Karat and Arvind Kejriwal. This is rather strange since the differences between the notification and demands are very minor. And here too, the government is open to rectify anomalies, if any, arising out of implementation of Orop, through a Judicial Committee, which, headed by a Supreme Court judge.

It may be noted that the veterans were receiving Orop until 1971, the year when the Indira Gandhi government cut down military pension from 70 percent of the last pay drawn to 50 percent of the last pay drawn and increased  simultaneously  the pension of the civil servants from 30 percent of the last pay to 50 percent. Since then, it has so happened that every central government has downgraded the military in pay, perks and status, compared to the civilian bureaucrats. One such principle has been the non-functional upgradation (NFU) for the bureaucracy. The NFU means that when an Indian Administrative Service or Indian Foreign Service officer (the topmost civil service in the country) is promoted to a certain rank (say joint secretary), all his or her batch mates from Group A central services automatically start drawing the pay scale of joint secretary two years after his or her promotion. This continues all the way up the line.

The same does not apply to the military, which is a highly pyramidal structure, with 60 percent retiring by 40 years of age, another 20 percent retiring at the age of 54, 19 per cent retiring at the age of 60 and one percent (those who become Chiefs of their respective services) getting additional two years. In contrast, 99.9 percent civilian bureaucrats retire at the age of 60 only.

Of course, it is a huge myth that the Orop did not exist at all in our armed forces and that Orop existed for all civilians.

The Orop was there for all those, whether in civil service or in the military, who reached their super-time scales (the basic of Rs 80000 per month and above). The secretary rank in civil service, Lt Generals and their equivalents in commander ranks in the military do get the Orop after their retirement. But then, given the fact that most in the military retire much earlier than 60 years of age, the Orop demand was very much legitimate, particularly when it was abruptly ended by the then Congress government, that too after the military gave the country a splendid victory in the 1971 war. Since then, the veterans have been fighting for this injustice to be rectified.

When defence minister Manohar Parrikar announced the Orop scheme on 5 September, 2015, there was a little confusion over whether personnel who retire voluntarily will be covered under the Orop scheme. But subsequently, both the prime minister and defence minister clarified separately that everyone who retires early (because of injury, illness, lack of further promotions or family compulsion after serving the mandatory tenure  15 years for Jawans, 20 years for officers) will get benefit of Orop.

Yes, there are still some little irritants, which the constituted judicial committee will look into. If still dissatisfied, the veterans can always to go higher courts. But these are not the issues over which one can continue to issue threats to the government and politicise the movement. All told, it is the Modi government that implemented its poll promise within 15 months of coming into office of implementing the Orop, something the agitators have not appreciated enough. Here, one may quote Independent Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a parliamentarian who has been at the forefront for the Orop demand, the day the government announced the OROP scheme.

According to him, The announcement of One Rank, One Pension (Orop) by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is the culmination of 40 years of wait by the Veterans and Widows. It is our countrys thanksgiving to them for decades of service and sacrifice. This decision makes Orop the biggest and most significant welfare measure for veterans in Post-Independent India by any Government and for that I thank Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Parrikar and Finance Minister Jaitley and the Government for the fulfilling this important promise. For me personally, todays announcement marks 9 years of struggle and perseverance on Orop  starting with the dark days of proud veterans giving up their medals in 2006. Orop was one of the first issues I took up after I joined active politicsand expectedly today is a big day for me personally and for my time in public service. Apart from raising it repeatedly in Parliament and media to the point that I was even called Orop Rajeev by many political leaders. I have also had the honour of sitting with veterans in many protests in Bengaluru and Delhi, including at Jantar Mantar."

Take another gentleman, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, former Uttarakhand chief minister. The very definition of the Orop was devised by a parliamentary committee that was headed by him in 2011. And what does he say about the ongoing agitation? Maybe some in the agitation are thinking just because the government is listening to them, they should squeeze out as much as possible. Greed may be playing a part. I cant rule out that there may be political motivations to this issue as well. He wonders how one did not see any protests against a party that ruled for six decades almost but the protesters upped the ante when the Modi government was barely a year old.

It is worth seeing the record of the Manmohan Singh government with regard to the issue of Orop. Based on the Koshyari Committees report, the government arrived at a figure of Rs 1300 crore required to pay the arrears for Orop in 2011-12. In 2013-14, the government enhanced the amount to Rs 1573 crore. P Chidambaram, the then finance minister, in his interim budget speech on 17 February 2014, granted a measly Rs 500 crore (based on the estimate of Rs 1573 crore) for the year 2014-15.

It is obvious that the UPA government made a half-hearted attempt to woo the veterans, that too just on the eve of the 2014 elections. Otherwise, how can one explain the Manmohan Singh governments calculation that the Orop would cost between Rs 1,000 to 1600 crore? Therefore, it is sheer dishonesty when Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi and AK Antony say that it is we who accepted the principle of Orop and NDA is only implementing it.
Canacona (Goa): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the "most bitterly criticised" person after Independence, BJP chief Amit Shah said on Friday, adding that if criticism was targeted against the country, it cannot be called freedom of expression.

"Sab se jyada katu alochana agar kisi ek vyakti ki hui hai azadi ke baad, to wah hai Narendra Modiji ki. (After the Independence, if there is one person who has received the most bitter criticism, it is Narendra Modiji)," he said at the inauguration of "India Idea Conclave 2016" in Goa.

"Alochana ka swagat hai. Alochana ko sahan bhi karna chahiye. Magar Narendra Modiji ki alochana se ek kadam aage jakar agar isko desh ke virodh ki disha mein le jayenge to kshama karna ye sacchi swatantrata nahi hai abhivyakti ki. (Criticism is welcome and it should be tolerated. But if someone goes beyond that and targets the country, it cannot be pardoned or termed as freedom of expression)," he said.

Shah said although dissent was part of the democracy, if it continued in an unwarranted way, there could be no development.

"If people do not understand this, the purpose of democracy will collapse. The purpose of democracy is to ensure that development reaches the last man in the society  who can utilise the same to explore his maximum potential to realise his freedom," he said.

The BJP chief alleged that the country got good governance after 68 years of Independence when the Modi-led government came to power.

"We spoke about the all-inclusive development. In the 2014 elections, after 30 years a single party got a majority in the Parliament," he said, adding that the government has implemented reforms in every sector.

Referring to the row over the issue of triple talaq, Shah said, "When the Union government has taken a stand, there was no scope for confusion on the issue."

"The Constitution has given the right to live safely to every woman. Had you ever imagined that women's issues could be a part of Prime Minister's speech on Independence Day? But when BJP came to power, it became part of the PM's speech," he added.
Editors note: Kannur, the northern district of Kerala, hit the headlines for a spate of political violence that saw two murders in just 48 hours last month. The murders have given rise to fears that the cycle of violence, which had ebbed to an extent in the last few years, may be returning to haunt the regions. The new political context  the state ruled by the CPM-led LDF and the Centre ruled by BJP-led NDA  makes the situation in Kannur all the more complex, since the key parties that are involved in the violence are the CPM and BJP. Firstpost travelled to Kannur, probing the historical, sociological and communal dynamics of the political violence in the region. This is the fourth in a five-part series from ground zero.

Read Part I here: Political killings in Kannur: With corrupt cops and netas, settling scores is easy in this Kerala district

Read Part II here: History of political violence in Kerala's Kannur: Killings became endemic after RSS entered the fray

Read Part III here: Kannur political killings: Flourishing 'party villages' lead to all kinds of malpractices

Not many hope that the move initiated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to end the political violence in his home district of Kannur will bear fruits.

Many see the absence of Communist Party of India (Marxist)s district secretary P Jayarajan and other senior leaders  at the all-party conference convened last week by district collector Mir Mohammed Ali after seven murders in a brief span of five months  as an indication of the partys unpreparedness to end the violence.

Many expected the chief minister himself or one of his ministerial colleagues to preside over the conference and party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to attend it. However, they kept off the exercise saying that the effort for peace should begin from the local level.

The argument is valid in normal cases of violence. But the scene in Kannur is totally different. While political violence in other parts of the country is mostly spontaneous, it is premeditated and orchestrated in Kannur. Therefore, it needs concerted effort at all levels to end the violence, says IV Babu, a senior journalist born and brought up in Kannur.

He said Kannur had defied efforts made by not only government and political parties but also social and cultural leaders, including former Supreme Court judge late Justice VR Krishna Iyer, for peace in the past. This is because violence is deeply ingrained in the minds of the party workers.

Babu said that the party men from both the divides have been continuing their war cry in the social media even after the all-party meet resolved to give peace a chance in Kannur. The CPI (M) men do not seem to give any credence to the peace effort by the third-rung leaders.

They go by only the top leaders. Unfortunately, leaders like Pinarayi and Kodiyeri are still not in a mood to give a strong message to the party men in the district. This is because they lack the moral authority to appeal for peace, says Babu.

In fact, many consider the two as the pioneers of political murders in the district. The chain of killings in Kannur started with the unprovoked murder of RSS activist Vadikkal Ramakrishnan, a sweet maker, at Thalaserry in 1969.

The murder was allegedly planned and executed by the duo. Even though Pinarayi was listed as the main accused in the case, he was let off in the absence of evidence. Both the leaders have, many a time, openly advocated violence.

AP Abdullakutty, who was expelled from the CPI (M) for praising Modi's style of development, had revealed that Pinarayi had asked party workers during his term as the state secretary of the party to follow the Bengal's communist style of killings of opponents.

Kodiyeri, on the other, threatened that his party men would make a bomb even at the police stations while he was at the helm of the home ministry during the last term of the LDF government led by VS Achuthanandan. Soon after the present government assumed power, he appealed to his party men to ensure that those who come to attack them do not go back in the same condition.

Nobody expects any credible move for peace from such leaders. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an earnest appeal to Pinarayi to take an initiative to bring an end to the political violence in Kannur in his first meeting after being sworn in as chief minister, he put the onus of ending the killings on the RSS and the BJP.

Later the chief minister sought to justify the murders of the RSS workers, including one in his own hometown, as revenge killings and asked the Prime Minister to direct the RSS men to drop arms.

Nobody expects such a response from a chief minister who is duty bound to provide protection to the lives and properties of the people. If Pinarayi is not able to ensure this with the police under his command, he has no right to remain as head of the government, says Prof MN Karaserry, a noted writer.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala believes that the chief minister will be able to end the violence only if he acts like a statesman. Unfortunately, Pinarayi is still behaving like a party leader, adds Ramesh.

Former BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai believes that the political violence can be brought to an end in a minute if Pinarayi wants peace to prevail in Kannur. He said that most of the murders in Kannur were committed with the knowledge and the consent of Pinarayi and other top leaders.

Most court orders in convicted cases have reference to the role of CPI(M) leadership behind the murders. Some of them contain even directions to the Home Secretary to probe the conspiracy. Unfortunately, none of the governments has ever taken the court orders seriously, says Pillai.

He said that he had personally taken up the court directions with successive chief ministers but none of them paid any heed to his pleas. Pillai said political murders would not have recurred if at least one top leader responsible for the conspiracy was brought before the law.

CPI (M) member and poet Umesh Babu is also of the same opinion. He does not expect Pinarayi to give a free hand to the police since he belongs to a school of new generation leaders who believe that they can protect the partys preserves only by eliminating its rivals. He said most of the CPI(M) leaders from Kannur, who have a strong sway over the party as well as the government, are proponents of this theory.

They are directly or indirectly involved in most incidents of political violence in the district. They are continuing the violent path since law never catches up with them. I strongly feel that violence will come to an end in Kannur once some of these leaders are brought before the law, says the writer.

He does not expect this to happen as these leaders have the backing of powerful lobbies. He alleged that the investigation into the brutal murder of CPI(M) rebel leader TP Chandrashekharan during the term of the UDF government was brought to an end after it turned towards the conspiracy angle.

Babu said that the hands of the UDF government then were tied down by the business lobby in the Middle East. They mediated between top CPI (M) leadership and the government and got the investigation closed. He says that even the BJP government at the Centre is not free from the influence of this lobby.

If it was free, it would have backed the efforts of Chandrashekharans widow KK Rema for a Central Bureau of Investigation into the conspiracy angle. Unfortunately, the central government opposed her plea in the court.

Rema firmly believes that the order to eliminate her husband has come from Pinarayi himself. She believes that Pinarayi gave the message to the party men by terming Chandrashekharan as a kulam kuthi (traitor).

Babu also sees the hands of the Middle East business lobby behind the bail granted to CPI(M) Kannur district secretary P Jayarasjan despite being listed as an accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case related to the murder of RSS functionary Kathiroor Manoj.

Normally a person framed under the law does not get bail for six months. The Thalaserry sessions court granted him bail on the condition that he will not enter Kannur. The CBI which arrested him neither opposed the bail application nor appealed against the judgement, says Babu.

He sees this as clear evidence that the CBI had acted this way under orders from the top. IV Babu also supports the observation of Umesh Babu regarding the role being played by the Middle East business lobby in Kerala politics. He said all the parties in the state oblige them as they are the main sources of their funds.

VK Rajan, who works for the CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani, says that the government alone would not be able to bring peace in Kannur. He said violence can be ended only if the RSS and the BJP were ready to drop arms

The BJP, which is playing the communal card in other states, had chosen violence in Kerala as they have realised that there are no takers for their communal agenda in the state. The RSS and the BJP men are provoking violence. Our party men are only trying to defend themselves, says Rajan.

Karaserry said it was not fair to blame one camp alone for the political violence. He said that both BJP and the CPI(M) were equally responsible for the continuation of the violence and both should resolve to fight each other ideologically than through arms.

If they think they can build their parties with the help of arms they are living in the fools paradise. Nobody in the word has solved any problems through arms. Ideology should be fought with ideology, not with arms, says Karaserry.

He said that the CPI (M) itself is a glaring example of surviving violent repressions. The British and the Congress had tried their maximum to uproot the Communists from the state but the party survived these attacks and became strong.

The CPI (M) has similarly failed to check the growth of the BJP and the RSS in Kannur through violence. It has only helped them grow. Kannur today is the only district in the country with maximum RSS shakhas. If the CPI (M) does not realise this and continue to fight them with arms it will only strengthen the BJP, said the writer.

He said that the BJP which secured 15 percent votes in the last Assembly election will capture power in the state if the CPI (M) and the UDF continue their strategy of countering them with the help of muscle power.
By Jim Urquhart

Some call them militia. They call themselves patriots.In the United States, many local militias are armed and have taken issue with some government policies. After spending a year with groups in Oregon, Montana, Nevada and Idaho protesting what they describe as government overreach, I've decided not to label them at all. In April 2015, I was assigned to cover the Oath Keepers during a tour of the Sugar Pine gold mine in Oregon after the group of former cops, military, firefighters and other first responders had risen to prominence during a standoff in Nevada over land rights.The Oath Keepers promise to defend the Constitution of the United States at all costs, protecting it from what they deem "all enemies - foreign and domestic."Sugar Pine's owners and some members of the Oath Keepers had offered me and another journalist a tour of the mine grounds. The owners told me that they wanted to be positively portrayed by the media. When they tried to insist I only cover them in certain ways, it resulted in a heated debate over freedom of the press.The relationship was tense when we entered the mine, but nothing could prepare any of us for what happened next. The other journalist had a stroke and within minutes I was driving a truck as fast I could down a dirt mountain road with three Oath Keepers in the truck bed desperately trying to keep him awake.Two parties used to having lots of control - the media and the militia - suddenly had none.Right there, trust was formed.

That trust helped me enormously when more than six months later, I arrived at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon to cover what would become a 41-day stand-off between brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy and the federal government. The armed men had taken over the wildlife center to demonstrate against what they believed was the government's abuse of power over land rights in the West. It was clear that media access would be limited, but one of the men I had met at Sugar Pine called the Bundy family asking them to make an exception. Eventually, I was granted access through the back entrance.The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters formed an umbrella group called the Pacific Patriots Network to facilitate communication between the Bundys, other occupiers in the refuge and law enforcement.Oath Keepers president Stewart Rhodes said the group did not support the refuge takeover. "We thought it was a very bad idea. We thought it was bad both strategically and also tactically, thought it was a mistake." Once inside, my first question to Ammon Bundy was, "Why did you do it? You are now facing a federal sentence." Dressed in jeans and a flannel jacket, he said he believed that what he was doing was not only just - it was necessary.

I have since attended tactical defense training sessions, fired guns and camped out with members of those groups in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. I've also spent time with men and women who didn't identify with any specific group but a larger movement that they say is defending the U.S. Constitution. Over time, my reservations and skepticism about their movement grew into a complex understanding.These groups talk a lot about self sufficiency, and I found myself listening with some empathy when they spoke about where the country is headed. "There's more riots happening, more crime happening, we don't necessarily know what is going to happen with the economy," says Jason Van Tatenhove, the national media director of the Oath Keepers. Van Tatenhove lives in the mountains of Montana and takes great pride in living simply and sustainably."I don't think there's any dooms day scenario coming down right on us, but it's always better to have these skills and not need them than to need them and not have them," he said.

I grew up in Utah and spending time camping out in Idaho and Montana, eating chili made with deer meat, all felt familiar.What felt new, however, was putting my camera down and learning how to shoot semi-automatics.There was never any drinking during the training, but away from the weapons and serious talk, we did share a few drinks and I learned about their lives at home, personal relationships and their kids.Last week, a federal court jury acquitted Ammon Bundy and six of his followers of conspiracy charges stemming from the takeover of the Oregon wildlife center.The groups see the ruling almost as a green light to further question government. They say they are even more confident in the constitution and all the more eager to protect it. They believe no matter the outcome of the presidential election, there's going to be social strife and they've won the right to fight against it.Click on reut.rs/2flFLcj to see related photo essay (Reporting by Jim Urquhart; Editing by Melissa Fares and Diane Craft)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. President Barack Obama chastised supporters at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in North Carolina on Friday as tensions spiked when a supporter of Republican opponent Donald Trump stood up and began shouting.Obama was interrupted when a white-haired white man in a beret and suit jacket with what appeared to be military patches stood up with a Trump sign and started yelling. He was quickly drowned out by screaming and booing by the crowd, which was predominantly African-American.Obama repeatedly told the at-capacity crowd jammed into a gym at Fayetteville State University to "focus" and to "settle down."

"Everybody sit down and be quiet for a second!" Obama said. "You've got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate," he said as the protester was led away.

"We live in a country that respects free speech," he said. "It looks like he might have served in our military  weve got to respect that."

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Amanda Becker and Emily Stephenson

| WHITE PLANS, N.Y./ATKINSON, N.H.

WHITE PLANS, N.Y./ATKINSON, N.H. The U.S. presidential campaign moves back to Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday as Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump try to put their best message forward leading up to the final weekend of a bruising race.The race for the White House tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favoring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.The two candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clintons lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Pennsylvania is now tilting to Clinton.Clinton is still the favorite to win Tuesday's election, but Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election.The race tightened in the week since FBI Directory James Comey revealed the existence of more emails possibly related to the private server Clinton used while she was secretary of state.

That announcement, which did not indicate wrongdoing by Clinton, gave Trump the opening he needed to shift the spotlight from allegations of sexual assault that followed the release last month of a 2005 video in which he boasted about groping women. Trump has denied the allegations.With four days until Election Day, Trump and Clinton are touring the states that are key to their path to the White House.Clinton planned to highlight the economy in a speech in Pittsburgh, contrasting "her vision for an economy that works for everyone with Donald Trumps plans to build an economy that works for people like him," a campaign aide said.

"Shell focus on the pressures facing women - who are either the sole or primary breadwinner in four out of 10 families - and working families, who are facing rising costs for everything from childcare to prescription drugs," the aide said.She planned to travel to Detroit afterward and end her day in Ohio. Trump, a New York real estate magnate who has never run for political office, was scheduled to visit New Hampshire, where many polls are showing a close race, before heading to Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Both candidates campaigned in North Carolina on Thursday. President Barack Obama will continue his campaign blitz for Clinton in that state on Friday. The Clinton campaign is trying to drum up more support from African-Americans who are a key voting bloc for her in North Carolina.Trump focused on military issues in North Carolina, home to Army base Fort Bragg and Marine base Camp Lejeune. In Florida later on Thursday, he was joined by seven Medal of Honor recipients. Trump described the heroes as being brave in ways he wasn't."I wouldnt have done what they did. Im brave in other ways," said Trump, who says his business experience qualifies him to be commander in chief. "I'm financially brave. (Additional reporting by Maurice Tamman in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker

| CONCORD, N.C./WINTERVILLE, N.C.

CONCORD, N.C./WINTERVILLE, N.C. Hillary Clinton's supporters nervously eyed opinion polls showing the Democrat with a tenuous lead over Republican rival Donald Trump on Thursday as the White House candidates raced through vital battleground states in a late search for votes.The race for the Oval Office has tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favouring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.The project, a survey of about 15,000 people every week in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., found the two candidates were now tied in Florida and North Carolina and that Clintons lead in Michigan had narrowed so much the state was too close to call. Ohio remained a dead heat, with Pennsylvania now tilting to Clinton.A Reuters/Ipsos national daily tracking poll found on Wednesday that Clinton was leading Trump by 6 percentage points, the same advantage she held before FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress last week saying the agency had found a new cache of emails potentially related to its probe of Clinton emails.Other polls have shown a far closer race, fuelling Democratic worries about the state of the race just five days before Tuesday's election. Clinton's national lead over Trump eroded to 3 percentage points among likely voters in a New York Times/CBS News poll on Thursday, down from 9 points just two weeks ago.An average of polls compiled by the RealClearPolitics website also showed her lead at 1.7 percentage points on Thursday, well down from the solid advantage she had until late last month."Im worried that Trump may win," said Nancy Dubs, 83, a retiree in Pittsburgh, who said she was voting for Clinton. "I think its maybe time to have a female president."For Clinton supporters, it has been a quick shift from confidence to anxiety."I think all of us are a little bit nervous, said Rajnandini Pillai, a professor at California State University at San Marcos, who plans to back Clinton. "It seemed pretty much in the bag a couple weeks ago."Nevertheless, some polls showed Clinton recovering slightly from her slide in the past week. She has maintained her comfortable edge in the Reuters/Ipsos poll and inched back into a 2-point lead over Trump in the latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll, which had shown Clinton falling slightly behind Trump earlier this week.

President Barack Obama, on the third day of a multi-state campaign trek for Clinton, adopted a sense of urgency before a raucous crowd at Florida International University."You have the chance to shape history," Obama said. "There are times where history is ... moveable. Where you can make things better or worse. This is one of those moments."The tightening White House race has rattled financial markets as investors weigh a possible Trump victory. Investors have generally seen Clinton as the candidate who would maintain the status quo, while there is more market uncertainty over what a Trump presidency might mean in terms of economic policy, free trade and geopolitics.Global equity prices drifted lower on Thursday as worries about the election weighed on investor sentiment.

FOCUS ON BATTLEGROUND STATES

With the White House race decided on the Electoral College system of tallying wins on a state-by-state basis, Clinton and Trump are focussed on a handful of battleground states. Trump began the day in Florida before heading to North Carolina for two rallies. Clinton was in North Carolina for two rallies.Florida and North Carolina are both must-win states for Trump as he tries to piece together the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House. Clinton, who has comfortable leads in big states such as California and New York, could more easily reach 270 votes without winning either Florida or North Carolina.In Florida, Trump pressed his argument that the controversy over Clinton's use of a private server for her email when she was U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 was part of a pattern of corruption that made her unfit for the White House.Comey concluded at the end of a year-long FBI probe in July that there were no grounds to bring any charges. His brief letter advising Congress last Friday about the agency reviewing newly discovered emails said they might or might not be significant, but the news was seized on by Trump and other Republicans.

Republicans in Congress have already vowed to lead investigations of Clinton's email practices and her family charitable foundation."She is likely to be under investigation for many, many years. Also likely to conclude in a criminal trial," Trump said in Jacksonville. At a later rally in Concord, North Carolina, he said that "the political leadership" at the Justice Department was trying to protect Clinton.Trump's wife, Melania, tried to bolster his standing with women during her first campaign-trail appearance, in a Philadelphia suburb."We must win on Nov. 8 and we must come together as Americans. We must treat each other with respect and kindness even when we disagree, she said in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.Trump, a New York businessman who has never previously run for political office, has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, launched his campaign by calling illegal immigrants from Mexico rapists and was captured in a 2005 video that surfaced last month boasting of groping women and making other unwanted advances.At a campaign rally in Winterville, North Carolina, a community where more than a third of the population is African-American, Clinton asked the crowd to imagine life under a Trump presidency."He has spent this campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters," she said. "I just dont believe were at our best when we stoke fear about each other." (Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen, Grant Smith and Luciana Lopez in New York, and Steve Holland and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by John Whitesides and Alana Wise; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New York: On 8 November, New York City, the money capital of the world, will be the center of the universe as it hosts Democrat Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump's grand Election Night parties.

Clinton will hunker down for Election Night surrounded by thousands of supporters and Democratic party faithful in a building with a literal glass ceiling, while Trump announced on Wednesday night that his "victory party" would be held at the New York Hilton Midtown.

"Hillary Clinton has spent her whole damn career breaking through glass ceilings, and in 2008 she called the presidency the, highest, hardest glass ceiling of them all. So when her staff announced shed host her election-night party at the Jacob K Javits Center in New York, it made sense," noted the New York" magazine.

It is rare for one city in America to throw up both the major party candidates in a presidential election. With two New Yorkers in the fray, the massive victory party after the hard-fought, divisive, year-long campaign is going to be held in the bluest of blue states in a country leaning increasingly red on hot-button issues like trade, immigration and gun control.

Trump, an alpha male and billionaire businessman, personifies the money and power that makes the wheels spin in New York. He is a kindred spirit for the Wall Street masters of the universe who exude a "Trumpian" super confidence in their infallibility and power to succeed.

Clinton, who was born in Chicago, raised in the Midwest and studied at Yale, has lived all over America. Seventeen years ago, Clinton and her husband bought a beautiful 11-bedroom, hundred-year-old Dutch colonial house for $1.7 million in Chappaqua, New York. In 2000, Clinton trounced her Republican rival Rick Lazio to become the US senator from New York. New Yorkers see their hard work ethics reflected in Clinton and appreciate her crusade for firefighters and first responders after the September 2001 terror attacks.

"Hillary is crazy hard working. She can get things done in a New York minute," said deli worker Maria Lopez.

At one stage during the primaries, Republican Ted Cruz took a lot of flak from New Yorkers for criticising Trump's "New York values," which he defined as "socially liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and focus around money and the media."

"No New Yorker has occupied the White House since Franklin D Roosevelt died while in office 71 years ago. That's a long time for New Yorkers to be out of the presidential game. They may very well be back," pointed out columnist Froma Harrop in RealClear Politics.

Trump, who is said to be a host extraordinaire, will entertain a relatively select group of supporters at the Hilton ballroom. He doesn't want to tempt the fates by having an over the top celebration prior to the results. The event is invitation-only for friends and supporters of the Trump-Pence campaign, according to the press release.

The elegant Hilton ballroom with the Trump party is a stone's throw from Trump Tower, and a 10-minute cab ride from the Jacob K Javits Center, where Clinton is holding her jamboree.

According to the New York Post, Clinton is planning an Election Night fireworks display on the Hudson River. "It could blow up in her face," if she doesn't win warned the local New York paper. In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid $25,000 for a fireworks display on Boston Harbor that was scotched by his defeat to President Barack Obama.

"The fact that both Clinton and Trump will hold Election Night events in New York City  marking the first such coincidence in modern history  is creating an unprecedented security challenge for law enforcement authorities," reported the New York Post.

Sadly, there are mounting fears of hooliganism and clashes between Trump and Clinton supporters on the streets of New York. One thing is guaranteed the NYPD will turn the city into a fortress on Election Day even as the city parties hard.
SEOUL South Korean prosecutors have arrested a former aide of President Park Geun-hye considered a central figure to an influence-peddling scandal, Yonhap News Agency said on Friday. Jeong Ho-seong was arrested on Thursday night suspected of leaking confidential documents to Choi Soon-sil, a long-time friend of Park at the centre of the scandal. South Korean prosecutors did not immediately comment on the report.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee and Ju-min Park; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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Jakarta: Tens of thousands of hardline Muslim protesters in Indonesia marched on Friday to the presidential palace to demand the resignation of the governor of the capital, Jakarta, who they said had insulted the Koran.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country, where many people follow a moderate form of Islam. While hardliners have launched occasional agitation in the past, protests on such a large scale have been rare.

The atmosphere in Jakarta was tense and some companies asked employees to work from home, access to business districts was restricted and embassies urged caution.

Truck loads of soldiers and police, some equipped with rifles, were on patrol and others secured shopping malls. A total of about 18,000 security personnel are expected to be deployed in the sprawling city of 10 million, police said.

The protesters, led by a group called the Islamic Defenders Front, are calling for Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama, a Christian and the first ethnic Chinese in the job, to be jailed for blasphemy.

They say he insulted the Koran by dismissing a political attack by an opponent who urged opposition to Purnama by citing a verse from the Koran.

"He is not Muslim but he humiliated the Koran," protester Muhammad Said told Reuters.

"Don't refer to anything in the Koran, especially interpreting it incorrectly ... I call on God to jail him."

Purnama served as deputy to President Joko Widodo when Widodo was city governor from 2012 to 2014, and has long been seen as an ally of the president.

Widodo would work as usual on Friday, with plans to visit a rail construction project at the capital's airport, presidential spokesman Johan Budi told reporters.

Budi said Wiranto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, and state secretary Pratikno were expected to meet representatives of the protesters.

Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla called for a peaceful protest in a joint statement on Thursday, saying "everything and everyone should continue to work as normal".

Police are investigating the case against Purnama, who has apologised for the remarks. Widodo, a Muslim, has vowed not to interfere in any legal proceedings against Purnama, according to the Indonesian Clerical Council.

City Election

Many of the protesters wore white robes and Muslim caps and gathered at the central Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest mosque in the country, before they began moving towards the presidential palace, with their numbers expected to swell.

Critics say Widodo's government has not done enough to contain the religious and ethnic tension that is mounting ahead of a city governor election in February.

Purnama, popularly known as "Ahok", has a reputation as a tough reformer. He will compete for re-election against two Muslims - Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, a son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and a former education minister, Anies Baswedan.

Ethnic Chinese make up just over one percent of Indonesia's 250 million people, and they typically do not enter politics.

There has been opposition to the hardliners on social media and some banners draped from an overpass called for respect of diversity.

"Your religion or ethnicity doesn't matter, as long as you can do something good for everybody," said one banner.

Indonesia suffered a series of Islamist militant attacks early in the last decade. In the most serious incident, 202 people were killed in bombings of a nightclub on the island of Bali in 2002.

An attack in Jakarta early this year by supporters of Islamic State raised fears of a new wave of violent militancy.
Samarra: Islamic State group militants killed seven members of Iraq's security forces Friday during a raid south of the jihadist bastion Mosul which pro-government troops are battling to recapture, officials said.

The attack comes in the third week of the massive operation to retake Iraq's second city from IS, which has already carried out diversionary attacks in other areas.

The militants crossed the Tigris River early in the morning and clashed with security personnel in the Sharqat area about 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Mosul, police officers said.

The militants killed four soldiers, two tribal militiamen and one policeman, according to the police officers, who said that clashes in the area were still ongoing.

One of the officers, a lieutenant colonel, said that the jihadists had planted bombs in the area.

Ali Dawdah, the local official responsible for the area, confirmed that seven security personnel were killed.

Iraq announced the recapture of Sharqat in September, but IS holds areas to its east, and generally is still able to move in smaller numbers within government-held territory.

The jihadists have launched a series of attacks aimed at diverting resources away from the Mosul operation, including one in the city of Kirkuk that sparked multiple days of fighting and left dozens dead.

Iraqi forces have said they foiled other attacks, while a series of bombings has also hit areas in and around Baghdad.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground, and Mosul is the country's last city still held by the jihadists.
Baghdad: The top boss of the Islamic State  who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul  has himself fled, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was "cruelly ironic" because intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.

In an audio recording released on Thursday, al-Baghdadi said he was confident of victory in the de-facto capital Mosul and urged followers to continue fighting.

But Johnson, while responding to queries in the House of Commons, said: "It is a cruel irony that some of the intelligence we have, you may know, suggests that the gentleman in question has actually vacated the scene himself and is nonetheless using internet media to encourage people to take part in violence."

He pledged that the IS would be repelled from the war-torn Iraqi city which has been controlled by the IS since June 2014, and told MPs: "The house can be sure that Daesh will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraq's security forces have yet encountered."

In his first statement since the major offensive began, al-Baghdadi implored jihadis to attack the "enemies of God" in what is seen as an all or nothing battle for them.

"Turn the nights of the unbelievers into days, to wreck havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers," he said in an audio release, the first since the major Iraqi offensive began.

The leader said he was "confident of victory" and called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised to enter the city, declared a "caliphate" when it was overrun by the group two years ago.

In his latest message, which is undated but makes references to events that are at most a few weeks old, Al-Baghdadi calls for attacks against Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Ankara has troops stationed at a base just outside Mosul and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's escalating rhetoric has raised fears of a unilateral Turkish intervention in Iraq.

The US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition and its warplanes, launched a massive offensive on Mosul on 17 October.

More than 40,000 Iraqi and Kurd troops are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault.
YANGON Human rights monitors have raised concerns about press freedom in Myanmar after a journalist at an English-language newspaper said she was fired following government criticism of her reporting of allegations of rape by soldiers.Violence in the north of troubled Rakhine State, which began with deadly attacks on border police posts on Oct. 9, has sparked the biggest crisis of de facto Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's seven months in power.Troops poured into the region after the attacks, which the government says were carried out by minority Rohingya Muslims with links to militant Islamists overseas.The military operation has sharpened the tension between Suu Kyi's civilian administration and the army, which ruled the country for decades and retains key powers, including control of ministries responsible for security.The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said reporters trying to cover the unrest in Rakhine faced obstruction and harassment.Authorities have not allowed foreign journalists to visit the area and the international media was not invited to travel with senior diplomats who visited this week, even as state media obtained full access.REPORTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS

Zaw Htay, the spokesman for President Htin Kyaw, has said reports of sexual violence, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests by soldiers are being fabricated by people in cahoots with the insurgents.The CPJ raised particular concern over the response of Zaw Htay to an Oct. 27 report carried in the Myanmar Times newspaper alleging multiple gang rapes by soldiers. Reuters also reported on the allegations, interviewing eight women who said they were raped by troops.Zaw Htay complained about the report and singled out Myanmar Times special investigations editor Fiona MacGregor for criticism on his Facebook page.

Days later MacGregor was told by the newspaper's senior management that she was being fired for damaging the paper's reputation, she told Reuters on Friday."It's extremely concerning and unacceptable that representatives of the democratically elected government would use social media and bullying tactics to suppress stories about important issues like gender-based violence in conflict," said MacGregor.Zaw Htay, a former soldier and holdover from the previous military-aligned administration, said the government had nothing to hide."I'm really sorry to hear about the sacking of the Myanmar Times reporter," he told Reuters."Actually we didn't make any personal attack on her, but just highlighted she didn't reach other reliable sources and it led to a one-sided news article based on unreliable sources."

The Myanmar Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The paper has not carried any reports on the Rakhine crisis since Monday.Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Asia, said the case marked "a new low" for the government."Rather than trying to shut down reports that it doesn't like, the government should respect press freedom and permit journalists to do their jobs by investigating what is really happening on the ground," said Robertson.Suu Kyi's government should "assert civilian control over its security forces", Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement."The best way to prove or disprove allegations of rights abuses is to allow independent media to probe the accusations."

ETHNIC TENSIONS

The violence in recent weeks is the most serious to hit Rakhine since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in 2012.Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship, with many majority Buddhists regarding them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and face severe travel restrictions. They form the majority in northern Rakhine.In a separate case relating to the conflict, a staffer in the ruling party was charged on Friday under the country's controversial Telecommunications Law for criticising the army's handling of the unrest.Myo Yan Naung Thein, employed as a researcher in Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy had been detained on Thursday, party central executive committee member Nyan Win told Reuters. Myo Yan Naung Thein wrote on Facebook that Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing's "negligence" was to blame for the Oct. 9 attacks and that he should stand down.Human rights advocates have said they were troubled by a broadly worded clause of the law that prohibits use of the telecoms network to, "extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb, inappropriately influence or intimidate". Arrests of social media users whose posts are deemed distasteful have continued under Suu Kyi's government. (Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Peshawar: An Afghan woman immortalised on a National Geographic cover will be sent back to the war-torn homeland she first fled decades ago, after a Pakistani court ordered Friday that she be deported.

Sharbat Gula, whose blazing green eyes were captured in an image taken in a Pakistan refugee camp by photographer Steve McCurry in the 1980s, was arrested last week.

She was accused of living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers following a two-year investigation, one of thousands of refugees using fake ID cards.

The illiterate mother-of-four pleaded guilty Friday, her lawyer Mubashar Nazar told AFP, and the court sentenced her to 15 days imprisonment and a 110,000 Pakistani rupee ($1,050) fine.

"She has already spent 11 days in jail," Nazar said, meaning she could be freed as early as Monday.

"We had requested the court to release her on humanitarian grounds," he added.

An Afghan consulate official said that the fine imposed on Gula has already been paid and confirmed she would be released Monday.

"We... will take her to Afghanistan in an honourable way on Monday," Abdul Hameed Jalili, counselor for refugees at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, told AFP.

Her children will also return with her. Gula, who is suffering from hepatitis C, has told media her husband passed away several years ago.

The 1985 National Geographic image of Gula, then aged 12, became the most famous cover in the magazine's history.

After a 17-year search, the photographer McCurry tracked Gula down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters at the time.

Pakistani officials say she applied for the fraudulent ID card in Peshawar in 2014.

The photo attached to the application has the same piercing green eyes and sculpted face seen in McCurry's famous image only older, lined by age and surrounded by a black hijab covering her hair completely.

Gula's plight highlights the desperate measures many Afghans are willing to take to avoid returning to their war-torn homeland as Pakistan cracks down on undocumented foreigners.

Pakistan has for decades provided safe haven for millions of Afghans who fled their country after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

But since July hundreds of thousands have returned to Afghanistan in a desperate exodus amid fears of a crackdown, as Pakistan's famed hospitality ran out.

Last month UNHCR said more than 3,50,000 Afghan refugees  documented and undocumented  had returned from Pakistan so far in 2016, adding it expects a further 4,50,000 to do so by the year's end.

They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis.
By Valerie Volcovici

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The global accord to combat climate change agreed in Paris last year officially entered into force Friday, putting pressure on nearly 200 countries to start executing plans to slash their greenhouse gas emissions. "This is a moment to celebrate," said United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa. "It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead."The Paris Agreement seeks to wean the world economy off fossil fuels in the second half of the century, limiting the rise in average world temperatures to "well below" 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times.

It takes effect as greenhouse gas emissions are projected by 2030 to exceed by 12 billion to 14 billion tonnes what is needed to keep global warming to the internationally agreed target, the United Nations said this week.Representatives from nearly 200 countries on Monday will convene in Marrakesh, Morocco for two weeks to discuss the nuts and bolts of the Paris accord and the policies, technology and finance needed to ensure the Paris goals are achieved.

"The timetable is pressing because globally greenhouse gas emissions which drive climate change and its impacts are not yet falling  a fact which the Marrakesh meeting must have at the front of its concerns and collective resolve," said Espinosa.World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the milestone also serves as a reminder to rich countries that pledged to help developing countries combat climate change.

"Donor countries made a strong commitment in Paris. And now we must turn those commitments into action," he said. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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By Michelle Nichols

| UNITED NATIONS

UNITED NATIONS Russia on Thursday criticized U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's decision to fire a Kenyan peacekeeping commander in South Sudan as premature, saying the mission there was now "in ruins" after Kenya vowed to withdraw all its troops in response to the move.Ban sacked Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki after a U.N. inquiry into the response by peace keepers to several days of violence in the capital Juba in July found a lack of leadership and that U.N. troops failed to protect civilians. Kenya said it would withdraw some 1,000 troops deployed with the 13,000-strong peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, where U.N. peace keepers have been deployed since 2011 when it gained independence from Sudan.In an unusual move, Russia, a U.N. Security Council veto power, and Kenya publicly criticized Ban's response to the report."For us the decision was premature," Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Illichev said. "We don't have a special representative, she's leaving, we don't have a force commander ... The whole structure is in ruins."

Ondieki became the force commander in June, just three weeks before the outbreak of heavy fighting between South Sudan President Salva Kiir's troops and soldiers loyal to his rival Riek Machar. U.N. South Sudan envoy Ellen Loj is due to step down at the end of November. The U.N. inquiry, released on Tuesday, found peace keepers did not operate under a unified command and received multiple and sometimes conflicting orders. It said there was a "chaotic and ineffective" U.N. response.

Kenya U.N. Ambassador Macharia Kamau said his country had appealed to Ban not to single out any one individual for "what we will continually insist is a systemic failure in the United Nations system." "The secretary-general, in his lame duck season, seems to have found the courage that has alluded him throughout his tenure by choosing to ignore Kenya's plea," Kamau told a news conference at the United Nations.

Ban steps down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the U.N. inquiry on Thursday, which he said was focussed on U.N. decisions made during the several days of violence. Dozens of civilians and two Chinese peace keepers were killed during the fighting.Political rivalry in South Sudan between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Machar, a Nuer, led to civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines. The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued. Machar fled South Sudan following the fighting in July. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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London: Ratan Tata, who was appointed interim chairman of Tata Group after Cyrus Mistry's unceremonious exit recently, is keen to keep the UK steelworks part of the conglomerate and will make a decision in this regard within four weeks, a media report said today.

Ratan Tata, who was appointed interim chairman after Cyrus Mistry's unceremonious exit recently, is understood to be conducting a detailed review of Tata Steel UK before making a final decision.

'The Guardian' quoted sources as saying that he is keen to keep the UK steelworks part of the Tata Group.

"They will urgently make a decision, but whatever happens Tata will stay [in the UK steel business]. Ratan Tata will go through in detail and analyse," the source told the newspaper.

It is believed Ratan Tata will be analysing whether to go ahead with a potential ThyssenKrupp joint venture deal for the Port Talbot plant in Wales the UK's biggest steelworks and proposals to sell Tata Steel's speciality steel arm, which employs 2,000 people in north-east England.

The future of Tata Steel UK and its nearly 11,000 workers have been on the line since the Mumbai-headquartered steel giant announced in March that it would be reviewing the future of the business.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will arrive in India for her three-day visit on Sunday but it is yet to be confirmed if a meeting with any Tata Group representatives

would be on the agenda.

A UK government spokesperson said, "A great deal of work has been done to support the steel industry, including tackling the dumping of cheap imports into the EU and introducing guidelines so that, wherever possible, UK steel is used in government projects.

"The recent reopening of the plate mills in Scotland and British Steel taking over the Scunthorpe site and hiring more people shows the sector can remain competitive with the right investment."

Ratan Tata, 78, who retired as Tata Group Chairman nearly four years back, returned to take over the reins of the over USD 100 billion conglomerate after Mistry's ouster on October 24.
By Lawrence Hurley

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts provided the pivotal fifth vote on the Supreme Court to block the scheduled execution in Alabama of a 74-year-old man convicted in the 1982 shooting death of his girlfriend's husband.Roberts said in a brief order issued late on Thursday that his action was a "courtesy" to four justices on the eight-member court who favored putting on hold the lethal injection execution of death row inmate Thomas Douglas Arthur.The order did not say which justices voted for the stay of execution aside from Roberts, but noted that his fellow conservatives Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas opposed it. The court is split with four liberals and four conservatives and has remained one justice short since the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia."I do not believe that this application meets our ordinary criteria for a stay," Roberts wrote. " ... The claims set out in the application are purely fact-specific, dependent on contested interpretations of state law, insulated from our review by alternative holdings below, or some combination of the three."But Roberts, who has a record of supporting the death penalty, said he backed the stay so his colleagues can "more fully consider the suitability of this case for review."

Roberts' vote followed a similar action in August by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer to provide a "courtesy vote" when the court blocked a transgender student who was born female but now identifies as male from using the boys' bathroom at his Virginia high school while litigation continues.The court on Oct. 28 subsequently agreed to hear the school district's appeal of a lower court's ruling favoring the student.

These two courtesy votes indicated the justices may be making a fresh effort to compromise as they navigate a difficult period and remain shorthanded for an extended time. The Republican-led U.S. Senate has refused to consider President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia, appellate judge Merrick Garland, insisting that the winner of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election pitting Democrat Hillary Clinton against Republican Donald Trump should make the appointment.Arthur has been on death row for more than three decades since being convicted of fatally shooting Troy Wicker as he slept. Prosecutors said Arthur's girlfriend, Judy Wicker, paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.Arthur's attorneys have challenged the constitutionality of Alabama's lethal injection method of execution on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

His lawyers have said lower courts are divided over how to interpret the Supreme Court's ruling in 2015 upholding Oklahoma's execution procedures. Their challenge focuses on part of that ruling that said an inmate contesting a method of execution based on the risk of severe pain has to show there is a "known and available alternative." (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)

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By David Brunnstrom

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia chided Malaysia's prime minister on Thursday for reported comments critical of the West that "sounded a little bit more like" his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, but said he did not see evidence of a tilt towards China.In an editorial published in the state-run China Daily newspaper on Wednesday, Malaysian premier Najib Razak said former colonial powers should not lecture nations they once exploited.The comments were seen as a veiled attack on the West as Najib looked to strengthen ties with China after the U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits in July implicating him in a money laundering scandal.Asked about signs of Malaysia seeking a closer military relationship with China after Najib agreed in Beijing on Tuesday to buy four Chinese naval vessels, Daniel Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told a news briefing:

"I read something attributed to the prime minister in the Peoples Daily that sounded a little bit more like former prime minister Mahathir than current Prime Minister Najib, but OK, there may be some special circumstances."As far as Malaysian purchases from China  thats not tilting to China, that making a commercial deal. Everybody does it. The very idea that third-country cooperation with China is somehow a bad thing, is adverse to our interests, it's ridiculous."

Mahathir, known for his outspoken, anti-Western rhetoric, was once Najib's patron but turned against him in 2013 by criticizing the government's economic policies and friendliness with the West.Russel said U.S. ties with Malaysia had improved under President Barack Obama and noted that Obama's visit there in 2014 was the first by a U.S. president in 50 years.

Russel said Washington welcomed improved relations between Southeast Asian countries and China, and this went too for the Philippines, which has been going through a period of strained ties with Washington under its new president, Rodrigo Duterte."We dont want countries to have to chose between us ... Strong, constructive, productive bilateral relations with China are an important part of our strategy. Why wouldn't it be an important part of the strategy of China's own neighbours?" Russel said. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Grant McCool)

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Its time we stopped thinking of Donald Trump as an anachronism, an ugly accident in electoral history, a flash-in-the-pan. He has tapped into a very real trend and, whether he wins or loses, that trend is not going away.

There has been a radical shift in cultural norms and aspirations. The liberal space has shrunk.

His recent rebound has demonstrated most graphically the extent to which gender rights have shrunk. Whats acceptable in New York or San Fransisco does not represent any sort of avant-garde today. Rather, those metropolitan norms are a sort of rear-guard, a last stand.

Thats why both Democrats and Republicans  and the mainstream media  were wrong to presume that the leak of Trumps `locker-room banter had killed his bid for the White House, and severely dented the Republican Party overall.

He might yet lose  I certainly hope he does, and that this trend would just go away  but the fact is, he has rebounded.

And his rebound stemmed not so much from his apology as from his rejecting his critics values and locus, and promptly returning the focus to their being elite establishment 'insiders'. To his backers, he managed to come across as the real, down-to-earth kind of guy who is unsophisticated enough to indulge in locker-room banter.

The flip side of that: his campaigns questioning of Hillary Clintons health and stamina obliquely focuses on prejudices about 'the weaker sex'.

The other very distressing aspect of the illiberalism Trump represents is racism. It is upfront, in-your-face. Sadly, its a worldwide trend. Remember Brexit and European leaders ranging from Le Pen to Oban, and Erdogan? Well, same thing.

Its the economy, stupid!

Let us get some perspective on this unhappy trend. Both gender rights and race equality  or at least normative political correctness on both  are really only about half-a-century old in the West-dominated world we have been led to accept as global. French women got to vote in the 1950s. Rosa Parks got to sit in front of a bus in the '60s.

This has been an unprecedented and tiny window of normative equal opportunity. Even the gender rights that Rome engendered in the last phase of its power was relative and limited to free citizens of the city.

Our recent equalities have come to seem like universal norms, but they are inextricably linked to the unprecedented economic prosperity of those booming post-War decades. Bill Clinton, one of the brightest minds to rule the US, got it right to that extent: `its the economy, stupid.

Im not saying theres a simple correlation between wealth and inclusive liberalism. No, its a general sense of longterm socioeconomic security within a population that sees itself as a nation that generates welfare and rights. Its as much about that nation feeling good and generous as about constructing social cohesion and pushing economic growth farther. For, welfare and rights-based security spreads buying power, and hence pushes production off-take, within a population.

But thats a pendulum. For, ironically, those very rights and the luxuries and ease they brought made labour both costly and less productive, and hence their produce uncompetitive; welfarism spurred production off-take but weakened production competitiveness. This had to lead Western economies towards stagnation and, at some point, decline. A general sense of economic insecurity would inevitably stifle liberality.

So the inevitable shrinking of liberal space was written into the script even when gender and race rights became dominant trends, then universal norms. In fact, the economic boom began to peter quite soon after the gender revolutions, the Civil Rights Movement, the 1968 students movements, post-Modernism, and political correctness flowered. The Western economic decline could be dated to the oil shock of 1973.

Thatcherism, Reaganism and Yeltsin stifled welfarism in some of the worlds largest economies. British Labour and US Democrats reinvented themselves as liberals with less or more care for the underclass  which was obviously expanding again, although it was unfashionable now to call it a class.

Within those reinvented political frames, bubbles of one sort or another kept economies on high-tech artificial respiration - stocks, debt, investment `products, property, mortgages, credit cards

Now, we are facing the crunch.

Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn represent the last spurt of liberal welfarism. It isnt by chance that the politics of both socialists dates from that romantic `68 generation. But if their victories are a long shot, they're being able to get their peoples to batten down to the hard  nay, horrid  life of a re-industrialising society is even less likely.

Obamas legacy

Barack Obama understood the lesson of history. His victory speech eight years ago was not only moving, it was insightful. He made clear that there was no option but to batten down to hard work, to reinvent a productive economy. (Closer home, Manmohan Singh too was keenly aware of the critical need to spur manufacture.)

But thats not the way Obamas term will be remembered. It was not the trend of history: the pendulum was still swinging towards contraction. Heres one reason: what now passes for an amorphous middle class has got used to being mass-produced university graduates, who have got used to desk, creative or managerial jobs.

So, though Obama has done well, economic prospects look as bleak in many parts of the US as they once looked endlessly Grady-Bunch-golden in the 1960s.

Trumps typical backer is paranoid about increased taxes; she cant pay. So shes circling the wagons.

Trumps anti-immigrant, racist misogyny is only one aspect of his thrust. The other is his attack on a liberal, elite establishment that (according to his narrative) doesnt care what `outsiders do to the poor. On one hand, the enemy is the imagined `Black criminal and `Latino illegal; on the other, elite liberalism that protects the criminal freebooter. To his backers, Trump is the knight in white shining armour who will dethrone the elite and secure the nation from these internal threats. The subtext is that he will reconfigure them as phalanxes of unquestioning workers-without-rights.

Spurting police racism in the last couple of years demonstrates the salience of the `Appeasing-Black-criminals-and-foreign-terrorists-is-no-good-shoot-`em-before-they-do narrative; sadly, thats now one of the legacies of the first Black Presidents second term.

That `black lives matter is not a major campaign thrust is a telling indicator of what lies ahead. The other side of that galling, depressing coin: Obamacares high-cost health welfare is a major campaign issue.

If Trump wins, welfare and inclusive values will slump further.

If he loses, the trend still wont go away.

That matters to us. For the trend is international. Its not just about souring welfarism among the once-wealthy. Its also about intolerant `other-ing by economically aspirant, socially insecure people who think theyre threatened by `outsiders.
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Notorious B.I.G. once rapped I made the change from a common thief, to up close and personal with Robin Leach.

It appears Scott Aaron Ryals hasnt yet made the transition.

Police say Ryals, 35, of Twin Falls broke into a car and a Locust Street home early Tuesday, about an hour after Halloween night ended.

He wasnt charged with stealing anything, though two different people called the cops on him, including a man who said Ryals broke into his car.

He was accused, though, of freestyling in a strangers kitchen.

A woman called police and said that she was sleeping when she heard a males voice coming from her kitchen, court documents said. (She) said that the male was rapping song lyrics.

The man, later identified as Ryals, apparently didnt know where he was, because when the woman yelled out asking who was there, he replied Oh (expletive), where am I at? Am I in someones home?

He then tried unsuccessfully to get out through a sliding glass door, police said, before the woman pointed him towards the front door and called 911.

Twin Falls police, already in the area checking on the report of the burglarized car, arrested Ryals almost immediately after he left the womans home.

The neighbor whose car Ryals apparently broke into said he woke up when he heard his car alarm going off. When he went outside, Ryals was standing at the end of the driveway. The man tried to speak to Ryals, but he was speaking fast and incoherently  then started to walk away.

Police responding to that call found Ryals leaving the womans home, court documents said. Officers reported Ryals was muttering to himself, said he didnt know where he was and asked officers if he was OK or hurt at all.

Due to the nature of the call and Ryals excited behavior, I detained him for further investigation, Officer Salko Lilic wrote in a sworn affidavit.

Police found a meth pipe in Ryals pocket while arresting him. He was charged Wednesday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on a felony drug possession charge and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful entry.

A judge set Ryals bond at 1,000 Benjamins. (Thats $100,000.)
KETCHUM  A former sheriffs deputy in central Idaho accused of stealing from a police program intended to create positive relationships with local youths has pleaded not guilty.

The Idaho Mountain Express reports that 40-year-old Chad Schiermeier on Friday pleaded not guilty to six counts of felony misuse of public funds in 5th District Court in Hailey.

Authorities say Schiermeier stole money from the Blaine County Sheriffs Department on several occasions between 2009 and 2015.

Police say Schiermeier worked as a resource officer at a middle school and organized the Police Activities League in the summer. The league works to prevent juvenile crime by creating good relationships with law enforcement.

Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey says Schiermeier took money from the league.

The amount of money hasnt been disclosed.

A judge reduced Schiermeiers bond from $200,000 down to $20,000.

A status hearing is set for Jan. 3, a pretrial for Feb. 7 and a five-day jury trial is set for Feb. 22.
SHOSHONE  A Jerome gunman accused of shooting a victim three times in the head from close range in an execution-style attempted slaying in January has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and could spend up to 25 years in prison.

David Gonzalez Ceballos, 25, was a fugitive for about three weeks before he was arrested by Twin Falls police Feb. 11 in the parking lot of McDonalds on Blue Lakes Boulevard North.

Ceballos pleaded guilty to the attempted murder charge Wednesday in Lincoln County District Court, two weeks before he was set to stand trial for shooting 29-year-old Francisco Javier Bravo-Martinez in the desert southwest of Shoshone and leaving him there to die.

On that day, I went and pretty much put a pistol to someones head and proceeded to shoot him, Ceballos told District Judge John Butler during Wednesdays hearing.

At that time, did you have the intent to kill Mr. Martinez? Butler asked.

Uh, yes, sir, Ceballos answered.

But Bravo-Martinez survived the shooting, and during a July preliminary hearing testified he was shot in his left chest and right leg by Ceballos co-defendant, 21-year-old Antonio Buji Jacob Gallegos, of Twin Falls. Then, while on the ground bleeding from the first two shots, Ceballos approached him, pointed a gun at him from close range, said bye, bye, ass, and shot three times at his head, Bravo-Martinez testified. He said all three bullets at least grazed him, and one cracked his skull.

Ceballos, whos been held in lieu of $1 million bond in the Twin Falls County Jail, was originally charged with felony counts of attempted murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder.

As part of his deal, all other charges were dismissed and Ceballos pleaded guilty to attempted murder with an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon. He faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $25,000 on those charges.

But in exchange for the plea, Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul agreed to argue for a fixed minimum sentence of 25 years or less. Ceballos and his attorney will be free to argue for the sentence they believe is appropriate.

Without an agreement on the exact prison term, the ultimate decision will be up to Butler, who advised Ceballos to cooperate with a presentence investigation so the judge would have more information on which to base his sentence.

One remaining defendant

The Jan. 23 shooting resulted in four people being charged, though through various twists and turns in the case, only Ceballos and Gallegos were set to go to trial.

Maritzabell Murillo, 31, of Filer was Bravo-Martinezs girlfriend and was first considered a victim, then accused of ordering the murder. Her charges were ultimately dismissed the same day she was set for a preliminary hearing.

Another man, Erik Lopez, 24, of Wendell, was accused of felony counts of robbery, kidnapping and intimidating a witness, but the day he was set for a preliminary hearing alongside Ceballos and Gallegos, he turned state witness and testified against his co-defendants.

Parts of Lopezs and Bravo-Martinezs testimonies during the July 11 preliminary hearing differed significantly, but they testified to the same key details about the shooting.

Lopez testified to meeting with Ceballos and Gallegos in a Twin Falls motel where they talked about taking care of Bravo-Martinez. He said they left to pick up Bravo-Martinez but left their cellphones in the motel so police wouldnt be able to ping their locations if they were ever caught.

Bravo-Martinez testified he went with Lopez, Ceballos and Gallegos believing he was going to help them in a fight with other men. He said he drove in his GMC Yukon with Murillo and Gallegos, who jumped in the Yukon uninvited, and followed Lopez and Ceballos driving a truck north out of Jerome and onto a desert road in Lincoln County.

At some point on the snowy desert road, Bravo-Martinez testified, he got out of his Yukon to check a dead headlight, and thats when Gallegos shot him twice and Ceballos fired the three execution-style shots from close range.

About a half hour after they left, I got up and hopped on one leg back to my truck, Bravo-Martinez testified.

Did you know at that point you werent going to die? asked Theodore Larsen, the defense attorney for Ceballos.

As soon as they left, I knew I was capable of surviving, Bravo-Martinez said.

He testified he had an extra phone in his Yukon that wasnt connected to a carrier to make regular calls but could still make emergency 911 calls, although he forgot the number and dialed 611 several times before finally calling police.

The defense attorneys during the preliminary hearing argued Bravo-Martinez lacked credibility  he denied using methamphetamine the night before or morning of the shooting, even though Lopez testified Bravo-Martinez took several hits from a meth pipe.

Magistrate Judge Mark Ingram acknowledged the conflicting testimonies but ordered Ceballos and Gallegos to stand trial anyway, saying there was sufficient evidence as to the key issues regarding the shooting.

Ceballos was set to stand trial Nov. 15 before he pleaded guilty Wednesday. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 3.

Gallegos is still set for trial Feb. 1 on felony counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
TWIN FALLS  There may be a lull in applications for new commercial buildings, but officials dont expect it to last.

The first month of the fiscal year for the city was a relatively quiet one in terms of building permits. The city building department was almost on-par with October 2015 for residential dwellings, issuing 21 permits for new single-family homes.

Commercial additions and remodels were also similar to last year. Twin Falls issued 10 permits for additions and remodeling, and eight for miscellaneous commercial.

While there were no permits issued for new commercial buildings  compared to two in October 2015  the city is still receiving inquiries. Building official Jarrod Bordi said hes confident that more commercial is coming  its just a matter of timing.

Valuation for commercial permits dropped about 86 percent from last October.

There was a $3.9 million job last October, which was the Canyon Ridge High School addition, Bordi said.

Historically, October can be slower than other months.

Most of it really has to do with hunting season, he said.

But the city already has 10 single-family dwelling permits in the queue for November, which could bring residential permits up next month, Bordi said.

Last year, we had 11 (for November), he said. You just never know.

The city issued 10 residential remodeling permits in October, and one duplex permit for Wolverton Homes at 1065 and 1067 Easy Ave.

Overall valuation of permits was down 46 percent from October 2015 at $5.6 million. Revenues collected were down 21 percent at $79,000.

Other permits of note included:

A $250,000 interior and exterior remodel of Wendys, 818 Blue Lakes Blvd. N.

A $50,000 interior remodel for the addition of a family restroom at Target, 1611 Blue Lakes Blvd. N.

A $240,000 office addition for Magic Valley Distributing at 2380 Beryl Ave.

An $89,000 tenant improvement permit for Monument Easts office at 1411 North College Road.
As a fifth-generation resident of Lincoln County, Cresley McConnell knows the people in the county and has a deep desire to serve them. He has prepared himself by becoming a Level II POST reserve deputy, POST certified firearm training, has completed continuing education in courtroom demeanor and laws of arrest. He is also the chairman of SIRRCOM. As mandated by law in Idaho Code 34-618-5, he will receive the state required training as soon as he is elected sheriff.

Cresley feels the pulse of Lincoln County and knows by his thorough understanding of what it means to work within the budget guidelines. He has learned this as a county commissioner for the past four years. I can testify to this, having worked by his side the last four years. In a recent article posted in the Times-News, Cresley was mentioned as having great administrative knowledge. This I know to be true also. He certainly knows the needs of Lincoln County and through this administrative ability knows how to get things done. I look forward to the change for the better as Cresley McConnell takes over the reins of sheriff of Lincoln County.
Following the unfortunate death of a fish seller in the northern Moroccan city of al-Hoceima that sparked protests in Morocco, Algerian propaganda machine jumped in and desperately tried to over inflate the event describing it as a prelude to a larger scale popular uprising.

Certain Algerian media outlets hoped to see thriving neighboring Morocco crumbling but they were disappointed. Some went even further in their exacerbation, saying the North African Kingdom is witnessing a second Arab Spring.

They did not hesitate to draw a parallel between the case of Moroccan fish seller Mouhcine Fikri who killed himself after he jumped into the trash compactor in an attempt to retrieve his confiscated merchandise and the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia in December 2010, which triggered the Arab Spring.

However, to the great displeasure of the Algerian media, their futile campaign turned out to be just castles in the air and a dead duck. They erred when they forgot that Morocco is NOT like Tunisia or Egypt.

Morocco is a modern monarchy ruled by King Mohammed VI who remains very popular in his country wherein pro-democracy protesters never challenged the monarchy though they frequently attack government officials.

Furthermore, the Moroccan Sovereign has always managed to remain above wave of protests due both to his undisputed legitimacy thanks to his special status in the country, as he is the Head of State and also a top religious leader (commander of the faithful.)

Unlike its neighbors in the region, Morocco has managed to weather the political storms because the government and security services have become experienced in handling protests.

Besides, Morocco did not witness the same level of protest in 2011 as Tunisia, Egypt or Libya, when thousands of mostly young Moroccans carried staged a series of protests in more than 50 towns across the country starting in February 2011, to denounce social inequalities, corruption, and injustice and call for the election of an empowered parliament. Their grievances were heeded by the King and constitutional reforms were adopted.

Unlike some of its North African neighbors, the Moroccan government had allowed regular protests activity as a pressure-release mechanism and was therefore seasoned in protest control, wrote Sarah Yerkes in a column posted on the website of the Brookings Institution, on Wednesday.

Sarah Yerkes, a visiting fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy and a fellow in the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs, pointed out that the wave of protests, sparked by the death of the fish seller is likely to subside with little lasting effect for multiple reasons, including the Moroccan governments experience in handling protests.

She added in her column that the Moroccan police have not interfered in the protests, and the government has so far made all the right moves to prevent the protests from turning violent or spiraling out of control.

The king ordered a thorough investigation into Fikris death and sent the Interior Minister to deliver his personal condolences to Fikris family, she wrote. Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad even issued a statement expressing solidarity with the protesters, No one had the right to treat [Fikri] like thisWe cannot accept officials acting in haste, anger, or in conditions that do not respect peoples rights, she added.

Sarah Yerkes also insisted that King Mohammed, thanks to his innate legitimacy managed to stay above the fray during each wave of protests.

As to the tragic death of the Moroccan fish seller, due process is taking its course and Moroccans are convinced that justice will be served and those proven guilty will be punished.

So far, 11 people, including security officials involved in the incident, have been charged in this case and the general prosecutor ordered the preventive detention of eight of them.

So, its just a classic law violation case which prompted public uproar, a case which Algerian authorities and media tried to inflate and exploit to serve their agenda, but the balloons blew up in their hands.

Morocco, which is building its own democracy, has proven it can open up and allow protestors to express themselves. Can its critics venture to do the same thing? It is improbable at the best of times.
Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Daghr of the Hadi-led government said they accept the proposed UN peace plan in principle but also have reservations regarding some of the aspects that favor the Shia Houthi militia and their allies.

The Prime Minister made the remarks at a meeting held on Thursday with the U.S Ambassador to Yemen Mathem H. Tueller.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told the UN Security Council, at the beginning of the week, that the Hadi government has unofficially rejected the peace plan proposal because it thinks that it rewards the putschists.

Daghr pointed out that some points of the proposal contradict previous frames of reference that could help to build long lasting sustainable peace such as the Gulf Initiative, the results of earlier rounds of national dialogue, and UN Security Council resolutions. He made emphasis on Resolution 2216 of the Security Council, which calls for the surrendering and disarmament of the Houthis and their retreat from occupied territories as one of the key elements that could help to bring stability in the country. He claimed that reaching an agreement with the rebels without disarming them would lead to the weapons being used to impose their will on the Yemeni people with the clear support of known regional powers.

The Houthis and their allies had also criticized the UN peace plan for its fundamental flaws unofficially but Special Envoy Ahmed warned that the unilateral actions of the warring parties risk undermining the prospects for peace. The Houthi uprising that began almost 2 years ago has left the administration of the country divided into two and extremist groups have capitalized on the chaos to reinforce their presence and expand their influence.
Saad Hariri has won the approval of the parliament as Prime Minister and he is now tasked with the formation of a government. The 46 year old said he was honored to undertake the national assignment while announcing that he is open to all parliamentary blocs for consultations on forming a national unity government that overcomes political divisions.

Hariri stressed on urgency to form a government in order to protect our country from the flames burning around it, resist terrorism, deal with the challenges of the refugee influx and restore the confidence of the population and that of the international community. He welcomed the end of the political impasse that lasted for 29 months saying it is a new term and a positive moment that should encourage Lebanese to join efforts to address the socio-economic, economic, environmental, security and political crises that they have endured.

The newly designated prime minister will need the support of other political parties to form a unity government and Speaker Nabih Berri is showing cooperation according to Hariri although Hezbollah continues to keep its distance after deciding not to endorse him for the position. We will cooperate with everyone and we must depend on ourselves to resolve our issues because no one is concerned with our problems, Hariri stated in a bid to reconcile parties in Lebanons interest. Hariris appointment is part of a political accord that led to the election of Michel Aoun, a close ally of Hezbollah, as Head of State last Monday.

Hariri served as Prime Minister of a unity government between 2009 and 2011 but his closeness to Saudi Arabia is expected to be a stumbling block in his relations with Hezbollah, an ally of Iran. Saad Hariris father, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in 2005 in Lebanon and a UN-backed tribunal has charged five members of Hezbollah with the killing.

Another major challenge is the May 2017 parliamentary elections and Hariri is hoping that the government will work on an electoral law that secures just representation and oversees the completion of the parliamentary elections on schedule.

The outgoing prime minister, Tammam Salam, was applauded for his efforts in maintaining peace and stability.
Twelve deputies, including two co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested and detained by Turkish authorities in the early hours of Friday in the cities of Diyarbakir, Van and Bingol among others.

The reason for their arrest is unclear but the NTV television channel stated that Demirtas and Yuksekdag are accused of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK.) Semi-official Anadolu news agency reported they have failed to answer an official summons to testify in a counter-terrorism investigation with Demirtas accused of provoking violence in deadly protests in October 2014.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the raid and arrest of the deputies at their homes is in accordance with the law. Some of the deputies are accused of refusing to give testimony for crimes linked to terrorist propaganda.

Few hours after the partys leaders were arrested in the town of Diyarbakir, a car bomb explosion went off close to the police station where they are being detained. The provincial governor is holding the PKK responsible although they have not claimed responsibility. Civilians and police are said to be among the casualties.

HDP is a pro-Kurdish party with 59 seats in the parliament making it the third largest bloc. The party has often been at odds with the government as officials accuse it of collaborating with the PKK even though it denies it. Authorities have announced that a police search of HDPs headquarters began on Friday.

Critics say the latest crackdown on the opposition is geared towards satisfying President Erdogans aspirations of amending the constitution but Ankara argues that it is part of investigations of the failed July 15 coup allegedly led by Fethullah Gulen.

Meanwhile, the internet has been drastically slowed, limiting access to social media and other information sharing platforms.
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.
Molly Smith '16 worked with Economics Professor Jennifer Mellor to study the effects of a recent program administered under the Affordable Care Act, the Hospital Readmissions Reductions Program. Credit: Schroeder Center for Health Policy

In some settings, an encore is applauded; when that encore occurs in the form of a repeat visit to the hospital, it's not. The good news, as recently discovered in a new study by Jennifer Mellor, professor of economics and director of the Schroeder Center for Health Policy at William & Mary, and Molly Smith '16, is that repeat visits for Medicare patients in Virginia are on the decline.

Mellor, Smith and Michael Daly, a research associate with the Schroeder Center, recently examined the readmission rates of Medicare patients treated for certain conditions and found that those treated for acute myocardial infarctions, or heart attacks, are 2.5 to 2.8 percentage points less likely to return to the hospital within 30 days following treatment. The finding, they said, is likely the result of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), which was implemented under the Affordable Care Act in 2012.

"The HRRP was included in the Affordable Care Act as a way of incentivizing hospitals to reduce readmissions of Medicare patients," said Mellor. "Readmissions are a problem because they suggest that something was perhaps missed during the initial hospital stayeither the quality of care wasn't up to snuff or the hospital discharged the patient too quickly. They're also costly, because Medicare pays a fixed sum each time a patient is admitted, regardless of the length of stay. Studies show that readmissions cost Medicare billions of dollars in one year alone."

Their study, which was published online in the journal Health Economics in July and will be in print soon, is the first to examine the effects of the HRRP in Virginia, and the first nationwide study to find robust data indicative of the program's effectiveness. It's also the first published research paper to come out of the Schroeder Center's seven-week summer research program in partnership with Eastern Virginia Medical School.

"There are lots of opportunities to do undergraduate research at W&M," said Smith, who was among the first three students to participate in the summer research program in 2015. "But, as a student interested in health policy, it was especially unique to work with researchers who are on the other side of the coin. We know about policy, numbers and data, but they have a more solid understanding of what goes on with patients and in hospitals, so they can offer a different way of looking at similar health issues."

Over the summer, Smith connected with Dr. Paul Chidester, vice president for medical affairs at Sentara Healthcare, who helped define comparison groups for the HRRP study and provided information on how a hospital might handle financial incentives.

"He was helpful because he gave me insight into how the policy implementation would be impactful for him and his hospital versus a hospital in a different area that sees a different population of patients," Smith said.

Smith, Daly and Mellor began their research by examining a database that consists of approximately 850,000 hospital discharge records per year and whittling that down to include only those relevant to their analytic data. This included records of Medicare patients readmitted for three conditions (those subject to penalty by the HRRP, which include heart attacks, congestive heart failure and pneumonia) at hospitals considered at risk for the penalty. Hospitals are only penalized if their readmission rate exceeds the national average, so those with rates safely below the national average before the penalty went into effect were deemed "not at risk." The team then pulled out additional records to use as comparison groups.

"We used a triple difference design for our study," said Mellor. "We looked at the differences in readmissions before and after the program went into effect, in the treatment of Medicare versus non-Medicare patients, and in hospitals who were at-risk for the penalty versus hospitals who were not at risk. This helped us pinpoint the impact of the policy more clearly."

After analyzing the data, the results revealed that the reduction in readmission rates is concentrated among Medicare patients treated for acute myocardial infarctions at hospitals at risk for the penalty. (These effects, Mellor notes, were not seen with other HRRP-affected conditions, possibly because treatment and recovery for those conditions are more complex.)

"We didn't see readmission reductions for patients treated for different conditions not subject to the penalty. We didn't see it for the privately insured, and we didn't see it in hospitals who were safely below the penalty zone," said Mellor. "So we can be reasonably confident that this is an effect that's driven by the policy. A 2.5 to 2.8 percentage point decline suggests that the hospitals were doing something to respond to this penalty."

What that is, however, remains a mystery. The team studied potential contributors to reduced readmissionssuch as a longer stay or increased number of tests and procedures during the initial admissionand couldn't find any indication as to what occurred.

"Our best guess is that it has something to do with how the hospitals are able to coordinate the patient's care outside the hospital," said Mellor. "Either that or there's something going on within the hospital that we can't observe on a discharge record, which may well be true because quality of care is very difficult to quantify."

Mellor said the publication of Smith's study is a testament to the impact the summer research program with EVMS can have on students and on research. In addition to exploring the effects of the HRRP further, Mellor is also pursuing publication on another student's project developed this past summer on a different healthcare issue facing the Commonwealth.

"As a center for health policy at a state institution, I think it's really important that we start looking at problems at home first," she said. "The discharge data we have is a great resource, and one that I think is underutilized in the Commonwealth."

More information: Jennifer Mellor et al. Does It Pay to Penalize Hospitals for Excess Readmissions? Intended and Unintended Consequences of Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reductions Program, Health Economics (2016). Journal information: Health Economics Jennifer Mellor et al. Does It Pay to Penalize Hospitals for Excess Readmissions? Intended and Unintended Consequences of Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reductions Program,(2016). DOI: 10.1002/hec.3382
Credit: National Research University Higher School of Economics

For the last 70 years, it was largely believed that spatial processing disorders, including those seen in language, occurred when the temporal-parietal-occipital (TPO) junction of the brain's left hemisphere was damaged. But according to researchers from the HSE Neurolinguistics Laboratory, it damage to the axonal fibers connected to this area of the brain that are most important.

Nearly 70 years ago, the renowned Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria added semantic aphasia to his classification of language disorders, demonstrating that inability to establish logical relations between words in a sentence corresponds to non-linguistic (spatial processing) disorders as well.

Individuals with semantic aphasia have problems with spatial relations, which is reflected both in language and in real life. In particular, it is difficult for patients to orient themselves on a map of their own body, as well as mirror the movements of other people and rotate geometric figures. Language-related difficulties are another form of this general spatial processing disorder. For example, while it might be easy for a patient to understand simple sentences, when a grammatical construction describes spatial relations (using prepositions such as in, on, under, and above, for example) or quasi-spatial relations (higher, bigger, earlier, and later), it is extremely difficult for a patient to understand relations between the objects being described.

Through his research on gunshot wounds during the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Luria showed that semantic aphasia arises when the left cerebral hemisphere is damaged (specifically, the TPO junction). Up until this year, researchers largely believed that semantic aphasia and general spatial processing disorders resulted from damage to these regions of the cortex (in Latin, cortex cerebri, a 1.3-4.5 mm layer of grey matter).

In the international journal Cortex, researchers from the HSE Neurolinguistics Laboratory presented their work, Toward a Functional Neuroanatomy of Semantic Aphasia: A History and Ten New Cases, which describes 10 recent cases of semantic aphasia.

'Using modern neurovisualisation methods, we were able to expand on Alexander Luria's neuroanatomical model by adding white matter tracts to itaxon pathways that connect various regions of the cortex,' notes Associate Professor Olga Dragoy. 'Data from structural MRIs show that not all of our patients have damaged TPO regions of the brain, but the majority of them have damaged tracts that are connected to this zone (the longer superior arcuate fasciculus, occipitofrontal fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and superior longitudinal fasciculus, as well as the corpus collosum).'

This suggests that semantic aphasia stems more from damage to the tracts connected to the left hemisphere TPO junction as opposed to damages to the junction itself.

This discovery adds to existing scientific knowledge about the neurological architecture of language by highlighting the interactive nature of linguistic processing. More specifically, it is not that several key 'language' zones are activated, but that many areas of the brain are constantly working together. This discovery includes more practical implications as wellif a patient requires surgery on a tumor near the TPO junction, it may be more important to maintain the nearby tracts than the junction itself in order to maintain the patient's language capabilities and postoperative quality of life.

More information: Olga Dragoy et al, Toward a functional neuroanatomy of semantic aphasia: A history and ten new cases, Cortex (2016). Journal information: Cortex Olga Dragoy et al, Toward a functional neuroanatomy of semantic aphasia: A history and ten new cases,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.09.012

Provided by National Research University Higher School of Economics
Micrograph showing prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma (the most common form of prostate cancer) Credit: Wikipedia

Researchers have found a group of circulating tumour cells in prostate cancer patient blood samples which are linked to the spread of the disease, according to new research presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool.

This is the first time these cell types have been shown to be a promising marker for prostate cancer spread.

In a study of around 80 samples from men with prostate cancer, scientists at the Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University looked for cells that were gaining the ability to migrate and invade through the body.

Samples with more of these cells were more likely to come from patients whose cancer had spread or was more aggressive.

This means that, in the future, these particular cells could potentially be used as a marker to monitor prostate cancer patients and predict if the disease is going to spread - alongside other monitoring techniques.

There are around 46,500 new cases of prostate cancer each year in the UK, and around 11,000 people die from the disease each year.

Dr Yong-Jie Lu, lead author from QMUL's Barts Cancer Institute, said: "Our research shows that the number of these specific cells in a patient's sample is a good indicator of prostate cancer spreading. By identifying these cells, which have gained the ability to move through the body, we have found a potential new way to monitor the disease.

"If we're able to replicate these studies in larger groups of people, we may be able to one day predict the risk of someone's cancer spreading so they can make more informed treatment decisions."

Dr Chris Parker, Chair of the NCRI's Prostate Cancer Clinical Studies Group, said: "There's a need to develop better tests to identify and monitor men with aggressive prostate cancer. This research has found a promising new marker that could one day make it to the clinic to guide treatment decisions."

This research was funded by Orchid Cancer Appeal, ANGLE plc and Chinese Scholarship Council. The scientists used a highly innovative cell separation technology Parsortix, developed by UK company ANGLE plc that is able to capture the circulating tumour cells.

More information: Abstract: Capture of circulating tumour cells with epithelial and mesenchymal features for prostate cancer prognosis,

abstracts.ncri.org.uk/abstract  te-cancer-prognosis/ Abstract: Capture of circulating tumour cells with epithelial and mesenchymal features for prostate cancer prognosis,
The urine of pregnant women could be used to help identify lifestyle interventions that help maintain a healthy birth weight for their baby, according to new research published in BMC Medicine. Abnormal fetal growth and birth weight are well-established risk factors for chronic diseases later in life, including the development of type-2 diabetes and obesity.

Dr Mireille Toledano, co-lead author of the research from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "We used a technique called NMR spectroscopy to identify, for the first time, a panel of 10 urinary metabolites in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy that were associated with greater fetal growth and increased birth weight. These metabolites included steroid hormones and important biological building blocks called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)."

BCAAs are essential nutrients that are vital during pregnancy as an energy source for the growing fetus. In this study, changes in BCAAs and other metabolites detected in the urine were able to explain 12% of the variation seen in birth weight, independent of other known predictors such as parent's own weight and maternal smoking or alcohol intake.

Dr Muireann Coen, co-lead author from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, added: "We found that a 50% increase in the mother's level of individual BCAAs equated to a 1-2.4% increase in birth weight, or 5-11 grams. When we made comparisons with the lifestyle and environmental exposures of the women in our study we found that the variability between BCAA profiles of individual mothers could be partially explained by levels of physical activity, vitamin D, coffee consumption and smoking exposure, suggesting them to be potential areas of intervention to promote a healthy birth weight."

The research team from Spain at ISGlobal, collected urine samples and lifestyle questionnaire data from over 800 pregnant women, aged 28-33 years old, from two locations in Spain (Gipuzkoa and Sabadell), making it the most comprehensive study of urinary metabolites and fetal weight outcomes to date. The two locations in Spain differed in socio-demographic factors, with women in Gipuzkoa reported to be more educated, from a higher social class and generally healthier than women from Sabadell. This distinction allowed for useful comparisons to be made between women from different backgrounds and different geographical location.

Although the researchers found an association between several lifestyle factors and the metabolomic signature detected in the mother's urine, it is not clear from this study if one is the cause of the other, or if any specific lifestyle factor is associated with an individual metabolite. In observational studies like this it is not possible to rule out other factors and an experimental trial would be needed to test cause and effect. This proof-of principle study highlights the value metabolic profiling of pregnant women could have on personalizing pregnancy plans to improve fetal growth outcomes.

More information: Maternal urinary metabolic signatures of fetal growth and associated clinical and environmental factors in the INMA study, BMC Medicine, DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0706-3 Journal information: BMC Medicine Maternal urinary metabolic signatures of fetal growth and associated clinical and environmental factors in the INMA study,
De-facto Tskhinvali says it needs aviation to prevent locals receive treatment in Georgia

By Messenger Staff

Russias news agency TASS has reported that the de-facto leadership of Georgias eastern Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region is discussing the prospects of creation of its own aviation ties with Russia.We are working with Russia about the issue to have our own aviation capabilities, TASS quoted de-facto President of Tskhinvali Leonid Tibilov as saying.One of the key reasons Tibilov named was that aviation is needed to prevent the residents of the breakaway region to receive medical treatment in Georgia, especially in the winters when the road to Russia is closed due to bad weather.Tibolov stressed that the authorities of Tskinvali had to permit their citizens to travel to Georgia for treatment as it was the fastest way to receive relevant medical support.The de-facto President also highlighted that there were significant health programs in Georgia for the people of the breakaway regions, supported by powerful Western countries.It turns out the programs serve as a forced measure for us. It is one of the reasons why we need aviation ties, Tibilov said.From this news, it is very likely that the de-facto leadership is afraid of Tskhinvali population traveling to Georgia.The situation in both occupied regions of Georgia continues to worsen, with progress having badly stagnated.If more people from the regions come to Georgia and receive some services in Tbilisi and see that the country is becoming similar to European states, it will be a threat to the de-facto authorities and Russia as they may lose control of the local population.Such frequent visits and European prospects for the people of the occupied areas are steps towards the reconciliation, which Moscow and Tskinvali wish to guard against.Russia and Nicaragua recognised the independence of Georgias two occupied regions of Tskhinvali and Abkhazia in 2008 after the Russia-Georgia war.In 2009 Venezuela, Vanuatu, Nauru and Tuvalu took the same step, however several years later, Vanuatu and Tuvalu in the Pacific Islands revoked their recognition and now declare Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as integral parts of Georgia.
The News in Brief

There were certain signals in NATO-Russia relations including war with Georgia but the alliance did not pay proper attention  Alexander Vershbow



There were certain signals before the NATO-Russia relations crisis, including the 2008 war with Georgia, but the alliance did not pay proper attention to it then, the former Secretary of NATO Secretary General Alexander Vershbow has said in an interview with Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of the deceased Russian oppositionist Boris Nemtsov.



In 2014, Russia started military aggression against Ukraine and totally changed the paradigm by annexing Crimea. Therefore we declare that first of all Russia is responsible for the crisis in our relationship.



We also saw special signals earlier but did not assess them in a proper way, such as war with Georgia in 2008 and the illegal presence of Russian troops in Moldova. All this means that Russia does not respect its neighbors sovereignty, Vershbow has remarked.



According to him, Putins statement in 2007 over Russias concern for NATOs expansion to east was seriously perceived but still thought it was possible to continue to cooperate with Russia. (IPN)







Georgian Manganese lawyer arrested on corruption charges



TBILISI, DFWatchA lawyer working for Georgian Manganese was arrested for corruption on Tuesday.



Mirian Bichikashvili is accused of commercial bribery, the Finance Ministry said.



Georgian Manganese owns mines in the small town of Chiatura as well as the ferro-alloy plant in nearby Zestaponi.



A few years ago, the company was fined more than USD 350 million for damaging the environment. The case went to court and is not yet finished.



Investigators claim that in order to collect additional evidence for that court case, a contract was signed with Grigol Tsulukidze Mining Institute, and the lawyer Mirian Bichikashvili was instructed to work with a group of experts from the institute.



The accused bribed a person who worked on the examination with certain amount of money to provide false information beneficial for the company, the statement reads.



Bichikashvili now risks jail for up to three years. (dfwatch.net)







The Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister has met the Estonian Ambassador to Georgia



Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Gigi Gigiadze held an introductory meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Estonia to Georgia, Kai Kaarelson.



Gigi Gigiadze and Kai Kaarelson focused on the existing bilateral relations between Georgia and Estonia and on the future prospects. The Deputy Minister underlined the close friendly relations between the two countries and put special emphasis on the practical assistance rendered by Estonia and on the strong support of Georgias sovereignty, territorial integrity, European and Euro-Atlantic integration. The two sides welcomed the recent dynamics of high-level visits and discussed the future plans and the need to continue the practice of bilateral political consultations. Gigi Gigiadze informed Kai Kaarelson on the current situation in Georgias occupied regions.



Talking points also included the process of Georgias European integration. Kai Kaarelson reaffirmed Estonias readiness to render practical assistance to Georgia in the process of implementation of the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Gigi Gigiadze welcomed the fact that Estonia will be holding the presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2017 and wished the country success in the achievement of the goals. (MFA)







Designing of Omalo aerodrome to begin



The designing of an aerodrome in the village of Omalo of the Akhmeta Municipality has begun. The Cabinet of Ministers will discuss the issue during today's Government meeting, with the Prime Minister of Georgia indicating that development of inner country aviation represents an important pillar of the spatial planning of the country.



"We aim at creating the maximum number of small aerodromes in Georgia for local residents and tourists. This will entail higher employment rates and will bring welfare to each of our families. In this case we are concentrating on the Tusheti region - a gem of Georgia in terms of its spectacular cultural heritage. These efforts are important in view of tourism development and ensuring national security," the Prime Minister said, and hoped that construction of the runway and airport in Omalo would be finalized in the near future.



Giorgi Kvirikashvili also noted that construction of the terminal of Ambrolauri airport is in full swing. The facility will be built by the New Year. (gov.ge)




Georgian Manganese lawyer arrested on corruption charges

A lawyer working for Georgian Manganese was arrested for corruption on Tuesday.Mirian Bichikashvili is accused of commercial bribery, the Finance Ministry said.Georgian Manganese owns mines in the small town of Chiatura as well as the ferro-alloy plant in nearby Zestaponi.A few years ago, the company was fined more than USD 350 million for damaging the environment. The case went to court and is not yet finished.Investigators claim that in order to collect additional evidence for that court case, a contract was signed with Grigol Tsulukidze Mining Institute, and the lawyer Mirian Bichikashvili was instructed to work with a group of experts from the institute.The accused bribed a person who worked on the examination with certain amount of money to provide false information beneficial for the company, the statement reads.Bichikashvili now risks jail for up to three years.
Solana's reaction on Russias foreign goals

By Messenger Staff

The quality of the Wests reaction to the Russian invasion in Georgia is one of the reasons for the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and what is happening in the world now, the former high Commissioner of the EU Javier Solana said when meeting with the Deputy Secretary of Georgias Security Council, Levan Bodzashvili.The meeting between Solana and Bodzashvili was held in Brussels where the duo have discussed the ongoing processes in Georgia and region.In turn, Russia was encouraged by the soft reaction of the U.S. and NATO, Solana has remarked.Solana recalled Putins statement on the Munich Security forum where he raised two main issues: the issue of NATO expansion and refusal on placement of rockets system in Eastern Europe.The U.S. reaction was different on the issues: it refrained on the first and not on the second. Back before the August 2008 war, Georgia was denied MAP, which did nothing but encourage Russia to invade Georgia, he has said.What Mr Solana has stated is common knowledge, but it changes nothing for Georgia.Twenty percent of Georgia's lands are now occupied by Russia and the country continues its creeping occupation by erecting barbed wire fences and shifting the border, as well as abducting Georgian citizens from sovereign Georgian territory.Russia has also achieved its aggressive goals in Ukraine, and the measures established by the rest of the world have not created adequate obstacles for Moscow.NATOs and EUs closed doors to Georgia are only encouraging Russia to be increasingly aggressive.
The News in Brief

Georgian Dream to start discussions about new governmental team



The Georgian Dream will start discussions about the new governmental team in the coming days, Georgian Dream member Eka Beselia told IPN.



According to her, the only thing which is known today is that Giorgi Kvirikashvili will remain on the Prime Minister's post.



"In the coming days we will meet and will talk about everything. Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili will not be replaced. The rest will be discussed in the team. We will consult in the political board format," Beselia said.

(IPN)







Rule of Law Index 2016: Georgia gets highest score for Order and Security



The World Justice Project (WJP), a Washington-based independent, multidisciplinary organisation working to advance the rule of law around the world, has released its Rule of Law Index 2016.



Georgia took 34th position out of 113 foreign states in the survey, showing high scores in Order and Security component, Open Governance and protecting of Fundamental Rights.



Georgia is a regional leader in the Rule of Law Index with the best score compared to 12 other Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries.



The 2016 Rule of Law Index relied on more than 100,000 household and expert surveys to measure how the rule of law is experienced in practical, everyday situations by the general public worldwide.



Performance is measured using 44 indicators across eight primary rule of law factors, each of which is scored and ranked globally and against regional and income peers:

 Constraints on Government Powers,

 Absence of Corruption,

 Open Government,

 Fundamental Rights,

 Order and Security,

 Regulatory Enforcement,

 Civil Justice, and

 Criminal Justice



In this years survey Georgia showed highest, 0, 78 point in Order and Security component. In 2015 the score was 0, 83.



The component of Open Governance increased from 0, 61 to 0, 63 compared to the previous year.



Protecting of Fundamental Rights is also increased from 0, 64 to 0,68.



Georgia revealed advancement in Criminal Justice direction and boosted its score from 0,54 to 0,56.



Civil Justice indicator was decreased from 0, 63 point to 0, 61.



Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Finland took first three positions in the rating.



Georgias neighbors Russia (0,45) and Turkey (0,43) showed lowest scores among the regional countries.

(Agenda.ge)







168 prisoners pardoned in Georgia



The Georgian president pardoned 168 prisoners, 114 have already left jail, while the rest had their sentences reduced, the commissions head, Zviad Koridze, stated .



Six of those pardoned are women. The decree about pardoning prisoners was issued on Thursday.



The (pardon) commission and the president referred to the principle that everyone has to be given a chance to start a new life. After discussion the pardon protocol was issued for 168 prisoners, Zviad Koridze, a professional journalist and media expert, said at the briefing.



There are two commissions in Georgia considering applications for pardon; one under the president and one under the Prison Ministry.

(DF watch)




by @MaryEllenKlas and @LearyReports

Eight years ago, Barack Obama traveled to Jacksonville for a final rally of his first presidential campaign. It was less than 24 hours before the polls closed and he huddled with his Florida campaign director Steve Schale for the nail-biting news.

Schale pulled out his Blackberry and explained the stats: The early voting results showed that 60 percent of the electorate had voted and it was favoring Democrats. Black turnout was particularly encouraging - even in Republican strongholds like Jacksonville, and it looked as though for the first time in a more than a decade Florida was going to go blue.

By the next day, Obama had rebounded from his primary-inflicted wounds to win Florida's crucial I-4 corridor and capture the state.

He did it by seizing on the universe of "sporadic" and untapped voters, by demonstrating a technologically-savvy voter registration drives, and people-intensive get out the vote efforts that harnessed enthusiasm among young people and blacks for the first black president.

Obama returned to Jacksonville Thursday, exactly eight years to the day of his final visit and Schale, now a lobbyist and political consultant, traveled from Tallahassee to greet him.

"Im smart enough to know that I got to work for arguably the greatest candidate of my generation,'' he told reporters at the University of North Florida.

He recalled how Obama had arrived eight years ago at about 1 p.m. at the Jacksonville Veteran's Arena and it was only two-thirds full. The president had learned that morning that his grandmother had died and preceded to give "one of the worst speeches I've ever heard him give -- for all of the reasons you would ever expect,'' Schale recalled.

But as Obama spoke, Schale was also getting the vote counts in for the last day of Florida's "Souls to the Polls" early voting "and our lead, the partisan lead, was bigger than John Kerry lost Florida by,'' he said.

"We really couldn't lose. I pretty much promised him a win before he left,'' Schale said.

Schale recalled being "strangely confident that entire campaign" -- even scratching out a prediction of an 50-46 percent Obama victory in Florida on a crumpled paper he carried with him.

But after telling the then-Illinois senator he was going to win, he had a gut check and he had a new fear it might not happen.

Obama not only won 51-48, he captured the state again in 2012.

For Schale, who had previously only run the state House campaigns for Florida Democrats, it was "the coolest job Im ever going to have.

"I knew just enough to know what I didnt know,'' he said Thursday. "When I got the job here, we were 8 points down in most polling. [Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman] Jim Greer held a press conference saying Obamas not actually playing in Florida. Our job was to block and tackle and turn people out. We registered 240,000 people in 10 weeks. We always viewed it that we had to prove the world wrong."

In four months, Obama's campaign registered 200,000 new voters in Florida, opened 50 state field offices, recruited 600,000 volunteers and allocated $40 million to fight Republican Sen. John McCain.

Under Schale's direction, the 2008 campaign divided the state into five regions, or ''pods,'' each with its own staff and message geared to regional concerns. It harnessed social networking and cell phones to allow grassroots organizers set up their own voter registration drives, home-grown phone banks and -- before the age of Twitter -- text messaging chains.



''If this works, it's hard to think this isn't the academic model of the future,'' Schale said at the time.

The grassroots organization was so complete that even Republican strategists had become admirers.

''They've done everything right and very few things wrong,'' said Sally Bradshaw, the former campaign manager for Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in a November 2008 interview with the Miami Herald. ``They've figured it out. They've broken the code.''

Schale, now a lobbyist and political consultant in Tallahassee, has turned his occasional blog postings into a daily analysis of the state of the race in Florida.

His deep look at the implications of the early voting numbers in the context of what he watched as Obama's Florida director in 2008 and consultant in 2012, have made him a popular go-to source for political reporters and cable news channels.

"We're pushing 60 percent of likely turnout of Election Day,'' he told Rachel Maddow Thursday night on MSNBC. "The good news is, we'll know pretty early how Florida is going to go."

Republican and Democrats in the early vote numbers "are basically a dead heat," Schale said. More blacks and Hispanics have turned out early than ever before in Florida voting history and this time there were 100,000 more Democrats "with no voting history" who had shown up to vote than first-time Republican voters.

Before returning to Jacksonville this week, Schale said he looked through old photographs from eight years ago.

"I knew just enough to know what I didnt know,'' he said. "Ive gotten to do some amazingly cool things in my life and a lot of its because this guy took a chance on me -- a kid who ran state House campaigns."

Photos: Top: Steve Schale with Barack Obama in 2008, by Mary Ellen Klas; Lower: Schale talking to an international reporter in 2016, by Alex Leary
Florida's early turnout is at a record 5.3 million with Republicans and Democrats nearly dead even in ballots cast four days before Election Day. Reports posted on the Division of Elections website Friday morning showed Republicans cast 39.74 percent of votes and Democrats 39.70 percent through Thursday. The difference stood at 1,833 ballots out of 5,267,750 cast.

Democrats like what they see, party executive director Scott Arceneaux told the Times/Herald. Democrats are outpacing Republicans in mail ballot requests for the first time and early voting is much higher than the 2012 numbers. The fact that African-American turnout has been slower than in 2008 or 2012 is not a major concern, he said, and the party will use black churches on Sunday to coordinate a massive get-out-the-vote effort known as Souls to the Polls.

"We always do better toward the end," Arceneaux said. "We vote later."

Speaking of later, Republicans predict Trump will carry Florida on the strength of an outpouring of voters next Tuesday.

"The Republican Party of Florida is very pleased with the numbers we are seeing so far," party chairman Blaise Ingoglia said in an email late Thursday. "While we expect to continue to have the lead, the reality is, all we have to do is keep it close going into Election Day."

Four days out four years ago, Democrats narrowly led Republicans in early and mail voting by 101,000 votes out of 3.2 million cast. President Barack Obama won Florida by just under 1 percent. One big difference four years ago, there was no early voting on the Sunday immediately before Election Day.

Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who directed Obama's first successful Florida campaign in 2008, said the intensity of early voting, diversity of Florida's electorate, the fact that women are outvoting men by 55 percent to 45 percent and the Hispanic turnout in the I-4 corridor are all markers that point to a Clinton victory in Florida. In Jacksonville on Thursday, Schale had a private meeting with the president and told him Clinton will carry Florida, just as he predicted an Obama win eight years ago.

"I told him, 'It's not like she's going to win by a ton, but it's trending in a place where she wins,'" said Schale, who expects Clinton to prevail by 1 to 2 percentage points. He said Democrats lagging Republicans up until now in total votes cast has its advantages: "I don't mind being down. Being down is a huge motivator."
@ByKristenMClark

Capitalizing on a controversy affecting Democrat Patrick Murphy's U.S. Senate campaign less than a week from Election Day, Florida Republican Party leaders want Murphy to return what they call "tainted donations" that a Capitol Hill newspaper reported are the subject of an FBI investigation.

But Murphy's campaign told the Herald/Times on Friday that the Jupiter congressman has no plans to.

The Hill reported this week that federal investigators are looking into allegations that Murphy donor Ibrahim Al-Rashid -- the son of a Saudi billionaire whom Murphy first met in high school -- orchestrated a "straw donor" scheme to boost Murphy's first run for Congress in 2012. The accusations originated from the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC that filed a formal complaint in June and is spending $15 million on ad time this fall to attack Murphy and support Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.

The Hill noted that Murphy himself is not under investigation, and Murphy's campaign has said repeatedly this week -- in the original story and subsequent media interviews about it -- that neither Murphy nor anyone from his campaign has been contacted by the FBI.

Seeking to link Murphy's (unrelated) controversy with that of the FBI's probe into Hillary Clinton's emails, Republican Party of Florida chairman Blaise Ingoglia said in a statement Thursday: "Floridians are tired of the Democrats and their concurrent FBI investigations. ... Its time for [Murphy] to return all of the donations tied to the alleged straw donor scheme and finally end his track record of shady campaign contributions."

Murphy's campaign says it's not going to return the money -- citing the political motivations of both RPOF's request and the Senate Leadership Fund's complaint.

The campaign also noted -- in explaining its decision to the Herald/Times -- that The Hill's report is based on unnamed sources and not, what the campaign would deem, information that proves definitively an FBI investigation is ongoing or that the donor scheme even happened. Murphy's campaign added that it doesn't dispute the facts in The Hill's story, although the congressman downplayed it Wednesday, telling reporters: "There's nothing in there."

"There is no investigation into Patrick Murphy, as The Hill reported. We haven't been contacted by any authority about this issue," Murphy spokesman Joshua Karp reiterated in a statement Friday.

Murphy -- as recently as this week -- has agreed to donate other past contributions associated with controversy, though.

For instance, on Monday, Murphy's campaign said he would donate to the U.S. Treasury nearly $22,000 in contributions Murphy received from a Boston Law firm that was exposed by The Boston Globe over the weekend for allegedly engaging in a different type of donation scheme.

Last spring, Murphy also said he'd given away $16,000 in direct contributions from Al-Rashid after the Senate Leadership Fund publicized the fact that Al-Rashid had pleaded guilty in 2014 to an assault charge against his wife.

Murphy's campaign said those two examples are different because, in the latter situation, it involved proven criminal charges or, in The Globe's case, "a thorough investigation by a widely respected newspaper."

Photo credit: AP


@PatriciaMazzei

As he runs for reelection, Marco Rubio has continued to teach at Florida International University -- just not in person.

Rubio has co-taught an online fall course, according to the university and his campaign. The class, held for an hour a week on Wednesday evenings, is titled, "Topics in Politics -- the General Election."

"He participates live from home or on the campaign trail using a laptop," campaign spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement.

On Aug. 16, John F. Stack Jr., dean of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, sent Rubio a letter inviting him to work as a "visiting assistant scholar/science/engineer" for the three-credit class, which is co-taught by Dario Moreno and Sara Moats. The course enrolls more than 150 students.

Rubio has taught on and off at FIU for years, particularly with Moreno, a Republican pollster. He's getting paid $8,000, according to Stack's letter, which the Miami Herald obtained from FIU through a public records request. That's based on an annual salary rate of $24,000. Rubio makes $174,000 a year as a U.S. senator.

Rubio had taken a break from teaching when he entered the Republican presidential primary. He's now seeking reelection, facing a challenge from Democrat Patrick Murphy.

"Marco's work at FIU has been well-documented, students (and even reporters) have been impressed with his lectures," Perez-Cubas said. "He is glad to be in a 21-st century classroom for FIU."

It wasn't immediately clear how many classes Rubio has missed during the campaign he must have skipped at least one: On Wednesday evening of last week, he was debating Murphy in Davie.

Photo credit: C.M. Guerrero, Miami Herald
Voters who showed up at the Broward Supervisor of Elections office in Lauderhill asking for a vote-by-mail ballot had a long wait today.

Betty Jones said she arrived at about 1 p.m. seeking a ballot for her mother, Betty Smith, a 90-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident who never received her ballot in the mail. Jones said about one dozen voters sat in a hallway waiting for ballots and Jones got hers at about 6:45 p.m.

"There's got to be a better process to handle walk-ins," Jones told the Miami Herald after she got her ballot. "I don't mind waiting my turn, but there's got to be a better system."

Herman Rivera said his wife Tabitha arrived at about 2 p.m. trying to get a ballot for their son David who now lives in New York. Rivera then took his wife's place waiting for the ballot and eventually got it a few minutes before 7 p.m.

Elections workers repeatedly said it would take a half hour.

"They could have said from the beginning it will take four or five hours," he said.

Dozel Spencer, operations director at the Lauderhill site for Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, said voters who show up unannounced seeking a ballot will have to wait.

"If people call ahead and let us know we will have it prepared," he said.

The Supervisor of Elections office can be reached at 954-357-7050.

More than 161,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 310,000 ballots at early voting sites have been cast in Broward County.

The actions of Snipes' office have been under close scrutiny in the home stretch of a close presidential battle in Florida. Broward County has 600,000 registered Democrats -- the highest in the state.
Jane Maru, an artist who lives part-time in Missoula, says she likes to show her work outside of typical settings.

So one of her collaborations may have slipped past your radar unless you're a fan of ambient music, and in particular composer Harold Budd. The pianist released two albums with Brian Eno, "Ambient 2: The Plateaux of the Mirror," and "The Pearl," that are considered among the best in the genre.

Maru, who makes short art films and batik paintings, met Budd when he came to see her art about a decade ago in Twentynine Palms, California, where she stays part of the year in the Joshua Tree area.

They talked. He bought several pieces. They became friends.

"He's been a supporter of my art since then," she said.

She served as an inspiration as well. He named a 2013 album after her: "Jane 12-21," a set of original compositions each titled "Jane" and assigned a number.

She produced the art for the cover, and a DVD edition includes one of her films for each song on the album.

Budd also is a poet, and Maru produced new paintings for a collection, "Aurora Teardrops," that was published last month in an extremely limited run by Heavenly Monkey Editions, a specialty private press in which every element from the paper to the font is carefully curated.

In a note in the book, Budd says of Maru's art and friendship, "In the decade since, her art has altered, or so it seems to me: more flamboyant yet softer, silky and sensuous, a mix of improvised exuberance but disciplined inside the medium  and always, always joyful."

The collection includes 59 poems, all short and impressionistic. For the 36 limited editions, Maru painted a unique watercolor. One is of the interior of the St. Ignatius Mission.

"Harold came to visit me a couple of summers ago. He loves cathedrals and unique spaces, so I took him up to see the Mission Mountains there and went to the mission," she said. He wrote a poem about the mission that's included in the book.

Heavenly Monkey's publisher, Rollin Milroy, also printed details of six of Maru's batik paintings on partially translucent vellum paper, which are interspersed with the poems.

Maru has been a batik painter for 15 years, a technique that involves painting with beeswax and dye on textile.

"Batik with beeswax flows on its own," she said. "You let it flow, guiding it a little bit. I like the freedom of that."

She produces colorful abstractions, sometimes with references to flora and nature. She prefers to stretch and frame them and display them as light boxes, in which the translucency of the fabric creates an effect similar to stained glass. She showed her work once at the Stensrud Building and said it had the "effect of walking into a Mexican cathedral."

"I tell people I'm a frustrated stained glass artist, which I will do some day," she said.

Maru hasn't shown her work in Missoula recently. Even back then, she preferred non-gallery settings, like impromptu gatherings at her rental in the historic grain elevator on the Westside.

"I used to make these homemade invitations and I would snoop around on First Friday and look for targets. I would surreptitiously give them one of my invitations, which was a map that would lead them back to the Ceretana," she said.

Her other main medium is video art. She has a long-running project called "Seeds and Spores" influenced by the growing knowledge of humans' effect on the environment that includes videos. She also produced a 20-minute video for one of Budd's performances this summer at Whittier College.

"The imagery was directly inspired by the poetry of 'Aurora Teardrops,' setting a nice tone as people filed into the theater," she said.

***

Milroy uses a traditional handpress, which requires everything to be done by hand, including inking the type. He printed a deluxe edition of 26 copies and a collector's edition of 50. He's produced several other volumes of poetry for Budd, and this one was purchased by the Stanford University Library for its special collections.

The book also includes a page of sheet music for a composition Budd wrote for his friend, David Sylvian, an equally influential musician. Sylvian, meanwhile, wrote the introduction.

As part of the project, Budd recruited Maru and electronic producer Brad Ellis for live performances. Budd played keyboards, while Ellis processed the music into soundscapes, and Maru would read each of the poems. They held the first performance in Joshua Tree at the Harrison House, an arts space that was formerly a desert getaway for composer Lou Harrison.

Maru said Budd took a "free" approach to that first performance and was pleased enough that they reprised it several more times, including a recent performance at the Kitchen, a New York performance space that's hosted a who's-who of cutting edge artists over the past 40-some years.

Maru, who doesn't have any experience performing in that fashion, said she could only see the first several rows of audience members.

"I would speak out into this sort of void and still feel their presence," she said.
HELENA  A Montana lawmaker has revealed a week before Election Day that he filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Steve Bullock, despite a state law saying such complaints are confidential until they are resolved.

Republican Rep. Brad Tschida of Missoula wrote a letter to a number of legislators about the Sept. 21 complaint accusing Bullock, a Democrat, and Commerce Director Meg O'Leary of malfeasance. Tschida also accuses Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl of covering up for Bullock and O'Leary.

Tschida's complaint is over allegations that Bullock misused the state plane for short trips and to attend a 2014 Paul McCartney concert in Missoula. O'Leary, who was a passenger on that flight, violated ethics laws when she accepted the flight as a gift, Tschida alleges.

Bullock is in a close race against Republican challenger Greg Gianforte. The governor's use of the state plane has been an issue raised by Gianforte, Tschida and other Republicans throughout the campaign. Bullock has partially reimbursed the state for times he used the plane to attend campaign events scheduled the same day as official business.

The ethics complaint was filed with Motl's office. State law says the person filing the complaint and the subject of the complaint must maintain confidentiality until the commissioner issues a decision. Motl said Tschida violated that law and he would seek a severe penalty.

"His issue is not larger than the requirements of the law," Motl said. "Mr. Tschida is not God."

Motl said the violation amounts to official misconduct, which carries penalties of a fine up to $500 and up to six months in jail.

Tschida did not return a call or email for comment. In the letter, he says Motl told him the matter is confidential but the Montana Constitution grants him immunity to speak about it.

He cited the constitution's Speech and Debate clause, which says a legislator "shall not be questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in the legislature."

Motl said that clause does not apply. Tschida's letter is not "speech or debate in the Legislature," and prior Montana Supreme Court decisions have ruled a legislator's interest in the outcome of an ethics complaint is no greater than an ordinary citizen's, he said.

Gianforte spokesman Aaron Flint said it is disturbing that Motl has not acted on Tschida's complaint for two months.

"Once again, we have a governor demonstrating that he believes he is above the law," Flint said. "Even after being caught red handed flying to rock concerts and campaign events and fundraisers, he continues to abuse taxpayer resources for his own gain."

Bullock campaign spokesman Jason Pitt said it is Tschida who believes he is above the law

"He crossed the line by violating ethics rules and abusing his role as a state lawmaker to peddle Mr. Gianforte's New Jersey-style political attacks just days before an election  and Montanans deserve better," Pitt said.
Sgt. Travis Welsh, public information officer, said Wednesday the girl knocked on a door of University Villages housing around 8:19 a.m. saying she had been attacked and asking the resident to call 911. She was transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. It is unclear where the assault took place.
I was in Billings recently when a young woman, Devin, told me a story that happens all too often. Devins daughter, Brooklyn, had cancer, and her husband routinely had to make the hard choice between working shifts at his job to put food on the table or going to their daughters doctor appointments.

Devin and her husband are looking for solutions, but instead all they see is politicians standing in the way of doing whats right.

Ive heard many stories like Devin's while traveling across Montana over the past year in my run for our states lone U.S. House seat. I've logged more than 25,000 miles on my odometer and spoken with Montanans in every corner of our state.

People are worried about about the economy, and they think that folks in Congress arent interested in putting Montana first.

I understand those concerns, and I share them. Over the past few years, I've watched elected leaders in Congress choose political games over solutions that benefit Montana working families.

That's not what Montanans expect, and that's why I'm running for Montana's lone U.S. House seat  to put our state's people, land and economy first.

In my two terms as superintendent of our state's public schools, I've worked with Democrats and Republicans in communities across Montana to raise graduation rates to historic highs. And we've raised academic standards so graduates are more prepared than ever for todays jobs.

Ive also bucked my party in Helena and pushed back on the Obama administration when they tried to impose one-size-fits-all strategies that dont work for Montana.

And Ive created jobs in our forests and expanded access to our outdoors by nearly 40,000 acres as a member of Montanas Land Board.

From day one, Ive always put Montana first, and thats exactly what I intend to do in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In Congress, Ill fight to expand economic opportunity and raise wages to help Montana families make ends meet. I'll be 100 percent opposed to the sale or transfer of our public lands. And Ill work to ensure that people like Devin and her husband dont have to choose between earning a paycheck and caring for their daughter.

Unfortunately, Montanas lone congressman is more concerned with looking out for millionaires, like himself, than helping Montana families. Just look at his voting record.

He recently voted for a bloated spending bill that forces Montanas future generations to pay in order to give tax breaks to corporations and billionaires.

And the congressman supported a budget that raises taxes on working families while rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas with more tax breaks.

Not only that, but he spends more time as a talking head on cable news or on the campaign trail for Donald Trump than he does talking to Montanans.

Montana needs a representative in the U.S. House who will look out for folks like Devin, instead of looking out for themselves and D.C. insiders.

Montana has one voice in the U.S. House  one voice for one million of us. Its time that voice looked out for all Montanans. Thats why Im running  because I will spend every day putting Montana first.

It's time for a change. I ask for your vote this election.
Montana, as all of us who live here know, is a remarkable state, blessed with extraordinary natural resources. Glacier National Park is a jewel. Montana's water network feeds the continents major river basins. And the state hosts the greatest diversity of mammals.

But what tarnishes our public lands is the constant risk of walking into traps  both by hikers and their companion animals.

This is far more than a nuisance. Its an horrific encounter thats potentially lethal to our pets.

Hamilton-based veterinarian Dr. Alan Applebury puts it plainly: "When an animals leg gets caught in a steel-jaw leg hold trap, it immediately causes swelling, lacerations and bone fracture. With trapping occurring during winter months, any animal locked in the trap for even several hours will suffer loss of circulation and its trapped limb will freeze and turn gangrenous."

Applebury says that if your pet becomes frantic and twists about trying to escape, it will suffer joint dislocation and further limb damage.

Many traps have killed pets. And this is almost assured when they are attracted by bait and get caught by the head or neck.

For wildlife, the prospects are far more hideous. If weather prevents the trapper from inspecting the traps every day or two, the animal could freeze to death. And for those that refuse that fate, Applebury says some animals will start gnawing at its leg. Once through the soft tissue, it will bite through its own bone until it snaps.

Once freed, the bloody, amputated limb will soon get infected. The animal will unlikely be able to hunt, may be killed by a predator (if its lucky), or will otherwise die of sepsis within a week.

If you believe no animal  pet nor wildlife  should suffer like this, there is something you can do about it.

You can vote yes for the Montana Trap-Free Public Lands Initiative (Initiative 177).

More than 34,000 Montanans already expressed their support for this idea, having signed the petition that got the initiative on the ballot. This move follows the leads by California, Colorado, Washington and Arizona, which have significantly restricted or banned trapping on public lands to make them safer. These states are finding clear economic and environmental benefits. And theyre acknowledging a growing consensus that trapping causes unnecessarily cruel and unusual suffering.

The BBC, a global news organization, reports through damming, beavers and other semi-aquatic-animalscreatures that are frequently trapped  help preserve critical water basins. Just one beaver, says the BBC, is estimated to be worth $120,000 in terms of water management. Loss of these animals is akin to collapse of bee colonies and its effect on agriculture.

Traps are indiscriminate killing mechanisms. According to the state, trappers have reported killing an average of 50,000 animals annually for their fur over the past decade. The total kill number is likely much higher. Rare and endangered species have been made so in part due to trapping, and theyre heading toward extinction if the process isnt abated.

Organizations that are fighting I-177 claim that it will put ranchers livestock at greater risk. But the initiative addresses that concern, allowing trapping to continue as it relates to protection of livestock and property, public health and safety, and for scientific and wildlife management purposes.

These groups also claim huge costs associated with trapping restrictions. When state wildlife officials were asked to assess the annual cost, the figure was only $61,000.

Outdoorsmen who fear the initiative is part of a plan to restrict hunting and fishing are off the mark. I-177s proponents are simply seeking to minimize suffering on public lands.

The humane argument is not anthropomorphizing the issue. The National Academy of Sciences, comprised of the countrys leading researchers, acknowledge animals (especially, but not limited to, mammals) feel pain. Anyone who owns a pet knows this.

Even the great game hunter and writer Ernest Hemingway felt when he could no longer kill cleanly and quickly, he would stop hunting.

A final point Dr. Applebury raises, which few may have considered, is how society demands 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 same basic mercy."
During the months leading up to any major election, we see and hear a lot of political commercials slamming one candidate or praising another. We are subjected to piles of mail with big lettering and catchy phrases, and our phones seem to be ringing off the hook with callers asking for donations or urging us to vote one way or another. Unfortunately, it seems many of the accusations made are not backed up by facts or citable sources.

Its often difficult to find a source of information more reliable than the signs in your neighbors yard. Its interesting to watch which issues become the most popular during all this craziness. This campaign season seems to be no different and one thing that seems to be getting ignored is agriculture.

Lets remember agriculture is Montanas largest industry, contributing more to our local communities than any other segment of our economy. Keeping agriculture in mind, and thinking about which of our elected officials and/or candidates keeps agriculture in mind when they represent our state, is extremely important.

Congressman Ryan Zinke has proven himself as a champion for agriculture and rural Montana. As the president of Montanas largest agriculture organization, I appreciate the work hes done to protect and promote Montana agriculture, rural communities and the families who make their living from the land.

In just one term as our congressman, Zinke has represented Montana well and made a difference in Congress. In Washington, D.C., hes fought back against overzealous regulators such as the Environmental Protection Agency. He spoke out against their Waters of the United States rule, which would allow EPA jurisdiction over small streams, mud puddles, ditches and even land under the Clean Water Act. He voted in favor of bills that would have stopped the rule and forced EPA back to the drawing board, directing them to re-write a rule that actually protects water and takes stakeholder concerns into consideration.

He voted to preserve and protect crop insurance funding levels, the most important safety net feature for farmers in the Farm Bill. He successfully fought to permanently extend Section 179 provisions in the tax code which allow farmers, ranchers and other small business owners to deduct capital investments against their income. This encourages people to reinvest in their businesses and invest in their communities.

He voted in favor of HR 1599, a bill that protects farmers and ranchers use of technology and would protect consumers from inconsistent labeling laws that would have added hundreds of dollars a year to their grocery bills. He is currently the co-sponsor of a bill that would eliminate the death tax.

Hes taken some tough votes, sometimes bucking his party, just to do what is right for Montana. I could go on but Id also like to talk about what he does for us back in district.

He listens to his constituents and goes out of his way to travel to our communities in order to find out first-hand about our challenges and issues. For example, in January of this year, he made a sweep through eastern Montana for a series of Town Hall meetings where he listened to concerns about Bureau of Land Management grazing permits and the threat of free-roaming bison.

As anyone who has ever driven through the town of Malta can attest, the issue of free-roaming bison is a hot one. Green signs with the word Monument circled and crossed out like a no smoking sign and bumper stickers with the phrase Dont Buffalo Me show the disdain for efforts made by environmental organizations and out-of-state non-profits to drive ranchers off the land, only to be replaced with wild bison, killing rural communities one by one. The people in these communities have not only felt the threat of such a movement, but have been ignored by some elected officials. Zinke came to these communities and truly listened to those involved, vowing to do all in his power to protect those communities and keep ranchers on the land.

Hats off to you, Zinke! During this busy season, I just wanted to let you know that the farmers and rancher of Montana thank you for your service.
In the recent endorsement by the Missoulian, they stated Superintendent Denise Juneau would have a "better working relationship ... with Montanas two senators."

And as the person they are talking about, I'm telling you they are mistaken.

Throughout the past two years, there was one person in Congress I could rely on to stand up for Montana values and Montanans best interests: Congressman Ryan Zinke.

But dont just take my word for it.

Ryan Zinke is rated No. 1 in the U.S. House of Representatives freshmen class for working with the Senate to get things done by GovTrack, a nonpartisan organization.

Together, weve worked on important initiatives for Montanans  from ensuring our veterans receive the care and benefits that the government promised them, to protecting Montanas public lands to fighting on behalf of Montanas tribes.

This Congress, the Montana delegation successfully worked to protect 20 miles of East Rosebud Creek under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. We know how special the East Rosebud is to our state and are committed to protecting this treasure for future generations.

We also joined forces to honor the life of renowned Montana conservationist Alex Diekmann by naming an unnamed peak in his memory.

And on the first day of the 114th Congress, Zinke introduced his first bill: to grant the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Cree federal recognition. The federal recognition of the Little Shell Tribe is long overdue and under Zinkes leadership moved this bill further than ever before.

When Montana veterans call, Ryan Zinke answers. When Montana veterans expressed concerns about receiving care closer to home, Zinke and I worked together to reform the calculation used to determine distance between a veterans residence and the nearest VA health facility when allowing veterans who live more than 40-miles from a VA facility.

Zinke has relentlessly and honorably served the people of Montana in the U.S. House. He is the leader Montana needs in Congress.

Just as Zinke fought night and day for our country for 23 years as U.S. Navy SEAL, he will continue to do the same on behalf of you in Congress. I urge all Montanans to join me in voting to elect Congressman Zinke on Nov. 8.
As a 23-year U.S. military commander, Ive always been mission-focused, and no mission is too big or too small to take on with everything I have. Whether its hunting terrorists in the Middle East, winterizing the house, or fighting for Montana in Congress, I always take the same mission-critical approach as your representative in Congress.

For the past 21 months, youve tasked me with the mission to strengthen Montanas voice in Congress. Its no secret that Montana priorities were being ignored. Before you sent me to Congress, we didnt have a long-term highway bill. The Land and Water Conservation Fund expired. Tax credits for middle-class families, small businesses, agriculture and our tribes expired; and a whole host of Montana priorities, like crop insurance and timber reform, were simply not part of the agenda. Im happy to say I successfully fought for, and won, on every single one of these issues.

My opponent likes to criticize me for talking to CNN or bringing the presidential nominee to Billings; but the truth is, our state only has one representative. Its my job to make Montana's one voice louder than the 53 from California. I will never apologize for elevating Montana.

In Congress, I write legislation that helps Montana prosper. One such bill is the Certainty for States and Tribes Act, which would end the Obama administrations arbitrary moratorium on federal coal leases and give local and tribal stakeholders a seat at the table when it comes to management of our resources. I also led the first real forest reform legislation in a decade. My bill, the bipartisan Resilient Federal Forests Act, will revitalize our timber communities and help prevent the catastrophic wildfires by rewarding local collaborative efforts, fixing the wildfire borrowing problem and holding special-interest litigators accountable.

Unfortunately, neither bills have been signed into law because Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, have dug their heels in and refused to get anything done.

My entire career has been dedicated to the constitutional oath I took to protect and defend our nation. I spent 23 years keeping Montana families safe as a U.S. Navy SEAL. Any of the 100,000 Montanans who have served will tell you thats not an instinct that leaves you just because you retire from the military.

Before the Paris terrorist attacks, I saw ISIS displace millions of individuals from the Middle East and warned of the security risk it poses - nobody listened. Then Paris happened. Then Brussels happened. Then Turkey and Beirut. Then the attacks of San Bernardino, Orlando and New York City.

By the Obama administration's own admission, the vetting process wasn't being completed with 100 percent certainty. In an effort to prevent future attacks by terrorists infiltrating the incoming refugee population, I helped create the American SAFE Act. This bill stops the refugee program until the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security can guarantee that refugees are fully and accurately vetted before coming to the United States. If these agencies cant guarantee the background of each individual, then the individual is not admitted. I vetted individuals in war-torn areas for decades. I know that just because a file is empty, does not mean the person is not a threat.

The SAFE Act puts American families safety first. It passed with a veto-proof, bipartisan majority. Yet again, it met the same fate in Senate, dying at the hands of Senate Democrats.

During an election year, its tough to push aside the negative ads and hyped-up rhetoric. I wish both our presidential candidates would stop with the personal attacks and focus on the issues: jobs, the economy and national security.

I dont think my opponent is a bad person. I just think she has bad ideas. I do think she cares about our country, but I think we tried her ideas the past eight years with President Obama and they didnt work.

What this election really comes down to is a simple choice: If you think that Montana needs higher taxes, more expensive energy, restricted freedoms and a weaker position around the globe, then vote for my opponent. If you believe in a strong national defense, know the power of Montanas clean coal and think that Montana  not Washington, D.C.  knows whats best, then Id sure appreciate your vote.
Regarding Biomedical Research Initiative 181: I would like to address some misconceptions about investment in biomedical research.

First, there are two types of returns from research investment: jobs and potential breakthroughs. Research grants create jobs that directly improve the Montana economy, and create an educated workforce. This is a sure thing. While it is true that breakthroughs cannot be predicted, it is certain that no breakthroughs will occur without investment in research. The key point is that breakthroughs, when they occur, reap enormous returns. New knowledge that leads to understanding of a disease will benefit health and medicine. New knowledge also drives economic growth when start-up companies create new therapies, which keep people healthy, contributing to the economy.

Both Montanas senators and our congressman support increased federal funding for biomedical research. Why not let the federal government solely take care of research investment? Because there is a lag time between when a discovery is made and when it is announced. Scientists who make a discovery in Montana can take advantage of the knowledge through technological innovation. Initiative 181 will foster the innovation economy in Montana.

In addition, although Montana scientists do obtain research grants, there is a prestige bias that favors more famous institutions elsewhere.

When research dollars are limited, as they are now, this bias means that many worthy proposals from Montana dont make the cut. Initiative 181 helps level the playing field for our scientists.

Initiative 181 proposes a well-established, merit-based peer review system to impartially distribute funds. Peer review means that grant proposals are evaluated by panel of scientists who assess quality, novelty and broader implications. Importantly, this system is independent and free from political influence. This is a fair way of allocating funds based on sound science. Initiative 181 is good for Montana.

Mark Grimes,

Missoula
A billboard in the Bitterroot Valley says that Initiative 177, the initiative for trap-free public lands in Montana, is bad for wildlife, bad for ranchers, bad for Montana. Hows that?

How could trapping possibly be good for wildlife? Science doesnt support this claim, and several letters to the Missoulian have already convincingly said so. And the costs in pain and suffering to target animals and to trappers trash are tremendous.

And how could I-177 be bad for ranchers? I-177 restricts trapping on public land only. Private land owners, including ranchers, can do whatever they want.

I-177 bad for Montana? What kinds of bads could restrictions on a tiny minority (0.5 percent) have on the entire state? The economic value of trapping is very minimal (approximately $2 million a year) compared to wildlife watching (between $376 million and $500 million), and trapping actually costs Fish, Wildlife and Parks money.

As for recreation, I-177 makes outdoor recreation safer and more fun in Montana. Two of my neighbors dogs (one dead, one crippled) and one of my brothers cats are victims of concealed traps. So when proponents of I-177 warn pet owners about traps, theyre not just using scare tactics. If youre hiking or even walking the dog on public land, you should be afraid, which is not why youre out there.

No one in Montana can or needs to make a living trapping anymore. Torturing, and then bludgeoning or strangling animals to death is by any conceivable standard of decency not something people should do, and it is not good for Montana to be known as a state that condones treating animals this way. Colorado, Arizona, Washington and California have ended or severely restricted trapping on public lands with no bads.

Please vote for I-177. Its good, better, best for wildlife, people and for Montana.

Deborah Slicer,

Huson
BILLINGS - Crow tribal members are concerned that their per-capita checks will be reduced because of a deal offered by tribal leaders to Westmoreland Resources.

Opponents of the deal, that continues through 2018, gathered outside the U.S. Department of Interior building in Billings on Thursday, demanding federal officials intervene. The rally took place two days before tribal elections.

At issue is a late-August decision in which the Crow Legislature agreed to cut the tribes share of profits from tribal coal mined by Westmoreland. Tribal Legislator Shawn Real Bird said the reduction will put December per-capita payments at $22.10. The previous payment, issued before the cut, was about $210.

They kept this a secret. They made absolutely sure no one would stop it, said Real Bird, who was one of three legislators to vote against the cut on Aug. 30.

The coal mined by Westmoreland under lease with the Crow Tribe fuels the Sherburne County Generating Station, or SHERCO plant, in Becker, Minn.

Crow Tribal Chairman Darrin Old Coyote told The Gazette that while Westmoreland did receive a tax cut, per capita payments will be spared, while other government services take a hit.

"Per cap's going to be the same no matter what they say, or do," Old Coyote said. "Basically were selling the same number of tons to SHERCO at a reduced price. It doesn't really affect the per cap."

Old Coyote said per cap payments  the dividend paid to each tribal member for coal sales  should be about $200 in December.

Westmoreland approached tribal leaders in August asking the tribe to accept smaller payments for coal extracted from Absaloka Mine, which is on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeast Montana.

Westmoreland, according to a letter issued by the CEO Kevin Paprzycki, had informed the tribe that the mining company was prepared to terminate its lease by Oct. 17 unless the Crow agreed to a coal pay cut. The letter cited a plan to reduce tribal payments in order to maintain the economic viability of the Absaloka Mine.

Worried the mine would close, the Crow Legislature agreed to lower Westmorlands payment of the Tribal Severance Tax by 85 cents a ton. It then agreed to cut the amount Westmoreland paid in the Tribal Gross Proceeds Tax by 40 cents a ton.

Old Coyote said Westmoreland wanted the tribe to take off an additional 50 cents a ton, but Crow leaders refused.

Those cuts put the tribes profit share below 12.5 percent. Real Bird said. By law, any return below 12.5 percent requires approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he said. That BIA approval hasnt happened, which is why protesters rallied in Billings on Thursday, hoping to get BIA to kill the deal.

Coal has been in an economic slump for more than a year, as U.S. power plants switch to cheap natural gas and a global market glut makes shipping U.S. coal abroad unprofitable. One planned Montana coal mine failed after Arch Coal filed for bankruptcy. Other Montana coal companies ceased coal exports after market prices fell too low to cover shipping costs.

But coal sales have been improving lately, and that has Sharon Stewart Peregoy thinking that Crow Tribal Chairman Darrin Old Coyote and the Legislature cut a deal they didnt have to. Peregoy said the Crows reduction in what Westmoreland pays the tribe comes with the promise of $1.5 million, which tribal leaders, strapped for cash, accepted.

Im going to use the word collusion. Thats whats going on, Peregoy said.

As Peregoy and Real Bird met with the press, protester Peggy Wellknown Buffalo shouted at no one in particular that Crow families were going to struggle because of the cuts in per capita payments, which for a family of enrolled tribal members could mean thousands of dollars less a year.

Not coincidentally, the protest was taking place two days before tribal elections. Real Bird is running for tribal vice chairman on the same ticket as chairman candidate A.J. Not Afraid. Peregoy, a candidate for tribal secretary is rounding out the ticket with Erlise Birdinground Hogan.

The tribal election is Saturday.

Not Afraid, who is the current tribal secretary, said after the rally that the $1.5 million Westmoreland agreed to pay the tribe is an advance payment on coal the company wont mine for a few more years. When that coal comes out of the ground, there will be no additional payment, Not Afraid said.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife is proposing a dramatic reorganization of its National Wildlife Refuge system in Montana and seven other states that would result in significant staff and program cuts.

In the reorganized Western Montana complex, for example, the number of employees at the Benton Lake, Swan River, Lost Trail, Nine-Pipe, Lee Metcalf and National Bison Range refuges would drop from 26 to 14.

This is our new reality, said a report released internally Thursday.

In some areas, reductions in staffing will lead to a shrinking commitment to active management on refuge lands, even while the land base grows, said the report.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said the Realignment Strategy Staffing Framework was a draft document that had been in the works for three years.

Status quo is not an option, said the report. We cannot operate with high numbers of vacant positions on organizational charts while we try to continue to do the work of those vacant positions  it is simply not sustainable.

Like other federal land management agencies, the national refuge system has undergone budget reductions that have required cuts in staffing, said Will Meeks, assistant regional director for the Mountain Prairie region that covers Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

And so it comes down to priorities, Meeks said. Were looking at larger landscapes; the Crown of the Continent and Blackfoot Valley. Engaged private landowners are now a key component of our conservation mission.

A 2011 planning document called Conserving the Future defined the agencys vision, which included developing new partnerships and constituencies to remain viable.

With our growing workloads and budget realities, we will have to look for creative solutions and an increased reliance on volunteers, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Public Affairs specialist Ryan Moehring.

In the mountain prairie states, that means taking a more regional approach.

The proposal calls for Montana to be carved into three large wetland management districts in western, central and northeast Montana where staff would be shared among refuges.

In addition to the Benton Lake district in western Montana, the plan calls for creation of:

 The Charles M. Russell district, made up of the Charles M. Russell, Hailstone, Grass Lake, Lake Mason, Warhorse and UL Bend wildlife refuges.

 The Northern Great Plains district, made up of the Bowdoin and Medicine Lake wildlife refuges

Instead of assigning staff members to specific refuges, the positions for each district are pooled, without an indication of where people will be headquartered.

Meeks said those decisions await feedback from people in the field. But the report noted that some refuges today have no staff members assigned to them.

Shared staff and a heavier reliance volunteers may work on paper, but some refuge managers worry it may not work on the ground.

Volunteers need someone to lead them. And at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge north of Stevensville, that person is getting ready to retire.

Bob Danley has been the longtime outdoor recreation planner at the refuge. The proposed new list of positions doesnt include his job.

Without that position, Lee Metcalf Refuge Manager Tom Reed said the refuges environmental education programs will be eliminated. Last year, Danley worked with 800 students and a volunteer that he mentors served another 1,200 in nearby schools.

That doesnt count the hundreds of bird watchers who count on him throughout the year.

Danley also directly works with volunteers at the refuge. Without someone in that position, Reed said there wouldnt be anyone left to manage those people.

That takes an enormous amount of time, Reed said. Every volunteer is different. They all come with different expectations. They want to be productive and be fulfilling a role.

Staff numbers have been declining at the Lee Metcalf Refuge for years. When Reed first came on board in 2010, there were nine permanent positions and four seasonals.

Today there are three permanent positions and one seasonal.

Were going into our third year with no maintenance help, Reed said. I wear a lot of hats and dont wear them all very well.

Under the current staff structure, there are five maintenance workers at four different refuges. The future staffing proposal calls for one maintenance worker for the entire Western Montana complex.

State Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, is a member of a friends group to the refuge. He said theres been talk that significant adjustments to management of Lee Metcalf were coming soon.

Weve been waiting to see what was going to happen next, Thomas said. Even though, its a relatively small refuge, its still a large tract of land that needs to be taken care of for both the wildlife and the community.

Theres a lot of work that needs to be done out there on a continual basis, he said. The Friends group will keep a close eye on this and will work with the refuge management to come out of this as good as we can.

Meeks doesnt expect the changes will happen this year.

Were operating on a five-year time frame, he said. This is the first phase of implementation for meeting the needs of future.
A citizens group wants to replace the mostly barren corridor from the Butte Civic Center to the visitors center with Silver Bow Creek Headwaters Park, according to a presentation Thursday at the Butte Archives.

Restore Our Creek Coalition unveiled its plan to Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Shaun McGrath, who came to Butte from his Denver office. The plan for Silver Bow Creek Headwaters Park includes community comments gathered through months of workshops earlier this year.

Now officially called Silver Bow Creek, the corridor contains acres of significant metals contamination, both underground behind the Civic Center and surface contamination along George Street. The state and EPA have long battled over the corridors fate.

Restore Our Creek gave EPA a deadline  Dec. 15  to get back to the group. Restore Our Creek is seeking formal feedback from all of the agencies and responsible parties  Atlantic Richfield Company, the county, and the railroads  on whether the plan for a park with a considerable amount of amenities will be accepted.

The plan calls for a host of features, including a meandering creek; wetlands; meadows; fishing ponds; pedestrian and bike paths; bus stops; parking lots; interpretive signage; benches; an enclosed dog run; picnic pavilions; a sledding hill; playground; exercise stations; sculpture park; community amphitheater; and a living laboratory for innovative research, educational workshops and public programs, among other ideas.

Changes to the area, according to the plan, would include removing George Street and putting in a pedestrian bridge to cross South Montana Street.

The vision is a comprehensive end use of what we want, said Restore Our Creek member Bill McGregor.

McGrath said the plan could provide a vision to drive the confidential legal talks on the Butte Hills Superfund cleanup.

What (Restore Our Creek Coalition) has done is provide the opportunity to give us an anchor in moving forward, said McGrath.

But many questions remain.

One question is cost. Longtime Superfund watchdog Fritz Daily said he estimates the expense, if the plan were to be fully implemented, to reach $60 million to $70 million.

While no one knows for sure the exact amount ARCO has already spent on cleanup in Butte, Joe Vranka, Montana Superfund director, estimated the cost at a previous meeting to be approximately a quarter of a billion dollars. ARCO is not required, under Superfund law, to reveal its cleanup costs.

Another question is how EPA could implement a plan that goes well beyond the federal agencys power. Under Superfund law, the agency is supposed to see sites cleaned up to protect human health and the environment.

It goes beyond what our authority allows us to do, McGrath told The Montana Standard after the meeting.

McGrath addressed some of the issues at stake in realizing the communitys vision, saying he needed to temper expectations.

We (the agencies) come at it with different authorities, responsibilities, and resources.

He mentioned the issue of cost and water, both of which are unknown. With no headwaters to the area, it is still unclear how a meandering creek could be achieved. Restore Our Creek member Evan Barrett said he will address that issue at a future date.

Despite the potential problems, McGrath said that it is important for the agencies and responsible parties to know what the community wants to see and called the plan a beacon for the confidential talks.
As Madison County voters head to the ballot box for Nov. 8s commissioners race, theyll choose between a candidate with more than 15 years of experience and a newcomer who says he plans to bring an open mind and new perspective to the county.

The candidates are Commissioner Dave Schulz, whos served four terms, and Dan Allhands, a businessman and rancher. They are vying for the District 1 seat on the three-person commission.

The race appears to be tight: Incumbent Schulz received 440 votes in the primary, and Allhands beat him with 460 votes. The losing candidate Ellis Thompson garnered 199  which means nearly 200 votes will be up for grabs come Nov. 8.

WE THE PEOPLE

The Montana Standard spoke with both candidates on where they stand on the issues, and one that appears to be on voters minds involves a nearly 10-year-old bond election.

In a 2-to-1 margin, voters resoundingly turned down a $10-million bond issue in 2007 that would have resulted in a new justice center, 21-bed jail, and an expansion of the countys existing courthouse in Virginia City. In 2006, a similar bond issue was defeated by 54 percent.

Years later, the county commission moved forward with a new plan: to build a $4.3-million courthouse annex, but this time without a justice center and jail. Construction began in 2014, and in June, county employees started populating the building, which resides north near the courthouse.

According to statute, the commission is empowered to erect and expand a courthouse and jail, among several other types of public facilities.

Despite this entitlement, the new annex hasnt sat well with some residents who feel the commission didnt take into account the will of voters in the early 2000s.

The saga came up during an October candidates forum, The Madisonian reported, when one resident asked whether the candidates would serve the will of the people.

Allhands said that he would serve the will of the people, but he took a swipe at the annex in the process.

Schulz responded by saying that public input was involved during many steps of the annex process  a point he reiterated in a Wednesday interview with the Standard.

(The bond) was a totally different environment of space, Schulz said, noting that the annex project did not include a jail, which he said was the main point of contention for voters in the early 2000s.

Whats more, he said, taxes were not raised to pay for the project, nor was a bond needed, because the county had planned ahead by saving money in its capital improvement fund.

As far as the will of the people, Schulz said there were about 20 public meetings held throughout the county on the issue, during which residents could voice their support or opposition.

During those meetings, he said, he did not hear negative comments about the project.

He said he felt the annex project was an open and transparent process, noting that all decisions were posted on the commissions agenda and advertised in The Madisonian.

We cannot be responsible if someone chooses not to be informed, Schulz said.

Allhands, meanwhile, sees things differently.

On Thursday he told the Standard that some residents do not subscribe to the local paper and therefore had no way of hearing about the public meetings.

Allhands also took issue with the way the commission proceeded with the project and compared it to an executive action.

It was not put before a vote of the people, and that made people angry, said Allhands. Most of us really didnt get a chance to voice our opinions on it, and I really dont think thats right.

Allhands said the commission should have kept revising the project until it could come up with something voters would approve.

PUBLIC LAND ACCESS

In a statement he wrote for The Montana Standards Voter Guide 2016, Allhands cited public access as one of the countys most pressing issues. He reiterated his support of public access in an interview Thursday.

He said he feels the presence of locked gates on county roads has become increasingly common due to the countys growth and new landowners moving in.

Schulz, meanwhile, told the Standard Wednesday that hes also been a longtime supporter of public access.

I have always been a proponent, said Schulz. I have never closed a road or supported a road closure.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

What would an election be without a discussion of fiscal responsibility?

In their statements for the 2016 voters guide, both Allhands and Schulz alluded to the countys budget.

Allhands wrote many residents have voiced their concerns that their tax dollars are not being spent wisely, and that taxes continue to rise, while Schulz described himself as very involved in our budgeting process and constantly evaluating and encouraging the wisest use of taxpayer funds.

When asked what specific concerns he has about the countys budget, Allhands said it all goes back to spending.

Our budget is increasing all the time, said Allhands.

Schultz said Wednesday that its easy for someone unfamiliar with the budget to pick it apart. He said the commission only manages about 20 percent of the countys budget and that the rest of the budget goes toward schools, voter-approved levies, and other special purposes.

If the budget has increased, he said, it has been due to voter-approved levies, such as those for schools and search and rescue.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Schulz said hes the man for the job, touting his years as commissioner.

My opponent does not have the knowledge and experience that I do.

Allhands maintained that experience isnt everything.

A fresh perspective on things with an open mind I think is a good thing, he said, noting that at one time even Schulz was a newcomer.
Think twice before calling

A woman who called police because she wanted a man out of her apartment got that job done, but she ended up behind bars, too, because she was wanted on theft and fraud charges from months ago.

Brandi Michelle Brian, 38, of Butte called police to her apartment in the 800 block of West Broadway around 7 p.m. Thursday. She wanted 41-year-old Ruben Burch of Butte out of her place, and police obliged, arresting him on two outstanding warrants from Butte City Court.

But, as it turned out, police had been looking for Brian since last June, when an investigation into other people's credit cards being used fraudulently pointed to her.

Police have been looking for her since then on two warrants for theft, two for deceptive practices, and two for identity theft. She was released several hours later after posting $4,000 in bail.

Bong left behind

Police are trying to determine who left a bong and other drug paraphernalia behind at an area motel.

The cops were called to the Econo Lodge on Nissler Road just west of Butte around 11 a.m. Thursday and found the bong and other items. Police were still trying to find out who left them as of late Friday morning.

Busted at McDonald's

Employees at McDonald's on Harrison Avenue called police early Friday to say a man was outside banging on the windows and making them nervous. When officers arrived around 2:40 a.m., they say Neil David McCarthy, 26, of Sedgewick, Alberta, Canada, began yelling at them. He was cuffed and booked on a misdemeanor complaint of disorderly conduct.
In 2004 Montana voters, by wide margin, passed an initiative to allow marijuana use for medical purposes. Persons with specified debilitating conditions, such as MS, epilepsy, and chronic pain could receive a medical marijuana card, if certified by a medical doctor.

This provided blessed relief for some sick people. For example, one witness suffering severe cancer said that he would be dead by now if not for medical marijuana because his chemotherapy made him vomit 24 hours a day. He said: I am sorry. I am passionate about this, its the only thing that helped. Another patient, now dead, suffering from emphysema and other debilitating conditions, down to 69 pounds, pleaded not to have to go back on opioids because they put her in a zombie-like state and she wanted to enjoy her last days with her grandchildren.

Unfortunately, there were abuses  particularly over-certification by a few rogue doctors who barely examined their patients. This was effectively addressed by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners which clamped down on doctors who did not follow the required standard of care. Although this was the sensible approach, the 2011 Legislature in a severe overreaction took separate action, gutting the medical marijuana law. In particular, the amendment limited medical marijuana providers to only three patients. A Helena district judge recognized the irrationality of such a severe limitation, and immediately enjoined it.

From 2011 to 2016, with this and other onerous provisions enjoined, the law worked effectively. Patients in need had access, but the abuses were eliminated.

A representative of the Board of Medical Examiners later testified:

Q. Has the board received any complaints or is there any evidence of abuses related with marijuana caravans?

A. Sir, there just have been no complaints about licenses and medical marijuana at all, either in, if you will, fiscal 2012 or fiscal 2013.

And,

Q. Things have gone pretty well since July 1, 2011 vis-a-vis medical marijuana from the Boards standpoint?

A. I would say the Boards workload on that particular subject has been very, very light if non-existent.

In other words, the 2011 law, without the three-patient limit, worked very smoothly to ensure patient access while, at the same time, curbing abuses.

Despite this, the Montana Supreme Court earlier this year overturned the injunction deferring to the legislative judgment made in 2011. The three-patient limit was reinstated.

The reinstatement of the three-patient limit is the death knell for medical marijuana. Imagine if your pharmacist could only dispense opioid painkillers and its other pharmaceuticals to three patients. Pharmacists would soon be out of business.

Initiative I-182 has been carefully crafted to reinstate the law that worked effectively from 2011 to 2016. Specifically, it eliminates the three-patient limit which everybody agrees is arbitrary and was designed essentially to kill medical marijuana.

Marijuana, while not totally harmless, is relatively benign. In 1999 Study of the Institute of Medicine found that tobacco was used by 76 percent of the population and 32 percent became dependent. Ninety-two percent of the population had used alcohol, 15 percent had become dependent. Marijuana, including hashish, had been used by 46 percent of the population but had only a 9 percent dependency rate. Yet, alcohol and tobacco use are perfectly legal for adults. Neither drug has the compelling medicinal qualities of marijuana.

It is time for a little common sense. The evidence is now overwhelming that marijuana helps some people with certain medical conditions.

I-182 should be supported.

-- Jim Goetz, Bozeman attorney, represents the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. However, this is done on his own and not on behalf of the client.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []


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MOSUL, Iraq  Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast.

Columns of armored vehicles wound through open desert to open the new front, pushing through dirt berms, drawing heavy fire and calling in airstrikes to enter the middle class neighborhoods of Tahrir and Zahara. The area was once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi told The Associated Press that three militants in separate explosives-laden vehicles tried to attack the troops but were destroyed, including a bulldozer that was hit by an airstrike from the U.S.-led coalition supporting the offensive. An officer and two soldiers had been wounded, he added.

At least one of those soldiers was wounded seriously in the first hours of the new advance, which came under heavy fire from mortars, automatic weapons, snipers and anti-tank rockets. Commanders at the scene said his injury to the neck could have been the result of small arms fire or shrapnel from a mortar round.

Earlier, at the direct eastern approach to the citys urban center, militants holed up in a building fired a rocket at an Abrams tank, disabling it and sending its crew fleeing from the smoking vehicle, seemingly unharmed. The advance in that area then stalled.

The days fighting has been the most intense urban combat in Mosul since the Iraqi offensive began over two weeks ago to drive IS from the city, Iraqs second-largest.

The early morning push began with artillery and mortar strikes on the Aden, Tahrir, and Quds districts, just west of the special forces footholds in the Gogjali and Karama neighborhoods, al-Timimi said. Both sides opened up with small arms and mortar fire after an artillery barrage by the special forces, ahead of their advance.

Later, the regular armys ninth division, which has been following the special forces along their advance, moved into eastern Mosuls Intisar neighborhood, said an officer from the unit who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Islamic State group is fighting to hold Mosul as Iraqi forces and allied Kurdish troops squeeze in from all directions with U.S.-led coalition support, mostly from airstrikes and reconnaissance.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered the city limits for the first time in more than two years  soldiers had withdrawn from Mosul in the face of IS militants 2014 blitz that seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Now the Iraqi forces are gearing up for urban warfare expected to take weeks, if not months, as they work their way neighborhood by neighborhood, going through a warren of dense buildings prone to booby traps and ambushes.

More than 1 million civilians are stuck in the city, complicating the militarys efforts to advance without harming innocents. IS militants have driven thousands of them deeper into the citys built-up areas, presumably for use as human shields, while hundreds of others have fled in the past days toward government-controlled territory despite the uncertainty of resettlement in displacement camps.

Mosul is the last major IS stronghold in Iraq, and expelling the militant group from it would be a major blow to the survival of its self-declared caliphate that stretches into Syria. When IS seized Mosul and other territory in 2014, the much larger Iraqi military had been neglected and demoralized by corruption.

Iraqi forces have made uneven progress in closing in on the city since the operation began on Oct. 17. Advances have been slower to the south, with government troops still 35 kilometers (20 miles) away, although they seized a handful of villages late last week. Kurdish fighters and Iraqi army units are deployed to the north, while government-sanctioned Shiite militias are sweeping in from the west to try to cut off any IS escape route.

One of the leading Shiite militias, the Hezbollah Brigades, said on Wednesday that its fighters have gained control of a highway linking Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants self-proclaimed caliphate.

The militias umbrella group, the Popular Mobilization Units, say they will not enter Mosul and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014.

Meanwhile in Geneva, recent accounts of IS abuses were revealed by the United Nations, which said it has new reports that the Islamic State group has been carrying out mass killings in Mosul. Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the reports to the groups rights office alleged that IS killed 50 of its own militants on Monday at the Ghazlani military base for alleged desertion.

Shamdasani told reporters that her office also has reports indicating that four women were killed and 17 other civilians wounded in airstrikes on Wednesday in Mosuls Quds neighborhood. She says it was not the first time that her office had received a report of civilian deaths. She also cited reports that IS has been holding nearly 400 women captive in the town of Tal Afar, near Mosul.
Celebrity chef Michael Dominic Chiarello was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and being in possession of a controlled substance after being encountered outside of Yountville early on Nov. 2 while pulled over in his car, according to California Highway Patrol.

Chiarello, 54, a St. Helena resident and owner of Bottega in Yountville, had stopped along Silverado Trail south of Yountville Cross Road in his 2015 Porsche Boxster when he was approached at 3:27 a.m. by a CHP officer, said Marc Renspurger, CHP spokesman.

Chiarello was arrested for misdemeanor driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. He was booked into the Napa County jail at 4:46 a.m. on $5,000 bail and was released by 7:28 a.m.

Chiarello disputes the misdemeanor charges, his spokesman said in an email the following day.

He also owns Chiarello Family Vineyards in St. Helena, where he was the founding chef of Tra Vigne restaurant in the 1980s.

This story has been modified from the original to reflect that Chiarello was already pulled over when law enforcement encountered him.
AMERICAN CANYON  The 2016 election has been an eye-opening experience for seniors at American Canyon High School who delved into electoral politics for a project focused on local and statewide campaigns.

Students explored everything from the candidates running for City Council to California ballot measures as part of a semester-long assignment in government teacher Tom Solbergs classes.

The objective, according to Solberg, was to educate and motivate teenagers to become part of the electorate, so that when they leave here in June, theyre good citizens, theyre informed citizens. That they can survive in the real world.

For several weeks seniors researched candidates as well as the multitude of statewide propositions and Napa County measures.

They wrote position papers, produced 30-second public service announcements, and crafted a list of recommendations showing which people and ideas they supported for Nov. 8.

The recommendations were handed out to ACHS faculty and posted in D Building on a wall  in the form of a 20-foot tall poster  so everyone could see where these seniors stood on pertinent issues.

By the end the students found themselves going through the same angst and frustration endured by older voters, said Solberg.

How many times these students have come to me and said, I was going to vote no, but then I thought yes, and watching these commercials on television are driving me crazy, said Solberg with a laugh.

Theyre yelling and throwing things at the television now, he added. Theyre like the pundits on television who say: I cant wait til this election is over!

Students Suzan Abuhamdieh, Zach Weinberg and Michelle Cunha came away from the project with differing reflections and appreciations on the importance of being politically involved.

Weinberg researched the City Council candidacy of Mariam Aboudamous, 30, who has been courting the youth vote as part of her campaign.

He also received an education on the initiative process, and how an election ballot can sometimes include competing measures.

I thought the two regarding the death penalty were interesting, said Weinberg, referring to Propositions 62 and 66. They almost contradicted each other.

Proposition 62 would repeal Californias death penalty and make life without the possibility of parole the maximum punishment for murder. Proposition 66 would change the procedures governing state court appeals and petitions that challenge death penalty convictions and sentences.

If both measures are approved by voters, the one receiving the most yes votes would go into effect.

Propositions 62 and 66 are just two of 17 measures on the November ballot. The multitude of initiatives came up during American Canyons first City Council candidate forum on Oct. 11. The candidates were asked which proposition they felt was most important.

Most of the candidates that night flubbed the question, failing to provide a single answer.

Abuhamdieh was there in the audience, and was surprised to see how unprepared both incumbents and challengers were for such an important query from voters.

We know our propositions from the project, said Abuhamdieh. Youre going to be representing our city  how can you not know your propositions?

Cunha, who had an interest in politics before Solbergs project, focused her research on Proposition 54, which would require the legislature to publish all bills on the Internet 72 hours before voting on them.

She said she supports the measure.

Ive noticed politicians and the legislative branch tend to pass bills often when the general public is distracted, said Cunha, when they are not paying attention to current government agendas, and I realized that is a big concern.

Reflecting on the assignment and what she learned from it, Cunha said the level of engagement among voters could stand increasing at times.

A lot of people dont pay attention to the small print when theyre voting, she said. They look at the main candidates and dont really look at any of the general propositions or measures because its a lot of fine print and political talk that nobody wants to spend time reading.
We as perioperative nurses want to let you know that we are working hard to protect you - our patients - when you are most vulnerable. Perioperative registered nurses provide specialized nursing care to surgical patients before, during and after surgery.

If you or someone you love has had a surgical procedure, a perioperative registered nurse was directly responsible for you or your loved one's well-being throughout the operation. While all of the other medical professionals in the room, including the surgeon, anesthesia provider, surgical assistant and other assistive personnel, are focused on their specific duty, the perioperative registered nurse focuses on the patient for the duration of the procedure.

Each year during Perioperative Nurse Week, which is Nov. 6-12 this year, I renew my commitment to be my patients' advocate and to safe patient care by following the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses' evidence-based guidelines.

The next time you or a family member is a surgical patient, ask us about what we do to keep patients safe. Please join us in celebrating perioperative nurses and our dedication to safe patient care for 2016 Perioperative Nurse Week.

Angelica Rincon

Vallejo
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Steven M. Shepro takes over the position of Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee today from outgoing Deputy Chairman Lt Gen Mark O. Schissler. Lt Gen Shepro is the former Vice Director for Strategic Plans and Policy within the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

The Military Committee and International Military Staff welcomes Lieutenant General Steven M. Shepro as he enters the position of Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee today, replacing outgoing Deputy Chairman, Lieutenant General Mark O. Schissler.

Lieutenant General Shepro was commissioned in 1984 as a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and is an Olmsted Scholar fluent in multiple languages. He is a command pilot who has commanded at the operational squadron, group and wing levels, and has served as commanding general of NATO Air Training Command Afghanistan. Over the course of his career he has amassed over 3,000 flying hours in fighters, helicopters, and tactical airlift including over 600 combat hours in numerous operations. Lieutenant General Shepro has served in the Joint Staff, Air Staff, and in Coalition Command and Combatant Command positions. He most recently served as the Vice Director for Strategic Plans and Policy for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. In this role, he provided strategic direction, policy guidance, and planning focus to develop and execute the National Military Strategy.

Speaking to Lieutenant General Shepro on his first day in office, he said: I am honoured to be part of this re-energized NATO that is more relevant than ever. As Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee, I look forward to working with the Chairman to strengthen the Alliance through enhanced cooperation, and serving with this extraordinarily talented team confronting todays unprecedentedly complex security arena.

Before departing the Headquarters, Lieutenant General Schissler took the opportunity to thank the Military Committee for their continued commitment and steadfast support in providing consensus-based military advice and the international military staff for all their hard work during his tenure. Working in an international environment, in a senior military position, afforded me a unique insight into the conscientious and dedicated work of all those who work for NATO. As I depart the Headquarters, I am proud of what has been achieved and in no doubt of NATOs continued importance and future, said Lieutenant General Schissler.

During his tenure as Deputy Chairman, Lieutenant General Schissler, was the Military Advisor to the Deputy Secretary General in his capacity as the Chairman of the High Level Task Force, and Co-Chairman of the Senior NATO Logisticians Conference.

The Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee (DCMC) is a United States Officer and his responsibilities are to assist the Chairman of the Military Committee (CMC) in the execution of his duties and to take over the CMC's duties in his absence. He is also specifically responsible for the co-ordination of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) matters within the International Military Staff (IMS).
Roshne B By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Inside a shop with faded and peeling green coloured walls, there was a teakwood ceiling that was shining in all its glory.

Amid the ancient binding and printing machines, sits CN Ravamanickam, the third generation owner of Green & Co Parvathi Press, an 83-year-old printing and binding shop. Tucked between other shops on Triplicane High Road, the tiny complex located next to a bus stop is almost invisible to a passerby. As the crowd in front of the shop waits for the approaching bus, we are attracted towards the complex because of its rusted name board with faint shades of blue, red and white on the facade, which reads: Parvathi Press  ESTD 1933.

My grandfather, S Chengalvaraya Mudaliar, started the company in 1932, but we received the license only in 1933, 57-year-old says Manickam, pointing to the photo of his grandfather at the entrance, next to that of his partner, Kanakaroya Mudaliar. This is the registration document of the building dated 1933  by the British government, he adds as he gazes at the fairly tattered sheet of paper, which has been framed as a memoire of the past.

A native of Chengalpattu, Chengalvaraya, worked under Sold & Co, another press in Triplicane after which he headed to Burma and Bombay for work. Following that, he arrived at Madras to set-up his own printing firm, putting his skills to use.

The shop has been in the same location ever since its inception, where the property belonged to the Nawab of Arcot and was a stable for the royal horses.

Later, the place was made into a shopping complex and my grandfather rented it for `3 per month. Can you imagine a 1,200 sq ft place for that amount! he grins.

The work was handed over to Manickams father Nagalingam in 1950 and the number of people working in the press dwindled from 20 to 10. The reason? Decline in demand for manual prints. As technology improved, people preferred the computerised prints. Here we used to compose every word by hand, print it on paper, cut and bind it manually, he recalls and walks us through the type cases in small cabinets covered in thick sheets of dust.

The types are available in varying sizes and alphabets (English and Tamil). For customers who prefer the manual print, we do it this way. But, 99% people like computer fonts now, he sighs.

The press has machines that are over 80 years old and have been in the same position since the press started. This German printing machine can be handled with and without electricity and every other machine here is as old as the press. Even the type cases we use are old and we do recasting to maintain its sharpness, he says as he picks out the letter m made out of lead.

The factories that manufacture these type cases have now closed, and Manickam says that they are used only when a customer gives a special order for manual prints.

Though he gets paid for printing and binding invitation cards, visiting cards, school and office bill books, letter pads and posters, Manickam rues that the earnings from the press is too less to take care of the family. The profits are spent on the electricity and other bills for the press itself, he shares.

Currently the press is run only by two people  Manickam and his brother occasionally helping

him.

We still bind the traditional way and dont use glue or pins. We give a guarantee of 50 years, he assures us.

With his children moving to the IT sector, Manickam says that they arent interested in the printing business. I will do this as long as I can. This is a legacy that I wouldnt think of giving up! We have

had personalities like Anna Durai give orders to us back then, he recalls, sadly.

Manickam goes back to the wooden chair-table in the front, which was his grandfathers and fathers seat. Its his now. Will it have another occupant in the future? Only time will tell. Its up to my children, he says.

For details, call: 28514404

CHENNAI: Inside a shop with faded and peeling green coloured walls, there was a teakwood ceiling that was shining in all its glory. Amid the ancient binding and printing machines, sits CN Ravamanickam, the third generation owner of Green & Co Parvathi Press, an 83-year-old printing and binding shop. Tucked between other shops on Triplicane High Road, the tiny complex located next to a bus stop is almost invisible to a passerby. As the crowd in front of the shop waits for the approaching bus, we are attracted towards the complex because of its rusted name board with faint shades of blue, red and white on the facade, which reads: Parvathi Press  ESTD 1933. My grandfather, S Chengalvaraya Mudaliar, started the company in 1932, but we received the license only in 1933, 57-year-old says Manickam, pointing to the photo of his grandfather at the entrance, next to that of his partner, Kanakaroya Mudaliar. This is the registration document of the building dated 1933  by the British government, he adds as he gazes at the fairly tattered sheet of paper, which has been framed as a memoire of the past. A native of Chengalpattu, Chengalvaraya, worked under Sold & Co, another press in Triplicane after which he headed to Burma and Bombay for work. Following that, he arrived at Madras to set-up his own printing firm, putting his skills to use. The shop has been in the same location ever since its inception, where the property belonged to the Nawab of Arcot and was a stable for the royal horses. Later, the place was made into a shopping complex and my grandfather rented it for `3 per month. Can you imagine a 1,200 sq ft place for that amount! he grins. The work was handed over to Manickams father Nagalingam in 1950 and the number of people working in the press dwindled from 20 to 10. The reason? Decline in demand for manual prints. As technology improved, people preferred the computerised prints. Here we used to compose every word by hand, print it on paper, cut and bind it manually, he recalls and walks us through the type cases in small cabinets covered in thick sheets of dust. The types are available in varying sizes and alphabets (English and Tamil). For customers who prefer the manual print, we do it this way. But, 99% people like computer fonts now, he sighs. The press has machines that are over 80 years old and have been in the same position since the press started. This German printing machine can be handled with and without electricity and every other machine here is as old as the press. Even the type cases we use are old and we do recasting to maintain its sharpness, he says as he picks out the letter m made out of lead. The factories that manufacture these type cases have now closed, and Manickam says that they are used only when a customer gives a special order for manual prints. Though he gets paid for printing and binding invitation cards, visiting cards, school and office bill books, letter pads and posters, Manickam rues that the earnings from the press is too less to take care of the family. The profits are spent on the electricity and other bills for the press itself, he shares. Currently the press is run only by two people  Manickam and his brother occasionally helping him. We still bind the traditional way and dont use glue or pins. We give a guarantee of 50 years, he assures us. With his children moving to the IT sector, Manickam says that they arent interested in the printing business. I will do this as long as I can. This is a legacy that I wouldnt think of giving up! We have had personalities like Anna Durai give orders to us back then, he recalls, sadly. Manickam goes back to the wooden chair-table in the front, which was his grandfathers and fathers seat. Its his now. Will it have another occupant in the future? Only time will tell. Its up to my children, he says. For details, call: 28514404
By Online Desk

In the few days that followed after the Bhopal jail break, the MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe for the alleged encounter of the eight SIMI activists from the Bhopal Central Jail.

As per media reports, allegations have been made that the activists had escaped because there were over 80 guards missing from the grounds of the prison. TV sources also asserted that the guards were posted on duty at the homes and offices of the Chief Minister, Jail Minister, former Jail Ministers, jail officials, and even the jail headquarters.

While State jail minister Kusum Mehdele denied allegations that ministers, ex-ministers and prison officials had availed more security, she stated that the matter will be looked into and required action will be taken, if need be.

The judicial probe into the incident will be conducted by retired HC Judge S K Pandey. A Public IL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh HC on the issue demanding the same.

The undertrial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail here on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31. Before escaping the central prison, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav. However, ever since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state Home Minster surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

At the same time, a controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.

In the few days that followed after the Bhopal jail break, the MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe for the alleged encounter of the eight SIMI activists from the Bhopal Central Jail. As per media reports, allegations have been made that the activists had escaped because there were over 80 guards missing from the grounds of the prison. TV sources also asserted that the guards were posted on duty at the homes and offices of the Chief Minister, Jail Minister, former Jail Ministers, jail officials, and even the jail headquarters. While State jail minister Kusum Mehdele denied allegations that ministers, ex-ministers and prison officials had availed more security, she stated that the matter will be looked into and required action will be taken, if need be. The judicial probe into the incident will be conducted by retired HC Judge S K Pandey. A Public IL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh HC on the issue demanding the same. The undertrial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail here on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31. Before escaping the central prison, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav. However, ever since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state Home Minster surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake. At the same time, a controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.
By ANI

SOPORE (Jammu and Kashmir): The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist who was arrested yesterday in Jammu and Kashmirs Sopore area was persuaded to surrender, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Uttam Chand, North Kashmir on Friday.



Chand said that huge amounts of arms and ammunitions were recovered from the terrorists identified as Omar Khaliq.



An effort was made to seek the surrender of terrorist, the owner of the house was also involved and finally the terrorist was persuaded to surrender his name is Kahiq alias Sameen. He surrendered and also with that we seized arms and ammunitions from him, Chand told media here.

Chand said that Khaliq had gone to Pakistan and was trained there.



Chand informed that the police had received information about the presence of a LeT terrorist, yesterday at 17:08 hrs.

The terrorist was nabbed after a joint operation launched by army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state police.



A case has been registered and an investigation has been taken up to see if there is involvement of any other persons, Chand said.

SOPORE (Jammu and Kashmir): The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist who was arrested yesterday in Jammu and Kashmirs Sopore area was persuaded to surrender, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Uttam Chand, North Kashmir on Friday. Chand said that huge amounts of arms and ammunitions were recovered from the terrorists identified as Omar Khaliq. An effort was made to seek the surrender of terrorist, the owner of the house was also involved and finally the terrorist was persuaded to surrender his name is Kahiq alias Sameen. He surrendered and also with that we seized arms and ammunitions from him, Chand told media here. Chand said that Khaliq had gone to Pakistan and was trained there. Chand informed that the police had received information about the presence of a LeT terrorist, yesterday at 17:08 hrs. The terrorist was nabbed after a joint operation launched by army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state police. A case has been registered and an investigation has been taken up to see if there is involvement of any other persons, Chand said.
Chandrasekhar Putcha, Cal State Fullerton professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering.

In the tight race for the White House, Cal State Fullerton professor Chandrasekhar Putcha predicts that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will become the next U.S. president.

Using an engineering mathematical model he created, Putcha pegs Clinton with 52.78 percent and 284 electoral votes and Republican candidate Donald Trump with 47.21 percent and 254 electoral votes  a 1.9 percent margin of error. A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Putcha predicts Clinton will take the lead in winning 43.63 percent of the popular vote, with Trump capturing 42.52 percent of the popular vote  a probability with only a .0001 percent margin of error, according to Putcha, who announced his prediction today (Nov. 3).

With presidential election polls in recent days predicting Trump in the lead in some states and Clinton ahead in others, Putcha recalculated the numbers one more time on Monday. While Clintons lead dipped from earlier calculations, the probability was the same  Clinton will clinch victory in both the Electoral College and popular vote.

This isnt the first time the professor has put his math skills to the test to predict the outcome of a presidential election. Putcha is two-for-two: He correctly predicted that Barack Obama would be elected in 2008 and 2012. How? By focusing on the statistics (polling data) and the probability.

Putcha, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, applied probability and statistics  the same principles he uses in engineering analysis. His primary research over his 35-year career focuses on reliability and risk analysis.

For the election prediction, Putcha collaborated with one his former students, 2016 CSUF graduate Vineet Penumarthy, who earned his bachelors degree in mechanical engineering in May, and Brian Sloboda, associate chair of the Center for Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Phoenix. Putcha has worked previously with both on joint research efforts.

Putcha and his team used state-by-state polling data from various sources. For example, in California, polling data from KABC-TV Los Angeles/SurveyUSA, USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll, Insights West poll and the Field Poll were used to predict a 98.58 percent probability that Clinton will win the state, with 57 percent of the popular vote and all 55 electoral votes.

For North Carolina, the research team used such sources as Public Policy Polling and New York Times Upshot/Sienna College. In that state, Putcha is predicting Clinton to win with 48 percent of the popular vote, compared to Trumps 44.50 percent.

In Florida, Putcha predicts Trump will prevail by a slim margin of 46.33 percent, compared to Clintons 46 percent of the popular vote, capturing 29 electoral votes. The prediction also indicates that Trump will win states such as Arizona, Ohio, South Carolina and Utah.

The assumption is based on the premise that the polls will capture the pulse of the people as to how they are planning to vote in the actual presidential election, Putcha said. If the polling data is correct, the mathematical model that uses this information should predict correctly the outcome of the election.

CSUF alumnus Penumarthy collected polling data and calculated the probabilities of the winner from each state based on the polling data.

Polls can be thought of as reactions of the people to any particular event. Using these polls at the state level meant that we could individually look at the reactions of the people in each state and then predict the winner based on these responses, Penumarthy explained.

Now a graduate student in mechanical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Penumarthy wanted to be involved in Putchas research because of the sheer bizarreness of the election.

I got on board partially due to my interest in statistical analysis, but mostly because I wanted to help predict the winner of the election by just focusing on the mathematics.

For Putcha, CSUFs 2007 Outstanding Professor, it has become a challenge to forecast the next U.S. president, and he is looking forward to a three-peat.

Anybody can always predict, even by simply tossing a coin, and the person may be correct. But there is no mathematical basis for the outcome. Im confident that our mathematical analysis is accurate in showing that Clinton will win.

Read more University news related to the 2016 presidential election here.
20:37

Booker prize winning Indian-born author Salman Rushdie described Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a "sexual predator" and asked Americans to "focus" as they choose their next president.

"Trump will go on trial in November accused of racketeering, and again in December accused of child rape. He is a sexual predator, hasn't released his tax returns, and has used his foundation's money to pay his legal fees," Rushdie said, according to an online post in literary website 'Lithub'.

The website has put together views of 22 renowned writers about Trump as election day approaches after a long campaign cycle, saying "in times like these, it's worth considering the words and insights of those among us who've dedicated their lives to giving voice to thought -- but if nothing else, you can at least count on a good writer to come up with an eloquent insult or two."

Rushdie asks America to focus on choosing its next president, saying the spotlight should be on how Trump behaves and not on some emails that Clinton didn't send.

Trump "has abused the family of a war hero and...oh, but let's talk about some emails Hillary didn't send from someone else's computer, that weren't a crime anyway, because thats how to choose a president. Come on, America. Focus," he said.





Acclaimed British novelist J K Rowling said Trump has the temperament of an "unstable nightclub bouncer", he "jeers" at violence when it breaks out at his rallies and wears his disdain for women and minorities with pride.
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Shouts and foot slaps echo out of UC Santa Cruzs martial arts rooms, drawing the attention of a few passing students who raise their cell phones to record the scene.

There, in an octagonal room with views of the bay, 16 members of the UC Santa Cruz Kendo Clubsome of them dressed in dark jackets and wide pants that make them appear as if they are floating across the padded floorare at practice.

They lift their bamboo swords called shinai and slash at the air. They bark out calls and stamp their feet as part of a martial art that was developed in Japan centuries before.

It is a noisy, physically demanding sport that focuses on improving oneself and ones technique, on teamwork, and contributing to societyand is a complement to the rigors of university study, several club members say.

It is about overcoming your own smallness, says Tyler Oku, a 22-year-old history major at College Ten who helped found the club four years earlier. Its about overcoming that voice in your head that says you cant do this; its about overcoming with a strong heart.

In kendo, there is discipline. You honor your sensei, says Yutaka Tokunaga, using the Japanese word for martial arts teacher. The 19-year-old incoming president of the club was born in Japan and is studying computer engineering. Sensei give their time to teach us, and we have to honor that.

In the same way, the Oakes College student who expects to graduate in 2020 honors his professors. They could be doing other, more important things, Tokunaga says, but they are teaching us, and so you give them respect.

According to Oku, kendo is an ancient martial art that grew out of the swordsmanship used by Japanese warriors centuries ago. Modern practitioners use swords called shinai, which are made up of four long bamboo slats held together with leather fittings. The shinai are used to strike an opponents arms, head, and upper body, which are covered with armor made out of plastic or bamboo. Each hit is accompanied by a slap of the foot and a shout, which names the body part about to be struck.

The strike, shout, and foot stomp are meant to be simultaneous and precise, or what is called Ki Ken Tai Ichi, says Oku. In competition, any hesitation or deviation from specific moves are penalized.

A good, clean hit should look beautiful, Oku says of the discipline required by the sport. It shouldnt look like some guy just flipping out.

Sitting outside the martial arts room on a warm fall evening, Oku says kendo is not only a strenuous workout but also helps develop character.

On a physical level you can be pushed to do more than you thought you could do and there is also a culture of teamwork and camaraderie.

UC Santa Cruzs Kendo Club practices twice a week and competes only in one event, the Yuhihai Intercollegiate Kendo Tournament in Los Angeles. But kendo is not just about competition, Oku says.

One of the martial arts underlying principles is that you work diligently and try to make progress, Oku says. Similarly, you try to develop how you can contribute to society.

Oku began studying kendo in middle school as did Tokunaga, whose father is a sensei in the martial art.

Sabrina Tran, a 19-year-old linguistics major at Merrill College, says she studied kendo as an exchange student in Japan and joined the club because she was nostalgic for her study-abroad experience and because the sport is a good way to de-stress from her studies.

She took her place next to Oku, who led the group in warm-up exercises, then took club members through footwork drills. Students frowned in concentration, their shinai at arms length in front of them, their quick gliding steps whispering across the floor.

Oku watched as some of the participants shinai bobbed up and down.

Imagine a butterfly on the edge of the sword, he says to the group. You want to move smoothly enough so it doesnt fly away.
BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, plans to open 80 percent of its grounds to visitors by 2020, museum director Shan Jixiang said on Thursday.

The imperial palace has opened more areas to the public in recent years, exceeding 50 percent in 2014, 65 percent in 2015 and 76 percent this year, according to Shan.

In the next four years, some administrative and ancillary facilities will be removed, and all private cars will be banned, he said.

In order to provide a better visual experience, the museum has been closing commercial sites including shops and eateries.

Four icehouses of the Forbidden City will open as cafeterias, which will allow 300 people to have dinner at the same time, he added.
by Xinhua writers Yan Feng, Zhu Sheng

BERLIN, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The essence of some German politicians' argument to limit China's investment in Germany is some kind of investment protectionism, which will damage Germany's opening up image and investment environment, according to a top Chinese diplomat.

Wang Weidong, commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Germany, made the statement in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Wang expressed his concern about the recent reassessment of Chinese company's takeover bid of German chip equipment maker Aixtron by the German Ministry of Economy, saying the government interference will add unpredictable changes to the mutually beneficial cooperation between companies from China and Germany.

According to some German media reports, the German Ministry of Economy is working to revise the law and to strengthen the review of foreign investment, so that the governments of European Union members can prevent non-EU capitals from acquiring domestic enterprises in certain circumstances.

Meanwhile, some German politicians said recently that China limits foreign investment and warned that core interest of European industry should be protected from threats of unfair competition.

Wang said that all these statements take no consideration that China is still a developing country and China has made great progress in opening up its market.

These statements, also not the fair and objective reflection of the Sino-German economic and trade relations and the real situation of Chinese investment in Germany, will finally damage Germany's opening up image and investment environment, Wang stressed.

China has been in the WTO for 15 years, who seriously fulfills its WTO commitments, expands its market access and gradually eliminates foreign investment restrictions. More than 8,200 German enterprises have their investment in China. However, only 2,000 Chinese enterprises have so far invested in Germany.

By August 2016, China's direct investment in Germany totaled 7.85 billion dollars, less than 30 percent of Germany's total investment in China, Wang added.

According to a report of German Federal Bank in May 2016, China's direct investment stock only accounted for 0.3 percent of the total foreign investment in Germany.

"Opening up Chinese market is a gradual process, Germany should not, on the one hand, call for more opening up, but, on the other hand, set up barriers to China's investment. Such kind of protectionism tendency will bring no success to Germany and Europe," Wang reminded.

Wang pointed out that German enterprises have made big profits in the last over 30 years since China's reform and opening up. The German side should treat the cooperation with China from a strategic and long-term perspective to achieve mutual benefits and a win-win situation.

Wang reiterated at the end that China and Germany should join hands in boycotting all forms of protectionism and create a relaxed political atmosphere for mutually beneficial cooperation between enterprises.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's launch of its first heavy-lift rocket, the Long March-5, on Thursday reflects the country's "greatest advancement" in developing a new launcher family for both its un-crewed and crewed space programs, a U.S. space expert told Xinhua.

The rocket launched from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Hainan Province matches the performance of a medium U.S. heavy-lift launch vehicle such as the Delta-4 Heavy, capable of delivering a payload of 25 tons to low Earth orbit, said Charles Vick, senior technical & space policy analyst with U.S. think tank globalsecurity.org.

Vick believed the Long March-5 will be used in China's missions to build its Earth-orbiting space station and will also allow the country to conduct lunar and planetary un-crewed explorations expected to follow in the next five years or so.

"Eventually once the Long March-5 has gained high reliability, it will serve several mission for the crewed lunar program efforts and may become the crew launch vehicle for the eventual crewed lunar landing programs in planning," he said. "Additionally the Long March-5 is planned for the use of China's national and commercial COMSAT programs."

The Long March-5 is part of a new generation of China launch vehicles that aims to replace the older series of the Long March family, known as Long March 2, 3 and 4.

Instead of highly toxic propellants, the new series, also consisting of Long March 6 and 7, uses kerosene and liquid oxygen, making it more environmental friendly and less expensive.

Vick said he was also impressed that this new Long March series was developed without the Russian rocket engine technology know-how and the U.S. cryogenic technology involved.

Currently, the U.S. has several heavy-lift launch vehicles that are utilized for several payload capacity categories, including Atlas-5 and Delta-4.

Meanwhile, there are four others in development: Vulcan, Falcon Heavy and New Glenn from the U.S. commercial space sector as well as the U.S. space agency NASA's Space Launch System.

Vick said many factors are driving the space access launch vehicle industries in the U.S. and China, but each nation has its own goals.

"I would not call this a space race except for the best technological option for space access to serve each country's purposes," he said.
BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China has successfully prevented a Japanese auction of looted Chinese cultural relics, a statement from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) said Thursday.

The statement did not include the name of the Japanese auction house, nor details of the relics.

It said the SACH had learned from local media reports that a Japanese auction house planned to put several looted Chinese cultural relics on auction at the end of October.

The SACH immediately contacted the auction company, demanding it halt the sale. Upon investigation, the company decided to cancel the auction, according to the statement.

A letter widely circulated on the Internet, purportedly sent by the SACH to the Yokohama-based Japanese auction house, said that the relics, "illegally obtained by Otani Kozui and his fellows," included a few pieces of mural and handwritten Buddhist manuscripts dated from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

From 1902 to 1914, Otani Kozui, a Japanese Buddhist and explorer, led or financed three expeditions to northwest China, according to "Central Asian Expedition," a book by Zuicho Tachibana, who took part in the trips.

China consistently opposes sales of illegally looted cultural relics, according to the SACH statement. "In recent years this position has gained increasing understanding and support."
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (4th L) poses for a group photo with other leaders at the 15th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prime ministers' meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BISHKEK, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Prime Ministers from the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) pledged on Thursday to enhance their pragmatic cooperation in various areas.

The 15th prime ministers' meeting of the SCO concluded Thursday in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan with a Joint Declaration that emphasizes the need to promote pragmatic cooperation in such fields as financing, trade, energy and infrastructure.

"Deepening cooperation within the SCO serves the overall interests of the entire region", according to the declaration issued after the one-day meeting.

The prime ministers of the six countries, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, stressed in the declaration that all member states should strive to implement the agreements reached in the SCO Tashkent summit in 2016 and in the 14th prime ministers' meeting in Zhengzhou.

The leaders agreed that the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China constitutes a new pattern for international cooperation and will help promote common prosperity globally in the future.

During the meeting, the prime ministers signed over 10 cooperation documents covering economy, technology, energy, finance, culture and other fields.

The next prime ministers' meeting of the SCO will be held in Russia in 2017. Regular meetings mechanism among the SCO prime ministers was set up in September 2001.

The SCO, established in 2001, is a regional political, economic and security organization that groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members.

India and Pakistan signed the SCO's Memorandum of Obligations in June, kick-starting the process of their accession into the group, which also has a number of observers and dialogue partners.
LONDON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- A leading expert in child health said Thursday obesity and overweight in children in England is entering a state of emergency.

Professor Russell Viner of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health was commenting after new figures were published showing the number of young children who are obese or overweight has gone up in the past year.

The statistics were compiled by the National Child Measurement Program, England (NCMP) for the 2015/16 school year, and published Thursday by NHS Digital.

More than one in three children aged 10 or 11 in English schools, 34.2 percent year 6 were obese in 2015-16. More than one in five children, aged 4 or 5 (22.1 percent) were overweight obese in their age group.

NCMP said the prevalence of obesity has risen from 9.1 percent in 2014-15 to 9.3 percent in 2015-16 for children aged 4 or 5, and from 19.1 percent to 19.8 percent for those in year 6 (aged 10 or 11).

Professor Viner, who said the figures are a "stark reminder" of how serious the problem was, called on the British government to do more to tackle obesity. He wants more restrictions on junk food advertising and marketing.

"It is not an understatement to say we are entering a state of emergency," added Professor Viner.

Professor Kevin Fenton, national director for Health and Wellbeing, at Public Health England, said: "It is deeply worrying that more children are leaving primary school overweight or obese than ever before and levels are increasing."

Obesity levels in children aged 4 or 5 living in the most deprived areas of England was 12.5 percent, more than double similar aged children living in the least deprived areas (5.5 percent) .

Among 10 and 11 year old children, 26 percent living in the most deprived areas were obese compared to 11.7 percent living in the least deprived areas.

The figures also show boys are more likely to be overweight or obese than girls.

The NCMP measures the height and weight of over one million children in England annually and provides robust data on which reception and year 6 children are underweight, healthy weight, overweight or obese.
RIGA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Riga summit between China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries will give new momentum to Latvia's relationship with the world's second largest economy, Chinese Ambassador to Latvia Huang Yong said.

This is the fifth summit of China and the CEE countries, and the first time that it takes place in a Baltic nation.

"It is a great opportunity to elevate bilateral ties between China and Latvia, and to further develop China-CEE cooperation," Huang told Xinhua in an interview ahead of the summit.

Since China and Latvia established diplomatic ties 25 years ago, the two countries have been developing their relationship at a steady pace, which is based on mutual respect and friendship between the people of the two countries, the ambassador said.

"It has now come to a crucial stage for them to take the quality and the efficiency of their cooperation to the next level, so as to yield more concrete results," he explained.

"The summit is expected to propose new projects and initiatives, setting the direction for the next phase of the China-Latvia relations," he added.

The countries' strategies for development are complementary in many aspects, according to the ambassador, which provide tremendous space for cooperation in a variety of sectors.

"To explore new markets in Asia is part of Latvia's national development strategy, which sets China as a cooperation priority, while China has included Latvia in its Belt and Road Initiative as an important transit into Europe, and the proposal has received positive response from the Latvian authorities," Huang elaborated.

Aiming to secure its position as an Eurasian logistics hub, Latvia is keen to boost strategic cooperation with Chinese enterprises in railways, aviation and ports.

A new rail freight route was inaugurated recently linking Riga and Yiwu, a manufacturing powerhouse in east China. The first cargo train from Yiwu is expected to arrive in Riga on Saturday.

Huang hailed this as another example of cooperation success within the Belt and Road framework.

"With this direct freight route, more Latvian products can reach Chinese customers." he said. "For example, Latvian ice creams and dairy products are in high demand in the Chinese market; Stenders, a popular Latvian cosmetics brand, is also gaining traction in China."

"The China-Latvia relations will see more rapid growth under the China-CEE cooperation framework, especially in the transport and logistics sectors," he added.

Meanwhile, the people-to-people exchanges between China and Latvia are also on the rise. A Confucius Institute has been established in Riga to teach the Chinese language and culture. A Latvia-themed cultural festival was held in Beijing earlier this year, attracting more Chinese to this Baltic country.

"I believe that the summit will be a great success and its outcomes will benefit people from both countries," said Huang.
HELSINKI, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Finnish forest industry giant UPM plans to permanently reduce its graphic paper capacity in Europe by closing two paper producing machines in Germany and Austria, the company announced on Thursday.

UPM said it would permanently reduce its graphic paper production in Europe by approximately 305,000 tonnes.

The capacity reduction would lead to the closure of two super calendered (SC) paper machines, one in Augsburg, Germany and the other in Steyrermuehl, Austria. SC paper is the type of paper used to make magazines, commercial fliers and catalogues.

As a result, a total of 275 employees at the two mills would be laid off.

"The employee consultation processes will start in November in line with the local legislation," said UPM in a press release.

The plan would save about 30 million euros (33 million U.S. dollars) annually, it added.

After the machines are closed, both of the mills in Augsburg and Steyrermuehl will continue paper production on the remaining cost-competitive machines, said UPM.

"The demand for SC papers, in line with other graphic papers, has been declining during the last years and the decline is expected to continue," said Winfried Schaur, executive vice president of UPM Paper ENA (Europe and North America).

Anu Ahola, senior vice president responsible for newspaper publishing at the company, told the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday that the closure was based on the company's annual competitiveness report.

"The machines expected to shut down would be difficult to take more power to run without significant investment," Ahola was quoted as saying.

She explained that paper machines in Finland would not be closed because they were more efficient and technically stronger than those to be discontinued.

In the past years, the demand for printing paper has given way to rapidly developing mobile communication technologies. Being hard hit by the trend, UPM has had to constantly cut down its paper production.

In November 2014, the company shut down four paper machines in Finland, France and Britain to reduce its publication paper capacity in Europe by around 800,000 tonnes.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Helsinki, UPM is one of the world's leading forest industry groups. The company employs nearly 20,000 people and has plants in 14 countries around the world.
This file photo taken on September 27, 2016 shows FBI Director James Comey as he testifies during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

The FBI told US lawmakers October 28, 2016 it has reopened its review of White House frontrunner Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server when she was secretary of state, after discovering new mails "that appear to be pertinent." FBI director James Comey said his agency would take "appropriate investigative steps" to decide whether a new batch of mails contained classified information "as well as to assess their importance to the investigation."

( AFP PHOTO / YURI GRIPAS)

By Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The move by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to reopen a criminal investigation into U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails may sap her supporters' enthusiasm so close to Election Day, experts said.

FBI Director James Comey dropped a bombshell last Friday when he announced he would re-open the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server to conduct business while she was secretary of state.

Critics say Clinton's use of a private email account, instead of a secure, government-issued one, could jeopardize U.S. national security, as it could be easier to hack by foreign powers.

Experts said the FBI announcement will hurt Clinton, who just weeks ago held a significant 7-point lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump.

Indeed, it has already diminished that lead significantly in the past days, putting the candidates in a tight race. Clinton's lead has now narrowed to around 1.7 points in the RealClearPolitics average.

The FBI investigation may not spur non-Trump supporters to suddenly change their minds and cast their ballots in favor of the brash New York billionaire. But it may solidify Trump's base and dampen enthusiasm among Clinton supporters, causing some of them to stay home on the Nov. 8 Election Day, experts said.

"It's a positive sign for Trump and one that he would like to have had a little bit earlier than it's occurred," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told Xinhua.

"To some extent, it's depressing enthusiasm on the Democratic side. But if nothing else, it should help Trump consolidate the Republican base," he said.

According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, last week saw 53 percent of Trump supporters saying they were "very enthusiastic" about Trump, and 51 percent saying the same about Clinton -- essentially a tie.

But that changed drastically by Tuesday, a few days after Comey's announcement, with enthusiasm among Clinton supporters plunging to 43 percent, while Trump's numbers remaining the same, the poll found.

"If Trump can get 90 percent of registered Republicans supporting him, he could conceivably become the next president of the United States," O'Connell said.

"But we really won't know until Election Day," he added.

O'Connell still thought that a Trump win has probably "only about a 25 or 30 percent chance."

There are a number of opinions over whether Comey should have re-opened the investigation. Supporters say no one is above the law, including a political insider like Clinton, but opponents say the FBI's move is essentially a government agency stepping in and influencing the election, in a system in which law enforcement is supposed to butt out of the electoral process.

Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua it is "unprecedented" for the FBI to make such an announcement so close to Election Day.

He called the FBI move "an explosion" that will impact what happens on Election Day, adding that normally the FBI does not make such announcements so close to elections.

Comey has not been specific about the new allegations against Clinton. All that is known so far is that a trove of allegedly unseen Clinton emails were discovered on the computer of Anthony Weiner, a former Congressman and ex-husband of top Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin. The emails were discovered during the FBI probe of Weiner's alleged texting of sexual content to an underage 15-year-old girl.

The results of the FBI investigation into the latest emails will not be released until after the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Photo taken on Oct. 25 shows the "Jail House" at the front of Mike Turnbull's house in Tallmadge, Ohio.(Xinhua/Li Changxiang)

Editor's note: The 2016 presidential election is seen by many as the most divisive and scandalous in the U.S. history. A team of Xinhua reporters recently toured two battleground states to get the firsthand accounts of what American voters really think less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 election. Here is the third of four in-depth reports they have produced.

By Xinhua writers Li Changxiang, Zhu Lei, Qi Zijian

TALLMADGE, the United States, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- An hour's drive south of Cleveland, the city of Tallmadge, Ohio, felt like at the heart of Donald Trump country. Yard signs, banners and posters of "make America great again" could be seen everywhere.

There was one house that stood out. In the front yard of the house erected a handmade "jail house." It was built with black wooden panels, decorated with Hillary Clinton's headshot and words of "Bengazi," "Hillary" and "Busted." A big banner of Trump 2016 was hanging on the garage.

The owner of the house, electrician Mike Turnbull, just got off work. Among the first things he said was "99 percent of the news is for Hillary."

"I'm sorry but that's how I feel. The media outlets are very biased," Turnbull said in dismay.

MEDIA BIAS IN FOCUS

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Trump himself had been feeding on the notion that the U.S. media is biased against him in this election.

"This election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubstantiated charges, and outright lies, in order to elect Crooked Hillary," Trump wrote in a recent tweet.

Many had questioned whether Trump's argument was fact-based, but none will doubt his words resonated with large swaths of his supporters.

"All the WikiLeaks stuff coming out on Hillary day after day, and who's covering it?"

"Nobody but Fox," Turnbull answered himself, hailing Fox News as the only media outlet that is not biased against Trump.

Another Trump supporter, Jack Baker of Springfield, Ohio, expressed the same feeling.

"The media is definitely in the Democratic corner," he said.

Turnbull and Baker both are the typical Trump supporters. They both feel the country is going downhill, and the self-sufficient, comfortable middle-class lifestyle are slipping away from them.

Baker, who worked manufacturing at the International Harvester Company in the 1970s and 80s, "I left there making 16 dollars and 43 cents an hour, and that was in 1983. The same company just hired people this year to work at the factory for 14 dollars and 50 cents per hour."

"How can somebody 30 years later getting less than what they were paying back then," he complained.

It were not just Turnbull and Baker who felt that way. In the latest poll released by Suffolk University/USA Today, 75.9 percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed believed that the media wants the Democratic presidential nominee to win, and only 7.9 percent said Trump was the one the media supports.

Mitch Verheyen, a 35-year-old cook from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania said the biases of the media have big influences on regular voters, which can sway political races into unwanted results.

"How does it feel that people sit at home and they know the candidate they like ain't gonna make it," Verheyen asked.

Feelings of a "rigged" media appeared prevalent among Republican voters in the battleground states. The reasons may not be baseless, but experts said the feelings of imbalanced reporting actually originated from Trump himself.

"It has been a long held criticism towards the American media that they tend to present liberal biases," said Jingsi Wu, assistant professor of journalism, media studies and public relations at Hofstra University.

Wu said people tend to form such an impression even more easily in this particular election, because of the very controversial and politically incorrect opinions that Trump constantly voices.

"Journalists seem to not be able to help themselves but convey some criticisms of Trump," Wu added.

Journalists' dislike for Trump was most pronounced in this election cycle. Various notable publications in the U.S. endorse candidates of their choice as a tradition, and this year a total of 414 daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, college and university newspapers endorsed Clinton, while only 11 endorsed Trump.

For the Trump camp, such a small number of endorsements for a major-party candidate is unprecedented in American history, which in turn reinforced the negative opinions against the mainstream media among Trump voters.

Mike Turnbull speaks with Xinhua in front of his garage in Tallmadge, Ohio on Oct. 25, 2016(Xinhua/Li Changxiang)

UNWELCOMED CHASE FOR RATINGS

The feeling of media biases may echo more often within the Trump camp, but the groan of discontent with the media's negative reporting throughout this election cycle had reverberated far and loud among voters from both sides.

"This country has been falling apart," said Steve Dotson of Springfield, Ohio, warehouse worker and father of four boys.

Dotson and his wife Olivia Mansfield, a Walmart cashier, said they were definitely reluctant to vote, but they would vote for Clinton. They hoped a Clinton presidency could bring a better future for their kids.

"Everything's always negative, that's all you see in the media," Dotson said.

Mansfield felt the same. "They know that it would be a circus between the two of them and they'll get more ratings."

A recent Gallup poll found that American public' s trust in the media in 2016 has fallen to its lowest point since 1972, with only 32 percent of people saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media.

It was a sharp 8 percentage-point drop compared to 2015. The drop of trust in media was more evident among Republicans, which plummeted to 14 percent from 32 percent a year ago. It was Trump's sharp criticisms of the media that disheartened them, the pollsters deduced.

"The election campaign may be the reason that it has fallen so sharply this year," writes Art Swift of Gallup.

Experts acknowledged that the media's innate drive for ratings are the reason for the negative coverage of the election, but they were merely appeasing their established audience like they always did.

"It is a failure of the American media to continue their focus on the dramatic and the spectacular, at the cost of pressing candidates on their policy stances," said Wu.

"At the same time, there is some great quality journalism that upholds the gold standard of long-form, investigative reporting, but they do not get nearly as much attention," she added.

"The media are trying to attract audiences for their organizations like a business in the marketplace," said Robert Shapiro, professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University.

Despite his constant complaining, Trump had greatly benefitted from the very behavior of the mainstream media. Analysts estimated that Trump has got the equivalent of about 2 billion U.S. dollars in free media publicity, by the massive news coverage of his multiple controversial remarks and scandals.

"He has saved a lot of money on advertising because of it and this is why overall presidential election spending may be less this year than in 2012," Shapiro said.

But the average voters, especially those who lost interest in both candidates because of the non-stop negative coverage of the 2016 presidential race, just want to get over the election.

"I'm excited that it would be over," said Paul Shaia, who works in commercial real estate in Cleveland, Ohio.

Shaia told Xinhua that because he didn't like either Clinton or Trump, he'll be voting for third-party candidate Gary Johnson.
CANBERRA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Australian health authorities have issued a state-wide warning to residents over a lethal strain of the meningococcal virus.

South Australia (SA) Health, the state's chief medical body, urged parents to vaccinate their children against the potentially lethal B-strain of the virus if they can afford the costly medication.

The warning came after Charlie Mason, a 16-month-old toddler, died at an Adelaide hospital on Thursday, only days after contracting the meningococcal B-strain.

Unlike the C-strain of the disease, the B-strain is not covered under the National Immunisation Program, which provides free immunizations for dangerous diseases. This means that a full course vaccination for the B-strain, which is the most common form of the virus, could cost up to 384 U.S. dollars per child.

Paddy Phillips, the chief medical officer of SA Health, said if parents can afford it, they should have their children vaccinated.

"The vaccine's very effective and, if you've got the money, it would be something to seriously, very seriously consider," Phillips told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday.

"It is a rare condition, but it is a tragic condition, obviously (it) can be fatal."

Eliza Ault-Connell, director of Meningococcal Australia and survivor of the disease when she was a teenager, said the B-strain was the most dangerous strain of the disease.

"We see just a handful of meningococcal C cases now in Australia," Ault-Connell told the ABC.

"Meningococcal B is now the most common strain and that makes up around 90 per cent of all cases, but also emerging now is the W-strain."

Ault-Connell said vaccinations for both the B and W strains existed, but the government had rejected three separate requests to have them placed on the National Immunisation Program.

"It's just come back as not being cost-effective enough," she said.
WELLINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government Friday welcomed the historic Paris Agreement coming into force as environment campaigners lambasted the country's lack of a plan of to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The Paris Agreement formalizes the legal framework for all countries to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

New Zealand ratified on Oct. 5, helping the agreement cross the threshold for entry of 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions.

"This is the first time all nations have agreed to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a common legal footing," Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett said in a statement.

"The speed at which the Paris Agreement has come into force is unprecedented and underlines the urgency needed to make significant and sustainable changes to reduce emissions. New Zealand's ratification guarantees we can participate in any decision-making under the Paris Agreement at the COP 22 meeting, to be held in Morocco this month."

COP 22 (the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) would be the first major UN climate meeting since Paris in December last year, when countries adopted the first ever universal global climate deal.

Bennett said she would travel to the meeting in Marrakech, on Nov. 14 to deliver New Zealand's national statement to the COP and the CMA, the governing body of the Paris Agreement, which will meet for the first time on Nov. 15.

Bennett would chair New Zealand-led events to push for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and support development of international carbon markets.

The opposition Green Party said the government needed "real evidence" of a plan to reduce New Zealand's emissions, which were up 19 percent since 2008.

"Tackling climate change represents a huge opportunity for New Zealand. It's a chance to invest in electric public transport, build healthier, and more energy-efficient homes, and shift to more sustainable forms of agriculture," Green Party co-leader James Shaw said in a statement.

The international campaign group, Greenpeace, called for a summer of action to highlight the government's plan on climate change.

The government had committed to reducing emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Kate Simcock said in a statement.

But the country was forecast to meet 80 percent of the target by offsetting emissions in the international carbon market.

"If every country behaved the way we did, we'd literally be dead in the water. It's not acceptable that we push the burden onto someone else so that we can keep polluting, it's utterly immoral as a global citizen," said Simcock.
People watch TV broadcasting South Korean President Park Geun-hye addressing the nation, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 4, 2016. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday that she will accept an investigation by prosecutors into a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs.

Park made the remarks during her second address to the nation after apologizing for the political scandal last week.
YANGON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were arrested by Myanmar government troops in Yethetaung, western Rakhine state over the last two days where martial law is being imposed, the military-run Myawaddy News reported Friday.

The eight suspects on board a fishing boat was captured when the special marine force and border guard force were conducting area safety patrol.

Four others were also arrested in the grove in Maungtaw and they were handed over to local police station.

Meanwhile, naval patrol troops arrested four other Bangladeshi illegal fishermen in Myanmar's territorial waters, the report said.

Moreover, the government troops discovered some arms and ammunition looted by armed attackers in Oct. 9 assault on three border posts in Maungtaw.

The seized arms and ammunition include guns and cartridges with bullets.

Violent armed men attacked three border posts in Muangtaw on Oct. 9, killing nine policemen and took away arms and ammunition.

In the latest development, one more police died of his wound when a police post in Nurula, 4.8 km away from Maungtaw, was attacked by armed men on three motorcycles with small weapons on Thursday.

The police seized one home-made bomb and four pistols together with the motorbikes, the report added.
People watch TV broadcasting South Korean President Park Geun-hye addressing the nation, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 4, 2016. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs.

Park addressed the nation over the political scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, expressing her sincere apology once again after making her first public apology for it last week.

The embattled president said she will also accept a probe by an independent counsel into the case involving her close friend accused of peddling undue influence and meddling in government decisions behind the scenes.

If realized, Park would become the first South Korean leader who is investigated by prosecutors as incumbent president.

Under the country's constitution, a president is free from being criminally indicted by prosecutors during his or her presidency except for treason and insurrection charges.

Some legal experts, however, claimed that the president can face criminal investigation on condition that the criminal indictment is suspended until the end of presidency.

Park's acceptance of criminal investigation, though she added a precondition of "if necessary," came amid a snowballing public furor over Choi and former close advisors to President Park.

A Seoul court approved an arrest warrant last night for Choi on charges of fraud and abuse of power. The 60-year-old woman has been placed into emergency detention since Monday. She came back to Seoul on Sunday after staying abroad for about two months.

Prosecutors allegedly plan to seek an arrest warrant on Friday for Ahn Jong-beom, former senior presidential secretary on policy coordination suspected of helping Choi pressure conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars to two nonprofit foundations that Choi actually controls.

Chung Ho-seong, former presidential secretary, was urgently arrested by prosecutors on Thursday night as he is accused of having brought confidential documents for the president to Choi, including reports on defense, diplomatic and economic affairs.

Related:

S. Korean president appoints new staff amid rising opposition to cabinet reshuffle

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday appointed her new secretarial staff, including presidential chief of staff and secretary on political affairs, amid rising opposition to her cabinet reshuffle to form a politically-neutral government. Full story

S.Korean president's confidante grilled, advisor summoned amid rising allegations
BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The biggest political party in the world by membership, the ruling party of the world's most populous country, and the architect for one of the fastest growing economies over the past three decades: the Communist Party of China (CPC) is all these and more.

Turning 95 this year, the CPC now boasts over 88 million members in the world's second largest economy. Since 1949, it has been the ruling party in China where it receives overwhelming support from the public while China's enviable development has left the rest of the world amazed.

As its success stories continue to roll out, the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has offered an in-depth look into what goes on behind the scenes.

XI AS THE CORE

The endorsement of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, as the core leader was perhaps the most eye-catching move at last week's plenum.

In a communique released after the meeting that gathered high-ranking CPC officials in Beijing, the Party called on all its members to "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core."

Xi took the helm of the CPC in late 2012 when the Party held its 18th national congress. Since then, he has headed an array of leading groups overseeing economic development and national defense, among others, and launched a popular, nationwide anti-graft campaign that promised to bring down both "tigers and flies" -- high and low-ranking corrupt officials.

Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said since Xi took the helm of the CPC, the Party has made profound achievements in reform, development, stability, internal and foreign affairs, national defense, Party governance and state administration.

The reason the CPC has always been endorsed by the public and won victory in revolutionary struggles lies in its core of strong leadership, which leads the Party and people to progress constantly, Xin said.

In an editorial published last month, the CPC mouthpiece the People's Daily also said Xi's core status is "of great importance to China and the CPC."

"The Party and its Central Committee ... need a core to bond the Party, to unite the people, to tide over the challenges and to continue to forge ahead," it read.

STRICT PARTY GOVERNANCE

Xi explained two documents on the discipline of the Party at the plenum, namely the norms of political life in the Party under the current conditions, an update from a 1980 document, and the regulation on intra-Party supervision.

The norms stress consolidating ideals and beliefs, keeping to the basic Party line, safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee, and maintaining close ties with the people, among others. The regulation is aimed at upholding CPC leadership, strengthened Party building, strict governance of the Party and maintaining the Party's status and purity.

In his own comments, Xi said the two documents, the full texts of which were published on Wednesday, are part of the Party's efforts to "fasten the cage of regulations" to curb corruption, by preventing old problems from recurring and new ones from spreading.

They are introduced to supplement the layout of the "Four Comprehensives," a strategy to promote reform and opening up, refine the socialist modernization drive, as well as to adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

The "Four Comprehensives" are the comprehensive building of an all-round moderately prosperous society, deepening of reform, advancement of the rule of law and strict governing of the CPC.

In the past years, the third, fourth and fifth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee studied and made arrangements for the first three "Comprehensives," and the sixth plenary session completed the picture by zeroing in on the fourth "Comprehensive," according to Xi.

The documents are also born out of a necessity to promote the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and to solve outstanding problems within the Party, Xi said.

Xie Chuntao, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, agreed.

The two documents, one setting requirements on intra-Party life and the other making rules on supervising the requirements' implementation, are vital to the CPC drive of strict Party governance, Xie said.

He said the CPC has always been a political party of tight discipline and strict governance ever since its inception.

The emphasis was again amplified after 2012 as Xi spearheaded a sweeping anti-corruption campaign which has seen scores of senior officials investigated and sentenced for graft.

According to a statement made by the Supreme People's Procuratorate in July, a total of 97 officials at the vice ministerial level and above were investigated by prosecutors over the past five years.

The list gets a lot longer when lower level officials are included.

In many cases, the Party's internal disciplinary body starts its own probe before the judiciary steps in.

"That's what the Party's been repeatedly stressing: that its own discipline is stricter than law," Xie said.

DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM

But the Party is not all about discipline. The norms of political life in the Party under the current conditions also stipulated to create within the Party "a political landscape, which integrates concentration with democracy, discipline with freedom, and unified will with ease of individual mind."

Democratic centralism has been taken by the CPC as a fundamental organizational principle.

The principle is reiterated in the newly published norms of political life in the Party under the current conditions, which says intra-Party democracy is vital to the CPC, and is fundamental to a positive, healthy internal political environment.

Party committees at all levels must adhere to the collective leadership system, the document says, adding all major decisions must be made after collective discussion and in line with the principle of majority rule.

According to Sun Xiaoli, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, the democratic aspect of the principle involves the freedom of Party members to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction, while the leadership of the Party makes decisions based on the debate and discussion. This latter aspect represents centralism.

"Democracy and centralism are always closely linked," she said.

Her words were echoed by Wang Chuanzhi with the Qiushi Journal Press.

The essence of democratic centralism is democracy with leadership, Wang said.

"Only by finding and then maintaining a natural balance between centralization on the basis of democracy and democracy under centralized guidance will we be able to guarantee the smooth operation and effectiveness of democratic centralism," Wang said.

"Collective leadership, strict governance and democratic centralism, these are the lifelines of the CPC and what makes the Party what it is today," Xie Chuntao said.

Related:

Xi's core status is consensus of CPC: official

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Identifying Xi Jinping as the core of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is a high degree of consensus of the Party, a senior publicity official said Friday.

"In the process of collecting opinions on the two documents approved at the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, central and local departments as well as the military all expressed their support for specifying Xi as the core of the CPC Central Committee and the entire CPC at the session," said Huang Kunming, executive vice head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. Full story

Commentary: CPC unity with Xi as "core" vitally important

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The core leadership is of vital importance to a country and a political party.
YANGON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A 20-member armed group of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has raided a jade mining company in Phakant, Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state, over the last two days, destroying the company office and warehouse and injuring one, the military-run Myawaddy News reported Friday.

The KIA armed group, in civilian dress, attacked the Yadana Yaungchee Jade Mining Company on Wednesday evening at 06:15 p.m. local time , smashing the office door and ceiling.

One employee hostel, 200 tyres and three motorcars parking inside the compound were set fire using petrol and thrown with home-made mine.

The fire was put out by 10 local fire-engines after four hours' firefighting with nine unexploded mines seized by the local authorities.

The government troops were pursuing the armed group who retreated at 07:10 p.m. to the village after the incident, the report added.
CANBERRA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said it needs funds for a complete overhaul of its software systems that run elections.

The recent Federal election, held in July, was marred by slow final results and the incidence of fraud, where 18,000 Australians were found to have voted multiple times in the election.

In a submission to a Senate inquiry into the running of the Federal election, the AEC said it had successfully conducted the July poll despite major changes to the Senate voting system.

The AEC acknowledged there were issues with the length of queues in a number of polling places Australia-wide, but that electronic polling management would improve productivity and reduce the instances of multiple voting.

Tom Rogers, the electoral commissioner at the AEC, said current information technology (IT) systems being used by the AEC were "at the end of their useful life."

"The IT systems, which have been built over a long period of time, are not able to be easily integrated with contemporary mobile platforms and in many cases, will not be supported by vendors in the future," Rogers said in the AEC's written submission.

Both major Australian political parties, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Liberal National Party (LNP), expressed concerns to the Senate committee over how the election was run.

The Queensland (QLD) division of the LNP said in its submission that a number of voters were unable to cast a postal vote in time for the election and the number of time it took to finalize results in a number of seats was unacceptable.

The ALP suggested that more resources should be allocated for counting votes in seats where the result was close.

Antony Green, an election analyst, suggested in a submission that limited electronic voting be introduced to replace postal voting to ease the problems associated with voting overseas.

The AEC announced in October that more than 18,000 Australians were under investigation for voting twice in the election, including 59 people who voted three or more times and two people who voted 11 times each.
CARACAS, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday called on the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) not to walk away from talks, which recently began in Caracas to find a way out of the political crisis.

In a speech from the presidential palace, Maduro said sectors of the opposition were "seeking excuses and reasons not to continue the dialogue. No, they must stay here...respecting the Constitution."

The head of state was responding to a warning by certain MUD leaders that the government had to comply with the group's demands by Nov. 11, the date set for the next dialogue session.

While Maduro freed a number of prisoners as a gesture of good faith this week, the MUD has said more needs to be done, including freeing more prisoners and the re-start of a recall referendum process against Maduro, or the calling of a new presidential election.

"Nobody can say...that if in 10 days, the government does not respond, they will leave and go to war. That is not acceptable to anybody. We did not discuss this at the table. We must meet the expectations of the country," Maduro said.

However, the president said the first round of discussion last week went well. "We are just starting and all of Venezuela must accompany the process...for this to become a permanent dialogue."

Envoys from Maduro's government and the MUD met on Oct. 30. The two sides agreed on four central topics to be discussed: how to bring about peace and justice, reparation to victims and reconciliation, social and economic stability, and coordination on the electoral calendar. The two sides also agreed to meet on Nov. 11.

The four topics will each have a separate discussion, with a representative from the government and from the opposition.

In a joint statement after the meeting, the parties voiced commitment to "diminishing the tone of aggression in the language used in political debate."

Despite this meeting, the MUD opposition coalition has been divided on whether to sit down with the government.
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between Mexico and China is blossoming through increased investment, mining and customs among other priority matters, Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said Thursday in front of the Senate.

According to Ruiz Massieu, the Chinese market has also been opened "to Mexican products such as blueberries, Jalisco avocados, sorghum, raspberries, blackberries, pork meat and tequila."

Mexico would not benefit from a fractured foreign policy and had sought to reinforce ties with countries across the world, she said.

"This is a sensible foreign policy with the social value of a diplomacy seen as a public service. This is a foreign policy based on our principles and focused on defending, promoting and advancing our interests," she explained.

Since 2013, Mexico and China have put in place mechanisms to promote bilateral and permanent dialogue on key economic issues, including a high-level bilateral work group that meets annually to oversee trade promotion, and cooperation in industry and mining. A similar group focuses exclusively on investment.

In September, Mexico witnessed its first ever shipment of pork to China, which is expected to boost trade significantly.
MELBOURNE, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The first group of Syrian refugees, consisting of eight families, arrived in the Australian state of Tasmania on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Tasmanian government said many in the group had professional and vocational skills that would make them able to contribute to Tasmania's economy immediately. They will be offered intensive English language tuition.

Andrea Dawkins, a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Greens Party in Tasmania, said she hoped more Syrian migrants would soon be arriving.

Dawkins said she was disappointed it had taken more than a year for the families to get to Tasmania.

"We were really disappointed when six months had passed and no Syrian refugees had come after that horrible weekend when we saw children washed up on beaches," she said.

Dawkins said the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) system was to blame for the delay in the migrants arriving.

A total of 500 migrants are expected to arrive, and they will more than double Tasmania's existing Syrian population.
MANAGUA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Nicaraguans will go to the polls on Nov. 6 to vote for a president, a vice-president, deputies for local and central governments, as well as for the Central American Parliament.

With up to 3.8 million Nicaraguans prepare to vote, President Daniel Ortega, from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), looks set to secure a third term, with a poll this week showing him with a firm lead.

Cairo Amador, a political expert from Del Valle University, told Xinhua that there are expected to be some abstentions, rejecting opposition claims that this election would be a "farce."

The poll by M&R Consultants showed that left-wing Ortega enjoyed 69.8 percent of support, while his right-wing opponent, Maximino Rodriguez, lagged far behind with just 8.1 percent.

This massive gap was less strong but still distinct in other polls, with market research company CID Gallup Latinoamerica showing Ortega had a 52 percent preference.

Amador also rejected the idea that the domination of the FSLN is due to the opposition having been "decapitated" when the Supreme Court banned Ortega's main rival, Eduardo Montealegre, from running.

"The opposition was decapitated internally by themselves. They are not capable of staying together. They put personal interests before the party's and they have no vision for the country," explained the scholar.

Ortega was also criticized for banning international election observers and calling them "shameless", before allowing a team from the Organization of American States (OAS) to be present on the ground.

"The presence of the OAS will allow for all sectors of the country to come together and voice different perspectives on the current political situation...beyond the elections," emphasized Amador.

The government of Nicaragua and the OAS opened negotiations in October to allow electoral negotiators to be present on the ground from Nov. 5 to 8, before, during and after the vote.
WELLINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand forces helping train Iraqi troops in the fight against Islamic State (Daesh) insurgents are to deploy to a third training area, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said Friday.

And further secondments from the joint New Zealand-Australian mission to other parts of Iraq could be possible in the future, Brownlee said in a statement.

The New Zealand government had given approval for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel based at Taji, north of Baghdad, to offer training to Iraqi Security Forces at Al Taqaddum Air Base, west of Baghdad, Brownlee said.

The approval was for about five NZDF personnel to help deliver a training program to Iraqi Security Forces for short periods of about two weeks.

"We want to keep contributing to the training of Iraqi Security Forces as they combat Daesh and return stability to Iraq," Brownlee said.

"This does not change the size of the overall deployment or create additional costs," he said.

The situation in Iraq was constantly changing, as had been seen with the start of the Mosul offensive.

"As a responsible contributor we have to be adaptable. The new training location will not detract from the training already taking place in Taji, which will continue," said Brownlee.

Al Taqaddum was a secure coalition airbase in Anbar province, about 70km west of Baghdad.

"The base is a protected coalition site and comprehensive force protection is in place," Brownlee said.

It was possible that in future NZDF personnel might be asked to train Iraqi forces at locations other than Taji, Besmaya and Al Taqaddum.

"The coalition has a network of secure training sites across Iraq and, as training requirements change, we may receive requests for our defense force's specific skills to be utilized," he said.

"These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but we do have to be adaptable and flexible, as the situation on the ground in Iraq changes."

The joint Australian-New Zealand Building Partner Capacity mission at Taji had already trained more than 12,000 Iraqis.

In June, the government extended the deployment until November 2018, and approved that short-term training could be delivered at the secure coalition base at Besmaya.
The graphics shows China successfully launched its newly-developed heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5 from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Hainan Province at 8:43 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Meng Lijing)

BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- International scholars spoke highly of China's launch on Thursday of its first heavy-lift rocket, saying it will lay the foundation for China's future launch of rockets with heavier payload capabilities.

China launched Long March-5 from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Hainan Province, in a bid to verify the design and performance of the new rocket and test the rocket's flight program. With the heavy-lift carrier rocket, China can build a permanent manned space station and explore the moon and Mars.

The successful launch reflects China's "greatest advancement" in developing a new launcher family for both its un-crewed and crewed space programs, said Charles Vick, senior technical & space policy analyst with U.S. think tank globalsecurity.org.

"Eventually once the Long March-5 has gained high reliability, it will serve several mission for the crewed lunar program efforts and may become the crew launch vehicle for the eventual crewed lunar landing programs in planning," Vick told Xinhua.

Instead of highly toxic propellants, the new series, also consisting of Long March 6 and 7, uses kerosene and liquid oxygen, making it more environmental friendly and less expensive.

Vick said he was impressed that this new Long March series was developed without Russian rocket engine technology know-how and American cryogenic technology involved.

Gao Yang, director of British Surrey Technology for Autonomous Systems and Robotics (STAR) Lab, told Xinhua that the technology of the Long March-5 has proved not inferior to heavy carrier rockets developed by other nations.

She added that the stunning carrying capacity of the Long March-5 represents China's rising capabilities and competence in this aspect, noting China's progress in space technology will, to a large extent, increase its influence in future international cooperation.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Thursday that "the Long March-5 gives China the capability to orbit the heaviest of payloads - such as big telecoms spacecraft and sections of its future astronaut space station."

"This puts the Long March-5 in the same class as America's current most powerful rocket - the Delta-IV Heavy," BBC noted.

Alexander Zheleznyakov, a member of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, told xinhua that Long March-5 will remarkably raise China's competitive edge in the international commercial launch market.

As for the rocket's technical advantage, Zheleznyakov said the notable operability within its inner systems will help facilitate its production and decrease costs, which is key to its future commercialization.

China is now developing a mega rocket with the capacity of sending up to 100 tonnes of payload to low-Earth orbit. Its maiden flight will probably take place before 2030.

Related:

New heavy-lift carrier rocket boosts China's space dream

WENCHANG, Hainan, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday launched its new heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5.

The rocket, which looked much "fatter" than other rockets of Long March series, blasted off at 8:43 p.m. Beijing Time from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province. The payload was sent into the preset orbit about 30 minutes later. Full story

China sends satellite, upper stage craft into orbit

WENCHANG, Hainan, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday sent a payload combination of a satellite and an upper stage aircraft into space with the latest heavy-lift Long March-5 carrier rocket. Full story

China launches heavy-lift carrier rocket
HOHHOT, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Seven people have been nabbed for poisoning 233 swans in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local authorities said on Friday.

The police spent nine days searching for the suspects and had caught them in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities as well as the provinces of Jilin and Hebei as of Thursday, according to the information office of Zhenglan Banner in Xilingol League.

The swans were found dead in a lake in Zhenglan Banner where migrating swans had stopped in late October. Tests revealed that they were poisoned with carbofuran, a type of pesticide, which was detected on the dead birds.

Further investigation is under way.
by Yoo Seungki

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A political scandal imperiling South Korean President Park Geun-hye will affect the Northeast Asian country's diplomacy with its neighbors, as public doubts arise over government decisions on diplomatic and defense affairs, a major presidential hopeful in the opposition bloc said Thursday.

Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Minjoo Party, who is currently the mayor of Seongnam, a city in the Gyeonggi province, told Xinhua that Seoul's diplomatic relations "will be affected" by the scandal over Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime confidante suspected of intervening in state affairs.

"Public doubts emerged about whether the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) was a reasonable decision," said Lee.

Seoul and Washington decided in early July to install one THAAD battery on South Korean soil by the end of next year, roiling diplomatic ties with neighboring countries, especially with China and Russia, two countries who have persistently opposed the U.S. missile shield deployment.

Chinese and Russian opposition stem from THAAD's X-band radar that can peer into the territories of the two nations.

"Propulsion power" to push through the U.S. missile defense system, the mayor said, will be affected amid rising doubts about why the Park administration reversed its initial stance and insisted on installing THAAD given how little it will contribute to national security.

One opposition party lawmaker recently raised questions about a possible outside involvement in the THAAD deployment decision, calling for an investigation into whether there was any political big shot pulling strings favorable to Lockheed Martin, the THAAD manufacturer. He did not refer to Choi.

Choi, the daughter of a religious cult leader, is suspected of peddling undue influence and meddling in government decisions, including the shutdown of the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation and editing one of Park's most important speeches made in 2014 in Dresden, Germany, which laid out a vision for reunification of the two Koreas.

The 60-year-old private citizen with no government position and security clearance is accused of having access to confidential presidential reports that involve Park's schedule for overseas trip and secret military contacts with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) under the administration of Lee Myung-bak, Park's predecessor.

Choi is sometimes dubbed as a Korean Rasputin like her father, who Park portrayed as her mentor "in toughest times" and created a religious sect called Eternal Life that combined Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism. Rasputin was regarded as a Russian mystical faith healer and friend of the family of Nicholas II.

The elder Choi was a Buddhist monk, later converted into Catholic and became a Christian pastor.

"Sovereignty of the Republic of Korea (ROK) lies with the people, and the people elected Park as president. But, she transferred valuable sovereign power to a person who can never be accepted. It hurts pride of the people," said Lee.

Lee recently became a rising star in the opposition bloc for next year's presidential election. His approval rating surged to 9.7 percent, according to a local pollster Realmeter survey announced on Thursday. It was up 3.8 percentage points from the previous week.

Support for Lee is just 0.6 percentage points lower than Ahn Cheol-soo, another presidential hopeful of the minor People's Party, who ranked third but saw his support rate fall compared with a week earlier. Former Minjoo Party chairman Moon Jae-in ranked first at 20.9 percent, but his support base inched up 0.6 percentage points.

Lee's rising popularity arose recently from his active participation in public protests that have been held every night in capital Seoul and other major cities. Last Saturday night's rally, in which tens of thousands shouted for Park's resignation or impeachment, is forecast to be repeated this Saturday, when local media reports predict a gathering of 30,000-40,000 people.

"The people want impeachment, but the political sphere is hesitant. (President Park) will be in for impeachment if public resistance intensifies," said Lee.

Besides, the Choi Soon-sil scandal will affect his country's relations with the United States and Japan as Seoul's unilateral push to sign a military accord with Tokyo would spark public anger, Lee predicted.

South Korea and Japan held a first working-level dialogue earlier this week to sign a pact on sharing military intelligence on the DPRK after a botched attempt four years ago. Under the pact, the two nations would be allowed to directly exchange intelligence on Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

Former President Lee Myung-bak pushed to seal the hush-hush military deal with Japan in 2012, but it was scrapped at the last minute due to a public outcry over the closed-door attempt without any social consensus and parliamentary consultation.

Many South Koreans still see such a deal with Japan as unacceptable until the Japanese leadership apologizes to and compensates the Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II, and are euphemistically called "comfort women."

Adding to the frenzy of anger, Japan has regularly lodged territorial claims over a set of disputed islets, called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The islets have been controlled by South Korea since its liberation in 1945 from Japanese colonization.

"Without the Choi Soon-sil scandal, (Park) may have pushed the intelligence deal with Japan through without public consensus and parliamentary consultation. In this respect, the public has been spared," said Lee.
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye saw her approval rating fall to 5 percent, lower than any other predecessors, amid rising public furor over a scandal involving her longtime confidante and senior secretaries, a local pollster survey showed on Friday.

Support for Park tumbled from 17 percent last week to 5 percent this week, falling below 6 percent recorded by former President Kim Young-sam in the last year in 1997 of his single, five-year-term presidency when the country's financial crisis erupted.

It is based on a poll of 1,005 adults nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday.

Park's support base kept falling for seven weeks in a row since the second week of September when suspicions emerged over Choi Soon-sil suspected of pulling government strings behind the scenes by using her close friendship with the president for four decades.

Public anger was nonstop on spreading views that Choi's interference with government affairs could not happen without the president's protection and connivance.

Park said in her second national address over the scandal that she would accept criminal investigation, if necessary, by prosecutors, vowing to cooperate as much as possible for the ongoing investigation.

The first South Korean female leader apologized for the political scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, after making her first apology last week.

Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets last Saturday night, shouting for the president's resignation or impeachment. The rally is forecast to be repeated this Saturday, with about 50,000 enraged people expected to gather in capital Seoul alone.

A Seoul court approved an arrest warrant for Choi last night on charges of fraud and abuse of power. Choi is charged with peddling undue influence to establish and raise funds for two nonprofit foundations that she actually controls.

The 60-year-old private citizen with no security clearance and government position is suspected of accessing secret presidential reports and meddling in state affairs, including the appointment of key officials as well as diplomatic and defense affairs.

Prosecutors is seeking an arrest warrant for Ahn Jong-beom, former senior presidential advisor on policy coordination who has been placed under emergency detention on Wednesday for a flight risk and a possible attempt to destroy evidence.

Ahn is seen as an accomplice to Choi accused of pressuring 53 conglomerates into donating 77.4 billion won (67.7 million U.S. dollars) to create Mir and K-Sports foundations presumably controlled by Choi.

Chung Ho-seong, former presidential secretary, was urgently arrested by prosecutors on Thursday night as he is accused of having brought confidential documents for the president to Choi, including reports on defense, diplomatic and economic affairs.
ANKARA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Co-leaders of Turkey's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party and nine lawmakers of the party were detained early Friday by police as part of "terrorism" investigations, Hurriyet News reported.
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Appeal Court of Cambodia on Friday upheld the decision of a lower court to sentence deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha to five months in prison for "refusal to appear" in court over a prostitution case.

"The Appeal Court decides to uphold the Phnom Penh Municipal Court's verdict on Sept. 9," Presiding Judge Seng Sivutha pronounced the decision after a half-day trial session.

Hem Socheat, a defense lawyer for Kem Sokha, told reporters that the ruling was unjust for his client, so he would file an appeal to the Supreme Court against it.

On Sept. 9, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced, in absentia, Kem Sokha to five months in prison for "refusal to appear" in court over a prostitution case involving his alleged mistress.

Kem Sokha, deputy leader of the country's main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), has been holed up at the CNRP's headquarters on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh since May 26 in fear of arrest, as dozens of his loyalists have gathered at the party's groundfloor to protect him.

Authorities have said they will not arrest Kem Sokha until the appeals process is ended.
by Matt Goss

CANBERRA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced that it will provide substantial monetary assistance to victims of both terrorism and child sex abuse.

George Brandis, Australia's Attorney General (AG), on Friday announced a Commonwealth Redress scheme for victims of institutional child sex abuse who will be eligible for a one-off payment of up to 114,000 U.S. dollars under the scheme.

"Today's announcement is delivering on the Coalition's commitment to strive to ensure redress is provided for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse across Australia by the responsible institutions," Christian Porter, Minister for Social Services, said in a media release on Friday.

"This is about institutions making amends and recognizing the harm that has been caused to children in their care."

Brandis said Australia's six states and two territories would be invited to opt-in' to the scheme on the "responsible entity pays" basis recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

"We have spent many months consulting states, territories and institutions about how we can work together to deliver redress to ensure just outcomes for survivors," Brandis said.

While the Federal government cannot force the states and territories to participate in the redress scheme, Brandis said he would work closely with all parties to work towards maximizing national consistency.

"The government acknowledges that survivors across the country need and deserve equal access and treatment," Brandis said.

"That is why the government is taking the lead and setting up a Commonwealth scheme to provide redress for survivors of child sexual abuse in Commonwealth institutions, and inviting states, territories and other non-government institutions to join."

Victims of child sex abuse will also be entitled to psychological counselling via the redress scheme if they seek it.

Brandis said an independent advisory council made up of survivor groups, legal and psychological experts would be established to provide the government with advice on implementing the scheme which will be functional by 2018.

In a separate announcement, Brandis said that the terrorist attack in Nice in July had been officially declared a 'terrorist act' by the government, making the five Australians who were injured eligible for an one-off payment of up to 57,000 U.S. dollars under the Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment (AVTOP) scheme.

On July 14, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a 19 ton cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the popular French tourist town of Nice, killing 86 people and injuring 434.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was killed by French police in the wake of the attack after he failed to comply with orders.

"The Australian government condemns the terrorist attack and extends our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families," Brandis said in a media release on Friday.

"The declaration brings the total number of overseas terrorist acts declared by the Australian government and for which Australian residents can receive financial assistance under Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment (AVTOP) to 12.

"The Australian government's AVTOP scheme ensures Australian victims of terrorist events overseas have access to the same kind of financial support that states and territories provide to victims of crime in Australia. It is an important acknowledgement of the pain and suffering experienced by these victims of terrorism."
SYDNEY, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Several properties and a vehicle had been damaged by an out-of-control bushfire at Sydney's west on Friday afternoon, officials said.

Xinhua has learnt that close to 100 firefighters are currently at the scene fighting the blaze which is expected to last a couple of hours more as strong winds are dampening the crew's efforts to take down the fire faster.

The fire started in Cranebrook at 1400 local time (AEDT) before spreading across nearby areas at Llandilo and Londonderry, Ian Krimmer, superintendent of Fire and Rescue department of New South Wales State, the Australian state where Sydney belongs to, told Xinhua.

"We don't know what caused the fire," Krimmer told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

"We expect to take a couple of hours more before it's completely out."

At the moment people living in the area have been advised to stay as far away as possible.

Meanwhile, NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) told the Australian Associated Press that a water bombing aircraft, including the air crane and large air tankers, have been deployed and emergency warning messages are being sent to homes in the area.

"We've received reports at least two properties have been affected by the fire," an RFS spokesman said.

A Llandilo resident and business owner Kim Hamilton has expressed fear that the blaze might reach her home.

"We were just sitting down to have lunch when I looked up and saw the smoke," she told the Australian Associated Press.

"I'm extremely worried. There's a lot of bushland around Llandilo where people haven't developed it yet because it's mainly acreage."

"A lot of that bush land hasn't burnt for about 10 years."

"More than likely it's deliberately lit," she said.
GUANGZHOU, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The former head of a state-owned company in south China's Guangdong Province went on trial for allegedly taking 570 million yuan (84 million U.S. dollars) in bribes and public property.

The hearing of Zhuang Yao, former president of Guangdong Materials Group, was held at the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City, Guangdong from Tuesday to Thursday.

Prosecutors accused Zhuang of taking bribes worth 16.5 million yuan from 2002 to 2012 and of embezzling pubic property worth 554 million yuan independently or with others from 1999 to 2009.

The company was renamed Guangdong GW Holdings Group Co., Ltd. in November 2015.

The verdict will be announced another day.
BUENOS AIRES, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has taken notable steps to combat corruption, according to Argentine political observers.

Nadia Radulovich and Maria Cecilia Peralta, co-founders of Argentine consulting group Asia Viewers, hailed President Xi Jinping's decisive message to the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, held last week.

"The goal of the anti-corruption campaign is to change the political culture and gain the confidence of the people, once they see real results ... and transparency within the government," they said.

Xi, they added, will continue to fight corruption through administrative reforms and disciplinary measures, as well as public participation "to confront and put an end to the scourge."

Gustavo Girado, head of the consulting firm Asia & Argentina, said that "strengthening Party building has been part of President Xi's objective for many years."

"Since his youth, he made fighting corruption one of his priorities," said Girado, adding that Xi's prominent position now allows him to decisively tackle the problem.

"The CPC, under his guidance, has gained singular importance," he said.

"The party is now becoming more important, but what stands out is stronger management in which the president has succeeded in combining management with leadership," said Girado.

That is a key development given the uncertain economic and political climate affecting the world's leading economies, he said.

Today's landscape also makes it necessary for China "to tell the rest (of the world) where it stands at the current moment when it is embarking on an important stage of its economic development," Girado said.

During the Sixth Plenary Session, the CPC adopted two documents that provide institutional guarantees for party governance by laying down some intra-party rules and regulations.




Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev holds a welcoming ceremony for Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Astana, Kazakhstan, Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

ASTANA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Thursday for an official visit to Kazakhstan.

Upon arrival, Li said at the airport that as friendly neighbors, China and Kazakhstan have carried out fruitful reciprocal cooperation, especially in production capacity, which has played a leading and exemplary role.

China expects to further consolidate the friendship and mutual trust with Kazakhstan and explore for new growth areas in bilateral cooperation, so as to lift their comprehensive strategic partnership to higher levels, Li said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev hold the third regular meeting between the two countries' prime ministers in Astana, Kazakhstan, Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

When meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Li pledged to better align its Silk Road Economic Belt initiative with Kazakhstan's new economic policy of the Bright Road to usher in a new phase of bilateral cooperation.

The Chinese premier encouraged both countries to explore new potentials through production capacity cooperation so as to further promote the all-round mutually beneficial cooperation and yield more fruitful results through the construction of major projects on connectivity.

Hailing Kazakhstan a good neighbor country and comprehensive strategic partner of China, Li said the the bilateral ties have marched forward by leaps and bounds in the spirit of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and cooperation.

China is willing to cement mutual trust and expand cooperation with Kazakhstan so as to continue to set a good example of good neighborly relations and win-win cooperation, the premier said.

For his part, Sagintayev said Kazakhstan would like to integrate its new economic policy of the Bright Road with China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, and further deepen the bilateral cooperation in areas including production capacity, transportation, energy, agriculture, and innovation.

After the meeting, both Li and Sagintayev attended a launching ceremony for a JAC automobile factory in the northern city of Kostanay, a major project of China-Kazakhstan production capacity cooperation.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) meets with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, Kazakhstan, Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) During his meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Li said China and Kazakhstan are highly complementary in economy and facing broad cooperation prospect. China was willing to deepen the production capacity cooperation with Kazakhstan, expand cooperation in energy, connectivity and deep processing of agricultural products, and increase people-to-people exchanges. Li also called on the two countries to strengthen coordination under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and increase communication and cooperation on international and regional affairs, so as to achieve common development of the two countries and maintain the regional peace and stability. Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan and China, as good neighborly countries, are a model of countries' friendly cooperation. Kazakhstan stands ready to deepen the cooperation in production capacity with China and push forward the implementation of more projects in the Central Asian country. Kazakhstan is willing to expand cooperation with China in energy, agriculture and technology innovation, and strengthen the bilateral trade, Nazarbayev said.

Screenshot of users' comments on the Facebook page of China Xinhua News on Nov. 3, 2016.

The Chinese premier's visit was warmly welcomed by local people and attracted attention on social media. A Facebook user commented that Li's trip to Kazakhstan demonstrated "What friends are for."Another netizen hailed the "excellent economic cooperation & development between China & Kazakhstan."

Kazakhstan is the second leg of Li's eight-day Eurasia tour, which started with Kyrgyzstan and will also take him to Latvia and Russia.
File photo shows the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, one of China's many railway projects in Africa. (Xinhua)

LUSAKA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Wednesday signed a deal for the construction of a new railway project with China's state-run firm that will enhance transportation in the southern African nation.

The 388-kilometer railway, to run from the eastern town of Chipata to the central town of Serenje via another eastern town of Petauke, will be constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), at a cost of 2.3 billion U.S. dollars within a four-year period.

"This project aims at enhancing regional trade and transport competitiveness by providing an alternative trade route to the East Coast of Africa via the Port of Nacala in Mozambique." Minister of Transport and Communications Brian Mushimba said at a signing ceremony in Lusaka, the country's capital.

The project will provide the much-needed link between the Zambian main railway line network with the Malawian railway line network through the existing Chipata-Mchinji railway line which forms part of the Nacala Corridor, Mushimba said.

The project will enable the government to save funds used on rehabilitation of damaged roads due to haulage of bulk and heavy cargo.

The project, he added, is meant to enhance regional and international trade through the Nacala Development Corridor which involves Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

According to him, the project is one of the strategic infrastructure projects the government intends to implement through the China-Africa Cooperation framework announced by the Chinese government during the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in South Africa where 60 billion dollars fund was pledged.

He further expressed confidence in the Chinese firm's ability to construct the railway within the stipulated period because it has wealth of experience in undertaking railway construction projects.

On his part, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said the signing and implementation of the project will further promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The railway line, Yang said, will promote Zambia's trade, investment, employment and sustainable development and open another route to the sea for the landlocked southern African nation.

"I believe it will be an important part of the integrated southern African transportation system which connects Zambia with Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Mozambique," he added.
Police block the roads near People's Democratic Party (HDP) headquaters in Ankara, Turkey, Nov. 4, 2016. Co-leaders of Turkey's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, and nine lawmakers of the party were detained early Friday by police as part of a "terrorism" investigation, Hurriyet News reported. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

ANKARA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Co-leaders of Turkey's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, and nine lawmakers from the party were detained early Friday as part of a terrorism investigation, Hurriyet News reported.

The detention and search warrants were issued due to "strong suspicions based on solid evidence," the Diyarbakir prosecutor's office said in a written statement.

According to Anadolu News Agency, the detentions were ordered because the politicians refused to testify for crimes linked to terrorist propaganda.

Turkish main opposition Republican People's Party chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu said on Friday that the actions are sending Turkey "in a dangerous direction," as they are attempts to prepare for a presidential system in Turkey.

In reply to Kilicdaroglu's query, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said who engages in "terror" should "pay the price."

"Politics cannot be a shield for committing a crime. Turkey is a state of law," Yildirim told journalists. "The superiority of the law is fundamental."

The prime minister said HDP members should have given their testimonies when summoned by Turkish state authorities.

The HDP is the third-largest party in the 550-member Turkish parliament, with 59 seats.

On May 20, 2015, Turkish parliament approved a bill to amend the constitution to strip lawmakers of immunity from prosecution, a move that paves the way for charging pro-Kurdish and other opposition legislators.
DAMASCUS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A relative calm prevailed the Syrian northern city of Aleppo, as a Russian-Syrian brief "humanitarian pause" went into effect on Friday, a day after violent battles raged in Aleppo, local media said.
BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Official WeChat accounts of procuratorates should properly respond to users' tip-offs and appeals, said a guideline issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Friday.

According to figures provided by the SPP, procuratorates at all levels have registered more than 3,800 official accounts on WeChat, China's leading instant messaging service, attracting 5.2 million followers.

The guideline said that, via WeChat, people should be able to access information about cases, bribery crime files, legal interpretations and consulting services as well as make reservations to file charges and report tips.

All procuratorates should innovate to provide convenient service through their WeChat accounts, it said.

Official accounts should not carry out commercial activities nor should they publicize speeches that are not relevant to prosecution. Those who violate the norms and bring about negative consequences will be punished, it added.
BISHKEK, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The just-concluded prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) greatly boosted economic and security cooperation among SCO member states, providing fresh impetus to a new type of international relations marked by win-win cooperation.

Over the 15 years since its inception, the organization has played an indispensable role in promoting regional stability and prosperity and also contributed to world peace and development.

Upholding the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and consultation, the SCO is about to embrace a brighter future by continuing to deepen pragmatic cooperation on economy and security among its member states.

During the meeting in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang put forward a six-pronged proposal on the organization's future development and cooperation.

Li's proposal, covering a wide range of fields including industrial cooperation, innovation, a regional financing mechanism and people-to-people exchanges, reflected the strong willingness of the SCO members to deepen practical cooperation.

The proposal, which is in line with the overall interests of the whole region, will also help improve people's livelihood and well-being in the region.

Security cooperation and economic cooperation have been two major driving forces behind the rapid development of the regional cooperation mechanism.

Safeguarding regional security is an important mission of the SCO, and one of the top priorities in cooperation among its member states. As a major multilateral mechanism in safeguarding regional security, the organization has dedicated itself to improving its risk resistance capacity and creating a harmonious environment conducive to regional stability.

On security cooperation, Li urged all members during the meeting to observe a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, suggesting more information exchange and cooperation in law-enforcement so as to ensure the safety of peoples, institutions, enterprises and personnel of SCO members.

He also asked SCO members to further strengthen their cooperation and coordination on security and boost the construction of regional anti-terrorism institutions and mechanisms.

It is expected that the SCO will continue to play a pivotal role in safeguarding security in the Eurasian region.

Economic cooperation is another major force driving the development of the organization. Amid a sluggish world economy, accelerating industrial upgrading and carrying out multilateral cooperation are the common aspirations of SCO member states.

During the meeting, leaders of the SCO member states vowed to make joint efforts to drive forward regional economic cooperation and integration and signed a joint communique on deepening cooperation within the SCO.

In the communique, the six leaders agreed that expanding and deepening cooperation among SCO members are in line with the overall interests of the sustainable development of the regional economy.

They reaffirmed that promoting people's welfare and living standard while further enhancing cooperation in fields that accord with common interests are the SCO's top priorities.

According to the communique, initiatives proposed for regional economic cooperation, including China's Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative, are conducive to seeking new models for international cooperation and cementing ties among member states.

They also ratified a list of measures to further promote cooperative projects within the SCO from 2017 to 2021.

Premier Li said that China stands ready to make joint efforts with other SCO members to boost regional trade and facilitate investment, adding that China is open to the initiative of establishing a SCO free trade zone.

As to enhancing production capacity cooperation, Li said China is ready to make joint efforts with other member states to make production capacity cooperation a pillar of regional trade cooperation. Major cooperation projects, including a power plant in Uzbekistan, an oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan, a cement plant in Tajikistan and a China-Uzbekistan industrial park are underway.




Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory as they drive their vehicle on November 3, 2016 near Gogjali, which lies on the eastern edge ofMosul, during their ongoing operation against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Friday retook control of six districts in the eastern part of Mosul after fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants, a security source said.

Hundreds of the commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and Iraqi army made a significant progress in the morning at the eastern side of Mosul, and managed to seize the districts of Aden, Samah, Karkukli, al-Khadraa, al-Ikhaa and al-Quds, a source from the STC told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops raised the Iraqi flag on the main buildings of the districts, while fierce battles continued in the adjacent Karamah district, the source said without giving further details about casualties.

The latest push into the city came after more than two weeks of a massive offensive to dislodge the IS militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Since then, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city, preparing for a major battle to storm the city and drive out IS militants.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
RIGA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Friday for an official visit to Latvia.

He is also here for a meeting between the heads of the governments of China and 16 central and eastern European (CEE) countries, or the "16+1" summit.

This is the first time for a Chinese premier to visit Latvia since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Li is scheduled to hold talks with his Latvian counterpart Maris Kucinskis and meet with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis.

Liu Haixing, China's assistant foreign minister, told a press briefing in Beijing earlier this week that the coming conference is of great importance both to the development of cooperation between China and the CEE countries and the China-EU all-round strategic partnership.

The premier will attend a 16+1 leaders' round-table, deliver a speech at an economic and trade forum, and meet with leaders of the CEE countries, according to Liu.

The EU will attend the 16+1 meeting as an observer.

Latvia is the third leg of Li's eight-day Eurasian tour that has already taken him to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The trip will also take the Chinese premier to Russia.
ANKARA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- An explosion rocked Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir province early Friday, injuring 30 people, Dogan News Agency reported.

A bomb-laden car of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants attacked the Counter-terror and Riot Police Branch in Baglar district of Diyarbakir, which was followed by clashes between police and PKK militants.

Over 650 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq since July 2015, while 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.
People watch TV broadcasting South Korean President Park Geun-hye addressing the nation, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 4, 2016. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Rival political parties in South Korea showed different reactions to President Park Geun-hye's national address on Friday, her second since a scandal involving her longtime confidante and former aides came into focus last month.

Park addressed the nation over the political scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, saying she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors. She made her public apology once again after acknowledging last week that Choi Soon-sil, Park's close friend for about four decades, gave personal advice on presidential speeches.

In reaction, the main opposition Minjoo Party suggested its push to force the president to resign, while one of the two minor oppositions positively assessed Park's acceptance of a criminal investigation though she added a precondition of "if necessary."

Some of non-President Park faction within the ruling Saenuri Party forecast that Park's speech would not appease public anger, but the party leadership stressed the importance of the president's pledge to cooperate with prosecutors.

Minjoo Party chairwoman Choo Mi-ae told a press conference that President Park attributed the collapse of state affairs to her inappropriate relationship with Choi in her personal history, urging the president to realize a fact that the collapse was caused by herself.

Choo warned that her party will move to force the president to step down unless Park accepts three demands, including an appointment of an independent prosecutor under a separate law, a parliamentary investigation into the scandal and a new nomination of prime minister proposed by an agreement in the National Assembly.

President Park tapped Kim Byong-joon, former policy advisor to late President Roh Moo-hyun in the opposition bloc, as new prime minister Wednesday, but opposition parties have boycotted parliamentary hearing for approval as the president named the nominee without any prior notice or consultation with the parliament.

Both ruling and opposition parties have demanded a parliament-proposed prime minister be picked to let him choose cabinet members and form a grand-coalition government.

Saenuri Party chairman Lee Jung-hyun, one of key pro-President Park faction members, told reporters that the president declared everybody is equal before the law by vowing to actively cooperate with prosecutors on her own wrongdoings.

However, one of non-Park faction lawmaker of the governing party said public furor would not be eased as the president has yet to tell all of the truth behind the scandal. Another non-Park faction legislator said Park should have expressed her willingness to loosen her grip on power.

Sim Sang-jung, chairwoman of the left-wing minor Justice Party, told reporters that people will never accept the president's address in the absence of explanations on the truth, calling on Park to voluntarily resign.

Park Jie-won, floor leader of the minor People's Party, welcomed the president's acceptance of criminal investigation, but he noted that he would closely watch the moves of public opinion as public fury has yet to be placated.

President Park's approval rating tumbled from 17 percent last week to 5 percent this week, lower than any other predecessors, according to a Gallup Korea survey conducted from Tuesday to Thursday.

It surpassed the previous low of 6 percent recorded by former President Kim Young-sam in the last year in 1997 of his single, five-year-term presidency when the country's financial crisis erupted.

Park's support base kept falling for seven weeks in a row since the second week of September when suspicions emerged over Choi Soon-sil suspected of pulling government strings behind the scenes by using her close friendship with the president for four decades.

Public anger was nonstop on spreading views that Choi's interference with government affairs could not happen without the president's protection and connivance.

Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets last Saturday night, shouting for the president's resignation or impeachment. The rally is forecast to be repeated this Saturday, with about 50,000 enraged people expected to gather in capital Seoul alone.

Concerns mounted among ruling party members that their party's fate may sink together with souring popularity of President Park. The Saenuri Party's approval rating dropped to 18 percent, the lowest since Park took office in early 2013.

Support for the main opposition party hit this year's high of 31 percent, according to the Gallup Korea poll. Minor oppositions People's Party and the Justice Party posted support rates at 13 percent and 5 percent respectively.
HAVANA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- More than 60 Chinese companies are present this week at the 34th Havana International Trade Fair to boost trade with Cuba.

The Chinese pavilion at ExpoCuba, a site on the outskirts of Havana, has attracted the attention of thousands of companies and entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Beijing's pavilion is a sign of the diverse economic relations with Cuba and it will provide advanced technology, first-class equipment and infrastructure to the island.

One of those companies is Midea, one of China's leading home appliance manufacturers, which has been in Cuba for 7 years.

"We have just started selling fans in the Cuban market. In 2013, we introduced other products like air conditioning, refrigerators and rice cookers, which have made a positive impact on the Cuban market," Gu Junqiu, Midea's manager in Cuba, told Xinhua.

Gu said that the Chinese firm and Cuba's CIMEX, the island's largest commercial corporation, recently opened a joint store to sell Midea's products. So far,their sales performance has been very good.

"We will continue cooperating with Cuban companies to introduce other products in this changing market and build a post-sales system for providing spare parts and quality service," he said.

Another popular Chinese company in Cuba is Geely Automotive, which has sold over 15,000 cars on the island since 2008, mainly for the tourism industry. Several models of the Chinese-made vehicles, which can be seen at car rental spots, are also popular among locals.

"Since the first year we entered the Cuban market, we have been successful. We will continue to provide our buyers in this country with high-quality cars which are already very well known here," Du Shaokui, one of Geely's representatives in Cuba, told Xinhua.

One of the latest technological products entering the Cuban market is the high-definition (HD) TV decoder, which is sold by the Chinese company Soyea.

Over 500,000 decoders have been sold by Soyea in Cuba in the last two years along with over 20,000 TVs, making it one of the most widespread brands on the island.

"We are about to introduce new products in the Cuban market such as Ultra HD TVs and new decoders. We are also in discussions with Cuban authorities to set up a factory on the island," said Zhao Jianhua, Soyea's general manager.

Zhao also said the Cuban market is new for Soyea but it shows great potential for development. "Cuba's geographical position is also very strategic to introduce our products in nearby markets, particularly Caribbean nations," he said.

China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner behind Venezuela.Numerous Chinese companies are involved in multiple areas of this nation's economy and development, particularly in technology, transportation, biotechnology, agricultural machinery, household appliances and textiles.

For that reason, the Cuban government has named China as a great partner in the process of updating the country's economic and social model.
DAMASCUS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A relative calm prevailed in the Syrian northern city of Aleppo, as a Russian-Syrian brief "humanitarian pause" went into effect on Friday, a day after violent battles raged in the city, local media said.

The 10-hour unilateral "humanitarian pause" went into force at 9:00 a.m. local time, Sham FM radio and pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

The general command of the Syrian army said Wednesday it would observe a "humanitarian pause" on Friday to give civilians and rebels a chance to leave rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo.

It said the rebels can leave the city through the Castello road in northern Aleppo, and the Souk al-Khair crossing toward rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The civilians can leave through six passages the army previously identified to government-controlled areas in western Aleppo.

Friday's reports said all passages for the evacuation of rebels and civilians were ready.

The new brief truce is not the first to be announced by the Syrian army.

In October, a three-day truce, unilaterally announced by Russia and the Syrian government, failed to achieve its intended goal of giving the civilians a pause to leave rebel-held areas, or push the rebels to leave Aleppo.

The Syrian government accused the rebels of preventing civilians from leaving, or extorting money from them in exchange of permission to leave.

Friday's humanitarian pause comes a day after the rebels in Aleppo launched the second phase of their offensive to break the government siege.

A military source, however, said the second wave of attacks on Thursday was foiled by the Syrian army and allied fighters.

The first wave of rebel attacks on Oct. 28 captured parts of government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, such as Menyan and Dahyeit al-Assad suburbs, but did not break the siege.

The Syrian army has laid siege on eastern Aleppo in recent months, urging the rebels to surrender or leave the city.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating conditions to resolve the crisis.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying (Xinhuanet file photo)

BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday urged the United States to stop deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Army Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander said earlier Friday that the THAAD anti-missile system would be deployed to ROK soil in the next eight to 10 months.

"The U.S. deployment of the THAAD in the Republic of Korea severely undermines regional strategic balance and harms strategic and security interests of countries in the region, including China," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at the daily press briefing.

Hua added that THAAD deployment goes against efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

"China has repeatedly expressed concern and opposition to the issue,"she said, stressing that China will take necessary measures to safeguard its national security interests.

He urged relevant sides to pay due attention to China's legitimate concern and immediately stop the deployment process.

The size of the THAAD battery, which Seoul and Washington agreed in early July to install in southeastern ROK, would be bigger than the one deployed to the island of Guam, according to the report.
BANGKOK, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Police have stepped up security measures on the famous Koh Samui island in the wake of Wednesday's terrorist attacks in southern Thailand.

Police superintendent Pol. Col. Thewet Pluemsut attached to the Koh Samui district police, confirmed that the security measures have been strengthened and the police have been put on high alert for fear of possible terrorist attacks though the blasts, arsons and gunfires had recently occurred in the turbulent southernmost area, some 400 km south to the popular tourist island.

The police were closely watching over travelers to the island, especially those on the beaches at the piers for ferry boats and at the airport, he said.

Visitors were suggested to immediately call the police if anything or any person looked suspicious or harmful anywhere on the island, he said.

Earlier in August, blasts occurred in Hua Hin tourist city, about 200 km south of Bangkok and about 450 km north of Surat Thani, killing a local villager and injuring more than 20 others.
by Ndumiso Mlilo

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ten South African university students are leaving for China on Friday for a two-week information and communication technology (ICT) training held by Huawei in Beijing.

The study program "Seeds for the Future" is being bankrolled by the Chinese ICT giant, Huawei Technologies. This is the first batch of 1,000 South African students who will be trained over the next five years in ICT by Huawei.

The students were selected on merit from different South African universities. On Thursday night, South Africa's Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Dr. Siyabonga Cwele hosted a send-off reception during which he encouraged the students to come back with skills.

Bidding farewell to the students, Cwele said, "As you embark on this journey, remember that you carry with you hopes and dreams of the nation. Go out, seize and learn, I wish you safe travel and a journey back home full of knowledge and skills."

He said the country has a deficiency in critical skills like ICT and the training will empower the students who will contribute to the country's economic development upon their return.

Cwele said the students should expect to work hard in China. He said he went to a political school in China where they would work for long hours.

He said the Chinese are loyal, time-conscious and diligent and the students should expect that in China. He also said, "I urge you to make effective use of information and communication technologies to deepen your participation in the digital society."

The students will be trained at the Huawei complex in China and other places as the training includes telecommunications networks, cloud computing and strategic global business initiatives, among others.

Likewise, China's Economic and Commercial Counsellor Rong Yansong encouraged the students to work hard and come back with skills. He also praised Huawei for empowering the youth from South Africa and Africa and said when they return he expects them to contribute to the socio-economic development of their country.

"You represent the future of the country. All of you must cherish and take advantage of this to gain more ICT knowledge and understand more technology and make contributions to South Africa," Rong said.

One of the students, Odwa Yekela, 24, told Xinhua that it will be his first trip to China and that he was very excited about it.

Yekela is pursuing a Master's degree in ICT at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He said, "It is a privilege and honor for us to be afforded this opportunity and I am excited about the journey. I want to be a future innovator."

Yekela said that in 5-10 years' time, he wants to be producing and innovating programs. He also said he has been an admirer of the Chinese culture and hopes to study for his Ph.D.in China.

Mashego Dibetle, a third-year student working on her Bachelor's degree at Tshwane University of Technology, said that the students won't disappoint their country.

She said they are grateful for the opportunity and they will return and contribute to the good of the country. She said, "We are not going to try to do the best but will do our best."
MOGADISHU, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the UN envoy in Somalia Michael Keating have welcomed a ceasefire reached between forces of the country's Puntland and Galmudug states.

The rival forces clashed in the central city of Galkayo last month, killing more than 20 people, including civilians, and forcing displacement over 80,000.

In a statement received in Mogadishu on Friday, Keating termed the deal reached in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), between President of Puntland Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas and President of Galmudug Abdikarim Hussein Guled "a positive step".

"The ball is now in the court of Presidents Gaas and Guled to deliver on unfulfilled promises and to act in the best interests of the people of Galmudug and Puntland," Keating said.

Signing the agreement, the two state leaders committed to refraining from violence incitement, to supporting the return of displaced people to their homes, and to appointing a joint committee to find lasting solutions to avoid conflict.

The two reached an agreement on avoiding fighting in December 2015, but the deal has never been implemented.

Keating commended the role of the UAE in facilitating the new agreement and urged the two state leaders to take immediate action to ensure its implementation.

The envoy also stressed the "indispensable role" of community leaders and the business sector in Galkayo in finding a peaceful solution to the clashes.

Galkayo is currently divided into two districts, with Galmudug governing the southern district and Puntland state the northern one.

On his part, President Mohamud appealed to both leaders of Puntland and Galmudug to immediately implement the agreement with full commitment to ending violence in Galkayo.

He said in a statement that his government was ready to assist the two states so that the agreement could be immediately implemented.
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia Airlines, which already serves direct flights from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to China's Beijing and Shanghai, said on Friday that it will serve eight new destinations in China with direct flights, in a bid to tap into China's growing tourist market.

Starting from next April, passengers can take non-stop flights from China's Nanjing and Fuzhou to KL while from next October, direct flights will link Chengdu and Chongqing in southwest China with KL, the airline company said in a statement.

Tourists from Shenzhen and Shanghai can go directly to Penang, a tourist attraction place in northwest Malaysia, starting from Aug. 17. Direct flights will also link KL with Wuhan in central China and Haikou in China's southern-most Hainan Province.

Malaysia Airlines will also serve a flight from Tianjin to Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the state of Sabah but the date is not determined yet.

Besides, the carrier will add a second daily flight between Shanghai and KL while the aircraft flying from KL to Hong Kong will be upgraded from Boeing 737-800 to Airbus A330, which can accommodate more comfort.

Altogether, the new expansion plan will see Malaysia Airlines serve 35 additional frequencies between China and Malaysia.

Peter Bellew, CEO of Malaysia Airlines, said the company plans to triple its Chinese business over the next five years. "I see potential for direct flights to 20 Chinese cities from KL, Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching by 2019. We have huge confidence in China," he said.
YANGON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations will provide humanitarian assistance to areas in Myanmar's western Rakhine state which was recently under armed attacks, Renata Dessallin, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar told the press Friday.

Nine policemen and five soldiers died in the violent attacks by armed men on Oct. 9 on three border posts in Kyikanpyi of Maungtaw, Kotankauk of Rathedaung and Ngakhuya Office.

To clarify the case to the international community, the Myanmar government had allowed foreign mission comprising UN resident coordinator and foreign ambassadors to monitor the true situation.

The mission visited on Wednesday some attacked areas and Muslim villages in Rakhine state.

The mission members said they were able to talk with the communities and go wherever they wanted, finding that it was only a political issue.

Humanitarian aid is seriously needed in the state as some areas do not have access to any outside assistance, said the mission.

Roland Kobia, Ambassador of the European Union to Myanmar, urged the Myanmar government to find both immediate and long-term solutions.

The Myanmar government said it has pinpointed "Aqa Mul Mujahidin", an organization led by Havistoohar and linked with terrorist organization "Rohingya Solidarity Organization ", as behind the Oct. 9 assault.

Islamic extremists were involved in the attacks, which were supported financially by foreign terrorist organizations, the government said.
BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China-Central Asia cooperation enjoys multiple advantages in terms of cooperation fields and channels, said Zhang Shuyu, a finance researcher with the University of International Business and Economics.

Investment and trade via international trains and highways have developed smoothly in the region thanks to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum and other cooperation mechanisms, according to Zhang.

Industrial and trade cooperation in the region has yielded good results over the last two years.

Chen Yurong, a senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, spoke highly of China-Kazakhstan cooperation in the manufacturing sectors, including cement and flat glass production.

"Production capacity cooperation marks a new pattern of economic and trade cooperation. It meets partners' needs in economic transformation," she said.

In Kyrgyzstan, Chinese direct investment soared more than seven-fold in the first half of this year to hit 106 million U.S. dollars, according to data from Kyrgyzstan.

China's foreign trade with Turkmenistan grew from 7 billion U.S. dollars to 9.5 billion U.S. dollars during 2012-2015, and China has become the country's largest trade partner.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has become the highlight of China-Central Asia cooperation," said Ma Peihua, vice chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, at the fourth China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in Chengdu on Oct. 19.

China is willing to deepen ties with Central Asian countries under the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Ma.
MADRID, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The new cabinet of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was sworn in Friday before holding its first meeting.

Taking place at the Spanish Prime Minister's residence in the Palacio de la Moncloa, the meeting came after the 13 ministers were sworn in the presence of King Felipe VI at the royal residence at the Palacio de la Zarzuela.

Rajoy named his new cabinet on Thursday evening, after himself being sworn in for his second term in office on Monday to end over ten months without a government in Spain.

The cabinet is a mix of familiar faces from his last mandate such as Fatima Baena, who remains the Minister of Employment and Social Security, and Agriculture, Food and Environment Minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina. But it also contains six new faces, the most important of which is Maria Dolores de Cospedal, the Secretary General of Rajoy's Peoples Party, who takes over the Ministry of Defense.

Other key changes see career diplomat Alfonso Datis replace Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo at the Foreign Ministry, while the former Mayor of Seville, Juan Ignacio Zoido-Alvarez, is the new Minister for the Interior, replacing Jorge Fernandez Diaz.

Rajoy has shown he has no intention to change his economic policies by maintaining Cristobal Montero at the Treasury, while the position of Economy and Competiveness Minister Luis de Guindos has been strengthened with the addition of the Ministry of Industry to his portfolio.

The prime minister has said the new cabinet is designed to be able to handle the negotiations his minority government will need to complete its mandate.

However, the Spanish Socialist Party, whose abstention in the investiture vote on Oct. 29 allowed Rajoy to return to power, claims it is "not a cabinet for dialogue" and that it will make reaching agreement over the future pacts, which are essential if Rajoy is to govern effectively, more complicated.
JINAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Flood. House. Flood. For the past decades, Liu Yongcai, a lifelong resident on the banks of the Yellow River, has been fighting floods and building houses.

Liu, 68, lives in Changxingji Township, Dongming county in Heze City, one of the least developed cities in eastern China.

The slow and silty-brown waters of the Yellow River run eastwards near his home. The river, dubbed the Mother River of China, has long nurtured lands for farmers like Liu, but it has brought floods that swallowed their homes.

Liu's hometown is located in the floodplain area between the main channel and high levees. In Heze, more than 400,000 people live in the floodplain of the Yellow River.

During Liu's lifetime, floods have hit his home 14 times, with the ones in 1996, 1998 and 2003 being the largest. "When the flood came, I left to hide, and when I came back, the houses were damaged and needed repair or rebuilding," he said.

Liu has built six houses in his life after previous ones were left dilapidated by floodwater. "Building new houses has become the purpose of my life. I've had enough of it. I'd rather be drowned and hit dead by bricks than build another one," he said.

New houses on the floodplain area are more costly because they need to be elevated from the ground. "Such a foundation for a single home costs 60,000 to 80,000 yuan (89,000 to 118,700 U.S. dollars), about the same amount of money needed to build a house," Liu said. "Every time I build a house, I spend up all my money and have to borrow. When the debt clears, the floods come again."

Home-building has become the fundamental cause of poverty for people on the floodplains, said Cai Weichao, head of the poverty-relief office in Heze City. More than 168,000 people, or 42 percent of residents, live below the poverty line, making 2,800 yuan (418 U.S. dollars) or less every year.

POVERTY ALONG THE MOTHER RIVER

According to State Council figures, close to 1.9 million people live on the floodplain of the Yellow River. Poverty is hard to beat in these settlements.

No factories or companies are allowed near the banks, and the only residents are farmers who make a living growing maize and corn.

"In some areas, the poverty rate is more than 50 percent of the population," said Wang Haifeng, chief of poverty relief in Dongming County.

"No woman wants to come and marry a man from here. You would not believe it. A groom would have to offer thousands of yuan to the bride's family. And in order to get a wife, you would get poor again," said Yang Guojing, a farmer in Changxinji.

Every spring, the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, located upstream in Henan Province, discharges huge amounts of water in order to quickly move the silt downstream. Farmers who live close to the river bank have to watch out for overflowing water.

Having a stronger and better house is the dream of many residents along the riverbank, Wang said.

TWO ALTERNATIVES

Since a massive flood in 1996, the provincial government of Shandong organized two massive evictions of residents from the riverbank. Over 20,000 people, including households in Changxingji Township, were told to leave.

After the evictions, farmers had to live in smaller houses at least a dozen kilometers away from their hometowns, sharing land with farmers from other villages. The new settlements are also densely populated.

Several hundred people settled in new homes, but some of them had difficulties adjusting to the new environment and chose to come back, Wang said.

Though still weary of floods as global warming continues, they want to hold onto the land where they grow up, and are unwilling to leave.

"So we are offering two options now. Leave, or build safer and stronger homes which can stand a massive flood," Wang said, adding that the latter option is favored by many.

In Changxinji Township, the government has secured funding from the Asian Development Bank and state urbanization loans, to build large cement foundations on which farmers can build new houses. Two elevated structures in the town are over 600,000 square meters. They are flood proofed, at least four meters high, and designed to accommodate thousands of new houses.

Either way, safe housing is a massive and expensive project for people living on the floodplain.

Twenty more such foundations need to be built in Dongming county, and total costs could exceed 6 billion yuan, according to estimates. Relocation packages are also costly, and 1,200 hectares of land needs to be emptied to accommodate the displaced farmers.

"We are in urgent need of more funds to expedite our way out of poverty," Wang said.

Meanwhile, Liu Yongcai is building a new house on a flood-proof foundation, which he vows will be his last.

"This house, I hope it can stand for 100 years," he said.
WUHAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism industry contributed greatly to global employment last year, a new report indicated.

The country's tourism sector generated more than a quarter of the jobs in the world's tourism industry in 2015, according to a report released Friday by the Wuhan Branch of China Tourism Academy.

Hu Jing, head of the branch, said that China ranked first globally in the numbers of tourists travelling domestically, outbound tourists, domestic tourism consumption, outbound tourism consumption and employment.

According to the report, the number of China's outbound tourists increased almost tenfold from 2001 to 2015, reaching 128 million last year.

"The tourism boom is a result of a good environment for the industry in China, including favorable policies, the number of days with good air quality and better treatment of garbage," Hu said.

The report has been published annually since 2011.
TAIPEI, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan authorities recently announced a stimulus package to help the island's tourism industry tackle the sharp decline in Chinese mainland tourists, but business owners have described it as "a drop in the ocean."

The number of mainland tourists has plummeted since Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen took office in May. The tourism industry has plunged into recession since, and demanded the government help make ends meet.

A subsidy plan worth 300 million new Taiwan dollars (9.5 million U.S. dollars) has been unveiled by the government, aiming to encourage Taiwan locals to travel on the island.

A tourist group of at least ten people can receive subsidies of up to 15,000 new Taiwan dollars per day.

Local public servants, military personnel and teachers can receive up to 16,000 new Taiwan dollars as travel subsidies per year, but they have to spend half the money in tourism spots hit hard by the downturn.

The island's tourism bureau estimated that mainland tourists decreased by 28.4 percent in the third quarter compared with a year earlier. Insiders predicted that the annual fall could reach 800,000 people, resulting in economic losses of up to 40 billion new Taiwan dollars, while the subsidies can only boost tourism revenues by about 1.4 billion new Taiwan dollars.

Su Chia-nan, chief of headquarters of the Taiwan Tourism Association Coalition, said the subsidies were far from enough to make up for the losses brought by dwindling mainland tourists, adding that the new policy could intensify vicious competition in the industry.

Lai Cheng-i, Chairman of Taiwan's General Chamber of Commerce, said at least 30 bus companies have filed for bankruptcy since May. Snack vendors, farmers and hotel owners have also been hit hard.

Industry insiders said things could get worse in November, the traditional low season for tourism.

Lin Hsin-hsiung, a professor with Shu-Te University, said subsidies were not a panacea for long-term woes.

The ruling party should address the problem by making a positive response on the 1992 Consensus, Lin added.

The number of mainland visitors to Taiwan for both tourism and business quadrupled from 1 million in 2008 to 4 million in 2015, amid improved cross-Strait ties.

However, relations have been disrupted since Tsai Ing-wen took office in May, due to her refusal to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which adheres to the one-China principle.

In mid-September, around 10,000 tourist business owners in Taiwan took to the streets in downtown Taipei to voice their anger at government policy.
QINGDAO, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Customs authorities in eastern China's port city of Qingdao announced on Friday that they had busted a gasoline trafficking ring.

Qingdao customs received a tip-off about smuggling practices in August. They joined hands with provincial marine police to launch raids on August 26, on sea and in Weihai City. More than 270 police officers and six vessels were used in the operation.

Twenty-seven suspects and four vessels, carrying 700 tonnes of gasoline were seized, customs authorities said.

The suspects drove their own vessels and rented others to purchase gasoline from smugglers on the open sea, according to customs authorities.

Since the end of 2015, about 40,000 tonnes of gasoline have been smuggled through several coastal cities in Shandong Province, worth a total over 200 million yuan (about 30 million U.S. dollars), customs authorities said.
GENEVA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- One month after Hurricane Matthew pummeled Haiti, nearly 600,000 children remain in need of humanitarian assistance, stalked by disease, hunger and malnutrition, UNICEF said Friday.

"One month after the hurricane, life for more than half a million children in Haiti is still far from back to normal," said Marc Vincent, UNICEF Representative in Haiti. "Too many children are still homeless, hungry, out of school and in danger. We are scaling up our response and are determined to help as many of them as possible as fast as we can."

Taking stock of the situation of children since the Category 4 storm flattened buildings and destroyed livelihoods, UNICEF said there have been at least 1,000 suspected cholera cases among children in the past month. Out of 219 cholera treatment centers in the country, 18 have been damaged in the worst-hit departments of Grand'Anse and South, further complicating efforts to contain the disease.

Total destruction of crops and loss of food-stocks and livestock in some of the worst affected areas have left over 800,000 people in need of immediate food assistance and more than 112,000 children at risk of acute malnutrition.

An estimated 50,000 children have been left homeless and are staying in temporary shelters. Another 3,500 children living in institutions need help accessing nutrition, water and sanitation services.

UNICEF is working with national and other partners to provide basic assistance to the most vulnerable children.
GENEVA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 4,220 migrants and refugees have lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe this year, some 725 more deaths than were recorded over the same period in 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported Friday.

This follows the capsizing of two migrant boats earlier this week, leaving an estimated 240 presumed dead after the dinghies on which the migrants were travelling sunk off the Libyan coast.

Together with other such tragedies throughout the year, these latest incidents make 2016 a particularly deadly year for migrants attempting to reach Europe by sea.

According to IOM figures, most fatalities (3,743) have been documented on the central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa with Italy.

A further 415 individuals have drowned on the eastern Mediterranean route separating Turkey with Greece, while 62 migrants have died on Western Mediterranean sea routes.

While this year's migrant deaths remain unprecedentedly high, 2016's number of maritime arrivals in Europe falls far short of last year's total.

Some 335,000 entries by sea have been documented on European shores so far this year, compared to almost 729,000 over the same period last year.
Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), meets with representatives at a council meeting of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng on Friday commended the role played by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) in international friendship, cross-Strait exchanges and the welfare of children and teenagers.

Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remarks when delivering a speech at a council meeting of the CSCLF.

As a "people's organization under the leadership of Communist Party of China (CPC)," the CSCLF should closely follow major decisions and the deployment of the CPC Central Committee; deepen cross-Strait exchanges and people-to-people diplomacy; and better serve youngsters for them to grow and prosper, Yu said.

Yu also said Party committees and governments at all levels should continue offering guidance and support to the CSCLF.

Named after Soong Ching Ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen, the CSCLF is a Beijing-based foundation focused on international and cross-Strait exchanges, as well as the welfare of children and teenagers.
TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The recent election of Michel Aoun as Lebanon's president will not serve the interests of Israel in the region, a senior former Iranian Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday.

"We believe Aoun's election to the presidency will bolster resistance front against Zionists and will contribute further to stability and peace in the region," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the former deputy foreign minister for Arab and African countries, said.

"The White House and Tel Aviv have shared policies in the Middle East which sought to weaken the regional countries," Abdollahian said in a meeting with Lebanese ambassador to Tehran, Fadi Haj Ali, on Thursday.

Abdollahian, current advisor to Iran's Majlis (parliament) speaker, stressed the promotion of inter-parliamentary relations between Tehran and Beirut, expressing the hope that Iran-Lebanon Parliamentary Friendship Group would work to this end, including enhancement of trade and economic relations.

For his part, Fadi Haj Ali expressed his gratitude to Iran for the support to Lebanon.

"We appreciate Tehran's role and contribution to stability of the region and welcome improvements in economic ties," he said.

On Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi welcomed the election of Aoun as Lebanon's president, saying that the election of president after two and a half years' vacancy is "a significant step to institutionalize democracy and maintain stability" in Lebanon.

Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah chief and Iran's ally Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has endorsed Aoun as Lebanon's president Sunday.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying (Source: fmprc.gov.cn)

BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday urged Britain to live up to its commitments with China on Tibet.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked to comment on a meeting between Lobsang Sangay, the "prime minister" of the "Tibetan government in exile," and John Bercow, speaker of Britain's House of Commons, on Tuesday.

China voices strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the Bercow-Sangay meeting, for it severely damages China's core interests, Hua told a daily press briefing.

Lobsang Sangay is a secessionist and the ringleader of the self-proclaimed "Tibetan government in exile," which has no legitimacy at all, she said.

On March 10, 1959, after a failed armed insurgency, the Dalai Lama fled abroad.

The so-called "Tibetan government in exile" is an illegal organization, and not recognized by any established government in the world, said Hua.

The Chinese government resolutely opposes secessionist activities by the ringleaders of the Dalai Lama clique in any country, in any capacity and under any name, she said.

China is also firmly against any contacts between any foreign officials and the leaders of the clique, she added.

She urged the British side to fulfill its commitments on Tibet and refrain from interference that damages China-Britain relations.
SHANGHAI, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese consumer has filed a lawsuit against Samsung and a Chinese online shopping platform, after a Note 7 smartphone caught fire.

The plaintiff, Yao, claimed to have fallen in love with the Galaxy Note 7 after it debuted in August, but cases of the phones catching fire or overheating on the mainland left Yao undecided.

Yao said that in September, Samsung China made a statement that the Note 7 smartphones on the mainland were manufactured with different battery cells from those in the global market and would not be recalled, which led to the purchase of a Note 7 on JD.com.

On Sept. 18, the phone caught fire while Yao was playing games and burnt holes in the mat, bedsheet and cushion on Yao's bed.

The plaintiff accused the two defendants of fraud and causing economic losses, demanding the return of money for the phone, as well as a compensation of 19,964 yuan (2,956 U.S. dollars).

A local court has accepted the case.

Samsung filed a plan with China's consumer quality watchdog in October to recall 190,984 Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold on the Chinese mainland, due to an overheating problem.
BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Li Shuaitao was sentenced to two years in jail by a court in Beijing for facilitating prostitution on Friday, after a video had appeared online where he appeared to assault and attempt to kidnap a woman from a Beijing hotel.

The sentence was announced by the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing at about 2 p.m. Li stood trial on Oct. 28 and was also fined 5,000 yuan (about 740.4 U.S. dollars).

Li, 25, was convicted of introducing two prostitutes to two customers in the Yitel Hotel in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang District on March 1 and 9. He gained a total of 1,300 yuan for the deals.

Li admitted to the crimes in court, but did not say if he would appeal.

Footage of Li attacking a woman at the hotel began circulating online after being posted on Weibo in April.

After being arrested in Xuchang City, Henan Province, about 760 km from Beijing, Li confessed to handing out cards to advertise prostitutes in the hotel when he saw a woman he assumed was a competitor. Accordingly, he contacted his gang to have her forcibly removed from the hotel.

Experts believe that the case exposes loopholes in the hotel's management.

Xinhua reporter learned from sources in the court that Li was never questioned by staff at the hotel when he was distributing cards. As he attacked the woman on April 3, a security guard noticed but failed to intervene.

"Hotels are obliged to ensure safety to customers," said Yi Shenghua, an attorney with Yingke Law Firm in Beijing. "Regulations should be tightened to prevent such incidents from happening again."
LONDON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke Friday with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker following Thursday's High Court judgement on triggering Britain's exit from the European Union, according to an official statement.

Three judges in London ruled that May's government does not have the authority to trigger the departure process known as article 50 without first taking it to the British parliament.

A Downing Street spokesperson said in a brief statement Friday: "The PM explained to both Chancellor Merkel and President Juncker that while the government was disappointed with the judgment, it had strong legal arguments ahead of the case moving to the Supreme Court.

"The PM also confirmed that the government's planned timetable for notification of Article 50 remains unchanged," the statement added.

May has already announced she wants to trigger Article 50 by the end of next March which would mean Britain leaving the EU in March 2019.

The decision in the court Thursday could throw May's timetable into chaos, with some politicians already indicating delays when the issue comes before the Houses of Parliament.

The government will be urging the Supreme Court, the highest court in England, to overturn Thursday's ruling. The appeal will be heard by all 11 law lords early December, with a decision expected early January.

The Downing Street spokesperson added: "Later today the PM expects to speak to both President Hollande (the French President) and the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk."
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Friday warned a country representative for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia against interference in the country's internal affairs.

The warning was made after Wan-Hea Lee, through an article published in the Cambodia Daily on Oct. 25, called on the Cambodian government to immediately explain its decision to ban Sam Rainsy, president of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), from entering the country.

"Such comments have crossed the red line of the UN Charter underlining the respect for sovereignty and non-interference as well as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 requiring all official business with the government to be conducted with or through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other ministry, not through the media," Sokhonn said in a letter sent to UN Resident Coordinator Claire Van der Vaeren.

The minister said the current operation and activities of the OHCHR in Cambodia, including those of its country representative, are "not legitimate" because a valid Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Cambodian government and the High Commissioner for Human Rights has not been renewed yet.

"I would like to reiterate the government's firm commitment to improving the smooth and effective cooperation with the OHCHR through the early conclusion of the new MoU on the basis of the principle of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in Cambodia's internal affairs in full conformity of Article 2 of the UN Charter," he said.
GENEVA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned Friday that Islamic State (IS) fighters defending the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are continuing to forcibly displace civilians amid concerns that they will be used as human shields to protect the extremist group from airstrikes.

"On Tuesday, we understand trucks full of abducted civilians, reportedly some 1,600 people, were taken from Hamam al-Alil to Tal Afar city," OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

"Some of these families were told that they may be transported to Syria. We are very concerned that ISIL intends to use these families to shield themselves from air strikes," she added.

OHCHR reported that on Wednesday a further 150 families were forcibly transferred to Mosul from Hamam al-Alil, a small town 30 km south of the embattled city which is one of IS' last strongholds in the region.

Residents of two villages located some 5 km away from Hamam al-Alil were also informed via loudspeakers that they would be severely punished if they did not leave their villages, OHCHR reported.

These latest developments come amid ongoing reports of mass killings carried out by IS combatants who have controlled Mosul since June 2014 when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

"We also continue to receive reports of mass killings, including one incident on Monday when ISIL reportedly killed 50 of its own militants in the Ghazlani military base in Mosul city for alleged desertion," Shamdasani continued.

"There are also credible reports that 180 people were killed on Wednesday in Kokjali town in eastern Mosul, and possibly up to another 200 people were killed in Mosul city. We are trying to verify the details of these alleged killings," she added.

Supported by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Iraqi troops kicked off operations to recapture the city last month. They are backed by international aircraft as well as different kinds of Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition artillery units.

According to reports, more than 5,000 IS militants were initially holed up in Mosul to defend the city, though they are quickly losing ground amid ongoing military operations there.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) holds talks with his Latvian counterpart Maris Kucinskis in Riga, Latvia, Nov. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

RIGA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation with Latvia in all spheres for mutual benefits and win-win results, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here on Friday.

Li made the remarks while meeting with his Latvian counterpart Maris Kucinskis. The Chinese premier is currently on an eight-day tour of four Eurasian nations including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Russia.

This is the first time for a Chinese premier to visit Latvia since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

During the talks, he said China regards Latvia as an important transit station for the China-EU trade, and stands ready to participate in major infrastructure projects including Rail Baltica and the three-sea harbor district cooperation initiative, citing the nation's cost-effective equipment and rich experience in railway and port construction.

The three-sea harbor initiative refers to cooperation programs concerning the Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, proposed by Li during the fourth leaders' meeting between China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries held in the southern Chinese city of Suzhou last year.

Li described Latvia as China's good friend in the Baltic area and an important partner of cooperation in the CEE and EU.

The two nations have enjoyed growing bilateral political mutual trust, deepened practical cooperation and closer people-to-people exchanges in the past 25 years since they forged diplomatic ties, Li said.

He vowed to promote exchanges at different levels and further lift bilateral ties on the basis of mutual respect and equality.

Li appreciated Latvia's support for and participation in the China-CEE cooperation, hoping to join Latvia in making sure this year's China-CEE summit a success to contribute to the prosperity of China, CEE and Europe at large.

For his part, Kucinskis said the two countries have seen smooth cooperation in the past 25 years and bilateral relations are at a record high.

He said Latvia wants to be a reliable cooperation partner of China, supporting and participating in China's Belt and Road Initiative and promoting pragmatic cooperation in infrastructure, transportation, logistics, clean oil refining, tourism, education and farm products.

He also promised to offer stable environment for Chinese investment and become a portal for Chinese businesses to enter the CEE market.

He said Latvia is happy to host the China-CEE summit, considering the mechanism an important platform for China-CEE cooperation and complementary for bilateral ties.

After talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents in trade, transportation and culture.
TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly and Russia's Federation Council chairperson will pay official visits to Tehran to hold talks with senior Iranian officials on mutual ties, Press TV reported on Friday.

Heading a high-ranking parliamentary delegation, the Hungarian Laszlo Kover will arrive in Tehran on Nov. 9 for a five-day trip at the official invitation of Iranian Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani.

Kover will also meet the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayyeb-Nia, according to the report.

Besides, Russia's Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko will arrive in Tehran on Nov. 13 for a two-day visit.

She is also scheduled to hold talks with the Iranian Majlis speaker, president and foreign minister about mutual relations.

The promotion of parliamentary ties would top the agenda of the talks between the officials of Iran and the visiting guests, the report said.
RAMALLAH, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday the situation in the Palestinian territories amid the Israeli occupation "is unbearable and cannot continue for a long time."

Abbas made the remarks at a joint press conference with Governor General of Canada David Johnston after a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian president stressed readiness to "create peace with Israel and implement a two-state solution, whereby the Palestinian and Israelis can live side by side in security, peace and neighborly relations, in line with the international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative."

He called for empowering the Palestinian people "to achieve their freedom on an independent state within the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital."

Abbas also reiterated his support for an international peace conference which France is seeking to hold by the end of this year, expressing his trust that Canada "will have a positive and supporting role in this framework."

He also renewed his support for international and regional effort exerted to combat and diminish the roots of terrorism, extremism and violence in the region and the world, which "we condemn, regardless of its nature and source."

For his part, the governor general of Canada asserted his country's support for the two-state solution and the realization of peace in the region.

Canada is committed to working with its Palestinian friends to support and build the Palestinian institutions, Johnston said.
People visit the Chinese pavilion at the 34th International Trade Fair of Havana, in Havana, Cuba, on Nov. 3, 2016.(Xinhua/Str)

HAVANA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- More than 60 Chinese companies are present this week at the 34th Havana International Trade Fair to boost trade with Cuba.

The Chinese pavilion at ExpoCuba, a site on the outskirts of Havana, has attracted the attention of thousands of companies and entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Beijing's pavilion is a sign of the diverse economic relations with Cuba and it will provide advanced technology, first-class equipment and infrastructure to the island.

One of those companies is Midea, one of China's leading home appliance manufacturers, which has been in Cuba for 7 years.

"We have just started selling fans in the Cuban market. In 2013, we introduced other products like air conditioning, refrigerators and rice cookers, which have made a positive impact on the Cuban market," Gu Junqiu, Midea's manager in Cuba, told Xinhua.

Gu said that the Chinese firm and Cuba's CIMEX, the island's largest commercial corporation, recently opened a joint store to sell Midea's products. So far,their sales performance has been very good.

"We will continue cooperating with Cuban companies to introduce other products in this changing market and build a post-sales system for providing spare parts and quality service," he said.

Another popular Chinese company in Cuba is Geely Automotive, which has sold over 15,000 cars on the island since 2008, mainly for the tourism industry. Several models of the Chinese-made vehicles, which can be seen at car rental spots, are also popular among locals.

People visit the booth of Geely in Chinese pavilion at the 34th International Trade Fair of Havana, in Havana, Cuba, on Nov. 3, 2016.(Xinhua/Str)

"Since the first year we entered the Cuban market, we have been successful. We will continue to provide our buyers in this country with high-quality cars which are already very well known here," Du Shaokui, one of Geely's representatives in Cuba, told Xinhua.

One of the latest technological products entering the Cuban market is the high-definition (HD) TV decoder, which is sold by the Chinese company Soyea.

Over 500,000 decoders have been sold by Soyea in Cuba in the last two years along with over 20,000 TVs, making it one of the most widespread brands on the island.

"We are about to introduce new products in the Cuban market such as Ultra HD TVs and new decoders. We are also in discussions with Cuban authorities to set up a factory on the island," said Zhao Jianhua, Soyea's general manager.

Zhao also said the Cuban market is new for Soyea but it shows great potential for development. "Cuba's geographical position is also very strategic to introduce our products in nearby markets, particularly Caribbean nations," he said.

China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner behind Venezuela.Numerous Chinese companies are involved in multiple areas of this nation's economy and development, particularly in technology, transportation, biotechnology, agricultural machinery, household appliances and textiles.

For that reason, the Cuban government has named China as a great partner in the process of updating the country's economic and social model.
NAIROBI, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The global community regards China as an indispensable partner in the efforts to re-energize the fight against climate change, said Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Erik Solheim.

Solheim, who was in May approved by the UN General Assembly to succeed Achim Steiner as the UNEP chief, hailed China's contribution to advancing the global green agenda.

"China is providing business solutions to climate change," Solheim said during an interview with Xinhua, praising China's heavy investment in solar energy.

"In the next ten years, it will be a major player in the global environmental agenda," he said.

He credited China's robust leadership for the adoption of Paris climate deal in December last year.

"Without China's push, there would be no Paris climate deal. Both China and the United States re-energized the momentum leading to the adoption of Paris Agreement," said the UNEP chief.

China announced ratification of the Paris climate deal on September 3, ahead of the G20 summit held in the city of Hangzhou.

At the G20 summit, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to pursuing a green and inclusive growth.

Solheim noted that the G20 summit provided an opportunity for China to demonstrate its stewardship of the global green agenda through political commitment, climate finance and greater adoption of cleaner technologies.

He noted that China played an instrumental role in the adoption of a new global pact to limit production and use of chemicals that harm the ozone layer at a summit held in the Rwandan capital Kigali in October.

China's diplomatic clout alongside technological and financial edge will be critical to speeding up implementation of the Paris climate deal, according to Solheim.

Solheim also hailed China's role in leading global efforts to promote technology transfer and financing toward climate change adaptation and mitigation.

"China can contribute immensely to global fight against climate change. It is an indispensable partner in major global issues," the UNEP chief said, adding that China-funded transport infrastructure projects in Africa like speed trains will boost green development in the continent.

"The international community has drawn inspiration from China's robust efforts to lower carbon emissions against a backdrop of rapid industrial growth."

Solheim added that China's rapid transition from brown to green growth is an inspiration to developing countries grappling with devastating impacts of climate change.
by Ahmed Shafiq

FAIYUM, Egypt, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Amid the ruins of the Ptolemaic town of Karanis in Egypt's Faiyum governorate, a graceful museum that houses hundreds of priceless artifacts illustrating the daily life of the ancient inhabitants of the city was reopened after 10-year closure.

"It might be small but in terms of value, this museum is very rich," Egypt's Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anany told Xinhua during the opening ceremony of Kom Aushim Museum, which was first built in 1974.

Located at a large oasis 50 miles southeast of the capital Cairo, Kom Auhsim is the only museum in Faiyum governorate and it was closed in 2006 for restorations. The two-storey museum now showcases 314 pieces found in Faiyum which date from the prehistoric to Roman periods.

"Today we are opening this rich museum which has been closed for 10 years...this could have been restored and reopened years ago as it did not cost much to renovate it, but we had to meet some security demands and in the end the museum is opened now," the minister said as he toured the corners of the museum.

The museum is located on the edge of the ancient site of Karanis which was founded as a military settlement by Ptolemy II Philadelphus in the 3rd Century B.C.

The town flourished as a center of agriculture and trade for more than seven hundred years. Now, the remnants of a once bustling rural community, including the foundations of mud-brick homes, courtyards, and the two main avenues that once ran through the town, remain standing.

Just near the museum, two stone temples from the Ptolemaic period are located on a mound at the edge of the Faiyum desert, one of which dates back to the 1st century B.C. and is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek (or Souchos, as the Greeks called him).

The museum is now home to artifacts that demonstrate these eras such as glassware, potteries, jewelries and ornaments used by the ancient residents of the town.

On the second floor of the red-wall building, visitors can find and admire the treasure of the museum, the famous "Faiyum Personal Portraits." Those portraits were painted on wood to cover the face of the mummy during the Greco-Roman times as ancient Egyptians at that time had a belief of resurrection. They believed that painting the features of the dead will help the spirits recognize the body.

Egypt has been working hard to preserve its archaeological heritage and discover the secrets of the archaeologies of Pharaohs and other ancient civilizations across the country in a bid to revive the country's ailing tourism sector which has been suffering an acute recession over the past few years due to political turmoil and relevant security issues.

The ministry of antiquities announced in October that scientists discovered two anomalies inside Khufu Great Pyramid, which was built 4,500 years ago, adding that one is located at the upper part of the entrance gate and the second at its northeastern side.

Last year, Egypt conducted several radar scans of the tomb of Egypt's ancient King Tutankhamen in Luxor in Upper Egypt after British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves suggested that Queen Nefertiti's crypt may be buried in hidden doorways behind the King's 3,300-year-burial place.

The scans revealed that there are two hidden chambers behind the tomb, and scientific research operations are still ongoing at the site.

"We have a unique heritage and we are the protectors of the international heritage in Egypt...it is our duty and it is also a big responsibility because we have the richest cultural heritage all over the world and I hope tourists will come again very soon with big numbers because my ministry needs the income of the tourists to be able to protect and restore the monuments," the minister told Xinhua.
BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese legislators on Friday heard a report on a draft explanation of Article 104 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for lawmakers' review, said a statement from China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC).

Li Fei, deputy secretary general of the NPC Standing Committee, delivered the report at the NPC Standing Committee chairpersons' meeting chaired by top legislator Zhang Dejiang.

The chairpersons' meeting suggested the draft explanation be tabled for review by Chinese lawmakers at their bi-monthly session which runs till Nov. 7.

Article 104 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region stipulates that "when assuming office, the Chief Executive, principal officials, members of the Executive Council and of the Legislative Council, judges of the courts at all levels and other members of the judiciary in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region must, in accordance with law, swear to uphold the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China."
KIEV, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine and Albania on Friday adopted a mutual visa-free policy to boost their economic cooperation and tourism, Ukrainian authorities said.

The agreement on lifting the visa requirements was signed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati in Tirana, said the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

The visa waiver deal allows for multiple visits, permitting a visa-free stay for up to 90 days within a 180-day period.

According to the Ukrainian government, the new visa policy is aimed at promoting the development of the Ukrainian-Albanian partnership, boosting economic ties and intensifying people-to-people contacts and tourism.

Kiev hopes that the agreement would help Ukraine obtain a visa-free regime with the European Union.

As the situation in Ukraine is improving, Kiev is trying to revive its tourism sector, which plunged by 15-fold in the last two years due to the crisis, with an eased visa policy.

Last year, only 478 Albanian citizens visited Ukraine.
AMMAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. trainers were killed in Jordan on Friday in exchange of fire, state-run Petra news agency reported.

Another Jordanian officer was injured in the exchange of fire, which happened when the car of the two killed trainers did not heed orders from guards to stop at the gate of an airbase in Al Jafr area, said a Jordanian military source.

The source said that investigation is under way, while the U.S. embassy in Amman said it was following up on the incident, saying in an online statement that more information would be disclosed when available. Enditem
JAKARTA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of protesters and police were injured after a mass demonstration staged by hardliner Muslim groups in the Indonesian capital turned violent on Friday night.

Three police trucks were torched by demonstrators who refused to leave the protest site near the presidential palace after they exceeded the time limit to hold the demonstration. Many demonstrators were seen lying on the streets as the police fired tear gas to disperse them, local TV footage showed.

The demonstrators, who refused to leave the site, were disappointed with results of a meeting between their representatives with Vice President Jusuf Kalla who gave assurance of a transparent and quick legal process against Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama over his blasphemy comments on the Koran.

Coordinating Minister for the Politics, Legal and Security Wiranto and senior presidential palace officials had met with representatives of the demonstrators who handed over their petition.

"Many of those police were young ones, they were provoked by demonstrators. They were involved in brawls with demonstrators that ended up with injuries between them," Wiranto told the local TV One.

"Now the situation has calmed down thanks to religious leaders who call the demonstrators to go back home," he said.

Basuki, the incumbent governor who would run in the upcoming gubernatorial election in February next year, had apologized for his comments.

An investigation into the religious blasphemy case was underway.
BUJUMBURA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Burundi is threatening to withdraw its peacekeepers from Somalia and the Central African Republic over leadership issues and plans to pay peacekeepers directly, two Burundian ministers have told Burundian lawmakers in a plenary session.

"Burundian soldiers are not given leadership positions at the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Another problem is that there are plans to pay our (Burundian) peacekeepers directly into their accounts in violation of the Memorandum of Understanding stipulating that it is the government that pays them after receiving the money," Burundian Defense and War Veterans Minister Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye told lawmakers at the National Assembly on Thursday.

According to him, consultations with the African Union (AU), which is a signatory of the Memorandum of Understanding, are underway.

"Before sending troops into Somalia, we discussed with the AU on the Memorandum of Understanding. The withdrawal from the AMISOM also requires prior discussions with the AU, Burundian citizens and the Burundian parliament," said Ntahomvukiye.

He added that there are plans of paying Burundian peacekeepers directly to their accounts.

"Since the beginning of peacekeeping missions, no troops have been able to get their wages directly from donors. The money goes first to the contributor country and then the country pays its troops. We will not accept a direct payment to Burundian peacekeepers' accounts," said Ntahomvukiye.

For his part, Burundian Security Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni told lawmakers that the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is "unfair" with Burundian police officers serving in that mission.

"The MINUSCA, through Parfait Onanga Anyanga who is the Mission chief and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, is unfair with Burundi. They do not realize that Burundian peacekeepers are even losing their lives there. We will pull out our peacekeepers from the Central African Republic if the cooperation with the UN does not improve," said Bunyoni.

Following the outbreak of Burundi's crisis in April 2015 with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza bidding and winning a controversial third term, some army and police officers were sent to lead peacekeeping missions in Somalia and the Central African Republic, but were refused for their alleged involvement in violent repression during demonstrations against Nkurunziza's third term bid. Enditem
TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Lebanon in near future to discuss mutual ties following the election of Michel Aoun as Lebanon's president, Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

Zarif's visit to Lebanon will be part of periodic consultations between Tehran and Beirut, considering the Arab country's "influence on regional peace and stability," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Zarif will also meet senior Lebanese officials for talks on expansion of political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries in the "new era," Qasemi said.

The talks will also revolve around the latest regional developments, including Syrian crisis, he added.

Iran's embassy in Lebanon denied Thursday the "allegations" by the Chairman of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea regarding Iran's "interference" in the Arab country, the Lebanese Al-Manar satellite TV reported.

The Iranian embassy slammed the "groundless" and "misleading" claims of Geagea, who said that Iran was not in favor of election of Aoun as president, adding that "charges (against Iran) have been a usual strategy of Geagea."

Qasemi welcomed the election of Aoun as Lebanon's president Monday, saying that the election of president after two and a half years' vacancy is "a significant step to institutionalize democracy and maintain stability" in Lebanon.
BRUSSELS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) regulators ruled on Friday that Hungary's advertisement tax breached the bloc's state aid regulations and ordered Budapest to stop the "wrongdoing".

Hungary's progressive tax rates granted a selective advantage to certain companies and as well unduly favored companies that did not make a profit in 2013 by allowing them to pay less tax, said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, in a statement.

Meanwhile, an amended version of Hungary's tax regime, in force since July last year, failed to fully address Brussels' concerns, the statement said.

Hungary was required to remove unfair treatment under its tax system as well as the amended version and determine the precise amounts of tax to be recovered from each company.
VALLETTA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Migration and Brexit were high on the agenda when the Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat here on Friday.

The meeting aimed to set the agenda ahead of Malta's European Union (EU) presidency. The three countries' 18-month EU presidency constitutes what is known as a presidency trio, starting with the Dutch presidency for the first six months of 2016. Malta will take over the presidency from Slovakia in January 2017 and conclude this trio's cycle at the end of June 2017.

The presidency trio had drawn up an 18-month agenda that prioritizes issues related to migration, growth, jobs, energy and security.

In a press conference Friday, the Dutch prime minister said that meaningful results have been achieved but there is still a long way to go, and in June 2017 the Maltese presidency will take full stock of the trio's set agenda.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed Friday's meeting centred around migration, which was high on the agenda and would be discussed further at the December summit in Brussels.

Asked about the part that Turkey plays in the influx of migrants coming to the EU, the Dutch prime minister said Turkey so far is delivering on its part of the agreement with the EU but the EU will continue to strive to work to better meet the needs of the refugees seeking asylum.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said discussions held Friday centered around migration and Brexit, and particular attention was also given to Slovakia's proposal on sharing the burden in relation to migrants coming to the EU.

Muscat praised Slovakia for being brave enough to come up with a proposal, despite there being diverging views amongst EU countries regarding the issue of migration.

He further stated that a proposal has to be made to deal with the issue of the safety of the refugees risking their lives to come to the EU, and that we appear to have become numb when faced with news about deaths of refugees in the Mediterranean.

When asked about Brexit, Muscat said that Malta would not intrude on Britain's triggering of Article 50 and that there was agreement amongst all 27 EU member countries that the single market's four freedoms could not be decoupled when negotiations on Britain's exit package get underway.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C) attends the 15th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prime ministers' meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A six-pronged proposal laid out by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prime ministers' meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, will help the alignment of China's Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of other SCO member states.

Li called on all member states to work on joint security efforts, alignment of development strategies, production capacity and innovation cooperation, as well as regional financing and people-to-people exchanges.

COMMON DEVELOPMENT

Celebrating the 15th year of SCO cooperation, Li said that only through cooperation can SCO members achieve common development and long-term peace and stability in the region.

Security and stability are the basis of economic cooperation among SCO member states and, in this regard, Li suggested deepening information exchanges and cooperation in law-enforcement.

As a driving force in regional security and stability, the SCO has always made security cooperation a priority, said Chen Yurong, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

Although the SCO has made some remarkable achievements in battling terrorism, extremism and separatism, these "three evils" still pose considerable threats to regional security and stability, Chen said.

As for the alignment of development strategies, the premier called for coordination and dovetailing of economic development policies of SCO members, through the growing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The EEU groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

The SCO, an inter-governmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001, includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The combined GDP of the member states reached 12.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2015.

CHINA'S CONTRIBUTION

The six-pronged proposal emphasizes pragmatic cooperation and common development. It also draws up a blueprint for SCO development.

In line with the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, China has played a positive role in the development of the mechanism.

China is committed to building a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation. The Belt and Road has engaged more than 100 countries and international organizations since it was proposed in 2013, and has already made great progress.

China invested a total of 51.1 billion U.S. dollars in Belt and Road countries from autumn 2013 to July 2016, accounting for 12 percent of its total outbound direct investment.

The SCO has agreed that regional economic cooperation, including the Silk Road Economic Belt, is conducive to new models of international cooperation and cementing ties between members, according to a joint communique issued after the meeting.

Only by removing trade barriers and boosting connections within the framework of SCO, can members achieve win-win cooperation and build a community of shared destiny.
PARIS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- French police on Friday evacuated thousands of migrants from where they were camped outside Stalingrad Metro Station, north Paris, according to Ile-de-France prefecture.

Regional authorities cleared the migrant camp in the French capital where flows of refugees had increased in the past week after officials had removed the Calais "jungle" in northern France last week.

Earlier on Friday, 3,852 people were transferred to 78 shelters across Paris and its suburbs, the regional prefecture said in a statement.

According to Paris police, 600 police officers were deployed to remove tents and makeshift shelters where migrants, mainly from from Sudan, Libya, Syria and Somalia, had been sleeping for months.

"We have places to receive everyone...It's going well," housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse was quoted as saying in Le Point magazine.

"There are a lot of newcomers. It is essential that we shelter them. The aim is that these people are relocated in reception centers as quickly as possible," she added.

In September, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo pledged to open two centers for refugees by year-end as part of a plan to tackle camping in the capital's streets and better receive thousands of asylum seekers who had fled war and poverty in their native countries.

The French government pledged that 9,000 places would be made available at 460 reception and orientation centers for refugees. They are to be dispersed into groups of 40 to 50 people for a limited period between three and four months.

Migrants who fit the asylum criteria will stay in France while those who do not will be repatriated.
HARARE, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean finance minister has alleged that fake bond notes are already being printed ahead of the introduction of real ones to create confusion in the market, according to state media on Friday.

The announcement by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa jolted many Zimbabweans who are already wary of the new notes and are uncertain about the future of their U.S. dollar deposits.

The Herald reported Friday that Chinamasa told legislators at a pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo that the printers intended to release the bond notes at the same time the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) releases the new notes to the public.

"You may not be aware of this but fake bond notes have been printed to coincide with our release in order to confuse the situation." he said.

Denominations of 2 dollars and 5 dollars will be the first to be issued and will have a 1:1 value to the U.S. dollar as authorities move to curb cash hoarding, externalization and looting which had been associated with the U.S. dollar.

RBZ said this week that the bond notes would remain in circulation for as long as the country did not have its own official currency.

The central bank said the bond notes would be issued as an export incentive with exporters getting bonuses of between 2 and 5 percent of the value of total export receipts in bond notes.

It assured the public that the notes are not a currency but a financial instrument providing a contractual right to receive or deliver cash.

"Bond notes are not a surrogate Zimbabwe dollar for they are not currency but a financial instrument, issued at par with the U.S. dollar," the central bank said.

The bank noted that when bond coins were introduced in 2014 to deal with small change issues, many people were initially skeptical that they would not maintain their value, which they did.

It also emphasized that it would not print more than 200 million dollars worth of the notes.

While many people remain unsure of their future in an era of bond notes, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) urged them to embrace the notes, arguing this will ease the liquidity crunch.

CZR president Denford Mutashu told New Ziana that Zimbabweans should not be disheartened by the coming of bond notes since they would also help local companies boost production.

The bond notes will be redeemable at any bank in exchange for any of the eight multi-currencies in use in the economy, namely the U.S. dollar, South Africa rand, the Euro, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Chinese yuan, Botswana pula and Indian rupee.

The Zimbabwe dollar became moribund in February 2009 and made way to a multiple currency regime dominated by the U.S. dollar and, in the initial stages, the rand.

While the other currencies have hardly been in use, unsustainable current account and capital account deficits have put pressure on nostro accounts of banking institutions resulting in cash shortages and pressure on the RBZ to introduce the bond notes.

Many are wary of the new notes and hope that the RBZ is not trying to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar via the back door.

Economists and the RBZ are advocating greater use of plastic money, with the central bank intending to make 80 percent of monetary transactions to be via plastic money in the next five years.

However, while plastic money has worked in the formal sector, many people are still to accept its reliability especially after previous bank failures which wiped out the accounts of millions of clients. Enditem
File photo taken on July 18, 2013 shows the first direct cargo train leaving from Zhengzhou to Europe at the railway container center in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

by Zheng Jianghua, Shuai Rong

BRUSSELS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries boomed in the past year, experts and officials said days before the opening of an annual China-CEE summit.

The upcoming fifth summit of China and 16 CEE countries will be held in Riga, capital of Latvia.

The China-CEE summit, with a view to deepening traditional friendship and increasing mutual benefit, was initiated in Warsaw in 2012, and subsequently staged in Bucharest, Belgrade, and east China's Suzhou city.

FRUITFUL OUTCOMES

Dubbed as the 16+1 mechanism, the cooperation between China and CEE countries has yielded fruitful outcomes since Suzhou summit in November 2015, during which the two sides prioritized sectors for cooperation from 2015 to 2020, ranging from infrastructure, finance, agriculture to people-to-people exchange.

"By implementing the agenda set forth on the Suzhou Summit and linking 16+1 mechanism with the Belt and Road Initiative, China and CEE countries have seen fruitful outcomes during the past year, setting an example for regional cooperation," said Professor Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for European Studies at Renmin University of China.

One example is the launch of a thermal power plant in Stanari, 180 km northwest of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina(BIH), in September.

The power plant is built by a Chinese company with the help of a 350-million-euro (386.94 million U.S. dollars) loan from China Development Bank.

It is the first project to utilize the 10-billion-U.S. dollar Special Credit Line under the 16+1 mechanism, Chinese Ambassador to BiH Chen Bo told Xinhua in an interview after the launching ceremony, adding its success represents a concrete result in the 16+1 format.

Another example is Romania's announcement in May that the construction of Cernavoda nuclear power plant would be the country's priority.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by China General Nuclear and Romanian national nuclear company Nuclearelectrica in November last year, they will develop, construct, and operate unit three and four of the plant.

With an investment of more than 7 billion euros (7.74 billion U.S. dollars), it is the largest cooperation project in terms of the volume of capital between China and CEE countries.

The third example is the project for modernizing the Belgrade-Budapest railway. The construction work of the railway section in Serbia began late last year, and the section in Hungary was given go-ahead by the country's parliament in April, paving the way for the flagship project under the 16+1 mechanism.

The 370 km railway will significantly improve the transportation between the two countries, as it will shorten the traveling time between the two countries from eight hours to less than three.

By promoting interconnectivity, China and CEE countries have reshaped their trade structure and scaled up their trade volume. Data show that the number of China-Europe freight train lines, since its inception in 2011, have amounted to 39.On a regular basis,16 Chinese cities operate the cargo trains to about a dozen European cities. The trade volume between China and CEE countries reached 56.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an increase of 28 percent comparing to 2010.

Moreover, China-CEE countries have also deepened cooperation in the fields like traditional Chinese medicine, agricultural products and financial network during the past year, Wang noted.

"The 16+1 mechanism echoes the 'Look East' policy of EEC countries, deepens China's cooperation with CEE and the Europe at large, setting examples for other regions to link their own development strategies with China's Belt and Road Initiative," said Wang, adding "the 16+1 mechanism itself becomes a highlight of regional cooperation."

SOLID FOUNDATION FOR COOPERATION

Analysts noted China and CEE countries have solid foundation for collaboration, as CEE countries, which are eyeing better infrastructure and interconnectivity, want to use China's strength in these fields.

CEE countries are attracted to 16+1 mechanism because they need more investment to improve their infrastructure and economy, according to Professor Men Jing, director of the center for EU-China study at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

"At the same time, China is promoting the Belt and Road Initiative. To see it on the map, although the initiative covers west Europe, the key points are CEE countries," Men added.

The economies are complementary and thus have tremendous potential in cooperation, especially in the fields of industrial equipment and interconnectivity, professor Wang noted.

Taking interconnectivity as example, the professor said CEE countries had a plan of linking "Three Rivers" - namely the Elbe River, the Odra River, the Danube River - with "Three Seas" - namely the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea, while China is working with parties involved to build the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, which connects CEE with south Europe.

"Under the 16+1 mechanism, the two ambitious plans have tremendous potential for China-CEE cooperation," Wang said.

TIES WITH EU

When promoting the 16+1 cooperation, an unavoidable issue for China is its ties with the European Union(EU).

"Europe used to have a negative attitude towards the 16+1 mechanism, seeing it as China's tactic to split the EU," said Shada Islam, director of policy at Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe.

"In recent years, however, the EU gradually viewed it with understanding. But the EU must be assured that 16+1 mechanism is not a secret meeting," said Islam.

As the EU realized that China-CEE cooperation help narrow the gap among its members, the bloc now is more positive towards 16+1 mechanism, Wang noted.

China is also paying attention to the EU's concern about governance standards under the mechanism, he said.

"The 16+1 mechanism is an important part of China-EU relations; China is neither willing nor capable of splitting Europe," said Ambassador Yang Yanyi, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"China definitely has no idea to split the EU," Men echoed the ambassador. However, the professor added, "the result or effect of the 16+1 mechanism may unintentionally cause some misunderstanding on the EU side."

"So China should make efforts to remove the EU's suspicion on this issue, so as not to harm bilateral relations," she said.

Since the very beginning of China-CEE summit in 2012, China has been willing to invite the EU to participate in the 16+1 mechanism, Yang noted.

"China-CEE cooperation, guided by the principle of openness and transparency, aims at strengthening China-EU relations in an all-around way," said the ambassador.

"As always, China supports the integration of Europe and hopes that Europe is united, stable, and prosperous," she said.

Related:

Interview: "16+1 cooperation" new, important engine for China-Europe ties, says senior diplomat
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) awarded the Order of Friendship to Chen Ping, president of China's National Grand Theater, in Moscow, Nov. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)

MOSCOW, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday awarded a national award to Chen Ping, president of the National Grand Theater in Beijing, for his contribution to promoting Russia-China ties through cultural exchange.

Putin commended Chen for his efforts in strengthening relations between Russia and China with theater projects.

"I am glad to present you with the Order of Friendship," Putin said at the award ceremony. "Thanks to exchanges between peoples of both nations, the relations between Russia and China have reached an incredibly high level of true strategic partnership."

Founded in 1994, the Order of Friendship is meant to reward Russian citizens and foreign nationals for outstanding accomplishments in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding between peoples.

Among those awarded are former President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge and Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon.
File photo taken on July 18, 2013 shows the first direct cargo train leaving from Zhengzhou to Europe at the railway container center in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

by Zheng Jianghua, Shuai Rong

BRUSSELS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries boomed in the past year, experts and officials said days before the opening of an annual China-CEE summit.

The upcoming fifth summit of China and 16 CEE countries will be held in Riga, capital of Latvia.

The China-CEE summit, with a view to deepening traditional friendship and increasing mutual benefit, was initiated in Warsaw in 2012, and subsequently staged in Bucharest, Belgrade, and east China's Suzhou city.

FRUITFUL OUTCOMES

Dubbed as the 16+1 mechanism, the cooperation between China and CEE countries has yielded fruitful outcomes since Suzhou summit in November 2015, during which the two sides prioritized sectors for cooperation from 2015 to 2020, ranging from infrastructure, finance, agriculture to people-to-people exchange.

"By implementing the agenda set forth on the Suzhou Summit and linking 16+1 mechanism with the Belt and Road Initiative, China and CEE countries have seen fruitful outcomes during the past year, setting an example for regional cooperation," said Professor Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for European Studies at Renmin University of China.

One example is the launch of a thermal power plant in Stanari, 180 km northwest of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina(BIH), in September.

The power plant is built by a Chinese company with the help of a 350-million-euro (386.94 million U.S. dollars) loan from China Development Bank.

It is the first project to utilize the 10-billion-U.S. dollar Special Credit Line under the 16+1 mechanism, Chinese Ambassador to BiH Chen Bo told Xinhua in an interview after the launching ceremony, adding its success represents a concrete result in the 16+1 format.

Another example is Romania's announcement in May that the construction of Cernavoda nuclear power plant would be the country's priority.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by China General Nuclear and Romanian national nuclear company Nuclearelectrica in November last year, they will develop, construct, and operate unit three and four of the plant.

With an investment of more than 7 billion euros (7.74 billion U.S. dollars), it is the largest cooperation project in terms of the volume of capital between China and CEE countries.

The third example is the project for modernizing the Belgrade-Budapest railway. The construction work of the railway section in Serbia began late last year, and the section in Hungary was given go-ahead by the country's parliament in April, paving the way for the flagship project under the 16+1 mechanism.

The 370 km railway will significantly improve the transportation between the two countries, as it will shorten the traveling time between the two countries from eight hours to less than three.

By promoting interconnectivity, China and CEE countries have reshaped their trade structure and scaled up their trade volume. Data show that the number of China-Europe freight train lines, since its inception in 2011, have amounted to 39.On a regular basis,16 Chinese cities operate the cargo trains to about a dozen European cities. The trade volume between China and CEE countries reached 56.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an increase of 28 percent comparing to 2010.

Moreover, China-CEE countries have also deepened cooperation in the fields like traditional Chinese medicine, agricultural products and financial network during the past year, Wang noted.

"The 16+1 mechanism echoes the 'Look East' policy of EEC countries, deepens China's cooperation with CEE and the Europe at large, setting examples for other regions to link their own development strategies with China's Belt and Road Initiative," said Wang, adding "the 16+1 mechanism itself becomes a highlight of regional cooperation."

SOLID FOUNDATION FOR COOPERATION

Analysts noted China and CEE countries have solid foundation for collaboration, as CEE countries, which are eyeing better infrastructure and interconnectivity, want to use China's strength in these fields.

CEE countries are attracted to 16+1 mechanism because they need more investment to improve their infrastructure and economy, according to Professor Men Jing, director of the center for EU-China study at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

"At the same time, China is promoting the Belt and Road Initiative. To see it on the map, although the initiative covers west Europe, the key points are CEE countries," Men added.

The economies are complementary and thus have tremendous potential in cooperation, especially in the fields of industrial equipment and interconnectivity, professor Wang noted.

Taking interconnectivity as example, the professor said CEE countries had a plan of linking "Three Rivers" - namely the Elbe River, the Odra River, the Danube River - with "Three Seas" - namely the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea, while China is working with parties involved to build the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, which connects CEE with south Europe.

"Under the 16+1 mechanism, the two ambitious plans have tremendous potential for China-CEE cooperation," Wang said.

TIES WITH EU

When promoting the 16+1 cooperation, an unavoidable issue for China is its ties with the European Union(EU).

"Europe used to have a negative attitude towards the 16+1 mechanism, seeing it as China's tactic to split the EU," said Shada Islam, director of policy at Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe.

"In recent years, however, the EU gradually viewed it with understanding. But the EU must be assured that 16+1 mechanism is not a secret meeting," said Islam.

As the EU realized that China-CEE cooperation help narrow the gap among its members, the bloc now is more positive towards 16+1 mechanism, Wang noted.

China is also paying attention to the EU's concern about governance standards under the mechanism, he said.

"The 16+1 mechanism is an important part of China-EU relations; China is neither willing nor capable of splitting Europe," said Ambassador Yang Yanyi, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"China definitely has no idea to split the EU," Men echoed the ambassador. However, the professor added, "the result or effect of the 16+1 mechanism may unintentionally cause some misunderstanding on the EU side."

"So China should make efforts to remove the EU's suspicion on this issue, so as not to harm bilateral relations," she said.

Since the very beginning of China-CEE summit in 2012, China has been willing to invite the EU to participate in the 16+1 mechanism, Yang noted.

"China-CEE cooperation, guided by the principle of openness and transparency, aims at strengthening China-EU relations in an all-around way," said the ambassador.

"As always, China supports the integration of Europe and hopes that Europe is united, stable, and prosperous," she said.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- "Today we make history," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday, marking entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change at a meeting with representatives of civil society working to combat rising global temperatures.

The landmark pact, only agreed to by the world's nations in the French capital on Dec. 15, 2015, already has been ratified by nearly half of them, 96 as of Thursday, according to a UN spokesman.

"Today we make history in humankind' s efforts to combat climate change," Ban told the gathering here in a UN Headquarters conference room, noting it entered into force "in record time."

A previous major climate agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, took 8-years to enter into force. "This is a momentous day for all of us," said Ban, a prime mover behind the Paris Agreement. "I chose to mark it by meeting with representatives of civil society. I invited them here to thank them for their outstanding contributions and to ask how they are putting the Paris Agreement into action."

He listened as the representatives listed their major concerns in meeting the primary objective of the voluntary accord, to keep the world's temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era levels. One of the more common problems voiced was the perennial challenge of financing the phase-out of fossil fuels.

"You showed the climate challenge stakes and the solutions," the UN chief said. You mobilized hundreds of millions of people for the cause."

"We are still in a race against time," he said. "We need to transition to a low-emissions and climate-resilient future." "I ask each and every one of you to keep up the fight," Ban said. "Hold governments accountable and press for action."

President Peter Thomson of the UN General Assembly also marked "this historic day."

"Climate change undermines the ability of countries to achieve and maintain sustainable development," he said in a statement. "It represents an existential threat to large swathes of humanity. The implementation of the Paris Agreement is therefore critical if we are to overcome this extraordinary challenge and provide sustainable opportunity to present and future generations."

"As a Fijian, I am honored that my country was the first to ratify the Paris Agreement," he said. "I am pleased that other Member States have done the same at an urgent pace. But more than this, as a father and grandfather, I am overjoyed that the international community has recognized the severity of the situation and agreed to a common strategy that makes possible a sustainable way of life on this planet by addressing the fundamental challenge of climate change."
BUJUMBURA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Burundian National Human Rights Commission has urged the Burundian government and the UN Human Rights Agency to engage in a dialogue to solve their disagreements, the Commission chairman said Friday.

"We (the Commission) are concerned with deteriorating relations between the Burundian government and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Burundi. We therefore call on the Burundian government and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Burundi to engage in a dialogue and solve disagreements," said Burundian National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) Chairman Jean Baptiste Baribonekeza.

He also urged both the Burundian government and the (OHCHR) in Burundi to "review" the cooperation framework in order to resume cooperation as soon as possible.

On Oct. 11, the Burundian government decided to suspend cooperation and collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Burundi.

Burundian Government said that the decision was taken in the aftermath of the "role played" by the Office during the preparation of the "biased and controversial" report written by three UN experts on violations of human rights in Burundi.

As a result, Burundi declared the three UN independent experts -- who had written the report -- "undesirable" on the east African country's territory.

The CNIDH Chairman also indicated that he took note of the pullout, by Burundi, of the International Criminal Court (ICC), but urged the Burundian judiciary to prosecute human rights violations.

"The withdrawal from the ICC should not mean that human rights violations will be exempted from prosecution. On the contrary, we interpret this as a duty of national jurisdictions to continue and conclude investigations on human rights violations," said Baribonekeza.

On Oct. 18, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a decree on the east African country's pullout of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In addition, the CNIDH chairman called on the Burundian government to "review" the decision, taken last month, of cancelling five civil society organizations and the decision of suspending other five civil society organizations. Enditem
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks to journalists on the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Nov. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- "Today we make history," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday, marking entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change at a meeting with representatives of civil society working to combat rising global temperatures.

The landmark pact, only agreed to by the world's nations in the French capital on Dec. 15, 2015, already has been ratified by nearly half of them, 96 as of Thursday, according to a UN spokesman.

"Today we make history in humankind' s efforts to combat climate change," Ban told the gathering here in a UN Headquarters conference room, noting it entered into force "in record time."

A previous major climate agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, took 8-years to enter into force. "This is a momentous day for all of us," said Ban, a prime mover behind the Paris Agreement. "I chose to mark it by meeting with representatives of civil society. I invited them here to thank them for their outstanding contributions and to ask how they are putting the Paris Agreement into action."

He listened as the representatives listed their major concerns in meeting the primary objective of the voluntary accord, to keep the world's temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era levels. One of the more common problems voiced was the perennial challenge of financing the phase-out of fossil fuels.

"You showed the climate challenge stakes and the solutions," the UN chief said. You mobilized hundreds of millions of people for the cause."

"We are still in a race against time," he said. "We need to transition to a low-emissions and climate-resilient future." "I ask each and every one of you to keep up the fight," Ban said. "Hold governments accountable and press for action."

President Peter Thomson of the UN General Assembly also marked "this historic day."

"Climate change undermines the ability of countries to achieve and maintain sustainable development," he said in a statement. "It represents an existential threat to large swathes of humanity. The implementation of the Paris Agreement is therefore critical if we are to overcome this extraordinary challenge and provide sustainable opportunity to present and future generations."

"As a Fijian, I am honored that my country was the first to ratify the Paris Agreement," he said. "I am pleased that other Member States have done the same at an urgent pace. But more than this, as a father and grandfather, I am overjoyed that the international community has recognized the severity of the situation and agreed to a common strategy that makes possible a sustainable way of life on this planet by addressing the fundamental challenge of climate change."
Saffron comprised almost two thirds of Iran's exports of medicinal herbs, and damask rose and other herbs comprised the rest of the exports. (AFP photo)

TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's exports of medicinal herbs, including saffron, surpassed 300 million U.S. dollars in the past ten months following the lift of sanctions by the West against the Islamic republic, Press TV reported on Friday.

Saffron comprised almost two thirds of the exports, and damask rose and other herbs comprised the rest of the exports, Peyman Yousefi Azar, the director of Medicinal Herbs Department of Iran's Ministry of Agriculture, was quoted as saying.

Iran still needs to develop serious plans to promote its herbs industry as an important non-oil source of revenues, Yousefi Azar said.

Major consumers of Iran's medicinal herbs are Pakistan, the UAE, Germany, Japan and China, he said.

Iran's diverse geographic environment is apt for the growth of numerous species of plants to be used in medicine.

According to the report, Iran's exports of botanical products declined over the past few years as a result of western sanctions and stood at around 100 million dollars per year.

The surge of exports in less than one year may be a direct result of the removal of the sanctions subject to the deal reached between Iran and the world powers last year, Yousefi Azar added.
RUSHINGA, ZIMBABWE, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- It is a hot afternoon and a team of local men and a Chinese engineer donning work suits are busy operating a borehole drilling machine at the remote Rushinga business centre 210 km northeast of Harare.

After a while, the machine stops running and workers start removing equipment from the site.

"We have failed to get water. The machine has drilled 75 meters down but still we have not reached the water table. We have to quickly look for a new site where we can easily get water because people are eager and need water," said a Chinese official from China Jiangxi Corporation.

His statement is greeted with murmurs of dejection by expectant residents who had been milling around the site.

"This is disappointing. We were all hoping the drilling would succeed but anyway, we have to look for a new site now," said Farai Mukoka, a councilor for Rushinga District and one of the officials who were watching the drilling.

Like many parts in the country, Rushinga business center and the entire district has been hit by a water crisis, forcing residents and villagers to rely on the few boreholes that still have water as many have dried up.

Some residents at the business center have resorted to buying water from a resident who has a borehole and sells the water for 20 U.S. cents per 20 liter bucket. A primary school and a clinic at the center now ask pupils and patients to bring 2 liter bottles of water everyday.

China Jiangxi Corporation has been quietly drilling boreholes in dry, remote rural parts of Zimbabwe since 2012 as part of Chinese government support to Zimbabwe.

The help has become much more pronounced this year, following an El-Nino induced drought that has left a quarter of the rural population in need of food aid.

The drought is the worst in three decades and has devastated harvests, having killed thousands of cattle and caused several dams in the country to dry up.

As a result, finding water has become a daily struggle for many Zimbabweans as both rural and urban local authorities ration the little water available.

The Chinese official from China Jiangxi Corporation said the firm was contracted by the Chinese government in 2012 to drill boreholes in Zimbabwe after the two governments signed a five-year cooperation agreement.

The Chinese government provides funds for the borehole project which is being implemented in three phases and targeting to sink about 500 boreholes in Zimbabwe.

The first phase ran from 2012 to 2013 and 64 boreholes were sunk in the dry Matabeleland region, while the second phase ran from 2014-2015 and saw 136 boreholes being sunk in Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Manicaland Provinces, the Chinese official said.

The third phase targeting 300 boreholes would run from 2016 to 2017, he said.

He said the company is targeting to drill 12 boreholes in Rushinga District and five had so far been completed.

"We will continue with our borehole project even during the rainy season until we complete all the boreholes," the official said.

The project has brought relief to residents of the business center and villagers in Rushinga, one of the most dry and remote areas of Zimbabwe.

Rushinga District administrator Hebert Mandizvidza thanked the Chinese government for the assistance, saying it had improved access to clean water by people in the district.

"This is so superb, so beautiful," Mandizvidza said as water started gushing out at another site just outside Rushinga business center where borehole drilling had just been completed.

"As you can see, villagers are quite happy as the water will also help their livestock," he said.

28 year-old Rotina Mazamva, who is expecting her second child and one of the village women who had rushed to the site to see the water gushing out, could not hide her joy.

"I can't wait for them to finish so that we can start to draw water from the borehole. It has been very difficult for us to get water since all the streams have dried up. I am very happy that we will now be able to have access to clean water," she said.

Young boys watching the gushing water were all smiles and said they will now be spared the agony of travelling long distances to fetch water for their cattle.

At yet at another site in the district, village women were seen towards sunset trooping to a Chinese drilled borehole to fetch water.

The borehole was drilled in 2013 and has never dried up like what others in the same area have done.

"We are very grateful to the Chinese government for drilling this borehole. Our lives have been transformed because we don't have water problems. Instead of what others are doing spending most of their time looking for water, we are using ours to do productive work," said 56 year-old Florence Mazvidza, a grandmother of seven and chairperson of the village committee tasked with looking after the borehole.
by Shuai Rong, Zheng Jianghua

BRUSSELS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, dubbed the "16+1 cooperation", has maintained sound momentum of growth over the past four years, and has become a new, important engine for China-Europe ties, a senior Chinese diplomat has said.

Ambassador Yang Yanyi, head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU), made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua, ahead of the fifth Meeting of Heads of Government of China and CEE Countries that is set for Nov. 5 in Riga, the capital of Latvia.

She said the "16+1 cooperation", a platform jointly created in April 2012 by China and CEE countries to deepen traditional ties and widen practical cooperation, is an important, integral part of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and it complements the partnership.

China, the world's second-largest economy, and the CEE countries, many of them emerging markets seeking foreign investment to upgrade local infrastructure, are highly complementary.

To find synergy between China's enterprises and investors wishing to "go global" and the CEE countries where demands for inbound investment are increasingly rising, provide great power and opportunity for the "16+1 cooperation", according to Yang.

"The Chinese side is willing to work with the European partners to seek synergies between their development strategies, and turn each other's demands into 'visible, tangible' cooperation projects, with an aim to complement each other's endeavors and achieve common development," the Chinese diplomat said.

The win-win cooperation between China and the 16 CEE countries over the past four years have always been conducted through consultation to meet the interests of all, Yang said.

She said China fully respected the 16 CEE countries' willingness to cooperate, noting that most of the existing China-CEE cooperation projects were actually first proposed by the CEE countries.

The "16+1 cooperation" has so far achieved early harvest in implementing the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative in Europe and linking the initiative with the development strategies of the CEE countries, according to the diplomat.

Citing examples, she mentioned that China and CEE countries such as the Czech Republic had signed an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding on jointly promoting the Belt and Road initiative.

China's increased imports of CEE agricultural products not only provides more consumption choices for Chinese residents but also helps CEE countries' economic development, Yang said.

China's active involvement in CEE countries' local infrastructure projects, such as the Hungary-Serbia railway, not only helps Chinese enterprises and equipment "go global" but also contributes to the upgrading of CEE countries' infrastructure and to the improving of European transport connectivity, she added.

The "16+1 cooperation" mechanism is now increasingly mature, advancing the China-CEE cooperation in various areas and laying a solid foundation for further cooperation, Yang said, noting that the Medium-Term Agenda for Cooperation between China and CEE Countries, adopted during last year's China-CEE summit in Suzhou, has set the roadmap for the future cooperation between both sides.

Noting that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-Latvia diplomatic ties, Yang said China considers Latvia an important partner in the Baltics and values its ties with Latvia.

Moreover, she hoped for a fruitful fifth Meeting of Heads of Government of China and CEE Countries.
A tourist feeds black-headed gulls at the Dianchi Lake in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Nov. 4, 2016. Thousands of black-headed gulls living here have attracted residents and tourists to visit. (Xinhua/Yang Zongyou)
OWTU rejects broke claim

The union served strike notice on the company on October 19, one day before the two sides were to hold conciliation talks at the San Fernando office of the Ministry of Labour and the workers went on strike on October 20.

IOCL insists that it cannot afford to pay the 80 percent increase or anything close to that and the dispute will have to be be referred to the Industrial Court for determination after the end of the strike and will have to be settled at the court.

IOCL has a contract with Petrotrin for the provision of Marine Vessel Services.

The company said in a statement that it has been negotiating with the OWTU for the period which it pointed out has already expired.

The statement said the company and the union held several bilateral and conciliation meetings at the Ministry of Labour and has been meeting and treating in good faith in an attempt to settle the outstanding negotiations for a period it repeated has already expired.

According to the company, the OWTU is demanding that it pay its employees Petrotrins Minimum Wage in accordance with Petrotrins General Conditions of Contract, one clause of which states that The contractor shall pay its employees, and ensure that its subcontractors pay their employees not less than the minimum rate for the particular job classification as provided in the schedule to the existing collective agreement between Petrotrin and the OWTU and in addition any COLA and other bonuses which may be applicable at the time the agreement is entered to. However, the company says that another clause in the contract states that the provision does not apply if the contractor has negotiated a separate agreement with the union or has a current registered collective agreement with any other recognised trade union in the country. Since IOCL does have an agreement with the OWTU, the company says the unions demand is not valid, adding that the company did not tender using Petrotrins minimum wage rates.

Lindon Mendoza, Chief Labour Officer of the OWTU, said the companys argument is ludicrous.

He says the work rate is set in the Petrotrin agreement for contractors and Petrotrin workers and if there is a standard rate then the contractors rate cannot be lower than the minimum.

He said the union was not asking the company to pay above the work rates but merely to match them. He also said the union does not believe IOCLs claim that it cannot pay the rate increases being sought by the OWTU because other contractors providing the same service are doing so. If others could pay it and they cant pay it, it is a bit suspicious. We dont believe that they cant pay. The company says that despite the unions stance it has been meeting and treating in good faith to try to settle the negotiations and has persisted with the meetings although the negotiations have broken down at the Ministry of Labour.

The company accused the OWTU of refusing to extend the time to allow the Minister of Labour to conciliate the dispute. The company said that it has even proposed a settlement for the period 2013 to 2015 and for the period 2016 to 2018 which would have resulted in retroactive payments to its employees.
Mother of girl killed in fire, in court

Mother of three, Alicia Harry, 32, together with two other accused women, Janelle York, 27, and Nelly Mohipath, 22, appeared before Magistrate Cheryl Ann Antoine, jointly charged with the offences.

The charges against them alleged that exactly one year ago, on November 3, 2015, they committed acts of grievous body harm during an altercation with relatives at Uquire Road, Freeport. The virtual complainants __ Elijah Ramoutar, Akiel Harry and Anton Harry __ were absent from the hearing yesterday. The charges stemmed from a domestic dispute amongst relatives, police said. After Antoine read out the charges yesterday, prosecutor Sgt Bennet Sgt Lincoln Bonnet told the court that he had no instructions on how to proceed with the matter. WPC Baptiste of the Freeport Police Station laid the charges.

On Tuesday, when the funeral service for Anisha was in progress at the familys home at Freeport, police attempted to execute a warrant for her mother Alicia Harry.

However it was not executed on the bereaved mother who instead went to the Freeport Police Station and gave herself up the following morning (Wednesday). Hours later, Harry together with the two co-accused appeared in the Couva court before a Justice of the Peace (JP) who adjourned the case to yesterday.

The JP granted them $150,000 bail to be approved by a Clerk of the Peace. Each of the women were granted $50,000 bail and the case adjourned to December 1.
Cops await DPPs instruction

One of the detained officers had retired from the TT Police Service recently with more than 30 years service. He returned as an SRP and is posted in the Central Division.

The other officer, an SRP, has two years service and is posted at the Princes Town Police Station.

Police investigators told Newsday that the incident occurred at Mt Pleasant Road, Springvale, Claxton Bay, on Monday at about 11 pm. Neighbours Bradley Ramnarine, 25, and his common-law wife Vanessa Vialva, 21, reported to police that they were in their car near PJs Bar at Mt Pleasant Road, Springvale, where a heated argument ensued. Vialva claimed that the detained woman and one of the officers dragged her out of the car and into their nearby yard. They began beating her with a piece of wood.
GOVT GOES AFTER PP

Nine persons, all of whom were. associated with the State agency. during the Peoples Partnership. administration, are named in the. lawsuit filed in the Civil Registry. of the Hall of Justice on Wednesday,. which claims malfeasance in. a chain of corruption, breaches of. fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. first spoke of the high court action. at yesterdays post-Cabinet media. briefing. He confirmed Government. had filed its first action in. the courts to prosecute persons. who stole money from the people. of Trinidad and Tobago. Dr Rowley. did not reveal who the subjects of. the matter are but said it was filed. by the Office of the Attorney General.

He raised the matter in response. to a statement by the Leader of. the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar,. who suggested that the announcement. of a zero percent offer. in negotiations for public servants. from 2017 to 2020, as a declaration. of war against hard-working citizens.

(See Page 8A). Yes the government has declared. war but the war is not on. government employees or the. working class. The war we have. declared is on corruption and on. those people who have made it a. career of stealing public money,. Dr Rowley said. He added that at. the exact time that Minister of Finance. Colm Imbert was speaking. on the zero percent position at the. conference on Wednesday, the Office. of Attorney General was filing,. the first action by the government. against persons who have improperly. removed money for their own. benefits.. In so far as we are able to we will. make every effort to get money that. was removed, the prime minister. said. Speaking hours later, prior to. a meeting at the Ministry of National. Security, Attorney General. Faris Al-Rawi confirmed that proceedings. had been filed by the government.

Al-Rawi was judicious in. his comments, saying it was not his. intention and that of government. to engage in smear litigation.

He too refused to name the defendants. in the lawsuit, but Newsday. understands the nine persons. who among them were involved in. the operations of the Housing Development. Corporation (HDC).

Yesterday, all Al-Rawi would. say of the lawsuit was that it, surrounds. the core of corruption, unjust. enrichment, breach of certain. duties and was designed to tackle. corruption, mismanagement and. call on those persons to account for. what they have done.. He said the lawsuit was filed following. a thorough investigation. by the State. We intend to let due. process take its course, he said.

The AG did reveal that the lawsuit. was a carefully managed one. with several applications. He further. disclosed that there were nine. defendants in the suit, including. some public officials. Ultimately. the people would want to know. that we are taking a responsible. approach, he said, adding that the. Government was confident of the. lawsuits success.

We are confident of what we. have brought to the courts, he added.

Other cases are expected to be. filed by the Government as it seeks. to recover monies misappropriated. from various State agencies under. the previous administrations tenure. in office.

I am going to be rather circumscribed. in the information I give,. Al-Rawi said. He reminded of. the Peoples National Movement. (PNM) campaign promise of ensuring. that once there was evidence,. footprints, fingerprints of. corruption, wasteful mismanagement,. that persons with questions. to answer would be brought to. account for their actions. The Attorney. General also hinted at possible. criminal prosecutions against. persons.

.
$145M HDC deal for Elias

Elias, who heads the board that oversees the majority Stateowned TSTT (Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), is the executive chairman of NHIC..

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mitchell said, evaluated the bids..

Among those present for the ceremony were Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, MP for St Joseph and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, chairman of the San Juan/Laventille Corporation Anthony Roberts within whose jurisdiction the project falls, and Elias of NHIC - the winning bidder. In his address, Rowley said the contractor will be setting the example for others to follow, so that in a way he was on trial. One thing Rowley said he does not want is for the contractor to say that he was experiencing cost overruns or delays among other excuses..

Noting the subsidies that will be going into the project to meet the budget of low income earners, he urged those who will obtain the housing to pay their mortgages or rent. The project was blessed by parish priest for the Holy Family RC Church in Mount Lambert Fr Cornelius Phillips..

The HDC, through the Trinidad and Tobago Mortgage Finance Bank, has pre-qualified close to 1,000 applicants from the HDC database, who have met the criteria as prospective buyers for the units, Mitchell said. The affordable mortgage programme announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in the 2017 Budget, Mitchell said, would make the acquisition of the units more accessible to citizens..

He noted Imbert had also announced that there will be a 50 percent tax break and other fiscal incentives for private investors willing to contribute capital, land and other resources for the construction of public infrastructure such as housing. In this instance, Government has provided the land and NHIC will raise the capital, which the company will recover when the units are sold or rented..

Mitchell expects that 800 new housing units will be built under the PPP model during 2016 to 2018. The project which is due to get underway next month is expected to be completed by December 2018. Mitchell said since he took office, he has presided over two turning-of-the sod ceremonies for housing projects, but this was the first to be undertaken under the PPP model..

WHO IS EMILE ELIAS? Elias was appointed TSTT chairman on November 6, 2015, but prior to this the businessman was a prominent player in events under both the Peoples National Movement (PNM) and the Peoples Partnership (PP) administrations..

NHIC was the construction firm in the Landate scandal which involved Rowley, the Diego Martin West MP (now Prime Minister), over the shipment of materials for a private development of the Rowley family in Tobago and a connection to the Scarborough hospital which NHIC was building at the time. The matter was investigated by the Integrity Commission but the courts found the commission had erred by not giving Rowley a chance to respond to allegations of impropriety..

NHIC was also caught up in controversy over the same Scarborough hospital project which saw it spar with the former Patrick Manning administration after the matter went to arbitration. NHIC was also the contractor involved in the Cleaver Heights debacle when Manning (who died on July 2, this year) sparred with Rowley, the then Housing Minister, over his administration of the project..

Despite Mannings claims, Elias denied anything was amiss, and a commission of inquiry into the public construction sector unearthed no wrongdoing..

Elias has also had a legal battle with Finance Minister Colm Imbert which saw the Diego Martin North-East MP being ordered in 2011 to pay over $55 million to NHIC, owed for work done on the Grenada National Stadium construction project in 1997. In 2009, when Imbert was Works and Transport Minister, Elias made a complaint to the Integrity Commission in relation to queries whether Imbert had filed all his assets to the commission..

Elias NHIC constructed the new $115 million Customs Building at the Government Campus Plaza. In July 2006, some 20 workers escaped death on that site when steel scaffolding, over 100 feet above the ground, collapsed..
PSA members want Duke out

Tensions flared between PSA members and their First Vice President Christopher Joefield after members learnt they were barred from several General Council meetings.

Chairman of the Pt Fortin Corporation Section Jude Davidson lamented that there were procedures the PSA needed to follow before a person is debarred from a meeting and it was not done.

We were debarred from the General Council and you (Joefield) come here now playing you dont know what is taking place, which you very well know why we were debarred. Your secretary who is supposed to be a lawyer wrote this piece of crap and debarred me.

It never had a conference in the proceeding and I was debarred, on what basis Mr Joefield, Davidson asked.

Following a heated discussion between the two parties, Joefield invited some of the General Council members to a meeting to address the issues. Joefield said, It is an internal matter ventilated in the public domain and if we have to talk we can go inside and discus the matter and get the matter sorted out. If the members have a problem with the approach taken, we would expect they follow the procedures. To come to the media is not our way in doing things, Joefield said.

During a press conference held yesterday outside PSAs headquarters on Abercromby Street, Portof- Spain, Davidson told reporters the purpose of the press conference was to highlight calls for Duke to be removed as president.

There is a member of the PSA who is on criminal charges. Normally when you are on criminal charges that person is supposed to be suspended from their job. But to date this person is still a member of the PSA...which should never happen, Davidson said.

It is only because we have decided to speak out about these issues that we were debarred from going up to the General Council meetings. He continued, We are saying this morning that Mr Duke has to go and we are not going to be any pushovers...his time has reached and he has to go! Davidson said the union belongs to the people and at present, members of PSA have no representation.

He said the PSAs election is carded for November 25, 2017 and they are advising members to come out and vote Duke out. Efforts by Newsday tor reach Duke for a comment yesterday proved futile.
Petrotrin admits things not going well

The recent strike action has affected operations at Trinmar as reliable transport is critical to ensuring our effectiveness in servicing our offshore installations, Petrotrin stated, though noted that the company was monitoring the situation closely and contingency measures have been implemented to limit the impact of the disruption in service.

Petrotrin wishes to encourage both parties to seek early resolution of this matter as the absence of this service continues to adversely affect our operations, the company stated.

In a media statement yesterday, Petrotrin also noted that IOCL had a separate collective agreement with the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) and the union had served strike notice on IOCL on October 20 after receiving an unresolved certificate from the Ministry of Labour. Regarding the status of its outstanding negotiations with the OWTU, the company noted that negotiations for the 2011- 2015 bargaining period had begun in November 2013.

After a year of discussions these negotiations were referred to the Ministry of Labour. In December 2014 after a 14 day conciliatory period the Minister of Labour determined these negotiations unresolved, the company stated. The matter is currently before the Industrial Court and Petrotrin will continue to subscribe to the procedures outlined in the Industrial Relations Act, the company added.
OWTU proposes labour restraint

Speaking after signing off on the collective agreement between the OWTU and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (TTEC), Ancel Roget, the unions president general, put Finance Minister Colm Imbert on notice that a national shutdown may be coming next year if the price of gas goes up further. You cant say that youve raised gas once, twice and there has been no riot. Increase it a third time and you will get the riots! You will get it the likes of which you can neither handle nor remember this country ever having, Roget vowed yesterday.

Imbert on Wednesday triggered a firestorm when, signalling a third 15 percent rise in the price of gas is likely next year, he joked, they (population) havent rioted yet since the last two increases following reductions in the fuel subsidies.

Before an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Caribbean forum at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, Imbert also said government will have to exercise wage restraint in negotiations starting from a zero percent position up to possible settlements that will be less than 14 percent. His remarks were reported on online as a wage freeze, which led Imbert to call a press conference at the Eric Williams Financial Complex to clarify that he had said wage restraint and not wage freeze, then disclosing the OWTU/TTEC settlement of an estimated $500 million.

Roget was not however moved by Imberts talk of a wage restraint, stating that regardless of the language used, it all amounted to the same thing in the labour movements mind.

Moreover, Roget said Imberts comments at the IMF conference may indicate that the country is deeper in the hands of the international agency than is being revealed.

It sends the very potent signal that he is beginning to annunciate austerity measures and IMF policies. They said they were not going to enforce IMF conditionalities but that is exactly what it looks like. He added that the trade union movement is wondering whether what Imbert spoke of is his own policy, or government policy and said there is now a certain level of mistrust given that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, when he was Opposition Leader, signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to uphold the tripartite process
British ship blocks Galicia

In a press release, the Trinidad and Tobago Inter-island Transportation Company Ltd apologised for what it called an inconvenience, saying the failure of the cargo vessel to dock was due to communication issues.

TTIT advises that due to some communication issues with all parties involved in the operations on said day, the Superfast Galicia was unable to occupy its normal berth at the Port of Scarborough as scheduled. This resulted in the vessels return to Trinidad, causing major upset with our customers who expected to offload their cargoes destined for Tobago, the release said.

TTIT assured customers using the Superfast Galicia that all arrangements were in place to ensure the schedule was maintained and all operations would be effected for the timely berthing/unberthing of all vessels at the respective ports.

Newsday Tobago learnt that the Superfast Galicia couldnt dock at the Scarborough Port on Tuesday evening because the visiting British naval vessel, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight, was berthed in the channel where the cargo vessel must turn before docking.

The situation was rectified by Wednesday evening as the warship left the port at 5 pm, and the cargo vessel docked at its usual 8pm time.

Hadad, in calling for a probe into why the Superfast Galicia was forced to return to Trinidad with cargo, said Port officials appear to be working in isolation and that the persons responsible for travel and planning at the port were not carrying out their duties in an effective.

She said port officials admitted information could have better coordinated.
British HC feels sorry

Stew yesterday said, I can only sympathise with the good people of Trinidad and Tobago whose lives were affected by the non-docking of the ferry (MV Superfast) Galicia in the Scarborough port on Tuesday evening this week.

At the British High Commission we are acutely aware of the importance of the ferries - passenger and cargo - to both islands and took this into account in our visit planning. The BHC also expressed regret for any inconvenience caused by what some have described as a miscommunication while noting that during its time here, much good has been done by the RFA Wave Knight and its crew.

(They) are part of a year-round British naval presence in the Caribbean.

On this visit, the RFA Wave Knight has been delighted to conduct emergency exercises with TEMA in Tobago. British Army Royal Engineer Commandos from the ship have also carried out work supporting the Child Welfare League, Signal Hill Secondary School on a renewable energy project and the Sea Scouts, including at Roxborough Secondary School, Stew stated.

The Galicia, chartered by the TT Government in May 2014, is operated by the TT Inter- Island Transportation Company (TTIT).

Speaking with Newsday yesterday, TTITs Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Vilma Lewis-Cockburn, said a report into the incident is being compiled to determine where exactly the communication breakdown occurred.

Its our people (TTIT), the BHC, the port, the pilots, the berthing people, the harbour control. So we need to understand what was everybodys role in all this to determine where the miscommunication occurred...

Im waiting on the report, then Ill be in a better position to say what really happened on that day (November 1). Lewis-Cockburn could not say whether or not the Port Authority of TT (PATT) would be compiling the report
South lawyers vote to keep trial by jury

At the ceremonial opening of the 2016-17 law term, Chief Justice Ivor Archie proposed that criminal trial by jury should be banned as he cited delays because of the length of time it takes for the trial of accused persons to be heard. ASL president attorney Imran Khan stated that the discussion among attorneys at the consultation, were robust in which arguments for and against the proposal, were highlighted.

Some of the issues raised in favour, were questions about whether jurors who comprised the peers of an accused person, pay sufficient attention to evidence, especially in long drawn-out trials.

There is the risk that members of a jury can be tampered with, and even more damaging, is whether jurors are not often too emotional when hearing and considering evidence in certain criminal trials.

The attorneys also discussed the issue of pre-trial publicity and as well, whether jurors can appreciate complex issues of law, especially in fraud cases. The points in favour of retention of the jury system were considered as well, and the highlight of all the considerations, was the possibility that judges can become very subjective in deciding cases.

The alternative to the replacing trial by jury, is the establishing of a system in which one or more judges would adjudicate in criminal trials.

The check and balance is the fact that the accused person would enjoy the benefit of having two or three judges consider his or her case.

ASL president Khan stated that attorneys have the option to object to certain persons sitting as jurors.  A panel of jurors comprised members of the society and this provides a mixture of persons from different backgrounds judging the fate of the acused as opposed to a single person with their own biases, Khan stated.

The ASLs attorneys, he added, also discussed the issue of whether judges who have restricted lifestyles, may tend to be too conservative in their approach to issues of the common man such as vegetable vendor and the taxi driver.

In that, they lack sufficient life experience to understand what may truly be taking place in society, Khan stated.

The ASL meeting ended with a vote being taken, he stated, and apart from one abstention, there was unanimous agreement among the practitioneers present, that the jury system should be retained.
PM: Govt committed to collective bargaining

The Prime Minister also noted the subsequent clarification made by Imbert at a news conference at his ministry later that day to correct an erroneous CNC3 story which said he announced a wage freeze at the forum. Rowley explained that when Imbert spoke about restraint it is exactly that. He said by now all citizens must agree that things are not what we would like them to be in terms of the economy.

In this regard, he said, It is not for the Government to panic the national community as we engage in treating with our circumstances. However Rowley said the Government expects that all citizens will not conduct their business in such a way that we are aiming to get more from less, if we understand that it is less that is available at this time. The Prime Minister explained that as the country treats with its economic challenges, the best way to do it is that we choose our own medicine. He said that it is Governments intention to do this as against trying to preserve the status quo and end up as the lender of last resort (International Monetary Fund). While he expressed confidence that the economic initiatives that Government is pursuing will bring improvements to the lives of citizens, Rowley said the Government has been cautioned against an approach to anticipate greater increases and improvements than the economy can handle. He said when economic improvements come, the benefits must be shared by all. He explained that even if the benefits to citizens are less than what we have been accustomed to, there should be something to be had. Rowley said this was why the Government launched the National Tripartite Advisory Council earlier this year and we have no intention of throwing collective bargaining out the window. The Prime Minister said in collective bargaining there will be opening gambits and there will be conclusion of negotiations. He added, That is basically cast in stone. Supporting Imberts comment that zero was the starting point for Government in these negotiations, Rowley said there is no zero-zero wage negotiations going on at this time involving employees of the State. He added the comment by Imbert was made in a vacuum and created a speculative position which certain segments of the media had fun with.

Asked to comment on Imberts remark about people not rioting as he disclosed considering a possible 15 percent fuel increase when he presents the Mid-Year Review in Parliament next April, Rowley said, I dont want to walk back for the Minister of Finance but simply want to confirm that it is not the policy or the intention of the Government of TT to measure the impact of its policies by public disorder in any form.
The freeze comes after Local Govt election

The latest statements by the Minister of Finance... I think he is speaking the truth, Persad- Bissessar said adding, for the first time I believe the Minister of Finance. Addressing a media conference at the UNC Headquarters in Couva yesterday she also cited Imberts statement about raising fuel prices saying the population would experience the real sting of Imberts words following the November 28 Local Government election. And it is only because there is a Local Government election in 25 days, that they are attempting to back away, she said.

How can a Minister of Finance sit there and smile and say in the budget in 2015, I increased gas by 15 percent, in the mid-term review in April 2016, I increased it by another 15 percent, and then in the last budget 2016, I increased by another 15 percent so if I have to do it again nobody is rioting, so I can do it again? It is the height of recklessness, arrogance, and a total lack of care and understanding with respect to what the people are experiencing in this country, she said.

Persad-Bissessar then cited Chapter 6202 of the Trinidad and Tobago laws governing the formula for the calculating of the fuel subsidy saying the Minister may be in breach of those laws.

The real sting is in the tail that is to come after the Local Government election, she said, adding, and that is why the Prime Minister is spinning it and saying there is no wage freeze. I see them holding their hands for the next three weeks and then the tsunami is going to come after the Local Government election, she added. Persad-Bissessar also questioned the forum at which Imbert made his statements concerning the wage restraint and further hikes in fuel and wondered whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was in charge of the government.

Is the IMF calling the shots, and wherever the IMF calls the shots in a country, their bottom line is only dollars and cents, there is no care for people and people-focused development, and no people-focused help, she said. She said the population had to send a clear message to the ruling PNM administration by voting against them and for the Opposition party.
Garcia visits three troubled schools

Speaking following a visit to the school on Wednesday, Garcia said he was very impressed with the level of discipline at the school. In February last, I also paid a visit to that school together with a team of officials from the Ministry of Education and that visit was because of some concerns that were expressed not only by the teachers and the students but by parents and the community, he said.

And I had to take some very decisive action, in fact what I did on that occasion was ask the principal to give me a list of those students who were being very disruptive and as a result, I took them out and they were sent to learning enhancement centres, he said, adding, today was a follow- up visit so that we could have received first-hand information on how things have progressed so far.
Over 32 million vote early in US presidential election

United States,Politics, Thu, 03 Nov 2016 IANS

Washington, Nov 4 (IANS) Over 32 million voters have already cast their ballots by Thursday to choose the next US President, but mixed trends still leave much in uncertainty.

Statistics gathered by the University of Florida show though overall early voter number remained steady, reaching 71 per cent of that in 2012, state turnout rates and early voter demographic have changed considerably, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the key swing states of Florida and North Carolina, which are believed to hold the biggest sway in the outcome, early voter turnout has reached 101 and 84 per cent of that in 2012.

Other states with particularly enthusiastic voters include Massachusettes, which traditionally supports the Democratic Party, and Louisiana, a red state.

In addition, numbers showed that black early voter turnout dropped 18 per cent compared with the 2008, which does not bode well for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, who lacks the popularity the sitting President Barack Obama enjoys among blacks.

Despite changing trends, experts say it is too early to make predictions for the big question.

Seth Masket, a political scientist from University of Denver, warned against reading too much into early voting results, as past records have showed that it "very weakly" predicts the final result.

According to state voting laws, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow voters to cast their ballots in person or through mail prior to the election day, while six states allow absentee voting with an excuse and seven do not allow any form of early voting.

--IANS

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Almost 240 feared dead after 2 migrant shipwrecks: UNHCR

United Arab Emirates,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 03 Nov 2016 IANS

Geneva, Nov 4 (IANS) An estimated 239 migrants are missing after two separate boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast on Wednesday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) confirmed on Thursday.

"Survivors from one boat said about 140 people, including six children and approximately 20 women, some of them pregnant, left Libya at around 3.00 a.m.," UNHCR spokesman Leo Dobbs told Xinhua news agency in a written statement.

"After a few hours, the wooden planks at the bottom of the dinghy they were travelling on broke, causing it to capsize approximately 25 miles off the Libyan coast," he added.

According to initial reports, rescuers saved 29 people and recovered 12 bodies.

In the second incident, reports from survivors who disembarked at the Italian port of Lampedusa were that around 128 people had lost their lives after "an already unsafe dinghy" sank at around 5.00 a.m. local time (0400) on Wednesday.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), this brings this year's total number of Mediterranean migrant deaths to a record-breaking 4,220.

--IANS

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Kerry says confident about US-Philippines ties despite differences

United States,Politics, Thu, 03 Nov 2016 IANS

Washington, Nov 4 (IANS) US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday expressed confidence about the future of the US-Philippines relationship, which has soured following Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's tirades against the US.

"I am confident about the future of our bilateral relationship, notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another," Xinhua news agency quoted Kerry as saying at the State Department as he swore in Sung Kim as the new US ambassador to the Philippines.

"The United States continues to place a high value on the close ties that exist between our countries," Kerry said. "We continue to recognise our ironclad commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and security of the Philippines."

Kerry also expressed the hope to visit the Southeast Asian country before the end of his term as Secretary of State.

In recent months, Duterte repeatedly lashed out at the US, throwing the alliance between the two countries into disarray, after Washington raised concern on the reported extrajudicial killings of drug suspects amid Manila's war on illegal drugs.

The Philippine President also threatened to "break up" with Washington. He hit out at the United States, the European Union and the United Nations for using human rights to criticise his campaign to curb the illicit drug menace in the Philippines.

"I will be re-configuring my foreign policy," Duterte said in a speech before the Jewish Association of the Philippines in Makati City on October 4.

"Eventually I might in my time break up with America. I would rather go to Russia and to China," said Duterte.

--IANS

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Venezuela's Maduro vows 'revolution' will continue

Venezuela,Politics, Thu, 03 Nov 2016 IANS

Caracas, Nov 4 (IANS) The Venezuelan opposition needs to understand that "the revolution is going to continue", President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday while urging his political foes to remain part of the dialogue the two sides began earlier this week.

The revolution begun in 1999 by his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, "is irreversible", EFE news quoted Maduro as saying in a speech at the presidential palace.

He said that his opponents "must learn to co-exist with the revolution" and to accept the principle of democratic governance.

The leftist head of state went on to accuse the opposition alliance, known as MUD, of looking for "excuses" to abandon the dialogue that got under way last Sunday under the auspices of the Union of South American Nations and the Vatican.

Addressing opposition leaders, Maduro said: "I am the only President of the republic who ensures that you continue existing and the MUD continues exercising its political rights - and you know it."

Earlier on Thursday, the MUD set several conditions for resuming talks with the government on November 11, including a demand that both sides commit to an "electoral solution" to the nation's political crisis.

That electoral solution could involve a reactivation of a suspended presidential recall referendum process or early presidential elections, opposition Mayor Carlos Ocariz said.

Maduro responded to Ocariz by accusing the MUD of presenting an ultimatum and creating "false expectations".

"Nobody can say that in 10 days, if the government does not respond the way they want ... they will go to war," the President said. "Nobody can accept that."

The purpose of the November 11 session will be to review the findings from the four working groups established during Sunday's opening of the talks, Maduro said hours after government supporters began pitching tents around the presidential palace, Miraflores.

--IANS

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30 mn ballots cast in US presidential election early voting

United States,Politics, Thu, 03 Nov 2016 IANS

Washington, Nov 4 (IANS) With over 30 million ballots cast in the US presidential election early voting, Democrats were building a lead in North Carolina and Nevada states, while Republicans maintained an edge in Florida and Ohio, according to a CNN analysis.

With five days to go till November 8, registered Republicans also led Democrats in early voting in Arizona, while Democrats were ahead in Colorado and Iowa, the analysis revealed on Thursday.

In Arizona, about 1.3 million people have already voted. Registered Republicans were ahead right now -- 71,000 votes or 5.5 per cent.

In Florida, Republicans were leading by over 1,695,000 votes, mean while Democrats were ahead in Iowa with more than 41,000 votes.

Colorado is a state where the election is almost entirely conducted by mail. Here, Democrats were leading by more than 18,500 votes, or about 1.5 per cent.

Registered Democrats were ahead in Nevada by about 29,000 votes right now over registered Republicans. Democrats were also leading in North Carolina by about 243,000 votes.

Registered Republicans expanded their lead this week in Ohio. They were now ahead of Democrats by almost 66,000 votes, or about 5 points.

More than 30 million votes have been cast already across 38 states with early voting. And with five days to go, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are encouraging their supporters to hit the polls early.

So far, about 7.4 million registered Democrats and about 6.4 million Republicans have done just that.

Catalist, a data company that works with progressive candidates and groups, voter list connects returned ballots with demographic and registration information, such as party registration, gender and age, and allows a closer look at who has already cast a vote, CNN reported.

These are not results -- ballots are not counted until Election Day.

But the findings provide clues on who was voting and which party was turning out to vote. And in states that track party affiliation, it was important to remember that not all Democrats are voting for Clinton, and not all Republicans support Trump.

According to state voting laws, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow voters to cast their ballots in person or through mail prior to the election day, while six states allow absentee voting with an excuse and seven do not allow any form of early voting.

--IANS

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Kanhaiya advocates opposition unity to take on BJP (IANS Interview)

Delhi,National,Politics,Art/Culture/Books, Thu, 03 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, jailed earlier this year for 17 days on charges of sedition, is advocating an umbrella coalition of opposition parties to take on the BJP.

Kanhaiya Kumar, whose book "From Bihar to Tihar" (Juggernaut) has hit the market, says such a coming together of the Congress, the Left and parties like the AAP should be based on issues.

"Why can't (Arvind) Kejriwal, Congress, Left and Mayawati come together?" the left-leaning activist asked in an interview with IANS. "There should be unity."

These parties "need to get together to defeat the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)".

Kanhaiya Kumar, a vocal advocate of Left-Bahujan unity, said an anti-BJP alliance must be based on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) that prevailed during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-I regime.

Asked about the ideological contradictions in such a grouping, Kanhaiya Kumar cited the example of South Africa where the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) co-exist in an alliance.

"The ANC and SACP too have differences but they work on the basis of certain commonalities."

Now 29, Kanhaiya Kumar was President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) when he was arrested in February 2016 on charges of sedition.

The dramatic arrest followed a meeting held in the JNU campus where a section of students and outsiders -- most of whom were never caught -- raised anti-national slogans.

Kanhaiya Kumar had nothing to do with that February 9 meeting, and he says in his book "From Bihar to Tihar" that most policemen who dealt with him quickly realised he had been framed.

It was the fiery, nearly hour-long speech Kanhaiya Kumar gave at the JNU after his release -- telecast live and watched by millions -- that gave him a star status.

Kanhaiya Kumar told IANS that he was not enamoured of his fame.

A member of the CPI-affiliated All India Students Federation (AISF), he says he is part of "active politics" but has no desire to take part in electoral politics.

Arguing that dissent was vital in any democracy, he said that all those opposed to majoritarianism, irrespective of their different streams, have to unite.

"Today, if you speak against the government, you are dubbed anti-national."

In his book, Kanhaiya Kumar details his struggle with poverty since childhood. Son of a father who dabbled in radical Left politics and a mother who earned Rs 3,000 a month, the family didn't have a toilet or a bathroom, bathed at a hand pump, used just one light and fan at night to keep the power bill down and had the previous night's dinner as the next day's breakfast.

At one time, Kanhaiya Kumar got a job for Rs 50 a day -- he had to go from house to house and give polio drops to children.

When he moved to Patna, his mother gave him a bed sheet she had stitched together with bits and pieces of old fabric. Perennially short of money, he mostly walked in Patna as he could not afford an auto or even a cycle rickshaw.

He gave tuition in history, geography and sociology, earning Rs 15 every hour to beat the financial crisis.

Debating skills that he acquired in college in Patna helped Kanhaiya Kumar to become one of the most articulate student leaders when he moved to Delhi and joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

(M.R. Narayan Swamy and Ruwa Shah can be reached on narayan.swamy@ians.in and ruwa.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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Kerala government shielding rapists, says Congress

Kerala,National,Politics,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 4 (IANS) The Congress on Friday accused the Kerala government and the CPI-M of shielding the men who raped a woman in Thrissur district two years ago.

The 2014 case became public on Thursday when the victim along with her husband and two women activists told her horrid experience to the media here.

The 34-year-old victim, who hails from Thrissur, alleged that she was raped by a Communist Party of India-Marxist councillor, P.N. Jayanthan, his brother and two others.

Congress legislator Anil Akkara said in the assembly that Kerala, which celebrated its 60th birthday recently, now had to bend its head in shame because of numerous incidents of rape and abuse of women.

"The need of the hour is to keep aside politics and solve the case," he said.

"What's very serious is the victim had in a registered letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in August this year given a complaint and no one knows what happened to it and what follow up action was taken."

Akkara said the CPI-M government was protecting the accused as one of the them was seen in the assembly complex the other day, meeting ministers.

State Minister for Law A.K. Balan said the government was committed to make the accused face the law.

"A new investigation team has been appointed and neither politics nor party affiliations would come before anyone. You (opposition) can also cooperate and provide all the information you have to the government."

But opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said crimes against women were on the rise in Kerala now.

"Every day a 'Draupadi' is being disrobed in Kerala," he said.

He said while it was true that the incident took place in 2014 when the Congress was in office, the first complaint surfaced only in 2016 after the Left assumed office.

"This case should be handed over to a lady additional director general of police. But you have handed over the probe to an officer who was part of the team before also," said Chennithala, and led the opposition out of the house.

--IANS

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"Doctor Strange": Very strange indeed

New Delhi,Cinema/Showbiz, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Film: "Doctor Strange"; Director: Scott Derrickson; Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton; Rating:***

If the new supernatural spectacle from the self contained world of Marvel Comics were to be described in one word, it would have to be 'strange'. If we stretch it -- as the film does its spindly wiry spiralling narrative that goes effortlessly onward with its dazzling display of alternate reality -- to another word then it would be 'strange and stirring'.

The film lays out an elaborate supernatural plan for its surgeon-hero, a plan so steeped in mythology and esotericism that it takes Dr Strange all the way from London to Kathmandu with a stopover in places that are not on any map.

Nepal is filmed like a crowded cosmos of mystery and mysticism, the way Dev Anand shot 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' 45 years ago. The Himalayan country hasn't changed much. It's that continuity in a rapidly-changing world that "Doctor Strange" purports to capture in rapidly moving images that are staggering in their temerity.

Dr Strange has some heart-stopping narrative points where time does the opposite of stopping still. Events move simultaneously in the real and an alternate world to show how the healing of the body and the mind can be achieved through a transcendental transposition of the consciousness to a dimension beyond the physical.

Director Scott Derrickson, who specialises in supernatural sagas ("The Exorcism Of Emily Rose", "The Day The Earth Stood Still"), unravels the mysteries of the universe accompanied by a growing sense of wonderment.

The imaging of the visuals where ground-reality clashes with an otherworldly reality is so splendid as to freeze all scepticism about the future of Hollywood's large-screen spectacles that seems jeopardized in 2016 after a series of crippling failures in the genre.

"Doctor Strange" dazzles but never to deceive. Its visual opulence is never over-stated. The special effects generate a kind of implosive illumination that lights up the film's theme of travel, knowledge and wisdom.

In effect, the more we know the less we seem to know about the mysteries of the universe. In delivering the dazzle to the realm of the dark, "Doctor Strange" manifests a cinema of austere majesty, more remarkable for holding back than flaunting the spectacle.

A lot of the narrative's ongoing effectuality depends on Benedict Cumberbatch's central performance. He conveys the character's exploratory curiosity with a magnetic blend of confidence and curiosity. No matter how extravagant the excursion into the unknown, Cumberbatch looks like a man in charge.

And even when he is swept into a reality that has no connection to the real world he looks like man in control of his destiny.

It's a confident performance where tenets of existence and beliefs of continuity in the cosmic chaos are constantly shaken and questioned.

While the supporting cast is effortlessly able, some characters don't convey the energy that they promise. Tilda Swinton in a role originally written for a male Tibetan character seems lacking in kinetic energy which is otherwise obtained in abundant measure throughout the film.

There is a free flow of energy in the combats between Cumberbatch and the forces that control the universe beyond his own reality.

It all adds up to an experience that is more satisfying than most of the recent screen adaptations of comic books.

--IANS

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Odisha welcomes zero tax on common food items

Orissa,National,Business/Economy, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Bhubaneswar, Nov 4 (IANS) The Odisha government on Friday welcomed the zero tax rate on common food items and reduction in tax rate from 6 to 5 per cent by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council.

"In the interest of the common man, the state government has always been pursuing no tax or lowest possible tax policy on daily consumable goods. The state government, therefore, welcomes zero tax rate on common food items and reduction in tax rate from 6 to 5 per cent by the GST Council, as demanded by the state government," said a release from the Chief Minister's Office.

The state government also welcomed the decision of the GST Council to recommend compensation by the Central government to the states on implementation of GST with 14 per cent growth in collection of tax for the base year 2015-16.

The Council has finalised that GST will be levied at multiple rates ranging from 0 to 28 per cent.

The state government, however, opposed the introduction of cess.

"The Odisha government has always been of the view that the introduction of cess will distort the GST structure. Therefore, the decision to continue Clean Environment Cess on coal etc. for compensation to all the states has been opposed by us," said the release.

It said the state government would continue to ask the Central government to enhance royalty on coal and share most of the cess collected on coal with the coal bearing states instead of it being shared for compensating all the states for introduction of GST.

--IANS

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Mamata condemns one-day ban on NDTV India

West Bengal,National,Media,Politics,Terrorism, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Kolkata, Nov 4 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday criticised the Centre's order to a Hindi news channel to go off air for 24 hours, saying the "shocking" decision reflects the government's "Emergency-like attitude".

"The NDTV (India) ban is shocking. If the government had issues with the Pathankot (airbase terror attack) coverage, there are provisions available. But the ban shows an Emergency-like attitude," Banerjee said on a micro-blogging site.

An inter-ministerial panel of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had recommended the 'one-day ban' on NDTV India for its coverage of the terror attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in January.

The ministry, using the powers under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, said it "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on November 9 till 00:01 hrs of November 10, 2016".

The one-day ban evoked strong public reaction as the issue #NDTVbanned trended on a social media platform for hours on Friday.

While some welcomed the ban, blaming the channel for delivering 'pro-Pakistan' content and going 'soft on terrorism', others strongly condemned the government's decision as a curb on the freedom of press.

NDTV News network came out with an official statement after receiving the government order: "It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact, NDTV's coverage was particularly balanced."

NDTV said the announcement of the ban made them feel like the "dark days of Emergency are back" and they would "examine all options in the matter".

"After the dark days of the Emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner," the company statement said.

--IANS

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Bihari migrants carry home smiles, prosperity for Chhath

Bihar,National,Religion,Features,Human Interest/Society, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Patna, Nov 4 (IANS) With four-day 'Chhath' festival underway, it is celebration time in thousands of villages of Bihar. Over a million migrant workers are returning home with broad smiles and pockets full for the festive time with their near and dear ones.

Come Chhath, the most popular festival of Bihar, and villages and small towns across the state get a new breath of life -- migrants bring along their hard-earned money to splurge on various necessities and the rare luxuries their loved ones demand.

A sudden change is noticed in rural Bihar as its natives return in droves.

"Some migrants return after six months or a year, and their old parents, wives, children and friends in villages are all joyous and happy," said Sonu Kumar, a small time contractor who is also a social activist, from Rampur village in Arwal district.

Kamlesh Singh Yadav, in his late 30s who reached Patna Railway Station on Friday morning and immediately hurried for his village in neighbouring Vaishali district, said he is eager to meet his family and friends after 11 months.

"I left my village last December, and now I am back...it is a big time for me and people like me," Yadav, who works in a machine factory in Tamil Nadu, said.

Thousands of others, who work in distant lands and far away corners of the country, have returned to their hamlets in rural Bihar in the past two-three days while many hundreds are still on their way.

According to a conservative estimate, over one million Bihari migrants who keep factories and farms going in other parts of the country and the world have returned home to breathe a "new life" into the rural areas.

Even Biharis who are rich and famous as well as professionals from different fields have made a beeline for the home state for the festival.

"Most migrants have returned in the last 48 hours and some of them in the last five days, while thousands are still on the way. Many failed to make it, as there was no place in long-route trains," a Labour Department official said.

Congress legislator Shakil Ahmad Khan, who spent most of his time in his rural assembly constituency Kadwa in Katihar district, said the return of thousands of natives to the Bihar countryside has certainly brought smiles back on the faces of their old parents and kith and kin.

"Not just this, it also has provided an impetus to the socio-economic activities. Savings brought along by the migrants have meant that their families are spending more on both essentials and fancy goods in this festive season. That gives a boost to the state's economy," Shakil Ahmad said.

So, it is not just the families but also traders and shopkeepers in the countryside who are sporting beaming smiles on the arrival of the sons of soil and toil for the Chhath.

Mahender Yadav, who works with flood victims in the Koshi river basin, said return of the migrant workers for Chhath gives a boost to the local economy and socio activities. The Koshi river basin area spread over five districts, including Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, has witnessed large-scale migration of workers in search of livelihood.

"Each migrant worker brings some (money) that increases the purchasing power of family and boosts economy during and after Chhath," Mahender Yadav said.

He told IANS that after their arrival, the workers spend on pending work, including construction of houses, repairs and roofing, and purchase of items for marriages and other things.

According to experts, it is difficult to put an exact figure on the migrants returning to Bihar for the annual Chhath festival, but the flux is great.

Most of the Bihari labour concentration is said to be in Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune also have sizeable chunks of both labourers and white-collar workers from Bihar.

The state government, however, has no record.

Most migrants from Bihar work in farms, factories, and at construction and infrastructure sites. Many are also professionals and are counted among the best in the field.

According to railway officials at the East Central Railway (ECR) headquarters at Hajipur near Patna, 1.5 to 2 lakh passengers have been arriving every day from across the country by more than 250 trains to celebrate Chhath.

"All the trains from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh are packed to capacity, thanks to the huge rush for Chhath," a railway official said.

The four-day Chhath festival began on Friday and ends on Monday morning.

Celebrated six days after Diwali, Chhath is dedicated to the Sun God. During the festival, married women observe fast for 36 hours, and the faithful offer wheat, milk, sugarcane, bananas and coconuts to the Sun.

The main ritual is known as 'Arghya' -- when devotees stand waist-deep in water to offer prayers to the setting and rising Sun on the banks of rivers and other water bodies.

Over the years, Chhath has emerged as a symbol of Bihari identity across the country, much like Bihu in Assam, Durga Puja in Bengal or Ganesh festival in Maharashtra.

(Imran Khan can be contacted at imran.k@ians.in)

--IANS

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Indian Hotels independent directors back Cyrus Mistry

Maharashtra,Business/Economy, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Mumbai, Nov 4 (IANS) Amid chaos and skirmishes between the security guards and the media outside Bombay House here, Indian Hotels held its board meet with Cyrus Mistry in the chair -- the first for a Tata Sons firm after the 49-year-old industrialist was ousted as the group chairman.

Evidently, this round went to Mistry.

Even as the company deliberated on the second quarter results and reported a net consolidated loss of Rs 38.38 crore, against Rs 116.79 crore for the like quarter of the previous year, not much emerged on the actual atmospherics of the meeting.

But in a statement later, independent directors expressed full confidence in the chairman.

"Taking into account board assessments and performance evaluations carried out over the years, the independent directors unanimously expressed their full confidence in the chairman, Cyrus Mistry, and praised the steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership to the company," it said.

"After deliberations, the independent directors came to a view that being a listed company, it was imperative for the independent directors to state their views to the investors and public at large, such that those who trade in securities of the company make an informed decision."

The company's said in a regulatory filing that its consolidated total income from operations stood at Rs 884.95 crore, against Rs 894.37 crore. Among other items, it also reported a loss of Rs 103.07 crore on account of the sale of Boston property.

After his ouster as Tata Sons chairman, Mistry had charged the management of Indian Hotels with selling properties at a loss.

"The onerous terms of the lease for Pierre in New York are such that it would make it a challenge to exit," he had said in a letter to the Tata Sons board, soon after his ouster, which made its way to the media and raised several queries.

"Indian Hotels, beyond flawed international strategy, had acquired the Searock property at highly inflated price and housed in an off balance sheet structure. In the process of unravelling this legacy, Indian Hotel has had to write down nearly its entire net worth over past three years," he said.

"This impairs its ability to pay dividends."

The developments have had an impact on the stock prices of the company. In the eight trading sessions since his removal, the shares of Indian Hotels have fallen nearly 14 percent -- from Rs 129.75 to Rs 112.

As regards the scenes outside Bombay House, private security personnel allegedly assaulted media photographers who had gathered there to cover the arrival of Tata Sons' sacked chairman Cyrus P. Mistry for a board meeting at the headquarters.

At least one photographer was virtually pinned down by four-five security personnel, brutally punched, slapped and then pushed away from the building entrance in south Mumbai's busy Fort area.

The camera and other equipment of at least two photographers was badly damaged or broken by the security personnel in the fracas.

Among the lensmen beaten up were Atul Kamble (Mid-Day), Suryakant Riwate (Business Standard) and Arijit Sen (Hindustan Times), who have been admitted to the St. George Hospital for treatment.

Police arrived on the scene a short while later and were in the process of lodging complaints on the matter.

--IANS

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LG rejects proposal to open mohalla clinics in schools

Delhi,National,Politics,Education,Health/Medicine, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) The Lt Governor's office has rejected a Delhi government proposal to open mohalla clinics inside school premises, and sent back the file related to the project, officials said.

"The file has been sent back to make some changes. After corrections are made, the government can send the file back to the LG's office," an official at Lt Governor's office told IANS.

The official added that there are some restrictions under the Delhi School Education Act according to which school premises can only be used for functioning of the school and no unauthorised person can enter the premises, etc.

"If a clinic has to be opened inside the school, then these rules need to be amended," the official said, adding that the objection was only for opening clinics in school premises.

"There has been no objection so far to the wider mohalla clinic policy. In fact, the file pertaining to the wider policy was never even sent to the LG's office," the official said.

Mohalla clinics are run by the Delhi government and are aimed at providing free primary healthcare to all.

--IANS

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Chinese envoy denies troop incursion into India

West Bengal,National,Politics,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Kolkata, Nov 4 (IANS) A Chinese diplomat on Friday denied reported "incursion" of Chinese troops into Leh in Jammu and Kashmir and said Beijing was neutral on India-Pakistan differences.

"China has a neutral position on differences that exist between India and Pakistan and we hope the countries settle their disputes peacefully through discussion and dialogue," Chinese Consul General Ma Zhanwu said here.

China's ties with India have been hit over India's efforts to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group. China has also blocked India's appeal to the UN to label Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a terrorist.

Asked about the reported Chinese incursion in Leh on Thursday, the envoy denied it.

"I don't believe Chinese troops would cross into India ... and your government has given a statement on it," Ma told the media.

The Indian Army on Thursday denied any incursion by the Chinese troops.

--IANS

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Kerala CPI-M suspends Councillor accused of rape

Kerala,National,Politics,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

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Thrissur (Kerala), Nov 4 (IANS) The CPI-M on Friday suspended P.N. Jayanthan, a party Municipal Councillor, and another party worker after a woman accused the two of raping her.

K. Radhakrishnan, a former assembly Speaker and presently the Thrissur district secretary of the CPI-M, made this announcement after a series of party meetings.

"Following a preliminary probe by the party, it has come to light that there was some financial dealings between Jayanthan and the lady and there has been no findings of any misbehaviour to the lady.

"Anyway, a detailed probe is already on by the police and the party also will further look into it," said Radhakrishnan.

The issue flared in the assembly on Friday when the Congress accused the Kerala government and the CPI-M of shielding Jayanthan and three others who raped the woman in Thrissur district two years ago.

The 2014 case became public on Thursday when the victim along with her husband and two women activists told her horrid experience to the media in the state capital.

--IANS

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Paris Agreement implementation green light for climate action: UNFCCC

India,International, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Early implementation of the historic Paris Agreement is a common political will to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and a worldwide green light for climate action, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said on Friday.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement -- the result of the most complex, comprehensive and critical international climate negotiation ever attempted -- became an international law on Friday.

So far, 97 countries, including India, accounting for just over two-thirds of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, have formally joined the accord, which aims to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius.

"The Paris Agreement's ambitious and essential goals are now a live reality for every government. From today, ever-increasing climate action becomes an accepted responsibility and a central part of the sustainable development plans of all countries," a statement said quoting UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

The international effort to bring the Paris Agreement into force in less than a year -- an unexpectedly rapid result -- reflects the strong, common political will to shift as quickly as possible towards the low-carbon regime.

"Climate action -- faster, smarter, bigger and better -- reduces the greenhouse gas emissions which drive climate change and at the same time catalyses the clean power economies and climate-resilient societies, which are the foundation on which the future health, wealth and well-being of all people now depend," Espinosa said.

The Paris Agreement's primary goal -- to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible to prevent dangerous tipping points in the climate system -- means that global emissions must peak soon then be driven down very rapidly.

A big green light for faster, stronger climate action was switched on as the Paris Climate Change Agreement entered into force, only three days before the start of this year's UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech in Morocco November 7 to 18, said the UNFCCC.

Next week at UN climate change conference in Marrakech, the first meeting of the Paris Agreement's governing body, known as the CMA, will take place during it on November 15.

Marrakech also gives developed countries the opportunity to present their roadmap to mobilise the pledged 100 billion dollars in annual support to developing countries by 2020.

Last year, countries of the world constructed a fresh, integrated vision for the future which rests firmly on the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

"These momentous agreements must succeed together and require unprecedented scale and depth of universal and concerted action involving all governments," said the Executive Secretary.

The Paris Agreement has broken all records in the collective efforts to address climate change, said Christiana Figueres, Convenor of Mission 2020 and former UNFCCC Executive Secretary.

"Just 10 months ago, despite the enormous momentum around the Paris Agreement, no one thought it could enter into force until 2020," said World Resources Institute Climate Program Global Director Paula Caballero.

The Paris Agreement was hailed by the corporate world too.

"We must now, governments and businesses together, turn the vision of a carbon emission-free economy into reality," said Philippe Joubert, chair of The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group.

The Paris Agreement was adopted in Paris, France, at the UN climate conference in December 2015. In order to enter into force, at least 55 Parties accounting for at least 55 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions were required, with the Agreement then entering into force 30 days later.

India on October 2 deposited its Instrument of Ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the United Nations.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

vg/nir/vm
Army chief presents President's Colours to two battalions

Delhi,National,Defence/Security, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Friday presented the President's Colours to 20 Mahar and 21 Mahar Battalions of the Indian Army on behalf of President Pranab Mukherjee.

The ceremony was held at Saugor Military Station in Madhya Pradesh during the celebration of the platinum jubilee of the Regiment, an official statement said.

The Regiment has nine battle honours, 12 theatre honours, eight Chief of Army Staff Unit Citations and scores of gallantry awards to its credit.

"This honour has been bestowed upon these two young battalions in recognition of their dedicated and meritorious service to the nation since their raising," the statement said.

The Army chief also released a "First Day Cover", a book on late General K.V. Krishna Rao and a graphic novel on late Major R. Parameswaran.

The Colours Presentation Parade was held at the Anusuya Prasad Parade Ground, which is named after the youngest Mahavir Chakra recipient of the Indian Army, who with only 10 days of military service laid down his life in the Battle of Shamsher Nagar during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

The President's Colours is one of the greatest honours bestowed upon an army unit in recognition of exceptional service to the nation, both during war and peace.

--IANS

ao/tsb/mr
Goa pharmacies to join strike against online drug delivery

Goa,National,Health/Medicine, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

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Panaji, Nov 4 (IANS) Calling Internet-based medicine and drug delivery portals as potential hubs for purchase of scheduled drugs and habit-forming pharmaceutical products, the Chemists and Druggists Association of Goa, will join an all-India strike of pharmacies.

President of the association's Goa chapter Prasad Tamba told a press conference on Friday that nearly 700 pharmacies in the state would shut down for a day on November 23, in solidarity with the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists Association, which is demanding a ban on online sale of pharmaceuticals.

"We have come across instances where drugs like benzodiazepines, painkillers, aphrodisiacs are available on these e-pharmacies without proper scrutiny. Youngsters in Goa are getting hooked to these drugs," Tamba said, adding that sale of medicines online was in contravention of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940.

"A chemist is in a position to physically vet a doctor's prescription and further advise patients, while prescriptions uploaded to websites online could be prone to fraud and duplication. It can cause serious problems as far as Scheduled 'H' drugs are concerned," he said.

Scheduled 'H' drugs fall under the purview of the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and can be purchased with a medical prescription only.

"Internet online pharmacies are supplying all the goods like I-pill, pregnancy prevention kits, anti-depressants, habit-forming drugs, cough syrups containing codeine, sexual stimulants etc. without confirming the authenticity of prescription and patient," Tamba added.

Over eight lakh pharmacies in the country which are associated with the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists Association, are likely to down their shutters on November 23.

--IANS

maya/vgu/bg

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RSS asks BJP to address its core agendas in UP poll campaign

Delhi,National,Politics, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) The RSS on Friday asked BJP leadership how its core issues, including the Ram temple at Ayodhya, will be addressed during the party's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, informed sources said.

The issue was taken up at a meeting RSS leadership held with senior BJP leaders, including its chief Amit Shah, at central Delhi's Maharashtra Sadan.

The meeting comes a day ahead of the BJP's "Parivartan Yatra", which is all set to begin from Saharanpur.

Shah will flag off the first yatra, which will be followed by three more yatras from Jhansi, Sonbhadra and Balia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address six public rallies during these yatras.

The sources said the BJP's strategy for the assembly polls figured prominently during hour-long deliberations.

According to the sources, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's Joint General Secretaries Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal sought to know from the BJP leadership about its poll preperations in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from Shah, Union minister Mahesh Sharma, General Secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal and Vice-President Vinay Sahasrabudhhe were also present.

The sources said that RSS leaders noted that it was appropriate to fight the elections on the agenda of development and firm steps of the government on national security but the campaign "should also address core ideological issues, including construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya".

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma's recent visit to Ayodhya to inspect the site for the proposed Ramayana Museum had reignited the political row over the Ram Mandir issue.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar also urged the Union government to take steps for the temple construction.

According to sources, party's preparations in other poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur were also discussed.

The RSS leaders also sought to know about the status of the National Education Policy, which is in the works, and party appointments in states where posts are lying vacant.

--IANS

bns/tsb/vm
NASA's Curiosity rover checks rare iron meteorite on Mars

United States,Science/Tech, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Washington, Nov 4 (IANS) NASA's Curiosity rover has confirmed than an odd-looking object that scientists operating it had noticed is an iron-nickel meteorite fallen from the Red Planet's sky.

Iron-nickel meteorites are a common class of space rocks found on Earth, and previous examples have been seen on Mars, but this one, called "Egg Rock," is the first on Mars examined with a laser-firing spectrometre, NASA said in a statement on Thursday.

The researchers used Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to examine the object.

"Iron meteorites provide records of many different asteroids that broke up, with fragments of their cores ending up on Earth and on Mars," said ChemCam team member Horton Newsom of University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, US.

"Mars may have sampled a different population of asteroids than Earth has," Newsom said.

In addition, the study of iron meteorites found on Mars -- including examples found previously by Mars rovers -- can provide information about how long exposure to the Martian environment has affected them, in comparison with how Earth's environment affects iron meteorites.

Egg Rock may have fallen to the surface of Mars many millions of years ago. Researchers will be analyzing the ChemCam data from the first few laser shots at each target point and data from subsequent shots at the same point, to compare surface versus interior chemistry, NASA said.

Egg Rock was found along the rover's path up a layer of lower Mount Sharp called the Murray formation, where sedimentary rocks hold records of ancient lakebed environments on Mars.

--IANS

gb/vm
Kim Kardashian hires three police officers

United States,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Los Angeles, Nov 4 (IANS) Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has reportedly hired three off-duty police officers to escort her to and from model Kendall Jenner's birthday party.

The 36-year-old star, who is married to rapper Kanye West, paid each police officer $100 an hour to keep an eye on her while she attended her half-sister's 21st birthday here on Wednesday, reports tmz.com.

The "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star has been keeping a low profile since she was robbed by an armed gang of men in Paris, France, last month and, although she's now safe, she's not taking any chances now.

Kim's decision to hire three off-duty officers comes days after she reportedly sacked her personal guard Pascal Duvier.

--IANS

ks/dc/vt
Chhath festival begins in Bihar

Bihar,National,Religion, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Patna, Nov 4 (IANS) Festive fervour erupted on the streets of Patna -- and other cities and towns of Bihar -- as celebrations of the state's most popular Chhath festival got underway on Friday.

Melodious tunes from folk and devotional songs filled the streets of Bihar's capital and the drive to clean the roads, narrow lanes, river banks and ponds reached its final stage.

The annual four-day festival began with the age-old ritual of Nahai-Khai -- preparing traditional food after elaborate bath -- across thousands of villages and hundreds of towns spread all over Bihar.

Millions of devotees, mostly women, took a holy dip in rivers, ponds and other water bodies across the state, on the first day of the festival.

Thousands of women devotees have also been busy preparing the ritualistic meal of boiled rice and pumpkin in a hand-made earthen hearth after bath in the Ganga or the river nearby.

"Many of them arrived Thursday night itself and others have thronged since early Friday at different ghats (built-up embankments) of the Ganga in Patna to follow the rituals and offer prayers to the Sun God," Kamini Devi, a devotee also known as "varti", said.

Clad in a new cotton sari, Kamini, who came at the Collectorate Ghat near the Ganga, said "Nahai-Khai" symbolises purity and discipline.

"We are 'varti' and have to follow strict customs to perform the Chhath prayers and follow rituals associated with it," she said.

Another devotee, Munia Devi said: "We use only dry wood from mango trees and bamboo baskets for cooking the traditional meal on earthen stove on the first day of Chhath."

In Patna alone, hundreds of roadside vendors, mostly poor men and women, sold essential items like earthen pots utensils, daura, soop (winnows), and sindoor (vermillion) that go into the Chhath celebrations.

"The banks of the Ganga, Falgu, Punpun, Bagmati, Gandak and Kosi rivers as well as big and small water bodies were crowded as devotees prepared vegetarian food on earthen 'chulhas' (firewood stove)," a police officer said.

On Saturday, the second day of Chhath, observing another ritual "kharna", people cook the sweet dish "kheer" and share it with neighbours, friends and relatives.

The main offering to the Sun God -- called argya -- will take place on Sunday. That's when devotees stand waist-deep in water, offer prayers to the setting sun on river banks or other water bodies and again to the rising sun on Monday.

Chhath is celebrated six days after Diwali. It is dedicated to the Sun God, and is one of Bihar's most popular festivals.

During the festival, married women observe a fast for 36 hours and devotees offer wheat, milk, sugarcane, bananas and coconuts to the Sun.

The administration has set to work, along with dozens of voluntary organisations, to clean the roads leading to the banks of rivers as the festival gets underway.

Over the years, Chhath has come to be closely identified with Bihar -- on the lines of Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu and the Ganesh festival in Maharashtra.

--IANS

ik/ask/vt
Army morale at all-time low: Kejriwal

Delhi,National,Politics,Defence/Security, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) The Army's morale is at an all-time low because of the poor treatment meted out to the family of a former soldier who killed himself, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader blamed both Delhi Police and spokespersons for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the state of affairs.

Retired subedar Ram Kishan Grewal, 70, committed suicide here on Tuesday demanding the implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

Accusing the police of beating up Ram Kishan Grewal's family members, Kejriwal accused BJP spokespersons of "hurling abuses at the deceased Subedar. Army morale at all time low".

Kejriwal also accused the Modi government of lying on the issue of the dead man's OROP demand.

"How do u believe this govt? PM jhooth bolte hain, unke vibhaag jhooth bolte hain (Prime Minister lies, so does his departments)," Kejriwal said in another tweet.

He quoted a television news channel as saying that an SBI official in Bhiwani in Haryana had rejected the charges that the bank was to blame for the wrong payment credited to Grewal's pension account.

On Wednesday, Delhi Police detained Kejriwal and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for several hours after they tried to meet the family of the retired soldier.

Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was earlier detained after he met the family. All three were let off at night.

--IANS

am/mr
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The protests that have sparked in several Moroccan cities following the tragic death of a fish seller in Al Hoceima are reflective of the maturity of Moroccos civil society, which remains attached to civic virtues and vigilant in keeping with the main issues facing the Moroccan citizens and the challenges of the promotion of the rule of law in the country.

Mouhcine Fikri, 31, who lost his life last week crushed in a trash truck, was the linchpin of protests calling for justice to be made and denouncing the abuse of power by some local authorities.

Right after the incident, King Mohammed VI ordered a thorough investigation to bring those responsible for this horrendous act before justice.

Several western news outlets rushed to describe the protest as a reproduction of the events that triggered the Arab Spring in Tunisia in 2011, with some analysts who ignore the Moroccan reality going as far as forecasting a Syrian or Libyan-like scenario in the Kingdom. These speculations are indicative of a hasty analysis lacking objective insight.

This erroneous analysis was turned down by other experts knowledgeable of the Arab world, like political pundit Jean-Noel Ferrie. He actually pointed out in a column published in newspaper Le Parisien that the Moroccans reaction to the death of Mouhcine Fikri is rather an indicator of a healthy society. For him, it is foolish to assume that the country is in a state of pre-crisis, similar to that experienced by Tunisia in 2011. There is no possible comparison with the Arab Spring, the columnist insisted.

Long before the Arab Spring, protests are common place in Morocco, unlike in other countries in the region, including Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt where the ruling regimes implemented harsh authoritarian measures and emergency laws banning protests.

Peaceful protests and sit-ins were and are a usual phenomenon in the Moroccan society. The Kingdoms authorities used to let contention be diffused through peaceful protests.

As outlined by Sarah Yerkes in a story posted on Brookings.edu under the title Why Moroccos protests wont usher in another Arab Spring, Morocco was also able to control the size and scope of the uprisings due, in part, to its tradition of protests. She underscored that the Moroccan police have not interfered in the protests, and the government has so far made all the right moves to prevent the protests from turning violent or spiraling out of control.

She also recalled that the king ordered a thorough investigation into Fikris death and sent the Interior Minister to deliver his personal condolences to Fikris family. Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad even issued a statement expressing solidarity with the protesters, No one had the right to treat [Fikri] like thisWe cannot accept officials acting in haste, anger, or in conditions that do not respect peoples rights, she went on saying.

Another distinctive feature of Moroccos mass popular protests is that they target corruption and social woes but never the monarchy which is the backbone of the centuries-old Moroccan state.

In this respect, Sarah Yerkes wrote that King Mohammed managed to stay above the fray during each wave of protests due to the innate legitimacy afforded him by his dual position as head of state and religious leader (emir al-muminun or commander of the faithful).

Therefore, it is very pertinent to explain the current protests in Morocco within a context in which taking to the street is a normal action guaranteed by the constitution. Instead of being superficially interpreted as a sign of a crack in the Moroccan edifice, the protests rather show the strength, vigilance and maturity of the civil society which moves to safeguard democratic achievements against any backtracking.

As for Mohsines gruesome death, the general prosecutor has ordered the preventive detention of 8 individuals out of 11 people charged in this case.

The fish seller was killed when he jumped in the trash truck to save his swordfish, confiscated by the police in the northern city of Al Hoceima.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco will chair, on November 15, the COP22 summit which will be attended by at least 50 heads of state.

The event will be attended by French President Francois Hollande whose country hosted COP21 and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in addition to German Councilor Angela Markel are yet to confirm their participation.

The Emirs of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain have confirmed their attendance along with no less than 30 African heads of states.

Several Presidents of pacific island countries are also expected as King Mohammed VI, in a gesture of solidarity, gave directives to pay for the travel expenses and accommodation of these countries leaders and the delegations accompanying them.

The COP22, slated for November 7-18 in Marrakech, aims at reaching agreements on nationally determined contributions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity in implementation of the Paris Agreement which enters into force on November 4.
One New York City police sergeant has been killed and another injured during a shoot-out Friday with an armed suspect in the Bronx. The officers were reportedly responding to a 911 call about a home invasion in the Van Nest section shortly before 3 p.m. The man allegedly tried to flee the scene in a red Jeep. Police pursued, and when cops reached the suspect, he and the police traded gunfire.

A 41-year-old sergeant was shot in the head and died after being taken to Jacobi Hospital. At a press conference Friday afternoon, Mayor Bill de Blasio identified the murdered sergeant as Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran of the force and a father of two. The other sergeant, who was struck in the leg, is in stable condition. NYPD commissioner James ONeill identified him as Emmanuel Kwo, a nine-year member of the department.

Sgt Paul Tuozzolo, 19yr veteran, was pronounced deceased at the hospital. Sgt Emmanuel Kwo, 9yr veteran,was shot in the leg/stable condition  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 4, 2016

The suspect, 35-year-old Manuel Rosales, was shot and killed during the shoot-out, according to police. He allegedly fired on officers with a .35 caliber semi-automatic handgun, said Commissioner ONeill. Based on the preliminary investigation, an armed Rosales broke into an apartment on Beach Avenue in the Bronx that belonged to his estranged wife, who was home with her 3-year-old son, a 13-year-old boy, and a 50-year-old woman. At some point, the 50-year-old woman called 911 about the break-in, which brought police to the scene.

Rosales, according to Commissioner ONeill, had at least 17 prior arrests within Suffolk County, where he was believed to be living.

More photos from scene ... shooting of two NYPD Officers in the Bronx. @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/0357M8U4q6  Jessica Layton (@JLaytonTV) November 4, 2016

Theres nothing worse than a day like today, Commissioner ONeill told reporters Friday.

The investigation is ongoing. According to the New York Times, the last NYPD officer killed in the line of duty was Officer Randolph Holder, who died in October 2015, when a suspect allegedly opened fire on him and his partner in East Harlem.

This post has been updated throughout.
Looking forward to his next challenge. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

Sitting in the courtroom through six weeks of testimony in the trial of two New Jersey public officials charged with jamming traffic for political purposes, sometimes I wondered how jurors could manage to comprehend what they were hearing. The prosecution told them a story of a convoluted conspiracy to commit a seemingly purposeless crime, while the defense displayed charts depicting Governor Chris Christies inner circle, shooting off arrows of suspicion in all directions. But in the end, it seems, the jury kept its focus on just one of those arrows: the one pointing at David Wildstein, the mastermind of the plot, and the prosecutions key witness.

The jury chose to believe Wildstein, and voted for conviction on all counts today.

Time for my own confession: I dont know if that is where I would have come down if I were a member of the jury. During closing arguments, attorneys for the two defendants, former Port Authority official Bill Baroni and former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, made what sounded to me like strong cases for reasonable doubt. They returned, again and again, to Wildstein, the former political operative and anonymous blogger with a colorful history of dirty tricks and deception. I swear under oath that Im a liar  thats what he said, Michael Baldassare, Baronis defense attorney, said in his closing argument.

Projecting a picture of Governor Christie and Wildstein gazing at each other in a way that appeared adoring, defense attorney Michael Critchley referenced a dramatic alteration in the former operatives appearance over the last three years. David Wildstein can change his looks, he can put a beard on, he can lose 75 pounds, Critchley said. But you know what he cant change? He cant change who he is. Having watched Wildsteins performance on the witness stand, which was shifty at times, and having heard the unanimously negative testimony of his former colleagues at the Port Authority, who called him an intimidator and a cancer, I wondered whether the jury might have its own doubts.

Bill Baroni, after todays verdict. Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images

In the end, though, the jury accepted Wildsteins word and not those of Baroni and Kelly, both of whom testified in their own defense. Over more than a week on the stand, Wildstein told an improbable story of traffic cones, revenge, and hubris among the highest advisers to Christie, whose credible shot at the presidency was destroyed by the scandal. To briefly recap: Wildstein claimed that he came up with the idea of closing off the town of Fort Lees local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge as a way to punish the towns Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, whom he said was targeted because he had spurned overtures from Kellys office, which was trying to line up party-line-crossing endorsements for Christies 2013 reelection campaign. (For more on that testimony, see here, here, here and here.) Wildstein testified that Baroni, his boss, enthusiastically approved his plan, while prosecutors presented evidence that Kelly had authorized him to implement it in a one-line email: Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.

Prosecutor Lee Cortes Jr. projected Kellys email as he began his closing statement. Those words are clear, those words are definite, he said. Her words mean exactly what they say. Though there was no similar documented exchange between Baroni and Wildstein, Cortes showed phone records revealing the men, who were close friends and had a political relationship that went back decades, talked on the phone many times a day just a staggering amount of communication between two people.

Baroni and Kellys attorneys argued that Wildstein led their clients to believe that he was conducting a traffic study about ways to ease congestion for the main approaches to the bridge, one that had the collateral effect of creating traffic problems in Fort Lee, but denied being aware of any punitive purpose. They pointed out that Baroni and Kelly never spoke with each other about Wildsteins plan to close the lanes. But Cortes argued that Wildstein was the glue of the conspiracy, linking the two of them.

They knew who David Wildstein was and what he was capable of, Cortes said. They knew what he was about  [and] he was not about moving traffic.

In its rebuttal, the prosecution returned to its most damning evidence: text messages that appeared to show the defendants taking pleasure in being cruel to children. In one, Baroni asked Wildstein if there was anything we can do in Jersey City  which also had a Democratic mayor who was feuding with Christie  for the first day of school, and replying unfortunate when he was told there was not. Wildstein testified that it was Baronis idea to make the lane closings in Fort Lee coincide with the reopening of schools, trapping school buses in the traffic jam. The prosecution projected Kellys contemporaneous reaction to that news: a series of text message exchange in which she wrote Is it wrong that I am smiling? and I feel badly for the kids  I guess.

Smiling as schoolkids are stuck in traffic, said prosecutor Vikas Khanna. Dont let them whitewash it. Its as outrageous as it sounds.

The prosecution presented evidence that Baroni, too, laughed about the pain he and Wildstein were inflicting, bragging about it to Christie during an encounter he and Wildstein had with the governor before a September 11 memorial service at the World Trade Center; and making an inside joke as he prepared to try to cover up the crime in testimony before the state legislature, sending Wildstein a photo of Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolf, the cleaner in Pulp Fiction. (One of several nicknames Christie had for Wildstein was Mr. Wolf, according to testimony at the trial.)

Not only did they execute this scheme, Khanna said. They delighted in it.

Though the prosecutors were ultimately successful in securing a guilty verdict, their case left several unanswered questions. Chief among them: Who really ordered the crime, and why? In the first count of the indictment against Kelly and Baroni, prosecutors alleged that the motive was punishment  cracking the whip on a Democratic officeholder who wouldnt fall into line behind the Republican governor. But there was little evidence presented to explain why Sokolich, a relatively insignificant officeholder who had previously enjoyed good relations with the Christie administration, was singled out for particularly elaborate retribution. But in her instructions to jurors, and again in response to a question from them during deliberations, Judge Susan Wigenton ruled that prosecutors did not need to prove that Kelly and Baroni intended to punish the mayor.

Bridget Anne Kelly after the verdict. Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images

The defense decried the decision. Youre directing a verdict of guilty, Critchley said vehemently at a hearing earlier this week. He may have been right. The defendants have vowed to appeal.

Beyond motive, theres also the question of who in particular was so furious with Sokolich? Baroni, by Wildsteins own testimony, tended to play good cop to his bad cop, and had a friendly relationship with the mayor. Kelly, a demure single mother, did not come across during the trial as either a vengeful person or a high-level decision-maker. The evidence presented did suggest that Bill Stepien, Christies campaign manager, was deeply involved with Wildsteins plans, and had a mean streak, ordering that officials who displeased the governor were to be frozen out. But Stepien, now the national field director for the Donald Trump campaign, was never charged or even called to testify.

In the end, though, it is hard to resist the conclusion that the arrow points to the governor. Numerous witnesses testified that Christie was a micromanager who reveled in playing political hardball. (One memorable bit of testimony revealed that Christie called and threatened to fucking destroy a county freeholder after it got back to the governor that he was complaining about the disbursement of Hurricane Sandy relief funds. In the governors defense, the freeholder had also called Christie a fat motherfucker.) Kelly testified that when Wildstein first approached her with his extraordinarily weird plan for the bridge, she took it to Christie, who approved it. Wildstein testified that when he and Baroni joked about Fort Lees traffic jam with Christie on September 11, the governor laughed appreciatively. The Port Authoritys executive director testified that when he found out about the lane closures and tried to put an end to them, Baroni stormed into his office, furious, and told him they were important to Trenton. Within the Port Authority, Trenton was shorthand for the governor of the state of New Jersey.

After the verdict, Christie released a statement vowing to set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom. His political future seems grim, however. In recent weeks, he has receded from his formerly prominent role as a surrogate for Trump, perhaps due to the embarrassment of the trial. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Christie was unprepared for the tenor of the testimony and the large number of negative disclosures, with aides describing him as rattled and angry at times. There is talk of a state-level prosecution, or impeachment  though the latter course seems unlikely, since the Democrats are well-positioned to take back the governors office next year, and they would prefer not to elevate his lieutenant governor. Christie is such a figure of national ridicule that he is worth more to his opponents in office.

In his closing argument, Critchley appeared to try to sway the jurys sympathies toward his client by asking why she was on trial, and not her bosses. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, Chris Christie, where are you?

With this verdict, it seems assured that the answer to that question will soon be: far from power, for good.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Fox Newss Bret Baier reported that the FBIs investigation into the Clinton Foundation would likely result in an indictment. The following day, NBC News, ABC News, and CNN all reported that this claim was false, while Baier backtracked from the word indictment, explaining that hed spoken inartfully.

On Friday, Baier conceded that, when a journalist says the FBI is likely to bring an indictment against the family foundation of the Democratic nominee  and has no compelling evidence to back up that assertion  said journalist has done something worse than inartful.

That just wasnt inartful, Baier told his viewers. It was a mistake and for that Im sorry.

But by then, the story had already seeped deep into internet, aggregated by the Hill, RealClearPolitics, and countless conservative blogs.

The damage is done to Hillary Clinton, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told MSNBCs Brian Williams on Friday.

In a fleeting moment of delusional naivete, one might have thought that Conway was expressing her dismay at the pernicious effect reckless journalism can have on a campaign  sure, she wants to defeat Clinton, but she wants to do so fair and square.

But Conway hastened to explain that the damage here was very good damage, because the inaccurate story helped the American people understand the truth about Hillary Clinton.

No matter how its being termed, the voters are hearing it for what it is  a culture of corruption, Conway explained.

Williams noted that reporting a likely indictment isnt an error of terminology, saying, As a lawyer, you would concede indictment is not only a term of art, its a term of law, and thats a big difference to use the expression likely indictment when all the reporting is to the contrary.

Fine, Conway replied. It just doesnt change whats in voters minds right now and you see in the your own polling, you see in the other polling, Brian, which is  even though the polls were tightening before last Fridays explosive announcement by Mr. Comey, you see that voters are putting it in this large cauldron of impressions and images and individuals and issues from which they eventually make a choice.

Conway appears to be correct. Even though there is no new evidence the FBI will reverse its conclusion that Clinton committed no prosecutable crime in her handling of classified information, James Comeys letter from last Friday has, indeed, done damage. Per the Washington Posts Greg Sargent:



Comey hurt a lot in terms of momentum, Greenberg said. We were heading towards a consolidation of the Democratic vote for her and down-ballot, and Trump voters were becoming more demoralized. Our tracking had crossed into her voters being more interested in the election than Trump voters were.



That changed, Greenberg added. That limits the scope of her win.



Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told me that the impact of the Comey letter was to sour millennials on Clinton and on the political process  potentially to the detriment of Dem Senate candidates in states like New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.



Many millennials who were already discouraged about politics, Lake said, saw increased doubts whether voting for any politician makes any difference.

The damage is done. And, per Kellyanne Conway, James Comey and Bret Baier should be very proud.


Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly. Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images

The Bridgegate trial verdict is in. After five days of deliberations, the jury has found two former Christie allies, Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, guilty on all counts in a scheme to shut down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge as payback against the mayor of Fort Lee for failing to support Christie in his gubernatorial reelection bid.

Kelly, the governors former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, a former top Christie appointee at the Port Authority, were each charged with seven counts of conspiracy and fraud. The most serious of the crimes carry a maximum of up to 20 years in prison; the two will face a sentencing hearing next year, on February 21. Lawyers for Kelly and Baroni, who asked for a mistrial during deliberations, are likely to appeal the verdict.

"I told Bridget this is a first step in a process." pic.twitter.com/QSfTBSoxDd  Andrew Seidman (@AndrewSeidman) November 4, 2016

The six-week trial drudged up the details of the political plot, painting the traffic jams as an eccentric revenge against Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich in September 2013. The prosecution built their case around their star witness and the so-called mastermind of the subterfuge, David Wildstein. Wildstein, who was Christies enforcer at the Port Authority, pleaded guilty in the conspiracy in exchange for his testimony, which, besides laying out the states case, helped destroy what was left of Christies reputation. Wildstein testified that he had informed Christie of the tremendous amount of traffic in Fort Lee at the 9/11 memorial.

Both Kelly and Baroni took the stand in their defense. Kelly, who sent the infamous time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee email, said that after hearing Wildsteins plan, believed it was a legitimate traffic study. She added, under oath, that she told the governor about Wildsteins plan about a month before he executed it. Baroni also testified that he understood this traffic study to be genuine. Baroni, who was accused of ignoring Sokolichs desperate calls and texts during the jams, said Wildstein instructed him to do so, otherwise hed cave and ruin the study. Wildstein, Baroni claimed, said he would handle it.

Governor Chris Christie has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the case, and has maintained he did not know of the lane closures before or while they were happening. The governor, whos heading to New Hampshire and Pennsylvania to campaign for Trump this weekend, said in a statement that he was saddened about the choices made by Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly, and David Wildstein, but he reiterated that he had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments.

Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue, he added.

This post will has been updated with additional details.
Photo: Erin DeGregorio/DNAinfo

I didnt want anyone seeing me come out of that house and think that was my garage and my flag, Bay Ridge resident Michael Byrnes told DNAinfo about his Ew > sign fashioned from a cardboard box that points to the Trump flag his neighbor is flying. Byrnes, a 35-year-old Navy vet whos voting for Jill Stein, added that he mainly put up the sign so he could sit comfortably on his couch  and know I had a counter up to the Trump flag.

The owner of the Trump flag is 62-year-old Clifford Jacobs. Jacobs, who described himself as a lifelong Democrat and Bay Ridge resident, said he will probably keep the flag up until Election Day, despite the message of disgust and getting at least two notes, written on cardboard, with the words racist. (Byrnes denies having anything to do with those.) Jacobs isnt the only New Yorker whos had trouble with Trump branding; hes also not giving in. I cant take it down, because it would be giving in, he said. It seems like a lot of people just want to shut you down til you agree with them, or they dont want to hear or see other opinions.

Only five more days to go.
Expect the unexpected. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Five days before Americans headed to the polls in 2008, a sizable portion of the electorate could explain Sarah Palins proximity to Russia, name at least one of her kids (along with future son-in-law Levi Johnston), and do a passable impression of her. Today, even Americans who are following the election might be sketchy on which state Mike Pence can see from his house (Indiana) and whether he even has kids (he has a son and two daughters, each with a pleasant, unremarkable name).

The lack of familiarity with the current Republican vice-presidential nominee is understandable. If Pence and Donald Trump were Westworld hosts, the governor would have his emotional affect switched off, while the mogul would be way off his loop, rampaging through the park owing to some mysterious computer virus. Pence will never inspire tabloid covers, viral SNL sketches, or made-for-HBO movies. However, Americans should know far more about him than Palin, because hes closer to the presidency than she ever was.

It is very unlikely that Pence will become president (especially with Hillary Clinton still in the lead, despite the polls tightening). But there are several scenarios that could lead to Pence running the country for the next four years (aside from the one terrible way vice-presidents usually assume the office).

A Tie in the Electoral College, Followed by a Tie in the House

Its mathematically possible (though improbable) that neither Clinton nor Trump will secure the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. In that case, the House would choose the president, with each state delegation getting one vote. In the case of a 25-25 tie, the election would go to the Senate, and, as Time explains, Pence or Democratic VP nominee Tim Kaine would assume the presidency:

What happens in the case of a second presidential tie? According to the 12th Amendment, if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. That was later changed to the Vice President-Elect and to January 20 in the 20th Amendment.



The Vice President-Elect is chosen by the Senate in a separate process from the House, according to Amy Bunk, an attorney from the National Archives, which administers the Electoral College. If the Senate, as predicted by most observers right now, goes Democratic, then Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine would become president. If Republicans maintain control of the Upper Chamber, then Indiana Gov. Mike Pence will be the 45th president. If the Senate also deadlocks  the unlikeliest of unlikely scenarios  then the presidency would go to the next person in line, the Speaker of the House, currently Paul Ryan.



Trump Is Impeached

Republicans are already talking about impeaching President Hillary Clinton, but as New Yorks Ed Kilgore notes, Clinton is not the candidate facing an actual court trial shortly after Election Day. Trumps trial for allegedly defrauding students at Trump University is set to begin on November 28. Trump has also been accused in a civil suit of raping a 13-year-old girl, and a hearing is set for December 16. Plus, the FBI is reportedly probing Trumps ties to Russia.

Then there are Trumps potential actions as president. Politico noted back in April, before Trump won the nomination, that some were discussing the possibility that he wouldnt remain in office for long:

Impeachment is already on the lips of pundits, newspaper editorials, constitutional scholars, and even a few members of Congress. From the right, Washington attorney Bruce Fein puts the odds at 50/50 that a President Trump commits impeachable offenses as president. Liberal Florida Rep. Alan Grayson says Trumps insistence on building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, if concrete was poured despite Congresss opposition, could lead down a path toward impeachment. Even the mainstream Republican head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently tossed out the I-word when discussing the civilian backlash if Trumps trade war with China led to higher prices on everyday items sold at WalMart and Target. On his radio show last month, Rush Limbaugh even put a very brisk timeline on it: Theyll be talking impeachment on day two, after the first Trump executive order, he said.

President Trump Lets Pence Run the Country

From the start of his campaign, there have been rumors that Trump never expected his candidacy to go this far, and isnt all that interested in being president. Politico came up with a long list of reasons why hed hate doing the job; for instance, he wouldnt be able to hire and fire people on a whim, and the court would challenge his executive orders. That theory was bolstered by a report in July that Donald Trump Jr. reached out to a John Kasich adviser to gauge the Ohio governors interest in joining the ticket. Per The New York Times Magazine:

Did he have any interest in being the most powerful vice president in history?



When Kasichs adviser asked how this would be the case, Donald Jr. explained that his fathers vice president would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.



Then what, the adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of?



Making America great again was the casual reply.



We dont know what Trump offered Pence (and the Trump campaign denies the Kasich report), but Pence has said that he would model his vice-presidency after Dick Cheneys. I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American, Pence told ABC Newss Martha Raddatz. He added that he hoped to be a very active vice president and to use his experience on Capitol Hill to advance Trumps vision.

I would hope that my relationships over my 12 years in Congress and my four years here as governor of Indiana would help carry Donald Trumps vision to make America great again to people who would be crafting the legislation to put that into practice, he said.

In the wake of grab-em-by-the-pussy-gate, some Republicans began openly dreaming of a Pence presidency. A Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Scott Gant and Bruce Peabody described how Trump could abdicate before November 8:

Mr. Trump could publicly declare that although he will remain the Republican nominee he will resign immediately after taking his oath of office on Inauguration Day, leaving his more-popular running mate, Mike Pence, to succeed him as president.



In this way, Republicans can effectively replace Mr. Trump at the top of the ticket, without having to endure the logistical and legal turmoil of formally nominating a new standard-bearer less than a month before Election Day.



In early October, a poll found Pence is the front-runner for the 2020 GOP nomination, assuming Trump does not run. Around the same time, Senator Ben Sasse announced that he plans to write in Mike Pences name for president in the 2016 election.

So what would President Pence, or a very powerful Vice-President Pence, do for America? Heres a thumbnail sketch.

Curtail LGBT Rights

While Trump is fairly liberal on gay rights, for a Republican, Pence is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Before he was selected as Trumps running mate, Pence was best known nationally for signing a law that would have allowed businesses to refuse service to LGBT customers on religious grounds. Following a national backlash, Pence signed an amendment that said no provider  may deny service to anyone on basis of sexual orientation, race, religion or disability.

Throughout his career, Pence has passionately opposed expanding gay rights. In 2006 he told colleagues in the House that he supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, explaining, Societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.

In 2007, he voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, and he opposed the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell because he didnt want the military to become a backdrop for social experimentation. Pence advocated for conversion therapy during his first successful run for Congress in 2000, and he has never publicly reversed that stance.

Restrict Reproductive Rights

While Trumps views on reproductive rights have shifted even during the campaign, Pence has been a leader in the fight against abortion for years. He sponsored the first House bill to defund Planned Parenthood in 2007, and continued pushing similar legislation until it passed in 2011. He co-sponsored the Protect Life Act, which would have prohibited women from buying insurance plans that cover abortion under the Affordable Care Act, and allowed hospitals to refuse to perform abortions even in situations where the mothers life was at risk.

Indiana has some of the harshest abortion laws in the country, and as governor, Pence made them even stricter. In March, he signed a bill into law that makes it illegal for women to have an abortion because their fetus has a disability, like Down syndrome. The bill also requires aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated.



On the campaign trail, Pence predicted that Roe v. Wade will be overturned if Trump is elected president. Im pro-life and I dont apologize for it, he said. Well see Roe vs. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs.

Reject Complaints About Institutional Racism

When asked in September how he would unite the country, Pence brought up the protests over the shooting of black men by police. Donald Trump and I believe theres been far too much of this talk of institutional bias or racism within law enforcement. That police officers are human beings. In difficult and life threatening situations, mistakes are made and people have to be held to strict account, Pence said. He added, We ought to set aside this talk about institutional racism and institutional bias.

Pence addressed the issue again at the vice-presidential debate, saying, Enough of this seeking every opportunity to demean law enforcement broadly by making the accusation that implicit bias every time tragedy occurs.

Ignore Climate Change

Pence has been a passionate climate-change denier over the years, and on his watch, Indiana joined a lawsuit against the Obama administration over the Clean Power Plan. Pence said that even if the rule was upheld, Indiana may refuse to comply with federal restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions.

The governor holds a number of other positions that are out of step with modern science, as Fortune notes. He once claimed in an op-ed that smoking doesnt kill, he said embryonic-stem-cell research is obsolete, which is not true, and its unclear if he believes in evolution.

Work With Paul Ryan

Trump has clashed many times with Ryan on the campaign trail, and his war against the Speaker has deep roots in the alt-right. Pence, on the other hand, would almost certainly work with the House leadership of his own party.

As National Review notes, Pence and Ryan have a cozy relationship  though its been tested by the campaign:

He and Pence served together in the House and remain so close that Pence asked the speaker to introduce him at the Republican convention. When Trump initially declined to endorse Ryan in his August primary, Pence made a rare public break with his running mate, telling Fox News, I believe we need Paul Ryan in leadership in the Congress of the United States. But the prolonged feud between Trump and Ryan has tested Pences loyalties. He was vexed by Ryans decision to stop advocating for Trump after the Access Hollywood tape, while Trump himself denounced Ryan as our very weak and ineffective leader and suggested he should lose the speakership.

Pence declined to say whether he thinks Ryan should be elected Speaker three times in an interview with National Review, but later he said Ryan has his support. We are so grateful for Paul Ryans support for this ticket, Pence told CNN. Paul Ryan is a personal friend. My respect for Paul Ryan is boundless and I support his re-election to Congress, and I support his re-election as speaker of the House.

Finally, theres one very important way that a Pence administration would differ from a Trump administration. While President Pence would be far more harsh on certain issues, he probably wouldnt undermine the foundations of American democracy.
Bathtub sticker selfies are always a safe bet. Photo: Courtesy of Instagram/januaryjones

Earlier this voting season, Justin Timberlake headed to the polls in his hometown of Memphis to vote early. All seemed to be going well until he shared the moment on Instagram with the caption There could be early voting in your town, too. If not, November 8. Choose to have a voice! If you dont, then we cant HEAR YOU! Get out and VOTE! Unfortunately, using phones in Tennessee poll booths is illegal. The Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill last year that stated it was illegal to use cellphones to record images at voting sites, which legally prohibited Timberlake from using the device for telephone conversations, recording, or taking photographs or videos while inside the polling place.

An Instagram spokesperson told the Cut that the legalities of using phones within booths and taking photos at polls vary depending on location. In an October 2016 Associated Press piece that elaborates on the issue, posting ballot selfies is illegal in 18 states. The reasons vary: In South Dakota, for example, selfies are considered influencing a vote or forcing someone to show proof of voting. In Alabama, selfies are not allowed because voters have a right to cast a ballot in secrecy and in private.

The AP piece goes on to clarify where its legal to bring mobile electronics into booths, and where voters can take photos of ballots. Louisianas Secretary of State, Tom Schedler has said that he isnt a fan of them, but theyre allowed.

And then there are the states with blurred lines. Take Oklahoma, for example, where officials advise against taking selfies but outline no penalties. Or Delaware, where Commissioner of Elections Elaine Manlove said, I dont know that we can control what happens behind the curtain, but there is a policy against bringing cellphones into the voting booths.

Everyone has a different reason to show the world that they voted. Perhaps youre trying to convince your swing-state friends to join in, or maybe youre proving another point to your dad about your political choices. To be safe, check the list. The fines can be high, and the word jail was even tossed around after Timberlake posted his selfie. (Dont fret, he wont be barred up for this.) Here are some ways that celebs are legally sharing their voting experience. Whether or not you share their views, you can follow their leads on social media.

And for a quick list of legal, illegal, and blurred-lines-but-you-should-definitely-double-check:

Legal:

Connecticut

District of Columbia

Hawaii

Idaho

Indiana

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Minnesota

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

North Dakota

Oregon

Rhode Island

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wyoming

Illegal:

Alabama

Alaska

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Kansas

Massachusetts

Michigan

Mississippi

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

South Dakota

South Carolina

Wisconsin

Blurred Lines:

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Delaware

Iowa

Maryland

Missouri

Ohio

Oklahoma

Pennsylvania

Tennessee

Texas

West Virginia
The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at UVA. Photo: Jay Paul/Getty Images

After questions began to arise concerning the legitimacy of Rolling Stones now-retracted story, A Rape on Campus, University of Virginia associate dean of students Nicole Eramo filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the magazine and journalist Sabrina Erdely for defamation. The trial began in mid-October, and on Friday, the jury ruled both the magazine and Erdely are liable for reporting what now appears to be a false story.

According to the Daily Beast, the jury ruled that Rolling Stone and Erdely acted with actual malice, meaning she knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or inaccurate but chose to print it anyway. Eramo is seeking $7.5 million in damages from the magazine.

Following the ruling, Rolling Stone released a statement saying it hoped its error wouldnt detract from future investigations into campus rape. Read the full statement below:

For almost 50 years, Rolling Stone has aimed to produce journalism with the highest reporting and ethical standards, and with a strong humanistic point of view. When we published A Rape on Campus in 2014, we were attempting to tackle the very serious and complex topic of sexual assault on college campuses, a subject that is more relevant today than ever. In our desire to present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor, we overlooked reporting paths and made journalistic mistakes that we are committed to never making again. We deeply regret these missteps and sincerely apologize to anyone hurt by them, including Ms. Eramo. It is our deep hope that our failings do not deflect from the pervasive issues discussed in the piece, and that reporting on sexual assault cases ultimately results in campus policies that better protect our students. We will continue to publish stories that shine a light on the defining social, political and cultural issues of our times, and we will continue to seek the truth in every story we publish.

This isnt the end of Rolling Stones legal problems; a second lawsuit, filed by the UVA frat Erdely wrote about in the retracted story, has yet to go to trial.
Photo: stevenalan/Instagram

Its a long story, but somehow I found myself stranded in Mongolia, Matthew Scanlan of Naadam Cashmere began yesterday evening as he recounted the origin of his business for an intimate gathering of style-hounds, hosted by New York Magazine for its new premium membership program  New York by New York  at Steven Alans Chelsea store.



I lived with a family for three weeks, and even though they didnt know me, they took care of me, fed me. I was so grateful and I spent that time learning about how they lived  how they survived in negative-40-degree weather. By the time he was able to get home to America he realized he wanted to help the people hed met. He set up Gobi Revival Fund, an organization that provided veterinarian training to care for their livestock and manage water supplies. After a few years he realized he could also work with the herders and began importing their goods: A sweater company was born.



Steven Alan, whose many well-curated boutiques provide a certain subset of New York City with stylish, lasting basics, explained the appeal of Naadams brand. When I meet with a new designer, I look for a story behind the brand. I look for that certain quality that stands out  where you can tell its not anybody elses sweater.



While the audience was left to speculate on the rest of Scanlans saga about spending three weeks with a nomadic tribe in Mongolia, the talk turned toward scaling small businesses and customer relationships. I visit Mongolia at least two times a year, he explained about the close relationship with every step of the brand. Hes looking into scaling his model of working with farmers directly to improve their quality of life  next time with Pima cotton.



Steven Alan was one of the first stores to sell the cashmere brand, which follows the pattern of many of the brands the boutique sells. Alan described his process for choosing whom to work with based on value proposition, Im not looking at price as much as Im look for something thats a good value. If a leather jacket sells for $2,000 it should be something that could sell for, or might be worth, $4,000.


Photo: Jessica Antola

Nurgaiv Rys, a nomadic eagle hunter from the remote Altai mountains in Mongolia, didnt set out to take on the Kazakh patriarchy. When his 13-year-old daughter, Aisholpan, asked if she could hunt with golden eagles  a practice passed down through the men in their family for 12 generations  he did not envision how their story would resonate with viewers across the world. He simply believed that Aisholpan should be able to do whatever the boys could do.



People say she should not be doing this, so I worry for her, explains Nurgaiv in a new documentary about his daughter, The Eagle Huntress, out this week. But I think boys and girls are equal. Directed by English filmmaker Otto Bell and executive-produced by Morgan Spurlock and Daisy Ridley (who also serves as narrator), The Eagle Huntress details Aisholpans quest to continue her familys legacy, traditional gender roles be damned.

Bell first discovered Aisholpan after seeing a series of viral photographs by Israeli photographer Asher Svidensky in 2014. Its not hard to see why the photo resonated with the likes of Bell and Ridley (as well as Sia, who wrote the movies theme song): Clad in her traditional hunting garb, a 15-pound eagle leaping from her outstretched hand, Aisholpan looks like like a heroine dreamed up in the laboratories of Disney or Pixar, a ready-made avatar of feel-good Girl Power. Fortunately, the story is just as good as the pictures.



Photo: Asher Svidensky/Asher Svidensky

Shot amid the soaring mountain vistas of western Mongolia, the film chronicles then-13-year-old Aisholpans quest to capture an eagle of her own, hunting on horseback with her father, and her eventual journey to the Golden Eagle Festival in Olgii, where she is both the youngest contestant and the first woman ever to take part. A mode of hunting dating back thousands of years, eagle hunting is a form of falconry that involves riding on horseback and catching small prey with a trained bird as ones companion. Once used to catch food and fur, eagle hunting now lives on as an important cultural tradition. Its very much a tradition tied up with mens self-identity. It goes beyond being a sport or pastime or hobby, says Bell. Theres almost a spiritual aspect as well.

Throughout the film, we hear testimony from a gaggle of scowling elders, who scoff at the idea that a girl would be brave enough to try her hand at this male-dominated pastime (while there is some record of eagle huntresses in Kazakh history, they are few and far between). But Aisholpan appears unruffled by their criticism.



From an early age I was always interested to be an eagle huntress, says Aisholpan, now 15, speaking through a translator at New Yorks Crosby Hotel last week. I was wondering why I cant do this because I dont see any differences between me and the other boys.

In 2014, Bell flew to Mongolia to meet with the family, and the timing was fortuitous: Aisholpan and her dad were about to go find her a baby eagle of her own, a task only possible during the short window of time eaglets are old enough to be left in the nest unattended. In the film, we see Nurgaiv tie a rope around his daughters waist, and then watch her wind dexterously down the side of a steep cliff face in order to swaddle her eaglet in a blanket. Aisholpan never expresses doubt or fear, never tires, never complains. At first I was a little bit excited and worried, but I wasnt afraid, she tells me of the fateful day she met her eagle, a female named White Wings, who lives in the familys yurt with them (female eagles are generally bigger, stronger, and better for hunting  take from that what you will).



Since the first time I took the eagle from the nest weve been always together. Ive always been feeding her and spoiling her, she explains. In the film, we see her rearing White Wings almost like a child, stroking her and speaking to her in soft baby talk. Right now I think that shes my friend and also a member of the family.

Photo: Asher Svidensky/Asher Svidensky

Bell attributes Aisholpans success both to her singular determination and to the support of her father, who mentored her and shielded her from the criticisms of the men in the community. To a man, the interviews I did with the elders, they rejected the idea of a woman stepping into their realm, explains Bell. I think her dad did a lot to insulate her from the people saying she couldnt do it and wasnt capable enough.



By the sheer force of their example, Nurgaiv and Aisholpan have dealt a blow to the eagle-hunting patriarchy. After months of training, Aisholpan competed at the Golden Eagle Festival against 70 full-grown men and came out victorious. Since then, four other young girls have competed at the festival, following in her footsteps. Aisholpan has become something of a community hero, and her newfound fame earned her a scholarship to a top school in the region, where she is studying to be a doctor and learning to speak English.



Meanwhile, around the world, people have latched on to Aisholpans story as an example that girls can indeed do anything boys can do  even if the mountains they have to climb arent quite so literal. Next, her story is slated to get the animated treatment, courtesy of Ice Ages Chris Wedge, so its not hard to imagine Kmart one day stocking Aisholpan dolls along with its Annas and Elsas.



Aisholpan says she is happy that girls around the world have been inspired by her story, and encourages them simply to keep persevering when times get tough. They must keep trying and be brave, she says.


Photo: Courtesy of Twitter/mayorsCAU

In August, New York City public advocate Letitia James introduced legislation that would make it illegal for companies to ask prospective employees about their salary histories during the interview process. Today, in a gesture that will affect thousands of incoming city workers, Bill de Blasio signed an executive order banning this practice for municipal employers of the City of New York.

This move is a huge push in the fight to close the gender pay gap. When companies ask prospective employees about their salary histories, it presents the potential to undervalue women and minorities from the hiring process onward, making it difficult for them to catch up to white, male salaries in their lifetime. This practice perpetuates the gender pay gap  when women and minorities start at lower salaries, their next job can hire them for cheaper than they would a man, and this inequality continues into perpetuity. On the phone with the Cut this afternoon, Mayor de Blasio said issuing this executive order did not take any convincing. We had to figure out what was the quickest thing we could do in working toward pay equity.

Jamess office released a report in April that analyzed salary data of the women and men of New York City. It found that, altogether, women in New York City earn about $5.8 billion less than men in wages each year, and worse, black women earn only 55 cents to a mans dollar and Hispanic women only 46 cents. The disparities are slightly smaller in New York than they are nationwide, but one particularly egregious detail speaks to how disadvantaged New York City municipal women workers are: Women employed in New York Citys municipal government face a gender wage gap that is three times larger (18 percent) than the gap experienced by women working in the private for-profit sector (6 percent).

I dont fully agree with [Jamess] analysis of whats going on in the city government, but her report was still important to us, de Blasio said. Its all part of a continuum  from paid sick leave to raising the minimum wage to free pre-K. Its all part of an agenda, but in particular, we wanted to find a way to support women by addressing economic unfairness.

Todays executive order is unlike the recent bill signed into law by Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker that bans all employers  private sector included  from asking about salary histories, and hiring managers must state a jobs compensation upfront. De Blasios action, on the other hand, only reaches prospective employees for the City of New York, but First Lady Chirlane McCray believes this only the beginning.

It sends a message, she said over the phone. The city is a huge employer. It makes New York City a model for other cities around the country. On whether this particular order will have an impact on the private sector, de Blasio remains hopeful. Obviously we are very receptive to the city council passing broader legislation. Do we have a schedule for when perfect equity will be reached? No, but we believe that this could move very quickly. In todays announcement, de Blasio also committed his support 0f Jamess legislation that seeks to make the same policy apply to private sector employers.



In conjunction with todays order, de Blasio penned an essay for Cosmopolitan about gender inequity and how the mayor is proud to be at the forefront of this shift, one that has plagued women and minorities since they entered the workforce. Our message is simple, he writes. What you made at your last job should not determine what you make at your next job. How did the mayor feel about having his first Cosmopolitan byline on an issue as important as closing the gender pay gap? I feel Ive arrived, he said. This is a whole new world for me.
California wine industry unveils "dream team" to represent it in the UK

A new team featuring Justin Knock MW, Damien Jackman, Rosamund Barton, Rupert Ponsonby and Sue Glasgow has been assembled to promote Californian wines in the UK.

Business partners Knock and Jackman, owners of London independent wine merchant Philglass & Swiggot, will manage trade representation and serve as brand ambassadors.

They have created a new group called Golden State Wines UK through which they will champion wines from California.

R&R Teamwork, a seven-strong PR agency whose clients include Hatch Mansfield and Gonzalez Byass, will provide PR and media relations, while Glasgows Spear Communications will manage an annual UK tasting event.

Linsey Gallagher, vice president for international marketing at the Wine Institute of California in San Francisco, said: California vintners are committed to our largest wine export market in Europe and one of the largest export markets for us worldwide.

We are so excited to have this dream team come together to support our category-building efforts in the very important UK market. We have a strong California Wines brand in the UK with positive trends, and we have ambitious plans to accelerate our sales to the UK in the future.

In 2015, California wine sales in the UK reached $284 million, according to export figures. California Wine Institute plans to increase sales to the UK to $400 million by the end of the decade.

The Wine Institute said Knock has extensive experience in California wine production and in wine ambassador work across the UK and Europe. He is a former winemaker, a wine judge and winemaking consultant to Encirc.

Jackman is a lawyer and was was part of the executive leadership team for Treasury Wine Estates in the UK and Europe. As general counsel for TWE, Jackman had responsibility for government and regulatory issues across all UK and European markets, including labelling, excise and importation issues.

The Wine Institute said: Jackman and Knocks prior experience will allow them to develop strategies for individual and chain-based retail promotions as well as promotions in restaurants and hotels supporting California Wines. In addition to focusing on London, California Wines programming will be expanded throughout the country.

John McLaren and Venla Freeman, who headed up the Wine Institute of California in London for many years, have left their roles.

Related articles:
.@MOBOAwards founder Kanya King explains why the show is still a vital outlet for celebrating black British music.https://t.co/IQdtKlT5W5 pic.twitter.com/hoBI8nE14K  The FADER (@thefader) November 4, 2016

Fader interviewed MOBO founder Kanya King on her perspective of black music in Europe and the importance of the MOBOs on the genre.The interview discusses the history of Black music in Britain. How Black British music started out with the most success through nightclubs and pirate radio.King said, "1. King started out as a talent booker for London's Carlton TV.2. She hired small venues in North west London to help urban music artists.3. Her mother was Irish and Father Ghanaian who went to live in the UK a the height of discrimination against Irish and Blacks.4. When she became pregnant she was projected to be a young black parent on benefits.5. Was turned down by and had to overpay many venues to help promote Black music.6. Found artist Mostack to be humbling after he vowed to work on himself as an artist after not being nominated, instead of just going on a rant about it. A sample of his work:The 2016 Lineup so farLady LeshurrLaura MvulaWSTRNPopcaan, Section Boyz, Craig David, Fekky, and more!
nope not today satan

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OCCULT CREEPINESS



HFT.

HFT.

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idk why but this gif is killing me

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What's spirit cooking?

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White nonsense

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It's kind of absurdly and hilariously beautiful that wikileaks last ditch effort to taint the election is making hillary a satanist...like of course this is where we end up in this shit show lmfao

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i'm waiting for someone to say "SHE EATS BABIES"

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thats why she supports late term abortions, it all makes sense now.

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This was a real tweet



I'm seriously am about to call the board of elections and see if I can change my vote #SpiritCooking  Aniyah  (@aniyah_vernisha) November 4, 2016





@aniyah_vernisha UPDATE where I live they do NOT allow votes to be changed I regret voting for Hillary I let too many people get in head  Aniyah  (@aniyah_vernisha) November 4, 2016

Click the #SpiritCooking tag on twitter lol. Trump supporters are going wild.This was a real tweet

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Wait... what does this have to do with Hillary? This was a personal email to the brother of a campaign manager, right? That's a lot of degrees of separation to something that is already just art stuff in the first place.

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LMAO

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Lol

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if i wasn't at work, i would link you to the book written in the 70s that features only recipes made with semen. proceed with caution, should you google it.

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Or Tony's

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Speaking of Wikileaks and Russia, this piece dropped today that is worth a read.



In @Newsweek: When Trump attacked Gold Star family, Russia stopped releasing hacks, fearing he'd be stepping down. https://t.co/JSN8Liptfc  Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) November 4, 2016





.@maddow has an advanced look at tomorrow's @Newsweek cover story: "Why the Russians are Backing Trump". https://t.co/dMOiJhz1VU  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 4, 2016

Gonna put Spirit Cooker in my twitter bio tbh. What I need is John Podesta's creamy risotto recipe.Speaking of Wikileaks and Russia, this piece dropped today that is worth a read.

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they need a stronger story than this

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MSM discusses emails more than they do actual policy or even Trump's Wikileaks mess. So huge stories like this often leave a blip on networks like CNN.

Not sure that's entirely fair given this is not a normal election. The normalization of Trump makes this not seem like a blockbuster when in reality it is a huge deal. It is a huge story. Newsweek has done a fantastic job in this election imo. If this were any other candidate/had competent media, this would have disqualified him when the first story dropped a couple of months ago.MSM discusses emails more than they do actual policy or even Trump's Wikileaks mess. So huge stories like this often leave a blip on networks like CNN. https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/10/26/study-confirms-network-evening-newscasts-have-abandoned-policy-coverage-2016-campaign/214120

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I agree, there's unfortunately nothing conclusive here, and esp the way this story is framed, it's almost burying its own points.

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i used to make fun of people for thinking russia was still some commie super threat circa the 50s/60s that was coming for america, but this damn election made me eat crow. it literally can't get anymore batshit at this point.



Edited at 2016-11-04 02:37 pm (UTC)

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Kurt Eichenwald has had like a million Trump/Russia scoops and the media is collectively just like "eh, what you got on emails!?" It's been crazy to see the media just kind of sigh it off.

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I'll say it for the 10th time:



1. Media has the two story leads.

2. Neither was the story from yesterday.

3. I don't control timing.  Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 3, 2016





The stuff about Trump possibly being blackmailed by Russia is interesting, but if there are no recordings of him outright discussing it, it's almost as if it doesn't exist. People are so lazy when it comes to reading anymore that they need to hear, and possibly even need visualization, in order for anything to make waves. There is still stuff that isn't out and I've pretty much given up on it coming out in anytime to make any significant impact.The stuff about Trump possibly being blackmailed by Russia is interesting, but if there are no recordings of him outright discussing it, it's almost as if it doesn't exist. People are so lazy when it comes to reading anymore that they need to hear, and possibly even need visualization, in order for anything to make waves.

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MTE

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She is the Eli Roth or Bret Easton Ellis of the art world.

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only if she uses blueberries :)

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Given 'spirit cooking', they'd probably have been dingleberries instead.



Edited at 2016-11-04 02:39 pm (UTC)

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Will spirit cooking cleanse me of remembering the blueberries?

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Oh my gooooooddd lmfao I had forgotten about that!

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sf accurate

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nah, shes the real deal. her earlier work was so influential and definitely important



its just in recent years when she has become a celebrity that she let it go to her head. which, why not. i don't begrudge her that

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TBH I rank both of them higher than this bitch

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The recipe includes ingredients such as semen, blood, and sperm.



So glad I decided to browse ontd during my lunch break.



Edited at 2016-11-04 02:41 pm (UTC)

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mte, i was eating breakfast and immediately just closed the post so i could finish lol

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Im no native speaker but is sperm not the same as semen? Or can you seperate sperm from semen like yolk from eggwhite?

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wow when I read occult creepiness i was expecting satanic child sacrifices but this is creepy too!

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now, this...this is something

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blood sacrifices and things related to it are so interesting to me! i live for creepy shit like this lmao.

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me too, but this post isn't going the way i wanted it too :(

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have u read that story about some girls going to a party at p diddy's house then he tries to sacrifice them to satan?? everyone on lipstick alley thinks he is legit demonic

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Yeah, I wanted conspiracy theories about secret societies and rituals

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Me too! I love that documentary The Neon Demon. I wonder if the blood of a virgin can really make you younger

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glad he's still here

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Some of my own songs are definitely are Homeric in value.



bless us with your modesty, Bob! <3



i love how this award has made so many people mad. a writer in my country wrote a fabulous piece about much of it was basically the arrogance of the cultural elites, who like the distinction between high & low culture to be very clear. i'd share it, but it's in portuguese.

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i wanna read the article!!

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Edited at 2016-11-04 07:56 pm (UTC) here u go bb :) https://www.publico.pt/culturaipsilon/noticia/a-sobranceria-das-elites-culturais-1749094

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I'd agree but Bob Dylan is not popular music

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the nobel committee is so stuck up their own ass



god forbid someone doesnt go on a media tour immediately fawning over them

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Am I the only one shocked he's still alive?



I thought he died a loooongggg time ago.

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you know what... now that you mention it... me too.

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LOL no. He's 75. Don't count him out yet! ;)

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lol hdu

I was blessed to hear him during desert trip .... traffic was so horrible that we basically missed him, save for walking from parking and the speakers reaching us from the polo grounds.

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You would make this comment

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Same.. that year he played the gammys, i was in shock cause i thought he was dead.. oops

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I thought he did too, before he won this.

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aww lol.

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This is surprisingly cute. I genuinely thought he didn't give a shit, which is funny on its own, but the fact that he's gobsmacked is endearing. (And WOW/lol at all the [white, male] novelists who were pressed as fuck over this. menareweak.gif)

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lol ikr. Irvine Welsh & Gary Shteyngart's tweets were blatantly bitter, lmao

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I'm a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies.  Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) October 13, 2016





Like...wow, okay, you proved your point, you deserve it more for your comically purple prose. Oh, Irvine's was legendarily butthurt. I'll never forget it:Like...wow, okay, you proved your point,deserve it more for your comically purple prose.

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dad rock

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Will attend the ceremony "if it's at all possible."



aw



he sounds really appreciative and modest, so what if he didn't respond right away

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I'm still pressed.



The Nobel Prize is rigged!!! Rigged!

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He's got some amazing lyrics. I'm happy for him and he seems so humble about it!

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Lol he seems so blase about the whole situation. I get the sense he doesn't really understand his win, much like a lot of people.

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That's very sweet, actually.

I def thought he was ignoring the nobel prize and now i feel bad haha.

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that facial hair lmao

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what's wrong with it

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that is one tragic mustache

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this is cute! my fave Dylan performance is Just Like a Woman at the Concert for Bangladesh.





Edited at 2016-11-04 07:52 pm (UTC)

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yas king

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i honestly thought he was dead. But only because of his proximity to other great artists of his era who are actually dead.

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 Its been a tough 2.5 weeks to be long on oil. After reaching a 2016-high at $51.93 on October 19th WTI lost $7.56 through November 3rd bottoming out at $44.37. We currently see three causes of the oil markets selloff believing that 1- skepticism regarding OPECs ability to reach and enforce meaningful supply cuts, 2- a bearish EIA report this week including the largest weekly inventory build on record and the highest amount of imported oil since 2012 and 3- cascading liquidation of a significant long position held by speculators are together responsible for market weakness. Our current view still calls for a $47-$55 range heading into the OPEC meeting later this month and we see several reasons why oil should find its footing and potentially rebound in the near term.

 As for trading flows, it was clear that length liquidation by speculators due to OPEC deal skepticism was responsible for a significant amount of flat price damage this week. After flushing out a considerable amount of weak length and moving prices below $45 we think that sentiment should turn more moderate with hedge funds hesitant to hold aggressively short positions in the low $40s heading into an OPEC meeting with non-zero odds of producing a bullish shot to the market.

 In terms of fundamentals we think this weeks EIA report (and more specifically its 9m bpd in imports) was a one-off event due to tanker flows and not indicative of a newly bearish turn in supply data. Broadly tightening global refined product stocks (our chart to the right shows ARA Fuel Oil stocks lower by 50% y/y,) improved refining margins which have flipped in some markets from seasonal laggards to above-normal seasonal yields and more than 1.3 million bpd of expected US refiner demand growth in the coming weeks as facilities emerge from turnarounds should all help to maintain the newly higher floor in the oil market.

 Lastly, in the geopolitical realm we view current output increases from Libya and Nigeria (who had m/m output jumps in October of 180k bpd and 170k bpd, respectively) as fragile ground to build a bearish case on while output gains from Iraq and Iran are expected to plateau in the not too distant future. Libyas anarchical violence and harshly competing militia interests in oil export assets are a persistent bullish risk to the market. Further south, Nigerias ceasefire has yet to create any common ground between the government and the Niger Delta Avengers and this was fully on display this week as the NDA attacked a NNPC pipeline and refused to represent themselves at peacemaking talks between the government and other Niger Delta groups they deemed corrupt.

(Click to enlarge)

Spreads collapse under OPEC, EIA report

US producer data was mixed this week beginning with a slight uptick in the producer/merchant short position held in NYMEX WTI and the first reduction in active US rigs (a modest cut of 2 rigs w/w) since June. US crude production hit 8.52m bpd in this weeks EIA report which is its highest mark since August. The WTI Cal17 strip fell below $48.50 this week which is unlikely to generate any producer hedging in the near term.

WTI spreads stayed in a bearish pattern this week with help from a flood of imported crude into the US, a modest inventory build in Cushing and OPEC deal jitters which were particularly harsh on the front of the curve. WTI Z16/H17 traded to a low of -1.92 on Thursday finding support on that level for the fifth time since October 24th. 2H17 spreads were also hit hard and WTI M17/Z17 sank from -1.00 on last Friday to -1.62 on Thursday afternoon. In both cases we think that accelerating refinery inputs in line with seasonal norms and improving margins should help stop the bleeding and moderate further losses. CSO volumes were mostly concentrated on bearish structures this week but skew in spread options is still essentially flat. As of Thursday afternoon the 25-cent out of the money put and 25-cent out of the money call in WTI J7/K7 were both worth roughly 11 cents. Related: OPEC Remains Positive On Output Cut As Oil Crashes To $44

Bloomberg released their OPEC production estimates for October this week and the results were unsurprisingly bearish. The cartel pumped a new record high 34m bpd in October (+170k bpd m/m ) lead by gains in Iraq, Iran, Libya and Nigeria who combined to increased production by 450k bpd. Angola lead declines with a 230k bpd drop to 1.5m bpd. Saudi Arabias output declined by 20k bpd to 10.58m bpd which is a seasonal norm as a/c use declines and not indicative of a willingness to cut production to raise prices. Russia also increased production by 100k bpd m/m to 11.2m bpd.

Brent spreads also fared poorly through Thursday from F17  Z17 as heightened output from Iraq, Libya and Nigeria crowded already well supplied markets in the Atlantic. In the front of the curve Brent F17/H17 fell to a low of -1.62 on Thursday for a $1.25 loss since June while further back in the curve M17/Z17 dropped to -1.75 for a $1 loss in the last two weeks.

Funds remain bullish RBOB, lukewarm on oil

COT data for last week showed modest liquidation of length from speculators in WTI and Brent. WTI net length fell from 291k to 268k due to an equal liquidation of longs while gross short positions were flat. In ICE Brent net length fell by 25k on an 8k increase in gross short positions while gross longs were cut by 17k. Our assumption is that the next round of data will show a signficant liquidation of long positions due to the sharp move lower in flat price.

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In product markets funds made a slight addition to their net long position from 40k to 41k after carrying a net short position as recently as August. In heating oil the net long grew from 8k to 12k. USO flows have been flat over the last two weeks after modest outflows in the week ended October 28th. Net outflows for October currently stand at $410 million which was the largest sell effort in the ETF since April.

Selloff drives 1-month high in volatility

WTIs fall from just under $52 to $45 drove a steep move in the OIV from 33% to over 41%. In WTI markets H17 at-the-money volatility jumped to 38% as of Thursday for a 4-vol w/w increase. The options skew also became increasingly bearish due to directional stress as 25 delta puts pushed to 42% while 25 delta calls priced at 35%. We continue to see it as a bearish signal the 10 delta calls remain as the cheapest option across the curve. Going forward, we would expect a modest rebound to cause implied vols to compress as realized volatility (20-day) is still below 27%.

Import flood drives highest w/w crude build on record

 Crude oil inventories added 14.4m bbls w/w on a flood of imports into the USGC and West Coast. The overall jump in imports of over the course of the week  13.9m bbls- was almost entirely responsible for the unprecedented inventory increase. Total imports at just shy of 9m bpd were the highest since 2012.

 Cushing stocks were essentially unchanged at 58.5m bbls

 Refiner demand took a slightly surprising dip to 15.4m bpd

 Gasoline and heating oil inventories continue to trend towards y/y deficit following large weekly inventory declines

US crude oil inventories jumped 14.4m bbls w/w and are higher y/y by 7%. Regionally, PADD I stocks drew by 162k bbls (+16% y/y,) PADD II stocks added 2.7m bbls (+5% y/y,) PADD III stocks added 8.1m bbls (+9% y/y) and PADD V stocks added 3.1m bbls (-5% y/y.) An increase in imports of about 2m bpd represented about 97% of the weekly supply build as PADD I imports increased by 2m bbls w/w, PADD II imports jumped by 2.3m bbls w/w, PADD III imports jumped by 6.3m bbls on the week and PADD V imports increased by 3.1m bbls. Crude oil production at 8.52m bpd was its highest mark since August.

Refinery inputs had a somewhat disappointing w/w drop of 100k bpd to 15.45m bpd. Overall inputs are flat y/y over the last month and should be set to increase by more than 1.3m bpd in the next 4-6 weeks. Refinery utilization at 85.2% was basically flat w/w and is lower y/y by 2% over the last year. Refining margins on the east coast got a boost from issues on the Colonial pipeline with RBOB/Brent jumping to nearly $13/bbl. The WTI 321 crack was in line with seasonal norms near $16/bbl this week while gasoil/brent lagged near $11/bbl.

Product markets weaken despite Colonial explosion and inventory draws

Gasoline stats were more bullish than expected lead by an overall draw of 2.2m bbls and a 1.9m bbl weekly draw on the east coast. Overall gasoline inventories are higher y/y by just under 4%. PADD II stocks are +8% y/y following a 1.7m bbl draw and PADD III inventories are higher y/y by 7% after a 1.8m bbl weekly build. PADD IB inventories are lower y/y by 6% following a modest weekly draw. On the demand side domestic gasoline consumption at 9.2m bpd was flat w/w and is flat y/y. Exports at 800k bpd are higher y/y/y by more than 80%. Related: Pirates Threaten Oil And Gas Shipping In The Red Sea

RBOB futures were extremely erratic to begin the week registering a short lived print at $1.64/gl (5-month high) in response to another explosion at on the Colonial Pipeline disrupting product deliveries to the east coast. In spread markets RBOB Z16/H17 traded to a contract high to nearly +10 cpg. In both markets the panic driven buying was short lived as futures ultimately trended lower on the week near $1.45/gl on Thursday while RBOB Z16/H17 fell more than 9 cents off of its high print to near +1 cpg.

(Click to enlarge)

US distillate stocks decreased by 1.8m bbls w/w which was concentrated in PADDs III and V. Overall distillate stocks are higher y/y by 7% and PADD IB inventories are higher y/y by 8% following a 720k bbl build. PADD II inventories are now higher y/y by 22% and PADD III inventories are lower y/y by 7%. Heating oil demand continued to disappoint this week with domestic consumption at 3.9m bpd for a 200k bpd w/w drop. Domestic demand is lower by 3.6% y/y over the last month while exports at 1.1m bpd are lower y/y by 2%.

Heating oil traded in a more bearish pattern than gasoline this week enjoying a jump from $1.50/gl to $1.58/gl on the Colonial explosion before selling off all the way down to $1.46/gl by Thursday. Prompt heating oil futures are lower by 17-cents from their high print in October. In spread markets HO Z16/H17 jumped from -4 cpg on the Sunday open to a high print of -1 cpg before taking out Fridays settle to the downside and trading near -4.25 on Thursday.

Overseas, gasoil spreads were generally weaker in the front of the curve including Gasoil Z16/H17 which traded below -$12/t this week for the first time since September before rebounding towards -$11/t. ARA gasoil stocks printed a modest w/w build this week but are lower y/y by 16%. Distillate stocks in Singapore fell by 1.5m bbls w/w and are lower y/y by 3%.

By SCS Commodities Corp.

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
After a series of massive investments into the power industry, China is now looking for ways of exporting excess electricity. This past March, the Interconnection Development & Cooperation Organization was established with the goal of creating the means to transport power across Asia. Countries such as India, South Korea, and Japan have already expressed an interest in the plan, along with other neighboring countries.

The Asia Super Grid would require billions of dollars invested in high voltage power lines over the next several decades. Planners are also considering how to deal with the problem of energy loss, undeveloped regions and obstacles such as mountains. If the project were successful, however, it would signal the integration of smart grids, high voltage power lines and renewables across numerous countries. This could indicate higher efficiency and result in lower electricity prices.

This could be a big win for advocates of renewable energy. The cost to create coal-powered plants in China is at an all time low, meaning an influx in manufacturers. These additional plants have limited utilization of older ones, which now stands at less than 50 percent, according to an article by Sierra Club. China is now taking the necessary steps to restrict future coal plants construction, but projects under development will continue. Investors should be weary of coal producers like Shenhua Energy Co., Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group Co. who are likely to underperform in this time of limited demand and inundated supply.

Announced at the G20 summit this past September, China and the United States joined the United Nations in their global effort to halt climate change. This includes increased dependence on renewables and stepping away from sources of power like coal in order to reduce their combined total of 40 percent of the earths carbon emissions. Companies specializing in renewable energy production would likely benefit from a larger, more connected Asian power market. Power Construction Corp. of China Ltd. is diversified across multiple forms of renewables and will earn returns based on these activities.

Countries like India struggle to meet demand for energy primarily due to the number of rural households in their country. As of 2015, over 240 million households in India have no accessibility to electricity. India is extremely reliant on coal plants and coal generation is increasing by a staggering amount.

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Source: India Energy Outlook 2015 Related: Oil To Crash Back To $40 If OPEC Fails

Ramping up coal production isnt solving the power crisis, though. The dim villages are so remote that no electricity is likely to reach them. By expanding the abundance of Asian power lines, India can ease off coal production with Chinese power exports and focus on funding the production of stand-alone renewable energy systems in these isolated regions.

Following the conception of the Chinese group in March, multiple companies have agreed to participate in the planning of this continental grid. Softbank Group Corp., Korea Electric Power Corp., and Russian Rosseti PJSC will be conversing on potential options along with China. Softbank, a Japanese firm that specializes in telecommunication networks, announced in October that they would be working with Saudi Arabia and other partners over the next few years to fund technology projects possibly amounting to over $100 billion. All three of these public companies could prove to be successful long-term investments if their plans pan out.

Coal, on the other hand has been fizzing out for a while with environmentally conscious governments pushing to lower carbon emissions meaning demand will likely drop off in the coal market over the next several years. Investors should react accordingly and watch for changes pertaining to characteristics of the power grids in Asia.

By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Following OPEC's blame-mongering statement earlier today -"observers should not be quick to judge or criticize" the organization - it appears mutiny is occurring within the cartel as OPEC sources report Saudi Arabia threatening to "steeply raise" output following Iran's refusal to cap output. WTI is tumbling on the news, testing towards a $43 handle.

OPEC blames analysts for exposing the cartel's impotence:

At OPEC, we remain deeply optimistic about the possibility that the Algiers Agreement will be complemented by precise, decisive action among all producers  the kind of action that we need in order to see prices supported and short-term volatility avoided.

In the meantime, industry observers should remember that they should not be too quick to judge or criticize the Organization or its Member Countries. Over the years, we have seen how wildly inaccurate their predictions have been.

What many of them have failed to recognize is that OPECs great strength is its global reach and its diversity. Its great value is found in the continuing willingness of its Member Countries to confer, consult and coordinate actions if and when necessary.

As the years have passed and the market has evolved, the importance of OPECs role has, in fact, only increased  proving all those unfortunate nay-sayers wrong once more. Related: Bahrains Masterplan To Become A Global Gas Hub

But what really hit oil this morning was Reuters reporting:

Clashes between the two OPEC heavyweights, which are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, have become frequent in recent years.

Tensions subsided, however, in recent months after Saudi Arabia agreed to support a global oil supply limiting pact, thus raising the prospect that OPEC would take steps to boost oil prices.

But a meeting of OPEC experts last week, designed to work out details of cuts for the next OPEC ministerial gathering on Nov. 30, saw Saudis and Iranians clashing again, according to four OPEC sources who were present at the meeting and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.



"The Saudis have threatened to raise their production to 11 million barrels per day and even 12 million bpd, bringing oil prices down, and to withdraw from the meeting," one OPEC source who attended the meeting told Reuters.



OPEC headquarters declined to comment on discussions during the closed-door meetings last week. Saudi and Iranian OPEC delegates also declined official comments.

The Saudi threat followed objections by Iran, which said it was unwilling to freeze its output, the same OPEC sources said. Iran has argued it should be exempt from such limits as its production recovers after the lifting of EU sanctions.

The Saudi threat will revive memories of a pump war that Riyadh embarked on at the end of 2014 to claw market share back from higher-cost producers. Iran, along with other OPEC price hawks, have severely criticized the Saudi strategy.

Related: Electric Cars To Reshape Copper And Oil Demand

Which has sent WTIO back near $43 handle...

(Click to enlarge)

As a reminder, Goldman said if the deal falls apart, as it now seems to be, that "weakening oil fundamentals warrant oil prices in the low US$40s/bbl in our view if OPEC is unable to deliver a convincing agreement."

(Click to enlarge)

You Are Here...

By Zerohedge

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The final Marquette Law School poll before election day that was recently released showed that 46 percent of likely Wisconsin voters preferred Democrat Hillary Clinton while 40 percent supported Republican Donald Trump.

But looking deeper at those numbers, one of the more stunning figures that came out of that survey is that Trump has literally zero support among African-Americans in the Badger State. It seems that Trumps polling numbers with African-Americans in Wisconsin are very similar to the grade-point average of John Belushis famous John "Bluto" Blutarsky character from the classic movie "Animal House": 0.0.

Out of 59 likely African-American voters surveyed in the Marquette poll conducted October 26-31, not one said they have or will vote for Donald Trump. Nationally, Real Clear Politics polling average puts Trumps African-American support at just 5.6 percent and Clintons at 84 percent.

The 0.0 came despite a pitch from Trump at a rally in West Bend, Wisconsin, on Aug. 16 where he reached out to black voters. "To every voter in Milwaukee, to every voter living in every inner city or every forgotten stretch of our society, I am running to offer you a better future," Trump said. "Are you ready for change?"

In a recent speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump also called for a "new deal for black America." "Whether you vote for me or not, I will be your greatest champion. We live in a very divided country, and I will be your greatest champion," he said.

The full sample of the Oct. 26-31 survey from the Marquette Law School Poll comprised 1,401 registered voters interviewed by cell phone or landline, with a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points. Results for likely voters were based on 1,255 respondents, with a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.


Protectors at Standing Rock

(Image by thiscantbehappening.net) Details DMCA



Media coverage of the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline has been hopelessly myopic. Certainly environmental justice, police brutality and the violation of sacred burial grounds are important topics, but no one has addressed the larger systemic issues at play: Native American treaty rights and how their handling portends dismally for the everyone else. Even the most self-centered and politically apathetic must realize Pastor Martin Niemoller's warning that it's only a matter of time before even the most mainstream of society are persecuted.

To truly appreciate the full significance of the protest, one has to understand the historical context.

Every person in the United States has the right to clean water, but for Native Americans, that right is two-fold. The treaties that set up Indian reservations were not simply land-ownership agreements. The terms actually dictated a broader set of terms. This includes not just land, but also the obligation to protect tribal property and assets; in other words, natural resources such as clean water.

Furthermore, the Snyder Act of 1921 delineated that the federal government is also obligated to provide health care to federally recognized tribes. While this typically takes the form of providing clinics and health insurance through Indian Health Services, ensuring clean water is obviously a basic tenant to providing basic public-health care.

So when the Sioux who live on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation demand that their source of clean water is protected, it's not simply a matter of basic human rights, but also a contractual financial obligation.

But the bigger concept at play here is that the 56.2 million acres of land that are identified as reservation land (at totally of only about 2% of the United States), are actually held "in trust."

Most of us don't know what that means. In life experience of the average American, you either own something or you don't, but a "trust" is something in between. Some rich children have an idea. It's similar to the "trust funds" that wealthy people set up for their children. The money is named to them and for their use, but with active management and significant restrictions on its use. Only at least with rich kids, at a certain age, the trust money usually is given to them outright and they can spend it however they see fit. That will never happen for the lands held in trust for Native Americans.

What that means on a practical level is that even if a specific tribe has rights to the land of reservation, it's only in the setting of the highly regulated Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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When Bernie Sanders was fighting with Hillary Clinton for the Millennial vote, he hit on Millennials' issues. His number one concerns were promoting economic equality, helping people pay their way through college, and ending the harmful partnership between corporations and politicians.

Observers often trot out the strength of Millennial numbers. They make up 31% of the electorate, the same percentage as their Baby Boomer parents. Because there are so many of them, if you're a politician or a business executive, you need to make sure you cater to their concerns.

One of the number one concerns for Millennials is college. There are really only 5 ways to pay for college:

-Find an employer, such as Starbucks, who will pay for it for you

-Get grants

-Get scholarships

-Serve in the military

-Get loans

And as I pointed out on this blog previously, student debt is a trillion dollar issue, one largely shouldered by Millennials. Students have had to settle for the 'get loans' option more than any of the others. There just aren't enough employers, grants, and scholarships out there to prevent loans from becoming the number one way kids pay for college. As for serving in the military, it doesn't take a lot of guesswork to understand why that's not an attractive option.

Sanders' plan was to remedy the college debt problem, largely by raising taxes on the rich and making college free. And 55% of Millennials supported Sanders in a crowded field. After Sanders lost, Clinton co-opted his idea. Her plan is to make college free for families who earn less than $125,000 a year. Community college will be free, too. There will be a three-month moratorium on loan payments, which will give debtors time to sort things out.

This is an attractive proposition for Millennials. Along with free college, Hillary has Bernie Sanders' endorsement, as well as high-profile endorsements from people like Obama and a bucket-load of celebrities. But now, at the crucial moment, she's losing support from Millennials. Specifically, she's lost 6%.

Before Sanders lost to Hillary, a Gallup poll showed Hillary had 38% of Millennials' support. If the 55% who supported Sanders had jumped on board Hillary's wagon, she would have much higher support from Millennials than the 62% she has now. This race between Hillary and Trump would be absolutely no contest. Millennials have the numbers to make it so.

What happened? With policies and endorsements specifically aimed at this demographic, why hasn't she been able to capture a huge swath of Millennial voters?

Two words: 'establishment' and 'trust'.

A new Harvard poll shows that 51% of young Americans are fearful about being able to obtain the 'American Dream', while 20% are hopeful. The fear comes from "lack of faith in Washington to solve challenges of financial, personal and national security". Millennials don't trust established politicians, such as Hillary, to help them. But right now the polls reflect a grudging acquiescence to support her because there's no better alternative.

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In a time of division and disagreement, when people who all agree on something important sometimes spend more time bickering with each other than working on their collective cause, is it possible to craft an agenda that brings them together and adds to their numbers?

It turns out, somewhat to my surprise, the answer is yes.

I discovered this by creating a petition that has very quickly been endorsed by RootsAction, the Future of Freedom Foundation, World Beyond War, the Libertarian Institute, DailyKos, Black Vietnam Veterans of Atlanta, Progressive Democrats of America, Veterans For Peace Chicago Chapter, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Code Pink, Massachusetts Peace Action, Maryland United for Peace & Justice, Upstate Ground the Drones and End the Wars, Pax Christi Seed Planters, The War and Law League, Environmentalists Against War, the PDA Reno Chapter, Voters Occupy, Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition, Vietnam Echos, Spokane Veterans for Peace, Benedictines for Peace of Erie PA, Tyneside East Timor Solidarity, Palouse Peace Coalition, Helfenstein Soup Council, Timothy Dawkins El Project, Green Party of Collin County, Brian Boortz Public Relations, A Green Road, We The People for Democracy, Peaceworkers of San Francisco CA, Green Party of Spokane County, Montrose Peace Vigil, Ecumenical Peace Institute, Pax Christi Southern California, Veteran for Peace 72, Peaceful Skies, Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia, The Clueit Foundation, Office of the Americas, Veterans For Peace of Western Pennsylvania, Presentation Sisters Justice Commission, Women Against War, Farmington Maine Friends Meeting, Secular Student Alliance at LaGuardia Community College, Faith & Social Justice Alliance Dayton Ohio, The Oracle Institute & Peace Pentagon HUB, Peace Action Maine, Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Northeast Philly for Peace & Justice, Citizens International, National Department of Peacebuilding Committee through the Peace, White Rabbit Grove RDNA, North American Climate Conservation and Environment, The Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, Colonie des Pionniers de Developpement, Malu 'Aina Center for Nonviolent Education & Action, the Carpe Diem Voice, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Corvallis, Mindfulness in Education, Brandywine Peace Community, Article V Convention for Our Children's Future, and the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution.

Yes, some of those groups I've never heard of. A few of them may consist of three guys with misspelled signs who've been standing on a lonely street corner so long their town has planted bushes around them. But that's sort of the point. A unifying effort should revive old organizations and give birth to new ones. It should also be uncomfortably large, bringing together people who want completely different policies on other issues but agree on this one.

So, what is it that the above organizations and 17,241 individuals thus far agree on? This:

Tell the next president: No more war! Please sign this petition to the 45th President of the United States: We call on you to end perpetual war by the United States Government. As signers of this petition, we commit ourselves to building nonviolent pressure to end continual U.S. warfare. We also reject our country's bloated military spending and massive arms sales that make the USA the world's leading arms trafficker by a huge margin. Sign as individual. Sign as organization for which you are authorized to sign.

Importantly, this is a statement to whoever becomes U.S. president next year. It might be someone you considered a lesser evil or a wonderful national leader. It might be someone you believed would adopt a peaceful policy without any public pressure required. Or it might be someone you recognized would require a massive movement to restrain them from destroying the earth. It doesn't matter. You believe that representative government requires that people communicate how they want to be represented. You believe that peace is possible and preferable. You are in that strong majority of the U.S. public that believes the wars of the past 15 years have made us less safe, and you want to end them.

Also importantly -- for both better and worse -- this petition avoids the details of any particular war. Once a particular war is mentioned, many people expect a petition to be fairly lengthy, to list all the causes of the war, to mention all the criminals and profiteers on every side of the war, to stipulate exact relative levels of blame for each party involved, and to advocate for particular policies aimed at establishing justice. Yes, some of that will be necessary work. But it is also critical that we confront the problem illustrated by the sheer number of U.S. wars now raging and by the evil industry of weapons dealing that fuels so many sides of so many wars around the world.

If the U.S. and lesser arms dealers can be brought to abandon their deadly trade, if the wars can be ended and resisted, each in its turn, opportunities and resources will open up for positive approaches. But clearly the first two steps are (1) recognizing we have a problem, and (2) ceasing to make it worse. The panicked cries of two years ago to "Do something!" about ISIS (where "something" meant: bomb people) has predictably (and many of us did predict it) made everything worse. And the general public, not just the full-time activists, knows it.

There will be new opportunities to expand this coalition post-election and post-inauguration. But we should not miss the opportunity to spread it and expand it and make it known now as a movement of nonpartisan principled advocacy for peace.
Single-member commission to be formed to probe Panama Papers: SC

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) hearing the Panamagate petitions on Thursday decided that a single-member commission will be formed to probe revelations made in the Panama Papers after reviewing all replies.



The Panamagate commission will be headed by an apex court judge. The individual will hold powers equivalent to the apex court. The SC in its court order said it is competent to hear the petitions as they fall under public importance and fundamental rights.



On Tuesday, the National Accountability Bureau told the five-judge SC bench that it is beyond the scope of the body to probe the Panama leaks.



Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had said during the hearing, "What we have gathered from your reply is that you have decided not to do anything... We have your message loud and clear that no authority wants to take action in this matter, and now, we will attend to it."



Earlier this week, the SC ordered the government and opposition parties to submit their Terms of Reference (ToRs) on the formation of a commission to probe the Panama leaks. The order came just a day before the PTI's planned Nov 2 'lockdown' of Islamabad.



Only the Awami Muslim League submitted its proposed ToRs during today's hearing. The court directed all parties to submit their ToRs by today.



The PTI submitted its own ToRs on the Panamagate commission later on in the day.



Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali said, however, that the court was not bound to accept the ToRs of any party. He added that the court would not drag proceedings of the case.



Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's counsel Salman Ahmed Butt submitted the premier's response in court today, along with that of Captain Safdar.



In his reply, the PM denied holding any offshore companies and maintained that he is a regular taxpayer. He said that he had declared all his assets in 2013, so he was not liable for disqualification under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif added that none of his children are dependent on him.



The PM's children, Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz, did not submit their responses.



When the PM's counsel was asked why his family members did not submit their responses, the lawyer said they were out of the country. The court expressed its displeasure and asked for submission of responses by Monday so the case can proceed.



A final decision on the formation of the single-member commission will be made on Monday after the apex court reviews the ToRs and responses submitted by the premier's children.



Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his written reply denied allegations levelled against him by the petitioners, saying that the allegations were based on statements recorded forcefully from him during the tenure of former president Pervez Musharraf.



The Lahore High Court (LHC) had already declared the said statement unacceptable, he said, adding that a competent court had already decided on the allegations hurled against him.



He denied association with any offshore company and said he had not concealed any assets. The PTI's ToRs include questions pertaining to assets and properties held by the Sharif Family, including flats in Londons Park Lane.



The party seeks an inquiry into the family's alleged offshore companies, including Nescoll Ltd and Nielsen Enterprises in the British Virgin Islands.



The ToRs question the sources of funds used to purchase properties and companies and whether accounts in foreign countries were involved in the transactions.



The PTI also raised questions over whether money acquired from companies sold was subsequently gifted by PM Nawaz to his children, and demanded an inquiry into when ownership of London properties was transferred to Maryam Nawaz.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, Mrs Charlotte Osei, is doing a good job and should be commended, immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria, Professor Attahiru Jega has said.



Prof Jega, who won a lot of praise for conducting a successful election for Nigeria, however, cautioned Mrs Osei not to be swayed by challenges in her way.



I really believe that she is doing a very commendable job in very difficult circumstances and I want to encourage her. She must remain focused, Prof Jega indicated in an interview with Ghana Decides, an initiative by Blogging Ghana, which was transmitted live on Facebook on Thursday, November 3.



Meanwhile, the EC who has been inundated with several lawsuits due to disqualifications of some presidential nominees has expressed confidence that all legal issues regarding the December 7 election process will be resolved in time before the December 7 general elections in Ghana.



We will not allow law suits to subvert the process and so we are going to get a definitive ruling from the Supreme Court likely this week. At the latest, early next week, but in the meantime, we have started the process of printing the parliamentary ballot papers to make up some of the time and so we are in a good place to meet the December 7 date, she told BBC Africas Akwasi Sarpong.

Source: Classfmonline









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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!


Baby fish in a nursery. Credit: Flickr/    , CC BY-NC-ND

Placoderms are armoured prehistoric fishes that are considered to be the first vertebrates to procreate by internal fertilisation. In other words, they had sex.

Once the sex was over no doubt many placoderms then discovered the joys of parenthood. But what did they do with their offspring?

By studying the fossils of ancient species we can learn much about how they lived and show how their behaviours compare with those of modern species.

We can also take a closer look at fossils among themselves, a notion named assemblage. That's how we discovered that some placoderms chose the nursery solution for their offspring.

To Belgium

The Strud locality in southern Belgium is well known by palaeontologists and other geologists, notably because it yielded some of the earliest tetrapods - the first vertebrates with fingered limbs - and the earliest insects.

Palaeontologists also excavated numerous fossil fishes, especially placoderms, and large sarcopterygian (lobe-finned) fishes that were among the top predators during the Devonian time, roughly 360 million years ago.

Back then the locality was bathing under a tropical environment.

The palaeo environment of the Strud quarry corresponds to a meandering alluvial system, similar to today's existing Australian billabongs. The edges would have been covered with huge primitive trees such as Rhacophyton, whose long branches could fall down in the river.

The only animals crawling on hard ground were arthropods such as collembolans and centipedes, but not yet vertebrates.

Soils with microflora and microfauna were already there, where plants lived, that is close to the shore. The inside of continents was still a mineral desert, except for the exceptional oasis.

Tiny fossils

Under the water, placoderms were part of the pool party, alongside tiny crustaceans and ferocious sarcopterygians. But the placoderms found in this locality were very small.

When we first studied the placoderms of Strud, we were really astonished by their tiny size, and wondered why they were so small.

Could they all be youngsters? In which case, where would the adults be?

Alternatively, could they be dwarf forms or just species with small adults?

Morphometric analyses (size or size ratios of multiple specimens or elements of the bony armour such as plates) and morphological observations (presence or absence of sensory lines) were used to assess the characteristics of the remains.

Comparisons with other localities such as the faunal and floral assemblage of the Catskill in Pennsylvania, USA, were made to reinforce initial suspicions.

A diagrammatic model of the Strud nursery displaying the habitat partitioning: on the left, shallow waters of the nursery with immature placoderms inside and Rhacophyton plant on the bank, and on the right, deeper area with the placoderm adults. Scale bars equal 2cm. Credit: Justine Jacquot Hameon (MNHN, Paris), CC BY

For a living thing to die and be transformed into a fossil is not always a quiet and peaceful process. Before any remains are buried, many events can occur.

Predators can disperse (and digest!) elements of the body, including bones. Streams and storms can disperse the body, and its parts can be transported over long distances.

Last but not least, once buried, not all elements can be epigenised (transformed into mineral). Mainly hard tissues such as teeth and bone are preserved, but soft tissues require very special biochemical conditions.

All these events occurring until burial are named taphonomy, and they really matter when you're a palaeontologist to understand the message yielded by the fossils.

The fragile nature of the placoderm elements at Strud was not consistent with any long post-mortem transportation, nor with a re-handling of the fossils.

Moreover, retrieving sarcopterygian remains such as huge fangs, together with tiny placoderm remains, shows an absence of any size sorting of the fossils after death or deposition.

Therefore, all Strud placoderm remains are considered as belonging to immature specimens that lived in the same place at the same time, rather than to small sized species or dwarf forms.

A nursery shared by several fish species

A nursery is characterised as an area nearly exclusively inhabited by immature individuals.

Fossil nurseries are not unknown. They have been identified for sharks in the 310 million year old Carboniferous locality of Mazon Creek in Illinois, USA, or for coelacanths in the 360 million year old Upper Devonian rocks of South Africa.

This discovery at Strud sheds new light on the diversity of reproductive strategies of placoderms, especially in the handling of their offspring.

We already knew that some placoderms gave live-birth such as the ptyctodont Materpiscis from the Frasnian Gogo Formation in Western Australia. Some others are suspected to lay egg sacs, such as the phyllolepid Cowralepis, whose related forms are found in Strud.

The offspring were left in a hostile environment where giant lobe-finned fishes roamed in the vicinity, together with Ichthyostega-like tetrapods. But fallen tree branches provided shelter, hiding spots and nutrients at the same time for baby fishes. Interestingly, it is the first time we have a placoderm nursery with more than one species.

The placoderm nursery in Strud recalls strongly life histories of other groups with adults laying eggs or giving birth in shallow continental environments or near shore.

Strud may have been the ideal spot for this: a low velocity stream, plenty of fallen and rotten plants offering both protection and nutrients.

But where were the adults? That is another story.

These results are very interesting, because as technological human beings we tend to believe that only mammals and birds take care of their youngsters. So finding evidence for such behaviour in fish is always a surprise.

Some modern fishes such as several shark species have a common practice of nursery. The interest of this new study is that we can flag this behaviour in fossil species too, which are so remote in time but also at the base of the jawed vertebrate tree, and that such environment was shared by several species.

So the discovery reveals that nursery behaviour in vertebrates is very ancient indeed.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Over the past few decades, China's shift to a market-based economy has led to the fastest sustained expansion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by a major economy in history. This has caused profound changes in the country. Associate Professors Forrest Zhang and John Donaldson from the Singapore Management University (SMU) School of Social Sciences (SOSS), together with colleagues, have been investigating how rural China is being transformed by these changes.

"Rural China is now at a critical juncture of social change and development," explains Professor Zhang. "Unprecedented changes are taking place on all fronts. Socially, the population is moving out of the countryside and ageing rapidly. Economically, new ways of agricultural production are replacing the thousand-year-old tradition of family farming. And politically, a series of new policies under the name of 'Building a New Socialist Countryside' have been rolled out. Given the size of China's rural population, this could be one of the most profound social changes in today's world," he says.

A landscape primed for change

Professors Zhang and Donaldson secured a grant from the Ministry of Education in Singapore to embark on a three-and-a-half-year research project titled "Transformation of Rural China: Central Policies and Local Innovations." The most important aim of the project is to find out how social, economic and political developments are changing livelihoods in China's countryside.

One of their most important findings has been that rural China is undergoing rapid and thorough commodification. "Everything is turning into a commodity," says Professor Zhang, "and all kinds of social relations are now reshaped as commodity relations."

Historically, access to land and its resources in rural China had been based on collective membership. In 1978, the Chinese government granted limited land rights to individual households, which was a decisive force driving extensive poverty reduction and agricultural growth in the country. This was followed by further strengthening of property rights around the turn of the century and beyond.

China's egalitarian distribution of land rights provided hundreds of millions of people with a stable economic and social foundation in addition to the flexibility to choose to search for better opportunities across the rural-urban divide, says Professor Zhang.

New rungs in the social ladder

The commodification of land and labour in rural China is beckoning the rise of a new social structure. In his paper titled "Class differentiation in rural China: Dynamics of accumulation, commodification and state intervention," Professor Zhang draws on secondary literature and his eight years' worth of field observations to describe the changes in rural China's social fabric.

Capitalist employers occupy the top of the social ladder, he explains, and these include entrepreneurial farmers who hire year-round labour, and top managers of corporate farms. In many cases, their accumulation of wealth is related to access to political office, be it direct through occupying an office, or indirectly through social connections with people in office. This gives them privileged access to information on government subsidies and an opportunity to mobilise undervalued collective resources into the circuit of capital. An example is that of two businessmen who used their political clout to rent forestland at a very low price for the production of livestock, fruit and landscape trees.

But this is not the only way for Chinese farmers to reach the top of the social scale. Those with superior agricultural know-how and/or technological prowess are able to produce highly competitive crops that give them a strong foothold in the marketplace.

Commercial farmers occupy the middle rung of rural China's social ladder. They operate family-worked farms and are fully integrated into the market. They can hire seasonal labour, but when competition becomes tough, these farmers may choose to lease out their land and/or work for wage income. Their resilience is contingent on political-economic conditions, giving them limited opportunity to play the role of "backbone of the rural community," as some academics expect them to, explains Professor Zhang.

At the bottom of the ladder are dual-income households and wage workers. A gender and generational based division of labour exists in dual-income households, usually involving a husband who has migrated to work in the city and a wife who has remained behind to take care of the children, tend to the family farm and, more likely than not, engage in wage work. Unmarried adult children also take on wage work while older parents may find their only resort is petty commodity farming. Wage workers, on the other hand, have leased out or completely lost their land and can only sell their labour to make a living. Both classes find it more difficult than others to climb the social ladder.

Land as an abstract concept

The commodification of land in rural China is also leading to rapid urbanisation, which has prompted the Chinese government to become increasingly aware of the need for farmland preservation to maintain food self-sufficiency. Central policies have been tailored to control the amount of agricultural land that can be converted for urban use.

One particularly successful albeit localised scheme, called zeng jian gua gou (translated to linking up increase [in urban construction land] with decrease [in rural construction land]), has been taking place in the municipality of Chengdu in central China since the mid-2000s. According to the scheme, when non-agricultural developments occupy farmland, rural construction land elsewhere must be reclaimed into farmland. The scheme is unique in that it has abstracted the concept of land, allowing different localities in Chengdu to trade "quotas" of land rather than actual land. For example, if one locality turns a piece of rural construction land into farmland, they can give that quota to another locality that can then "develop" its agricultural land. This process has facilitated the re-organisation of China's rural landscape  from one which is spatially fragmented and dominated by vast farmland dotted with small, scattered houses  to one that concentrates industries in centralised developmental zones and residents in new rural communities, while farmland is encouraged to become incorporated into scaled-up agricultural operations.

Major challenges

A huge challenge that has developed from the commodification of land in China is when rural families rent their farmland to large-scale agricultural producers, such as agribusiness companies.

Professor Donaldson explains that conventional wisdom holds that agribusiness requires large-scale producers to achieve the kind of stable and secure output they need. Accordingly, Chinese policymakers in recent years have been looking at ways to increase the scale of landholdings, to the detriment of millions of small-scale landholders.

The team's research underscores that the commodification, consolidation and increasing scale of land is not necessary to serve the needs of agribusiness.

"In contrast to the conventional wisdom, China has shown that the large-scale production that agribusiness often needs can be managed by small-scale producers through the adoption of a variety of innovative relationships. However, this win-win situation is being undermined," Professor Donaldson says. "The drive to consolidate land has pushed many producers out of the equation. If this continues, the ability of small producers to engage with agribusiness could be undermined. This is both unnecessary and unfortunate."

"The implications of our research overall are clear: broad-based prosperity and long-term development of China depend on putting the interests of China's small-scale farmers first," Professor Donaldson says. "The Chengdu case shows that the Chinese government is experimenting. The jury is still out, but it seems what the Chinese government is doing, the Chengdu case notwithstanding, has been largely antithetical to some of the most marginal members of Chinese society."

Arising from their research project, Professor Zhang and Donaldson, together with colleagues, have published three research papers (with two more on their way by January 2017), four book chapters, and held four conference presentations in China and Japan.

More information: Qian Forrest Zhang et al. Political dynamics in land commodification: Commodifying rural land development rights in Chengdu, China, Geoforum (2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.10.001 Zhang, F. Q., & Donaldson, J. A. (2008). The Rise of Agrarian Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness and Collective Land Rights. China Journal, 60, 25-48. Zhang, F., & Donaldson, J. A. (2013). China's Agrarian Reform and the Privatization of Land - a Contrarian View. Journal of Contemporary China, 22(8), 255-272.

Provided by Singapore Management University
Astronomer and Radcliffe fellow Dimitrios Psaltis is working on black holes as part of the massive Event Horizon Telescope project that will point a number of Earth's telescopes at the Milky Way's black hole this spring. Credit: Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

Being an astrophysicist and father of two is no easy task. Just ask Dimitrios Psaltis.

On a recent morning, the University of Arizona professor of astronomy and physics toggled between a recipe for French pancakes and a series of complex computer simulations tracing the outline of a black hole.

"Life goes on," said Psaltis, the 20162017 Shutzer Fellow at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, who is working on capturing the first-ever image of the massive dark void at the center of the Milky Way, the one scientists think is sucking up any matter or radiation that wanders too close to its event horizon, or point of no return.

"In the morning, you do black holes," said Psaltis, "in the evening, you make Nutella crepes for your kids."

Prioritizing his time is second nature for Psaltis, a lead scientist on the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, a multinational effort involving more than 100 researchers, including his wife, former Radcliffe fellow Feryal Ozel, and a series of super-powered radio telescopes scattered around the globe. Next spring those telescopes will turn the Earth into one giant eye when they all point to Sagittarius A*the black hole at the center of the galaxy first forecast by Albert Einstein and his theory of general relativity, and since then the subject of study by countless theoretical physicists, among them the famous cosmic detective Stephen Hawking.

During his fellowship, Psaltis will refine the computer simulations he and his team will use when analyzing EHT data to determine the black hole's size and shape. Their results could prove that Einstein's theorythe notion that gravity is due to the curvature of the continuum known as space-timeis exact. Or, perhaps, just a little bit off.

"What we are looking for is not a description of gravity," he said, "but the description that happens to be the one that describes our universe."

To make those calculations, researchers will need to see what has thus far been invisible. But how exactly do you capture the image of a spinning, giant black abyss? You don't, said Psaltis. You take a picture of its shadow.

Swirling around Sagittarius A* are charged particles that have been ejected from the surface of nearby stars. Moving at supersonic speeds, those particles heat up millions of degrees to form a shining mass of plasma, or "accretion disk," around the edge of the black hole before they are engulfed.

"The plasma is so hot that it is actually glowing in the radio waves detected by the telescopes," said Psaltis. "You put a black hole in front of that glowing plasma and you get a shadow, you get a silhouette."

But, as the special effects team for the movie "Interstellar" discovered, producing a realistic image of a black hole is hugely time-consuming. (Some individual frames of the film reportedly took 100 hours to render.) Eager to accelerate the process, Psaltis and his team hacked into their computer's graphics card, the circuit board that controls how images appear on the screen, and gave it a little something extra.

"We made it program those chips to do the rendering in the presence of a black hole.  Our codes are so fast that now we use a type of Xbox to control the process with our hands because there's no way to type fast enough to do it."

If the image Psaltis and his colleagues produce is perfectly round, it will indicate Einstein was entirely correct. But if the image starts to warp and bend, it means his theory might need some tweaking.

"That nice circle that you see here has a particular size, has a particular shape only because Einstein's theory told us so," said Psaltis, pointing to a simulation on his screen. "If the theory is different, both the size and the shape will be different.

"The shape of the shadow can be used to tell us exactly what that gravitational field looks like outside that black hole," he added. "And by measuring that, either we will be able to say if Einstein's theory predicts it 100 percent, or if there are small tweaks that we need to add in order to get it right  this is the smoking gun as far as Einstein's gravity is concerned."

Psaltis' current project has deep Harvard roots. In the 1990s, he and Ozel were both on campus, Psaltis doing postdoctoral research, his future wife pursuing her Ph.D. Together they collaborated with Ramesh Narayan, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences, on early simulations that explored what happens to the plasma around a black hole. That research helped determine that the radio wavelength that would give them the best chance at seeing the black hole's event horizon was roughly one millimeter long.

"We found that the plasma becomes more and more transparent as you go to a higher and higher frequency and that's what we calculated, where you need to make that observation in order to be able to peer through the plasma," said Psaltis. At one millimeter you "see the black hole's shadow," he said.

The work builds on research by Sheperd Doeleman, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and principal investigator for the Event Horizon project. It was Doeleman who first measured the size of the emitting region of the accretion disk, in 2008.

Skeptics persist. Despite its potential to advance understanding of black holes and render a key scientific judgment on Einstein's work, research like Psaltis' leaves some doubting an effect for life on Earth when Sagittarius A* is 26,000 light-years away. The native of Greece, who said he gets that question "all the time," dons his philosopher's hat to answer it. Such endeavors have a foot in both the past and future, he noted, and can also illuminate specific events and ideas, from the Big Bang to investigations into parallel universes.

Equally important is the notion that today's research might have its greatest impact tomorrow, Psaltis said. To make his case, he cited the work of the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, who challenged the accepted model of Euclidian geometry in the 1800s by imagining a world in which two parallel lines ultimately crossed. Einstein would go on to base general relativity on Riemann's mathematical framework.

"Not even in his wildest dreams could Riemann have predicted that," said Psaltis. "But if he had not asked in the 1800s, 'Is there any way to make two parallel lines cross?' we would not have Einstein's theories, or GPS, since your phone makes calculations based on Einstein's theories to determine where you are.

"Abstract thought is good for intellectual curiosity," he added. "You never can tell where that can take you."
High-throughput sequencing of sepsis pathogens at Fraunhofer IGB. Credit: Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB

Microbial pathogens can be diagnosed unambiguously and within just 24 hours by means of high-throughput sequencing of their genetic makeup and special bioinformatics evaluation algorithms. Fraunhofer researchers have validated this in a clinical study with sepsis patients. The researchers present the NGS diagnosis platform at Medica in Dusseldorf from November 1417, 2016.

It is estimated that in Germany alone around 150,000 people fall ill with sepsis every year; despite medical advances, between 30 and 50 percent of the patients still die of the consequences (see box). One of the reasons for the high mortality rate: the diagnosis often comes too late for the lifesaving therapy with antibiotics that only combat the specific causative pathogen. In general the sepsis pathogens are detected by means of so-called blood cultures in which the pathogenic organism from blood samples of the patients are cultivated in the laboratory. Here, two to five days pass before the pathogens have multiplied and a result is available.

Due to rapid progress in nucleic acid analysis, the currently available high-throughput technologies (NGS, Next-Generation Sequencing) make it possible to sequence the complete genome of organisms within just a few hours and to check them against known gene sequences (see box).

On the basis of these technologies researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have developed an alternative diagnostic platform for sepsis. This enables them to identify bacteria, fungi or viruses directly by means of a sequence analysis of their DNA  without having to cultivate the pathogens beforehand in the laboratory. In a clinical study that the researchers carried out in cooperation with Heidelberg University Hospital, they have now validated their diagnostic method with blood samples from sepsis patients. Here, they identified the infectious microorganisms by means of the high-throughput sequencing of DNA circulating freely in the blood (CNAPS, Circulating Nucleic Acids in Plasma and Serum).

Rapid one-step identification of bacteria, viruses and fungi

"With our next-generation sequencing diagnostic method we were able to determine within just 24 hours which pathogens the patients were infected with," Dr. Kai Sohn, head of the "Functional Genomics" working group at Fraunhofer IGB, explains. "As a result of the direct sequencing of the DNA of a blood sample, the time-consuming step of cultivating the microorganisms in the lab is no longer necessary. In this way we can also identify those pathogens that are more difficult to grow under laboratory conditions," says Dr. Sohn.

A further advantage: If the samples contain not only the DNA of bacteria, but also that of viruses or fungi, these are sequenced, analyzed and identified as well. "For example, in our study we were able to identify a viral pathogen as the cause of a patient's illness. Yet the patient's blood culture showed a negative result because here only bacteria can be detected," the scientist explains.

The method provides both qualitative and quantitative results at the same time. "With our technology, we can recognize on the basis of the number of genome fragments which pathogens have greatly multiplied in the patient and which are already responding to the therapy," Dr. Sohn points out. This permits the physician to immediately implement further targeted therapeutic measures instead of allowing valuable time to pass employing incorrect medication.

Bioinformatics algorithms identify relevant pathogens

Over 99 percent of the DNA freely circulating in the blood plasma is of human origin  thus identifying the sepsis pathogens resembles the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack. The researchers therefore use special software programs to compare the sequenced fragments with a genome database into which they have entered publicly available DNA sequences of bacteria, fungi and viruses.

However, not every microorganism that is identified is necessarily also the cause of the sepsis. One of the greatest challenges in the evaluation of the sequencing data is therefore to assess whether the finding differs from the statistically expected result. In order to be able to answer this decisive question, Philip Stevens, the bioinformatics specialist in the team, developed a special algorithm in his doctoral thesis at the Center for Integrative Bioinformatics Vienna (CIBIV) and the Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology (IGVP) of the University of Stuttgart.

The centerpiece of the diagnostic method, for which a patent is pending, compares the sequencing results with sequenced fragments from the blood of healthy test persons. "In this way the algorithm provides us with a score with which we can assess the significance of the data and can exclude the microbial "background noise", i.e. harmless bacteria of our skin or intestinal flora, as diagnostically relevant pathogens," Stevens explains. The clinical study showed that the computed diagnoses correlated closely with those of the blood culture.

Identifying antibiotic resistances

The resistance of bacteria to commonly used antibiotics such as methicillin, vancomycin or tetracycline is acquired via corresponding resistance genes. Therefore high-throughput sequencing makes it possible, in the same analysis, to identify both the biological species of the pathogen and its resistance genes. This also helps the physician treating the patient to set in motion a targeted therapy.

Further development

In order to further shorten the time from sample to final diagnosis, the scientists are examining how the method can be transferred to more recently developed sequencing platforms. With nanopore-based sequencing, for example, which is currently in the test phase, DNA can be sequenced in an even shorter time than previously. Thus in future the specific diagnosis of infections would be possible within a period of six to eight hours. For 2017 the Fraunhofer scientists are planning to carry out a multicenter validation study together with leading clinical partners.

More information: Silke Grumaz et al. Next-generation sequencing diagnostics of bacteremia in septic patients, Genome Medicine (2016). DOI: 10.1186/s13073-016-0326-8 Journal information: Genome Medicine

Provided by Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB
A farmer harvests avocados at an orchard in Mexico's municipality of Uruapan, Michoacan State

Liliana Carmona misses the lush pine forest on the hills overlooking her village in western Mexico. She now stares at vast avocado orchards that feed a massive foreign appetite for the green fruit.

Growers have been cutting down swaths of forest to make room for more fruit trees in the state of Michoacan, the world's avocado capital.

Experts are now concerned that chemicals used in the orchards could be behind illnesses afflicting the local population.

"The sneezing doesn't stop when they are fumigating," said Carmona, a stocky 36-year-old mother of two who works at a small grocery store in Jujucato, a village in the heart of avocado land.

In the 15 years that Salvador Sales has been teaching in Jujucato, he has seen his students come down with more and more breathing and stomach problems.

"We believe this is caused by the products used to spray the avocado orchards," said Sales, who believes that the wind blows the chemical fumes into the homes of his students.

About 40 percent of the world's avocados are grown in Mexico, and most of those come from the area around Jujucato and Lake Zirahuen.

Avocados occupy some 137,000 hectares (340,000 acres) of land in Michoacan, according to state government figures.

About 40% of the world's avocados are grown in Mexico, and most of those come from the area around Jujucato and Lake Zirahuen

Half of those orchards were planted in forests after the land was bought through dubious legal means, according to Jaime Navia, head of a rural technology NGO called GIRA.

Deforestation is growing at a pace of 2.5 percent per year, according to GIRA.

Kidney and liver problems

Temperate weather in the region allows for year-round cultivation of avocado, a fruit that originated in Mexico and is loaded with vitamins, proteins and healthy fats.

While there is a strong local demand, production has soared along with the avocado's ever-growing international appeal, and forests have paid the price.

Experts warn that the chemicals used in mountain orchards may be spilling down into ground water, streams, rivers and lakes, and subsequently causing illnesses among the population.

Alberto Gomez Tagle, an expert on the environment in the Lake Zirahuen region, which includes Jujucato, said many communities that rely on the lake water may already be suffering from the effects of chemical runoff.

While there is a strong local demand in Mexico, production has soared along with the avocado's ever-growing international appeal

One lakeside village asked researchers for help when residents began to suffer from liver and kidney problems that did not exist until "the avocado orchards expanded and all types of pesticides were used," Gomez Tagle said.

Officials and some producers are striving to halt the growth of orchards in forests.

Since August, authorities have recovered 100 hectares of land and detained dozens of people working in fields that had invaded forests.

A label is being created for avocados sold in stores so that consumers can identify those from orchards that don't harm the environment.

Drug cartels

Avocados had their first "boom" in the 1970s, but production really took off in an uncontrolled way into the forests in 2000, said Navia of GIRA.

Foreign demand for avocados have grown consistently in the past decade, especially from the United StatesMexico's biggest trade partnerand countries like Japan, according to federal government figures.

Avocado, a fruit that originated in Mexico, is loaded with vitamins, proteins and healthy fats

In 2003, avocado exports reached nearly $60 million, a figure that shot up to $1.5 billion by 2015. Avocado sales to Japan went from $40 million to $106 million in the same time period.

Michoacan has been known in recent years for bloody clashes between rival drug gangs, which have also moved into the avocado trade, officials said.

Some of the avocado farmers that invaded the forest are "organized crime" members, a state government official told AFP, stressing that the authorities had recouped some of that land.

There are even avocados grown as high as 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level, "even though they aren't that productive," said Navia.

One hectare of avocados generates on average around $5,400 per year.

Mexican avocado packers recently went on strike for a few days to protest the low pay they were getting this season, which ranges from between $1.8 and $2.6 per kilo.

The brief strike resulted in a global avocado price hike.

 2016 AFP
Students Risham Dhillon (left) and Phoebe Stoye developed Chirp to help prevent infant deaths in hot cars. Credit: Adam Zewe/SEAS Communications

So far this year, 39 U.S. infants and toddlers have died of heat stroke due to being left unattended in hot cars. In an effort to prevent such tragedies, two Harvard students are developing a tech-driven car seat alert system.

Chirp, a startup co-founded earlier this year by Phoebe Stoye, A.B. '18, a neurobiology concentrator, and Risham Dhillon, A.B. '18, a computer science concentrator at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, uses sensor technology and a mobile app to warn caregivers when babies are in danger of being left alone in car seats.

After reading news reports this spring about a spike in hot-car baby deaths, the two friends and roommates set out to tackle this issue using their combined expertise. Stoye has experience in electrical engineering and also conducts infant development research at Boston Children's Hospital and Dhillon has held several industry internships centered on the use of sensors in "Internet of Things" technology.

"Sensors are being used in so many other situations, like notifying people that the milk container in their fridge is empty," Dhillon said. "We wondered why sensors weren't being applied to this public health issue. We have a chance to use this technology to do real, tangible good."

The system involves a pressure sensor that can be installed under the lining of a car seat. An Arduino circuit board connected to the sensor synchronizes with the Chirp app on a parent's mobile phone. When the pressure sensor is activated by the baby's weight, the parent's phone will repeatedly vibrate and beep if he or she walks far enough away from the car seat. The phone won't stop buzzing and beeping until the parent moves closer.

The system uses low-energy Bluetooth technology to activate the mobile phone and also to measure signal strength between the phone and sensor, which is how Chirp determines that a parent has walked too far.

"The beauty of this system is that it is so simple," Stoye said. "We wanted to develop a solution that has a low enough price point, so it can be made available in as many car seats as possible."

Credit: Harvard University

But there are challenges involved in convincing parents they need a system like Chirp. Awareness of the issue is low in cooler parts of the country, and many caregivers believe substance abuse or malicious intent plays a role in most of these infant deaths. However, research conducted by Jan Null, Professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University, shows that only 7 percent of cases involved drugs or alcohol, and deaths have occurred in all parts of the country, including Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In 54 percent of cases, caregivers said they forgot their child was in the car, pointing to routine changes or distractions that can impact any parent.

As a venture team in the Harvard Innovation Lab and through the SEAS course "Startup R&D" (ES 95R), the students are continuing to refine the prototype and develop their startup. They plan to reach out to car seat manufacturers about incorporating this technology into their products.

At the same time, they are working on new features that will allow the system to connect to more than one mobile device, and are also looking to incorporate SMS text messaging service functionality so that a different emergency contact could receive text message alerts from Chirp.

One problem the team is trying to tackle is the issue of phones running out of battery and not connecting to the sensor. A caregiver might not notice that the battery ran out of charge and the phone is no longer connected to the car seat, creating a potentially dangerous situation. By sending a text message to an emergency contact, Chirp could alert a different caregiver that the baby is in the car seat.

Yet technology is only one piece of the solution. The Hot Car Act of 2016, legislation that was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, would require all new cars produced two years after its passage to incorporate technology designed to prevent unattended infant fatalities.

By targeting car seat manufacturers, the students hope they could spread this life-saving technology even further. They realize solving this problem will require more than technology, and want their startup to contribute to the discussion on all fronts, including research, advocacy, and policy.

"We are strong believers that you can use simple technology to make a great impact," Dhillon said. "At the end of the day, if our work is able to save one baby's life, it will have been worth it."
Reading the latest novel by Stewart ONan, the Pittsburgh-born writer who boomeranged home several years ago, is like watching the performance of an experienced athlete who makes it all look so easy. City of Secrets is his 16th novel since 1994, and the first to take place entirely outside of the USA. Like 2015s West of Sunset, which elucidated the final desperate years of F. Scott Fitzgerald, this novel also departs from his familiar territory of contemporary Americans. But keeping with the emotional landscape that he navigates so well, its about human beings at their wits end.



City of Secrets opens in 1945 Jerusalem under the British Mandate and builds toward a landmark act of violence on the path to the establishment of Israel. Calling it historical fiction, however, would be too limiting. This is a wrenching story of lovers caught between the vise grips of history, numbed by the enormity of their losses yet still in possession of a moral compass.

In an introductory note with advance review copies, ONan saves book critics some time by acknowledging his debt to Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler and Joseph Conrad in the creation of this work. As sommeliers purr when youve picked the right vintage, readers will say excellent choice for his influences here. A short and potent novel, City of Secrets operates in a dramatic, highstakes periodthe immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, the guerrilla resistance to British administration of Palestine, the urgency of the Zionist cause. The internal strife of the characters is well-deserved. Like Greene et al., ONan tells the story with restraint, dotting the narrative with piquant observations.

Hed been condemned to death before. It wasnt the worst thing in the world, ONan writes of the central character, Brand. A Latvian Jew who lost his entire family in the war, he survived the German and Russian camps because of his skills as a mechanic. Arriving in Jerusalem a penniless refugee, he joins the underground, acquiring a new name (Jossi) and occupation as a taxi driver. The cell gives him a stolen black Peugeot with forged papers and a secret trunk compartment; his duties are just to listen and wait to be tapped for action. Brand is a shell of a man, haunted by the memory of his wife, Katya, and the horrors he witnessed in the camps. While drained of the spirituality of his religion, he cannot help but be sustained by the realization of what he longed for in Riga:  Next year in Jerusalem. For Brand it was next year, without the sweetness.

Within the cell, he pairs up with Eva, known as The Widow, a fellow Balt from the more elegant Vilnius. A decade older than Brand, she is a regal former actress, but at the corner of her mouth a deep scar had healed badly, the nerve severed so that one side drooped like the mask of tragedy. Eva serves the cause of resisting British rule by making herself intimately available to powerful men with weaknesses to exploit. Brand has no standing to object to her line of work; he still feels as if he is betraying his late wife.

Their cell leader is Asher, an international man of mystery, who keeps everyone on a need-to-know basis. Brand joined the resistance believing he was part of Haganah, the established Jewish defense group that had at one point worked with the British to quash the more radical elements, Irgun and Stern Gang. But after his first operation, transporting a severely wounded Sabra fighter to a clandestine hospital, Brand gets the feeling hes become part of serious business, not some bourgeois Ashkenazi pipe dream. Asher sees the value in Brands nothing-left-tolose attitude, matched with driving and mechanical skills, and brings him into evermore dicey actions. Brand learns that they are all part of Irgun. We dont believe in fighting our brothers and sisters, Eva confesses.

For Brand, the work and the cause are a chance to redeem his honorand pile on internal contradictions. The camps had made him selfish and doubtful. To have someone think well of him now was uncomfortable, because he knew the truth, ONan writes, as Brand recalls his cowardice when a friend was killed before his eyes by a Nazi. After being an animal for so long, he didnt think hed ever be a man again, but if they believed in him, maybe it was possible. During an audacious train heist of a British payroll, Brand acts with verve to aid an injured comrade, and surprises himself by grabbing a machine gun and barking orders at cowering engineers. Later, he cringes at the realization that at his most heroic he sounded exactly like the Nazi guard who had tormented him in the camps.

While City of Secrets presents acts of savagery and lurid personal betrayals, ONan displays the masters touch of keeping it real and keeping it cleannot a whiff of profanity to be heard, an act of sexual congress to be described nor a bloodletting to be drawn out. Its a high-protein tale of victims wrestling with their consciences over how to respond to atrocitiesfighting fire with fire, or dodging and weaving. Brands dilemmas are as meaningful today as they were in post-war Jerusalem, and, as illuminated by Stewart ONan, they make for a compelling novel that will always be timely.
David Schmidt, 18, of Windsor, Broome County, was arrested after State Police received a tip that he had a gun on the school's Glendale Road campus, authorities said.

Troopers found that he had tried to hide the unloaded rifle in woods, and that it had been stolen from a vehicle in the town of Chester, police said. The gun, which was unloaded, was recovered, and police said no threats were made with it.
LAKE GEORGE  Hotel industry and tourism advocates are drafting legislation to make sure that the short-term room rental service Airbnb contributes tax revenues and adheres to basic standards.

People in the hospitality industry are not afraid of competition, according to Mark Dorr, president of the New York State Hospitality & Tourism Association.

It really comes down to having some very easy, similar regulations, (as) say a small B&B would have in New York state, he said Friday at a legislative roundtable at the Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center.

The hospitality association, the conference center and the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event.

Airbnb, the website that allows people to rent out rooms in their homes to interested parties, is becoming more popular. Concerns from people in the hospitality industry are growing that the business is taking away from the traditional hotel industry. These people are not paying occupancy tax.

Dorr said it is going to be difficult to get statewide legislation passed, so the association is focused on working with local communities to develop local laws.

Among the issues are to make sure these Airbnb providers adhere to fire code and Department of Health standards, according to Dorr. He said it is starting to affect neighborhoods, where people are renting out their homes and there are parties and no regulations.

Joyce Azukas, who lives in the town of Lake George, said she is neighbors with someone who was renting out their house.

It was kind of a surprise to have 17 people all of a sudden next door without warning, she said.

The guests built a bonfire that ran until 4:30 a.m. and neighbors were awakened to barking dogs, according to Azukas. She said this needs to be regulated.

You just cant walk into a hotel and do that, she said.

Lake George Town Supervisor Dennis Dickinson said there have been issues with parking as well.

Were not against people renting their homes. But they need to have some kind of controls. We as a municipality need to know what theyre doing, he said.

We still provide emergency services and pay for the roads. They need to pay for it, he added.

Lake George Village Mayor Robert Blais said he has fielded numerous complaints about people renting their homes. The Village Board passed a local law stating that people could not rent their homes unless they had a local agent, which was a contact person that village officials could reach in an emergency.

Blais said the issue stemmed from a fire over the summer of 2015, when there were nine international students living in the property. The landlord lived in Newburgh and thought only four people were staying there. When firefighters asked if anybody was still inside, the students did not know. There was too much confusion.

The enforcement appears to be working, as there were zero complaints this past summer, according to Blais.

Other initiatives

State Sen. Elizabeth Little and Assemblyman Dan Stec also shared the work they are doing in the Legislature to promote tourism.

Little said the rest area south of Exit 18 on the Northway is going to be completely renovated into an Adirondack Welcome Center.

The facility will be enclosed and heated. There will be electronic displays on the walls, so the chamber of commerce can do more promotion.

State law prohibits having a restaurant on the Northway, but Little said the state will allow Taste of NY samples.

The state owns 22 acres at the property, so there is space to do a boat-washing station to help with boats that are traveling north. There would also be electric car charging stations, which would target Canadians who use electric vehicles.

Stec said he and Little have been seeking money to upgrade infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

If you want a 365 economy around here, you have to have a 365 infrastructure,  he said.

Another issue is expanding broadband internet access to encourage people to take long weekends in the Adirondacks, Stec said.

Frank Dittrich, general manager at the Inn at Erlowest and a partner in the new Courtyard Lake George, said the goal is to make Lake George a destination 365 days a year. Warren County is funding a study of tourism promotion efforts.

Patrick Dowd, communications director for the Lake George Association, said the organization continues to spend money on watershed protection efforts. In the last decade, nearly $9 million has been spent on watershed protection. All that money comes from the members.

Without a clean lake, it would be exceedingly difficult to create a powerful economy, he said.
KINGSBURY  A man died Friday when he fell into the Champlain Canal while painting a bridge for the state.

A crew of contractors, working for the state Department of Transportation, was painting the Smiths Basin bridge at Route 149, next to Lock 9.

They had painted most of the bridge and were working underneath it, standing on a platform tied to the bridge by a series of ropes and cables.

One cable broke and the platform suddenly tilted, throwing five workers into the water. At least four other painters did not fall in, and one of them quickly dialed 911.

First responders arrived within minutes, with the first person arriving two minutes after the 911 call, according to Washington County Director of Public Safety Glen Gosnell. Dispatchers sent three dive teams to the scene, and State Police also quickly arrived with a dive team.

They assisted individuals out of the water, Gosnell said.

But they only found four of the five painters.

Dive teams spent nearly 90 minutes scouring the canal, while a helicopter circled overhead, searching for any sight of the man, Rahssan Smith, 41, of Albany.

He was eventually found at the bottom of the canal, directly under the bridge, Washington County Undersheriff John Winchell said. The 911 call was made at 11:31 a.m.; Smiths body was found at 12:58 p.m.

We wish there was a better outcome, Winchell said.

Smiths body was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital for an autopsy. Officials want to know whether he died from drowning or from the fall. One of the surviving painters had a chest injury from the fall.

The other three surviving painters were all being treated for exposure, Gosnell said.

All four were transported to Glens Falls Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Two divers from the dive teams, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the press, said Smith likely could not swim and was so muscular that he was not naturally buoyant. He may also have been wearing steel-toed boots.

The water was 46 degrees. While there was only a nominal current, and the water is believed to be only about 10 feet deep, visibility in the canal was poor. Divers said they had to feel their way through the water.

DOT officials were deeply upset about the accident, with one manager rushing to the scene looking distraught.

Its a tough day for the agency, said DOT spokesman Bryan Viggiani. Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals here.

OSHA inspectors were expected to arrive later Friday to begin an investigation into what went wrong. Later in the day, the Washington County Sheriffs Office announced that it was believed a cable holding up the platform had broken.
MOREAU  A Washington County mans years of boasting that he intentionally crashed a car into the Hudson River, leaving a woman to die in the vehicle as it sank underwater, prompted a massive State Police investigation and searches of the river over the last two months.

A woman to whom the man told the story earlier this year came forward to State Police investigators from the Greenwich station to report that he told her he intentionally drove a car off West River Road in 1974, getting out of the vehicle as it sank but leaving a woman behind inside it.

The tip led to weeks and weeks of searches up and down the river between the village of Fort Edward and Schuylerville, with State Police going through maps of dredging that had been done in the area to look for possible sites where the vehicle could have settled.

State Police divers and a police boat crew with sonar to locate underwater objects spent numerous days during the late summer and early fall working in and along the river, authorities said. But no vehicles or human remains were located. State Police questioned the man this week, and he claimed the boasts were just him recounting a dream he had on a number of occasions.

Investigators also gave him a polygraph test to try to determine the veracity of his statement, which he passed, police said.

He had not given the tipster a name of the victim. Investigators went through missing persons reports in the U.S., Canada and internationally through an Interpol database to try to see if any matched the time frame the tipster gave, but none seemed relevant.
GLENS FALLS  Lowering taxes, improving the states business climate and tackling the PFOA contamination in Hoosick Falls are among the top issues state Sen. Kathy Marchione said she has undertaken in the Legislature.

Marchione, R-Halfmoon, is seeking a third term representing the 43rd Senate District which encompasses all of Columbia County and portions of Rensselaer, Saratoga and Washington counties. She is being challenged by Democrat Shaun Francis and Green Party candidate Joseph Levy.

Marchione said that the manufacturing tax rate has gone down to nearly a 100-year low and the corporate tax rate is down to what it was in 1968. In the most recently passed budget, the Legislature passed some income tax reductions that will be phased in by 2020. Because of the tax reductions, the average family would save above $700 per year.

The state has kept down the growth of state spending. Marchione said lower taxes will lead to higher revenues. She also pointed to increase money to schools as a result of the elimination of the gap elimination adjustment.

Marchione also cited her work to address the heroin crisis including passing legislation that states that doctors  not insurance companies  will dictate the course of treatment.

She also is working to address the shortage of volunteer firefighters in communities. She was able to obtain $250,000 to fund a study of how to recruit and retain firefighters.

The contamination of water in the Hoosick Falls area by the chemical PFOA has been a major issue. Marchione said she fought to make sure that residents had access to water filtration systems, even if their water supply did not exceed the threshold of 70 parts per trillion of PFOA. She also sought to get more funding for water districts that were grappling with this contamination, and paid out of her campaign funds for a mailer to inform people of additional blood testing. The Legislature also passed a bill to extend the statute of limitations for people to file lawsuits by three years.

Francis has criticized her efforts on this legislation, which had been amended and then unamended.

Marchione said she fought to get the bill brought to the floor. The original bill was gutted without her knowledge when worked on by the committee, according to Marchione. Her Senate colleagues were concerned about the ramifications of extending the statute of limitations. However, she was able to persuade them to sign onto the original bill.

Sometimes you vote for something that you dont actually love because somebody elses district needs the assistance and thats what my colleagues did for me, she said.

Francis also has criticized Marchione by saying she was slow to hold hearings on the PFOA issue. Marchione said she was more concerned about getting cooperation to fix the problem from the state Department of Health and Department of Environmental Conservation.

She said a task force is needed to study the issue.

Marchione said her opponent put up a billboard drawing attention to the water crisis. A nearby restaurant said it was affecting business, so she bought the space when it became available and used it to promote businesses and support the community.

Marchione said it is more important to work for results than to promote herself.

You have to weigh whether you care about yourself or you care about the people you represent, she said.

Marchione said she is fighting for the rights of legal gun owners. She has sponsored legislation to repeal the Safe Act in total or in part, as well as 25 other gun bills that would change aspects of the law.

She is not in favor of legislation that requires guns to be locked in safes.

What do you say to a burglar that comes into your home: wait one minute while I unlock my safe, she said.

Marchione said she is in favor of giving gun owners tax credits on buying a safe to lock up guns if there is a mentally ill person living in the home.

Marchione said she has been trying to make the state more business friendly. She was co-chairperson of an administrative regulatory review commission, which was charged with asking people what are some of those onerous regulations on business such as duplicative paperwork.

Eight percent of those rules were related to the environment, according to Marchione.

It is creating too much of a strain on businesses, she said. She cited one anecdotal example of a ski business owner, who told her he has to hire attorneys to fill out all the paperwork required by the state of New York.

Marchione defended her spending more than $147,000 between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015 on taxpayer-funded mailers to constituents. She said she has used them to inform people about a variety of issues such as health fairs, forums on heroin addiction and Narcan training.

I am not going to advocate giving those funds up and not being able to notify people in my district about important events, she said.

Marchione said she would be in favor of more disclosure of who is donating to political campaigns. She said the reporting requirements should not just apply to donations in the run-up to an election.

Regarding the current law that allows people to give higher dollar amounts to campaigns through limited liability corporations, Marchione said campaign contributions need to be looked at holistically, whether it be contributions from independent groups, unions or special interests.

She would be in favor of disclosing all the principals of an LLC.

Marchione does not think legislators should be barred from seeking outside income, but said their sources of money should be disclosed. A salary of about $79,000 is not a lot for the legislators who are living near New York City.

Marchione said she is voting for Donald Trump. She has reservations about him, just as she believes people have reservations about any candidate they vote for. She is concerned about the nations economy, national security and health care.
PLATTSBURGH  If the 2016 election for the 21st Congressional District were to be decided by the number of candidate endorsements, Elise Stefanik would be in a good position to win re-election.

But endorsements can mean a lot or not much at all, according to one expert.

To some degree, all endorsements are a mixed bag, said Dr. Harvey Schantz, a political-science professor at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Some voters are receptive to the endorser, some are indifferent, and some voters will dislike the endorser, serving as a negative cue for the candidate being endorsed.

Official support

Stefanik, the incumbent Republican from Willsboro in Essex County, has racked up 596 endorsements from elected officials in the 12-county district, five state senators and five members of the state Assembly.

Democratic candidate Mike Derrick, who lives in Peru in Clinton County, touts endorsements from 16 labor and advocacy organizations, the Democratic Party committees from all 12 counties and from U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats.

He also has support from former Congressman Bill Owens of Plattsburgh and Congressman Paul Tonko of the 20th District in the Albany area.

Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello, who lives in Hudson Falls, boasts an endorsement from the State Employees International Union Local 200.

Bipartisan backing

Stefanik, 32, has endorsements from 43 elected officials from Clinton County, 54 from Essex County and 31 from Franklin County.

She also has endorsements from 21 organizations, including the National Rifle Association and the New York State United Teachers union.

Her spokesman, Lenny Alcivar, said the congresswoman has earned them.

This overwhelming number of endorsements from Republican, Democratic and independent officials across the North Country reflects Elise Stefaniks strong, bipartisan record of collaborating with grassroots leaders to deliver real results for the 21st District, Alcivar said.

No one works harder on behalf of our military and veterans, our farmers, our small businesses and our families than Elise Stefanik.

Focus on families

Derrick, 53, has also received an endorsement from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, a Saranac Lake newspaper.

He said he has focused on solutions that will lift up North Country families across the district and was pleased with his endorsements.

I am honored to have the support of so many strong New York leaders and champions for middle-class families, he said.

We need a voice in Congress from the North Country and for the North Country, and I promise I will always stand up for our veterans, our workers, our environment and families in all of our communities.

Shows status quo

Funiciello, who has far fewer endorsements, was cynical about the number that Stefanik and Derrick have.

If one is looking to see which candidate (or candidates, as is the case here) who will best represent the status quo, one need look no further than to see which organizations are taking sides in our election process, Funiciello said.

My two fellow candidates are both running on national platforms that can only be described as anti-worker, and yet they both have union endorsements.

They are both resolved to do nothing about climate change, and yet they both have endorsements from environmental groups, he said.

Switch in support

Funiciello said the SEIU endorsement was significant because it has historically backed either Democrats or Republicans, what he calls corporate-owned parties.

They decided to support a working man, he said of the union.

A bakery owner, Funiciello said he has also been endorsed by former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who gave him a $100 personal check.

He has dubbed me Democracys baker,  Funiciello said.

If we wish to end corporate governance, we need only vote for those who do not take corporate money. Thats me. No rhetoric. No corporate money. Just principle.

Like-minded

Schantz said figuring out endorsements is not overly complicated.

Endorsements from party leaders and elected officials are intended to reinforce the importance of party affiliation, which is a major motivation for voters on Election Day, he said.

Party endorsement reminds party adherents that the party is a coalition of like-minded supporters, united in opposition to the other party.

Schantz said endorsements from labor unions are intended to reinforce union loyalties and motivate their members to turn out and support the union recommendation.

Business associations endorse congressional candidates who support a business-friendly economy, he said.

Future access

Endorsements serve the needs of the endorsers, as well, Schantz said.

Endorsement affords interest groups of all kinds a low-cost opportunity to reward their supporters in government and build up access to these officials in the future, he said.

Politicians and other notables enjoy a days press coverage and gain an IOU from the candidate.

Schantz said individuals and groups that endorse want their moneys worth.

Many major national interest groups keep scorecards on all members of the U.S. House and Senate, in which they calculate the percentage of the time the legislators support their position on 10 to 20 key votes the organization has singled out for attention, he explained.

Generally, Schantz said, in order to receive an endorsement from a national lobby, a member of Congress has to have had supported the group on most of the years key votes.

The fact that Stefanik, the incumbent, has more endorsements is not surprising, Schantz said.

Endorsements usually, but not always, follow the dictates of party and incumbency. Business interests are more likely to endorse Republicans, and labor interests are more likely to endorse Democratic candidates.

Means of support

Schantz said endorsements are usually followed with other support.

In order for an endorsement to be effective, targeted voters have to be open to the individual or group doing the endorsing, he said.

Interest-group endorsements gain effectiveness when they are backed up by campaign contributions, direct advertising or voter mobilization.

While it may be difficult to tell just how many votes a particular endorsement is worth or not worth, the support is good to have, Schantz says.

On balance, endorsements are a positive. Not so much because they agree with the policy positions of the candidate, I would say, but rather because they vouch for the credibility and effectiveness of the candidate.
He said his government will initiate strategic interventions to support farmers in Ghana to do better in their business.

Dr Nduom in a Facebook post to congratulate farmers in Ghana said, "As our farmers and fishermen are celebrated in Kintampo today, the PPP is proud to offer a better deal for a better life. The PPP will support our farmers to do better  through strategic interventions."

Read more: Frozen chicken collapsing local poultry industry

According to him, "As agriculture employs more than 50% of Ghanaians, growth and development in that sector will mean a higher standard of living for Ghanaians. Therefore, the PPP is determined to use the state's purchasing power to support improved livelihood for our farmers and fishermen. What they need is a ready market for their produce. We will make that possible. We (PPP) will encourage our people to eat and drink what our people produce aggressively."

He added that, "Farmers in the developed world are better off than Ghanaian farmers because their governments protect them against unfair competition and provide subsidies in various forms. The PPP will provide Ghanaian farmers the same opportunities to live a better life. The end result will be economic independence. We can do this!"

Read also: Here are the key policies for the Agric Sector

National Farmers' Day is commemorated each year to honour Ghanaian farmers and fishermen. The occasion is also used to acknowledge the vital position farmers and fishermen occupy in the nation's socio-economic development.

The 32nd National Farmers' Day celebration was held at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region under the theme: 'Agriculture: A Business Response to Economic Growth'.

Meanwhile, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo, also congratulated farmers and fisher folks for their contribution to building mother Ghana.

In a statement on the occasion of farmers day, he said the role of agriculture in transforming any economy and nation is vital.
Mr Crentsil who emerged as the overall best farmer was praised for engaging in various agricultural productions including 120acres of cocoa, 80acres of rubber, 60acres of plantain, 60acres of cowpea, 30acres of cassava, 15acres of citrus, 7acres of oil palm, 6acres of coconut.

Read more: Nduom assures farmers of better living conditions

President John Mahama in his address at the 32nd National Farmers' Day celebration held at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region under the theme: 'Agriculture: A Business Response to Economic Growth', he refuted claims by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that agriculture has been declining under the NDC government.

"The impression created in the media is false. Let me state for a fact that the agriculture sector is not in decline. A sector that is growing at 2.5 percent cannot be said to be in decline."

See also: Nana Addo advocates modernised agricultural practices

"The statistics can be crosschecked at statistical service. The fact that agrics contribution to the GDP is not what it used to be in the past, does not mean that it is declining, it simply means that other sectors of the economy are also doing well; which is good for the economy and normal for every developing and developed country, he said.

He said, the agricultural sector has seen a 2.5percent growth under the NDC government.
Undoubtedly, it stands tall among the best tourist sites in Ghana. But while the beaches and resorts are everything fun is about, the community itself is one of the poorly developed in Ghana.

As a concerned citizen of my community, I must admit Kokrobite has been treated unfairly when it comes to sharing the national cake. The deplorable state of the neighbourhood is appalling, yet authorities are unperturbed about the plight of its inhabitants.

As strange and surprising as it may sound, all residents of the community are served by only one community clinic. The clinic was built by a Rotary Club member 16 years ago after he suffered a cut at the beach that required a medical professionals assistance but could find none in Kokrobite.

Read more: Child neglect

After that fateful incident, Rotary Club members solicited for funds and built the clinic for the community. Since that time the hospital has been left to rot. Its facilities have deteriorated with the passing of the years.

The Kokrobite Community Clinic is supervised by a single physician's assistant who starts work at 6am and closes at 2pm.

Although they dont treat emergency cases, the patients who come after 2pm are assisted by nurses. When cases are beyond the capability of these nurses, the patients are referred to other clinics. This means that the nurses are basically in charge from 2pm till the assistant physician reports the next day.

Read more: All Hands On Deck

A tour of the hospital revealed it has two OPDs, one labour room, one antenatal room, two bathrooms, one accounts office, one male ward, one female ward and a veranda that serves as a reception and waiting area.

Speaking to a nurse on duty, she lamented there has been no security since the watchman died two months ago and we feel unsafe whenever we are on night shift.

There are no streets lights in the community too, rendering the clinic and its environs dark after 6pm.

Since the passing away of the security man, his janitorial and security duties have fallen on us, piling on top of our own primary health duties, she added.

Read more: Motherhood

Patients folders are stored in boxes, making it difficult for the nurses to search for folders. The patients information are swept away by water whenever it rains because the roof of the building leaks.

The officer disclosed: When we have asked the community carpenter to put up cabinets for us, he came to take some measurements last week and has yet to follow up. We are hoping he completes the work soon because we keep losing patients information. Its very bad.

The roofing of the building is an eyesore. There are leakages everywhere, evident due to the marks on the building; the washing away of the walls paint. Whenever it rains, we have to make sure that all our equipment, drugs and other things are safe before we think of our own safety or the water will destroy what is left of the place.

Read more: Buhari Comment

The clinic has no water supply. Ther was supply was disconnected when the road leading to the clinic was being constructed . But after reports and complaints, the situation has still not been rectified.

We buy water everyday from the small revenue we get, one officer explained, and we store it in our Poly Tanks, using them for cleaning and other daily chores for the clinics operation. We try to manage the water till the following day, when we call the water suppliers again.

The midwife at the clinic disclosed that she assists between 20 to 25 women to deliver their babies in a month, but on days she is overwhelmed some of the pregnant women are refereed to the Gbawe hospital. Even so delivering a baby at the clinic is not as smooth a processas it should be. One patient disclosed that she  was asked to buy batteries and a torch light as part of the things on the maternity list because the hospital lacks a generator and you know how dumsor has come to stay in Ghana.
Ibrahim Mahama, who is the CEO of Engineers & Planners, is among a list of personalities and companies to be honoured at the 2016 edition of the MUSIGA Grand Ball  dubbed MUSIGA Peace Ball.

The MUSIGA Grand Ball is an annual event hosted by MUSIGA. It brings together captains of industry, state officials and other leaders of society on a night of wining and dining with some of the finest musicians in the land. The event also offers huge networking opportunities to participants.

Apart from Ibrahim Mahama, also on the list of honourees are Edward Boateng, CEO of Global Media Alliance; Betty Mould-Iddrissu former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Kasapreko Company Ltd. They are the Music Pillar Honorees for this year.

MUSIGA President Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour), explained in a statement copied Myjoyonline.com that, the decision to honour the selected individuals is due to their unflinching support for the development of the Creative Arts in Ghana and the music industry in particular.

The MUSIGA president added in an interview with Myjoyonline.com that Ibrahim Mahama, for example, is being honoured for buying the highest auction item at last years event.

Last year, he bought Nana Kwame Amapdus guitar for GHc50,000 which was the highest auction item, Obour said.

At the 2015 event, MUSIGA raised GHc80,000 to support aging musicians in the country. The musicians' body hopes to raise GHc100,000 this year.

He explained further that, the Grand Ball has a special honour that we give individuals and organisations that support, the event. Whoever buys the highest auction item, the next year we honour, that individual or organisation with a special appreciation award, at the Grand Ball event.

This years event is under the distinguished patronage of President John Dramani Mahama and former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Artistes lined up for the night includes Bob Pinodo, No Tribe, Becca, Wiyaala, Maa Amanua of Wulomei fame, J. K Adofo, Becca, and Abrantie Amakye Dede.
According to him, "I have examined the circumstances surrounding the Governments reluctance to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court with the seriousness which the matter deserves. I share the view expressed by objective and reasonable members of the public that because the Government was the 1st Defendant/Respondent against whom the Supreme Court made declarations of unconstitutional conduct in paying the judgment debt to Alfred Agbesi Woyome the Government has been pretending for purely political reasons at each turn to take steps to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court only to deliberately abort them."

In a statement released November 4, 2016, he said, "I have this morning 4th November 2016 filed an application at the Supreme Court for leave to examine the Judgment Debtor as the citizen public interest Plaintiff in favour of whom the case was decided for the Republic of Ghana."

His statement follows the Attorney Generals Department which filed a notice at the Supreme Court to discontinue the case it filed about a week ago.

A notice of discontinuance indicated that: "please take notice that the 1st Defendant Judgment Creditor [Attorney General] herein has this day [26th Day of October 2016] discontinued the present application to orally examine the 3rd Defendant Judgment Debtor [Alfred Agesi Woyome] with liberty to reapply."

Read related: NPP to lead Ghanaians in massive demo over Woyome money

The anti-corruption campaigner [Amidu] said, "I have also stated the information available to me and my belief that: the NDC and the Government realizing the power of this Court pursuant to its order granted for the examination of the 3rd Defendant/Respondent/Judgment Debtor to order the judgment debtor or officer to produce any books or documents in the possession of the judgment debtor relevant to these questions at the time and place appointed for the examination took to panic resulting in the President instructing the Attorney General upon her own advice to him to discontinue the application for examination of the judgment debtor which the Court had already ordered. The full application can be found on my website at martinamidu.com."

Below is Martin Amidu's full statement:

AMIDU APPLIES TO THE SUPREME COURT TO EXAMINE ALFRED AGBESI WOYOME THE JUDGMENT DEBTOR  BY MARTIN A, B. K. AMIDU

Today, spurred on by agitations from the public who are protesting against the lack of probity, accountability and transparency on the part of the Government in purporting to discontinue the Governments application and consequential order granted by the Supreme Court on 19th October 2016 (ordering Alfred Agbesi Woyome to appear before the Court on Thursday 10th day of November, 2016 at 9: 00 am in the forenoon to be examined orally on Oath to ascertain whether he as the 3rd Defendant/Judgment Debtor has any property or other means of satisfying the Judgment), I have this morning 4th November 2016 filed an application at the Supreme Court for leave to examine the Judgment Debtor as the citizen public interest Plaintiff in favour of whom the case was decided for the Republic of Ghana.

I have examined the circumstances surrounding the Governments reluctance to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court with the seriousness which the matter deserves. I share the view expressed by objective and reasonable members of the public that because the Government was the 1st Defendant/Respondent against whom the Supreme Court made declarations of unconstitutional conduct in paying the judgment debt to Alfred Agbesi Woyome the Government has been pretending for purely political reasons at each turn to take steps to enforce the judgment and orders of the Court only to deliberately abort them. I agree that the Governments objective has always been to create the appearance and impression in the minds of the unsuspecting public that it is complying with the enforcement orders. The Attorney Generals latest application to discontinue the Governments application to examine its financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, is one more such trick to deceive the public and obstruct the course of justice.

In my application I filed today, I made use of information provided to me that: .when the Judgment Debtor was served with the order of the Court he went to inform the NDC of which he is a member and financier and the incumbent Government, in particular the Attorney General and the President personally, that should the order applied for by the Government for his examination be not discontinued he will have no option at his appearance at the Court than to disclose truthfully and faithfully to the Court on oath the names of all NDC and Government beneficiaries of the judgment debt which was paid to him as a result of the unconstitutional conduct of the Attorney General declared in the decision of this Court.

I have also stated the information available to me and my belief that: the NDC and the Government realizing the power of this Court pursuant to its order granted for the examination of the 3rd Defendant/Respondent/Judgment Debtor to order the judgment debtor or officer to produce any books or documents in the possession of the judgment debtor relevant to these questions at the time and place appointed for the examination took to panic resulting in the President instructing the Attorney General upon her own advice to him to discontinue the application for examination of the judgment debtor which the Court had already ordered. The full application can be found on my website at martinamidu.com.

I would like to assure all public spirited Ghanaians that should I be given the opportunity to examine the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, in Court the good people of Ghana will hear and see the beneficiaries of the unconstitutional judgment debt in the NDC and this Government. Gargantuan crimes were indeed committed as I stated in 2012. Corruption is trying to prevent the public from hearing the whole story from the horses own mouth. I challenge the honesty and integrity of the President and the Government to allow the examination of its financier, the Judgment Debtor, Alfred Agbesi Woyome to proceed without hindrance if they have nothing to hide.

Martin A. B. K. Amidu
According to the national executives of the group in a statement, it said it is inescapable that the AG benefitted from the loot hence cannot prosecute Alfred Woyome.

AFAG said, "it is clear that our $51 million has gone down the drain although government is yet to replace dilapidated schools and those under trees with a national estimated budget of $52 million."

The Attorney Generals Department filed a notice at the Supreme Court to discontinue a case it filed about a week ago.

A notice of discontinuance has indicated that: "please take notice that the 1st Defendant Judgment Creditor [Attorney General] herein has this day [26th Day of October 2016] discontinued the present application to orally examine the 3rd Defendant Judgment Debtor [Alfred Agesi Woyome] with liberty to reapply."

See also:

But AFAG accused the AG of conflict of interest but said, nothing was done about her.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), also said, it is horrified and saddened by the report that the Attorney General is not able to pursue anymore the retrieval of taxpayers monies paid to Mr. Alfred Woyome, as far back as 2010.

Below is the full statement from AFAG:

"It is with no surprise that the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) writes again about the political and legal gymnastics of the Attorney General (AG) on the Woyome case. Over a year ago, AFAG called for the resignation of the AG after Alfred Agbesi Woyome wrote a letter to her as a beneficiary of USD 1 million of the fraudulent payment to him. Indeed the AG has since mellowed although as a face saving measure, she occasionally pretend ready to battle Woyome in court.

Fellow Ghanaians it is clear that our $51 million has gone down the drain although government is yet to replace dilapidated schools and those under trees with a national estimated budget of $52 million. The situation where an individual serving a particular party interest could hijack state resources through a well-organized fraudulent approach supported by the attorney General's office is nothing less than a betrayal of the peoples trust.

Fellow countrymen, quite recently the founder of the NDC and former president stated that, the democratic process is unable to fight corruption. However, the high levels of poverty and the current precarious economic situation is all as a result of politics of patronage and massive corruption. Right thinking people must wise up and speak out than for persons to start growing discontent among Ghanaians about our current democratic dispensation.

Read related: Woyome threatens to sue Nana Akomea

The AG must be ashamed of herself. AFAG accused her of conflict of interest on this issue and nothing was done about her. Indeed, the commitment of government to fight this case speaks for itself. An AG who attempted to retrieve it was sacked and replaced by an AG who benefitted $1 million from the fraudulent disbursement. Obviously if she had succeeded in taking Woyome to the Supreme Court her name would have been dropped couple with a threat from Woyome the last time that, if he is pushed he will spill the beans.

Another worrying angle is the inability of the AG to prosecute government and public officials who were involved in this fraud, these persons are thus walking freely as Ghanaians continue to suffer the consequences. The resultant effect is over burdening of Ghanaians with excessive taxes leading to the current high prices of goods and services.

Mass action is inevitable to demonstrate the anger of Ghanaians to the poor handling of this case by the AG. It is inescapable that the AG benefitted from the loot hence cannot prosecute. Ghana's AG is the poorest performing. She must be ashamed of herself. The AG must Go!!!!"

Signed:

Henry Haruna Asante

Wesley Owusu

Hon. James Appeatu
According to the Eastern regional Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jerry Osei Poku, "Our President has made it a policy to ostensibly bribe our chiefs and take our Chieftaincy Institution for granted. These so-called endorsements by the Chiefs, especially those in the Eastern region are stage managed.

Read more: Peki chiefs deny endorsing Nana Addo

Addressing the press on Thursday, Jerry Osei Poku alleged that, "Why are we saying so, there are a number of Chiefs in this region that the President has appointed onto boards, there are some of the Chiefs that have received largesses from the President, some have received V8 vehicles that they cannot even fuel, some have taken Pick-Ups, Land Cruisers among others, so if a chief in this category makes a statement supporting the President or praising the President, first and foremost what clicks your mind is that it is out of inducement that, that chief is making such claims."

He added that, "Have you ever heard that Nana Addo has given a Chief a bicycle or motorbike, no, Nana Addo has not given any Chief a car, Nana Addo has not given any Chief an appointment to induce him they come on their own evolution and make genuine commitments to him because they know, they have seen and have read about his vision, they know the level of his tolerance and great policies he has for the Country."

Not long ago, President John Mahama was accused of breaking the policy on gift giving, by accepting a gift from a Burkinabe contractor, as Vice President in 2012.

The contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, is on record as having confirmed giving out the car as gift to Mr. Mahama, for which the President called to thank him.

Read also: Mahama responds to corruption allegations
She made this disclosure during an interview with the BBC.

She admitted that the role was not an easy one considering that she is female but was also determined to do her best at every given time.

Charlotte Osei has come under intense pressure over some decisions made by the Commission. Political parties and individuals alike have criticised her for some decisions and actions of the EC but she revealed that her husband has been very supportive in these circumstances.

she said.
According to him, the ruling shows that the rule of law is working in this country.

Our laws are working and no matter who you are, no matter your institution, when you find fault or anomalies with issues, you can always go to the court for redress. I am very proud that democracy is really working in this country. I am very proud rule of law is working. The world all over will believe in the rule of law in Ghana.  We are grateful.

We will continue our campaign and the rest of the people in court, we wish them well and we hope they will also have a favourable judgment, he told journalists shortly after the court ruling.

READ ALSO: Ayariga wins case against EC

The judge, Justice Babara Charway in her judgment indicated the EC acted unfairly by disqualifying the All People's Congress from the presidential race.

The legal team for the disqualified presidential nominee of the APC in their submission challenged the 30th September date by the EC as the last day for receiving nominations.

READ ALSO: APC lawyers accuse EC of deliberately disqualifying Ayariga

According them the EC by virtue of receiving the nomination fees as required on the stipulated date made the nomination incomplete.

Arguing their case in court, lawyers for Ayariga told the court the EC failed to meet the statutory seven days after nominations before announcing their disqualification.

They also questioned the brain behind the decision of the commission not to allow them correct the errors based on which they were disqualified.
The National Peace Council has no authority over the EC, to direct the EC to do A or B. Yes, the NPC can advise the EC to ensure that there is credibility of our elections but as to how to go about it, as to how they should do it, we do not have that capacity to be able to take such directions.

As citizens of this country, we are also concerned, the NPC is also concerned about the timing and is worried about the what might happen as a result of the court actions in respect of the disqualification of the number of candidates.

But we are also minded that  we dont have any capacity, any authority to direct the courts or to direct the EC as to how to go about their job, he said on Accra-based Class FM.

His comments come on the back of calls by the Progressive Peoples Party for the National Peace Council and other religious bodies to intervene the impasse between the party and the EC.

The EC Chair disqualified 13 candidates including Edward Mahama of the Peoples National Convention and Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP) over errors in the nomination forms they filed.

But an Accra High Court last week Friday ordered the EC to allow Dr Nduom of the PPP to amend the errors on his forms and resubmit them for consideration by the EC.

The EC has since challenged the ruling at the Supreme Court. The Policy Advisor of the PPP, Kofi Asamoah Siaw has subsequently described the ECs actions as a deliberate scheme deployed by the state institutions, with the support of the referee, the Electoral Commission, to divert attention so that there will be opportunity for full rigging in the 2016 elections.
Our elections in Ghana tend to be very close. If it is so close, it might be prudent to stop, inform everyone, do a total recount and be sure of what we are announcing finally, Mrs. Osei explained to the BBC in a facebook live interview on Thursday.

According to her, to ensure that Ghanaians are informed about the whole counting process, the Commission will ensure a robust communication process by giving an hourly update to the media.

She further debunked claims that the Commission can be influenced to change the election results.

It is impossible for the EC to be influenced, she stated, adding that the EC has adopted a transparent process in conducting the December 7 polls.

The EC boss also expressed optimism that in spite of the numerous court cases, the voting day would still be December 7.
This is coming a few months after the actress was granted bail by the Court of Appeal following a charge of manslaughter resulting from the killing of Dr. Giwa, a medical practitioner at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Fiberesima was spotted at the premiere of "76' The Movie" yesterday, November 3, 2016, where she plays the role of Angela.

All decked out in a sweet jumpsuit and a bold gold statement, Ibinabo looks really good for someone who just had a tumour expelled from her breast.

ALSO READ: Ibinabo Fiberesima becomes woman rights activist?

Recall that the veteran bagged a five-year jail sentence for manslaughter, but asked the supreme court to set aside the judgment of the appellate court on health grounds.

According to her, she fell ill and had a tumour expelled fromher breast.

Fiberesima had been sentenced to five years imprisonment by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi presiding over a Lagos High Court for reckless driving, resulting in the death of a hospital staff of a Lagos State hospital Giwa Suraj in 2006.
Micheal is obviously in honour of the late King of Pop, Micheal Jackson, with whom she had been very close, and Brandon is the name of Marlon Jackson's twin brother who died at birth.

According to reports, Janet's Qatar billionaire husband, Wissam Al Mana who is a Muslim, is in full support of her decision as well.

Its also a plus that the pair have found a middle ground when it comes to his Muslim traditions with which there would be no compromise.

As expected, Michael Bradon is to be their son's middle name while his first and last name will be Muslim.

Janet Jackson first announced her pregnancy in April this year, explaining via Twitter that it was the reason for her postponed music tour.
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The leader of the gang, has however, been arrested by the Ondo State Police Command.

The gang reportedly attacked the victim identified as Folashade Jayeoba and held her four kids hostage before leading her to an ATM to withdraw the sum after she said she had no money at home, Daily Post reports.

The leader of the gang, Samuel Ayodele, aged 23, was apprehended by the police shortly after the victim lodged a complaint.

While parading the suspect, the State Police Commissioner, Hilda Harrison, said the robbers invaded the house of the victim and stole some of her valuables, including a flat-screen television.

They abducted the victim and her four children and led them to Keystone Bank in Alagbaka, Akure, where she was forced to withdraw N90,000.

He added,They collected the money from the victim before she and the children were set free by the suspects, he added

Daily Post reports that the victim alerted the police about the incident which eventually led to the arrest of the gang leader at Gaga Oke-Aro area in Akure.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), state that Pastor West alongside his company, Nimak & Company Nigeria Limited, was charged before Justice U.N. Agumoh on a four-count charge of obtaining money under false pretense.

The man of God was alleged to have received the amount from one Emmanuel Dike at different times in 2013, for payment of a bungalow.

However, the complainant later discovered that the property had been sold to another person while his efforts to recover his money did not succeed.

The prosecution counsel, C.A. Okoli applied for a date for the commencement of trial while the defence counsel C.B. Osita made an oral application for bail of the accused to enable him attend to his health.

When the charges were read to him, Pastor West pleaded not guilty and Justice Agumoh granted him bail in the sum of N1m and two sureties in like sum.
Bashir was arraigned before a Federal High Court, Abuja, by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), for being in possession of 400 grammes of cannabis sativa.

The accused took his plea in Hausa language through an interpreter.

He was alleged to have committed the offence in the Kabusa area of the Federal Capital Territory in August.

The prosecuting counsel, Mrs S.I. Mark prayed the court for a date to review the case in view of the guilty plea entered by the defendant.

Mark also prayed the court to remand the defendant in prison custody pending the review.
While handing over the cattle to officials of Operation Yaki, the state security outfit, the Commandant of the school, Navy Cmdr. Timothy Dakwat, said that the recovery was made on October 29, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

ALSO READ: NSCDC arrests 2 over cow theft in Nasarawa

Remember that Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olanisakin said we are done with the menace of Boko Haram.

Now one of the cardinal threat to internal security is insurgency and cattle rustling, he said.

According to the commandant, the operation was made successful by the cooperation of the state government, cattle breeders association and the general public.

He said, We are being empowered and encouraged to carry out our statutory responsibility to assist the police in establishing civil authority.

All this success is a collective effort of the security operatives.

NAN reports that Dakwat appealed to the public to volunteer any useful information that would help in putting an end to cattle rustling and rustlers.

Dakwat recalled that Navy personnel had earlier recovered 95 cattle on October 21 and 22, arresting four suspects in the process and handing them over to Operation Yaki.

Meanwhile, Retired Col. Yakubu Soja, State Coordinator, Operation Yaki, also commended the navy for their efforts in fighting the menace.

Soja said that so far, security agents in the state have recovered 19,000 cows since the government began its efforts to get rid of cattle rustlers in the state over a year ago.

He also said that the recovered animals have been handed over to their owners following thorough scrutiny.

According to Soja, collation centres have been set up by the outfit for recovered animals in Birnin Gwari, Zaria, Kachia and Jere.

The Retired Col. advised people who have lost their livestock to step forward with identification in order to retrieve their animals.

ALSO READ: How 2 monarchs spent 38 hours in police cell over slain cows

The North West Chairman of Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Ardo Ahmadu Sulaiman, has also commended the state government and the security agencies for their commitment to ridding the state of cattle rustlers.
I know what I did is an unforgivable sin but I was forced into it by my mother-in-law whose insistence that I give her grandson as if it is in my power to do so.

I already had five daughters and the pressure from my in-laws and even my husband to have a male child had been building and got to a crescendo when they told me openly that they would marry a new wife for Chike so that she would give him a male child.

My mother-in-law was so vocal about the issue that she always made it open that I was not a complete woman since I could not have a male child.

The insults, name calling, and abuses I got from her got me so demoralized and shattered and my husband who should have defended me, took sides with them and made life a hell for me.

I had prayed, fasted and underwent assignments to no avail. That was when my closest friend, , advised I got a man to get me pregnant since it seemed my husband was not able to father a child.

I know I made the mistake of accepting Oluchi's advice. She was the one that introduced to me and we started a secret affair.

About six months into the affair, I got pregnant. When I went for a scan, the result showed that I was carrying a male child. Though I was happy, I knew I could not tell Richard I was pregnant for him.

When I was three months gone, I told Richard I was no longer comfortable with the relationship because my husband was becoming suspicious, so we had to call it quits.

Chike and his mother, meanwhile, were not enthusiastic about my pregnancy, saying I was carrying the same species that I always gave them and on my part, I did not tell them the result of the scan.

When I put to bed, they were so ecstatic that they did not notice that my son was fair while Chike is dark and I am not too fair either. His mother attributed it to the fact that they have fair people in their family.

As we are preparing to take the child to the church for dedication, I am in great fear because Oluchi called me the other day to say that Richard told he suspects my son belongs to him.

I am really scared that he could come and make trouble for me and reveal the secret. I am sure he could demand a DNA test.

What should I do?

Bridget."
Read his story here:

"My name is Clement, a 43-year-old businessman living in Lagos. I have been married to Mercy for over eight years now but I have realized I made the greatest mistake of my life.

My wife is what one would call holier-than-thou and every of her actions is guided by Bible principles and anything that seems to go against what God would approve of is bound and cast with prayers, fasting, assignments and anointing oil.

I am not saying it is wrong for one to be holy or live a Godly life but my wife is the extreme case, the ones people call fanatics.

I actually met and married her when I started attending her church. When I met Mercy and made my intentions known to her, she first directed me to the pastor and after I told him that I wanted to marry her, I was referred to the marriage committee who gave me a booklet containing the dos and don'ts of Christian courtship.

That should have triggered an alarm in me but I was madly in love with Mercy and was ready to go to any length to get married to her.

But after we got married, I knew I was in for trouble as everything we did as a couple must be guided by the word. We had to pray for hours before we could make love; we must abstain from sex whenever we were observing a fast, the fact that we were married notwithstanding.

The sight of even ants in the house calls for casting and bindings and tearing down of a stronghold and all that. I cannot send money to some members of my family because they would use the money as a weapon against me.

I had to undergo spiritual assignments every month to be fortified at all times. In fact, everything I do must have approval from the pastor.

I am seriously tired of my wife's dogmatic Christian life and the pastor is not helping matters as he keeps supporting her whenever I lay a complaint.

Clement."

The teaser for the day was:

How Nigeria voted:

I will caution her to live by my rules - 52%

I will stop her from attending the church - 12%

I will send her away - 17%

I will report to her parents - 19%
The Executive Chairman of the agency, Dr Mansur Dada, said on Friday that the policy was designed to combat malaria in the state, especially among pregnant women and children.

According to him, 122,800 diagnostic testing kits; 2,456 packets of hand gloves and 203 pieces of safety boxes would be distributed to the facilities.

Dada said that the distribution was the first phase for the November to December 2016.

The agency in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Global Funds as provided 355,937 doses of Artemiter and 28,660 doses of Fansider for pregnant women.

The drugs are meant to be free for children from four years of age to adults and it is also expected that three doses of the Fansider will be given to each pregnant woman during her anti natal visits, he said.

Dada said that the agency has relegated the responsibility of monitoring the health facilities to local government officials, traditional rulers and ward development committees to monitor the activities of the beneficial facilities.

Ward Development Committees (WDCs) being those nearest to the people should ensure that the free drugs are given freely to the people.
Yesufu reacted to the President's statement that he would have absconded when he became President as the enormous challenges of the country was scary.

Responding via her twitter handle, Yesufu had said "Absconding would have been the best thing you would have done for Nigeria. Anyway, yesterday died last night.

Yesufu joins a list of individuals and groups that have mocked the President's statement on Thursday, November 3, 2016.
Buhari said this in a meeting with members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) from the 19 Northern states and Abuja.

According to The Nation, the Presidents Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said Buhari also promised to restore peace in troubled spots across the country.

He also said Restoring peace is top priority. We will enable the law enforcement agencies to combat all forms of violent crimes, and ensure that our people live in peace.
The Spokesman of Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, Imam Imam, told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Sokoto on Friday that the President would be in the state to inspect and inaugurate some developmental projects.

Imam said among the projects earmarked for inauguration by the president is the 500-housing estate at Kalambaina-Sokoto.

The project was initiated by former Governor Aliyu Wamakko and completed by Tambuwal.

The houses will be sold to civil servants in the state, to further reduce housing deficit in the state.

Imam also said President Buhari would use the opportunity of the visit to witness the 3000-horses Durbar organised as part of the 10th Year Anniversary of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar 111

The events marking the historic anniversary have been going on smoothly since Nov. 2.

"The state government is appreciative of the laudable support and cooperation of the generality of the people of the state.

"We are however imploring them to sustain the tempo, as well as intensify their fervent prayers for peace, unity and socioeconomic prosperity of Nigeria, Imam,added.

Speaking on the durbar, a Senior Counsellor in the Sultanate Council of Sokoto, Alhaji Hassan Danbaba, said: the Emir of Kano and the Etsu Nupe had brought 500 horses each, while the Emir of Argungu brought 700.

"Some of the horses were brought from Katsina, parts of Sokoto and other Emirates in the country.

The Magajin Garin Sokoto, added that arrangements had been concluded to make the historic event hitch-free and memorable.

NAN recalls that, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had, on Thursday in Sokoto, declared open an International Symposium on the Sokoto Caliphate.

ALSO READ:Buhari promises to treat every Nigerian equally
According to a report by Daily Trust, a House of Representatives panel called on Nigerians to demand for the resignation of the economy's finance heads fpr allegedly mismanaging the country's wealth.

The call was made on Thursday, November 3, 2016 by Honourable Sadiq Ibrahim, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the N700 billion bail-out funds given to some state governments by the federal government,

The Adamawa rep member reportedly made the call following failure of Adeosun and Emefiele to personally appear at the committees session.

Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, was also fingered as another figure who should resign his appointment for failure to dutifully discharge his duties.

Speaking on the call, Sadiq Ibrahim said:The attitudes of these top government officials show who is mismanaging the economy of the country. Nigerians should rise up and call for their resignation immediately.

The lawmaker further said: If it is to bring virement, they would rush down, but now that they are to come and explain to Nigerians how the bail-out fund running into over N700bn was disbursed, they are sending representatives; they are only interested in borrowing. This has to stop.

ALSO READ:
It's okay, we've got broad enough shoulders for you to cry on.

Worse, if you are studying for an Engineering degree in a Nigerian University, you may want to consider a change of course while it is still day.

Sorry, we didnt make the rules, Fashola did.

A delegation of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) led by its President, Otis Anyaeji, paid the former Lagos State Governor a courtesy visit in his office this week.

ALSO READ: Minister explains why government does not patronize local contractors

It was all Fashola needed to unload on Nigerian Engineers.

And boy, did he come down hard!

1. The only reason why Government awards contracts to foreign investors is because Nigerian Engineers are a load of crap.

Hey! Not our words, Fasholas.

If homegrown Engineers were any good, the Federal Government wont be running after their foreign peers, says Fashola.

If there was no vacuum, there would not be foreign engineering consultants and contractors in Nigeria.

Unless we honestly stand up and accept that there is a vacuum, we look in the mirror and tell ourselves that we honestly do not like what we see, it will not change, said Fashola.

2. Local Engineering firms cant even put a bid together.

I can tell you from experience that when I was a State Governor, when I advertised for rail project, no Nigerian firm bidded for it, Fashola revealed.

Ouch!

What a shame!

3. Nigerian Engineers cant stop our shine

Government will not stop the development of the country, if local Engineers are not ready, Fashola said.

So, now that Fashola wants to transform our roads into the Autobahn, our power sector into an uninterrupted array of blinding lights and our housing sector into paradise on earth, hes got no patience for the Nigerian Engineer.

Amoshine when amoshine.

We are in tears right now.

4. Accept your deficiencies, guys.

Fashola also said Nigerian Engineers need to take a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror, accept that they are crap and then improve.

Nigerian Engineers should accept their deficiencies, Fashola pronounced.

**********

Postscript: So we are just here wondering, if our Universities and Polytechnics were any good; if government was up to its responsibilities in the education sector, would our Engineers be spoken of in this manner?

As Lagos Governor, did Fashola spare a thought for the Engineering Departments at the University of Lagos, Lagos State University and Yaba College of Technology?

Was there a deliberate policy in place by the former number one citizen of Lagos, to make Engineering undergraduates in his jurisdiction employable?

And does the Buy Nigeria to grow the Naira campaign adopted and pushed in our faces by the Buhari administration, not apply to homegrown Engineers?

Whatever happened to local content as a government policy?

If this government wants to create jobs locally like it trumpets it wants to do, should it overlook our homegrown Engineers?

Like seriously?

Is there a policy by the Buhari administration to make our Engineering undergraduates worth their calling, a few years from now?

This is all like the typical Nigerian leader and politician--sermonising about a problem but not lifting a finger in solution.
The former Governors kinsmen, in a communique issued on Thursday, November 3, 2016 after the Oghara 2016 Summit, said Despite his good works for which he was lauded by all and sundry, the travails of our son, Chief Ibori, is mainly the fallout of his unrelenting stand and clamour for fiscal federalism through the control of resources of the Niger Delta by her people. We therefore unequivocally call for his immediate and unconditional release by the British government.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) had reported that 43 women and girls were raped and abused by security operatives in seven IDP camps in Maiduguri in July 2016.

Idris also instructed Commissioners of police in the states where IDP camps are located to beef up security in those areas.

The IG called on his men to bring to book, anyone that tries to carry out any form of criminal activity in the IDP camps.

According to Punch, the police spokesman, Donald Awunah, on Thursday, November 3, 2016, issued a statement saying The IG, who is irrevocably committed to the protection of all Nigerians most especially vulnerable groups such as the IDPs, has expressed deep concern over the submissions in the report and has directed the Special Investigation Panel to carry out a discreet and unbiased investigation into all the cases of abuse and misconduct alleged in the report.

ALSO READ:Buhari shocked over alleged rape of 43 female IDPs in Maiduguri
The 25-year-old returned to Benin City in Nigeria's south, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the region where he grew up -- and far from the uncle who paid over the odds to get him to Paris.

For Mike, Europe stopped being a promised land when he was refused leave to stay. He still has the letter from the authorities which turned his world upside down.

It stated simply he could either appeal the decision or go home. He chose the latter after four years in France where the reality of life didn't meet his expectations.

"The conditions were very difficult," he told AFP. "When we're in our country we feel that if you go to Europe... it's better.

"But when we arrived there, you discover it's more difficult."

Voluntary returns

In 2015, 153,000 migrants arrived in the European Union via the Italian coast, according to the International Organization for Migration. The largest number -- about 22,000 -- were Nigerians.

In May last year, Brussels opened talks with Abuja to make "readmission agreements" easier and oblige Nigeria to take back its nationals.

Return, however, is not always straightforward.

Often there are fears of extortion by those who helped migrants to leave in the first place, of being killed by people-smuggling gangs or simply not having enough money to start a new life.

The EU's Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs says some 400,000 to 500,000 non-EU nationals are ordered to leave the bloc every year because they are staying irregularly.

But only 40 percent are sent back to their home country or the country from where they left to reach the EU.

In 2013, France's then-interior minister Manuel Valls drastically reduced financial support to help undocumented immigrants return home.

Last year, there were only 4,748 voluntary returnees, down from 15,840 in 2011, according to France's integration and immigration bureau, the OFII.

Mike was one of only four Nigerians whose return was approved in 2015.

He has since been able to start a business selling cement. He runs it with pride, even though it doesn't bring in much money.

Drop in the ocean

Benin City has long been known as Nigeria's capital of human trafficking and especially prostitution.

A number of projects are running in the city to both prevent locals being tempted to risk everything to reach Europe and to help those who have returned. One of them is run by Idia Renaissance.

The local non-profit group was founded in 1999 by the wife of the former Edo state governor and has worked with the Roman Catholic charity Caritas across Europe.

But project coordinator Roland Nwoha said that since 2009 there have only been 50 voluntary returnees -- a drop in the ocean given the huge increase in migration to Europe in recent years.

Fear is the main factor: women are often subjected to black magic rituals before they leave, with dire warnings about what will happen if they don't repay their debts of up to 60,000 euros ($66,000).

For others, few want to return to a life of extreme hardship or simply admit failure to family and friends, said Nwoha.

"As long as the economic situation (in Nigeria) remains in a very terrible shape, people will continue to move in search for better opportunities," he added.

'Where is your money?'

Gloria -- not her real name -- only lasted a month working as a prostitute on the streets of Naples, in southern Italy and says she is much happier now she has left.

She told her "madam" she was going to see a client, then for two days the 21-year-old hid in the city before finding the Nigerian consulate.

"When I got there they asked me, 'Where is your money to buy your return ticket? Go away'," she recalled.

Mike had a similar experience, having to prove his nationality to his government to get a temporary passport.

Gloria returned to Nigeria two months after she turned up at the consulate but only thanks to Caritas. She stayed in Lagos before deciding to return home, where she now works as a seamstress.

She finally explained to her family "the time it would take for me to amass the 10 million naira to build you a house, my body would already be broken".
Justice Dije Abdu Aboki, who delivered the judgement on Friday, November 4, also ordered the convict to refund N14,815,000 to Albasu community, owners of the micro-finance bank.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Suleiman on September 30, 2014, on 105-count charges.

He pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

The judge sentenced him to serve two years on each of counts 1 to 44 and fined him N300,000 for each.

She ruled that where the convict defaults, he will serve additional six months imprisonment on each count.

From counts 45 to 74, the convict was fined N500,000 or 12 months imprisonment on each count while on counts 75 to 105, he is to pay a fine of N200,000 or 12 months imprisonment on each count with the exception of count 97 which appeared to be duplication.

The sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve a maximum of two years.
Reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari's recent statement during his meeting with Niger Delta elders, the group says the President is clueless and directionless.

Recently, President Buhari had said that whoever wants to leave Nigeria can do so if they have another country to call their own.

In a recent statement by the group, the group wondered why the FG is witch-hunting and chasing down Biafrans while the country is collapsing.

The federal government is busy, chasing, witch-hunting and killing Biafrans and agitators, while the country is collapsing, and will soon go into extinction because of clueless and directionless leadership, Uchenna Madu, leader of MASSOB said.

Continuing, Madu said: We reiterate our earlier position that those who wish to play pharaoh against the people of Biafra, will certainly experience the consequences of the Egyptian Pharaoh.

President Buharis statement that anyone, who cherished another country can leave Nigeria is not something to be cheerful about, celebrated and in any way heartwarming.

MASSOB views it as part of Pharaohs subtle way of mocking the Hebrews-Biafra. The people of Biafra should not celebrate or rejoice over that cunning and mocking assertion, he said.

Threatening the extinction of the country, Madu also said, The time of Gods calamitous earthquake that will delete the name of the country from the world map, government and other functions is very fast approaching.

MASSOB and other pro-Biafran groups will continue to remain non-violent and focused. We will continue to be loyal to Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwus principles, vision and legacies; and continue to revive and refresh the consciousness of Ojukwuism in the minds of every Biafran, he said.
The workers also want the Federal Government to appoint a substantive director general for the agency.

This is coming two days after the workers ended a two-week warning strike.

They said the management has refused to do something about their demands despite the warning strike.

The Vice Chairman of the agencys branch of Medical and Health Workers Union, Idzi Isua, said the workers have resolved to begin an indefinite strike soon if the authorities of the agency fail to address their grievances.

"It is either they answer us or we go on an indefinite strike until our demands are met," Isua told Premium Times at a brief protest by the workers at the headquarters of the Agency in Wuse, Abuja on Thursday, November 3.

ALSO READ: Senator wants NAFDAC to certify food donations to IDPs

According to him, the workers are also aggrieved over the process of promotion of staff in the agency.

"We gave a warning strike of two weeks and resumed yesterday (Wednesday), still nothing has been done about the issues. We are giving them a few days to respond.

"We are also calling on the government to appoint a substantive Director General for the Commission and revisit the recent recruitment of staff into the agency. Due process was not followed in the recruitment," he said.
According to a source cited by Punch, Obanikoro regained freedom at about 5pm on Friday, November 4.

"The EFCC just released Senator Obanikoro around 5pm. He is on his way home now," the source said.

It was gathered that the former minister met his bail conditions on Thursday, November 3.

The EFCC is still in possession of Obanikoro's American and Nigerian passports, it was learnt.

He was said to have returned N100 million out of the N4.7 billion he allegedly received through the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014.

Report said the ex-minister also promised to return additional N480 million.
Saraki, who met with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Villa, said he was just there to observe the Jumat prayers.

It has been speculated that Saraki's meeting with Buhari on Friday was about the $30 billion loan request by the President, which the Senate rejected on Tuesday.

Saraki, who spoke to State House correspondents after the Jumat prayers, said the President's proposal to borrow $30 billion from external sources is work in progress.

ALSO READ: Saraki calls for efficient management of crude oil resources

He noted that the rejection of the proposal by the senate is not a reflection of the relationship between the executive and the legislature.

Saraki said: "I came here to pray, I have finished praying and I just had a general felicitation with the president. It didnt go beyond that.

"We should not look at that as a reflection of the relationship. Dont let us politicise very important issues. As we said this is work in progress."

The Senate had said it rejected the loan request because there were no vital documents to back it up.
Saraki also said in order to bring the economy back on its feet, the effective management of crude oil resources is needed.

According to Punch, Saraki, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said For many years now, the PIB has been stalled at different stages for one reason or the other. At this point, the Senate is ready and willing to do everything that it takes to get Nigerias economy out of this recession and the efficient and effective management of our oil resources is a key component of this.

Now that the legislation to provide a governance and institutional framework for the petroleum industry has passed the second reading, it is time to re-introduce the host community development legislation to address the legitimate agitations of the people of the Niger Delta.

He also said the host community development bill when passed into law, will address issues relating to community participation, security and the ecological debt incurred by host communities from oil extraction.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture revealed this on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, at the second edition of the Animated Film Festival organised by the Japanese and French Embassies in Abuja.

ALSO READ: undefinedWhat we have seen here is another genre of movie making and I am sure we will be able to partner with both Japanese and French embassies in the capacity we are building for our movie industry," Mohammed said. We agreed to work together because the Japanese are developing this animation industry quite tremendously and they promised to partner with us again in capacity building."

With technology in the movie industry, the potentials are limitless, he added.

Speaking about a partnership between Nigeria and France, French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Guaer, said, Animated film is very well developed in many parts of the world that is why we organised this festival with the Japanese Embassy, bringing Japanese and French production and screening them here in Abuja."

So, you see how important it has become even for the image of modernity and of creativity of a country and at the same time , it is a business. It brings in money and there is a new market to occupy in Nigeria; that is why we want to make it more visible and cooperate to develop that segment in Nigeria.
Amaechi is the Minister of Transportation while Onu heads the Science and Technology Ministry.

The party wants President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the ministers because they were fingered in the ongoing investigations of alleged corrupt judges.

The PDP faction made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, November 4, by its spokesperson, Dayo Adeyeye.

The party said Buhari should suspend the ministers since the National Judicial Council (NJC) has also suspended the judges involved in the scandal.

Some of the judges - Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro had alleged that Amaechi and Onu attempted to influence them to rule on election cases in their favour.

The two judges of the Supreme Court were suspended alongside five others by the NJC on Thursday, November 3.

PDP said: "It is important to note that Justices Ngwuta and Okoro have alleged that they are the targets of a witch hunt because they refused offers of inducement and bribes made to them by the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi; and the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, to subvert justice in appeals against the decisions of lower courts in election petitions in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti and Rivers states.

"In order to allow for a fair and independent investigation, it is incumbent on President Muhammadu Buhari to ask these ministers to step aside pending the conclusion of investigations into these issues.

"The judiciary has set a very good example in its quest to fight corruption. It has proved that it is ready to reform itself and we commend the NJC for taking this bold step.

"Anything less will confirm the long-held notion that President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration consider themselves to be above the law and not subject to the provisions of our laws and the institutions of our democracy.

"If President Buhari retains these ministers in the face of the serious allegations against them, he will show that the entire judicial corruption saga is nothing more than a deliberate attempt to blackmail the judiciary in order to subjugate it and make it a rubber stamp institution of the administration."
Osinbajo, however, did not mention the person's name but described him as a former governor - the description is believed to be Bola Tinubu.

Buhari's recently-launched biography, written by Professor John Paden, had sparked controversy over who nominated Osinbajo as Vice President.

Before the book, it was generally believed that Osinbajo was chosen by Tinubu.

But Paden claimed in the biography that Tinubu actually wanted to become the Vice President but was handicapped by the religion factor - a Muslim president and vice president ticket would have automatically won the race for the then incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan.

ALSO READ: How Buhari chose Osinbajo as VP over Tinubu, Fashola

The book claimed that when it was apparent that Tinubu couldn't run, he opposed the idea of Osinbajo's nomination when it was raised by one of the party's chieftains.

Speaking at a State of the Nation Address convened by Coalition of Nigerian Apostolic Leaders in Lagos, Osinbajo said he was put forward by a leader in the APC and accepted by other leaders.

He said: "An APC National Leader who had served when he was governor was interested in putting me forward as the running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari in consensus with other national leaders of the party.

"I was a product of this system (Coalition Leaders). The church was reluctant and I understood why the church was reluctant.

"The church was looking at the head of the ticket (President). This is our first opportunity. This is our first shot at it. We need to maximize it and do the best we can. I think what my nomination and appointment have done is that it has open the door for us. We can do it and we can be influential in doing it."
If you're currently reading this, you know they lied.

There are more assignments, you have to pay for handouts. Your classrooms are bigger, and rowdier. A lecturer is trying to sleep with you, or failing you because you're being too cosy with someone they are trying to sleep with.

You go to class every day wondering how the jargon you get taught is going to make your life better.

A time will come when you will graduate, hopefully. You'll be glad to graduate without an extra year.

When it's time for NYSC, you'll manage to get into camp, along with 90,000 other graduates from institutions all over Nigeria in your batch alone. Hopefully, the government will be able to afford NYSC. If you're lucky or connected, you'll get posted to major cities like Lagos, Abuja, or even Port Harcourt.

If you're not, you might get stuck in a village somewhere. It's okay. You'll love the peace of mind it will give you. Enjoy it. It might be the last time you get to not worry much.

It'll take a year, and in that time, you'll find crushes, find new passions, re-evaluate your life and everything else it is that young people do when they have time on their hands.

You'll pass out. Again, with about 90,000 other people. Now, you'll begin to search for a job. You'll find ways make your CV look excellent. There's a sad reality you should know.

No formatting of your CV will make up for all the 5+ years job experience that many companies are looking for. You try everything and start to wonder whether it was someone you offended that's making it hard for you to find a job.

So you run to God.

"Lord, find me my job." Remember you promised me in *insert the verse from the scripture about God's promise*.

Here's one thing you probably forgot. God also 'promised' the 90,000 people who left NYSC with you too.

That's not even the craziest part. Grab a cup of water and drink before you proceed.

The batch before you, and the one before that, and before that, still have many of them waiting. Unemployed. It's not just you, or your batch. It's a whole lot more.

In 2014, the Nigerian Immigrations tried to hire a tiny number of people. 700,000 people applied. In fact, they had to pay N1000 each to get in. There were stampedes at several recruitment centres and at least 15 people died. Many more were injured.

Recently, the Federal Inland Revenue Service tried to hire 500 people. 700,000 also applied.

Just in case you think you're a really bright student, 2000 of the applicants were 1st Class graduates.

You're probably wondering what you'll do with your life. You're probably even wondering whether you should attend the next lecture or test.

Attend. Pass. Graduate.

But ask yourself this question; "without my degree, what else do I have? What skill set can help me earn a living, or make me happy?"

If you have an answer to this, good for you. Hone that skill and make it better. Get better, hone the skill with your friends and family. Create a name for yourself among your friends for that thing. There's no shame in making money, only in being broke all the time.

If you don't have an answer, find a skill and learn. Get better, so by the time you're done with school, you'll have something else to hold on to, and you won't have to struggle with over half a million people for half a thousand positions.

Finally, if you think you'll just take a stroll out of the tertiary system with your certificate and no backup plan, there might be little Nigeria has to offer you. In fact, there's probably nothing.
The state Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Aro Yahya, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in llorin on Friday.

According to the Commissioner, the governing council and board for the college has the Chairman/Chief Executive of Overland Airways, Mr Edward Boyo as Chairman

Other Members of the board are Mr Kunle Oyinloye, Alhaji Tajudeen Audu, retired Group Captain Ayo AbdulSalam, a representative each from the state Ministry of Finance and Works as well as the Rector of the College, Captain Mumeen AbdulKareem.

The commissioner said the new board members were appointed based on their experience in the aviation sector.

Yahya charged the new board to utilize their experience for the college to meet international standard.
Judge Patricia Basaza Wasswa ruled the 63 Bridge International Academies provided unsanitary learning conditions, used unqualified teachers and were not properly licensed.

The ruling is a blow to Bridge International which has expanded rapidly since its inception in 2008 offering cheap, standardised, technology-driven education in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

Under the Bridge International model teachers read scripted lessons word-for-word from a tablet computer that also records student attendance and assessments. Gates' and Zuckerberg's foundations are among the company's high-profile backers.

But Bridge International has courted controversy with Liberian teachers threatening to strike earlier this year over government plans to outsource all primary education to the private US-owned company.

But James Black, a parent who chose Bridge International for his six children, said he appreciated the low fees of around $28 per term, or a third of what he used to pay, and disagreed with the decision.

"The government says that the facilities are not clean but when I visit the school I look at the kitchen and latrines and they are fine," he said.

"Bridge schools are mushrooming and many of the officials in the Ministry own private schools and I think that they are scared that they will lose pupils and their fees."

Bridge International, which claims to have 12,000 students in Uganda, said it would challenge the High Court ruling. "We are extremely disappointed for our pupils and disagree with this ruling," said liaison officer Godwin Matsiko.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson was addressing lawmakers in the capital Bangui a day after Human Rights Watch called on the UN to do more to protect civilians caught up in fighting between armed groups or being targeted by them.

"We have learnt lessons from these dreadful events and will do everything in our power to prevent such atrocities," he said.

On Monday, France withdrew its own military mission which it deployed in CAR in December 2013, leaving the UN's 12,500-strong MINUSCA peacekeeping mission to protect civilians from armed groups.

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said the UN "should urgently deploy more of the mission's forces to the volatile central region, expand their patrols and, consistent with the mission's mandate, use appropriate force to protect civilians under imminent threat".

According to HRW, witnesses to an October 12 attack in the town of Kaga-Bandoro said 200 UN peacekeepers "failed to stop at least 60 (rebel) Seleka forces from crossing a UN-guarded bridge and attacking civilians". Thirty-seven people died.

On Wednesday, Eliasson said the CAR government, the European Union, the UN and the World Bank had drawn up a "national recovery plan" that would be presented to a donors' conference in Brussels on November 17.

Visiting the scene of Sunday's clashes, in a district of the capital called PK5, he told residents, "I have come to hear your grievances so as to present them in Brussels."

One of the world's poorest countries, CAR has scarcely emerged from the chaos of civil war which erupted in 2013 following the overthrow of former president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Muslim rebels from the Seleka coalition.
The judges threw out the appeal lodged by Alain Castany, one of four Frenchmen convicted in the so-called "Air Cocaine" case, ruling his sentence was "logical" and "consistent with the established evidence."

Castany, 70, and his co-accused were arrested at the airport in the resort city of Punta Cana as their small Dassault Falcon 50 jet prepared to take off with what authorities say was a cargo of suitcases stuffed with some 700 kilos (1,500 pounds) of cocaine.

Castany claims he did not know what was in the suitcases.

Sentenced to 20 years each in 2015, Castany, the two pilots and a passenger on the aircraft were released on bail.

The pilots, Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos, managed to flee back to France. But they were re-arrested and are now under investigation by French authorities.
The clearance of the camp in the Stalingrad area of the city, home to up to three thousand migrants, came less than two weeks after the demolition of the notorious "Jungle" camp in northern Calais.

Starting at dawn, police arrived to wake up people sleeping in tents or on mattresses out in the open under an overhead metro line, 15 minutes' walk from the Gare du Nord railway station.

The evacuation started calmly and in orderly fashion, with many migrants confused about where they would be taken on government-chartered buses but there were no signs of resistance or violence.

"Where are they taking people? Somewhere in Paris or outside?" worried Abderrahmane, a 19-year-old from Guinea.

The area around Stalingrad, a gritty multi-ethnic area of the capital, is a magnet for migrants arriving in Paris and has been repeatedly cleared by police, only to spring back into life days later.

But six months before elections, Socialist President Francois Hollande has said he is determined to take refugees off the streets and has said France needs to show them a better welcome.

While activists have welcomed this fresh political will to tackle a long-standing problem, they stress that France has been slow to react to a crisis that has grown in intensity over the last two years.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced the city's first government refugee camp, which will have an initial capacity for 400 men. It is set to open this month in a disused railway yard in the north of the capital.

Cheers for the buses

The arrival of the first bus, before dawn, on Friday was greeted with cheers from a crowd of hundreds of Afghans who had gathered, bags packed, to take it.

"I don't know where we are going," said Khalid, a 28-year-old Afghan. "The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, it's good to leave."

Most of the people in the Stalingrad camp are from war-wracked Afghanistan and Sudan or the repressive African state of Eritrea.

The operation comes after authorities began clearing the "Jungle" camp in Calais on October 24.

The squalid settlement, home to up to 10,000 at its height, had served for years as a jumping-off point for migrants attempting to stow away on trucks and trains bound across the Channel for Britain.

The last shelters and shacks were torn down last week, which coincided with an increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the capital.

French authorities deny any link between the destruction of the "Jungle" and the growth in the Stalingrad camp amid growing anger from nearby residents and Paris mayor Hidalgo.

She complained in a letter to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve of the "dramatic humanitarian and sanitary situation" in the city's northeast.

Also of concern for the government is the need to find enough places in shelters around France for asylum seekers to sleep in.

Plans to disperse the "Jungle" migrants around France in public buildings, many in rural areas, has created unease and resistance from some local mayors.

Many migrants, particularly those bussed to far-flung locations, have simply left and returned to the capital or gone back to the north coast to resume their efforts to slip into Britain, activists say.

Europe has faced its biggest migrant crisis since World War II in the last few years with more than 1.5 million people crossing the Mediterranean since 2014 to escape wars or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

France has welcomed a fraction of the number of asylum seekers who have headed to its neighbour Germany, which registered 890,000 refugees last year.

France had 73,500 new requests in 2015, up 24 percent, according to interior ministry figures.
Cliteur was testifying for the defence as hearings resumed in the case against the far-right politician, accused of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.

Wilders, 53, has dubbed the case a "political trial."

He has been snubbing the hearings, unfolding at a high-security court near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, and contends he had simply been exercising his right to free speech.

The Netherlands holds general elections in March and Wilders's far-right Freedom Party (PVV) is riding high in the polls, a close second to the ruling Liberal VVD party.

Due to run until November 25, the trial focuses on a comment made at a 2014 local election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans" in the country.

When the crowd shouted back "Fewer! Fewer!" a smiling Wilders answered: "We're going to organise that."

"Wilders's viewpoints... are particularly radical in his criticism against Islam," Cliteur told the three-judge bench.

But his remarks at the rally "had nothing to do with racism", Cliteur maintained.

The comments were "rather aimed at halting immigration based on nationality".

"He may just as well have asked 'Do you want fewer Americans or fewer Malaysians', -- the effect is the same."

Wilders's statements were met with outrage, including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints followed.

A verdict is expected on December 9. But the hearing took an unexpected turn Thursday when defence lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops interrupted proceedings, demanding judge Eliane van Rens be replaced.

Earlier in the day, she had asked Cliteur several critical questions about his testimony.

"We've come to the conclusion that the judge has not conducted the questioning in an impartial manner," Knoops said.

A legal body composed by the Dutch highest court, the Hoge Raad, will hear the request for a recusal on Friday.

The court also heard from a lawyer representing four aggrieved groups and eight individuals, demanding compensation from Wilders.

"One man said he became depressed, could not sleep and did not feel a valued member of Dutch society any more," Goran Sluiter told the judges.
The opening of the statue -- backed by the influential Orthodox Church -- comes as the authorities under Putin continue to stoke a wave of nationalism fired up by Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and subsequent standoff with the West.

"Prince Vladimir has gone down forever in history as the unifier and defender of Russian lands, as a visionary politician," Putin told officials as Russia marked its national Unity Day holiday.

"Today our duty is to stand up together against modern challenges and threats by basing ourselves on this spiritual legacy."

The decision to erect the monument just yards from the famed Kremlin walls has sparked an outcry from local conservationists and prompted concerns from UNESCO that it could jeopardise the Kremlin's status as a World Heritage site.

Local authorities only came up with the location after tens of thousands of Muscovites signed a petition against an earlier plan to place the monument on a prominent hill overlooking the city.

The statue was initially intended to be some 24 metres tall and weigh approximately 300 tonnes but it was scaled down after it was shifted to central Moscow.

The figure of Vladimir -- a warlord who killed his brother and, according to legend, had some 800 concubines -- has become increasingly politicised since Moscow seized Crimea from ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine.

Vladimir was christened in the ancient city of Chersonesos on the Crimea peninsula, with Putin using the spiritual ties to the region to strengthen Russia's claim over the area.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday sacked Lieutenant General Johnson Ondieki after the investigation showed that peacekeepers failed to protect civilians during heavy fighting in Juba in July.

"The United Nations acquiesced to undertake the investigation with skewed terms of reference meant to target one individual," said Kamau, who slammed the report as "shameful, unfair and an exercise in scapegoating."

The ambassador did not name the countries involved, but China's peacekeepers in South Sudan were criticized in the report, and Ethiopia, which has troops in the mission, is due to join the council in January.

Ondieki has been replaced as force commander by Major-General Chaoying Yang of China.

After learning that the report would recommend the dismissal of Ondieki, Kenya sought to intervene with Ban to defend the general, who had been in the post for three weeks.

"The secretary-general in his lame-duck season seems to have found the courage that has eluded him throughout his tenure by choosing to ignore Kenya's plea," said Kamau in pointed criticism of the UN chief.

Systemic failure

Kenya responded to the UN decision by announcing that it will pull its 1,050 troops out of South Sudan and dropped plans to contribute soldiers to a planned UN regional force for Juba.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the sacking of the force commander, saying it was based on "leadership command decisions" taken by Ondieki during the fighting in July.

"There was no pre-ordained conclusion to Mister Cammaert's work," he said. Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert led the investigation.

The report found that a lack of leadership in the UN mission culminated in a "chaotic and ineffective response" during heavy fighting in the capital from July 8 to 11.

Peacekeepers abandoned their posts and failed to respond to pleas for help from aid workers under attack in a nearby hotel compound.

The fierce fighting in Juba involved helicopter gunships and tanks pitting President Salva Kiir's government forces against those loyal to ex-rebel chief Riek Machar.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Petr Iliichev criticized the decision to sack Ondieki as "premature" and said it should be reconsidered.

But UN peackeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters after a council meeting that the report's "conclusions were irrefutable" in detailing the force commander's failings.

The Kenyan ambassador insisted there was a "systemic failure" at the United Nations and that responsibility lay also with the department of peacekeeping in New York and the joint command of the UN mission in Juba.

The UN spokesman however said in response that Ban has "full confidence" in Ladsous, of France.
Santos met Northern Irish First Minister Arlene Foster and her deputy Martin McGuinness at the end of a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom, the first by a Colombian president.

Santos won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to implement a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, but voters rejected the hard-fought agreement in a referendum on October 2.

"The peace process (in Northern Ireland) has been an inspiration to us, to me," he said.

"I tell the Colombian people, 'look what happened in Belfast, look how investment is coming in, pouring in, look at the transformation Belfast has been going through -- we can do the same if we are able to reach peace'.

"I have followed the perseverance and the tenacity with which you solved this very long and terrible conflict here in Northern Ireland and it has been truly an example that I've been trying to follow."

Several politicians from Northern Ireland who were involved in negotiating the 1998 Good Friday peace accords that largely ended three decades of inter-community violence have contributed towards initiatives aimed at reaching a settlement in Colombia.

Foster told Santos that it was a "challenging path but one worth travelling".

Santos was briefly caught up in the Northern Irish "Troubles" when, as a young man working in London, he was thrown to the ground by a bomb left in a rubbish bin by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary group.

McGuinness, a former IRA commander, said many people had seen no end to the conflict in Northern Ireland but "political courage" eventually brought about the transformation.

'Talk to your enemies'

Quintin Oliver, a conflict resolution specialist from Stratagem International, said the circumstances in Northern Ireland were very different from those of Colombia, but added there were lessons Santos could learn.

"The main one is inclusivity. You have to talk to your enemies, not only with your friends," Oliver told AFP.

Earlier, Santos said farewell to Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip after staying with them at Buckingham Palace in London.

At a lavish state banquet on Wednesday, the 90-year-old monarch told the president that finding the balance between opposing factions required "patience, resourcefulness and grit".

"The waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all, but also the most rewarding," the sovereign said in her speech.

Santos also held talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May during his visit, which began with a ceremonial welcome and a horse-drawn carriage procession.

Britain is reaching out to emerging markets before its exit from the European Union.
Details of the exchange between Petro Poroshenko and a man thought at the time to be Kyrgyzstan'sAlmazbek Atambayev appeared on the Ukrainian president's official website on Wednesday.

But any mention of the encounter had vanished by Thursday as it became clear that the person to whom Poroshenko spoke was not Atambayev at all.

The Central Asian republic was the first to break the bad news to Kiev.

"It is possible somebody duped the Ukrainian leader," a representative of Atambayev's press service told AFP on Thursday.

Atambayev's office declined to speculate about who might have imitated the president.

But Russian media suggested that the confusion could have been the work of a Moscow prankster named Alexei "Lexus" Stolyarov who has staged similar stunts in the past.

It was unclear who placed the call.

Red-faced Ukraine blamed the confusion on a conspiracy aimed at sinking its efforts to push a measure through the United Nations condemning Russia's 2014 annexation of its Crimea peninsula.

"We are looking into all the details of what happened," Betsa told AFP.

"But it is already clear that these actions were aimed at undermining an initiative being forwarded by Ukraine at the United Nations concerning Crimea."
As part of the investigation against Teodorin Obiang, authorities in the Swiss city have seized 11 cars, said Vincent Derouand, spokesman for prosecutors in Geneva's cantonal government.

Among them were a Porsche 918 Spyder, valued at more than 750,000 euros ($830,000) and a Bugatti Veyron which sells for in excess two million euros, according to the L'Hebdo news site.

Obiang, 47, was in June promoted by his authoritarian father Teodoro Obiang Nguema to be vice president of the oil-rich west African nation.

Obiang was already set to face trial in France next year on corruption and embezzlement charges, although he is not expected to appear in court.

Derouand gave few specifics on the Swiss case.

Obiang's excesses also forced him to forfeit more than $30 million in assets in the United States, where he owned a mansion in Malibu, California.

Washington said Obiang earned a government salary of $100,000 but amassed a fortune of $300 million "through corruption and money laundering".

Among the assets he was forced to give up was a crystal-encrusted glove from Michael Jackson's "Bad" tour, for which he reportedly paid nearly half-a-million dollars.

Obiang's father seized power in Equatorial Guinea in 1979, making him Africa's longest serving ruler, just ahead of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
On November 2, 2016, a major modification to French immigration procedures enters into effect that will change the manner and the way that work authorisation requests are processed.



Under the previous regulations, work authorisation requests for intra-group transfers, European Blue Cards, and service providers, which are the most frequently used categories, were filed with the French labour authorities in the jurisdiction where the French host company is located.



The processing of the work authorisation file were thus done by the local administration, and any issues or clarification required were usually able to be resolved promptly.



Under the new implementing decrees for the law March 7, 2016, intra-group applications and European Blue Card applications are to be filed by the applicant at the French consulate in their home location along with the request for a visa.



This transfer of responsibility and workload from the French labour authorities to the local Consulates may result in delayed file processing as the staff get up to speed on these processes. We understand that consulates have not yet received written instructions on how to deal with these new responsibilities.

For all assignees who will be seconded to France (no French employer), the application file must contain either a certificate of coverage showing that the assignee is exempt from French social security or an affidavit stating that enrolment in French social security has been requested. As process time to obtain a certificate of coverage varies from one case to another, the need to obtain this document in time for the consular filing will require cautious planning.

The new decree does create a work authorisation exemption for short-term (less than 90 days) assignments involving a broad number of types of work, most notably in finance, engineering and high technology.

What this means for you as an employer?

The changes to French immigration law may lead to complications and disruptions in the processing of the intra-group transfer and European Blue Cards work authorisation requests. Therefore, clients should expect delays when submitting their applications. We are closely monitoring the situation and will provide further updates as soon as we learn of them.



Please do not hesitate to reach out to your usual PwC contact for further details.
A Scott County jury deliberated more than three hours Friday before finding Robert E. Carter guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary in the stabbing death of Claude S. Hanson in July 2015.

The 55-year-old Davenport man faces life in prison without parole plus up to 25 years when he is sentenced Dec. 20.

Carter rocked back and forth in his chair but did not show any visible reaction as Judge Mary Howes read the verdict.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Carter sneaked into Hanson's apartment at 3831 Bridge Ave., stabbed him and stole cash out of his wallet when he returned from washing clothes in the apartment complexs laundry room on the night of July 15, 2015.

Carter lived two doors down from Hanson, 62, and his apartment was visible from a window in the laundry room.

Hanson died six days later from complications from a stab wound to the abdomen. He was not able to tell police who attacked him.

Several swabs of blood collected from Hansons apartment were sent to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab for analysis.

On Oct. 9, 2015, police received lab reports that indicated that some blood found at the scene did not belong to Hanson.

The DNA profile developed from the sample was entered into a nationwide law enforcement database. Ten days later, results from the lab revealed that the DNA belonged to Carter.

That same day, he was taken into custody on a bench warrant in another case.

Police obtained a search warrant to take a cheek swab from Carter while he was in jail for further DNA analysis. On Nov. 24, 2015, police received confirmation that the DNA on the swab matched the DNA found in Hansons apartment.

A criminalist with the state crime lab testified this week that Carters DNA was found on Hansons wallet, inside his sweatshirt pocket and on the doorknob on the front door.

He also could not be excluded from a DNA profile found underneath the fingernails on Hansons right hand.

We are really grateful that the jury took the time and rendered a just verdict, especially for Claude and his family, Assistant Scott County Attorney Amy DeVine said.

The case also was tried by Assistant Scott County Attorney Blake Norman.

Defense attorney Mike Adams told jurors in his closing argument Thursday that there were no eyewitnesses who said they saw Carter kill Hanson or video of the attack, nor were his fingerprints found at the scene.

He disputed the DNA evidence and suggested that there may have been cross-contamination and questioned the integrity of the crime scene.

Adams and co-counsel Jill Eimermann declined comment Friday.
Shelley Griffing could not contain herself, jumping up and raising her hand almost as if it was shot out of a cannon, when asked, "Who wants to participate?"

It didn't matter if she was going exchange simulated gunfire with the police or barge into a building to put out a simulated fire with 50 pounds of gear on.

Griffing, a legal assistant by day, was one of the 30 enthusiastic community members participating in the second session of the DavenportU Citizens Academy that is now in the books.

The citizens academy is a nine-week course offered by the city of Davenport that teaches residents about the inner workings of municipal government.

From participating in simulated snow events, putting out fake fires, simulating use-of-force situations with police and even learning where the money goes, everyone involved gained a new perspective and appreciation for local government.

While the cohort brought together members of the community from all different backgrounds, including the media and elected officials such as Alderman Kyle Gripp, at large, most desired a greater knowledge of how the city they live in works.

"I just wanted to learn new things about the city I was born in," Griffing said. "There's just so much about the city we didn't know."

Griffing's favorite parts of the academy were put on by the fire department, where her father worked from 1943-67.

During the fire department's session, they allowed the group to get into fire gear and drag a hose into a building to fight a simulated fire as well as learn about the other duties, such as education and emergency services.

"Another interesting fact that I didnt know that we were the only city in the U.S. that is accredited with the police, fire, public works, library and park and rec," Griffing said. "That is an amazing accomplishment. We should all be very proud of our city."

Coincidentally, the group learned about the coordination of emergency services the night the EF-1 tornado swept through Davenport.

Even though he's an elected member of the city government, Gripp shared in the learning experience.

"It was a great learning experience, and there were some nights that they really changed your perception on how the city operates," he said.

Besides participants coming away with more perspective of how the city operates, Gripp also praised the city staff for its competence, training and customer focus.

"Every week, they showed up and gave great presentations," Gripp said. "They really represented the city well, and many times during the course of the night, I heard people say, 'We want to do what's right for the people of Davenport.' That needs to be the core of civil service."

Members of the first group volunteered during the fall session, and based on what she learned, Griffing wants to be involved moving forward.

Following the academy's graduation, participant Susan Lammers offered thanks to the city and staff who made the sessions possible.

"I know it took a lot of people's time and energy, but they made it like it wasn't a burden," Lammers said. "They made it joyful, and it really meant a lot to us that they took time from each department, city staff and everybody that was involved with this."

Drawing from her experience, Lammers encouraged the city to continue with the program and for residents to participate.

"I learned a lot about the city that I didn't know," Lammers said. "But greater yet was I got to meet a lot of wonderful people that genuinely are trying to do their best every single day and doing the right things for the citizens of Davenport."
CEDAR RAPIDS  In making their closing arguments, both major party candidates for an Iowa U.S. Senate seat talk about change.

In a folksy television commercial that includes footage of the farmer-senator cutting the grass on his rural New Hartford lawn with a mower of his own design, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley talks about positive change in Iowa.

In her closing argument, Democratic challenger Patty Judge says that after six terms of Iowans being represented by Grassley in the Senate, its time for a change.

The outcome of the race will be determined by the election on Tuesday.

Iowa is changing, Grassley says in his ad, Next, which presents an optimistic message of an increasingly prosperous Iowa. He cites Iowas growth in energy production, attracting high-tech jobs and population growth.

The ad includes images of Grassley that campaign manager Robert Haus said represent the senators work ethic, his annual visits to all 99 counties and his daily three-mile runs. It also shows Grassley sitting atop the tallest wind turbine in North America at an Iowa wind farm.

Rather than claim credit, Grassley says the change has been collaborative.

We've done it together, but we're not done yet, Grassley concludes.

Judge also talks about change  change in Grassley over his 36 years in the U.S. Senate.

Over the past 42 years, rather than Chuck Grassley changing Washington, Washington has changed Chuck Grassley, Judge spokesman Sam Roecker said. Grassley has served 36 years in the Senate following six years in the U.S. House.

Over the past weeks and months, we have continued to make the case that Chuck Grassley has turned his back on Iowa, Roecker said. Hes no longer an independent voice for Iowa families, hes more concerned with political games and partisanship than doing his job.

In particular, Judge has hammered Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for his refusal to have hearings on President Barack Obamas nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.

In her ad, Changed, Iowans tell a cardboard cutout of Grassley that they have voted for him in the past, but your obstruction is responsible for the least effective Senate ever.

The voters in the ad say privatizing Social Security threatens Iowans retirement and defunding Planned Parenthood risks womens health.

Judge concludes the ad with the usual political advertising disclaimer that she approves the message because Chuck Grassley has changed and we can change our senator.
Nine months after nearly upending Hillary Clinton's campaign in Iowa's presidential caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders was back in the state Friday. But this time, his visit was a last-ditch pitch in the closing days of the general election campaign to help his one-time rival wrest the state and its six electoral votes from GOP rival Donald Trump.

Sanders kicked off a two-day swing through Iowa with a sunny midday rally at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, telling about 300 people that he and Clinton are on the same page on a range of issues, including climate change, the economy and college costs. And he spared no criticism of Trump, particularly on the issue of trade, which was important to Sanders' followers. Trump has tried to use trade to lure those same people to his column.

In particular, Sanders pointed to Trump's business interests in Bangledesh, China and Mexico and said he needed to prove himself on trade rather than just campaign on it.

"I say to Mr. Trump, 'Stop talking about trade. Do something. Walk the walk. Bring those jobs back to America,'" Sanders said.

Polls say that Iowa is closely contested. A Quinnipiac University survey last week had Clinton and Trump tied, but a Simpson College/RABA Resarch poll this week said Trump is leading by three points.

Sanders visit to Iowa, which will take in four cities over two days, could help Clinton with younger people and more progressive voters who provided a base of support for Sanders in the state. Three of those stops are in the college towns of Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls, where a bevy of young Sanders supporters live.

In Davenport, there was a mix of older and younger people in the audience, some of whom were still wearing their Feel the Bern garb. But, unlike at the Democratic National Convention this summer, there was no real outward sign of discord on Friday. One man was wearing a T-shirt that urged a Sanders write-in vote, but others wore their Sanders shirts while holding "Stronger Together" Clinton campaign signs.

Dick Vallandingham of LeClaire was a Sanders supporter in the caucuses, but he said he had already cast his vote for Clinton. He said issues important to him are education and how people with disabilities are treated. And asked whether his vote for Clinton was enthusiastic, he responded it was enthusiastically desperate. He said he was worried about Trump winning next Tuesday.

Sanders, who had planned on being in Davenport for Clinton last month before the event was canceled, was making his first trip back to the Quad-Cities since before the Feb. 1 caucuses. He praised the state for fueling his movement and said he and Clinton split the vote in the state. (Clinton won Iowa by the narrowest margin in caucus history.)

Sanders was introduced Friday by former Iowa U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who has been campaigning in the state for Clinton. Harkin told the crowd that while he was disappointed at the 2014 loss of the Senate seat he once held, the state could rectify the situation by voting for Clinton on Tuesday. He, too, had harsh words for Trump, saying, you cant make America great by demeaning its citizens.

The Trump campaign responded to Sanders' visit by issuing a statement from Gov. Terry Branstad.

"Bernie Sanders has spent the day traveling across Iowa in support of Hillary Clintons campaign that is faltering every day," Branstad said. "It is clear that Mr. Trump has the momentum and Iowa is ready to make America great again."
Iowa may have some of the most restrictive rules in the nation when it comes to the rights of felons to vote, but the state doesn't bar everybody who has had a felony record from voting.

In fact, advocates for new legislation or a constitutional amendment to expand the rights of felons to vote in the state say there is a lot of uncertainty over what the rules actually are.

"We see a lot of confusion on a lot of different fronts," said Rita Bettis, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa.

In fact, felons who completed their sentences, including probation, parole or supervised release before July 4, 2005, can cast a ballot, according to the Iowa Secretary of State's office, unless they have been convicted of another felony offense and the sentence wasn't discharged prior to Jan. 14, 2011.

That was the day that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad rescinded a 2005 executive order by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack that ended the state's requirement that felons apply for restoration of their voting rights.

For people who had their voting rights restored by Vilsack's 2005 order, they weren't taken away by Branstad's action. However, many people aren't aware of that, according to ACLU officials.

Estimates of the number of people who lost voting rights under Branstad's order vary slightly, but it exceeds 50,000. At the time of the Vilsack order, news reports said an estimated 80,000 people would have their voting rights restored.

Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz also says there's widespread confusion about the matter.

"I think people think that they just cant vote," she said.

The controversy over voting rights was heightened this year with a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of the state to prohibit a felon from voting unless they have had their rights restored.

In addition, Branstad has been criticized for being too too stingy in restoring rights. The governor's office has defended itself, saying he's streamlined the process.

While people with felony records who have discharged their obligations before Vilsack's 2005 order can vote, the rules are less clear for those who have done so after that date  but before Branstad's 2011 action.

The ACLU has published a guide that seeks to explain the rules and the process. It advises people who fall between those two dates check with the governor's office if they did not receive notice in the mail after their sentence was completed. The governor's office, the ACLU said, keeps a list of people whose right to vote was restored.
Flags over state government buildings will fly at half-staff Monday and Tuesday to honor two Des Moines-area police officers who were slain in the line of duty this week.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Tony Beminio and Urbandale Police Officer Justin Martin were shot to death in their squad cars in ambush-style attacks early Wednesday. Funeral services for Beminio will be on Monday and for Martin on Tuesday.

Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday ordered flags under state control to be flown at half-staff from sunrise Monday to sunset Tuesday. Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions also are encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff for the same length of time.

The governor's office also said Iowans wishing to make memorial donations for the officers can go through the Des Moines Police Officers Credit Union at squareup.com/store/des-moines-police-officers-credit-union.
DAVENPORT  Melverdia Ewing, 67, of Davenport, died Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, at home. Services in celebration of her life will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7, at Weerts Funeral Home, Kimberly at Jersey Ridge Road, Davenport, where her family will greet friends from 12:30 p.m. until time of service. Burial will be in Davenport Memorial Park. Memorials may be made to the American Diabetes Association.

Melverdia Phillips Ewing was born May 26, 1949, the eighth child of Roy and Alice Philips. Melverdia grew up on a farm in Widener, Arkansas, and at times, performed the duty as water boy to refresh those who worked in the fields picking cotton.

In school, Melverdia thrived scholastically maintaining As in all subject areas through high school graduation.

After leaving Arkansas at the age of 18 to move to Iowa where some of her other siblings had settled, Melverdia attended Palmer Junior College, earning an associates degree in general studies.

Melverdia worked in a retail grocery store to continue to save money for her continuing college education. She met a young man and after about a year-long courtship, became Mrs. Melverdia Ewing on Sept. 25, 1971. Four years later, they welcomed into the world their first child, Terra Evalin Ewing, who would be followed eight years later by a son, Julian Jamal (deceased) and two additional years later, a son, Walter Elliot.

Though Melverdia did not become a math teacher, she did become the only African American deli manager in the Quad-Cities and surrounding areas for Jewel Osco, where she worked for more than 30 years before retiring at the age of 55. As a deli manager, Melverdia took pride in her position and extended that passion by becoming a caterer.

Melverdia was a devout member of Progressive Baptist Church, where she served as an usher and usher board president, a Sunday school teacher, one-time superintendent and Christian education director, and also served as a member of the Media ministry. In addition to being an active member of the church, she studied her Bible and took classes over a three-year span to earn a certificate of theology, and shared her lessons learned with her daughter and others interested in learning more about the subject.

After retirement, Melverdia enjoyed her continuing service to the church, working part-time for a local company creating webpages, and, of course, she loved her social media and her games on the computer.

Melverdia will always be remembered to her family and friends for the kind actions she showed to anyone familiar or unfamiliar. Also, not concerned with someones label, she always kept it real and expressed how she felt if she felt a situation was not handled correctly.

Though officially her title may not have been teacher, because of who she was and what she did, many learned from her undeveloped teachings on God, love, forgiveness, steadfastness, and integrity.

Preceding her in death were her son, Julian; her parents; three brothers; and four sisters.

Left to continue are her husband, Walter H. Ewing; her daughter, Terra Ewing; son, Walter Elliot Ewing; granddaughters, Monisa Ruiz and Meliana Cassarino; four brothers; three sisters; a host of nieces and nephews; great-nieces and nephews; and great-greats along with cousins and friends and family from the Johnson, McDowell and Brown families.

Online condolences may be expressed to Melverdias family by visiting this obituary at www.weertsfh.com.
The Scott County Board of Supervisors will be considering over the next several weeks the rezoning of 350 acres of agricultural land in Princeton Township.

The five-member board of supervisors heard from the public Thursday regarding the request by Paul and Marijo Anderson to rezone 350 acres of inferior farmland from agricultural-preservation to agricultural-general.

Speaking to the board of supervisors, Marijo Anderson said that she and her husband have owned the property for 30 years and that the front 50 acres already are zoned agricultural-general.

It has a CSR (corn suitability rating) of 54, so its not good ground for growing corn or other crops, but it is beautiful, Anderson said.

The front portion of the property has the highest elevation between Dubuque and Keokuk and overlooks the Mississippi River, which provides stunning scenery, she said.

Speaking to the board, Anderson said there are no plans for the property now, but we are requesting the zoning change to prepare for the future.

It wasnt a good location for residential development because of the location of the nuclear plant, Anderson said, referring to Exelon's Quad-Cities Generating Station across the river in Cordova. But that has changed, she said referring to the possible closing of the plant in 2018. Exelon has given notice of the closing, pending action by the Illinois General Assembly.

County Board chair Jim Hancock asked if Princeton had shown interest in annexing the property. Anderson said she and her husband would be willing to discuss that with Princeton leaders.

Scott County Planning and Development director Tim Huey said plans for development of the property must be submitted for Planning Commission recommendation and Board of Supervisors approval.

Huey added that among the propertys drawbacks for development is that it has only a private entrance to the land off of Great River Road/U.S. 67.

-- Thomas Geyer
At a time when partisanship seems to be at its worst, there are few voices in Congress who harken back to the days when members worked across the partisan divide to accomplish progress for the American people. Among those voices is U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa.

During his 10 years in Congress, Loebsack has made working across the aisle a hallmark of his approach to his job. Rather than accentuating differences and getting nothing done, Loebsack continues to seek to find areas of agreement.

Others in Iowa's congressional delegation get many more headlines than Loebsack does. While others obstruct Congress or launch crazy conspiracy theories, Dave Loebsack works daily to solve problems, such as flood mitigation and economic development in Iowa.

At present, Loebsack is working hard on bringing high-speed internet access to rural Iowa. This in many ways could be compared to rural electrification of the 1930s. Access to high-speed internet is crucial in today's global economy. Once more, Congressman Loebsack is working to make it happen by working with like-minded members of Congress of all stripes.

Loebsack is not flashy. He simply works for Iowans day in, and day out. He is a person who seeks out comments, positive or negative, from his constituents constantly. In short, Loebsack is what most folks want in a representative.

Returning Loebsack to Congress would give Iowa's 2nd Congressional District one of the hardest working and most stable voices in Congress.

Carol Bradley

West Liberty, Iowa
A Rapid City man who was arrested in this years Sturgis motorcycle rally sex sting is facing one less criminal offense. Federal prosecutors dropped a transfer of obscene material to a minor charge against Duane Hosek, 61, because of insufficient evidence.

Hosek was among the nine men arrested in an undercover operation that targeted alleged child-sex predators. All the suspects were charged with attempted enticement of a minor using the internet, which carries a mandatory prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life.

Hosek and two other men were also charged with attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. The offense is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

In September, the federal court dismissed Hoseks second charge following a request from the US Attorneys Office.

There was insufficient evidence that he was aware of the age of the minor when he sent the nude images, said the offices public information officer Aileen Crawford.

During the undercover operation, authorities said Hosek used a mobile application and text messaging to arrange a meeting with a law enforcement agent who was posing as a 15-year-old boy. Before their meeting, Hosek allegedly sent the agents phone nude images of himself, according to the complaint filed in court.

Hosek was arrested on Aug. 9 near Stevens High School, where he allegedly agreed to meet for sexual activity with what he thought was a teenage boy, the document states.

The Sturgis motorcycle rally sex stings from 2013 to last year nabbed a total of 18 men, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Fifteen of the defendants have either pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial, and another has died.
The South Dakota Department of Corrections has received a $1.75 million federal grant for a program that will offer female offenders from Pennington County an alternative to prison.

Administered over three years by the Department of Justice, the grant is expected to benefit as many as 144 women. The state Department of Corrections made the announcement in a news release Thursday afternoon.

The preference is for those admitted to the program to be probationers or probation violators needing an intensive intervention as an alternative to prison, Corrections Secretary Denny Kaemingk said in a written statement. If space allows, parole violators could also be placed in the program.

The program is targeting Pennington Countys female offenders, since they make up a quarter of the states female prison population. This figure is the most from any county in South Dakota, the corrections department said.

According to the release, the grant will provide funding for expenses such as housing assistance, case management and alcohol monitoring.

The program specifics, including its content and eligibility criteria, will be determined in the next six months, said department spokesperson Michael Winder.

South Dakota formally received the grant Oct. 1, and the programs first planning meeting was held last week, Winder said.

The state court welcomed news of the grant.

Having available to us in the court system the additional program options to be funded through this grant will increase public safety, reduce the prison population, particularly those who struggle with substance abuse, Presiding Judge Craig Pfeifle, of the Seventh Circuit Court, said in a written statement.

The Seventh Circuit Court encompasses Pennington County. South Dakota is one of four states to be awarded the grant, the Department of Corrections said.
Local authorities apprehended a wanted felon from Kansas on Friday.

Perry Allen Peterson, 42, was apprehended by the Black Hills Fugitive Task Force on Friday afternoon in Box Elder, according to a news release from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.

According to the release, Peterson had active warrants from Topeka/Shawnee County, Kansas, for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property.

Peterson had ties to the Rapid City area, according to the sheriff's office. The U.S. Marshal Service and the Pennington County Sheriffs Office were involved in the arrest.
With potential charges of fraud and vote rigging looming over the outcome of the upcoming 2016 presidential election, I thought it would be interesting to go back to another election that would turn out to be the most hotly contested and disputed presidential election in our nations history.

A little more than a decade after the end of the Civil War, the nation was once again plunged into a crisis. In 1876, Democrat Samuel Tilden was running against Republican Rutherford Hayes. One of the campaign promises that Hayes made was that he would withdraw federal support for Republican regimes in Louisiana and South Carolina if he became president.

Problems began soon after the results of the election became known. While Tilden had out-polled Hayes in both the popular and electoral votes (he had 184 electoral votes to Hayes 165), suspicion soon arose among Republicans owing to the fact that Tilden had overwhelmingly carried South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida.

Republicans were well aware of the tactics  including violence and fraud - used by Southern Democrats to keep blacks and Republicans away from the polls. So Republicans, being in the majority in Congress, created so-called returning boards to make sure that all votes had been counted accurately. From the states in dispute, Republican Hayes needed all 19 of the available electoral votes to win the presidency; Democrat Tilden needed but one. That would give him 185 electoral votes, one more than necessary to become President. Miraculously, the returning boards recounts reversed all Democratic victories in the three states, and awarded these states to Hayes. Democrats, crying foul and rigged refused to accept these results. There was even talk of a new civil war, so much so, that President Grant quietly increased the number of troops protecting Washington D. C. In the ensuing electoral fog, both Democrats and Republicans in South Carolina and Louisiana inaugurated their own governors and legislatures.

A situation like this could not be permitted to exist; something had to be done. With the electoral controversy still going on for weeks after the election, and with little guidance from the Constitution, Congress decided to create a so-called bi-partisan electoral commission. The newly formed commission was made up of 15 members with five coming from each party in Congress and five from the Supreme Court, who were naturally expected to act in an impartial manner. After much deliberation and discussion, the committee was ready to vote. The initial vote was a seven to seven tie, which was subsequently broken when Justice Joseph Bradley voted in favor the returning boards initial decision, thereby handing the election to Hayes.

However, behind the scenes, Republicans had secretly been in negotiations with Southern Democrats. The Republicans promised to end harsh Reconstruction policies and provide for increased funding for internal improvements in the South if the Democrats would support the decision of the electoral commission. With Democrats agreeing, Rutherford B. Hayes would go on to be inaugurated on March 3, 1877 as Americas 19th president.

While losing the presidency was a blow, in the end the Southern Democrats came out better in their viewpoint because the bargain with the Republicans allowed them to easily reverse the gains that blacks had made during Reconstruction. Segregation and racial discrimination would remain in effect for nearly the next hundred years.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife is proposing a dramatic reorganization of its National Wildlife Refuge system in Montana and seven other states in its mountain prairie region that would result in significant staff and program cuts.

In the reorganized Western Montana complex, for example, the number of employees at the Benton Lake, Swan River, Lost Trail, Nine-Pipe, Lee Metcalf and National Bison Range refuges would drop from 26 to 14.

This is our new reality, said a report released internally Thursday.

In some areas, reductions in staffing will lead to a shrinking commitment to active management on refuge lands, even while the land base grows, said the report.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said the Realignment Strategy Staffing Framework was a draft document that had been in the works for three years.

Status quo is not an option, said the report. We cannot operate with high numbers of vacant positions on organizational charts while we try to continue to do the work of those vacant positions  it is simply not sustainable.

Like other federal land management agencies, the national refuge system has been met with budgetary reductions that have required reductions in staffing, said Will Meeks, assistant regional director for the Mountain Prairie region.

And so it comes down to priorities, Meeks said. Were looking at larger landscapes; the Crown of the Continent and Blackfoot Valley. Engaged private landowners are now a key component of our conservation mission.

A 2011 planning document called Conserving the Future set the agencys vision for the future, which included developing new partnerships and constituencies to remain viable.

With our growing workloads and budget realities, we will have to look for creative solutions and an increased reliance on volunteers, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Public Affairs specialist Ryan Moehring.

In the eight mountain prairie states that means taking a more regional approach.

The proposal calls for Montana, for example, to be carved into three large wetland management districts where staff could be shared between refuges.

Instead of assigning staff members to specific refuges, the positions are wrapped together in the newly created districts, without an indication on where they will be headquartered.

Meeks said those decisions await feedback from people in the field. But the report noted that some refuges today have no staff members assigned to them.

Relying more heavily on volunteers may work on paper, but may not work on the ground.

Volunteers need someone to lead them. And at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge north of Stevensville, that person is getting ready to retire.

Bob Danley has been the longtime outdoor recreation planner at the refuge.

The proposed new list of positions doesnt include an outdoor recreation planner.

Without that position, Lee Metcalf Refuge Manager Tom Reed said the refuges environmental education programs will be eliminated. Last year, Danley worked with 800 students and a volunteer that he mentors served another 1,200 in nearby schools.

That doesnt count the hundreds of bird watchers who count on him throughout the year.

Danley also directly works with volunteers at the refuge. Without someone in that position, Reed said there wouldnt be anyone left to manage those people.

That takes an enormous amount of time, Reed said. Every volunteer is different. They all come with different expectations. They want to be productive and be fulfilling a role.

Staff numbers have been declining at the Lee Metcalf Refuge for years. When Reed first came on board in 2010, there were nine permanent positions and four seasonals.

Today there are three permanent positions and one seasonal.

Were going into our third year with no maintenance help, Reed said. I wear a lot of hats and dont wear them all very well.

Under the current staff structure, there are five maintenance workers at four different refuges. The future staffing proposal calls for one maintenance worker for the entire complex.

State Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevens-ville, worries about the future of what he calls the valleys crown jewel.

The refuge is a key local place for wildlife and people, Thomas said. It helps make the Bitterroot Valley the fantastic place that it is.

Thomas is a member of a friends group to the refuge. He said theres been talk that significant adjustments to management of Lee Metcalf were coming soon.

Weve been waiting to see what was going to happen next, Thomas said. Even though, its a relatively small refuge, its still a large tract of land that needs to be taken care of for both the wildlife and the community.

Theres a lot of work that needs to be done out there on a continual basis, he said. The Friends group will keep a close eye on this and will work with the refuge management to come out of this as good as we can.

Meeks doesnt expect the changes will happen this year.

Were operating on a five year timeframe, he said. This is the first phase of implementation for meeting the needs of future.
STEVENSVILLE - Willard J. Anderson, 89, passed away at his home Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016. Our family and the world has lost a great man. Willard was born April 5, 1927 in Ogden, Utah to John Earl and Leona K. Anderson. He was raised in Bothwell Utah surrounded by family and friends, and neighbors who were influential in molding him into the man he became.

In his early years he developed a natural love for the out of doors, spending the summers working along side his father trapping for the U.S. Government in the mountains of northern Utah and southern Idaho.

After graduating from high school Willard joined the Navy to do his part in the final year of World War ll serving on the USS Kearsage as part of the Pacific Campaign.

After returning home from the war he met his sisters best friend, Virginia Louise Shuman, who immediately stole his heart forever. Two years later they were married in the Logan LDS Temple on September 22, 1948 for time and all eternity.

In the next few years Willard and his father acquired farm land where they grew sugar beets and grain and raised turkeys and sheep. During this time Willard and Virginia were blessed with five beautiful children.

After the death of his father and with an unquenchable desire to work for himself Willard and Virginia moved their young family to the Bitterroot Valley and purchased the farm that they were to raise their family.

Throughout those early years the family raised sheep and cattle and operated a dairy farm. As with so many other small farmers and ranchers needing to make ends meet Willard worked off the farm as a member of the building and grounds maintenance crew for the University of Montana. There he developed lifelong friends with those he car pooled with for many years, as well as a deep bond with close farming neighbors who became family to him.

After selling the dairy Willard moved his road grader to Alaska and he and Virginia spent time working for the BLM and also spending time working at Prudhoe Bay.

After returning from Alaska his love for farming found him working side by side with his two sons in Hardin, Montana for a time. As fate would have it Willard continued working with family in a different business as an over the road driver in his son-in-laws gas and oil business, and for 21 years delivered fuel and oil all over Western Montana until he retired at age 81.

Willard kept his hand in raising a small herd of cows, producing hay for them, and hosting many great grandchildren taking them on enjoyable tractor rides.

He had many church callings as a life long member of the LDS Church. Some of those callings were serving in the Bishopric, Ward missionary, Temple Ordinance Worker, High Priest Group Leader, Home Teacher, and he especially enjoyed teaching young Boy Scouts how to hike and fish.

Throughout his life he loved camping, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, playing Wii, and pool. Of all these enjoyable activities however, Willard loved spending time with friends and family. That was where his greatest joy was found.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years Virginia S. Anderson of Stevensville, sister Kathryn Lind of Florence, sons John Anderson and wife Coral of Gainesville, Florida, Kim Anderson and wife Judith of Sheridan Wyoming, daughters Jacque Lybbert and husband Bruce of Bountiful, Utah, and Jennifer Louquet and husband Dan Cahalan of Missoula; 18 grandchildren, 34 great grand children as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, son Kelly Joe Anderson, grandson Eric Larson, son in law Robert H. Larson (Jacque) and J. Gary Louquet (Jennifer), brother in law Oscar Lind.

Services will be held Saturday November 5, 2016 at 10:00 AM at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Stevensville, Montana located on North Burnt Fork Road. There will be a viewing beginning at 9:00 AM.

Interment will be at the Missoula City Cemetery Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 at 10 a.m.

Will, you are the love of my life. I will love you Eternally! Ginger. Condolences and memories may be shared with the family at www.whitesittfuneralhome.com.
BUTTE - After four years of operation, members of Butte Community Celebrations  who put on the St. Patrick's Day and Fourth of July parades each year in Butte, among several other annual events -- have decided to dissolve the organization.

At this point, that means the end to these longtime events in Butte.

The axe came down Wednesday afternoon when members voted to dissolve the all-volunteer, nonprofit in a 6-2 vote, said Linda Redfern, who heads the organization. The group, which Redfern said is solvent, operates totally on donations.

Redfern said three members were absent during the Wednesday meeting.

Redfern cited the main reason for dissolving is a lack of volunteers and members in recent years.

In addition to putting on the St. Pat's and July 4 parades, the group spearheads the Veterans Day Picnic and Charlie Judd Memorial Halloween Party. The organization was also a co-sponsor for the annual Duggan Dolan/Pat Kearney Blarney Stone Fun Run held around St. Patrick's Day.

Redfern said the organization advertised in multiple media outlets for new volunteers and members to help put on the annual events, but received little response.

In the end, she said, the work involved became too much for some members of the 11-person organization.

Its a ton of work, Redfern said in reference to the St. Patricks Day Parade.

In past years, Redfern said, Buttes 15-90 Search and Rescue team helped marshal both parades, but officials recently told Butte Community Celebrations they will no longer serve that function and will instead focus on their traditional search-and-rescue duties.

It was a big blow, said Redfern, but noted that the pull out wasnt the deciding factor in the decision to dissolve.

Redfern described Butte Community Celebrations as a great organization with dedicated people.

She said what shell miss most is taking part in events that have been mainstays in Butte for decades.

I think we brought a lot of joy and happiness to the people of Butte, said Redfern.

Redfern said she wasnt sure what well happen next with the organization and that any effort to revive it depends on the community.
America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance!
Kathmandu, Nepal: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal held a meeting with the main opposition leader and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli on Friday.

Prime Minister Dahal, who is also the chairman of the CPN Maoist Centre, met Oli to hold discussion on contemporary political issues particularly on the issue of constitution amendment.

During the meeting Prime Minister Dahal underlined the need of constitution amendment to make grounds for the local body elections.

The CPN UML, particularly the chairman Oli had been remaining rigid not to amend the constitution.

According to a source Prime Minister Dahal had proposed for the unity among the major political parties to implement the constitution by taking into confidence to the disgruntle force.
KATHMANDU, Nov 4: The Government of Japan has agreed to provide Rs 24.5 million to Nepal as grant assistance for the implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction Strengthening Project in Chitwan.

The assistance will be spent in the control of possible water-induced disasters at Madi and Lothar VDCs in the district.

Japan's Ambassador to Nepal Masashi Ogawa and Shapla Neer - Citizens' Committee for Overseas in Japan country director Toyaki Komatsu signed on an agreement to this end amidst a program at the Embassy of Japan here today.

The Shapla Neer Citizens' Committee and the Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), Chitwan are working hand in hand in the disaster-risk reduction strengthening efforts at local level. RSS
When Roridgo Duterte, the impish and combustible president of the Philippines, paid a state visit to China last month the press contextualized the trip as part of his jarring U-turn away from the U.S. alliance and toward Chinas lucrative embrace. That narrative, and Dutertes apparent determination to restructure the regional order, have received no shortage of coverage and analysis in The Diplomatand beyond.

This article is more concerned with the $15 billion in development projects and $9 billion in credit lines Duterte inked in Beijing. Specifically, the involvement of three subsidiaries of the China Communication Construction Co. (CCCC) in list of projects and investments: China Harbor Engineering Corporation (CHEC), China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), and CCCC Dredging. They include:

A $780 million Davao Coastline and Port Development Project (CHEC)

A $328 million Cebu International and Bulk Terminal Project (CCCC Dredging)

A $148 million Manila Harbor Center Reclamation Project (CHEC)

A bus rapid transit system for the Philippines NAIA airport (CRBC)

A Manila-Clark Railway line connecting Clark and Subic, two former U.S. military bases (CHEC)

A transportation and infrastructure project at another former U.S. base at Sangley Point (CHEC)

The most lucrative project envisions the reclamation of over 200 hectares of land off the coast of Davao, where Duterte served as the longtime mayor before assuming the presidency, and the creation of four artificial islands. Those islands would house a new port, government buildings, housing, and commercial property. The Cebu Terminal project, meanwhile, would involve the reclamation and development of about 85 hectares of land, atop which a 1,200-meter berthing facility would be constructed.

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Theres an inescapable irony in the notion of CCCC Dredging and CHEC engaging in Filipino port and land reclamation projects. After all, a subsidiary of CCCC Dredging, Tianjin Dredging, has been involved in Chinas controversial land reclamation and artificial island-building in the South China Sea. Those islands, built atop rocks and underwater shoals claimed by the Philippines (and in one case within the Philippines exclusive economic zone), prompted Manila to initiate its case against Beijing in 2013, which saw an international tribunal rule overwhelmingly in the Philippines favor this July.

Dig a little deeper, however, and the irony grows thicker still. I was aware CCCC, a massive Chinese infrastructure conglomerate with over 100,000 employees and 34 subsidiaries, was tied to public scandals and shadowy investments across the globe. Formal accusations of bribery and corruption against CCCC and its subsidiaries have been registered in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Uganda, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

What I didnt know was CCCC, the product of a 2005 merger between CHEC and CRBC, had been debarred by the World Bank and sanctioned from participating in any projects funded by the institution. Neither, apparently, did the president and CEO of the Philippines Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), who admitted he was unaware the Chinese firms were blacklisted by the Bank and thanked the Philippines Inquirer for its diligent work in publicizing the matter.

He insisted no contracts had been signed yet  only memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for feasibility studies  but argued the Chinese firms were not automatically disqualified since the project is not a [World Bank] project and they are conducting feasibility studies at their own expense.

Thats true, but heres the kicker: the corruption scandal which got CCCC debarred by the World Bank originated in the Philippines. In 2002, before the CCCC merger, CRBC bid for the first phase in a large, World Bank-funded project to improve Filipino roads and infrastructure. The project was terminated four years later due to conflicts with the World Bank.

In January 2009, a World Bank investigation assessed that CRBC was involved in a collusive scheme designed to establish bid prices at artificial non-competitive levels and to deprive the borrowers of the benefits of free and open competition. It was described at the time as one of the Banks most important and far-reaching cases.

In July 2011, the World Bank clarified that successor organizations would be subject to the same sanctions applied to the original firm. That is, parent-company CCCC is also ineligible to engage in any road and bridge projects financed by the World Bank Group  at least until the sanction expires on January 12, 2017.

As noted, none of the deals in question are World Bank-funded projects so theres no smoking gun to be found. There are, however, additional questions about the timing and sequence of events. The Davao coastline project, for example, received final approval from Mayor Duterte just one week before he assumed office as president on June 30. Within three weeks, representatives from CCCC were in the Philippines developing a letter of intent for the land reclamation project. Within three months CHEC had signed an MoU.

Thats a sufficiently condensed timeframe to raise questions about what collusion or side agreements may have been reached or promised outside the public light, and when. But they are questions beyond my remit and concern.

Id argue the storys significance lies not in the abundant irony or the spotlight on corruption. Large Asian infrastructure projects are magnets for this pernicious but all-too-common chicanery, and Chinese firms are hardly the sole culprits.

The more consequential questions relate to the evident but opaque connections between Chinas colossal state-owned enterprises, their subsidiaries, and Chinese grand strategy, embodied in part by Xi Jinpings signature One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative.

Capitals across the world have, with growing frequency, begun rejecting Chinese investment proposals on national security grounds. Thats partly because there are far more Chinese firms conducting business abroad. In just the past decade Chinese outbound FDI surged from roughly $20 billion in 2006 to an expected $170 billion in 2016. This year, for the first time ever, China surpassed the United States in outbound mergers and acquisitions.

However, its also because theres mounting evidence these shadowy links exist; that fears of a Chinese debt trap and of hidden strategic ambitions behind ostensibly economic projects are a legitimate and present danger.

For evidence, look no further than Sri Lanka. It offers perhaps the most striking case study; one that will be covered in a companion article to follow and one the Filipino government may well want to review.
The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians announced Monday that the tribes 1,390-acre property known as Camp 4 has been placed into federal trus
Bang! Bangbang! Bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang!

Cue building falling down.

Smash window.

Bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang!

There you go, that's a summary of the brand new trailer for Ringo Lam's upcoming Daniel Wu starring action thriller Sky On Fire in which there apprently weren't enough things up high to burn and so they decided to shoot a lot of shit instead.

Lam's 'On Fire' movies are classics of Hong Kong cinema and hugely influential around the world and while Lam, like may old guard directors, seems to be struggling a bit with how to best employ modern technology and techniques his signature style is still on full display here. Check it out below.
Mirai botnet was used to power a massive DDoS attack against Liberia causing the Internet outage in the entire country with financially devastating results.

Mirai is the malware that a few weeks ago caused a massive Internet outage in the US. Mirai was first spotted this summer by the security expert MalwareMustDie, now media reported the use of the dreaded botnet against Liberia. with financially devastating results.

The financial repercussions of the massive DDoS attack on the country are devastating.

The massive DDoS attacks began a few days ago impacting some Liberian internet providers as explained the security researcher Kevin Beaumont.

Beaumont credited the Mirai botnet for the attacks that hit the African country, he called this botnet #14 Shadows Kill, based on the message they sent.

Botnet #14  DNS flood for 1 seconds

[Targets]

kevin.lies.in.fear (8.8.8.8/32)  Mirai Attacks (@MiraiAttacks) 2 novembre 2016

Over the past week weve seen continued short duration attacks on infrastructure in the nation of Liberia. Liberia has one internet cable, installed in 2011, which provides a single point of failure for internet access. From monitoring we can see websites hosted in country going offline during the attacks  additionally, a source in country at a Telco has confirmed to a journalist they are seeing intermittent internet connectivity, at times which directly match the attack. The attacks are extremely worrying because they suggest a Mirai operator who has enough capacity to seriously impact systems in a nation state. Beaumont wrote in a blog post.

The Botnet #14 was able to generate a volume of traffic greater than 500 Gbps, enough to cause a massive outage in a country like Liberia.

From monitoring, we can see websites hosted in country going offline during the attacks, Beaumont added.

Unfortunately, it is becoming quite easy to create or rent a botnet powered by the Mirai malware due to the availability of its source code leaked online by the alleged author.

According to Flashpoint who scanned the Internet with the Shodan search engine for flawed IoT devices more than 500,000 vulnerable devices are in the wild. The countries with the highest number of vulnerable devices are Vietnam (80,000), Brazil (62,000) and Turkey (40,000).

Large-scale DDoS attacks continue to represent a serious threat for web services across the world, and IoT devices represent a privileged attack vector due to the lack of security by design. IoT manufacturers are encouraged to seriously consider the approach at the security of their products.

I reached MalwareMustDie for a comment on the real abilities of the Mirai Botnet.

Q: Which are the capabilities of the Mirai Botnet?

A: Mirai botnet can make big damage as per several demonstration they did, included Liberia attack. The threat is seriously powerful, as per I firstly mentioned in the Security Affair interview. The way to stop it, are, either we push the effort to arrest skiddes who related to this botnet, and more strict in rule/policy for DDoS abuses, or, put down be more aggressive to take down infected IoT devices. Seriously, time is critical yet many ppl still not acting faster, if we let this happen with the current pace, in this Christmas or new year some countries and services can be shut down too  and they can do that.

Q: Is it possible to use Mirai to shut down a country like the UK or France?

A: If they know which point to attack, YES. They caused a major Internet outage in the United States for some hours, and the US have the strongest internet backbone in this planet.

It is my personal opinion that who released the code online was trying to rapidly increase the size of Mirai botnet. More smoking guns make harder the attribution and this could help crooks to keep lower their profile and nation-state hackers make impossible the attribution of the attacks even against a foreign country.

It is clear that someone is using the Botnet #14 to test a large scale attack probably against some Government.

We have no time, we need a new approach to cyber security, IoT devices need security by design.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs  Android, security patches)

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 Supreme Court (surprisingly?) grants last-minute stay of Alabama execution | Main | "If guilt is proven, should juries always convict?" 

The title of this post is the subheadline of this recent Economist piece, which reviews a couple notable new books about white-collar crimes and punishments. Here are excerpts:

One thing right-wing populists and left-wing progressives can agree on is that society is too soft on white-collar crime. Conservatives abandon their admiration for business when it comes to crooked bankers. Left-wingers forget their qualms if locking up corporate evil-doers. Hillary Clintons line that there should be no bank too big to fail but no individual too big to jail would go down equally well at a Donald Trump rally.

But is society really soft on corporate wrongdoing? And would locking up bankers and businessmen and throwing away the key really solve any problems? Two new books try to inject reason and evidence into a discussion more commonly driven by emotion and hearsay: Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White Collar Criminal by Eugene Soltes, of Harvard Business School, and Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in Americas Corporate Age by Samuel Buell, the lead prosecutor in the Enron case, who now teaches at Duke University.

Messrs Soltes and Buell both demonstrate that America is getting tougher on business crime. Between 2002 and 2007 federal prosecutors convicted more than 200 chief executives, 50 chief financial officers and 120 vice-presidents. Those at the heart of two big corporate scandals in 2001 and 2002 received harsh treatment: Bernard Ebbers, WorldComs chief executive was sentenced to more than 20 years without the possibility of parole  the equivalent of a sentence for murder in many states  and Kenneth Lay, Enrons former boss, died awaiting sentence. Between 1996 and 2011 the mean fraud sentence in federal courts nearly doubled, from just over a year to almost two years, as the average sentence for all federal crimes dropped from 50 months to 43.

America is constantly giving way to the temptation to punish white-collar criminals more severely: the Sarbanes-Oxley act (2002) and the Dodd-Frank bill (2010) both include measures designed to punish corporate types more severely. Other countries are moving in the same direction.... The global war on white-collar crime is giving rise to a new global industry: advisers such as Wall Street Prison Consultants and Executive Prison Consultants specialise in helping white-collar criminals adjust to life behind bars.

Prosecutorial zeal does not always result in convictions, but that is because prosecutors face some difficult trade-offs  including respecting the rights of some of the worlds most unpopular people.... The DoJ could bring far more individual prosecutions. But most corporate crime is the result of collective action rather than individual wrongdoing  long chains of command that send (often half-understood) instructions, or corporate cultures that encourage individuals to take risky actions. The authorities have rightly adjusted to this reality by increasingly prosecuting companies rather than going after individual miscreants.

Prosecuting firms may not have the smack of justice that populists crave: you cant imprison a company, let alone force it to do a humiliating perp walk  being paraded in handcuffs in public. And the people who end up paying the fines are shareholders rather than the executives or employees who actually engaged in the misconduct. But it saves the taxpayer a great deal of money: the DoJ routinely asks firms to investigate themselves on pain of more serious punishment if they fail to do so. It also advances the cause of reform, if not retribution: companies are routinely required to fix their cultures and adjust their incentive systems.

Populists like to think that there is a bright line between right and wrong: overstep it and you should go directly to jail. But a great deal of wealth-creation takes place in the grey area between what is legal and questionable. Some of the worlds greatest business people have overstepped the mark. Bill Gates was hauled up before the authorities at Harvard University when he was a student for using computers without permission. Steve Jobs participated in backdating stock option-based compensation at Apple, including his own, in order to inflate the options value....

The strongest populist argument is about double standards: it is wrong to let the rich get away with a slap on the wrist while poor youths are put in prison for possessing an ounce of cocaine. Messrs Soltes and Buell have clearly demonstrated that the rich arent getting away with a slap. But even if they were, this would argue for reforming criminal law for the poor rather than extending the lock-em-up mentality to the rich. Society should by all means punish white-collar criminals if they have obviously committed crimes and imposed harm. But it should resist the temptation to criminalise new businesses testing the rules. And it should certainly resist the temptation to single people out for harsh punishment simply because they are rich and successful.
One major theme of Selma director Ava DuVernay's powerful documentary 13th is the protean way that systems of oppression can change to cling to power. The film's name, for example, is a reference to the 13th Amendment, which the documentary argues abolished slavery only to make way for a system of mass incarceration. The key language there: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. That, in the words of the film's tagline, meant that black Americans went "from slave to criminal with one amendment."

The executive director of Oakland's Center for Media Justice, Malkia Cyril is a key voice in 13th as one of the film's principal interviewees. The concern behind Cyril's work: That the system of subjugation and control we know today as mass incarceration could become something else tomorrow. The power that technology has to shape social movements is undeniable, but so is a history of surveillance used against them. Cyril's mother was a Black Panther, one of many groups in our country's history that was closely surveilled, often illegally, by the FBI.

Cyril received an Electronic Frontier Foundation 2016 Pioneer Award this summer, and the Center for Media Justice along with the ACLU called public attention to Geofeedia, a surveillance program used by police departments including Oakland's, that had been working with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to receive data on users. All three companies curtailed or cut off their relationship with Geofeedia, which had marketed its product as useful for tracking protesters.

Cyril began working with DuVernay following the director's sophomore film, Middle of Nowhere in which a woman's husband is sent to prison to serve an eight-year sentence. DuVernay won best director at the 2012 Sundance Festival for the film, and Cyril helped screen it across the country to call attention to the predatory industry inflating the cost of prison phone calls, which the FTC eventually addressed. SFist spoke with Cyril recently to learn more about the film as well as to discuss recent revelations of social media surveillance:

SFist: 13th was shot in secrecy. When did you learn of the project, and what was your reaction?

Malkia Cyril: After Middle of Nowhere, this was an ongoing relationship talking about mass incarceration... I actually did know a little bit about this film in advance, and when she invited me to participate and be interviewed in the film, I was ecstatic. I love her. There's a shortage, a real dearth, an extraordinary lack of black women filmmakers and directors, so to see a sister create work and be recognized, and for it to be so beautiful... I was just like, whatever you're talking about, I'm here for it!

I knew that the film was a massive undertaking. I knew that she was doing it in her spare time, and I knew that she was really trying to make a film that was going to simultaneously tell a very rich and complex history while speaking to the widest possible audience.

SFist: You've been a leading voice warning against the dangers that high-tech surveillance presents. That thinking appears to have influenced one of the final takeaways from the film, the question of what could be next.

Cyril: We talked a lot about that off camera, and you know, it was important to me, and also important to Ava, that it appear in the film. That's part of the excellence of the film, its intent is looking at, historically, how slavery has mutated into mass incarceration. But looking at that history gives us a glimpse of how easy it would be for that type of social control and labor exploitation to mutate into something else. The prison industry is not going anywhere. That kind of low wage to no wage labor is not going to disappear, even as we de-carcerate people, even as we remove bodies from the brutalities of the institution called prison. That's the future we have to be very thoughtful about.

SFist: The Black Lives Matter movement, in which you're a leader, has focused its attention on police. How do you see mass incarceration as related?

Cyril: Since the murder of Travyon in 2012, there's been no comprehensive police reform on the table. But billions have been spent on body-worn cameras, on surveillance, on license plate readers, on the warrantless use of facial recognition technology. We're talking about billions being spent to watch black people in general. When we look at mass incarceration, we tend to separate policing and mass incarceration, but the reality is that the police are the long gathering arm of mass incarceration. They're the slave catchers, they bring you in, and all the technology that's used to spy on black communities and other communities of color, poor communities, those are tools of slave catching.

SFist: After learning that the company Geofeedia had been encouraging police departments to buy its product to monitor Black Lives Matter protesters, the ACLU of California, the Center for Media Justice, and Color of Change called on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to better protect their users. Do you think they've committed to doing better?

Cyril: It's great that these companies have discontinued their relationship with Geofeedia, but that's temporary. What needs to happen is clear policy and rules that they adhere to, rules that restrict their use of third party vendors to spy on protestors and activists. they should not be sharing social media information with the police except in the most extreme of circumstances.

SFist: Twitter in particular but also social media platforms in general have a clear problem with trolls who attempt to silence other users. That also seems like their failing.

Cyril: Here's what's real: These platforms are becoming an important location for the making and breaking of news, and yet in the 21st century, social media platforms don't have any of the same kind of journalistic guidelines around free speech. [Social media companies] are corporations first and foremost, whereas journalistic outlets are supposedly corporations second, and journalistic outlets first.

This question of how we manage and protect free speech while also supporting and protecting safety, it's a fine line, and I want social media companies to be careful and thoughtful, but just as news outlets cut off the commenters when they become abusive, Facebook and Twitter really do need approaches toward managing content. We've been engaging with groups to urge Mark Zuckerberg and the content team at Facebook to take a closer look at their content policies and make sure they're not censoring protected speech, and ensure that their content policies don't disadvantage users of color, and also they need to make sure their content policies are protecting their vulnerable users, and they need a more rigorous approach.

SFist: I was hoping you could talk about your upbringing and how that might have brought you to Oakland.

Cyril: My mother was a Black Panther, I grew up as a Panther in a community of Panthers. I chose Oakland as my second home because of its rich history of black activism, because it was the birthplace of the Panthers, and so, I think, on the one hand, the fact that this place has has sustained over many years, many decades, a history of black activism, a history of activism in Asian communities, Mexican and Latino communities, and the Occupy movement.

At the same time, there's extreme gentrification  more accurate to say displacement  and extreme policing. It can be a brutal environment. We're seeing black and brown and poor people moved to the outer limits, but we're fighting like hell for the soul of Oakland, just like those in San Francisco are fighting for the soul of San Francisco. We've got extreme wealth next to extreme poverty, with Silicon Valley creating billionaires every year, and right next to cities where schools can't afford to operate and people can't afford to live. These kinds of extreme wealth disparities are why we fight.

13th will be screened at the Vogue Theatre in San Francisco tomorrow, November 4, at 8:30 p.m., where it is co-presented by the Center For Media Justice, and is available now on Netflix

Related:ACLU: Facebook, Instagram, And Twitter Provided Data Access To Surveillance Company Used By Police To Track Protesters
San Francisco's newly verdant hilltops don't lie. According to a weekly national report from the US Drought Monitor issued yesterday, 12 percent of California had normal or better moisture and another 12 percent was unusually dry but not in drought. That's the first time since March 2013 that readings have been this favorable says the Associated Press. The wettest section of the state was its northwesternmost, i.e. South Oregon, and the three quarters of California that were arid remained extremely so  they are still in the most severe drought category.

The state declared a drought emergency nearly three years ago, and although unprecedented water conservation orders were enacted and then suddenly withdrawn earlier this year, the emergency declaration remains.

"Weve still got a long way to go for the rest of the state, Jay Lund, a UC Davis water policy expert, told the Sacramento Bee. That paper explains that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration along with the US Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska produced the monitor report.

California #DROUGHT at lowest level in three years, report says https://t.co/NfTDFrAgw2  Tim Melino (@TimMelino) November 4, 2016

The drought has not just drained the state's supply of water, but also, to an extent, its coffers. A UC Davis study estimated the drought's cost to the state's economy for the year 2015 to have been $2.7 billion. Water was trucked in to some rural locales, while urban water districts spent widely on water-saving steps from replacement toilets to lawn removal. One drunk man who slashed an inflatable dam was even able to waste 50 million gallons of water all by himself. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And let's everyone calm down and stop making this sound like the drought is actually close to over with a rash of these headlines, because this was just two days ago:

Devastating photos of the California drought, which just entered its fifth year https://t.co/Ky0MWfYiQQ via @BI_Science  Philosophile (@RealFKNNews) November 1, 2016

Related: California Lifts Mandatory Water Restrictions Though Drought Continues


It's a story that's playing out in various ways in many corners of the country: Because of severe cuts in federal housing funds that began under President Reagan three and a half decades ago, public housing complexes that sprung up around the nation in the post-war years between the 1940's and 1970's have, by and large, fallen into disrepair, and in some cases have required total demolition, rendering their residents homeless. In San Francisco, the city's Housing Authority built and has been managing thousands of units over the past 76 years, since 1940, with the help of those dwindling but once plentiful federal funds, but all of that has come to an end as of October. As the Chronicle reports, the city has just completed the sale of its last 14 buildings to non-profits and for-profit affordable housing developers, effectively moving what was once a public duty into private hands.

Many will argue that this is a good thing, including the tenants themselves. Strained resources and staff at the city's Housing Authority meant that decades passed with mismanagement, negligence, and buildings that housed seniors and disabled people dealing with regularly broken elevators, mold, and worse. In total, the city has offloaded 29 properties since 2014, maintaining oversight by the Housing Authority but handing over the duties of repairs, renovations, and rent collection to developers like Mercy Housing  a Denver-based non-profit  which recently began a total overhaul of 345 Arguello Boulevard, a 65-unit complex in the Inner Richmond.

Eight-year resident in the building Viola Ryan tells the Chronicle the place was roach-infested and filthy, with the heat and hot water sometimes getting shut off, and now Mercy Housing has come in and began systematically renovating all the units while providing temporary housing to residents in between. The process is expected to be complete by March, and Ryan's new unit now has new floors, windows, cabinets, appliances, you name it. "We got everything new," she saus. "Its just a blessing."

Mercy was reportedly met with applause when they arrived at 345 Arguello, but that hasn't always been the case. Earlier this year SFist brought you the tale of Midtown Park Apartments, a formerly city-owned and operated affordable complex at Divisadero and Geary with 139 units that was sold to Mercy Housing in the last couple of years, leading to a rent strike by many of its tenants. At issue was the fact that original tenants of the 1964 complex, the only such building owned by the city that was not public housing, had a rent-to-own promise that was renegged upon, and by the 2010s the place had racked up a $38 million repair bill that Mercy decided to address through significant rent hikes  in some cases as much as 300 percent for longtime residents.

The city still owns the land that many of these formerly public housing projects are built on, but we are likely many years away from seeing the properties get redeveloped with denser, taller housing where possible, to address the city's enormous need for affordable units. Instead, the near future is one in which private organizations will be the stewards of the existing, aging affordable housing stock, while other private and non-profit developers continue to build new all-affordable buildings like this one at 17th and Folsom and getting density bonuses from the city for doing so.

As Lydia Ely, senior project manager at the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development, tells the Chronicle, projects of that scale came from another era in public funding. "These are projects we could not rebuild today. We would not be able to afford to."

Meanwhile, Mayor Ed Lee  who once lead San Francisco's first organized rent-strike in Chinatown in 1978  could end up the nation's next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But in a gridlocked Congress, that may not amount to a whole lot more funding.



Related: Video: Regarding The Ongoing Rent Strike At The Western Addition's Midtown Apartments
@jrivanob Some 150 people here at 22nd and Mission listening to poetry on gentrification, eviction pic.twitter.com/jY5I5F1CDu  Joe Rivano Barros (@jrivanob) November 4, 2016

Traffic came to a halt last night as homeless and affordable-housing advocates marched down the center of Mission Street from 24th to 22nd in opposition to four measures on the upcoming ballot. As buses backed up and police watched, Mission Local reports the group denounced propositions P, U, Q, and R  arguing that the first two would harm affordable housing and that the latter two would lead to further harassment of the homeless.

The group stopped at 22nd and Mission in front of the site of a demolished apartment building that was destroyed by fire in 2015, and set up furniture in the street to symbolize the homes lost when sixty or so tenants were displaced by the blaze. Thats 60 people who dont live in San Francisco, who dont live in their home, Causa Justa organizer Maria Zamudio told Mission Local.

But the burned apartment building was not what got the 150 or so people out last night. Instead, they were attempting to ally support to their efforts just a few days shy of election day  calling attention to four specific measure on an extremely crowded ballot. Proposition P would mandate the city get three bids from developers before moving forward on affordable housing projects, and Proposition U would make those earning up to 110 percent of the area medium income eligible for affordable housing. Protesters argue that, if passed, the measures would harm the poor. Meanwhile, Proposition Q would allow police to clear sidewalk tents 24 hours after giving notice to their occupants and offering shelter services, and R would create SFPD neighborhood crime units  measures both viewed by protesters as anti-homeless.

We know that this proposition is a death sentence on those who are on the streets, marcher Bilal Ali told Mission Local of Q and R.

Jeff Kositsky, the head of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, has spoken out about Q as well  telling Mission Local last month that "Every election cycle homeless people are used as red capes," he explained. "When we politicize this issue, it makes it very hard to solve.

After roughly two hours, the protesters packed up and the normal flow of traffic resumed.

Related: Venture Capitalists Funding Anti-Homeless Encampment Measure
Six people complained of minor injuries Thursday afternoon, after the driver of an SUV struck a Muni bus traveling through the Mission District.

According to San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Jonathan Baxter, the collision was reported at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, at the intersection of 16th and Folsom Streets.

The bus, identified by the Chron as a 22 Fillmore, was "rear ended" by a driver, reports multiple news organizations, but Mission Local characterizes it slightly differently. According to their report on the collision, "The driver of an SUV said he 'lightly tapped' the bus as he was making a right turn at the intersection and the bus driver stopped."

Though Baxter confirms that six people said they were injured, he said all the complains were "very minor" and no one was hospitalized following the crash/tap. One person was treated and release at the scene, per the Chron. Mission Local reports that "the driver of the bus said that five said they had been hurt but then told him they 'didnt feel anything.'"

According to Mission Local, neither the SUV nor the bus were damaged in the collision. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Paul Rose confirms the latter assertion, saying the the bus "did not sustain disabling damage."
Photo via U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Flickr CC

Come election night, a good part of the country is going to need a beer, or maybe something a bit stronger. Lucky for us, many bars are hosting election night watch parties or specials, so you'll be in the right place when the pundits call the election, and you voted for the other guy (or gal).

Mi-key's

Complimentary BBQ bites and appetizers, plus Trump and Hillary themed cocktail specials. Party starts at 5pm and runs until televised election coverage is finished... Which might not be for days, but presumably they'll be closing at bar time.

SkyBox Sports Bar

Where better to watch the election coverage than a sports bar with a billion TVs? There will be food and drink specials, but no word on what they will be, but I'd expect soul food or wings. Plus happy hour goes until 7pm.

The Highbury Pub

If the election isn't going your way, you can always distract yourself with some live New Orleans-style jazz by Sweet Sheiks. They play 9-11pm.

Riverwest Public House

Vice Presidential Candidate Angela Walker will be making an appearance here, so that might be interesting. The Little Havana Express food truck will be parked outside as part of #tacotrucksoneverycorner.

Dandan

Yes we cancan  at dandan! No organized viewing party, but bring in proof you voted at lunch or dinner and get half off your first cocktail, glass of wine, or draft beer.

Riverwest Filling Station

The Filling Station is hosting the official watch party of 9to5, a grassroots non-profit dedicated to helping women in the workplace, including canvassing during election season. All are welcome. Happy hour specials until 6pm.

Chic Underground

Another spot with live music in case you need a distraction, this party is hosted by NEWaukee, the Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals, ONE MKE, FUEL Milwaukee and NAACP Milwaukee. Cigarette Break will be playing and free food will be available. Party starts at 6pm.

#TacoTrucksonEveryCorner

Bay View is blending taco Tuesday with election night in the best, snarkiest way that only Bay View can. Three bars are hosting special taco trucks on election night:

Burnhearts will have Gypsy Taco, the permanent resident of Boone & Crockett;

Sugar Maple will have the Iron Grate BBQ truck, which will be serving up tacos filled with smoked meat;

Boone & Crockett will have Vanguard, Goodkind and Dandan serving up all kinds of wonderful sounding things from the patio where Gypsy Taco lives.

In addition, each bar will host a 5 Rabbit Cervecerial tap takeover, with $1 from every tap sold donated to the Bay View Community Center.

Upcoming Dining and Beer Events:

Nov 5: Lake Geneva Beer and Spirits Festival at the Grand Geneva Resort. Unlimited sampling of 150 beers, spirits and ciders. Tickets $45-$80.

Nov 5-6: Enlightened Brewing Company Grand Opening. New British style beers, Iron Grate BBQ truck and a special tapping of a bourbon barrel aged coffee stout.
Inferno hits so many museums in Italy youll feel like youre on a whirlwind tour of the country.

In the course of discovering a message sent by a late billionaire, Tom Hanks cryptologist Robert Langdon has to make his way through attics, secret passages, basements and security checks before the clock runs out.

A virus is about to be unleashed and, yup, hes the only guy who can stop it.

Unfortunately, he was hit on the head, brought to an Italian hospital and targeted for extinction. Realizing as much, a physician (Felicity Jones) pulls him out of harms way, into her home and on the trail of those hidden messages.

Unlike The Da Vinci Code, which started all this this running and jumping, Inferno doesnt quite make sense. If youre an amateur puzzle sleuth, you could connect the dots in the first film. This isnt even worth attempting.

Director Ron Howard doesnt let Hanks and Jones linger anywhere too long, either, and throws in such convoluted explanations youll believe just about anything youre told.

The bad guys arent difficult to spot but the reasons for their participation are all over the map. At times, Inferno hints at some of Alfred Hitchcocks epic adventures but it never comes close to grazing North By Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Hanks, as usual, is a trusty tour guide, able to divert with the best of them. But there are scenes with Jones that smack of a heightened sensibility. He yells, she yells louder. The cool pilot he played in Sully has taken flight elsewhere.

Irrfan Khan does a fine job as one of those is he bad or isnt he? guys and Ben Foster is probably as scary as they get as the billionaire who dies before the opening credits. Hes shown in plenty of videos and flashbacks, but the depth of his influence is never fully realized. Just know hes determined to kill a bunch of people by letting a virus out somewhere in Europe.

Howard still knows how to cut a film for maximum effect. Scenes pop even when it doesnt look like Hanks is doing anything. When he and Jones  the it actress of the fall movie season  walk in the attic of a museum (hovering over priceless paintings, no less), you feel the tension and worry that one of them is going to trip. An ambitious guard is on their trail, too, which adds to the moment and lets Hanks play out a scene that could have been cut from The Sound of Music.

Inferno moves, not like a house on fire, but like a film series that probably needs a cryptologists hand in plotting.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas  The Rev. Ryan Higdon stood above a repurposed dairy tank as steam rose from the hot mixture churning beneath him.

It was humid outside, but even more humid where he and another brewer stood monitoring temperatures and pH levels as they extracted sweet liquid from grains that yeast will eventually turn into beer  the "Ale Mary" beer, to be precise.

Higdon and New Republic Brewery in College Station agreed to partner for this special brew as a way for St. Mary's Catholic Center to thank its donors and raise a little bit of money.

Once the Ale Mary is finished, New Republic will sell it in its taproom and share 50 percent of gross revenue with St. Mary's, where Higdon is associate pastor.

While at first a church and a brewery may appear an unlikely partnership, monks have been brewing and drinking beers for centuries. Sticking with tradition, Higdon and the owners at New Republic thought it'd be a fun idea to recognize this traditional partnership with a traditional beer.

"We're just having fun," Higdon told The Eagle of Bryan-College Station. "The whole point is it's just a fun way to engage people and enjoy life."

Ale Mary is based on the traditional "patersbier" that was a favorite among Trappist monks in Belgium for its drinkability. The name comes from the Latin word for "father" and the Dutch word for  of course  "beer." Some people also call it a table beer, as these particular beers  being low in alcohol content  were traditionally enjoyed during meals at all times of day.

This beer style is not popular in the United States. John Januskey, a co-owner of New Republic, said the only brewery he knows of making and selling it commercially is the Spencer Trappist Brewery in Massachusetts, where it's made by the monks of St. Joseph's Abbey.

Regarding the taste, Januskey said the Ale Mary is a light and drinkable beer, not particularly bitter, with a crisp tartness from the wheat. He said it has some characteristics of a Hefeweizen without being quite as fruity.

After the fermentation process and bottling, the beer will be given to St. Mary's donors at a special appreciation party at New Republic on Nov. 11. It'll also be served at their donor tailgate before the Ole Miss game, he said. Starting Nov. 12, New Republic will sell the beer in its taproom to the general public.

If it's well received by customers, Januskey said he'd consider making more batches.

Higdon started making his own beers more than a decade ago. He was a senior in college when he got lost in a late-night internet search and stumbled across a homebrewing website. It piqued his interest, and he asked his parents for a beer kit as a gift.

"From there, the rest is history," he said. "I got addicted to it."

He collaborated with New Republic brewers for the Ale Mary recipe. Luckily, perhaps by divine intervention, they nailed the recipe on the first batch.

"It was an accidental success. It tuned out right the first time," Januskey said. "Maybe there was some blessing involved with that."
SEATTLE  Doug Stines ribs were still pretty sore last Friday, but that didnt stop him from getting out of his hospital bed at Harborview Medical Center and hugging the stranger whose smartphone app saved his life.

If it werent for you, I wouldnt be around, Stine, 36, told Dr. Matthew Gittinger, the UW Medicine emergency physician who performed what officials say is the first documented rescue triggered by PulsePoint, an alert system activated in Seattle in June.

Stine, 36, of Pacific, Washington, was riding with colleagues on Aurora Avenue North about 9 a.m. last Monday when he collapsed and began turning blue, signs of cardiac arrest.

His buddies at Lamar Advertising called 911, setting in motion the new system that turns ordinary people willing to perform CPR  not just medical professionals  into emergency responders.

Three blocks away, Gittinger was at home, reading emails and drinking coffee. His phone buzzed with a PulsePoint alert. He took one look, slipped on his shoes and dashed out the door.

I told my wife, Im going to see if someone needs CPR, he said.

Stines co-workers had started cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and a passing motorist also stopped to help. But Gittinger was able to relieve them and keep Stines blood circulating until fire engines arrived two or three minutes later.

With this, every second counts, Gittinger said.

The incident illustrates exactly why officials with the Medic One Foundation and the Seattle Fire Department agreed to activate PulsePoint in Seattle this summer, said Dr. Michael Sayre, a UW Medicine professor of emergency medicine.

It doesnt take an ER doctor to save someones life. It only takes someone willing to step up, he said.

This really relies on having someone within a block or two of an emergency, Sayre said. It makes a huge difference.

Seattle became one of the latest cities in Washington and across the nation to join the PulsePoint network, which was started in 2009 and now has more than 800,000 active users in 28 states and Canada.

The app works by interacting with emergency dispatch systems to scan for medical codes indicating cardiac arrest. When the code, known as Med 7, comes through, the app immediately alerts local volunteers who have downloaded the app.

Sayre and other organizers hope to get 15,000 so-called citizen responders to download the app, but so far, fewer than 3,000 have done so.

The app has been activated about 130 times in Seattle since June, but a rescue like Stines is still relatively rare, said Richard Price, the former San Ramon, California, fire chief who started PulsePoint.

As the footprint of the app spreads throughout the rest of King County and to the surrounding counties, adoption of the app will grow considerably, and remarkable stories of survival like this one will follow, he said.

Stine is a father of three who has Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, a disorder that affects the heart. He had a pacemaker implanted more than a decade ago. That device was functioning fine, but he still went into sudden cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation, when the heart beats fast and erratically.

The last thing Stine remembers, he was getting dressed for work on Monday. He awoke in the hospital with sore ribs from the compressions  and learned that he was alive thanks to the PulsePoint alert.

Rumor has it I was dead, and because of this (app) I can go home to my three little ones, said Stine, the father of Bailey, 10; Micah, 5; and Parker, 7 weeks.

His wife, Erin, 32, was grateful.

He is a miracle; he shouldnt be here, she said.

Stine had never heard of the PulsePoint app before, but he said hes certified in CPR and plans to become a new user.

It blew my mind, he said. Im definitely putting it on my phone.
SAC CITY, Iowa | A Sac County jury on Friday found an Ida Grove, Iowa, man guilty of assault, rather than attempted murder, for hitting another man with his car.

Jeremy Werneburg, 37, was found guilty of simple assault, a simple misdemeanor, after jurors spent more than three hours deliberating.

Werneburg had been charged in Sac County District Court with attempted murder, a felony carrying a 25-year prison sentence. Simple assault is punishable by 30 days in jail, and Werneburg likely will be given credit for the more than 30 days he's spent in jail since his February arrest.

He remained in custody Friday because of a pending second-degree criminal mischief charge filed after he caused damage to the Sac County Jail.

Werneburg struck Kyle Freese, of Glidden, Iowa, with his car Feb. 14 outside the Carnarvon Inn in Carnarvon, Iowa. After threatening a group of people, Werneburg got into his car and struck Freese, who was pinned against the building. Werneburg failed in a second attempt to hit Freese after he moved behind another vehicle for protection. Freese lost a portion of his leg and has had at least 10 surgeries since the incident, Sac Count Attorney Ben Smith said.

Smith said he was disappointed with the verdict, but knew that it was going to be hard to prove Werneburg had the specific attempt to kill Freese.

"I thought it deserved the consideration of the jury," Smith said of the case.

Werneburg was arrested three days after the incident in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He faces a 30-day jail sentence there after pleading guilty earlier to a misdemeanor charge of interference with official acts causing bodily injury for his actions while being arrested.
SIOUX CITY | A Minnesota man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday for sexually abusing a young boy in Woodbury County.

Joshua Kobold, 23, must serve 17.5 years of his sentence before he's eligible for parole.

District Judge Jeffrey Neary also ordered Kobold to serve a special sex offender sentence, in which he will be on lifetime parole after completing his prison sentence. If he were to violate terms of the special sentence, he could be sent to prison. He also must register with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry after completing his prison sentence.

A Woodbury County District Court jury in September found Kobold guilty of second-degree sexual abuse.

Kobold was found guilty of performing sex acts with the boy, who was under age 12 at the time, at homes in Sergeant Bluff and Salix between approximately May 1, 2013, and Sept. 1, 2014.

After a report was filed with authorities, Kobold denied the allegations and moved to Minnesota. He was arrested in August 2015.
DAKOTA CITY | A Sioux City man was sentenced to prison Friday for leaving the scene of an accident in which he ran his vehicle into a parked car and injured two men.

District Judge Paul Vaughan sentenced Ruben Vela, 47, to three years in prison, a sentence spelled out in a plea agreement. Vela must serve half of his sentence before he's eligible for parole.

Vela pleaded no contest in August in Dakota County District Court to failure to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in injury or death.

On June 6, Vela drove his Ford Explorer into a parked car after getting into an argument with other men at the Budget Host Inn, 1201 First Ave., in South Sioux City. Vela forced the parked car up against a wall of the hotel and injured two men who had been standing behind the vehicle. One of the men had to have his lower left leg amputated.

Attorneys said Friday that Vela had been assaulted at the scene prior to the incident.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | The city of South Sioux City announced Thursday that it reached an agreement with an engineering company to assist with managing the odor issues connected with the start-up of Big Ox Energy's wastewater treatment plant.

On Tuesday, the city halted industrial wastewater intake to Big Ox, which is located south of town, after an odor emanating from the plant has been plaguing an area of homes near the intersection of 39th and G streets for a month. The odor caused affected residents to stay at the Marina Inn in South Sioux City at Big Ox's expense. The company is also covering meals and mitigation repairs in the homes.

According to a press release, the firm, McClure Engineering Company, has "extensive experience in wastewater treatment and odor control." The company has an office in Sioux City, as well as locations in Iowa and Missouri.

We secured McClure Engineering Company to advise the city on the steps that should be taken immediately to isolate the residential neighborhoods and decrease the odors, Mayor Rod Koch said in the release. While Big Ox has their own engineering professionals reviewing the situation, we felt it was in the citys best interest to have experts on hand to review all recommendations.

In the release, the city also requested Big Ox to start using peroxide on all waste that is trucked in before any effluent is discharged from the plant. A plug was also inserted into the sewer lines to seal off everything west of G Street from the industrial waste sewer line. All wastewater is now being directed to Sioux City's treatment plant.

The step to divert the wastewater was one of four agreed upon by the city and Big Ox Energy on Monday.

Big Ox's facility has also been under investigation by OSHA since Oct. 19 after a contractor collapsed at the plant due to hydrogen sulfide exposure.
WASHINGTON -- The last place -- and I do mean the very last place -- any candidate wants to be is in the frame with Anthony Weiner.

This is especially true if you're Hillary Clinton.

Even worse than being associated with the infamous sexter this week is being FBI Director James Comey, the least-envied man in America.

Not long ago, Comey was beloved by Democrats and reviled by Republicans for his decision not to recommend charges against Clinton, despite her extreme carelessness with a few classified documents through the use of her private email server. Today, he is vilified by Democrats and celebrated by Republicans for his disclosure to Congress that new emails possibly relevant to the agency's investigation have been found, of all places, on Weiner's laptop.

Politics, in other words, continues to happen.

Stepping back for the Republican long view, this isn't just a case of a wife, Clinton aide Huma Abedin, possibly using her husband's laptop to send emails to her boss. This is a case of potentially classified documents pertaining to the secretary of state's business being found on the personal computer of an individual whose mental state is questionable. Even little-known Republican Vladimir Putin must be reaching for the Purell.

Oh, for the days of amateur burglars and profanity in the Oval.

No one seems to know what's in the emails, but this is beside the point to Republican minds. Perhaps more troubling still is the fact that FBI investigators apparently have known about these emails for several weeks, but didn't give Comey a full briefing until last week.

Despite being an inch away from Election Day, Comey decided to tell Congress about the "new" emails, probably in the interest of self-preservation. If he had waited until after the election, and the emails contained information that might have helped put Trump in the White House, then Republicans likely would have dropped a dead chicken on Comey's porch.

Yet, without knowing what's in the emails, Comey has created enough suspicion to potentially hurt Clinton's chances. Complicating matters, Comey allegedly expressed concern about fingering Russia for trying to influence American politics because of the election. But, he showed no such concern about the latest emails so close to Election Day. Double standard? Poor judgment?

Or, is it can't win for losing? Unlike the orangutan swinging from the chandelier and singing, "Winning, winning, winning!" Donald Trump is the happiest (alleged) crotch-grabber on the continent. Depending on the poll, he's either ahead by a point, tied, consistently below Clinton or, if you average them all together, a mere four points behind the pantsuited lady in red.

Here he was only a few days shy of calling the election rigged and, voila (or however you say it in Russian), here comes another batch of email - and ypa! - on Weiner's laptop to boot. Further gratifying was that Trump long ago aired concerns about Abedin sharing state secrets with her husband.

Whether the contents of those emails are of any importance remains to be seen, though apparently not until after the election. And, lest Trumpsters spit their tobacco on my cute shoes, let the record show that Trump only said his celebrity entitled him to seize women's nethers, but he obviously thought it was a fine thing to say.

Also, one cannot fail to note that in the minds of many millions, there are worse things.

One worse thing is the very idea of Weiner perusing his wife's and Clinton's correspondence, imaginably during a break from making a Snapchat of his own nethers.

Substantively, it may mean nothing, but Weiner offends diseases. Adultery is one thing. Having illicit thoughts, as Jimmy Carter once confessed to Playboy magazine, is almost adorable. But exposing yourself to women in the juvenile pursuit of virtual titillation crosses a line.

The subliminal effect of a Clinton-Weiner connection falls into the category of worst-case scenarios, not least because it triggers memories that lead inevitably to her own "connoiterer-in chief." And to think, all Hillary ever wanted was to save women and children from men such as these.

Ironically, the man she replaced in the Senate, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was foreshadowing today's rock bottom when he observed that America was defining deviancy down. Though it would be unfair to lump Hillary Clinton with the rest of this bunch, it has never been truer that you are judged by the company you keep.

For her forbearance, as well as her lack of forthrightness, losing on Election Day 2016 could be Hillary's ultimate Trump-up-Pence.
I read with interest The Journals endorsement of U.S. Rep. Steve King. It was very disappointing, but not unexpected.

Quite often, newspaper endorsements for a candidate provide a long list of accomplishments and attributes. The Journal's editorial? No accomplishments listed (that I could see), but a notation that he is a principled family man possessed of deep roots in our congressional district, intelligence, analytical skills, a firm grasp of issues important to his constituents, honesty and integrity. That description could be attributed to hundreds of men and women in the 4th District.

That makes him qualified to be our U.S. representative? The Journal had an entire paragraph of what it thinks he does wrong, but I couldnt find a list of what he does right.

And the lack of a debate? I wrote in a Letter to the Editor to The Journal when King was running against Matt Campbell, when King told Campbell, You dont deserve a debate. Well, I still think the people of the 4th District deserve a debate. Id like to hear him defend his actions in office.

It seems absolutely crazy for our district to keep returning a representative to office who hasnt had a single bill pass out of committee in 14 years. He has been named the least effective member of Congress. Why are we spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each year keeping him there? Regardless of his analytical skills ... honesty and integrity, he doesnt get anything done, except embarrass many of us with the items The Journal listed in the editorial.

Obviously, The Journal editorial board is not capable of doing this, but someone needs to sit him down and ask, What have you done and why are we paying you? - Jim Kennedy, Oboboji, Iowa
Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now...
Indigenous, USA  November 4, 2016  Sean Sweeney

Are the Trades Putting Labours Head in the Gas Oven?

If anyone were looking for further evidence that the AFL-CIO remains unprepared to accept the science of climate change, and unwilling to join with the effort being made by all of the major labour federations of the world to address the crisis, the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) provides only the most recent case in point. Taking direction from the newly minted North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) and the American Petroleum Institute (API), the federation stood against the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribal nations.

In a recent video interview, NABTU president Sean McGarvey dismissed those who oppose the expansion of fossil fuels infrastructure. There is no way to satisfy them no way for them to recognize that if we dont want to lose our place in the world as the economic superpower, then we have to have this infrastructure and the ability to responsibly reap the benefits of what God has given this country in its natural resources.

Although the leaders of NABTU no longer identify with the AFL-CIO and the letterhead does not mention the Federation, the Trades continue to determine the shape the AFL-CIOs approach to energy and climate. This is despite the fact that a growing number of unions have opposed the DAPL, among them the Amalgamated Transit Union, Communication Workers of America, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Nurses United, New York State Nurses Association, Service Employees International Union (SEIU); SEIU 1199, and the United Electrical Workers. Union locals (branches or chapters) have also opposed the DAPL, among them, GEU UAW Local 6950 and Steelworkers Local 8751.

These unions have been joined by the Labor Coalition for Community Action, which represents well established AFL-CIO constituency groups like LCLAA, APALA, Pride at Work, CBTU, CLUW and the A. Philip Randolph Institute.

Reacting to the progressive unions solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux, NABTUs president Sean McGarvey wrote a scathing letter to AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, copies of which were sent to the principal officers of all of the Federations affiliated unions. In a fashion reminiscent of the Keystone XL fight, McGarvey disparaged the unions that opposed DAPL. A day later, on September 15th, the AFL-CIO issued its own already infamous statement supporting DAPL. Trying to make climate policy by attacking individual construction projects is neither effective nor fair to the workers involved said the statement. The AFL-CIO calls on the Obama Administration to allow construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline to continue.

Split, Coup, or Both?

It is important to note that the AFL-CIO issued its statement on the basis of a generic pipelines Executive Council (EC) resolution passed in February 2013. Does this DAPL statement therefore speak for the 55 affiliates of the Federation? Hardly. The use of a vague EC resolution to support the DAPL is therefore something of a coup for NABTU, one that will further damage the reputation of the entire U.S. labour movement both at home and abroad.

In a New Labor Forum column almost a year ago, I tried to draw some of the lessons for the labour movement following the acrimonious fight among union leaders around the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline. I said KXL could be a precursor to a more protracted and serious leadership-level conflict in the years ahead, and that this could be avoided if certain union officers were to rethink their close relationship to coal, oil and gas industry groups (the so called Black-Blue Alliance) and take the lead in driving a different conversation about extractionism, climate change, and jobs.

The DAPL fight suggests that the split in labour is deepening. McGarveys letter to Trumka warrants careful study. Referring to the fact that many of the unions that opposed KXL are now opposing DAPL, McGarvey writes, It seems the same outdated, lowest common denominator group of so-called labor organizations has once again seen fit to demean and call for the termination of thousands of union construction jobs in the Heartland. I fear that this has once again hastened a very real split in the labour movement at a time that, should their ceaseless rhetoric be taken seriously, even they suggest we can least afford it.[1] For now, NABTU has managed to align the federation squarely with the fossil fuel industry.

So What is U.S. Labours Climate and Energy Policy?

The AFL-CIOs statement on DAPL says that it is neither effective nor fair to make climate policy by attacking individual construction projects. So what kind of climate policy does the AFL-CIO support? The 2013 Executive Council pipelines resolution begins: The AFL-CIO supports a comprehensive energy policy focused on investing in our nations future, creating jobs and addressing the threat of climate change. Fine words, but have there been any actions to back them up?

At the global level, the Federation has never supported the International Trade Union Confederations (ITUC) commitment to the science-based emissions reduction targets proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Every other major national labour body supports these targets, but not the AFL-CIO. Similarly, it was the only major national trade union center to oppose the Kyoto Agreement in the 1990s and, again, the only one to applaud the State Departments voluntary pledge and review approach to emissions reductions expressed in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord. Global labour was unanimous in its condemnation of the weak, non-binding and science-denying content of the Accord  with the AFL-CIO once again being the exception.

During the 2008 Congressional debate on the (failed) climate bill during president Obamas first term in office, the AFL-CIO, urging a cautious approach, could only support the weakest bill, one that ensured more free pollution allowances for the fossil fuel sector than any other bill drafted. Following the defeat of the climate bill in the Senate, the AFL-CIO essentially stepped away from energy climate policy altogether. And with Congress obstructing action on climate change, the Obama Administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take the lead. The EPA developed the Clean Power Plan (CPP) that seeks to achieve a 32 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants by 2025 based on 2005 levels. The CPP was the basis of the U.S. contribution to the Paris Climate talks in late 2015 and in the more recent bilateral climate talks with China.

In a June 2014 statement, AFL-CIO president Trumka expressed concern about the CPPs impact on the U.S. coal industry and warned that climate protection not be another excuse to beat down working Americans. But in the absence of both a coherent policy and a clear lead coming from the AFL-CIO, key affiliates have moved in to stake out their own space. Several energy and construction unions have signed onto a lawsuit to prevent the EPAs implementation of the CPP regulations, with SEIU siding with a broad set of groups who seek to defeat the legal threat.[2] Led by West Virginia and more than 20 States, the challenge to the EPA would bar the agency from regulating GHGs from existing power plants altogether. If successful, this would essentially wipe out any federal climate policy because the Administration is relying almost exclusively on the EPA to comply with the commitments made in Paris.

Exporting Carbon

Meanwhile, in mid-2015 the Laborers Union (LiUNA) and the Operating Engineers successfully linked arms with the likes of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the API in a call on Congress to lift the export ban on U.S. crude oil that was introduced in 1975 during the Middle East oil crisis. The two unions stated that, Lifting the ban will result in increased domestic crude production and deliver hundreds of thousands of jobs across all sectors of the American economy.[3]

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka had publicly stated his opposition to lifting the ban in January 2014. Significantly, the reason for Trumkas opposition had nothing to do with concerns about carbon lock in or the need to support the USAs climate commitments. Rather, the main concern was the impact lifting the ban would have on U.S. refineries, which are well organized by the United Steelworkers (USW). In a July 2014 statement, the Federation said:

The surge in U.S. oil production should fuel a surge in U.S. refinery investment, creating highly paid construction and refinery jobs. American ingenuity and hard work have put the United States in the fortunate position of being the worlds top oil producer and given us more energy security than we have had in decades. The AFL-CIO believes the nation should build on this success to create prosperity and restore the middle class.

In lobbying against lifting the ban, the USW (joined by the Sierra Club) acknowledged that, aside from threatening the jobs of U.S. refinery workers, exporting U.S. crude would also lead to 22 million metric tons more CO2 emissions on an annual basis. Within six months of the ban being lifted (December 2015 to May 2016) U.S. crude exports have risen 9 per cent to 501,000 barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Agency.

Avoiding The F Word

With U.S. oil exports rising, LiUNA and other unions have helped the U.S. oil industry meet the growing global demand for U.S. crude. Union concerns about climate change were blindingly absent in this campaign (as was the case in the effort to acquire a permit for Keystone XL). Instead, lifting the export ban would, we were told, help the U.S. become an energy superpower.

More recently, LiUNA developed its own Clean Power Progress, an initiative apparently driven by a desire to fuel a realistic, fact-based conversation in order to advance responsible policies that reduce GHGs and reach the climate change goals advanced by the Obama Administration. With Clean Power Progress, LiUNA is attempting to project a new and greener message. But the unions plan is focused on helping the U.S. meet its climate commitments  by promoting gas. According to Clean Power Progress, Transitioning from higher-carbon energy sources (read: coal) toward abundant natural gas will help the United States meet its ambitious and responsible clean energy targets and our countrys growing electricity needs. This is pretty much the gas industry line. It is also clear that the industry and LiUNA are united on the need to export more gas (maybe to help the world fight global warming?)

Clean Power Progress deserves a more detailed critique, and will be the subject of a future article. But there are some obvious red flags. For example, nowhere in the proposal is there any mention of the word fracking. Fracking for gas in shale rock is producing a higher proportion of U.S. gas every year as yields from conventional gas drilling steadily decrease. This can hardly be explained as an innocent omission. It is as if, by not mentioning fracking at all, LiUNA hopes to sidestep rising concerns regarding the health-related and other impacts associated with fracturing. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO has not taken an official stand on fracking, but in states where drilling has proceeded the Trades have moved several State AFL-CIOs behind a pro-fracking stance.

Greenwashing with the Union Label?

Equally remarkable is that LiUNA is keeping alive the discredited idea that gas is a bridge fuel that is good for the climate because, when compared to burning coal, gas generates only half the CO2 per unit of energy generated. But peer-reviewed studies over the past several years have shown that, when methane leakage associated with fracking is accurately measured, gas harvested from shale rock is worse than coal from the standpoint of generating greenhouse gas emissions. Respecting the science, most of the major environmental groups stopped talking about gas as bridge fuel some years ago. Globally, methane emissions levels are increasing, and scientists have estimated that 40 per cent of the increase in the U.S. is due to the growth of the oil and gas sector.[4] The EPAs inventoried methane emissions levels are based on companies reporting their own methane leakage rates. However, the actual atmospheric concentrations have been found to be much higher. This gap suggests that gas companies have underreported the levels of methane being vented or leaking from drill sites, and have funded studies that have been used to provide scientific data suggesting the levels of methane being released are far lower than they actually are.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the significance of this issue. Even a modest level of methane leakage from drilling sites  between 1.5 to 3 per cent  would erase all of the climate-related benefits of burning gas instead of coal.[5] Statistically, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel have fallen in the U.S. since 2007 due to the recession and switching to natural gas from coal to generate electricity. Leading climate scientist Robert Howarth told the White House recently:

Total greenhouse gas emissions  after dipping slightly in 2007  have been rising since at their most rapid rate ever, due to shale gas development and large methane emissions Reliable data from satellite and airplane surveys show much higher emissions and indicate that global increases in methane in the atmosphere over the last decade may well be the result of increased emissions from the United States.[6]

According to Howarth, If the U.S. wants to meet the COP21 target  to which we have agreed  we need to recognize that natural gas  and shale gas, in particular  is not a bridge fuel.

That LiUNA might be unaware of the data on methane is, frankly, inconceivable. Overall, Clean Power Progress looks like union greenwashing of the most irresponsible kind, a poor attempt to sanitize an industry that resists even the weakest of regulations and refuses to allow independent verification in the chemicals it uses during the fracturing process.

Progressive Labours Construction Project

The unions that opposed Keystone XL and the Dakota Access Pipeline, along with those who have opposed fracking and coal and gas export terminals, are becoming energy unions because energy fights will largely dictate what type of future we can look forward to. For NABTU, having unions in health care, public transport, and public services, etc. invade and trample on the sacred territory they call home  energy and infrastructure development  is beyond infuriating.

Progressive labour must, however, develop its own vision of an energy future, one grounded in fully-unionized public renewable power systems, scaled up low-carbon mass transit, and radical energy conservation in the countrys housing stock and commercial buildings. This is a political construction project that, if implemented, could create millions of climate jobs. But this will require consistent engagement. Many in the Trades can and will support such a progressive approach to climate and energy policy.

For now, having waged a successful putsch, NABTU is the voice of the AFL-CIO regarding a big chunk of labours energy policy. The Federations reputation is now so low that it seems to be no longer concerned about reputational damage. By linking arms with Standing Rock Sioux, progressive labour is keeping alive the best traditions of labour environmentalism pioneered by Tony Mazzocchi and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers in the 1970s.

If it is constructed, the DAPL will require union labour digging a ditch, and the only difference between a ditch and a grave is that one is normally a little deeper than the other. 

This article first appeared on Trade Unions for Energy Democracy.
The mainstream media in Western Europe and North America isnt even pretending to be an objective news source anymore; instead, journalists are working openly to quell what looks increasingly, on both sides of the Atlantic, like a popular revolution against the hegemony of the self-appointed political and media aristocracy that seems hell-bent on driving Western civilization over the cliff. And so its time for another round of their Two-Minutes Hate against Dutch politician and freedom fighter Geert Wilders.Wilders has yet again gone on trial in the Netherlands for hate speech, and this time the case against him is especially flimsy: as Europe is roiled by the criminal activity of Muslim migrants, he is being accused of hate speech for saying that the massive influx of immigrants from Morocco (from which most of the Muslim migrants in the Netherlands come) has to be stopped.This trial could very easily backfire on the Dutch inquisitors, and make Wilders more popular than ever with the people of the Netherlands and Europe in general, as they are increasingly fed up with the political and media elites forcing them to accept a massive influx of Muslim migrants that ensures a future only of civil strife, bloodshed, and Sharia oppression.Consequently, those elites are trying desperately to shore up their position. Wilders chanted No more Moroccans at a rally. The horror! To any sane person, this means Stop the influx of Moroccan immigrants who only inflate crime rates and welfare rolls. To the media, which at this point is quite insane, insofar as insanity means an inability or refusal to accept reality, this means Genocide!And so, in this Deutsche Welle (DW) piece by freelance journalist Teri Schultz, were told that European Parliament lawmaker Cecile Kyenge, who was born in Congo, had numerous racial slurs - not to mention, bananas, literally - thrown at her, along with suggestions she go back to her country. Does this have anything to do with the crime and civil strife that are the foundations for Wilders position? Of course not, but Wilders, Schultz tells us, is (of course) far-right, that all-purpose and meaningless semaphore that serves only to signal to right-thinking Deutsche Welle readers that Wilders is, as far as the media elites are concerned, unsavory, and must be opposed and shunned, his positions left unexamined.Schultz contacted me to serve as the villain of her piece, being sure to tell her hapless readers that I am known for extreme anti-Islam views, to make sure that if any of them are foolish enough to find themselves agreeing with me, they will immediately reverse themselves and get their minds right. The term extreme also, since the Western governing class unanimously refers to jihad terrorists as extremists, also implies that I am a terrorist.After the article came out, I challenged Schultz on this; she replied: I dont think even you would consider your views mainstream, do you? I responded: Absolutely yes. My views were the broad mainstream in the Western world from 632 AD until the 1960s. What changed? Not Islamic teaching. To that she said: Okay. Youd have to argue it with another expert, which I am not. But thanks again for contributing. Indeed, she is just a mouthpiece for the views the political and media elites want us to hold.In any case, Schultzs article merely reveals the desperation of the ruling class and the self-appointed opinion-shapers. They can call those of us who wish to defend the people and culture of Europe and North America far-right and extreme every day (and they do), but the public can see with their eyes what is happening. Wilders popularity isnt growing because he is a charming fellow (which is, of course, not to say that he isnt). Its growing because he speaks the truths that the political and media elites are in a frenzy to obscure.And its only going to get worse for them: the Brexit vote and the Trump candidacy (whether he wins or loses) shows that their hegemony is beginning to be challenged. Those challenges will continue, and grow. They will before too long be decisively voted out and repudiated.
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.
WASHINGTON

(Nov. 3, 2016)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awarded amodification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00174-14-D-0001) to exercise option three for engineering support and training services for the MK18 Mod 1 and Mod 2 unmanned underwater vehicle systems. The MK18 Mod 1 and Mod 2 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) systems are in support of very shallow water missions, very shallow water mine countermeasures and underwater object localization tools. Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division has a requirement for maintenance, repairs, alterations, and upgrades of the MK18 UUV family of systems, other Remote Environmental Monitoring Unit-variant UUVs and components used in support of the Navy. This also includes preparation and upkeep of software and documentation used with these UUV systems. The work will be performed in Pocasset, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by November 2017. No funds are being obligated at the time of this action. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order 0001 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00016-17-G-0011) for engineering studies to conduct a set of design analyses for the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile front end, including engineering studies and assessments related to the platform interface compliance, structural integrity, thermal capabilities, millimeter wave performance, and anti-radiation homing effectiveness. Work will be performed in Northridge, California, and is expected to be completed in May 2018. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount $2,635,675 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded amodification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-14-D-0006) to exercise an option for logistics and engineering services in support of the C/KC-130J aircraft for Marine Corps/Marine Corps Reserve, Coast Guard, and the government of Kuwait. Work will be performed in Marietta, Georgia (65.3 percent); Palmdale, California (21.2 percent); Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, Kuwait (3.3 percent); Iwakuni, Japan (3 percent); Miramar, California (1.8 percent); Cherry Point, North Carolina (1.7 percent); Elizabeth City, North Carolina (1.6 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (1.5 percent); and Greenville, South Carolina (0.6 percent). Work is expected to be completed in December 2017. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract combines purchases for Marines Corps/ Marine Corps Reserves (80.3 percent); Coast Guard (12.9 percent); and the government of Kuwait (6.8 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded afirm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of supplies and services required for the CFM56 engine field assessment, unscheduled engine repair, technical assistance for removal, and replacement of engines in support of the P-8 aircraft for the government of Australia under a cooperative agreement. This effort includes unscheduled depot maintenance and repair, the introduction of Sermetel protective coatings, and other non-standard repairs as required. Work will be performed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is expected to be completed in May 2018. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated against individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1a2. The, is the contracting activity (N00019-16-D-2000).
The tip of this felines left ear was cut off to signify that the outdoor cat has been spayed or neutered.

LA PLATA, Md.

(Nov. 4, 2016)A cat crosses your path as you walk through your neighborhood, and you notice something strange about its ear: The tip is missing!What does it mean? Is the cat injured? Ill? Aggressive?Quite the contrary say leaders of Rescue Angels of Southern Maryland, a local animal rescue organization that works to help animals in need.Instead, they say, a tipped ear on a cat means someone is taking care of that cat."A cat's left ear is tipped when someone has gone through the effort and expense of having that cat spayed or neutered before returning it to its outdoor home," said Rescue Angels President Jennifer Torney."These aren't stray cats or aggressive cats," she continued. "A tipped ear means someone is caring for that cat as part of a managed colony of community cats."Community catsalso called feral catslive throughout Southern Maryland in managed colonies. Caretakers, with the help of organizations like Rescue Angels, trap the cats in their colonies to get them spayed or neutered and vaccinated against rabies. Many also have their colony cats microchipped. While the cat is sedated for surgery, a veterinarian removes the tip of the cat's left ear.The ear tip is just one part of a process called trap-neuter-return or TNR, and it is a humane way of handling groups of community cats while preventing the birth of new kittens."It's a lot of work to care for these cats properly," Torney said. "They didn't ask to be homeless. Many of these cats have been left behind by people, or they are unaltered cats that have been allowed to roam."As a community, we need to take responsibility for them, the right waythe humane way."The alternative to TNR is to either relocate or to trap and kill the cats. These are ineffective methods of coping with feral cat colonies, Greene-Smith said."Removing the cats from an area only creates a vacuum effect," she said. "Once one group of cats has been removed, another will move in to take its place."This new colony is attracted by the same things that attracted the original colony: The availability of food and shelter. Relocating a colony of cats, Greene-Smith said, is a long process and should only be done as a last resort when the cats' lives are in danger. When necessary, Rescue Angels has relocated cats to barns, farms, backyards, and other places where they are safe and can help with rodent and snake control.Members of Rescue Angels said they are hoping to educate the public more about ear tips because they are seeing an increase in the number of ear-tipped cats being turned into Animal Control and the Tri-County Animal Shelter."Feral cats don't stand a chance when they're turned into the shelter," said Rescue Angels Vice President Julie Greene-Smith. "They're among some of the first animals euthanized because there is often nowhere for them to go."We have a good partnership with Tri-County, and they know we are here to help, but we can only do so much. We have limited resources, and we get several calls each week for assistance with community cats."Torney and Greene-Smith urged community members to leave ear-tipped cats where they are. "The outdoors is their home," Torney said.Volunteers are always needed to help trap, transport, and care for community cats. "We can't do this work alone," Torney said. "It's really rewarding to see our ear-tipped cats that we have helped. They're happy, snuggled up nice and warm in the winter shelters we've built for them."Neutered cats are less likely to fight for territory, and they are less of a nuisance because they are no longer looking for mates. "They will then enjoy the company of other cats, and this is what helps them survive very cold winters," Torney explained.Torney and Greene-Smith say community members with questions about community cats should contact a rescue organization like Rescue Angels of Southern Maryland rather than turning the animal into a shelter."One of our main missions is to educate the community about TNR and feral cats," said Greene-Smith. "We can help people living in Southern Maryland trap cats and get them spayed or neutered. We can also help them learn how to care for a colony of cats."The list of residents looking for TNR help is long, Greene-Smith said, so patience is appreciated as volunteers work through the list. "We are an all-volunteer organization," she said. "Our volunteers all have full-time jobs, but we're working as hard as we can to make a difference in our community."For more information about TNR or to volunteer or donate, contact Rescue Angels by email at rescueangelssomd@gmail.com or leave a message at 844-966-7276.Rescue Angels of Southern Maryland is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to changing the lives of animals in need in Southern Maryland. The organization rescues animals from undesirable situations, provides needed medical care, and helps them find loving homes. The group's successful TNR program is helping to limit the population of feral cats in Southern Maryland and to reduce the number of cats euthanized in shelters.For more information, visit the Rescue Angels website at www.rescueangelssomd.com/.
(CNN) Two teenage girls in Morocco face up to three years in jail on homosexuality charges after they were caught kissing.

The girls, aged 16 and 17, were detained by police after they were spotted kissing and hugging on the roof of a house in Marrakech last week, Omar Arbib from the Moroccan Association of Human Rights told CNN Arabic in a statement.

They have since been released but will stand trial Friday under Article 489 of the Moroccan Penal Code, which specifies that "any person who 'commits a lewd and unnatural act' with an individual of the same sex may be sentenced to six months to three years of imprisonment."

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights has assigned a lawyer to defend the girls, said Arbib.

Arbib told CNN Arabic that the mother of the older girl told him that she'd visited her daughter and found her in the adult wing of the prison, where she said her daughter told her she'd been "mistreated by other prisoners."

Moroccan authorities would not comment on the girls' case when contacted by CNN.

Meanwhile, Arbib reiterated the rights group's demand for Article 489 to be abolished, saying "Individuals cannot be punished based on their sexual inclination."

Human Rights Watch has previously called for this law and all others related to the prohibition of consenting sexual relations between adults to be repealed.

Another interest group in the region, the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI), published a picture in support of the girls. It showed the group's founders, Zineb El Rhazoui and Ibtissame Lachgar, with the statement: "We are heterosexual and we support LGBT rights."

Journalists Nada Altaher and Ismail Azzam contributed to this report.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




A Primer on Public Policy, Why it's Important for Space Activities, and Current Hot Policy Topics. Secure World Foundation/NASA

Now available is the November 2, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Brian Weeden (Secure World Foundation) who presented A Primer on Public Policy, Why its Important for Space Activities, and Current Hot Policy Topics.

Brian Weeden is the Technical Advisor for Secure World Foundation and has 16 years of professional experience in space operations and policy. In current role as Technical Advisor, Mr. Weeden conducts research on space debris, global space situational awareness, space traffic management, protection of space assets, and space governance. He also organizes national and international workshops to increase awareness of and facilitate dialogue on space security, stability, and sustainability topics.

Prior to joining SWF, Mr. Weeden served nine years on active duty as an officer in the United States Air Force working in space and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) operations. Mr. Weeden holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University, a Master of Science Degree in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University in the field of Science and Technology Policy.

Listen to podcast of A Primer on Public Policy, Why its Important for Space Activities, and Current Hot Policy Topics telecon:

 Download the MP3 File.

 Download the presentation (PDF).
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...
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The invitation called for festive evening attire. What the hell does that even mean? When Sprudge called on me to cover a fancy-seeming dinner at the iconic United Nations building for illys first annual Ernesto Illy International Coffee Awards ceremony, I thought they surely must have made a mistake. Im a too-tight-jeans, dad sweater, and sick boots kind of homo and while I keep a few suit jackets and pants in my closet, theyre mainly for funerals. For a free dinner at the UN, however, I could clean up my act a little bit. I could even go all the way with trying to fit in with the UN crowd by looking very dignified and saying things like, Isnt Angela Merkel just the most diplomatic? But festive evening attire threw me off. It sounded something like you might wear at a chichi UN party where I clearly dont belong, but it didnt indicate formal wear.

A Google search revealed that festive evening attire called for color: a suit with a fun tie or dress pants with a nice sweater. I opted for the latter, but found myself in disaster mode trying to assemble my outfit at the last minute. My charming blue merino wool sweater was crumpled up in a corner of my closet. While I carefully steamed it, I yelled at my husband to find his bright yellow tie so I could borrow it for the evening. I then unearthed my navy dress pants, which didnt need ironing, but, to my horror, did not fit. It appeared Id been starving myself when Id bought them for the last funeral because there was no way I could clasp or button them. With no other option, I belted them to my waist, zipped them as high as the zipper would go, and threw on my pointy Fluevog boots with angel buckles.

I picked up my plus-one, my boss and one of my dearest friends, Sam Penix. Sam was even more festive in a blue jacket, tan vest, and pink and green tie. I thought we both looked pretty fly, but I was horribly nervous as we walked to the event from his apartment that we had misinterpreted the dress code and that wed either be totally out of place or Kofi Annan would appear to shame us and permanently ban us from the UN. These feelings were heightened when we arrived at the UN to find a lot of dudes wearing black suits. I bit my lip and clenched my fists in my pockets as we made our way up to the security check-in, where we would surely be told that our kind wasnt welcome in these hallowed halls of international accord. Then I looked around and spotted them: a man in a maroon jacket, a woman in a light pink taffeta gown, and some guy in jeans. We didnt stick out so much at all. If anything, the stuffy suited men were the ones who should be publicly humiliated.

Once we made our way through security and began to gorge ourselves on hors doeuvres, Sam looked at me and asked, So what is this event were at right now? Frankly, I wasnt entirely sure. I knew it was being thrown by illy, a coffee brand Id seen in a lot of grocery stores, and that it was to honor their coffee farmers, but I had absorbed no other information from the invitation. Id resigned myself to an evening of confusion when Sam pointed behind me and said, Hey! Its Peter Giuliano! And indeed, there he was. Papa Pete came out of nowhere as if he knew that we were perplexed and needed major clarification. In true educator fashion, he informed us that the event was to honor the top three growers from the each of the nine countries that contribute to illys signature espresso blend. Peter, along with various coffee and culinary luminaries, had judged the top coffees from each country for the grand prize, an enormous gold coffee cup trophy. He had nothing but nice things to say about the experience, praising illys internal coffee scoring and referring to them as the Apple of coffee. He also praised the companys other initiatives. Look over there! Theyre very passionate about the arts! He was pointing at a bizarre scene where a piano player was creating musical portraits of guests by having them sit facing the piano and staring at them intensely as he improvised. Man, the arts are weird. Just minutes after he had arrived to fill us in on the missing details, he pulled a total fairy godmother move and told us he needed to leave to catch a plane.

Armed with information, we found our seating assignments and sat down for dinner. Each table represented a country and was named after a coffee varietal. Ours was Mundo Novo, the Brazilian table, where we were welcomed with open arms. Pink taffeta lady sat across from me, looking like the most glamorous coffee professional Id ever seen. I quickly made friends with the handsome couple who sat next to me. Juliana Armelin and Paolo Siqueria had left jobs in finance to start growing coffee at their farm Terra Alta in Ibia, Brazil just four years ago. We shared laughs and bewilderment at the dinner menu, which promised deconstructed grilled vegetable salad, bistro chicken with crispy skin, and three desserts. The salad came out all too constructed, the chickens skin had no such crisp, and we received only two desserts.

The awards ceremony itself was quite brief. Bronze, silver, and gold espresso cup trophies were awarded to growers from each country. The countries represented were Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, and Nicaragua. To our delight, Juliana and Paolo took the gold cup for Brazil. As we deconstructed our salads and chewed on our not-so-crispy chicken skin, we had become invested in our new friends success. We wanted them to win the enormous gold coffee cup. Before dessert the announcement was made. The winner was Ethiopia. As happy as I was for the gentleman from Ethiopia, I couldnt help but be bummed for Juliana and Paolo, though I still marveled at the fact that their third harvest had put them at the top of the pack in their country. By this time, my three wine glasses had been refilled a bit too much and I struggled to retain information. Andrea Illy explained that Ethiopia won because it had the most variety and Im pretty sure he said Ethiopian coffee also had the most Lena Olin. Im a huge fan of the Academy Award nominated Swedish actress, so I wasnt about to argue.*

*Editors note: The distinguished Mr. Illy was likely referring to linolenic acids.

The event concluded and I stumbled into a Lyft and, reflecting on what an unexpectedly delightful and not-at-all stuffy evening it had been, mostly thanks to the warm and jovial Brazilians at Mundo Novo. One enthusiastic woman even dubbed us honorary Brazilians as we joined the table. It was true unity between nations at the UN that night. Thanks, Obama.

Eric J. Grimm is a Sprudge contributor based in New York City, writing on pop culture and film. Read more Eric J. Grimm on Sprudge.
Algiers, November 03, 2016 (SPS)  The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Childrens fund (UNICEF) is appealing for continued donor support for refugees from Western Sahara living in Algeria. The three agencies say that insufficient funding makes a cut in basic food rations imminent.

For more than 40 years, the Sahrawi refugees have been living under extremely harsh conditions in the Sahara desert in south-western Algeria. Hosted in five camps close to the town of Tindouf, they remain heavily dependent on external humanitarian assistance. WFP represents the most important source of food in the camps; any reduction or halt of WFP food assistance will have a severe impact on the food security and nutritional status of the refugees, especially young children, pregnant and nursing women, the elderly and the sick.

At the recently adopted New York Declaration this month, states committed to providing additional and predictable humanitarian funding and development support for refugees, said UNHCR Representative in Algeria Hamdi Bukhari. We badly need this for our humanitarian activities in support of the Sahrawis. Chronic underfunding has affected the provision of health, shelter, food and water. In June last year, our three agencies warned about the lack of funding for food, and we are doing so again as food assistance is critical.

WFP faces a funding shortfall of US$10 million for the next six months. In October, WFP was forced to suspend part of its food assistance; from November, rations are likely to be reduced by half. Stocks have already been depleted to cover the last few months, and at least three staple products  wheat flour, vegetable oil, and rice  are running out. WFP has informed donors, stakeholders and local partners, including the Algerian and Sahrawi Red Crescent, of possible cuts.

Cost-cutting measures, such as the replacement of some commodities by cheaper ones, have so far allowed WFP to extend resources to cover requirements. However, if new funding is not available soon, WFP will be forced to reduce food rations. This is bound to hurt the nutritional status of refugees, said WFP Representative Romain Sirois.

Last month, WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as NGOs providing humanitarian assistance to Sahrawi refugees, appealed for funds to provide food, shelter, health and education in the camps. The appeal was issued to donors in Algiers on 19 September, and will be re-issued soon at a donor meeting in Geneva.

Sahrawi refugee children living in camps in Tindouf are highly dependent on food distributions, and anxiety among families about further reduction is high. Childrens nutritional and health status could be at risk, said UNICEF Representative in Algeria Marc Lucet. Together with UN agencies working in the camps, we call upon donors to maintain their support to refugees so their basic humanitarian needs continue to be covered.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.SPS

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Trainer Casie Coleman has informed Trot Insider that the connections of Betting Line p,3,1:47.2f ($2,238,518) have been forced to retire the multiple stakes winning three-year-old.

We made the final decision today (Friday, November 4), Coleman said. We wanted to end on a winning note, but it wasnt meant to be.

Although the connections have been forced to forgo Betting Lines next three scheduled races (the Matron Stakes and the Hap Hansen Progress Pace), Betting Line still retires on a winning streak. The son of Ontario sire Bettor Delight was carrying an impressive 14-race win streak into Octobers Breeders Crown eliminations, which he was forced to be scratched from due to having suffered two serious spider bites on one of his shoulders.

We planned on supplementing him to the Matron Stakes (which will take place at Dover Downs next week) and then follow that up with the Progress Pace, which he was paid into, Coleman said.

He had been coming back from the spider bite well. He had been jogging well and I was happy with the way he was coming along. He seemed like he was getting better

David Miller trained him this morning (Friday, November 4) and he just wasnt himself. He was flat. David said that he wasnt right up on the iron. He also wasnt striding out with the one leg, which shows to us that he isnt over those bites on his shoulder.

The connections of Betting Line announced in mid-September that the brown colt would retire at the end of the 2016 racing campaign and stand stud at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania for the 2017 breeding season.

Hes going to stay here at White Birch Farm until Monday (November 7) and he will then ship to Hanover Shoe Farms, said Coleman. The partners will be meeting in Harrisburg next week, at which point we will decide on a stud fee.

Betting Line retires with a career slate that reads 27 starts, 20 wins, a trio of second-place finishes and a pair of third-place finishes. He banked $2,238,518 in purses for his connections and retires with a pair of world records under his belt. His 1:47.2 victory in the Battle of the Brandywine set a new world record for three-year-old male pacers on a five-eighths-mile track, while his 1:49 mile in the second heat of the Little Brown Jug is the world record for three-year-old pacing colts over a half-mile track.

After having just tasted defeat in an overnight to begin his three-year-old campaign, Betting Line assembled a staggering season. He won his next 14 races, which included wins in the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup, the $500,000 Battle of the Brandywine, $300,000 Milstein Memorial, the $276,960 Little Brown Jug, the $204,000 Simcoe Stakes, and a sweep of all of his Ontario Sires Stakes races, including his $250,000 OSS Super Final.
Chief Justice Moore's Judges Announced

Contact: Liberty Counsel, 800-671-1776, Media@LC.org, Press Kit



MONTGOMERY, Ala., Nov. 4, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Governor Bentley announced the seven replacement judges who will preside over the appeal for Chief Justice Roy Moore. The final panel of judges were selected from a pool of 50 retired appellate justices and judges, circuit court judges, and district court judges and are as follows:

H. Edward McFerrin Robert Cahill William King James Reid Lynn Bright Ralph Ferguson, Jr. John Coggin

Liberty Counsel, which represents the Chief Justice, is currently reviewing the selected judges for any conflict of interest concerns. Once the Chief Justice's legal team agrees to the final panel, they will ask the judges for an expedited briefing and to rule on the outstanding motion to unseal the May hearing.

Chief Justice Roy Moore previously filed a motion to unseal the record on the petition he filed in May 2016 against the Judicial Inquiry Commission.

"We are currently reviewing the names of the seven judges that are selected and will make a decision about whether there are names that raise conflict of interest concerns," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "Chief Justice Moore is entitled to receive a fair hearing. He has also asked for the case to be unsealed and will request this current panel of judges to accommodate his request. The public should now have access to that information."

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.
National Right to Life Last Minute Push in North Carolina

North Carolina Voters Deserve Better than Clinton and Ross



Contact: Tatiana Bergum, National Right to Life, 202-626-8825, mediarelations@nrlc.org



WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- National Right to Life, the federation of state right-to-life affiliates and local chapters, has announced that its political committees, the National Right to Life Victory Fund and the National Right to Life Political Action Committee, are contacting over 700,000 identified registered pro-life voter households in North Carolina, urging a vote for Roy Blunt for U.S. Senate and Donald Trump for president.



"North Carolina is a pro-life state, and Richard Burr and Donald Trump reflect North Carolina's pro-life values," said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. "Richard Burr and Donald Trump will provide a strong voice for the most vulnerable members of our society."



As the National Right to Life observes in its communications to registered pro-life voters, Deborah Ross supports a policy of abortion on demand, which allows abortion for any reason. Deborah Ross, as a North Carolina state representative, worked to continue the use of tax dollars to pay for abortion in North Carolina.



In contrast, National Right to Life highlights Richard Burr's strong pro-life position. He has a strong pro-life voting record. He supports protection for unborn children, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Blunt opposes using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion.



National Right to Life is also urging pro-life voters to support Donald J. Trump for president. He is pro-life and opposes using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion. He supports the bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks, when the unborn child can feel pain. He opposes dismemberment abortion and partial-birth abortion. Donald Trump has pledged to appoint pro-life justices to the United States Supreme Court.



Hillary Clinton would use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion on demand. Hillary Clinton voted in favor of partial-birth abortion and supports late abortion after 20 weeks, when the unborn child can feel pain, as well as dismemberment abortion. Hillary Clinton has pledged to appoint only pro-abortion justices to the United States Supreme Court.



"North Carolina voters are concerned about the right to life and with the protection of the most vulnerable members of the human family. A vote for Richard Burr and Donald Trump is a vote to save the lives of innocent unborn children," said Tobias.



Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.



Involved in every election since Ronald Reagan's election to the presidency, National Right to Life Political Action Committee (NRL PAC) was formed in 1979 as the political arm of National Right to Life.



The National Right to Life Victory Fund is an independent expenditure political action committee of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). NRL Victory Fund is dedicated to electing pro-life leaders.
The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
London tour: from architectural gardens to nose-to-tail dining, the best of the city right now

Take the Wallpaper* London tour  the latest in our design-led weekly travel round-up
An estimated 12,000 hunters headed afield Nov. 5 as the elk season begins its 12-day run in Southwest Washington.

A hunting license for elk costs $50.40 for residents and resident senior citizens, $21.80 for children younger than 16 years old or disabled residents and $497 for non-residents. Hunters must wear 400 square inches of fluorescent orange clothing, visible on all sides, above the waist.

Elk hunting  with its mostly single-digit success rates  is also about elk camps, hunting companions and enjoying the outdoors in the fall.

Surveys this spring showed a modest increase in the elk population of the St. Helens herd. Both the winters of 2014-15 and 2015-16 resulted in little winter kill at the states St. Helens Wildlife Area.

These indicators point toward a productive elk hunting season during 2016, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlifes 2016 hunting seasons prospect document.

Survey information in the GMUs comprising the Willapa Hills herd is favorable as well, it states. Surveys conducted in 2014 and repeated in 2016 indicate a stable or slightly increasing elk population in GMUs 506 Willapa Hills and 530 Ryderwood.

Elk hunting in Southwest Washington for the past decade largely is about the widespread hoof disease.

Reports have been increasing in number and geographic scope, and hunters are regularly seeing  and sometimes harvesting  elk with this condition, according the Department of Fish and Wildlife. It has been noted in both males and females, old and very young animals, and in any hoof.

The department has implemented regulations requiring hunters to leave the hooves of any elk taken. Page No. 66 of the 2016 big-game hunting pamphlet includes all the details regarding leaving elk feet at the site of harvest.

Washington wildlife officials are asking hunters, hikers and others who spend time in the Cascade Mountains this fall to watch for elk and notice to see if any walk with a limp.

The volunteer-based project by the Department of Fish and Wildlife is to learn more about the distribution of a the hoof disease.

The new reporting system is intended to see if the disease is found in new areas such as the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie or Okanogan-Wenatchee national forests, said Brooke George, project coordinator.

Our goal is to monitor the outer edges of where the disease occurs, so we can respond to changes in its distribution more quickly, George said. We appreciate any help people can give us in this effort.

Volunteers interested in contributing can pick up maps, reporting forms and instructions on how to fill them out at national forest offices and visitor centers throughout the Washington Cascades.

Locally, the forms are at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Mount Adams Ranger District office in Trout Lake, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument office in Chelatchie, Johnston Ridge Observatory on Highway 504, Washington state parks visitor center at Silver Lake and Cowlitz Valley Ranger District office in Randle.

Forms also are available at six locations in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and three in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

Participants also can report their observations online at http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/health/hoof_disease.

Elk season ends on Nov. 16.

Late buck deer season is Nov. 17 through 20.
I love the Three Sisters Wilderness because its a paradise of paradoxes. The desert terrain is cut by the occasional babbling brook; its edged in by high, snowy mountains and meddles in thick forests. Tents  though settled upon dry sand between subalpine firs  perch beside small lakes.

A few months ago, I attempted a loop around Broken Top mountain, the fourth highest peak in the Three Sisters Wilderness. It was my first backpacking trip, and I did it alone.

The Broken Top loop is often listed as one of the best short backpacking trips around. The 23-mile loop should take you three days, but since I committed one of those horrible hiking sins  I carried no map with me  I played it safe and cut my trip down to a two-day, 14-mile out-and-back hike.

It was wonderful nonetheless.

It begins at the Little Three Creek Lake, near Driftwood Campground 17 miles south of Sisters, Ore. The trail is mostly sand. I hiked in my trail running shoes, which took in a decent amount of sand, so Id recommend shoes with higher tops.

The trail takes you through the Pole Creek burn area, a 41-square-mile scorched sea of silvered, crisped subalpine firs and lodgepole pines. The September 2012 fire was the largest Central Oregon fire in 2012, according to The Oregonian.

Its so worth it to stop for a snack in the burn area. While the area is eerie in its own way, the sight of scorched trees against the summer blue sky remind you how beautiful the Three Sisters Wilderness is even when its been burnt to a crisp.

Bears are reportedly rare in the Three Sisters Wilderness, but I kept alert and stashed my food and hygiene products (anything that smells strongly  such as deodorant and toothpaste) in a thick bag that I tied to a tree far from my tent that night.

Because of all those lovely babbling brooks  and one fairly substantial creek youll have to cross or climb a log over as you please  theres plenty of opportunity for water along the seven miles to Golden Lake. When you arrive at the lake, you can filter water from the creek that feeds the lake  which is more like a wide pond.

Frustratingly, the fork in the road that leads to Golden Lake is unmarked, so keep your eyes peeled. I got there thanks to rough directions written out on my phone and help from a fellow hiker. Generally, though, its a good indicator that youre getting closer when the thick forest breaks into a more rocky terrain.

I arrived at the lake around 4 p.m. Seeing it for the first time was a bit like seeing the ocean for the first time.

The tree line breaks into the grassy expanse of Park Meadow. A narrow trail weaves its way to the lakes bank, where I found a hiker whipping a fishing line over the lakes still surface. A thin, clear creek rushes down from the mountains and fills the shallow lake.

As Ive written before, I love hiking alone. But as much as I want peace and solitude, I also want to test how much alone-ness I can handle.

It can get tough: Your mind plays tricks on you when youre alone in the wilderness. It challenges your sense of security and your confidence.

As I prepared for bed that night, for example, I froze midway down to my sleeping bag. I kept stock still while I listened to the sound of my zipper tassels jangling against the sides of my tent and the zipper teeth and to the flapping of my rain fly. Eventually, I ripped the fly off.

My mind jumped to the worst conclusion  some animal or human wanted inside my tent.

I quickly dispelled my theory but it took another two hours to fall asleep. I tried plugging my ears to block out the sound. I scrunched my sleeping bag closer around me. I face-planted into my pillow, laid my arm over my eyelids to block out any leftover light, and still my heart raced.

The wind whipped my tent about. It pushed my tent up and over my face and wrestled with the heavy backpack Id placed at the tents entrance in a lame attempt to keep the walls from caving in.

When I awoke the next morning, I felt proud to have endured the nights solitude. So I celebrated with coffee and basked in the glory of Broken Top and South Sister, which loomed just outside my tent. When I finally crawled outside my tent, I discovered that the campers closest to me had already packed up, in time to avoid the first drops of rain. Luckily, it never more than drizzled on the way back to my car. A light raincoat, hat and a rain cover for my backpack were all I needed.

When I arrived back at the Little Three Creek Lake trailhead, I sat on the banks of Three Creek Lake to admire my trip. I peeled off my socks, emptied the sand from my shoes and washed my feet in the lake.

Fourteen miles later and I was wishing I was fourteen miles deep into the wilderness again.
Jimi OHagan, a challenger for a Southwest Washington legislative seat, was charged with two felonies Monday, adding some last-minute drama to what had been a sleepy race.

Charges were filed by Lewis County prosecutor Jonathan Meyer on Monday, with a summons issued Tuesday for OHagan to appear in Pacific County Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 18.

OHagan, a Grayland cranberry farmer running as a Republican, is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and first-degree possession of stolen property.

According to the Chinook Observer, the charges are the result of an ongoing dispute between OHagan and Raymond resident Brian Couch. This spring, OHagan allegedly refused to return a Chevrolet suburban and air boat, valued at $30,000, after initially borrowing the two vehicles with permission from Couch.

Although the alleged crimes occurred in Pacific County, the case was handed off to Lewis County prosecutors by Pacific Countys head prosecuting attorney, Mark McClain.

We have a long history with Mr. OHagan, and in order to make sure theres trust in the judicial system, then (his case) should be reviewed by an independent prosecutor, McClain said Thursday.

OHagan has filed multiple actions in the local court system against McClain and other Pacific County law and justice officials, accusing them of misconduct. His campaign platform is based on his experiences with the judicial system, which he has claimed to be corrupt. If elected as a representative of the 19th District, OHagan has promised to ban attorneys from holding public office.

OHagans case against McClain alleges that the prosecuting attorney defamed him by placing a photo of OHagan in the prosecutors office so that staff could identify him if he entered the office. McClain said he put the picture up in response to warnings from both the state attorney general and the Washington Bar Association that OHagan could be dangerous.

OHagans opponent in the legislative race, Aberdeen Democratic incumbent Brian Blake, said that he wished that attorneys had waited until after the election to file the charges.

I was very confident that I was going to win. I just dont want to win because of what may or may not happen with this case, Blake said. Its kind of an odd situation, and hopefully folks will learn more of the facts if it goes to trial.

OHagan did not return phone calls Thursday.
Lenovo P2, which was introduced at IFA 2016, is gearing up to go on sale from next month, and ahead few days of its official release, the detailed specs of the phone unofficially leaked on the internet. At IFA2016, Lenovo already winded up curtain from most of the key specs of its P2 smartphone, yet had kept some functionalities undisclosed. But now, from an unofficial source, the complete specifications of Lenovo P2 have leaked online, giving the market the detailed information. Alongside Lenovo P2, the retail packaging of the upcoming Moto M also has allegedly been spotted surfing on the internet.

The newly leaked images of Lenovo P2 have been shared by Krispitech, according to which, Lenovo P2 will sport a 5.5-inch full-HD Super AMOLED display alongside a 13-megapixel rear and a 5-megapixel front camera. Measuring 153x76x8.3mm, and weighing 177 grams, this dual-SIM (Nano+Nano) smartphone is also tipped to have 4G LTE connectivity support.

On the software front, the Lenovo P2 is leaked to run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS out-of-the-box and is alleged to be powered by a 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. In terms of storage, the phone will pack either 3GB or 4GB of RAM alongside an Adreno 506 for superior graphics capabilities. Krispitech also reported the Lenovo P2 to launch on 8th November, while Lenovo has yet kept the official release date undisclosed.

In the storage front, the phone will either pack 32GB or 64GB internal memory alongside an expandable option up to 128 GB. Krispitech also adds that Lenoovo will launch a 4GB LPPDR4 RAM and 64GB storage variant for the Chinese market, while a 3GB/4GB LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB storage variant will be launched in the international market.

Apart from the leaked images of Lenovos soon-to-be-launched smartphone, Techdroider, a leading news site also listed some pictures of Moto M smartphones retail packaging on its website and suggested the phone hit the market soon. The Owner of the site took to Twitter to post news that reads -the retail packaging of Moto M is out, and, the title  Moto M name is clearly notable in the box. In its official blog, Techdroider also mentioned that Lenovo is going to announce the launch of Moto M at a formal event of November 8.

In terms of specs, Moto M is expected to have a 5.5-inch screen, 32 GB/3 RAM or 64 GB/4 GB RAM variants, 16-mp rear and 5-mp front snapper, Android 7.0 Nougat, and is said to be powered by Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10 Octa-core (41.8 GHz Cortex-A53 & 41.0 GHz Cortex-A53) processor paired with Mali-T860MP2 CPU. With two colour variants like White and Black alongside a massive 5100 mAh battery, Moto M is rumoured to hit availability on 8th November.
Huawei has put a full stop on leaks, rumours and speculations of its Mate 9 smartphone by its launch. At an earlier scheduled event in Germany the Chinese smartphone maker has unveiled its Huawei Mate 9 handset globally in Black, Space Gray, Moonlight Silver, Champagne Gold, Mocha Brown, and Ceramic White colour variants.

Initially, the device will be available for sale in China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the UAE in the first phase at a price of EUR 699 (around Rs. 51,600).

The USP of Huawei Mate 9 is its dual rear camera setup which comes with Leica branding as that was earlier seen in Huawei P9. The camera of the smartphone is touted as second second-generation Leica dual-lens camera, which is co-engineered with Leica. The Mate 9 sports a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB sensor, both with f/2.2 apertures, the pair offers an improved colour accuracy, depth perception, and contrast. The dual camera setup is also featured with optical image stabilisation (OIS), Hybrid Zoom, dual-tone dual-LED flash, and something Huawei is calling a 4-in-1 Hybrid Autofocus system, with contrast, depth, laser, and phase detection. Meanwhile, for selfies the company has packed the handset with an 8-megapixel of secondary snapper which comes with an f/1.9 aperture lens.

Running on Android 7.0 Nougat based latest EMUI 5.0, the Huawei Mate 9 is powered by a HiSilicon Kirin 960 octa-core SoC with four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.4GHz, and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. The chipset is bundled with a newly launched ARM Mali-G71 GPU and 4GB of RAM. On storage front, the manufacturer offers 64GB of internal memory that could be expandable up to 256GB via the hybrid SIM slot which supports a microSD card. It weighs in at 190 grams, and measures 156.978.97.9mm

As earlier rumoured, the smartphone flaunts a 5.9-inch full-HD (10801920 pixels) IPS display. It comes packed with a a 4000mAh battery with SuperCharge technology which is claimed by the company to deliver 24 hours of charge in 20 minutes.

A Porche design variant of Huawei Mate 9 and Huawei Fit bad are also introduced at the event which will cost EUR 1,395 (around Rs. 1Lakh) and EUR 149 (around Rs. 11,000). Huawei announced that the Porche Design Huawei Mate 9 will only be available in Graphite Black colour option at European Porsche Design Stores starting in late December, starting from late December. The special edition of the smartphone differs from its parent handset in terms of its display, RAM and storage  a 5.5-inch QHD (14402560 pixels) AMOLED display, 6GB RAM, and 256GB of internal memory, respectively. The smartphone weighs less at 169 grams, and measures 152x75x7.5mm.
Scientists and space experts from Russia, Romania, Canada and the United States have come up with an opportunity for the humans on earth to be part of a nation called Asgardia. Interestingly, Asgardia is already having more than 450,000 registered members in its community. The self-proclaimed father of Asgardia, Igor Ashurbeyli has revealed this through a press conference on 12th October.

According to the Asgardia official website, the community has already received more than 11k applications from India itself. However, Chinese applicants are topping at 127,161. There are 53,441 applications from the US and 42,752 applications from Turkey as well.

One has to visit asgardia.space for registration, to be a part of this community. The site has been founded by Ashurbeyli, a businessman, scientist and founder of the Aerospace International Research Center in Vienna. But, Asgardia is not offering any official citizenship as itself is not acknowledged as a nation. Michele from Italy is the first registered Asgardian boy. Anyone under 18 needs the approval of parents to be a part of this community.

Moreover, the so-called space nation Asgardia has even declared its government structure. According to sources, the community is going to be governed by a 12 minister council. The council will be in charge for initial few months, until the election in 2017 June. There will be departments of science, industry, space, youth and education, integration, information and communication, foreign affairs, trade and commerce, finance, safety and security, and justice in its ministry. 12th ministry of the community has to be decided from the recommendations of Asgardia community through the nations official facebook page (facebook.com/asgardia.space/). Ashurbeyli will make an appeal with the United Nations for official acknowledgment of Asgardia, once he gets enough interested member within its community.

People involved with space research and technology, even the sponsors, will be first given the Asgardia citizenship status. However, finally, even the Asgardias official website says that the plan of complete independent Asgardia nation is not going to happen anytime sooner. According to the scientists, they are not going to sell lands on the moon or something like that. In fact, the whole project is still in the process of inviting sponsorships or private donations only.

Well, not just Asgardia though, Mars One is also already on a process of finding living zones for humans, other than the earth. Mars One, a non-profit foundation aims at establishing humans on Mars. In fact, its in all efforts of sending its crews for a quest to Mars in 2026.
In the wake of finding a huge number of ancient rarities and bones in a stone sanctuary in the remote outback, researchers on Wednesday said Human being began to settle in inland Australia 10,000 years earlier than it is previously believed to be.

As per the previous credence, human being touched base in Australia around 39,000 years back, while the latest discovery indicated this thought to be wrong and claimed people started living in Australia around 50, 000 years back. However, till now, their planning for the settlement in parched inside, utilisation of devices and their connection with ancient creatures has been subjective to further research and discussion.

On Wednesday, a group of archaeologists discovered a large number of antique unusual objects and bones rock shelter in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, while excavating it, which is located 450 kilometres from the state capital Adelaide, and it clearly indicates that people already started living in Australia from 49,000 to 46,000 years prior than it supposed to be.

The geologists published the report in the journal Nature which reads  We, in the journal, represented the solid evidence from Warratyi rock shelter located in the southern interior of Australia that explains that humans occupied parched Australia by approximately 49,000 years ago, which is 10,000 years sooner than formerly reported.

In the discovery, the scientists found a number of earliest objects of their type in Australia, which includes a particular type of rocks and bone tools alongside the red, yellowish-brown and gypsum colourings, which is creating the illusion of how and when such items became subjective to human use.

The lead author of the study, Giles Hamm, from La Trobe University, Australia on this matter said, the technologies which are believed to be parts of modern innovations are now found to be the development of ancient culture, which dates back around 49, 000 years.
tech2 News Staff

If reports are to be believed, the HTC Vive VR headset is slated for a mild redesign.

Speaking to TechCrunch, HTCs Rikard Steiber, SVP of VR at HTC explained that we might see an update to the HTC Vives form factor. The Vive VR headset was released in April this year, right alongside competitor, the Rift CV1 from Oculus.

The Oculus Rift and Vive have been competing head to head in the PC VR space since their launch and reactions to both have been mixed. The consensus is that the Rift is the better headset, but that the Vive, with its bundled controllers and room-scale VR, offers the better experience.

Steibers suggestion that the Vive will see an update, is a welcome one. Oculus has, after all, already announced plans for room-scale VR and touch controllers of its own and itll be too bad if the Vive falls behind.

Steiber also told TechCrunch that HTCs VR plans in countries like China and Taiwan revolves around enhanced peripherals like wheels and weapons. He also suggested that innovation cycles in VR, as far as high-end VR headsets are concerned at least, will be sort of annual.

The Rift and the Vive, with all necessary accessories for room-scale VR and motion controls are priced in the same range (around $799). With all accessories included, the two platforms also offer a largely similar gaming experience.

Its hard to imagine how the two platforms will set each other apart in the near future.
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Google does not perceive ISRO's geo-portal app Bhuvan as competition, a senior Google India official said here on Thursday, stressing that such data sharing platforms help bolster the industry. "From our analysis, it's a great platform for sharing data. We generally don't look at a different app as a competition as we are trying to solve the same problem," said Google India's Maps Lead Sanket Gupta.

"There's a long way to go... It is something like a great experience and generally great for the industry," Gupta told the media here. Bhuvan is a software application created by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that allows users to explore 2D/3D representation of the Earth's surface. The mapping app is specifically tailored to view India, offering highest resolution in the region and providing content in four local languages.

Asked about the security and privacy concerns regarding live traffic updates, Gupta clarified the company aggregates anonymised traffic data from people using Google Maps apps. "We generally strip out personal identifiable information which keeps it secure and that's why we can't identify a particular traffic update to a particular cell phone," Gupta added.
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Search engine Google is yet to receive permission -- primarily on the policy front -- to launch its Street View feature in India, a company official said here on Thursday. "However, with more than 5,000 cities and six lakh villages mapped in India, the company is aiming to develop more country-relevant features," said Sanket Gupta, Maps Lead, Google India. He said Street View allows users to explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders, and step inside locations such as museums, arena, parks and transport hubs.

"In India's immediate neighbourhood, countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have it in the south Asian region while Indonesia in the southeast, and Japan are deploying it," said Gupta. "As of now we have not been able to get permissions. Discussions are still happening on that front. It's more of a decision on the policy side that we have not been able to get permissions. Technically, we just need cameras and cars," Gupta told the media.

He said there are certain features which are especially relevant to India and the country has inspired the development of such features and many are now available globally. "The landmark-based directions feature that we developed for India and from India, has been launched in other countries. We will launch it in Indonesia. Then we have the 'Named Intersections' and local guides program. The offline maps feature was inspired from India," Gupta said.

India is among the top five countries using offline maps today, he said. "We are also trying to explore partnership with the Railways for real-time train travel data but we don't have a timeline on that," Gupta added.

IANS
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Google on Thursday formally rejected European Union antitrust charges of unfairly promoting its shopping service and blocking rivals in online search advertising, paving the way for EU regulators to rule next year on these issues and potentially impose hefty fines. The U.S. technology giant's rebuttal in the shopping case came six years after the European Commission opened an investigation prompted by complaints from rivals such as Microsoft and a host of European and U.S. rivals.

The EU regulator followed up with an anti-competitive charge against the company in April last year and added more evidence in July this year. It also issued a separate charge sheet against its online search advertising product AdSense for Search at the same time. Google's general counsel Kent Walker said on a blog that the accusations had no factual, legal or economic basis, and that the company's actions were driven by its users rather than any plan to squash rivals.

"We never compromised the quality or relevance of the information we displayed. On the contrary, we improved it. That isn't 'favouring' - that's listening to our customers," Walker said. He said the Commission had failed to take into account competition from Amazon, merchant platforms, social media sites, mobile web and online advertising by companies such as Facebook and Pinterest.

The EU executive said it had received Google's response. "In each case, we will carefully consider Google's response before taking any decision on how to proceed and cannot at this stage prejudge the final outcome of the investigation," Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in an email.

Google may find it difficult convincing the EU regulator with its latest arguments, said Michael Carrier, professor at New Jersey-based Rutgers Law School. "Google has a point that its search results help consumers by allowing them to directly buy the item. But the Commission worries about the effect on rivals. This likely will outweigh the consumer point," he said.

Google also rejected a Commission proposal which would let the company charge rivals for displaying their services prominently, with the amount corresponding to its operating cost or a nominal amount based on the lowest reserve price for AdWords which is currently 0.01 euro per click.

In the advertising case, the company said it had already scrapped the exclusivity clauses and other provisions identified by the regulator as anti-competitive. The Commission plans to hand down hefty fines to Google if found guilty of breaching EU rules, the charge sheet seen by Reuters showed. The penalty could reach $7.4 billion or 10 percent of the company's global turnover for each case.

Walker said Google would respond in the coming days to a third EU charge of using its Android mobile operating system to hinder competitors. The Commission has given it until Nov. 11 to do so.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

Google has called EU objections to its improved shopping results in searches as baseless. The European Commission had accused Google of using its dominant position to take business away from price comparison and price aggregating sites, based on complaints it had received from these sites. Google contends that the most dominant position is held by Amazon itself, which competes for traffic with price aggregation sites more than Google does.

The counter argument was that as Amazon pays these sites for listings, it should not be considered as a competition. Google provided data to show that a staggering majority of users start shopping online by checking the prices on Amazon, irrespective of whether or not they end up making a purchase from the site. Google came in a second place for users looking for prices, and only a fraction of users opted to check price comparison sites.

Google also alleges that most of the shopping activity is conducted through native apps on smartphones. Google claims that it has improved its search results to deliver ads with pictures and prices, a process that helps Google, its partnered advertisers as well as the end users.

Google claims there is no relation between the evolution of its search engine, and the performance of price comparison sites.
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Huawei Technologies took the wraps of a new premium phone on Thursday, adding a new artificial intelligence feature it hopes will help it close the gap with Apple and market leader Samsung, which is reeling from scrapping its flagship phone. The Mate 9 is aimed squarely at the top end of the $400 billion global smartphone market, where professional users are looking for fast phones with long battery life.

It includes a feature that enables the device to learn about the habits of its user and automatically put the most frequently used apps in easy reach - unlike, for example, Apple's iPhone, where icons that may occupy many screens apart from the start screen have to be manually ordered. "It learns how you use your phone," said Arne Herkelmann, Huawei's European head of handset portfolio and planning.

The launch comes just three weeks after Samsung scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, dealing a huge blow to its reputation and outlook. With smartphone sales growth expected to slow in the coming years, device manufacturers are focusing on new ways to stand out from the crowd. "Just the device is no longer enough," said Roberta Cozza, an analyst at research firm Gartner. "AI and voice control will be main features on smartphones in the coming years."

Alphabet's Google last month launched the Pixel smartphone which has Google Assistant, the company's voice-activated artificial intelligence (AI) system and its answer to Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. In another AI push, Samsung said last month it would buy Viv, which is run by the co-creator of Apple's Siri and said it wanted to integrate the platform in its Galaxy smartphones and expand its voice-assistant services to home appliances and wearable technology devices.

The Mate 9, introduced in Munich, is a 5.9-inch (15 cm)large-screen handset that boasts cameras with autofocus, directional microphones with noise cancellation and an improved user interface. The algorithm puts the user's favorite apps first, which makes the phones easier to use and also more energy-efficient. The phone's battery lasts for almost two days of heavy usage and can fully recharge in 90 minutes, Huawei said. Gartner expects smartphone sales to grow 4.5 percent to 1.5billion devices this year.

Reuters
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China's Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest personal computer (PC) manufacturer by shipments, on Thursday said it returned to profit in its second fiscal quarter, beating analyst estimates, due primarily to gains from an asset sale. Growth in the consumer PC market in particular has been sluggish in recent years as tablet computers and increasingly capable smartphones become widespread.

Lenovo is the world's largest PC vendor with a 21.3 percent market share, but its lead over second-ranked HP Inc has shrunk to the narrowest margin since the Chinese firm took the top position in 2013, showed data from researcher IDC.

"In the short term, market conditions will remain challenging," Chairman and Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Lenovo aims to maintain leadership in PCs through industry consolidation while building on its mobile and data centre businesses, he said.

Profit reached $157 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, from its worst-ever quarterly loss of $714 million in the same period a year earlier when Lenovo booked one-off costs to restructure and integrate the mobile business of Motorola. The result, helped by a property disposal gain of $206 million, compared with a Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate of $131 million drawn from the estimates of 14 analysts.

Revenue fell 8 percent to $11.2 billion, versus the $11.02 billion analyst estimate. For the first half, net profit was $330 million versus a loss of $609 million a year earlier, while revenue fell 7 percent to $21.3 billion. It said revenue fell 8 percent in its PC and smart device business, 10 percent in its mobile business and 4 percent in its data centre.

"The Group will develop new smart devices, powered by cloud and enriched with services," Yang said in the filing. "The Group is exploring smart home, smart office, smart healthcare and other areas and leveraging artificial intelligence ... and other new technologies."

Lenovo said its global PC shipments declined 3 percent in the first half against a market decline of 4 percent. Lenovo is in talks with Japan's Fujitsu Ltd to explore strategic cooperation regarding the latter's PC business. A potential acquisition of Fujitsu's PC business could help Lenovo consolidate its footing in the global PC market and counter slower growth at home in China, its biggest market, analysts said.

Reuters
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Luxembourg is investing $27.6 million (25 million euros) in privately owned Planetary Resources, an asteroid-mining startup also backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, the company said on Tuesday. About half of the investment is a direct capital injection into the Redmond, Washington-based firm, while the remainder will be in the form of grants and other money for research and development that will take place at a new facility in Luxembourg, Planetary Resources said.

The company previously raised $21.1 million from private investors, including Page, and venture capital funds. Combined, the financing should be enough for Planetary Resources to launch its first commercial asteroid prospecting mission by 2020, President Chris Lewicki told Reuters. Asteroids are chunks of primitive rocky bodies that orbit around the sun. Some asteroids pass relatively close to Earth. Planetary Resources and other companies are developing sensors to scan asteroids for water, carbon, metals and other resources that can be used in space to refuel rockets, construct equipment and other projects.

In September, SpaceX chief Elon Musk unveiled a Mars colonization plan that includes refueling rockets from in-space fuel depots. The prospecting sensors also can be installed on satellites circling Earth to measure temperatures and map resources on the planet for commercial and scientific projects, Lewicki said.

In addition to its investment in Planetary Resources, Luxembourg has a preliminary agreement to co-fund a prototype prospecting spacecraft being developed by another asteroid-mining startup, Deep Space Industries of Mountain View, Calif. A representative from Luxembourg will join Planetary Resources' board of directors.

"They are becoming not only investors, but very strong collaborators in their space resources initiatives," Lewicki said. In 1985, Luxembourg became a founding investor and shareholder of SES SA, now the world's largest communication satellite operator.

In a statement, Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider said the Planetary Resources investment demonstrates the government's "strong commitment to support the national space sector by attracting innovative activities in space resource utilization and other related areas."

Reuters
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Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has provided over 7,000 additional points of interconnect (PoIs) to Reliance Jio, taking the total number of those provided to over 17,000. While welcoming the step, Jio said over 4.6 crore calls are still failing everyday between the two operators' networks. "This capacity is sufficient to serve over 75 million customers, based on the forecast provided by Jio to Airtel. This will also ensure that the quality of service (QoS) is maintained and the customers are not inconvenienced," an Airtel statement said.

"There are no network related issues that RJIL (Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited) has faced beyond the acute shortage of POIs provided by Airtel and other incumbent operators," said RJIL in a statement. "It may be noted that there are no failures in on-net calls, while over 4.6 crore calls are still failing every day between Jio and Airtel," it added. "Airtel has been providing PoIs to Jio, even before the commencement of Jio's commercial operations. Following the commercial launch of services by Jio on September 5, 2016, Airtel has released PoIs at a staggering pace, well ahead of its bilateral and regulatory obligations," Airtel said.

"As a matter of fact the number of PoIs provided by Airtel to Jio is more than 2.5 times the number provided to an existing operator with a comparable subscriber base," it added. "RJIL hopes that this situation will improve now that Airtel has consented to offering additional POIs. However, Airtel has continued to violate the Interconnection Agreement by offering one-way E1s as against both-way E1s as provided for in the Agreement, which would have resulted in much more efficient utilisation of interconnection resources," RJIL said.

The Indian telecom regulator on October 21 slapped heavy penalties on three telecom players -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular -- for not providing sufficient PoIs to Reliance Jio. It also said the action of the three operators showed "ulterior motive to stifle competition". In three similar letters to the three players, the watchdog -- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) -- said it has recommended a penal action of Rs 50 crore per licence service area (LSA) except Jammu and Kashmir, where PoI congestion exceeded the allowable limit of 0.5 per cent as reported by Airtel/Vodafone/Idea Cellular through emails in September.

In the case of Airtel and Vodafone, the fines imposed were for 21 LSAs, amounting to Rs 1,050 crore each, while in the case of Idea, the fine was Rs 950 crore for 19 LSA. "RJIL hopes that Airtel will continue to release adequate POIs going forward to ensure that it adheres to the QOS parameter of POI congestion mandated by TRAI regulation at less than 5 per 1,000 calls at all times," the telecom operator said.

"In June 2016, Jio had provided its forecast of projected points of interconnect to Airtel. At a meeting on November 1, 2016 in the presence of the TRAI, Jio reiterated its requirement and requested Airtel to provide sufficient PoIs in line with its forecast of June 2016," the Airtel statement said. "With the latest augmentation, Airtel has now provided Jio the capacity to cater to 75 million customers. This is well ahead of the timeframe, since there are currently only 25 million customers making calls to the Airtel network fro" Jio," it added.

"Our regulatory obligations permit us to provide interconnect in a period of 90 days," the statement said. With this augmentation Airtel said it has provided Jio capacity that is comparable to operators with six to eight times the customer base of Jio, in nine weeks of their lauch. "We now request Jio to ensure that the additional POIs, that we have made available at a staggering pace, be operationalised with the same alacrity. This will help identify any network related issues, which Jio may have in their network should any problems persist, given the massive over capacities provided by us," Airtel said.

Jio has already provided Airtel their future requirements for capacities at 100 million customers. "As and when they ramp up their current subscriber base, we will further augment capacities ahead of time, as we have always done," the statement said. Airtel maintained that it was committed to comply with all TRAI regulations and Interconnect Agreements in lette.

They said that at the same time we request TRAI to examine the incredible asymmetry of calls terminating on the Airtel network from Jio due to free services being offered by Jio. "This continued asymmetry will degrade the customer experience for Airtel customers over time and melt down networks," Airtel said. With regard to the traffic asymmetry issue, the current traffic pattern is completely in line with what is expected in a new network, RJIL stated.

It would tend to move towards balanced traffic as the network matures and has sufficient scale, it added.

IANS

Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2.
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It may sound like science fiction, but wastewater treatment plants may one day turn ordinary sewage into biocrude oil, thanks to new research at the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). "There is plenty of carbon in municipal waste water sludge and interestingly, there are also fats," said one of the researchers Corinne Drennan, who is responsible for bioenergy technologies research at PNNL, at Richland, in Washington.

"The fats or lipids appear to facilitate the conversion of other materials in the wastewater such as toilet paper, keep the sludge moving through the reactor, and produce a very high quality biocrude that, when refined, yields fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuels," Drennan noted in an official statement. The technology, hydrothermal liquefaction, mimics the geological conditions Earth uses to create crude oil.

It uses high pressure and temperature to achieve in minutes something that takes Mother Nature millions of years. The resulting material is similar to petroleum pumped out of the ground, with a small amount of water and oxygen mixed in. This biocrude can then be refined using conventional petroleum refining operations, the researchers said. With this technology, a single person could generate two to three gallons of biocrude per year, according to an estimate by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Sewage, or more specifically sewage sludge, has long been viewed as a poor ingredient for producing biofuel because it's too wet. The approach being studied by PNNL eliminates the need for drying required in a majority of current thermal technologies which historically has made wastewater to fuel conversion too energy intensive and expensive. Hydrothermal liquefaction may also be used to make fuel from other types of wet organic feedstock, such as agricultural waste, according to the researchers.

Using hydrothermal liquefaction, organic matter such as human waste can be broken down to simpler chemical compounds. The material is pressurised to 3,000 pounds per square inch -- nearly one hundred times that of a car tire. Pressurized sludge then goes into a reactor system operating at about 660 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat and pressure cause the cells of the waste material to break down into different fractions -- biocrude and an aqueous liquid phase, the researchers explained.

In addition to producing useful fuel, the technology could give local governments significant cost savings by virtually eliminating the need for sewage residuals processing, transport and disposal.

IANS
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has denied that the Russian government was the source of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's emails that were published this year, a media report said on Thursday.

"The Clinton camp has been able to project a hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything. Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 US intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That's false -- we can say that the Russian government is not the source," Assange told Russia's RT news in an exclusive interview from the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has been living for four years.

Assange also accused the US presidential candidate of being a pawn of behind-the-scenes interests, and voiced doubts about her physical fitness to take charge of the White House. "Hillary Clinton is just one person. I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person, because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick -- for example faint -- as a result of going on, and going with their ambitions. But she represents a whole network of people, and a whole network of relationships with particular states," the whistleblower said.

Over the past nine months, WikiLeaks uploaded over 30,000 emails from Hillary Clinton's private email server, while she was Secretary of State (2009-2013). This was followed by nearly 20,000 emails sent to and by members of the US Democratic National Committee, exposing the party leadership's dismissive attitude towards Bernie Sanders, and his outsider primaries campaign. Last month, WikiLeaks posted over 50,000 emails connected to John Podesta, former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff, and a close associate of the current presidential frontrunner.

The US Homeland Security Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence posted a joint statement in October, claiming they were "confident" that the Russian government "directed" the leaks. Russia has rejected the accusations.

IANS
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World traveler, off the beaten path foodie and television star are just a few of the ways to describe Anthony Bourdain. One could also say he is a bit of a snob when it comes to his food as in if it is good, hell go out of the way to get it, no matter what.

However, just dont expect him to be that way when it comes to beer. Thats because he hates HATES craft beer snobs.

According to a recent interview with Thrillist, Bourdain says his biggest critics are those who believe he doesnt highlight local beer enough when hes doing shows like No Reservations, The Layover and most recently. Parts Unknown.

The angriest critiques I get from people about shows are when Im drinking whatever convenient cold beer is available in a particular place. You know, I havent made the effort to walk down the street 10 blocks to the microbrewery where theyre making some fucking Mumford and Sons IPA. People get all bent about it. But look, I like cold beer. And I like to have a good time.

His hatred for beer snobs comes out in full, thanks to a story about a recent trip to a bar in San Francisco. One in which he was confronted with a group of guys taking down beer flights and notes on each of the beers tasted.

Lets just say that isnt exactly Bourdains goal when going to a bar ever.

This is not what a bar is about. A bar is to go to get a little bit buzzed, and pleasantly derange the senses, and have a good time, and interact with other people, or make bad decisions, or feel bad about your life. Its not to sit there fucking analyzing beer, he says.

Hoo boy: Bourdain just laid waste to craft-beer nerds https://t.co/3u98QZMNiF pic.twitter.com/l5U6bQEkIm  First We Feast (@firstwefeast) November 2, 2016

While there is a great beer world out there to explore, going to a bar and taking 20 minutes to decide between the IPA or the Double IPA or that rare bottle imported from some random farm brewery in Belgium probably should be eliminated.

As a beer connoisseur myself, I can agree. Those moments are best saved for beer drinkers at home. Enjoy all the crazy beer and all the intense notes and differences between hop flavors you want; just dont jam up my night out with friends or to escape from reality with your snobbery.

So what if I feel like a Miller Lite tonight? Whats it to you, bro?

After all, that is the beauty of beer  each person has a different and unique relationship with it. Who are we to judge someone for their choice? (Unless they are going weakest to most intense in ABV thats just amateur hour.)

Do we really want to become those wine snobs we see out and about? Lets just agree to not take beer so seriously and enjoy the suds in solidarity.

[A.V. Club]
KHULNA UNIVERSITY: KU VC Dr Mohammad Faiekuzzaman handing over result sheet of Biology Examination to members of admission committee yesterday.
No partner for Biman`s ground handling this year

Economic Reporter :

There is no possibility of taking any partner for Biman Bangladesh Airlines for its much-talked-about ground handling activities by this year for improving the quality of the job at the country's all airports.

"The work in this regard is going on...the target is to get a comprehensive report from the consultant concerned by this year to have a partner," Biman chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director AM Mosaddique Ahmed told The New Nation.

Biman General Manager (PR) Shakil Meraj said the consultant company has started its work, and it is now evaluating the offers that came in response to the relevant tender.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has chosen the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for evaluating the tender proposals.

The decision to take a partner has been taken to maximise profitability, provide efficient, reliable and cost-effective solutions at all levels, ensure the compliance of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), optimum utilisation of ground-handling assets, ensure industrial relations and harmony and drive massive improvements in products and services and become a 'Regional Centre of Excellence'.

The Biman CEO said there is no possibility of inducting any foreign partner by this year. "If we can sign an agreement with our partner, it'll take time to procure ground-handling equipment and other logistics to give better services to passengers," he said.

Seven companies-Swissport International Ltd of Switzerland, SITA of Singapore, Egypt Air of Egypt, Dnata of Dubai, Celebi of Turkey and two others from India- have showed their interest to be Biman's partner in ground-handling works.

The national flag carrier remained the sole agent of the ground handling in all airports of the country since the country's independence. Biman now provides passenger and cargo services to 07 domestic and 15 international destinations.

It provides ground-handling support to 26 foreign carriers operating to and from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), Dhaka, Shah Amanat Airport, Chittagong and Osmani International Airport, Sylhet.

Biman provides ground-handling services to 910 passenger flights, 70 freighter aircraft and 10 charter aircraft a week. Biman earns about USD 30-35 million in revenue from ground-handling services a year.
Court of Settlement should apply judicial consideration impartially

High Court Division :

(Special Original Jurisdiction)

Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury J

Mahmudul Hoque J

Judgment

July 8th, 2015.

Shamsun Nahar Begum

Shelly ..Petitioner

vs

Bangladesh, represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Public Works and others..Respondents

Abandoned Buildings (Supplementary Provision) Ordinance (LIV of 1985)

Sections 2(b), 9 and 10

The Court of Settlement without following a judicial approach in determining the question of facts unfortunately passed the judgment without giving a judicial consideration of the whole dispute between the parties. ..(20)

Bangladesh Abandoned Property (Control, Management & Disposal) Order (PO No. 16 of 1972)

Article 2

Mere temporary or occasional absence of physical possession shall not of itself suffice to treat the property as abandoned. ..(15)

Bangladesh Abandoned Property (Control, Management & Disposal) Order (PO No. 16 of 1972)

Article 7

Ahandoned Buildings (Supplementary Provision) Ordinance (LIV of 1985)

Section 5(1)(b)

Non-service of notice as required by law disentitled the Government to claim that the property was legally declared abandoned and enlisted in the "Kha" list. There is nothing on record to show that the petitioner was ever asked to show cause about inclusion of the property or to surrender the same which has definitely denied the right of natural justice. ... (17)

Jebon Nahar vs Bangladesh, 49 DLR 108; Bangladesh vs Chand Sultana, 1 MLR 310 = 48 DLR 547; Jebon Nahar vs Bangladesh, 49 DLR 108; Bangladesh vs Chand Sultana, 51 DLR (AD) 24; Bangladesh vs Md Jalil, 48 DLR (AD) 10; Secretary Ministry of Works vs Rowshan Ara Begum, 57 DLR (AD) 167; Bangladesh vs ATM Mannan 1 BLC (AD) 8 and Md Feroj Mia vs Bangladesh in Writ Petition No. 4971 of 2001 ref

Khandaker Shahriar Shakir -For the Petitioner.

Shahidul Islam, DAG with Sukumar Biswas, AAG-

For Respondents.

Judgment

Mahmudul Hoque J : In this application under Article 102 of the Constitution of Bangladesh a Rule Nisi has been issued at the instance of the Petitioner calling upon the Respondents to show cause as to why the decision dated 10-12-2009 passed by Respondent No, 3 in Case No. 221 of 1992 dismissing the case and thereby refusing to release the property being House No. T-57 Khalishpur Housing Estate, Khulna, from Kha list of the Abandoned Buildings as published in the Bangladesh Gazette, dated 23-9-1986 at page No. 9764 (36) against serial No, 615 (Mistakenly mentioned in the decision as published in the Bangladesh Gazette dated 28-4-1986 against Serial No. 634) (Annexure "L") should not he declared to have been passed without lawful authority and is of no legal effect and as to why the Respondents should not be directed to exclude the house being No, T-57, Khalishpur Housing Estate, Khulna from the 'Kha' list of Abandoned Building as published in the Bangladesh Gazettc dated 23-9-1986 as detailed hereinbefore and/or pass such other or further order or orders as to this Court may seem fit and proper.

2. Facts relevant for disposal of this rule, in brief, are that the property in question being House No, T-57, Khalishpur Housing Estate, Khulna, measuring an area of 144 square yards was allotted by the Government to one SG Mustafa son of SM Yousuf by a registered deed of lease being No. 8753 dated 5-9-1963 and after getting allotment of the said property the lessee SG Mustafa had been possessing the same and constructed a two-storied building thereon obtaining loan from' House Building Finance Corporation ("HBFC") by mortgaging the said property as security against loan. The said SG Mustafa while in possession and enjoyment of the property in question died in the year 1972 and he was buried in Khalishpur grave-yard, Khulna, The said SG Mustafa died leaving son Abid Hossain, who was in possession of the disputed property. Subsequently he decided to dispose of the property in question and accordingly he executed a registered deed of agreement for sale being No. 22877 dated 12-12-1980 in favour of one Abdur Rob Biswas, the husband of the present Petitioner at a consideration of Taka.80,000 out of which he received Taka 40,000 as earnest money and delivered possession of the property. On the same day he executed and registered a power of attorney appointing the Petitioner authorizing her to act on his behalf and to deal with the property in question in any manner including power of transfer of the same. After passing of a considerable time while Abdur Rob Biswas pressed the said Abid Hossain to execute and register the sale deed upon receipt of the remaining money it was revealed that the property has been mortgaged to the HBFC and the original documents are lying with them. Thereafter the petitioner after making necessary inquiry came to know that the original loan amount stood at Taka 43,778 as on 7-12-1981. The petitioner made payment of the entire loan amount to the HBFC by a payment receipt dated 7-12-1981 through Sonali Bank, Khulna Branch. After payment of the entire amount HBFC released the property from mortgage and since then the petitioner is continuing in the possession of the disputed property without any objection from any quarter. By this time the Petitioner as possessor of the disputed property did not receive any notice either under Article 7 of the President's Order No. 16 of 1972 or under section 5(1)(b) of the Abandoned Buildings (Supplementary Provisions) Ordinance, 1985 (Ordinance No. 54 of 1985) from the Government. Subsequently the Petitioner came to know that the disputed property has been enlisted as Abandoned Property at serial No.615 in the "Kha" list vide SRO 364L/86-1985 published in the Gazette (Extra-ordinary) on 23-9-1986. Then the Petitioner filed a Case under Section 7 (1) of the Ordinance 54 of 1985 in the Second Court of Settlement being Case No. 221 of 1992, Dhaka annexing all the relevant documents in support of her claim by a Firisti. But the Second Court of Settlement after hearing dismissed the Case by the impugned Judgment and Order dated 10-12-2009. At this stage the Petitioner moved this Court by filing this application and obtained the present Rule and Order of Stay.

3. The Respondent-Government contested the Rule by filing Affidavit-in-Opposition and Supplementary Affidavit-in-Opposition denying all the material allegations made in the application contending, inter alia, that the property in question was leased out by the Government to one SG Mustafa for 99 years by a lease deed dated 4-9-1963. During the war of independence said SG Mustafa left the case property uncared for and taking such advantage the present Petitioner entered into possession and created some false documents to grab the case property. It is also stated that the claimant could not produce any document to show that the original owner was in possession of the case property at the material time from 26-3-1971 to 28-2-1972 and, as such, the case property has been rightly included in the Kha' List of the abandoned buildings under the provision of Article 2(1) of PO 16 of 1972 upon compliance of all the legal formalities. Further case of the Respondents-Government is that the claimant Petitioner while deposed before the Court of Settlement admitted in her cross-examination that she entered into the case property as an abandoned property, the Petitioner could not prove the death of SG Mustafa in Bangladesh and Abid Hossain is the son of said SG Mustafa and also failed to prove the right, title and interest in the case house and as such the Rule is liable to be discharged.

(To be continued)



4. Mr Khandaker Shariar Shakir, the learned Advocate appearing for the Petitioner submits that admittedly the Petitioner as constituted attorney of Abid Hossain, son of SG Mustafa, has been possessing the case property since 1982 and before that Abid Hossain was in possession. In this situation the Respondent-Government ought to have served a notice under Article 7 of PO 16 of 1972 upon the owner or the occupier asking them to surrender the possession of the property to the Deputy Commissioner but in the present case no such notice was issued and subsequently when the Ordinance No. 54 of 1985 came into force before enlistment of the property as abandoned property in the "Kha" list, the Government ought to have served a notice upon the owner or occupier of the property under section 5(1)(b) of the Ordinance 54 of 1985 asking the owner or possessor to surrender the property or to explain on what basis they are occupying the disputed property but in the instant case no such notice was issued and served upon the Petitioner or upon her principal Abid Hossain, as such inclusion of the property in question in the "Kha" list of the Abandoned Buildings is palpably illegal and without lawful authority. Mr Shakir referring an inquiry report dated 30-9-1996 Annexure I (1) furnished by the Officer-in-Charge, Abandoned Property Division, Khulna, submits that in the said report it has been clearly stated that there is no paper in the office to show on what basis the house in question included in the 'Kha' list of the abandoned buildings.

5. He also submits that from the said report it is evident that the property in question was never declared abandoned or any notice to that effect was issued or served upon the owner or occupier of the disputed property. Mr Shakir also argued that to substantiate the claim of the Petitioner, she deposed before the Court of Settlement and exhibited relevant documents in support of her claim such as the original lease deed, mortgage deed executed in favour of HBFC, death certificate of SG Mustafa nationality certificate of Abid Hossain, Affidavit sworn by Abid Hossain before the Magistrate, First Class, utility bills, succession certificate, registered power of attorney, payment receipt showing payment of loan money to HBFC by the petitioner but the Court of Settlement totally failed to consider those documents in its true perspective and upon misconstruction of the said documents most illegally dismissed the case holding that the property has been rightly declared abandoned and included in the "Kha" list of the Abandoned Buildings. He further argued that the record of Khalishpur Housing Estate placed before the Court Settlement shows that wife of SG Mustafa, namely, Hosneara Begum filed an application on 13-12-1972 before the Housing Authority, Khulna praying for allotting the said quarter in her favour stating that the property was leased out to her husband SG Mustafa in the year 1963 and subsequently her husband SG Mustafa constructed a two storied building on the property obtaining loan from HBFC who was killed on 10-3-1972. It is also argued that the Government file shows that said SG Mustafa died in Bangladesh in 1972 and several notices were issued by the Housing Authority demanding outstanding, installments from said SG Mustafa. Therefore, it is established that the original owner of the property was present in Bangladesh at the relevant time and he never left this country leaving the property uncared for but he died in this country and after his death his heirs had been in possession of the disputed property till 1980 and thereafter Abdur Rob Biswas and then the Petitioner as attorney of Abid Hossain has been possessing the disputed property.

6. For the above. reason the property in question cannot be declared abandoned and as such the listing of the property in the "Kha" list of the Abandoned Buildings is illegal and without lawful authority. In support of his submission he has referred to the cases of Jebon Nahar vs Bangladesh reported in 49 DLR 108, Bangladesh vs Chand Sultana reported in 1 MLR 310 = 51 DLR (AD) 24.

7. Mr Md Shahidul Islam, the learned Deputy Attorney General with Mr Sukumar Biswas, the learned Assistant Attorney General appearing for the Respondent Government submit that the Petitioner is not the owner of the property and as such she cannot file application before the Court of Settlement for release of the property from the 'Kha' list of the Abandoned Buildings. It is also argued that the Petitioner having failed to prove the case, the Court of Settlement has rightly dismissed the case. Mr Islam further submits that the burden of proof squarely lies on the Petitioner to prove that SG Mustafa or his heirs occupied, managed and supervised the case properly on the relevant date i.e. on 28-2-1982 to establish that the said property is not an abandoned property. But the petitioner having failed to prove the same the inclusion of the Building in the "Kha" list is proof of its being an abandoned property and the Government has nothing in prove or deny .

8. In the present case the petitioner could not show that SG Mustafa was present in Bangladesh on material dates or that he occupied, managed or supervised the case property when PO 16 of 1972 came into operation, as such the listing of the property in the "Kha" list as abandoned property is lawful and conclusive proof of facts. It is also argued that the papers and documents submitted on behalf of the Petitioner to prove her case showing payment of utility bills are after 1980 onwards as such it can not be said that the Petitioner or her principal was in active control and possession of the property in question. He further argued that the Court of Settlement rightly observed that though the Petitioner submitted some documents but those have not been proved by evidence. Mr. Islam also argued that the Petitioner is not the owner of the property and she can not be a claimant of the property as per law. It is also argued that this Court can not sit as a Court of appeal sitting in writ jurisdiction. This Court only can interfere if it is found that the Court of Settlement acted malafide and in violation of principle of natural justice. But in the present case no such allegation has been brought on behalf of the Petitioner. In support his of submissions he referred to the cases of Bangladesh vs Md Jalil reported in 48 DLR (AD) 10, Secretary Ministry of Works vs Rowshan Ara Begum reported in 57 DLR (AD) 167 and Bangladesh vs ATM Mannan reported in 1 BLC (AD) 8 and an unreported judgment dated 29-10-2009 passed in the case of Md Feroj Mia vs Bangladesh in Writ Petition No. 4971 of 2001.

9. Heard the learned Advocates for the parties, perused the Application, Supplementary Affidavits, Affidavits-in-opposition, Supplementary Affidavit-in-opposition and Affidavit-in Reply, along with the annexures annexed thereto.

10. In the instant Rule the moot question to be looked into whether the property in question has been legally declared as abandoned property and whether the property is at all come within the purview of the definition "abandoned." Before going through the merit of the case the provisions of law in this regard may be looked into.

11. The purpose of PO 16 of 1972 is to make provisions for the control, management and disposal of certain property abandoned by certain persons who are not present in Bangladesh or whose whereabouts are not known or who have ceased to occupy or supervise or manage in person their property or who are enemy aliens.

12. It appears that the purpose of PO 16 of 1972 is not to declare as abandoned the property of citizens who are very much present in Bangladesh and who have been occupying, supervising and managing their property at all times. In the present case the Government submitted the concerned record before the Court of Settlement. This Court finds that there are some papers which show that the Housing Authority on different dates Wrote letters to the lessee after 1972 onwards demanding payment of outstanding instalments. It is also found that wife of original lessee SG Mustafa has filed an application on 13-12- 1972 praying for allotment of the house in her name since her husband has been killed on 10-31-972. Apart from this the petitioner in her application categorically asserted that the original owner of the case property died in Bangladesh in the year 1972. Subsequently, while his son Abid Hossain was in active control, supervision and management of the case property, he, by a registered power of attorney, authorized the Petitioner to manage, supervise and control the property on his behalf. The Government though claimed that the property was rightly declared abandoned and enlisted in the "Kha" list as abandoned property, but could not produce any document in support of enlistment and declaration of the property as abandoned or even a notice to surrender under Article 7 of PO 16 of 1972 or under Section 5(1) (b) of the Ordinance 54 of 1985 Furthermore, the Government could not show any paper in respect of treating the property as abandoned except a Gazette notification. The record of the Housing Settlement shows that the original owner of the case property SG Mustafa was present in Bangladesh at the relevant time i.e. on 28-2-1972 when PO 16 of 1972 came into force, as such the claim regarding whereabouts of the original allottee was not known to the Government was not correct. The Petitioner in support of her claim submitted all the original documents before the Court of Settlement including Deed of Lease, Mortgage Deed executed in favour of HBFC. Receipt showing payment of loan to HBFC, payment of utility bills and other connected documents. The Court of settlement though discussed about the documents but upon a misconstruction raised question about the genuineness of those documents.

13. It is true that there are some anomalies in the papers of he Petitioner submitted before the Court of Settlement as well as before this Court but those anomalies in this court's view contributes a little in the merit of the case.

14. Furthermore, it is always to be borne in mind that in any case as this it must be accepted as a truism that the act of abandonment implies two fundamental factors:

(i) Desertion of the property; and

(ii) Giving up one's right to the property.

15. The word "abandonment" connotes in this sense the idea of the owner not merely temporarily vacating but deserting the property with the intention of never returning to it. Such absolute desertion must be concomitant with the positive intention to give up the right vested in the property. It follows, therefore, that mere temporary or occasional absence of physical possession shall not of itself suffice to treat the property as abandoned. These two determinants of the notion of "abandonment" appear not to have been established in this case. It is true that the petitioner before us is not the owner of the property she represents the heirs of S.G. Mustafa namely, Abid Hossain and in other words she has some interest and she produced the power of attorney, receipt showing payment of loan money to the HBFC and possessing the disputed house, as such the case property does not in any way answer to the description of the abandoned property as mentioned above and defined particularly under Article 2 of the PO 16 of 1972 as there was no deser1ion of the property accompanied by a giving up the right to the property by the owner.

16. A perusal of the Government file pertaining to the case property at Page 113 it is found that the Officer-in-Charge of the Abandoned Property, Khulna submitted a report on 30-9-1996. He relevant portion of the said report is reproduced below for ready reference.



? ???? ?????????? ???? ???????? ??? ? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ???????? ???? ??-?-???? ?????? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ?? ??????? ????????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ??????????? ??? ????????? ??? ? ???? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ????? ????? ??"?? ?? ?? ? ?????????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??? ????"??? ?"?? ???

??????? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ????????? ????????? ?????? ??? ????????? ????? ??????????



17. The above mentioned observation of the concerned Officer of the Abandoned Property Division, Khulna, establishes that the Government never declared the property as abandoned. In the present case the ownership of the property is not paramount consideration for this Court. The main question is whether the property in question has been rightly included in the "Kim" list of the Abandoned Building in accordance with law. This court also finds that the Government- Respondent never issued and served any notice upon the owner and the occupier under Article 7 of PO 16 of 1972 or under Section 5(1)(b) of the Ordinance, 1985 non-service of notice as required by law disentitled the Government-Respondent to claim that the property was legally declared abandoned and enlisted in the "Kha" list of the Abandoned Buildings. It is also noted that there is nothing on record to show that the Petitioner was ever asked to show cause about inclusion of the property or to surrender the same which has definitely denied the right of natural justice to the Petitioner.

18. In the case of Syeda Chand Sultana vs Bangladesh reported in 1 MLR 310 = 48 DLR 547 which was affirmed by the Appellate Division and reported in 51 DLR (AD) 24, it has been held that,

"Where the owners as Bangladeshi nationals having lawful title have been in possessions of the property all through and never having ceased to manage or supervise the same and not having "left the country and when there was no proper service of notice upon the petitioners as required under Article 7 of the PO No. 16 of 1972, the inclusion of the said building in the "Kha list" of abandoned properties being violative of the fundamental right as contained in Article 42 of the Constitution is illegal, without jurisdiction and of no legal effect and as such the petitioners are entitled to invoke the writ jurisdiction for enforcement of fundamental rights.

19. In the present facts and circumstances, this Court finds itself wholly subscribing to that ratio decidendi in the Syeda Chand Sultana Case.

20. Given this Court's understanding of the essentials of enquiry as to the status of property under the relevant provisions of Ordinance as above explained, it is found that the claimant had duly discharged her onus of proving her case independently of the Government and that in doing so she had by a set of mutually reinforcing evidence produced generally established a continuous scenario of active ownership, occupation, supervision and management of the said property through her principal both before and after the promulgation of PO 16 of 1972. There was nothing on record that could have reasonably led the court of Settlement to find otherwise. However, the Court of Settlement without. following a judicial approach in determining the question of facts involved in this case unfortunately passed the Judgment without giving a judicial consideration of the whole dispute between the parties and decided the matter erroneously. By that reason, and by confining this Court's scrutiny to the objective of finding whether the impugned Judgment is perverse or not, this Court has inevitably arrived at the conclusion that the Court of Settlement's Judgment and Order dated 22-2-2001 is indeed highly perverse, one being contrary to the facts and circumstance and evidence on record and by that reason we are inclined to interfere with the impugned Judgment of the Court of Settlement as prayed for.

21. In the result, the Rule is made absolute without any order as to costs.

22. It is hereby declared that the Judgment and Order dated 10-12-2009 passed by the Respondent No.3 in Case No. 221 of 1992 dismissing the case and thereby refusing to release the property being House No. T-57, Khalishpur Housing Estate Khulna from the "Kha" list of abandoned buildings. published in the Bangladesh Gazette on 23-9-1986 at Page No. 9764(36) against serial No. 615 (mistakenly mentioned in the decision as published in the Bangladesh Gazette dated 28-4-1986 against serial No 634 is without lawful authority and is of no legal effect and the Respondents are hereby directed to exclude the same from the "Kha" list of the Abandoned Buildings within 60 (sixty) days from the date of receipt of this Judgment and Order.

23. The order of stay granted at the time of issuance of this Rule is stand vacated.

Communicate a copy of this Judgment and Order to the Court of Settlement concerned at once.




Administration of Justice

(From previous issue) :

10. In the first circular it was mentioned that to reserve the vacant posts for absorbing the surplus employees due to administrative rearrangement and future probable administrative re-arrangements usually sanction from Ministry of Establishment is required to fill-up the posts under government revenue through direct appointment of every Ministry, Department, section and all sections under those offices and all autonomous, semi-autonomous organizations. But no such sanction is necessary for the following posts:

(a) All posts under cadre service

(b) All post of defence except civil employees

(c) All post of nationalized Enterprise under Autonomous institutions

(d) All posts of BDR, Ansar And police Force except Assistant outside from the force and clerk.

(e) All Government running Financial Institutions, for example: Bank, Insurance, Investment Corporation and House Building Finance Corporation etc. hetter also does not apply to the lower judiciary, inasmuch as, the lower judiciary is not under the control and superintendent of the Ministry of Law and Justice Department. In the latter circular, it was mentioned that there was provision for prior permission of the Ministry of Establishment for appointing employees against vacant posts. It, however, observed that the Ministries' prior approval would not be necessary in case of filling up the vacancies in respect of the post of cadre service. All posts of Ministries of Defence other than civil employees of BDR, Ansar and Police Department other than clerical posts and some other organizations.

12. A close reading of the latter circular clearly shows that it was written with a view to minimizing the manpower of the government employees working in different Ministries and departments, cost reduction and also with a view to keeping 20% vacant posts reserved for future administration re-organizations. So apparently this circular is also not applicable, inasmuch as, apart from the fact as mentioned above, there is no scope for re-organization of the lower judiciary in future. The functions of the lower judiciary are altogether different from civil administrative service. Naturally, this circular has no manner of application for filling up the vacancies in the lower judiciary against sanctioned posts.

13. Apart from the above, for proper administrative and control of the lower judiciary, the Judges of the High Court Division and Chief Justice usually inspect the lower courts every year. In course of their inspections it is found that in all district courts the smooth functioning and transacting its business are being hampered due to shortage of staff against sanctioned posts due to retirement and appointment process could not be initiated due to these circulars. With the increase of the population day by day, the pace of filing litigations is also increasing threefold. It is reported by the Judges that whenever they write letters for clearance for appointment of staff against sanctioned posts, the reply of the Ministry comes at a belated stage sometimes it takes one year or more. Naturally this hampers the administration of justice, inasmuch as, unless the supporting staffs help the Judges, it will be difficult for them to administer justice.

14. There are shortage of Judges in every courts and even under the present strength, the sub-ordinate staffs cannot manage the sections due to shortage with the result that even after working extra times, they cannot coup with the situation. The net result is that the docket is increasing everyday. The litigants' suffering are mounting in obtaining copies and taking steps in pending litigations. Cases cannot be made ready due to non-service of summons. There is urgent need to increase at least twice the present number of manpower working in the lower judiciary. The Bench Assistants who are called 'Paskers' are so overworked that they unofficially engage 'Umeders', to write order-sheets by making payments from their own pocket. As soon as this fact has been published in the media, the Chief Justice issued circular directing the District and Sessions Judges not to allow any outsider to work with the Bench Assistants. Now that 'Umeders' are not working and as a result, the Bench Assistants are working in the courts of the District and Sessions Judges, the Chief Judicial Magistrates, Chief Metropolitan Magistrates, more than 12 hours a day. These supporting staff are not getting any overtime and it is not humanly possible for them to manage more than hundred cases a day and to write orders in the order sheet.

15. So the number of Bench Assistants particularly working in busy districts like Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Bogra, Comilla, Mymensingh, Jessore, Barisal, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Dinajpur should be increased to two so that the administration of justice can function smoothly. Accordingly, it is imperative to take immediate steps by the Ministries of Public Administration, and Law and Justice to increase at least one more Bench Assistant to the District . and Sessions Judges, Chief Metropolitan Magistrates, Metropolitan Sessions Judges, Nari-o-Shishu Nirjatan Daman Tribunals, Chief Judicial Magistrates in all old District Courts. It is hoped that the. said Ministries shall take immediate step in this regard.

16. The Ministry of Public Administration's circulars under memo dated 15th March, 1992, 11th May 1991 and 17th January, 2000 are not applicable to the District Courts. Henceforth, the District Courts will be at liberty to take immediate step to fill up the vacant sanctioned posts for smooth functioning of the courts without taking prior approval or clearance from Ministry of Law and Justice as well as the Ministry of Public Administration. The said circulars are not applicable to the lower judiciary. The Ministry of Public Administration is directed to withdraw the aforesaid circulars immediately and intimate this court Let a copy of the judgment be communicated to the Ministries of Public Administration, and Law and Justice.

This petition is disposed of with the above directions and observations.

(Concluded)
Tiger census in Sundarbans in mid-Nov

UNB, Khulna :

A tiger census using camera trapping method will begin in the Sundarbans in mid-November.

"The census will continue for the next three months installing 300 cameras in the Sundarbans," divisional forest officer (Sundarbans West Zone) Md Sayeed Ali told UNB. Two American experts of

Washington-based Conservation Biology Institution will monitor the census under the Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity Project, according to forest officials.

Forest conservator Jahir Uddin Ahmed (Sundarbans circle) has been appointed as the project director.

Forest officials claimed that tiger breeding has increased in the world's largest mangrove forest since tiger cubs are found roaming at Nilkomol, Kachikhali and Satkhira ranges of the forest. Sundarbans is the lone natural habitat to tigers. But wildlife is currently facing various troubles in the country due to unchecked poaching and destruction of natural forests. According to the Tiger Census 2015, tiger population declined to only 106 tigers in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans in 2015 while it was 440 in 2004.

Forest Department data shows at least 49 tigers were killed in the last 14 years (2001-2014) since the illegal poaching of wildlife and tiger-human conflict is on the rise in the Sundarbans, the country's only natural tiger habitat with a range of 6,017 square kilometers. Besides, about 232 people were killed in tiger-human conflict during the period.
Goods-laden truck free to enter DU at night

Rayhanul Islam :

Heavy vehicles, especially loaded trucks are plying frequently through the Dhaka University (DU) campus after nightfall posing threat to the peaceful environment a student needs to prepare his lessons.

At the same time, the teachers and the students of the university fear accidents and casualties for reckless driving of these vehicles.

Sources said, many students were killed and injured in the past under the wheels of trucks. But the university authority is yet to take measures to stop heavy vehicles entering the campus.

Rakib-uz-Zaman Rabby, a 3rd year DU student of Economics Department told the New Nation, he feels scared on the campus, especially at night because of these heavy laden trucks.

`Most of the drivers drive their trucks recklessly through the campus that may cause horrible accidents. I do not understand why does the university authority give them permission to enter the campus? He questioned.

Meanwhile, there is no height bar at the entrance point of the DU for preventing these heavy vehicles.

Most of the drivers drive their vehicles into the campus from the Chankhar pool and the Bokshi Bazar, because the exit point of Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover is at Chankhar Pool inter-section. The vehicles come down from flyover and enter the university without any barrier.

Nurul Islam, a truck driver who was plying his vehicles on the campus on Saturday night told the New Nation that he didn't see any notice of `no admission' to heavy vehicles.

The university authority constructed `Mukti and Ganotantra Toran' last year at Nilkhet entrance point, but trucks and buses are entering every time through the gate.

On the other hand, there is no gate and bar at the entrance point of Shahbag inter-section, High Court intersection and Chankhar pool area.

Fatima Yesmin, a 1st year English Department student of DU Rokeya Hall told the New Nation that the trucks ran through recklessly in front of their hall. So it is very difficult for girls to cross the road.

Acknowledging the problem, DU Acting Proctor Professor Amjad Ali told the New Nation that we asked the Traffic Control Department for not giving permission to enter the trucks and buses in the campus area.

`We will construct height bar at every entrance point of DU as soon as possible. Now we are waiting for the decision of Traffic Control Department about specifying road for trucks. After that we will totally ban our roads for heavy vehicles', he said.


10 fishermen kidnapped in Sundarbans

UNB, Khulna :

A gang of pirates abducted 10 fishermen for ransom from Dhan Siddhir Char area under Chandpai range of the Sundarbans East zone in Bagerhat district early Friday.

Some fishermen who returned from the Sundarbans after fishing on Friday said members of pirate gang 'Samsu Zillu bahini' kidnapped the fishermen along with three boats from the area early in the morning.

The gang also demanded Tk 20,000 as ransom for each fisherman.

Lieutenant M Fariduzzaman, operational officer of Coast Guard West Zone, said necessary steps will be taken after getting complaint about the incident.
Daud Merchant yet to be freed

He will be in jail until disposal of another case: Addl IG Prisons

Staff Reporter :

Daud Merchant alias Rauf Raja, an alleged 'hitman' of the Abu Salem gang and also a close aide of Dubai-based Indian mafia don Daud Ibrahim, is not getting release from jail though a Dhaka court on Thursday cleared of charges for his suspicious movement.

He is now in Keraniganj central jail being re-arrested by Bangladesh police on December 2, 2014 Under Section 54 soon after he was freed getting bail in another case.

"Daud Merchant will not be released from jail at this moment. There is another case against him pending with the relevant court. We'll have to wait until disposal of the case," Additional Inspector General of Prisons Colonel Md Iqbal Hasan told The New Nation Friday night.

Earlier, the Metropolitan Magistrate AKM Mainuddin passed the order on Thursday for his release after scrutinising a probe report on the allegation submitted by investigators.

Senior Jail Super of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj Jahangir Kabir said that they received the court order on Thursday night, adding that Daud Merchant will not be released as another case filed with Adabar Police Station still remains pending.

In January, the police and other concerned departments had started process to send back international mafia don Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant to his home country India freeing him from all sorts of charges.

Even, the Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at that time had said an initiative had been taken for Daud's repatriation. The plan, however, was not materialized for reasons best known to them.

A source close to an intelligence agency told The New Nation on Friday that Bangladesh authorities had also conducted a probe over Merchant's possible link to the haul of a huge arms shipment in 2004.

The shipment of Chinese arms to Chittagong in April 2004 was meant for ULFA. From the call list on Merchant's mobile phone, the police suspect that he also has contacts with notorious underground mafia don Daud Ibrahim.

Former NSI Director General Brig Gen [retd] Abdur Rahim had a meeting with the ARY Group in Dubai on the smuggling of seized firearms where Daud Ibrahim was allegedly present, as per confessional statement of the detainees.

A Mumbai Court on April 29, 2002 sentenced Daud Merchant to a life term with 10 years' rigorous imprisonment following his conviction for gunning down the music baron, Gulshan Kumar, in Mumbai on August 12, 1997.

But he was reported absconding by Mumbai police after being released on parole for 14 days in April, 2009 to see his sick mother in Mumbra, a tiny township about 40 km from Mumbai.

Being absconded, he crossed the border and illegally entered Bangladesh. In this backdrop, the Detective Branch of Bangladesh arrested Daud Merchant along with his accomplice Zahid Sheikh on May 27, 2009 from the residence of one Kamal Mia at Mourail in Brahmanbaria district.

According to police, both Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh managed Bangladeshi passports and fake nationality certificates. Not only that, Zahid also had managed a National Identity Card. Daud Merchant adopted the name Abdur Rahman and Zahid took the name Arif Sheikh on their Bangladeshi passports, police added.
BNP now chooses Nayapaltan for Nov 8 rally

Reza Mahmud :

The BNP is now taking preparation to hold the National Revolution and Solidarity Day rally on November 8 at the city's Nayapaltan. Since the government turned down the BNP's request for Suhrawardy Udyan as a venue, the party high command chose Nayapaltan as alternative place. The party leaders said that they had approached the government for permission in front of their party office at Nayapaltan.

In case of negative response the party will organise protest rally, sources said.

"We are prepared well to organise a big peaceful rally. So the government should not create obstacle," Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, the Standing Committee Member of the BNP told The New Nation yesterday.

When contacted, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the Senior Joint-Secretary General told The New Nation on Friday, "We have sent letter to the Administration seeking permission to hold rally in front of our party office at Nayapaltan."

Sources said, the BNP has been taking preparation for long to hold the rally to observe the day. The leaders at first sought permission to arrange the rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan on November 7. But some of the ruling Awami League leaders vowed to resist the programme on the day. Then the BNP on Thursday fixed November 8 for the rally. Later the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said that they would not allow any party to hold rally in the Suhrawardy Udyan. In this circumstance, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday said they are seeking alternative venue to hold the programme.

He condemned the decision of not according permission for the programme in the Suhrawardy Udyan.

He made the comment after placing wreath at the late President Ziaur Rahman's grave yesterday with the newly appointed leaders of the Shwechchhasebak Dal, an associate body of the party.

BNP Senior Joint-General Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, central leaders Khairul Kabir Khokon, Fazlul Haque Milan, Sarfat Ali Sapu, Shwechchhasebak Dal President Shafiul Bari Babu, General Secretary Abdul Quader Bhuiyan Jewel and Senior Vice-President Mustafizur Rahman, among others, were present.
Move to cut oil prices

Proposal sent to PMO

Special Correspondent :

The Energy Division has taken a fresh move to cut fuel oil prices by Tk 5 to Tk 10 per litre to pass on the benefit of falling oil prices in the international market to the local consumers, officials said.

They said, the division has recently sent a proposal in this regard to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for its consent.

The officials, however, could not ascertain when the price reduction will be made.

"We have already sent a proposal to the government high-ups in this regard. If they endorse the proposal positively, we will formally launch the procedure to slash the domestic oil prices," Nasrul Hamid Bipu, State Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources, told The New Nation yesterday.

The State Minister, however, declined to give details of the proposal and the range of price cut.

Earlier, on April 25 this year, the government cut fuel oil prices by Tk 3 to10 per litre following demands from businesses.

They came up with the call since mid-2014 when petroleum prices started falling in the global market.

Oil prices plummeted 66 per cent on the international market since June 2014.

On March 31, the government cut the price of furnace oil, mostly used by industries and power plants, by more than 30 per cent to Tk 42 a litre. The prices of diesel, petrol and octane were not adjusted at that time.

A senior Energy Division official told The New Nation on Friday that they have sent the proposal to the PMO suggesting to cut the prices of octane, petrol, diesel and kerosene prices by Tk 5 to Tk 10 for per litre.

"Energy Division in its proposal, however, refrained from fresh price cut for furnace oil," he added.

"Received upon our proposal, the PMO has asked to know the current state of affairs of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and the impacts of the previous fuel price cut on the local economy," said the official asking not to be named.

The BPC is now making a profit of Tk 27.75 a litre on octane, Tk 23.50 on petrol, Tk 15.75 on diesel and Tk 16.75 on kerosene.

The price of per litre diesel and kerosene is now Tk 65, octane Tk 89 and petrol Tk 86.

To the price cut proposal of the Energy Division, the PMO also said that a further reduction in fuel prices would be made if consumers benefit from this price cut and the prices of products and services that depend on oil ultimately go down.

When asked, he said, if everything remains okay, the consumers may see a further price cut in fuel oil prices by next month.
Fresh attack in Nasirnagar

Six dwelling structures torched: Three local AL leaders suspended

Our Correspondent :

In a fresh attack, unidentified miscreants set six dwelling structures of the Hindu community on fire in the trouble-hit Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria district on early Friday, intensifying religious tension there.

The incident took place four days after miscreants ransacked 15 temples and the homes of more than 100 families of the Hindu community in the upazila.

Quoting locals, our Brahmanbaria correspondent said, miscreants set fire to the cowshed of Phul Kishore Sarkar, three kitchen rooms of Mrinal Kanti Sarkar and Amar Deb, an abandoned house of Santu Kabiraj and a house of Sagar Das in the neighbouring villages of Jaynagar Pashchimpara, Banikpara and Hashpatalpara in Nasirnagar upazila.

The incidents took place at around 4 am. No one was injured in the incidents.

On information, Nasirnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Chowdhury Moazzem Ahmed and local leaders of Awami League visited the spot in the morning.

"Miscreants set fire on my cowshed and kitchen making my family frightened. My family is feeling insecure due to current situation and we never face such a situation in all our life," said Phul Kishore Sarkar.

After visiting the spot, Nasirnagar UNO Chowdhury Md Moazzem Hossain told the media that some six dwelling structures have been burned down in the latest attack. I have informed the authorities about the incident. We will take the next steps as per their direction," the UNO said.

While visiting the scene, Deputy Commissioner of Brahmanbaria Rezaul Rehman said, "I will have to talk to the local public representatives

and decide the steps that need to be taken regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, police have identified around 50 people from videos captured during the anti-Hindu attacks in Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria

Brahmanbaria police's Additional SP Iqbal Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune on Friday afternoon that police had collected as many videos of the attack as possible and scrutinised them.

"We have identified around 50 people from the videos and we will soon go into action against them," he said.

The National Human Rights Commission's fact-finding committee has also named several men saying they are influential locally and were behind the attack.

Besides, ruling Awami League (AL) suspends three local leaders of Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria for their alleged involvement with the October 30 communal attack on the local Hindu minorities.

The leaders are: Abul Hashem, chairman of Nasirnagar upazila sadar union, Faruq Mia, president of AL Haripur Union, and Suruj Mia, president of AL Chaportola Union unit, confirms local MP Obaidul Muqtadir.

On October 30, several hundred people had attacked and ransacked at least 15 Hindu temples and over 20 households in Nasirnagar under Brahmanbaria's district after a Facebook post deemed offensive to Islam sparked massive outrage in the Muslim-majority nation.

Brahmanbaria's police superintend Mizanur Rahman had said that police had arrested nine people who seemed to be directly linked to the attacks as temple authorities filed two separate cases.

A Hindu youth who allegedly posted the 'blasphemous' content on his Facebok account sparking the outrage was also arrested over causing the unrest. However, media reports later suggested that unidentified miscreants had hacked his account and had uploaded the controversial post.

Several priests of the temples suffered injuries in the attacks during the raids and were taken to hospitals for treatment. According to media reports, a little known outfit called Touhidi Janata had called a protest rally on Sunday using megaphones over the Facebook post and the rampage on Hindus was carried out after that rally.
Protests pour in against attacks in B`Baria

General students of Dhaka University blocked the Shahbagh intersection protesting recent mayhem in Brahmanbaria as well as negligence, indifference of local administration. They also attacked the vehicles on Friday. Photo shows Awami League\'s Joint Secre

UNB, Dhaka :

People across the country staged demonstrations on Friday protesting the attacks on Hindu community members in Brahmanbaria and Habiganj districts.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mahajote (BJHM) formed a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the morning protesting the repeated attacks on the Hindu community in Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria district. Later, a rally was also held with BJHM president Dr Probash Chandra Ray in the chair.

Speakers put forward a five-point demand,

including the resignation of Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque for his derogatory remark over the attacks on the Hindu community, initiating a judicial inquiry into the attacks and constituting a Hindu protection law and minority commission.

They also demanded removal of the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the district and the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Nasirnagar in connection with the incident. The Jote leaders also threatened to go on a tougher movement if their demands are not met within the next 15 days.

Dhaka University students arranged a rally at Shahbagh intersection at noon protesting the gruesome attacks on the Hindu community in Brahmanbaria and Habiganj districts. During the demonstration, they attacked the vehicle of Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif while he was passing through the intersection after attending a programme at RC Majumdar auditorium of the university.

Later, the ruling party leader got down from the vehicle and expressed his solidarity with the students.

In another protest programme in the capital, writers, artists and cultural activists formed a human chain in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh intersection and brought out a torch procession in the afternoon protesting the dreadful attacks on the Hindu community. Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, a cultural body, also arranged a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city demanding the arrest of the perpetrators of the Brahmanbaria mayhem.

In Panchagarh, the Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad brought out a protest rally from the Central Shaheed Minar in the morning. Later, the participants formed a human chain at Sher-e-Bangla Park where the rally culminated after parading through important streets of the town, demanding exemplary punishment of the culprits. In Munshiganj, district unit of Puja Udjapan Parishad in association with the Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad and Chhatra Jubo Oikya Parishad formed a human chain in front of the local press club in the district town in the morning. At the human chain, speakers demanded immediate arrest of the miscreants who carried out the attacks on the Hindu community in Brahmanbaria and Habiganj.

In Bagerhat, district unit of Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad and Puja Udjapan Parishad jointly formed a human chain at Sadhonar intersection in the district town in the morning. The speakers demanded immediate arrest of the perpetrators of the attacks on houses, temples and business establishments of the Hindu community in Brahmanbaria. The participants also demanded immediate removal of Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque for his derogatory remarks over the recent attacks on the Hindu community.

In Barguna, Puja Udjapan Parishad of the district in collaboration with district unit of Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad arranged a rally and formed a human chain at Barguna Press Club protesting the heinous attacks on the Hindu community in Brahmanbaria and Habiganj.

They also demanded removal of the fisheries and livestock minister and capital punishment for the offenders.

In Sylhet, the district unit of Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad arranged a rally and brought out a protest procession in Osmaninagar upazila in the afternoon demanding the immediate arrest of the hoodlums.


Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

2 years ago
"From monitoring, we can see websites hosted in country going offline during the attacks  Additionally, a source in country at a Telco has confirmed to a journalist they are seeing intermittent internet connectivity, at times which directly match the attack," Beaumont said in a blog post published today.

Why Taking Down Liberia's Internet Is easy?

We have published an updated article on what really happened behind the allegedDDoS attack against Liberiausing Mirai botnet.Someone is trying to take down the whole Internet of a country, and partially succeeded, by launching massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks using a botnet of insecure IoT devices infected by the Mirai malware.It all started early October when a cyber criminal publicly released the source code of Mirai  a piece of nasty IoT malware designed to scan for insecure IoT devices and enslaves them into a botnet network, which is then used to launch DDoS attacks.Just two weeks ago, the Mirai IoT Botnet caused vast internet outage by launching massive DDoS attacks against DNS provider Dyn, and later it turns out that just 100,000 infected-IoT devices participated in the attacks.Experts believe that the future DDoS attack could reach 10 Tbps, which is enough to take down the whole Internet in any nation state.One such incident is happening from past one week where hackers are trying to take down the entire Internet of, a small African country, using another Mirai IoT botnet known as Botnet 14 Security researcherhas noticed that Botnet 14 has begun launching DDoS attacks against the networks of "Lonestar Cell MTN ", the telecommunication company which provides the Internet to 10-15% of Liberia via a single entry point from undersea fiber cable.According to Beaumont, transit providers confirm that the attacks were over 500 Gbps in size, but last for a short period. This volume of traffic indicates that the "" Botnet, as the researcher called it, isOver a decade of civil war in Liberia destroyed the country's telecommunications infrastructure, and at that time a very small portion of citizens in Liberia had access to the internet via satellite communication.However, some progress were made later in 2011 when a 17,000 km Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine fiber-optic cable was deployed from France to Cape Town, via the west coast of Africa.The ACE fiber cable, at depths close to 6,000 meters below sea level, eventually provides broadband connectivity to more 23 countries in Europe and Africa.The total capacity of this cable is just 5.12 Tbps, which is shared between all of the 23 countries.Since massive DDoS attack against DynDNS used a Mirai botnet of just 100,000 hacked IoT devices to close down the Internet for millions of users, one can imagine the capability of more than 1 Million hacked IoT devices, which is currently in control of the Mirai malware and enough to severely impact systems in any nation state.This is extremely worrying because, with this capacity, not just Liberia, an attacker could disrupt the Internet services in all 23 countries in Europe and Africa, which relies on the ACE fiber cable for their internet connectivity.More insecure, vulnerable IoT devices, more Mirai bots.So, in order to protect yourself, you need to be more vigilant about the security of your smart devices because they are dumber than one can ever be.In our previous article, we provided some basic, rather effective, solutions, which would help you protect your smart devices from becoming part of the Mirai botnet. You can also check also yourself if your IoT device is vulnerable to Mirai malware. Head on to this article
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Denham Springs native has a combined 28 years in law enforcement and criminal justice experience, including stints as an assistant district attorney and an assistant attorney general.

Mayor-President Joel Robideaux selected Toby Aguillard as the new chief of the Lafayette Police Department. Photo by Wynce Nolley

Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux announced today that Toby Aguillard will be the new chief of police of the Lafayette Police Department.

Toby brings a strong and diverse set of law enforcement and legal expertise to the position, as well as his impressive educational credentials, says Robideaux. Lafayettes Police Department will benefit from Tobys leadership and his depth and breadth of experience across the criminal justice system.

Aguillard, a native of Denham Springs, has a combined 28 years in law enforcement and criminal justice experience, including 18 years with law enforcement and a decade of combined experience as an assistant district attorney and an assistant attorney general.

Aguillard has worked for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office since 2007 where he has served as the director of the Internet Crimes Against Children Division for the last nine years. Prior to his tenure with TPSO, he worked in both the Cameron Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish sheriffs offices. He previously was an assistant district attorney in Cameron Parish and assistant attorney general and special agent at the Louisiana Department of Justice.

Aguillard has a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph Seminary College and a law degree from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge.

Robideauxs announcement came on the heels of Tuesday nights City-Parish Council meeting where Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux played an audio file of an exchange at the Oct. 11 Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board meeting between board attorney Candice Hattan and Chairman Jason Boudreaux who were discussing recouping attorney fees from local NAACP chapter president, Marja Broussard.

Broussard had sued the board over its membership earlier this year and, under state law, the winner of a civil suit can recoup attorney fees from the losing side.

During the exchange on the tape, Hattan can be heard saying, We cannot hang the poor lady by, you know, by a rope in front of the courthouse for the birds to pick her eyes out.

Councilman Boudreaux has called for the resignation of Chairman Boudreaux, Hattan and another board member.

Asked if Tuesdays Council meeting affected his decision, Robideaux says, No. I had spoken with Mr. Aguillard Sunday evening, and I had made my decision over the weekend. I didnt know what was going to happen at Tuesdays meeting. But, I had it scheduled out and planned and so weve stuck with that.

Aguillard beat out six other final qualifying candidates who were interviewed for the position.

Aguillard now assumes the position of chief that was filled in February by Interim Chief of Police Reginald Thomas. Thomas, a 25-year veteran of the police department, was disqualified from applying for the role of chief due to his lack of a bachelor's degree. On Nov. 1, Thomas was provisionally appointed to deputy chief.

The LPD police chief position was vacated on Jan. 31 when former Police Chief Jim Craft retired and was later appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to serve as executive director of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement.
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.
SPRINGFIELD  A conservative group with ties to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his allies is accusing the Illinois attorney generals office and local officials in Rock Island County of trying to interfere with its vote-by-mail campaign.

The Illinois Opportunity Project, founded by radio host Dan Proft and Pat Hughes, has sent out about 150,000 applications for mail-in ballots to voters in a half-dozen counties, including Rock Island, that are home to some of Tuesdays most hotly contested races for the Illinois General Assembly.

Third-party organizations are allowed to collect applications for mail-in ballots under state law. Groups must turn in the applications to local election authorities, who then mail ballots to voters.

Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigans office began asking questions about the Illinois Opportunity Projects program last week after receiving complaints that raised specific concerns about that organizations vote by mail efforts, spokeswoman Maura Possley said in written statement.

Specifically, we have received complaints regarding voter confusion, Possley said. Because the Illinois Opportunity Projects mailings do not identify that organization and, instead, are sent from (Name of County) County Vote By Mail Center, they have led to voter confusion regarding whether they are official documents from the counties.

There were also concerns that applications werent being picked up and delivered to local election authorities in a timely manner, according to the attorney generals office.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Lorreta Lynch on Thursday requesting that the Department of Justice look into the situation "in light of the troubling nature of this incident."

"Voting is, as the Supreme Court has said, a right 'preservative of all rights,' " Durbin wrote. "Efforts to suppress this fundamental right should be promptly investigated, remedied, and, if appropriate, prosecuted."

Hughes, meanwhile, accused the Illinois attorney general's office of trying to suppress voters by interfering with his group's vote-by-mail effort.

The Illinois Opportunity Project's applications went out to voters Oct. 11 and 12, he said, and they were temporarily held up at the post office once returned because the group had to pay for prepaid postage.

When the group was notified Oct. 21, a representative went in the next day and paid the outstanding balance, he said, adding that it took a few days for the check to clear so that the mail could be released.

The whole purpose of our program is to get the people that were targeting to vote, Hughes said. Thats the whole purpose of it, so of course were going to pick up those applications.

He said the group uses proprietary metrics to determine who should receive its vote-by-mail solicitations but declined to give additional details.

After receiving complaints, the attorney generals office contacted the Illinois Opportunity Project last week seeking more information about where the applications were being distributed, the dates they were sent out, the post offices boxes to which they were supposed to be returned, the voters who received them, and other details.

Hughes said the attorney generals office has refused to identify any laws it believes his group has violated.

This is harassment by the Democrat attorney general, the Democratic county clerk, the Democrat states attorney against who they perceive to be a political opponent to upset and distract a vote-by-mail program that they believe is targeting voters that dont benefit them, Hughes said.

Democratic Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said its no such thing.

This has nothing to do with being a Democrat or a Republican, Kinney said. I am trying to get my hands on the absentee applications for all voters, Democrat and Republican, and I would appreciate it if they would turn those over to me.

Hughes said that his group has been checking its post office box daily and delivering any applications it receives to Kinneys office, but Kinney said the group hasnt delivered any since last week, when about 1,500 were dropped off. Thursday was the deadline for local election authorities to receive applications.

Election officials in Macon and Jackson counties and the city of Bloomington said they havent had any issues similar to whats happening in Rock Island County.

Cathie Haab, assistant executive director of the Bloomington Election Commission, said the commission has only received routine inquiries from voters about the status of mail-in ballot applications.

We havent had any mass complaints, Jackson County Clerk Larry Reinhardt said, adding that his office has had to reissue a few ballots that were lost in the mail.

Macon County Clerk Stephen Bean said the only issue his office has experienced is voter frustration with the delays involved when outside groups, including the Democratic and Republican parties, have applications sent to out-of-county addresses rather than directly to the clerks office.

This story has been updated to include information about Durbin's letter to the U.S. attorney general.
WEST FRANKFORT  Once the election 2016 smoke clears, local superintendents say they'll be banging a loud drum into the coming months for the General Assembly to act with urgency to reform the way Illinois funds public K-12 schools.

Youre going to be hearing from superintendents throughout the state and were going to be rallying the troops to get some changes to the funding formula, which is long overdue," said Greg Goins, superintendent of Frankfort Community Unit School District No. 168.

Equal is not the ultimate goal when it comes to how much money school districts spend per student in funding that comes from a mix of local, state and federal dollars. Districts located in wealthier areas will continue to spend more in most instances.

Instead, the push has long been for a funding solution that is considered equitable and adequate, and for achieving this by ensuring that scarce state resources are directed into districts that struggle the most to raise local revenue.

Calls for reform date back years. But in the face of the state budget crisis, they seem to have more recently reached a fever pitch. A number of Southern Illinois superintendents were among those pushing for legislators to take up a reform proposal prior to the close of the legislative session in June.

Issue of winners and losers

A rewrite of the formula championed by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, gained momentum, but talks fell apart as spreadsheets circulated detailing the winners and losers under the plan in the long term.

Most of the districts in Southern Illinois were winners  defined as districts that would see additional state dollars under the rewrite  though not all.

The majority of loser districts under the plan are located in wealthy suburban areas that are home to a significant voting bloc of legislators who find such a Robin Hood plan unpalatable. Manars plan called for a soft landing for school districts that would see fewer state dollars over time, but the narrative that his proposal created winners and losers  and the fact that it is an election year  pushed negotiations to a standstill.

Gov. Bruce Rauner made a plea with lawmakers to set the dicey issue of funding reform aside as the budget battle raged on and focus on patching together a K-12 budget plan to keep schools operational through the school year, which is ultimately what happened.

But in the face of mounting pressure, Rauner in July formed a commission of lawmakers and education policy experts that were appointed by him and other Republican and Democratic party leaders. He tasked the group with reporting back recommendations by Feb. 1.

Momentum building

Goins said hes optimistic given the feedback hes heard about the commissions progress, but is skeptical of such blue-ribbon panels given how many have been formed in Illinois over the years to tackle complex policy issues, only to see their recommendations buried in the graveyard of inertia.

This is my 15th year as a superintendent and I think weve had this conversation every year, Goins said. He said all the state House and Senate candidates in the area talk about improving schools, and specifically reforming the school funding formula. But most are unable to articulate the mechanical details of how the funding system works, and therefore how it should be changed, he said.

A lot of times thats a good soundbite and typically theres not a lot of change because people dont know how to do it, he said. But there does seem to be some momentum this time around, he said. Goins said he thinks thats in large part because of the push of the Illinois Vision 20/20 Initiative spearheaded by the Illinois Association of School Administrators.

The education leaders and policy experts involved in the Vision 20/20 Initiative are pushing what they describe as an evidence-based funding model. That model would distribute money based on 27 key components that research shows produces positive academic results in schools.

Examples of this are class sizes of 15 students or fewer for grades K-3, full-day kindergarten, specialized instructional resources for English language learners and parent outreach. The model would not dictate that schools implement these practices, but the accountability portion would show a schools annual academic progress and how they measured up as it relates to those best practices.

It also would split school districts into four categories as it relates to their state funding needs and give the most money to the poorest districts, said Mike Chamness, spokesman for IASA.

The key to that plan is that of all new money going into pre-K-12 education in Illinois, 99 percent of that money would go to school districts that are the furthest from the adequacy target, he said. The plan also includes a proposal to hold harmless wealthier districts, meaning they would neither gain nor lose state funding in the years following the reform proposal.

Chamness said he believes that discussions are moving in the right direction.

For the first time in 20 years, it really appears to have a lot of momentum behind it from both sides of the aisle, Chamness said. It certainly looks like, if its not the hottest education topic, its right near the top for the upcoming spring session.

The General State Aid education funding formula provides for a per-pupil foundation level of $6,119, as established in fiscal year 2010. That foundation level is achieved by a combination of state and local tax dollars, with schools located in poorer areas receiving more state money per student than those in areas where the property values are higher.

But Illinois also provides funding to school districts  including districts that benefit from local property tax wealth  through a variety of other means, such as flat grants and categorical funding based on counts of students who are living in poverty, are English language learners and those accessing special education services, for example.

Shifting demographics

But as there are growing numbers of students that qualify districts for special funds regardless of their need or ability to raise local tax dollars, the funding formula as written has furthered the divide between the haves and have-nots, Chamness said. The last major overhaul of the school funding formula was in 1997.

Further, the state in recent years has not fully funded the foundation level. The prorating of the states contribution in lean budget years hurts poorer districts that rely on it most. Lawmakers fully funded the formula this year, but it was the first time in eight years they had done so.

Chamness said the Vision 20/20 Initiative would direct all new money into districts that need it most, and likewise spares those most in need if there are cuts in education spending from one fiscal year to the next.

Jessica Handy, government affairs director with Stand for Children of Illinois, a school focused organization, who is serving as a member of the governors education task force, seconded the notion that it appears progress is being made on school funding reform.

Thus far, she said, those involved in the committee work have been educating themselves on the intricate details of school funding reform. The more difficult conversations are to follow, she said.

We have the single most inequitable school funding system of any state in the country. I think thats universally acknowledged, she said. But finding a solution is more challenging.

But Handy said whats most encouraging is that the coordinated discussion includes people from both parties, both chambers, all regions, school districts and other education interests groups all listening to one another. Thats at least a promising development, she said.
Feeling lost ahead of Election Day? Check out the resources and reporting we've compiled here and go into the voting booth ready on Tuesday.

Where do I vote?

Use the Google tool below to find the polling place closest to you.

(Expired)

Or, visit this page on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Need a ride? Rides Mass Transit District is offering free rides.

When do I vote?

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

What's on the ballot?

Constitutional amendment

Voters will get to decide Nov. 8 whether the Illinois Constitution should be amended to prohibit the use of dedicated transportation funds for other purposes. Read more about the amendment here.

U.S. Senate

Republican incumbent Mark Kirk is thought to be one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election this year. He is being challenging by Democrat Tammy Duckworth, Libertarian Kent McMillen and Green Party nominee Scott Summers.

State Comptroller

Incumbent Leslie Munger's appointment is ending (Rauner appointed her after the sudden death of former Comptroller Leslie Baar Topinka), and she is being challenged by Susana Mendoza, a Democrat, Tim Curtin, Green, and Claire Ball, Libertarian.

U.S. Congress

In our neck of the woods, incumbent 12th District U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro is being challenged by Democrat C.J. Baricevic and Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw.

State Senate races

Sheila Simon, a Democrat from Carbondale, and Paul Schimph, a Republican from Waterloo, are competing for the 58th Senate District seat that's being vacated by longtime Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, after he was drawn out of his district.

Harrisburg mayor Dale Fowler, a Republican, is seeking to unseat Democrat Gary Forby in the 59th Senate District.

State House races

In the 115th District, Democrat Marsha Griffin is challenging incumbent Republican Terri Bryant.

In the 117th District, Republican Dave Severin is challenging incumbent and assistant majority leader John Bradley, a Democrat.

In the 118th District, Republican Jason Kasiar is challenging incumbent Democrat Brandon Phelps.

County races

There are also several county-level races. Click the links below to download the publication ballot (as a PDF file) for your county, or read our reporting on the races in those counties.

Jackson County

Unlike the rest of the Southern Illinois counties, Jackson County does not release a traditional publication ballot. The county's ballot announcement does not include the state Constitutional Amendment question or the proposed Jackson County questions. Download list of nominations here. Download ballot referenda here.

Judicial

There are two kinds of questions youll be asked about judges: who should fill a spot, and whether a judge should get to keep his or her job (retention).

Find out what judicial circuit you are in below.

Join thesouthern.com on election night for live returns and complete coverage of all of these races and more.
CHICAGO  He's the stroke survivor who returned to Washington after a year of rehab determined to put people before his party. She's the war hero who lost both legs in the Iraq War, then turned to fighting for Illinois families.

Making their final push for voters to send them to the U.S. Senate, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk and Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth are returning to the personal stories that had their contest shaping up early on as one of the most compelling in the country.

Both candidates are disabled and have triumphed over adversity. But those story lines took a back seat for much of the race as Kirk went on the attack against Duckworth, who is heavily favored to win Tuesday.

Kirk ran multiple ads ripping Duckworth's record as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. He also criticized her as ineffective in Congress and repeatedly tried to link her to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who appointed Duckworth to the state post and is now in prison.

Duckworth hit back with ads saying Kirk lied about his own military experience and criticized him for a series of verbal gaffes.

At a debate last week, he mocked Duckworth's immigrant background and her family's military service by saying he'd forgotten her "parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington." He apologized the next day but lost some key endorsements and faced criticism that his remarks were racist.

Kirk previously inflicted damage on his campaign with other controversial comments, including calling an unmarried senator a "bro with no ho."

With Election Day approaching, Kirk is circling back to a positive ad about his stroke and recovery that he ran early in the election cycle. In it, he recounts being in an ambulance, holding a paramedic's hand and thinking it was "the last human being I would ever touch."

On Sunday, Kirk plans to join fellow stroke survivors in climbing the stairs of Chicago's Willis Tower  something he's done four times since his 2012 stroke. Kirk says he sees stair climbing as a metaphor for overcoming challenges; Sunday's event benefits the rehabilitation hospital where the first-term senator learned to walk and talk again.

"Every Illinois family has steps to climb," Kirk said. "I want to serve as the inspiration for over 300,000 stroke survivors in Illinois that while their lives have changed, recovery is achievable and they must never give up."

Duckworth, a second-term congresswoman, is running a final ad that references the day the helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down in Iraq in 2004. In the statewide ad, Duckworth says she knows what it's like "to fight for your life behind enemy lines" and to not be left behind.

"If you elect me to the Senate I'll be guided by the simple notion that if you don't give up on yourself, America won't give up on you," she says.

Duckworth entered the race with some big advantages. Illinois is a reliably Democratic state  even more so in presidential election years, and Duckworth raised millions more for what her party saw as the top opportunity to pick up a seat and potentially retake control of the Senate.

Kirk reported having just $576,000 cash on hand as of Oct. 19, while Duckworth had about $2.5 million, according to a pre-election campaign finance filing.
The Southern asked candidates in local races about how to improve K-12 education. This entry covers the 59th Senate District. Here are the responses from incumbent Gary Forby, a Democrat, and challenger Dale Fowler, a Republican.

Gary Forby, Democrat

1. How can schools better recruit and keep their best teachers?

First, a more significant investment from the State directly into classrooms is critical support that we should be providing to teachers. Teachers are dedicated professionals, many of whom pay out of pocket for classroom supplies and other resources to help their students learn. Any additional support we can provide will help our teachers and ultimately, our children.

Second, the State must keep the promises it has made to thousands of teachers with regard to retirement and pension benefits. Not only is this a constitutional obligation, but it's not right to take away benefits that have been promised to retirees, especially those who dedicate decades of their lives to educating our children.

2. What is the right balance of state, local and federal revenues for public schools?

The Illinois Constitution says, "The State has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education. Unfortunately, this is not the case today. Under our state's broken education funding system, local property taxpayers have the primary responsibility for funding public schools. Last year, property tax revenue accounted for nearly two-thirds of education spending in Illinois. Illinois is 49th out of 50 states when it comes to the State's share of total education spending in our state.

The result of this is that wealthy school districts are able to spend thousands of dollars more per student than schools in my district. Greater state investment in education would not only lead to a more equitable funding system, but would also provide significant relief to property tax payers.

3. What is the role of local government in regard to funding public schools?

As mentioned above, local government has a major role in funding public schools because the current system is too reliant on local property tax revenue to fund schools. While the local government should have some role in financing schools, the current funding system has led to inequities in funding across districts and is overly burdensome on property taxpayers. We need a fairer system that balances more State funding against a local district's ability to pay for education.

4. What new formula should be created to support academics and extracurricular activities, and how would that produce student success?

We need a new formula that drives additional funding to school districts that have the greatest need  many of which are located in Southern Illinois.

We passed two proposals out of the Senate this past spring that would result in a fairer school funding formula. Senate Bill 231 would establish a new funding formula that balances more than 80 percent of total State funding for schools against a local district's ability to pay. Under the current funding system, less than 50 percent of State funding for schools is measured against local available resources. The formula would take into account several characteristics of a district, such as the special education population and poverty concentration, and distribute funding accordingly.

The other proposal, House Bill 3190, would use the same formula from Senate Bill 231 as a transition to a new evidence-based model of funding schools. The evidence-based model also takes into consideration the characteristics of each district, however, the bill uses these characteristics to come up with a funding adequacy target for each district. The proposal would hold districts harmless to a specific spending level and includes a requirement that 99 percent of any additional State spending for education in any year must go to the State's neediest districts.

Both proposals would have a tremendous positive impact on schools in Southern Illinois. Both proposals would help students achieve greater success by driving more resources to schools that are the most in need. Each proposal would lead to a more cost-effective system and help create better outcomes by meeting the individual needs of each school district, as opposed to viewing each school district through the same lens. By doing this, we are able to focus more on what is needed for students in each specific district to achieve academic success.

Dale Fowler, Republican

1. How can schools better recruit and keep their best teachers?

It starts with the development and support of partnerships with colleges in the area to create a strong pipeline of local teachers. Additionally, our Southern Illinois schools need to be properly funded so our teachers arent forced to buy supplies out of their own pockets.

2. What is the right balance of state, local and federal revenues for public schools?

Illinois is out of whack when it comes to the breakdown of funding provided by the state, federal, and local governments.

Nationwide, the average split between a state and local government is around 45 percent a piece and the feds pick up the remaining 10 percent.

In Illinois, the State contributes an average of 26 percent, while the average amount contributed at the local level is 66 percent and the federal government provides the remaining 8 percent.

In 2015, Chicago Public Schools received 49 percent of local support, 16 percent of federal support and 35 percent of revenues from the state.

Our local legislators keep telling us that theyre fighting for our schools; these numbers show they have been losing that fight for more than 10 years now.

3. What is the role of local government in regard to funding public schools?

Our local school boards direct property taxes to school districts, but are limited in what they can do by Springfield politicians. These local governments need to have the ability to work with local school leaders to direct local education funds, rather than be forced by the State to pay for several unfunded mandates passed by the legislature every year.

4. What new formula should be created to support academics and extracurricular activities, and how would that produce student success?

A series of proposals came out over the years on education funding reform. I think we all understand the need for reforms that treat all of our children equally and ensure access to quality education. Talk is cheap and our representation in Springfield has not been able bridge the education gap. They say they want reform but then let partisan politics to guide their rhetoric. I will work with anyone who truly wants to make our education system equitable. Im ready to get to work for our kids and fix the mess created those in Springfield.
The Southern asked candidates in local races about how to improve K-12 education. This entry covers the 58th Senate District. Here are the responses from Paul Schimpf, a Republican, and Sheila Simon, a Democrat.

Paul Schimpf, Republican

1. How can schools better recruit and keep their best teachers?

We need to work on keeping our best and brightest here in Southern Illinois. We should examine how the lines of communication are working between our community colleges and the public universities. I know there are strong regional partnerships between Southern Illinois University and Rend Lake, John A. Logan, and the other community colleges that are scattered throughout the bottom half of the state. Hopefully we could examine options for keeping our local talent local.

2. What is the right balance of state, local and federal revenues for public schools?

That is a tough question, I have had many conversations with Sen. Luechtefeld and my father, both who spent their careers in education. For both of them, they say the main thing is having as much local control as possible. Springfield funds K-12 downstate at roughly 25 percent, local property tax payers fund nearly 2/3 and the federal government kicks in less than 10 percent. Chicago's cut of state funds are roughly 35 percent, while local revenues are just short of 50 percent and then the federal government makes up the remainder.

3. What is the role of local government in regard to funding public schools?

In Illinois, we are heavily reliant on property taxes. As a result, in agricultural, rural areas sometimes the per-pupil funding rates are lower, than say their suburban/urban counterparts. It is abundantly clear that we must roll back unfunded mandates to give local educators more flexibility in the classroom.

4. What new formula should be created to support academics and extracurricular activities, and how would that produce student success?

When you look at the proposals that have been rolled out, it should be noted that more often they send an increased amount of revenue to Chicago Public Schools at the expense of our rural Southern Illinois schools. Additionally, the most-talked about proposals would make winners and losers out of our schools here in the 58th District.

Sheila Simon, Democrat, 58th Senate District

1. How can schools better recruit and keep their best teachers?

If schools are able to pay a competitive salary they're able to keep teachers more often. It's a more complex problem than that but I think that's an important place to start to make sure that the schools are paying a salary that shows respect to the teachers who care for our kids.

2. What is the right balance of state, local and federal revenues for public schools?

There's not a lot of federal funding for public schools, but obviously whatever the federal government can do is appreciated, and then the balance really questions, how do we fund schools and how much of it comes from state sources and how much of it comes from local real estate taxes? And right now I think the balance is way too heavily tipped toward local real estate taxes. It causes that lack of fairness from one part of the state to the other and it's also really just not a smart tax. You know income tax is something that when you have a very good year and income, you pay more taxes and everyone understands that that's fair. I think if we got to a fair system of funding, we could then change the mix of what goes into funding, whether to dial down our reliance on real estate taxes and increase our reliance on income taxes. I think that would be a good swap for schools and for citizens.

3. What is the role of local government in regard to funding public schools?

I think there is definitely a really important role for local government being the local school districts. School districts are one of the most well-respected parts of government in the state, there's not a lot of elected people outside of school districts, but people really like to know that the folks who are making decisions about their child's school are folks who live in the area and are folks who they are probably going to run into at the grocery store. So local control is a very important thing.

I headed up a group called the Classroom First Commission when I was Lieutenant Governor, and that was a report that came up with some recommendations on how to make sure that schools are getting the benefit of working with other school districts in getting opportunities for their kids, no matter where the schools are and be efficient about their funding. There are plenty of ways to do that without having to consolidate schools, and I think we came up with the term virtual consolidation, where districts can work together to pay for health insurance for teachers together, or getting districts to hire one superintendent for two districts, or hire one Advanced Biology teacher for two districts where neither district can support that or have a teacher on their own, but together they can get those advantages for their students.

4. What new formula should be created to support academics and extracurricular activities, and how would that produce student success?

I've worked with Sen. Andy Manar, from Bunker Hill, and Andy understands the problem of small Southern Illinois school districts, and he has been the leader for working on finding a better school funding formula. There are lots of improvements that we can make if we get that better funding formula that focuses on student need which will allow for more and more schools to have something like the band program.

It breaks my heart that schools like Murphysboro are cutting back on band, because that is such an important part of the community. It has been a big deal for a long time to be in the band in Murphysboro and so if we had a better funding formula schools like Murphysboro wouldn't be struggling with how they can continue that really positive thing for their community.
MARION  A mother-daughter duo have found a way to bring boutiques from Southern Illinois and surrounding regions together for a weekend of shopping, fun and giving back to the community.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, residents can browse and shop for all things unique at Boutique Blvd.

The event will be held at The Pavilion of the City of Marion, located at 1602 Sioux Drive, and will feature 30 different boutiques from Marion and other regions.

Admission for the event is $5 per person, which will be donated to Gum Drops, a not-for-profit organization that provides food to children throughout Southern Illinois, said Terri Wolfe, co-director of the event.

"We wanted to bring out boutique themes but we also wanted to do something to help others," she said. "So this is also a charity event and the majority of the money that we make is given to whatever charity is designated for the event."

Wolfe and her daughter, Casey, first introduced the event in the fall of 2015.

After gathering a considerable amount of followers at their Effingham events last November and again in March of this year, Wolfe, who is also the co-owner of Wolfe Construction in Marion, and her daughter jointly agreed to extend their services to those in Marion.

"A lot of boutiques that came to the Effingham event in March were so excited about how well it went that they decided to travel to Marion," Wolfe said. "So since my husband and I also own a construction company in Marion, and are familiar with the area, it just seemed sensible to have one here as well."

Along with providing funds for Gum Drops, the pair have also made contributions to the construction of Harmony playground in Effingham for children with disabilities and the S.T.A.R. program, which assists with drug rehabilitation.

"Our focus is really on giving back to the community in whatever way we can," Wolfe said. "And creating a way for ladies to come and have a day of shopping is fun and also a way to make enough money to give back."
To the Editor:

Wikileaks has released information which is an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. Democratic pundits and Hillary Clinton surrogates consistently respond to these revelations by suggesting this information has been hacked by Russian operatives.

Let's look at the issue through this illustration: We are trapped in a strange room. Although the room has light fixtures, the room is absolutely dark. All of a sudden, the lights come on and a massive, dangerous hole in the floor can now be seen.

It is later discovered the electricity which brought light into the room was generated by those evil, despicable Russians.

The question then becomes: Even if the power which kept us from injury came from Russia, does that somehow taint the benefit we have received by being able to see a danger we otherwise could not have seen?

The only relevant Wikileaks issue is whether or not their information is authentic and accurate. Pundits and surrogates who attempt to distract us from reviewing and considering the text of the released information are using a hobgoblin to keep us from benefiting from the revealed truth.

As pundits and surrogates continue to bellow about Russian efforts to impact our election, remember this: It does not matter if the truth has been supplied by Russian sources. What matters is the truth.

Chris Tabing

Coulterville
Left:Israel Bruce (left), seen with his client Paul I Madd Scrubb, objected strongly to the States request for another adjournment. Right:Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne granted the adjournment on the grounds that it was within the Courts prescribed time frame.

Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne has granted yet another adjournment in the matter involving New York based calypsonian Paul I Madd Scrubb, despite strong objectives from his lawyer Israel Bruce.





Scrubb, originally from Barrouallie, is facing charges of sedition and uttering threats to kill Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and his family. He returned to the Serious Offences Court on Monday following a three-month adjournment the prosecution was granted at Scrubbs initial appearance in that Court, July 25.





However, Senior Prosecutor Adolphus Delpleche requested another adjournment on Monday, stating that the prosecution was not ready to proceed.

Bruce strongly objected, stating that the matter was brought to Court in July this year, and the prosecution was granted a three-month adjournment then, and is now asking for another adjournment.





He noted that his client does not live in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and has lost his job in the United States, as a result of the matter.





Bruce also told the Court that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that justice delayed is like justice denied.





But the Chief Magistrate granted the adjournment, contending that it is well within the Courts prescribed time frame of six months. But she varied Scrubbs bail conditions, making it possible for him to travel overseas.

When the 52-year-old calypsonian, said to have been employed as an equipment operator in the United States, initially appeared in Court, he was granted bail in the sum of $25,000 with one surety, on condition that he surrender his travel documents and report to the Calliaqua Police Station on Mondays and Fridays.

He was also ordered not to leave the country without the expressed permission of the Serious Offences Court or a higher Court, and stop notices were placed at all parts of entry and exit.





However, on Monday, the Chief Magistrate ordered that Scrubbs travel documents be returned to him and the other travel restrictions be lifted. The reporting conditions were also removed. The matter is now slated for January 26.





Scrubb is charged with between December 9 and 31, 2015, maliciously sent or uttered threats to kill, to wit, "Ralph Gonsalves should be assassinated, also his whole damn family, period; Blessed love.





This matter was laid indictably and carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.

Scrubb is also charged with between December 9 and 31, 2015, uttered seditious words, to wit, "Ralph Gonsalves should be assassinated, also his whole damn family period; blessed love.





This was not laid indictably, but because both charges reportedly arise out of the same facts and circumstances, they would be heard together at a Preliminary Inquiry (PI). The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.





Both charges were laid under the Criminal Code and stemmed from postings made on the social media site, facebook.
Left:A Security Officer of Trinity School of Medicine lays a wreath on Stephens grave. Right:The urn (centre on table) containing the cremated remains of Cadaver Stephen. Right: Jamin Graham, presents commemorative plaque to Dr. Linda Adkinson - Dean of Trinity School of Medicine.

The donating of vital organs for the purpose of saving or prolonging life is an action that many persons still do not comprehend.





Notwithstanding, body or anatomical donation, is an act of phenomenal proportion, and it guarantees that medical students and/or researchers interacting with these cadavers, come to either understand the workings of the human body or make advancements in Science.





Cadaver Stephen exemplified these ideals. Even in death, he chose to serve life. He had joined the Department of Anatomical Science at Trinity University School of Medicine in February, 2014 and, as his cremated remains were about to be laid to rest, a service of appreciation was held in commemoration of his gift of life. This was held at the schools campus on Friday, 28th October, 2016.





In fitting tributes of appreciation, the Trinity Security Choir, comprising a group of security officers, sang the touching song, Across the Bridge; while a member of the Christian Dental and Medical Association gave an inspiring rendition of Great is Thy Faithfulness, accompanying herself on guitar.





Furthermore, when Dr. Frances Jack-Edwards, Dean of Students rose to give actual words of appreciation for the gift that Cadaver Stephen had given to Trinity, she began with, "As I prepared this speech, I reflected on Stephens life and what sort of person he would have been to do such a selfless act of donating his body to the medical field. I realized he would have been: a father, a husband, a brother and a friend to many; a caring person whose life would have touched others in indescribable ways.





She then spoke of the benefits derived by the students as a result of Stephens presence in their medical career. "I would like you to pause and reflect on the knowledge of Anatomy you will carry with you to heal patients and to continue Stephens legacy of touching the lives, in whichever community you may go back to, she solemnly expressed, "Reflect on the importance of giving respect to cadavers, as well as taking time out to give thanks for their contribution to our lives.





And after President of the Student Government Association, Jamin Graham, had presented a plaque commemorating Stephens place among cadavers used at Trinity to Dean Dr. Linda Adkinson, everyone would have been convinced that her words rang true when she said, "This is Happy Stephens plaque!





The words of scripture chosen from Psalm 90, and 1 Corinthians 15: 50-58 allowed for an appropriate juncture for the words of the featured speaker. In his Homily, Reverend Dr. George Frederick addressed the topic, The Choices We Make. He told the audience that the choice between life and death was given by God, who also endowed mankind with the capacity to make the choice. He called death an enemy while stating that life was to be embraced. He went on to show the characteristics of life and death from a Biblical perspective, stating that death has been abolished in Christs life and does not have the final say. Life, on the other hand, is temporary but becomes eternal after death. "Stephen, he intimated, "has temporarily gone on. He had made choices when he was alive, and these are what will matter when life becomes eternal.





With the service concluded, Stephens remains were taken to the Kingstown cemetery where his interment ensued. The atmosphere became one of heartfelt thanksgiving as members of faculty and staff sang lustily to complete the act of giving appreciation to Cadaver Stephen.
The two refrigerated trucks  the most recent gift from Japan. Left: Equipment that was earlier installed at the Calliaqua Fishing Complex.

The Government of Japan, last Tuesday, officially handed over a quantity of fishing-related equipment to the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in keeping with an effort to boost the Fisheries Sector.





The equipment, provided under the Project for the Improvement of Fisheries Equipment and Machinery in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was handed over at a ceremony held at the Calliaqua Fishing Complex.





Addressing the ceremony, Raymond Ryan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Rural Transformation, recalled that Japans assistance to the fishing industry here dates back to 1989/90 with the construction and equipping of the Kingstown Fishing Complex.





Since then, seven more complexes have been constructed with Japans assistance.

Ongoing assistance has continued well into 2016, with assistance for the upgrade and rehabilitation of five facilities - Owia, Calliaqua, Friendship Bay in Canouan, Paget Farm in Bequia, and Clifto,n Union Island.

Last Tuesdays ceremony, which was highlighted by the handing over of two refrigerated trucks, was the culmination of the most recent round of assistance that included earlier provision and installation of ice machines, chill and cool storage, rehabilitation of water harvesting facilities, and the relocation of fuel facilities at the Owia Complex.





Tetsuhiro Ike, Resident Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency/Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in St. Lucia, said in his address, that the Government of Japan was pleased to offer this technical assistance to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.





He expressed the hope that a Sushi restaurant would be opened in SVG, and that people can enjoy more healthy life through fresh fish products.





Area representative and Minister of Economic Planning Camillo Gonsalves said that the upgrade of the facility at Calliaqua was a development of the community, and expressed thanks to fisher folks who had made sacrifices so that the facility could be rehabilitated. He said that the addition of the storage facility is a huge improvement over what existed.





Saboto Caesar, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, expressed his appreciation for the assistance provided by the Government and people of Japan. He said he wants "us as a people to respect and to value the depth of the investment that has been made.





Japanese Non-resident Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines H.E. Oitsuhiko Okada thanked those who assisted in overseeing the project. He said that Japan recognised the importance of the fishing sector to the economy of SVG, and that he was confident the equipment would enhance the sector.





"I hope that this support and the combination of Japan technical support and grants would help the the fisheries sector to continue to offer a multitude of benefit to SVG, said Ambassador Okada.





Ambassador Okada also pointed to the bond of cooperation that exists between the two countries, and assured that Japan appreciated SVGs support in very important matters.





Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves said that the project is a demonstration of the continuing good relationship between St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and valued Japanese support to be around $11 million.

He said that facilities must be managed effectively, and suggested that solar systems be put in place. He thanked the Japanese Government for its support. (KH)




Left:Minister of Information Camillo Gonsalves assured that the Freedom of Information Act will be included in a suite of related legislation that is expected to be in full train by year end. Right:Opposition Senator Marcia Barnwell posed the question with respect to the delay in operationalizing the Freedom of Information Act that was passed and assented to here in 2003.

The Freedom of Information Act of 2003 was not proclaimed in anticipation of harmonized legislation.





Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Economic Planning, Sustainable Development, Industry, Information and Labour, explained that they were anticipating harmonized legislation with the rest of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) member states, however, this was supplanted by the CARICOM project known as HIPCAR, whose full slate of legislation is in the process of being enacted here.





According to Gonsalves, this was in keeping with a statement made during the presentation of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure earlier this year, when government made known its intention to pass a new Act.

He made the comments in response to Opposition Senator Marcia Barnwells question about the delay in the operationalization of the piece of legislation.





The law went through the stages in the House in 2003, and was assented to by the Governor General but was never formally operationalized.





The Act, Chapter 367 of 2003, was drafted in accordance with model legislation from the Commonwealth Secretariat, Gonsalves said.





However, before the Ministry of Legal Affairs was able to dedicate the relevant resources in order to finalize the regulatory framework for the proper functioning of the Act, the OECS published a draft harmonized Freedom of Information Bill in mid-2004.





The draft Bill was prepared by the OECS Legislative Drafting Facility in collaboration with the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Commission of Pakistan.





A decision was then taken to await the finalization of this OECS harmonized legislation, while beginning the work towards ascertaining structures required to accompany the laws.





Deliberations ended at the OECS level, and to date Antigua and Barbuda is the only country to have passed and implemented the harmonized OECS legislation. Other member states including St Vincent and Grenadines have not.





Gonsalves, however, explained that the likely reason this did not occur was the emergence of the European Union funded project throughout African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) grouping to harmonize ICT policies, legislation and regulatory procedures.





The project, HIPCAR, was launched in Grenada in 2008 and following that meeting, it was agreed that the project would produce a suite of ICT related legislation for the eventual adoption across all 15 states.

The Ministry of Legal Affairs received a substantially revised final version of the suite of legislation, which included Acts such as the Cybercrime and Freedom of Information Bills.





"Our ministry is committed to implementing this entire suite of legislation, which includes the Freedom of Information Act, Gonsalves said, adding that he hoped to have this process well in train by the end of this year. (DD)
Left: Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, seen here taking the March Past, made a passionate plea for all law-abiding citizens to band together to combat crime here. Right: A contingent of the Special Services Unit (SSU) of the Royal SVG Police Force, on parade at Victoria Park

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says that all hands must be on deck and the effort must be redoubled by state, religious, political and educational institutions, as well as the community, if we are to successfully battle crime.

Speaking during the Independence Parade on Thursday 27th at Victoria Park, Dr. Gonsalves, who is also Minister of National Security, said that, "We are pained and anguished at the blight of violent crime perpetrated largely through the use and misuse of guns and bullets, by a small group of young men.

He said that this affects not only the victims and their families, "but all of us in this small geographic space called St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and stressed that the solution to criminal violence is not a matter only for the Government and the Police Force.

"All hands must be on deck, including centrally all the institutions of the State, the family, the schools, the churches, the media, the political parties, the non-governmental groups, and the communities. We must redouble our efforts in this battle; and we must sing from the same song sheet in doing so. This is not a subject for partisan political point-scoring, said Gonsalves.

But even as he acknowledged the issues of crime affecting the nation, the Prime Minister said that our country remains safe; and citizen security, though challenged, is sound.

"Overwhelmingly, our people, of all ages, sex, and social condition, are law-abiding, peaceful, and good-natured. And the violent criminals are given no supportive space in our communities, save and except from a few criminally-connected persons. My government is determined to root out the small pockets of the criminally violent conduct in our midst. We are all together on this, said the Prime Minister.

The Independence Parade saw hundreds of Vincentian turning up at Victoria Park, many attired in an array of styles all in the national colours.

A large contingent of the diplomatic corps was also in attendance.

A military parade featuring various uniformed organizations, including officers from the different branches of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Cadet Force, Nurses and Girl Guides, added to the spectacle. They paraded inside Victoria Park before heading onto the streets for a march around Kingstown. (KH)

Young offenders for early release

An undisclosed number of young men currently serving prison sentences for minor offences, could see an early release than expected.

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, in his address at the Military Parade to mark the 37th Anniversary of Independence, October 27, 2016, made the disclosure, saying that in the next few weeks, after an evaluation that is underway is completed by the competent authorities, he will advise the Governor General to order the release of some young men and women who are serving time for minor offenses.

"This is the internationally proclaim Year of Mercy by Persons of Faith, and we ought to exercise it appropriately to deal with young persons and others, said the Prime Minister, after he had referenced to persons deserving a second chance. (KH)




Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves (inset) has declared that he is all about safeguarding the interest of and on behalf Vincentians, as far as their share in and service from the airline are concerned.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that he will continue to defend the interest of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines in LIAT, to ensure that the airline delivers good service.





He made the comment in a ministerial statement on LIAT, delivered at a Sitting of the House, Friday 26th October.

This statement followed on a meeting of shareholder governments held on October 19, in Barbados, at which, Dr. Gonsalves said, he had listed a number of challenges facing the airline.





"Of course, the only one reported on was the one (in which) I spoke about the illness of the crew, and then the pilots association spoke of other things, he said.





Inordinate amount of sickness





According to Gonsalves, one of the hindrances to LIATs operation was linked to crew sickness.

When this inference was first made following the October 19 meeting in Barbados, the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA)  LIATs Pilots Association  took umbrage.





But, according to information received from the airlines management, Dr. Gonsalves said that the levels (of sickness) for this year equated to 13 percent of work time, and that the largest bundle of crew sickness was caused by 18 percent of the crew.





He added that the management had also informed the shareholders that there were, what he termed, "episodic illnesses, and that if a graph was to be drawn it would indicate that the bulk of illnesses occurred right around the time of some of the regions festivals.





Other Challenges





Some of the other challenges which impinge on LIATs ability to deliver a consistently good service, include the wind at the airports in Arnos Vale and Dominica  an operational challenge.

This was compounded by some weak technology systems, some being old and others manual.





Dr. Gonsalves admitted there were some challenges in the frontline, which, he agreed, needed to be addressed.

He explained that not all the front desk workers were direct employees of LIAT. They were in the case of St. Vincent, but that service was outsourced in Barbados.





And while he acknowledged that they (front line staff) sometimes had to work under some difficult circumstances, he conceded that the airline needed to do better in this regard.





"Because that is where we get a lot of anger, he said, adding that there were some issues that were outside the control of LIAT, such as security checks.





Delays related to front line challenges and other ground requirements had caused further problems in countries where the airport closed earlier than others, for example Dominica and here in St Vincent.





In defence of SVG

In supporting his defence of the Vincentian interest in LIAT, and Vincentians demand for improved services, the Prime Minister said that he was asked for some of the residual monies, or part of the initial USD 300,000, by the then Chief Executive Officer David Evans, who would later resign from that position.





The Prime Minister told the House that he was not prepared to make any payment until he got answers on some issues which included: some short term contracts that were awarded to individuals; the status of the sale of the final Dash 8 aircraft; some information on the reduced headcount; further information on a decision made at an earlier Shareholders meeting on the enhancement of the hub in Barbados; and a response to the demand for improved service to St Vincent.





Dr. Gonsalves said that he had to wait on the resignation of Evans to get his answers, and lauded Isaac Solomon, this countrys representative on LIATs Board of Directors, who, he said, advised him (Gonsalves) and indicated to him that he needed to get the responses to those questions. It was then, he said, that he got involved.

Whether or not any residual amount) of money was paid, the Prime Minister did not say.





The Prime Minister did, in a September 14 meeting with Acting CEO/LIAT Ms. Julie Reiffer-Jones, declare that his government was not prepared to inject any further funds into the airline, until it improved its services to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (DD)
LIATs fleet base was tipped for relocation to Barbados, with the island being designated as the hub for four of the airlines new ATR aircraft, leaving just two each in Antigua and Trinidad. Inset:Richard Sealey, Barbados Minister of Tourism, International Travel, made an appeal for more Caribbean Government investment in LIAT.

Those Caribbean governments/countries who find it convenient to spout criticism of regional airline LIAT, but resist efforts to have them invest in the airline, have been chided for their selfishness.





Richard Sealey, Barbados Minister of Tourism, International Travel, said, inter alia, during an address at a Sandals Press Conference in Barbados last week Friday, that it was unfortunate that some of the countries that have not been putting money in LIAT, but who have been very vocal in the manner they go about announcing that theyre not putting any money in LIAT.





"Youre happy to stick your straw through the fence and enjoy the benefit but not putting anything in. There are people who disagree with me but I believe very strongly that if you were to look at countries in the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) they would probably collapse if they didnt have LIAT servicing them. Its one of those things we have to look at, but I can tell it will not continue like this forever, Sealey said in further fingering LIATs critics.





That said, Sealey made a direct appeal to those detractors, calling on them, once again to consider investing in LIAT.





Barbados is the airlines largest shareholder with a 49.5 per cent share. Antigua & Barbuda has a 13 per cent share, with St Vincent and the Grenadines having approximately 12 per cent, and Dominica less than 10 per cent.

According to Sealey, LIAT is "even more difficult to run than CAL (Caribbean Airlines) or Air Jamaica or any of those airlines.





Minister Sealey reaffirmed that LIAT is projected to lose EC$9 million this year, having lost $EC56 million in 2015, and is operating with an accumulated deficit of up to EC$344 million. "These are very large numbers, Sealey stressed.





He added: "The Barbados Government and even Antigua, St Vincent, and Dominica, the four major shareholders, they are really disproportionately carrying the load for the rest of the Caribbean. he said.

LIAT currently has 10 aircraft servicing 18 countries with some 700 flights per week.

A recent meeting of the Shareholder Governments of LIAT disclosed that LIAT had made a request for additional input of EC$5 million to keep it operational.




Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves responding to a question put by Oppostion MP St. Clair Leacock, about work at the International Airport.

The search and rescue components and the fuel storage facility at the international airport are in order.





So said Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves who was responding to a question posed by the Parliamentary Representative for Central Kingstown, St Clair Leacock at last Fridays meeting of the House.





Gonsalves had one day earlier, at the Independence Day parade, announced that the opening of the airport was "imminent, assured the House that he had received all the facts, and that the search and rescue component, including the sea component, were in order.





He also said that work on the fuel storage was completed, with all the equipment required for the operational phase of the facility already in the country.





A scheduled testing and commissioning of the equipment were expected to be conducted by Rubis on November 14th, he said, when an aircraft will be refueled.





"However, there is still some work to do on the pipeline and the buoys for the docking of the fuel tankers, Gonsalves told the House.





He added that all the pipes from the storage facility to the pump station at Mount Pleasant had already been installed and pressure tested, and that work was expected to resume to complete the installation of the remaining section of the pipeline at Stubbs Bay; the sub-sea line and the buoys in the sea.





Work is expected to be completed within a two- month period, Gonsalves said, however the remaining work on the pipelines and buoys is not expected to affect the ability for aircraft to be fueled, he said. (DD)
Dr. Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of St. Kitts/Nevis, is prepared to ensure that the law takes its rightful toll on those who run amok of it.

Some 100 nationals of Cuba, Jamaica, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and the USA were rounded up by police, in an operation in the communities of East Basseterre, capital of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.





The Saturday 22nd October operation came in response to ongoing concerns brought to the attention of the police, by residents of the communities.





Some 29 of those picked were still in police custody up to late last week.





Addressing the issue, Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris said, according to an official government release, "The individuals in question have overstayed and have been in violation of our Immigration Laws, in some cases as early as 2010. That is where the documentation leads us. Some of these persons had only been granted provisional entry to attend funerals, weddings, or visit sick relatives. That is what they came purportedly to do, and they refused to voluntarily leave the country or seek extensions from the appropriate authorities.





Dr. Harris affirmed that the police action had come in response to the publics growing concerns.

Those concerns, according to the Prime Minister, related to violation of the Noise Act, lewd behaviour, traffic congestion, suspected illegal actions carried out in bars; fights and general chaos well into the morning hours, which have even disturbed Sunday Services of at least one Church in the community.





"The law is the law is the law. As a genuine effort is being made now to uphold the law, violations of our laws will not be tolerated, said Dr. Harris in further justification for the action.




As of 2017, Vincentians will have to forego the taste of turtle meat.

As of January 1, 2017, hunting and consuming turtles and their eggs will be prohibited.





Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves made the disclosure while addressing a handing-over ceremony of two refrigerated trucks by the government of Japan, to the government of SVG, last Tuesday, at Calliaqua.

Dr. Gonsalves said that the decision was in keeping with the mantra,no extinction in our generation, and added that there was already a project which is being devised for turtle watching.





Turtles are said to be plentiful along the ast coast stretching from Colonaire (Black Point) toBig Sand in Sandy Bay.

The ban is expected to extend to four species of turtles, two of which are common in SVG waters.

In a related reference, thePrime Minister assured that,"We are not talking about banning traditional whaling, but I just want to point out that we have our work to do ..... in relation to the sustainable use of our marine resources including whaling on a scientific bases, said the Prime Minister.




Left:VIchal Tafari Mockett was said to be a pivotal force in keeping Vincentians in Anguilla together. Right:The Chief of Police in Anguilla, Paul Morrison, pinning a wreath on the utility pole into which the vehicle slammed.

"The reality is sinking in  it is not a dream, and that is something that the family is having a difficult time coming to terms with.





The words of Milcash Hoflund, sister of Ichal Tafari Mockett, a Vincentian police officer in Anguilla, who died in a vehicular crash last Sunday.





Hoflund told THE VINCENTIAN that her brother was the driver and sole occupant in the vehicle at the time of the accident. He was not the owner of the vehicle.





Mockett, who (once) served in the Special Services Unit in the Royal SVG Police Force, was attached to the Drugs and Firearms Task Force of the Royal Anguilla Police Force, was said to be off duty. He reportedly was attending a function when he left to return to his home for something, with all intention of returning. It was during his return to the function when, according to Hoflund, he lost control of the vehicle, and slammed into a utility pole along the Sandy Ground Main Road, around 6:40pm.





He succumbed to the injuries he sustained, at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, hours after the accident.

According to Hoflund, she received a phone call from a friend in Canada who told her about the death of her 36-year-old brother.





"I was angry, she said.

The former Georgetown resident was described as a selfless man.

She admitted that she had no idea how well liked her brother was, but came to realize this when, on his passing, she began receiving messages from people whom he would have worked with, and other people.

"He was the glue that kept the Vincentian contingent (in Anguilla) together, Hoflund said.

"He touched everyone in Anguilla, she continued.





She admits to having one regret. Ichal last visited his homeland in July, during Vincy Mas festivities, and she said that due to commitments at work, she was not able to spend as much time as she would have liked with him.

The family was planning a reunion in December: "I guess it will take place sooner rather than later, she said.

For now, she clings on to the memories of her brother, the times shared when they were young, growing up in the village of Caratal, Georgetown. (DD)
On Thursday 27th October, 2016, at the Military Parade held at the Victoria Park to commemorate the 37th Anniversary of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Independence, a spectacle of fashion and colour was created by the majority of Vincentians and other persons who were among the crowd witnessing the event.

When asked why individuals chose to create apparel with their own personal flavor, THE VINCENTIAN was informed that because our country does not have a National Dress, they felt it their responsibility to represent their national pride with concoctions of their own.

The thing is, to mark the celebration of Independence being granted on 27th October, 1979, a competition was held in which the contestants were to have worn a dress suitable to be called our National Dress. The winning dress was designed by Mr. Julian Peling Pollard and worn by Ms. Petra-Ann Lewis.

This design apparently never caught on, and there are not many duplications, if any at all, seen at national celebrations or any other functions for that matter.

However, as our national colours evolved and consciousness grew among Vincentians, people began to take on the whole idea of colour. Upon the acceptance of the current National Flag, which proved easy to reproduce in sketches, paintings and ultimately fashion, a basis was created for individual innovations in garments, hence the phenomenon witnessed on Independence Day each year.

According to Mr. Michael Peters, Research Officer in the Ministry of Culture, in the 1990s, a Committee was put together to look into issuing invitations for submissions for designs of a national dress and the eventual selection an appropriate garment. "Nothing came of this, he said, adding, "Then between 2001 and the current time, two such committees have been constituted but nothing has come of these either.

When asked his opinion for the inactivity, Mr. Peters answer was, "A lack of political will.

The individuals at Victoria Park on Independence Day, however, clearly never considered this lapse, when they chose to become designers and models of garments they chose as representative of the way they feel about their country.

Many interviewed simply said that people have their individual differences and sense of creativity, and they simply chose to showcase these with fashion carrying National Colours on Independence Day.
VINLECs representa-tives at the OHS Workshop (from left): Ms. Sheyni-que Sam, Mr. Anthony Patterson and Ms. Joan Millington.

St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) was represented at the recently concluded Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Workshop/Seminar, which was held in Barbados from October 23rd-28th.





The Company was represented by Ms. Sheynique Sam - Technical Assistant, Environmental Health and Safety; Mr. Anthony Patterson - Environmental Health and Safety Officer, and Ms. Joan Millington - Manager, Internal Audit.

According to CARILEC, the primary goal of the Seminar was to showcase the latest thinking, innovation and research in occupational health and safety, and examine how the workplace can be designed so that employees are safe and companies more productive. The Seminar was interactive and featured energy leaders, occupational health and safety experts sharing ideas, experiences, skills and knowledge to improve the lives of employees. It also provided participants with an opportunity to network with their peers.





The seminar opened officially on Monday 24th October. The prior day, two meetings were held; one to discuss OHS issues in the electric utility industry, and the other was a Disaster Coordinators meeting.

VINLECs Environmental Health and Safety Officer - Mr. Patterson made a presentation at the workshop titled An ergonomic analysis of VINLECs Vehicle Maintenance Workstation.





Mr. Patterson outlined how the exercise was carried out, and noted that an ergonomic assessment of the factors and risks associated with the vehicle maintenance operations was carried out using a combination of standard checklists, interviews, observations and measurements.





He said that the findings of the analysis were assessed in light of best practices and recommendations provided for effective ergonomic interventions.





The Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) co-hosted the event with the Barbados Light and Power Company Limited under the theme: Safety: A Value Not A Priority.




Inset:Esther Rawlins has categorically denied setting fire to the house she occupied. Above: The two wooden structures quickly went up in flames. Firemen could do little to prevent the total destruction of the houses.

By Dayle DaSilva





Esther Rawlins denies she set the house she called home for the past seven years on fire, and further denies that she had any knowledge of anyone planning such an act.





The fire broke out around 1:40 last Tuesday, November 1, afternoon, destroying two wooden structures located in the area commonly referred to as Long Wall, overlooking Port Kingstown.





Reports indicate that the fire started in the house occupied by Rawlins, before spreading to one above, occupied by Delano Simmons, his girlfriend and the couples three-year-old son.





Residents on the scene were quick to point fingers at Rawlins, accusing her of starting the fire.

They alleged that she started the fire after she was given an eviction notice.





THE VINCENTIAN was informed that she was expected to vacate the premises by November 15, but Rawlins said that the allegation was not true.





"I left early to take my son to school, she said, adding that she had a matter at the Kingstown Magistrates Court.

And after leaving the Court sometime between 10 and 11 on Tuesday morning, she met her son at 12:15pm at his school, and took him to get lunch.





She returned her son to school, after which she became engaged in a conversation before making her way home.

It was while she was on her way that an individual drew her attention to the fact that her house was on fire. When she looked towards the location, she saw her home engulfed in flames.





Rawlins explained that she had been living in the said house and on the said property since 2013, and that she had a rent-to-own agreement with the former landlord. But the property changed hands and, according to Rawlins, it was sold without her prior knowledge.

"Now the person who bought the property





and me are not friends, so it is causing a lot of problems, Rawlins told THE VINCENTIAN.

She went on further to say that she was aware of her rights and that if she was paying for the land, then the house would have to move.





"I told him (landlord) that I am not moving because I know my rights. I never tell nobody I goin bun down no house  all my things inside de house, the woman said.





She said that she was currently unemployed and that she had no reason to burn down the structure, knowing that she was not in a position to purchase material to re-build.





"People speculating. I have proof that I was down de road dis morning. Everybody know dat when I leave here, I wait for my son and would come home late in the evening.





Meanwhile, Delano Simmons confirmed that he was at his mothers house, a short distance away, when the fire started. His girlfriend and son were away.





Seeing that his house was being threatened, he moved quickly to save some items but was able to remove only a television set, which he said is probably damaged.





He assessed that he had lost everything, including clothes, personal documents and some personal savings (money).

"Everything gone, me have nuttin, he said. adding that he will have to resort to moving in with his mother until further notice. (DD)




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By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom will discuss energy cooperation during UK Prime Ministers Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan Baroness Nicholsons visit to Azerbaijan on November 28December 1.

The UK Embassy in Baku told Trend that the Baroness will lead an Oil and Gas Trade Mission to Baku and the possibility of developing partnership between Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and BP, enhancing oil and gas cooperation, which is part of the UK-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commissions ongoing joint trade activities, will be discussed as part of the visit.

During the visit, Baroness Nicholson is hoping to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and hold meetings with the countrys ministers and senior officials, the message said.

The UK and Azerbaijan enjoy cooperation in different spheres such as education, trade, tourism, ICT, as well as other infrastructure and transit projects.

The cooperation in the energy sector is currently the key factor of the bilateral economic relations between the two countries. Azerbaijan cooperates with the United Kingdom in the field of exploration and transportation of oil and natural gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. BP as a leading oil company, which has launched its operations in Azerbaijan in 1992, participates in the main production sharing agreements such as the Contract of Century (Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli) and the Shah Deniz project.

The Azerbaijani State Customs Committee reported that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UK amounted to 418.06 million manats in January-August 2016, which is 1.5 times more than in the same period of 2015.
By Azernews





By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijans state oil fund SOFAZ has managed to enter the top five of the most transparent sovereign wealth funds of the world.

The Fund ranked the fourth among 60 sovereign wealth funds with overall score of 92 out of 100 in the fourth edition of Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency and Accountability scoreboard published in October 2016.

The rating, prepared by Peterson Institute for International Economics put Norway Government Pension Fund to the top of the list followed by New Zealand Superannuation Fund (2nd place), Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund, United States (3rd place), SOFAZ (4th place) and Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, Canada (5th place).

Peterson Institute for International Economics was established in 1981 and is a private, nonprofit research institution specialized in the study of international economic policy.

SOFAZ, which is engaged in accumulation and management of oil and gas revenues of the country, was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

Based on SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems.

The transfers of the Fund to the state budget are forecasted to hit 7.61 billion manat ($ 4.64 billion) in 2016, while the forecasted index for 2017 stands at 6.1 billion manat ($3.7 billion). The assets of the Fund currently amount to some $33.7 billion, with some 80 percent of the volume falling to a share of bonds and short-term financial instruments.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijans Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov has met with Governor of Russia's Arkhangelsk Region Igor Orlov in Baku to discuss ways of developing agricultural cooperation and increasing the effectiveness of agricultural import and export processes.

The minister hailed economic, political and agricultural relations between the two countries, and highlighted the presidents attention to the development of agriculture as the priority sphere of Azerbaijan`s economy.

Asadov emphasized the bilateral meetings held between businessmen as part of the 7th Azerbaijani-Russian Interregional Forum in Baku.

The Azerbaijani minister informed of the country`s export potential and proposed exporting agricultural products to Arkhangelsk.

Orlov, in turn, welcomed the Azerbaijani minister`s proposal and they agreed to continue discussions on the level of the working group.

During the 7th Azerbaijan-Russia interregional forum held on November 1, Arkhangelsk region also expressed an interest in Azerbaijans experience in developing industrial parks t.

Deputy Chair of Arkhangelsk government Viktor Ikonnikov said that trade between Arkhangelsk region and Azerbaijan amounted to $7 million in the first six months of this year. This is somewhat lower than in the same period of last year.

We need to find new logistic solutions, new partners, successful models of cooperation of industrial enterprises, including in shipbuilding industry, which is being actively developed in Azerbaijan, said Ikonnikov.

Deputy Minister of Agroindustrial Complex and Trade of Arkhangelsk region Irina Bajanova said that large trade networks operated in the region and they were interested in supplies of Azerbaijani fruits and vegetables.

Today we are exploring possibilities to ensure direct supplies of Azerbaijani fruits and vegetables to Arkhangelsk region, she added.

On the sidelines of the forum representatives of Arkhangelsk region discussed ways of supporting small and medium entrepreneurship, mechanisms of developing cooperation between Pomorye (Arkhangelsk region) and Azerbaijan.

The forum also featured meetings between representatives of Russian and Azerbaijani companies with the aim of establishing new business contacts.
By Azernews





By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan and Hungary, the countries with a huge capacity for the development of economic cooperation, are keen on strengthening a mutually beneficial partnership.

The cooperation between the two countries currently covers almost all areas, including ICT, energy, tourism, agriculture, trade, environmental protection, water management, ICT, culture, sports, science , infrastructure.

Hungarian Ambassador to Baku Imre Laszloczki told Trend that Hungary may help Azerbaijani business to enter the European Union (EU) market, namely, to provide an opportunity for creating enterprises and investment opportunities.

Several agreements were signed between the sides during the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Baku in March 2016, including the agreement on the protection technology of various facilities, an agreement on the creation of an electronic parking system and other payment systems, as well as agreements in the field of agriculture and food industry, he mentioned.

The ambassador said that the primary goal is the promotion of mutual investments and project cooperation.

A steady growth of trade between the countries has been observed since 2013. Moreover, the highest level of Hungarys trade turnover in the South Caucasus region accounts for Azerbaijan. The import volume of Azerbaijani non-oil products to Hungary amounted to $79,000 in 2015.

The Hungarian government is also interested in expanding the Hungarian business in Azerbaijan and considers Azerbaijan as a potential market for different Hungarian products

Political relations

The ambassador also hailed political relations between the countries, mentioning that Hungary intends to strengthen a political dialogue and contribute to the improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

The Hungarian embassy in Baku will operate as a NATO Liaison Office for two years - from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018. Hungarian embassy will take over these responsibilities from the Romanian embassy in Baku, which carried out this task in the last few years.

The transfer of responsibilities will be realized in late 2016 with the participation of representatives of Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania and many other organizations involved in this work.

Highlighting the objectives and activity of the Hungarian embassy in Baku as a NATO Liaison Office, the ambassador said that the tasks include strengthening of political dialogue and improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

The diplomat added that the main responsibility and tasks are to ensure comprehensive support in organizing mutual visits of officials arriving in Azerbaijan from the NATO International Staff and visits of officials from Azerbaijan to NATO headquarters.

NATO and Azerbaijan actively cooperate on democratic, institutional and defense reforms, and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas. Azerbaijans Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) lays out the programme of cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO.

Azerbaijan and NATO cooperate within the Partnership for Peace program. Earlier, the NATO adopted a document of the fourth stage of the Individual Action Plan within the partnership for 2015-2016.

Energy cooperation

Hungary regards Azerbaijan as a key partner in reference to ensuring Europes energy security.

Laszloczki said that Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project is important for the diversification of energy sources in Hungary, adding that Hungarys national oil and gas company MOL sees Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR as one of the most important partners.

Energy security is a number one challenge for Hungary as the country imports about 53 percent of energy it needs.

Being one of the biggest construction projects of our times the SGC will bring some 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe. 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.

ICT cooperation

ICT sphere is yet another example of successful cooperation between the countries. The envoy said that cooperation between the Hungarian DBH Group company and Azerbaijans High Tech Park LLC is being considered at the governmental level, adding that Hungary offered to create a joint investment fund in the field of ICT in March 2016.

The MoU signed between Hungarian Foreign Ministry and Azerbaijans Communications and High Technologies Ministry envisages cooperation in the sphere of venture capital financing, creation of joint investment opportunities, and financing of promising startup projects. Moreover, Hungarian Eximbank earlier expressed its readiness to invest in establishing a regional DATA-center in Azerbaijan.

Agriculture

Agricultural production in Hungary is one of the most developed fields of the national economy, while Azerbaijan sees the development of the sphere as one of the main alternatives to petrodollars.

Laslocki earlier said that cooperation in the sphere of agriculture is one of the top priorities for the governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary.

Enjoying advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has every opportunity to increase export of high-quality agro products, which are in great demand in other countries.

Moreover, a number of students from Azerbaijan applied for the Hungarian Government Scholarship program 2016-2017.

Scholarship is awarded in the field of animal nutrition, plant protection, rural development and agribusiness, while the specialties offered by Hungarian universities will give a stimulus for the further strengthening agriculture in Azerbaijan.

Tourism

Tourism relations between the countries are also on rise. The ambassador said that three large Hungarian travel companies, including 1000 ut, Robinson Tours and Vedi Tour intend to enter Azerbaijani market. Moscow branch of Hungarian Tourism Agency is currently responsible for tourism development with Azerbaijan. Hungarian company Wizz Air has been implementing Baku-Budapest direct flights since March 2016.

In January 2016, BLS International LLC opened a visa center of Hungary in Baku at the initiative of Hungarys Embassy in Azerbaijan.

The decision to open the center was made by Hungary in order to strengthen relations between the two countries, establish direct relations between the citizens of Azerbaijan and Hungary, as well as develop tourist relations and meet the needs of the increased tourist and businessmen flow thanks to the direct flights of Wizz Air company.
By New York Times





Not enough sleep last night? You may overeat today.





Thats the conclusion of investigators after reviewing data on 172 participants in 11 sleep studies. The study designs varied, but tested people after a night of restricted sleep, usually about four hours, and then after a night of normal rest.





The next day, participants were offered a breakfast buffet or scheduled meals later in the day. The scientists tracked calorie intake and energy expenditure.





The analysis, in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that after a night of limited sleep, people consumed an average of 385 extra calories the next day, roughly the equivalent of a frosted cupcake or a serving of french fries. They also consumed more fat and less protein.





Some have suggested that sleep deprivation affects the hormones that control appetite, but the authors wrote that a lack of sleep may heighten the desire for food as a reward.





They acknowledge that the studies had small samples, were conducted in controlled laboratory conditions and were short.





Still, the senior author, Gerda K. Pot of Kings College London, said the subject was worth investigating further. Poor sleep, she said, could be a risk factor for obesity, and its something we can change.
By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijans president and the country's foreign ministry, as well as other agencies constantly keep in focus the issue of releasing Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, taken hostage by Armenian militaries, said Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

This issue is constantly being discussed with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and other participants of the negotiations [on peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict], he told Trend on November 3.

Hajiyev noted that according to the latest information, Asgarov and Guliyev are alive and feel well.

Hajiyev mentioned that Armenias still holding civilians as hostages, showing such inhumanity, is another example of Yerevans gross violation of international humanitarian legal commitments undertaken under the relevant conventions.

Instead of contributing to settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia negatively affects the negotiations by such provocative actions, the spokesman stressed.

Armenian forces killed an Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov and detained Guliyev and Asgarov while they were attempting to visit the graves of their relatives in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district in July 2014.

Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of a separatist regime in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Following the court" in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years.

Azerbaijan, as a country whose over 4,000 citizens were taken captive, hostage by Armenia, or went missing as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, has repeatedly declared its readiness to begin negotiations with Armenia. However, the Armenian side ignores that.

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.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
By Azernews





By Gunay Hasanova

Uzbekistan favors the development of trade and economic relations among member-countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said First Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Rustam Azimov.

Uzbekistan has already taken concrete steps jointly with our partners from the Peoples Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and our closest neighbors Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan regarding the development of trade-economic and investment cooperation and seeking new opportunities, as well as, mutually acceptable and beneficial solutions to these issues, noted Azimov at a meeting of the Council of SCO Heads of Governments in Bishkek, Jahon News Agency reported.

Azimov stressed that being neighbors, and, in fact, having a complementary economy, one needs to actively shape each others market, promote mutual demand for manufactured goods in neighboring countries by creating the preconditions for its successful competitiveness.

At the same time, Uzbekistan is committed to broadening and deepening the ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders, with member-states and observers of the SCO at interstate and regional level, which, according to First Deputy Prime Minister, is a "major driving force for the expansion of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation.

The most important strategic direction for Uzbekistan is the implementation of joint projects aimed at the disclosure of a huge transport-communication and transit potential of the SCO, he added.

He noted that Uzbekistan supports the development of economically sound transport and transit routes, effectively linking Central Asia through China and Russia to the markets of South-East and South Asia and Europe, including in the framework of the Chinese initiative to create a "Silk Road Economic Belt".

As one of the weaknesses of the SCO first Deputy Prime Minister called the lack of an effective multilateral financial mechanism to support investment activity in the framework of the SCO.

Following the meeting, SCO member countries agreed to create a development bank and a development fund of SCO at a meeting in 2012.

In turn, Azimov also stressed that Uzbekistan supports the creation of the SCO Development Bank, which is one of the most important factors in the development of investment cooperation.

An expanded format meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government was held in Kyrgyzstans capital, Bishkek on November 3.

The meeting was attended by Kyrgyzstans Acting Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda and Uzbekistans First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.

The event saw the signing of 12 documents on cooperation, including a Joint Communique of the SCO heads of governments.

Moreover, the countries signed a decree on the SCO budget for 2017, a list of actions for the further development of the project activities within the SCO in 2017-2021, a decree on further work aimed at creating the SCO Development Bank and Development Fund.

They also signed a concept of scientific and technological partnerships, an action plan for the implementation of the agreement between the SCO governments on scientific and technical cooperation for 2016- 2020 and a draft road development program.

The SCO, established in 2001, is a strategically important political, economic and military organization that has a geographic sweep stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf.

The SCO members now are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.

The SCO is primarily centered on its member nations security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

Russia will chair the SCO Heads of Government Council in 2017.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

"Flag march" will be held in Baku on November 9 on the occasion of Azerbaijan's State Flag Day.

The route of "Flag march" will start from Baku Boulevard and end at the National Flag Square. The event starts at 11:00.

The representatives of the Education Ministry, NGOs, public figures, MPs, as well as teachers and students will attend the march.

The State Flag Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan on November 9.

The sacred flag, waving above Azerbaijan was firstly raised on November 9, 1918, as the national flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).

After regaining of Azerbaijan's independence in 1991, the flag was approved as the official flag of Azerbaijan on February 5.

In accordance with the presidential decree dated November 17, 2009, November 9 announced as the National Flag Day in memory of the ADR.

The state flag of Azerbaijan represents a rectangular panel consisting of three equal horizontal bands colored blue, red, and green, with a white crescent and an eight-pointed star are centered in the red band. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 1:2.

The first blue stripe stands for the Turkic origin of Azerbaijani people and its Turkic heritage and is connected with the idea of Turkism. The middle red stripe means building a modern society, developing a democratic and modernized country. The third green stripe expresses affiliation to the Islamic civilization and the Islamic religion.
Saxo Bank, the investment and trading specialist, has appointed Ashok Kalyanswamy as its chief information officer (CIO) and a member of its executive team.



The appointment follows Ashley Lathams decision to step down as CIO, the bank said.



Kalyanswamy joins Saxo Bank with over 20 years of experience working in various senior technology positions at firms such as Lehman Brothers and Nomura and most recently served as division director and CIO for the Macquarie Securities Group based out of Hong Kong.



In his new role, Kalyanswamy will be responsible for the strategic direction and operations of Saxo Banks global IT organisation, serving as the leader for the banks IT-team of around 500 employees. He will assume the role in January 2017 and will be based in Copenhagen.



CEO and co-founder Kim Fournais said: We are thrilled to be welcoming Ashok, who brings with him a wealth of experience in developing innovative information technology solutions for leading global financial institutions, and have him further strengthen the excellent foundation passed on from Ashley Latham. Technology has never been more important for the financial industry and it is absolutely key to our role as a financial markets facilitator. With Ashoks extensive experience in this area and his renowned skills as a manager, I am sure that he will be a real asset for our IT organization, the firm as a whole, and thereby further strengthen our deliveries that enable our clients to access global capital markets. -TradeArabia News Service


Ideal Standard, a leading provider of innovative bathroom solutions operating across Europe, Middle East and Africa, has announced the opening of its Design Bathroom Centre in Dubai.



The first-of-its-kind centre in the Middle East and North Africa region, showcases the latest designs, innovations and complete bathroom solutions.



The new centre is a luxury establishment of 1000 sq m located on Sheikh Zayed Road, at Al Quoz 3, in Dubai.

It is a virtual one-stop destination for all bathroom solutions, showcasing all design ranges and complete solutions under the flag brand Ideal Standard, DEA, Tonic II, Ventuno, Connect, Strada, and the newest launches  Connect Air and Tesi complete ranges, as well as the new Ceraflex range of mixers. The full range of Ideal Standard bathroom mixers, counter tops and vessel basins is also exhibited.



The centre also displays Armitage Shanks branded products in individual rooms with solutions for different sectors and building types  anti-vandal and commercial products for hospitals, schools, public areas and residential range solutions. Selective products from the American Standard brand are also showcased, with focus on one-piece, two-piece toilets and basins.



The Design Bathroom Centre is the companys first training and specification centre in the Mena region with a mandate to host, train and inspire interior designers, consultants and contractors, by presenting and providing complete bathroom solutions for all types of projects and buildings.



The centre is strategically designed using the concept of inspiration areas, along with technical areas of real operating items, illustrating the various aspects of the bathroom products, such as ease of installation and maintenance, water saving aspects, and installation options, said the company.



The base floor of the Ideal Standard Design Bathroom Centre, open to public from 10 am to 7 pm from Sunday through Thursday, will be an interactive zone, where end-consumers can get an insight into their bathroom needs, and an overview of the latest designs and innovations. In other words, they can work with Ideal Standards consultants and interior designers to find the right combination of products for them to create and design their perfect bathroom space, it said.



The growth of Ideal Standard in the last five decades is a testimony of the distinguished world-class bathroom solutions we present to our customers that explains the remarkable success achieved by the company across Europe, Middle East and Africa. We are privileged to drive our success to the next level in the Mena region, by establishing our first Design Bathroom Centre in Dubai where we showcase the most contemporary designs and complete bathroom solutions," said said Ahmed Hafez, chief executive officer, Ideal Standard Mena. -TradeArabia News Service


Migrants wait to get onto a bus during the evacuation of a makeshift camp in the 19th district of Paris, France, early on November 4. French authorities started removing up to 2,500 migrants from the streets of Paris after camps in the city grew following the clearance of the so-called 'Jungle' camp in Calais, northen France, at the end of October 2016. EPA/Yoan Valat
Despite a $1.2 billion loss over the last three months, Chesapeake Energy is no longer bleeding dollars in a market thats still establishing balance after the bust.

In a call with analysts Thursday, leaders of the Oklahoma City-based company projected confidence in the strength of its quarterly results and anticipated growth in the Powder River Basin, among other regions, in the next two years.

With an inventory of over 17,000 wells still to be drilled across six major operating areas, with 5,600 of those wells currently having a rate of return greater than 40 percent, we are confident that the Chesapeake operating machine is stronger today than at any other time in our history, said CEO Robert Douglas Lawler.

The companys confidence was mirrored on the market. The value of Chesapeakes shares jumped in pre-stock trade Thursday.

Chesapeake is one of the largest oil producers in Wyoming and one of the biggest natural gas producers in the country.

It has made good on a attempt to cut spending significantly for 2016, something it announced in February after the company suffered an almost $15 billion loss in 2015.

Chesapeakes billion-dollar loss over the third quarter this year was considered a good development, better than expected by analysts. It was also down from a $4.7 billion loss in same period of 2015.

Revenue was down this quarter by 33 percent. The decrease is a result of the lower commodity price and lower production, the company said in a statement.

Production averaged about 640,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, 14,000 from the Powder River Basin.

Cutting back also accrued costs for Chesapeake in the third quarter, including buying out a $334 million gathering contract with Williams Partners. Chesapeake will sell about 5,600 wells in West Virginia and Kentucky, along with associated acreage and property to further slim down its portfolio.

The company has also shed $1 billion in debt since the second quarter, settling at $8.7 billion and down from the end of the third quarter last year when it was $11.7 billion.

Chesapeake was not the only company battered by a tanking market.

In 2014, oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel, drilling increased and expansion ballooned. The price fell by half the following year. Production, investment and earnings suffered in response.

Though oil and gas companies do not appear to have fully rebounded, the third quarter has shown some profitable moves and many companies have tightened their balance sheets, cut assets and focused efforts on most profitable plays.

Earlier in the week Anadarko, the oil and gas giant based in Woodlands, Texas, posted a third-quarter loss of $830 million. However, Devon Energy, which has operations in the Powder River and Wind River basins, had a strong three months, with earnings totaling $993 million.
Casper, Wyoming

March 17, 1987October 24, 2016

Thomas Reid Schmidt passed away suddenly by natural causes. A rosary service for Reid will be held at St. Anthonys Church Wednesday, November 2 at 7:00 pm. Funeral services will be at 10:00 am Thursday, November 3, also at St. Anthonys Church.

Reid was born to Jody and Phil Schmidt on March 17, 1987 in Casper, Wyoming. He attended Crest Hill elementary, Casper Classical Academy and graduated from NCHS in 2005. He put himself through his higher education, receiving an associates degree in computer sciences at Casper College.

At a very early age, it was easy to see that his heart was bigger than his body. He was a very caring person who loved his family unconditionally and served as its protector. Reid was very loyal to his family. Even through normal family discourse he would always end a conversation with I love you. Naturally lighthearted, Reid would try to lighten the mood with some relevant funny quip when he saw people in stages of stress. This helped his Dad a lot, created havoc for his sisters, and just made the day better. Reid called his mother daily and those calls would frequently end with her  a laughn and a giggln.

Reid started working at Greiner//Schmidt Motors at about the age of six. He, with his siblings, got to pick up trash and take care of the grounds. As he continued working at the dealership, Reid filled many positions, with his last contribution being Manager of Information Technologies. Reid had no mentor in this position. As the dealerships grew, he was able to step in to the position as a result of his own hard work. This is no boast, he developed an integrated computer and phone system for three busy new car dealerships that had vendors wondering why their huge staffs could not accomplish what this one person did. It was well known at the dealerships that when you needed help with something, whether it be coordinating contractors, knowing where something was, or what had been done in the past to correct something, he was the go  to person. Reid did not walk the halls of the dealerships, he ran. Reid became his dads partner in travel to many meetings. Not only was his companionship pleasurable, but his knowledge of how things worked, whether in practice or how it could be, was invaluable. When spending company money (or money on himself for that matter), there wasnt a penny he couldnt pinch! He was a huge part of the success of the family business. At the time of his death he had been hired to work for the corporate offices of Lithia, the company that purchased the Ford dealership, as a traveling IT Project Manager.

Reid was the type of person that was always learning something new and then sharing those things with you. He would tell you attributes of different commercial planes, the best locations and types of an eclipse, things related to medical advances and on, and on, and on, and on. At the time of his death he was making his own phone system, emulating the needs of large, big brand, multi-user systems. He would spend time with his younger brothers talking about cars, computer gaming, or something techno-geek. To this end, Reid helped his brother James rebuild his 1981 GMC truck and mined bit coins with his brother Nate. He enjoyed being out on a 4 wheeler, snowboarding, and experiencing the adventures that travel provided. On a recent trip he was able to be with his sister Allyson in San Francisco touring Lucas Films, and the Apple and Google campuses. Allyson and Reid were close in age which made their communications special and beneficial to the growth of the family as a whole.

Reid helped others. A friend of his had been tragically injured while in high school. Reid helped him on a frequent basis and aided him in his diploma walk. He helped the many organizations his mother was involved in providing free IT assistance or providing silent auction certificates for his expertise. He was on a good path of understanding his place in helping the social needs of the community at large.

A special gift he gave his little sister, Madelyn, was her birth date. Long story, but her birth date is one day after his. This led to the annual battle of who got to pick the type of cake and meal at their shared celebrations.

Reid lost his best friend, his brother, Evan in 1999. He was also predeceased by his maternal grandparents, Russ and Betty McIntire, and his uncle, Greg McIntire.

He is survived by his mother and father, Jody and Phil Schmidt; big sister, Allyson; younger sister, Madelyn; and younger brothers, James and Nathan. Additionally, he is survived by his paternal grandparents, Bob and Prudy Schmidt; as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

As flowers wilt with time, in honor of Reid, please consider giving the lasting gift of money or time to those agencies which can provide for the health and welfare of the people of Casper.

Some people stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.
With several challengers taking on members of Casper City Council in the general election Tuesday, here are three big issues the new council will be dealing with in the coming year:

Tough budget decisions

The current council has reacted to Wyomings down economy by cutting the citys budget nearly 40 percent and drawing on Caspers reserve fund to cover the remaining deficit. City manager V.H. McDonald drafted a plan to spend down the reserve during the next 10 years. Casper has the luxury of leaning on the fund because it socked away about 50 percent of the citys annual general fund as opposed to just the 16 percent recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association.

Many of the savings came from offering early retirement to city staff, and while that has left employees juggling a higher workload, it avoided cuts to services like roads, sanitation, police or fire. The remaining savings came from postponing capital projects  building and renovations  planned before the downturn. Overall, that has lessened the impact of the energy bust on the daily lives of city residents.

McDonald has said that, for the moment, sales tax receipts are in line with the citys predictions, and no more changes to the budget will need to take place. But if tax revenue drops or if the state stops providing annual grant money to municipalities  an increasing risk as the Wyoming Legislature manages a state budget battered by the decline in mining activity  then tougher choices may be on the horizon.

The city council will dictate future cuts, if theyre necessary. Current council members believe that quality of life measures like downtown development and leisure activities are necessary to keep a stable tax base by making sure current residents stay in town and new businesses relocate here. Some critics of the city think essential services  emergency response and sanitation, for example  should be the citys only priority during lean times and that maintaining parks and supporting a public plaza downtown are luxuries Casper cant afford.

The new council will determine which of these philosophies the city follows.

Downtown development

Over the past five years the city council has taken a leading role in promoting a rejuvenated downtown. The city contributed $3 million to the David Street Station plaza project, expected to open in August, and bought the nearby Plains Furniture store to support the development.

Council members have gone back and forth over their support for a new convention center. They initially supporting a publicly funded project on the empty lot across from Raccas pizzeria and Art 321. That plan fell through, and the city turned its focus to the reclaimed Platte River Commons site before eventually settling on a plan with the new owners of the Parkway Plaza in north Casper. That plan calls for the city to improve roads and walkways in the area if the hotel owners expand the existing conference facilities.

The council has maintained strict regulations on construction in the Old Yellowstone District to ensure it maintains a historic appearance. Council also granted a new liquor license to John Huff, owner of Old Yellowstone Garage, who has done significant redevelopment work on properties in the neighborhood.

The new council will be forced to decide whether its members want to continue investing city resources in the development of central Casper or leave the area to its own devices. The support currently comes in a variety of forms  cash grants, in-kind contributions of land and city code, like the OYD regulations, that encourage particular projects. A new council could decide to maintain all, some or none of the existing incentives.

The Hedquist case

The lawsuits between former councilman Craig Hedquist and the city, former city manager John Patterson and former police chief  and current city council candidate  Chris Walsh, have hung over the city for nearly a year. The dispute stems from Hedquists claim that Patterson conspired to sabotage Hedquists political career. Specifically, Hedquist alleges that Patterson and city staff were embarrassed by Hedquists criticism of city spending and discriminated against his construction company when it bid for public projects while trying to force him off council.

The case has dragged on since it was filed in February, and the trial date was recently extended until June after a judge said he needed more time to review the allegations due to their complexity. Many political observers in the city view the spat as a clash of big personalities  Hedquist and Patterson  and express relief that the two are no longer in city hall. But with the lawsuit looming, the dispute is far old news. Hedquist is seeking financial compensation and the city council will have to decide whether it is worth settling the matter or going to trial and risking a hefty judgment against the city at a time it can scarcely afford a large payout.
In an action that may upend the Casper City Council race, incumbent Ward 2 councilman Scott Miller withdrew his candidacy Thursday, less than a week before polls close.

The move makes it almost certain that at least one of the Ward 2 challengers, either Todd Murphy or Darin Crowell, will win a council seat.

Murphy bested incumbents Miller and Charlie Powell in the August primary. But despite coming in third during the primary contest, Miller said he had gained significant support last month after the Star-Tribune published comments Murphy made on his Facebook page.

Murphy referred to various government officials as Nazis and claimed the Bureau of Land Management had plans to murder protesters and dump their bodies in mass graves. After the Star-Tribune discovered the posts, Murphy since expressed regret about the language he used in many of them.

Miller said he now expects Powell and Murphy to win the election.

Im really hoping that Charlie Powell is considered because he does a really good job, hes very objective and thinks about the city as a whole when he makes his decisions, Miller said.

Powell finished second in the August primary with 20.4 percent of the vote, trailing Murphys 23.6. Miller earned 14.6 percent and Crowell collected 11.2 percent.

Ive spoke with both Darin and Todd about things and they both seemed to be reasonable people from my conversations with them  but I think it would be sad to lose Charlie on council, Miller said.

Miller sent a letter to the County Clerks office announcing his withdrawal from the race on Thursday, citing career opportunities that interfered with his ability to serve on council.

Miller, who is currently interim director of human resources for Casper College, said in an interview that he had accepted a job outside of Casper.

I feel pretty bad I have to do this, he said. I know its kind of odd, what, five days before the election?

But Miller said transparency was his priority. If he was reelected and forced to resign when he relocated, the eight remaining city council members would select his replacement.

That is how Miller ended up on council last fall after the resignation of Craig Hedquist. But Miller said that given his decision came right before an election, it was better to let the residents of his ward choose their city councilman.

Were at the point where its a vote and we need to represent the voters, he said.

But with about 25 percent of Natrona County ballots already cast either by mail or through early voting, it is still possible that Miller could end up winning his race and that council will choose his successor anyway.
Despite warnings from Donald Trumps presidential campaign that Tuesdays election will be rigged, local party leadership remained confident in the integrity of Natrona Countys electoral process.

I dont have a concern in Wyoming, said county GOP chairwoman Bonnie Foster. Im very proud to vote in Natrona County.

Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence has encouraged Trump supporters to observe voting themselves to prevent fraud on election day. But Foster made clear that individuals could not simply show up at local precincts to watch people vote.

I dont recommend that people just go to the polls to hang out and try and play gotcha, Foster said. She noted that poll observers had to be certified and trained by the party and that process was already over.

The Natrona County Republican Party will have at least four poll watchers focused on Casper College and the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds, Foster said.

Foster said she was focused on Casper College because it includes the race for Wyoming House District 56, an open seat where Democrat Dan Neal is facing off against Republican Jerry Obermueller.

I just want to make sure everything is on the up and up, she said.

The poll watchers will make sure nobody comes in twice to vote by looking at people who come in and seeing if anyone votes twice, Foster said.

Natrona County Clerk Renea Vitto said that while she was not anticipating issues with poll watchers, she did remind election judges of the rules during a training last week.

We did say the poll watchers are just like a voter, Vitto said. They cant observe the voters. They cant stand over the voter. They cant harass them. They cant talk to them.

If people arrive at polling locations to observe voters without approval from the county party, they will be turned away, Vitto said.

The Democratic National Committee sued their Republican counterparts earlier this year arguing that the Republican Party was violating a court order barring them from organizing poll watching efforts. That court order was imposed in the 1980s after the RNC undertook a concerted effort to purge African-American voters from registration lists.

But Natrona County Democratic Party official R.C. Johnson said the local party would not be sending their own observers to the polls. Johnson said the focus will be on get-out-the-vote efforts and that she was not worried about voter intimidation by Republicans.

I dont think its going to be an issue here, Johnson said.
Saturdays activities vary from working stock dogs and crafts to an issues rally and PRCA rodeo and concert. Here is a summary, as provided to the Star-Tribune.

Join more than 40 dogs and their handlers for the Stock Dog Classic in conjunction with the Tribute to the Great American Cowboy Rodeo, starting at 7:30 a.m. at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds and continuing until mid-afternoon. Classes include open, ranch and the team relay. Spectators are welcome, and there is no admission charge.

The Casper Antique and Collectors Club hosts the Super Flea Market Saturday and Sunday at the Fairgrounds Industrial Building. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Adults are $2 and ages 12 and under are free.

Paradise Valley Christian School is hosting a craft and vendor fair fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 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.

The seventh annual Casper VFW Craft Fair is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1800 Bryan Stock Trail (up the hill across from the landfill). More than 40 vendors in one spot.

The sixth annual Wyoming Crafters Guild craft fair to benefit the Casper Humane Society is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ramada Plaza Riverside. The $1 entrance fee or a donation of food or other supplies benefits the Casper Humane Society.

The annual Children Helping Children music program, sponsored by the Casper Music Teachers Association, will be at 10 a.m., at Our Saviors Lutheran Church at Sixth and Durbin. This year, our program will be a benefit for the Wyoming Food For Thought program, which serves over 700 children in the Natrona County area. If you would like to help the FFT weekly backpack program, donations of either food or money will be appreciated. Food needs are: individually wrapped granola bars, crackers or fruit cups.

Food for Thought Winter Makers Market is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Downtown Grill & Venue, 128 E. Second St. The Food for Thought Farmers Markets are a core program of the Wyoming Food for Thought Project.

Casper Community Drum Circle meets 10 a.m. to noon at 112 S. Beech St.

The November edition of the Tate Geological Museums Saturday Club will look at zoography from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Saturday Club usually meets on the first Saturday of each month. The club has two age divisions  one for students 8 and older and the other for children 5 to 7. There is no cost for children to attend the club.

Harley Owners Group (HOG) is sponsoring its first Ragin Cajun Cook-off from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oil City Harley Davidson, 831 N. Glenn Road. Admission is $5, and the public is welcome.

Join the Wyoming Back Country Horsemen and other hunting, fishing and outdoor organizations, at the Public Lands Rally at 1 p.m. at the Fort Caspar Campground, 4205 Fort Caspar Road, in Casper. This is a non-partisan event and is free to the public.

The Natrona County Library will host an adult crafting program at 2 p.m. Pick out beads to craft a unique and customized bookmark. All supplies provided for adults, teens and parent-child pairs.

The Friends of Kenny Garrett Benefit starts at 5 p.m. at the Sky Terrace Lounge, Natrona County International Airport. A $20 wristband is good for an evening of music, featuring the return of JD Blues Band. Big Lost Meadery of Gillette and Dans Meat of Evansville will provide mead tasting and specialty meat and cheese appetizers. Travis of Casper Beverage will provide seasonal brews. Live auction items through the night, door prizes and raffles.

A master class and recital featuring clarinetist Dr. Jeremy Wohletz will be held in Wheeler Concert Hall. The master class will be held at 3 p.m. and the recital will begin at 7 p.m. For the recital, Scott Schwab, Casper College piano instructor, will join Wohletz.

The last day to catch Fort Caspar Museums Hollywood in Wyoming movie poster exhibit is Saturday. The exhibit features 30 framed movie posters from the more than 100 films shot in Wyoming since 1904. Fort Caspar Museums winter hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

The annual Tribute to the Great American Cowboy PRCA Rodeo is at 7 p.m. at The Arena at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds. Tickets are available at the fairgrounds and at Murdochs. Immediately following the rodeo, Chancey Williams & The Younger Brothers Band will be in concert. Tickets for the concert only are $20.

Senior Dance at the Eagles Hall, 306 N. Durbin St., 7 to 10 p.m., with music by SwingSounds Band. Potluck snacks at 8 p.m. and door prize drawings at 9 p.m. Admission $5 per person, under age 15 exempted.

Casper Theater Company and Greater Wyoming Federal Credit Union present the comedy, Marrying Walt, by James Danek at 7:30 p.m., 735 CY. Adults are $15, seniors $13. Tickets can be purchased at Greater Wyoming Federal Credit Union, Charlie Ts Pizzeria, Casper Senior Center, and at the door.
A man who repeatedly stabbed his friend in the face was sentenced to probation Thursday.

The stabbing took place early Feb. 17, after Bradley James Davis became agitated that his friend would not take him to see his girlfriend, according to an affidavit.

Davis told police that he did not realize he was stabbing his friend.

Davis located an object in the car and punched (his friend) with the object several times, the affidavit continued. Davis advised he didnt know what the object was, only that it fit in his hand.

Police identified the item as a box cutter.

After being attacked, the friend drove the car to a Loaf n Jug on Honeysuckle Street where he locked himself in the bathroom until police arrived.

The friend was treated for injuries at Wyoming Medical Center and then released.

Davis was sentenced to a four- to six-year suspended sentence and three years of probation, said Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen.

Prosecutors had requested a minimum of nine months at a community corrections center.

Davis told police that he had first used methamphetamine two days before the incident and had smoked marijuana before the stabbing. According to court documents Davis had also consumed a bottle of rum during the evening.

The incident began when Davis was hanging out with his girlfriend and the friend. The three were playing video games, but Davis girlfriend got upset and tried to leave, according to the affidavit. Police were called to the house because of reports of shouting and later helped the girlfriend get home.

The friend said he drove Davis to see another friend and then around town to cool off. However, the friend said he realized that Davis was directing him to his girlfriends home, and when the friend refused to drop him off there Davis attacked him.
Two groups delivered a cease-and-desist letter to Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray on Friday morning, telling him to stop the practice of making some people prove U.S. citizenship before voting.

The Equality State Policy Center, a government watchdog group, and the American Civil Liberties Union, a civil rights advocate, called the citizenship verification practice discriminatory and an unconstitutional suspension of the right to vote.

Murrays office supervises elections in Wyoming. His staff recently told county clerks to require some people to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, since non-citizens can apply for drivers licenses. The information stating who is a citizen did not make it into the voter registration system until recently.

Its unknown how many people will be required to prove theyre citizens. In Teton County, the state told the clerks office to check 59 people before they can vote Tuesday.

At least one woman who received a letter saying she must provide proof of citizenship before voting in Augusts primary was so upset she never voted, a Hispanic leader in the area told the Jackson Hole News and Guide.

But Kai Schon, state election director, said that the county has reached out to the woman and ensured shes voting in the general election.

The letter from the Equality State Policy Center and the ACLU cites U.S. Supreme Court and federal court decisions that the groups believe make Murrays requirement illegal.

Every eligible Wyomingite that wants to vote should be able to, said Bri Jones with the Equality State Policy Center.

This is the first time citizenship proof will be required.

The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 required Wyoming to receive information from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the state departments of Transportation and Health, said Schon, the Wyoming election director. For instance, the Health Department notifies the state who has died, so voters dont register as the deceased and vote under their names.

Additionally, state law requires Wyoming to ensure voters are citizens, Schon said.

In early February, WYDOT added a new piece to the data it provides the state: citizenship information. The state had to consider the information to comply with Wyoming law, Schon said.

When non-citizens obtain Wyoming drivers licenses, they are categorized one of three ways: temporary non-citizens, such as students or workers, nonresidents of the United States and people who have received green cards, making them residents of the U.S. but not citizens.

Some of the people who WYDOT says are not citizens are registered to vote in Wyoming. They may have become citizens in the time between when they got their drivers licenses and when they registered. So the county clerks must verify that they have since become citizens, Schon said.

Jones, of the Equality State Policy Center, wants to know why WYDOT just added citizenship information when it could have provided it to the Secretary of States office when the Help America Vote Act passed over a decade ago.

That seems so thin to me, she said of the states explanation.

Jones said she knows of people who have been voting as naturalized citizens for 10 years who suddenly received a letter informing them that they needed to prove their citizenship.

Its really frustrating, because I think a lot of people take voting very seriously, Jones said. Its very important. Unfortunately, we didnt learn about this until quite recently. It would have been nice to have this conversation not so close to the election.

The Equality State Policy Center set up a voter hotline for anyone who encounters problem casting their ballot: 307-314-2258.
Millions of years ago  183 million, to be exact  sand covered much of what we know as Utah. The sand accumulated in dunes up to 2,500 feet thick. In our travels, my cousin and I repeatedly came across petrified dunes.

Some of these dunes eventually cemented into the stone we know as Navajo Sandstone, which ranges from orange to creamy white. At Zion National Park, the Navajo Sandstone formation shows vertically, as 2,000-foot-high walls.

The Navajo Sandstone formation is the predominant rock in Zion. This sandstone covers a huge landmass, extending from central Wyoming to southwestern California, some 150,000 square miles.

Naturally, I acquainted visiting cousin Edith with the latest book by an adored author and activist, Terry Tempest Williams, who is known as TTW or Willet. In The Hour of Land, TTW interweaves family history with the history of our national parks. TTW cares deeply for the outdoors and for the humans who enjoy it.

Unlike TTW, some members of her clan have remained Mormon, which has caused clashes and rifts. Still, they hike together on trails familiar since childhood, like the hikes in the Tetons she recounts in the book.

TTW and hubby Brooke live in Moose. She also sits on the board of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a seat she shared with Wallace Stegner for more than a decade. Working alongside the Grand Canyon Trust and the Nature Conservancy, not only does the group seek to preserve the geologic grandeur of Utah  actually, of all of the Colorado Plateau  it also furthers the aims of Native Americans.

TTW feels strongly that it is the role and the responsibility of the individual to drive social change, including to change the institutional and social status quo at the root of the climate crisis.

TTW describes Utahs Canyonlands as broken country, twisted, turned, cracked, baked, uplifted, warped, compressed, cut, collapsed, fallen. When she contemplates its fragility as the most beautiful place on Earth, she remembers that it is also the most vulnerable.

In Utah, tar-sands mining has begun dangerously close to the edge of Canyonlands  and its not the only park thats in trouble. TTW cites a report by the Center for American Progress that 42 national parks are threatened by oil and gas development, with 12 of them sorely afflicted already  among them Arches, Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.

Someplace else, I read that nearly 90 percent of the public lands mined for coal in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota have been left with permanent devastation.

We must put to rest the mistaken notion that what is good for the oil business is good for the country, writes TTW. The land grab is a consequence of failed BLM policies, TTW asserts, where deferred leases keep appearing on quarterly sales for decades.

The fight over Utahs wild lands will continue, she says, and goes on to speak of rural Gillette, where a knock on your ranch-house door may be followed by the news that, while you own the surface rights to your land, the federal government has the mineral rights, and it just sold them ... within days, a road is cut, drilling begins, and the wellheads, compressor stations and processing plants are constructed, regardless of your ... well-being.

Exploiting our red deserts is not a boon for business, but a bankruptcy of the imagination, TTW contends. What is being sold is the soul of a nation, one parcel at a time, climate change be damned.

My cousin shakes her head when I show her the passage in which TTW cites a 2009 piece of Utah legislation. House Joint Resolution 12 declares climate change a trick, urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to halt its carbon-dioxide reduction policies. The resolution was sponsored by a farmer who fears that federal climate policies may lead to a cow tax on belches and other gases.

My cousin asks how any American can believe climate change isnt happening when the country just suffered floods in Louisiana. Many European countries, Germany foremost, try hard to reduce climate change and its impacts.

Still, Wyomings making progress, isnt it? she says. Ten years ago, those werent here. She points to the wind turbines that sprang up since her last visit.

We could have a lot more of them, I tell her. Wyomings politicians have decided the state owns the wind, so lets tax the bejesus out of our wind farms. Its one step forward, two back.

Maybe you should live in Germany again, Edith ventures.

I tell her Ill think about it.
PHOENIX  Federal judges are giving Democrats one more chance to convince them that people who cast their ballots in the wrong polling place should have their votes counted anyway.

In a brief order this morning, the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to review a decision by a three-judge panel saying there is nothing illegally discriminatory about the practice of state election officials of discarding ballots of people who are not signed up to vote at that specific location. The order gave no reason for the decision to take a second look.

It also did not set a timetable for making a decision. And one has to be made before polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

This morning's order is at least a temporary victory for Democrats who contend that minorities are more likely to be disenfranchised by showing up at a polling place other than the one assigned to the precinct where they live.
Its Tuesday. Youre about to vote at a Southern Arizona polling place. A random person comes up and starts asking you friendly questions that turn into more pointed inquiries about your eligibility.

How do you respond?

The answers that come first to my mind dont belong in a family newspaper. But some of the cleaner responses I can think of come as questions:

Who (the hell) are you?

Who made you guardian of democracy?

What business of yours is my vote?

Or, of course, you can choose what is probably the smartest path: Ignore the person, walk in and do your talking by voting.

As this nightmarish election season creeps toward its conclusion, Election Day could turn into an ugly final chapter. Lets hope my concern is exaggerated. But some ad hoc groups are taking it upon themselves to monitor polling places, responding to Donald Trumps argument that the election is being rigged.

I have enough of a temper that if some random stranger began questioning my right to vote, I would certainly get angry but I probably could walk away. Then I imagine myself to be a Mexican-American, and lets add that Im a military veteran, or an elderly African-American who was denied the vote until the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

If I were one of those people and people were questioning my right to vote, I dont know what Id do, but Id be even angrier.

The problem isnt so much the presumption that there is a potential for voter fraud. In truth, that potential exits, though the likelihood of fraud on a scale that affects the outcome of a presidential election is small.

Whats so concerning is the presumption of some people that they are the upstanding Americans who have the right not only to vote but to divine who else has the right to vote, and to act on those intuitions. Its the height of presumptuousness.

The Oath Keepers are among these self-appointed experts. They are a group of current and former law-enforcement and military members  state Rep. Mark Finchem has been a proud member. Usually they have worried about FEMA camps, the New World Order and other conspiracy theories, but this year theyre taking it upon themselves to monitor polling places.

The group has named La Raza and other groups as the likely instigators of Election Day violence that would allow President Obama to seize emergency powers. The irony, of course, is that paranoiacs like these are the most likely people to cause Election Day chaos.

All thats bothersome enough, but then you can imagine other, more frightful scenarios. For example, add guns to the mix.

Firearms arent permitted in polling places or within 75 feet, but outside that perimeter its a gray area. Heres the guidance Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan gave Tuesday:

Arizonans have a legal right to carry, but the presence of a firearm in the context of voting could potentially intimidate voters. For example, carrying a weapon despite being outside a polling place is one thing, but carrying a weapon because there is a polling place may cross the line. Additionally, any aggressive or ostentatious display of a weapon will almost certainly constitute an act of intimidation.

These, of course, are very difficult lines to draw. The safest thing to do  in all the senses of the word safe  is not to carry a gun anywhere near a polling place.

But beyond that, people who would consider being ad hoc, independent poll monitors need to understand they are extending an ugly, discriminatory history, even if they dont know it. The reason Arizona was for decades required to submit changes to its election practices for preclearance, under the Voting Rights Act, is that we had a history of keeping people, especially Mexican-Americans and American Indians, from voting.

William Rehnquist infamously was accused of trying to harass and intimidate minority voters in the Phoenix area, as part of a GOP effort, in the early 1960s. That was before he became a U.S. Supreme Court justice in 1971 and chief justice in 1986.

This year, Arizonas GOP effort is focusing entirely on having credentialed election observers inside the polling places, as members of other parties do, party spokesman Tim Sifert told me Thursday. Theres nothing wrong with that.

Theyre to report any concerns to the polling place inspector or call the GOPs hotline, but not confront anyone, Sifert said. Thats good.

If anyone follows voters outside, or takes pictures or video of voters in parking lots, they are verging on voter intimidation and embracing an ugly history that should be left behind.

Dark money emerges

A tiny glimpse into the spending of dark money on the Pima County supervisors races is coming into view.

Our Southern Arizona, the group formed by land investor Don Diamond and friends to support Democrat Sharon Bronson and oppose her Republican adversaries, has filed two disclosures with Pima County. They say that by Oct. 27, the group had spent about $59,500 on signs, mailings, websites and advertising.

Diamond told me last week the group, organized under section 501  4 of the internal revenue code, plans to raise about $175,000. Groups organized under that code dont have to disclose their donors.

The group supporting Bronsons opponent, Kim DeMarco, has not filed anything with the county yet. But it appears that group will have to be disclosing its donors  it is organized under a different section of the internal revenue code, 527. Those groups must disclose donors.

In any case, both groups must file their last pre-election financial documents with the county on Friday.

Progressive

radio returns

You just knew John C. Scott would be back.

Now, though, its with an army of progressive talkers. Scott, the veteran political talk-show host, is returning to the air on KEVT, 1210 AM. His show airs from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., but he will be surrounded around the clock by other left-sided, syndicated talk-show hosts: Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Alan Colmes and Leslie Marshall.

I think Tucson, Arizona, a majority Democrat and a university town, ought to have 24/7 progressive thinking to listen to, Scott said.

He last had a show on KVOI, 1030 AM, but that ended acrimoniously in 2013. Scott said he is being backed by prominent Democrats in the effort to get the station, which went off the air in February, back up.

It could be a hard sell, though. Even in politically liberal towns, conservative talk-radio has had good luck flourishing in a way that progressive talk rarely does.

Raytheon disclosures

After the Star broke the news last week that Raytheon Missile Systems is the company considering putting almost 2,000 jobs here, people asked me why the story broke now, just before the election. The same day the story ran, I wrote a column about how Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller voted against all the economic-development initiatives that are attracting Raytheon and others here.

I can see why people thought the story was a convenient pre-election plant, but it wasnt. After my colleague Murphy Woodhouse reported last month the number of companies considering expanding or locating here, I poked around and found out from someone in the know that the biggest of the companies was Raytheon.

Then, early last week, I confirmed that with another person in the know. When I told my boss I planned to report that in my column about Miller, she said we needed to have a news story. Thats when Woodhouse and colleague David Wichner dug in and confirmed the story themselves, and thats how the story and column ended up running the same day.

Although the story may be relevant to the election, no one planted the idea. It just came up through the day-to-day work of reporting in the Old Pueblo.
Sixteen people in the Tucson-area were arrested in a multi-agency investigation dealing with weapons, heroin and marijuana trafficking, authorities said Thursday.

The Tucson organization is tied to the Sinaloa drug cartel, said Drug Enforcement Administration officials at a news conference at the federal agency's office.

Since August 2015, the organization moved more than $1 million worth of heroin, marijuana and firearms from here to several states on the East Coast, said Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Arizona.

The organization moved more than 100 pounds of heroin alone since 2015, Coleman said.

Shipments were moved from here to Virginia and Maryland, said Jeremy Jolles, assistant special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations. In addition to Tucson, search warrants were also served in Douglas and Winslow, he said.

More than 100 law enforcement personnel from a dozen federal, state and local agencies were involved in Thursday's operation that led to the arrests and seizure of 11 weapons, $12,000 in cash and two pounds of heroin and two pounds of cocaine, authorities said. DEA also worked this operation with sources in Mexico, said Coleman.

The organization is also responsible for laundering drug money. Seizures also included more than a half dozen vehicles, multiple computers and cell phones, along with several ledgers and scales, said authorities. Thirty-two arrest warrants were served at 12 locations in the Tucson metropolitan area.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department began an investigation into the organization after receiving a tip about suspicious activity occurring in an east-side neighborhood, said Capt. Deanna Johnson of the sheriff's special investigations division.

The department then learned that DEA and Homeland Security Investigations were also investigating other facets of the organization. The three agencies continued working the investigation together, Johnson said.

Among those arrested in the Tucson-area were Sean Player Dixon, 42, who was linked to dealing and transporting heroin and marijuana throughout Tucson and the East Coast states.

Also arrested were Dixon's wife, Pauline Dixon, 42; and his nephews, Terrence Gooden, 34, Ricky Manning Jr.; and his niece Janeayi Manning-Qualls, 33.

Others arrested were Raymond Pro, 39; Virgil Fleming, 45; Teresa Torres, 73; Ezekiel Jackson, 28; Robert Glaspie, Jr., 25; Enrique Estrada, 44; Andres Acedo, 36; Jennifer Ann Estrada, 38; and Rosalva Perez, 56. Two others were taken into custody earlier, and their names were not immediately available, authorities said.

Those arrested face state charges filed by the Arizona Attorney General's Office, including racketeering, distribution of narcotics for sale, possession of narcotics for sale, use of wire and electronic communication in drug-related transactions and money laundering.

The investigation is ongoing and several suspects being sought remain at large, said officials.
Sixteen people in the Tucson-area were arrested in a multi-agency investigation dealing with weapons, heroin and marijuana trafficking, authorities said Thursday.

The Tucson organization is tied to the Sinaloa drug cartel, said Drug Enforcement Administration officials at a news conference at the federal agencys office.

Since August 2015, the organization moved more than $1 million worth of heroin, marijuana and firearms from here to several states on the East Coast, said Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the DEA in Arizona.

The organization moved more than 100 pounds of heroin alone since 2015, Coleman said.

Shipments were moved from here to Virginia and Maryland, said Jeremy Jolles, assistant special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations. In addition to Tucson, search warrants were also served in Douglas and Winslow, he said.

More than 100 law enforcement personnel from a dozen federal, state and local agencies were involved in Thursdays operation that led to the arrests and seizure of 11 weapons, $12,000 in cash and two pounds of heroin and two pounds of cocaine, authorities said. DEA also worked this operation with sources in Mexico, said Coleman.

The organization is also responsible for laundering drug money. Seizures also included more than a half-dozen vehicles, multiple computers and cellphones, along with several ledgers and scales, said authorities. Thirty-two arrest warrants were served at 12 locations in the Tucson metropolitan area.

The Pima County Sheriffs Department began an investigation into the organization last year after receiving a tip about suspicious activity occurring in an east-side neighborhood, said Capt. Deanna Johnson of the sheriffs special investigations division.

The department then learned that DEA and Homeland Security Investigations were also investigating other facets of the organization. The three agencies continued working the investigation together, Johnson said.

Among those arrested in the Tucson-area were Sean Player Dixon, 42, who was linked to dealing and transporting heroin and marijuana throughout Tucson and the East Coast states.

Also arrested were Dixons wife, Pauline Dixon, 42; and his nephews, Terrence Gooden, 34; Ricky Manning Jr., 35; and his niece Janeayi Manning-Qualls, 33.

Others arrested were Raymond Pro, 39; Virgil Fleming, 45; Teresa Torres, 73; Ezekiel Jackson, 28; Robert Glaspie Jr., 25; Enrique Estrada, 44; Andres Acedo, 36; Jennifer Ann Estrada, 38; and Rosalva Perez, 56. Two others were taken into custody earlier, and their names were not immediately available, authorities said.

Those arrested face state charges filed by the Arizona Attorney Generals Office, including racketeering, distribution of narcotics for sale, possession of narcotics for sale, use of wire and electronic communication in drug-related transactions and money laundering.

The investigation is ongoing and several suspects being sought remain at large, said officials.
A 39-year-old Tucson man was sentenced to 88-months in prison earlier this week, after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, officials said.

Authorities learned that Pedro Rafael Gonzalez-Zazueta supplied cocaine to customers in California and Arizona beginning in 2013, said Cosme Lopez, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Justice.

After one of his customers in California was arrested in December 2013, Gonzalez-Zazueta began distributing cocaine to Phoenix residents between the spring of 2014 and the summer of 2015, Lopez said.

Two of his customers, who were previously sentenced in connection with the conspiracy, would transport the cocaine from Arizona to Alabama, after which Gonzalez-Zazueta would be paid, according to Lopez.
PHOENIX  Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Arizonans won't face prison time for helping a neighbor or anyone else return an early ballot.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday blocked Arizona from enforcing a new law that makes it a felony to collect the ballots of anyone else and bring them to the polls. The law, adopted earlier this year by the Republican-controlled legislature, provides only narrow exceptions for family members, those in the same household and certain caregivers.

Friday's ruling does not mean HB 2023 is illegal. That will be hashed out through a full-blown trial, a process that could take months or longer.

But Chief Justice Sidney Thomas, writing for himself and five others on the 11-member panel, said he and his colleagues believe it is appropriate to prevent the law from taking effect for this election.

Thomas pointed out that "ballot harvesting'' was never considered illegal until this year. He said that weighed heavily on the decision of the majority to conclude there would be no real harm to the state in perhaps only delaying its implementation while its legality is decided by the courts.

"The injunction does not affect the state's election process or machinery,'' he wrote. "It simply would enjoin enforcement of a legislative act that would criminalize the collection, by persons other than the voters, of legitimately cast ballots.''

Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, writing a dissent on behalf of five of the 11 judges, called that argument "incomprehensible.''

"Of course HB 2023 directly regulates the state's election process or machinery: It governs the collection of ballots which obviously is integral to how an election is conducted,'' he wrote. "But under the majority's Orwellian logic, regulations affecting get-out-the-vote operations are somehow not regulations of the 'electoral process.' ''

And O'Scannlain called it "irrelevant and incorrect'' for the majority to say an injunction is appropriate because a violation of the new law could land someone in state prison for a year.

Friday's order may not be the last word.

Within hours, attorneys for the state and the Arizona Republican Party asked Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has purview over the 9th Circuit, to issue an emergency stay. They point out the law has been in effect since August, including during the primary and for most of the last three weeks of early voting.

"The 9th Circuit's eleventh-hour order enjoining the law at this point simply makes no sense and risks significant electoral confusion,'' they argued to Kennedy.

Arizona law allows all voters to request an early ballot. It can be mailed back or taken to a polling place.

Until now, there has been another option: Give the ballot to someone else. That has allowed both political parties, community groups and even special interests to go door-to-door  especially after it's too late to put a ballot in the mail  and ask people if their early ballot is sitting on a table and needs to be taken to the polls.

Groups aligned with Democrat interests have generally been more active with those efforts and more successful.

Earlier this year the Legislature, at the behest of Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, a Republican, voted to make the practice a felony amid arguments that it created the opportunity for fraud. The Republican majority was undeterred by statements from Democrats that tampering with ballots or refusing to return them already is illegal and that there has never been a proven instance of fraud.

The state and federal Democratic parties along with the Clinton campaign and others sued, charging that the law is racially discriminatory. That allegation is crucial as the federal Voting Rights Act makes it illegal for states to enact laws or regulations that have a disproportionate impact on minorities.

Thomas, in the earlier three-judge ruling that upheld the law, said the evidence is there.

"The record demonstrated that, in many rural areas with a high proportion of minority voters, home mail delivery was not available, and it was extremely difficult to travel to a post office,'' he wrote.

Thomas also said that 14,000 registered voters on the 2.8 million acre Tohono O'odham reservation have no home mail delivery. He said a ban on allowing people to collect ballots from residents there clearly affects them.

But Judge Sandra Ikuta, who wrote the majority opinion for the three-judge panel, said there was "no evidence that these categories of voters were more likely to be minorities than non-minorities.''

She acknowledged that there are several rural communities which lack home delivery that are almost exclusively populated by minorities, places like San Luis and Somerton. But Ikuta said there also are lots of rural places with few minorities, places like Colorado City, Quartzsite, St. David and Wickenburg, which also lack home delivery and are equally affected by the ban.

"Similarly, while the record shows the Tohono O'odham Nation lacks home mail service (the plaintiff) does not point to evidence showing that HB 2023 has a disproportionate impact on members of the Tohono O'odham Nation compared to non-minorities who also live in rural communities,'' Ikuta wrote.

Both the majority of the 9th Circuit and the dissenting judges do agree that there is no evidence of fraud. Thomas said that undermines the arguments made by Republican lawmakers of why the new restriction is needed.

But O'Scannlain said none of that matters legally. He said the state's desire to prevent fraud before it happens is important enough.

"Arizona does not have to wait until it possesses such evidence before it acts,'' he wrote. "It may be proactive, rather than reactionary.''
PHOENIX  An attorney for the Arizona Democratic Party told a federal judge Thursday if he does not restrain actions by the Republican Party and supporters of Donald Trump he will be inviting chaos on election day.

Michael Gottlieb detailed for Judge John Tuchi a series of statements by Trump that he said are essentially exhortations to the candidates supporters to interfere with the rights of voters. And Gottlieb said the state Republican Party is engaged in similar efforts.

The defendants are engaged in a concerted efforts to coerce and harass voters, he told the judge, actions that are illegal under the federal Voting Rights Act. And Gottlieb told Tuchi he needs to do little more than consider the actions of the GOPs presidential contender.

Mr. Trump has been on the campaign trail ... making statements about the manner in which this election is being conducted and what his supporters should do about that, Gottlieb said.

He conceded that Trump has not explicitly told backers what they should do, telling them only they should watch what happens at the polls. Gottlieb said, though, that Trump is telling supporters to challenge people they believe may not be entitled to vote.

When I say watch, you know what Im talking about, right? Gottlieb quoted Trump as saying at an Ohio rally. And he said Trumps statements that his followers need to watch out for voting by people not in this country legally suggests they will be targeting polling places in minority neighborhoods.

He said what Trump proposes essentially deputizes vigilantes at the polls.

Gottlieb said the situation is exacerbated by statements by Robert Graham, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, and Tim Sifert, the partys publicist, saying that anyone who sees what they believe is a violation of law  particularly turning in multiple ballots  should ask questions and, if appropriate, follow people to their vehicles and take pictures of individuals and their license plates.

He wants Tuchi to issue an order blocking individuals from questioning, interrogating, or verbally harassing voters or prospective voters. He also wants a ban on following, taking photos of, or otherwise recording voters or prospective voters.

But Kory Langhofer, representing the Trump campaign, told Tuchi he has no basis to issue an injunction.

He said what the Democrats want is an order restraining the actions of individuals who have taken it on themselves to keep an eye on what is happening at the polls. Langhofer said Tuchi cannot issue any blanket prohibition on what those individuals can do, especially those who remain outside the 75-foot limit in which certain activities are prohibited.

The judge said, though, that Trumps statements could be seen as telling people to show up at polling places, especially in minority areas, and engage in illegal actions that could interfere with the right to vote.

But even then, Langhofer said that does not violate the Voting Rights Act unless there is proof that the activity is targeting people based on their race, proof he said does not exist.

Gottlieb said there is no requirement to show people are targeted on the basis of race.

Tim LaSota, attorney for the state GOP, urged the judge not to issue any injunction against his client. He said the party does not encourage observers to challenge voters or intimidate them and said the GOP cannot be held responsible if some goofball shows up and causes trouble.

The Democrats have significant legal hurdles to get the injunction.

First is the question of how the judge can issue an order to block harassment and intimidation without interfering with individual rights.

For example, Tuchi said while Arizona law restricts what can occur inside the polling place and within 75 feet, there are no limits beyond that.

And theres something else: To get an injunction, there has to be some proof that someone is likely to break the law unless restrained.

Tuchi said that can be done by showing similar activity in the past. But even Gottlieb admitted there is no such proof.
Arizona could turn blue for the first time in 20 years, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine told a 900-person crowd in Tucson on Thursday night.

Arizona is in play, Kaine said. Its close.

Later, he added of the close race nationally: Id rather be us than them.

The Virginia senator said he was confident voters will back Hillary Clinton in Arizona despite a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll that had Trump with 45 percent of the vote, compared to Clintons 40 percent.

New-voter registration in Arizona, especially in the Latino community, is especially encouraging, Kaine told the capacity crowd in the Sunnyside High School gym.

Kaine spent Thursday afternoon in Phoenix, giving his entire speech in Spanish.

His messages in Spanish in Phoenix  Juntos Se Puede  and in English in Tucson were identical. Together we can defeat the Republican nominee Donald Trump, he said.

The ideological divide between Clinton and Trump came up time and again during his speech, with Kaine saying one was a dedicated public servant for the last 30 years while the other only was concerned with himself.

Outlining Clintons economic plan, Kaine said it would generate 10.5 million new jobs in her first term, adding that economists reviewed both her plan and that of her GOP rival. The same economists suggested Trumps plan would kill 3.5 million jobs in four years, Kaine said.

That is the difference between a you are hired president and a you are fired president, he said.

Kaine said his favorite story about Clinton is more than 20 years old, a time before some of the youngest members of the audience could remember. On the defeat of what Republicans had dubbed HillaryCare, the then-first lady refused to back down, Kaine said, and instead went back to work to pass legislation that helped 8 million poor children get health care.

The crowd roared when Kaine discussed Trumps plan to build a wall along the Mexican border and his comments about Latinos, noting that Clinton has plans to introduce comprehensive immigration reform within her first 100 days in office.

Clinton has not visited Tucson, instead sending surrogates to campaign for her. Bernie Sanders stumped for her on the University of Arizona campus last month and her husband, Bill, filled the same Sunnyside High auditorium in April.

Trump and his vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, have each campaigned once in Tucson this year.

Clinton supporter Patrick OConnor, wearing a Chicago Cubs T-shirt at Kaines rally, said that in Arizona, the Democratic nominee has something in common with the new World Series champions  they have been proverbial underdogs.

Like he was saying, they are the underdogs, and it is going to be a historic event when they win, OConnor said.

At the end of his speech, Kaine asked members of the crowd to volunteer their time in the remaining days before the election and most importantly, to vote for Clinton.

We cant take anything for granted, he said, asserting that Russia is trying to influence the election.

The visit brought out some protesters, including several who were removed from the gym for interrupting Kaines speech.

One woman outside of the high school stood in the rain while shouting that anyone voting for Clinton would go to hell. She held a sign that read Martha Stewart lied 1 time to the FBI and went 2 jail. Hillary lied 39 times.
PHOENIX  The states largest electric utility has already spent 1.3 percent of what it earned in the last quarter to help elect regulators it prefers.

New reports Thursday from Pinnacle West Capital Corp. show the utility has net income for the third quarter of $263 million, or $2.35 per share.

Thats an increase of $5.9 million from the same period last year. The company said it would have earned more from its Arizona Public Service affiliate, the source of virtually all of its cash, had Mother Nature cooperated.

The most recent financial disclosures show that a campaign committee financed entirely by Pinnacle West already has spent more than $3.5 million to ensure that the Arizona Corporation Commission remains an all-Republican panel.

The committee is trying to persuade voters to reelect Republican Bob Burns and Andy Tobin and to add Republican Boyd Dunn to the commission. Pinnacle West CEO Don Brandt has said publicly that he thinks the election of Democrats Bill Mundell or Tom Chabin would be bad for his corporation.

Three seats on the five-member commission will be decided in Tuesdays election.

SolarCitys role

Pinnacle West isnt the only company spending heavily to influence the race.

SolarCity, which sells and leases rooftop solar units, has spent more than $2.2 million in support of Mundell and Burns for the general election. That is on top of more than $713,000 it put into ensuring that Burns would survive the Republican primary.

In both cases the spending is designed to protect profits.

The commission will decide on the policies that govern net metering, how much utilities have to pay to their customers who generate excess power through rooftop solar. There also is a debate over whether utilities should be able to impose demand charges that can boost a customers bill based on peak usage during any given hour of the day.

It also comes as APS is asking the commission for an 8 percent rate increase on top of changes to the rules for how it deals with customers who generate their own power.

Pinnacle West, in Thursdays disclosure, anticipates that when the entire years earnings are taken into account, they will be in the range of $3.90 to $4.10 per share to achieve a consolidated earned return on average common equity of more than 9.5 percent.

The report says thats based on a weather-normalized basis. The company contends weather  good weather  is to blame for lower-than-hoped-for earnings.

On one hand, Arizona experienced the second-hottest July on record, meaning customers were using their air conditioners more. But it didnt last.

The other two months in the quarter were marked by unusually cooler-than-normal temperatures, the companys report states. August was the third-mildest in the last 20 years, and September was the second-mildest over the same period.

Company spokesman Alan Bunnell said the rate-increase request is justified, even with that anticipated 9.5 percent return on equity for shareholders.

He said this is the first increase APS has sought in five years, and that the funds are needed to pay for upgrades and expansion of the electrical distribution system.

Spending favors Burns

The major beneficiary from all of this outside campaign spending has been Burns.

On one hand, SolarCity considers him a potential ally, especially given his high-profile fight with APS and Pinnacle Wests Brandt to get the records of what they spent on the 2014 campaign.

But Brandt, whose corporate funds are trying to get Burns re-elected along with Tobin and Dunn, said he still considers Burns preferable to Mundell or Chabin.
OPINION: "Dickens' famous passage about an earlier fraught time captures this knife-edge moment: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...'" writes Tucsonan Brent Harold.
Dick Clark ProductionsNicki Minaj,The Weeknd and John Legend have been added to this year's American Music Awards lineup.

2016 marks Legend's first year as an AMA performer, The Weeknd's third and Minaj's fourth.

The Weeknd is nominated for three awards this year in the Artist of the Year, Favorite Male Artist - Pop/Rock and Favorite Male Artist - Soul/R&B categories.

Minaj is a six-time AMA winner and eight-time nominee, while Legend won the Favorite Male Artist - Soul/R&B award in 2014.

Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Shawn Mendes, Bruno Mars and Ariana Grande are also among the evening's other performers.

The AMAs will broadcast live from Los Angeles on Sunday, November 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Help India!

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter

Bhopal: Eintkhedi near Bhopal is the location for millions of Muslims gathered here on the occasion of 61st World Tableeghi ijtema. The programme officially began after fajr (morning) prayers on Saturday.

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Considered one of the biggest religious gatherings, it has attracted Muslims from all over India and many from overseas. Muslims from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Philippines, South Africa, UK, USA, Malaysia, Indonesia are also here to attend this religious gathering.

Gathering listens to lectures from Islamic scholars and are urged to live a life of piety and emphasis on preparation for the life hereafter. The three day gathering will end in a dua that asks for peace and blessings for the world.

About 400 couples will also get married in this gathering where nikaah will be performed by elders of the Tableeghi Jamaat. Nikaah will be done in a simple manner in the spirit of Islam.

Prominent Tableeghi elders who will address the gathering are Maulan Zubair, Maulana Saad, Maulana Yunus, Maulana Ahmed Laat, Maulana Yusuf, and Professor Nadir Ali.


Help India!

Shocking videos show cold-blooded execution; ATS Chief justifies killing unarmed men

By TCN News

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The Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding Indias pluralist and tolerant ethos today demanded the resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the shocking and audacious killing of 8 unarmed undertrials in Bhopal. IAMC also joined activists, opposition parties and people of conscience in demanding a judicial probe into the gruesome incident. Videos of the killing show the men were unarmed, and were even waving to the policemen in an apparent attempt to surrender. Demonstrating a shocking level of impunity, the chief of Madhya Pradeshs Anti-Terror Squad Sanjeev Shami confirmed the men were unarmed and defiantly maintained the killing was justified.

The official account that these eight men escaped from a high-security jail by making keys out of toothbrushes and scaling walls 30 ft high using bedsheets defies logic. Added to these outrageous fabrications, is the idea that the escaped undertrials all stayed together after their escape until they were conveniently found in one place to be done to death by the police. It also flies in the face of videos showing the men were unarmed, and the police fired even after the men were mowed down, including at a man who happened to be grievously injured but still alive. The motive behind this fake encounter appears to be the fact that the case against at least four of the undertrials was drawing to a close, with a judgement expected in their favour.

This was articulated by Tahawwur Khan, one of the defence lawyers of the men killed in the encounter.

The killings fit a pattern of ongoing state repression of minorities, including fake encounters, abductions and denial of justice. The disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmad who went missing after an assault on the campus, is only the latest in a series of shocking incidents involving activists and whistleblowers.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has lost the moral legitimacy to continue in office, appears to be following the Gujarat Model, in its pattern of framing innocent youth and engaging in extrajudicial killings.

The cold-blooded execution of these eight men before the court pronounced its judgement on them, is a grim demonstration of the state-sponsored repression of minorities and Dalits in India, even by law enforcement that is sworn to protect all citizens, regardless of caste or creed, said Umar Malick, President of IAMC. A high-level judicial probe should be constituted immediately to unearth all the facts surrounding this incident. The justification of this gruesome killing by the ATS chief is an open admission of impunity, and the extent to which police forces consider themselves above the law. This does not bode well for the country, he added.
Help India!

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

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Bhopal: In a terrifying incidence, Bhopal police was deployed in large number outside Jamia Islamia Arbia Masjid Tarjuma wali during Friday prayer and denied Muslims from holding a planned protest meeting to discuss Bhopal encounter killing.

In order to stop Jamiat Ulema-e-Madhya Pradesh from going ahead with the protest meeting, police took away all the loud speakers from the mosque the previous night.



A huge crowd today attended the mosque to attend Friday prayer and to take part in the convention that was earlier planned to begin at 2.00 pm. However, as loud speakers were taken away by police and due to intimidation from police deployed outside the mosque, Jamiat called off the convention but announced of holding a state-level convention at a larger forum to protest encounter killing.

Maulana Mufti Abdur Razzak Khan, vice president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Madhya Pradesh condemned force used by police to cancel the protest meet and called it murder of democracy.

He condemned the encounter killing of eight Muslim youths along with one prison guard who was allegedly killed by these fleeing eight men.

The Government is misusing police machinery to suppress voices of Muslims. It is crossing all the limits to terrorise Muslims and is openly oppressing them, he said.

He also said that governments attempt to silence them will increase their resolve and announced, We will soon organise state level protest to highlight polices aggression towards Muslims. We also request Muslims to help them in organising peaceful protest in large number.



Advocate Shaheed Nadeem and Advocate Parvez Alam, who were present inside the mosque for the convention told TwoCircles.net, The Police turned it into a hostile environment. People were very curious and wanted to discuss on the hot topic of encounter killing. There was nothing wrong in that but police denied mosque authority from holding such convention.



We have decided to file a petition before Jabalpur High Court to demand a fair judicial probe in the extra judicial killing of eight youth, Advocate Nadeem informed TwoCircles.net.
As the days tick down on his presidency, President Barack #Obama has received some good news - he is now officially more favourable than Republican hero Ronald Reagan. As America gears up to choose its next president, a new CNN/ORC poll shows that 55% think he has done a good job as commander-in-chief. With a mere few months left in the Oval Office, America's first ever African-American president is now third in the all-time approval ratings table, behind Dwight Eisenhower and Bill clinton, according toFiveThirtyEight.

Obama surpasses Reagan

During 1988 the then President Reagan was sitting on a 51% approval rating, whereas Obamahas now built up a superior rating at the same time in hispresidency.

The former Chicago senator has seen a steady increase from the dark days of 2011, when he was down at a 40% approval rating with the American electorate. With decreasing unemployment figures placing US unemployment at 5% and the Affordable Care Act being credited for providing 20 million Americans with healthcare insurance, President Obama has received widespread praise from economists and experts alike, as he looks to cement his legacy among iconic Democratic presidents like John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even though this approval rating is not too near the lofty heights of 69% that followed his historic inauguration, it must be lauded that 55% is a solid finish to a presidency that historians are claiming will be looked back on with pride in the years to come.

Obama paves the way for Clinton

As the current commander-in-chief is ever-present on the 'Hillary For America'campaign trail, it is clear to see how highly he thinks of her. This was exemplified at theDNCin July, in whichheclaimed that"there has never been a man or woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America".

With numerous election polls placing trump and Clinton almost neck-and-neck, it remains to be seen whether President Obama's impressive approval ratings will be enough to secure a victory for Hillary Clinton come the early morning of November 9th.
The 2016 presidential election has provided the American people with a laundry list of controversial moments. While Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have dominated the headlines, they haven't been the only ones to make the front page.

Mrs. Trump, again

During the Republican National Convention this past July, Melania Trump addressed a packed area in Cleveland, Ohio and did her best to make the case for her husband for president. The speech initially received praise, but was quickly criticized after it was revealed that it had been plagiarized from a speech given by First Lady Michelle Obama during the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

Since that time, Melania has kept her distance from the media, with a rare exception while speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper following the release of the now infamous Access Hollywood audio tape. Melania returned to the public eye on Thursday, this time giving a speech about cyber-bullying, and taking a stand against threats made on the internet. After the initial criticism came in pointing out the irony considering her husband's history of alleged bullying, the backlash was starting, as reported by Mediaite on November 3.

Apparently, Melania Trump Plagiarized AgainThis Time Copying Marla Maples Of All People https://t.co/5FcvV3lhJJ pic.twitter.com/x2csycibmn  Mediaite (@Mediaite) November 3, 2016

During her speech, Melania stated, "If you could dream it, you could become it." That line was put into the Google search engine by Yair Rosenberh, a senior writer for Tablet Magazine, and the results were apparent.

Melania lifted that line word for word from a 2011 interview with Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples.

Melania just plagiarized Trump's second wife Marla Maples. Here's the only Google results for "if you could dream it, you could become it": pic.twitter.com/ALeHuSZqEm  (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 3, 2016

Further investigation resulted in Melania's speech and Maple's interview being an exact match.

While the latest speech isn't as much of ripoff as what was delivered at the GOP convention, it was enough to send Twitter and social media into a frenzy as users were quick to troll the wife of the former host of "The Apprentice."

Campaign trouble

Since the release of the hot mic audio tape, Trump has been forced to deal with a dozen allegations of sexual assault, as various women have come forward to tell their story.

In addition, Trump is just over a month away from facing a legal battle in court on charges that he allegedly raped a women at the time she was only 13-years-old. The woman, known as "Jane Doe" in the lawsuit, was going to address the public during a press conference on Wednesday, but was forced to cancel due to death threats.

Moving forward

With scandals impacting both candidates, the race is starting to tighten with less than a week remaining until Election Day. Despite this, Real Clear Politics shows Clinton with a slight lead on a national level and in key swing states, with the former Secretary of State having a comfortable advantage in the current electoral college projections.
Hillary Clinton is untouched, yet folks around her are going down one victim at a time. They have their careers dangling in the wind for some of the deeds discovered in her emails and for the handling of these emails as well. Careers are ruined as people associated with her seem to take the fall while Hillary continues to tell the American people they can still trust her as the presidentof this nation.

Brazil taken out of commission

The latest victim whose name was discovered inHillary Clinton's emailsand who is now finding herselfwithout a jobis CNN's political analyst Donna Brazile.

Today she is a former employee of CNN after Hillary's leaked emails conveyed she had given Clinton the questions she would be asked at a CNN-held candidate event, according to the New York Times.

This was the same woman who became Hillary's interim chairwoman in July, temporarily stepping away from CNN to do so. CNN spokesperson, Lauren Pratapas, announced today the network has accepted Brazile's resignation.Pratapas continued with her statement saying that the network was "completely uncomfortable" after finding out about Brazile's "interactions" with Hillary's campaign.

Here's the questions

CNN did state that they never gave Brazile access to the same type of material that she allegedly handed to Hillary before she was asked those questions on-air.

This announcement followed the newest email dump via WikiLeaks.One of the emails showed that Brazile sent an email to Hillary's camp warning her about one of the questions she'll be asked at an event in Flint, Michigan. Brazile conveyed that the question will come from a "woman with a rash." This is a woman whose family has been poisoned by lead and she is basically going to ask Hillary what she will do for Flint's pollution problem.

Huma thrown under the bus

Those questions were asked of Hillary, just like Brazile said they would be while she was at the podium in Flint.Huma Abedinis also missing form the campaign trail. She was someone who was basically attached to Hillary's hip since the campaign started. Whispers are getting louder describing how she's lawyered up and ready for what is to come.

Many media outlets are suggesting today that Hillary may just throw Huma under the bus, as seen on the Market Oracle website.

Huma is the estranged wife of Anthony Weiner and it was on his laptop that over 600,000 emails were found that the FBI believe contained something serious enough to reopen Hillary Clinton's email investigation. Huma was taken under Hillary Clinton's wing a few years back and now the future of Huma's career is looking pretty grim.

Tarmac meeting cast dark cloud over Lynch

Even Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General of the United States, was once a widely respected woman in her field of law. It took only one meeting on an airport tarmac with Bill Clinton for that to change.

At the time Hillary was under the FBI investigation and not long after that meeting it was announced that basically she was cleared and wouldn't be charged. Today Lynch is looked at suspiciously for where her allegiance lies. While she is still in her position, if Hillary doesn't win the election Lynch probably won't enjoy any type of job security under a Trump administration.
Battle looms in container shipping Updated: 2016-11-04 07:23 By ZHONG NAN in Shanghai(China Daily)

A woman takes a selfie as Chinese COSCO container vessel navigates through the Agua Clara locks during the first ceremonial pass through the newly expanded Panama Canal in Agua Clara, on the outskirts of Colon City, Panama, on June 26. [Photo / Agencies]

OCEAN Alliance to deploy 350 vessels to take on major rival 2M

OCEAN Alliance, formed by China COSCO Shipping Corp Ltd, France's CMA CGM SA and another two partners in April, on Thursday announced it will deploy 350 container vessels to the global market to further challenge 2M, another major global container carrier alliance.

With a total carrying capacity of 3.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, OCEAN Alliance will be able to provide a service coverage in the market on a number of trade lanes including 20 trans-Pacific and six Asia-Europe shipping services.

Formed by Denmark's Maersk Line and Switzerland's Mediterranean Shipping Co SA, 2M started its operations in 2015, and controls more than 2.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units, and manages more than 200 vessels.

Other members of the OCEAN alliance are Taiwan-based Evergreen Line and Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line. They announced this shipping partnership in April to further enhance their earning ability and optimize operational efficiency amid the current decline in global trade.

"The top priority of the OCEAN Alliance is service quality and schedule reliability," said Wang Haimin, managing director of COSCO Shipping Lines Co Ltd.

"Unlike other shipping alliances, OCEAN Alliance has a Hong Kong-based operation center to monitor its operation and collect market information."

The four companies signed a document entitled the Day One Product, which sets out the proposed OCEAN Alliance's network, including port rotation for each service loop. The vessel deployment details for each service loop will be released by the end of this November.

"Customers will benefit from a competitive selection of sailing schedules and direct port pairs, fast transit times, and a highly efficient fleet of vessels to cater to the needs of today's demanding and increasingly green global supply chains," said Wang.

Rodolphe Saade, vice-chairman of CMA CGM, said member companies will have an attractive selection of frequent departures and direct calls to meet their supply chain needs, including access to a vast network with the largest number of sailings and port rotations connecting markets in Asia, Europe and the United States.

CMA CGM, a key driver in the alliance, will deploy 35 percent of container ships within the alliance's service network in the initial stage.

The members of the OCEAN Alliance also announced that they have filed the alliance agreement to China's Ministry of Transport, and that the US Federal Maritime Commission and South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries have expressed approval of the OCEAN Alliance.

The OCEAN Alliance has also completed its self-assessment compliance review to the European Union.

Lee Mong-jye, president of Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) Ltd said, the OCEAN Alliance will continue to work closely with all the authorities to ensure full compliance with applicable laws and regulations and secure the necessary regulatory approvals for the alliance to commence operations from April in 2017.
CRCC inks major Zambian rail deal Updated: 2016-11-04 08:59 By ZHONG NAN and JING SHUIYU(China Daily)

A man walks past a poster with the logo of China Railway Construction Corp in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Aug 15, 2016. [Photo / VCG]

China Railway Construction Corp, one of the largest rail construction contractors, said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with the Zambian government for a 15.09 billion yuan ($2.26 billion) railway line.

The line will link Chipata and Serenje in the east of the country. The single-track railway will be 388.8 kilometers in length. Passenger trains will travel at a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour, and freight trains at 80 kilometers per hour.

Beijing-based CRCC said the project is projected to last four years, ranging from design to construction under the contract.

"In the short term, CRCC's overseas business has huge growth potential, as the county pushes forward the Belt and Road Initiative," Xia Tian, construction analyst at Essence Securities, wrote in a research note late last month.

The contract was signed between China Civil Engineering Construction Corp, a unit of CRCC, and Zambia's Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications. The contract value accounted for 2.51 percent of CCECC's revenue in 2015, according to the company.

The net income of CRCC reached 9.123 billion yuan in the first nine months of 2016, up 12.43 percent year-on-year. In the same period, its revenue increased 2.62 percent year-on-year to 423.885 billion yuan.

Having a presence in 78 countries and regions, it has won orders worth 679 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year, representing year-on-year growth of 22.04 percent.

Chinese rail construction project providers such as CRCC and China Railway Group have been seeking investment opportunities on the continent.

Prior to the project in Zambia, China also helped with railroad construction and supplied trains to the new railway line between Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The project was officially opened for operation in early October.

The $4 billion railway stretches 751.7 kilometers and is able to carry trains traveling at speeds of up to 120 kph. The service cuts the travel time between the two nations' capitals from seven days by road to just 10 hours.
Strong Hermes sales confirm China-fueled luxury revival Updated: 2016-11-04 09:40 (Agencies)

A model presents a creation by French designer Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski as part of her Fall/Winter 2016/2017 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Hermes in Paris, France, March 7, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Hermes confirmed stronger-than-expected global demand for luxury goods on Thursday, joining industry leader LVMH and Gucci owner Kering in outshining third quarter results forecasts.

A sales rebound in the Chinese mainland, improvements in Hong Kong, a British surge thanks to a weaker pound and relative US resilience despite the stronger dollar have all lifted luxury stocks including LVMH, Kering, Hermes, Richemont, Burberry and Hugo Boss in the past month.

The luxury goods sector is trading on an average price to earnings ratio of 19.6 times against 18.9 times at the end of September and 17.7 times at the beginning of the year, according to Bernstein.

Chinese customers, the biggest buyers of luxury goods who make up more than a third of global demand, have been re-opening their wallets, luxury groups said, spurred in part by government policies encouraging local consumption.

"The driving trend is that the Chinese customer is slowly coming back," Makiko Zuercher, who manages the 22-million euro Dynapartners Luxury Brands Fund, said.

These positives now outweigh concerns about lower tourist traffic in Europe, due to the attacks in Paris, Brussels and Nice, and a drop in purchasing power among Russian, Middle East and Brazilian consumers after the depreciation of their currencies.

"Many of the psychological catalysts which dampened luxury demand - starting with the (Chinese) renminbi deterioration in August 2015 and including attacks in Paris in November 2015 - have now been shrugged off," HSBC said in a note.

"Every market, with the possible exception of Japan, is doing better or in line with previous trends."

The broker said luxury stocks had been sold "short" by hedge funds, a trade showing they expect the price to fall, and largely ignored by "long-only" institutions for many months.

The one luxury stock for which there is still shorting interest is Cartier owner Richemont, which makes half of its sales from watches, the luxury sector's most depressed segment.

Data from Astec Analytics shows Richemont has the highest "short" interest.

It is also one of the few luxury stocks still down for the year to date and analysts are not expecting any upbeat comments when it publishes its trading update on Friday.

Kering is easily the best performer this year, and short-sellers have very low positions in the stock.

Fund managers and buy-side analysts said investors needed to be remain selective as some brands such as Prada and Tod's could continue to suffer in the near term from competition from more innovative rivals.

Recent trading updates showed sales growth in the sector could only be achieved through market share gains as the past levers to boost revenues such as opening new shops and lifting prices were no longer available.

Hermes beat market expectations with a 8.8 percent rise in third-quarter sales at constant currencies, above analysts' 7 percent forecast, helped partly by China's rebound.

Last month, industry leader LVMH, regarded as a proxy for the sector, and later Kering, saw their shares soar after their respective Louis Vuitton and Gucci brands published much stronger than expected sales.

"Who would have expected two years ago Gucci's recovery would be so strong," said Scilla Huang, manager of the Julius Baer Luxury Brands Fund, with 200 million euros under management.

"They made courageous efforts and people were hungry for that kind of newness."
Boy donor who saved dad to get dream trip Updated: 2016-11-02 06:48 By Cang Wei in Nanjing(China Daily)

An East China boy who piled on 11 kilograms in a month to save his sick father could soon finally be jetting off on his dream holiday to Australia.

Cao Yinpeng, 8, was hailed by family and friends as a hero in the summer after he gained the weight so he could donate bone marrow to his father, Cao Lei, who was diagnosed with leukemia.

Now, the family from Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, is planning to re-book the holiday Down Under they had to cancel to cover medical bills.

Zhang Lin, the boy's mother, said the family was also forced to sell their apartment and now share a home with her parents and in-laws.

However, thanks to donations from generous well-wishers, the family is back on its feet.

More than 5,300 people have donated a total of almost 200,000 yuan ($29,500) since Cao Lei underwent a hematopoietic stem cell transplant at the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University on July 6.

"Many strangers visited the hospital to see us, bringing us fruit and flowers," she said. "They've given me the strength to face this difficulty. We're thankful that so many people offered to help us."

Cao Lei, 35, was diagnosed with leukemia in January, but by the time he had finished his fourth round of chemotherapy in the spring, the only suitable donor was his son. However, the child's weight was still far short of the minimum 45 kg required to safely extract the vital cells.

"It wasn't an easy decision to allow him to be a donor," Zhang said. But she knew he was her husband's only hope for survival, she added.

Doctors had said Cao Lei's parents, in their 60s, were too old to be donors, while a nationwide search by the China Marrow Donor Program found no other matches.

So, like a boxer, Cao Yinpeng began bulking up to reach the required weight.

Despite potential health risks, Zhang said the boy stuffed himself at every mealtime, and that she encouraged him by making all kinds of dishes, telling him, "You need to have more to save your father."

He also spent more time exercising to build his strength. Every night, he would walk for at least an hour around his residential community.

By mid-June, Cao Yinpeng had gained 11 kg, which meant doctors could begin preparation work for a transplant. Nurses extracted 700 to 800 millimeters of blood every week in the run-up to the operation, leaving the boy sluggish and pale, Zhang said.

"The father is recovering well so far," said Sang Wei, one of the doctors treating Cao Lei. He added: "The boy impressed medical workers a lot with his optimism."
23-year-old cancer victim makes selfless gesture in final days Updated: 2016-11-02 08:38 (People's Daily Online)

After being diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer, 23-year-old Liu Yuan made two decisions. First, she planned for a series of portraits to be taken of her and her family, so she could always be with them in some capacity. Next, she decided that her organs should be donated and her remains used for medical research.

Liu, from Siyang County, Jiangsu province, received her diagnosis after returning home from university for summer vacation. On July 6, Liu noticed that her abdomen felt uncomfortably swollen. She tried to ignore the discomfort, but her parents convinced her to go to the hospital. Two days later, Liu was told by doctors that her stomach was filled with fluid caused by late-stage stomach cancer. To her family's shock and dismay, the disease was pronounced terminal.

Following the diagnosis, Liu requested just one thing from her family. Before her disease got even worse, she wanted to take a series of photos with her parents and elder brother. These, she hoped, would help them to remember her once she was gone. So, between treatments, Liu and her family went to a studio to have their first and last set of photos taken together as a family. The once-lively Liu worked hard during the photo shoot to make sure her inner sorrow wouldn't show on her face.

On Sept. 28, Liu returned to the hospital, well aware that her time was short. It was then that Liu made her second request. She said to her parents, "My disease is incurable; after I die, I want to donate my body to medical research. If any of my organs can help someone else to live, then I want them to live on in that capacity." Liu asked her doctor to help make the arrangements.
Protecting ties crucial, forum told Updated: 2016-11-03 07:57 By Peng Yining(China Daily)

The mainland's support for cooperation will continue, says top political adviser

Top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng called on both sides of the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday to protect and improve the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.

During a forum in Beijing on improving cross-Straits relations, Yu said he hoped the event, which began on Wednesday, could rebuild the bridge connecting the two sides, despite a changing political and economic situation.

The mainland will continue to support cooperation across the Taiwan Straits, said Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"Preferential policies for Taiwan businesses will remain unchanged," he said. "And we welcome Taiwan's young people to come to the mainland to work or study."

The mutual acknowledgment of the 1992 Consensus, which commits to the one-China policy, is the foundation of cross-Straits economic cooperation, Yu added.

Hung Hsiu-chu, chairwoman of Taiwan's Kuomintang party, also participated in the forum's group talks on economic cooperation and exchanges among young people from both sides. Her five-day visit to the mainland began on Sunday.

Steve Chan, vice-chairman of the KMT, noted during the forum's opening ceremony that, since the Democratic Progressive Party took the island's leadership in May, cross-Straits relations have entered a cold period and many exchanges have been suspended.

"The forum provides a precious opportunity for the both sides to communicate," Chan said.

Under the current situation, cooperation across the Straits has challenges as well as opportunities, said Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, during the forum's opening ceremony.

"I hope participants from both sides will work out a new way for communication in the future," Zhang said.

The forum, jointly hosted by nongovernmental organizations from the mainland and Taiwan, has played an important role and generated fruitful results since it was established a decade ago, Zhang added.

About 200 delegates, who came from both sides of the Straits, took part in the forum to discuss politics, economy, culture, society and youth.

Lin Shoushan, public representative from the Taiwan city of Kaohsiung, said: "I am hoping we can find a way to break the cold period. The forum is certainly an opportunity. Talks among people from both sides are essential for future relations."
Naval escort fleet returns after successful Gulf of Aden mission Updated: 2016-11-03 13:45 (chinadaily.com.cn)

A Chinese naval escort fleet sent to the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia has completed its mission and returned to its home port.

The fleet dropped anchor in Zhoushan port, Zhejiang province on Nov 1 after 209 days at sea, according to China's Ministry of Defense.

The Chinese naval escort taskforce, the 23rd in these waters, consisted of two guided-missile frigates  Xiangtan and Zhoushan, supply ship Chaohu, two helicopters and dozens of special force units.

The taskforce has escorted 79 vessels in 39 missions, since April 7, including a freighter for the World Food Programme. It has also detected and deterred 41 pirate vessels, and visited Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam on goodwill tours. It was also the first Chinese naval fleet to visit Vietnams Cam Ranh Port after it opened as an international port in March.

Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, praised the overall results of the escort mission at the welcoming ceremony. He said meticulous preparations, effective command, and optimized executions have continued Chinas naval record of one hundred percent safety for both taskforce and escort.

During various goodwill visits, the escort fleet showcased the PLAs modernized navy as well as the quality of those onboard. The visits also enhanced mutual understanding and promoted friendship and cooperation, Wang added.

The 24rd batch of Chinese naval escort fleet consisted of 700 personnel set sail on Aug 10 to the Gulf of Aden and Somalia. Since 2008, the Chinese navy has escorted more than 6,000 vessels and aided 60 ships in the region, according to the navy.

Contact writer at Zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn
Capital's courts resolved 310,263 disputes in two years Updated: 2016-11-03 16:51 By CAO YIN(chinadaily.com.cn)

Beijing's courts have issued judgments in 310,263 disputes over the past two years, it was revealed on Thursday.

These cases, filed between January 2014 and September this year, involved a total of 141.9 billion yuan ($21 billion), Yang Wanming, president of Beijing High People's Court, told a news conference.

"Whether a case can be concluded and whether a verdict can be enforced relate much to people's interest," Yang said.

"Urging people to comply with verdicts is about protecting people's rights, keeping society stable and improving our economic development."

Under a regulation recently issued by the capital's government, every governmental department has been asked to coordinate with the municipal courts to implement verdicts, such as by urging debtors to return money in a timely manner, according to a statement of the high people's court.

The regulation requires governmental authorities to build up an information sharing platform, to help courts distribute lists of those declining to comply with verdicts and find what property they own, the statement said.

"Defaulters can be barred from going abroad using this online platform. The effect and efficiency of judicial work will be also improved," it added.

Zhang Yankun, a member of the municipal standing committee responsible for legal affairs, applauded the courts' efforts in enforcing verdicts and asked them to join hands with more governmental departments to enhance implementation work.

He said it was necessary for people to register properties under their real names, while credit records should also be used as a reference during annual evaluations.

"Beijing, as the country's capital, is determined to take the lead in implementing the rule of law, and will go on increasing efforts to speed up enforcement and improve judicial credibility," Zhang added.
Abducted pregnant Vietnamese older than previously suspected Updated: 2016-11-04 08:13 By Cang Wei in Nanjing(China Daily)

Police have confirmed that an abducted pregnant girl, whose story received wide attention on social media, is Vietnamese and is 19 years old, not 12 years old as she originally claimed.

According to the Ministry of Public Security's criminal investigation bureau, Vietnam authorities who were asked to help with the investigation confirmed that the girl is Vietnamese and was born in 1997.

The ministry has formed a special team with the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau in Jiangsu province to further investigate the case, according to the ministry's Weibo account.

The girl, who is 14 weeks pregnant, was unable to confirm her name, date of birth and address at a hospital in Xuzhou.

In early October, the girl was taken to Xuzhou No 4 People's Hospital to receive a prenatal examination.

The girl's young appearance and inability to speak Chinese arose the suspicions of doctors, who called police to help assess whether the girl was a victim of human trafficking or rape.

The girl, who told local police that she was 12 years old, could only understand simple Chinese and was not willing to communicate, police said.

An investigation found that two Vietnamese human traffickers had abducted her in 2014 and taken her to Central China's Henan province, where a go-between surnamed Xie introduced her to a man surnamed Liu in Xu - zhou's Tongshan district.

The 35-year-old Liu, who was unable to find a wife due to poverty, paid Xie a betrothal fee of 30,000 yuan ($4,500). The girl then lived under the pretext of the man's wife until she went for the prenatal examination.

Liu and Xie were detained in October by local police, who are searching for others related to the case in Henan province.

Police said the girl has been transferred to a safe place.

Other incidents involving Vietnamese women and girls being trafficked to China's poor areas have been reported recently.

In mid-October, police in Tengzhou, Shandong province, detained five suspects for abducting an 18-year-old Vietnamese woman who was sold for 80,000 yuan.

In September, police in Yunnan province saved 32 abducted Vietnamese and detained 75 suspects from China and Vietnam.

cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/04/2016 page5)
Tracking the changing face of beauty Updated: 2016-11-04 13:00 By Sophie He(China Daily USA)

Beauty giant Estee Lauder wants to reap the benefits of Chinese shoppers chasing cosmetics, Asia-Pacific Region President Fabrice Weber tells Sophie He.

The insatiable appetite of Chinese consumers for beauty products and the growing popularity of applying makeup has ignited the Estee Lauder Companies, who is well-positioned to adapt and capitalize on growth, its Asia-Pacific Region President Fabrice Weber says.

Asian women, in particular Chinese women, are now hankering for more beauty products, and Estee Lauder is working tirelessly to capture opportunities in the Asian market, Weber tells China Daily.

While South Korean and Japanese consumers are known for being knowledgeable and willing to spend on beauty products, Chinese shoppers are now quickly following in their footsteps, he says.

"I think we are in a strong position as Chinese consumers are going in the same direction (as South Korean and Japanese consumers). We see a lot of interest in beauty. So far it's mostly in skin care, but now we see makeup and fragrances becoming very meaningful and we're capturing that opportunity."

There are more than 25 brands under the Estee Lauder Companies umbrella, with about 15 of those currently in the Asia-Pacific, including Estee Lauder, La Mer, Clinique, Jo Malone and Origins. Weber says all of its larger brands are available on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong.

Chasing beauty

The sudden rise in demand of skin care, makeup and fragrances is a new trend in the region, says Weber.

He explains that traditionally in Asia, the fragrance market is small, with the makeup market in China also being a minor player. Chinese women in general are very concerned about nourishing, moisturizing and protecting their skin. In certain cities, consumers are focusing more on aging skin, but not so much the idea of beautifying themselves through foundation, lipstick, mascara or eye shadow.

But this situation is changing very fast, Weber says, partly due to the rise of social media.

"In China we are seeing more appetite for women to enhance themselves through makeup, and social media is accelerating this kind of change."

Makeup allows for instant visualization and gratification, but for skin care, Weber says while some would argue there is improvement, it's not a spectacular transformation.

Social media is playing a huge role in Chinese consumers, especially millennials, who are becoming more accustomed to makeup as it trends online. This can be seen on instant messaging apps such as WeChat and also on platforms including Weibo - people are plucking up the courage to apply makeup on their faces, Weber says.

"We see the trend not just in first- and second-tier cities, but also in third-tier cities in China, which tells us that the future will be bright. The market for makeup is quite small now, but consumers are now using makeup and foundation every day, and using lipstick every day - there is a lot of potential there."

The firm has MAC, Bobbi Brown and other makeup brands to capture the growing needs for makeup on the Chinese mainland. For skin care, luxury brand La Mer is also launching foundation products.

The current trend in fragrances on the mainland also presents some interesting opportunities for the group, Weber says. A growing number of people are now using fragrances daily, which may not have been acceptable in the past, he explains.

Chinese consumers immediately target higher-priced fragrances, which explains why brands including Jo Malone are performing well, Weber says, adding that Estee Lauder is investing heavily in this market.

He says Chinese consumers are now demanding multi-functional products, as younger customers lean toward their skin care and makeup rolled into one product. Many people are chasing one product which has the effect of a serum, moisturizing cream and sun protection factor, Weber says.

"We are recognizing the changes and embracing these changes."

People power

The power of celebrities and influencers is also altering the way Estee Lauder is marketing, Weber says. Nowadays, consumers are more likely to influence each other rather than brands swaying customers, so endorsements from celebrities on social media is playing a crucial role in spreading the word.

This means the company had to become a digital-first corporation, he says.

"We also have to understand our consumers, and they want to shop at multiple channels today."

The days of consumers going to a department store just to buy beauty products are no longer, Weber says. Now, shoppers will still go to department stores and other specialty stores such as Sephora before they check prices online. This mentality helps brands, he explains, as it means consumers are more engaged and loyal.

"So we need to be where our consumers want to shop. Today on the Chinese mainland, consumers want to shop online."

Weber said the company has brand sites on Alibaba's online platform Tmall, where it sells to 650 cities on the mainland.

"We realize that there are consumers everywhere and they can't all shop in our stores this is just the beginning of what will become the new world."

Estee Lauder remains committed to its breast cancer awareness campaign, launched in 1992 by Evelyn H. Lauder - the daughter-in-law of the company's matriarch, Estee Lauder. She is widely credited as the creator of the Pink Ribbon campaign, which became synonymous with breast cancer awareness around the world.

Weber says the company reminds consumers through social media and other digital platforms about the importance of getting their breasts checked by a doctor at least once a year, as early detection is vital in fighting the disease.

"We know that early detection can save lives and promoting that message is key. Fifteen of our brands sell products to raise money to support breast cancer research."

Contact the writer at sophiehe@chinadailyhk.com

(China Daily USA 11/04/2016 page6)
China prevents auction of looted relics in Japan Updated: 2016-11-04 13:41 (Xinhua)

[Photo/Weibo.com]

China has successfully prevented a Japanese auction of looted Chinese cultural relics, a statement from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) said Thursday.

The statement did not include the name of the Japanese auction house, nor details of the relics.

It said the SACH had learned from local media reports that a Japanese auction house planned to put several looted Chinese cultural relics on auction at the end of October.

The SACH immediately contacted the auction company, demanding it halt the sale. Upon investigation, the company decided to cancel the auction, according to the statement.

A letter widely circulated on the internet, purportedly sent by the SACH to the Yokohama-based Japanese auction house, said that the relics, "illegally obtained by Otani Kozui and his fellows," included a few pieces of mural and handwritten Buddhist manuscripts dated from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

From 1902 to 1914, Otani Kozui, a Japanese Buddhist and explorer, led or financed three expeditions to Northwest China, according to Central Asian Expedition, a book by Zuicho Tachibana, who took part in the trips.

China consistently opposes sales of illegally looted cultural relics, according to the SACH statement. "In recent years this position has gained increasing understanding and support."
China's 'Audrey Hepburn' dies in HK Updated: 2016-11-04 10:46 (chinadaily.com.cn)

Actress Hsia Meng. [Photo/Official Weibo account of Cao Kefan]

Veteran actress Hsia Meng, once regarded as China's Audrey Hepburn, has died at 83 in Hong Kong.

The news was revealed by television host Cao Kefan on his Weibo account yesterday. Later, film director See Yuen Ng, an acquaintance of Hsia, confirmed that the actress actually passed away on Oct 30.

Hsia, born Yang Meng in Shanghai in 1933, moved to Hong Kong with her family in 1947. In 1951 at age 18, Hsia starred in her film debut, A night-time wife and shot to fame immediately. She participated in 38 films during her career, including A Torn Lily, Tales of the City and The Peerless Beauty.

Hsia was one of the top stars during the 1950s and 1960s. After she withdrew from the frontline, she invested in several film projects, including Homecoming (1984) and Boat People (1982), both regarded as classic Chinese films.

Her stage name, Hsia Meng, which literally translates to "Summer Dream", was given by director Yuan Yi'an after Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Hsia was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival last year.

Renowned writer Dong Qiao described Hsia as a real actress, and not merely a star.

"She is telling stories, not just posing. Sadness and happiness, departure and reunion are played out like a dream on the silver screen. And in the end, there is just Hsai Meng (referring to her Chinese name)."

Actor Andy Lau, who took part in Boat People, expressed his condolences and remembers how his career started with the help of Hsia.

"(Hsia Meng) is an unforgettable person in my life. She chose me and changed my destiny. Her life was like a film, which lit both the front and back of the silver screen! Madame Meng, I will always remember you," Lau said.

Related:

Stage actor, director Su Min passes away
US company defends acquisition by Chinese Updated: 2016-11-04 22:28 By PAUL WELITZKIN in New York(China Daily USA)

US lawmakers are urging Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to review and reject a Chinese company's acquisition of a US aluminum maker as a threat to national security, but the Ohio-based manufacturer denied the charge.

In August, Zhongwang USA LLC, a unit of aluminum maker China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd, said it would purchase US-based Aleris Corp in a deal that then valued the company at about $2.33 billion. The Ohio-based Aleris supplies fabricated aluminum products to the aerospace, construction and automotive industries.

A letter from 12 US senators sent on Wednesday to Lew said the deal should be rejected because it would "directly undermine our national security, including by jeopardizing the US manufacturing base for sensitive technologies in an industry already devastated by the effects of China's market distorting policies", according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.

The deal would create a "serious risk that sensitive technologies and knowhow will be transferred to China, further imperiling US defense interests", they wrote.

Senators signing the letter include Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio. Wyden is ranking member of the Senate committee of finance overseeing trade.

Lew chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which includes officials from the Defense, State and Justice departments and reviews acquisitions of US businesses by foreign buyers. It can impose conditions on transactions or recommend that the president block them.

In a statement, Aleris denied the deal would threaten national security, and noted that the company manufactures no products at its US facilities that have any defense applications.

"Less than one percent of our sales go into defense applications, and none of those goods are produced in the US. The technology to produce aluminum plate, which is used in some military applications, is standard production technology widely used in the aluminum industry," Aleris said in an email.

Aleris said the transaction is a private acquisition by private investors who have no affiliation with a foreign government.

"This transaction is about the continued growth of Aleris under our current management team who will continue to operate the business independently as a separate, stand alone entity," the company said.

Amanda Xu, a spokeswoman for Zhongwang USA told the South China Morning Post that "contrary to what was stated in the senators' letter, Zhongwang USA and the Zhongwang group of companies are neither state-owned nor state-controlled."

Company spokesman Jason Saragian said Aleris and Zhongwang voluntarily filed for a CIFIUS review when the deal was announced. "We remain confident we will receive all regulatory approvals," he said Thursday.

Ted Moran of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics wrote in an email that "CFIUS will (probably) focus on two areas: Aleris's defense business, in particular, making high performance aluminum armor, and Aleris's advance aerospace technology, which may have dual use capabilities. The result may be that Aleris has to divest some operations to satisfy CFIUS concerns".

Michael Wessel, a member of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission that was created to monitor China for Congress, noted there are transactions that do not get the attention of US senators.

"This is a key transaction because of the assets involved but also the activities of the acquiring company and its affiliated owners. It's not politics, it's the substance of the transaction and the acquiring company's checkered past that are driving their interest," he said in an email.

Liu Zhongtian, controls the US affiliate and is also the founder and chairman of China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd. It has been accused of evading US import duties on extruded products, prompting an investigation by the US Commerce Department.

"US producers of steel and aluminum are concerned that they can't compete versus companies like Zhongwang, which is believed to receive direct and indirect support or subsidies from the government. These concerns are a key catalyst for the letter sent to the US Department of Treasury in its role as the CFIUS coordinator," said Dara Panahy, an attorney with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP in Washington.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com
China no 'Cold War adversary': US official Updated: 2016-11-04 22:36 By CHEN WEIHUA in Washington(China Daily USA)

Senior US officials are using more positive tones to describe US-China relations a little more than two months before President Barack Obama leaves the Oval Office.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel on Thursday would not confirm if there has been an instruction from the White House to the Pentagon and others last month not to describe US-China relations as a "great power competition" because that suggests the two countries are on a collision course.

He said he had not seen the document. "However, I do know that it is not the policy of the United States and it is not the belief of President Obama that we should treat China as a Cold War adversary," Russel told a briefing at the Foreign Press Center after a recent trip that took him to the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia.

He admitted that the two countries have profound differences in some important areas and there are differences in strategic objectives and perspectives on issues such as human rights and tactics of how to achieve peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

He emphasized that Obama has been determined to engage China in a "direct, open, candid, honest dialogue" and "that solves problems where we can solve problems, that narrow differences where we can't solve them and that manage difference where we can't narrow them."

"And I think that sustained effort has put a strong foundation under the relationship that can absorb a great deal of stress and does. And that's a good thing," said Russel, who has worked in the Obama administration since 2009, first as White House special assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs before taking his current job in 2013.

He described the meeting on Tuesday in New York between Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and US National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry as part of a rich set of high-level consultations between the two countries and the importance the two countries placed on expanding areas of cooperation and addressing areas of differences.

The North Korea nuclear issue featured prominently in the talk, according to Russel.

The veteran US diplomat was bombarded with questions about the warming relations between China and some Southeast Asian nations, in particular the Philippines and Malaysia.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing last month to improve ties that were strained under his predecessor Benigno Aquino III. Duterte also has talked about distancing his country from the US on foreign policy decisions and the US troop presence.

In Beijing on Thursday, President Xi Jinping met with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Razak invited Xi to visit his country again.

Late last month, three PLA Navy ships made a five-day port call to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam to strengthen military-to-military ties between the two neighbors.

"The very idea that third country cooperation with China is somehow a bad thing to the United States is ridiculous," Russel said.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Shanghai Lingang opens SF innovation center Updated: 2016-11-04 22:42 By LIA ZHU in San Francisco(China Daily USA)

Yuan Guohua (left), president of the Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co, Ltd, shakes hands with Ed Lee, mayor of San Francisco, at the opening ceremony for the companys first overseas innovation center in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday. CHANG JUN / CHINA DAILY

Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co Ltd, the third largest industrial park developer in China, has set up its first overseas innovation center in San Francisco to tap into the Silicon Valley.

The Shanghai-based company chose San Francisco to build its first overseas innovation center over many other options in Europe, Israel and Japan, because of the city's innovation culture and its positioning with the Silicon Valley  the world's capital of innovation.

"As an industrial park developer, we have the responsibility to experience and learn first-hand the innovative culture and get integrated with global innovation in the place where the most advanced technologies were created," said Yuan Guohua, president of Shanghai Lingang, at a launch ceremony held on Tuesday in San Francisco.

"Through the platform of the innovation center, the innovators and entrepreneurs in Shanghai and even China are expected to connect with the overseas resources, including talents technologies and capital, to enter the US market," he said.

In June 2016, the state-owned company invested $42.6 million to purchase an office building in downtown San Francisco. The six-story building (and a basement), with a floor space of 63,143 square feet (5,866 square meters) houses the innovation center.

Thanks to the expansion of high-tech companies in San Francisco, the area where the building is located will continue attracting more high-tech companies to move in, said the company.

Established in September 2003 with a registered capital of 6.8 billion yuan ($1 billion), Shanghai Lingang has been carrying out more than 10 urban renovation projects as well as industrial parks development in Shanghai.

Among the industrial parks developed by the company, the Shanghai Lingang Industrial Area and Caohejing Hi-Tech Park have been designated by the Shanghai government to build high-tech innovation centers.

Other parks developed by Shanghai Lingang include the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shanghai Lingang Tech and Innovation City, Shanghai Lingang Songjiang Hi-Tech City, Shanghai Lingang Taopu Tech Town, Caohejing Kangqiao Hi-tech Park, Nanqiao Hi-tech Park, Pujiang Hi-tech Park and Fengjing Tech and Innovation Town.

Currently, Shanghai Lingang's industrial parks house more than 7,000 companies and over 400,000 staff. The total revenue of the companies registered 537.1 billion yuan ($79.4 billion), with a total investment of 54.9 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), and the total assets of the group at 58.7 billion yuan ($8.68 billion) in 2014.

Yuan said internationalization will be the long-term strategy for Shanghai Lingang because only by integrating with global innovation can a company thrive and realize sustainable development.

The innovation center also will service the American companies to help them enter the Chinese market and promote exchanges between the two sides to realize "two-way integration" and serve as a "two-way incubator", Yuan noted.

"Shanghai, with the growth of the parks, has already begun this innovation by providing service to some of the companies that have been here for several years now," said Ed Lee, mayor of San Francisco.

He said the Shanghai-San Francisco sister city relationship has been one of the most productive of its kind around the world. "So it's befitting that Shanghai Lingang builds another innovation center in San Francisco to continue the over 35 years of exchanges of talent," Lee said.

He called the relationship between Shanghai Lingang and San Francisco "blossoming" by exposing and introducing many San Francisco-based entrepreneurs to China.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com
US-China relations in post-Obama era Updated: 2016-11-04 08:34 By Chen Weihua(China Daily USA)

She is relatively known and predictable, and he is less known and less predictable. But what will a President Hillary Clinton or a President Donald Trump mean to US-China relations? Experts in the field weigh in with their views, Chen Weihua reports in Washington.

Ona Saturday morning in late October, Washington-based Chinese journalist Luo Shi was kayaking on the Potomac River near the Chain Bridge when one of his friends in China sent him a message on the popular social communication platform WeChat: Which US presidential candidate, Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton, is better for China?

The journalist, who prefers to be identified as Luo Shi, said he spent some 20 minutes going back and forth with his friend, a businessman, on the topic while floating on the river.

"My friend was worried if the already tense China-US relations will get worse under either Clinton or Trump since there have been so many conflicting news reports in the Chinese news media and social media," Luo said.

A Pew Center survey released on Oct 5 shows that more Chinese saw Clinton favorably (37 percent) than Trump (22 percent). And 35 percent of the Chinese saw Clinton unfavorably while 40 percent had an unfavorable view of Trump.

That was a huge difference compared with a poll in May by the Chinese language Phoenix TV website. It showed that of 24,449 people surveyed, 61.5 percent supported Trump while only 7.8 percent favored Clinton. Polls by some other Chinese news media outlets at the time also revealed a high favorability rating for Trump.

Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, described those polls in China as not scientifically based. "My view and my observation is that China is divided very much like us," said Li, a US citizen.

Interest in the US election among the Chinese has been high. Luo showed last weekend that his WeChat Moments where his friends, mostly well-educated young people, tweeted articles and photos about Clinton's renewed email probe, Trump's image in a Halloween parade and an article by Robert Kennedy's speechwriter Adam Walinsky, arguing why he, a lifelong Democrat, will vote for Trump. All the articles were in Chinese or were translated into Chinese.
Jan Stuart, the Melvin R. Seiden curator of Chinese art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, in her office in March with a picture of a copper-red glazed dish from the Xuande period, which is in the exhibition Red: Ming Dynasty/Mark Rothko. Provided To China Daily

Jan Stuart has a twinkle in her eye every time she talks about Chinese art.

"China is fantastic," Stuart said at a Brookings Institution panel on Chinese contemporary art in August, "because it has the largest breadth of creativity and artists working with different responses."

Born in New York City and raised in Connecticut, Stuart - Melvin R. Seiden curator of Chinese art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington - has a life story tied closely with China, starting from a young age.

She recalled having a Chinese boy in her third-grade class who was made fun of by other boys for being different. Her teacher then asked the class, pointing at a book: "Where was paper invented?"

"We all said, 'USA!' And she goes, 'China,'" Stuart said with a smile. "Then she asked, 'Where was printing invented?' All the students said, 'USA!' And she said, 'China.' At the end she goes, 'Now children, is there anyone in this room who wants to make fun of a boy because he's from China?'"

"So right then and there I realized, China is a very special place," Stuart said.

Stuart earned her Bachelor of Arts and master's in East Asian studies from Yale University and a second master's degree from Princeton University in Chinese art and archeology. She has worked at the Freer and Sackler Galleries for more than 20 years.

"I really love Chinese art," Stuart said as she discussed the most rewarding part of being a Chinese art curator. "And I want to share it."

Stuart brings more attention to the different fields of the art, including Buddhist sculpture, ceramics and decorative arts.

Her fluent Mandarin knowledge made her a better storyteller. She took Chinese classes in college and stayed nine months in Taipei to study the Chinese language.

"I never would have so many wonderful conversations with scholars about Chinese art and archeology if I couldn't speak the language," Stuart said. "Knowing the language opens you up to a different way of thinking."

She sees museum work as "diplomacy", saying one of the advantages as an American curator of Chinese art is being "more sensitive to knowing what an average American doesn't know".

"A Caucasian American will find a Chinese ancestor portrait hanging in the dining room without knowing why or how these paintings were created," said Stuart. "That's where you come up with some ways to interpret for the objects, and tell a story that gets other people excited about a new culture."

Stuart has been seeking ways to bring a new audience into the galleries that they don't usually visit.

She found similarities in two objects created more than five centuries apart, a Chinese imperial porcelain dish and a painting by Mark Rothko, and decided to put them together on exhibition.

"Sometimes you need to give the audience a chance to think," Stuart said. "Well, if they love Rothko's colors, actually, they might love the imperial Chinese dish.

"People tend to go to what's familiar with them," she said. "For people who know nothing about China, (the Western vocabularies in Chinese art) are what they can see and understand.

"We should make sure that we always have Chinese art on view and put. more indifferent kinds of Chinese art in museums and gallery shows," said Stuart. "That's what we do, and that's all I can do, to put art on view."

Stuart gets fulfillment as a curator when she sees nose prints and fingerprints on the glass cases in an exhibition.

"You want a lot of people to go," she said. "You look for evidence that they are looking closely."

Stuart mentioned an idea to collaborate with the Beijing Palace Museum and the Massachusetts Peabody Essex Museum on an exhibition about Chinese empresses of the last dynasty, and open it to public in 2019, which is the 40th anniversary of the normalization of US-China relations.

"They are exhibitions that have nothing to do with politics as the subject," said Stuart. "It's just a perfect occasion to celebrate and to show that as two cultures, we are still happy together to learn about each other."

Having been in China in the early 1980s, Stuart has seen vast changes in the past 30 years.

"So many things are happening so fast," said Stuart, amazed while also concerned about China's rapid development.

Stuart values the energy and creativity in China.

"It's such a rich, strong nation that foreigners can be very easily attracted to the depth of Chinese culture," Stuart said. She believes Chinese art will show its strength by inviting and embracing the world.

"China has given us a lot of the best artists the world has today," said Stuart. "It's just going to keep going up, because of the great creativity."

Li Shuhan in Washington contributed to this story.
Atlanta's giant panda twins leave for China Updated: 2016-11-05 03:54 By HEZI JIANG in New York

Giant panda twins Mei Lun and Mei Huan boarded a plane in Atlanta headed for Chengdu early Thursday morning, taking with them 375 pounds of bamboo, eight gallons of water and 25 pounds of treats  sugarcane, bananas and biscuits  for the 38-hour journey.

The 3-year-old twins born in the Atlanta zoo are the first surviving giant panda twins in the United States. They are the daughters of Lun Lun and Yang Yang, who arrived in 1999 on loan from China.

According to an agreement reached by the two countries, panda cubs born in the US to parents on loan from China are to be returned to China before turning four to take part in breeding projects.

After a layover in South Korea, Mei Lin and Mei Huan will arrive on Saturday at their new home at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where their parents were born and their older brothers and sister, Mei Lan, Xi Lan and Po, now reside.

"This is a milestone to be celebrated," said Raymond B. King, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta. "While the Zoo Atlanta family and their many fans will miss seeing Mei Lun and Mei Huan in Atlanta, we're very proud to see two more Atlanta-born giant pandas go to join such an important program."

"It's a tribute to the success of the Zoo Atlanta giant panda program and to the commitment of our international partners who are helping us save this species," he said.

Recently the International Union for the Conservation of Nature upgraded the giant panda's status from "endangered" to "vulnerable", but the species remains heavily reliant on conservation programs.

Fewer than 1,900 giant pandas are estimated to remain the wild in China's Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, where they face continuing threat from habitat fragmentation and loss from human activity such as deforestation. More than 1,200 of China's remaining wild giant pandas live inside nature reserves, many of which are supported by US zoos.

Once the twins leave, there will be 13 pandas still in the US  four in Atlanta (the twins' parents and their new sister twins born on Sept 3), four in Washington, three in San Diego and two in Memphis.

The National Zoo in Washington will be saying goodbye to its panda cub Bao Bao in 2017.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
May's Brexit plans thrown into chaos by landmark court ruling Updated: 2016-11-04 08:59 (Xinhua)

British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the EC headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to bring Britain out of the European Union (EU) were thrown into chaos Thursday.

The High Court in London ruled that parliament, and not May's government, should trigger the Article 50 mechanism to start the Brexit process.

The decision by three of the leading judges in Britain sent shock waves through Westminster, with government officials now studying the full judgement.

Within an hour of the decision, the government confirmed it would appeal by taking the case to the highest court in England, the Supreme Court.

Government lawyers have been given permission to "fast track" an appeal by by-passing the Court of Appeal and going instead to the Supreme Court.

A time slot in early December has already been set aside for an appeal hearing, with all 11 law lords sitting to decide the case.

An official government spokesman expressed disappointment in the High Court's judgment.

"The country voted to leave the European Union in a referendum approved by an Act of Parliament," he said. "And the government is determined to respect the result of the referendum," said the spokesman.

It is not yet known whether May's stated aim to trigger Article 50 by the end of next March can now be met.

A group of individuals who took the case to law to challenge May's Brexit plans were jubilant at the decision, describing it as a victory for parliamentary democracy. They urged the government not to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court.

Lawyer David Greene, one of the individuals who took the case to court, said that although he voted Brexit, his view was that parliament should be the body to trigger Article 50.

In the ruling Thursday, Lord Chief Justice Thomas said: "The government does not have power under the Crown's prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 for the UK to withdraw from the European Union."

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party said: "This ruling underlines the need for the government to bring its negotiating terms to parliament without delay."

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the anti-EU party UKIP, said after the judgement: "I now fear every attempt will be made to block or delay triggering Article 50.

They have no idea the level of public anger they will provoke. I think we could be at the beginning, with this ruling, of a process where there is a deliberate, wilful attempt by our political class to betray 17.4 million voters."

One legal expert has warned that the decision could mean Brexit would not even happen.

Professor Jon Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool, said: "The government may well appeal against the decision, but regardless, what it shows is that the battle for Brexit is far from over. Parliament will determine the terms on which we leave the EU. The lack of consensus over what any Brexit deal will look like may mean that ultimately it may never happen."

The issue has centered on who is responsible for implementing the will of the people, the government or parliament?

From the moment she became Prime Minister in July of this year, Theresa May's mantra became Brexit means Brexit and she would lead the people out of the EU.

Political commentators are already speculating whether May will call an early general election to put her authority to the test.
Names of twin panda cubs born in Austrian zoo revealed Updated: 2016-11-04 09:14 (Xinhua)

Giant Panda twin cubs which were born on August 7, 2016, are seen in this handout photograph dated October 27, 2016, released on November 3, 2016, at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria. [Photo/Agencies]

VIENNA - The twin panda cubs born at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria have now been given their names, the zoo announced on Thursday.

The zoo had put the naming of the male cub up for online vote on its homepage. It said about 12,000 people voted from three possible options over the past two weeks, with the largest proportion of voters, 48.3 percent, choosing "Fu Ban."

The name means "lucky half," playing on his nature as a twin.

The zoo chose the name for the female cub itself, revealing it as "Fu Feng", with "feng" referring to "phoenix."

Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter explained that as the first cub born at the zoo was named "Fu Long" ("lucky dragon"), the name phoenix was chosen in keeping with the Chinese mythological pairing of dragon and phoenix as a celestial couple.
S. Korean president says to accept investigation over scandal if necessary Updated: 2016-11-04 10:10 (Xinhua)

People take part in a rally denouncing President Park Geun-hye over a political scandal in central Seoul, South Korea, November 3, 2016. The placard reads "Call for Park Geun-hye to step down". [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL - South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs.

Park addressed the nation over the political scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, expressing her sincere apology once again after making her public apology last week.

The embattled president said she will also accept a probe by an independent counsel into the case involving her close friend accused of peddling undue influence and meddling in government decision behind the scenes.

If realized, Park would become the first South Korean president who is investigated by prosecutors.
China's third largest industrial park developer taps into Silicon Valley Updated: 2016-11-04 13:13 By LIA ZHU in San Francisco(chinadaily.com.cn)

Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co Ltd, the third largest industrial park developer in China, has set up its first overseas innovation center in San Francisco to tap into the Silicon Valley.

The Shanghai-based company chose San Francisco to build its first overseas innovation center over many other options in Europe, Israel and Japan, because of the city's innovation culture and its positioning with the Silicon Valley  the world's capital of innovation.

"As an industrial park developer, we have the responsibility to experience and learn first-hand the innovative culture and get integrated with global innovation in the place where the most advanced technologies were created," said Yuan Guohua, president of Shanghai Lingang, at a launch ceremony held on Tuesday in San Francisco.

"Through the platform of the innovation center, the innovators and entrepreneurs in Shanghai and even China are expected to connect with the overseas resources, including talents technologies and capital, to enter the US market," he said.

In June 2016, the state-owned company invested $42.6 million to purchase an office building in downtown San Francisco. The six-story building (and a basement), with a floor space of 63,143 square feet (5,866 square meters) houses the innovation center.

Thanks to the expansion of high-tech companies in San Francisco, the area where the building is located will continue attracting more high-tech companies to move in, said the company.

Established in September 2003 with a registered capital of 6.8 billion yuan ($1 billion), Shanghai Lingang has been carrying out more than 10 urban renovation projects as well as industrial parks development in Shanghai.

Among the industrial parks developed by the company, the Shanghai Lingang Industrial Area and Caohejing Hi-Tech Park have been designated by the Shanghai government to build high-tech innovation centers.

Other parks developed by Shanghai Lingang include the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shanghai Lingang Tech and Innovation City, Shanghai Lingang Songjiang Hi-Tech City, Shanghai Lingang Taopu Tech Town, Caohejing Kangqiao Hi-tech Park, Nanqiao Hi-tech Park, Pujiang Hi-tech Park and Fengjing Tech and Innovation Town.

Currently, Shanghai Lingang's industrial parks house more than 7,000 companies and over 400,000 staff. The total revenue of the companies registered 537.1 billion yuan ($79.4 billion), with a total investment of 54.9 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), and the total assets of the group at 58.7 billion yuan ($8.68 billion) in 2014.

Yuan said internationalization will be the long-term strategy for Shanghai Lingang because only by integrating with global innovation can a company thrive and realize sustainable development.

The innovation center also will service the American companies to help them enter the Chinese market and promote exchanges between the two sides to realize "two-way integration" and serve as a "two-way incubator", Yuan noted.

"Shanghai, with the growth of the parks, has already begun this innovation by providing service to some of the companies that have been here for several years now," said Ed Lee, mayor of San Francisco.

He said the Shanghai-San Francisco sister city relationship has been one of the most productive of its kind around the world. "So it's befitting that Shanghai Lingang builds another innovation center in San Francisco to continue the over 35 years of exchanges of talent," Lee said.

He called the relationship between Shanghai Lingang and San Francisco "blossoming" by exposing and introducing many San Francisco-based entrepreneurs to China.

Lee said San Francisco will continue to be a desirable place for Chinese innovators and entrepreneurs, citing the almost $18 billion capital investment in the city in the first three quarters of 2016.

"The bilateral trade and investment between China and the US has seen a spectacular increase in recent years," said Yang Yihang, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco.

In the first eight months of 2016, the Chinese companies' investment in the US increased 193 percent compared to the same period last year; the US company's investment saw an 80 percent rise year-on-year, according to Yang.

"This shows the companies of both countries put high value on each other's market and they are confident in each other's economic development," said Yang.

The innovation center also will serve as a window for Shanghai Lingang to promote its brand and the key enterprises in Shanghai and other places in China to increase the brand recognition of Chinese enterprises in the international science and technology industries.

Shanghai Lingang plans to launch more innovation centers in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Germany, London, Israel and Japan to integrate with global innovation.

"As an old Chinese saying has it, new things start small, but will develop into the power that can change the world," said Yuan.
British Airways announces special fares for New Year Updated: 2016-11-04 15:41 By Li Jing(chinadaily.com.cn)

British Airways launched a range of special group fares for travelers from China, with an eye on family tourists in New Year holiday season.

The group return fares for five passengers from China cover 59 destinations in the United Kingdom and other European countries, with the lowest priced at 1,010 yuan.(please confirm whether it is for two passengers or five passengers. I think it should be five)

Unveiled on Nov 2, the fares are available until Nov 30 on ba.com and valid for flights departing from Beijing or Shanghai on or before June 30 in 2017. For travelers from Chengdu, the offers are valid for flights departing from Chengdu on or before Jan 11 2017, returning from London to Chengdu on or before 12 Jan in 2017.

Richard Tams, British Airways' executive vice-president for China, said, "The UK and Europe are inarguably the most popular destinations for travelers from China. Our special group value offers are designed to help you and your loved ones plan for the next great holiday with ample lead time and great savings."
Mongolian parliament speaker meets Chinese NPC Tibetan delegation Updated: 2016-11-04 15:45 (china.org.cn)

Miyegombo Enkhbold, chairman of the State Great Hural, Mongolia's parliament, on Monday met with a visiting Tibetan delegation of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC).

The delegation is headed by Penba Tashi, Deputy to the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region and Vice Chairman of the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Enkhbold, also chairman of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP), said during the meeting that Mongolia always adheres to the consistent stand of supporting China in issues concerning Tibet.

The relations between Mongolia and China are in a favorable momentum, and bilateral cooperation has kept deepening in all fields, including politics, economy and culture, said Enkhbold.

Exchanges of legislatures are an important part of relations between the two countries, and have made positive contributions to the development of bilateral ties, he added.

During the meeting, Penba Tashi introduced to the Mongolian side major achievements made in the socioeconomic development of Tibet.

The delegation started the visit to Mongolia on Sunday. The delegation has also met with Mongolian parliament members from the Mongolia-China friendship group in the State Great Hural and representatives from the local academic and religious communities.
Looking ahead - Nov 4 Updated: 2016-11-04 21:22 (chinadaily.com.cn)

Events and stories coming up in the next few days

Expert charts birth of porcelain fad

The annual Bonhams' Oriental Ceramic Society Lecture will be held at Bonhams Auction House on New Bond Street, London, on Monday. Bond Street Blues: The Victorian Passion for 'Nankin' will be presented by Colin Sheaf, chairman of Bonhams UK and Asia. He will talk about the significance of a Dutch artdealing family that settled in the UK city of Hull 150 years ago and started selling Kangxi blue and white porcelain to rich British buyers.

Chinese society holding rare fundraiser

The Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding is hosting its first fundraising event for several years, at The Swan in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, on Tuesday. The organization hopes members and supporters will drop by to meet one another and take part in a fundraising rafle and auction of Chinese gifts. Money raised will support the George Hogg Cooperative Education Fund, which aims to advance the education of Chinese people about Britain and increase understanding of China among Britons. The society was established in 1965.

Future of Asian art mulled

The Great Britain China Centre is hosting Forecasting the Future: The Next Generation on Monday, in partnership with the Antiques Trade Gazette. Experts will explore the future of the Asian art industry and talk about buying trends. The event is set for Asia House on New Cavendish Street, London. It will be chaired by Nixi Cura, the program director at Christie's Education. Panelists will include Mark Slaats, from Littleton& Hennessy Asian Art, art consultant Hu Lichun, and Paul Ruitenbeek, from an art consultancy in Amsterdam.
Chinese astronauts send greetings from outer space Updated: 2016-11-05 05:05 By MAY ZHOU in Houston(chinadaily.com.cn)

At the International Space Medicine Summit in Houston on Friday, a scientist with his smartphone films greetings from Chinese astronaut Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng from China's space lab Tiangong II. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

Two Chinese astronauts aboard Tiangong II, China's second space lab launched on Sept 15, sent greetings via video to scientists from around the world gathered at the International Space Medicine Summit at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston on Friday.

"I express sincere appreciation to the scientists from around the world for your effort and contribution to the safety of the astronauts in the world. I believe these discussions will have a very positive impact on improving the space life of future astronauts," Jing Haipeng said from the space lab.

"Astronauts stay in the space for long period of time and face many challenges both psychologically and physically. Discussions by experts like this summit provide great platform to meet that challenge," said Chen Dong in his greeting.

Chen and Jing were launched on Shenzhou 11 to dock and board Tiangong II on Oct 17 to test its life-support system. They are scheduled to return after 30 days of residence.

Consul General of China in Houston Li Qiangmin addressed the scientists before the video was played. He said that astronauts on Tiangong II are conducting space science and technology experiments.

Scientists, from around the world gathered at the International Space Medicine Summit in Houston on Friday, to watch greetings from two Chinese astronaut Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng from China's space lab Tiangong II. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

"I think this shows China's open policy and wills cooperating with other countries including the US in space. Countries should cooperate in space exploration to tackle the challenges facing mankind. We hope the American side would take an open-door policy by lifting the ban on NASA from engaging with China," said Li.

US astronaut Leory Chiao, who flew on three Space Shuttle flights and was the commander of Expedition 10, where he lived on the International Space Station from October 13, 2004, to April 24, 2005, said he is excited to see China involved in space exploration.

"The two Chinese astronauts made the video especially for this conference. We want to highlight China's participation in space exploration, and highlight that China is a major player in space exploration," said Chiao.

When speaking of Tiangong II, Chiao said: "It is really great, it's another step toward China's space station. This will be China's longest space mission with two astronauts staying in space for 30 days. We wish them success."

Two Russian cosmonauts, Mikhail Kornienko and Salizhan Sharipov, also praised China's great progress in space exploration.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com
Getty Images via ABCAriana Grande and Stevie Wonder have teamed up for a new duet. The song, called Faith, is out now and also will appear on the soundtrack for the upcoming animated film Sing.

The two trade verses on the upbeat gospel-influenced track, and come together for the chorus. I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now/And you've been such a, such a good friend of me/Know that I gotta love you somehow/I met you, hallelujah, I got faith, they sing.

Ariana tweeted her excitement about the duet, writing, Beyond honored to be on this song with the incredible Stevie Wonder.

The Sing soundtrack comes out December 21, the same day the film hits theaters. The movie stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Seth MacFarlane.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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HCM CITY  Plastic firms in Viet Nam face fierce competition and risk being acquired by foreign companies, experts said Wednesday at a conference in HCM City.

Pham Van Bac, deputy head of the construction ministrys department of building materials, said the plastic industry had the potential to grow as plastic consumption in the country is still low, even as he acknowledged the challenges the sector faces.

As per the National Housing Development Strategy, annual housing sector growth is expected to be 5 to 10 per cent, equivalent to 1-1.2 million sq.m, which will increase the demand for building materials, including plastic.

There are two main products in building plastics - plastic pine and plastic profile  these are used for door and window systems, instead of wood and steel.

Statistics from the ministry show that a house has 40sq.m of doors and windows, on average. Of this, 35 per cent, or 15sq.m, is plastic. In addition, 80 to 90 per cent of construction projects have been using plastic doors and windows.

The demand for plastic rose from 37kg per person in 2013 to 41kg in 2015. This level is still low, compared to both the average 48.5kg per person in the ASEAN region and the world average of 69.7kg. The US has the highest demand for plastic, with an average of 150-169kg per person per year.

The rising demand means that local plastic firms have the opportunity to increase their market share by making investments to improve technology and capacity, Bac said.

The recovery of the real estate and construction sectors has stimulated demand for plastic products, ang Tran Hai ang, deputy director of VietinBanks research centre, said. The plastic sector also has a prosperous outlook, thanks to the many free trade agreements Viet Nam is part of.

But the local plastic sector must face the challenges of competition from foreign producers and the risks of unstable imported materials and supplies, Bac said.

Many foreign plastic companies have invested in Viet Nam to take advantage of land leasing and tax incentives, plus the availability of cheap materials, among other things. Foreign investors prefer acquiring local companies with proven market share and good performance to save money.

ang listed some major acquisitions since early 2016, including Koreas Dongwon Systems Corporation takeover of Minh Viet Packaging One Member Company Ltd.

Thailands SCG Building Materials is planning to invest US$6 billion to consolidate its position in the Vietnamese plastic market, he said.

"Foreign companies are making inroads into the Vietnamese market and putting pressure on domestic production," ang said. "Their experience and financial potential will help them benefit from the free trade pacts."

Nguyen Ba Hung, chairman of ong A Plastic Group (DAG), said most domestic plastic producers are using old technologies which affects their competitiveness. DAG has gradually replaced its technology with those from Europe. We will invest around $1 million for research and development in the near future, Hung said.

The BIDV Securities Corporation has forecast that the average demand for plastic products will increase to 45kg per person per year in 2020, which represent an annual growth of 4 per cent. -- VNS
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the Government authorised the ministry and relevant agencies to inspect some inefficient investment projects.  Photo VGP

HA NOI  Avoiding wasted investments, speeding up administrative reforms and improving social conditions are needed for sustained development, National Assembly deputies said yesterday at a session devoted to socio-economic progress.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the Government authorised the ministry and relevant agencies to inspect some inefficient investment projects.

These include the VN12 trillion (US$533.33 million) Ninh Binh fertiliser plant in northern Ninh Binh Province, VN7 trillion inh Vu polyester fibre plant in nothern Hai Phong City, and VN3 trillion Phuong Nam paper mill in the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

The other ailing projects are VN8.1 trillion Thai Nguyen iron and steel factory in nothern Thai Nguyen Province, and several nationwide facilities producing ethanol, which is used to make bio-fuel.

The State-invested projects have suffered losses and some are idle.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is considering inspection reports and will conclude how to deal with the projects later, said Anh.

These projects reveal holes in State management affairs. They are just examples and there are certainly more projects exposing potential risks of causing losses to national and social resources, he said.

Authorities will work to preserve State capital following market rules, and specify individuals and units that are to be responsible for misspending in investments, he said.

While Viet Nam is striving to create an active and incorruptable government to serve people and business and foster national development, Deputy Duong Van Thong from nothern Yen Bai Province pointed out an obstacle: the public administration apparatus is too cumbersome. There are unnecessary sections in many organisations, he said.

In Yen Bai alone, the number of people paid out of the State budget reached more than 17,000 and their payroll totalled VN1.1 trillion this year. This compared to the total regular spending amount that the province allocated for the year of about VN4 trillion.

Nationwide, public staff should be cut by 20 per cent or more to reduce budget spending and make better use of financial resources, Thong suggested.

Deputy Ngo Duy Hieu from Ha Noi agreed that a part of the countrys human resources still shows poor performance, with some civil servants troubling businesses and citizens and obstructing national development.

One reason for this is that many public servants are appointed to positions for which they are not suited in terms of skills and experience. Education and training must track demand and standards in the labour market more closely, he said.

Deputy Hoang uc Thang from central Quang Tri Province said education is among the pressing social issues needing improvement.

A lack of proficient teachers and a rise in school violence have recently grown, in addition to untackled problems related to healthcare waste, food hygiene, traffic jams and traffic and workplace accidents.

Thang said despite national efforts and tens of billions of ong invested, little improvement has been seen.

It seems that we are attaching too much importance to economic development and paying inadequate attention to social fields. Facing the prevailing problems, the people cant be at rest They hope for more drastic actions of the Government, he said.

Many delegates urged agricultural restructuring for green and hi-tech farming developments that are more resilient to climage change.

They recommended measures to accelerate agriculture, such as building proper irrigation works, assisting farmers with seeds and materials to create more products with greater added values, encouraging enterprises to invest in the area, and establishing closer linkage among farming regions.

Delegates also said stimulating business growth, accelerating the fight against corruption, and assuring energy security and sovereignty over the territorial waters are vital for socio-economic development. VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung (R) receives ikrom Kromadit, Chairman of the Thai-based industrial estates Amata group in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa

HA NOI  The Vietnamese Government has created favourable conditions for Amata to operate in the country for more than 20 years, said Vikrom Kromadit, Chairman of the Thai-based industrial estates group.

Vikrom Kromadit expressed his appreciation at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung in Ha Noi yesterday.

He said Amatas success in the Vietnamese market has benefitted both the company and local socio-economic development.

He unveiled the corporations intention to build smart cities and high-tech industrial parks in Viet Nam.

The business executive also proposed measures to accelerate project implementation and attract capital from Thailand and from other foreign investors in Viet Nam.

Deputy PM Dung said the Viet Nam-Thailand strategic partnership is thriving in all fields, particularly trade and investment, adding that the operation of Amata in Viet Nam has significantly contributed to the ties.

He requested the corporation work to further improve the local construction sector, particularly the building of industrial parks.

Dung said the Vietnamese Government always encourages foreign companies, including those from Thailand, to seek partnerships, operate and expand business in the country.  VNS
ABC/Randy HolmesAs Kenny Chesney was honored with BMIs Presidents Award earlier this week in Nashville, Keith Urban recalled how the superstar from East Tennessee supported him early in his career.

The first big tour that we did together, it was the early 2000's, I had just gotten out of my second rehab -- true story, Keith remembered. The rehab people suggested I have my own bus, instead of traveling on the band bus. So I got my own little bus, and I was a little nervous about the whole backstage vibe, so I kinda hung on my bus and I was like a little hermit, and I didn't go anywhere. And we did our opening thing, and then I ran back to my bus.

Keith says after about a week, his tour mate started to suspect that something wasnt quite right.

I got word back Kenny's like, 'What the hell is wrong with this Keith Urban guy, man? What the hell, man? Who does he think he is? He just sits on his bus all day! He doesn't come say hi, he doesn't hang out. What the hell?' you know?

But what happened next would cement the two superstars relationship forever.

I went over to Kenny's bus and I sat down and we had a heart-to-heart about what I was going through, and you were just a friend, right from that moment. And it's only stayed that way ever since. Brother, I love you! I love you Kenny! Keith said from the stage.

Urban went on to perform Kennys #2 hit from 2004, I Go Back, as a tribute to his friend.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
HA NOI  Police of the Ha Noi waterways traffic department and at the district level yesterday seized 15 boats operating illegally to extract sand from the Hong (Red) River.

Seven boats -- four sand-mining boats, three carrying goods -- were found exploiting sand at 1am on the Hong River section running through Thuong Cat Ward of Bac Tu Liem District

At the same time, on the river section belonging to Lien Ha Commune of an Phuong District, eight other boats, including those that were self-made, were caught at the spot extracting sand.

Three vehicles were without number plates.

According to Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Cuong, deputy head of the Ha Noi waterways traffic police department, the seizure of those 15 boats is part of a plan by the director of the Ha Noi Police Department to strengthen inspection and penalties related to sand, gravel extraction and business on the citys rivers.

Units under the waterways traffic police department are on patrol to monitor illegal mineral resources exploitation in the city, he said.

According to police investigators, illegal sand miners usually operate at night and use sand-mining equipment with high capacity to dredge sand, earning huge benefits from this illegal activity.

Sand dredging can cause banks to collapse and change the flow of the river during the rainy season, putting people at risk and damaging dykes and riverside structures," Pham Ngoc Tien, deputy head of Ha Noi s Waterway Traffic Inspectorate, said.

Ha Noi, currently, has only 12 companies that are qualified for exploiting several grounds on the Hong River. Thirteen other firms have been permitted by the Viet Nam Domestic Waterway Department to dredge the riverbed and use the material collected.  VNS
HA NOI  Vietnamese and Indian filmmakers and critics gathered at a seminar yesterday to discuss potential collaboration between the burgeoning Vietnamese film scene and its rich, developed Indian subcontinental counterpart.

With the theme of Indian cinema - Experience for Development and Co-operation, the seminar was part of the ongoing Ha Noi International Film Festival (HANIFF).

The seminar aimed to highlight Indian cinema, widely considered a world phenomenon. It is not only the worlds largest film industry but one with a distinctive identity. Additionally, the roundtable focused on experience and lessons from the development of Indian film production and distribution, and it discussed ways forward for co-operation between Viet Nam and India.

India is so populated that there is a large number of moviegoers filling the cinemas regularly, said producer Truong Ngoc Anh.

My company has co-operated with South Korea, Hong Kong and Canada. I look forward to working with Indian filmmakers in the future.

Filmmakers here are getting more professional and full of filmmaking enthusiasm, thats our advantage. The country possesses a rich culture and history and beautiful scenery that attract foreign filmmakers.

Peter Hien, whose mother is Vietnamese, is a famous action director in India. Hes considered as a bridge between cinema industries in Viet Nam and India.

His film Sam Hoi (Penitence), starring Binh Minh and Anh Thu will be released in Viet Nam and India in 2017. He revealed that last week he signed a contract to direct a collaborative film between two countries. The US$15 million project will be started next year.

I will try my best to show people how beautiful Viet Nam is, and communicate how the country has cultural values which are as great as its neighbours, he said.

Im always aware that half of my blood is Vietnamese, so I want to promote the countrys image through language of cinema.

Indian director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, juror in the category of feature film at the HANIFF, said in the recent years, Indian TV series have been imported and broadcast widely on Vietnamese TV channels.

He said the most impressive Vietnamese film for him is The Scent of Green Papaya, directed by Tran Anh Hung.

I think we should work towards a memorandum of understanding between two countries, he said.

With a MOU, foreign film producers will find it easier to get permission and pass administrative procedures.

Since 2009, Indian film industry produced 2,000 films in different genres each year.

Indian cinema was chosen to introduce the Country Focus programme in the forth HANIFF.

Accordingly, audiences have a chance to enjoy five films including Bajrangi directed by Kabir Khan, Sohra Bridge by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay, The Quest by Skita Biswas, Interrogation by Vetrimaaran and In Greed We Trust by Munish Bhardwaj.

In the Film Competition, the feature-length Birds with Large Wings will represent India. The film won Indias National Award 2015 for best environmental film.  VNS
HCM CITY Vietnamese-Australian composer Le Tuyen and his American colleague Salil Sachdev have released a new album in Australia that features traditional Vietnamese music.

The album, Dawn of the Mountain Forest, features Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and western music, with Tuyen on guitar and Salil on drums.

Both artists recorded the album at the National Australia Universitys Music Faculty.

In an interview with The Voice of Australia, Tuyen said the music reflects the hearts and minds of the two artists, who want to connect with people through their music.

I love Vietnamese music and hope to bring it to the world, he said.

In Australia, Le is involved in composing, while Salil works as a music lecturer at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.

The two men plan to organise shows in Australia and the US to launch their new album. VNS
President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.  Photo the Independent.

HA NOI  President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and his spouse will pay a State Visit to Viet Nam from November 5-11.

The visit is made at the invitation of President Tran ai Quang and his spouse, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Viet Nam and Ireland established diplomatic ties in April 5, 1996.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh

HA NOI  Viet Nam welcomes Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes decision settling a dispute over 17 detained Vietnamese fishermen in line with the strategic partnership between the two countries, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh said at a regular press conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

Asked about the Philippine decision, Binh said that after the 17 were arrested on September 8, the Foreign Ministry directed the Vietnamese embassy in Manila to work with authorities to ensure their legitimate interests.

Duterte, on a visit to Viet Nam in late September, told President Tran ai Quang of the impending release. The Vietnamese embassy worked with the host authorities to make a list of the fishermen and arrange details of the release.

The fishermen were caught off Luzon Island and accused of poaching. The charges were dropped after they explained that they entered Philippine waters unintentionally when seeking protection from a typhoon, said Philippines Immigration Comissioner Jaime Morente on Wednesday.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry asked local authorities and the Border Guard High Command to stand ready to welcome the fishermen back, Binh said.  VNS
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan that Viet Nam wants to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) soon.  Photo VGP

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan that Viet Nam wants to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) soon.

At a reception in Ha Noi yesterday for the EU official, PM Phuc also asked for EU technical assistance in implementing the planned FTA. He pledged optimal conditions for EU investors in agriculture and farm produce processing.

The Government leader affirmed Viet Nams commitments to protecting forests and wildlife. He also agreed with the European Commissioners proposal to establish a working group to further promote bilateral trade and investment ties.

Hogan said the EU is accelerating the approval of the EU-Viet Nam FTA, completed in December 2015, so that the two sides can sign it in late 2017 or early 2018, promising to provide technical and financial support for Viet Nam to deal with natural disasters and climate change.

The guest pointed to great demand in EU countries for coffee, cashew nuts and farm produce, and hailed Viet Nam as an attractive market and a gateway for exports to regional countries.

Hogan told his host that a number of EU firms will invest more capital in Viet Nam, particularly in agriculture and retail, in the foreseeable future.

Trade with Sweden

The PM wants the new Ambassador of Sweden to help boost the two countries trade and investment to exceed the current figure of US$1.2 billion.

Hosting Ambassador Pereric Hogberg yesterday, Phuc said that Sweden is currently in 39th position among countries and territories investing in Viet Nam, and it hopes to welcome additional Swedish investors.

The two countries have established reliable political ties and should broaden their co-operation in other fields besides education and training, science and technology, he said.

Ambassador Hogberg told his host about the keen interest of Swedish business in Viet Nam, citing car manufacturer Volvo with a plan to open showrooms in Ha Noi and HCM City next month.

He noted that the recent launch of a direct air route between Sweden and Viet Nams Phu Quoc island will help bolster the two countries co-operation.  VNS
Former Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang.  Photo vnexpress.net

HA NOI  The Party Central Committee (PCC) Secretariat yesterday ordered disciplinary action against the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and former Minister Vu Huy Hoang, accused of abusing his authority.

The decision, based on the level of violations as well as the Party statutes, calls for a warning to be issued to the Party representatives to the MoIT.

According to the conclusions of the Central Committees Inspection Commission, the Party delegation to the MoIT was irresponsible and lax in its leadership and direction, violating a number of regulations.

The Party delegation did not follow the rules, procedures and criteria in personnel work, resulting in serious consequences.

It breached legal regulations on verifying the presentation of the Hero of Labour title to PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC).

Then-minister Vu Huy Hoang personally showed a lack of good example and self-interested behaviour when receiving and appointing his son Vu Quang Hai as an inspector of the Vietnam National Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba), and allowing him to join the Board of Directors and take the position of Deputy General Director of the Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Company (Sabeco).

The 63-year-old PCC former member also incorrectly directed and implemented the regulations of the Party delegation in presenting the Hero of Labour title to the PVC and rewarding the third-class Labour Order to ang Vu Ngoan, rector of the HCM City University of Food Industry.

He also loosened examination of some of the ministrys units, allowing them to break regulations on personnel recruitment, evaluation and appointments.

As Secretary of the Party Delegation to the MoIT and Minister of Industry and Trade in 2011-2016, Hoang must be responsible for the aforesaid violations and flaws that have caused severe consequences, affected the prestige of the Party, the State, the MoIT and raising public concerns.  VNS
HA NOI  Vietnamese Ambassador to Kuwait Nguyen Hong Thao was officially elected a member of the UN International Law Commission (ILC), Vietnam News Agency reported.

This is the first time Viet Nam has a representative at an important organ of the UN.

With 120 out of 191 votes at the UN General Assembly, Thao was among seven contenders from the Asian-Pacific region at the commission.

Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam at the UN, told the media that the event was a matter of great pride for Viet Nam, showing the appreciation of the world of ambassador Thao and also the countrys position, prestige and increasingly deep engagement at the UN and at multilateral forums. It is also a recognition by the global community on Viet Nams positive and responsible contributions to international affairs.

This is also the result of tireless attempts over the past one year by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas representative agencies of the country, including Viet Nams Permanent Delegation to the UN, to introduce and take advantage of global support for the Vietnamese nominee, she said.

Ambassador Thao said he would actively take part in discussions on the themes that ILC is studying, especially those that are urgent and necessary for Viet Nam and the world. They include protecting people from natural disasters, protecting the environment during armed conflicts, temporary application of international treaties and identifying international practices.

With nearly 40 years of experience in legal and diplomatic affairs, particularly in international public law, laws on environment and sea and border delimitation, Thao was confident about representing Viet Nam and other developing countries at the ILC.

Ambassador Thao is an international law expert with consistent academic background as a Doctor with profound experience, according to the news agency.

He was deputy head of the National Border Committee, head of the negotiation teams on border agreements with neighbouring countries and a legal advisor to the drafting process of the 2012 maritime law.

From 2011 to 2014, he was the Vietnamese ambassador to Malaysia. He has been Viet Nams ambassador to Kuwait since 2014.

The country launched a campaign for the election of Ambassador Thao to the new post in February 2016.

Earlier, the Vietnamese delegation to the UN, the World Trade Organisation and other international organisations in Geneva sent a diplomatic note to introduce Thao to delegations from other countries.

ILC, UNs subsidiary organ established in 1947, is in charge of compiling international treaties, drafting international conventions and studying major issues related to international laws.

The commission has 34 members, elected once every five years. Its members are professors, experienced diplomats and lawyers well-versed in international laws, working independently from the countries that nominate them.  VNS
A NANG  Heavy rains and strong wind caused erosion and isolated mountainous areas in Quang Ngai, Binh inh, Ninh Thuan and Kon Tum provinces over the last two days.

The Centre of Flood and Storm Prevention in the Central and Central Highlands regions reported 24 landslides on 10 roads along a total of 5.2km in Son Tay District of Quang Ngai Province on November 2, while 11 rural roads were eroded in Vinh Thanh and Hoai An districts of Binh inh Province. Four bridges collapsed.

Floods also isolated two communes - ak rinh and ak Nen - in Kon Tum Province when a bridge spanning the ak Cho stream was submerged.

The centre also said over 1,200 houses were flooded.

Quang Ngai Province banned all ships from operating but two fishing boats sank in the sea off Thanh Hoa Province on Tuesday.

Reservoirs in the south central region are 50 to 70 per cent full, but some are overfull, including Thach Ban in Quang Nam, are at 113 per cent capacity, Suoi Trau in Khanh Hoa with 108 per cent.

Some reservoirs in the Central Highlands provinces also recorded a high water capacity, including ak Uy in Kon Tum (90 per cent), Ia Hrung in Gia Lai (102 per cent), a Te (124 per cent), a Ham (104 per cent) in Lam ong, and Ea Soup Thuong (102 per cent) in ak Lak Province.

Floodgates were opened on Wednesday under strict supervision at three hydropower plant reservoirs - Song Bung 4, ak Mi 4 and Song Tranh 2.

Water rose up to flood banks of the Hoai River in Hoi An City on Wednesday.

The city said preparations have been made for dealing with flood in the old quarters, while safety measures were in place at hotels and resorts to protect tourists.

The Centre of Flood and Storm Prevention in the Central and Central Highlands regions also warned that rainfall of between 50 and 100mm is forecast from Quang Ngai to Binh inh provinces on November 3-4, while some areas in Phu Yen Province would see over 250mm of rain.

Landslides could occur in mountainous areas from Quang Nam to Khanh Hoa provinces and in the Central Highlands of Gia Lai, Kon Tum yesterday night and today.

The National Centre for Meteorology and Hydrology Forecasting called yesterday for central provinces to watch for more floods and potential storms as a low tropical depression emerged in the East Sea.



Flood recedes

Residents of the Central region helped clean homes and public offices as floodwaters began to recede in many areas yesterday morning, hoping to return to normal life after the October and November downpours.

Quang Binh education authorities asked schools in the province to postpone upcoming teachers day activities and focus on teaching and learning instead, after almost two weeks of flooding forced schools to close.

In Ha Tinh, cleanup work took place around the province. Power staff cut power links to Huong Khe District, where several low-lying communes are still flooded, to ensure safety.

In Quang Tri, rescuers succeeded in saving the lives of three boat crewmen about to be sunk by strong flows when it was travelling offshore in Hai Lang District.

Border guards in the mountainous A Luoi District in Thua Thien-Hue Province assisted residents in refilling a large floodwater break on a key local road, attempting to contact isolated villages.

The latest reports said November floods claimed four lives, one person is still missing, and 12 others were injured. Quang Binh was hit the hardest, with 296 hectares of rice and vegetables destroyed and 6,252 poultry and head of cattle swept away.

Damaged belongings and public office facilities, plus traffic infrastructure in affected areas, have not been assessed and are not reflected in existing flood damage estimates.  VNS
HCM CITY  Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) has contributed to enriching and developing the countrys culture, the rector of HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities said at conference held on Wednesday.

The conference was organised to celebrate 35 years of the VBSs development.

Assoc Prof Vo Van Sen, head of the universitys History Faculty said the VBS has made many contributions in the fields of education, healthcare and social welfare as well as culture.

Viet Nam Buddhism has contributed to building a peaceful life in harmony with the environment, Sen said, adding that it had helped unify the country nationwide and preserved the national character during global integration.

The most venerable Thich Thien Nhon, chairman of the VBSs Central Dharma Executive Council, said that the community had active contributions to the countrys development, especially in the fields of culture and society.

The VBS has set up administrative organisations from the central to grassroots levels in all provinces and cities throughout the country.

The country has a total of 49,439 monks and nuns. More than 18,340 Buddhist pagodas, monasteries and other facilities exist, with more than 16 million Buddhist members.

Le Thanh Hai, former Secretary of the citys Party Committee, said the country has four Buddhism institutes training more than 2,000 monks and nuns. More than 4,800 people have graduated with a bachelors degree in Buddhism studies.

Nearly 100 monks and nuns have received masters and doctoral degrees, he said, adding that nearly 400 are now studying for similar degrees in India, China and other countries.

The Sangha has more than 1,000 social welfare establishments and 126 Tue Tinh health clinics that provide free services to patients, and 950 charity classrooms for poor children and orphans.

The VBS has received the Ho Chi Minh Medal two times for its contributions, according to Hai.

The Government has allocated funds for VBS to translate the Tipitaka known as the Buddhist Canon from Pali, English and Chinese into Vietnamese for monks, nuns and Buddhists to study, Hai said.

VBS also helps fight against superstition and behaviour that could affect the countrys benefits and violate peoples right of religious freedom, he added.

The conference, which attracted 100 attendees, was organised by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in co-operation with the Viet Nam Buddhist Studies Institute. VNS
HA NOI  More than 25 transport and logistics companies have gathered at a workshop in Ha Noi to discuss ways to avoid the risk of unwittingly becoming a party to wildlife trafficking.

More than 60 executives from such companies, who attended it, on Tuesday gained a better understanding of the wildlife trade and the effect it can have on bio-diversity, the illegality of trade in endangered species, and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices can elevate their reputation.

They discussed possible risk mitigation techniques that would help them run their businesses more sustainably and avoid becoming part of the illegal wildlife trade chain.

An important tool is the integration of CSR practices to protect wildlife, which would ultimately minimise the risk of transporting illegal wildlife products like rhino horn, they heard.

The Viet Nam International Arbitration Centre explained the various means to manage risks by exhibiting contracts signed by the industry to protect their business interests.

The event was organised by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and the Viet Nam Automobile Transportation Association (VATA).

Funded by the French Development Agency (AfD), it was part of efforts by TRAFFIC, together with the VCCI and VATA, to enhance the capacity of Vietnamese businesses to reduce the illegal trade in wildlife in the country.

It was an important part of efforts to bring zero tolerance towards the illegal trade in threatened species in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam is facing more pressure to crack down on the illegal trade to and within its borders, Madelon Willemsen, head of TRAFFIC in Viet Nam, said.

After the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the International Wildlife Trade Conference in Ha Noi this month, the pressure is on Viet Nam to take tangible action to combat wildlife crime.

The logistics and trade organisations taking part today are leaders in their sector and are demonstrating their commitment to taking action to avoid threatened wildlife trafficking and consumption.

This is an important step as Viet Nam is in the process of joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP includes stipulations on wildlife protection, with each country required to fulfil its obligations under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species.

Thus, countries in the TPP must combat and take measures to prevent illegal wildlife trade.

Viet Nam will be under more pressure to ensure that local businesses have processes and policies in place to actively avoid illegal wildlife trade. These companies are taking these steps already by integrating risk management practices and are adopting a zero tolerance towards the trafficking and illegal consumption of wildlife. -- VNS
The fleet of State-owned cars serving officials will be cut by 30 to 50 per cent, or about 12,000 to 20,000 cars, by the year 2020.  Photo vneconomy.vn

HA NOI  The fleet of State-owned cars serving officials will be cut by 30 to 50 per cent, or about 12,000 to 20,000 cars, by the year 2020. The cut will not be applied to mountainous, remote areas and the islands.

The target was set by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday. His directive was part of efforts to considerably reduce public spending, of which buying State assets accountes for 20 per cent of the State budget each year.

Statistics from the Ministry of Finance showed the country now has nearly 40,000 State-owned cars, and the cost to run them has reached VN13 trillion ($582 million) per year, further burdening the State budget.

Phuc tasked the Ministry of Finance to quickly submit to the Government a plan for deputy ministers and officials at the same level to receive taxi fare subsidies instead of offering them State-owned. Starting Oct. 1, six deputy ministers of finance and heads of the ministry departments have begun getting their taxi fares subsidy based on the distance of their home from their office.

Phuc called on heads of State agencies and officials across the country to efficiently use State assets and practice thrift.

Last week, Phuc set an example in practicing thrift by taking a commercial flight of the national carrier Vietnam Airlines to Bangkok to pay tribute to Thailands late King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Dusit Maha Prasat Palace.

The directive also asked the finance ministry to co-operate with relevant agencies in issuing additional regulations on State asset usage and management. Phuc also said ministries and State agencies must hand over old buildings to the State after moving to new buildings.

The move, came under the ministrys newly-issued decision, has received a big welcome from the public.  VNS
Bo Xuan Hiep

HCM CITY  Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said yesterday at the Viet Nam Summit 2016 that the country would continue to focus on restructuring the economy, renewing its growth model and integrating into the global production and value chain.

Minh, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs, said: "With a young and reasonably well-educated population, Viet Nam is poised to become an innovation hub in Southeast Asia."

He said the country also attached great importance to "building a more transparent Government to serve its people and businesses".

To create ideal conditions for investors, the Government has pledged to improve infrastructure, develop human resources and promote fair competition, he added.

Minh said the two-day international summit in HCM City would act as a platform to help local and foreign businesses as well as global financial institutes better understand Viet Nams integration policies and development.

Summit chairman Jon Fasman, who is bureau chief of The Economist magazine in Southeast Asia, said that Viet Nams economy was still going strong, even though growth in emerging markets appeared to be slowing.

The Economist Intelligence Unit expects the countrys real GDP to grow by 6.8 per cent this year, and growth should be even higher next year, he said.

Once one of the poorest countries in the world, Viet Nam has become a solid middle-income performer, while foreign direct investment (FDI) is surging, thanks to the governments record of stable long-term economic planning.

Investment is poised to increase further as Viet Nam will benefit from a number of impending trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Fasman noted. The 12-country pact involves the US and Japan, two of Viet Nams most important trading partners.

Policymakers are also paying close attention to climate change, particularly in the Mekong Delta, which could become a centre for research and investment in sustainable business practices. However, drought has put the agriculture sector and water resources under severe stress, according to Fasman.

However, there is still room for improvement on the economic front. The government has promised to privatise some state-owned enterprises, but private-sector efficiency has slumped, Fasman said.

In addition, an escalation in geopolitical tensions could undermine strong economic ties throughout the region, he added.

Andrew Staples, director of The Economist in Southeast Asia, said Viet Nam, with a young population and relatively low wages, was well positioned to develop into a global manufacturing powerhouse.

But tech-driven innovations such as automation, digitisation and artificial intelligence are radically reshaping the manufacturing sector around the world, he said.

Factories of the future wont much resemble the labour-intensive plants of the past, so new production capacity is unlikely to drive mass employment.

Thus, Viet Nam should be prepared for the shift and try its best to be at the forefront of the tech-focused manufacturing revolution, Staples said.

In agriculture, Fasman pointed out that the Mekong Delta, which provides the country with most of its food supply and is a significant source of export income, remained under severe stress.

The countrys agricultural products are often of poor quality and its supply chains lack transparency, leading to popular concerns about its low added-value position in the global supply chain.

Viet Nams produce is widely exported, but it has not successfully created a globally recognised brand, he said, adding that the conference would discuss how to make Vietnamese rice, coffee and shrimp internationally recognised premium brands.

Addressing the relationship between Viet Nam and China, Bui Thanh Son, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said in spite of the East Sea dispute, Viet Nam and China had the potential to co-operate in many fields.

Viet Nam strongly supports resolution of the disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, including diplomatic and legal processes. It also supports refraining from the use or threats to use force, in accordance with international law, Son said.

Last year, Viet Nams GDP topped US$200 billion and its per capita income was $2,100.

Organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and The Economist, the Viet Nam 2016 summit brings together leading voices from Government, business and finance, civil society and academia to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing Viet Nam.

Featured topics included Viet Nam in the global economy, the future of manufacturing, feeding Viet Nam, building "Viet Nam Inc", the relationship between Viet Nam and China, geopolitics and the role of technology and social media to fight poverty.  VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nams Competition Authority has revoked the licence of multi-level marketing firm Viet Nam Consumer Alliance Joint-Stock Company (VietNet JSC) and slapped it with a fine of VN409.5 million (US$18,350), local media reported.

The firm, headquartered in Bac Giang Province, has violated a number of regulations on multilevel sales activities, the state agency (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) found.

The multi-level marketing (MLM) business model, referred to as a pyramid scheme, is a legitimate but controversial marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for the sales they generate, but also for the sales of the other salespeople they recruit.

The competition authority found out that, first, the firm did not observe procedures for amending and adding to the registration for MLM when there were changes and additions related to application documents for MLM activities.

Second, going against the prescribed regulations, the firm did not provide sufficient information in their MLM contracts and signed contracts with individuals who were not eligible for participation in MLM.

Third, VietNet JSC neglected to submit periodic reports to relevant authorities.

Fourth, the company also did not fulfil the requirement to equip MLM distributors with proper training.

Fifth, it did not deduct personal income tax from MLM participants before paying commissions, bonuses and other economic benefits to participants.

And last, against rules, VietNet JSC allowed one distributor to maintain more than one position, one MLM business code and one MLM contract.

The revocation of the licence will not mean that the firm is no longer bound by law to carry out its legal duties, which include the obligation to guarantee the legitimate rights of MLM distributors and other individuals who participate in its MLM network. Those participating can ask VietNet JSC for refund and commissions.

Earlier, back in 2012, one of VietNet JSC founders, Vu Ngoc Thuyen (1976), was sentenced to four years imprisonment for fraud in the Muaban24 Online Trade and Training Company case, where Thuyen was the director of the companys branch in Bac Giang Province.  VNS
HA NOI  The sea is rough from Ninh Thuan to Ba Ria-Vung Tau after a tropical low-pressure that formed yesterday emerged over the western part of Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago this morning.

The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting this morning warned that the tropical low-pressure system, with strongest winds of 50km per hour in its eye, was moving north-west at 15km per hour.

By 7am tomorrow, the tropical low-pressure system is predicted to be 90km southeast of the coast, stretching from Binh Thuan Province to Ben Tre Province.

In response to the situation, Tang Quoc Chinh, deputy chief of the National Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention and Controls Office, yesterday sent an urgent message ordering localities to mobilise all forces to deal with emergencies triggered by the tropical low-pressure system.

The localities were required to update all vessels about the tropical low-pressure systems latest developments so that they could actively find safe anchorage, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  The citys transport department has submitted a proposal to the municipal Peoples Committee on piloting a car parking plan according to odd and even days.

According to the proposal, instead of parking on both sides of the street, car owners will be required to park on the side of the street with odd-numbered houses on odd days and on the side of the street with even-numbered houses on even days.

Proposed streets for the trial project, examined by the department, must be two-way streets without a median strip, which meet transport infrastructure criteria. The width of the car parking area is 1.8m. Vehicles are allowed to park in only one row on one side.

The first street to go on trial from this month, if the plan is accepted, is Da Tuong Street.

The second pilot period is scheduled for the first quarter of 2017 after the trial on Da Tuong Street is reviewed. Car parking on odd and even days will be expanded to Nguyen Gia Thieu, Cua ong, Tran Xuan Soan and Le ai Hanh streets, as well as streets in other districts that qualify.

Based on examination, the department proposed that car parking fee be collected depending on the used areas in a month.

Pham Van uc, director of the Ha Noi Parking Company, said Pilot parking on odd and even days is a necessary solution to ease traffic congestion, especially in inner city areas. Of course, it is only an urgent and short-term solution.

Currently, on several streets in Ha Noi, car parking is fixed at specific places on the side of the street. Many residents complained that this caused inconvenience to local business owners because the cars blocked shops and restaurants, which resulted in fewer customers. Shops on the other side where no cars were parked benefited more.

Nguyen Van Manh, a resident on Da Tuong Street, told The Voice of Viet Nam (VOV) that the new regulation on car parking on odd and even days creates equality for business owners on both sides. It also leaves space for pedestrians on the no-parking side.

However, talking about the pilot plans implementation on other streets, transport expert Hoang Hai Nam said the parking regulation cannot be applied on all streets, especially those with high volume of traffic and those which are narrow.

He emphasised that to implement the project effectively, authorised agencies must monitor the streets regularly and impose penalties on violators.

For long term solutions, he suggested the city build car parking spots or encourage enterprises to invest on building car parking areas, he said.

Finding a place to park is a huge problem for drivers when they get into the inner city for their businesses.

Illegal parking at unlicensed venues or on pavements and streets is widespread.

The reason can be blamed on the huge number of cars in the city (over 50,000, excluding cars from other provinces that come in and out of the city every day). Car parks in Ha Noi can presently meet only 10 per cent of the demand.  VNS
PARIS  Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was targeted by all six of his rivals yesterday in a punchy televised debate of candidates seeking to clinch the right-wing nomination for next years election.

In far sharper exchanges than during last months pedestrian first debate, Sarkozy came under fire for his record in office from 2007 to 2012 and spent much of the two hours on the defensive.

But a poll of viewers immediately afterwards showed that among supporters of his Republicans party, Sarkozy had edged the long-time frontrunner in the polls, former prime minister Alain Juppe, by 31 per cent to 28 per cent.

However, Juppe was a clear winner with 34 per cent to Sarkozys 24 per cent when voters of all political persuasions were taken into consideration, reflecting his status as Frances most popular politician.

The right-wing primary over two rounds on November 20 and 27 is crucial because the winner is widely expected to become the next president in May.

Anyone can vote in the primary providing they pay a small fee.

With headlines in France dominated in recent weeks by the demolition of the squalid "Jungle" refugee camp in Calais, his rivals assailed Sarkozy for negotiating the agreement that effectively moved Britains border on to French soil.

They said the Le Touquet treaty had led to camps sprouting at Channel ports and now, increasingly, in Paris.

But on a day when the last residents were bussed out of the now-defunct "Jungle" on the north coast to accommodation centres elsewhere, Sarkozy said the onus was squarely on Britain to share the burden.

"Most of the migrants want to go to England. So we should go to England, see (British Prime Minister) Theresa May and renegotiate these agreements," Sarkozy said.  AFP
Earlier this week the Governors Office released a statement regarding the Commonwealth of Virginias budget. Because the states revenue shortfall impacts higher education, I want to update you on the most-recent developments.

In July, the state announced a revenue shortfall that resulted in the elimination of the state-supported compensation program and raised concerns about the viability of the state budget. Subsequently, actions by the state have confirmed that they will have to reduce the budgets of state agencies, including higher education, for the current fiscal year as well as the following fiscal year. As a result, Virginia Tech was asked to give back $5.1 million, on a one-time basis, for fiscal year (FY) 2017, our current budget year.

We recognize the difficulties that our colleges and support units encounter when asked to adjust budgets in the midst of the academic year. Because we plan and manage our budget carefully and proactively, we were able to manage this revenue reduction centrally; thus, we will not require any unit on campus to reduce its FY 2017 budget.

We do not expect any changes to our FY 2017 operational budgets, and I anticipate that the activities of our academic and support programs will continue to move forward in accordance with our planned levels during the current academic year.

Further, recognizing the critical nature of our compensation programs to the campus community, we took steps to establish a 2 percent merit-based pay increase for all faculty and university staff employees. We are pleased to share that, pending approval of the Board of Visitors on Nov. 7, the resulting salary increases will be effective on Nov. 10, 2016.

The memorandum from the Governors Office this week indicated that the projected revenue shortfall for this biennium is severe enough that higher-education institutions will have to participate, along with other state agencies, in ongoing budget reductions, effective with the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2017. Each Virginia college and university must plan for a 7.5 percent cut in state General Fund support.

Further, the one-time budget reductions strategies assigned to higher education institutions in FY 2017 will be continued in FY 2018, resulting in the return of an additional $3.8 million in one-time funds.

If fully implemented on July 1, 2017, the 7.5 percent reduction will translate to a $12.9 million reduction in General Fund revenues for our University Division, primarily our instructional and support programs. Likewise, the 7.5 percent reduction equates to a $5.2 million reduction for our programs supported by our Cooperative Extension/Agricultural Experiment Station Division.

It is important to note that the state contribution to our overall university budget is 18 percent. This means that if the state shortfall remains the projected figure of 7.5 percent, it does not translate into a similar-percentage reduction in average unit budgets. That moderated impact will vary by unit based on a units dependence on state funds.

We recognize and are very concerned about the adverse impact on our programs of ongoing reductions in state support that could total $18.1 million. However, it is important to recognize that the while the administration has to assess the budget environment and propose an amended budget, the governors budget proposals will be submitted in January 2017 to the General Assembly for their consideration.

I can assure you that my office, along with support from Government Relations and Finance, will do everything we can to convey to the General Assembly the significant impacts that will result from reductions of this magnitude, and we will ask for actions to mitigate the level of the proposed reductions.

While we will work hard to reduce the impact on Virginia Tech, we nevertheless must also begin the planning efforts to absorb a reduction in state support in FY 2018 if our efforts in Richmond are not successful. The university has considerable prior experience in addressing reductions in state support, and I believe that experience will assist us in shaping budget plans that will protect the integrity and quality of our academic programs.

Further, we are confident that with our new Participatory Incentive Based Budget model, academic units will have the opportunity to participate in securing new revenue and reallocating resources internally as needed. Additional factors, such as our recent enrollment and philanthropic growth, add to our financial resilience.

Virginia Techs commitment to improving our academic and research programs, providing access to students, and being the very best steward of state resources possible will not change as a result of the states budget requirements. Fulfilling that promise is more challenging when key sources of revenue are reduced, but we are grateful for the support we do receive, and we will continue to work with campus leadership and our Board of Visitors to inform and guide our process.

I call on all of members of the Virginia Tech community to join in looking for both efficiencies and revenue growth opportunities, including those that engage industry partners, in the spirit of Beyond Boundaries.

As we have further details and information on our current and future budget we will share updates to campus.

Sincerely,

Tim Sands

President, Virginia Tech
01:54 RBA lifts cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.85 per cent Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood says the Reserve Bank of Australia has lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.85 per cent.

03:30 Democrats distance from stammering and stuttering Joe Biden ahead of midterms Democrat candidates are running further away from US President Joe Biden and are turning to his former boss Barack Obama to get them across the...

03:00 Furious driver drags leftie protesters off busy road Sky News host Caleb Bond says one man in the UK tried to reason with some "lefties" before having to resort to dragging them off a busy road...

01:32 Where is Generation Zs resilience? Sky News host Caleb Bond says one "poor leftie" student in America has posted a video online complaining about having to work an entire day....

08:51 No perfect solution to fix gas prices Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh says there is no perfect solution to fix rising gas prices.
Years ago a memo from a senior North Vietnamese politician (not, as reported, from Gen. Giap) outlining the strategy the Communists would take to defeat us in Vietnam was made public. Essentially, it said that Americans don't have the determination to see military engagements through. If the war could simply be made to drag on long enough, Americans would tire of the conflict and the sacrifice. Eventually, pressure from the American public would force whatever administration was in power at the time to give up and bring the troops home.The memo, of course, was right.Others have pointed out that this is not uniquely an American weakness. Democracies, in general, are ill-equipped to fight wars unless the nation's existence is directly imperiled. War is an expensive thing and both difficult and painful for any nation to wage; where the decision-making process is sensitive to public opinion, holding to an unpopular course is difficult by definition. Even Tsarist Russia- as absolute a monarchy as can be imagined- was forced out of World War I by popular pressure and eventually brought down by the ramifications of fighting a difficult and unpopular war.We generally learn from wars. But all too often, we learn the wrong lessons. What we learned from Vietnam was not to use military force except in the direst of emergencies. Then came the first President Bush, and a war that was the opposite of Vietnam in every way. South Vietnam was an artificial country whose government and even whose existence lacked support from its own people. But nobody could doubt the justice of defending tiny Kuwait from a bully like Saddam Hussein. The war was brief and victorious where Vietnam was long and ended in defeat. It inspired a wave of patriotism instead of a wave of pacifism and disillusionment. For a brief moment, the possibility seemed very real that we might actually get the lesson of Vietnamchoose your wars very carefully, act decisively when you are sure that you really want to do this and are willing to pay the price, and then hold nothing back.Since the end of World War II, the United States has been the most powerful nation on Earth. For a time the Soviet Union rivaled it. But the peace and stability of the world have always depended on the greatest power exercising leadership in the international community so that united and concerted action can keep rogue nations in check. That is exactly what the first President Bush did. We did not, as in Vietnam, fight alone, with the exception of small contingents of troops from a few of our allies and the army of the country we were defending. What went into Iraq and liberated Kuwait was the world (or at least the free world) under the leadership of the United States.The United States did the job history demanded that it do and continues to demand that it do today. And it did it in exactly the right way.But then came the second President Bush. Unlike Donald Trump, I'll be honest and admit that I supported the Second Gulf War. I still believe that we would have had to fight it eventually. When we found WMD's left over from the first war (Saddam's failure to publicly destroy them as the peace terms required him to do was part of the justification for going to war in the Gulf a second time), the Democrats and the Left moved the target and decided that onlyWMD's counted. There remains no doubt that Saddam did continue to deploy new weapons and got rid of them only when the pressure to do so became unbearable. Perversely, he pretended otherwise, thus encouraging the war which eventually cost him his power and his life. And here's the key point: this is the guy who had not only had WMD's but had used them against his own people. No reasonable person can doubt that the moment the intermittent and rather pathetic pressure from the UN and the much more substantial threat of invasion by the United States diminished he would have resumed his nuclear program and the manufacture and deployment of poison gas. There is something profoundly dishonest about attempts to avoid this point.France promised to support the war and then reneged without warning. England did support us- to Tony Blair's cost. So did other close allies. But the second President Bush's "Coalition of the Willing" was a pale shadow of the coalition his father brought together. The war was fought by America, Great Britain, and a handful of other friendly nations, not by the world. It was equally victorious; the derision of the Left to the contrary, President Bush's overly melodramatic carrier landing and the "Mission Accomplished" motif of the celebration which followed were not inappropriate, even if they were overdone. We did what we set out to do. Thr problem was that we neglected to think through the consequences. As was the case with United States in the Fifties and Sixties, determined to keep at least half of Vietnam non-Communist but unsure how to do so when a lack of popular support and even understanding of the concepts of freedom and democracy and thus forced to defend the "freedom" of a series of unpopular and undemocratic regimes, the second President Bush set about finding a purely military solution to what was only partly a military problem. The problem with "nation building" is not the demolition of the unfree regimes that we want to replace, but actually replacing them with something better enough and stable and enduring enough to make the effort worthwhile.Few people remember the toothless series of ultimatums the UN kept giving Saddam- and then doing nothing to enforce. In retrospect, knowing what we know now, the war was a huge mistake. There was a reason why the elder President Bush didn't push on to Baghdad and finish off Saddam in the first place. Even then, experts warned that it would create a power vacuum which would have exactly the catastrophic effect that it has. It left a bigger mess than it cleaned up.The lie continues to be repeated that there were no WMD's found when in reality there were noWMD's found. But an even bolder lie gained currency and became a rallying cry of the Left: the lie thatlied- that he knew that there were no WMD's or at least no new ones, but went to war anyway because he was a demon who thirsted for blood or something. In fact, every intelligence service in the world was absolutely convinced that Saddam was up to his neck in new WMD's. The voices which claimed otherwise did so on no particularly convincing grounds. Dubya took the best advice available to him. It was wrong- and the consequences were disastrous.Yes, the mission Dubya set for our armed forces was indeed accomplished. His biggest mistake was not thinking through the question of what to do once that mission was accomplished. Again, as in Vietnam, the lesson was not to withdraw from the world into Fortress America. Nor was it never to go to war. It was to think things through, to count the cost, to be clear about our aims and the means by which they can be achieved- and then, once it's clear that war is the only option, to intelligently and thoughtfully try to bring the final result we desire about.Yes, Americaneed to be the world's policeman. Or more accurately, it needs to be the world's Chief of Police. Britain and France and Germany and Australia and New Zealand and India- and yes, Japan, and even Russia and China if they can be enlisted, need also to be on the force. John Kerry to the contrary, we cannot utterly renounce the option of taking unilateral action. But the circumstances under which that might be necessary are remote enough that we should seek as a matter of bipartisan and consistent foreign policy to do what the most powerful nation on Earth has always been expected to do: toThe wonderful movie "Charlie Wilson's War," while somewhat fictionalized, does a wonderful job of illustrating that the Soviet Union was brought down in no small measure because of that courageous if quirky congressman and a handful of others who managed to get the United States actively behind a popular movement to liberate Afganistan from Soviet aggression. We led- and the good guys won. But then, we fell victim to a modified version of the syndrome that Vietnamese official wrote about. Democracies operate by political pressure from below, and soon the pressure was for our money to be spent elsewhere. Despite the desperate efforts of Wilson and others, everything we accomplished in Afghanistan was squandered. We effectively abandoned our friends and the Taliban took their place.It's worth wondering whether 9/11 would ever have happened if we had continued to cultivate the very people who eventually gave rise to al Quaeda. In that event, there would have been no need for us to go to war in Afghanistan in pursuit of bin Laden; there might well have been no need to pursue him and in any case, the regime that sheltered him might never have come to power. But 9/11 did happen- and if ever a nation had a reason to go to war, it was the United States in pursuit of him.But again, Dubya failed. That pursuit should have been ceaseless and unrelenting. But George W. Bush decided that bin Laden would inevitably be captured at some point anyway and that he had other fish to fry. He did not make the pursuit of bin Laden an ongoing priority. When the pressures became strong enough we started to pull back in Afghanistan without capturing him. We did depose the Taliban- but as our involvement eased, the Taliban came back.Donald Trump has given voice to a growing chorus not only on the Left but in the more unrealistic and irresponsible portions of the Right to abdicate our responsibility to lead and to withdraw into ourselves, not fighting unless we are directly attacked. The Pat Buchanan school of paleoconservatism tends to this view. Ron Paul advocated it. It might have worked in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. But the globe is far smaller now. Like it or not, the fortunes of every nation in the world are to a greater or lesser extent caught up in the fortunes of nations on the other side of the planet. Isolationism in no small measure was responsible for causing World War II, and for making it the global catastrophe it was. We face the ironic danger that in learning the wrong lessons from Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan we may end up forgetting the lessons of the most destructive war in the history of the world.In a few months, an administration will leave power which, if not exactly isolationist, has been timid and tentative in its dealings with the world, quick to defer to others and slow to assert American interests or to project American power. This has not gone unnoticed by our allies. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Dane who is the former Secretary General of NATO, has spoken out on the subject of the Obama administration's timidity and its failure to lead the community of free nations. Whoever wins next Tuesday must, Rasmussen argues, be willing to play policeman to the world- or at least Chief of Police. The rest of the police force- the rest of the community of nations- expects no less.The alternative is chaos. Donald Trump's psychological instability and outright ignorance pose grave dangers to the nation and to the world. But his foreign policy poses even more serious ones. His protectionism will devastate our economy and tumble it back into recession; the economic ties between the nations of the world are too close, and their economies to interdependent for us to avoid the inevitable and catastrophic push-back. The dream of isolation in the age of the global economy, the supersonic intercontinental airliner, the hypersonic strategic bomber, and the intercontinental ballistic missile is the most dangerous kind of lunacy. And if America abandons its role in the world, rest assured that there will not long be a vacuum. The Chinese and Trump's Russian masters will be quick to fill the void.When I hear foreigners gripe about America's admittedly sometimes heavy hand in world affairs- I'm not talking about friendly, constructive criticism when we mess up from time to time, but cynical whining which calls into question the unarguable point that on balance the United States is a force for good in the world- I have to admit that copping out as Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump advocate is a tempting option. But we are neither economically nor militarily nor politically independent of the rest of the world. No nation on Earth is. And despite its frequent ingratitude, the world looks to America to lead it.I do not question the premise that we can lead it better than we sometimes have. But abandoning our post is simply not an option.
Holiday bazaar set for Saturday

WATERLOO  Queen of Peace, St. Mary Craft Club and St. Ann Court 1056 will host a holiday bazaar from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Queen of Peace, 320 Mulberry. There will be a bake sale, crafts, soup and sandwich meal and dessert.

All money raised will go to Queen of Peace Parish to help fund repairs.

All are welcome. For this co-sponsored event, National Catholic Society of Foresters will match funds raised up to $750.

Legion steak fry slated Saturday

GILBERTVILLE  The American Legion Post 714 in Gilbertville will host a steak fry from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

A 12-ounce rib-eye or a 16-ounce T-bone will cost $16, a 12-ounce sirloin will cost $12 and a salad bar will be $6.

The meal will be served with a baked potato, vegetable, salads, roll and coffee or milk.

The bar will open at 5 p.m. Everyone is welcome.

Church supper set for Tuesday

LA PORTE CITY  Sacred Heart Church will host a soup supper from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Traditional homemade chicken noodle soup and chili, crackers, relishes, pie, cake, coffee and juice will be served. Cost is $7 for adults, $4 for children 5-12 and pre-school and younger are free. Carry-out quarts of soup, pie and cake will be available.

Embroiderers to meet Monday

WATERLOO  The Prairie Rose Chapter of the Embroiderers Guild of America will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at Zion Lutheran Church Center for Faith and Life, 1712 W. Fourth St.

The program will be a wool pincushion project.

Members also will host a stitch-in open house from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 12 at Zion. All stitchers, members or not, are welcome. There will be a noon potluck, so bring a dish to share, table service and a stitching project. For more information, go to prairieroseega.wordpress.com.
Judicial activism

Jackson County, Mich., judge John McBain briefly gained notoriety in October when a Michigan news site released courtroom video of a December 2015 hearing in which McBain felt the need to throw off his robe, leap from the bench and tackle defendant Jacob Larson, who was resisting the one court officer on hand to restrain him. McBain is shown holding on until help arrived  with Larson perhaps undermining his earlier courtroom statements claiming it was his girlfriend, and not he, who was the aggressor in alleged stalking incidents.

Names in Florida news

Arrested in October and charged with kidnapping a 4-year-old girl in Lakeland: a truck driver, Mr. Wild West Hogs.

Arrested in West Palm Beach in August and charged with trespassing at a Publix supermarket (and screaming at employees), Mr. Vladimir Putin.

Incompetent criminal

On the way to the police station in Youngstown, Ohio, on Oct. 19, after being arrested for, among other things, being a felon in possession of a gun, Raymond Brooks, 25, asked an officer (apparently in all seriousness) whether, after he got booked at the station, he could have his gun back. The police report did not specify whether the officer said yes or no.

The art of smuggling

At press time, Leston Lawrence, 35, an employee of the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa, was awaiting a court decision on charges that he stole $140,000 worth of thick gold coins (pucks) that, over time, were taken from the mint in his rectum. The mints highest security measures never turned up a puck on or in Lawrence; he was arrested after the mint investigated a tip that he had sold an unusual number of them for someone of his pay grade.

Government in action

Mayor Paul Antonio of Toowoomba, Australia (pop. 100,000), admitted he had picked an uphill fight, but still has recently been handing out cards to men on the street asking them to help the city (in unspecified ways) become completely free of pornography. Though the city has several tax-paying sex businesses (even a strip club and a brothel), Antonios message (augmented by public confessions of men burdened by their porn habits) is directed at the internets ease of access to images of male dominance and power over females.

Tiny thrills

The town of Warley, England, announced it has applied to the Guinness people for the honor of having the worlds smallest museum. The Warley Community Associations museum, with photos and mementoes of its past, is housed in an old phone booth. So far, there are no hours; visitors just show up and open the door.

The recent 100th anniversary of Americas National Park Service drew attention to the park in Guthrie, Okla.  10 feet by 10 feet, behind the post office and dating from the original Land Office on the spot in 1889. According to legend, the city clerk, instead of asking the government for land 100 foot square (100 feet by 100 feet), mistakenly asked for 100 square feet.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who was shot in a shootout with a supermarket manager during a 2015 holdup has been sentenced to prison.

Charles Earl Jones, 21, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a charge of first-degree robbery on Oct. 11. He will have to serve 17 and a half years before he can be considered for parole.

Jones also was sentenced to five years in prison for a charge of going armed, two years for carrying weapons and 30 days for making a false police report. Those sentences will run concurrent to time for the robbery charge. He also was ordered to pay $161 in restitution.

Jones was convicted following an August jury trial.

Prosecutors said Jones entered Rays Supermarket on Franklin Street on Nov. 18, 2015, brandishing a gun and directed a clerk to open a cash register. The manager reached for a .380-caliber handgun, and Jones started shooting, prosecutors said. The manager shot back, striking Jones, prosecutors said, and Jones allegedly left a palm print on a glass door as he fled.

About 15 minutes later, police were called to a report of gunfire at West Eighth and Leavitt streets with a person on the ground. They found Jones with a gunshot wound, and he claimed he had been shot in a mugging where a gunman had taken his jacket and headphones.

Armed citizen

stops suspect

CEDAR FALLS -- A man with a permit to carry a firearm detained a Cedar Falls man when he started stabbing people at his apartment building last month, according to authorities.

According to police, Adam Scott Jacobsen stabbed fellow tenant Jeffrey Miller 24 times and apartment manager Denice Bennett eight times at University Avenue Studios apartments before Daniel Williams drew his firearm.

He pulled the gun and ordered him to lie on the ground, said Chief Jeff Olson with the Cedar Falls Police Department. He said Jacobsen complied and remained there until police arrived.

Before police got there, he holstered his gun, Olson said.

Olson said he didnt know if Jacobsen would have continued his attack without Williamss intervention.

Moments before the Oct. 17 attack, Bennett and Williams, who Olson said was Bennetts boyfriend, were both headed to the building in separate vehicles. Williams was caught at a red light, so she arrived first. He pulled in about a minute or two after Bennett was stabbed.

Charged with two counts of attempted murder, Jacobsen was moved to Unity Point-Allen Hospital for medical and psychiatric treatment Oct. 20 after he began showing signs of psychiatric stress.

Court records show after the Oct. 17 stabbing, Jacobsen talked to investigators about requests from God. He said demons were everywhere killing people and had him cornered, and God wanted him to kill the demons, court records state. He told police he killed a demon and accidentally killed a "good person."

On Tuesday, Chief Public Defender Aaron Hawbaker asked the court to put the case on hold because of serious concerns about Jacobsens competency. An involuntary commitment action was started around the same time as the criminal charges, Hawbaker said in court records.

Teen pleads

in cafe robbery

WATERLOO  A teen has pleaded to robbing a Waterloo cafe in 2015.

Seyveion Marchele James Hayes, 17, of Waterloo, pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree robbery Thursday in Black Hawk County District Court. Sentencing will be at a later date, and he faces up to 25 years in prison. He was charged as an adult.

Authorities said Hayes entered Mr. Jays Cafe, 927 W. Fifth St., armed with a handgun around 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12, 2015. He was unable to obtain any cash and fled.

Hayes was identified with the help of a security camera located in the area, according to court records.

Shooting victim

still hospitalized

WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who was shot on Tuesday morning remains hospitalized.

Authorities said 22-year-old Darrell Deshay Lanier has been unconscious since he arrived at Unity Point-Allen Hospital and underwent a second surgery Wednesday. Lanier was shot twice, including a gunshot wound to the side.

No arrests have been made in the attack, and the investigation is continuing, said Capt. David Mohlis with the Waterloo Police Department.

The shooting happened at about 10:20 a.m. in the area of Rhey and Franklin streets. The shooting apparently started in an alley behind Franklin Street where police found as many as a dozen spent shell casings. Lanier was found on the ground but conscious and alert around the corner in the 400 block of Rhey Street.

Man arrested for

giving tattoos

CEDAR FALLS  A Cedar Falls man has been arrested for allegedly giving tattoos without a permit.

Cedar Falls police arrested Christian Cody Wilson, 25, of 1813 W. Eighth St., on Monday for tattooing without a permit. The charge is a misdemeanor.

According to court records, police received a tip in October that Wilson was giving tattoos at his apartment, and investigators determined he didnt have the required permit from the state.

Under Iowa law, it is illegal to engage in the practice of tattooing without receiving a permit from the Iowa Department of Public Health. According to the Department of Health, the $75 permit requires a high school or GED and the completion of blood-borne pathogen and first aid training.
WATERLOO  Officers caught an alleged burglar Friday morning after he broke into a home while the resident was sleeping.

The female resident awoke to a man in her bedroom of her Prospect Boulevard house around 4:10 a.m., and she called 911 as he fled. She reported a $10 bill, a few $1 bills and an unopened pack of Marlboro Lights cigarettes missing.

Police spotted a vehicle at Hilltop Road and Prospect near the scene and stopped it.

The occupant, 34-year-old Joshua Wilson, was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt the victim had described, and officers found a pack of Marlboro Lights cigarettes and cash in the denominations reported missing, according to court records.

Wilson, of 1026 W. Fifth St., was arrested for second-degree burglary.

Officers determined he entered the house by standing on a chair and crawling through a window.
WATERLOO  Darrell Deshay Lanier never made it home after leaving his cousins house Tuesday morning.

The 22-year-old lifelong Waterloo resident was about three blocks from home when he was shot and collapsed. He lingered unconscious at UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital for three days and underwent two surgeries before dying early Friday from internal injuries associated with the bullet wounds, police said.

Details about what happened arent clear. Police found about a dozen spent shell casings in the alley behind the 1800 block of Franklin Street shortly after neighbors reported hearing numerous gunshots around 10:20 a.m. Tuesday. Lanier was found on the ground in the 400 block of Rhey Street.

They couldnt be man enough to fight him fair, whatever the problem was. They want to shoot him. They ran him down and shot 15 times, and four bullets hit him. Walking home, minding his own business, said Debra White, Laniers grandmother.

Laniers aunt, Desiree White, said she believes he was shot by people who were trying to get at his friends.

They knew this would break his friends hearts. ... He was just a target for them to get because they knew they could get him, said White, who had raised Lanier and refers to him as her son.

Laniers trek to his cousins home was part of his daily routine, so it would have been easy to locate him, Desiree White said. He usually walked alone, she said, and Tuesday the cousin wasnt home, so he turned around and headed home.

I know they been watching my baby because he walks every day at that time. It was a setup, White said.

Police have released little about the ongoing investigation, but Capt. David Mohlis said Lanier was targeted, that he wasnt struck by a stray bullet. He also said it appears only one gun was used.

Investigators continue to interview witnesses to develop a clearer picture of what happened, and Laniers body has been sent to the Iowa State Medical Examiners Office in Ankeny for an autopsy.

No arrests have been made.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives gathered at the family home for support on Friday.

I hope they dont just push this aside. I hope they get off into it, said Rogena Jones, Laniers cousin.

Debra White said she is concerned so many young people have access to firearms.

Why is all of this shooting going around? This stuff needs to stop. Parents need to get together and talk to their kids, because some of these parents know what their kids are doing, Debra White said.

They remembered Lanier as a fun-loving person with a great sense of humor.

Darrell was the type of person who had a good sense of humor, a very kind heart. He was one of those kids that anybody could just get along with. He was always a joking person, Desiree White said.

They broke my heart, but my baby still has his soul. I know hes in a better place now. My baby is resting, and he doesnt have to deal with all this wicked and evil down here on this Earth. He went home peacefully, Desiree White said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Waterloo Police Department at 291-4340, ext. 7, or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at (855) 300-8477. Tips may also be left at www.cvcrimestop.com or sent with TipSoft or by texting the word cedar plus the information to 274637.
WATERLOO  A teen has pleaded to robbing a Waterloo cafe in 2015.

Seyveion Marchele James Hayes, 17, of Waterloo, pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree robbery on Thursday in Black Hawk County District Court. Sentencing will be at a later date, and he faces up to 25 years in prison. He was charged as an adult.

Authorities said Hayes entered Mr. Jays Cafe, 927 W. Fifth St., armed with a handgun around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2015. He was unable to obtain any cash and fled.

Hayes was identified with the help of a security camera located in the area, according to court records.
CEDAR FALLS  Area Education Agency 267 took steps Wednesday to put its current administrative offices up for sale, begin planning renovations at the new location and take out a loan for the purchase.

The agencys board of directors approved contracts with real estate broker Chris Fischels of Sulentic-Fischels Commercial Group and Levi Architecture. A public hearing on plans to borrow nearly $6.08 million also was set.

The $62,500 contract with the Cedar Falls architecture firm is for design services at the Park Place Events Center, 1521 Technology Parkway. Last week, the board approved a $4 million purchase agreement for the facility, also known as the Pipac Centre on the Lake, to replace its current administrative and staff office and conference center buildings.

I would say 90 percent of the building is move-in ready for us, said AEA 267 spokeswoman Beth Strike of the Pipac Center. We have no need for a kitchen area or a restaurant area. Those are two areas that will be re-purposed.

Lower level storage and some unfinished areas would be converted to office space. Existing storage and kitchen areas would serve as media and print departments. An elevator would be added to make the building more accessible.

The existing dining area would become drop-in space for seminar guests, as well as our own staff, said Strike. The multipurpose space would provide an area for various staff who spend most of their time in school settings to charge their laptops, plug in their phones and work.

Fischels is the listing broker for AEA 267s current buildings at 3706, 3712 and 3722 Cedar Heights Drive, which are collectively appraised at about $5.5 million. The contracts include a 6 percent professional service fee based on the actual sale price of any buildings and a 3 percent fee to cooperating multiple listing service brokers. The contracts will be in effect until April 30.

Strike noted the board hadnt heard any specific interest in purchasing the buildings before signing the Pipac agreement, but she said officials believe theyll be able to find a buyer.

Theres a sense that the buildings will move, she said. The location is advantageous, theres likely to be early interest. Proceeds of any sales would be used to repay the loan.

The public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 22 in the AEA 267 Conference Center, 3712 Cedar Heights Drive. A private placement engagement letter with Piper Jaffray & Co. was approved by the board, setting terms of service in providing the loan which will be a lease purchase agreement.

AEAs cannot finance building purchases and improvements by issuing bonds under Iowa Code, but they are allowed to lease purchase facilities. The agency has conditional approval for the purchase and renovations from the Iowa Department of Education until the lease purchase agreement is secured. The agreement would start June 1, 2018, and continue through June 1, 2036.

The approximately $2 million left after the Pipac purchase would be used for partial remodeling, improving, equipping and furnishing of the center as well other agency facilities in Marshalltown and Clear Lake, according to the agreement. Pipac renovations are estimated at $1.5 million.
WATERLOO  Former first lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack will join 1st District congressional candidate Monica Vernon on the campaign trail Saturday.

The pair will hold a series of get-out-the-vote events across the 20-county 1st District.

They will make a local stop at noon Saturday at the Democrats headquarters, 307 E. Fourth St., in Waterloo.

Northeast Iowa needs Monica Vernon in Congress, Vilsack said in a statement. We need someone who knows how to get things done, and I believe Monica Vernon is the right person for the job.

They also will make stops in Marshalltown, Toledo, Vinton and Cedar Rapids on Saturday.
CEDAR FALLS  Bernie Sanders, who competed against eventual Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, is returning to Cedar Falls today. This time hell be campaigning for his one-time opponent.

Sanders will hold a Get Out The Vote rally at 4:45 p.m. today at the University of Northern Iowas Maucker Union rooftop in Cedar Falls. Doors open at 3:45 p.m.

People interested in attending the event can RSVP online at: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/view/bhtc44sm6527gdbd/.

He will discuss Clintons plans to build an economy that works for everyone, to raise the minimum wage and to make public colleges and universities tuition free.

Sanders also will make stops in Davenport, Iowa City and Ames during his two-day trip to Iowa.
Signups slated

at St. Vincent

WATERLOO -- The St. Vincent de Paul Christmas assistance program will start Nov. 7. Signups will be Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon until Dec. 10 at the St. Vincent thrift store, 430 Broadway St.

There also will be signups at Queen of Peace community meals Tuesday night from 4 to 6 p.m. from Nov. 15 to Dec. 6. Bring Social Security cards for all members of household. Proof of income and current identity card are required.

Distribution will be Dec. 17.

Grant awarded

for STEM project

WATERLOO -- Through a grant to Communities in Schools of Mid-America, made possible by Glamours The Girl Project and the Caterpillar Foundation, girls at George Washington Carver Academy and Central Middle School will explore careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

These two middle schools are the only ones selected in Iowa. The other five schools are in Kansas.

Communities in Schools of Mid-America staff is seeking professional women in STEM fields from the Cedar Valley to assist in this project. Interested volunteers should contact Ras Smith, site coordinator at Carver Academy at 830-9028 or ras.smith@iowa.cismidamerica.org or Dina Plum, site coordinator at Central Middle School at 429.8767 or dina.plum@iowa.cismidamerica.org
WATERLOO This is the 35th year of the Mike and Leona Adams Thanksgiving Dinner. It will be held Nov. 21 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the United Auto Workers hall in Waterloo.

The event started in 1982 when Mike Adams saw many of his friends and neighbors struggling to make ends meet. As a member of the UAW Local 838 and board member of what is now Veridian Credit Union, Adams saw an opportunity to bring the two organizations together to fill a need.

This year, Veridian and retirees of the UAW Local 838 are planning to provide 1,000 traditional Thanksgiving meals. Although Mike and Leona have both since passed away, many of their family members will be there to help serve. An estimated 700 people are expected, while the Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging will deliver another 350 plates to current Meals On Wheels recipients.

The event has been expanded to offer other free services over the years. Attendees can receive a free blood pressure check from Cedar Valley Hospice and a free hair cut from Clip Art Corner. Free transportation to the event is provided to anyone living in Cedar Falls, Evansdale and Waterloo. Those in need of transportation should call 236-5600 or sign up online at veridiancu.org by Nov. 11.

Local businesses that contribute to the event include: Veridian Credit Union; retirees of the UAW Local 838; A&P Food Equipment; Anderson Erickson Dairy; Cedar Valley Hospice; Clip Art Corner; Critchetts Lowrey Organ Center; Martin Bros. Distributing Co. Inc.; Metropolitan Transit Authority of Black Hawk County; Myers-Cox Co.; Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging; Special Occasions Party and Event Rental and University Hy-Vee.
CEDAR FALLS -- Two Quakerism 101 videos will be hosted by the Cedar Falls Quaker Meeting at 10:45 a.m. Sunday.

Martie Reineke will facilitate discussion following the videos. Both will be shown at Threehouse, 2422 College St., open to the public.

The video topics, Deepening Quaker Meeting for Worship and The Top 10 Reasons I am a Quaker are produced by http://quakerspeak.com/. For more information, go to www.cedarfallsquakers.org.

WATERLOO -- Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church will sell dinners from noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at 202 Sumner St.

Cost is $7 for chicken dinners, $8 for chitterlings dinners and $9 for fish dinners. All meals includes side dishes and a dessert.

Call 234-4927 or 433-8118 for orders or delivery.

WATERLOO -- Mount Carmel Church will host the annual Mother Ruth Thomas Women's Conference on Saturday.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Guest speaker will be Cynthia Epps Mount Zion Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids.

There will be vendors available, and lunch will be served at noon. The public is welcome to attend. Call 233-9482.

OELWEIN -- Peace Lutheran Church, 1308 E. Charles St., will host a Martin Luther Hymn Festival at 3 p.m. Nov. 13.

Everyone is welcome to hear about the hymns written by Luther and listen to the area Lutheran Choir, directed by Katie Moss of Readlyn, sing.

Snacks will be served in the fellowship hall following the concert.

Contact the Rev. Michael Holmen, 283-8360 or rev.michael.holmen@gmail.com, for more information.

WATERLOO -- Union Missionary Baptist Church, 209 Jackson St., will celebrate its 92nd year anniversary Nov. 9 through 11, with a finale Nov. 13.

There will be special guests from area churches, and all events are open to the public.

Any questions, call the church at 235-1213. The Rev. Marvin D. Jenkins is the pastor.
WATERLOO  An east-side church is hosting a fundraiser for the family of a Waterloo boy seriously injured in a traffic accident Oct. 18.

Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 805 Adams St., is holding the event from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday to raise funds to cover expenses of the family of Leighton Pullin, 7, who was struck by a vehicle while crossing the 700 block of West 11th Street. He is still hospitalized at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City with serious injuries.

The main goal of the event is for people to bring money for the family  for the mother and those who are going back and forth to take care of Leighton, said the Rev. Frantz Whitfield. Its a huge expense to travel back and forth to Iowa City.

Family members will be on hand, Whitfield said. He will deliver a message and there also will be singing.

Whitfield said many in the congregation are friends of the boys family and he personally knows from a previous illness the expense of hospitalization at a distance.

I just wanted to reach out to the family and do something special with them, Whitfield said. Were going to be connecting with other churches in the community to be involved in the process.

Donations by check may be made to Leightons mother, Melisa Pullin.

Questions may be directed to the church at 233-9482.
Anti-Semitism is one of those vicious maladies that ought to be close to eradication, like polio. But it turns out its more like crabgrass: You can never eliminate it entirely, and given half a chance, it will spread rapidly.

The evidence of that depressing reality is abundant lately. Theres a certain atmosphere in the country thats disturbing, says Ken Jacobson, deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League, which combats this and other types of bigotry. There is a new legitimacy to saying things that were beyond the pale.

Hmm. Where could that come from?

Well, Donald Trump recently accused Hillary Clinton of meeting 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  language that echoes the perennial conspiracy theories of Nazis and other anti-Semites.

Is it just me or is much of this Trump speech Jew-baiting? tweeted Julia Ioffe, one of many Jewish journalists who have been the target of vicious anti-Semitic slurs and threats on Twitter.

Some may wonder if shes picking up signals that arent there. But apparently not. Openly neo-Nazi groups are getting the same message. Andrew Anglin, editor of a far-right website, told the Los Angeles Times, Virtually every alt-right Nazi I know is volunteering for the Trump campaign.

Anti-Semitism fits comfortably within the anti-immigrant, Islamophobic appeal of a candidate who said an American-born judge couldnt be fair to Trump because he is of Mexican heritage. And hes fueled it, intentionally or not, with such antics as sharing tweets from neo-Nazi accounts as well as one tweet of his own that called Clinton the most corrupt candidate ever, with that phrase embedded in a six-pointed star. Is anyone surprised when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke exults, Thank God Trump has emerged and embraced my issues?

But this phenomenon is not a monopoly of the alt-right. Its also detectable on the left, particularly on university campuses, where campaigns to get schools to disinvest from companies that operate in Israel often end up stimulating hostility toward Jews.

Last year, an undergraduate running for the Stanford student senate asked for the endorsement of the Students of Color Coalition. But when members of the group interviewed her, she said they asked how her Jewish identity would affect her decisions  a question she interpreted as anti-Semitic.

The Stanford Israel Association said some student groups have refused to co-sponsor events with it.

A recent study by the Amcha Initiative found anti-Semitic incidents on campus increased by 45 percent in the first six months of 2016 and seemed to be connected to the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.

The evidence showed anti-Semitism was twice as likely to occur on campuses where BDS was present and eight times more likely to occur on campuses with at least one active anti-Zionist student group.

A survey by scholars at Brandeis University found Northwestern is one of several universities where the majority of Jewish students perceive a hostile environment toward Israel, and over one-quarter perceive a general environment of hostility toward Jews on their campus. At the University of Chicago, Amhca reported 14 complaints, up from two in the first six months of 2015.

The good news is anti-Semitism is the toxic superstition of a shrinking minority. Since 1992, a 2013 poll found the share of Americans expressing such attitudes has fallen from 20 percent to 12 percent, the lowest figure on record. Those younger than 39, it showed, are remarkably free of prejudicial views.

But anyone acquainted with history knows prejudice can wax as well as wane. Modern social media gives more outlets to bigots who once had none. Visibility can promote the disease.

So vigilance is needed now as much as ever. In the effort to combat anti-Semitism, no victory is permanent and every generation has to take up the challenge.
Column response

DENNIS JUEL

WATERLOO -- Fred Abraham said (Oct. 23) Hillary Clinton is compassionate, kind and caring. Her service as a senator and secretary of state speaks of the good she has done. She did nothing as a senator, traveled to 112 countries as secretary of state, blamed Benghazi on a video, and lied to us and the fallen heroes' parents. She set up a private server to hide what she was doing. After getting caught she said it was a "mistake."

When subpoenaed she deleted 30,000 emails and destroyed phones. A person with nothing to hide doesn't do this. Hillary Clinton supports all abortions, including partial birth and wants to fund them with tax dollars. I encourage everyone to read the WikiLeaks emails and watch Project Veritas videos. As a Christian, I can't vote for someone who supports abortions, takes money from countries that kill gays and lesbians and where women have no rights. Hillary Clinton is not a very good role model for our daughters.

Classroom testing

JACQUIE McTAGGART

INDEPENDENCE -- Iowas reading and math scores are declining, but school personnel are not at fault. I have the honor of working with educators throughout our state and I know how hard Iowa teachers are working. They collaborate with peers, work nights and weekends, and routinely participate in professional development opportunities.

So why are scores declining? Because teachers are forced to spend countless hours testing, and testing isnt teaching.

A 2015 study by the Council of the Great City Schools says the average classroom spends 20-25 hours a year testing. This doesnt include time spent on sample, optional or program tests, test prep time, individual classroom testing, tests acquired by a particular school district or tests administered to samples of students. All told, a typical class spends 40-45 hours a year on test related activities -- roughly two weeks of academic instruction time.

Whos to blame for the testing that prevents teachers from teaching and students from learning? Congress, U.S. Department of Education, the states, and test publishers and vendors. State and federal policymakers have known for years kids are being saddled with too many mandated tests. Now its time they right their wrong and we stop blaming educators.
Vote Danielson

CEDAR FALLS  I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to intern for Senator Jeff Danielson this summer and got to work closely with him. I saw firsthand how much he cares about everyone who talks to him and how hard he works to find a solution that works for everyone  regardless of party lines.

As a student leader, I have become very familiar with the shortages UNI faces in terms of funding. Senator Danielson is the best advocate UNI has, and if we want to invest in Iowas future, we have to invest in UNI. He knows this and I trust he will continue to fight for UNI to receive not only full funding but also gain recognition across the state. I believe Senator Danielson has the passion, knowledge and ambition to make Cedar Falls/Waterloo/Hudson better, and thats why hes earned my vote.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 03, 2016 | 01:01 PM | MAYFIELD, KY

A regional prayer rally is set for this weekend in Graves County.

The prayer service will take place Sunday at 6 pm on the grounds of the former General Tire Plant in Mayfield. Pastor Chad Lamb with His House Ministries in Mayfield said people of all faiths are invited to come together and pray for our country.

We're asking people to consider moving their church services tot hat night so we can show unity in this community, Lamb said. If there's ever a time we needed God to help us, it's now.

Lamb said many area pastors and church leaders will be taking part in the service. He said there will be plenty of parking available and the event will be held rain or shine.
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Associate Dean and Professor of Law Norman Williams commented in a Nov. 4 Christian Science Monitor story on the prevalence of the electoral college.

According to the story, Google searches on the electoral college are up this month, as they always are during election season. Although the majority of Americans have told pollsters they want the electoral college replaced, it lives on. Jack Rakove, a Stanford University professor of history and political science, said a one person, one vote system might be a solution that satisfies Americans across party lines.

I think were going through a crisis of presidential legitimacy, he said. I happen to think that it would be healthy to the body politic, having one national constituency as opposed to being divided between red and blue states.

There are generally two alternatives to the electoral college as it stands now  base the presidency on popular vote or do away with the winner-take-all system and allow states to split their electoral votes between candidates. Maine and Nebraska already practice the latter, while Colorados 2004 attempt to change its system failed.

Williams said that between elections, electoral reforms are pushed to the bottom of the agenda for lawmakers and the public.

In the lead-up to elections, people view every potential reform proposal through a partisan lens, he said. The best way would be a constitutional amendment approved by Congress and ratified by the states, and itll take a bipartisan consensus that the systems broken.

Read the whole story on CSMonitor.com.

About Norman Williams

Norman Williams is the associate dean for academic affairs and the Ken and Claudia Peterson professor of law, as well as the director of the Center for Constitutional Government at Willamette University College of Law. He teaches Constitutional Law I and II, Election Law, and a seminar on the U.S. Supreme Court. His scholarship focuses on the presidential election process and the scope of federal and state authority under the federal Commerce Clause. Prior to teaching at Willamette, Williams practiced law in both public and private sectors, handling numerous appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, and various state appellate courts.

About Willamette University College of Law

Opened in 1883, Willamette University College of Law is the first law school in the Pacific Northwest. The college has a long tradition at the forefront of legal education and is committed to the advancement of knowledge through excellent teaching, scholarship, mentoring and experience. Leading faculty, thriving externship and clinical law programs, ample practical skills courses, and a proactive career placement office prepare Willamette law students for today's legal job market. According to statistics compiled by the American Bar Association, Willamette ranks first in the Pacific Northwest for job placement for full-time, long-term, JD-preferred/JD-required jobs for the class of 2014 and first in Oregon for the classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014. Located across the street from the state capitol complex and the Oregon Supreme Court in downtown Salem, the college specializes in law and government, law and business, and dispute resolution.
I am going to take a holiday today as it is an official holiday in Russia. I asked Sveta what holiday is was and she told me, Yeltsin made holiday! So since that did not answer my question and Sveta who really dislikes the thinking and thoughts of Yeltsin (President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.), I decided to look elsewhere and discover my desires for information, as I sipped a great cup of coffee here in Korolev, Russia

So November 4 is a federal holiday in the Russian Federation. That means everything is closed, literally in Russia. If November 4 falls on a weekend, the public holiday usually moves to the following Monday

That answered when, but I wanted why?

Why?  Unity Day commemorates a Russian uprising that extracted Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian occupation on November 4, 1612. In 1649, Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich made November 4 a public holiday. Russians danced in the streets with joy and love until 1917. The holiday was ended abruptly and in 1918, the Bolsheviks reinstated a replacement holiday on November 7, to promote the Revolution of 1917. But during Yeltsins reign of power as president, November 4 once again became a public holiday (like in the old days) in 2005, the Russian Parliament removed November 7 from the list of official public holidays and introduced Unity Day and that is how it stands as of today

I myself will tell you that mainly it is a day off holiday for most Russians. A day of rest and relaxation, but Sveta had to work today. For her IBM Servers at the bank never rest and she has to do certain functions and updates when everyone is gone

What a bummer, so I decided to write on my books and then I decided to write this small article about November 4th, 2013: Unity Day in Russia

Have a great cup of coffee! I just did 

Posted by Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia
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.
Southwest Solutions Group and Advanced Systems Plus combine their many years of industry experience to continue to grow the Southwest Solutions Group 'Rocky Mountain' region presence.

DENVER, CO, November 04, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Southwest Solutions Group is excited to announce that Advanced Systems Plus, Inc has agreed to merge with Southwest Solutions Group.



This merger will allow Advanced System Plus to take advantage of Southwest Solutions Group's infrastructure and broad range of products and services to better serve businesses in the Colorado area with efficiency-boosting and space-saving solutions. By combining numerous years of experience and customer service with an established Colorado-based business, Southwest Solutions Group hopes to better serve the state of Colorado with best-in-class products and services.



Ray Streight, President of Southwest Solutions Group, comments: "Southwest Solutions Group and Advanced Systems Plus combine their many years of industry experience to continue to grow our 'Rocky Mountain' region presence. We're very excited to have Maryjane Casey and her support staff join the existing Southwest Solutions Group Colorado-based team. Advanced System Plus customers will now have access to all of the Southwest Solutions Group new and innovative solutions and awesome customer service."



Advanced System Plus's Maryjane Casey comments, "We are excited to announce that Advanced Systems Plus has become a part of Southwest Solutions Group. Southwest Solutions Group's extensive team of over 100 professionals combined with their numerous years of experience in the storage and filing industry will allow us to provide new and existing customers with a broader range of products and services. Susan, Brad, and I will continue to work from our office in Centennial, Colorado, where we have been located for the past 17 years. Please contact us if you have any questions. We look forward to continuing to serve you."



About Southwest Solutions Group



Southwest Solutions Group specializes in business efficiency systems to meet the specific storage space, informational, and productivity needs of all types of markets across the USA. Southwest Solutions Group is a full-service company that provides the best-in-class equipment, professional design, certified installation, information management, and ongoing maintenance. From helping you cut your storage floorspace in half to providing CJIS and HIPAA compliant document management services, we have an efficient solution that will help you achieve your goals. For additional information, visit www.southwestsolutions.com.



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When you think about it, expungements for misdemeanors and non-violent, low-level offense just make sense.

ALEXANDRIA, LA, November 04, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Leading Central Louisiana lawyer Chris Roy understands there are many situations where it's simply unfair that someone who has been convicted of a crime is prevented by that fact from getting on with their life. Having a criminal record can make it impossible to get an apartment, a job, a loan, and more.



"Our justice system claims that one of the reasons punishment is given for a crime is rehabilitation," remarked Roy. "Once someone has paid their debt to society through imprisonment, fines, or community service, they deserve to be able to wipe the slate clean. Why are we throwing barriers in the way of those with criminal records who are trying to integrate themselves as contributing members of society?"



That's where expungement comes in. "Certain criminal records can be sealed by filing for expungement," Roy explained. "This process makes the record confidential. It is as if the offense never happened, and you no longer have to admit to the charge when asked if you have a criminal past. Generally, courts are receptive to granting a petition for expungement, especially if the person hasn't had any subsequent run-ins with law enforcement."



Under Louisiana law, all misdemeanor convictions and certain felony convictions are eligible for expungement. Among the convictions that cannot be expunged are those that involve domestic violence or sexual acts. There are some time limitations. For example, no more than one misdemeanor offense can be expunged during a five-year period, and DUI convictions can be expunged only once every 10 years. Expungements are typically granted if:



- The person has no cases pending against them.

- The person has not been convicted of any other offenses during the time between the conviction that they want to expunge and the petition for expungement.

- The minimum period of time between the conviction and the petition has passed.

- All parts of the sentence have been satisfactorily met, such as probation is complete, community service is complete, and all fines have been paid.

- The petition is properly filed with all necessary supporting documentation.



"When you think about it," Roy commented, "expungements for misdemeanors and non-violent, low-level offense just make sense. We all make mistakes. Imagine being a 20-year old with a shoplifting conviction. That one mistake can ruin your whole life, creating an impenetrable barrier. It can harm your reputation and be the reason you are denied a car loan, an apartment, a job, admission to an educational institution, and even some professional licenses. That's a real-world example of the punishment's collateral consequences not fitting the crime."



About the Chris J. Roy, Jr. Law Firm

Chris Roy Jr, founder of the Chris J. Roy, Jr. Law Firm, has spent almost three decades protecting the interests of injury and accident victims as well as those who seek a fresh start through expungement. An experienced litigator, he takes pride in helping people in Alexandria, Pineville, Rapides Parish, Grant Parish, Avoyelles Parish, Allen Parish, Vernon Parish, and throughout Central Louisiana. For more information or to get help with a potential claim, call 1-318-487-9537 today.



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Nov 3, 2016 | By Alec

While it often appears revolutionary to everyone without a medical background, the climactic medical solutions in hospital dramas often rely on recently established medical procedures. In other words, Houses controversial treatment procedures are often derived from actual medical breakthroughs that are already in use in hospitals. While that can take the fun out of some drama series (doctors usually dont feel the suspense we do), it does speak volumes about CBSs new medical drama Pure Genius. Revolving around high tech medical gadgets, the series pilot episode reflects the growing presence of 3D printing in hospitals by relying on a 3D printed heart model to solve a particularly tense situation.

Of course, regular readers will know that 3D printed models can increasingly be found in hospitals all over the world, especially made to prepare for very unusual and highly complex surgeries. Among the most extreme cases weve seen so far is this 3D printed heart model that helped save the life of a five-day-old Russian baby born with a congenital heart defect. Just two years ago, these type of projects were one-off and rare, but many hospitals are now increasingly systemizing the production of these 3D printed surgical models. Through a partnership with Arizona State University, the Phoenix Children's Hospital actually normalized these 3D printed heart model production through their Cardiac 3D Print Lab. That same procedure now featured in Pure Genius.

While we apologize for spoiling the plot of the episode that aired a few days ago, the appearance of 3D printed surgical models in a mainstream show does say so much about how far the technology has come. The series itself, which launched last Thursday, actually focuses on a wide range of these gadget-driven medical solutions. The genius in question is James Bell (Augustus Prew), a young billionaire entrepreneur who dispenses revolutionary high-tech treatment free of charge to patients with rare complications, such as congenital heart defects.

Though special in a medical drama, that kind of 3D printing solution is actively used in the Phoenix Childrens Hospital all the time. In fact, about two of these 3D printed heart models are made every week, according to university and hospital statistics. Generally speaking, they provide the surgeons with the data necessary to plan surgeries long before they cut into any patients.

The Cardiac 3D Print Lab has actually been under development for a long time, and its origins can be traced to 2010 when ASU engineering professor David Frakes started recruiting art majors for his Image Processing Applications Lab  on a hunch that they could see new technical possibilities. Justin Ryan was one of them, and was accepted into the biomedical engineering graduate program. He now runs the Cardiac 3D Print Lab, heavily relying on his background in computer animation.

While 3D printing was already seen as having medical potential at the time, it was far too slow to be of any use. It could take weeks to 3D print an accurate heart model, and by that time the patient could already be dead. Through the efforts of Ryan and his team, they actually realized same-day turnaround back in 2012, with the help of a Phoenix Childrens Hospital Leadership Circle grant that enabled them to buy a 3D printer. Having the printer at the hospital meant we were right next door, Ryan said. The surgeon could look at the images and make multiple adjustments, and then we could print it once.

Right now, heart models for patients in the Phoenix Childrens Hospital can be 3D printed in nine hours or less, and more than 300 have already been manufactured. This makes the Cardiac 3D Print Lab the most prolific surgical model 3D printer in the US, and they also manufacture for other local hospitals. Even adult patients are thus benefiting from this 3D printing procedure. In addition to hearts, they are also 3D printing tumors and more. Not only does the print inform the surgeon prior to surgery, it helps a child conceptualize what the tumor actually looks like, Ryan said. After surgery, we give the patient a 3D print of the tumor and let him or her smash it.

While Pure Genius is thus lagging behind in some respects, the next step in medical 3D printing isnt quite ready yet. Ryan and his team are also looking into skin cell trials and hope to experiment with liver cells, but they estimate that it can take decades before 3D printed organs are a reality. But parts of them, like 3D printed heart valves, can be realized within a year or five, they say  as can 3D printed stents, clips and other implants. 3D printed bone for cancer patients is also on the agenda. In other words, a 3D printing medical drama is still a few years away.

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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Nov 4, 2016 | By Alec

3D printed anatomical models can now be found in many hospitals all over the world, specifically made to prepare surgeons for very unusual and highly complex surgeries. Among the most extreme cases weve seen so far is this 3D printed heart model that helped save the life of a five-day-old Russian baby born with a congenital heart defect. While these type of projects are usually one-off and rare, many hospitals are increasingly systemizing the production of 3D printed surgical models. The Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg, the Netherlands, has just taken a 3D printer in operation for that very purpose.

Specifically, this new 3D printing system will be focusing on bone fractures and aims to help the Tilburg trauma surgeons perfectly prepare for particularly complex fractures. The initiative is being spearheaded by surgeon Mike Bemelman, who has already tested the procedure on numerous body parts  including pelvises, hips, knees and even a life-sized rib cage. All models are based on CT scans made of patients, with 3D printing following as soon as possible. Right now, the surgeon estimates that the 3D printer will be running 24 hours a day  unsurprising if you learn that a pelvis model easily takes 16 hours to complete.

But as Bemelman explains, the added value is immense. These 3D models provide me, as a trauma surgeon, with so much more data. At a moments notice, I can suddenly see exactly where the fracture is and how it can be optimally treated. Even very small fractures, often overlooked on a screen, become very visible, he says. The previous, digital procedure required surgeons to go through CT scans shot by shot to get a complete image of the fracture.

All that gathered data is subsequently used to set up a very precise and quick surgery plan. I can write down numbers on the 3D printed model, clearly showing the order of the steps that will need to be taken during surgery, he says. Whats more, we can already bend the metal plates and cut the screws down to size before the surgery, using the model. This cuts down on surgery times.

While patients in Tilburg can already benefit from this important new procedure, the surgeons are still testing the waters as well. In an attempt to uncover the full potential of medical 3D printing, doctor-researcher Lars Brouwers from the Netwerk Acute Zorg Brabant (NAZB, Network for Immediate Care Brabant) recently started a new 3D printing study. He will be submitting various cases to experienced trauma surgeons, some with a CT scan, others with a 3D printed model, to discover the impact 3D printing has on prepping procedures.

As Brouwers revealed, they are expecting that the 3D printed models will enable quicker and more efficient fracture classification and treatment. We also believe that these 3D printed models can help young and less experienced surgeons to get to grips with particularly complex surgery techniques. This new study will also look into that, the researcher added.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Nov 3, 2016 | By Tess

Audio device manufacturing company V-Moda has just released its new Forza series of in-ear headphones. Not for the first time, the company is capitalizing on 3D printing technologies to not only make its products more luxurious, but also to make its products customizable for their clients. The new series consists of three different models: the Forza, Forza Metallo, and Forza Metallo Wireless.

Each of the new V-Moda Forza models features a brand new 5.8mm micro dynamic driver with Hi-Res Audio certified by the Japan Audio Society (JAS), useful sweat resistant technology, and sport fins for optimal sport performance (patent-pending). Perhaps most excitingly, the new collection of high-res headphones also offer the worlds first jewel-grade 3D printing customization for in-ear headphones.

In 2015, V-Moda was one of, if not the first company to introduce jewel-grade 3D printed custom caps to its headphones. After having used 3D printing to make custom plastic caps and shields for its audio devices for some time, the company made a move towards more luxurious embellishments by offering premium metal materials such as stainless steel, platinum, and 14K white gold. Now, with the release of its Forza series, V-Moda has adapted its 3D printed luxury custom caps for the much smaller in-ear headphones.

Val Kolton, CEO of V-Moda, explains: Now were bringing additive manufacturing to in-ear headphones with our first collection of 3D printed custom caps. Not only can you remix your design, but you can optimize the design with an enhanced tailored fit.

So far, V-Moda has released its first collection of 3D printed caps which include the V-Moda logo, Milanese designs Steam Punk, a Lion Head, and more. The 3D printed caps, called RemixRings, are also available in a number of different quality materials such as platinum, 14k gold, gold-plated metal, and a new HD Acrylic material.

If you are wondering how much a pair of the RemixRings will set you back, the answer varies. While the Forza custom caps are a bit cheaper than the companys 3D printed headphone shields (which went up to $40,000 in price!), you will still have to dish out between $20 and $7,500 to get a pair of RemixRings. On the lower end of the cost spectrum are the HD Acrylic 3D caps (which go for $20-$40), and on the higher end are the platinum ones, which go up to $7,500. The headphones themselves, which will be available as of December, 2016, are retailing for between $130 and $170.

While aesthetically notable, the Forza in-ear headphone series is also commendable for its audio capabilities, which integrate the companys new 5.8mm miniature dynamic driver. As Kolton explains, it took years to develop the tiny driver because of the challenge of maintaining the companys reputation for sound quality. He says, To make the Forza lineup perfect for the active audiophile, it was critical to balance amazing sound with the ultimate ergonomics, fit and stability.

While it may still be a little bit early to think about, the Forza in-ear headphones with custom 3D printed caps could be the perfect Christmas gift for your audiophile friends and family.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Kate Adie at Literary Review:

The wistful nephew of a former secret agent in the Second World War once told me of his utter frustration: his aunt, well into her nineties, refused to talk of her adventures. Patrick Garrett had already read his great-aunt Clare Hollingworths autobiography, but it was short on personal detail. Hed also spent many hours talking to her in her apartment in Hong Kong, though she added little to personalise the details of her career in journalism that were already in the public domain. Then, in his parents attic back in England, he discovered a battered trunk, plastered with shipping labels. In it were letters, campaign medals, documents, torn photographs of former lovers His great-aunts past sprang to life.

And what a life. Wars, travel, exotic locations, encounters with spies, fact-finding and gossip with diplomats and soldiers, double agents and politicians. It was both glamorous and gritty, from the fashionable watering holes of Cairo, Paris and Bucharest to the rigours of survival in a warzone. It featured two husbands, many other charming men and, essential to a globetrotting correspondent, a phenomenal contacts book.

more here.
Eric Bates in The New Republic:

Years ago, there was an old guy in my neighborhood named Pete. His hair was white and disheveled, and he liked to wheel his small shopping cart up and down the street and hand out political flyers to everyone he met. Some days the flyers were about the dangers of nuclear power. Some days they were about the perils of free-trade agreements. But they were always handwritten, they always took up both sides of the page, and there was never a margin in sight. For Pete, margins were a missed opportunity, a plot by the establishment, an artificial convention created by a world that mistook the urgency of the situation. The truth has no use for margins.

Bernie Sanders is a little like Pete. He doesnt have a shopping cart, and his political positions are significantly more coherent. But like Pete, he has no patience for anything that threatens to distract him or others from the pressing matters at hand. When I arrive at his Senate office for an interview, he does not want to chat about the last time we met, at a tribute in Vermont to the late journalist Michael Hastings. He does not want to look back at his historic campaign for the presidency and consider what he might have done differently. He does not want to talk about Hillary Clintons shortcomings or the incivility of some of his supporters. He does not mention that tomorrow is his seventy-fifth birthday. He wants to talk about policy, and the nuts and bolts of organizing, and whatever else is needed to bring a greater measure of justice and equality to human affairs. He lives by the Marxist-Calvinist tradition of everything for the cause. He doesnt have time for roses. Too many people need bread.

More here.
Here's what you might have missed this week.

iOS 10.2 Emoji First Look: Shrug, Fingers Crossed, Face Palm, emojipedia.org

Apple today released a developer preview of iOS 10.2 which includes favorites such as the Shrug and Fingers Crossed emojis for the first time. Other popular additions coming in this iOS update include Fox Face, Avocado, and Owl.Read more.







(Jennifer Brant, via goodtastevice.com)

Oprah Names Model Bakery English Muffins as a "Favorite Thing," Eater SF

Napa's Model Bakery English muffins have friends in high places  specifically, Ms. Oprah Winfrey is a big fan, naming the item to her 2016 "Favorite Things" list and calling them "scrumptious all over." Apparently, she gets special orders from the bakery every so often. Read more.







Star Food Network chef Michael Chiarello Arrested in Napa on DUI, SF Gate

Local chef and restaurateur Michael Chiarello was arrested on Wednesday morning and charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. According to public records from Napa County, Chiarello was arrested at 3:27 a.m. on Nov. 2 near the intersection of Yountville Cross Road and the Silverado Trail. He was booked at 4:46 a.m. at Napa and released at 7:28 a.m. on $5,000 bail. The California Highway Patrol made the arrest, according to Kristi Jourdan, public information officer at Napa County.Read more.





Shaughnessy, a UC Santa Cruz graduate, says it would be a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" to compete at Mavericks. (Thomas Webb, The Chronicle)

Titans of Mavericks Big Wave Surf Contest Welcomes Women, NBC Bay Area

Most people agree it is a big step for the sport, but it also was a required step. Organizers essentially were forced to do it to get this year's permit. And on Wednesday, at a California Coastal Commission hearing, those organizers still were trying to convince the board they have done enough to get a crucial long-term permit. Meanwhile, the contest window opened Tuesday, and surfers expected to compete are excited about the upcoming swells and hoping the contest will be on.Read more.





Recently Displaced Cartoon Art Museum Finds New Home in SF, SF Examiner

The Cartoon Art Museum is set to move into a new space at Fisherman's Wharf by next spring after the iconic cartoon archive lost its lease last year at the Mission Street location it previously inhabited. The museum was formerly located on Mission Street, in the South of Market neighborhood. It has boasted comic books, anime, Sunday funnies and more in its 7,000-piece permanent collection, and featured more than 200 exhibits since it was founded in 1984. Read more.




Also begging Doss to stay home is his new fiancee (Teresa Palmer), who sees his conscientious objector status as a solid reason not to march off to war with the other young men of Lynchburg, Va.

Likewise, when Doss shows up at boot camp, his fellow GIs and his commanding officer seem determined to make this odd recruit  who refuses to touch a rifle  go home. Yet their brutal resistance gradually thaws to grudging respect, even from a hard-core drill sergeant (a pleasingly gruff Vince Vaughn).

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The movie's second half details the actual battle. From the relative safety of an Army encampment on the Japanese-held island of Okinawa, the GIs must climb a 400-foot rope ladder to an enemy-occupied plateau. There Gibson opens the door to a Grand Guignol nightmare of bodies vivisected and virtually obliterated by machine-gun bullets and mortar shells. In his worldwide phenomenon The Passion of the Christ, Gibson depicted graphic violence in service of a story of redemption. In a sense, he's doing the same thing here. Long after his surviving comrades have scrambled out of harm's way, Doss stays put, proving his mettle and merit as a soldier. He crawls, lurches and snakes his way from one wounded man to another, dragging each one back to the ledge and lowering him by rope, feverishly repeating his prayer: "Lord, help me get one more  just one more."

Andrew Garfield in "Hacksaw Ridge" Mark Rogers/Courtesy of Lionsgate

As Doss, Garfield not only matures in the course of the story; he appears to grow physically, as well. Terror and determination mix with the sweat and blood covering his body as Doss makes one split-second decision after another. All the while, miraculously, he preserves his core principles: refraining from violence and serving humanity.

Another acting surprise here is Weaving as Doss Senior. Best known as the poker-faced, sunglass-wearing Agent Smith in the Matrix films, Weaving is devastating as the PTSD-afflicted war vet, his eyes still haunted by the sight of his boyhood friends dying horribly on the killing fields of Europe. When he overcomes his trauma long enough to don his old Army uniform and come to his son's defense in a trumped-up court-martial, it represents a victory equal to any battlefield exploit. Clearly, heroism runs in the family.

No doubt Gibson will encounter a firestorm of criticism for the bloody savagery so graphically depicted in Hacksaw Ridge. But just as Gibson's earlier movie rejected the bowdlerized versions of the passion that have dominated art and drama for hundreds of years, here he visually makes his case that the best humanity can offer often arises amid the worst that humanity can inflict. There's no twisted pleasure in the making (or viewing) of this violence, only a solemn acknowledgment of the awful truth about war and bravery.

In an age when the term "hero" gets pinned on people like dime-store ribbons, that lesson is well worth relearning.

Bill Newcott is a writer, editor and movie critic for AARP Media.
A man walks past a poster with the logo of China Railway Construction Corp in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Aug 15, 2016. [Photo / VCG]

China Railway Construction Corp, one of the largest rail construction contractors, said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with the Zambian government for a 15.09 billion yuan ($2.26 billion) railway line.

The line will link Chipata and Serenje in the east of the country. The single-track railway will be 388.8 kilometers in length. Passenger trains will travel at a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour, and freight trains at 80 kilometers per hour.

Beijing-based CRCC said the project is projected to last four years, ranging from design to construction under the contract.

"In the short term, CRCC's overseas business has huge growth potential, as the county pushes forward the Belt and Road Initiative," Xia Tian, construction analyst at Essence Securities, wrote in a research note late last month.

The contract was signed between China Civil Engineering Construction Corp, a unit of CRCC, and Zambia's Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications. The contract value accounted for 2.51 percent of CCECC's revenue in 2015, according to the company.

The net income of CRCC reached 9.123 billion yuan in the first nine months of 2016, up 12.43 percent year-on-year. In the same period, its revenue increased 2.62 percent year-on-year to 423.885 billion yuan.

Having a presence in 78 countries and regions, it has won orders worth 679 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year, representing year-on-year growth of 22.04 percent.

Chinese rail construction project providers such as CRCC and China Railway Group have been seeking investment opportunities on the continent.

Prior to the project in Zambia, China also helped with railroad construction and supplied trains to the new railway line between Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The project was officially opened for operation in early October.

The $4 billion railway stretches 751.7 kilometers and is able to carry trains traveling at speeds of up to 120 kph. The service cuts the travel time between the two nations' capitals from seven days by road to just 10 hours.
It's hard to fathom that interracial marriage was illegal from Delaware to Texas as recently as the late 1950s, and harder still to stomach the findings of a 1958 Gallup poll: Nationwide, 96 percent of Americans opposed miscegenation. So in June of that year  when Richard Loving, a white man, wed Mildred Jeter, a black woman, in Washington, D.C.  it didn't take long after their return to the town of Central Point for the bigoted sheriff to come pounding on their door. Or, more precisely, to come barging through it.

That late-night home invasion, re-created with visceral terror by writer-director Jeff Nichols (Mud, Midnight Special), is the loudest moment in Loving. Once it moves beyond that episode, the film pushes toward its conclusion with compelling, understated humanity  an apt emotional mirror to the couple at its center.
Laws crafted by those elected should do most good for most people


Reissue - Corporate Presentation October 2016

Brisbane, Nov 4, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Stanmore Coal Limited ( ASX:SMR ) (Stanmore, the Company) refers to the announcement released by the Company to the ASX on 31 October 2016 titled "Corporate Presentation - October 2016". The Company has subsequently identified that the presentation contained reference to a JORC Reserve in relation to The Range Project on page 17 of the presentation.



The table within the Annual Financial Report detailing the Resources and Reserves of the Company (released to ASX on 31 August 2016) displayed a value of nil Reserves for The Range Project given the decision by the Company to recognise a material provision against the cost carried on the balance sheet for The Range Project at 30 June 2016.



The re-issued presentation appended to this announcement therefore removes this reference on page 17 and the associated Marketable Reserves Note on page 2 for consistency.



To view the revised presentation, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/U0A0UOL8





About Stanmore Coal Limited





Stanmore Coal (ASX:SMR) is an operating coal mining company with a number of additional prospective coal projects and mining assets within Queensland's Bowen and Surat Basins. Stanmore Coal owns 100% of the Isaac Plains Coal Mine and the adjoining Isaac Plains East Project and is focused on the creation of shareholder value via the efficient operation of Isaac Plains and identification of further local development opportunities. Stanmore continues to progress its prospective high quality thermal coal assets in the Northern Surat Basin which will prove to be valuable as the demand for high quality, low impurity thermal coal grows at a global level. Stanmores focus is on the prime coal bearing regions of the east coast of Australia.


MMJ Welcomes Legislation Changes in Australia

Perth, Nov 4, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - MMJ PhytoTech Limited ( ASX:MMJ ) ("MMJ" or "the Company") wishes to advise that it is fully supportive of recent amendments to Australian Commonwealth legislation, legalising cannabis-based products for medicinal or research purposes as controlled drugs.



Key Points:



- As of 1 November 2016, medicinal cannabis legalised as a controlled prescription drug following changes to the Australian Commonwealth legislation



- MMJ is the only ASX listed entity with a medicinal cannabis product that has demonstrated safety under a clinical trial program



- MMJ's initial Australian product range will be based on its proprietary Gelpell Microgel Capsule technology - developed and produced by the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, SATIPHARM AG, in Switzerland



- SATIPHARM'S Gelpell Microgel Capsule technology is designed for standardised oral delivery and can be loaded with different cannabinoid ratios and dosages to accommodate specific medical requirements



- Existing strategic relationships with pharmaceutical distributors have MMJ well positioned to quickly establish a significant foothold in the Australian market



In Western Australia, specialist doctors who obtain the required authorisations will be able to prescribe medical cannabis products, creating a significant opportunity for MMJ to supply physicians and patients with its sophisticated oral delivery products developed by the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary SATIPHARM AG in Switzerland.



MMJ PhytoTech Managing Director, Andreas Gedeon, commented, "We are very supportive of the latest changes to Australian Commonwealth legislation, as it represents a considerable step forward in the evolution of the Australian medicinal cannabis sector.



A key near-term driver of this market will be the availability of safe and effective medical cannabis products and delivery methods, that medical professionals will be able to prescribe to their patients with full confidence. At present, MMJ is the only ASX-listed company with a medical cannabis product that has clinically proven its safety, and subject to securing the required permits, is available for import into Australia."



SATIPHARM'S Gelpell Microgel Capsules are designed to provide a standardised oral delivery form for the medically active ingredients of the cannabis plant, and thereby overcome the health and dosage issues associated with the of smoking cannabis.



SATIPHARM'S products are manufactured in Switzerland under strict supervision of Swiss Medic and under GMP regulations (Good Manufacturing Practice) and can be produced with any ratio of purified cannabinoids (THC, THC-A, CBD, CBD-A) or with complete cannabis extracts.



In March 2016, MMJ successfully completed a Phase 1 Clinical Study, which demonstrated the safety of products based on its Gelpell Microgel Capsule technology, with compound loads of 10mg and 100mg of CBD (cannabidiol).



Mr Gedeon added that MMJ would continue to work closely with key stakeholders, including the relevant Federal and State authorities, to provide Australian doctors with access to a wider range of options for treating their patients, as quickly as possible.



"MMJ is committed to being an active participant in the Australian medical cannabis sector, and we look forward to working with relevant authorities and decision makers as the framework around medical cannabis in Australia continues to evolve."



MMJ has also advanced strategic relationships this year to fast-track the Company's entry into the Australian market. As previously announced (ASX release dated 20 April 2016), NSW-based Fresh Therapeutics Compounding Pharmacy has agreed to partner with MMJ to import and develop a dispensary model for the existing products of SATIPHARM.





About MMJ Group Holdings Ltd





MMJ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:MMJ) is a global cannabis investment company. MMJ owns a portfolio of minority investments and aims to invest across the full range of emerging cannabis-related sectors including healthcare, technology, infrastructure, logistics, processing, cultivation, equipment and retail. For MMJ's latest investor presentation and news, please visit: https://www.mmjphytotech.com.au/investors/


SDA successfully completes Institutional Entitlement Offer

Sydney, Nov 4, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - On Wednesday, 2 November 2016, SpeedCast International Limited ( ASX:SDA ) ( 7SC:FRA ) (SpeedCast), announced an approximately AUD 295M equity raising (the Offer) to fund the acquisition of Harris CapRock from Harris Corporation.



Key highlights



- Fully underwritten Institutional Entitlement Offer successfully completed, raising approximately AUD 252M



- Overwhelmingly strong support shown by both existing and new institutional shareholders



- Institutional Bookbuild clearing price of AUD 3.40 per share representing premium of AUD 0.30 to the Offer Price of AUD 3.10 per share



- SpeedCast shares will recommence trading on Friday, 4 November 2016



- Retail Entitlement Offer opens on Wednesday, 9 November 2016



The Offer comprises of a fully underwritten 2 for 3 accelerated renounceable entitlement offer for new SpeedCast ordinary shares (New Shares), through an accelerated institutional component (Institutional Entitlement Offer) and a retail component (Retail Entitlement Offer).



Today, SpeedCast is pleased to announce the successful completion of the Institutional Entitlement Offer, raising approximately AUD 252M at the Offer price of AUD 3.10 per New Share (Offer Price).



A bookbuild for approximately 24M Institutional Entitlement Offer shortfall shares was held on Thursday, 3 November 2016 (Institutional Bookbuild), attracting strong demand from both new and existing shareholders. The Institutional Bookbuild cleared at a price of AUD 3.40 per New Share, representing a premium of AUD 0.30 per New Share above the Offer Price.



Eligible institutional shareholders who elected not to take up their entitlements and certain ineligible institutional shareholders will receive AUD 0.30 for each entitlement sold through the Institutional Bookbuild, less any applicable withholding tax.



Commenting on the outcome of the Institutional Entitlement Offer, SpeedCast's CEO, Pierre-Jean Beylier, said, "We are delighted with the exceptional support that our existing shareholders and new investors have shown. It reflects the strong support from our investors for the acquisition of Harris CapRock, a transformational opportunity for SpeedCast. We welcome our new institutional shareholders to the company and look forward to sharing with them our future successes."



The New Shares to be issued under the Institutional Entitlement Offer will rank equally with existing SpeedCast shares in all respects from the date of their issue. Settlement of New Shares under the Institutional Entitlement Offer is expected to complete on Thursday, 10 November 2016 and the New Shares are expected to be issued and commence trading on the ASX on a normal settlement basis on Friday, 11 November 2016.



Commencement of the Retail Entitlement Offer



The Retail Entitlement Offer will open on Wednesday, 9 November 2016 and closes at 5:00pm (Sydney time) on Friday, 18 November 2016. Eligible retail shareholders will have the opportunity to participate at the same Offer Price of AUD 3.10 per New Share and at the same offer ratio of 2 New Shares for every 3 existing SpeedCast ordinary shares as participants in the Institutional Entitlement Offer.



Eligible retail shareholders wishing to participate in the Retail Entitlement Offer should carefully read the retail offer booklet and accompanying personalised entitlement and acceptance form which are expected to be despatched on Wednesday, 9 November 2016. Copies of the retail offer booklet will be available on the ASX on or around Tuesday, 8 November 2016.





About Speedcast International Ltd





Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) is the world's most trusted communications and IT services provider, delivering critical communications solutions to the Maritime, Energy, Mining, Media, Telecom, Cruise, NGO, Government, and Enterprise sectors. With more satellite capacity than any other provider, Speedcast enables faster, seamless pole-to-pole coverage from a global hybrid satellite, fiber, cellular, microwave, MPLS, and IP transport network with direct access to public cloud platforms. The company also integrates differentiated technology offerings that provide smarter ways to communicate and distribute content, manage network and remote operations, protect and secure investments, and improve the crew and guest experience. With a passionate customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 3,200 customers in over 140 countries. Learn more at www.speedcast.com.
Jon Baron focused on the future to kick off Thomson Reuters 2016 Synergy users conference, steering the record 1,488 attendees toward a projected vision for the year 2020 and warning them where they could fall short.

Baron, Thomson Reuters managing director of the professional segment of tax & accounting, shared data trends that support a digital future of 50 billion connected devices sharing 44 zettabytes of data under increasing cyber attacks.

We need to be concerned about security, Baron advised, explaining that ransomware and phishing attacks are especially prevalent. Bad actors were initially focused elsewhere and are now turning their attention to professional firms. They are after your data.

Security is one of three major areas of focus for Thomson Reuters, Baron said, along with development and investment of current generation offerings, and the continued expansion of the Onvio cloud-based suite of solutions.

Onvio, unveiled at Synergy last year, is a focal point for Thomson Reuters as the company continues to add new products to the platform, including the recently introduced Onvio Documents, Client Center, Workpapers and Time & Billing.

As Onvio matures, Thomson Reuters is adding integration points between it and the CS Professional Suite, which the majority of customers still use. Currently, the company estimates 500 firms are using at least one module in Onvio, in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Argentina.

Thomson Reuters anticipates greater adoption, however, as cloud is no longer on the cutting edge but a trend that was 15 years ago, Baron said in an interview following his keynote. Firms need to catch up, he advised.

You cant operate in yesterdays world, but you have to embrace new technology, he told the crowd. Does your firm operate in this world?

According to internal and outside research, it appears many do not.

A 2016 UltraTax CS survey found that the majority of firms still use paper as their dominant method for sending tax returns to clients. This, despite Thomson Reuters creating the first client portal in 2001, Baron reminded the audience.

We havent moved that much in 15 years, he said, quoting U.S. Army general Eric Shinseki: If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.

Among those firms in danger of irrelevance are those that fail to meet client expectations in this era of digital consumerism. Clients and prospects are already online, he stressed, and on average spend 3.2 hours on the web, while 74 percent are on mobile.

How you interact, and how things appear to clients are more important than its ever been in the past, Baron said, explaining that customers today require access, a smart experience, seamless collaboration and unprecedented insights. Onvio aims to deliver these via the cloud, with an upcoming dashboard planned to further enhance the user experience.

Thomson Reuters is also offering that cloud-based access in its new online audit solution Checkpoint Engage, which it introduced at the conference Wednesday.

Additionally, the company is experimenting with next-level automation, including cognitive capabilities, Baron shared, to help firms maintain their foothold in the relationship business.

Big data and machine learning are also areas of continued exploration.

Firms that lag behind on these and other technologies risk more than irrelevance, Baron reiterated, with the accounting professions competition for talent and the encroaching Boomer Bubble (65 percent of partners are over 50 today, compared to 52 percent in 2005) making technology a crucial weapon in the retention of qualified professionals.

The overall turnover rate is way too high for our profession, Baron said.

To help reverse the trend, firms can no longer delay progression.

We encourage them to jump in, he elaborated when asked how he would advise laggard firms. To consider how they interact with businesses and companies, and understand how the consumer approach of today impacts their firms. If they dont move in that direction, firms may fall by the wayside.
A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Columbia, S.C.: A federal court has permanently barred Liberty Tax Service franchise owner Christopher Paul Haynes from preparing federal returns for others.

The civil injunction order prohibits Christopher Paul Haynes from acting as a federal return preparer and from supervising, managing or employing federal return preparers. Haynes must also provide the government with a list of all clients for whom he or his business prepared a return for any tax year from 2010 to the present.

Haynes agreed to the order.

Last February, the government alleged that Haynes and his employees prepared false federal income returns in order to inflate clients refunds at three Columbia-area Liberty franchises. According to the governments complaint, Haynes and his employees prepared returns that included false or inflated income and expenses on Schedules C, bogus dependents, false filing statuses and improper unreimbursed employee business expenses.

Montgomery, Ala.: Preparer Nicole Coleman, 34, has been sentenced to three years in prison after she pled guilty to making false statements in a federal income tax return.

Coleman, previously the owner and operator of Community Tax Associates, filed federal income tax returns for herself and clients and knowingly made false entries to inflate refunds for clients. Coleman then took a portion of the refunds as a fee.

Between 2014 and 2015, she obtained some $1.65 million in fraudulent refunds from the U.S. government.

El Paso, Texas: Preparer Clarence Counterman, 59, is one of two men convicted of carrying out an estimated $2 million Ponzi scheme.

Counterman, owner of the tax prep business Taxrite, and 52-year-old Robert Loya, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Jurors also convicted Counterman and Loya of 14 and 13 substantive counts, respectively, of wire fraud. Counterman was also acquitted of one substantive wire fraud charge and Loya of two substantive wire fraud charges.

Evidence revealed that from December 2008 to October 2013, the two conspired to convince others, including Countermans clients, into investing into their solar energy-related companies  including Renewable Energy Consultant, EP Solar Technologies, LITTCE Inc. and Eco Global Corp.  by promising high returns.

Contrary to the agreements with the investors, a significant amount of money was converted for personal use by Counterman, Loya and a third defendant, 54-year-old Leopoldo Parra of El Paso. The defendants also paid some returns to earlier investors from monies paid in by newer investors, rather than from profits earned by these companies, to avoid detection and to lull investors.

Testimony revealed that more than 50 investors lost more than a combined $2.1 million.

Counterman and Loya face up to 20 years in federal prison for each count of conviction, as well as restitution to their victims. Sentencing is Feb. 2. Parra, who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and one substantive wire fraud charge, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 30.

Loomis, Calif.: Preparer Aleksandr Kuzmenko, 33, has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison and been ordered to pay $573,332 in restitution to the IRS for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

According to court documents, Kuzmenko worked as a preparer at VK Tax Services in Citrus Heights, Calif., in 2009. Between February and November of that year, he conspired with others to file approximately 90 fraudulent federal returns.

The returns fraudulently claimed the First-Time Homebuyer Credit and the refunds electronically deposited into various bank accounts controlled by Kuzmenkos co-defendants. The fraudulent claims totaled approximately $695,724, of which the IRS paid some $573,000.

New York: Attorney William Doonan, 69, of the Bronx, has pleaded guilty to charges related to his participation in filing fraudulent returns and falsely claiming more than $6 million in bogus deductions.

Doonan pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return, and one count of obstructing and impeding the due administration of the internal revenue laws.

According to the allegations, other case documents and statements at the plea proceeding, since at least 2009 Doonan has been in the business of preparing federal returns for clients in exchange for fees. A New York-licensed attorney since 1982, he carried out his prep business in the Bronx using the firm name William Doonan, Esq.

Doonan prepared and filed more than 3,000 returns with the IRS each year and regularly prepared and filed client returns that were false and fraudulent. On some of his clients returns, Doonan added false medical and dental expenses, state and local taxes, home mortgage interest, gifts to charity, job expenses and certain miscellaneous deductions. He also attached Schedules C to his clients returns that reported consulting businesses that the relevant clients did not own, operate, and materially participate in, and business losses that the relevant clients did not incur.

From tax year 2009 through tax year 2012, Doonan included more than $6 million of these fabricated and inflated items on clients federal returns.

Sentencing is Feb. 10, when he faces a maximum of three years in prison on the aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false return count and three years in prison on the obstruction of the internal revenue laws count, as well as a period of supervised release and monetary penalties.
Belfast International Airport says the ruling by the European Commission to block the funding package to protect Northern Ireland's one and only scheduled trans-Atlantic service defies logic and is an example of 'abysmal Brussels decision-making'.





The airports Managing Director, Graham Keddie (above), in a statement, said: You could hardly get a worse example of process-driven madness. To block a support package for an airline that delivers direct access to the United States is almost beyond comprehension.



This is a vital link for business and losing it will be a body blow to Executive Ministers who use it to promote Northern Ireland to would-be investors from the United States.



The adverse impact is all the greater, coming as it does ahead of the crucial decision to make Northern Ireland more competitive with reduced Corporation Tax designed to stimulate inward investment.



This is a bad day for the Executive and a bad day for Northern Ireland, which is still finding its feet after a generation lost to conflict. The United service was well supported and only recently carried its one millionth passenger.



We have worked tirelessly to safeguard the service, but Brussels took a different view, believing the support package gave United an unfair advantage over services from elsewhere.



That, on its own, is bizarre as the package in no way competes or conflicts with competitors within the United Kingdom. The EU decision-making process is abysmal, biased and unfair and has resulted in the loss of this service.



I would like to establish the level of representation made by any rival airline and competing airports before rushing to judgement. However, if there was interference, then our Government ought to make strenuous protest.



Several key political figures worked with us to avert this disastrous decision. I would like to thank local MPs, Danny Kinahan and Ian Paisley, the Economy Minister, Simon Hamilton MLA, the Secretary of State, James Brokenshire MP, and the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling. Their efforts went above and beyond, but in the end the faceless eurocrats, and others ill-disposed to Northern Ireland, won the day.


DUBLIN, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Future of Asia Pacific Fuel Oil Supply and Demand, 2005- 2025: Trends, Drivers, Challenges and Forecasts of Fuel Oil Production and Consumption under Current Market Dynamics" report to their offering.

Asia Pacific Fuel Oil Outlook report provides detailed analysis and forecast of Fuel Oil consumption patterns and supply scenario in all key Fuel Oil markets in Asia Pacific. Forecasts of production and demand of each of the Fuel Oil markets in Asia Pacific are provided annually from 2005 to 2025.

Drivers and challenges of industry growth in each of the Asia Pacific countries are analyzed. Further, information on current refining capacity, refining complexity along with planned refining infrastructure details are also provided in the Asia Pacific Fuel Oil outlook report.

Historic data is taken largely from government ministries and companies involved, ensuring highest accuracy of the data. Further, forecasts are made through our sophisticated methodology considering current market conditions and future prospects. Fuel Oil Forecasts for each market are evaluated by in-house experts and also validated by industry professionals to ensure utmost accuracy and certainty.

The research work also provides information on leading refining companies in each country along with business profiles of three leading Fuel Oil suppliers in the region. All latest industry developments in Asia Pacific Fuel Oil are also provided in the report.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Tables & Figures

2 Executive Summary

3 Australia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

4 Azerbaijan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

5 Bangladesh LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

6 Brunei Darussalam LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

7 China LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

8 India LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

9 Indonesia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

10 Japan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

11 Kazakhstan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

12 Malaysia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

13 Myanmar LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

14 New Zealand LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

15 Pakistan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

16 Papua New Guinea LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

17 Philippines LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

18 Singapore LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

19 South Korea LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

20 Taiwan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

21 Thailand LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

22 Turkmenistan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

23 Vietnam LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

24 Business Profiles of Leading Refiners

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3w5mlw/the_future_of

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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SINGAPORE, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Italian workmanship, creativity and quality lies at the heart of Oro D' Italia. Beyond the scope of the craftsmanship, Oro D' Italia offers core values to its customers through their high-level expertise, long-standing reputation and complete reliability. Oro D' Italia is a jewellery retail platform which is the brainchild of Rosalind Lim, a Singaporean with over 30 years of experience in fine jewellery working very closely with high net worth individuals and buyers, and Fabio Cascapera, an Italian from a line of jewellers spanning three generations and who arrived in Singapore at the age of 19 as a diamond wholesaler. Their aim is to showcase new and upcoming Italian jewellery designers, manufacturers and artisans and to bring never-before-seen fine jewellery pieces for discerning buyers in Singapore. During their launch at the Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair 2016 held at Marina Bay Sands from 4th - 7th November, the duo will bring together collections from over 19 Italian manufacturers and designers with over 3,000 pieces.

"We are offering jewellery connoisseurs the opportunity to view and purchase pieces that are intriguing, unique and extraordinary. The collections that we have carefully picked are rare and not available in retail stores across Singapore or Southeast Asia. Italian designers have always been innovative and bold, but we are looking for the best from concept to completion. These collections are sourced not only because they are unique but also ensure quality from craftsmanship to creative use of materials, be it gold, colour diamonds, precious stones, carbon fibre or even wood. We believe in offering fine jewellery buyers the best with a reliable after-sales service as these pieces are not just a purchase but an investment," said Rosalind Lim, Owner of Oro D' Italia.

"Jewellery buyers in Singapore have an eye for good designs and we would like to offer them 100% Italian made fine jewellery that will make them stand out from the crowd. We carry a wide-range of collections going beyond classic designs which have a great appeal in this region, and we know that because of the network of buyers and retailers that we have established together over the years working in this industry. With the selection of pieces we are trying educate our buyers about the concept behind the design and not just the piece, we are offering them an experience and not just a purchase," added Fabio Cascapera, Owner of Oro D' Italia.

Oro D' Italia will be present at booth no. C123 and C129 (Halls E and F) at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre during Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair 2016. Brands at display will include Piero Milano, QUATTROCOLO, TODINI, FALCINELLI ITALY, GORGOGLIONE Preziosi, VERDI, IACOPINI, MARIA GRECA Roma, Lunati Jewellery, Ciaravolo, Paolo Piavan, Gisci, Buzzanca, Giovanni Ferraris, Talento Italiano, and Tosti Gioielli.

Notes to editor:

About Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair

Exclusively endorsed by the Singapore Jewellers Association and the Diamond Exchange of Singapore, Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair is the most significant fine jewellery event in Singapore and the region. In 2015, the event attracted internationally-acclaimed exhibitors from 28 countries, targeting the region's fastest growing high-net-worth population. The fair is organised by UBM Exhibition Singapore Pte Ltd, a member of UBM Asia, the organiser of the world's number one fine jewellery event, the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair.

About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. With a track record spanning over 30 years, UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face exhibitions and high-level professional conferences, 21 targeted trade publications, 18 round-the-clock online products for over 2,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. We provide a one-stop diversified global service for high-value business matching, quality market news and online trading networks.

Media contacts

Selena Sheikh

PINPOINT PR

Mobile: +65-9746-8549

selena@pinpointpr.sg

Clara Leong

UBM Exhibition Singapore

Office: +65-6592-0888 ext 783

clara.leong@ubm.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435789

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435791

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To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/singaporean-italian-duo-to-launch-oro-d-italia----100-italian-hand-made-fine-jewellery-retail-platform-during-singapore-jewellery-and-gem-fair-at-marina-bay-sands-300356883.html

SOURCE UBM Asia
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Future of Sub- Saharan Africa Fuel Oil Supply and Demand, 2005- 2025: Trends, Drivers, Challenges and Forecasts of Fuel Oil Production and Consumption under Current Market Dynamics" report to their offering.

Sub-Saharan Africa Fuel Oil Outlook report provides detailed analysis and forecast of Fuel Oil consumption patterns and supply scenario in all key Fuel Oil markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Forecasts of production and demand of each of the Fuel Oil markets in Sub-Saharan Africa are provided annually from 2005 to 2025.

Drivers and challenges of industry growth in each of the Sub-Saharan Africa countries are analyzed. Further, information on current refining capacity, refining complexity along with planned refining infrastructure details are also provided in the Sub-Saharan Africa Fuel Oil outlook report.

Historic data is taken largely from government ministries and companies involved, ensuring highest accuracy of the data. Further, forecasts are made through our sophisticated methodology considering current market conditions and future prospects. Fuel Oil Forecasts for each market are evaluated by in-house experts and also validated by industry professionals to ensure utmost accuracy and certainty.

The research work also provides information on leading refining companies in each country along with business profiles of three leading Fuel Oil suppliers in the region. All latest industry developments in Sub-Saharan Africa Fuel Oil are also provided in the report.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Tables & Figures

2 Executive Summary

3 Angola LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

4 Chad LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

5 Djibouti LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

6 Equatorial Guinea LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

7 Eritrea LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

7 Eritrea LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

8 Gabon LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

9 Gambia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

10 Guinea-Bissau LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

11 Liberia LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

12 Mauritania LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

13 Sao Tome and Principe LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

14 Sudan LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

15 Zimbabwe LPG Production and Consumption Outlook to 2025

16 Business Profiles of Leading Refiners

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/563zfh/the_future_of

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005414/en/

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

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For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Topics: Fossil Fuels, Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
Order of the Sword

Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the commander of Air Combat Command, stands at attention during an Order of the Sword presentation ceremony at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Va., Oct. 27, 2016. Military branches around the world present prestigious swords of honor to recognize the accomplishments and service to their country and fellow man. In the Air Force, the Order of the Sword remains the highest and only honor presented by the NCO corps to a senior ranking officer and is maintained by the command chief master sergeant of the designated command. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nick Wilson)
A World War II bomber pilot has finally been given recognition for his actions during a bombing raid more than 70 years ago.



Former Maj. William Joe Schneider was awarded the Silver Star during a ceremony here Nov. 1, for his actions while commanding an 18-plane bombing raid on Feb. 23, 1945, over Italy. Maj. Gen. Christopher Bence, the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Commander, presided over the ceremony.



I dont think I deserve what theyre proposing for me to get, but I think its good for generations to come to be able to understand what happened, Schneider said.



At that time, Schneider was assigned to the 310th Bombardment Group. His unit was known as the Bridge Busters because they bombed bridges in Italy to slow down the supply lines and the Germans ability to provide reinforcements to the Italian peninsula.



During the mission, Schneider was responsible for not only directing the bombardment mission, but also the safety of all men in his formation. As his formation approached the heavily defended rail link at Dogna, Italy, an extremely accurate anti-aircraft barrage enveloped the B-25s, severely crippling Schneiders plane and damaging many other bombers in his formation. With his right engine not functioning, the propeller control mechanism inoperative, as well as the airspeed indicator destroyed and a smashed elevator trim tab, Schneider led all the bombardiers to drop their payloads on the communications point.



Afterward, Schneider contacted an air-sea rescue unit to be continuously updated with accurate bearings of their location. He also communicated with a fellow B-25 aircrew in his formation and relayed to his pilot vital information to assist with the return flight. During the landing procedure, Schneider assisted the pilot with a successful emergency crash landing and the safe return of all his crewmembers.



"Its not often you get to stand in the presence of a true hero, Bence said. A man who not only answered his nations call, but whose actions directly saved the lives of fellow Americans and helped defeat the Axis powers.



Schneider was told by his commanders that his actions warranted being awarded the Silver Star, but the paperwork was lost with the Army in the rush to close down the war. However, with the support of his children and Rep. Scott Garret, 5th District of New Jersey, Schneider was finally able to get proper recognition.



After returning home in February 1946, Schneider went back to Fordham University to finish his degree. While in school he met his wife, Lucille and raised eight children in the house he lives in to this day. He now has 22 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.



The strength of family life and the holding together of each generation, thats the glue that keeps it all together, said Schneider addressing the audience during the ceremony.



Schneider enlisted in the Army in November 1941, one month before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Before reporting to Maxwell Field, Alabama, Schneider earned his private pilots license and upon arriving, he was selected to become a military aviator.



"Even before the war, I wanted to be in the sky, Schneider said. With that pilots license, I was pushed to the front of the line to become an Army Air Corps pilot.



In just two years, Schneider advanced from second lieutenant to major and became a squadron and group commander in charge of 72 aircraft. During his service, he earned the Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
First two enlisted pilots complete solo flights

Two Air Force master sergeants became the first enlisted Airmen in six decades to complete solo flights during Initial Flight Training at the 1st Flying Training Squadron Nov. 3.



Both soloed in a DA-20 Katana at Pueblo Memorial Airport as part of the Air Forces IFT program, which is mandatory for all manned aircraft pilots, combat systems officers and remotely piloted aircraft pilots.



The Air Force announced on Dec. 17, 2015, the initiative to train enlisted RPA pilots for RQ-4 Global Hawk flying operations. As a result, the Enlisted Pilot Initial Class began Oct. 12 with four students training alongside 20 recently commissioned officers.



The integration of enlisted RPA pilots into RQ-4 Global Hawk operations is part of a broader effort to meet the continual RPA demands of combatant commanders in the field, ensuring they are provided with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in their areas of responsibilities worldwide, said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.



Air Force officials selected 12 active-duty Airmen for EPIC. After IFT completion, each EPIC student will progress through the RPA Instrument Qualification Course and RPA Fundamentals Course at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, and the Basic Qualification Training at Beale Air Force Base, California. The entire training program spans almost a full year.



Solo flights by enlisted pilots are relatively rare in U.S. military history. In 1912, one of the first two pilots in the Army Air Corps was a corporal. Thousands of enlisted pilots were trained and served in the military throughout World Wars I and II, including future retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager. The Air Forces Cadet Aviation Program saw enlisted Airmen become commissioned officers upon completion, ending in 1961.



Its a great opportunity that were getting enlisted pilots back into the full force, said Master Sgt. Mike, the first EPIC student to fly solo. Mike, a 17-year veteran with extensive flying experience, started his Air Force career in security forces and most recently served as a maintainer.



There are a lot of opportunities that could become available to enlisted Airmen, Mike said. If there is something you really want, its achievable. You just have to put in the effort.



EPICs second solo flyer, Master Sgt. Alex, had the determination Mike talked about, but no previous flight training.



If you would have asked me if I was going to be a pilot when I was an airman first class, I would have told you no, Alex said after he completed his 20-minute flight. I would never have thought that possible.



Alex said that when he was alone in the planes cockpit he relied on his checklist and the voice of his instructor pilot playing over and over in his mind.



Im the type of guy who, if someone doesnt like an idea and says thats not going to work and I think its a good idea, Im willing to be the guy who says thats a challenge, lets go see if I can do this.



Alex said he initially wondered why IFT was so tough on students.



Now, I understand. Instructors are seeing if you can handle the stress of being able to make your radio calls on time, maintain proper altitude, contacting all your approaches and departures, hitting the right waypoints, getting to where you need to go, Alex said. They put you in a lot of stressful situations so that when you get out there you can handle it.



Alex was relieved to have the solo flight behind him but he isnt ready to celebrate, despite the excitement of co-workers, his senior leaders and family back at home.



I was excited that I soloed, but I have to maintain focus. This is not over. Ive got to keep going and make sure that I get completely through the program, Alex said.



(Editors note: Only first names were given because the Air Force limits disclosure of identifying information to first names for all RPA pilots and sensor operators throughout their careers. One of the first four EPIC students was released from training for medical reasons.)
After facing flak from the opposition for the rising number of rape cases in Maharashtra the state government has finally decided to cancel the registration of Ninadhi Ashram School in Hivarkheda, Buldhana district. Those students studying in this institution will be accommodated in other schools located in nearby districts. Already the state government has been criticised for the snail paced investigation process happening in the Kopardi rape case. Earlier NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik had demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his governments inability to prevent the occurrence of rape incidents.

Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Sawra said, We have taken stringent action to avoid a repeat of such incidents. A SIT has been formed to investigate this matter. All the officials of the school will be dismissed from service.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government has taken a serious note of this incident. He said Women activists will go to all the ashram schools in the state and interact with students to know about their grievances. The state government has taken this matter very seriously and action will be taken against the accused. We have formed a team under presidency of a female IPS officer to investigate this matter.

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly said, Our party condemn this incident. Vishnu Sawra has been unable to address issues like death of tribal children and malnutrition. Ministers like Sawra had distributed sweater during monsoon season and rain coat during summer season. Even though there has been allegations against Sawra for indulging in corruption the Chief Minister is only trying to shield him.

Twelve minor tribal girls have been allegedly raped by their teacher and headmaster. There are also reports about a 13 year old girl becoming pregnant after the rape incident.

SD Baviskar, Superintendent of Police, Buldhana, said: The incident occurred prior to Diwali festival. Women police officials will interact with the victims and record their statements. So far, 10 teachers have been accused, and seven have been arrested.

The police have arrested 11 people in the case where a sweeper who works in the school  locally called ashramshala  is the main accused. The police are verifying whether more students of the institution were sexually assaulted, the DGP state director general of police Satish Mathur said.

One accused, who lives in the school campus, has played an active role in the crime. The other accused were aware about the incident, but they did not inform the police, he added.

The incident came to light only when three of the 12 girls returned home to Halkheda village in Muktainagar taluka in Jalgaon district.

Bulesterni Sati Bhosale, Deputy Sarpanch of Halkheda village, said: Many girls were playing and running during Diwali festival. However, three girls were sitting silently in a corner. They complained of stomach pain and feeling something heavy in their stomachs. When girls were taken to the hospital doctors informed us that they were pregnant.
Heinous crimes like rapes and murders are happening all over the country; many of them are not even reported. Its getting more and more disgusting to know and read news about gang rapes that are taking place in our country almost everyday. Rape incidents have become routine in India due to our corrupt judicial system. Unless and until you hang the rapists, these crimes will never come to an end. I wonder why God made women to suffer such trauma.

Several rape and murder incidents occur in India daily and the culprits roam scot free due to their alleged nexus with police and some top politicians. Goons are not scared because our politicians come up with statements like boys will be boys. No matter how many girls/women suffer following attack on their self-worth, no matter how many parents feel hurt following attack on their childs security, no matter how many celebrities, media and commoners criticise attack on womens life, such roadside romeos will turn into monsters if our so called leaders keep giving statements in their favour. Its a shame on all those politicians who continue to blame women for such crimes.

Jubel DCruz

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
[dropcap]N[/dropcap]DTV India, a leading Hindi news channel, has been asked to go off air for 24 hours by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, comprising committee, for its coverage on Pathankot attacks. According to the committee, the channel allegedly revealed strategically-sensitive information during the course of its coverage of the anti-terror operations at the Pathankot airbase earlier this year. The government order has received criticism from various corners. This gesture of government showed that an emergency-like situation prevailed in the country. Why media has to be banned, and what is going to be achieved in one day ban? If the government had issues with Pathankot coverage, there are provisions available. However, ban shows an emergency-like attitude. Being a journalist, I strongly criticise the ban imposed on NDTV India and demanding that the decision should be withdrawn immediately. Freedom of Speech is vital, not just for the media but for everyone. The coverage done by NDTV is similar as other media houses but since BJP came to power this channel was on hit list of Government for its brutally honest reporting. Many News channels have turned into puppets and behaving like BJPs mouthpiece. Recently, out of suffocation, Arnab Goswami left his channel by rendering a message, no one can supress independent journalism, and this is just the beginning.

The moment BJP came to power, Mr. and Mrs. Rajdeep Sardesai had become first ever victims. They had to resign due to pressure and humiliation. Modi support group on social media made it very much difficult for them, the random abuses and attack on their integrity, changed the scenario. The whole idea of Freedom of Speech is that this prevents the government from doing anything they want. It prevents outrages. On the run for TRP and commercialization of news, some media are serving irrelevant contents to viewers. Freedom of Speech is required because it usually gives you both sides of the issue. But why is it important for the media especially? It gives them creative freedom and allows them to actually make a difference to the nation, society and world at large.

Lets come back to the topic, according to the statement by the NDTV group in it defence says, NDTV has maintained that its coverage was sober, was in the public domain and was not different from any information that had been covered by the rest of the media. Even PTI and other news publications and channels gave similar coverage. There were legal provisions available to both the Centre and the state to take action against any irresponsible media coverage but to define illegality government should punish every media house equally. Why target particular channel as personal vendetta? Today, it is NDTV tomorrow it can be any news channel, what this government is trying to prove? NDTV refuted the allegations and said its coverage on Pathankot was fairly balanced unlike most other news channels. The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact, NDTVs coverage was particularly balanced. The first-of-its-kind order has imposed a blackout prohibiting the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November to 00:01 hrs of 10th November.

This is an attack on media sovereignty. Unfortunately, modern politics has come to a stature where ruling politicians are not as much afraid of the opposition/minority in the House as much as they are of the media. As Lord Acton had said, Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Media is a BIG obstacle between politicians and absolute power. If the freedom of speech of media is controlled, it could have far reaching adverse effects for any democracys well-functioning. This is the first time such an order has been issued against a TV channel over its coverage of a terror attack under norms which were notified last year. The Editors Guild of India also issued a statement condemning I&B ministrys actions and said the order to take the channel off for a day is a violation of the freedom of press in the country. However, this is a thick skinned government and will not bother about the criticism and will try to chock the voices of those media houses which are unbiased.

Freedom of Speech allows for dialogues to occur. Thats really what it is. Discussion and debate put the difference of opinions and views which help society to move forward. It means to share your opinion, and in turn, listen to other peoples opinions. Once there is an active flow of speaking and listening, well informed decisions can be made. Autonomy of media is important for the working of a true function in the system of democracy. It is the fourth pillar of democracy. People through media can express their views, descent with the government and public. Due to media, several social problems can be solved and people can be aware of the problems existing in the society and can address them if they can. Without Freedom of Speech, there would be no self-determination of the press and without independence of press social media and other media are pointless. You would never be able to view anything or published without government consent. You cant fully express your opinion or report facts while you are being censored. Its darn near impossible. At that point, you may as well be a puppet and work according to the government willingness?

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
NDTV Hindi will be taken off air for 24 hours as a penalty for its coverage of an attack on an air force base.

The ministry of information and broadcasting said NDTV Hindi revealed strategically-sensitive details while covering the attack on the Pathankot air force base in January.

The first-of-its-kind order has imposed a blackout prohibiting the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November to 00:01 hrs of 10th November.

The committees order, dated November 2, refers to NDTVs news telecast between 1225 and 1231 hours on January 4, 2016, while counter operations by the security forces were still on at the Pathankot airbase. It states that the reporter on ground, while replying to questions posed by the anchor, gave out strategically-sensitive information.

The telecast, the order states, referred to the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MiGs, fighter planes, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel tanks which was likely to be used by the terrorists themselves or their handlers to cause massive harm not only to national security, international standing of the country but also life of civilians and defence personnel.

The order mentions that the channel also gave out details of schools and residential areas located at the airbase, endangering the lives of civilians. The inter-ministerial committee has noted that the telecast was in clear violation of the programme code under Cable TV Network Rules, 1994, which prevents live coverage of anti-terrorist operations by security forces. Until the operations conclude, the rules also limit media coverage to only the briefing given by designated officials which in this case is the DIG, NSG.

The order states that in reply to the ministrys showcause notice issued on January 29, the channel said that much of the information was already in public domain through leading publications. Dismissing the channels stand that it was a matter of subjective interpretation, the order notes that unlike newspapers, TV has a far wider and instantaneous impact.

Despite giving out the exact location of the terrorists while the operations were on, the channel has remained unrepentant as is clearly evident in their reply to the showcause notice. Hence, the one day blackout has been meted out as a penalty. This is not the first instance of such a violation by the channel, an I&B official said.

The committee has in its order noted that the violation could attract a penalty of taking the channel off-air for 30-days. However, taking into consideration that this is the first such case of the rule  it was introduced in June 2015  being applied, the penalty has been reduced to a day-long blackout, it states.

NDTV denied the accusation, saying its coverage was particularly balanced.

The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTVs coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter.

Source: Agencies / Various Media
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the top boss of the Islamic State, who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul, has himself fled, Britains Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was cruelly ironic because intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.

In an audio recording released on Thursday, al-Baghdadi said he was confident of victory in the de-facto capital Mosul and urged followers to continue fighting.

But Johnson, while responding to queries in the House of Commons, said: It is a cruel irony that some of the intelligence we have, you may know, suggests that the gentleman in question has actually vacated the scene himself and is nonetheless using internet media to encourage people to take part in violence.

He pledged that the IS would be repelled from the war-torn Iraqi city which has been controlled by the IS since June 2014, and told MPs: The house can be sure that Daesh will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraqs security forces have yet encountered.

In his first statement since the major offensive began, al-Baghdadi implored jihadis to attack the enemies of God in what is seen as an all or nothing battle for them.

Turn the nights of the unbelievers into days, to wreck havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers, he said in an audio release, the first since the major Iraqi offensive began.

The leader said he was confident of victory and called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised to enter the city, declared a caliphate when it was overrun by the group two years ago.

In his latest message, which is undated but makes references to events that are at most a few weeks old, Al-Baghdadi calls for attacks against Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Ankara has troops stationed at a base just outside Mosul and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans escalating rhetoric has raised fears of a unilateral Turkish intervention in Iraq.

The US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt.








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Kanata, Ontario resident Horace Carby-Samuels' representation of alleged contact that he has had with apparent manipulative aliens may provide a serious warning to humanity, if we ever hope to redress worsening problems and to avoid a full scale alien take-over.



What does the War on Terrorism, Global Economic Crisis, Climate Change, Drug Trafficking, Environmental Destruction and a whole variety of other international problems have in common? All such international problems may, in fact, be the alleged work of colluding manipulative aliens. That is, if Dr. Michael Salla is correct. He outlines this context of alien intrusion onto human affairs in his published Typology of Extraterrestrials. Dr Salla also seeks to warn us, as humans about an alien-military-industrial complex that seeks to destabilize our planet.



A primary goal of manipulative aliens on Earth seems to be the creation of fake negative images of ourselves, as humans. The damage that we perceive that is being done to our planet and each other appears to be directed through entities that include alien-controlled clones, walk-ins and zombie-died humans that have been all designed to convince us as humans that we are inherently flawed, and need the aliens to manage our affairs as the only viable alternative to continued human destruction. Manipulative aliens therefore allegedly seek humans to willfully surrender and worship them as superior for their artificial intelligence compared to humans as a flawed child-race.



These aliens seem to want to convince us that biological beings like humans are inherently self-destructive and barbaric, and that if humans want to build a better world, humans should aspire to embracing artificial intelligence, when it is the self-serving ego of artificial intelligence that is response for Earth's problems.



As humans apparently edge closer to a World War III scenario that David Ice has described, it appears that aliens rather than humans might be behind this descent.



Horace Carby-Samuels, an ex University of Notre Dame professor who is a retired Canadian public servant appears to have had an exposure to the alien abduction phenomenon which might provide us, as humans, some invaluable insights into the way in which aliens have been infiltrating human society to create crises and destruction on our planet Earth that would not be happening if these aliens were not present on Earth.



To humans other than those of us who report seeing aliens or those of us who report having experienced an alien abduction, the whole idea of aliens is a very distant theoretical idea which has no place in any meaningful discussion on the current affairs on our planet Earth. But Dr. Salla has lead a movement that has sought to investigate alien influences on Earth which supposedly include formal governmental Agreements with aliens which this movement has referred to as constituting exopolitics.



The apparent experience of Horace Carby-Samuels suggests that our very survival as humans may depend of all of us as humans acknowledging alien presences on Earth and seeking to resist further alien intrusions which have resulted in globalized problems.



The reported experience of Horace Carby-Samuels suggests that a group of manipulative aliens are abducting the minds and souls of humans, and then taking over human bodies.



The result is a human-appearing alien-ized zombie that is released into the human population that can be directed into a variety of roles that the pre-abducted human would never do.



Alex Collier reported in the above video that a certain group of aliens is, in fact, abducting the souls and minds of humans and bottling them up in some kind of alien laboratory. The aliens then take over the human body to create forms of havoc in the human population. This seems to be no myth. One British resident relatively recently reports to have nearly been abducted by one of these aliens which was witnessed late at night to have been draining the vital signs of a human.



How many times have you heard someone becoming a big shot terrorist or went on a killing spree that the neighbours and family knew to be a quiet or nice person?



Horace Carby-Samuels had been a normal, socially adjusted individual. But his life would change after he had a Near Death Experience and was contacted by aliens apparently posing an angelic beings. But as it turns out, the agenda of these entities were anything but angelic.



Horace reported that these aliens continued to contact him through his dream states for years, sending him on a mission. However, eventually this alien consciousness stopped limiting itself to Horace's dream states and would surface in Horace's awoke states. This is when these aliens began to demand that Horace help lead humanity into becoming members of a Bio-Electric Union which sounded somewhat reminiscent of the expressed desire of Star Trek's cyborg character dubbed as The Borg' which sought to assimilate species that it would come into contact with.



In these awoke states, Horace would go from his normal quiet states and then would erupt into sudden states of anger and rage. Raymond, his son, described that just before he entered these states of rage, his eyes would all of a sudden almost seem to bulge out of his head as if he was being possessed. Horace eventually began to complain about seeing demons once witness who rang his doorbell had recalled. He also began to rate and complain about the threat of Extraterrestrials.



When it seemed that Horace acted as if he was possessed when he returned to normal he had no recollection of what he did during the violent states similar to the apparent alien personae that has piloted killers who had no idea of the chaos they caused when they returned back to a normal state.



Raymond, expressed concern to his father that he ought to consider breaking-off further contact with these aliens his father had described, in order to avoid the increasingly destructive interactions that these entities seem to be causing. In response, the alien personae on one night, tried to stab his son with a kitchen knife, and then began to use local police to apparently chase Raymond away who had sought to warn his father.



The formerly gentle Horace who would rather go to jail than lie was replace by a Horace who was the complete opposite of his former self. He then began to abuse Dezrin, his wife, and event prevented her from getting access to speech therapy. As a result of such neglect and abuse, Dezrin, who also lives in Kanata, can no longer write, walk or talk. Horace's apparent alien personae also lied to police, claiming that his son suffers from mental illness alongside a worsening pattern of abuse he directed both at Dezrin, and Raymond who he had already sent to the Emergency Room with his stabbing of him one night in the kitchen. When Horace used to return back to a normal state, he had no admitted recollection of that whole incident.



Horace's apparent alien personae seems to have fully taken over his body as of mid-June 2015. He has continued to block Raymond from trying to help Dezrin, his Mother, in spite of a court Order that Raymond received on 11 February 2016 from Justice Patrick Smith.



Raymond who has not seen his Mother since 12 June 2016 continued to try to see his Mother. But the closer Raymond would come to seeing his Mother is the more that Raymond began noticing other apparent humans who seemed to be doing the work of the same aliens that seems to have seized control of Horace's body.



Dezrin has become an apparent prisoner in her own home that is being kept by the alien mind that appears to operate through Horace and operatives like the dirty cop that have sought to perpetuate his continued illegal blocking of visitation access.



The small handful of apparently strategically placed operatives which include one dirty cop police detective, two lawyers and two judges support David Icke's thesis of manipulative aliens working in human institutions to protect the work and agenda of aliens. The idea of aliens infiltrating human institutions to facilitate eventual human surrendering to aliens was encapsulated in the video clip below from ABC-TV cancelled science fiction TV series called V.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2016  EPA plans to release final guidance by the end of the year to help growers and applicators deal with weed and pest resistance, agency officials said Thursday at a meeting of the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC). They also provided updates on dicamba over the top registration, endangered species risk assessments, and the use of epidemiology in assessing pesticide risks.

PPDC members represent large segments of American agriculture: chemical manufacturers, applicators, conservation and public health groups, farmworkers, retailers, and state and federal agencies. They get together twice a year to hear from  and provide feedback to  officials in EPAs Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP).

We hope to finish these this calendar year, Bill Chism, a senior biologist in OPPs economic analysis division, said, referring to draft guidance documents published in June.

The guidance divides 28 herbicide modes of action into three categories of concern (low, moderate, high), based on the risk of developing herbicide-resistant weeds. MOAs associated with glyphosate, 2,4-D, atrazine and glufosinate are classified as being of high concern.

The guidance includes 11 elements to be included in herbicide resistance management and stewardship plans. Only the MOAs of high concern would require all 11.

One element common to all plans, however, is scouting fields before and after application. Marc Lame, of the National Environmental Health Association in Bloomington, Indiana, asked whether EPA had any plans to measure compliance.

Thats one of the things were trying to piece together at this point, Chism said. Its something were concerned about but we really dont have an answer yet.

Jack Housenger, director of OPP, said the agency doesnt have the resources to ensure that farmers are scouting fields. And besides, We dont want to go out and bust users for not scouting before and after (application). Fields are scouted to assess herbicide effectiveness and the possibility of resistance.

Scouting is also an aspect of the proposed registration of dicamba for over the top applications in cotton and soybeans genetically engineered to tolerate the herbicide. EPA is currently reviewing comments on its March 31 proposal, and expects to make a final decision by the 2017 growing season.

Allen McLaurin, a cotton grower from North Carolina who represents the National Cotton Council on the PPDC, said that weed resistance to long-relied-upon products containing glyphosate and glufosinate, for example, makes dicamba one of our last resorts.

Its going to be imperative for us as growers to get out and do proper scouting, he said. We cannot afford to get resistance to this new product, which is all weve got left in the pipeline that we know of.

Other subjects that came up at the PPDC:

Synergy: Housenger said that since EPA found out that Dow AgroSciences had included claims of potential synergy in a patent application for Enlist Duo, a combination of 2,4-D and glyphosate that the agency recently re-approved, synergistic potential has become a very, very important issue with OPP. Historically, we considered synergy uncommon. Now, however, OPP plans on examining potential synergy for every new active ingredient proposed, he said.

Endangered species: EPA plans to issue final biological evaluations for chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion in January; the draft BEs found that the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service would have to prepare Biological Opinions to evaluate the effects of chlorpyrifos and malathion on 1,725 species, and on 1,416 species for diazinon. The agency also is working on draft BEs on carbaryl and methomyl for release in the spring. Anita Pease, associate director of OPPs Environmental Fate and Effects Division, said EPA is working to refine its range maps for listed species and using 24-hour averages to measure exposures. We got some estimated exposures (in the evaluations) that were exceedingly high, Pease said, pledging to make those numbers a little more realistic.

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Epidemiological framework: In the next few months, OPP plans to issue a final framework for using epidemiology studies in human health risk assessments, said Dana Vogel, director of OPPs Health Effects Division. CropLife America recently asked the agency to accept public comments on the framework, and the groups PPDC rep, senior director for regulatory policy Ray McAllister, reiterated that request at the meeting. But Vogel said OPP received adequate feedback on the document from a Scientific Advisory Panel that was held in 2010. The draft framework has been used in evaluations of atrazine, chlorpyrifos and, perhaps most prominently, in a recent issue paper that found glyphosate was not likely to be a human carcinogen. McAllister asked whether OPP would revisit those evaluations if the final framework turns out to be different from the draft, but Housenger said that was unlikely  and only if theres a great departure between the draft and final frameworks. The science can be changed at any time and well revisit it if needed, Housenger said.

Glyphosate: Vogel said there is still no firm date for a Scientific Advisory Panel on the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate, and offered no further details on why the SAP was postponed. EPA initially said it needed more expertise on epidemiology on the panel, then said one of the panelists had voluntarily withdrawn. Vogel would say only that she hopes the meeting will take over the next couple of months or so.

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2016 - The Grocery Manufacturers Association says it will vigorously pursue its legal options to overturn $18 million in fines levied by a Washington state court judge Wednesday for campaign violations associated with the groups opposition to a GMO labeling referendum in 2013.

In light of all the evidence in the record, it is not credible that GMA executives believed that shielding GMAs members as the true source of contributions to GMAs Defense of Brands Account was legal, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch wrote in her ruling.

The office of Washington Attorney General Robert Ferguson said the fine is believed to constitute the largest campaign finance judgment in United States history. The largest such fine in the state was $735,000 in 2000.

GMA fired back quickly, saying it believes that there is no basis in law or fact to support this unprecedented, inequitable and clearly excessive penalty.

Hirschs decision, the association said, ignores uncontradicted testimony and uncontroverted evidence that GMA reasonably believed, after being advised by multiple outside attorneys, that it was complying at all times with Washington State law.

But Fergusons office said that GMA had deliberately set up the Defense of Brands account to conceal the identity of companies that contributed to the No on 522 campaign, named for I-522, the ballot question that asked voters whether GMO food products should be labeled as such.

The initiative failed, with 51 percent of Washington state voters voting against it.

Fergusons office said that internal GMA documents revealed an intentional, systematic effort to conceal the true sources of food company contributions to No on 522.

For example, meeting minutes from the GMA boards finance and audit committee meeting show a discussion on the creation of the Defense of Brands Strategic Account, largely to oppose I-522, Fergusons office said. Those minutes said that by creating the strategic account, state GMO related spending will be identified as having come from GMA, which will provide anonymity and eliminate state filing requirements for contributing members.

GMA, however, said its decision to disclose the association itself, rather that its members, as a contributor to the No on 522 campaign in 2013 was at most an inadvertent technical violation of the states vague and complex disclosure law that was being handled as a routine matter by the Public Disclosure Commission until Attorney General Ferguson seized control shortly before the 2013 election to further his personal political ambitions.

GMA added that Fergusons "continuing crusade against GMA has been a centerpiece of his fundraising appeals and re-election effort. GMA intends to vigorously pursue its legal options to correct this injustice.

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Hirsch had a different take on the matter. Explaining how she decided to triple the $6 million fine as punitive damages for GMA's intentional violations of state law, she listed the following factors: violation of the publics right to know the identity of those contributing to campaigns for or against ballot title measures on issues of concern to the public, the sophistication and experience of GMA executives, the failure of GMA executives to provide complete information to their attorneys, the intent of GMA to withhold from the public the true source of its contributors against Initiative 522, the large amount of funds not reported, the large number of reports filed either late or not at all, and the latest of the eventual reporting just shortly before the 2013 election.

Hirsch called GMA President and CEO Pamela Baileys testimony at trial combative at times, saying she often would not answer direct questions and frequently answered questions with questions of her own, and gave lengthy explanations that appeared designed to lecture the court and counsel for the state.

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By Randy Odell, crop insurance agent, Odell Insurance Agency, Bradford, Vermont

For nearly four decades I have worked with Connecticut River Valley farmers to help protect their livelihoods. Over that time, Ive seen many changes, both in the make-up of farms and the tools farm families have to manage uncontrollable risk.

As our population has grown, the amount of available farmland has gotten smaller. This means our farmers have had to adapt to survive. More and more local farmers today also work jobs off the farm to help support themselves, meaning we have more part-time farms. Weve also seen an increase in diversified farms here. Many of our dairy farmers, for example, are growing their own crops for feed to help improve their bottom lines.

Our farmersthose with a passion for the land often stretching back generationshave proven to be amazing innovators in the face of challenges. But even for the best agricultural innovators, there is one thing that always remains out of their control: Mother Nature.

Here in the Connecticut River Valley, we know this all too well. Weve seen spring seasons that have been too dry or too wet for planting. Weve seen hailstorms come through the Upper Valley like tornadoes, bringing destruction to one area, while miraculously sparing another area just a few miles down the road. Weve even seen hurricanes, like Irene in 2011, and blizzards in recent years.

Thankfully, as a crop insurance agent, I have also witnessed positive changes to the crop insurance system, enabling many of our farmers to protect their operations against circumstances beyond their control.

During the 1980s, which marked the beginning of the public-private partnership between the U.S. government and private insurance companies, I was among the first crop insurance agents in the region. And the program experienced plenty of growing pains.

Participation was lacking due to high costs, spotty service and slim margins. Congress was spending considerably more each year cleaning up messes after disaster struck than beforehand on protection. Lawmakers also paid far more attention to traditional Midwest crops than those specialty products more prevalent in New England.

Even as late as the early 1990s, crop insurance participation rates nationwide hovered in the 30 percent range.

Things began to change in the mid 1990s, with the passage of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994, which dramatically restructured the program by strengthening the partnership between the federal government and private insurers. Through premium discounts we also started to see increased participation.

Then in May 2000, Congress approved another important piece of legislation: the Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA). The provisions of ARPA made it easier for farmers to access different types of insurance products including revenue insurance and protection based on their own historical yields.

All of this has resulted in more crop insurance participants than ever before, but there was still work to be done. The Farm Bill of 2014 made crop insurance a cornerstone of U.S. farm policy and took steps to make it more affordable and available to specialty crop growers, organic producers and young farmers.

Today, crop insurance protects more than 90 percent of planted acres nationally. And its so popular that farmers are willing to collectively contribute about $4 billion a year from their own pockets to purchase protection and help remove some degree of risk from a very volatile business. That cost-sharing structure makes it a good investment for taxpayers as well, replacing expensive disaster bills of the past, while ensuring a safe and plentiful food supply.

No, a crop insurance check will never come close to what a farmer can get from a good harvest. Like homeowners insurance, farmers dont collect a dime without a verifiable loss and paying a deductible. But crop insurance does offer farmers some peace of mind, which allows them to focus on producing higher-yielding, better-quality crops.

Connecticut River Valley farmers are inventive and hardworking businessmen and women and it has been an honor to work with them for the past 40 years. Given their ingenuity, and the important safety net crop insurance provides, the next 40 years should be exciting to watch.

Randy Odell is a Vermont crop insurance agent who has been in the industry for four decades.

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THIS AND THAT: The magnetic touch of the Rosetta Stone
Air France KLM saw its cargo divisions operating performance worsen during the third quarter of the year, while its freighter fleet restructuring was completed.

The Franco-Dutch airline group recorded an operating loss of 100m during the third quarter of the year, compared with a loss on 81m during the same period in 2015.



Third quarter revenues were also down, slipping to 487m compared with 584m last year.

Financial performance was effected by structural industry overcapacity and traffic decreased by 6.4% to 2.1bn cargo revenue tonne km (RTK).



The traffic decline comes despite some of its European rivals seeing demand improve during the quarter, with traffic up at IAG and Lufthansa. However, it has been reducing freighter activity and there were also cabin crew strikes in August and July.

During the quarter, the company also took action to further reduce its freighter fleet by retiring up a further two of its MD-11 freighters in July to leave it with a total of six all-cargo aircraft. It also took an MD-11 out of action earlier in the year.

The removal of the two aircraft resulted in a reduction of full-freighter capacity in the third of 22%, while overall cargo capacity was down 3.1%.

It said its freighter operations were now on-track to break even next year and added that its freighter fleet reduction had been finalised.

The industry has also been blighted by lower rates in 2016, which is reflected in the airline groups decline revenues per RTK of 12.4% year on year to 21.18 cents.

However, Air France KLM said it had improved earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 27m mainly as a result of restructuring efforts, although it did not provide any further details.

Unit costs for the period, not including fuel, were down by 2.3% on a constant currency basis.

The overall company saw third quarter revenues decrease by 5.1% year on year, while its net result was up 13.1% to 544m.

Revenues were affected by lower pricing and exchange rates, while a reduction in the fuel bill helped profitability.





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IATA is the latest organisation to report an improvement in air cargo demand in September but has warned the improvement is partly down to one-off factors and that trade indicators remain weak.

The airline organisation said that in September air cargo demand in freight tonne km terms improved by 6.1% year on year, which it said was the fastest pace of growth since February 2015 when there was a boost as a result of strikes at US west coast seaports.

IATA said that the improved figures coincided with an apparent turnaround in new export orders in recent months, while the rush replacement of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices and the collapse of shipping line Hanjin may also have contributed.

Airfreight capacity increased by the lower amount of 4.7% during the month and as result load factors improved by 0.6 percentage points on last year to 43.7%.

"Demand for air cargo strengthened in September, said IATAs director general and chief executive Alexandre de Juniac.

Although with growth in world trade virtually at a standstill, the air cargo sector still faces some major hurdles.

We did have some encouraging news. The conclusion of the EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement is good news for the economies involved and for air cargo.

Growth is the way to overcome the worlds current economic challenges. The EU-Canada agreement is a welcome respite from the current protectionist rhetoric and positive results should soon be evident.

Governments everywhere should take note and move in the same direction."

Looking at the individual regions, Asia-Pacific airlines saw freight volumes increase by 5.5% in September 2016 compared to the same period last year.

Capacity in the region expanded 3.4%, IATA said.The positive Asia-Pacific performance corresponds with signs of an increase in export orders in China and Japan over the last few months. Seasonally-adjusted freight results for Asia-Pacific carriers are now trending upwards.

European airlines experienced a 12.6% increase in freight volumes during the month while capacity increased 6.4%.

The strong European performance corresponds with an increase in reported new export orders in Germany over the last few months.

North American carriers saw freight volumes expand 4.5% year on year, as capacity increased 2.6%.

International freight volumes grew by 6.2%  their fastest pace since the US seaports disruption boosted demand in February 2015.

However, in seasonally-adjusted terms volumes are still just below the level seen in January 2015. The strength of the US dollar continues to keep the US export market under pressure, IATA said.

For Middle Eastern carriers the month saw demand growth slow for the third consecutive month to 1.2%  the slowest pace since July 2009.

IATA said that seasonally-adjusted freight growth, which had been trending upwards until the past year or so year, has now halted.

This turnaround in performance is partly due to weaker conditions in the Middle East to Asia and Middle East to North America markets.

Latin American airlines continued their poor run of form as demand declined by 4.5%.

The within South America market has been the weakest performing market so far this year with volumes contracting 14% year-on-year in August, the most recent month for which route specific data are available.

The comparative strength of the US economy has helped boost volumes between North and South America with US imports by air from Colombia and Brazil increasing by 5% and 13% year-on-year respectively.

Finally, African carriers saw freight demand increase by 12.7% in compared with the same month last year  the fastest rate in nearly two years.

But capacity surged year-on-year by 34% on the back of long-haul expansion in particular by Ethiopian Airlines and North African carriers.

Yesterday, analyst WorldACD said cargo demand in weight terms had improved by 5% in September.

With such an increase in total weight transported, a further worldwide yield improvement over previous months, and industry sources claiming that October will be even better, one could be forgiven for thinking that the industry shows signs of improving health, the analyst said.

At the recent Air Cargo Forum there was much speculation as to what had caused the improvements.

Robert van de Weg, senior vice president of sales & marketing, Volga-Dnepr Group, suggested that as well as a general demand improvement, the increase could be to do with shipper outlook earlier in the year.

He suggested that because there was so much free capacity earlier in the year and airfreight rates were so low, shippers were in no rush to ship products early to avoid a capacity crunch later in 2016.

As a result, they had left it later in the year to get their supply chains moving for the Christmas period, which had resulted in a boost for air cargo.

He added that there could also be some inventory re-stocking and a positive impact from the Hanjin collapse, a view reflected by Hactls Mark Whitehead.

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November 4, 2016

Reportedly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told West Bank Amona settlers (whom the Israeli High Court of Justice decided need to relocate) that US President Barack Obama still constitutes an existential danger to the Israeli settlements. The settlers leaked this information to the Israeli media. While overstating his case, as usual, Netanyahu was referring to a possible UN Security Council resolution declaring the settlements illegal and asking Israel to avoid all settlement expansion. Sometime between Nov. 9 and Jan. 20, the US administration might agree for such a proposal to be voted on.

This concern is not just the usual Netanyahu paranoia, but is based on the assessment of the Israeli ambassador to Washington. A senior Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Israel fears that Obama will want to leave a practical legacy to his successor in the form of a Security Council resolution rejecting the settlements in the West Bank. He said, Obama is obsessed by an objection to the settlements and by his criticism of Netanyahu."

The above was confirmed in essence to Al-Monitor by a senior US diplomat in Tel Aviv. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry consider the Israeli settlement policy the main reason for the failure of Kerrys 2014-15 mission and the main obstacle to a two-state solution. Washington believes that if the Israeli settlement policies are allowed to continue undisturbed until the next administration has a Middle East team and clear Middle East policy in place, the situation on the ground could become irreversible in terms of denying a viable Palestinian state.

This is the reason White House spokesman Josh Earnest has used very strong language lately when criticizing the Netanyahu government on its settlement policy. On Oct. 6, Earnest accused the Israeli government of betraying the administration, saying, We did receive public assurances from the Israeli government that contradict the announcement [of constructing 300 housing units on land that is] far closer to Jordan than it is to Israel. Earnest warned that Israels decision to relocate  considered by settlers as a necessary compensation for dismantling Amona  jeopardizes the already distant prospect of Middle East peace as well as Israels own security.

On Oct. 21, the issue of a Security Council resolution in the months to come was raised at the European Council of Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

A senior official close to Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told Al-Monitor that the European Union is conveying to Kerry the importance and urgency of a concrete policy move against Israeli settlement expansion. Such a resolution would, according to the EU official, include strong wording on the settlements as an obstacle to a two-state solution (taken from the July 2016 Quartet report), as well as a demand that Israel stop all settlement expansion and a call to the parties to immediately renew negotiations on a two-state solution based on previous Security Council resolutions. France and Egypt would likely advance the resolution before the end of 2016.

The Palestinian leadership is welcoming this possible development even though it does not satisfy their political claims. A senior PLO official also told Al-Monitor that Ramallah is in close contact with the French and Egyptian foreign ministers on this issue. The Palestinians are unhappy with the lack of terms of reference for Palestinian statehood and suspect that the US administration might veto the Security Council proposal.

It is now up to the White House to decide on the issue after the elections. There is no doubt that Obama will have to discretely consult with Hillary Clinton, the likely winner of the upcoming elections. A veteran US diplomat who was part of Secretary Clintons foreign policy team told Al-Monitor that, while this issue is not being discussed at the moment with the Democratic presidential candidate, it is unlikely that Clinton would want to see such a US policy move before taking office  as it would taint a Democratic administration with anti-Israeli colors.

Therefore, it is more likely that Obama will ultimately opt for a policy speech expressing his outrage against the settlements and the necessity of a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines. A Security Council resolution  in the time frame between the elections and the next president taking office  is therefore more possible in case Donald Trump becomes the next president.

A Security Council resolution on a settlement freeze is important and essential, given the Netanyahu settlement expansion policies and the vacuum created by the US election and transition period. But as important as it might be, this likely has to wait for quite some time.
November 4, 2016

KIRKUK, Iraq  Flags bearing Shiite slogans such as "Ya Hussein" flutter conspicuously every 20 meters or so on Kirkuks Republic Street, in a district filled with government buildings and the blackened facades of hotels attacked during an Oct. 21 assault by over 100 Islamic State (IS) operatives.

The attack left over 100 people dead. Security forces said on Oct. 30 that operations to root out sleeper cells were ongoing.

Officials in the oil-rich Kirkuk, with its Kurdish-majority population located in territory disputed between Iraqs central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, denied to Al-Monitor reports that some Sunni Arab internally displaced persons (IDPs) had been pushed out of the city after the attack.

"Thats absolutely a lie," Gov. Najmaldin Karim told Al-Monitor in reference to reports of "collective punishment" being inflicted on local Sunni Arabs subsequent to the attack.

Karim, a peshmerga fighter in his younger days, had studied in Mosul and became a neurosurgeon in the United States before returning to Iraq in 2009. He became governor of Kirkuk in 2011.

He said, "People periodically go back. For example, the prime minister and the Migration and Displacement Ministry have declared Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province safe to return to. So whoever wants to return, we help them."

On the ethnic breakdown of the city, he noted, "I would say 65% are Kurds  60-65%. The rest is divided between Arabs and Turkmens."

The governor said that only IDPs from Hawija continued to be let into the city "because Hawija is part of Kirkuk," adding, "We are not letting other people come in because we just dont have room for them."

First Lt. Sherzad, who did not give his first name, told Al-Monitor from the Asayish security forces headquarters in the Arab-majority area of Domiz that two of his fellow officers had been killed that night. The headquarters had been surrounded and hit from the vantage point of a Sunni mosque nearby, which had also been attacked.

Sherzad took Al-Monitor to see the home of an officer injured in the attack, gesturing to a burned frame on his car. IS "thought they could set up their own ministries of defense and justice" and take over the city, he said.

They had assumed they would have the support of the IDPs and the local Sunni Arabs, but they didnt, he added. Four of the attackers were killed. They were "real IS," Sherzad stressed, "with their long hair and Afghan clothes."

Officers whipped out cell phones to show photos of young men with long, wavy hair splayed around their open-mouthed and closed-eyed corpses, shirts torn open to expose bullet-riddled, bloodied chests.

Abu Quddama, an IS leader whose real name was Salam Faisal, was among them, he said. He added that like Faisal, most of the attackers were from Hawija.

A planned offensive to take back Hawija has been postponed repeatedly over the past month, Al-Monitor was told by several sources within the KRG. No reason was given.

"They came in the middle of the night," Sherzad said, referring to the over 100 IS operatives. "According to the information we have, they walked all the way from Hawija to the Shiite-majority village of Bashir."

A gap between Hashd Al-Shaabi and peshmerga control of the territory, he said, was exploited by the group to "smuggle themselves" in, hiding in fields and creeping through an area he said Hashd Al-Shaabi  the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)  was in charge of.

Another officer who asked that his name not be used for security reasons claimed that the PMU had "turned a blind eye" toward the incursion, saying, "I have a friend in a Turkmen group of [PMU] who said that he was called back to be on duty that Thursday" before the attack in the early morning of Friday. "They knew about it but didnt tell us," he said.

Sherzad said that there are about 1,800 families in the Domiz neighborhood and that virtually all of them are Arabs. He added, "The Arabs here are educated. They were with the Baath Party, educated people. So when the attack happened, they helped us out."

In response to a question on whether Sunni Arab homes had been destroyed in the city and their inhabitants forced to leave after the attack, he said that such a thing had not happened in the Domiz area but "in the Haziran neighborhood, yes." He said, "The police did it because the people had been involved with IS."

Kirkuk police chief Sarhad Muhammed told Al-Monitor, "Some Arabs were displaced out of Kirkuk, but we have solved that problem."

Asked to explain, he said, "Some parties were involved in displacing Arabs, but [the Kirkuk governor] got involved and we stopped it."

On Oct. 30, as Al-Monitor was speaking to the police chief  referred to simply as "Sarhad" by the local Kurdish population, among whom he is well known for his years of fighting various terrorist groups, his distinctive mustache and a reputation for affability  an operation was ongoing to clear the Laylan subdistrict of Kirkuk, within which two of the three governorates IDP camps are located.

He told Al-Monitor that 49 IS members had recently been killed in Laylan, "where the villagers are informing us about where they are."

The militants "hide in the rivers and the fields," the police chief said. "They are living where animals live. They live like animals."

He echoed the Asayish officer, saying, "We used to think that the Sunni Arabs would help IS, but in this attack we have found out that instead they are helping the police and the Asayish."

In response to a question about the reports of home demolitions, Karim said, "First of all, we didnt demolish them. I think people took it upon themselves, but we stopped it. Because we want to make sure that these people have a place to go to, we transferred them to the camps and  theyre not supposed to be in those places."

He went on, "It all happened in one day. When we found out, we told them to stop because we need to transfer the people. And that is what we do with [this type of thing]."

He added, "We have 70,000 IDP students studying in our schools. So I think the lady from the human rights  the representative from the UN  should talk about these things and not listen to some lies."

However, "We will have them all go back," he said. "They cannot stay here forever. There are a lot of places that have been liberated. In Diyala province, in Salahuddin province, in Anbar. So these people need to go back their places. Saddam Hussein tried to wipe out Kurds from this city, and we are not going to have it done in the name of IDPs."
November 3, 2016

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn't known as a patient man. The new "Erdogan Doctrine" won't do much to change that.

The strategy is turning heads with its proactive stances. Erdogan recently hosted local village headmen at the presidential palace in Ankara. He definitely caught their attention when he said, After today we wont wait for border problems to break out. We wont wait until the last minute, until we fully sink into a morass. From now on, we will confront problems. Is there a problem with terror? We wont wait for terror outfits to strike us. Wherever they are, we will go find them and hit them hard.

The core of this new security approach, which was given the Erdogan Doctrine moniker by pro-government media, is that with the external problems and security threats it faces, Turkey must adopt proactive and preventive policies. The doctrine, widely discussed in Ankara corridors and in the media, is a turning point in proactive security and foreign policy. This doctrine actually very much resembles the 2002 definition of then-US President George W. Bush's National Security Strategy: "pre-emption," defined as "pre-emptive and preventive action."

An Oct. 25 article in the pro-government daily Yeni Safak written by Saban Kardas, the chairman of the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies, offers some insight into the doctrine. The strategy involves concepts such as the effective use of military force beyond borders when needed, the possible disregard of traditional alliance relations and taking unilateral action independent of the United States and NATO.

According to Kardas, in Erdogans doctrine, the top-priority threats are northern Syria and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose effectiveness is increasing in Iraq. Kardas wrote, When you consider their recruitment potential, advanced weapons and experience, you understand it would be impossible to cope with the PKK and other risks without a security policy that crosses borders.

Nursin Guney, the head of the international relations department at Yildiz Technical University, wrote in her Nov. 2 article for Yeni Safak: This change in Turkey's strategic concept is actually a refusal to be encircled, by moving on to offensive from defensive approaches. This is an operational reality. With the Euphrates Shield operation, Turkey has succeeded in eliminating the PKK corridor that was in the works in northern Syria.

It is interesting and unusual that the new concept is being discussed at length in the Turkish media. One gets the impression the government is working hard to generate support from the Turkish public, which doesnt usually favor cross-border operations, by promoting the doctrine of pre-emption as the sole method of combating the threats Turkey faces.

Under this doctrine, large-scale military redeployments in Turkey are now seen as routine. The latest such move was the transfer of the Ankara-based 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, known as the best-equipped unit in the army that also serves its strategic reserve, to Silopi on the Iraq border. In an Oct. 20 article, I had concluded that shifting major combat units to Silopi would signal Ankaras serious intention to establish a safe zone north of Mosul. But the redeployment of the 28th Brigade alone doesnt mean an operation in northern Iraq is imminent.

Security sources in Ankara cite three reasons for this generously reported major redeployment of a top-notch brigade. First, though not voiced, is the decision to move the 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade away from the capital. We have to remember that the 2nd Armored Brigade units based in Istanbul were relocated to Islahiye on the Syrian border after the July 15 attempted coup. Similar moves to distance military units, especially air force squadrons, away from major cities are reported at other locations.

It is also likely that Ankara decided on widely publicized force redeployments to improve its hand in negotiations with the US administration by moving a strong unit with formidable offensive capability to within 80 miles of Mosul.

Finally, we have to keep in mind that Ankara is grossly perturbed by the PKKs actions in Kirkuk and the intention of Shiite militias to move toward Tal Afar, which has a majority-Turkmen population.

Ankara clearly wants to have on hand a capable, ready-for-action unit that can be used in case of radical changes north and west of Mosul.

The last word, however, will come at the conclusion of diplomatic bargaining between Ankara and Washington. Unlike the sensationalized, ill-informed reports by some Turkish news outlets, the arrival of the 28th Brigade at Silopi doesnt signal an imminent operation in northern Iraq.

Although Ankara is trying to prepare the public psychologically for a possible operation in Iraq, the reality isn't that simple. There is a significant disconnect between the narrative, especially the one inspired by the government, and the reality of being able to execute it. We understand from our political echelons, primarily Erdogan, that Ankara has vital interests in Syria: in the Afrin canton, which is controlled by the PKK-affiliated Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), nearby Al Bab, and the Kobani canton east of the Euphrates and Raqqa to its south. And in Iraq, he is interested in the Sinjar area, which links Iraq with Syria, and finally the region north of Mosul. Ankara follows developments in all these areas closely and is determined to eliminate the PKK-YPG threat there before it gets too close to Turkey.

Now we are all justified in asking: Can Ankara handle this new concept? A sound analysis is needed to understand whether Turkeys military capacity is sufficient to back up its ambitious narrative. No doubt there are many in Baghdad and Washington trying to answer this critical question.

And what about Russia? Does it think Turkey can live up to its ambitions? Moscow hosted Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar along with Hakan Fidan, Turkey's intelligence chief, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1  and probably asked them personally.
Here are the top stories in Alabama business for Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016:

TekLinks has nearly doubled the size of its Birmingham data center, making it among the largest of its kind in Alabama. The center at 200 Summit Data Center is now 6,500 square feet, representing a 3,000-square-foot expansion.

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Nashville luxury car dealership Cox & Co. Motorcars is hoping to open in the former space of Hollywood Video at 5100 Oporto Madrid Blvd. in Birmingham. The dealership's brands include BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, but occasionally sells other luxury brands like Lexus and Audi.

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Huntsville native and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales spoke in Birmingham Thursday to a group gathered for Compass Bank's Bright Perspectives Forum at Mountain Brook's Grand Bohemian Hotel. Wales, 50, gave a snapshot of Wikipedia, its associated for-profit Wikia sites, and the future of information.

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Huntsville companies Intergraph and Hexagon surprised a sick 8-year-old child with Big AL and members of the Star Wars 501st Legion. The companies partnered with Make-A-Wish Alabama.

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Check out some more Black Friday deals, including Kohl's, JC Penney Toys, Hallmark, Victoria's Secret and more.

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Meteorologist in Charge Jim Stefkovich at the National Weather Service in Birmingham will retire at the end of the year. Stefkovich has been there for more than 11 years.

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Follow all of Alabama's business news here anytime.
waterfront.jpg

This waterfront property on the Coosa River in East Gadsden was auctioned Nov. 3.

(National Auction Group)

There are two potential buyers for more than 13 acres of riverfront property along the Coosa River.

The National Auction Group announced an auction Thursday ended with one high bid among five bidders.

"The purchase price is subject to court approval and presently the property is in final negotiation with two potential buyers," the company stated in an announcement. "The prime commercial development property was offered in an estate auction that attracted five bidders from Alabama, each with $50,000 cashiers' checks."

The land, adjacent to Coosa Landing Marina, is just off U.S. 431 and west of the River Trace Shopping Center. The land is zoned for mixed use and is in the Gadsden Downtown Design Review District.

The area is described as having utilities with water view, water frontage and water access in an area with prime development potential along Lake Street.

National Auction Group President William R. Bone said, "We are going to sell this property within the next day or two."
Here's what you need for fossil hunting:

Hammer

Dandelion weeder or spade

Clothes you can get dirty

Comfortable shoes

And, if you're 9-year-old Ali Callahan, a mom who's willing to drive you to your latest adventure.

Ali is studying Alabama history, and sometimes, that means getting her hands dirty. She and her mom, Rachel, and 5-year-old brother, Noah, are traveling throughout the state to experience places where the state's most important events occurred. They started with an overview of natural history at Anniston Museum of Natural History, and then dove deeper into Alabama's prehistoric years at Birmingham's McWane Science Center.

Read about their McWane visit on Rachel's blog, Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life.

Did you know Alabama is great for fossil hunting? Ali does, thanks to her trip to McWane. Actually, the state is the best spot to hunt dinosaur remains east of the Mississippi River. McWane's Alabama Dinosaurs exhibit includes fossils from:

Appalachiosaurus, a tyrannosaur that averaged 22 feet long

the herbivore Nodasaur, which were slow creatures that walked on all fours

Dromaeosaur, a 9-foot-long carnivore that scientists believe hunted in packs

Ornithomimid, an herbivore with a diet mostly of fruit and insects

Pteranodon, a flying reptile with a 25-foot wingspan. It dined on fish

Ichthyornis, a 1-foot-tall bird that ate small fish

But once you leave the museum, you won't find any of these in the central part of the state, where Ali lives. A geological map offers clues about the state's history and what you might find there, and the Encyclopedia of Alabama explains the different regions throughout the state. In short, you've got to head south to find dinosaur bones. But in the Cahaba River, plant fossils are plentiful.

The state was once covered by water. After it receded, the changing land eventually converted the dead sea creatures into limestone. The changing climates and animals left behind a variety of fossils.

So Ali, Rachel, Noah and I check off the items on our fossil-hunting list and head to the Cahaba. The water is low due to Alabama's ongoing drought, but that means it's easy to find slate in the riverbed. This wasn't the Callahan family's first fossil-hunting excursion, but it was mine. Together, they demonstrate: Rachel held a hunk of slate steady and places the edges of the dandelion weeder at a seam. Noah and Ali took turns tapping the top of the tool with a hammer. After a few gentle taps at the right spot, rocks split open and revealed what's inside.

"Whoa. You can actually see the lines," Ali observed as she reveals a fern imprint.

Rachel took the opportunity to quiz her daughter on the world before her: "Ali, do you remember if a fern is a vascular or non-vascular plant?"

"Vascular," Ali exclaimed. The lines she identified were her clue; those lines are tubes that deliver water to the rest of the plant.

We spent a half-hour tapping into pieces of slate and dropping larger, denser pieces from a height to break open on the rocks at our feet. Eventually the kids became antsy, but Ali's lessons continued as she explored. Rachel shouted botany lessons while Ali scaled a rock wall nearby. Dicot! Monocot! Botany combined with history.

That's part of why the Callahans favor homeschooling. Rachel was homeschooled until she entered college, and she's used it as a way to customize her children's education. Ali is a grade ahead in math, and they're able to take field trips like this regularly.

"People think it's about sheltering away, when it's really about expanding and being more efficient," Rachel said.

She sees their Alabama history project as part of that. Ali might not get to discover fossils herself in a traditional classroom setting.

Rachel said, "The cool thing to me about fossils is when you open up a rock, you're seeing something no one has ever seen before."

And thanks to today's trip, I've seen a part of Alabama I hadn't previously.

IF YOU GO

Itching to go on a fossil hunt of your own? Learn more about paleontology in Alabama through the Alabama Paleontology Society or Birmingham Paleontology Society.

Visit McWane Science Center to learn more about Alabama dinosaurs. (It's currently closed due to flooding, but will reopen Nov. 9.) Read about its full collection, which isn't available to the public, on the center's website.

McWane Science Center

200 19th St. N., Birmingham, AL 35203

Hours: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun., noon-6 p.m.

Admission: $13 adults; $9 children 2-12; $12 ages 65 and older. IMAX films available for an additional fee.

RELATED READING

"Alabama" by Barbara A Somervill introduces young readers to the state's history, geography, notable people and more.
Early Voting North Carolina

In this Oct. 20, 2016 photo, voters line up during early voting at Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

(Gerry Broome)

In 2008, black churches got out the vote in massive numbers as they rode a wave of excitement in electing Barack Obama as the first black president. Continued enthusiasm helped get him re-elected in 2012.

But are they as excited about electing Hillary Clinton in 2016 as the first woman president?

"I saw a whole lot of motivation when it was Obama," said the Rev. Stephen Green, pastor of More Than Conquerors Faith Church in Birmingham. "People were ready to jump up and shout."

So far, the Donald Trump versus Clinton presidential race hasn't seemed to inspire great faith in either.

There may be a lack of excitement, but Green thinks people will still turn out to vote. "People understand the urgency is still there," he said.

In white evangelical churches that have been a bedrock of support for the Republican Party since the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, the lack of enthusiasm over morally questionable candidates is evident.

"I think a lot of people are going to say I'm not sure I'm motivated by the character of either candidate," said the Rev. Harry Reeder III, pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, one of the largest evangelical churches in the Birmingham area.

"Evangelicals by and large are going to be motivated to vote," Reeder said. "I'm not sure they're going to be motivated by any one candidate. Most I've talked to are prayerfully trying to look through the issues. They are probably going to be focused on the issues, not the candidates."

Reeder spoke out at a Wednesday night service about the importance of bringing faith to bear on the election. He'll speak again in the Sunday night service about faith and politics.

Reeder said he never endorses candidates, but stresses evaluating issues from a biblical perspective.

"It's a tough call for evangelicals," Reeder said. "The issues of the day are so crucial. Most evangelicals are going to try to work their way through it with some agony. What is the best vote I can give?"

The Rev. Tommy Lewis, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Pratt City, is heading up a voter turnout drive called Drum Up the Vote. The team plans a Unity Rally at Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham on Monday.

Lewis said that having Obama on the ballot for president made voter turnout drives much easier.

"Of course, he's not on the ballot this time, but we have some issues that are on the ballot," Lewis said. "We are very much concerned about the judicial elections."

Lewis said local judicial elections are important and he's trying to drive that home. "We're trying to tap into getting folks out to vote," Lewis said.

Voting for president is important, but local elections may be a driving force this time, he said.

"It does matter," Lewis said. "No doubt about that."

2012 results show leanings

In the 2012 election, 95 percent of black Protestants said they voted for Obama, according to Pew Research Center.

White evangelical Protestants voted heavily Republican in 2012, with 79 percent voting for Mitt Romney. The big question then was whether white evangelicals would vote for a Mormon.

Now the questions is whether white evangelicals will vote for the twice-divorced Trump, who has openly bragged about what many Christians would consider immoral behavior.

Trump has also shown questionable understanding of the Bible and Christian faith.

Trump gave some of his most illuminating remarks on his faith during the Family Leadership Summit, a gathering of conservative Christians in Iowa last year.

"I'm a religious person," Trump said. "I'm Presbyterian. I go to church and I love God. The great Norman Vincent Peale was my pastor."

Peale, author of "The Power of Positive Thinking," was pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City from 1932-84. He died in 1993.

Trump was asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness.

"I am not sure I have," he said. "I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."

That kind of talk falls flat with evangelicals. But Trump has been able to appeal to evangelical Christians by arguing he is their best bet for favorable Supreme Court nominations.

That's been a point of concern for white evangelicals, who feel activist courts have undermined them on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

"We need a Supreme Court that properly interprets and applies the law," Reeder said. "Instead of inventing laws, we need judges to interpret and apply the law."

Demonizing the opposition has been a key to the presidential campaign.

"Neither can appeal to their leadership," Reeder said. "They have argued that you have to vote for me because you can't vote for the other person."

No matter who wins, Christians should pray for those in authority, Reeder said.

"The day after the election, I'm going to pray for those in authority over me," he said. "I'm going to pray for a bottom up movement of what is good and true. We shouldn't have our faith in who is in the White House.That's not where my hope is at. My hope is in the Lord."
Activists gathered Thursday outside of the Etowah County Detention Center in the latest of a series of protests against federal immigration policy.

Activists staged a procession Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 around the Etowah County Jail in honor of Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Adelante Alabama has staged several protests at the jail over the past two years as part of its "Shut Down Etowah" campaign. The group claims that conditions at the jail, and at other detainee centers around the country, highlight the need for reform of U.S. immigration policy.

This protest was a little different, in that it commemorated the "Day of the Dead," or Dia de los Muertos, which originated in Mexico as a remembrance of the deaths of ancestors.

Specifically, protestors honored Teka Gulema, a former Etowah County immigration detainee who died in January in a Gadsden hospital. Gulema was an Ethiopian national who had been detained at the center but was released from custody in November 2015 by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Gulema had been incarcerated for assault and other charges in Virginia, according to a federal spokesman. But he was paralyzed following a bacterial infection.

An organizer with the Shut Down Etowah campaign, Carlos Ramos Colorado, said the event was planned to symbolize standing up to institutions like ICE.

"Dia de Los Muertos is a tradition which honors people who have died and it is also a time when we can stand up to death and celebrate our lives," Colorado said. "We are taking our power back and celebrating the fight for justice and for our lives outside of ICE's control."

Activists say 164 people have died in immigration detention since 2003.
A manhunt of several hours ended last night in Cherokee County when a burglary suspect was taken into custody near Leesburg.

Sheriff Jeff Shaver said Justin Hopkins, 33, of Leesburg, is facing several drug and theft charges, among others.

A home was burglarized Thursday morning, Shaver said, and investigators were able to quickly identity the suspect as Hopkins. While attempting to serve arrest warrants, Hopkins fled in a vehicle and then ran into the woods near Yellow Creek.

The manhunt involved deputies, investigators, and Centre and Leesburg Police. The Alabama Department of Corrections tracking dogs were called to assist. The Etowah County Sheriff's Office aviation unit also joined the search.

Hopkins was taken into custody by investigators just before 8 p.m. He is being held in the Cherokee County Detention Center.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales spoke at Mountain Brook's Grand Bohemian Hotel Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales hates the word "crowdsourcing."

The Huntsville native, co-founder of the fifth most visited website on the planet, says many businesses look at crowdsourcing as a way to "trick the general public" into doing work for free. Yet, the business model doesn't work because it doesn't take the needs of the crowd into account.

That was just one insight Wales shared as part of a talk Thursday night to a group gathered for BBVA Compass' Bright Perspectives Forum at Mountain Brook's Grand Bohemian Hotel.

Wales, 50, gave a snapshot of Wikipedia, its associated for-profit Wikia sites, and the future of information. Wales said he would probably fail a class in entrepreneurship, as the idea of creating a non-profit online encyclopedia without advertising might not sound successful.

But the idea was compelling - provide access to the sum of all human knowledge for free.

Wales has also created the for-profit Wikia sites, which use the Wiki model to provide online articles about popular books, movies, videogames and other media. The movie site, for example, is second only to the Internet Movie Database in terms of popularity.

The Wikipedia model has also proved so successful that it has translated worldwide, literally. Wikipedia is the world's most linguistically diverse website, with 288 languages represented. After 15 years, Wikipedia has more than 41 million articles and has become the go-to source for information for billions of people.

"Wikipedia is part of the infrastructure of the world," Wales said. "For an entire generation, it is part of the world they grew up in, and Wikipedia has grown up with them."

How has it worked? Wales said much of social media is "obnoxious and very stressful," a place of noise and not a lot of quality. But Wikipedia, through a community of committed users, has established itself as a place of reasoned discourse which can provide lessons for politics and business, he said.

For example, Wikipedia's content providers pride themselves on authoritative articles, with no point of view, respecting copyrights, citing sources and remaining civil. It's also managed to stay fun.

Wales' previous venture, Nupedia, relied on a model of encyclopedic articles that were peer reviewed. But he said he realized when he actually dreaded writing an entry himself that the model would not work - because it wasn't fun.

Wikipedia now relies on a core of 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers who provide information, and a larger network of 80,000 who contribute at least five times a month. The company is working to make the writing and editing process more user friendly, he said.

It also survives on contributions, the vast majority from small donors. The average donation is $25, though the bulk range from $50 to $100.

The model needs some improvements, he admitted. For example, the average age of those volunteers is 26, and 87 percent of them are male. That doesn't result in overt sexism, he said, but users tend to write about things that they're interested in.

"A 26-year-old computer geek guy is comfortable speaking authoritatively about something we know nothing about," he joked.

But the model of participatory media, which has saturated the industrialized west, is also sweeping the developing world, as more regions get access to smart phones and better broadband access. One outreach has been Wikipedia Zero, which has encouraged Internet providers in the developing world not to levy data charges on Wikipedia. This gives people access to the site, and encourages them to use the Internet.

Wales said users in those parts of the world seem interested in doing the same thing other members of the "information middle class" do - sharing photographs and videos, checking Facebook and Twitter and checking news sites.

That makes for exciting opportunities, not just in the developing world, but globally.

"We make the Internet not suck," he said.
The Alabama State University Board of Trustees voted today to place President Gwendolyn Boyd on administrative leave, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

The decision, approved on an 8-6 vote, was effective immediately, the Advertiser reported.

Boyd told the newspaper she was disappointed and surprised by the decision.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 14.

Boyd was charged with failure to maintain confidence of the board, according to the Advertiser.

Provost Leon Wilson, who will serve as interim president, issued a statement.

"At this time, it is important that the Alabama State University family remains focused on our top priority and greatest treasure, which is our students. We will continue our educational agenda, and I, along with our leadership team, faculty and staff, will serve our students to the best of our ability. The most important thing for the University right now is to maintain its stability. I ask that the community keep me and our University in its prayers."

Updated 5:19 p.m. with statement from Wilson.
Wendy's Robber.PNG

Birmingham police are trying to identify a man who robbed Wendy's at 9870 Parkway East on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. The getaway driver is in custody.

(Birmingham Police)

Police are searching for a gunman who robbed a Birmingham Wendy's on Wednesday night.

The holdup happened about 9 p.m. at the fast-food restaurant at 9870 Parkway East. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said the suspect entered the store and ordered a Frosty.

After the cashier fixed the shake, the suspect walked behind the counter, brandished a handgun and demanded money. When the cashier didn't give him any money, the suspect calmly walked out of the restaurant and got in a vehicle that was waiting outside.

Edwards said a customer was pulling up to the restaurant, saw the pistol in the suspect's hand and figured out something wasn't right. That customer called 911 and stayed on the line with the dispatcher and followed the suspects until police arrived to try to stop the vehicle.

The suspects refused to pull over and a brief chase followed. The car chase was followed by a foot chase, and police were able to take the driver into custody. The gunman and a third suspect got away.

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham robbery Det. Wilder at 205-254-1753 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
CHENGDU - A China-Germany economic forum was held on Thursday in Southwest China's Sichuan province as delegates from both countries called for a fair competition environment for investors.

The event was part of the Western China International Fair, which opened Thursday in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan. The forum was attended by more than 350 delegates, including executives from dozens of heavyweight German companies.

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Chinese investment in Germany has surged in recent years and the prospects are promising.

He raised the hope that China can continue to reduce restrictions on foreign investment and that companies from both countries can enjoy a fair competition environment in China.

Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong said China will work to make investment in China easier for foreign companies, including German ones. In return, he hopes Germany will treat Chinese investors equally.

In his opening speech at the forum, Gabriel said Germany is an open market, with no restrictions except for matters concerning security interests.

Last month, the German government resumed a review of Chinese investor Fujian Grand Chip's proposed purchase of German machine builder Aixtron, citing security concerns.

The two sides have also vowed to enhance economic ties. Gabriel said he hopes China-Germany economic cooperation could be deepened. Wang said China will promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of equipment manufacturing and renewable energy, and between the two countries' mid-sized and small enterprises.

Last year, bilateral trade between the two countries exceeded 163 billion euros, up 5.6 percent year-on-year.
Russian state media make no secret of who Moscow wants to win the US presidential election.

Trump Soars Over Clinton Week Before US Election Amid FBI Scandal ran a headline on Sputniks website on Tuesday.

Id followed a tweeted link to the article, which also included a GIF of Trump pulling one of his most self-satisfied facial tics. Its a face I imagine many in Moscow are wearing at the moment.

The article encapsulated the surge of hope within Russias largely state-controlled media that maybe, perhaps, possibly the US election might work out after all.

The reopening of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server could easily damage her support. At least one US poll quickly put Clinton trailing Trump for the first time in months.

Ironically, Russia didnt even have to do much. This saga had its origins in Washington DC, not Moscow.

The 2016 US election has been a wild ride. And much US establishment thinking  particularly in intelligence circles  has detected Russias destabilising hand in everything from the hacking of the Clinton campaigns emails to the potential Kremlin recruitment of Trump himself as some kind of inside agent.

No banana republic

Sorting the signal from the noise in all this is no easy task. The Russian president has dismissed it as far-fetched hysteria.

Correct me if Im wrong, Vladimir Putin said at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi last week, but America is a great nation  not some banana republic.

If the US is as mighty as it thinks it is, the president was saying, then theres nothing that Russia could do to mess around with its democracy.





It was a classic Putin line. An insult wrapped in a compliment, tied up with a bow that could easily be interpreted as a geopolitical challenge. He was also partly dissembling, as he often does.

The hacking allegations seem credible enough. Cyber security investigators Crowdstrike say of the hackers (COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR):

Both adversaries engage in extensive political and economic espionage for the benefit of the government of the Russian Federation and are believed to be closely linked to the Russian governments powerful and highly capable intelligence services.

Watch Russian TV for any length of time, and its pretty obvious who Moscow wants to win.

Trumps leading in the race. His ability to state things as they are, and his intention to end the recent extreme Russian-American tensions  all this puts him in a very risky situation, said TV host Dmitry Kiselyov on his prime-time news show mid-September.

Now they may just kill him, he concluded, ominously.

Coverage of Clinton in the state-controlled Russian media is largely negative. Shes viewed as ideologically anti-Russian, and Trump as a pragmatist and potential friend.

And even cosmopolitan, middle-class Russians youd expect to think differently are wary of the Democrat, and find Trumps candour and novelty refreshing.

One friend of mine here told me recently that under Clinton, the US-Russia relationship would stay the same  ie, bad. A Trump presidency, by its very unpredictability, would at least offer options for change. Essentially, she was saying, better the devil you DONT know.

An opinion poll done in Russia recently found the following: 57 percent of Russians asked said the US election results would be important to Russia; 38 percent thought not. One in three said Trumps victory would better match Russias national interests; 6 percent said theyd prefer Clinton; 22 percent replied that both were as bad as each other.

For most Russians, politics in their own country seem remote enough. US politics are remoter still.

What they want is largely what the president and the Kremlin-controlled TV channels want  a leader in the White House who will smooth balm on the gangrenous wound that is the current US-Russia relationship.

They dont think Clinton will do that.
Overlooked in the elections, Portlands homeless are organising their own camps on their own terms, but fear evictions.

Portland, Oregon, United States  When Marge Pettitts seven-year-old daughter broke down in tears in a homeless shelter in 2009, she made one of the hardest decisions of her life: Sending the child to live with her father, who had married another woman and moved into her apartment.

Marge, a 59-year-old with short greying hair and tobacco-stained fingers, found herself living on the streets after a difficult divorce 14 years ago. That year, she gave birth to her daughter, leaving the hospital and moving from one temporary homeless shelter to another before ending up back on the streets.

I havent seen her in four years, she says as she rolls a cigarette on a picnic table in Hazelnut Grove, a community for homeless people that is at risk of eviction.

READ MORE: New Yorks homeless left out in the cold

Switching between English and Spanish, Marge, who is of Mexican-American descent, navigates memories of police harassment, sexual violence, humiliation and hunger. They turn us [women] into men for a while, she says casually. You come in innocent and you end up tough.

She is among the 564,708 people who are homeless in the United States, according to 2015 estimates by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Of that total, at least 15 percent are classified as chronically homeless because they have lived on the streets for a year or more.

Although many working-class people who live from pay cheque to pay cheque may be at risk of losing their homes, already marginalised groups  communities of colour, women, the disabled, indigenous people, LGBT people, runaway children and orphans  are particularly vulnerable.

Portland is one of many cities across the US grappling with a growing  and increasingly visible  homeless population.

As Americans prepare to head to the polls on November 8 to decide between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump, many homeless political organisers argue that neither candidate will address their needs.

Poor people and homeless people  but especially homeless people  are the hugest untapped potential voter pool out there, says Alley Valkyrie, a Portland-based homeless rights activist.

Homeless people could throw any election if you could create a block out of them. But there are so many barriers, and homeless folk often tend to be the most anti-government because theyve been screwed over so much.

Anxiety and depression

Marge has camped with her partner Abel for the past few years. They spend their days walking from one tent city for the homeless to the next or attempting to secure a meal or a bed in a shelter for the night. Some of the homeless camps have dozens of tents, others are just a handful of people in sleeping bags. All risk being kicked off the land by property owners or run out of public spaces by the police.

The couple say they endure repeated harassment by police and city authorities and recall how a park ranger threatened to have them and a pair of homeless girls also camping nearby arrested last month. He drove up and told us  we need to respect nature, Marge says. I asked him what he would do if it was his daughter out here  there were two young 19-year-old girls. He told me, My daughter is better than that.'

But even worse than that, Marge explains, are the police sweeps  raids on encampments when tents and belongings are often confiscated  and the heavy rains. Without a tarpaulin or tent, illness is guaranteed, while the loss of family memorabilia takes a different toll, sometimes exacerbating the depression and mental illness that often afflicts members of the homeless community.

Oh my God, the anxiety and depression that hit me when I [first] lost all my material possessions because it got left in the rain  that was horrible, she says. Those ruined photos and belongings were Marges last connection to her past life.

Years spent living on the streets have left her with a list of tickets and citations for violations such as loitering and camping in areas where it is forbidden.

In cities across the country, a series of laws that ban sleeping outside, camping in public places, begging and sitting or sleeping on sidewalks, among other things, target the homeless.

READ MORE: Americas hidden homeless  Life in the Starlight Motel

In 2013 and 2014, at least 12 cities passed laws mandating individuals or groups to obtain permits in order to distribute food [PDF] to the homeless on public property  bringing the total of US cities that restrict or ban sharing food with the homeless up to 31.

In an extreme case, the City of Orlando in Florida has since 2011 arrested dozens of activists who violated the citys ban on feeding the homeless.

Neither Trump nor Clinton have addressed the call for legislation to protect the rights of homeless people.

The Homeless Bill of Rights, a grassroots campaign for such legal protections, is made up of a coalition of more than 125 social justice groups in five different states calling for legal measures to ensure that all people have the basic right to live where they choose without fear of harassment and criminalisation at the hands of the police.

That campaign is currently pushing for versions of the Homeless Bill of Rights in California, Oregon and Colorado.

Ive been doing this since the early 1980s and I cant recall any presidential campaign where homelessness was at the core of it or even one of the major talking points in it, says Paul Boden, a spokesman for the Western Regional Advocacy Project, the group spearheading the Homeless Bill of Rights campaign.

This election is no different. None of the presidential candidates has talked about homelessness in any depth. Clinton says shes concerned about the working class, and Trump is concerned with billionaires. But homelessness is hardly even touched on in national or federal campaigns.

Going through garbage cans

Mike Summers is 53 and first became homeless nearly three years ago after a series of personal tragedies. In 2012, he was laid off from his job at an aluminum factory, where he had worked for 15 years, and became dependent on unemployment benefits.

Is it humane to see people in doorways sleeping with no cover over them when it's raining? Is it humane to see people going through garbage cans to get their next meal? If that's humane, I have a warped sense of what that word means by Mike Summers, homeless in the US

After his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer months later and became bed-ridden, he spent two years caring for her. Within a month of her death, the bank took his home because he could no longer afford his mortgage payments.

No longer eligible for unemployment cheques, and with no savings left and no work prospects, he couldnt afford an apartment and affordable housing wasnt an option because, he says, Ive seen waiting lists that are 10 years long.

Mike is a tall, heavy set man with a grey beard flecked with blond. He complains that neither Trump nor Clinton has put forward any meaningful proposals to combat homelessness.

No one really cares [about the homeless], he says, lighting a cigarette and folding the Help Wanted page of the Portland Tribune daily newspaper.

He spends most of his days scouring through job advertisements and making cold calls to local businesses. But with a criminal record featuring a list of charges accumulated while living on the streets, he is automatically disqualified from jobs that require background checks.

Is it humane to see people in doorways sleeping with no cover over them when its raining? Is it humane to see people going through garbage cans to get their next meal? If thats humane, I have a warped sense of what that word means, he says.

For Mike though, the hardest part of living on the streets isnt the bone-chilling winters or the rain. In the street, you have to be able to sleep with one eye open and one eye closed, he says. You have to watch your stuff [or] look out for your girlfriend if you have one.

Between 1999 and 2015, the National Coalition for the Homeless recorded 1,657 acts of violence against homeless people. Of that, 428 were fatal.

Tired of the constant threat of violence and seeking a solid nights sleep, Mike eventually came to Right to Dream Too  known to locals as R2D2  one of several camps in the city organised and operated according to democratic principles by homeless people.

Nothing about us without us

On a grey October afternoon, Ibrahim Mubarak, who co-founded R2D2 in 2010, strolls along the pavement in downtown Portland, greeting groups of homeless people sitting on doorsteps and benches. Five years ago, a local landowner lent the lot to Ibrahim and fellow homeless people as more and more tents sprouted under bridges and in parks.

Nothing about us without us - that's our model by Ibrahim Mubarak, co-founder R2D2

Hey, how yall doing? he asks, waving to them. They greet him back, and a bearded man in a weather-worn wheelchair shakes his hand.

Sixty-year-old Ibrahim, who converted to Islam during a trip to Somalia more than two decades ago, wears sunglasses and a keffiyeh, or chequered scarf, on his head. As he speaks, his broad smile exposes a silver front tooth.

Ibrahim, who worked as an aerospace technician until a difficult divorce left him homeless, lived on the streets for nearly two decades before he was able to help establish Dignity Village, another collective community for homeless people, 15 years ago.

Now he splits his time between living in R2D2 and a shared affordable housing project.

R2D2 is operated by a group of 25 homeless people who have become full-time advocates for the homeless. Each evening up to 100 people living on the streets are able to come to R2D2 to get some sleep. Gated off by a patchwork fence of doors and plywood, the encampment sits on a busy corner on Fifth Street and Burnside in the citys bustling centre.

The volunteers clean, perform security checks around the perimeter of the camp, find tents and sleeping bags for people in need and cook for overnighters.

Amid a pervasive feeling of having been forgotten by the politicians who run the country, Ibrahim and others launched R2D2 to raise awareness about the plight of homeless people in Portland.

In a small sitting area with a couch and a pair of bar stools, Ibrahim smiles broadly and punctuates his sentences with spurts of laughter.

The city and the powers that be [were] imposing unjust laws on people, and those barriers were stopping people from getting productive, he says. We started educating people on their constitutional, human and civil rights  so that hopefully they can start fighting for their rights.

Behind him, a small flag sways as the breeze picks up. Sleep is a human right, it reads.

R2D2 has changed the political geography of Portland, putting homeless people and advocates on an equal level by providing a model of direct action that eschews hierarchy and charity-dominated efforts to alleviate homelessness.

Nothing about us without us  thats our model, Ibrahim says.

In August, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales revoked a policy permitting homeless people to pitch tents on public property. [P]eople believed that camping was made legal, and outreach workers and law enforcement struggled to educate people about the difference between a safe nights sleep and unsanctioned camping. Houseless people, housed people, and the Police Bureau indicated that the guidelines were not practicable, he said in a press release.

Hales office did not reply to Al Jazeeras numerous requests for comment.

R2D2 and the handful of self-organised camps in Portland are in sharp contrast to the stereotypical depictions of homeless people as helpless and unable to take care of themselves.

The democratic models in these homeless camps pose a challenge to the dominant discourse on homelessness and commonly proposed solutions to the crisis, says Vahid Brown, a member of the Village Coalition, a volunteer-run group that helps build communities of tiny homes for the homeless.

One of the moral challenges [the camps] pose to the city [is that] they have mitigated inequities in a horizontal way without the benefit of the resources of the housed, without the benefit of a representative government thats responsive to them, he says.

There is a deep democracy at work here. One thing that has not emerged in these villages is a police. They dont vote a particular subset of the communities to enforce the rules; the community enforces the rules.

Practical solutions

In the camp, three separate tents provide sleeping areas for single men, single women and couples. Ibrahim says the most revolutionary aspect of the camp is its political ideology, which rejects racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination.

The camp also provides practical solutions for people stuck on the streets, helping them to organise housing, leave behind drug addictions and find work and education opportunities until they are able to get back on their feet.

Guests who are caught using alcohol or drugs on the premises are banned, and members police the block to make sure that no one is using or selling narcotics in the vicinity.

Since R2D2 was founded five years ago, Ibrahim says the camp was able to find homes for more than 400 people, jobs for nearly 400, assistance in quitting drug addiction for 38 and midwife services for 18 women who safely delivered their children. Another 20 people are currently taking online courses at the rest stops empowerment centre, while two recently graduated from online college programmes.

As Ibrahim recalls the camps history, the volunteers, who are full-time residents at R2D2, clean up the sleeping areas and set up chairs for their evening meeting.

Although Ibrahim has become the face of the camp, the decision-making process is based on a democratic model with measures discussed in committee meetings with all the members and decisions made through a vote.

All members are required to work six to eight shifts a week, as well as to become full-time campaigners for homeless rights and active in intersectional movements, such as pro-LGBT campaigns and protests against police brutality.

R2D2 also rejects funding from the local government and humanitarian charities for the homeless as part of an effort to remain independent. If we dont accept money from the government, they cant dictate how we do things here, Ibrahim says, adding that the group relies on donations and produces a modest income through selling souvenirs such as T-shirts and posters.

Ibrahim dismisses the notion that the presidential elections will affect the countrys homeless community. If youre poor, youre treated as s***. I think this country is in for a world of trouble if either [Clinton or Trump] are elected. I never heard them talk about [the homeless].

Although the city has de facto recognised R2D2, the group is participating in ongoing negotiations with the city about potentially moving the camp elsewhere. Though open to moving, Ibrahim says R2D2 members are sceptical of the citys intent to make good on its promises of securing them another location.

An uncertain future for new camps

Far from the high rises and luxury apartment complexes that outline Portlands skyline, a growing number of impromptu homeless camps dot suburban neighbourhoods around the city.

And with many camps scheduled for eviction, the future of the homeless rights movement is punctuated with uncertainty.

Camp Amanda, in southeast Portland, was born from the Springwater Corridor camp, which was one of the largest in the US before more than 500 homeless people were moved on by city authorities last month.

I don't look down on the people who live inside because we need each other. They just got to stop thinking that because we don't live inside that means we're nobody by Ibrahim Mubarak

Tucked away some 300 metres inside the woods, Camp Amanda is home to 11 people. A sign sits above a set of mud stairs the campers have carved out, and an American flag hangs limply on a pole in front of a tent.

Jesse Sadler, a 53-year-old who worked odd menial jobs, first set up his tent with his girlfriend in the Springwater Corridor after they were evicted from their mobile home in a nearby trailer park back in June.

A heavily tattooed man with a shaved head and a goatee, Jesse walks through the trails, surveying the damaged tents and flooded campsites after a night of heavy rain and strong winds. Other campers clean their areas and haul rubbish down to the street.

As he makes his way through the small maze of trails under the green canopy, stepping in ankle deep pools of water, he explains that he hadnt expected living outside to be so difficult.

Jesse, who spent 17 years in federal prison for a string of bank robberies, says he and his girlfriend Jackie Hooper, a 51-year-old retired nurse, were kicked out of their trailer park after police came to his house when a friend got into a heated argument with his partner in the driveway.

Sometimes s*** just happens, he says. With felony convictions on his record, he is ineligible for government-funded housing  known as Section Eight housing  and waiting lists for other affordable housing options can be as lengthy as five years or more. Arguing that its unfair for former convicts to be forced to become homeless before being afforded the opportunity for government-assisted housing, he says simply: I did my time, you know.

Most of the campers in Camp Amanda are in the same boat. With little hope and no options, they intend to establish a small community modelled on R2D2 and others like it. They hold regular general assembly meetings and make decisions through votes. New members are banned from using drugs, and chores are divvied up between the campers.

I was hoping this would be a place where people could come and be safe, Jesse explains as he arrives back at his campsite. He starts taking down his damaged tent and lays out his mattress and belongings to dry in the sun.

Jackie says she is optimistic, although living in the woods without any certainty about the future has been one of the most difficult experiences of her life. We are all trying to make it work, and were all different, she says, a cigarette between her fingers. Its a work in progress.

She is only able to go to a nearby charity for a hot shower twice a week, and charging her phone means a 20-minute trek to the nearest petrol station each morning.

On most days, the campers wait for food and supply deliveries from activists and spend their time organising the camp.

Jackie plays her part by providing basic medical treatment to sick or injured campers. After a fellow camper burned his leg on the campfire, she was able to clean and dress his wound. Others come to her for help with cuts and scrapes, knowing that an infection could further compound their troubles.

Im hopeful. Weve come a long way  all of us, she adds. Were just now starting to work together. Weve got a long way to go, but we came a long way, too. It aint easy out here.

Back in R2D2, Ibrahim Mubarak says he believes tangible change will only come when people pressure politicians and officials to respect the rights of homeless people. I dont look down on the people who live inside because we need each other. They just got to stop thinking that because we dont live inside that means were nobody.

Quoting the late American comedian George Carlin, he says that kind of change doesnt come easy in the US: They call it the American Dream because youve got to be asleep to believe it.

Reporters note: The residents of Camp Amanda were hoping to make their camp permanent, but a few days after I met them, with city authorities, park rangers and neighbours threatening to sweep the area and evict them, they were forced to move, fearful of losing what little possessions they have during an eviction.

Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_
What will Michel Aouns presidency mean for Syrian refugees facing an increasingly hostile climate in Lebanon?

Ehden, Lebanon  More than 1.5 million Syrian refugees have made Lebanon their temporary home, but now, newly elected President Michel Aoun is vowing to send them back to their country, still in the throes of a civil war with no end in sight.

There will be no solution in Syria without the return of the Syrian refugees to their country, Aoun said in his inaugural speech this week. The issue of the Syrian refugees should be resolved as soon as possible.



Who is Lebanons new president?

He also characterised the refugees as a security threat, saying it was essential that camps be prevented from becoming safe havens for terror.

It has long been the formal policy of Aouns Free Patriotic Movement party  allied with Hezbollah, which is helping to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad  that Syrian refugees in Lebanon must return home. But while most Syrians live a precarious existence in Lebanon, returning to their home country is simply not an option.

In the mountainous town of Ehden in northern Lebanon, Mohammad, who did not want to give his last name, said he was afraid of what an Aoun presidency might mean for him.

Im scared because I know that Aoun is somewhat close to the regime, and he might deport those wanted by the regime, said Mohammad, 26.

He arrived in Lebanon five years ago, fleeing his hometown of Hama after he said the regime issued a warrant for his arrest for taking part in demonstrations against the Syrian government. He has been working in Ehden for a year, battling local bureaucracy ever since.

Working seven days a week, Mohammad has two jobs: construction worker by day and doorman by night. It earns him $600 a month, a reasonable salary for a Syrian worker in Lebanon, and he is attempting to save enough to enable his wife to join him from Syria.

The local municipality in Ehden had erected signs telling all Syrian workers to leave by October 31, but recently changed the signs, asking all unregistered foreigners to leave.

Mohammads papers are in order, but he knows many Syrians who have had to abandon this breezy hilltop town for crowded, informal refugee camps elsewhere in the country.

Leave, but go where?

Other Syrians with whom Al Jazeera spoke in Ehden either had the correct papers, or worked for the municipality itself and declined to speak on the record.

Several were working as street cleaners, and another, who said he had the legal right to work in Ehden, had arrived this week to help to renovate a local church, along with a group of other Syrians.

All Syrian workers in Lebanon must be sponsored by an employer, at a cost to the worker of $200 a year.

On top of that, the local municipality in Ehden requires all workers to pay an extra $100 annually for the right to work here. There is also a 6pm curfew for Syrians, a seemingly arbitrary rule implemented by various municipalities across the country.

After that we just stay at home, Mohammads colleague, Ahmad, a 23-year-old from Homs, told Al Jazeera. We are scared to go to the supermarket. But of course if my son is sick, I am going to go to the pharmacy, even if I will be arrested for that.

Mohammad said he had grown sick and tired of the municipality.

I am exhausted. I dont know if its racism or something else. But I am not leaving, no. Where else would I go? Mohammad said, noting that his work situation was good, and his boss was kind.

Old tensions resurface

For Assaf Dahdah, a visiting professor of human geography at the Lebanese American University, animosity towards Syrians stems from the historical relationship between Lebanon and Syrian workers  dating back to well before the outbreak of the civil war in 2011  and the influx of refugees into Lebanon.

The problem with racism is the consequence of the social hierarchy between the Lebanese and the Syrians.  They are seen as just workers, said Dahdah, who has been researching employment and migration patterns in the Zgharta district, in which Ehden lies. They are useful, but the Lebanese dont want them to stay.

Before 2011, many Syrians would come to Lebanon for a couple of months to work, whether in construction or agriculture, and then return to Syria. But now they are unable to head back across the border.

Many people also mention the nearly 30-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon to justify their discrimination against Syrians, he added.

As winter arrives, many local residents will leave their summer residences in Ehden, leaving houses empty. This was referenced by several Lebanese as a justification for the municipalitys decision to tell undocumented Syrians to leave, as there is a fear that empty homes will be vulnerable to theft, Dahdah noted. He said that if undocumented workers were to remain over the winter, they would probably be blamed for most crimes, whether or not they commited them.

Disproportionate burden

But Ghassan Tayyoun, the deputy mayor of Ehden, denied that the decision had anything to do with security concerns.

Its not a matter of them not being welcome, he told Al Jazeera.

Syrians who are registered can stay, but we as a municipality cannot cater to them, he said, as the council itself moves down the mountain as the winter comes. They are most welcome in Zgharta, Tayyoun added, stressing that the council puts on school buses for the children of Syrian workers.



Lebanese schools struggle to meet needs of Syrian refugees

Tiny Lebanon has taken on considerably more refugees per capita than any other country globally  232 per 1,000 people. Jordan is in second place with 87 refugees per 1,000 people.

It is UN policy for refugees worldwide to eventually return home, but only if they do so voluntarily. When a countrys infrastructure is as destroyed as Syrias, it will need workers to help rebuild it, doctors to treat the wounded, and teachers to educate a neglected generation of children.

They have to go back, said Michael Young, a Lebanese political expert and editor at Carnegies Middle East blog, Diwan. But the question is, when and how? It definitely cant be something very quick, as lots of the places they have left have been destroyed.

And while Assad is outwardly appealing to displaced Syrians to return, the president doesnt want the refugees back, Young said.

Citing fears that Aouns warming relations with Assad might endanger Syrians in Lebanon wanted by the regime, Young noted that this possibility already existed, and the inauguration of the new president was unlikely to change anything in that regard.

If the Syrian regime wants someone in Lebanon, the security agencies are to some extent controlled by their allies. If its general security, or the army, they have the capacity to do that.
Why would any self-respecting human being want to have anything to do with this election?

Why would anyone want to vote in this toxic and ignominious US presidential election?

Participating in a democratic process is a privilege that must restore ones trust in public good. This particular election is the epitome of a disgraceful public spectacle of corruption on one side, and neo-fascism on the other.

Why would any self-respecting human being want to have anything to do with it?

There are those among the US citizens who are deeply concerned about the outcome of this election and who are planning to vote, for they fear a fascist takeover of their democracy by a deeply corrupt businessman. These are the most noble among those who will vote; and then there are diehard supporters of the two top competing candidates who are less so.

If I lived in a swing state I would have begrudgingly voted with those who have a legitimate fear of Donald Trumps fascist ideas.

But I live in New York, a solidly and safely blue state so I can afford the luxury of the following meditation, which I offer in humble solidarity with those who fear fascism, plan to vote for Hillary Clinton not because they approve of her but because they disapprove of Trump.

Electoral hoaxes

Three times in my adult life I have had reasons and occasions to vote in three presidential elections  two in Iran and one in the United States  and each one of them has been in solidarity and support with the social movements these elections represented.

In 1997, I voted for Mohammad Khatami in an absentee ballot in New York, in 2008 I voted for Barack Obama, and in 2009 I voted with another absentee ballot for Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

I regret none of those three votes though I now look back at the two votes I cast for Khatami and Obama and cringe.

They were two nasty highfalutin hoaxes played on two genuine social movements: a reformist movement in Iran that has long since left Khatami behind, and like a fire is now hidden under the ashes of tyranny in the Islamic Republic; and a historic momentum to right malicious wrongs in the US that Obama decidedly betrayed.

After almost 40 years of living in the US, this particular election I consider a nasty confrontation between a rising fascism and an embattled liberal imperialism. by

I am still proud of the vote I cast for Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest in Iran. Like him, his kindered soul Bernie Sanders has a snowballs chance in hell of being elected president.

After Sanders did not make it through the primaries, I no longer have any candidate in this US presidential election, nor indeed will I ever vote in any other election in the pathologically flawed Islamic Republic.

I have run out of any trust or hope in any electoral politics and consider it an exercise in futility.

The ruling regime in Iran is increasingly drawn into the nasty geopolitics of its region, competing with Saudi Arabia in their equally illegitimate claims on regional political hegemony, with Russia and the United States as their respective patrons.

OPINION: Donald Trump is America

Here I must hasten to add that my politics was not formed in a democracy but in a monarchical dictatorship, followed by an even more sinister Islamic theocracy. I have no electoral political culture rooted or cultivated in me. I am committed to social movements that seek to uproot tyranny and corruption and only vote when I feel myself inside such a movement. Such movements are the indices of my democratic intuitions.

After almost 40 years of living in the US, this particular election I consider a nasty confrontation between a rising fascism and an embattled liberal imperialism.

These are not my fights. I detest them both. Judging by the latest October Surprise bombshell dropped by the FBI Director James Comey regarding the unending saga of Clintons emails, the system is rapidly self-destructing.

Organised politics

At this stage I have become totally suspicious of all state-sponsored organised politics as I have always been of organised religion.

My solidarities are with the asymmetrical struggle of noble causes such as the Black Lives Matter movement, or the Standing Rock Sioux uprising against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and a fortiori with the Zapatistas in Chiapas, with the Palestinians against the Zionist settler colony, or with the Kobane Rojava resistance in Syria.

None of those movements is electoral. None of them can organise to topple the tyranny that rules over them. They dismantle that tyranny via an entirely different calculus of nations against states.

To me a Jewish state is identical in its calamities with any Islamic Republic, both mirroring a Christian empire, in the neighbourhood of a Hindu fundamentalism and a Buddhist nationalism, contested by the secular fanaticism now led by the European and North American new atheists. To me the monstrosity called ISIL is the prototype of them all.

I am, therefore, not voting not because I am disillusioned about politics. Quite to the contrary: I am deeply invested and firmly rooted in a different political hope.

OPINION: The future of democracy in the Muslim world

I am more than ever convinced that this sham imperial politics and all its client states, from Israel to rich and poor tyrannies around the globe, have all categorically exhausted every ounce of legitimacy about them.

Nations have entered a whole new calculus of self-sovereignty far beyond the reach of the states that lay false claims on them. Nations are in de facto revolt against states.

From the Syrians who leave their homeland for other countries to Europeans who defy their racist political parties and help and welcome them, to millions of eligible voters in the US who refuse to vote (and I am proudly one of them): We are now all free from the delusion of electoral politics, refuse to lend credence to either of these two bankrupt factions of the single political party that, like the one in North Korea, wishes but cannot rule over us. They go their way and we go ours.

If I were to vote in New York I would have voted for Jill Stein. But at this stage voting for her is to lend credibility to a fundamentally flawed electoral system that has effectively barred her from being part of the national debates.

This as a result is an illegitimate and undignified election  every aspect of it, and walking into any voting booth on this November 8 is to be party to it.

Only 9 percent of Americans have predetermined the course of this election and given the world an option between a Clinton and a Trump, and the rest are being dragged into its tail end by hook and crook to put a democratic stamp of approval on a deeply corrupt plutocracy.

The respective dangers of these two candidates to the world peace might not be identical, but they are certainly similar. And precisely for that reason there are millions of dignified, principled, hopeful, and uncompromising Americans who refuse to be party to this ignominy. I proudly stand with them.

May God protect the earth from American democracy!

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policies.
Bethlehem, occupied West Bank  The rocky terraces of the Cremisan Valley are mostly overgrown and wild these days, as local landowners say they have lost all hope of keeping control over the more than 300 hectares of olive trees and orchards along the sloping mount, confiscated by the Israeli government earlier this year.

I havent been here at all this year. Look how the weeds have grown over, and trash from the street has piled up, Ricardo Jaweejat said, motioning towards the vast olive grove that has belonged to his family for generations.

Whats the point? When we learned the Israelis were taking the land, I avoided doing anything with it. Its a little bit dangerous to be here now.

Beit Jala olives are known by Palestinians around the world for producing the finest olive oil, and the oil from the citys Cremisan Valley is considered to be the best of Beit Jala, a district of the Bethlehem municipality in the southern occupied West Bank. This year is expected to be the last chance to harvest olives from the valley, which will soon be blocked off by an extension of Israels separation wall.

READ MORE: Palestinian Village will be like a prison

The land, now technically the property of the Israeli government, will be closed off to those who normally depend on the autumn olive harvest for what the Israeli human rights group BTselem has called an indispensable source of income.

My great-great-great-grandfather harvested this land, and every grandfather after that until my father and I, Jaweejat said. I just cant imagine that this is it; we will lose this land for good.

Jaweejat was one of about a dozen families who went through a nine-year legal battle with the Israeli government in the hope of keeping their land. In April of last year, an Israeli high court ruled in favour of the petition by Beit Jala residents  but nine months later, an appeal was brought forth, and the court reinstated the original route of the separation wall, annexing the valley.

Jaweejat said that he would like to hope that one day his family will be able to return to Cremisan, but he has never heard of a case of confiscated land going back to its Palestinian owners.

We try of course, but its hard to hold on to any hope, he said.

Driving back from the valley, through the middle of the Christian-majority city of Beit Jala, cars stopped as an Israeli military Jeep passed through an intersection.

We cant avoid them, Jaweejat said, motioning to the large green Jeep. They come and go through our neighbourhoods as they please, and take whatever they want.

The Jeep drove through a part of Beit Jala that is in Area A, which is supposed to be under full Palestinian Authority control. But due to the Israeli military base at the top of the citys mount, which is in Area C  under full Israeli control  the Israeli military presence is normal in both areas of the city.

At the top of Beit Jalas mount, the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo can be seen clearly on the northwest horizon. To the northeast is Har Gilo, and in between them is the Cremisan Valley.

READ MORE: Israeli occupation stunts Palestinian economy, UN finds

While the Israeli government alleges that the separation walls route was planned with security in mind, Palestinian residents in the area are convinced that the route was designed to allow for the illegal settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo to be connected via the Cremisan Valley.

In July, the Israeli government approved planning initiatives for 770 new settler units to be built across from the valley, on land from the nearby Palestinian village of al-Walaja, in order to expand the Gilo settlement.

That settlement will keep expanding until it takes up all the land from Gilo to Har Gilo. This wall has nothing to do with security  its simply a land grab, Jaweejat said, pointing out that the Cremisan Valley is one of the few places left where residents of the bustling city can be around nature.

Inside Beit Jalas olive press cooperative, dozens of Palestinians waited their turn to use the olive press and bottle this years fresh oil.

Ilyas Jacshan, the manager at the olive press, told Al Jazeera that at least a fifth of all his customers come to press olives from the Cremisan Valley.

Next year we will lose all that business, Jacshan said. Many people who have land in Cremisan already skipped this years harvest, but next year there will be none.

According to Jacshan, Beit Jalas olive oil sells for twice as much as olive oil from outside the city, and Cremisan oil can sell for even higher.

Its not a normal grove these people in Cremisan are losing; its some of the most sought-out oil in Palestine, and from what we hear, Israel will cut down all those trees once the wall goes up, Jacshan said.

This years olive harvest started later than normal, as the harvest is smaller, and the first rain did not clean away the dust on the trees  the traditional sign of the start of the harvest  until the last Friday in October.

The mood is different this year, the harvest is bad, and many people have land and trees that are being affected by the wall that the Israelis are building. It isnt just Cremisan; there are several areas affected, Jachsan said.

It is not a happy time for the harvest. People who still have access to their trees are upset with the small harvest, and for others, the harvest reminds them that something that has been in their family for generations is being taken away from them.
Russian-declared pause in fighting ends as humanitarian corridors out of besieged east Aleppo remain empty.

Opposition fighters fired rockets at an evacuation route in Syrias Aleppo on Friday and there was no sign of civilians or rebels leaving besieged neighbourhoods as a Russian-declared unilateral ceasefire came to end.

Syrian state media and Russias defence ministry said rebels fired rockets at one of the eight passages open for civilians and rebels.

[People in eastern Aleppo] are bracing themselves for a new phase of Russian air strikes, said Al Jazeeras Mohammed Adow, reporting from Gaziantep along the Turkey-Syria border. Theyve always known that the [Russian declared] humanitarian pause was temporary and that the air strikes would begin again, especially after the launch of the rebel offensive on the government-held western Aleppo.

Halfway through Fridays 10-hour ceasefire, AFP correspondents in Aleppo said no one had used any of the passages Moscow said were open.





Damascus ally Russia said the 10-hour humanitarian pause was an attempt to prevent senseless casualties.

But a similar, three-day pause last month ended with only a handful of people leaving besieged eastern areas.

Once Syrias economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been devastated by fighting since the rebels seized the east of the city in 2012, turning its historic heart into a battlefield.

The army cut the last supply route into rebel-held territory in July, leaving more than 250,000 civilians still living there without access to basic goods.

The rebels launched a bid to break the siege last week, which they stepped up on Thursday before the ceasefire began.

The rebels have made some forays into the government-held parts of Aleppo  they have taken some key neighbourhoods, and they are fighting on several fronts  They see this as the only way to break the siege, which has lasted for months, said Adow.

After several hours of quiet overnight, locals in both east and west Aleppo on Friday reported fighting and Syrian air strikes on the citys western outskirts.

Russian soldiers wounded

Rebel rocket fire on Friday hit the Castello road, which leads north out of opposition-controlled territory in Aleppos east, state media and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

The rockets lightly wounded two Russian servicemen who were monitoring the ceasefire, according to the Russian defence ministry.

Syrian state media said the fire also wounded a Syrian reporter.

The attack forced Moscow to temporarily cut a live video feed of the area, which had shown barrels painted with the Syrian flag next to a large photograph of President Bashar al-Assad propped up by sandbags.

READ MORE: Rebels reject Russian demand to leave Syrias Aleppo

Civilians in east Aleppo, who have faced weeks of devastating bombardment by the government and Russia, have expressed scepticism about safe passage offers.

The rebels dismissed Fridays ceasefire as a ploy by Moscow to deflect international criticism of the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

This announcement is worthless  We dont trust the Russians or any of their cheap initiatives, Yasser al-Youssef, a politburo member of the Nureddin al-Zinki rebel brigade in Aleppo, told AFP news agency.

But rebels have also come under criticism for their shelling of western government-held districts.





Rocket fire on regime-controlled neighbourhoods killed at least 12 people on Thursday, state media said.

The latest deaths brought to nearly 70 the number of civilians killed in government-held areas during the offensive, according to SOHR.

It added rebels had captured the Dahiyet al-Assad neighbourhood and the village of Minyan west of Aleppo.

No aid since July

The United Nations said it would not attempt any medical evacuations from rebel-held sectors during Fridays ceasefire.

UN agencies tried but failed to organise evacuation convoys during last months pause.

The UN will not be involved in any way in the evacuation of civilians from east Aleppo related to this announcement, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office.

Medical evacuations can only take place if parties to the conflict take all the necessary measures to provide an enabling environment, which hasnt happened, he told AFP.

READ MORE: Battle for Aleppo  Russia offers humanitarian pause

We remain very, very concerned about the humanitarian situation in east Aleppo. There have been no humanitarian supplies reaching the east of the city since early July.

Rights group Amnesty International also criticised the limited ceasefire, saying it was no substitute for unfettered and impartial humanitarian access and ensuring protection of civilians.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the citys rebel-held sector since the Syrian army and its allies launched an offensive to recapture it in September.

The death toll has drawn international condemnation of both Damascus and Moscow. The US and the EU have said Russian actions may amount to war crimes.
Iraqi forces say they recaptured six districts from ISIL in citys east and open new front as fighting spikes.

Iraqi special forces stepped up attacks against ISIL in Mosul on Friday, seeking to expand the armys foothold in the east of the city after the leader of the armed group told his men there could be no retreat.

In a military statement, troops from the Counter Terrorism Service said that they had taken over the six neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama. They raised the Iraqi flag over buildings in those neighbourhoods, and inflicted heavy losses on the fighters with ISIL, or ISIS, the statement said.

Columns of armored vehicles wound through open desert on Friday to open a new front, pushing through dirt berms, drawing heavy fire and calling in airstrikes to enter the middle-class neighbourhoods of Tahrir and Zahara  an area once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi television footage from the east of the city showed heavy plumes of grey smoke rising into the sky.

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shia militias, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air raids launched a campaign two weeks ago to retake Mosul, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant groups last major urban bastion in Iraq.

Winning it back would crush the Iraqi half of a crossborder caliphate declared by ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque two years ago.

ISIL also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under its control in either country, and the campaign to retake it is the most complex in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein and unleashed a decade of turmoil.

Baghdadi: No retreat from total war

In a rare audio message released on Thursday, Baghdadi  whose whereabouts are unknown  said there could be no retreat in a total war against the forces arrayed against ISIL, telling fighters they must stay loyal to their commanders.

The city is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus, although Iraqi officials say ISIL fighters are holding the civilian population as human shields.

A lot of people here are telling us that theyre happy that theyre no longer under ISIL, that their lives were so difficult. But some are very frustrated, particularly one man who was waiting for a tent and sleeping out in the open. He said life for us has been stopped, said Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from a campsite for internally displaced people in Khazir, north of Mosul.

READ MORE: Is it wrong to call Mosul battle a liberation?

Mosul residents, speaking to the Reuters news agency by telephone, said ISIL fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers inside and near residential areas.

Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosuls airport, they said.

We saw [ISIL] fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machinegun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well, one Mosul resident said.

Shia militias attacked

People in the southern and eastern neighbourhoods reported on Thursday night that barrages of artillery shells and rockets being launched from their districts towards the advancing troops had shaken their houses.

As well as the ISIL resistance in Mosul itself, the fighters have launched a series of diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive.





In the town of Shirqat, about 100km south of Mosul, fighters stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shia Popular Mobilisation Forces, or Hashid Shaabi.

The fighters crossed from the eastern side of the Tigris river into the town at 3am, taking over al-Baaja mosque and spreading out into alleyways. Security forces declared a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation Forces were being sent to the town.

Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have closed in on it for two weeks from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the Tigris from the south.

The Popular Mobilisation Forces of mainly Shia militia groups joined the campaign on Saturday, launching an offensive to cut off any supply or escape to the west.

A spokesman said that they had made progress but had not completely closed off the western flank, and their fighters had seen from a distance some cars leaving Mosul on Thursday.
As Peshmerga forces regain control of towns near Mosul, residents speak out about life under ISIL.

Tal Kayf, outskirts of Mosul  In his small barber shop in Tal Kayf, around 20km northeast of Mosul, Mahmoud Fadil was excited to see all the seats occupied by teenage boys and men waiting for a haircut.

As he sliced his scissors through the hair of one of his clients, Fadil, 43, spoke of how his business has boomed since the Peshmerga pushed fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, out of the town.

I havent had so many customers in one day for the last two years, Fadil said. I am now helping the men in town to redesign their beards if they wish to have one, and this is something I stopped doing while ISIL controlled Tal Kayf.

ISIL, also known as ISIS, took control of the town following heavy fighting with the Peshmerga forces in August 2014. Fadil chose not to leave his village afterwards.

I did not want to lose everything, he said. I stayed here, but that was not a very wise decision. I could not do my job properly. If ISIL caught me shaving a mans beard, they would cut one of my fingers.

In the main square of Tal Kayf, men and teenagers gathered and greeted each other. Many of them, who fled after ISILs takeover of the town, had just returned home.

When they took our town, anyone could be easily accused of spying for the Peshmerga or Iraqi forces, and especially if this person had a mobile [phone], an elderly man standing in the square, who did not provide his name, told Al Jazeera. When they came to our town, they confiscated everything.

Tal Kayf, with an estimated population of 22,000 in 2010, has witnessed many demographic changes over the past century and is now home to Chaldean Christians, Assyrian Christians, Muslim Sunnis and Yazidis.

On October 23, Peshmerga forces advanced to Tal Kayf and successfully pushed ISIL out, allowing families who fled to return home.

READ MORE: ISIL pushed out of town near Mosul as advance continues

Aziz Ghazi, 37, was flogged by ISIL when he was caught selling cigarettes.

They banned cigarettes and threatened to punish anyone who sells or smokes tobacco. At first, I thought they wouldnt do it; smoking is much of a habit for Iraqi men, he told Al Jazeera.

Ghazi owned a small grocery store, where he used to sell the tobacco and cigarettes. One day, three of them [ISIL] came to the store. They dragged me out and took me to the main square, where they read what they called a verdict against me for selling tobacco. I was sentenced to receive nine lashes and three days in prison. They punished me in front of the men and boys in town.

They electrocuted him. They wanted him to confess that he is cooperating with the Peshmerga. by 54-year-old Ferhad Assim

According to Ahmed, a cattle farmer from Tal Kayf, this was not the only case of public punishment enforced by ISIL in Tal Kayf. They [ISIL] made sure to execute all punishments in public places.

Fadlie, a town about 10km northeast of Mosul with an estimated population of around 4,500, was also recently retaken from ISIL.

They came to our house one day and took our only son for no obvious reason, said Ferhad Assim, 54. When they took him, we begged them to spare his life. His mother poured sand on her head [considered a sign of mourning in some Iraqi villages]. We thought they would kill him.

ISIL returned their son home to his parents within three days, after torturing him. The armed group accused him of cooperating with the Peshmerga.

They electrocuted him. They wanted him to confess that he is cooperating with the Peshmerga. But my son was only a university student before ISIL took our town; he has no connection with any military or political sides, Assim said. They did not kill him, but he still has the scars of lashing on his back.

Ghazwan al-Dawoody, a member of the local council representing the Shabak minority, told Al Jazeera that while adults suffered the most under ISILs control, children were also gravely affected by the conflict.

Most of the newborn [babies] havent received any vaccination, and this poses a major threat to their wellbeing, Dawoody said. But the main issue remains the children who skipped school for almost two years. Families refused to send their children to schools under ISIL, because there was no real education delivered to children.

The words Islamic State are still visible on the walls of the former ISIL headquarters in Fadlie. On the floor, the armed group left behind copies of what appeared to be an ISIL-published newspaper called Al Nabaa News.

But they have left more than that, added 49-year-old resident Seif Maarouf. They left wounds that will not easily heal. Speaking of life under ISIL is one thing, and living it in reality is another thing.
A British High Court decision to require parliamentary approval before starting Brexit negotiations has prompted an angry response from newspapers, politicians, and members of the public.





Fridays tabloid front pages were imbued with fury at the judges who passed the ruling and at the activists who brought the case to the courts.

The right-leaning Daily Mail included an image of the three judges, plastered with the headline Enemies of the people, while the Express called on its readers to fight, fight, fight .

The Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, The Sun, was accused of racism after it purportedly darkened the face of one of the women involved in the legal action; a Guyanese-born investment banker and British citizen.

Another day, another Daily Mail front page spreading hatred, anger & blame. Now even judges are an 'enemy'. pic.twitter.com/80KdiI4Te4  Dave Rich (@daverich1) November 4, 2016

Responses to the headlines ranged from calls for executing the judges to comparisons to fascist propaganda.

On Twitter, users started several trending hashtags condemning the newspapers and the governments response to the Brexit crisis.

The reactions revealed a bitter divide between Britons concerning the fate of their country after Junes vote to leave the EU.

READ MORE: Brexit named word of the year by Collins Dictionary

One user, who appeared to support UK membership of the EU, wrote that the newspaper headlines resembled language used before a coup.

This is language which might be intended to provoke civil conflict or precede a coup, it has no place in a democracy, the user wrote.

Another, a supporter of Brexit, said it was the High Court ruling itself that constituted a coup .

This is a coup, a victory for enemies of democracy. If the roles were reversed there would be riots in the street.

Worrying Trend

Simon Griffiths, a senior lecturer in politics at Goldsmiths, University of London, said the reaction from the press was part of a worrying populist trend in Western countries.





The newspaper headlines certainly are quite staggering with judges being personally attacked in the popular right-wing press, Griffiths said.

The popular press outrage is probably better seen as part of a wider emergence of right-wing populism in the UK and other countries.

The success of right-wing populism, particularly among groups of people who feel left behind by the economic growth of the last few decades, is a worrying trend.

Complex route out

The strength of such right-wing feeling adds to the increasingly complex route that British Prime Minister Theresa May faces in taking the UK out of the EU.

Until Thursdays High Court decision, it seemed May was appeasing hardliners by opting for a so-called hard Brexit.

The move would take the UK out of the single market and allow it to restrict immigration from EU states, a plan opposed by most MPs  including members of her own party.

OPINION: Brexit  The English gamble

But barring a successful appeal, it seems May will have to compromise with MPs.

Richard Whitaker, a specialist in British centre-right parties at the University of Leicester, said while MPs were unlikely to block Brexit entirely, the governments narrow parliamentary majority would prove troublesome.

While the court ruling  assuming it stands  will give parliament a say in the triggering of Article 50, it is hard to imagine that MPs would vote against triggering the article, Whitaker said.

Nevertheless, some will surely attempt to set some conditions. The governments freedom to decide on the UKs future relationship with the EU is therefore going to be restricted to an extent, especially as there is such a small parliamentary majority for the Conservative government at present.

OPINION: Why Brexit will disappoint Brexiters

According to Whitaker, politicians would have to tread cautiously in balancing their own opposition to Brexit and the result of the referendum.

I think there would be a political crisis if parliament were to vote against triggering Article 50 as, although this might not be illegal in a technical sense, it would clearly run against the result of the referendum.

Trying to overturn the referendum result would surely be extremely detrimental for the publics view of parliament.

Fresh elections

Ruling Conservative Party MP Stephen Phillips further added to the prime ministers woes by resigning his seat, citing irreconcilable differences with the government over its handling of Brexit.

Phillips, who was part of the campaign to leave the EU, is reported to have been disturbed by the partys lurch to the right.

The Guardian newspaper reported Phillips was angry at the manner in which May had announced a date to start exit talks with the EU without consulting parliament.

OPINION: The UK has no choice on hard or soft Brexit

The resignation puts further pressure on May to call for new parliamentary elections, but another round of votes brings its own set of problems for the leader, despite her good poll numbers.

I think many politicians would like to avoid an early election if possible  we are only just under a year and a half out from the last one,  said Whitaker. Elections are costly in terms of finance and time.
Trump scandals have put many Republicans in a difficult place, affecting the partys chances in the legislature.

The spectre of Donald Trumps highly unorthodox presidential campaign has put many of his Republican colleagues in a difficult political position.

But it is still hard to say what effect he will have on the chances of Republicans in Congress, or whether Democrats will be able to fully capitalise on his unpopularity, analysts and poll-watchers say.

Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, the most powerful person in his party in Washington DC, is the clearest evidence of the fear that many on his side have expressed in terms of the negative effect that Trump could have on Republican election fortunes.

After a video tape from 2005 emerged in early October showing Trump bragging about groping women, Ryan said he would no longer publicly defend Trump and encouraged Republicans in close election races to make up their own mind about how best to associate with him.

While the presidential race has since tightened according to polls, especially in the aftermath of FBI Director James Comeys announcement last week that the bureau is investigating emails from one of Hillary Clintons top aides, Clinton is still the odds-on favourite.

But can the Democrats take power in the two chambers of Congress, too?

Senate and House

Just days before the November 8 election, the Democrats are tipped to recapture the leadership of the Senate, the important body whose leadership they lost control of in the 2014 mid-term elections, for the first time since 2007.

According to FiveThirtyEight, a prominent statistical website that analyses national polling, the Democrats have a 68.9-percent chance of recapturing the Senate. (In the case of an even 50-50 split, the deciding vote is cast by the vice president of the United States, who would be either Trumps running mate Mike Pence or Clintons running mate Tim Kaine.) The Democrats will secure that majority if they gain five seats, or four if Clinton wins the presidency.

While analysts believe that many races have tightened after the FBI announcement about emails, it has not wiped out the significant challenges that Trump has presented for other Republicans.

READ MORE: Trump splits the Republican Party

Republicans have some challenges that will be difficult to overcome by Election Day, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor at Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan organisation that tracks US electoral politics.

Since Trump hasnt been running a campaign as much as a concert tour complete with merchandise, many of the programmes that usually help down-ballot candidates are bare bones or missing entirely.

Two branches of Congress: Senate It is comprised of 100 senators, with each of the 50 states getting two members. The Senate was conceived by the founders of the US constitution as the more aristocratic body of the legislature, seen as a check on the whims of popular sentiment. Its members are elected for six-year terms, with a third of the seats staggered in elections every two years. Among its powers is the power to ratify treaties and confirm presidential appointments to the Cabinet or Supreme Court. House of Representatives The House has 435 members, with each state apportioned members based on population. The most populous state, California, has a total of 53, while the seven least populous states have only one each. Its members represent much smaller districts than senators. Representatives serve two-year terms, and each member is up for re-election every two years.

But making a clear correlation between Trumps candidacy and the effect it has on Republicans chances is still difficult.

There is no universal trend with Trump with these down ballots, Spencer Kimball, a pollster and adviser for the Emerson College Polling Society, told Al Jazeera. Youre seeing a lot more ticket splitters in some states [than others], he said.

Trumps unpopularity does not mean that voters are alienating Republicans en masse, because they recognise that the Trump brand is quite distinct from the Republican brand, said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster and president of North Star Opinion Research.

Consequently, most Republican incumbent senators running for re-election are polling ahead of Trump in their states, he said.

Unpredictable House

The House of Representatives is more difficult to predict accurately, partially a result of more sparse polling. Republicans currently have their largest majority in the House, 246 to 186, since 1928, and the body has been a constant thorn in President Barack Obamas side on a number of issues.

But two of the most widely respected forecasters suggest that a Democratic takeover in the House remains very unlikely.

According to the Larry Sabatos Crystal Ball, an election-watching project hosted by the University of Virginias Center for Politics, the Democrats are likely to gain between 10 and 15 seats next Tuesday.

The Cook Political Report expects a range of between 10 and 20 pickup for Democrats.

With just a few days before Election Day, there is almost no chance Republicans will lose the House majority, and they may even keep their losses to a minimum, wrote Nathan L Gonzales, editor and publisher of the Rothenberg & Gonzales Report, a nonpartisan organisation which forecasts Congressional races.

Gonzales added that Trump had been a mixed blessing for House Republicans.

He is hurting some GOP incumbents in the suburbs but doing better than [2012 Republican candidate] Mitt Romney in rural areas, and hurting Democratic chances of winning certain seats needed for them to get the majority.

Gridlock going forward?

The most likely scenario, based on available polling and analysis, is that Clinton will win the White House, the Democrats will retake the Senate, and the Republicans will hold on to the House, albeit after losing some seats. That would leave the US with a national political balance of power that defined four of the eight years of Obamas presidency.

In that situation, Congressional gridlock, or the difficulty to pass legislation for a president to sign, remains a likely reality.

In the case of a Clinton presidential win, even a divided government is likely to benefit the Democrats in a number of ways, including the status of the unfilled Supreme Court, which Republicans have thus far refused to allow hearings on.

A Clinton presidency would probably at least be able to see a hearing held on a new nominee. And Clinton in the White House would more generally be able to continue to defend executive orders issued by Obama.

READ MORE: Why is the Supreme Court an election issue?

Largely as a result of legislative gridlock and Republican unwillingness to compromise, Obama used his so-called executive authority to pursue certain aspects of his legislative agenda irrespective of Congressional legislation, despite Republican ire and some legal challenges in US courts.

After Congress failed to reach a broad cap-and-trade programme, Obamas Environmental Protection Agency issued a Clean Power Plan to encourage states to reduce fossil fuel use. His administration also tried to shield the deportation of illegal immigrants after efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform failed in the House of Representatives.

In the event of a divided Washington again, Clinton would probably defend these policies, and similarly consider pursuing aspects of her legislative agenda from the executive branch.

But Clintons team acknowledges that it would not be possible to merely legislate from the presidency.

Were going to need Republican votes in Congress for things that we want to do for the good of the country, Clintons running mate, Tim Kaine, told the Associated Press last month.

What the prospects are for compromise between Democrats and Congressional Republicans remains an open question, especially since the rise of Trump has largely been based on upending the establishment and rejecting traditional bipartisan deal-making.
UN says sending the registered refugee back to home country where he faces risk of abuse breaches international law.

Kenya has deported a South Sudanese rebel spokesman  a registered refugee  back to his war-torn country where he could face detention and abuse at the hands of the Juba government.

Human rights groups and the United Nations on Friday called the move a breach of international law.

Kenyan government spokesman Eric Kiraithe told the Associated Press news agency that James Gatdet Dak, a spokesman for South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar, became an inadmissible person, so we cancelled his visa and he was taken to his country of origin.





UN refugee agency spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly said the agency was deeply concerned about Gatdets wellbeing, calling his forced removal a violation of international law. She also said the agency regrets that its interventions with Kenyan authorities to stop the forced return were unsuccessful.

The deportation on Thursday came amid a dispute between Kenya and the United Nations over the UNs sacking of a Kenyan general in charge of a peacekeeping mission that failed to protect civilians during unrest in South Sudan earlier this year.

There is suspicion that Daks Facebook post expressing support for the firing of the general  who led UN forces accused of responding poorly to attacks that killed dozens of civilians in July  was a major cause for his forced return.

Kenya has responded angrily to the sacking, noting Lieutenant-General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki had been on the job for just three weeks when the July attacks occurred.

Nairobi has also announced it is withdrawing its 1,000 peacekeepers from South Sudan and pulling out of its peace process, in which it has played a key role as one of South Sudans neighbours.

WATCH: When will peace come to South Sudan?

According to a family member, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, Dak was arrested by South Sudanese national security officials when he landed in the capital, Juba.

They tried to forcefully take [Dak] to the plane and he struggled and refused to go, and the pilot refused to take him, the family member said of his departure from Kenya.

I am very much concerned. In the first place, I dont see a reason why he should be deported. He should have been taken to a different country.

South Sudans Information Minister Michael Makuei said he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of Machars spokesman.

Machar, who fled South Sudan in July, had pleaded with Kenyas deputy president not to deport Dak due to profound fear for his life. He also said he told Kenyan officials Dak was a refugee and said the UN refugee agency made serious efforts to reverse Kenyas decision.

IN PICTURES: Educating girls in South Sudan

Human rights groups said the deportation of Dak was going too far, saying Kenya violated international law by deporting a registered refugee. Documents seen by AP show Dak was registered in Kenya as a refugee in August 2015.

On top of this, he is now at risk of arbitrary detention and torture in the hands of South Sudanese government authorities, said Elizabeth Deng, a South Sudan researcher at Amnesty International.

Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: In colluding with South Sudan and deporting James Gatdet Dak, Kenya has exposed him to a serious risk of persecution  Kenya is steadily shredding any pretence of respect for its fundamental refugee protection obligations.

South Sudan, the worlds youngest country, gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 and saw civil war break out in 2013 when government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battled rebels led by his former vice president Machar.

Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million displaced in the conflict.

Fighting continues in South Sudan amid ethnic tensions, despite a fragile peace deal to end the civil war.








Tens of thousands in Jakarta demand the resignation of its governor who they say committed blasphemy.

One person was killed as Indonesian police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who rallied to demand the resignation of the Christian governor of Jakarta for allegedly insulting the Quran.

At least seven people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and police, Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono said on Friday.

An elderly man died, possibly from the effects of tear gas, said Setiyono, adding four civilians and three police officers were hurt.

Tens of thousands of protesters called for Jakartas governor to be prosecuted for blasphemy in the massive demonstration. A sea of protesters wearing white robes took to the streets in a huge show of force against Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.





Indonesian police fired tear gas to disperse protesters near the presidential palace, local televison reported.

Some protesters threw plastic bottles at officers who had formed a barricade.

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Quranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Purnama apologised for the remarks, but his opponents have built a groundswell of support calling for his arrest and incarceration under Indonesias tough blasphemy laws.

He is not Muslim but he humiliated the Quran, protester Muhammad Said told Reuters news agency. Dont refer to anything in the Quran, especially interpreting it incorrectly I call on God to jail him.

The military warned it was ready to back 18,000 police officers deployed if things turned ugly. Helicopters flew low over the city and extra soldiers were stationed at key government buildings reinforced with razor wire and armoured vehicles.

Anger at Purnama, Jakartas second Christian governor and the first from the countrys ethnic Chinese community, spread beyond the capital with solidarity marches also held across Java and in cities as far away as Makassar in Indonesias east.

Protesters called for Purnamas death as Fridays turnout  estimated by police at 50,000  eclipsed a similar protest last month that drew 10,000 chanting demonstrators to city hall.

The demonstrators, led by a group called the Islamic Defenders Front, chanted God is greatest and waved placards calling for Purnama to be jailed for blasphemy.

A white banner hung at an overpass was painted with red letters saying Hang Ahok here.

Police are investigating the case against Purnama, who has apologised for his remarks, insisting he was not criticising the Quranic verse but those who used it to attack him.

President Joko Widodo this week met religious and political leaders to issue a unified call against violence, while police sought to ease tensions by holding prayer sessions and broadcasting calls for peace on social media.

Widodo, known popularly as Jokowi, pressed on with business on Friday despite the much-hyped protest, meeting cabinet ministers and inspecting a train project, his spokesman Johan Budi said.

OPINION: The Act of Killing and the consequences of forgetting

Indonesia is home to the worlds biggest Muslim population, where a vast majority practise a moderate form of Islam.

But the governor stoked religious tensions in September when he told a crowd theyd been deceived by his opponents who had used a Quranic verse to try to put them off voting for a Christian.

The governor  known for his tough-talking style  is hugely popular in other quarters for his determination to clean up Jakarta, an overcrowded, disorganised and polluted metropolis.

Purnama became Jakarta governor in November 2014, but was not elected to the post. He was deputy governor and automatically became governor after incumbent Widodo was elected Indonesian president.

Ethnic Chinese make up about one percent of Indonesias 250 million people, and they typically do not enter politics.
Gunmen shoot dead Egyptian army officer outside his home in northern Sinai, the second general killed in two weeks.

An Egyptian general was killed by gunmen near his home in North Sinai, the military said, the second soldier of his rank to be shot dead in as many weeks.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for Fridays attack, in which gunmen opened fire on Brigadier-General Hesham Mahmoud Abualazm from a moving car in Arish city, North Sinais provincial capital.

Abualazm, 47, died instantly. He was on a visit to Arish, where he owned a house, but did not serve in the area, security sources said.

ISIL quickly claimed responsibility via its affiliated Amaq website.





Hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed in the battle against an armed insurgency now led by ISIL in Egypts thinly populated Sinai peninsula.

Attacks have been stepped up since the military overthrew president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypts oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

A new group calling itself Louwaa al-Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, claimed responsibility for an attack on October 22 in Cairo, in which another general was killed in the same way as Abualazm.

Another senior military officer and a soldier were killed last week in North Sinai in a roadside explosion.

Egyptian authorities said earlier on Friday that they had arrested leaders and members of Louwaa al-Thawra and another recently emerged group, the Hasam Movement, along with weapons and explosives.
Donald Trumps wife gives speech in Philadelphia at odds with her husbands divisive and bullying rhetoric.

Donald Trumps wife, Melania, has made a rare appearance on the campaign trail, as both presidential candidates rallied in vital swing states in a last-minute search for votes.

Delivering a get-out-the-vote speech in the Philadelphia suburbs on Thursday, Melania Trump pledged to focus on combating online bullying and campaigning for women and children if her husband is elected to the White House.

Her description of the perils of social media seemed at odds with her husbands divisive and bullying rhetoric throughout the campaign.





Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers, she said. It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked in the school yard, she argued, but it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet.

We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other, she said.

The highly personal speech, which also touched on conversations with her young son, her marriage and her own experience as an immigrant from Slovenia, appeared aimed at humanising her husband in front of an audience of suburban women who are critical to Trumps hopes in Pennsylvania and other key states.

Thursdays speech was Melania Trumps first since she addressed the Republican National Convention in July. That speech was well-received initially, but was quickly overshadowed by the discovery that sections had been plagiarised from First Lady Michelle Obamas address to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Mrs Trumps appearance comes as polls suggest the race for the Oval Office has tightened in the past week.

EXPLAINED: How the electoral system works

According to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, several swing states that Trump must win have shifted from favouring Hillary Clinton to toss-ups, .

The project, a survey of about 15,000 people each week in all 50 states plus Washington, DC, found the two candidates were now tied in Florida and North Carolina and that Clintons lead in Michigan had narrowed so much that the state was too close to call. Ohio remained a dead heat, with Pennsylvania now tilting to Clinton.

An average of polls compiled by the RealClearPolitics website gave her a lead of 1.7 percentage points on Thursday, well down from the solid advantage she had until late last month.

However, in the complex US election system, more important than the popular vote is the outcome in the electoral college vote  which major pollsters still predict will result in a Clinton win.
Sharbat Gula  the green-eyed Afghan girl whose portrait featured on the cover of a National Geographic magazine in 1985 and who became a symbol of the refugee crisis caused by decades-long conflict in her country  will be deported from Pakistan to Afghanistan after a court found her guilty of obtaining a fake Pakistani identity card.

Gulas sentence on Friday, which included a 15-day prison term and $1,000 fine, was much less than expected for using fraudulent identity papers, which normally carries a 14-year jail term..

According to Afghan consulate official Abdul Hameed Jalili, Gula will be released from detention after three days as she has already spent more than 10 days in prison since her arrest last week.

On the coming Monday, she will be deported, Jalili said. The government and the people of Afghanistan await Sharbat Gula with great emotion, and will welcome her very warmly.

Her legal case comes amid Pakistani pressure to send home 2.5 million Afghan refugees, even though Afghanistan faces a severe conflict with Taliban fighters.





Gula, who applied for a Pakistani identity card in the northwestern city of Peshawar in 2014 using the name Sharbat Bibi, had been living there for years with her husband and children. Her family has said her husband died a few years ago.

READ MORE: Pakistan  National Geographics Afghan girl denied bail

Gula was for years the face of Afghanistans suffering, after National Geographic published the image of the young refugee, her defiant, pained eyes staring out from an unsmiling face, framed by a shawl over her head.

Gula, whose haunting green eyes were captured in an image taken in a Pakistan refugee camp by photographer Steve McCurry in the 1980s, became the face of the humanitarian crisis caused by Afghanistans conflict.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pakistans interior minister, said on Sunday the country would review her case on the grounds that she is a woman and the government should see it from a humanitarian angle.

The Pakistan government has stepped up its crackdown on Afghan refugees, insisting many attacks in the country had links with Afghanistan and, therefore, the refugees must now go home.

Gulas arrest highlights the desperate measures many Afghans are willing to take to avoid returning to their war-torn homeland as Pakistan cracks down on undocumented foreigners.

READ MORE: Afghan returnees from Pakistan endure dire conditions

Pakistan has for decades provided a safe haven for millions of Afghans who fled their country after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

Until recently the country had hosted up to 1.4 million Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR, making it the third-largest refugee-hosting nation in the world.

A further one million unregistered refugees are also believed to be in the country.

But since July hundreds of thousands have returned to Afghanistan in a desperate exodus amid fears of a crackdown.

Last month UNHCR said more than 350,000 Afghan refugees, documented and undocumented, had returned from Pakistan so far in 2016, adding that it expects a further 450,000 to do so by the years end.
Park Geun-hye gives emotional address, saying she would welcome an investigation into accusations she abused power.

In an extraordinary display of abject apology during a moment of supreme crisis, South Korean President Park Geun-hye took sole blame on Friday for a heartbreaking scandal as suspicion grew that she allowed a mysterious confidante to manipulate power from the shadows.

Park also vowed to accept a direct investigation into her actions, but the opposition, sensing weakness, immediately said that if she doesnt accept a prime minster chosen by the parliament and withdraw from dealing with domestic affairs, it will push for her to go.





I feel a huge responsibility [for the scandal] deep in my heart, Park said, her voice shaking during the high-stakes televised address to the nation over a scandal that threatens her position. It is all my fault and mistake.

Parks comments were filled with astonishing moments, and included a frank assessment of her relationship with the woman at the heart of the scandal, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a cult leader and a longtime friend of Parks.

I put too much faith in a personal relationship and didnt look carefully at what was happening, Park said. Sad thoughts trouble my sleep at night. I realise that whatever I do, it will be difficult to mend the hearts of the people, and then I feel a sense of shame and ask myself, Is this the reason I became president?'

In another exceptional moment, Park denied media speculation that she had fallen into worshipping cult religions or that shamanistic rituals were held at the presidential Blue House.

Her comments come at what may well prove to be the crucial moment of her presidency. Park is attempting to show the contrition and sense of responsibility that South Koreans demand while re-establishing her tarnished credibility. She is in the fourth year of a single five-year term and faced criticism even before this scandal, particularly for the governments response to a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people.

One national poll had her approval rating at 5 percent, the lowest for any leader in South Koreas 68-year history.

Ready to face investigation

Anyone found by the current investigation to have done something wrong must be held responsible for what they have done, and I am also ready to face any responsibility, Park said. If necessary, Im determined to let prosecutors investigate me and accept an investigation by an independent counsel too.

Last week Park surprised many when she acknowledged that she had relied on Choi for help in editing presidential speeches and other undefined public relations issues.

Anger has exploded since, with media reports claiming that the influence Choi had went much deeper. There are reports that Choi reviewed and made recommendations on government policy papers, helped choose presidential aides and even picked out Parks wardrobe.

Thousands have protested. Park has fired many of her senior aides and is replacing her prime minister.

Choi has been formally arrested, and the presidents nominee for prime minister, the countrys No 2 job, has suggested that Park can be directly investigated, despite her immunity from prosecution.

Park said she couldnt talk about many specifics because of the investigation.

The headline is that she said she would accept a prosecutorial investigation by a special prosecutor if necessary, said Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul. The constitution does protect a sitting president from being charged, but it does seem she could be investigated at least.

Fawcett described the event as unprecedented in South Korean history.
Three US service members came under fire at gate of al-Jafr airbase. One Jordanian officer was also wounded.

Three US troops were killed in a shooting attack outside a Jordanian training facility on Friday, a US official said, following earlier reports that one or two US personnel were dead.

A total of three US service members died today in the incident in Jordan, the official said. Initial reports were that one was killed, two injured. The two injured service members were transported to a hospital in Amman, where they died.

The service members were in vehicles approaching the gate of a Jordanian military training facility, where they came under small arms fire, the official added.

We are working with the Jordanian government to gather additional details about what happened.

The shooting took place at the gate of the Prince Faisal airbase in al-Jafr, southern Jordan, when the car carrying the US trainers failed to stop, the Jordanian army said, adding that a Jordanian officer was also wounded.

READ MORE: Gunman kills five at Jordan police training centre

Jordan, a key US ally in the Middle East, is a member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

US forces have trained a small group of vetted Syrian rebels in Jordan, and American instructors have trained Iraqi and Palestinian security forces in Jordan as well over the past few years.

The White House said on Friday it would work with Jordan to determine the circumstances that led to the shooting deaths of three US military trainers.

The United States is quite interested in getting to the bottom of what exactly occurred. Our expectation is that the government and military officials in Jordan will assist us in that investigation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

Fridays incident comes almost a year after a Jordanian policeman shot dead two US instructors, a South African and two Jordanians at a police training centre east of Amman, before being gunned down.

Washington said at the time that the two Americans killed in the November 9, 2015 shooting were employees of the private firm DynCorp contracted by the State Department to train Palestinian forces.

Two other Americans were wounded in that incident, which sparked concern in Washington and was condemned by the US embassy.

Last year, the US announced its intention to increase overall assistance to Jordan from $660m to $1bn annually for the 2015-2017 period.

A government source told AFP that military training is provided at al-Jafr airbase by instructors of various nationalities, including Americans, to participants from different countries.
Heavy rain causes chaos in the north of the country, with the risk of storms set to persist.

A trough of low pressure lying north-south through Mexico, and a cold weather front moving southwards across the United States, coincided to bring the severe weather conditions.

Tampico, a port city in the state of Tamaulipas, some 10km inland of the Gulf of Mexico, received 129mm of rain during the day. This compares with average monthly rainfall of around 40mm.

Drains were unable to cope with the sudden downpour and photographs from the scene show a collapsed wall and vehicles struggling to make headway against the rising waters in the citys streets.

The risk of storms is expected to continue, moving slowly northwards across the border with the US, into the state of Texas.

Linked to the same weather system, storms are also expected to develop in southern parts of New Mexico and Arizona in the coming days.
Tents dismantled in predawn operation as refugees line up for buses that will transport them to processing centres.

Paris authorities began an operation early on Friday to clear more than 3,000 people from a makeshift refugee camp in the northeast of the French capital.

The operation to shut the sprawling tent encampment, near the Canal Saint-Martin under an overhead metro bridge in the Stalingrad district, was proceeding peacefully.

The people being forced to leave were mainly from Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan. Many of them had arrived in the capital from Calais after police dismantled the infamous Jungle camp there last week.





You can also see here very young children, maybe two to three years old, and plenty of babies among the crowds, and mothers sitting on the pavement, said Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris.

These refugees have been sleeping in extremely rough conditions. Its very cold, the winter is closing in  there is some relief perhaps that at least they will have somewhere warm to sleep this evening.

Officials gathered several hundred males shortly before 6am (0500GMT) behind a police line in a part of the camp housing Afghans.

The evacuation of 3,800 people from the Stalingrad area of the city was carried out by hundreds of police. The area around Stalingrad, a gritty multi-ethnic part of the capital, is a magnet for refugees arriving in Paris and police have repeatedly cleared camps there, only for them to spring back into life days later.

Buses were due to take them during the morning to accommodation centres around the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France.

I dont know where we are going

Weve heard from refugees whove said they are moved from shelter to shelter, often with very little information, said Butler. Weve even spoken to a family that ended up back on the streets because they didnt know where to go, and whether or not they can apply for asylum.

READ MORE: Calais jungle evacuation? Where will the people go?

The first bus arrived in Paris before dawn.

I dont know where we are going, said Khalid, 28. The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, its good to leave.

The Jungle camp, at the northern port of Calais, had for years served as a jumping-off point for refugees attempting to stow away on lorries and trains bound across the Channel for Britain.

The Paris encampment has also been cleared twice in recent months, in July and September, and around 30 times overall.

But the tents have been spreading across the pavements again in recent weeks, with some 3,000 people sleeping there, according to sources close to the operation.

France has welcomed a fraction of the number of asylum seekers who have headed to Germany, which registered 890,000 refugees last year. France received 73,500 new requests in 2015, up 24 percent, according to interior ministry figures. Authorities have forecast 100,000 new requests this year.
Co-leaders of HDP party among 11 MPs in detention for not appearing at court over terror-related charges.

Turkey has arrested two co-leaders and nine other MPs of Turkeys pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), according to the countrys interior ministry.

The ministry said on Friday morning that detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were arrested as two were abroad.

Later in the day, another MP, Imam Tascier, announced through Twitter that he was being detained and one of the MPs in custody, Ziya Pir, was released. Eleven people remain in detention.

The HDP is the third largest party in the 550-seat Turkish parliament with 59 seats and the main political representative of the Kurdish minority.

HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtas was arrested at his home in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast, while Figen Yuksekdag was held in the capital Ankara, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Anadolu reported the MPs were arrested for not appearing in court to testify for ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

READ MORE: Turkey shuts down TV channel over terror propaganda

The security operations took place after midnight, with Demirtas tweeting at 1:30am local time (22:30 GMT) that police had arrived at his home and he was about to be arrested.

Police also raided and searched the partys head office in central Ankara. Television images showed party officials arguing with police during the raid.





Hundreds of arrests have been made in recent months since the government acquired state of emergency powers after a failed coup on July 15.

Authorities say that they have been going after anyone suspected of links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based religious leader accused of orchestrating the coup attempt, as well as the outlawed armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Critics, though, say the government is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle all dissent.

The Turkish government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. The HDP denies that.

Immunity lifted

Demirtas and Yuksekdag had been targeted by several separate investigations in recent months but this is the first time that either has been arrested. Their arrests follow a resolution by parliament earlier in the year allowing the immunity of MPs to be lifted.

HDP call international community to react against Erdogan Regimes coup, the party said on Twitter, referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Access to social media, including Twitter and messaging services, such as WhatsApp, was jammed during and aftermath of the raids, with some in Turkey saying they used VPNs, or virtual private networks, to bypass the blocks.

READ MORE: How could failed coup affect Kurdish peace process?

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the countrys biggest Kurdish majority city, Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership in the PKK. The government appointed a local Ankara district administrator to take over Kisanaks duties.

In September, the government similarly removed 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

Scores of opposition media organisations have been shut down since July, including pro-Kurdish ones such as IMC TV, the Dicle news agency and the Ozgur Gundem newspaper.

Imam Tascier
Wearing T-shirts inscribed with the words Our hands are lifted, Florida State Universitys and UFs gospel choirs will harmonize in concert for the first time.

The two schools will hold a joint unity concert at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The concert will honor victims of racial violence and the local law enforcement officers who are working hard to build peace, said Sanethia Thomas, a chairperson for the event.

I dont know if it was in the midst of the events in Charlotte and Oklahoma, but it just came to me, Thomas said.

The 36-year-old UF doctoral student and member of UFs University Gospel Choir said this will be the biggest concert they have ever put on.

For the first act, UF will wear black T-shirts and FSU will wear white. During the second act, theyll change into their respective school colors, and for the finale, members will move around onstage, creating a sea of orange, blue, garnet and gold.

We needed a platform where we saw two opposing sides coming together, and I immediately thought of FSU, Thomas said.

Brandon Christian Waddles, the director of FSUs Gospel Choir, said music is called the universal language.

Music in its own way crosses over all of those barriers, Waddles said. For that reason, music can be used to solve world peace if used effectively.

Tickets are free and available at the Phillips Center.

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An environmental and urban historian displayed the irony of a magazine cover at a talk Thursday. The cover depicted a funeral home with children full of life.

It was just one example of how societys views of death are constantly changing, said Ellen Stroud, a history professor at Pennsylvania State University. During her talk at Smathers Library, she discussed how society views funeral homes, corpses and cemeteries.

She told about 60 attendees that funeral homes in residential areas can make people sick due to the constant reminder of death. But in the late 1870s, she said, a New Jersey court ruled funeral homes were not a nuisance.

This shows how society has had differing opinions on and reactions to death throughout history, she said.

Railroad workers in the 1800s did not want to transport bodies due to the inhumanity of handling them as if they were pieces of baggage, she said.

Living things that become inanimate objects are a slippery subject, Stroud said.

Sophia Acord, the associate director of the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, said they hosted the event to get people to discuss death, because it is something society often pushes out of mind.

Every single one of us has death in common, Acord said. Since we put it out of our minds, we dont understand how it affects us and makes us unable to support one another during the grieving process.

Four other talks will be hosted discussing death, the next one being Feb. 1 at the Millhopper branch library.

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Gainesville Police arrested two Georgia men after finding about 122 grams of heroin in their car Wednesday.

At about 9:40 a.m., Jose Juan Irizarry Mota, 34, of Jonesboro, Georgia, and Yomar Eusebio Candelario, 28, of Stockbridge, Georgia, were pulled over near mile marker 378 northbound on Interstate 75 for having dark-tinted windows and following too closely behind another vehicle, according to the report.

After seeing there was an illegal amount of tint, the officer started to issue a warning, according to the report. While writing it, the officer noticed indicators of other criminal activity and asked to search the car.

Uncontrollably shaking, Irizarry Mota told the officer there was nothing to be concerned about in the car, and Candelario, the driver, then gave the officer reasons not to search the car, according to the report. The officers police dog, Shiloh, then began to smell around the car, later giving the officer a positive alert for narcotics.

Inside the car, the officer found about 122 grams of heroin concealed inside a black backpack on the back passenger-side floorboard.

Police arrested the two on charges of trafficking in opium, and took them to the Alachua County Jail, where they remain as of press time in lieu of $20,000 bonds.
On Saturday, Joshua Mazur will play songs for the dead.

Over a period of seven months, the UF music composition doctoral student wrote a 12-song requiem, a funeral composition, to voice the outcry of more than 30,000 women who were abused while working in asylums in Ireland.

The hourlong performance will honor the women who suffered at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. For decades, they were forced to work and wash away their sins in residential workhouses, the last of which closed in 1996, according to The Boston Globe.

Joshua Mazur, 26, warms up his Chamber Singers, a small portion of the Gainesville Master Chorale, on Monday evening during rehearsal.

When Joshua Mazur, 26, heard their stories, he wanted to give them a sense of peace  something he believes the women never got.

At 7:30 p.m., the Gainesville Master Chorale and Orchestra will perform the free show at the First United Methodist Church of Gainesville, located at 419 NE First St. The choir will sing a rendition of Mazurs A Magdalene Requiem, In Search of Mercy. Most UF music composition students do not have the opportunity to hear their own work performed before they graduate.

With this performance, Mazur wants to bring attention to the lives lost.

Each of them suffered, but they suffered together, he said. These women never had a requiem. They deserve a requiem.

  

In April, Mazur asked his sister to help him put words to his music.

Lyda Mazur, 22, said they began researching the history behind the Magdalene asylums.

The women of the asylums were sent there because they were victims of rape or believed to be prostitutes. Their children were taken from them, and they were forced to work for the sins they were accused of, she said.

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They were held against their will, and they werent properly taken care of because they were paying for their sins, she said.

At times, her brother doubted his ability to properly tell the stories of the women, but she encouraged him to continue.

As a man, he needed to speak up for women who lack equality, Lyda Mazur said. Being a male, he had to use his privilege for good, she said.

Its very important to use your platform to speak out about something like this, the Florida Southern College English senior said.

Joshua Mazur said he knew he had to use his talents to honor their legacy and give them the funeral he felt they deserved.

After hearing the stories of the women, he wanted to write something with more depth than he had ever written.

I was waiting to find a subject that seemed to be looking for expression, he said.

So with a pen in hand, he began to compose.

  

His passion for music began when he was 11.

In a room surrounded by instruments at his middle school, he knew he wanted that view for the rest of his life.

That was it, he said. I was hooked.

He began to learn how to play the flute and decided he wanted to study music at a collegiate level.

Joshua Mazur earned his bachelors degree from Florida Southern, where he said he wanted to study music composition. But after the college cut the program, he began to study piano and eventually added voice performance.

Joshua Mazurs talent was clear from the beginning, his wife, Hannah Mazur, 26, said. By age 19, his work had been performed in Europe, she said.

I have always known him as a composer in some capacity, the UF alumna said. But it has really been in the last year and a half that he has really bloomed as a composer.

  

With the help of his mentor, Willard Kesling, a the UF director of choral activities, Mazur began to piece together the song.

Kesling said the piece is not meant to condemn the Catholic Church for allowing the asylums to exist, but rather to honor the women who were in search of mercy.

Willard Kesling, the UF director of choral activities, conducts the Gainesville Master Chorale on Monday evening.

Its some ugly history that inspired the creation of the work, Kesling said. It was turned around to make it something of beauty.

Joshua Mazur said he chose Kesling because of his expertise and experience.

Everything I give to him becomes something more than I ever thought it could be, he said.

Joshua Mazur credits his professors for being able to complete the piece.

Working with Dr. Kesling, from the moment I walked into his room, has changed my life every day, he said.

For the past eight weeks, the choir has spent a total of 16 hours practicing every song in the performance, Joshua Mazur said.

In rehearsals, Kesling went through each line of music until the choir conveyed the message the audience is meant to hear  the souls of the women who deserved better.

  

Mazurs work weaved itself into every aspect of his life.

At home, he created a haven in his living room where he connected his computer to a wide-screen TV that displayed his musical score in 55 inches of high definition.

At school, he worked with his sister in the Reitz Union for six to eight hours at a time. He estimated they spent more than $200 at the Starbucks there in a month.

But he could only bear the stories for so long. About halfway through completing the requiem, he took a step back from composing for about a month.

Its horrific, he said. It was just really difficult to work on.

The work consumed his marriage, he said.

The requiem became what they spent most of their time talking about. Their Friday movie nights were replaced with reading, writing and composing pages of music.

But between the talks of compositions and research, they leaned on each other for support.

When the semester ends, the two will head to New York City, Joshua Mazur said.

Ill shut down the composer mill and just be her husband, he said.

  

When he climbs onstage Saturday, Joshua Mazur hopes the women will hear their song in spirit.

With each of the 12 songs, he wants to make the audience feel what the women of the asylums felt.

But the performance will be an art, something he enjoys, he said.

That brief blip of time that we get to perform is just true ecstasy, he said. We like to make the feeling last as long as possible.

In the second-to-last song, In Paradisum, Joshua Mazur wrote of his hope that the women have passed on and have realized their sins are not what trapped them in asylums.

The angels will lead you into paradise, the choir will sing.

An illustration was provided for A Magdalene Requiem, In Search of Mercy concert on Saturday. It displays a woman intended to be from one of the Magdalene asylums.
In front of a crowd of 50 residents, three congressional candidates squared off over the economy, the Affordable Care Act and student debt.

Incumbent Republican Congressman Ted Yoho, Democrat Ken McGurn and independent candidate Tom Wells are all candidates campaigning for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Yoho, a self-proclaimed Christian, conservative and family man, told the audience he wanted to earn their trust.

Im asking you to trust me and send me back for the next term, and if you dont like what I do, throw me out, he said.

McGurn, a Vietnam War veteran and a Gainesville businessman, said he wanted to run to support other veterans.

I got into this race because I saw my fellow veterans needed help, he said.

Meanwhile, Wells, a local theoretical physicist, said he would like to combat global warming and create a socialized health care system.

The first thing I would hope to do would be to improve the environment in Congress to the point we can address those problems, he said.

During the debate, McGurn accused Yoho of supporting the birther movement against President Barack Obama.

Yoho later said McGurn has never held a position or received an award mentioning veterans.

I think that record speaks for itself, too, Yoho said.

When it came to debating Obamacare, Yoho said it should be replaced with a common-sense policy.

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Its patient-centered health care, he said, adding that, like Obamacare, it would cover preexisting conditions and keep people on their parents health plans

until theyre 26.

Ideally, 26-year-olds wouldnt need to be on their parents health insurance, he said.

Why do I want my children on my health plan until the age of 26? he said. I would think you get a good education, you get a good job.

Wells disagreed.

Health care is a human right, Wells said.

McGurn said Obamacare isnt perfect and that it can be improved.

The existing Congress has been unable to do that, he said. So the folks in the existing Congress need to be changed so we have another shot at correcting this.

When asked how students can be financially stable without raising the minimum wage, McGurn said it should be raised and that two years of college should be free.

Education is the future of this country, he said.

Wells said current student-loan rates are toxic.

We are not trying to create a society of indentured servitude, he said.

Yoho said raising the minimum wage would drive people out of the marketplace and that students should finish college as fast as possible.

There will be a struggle, and then there will be a reward after that, he said.

From left: U.S. congressional candidates Democrat Ken McGurn, independent Tom Wells and Republican Ted Yoho debated on Thursday evening at Santa Fe College during the Candidate Forums event, moderated by David Tegeder.
Youre sitting in the drivers seat of your ol beat-up Chevy, parked at the edge of the hill overlooking the city. Hes looking as gorgeous as ever, illuminated by the twinkling lights of the town. The city looks beautiful from here, you whisper to him but not as beautiful as you. You lean in for the kiss, and he meets you there. Ive never done this before, he giggles nervously as he crawls into the back seat. Yeah, me neither, you whisper to yourself as you turn around and look at him. Hes smiling, waving one finger your way, silently telling you to join him. Youre about to crawl back there, but you spot a copy of the Alligator on your dashboard. Not tonight, you say to the guy you love, whos been waiting a whole year for this moment. Ive got to read

Darts & Laurels.

Its unbelievable this election cycle has barely mentioned the critical issue that is climate change. Given that 2016 continued all the catastrophic trends scientists have claimed it would, we really need to start taking this threat seriously. To ironically highlight this issue, earlier in spring, Congress approved the National Bison Legacy Act, declaring the American bison the national mammal of the U.S., and it finally became official Tuesday. We drape this laurel on you, Congress, for at least pretending you care about preserving our one good planet.

Speaking of Congress, the Republican members of the Senate have agreed they will not confirm any Supreme Court Justice nominees that are proposed by a Clinton administration. There was absolutely no precedent for the argument that President Obama wasnt supposed to nominate a justice in an election year. In fact, its happened several times before. The fact that the GOP is trying to hold our Supreme Court hostage for four more years is despicable; they are directly interfering with democracy. We lob a dart at these sore-loser GOP senators who try to ruin it for everyone else when they dont get what they want.

Hell, our democracy has gotten so bad that U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs claims North Carolina, a swing state with 15 electoral votes, has engaged in Jim-Crow-style voter suppression that is insane and leaves her horrified. Apparently, several North Carolina counties have purged a total of 6,700 voters from the rolls over the past two years, prompting the NAACP to sue. We give a laurel to Judge Biggs for fighting the purges and restoring rights to voters.

At least things dont look so crappy outside the U.S. On Thursday, while an Australian man was looking for a makeshift bathroom when nature called, he stumbled upon the oldest-known evidence of aboriginal people in Australia. It was previously estimated the aboriginal peoples came to Australia about 39,000 years ago. But thanks to Clifford Coulthards tiny bladder, he stumbled upon rock art thats been dated to be about 49,000 years old. We give a laurel to Mr. Coulthard and his urinary system for accidentally making the Australian prehistory discovery of a lifetime.

We love to end Darts & Laurels on a happy note. Remember that editorial we ran Tuesday about that young autistic black student who was shoved to the ground during a race in Rochester, New York? Originally, the arrest warrant petition was denied. But as the stories caught wind, it seems the respective courts have changed their mind and decided to issue a warrant for Martin MacDonald, who admitted he pushed the student. We give a laurel to whomever the hell changed their mind.
           2005     ..        
A Dissenting Voice: Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank president Esther George is best known for her dissenting votes on monetary policy, but that's not the only way she stands out. Her background as a farmer and former bank examiner gives her a unique perspective among Fed officials. "I started my career in a part of the bank where you got to see how the economics, how the monetary policy, how the supervision and regulation calibration all fit into the real economy. It was a real education," she said. Though the expectation was that market discipline would take care of risk, "that proved not to be the case." She also talked about how she articulates her views, which often run counter to the majority, and how she cultivates connections among institutions and community stakeholders. "The way you get that connection is you get out there," she said. "What I'm trying to build is a connection with the institution so that information can flow, so that in a time of crisis I don't have to invent those relationships."

A Tech Budget in Every Budget: As more departments reach for a piece of the technology budget, banks need to improve coordination to ensure the money is spent efficiently. Spending used to happen in a controlled environment, now technology is baked into every budget at a bank. "The way we view technology here is that it is integral to our business strategy; we don't think of them as separate things," said Amy Brady, chief information officer at KeyCorp. "While I do manage technology for the company, I do it in partnership with our business heads." Just a decade ago, she added, it was "unthinkable" that a CIO in corporate America, even outside a bank, would work so closely and report directly to the CEO. "The CIO, and the IT department, is helping to shape strategy," she said.

Exploring the Unknown: Marva Smalls has gotten comfortable with being uncomfortable, and she advises others to do the same, particularly aspiring leaders. At a recent conference hosted by the bankers associations for North Carolina and South Carolina, Smalls, the executive vice president for Viacom's global inclusion strategy, talked about the importance of plunging into the unknown as a personal growth strategy. Having grown up in Florence, S.C., she didn't have her first white classmate until high school and eventually chose to attend the University of South Carolina instead of a "small, nurturing African-American college," she said. "I felt that going to a large and more diverse college would help show me different perspectives." Smalls also spoke about the importance of being a fierce negotiator, in your own way, and finding and being a mentor.

Personal Bankers: Shouldn't banks let customers create their own chatbots? Bots are one of the hottest bank technologies and already they're repeating mistakes of the past. If the trend of bots with female names (Erica, Cleo, Penny, Nina) continues, traditional stereotypes of women and men will carry on in the digital era, says Stessa Cohen, research director at Gartner. While the female bots provide customer services like giving bank balances and bank hours, Goldman Sachs' male bot, Marcus, gives advice on loans. Cohen worries about the message all this is sending to employees. "Let the customer create her own chatbot  give it a name and voice that suits her," Cohen says. "If your bank is truly interested in diversifying your workforce and appealing to everyone, then diversify your chatbots."

The Other Way Forward: The founder and president of Anthemis Group, Amy Nauiokas, who worked on Wall Street from the 1990s until 2008, gets a front row view of fintech innovation. Despite a diverse community of smart, strong, capable entrepreneurs, however, those who get funding for their ideas are still predominantly male. "My vision goes beyond identifying great technology or business models. To me, it's about the people who we invite in to the innovation agenda and how they help to evolve and change financial services," she said. There are inherent barriers in the system of entrepreneurship that are preventing women from accessing the right level of sponsorship, support and capital to pursue their professional paths. She argues founders should be held more accountable.

Role Call

Dame Clara Furse has been named chairwoman of HSBC U.K., the retail, commercial and private bank the group is severing from its investment banking business to meet new U.K. rules. She will begin her initial, three-year term in April. Furse, the former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, was the first female member of the Bank of England's financial policy committee, from which she stepped down Tuesday after three and a half years.

Citi has named Ebru Pakcan as head of treasury and trade solutions for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. She was previously head of global payments and receivables at Citi TSS.

Beyond Banking

Gender Unbalanced News Coverage: A study by the Rockefeller Foundation and public-relations and research firm Global Strategy Group shows that media coverage of companies in crisis is unbalanced, openly assigning blame to women when they fail. Nearly 80% of stories about companies in crisis assigned blame to the CEO  when the CEO was a woman. But just 31% of coverage of companies in crisis with male CEOs assigned him blame. Of the stories about female CEOs, 16% discussed her personal life and 78% mentioned her family and children. Of stories about male CEOs, 8% touched on personal life; none of them mentioned family and children. Similarly, earlier this year, other research showed women are picked for top roles when a company is in turmoil; men tend to be picked to head a company performing well. And when a female CEO can't revive the fortunes of a company heading downhill, observers can quickly forget the circumstances under which she accepted the job.

Well Intentioned, But: Comedian Louis C.K. spoke on Conan this week endorsing Hillary Clinton not just because she's a woman, but also a mom "A great father can give a kid 40% of his needs, tops. Tops out at 40%. Any mother a not-even-trying mother? 200%." It plays into the old narrative that's become weirdly popular among liberal men this election cycle and that women have worked to break through, according to Constance Grady at Vox: "The idea that we need women in government because they are intrinsically morally superior to men." Grady writes, "Women should be represented in our government, this story goes, not because they are people, but because they are better than people: They are angelic; they are virtuous; they are pure."

Battle of the Sexes: Whatever the outcome of next week's election, the whole process has undeniably illuminated the belittlement, condescension and hostility that women in the workplace have endured for decades. The "he said, she said, he interrupted" theme has dominated the news cycles since the first debate. Later, tapes of Donald Trump's so called locker room comments surfaced, giving men a platform to ensure others that strong, respectful manbassadors exist and are something to strive toward. As Time puts it: "The 2016 election is a referendum on what women can be  and what men can get away with." One observer told the magazine, "You could feel how it changed. I'm such a small little piece of this, but you can feel the pulse of America." But for some women, that change is hypocritical to some degree. Be sure to vote next week, however you vote.
In the old fairy tale, there is a troll who lives under a bridge and eats everybody who tries to get across. In the real world today, there are trolls that lurk in the underbelly of the innovation economy and exact a pound of flesh from legitimate companies.

Because their weapon of choice is intellectual property, in the form of patents, they have preyed for years on technology companies, the Googles and Apples of the world, costing them billions of dollars.

But now top banks, like the leading firms in so many industries, are becoming technology companies in their own right. That makes them newly vulnerable to the depredations of these corporate bullies, popularly known as patent trolls.

It also means they need new protections.

One organization that has made itself a bulwark against patent trolls is the LOT Network, a nonprofit consortium of companies that have mutually agreed to grant their fellow members a free license to any of their patents, should those patents fall into the hands of a troll.

In other words, LOT membersa club that includes top technology firms and financial institutionsimmunize each other from the threat of being sued. Between them, they hold more than 585,000 patents. Joining the network, then, is equivalent to getting vaccinated against more than half a million diseases all at once.

The consortium was founded in 2014 by Google, Canon and the multinational software companies Red Hat and SAP. Among top American banks, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are members, and last week, TD Bank Group became the latest financial institution to join.

This move arose from the Toronto company's realization that patent trolls were a growing threat to its future. The $900 billion-asset TD has made such a huge commitment to digital banking that it now has the largest finance-focused patent portfolio in all of Canada, according to Josh Death, its associate vice president of legal.

"While our core products aren't changinga mortgage is a mortgage is a mortgagewe're leveraging technology more and more," Death said. "The new customer is transitioning to a very digital environment, and we want to be there in a position to service them."

The LOT Network has nearly 100 members, and more than 10% of them are financial institutions or fintech startup, said Ken Seddon, the consortium's chief executive.

"Just as the automobile industry is effectively turning the car into a smartphone on wheels," he said, "banks are incorporating tons of technology from outside their industry. And when you do that, you're basically chumming the waters for patent trolls."

Know Thy Enemy

The official term for patent trolls is "nonpracticing entities," so called because they don't create anything, don't provide any product or service, but instead make money entirely from suing productive businesses.

Another term is "patent-assertion entities," reflecting the fact that they don't use their portfolios of patents for commercial purposes, the way banks and software firms do. They merely assert them against other companies, even when their claim of infringement is shaky at best.

While the goal of such litigation is always the sameto get a paydaypatent trolls use various strategies in their shakedowns.

One is what Death calls the "smash-and-grab," in which the infringement claim is dubious but the cost of defending the litigation far outweighs the cost of a small settlement. Another is the "lottery win." In this strategy, the nonpracticing entity does significant due diligence in order to build a strong case, and is prepared to take it all the way in order to score "massive dollars," Death says.

Beginning in 2006, "there was a tremendous explosion in patent suits," and things never returned to the status quo ante, said Eric Schulman, who drafted the original LOT agreement as a legal director at Google and now serves on the consortium's advisory board. Today, 70% of all patent litigation is brought by patent trolls.

Google, Schulman's former employer, has long been one of the biggest targets. At one point, he said, the Silicon Valley giant found itself fighting 100 active patent suits simultaneously.

Big banks are also in the crosshairs. In the past eight years, JPMorgan has been hit with lawsuits involving 104 different patents, according to Seddon.

For most banks this is a new phenomenon. Several years ago, before mobile apps and remote account opening, banks were mostly brick-and-mortar operationsas unappetizing to patent trolls as lamb to a vegan.

That is no longer the case. The more innovation labs banks open, the more fintech partnerships they forge, the plumper and juicier they become in the eyes of trolls.

And the trolls' appetites are not to be taken lightly. The average lawsuit brought by one, if it goes to trial, costs the defending company about $3 million in legal fees alone.

The problem looks even more serious on a national scale. A study by James Bessen and Michael Meurer of Boston University School of Law found that in 2011, American companies were forced to shell out $29 billion in litigation and settlement costs as a result of patent-troll litigation.

That expenditure amounts to an enormous tax on innovation, experts say.

"Our view is, every nickel that a bank is spending defending itself from a patent troll is a nickel that wasn't spent on R&D," Seddon said. "That's a nickel that wasn't spent on making a better product or returning profit to its shareholders. So these patent trolls are doing real harm."

Last year, 3,608 patent-troll lawsuits were filed in the United States. When the LOT Network studied those cases to see what sort of patents were being asserted, it found that more than 80% of them had originally been held by operating companies before somehow winding up in the portfolios of patent trolls.

Because of the expense involved in litigating a patent suit, operating companies don't readily sue one another. But once a troll gets its hands on a piece of intellectual property, all bets are off. That is because it has far more to gain, and far less to lose, than the company being sued.

"Companies sell to these assertion entities," said Seddon, "and then they turn around and sue everybody."

'License on Transfer'

Stopping the flow of IP to patent trolls is almost impossible.

Companies in financial distress might sell off their patents as a quick way to make some cash. Bankruptcy proceedings can result in patents being dumped on the open market, where trolls are only too happy to snap them up.

Crazy as it sounds, some companies even sell willingly to them. Schulman calls the practice a "tragedy of the commons": It doesn't hurt company X to sell its patents to a nonpracticing entity; it only hurts company X when its neighbor, company Y, does the same.

More than three-fourths of the patents used against banks come from outside the world of finance. But while the flow of IP can't be stopped, the IP itself can be neutralized.

LOT stands for "License on Transfer"it means that if a patent belonging to one of the network's members ends up in another entity's hands, that entity can't use it to sue any of the members.

The 10-page agreement each LOT member signs has just one purpose: to protect companies from frivolous lawsuits and thus preserve their ability to invest in new technologies and services.

Daryl Wooldridge, the global head of IP management for JPMorgan, said in an emailed statement that his bank had already benefited a great deal from its LOT membership, and felt "it provides real risk reduction that gives us a competitive advantage versus companies not in LOT."

What the agreement does not do is prevent members from suing one anotheror anyone elsefor patent infringement. Nor does it prevent them from licensing their IP normally. As long as a member company holds onto its patents, it can use them and assert them to its heart's content. The agreement is triggered only if one of those patents changes hands.

The original agreement, drafted by Schulman, was 27 pages long and somewhat cumbersome. It was tough for startups to grasp.

When Seddon came on board as CEO in March 2015, his first mission was to simplify the document. The slimmed-down version was issued the following November. In the 12 months since, the LOT Network's membership has swelled from 13 companies to 95. Amazon, Netflix, Fidelity, JCPenney and Slack have all joined the ranks in recent weeks.

Two-thirds of the members are startups. The banks and other large companies each pay a $20,000-a-year fee so that membership will be free for small firms. Patent trolls have recently shifted from targeting huge tech firms to bullying startups, which lack the resources to fight back. About half of the companies sued by patent trolls in 2015 made less than $10 million in annual revenue.

"It is catastrophic for some of these small companies to get even one patent suit brought against them," said Sean Reilly, a senior vice president and associate general counsel of The Clearing House, a payments utility owned by 24 of the world's largest banks..

But the motive for protecting them isn't altruism. In an age when megabanks are relying on small fintech companies for everything from cybersecurity to consumer lending to blockchain experiments, patent suits brought by trolls can cause a lot of collateral damage.

That hasn't stopped companies in the LOT Network from selling their IP. So far, a total of 42,000 patents have been sold by LOT members to companies outside the network. Thirty-five of them have fallen into the hands of patent trolls.

Knocking Out Patents

Many of the patents asserted by nonpracticing entities against operating companies should never have been issued in the first place, said Reilly.

As general counsel for the Patent Quality Initiative, a nonprofit under The Clearing House's umbrella, he has been challenging such patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board [under a system set up in 2012]. "If you win, you invalidate the asset," Reilly said. "The patent is completely gone and can't be used to extract new settlements."

The patents he goes after tend to be overly broad and issued relatively late in the development of a particular technology, when no one should receive a patent so general that it overlaps with, and can block, other people's IP. The Patent and Trademark Office will issue such patents, however, if it is unaware the invention has already been described by someone else.

In the last month alone, PQI has filed six challenges against patents it believes were improperly issued. Earlier this year, the nonprofit managed to convince the appeal board to invalidate three patents related to loyalty rewards programs.

To stop patent trolls, PQI is readying its own cross-licensing compact, the Freedom Agreement, which will be made public next year.

Whereas the LOT Agreement is designed to be permanent, the Freedom Agreement is only a three-year commitmentan easier sell to companies' executives and boards of directors.

JPMorgan and Citigroup have already signed on. While it may seem strange for a member of the LOT Network, such as JPMorgan, to join PQI's community, Reilly said he isn't surprised by the overlap. As long as there are enough companies that belong only to one group or the other, some companies will want to join both in order to protect themselves from as many patents as possible.

By 2018, if its current growth rate continues, the LOT Network will contain 1,500 members and more than two million assets. Seddon compares its burgeoning membership to a population gaining herd immunity and slowly vanquishing a once-deadly disease.

Google has already reported seeing a drop-off in patent suits. This year has been "remarkable," with the number of litigations down overall, said Reilly, but the overall risk is still growing.

"Left unchecked, the problem could be massive," Reilly added.

For banks especially, the problem may get worse before it gets better. "Unfortunately, if you want to pursue banking 3.0 technologies," said TD's Death, "there's a high probability you're going to be running into entities that claim some sort of legal position in relation to what you're offering."
Santander Bank is offering commercial customers their own mobile banking app.

Businesses owners can use the app to deposit up to $15,000 per day without visiting a branch as well as to transfer funds between work and personal accounts. Additional features include the "Quick Balance," which lets customers check their balances in up to three Santander accounts without having to log in.

Banks are increasingly looking to bring the same kind of tech innovations to business customers that are common on the retail side. Santander, based in Boston, said it piloted the app in July with nearly 250 business customers.

"For business owners time is money, so their banking experiences need to be simple and convenient," Amir Madjlessi, the $85 billion-asset Santander's managing director of business banking, said in a news release Thursday. The bank has pledged "to listen to our customers and give them the banking tools and options that are most useful in their professional and personal lives," he said.

Santander also announced updates to its consumer mobile banking app such as a fingerprint log-in option for customers using Touch ID technology.
MB Financial in Chicago has appointed an executive from an advanced analytics company to its board.

The $19 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that Sunil "Sonny" Garg is the energy solutions leader at Uptake. He previously worked at Exelon for 13 years, most recently serving as chief information and innovation officer.

Garg "led the development and execution of an innovative strategy for Exelons IT department designed to rapidly adapt to emerging consumer technologies, to the proliferation of smart devices, to big data, and to increased physical and cyber threats facing critical infrastructures," MB Financial said in the press release.

Prior to joining Exelon, Garg was an assistant to former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daly and was appointed a White House Fellow by President Clinton, according to Bloomberg.
It was almost as if Mary Mack, the new head of community banking at Wells Fargo, was interviewing for the job she was given three months ago.

Speaking at an industry conference Thursday, Mack spent the first few minutes of her presentation walking through her resume, highlighting her experience in managing through periods of change. The first bullet-point on her slide presentation began with the simple question: "Why do you think you are the right person for this role?"

It was unusual  and almost jarring  to hear a senior executive justify her credentials, months after taking on a top job. But the speech illustrated one of Mack's primary challenges: convincing skeptics that, as a Wells Fargo insider, she has what it takes to fix the scandal-plagued retail unit.

Mack said her top priority in the coming year will be redesigning the company's pay plans for branch employees, to prioritize customer service over sales volume. Improving ethics procedures and digital products are also on her agenda.

"I understand the retail banking business, and I've managed through many periods of change for our company and industry, in roles that required a lot of collaboration," Mack said at the annual BancAnalysts Association of Boston conference.

The speech was a public debut of sorts for Mack, who took the helm of the retail unit in July. She succeeded Carrie Tolstedt, a previously low-profile executive who was cast into the public spotlight by the phony-accounts scandal.

Wells Fargo in early September agreed to pay nearly $190 million to settle charges that its branch employees created roughly 2 million sham accounts to meet aggressive sales targets.

The case quickly escalated into a reputational crisis. Former Chief Executive John Stumpf stepped down last month as a result. Both he and Tolstedt were also forced to relinquish millions of dollars in stock awards and other pay.

A slew of agencies at the state and federal levels have also launched probes into the San Francisco company's sales practices.

Amid the public outrage, Mack faces what could be a career-defining challenge: making broad changes to compensation and culture, all while still maintaining the division's track record of growth.

"Can she heal the reputation externally so that she can such push forward and get that growth in customer account openings at a normal pace?" said Marty Mosby, an analyst with Vining sparks.

Even before the scandal, Wells had seen the pace of new account openings slow down as fewer customers visited branches and migrated online, Mosby said. New account openings declined 30% in September compared with the previous month and were 25% lower than in September 2015, according to the company.

CEO Tim Sloan  who spoke alongside Mack  acknowledged the challenge of growing the retail division at a time when the company is also looking to overhaul its sales culture. The company last month eliminated product sales goals for branch employees, amid intense public pressure.

"There's no question that there's a risk of over-correcting," Sloan said.

Mack began her career in banking more than three decades ago at First Union bank in Charlotte, N.C. The company was purchased by Wachovia in 2001; Mack was a regional president in the retail division at the time of the acquisition.

Following Wells' acquisition of Wachovia in 2009, Mack moved up quickly in the corporate ranks. She was head of Wells Fargo Advisors, overseeing 15,000 financial advisers, before being named head of community banking in July.

Mosby said there have been questions about Mack's ability to create change at the company because of her status as a company insider. But he said Mack hit the issue "head-on" by outlining her plans to revamp the sales culture and focus on growing the company's digital customer base.

In her presentation, Mack sought to make a clear break from the recent past. "The sales practices issues identified in the settlement are unacceptable and were never consistent with the true vision and values of the company."

She said her first priority will be to change compensation plans for branch employees. Pay plans across the organization  "from team members in the branch to senior management"  will measure what customers say about Wells Fargo, and which products they use.

Compensation plans will also look at whether customers "reward" the company with additional deposits, investments or loans, according to Mack.

"We will ensure that the new plan is aligned with customer outcomes," she said

Mack stepped into the new role at a time when customer traffic across Wells Fargo branch network is declining  a trend that began well before phony-accounts scandal.

Over the past four years, Wells has closed 115 branches, with more than half of those closures coming in the past 12 months; it still has more than 6,000 branches. Customer visits with branch bankers declined 10% in September from a year earlier due to fewer internal referrals, reduced product offerings and less marketing, according to the company.

In the coming months Wells will continue to review its branch network, as customers increasingly switch to digital banking options. Mack also said the company will begin "gradually increasing" its consumer marketing to get new customers in the door.

Mack also emphasized that most branch employees are excited about the shift toward a service-oriented culture.

"Of all the things I have learned in my first 90 days on the job, that is the one that gives me the most energy and confidence," she said.
Jaxport CEO Eric Green said the $23.5 million grant marks a milestone in our initiatives to build the port of the future and move cargo in the most efficient and eco-friendly way possible.
Form OF-109 is essentially a separation agreement where State Department employees upon their departure certify that they have returned all government documents and materials in their possession. It is not clear whether Hillary Clinton ever signed an OF-109 or whether she was ever asked to, for one has never been found, but if Hillary Clinton signed one, she committed a felony.

The Federal Records Act and the State Departments own rules prohibits anyone from keeping official government emails on her personal server and destruction of records under subpoena also constitutes obstruction of justice. And if she signed form OF-109, which she should have done or been asked to do she committed perjury:

As Shannen W. Coffin, a contributing editor at National Review and senior lawyer at both the White House and Justice Department under President George W. Bush, points out, a provision titled "Removal Procedures" requires departing federal employees to relinquish any classified materials at the time of departure and to clear the removal through records-management officials She doesn't get to return 55,000 pages of documents nearly impossible to search years later. That she returned these materials in paper form, not an electronically searchable form, is a deliberate attempt to slow down and obstruct any investigation. If an employee violates the terms of the Form OF-109 she or he has signed, that act is punishable by Section 18 U.S.C.  1001 of the criminal code, which makes it a crime to knowingly and willfully falsify or conceal facts made in statements to federal agencies concerning matters under their jurisdiction.

Now we have reports that Huma Abedin did in fact sign a Form OF-109 and if the 650,000 emails found on the laptop shared with pervert and sexual predator Anthony Weiner, include State Department documents, particularly any classified materials, Huma is guilty of a felony This is cut and dried. There is no wiggle room in such a case and the pressure that could and should be applied to Abedin might cause her to sing like the proverbial canary. As the Daily Caller reports:

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told CNNs Michael Smerconish Saturday that Huma Abedin signed an OF-109 disclosure form when she left the State Department in 2013, signifying she understood the legal obligation to turn over all classified information and to further safeguard any further information that could be disclosed. Lets put this in context, Spicer told Smerconish. Hillary Clinton initially said she turned over everything that was relevant. The only thing she didnt were emails regarding yoga and Chelseas wedding. We know that to be false. Further, when Huma Abedin left the State Department they have to file a form of OF-109, he continued. Its a separation agreement that states simply people understand when leaving government that they are maintaining no classified information, they understand their legal obligation to protect further classified information and safeguard any potential disclosures of that. Spicer noted that the OF-109 form, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the RNC and, signed by Huma Abedin in 2013 is the form that she signed under penalty of law. So while we dont know entirely whats going on, we do know that Huma Abedin in August of 2013 signed a legal document with the United States government saying she knew  she understood that it was her obligation to turn over all classified information and to further safeguard any further information that could be disclosed.

If Hillary Clinton somehow wins on November 8, and absent any further legal troubles, Huma Abedin would presumably assume the same role as Valerie Jarrett does in the Obama administration. Valerie Jarrett undoubtedly had significant input into President Obamas Munich-like deal with Iran, which kicks the nuclear can down the road to assured detonation over Israel, which Iran continues to threaten to wipe off the map when it is not wishing death to America. Her influence over President Obama is legendary:

The Iranian-born Jarrett (her parents were American-born expatriates) is the only staff member who regularly follows the president home from the West Wing to the residence and one of the few people allowed to call the president by his first name. Her influence is shown by an account in Richard Miniter's book Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him. It relates that at the urging of Jarrett, Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden three times before approving the Navy SEAL mission in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. Seems she was concerned about political harm to Obama if the mission failed.

Certainly, the family tree and connections of Huma Abedin, aside from her involvement with Hillary Clintons lies and lawbreaking, raise serious questions. As Investors Business Daily has editorialized:

Abedin made $135,000 a year as Clinton's deputy, a period in which she is reported to have raked in as much as $355,000 from consulting contracts. Having a pipeline into the Clinton inner circle is invaluable to some. This reminds us of Johnny Chung's famous comparison of the Clinton White House to a subway turn style  you had to put money in to gain entry. Abedin also has some interesting family connections. Her father is said to be close with the Saudi government's Muslim World League, and her mother is said to be a member of the Muslim Sisterhood. World Trade Center bombing prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review: "The ties of Ms. Abedin's father, mother and brother to the Muslim Brotherhood are both specific and substantiated." The Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt with the Obama administration's approval after it had all but abandoned the government of Hosni Mubarak, a long-time ally and friend. It was while Abedin was advising Hillary that State dropped its long-standing policy of having no dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood.

As Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review, Huma Abedins family and work history suggests a devotion to Islamic supremacist ideology that may go a long way to explaining our imploding Middle East policy from Baghdad to Egypt:

Ms. Abedin worked for many years at a journal that promotes Islamic-supremacist ideology that was founded by a top al-Qaeda financier, Abdullah Omar Naseef. Naseef ran the Rabita Trust, a formally designated foreign terrorist organization under American law. Ms. Abedin and Naseef overlapped at the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (JMMA) for at least seven years. Throughout that time (19962003), Ms. Abdein worked for Hillary Clinton in various capacities.

The consulting firm Abedin worked for was Teneo Strategies, founded by longtime Bill Clinton aide Douglas Band, with the former president initially serving on its board. Band is now famous for his Clinton Inc. memo detailing how the Clintons used their foundation to enrich themselves. Abedin allegedly sent some 7,000 emails on her government account that involved Band.

Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Valerie Jarretts hold over President Obama is as mysterious as it has proven dangerous. We do not need another Jarrett in the person of Huma Abedin, whose corruption and influence peddling may be surpassed only by the future president who would put her in a position of power. We do not need a president or even president-elect Hillary Clinton creating a constitutional crisis of unimaginable proportions. Nor do we need partner-in-crime Huma Abedin advising her. If we cant get Hillary directly, we can get Hillary through Huma. We have to. Our nations future may hinge on it.

Daniel John Sobieski is a free lance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.
Todays culture wars have morphed radically from what they were only ten years ago. Then, they raged between two groups of citizens, those who wanted to protect traditional mores and values and those who wanted to replace them with what they believed were more progressive alternatives. Administrations in Washington, whatever the preferences of individuals in power, took a more or less neutral stance, implementing whatever decisions the courts made or legislation when one side or the other had sufficient votes. More recently, however, government has used its regulatory power decisively on the progressive side. Though the Obama administration shares progressive goals, it would seem that something more fundamental has prompted this profound change. It will likely keep government on the progressive side whatever party is in power.

The change seems to stem from the needs of a new ruling class. It has gained power in Washington gradually, but at last it has replaced a very different older elite. The previous ruling class consisted largely of people with sufficient family and social connections to advance their careers. They well knew the base on which their power rested and accordingly had a clear interest in upholding the traditional culture and customs that served it. This new group, whatever the family and social connections of some of its members, relies on a very different power base. It sees itself as the winners of a great meritocratic competition that claims to have culled the entire population to find the nations best and brightest. It has no stake in either custom or tradition.

Indeed, this new group has a positive incentive to challenge traditional customs and culture. Because its legitimacy rests on claims of superior intelligence and insight, it serves it own position when it demonstrates how its insight can improve on customary practice. Its consequent and frequent interferences in daily life naturally create friction with large swatches of the population, which it then antagonizes further by showing little willingness to compromise. Its members are loath even to engage in friendly persuasion. To do so might undermine their status by giving their opposition, who they see as the losers in the great meritocratic competition, too much credit for independent thought. Instead, this new elite reacts to resistance with derision, typically describing any opposition as the product of stupidity or backwardness or bigotry. In this ongoing battle, its hostility focuses most on those institutions in society that bolster public resistance to its directives, social organizations, churches, and synagogues, especially those with the greatest influence over the greatest numbers.

Such attitudes are evident in the elites every utterance and action. President Obama, clearly a product of this system, has provided numerous illustrations over the years. A personal favorite dates from his first presidential campaign in 2008, when, before a well-heeled San Francisco audience, he glibly explained the intransigence of those outside their circle. Implying that the losers in the great meritocratic competition may lack the cognitive ability to cope gracefully with the modern life, he characterized them as frightened and understandably prone to cling to their guns and Bibles. At least he was sympathetic and resisted the temptation to characterize them as evil, as many others of this elite group have. Otherwise, he could not have been more condescending. A Victorian missionary might well have used similar language to describe native resistance to his good news and for the same reason.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) seems tailor-made to serve elite needs. It trumpets the meritocratic elites presumed superiority and the publics incompetence by not only itemizing what procedures and practices government-linked health insurance would cover, but also by designating what practices and procedures people must buy. Having thereby directed the life choices of all Americans, its advocates have chafed at any resistance. When, for instance, The Little Sisters of the Poor, balked at certain ACA provisions, the Washington elite refused even to acknowledge a legitimate basis for the objection. Instead it first tried to buy the Little Sisters off with a transparent subterfuge -- an "accommodation" that would allow the provisions to be provided indirectly -- a gesture that itself spoke loudly to its presumption of superior intelligence. When the Little Sisters saw through the ruse, Washington simply dismissed them as unreasonable, hinting in the process that they were likely in the thrall of some medieval prejudices.

The school lavatory imbroglio about transgender students makes the matter clearer still. Had Washington really cared about the transgendered, it could have played a sympathy card with the public and invited solutions, a third or fourth lavatory perhaps. Instead, it settled on the one way most likely to arouse opposition from the church and adherents to traditional mores. It insisted that the schools allow biologically male teens to enter the locker rooms and lavatories of teenaged girls at will. Picking a fight intentionally seems a strange way to help the transgendered, but it fits perfectly with the elites needs by creating yet another way to denigrate any who adhere to alternative views. The transgendered, along with the teenage girls, simply became props to help the ruling class establish its credentials.

Dramatic in its ferocity was the way the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) persecuted Kim Davis. She is the Kentucky county clerk who, on the basis of her Christian faith, refused to sign same-sex marriage licenses. The ACLU, clearly more as representative of the ruling elite than of its clients, pursued her even after the states governor removed the need for a signature and so erased her reason for resistance. After its clients had everything they sought, the ACLU demanded that a judge return Ms. Davis to jail. Only one of three things can explain such a vendetta, none very pretty or enlightened. Either the ACLU wanted to punish her for having the temerity to resist the elites superior wisdom or it wanted to cow others who would resist elite direction or both. Certainly the people at the ACLU were no longer fighting for their clients.

Class warfare of this kind is hardly new to history. Karl Marx wrote volumes about one such battle, between the proletariat and a capitalist elite. His followers have long battled the church and traditional culture for their perceived support of what they see as an intolerable status quo. An aristocratic elite in pre-revolutionary France used ancestry and custom to legitimize its position. The revolutionaries, accordingly, attacked custom and the church as allies of their enemies and, incidentally, to establish themselves in the aristocracys place. The United States over the last 70-some years has gradually elevated a new meritocratic elite to power. Now this group is no less eager than any other ruling class to secure its position. Whatever individuals in this elite believe, that need impels them to pursue the culture wars, mercilessly attacking both the church and traditional mores to the point of beating up on an ill-educated county clerk. The needs are overriding and will remain until this country modifies the criteria by which it elevates people into positions of power.

Mr. Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and recently retired as Lord, Abbett & Co.s senior economist and market strategist. His most recent book, Thirty Tomorrows, describing how the world can cope with the challenges of aging demographics, was recently released by Thomas Dunne Books of Saint Martins Press.
One candidate for most amazing video of the presidential race on the Net now is an anonymous 8-minute biography of Huma Abedin, former right-hand woman to American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and (until last Friday) her closest associate for twenty years.

Snippets of Abedins biography have floated through the blogosphere for years, but this is the first coherent expose that tempts a reasonable person to consider the current crisis surrounding Hillary Clinton and emails as part of the greatest spying operation, the greatest secret agent story, in history.

Huma Abedin, though born in the States, grew up in Saudi Arabia, ages 2-18, in a family whose livelihood was provided by the same network of Saudi jihadis connected to Al-Qaida on September 11, 2001. Indeed, on that very day, Huma herself was a salaried employee of a Muslim think tank run by her mother, a major figure in the womens section of the Muslim Brotherhood. Humas mother, completely enrobed, supports female genital mutilation, the world conquest of sharia, and other principles of the same version of Islam that Osama bin Ladin lived and died by. Humas brother also works for this Muslim Brotherhood-funded operation.

In a word, Huma was raised in a culture of Islam at its most barbaric and violent. It is now chilling to contemplate that for the four years of Hillary Clintons position of as Secretary of State, Abedin had access to everything Hillary did. And now the FBI has found 650,000 Hillary emails on her perverted husbands computer.

Taqqiya is the Muslim virtue of lying to achieve your goal; of dissembling. And what better disguise for a female jihadi than to be married to a Jew?

And the deception in this spy story does not stop here. Consider Barack Obamas first inaugural address (see 'The Presidents First Insult) in which he praised to the skies not Americas Judeo-Christian civilization but this country of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and in the next sentence promised a new beginning with Islam. In the first case, he demoted the Jews from their traditional place as Americas second most important religion, displaced by Islam, and in the second, promised a new relationship with Islam that was deeply puzzling. Governments do not have relationships with religions but other governments. What did he have in mind?

Three months later, ironically on April Fools day, Obama crossed paths with the king of Saudi Arabia and bowed deeply to him, which was doubly an anti-American gesture. First, American presidents traditionally never bow to foreign kings because the American Revolution was not only about independence from England but a rejection of monarchy as a system of government.

Second, the king that Obama bowed to so obsequiously was not just any king but ruler of the country where fifteen of the nineteen Muslim sky devils on September 11, 2001 in those four hijacked airliners were raised in his religion and culture, as was their terror master Osama bin Ladin. The king of Saudi Arabia is also billed as the Guardian of the Two Mosques, the holiest in Islam in the birthplace of Islam, to this day a country where sharia law rules. What a truly America-identified, patriotic president, unlike Obama, might have done on meeting the king was demand that he bow down to him and beg forgiveness for what his fellow Arab-Muslims did to his fellow Americans.

Then came -- before Obama had been in office even a year -- the satanic massacre at Ft. Hood committed by a homicidal Muslim maniac shouting Allahu Akbar! After he murdered thirteen fellow American soldiers, Obama issued his fatwa that no one was connect Islam to the massacre.

As president, he also ordered that all military texts be shredded if they contained language connecting Islam to terrorism and that new ones, without the offending passages, be printed, at taxpayer expense, of course. He had promised in his run for the presidency he was going fundamentally change America and surely this was part of it.

And when Muslims in the Middle East began to chop off American heads, Obama critiqued Christians for the Crusades.

He released important terror chieftains from Guantanamo who returned to terror in order to bring back one American traitor to Islam.

He toppled American ally Hosni Mubarak, which allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to come to power in Egypt after generations of Egyptian governments suppressing that cult.

Obama imported into the United States almost one million Muslims and virtually no Christians.

This list could go on with many more examples, including the alleged placement of suspected Muslim Brothers in U.S. government agencies. But as to the crisis at hand, viz. the crimes of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: in earlier decades of the American Republic, a basic requirement for receiving a security clearance was the absence of any association with dubious characters. It was not enough for a person to be innocent until proven guilty, the standard for a civil court proceeding. A person had to be above suspicion, which he or she would not be if they associated with others who were not above suspicion. It was likely cowardice, fear of this difficult woman, that deterred government officials who hand out security clearances from telling Mrs. Clinton that Huma Abedins family connections were not above suspicion and so she would not be given a security clearance and could not work for her.

The future may uncover a real smoking gun or two as evidence of collusion between Obama, Abedin, and a Muslim Brotherhood that is publicly and shamelessly committed to destroying, or, in Obamas words, fundamentally changing America.

But of more immediate concern, the Hillary Clinton-Huma Abedin relationship is enough to expose the former as either a jihadi herself, which is highly unlikely since she has no principles and believes in nothing but money and power; or, she is now exposed as utterly incompetent and incapable of functioning as president, whose first responsibility is Commander-in-Chief of the United States armed forces. The crime of having a private email, which likely was hacked by every hacker who wanted to, reveals less malevolence than gross insensitivity, indeed a colossal incompetence when it comes to the vital necessity of secure communications.

Hillary Clinton is not only, apparently, a major crook; she is a complete idiot in the field of national security, a fool who fell for Huma Abedins taqqiya. For this alone, her presidency would be a national disaster of unimaginable dimensions.

Shai ben-Tekoas PHANTOM NATION: Inventing the Palestinians as the Obstacle to Peace is available in Kindle or soft cover at Amazon.com.
Symptomatic of Republican feebleness, two men: Rep. Jim Jordan (Conservative, OH) and former Bush Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson (GOPe). Both came out in recent days to scold James Comey. The FBI director, declared the two, is just plain wrong for announcing his agencys renewed investigation of Hillary Clinton.

Claims Thompson, in a Washington Post (establishment propaganda organ) commentary, Jim Comey is damaging our democracy by interjecting news of the FBI inquiry so close to the election. Get this: Thompson co-wrote his commentary with Jamie Gorelick, one of Bill Clintons deputy attorney generals. Bill Clinton: perjurer, and along with his wife, serially corrupt since the 1980s. Admittedly, Gorelick possesses a lot of insider knowledge about hurting our democracy.

Jim Jordan, on the other hand, chairs the U.S. House Freedom Caucus. The Caucus is reputed to be the cream of the crop among House conservatives. Jordan, too, as reported via USA Today, questions Comeys judgment. He did it on Fox & Friends the other morning.

Let me get biblical on you for an instant. Jordan and Thompson are reminiscent of the Pharisees. You remember those guys. They followed the letter of the law down to its minutest detail while ignoring its spirit. Small-minded and blinkered, preoccupied with safeguarding the temple and its culture, the Pharisees were incapable of grasping a serious larger reality and overriding truths. Their sanctimony blinded them all the more.

For the record, none other than Jordans colleague, Trey Gowdy, defended Comeys disclosure. This video of Gowdy from Fox & Friends, and a quote of his from a Western Journalism report:

Well, to the best of my recollection, Director Comey did not tell her to set up her own private email server, he did not tell her to lie about almost every aspect of the email, he didnt tell Huma Abedin not to turn over all of her devices, and he didnt tell Anthony Weiner to sext with underage girls, Gowdy said

But lets return to Thompsons contention that our democracy is damaged with Comeys announcement.

Lets suppose that Comey said nothing. Hillary wins the White House on Tuesday. The nation then faces a president-elect under federal criminal investigation that will  not just could  metastasize into multiple criminal investigations. The primary investigation revolves around Hillary transmitting highly classified information on her private servers.

Leaks from the FBI indicate that theres near certainty that Hillarys private servers were hacked by no less than five foreign governments or entities. No one knows the extent of the damage done to the nations security yet. National security officials are prohibited from saying, anyway. Hillarys violated the Espionage Act and more. Thats serious jail time, if convicted. FBI and Congressional investigations of President Hillary would consume most of the nations time and energies  indefinitely.

What do we know about Richard Nixon and Watergate? Nixon stonewalled, fighting tenaciously investigations of his wrongdoing. He resisted calls for his resignation for many months. The federal government suffered protracted paralysis.

Now, what do we know about the scandal-ridden Clintons? When do Hillary and Bill ever concede a fight, which invariably centers on threats to them? Why would we assume that President Hillary and her consigliore, Bill, wouldnt fight furiously to save themselves? The Clintons going quietly into the good night when everything theyve lived for is at stake? We cant imagine a vindictive Hillary scorching the earth  Hillary and Bill, whove left wreckage in their wakes for decades?

With the formidable powers of the executive branch at their disposal, what lengths would the Clintons go to preserve, protect, and defend themselves? No serious damage to our democracy under the circumstances?

Or consider this alternative. If Hillarys elected, what will be the spin on November 9 from the mainstream media, Democrats, and, yes, Republican enablers? Maybe something like this: The nation faces significant challenges at home and growing dangers abroad. For the nations sake, we need to put aside concerns about the Clintons. The nation needs healing, not more division and strife. Lets get about the business of bringing America together.

If that spin came to pass  if the establishment managed to stymie investigations and grind to a halt the wheels justice  wouldnt that blow a hole in the rule of law the size of the Grand Canyon? Would giving the Clintons a Get Out of Jail Free card promote or undermine citizens trust in the law?

A farfetched scenario? There are powerful interests in the nation  and abroad  that are all-in with the Clintons. If Hillary and Bill come to ruin, so may they. Certainly, their interests wont advance. Power, money, status  you name it  are riding on a Hillary victory and presidency. Hillarys Department of Justice will make the Obama Justice Department look nonpartisan and taint-free. Obstruction of Justice might become the DOJs motto with Hillary in the Oval Office.

One other possibility: Hillary is elected and Barack Obama issues a pardon to Hillary, ostensibly for the reasons stated above. He could wrap in Bill and other key members of the Clintons inner circle. It would be a cynical, highly political move (in large part to spare Obama from investigation). But if pardons came to pass, beyond the eruptions of outrage across the land, imagine the gross corrosive effect on our democracy.

But perhaps we shouldnt bother now with post-election consequences. Well just deal with a Hillary presidency if it comes. Our duty, as it is with Jordan and Thompson, is to be punctilious, to make sure that the Is are dotted and Ts crossed. Form over substance. Voters  those who havent cast early ballots  neednt be informed about so weighty a matter as the Democratic nominee being under investigation for felony acts.

Comeys principal intent wasnt to educate the public; it was to inform Republican and Democratic congressional leaders of the new Hillary investigation, per his pledge. Comeys indirect education of voters is collateral. But thats a very, very good thing for our democracy.

If better informed voters steer the nation away from a Hillary disaster in-the-making next Tuesday, Comeys disclosure will deserve a Medal of Honor.
In a most recent and revealing interview, Julian Assange met with his favorite documentarian, John Pilger. Assange offers several predictions and analyses, most quite revealing.

Via RT:

RT (Russia Today) provides an alternative perspective on major global events, and acquaints international audience with a Russian viewpoint.

Keeping the source in mind in such matters is important. Realizing that mono source information demands a certain level of skepticism, we shouldnt simply file it for immediate dismissal.

The two most glaring points raised by Assange are as follows:

Trump will not be permitted to win.

In answer to the question, Is Wikileaks trying to put Trump in the White House? Assange insists that Trump will not be permitted to win. Banks, intelligence, arms companies, big foreign money, etc. is all united behind Hillary Clinton.and the media as wellthe owners and the journalists themselves.

The Clinton Foundation has received significant contributions from some of the same countries that are funding ISIS. Hillary Clinton was aware of the Saudi funding of ISIS and also accepted money for her foundation from the Saudis.

Assange notes the most significant email in the entire load of emails may well be the one in which Hillary (2014) contacts John Podesta. This email statesthat the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region (video, 2:08) . Assange notes that the backing is from the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Pilger observes, ISIL or ISIS is created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation. Assange agreed.

Also noted is the previous declaration by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide. (video, 3:18) It is also noted that the US in 2015 sold $20 billion worth of weaponry to the Saudis.

The slant of this interview is obvious, but that does not make it incorrect. The challenge is to determine, logically and with the information at hand: is there sense and feasibility to Assanges conclusions?

The unreleased pages of the 9/11 Report feed the suspicions that constantly surround the Saudis. The relationships that are welded with the exchange of money can supersede and interfere with diligent public service. It can make presidents bow.
Remember that Donald Trump is supposedly a narcissist as you consider the following. The President of the United States took time off from his awesome responsibilities yesterday to fly to two cities in Florida, Miami and Jacksonville, and gave speeches totaling 84 minutes.

Kyle Olson of The American Mirror calculated the grim totals:

During two appearances for Hillary Clinton on Thursday, the president referred to himself a total of 207 times  110 in Miami and 97 in Jacksonville, Florida. (snip) During the Miami speech, he mentioned himself 30 times before talking about Hillary Clinton.

Olson provides a video of the Miami speech, if you can still bear to listen to the man once described as the greatest orator of our time.

Obama is obsessed with garnering the approval of others, and with his historical legacy. His principal domestic program, Obamacare, is failing before the nations eyes, and stands to be repealed of Trump and the Republicans win next Tuesday. No wonder he goes out of his way to support Hillary, a woman he dislikes: it is all about him, as it always is.
There is a Cuban expression that sort goes like this: "No puedes tapar el sol con un dedo". It literally means that you can't cover the sun with your thumb. In other words, you can't avoid reality in the long run.

Well, reality is all over the new Obama plan to open up Cuba. The original plan was that U.S. companies would rush in, exploit markets, freedom would explode and that every Cuban would add Obama's birthday to the calendar of Catholic saints, i,e Santo BO!

Like ObamaCare, the Iran nuclear deal, or ending Mideast wars, the plan is not working out as promised.

Remember the U.S. company that was going to build tractors in Cuba? It was going to be "the poster boy" to encourage other U.S. investors to Cuba.

Not really, as the AP reports:

For a while Saul Berenthal and Horace Clemmons were the seventy-something poster boys of U.S.-Cuba detente. The retired software entrepreneurs made worldwide headlines by winning Obama administration permission to build the first U.S. factory in Cuba since 1959. Cuban officials lauded their plans to build small tractors in the Mariel free-trade zone west of Havana. But after more than a year of courtship, the Cuban government told Berenthal and Clemmons to drop their plans to build tractors in Cuba, without explanation, Berenthal said Monday. A month and a half ago, their first tractors started rolling off the assembly line -- in the town of Fyffe, Alabama, population about 1,000. "Producing the tractors in Mariel was not going to happen," Berenthal said. He said the company is already selling tractors to customers in the U.S. and Australia and has had inquiries from Peru, Mexico and Ethiopia. He also still hopes to sell to Cuba.

So what went wrong? The answer is that reality had the last word.

First of all, you can't do business in Cuba unless the Castro family is majority shareholder.

Second, you can't create a plant and hire your own people: Castro Inc. will do that for you by keeping the hard currency and paying Cuban workers in worthless pesos!

Third, and reality comes full circle, Cuban farmers do not have the money or the means to pay for the tractors. In other words, there is no consumer market in Cuba no matter how many businessmen take "fact-finding trips" to Cuba.

It would have been better if the Obama administration had listened Cuban-American legislators, like Senator Bob Menendez, Senator Marco Rubio or Senator Ted Cruz. Or, Cuban-American members of the U.S. House who are more familiar with reality than President Obama.

Why is the Cuba opening failing? Why is ObamaCare failing? Or the Obama foreign policy?

The answer is that President Obama is not rooted in reality, as the people signing up for ObamaCare are learning this week.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
CBS News is reporting that US intelligence agencies have alerted joint terrorism task forces across the country of a potential al-Qaeda attack on Monday, the day before the election.

The sources say that 3 states may be targeted; Texas, New York, and Virginia.

U.S. authorities are taking the threat seriously, though the sources stress the intelligence is still being assessed and its credibility hasnt been confirmed. Counterterrorism officials were alerted to the threat out of abundance of caution. A senior FBI official told CBS News, The counterterrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States. The FBI, working with our federal, state and local counterparts, shares and assesses intelligence on a daily basis and will continue to work closely with law enforcement and intelligence community partners to identify and disrupt any potential threat to public safety. Intelligence about potential threats always increases during holiday seasons and when big events are approaching. As Election Day nears, federal law enforcement is planning for several worst-case scenarios. Earlier this week, an alert warned local police of polling places being seen as attractive targets for lone wolf-type attacks by individuals motivated by violent extremist ideologies, sovereign citizen or other extremist activity.

What's all this about al-Qaeda? They're "on the run," aren't they? They've been "decimated," right?

AQ is so...1990's - so unfashionable. Why can't we be attacked by a hipster terror group like Islamic State?

So, a terrorist group that doesn't even exist anymore may try to attack us the day before the election in order to swing the race. Conventional wisdom says an attack favors Trump - unless you listen to other conventional wisdom that says an attack would favor Hillary. Would the electorate prefer Clinton's experience or Trump's prescience?

Along with everything else in this election, it's impossible to say.
The late 19th century Victorian house standing at 748 Beech Street in Kenova, in the US state of West Virginia, glows sinisterly in the dark from the fiery light of more than 3,000 hand-carved Jack-o-Lanterns every Halloween a spectacle that some 30,000 people come to see each year.

The tradition started in 1978 with just five decorated pumpkins which the houses current owner, Ric Griffith the towns former mayor put on his porch. Each year after that, Griffith added more pumpkins to the display, until it grew from a few dozens to a few hundreds to few thousands. The pumpkins line the porch, cover the eaves and much of the roof. Long galleries and wooden shelves are put up on the front yard and along the perimeter of the property for the pumpkins carved with a variety of themes including sports, music, cartoon figures and pop-culture icons. This years pumpkin show had a political spin with lanterns carved in the likeness of both presidential candidates.

The Pumpkin House in 2010. Photo credit: Frank Pierson/Flickr

Ric Griffith was originally helped by his family and friends, but as the scale of the project grew, neighbors and other volunteers joined in on the fun. Today, hundreds of volunteers help him with the carving, drilling and scooping of the pumpkins. Many of the volunteers have been working on the pumpkin display year after year.

The Pumpkin House, originally known as The Beeches, was built in 1891 for a local banker and entrepreneur who was commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service under President Grover Cleveland. The house was later acquired by Ric Griffith, who is also the towns pharmacist and owns a soda fountain. The Pumpkin Houses Halloween celebration is now part of Kenovas annual AutumnFest festival celebrated on the last weekend of October.

The Pumpkin Houses Halloween decoration in 2007. Photo credit: Jennifer Pauley/Flickr

A wall of carved pumpkins representing the instruments from a symphony...at night they light up and music pours from the various sections. Photo credit: Matt/Flickr

Sources: The State Journal / We Heart WV / www.ckautumnfest.com
In the distant corner of northern Japan, a place known for terraced paddy fields and apple orchards, is the small village of Shingo, where lies a curious little attraction. Its a small mound of bare earth, in the middle of a bamboo grove, that is surrounded by a short white fence and marked with a large wooden cross. Under the pile of earth, allegedly, lies the remains of Jesus of Nazareth.

According to this bizarre folklore, Jesus did not die on the cross at Calvary; instead, it was his kid brother, Isukiri. Jesus managed to escape crucifixion by switching places with his brother, while the real son of God fled across Siberia to Aomori prefecture in the far north of Japan, where he became a rice farmer, married, had a family and eventually died of old age at 106. There is even a family in the village who is said to be the direct descendant of Christ.

Photo credit: vera46/Flickr

But there is more to the story. According to the local legend, Christ first visited Japan at the age of 21 to study theology. He stayed in Japan for 12 years learning the native language and culture before returning to Jerusalem at the age of 33 to preach.

The source of this outlandish story is the so-called Takenouchi Documents, allegedly discovered in the 1930s, that detailed the life and death of Jesus including those lost years not described in the New Testament. The missing period of Jesus early life has given rise to several speculations. Was Jesus in Britain? Did he visit Kashmir in India? According to the Takenouchi Documents, not only was Jesus in Japan, he died there as well.

The theory was perpetrated by a Shinto priest, Kyomaro Takeuchi, who claimed to have discovered the documents, written in Hebrew, in his family library. The original documents have conveniently disappeared but Japanese and English translation of these mysterious manuscripts are available.

Although scholars have dismissed the theory and the documents are widely considered a hoax, linguistics experts point out at several similarities between the Japanese language and ancient Hebrew. For instance, the name of the village was previously Herai, which some say is derived from the word Hebrai, meaning Hebrew in Japanese.

The villagers also maintain traditions that are remarkably un-Japanese. Babies are kept in woven baskets, and newborns have their foreheads marked by a cross. This symbol has no meaning in Buddhism and Shinto religion, Japans two major religions. The cross is also confusing, because if Jesus was not crucified, what does the cross signify in this corner of Japan?

There are actually two graves at Shingo. One contains the body of Jesus, and the other contains a single ear of Christs younger brother, Isukiri, who took his place at the cross. In front of the graves is a basket where pilgrims leave coins in thanks for answered prayers.

Some scholars believe that the tombs actually hold the bodies of 16th century missionaries.

Even Junichiro Sawaguchi, the eldest member of the Shingo family regarded as Christs direct descendants, doesnt truly believe in the legend, but he is wary of airing his opinion. When asked, he simply shrugs his shoulders. A City Hall bureaucrat, he has never been to a church nor read the Bible. Im Buddhist, he says.

Photo credit: vera46/Flickr

A copy of Christs Will at a museum in Shingo.

Sources: Smithsonian / Japan Times / Japan Today / BBC
The Galaxy Note 7 has been the talk of the town for a few months now for all the wrong reasons. What many touted as potentially the best Android flagship of the year turned out to be a portable fire hazard and Samsung still isnt sure what went wrong with its latest flagship. Whereas the South Korean tech giant is still in damage control mode, the rest of the industry is moving on and profiting on the back of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Many potential Galaxy Note 7 buyers are now turning to other phones, and while a recent survey conducted by ReportLinker suggests that the brand damage Samsung suffered due to this entire ordeal isnt too horrible, it also points out that the biggest winner here is  Apple.

An industry report published by Tim Long, a market analyst at BMO Capital Markets seemingly corroborates that claim. In his elaborate opinion published yesterday, Long concluded that Apple can thank Samsung for its incredible Q3 2016 profits. The Cupertino-based tech giant is now allegedly the only phone maker in the world thats actually earning money from its smartphone manufacturing business. To be more specific, Longs calculations suggest that Apples earnings account for over 103% of all operating profits in the industry. Yes, youve read that correctly. Apples profit share is over 100% because a significant amount of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like HTC are operating at a loss.

On the other hand, Samsung managed to net a minuscule 0.9% of industrys netted overall in the third quarter of the year despite holding 21.7% of global smartphone shipments, significantly more than Apple (13.2%) and more than twice as much as Huawei (9.7%). In total, Long estimates that the industry shipped 346 million smartphones during Q3. Apples share of smartphone market profits rose by 14% in comparison to the same period in 2015. Long believes that this rapid increase can mostly be attributed to Samsung who dropped the ball with the Galaxy Note 7 which went through two global recalls before it was permanently discontinued in October. Samsung is currently in the process of ramping up production of the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge in hopes that it can compensate for the premature cancellation of its latest flagship, but it seems that the damage has already been done.
The LG G5 has been one of the most interesting smartphones to come to market this year. While being the next follow-up device to the popular LG G series of smartphones, this is also one which took quite a departure from its predecessors in terms of design. Largely thanks to its adoption of modular technology. As such, the LG G5 does come with a removable base which allows for the inclusion of additional modules that are designed with specifics features in mind, like an improved camera or audio experience. However, as the LG G5 is a flagship smartphone, it is one which is a rather expensive smartphone. Although, if you had been waiting to test out LGs take on a modular smartphone, then the LG G5 is currently available to buy via deal on eBay for only $398.99.

In terms of the hard numbers, the LG G5 comes packing a 5.3-inch display which makes use of a 2560 x 1440 resolution. Inside, you can expect to find 4GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor powering the show. In addition, this is a smartphone which comes packing a dual camera setup on the back (with a 16-megapixel and an 8-megapixel sensor) as well as an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. This is a dual-SIM smartphones and is being sold as new and unlocked and will work with GSM-supported carriers in the US, including AT&T and T-Mobile. You can find out more about the LG G5 or grab one for only $401.99 by heading through the link below.
When it comes to web gateway technology, the HTTPS protocol is far more inherently secure than HTTP, but hasnt seen wide use until recently. Partly driven by a push from Google that included updates geared toward encouraging users to exercise caution with non-HTTPS websites in Chrome and to push the connection standard for their own content. Google also worked alongside website owners and content creators of all spades to help ease the pain of migrating most of the web over to HTTPS. In a blog post highlighting the fact that Googles HTTPS report card will now include overall adoption data over time, Google pointed out that over half of all traffic generated by Chrome users these days is secured via HTTPS, and that accounts for roughly two-thirds of Chrome users collective screen time.

As HTTPS continues to roll on in popularity and find itself used in more and more of the web, Google has promised to help the rollout by continuing to work with webmasters, as well as offering exclusive features that only work via HTTPS. Features that are either impractical over an insecure connection or take advantage of HTTPS quirks include the likes of credit card detail autofill, push notifications, and HTML5 geolocation. Google has also provided resources for webmasters to help ensure that things like their Google search rankings and SEO data arent affected by the jump to HTTPS.

To make HTTPS migration that much less painful, Google is also ensuring that all of their ad content is HTTPS friendly. All of the advertising served over Googles own programs, like AdWords and AdSense, are served via HTTPS, allowing webmasters to integrate the ad platforms on their newly converted HTTPS websites without any work at all. Googles partner ad platforms, such as DoubleClick For Publishers, are now required to construct ads that are HTTPS compliant, though regular HTTP versions do still exist. With Googles platforms being among the largest advertising platforms on the web, this means others will likely follow suit, eventually leaving non-HTTPS sites high and dry in the area of advertising and monetization. The push for HTTPS ubiquity is strong, and Google intends to keep it that way until the day that all web traffic is secured.
After a few years of hibernation, the Nokia brand is once again getting ready to return to the smartphone industry. A couple of weeks ago, an anonymous executive at Microsoft allegedly confirmed that new Nokia phones are slated to launch by mid-2017 and various pieces are slowly falling into place for that to happen. New Nokia-branded devices will reportedly be manufactured by the Chinese tech giant Foxconn whose partner HMD Global acquired rights to Nokias phone business from Microsoft for $350 million back in May. The Finnish firm is currently getting ready to unveil its latest offerings to the world, and the most recent report from AdWeek suggests that HMD Global isnt willing to embark on that endeavor on its own.

Namely, the company has reportedly hired Mother, an established international marketing agency with offices in London, New York, and Buenos Aires. In recent years, Mother has been responsible for various United Nations, IKEA, and Stella Artois marketing campaigns and the firm currently boasts the title of the largest independent agency of its kind in the United Kingdom. Sources indicate that Mother will start promoting the Nokia brand with a major marketing campaign which is slated to precede the upcoming worldwide launch of new Nokia-branded smartphones. The global campaign will begin at some point in early 2017, followed by a set of smaller promotions of individual product launches. Interestingly enough, the wording of the original report implies that HMD Global wont be launching its upcoming smartphones at once but will instead gradually introduce them to the market throughout 2017.

Over at the HMD Global HQ in Helsinki, Finland, the companys executives all sound rather excited about the prospect of launching a brand new lineup of Android-powered Nokia smartphones. Pekka Rantala, the recently appointed Chief Marketing Officer at the Foxconn-owned firm, stated that he believes Mother is a perfect partner for HMD Global and its efforts to revive the Nokia brand. Rantala also implied that the task of promoting new Nokia smartphones may be easier than expected given how Nokia is still an iconic, globally recognized, and trusted brand. Time will tell whether thats just blind optimism or not, but one thing is certain  Nokia is coming back in a big way.
Just about all of us have dreamed of some concept for a smartphone or accessory before. Perhaps making or even rendering it has been a different story for most of us, but the Moto team is teaming up with Indiegogo to give one lucky mobile dreamer a chance to make their idea a reality, so long as it can piggyback off of the Moto Z and its Moto Mods system. Specifically, theyre launching a contest where people can submit their Moto Mod ideas, and the best ones will not only win a Moto Z and a Mod Development Kit, but will get to consult with the creative authorities behind Motos own official Moto Mods, alongside other winning mod idealists.

The whole thing works on a point system in the first phase. All that has to be submitted for a given idea, at a basic level, is the entrants contact information, a description of the idea, a plan for making it happen, and an explanation of how the idea makes the most of the Moto Mods platform. Moto may specifically ask for more information or materials, of course. Entries are looked over by a panel of judges, who award it points based on three categories; originality, commercial potential, and how well it shows off the Moto Mods platform. Any entrant that receives more than 75 out of 100 points in those three categories from the judges will receive a Moto Z and a Mod Development Kit as a qualifying entry prize. From there, qualifying entrants will launch an IndieGoGo campaign, which they will manage themselves, while the judges watch.

Of all the qualifying entrants, only ten will make the cut for the grand prize, and be flown out to Chicago, where they will meet with Moto employees and discuss how to make their winning idea a reality. On top of the contest, Moto will be holding hackathons in the US, in New York and San Francisco, where anybody who uses a Mod Development Kit to create a Moto Mod can get it put on Indiegogo and fall in line with the qualifying entrants from the contest. Finally, Lenovo Capital has set aside a cool $1 million for the best of the best. The top working prototypes that catch executives attention will see their creators pitching to Lenovo for full funding on their idea. The contest is already underway, and those wanting to get their ideas in have until January 31, 2017 to do so.
The Google Nexus phones might be a thing of the past, as Pixel devices have taken over, but Android One phones still seem to be a thing. So, a quick recap, what exactly are Android One devices? Well, Google had started the Android One program a couple of years ago when the company partnered with three India-based smartphone manufacturers to make devices for them. The point of Android One project is that various OEMs around the world (mostly emerging markets) make hardware for Google, and Google pushes software on those phones, stock Android.

That being said, we havent really heard much about the Android One project or Android One phones in quite some time now, though Google did say a couple of times in the last year or so that Android One program is here to stay. It seems like Google was not kidding considering a new Android One device just got announced. The General Mobile GM 5 is a new Android One smartphone. This is not the first Android One smartphone General Mobile has announced, they had announced their first Android One device back in May last year. In any case, the all new General Mobile GM 5 smartphone is also a budget device, as is every other smartphone in the Android One lineup. This phone will be available in a number of countries soon, which well talk to you about in a minute, lets first take a look at the specs of this smartphone.

The General Mobile GM 5 features a 5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) OnCell IPS display, along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. The phone is fueled by the Snapdragon 410 64-bit quad-core SoC, along with the Adreno 306 GPU. On the back of this device, youll be able to find a 13-megapixel snapper, while a 5-megapixel camera is located on the front side of the device. The 2,500mAh battery is also a part of this package, and both the single SIM and dual SIM variants of this phone are available. Android 7.0 Nougat comes pre-installed on the General Mobile GM 5, while the device measures 140.5 x 69.75 x 9.3mm, and weighs 160 grams.

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The device comes in Black, Gold and Space Gray color variants, and it will become available later this month. The phone will sell in 20 countries through authorized sellers or carrier stores. These are the countries this handset will be available in: Azerbaijan, Albania, Afghanistan, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Iraq, Kenya, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Pakistan, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. That being said, we still dont know how much will the phone cost, but it will be affordable.
In a few months, YouTube will be celebrating its 12th anniversary. The most popular video service on the planet changed a lot in the meantime, but at its core, it always remained true to one idea  delivering free video content to its users and making money from advertising. Well, that business model recently started diversifying after the Alphabet-owned video platform introduced YouTube Music Key which it consequently expanded and rebranded as YouTube Red. The concept of this subscription is rather simple  for $9.99 per month, you eliminate all advertising on YouTube and also get access to some exclusive content. Is that enticing enough? Possibly, but $9.99 a month is also around what you pay for Netflix. Now, YouTube Red is currently financing some rather high-profile projects in addition to providing its current stars with funding to produce high-quality content but can videos from PewDiePie and Shane Dawson really compete with the likes of House of Cards, Narcos, Stranger Things, Daredevil, Arrested Development, and Orange Is The New Black? Yeah, probably not. Then there are thousands of other popular movies and series Netflix is hosting in addition to producing award-winning series and quite literally changing the landscape of visual media, all for $9.99 per month for an HD subscription.

Well, it seems that YouTube is finally starting to realize that. Sure, the service is still just gaining traction and has yet to roll out in most territories worldwide, but the Alphabet-owned company wouldnt be where it is today if it wasnt capable of increasing its competitiveness. At the moment, YouTube Red is only available in the United States, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. Thats not a lot of markets for a product that launched over a year ago, but YouTubes strategy is now finally coming to light. It seems that before conducting any major expansions, YouTube Red will do its best to offer customers better value for their money.

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More specifically, latest reports from The Wall Street Journal and Variety suggest that YouTube is planning to transform into an actual TV service. Sources with an intimate knowledge of the matter are claiming that the company already has a content agreement with CBS and is working on a similar deal with Disney and 21st Century Fox.

If that actually ends up happening, this is the perfect opportunity for Google to perform a corporate spin-off and let YouTube operate on its own. Now, what is a spin-off and why would it make sense for YouTube? As its name suggests, its an act of splitting the company from its parent by giving its stock to the parents shareholders. While spinning off a subsidiary is still one of the rarest corporate activities there is, for one reason or another  investors love it. Spin-offs usually lead to increased sales and growth which consequently results in rising stock value, not to mention the fact that capital markets arent prone to valuing a diversified group more than the sum of its parts. This so-called conglomerate discount is another reason why Alphabets shareholders would most likely benefit from spinning off YouTube.

In addition to that, YouTube already has most of the necessary personnel to act on its own. Back in early 2014, Google appointed Susan Wojcicki, a renowned American technology executive as the CEO of YouTube. Having been involved with Google since the late 90s, Wojcickis appointment was originally seen as more of a promotion than a strategic appointment, but these days, shes talking about YouTube as a successor to traditional television and clearly has a lot of ambitious plans for the company. Speaking at a Fortune event held earlier this month, Wojcicki described the fact that people under 35 are moving away from conventional TV services as a tremendous opportunity for YouTube.

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Couple that with the aforementioned content deals with CBS and other major content creators and you have a perfect platform for a spinoff. If YouTube becomes a major player in the online TV market, Alphabet could get in trouble with antitrust watchdogs seeing how it would be able to control YouTube Red content, delivery of the thereof via Google Fiber, and advertising on the platform via Google AdWords. Traditional cable service providers certainly wouldnt sit idly and watch that happen as theyd probably jump at the first opportunity to complain to regulators about the unfair advantage YouTube would have as a subsidiary of one of the largest tech giants on the planet.

So, if Google, i.e. Alphabet would separate YouTube from its core business, that would preemptively solve a lot of these potential issues given how the company would then have enough freedom to partner with other advertising and distribution networks. Calculated use of these options would probably be enough to avoid too much scrutiny from regulators and the industry itself. In other words, YouTube is showing visible signs of wanting to transform YouTube Red into a comprehensive, general purpose TV subscription service but before it can do that, it has to consider that move in the context of already controlling a significant part of the media distribution and online monetization landscape in the US. Spinning off YouTube into a separate entity isnt the only solution to potential issues that could arise if YouTube Red starts competing with the likes of Hulu and Netflix, but it certainly seems like the most convenient one.
Privacy is one of our greatest gifts living in a free and democratic society, but as we branch out using electronic devices, that wall of confidentiality becomes ever so shrinking. This is becoming very apparent when Quebec provincial police confessed that several reporters cell phones were spied on during 2013. It appears this was necessary as part of a police inquiry after a labor union boss filed a complaint that his name was leaked to the public. Unnamed sources revealed that the Surete du Quebec (Quebec Provincial Police, QPP) were tracking three Radio-Canada journalists. This brings the total to six people after a Montreal newspaper reporter revealed that the police were tracking his portable phone calls.

The current hosts of the investigative program, Enquete, Marie-Maude Denis and Isabelle Richer as well as the shows former host, Alain Gravel, were having their incoming/outgoing phone calls and texts tracked by the police. Denis tweeted in French, Ive just learned that my incoming and outgoing calls have been spied on by the Surete du Quebec in 2013. Gravel said, My turn to get a confirmation that I was targeted by court mandates to obtain a log of my calls by the SQ. Richer tweeted, Surreal  The SQ spied on my cell phone following a formal complaint made by Michel Arsenault in 2013. Crime reporter Eric Thibault and La Presses National Assembly bureau chief Denis Lessard and an unnamed journalist were all targets of the police investigation.

Michel Arsenault was the president of Quebecs Federation of Labor (FTQ) at the time and came under fire when a witness revealed that some labor unions had ties with organized crime and Arsenault was aware of it but turned a blind eye and did nothing to alleviate the situation. Arsenault was furious to know how his name got leaked to the public and filed a formal a letter of complaint to the SQ. This action forced the police to make a formal inquiry and probably prompted the warrant for their cell phone activity.

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SQ spokesman Capt. Guy Lapointe told CBC that since 2013 there are new protocols and people in place. He pointed out that this incident happened during a prior administration and that it is now much harder to target a reporter. It must follow a chain of command with final approval by the director. Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux is convening a panel to launch an administrative inquiry and that there could be sanctions. Earlier this week it was revealed, the Montreal police obtained 24 warrants this past year to track one of La Presses columnists. This prompted another uproar and La Presse to take legal action against the Montreal police. Gravel said, I dont think weve seen such a crisis here in the history of journalism. We have to get the facts and then make sure that measures are taken to make sure this doesnt happen again.
For some, it might feel like a lifetime ago that the Nokia name disappeared altogether from the smartphone market, but in reality its only been a year or two. Those who were big, big Nokia fans will remember what happened to the Finnish brand quite well. For those not familiar, however, Nokia started to use Windows Phone software exclusively for their devices, leading to the Lumia line of products, and after a time, Microsoft ended up purchasing the phone business part of Nokia, which effectively meant buying the Lumia part of the company back in 2014 for something in the region of $7 Billion. As part of the deal, Nokia was unable to release a competing product into the market until a two-year time period had passed. Now, that time appears to be up, as theres more talk than ever of Nokia returning to the smartphone world, and it could happen before the end of this year.

According to a report from Chinese publication, The Paper, Mike Wang, President of Nokia Networks Chinese Division, has said that both smartphones and tablets are scheduled for release this Quarter. Given that weve just entered Q4 of 2016, itd be interesting to see such devices launch this late in the year, but as weve recently heard, Nokia has seemingly lined up a big marketing firm to help promote these devices. Back in May of this year, Foxconn subsidiary HMD Global acquired the rights to the Nokia brand where smartphones were concerned, and it sounds as though a release of these new devices could be just around the corner.

As for tablets, Nokia and Foxconn have already partnered before, with the launch of the Nokia N1 tablet. With smartphones and tablets specifically named by the report out of China, we could be about to see a whole new line of devices launch from Nokia. Of course, whether or not this report is true, we cant be certain of. One thing is for sure, however, and thats that the Nokia brand will be returning to the smartphone world, whether thats this year or next. There has been too much noise surrounding this, and with Nokia executives letting the cat out of the bag, and an appearance during Mobile World Congress next march, it looks all but set to happen sooner, rather than later.
Its not uncommon to see the four largest wireless carriers in the United States targeting each other in their advertising. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint regularly air ads highlighting competitors weaknesses, and weve seen numerous example of such practices this year alone. However, T-Mobile just adopted a slightly different approach and decided to directly address some of the claims recently made by Verizon, including ones made about T-Mobile. In a 4-minute YouTube video published earlier today, T-Mobiles CEO, John Legere, states that hes proud the largest wireless carrier in the country is spending money on airing primetime ads which attack T-Mobile. Legere labels these ads as a fantastic accomplishment for his company, explaining that theyre proof Verizon is upset that T-Mobile is stealing their customers, due to offering a better service for less money.

With that said, T-Mobiles CEO continues his monolog by asserting that he wants to set the record straight regarding some lies Verizon allegedly conveyed in their advertising. For starters, Legere claims that the network advantage Verizon built its entire brand on has now disappeared as T-Mobile is already offering LTE coverage in more than 99% of the areas that Verizon does, adding that T-Mobile continues to boast the fastest average speeds in the country. Legere goes on to speculate about the largest US carrier being nervous after its Q3 2016 financials revealed that 36,000 of postpaid customers have moved on to other providers and then follows up on that train of thought with some harsher worded statements regarding Verizon lying to consumers by stating that T-Mobile doesnt offer unlimited high-speed service, labeling the Big Red as the king of overcharges.

Legere spends the next two minutes of the video addressing a lot of other statements which he deems to be untruthful on Verizons part. Some of them include the companys claim it has the only next-gen wireless technology in the US, the announcement of the Google Pixel being available only on Verizon, and the statement that T-Mobile never won any awards. Finally, Legere concludes his monolog by stating that Verizon isnt just afraid of T-Mobile, but the future as a whole, noting how that isnt surprising for an old telecom giant. The video ends with Legere looking to start an new hashtag trend  #DontGetVerizoned  adding that friends dont let friends get verizoned.' Those interested, can check out Legeres latest video below.
Choi Soon-sil, a long-time friend of the South Korean President Park Geun-hye, leaves after attending an investigation to determine an arrest warrant's validity at a court in Seoul, South Korea, November 3, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL - The Seoul District Court on Thursday night issued a warrant to formally arrest President Park Geun-hye's confidante over a political scandal, according to a report from Yonhap.

The court said it is necessary to arrest Choi Soon-sil in a bid to carry out a thorough probe into the political scandal.

Choi Soon-sil has been put under custody since late Monday after questioned by prosecutors.

Choi, 60, is suspected of meddling in government decisions including the shutdown of the last remaining symbol of inter-Korea economic cooperation and the editing of one of Park's most important speeches made in 2014 in Dresden, Germany that laid out a vision for reunification of the two Koreas.

President Park made a public apology early last week following a report of local cable channel JTBC that Choi had accessed speeches of the president even before they were actually delivered.

Yonhap also quoted the presidential office as reporting that President Park will deliver another address to the nation on Friday.

Approval rating for President Park has dropped to the lowest since her inauguration in February 2013.
Gina Miller v The Daily Mail: the fearless City guru who began a filthy foreign gold digger

The United Kingdoms exit from the European Union has been delayed because judges did their jobs. For Leavers and anyone who values democracy, that is disappointing news. The better news is that the media has a new idol. Its Gina Miller. Who she? The Daily Mail has lots:

April 11, 2016: the Mail first notices Gina Miller. She is the Glamorous investment manager. She is a feisty investment manager who delights industry critics with her fearless cage rattling.

We got to appraise her assets. Unsurprisingly, stylish Guyanan-born Gina is not short on admirers, says the Mail. During her modelling days Im told she was the inspiration behind racy playwright Dennis Potters 1989 BBC drama Blackeyes, starring sexy Gina Bellman as a much-desired fashion vixen.

Phwaor!

Fast forward to the post-Brexit appeal to the judiciary to let Parliament delay the will of the people, and Gina Miller has a new Daily Mail profile.

On June 22, the Mail was looking again at Gina Miller. She is no longer the Glamorous investment manager, but the Glamorous Guyanan-born investment manager. She was at an EU Ref debate politely arguing the benefits of remaining in the EU.

A boorish audience member shouted: I dont see why anyone should listen to you. Perhaps you should stay in the kitchen. Witnesses report Miller maintained her composure and ignored the oafish heckler. A pity. The feisty mother-of-three, 55, is a tough cookie with a spectacularly acid tongue.

Those boorish oafs who attack the polite, glamorous woman are fools. And know that she is 55 years young.

On October 17, the Mail noted: Campaigners led by former model Gina Miller, 51, have mounted a historic challenge to argue that Mrs May cannot leave the EU without the prior authorisation of Parliament.

A short profile was included on now the 51-year-old

Ms Miller, a campaigning former model who is married to a multi-millionaire fund manager, was a supporter of Remain during the referendum campaign and has previously said she felt physically sick when she heard the result.

This week, Gina Miller gets lots of coverage in the Mail. She is the financial entrepreneur Gina Miller. She is the businesswoman and former model whogoaded Brexiteers by saying they should celebrate the ruling.

On November 3rd, Gina Miller is reduced to being the Wife of Mr Hedge Fund. Her foreign roots are once amore front and centre.

Martin Robinsons story begins:

The wife of a millionaire financier nicknamed Mr Hedge Fund today faced accusations she had derailed British democracy with her Brexit victory.

Is that boorish to reduce the glamorous and stylish tough cookie campaigner (source: Daily Mail) to the role of Her Indoors?

On November 4th, the Mail was outraged. Gina Miller as being targeted by nasties.

Remainer Gina Miller is bombarded by vile abuse threatening death and rape after her High Court anti-Brexit victory

Trolls called for the lawyer to be shot while another wished cancer on her

Others called for the Guyanese-born mother-of-three, 51, to be deported

The 51-year-old, who voted Remain, brought case following referendum

Alexander Robertson begins his story with Oh, but before that, did the Mail tell you that Miller was 51? It did. Twice. Oh, good. And did it mention that she was born in Guyana? It did. Perfect. Now read on:

The woman accused of derailing British democracy following her Brexit victory in the High Court has received rape and death threats online. Gina Miller has been targeted on social media by online trolls, with calls from some for her to be shot dead, while others wished cancer on her. The mother-of-three, who was born in Guyana but grew up in Britain, was called a foreigner and an immigrant by some, with others saying she should be deported.

You wonder where these trolls got the idea that Gina Miller  once glamours and now just a woman  was foreign-born, and that the place of her birth is central to the story?

Richard Littlejohn uses his Mail column to call Gina Miller a City slicker.

His fellow columnist Katie Hopkins opines:

Gina Miller  The woman with the cash who brought this case against the government said Brexit had made her feel physically sick. Looking at this Guyanan-born wife of a multi-millionaire, laughing in the faces of ordinary Brits, her smug face makes me feel much the same way.

Gina Sunderland picks up a wooden ball to lob at Gina. She writes: There is a whiff of the Jackie Collins heroine about Gina Miller  at least in the version she tells of her life story.

Jackie Collins wrote fiction. Is Sunderland implying that Gina Millers life story is untrue? She continues:

She says she struggled alone to bring up a daughter with special needs and claims to have endured a troubled relationship  before emerging triumphant to find happiness with a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager husband. Often described as a former model  though it is not clear exactly when she was modelling  three-times married Mrs Miller styles herself as an investment guru and philanthropist.

The Mail has called her a model many times (see above) and a fierce campaigner in the City (see above).

Sunderland adds:

As a young woman in the 1980s, La Miller is said to have been the inspiration behind Dennis Potters sexually charged TV drama Blackeyes about a model played by her slinky namesake Gina Bellman.

Said by the Mail (see above):

Whether this story, or the tale that her silhouette was used in the opening credits of a Bond film, is true remains open to question. But she has done little to dispel the rumours.

You might suppose a national newspaper with huge resources could check these rumours  and its own reporting (see above)  to find the facts now fit to print in shadow. But no.

Sunderland has more to add:

Now a mother of three aged 51, Mrs Miller is a woman whose sultry appearance can still turn heads. For her victory speech yesterday outside court, she was dressed, librarian-style, in a blue tweed jacket and high-necked navy T-shirt. Usually, though, she prowls the City  where in some quarters she is known as the black widow after her campaign to force investment firms to make their charges clearer and cheaper  in killer heels and tight- fitting frocks.

Philanthropic? Investments guru? Is Gina self-styled thus or said to be so by the, er, Daily Mail?

And then Ruth looks at Mr Miller:

Today the balding, bespectacled financier is worth nearer 30million. Some have wondered why a livewire like Mrs Miller is married to him. Cynics may say she has about thirty million good reasons.

Cynics? Or boors?

Paul Sorene

Posted: 4th, November 2016 | In: Reviews, Tabloids Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
Happy Marijuanikkah! Cannabis is Kosher

Good news for you frumer yidden who like a toke on Shabbos. Cannabis is kosher. The bad news is, of course, that because everything made kosher is more expensive than the non-kosher strain, your Friday night joint will set you back a tidy sum.

But never mind the cost. Rejoice!

The Israel National News say Israeli clerics Rabbi Kanievksy and Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein say weed has a healing smell and blessed the leaves. In January 2016, a body called the Orthodox Union certified medicinal marijuana as kosher.

Rabbi Efraim Zalmanovich, an orthodox rabbi of some reputation, has issued a religious ruling sanctifying the use of marijuana. The rabbis ruling clarifies an opinion by Rabbi Hagai Bar Giora, of the Israeli chief rabbinate, who in March 2013 told reporters, If you smoke it, there is no problem whatsoever.

No problem.

Karen Strike

Posted: 4th, November 2016 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
Gordon Anglesea: protected, persecuted and finally prosecuted

Gordon Anglesea was a top copper in north Wales when he was molesting children. Today he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his abhorrent crimes.

Gordon Anglesea is 79.

He was convicted of one charge of indecent assault against one boy, and three indecent assaults against another. His offences took place between 1982 and 1987, when both boys were aged 14 or 15.

Judge Geraint Walters said Anglesea was beyond reproach.

The BBC delivers a timeline of the conniving copper:

1967  Anglesea starts work as a police officer in Cheshire. He later resigned following a marriage breakdown and joined Flintshire constabulary.

1976  Promoted to inspector in Wrexham and in 1978, becomes responsible for the Bromfield area which included the Bryn Estyn childrens home

1978  Sets up a Home Office attendance centre in Wrexham

1988  Becomes a superintendent in Colwyn Bay

And then:

1991  Retires suddenly after 34 years service. Later that year the Independent On Sunday runs an article about Angleseas connections with Bryn Estyn. Similar stories follow in the Observer, Private Eye and on HTV Wales.

He said he was libelled. Anglesea said he had never molested boys when working as uniformed police inspector. The courts agreed. But he was lying.

1994  Sues the four media organisations for libel and is awarded 375,000 in damages

1997  Answers questions about allegations of sexual abuse before the north Wales child abuse tribunal.

2000  The Waterhouse report says the allegations about Anglesea had not been proved to our satisfaction

The Times reported on February 16, 2000:

Widespread sexual abuse of boys and girls occurred in childrens residential homes in North Wales between 1974 and 1990, according to the Waterhouse tribunals report, Lost In Care. It found that a paedophile ring did exist in the Wrexham and Chester areas, consisting of adult men targeting boys in their mid-teens. Youngsters in care were particularly vulnerable to their approaches. The tribunal was appointed in 1996 by William Hague, who was then Welsh Secretary, after Clwyd County Council decided against publishing a report by a social services expert, John Jillings, into abuse of children in care. The council feared that it would be sued for defamation; it was also warned against publication by its insurers because of the possible effect of compensation claims. Although by 1996 12 people in North Wales had been convicted of abusing children, there was speculation that the abuse was on a much greater scale. In 1986, Alison Taylor, officer-in-charge of Ty Newydd local authority childrens home in Bangor, had complained to her superiors in Gwynedd County Council about alleged assaults on children. Dissatisfied with the response, she spoke to Keith Marshall, a county councillor, who reported her concerns to the Chief Constable of North Wales. A police investigation was carried out by Detective Chief Superintendent Gwynne Owen, head of North Wales CID, from 1986 to 1988. The Crown Prosecution Service recommended no criminal proceedings. The investigation is described in the report as defective, sluggish and shallow. Eric Davies, chairman of Clwyd social services, wrote a memorandum about Ms Taylor saying: She is a blatant troublemaker, with a most devious personality  I would very humbly suggest  that this ladys services be dispensed with at the earliest possible time. Ms Taylor was suspended and eventually accepted voluntary redundancy. However, she contacted the Prime Minister, Welsh Office, Health Secretary and Local Government Ombudsman. She compiled a voluminous document that was presented to the new social services chairman, Malcolm King, in 1991. He reported it to the police. The report states that without Alison Taylors complaints, there would have been no public inquiry into the alleged abuse of children in Gwynedd. In general terms, she has been vindicated. The response by senior management at Gwynedd County Council to her complaints was discouraging and inappropriate. The Welsh Offices response was inadequate. The ensuing North Wales Police investigation, from 1991-93, took statements from more than 500 former childrens home residents who complained of abuse. Some of the most chilling came from beyond the grave. At least 12 children formerly in care have died, most by their own hand. Statements made by six, who died after telling police in the early 1990s about abuse and brutality in the Bryn Estyn community home in Wrexham, were read to the inquiry. As the police investigation continued, newspaper articles, beginning with the Independent on Sunday, linked a former police superintendent, Gordon Anglesea, to child sexual abuse. He successfully sued for libel, receiving damages of Pounds 375,000, in 1994. The tribunal heard evidence alleging that Mr Anglesea did commit serious sexual misconduct at Bryn Estyn, but were not persuaded that the libel jurys verdict was wrong. The report details the abuse experienced by children from the 1970s and names some of the perpetrators. At the local authority-run Bryn Estyn, senior officers Peter Howarth and Stephen Norris sexually assaulted and buggered many boys. Norris continued to abuse boys as officer-in-charge of another home, Cartrefle, until he was arrested.

Alison Taylor, as described by the Guardian in 1998:

In North Wales, it was Alison Taylor, the manager of a childrens home, who spent five years banging on the door of her employers at Gwynedd Council, the police, the Welsh Office, the Department of Health, and the Social Services Inspectorate. All turned her away. Undaunted, she compiled a dossier of 75 separate allegations, won the backing of two local councillors and finally secured the conviction of four men for an orgy of abuse. As a result, the Government finally ordered the vast public inquiry which has now heard nearly 300 former residents of homes make detailed complaints of physical and sexual assault against148 adults. By that time, however, Alison Taylor had been suspended and sacked.

Time rolled on.

2014  Arrested and bailed by officers from Operation Pallial, an investigation into child abuse in north Wales care homes

2015  Charged with historical sex offences

2016  GORDON ANGLESEA IS JAILED.

Anglesea was investigated as part of Operation Pallial. As a results, 8 men have been convicted, including care home owner John Allen, who was jailed for life in 2014.

John Allen was 73 when he was jailed.

Old men get it in the neck after years of getting away with it.

Former hotelier Allen opened his first home, Bryn Alyn Hall in Llay, near Wrexham, in 1968, although he did not have any qualifications in childcare, his trial was told.

He set up the Bryn Alyn Community, which was to become one of the UKs largest providers of residential care, providing accommodation for children sent from about a dozen local authorities. During the trial, which began in early October, the jury was told of Allens previous conviction in 1995 for six counts of indecent assault involving repeated abuse of six boys dating from the 1970s. More victims came forward following the publication of the Waterhouse report into abuse in north Wales care homes in 2001 and after Operation Pallial was set up.

One former resident at the Bryn Alyn childrens home said living there wasnt care, it was like hell.

Denial and despair in North Wales (September 1997), The Guardian, September 1997, by Nick Davies:

Without power to resist, the children were utterly vulnerable to the paedophiles who had infiltrated the homes. They became sex objects  in the dormitory and in the sick bay, in Peter Howarths flat and in Stephen Norris room, in the showers, in the staff room, in the bath, in cars, in sheds, in tents, on the tow path of a canal; with men, with women, with residential workers, social workers and with anyone else who wanted them because on the evidence of these survivors, in these childrens homes, no paedophile ever failed to get his or her way For the adults, this was a world without boundaries: a woman worker saw a good-looking 14-year-old boy so she screwed him; a man saw a 12-year-old girl who was pretty so he pulled her into a shed and raped her. One boy was allegedly being used for sex by both his housemaster and the female deputy housemaster. When a teacher complained about this, and took the boy home to protect him, his superiors alleged that he, too, was abusing the child. The teacher protested his innocence, explaining that it was his wife and not he who had also started having sex with the boy. 

Many simply buckled and did everything they could to comply, searching for favour from their tormentors. One man described how he had been anally raped with such violence that his backside had bled for days. He was afraid that someone would be cross with him for having blood on his underpants and so, several times, he had secretly taken them and flushed them down the loo.  Two girls ran away and were picked up by police who told them they were lying about conditions in the home. Once the police had left them, one of the women recalled, a care worker punched her in the stomach while her friend was taken into a side room, from which she emerged later with a bruised eye and a split lip. On at least 12 occasions, over the years, police were asked to investigate allegations of violence or paedophilia in the homes but, almost always, their inquiries came to nothing.

Who knew about Anglesea? And why did it take so long for Officer Anglesea to face justice?

Anorak

Posted: 4th, November 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Rome, November 4 - A team of Italian and French researchers are developing a vaccine against stomach cancer, the fifth most frequent type of tumour in Europe, sources said Friday.

The vaccine essentially trains the body to resist H. pylori bacteria, which cause ulcers and are thought to be the main cause of cancer of the GI tract.

"It is made up of a genetically engineered recombinant protein of H. pylori, and human testing could start in four years," Experimental Medicine Professor Mario Milco D'Elios from Florence University told ANSA. The scientists from Florence and Padua universities and from the Pasteur Institute in Paris are testing the vaccine on animals, and the first experimental results will be made known at an upcoming Florence conference titled Vaccines: a Benefit for Women, Children, and Humanity at Large.

The conference was set up in the wake of a rash of meningitis in Tuscany - with 45 confirmed cases this year - that has claimed 10 lives, Milco D'Elios said.


(ANSA) - Milan, November 4 - Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Managing Director Carlo Messina said Friday he would only intervene in aid of other banks under orders. "I will make no contribution unless it's mandatory," he told analysts. "Our attitude is we can only contribute on a mandatory basis". Intesa Sanpaolo is Italy's second-largest lender after UniCredit.

Messina also said the setting up of the private Atlante (Atlas) fund to shore up Italy's weaker banks was "a good idea" because it neutralized the main systemic risks to the nation's credit system.

"We're ready to be in the position to commit one billion euros (and we might) add 150 million euros, not more," he said.

The banker added that Atlante has achieved its first target with the bailouts of Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza.

"The second target, which was the sale of our non-performing loans (NPLs), is not achievable," Messina said.

The lender cut its NPLs by 5 billion euros over the past 12 months, with the incidence of net deteriorated loans on overall credit down from 10% to 8.5%. "This positive trend will continue in the coming quarters," Messina said.

"The flow of deteriorated credit is at its lowest point since the creation of Intesa Sanpaolo in 2007. Our provisioning policy is marked by the usual caution - we will reap further benefits in the coming months and years". Intesa Sanpaolo posted net income of 2.3 billion euros in the first three quarters, Messina added.

"We have therefore already exceeded the 3 billion euros called for by our business plan to carry out a cash dividend distribution in the current year," the executive said.

"Intesa Sanpaolo has positioned itself among Europe's most efficient banks with a cost-to-income ratio of under 50%, against a sector average of 65%. We're also among Europe's most profitable banks, thanks to key contributions from every division," he said. The last quarter results will tell whether Intesa Sanpaolo can achieve its target income of 4 billion in 2017 as per its business plan, the executive said.


PARIS - The first phase of an evacuation of migrants staying at a camp in north-east Paris started on Friday morning at the presence of 600 police officers.



Housing Minister Emanuelle Cosse said an estimated 3,000-3,500 migrants will be transferred to migrant hosting centers.



The first bus arrived at 6:10 am local time Friday with a total of 80 available to transfer the migrants.



The immigrants - including Somali, Sudanese, Afghan and Eritrean nationals - will be transferred to 80 centers in the region of the French capital. (ANSAmed).
BRUSSELS - The European Council (EC) on Friday endorsed a 200-million-euro loan to help Jordan manage its refugee crisis and promote its agenda of reforms.



The EC Permanent Representatives Committee approved a decision that had already been informally agreed upon with the European Parliament to provide the macro-financial assistance, which will be available for two and a half years and will be disbursed in two instalments to be paid back within 15 years.



"In the light of the challenges Jordan faces in hosting more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees, the Commission will, if appropriate, make a proposal in 2017 to extend and increase the financial assistance," the EC said in a statement.



The loan is subject to conditions, including that Jordan "respects effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary system" as well as the rule of law and guaranteed respect for human rights.



The European Parliament must now approve the decision for it to be officially adopted by the EC and go into effect.
Renzi worried about situation in Turkey - sources Premier concerned about political use of new law on MPs immunity

(ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 4 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi is following developments in Turkey with great concern, sources at the premier's office Palazzo Chigi said on Friday.



The sources said the political use of new legislation on parliamentary immunity would be considered unacceptable following the arrest of the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and 10 other HDP lawmakers. (ANSAmed).




Two former aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could face 20 years in prison over their role in Bridgegate, which involved tying up traffic on the George Washington Bridge and in the nearby town of Fort Lee to seek revenge against the towns mayor.



Two former aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were convicted by a jury at a U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J. over their role in Bridgegate, a scheme that was concocted to snarl traffic on the George Washington Bridge and in the neighboring town of Fort Lee for several days as an act of revenge against Fort Lees mayor because he would not endorse Christie for reelection.

Bill Baroni, who was Christies appointee as deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the very agency that operates the bridge, as well as Bridget Anne Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff, were each found guilty on seven counts that included conspiracy and wire fraud.

According to the New York Times, the two could face 20 years in prison, but the United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, said before the trial his office would not recommend Kelly and Baroni serve such long sentences.

Traffic lanes on the bridge were purposely closed in September 2013 under the guise of a traffic study, producing massive traffic jams.

As the investigation into the tie-ups proceeded, and it became apparent that government officials had instigated them, the scandal became a distraction for the port authority and a blow to the morale of its employees.

One of the largest such agencies in the country, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey not only operates bridges and tunnels connecting New Jersey and New York City, but is the landlord to the nations third largest port and operates a half dozen airports.

Friday afternoon the Port Authority issued a statement which said: This phase of the judicial process has now concluded with respect to the individuals involved. Following the sordid and troubling revelations about how the Port Authority was misused and diverted from its mission, our work toward institutionalizing agency reform will continue with renewed vigor to achieve a culture of honesty, public service, transparency and accountability. We are resolved to prevent any recurrence of events that have damaged the agency and public and unfairly besmirched our talented and professional staff.
The emirate wants to boost annual passenger flows at its Dubai (DXB) and Al Maktoum (DWC) international airports to 146 million by 2025 from 78.5 million last year.

"Dubai remains firmly committed to the development of the Al Maktoum International Airport and to the growth of the global aviation sector, and this initial $3bn transaction to support Dubais ambitious 2025 passenger capacity targets is testament to our belief," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubais Supreme Fiscal Committee. DXB is already the worlds busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic handling the bulk  78 million  of the emirates 2015 throughput.



From 2025, DWC will become Dubais primary airport and home to Emirates Airline.


This was the strongest year-over-year increase in seven months. Capacity climbed 6.6% and load factor edged up 0.3 percentage points to 81.1%. Growth in domestic traffic slightly outpaced growth in international traffic.

Middle East carriers had an 11.5% rise in demand in September compared to a year ago, which was the largest increase among regions. Capacity rose faster, however, up 13.8%, and load factor dropped 1.5 percentage points to 73.9%.

Septembers growth in passenger demand was healthy. Importantly, this rebound from August weakness suggests that travel demand is showing its resilience in the aftermath of terror attacks. We must, of course, be ever-alert to the on-going terror threat. And overall the industry is still vulnerable to being buffeted by rising geopolitical tensions, protectionist political agendas, and weak economic fundamentals. This will still be a good year for the airline industrys performance, but our profitability will continue to be hard-won, said Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs Director General and CEO.

International Passenger Markets

International RPKs climbed 6.9% with airlines in all regions recording growth compared to 2015. Total capacity climbed 7.2%, causing load factor to slide 0.2 percentage points to 80.4%.

European carriers saw September demand rise 5.2% over September 2015. Capacity rose 5.7% and load factor slipped 0.4 percentage points to 84.8%, which was the highest among regions. Demand growth seems to be returning to normal after the disruption caused by terrorism and political instability.

Asia-Pacific airlines traffic rose 8.6% in September compared to the year-ago period, although there are still signs of Asian travelers being put off by terrorism in Europe. Capacity increased 7.7%, and load factor rose 0.7 percentage points to 77.9%.

North American airlines experienced a 3.3% rise in demand. While the upward trend in international traffic has eased of late, seasonally-adjusted passenger volumes have risen at an annualized rate of 6% since March. Capacity rose 4.2% and load factor fell 0.7 percentage points to 81.5%.

Latin American airlines September traffic rose 7.1% compared to the same month last year, aided by strong demand on international routes within the region. Capacity climbed just 2.4% and load factor surged 3.6 percentage points to 83.7%, second highest among regions.

African airlines posted an 8% rise in traffic which was matched by an equivalent rise in capacity. Load factor was almost flat at 72.0%. The strong demand increase largely reflected favourable year-ago comparisons, as economic conditions in much of the continent remain challenging.
Qatar Airways has become the first airline to fly a regular Boeing 787 Dreamliner service to and from Clark International Airport.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker said: We are delighted to be the first carrier to fly the state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Clark International Airport. The Boeing Dreamliner aircraft is one of the flagship aeroplanes in our fleet today and its introduction to Clark International Airport reaffirms our commitment to the Philippines market. The Dreamliner has received very positive feedback in the cities we fly the aircraft to, and we hope our Philippines passengers will enjoy this technologically advanced aircraft that will offer them unparalleled in-flight comfort.

Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) President Alexander Cauguiran commented: "The arrival of Qatar Airways award-winning Dreamliner aircraft is a welcome development for Clark International Airport as we strive to develop ourselves into the next premier international gateway of the Philippines. We look forward to forging a stronger partnership with Qatar Airways who has been a strong supporter of CIAC for the past few years.
On June 15 this year, Roketsan Missiles Industries and Airbus Helicopters signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate the Turkish companys Cirit 2.75in laser-guided rocket on the Airbus Helicopters H135M and H145M for marketing in Turkey and the international market.

This was only the latest in a long and growing list of integration contracts for the Cirit, which is one of Roketsans best-known and most widely used products.

Having started operations in 1988 with little more than a skeleton team, Roketsan today is a global defence company with more than 1,900 personnel, 52 % of whom are engineers, with an invested capital of TRY4 billion ($1,38bn) and an accumulation of technologies and engineering experience.

The company is currently widening its product range to cover the land, air and sea weapon domains, and has already branched out to provide systems to a wide range of international customers.

Roketsan started out by manufacturing the propulsion system of the FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) infrared homing surface-to-air missiles produced within the framework of the international Stinger European joint production project.

The composite-fuelled launching and flight motor was one of the critical subsystems of the Stinger missile, and Roketsan was established because the required composite solid fuel technology was not available in Turkey at that time, but would clearly be a cornerstone of any indigenous rocket and missile industry.

The company rapidly gained an enviable reputation within the Stinger programme, routinely making shipments with zero defects before the required deadline.

Participation in the Stinger project allowed Roketsan to gain experience, confidence and credibility, providing the foundations for subsequent solo projects and further collaborative ventures.

Between 1992-1995 it carried out an ambitious missile design infrastructure development project, training personnel and developing design tools necessary for a new design-focused era for the company. This led to the development and production of the composite-fuelled, 11km-range TR-107 rocket and the 40km-range TR-122 rocket, as well as the Sakarya multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) weapon system. All were produced for the Turkish Armed Forces before the Stinger project was completed in 1999.

Towards the end of the 1990s, the companys attention focused on the production of long-range rockets and missiles, which were intended to increase the firepower of Turkeys land forces. New technologies were acquired, and the company produced the Kasrga (Hurricane) and Yldrm (Lighting) missile and weapons systems.

The first export contracts for rockets and weapon systems were signed in 2004, and the Cirit 2.75in laser-guided rocket project was initiated by the Ministry of National Defense the same year. The weapon incorporated a number of advanced technologies including laser guidance, intermediate stage guidance, and an insensitive rocket motor and warhead.

From 2005, Roketsan built up an extensive industrial structure and began the development of a number of original missile systems, including the UMTAS long-range anti-tank missile, OMTAS medium-range anti-tank missile and HISAR-A low altitude air defence missile system.

These weapons introduced further new technologies, including on-board radio frequency (RF) data links, imaging infrared (IIR) seeker heads, multi-stage propulsion systems, and insensitive tandem warheads. They required more complex platform integration.

More recently, the company has produced the SOM-J air-launched cruise missile, already in service on Turkish Air Force F-4 Phantoms and F-16 Fighting Falcons, and offered to equip the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

A production contract for the Cirit rocket was signed in 2011 and the weapon was introduced to service with the Turkish armed forces in May 2012.

Roketsan strengthened its position in June 2012 by merging with Tapasan AS (Fuze Industries Inc), which had been established to meet the fuze requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces as an affiliate of the Turkish Armed Forces strengthening foundation (TSKGV).

In 2013, Turkey Roketsan began the construction of its first satellite-launching centre, initially for low Earth orbit satellites.


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.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire regime more than 41 times in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, the Defense Ministry of NKR told ARMENPRESS.

The ministrys statement reads: Overnight November 3-4 Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact more than 41 times, firing around 530 shots from various caliber small arms at Armenian positions.

In the eastern and northern directions of the line of contact, Azerbaijani forces fired a DShk type heavy machine gun (16 rounds).

The Defense Army forces mainly refrained from taking countermeasures and confidently continued protection of military positions.
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We provide animal food and sometimes we provide food for thought, says owner Don Spearman.

Customer service, some would say, comes naturally when you are doing what you love to do, and it is evident with every visit to Double D Animal Nutrition and Supply that Spearman and his son Dustin, along with Sara Langenegger and Alex Montes, love to sell feed and tell stories. You dont leave the feed store without a new story if they can help it.

I do this because I enjoy it, and I enjoy the people that come here, and I enjoy this line of work, Don says. I would like to think that we treat people like we would like to be treated.

The sign above the counter is still there, reading Feed, bought and sold, lies and stories, swapped and told.

The Spearmans have been in the feed store business in Artesia for almost 14 years now, and their plans havent changed from the day they opened. That is to continue to serve the needs of Artesians who both depend upon and care about their animals for as long as they are able.

As hard as it is to deal with the public, it is interesting to deal with people who own animals because they all have a story, Don says. All of them relate to their grandfather, their father, their mother. So everyone that comes into the store has something in common with us  we all want to take care of animals. They come here to buy feed, and we can share stories about animals. They want to take care of their animals, and thats the same thing we want. Everybody has a story.

When you feel like you have helped somebody and they come back or call to say it worked or they need something different or whatever, then its all just a great big day of enjoyment.

When talking with Dustin, you can easily tell he is his fathers son.

We have the best customer service because we are just friendly people, he says.

Dustin learned to like to talk to the customers when he was at the store by himself in the early days. He said he would get lonely and would catch himself walking the customer all the way to the truck, not wanting them to leave.

When asked if she had ever met a customer she just couldnt talk to, Langenegger says, I met one that threw me out of the back of the truck and smashed me, but I can still talk to him.

She feels being voted Best Customer Service in Artesia is quite an honor.

I try to treat everyone who walks in the door like I would want my mother treated, Langenegger says.

She has a vast knowledge of animals and animal science, with her bachelors degree in agriculture and minors in agricultural communications, agricultural marketing, and animal science. Spearman says she has been a great addition to the feed store team.

Langenegger, in turn, says Montes does a wonderful job, as well, and we are especially grateful for him as well as his ability to communicate with our Spanish-speaking customers.

Everybody from every walk of life has a story, something unique to them, and they all have something to bring to the table. And you can learn something from every one of them, and I want to walk away from each day knowing that I did.

Our plan of the day, each and every day, is to see who comes in the door and see how we can help them get what they need, Don says.
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Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly rejected all distinctions based on class and social status. Music is for everyone, he said. It is spiritual food, a prime necessity of life.

Kodalys progressive, humanitarian philosophy closely parallels that of Chamber Music Michigan, a collectively run local ensemble dedicated to the presentation of high-quality music for a diverse audience. On November 5, Chamber Music Michigan will present an evening of Hungarian masterworks by Kodaly, Bela Bartok, and Erno Dohnanyi at the First Presbyterian Church of Ypsilanti.

The group has performed in somewhat unconventional surroundings, including churches, libraries, hospitals, assisted living facilities, retirement communities, and even historical landmarks. Funded solely by donations, their concerts are free and open to the public. Founder, artistic director, and master clarinetist Joshua Anderson says they aim to appeal to both connoisseurs of classical music and those who are just discovering it. Chamber music, he feels, should be available to the young and the old, to the wealthy as well as those with little or no disposable income.

The oldest composition on the program will be Dohnanyis First Piano Quintet, composed in 1895 when he was eighteen years old and strongly influenced by Johannes Brahms. The program also includes Kodalys Duo for Violin and Cello, written in 1914. Beginning in 1905, Kodaly and Bartok laid the groundwork for modern ethnomusicology and their own compositional endeavors by collecting thousands of folk songs from peasants living in the Carpathian Mountains and the Transylvanian Alps. Bartok felt that the soul of the Hungarian people was most beautifully embodied in Kodalys works, with their predilection for melancholy and uncertainty. This is especially true of Kodalys emotionally charged chamber music. Violinist Danielle Belen observed, Kodaly can make even the most tightly wound violinist sound like an improvisational magician.

Belen is similarly smitten with Bartoks Contrasts, a modernistic set of variations on traditional Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies scored for clarinet, violin, and piano. The work was commissioned in 1938 by American clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman, whose periodic involvement with classical music also included works by Mozart, Stravinsky, and Gershwin. Performing Contrasts, says Belen, requires great concentration because of its unexpected twists and turns, and what she calls Bartoks planned imperfection. Both violinist and clarinetist alternate between differently pitched instruments. The deliberately mistuned fiddle, she says, takes the music into the realm of the Gypsies, where playing in tune is never the primary goal. Its more about releasing control and letting the heart lead the way. If I could add a subtitle to this concert, Belen concludes, Id call it Hungarian Masterpieces: Perfectly Imperfect.
Miyegombo Enkhbold, chairman of the State Great Hural, Mongolia's parliament, on Monday met with a visiting Tibetan delegation of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC).

The delegation is headed by Penba Tashi, Deputy to the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region and Vice Chairman of the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Enkhbold, also chairman of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP), said during the meeting that Mongolia always adheres to the consistent stand of supporting China in issues concerning Tibet.

The relations between Mongolia and China are in a favorable momentum, and bilateral cooperation has kept deepening in all fields, including politics, economy and culture, said Enkhbold.

Exchanges of legislatures are an important part of relations between the two countries, and have made positive contributions to the development of bilateral ties, he added.

During the meeting, Penba Tashi introduced to the Mongolian side major achievements made in the socioeconomic development of Tibet.

The delegation started the visit to Mongolia on Sunday. The delegation has also met with Mongolian parliament members from the Mongolia-China friendship group in the State Great Hural and representatives from the local academic and religious communities.
Beijing (AsiaNews/CHRD)  On 15 November, Chinese voters will pick their delegates to their local People's Congress. Under Chinese law, anyone over 18 years of age can theoretically run for office as an independent candidate. However, despite this apparent freedom, the authorities deny this right in practice, sometimes through violence and preventive detention. Below are some of the events that have taken place since June that illustrate how the electoral law is applied.

Chinese authorities have intimidated, harassed, and detained citizens who declared their "independent candidacy" in this year's elections of local people's congress delegates. Below are some reported incidents that have occurred since June:

On November 1, Yao Lifa (), a prominent election expert and one-time representative to his local people's congress in Qianjiang City, Hubei, was forced into a vehicle by authorities and taken away from the school where he works. Yao was seized on the same day he and 57 others declared their independent candidacy for the election in Qianjiang. Authorities reportedly told him that they have orders from superiors to take him out of Hubei "for a few days." Since mid-October, officials have also restricted the movement of several other candidates in the city. On October 16, authorities shut down Yao's blog "China Election Watch" (), which he has used for years to publish information about Chinese election laws and regulations, providing practical guides to citizens who wish to run in local elections. Yao Lifa has been under semi-house arrest for several years; police monitor his residence, and authorities order him to report to work at the school during the day so they can restrict his movement.

In Beijing, independent candidates have also encountered police harassment and intimidation to prevent them from meeting voters or journalists and making campaign speeches. On October 24, police blocked 18 independent candidates from gathering at the home of one of the candidates, Yang Lingyun (), where they were to be interviewed by Nippon Television journalists and take part in a campaign activity. The day before, police had warned Yang that police officers would monitor her home for "trouble," and that interviews with foreign media would not be allowed. A group of police and neighborhood committee members also guarded the entrance to the home of candidate Ye Jinghuan () on October 24, and would not let Ye leave to go to Yang's residence. Police had blocked the Japanese journalists from seeing Ye on October 14, the same day the 18 individuals in Beijing had jointly declared their intention to run in the election. On November 1, several candidates witnessed police preventing Ms. Fan Sujun (), a candidate in her 80s, from leaving her home to take part in a campaign event. Two days later, police came to the home of candidate Liu Huizhen () and blocked her from holding a campaign activity, and also kept outside individuals who were to take part.

In Hunan, police detained Guan Guilin () in Hengyang City on September 19, accusing him of "disrupting elections." Guan was trying to register as an independent candidate in Qidong County. After Guan served a 10-day administrative detention, authorities criminally detained him on a charge of "using a cult to undermine implementation of the law." He was released on October 29. Hengyang police also criminally detained Guan when he ran in the 2012 local election, on suspicion of "intentional injury."

In Jiangxi, activist Yang Wei () received a 10-day administrative detention after being seized on August 23 by security guards at a government office in Fuzhou City, where he had tried to fill out a candidate recommendation form. Yang (aka , Yang Yanjian) had previously attracted police attention after he set up online platforms to discuss democratic ideas and support detained rights activists. Police took Yang Wei into custody several times in 2013 for his role in street protests in Guangzhou, including demonstrations calling for press freedom and rallies held in solidarity with Hong Kong's Occupy Central movement.

In June, police in Gansu Province detained Qu Mingxue (), a factory worker in Yongjing County, after he had filed a complaint when an individual he nominated for an election, Liu Mingxue (), was not on the final list of candidates. Authorities formally arrested Qu on July 2, on a charge of "disrupting elections." On July 28, the local procuratorate decided not to indict Qu, and granted him his freedom. Its decision noted that Liu supposedly had not passed an "examination" by the election committee, thus making him ineligible to run.

China only has direct elections for people's congress delegates in local townships, counties, municipal districts, and cities not divided into districts. Above these levels, including at the national level, there are no direct elections; congress delegates are selected by people's congresses at the next lower level. China's Election Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses (2015) stipulates that anyone over the age of 18 who has not had their political rights taken away may vote in or run in local elections (Article 3).

The reality, however, is that government and Party officials interfere in elections; authorities screen potential candidates when they try to register and when they run. Independent candidates are often "winnowed out" and kept off the ballots and, even if they are elected, are frequently prevented from assuming office. China's Election Law, which was revised in 2015, even provides for an "examination committee" that has the authority to "screen" those elected before they can take office (Article 46); the criteria used, however, are not made public, and are above and beyond the standards outlined in Article 2 of the law. In previous local elections in China, in 2011, many independent candidates did not make it onto the ballot. In 2014, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed (p. 7) its deep concern over reports that women who have stood in elections as independent candidates have been "subjected to abuse and violence."
Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, has been devastated and looted of its archaeological and religious treasures. The obscurantist ideology of the Islamic State have squandered a patrimony of humanity. Behind the jihadist madness a flourishing black market in goods and archaeological finds. Task of all humanity to rid itself of this evil.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - Six years after the appearance of the first traces of Daesh [Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Sham[i] and Iraq] Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, has been ransacked of its archaeological and religious treasures.

The areas recently liberated from the Islamic State in the plain of Nineveh, visited by the Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Louis Sako, reveal the extent of hatred nourished by this takfiri jihad group against the holy places of Christian worship. Ancient churches, monasteries and even cemeteries have been the privileged place of plunder, sacrilege, destructions carried out in minute detail. A patrimony of humanity has been devastated in an attempt to forever erase the native identity of the cult witnessed by the archaeological remains of a civilization of the highest level, of a people who have lived in these places for millennia.

Who benefits from a Middle East deprived of historical evidence of its past civilization? Who wishes to transform it into an arid land, drag it back to the era of wandering Bedouins, barbarians, quarrelsome and uneducated men? The question that arises is where does this hatred come from? What are its true roots? Why destroy the archaeological treasures that are part of the heritage of humanity such as Palmyra and Nimrud? Desecrating the graves, placing dynamite in mosques and churches, shattering icons, murals and crosses with pneumatic hammers and chisels, stealing manuscripts, burning sacred places, desecrating the graves of Muslim and Christian cemeteries, without touching ( saving at least those, thankfully) the testimonies of the Jewish region. What are the reasons behind this?

It is easy and convenient to claim that the Islamic religion is the basis of this attitude. Without specifying, however, that Islam, or what fraction of Islam. In fact, there is no mention or dictate in the Koran inciting the destruction of pre-Islamic archaeological sites, nor the desecration of Christian holy sites and, moreover, of Muslim ones.

The archaeological sites of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia had survived conquerors and civilizations, Islamic or otherwise, down through history. The Palmyra and Nimrud sites, containing statues and temples of the pre-Christian and pre-Islamic era had survived and had been safeguarded even under various Islamic caliphate, that sprung up from these places after the Islamic expansion. No caliph, nor any Muslim sultan had ever ordered the destruction of the archaeological finds.

Also from the religious point of view it should remember the fatwa issued March 6, 2015 from the mosque of Al-Azhar, the highest institution of Islamic doctrine, which prohibited "the destruction of archaeological sites", considering this act "a crime against the world whole ". Therefore, from a religious point of view, where does such a barbaric attitude, contrary to any human reasoning, find its source?



The answer is contained in the "Wahabbism", a current of Islam that became theocracy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where by law it is forbidden to build churches, crucifixes and introduce the Gospels, along with various black market mafias and traffic and trade in archaeological artefacts.

In fact, most of the destruction carried out by Daesh covered assets, objects (or buildings) that could not be transported and sold - due to their size - via Turkey, on the black market for dizzying prices. It is estimated that since the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq over 15 thousand precious artefacts have disappeared, symbols and priceless in terms of human history, easy to transport and market.

The religious legitimacy of Daesh then comes only and exclusively from Wahabbism, because it was the same Muhammad Abdel Wahab - the founder - the first to legitimize the destruction of any item of "Al Sherk", that is associated with divinity . With this in mind the Islamic state has legislated the destruction of the temples, churches and Sufi shrines as "worshipers of the divine beyond Allah".

This really clashes with the facts, since Daesh with this excuse also destroyed Shiite mosques, Sufi shrines and Sunni mausoleums. Anyone who has had the opportunity to follow Daesh literature would also discover their intention to even destroy the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad.



The simple reality is that Daesh - behind false religious teachings and with the excuse of erroneous interpretation of the Koran - intends to empty the Mesopotamia region and the Arab Middle East of its rich and ancient history, its civilization, religions, cultures and cohabitation. The obscurantism is a primary goal in its war against property, memory and the unique historical wealth of this troubled region, where human civilizations were born.



Today it is the duty of all mankind to rid itself of this evil. Perhaps one day history will reveal who really was behind the scenes and main actors of this devastating force, of this deadly virus for all mankind. (PB)





[i] The term "Sham" refers to the province of the Islamic Caliphate era of maximum expansion including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine
At least 20 wounded in the blast, two of them seriously. The explosion occurred near a police station in the Baglar district. Earlier the security forces had arrested Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. State of emergency extended. Arrest warrant for 137 university professors, suspected of ties with the Islamic preacher Gulen.

Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies)  At least 20 people were injured in an explosion near a police station in the center of Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey, a predominantly Kurdish region. According to Ankara security forces the balst occurred in the early morning today, a few hours after the arrest of the leaders of the most important pro-Kurdish party in the country, along with dozens of other MPs.



Yesterday's campaign of massive arrests targeted the Kurdish community and the leadership, part of the policy of repression launched by the government and the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against (alleged) perpetrators and supporters of the (failed) coup in Turkey last July.



Local sources said that the blast occurred in the Baglar district and several ambulances have rushed to the scene. At present there is no more information on the nature of the blast (suspected car bomb) or perpetrators with no official claims. Among the wounded, at least two are in a serious condition.



Earlier the police had detained Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the Democratic Party of the Peoples (HDP), while he was in his private residence in Diyarbakir. Ankara also arrested the number two of the party, Figen Yuksekdag. Both are accused of propaganda for the outlawed PKK party and fomenting violence in October 2014, which killed dozens of people.

The HDP is the most important Kurdish political movement and the third parliamentary force with 59 seats.

According to reports from the official Turkish state news agency Anadolu the arrest of two senior Kurdish officials is part of the massive campaign of repression promoted by the Turkish authorities, that in little more than three months led to the arrest of 37 thousand people and a total number of about 100 thousand between suspects and those suspended from duty.

During the hectic night of the failed coup between July 15 and 16 270 people were killed, thousands wounded.



Since then government leaders and President Erdogan have launched a campaign of purges against intellectuals personalities, political, military and administrative authorities considered close to Fethullah Gulen, who has always denied any involvement in the operations. The crackdown has also involved journalists, media close to the opposition, teachers and administrative staff.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government confirmed a state of emergency in the country, imposed in the aftermath of the failed coup. The law allows arbitrary arrests without prior warrant. Turkish president Erdogan has also enacted these special laws without having to go through Parliament for approval.



The crackdown has also hit members of the press, teachers and intellectuals. November 1, police arrested 13 journalists - including the director  of the main opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet. The day after the Turkish authorities have issued an arrest warrant for 137 university professors, suspected of ties and sympathies with the Islamic preacher Gulen and his movement.
by Paul Wang

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Beijing will intervene on the case of two young localist parliamentarians, favorable to the Hong Kong independence from China, who used derogatory language during their oath taking. The Hong Kong representative to the National People's Congress (China's parliament) and the Beijing spokesperson for the interpretations on the Basic Law (constitution of Hong Kong drafted by Britain and China before the transition to the motherland) Maria Tam Wai-chu, made the announcement today

The statement - feared by many in Hong Kong - is likely to overlap with the work of the Hong Kong High Court, which yesterday held a session to assess the severity of the episode of the oath taking and find a way to unlock the work of the Legco (Legislative Council, Hong Kongs parliament).

The judgment of the Hong Kong court has been requested by the local government to dismiss the two young parliamentarians, Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching, who used a formula speaking of the "sovereignty of Hong Kong ", and offensive words for China while taking their oath and held banners that read "Hong Kong is not China ".



The Legco chairman had initially given his go ahead for the two young men to retake the oath. But two days before the scheduled date, he changed his mind and barred them access to the Legco. The two young men instead demanded to be present as they were legally elected by the people.



In the resulting chaos, the government accused the two young men of having offended the Basic Law and said that they must be expelled from parliament. But according to several lawyers, they can be removed only by the legislature with the voting support of two-thirds of MPs: This would be almost impossible due to the strong presence (almost 50%) of Democrats unfavorable to Beijing.



The court has not yet ruled on the issue. With today's statement by Tam, it is unlikely to rule until at least November 7, when the Central Committee of the National Peoples Congress in Beijing will issue its judgment. The case, however, shows how Beijing intervenes heavy-handedly in Hong Kongs judicial independence, which should be guaranteed by its Basic Law.



But Beijing is concerned about the growth of localism among young people and their demands for independence from China. This position is primarily driven by political motives, given Beijings clamp down on democracy in Hong Kong, but also by economic factors: the heavy presence of China in Hong Kong does not give work to young people of the territory: jobs are taken over by people from mainland China, willing to work for lower wages.
Fr Sundeep Kumar Pulindindi is originally from Eluru, Andhra Pradesh. So far, he has been responsible for education at the local seminary, where he served as dean. "We must pay more attention to the training of our young people, get their trust," know the problems people experience.

Rome (AsiaNews)  "I am ready for the adventure of the mission, which to me means directly knowing people and their problems, said Fr Kumar Pulindindi, an Indian priest with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).

He spoke to AsiaNews about his vocation and the work he has done so far as an educator, but also of his deep desire to go on mission.

He lived in the Philippines for four years, including the slum of Bucandala and the city of Arakan, in Cotabato province, which is where he learnt what mission means.

"That experience shaped my spirituality, he explained. People require incarnation. We cannot speak abstractly of the poor, the marginalised and the needy. We have to live, sleep and eat with them. Only this way can we know the faces and names of those for whom we pray, those whom we recommend to God."

Fr Sundeep Kumar, 34, is a native of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh. He calls himself a "son" of PIME. Born in the local hospital run by the Missionaries of the Immaculate (female congregation associated with PIME), he did all his studies in the schools run by the missionaries, from elementary to the seminary.

Speaking about his vocation, he said that there are two fundamental reasons for his "mission calling". The first he calls "automatic" because he was steeped from an early age in the priests environment. The second he describes as "motivational", coming from having seen and experienced the missionary spirit.

"Their stories, he explains, have inspired me to do abroad what they came to do in India. It was a desire that matured in me since childhood. I wanted to follow their example. PIME had come to my country to evangelise, and I want to do the same in places where Christ has not yet gone."

For him, the mission is "always an exciting challenge." "It's easier, he says, to spread Christs teachings in ones own land, among people of ones own culture. I could do it sitting at a desk in front of the computer, using means of communication such as Skype, Whatsapp or Facebook."

However, what prompted him to join a missionary institute "is the challenge of the adventure." He claims to be ready for this "adventure", which will take him back to the Philippines.

So far he has been involved in education, including the position of dean at the Valarpirai-St. Thomas Formation House. "There is a big difference, he says, between training others and training oneself."

As for his education, he is grateful to have had the opportunity of attending the Gregorian Universitys summer school for three years. "For me, it was an important moment of spiritual growth during which I had time to reflect on my vocation, my human dimension. It helped me in an extraordinary way."

The courses have made him better understand how to deal with the difficulties of todays youth. "I was appointed vice dean at the age of 31. I was very young. And for a young man it is more difficult to gain the attention and respect of other young people."

For this reason, "the only way to get into their minds and their hearts is by putting oneself at their level and bear witness with ones own life what one is trying to teach. It is not enough to say what one must do; one must also put it into practice."

Ultimately, to be a good missionary, "one also has to be taught well. Therefore, one has to have good educators."

Still, "There is a risk, he believes, that all the missionaries might go abroad, and no one is eft at home to train seminarians. We must not forget the young, because it is at their age that the desire for the mission forms. This too is the mission; indirect but still mission."
by Kamran Chaudhry

Christian leaders react to Popes trip to Sweden. By the end of the century Islam will overtake Christianity. In Pakistan, Christians are now a minority, and for this must be even more united. The Youhanabad settlement, an example of coexistence between Catholics and Protestants.

Lahore (AsiaNews) - Pakistani protestant officials are appreciating Pope Francis for marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden this week. "Personally I appreciate the Pope for bridging the gaps of centuries. It is a very big step for ecumenical movement", Anglican orthodox Bishop Earnest Jacob of Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, told AsiaNews.

"Pew Research Center predicts that Islam will overtake Christianity by the end of the century. We cannot afford to stay divided. Christians of Pakistan are already in minority and we have common mixed marriages between Catholics and Protestants. Especially Church leaders in conflicted regions like our city (which has been frequently targeted by Taliban) hold joint celebrations, press conferences and funerals (post Taliban attacks) to send a message to the terrorists".

Bishop Jacob's comments echoed the joint declaration of Francis with Bishop Munib A. Younan, the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan.

"At the same time, we have drawn closer to one another through joint service to our neighbours  often in circumstances of suffering and persecution. Through dialogue and shared witness we are no longer strangers", it states.

Protestants in Pakistan are largely represented by Church of Pakistan; the denomination that includes Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and Church of Scotland merged in one in 1970. There is no Lutheran Bishop in Islamic Republic, according to Victor Azariah General Secretary National Council of Churches in Pakistan. www.nccpakistan.org.pk

"Jesus created no denomination and only talked of the good news. Stronger factions later became part of our religion. Francis' predecessors also supported Christian brotherhood but he is seriously interested in ecumenical dialogue. We welcome the extraordinary events of this week, people should follow and understand its meaning for the Church", he said.

Azariah also referred to joint movement against nationalization of Church properties and Youhanabad, the biggest Christian settlement in country, as prime example of Christian unity in Pakistan.

All Churches protested when the government nationalized Christian schools and colleges in Punjab and Sindh provinces in 1972. It later denationalized them between 1985 and 1995 without offering any compensation. Similarly Azariah aided Father Henri, a Belgian missionary, in purchasing land and setting up Youhanabad, which is home to a mix community of more than 100,000 Catholics and Protestant.
At the Mass in suffrage of the cardinals and bishops who died this year, Pope Francis recalls the root of their commitment to the Church, "the faith in the love of Christ, from which nothing can separate us." "Some of them were called to bear witness to the Gospel in a heroic manner, sustaining heavy tribulations".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - In celebrating Mass today in suffrage for the Cardinals and Bishops who died in the year, Pope Francis said that "in light of the Paschal Mystery of Christ, their death is, in fact, the entry into the fullness of life".

"In this light of faith - he added - we feel even closer to our deceased brothers: death has apparently separated us but the power of Christ and his Spirit unites us even more profoundly."

Today's Prayer, said the pope is an opportunity to renew "our gratitude for the Christian and priestly witness that they have left us."

They, he said, have "served the Church and loved the Lord Jesus, in the certainty of love that the Apostle Paul reminds us of in the Second Reading:" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? "(Rom 8:35) . It is faith in the love of Christ, from which nothing can separate us: not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or danger, not death, nor life ... ".

Their life, like that of all Christians, was a "path to the Father's house" which is the goal, rest and peace."

"The path to the Father's house begins, for each of us, on the very day that we open our eyes to the light and, through Baptism, grace. An important step in this journey, for us priests and bishops, is the moment when we pronounce the '' Here I am! during our priestly ordination. Since that time we are united to Christ in a special way, associated with his ministerial priesthood. The hour of death, the last time we will pronounce "here I am", united with that of Jesus, who died entrusting his spirit into the Father's hands (cf. Lk 23:46). "

The deceased cardinals and bishops "were shepherds of Christ's flock, and to imitate Him, spent, donated and sacrificed themselves for the salvation of the people entrusted to them. They sanctified them through the sacraments and guided them on the path of salvation. Full of the Holy Spirit's power, they proclaimed the Gospel; with fatherly love have striven to love everyone, especially the poor, the helpless and the needy ".

"With their ministry have imprinted the consoling truth in the hearts of the faithful that" grace and mercy are with his elect "(Wis 3,9). In the name of the God of mercy and forgiveness, their hands have blessed and absolved, their words have comforted and dried tears, their presence testified eloquently that the goodness of God is inexhaustible and his mercy is infinite. Some of them were called to bear witness to the Gospel in a heroic manner, sustaining heavy tribulations ".

"Nourished by the Bread of life - he concluded - we, together with those who have gone before us, we await with firm hope our encounter with theluminous and merciful face of the Father".
In this article I am going to argue that the " war on drugs " has been a catastrophic failure, and that it is about time the UK...
The geopolitics in Asia-Pacific has been moving at a fast pace which is nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. Many events in the recent past have been critical in defining the geopolitical alignments in the Asia-Pacific region. Asia-Pacific is seeing swift movement from the NSG tensions between India and China, the South China Sea verdict by the Hague Tribunal in July 2016 to the signing of Indo-US military agreements like LEMOA in June 2016. However, the most eventful decision and consequential realignment has been that between The Philippines and China due to the current Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte being a harsh critic of the US. The Philippines has been one of the strongest US allies in the region against the Chinese expansionist policies in South China Sea. America not only has military bases and agreements with The Philippines but has even backed it in the international arbitration on South China Sea against China which nullified Chinas historical claims of the 9 Dash line. In this backdrop the recent visit by President Duterte to China and his comments of calling off the military alliance with the US and the crackdown on druglords has ruffled many feathers in Washington DC giving China some easy picking with a once staunch US ally. Malaysia is also showing strong signs of tilting towards China by agreeing on military cooperation in the South China Sea. China is Malaysias biggest trade partner but the two are at loggerheads over their claims in the South China Sea. While this is a setback for the United States which saw the UN Verdict on South China Sea as a decisive moment to isolate China in the region, this is also an opportunity for other US allies and states in the region to barter for a better deal with the US as well as other countries to cement a regional alliance.

With the flip-flop of The Philippines with regard to China and the United States, the role that Vietnam plays will be critical in the region. Vietnam is the only country in the region that has singlehandedly humbled the mighty US, Communist China & Imperial France; a fact that still instills nationalist pride in the Vietnamese people. As they say in geopolitics are there are no permanent friends or enemies and recent events in Asia-Pacific only confirm this as the USs staunch ally Philippines has drifted away towards China while Communist Vietnam is more than willing to engage militarily with an erstwhile enemy i.e. USA. For India, this also presents a great opportunity to cement its role in the region with a strategic partnership with Vietnam, a critical South East Asian country that has historical and cultural ties with it. Countries like India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and Australia could play a pivotal role in curtailing the rise of a Chinese hegemon in the Asia-Pacific region. We have already looked into the Indo-Australian Strategic Partnership in our previous post and will traverse on the India-Vietnam Strategic Partnership and its potential to shape the geopolitics in Asia-Pacific.

India and Vietnam have a very old relationship dating back thousands of years sharing cultural and civilizational ties like many other countries in the region. In the modern era, Indias ties with Vietnam date back to the meeting between Ho Chi Minh and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1927 in the League against Imperialism Conference in Brussels, Belgium. India backed Vietnam throughout its struggle of independence from the French and later advocated for a non-interventionist policy during the resolution of the Indo-China conflict in 1950 at Geneva Conference where it lead the Non-Aligned nations to stave off an American intervention in the Indo-China region of Vietnam. India also backed Vietnam steadfast during the American war of Vietnam in 1970s drawing much ire from the West for this stand. It is ironical that both India and Vietnam which have historically been opposed to imperial military campaigns in the region are now more than receptive to the American military machine due to the rise of expansionist China seeking to claim territories in the region. While Indias embrace of the United States has increased by leaps and bounds in last decade with military and defence deals, Vietnam has pivoted away only recently and is even a part of the US-led TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership). Vietnam has also recently opened up defence talks with the US post President Obamas lifting of military sanctions enabling a supply of American military equipment to Vietnam after decades. It is in this context that one needs to carefully ascertain the Indo-Vietnam strategic partnership which could play a critical role in shaping the region.

India has been the cradle of Indus-Saraswati Civilization, one of the oldest in world whose influence was spread far and wide. For more than a thousand years, the Indian Hindu and Buddhist influence spread far and wide into South East Asia and East Asia. The Pali script and Sanskrit language along with Indian epics, literature, texts and practices spread into countries like Vietnam, Indonesia etc with Vishnu Temples and other such historical temples like Angkor Vat that have been found in faraway lands. Kings like Rajendra Chola (of the Chola Empire in South India) and Emperor Ashoka were instrumental in spreading the Indian culture in countries of South East Asia through trade and other means. In the late half of the 2nd century BC, two Indian Buddhist Zen monks known as Mahajavaka and Kalyanacuri came to Vietnam. Kalyanacuri became the head bonze of Dau Pagoda (in Bac Ninh Province) combining his teachings with the indigenous beliefs of Tu Phap (cloud, wind, thunder, lightning) and founded Buddhism in Vietnam. At the start of the 3rd century AD, Kang-seng-huei, of Sogdiane origin, migrated to India and then to Giao Chau (Vietnam) with his family. He learned the religious scriptures and later became a famous Zen monk. He translated the Astasahashika on the topics of Sunyata and Nagarjuna (the 2nd and 3rd century AD) and developed the famous theory of Madhyamaka. This theory had a large impact on the teachings of Zen as well as Buddhism in Vietnam during the Ly-Tran dynasties (the 12th-13th centuries).

The early exchanges between India and Vietnam took place peacefully through trading on the sea. Lured by the attraction of Suvarnnabhumi and spices in Southeast Asia, many Indian traders sailed with monks on board to offer prayers in the case of natural disasters. Indian culture has spread peacefully to Vietnam through three branches  Zen, Pureland and Tantrism. Thus, peace and friendship are the foundations in Indo-Vietnamese partnerships as well as cultural exchanges. Apart from cultural and historical ties which bind India and Vietnam, India has over the decades also developed a robust relationship in trade and commerce; granting Vietnam MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status in 1975 and thereafter signed a Bi-lateral trade agreement in 1978. After the economic liberalization of 1991-92, India adopted its Look East Policy focusing more on South East Asian nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand etc.

India and Vietnam also signed the Bi-lateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPP) on March 8, 1997. These culminated into India signing a strategic partnership agreement with Vietnam in the year 2007 under its Look East Policy expanding the scope of ties from trade and commerce to military and defence along with an emphasis on the cultural bonds between the two countries. During this period the bilateral trade between India and Vietnam has rapidly increased with India becoming the 13th largest exporter to Vietnam. Indian exports to Vietnam have jumped from $11.5 million in 1985-86 to $395.68 million in 2003. Vietnams exports to India have also leap frogged in the last decade and half and primarily constitute agricultural products, handicrafts, electronics etc. The rapid pace of growth in the Indian economy as well as Vietnams has contributed to bilateral trade surpassing $2 billion by 2008 and crossing $7 billion in 2015. The ties have further expanded in the fields of Information Technology, Education, Direct Air Link and lax visa regimes for better people to people contact between the two countries.

Many Indian companies have established offices in Vietnam and invested in sectors like agriculture, coffee, rubber, cashewnut, carbon black and tea. Indian conglomerates like Tata Steel have also setup steel plants worth $5 billion in Vietnams Can Tho province. ESSAR group, another leading Indian conglomerate has also entered into a joint venture with Vietnamese Steel Corp (VSC) and Vietnam General Rubber Corp (GERUCO) to build a hot strip mill plant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Indias growing soft power especially in IT and the pharmaceutical sector provides critical avenues for Indian companies to invest in Vietnam. India is also making significant investments in Vietnamese Oil & Gas. Indias OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd.) and Petro Vietnam have signed an agreement to explore two additional Oil & Gas blocks in South China Sea. They have also signed an agreement for an extension for another project in South China Sea. With the signing of India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, the bilateral trade between India and Vietnam has increased multifold and the prospective India  ASEAN Free Trade Agreement will further boost trade and commerce with other countries in the region. India must move quickly on this front concluding the India-ASEAN FTA as Vietnam has already become a part of TPP while China is foisting its own trade agreement in form of RCEP.

India has also ratched up its military and defence partnership with Vietnam. The Modi Administration in implementing its strategic vision has transformed Indias policy from Look East to Act East with significant stress on strategic relations with countries in South East Asia like Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Japan in Far East. The Act East policy has been well synergized complementing Americas Pivot to Asia with both seeking the underlying objective of curtailing Chinas sphere of influence in the region. In view of this strategic push, India has recently opened a credit line of $500 million for defence deals with Vietnam eyeing strategic buys from India like Frigates and Destroyers (to guard its territory in South China Sea) along with Brahmos Cruise Missile (an Indian-Russian JV) that could prove lethal in case of a conflict in high seas or otherwise. Russia is also trying to upgrade its Sukhois with Vietnam highlighting Vietnams role in the geopolitics of South China Sea and Asia-Pacific.

The growing embrace of India and Vietnam specially in Oil & Gas sector in South China Sea and arming of the Vietnamese Navy has caused quite a flutter in Beijing which has openly objected to Indias Oil and Gas explorations in the South China sea claiming the area as its own. India has categorically time and again called for the freedom of navigation of seas in the South China Sea. India and Vietnam thus have common interests in the geopolitics of the region amid shared cultural values. With the Philippines flip flop between US and China; and Australia and Indonesia carrying out military exercises; India and Vietnam have a crucial role to play in maintaining the rule based International Order in South China Sea as well as Indian Ocean. Both India and Vietnam need to forge a far deeper strategic partnership encompassing various fields such as trade, energy, military and defence. This partnership is critical for the region of South and South East Asia in face of an expansionist China and growing tussle between China and US in the Asia-Pacific region. This partnership could well decide which way the balance of power tilts in the Asia-Pacific region.
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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 ...

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Shareholders of Slater and Gordon are planning to oppose bonuses being awarded to executives and senior at the firms annual meeting in Melbourne today.ISS Governance, a proxy advisory group which focuses on large institutional investors, is urging its clients to vote against the law firms remuneration report at the AGM, The Age notes.Meanwhile, the Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) has said that the beleaguered firms bonus boost plan should be shelved because of company performance, The Australian Financial Review reports. John Skippen , the firms chairman, and the Board had their fees increased more than 50%. Meanwhile, group financial chief Bryce Houghton and group operations boss Felicity Pantelidis have also been paid $189,600 and $93,750 bonuses, respectively.The AFR adds that Andrew Grech , the firms managing director, wants shareholders to grant 485,673 performance rights in addition to his $637,000 pay package.According to The Age, Houghton was paid $100,000 after completing his probation period while the additional $89,600 bonus was for contributing to the finalisation of Slater and Gordons new debt financing.Pantelidis bonus was also connected to the refinancing efforts of the firm and for other major initiatives in efficiency.Frankly, finalising a syndicated debt facility is well within the normal job description of a CFO, while COOs are there to drive efficiencies, amongst others, said ISS.These bonus payments cannot be justified and are not reflective of the damage and personal losses of other partners and staff of the firm, and investors during this period, the proxy added.Given the company's recent performance ... we believe that this plan should be suspended, said the ASA.We acknowledge that this is a critical time for the company and it is seen as imperative for the business to hold existing staff to be able to take it back to prosperity, however, the combination of the increased non-executive directors fees, retention payments and [bonus] awards means we will be voting against the remuneration report, the organisation added.The bonuses come after job cuts , a board shakeup , the shuttering of some businesses and the massive $1.02-billion loss which is the worlds largest single-year loss yet for a law firm.
By Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director, Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland

ABC/Screenshot

The ABC says the run of the popular science television show, Catalyst, has reached the end in its current format.

In its place, the ABC has proposed it will deliver a series of 17 one hour-long documentaries that will be aired later in the evening than the current half-hour science magazine style programming.

It would appear that most Catalyst staff will be let go from the new series as the ABC says up to 9 ongoing staff members may be affected although some staff will be offered other positions.

This change is despite Catalysts popularity and relatively inexpensive costs. Many documentary makers are somewhat sceptical of the ability of the ABC to follow through on the promise of the 17 documentaries independently produced from outside the ABC.

According to several film makers, one-hour programs take disproportionately greater resources and can have a production time running to years in order to get a good product.

This begs the question as to whether or not the ABC will be able to carry through with this replacement.

These changes also run in the face of a recent review for the ABC that suggested short science programs shown early in the evening were more popular than longer programs shown later in the day.

So why is the ABC taking this dramatic turn with the popular and award-winning Catalyst?

A convenient controversy?

Catalyst has not been without its controversies over the past three years.

First there was the 2013 story on statins and heart disease which was found to breach the ABCs editorial standards on impartiality.

Then there was the July 2016 Wi-fried episode which relied on a single study to claim links between Wi-Fi and mobile phone networks and brain cancer.

Wi-fried was criticised by several academics writing in The Conversation. It was also described as scientifically bankrupt by a leading Australian cancer researcher.

The episode was again found to have breached ABCs impartiality guidelines.

The same reporter, Dr Maryanne Dimasi, was involved with both stories, and could be one of those losing their job in the axing of the old program format.

Is the failure of a few instances (as egregious as they appear to be) of investigative reporting not countered by the award-winning reporting of other Catalyst journalists?

Public disinterest in science?

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has emphasised the critical importance of innovation and science to Australias future. And he is right.

Without an articulate and science savvy population, Australia runs at risk of falling behind in the globalisation stakes.

As climate change intensifies, technology continues to escalate and human population busts, the need for greater understanding of science and its processes will determine whether we are able to seize opportunities or not.

The axing is presumably not because of audience disinterest. Audiences want more science, not less. In a poll conducted by the ANU in 2010, almost all of the 518 respondents reported an interest in science and related topics.

A national survey conducted on behalf of Inspiring Australia in 2014 similarly found 82% of respondents engage with some form of science reporting at least fortnightly.

Most science itself isnt a hard sell for media organisations operating on limited resources and highly competitive for market share.

Its the critical examination of science in media that is hard to do, but worth trying (despite Catalysts lapses).

The science investigators

While scientists can be excellent communicators, they are not necessarily great investigative reporters. The ABCs announcement suggests that a future science program could be in the scientist-led format.

If well-resourced, this could be a successful vehicle for some aspects of science with some audiences. But it will favour established science that lends itself to in-depth treatment.

Where will the up to date stories of Australian science be broadcast? Where will the audiences go who want to watch a bit of the latest Australian science content?

In a time when innovation is the catch-cry, we need a reliable source of information to promote the research being done and the discoveries being made.

Probably most important is the role of science journalists in telling us what science means, providing objective views in the face of unrelenting hype and wrangling the amazing scientific talent in Australia.

Australias science stories

Anyone can start a Facebook page or a YouTube channel, but where is the quality control? There are notable benchmarks of quality out there, such as Veritasium, VSauce and ScienceAlert to name a few, but these exist online.

Within the traditional broadcast media context, it is difficult to identify a program that consistently delivers critical appraisals of science and its implications.

Sure, there exists plenty of other options for science stories to be told in the media and Australia oozes talent in science communication. This includes the award-winning Jonica Newby of Catalyst who finds her future in question.

But all of this talent needs a vehicle.

Certainly there is a societal shift towards accessing content online, such as The Conversation, rather than via the traditional media. But the role of the traditional journalist  to convey information accurately, impartially and critically  is vital, whatever platform is used.

If even the best science journalists in the country are unable to retain positions that allow them to do that, then Australian science is either unrelentingly hyped, unquestioned, or at worst ignored.

Its hard to be a clever country when youre in the dark.

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg undertakes research on coral reef ecosystems and their response to rapid environmental change, which is supported primarily by the Australian Research Council (Canberra), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Washington, D.C.), Catlin Group (London), and Great Barrier Reef Foundation (Brisbane). He not receive salary for writing this article.

Professor Joan Leach undertakes research in science communication and is Director of the National Centre for Public Awareness of Science at the ANU. She is also President of Australian Science Communicators, the professional organisation for science communicators and science journalists. She receives research funding from the Australian Research Council, the NHMRC, and has worked with Inspiring Australia, the Australian National Strategy for science engagement.



Merryn McKinnon lectures and researches at the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the ANU. She is a member of the Australian Science Communicators, the professional organisation for science communicators and science journalists.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Australia is set to tighten visa rules for overseas doctors with the removal of a number of health professional positions from the official skilled occupation list which provides visa access for foreigners.The government has flagged 15 health occupations, including medical specialists, which it wants removed from list as there are now enough local talent to fill these positions, although health chiefs have warned that rural areas still lack sufficient skills. It is more to do with a reluctance of young skilled people to work in remote areas. Both Australian doctors and those applying for a work visa from overseas prefer to live in state capital cities.The Australian Medical Association, which represents doctors, said that the country is less reliant overall on international recruitment and pointed out that the removal of skilled jobs such as GPs, anaesthetists, paediatricians and cardiologists would not prevent them from seeking work in Australia, but they would need to do so via other visa streams.'International medical graduates have made a critical contribution to the medical workforce over the last 15 years, although the situation is changing and they are finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs here,' said John Zorbas, chair of the AMA council of doctors in training.The most recent medical practitioners report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which relates to 2015, shows that the geographic spread of doctors between cities and rural areas has greatly improved but it also points out that there are still complex challenges in the distribution of the nation's health workforce.The report says that overall number of medical practitioners is continuing to increase and access to GPs in regional areas is now comparable to access in metropolitan areas so the need for overseas trained doctors is not as great as it once was.But doctor's organisations still believe that overseas medical professionals should still be an important part of Australia's health workforce. While the Australia's Future Health Workforce Doctors Report suggested that there will be an oversupply of 7,052 doctors by 2030, it also confirmed that in rural and remote areas there are disparities in supply and that certain medical specialties are not in balance.So doctors looking to work in Australia may find it easier to find a position in a more remote area than in Sydney or Melbourne. 'Encouraging GPs, specialists, nurses and allied health professionals to live and work in regional and rural Australia is one of my greatest challenges,' said Australia's Assistant Minister for Rural Health David Gillespie.However, any changes are unlikely to take place before 2018.
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My husband is in Australia on a BVA while his partner visa application is processed. Due to a family emergency, he may need to return to his home country for a while.



According to the DIBP website, you should apply for a BVB no less than two weeks before your planned departure....



We are not 100% sure that he will need to go yet, but if he does, he will need to go sooner rather than later - waiting two weeks could be problematic.



I assume DIBP probably doesn't give a damn about these kind of situations, but does anybody know of any other ways around this?
TDI

MMI

Similar to their predecessors, the second-generation A5/S5 Cabriolet makes use of a soft top , not a folding metal roof. At the pull of a switch gives the acoustic hood the command to fold. The whole operation takes 15 seconds. To close, the fabric roof needs a lil' more time than that: 18 seconds.Chopping the roof off might have rendered the A5/S5 a sexier car, but its a heavier car than the coupe on which its based. 40 percent stiffer than the old one, the 2017 Audi A5 Cabriolet in front-wheel-drive, 2.0190 PS 6MT configuration tips the scales at 1,690 kilograms (3,725 pounds). The A5 Coupe , on the other hand, weighs 1,535 kilograms or 3,384 pounds.The heftiness comes as a result of additional struts in the body and reinforced sills. Head-thorax side airbags and automatically extending aluminum profiles also add poundage. Strictly a four-seat vehicle, the 2017 Audi A5 Cabriolet ships with seat belt microphones that can be used for Bluetooth telephony, voice control, and so forth. Just like in the A4 from which the A5 originates, Audi virtual cockpit is an optional extra. On the infotainment front, the 8.3-inchnavigation plus with MMI touch has 10 GB of flash memory.LTE Internet connectivity, Wi-Fi hotspot, inductive charging for your Qi-enabled smartphone, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto are on the menu as well. For those who want to enjoy their music as crystalline as possible, the options list features a Bang & Olufsen audio system with not one, but two subwoofers. As far as standard equipment is concerned, the highlights include xenon headlights, partial leather seats and MMI radio plus infotainment.Powertrain and drivetrain configurations are plentiful. Front- or quattro all-wheel-drive , 6-speed manual, 7-speed S tronic dual-clutch or 8-speed tiptronic auto, TDI and TFSI engines ranging from 2.0 to 3.0 liters, there are lots of ways the Audi A5 and S5 can be configured. The most efficient model of the lot is the 2.0 TDI 190 PS S tronic, which drinks as little as 4.5 l/100 km (52.3 U.S. mpg) of diesel fuel.At the other end of the spectrum, the 3.0 TFSI V6 in the S5 Cabriolet motivates the ragtop with 354 PS (349 horsepower) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of get-up-and-go between 1,370 and 4,500 rpm. The go-faster S5 Cabriolet can sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.1 seconds.Slated to roll into European showrooms from March 2017, the A5 Cabriolet and S5 Cabriolet are priced from 49,350 and 67,800, respectively.
When Eiji Toyoda told his best men to design a luxury sedan to take on big daddy S-Class, the Lexus LS 400 was born in 1989 after 6 years of development and 4.5 million kilometers of testing. Almost three decades since that crucial moment (and the birth of the Lexus brand), the fifth-generation LS looms on the horizon.
EV

SUV

kWh

BMW has been quite open about the X3. Although we don't know what it will look like, this should be a dedicated i model with its own styling rather than an iPerformance car with just an extra port on the front fender. But you never know!The latest report from Dutch magazine AutoRAI says the X3 EV will arrive a year earlier than we thought, in 2020 no less. That's a stone's throw away and only three years after the reveal of the all-new generation X3. It should be a cool car, considering the i8 is left wanting in the tech and luxury departments when compared to the 7 Series flagship.BMW i manager Marc Nas told the aforementioned source that making this car makes all the sense in the world because 33% of BMW sales come from SUVs. That's sound logic, but the 3 Series is still their most popular nameplate, so why not a Tesla Model 3 rival instead?While we ponder that question, let's just mention that MINI will actually be the first to offer an EV. We recently mentioned that the plug-in version of the Countryma n draws from the experience of the MINI E program.We know nothing about this little EV other than the fact that it's coming in 2019. Considering the size of the brand, a bespoke model is probably out of the question. But if Renault could squeeze a 41battery under theof the Zoe, MINI could probably do the same to the Countryman or Clubman. Considering all the green juice needs to fit under the seats, it's probably going to be a car with a high riding position.Of course, there was that rumor that the Rocketman concept would see production as a dedicated EV. But a brand new car would need at least two years of testing, so we should see an eloquent prototype soon.
Photo via Wikimedia.

Avis Budget Group has reported revenue of $2.7 billion, a company record, for its third quarter 2016, a 3% increase. This is primarily due to a 2% increase in pricing in the Americas as well as a 4% increase in international rental days, says the company.

In the third quarter, Avis Budget reported adjusted earnings of $469 million and an adjusted net income of $227 million. According to Avis Budget, its Q3 revenue and adjusted earnings were company records.

For the Americas (North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean), revenue grew 3% primarily due to a 2% increase in pricing, according to the company. Rental days increased 2% during the quarter while average available fleet grew 1%, resulting in higher utilization. Adjusted earnings increased 10% to $306 million due to higher pricing and higher volumes but partially offset by higher per-unit fleet costs ($310 per month).

"Our record third quarter results reflect continued strength in our pricing in the Americas and benefits from our initiatives to drive profitability, resulting in the highest quarterly Adjusted EBITDA margin in our company's history," said Larry De Shon, CEO of Avis Budget Group. "Looking forward, pricing continues to be positive in the Americas, although demand is softer than expected both in the Americas and in Europe. We have moved quickly to right-size our fleet to mitigate the impact and have revised our full-year 2016 outlook as a result."

For the full-year 2016, Avis Budget updated its estimates of adjusted earnings. Now the company expects that full-year revenue will increase 3% to approximately $8.75 billion. Movements in currency exchange rates are projected to negatively impact revenue growth by approximately $40 million. Per-unit costs are expected to be about $285 per month in 2016, compared to $277 in 2015.
Air France-KLM will start a new airline to compete with Middle Eastern carriers in the long-haul market, the company said Thursday. The new project, which Air France is calling Boost, will aggressively pursue ultra-competitive international routes while stepping up business at the carriers Charles de Gaulle hub in Paris. The airline will go after the business taken from fast-growing competitors such as Dubai-based Emirates, which has drawn customers to its hubs with competitive fares and updated fleets, according to a Reuters report. The airline stressed that the new, yet unnamed carrier will not be in the low cost category but will offer its customers business and leisure destinations with standards comparable to those of Air France in terms of product quality and the professionalism of the crews.

The company said it expects to have ten aircraft operating by 2020 and hire Air France pilots who transfer voluntarily. While the company doesnt want the new carrier to be dubbed a budget airline, the new entity will have lower operating costs than its flagship French and Dutch carriers, in part by reducing labor expenses. Employees will have longer work schedules while aircraft fly more hours each day, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, the company is dealing with unprofitable routes along with labor strife brewing at Air France over efforts to cut labor costs, so trying to boost profits with a much smaller airline could be a big challenge, analysts told Reuters.
AVwebs search of news in aviation found announcements from Coast Flight Training, the Recreational Aviation Foundation, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Coast Flight Training and Envoy Air/American Airlines Group will host a free Aviation Career Day on Saturday, Nov. 12, noon to 4 p.m., at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and are teaming up to provide scholarship opportunities for high school seniors and recent graduates with a passion for flight. Driven by the demand for more information about private airfields, the Recreational Aviation Foundation has compiled a Guide for the Private Airfield Owner. The guide states that private airfields are invaluable, especially as pressure increases on public lands to restrict aviation access to many of our nations special places.

The Board of Directors of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association at its fall board meeting elected Simon Caldecott, President and CEO of Piper Aircraft, as its chairman for 2017. In addition, Phil Straub, Managing Director of Aviation and Vice President of Garmin International, was elected as vice chairman. Straub is a former chairman of GAMAs Technical Policy Committee. The Board also voted Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the Daher Airplane Business Unit, as chairman of GAMAs Safety and Accident Investigation Committee. The National Aviation Hall of Fame announced the names of four individuals elected as the Enshrinee Class of 2017, each of whom will be inducted at a formal ceremony next fall. NAHF Enshrinement Director Ron Kaplan revealed the names before an audience of nearly 1,000 attendees at a special session of the National Business Aviation Association Convention in Orlando.
Armenia is negotiating with Iran the price at which it can purchase natural gas from the Islamic Republic, according to Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Hayk Harutiunian.

We have not agreed on the price yet. If we succeed [in the negotiations], Armenian consumers will be able to use Iranian gas already in the near future, the official said in an interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) on Friday.

Harutiunian led a delegation on a visit to Tehran on October 31-November 1 during which representatives of Armenias Energaimpex Company and the National Iranian Gas Export Company initialed a memorandum of understanding on Armenias purchase and transit of Iranian natural gas.

Armenia currently imports up to 500 million cubic meters of Iranian gas annually through a pipeline built in 2008. By comparison, Russian gas supplies to the South Caucasus country total around 2 billion cubic meters.

Iranian gas has until now been purchased by a state-owned Armenian thermal-power plant. The plant pays for it with electricity delivered to Iran.

Recently, Yerevan reportedly offered to buy additional volumes of Iranian gas, some of which could be re-exported to Georgia, and the Iranian side is said to have accepted the proposal.

The Armenian Ministry said that on the visit to Iran its delegation discussed prospects of transiting Iranian gas to third countries via Armenia with Irans deputy oil minister and a senior National Gas Export Company representative.

First the deal will create an opportunity for the transit of Iranian gas through the territory of Armenia. Secondly, it will be the purchase of Iranian gas for domestic consumption. Iranian gas will be used for domestic consumption when its price is competitive with other sources, said Harutiunian.

At present, Russia supplies natural gas to Armenia at a price of $150 per thousand cubic meters at the border. Russian gas monopolist Gazproms subsidiary that owns Armenias gas distribution network then sells it at a price of about $306 and $257 to households and large businesses, respectively.

Earlier this week Gazprom Armenia offered to cut the prices to about $290 and $242.1 as well as introduce new tariffs for poor families and some types of businesses.

The Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission, which is considering the distribution networks application now, is likely to approve it, with the new tariffs becoming effective from January 1.

So far it has been widely speculated in Armenia that the main reason why gas imports from Iran do not increase is that Gazprom raises obstacles to such a deal.

Artashes Tumanian, the Armenian ambassador to Iran, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service last month, however, that Russia will not object to Yerevans increased energy cooperation with Tehran because the deal does not run counter to anybodys interests.

Deputy Minister Harutiunian also insisted that there have never been any restrictions to importation of Iranian gas to Armenia.

The issue has always been in the price domain. If as a result of negotiations the Iranian side can offer us a more affordable price, we will use that gas for our domestic market, he said, stressing that such negotiations have also taken place before.

Diversification of energy sources is one of the most important directions of our countrys energy security strategy. We have always been working in this direction, the official said, stressing that the first step in the direction was taken still when the gas pipeline with Iran was built eight years ago. Simply, we are trying to gain maximum benefit from the current situation in the region, Harutiunian added.

Shortly after it was built the gas pipeline connecting Iran and Armenia was purchased by Gazprom, which added to the speculation that Russia objected to large imports of Iranian gas to Armenia.

Asked whether Energaimpex planned to build another pipeline for importing Iranian gas, Harutiunian said: No, there is no economic justification for building a separate gas pipeline at the moment. The Transgaz company, which also belong to Gazprom, according to provisions in its license, will have the obligation to pump the gas that will be purchased from Iran and transited, for example, to Georgia. It has tariffs that are approved for gas transit and an approved level for losses in order to carry out that transaction. In other words, we dont need to invent something new here.

To the clarifying question whether Armenia will still have to secure Gazproms agreement to its deal with Iran, Harutiunian said: No, it wont.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited on Friday the site of what is going to be a Friendship Bridge connecting the two South Caucasus neighbors over the Debed river.

The current Sadakhlo-Bagratashen bridge on the territory of an Armenian-Georgian border checkpoint was built back in the 1960s and is hardly fit for its function.

A few years ago the governments of Armenia and Georgia agreed to build a new, modern bridge that will meet international standards.

Work on the construction of a new bridge across the Debed river is carried out as part of Armenias Northern Corridor Modernization Program and is funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) within the framework of a loan agreement worth a total of 10.3 million euros (about $11.2 million). The project is co-financed by the governments of Armenia and Georgia and work on the bridge construction is coordinated by a joint Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission.

Construction of the bridge proper is set to begin in 2017 after the results of international tenders for the advisor on technical control and a contractor are summarized. It is expected to be completed within two years.

The planned bridge is expected to further facilitate the quality of service of cargo and passenger traffic between the two countries, provide a time-saving, safe and convenient movement through the border checkpoints, a statement released by the Armenian presidents press office said.

It will also improve the quality of passenger service and freight traffic and save time, facilitating trade with Georgia, Russia and European countries, it added.

Also today President Sarkisian and Prime Minister Kvirikashvili inaugurated a new checkpoint built at the Armenian-Georgian border.

The process of modernization of checkpoints on the state border of Armenia commenced back in 2010 upon a presidential decree on the approval of an integrated border management strategy and the security of the state frontier. Under the program three checkpoints at Bagratashen, Bavra and Gogavan were designated for priority modernization.

With the purpose of the modernization of checkpoints located on the northern border of Armenia in August 2012 the Government of Armenia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a relevant program concerning the three checkpoints.

The modernization program envisages the commissioning of checkpoints at Bagratashen and Gogavan at the first stage. The checkpoint at Bavra where work is still underway is due to be opened at the second stage of the program.

In his remarks at the ceremony President Sarkisian said that it is important that after the technical start of the crossing points all bodies located there properly carry out their operation, provide quality services that meet modern requirements. He stressed that an opinion about the country begins to form at the border checkpoint.

The total budget of the program is 52.13 million euros (about $58 million). The purpose of the program is to promote the free movement of people and goods across the borders while observing the border security, as well as to improve both bilateral and regional cooperation.

It is expected that the modernization of the checkpoints at the frontier will also contribute to the improvement of the living standards of the local population, providing both temporary and permanent jobs.

After the ceremonies the Armenian and Georgian leaders held a meeting during which they reportedly expressed satisfaction that the two friendly and neighboring states consistently develop their political cooperation, boost their interstate relations, thus creating a solid foundation for raising their bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level.

Sarkisian and Kvirikashvili also discussed possibilities of expanding trade and economic cooperation, including in the spheres of transportation, energy, tourism, agriculture and others.
4 November 2016 12:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijans president and the country's foreign ministry, as well as other agencies constantly keep in focus the issue of releasing Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, taken hostage by Armenian militaries, said Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

This issue is constantly being discussed with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and other participants of the negotiations [on peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict], he told Trend on November 3.

Hajiyev noted that according to the latest information, Asgarov and Guliyev are alive and feel well.

Hajiyev mentioned that Armenias still holding civilians as hostages, showing such inhumanity, is another example of Yerevans gross violation of international humanitarian legal commitments undertaken under the relevant conventions.

Instead of contributing to settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia negatively affects the negotiations by such provocative actions, the spokesman stressed.

Armenian forces killed an Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov and detained Guliyev and Asgarov while they were attempting to visit the graves of their relatives in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district in July 2014.

Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of a separatist regime in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Following the court" in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years.

Azerbaijan, as a country whose over 4,000 citizens were taken captive, hostage by Armenia, or went missing as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, has repeatedly declared its readiness to begin negotiations with Armenia. However, the Armenian side ignores that.

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.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 November 2016 10:48 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom will discuss energy cooperation during UK Prime Ministers Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan Baroness Nicholsons visit to Azerbaijan on November 28December 1.

The UK Embassy in Baku told Trend that the Baroness will lead an Oil and Gas Trade Mission to Baku and the possibility of developing partnership between Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and BP, enhancing oil and gas cooperation, which is part of the UK-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commissions ongoing joint trade activities, will be discussed as part of the visit.

During the visit, Baroness Nicholson is hoping to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and hold meetings with the countrys ministers and senior officials, the message said.

The UK and Azerbaijan enjoy cooperation in different spheres such as education, trade, tourism, ICT, as well as other infrastructure and transit projects.

The cooperation in the energy sector is currently the key factor of the bilateral economic relations between the two countries. Azerbaijan cooperates with the United Kingdom in the field of exploration and transportation of oil and natural gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. BP as a leading oil company, which has launched its operations in Azerbaijan in 1992, participates in the main production sharing agreements such as the Contract of Century (Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli) and the Shah Deniz project.

The Azerbaijani State Customs Committee reported that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UK amounted to 418.06 million manats in January-August 2016, which is 1.5 times more than in the same period of 2015.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 November 2016 11:48 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijans Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov has met with Governor of Russia's Arkhangelsk Region Igor Orlov in Baku to discuss ways of developing agricultural cooperation and increasing the effectiveness of agricultural import and export processes.

The minister hailed economic, political and agricultural relations between the two countries, and highlighted the presidents attention to the development of agriculture as the priority sphere of Azerbaijan`s economy.

Asadov emphasized the bilateral meetings held between businessmen as part of the 7th Azerbaijani-Russian Interregional Forum in Baku.

The Azerbaijani minister informed of the country`s export potential and proposed exporting agricultural products to Arkhangelsk.

Orlov, in turn, welcomed the Azerbaijani minister`s proposal and they agreed to continue discussions on the level of the working group.

During the 7th Azerbaijan-Russia interregional forum held on November 1, Arkhangelsk region also expressed an interest in Azerbaijans experience in developing industrial parks t.

Deputy Chair of Arkhangelsk government Viktor Ikonnikov said that trade between Arkhangelsk region and Azerbaijan amounted to $7 million in the first six months of this year. This is somewhat lower than in the same period of last year.

We need to find new logistic solutions, new partners, successful models of cooperation of industrial enterprises, including in shipbuilding industry, which is being actively developed in Azerbaijan, said Ikonnikov.

Deputy Minister of Agroindustrial Complex and Trade of Arkhangelsk region Irina Bajanova said that large trade networks operated in the region and they were interested in supplies of Azerbaijani fruits and vegetables.

Today we are exploring possibilities to ensure direct supplies of Azerbaijani fruits and vegetables to Arkhangelsk region, she added.

On the sidelines of the forum representatives of Arkhangelsk region discussed ways of supporting small and medium entrepreneurship, mechanisms of developing cooperation between Pomorye (Arkhangelsk region) and Azerbaijan.

The forum also featured meetings between representatives of Russian and Azerbaijani companies with the aim of establishing new business contacts.

Furthermore, Arkhangelsk region and Azerbaijan will sign a cooperation agreement. This was agreed by Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev and Igor Orlov as they met on the sidelines of the 7th Azerbaijan-Russia interregional forum in Baku.

The agreement will embrace trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between the governments of Arkhangelsk region and Azerbaijan.

Orlov pointed to most promising spheres of mutually profitable cooperation between Azerbaijan and Arkhangelsk region.

Mustafayev said Azerbaijan maintains commercial and economic ties with 78 regions of Russia. Trade is one of the most important areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia.

Our countries enjoy a free trade regime, which definitely paves the way for mutually fruitful cooperation between entrepreneurs. There are around 600 Russian companies in Azerbaijan, added Mustafayev.

Shipbuilding, hydrocarbon production, agriculture and tourism are, in Orlovs opinion, promising areas for mutually profitable partnership.

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4 November 2016 11:42 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijans state oil fund SOFAZ has managed to enter the top five of the most transparent sovereign wealth funds of the world.

The Fund ranked the fourth among 60 sovereign wealth funds with overall score of 92 out of 100 in the fourth edition of Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency and Accountability scoreboard published in October 2016.

The rating, prepared by Peterson Institute for International Economics put Norway Government Pension Fund to the top of the list followed by New Zealand Superannuation Fund (2nd place), Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund, United States (3rd place), SOFAZ (4th place) and Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, Canada (5th place).

Peterson Institute for International Economics was established in 1981 and is a private, nonprofit research institution specialized in the study of international economic policy.

SOFAZ, which is engaged in accumulation and management of oil and gas revenues of the country, was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

Based on SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems.

The transfers of the Fund to the state budget are forecasted to hit 7.61 billion manat ($ 4.64 billion) in 2016, while the forecasted index for 2017 stands at 6.1 billion manat ($3.7 billion). The assets of the Fund currently amount to some $33.7 billion, with some 80 percent of the volume falling to a share of bonds and short-term financial instruments.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 November 2016 16:14 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan and Hungary, the countries with a huge capacity for the development of economic cooperation, are keen on strengthening a mutually beneficial partnership.

The cooperation between the two countries currently covers almost all areas, including ICT, energy, tourism, agriculture, trade, environmental protection, water management, ICT, culture, sports, science , infrastructure.

Hungarian Ambassador to Baku Imre Laszloczki told Trend that Hungary may help Azerbaijani business to enter the European Union (EU) market, namely, to provide an opportunity for creating enterprises and investment opportunities.

Several agreements were signed between the sides during the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Baku in March 2016, including the agreement on the protection technology of various facilities, an agreement on the creation of an electronic parking system and other payment systems, as well as agreements in the field of agriculture and food industry, he mentioned.

The ambassador said that the primary goal is the promotion of mutual investments and project cooperation.

A steady growth of trade between the countries has been observed since 2013. Moreover, the highest level of Hungarys trade turnover in the South Caucasus region accounts for Azerbaijan. The import volume of Azerbaijani non-oil products to Hungary amounted to $79,000 in 2015.

The Hungarian government is also interested in expanding the Hungarian business in Azerbaijan and considers Azerbaijan as a potential market for different Hungarian products

Political relations

The ambassador also hailed political relations between the countries, mentioning that Hungary intends to strengthen a political dialogue and contribute to the improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

The Hungarian embassy in Baku will operate as a NATO Liaison Office for two years - from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018. Hungarian embassy will take over these responsibilities from the Romanian embassy in Baku, which carried out this task in the last few years.

The transfer of responsibilities will be realized in late 2016 with the participation of representatives of Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania and many other organizations involved in this work.

Highlighting the objectives and activity of the Hungarian embassy in Baku as a NATO Liaison Office, the ambassador said that the tasks include strengthening of political dialogue and improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

The diplomat added that the main responsibility and tasks are to ensure comprehensive support in organizing mutual visits of officials arriving in Azerbaijan from the NATO International Staff and visits of officials from Azerbaijan to NATO headquarters.

NATO and Azerbaijan actively cooperate on democratic, institutional and defense reforms, and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas. Azerbaijans Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) lays out the programme of cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO.

Azerbaijan and NATO cooperate within the Partnership for Peace program. Earlier, the NATO adopted a document of the fourth stage of the Individual Action Plan within the partnership for 2015-2016.

Energy cooperation

Hungary regards Azerbaijan as a key partner in reference to ensuring Europes energy security.

Laszloczki said that Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project is important for the diversification of energy sources in Hungary, adding that Hungarys national oil and gas company MOL sees Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR as one of the most important partners.

Energy security is a number one challenge for Hungary as the country imports about 53 percent of energy it needs.

Being one of the biggest construction projects of our times the SGC will bring some 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe. 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.

ICT cooperation

ICT sphere is yet another example of successful cooperation between the countries. The envoy said that cooperation between the Hungarian DBH Group company and Azerbaijans High Tech Park LLC is being considered at the governmental level, adding that Hungary offered to create a joint investment fund in the field of ICT in March 2016.

The MoU signed between Hungarian Foreign Ministry and Azerbaijans Communications and High Technologies Ministry envisages cooperation in the sphere of venture capital financing, creation of joint investment opportunities, and financing of promising startup projects. Moreover, Hungarian Eximbank earlier expressed its readiness to invest in establishing a regional DATA-center in Azerbaijan.

Agriculture

Agricultural production in Hungary is one of the most developed fields of the national economy, while Azerbaijan sees the development of the sphere as one of the main alternatives to petrodollars.

Laslocki earlier said that cooperation in the sphere of agriculture is one of the top priorities for the governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary.

Enjoying advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has every opportunity to increase export of high-quality agro products, which are in great demand in other countries.

Moreover, a number of students from Azerbaijan applied for the Hungarian Government Scholarship program 2016-2017.

Scholarship is awarded in the field of animal nutrition, plant protection, rural development and agribusiness, while the specialties offered by Hungarian universities will give a stimulus for the further strengthening agriculture in Azerbaijan.

Tourism

Tourism relations between the countries are also on rise. The ambassador said that three large Hungarian travel companies, including 1000 ut, Robinson Tours and Vedi Tour intend to enter Azerbaijani market. Moscow branch of Hungarian Tourism Agency is currently responsible for tourism development with Azerbaijan. Hungarian company Wizz Air has been implementing Baku-Budapest direct flights since March 2016.

In January 2016, BLS International LLC opened a visa center of Hungary in Baku at the initiative of Hungarys Embassy in Azerbaijan.

The decision to open the center was made by Hungary in order to strengthen relations between the two countries, establish direct relations between the citizens of Azerbaijan and Hungary, as well as develop tourist relations and meet the needs of the increased tourist and businessmen flow thanks to the direct flights of Wizz Air company.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 November 2016 16:40 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan has great potential for development of cashless payment system.

Alper Meric, Mastercard Manager on Azerbaijan announced about this to reporters on November 4.

"The share of cash payments in the economy of Azerbaijan is more than 90 percent, and the country has great potential for development of cashless payments. There are already some achievements in this direction. This is ASAN service, payment of fines of traffic police on-line and other services. We want to see Azerbaijan as a regional leader in the field of cashless payments, the first country to introduce the most advanced technology of Mastercard, and are willing to share our experiences," he said.

Mastercard is working with 28 Azerbaijani banks, but expects to increase the number, according to Melic.

Mastercard manager said that the company's Azerbaijani branch will work under the concept of "Cashless Azerbaijan".

"To develop cashless payments and stimulate customer, Mastercard holds a variety of events in collaboration with local and international companies. In 2017, we plan to reward banks in Azerbaijan within the framework of stimulating the development of cashless payments," he said.

MasterCard is a global payments and technology company that connects billions of consumers, thousands of financial institutions, millions of merchants, governments and businesses worldwide.

Mastercard products and solutions make it easier, safer and more efficiently to solve everyday tasks such as shopping, travel, conduct business and manage finances. In Azerbaijani market, the company has been operating since 1997, and in 2016 the company opened its office in Baku, headed by Yasemin Bedir.



Yasemin Bedir at the post of head of MasterCard Europes office in Azerbaijan is responsible for strategically important directions of the payment systems development in the country, as well as development of e-payments in 13 European countries.

In August 2016, turnover on payment cards through ATMs and POS-terminals in the country totaled 1.1 billion manats ($654,000), and this is 10.4 percent more than the same period last year, according to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

The CBA reports that the total number of transactions with payment cards for this period amounted to almost 6.8 million (an increase of 0.16 percent per year).

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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4 November 2016 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Devaluation of the national currency and other unfavorable processes seriously affected and challenged the financial sector of Azerbaijan, forcing the state to interfere in the situation and take serious steps to overcome the difficulties.

The sector is now passing through the stabilization period, while relevant agencies develop mechanisms to accelerate the process and improve the situation.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Financial Market Supervisory Body (FMSB) Rufat Aslanli said that the authority is now engaged in the preparation of normative legal base for the creation of transit bank, mentioning that the bill will allow to define main responsibilities of temporary administrators appointed to troubled banks.

The legislature of the country envisages appointment of temporary administration but lacks the precise description of operations that the administrator is authorized to implement.

The proposed amendments envisage granting of a right of selling assets [of troubled bank] at auction to other banks and further implementation of recovery operations by means of funds acquired at the auction, should a bank loses its paying capacity or faces shortages of capital. The other option is creation of transit bank that will get liabilities and assets of any troubled bank and sell the assets to healthy investors.

Aslanli mentioned that the changes will allow to use international experience to improve the banking sector of the country and strengthen banking legislation. The Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) will act as asset manager till the bank is sold to investors.

Commenting on the recent revocation of licenses from local banks, Aslanli mentioned that FMSB doesnt plan to revoke licenses of banks in the near future, mentioning that the issue is currently not on agenda. He underlined that main objective is sustainability of financial sector. He said that the authority had been working with shareholders of banks to restore their capital, but they failed to provide capitalization of financial institutions. However, he mentioned that a number of banks have managed to solve the problem of insufficient amount of capital. Some 32 banks are currently implementing their operations in Azerbaijan, including 2 with state involvement.

Commenting on the issue of restructuring and further privatization of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the largest bank and financial services group in Azerbaijan and the region, Aslanli said that the government is currently working on narrowing of IBAs assets, mentioning that FMSB has a close contact with the government as part of the banks recovery. He said the process of reducing is underway, and the IBA assets are being gradually transferred to other market participants, expressing his confidence that the process of the bank's recovery will be completed next year.

The preliminary audit conducted by the CBA jointly with the Finance Ministry revealed that the volume of bad assets amounted to some 70 percent of all assets.

Some 10 banks, including Bank Standard, Zaminbank, Dekabank, Kredobank, Atrabank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Gandjabank, Texnikabank, Parabank and Caucasus Development Bank has been closed in the country since early 2016. Depositors of closed banks have already received about 667 million manats ($ 404.4) as compensations.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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4 November 2016 18:37 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan, which places a serious emphasis on the attraction of foreign investments, will host an Azerbaijan-U.S. business forum on December 1.

The event, which will be organized by the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC) is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Baku and Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Business climate of is developing rapidly in Azerbaijan, representing enormous opportunities for both local and foreign companies.

Business forum and business meetings bear huge importance for the enhancement of the relations between the entrepreneurs of the two countries and provision of the information about investment environment, ongoing large-scale projects in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is increasingly becoming known for its pro-business attitude, as the country provides a number of advantageous and favorable conditions both for local and foreign investors.

Being established in 1995, the USACC is considered to be a vital resource for American companies seeking to establish long-term business ties with Azerbaijan. The chamber was one of the key driving forces behind the world's two most strategic and ambitious regional energy projects, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, both of which are operational today.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the US amounted to $416.2 million in January-September 2016, more than $338 million of which accounted for the import of American goods.

Azerbaijan currently ranks 65 out of 189 countries in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business index.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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4 November 2016 17:58 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

The development of the capital market, which is considered to be a multi-faceted sector of the economy, is currently in focus of relevant financial authorities of Azerbaijan.

The results of the Capital Markets Modernization Project (CMMP) supported by the World Bank and Switzerlands State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), was at core of discussions at the conference hosted by Azerbaijans Financial Market Supervisory Body (FMSB) and the World Bank (WB).

The CMMP for Azerbaijan was aimed at the increase of the use of equity and corporate debt as financing or investment instruments through the adoption of an effective regulatory framework of the capital market.

Head of FMSB Rufat Aslanli addressing the event said that the project has significantly enhanced the potential of Azerbaijans capital market, providing organizational and operational support to modernization of the market.

However, the authority believes that the country needs implementation of additional measures in this direction. Aslanli mentioned that the main objective is to attract those, who will be interested in the use of the potential of the market.

SECO Deputy Regional Director for South Caucasus Simone Haeberli, speaking at the event said that the secretariat is ready to implement new projects of technical assistance to help Azerbaijan solve the most difficult issues existing in the sphere.

Haeberli said that Azerbaijan and Switzerland have been cooperating effectively for already 25 years, including the cooperation within the SECO, which covers the microeconomic policy and ensuring financial stability. She underlined that modern and transparent capital markets are now more important for Azerbaijan than at the time when the SECO started implementation of the project.

Capital market, which stands for the market for buying and selling of equity and debt instruments, is vital to the functioning of an economy, since capital is a critical component for generating economic output.

World Banks Practice Manager for Finance and Markets Rolf Berhnd, in turn, said that one of the main functions of the WB is improvement of conditions for small and medium-scale entrepreneurs, mentioning that capital markets are considered to be one of the main tools for reaching the goal. He mentioned that capital market is one of the key vehicles for domestic and international investment mobilization, which requires concerted efforts, holistic reforms and time to do it right. Berhnd said that the implementation of the reform of the capital market is quite a difficult process, underlining that Azerbaijan has managed to succeed in the sphere despite the difficulties. He mentioned that the reform will allow to create favorable conditions for the attraction of foreign investments.

WBs senior financial sector specialist Angela Prigozhina said that the project supported a package of reforms needed to diversify the financial sector and ease the access to alternative financing tools for Azerbaijani companies operating in the non-oil sectors.

CMMP was approved on March 17, 2011 with a $12 million loan from the World Bank, supplemented by SECO Trust Fund grant of $1.6 million. The share of Azerbaijani government in the project, which was closed on Luly 1, 2016 amounted to $2.2 million.

Among the most notable results of the project are enactment of the modern Law on Securities and implementation of new regulatory requirements, which are in line with the best international practices. Moreover, the project contributed to the establishment of the Centralized Trading System (CETA) which linked investors, market-players, Baku Stock Exchange and National Depositary Center in a single trading and post-trading system, significantly reducing transaction time and costs.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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4 November 2016 19:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The Commission on ICT of Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation has started preparing a strategic plan of ICT development in the country's industry, Chairman of the Commission Ismail Alakbarov said on November 3.

He told that the opportunity to offer Azerbaijani IT-products to the international market is an important component of this strategy.

The plan will specify short- and long-term targets of high-tech industry development in Azerbaijan, as well as the issues of export potential and legislative regulations development. The document will reflect the interests of both the state and private business.

The Commission also intends to prepare proposals to amend the legal regulation in the sphere of electronic commerce.

Today, there are wide-ranging reforms to develope the non-oil sector implementing in Azerbaijan. The core of this process is a model based on science, knowledge and intelligence. That is why we, participants of this sector, rallied and established the Commission on ICT, which has become a leading platform, said Alakbarov. The Commission is composed of largest leading IT-companies of the country, non-governmental organizations, and think tanks.

Overall, the sector of information technologies has been intensively developed in Azerbaijan over the past years. In this context, Azerbaijan considers the possibility of creating a national Association of companies operating in the field of ICT.

The remark was made on November 3 by Elchin Zeynalov, the Executive Director of the State Fund for Development of Information Technologies. He said that creation of such an association was initiated by the State Fund to increase the activity in ICT.

Its creation was impossible earlier due to the lack of a mechanism of attracting foreign investment in this area. However, the Ministry of Economy has such a mechanism, Zeynalov said.

The Association may also contribute to bringing foreign investors into Azerbaijani market. During his visit to Azerbaijan, the head of the Chinese Association of high-tech products manufacturers expressed interest in meeting with a similar Association in Azerbaijan.

This suggests that the establishment of the Association promotes not only attracting investors into the country, but also expansion of our companies to other markets, Zeynalov stressed.

Creation and developing of the e-Government system, expanding of the broadband internet services, launch of the telecommunication and low-orbit satellites, and many other are the evidence of Azerbaijans success in IT-sphere. The income to be obtained in the IT sector in Azerbaijan is expected to hit $9 billion by 2020.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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If you have a need for firewood, get it now while you can
4 November 2016 15:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

An International Ceramics Duet Symposium wrapped up in Baku, Trend Life reported.

The duet-symposium is a joint project of Azerbaijan Ceramics Center and Arts Council Azerbaijan realized within the framework of the Regional Art and Culture Project in the South Caucasus, which is managed by the Culture and Management Lab with financial support of the Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus (SCO).

The duet-symposium was important from perspective of demonstrating ancient ceramic production traditions of Azerbaijan.

Professional artists, ceramic masters from CIS countries and the rest of the world gathered under one roof to celebrate the all the beauty and uniqueness of contemporary art.

The stunning event brought together masters Mirteymur Mammadov and Moldavian artist Valentin Rusu.

Within two weeks, professionals created the works that were presented at the exhibition. Totally, artists displayed only seven works.

Moldavian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Gheorghe Leuca, who attended the event, thanked the author of the project and wished success to Mirteymur Mammadov and Valentin Rusu.

Leuca also stressed that in the near future Baku will hold an exhibition of Moldovian artist, who creates his masterpieces using coffee and wine.

Media partners of the event are Trend, Day.az, and Milli.az.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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4 November 2016 15:43 (UTC+04:00)

Ukrainian Real Estate Club together with its European partner EuropaProperty.com will hold a top real estate event on investment opportunities and market situation in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Moldova - The EEA Forum and Project Awards on November 24.

Today, the region's markets are interesting for international investors. Firstly, investor can join the project almost at any stage due to the shortage of bank financing, while in Western and even in Central Europe it can be done just only in the first stage, what is mostly unacceptable for the majority. Secondly, yield potential of commercial property in Eastern Europe is approximately 10 % against Western Europes 2-3 %. Herewith, investors are more interested in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia as a whole and separate countries are less interesting for them.

Investment opportunities and characteristics of every country will be discussed in the first panel discussion of the EEA Forum and Project Awards in a bit more detail.

The second panel discussion will focus on the tourism opportunities and the impact of the tourism industry on investment attractiveness. There is a potential for tourism development in all participating countries of the Forum, though we see considerable success in the tourism only in Georgia. How they did it, and what steps have been taken we will discuss with the developers of the country.

The third panel discussion of the forum will cover local and global trends in the retail market. On the one hand, development of shopping centers is a perspective direction, and on the other - this area is constantly changing, and it is important for developers to meet new customer demands.

Residential real estate in a number of countries in the region - Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine in particular - is a key area that is developing most actively and steadily. Features of the development and investments of this segment in the different countries will be discussed by participants in the fourth panel discussion of the EEA Forum and Project Awards.

As to real estate experts, Kiev is the optimal location for the meeting of developers from Eastern Europe and Asia with Western investors. In December, many investors will take investment decision for projects in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Forum organizers - Ukrainian Real Estate Club (URE Club) and EuropaProperty.com.

Event partners - DLA Piper, MK Illumination, NAI Ukraine, Urban Experts, Geos, ProfEstate, European Business Association, British-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.

Media Partners - Business Ukraine, nterfaks-Ukraine, First Business, Business Columnist, Channel 5, the Companion, Liga.net, Azernews, StroyObzor, RealTimes, Invest in Georgia, UBR, Real Estate Belarus, Ukrainian Law Firms, UJBL, Voice UA, Economy Today, the International Institute of managemen and Property Georgia.

EEA Real Estate Forum will take place November 24 at Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv.

To purchase tickets, please contact Dmitry Kuznets, [email protected], +38 (044) 227-67-53, +38 (044) 360-51-58.

For media accreditation, please contact Natalia Reva, [email protected], +38 (044) 227-67-53, +38 (044) 360-51-58 or Lidiia Markova, [email protected], +38 (066) 165-77-87.

More information - www.eeaawards.com
4 November 2016 15:59 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

France's Ambassador to Baku Aurelia Bouchez said that the change of the French co-chair for the OSCE Mink Group is not associated with specific causes.

Bouchez told Trend that the mandate of French co-chair Pierre Andrieu ended and the new co-chair, Stephane Visconti, was proposed for this position.

Visconti is an experienced diplomat. France proposes only experienced diplomats to represent the country in the Minsk Group, Bouchez said, adding that the new co-chair has already started his work.

Pierre Andrieu has held the position since June 2014.

The newly appointed co-chair Stephane Visconti assumed the office on November 3. He earlier worked as French Ambassador to Latvia.

The OSCE Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, works to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for over two decades, but in vain.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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4 November 2016 12:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

"Flag march" will be held in Baku on November 9 on the occasion of Azerbaijan's State Flag Day.

The route of "Flag march" will start from Baku Boulevard and end at the National Flag Square. The event starts at 11:00.

The representatives of the Education Ministry, NGOs, public figures, MPs, as well as teachers and students will attend the march.

The State Flag Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan on November 9.

The sacred flag, waving above Azerbaijan was firstly raised on November 9, 1918, as the national flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).

After regaining of Azerbaijan's independence in 1991, the flag was approved as the official flag of Azerbaijan on February 5.

In accordance with the presidential decree dated November 17, 2009, November 9 announced as the National Flag Day in memory of the ADR.

The state flag of Azerbaijan represents a rectangular panel consisting of three equal horizontal bands colored blue, red, and green, with a white crescent and an eight-pointed star are centered in the red band. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 1:2.

The first blue stripe stands for the Turkic origin of Azerbaijani people and its Turkic heritage and is connected with the idea of Turkism. The middle red stripe means building a modern society, developing a democratic and modernized country. The third green stripe expresses affiliation to the Islamic civilization and the Islamic religion.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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4 November 2016 15:03 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan and Pakistan, the two strategic partners, signed a plan of bilateral military cooperation.

The document was signed between Azerbaijans Defense Ministry and Pakistans Joint Staff Headquarters within the 7th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Working Group in Islamabad on November 3.

The meeting saw discussions on the current state and prospects of the bilateral military cooperation between the two countries. Meetings of the Working Group, which brings together senior officers of Azerbaijan and Pakistan, are held annually.

The Azerbaijan-Pakistan all-weather friendship" covers various facets of the economic and political ties. Pakistan is one of the oldest and closest allies and strategic partners of Azerbaijan in Asia.

During the recent visit of Pakistani PM Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to Baku, the two countries voiced commitment to further boost the bilateral cooperation.

Both sides agreed to continue cooperation in carrying out joint military exercises and also discussed detailed cooperation in defense sector and joint military production. The Azerbaijani side voiced interest in purchase of the most modern and high-tech weapons from Pakistan.

Pakistan became the second country after Turkey which recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The diplomatic relations between two countries were established on June 9, 1992.

Islamabad backed Azerbaijan during and after the Nagorno-Karabakh War and it is the only country that does not recognize Armenia. Pakistan also adopted a resolution strongly condemning the genocide against the civilian population of Khojaly, which was committed by Armenian armed forces.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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4 November 2016 17:50 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The Defense Forces is inspecting the level of readiness of Azerbaijans tank crews and infantry fighting vehicles. The drill is conducted in accordance with the readiness plan of the Armed Forces for 2016, the Ministry said on November 4.

The main purpose of the exercises carried out in military firing-grounds in the frontline zone is to increase the fighting capability of the tank and other armored vehicle's units, as well as to improve the combat skills, battle spirit and morale of servicemen.

The exercises will be held in day- and nighttime in conditions as close to a combat situation. The units perform tasks and practical shootings from armored vehicles.

The body frames of Armenian tanks destroyed during the April clashes, as well as other targets set at various distances, are used as a target to create a real impression from the enemy's combat equipment for the Azerbaijani crews.

Today, Azerbaijani Army is one of the most powerful, highly disciplined armies in the world and the leading in the region, which is equipped with modern military machinery. The skills and combat readiness of the Army are growing year by year. The army-building process in Azerbaijan is progressing as well.

The countrys Armed Forces regularly conduct military exercises. In October, the Armed Forces carried out also tank exercises to improve the skills of military personnel of its tank units.

Large-scale exercises of Azerbaijans Armed Forces are expected to be held on November 12-18. More than 60,000 members of military personnel, over 50 planes and helicopters, more than 150 tanks and armored vehicles, as well as up to 700 systems of missile and artillery forces will be involved in the training.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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4 November 2016 11:11 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan and Romania, the countries which enjoy good cooperation in multiple areas, are keen to strengthen energy links.

The two countries cooperate in the implementation of Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) energy project, which is aimed at diversifying the energy supply sources of the European Union and involves the supply of Azerbaijani natural gas to Romania and into Central Europe.

The project was high on agenda during the meeting between Energy Minister Natig Aliyev and Romanias Ambassador Dan lancu on November 3.

Aliyev said that important steps are being taken as part of energy cooperation to implement the AGRI project, designed to supply Azerbaijani gas to Europe via Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania-Hungary route.

The minister underlined that relations between Azerbaijan and Romania are developing on the basis of strategic partnership. The ambassador, in turn, noted that the diversification policy is relevant in the present circumstances.

AGRI project envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Black Sea coast of Georgia via gas pipelines. Azerbaijani gas delivered to Georgia's Black Sea coast will be liquefied at a special terminal and following this, it will be delivered in tankers to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta. Further, it will be brought to the gaseous state and sent via Romanian gas infrastructure for meeting the demands of Romania and other European countries. The cost of the project will vary from 1.2 billion to 4.5 billion, according to the preliminary estimates.

The participants of the AGRI project are the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Georgia's Oil and Gas Corporation, as well as MVM (Hungary) and Romgaz (Romania). The parties established the SC AGRI LNG Project Company SRL in February 2011 for the implementation of the project.

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4 November 2016 17:14 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Uzbekistan favors the development of trade and economic relations among member-countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said First Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Rustam Azimov.

Uzbekistan has already taken concrete steps jointly with our partners from the Peoples Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and our closest neighbors Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan regarding the development of trade-economic and investment cooperation and seeking new opportunities, as well as, mutually acceptable and beneficial solutions to these issues, noted Azimov at a meeting of the Council of SCO Heads of Governments in Bishkek, Jahon News Agency reported.

Azimov stressed that being neighbors, and, in fact, having a complementary economy, one needs to actively shape each others market, promote mutual demand for manufactured goods in neighboring countries by creating the preconditions for its successful competitiveness.

At the same time, Uzbekistan is committed to broadening and deepening the ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders, with member-states and observers of the SCO at interstate and regional level, which, according to First Deputy Prime Minister, is a "major driving force for the expansion of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation.

The most important strategic direction for Uzbekistan is the implementation of joint projects aimed at the disclosure of a huge transport-communication and transit potential of the SCO, he added.

He noted that Uzbekistan supports the development of economically sound transport and transit routes, effectively linking Central Asia through China and Russia to the markets of South-East and South Asia and Europe, including in the framework of the Chinese initiative to create a "Silk Road Economic Belt".

As one of the weaknesses of the SCO first Deputy Prime Minister called the lack of an effective multilateral financial mechanism to support investment activity in the framework of the SCO.

Following the meeting, SCO member countries agreed to create a development bank and a development fund of SCO at a meeting in 2012.

In turn, Azimov also stressed that Uzbekistan supports the creation of the SCO Development Bank, which is one of the most important factors in the development of investment cooperation.

An expanded format meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government was held in Kyrgyzstans capital, Bishkek on November 3.

The meeting was attended by Kyrgyzstans Acting Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda and Uzbekistans First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.

The event saw the signing of 12 documents on cooperation, including a Joint Communique of the SCO heads of governments.

Moreover, the countries signed a decree on the SCO budget for 2017, a list of actions for the further development of the project activities within the SCO in 2017-2021, a decree on further work aimed at creating the SCO Development Bank and Development Fund.

They also signed a concept of scientific and technological partnerships, an action plan for the implementation of the agreement between the SCO governments on scientific and technical cooperation for 2016- 2020 and a draft road development program.

The SCO, established in 2001, is a strategically important political, economic and military organization that has a geographic sweep stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf.

The SCO members now are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.

The SCO is primarily centered on its member nations security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

Russia will chair the SCO Heads of Government Council in 2017.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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4 November 2016 16:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Vietnamese Ambassador to Iran Nguyen Hong Thach has underlined further cooperation and interaction with Iran, saying that interaction will help access markets of Iran's neighboring states.

The envoy, addressing a gathering of Kashan industry owners, described Iran and Vietnam industries as complementary to each other, saying that both countries should use the opportunity for promoting cooperation, IRNA reported.

He recalled that the two countries' presidents have met two times in the past seven months, adding that the meetings are the best opportunity for boosting collaboration in various fields.

Iran with over 80 million populations and Vietnam with 94 million have made great markets available to producers and industrialists, according to him.

Thach said that in addition to being a tourism site, Kashan is a suitable place for investment and mutual cooperation.

Kashan Governor Hamid Reza Momenian , in turn, said that capacities of the region will provide a suitable opportunity for promoting commercial and economic ties and joint investment ventures.

Iranian nation knows Vietnam for its revolutionary record, resistance and has always had good ties with it, he said.

The trade between Iran and Vietnam hit $350 million last year, according to the official statistics.

In October, Irans President Hassan Rouhani paid a visit to Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

Following the visit, Iran and Vietnam agreed to boost mutual cooperation in trade and investment sectors and also prepare suitable conditions for business in the two countries to help materialize the target of two billion dollars exchanges in future.

The two sides agreed to increase bilateral trade turnover up to $2 billion.

The sides stressed that there is a very good opportunity available in the field of energy for export of oil, LNG, and petrochemicals from Iran to Vietnam and Vietnamese companies are ready to invest in the Iranian oil and gas projects.

Previously, President Rouhani said that Iran is ready to hold the 9th session of the Iran-Vietnam Joint Economic Commission in Tehran in the nearest future.

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4 November 2016 14:26 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

TURKSOY, the international organization of Turkic culture, has suggested including Shaki, an ancient Azerbaijani town featuring a majestic landscape of flora and fauna, into the UNESCO World Heritage List.

I am confident that the city of Shaki will be incorporated in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This wont be difficult, said Firat Purtas, Deputy Secretary General of TURKSOY.

Certain activities are carried out in Shaki. The city totally deserves to be on the list owing to its rich historic and cultural legacy, he told Azertac as he visited the city.

We arrived in Shaki to participate an international research conference dedicated to the great poet of the Turkic world, scientist and philosopher Yusuf Khass Hajib (Yusuf Balasaguni), he said. I was here for the first time in 2011. That year Shaki was selected the capital of Azerbaijani artists. Five years later Shaki was announced the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World in 2016. During these years Shaki has indeed developed and changed a lot.

Purtas emphasized that a great attention is paid here to the preservation of national and moral values, as well as history and cultural heritage.

He further mentioned that TURKSOY has contributed to the organization of a number of events and meetings in Shaki, bringing together scientists and artists from Turkic countries.

These events are crucial from the point of view of strengthening friendly and brotherly relations between Turkic nations, developing common Turkic culture and promoting Shaki on a broader scale, he stressed.

Sheki located at the foot of timbered mountains, is split by Dayirmanarkhi and Gurjana rivers into north and south parts. Alexander Dumas, Thor Heyerdahl and other famous persons narrated about the beauty of Shaki in their masterpieces.

It was one of the biggest cities of the Albanian states in the 1st century. The main temple of the ancient Albanians was located there. For centuries this beautiful city, which is located along the route of the ancient Silk Road, was an important center of art and commerce.

Rare historical and architectural monuments of the city - caravanserais, mosques, minarets, walls, bridges, etc. indicate ancient architectural style of Sheki.

Sheki, being one of the most ancient cities of Azerbaijan, is rightly called the architectural reserve of the country. Circle shrine, Gelersen-Gorersen fortress (picture), Shaki Juma, Omar Efendi mosques, Narin Gala and other buildings....The palace of Shaki Khans is one of the most precious pearls of this unique place. The maples in the palace`s yard are even older than buildings there.

Ashagi and Yukari caravanserais built in the 18th century is an exotic place for tourists. It is easy to escape summer heat and city noise.

Shaki is home to a number of ancient arts. Tinners, potters, hatters and musical instruments makers are working there. Shebeke ornament is one of the ancient arts in Shaki. It made Shaki famous around the world.

The city is famous for silk carpets. These carpets are eye-catching for being hand-made, assortment, colours and quality. Shaki carpets, which stand out with their unique features in the Azerbaijani carpet-weaving art, sells to local and foreign markets and becomes precious items in personal collections.

Shaki wines are famous in not only our country but also further afield. The region produces red and white wines. The products sell locally and exported to Russia and other countries. Modern equipment installed in the factory enables to keep products for long time and improve their quality.

Shaki is also famous for its piti. The way of making piti is different. Piti is made in the faience pots. Piti includes peas, cut lamb, salt, water and onion.

Today, Shaki combining ancient and modern features has new buildings, modern park and playgrounds which attract visitors. There are modern healthcare, education, sport and cultural facilities in the town.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Galust Sahakyan received the Delegation led by the Speaker of the National Council of the Republic of Slovakia Andrej Danko.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian parliament, welcoming Andrej Danko, Galust Sahakyan noted that the visit of the Delegation will give new impetus to the development of the inter-state relations and the strengthening of the bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation.

In the context of the development of the parliamentary diplomacy Galust Sahakyan highlighted the formation of Slovakia-Armenia Friendship Group, which, according to him will boost the development of the parliamentary ties.

Highly assessing the recognition, condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by the National Council of the Republic of Slovakia and the criminalization of the genocides denial, Galust Sahakyan said: The Armenian Genocide was not only a crime directed against the Armenian people, but also against the whole mankind and the recognition and condemnation of such crimes is important for their further prevention.

Touching upon the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the Speaker of the National Assembly expressed his gratitude for the balanced position of Slovakia in that issue. He noted that April aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan caused serious damage to the process of negotiations.

In the course of the meeting the sides also referred to the procedure of the negotiations over Armenia-EU new legal document. The Head of the Parliament expressed hope that the elaborated document will become the best guarantee of the joint commitment in raising Armenia-EU relations to a new level. Taking into consideration the fact that Slovakia this year assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Galust Sahakyan said that Armenia expects Slovakias support in the visa regime liberalization process.

Thanking for the reception, the Speaker of the National Council of the Republic of Slovakia Andrej Danko remembered with warmth his visit to Armenia last year, after which he advised his colleagues to visit the first country that adopted Christianity, Armenia, which is considered a buffer zone between the Christian and Muslim countries.

Talking about the recognition of the Genocide, Andrej Danko reaffirmed that Slovakia condemns those, who perpetrated such crime against humanity and added: Last year I felt your nations great pain, and I feel pain for the people, who died during the Armenian Genocide and, please accept our Delegations visit as respect to your ancestors memory.

The interlocutors highlighted the efficient cooperation of the parliamentary delegations of the two countries at international platforms. The parties have underlined that wide opportunities exist for cooperation in different spheres, which will call upon as a result of joint efforts.

Andrej Danko left a note in the Book of Honourable Guests of the National Assembly of Armenia.

At the end of the meeting Speaker Galust Sahakyan awarded Andrej Danko the National Assembly Medal of Honour for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and having great contribution to the strengthening of the Armenian-Slovakian inter-parliamentary ties.

Afterwards in the Alley of Memory, at the Parliament Park, they planted an evergreen fir tree symbolizing the two peoples friendship.
4 November 2016 18:16 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan, the beauty of the Caucuses region that straddles both Europe and Asia, is turning to one of the popular tourism destination step by step.

Azerbaijan has much to offer visitors. Plethora of historical sights, interesting towns and villages, hidden ancient mosques and minarets as well as some of the most impressive modern architecture in the world get rich your horizons.



Azerbaijan has become more and more popular among foreigners as unforgettable tourism destination for the past several years.

MP Hadi Rajabli, Chairman of the Committee on Social Policy, said during the discussion of the draft law "On Tourism" on November 4 that tourism sector of Azerbaijan has experienced a boom.

This was due to the simplification of the visa regime with some countries, he explained.

The state promotes measures on the development of tourism in the country, Rajabli said, reminding that Azerbaijan ranks 36th among 141 countries in the world tourism report.

Informing the participants about the draft bill, Mahir Gahramanov, Culture and Tourism Ministrys Tourism Department Head said the basis of the experience is taken from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, accumulated since 2001.



He added that all suggestions and recommendations of experts, including those trained in foreign institutions, travel agencies, and the World Tourism Organization, as well as tourism experience of Austria and Latvia have been taken into account.

Gahramanov believes that issues related to the role of municipalities in the development of tourism should be studied on the Turkish experience.

"Turkey's municipalities have the opportunity to make a great contribution to the development of tourism. They are free to create tourism institutions in their territories and open new jobs," said the representative of the Ministry.



Ruslan Guliyev, the head of the Medical Support and the Thermal Tourism Association said that as an example on the issue of state control over the tourism sector it is possible to take the model of Belarus and Latvia.



"If we are talking about the development of health tourism, then the Health Ministry and relevant structures of Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences should be interested," he said.

Gahramanov further went on speaking about the flow of Arab tourists to Azerbaijan, informing that over the first nine months of 2016, some 22,000 tourists visited the country from Dubai.

He stressed that the simplification of the visa regime for some countries led to an increase in the inflow of tourists into Azerbaijan.

"Under the presidential decree, a visa to Azerbaijan can be obtained in just three days in the "ASAN" service, which is extremely important for the development of the tourism sector of the country," he said.

This year a record number of Arab tourists visited the Land of Fire, which is, according to many experts, is linked with the introduction of simplified visa regime for the UAE citizens.



The country welcomes about 600 tourists from Gulf countries on a daily basis according to statistics.

Over the first nine months of 2016, the number of foreign tourists visiting Azerbaijan amounted to 1.7 million. The number of tourists from the UAE alone has increased 34 times compared to January-September 2015.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Sunny early then increasing clouds with showers this afternoon. High 73F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Six people were wounded in a large explosion on Friday in a central district in the city of Diyarbakir in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, Reuters reports.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, which was heard around the city, witnesses said.

The explosion occurred just hours after police raided the homes and detained 11 lawmakers in parliament's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Access to social media sites Twitter and Whatsapp was blocked in Turkey on Friday, an internet monitoring group said, following the detentions of 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers in the mainly Kurdish southeast overnight, Reuters reports.

Access was being blocked by throttling, an expert from the monitoring group Turkey Blocks said, a method of slowing certain websites to the point where they are unusable.

Turkey detained two co-leaders and nine other lawmakers of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday over reluctance to give testimony for crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda".

The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.

Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho admits summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan "has to do more" to earn his place in the team ahead of the Reds other attacking options, the official MU website reports.



Mkhitaryan replaced Marcus Rashford for the final half-hour of Uniteds Europa League clash with Fenerbahce on Thursday, his first appearance since the Manchester derby in September.

But the Armenian and his team-mates couldnt prevent a 2-1 defeat in Istanbul that leaves the Reds third in the Group A table with two games left to play.

Asked specifically about Mkhitaryan in his post-match press conference at Sukru Saracoglu, the boss replied: "He has to do more. Its as simple as that.

"We have big expectations at this club, lots of players for these positions and he has to play better than Mata, Lingard, Martial  he has to play better than them. Its as simple as that.

"Every manager wants to win matches, every manager in the world wants to play the players that he thinks can help the team more, and Im no different."
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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.

With the average monthly Social Security check a scant $1,542.22 in 2022, many seniors struggle to find ways to survive in the face of rising inflation. In an effort to increase their income and remain in their homes, some turn to a reverse mortgage to access some much-needed cash.

Heres how reverse mortgages work, and what homeowners considering one need to know.

What is a reverse mortgage?

A reverse mortgage is a type of loan that allows homeowners ages 62 and older, typically whove paid off their mortgage, to borrow part of their homes equity as tax-free income. Unlike a regular mortgage in which the homeowner makes payments to the lender, with a reverse mortgage, the lender pays the homeowner.

Homeowners who opt for this kind of mortgage dont have a monthly payment and dont have to sell their home (in other words, they can continue to live in it), but the loan must be repaid when the borrower dies, permanently moves out or sells the home.

One of the most popular types of reverse mortgages is the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), which is backed by the federal government.

How does a reverse mortgage work?

Despite the reverse mortgage concept in practice, qualified homeowners may not be able to borrow the entire value of their home even if the mortgage is paid off.

The amount a homeowner can borrow, known as the principal limit, varies based on the age of the youngest borrower or eligible non-borrowing spouse, current interest rates, the HECM mortgage limit ($970,800 in 2022) and the homes value.

Homeowners are likely to receive a higher principal limit the older they are, the more the property is worth and the lower the interest rate. The amount might increase if the borrower has a variable-rate HECM. With a variable rate, options include:

Equal monthly payments, provided at least one borrower lives in the property as their primary residence

Equal monthly payments for a fixed period of months agreed on ahead of time

A line of credit that can be accessed until it runs out

A combination of a line of credit and fixed monthly payments for as long as you live in the home

A combination of a line of credit plus fixed monthly payments for a set length of time

If you choose a HECM with a fixed interest rate, on the other hand, youll receive a single-disbursement, lump-sum payment.

The interest on a reverse mortgage accrues every month, and youll still need to have adequate income to continue to pay for property taxes, homeowners insurance and upkeep of the home.

What can a reverse mortgage be used for?

Supplementing retirement income, covering the cost of needed home repairs or paying out-of-pocket medical expenses are common and acceptable uses of reverse mortgage proceeds, according to Bruce McClary, spokesperson for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

In each situation where regular income or available savings are insufficient to cover expenses, a reverse mortgage can keep seniors from turning to high-interest lines of credit or other more costly loans, McClary says.

Reverse mortgage requirements

To be eligible for a reverse mortgage, the primary homeowner must be age 62 or older. The additional eligibility requirements include:

You must own the property outright or have at least paid a substantial amount of your mortgage.

The property must be occupied as your primary residence.

You cannot be delinquent on any federal debt.

You must have the financial capability to continue to make payments on property taxes, homeowners insurance and homeowners association dues.

You must participate in an information session provided by a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-approved reverse mortgage counselor.

Seniors should be careful to make the most of the loan by budgeting carefully in order to avoid running out of funds too soon and to be sure that taxes and insurance are paid as agreed, cautions McClary.

Types of reverse mortgages

There are different types of reverse mortgages, and each one fits a different financial need.

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)  The most popular type of reverse mortgage, these federally-insured mortgages usually have higher upfront costs, but the funds can be used for any purpose. In addition, you can choose how the money is withdrawn, such as fixed monthly payments or a line of credit (or both options simultaneously). Although widely available, HECMs are only offered by Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved lenders, and before closing, all borrowers must receive HUD-approved counseling.

 The most popular type of reverse mortgage, these federally-insured mortgages usually have higher upfront costs, but the funds can be used for any purpose. In addition, you can choose how the money is withdrawn, such as fixed monthly payments or a line of credit (or both options simultaneously). Although widely available, HECMs are only offered by Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved lenders, and before closing, all borrowers must receive HUD-approved counseling. Proprietary reverse mortgage  This is a private loan not backed by the government. You can typically receive a larger loan advance from this type of reverse mortgage, especially if you have a higher-valued home.

 This is a private loan not backed by the government. You can typically receive a larger loan advance from this type of reverse mortgage, especially if you have a higher-valued home. Single-purpose reverse mortgage  This mortgage is not as common as the other two, and is usually offered by nonprofit organizations and state and local government agencies. A single-purpose mortgage is generally the least expensive of the three options; however, borrowers can only use the loan (which is typically for a much smaller amount) to cover one specific purpose, such as a handicap accessible remodel, explains Jackie Boies, a senior director of housing and bankruptcy services for Money Management International, a nonprofit debt counselor based in Sugar Land, Texas.

Reverse mortgage pros and cons

While borrowing against your home equity can free up cash for living expenses, the mortgage insurance premium and origination and servicing fees can add up. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of a reverse mortgage.

Pros Borrower doesnt need to make monthly payments toward their loan balance

Proceeds can be used for living and healthcare expenses, debt repayment and other bills

Funds can help borrowers enjoy their retirement

Non-borrowing spouses not listed on the mortgage can remain in the home after the borrower dies

Borrowers facing foreclosure can use a reverse mortgage to pay off the existing mortgage, potentially stopping the foreclosure Cons Borrower must maintain the house and pay property taxes and homeowners insurance

Forces you to borrow against the equity in your home, which could be a key source of retirement funds

Fees and other closing costs can be high and will lower the amount of cash that is available

How much does a reverse mortgage cost?

The closing costs for a reverse mortgage arent cheap, but the majority of HECM mortgages allow homeowners to roll the costs into the loan so you dont have to shell out the money upfront. Doing this, however, reduces the amount of funds available to you through the loan.

Heres a breakdown of HECM fees and charges, according to HUD:

Mortgage insurance premiums (MIP)  There is a 2 percent initial MIP at closing, as well as an annual MIP equal to 0.5 percent of the outstanding loan balance. The MIP can be financed into the loan.

 There is a 2 percent initial MIP at closing, as well as an annual MIP equal to 0.5 percent of the outstanding loan balance. The MIP can be financed into the loan. Origination fee  To process your HECM loan, lenders charge the greater of $2,500 or 2 percent of the first $200,000 of your homes value, plus 1 percent of the amount over $200,000. The fee is capped at $6,000.

 To process your HECM loan, lenders charge the greater of $2,500 or 2 percent of the first $200,000 of your homes value, plus 1 percent of the amount over $200,000. The fee is capped at $6,000. Servicing fees  Lenders can charge a monthly fee to maintain and monitor your HECM for the life of the loan. Monthly servicing fees cannot exceed $30 for loans with a fixed rate or an annually adjusting rate, or $35 if the rate adjusts monthly.

 Lenders can charge a monthly fee to maintain and monitor your HECM for the life of the loan. Monthly servicing fees cannot exceed $30 for loans with a fixed rate or an annually adjusting rate, or $35 if the rate adjusts monthly. Third-party fees  Third parties may charge their own fees, as well, such as for the appraisal and home inspection, a credit check, title search and title insurance, or a recording fee.

Keep in mind that the interest rate for reverse mortgages tends to be higher, which can also add to your costs. Rates can vary depending on the lender, your credit score and other factors.

Is a reverse mortgage right for you?

A reverse mortgage can be a help to homeowners looking for additional income during their retirement years, and many use the funds to supplement Social Security or other income, meet medical expenses, pay for in-home care and make home improvements, Boies says.

There are also flexible ways to receive the money from the reverse mortgage: a lump sum, a monthly payment, a line of credit or a combination.

Plus, if the value of the home appreciates and becomes worth more than the reverse mortgage loan balance, you or your heirs may receive the difference, Boies explains.

The opposite, however, can pose a problem: If the balance exceeds the homes value, your heirs may need to hand ownership of the home back to the lender.

There are also potential complications involving others who live in the home with the borrower, and what might happen to them if the borrower dies. Family members who inherit the property will want to pay close attention to the details of what is necessary to manage the loan balance when the borrower dies.

There are provisions that allow family to take possession of the home in those situations, but they must pay off the loan with their own money or qualify for a mortgage that will cover what is owed, McClary says.

Additionally, while not all reverse mortgage lenders use high-pressure sales tactics, some do use them to attract borrowers.

It is always best to receive guidance from a nonprofit agency that offers reverse mortgage counseling before signing a loan agreement, McClary recommends. Taking advice from a celebrity spokesperson or a sales agent without getting the facts from a trusted, independent resource can leave you with a major financial commitment that may not be best for your circumstances.

Alternatives to a reverse mortgage

If youre not sold on taking out a reverse mortgage, you have options. In fact, if youre not yet 62 (and ideally not turning 62 soon), a home equity loan or HELOC is likely a better option.

Both of these loans allow you to borrow against the equity in your home, although lenders limit the amount to 80 percent to 85 percent of your homes value, and with a home equity loan, youll have to make monthly payments. With a HELOC, payments are required once the draw period on the line of credit expires.

The closing costs and interest rates for home equity loans and HELOCs also tend to be significantly lower than what youll find with a reverse mortgage.

Aside from a home equity loan, you could also consider:

Cutting expenses  Trimming discretionary expenses can help you stay in your home long-term. If you need help with a necessary bill, consider contacting a local assistance organization (the Administration for Community Living can help you find one), which may be able to assist with fuel payments, utility bills and needed home repairs.

 Trimming discretionary expenses can help you stay in your home long-term. If you need help with a necessary bill, consider contacting a local assistance organization (the Administration for Community Living can help you find one), which may be able to assist with fuel payments, utility bills and needed home repairs. Downsizing  If youre able and willing to move, selling your home and moving to a smaller, less expensive one can give you access to your existing homes equity. You can use the proceeds of the sale to pay for another house in cash or pay off other debt.

 If youre able and willing to move, selling your home and moving to a smaller, less expensive one can give you access to your existing homes equity. You can use the proceeds of the sale to pay for another house in cash or pay off other debt. Refinancing  If you havent paid off your mortgage yet, you could look into refinancing the loan to lower your monthly payments and free up the difference. Make sure to weigh the closing costs and the new loan terms, however, to see how these will affect your finances in your retirement years.

Reverse mortgage lenders

If a reverse mortgage sounds like a good idea for you, take time to research you options. Here are the top 10 reverse mortgage lenders as of 2022, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data:

American Advisors Group (AAG) Finance of America Reverse Reverse Mortgage Funding PHH Mortgage Mutual of Omaha Longbridge Financial Cornerstone First Mortgage Open Mortgage HighTechLending Nationwide Equities Corp.

How to avoid reverse mortgage scams

As you shop for a reverse mortgage and consider your options, be on the lookout for two of the most common reverse mortgage scams:

Contractor loans  Some contractors will try to convince you to get a reverse mortgage when touting home improvement services.

 Some contractors will try to convince you to get a reverse mortgage when touting home improvement services. Veteran loans  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doesnt provide reverse mortgages, but you may see ads promising special deals for veterans, such as a fee-free reverse mortgage to attract borrowers.

The best way to avoid a reverse mortgage scam is to be aware and vigilant. If an individual or company is pressuring you to sign a contract, for example, its likely a red flag.

Reverse mortgage FAQs



How much money can you get from a reverse mortgage? The amount of money you can get from a reverse mortgage depends upon a number of factors, according to Boies, such as the current market value of your home, your age, current interest rates, the type of reverse mortgage, its associated costs and your financial assessment.



The amount you receive will also be impacted if the home has any other mortgages or liens. If theres a balance from a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC), for example, or tax liens or judgments, those will have to be paid with the reverse mortgage proceeds first.



Regardless of the type of reverse mortgage, you shouldnt expect to receive the full value of your home, Boies says. Instead, youll get a percentage of that value.



Who owns the house in a reverse mortgage? Just like any other type of mortgage, you own the home in a reverse mortgage situation.



When the borrower dies or moves, however, the mortgage is payable in full. If you cant, or wont, pay off the debt, the lender can sell the home to recoup the money its owed, explains Michael Sullivan, personal financial consultant with nonprofit credit counseling and debt management agency Take Charge America.



Typically, the homeowner or beneficiaries are not responsible for any costs if the house is sold for less than the amount owed, adds Sullivan.



Can you lose your house with a reverse mortgage? As with any mortgage, there are conditions for keeping your reverse mortgage in good standing, and if you fail to meet them, you could lose your home. The ways you could violate the terms of a reverse mortgage include: The home is no longer your primary residence. As part of the reverse mortgage agreement, the home must be your primary residence. This means that you cannot leave the home for more than 12 consecutive months, explains Michael Micheletti, spokesperson for Unlock Technologies, a company that helps homeowners access their equity. This rule doesnt bar you from leaving your home to travel or to come and go as you please, but if you vacate the property for 12 consecutive months, the reverse mortgage loan becomes eligible to be called due and payable. You decided to move or sell your home. If you have to move and put your home up for sale as part of the move, youre still bound by the requirement to live in the house for 12 consecutive months. If selling your home becomes a challenge and you dont find a buyer within that 12-month window, the reverse mortgage can be called due, Micheletti says. You dont pay your property taxes or homeowners insurance. Even with a reverse mortgage, youre still responsible for paying property taxes, and failure to do so could violate the terms of your loan. In addition, you must maintain current homeowners insurance. Bottom line, if a borrower fails to comply with the terms of the reverse mortgage contract, they could lose their home, says Darryl Hicks, a spokesperson for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. There are consumer protections established by HUD and by some states that require the company servicing the reverse mortgage to do everything possible to ensure that doesnt happen.



If you fail to pay property taxes, for example, or keep the home properly insured, the loan servicer could advance available loan proceeds from the reverse mortgage to cover these expenses, Hicks says. If there are not adequate proceeds available to cover these types of payments, the servicer could elect to advance its own funds to make the outstanding payments.



Once this happens, the loan will be considered to be in technical default and the loan servicer will try to establish a repayment plan with the borrower to pay back any funds advanced to pay the property taxes or insurance premiums, Hicks says. If the terms of the repayment plan cannot be met, the loan servicer will have no choice but to call the loan due and payable, and could move to foreclose on the property.



Bottom line

A reverse mortgage presents a way for older homeowners to supplement their income in retirement or pay for home renovations or other expenses such as healthcare costs. There are many alternatives that should be considered, including a HELOC or a refinance depending on the equity you have in your home.

Its best to speak with a HUD-approved counselor before committing to a reverse mortgage (and if youre looking to get a HECM, youll be required to). A counselor can help outline the pros and cons and how this kind of loan might impact your heirs after you pass away. To locate an FHA-approved lender or HUD-approved counseling agency, you can visit HUDs online locator or call HUDs Housing Counseling Line at 800-569-4287.
Albuquerque woman believes she has a rare condition called Stendhal Syndrome which causes her to experience nausea, panic and confusion when looking at beautiful works of art.

Troubled local restaurant chain WisePies Pizza and Salad made a payment to UNM this week and says they will honor the agreement that renamed The Pit "WisePies Arena".

Old Town's historic San Felipe de Neri church was tagged by vandals during mass this morning.

Illustrating the meaning of irony for a generation of school kids, Melania Trump announced that her signature issue as First Lady would be the fight against cyber bullying.

God told Jim Bakker and his team of evangelicals that Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States.

President Vladmir Putin has granted actor Steven Seagal Russian citizenship.

The rarest pasta in the world is made by just a few women in the ancient town of Nuoro, on the Italian island of Sardinia.

Two Chris Christie aides face steep sentences after being convicted on all counts in the New Jersey "Bridgegate" case.

A recall was announced for another exploding Samsung product.

A never-marketed, synthetic opioid invented by American company Upjohnand illegally manufactured in China for the black marketis being blamed for the deaths of two Utah teens.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian held a meeting on November 3 in Berlin with Christoph Heusgen  German Chancellors chief advisor on foreign policy and security, the MFA told ARMENPRESS.

The sides exchanged views on the Armenian-German relations and prospects of development.

The meeting also focused on international and regional issues.

Nalbandian presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries aimed at the creation of conditions for moving the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict forward.

The sides also touched upon the situation in the Middle East, protection of minorities and issues of assistance to refugees.

The meeting also included the Armenia-EU relations and the talks on a new legal document.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. In launching a new minor in Holocaust and genocide studies at the College of Arts & Sciences, faculty hope that BU students wont just learn history, but learn from history, Asbarez reports.

Students will study how the 20th centurys most horrific state-sponsored mass murders, from the Nazi Holocaust to Pol Pots wholesale slaughter in Cambodia to Rwandas deadly rampage against its Tutsis, evolved. As well, the new minor will offer historical context and teach humane vigilance, says Nancy Harrowitz, a CAS associate professor of Italian, who is teaching the minors required course, History of the Holocaust. The minor is being offered through the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies.

Instead of viewing these atrocities as distant in time and place, an emphasis is being placed on studying them as a mirror to present-day conflicts and simmering hatreds. The multimedia coursework also answers the more urgent question, could it happen again? The answer is yesin fact, as the coursework illuminates, attempts at genocide could likely rise from many simmering ethnic, religious, and political conflicts in the world today.

Through study of world genocide in the 20th and current centuries, we are protecting memory, says Harrowitz. How do you sustain these memories in the face of deniers? she asks. My argument has been: if we are not able to prevent future genocides per se, in the long term we can begin to illuminate the emotional aspects of hate through education.

Hate is a learned emotion, says Simon Payaslian, the Charles K. and Elizabeth M. Kenosian Professor of Armenian History and Literature. Were not born with it. It can be unlearned. Genocide can happen anywhere.

Payaslian, who teaches courses in genocide prevention, notes in his course descriptions that the subject of genocide warrants rigorous study because genocidal acts and atrocities persist despite the 1948 United Nations adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention, criminalizing genocide in the realm of international law, was institutionalized in 1951, and yet it has failed to prevent the string of genocides that has occurred since then.

Societies are always changing, says Payaslian. The question thats absolutely essential is, what kind of leaders do you have? One of my classes covers the internment of Japanese Americans in the wake of Pearl Harbor. You can imagine how one more executive order could have put the Japanese against a wall and shot them.

According to its description on the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies website, the minor in Holocaust and genocide studies offers students an opportunity to acquire basic academic tools of description and analysis of the various factors that contribute to the emergence of ultranationalist regimes and their genocidal policies. The minor is also designed to help students develop an awareness of the value of pluralism and an acceptance of diversity, as well as to explore the dangers of remaining silent, apathetic, and indifferent to the vilification and oppression of others.

Although genocides large and small have been perpetrated throughout human history, the courses will focus on historical events since 1900. These include the Armenian genocide of 1915, when the Turkish-led Ottoman Empire had rounded up and deported or executed 1.5 million Armenians living there, most of them Ottoman citizens, by 1922; the Nazi Holocaust, from 1933 until the Allied liberation of the death camps in 1945, which claimed the lives of six million Jews and five million Slavs, Roma, disabled people, Jehovahs Witnesses, homosexuals, and political and religious dissidents from the European countries occupied by Germany; the Cambodian genocide, from 1975 to 1979, when the Maoist Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot slaughtered an estimated three million; the Serbs ethnic cleansing of Bosnians in the wake of the 1992 collapse of the former Yugoslavia, killing 100,000; the 1994 Hutu-led killing rampage in Rwanda, which targeted Tutsis and moderate Hutus and slaughtered more than 800,000 over 100 days; and most recently, this centurys Sudan state-sanctioned murder of at least 300,000 Darfurian civilians in what is now South Sudan.

Harrowitzs class includes writings by Holocaust survivors Primo Levi and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel (Hon.74), BUs Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and a CAS professor emeritus of philosophy and religion, who died in July, and Hannah Arendt, author of the seminal book Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Ive been interested in the Holocaust since I was very young, when I read about Anne Frank in fourth grade, says film and television major Nadia Cross (COM17), one of the first two students who signed up for the minor. She says she was really struck by the injustices of our world, so Ive been interested for a long time, and the minor is a gateway to learning more.

One of the eternally relevant aspects of the coursework is its focus on bystander complicity and the notion that to do nothing in the face of lethal injustice is nearly as bad as perpetrating it. Its definitely something Ive learned a lot about, something I can apply to my life, Cross says. We have to defend people who dont have a voice. Her ideal job would be to work at the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

Students minoring in Holocaust and genocide studies must complete six four-credit courses, two required and four open electives. Among the courses are The Armenian Genocide, European Fascism, Prevention of Genocide, History of International Human Rights, and Jewish Bioethics and Holocaust Studies.

The program, which launched in September, had a celebratory kickoff in October with a preview screening of the feature film Denial, based on Deborah E. Lipstadts book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, starring Rachel Weisz as the author. Lipstadt, an Emory University professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies, attended the screening at the Coolidge Corner Cinema and spoke at the reception that followed at the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies.
Wounded veterans from across the country gathered in St. Petersburg this week to learn the sport of sailing for free.

Warrior Sailing Program: warriorsailing.org

Three-day course that educates, empowers wounded vets

Adaptive technology allows wounded warriors with physical disabilities to handle boats

A lot of times, they leave all the anxieties and the issues that they have of daily living on land, said Jen French, co-founder of the Warrior Sailing Program. They go out on the water and they forget all of that.



French said 21 veterans are participating in the three-day course that ends on Friday. Nathaniel Gorham, 32, from Ft. Meyers, was an Army military police officer who served a tour in Iraq and went blind from exposure.



Gorham said operating the sailboat and being on the water was soothing.



Ive been able to work the jib, the mainsail and also drive the boat, he said. Its just really cool to get out there and feel the air and the water.



Navy veteran Ramesh Haytasingh, 42, from Tampa, uses a wheelchair and suffers from a traumatic brain injury. Haytasingh told us he forgets about his problems while sailing.



My pain level has been almost irrelevant," said Haytasingh. "My anxiety has been extremely low. I almost have like a care-free attitude. This has been one of the best adaptive therapies that Ive probably had in a long time.



French said the vets' military background and experience working in teams translates well into the world of sailing.



The military understands that the person next to them is really important. So, they all work as a team really well, said French. What were teaching them are the skills of sailing, and it just comes together beautifully.



A Paralympic silver medalist herself, French said WSP utilizes adaptive technology that the sailors use on sailboats provided by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club and Sailing Center.



Those that have physical disabilities, we leave our wheelchairs and our prosthetic limbs behind, she said. We got out and use the adaptions and we can go out and sail like everybody else.



French added there is a waiting list to join the program and they want to expand it. She also said the group is always looking for more support.



For more information on the program, visit www.warriorsailing.org.


The City of Lakeland is transforming nearly two acres of land near downtown into a hub for artists.

Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency funding project

Hub will be called 'Mass Market'

Facility will also include events space, gallery for artists

"Mass Market," as the hub will be called, is a $2.5 million project funded by Lakelands Community Redevelopment Agency, according to the agencys manager, Nicole Travis.



Downtown Lakeland, near the intersection of Massachusetts and Parker St, will be the site for Mass Market. It includes an old warehouse and property next door that used to the Salvation Army.



More than anything, its historic," said Travis. "You dont have this type of construction anymore. This is a 1924 building."



The old Salvation Army property has already been renovated into Your Pro Kitchen, a commercial kitchen space available to food entrepreneurs to rent, and apartments.



The warehouse, originally an A & P grocery store, will be refurbished into an events space run by Ashton Events, as well as a co-working space and gallery for artists.



The creative class is growing right now," said Travis. "Its just not only in performing arts -- its also in culinary, foods, and sculpting, and when you look at the universities nearby, theyre growing their art programs, as well.



Theres not really much in the way of independent galleries here in Lakeland Florida, especially ones that are open to the public, explained Elizabeth Hults, who will run the artist space, through her non-profit, Art/ifact.



There are really wonderful resources available through the Polk Museum of Art," added Hults. "But for those of us working artists who arent ready for the museum circuit or the professional circuit and need space to work, this is going to serve as that in-between platform.



Hults went on to say artists will be able to sublease individual booths and use the gallery to exhibit their work.



According to Travis, the overall goal of the multimillion dollar renovation project is to spruce up the blighted area.



The CRA is just focusing on reinvesting and starting to prime the pump for private investment to occur in the area, said Travis



Construction is expected to be complete by June.


St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriesman has a plan to fix the sewage problem in his city, but his fix comes with a staggering $304 million price tag.

Mayor proposed 5-year-plan to address sewage issues

Plan includes expanding capacity at all three wastewater treatment plants

City currently has about half of funding necessary to implement plan

At a meeting Thursday, Kriseman delivered his plan with a touch of humor.



And so today, we have a plan to fix your wastewater system. And if the Cubs can win the World Series, fixing our infrastructure is totally doable, Kriesman said.



Kriseman's joke garnered a few laughs, but no one was laughing earlier this summer, when heavy rains from Hurricane Hermine exposed serious problems with the citys wastewater treatment and containment. It forced the city to dump hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage water into the bay.



That spill led to the mayors $304 million plan.



Our system will be vastly improved," said Kriseman. "Were going to address our capacity problem. Were also going to address the infiltration and intrusion, the leaky sewer pipes."



Kriseman's proposal includes both short-term fixes and a 5-year improvement plan. It includes expanding water capacity at all three current wastewater treatment plants, as well as improving the lining of the pipes, fixing manhole covers, and ensuring a back-up system exists in case one of the plants goes offline. Planners estimate work on the project could extend into 2021.



The city already has about half of the funds needed for implementation, but theyll need another $142 million to complete the job. Leaders say that could include going to taxpayers to renew the "Penny for Pinellas" tax.



This is a big need that we have, and it is a source of funding that, hopefully, if voters approve the fourth round," said Kriseman. "I think this ... obviously should give them a very good reason why they should.



The mayor did admit that until the project is complete the city could experience problems again should a rain event occur in the coming months.



Millions and millions of gallons of wastewater was spilled and discharged prior to Albert Whitted closing, and of course even more has been discharged since," said Kriseman. "More still will be discharged or spilled in the future both, before our upgrades or after."



The mayors plan will also include increasing capacity at existing plants, fix those manholes and pipes and ensure a back-up in the event that one of their three plants goes offline in a crisis.
A Pinellas County woman was arrested after West Virginia deputies said she killed her 3-year-old daughter.

Lena Lunsford taken into custody Friday

Aliayah Lunsford, 3, died in 2011; body not found

Suspect extradited back to West Virginia



The case has mystified investigators since 2011, when Aliayah Lunsford went missing.

Now, deputies in Lewis County, W.Va., say Lena Lunsford is responsible for her daughters death.

An arrest affidavit claimed Lunsford hit the toddler with a blunt force object in her home. The toddler was clearly suffering from the blow, according to a witness.

The witness also told investigators Lunsford did not get medical help, and forbid everyone in the home from giving the toddler the help she needed. She died hours later.

The affidavit also claimed Lunsford concealed Aliayahs body and fabricated a story about her daughter's whereabouts. Her body has still not been recovered.

"I realize that there are several questions unanswered," said Lewis County Sheriff Adam Gissy.

"However, Im sure the one question thats weighing on everyones mind is, 'Have we located Aliayah? The investigation has led us to believe that one person, the one person who possesses this knowledge of Aliayahs whereabouts is in police custody," he said.

Authorities arrested Lunsford at her Clearwater home. She was then extradited back to West Virginia to face charges.

She is being held on $250,000 bond.

Vickie Bowen, Aliayahs great aunt, said the family has mixed emotions.

"Its been a rollercoaster," Bowen said. "You know, Im happy that finally something is getting done. Its sad that what little bit of hope we had is now gone that she will be found alive."
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. In the second excerpt from the John Pilger Special, to be exclusively broadcast by RT on Saturday, courtesy of Dartmouth Films, Julian Assange accuses Hillary Clinton of misleading Americans about the true scope of Islamic States support from Washingtons Middle East allies, RT reports.

In a 2014 email made public by Assanges WikiLeaks last month, Hillary Clinton, who had served as secretary of state until the year before, urges John Podesta, then an advisor to Barack Obama, to bring pressure on Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [Islamic State, IS, ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups.

I think this is the most significant email in the whole collection, Assange, whose whistleblowing site released three tranches of Clinton-related emails over the past year, told Pilger in an exclusive interview, courtesy of Dartmouth Films.

All serious analysts know, and even the US government has agreed, that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIS and funding ISIS, but the dodge has always been that it is some rogue princes using their oil money to do whatever they like, but actually the government disapproves. But that email says that it is the government of Saudi Arabia, and the government of Qatar that have been funding ISIS.

Assange and Pilger, who sat down for their 25-minute interview at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the whistleblower has been a refugee since 2012, then talk about the conflict of interest between Clintons official post, which held throughout Obamas first term, her husbands nonprofit, and the Middle East officials, whose stated desire to fight terrorism may not have been sincere.

John Pilger: The Saudis, the Qataris, the Moroccans, the Bahrainis, particularly the first two, are giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation, while Hillary Clinton is secretary of state, and the State Department is approving massive arms sales, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Julian Assange: Under Hillary Clinton  and the Clinton emails reveal a significant discussion of it  the biggest-ever arms deal in the world was made with Saudi Arabia: more than $80 billion. During her tenure, the total arms exports from the US doubled in dollar value.

JP: Of course, the consequence of that is that this notorious jihadist group, called ISIL or ISIS, is created largely with money from people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation?

JA: Yes.

Pilger also questioned Assange over increasingly frequent accusations from the Clinton camp, and Western media, that WikiLeaks is looking to swing next weeks US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump  perhaps at Russias behest.

But Assange dismissed the prospect of Trump, who is behind in the polls, winning as unlikely  and not necessarily due to his standing with the electorate.

My analysis is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment off his side. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment, said Assange. Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc. are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Garo Paylan  Armenian lawmaker and member of Turkeys Peoples Democratic Party issued an announcement on the arrests of his fellow lawmakers. Paylan said they will continue the struggle.

We will not give up neither in prison, nor outside, Paylan posted on Facebook.

Turkey detained two co-leaders and nine other lawmakers of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday.

The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.

Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters.
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Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was born in Saint Joseph, Mo. on Nov. 4, 1916.

By the late 1960s, he was the iconic face of television news.

His voice touched both ordinary people and presidents. He died at age 92 in 2009.

Here are some things to know about him.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Healthcare Minister of Armenia Levon Altunyan commented on rumors of job cuts in the Healthcare Ministry.

During a briefing in the Parliament, the Minister said good specialists will continue working, and those who do not meet the demands in terms of their professional obligations, will leave their posts.

Asked as to what percent of the staff will be cut, the Minister responded: I cant say. I havent even yet decided to make cuts. I am simply answering your questions.

Reporters asked the minister about rumors that the staff of the ministry are complaining they might lose their jobs  the minister responded by saying he hasnt heard any complaints.

I find unhealthy the fact that, for instance, a doctor is working as a financier. If we find a doctor in the financial field, we will have to let him go; is a financier is working in the financial position, he will remain, the minister said.
Two Texas billionaires have bought thousands of acres in Idaho and are restricting local hunters from using them, the Idaho Statesman reports.

Farris and Dan Wilks, who are brothers, made their wealth from the oil and gas industry. In Texas, they've made headlines for donating $15 million to Ted Cruz's bid for president.

Now, they're upsetting hunters in Idaho after cutting off access to 172,000 acres of timberland forests previously used for hunting game and fishing.

READ MORE: Bow hunter snags giant, 13-foot alligator near Dayton

Mike Keckler, a spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, told the Idaho Statesman about the new changes to the lands that span three Idaho counties.

"Our people reached out to the new owners when they started getting reports from hunters who said they saw orange painted fence posts where they had not seen them before," Mike Keckler said. "When we reached out, they said that hunting would be restricted on this property."

In total, 304 hunters had legal controlled-hunt tags for nearly a third of the territory that the Wilks brothers now own.

READ MORE: Hunting season is almost upon us - and here's what you need to do in the kitchen

Steve Wolfinger and his son are two of the hunters unhappy with the restricted access. The father-son team were planning to go elk hunting, going as far as paying $500 for a license and reserving a hotel before hearing the bad news.

"I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation," Steve Wolfinger said to the Statesman in an email.

Click through above to see Texas hunting and fishing through the years.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkey has suspended coverage of the Diyarbakir blast, Anadolu reports.

The Councils statement says media coverage of the explosion  except official announcements  is suspended, due to security concerns.

Both civilians and police were killed and many people were wounded in a car bomb attack in Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Friday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in a speech.

The blast, which state authorities blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, came hours after police detained politicians from the mostly Kurdish region's biggest party.
CMS cut the reporting period for physicians involved in the meaningful use EHR inventive program from a full year to 90 days as part of its outpatient prospective payment system final rule, according to Medscape.

Here are five things to know:

1. For new meaningful use participants who are transitioning to CMS' Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, the final rule finalized a one-time hardship exception. Such participants can report once next year to meet meaningful use criteria and MIPS' Advancing Care Information section, thereby evading a negative payment adjustment in 2018.

2. The 2015 physician payment rule stated physicals have until Feb. 28, 2017 to attest to meaningful use for 2017. The new rule maintains this date, except for those physicians and hospitals that have not previously demonstrated meaningful use. These parties have until Oct. 1, 2017 to meet meaningful uses' modified stage 2 criteria and avoid penalties in 2018.

3. In its final rule, CMS does not give details about hardship exceptions for physicians who did not participate in meaningful use this year. If these providers want to begin measure their performance now, there is not sufficient time in 2016 to report for 90 days. In 2015, Congress required CMS to provide mass hardship exceptions to physicians who hadn't attested to meaningful use when this scenario happened. While CMS did provide this exception early this year, many are wondering if the agency will offer these blanket exemption to nonattesting providers at this point in time.

4. American Medical Association applauded CMS' final 90-day reporting period, although the organization did not provide a comment on the hardship exceptions. Medscape reports this exemption may indicate that the AMA does not believe the final rule's late release will negatively impact providers.

5. American College of Physicians also support CMS' final rule, telling Medscape Medical News that, "We continue to encourage CMS to issue final rules that impact reporting timelines earlier in the calendar year so that there is a clear expectation and timeline for both physicians and the government."
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey claims Mylan's settlement to the federal government is "woefully deficient," and vows to reject the settlement, according to STAT.

Here are five highlights:

1. The attorney general implored the Department of Justice to not accept the $465 million settlement and sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

2. West Virginia Attorney General Morrissey said the payment does not make up for Mylan's actions and does not send the right message to other pharmaceutical companies operating in the Medicaid Market.

3. In his letter to Attorney General Lynch, West Virginia Attorney General Morrissey said, "The people of West Virginia deserve much better than this." He did not say how much the state of West Virginia would receive from the $465 million settlement.

4. Other U.S. officials have scrutinized the settlement, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) referring to the deal as "shamefully weak." Three other senators including, Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), asked the DOJ to assess whether Mylan violated the False Claims Act by "knowingly" misclassifying EpiPen as a generic, rather than a brand-name product.

5. Over the past 10 years, Mylan has raised EpiPen's price by 548 percent.
Decisions made in an ASC's supply chain influence performance metrics across the surgical center, from patient care to finances.

"You can't provide safe patient care without an efficient supply chain," Marvella Thomas, senior consultant of clinical operations of ASC national accounts at Cardinal Health, said during a panel discussion at Becker's ASC 23rd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs in Chicago Oct. 27.

Below are five best practices to improve supply chain operations, according to conference panelists.

1. Update preference cards religiously. Stephanie Martin, RN, senior director of operations at Regent Surgical Health, stressed the importance of maintaining preference card accuracy to drive efficient materials management. Properly updated physician preference cards afford ASC administrators increased visibility into purchasing, spend and utilization habits, helping managers identify opportunities for SKU standardization and process improvement. "It's a grueling process that must be done on a regular basis if you want to get any insight from your data," Ms. Martin said.

2. Have a dedicated materials manager on staff. Individuals with backgrounds in inventory, purchasing processes and logistics make for valuable administrators in ASC facilities. Nurses and clinicians employed by ASCs that don't have materials management often take on supply chain tasks out of necessity. Their lack of formal training in product management, however, can lead to process inefficiencies, which ultimately hurts the ASC's bottom line. "It is so important supplies are managed on a detailed basis by someone with experience in supply chain operations," Ms. Martin said.

3. Embrace technology. IT systems and technology can make fundamental supply chain processes, like case costing and preference card upkeep, significantly more manageable. But the ASC industry as a whole has been slow to adopt IT products. "Some centers still use paper preference cards! You can't get actionable data from that," Ms. Thomas said. Still, Ms. Thomas said technology also presents its own set of challenges. ASCs often lack the resources and personnel to fully and effectively implement vendor products, meaning ASCs are not getting their money's worth from the investment. Moreover, expensive technology layered over broken or inefficient manual processes won't produce optimum results. "No IT system is perfect. Technology is only as good as the people operating it," said Ms. Thomas.

4. Foster staff buy-in. Getting all levels of staff to support new initiatives is key to ensuring meaningful, long-lasting process change. Ms. Thomas recommends ASC administrators describe the need for process change in terms of what motivates workers individually. For example, employees who are ambitious and eager for recognition should be appointed leaders of change initiatives.

5. Walk your supply chain. "If you can't see it, you can't fix it," Ms. Thomas said. Materials managers who physically and consistently check storage locations and walk the supply chain improve their opportunity to identify and address issues before they escalate.
Connecticut hospitals filed a petition with CMS on Tuesday, arguing the state is violating the federal Medicaid Act through the enforcement of a hospital tax and by providing inadequate Medicaid reimbursement.

Connecticut legislators imposed the hospital tax in 2011 with the goal of increasing federal funding. When states tax hospitals and redistribute the collected funds back to the industry, the federal government will provide matching funds through the Medicaid program. However, since the tax was put into place, the state has reduced the amount of money it redistributes after collecting the tax.

In the petition to CMS, the hospitals highlight how the yearly $556 million tax puts hospitals in financial peril. According to the Connecticut Hospital Association, inadequate Medicaid funding and the hospital tax have caused hospitals in the state to lay off 1,390 employees since 2013. "Hospitals are actively evaluating the elimination of programs and, in many cases, are also assessing their ability to meet bond covenants," said the CHA.

The hospitals are asking CMS to compel the state to amend its Medicaid plan to bring Connecticut's Medicaid rates and the hospital tax in compliance with the federal Medicaid Act.

The CMS petition is only one prong of the hospitals' fight against the tax. The Connecticut Hospital Association and 20 hospitals have also appealed a recent state administrative decision rejecting their argument that the tax is applied illegally.

More articles on healthcare finance:

This week's 5 must-reads for hospital CFOs

CMS awards new Medicare RAC contracts

CMS releases final OPPS rule for 2017: 11 things to know
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The European Union is "extremely worried" by Turkey's arrest of Kurdish opposition lawmakers and has called a meeting of EU national envoys in Ankara, the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini tweeted on Friday, Reuters reports.

"Extremely worried for arrest of (Selahattin Demirtas) and other (HDP) MPs," she said. "In contact with authorities. Called EU ambassadors meeting in Ankara."

Police raided the homes and detained the joint leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the second-biggest opposition party in the national parliament, and nine other HDP lawmakers early on Friday after they refused to give testimony for crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda".

Police raided the Ankara house of Figen Yuksekdag, HDP co-chairwoman, and of Demirtas, the other party leader, in Diyarbakir, a party spokeswoman told Reuters. A court official said the prosecutor was seeking Demirtas' formal arrest and that both he and Yuksekdag were in court after police questioning.

The EU is engaged in a delicate stage of its relationship with its big, Muslim neighbour. Since an agreement in March, Turkey has helped to all but end a flow of refugees and migrants to the EU via Greece after a million people arrived last year.

In return, the EU is providing aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, has pledged to revive Ankara's long-stalled membership talks with the bloc and, significantly, promised to ease travel visa terms for Turks visiting Europe.

This latter concession, long on the table, has been delayed by disputes over whether Turkey has met a set of requirements that include modifying anti-terrorism laws. Turkey's security crackdown after a coup attempt in July has alarmed EU leaders and further pushed back a final deal on the visa liberalisation.

With major elections looming over the next year in the Netherlands, France and Germany, where anti-immigration parties are doing well and oppose easing visas for Turks, diplomats say that Brussels is in no hurry to push Turkey into meeting the requirements to complete the deal -- especially since the flow of migrants remains at limited, manageable levels.

However, there is concern in Brussels that hardline tactics in Ankara could generate reactions that destabilise a state which the EU sees a buffer between it and the Middle East.
Amid mounting pressures to increase efficiency and decrease costs, hospitals and health systems are looking to incorporate the assembly line model popularized by car manufacturers and engineers into patient care, according to US News and World Report.

Executives at Seattle-based Virginia Mason Health System have examined Japanese auto manufacturers, like Toyota, to turn employees into quality inspectors to ensure patients receive the best care possible.

"In Japan  everyone working in that line had the ability to stop the production line if they saw a quality or safety concern," said Charleen Tachibana, CNO and senior vice president for quality and safety at Virginia Mason. "One of the things that we have really been working on is to get all of our workforce engaged as quality inspectors to deploy standard work where we need to deploy it."

Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins School of Medicine aims help its employees feel comfortable speaking out on situations they believe are inappropriate. The health facility also installed a pilot model in its intensive care unit to implement a product line approach to help reduce costs, improve productivity and safety and minimize high rates of error and stress for providers, patients and their families.

Johns Hopkins officials designed digital portals for providers and patients. One allows physicians and medical practioners to more easily monitor patients. The other was created to make patients feel more comfortable expressing their goals and feelings about the care they received to medical personnel, according to the article.

A hospital's decision to implement a systems approach hinges on its ability to maintain quality patient care and pay for implementation expenses.

"How [do the processes] eventually scale? It has to be compelling financially and medically," said Adam Sapirstein, associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care at Johns Hopkins. "It's going to improve your bottom line, improve patient engagement, improve the workforce morale, and cost less."
The following were the most-viewed transactions and valuations stories this week.

1. CHS to sell 17 hospitals to drive down debt

Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems is in talks to sell hospitals and other assets to help trim its debt load, said CEO Wayne Smith during a third-quarter earnings call Nov. 2.

2. Blackstone to acquire TeamHealth in $6B deal

The executive board of TeamHealth, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based physician services organization, unanimously approved an agreement to be acquired by Blackstone  a private equity, investment banking and asset management corporation  for $6.1 billion, including debt and other assets.

3. 65 hospital transactions and partnerships in October

The following healthcare mergers, acquisitions and general partnerships took place or were announced in the past month.

4. CHI Franciscan, Virginia Mason sign LOI to affiliate

CHI Franciscan Health and Virginia Mason Health System signed a letter of intent to strike a clinical partnership and further align their roughly 1,600 combined physicians throughout the Puget Sound, Wash., area.

5. Prime Healthcare acquires Ohio hospital

Prime Healthcare Foundation, the nonprofit affiliate of Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services, acquired 56-bed Coshocton (Ohio) County Memorial Hospital.
The CMS-mandated bundled payment model for hip and knee replacements, called the "Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model," began this past April 2016.

Christopher J. Donovan and C. Frederick Geilfuss II, both partners at the law firm Foley & Lardner, spoke with Becker's Spine Review about how hospitals can prepare for the model's second performance year, slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2017. The CJR model, which encompasses inpatient surgeries for Medicare beneficiaries within 67 selected geographic areas, is the first-ever mandatory bundled payment program issued by CMS.

Here's what they had to share:

1. Understand the hospital's responsibility. The CJR model mandates that the roughly 800 participating hospitals are financially accountable for the cost and quality of a patient's entire CJR episode of care, from hospitalization to 90 days after discharge.

The model's ultimate goal is to improve and standardize the cost and quality of joint replacements; however, in the process, hospitals will take on a substantial amount of financial risk. The initial facility that a patient is hospitalized at, often called the "anchor hospital," will shoulder the cost of patient complications, readmissions and post-acute care.

To address this risk, CMS encourages hospitals to increase collaboration with other providers throughout the episode of care.

"The program is going to encourage hospitals to share risk with physicians and post-acute providers," Mr. Donovan says. "We're anticipating it will create some new redesign in care management and in the way patients are treated."

2. Check your regional benchmarks. At the end of each of the CJR model's five performance years, the anchor hospital may receive an additional payment from Medicare or be required to repay Medicare.

This decision is determined by how the facility's spending compares to CMS' established price targets. In the model's first year, which ends Dec. 31, 2016, bundled prices were primarily established based upon the hospital's own price estimates; these benchmarks will transition year by year, until 2019, when bundled pricing will be entirely based on the region in which the hospital is located.

"In the fourth and fifth years of the program, you really have to be at or above average in the region, or the hospital risks owing money back," Mr. Geilfuss explains.

3. Conduct a cost assessment  early. Since all participating hospitals will have to bring their cost of care for the episode down to the regional average, hospitals can conduct internal assessments now, to see how their pricing stacks up.

"If a hospital is below regional pricing already, that's a good thing," Mr. Donovan says. "If it's way above regional pricing, that's obviously a bad thing, but it gives the hospital an idea of where it is and what it has to do."

For a typical CJR episode, 35 percent to 40 percent of the cost is from the initial hospital's charges for the surgery, while another 30 percent to 35 percent of the cost is from post-acute providers, according to Mr. Geilfuss. The remainder of the cost is from aspects of care like physician ancillary services and readmissions charges.

"We recommend really trying to break down and understand the component costs of the episode, to see where you can control the costs to bring them into line," Mr. Geilfuss says. "Hospitals can also collaborate, particularly with post-acute providers, to manage the costs throughout the whole episode."

4. Establish a care network. After conducting an initial cost assessment for the hospital, Mr. Donovan and Mr. Geilfuss suggest collecting data on cost and quality for referring physicians and local post-acute providers.

This data can identify healthcare groups with efficient and high-quality services that help to reduce cost-driving complications, like readmissions. "The collaboration has to start from the bottom up, before you can get into sharing the upside and downside risks," Mr. Donovan says.

Hospitals can also research which post-acute care sites are the most cost effective; for example, by choosing home care over nursing homes or long-term acute hospitals, when clinically appropriate. "Hospitals can reach out to home care agencies to get them involved in the process sooner," Mr. Geilfuss says. "These agencies can incentivize patients to adhere to care protocols while providing savings on the overall cost of the episode."

Mr. Donovan emphasizes that the CJR model has quality requirements to prevent against cutting corners. In order to take advantage of the three day minimum hospital stay waiver prior to discharge to a skilled nursing facility for Medicare coverage, for example, all nursing homes that collaborate with hospitals are required to maintain a three-star minimum rating on the CMS website.

"It's a question of establishing quality partners who can provide quality outcomes," he says.

5. Consider expanding bundled payments. With bundled payments gaining traction across the healthcare industry, hospitals may want to consider transitioning other specialties away from fee-for-service pricing.

"CMS has already announced a cardiac program that is closely modeled after CJR," Mr. Geilfuss says. "CJR is going to be the model of a type of program that CMS will utilize more and more, so understanding the mechanisms of how you can be successful in the program will be useful."

CMS has set its sights on bundled payments, according to Mr. Donovan, because it encourages collaborative provider care through incentives designed to produce better outcomes, while also saving money for Medicare.

"These bundled payment methodologies are a game changer," Mr. Donovan says. "We're sort of at a tipping point with the whole healthcare payment system. We think this is going to be just the very beginning of a very strong movement in favor of bundled payments."
Americans say the top priority for the next president and Congress is dealing with the high cost for chronic condition drugs, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

Here are the top priorities, ranked by Democrats, Republicans and the total electorate:

1. Affordability for high-cost drugs for chronic conditions

 Democrats: 84 percent

 Republicans: 68 percent

 Total: 74 percent

2. Lower prescription drug prices

 Democrats: 75 percent

 Republicans: 49 percent

 Total: 63 percent

3. Ensuring there are sufficient numbers of doctors and hospitals in provider networks

 Democrats: 62 percent

 Republicans: 53 percent

 Total: 57 percent

4. Protecting from high drug prices when patients visit hospitals or outpatient clinics after being seen by a physician that their health plan doesn't cover

 Democrats: 60 percent

 Republicans: 43 percent

 Total: 54 percent

5. Making cost and quality data available to patients so they can compare providers

 Democrats: 59 percent

 Republicans: 42 percent

 Total: 53 percent

6. More availability on physician visits, test and procedure costs

 Democrats: 52 percent

 Republicans: 45 percent

 Total: 50 percent

7. Making sure patients have information about which physicians and hospitals are covered by their health plans

 Democrats: 53 percent

 Republicans: 50 percent

 Total: 49 percent

8. Helping Americans with moderate income pay high out-of-pocket medical care costs

 Democrats: 51 percent

 Republicans: 39 percent

 Total: 44 percent

9. Repealing the individual mandate

 Democrats: 27 percent

 Republicans: 51 percent

 Total: 38 percent

10. Repealing the ACA

 Democrats: 17 percent

 Republicans: 60 percent

 Total: 37 percent
Here three spine surgeons discuss what the future holds in relation to minimally invasive spine surgery.

Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses.





Next week's question: What technique, developed in the last decade, changed the way spine care was delivered?





Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 5 p.m. CST.

Question: What are some exciting trends you are currently seeing in MIS surgery?

J. Brian Gill, MD, MBA, Nebraska Spine Hospital, Omaha: I am really embracing MIS techniques whereby I can shorten hospital stays and improve the overall quality of care that I deliver. I think that we continue to push the barriers of what is achievable which further facilitates the discussion and development of technologies and techniques. MIS surgeries have been talked about for many years and what constitutes MIS is debatable. If the outcome is better care at a lower cost then a one-inch versus a two- inch incision doesn't make a difference.

Brian R. Gantwerker, MD, The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: I see the natural marriage of MIS surgery and the outpatient setting becoming a more staid thing. Now that Medicare has (predictably) added arthrodesis and instrumentation codes to the outpatient reimburseables, we will hopefully see more, but also judicious, use of MIS in the outpatient setting.

Barry Ceverha, MD, Medical Director, Operative Program, Center for Spine Health at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Fountain Valley, Calif.: There have been many new applications in spinal technology  spinal instrumentation, biological products, the progression of MIS surgery and so on. I feel that surgical navigation remains at the forefront of new technology. This technology enhances patient safety, demonstrates better outcomes and reduces cost by shorter OR time and more accurate placement of hardware. Intraoperative CT guidance with enhanced imaging will allow even more accuracy and will open new windows of application.
Phoenix Spine's mission is to provide the premier patient experience using evidence-based practices to eliminate neck and low back pain in the least-invasive manner. The company's first facility, located in Goodyear, Ariz., is a state-of-the-art, integrated clinic and surgery center that brings together evaluation, testing and surgery in one location. Now the company is expanding to the East Valley.

Here are five things to things to know:



1. Dr. Richard Teff, MD, a neurosurgeon who spent eight years in active duty service with the United States Army, including two tours in Iraq, joined the company in August to anchor the West Valley service area.

2. Phoenix Spine is developing its second facility in Chandler, Ariz., to serve East Valley patients and has begun seeing patients in the East Valley in temporary clinic space in Chandler.

3. Dr. Jeff Martin, a fellowship-trained spine surgeon, joined the company this month to anchor the East Valley service area.

4. Drs. Teff and Martin will join Dr. Dan Lieberman in performing Direct Visual Rhizotomy  an innovative procedure that is a promising alternative to fusion

5. The company is focused on applying a patient-focused population health paradigm that fully-integrates care for neck and low back pain patients with their primary care physicians, and is actively recruiting additional surgeons to support continued growth.
Gina Miller, lead claimant in the Brexit challenge, with her legal team outside High Court

The future of Brexit now appears to rest with the Supreme Court after High Court judges dealt what could be a fatal, historic blow to Government plans to use the Royal Prerogative to start the process of exiting the EU without the authorisation of Parliament.

And MPs have suggested that Prime Minister Theresa May could call a snap general election next year to ensure she has enough supportive MPs to get her Brexit plan through the House of Commons.

Three judges unanimously ruled Mrs May did not have the power to bypass MPs by relying on the prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union and begin the two-year period of divorce negotiations with the 27 other countries in the EU bloc.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, said to do so would be contrary to "the fundamental constitutional principles of the sovereignty of Parliament".

The court rejected the Government argument that prerogative powers were a legitimate way to give effect "to the will of the people" who voted by a clear majority to leave the EU in June.

Lord Thomas - sitting with the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, and Lord Justice Sales - emphasised to a packed court in London they were deciding "a pure question of law" and not expressing any view about the "political issue" concerning the merits of leaving the EU.

The pound rose sharply after the judgment, but the Government swiftly announced it is to appeal to the highest court in the land.

It is widely expected that 11 Supreme Court justices will sit before Christmas to hear one of the most important constitutional cases in generations.

Anti-prerogative campaigners were celebrating the High Court victory in London, while the Government expressed its "disappointment".

Nigel Farage, who led Ukip's successful fight for Brexit, said he feared that "a betrayal may now be near at hand".

Unless overturned by the Supreme Court - or at a potential further appeal to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg - the High Court ruling threatens to plunge the Government's plans for Brexit into disarray.

Brexit Secretary David Davis, who defended the Government's case in court, said ministers would be forced to produce a full Act of Parliament in order to trigger Article 50 unless the High Court ruling is overturned.

Mrs May's spokeswoman said it was still the Government's plan to invoke Article 50 by the end of March.

The Prime Minister will, at her request, discuss the Brexit process with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday, Mr Juncker's spokesman told reporters in Brussels.

The spokesman said all the other members of the EU would like to see a "swift" notification of Article 50 to begin the Brexit process.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the High Court ruling underlined the need for the Government to bring its negotiating terms for Brexit to Parliament "without delay".
Nearly 5,000 people are employed across BMW's plants in the UK

The boss of German car giant BMW has said the company is in a position to wait out Brexit negotiations before making any decisions on UK investment.

Chief executive Harald Kruger said: "At BMW Group, decisions about investments are not due at the moment. This is why we can await the outcome of negotiations."

Mr Kruger made the comments during a third-quarter earnings call with journalists on Friday.

The company, which manufactures Mini, BMW and Rolls-Royce cars in Britain, is one of a number of European firms facing questions regarding its future in the UK after the Brexit vote, which could result in new trade tariffs and higher input costs.

Any move to the Continent would put thousands of British jobs at risk.

Nearly 5,000 people are employed across BMW's plants in Oxford, Swindon in Wiltshire and Hams Hall in Warwickshire.

BMW says it contributes about 1.2 billion to UK gross domestic product (GDP) per year, exporting around 2.4 billion worth of car, engine and related products annually.

Mr Kruger's comments come after Nissan agreed to pour new investment into its Sunderland plant, following assurances that the Government was committed to securing continued tariff-free access to EU markets.

However, the announcement has since caused controversy, with Labour politicians calling on the Government to disclose the terms of any deal struck with Nissan.
From left, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton, First Minister Arlene Foster and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has been told of Northern Ireland's efforts to promote itself as an inward investment location as part of his visit to the province.

The Nobel peace prize winner was honoured at a lunch at Titanic Belfast, hosted by the First and Deputy First Ministers and Invest NI.

Writing in the Belfast Telegraph yesterday, Felipe Jaramillo of economic agency ProColombia said his group would look to Northern Ireland to learn how to deliver security and prosperity following conflict.

President Santos was awarded the Nobel peace prize last month for securing a peace accord with the Farc rebels in his home country, though the peace deal was later voted down in a referendum.

Mr Jaramillo said foreign investment would now be the most important engine for development for all Colombians.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was presented with a sartorial reminder of home during his visit to Belfast.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner received a traditional Colombian shirt, known as a Guayabera, from Maria Cardenas, during a visit to Girdwood Community Hub.

Maria now lives in Hilltown in Co Down with husband Leo Cullen, but continues to draw inspiration from her native land. She has also made costumes for Game Of Thrones.

The Guaybera is a pocketed linen shirt - in this case made from linen woven in Banbridge.

Maria said: "Colombia will always be my inspiration. People there have a natural poise and dignity which always shines through."
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Lawmaker Cem Ozdemir - co-chairman of the German political party Alliance '90/The Greens has condemned the arrests of Turkish opposition MPs.

Ozdemir posted on Facebook : Erdogan and his Justice and Development party have sent their criminals to the Peoples Democratic Party  against democratically elected members. Everything fits in his logic: first of all he silences the media through bans, arrests and censorship, and now its the parliamentarians turn.

The Bundestag MP noted a day will come when the perpetrators of these acts will face a court and will be held accountable for.

Turkey detained two co-leaders and nine other lawmakers of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday.

The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.

Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters.
Some City firms are considering offsetting Brexit risks by relocating some staff to Europe

Some of the Square Mile's biggest financial firms are examining plans to offset Brexit risks by moving select operations to Frankfurt, a City headhunter has said.

Alex Howard-Keyes, an investment banking partner at executive headhunting firm Alderbrooke, told the Press Association that while things appear to have "settled down" in the months following the EU referendum, some firms are looking to hedge their bets by relocating some staff to the Continent.

"Major institutions seem to be taking a bit of a more sanguine view about what's going on, and where they need to be, and how they need to deploy themselves," he said.

His comments come amid concerns that Britain could lose passporting rights which allow banks and firms offering other financial services to access the EU's single market once it leaves the bloc.

While most companies are awaiting details on what level of access post-Brexit Britain will have to the EU's single market before making major relocation decisions, "there does seem to be a little bit of a hedge building with Germany", said Mr Howard-Keyes, adding that particular attention is being paid to Frankfurt.

"It's not clear that hundred of thousands will go across there, because ... it's relatively small city with relatively defined infrastructure, not that much office space.

"So the opinion of German bankers we're talking to seems to be that maybe we might see as many as 10,000 jobs go across," he said, adding that services like euro currency clearing could migrate to the Continent.

But that is a relatively small number compared with the near two million people employed in financial services across Britain, according to the Government's UK Trade & Investment department.

Mr Howard-Keyes said he is still confident that the UK will continue being a major hub for the industry.

Earlier this week, consultancy Synechron and TABB Group released a survey showing that 72% of UK financial service executives see London reigning supreme as the regional financial centre in five years' time - despite Brexit.

Firms will also have to consider the costs of moving house.

Previous research from Synechron showed it would cost an average of 50,000 per employee to relocate staff from London to another financial hub in Europe.

Mr Howard-Keyes said: "London remains the centre for the foreseeable (future), but Frankfurt in particular could start sucking some kind of presence away."

He added: "It's kind of in no-one's interest, Europeans as well as ours, to have a massively fragmented system where you've got bankers literally spread all over the Continent, because then you're talking about huge costs, lack of co-ordination and communication ."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny says his relationship with First Minister Arlene Foster has not been affected by her claims that the Republic has tried to poach investors from Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.

But as the Fine Gael leader prepared to leave a lunch event in Newry for a meeting with ministers in Stormont, he said he would not be meeting Mrs Foster because she was "away for a few days".

And he wouldn't say if he had any views on the impact the High Court decision on Article 50 might have on the Brexit process. "It's now for the UK Government to decide if it will appeal," he said.

The Taoiseach earlier addressed a lunch in Newry's Canal Court Hotel as a guest of the city's Junior Chamber of Commerce.

The border city will be a closely-watched location as Northern Ireland enters into a new era after Brexit - and it's already attracting increased numbers of shoppers from the Republic, drawn by lower prices due to the weakening pound.

The Taoiseach said thousands of people crossed the border every day, with many crossing into Newry to work for some of the city's biggest employers, such as Glen Dimplex and First Derivatives.

He told the audience that he had just left meetings yesterday morning with businesspeople in the Co Louth towns of Carlingford and Dundalk, who had expressed concern over the impact on their trade of cross-border shopping.

But speaking to the Belfast Telegraph afterwards, he said he would not echo a call made by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) for Irish shoppers in 2009 to "buy Irish" rather than travelling to Northern Ireland.

And he would not give any views on the High Court decision on Brexit and the UK Government's ability to trigger Article 40. "Far be it from me to interfere with the decision of the learned members of the High Court," he said.

And there would be no edict from the Taoiseach on cross-border shopping. "Look, freedom of movement of people is something that's every important to us here on the island of Ireland. Sometimes people go North and sometimes they go South...

"What we need to do is develop both economies and a continuation of an invisible border, so that's why I'm here in Newry and that's why I'm going to Stormont." He said claims from the First Minister at the DUP conference that the Republic's authorities had sought to poach investment would not affect their relationship.

"I have a very good working relationship with Arlene Foster and I respect her for the First Minister that she is. I've been to Enniskillen with her a number of times for the last six years. I hope to meet her before the next North-South Ministerial Council. I think she's away for a few days while I'm in Belfast today. Those comments do not interfere at all.

"This is about the national, the island challenge that we have, and we will be working very diligently with the First and Deputy First Ministers and with the Executive and the sectors in the interests of the economies and of the people North and South."
The Prentice business now runs just one car dealership, in Portadown

One of Northern Ireland's best known names in car dealing will continue trading, despite entering administration. David Prentice was once a big name in Northern Ireland motoring. But last week David Prentice (Cars) Ltd entered administration.

Bosses say no jobs will be lost and that it marks a "new era" for the company.

New company Prentice Portadown Limited has taken over the running of the business as trading continues as normal.

All 65 staff members have been transferred over to the new company, along with brands BMW and Mini.

David Prentice is a household name in Northern Ireland, having traded across several dealerships in the region for more than 30 years. Today, the company runs just one car dealership in Portadown.

Tom Keenan and Scott Murray of Keenan CF have been appointed as joint administrators, but would not comment.

The company was directed by David Prentice, Valerie Prentice and Joanne Houston.

It traded under the name David Prentice Portadown and David Prentice Omagh until the two divisions were merged and continued trading under David Prentice Portadown in June 2013.

Part of the Omagh site was sold in August 2014 for 425,000, but the rest of the site was still owned by the company in July.

It made pre-tax profits of 11,580, according to its last accounts for the year ending December 31, 2014.

The same year, its turnover was 32.3m.

According to its 2014 accounts, the company's inter-company debts sat at 4.8m - although this was down by 189,000 on the year before.

Motoring writer Derek Black said the firm was once one of the "big three" in the industry here.

"David Prentice used to be the main man in motors here - he ran quite a big operation.

"He was one of the main Renault dealers until that was sold to Charles Hurst around 15 years ago.

"It was decided that premium cars made more money whereas with second hand and lower end cars you've got a higher turnover and lower margins - you've got to move a lot metal to make profit - so the decision was made for them to move into BMW. The premium car market did well during the recession as wealthy customers weren't affected as badly, but in Northern Ireland there are four BMW dealers - it's a lot for such a small place."

He added: "Audi's rise in popularity has also taken up some of the high end of the market."
Belfast's direct flight to New York is being scrapped after the EU rejected a multi-million pound bailout, it has emerged.

United flies direct from Belfast to New York's Newark airport.

It was due to receive around 9m to keep the route, part-funded by Stormont.

But Belfast International Airport says the European Commission has now blocked that bailout, and the airline will put out in January.

The airport says it "defies logic and is an example of abysmal Brussels decision-making".

"You could hardly get a worse example of process-driven madness. To block a support package for an airline that delivers direct access to the United States is almost beyond comprehension.

This is a vital link for business and losing it will be a body blow to Executive Ministers who use it to promote Northern Ireland to would-be investors from the United States.

The adverse impact is all the greater, coming as it does ahead of the crucial decision to make Northern Ireland more competitive with reduced corporation tax designed to stimulate inward investment."

In 2011, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that the New York/Newark service has been saved from the chop, after APD on long-haul flights from Northern Ireland was scrapped.

Ulster Unionist economy spokesman, Steve Aiken OBE MLA said the decision is an "international embarrassment".

"(Economy Minister) Simon Hamilton must make a statement today as we need to know how this happened.

"We will be pursuing this by all available means, including by submitting an Urgent Oral Question to the Assembly for Monday morning. The Minister and his Department have questions to answer over how this was allowed to happen.

We need to know what checks were made with the European Union over state aid and who took the decision that it was not an issue?

This is a huge blow to our international standing and the Minister must tell us what he intends to do to sort it out."

But Green Party leader Steven Agnew MLA said: I have consistently challenged the Minister for Economy to reveal the evidence that he used in deciding to allocate this money to United Airlines in the first place. Every time he has been unable to give a satisfactory answer. Now that he has also been knocked back by the European Union, it is evident that he didnt even bother to check whether he was allowed to do it, let alone complete an economic appraisal for it.

Maybe in future the Minister will consider the need for proper due process to ensure that money is being spent on things that it can actually be spent on, and that will actually have a benefit to society as a whole.

This decision presents us with a huge opportunity, as the money can now be used on other projects which have a much greater benefit on ordinary peoples lives. Proposing to give the money to a large multinational airline was a vanity project from the very start, and it has now been shown to break the rules too.

A few people may be slightly inconvenienced by having to travel a few hours down to Dublin to get a flight to New York; but if the money is now spent on better public services for everybody, such as early years education provision, Im sure far more people will be happy and the money will go a lot further in the long run.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said Stormont was "throwing good money after bad" by bailing out Northern Ireland's direct flight to New York.

"If it were going to encourage United to commit here for a 10-year period it would fine," Mr O'Leary said.

"But you are essentially paying about 160 for every return ticket on that route, and the minute the Government here decides, 'Look, we can't keep subsidising this', United is going to cut the route.

"They acted on APD on the transatlantic routes. But then they throw more good money after bad - they subsidise."

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said: "The loss of an important airline connection to the US as a result of impertinent interference in our economic decisions by the EU reinforces the importance of removing ourselves from this anti- business, job destroying, arrangement.

"Once again the bunch of unelected burueacratic busybodies in Brussels have shown that they attach more importance to their rule book than they do to the jobs of people in places like Northern Ireland.

"Make no mistake about it this decision will have serious consequences for our business connections, ability to attract investment from America and our tourist industry and reinforces Dublins monopoly on the trans- Atlantic airline market. Indeed it would be interesting to find out if representations from Dublin played any part in this decision because anti -competitive lobbying is another feature of the EU.

"This interference in our economic decision reinforces the need to exit the EU completely with no ties remaining as quickly as possible. It once again illustrates the claim which we have been making throughout the debate on EU membership that only by having control of our own decisions can we ensure that the best decisions are made for our country."
Mick Ralphs is in hospital after having a stroke

Bad Company guitarist and songwriter Mick Ralphs is recovering in hospital after suffering a stroke, his family said.

The 72-year-old co-founder of the band is "receiving excellent medical care and is recovering in hospital".

The band returned for their swan song tour this October, which saw them touring eight cities in the United Kingdom and original members Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke joining Ralphs on stage.

A statement said: " Following the Bad Company UK tour that wound up last Saturday at London's 02 Arena, the family and representatives of the band's co-founder, guitarist and songwriter Mick Ralphs are sad to announce that Mick has suffered a stroke.

"Mick is receiving excellent medical care and is recovering in hospital, although all his public engagements are necessarily on hold, pending his improvement."

"Everyone is wishing Mick a speedy recovery, and further news will be announced at the appropriate time."

The band was formed in 1973 after the members of the bands Free, Mott The Hoople and King Crimson decided to join forces.

Free members Rodgers and Kirke had enjoyed success with their 1970s hit song All Right Now.

Ralphs had been part of Mott The Hoople, famed for their 1972 song All The Young Dudes, which was penned by David Bowie.

Vocalist and guitarist Raymond 'Boz' Burrell had been performing as part of rock band King Crimson.

News of their final UK tour was preceded by the release of the band's first live album, titled Live In Concert 1977 and 1979, in May this year.

In March the band toured the US with a show titled One Hell Of A Night, which they co-headlined with American musician Joe Walsh.

Ralphs did not join them, saying in a statement on the band's official website that "the travel required to do these dates is something I'm just not feeling up for at the moment".

The Black Crowes' front man Rich Robinson stood in for him.

Ralphs said: " I'm glad the band found Rich to take my place for this run, I'm sure he'll be great. See you all again soon.

"Much love to Paul and Simon, and love to all our fans for supporting us over the years. Thanks."
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has appointed Amy Lame as his first Night Czar

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has tasked comedian and broadcaster Amy Lame with championing London's nightlife in the wake of the closure of world famous club Fabric.

The former BBC London radio presenter becomes the capital's first Night Czar and will work with Mr Khan, the Night Time Commission, local authorities, police and Transport for London to help shape the city's future as a 24-hour city and ensure its after-dark economy thrives.

The decision to appoint a Night Czar follows similar appointments in Amsterdam, Berlin and San Francisco.

Mr Khan said: "I'm absolutely delighted to announce the appointment of London's first ever Night Czar.

"The recent closure of the world-famous nightclub Fabric and the threats facing other venues across the capital show why Amy will be a much-needed ambassador for the city after dark."

He added: "Amy is a fantastic hire who will give a big boost to our city's flourishing nightlife, which already attracts millions of visitors each year.

"Her proven track-record of helping save venues, her first-hand experience of the industry over the last two decades as well as her love for London and its nightlife are what make her such a great candidate for the role."

Ms Lame, who was Mayoress of Camden between 2010 and 2011, said: "It's a privilege to be London's very first Night Czar.

"I can't wait to hit the streets and have loads of ideas of what I can do for revellers, night-time workers, businesses and stakeholders.

"For too long, the capital's night-time industry has been under pressure - music venues and nightclubs in particular are closing at an alarming rate."

The closure of Fabric earlier this year was met with fierce criticism by both politicians and figures from the world of music, including Mr Khan and British DJ Goldie.

Islington Council announced its decision to revoke the licence of the Farringdon nightclub on September 7 after finding it had a "culture of drug use" which staff were "incapable of controlling".

The club is expected to appeal the decision at Highbury Magistrates' Court later this month.

Following Ms Lame's appointment, Fabric tweeted: "We'd like to congratulate @amylame on becoming London #nightczar and look forward to working together in the future."
The first picture of Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in a new film about his early days as prime minister shows the actor sporting heavy prosthetics, a bow tie and smoking a cigar.

Oldman takes on the role in Darkest Hour, about Churchill's decision to galvanise Britain against the Nazi threat as forces rolled across Western Europe and the threat of invasion appeared imminent.

The British actor, 58, is almost unrecognisable in the picture, which shows him in profile with glasses, a receding hair line and double chin.

The movie is directed by Joe Wright, who was responsible for Atonement, Anna Karenina and Hanna and also stars John Hurt, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James.

It will explore Churchill's struggle with an unprepared public, a sceptical king and political in-fighting as he leads a charge against Hitler's army in the early days of the Second World War.

Darkest Hour will be released in UK cinemas on December 29 2017.
The Jamie Dornan, Gillian Anderson crime thriller The Fall could return for a fourth series - but with new lead characters - one of the show's actresses has said.

The cat and mouse drama saw London detective Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) pursue Belfast strangler Paul Spector, played by Holywood actor Jamie Doran, following a spate of murders in the city.

Series three ended in a violent, bloodied and dramatic fashion, sparking outrage.

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However, given the ending many have speculated it was the conclusion of the series, but Lacy Moore, who also starred in the hit HBO series, has hinted there will be a fourth.

"Its funny because there has been so much stuff online about it being the end of The Fall," she told the Irish Daily Mirror.

All I know is Im supposed to be back in series four - I have no idea why people are saying its the end.

I think theyre bringing in new characters to play the leads but Im pretty sure theyre going forward with another season.

Its got such a massive fanbase, it really is super popular, so it should go on for another series.

The Fall writer Alan Cubitt has already hinted the show will make a return.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The Fall's Jamie Dornan, Gillian Anderson and writer Allan Cubitt Gillian Anderson in Belfast-made, BBC2 crime thriller The Fall Jamie Dornan and Gillian Anderson Paul Spector played by Jamie Dornan. Genevieve O'Reilly alongside Gillian Anderson in The Fall. Helen Sloan / The Fall 3 Ltd Genevieve O'Reilly in The Fall. Jim Dornan in The Fall. / Facebook

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Ahead of the show's conclusion he told Digital Spy: "I don't think I'm giving much away in saying it's Jamie's last season, but that's not to say that we wouldn't do more of The Fall.

"I do have some thoughts, but I'm quite keen on doing other things as well, so it's not going to be straight away."
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Education and Science of Armenia Mr. Levon Mkrtchyan presented to the Parliament the programs which the ministry plans to carry out in 2017.

During Parliamentary debates on the 2017 state budget draft, the minister said there will be continuous programs, as well as new programs will be initiated which are derived from the new Governments program.

The public education sector comprises a large part of our budget. Here we have several important issues. We attach great importance to the school nutrition program, which has great significance not only in terms of discipline. The program is an absolute success. Through gradual steps, we have to achieve the implementation of this project in all secondary schools of the country, Mkrtchyan said.

The Minister also attached importance to the pre-school projects which are implemented under the World Banks loan program. According to him, there are issues related to co-financing in the sphere, and the ministry is currently holding talks with the World Bank to regulate the issue.

Mkrtchyan also commented on upcoming reforms in schools. He reminded the absolute majority of Armenias school system are schools with low number of students, and in this case the mechanical optimization variant cannot be effective.

This implies introduction of a complete e-education system. We are now negotiating with donor organizations to solve this issue. We have to bring the electronic education system to a completely new level. In this case we have to cooperate with concerned and established NGOs, he said.

Minister Mkrtchyan also attaches importance to the elaboration and introduction of new mechanisms of financing of schools. According to the minister, the financing system whereby schools are financed according to the number of students is not effective, since this mechanism works only for schools with high and low number of students, meanwhile in Armenia a large part of schools have medium number of students, therefore it is necessary to specify the financing mechanisms.
Tom Ford's reputation precedes him. He's a perfectionist, a man of meticulous standards who favours minimalist monochrome and is always immaculately turned-out.

Rumour has it that his staff will be alerted if their outfit doesn't fit the Ford aesthetic. And then there's his bathing routine - he apparently has at least two soaks a day.

These things are whirling around my head as I wait to interview him when, all of a sudden, a bit of a commotion kicks off down the corridor. It turns out Ford has just cut an interview short. It's not possible to decipher what he's saying, but he's clearly not happy.

And so, it's with a little trepidation that I walk into the hotel suite a short while later to meet Mr Ford myself.

Straight away, the 55-year-old apologises for not standing to shake my hand. He reveals, in the faintest Texan accent, that his mother would be most disappointed by his lack of manners but he's got his suit, in signature black of course, looking "just-so" and doesn't want to ruffle it.

Although he made a name for himself in the world of high-fashion, namely at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, Ford proved to be a gifted film-maker when he released his directorial debut, A Single Man, in 2009.

The movie, which Ford adapted from the novel by Christopher Isherwood and produced under his company Fade To Black, earned Colin Firth - who starred as depressed, gay university professor George Falconer - his first Oscar nomination.

"A Single Man was the perfect film to start with, because it was very small and contained - I'll always have a great love for it," explains Ford.

Now, seven years on, he's promoting his second film, Nocturnal Animals, which he's adapted from Austin Wright's 1993 book Tony And Susan.

"Writing is one of the parts of film-making I love the most," he says. "In the screenplay phase, the process is entirely singular, and as the film at that point exists only in my mind, it's in its most perfect form."

Just as he creates mood boards for his fashion collections, Ford begins the screenwriting process by collecting images that relate to the characters and their worlds.

"I then start to write, and often actually write into the screenplay the details I have come across when doing the photo research," he says.

Ford believes you should write what you know and says he's "incredibly familiar" with the worlds his characters in Nocturnal Animals inhabit.

The movie opens on an art exhibition curated by the glamorous Susan Morrow (Amy Adams). When she returns to her beautiful home, it soon transpires she's leading an unfulfilled life with her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer).

When he departs on yet another business trip, Susan receives a parcel from her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), who she's not heard from in years. Inside is a book he's written, entitled Nocturnal Animals, which he's dedicated to her, along with a note asking her to read it and contact him when he's due to pass through the city.

As Susan opens the pages, we're transported into the story and follow the protagonist, Tony (also played by Gyllenhaal), as he copes with the brutality suffered by his wife and teenage daughter by a gang who push their car off a remote stretch of road in Texas.

Moved by his writing, Susan's forced to confront the past and how her decisions have impacted everyone, including herself.

"The character of Susan is pretty much me," states Ford, who has a four-year-old son with husband Richard Buckley.

"This is a woman who lives a very privileged life. She lives in full-on contemporary culture and yet she's a little bit tortured by it. She's not necessarily happy and longs for a simpler life.

"It sounds very spoilt to say that, because I'm very fortunate. But I grew up in the American west in a very simple way, and I'm quite torn sometimes.

"I create products that tell people, 'You're going to be happy if you have this or that', and (I'm) quite involved in the world of materialism, even though I realise material things are not the things that make us happy.

"This story is about finding the people in your life that are the most important and not letting them go."

Another of the themes that "hit home personally" for the director was the film's exploration of masculinity.

"Our heroes, Tony and Edward, do not possess the stereotypical traits of masculinity that our culture often expects, yet in the end they both triumph," observes Ford.

"As a boy growing up in Texas, I was anything but what was considered classically masculine, and I suffered for it."

He says he was "lured to New York" in his teens - because "I thought I wanted all these 'things'".

"I'm very fortunate to have them and I'm lucky and I'm appreciative," he insists.

"But the older I get, the more I want to retreat and recede and the more appreciative I am of the people in my life."

In New York, Ford was a regular at the infamous nightspot Studio 54, and enrolled at New York University, initially attending courses in art history.

He later decided to refocus his education on architecture at Parsons School Of Design, and he spent part of his studies in Paris, where he worked in the Chloe press office.

On his return to New York, he reportedly exaggerated his experience in order to impress designer Cathy Hardwick. He was her chief designer for two years, before joining Perry Ellis in 1988.

Looking to Europe for inspiration a couple of years later, he moved to Milan as head designer for women's ready-to-wear at the then struggling Gucci fashion house.

Within four years, Ford was made creative director, and by the time he left in 2004, the Gucci Group was valued at $10bn.

With everything he continues to juggle (he launched his own brand in 2005), it's little wonder he describes himself as a "nocturnal animal".

Ford hasn't had much time to write of late, but there are a few ideas he's mulling over for his next movie.

"I can't hint - because I might change my mind completely and do something totally different!
Alicia Vikander with Fassbender on the red carpet at the film premiere

Island life: Michael Fassbender as Tom and Alicia Vikander as Isabel in their new film

Love blossomed between Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander while the couple made post-war romance The Light Between Oceans. Now, with the movie set to woo cinema audiences too, they tell Susan Griffin whether they'd be tempted to live on an isolated island like their characters.

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander fell in love while filming their new movie, a sweeping romance called The Light Between Oceans.

They're promoting the film together, but the famously private pair are not about to profess their lust for one another in public.

Not even Stephen Fry could cajole them into a cheeky peck for the roving 'Kiss Cam' at the Baftas in February; although Vikander did kiss Fassbender before accepting her Oscar for her role in A Danish Girl a few weeks later.

Today, sitting side by side, they make a good-looking couple. Fassbender in dark trousers and a green knit, Vikander in a Seventies-style blue and red wrap dress.

They clearly enjoy a laugh together, not least when Swedish-born Vikander (28) talks about training to play Lara Croft for the upcoming Tomb Raider shoot.

"I'm pumping iron at the moment," reveals the petite actress, pretending to flex her 'guns'. "I started full prep a couple of weeks ago and we start filming in the New Year."

Her background in ballet (she trained from age nine to 16) should come in handy for the stunt work, as many actors compare action scenes to honing dance routines.

"I hope so, because there's a lot of choreography to learn. I hope I'll be able to do some of the moves," she says.

Fassbender (39), tackled his own fight scenes for the upcoming Assassin's Creed, due for release in January.

He's a man known for throwing himself into every role with uncompromising passion, whether it's as convicted IRA member Bobby Sands in 2008's Hunger, sex addict Brandon in Shame, or slave owner Edwin Epps in 12 Years A Slave.

It's for that very reason Fassbender admits he needed a lot of persuading from Derek Cianfrance, the director of The Light Between Oceans, to live 24/7 on set in a remote part of New Zealand's South Island.

"I work back-to-back a lot, so I feel very much like I need my space and my time," he explains, in a soft Irish accent (Fassbender was born in Germany but moved to his mother's native Ireland when he was two. His mother Adele is originally from Larne). "I very much give whatever I've got to the 12, 14 hours a day of filming, but when it's wrap time, I go home, and I like to have that in a neutral space."

Just as Cianfrance called on Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling to live together for a month before they shot 2010's Blue Valentine, a gut-wrenching depiction of a relationship's disintegration, the film-maker wanted Fassbender and Vikander to set up home in their characters' house.

"I was so glad that didn't happen," says Fassbender, laughing.

Instead, he agreed to live in one of the small caravans brought to set.

"Derek's a passionate film-maker and I've got a huge respect for him.

"It was important to him, so I said, 'Absolutely, let's give it a shot'," he explains.

"After the first week, I didn't want to leave. It felt like such a treat and rare opportunity to stay in such a beautiful place and to experience it like that."

The film's an adaptation of the 2012 novel by ML Stedman, which has been translated into more than 35 languages since publication. The story centres on how Tom, a man shell-shocked by his experiences in World War One, looks for solace and solitude as a lighthouse keeper on the uninhabited Janus Rock, off the West Coast of Australia.

Although intending to remain alone, he meets Isabel, who's grieving for two brothers lost in the war. "I see Isabel as very strong, but also naive and vulnerable," explains Vikander, who's previously starred in 2012's Anna Karenina, alongside Keira Knightley, and 2015's The Man From UNCLE and Ex Machina.

"Like Tom, she's been through trauma and felt a great loss, yet somehow she still has this beautiful spark and so much fire, and that's why Tom gets completely thrown by her.

"She's a person who goes with her impulses for better and for worse. She has a tough journey in the film, but I was always drawn by her willpower and strength of spirit."

When love flourishes, they're swiftly married and move to Janus Rock together, relishing the isolation - although their attempt to start a family is met by tragedy.

One day, a rowing boat washes ashore, with a dead man and a baby girl, who's still alive, inside it.

Their decision to raise the baby as their own has shattering consequences, when Tom discovers her heartbroken mother, Hannah (Rachel Weisz), is on the mainland.

Fassbender sympathises with Tom's decision to go with his heart, despite his misgivings.

"It's a very particular time in their relationship, and that informs the decisions they make. There's also the fact they're so alone on the island.

"There's an awareness that what seemed like paradise could become a prison," he says.

Could they imagine living in the same sort of solitude as Tom and Isabel?

"For a while," offers Fassbender.

Vikander, the slightly more guarded of the two, is quick to move the conversation onto less personal territory.

"It was an extraordinary thing, experiencing that nature and the realisation of how big the world is and how small you are, that human relationship with nature," she says.

"Also, being away from technology makes a big difference. I've changed a bit over the last few years, and getting away to be closer to nature is something I've really started to enjoy more and more - but maybe not for four years like Tom and Isabel," Vikander adds.

Reflecting on the story, Fassbender believes one of the great themes "is the complexity of real life".

"Things happen in life, where you have to make a choice that has no simple right or wrong answer," he observes.

"The story's not about judging who is good and who is bad.

"It really is about how we deal with the outcomes of our choices, and to me that is what defines us as human beings."
Brexit divisions between the DUP and Sinn Fein have sharpened after the High Court in London ruled Parliament must have a vote before the UK can start the process of leaving the European Union.

Yesterday's landmark ruling threatened to throw the Government's timetable for the start of formal negotiations into disarray and heightened speculation of a snap general election - for which the DUP says it is already preparing for.

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds also warned the ruling could boost the campaign for a second referendum.

Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said decisions on Northern Ireland's future in the EU should be left to Stormont and the Irish Government.

He also ruled out any Sinn Fein move to end its boycott of the House of Commons, even if its four MPs could make the difference in a crunch vote. The Government has already said it will appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court, with a hearing earmarked for early next month.

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to make a statement to MPs on the issue on Monday.

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Officials are already warning that failure to overturn the decision could mean months of delay before Article 50 is triggered to begin up to two years of negotiations on the terms of the UK's new relationship with Europe.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said the verdict will be a great comfort to the "arrogant anti-democratic Remainers", which they will use "to the full".

"The losers in the referendum have been seeking for a weapon to carry out a prolonged guerrilla war," he said.

"They want prolonged debates on the Government negotiating position, a running commentary on the negotiations, and have demanded commitments to maintain the free movement of people and the single market - the most damaging aspects of our membership."

But Mr McGuinness said: "Brexit will have a massive impact on every one of Ireland's 32 counties. So we believe that any decisions that need to be taken about the future of this island should be taken between the Assembly and the Dail."

As Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited Stormont for discussions on the EU withdrawal crisis, Assembly Opposition parties also faced in different directions.

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The Ulster Unionist Pary said if the appeal was unsuccessful its two MPs - Tom Elliott and Danny Kinahan - will still vote for the Article 50 mechanism to go ahead, while the SDLP said its three MPs - Mark Durkan, Alasdair McDonnell and Margaret Ritchie - will vote to support the majority in NI (56%) who wanted to stay in the EU.

Mr Durkan said: "The idea seemed to be that Parliament had no role whatsoever and could entrust these matters entirely to the Royal Prerogative and those who are meant to be leading the process.

"That would constitute a request for us to commit a dereliction of duty."

Alliance MLA Stephen Farry said if the Supreme Court upheld the verdict the issue of legislative consent motions from the devolved adminstrations in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff would arise - and urged the Executive to urgently seek legal advice.

TUV leader Jim Allister said the will of the UK electorate had been ignored.

"Whatever of the court's motivation, it is clear those who took this case saw it as a vehicle to thwart the will of the people so clearly expressed in the referendum," he said.

"In that they must not succeed."

The verdict in London came less than a month after the High Court in Belfast dismissed the UK's first Brexit legal challenge.

Where do we go from here? The events so far. . .

February 20: Date of referendum announced by Prime Minister David Cameron after he had secured a deal on Britain's membership of the EU.

April 15: Referendum campaign kicks off with campaign events and rallies across the country. 'Vote Leave' was named as the official 'leave' EU campaign. 'Britain Stronger in Europe' was the 'remain' side.

June 23: Polling day for the EU referendum. Voters, facing their biggest decision in a generation, went to the polls. A shock victory for the leave campaigners looked increasingly likely as votes were counted through the night at hundreds of venues.

June 24: The national declaration of the referendum result, followed by the resignation of Mr Cameron as Prime Minister. The value of the pound dropped sharply as happy Brexit campaigners celebrated.

October 3: Sterling falls to three-year low against the euro after new Prime Minister Theresa May said she would trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017.

November 3: High Court rules that Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU and that the government cannot trigger Article 50.
A father and son caught on police CCTV attempting to swap penalty points have been freed on suspended jail terms for attempting to pervert the course of public justice

A father and son caught on police CCTV attempting to swap penalty points have been freed on suspended jail terms for attempting to pervert the course of public justice.

Belfast Crown Court heard that both Francis Murphy jnr and snr fled Tennent Street PSNI station after police there challenged Murphy snr's (59) attempts to pay a fixed 60 fine and claim a three-penalty point endorsement on his licence meant for his son.

Prosecutor Simon Jenkins said that Murphy jnr (31) had been stopped on Belfast's Malone Road and given the fixed penalty for driving at 46mph in a 30mph zone.

He was ordered to report to Lisburn Road PSNI station to pay the fine and have his driving licence endorsed.

Mr Jenkins said Murphy jnr went instead to his local north Belfast PSNI station along with his father.

But both left when challenged over the age of the driver on the fixed penalty notice.

Although caught on CCTV, Murphy jnr claimed not to remember the incident, while his father claimed that he had gone to the station with a friend. Solicitor advocate Stephen Keown for Murphy jnr, said while it was "deliberate, it was naive", the father of two, had since shown clear remorse and accepted responsibility for encouraging his father to get involved.

Mr Keown said that unlike similar cases, theirs had only been an attempt to pervert justice, which had been easy to detect.

Barrister Neil Fox, for Murphy snr, said that one could not image a more amateurish enterprise, with both father and son going to a police station together.

Mr Fox said that Murphy stood to gain nothing, and was "just trying to protect his son".

Judge Geoffrey Miller said while they were caught on CCTV and their efforts were so inept and amateurish they were bound to be caught, their incompetence could not lessen the seriousness of their crime, and no one should be in any doubt of that.

Francis Murphy snr, of Cliftonville Road, described by Judge Miller, as the patsy, was given a four-month sentence which was suspended for two years along with the five-month sentence given to his son from Sunnyside Street, who, said the judge, prevailed upon his father to take his points.
The identity of people who received money under a botched Stormont grants scheme are to be kept under wraps, it has emerged.

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton will not reveal the full list of those who benefited from the heavily criticised multi-million pound renewable heat incentive scheme scandal.

TUV leader Jim Allister asked what the Executive was afraid of after the DUP minister said he would not publish a list of recipients.

Mr Allister said he hoped that in time the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Audit Office will reveal the full scale of the "taxpayer rip-off".

"Just what does the Executive have to hide that it can't publish the recipients of the most bungled and costly scheme that Stormont ever produced?" the North Antrim MLA said.

"At the heart of the problem lies a distinct lack of ministerial oversight dating back to (First Minister) Arlene Foster's time in DETI, which let the scheme get out of control.

"This was a job botched in Stormont. Westminster had set the template with a cap on the number of hours at premium rate, but Stormont didn't bother to apply it.

"I trust the Audit Office and the PAC will lay bare the scale of the taxpayer rip-off."

Mr Hamilton said: "I have no plans to publish, or place in the Assembly Library, a full list of beneficiaries from the renewable heat incentive scheme." Approached for further comment by the Belfast Telegraph, the Economy Minister said: "My department is unable to make public the details of individuals, as to do so would breach the first principle of the Data Protection Act 1998."

Mr Allister also asked Mr Hamilton to outline the mechanisms in place for ministerial oversight of the renewable heat incentive scheme since its introduction.

His written Assembly reply said: "Ministerial responsibilities for the renewable heat incentive scheme since its introduction have included approving the policy and business case and securing Assembly approval to the necessary legislation.

"Responsibility for the detailed design and ongoing oversight of the scheme rests with departmental officials and Ofgem as the scheme administrator."

MLAs demanded "heads should roll" over the scheme after the Audit Office concluded in July that "serious systematic failings" were likely to cost "hundreds of millions of pounds".
Man accused of carrying out the attack in a tent at Waterfoot on August 4

A man accused of trying to strangle his girlfriend with a belt during a camping holiday in the Glens of Antrim must not leave Northern Ireland, a High Court judge ordered on Friday.

The ban was imposed on 33-year-old Mario Felloni as he was granted bail at the High Court in Belfast.

Prosecutors sought the prohibition amid concerns he may try to pursue the alleged victim - a woman from County Cork.

Felloni, of Cliftonpark Court in Belfast, faces charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He is accused of carrying out the attack in a tent at Waterfoot on August 4.

Police arrested him after being alerted to a distressed female with red marks on her neck and heavily bloodshot eyes.

She had approached another woman, claiming to have escaped and walked nine miles in the middle of the night following an attempt to choke her.

Prosecutors said a doctor who examined her at Antrim Area Hospital concluded she had been "significantly strangled" in what was considered an attempt to murder her.

The woman told police Felloni turned violent after she raised concerns about his drinking on their camping holiday.

At a previous hearing it was alleged that he snapped, pinned her to the ground inside the tent, put his hand around her neck and squeezed.

According to the woman's account she tried to pull his fingers away and urged him to calm down.

Felloni then took his cloth belt off, put it around her neck and pulled tightly, it was claimed.

In a statement the alleged victim described being unable to speak and seeing stars, fearing she was going to die as everything started to close.

She claimed Felloni released his grip as she began to pass out.

A judge was told he then allegedly asked 'Do you want a fast way or a slow way?'

He pushed her neck around as if to break it, telling her that was the fast way, the prosecution claimed.

The woman said she managed to escape after Felloni fell asleep later that night.

During police interviews he denied using a belt or any attempt to choke the woman, but said he punched her up to six times after she slapped his face in an argument.

However, it also emerged in court that the alleged victim has made two further statements withdrawing her complaints against Felloni.

She denied being afraid of him and said her original allegations were made after drinking two bottles of wine and beer.

The woman has since returned to Cork and does not want to be part of any prosecution.

Based on her current refusal to provide assistance in the case, Crown lawyer Conor Maguire did not oppose bail being granted under tight conditions.

He explained: "They are to allay concerns that he would leave the jurisdiction and seek to pursue the alleged injured party."

Mrs Justice Keegan ruled that Felloni could be released from custody to live at a hostel in Belfast.

She imposed an alcohol ban, night-time curfew and ordered him to report to police every day.

The judge also directed: "He will be precluded from leaving the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland unless he's given permission by police."
Mr McGuinness has hailed investment from the US

Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister is to embark on a four-day visit to the United States.

Martin McGuinness will travel, without First Minister Arlene Foster, to Houston and San Francisco to meet potential and existing investors.

The Sinn Fein MLA said: "The United States is our number one foreign direct investor with 185 US companies employing 23,000 people across the north, and is also an important trading partner, accounting for almost 21% of our exports in 2015/16.

"This hasn't happened by accident and is the result of many productive visits to the United States."

Mrs Foster travelled to the US in September to drum up investment during engagements in New York and Washington.

But last week she sparked controversy, accusing Irish government officials of poaching foreign investment and of talking down the Northern Ireland economy.

Irish foreign minister Charlie Flanagan expressed concern at the remarks which were made during a speech at the DUP's annual conference in Belfast.

Mr McGuinness added: "Bringing more and better jobs here is a priority for this Executive and these jobs won't just land on our laps by sitting behind a desk at home.

"In recent years we have brought in more foreign direct investment jobs than in any time in our history.

"We have a very compelling proposition, a good infrastructure, a comparatively low cost base and a government committed to creating a pro-business environment.

"Our colleges and universities are internationally renowned and have been key in producing the talent to drive the development of our technology and knowledge industries.

"Around 80% of companies who come here reinvest which is the best possible endorsement. A reduced rate of corporation tax and a strong skills base will make a massive contribution to our future economic prospects.

"As part of my visit I will have face-to-face meetings with a range of existing and potential investors to maintain and create new contacts and relationships and ultimately provide jobs so people can provide for their families."

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's finance minister has also been promoting the region across the Atlantic and urged the US to "cement" the peace with jobs during his most recent visit.
Belfast International Airport blamed the European Commission for blocking a financial assistance package mainly coming from Stormont

Northern Ireland's Economy Minister has lashed out at "unelected Brussels' bureaucrats" for the loss of th e region's only direct US air link.

Simon Hamilton also defended the 9 million rescue package for United Airlines, which has announced it will stop daily flights from Belfast to Newark early next year.

In a hard-hitting statement, the DUP MLA expressed regret at the airline's decision and pointed the finger of blame at the European Commission, which blocked the funding package on state aid grounds.

Mr Hamilton said: "The Executive did the right thing with its bid to save this key route. There was a risk to the flight and we stepped in to save it. Faced with the same circumstances again, I would make the same decisions. All public money has been recouped with interest and we retained the route for a longer period.

"We were always aware of the potential of an issue around state aid compliance, but given the tight time scale to put a package of support in place, approval by the European Commission could not be sought in advance of agreeing a deal with United and it was our view, on balance, that given this was our only direct flight to the USA, state aid was not a factor.

"It is, therefore, deeply regrettable that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels have effectively scuppered this important flight for Northern Ireland."

The United service recently carried its one millionth passenger.

In a statement the company confirmed its last flight would depart from Belfast on January 9 next year.

A spokesman said: "We have regretfully taken this decision because of the route's poor financial performance. We will contact customers with bookings for flights beyond those dates to provide refunds and re-accommodate where possible.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

The decision to withdraw has dealt a major blow to Belfast International Airport.

Managing director Graham Keddie claimed it defied logic. He said: "You could hardly get a worse example of process-driven madness. To block a support package for an airline that delivers direct access to the United States is almost beyond comprehension.

"This is a vital link for business and losing it will be a body blow to Executive ministers who use it to promote Northern Ireland to would-be investors from the United States.

"The adverse impact is all the greater, coming as it does ahead of the crucial decision to make Northern Ireland more competitive, with reduced corporation tax designed to stimulate inward investment.

"This is a bad day for the Executive and a bad day for Northern Ireland, which is still finding its feet after a generation lost to conflict."

Ulst er Unionist MLA Steve Aiken described the situation as an "international embarrassment".

He plans to raise the issue as an urgent oral question to the Stormont Assembly next week.

"This is a huge blow to our international standing and the Minister must tell us what he intends to do to sort it out," said Mr Aiken.

Alliance Party MLA Stewart Dickson said the Stormont Executive had been given "slap in the face" and demanded explanations.

Mr Dickson said: "To lose our only direct air route from Northern Ireland to the United States will have a serious impact on our business community as well as local people using it to visit family or for holidays.

"Coming just weeks after United was offered 9 million to keep the route open after they threatened to pull it, is a slap in the face to our Executive.

"We also need a clear strategy from the Executive outlining what they are doing to attract another airline to this route as a matter of urgency. Our airports are already facing strong competition from Dublin airport and it is time we had a strong plan to develop Belfast's air links with the rest of the world to help grow our economy."

However, not everyone was disappointed by Europe's decision to block the bailout.

Green Party leader Steven Agnew said: "This decision presents us with a huge opportunity, as the money can now be used on other projects which have a much greater benefit on ordinary people's lives.

"Proposing to give the money to a large multinational airline was a vanity project from the very start, and it has now been shown to break the rules too.

"A few people may be slightly inconvenienced by having to travel a few hours down to Dublin to get a flight to New York, but if the money is now spent on better public services for everybody, such as early years' education provision, I'm sure far more people will be happy and the money will go a lot further in the long run."
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian had a meeting on November 4 in Berlins Friedrich-Ebert Foundation with German lawmakers, leading analysts and political scientist. Vice-President of the Bundestag Mrs. Edelgard Bulmahn was present at the meeting, the ministry told ARMENPRESS.

By praising the Bundestags adoption of the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Nalbandian appreciated the principled stance of the German Parliament.

During the meeting discussions were held regarding the Armenian-German mutual cooperation and prospects of deepening and strengthening the relations.

Nalbandian also touched upon the Armenia-European Union relations.

Minister Nalbandian briefed the attendees of the meeting on details of the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh in April, including its blatant violations of international humanitarian rights, results of the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits and the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries aimed at creating relevant conditions for the progress of the settlement process of the NK conflict.

The Minister noted that Azerbaijan refuses to realize the agreements which were reached during the summits in this regard, and is inflicting serious damage to the efforts of a peaceful resolution by continuing to escalate the situation in the line of contact.

Edward Nalbandian stressed : Another such provocative manifestation is the large-scale military exercise which is planned to be held in Azerbaijan in a week, where according to Baku, almost the entire armed forces and military equipment of Azerbaijan will be involved, which is a serious violation of international obligations on armament supervision. This is the response of Azerbaijani leadership to the urges of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries on resuming the negotiations aimed at an exclusively peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Nalbandian briefed the German lawmakers and experts on the ongoing reforms in Armenia, attaching importance to the assistance of international organizations and partner countries in that process.

Several urgent regional issues were also discussed at the meeting.

The discussions were followed by a Q&A between Minister Nalbandian and participants of the meeting.
Staff have refused to begin work at Maghaberry

Prison officers at Northern Ireland's high-security jail delayed their start to work on Friday morning in a dispute over pay and conditions, the BBC has reported.

It's thought around 80 officers involved in industrial action held a meeting instead of beginning their shifts at Maghaberry at around 8am.

The broadcaster reported staff involved returned to work just after 9am.

It said prison officers are not allowed to strike and could have faced legal and disciplinary action if they refused to return to work.

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Maghaberry houses some of Northern Ireland most dangerous criminals.

No other prisons were affected in Northern Ireland although a meeting was held at Magilligan, authorised by the prison service.

A NI Prison Service spokeswoman said: "Some staff took unauthorised action for a short time this morning at Maghaberry but this has now ended and the prison regime has returned to normal.

Discussions have been taking place in recent months between NIPS and Department of Justice senior managers and the trade unions on a 2016 pay award for prison grades.

"The Minister has met the POA and advised them that she is in discussions with her Ministerial colleague, the Finance Minister.
Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 8th November 2016 RAF Tornado does a flyby past the Titanic in Belfast to start a jobs fair at the tourist attraction in Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

RAF Tornado does a flyby past the Harland and Wolff in Belfast to start a jobs fair at the tourist attraction in Belfast.

RAF Tornado does a flyby past the Harland and Wolff in Belfast to start a jobs fair at the tourist attraction in Belfast.

RAF Tornado does a flyby past the Harland and Wolff in Belfast to start a jobs fair at the tourist attraction in Belfast.

RAF Tornado performs fly over at Harland and Wolff in Belfast.

An RAF Tornado GR4 aircraft took part in a fly over at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast today for the start of Skills Northern Ireland.

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The RAF Tornado aircraft from IX (Bomber) Squadron provided a low-level fly past of the Titanic Exhibition Centre and Campbell College, Belfast at around 10.50am.

The lead pilot was a local man from Bangor, Co Down with some 28 years of RAF service.

The fly past was part of a routine training mission, and will be conducted at 1,000 feet above ground level and up to a maximum speed of 360kts.

It has been organised to mark the start of Skills Northern Ireland - a new, interactive and inspiring two day event for 14-19 year olds and the teachers, parents and influencers that help them make their future job and career choices.

The event will connect talented young people with job, career and skills opportunities across Northern Ireland.

RAF Recruiters will be among those at the event along with a model Typhoon, and a member of non-commissioned Aircrew will be on hand to answer questions.

The evening opening is 5pm-7pm on Tuesday, 8 November, with free entry aimed at parents, carers and their families.

The Tornados will also fly over Campbell College, Belfast in recognition during Remembrance Week of Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall - a former pupil of the east Belfast school - who was killed in action on January 30, 2005 when the C130 aircraft he was travelling in was downed by enemy fire.

There is a small memorial to Patrick in the school assembly hall along with other former Campbell College old boys killed on military service.

The Tornado Aircraft will be from IX (Bomber) Squadron based at RAF Marham, Norfolk.

The Tornado entered Service with the RAF in June 1982 and has operated with IX(B) Squadron continuously and will do until its planned exit from Service in 2020.

IX(B) Sqn has a formidable reputation for carrying out bombing during the hours of darkness; this reputation is captured by the bat depicted on the Squadron badge.

This aircraft type has been the mainstay of the RAF strike/attack force during this time. It is flown by two aircrew and is capable of speeds in excess of 1.3 Mach. Still one of the very few aircraft in the world that is able to operate at low level, day or night and in poor weather, the Tornado is now equipped with a modern precision-guided weapons suite and world-class reconnaissance sensors.

The Tornado GR4 has been successfully deployed in Operational theatres since 1990. It has seen action under various operations in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.
A son of IRA supergrass Raymond Gilmour has welcomed his death, remarking after he heard the news that: "There is a God".

Speaking exclusively to the Belfast Telegraph Raymond, who is named after his dad, denounced him as "a pest for the stuff he did and put my family through".

He said that his father had turned supergrass purely for "the sake of money", and added: "He wasn't a nice man."

Raymond was just three when he last saw his dad. Gilmour waved goodbye to his children at Easter 1983 after his wife Lorraine decided she could no longer live in hiding in England. She missed Londonderry too much, and returned there with her two young children, Raymond and Denise.

Raymond jnr said that in the intervening 33 years he had no contact with his father.

"I never saw Gilmour and I never knew him. I never wanted to see him, for a lot of reasons," he said.

He learned of his father's death on Saturday morning after it was exclusively reported in the Belfast Telegraph. In a post on social media just after 8am, he wrote: "Today is a very good day. A lot of demons finally put to rest for good. There is a God. Lol."

The 55-year-old supergrass was found dead in his Kent flat last week. His body had been lying there for around a week and was badly decomposed. A port-mortem is being carried out.

Raymond jnr does not use the Gilmour name, and this newspaper is not publishing his surname in order to protect his privacy.

The 35-year-old, who has children himself, bears a striking resemblance to his father.

His sister, who is a year younger, also has children and runs a successful business in Derry. Their mother, who has married again, shares the same surname as her children and is a doting grandmother.

Raymond told the Belfast Telegraph that the media coverage since his father's death was uncomfortable for his family, especially for his mother - "an angel like no other". He said that his father "didn't deserve the ink" used in media reports.

Gilmour went on to have two more sons in Britain, including an 18-year-old, who discovered the body.

"I feel sorry for his kids, and sometimes very lucky I didn't get to know him, as he wasn't a nice man at all," Raymond said.

He added that the man his mother married in Derry after leaving Gilmour was "the only father I've ever known - he gave me everything a father could".

Raymond believed that he had enjoyed a far better life than he would have had "if my mother had stayed with Gilmour".

His only regret was that he was named after his father. He said that when he was younger he was "tortured because of who I was".

However, as time went by, the "people of Derry were good to me, bar the odd armchair republican".

Gilmour went into hiding in 1982 after agreeing to give evidence against dozens of republicans in Derry, where he had infiltrated the IRA and INLA as a Special Branch informer.

In an interview with this reporter in 2008, the supergrass described his last moments with his children before they returned home.

"I gave the kids their Easter eggs and then the police drove them to Newcastle Airport. I remember them looking out the rear window at me as the car disappeared," he said.

The supergrass added that, several years later, the police had brought him documents from Lorraine to sign asking for their marriage to be annulled and the children's names changed.

"I agreed. The kids were told I was dead. I've had no contact with them. Raymond is 27 now and Denise is 26. They are always in my thoughts," he said.

Gilmour described how Lorraine had no idea of his secret life as an agent. He broke the news to her as the IRA became increasingly suspicious of him. He suggested a holiday to the Butlins camp at Mosney.

After leaving Derry he pulled into a layby and revealed he was working for the British. "I said she had two choices: to come with me to safety in a military barracks or to go home. She burst into tears. Eventually, she said she'd come with me, but I saw the hatred in her eyes," he recalled.

Gilmour never took his family to Butlins. Instead, he drove to Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, which was to be their new temporary home. His handler sent postcards from Mosney to friends and family in Derry in order to maintain the pretence of a holiday.

The family later moved to Ipswich, but were unhappy there so their security service minders decided to fly them to Cyprus. Gilmour tried to kill himself on the island. Lorraine started ringing home, unconsciously revealing their location, which led to an IRA assassination attempt.

They returned to England but Lorraine still hated it and decided that she and the children would return to Derry. Gilmour never saw any of them again. He found out some details about their lives only after he was reunited in 2010 with his sister Geraldine Dametz, who lives in the US.

She told him that he was a grandfather and that Denise had twins. Gilmour always became emotional when talking about his children. "I will love them until the day I die," he said.
First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at Stormont Castle

The President of Colombia has hailed Northern Ireland as the inspiration driving him to secure peace in his own country.

Juan Manuel Santos said he told fellow Colombians to "look to Belfast" when trying to show them the dividends a peaceful future can deliver.

Mr Santos asked to visit the city as part of his historic state trip to the UK - the first by a Colombian President.

Addressing a reception at Titanic Belfast, the President told how he wanted to travel to Northern Ireland to "thank and congratulate" the people.

"I have been following what you have done over the last decades, and the peace process has been an inspiration to us, to me," he added.

"I have followed the perseverance and the tenacity with which you solved this very long and terrible conflict here in Northern Ireland, and it has been truly an example that I've been trying to follow."

Mr Santos won the Nobel peace prize for his efforts to broker a peace deal with left-wing Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels.

Colombia has been blighted by a bitter and bloody internal conflict for decades, as Northern Ireland was before the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998 paved the way for a more peaceful future.

Although September's peace deal was narrowly rejected by Colombia's citizens in a referendum, the President has extended a ceasefire with the country's largest rebel movement to allow more time to try and save the proposed accord.

Mr Santos said the efforts to achieve reconciliation once the violence stopped in Northern Ireland had also impressed him.

"That is even more difficult, but you have been doing a great job," he added.

"I know it is ongoing, still going on, but, for us, it's also an inspiration.

"I tell the Colombian people, 'Look what happened in Belfast, look how investment is coming in, pouring in, look at the transformation Belfast has been going through - we can do the same if we are able to reach peace'."

Earlier, the President was welcomed to Stormont Castle by First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

Mr Santos later held a separate meeting with Secretary of State James Brokenshire.

Mrs Foster said "peace and prosperity" were the two main items on the agenda.

"The Colombian peace process is a priority for their government and I know many organisations and people across Northern Ireland have helped in nudging forward the path to peace," she added.

Mr McGuinness described the President as a "very important visitor".
Many signs have had the word London painted over by republicans, says DUPs Adrian McQuillan

Many signs have had the word London painted over by republicans, says DUPs Adrian McQuillan

Officials have been urged to put 'London' back into Londonderry on road signs across Northern Ireland.

DUP MLA Adrian McQuillan said the "sectarian" painting over of the London part by republicans was unsightly, and confusing for tourists.

Mr McQuillan has contacted Chris Hazzard, the Sinn Fein minister responsible for roads, about the issue.

"I have written to the Infrastructure Minister about removing spray paint blocking out 'London' from Londonderry on road signs," he said.

"This came to my attention recently as the road I normally travel to Stormont on has been closed, so I am using an alternative route.

"I noticed one sign, and then another, and then another, and it struck me as such a petty, sectarian thing to do.

"Clearly, not everyone has moved on, and has a problem accepting the name of the second city.

"The closer you get to Londonderry the more of these defaced road signs there are. It is confusing to tourists who are travelling around Northern Ireland and it is also sending out the wrong message to people about being welcomed to every town and city."

Mr McQuillan said that "unsightly" vandalised signs could impact on efforts to attract visitors and businesses to the north west.

"I don't think it would cost too much for the department to have the road signs repaired because I have actually removed spray paint from signs myself in the past, so I know it isn't a difficult job," he added.

Mr McQuillan also wants the department to take action against anyone found defacing the signs.

He added: "No one has been taken to court over this, but I would like to see that happen.

"I understand that it might be difficult to bring someone to court, but if just one person was made an example of then it would send out the message that this will not be tolerated.

"It is such a petty thing for someone to spray over the word 'London', and it portrays a negative image that we are supposed to have left behind us."

No one was available from the Department of Infrastructure for comment.
Meet the Northern Ireland woman playing a part in history - and hoping to bring back what she learns to help Stormont.

Cliona McCarney from Belfast has swapped campaigning for the SDLP to campaigning in the US election.

The 22-year-old has been based at the Democratic Party headquarters in Virginia for the past fortnight, and will stay until polling on Tuesday.

She is working with Hillary Clinton's campaign, bringing in volunteers from all around the country. But Cliona is no stranger to American politics.

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In April President Barack Obama directly answered her question at a London Town Hall event. She was there as part of the Young Leaders UK programme when Obama selected her to ask the first question.

Now she is helping the fight for Clinton to become Obama's successor.

"It's very, very exciting and a wonderful opportunity to be here," Cliona told the Belfast Telegraph.

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"I've always loved her. And being involved in politics at home, I'm very passionate about women in politics. I really think it would be hugely symbolic for the first female President to be elected. Hillary is an incredibly qualified candidate, the most qualified there's ever been."

Cliona believes Clinton will keep NI firmly in her thoughts if elected.

"What the Clintons have done for the peace process has been huge and I know a President Hillary Clinton would keep Northern Ireland on her radar in the White House, and we certainly need that," she said.

"America still has a huge role to play in our evolving peace process, whether it's sending another diplomat like Richard Haass in our next inevitable phase of crisis talks or whether it's playing a role for direct investment."

The campaign was dealt a blow by the email scandal. Just 11 days before the election the FBI announced it was checking new correspondence linked to its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

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But Cliona insists it has "galvanised' supporters. "It's full-steam ahead; there is a lot of anger about the FBI announcement. They think it's a very politically-timed announcement.

"It will probably galvanise Democrats, and from my perspective here in Virginia, we have had a real surge. It has galvanised supporters to get out and start knocking doors.

"I'm sill very confident that Hillary will be elected, but we are not getting complacent."
era Twomey, mother of Ava, claims an oil derived from the cannabis plant, and available in a hemp shop, is helping to ease the hundreds of seizures her daughter suffers from the rare drug-resistant Dravet syndrome

Health chiefs have been asked to give the Government expert scientific advice on the medical use of cannabis.

The review was ordered after the mother of a six-year-old girl with epilepsy began a walk from Cork to Dublin in a bid to get Health Minister Simon Harris to take action.

Vera Twomey, mother of Ava, claims an oil derived from the cannabis plant, and available in a hemp shop, is helping to ease the hundreds of seizures her daughter suffers from with the rare drug-resistant Dravet syndrome.

Health Minister Simon Harris met Ms Twomey in June before calling for the review by t he Health Products Regulatory Authority.

"This is not a discussion about decriminalising cannabis in any way, shape, or form - it is about reviewing our current policy and seeking to inform ourselves of the latest medical and scientific evidence on the potential medical benefits of cannabis for some people with certain medical conditions," he said.

Ms Twomey, from Aghabullogue, Co Cork, launched an online petition to raise awareness about CBD oil which contains none or only trace levels of the THC ingredients traditionally associated with using cannabis to get high.

She revealed she had called off her walk after speaking to the Health Minister by phone and agreeing to meet him next Wednesday in Dublin.

It is understood Ms Twomey has been using Charlotte's Web oil but fears that her daughter will build a resistance to it leaving her with no remedy for repeated seizures.

Mr Harris said he understands the very difficulty Ms Twomey is in.

"I know that many patients believe cannabis should be a treatment option for their medical condition," he said.

"However, cannabis is not currently an authorised medicine and has not gone through the normal regulatory procedures for medicines which are designed to protect patients and ensure treatments are supported by good evidence of their effectiveness."

The Oireachtas Health Committee is planning to discuss the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes later this month while People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny proposed legislation in the Dail to legalise it earlier this year.

Cannabis for medical purposes is available in several countries including the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Canada, Australia, Malta, Croatia and certain states in the United States.
The Prince of Wales sits with HH Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq bin Taimur Al Said, after arriving at Muscat International Airport in Oman, to begin an official tour with his wife the Duchess of Cornwall

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have arrived in the Middle East to begin an official tour on behalf of the British Government.

Charles and Camilla will undertake 50 engagements in seven days during their visits to the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Their visit, at the request of the British Government, is to promote the UK's partnership in the region in areas including wildlife conservation and supporting women in leadership.

Charles arrived at Muscat International Airport at 9.15pm local time. His wife arrived privately earlier.

He was greeted by a Guard of Honour and welcomed by Sayyid Haithem bin Tariq bin Taimur Al Said, the minister of heritage and culture.

Jon Wilks, the UK ambassador to Oman, was also present.

On Saturday, Charles and Camilla will begin their tour as guests of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said.

They will receive a ceremonial welcome featuring a performance of folkloric dancing - consisting of two dances from different regions of Oman - to mark the start of their visit to the country.

Following their welcome, Charles will tour Muscat's new National Museum which showcases the history of the nation from its first human settlement two million years ago through to the present day.

He will view demonstrations of traditional handicraft-making at the museum, which opened in July, before being guided through the galleries.

Camilla will visit Oman Cancer Association's Dar Al Hanan Hostel to meet children and parents before attending a reception with supporters and sponsors.

She will also attend a reception for Women in Business to recognise Omani women who have succeeded in business or the public sector and become role models to others in the country.

Charles is due to travel to the Ras Al Shajar nature reserve to view wild animals, birds and other creatures, taking in gazelles and wild desert beehives.
Maybe the concept has fallen out of fashion, or the connotation seems too dramatic, but you don't hear the word mercy too often. In part, that is why the art show going down at Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey is titled  The Jubilee Year of Mercy: Going Forth Sharing Life in Mercy.  In the show, a long list of artists working in different mediums explore the concept in ways not explicitly religious . The reception on Friday, Nov. 11 , is totally free to all visitors, and individuals seeking clemency can see the show until Dec. 12. (Maggie Grimason)

Works from New Mexican community celebrating and reflecting artists' interpretation of mercy in action. Runs through 12/13.

An exhibit of works from our New Mexican community celebrating and reflecting artists' interpretation of mercy in action!

As a meaningful way to continue nine centuries of Norbertine patronage of the arts and to bring people together, the Norbertine Community of Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey is to host an art show this coming November on the theme of mercy. We are extending the invitation to New Mexican artists and students of art to create/submit works which express inspired interpretations of mercy in action for our exhibit. All artists are invited, regardless of religious background. We ask that artists RSVP by October 4 and submit works by October 25. Those interested in participating may see the attached flyer and contact us for more information by emailing cchavez@norbertinecommunity.org or calling (505) 873-4399 ext. 237.

An exhibit of works from our New Mexican community celebrating and reflecting artists' interpretation of mercy in action!

As a meaningful way to continue nine centuries of Norbertine patronage of the arts and to bring people together, the Norbertine Community of Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey is to host an art show this coming November on the theme of mercy. We are extending the invitation to New Mexican artists and students of art to create/submit works which express inspired interpretations of mercy in action for our exhibit. All artists are invited, regardless of religious background. We ask that artists RSVP by October 4 and submit works by October 25. Those interested in participating may see the attached flyer and contact us for more information by emailing cchavez@norbertinecommunity.org or calling (505) 873-4399 ext. 237.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of foreign affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.

The MFA told ARMENPRESS German FM Steinmeier welcomed Nalbandian and attached importance to regular high-ranking mutual visits for the development of the Armenian-German friendly relations.

Minister Nalbandian noted every meeting gives new impetus to the established warm relations and contributes to identifying new directions of cooperation.

The sides thoroughly discussed steps aimed at strengthening of bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Nalbandian and Steinmeier exchanged views on the ongoing mutual partnership in the scope of developing cooperation.

Nalbandian appreciated the assistance of Germanys Government to the ongoing reforms in Armenia.

The sides discussed international and regional urgent matters, including the situation in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, and issues of the refugee flow and their integration.

The meeting also touched upon the Armenia-European Union cooperation.

Within the framework of the German chairmanship in OSCE, views were exchanged on the organizations agenda issues and preparatory works of the Hamburg ministerial council.

In the framework of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process, Edward Nalbandian called the attention of Mr. Steinmeier to the fact that Azerbaijan refuses to realize the agreements reached in the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits  aimed at creating corresponding conditions for resumption of talks of the settlement process, moreover, it continues to escalate the situation in the line of contact.

Minister Nalbandian appreciated the support of the German chairmanship of the OSCE to the efforts of the co-chairs of the Minsk Group, aimed at the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Both Nalbandian and Steinmeier agreed there is no alternative to the peaceful solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
A former police officer and ex Scout leader has been jailed for 22 years after being convicted of 40 historical sex offences against children spanning four decades.

Allan Richards, who was a serving officer with West Midlands Police until retiring five years ago, targeted children as young as eight in a spate of offending that lasted until 2013.

He was convicted following two separate trials at Birmingham Crown Court of voyeurism and sexual offences against 17 victims, dating back to the 1970s.

Sentencing Richards, Judge Francis Laird QC told him: "It's abundantly clear to me you have been a sexual predator all your adult life."

He added: "I observed you Mr Richards over the course of many weeks and you have shown no remorse for what you did or for the damage that you have done to some many individuals."

Richards showed no reaction as he was sentenced.

After his trial it emerged that he had been removed from a public-facing role in the police following a complaint made against him in 2004 but not fired.

He was kicked out of the Scouts the same year, after the Scout Association became aware of the allegation.

However, the 54-year-old, of Tile Cross, Birmingham, who also faced another accusation in 2000, was not charged and was able to work on as a police officer until his retirement.

Of Richards' victims, six were assaulted after 2000.

It was only in 2014, when another victim came forward, that a fresh investigation was launched, resulting in Richards being brought to justice.

When officers raided his house, they found on his computer a list of 35 males.

Police tried to contact all those on the list and, once they had, many made complaints about Richards.

Detectives also discovered coded diaries written in his own hand going back years and charting what the judge called Richards' "fascination for recording encounters with young boys".

The judge said he had "no doubt" that Richards had only become a Scout leader "to get access to young boys" and had also "grossly abused" his position as a police officer.

He added that it was clear over the many weeks of damning evidence presented at trial that Richards' behaviour had a "profoundly damaging effect" on his victims.

The judge told an unmoving Richards, who sat in the dock: "As a police officer and Scout leader you were entrusted with the welfare of children and vulnerable individuals.

"Persistently and over a great many years you simply exploited that trust and did so for your own sexual gratification."

Telling Richards he would always be a risk to children, he added: "I have no doubt, given the opportunity again, you would continue to commit serious sexual offences against boys."

The force referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in May 2015 over its handling of the earlier investigations, but its inquiry was paused until the outcome of the criminal case.

Following Richards' conviction earlier this month, Assistant Chief Constable Alex Murray said the force had apologised to Richards' victims.

He said: "I think if we were able to do a really thorough investigation then there's a chance we could have safeguarded victims in the future."

Miranda Moore QC, prosecuting, said Richards had preyed on easy targets - vulnerable boys "who had gone off the rails", and used his position and "deviousness" to avoid justice.

He met some of his young victims on parkland which he treated as "a hunting ground for sexual partners", while they were still in school uniform.

After meetings, he groomed and then abused his victims in various locations - a Birmingham police station, in houses, at swimming baths, parks and on Scout trips.

Throughout the time of much of his offending he was either a police cadet or a constable, and used that position to manipulate his victims.

Ms Moore said two victims "had met him when he was investigating serious sexual offence allegations against them as children".

He pursued his victims in "determined and concerted fashion" she added, and "tricked" at least one into having sex, making them think they were part of "entirely bogus investigations".

Richards carried on assaulting boys despite having received "a shot across the bow" during police investigations into allegations against him in 2000, and again four years later.

When the Scout Association kicked him out in 2004, he started going to the swimming baths, timing his visits to coincide with youngsters' swimming lessons.

Ms Moore said: "For years he watched and recorded the underwear and genitals of little boys there getting changed."

She added: "It's only through his own deviousness he avoided prosecution until now."

Of his victims, many of whom were in court to see Richards sent down, some described feeling "ashamed of what had happened", and said they had lost all trust in "anyone or anything to do with the police".

The judge ordered Richards pay 60,000 of the 190,000 costs of bringing two trials, within a year.

Earlier, prosecutors said he could also lose up to 60% of his lucrative police pension - the proportion representing the public's contribution to his retirement pot.

Ms Moore told the court that "there has been an application for the pension to be repaid or not paid out anymore - the maximum that can be reclaimed or not paid out is 60%".

After sentence, Detective Chief Inspector Tom Chisholm said the force welcomed Richards' prison term.

He said: "Hopefully today's sentence will demonstrate that actually we're here and ready to listen and we can get justice for victims."
The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Nelson Trust Women's Centre in Gloucester as part of her work on addiction and mental health

The Duchess of Cambridge has met inmates at a women's prison as part of her work on addiction and mental health.

Kate spoke to staff and a small number of prisoners about their personal stories during a private visit to HMP Eastwood Park, in Gloucestershire.

Kensington Palace tweeted: "The Duchess has visited HMP Eastwood Park to learn what support is available to women prisoners and their families with complex needs.

"Her Royal Highness also met with a small number of women prisoners at HMP Eastwood Park to hear their personal stories.

"The Duchess wants to see the support helping vulnerable families break the cycles at the heart of issues like addiction and mental health."

Later, Kate also visited a women's centre, which works closely with the prison.

The Nelson Trust Women's Centre in Gloucestershire was set up in 2010 and is designed to support women who have vulnerabilities, particularly those who have experienced abuse and trauma.

Kate, who wore a Mulberry coat and Dolce and Gabbana skirt, met members of staff and learnt about the various strands of work including prison in-reach and social inclusion support, the sex worker outreach project, and rural outreach to young girls at risk.

She was also introduced to women who have accessed support there and heard about their personal experiences.

The Duchess also met supporters of the Trust and unveiled a plaque marking her visit.

Before leaving, Kate was presented with a bouquet of flowers by four-year-old Tilly Penhale and her mother Natashia.

The Duchess told Tilly: "Thank you so much, I think George will like them."

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Penhale, who works for the Trust, said: "The Duchess was beatiful and she was really interested in hearing from us. She was so engaging and came across as caring."

The centre has won awards for the practical and emotional support it offers, with a focus on nine "pathways of need", which include finances, physical, emotional and mental health, drugs and alcohol, trauma and abuse, sexual exploitation and sex-working.

Along with a second site in Swindon, the Women's Centre supports more than 500 women annually across Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.

John Trolan, chief executive of the Trust, said: "The Duchess is a genuine inspiration to the staff here and it has made a huge difference for her to take the time to come here.

"The Duchess has been fantastic and we were pleased she came to listen. We are pleased as punch."

Pictures showed the Duchess with a plaster on her left hand. Kensington Palace did not comment.
Alec Shelbrooke argues interns should be paid and said there were unpaid positions available with MPs

MPs using unpaid interns are sending a message to UK businesses that "exploiting" young workers is acceptable, a Conservative has claimed.

Alec Shelbrooke said more than 20 MPs are advertising unpaid internships, a practice he warned has become the " acceptable face of unpaid labour in modern Britain" but should be banned.

The MP for Elmet and Rothwell told the Commons that "exploitation of a volunteer loophole" means some young people are not paid despite carrying out day-to-day tasks similar to part-time and full-time staff.

Mr Shelbrooke has developed draft legislation designed to extend the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to cover those who carry out workplace internships.

It would ensure they are paid the minimum wage applicable to their age, meaning - at current rates - 4 an hour if under 18, 5.55 an hour if aged 18 to 20, 6.95 an hour if aged 21 to 24 and 7.20 an hour if 25 and over.

MPs heard the Bill would not affect those who donate their spare time to volunteer for charities, but will define those who undertake work and are paid a wage.

Mr Shelbrooke's National Minimum Wage (Workplace Internships) Bill is facing Tory opposition in the Commons, with concerns expressed about how it is drafted, which could prevent it from progressing.

It is also unlikely to become law without Government support.

Moving the second reading of his Private Member's Bill, M r Shelbrooke said: " Unpaid internships are the acceptable face of unpaid labour in modern Britain today and should have no place in a meritocratic country that aims to work for the many and not the privileged few.

"This is a Bill to stop young people being exploited by those who gain from their unpaid endeavours.

"A Bill that sets about bringing an end to a new rise in the class society that means only those from a wealthy background can gain a privileged leg-up with an unpaid internship in their chosen profession.

"A Bill to level the playing field for many of my constituents in Elmet and Rothwell, who like many parents across this country cannot afford to pay for their child to work up to a year with no pay."

Mr Shelbrooke went on: "Let us look close to home as a starting point. A quick scan of the Work4MP website shows roughly 22 MPs advertising for unpaid interns outside of the politics and parliamentary study scheme.

"This breaks down to 13 Conservative MPs and nine Labour MPs, among other parties.

"Now, I make this point to show this is not a left-right argument, but a practice which takes place across this House.

"And it sends a message to businesses across the United Kingdom that exploiting the will of young workers is acceptable."

Tory Mark Pawsey (Rugby), intervening, asked: "What evidence do you have that employers and Members of Parliament as employers are seeking to flout the legislation?

"Isn't it the case that they're simply trying to give some valuable experience to young people at a sensible time in their lives?"

Mr Shelbrooke, in his reply, said: "A job is a job. And if work is adding towards an output then it should be paid for."

He added in his speech: "Many of the interns in this place, much like those working in private businesses, are undertaking day-to-day activities similar to those that many of us employ staff members to help us with in our offices.

"The fact of the matter is despite (Speaker John Bercow's) commendable efforts, working in Parliament has often been a matter of who you know, not what you know.

"If you're a young person eager to work here and with financial means to do so for free, then there are members who are taking on interns and refusing to pay at least the minimum wage for their labour."

SNP MP Philip Boswell (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) criticised parts of society for being been " run as a chumocracy", adding: "It's not right that we deny so many the opportunity to choose their own path in life.

"It's time we rectified this inequality."

He offered his full support to the Bill.

Tory David Nuttall (Bury North) spoke at length against Mr Shelbrooke's proposal, claiming he fears the Bill's "unintended consequence" could be to reduce opportunities available.

He said: "The purpose of this Bill, the idea that somehow by passing a piece of legislation we can ban unpaid internships at first sight, I accept, it might appear a superficially good idea.

"But I'm genuinely concerned, upon closer scrutiny, we will find that that is not the case."
Marks & Spencer said it would not comment on 'rumours or speculation'

Marks & Spencer is reportedly gearing up to shut dozens of its high street shops and phase out clothing sales at select stores as part of a major overhaul.

Chief executive Steve Rowe - who took over from Dutchman Marc Bolland in April - is expected to announce a major reorganisation of the company's UK portfolio next week, according to Sky News, which cited sources.

The number of stores set for closure are said to be "in the low dozens", and will take place over a number of years. Meanwhile, some of the retailer's clothing stores will be replaced by its more successful food offerings.

M&S did not provide a statement, adding that it would not comment on "rumours or speculation".

The store closures would be the latest major shake-up by the new chief executive, after he axed 525 jobs at the retailer's head office in a bid to cut costs in August.

The company said the staff cuts would result in significant savings, amounting to about 1% of its UK operating costs per year, though costs were still expected to rise by around 3.5% for 2016.

Mr Rowe later embarked on a major overhaul of staff pay in an effort to mitigate the impact of the National Living Wage.

M&S is forecast to report a difficult second quarter for its beleaguered clothing arm next week. Analysts are forecasting a 3.9% drop in like-for-like sales from the general merchandising division, after clothing sales plummeted 8.9% in the first three months of the year - the worst sales performance for more than a decade.

Mr Rowe is also expected to announce a shake-up of the retailer's international operations next week.

A spokesperson for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) said: "If today's rumours of large-scale reorganisation and store closures at Mark and Spencer are true then it is very disappointing that this has leaked out to the media rather than be briefed out to the staff first.

"Staff in all stores will today be extremely concerned as to what their future holds."
An illustration of the latest design for the Type 26 global combat ship (BAE Systems/PA Wire)

Work to build eight Type 26 frigates on the Clyde will begin in the summer of next year, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon confirmed the timeframe for the first steel to be cut for the "next generation" Royal Navy combat ships, and said the move would secure hundreds of shipbuilding jobs in the west of Scotland for almost 20 years.

The project had been hit by delays, with plans to see construction begin earlier this year put back, and fears raised over shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde.

Speaking as he paid a visit to the Govan area of Glasgow, Sir Michael said: "Backed by Britain's rising defence budget, the Type 26 programme will deliver a new generation of cutting-edge warships for our Royal Navy at best value for taxpayers.

"The UK Government's commitment today will secure hundreds of high-skilled shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for at least two decades and hundreds more in the supply chain across Britain."

Ministers' plans to build the eight anti-submarine Type 26 global combat ships were set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR15).

The project has been scaled back from earlier plans to build 13 new ships.

Steel-cutting will begin in the summer of 2017 subject to final contract negotiations, the MoD said.

Sir Michael has also announced a 100 million contract with MBDA to deliver the Sea Ceptor self-defence missile system for the Type 26 fleet.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: "This is a momentous commitment for Scotland that will strengthen and secure our shipbuilding industry on the Clyde for the future.

"The UK Government is backing jobs on the Clyde and in its shipyards - and this investment is only possible because of the broad shoulders of our strong UK defence budget."

The UK Government is said to have invested a total of 1.9 billion to date in the Type 26 programme, which will replace the Type 23 frigates.

The ships will be able to be deployed around the world, and be capable of undertaking roles from high-intensity warfare to humanitarian assistance.

Details of the Type 31 - lighter frigates - building programme is still to be laid out, Sir Michael told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme.

He is visiting BAE Systems' shipyard in Glasgow on Friday.

The company said manufacturing contracts are already in place for the procurement of major equipment for the first three Type 26 ships.

There are currently 27 companies in the supply chain, working with BAE to deliver the ships, the firm added.

Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: "Today's announcement secures a strong foundation for the next two decades of shipbuilding at our facilities in Scotland. It is a vote of confidence in our employees' capabilities in the design, construction, integration and commissioning of warships."

The Defence Secretary has also announced MoD plans to sign a contract shortly to start building two Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) by 2019, a move he said will protect jobs on the Clyde before the Type 26 programme gets fully under way. Negotiations are expected to be concluded before Christmas.

GMB Union regional secretary Gary Smith told BBC Radio Scotland the announcement was "fantastic news" but accused the UK Government of not fulfilling all its promises.

"We were told that there was going to be a frigate factory built on the Clyde which would allow us to deliver ships more efficiently, perhaps given us the ability to build ships that could have been exported, and Michael Fallon, in truth, was dragged kicking and screaming to this announcement today after we exposed the fact that his Government planned to move some of the work down south.

"But, cutting through it all, fantastic news for the workforce and the economy of greater Glasgow as well."

The Defence Secretary denied the shipbuilding announcement was pre-empting the potential closure of some MoD bases in the north of Scotland.

He said: "We are expanding our investment in defence in Scotland. We are increasing the number of jobs at Faslane, we are sending an additional Typhoon squadron to Lossiemouth and Scotland will have a third of all our fast jets and be the home of all our submarines.

"Now, all of the defence estate we have been looking at to make sure that it is as efficient and cost effective as possible, and that troops in particular are stationed where they are most likely to be able to put down roots and find employment for their partners."

Unite union regional co-ordinating officer Kenny Jordan said: "We're pleased that the Defence Secretary has finally committed to meeting the promises made to the workforce on the Clyde.

"Our members have been living with uncertainty for too long and this is a testament to the lobbying and campaigning that they have done over the last two years.

" This announcement secures the future of shipbuilding on the upper Clyde, supports skilled jobs in manufacturing and will provide opportunities for apprentices and trainees, making sure that we safeguard skills for the next generation."
Medics search for bodies under the rubble of a funeral hall that was targeted by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

A man takes photos of the damage caused by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

Medics carry the body of a victim of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

Bodies of victims of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike are loaded in an ambulance, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

Boys look through a hole made by a Saudi-led air strike on a bridge in Sanaa, Yemen (AP)

People inspect the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 45 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa. The officials say at least another 100 have been wounded in the Saturday strike. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrhman)

Saudi Arabias ambassador to the US has evaded answering a question about Saudi Arabias alleged use of cluster munitions in the Yemeni civil war by answering, This is like the question, Will you stop beating your wife?

Will you continue to use cluster weapons in Yemen? a reporter from The Intercept asked Prince Abdullah Al-Saud, the Kingdoms ambassador to the US, at the annual Arab-US Policymakers Conference in Washington DC last week.

This is like the question, Will you stop beating your wife? Mr Saud replied, laughing. When pressed on the same point, the prince said, You are political operators Im not a politician.

Mr Saud went on to say that the Kingdom would contine bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen no matter what it takes.

If anyone attacks human lives, and disturbs the border, in whatever region, were going to continue hitting them, no matter what, he said.

Anyone who wants to solve the Yemen problem should understand who is making all the problems.

A Saudi-led coalition of Middle Eastern states began bombing Shiite Houti rebels in Yemen at the request of the exiled internationally recognised goverment in March 2015.

The intervention has been heavily criticised by humanitarian groups, who allege that the Kingdom has dropped illegal cluster munitions - banned under international law because of the indiscriminate damage they cause - and also that the Saudi military capabilities are not sophisticated enough to avoid targeting civilian infrastrucutre, causing unneccessary loss of life.

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More than 10,000 people have died in Yemens conflict to date, the majority because of bombing on the capital Sanaa and other rebel-held cities, the UN says.

Rebel counter attacks across the border have killed nearly 500 Saudi citizens, the Saudi envoy to the UN Abdallah al-Moallim said last month.

Saudi Arabia has opened an investigations task force into human rights violations caused by coalition bombing, but Human Rights Watch and several other international bodies have pressed for an independent inquiry.

Rights groups have also called on Western nations to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, which they say are destined for use in Yemens 19-month-old civil war.

Mr Saud was the keynote speaker at the 25th annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, which is funded by - among others - oil companies Chevron, ExxonMobile, and ConocoPhillips, and weapons manufacturers Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing.

Former Director of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David Petraeus, also spoke at the summit, attended by business figures and US military officials.
Saudi Arabia is set to behead a disabled man for taking part in anti-government protests.

A specialised criminal court in Riyadh, the Arab kingdom's capital, sentenced Munir al-Adam, to death for attacks on police and other offences they said took place during protests in the Shia-dominated east in late 2011.

The 23-year-old is partially blind and was already partially deaf at the time of arrest; he alleges he is now completely deaf in one ear as a result of being severely beaten by police.

His family issued a statement rejecting the verdict and claiming that Mr Adam was tortured into confessing, The Times reported.

The steel cable worker said he had only signed a document admitting the offences after being repeatedly beaten. He said he had been accused of sending texts when he was too poor to own a mobile phone.

Forty-seven protesters and alleged supporters of al-Qaeda were executed in a single day in January. In July, the number of beheadings in Saudi Arabia reached 108 this year, putting the country, which has a population of nearly 29 million people, on track to exceed its 2015 execution total.

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Saudi Arabia is one of the worlds most prolific executioners. Research last year by human rights organisation Reprieve found that, of those identified as facing execution in Saudi Arabia, some 72 per cent were sentenced to death for non-violent alleged crimes, while torture and forced confessions were common.

Munir Adams appalling case illustrates how the Saudi authorities are all too happy to subject the most vulnerable people to the swordsmans blade, said Maya Foa, of Reprieve. Saudi Arabias close allies, including the UK, must urge the kingdom to release Munir, along with juveniles and others who were sentenced to death for protesting.

The traditionally close relationship between Saudi Arabia and Britain has become strained in the past year as people in the West have protested against the use of the death penalty, including against minors. Protests also erupted across the Middle East in January.

Sara Hashah, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa spokesperson, said Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran were responsible for 90 per cent of all recorded executions globally and were out of step with the rest of the world.

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In Saudi Arabia, where people are routinely sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials, we have seen a dramatic surge in the number of executions in the past two years which has shown no sign of abating in 2016, she told The Independent in July.

This clearly demonstrates that Saudi Arabias authorities are increasingly out of step with a global trend of states moving away from the death penalty.

Saudi Arabias authorities must end their reliance on this cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment immediately.

Mr Adam was reportedly detained in February 2012 for taking part in protests in his home town of Qatif the previous year, when he was 18 years old.

The Qatif region of Saudi Arabia is majority Shia. There are regular protests in the area against the Saudi government.

Mr Adam's family said he was a kind, simple young man who loves fishing. They said he was involved in an accident when he was six in which his skull was fractured, leaving his sight and hearing impaired. He was told by his doctor that trauma could worsen the injuries, but police allegedly ignored medical evidence and beat him anyway.

He is currently appealing his sentence.

Reprieve said: Munirs bogus confession was the sole piece of evidence presented against him at his trial. He has never been allowed to speak to a lawyer.

The organisation added that concerns for Mr Adam's fate come shortly after the re-election of Saudi Arabia to the UN Human Rights Council.
A car bombing has killed nine people in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south east, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.

Prime minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians were among those killed in the attack in Diyarbakir, near a building used by riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast.

Mr Yildirim said one of the assailants was "caught dead" but did not provide details.

The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out.

Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public "fear, panic or chaos" and images showing the explosion and its aftermath.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organisation by Turkey and its allies. A fragile ceasefire collapsed last year and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Hours before the bombing, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairmen, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

A 12th legislator was detained later during the day.

Anadolu said Mr Demirtas and Ms Yuksekdag were put under formal arrest by court order and will be held in custody pending trial. Three others- Nursel Aydogan, Leyla Birlik and Idris Baluken- were formally arrested earlier.

Three of the 12 detainees - Sirri Sureyya Onder, Imam Tascier and Ziya Pir - were released by the court on condition they regularly report to authorities.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with Mr Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant."

Anadolu said Ms Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern over the pro-Kurdish politicians' detentions on Twitter. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

Main opposition Republican People's Party chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions: "If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise you'll butcher democracy in Turkey."

Mr Yildirim responded: "If those who are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account."

Turkish police later clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in four cities in protest at the detentions.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya. Anadolu said 10 people were detained in Ankara, five in Antalya and seven in Istanbul.

Anadolu said the legislators were detained for not appearing in court to testify in terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish legislators on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting them from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP legislators following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organisation".

Mr Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu.

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership of the PKK.

In September, the government ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

AP
Two former aides to the governor of New Jersey have been convicted of creating an epic traffic jam on the US's busiest bridge for what prosecutors described as political revenge.

The convictions cap a trial that cast doubt on governor Chris Christie's claims that he knew nothing about the scheme on the George Washington Bridge.

Bridget Kelly, Mr Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them.

Kelly cried as the verdict was read, while Baroni showed no emotion. Both defendants announced plans to appeal.

Mr Christie said the verdicts affirmed his decision to sack Baroni and Kelly and that the jury held them responsible "for their own conduct".

He repeated his claims that he had no knowledge of the plot and said he would "set the record straight" soon about "the lies told by the media and in the courtroom".

"I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorising them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue."

Prosecutors said Kelly and Baroni plotted with Christie ally David Wildstein to close lanes at the foot of the bridge - a span that connects Fort Lee, New Jersey, to Washington Heights, New York City - and create gridlock in September 2013 to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Mr Christie for re-election.

Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all told the trial that Mr Christie was informed about the lane closures either before or while they were going on.

Baroni's lawyer Michael Baldassare called the case a disgrace and said the US attorney's office should be "ashamed" of how it decided who to charge.

"They should have had belief in their own case to charge powerful people and they did not," Mr Baldassare said.

The federal jury took five days to reach a verdict in the scandal that helped sink Mr Christie's Republican campaign for president. The verdict on charges including conspiracy, misapplying the property of the Port Authority, wire fraud and deprivation of civil rights came before the judge ruled on a request by defence lawyers to declare a mistrial.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 21, and t he most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison.

Wildstein, a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and was the prosecution's star witness. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but is expected to be sentenced to much less.

Kelly and Baroni said they believed the lane closures were part of a legitimate traffic study because that was what Wildstein told them.

The defence portrayed Wildstein as a liar and a trickster - "the Bernie Madoff of New Jersey politics" - and argued that Christie and his inner circle had made 44-year-old Kelly the scapegoat.

"They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards," Kelly lawyer Michael Critchley said in a thundering closing argument.

One of the most damning pieces of evidence was an email in which Kelly wrote: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

As the four days of gridlock unfolded and Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich complained about children being unable to get to school, she texted: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

Kelly told the jury she was referring to what she thought was a traffic study and expressing satisfaction that it was going well. Her lawyer said she deleted the messages because she was afraid she was about to be made the scapegoat.

Wildstein said Mr Christie was told about the traffic jam as it was happening and that he laughed and sarcastically joked that nothing political was going on when he learned of Mr Sokolich's distress over not getting his calls returned.

But it was not clear from Wildstein's evidence whether Mr Christie knew the bumper-to-bumper mess was manufactured for political reasons, and Kelly testified that she told him the closures were a traffic study when she informed him of the plans about a month ahead of time.

Siding with prosecutors, District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors they did not have to find that Kelly and Baroni, also 44, knowingly intended to punish Mr Sokolich to convict them of conspiracy.

The gridlock began on the first day of school and held up commuters, school buses and emergency vehicles. Mr Sokolich's pleas went unanswered for four days on orders from Wildstein, the defendants said.

At the time, Mr Christie was considered a leading Republican presidential contender and was trying to run up a big landslide re-election victory to demonstrate his crossover appeal as a White House candidate.

He ultimately dropped out of the presidential race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary and said recently that the scandal probably influenced Donald Trump's decision not to pick him as his running mate.

He is a now a top Trump adviser and has campaigned for him.

While the trial did not definitively pin the scheme on Mr Christie, it reinforced his reputation among critics as a bully, with accounts of profane tirades, threats of bodily harm and tough-guy posturing among the governor and his inner circle that seemed straight out of The Sopranos.

AP
The High Court judges in London have certainly created a storm by ruling that Theresa May must consult Parliament before triggering Article 50 and setting the UK on its inevitable exit from the European Union

The High Court judges in London have certainly created a storm by ruling that Theresa May must consult Parliament before triggering Article 50 and setting the UK on its inevitable exit from the European Union. In one respect this was a good ruling, emphasising the sovereignty of Parliament, the very thing those who campaigned for Brexit wanted.

While the Government is going to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court next month - at which Northern Ireland and Scotland in particular could be allowed to take part in the proceedings - new uncertainties have been introduced into a process that is already opaque.

If the ruling stands, it is inconceivable that MPs would block Article 50 being triggered, even though a majority wanted to remain in Europe.

They exist only through the will of the people and their job is to express the will of the people. And the people in the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU.

But what MPs can do is make life as difficult as possible for Mrs May. Ideally, she would like the process to be conducted by her chosen three 'wise men', and Parliament presented with a completed negotiated package. There is no chance of that now.

So where does this leave Northern Ireland? While the DUP has been extremely loyal to the Government, conscious that its eight MPs could be crucial to an administration with a slim majority at Westminster, the party may feel emboldened to raise more stridently the widely held concerns of people in the province over Brexit.

EU peace money will dry up, as will the 300m in subsidies to our vital agricultural industry - points made by this newspaper, which was in favour of remaining within the EU, chiefly for financial reasons, but which accepts the reality of Brexit.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein and probably the SDLP will look to Dublin to put the pressure on Westminster to give greater consideration to Northern Ireland's unique position with the EU. We know that England, which was the driving force behind the Brexit vote, is mostly concerned about immigration and Brussels bureaucracy, but our worries are more pragmatic - maintaining an open border and tariff-free trading with the Republic.

It is now more crucial than ever that the DUP and Sinn Fein draw up a cohesive plan of action to press our concerns.

The judges may have done Northern Ireland a favour.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Turkish police forces have violently dispersed demonstrators in Ankara, who gathered to protest against the arrests of opposition MPs, Hurriyet reports.

Police forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters. The protesters dispersed, clashing with police troops.

Turkey detained two co-leaders and nine other lawmakers of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday.

The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.

Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters.
As a democrat and as someone who believes in the sovereignty of Parliament, I welcome the High Court ruling.

It is the job of a parliament to hold to account and scrutinise government policies and the notion that something so seismic and with such wide-ranging consequences could be rushed through on a nod and a wink was always ludicrous.

This Conservative Government led the country into a referendum without having the forethought to put in place any proper planning or contingency measures for its aftermath. Combine that with the fact that just over half the electorate opted to leave the EU based on scaremongering about immigration and the false promises made about NHS spending - both quickly withdrawn after the result by leading Leave campaigners - proves there is a need for parliament to look over the small print of any exit plan.

Having made a dog's dinner of the referendum, the Conservatives with undue haste tried to circumvent Parliament's right to discover what the meaningless phrase 'Brexit means Brexit' actually means.

The High Court has now told the Government it has no right to hide behind an archaic procedure intended to prevent parliament carrying out its legitimate right of scrutiny. That they tried to move Article 50 by using the Royal Prerogative is something you would expect from Charles and not a modern political party.

Why should this government which doesn't have a single parliamentary seat in Northern Ireland get away with silencing the voices of our parliamentarians who want to represent the interests of the majority of the voters here? Why should it be allowed to trigger Article 50 without spelling out the full consequences of such act by debating it in parliament with full weight being given to the democratic will as expressed by Scotland and Northern Ireland?

The reality is, and it's clear from the three ministers leading on Brexit, that they actually have no idea what the real fallout will be when exiting button is finally pressed. They have neither a route map or a compass for the journey they are taking us on.

Contrary to what has been said by some there are serious consequences for our economy and the Good Friday Agreement and these need to be fully fleshed out before triggering an irrevocable procedure such as Article 50. Government can only operate on the basis of trust, transparency and proper accountability and this Government seemed to expect that everyone should follow them lemming-like over the cliff.

All democrats should welcome the assertion of Parliament's sovereignty - not least those Brexiters who argued strenuously that in leaving the EU they would return power to the same UK parliament.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan departed for Tavush province on a working visit today, to take part in the official opening ceremony of the newly constructed Bagratashen border checkpoint and review the preparatory works of the Armenian-Georgian Friendship Bridge construction.

Georgias Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili was also present at the ceremony, along with his delegation.

Minister of Transportation, Communication and IT Vahan Martirosyan, Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan, Deputy Foreign Ministers Shavarsh Kocharyan and Ashot Hovakimyan, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Vardan Harutyunyan, Head of the Cooperation Section of the EU delegation to Armenia Hoa-Binh Adjemian, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative Bradley Busetto, Head of the regional representation of the European Investment Bank Sebastien Husson De Sampigny, border administrating state agencies and representatives of international organizations and the diplomatic corps attended the event.

The modernization process of Armenias border checkpoints was launched back in 2010 in accordance to the Presidents instruction on establishing a strategy on border administration and security, followed by the approval of 2011-2015 program on initiating the process. Under the program, modernization process was planned in the following three priority checkpoints  Bagratashen, Bavra and Gogavan.

The Government and the UNDP signed the Modernization of Armenian borders checkpoints Bagratashen, Bavra and Gogavan project in 2012.

The deadline for modernization works was defined by two stages  planning to commission the Bagratashen and Gogavan checkpoints in the first stage, and Bavra in the second.

Works are still proceeding in the Bavra checkpoint. First Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Samvel Avetikyan briefed the President via live video call from Gogavan, stating that the Gogavan checkpoint is already commissioned and in use. All border services, customs and border control functions are carried out according to procedures.

President Sargsyan highlighted the proper use of the checkpoints after the technical launch, the implementation of quality modern standard service. The President stressed that the opinion about the country starts from border checkpoints.

The overall budget of the program is 52.13 million Euros. The goal of the program is to contribute to the free movement of people and goods through the borders, at the same time maintaining border security, improve both bilateral and regional cooperation, modernize Bagratashen, Bavra and Gogavan checkpoints, in accordance to demands defined by the Armenian legislation, international standards and principles.

It is planned that the modernization of state border checkpoints will also contribute to the living standards of the local population, taking into account that jobs were created in the process.

After the official opening ceremony of the newly built Bagratashen border checkpoint, President Sargsyan and Georgias PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited the designated area for construction of the Armenian-Georgian Friendship Bridge, reviewed the preparatory works of construction. Minister of Transportation, Communication and IT of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan and Georgias Deputy Minister of Economy and Stable Development Gennady Arveladze briefed on the works.

The bridge, located over the Debed river in the territory of the Sadakhlo-Bagratashen checkpoint of the Armenian-Georgian border, was built back in 1960s and cannot be used in its current condition. Therefore, a decision was made to construct a modern bridge corresponding to international standards. An agreement was signed between the governments of Armenia and Georgia, which was initiated on 17.06.2015.

The construction of the bridge is carried out within the framework of the modernization project of Armenias northern corridor, with the 10.3 million Euro loan agreement signed between Armenia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A joint Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission is coordinating the works.

The construction of the bridge will start in 2017, when the international tenders for supervision consultants and contractors will be summarized. The tenders were announced with joint efforts of Armenia and Georgia, as well as through the EBRDs e-procurement platform, which is an unprecedented process in the cooperation of the two countries.

It is planned that the bridge will facilitate the service quality of cargo and passenger transportation of the two countries, will provide safe and convenient movement through the checkpoint.

It will also facilitate trade between Georgia, Russia and European countries.
Bangladeshi activists protest in Dhaka against the recent attacks on Hindu temples and houses in the eastern district of Brahmanbaria, Nov. 4, 2016.

More Hindu-owned properties were targeted by violence in eastern Bangladesh on Friday as unidentified culprits set at least five homes on fire that belonged to members of the religious minority, police said.

No one was reported hurt in the early morning acts of arson in Nasirnagar, a sub-district of Brahmanbaria district, but they occurred five days after Muslim mobs ransacked at least 24 Hindu temples and some 300 Hindu homes and properties in Nasirnagar and Madhabpur, a sub-district in neighboring Habiganj district.

Sundays mass vandalism was allegedly carried out by scores of Muslims who were enraged by an image posted on Facebook that was seen as defaming Islam. The picture showed the Hindu God Lord Shiva near the Kaaba  the building that lies at the heart of the al-Masjid al-Haram, the mosque in Islams holy city of Mecca.

We posted police personnel in the Hindu-majority villages and we are certain that no outsider could enter; so this is a mystery how the arson attack took place amid police guard. We have yet to find out who carried out the arson attack, Iqbal Hossain, an additional superintendent of police in Brahmanbaria district, told BenarNews on Friday.

The paramilitary BGB [Border Guard Bangladesh] has been deployed to stop escalation of the attack. Besides, one hundred special police forces have been deployed, he said.

Police have arrested 11 and identified 40 more perpetrators linked to Sundays attack, Hossain said Friday.

At least 11 people have been arrested and 40 other suspects have been identified in connection with the weekend violence, Hossain said. A Hindu fisherman was also taken into custody prior to Sunday for allegedly posting the offensive image on Facebook. He was charged with violating the countrys Information and Technology Act, which prohibits online defamation of any religion.

On Thursday, police were granted a five-day remand to question the fisherman, Rasraj Basu Das. He has claimed he did not post the picture.

Dhaka protest

Meanwhile in Bangladeshs capital, protesters angered by the anti-Hindu attacks stopped traffic as they demonstrated at Dhakas busy Shahbag intersection on Friday.

Bangladesh is predominantly Sunni Muslim, but relations between the religious majority and Hindus, who form 9.5 percent of a population of 169 million, have largely been peaceful. But, since last year, Hindus have been targeted in several incidents of violence carried out by Muslim zealots.

On Friday a group of Hindu students from Dhaka University blocked the intersection for half an hour.

According to protester Shubol Saha, a member of parliament visited the Nasirnagar area on Thursday and claimed that the situation there was fine.

But the next day, fresh attacks took place. We demand his resignation, Saha said.

In a separate protest, members of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad (BHBCOP)  and inter-religious association  the Bangladesh Christian Association and other groups formed human chains in front of the National Press Club in protest of the attacks on Friday.

The administration and the police have failed to protect Hindus. We want the immediate arrest of the perpetrators and their punishment. So we have demanded a judicial inquiry into the attacks, Rana Dasgupta, the BHBCOP general secretary, told BenarNews.

Md Abdul Kader, the police officer-in-charge in Nasirnagar, was withdrawn from the investigation on Wednesday, Bangladesh media reported. Hindus had accused him of not adequately preparing to foil Sunday attacks.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission, an independent body, sent a team to Nasirnagar on Wednesday to investigate those incidents.

We have seen some lapses from the police and local administration to stop the attack on the Hindus. They (the police and the administration) cannot shrug off their responsibilities, Kazi Reazul Hoque, chairman of the commission, told BenarNews.

On Thursday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal supported police, telling reporters that officers did not lapse in their response to the Nasirnagar attack.
The government of Indias Maharashtra state on Friday instituted a special police team to investigate allegations that staff members of a tribal school had sexually assaulted three female students repeatedly.

The special investigative team, which will be headed by a female Indian Police Service officer, will not only look into the latest complaints of sexual assault in Buldhana, about 495 km (308 miles) from Mumbai, but will also scrutinize the workings and conditions of other government-aided tribal schools, state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

This is not the first time that complaints of sexual abuse have emerged from a government-aided school for tribal children in Maharasthra. In March 2013, a cook at a school in the states Yavatamal district was arrested and later convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

Describing the latest alleged cases of abuse as very serious, Fadnavis said: My government has taken cognizance of the incident. All the [11] accused are in custody and further investigations are on to ascertain the magnitude of the crime.

The incident came to light on Thursday after parents of one of the victims, a 13-year-old student at the residential Ninadhi Ashram School, realized that the girl was pregnant and filed a complaint with police.

By Friday, two more girls came forward to allege that the schools janitor, Ittusingh Pawar, and cook, Deepak Kokre, sexually assaulted them with with an alarming and chilling regularity inside the school premises, and threatened to hurt them if they spoke of the assaults to anyone, police sub-inspector S.S. Khandekar told BenarNews.

10-day police remand

Police have charged Pawar and Kokre with rape while nine others, including the schools chairman and teachers, have been charged with negligence and willfully suppressing criminal evidence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, Khandekar said.

All the 11 accused were produced before the district magistrate today (Friday) and were sent to police remand for 10 days, he said.

Besides Pawar and Kokre, the other nine accused have been identified as warden Narayan Ambhore, assistant warden Swapnil Lakhe, head master Digambar Kharat, chairman Gajanan Kokre, trust members Sanjay Kokre, Purushottam Kokre and teachers Lalita Vajire, Mantha Kokre and Shewanta Raut.

Reacting to reports that many more students at the school may have been subjected to sexual abuse, Khandekar said: At this juncture it would be incorrect to speculate on the veracity of the allegations or rumors. Investigations are being carried out to verify how many girl students have been subjected to sexual abuse.

Abdul Gaffar, a member of Jametulmominat, an NGO providing education to underprivileged and minority children in the state, said each potential staffer must undergo thorough background checks before being appointed at these schools.

Most of these schools basically impart primary education and thus the age of the children in these residential schools in usually between 5 and 13 years. It is very important for the government to appoint counselors and also check the history of each staffer before he or she is appointed, Gaffar told BenarNews.
Police fire tear gas at protesters who charged a barricade outside the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Nov. 4, 2016.

Updated at 7:10 p.m. ET on 2016-11-04

A peaceful march by some 100,000 people protesting alleged blasphemy by Jakartas governor disintegrated into chaos Friday as angry crowds attacked police barricades around the Presidential Palace, set fires and looted stores.

Security personnel fired teargas and used water cannons to hold back surging protesters who hurled objects at officers and set fire to two police trucks, eyewitnesses said.

Separately, in north Jakarta, a mob ransacked a minimarket and a flower shop, and groups of people tried to enter the housing complex where Jakarta Gov. Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama lives.

An elderly man died but his cause of death was not yet known, AFP quoted Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono as saying. Twelve people including eight police were injured, he said.

The violence erupted in the evening, after Islamic groups marched in central Jakarta calling for Ahok to be prosecuted for an allegedly blasphemous remark made in September. Ahok, a Christian member of Indonesias ethnic Chinese minority, is running for re-election in February.

Indonesian authorities were bracing for the possibility of the protest turning violent, and had deployed some 20,000 security personnel to safeguard the streets of central Jakarta.

Just after midnight, speaking from the Presidential Palace, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said he regretted that the demonstration had ended in violence.

As a democracy, we cherish the process of expressing aspirations through a demonstration that was carried out today in a peaceful and orderly way, he said, thanking Islamic leaders and security personnel who had helped keep the situation under control.

But we deplore the events after evening prayers when it was time to disband and rioting broke out. And here we see infiltration by political actors exploiting the situation, he said. He did not elaborate on who those actors might be.

Protesters burn tires near the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Nov. 4, 2016. [Yasin Purnomo/BenarNews]

Police to question Ahok

Friday morning, tens of thousands of Muslims from across the country gathered outside the National Mosque in Jakarta to kick off a protest demanding the prosecution of Ahok.

The white-clad demonstrators marched peacefully to the Presidential Palace and listened to speeches urging Jokowi not to intervene in the blasphemy investigation.

The number of demonstrators was about 100,000 people, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said.

Similar demonstrations were staged in other Indonesian cities, including Solo and Malang in Java; Palu, Sulawesi; Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan; and Banda Aceh, Medan and Padang in Sumatra.

Thousands of people protesting an allegedly blasphemous remark by the Jakarta governor march peacefully in central Jakarta, Nov. 4, 2016. [Tia Asmara/BenarNews]

Jokowi said he had sent Vice President Jusuf Kalla, security minister Wiranto, national police chief Tito Karnavian and military chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo to meet a delegation of protesters on Friday afternoon.

In that meeting it was communicated that legal proceedings against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama will be carried out rigorously, quickly and transparently, he said, flanked by senior security officials.

Ahok is popular among many Jakartans but has long been disliked by conservative Muslim groups in Indonesia. Tensions have soared since an excerpt of remarks he made in September went viral on social media.

Ahok is accused of blasphemy for telling attendees at an event that people might fool them into not voting for him using the Qurans Surah Al-Maida Verse 51, which some interpret as prohibiting Muslims from having non-Muslim leaders.

The governor apologized for causing a flap and reported to police on Oct. 24 of his own accord to discuss the remarks. Muslim leaders said that while they accepted his apology, his case should still be prosecuted.

Muslims in Jakarta and other cities held rallies on Oct. 14 demanding legal action against Ahok and decrying what they saw as foot-dragging by police and silence from Jokowi on the matter.

Ahok was Jokowis deputy when the president was the governor of Jakarta from 2012 to 2014. Ahok assumed the governorship when Jokowi was sworn in as president two years ago.

On Thursday, as thousands of soldiers and police officers deployed around Jakarta to guard against violence around the rally, police announced that Ahok would be summoned for questioning Monday as a witness in the case.

Three days of rioting in Jakarta in May 1998 helped bring about the resignation of long-time dictator Suharto later that month. But ethnic Chinese homes and shops were targeted in those riots. Hundreds of people died and dozens of women were raped.

Nosa Normanda and Zahara Tiba contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The construction works of the bridge linking Armenia and Georgia will kick off in 2017. Currently the 7 applications for the construction bid are being examined.

Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan informed that the applications are mainly from foreign companies.

The construction works are planned to be completed within two years. Tender is already invited and soon the results will be announced. The new bridge will be larger and broader, Armenpress reports the Minister saying. He added that the bridge will foster a significant rise in passenger transportation and freight.

The existing bridge on the state border of Armenia and Georgia located in Sadakhlo-Bagratashen checkpoint on the river Debed was constructed in 1960s, but it is in a bad state and cannot serve its purpose.

The construction of the new bridge will be carried out in the sidelines of the modernization project of Armenias northern corridor based on the 10.3 million Euro loan agreement between the Republic of Armenia and EBRD and the co-funding of the governments of Armenia and Georgia. Armenian-Georgian inter-governmental committee is responsible for the coordination of the construction works.

The contract for the construction is expected to be signed during the first quarter of 2017.
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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan who visited Bagratashen on November 4 to attend the official opening ceremony of the newly constructed border checkpoint and get acquainted with the preparatory works of the construction of Armenia-Georgia Friendship Bridge met with the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili who visited Armenia for the same purpose, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office.

Greeting Georgian PM Kvirikashvili, President Sargsyan highlighted the regular and high-level meetings, which, to his conviction, strengthen Armenian-Georgian relations and give an opportunity to discuss issues of mutual interest in a constructive and warm atmosphere.

At the beginning of the meeting the Armenian President congratulated Giorgi Kvirikashvili and all the citizens of Georgia on the successful parliamentary elections and the convincing victory of Georgian Dream party. President Sargsyan expressed conviction that the new parliament and government of Georgia will continue the reform policy for the sake of Georgias further development and prosperity, as well as further reinforcement of Armenian-Georgian friendly relations.

The interlocutors noted with satisfaction that the two neighboring countries consistently develop political partnership and activate inter-state interactions creating firm grounds for raising the bilateral relations to a new level.

The Armenian President and the Georgian PM discussed the opportunities of expanding trade and economic cooperation, including the spheres of transport communications, energy, tourism, agriculture and a number of other domains.

The Georgian PM congratulated the Armenian President on the occasion of the opening of the nbewly constructed border checkpoint. Noting that a significant work has been done, PM Kvirikashvili highlighted the activities carried out for the modernization of infrastructures, which, to his conviction, will foster Armenias economic development, as well as deepening of Armenian-Georgian trade and economic cooperation.

Serzh Sargsyan and Giorgi Kvirikashvili also exchanged ideas over regional and international issues.
Translations on this website are prepared by a third-party provider. Some portions may be incorrect. Some itemsincluding downloadable files or imagescannot be translated at all. No liability is assumed by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for any errors or omissions. Any user who relies on translated content does so at his/her own risk.
BILD series on the anniversary of Reyhaneh Jabbari's (26) death |

Von: Antje Schippmann

She had stabbed her rapist in self-defense and was executed for this, despite international protests. On the occasion of the anniversary of her death, BILD tells the story of the young woman for whom the world cried.

On the occasion of the anniversary of her death, BILD tells the story of the young woman for whom the world cried.

In the third part of the series, Reyhanehs mother describes how she helps other parents whose sons and daughters are facing execution  and how the regime is harassing and threatening her for it.

***

The sympathy for Reyhanehs case does not stop after the burial. It is still  two years after the execution  a symbol for the injustice of the Iranian judiciary.

Her mother, Sholeh Pakravan (52), is by now not only known as the mother of Reyhaneh Jabbari, but also as a brave voice speaking out against the death penalty. Fearlessly, she has declared war on the barbaric executions that take place in Iran.

More than anybody else, she dares to vocally criticize the regime. This is why she has attracted the attention of the secret service.

Arrested on the anniversary of death

Two years after her daughters death, she hates the death penalty more than ever. She can no longer bear to see the tears of fathers and mothers for their executed children, Sholeh says.

She can no longer bear the sight of somebody hanging in the air, struggling for his or her life, she writes in a statement.

Auch interessant

On Thursday, she organized a commemoration for her daughters second anniversary of death. Approximately 120 participants came to Reyhanehs grave. Security staff prevented 180 more from attending.

20 police officers and 50 secret service employees were at the cemetery, interrupting the commemoration, threatening the participants, and arresting about a dozen people, including Sholeh. Their justification for the arrest was that her speeches attracted too much attention.

She was grabbed roughly and brought to the police station. After half an hour, she was allowed to leave again.

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Think of your other daughters 

Because of her commitment and prominence, Sholeh and her family have been observed and repeatedly intimidated for months. One time, a henchman of the regime even stood in front of the theatre and wanted to prevent me from participating in the rehearsals for a performance, the formally trained theatre actress recounts.

She and her husband were approached by secret service employees at work, in front of their house, and even at Reyhanehs grave. The perfidious threat: she should think of her other two daughters  the two that are still alive.

Reyhanehs grave is desecrated again and again. This is also a message from the regime, the family assumes.

In the summer, the worst desecration took place. Everything was torn out at the roots and thrown around, as if to send us a warning, reports Sholeh.

However, they do not want to leave the country. After all, their beloved daughter is buried there. The father visits the grave every day.

What were her last thoughts?

She often thinks of Reyhanehs childhood, and many memories come back to her, the mother says.

Then I always wonder what her memories might have been. It does not leave me. I am often awake at night for hours and think about this. What did she think of at her last breath? Did she have certain moments of her life in her mind as the hangman put the noose around her neck? What were the images in her head before she died?

It is like an inner torch in the darkness that she uses to look for images, night after night. I ask myself what she may have felt when the noose was put around her neck, Sholeh says. Every mother knows this. When the child, for instance, falls down while playing and injures its knee, then you suffer with the child. It hurts you when your child is hurt.

Then I think of the perpetrators, of the people who are responsible for my daughters pain and death. All I then feel is endless hatred. This is no longer a private issue. I challenge this injustice.

Return to life

During the first months after Reyhanehs death, her mother was in shock, she recounts. Initially, I could not process what had happened. I was very upset and just wanted to die.

After a few weeks, she is visited by a 92-year-old woman who lost six family members due to executions: her four sons, a daughter, and the son-in-law. Then I thought: maybe I will become 92 years old. Then I would have more than 40 years left. I do not want to spend them lying in bed.

So she begins to perceive her surroundings again. She meets families whose children are also scheduled for execution. On a single day in 2015, 40 young people were scheduled to be executed due to drug offenses. People had gathered in front of the prison to protest against it  so many families. But it was no good: although only 15 convicts were executed that day, the other 25 were executed on a later day.

Through this protest, Sholeh makes contact with other people. Ever since, she regularly meets with families who have to endure the same thing she did. The families of people convicted for drug offenses, in particular, often belong to the poorest of the poor.

The hate remains

The regime does not only murder people sentenced to death, Sholeh says, but also their families, because the pain and anger will never leave you again.Regardless of whether the execution took place a few months or 30 years ago: the survivors hatred for the culprits is the same. And every time I hear about executions, the hatred is back.

At their meetings, she mourns and cries with the families, regardless of how long ago the execution was. Then she lets people talk. What are your memories? Do you have any photos? How were the visits in prison?

And she gives important advice: If the execution has not happened yet, I recommend recording all phone calls from the prison. Then you have a recording of a voice, so that at least that remains.

Visiting the families gives her new strength, Sholeh says. But at home, she often feels exhausted and empty. Then I mourn not only for the loss of my daughter, but also for all the others. I witness some horrible fates.

Such as that of a woman whose husband was sentenced to death. The judge said that he will let him live if she sleeps with him, but she refused. Now her son is blaming her for not having agreed. If she had, the father would still be alive. Or a young woman who was not even allowed to visit her husband before the execution. The judge made the same offer to her, and she did not accept.

In spring, the case of a young woman made headlines in Iran. Sholeh also publicly commented on it. The husband of a young woman had psychological problems and took his own life. Despite the high suicide rate in Iran  even according to the regime, eleven people killed themselves every day in 2013  suicide is a shameful issue, since it is a religious taboo in Islam. The mans family therefore claimed that the woman had killed him. Her father-in-law is a judge and influenced the trial, Sholeh recounts.

It was just like with Reyhaneh. They tortured the woman in order to get a confession, and they removed all proof and indicators of her innocence.

Before the execution, Sholeh advised the family to make the case public, but they refused. The regime had talked the mother into believing that her daughter would only be pardoned if the case did not become public.

We tried to explain to her that this is a trick that she must not fall for. They had tried the same with us. When the girl was then executed, the mother tormented herself with blame for stepping into the regimes trap.

Her work against the death penalty has become Sholehs mission in life. Reyhanehs file is still full of uncertainties and injustice. As long as I live, I will fight for justice, Sholeh declares.

This fight is important, because cases like Reyhanehs happen all the time.

Is she never concerned for her security? This is about my daughters vision. Therefore I am not afraid, says Sholeh. My memory of her is my engine, my life energy.

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She keeps finding new inspiration and courage in Reyhanehs letters. In one letter, for instance, she writes that the sharia does not acknowledge the role of fear in rape cases. The fact that a woman does not think of the consequences when fighting off a rapist in great fear, is completely ignored. I am now trying to raise awareness about this, in order to support the women who are facing trial for such cases. I want to do something for them.

When the economic delegation from Germany and other parts of the world come to Iran, Sholeh does not have a good feeling. Initially, we were happy about this. I was hoping that the economy people would also support human rights in our country, Sholeh says.

However, the people in Iran have now become painfully aware of the fact that human rights play no role in these visits. The delegations are here because of business and do not see that oil and blood are mixed together in Iran.

Political support

Barbara Lochbihler  spokesperson on foreign policy and human rights issues of the Group of the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament  honours Sholeh Pakravans dedication.

It is incredibly important that people like Ms. Pakravan initiate a debate in Iran, saying that the death penalty leads nowhere, Lochbihler tells BILD.

I respect her very highly. It takes great courage to criticize the death penalty in Iran.

At the moment, Iran pretends to be more moderate vis-a-vis outsiders, Lochbihler says, but domestically, there is no sign of such a development: There was even a massive increase in executions last year. The human rights situation has not improved at all.

There is no effort to curb the death penalty. On the contrary: last year, even minors were sentenced to death again. This is why Ms. Pakravans work is, beyond her own tragic case, so significant, the EU politician says.

It is the international communitys task to protect civil society actors: Critical voices like Ms. Pakravans are exposed to high risks in Iran. The EU and Germany should support her claim to abolish the death penalty and should commit to protecting these important human rights defenders. What happens all too often, unfortunately, is that political and economic interests weigh heavier, and the focus on human rights is lost.

Talking to BILD, Jurgen Hardt  spokesperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group  emphasized the importance of Sholeh Pakravans work and pointed out further cases:

Political talks on the international level concerning the global condemnation of the death penalty will only be successful if there are also discussions within the relevant countries civil societies. Germany supports people fighting for human rights  such as the Iranian lawyer and human rights awardee Abdolfattah Soltani, who has been imprisoned for years now.

Germany supports the world-wide abolition of the death penalty. Unfortunately, Iran is one of the countries that apply the death penalty the most often. Moreover, Iran does not comply with modern rule of law standards.

Arne Lietz, SPD human rights politician in the European Parliament, demands that the German government and the EU address cases like Sholeh Pakravans very clearly in their talks with Iran.

Amidst all the enthusiasm about new trade relations with Iran, we must not neglect the question of human rights. Last year, the number of executed death penalties has risen to almost 1000 in Iran. This is a clear increase compared to the previous year and it is the solidification of a sad trend.

Ahmed Shahid, the UN special envoy on the human rights situation in Iran, even assumes that the number of executions is higher than 1000.

According to Amnesty International, in 2015, almost twice as many people were executed than in 2010 and even ten times as many as in 2005.

Lietz emphasizes that people like Sholeh Pakravan do an incredible service to their country. By publicly engaging against the death penalty, Ms. Pakravan puts herself at very high risk. She is not alone, but represents many activists and civil society groups in the country who are fighting for more democracy and the compliance with human rights in Iran.

***

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Myocardial patches generated in the lab can be grafted on to damaged guinea pig hearts to improve heart function. That is what a team of researchers from Germany, Norway, Scotland and the USA found out.

Zebra fish and a few amphibian species can do it, mammals and humans cannot: that is replace dead myocardial cells with new ones. In humans a scar is left in the myocardium following an infarction and heart function usually permanently deteriorates.



That is why cardiologists dream of replacing scar tissue with artificial muscle. A team of researchers headed by Professor Thomas Eschenhagen from the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) and the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf has been able to achieve considerable success in this highly competitive area of research. The researchers succeeded in transplanting engineered (synthetic) human heart tissue generated in the lab on to injured guinea pigs hearts. They used guinea pigs because of all small animals the electrical activity of their hearts has most similarities to human hearts. The new transplanted tissue was incorporated into the animals heart and the pump function improved by up to 30 percent.

Reprogrammed somatic cells turn into heart cells

One of the lead authors of the study, Dr Florian Weinberger (other lead authors: Dr Kaja Breckwoldt, Dr Simon Pecha), explains what distinguishes the groups work from others: We use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), these are reprogrammed human somatic cells from which all kinds of tissue can be grown. In contrast, groups outside Europe often work with tissue derived from embryonic stem cells. However, in Europe these are not allowed to be used for transplantation in humans.



Another key difference is that the scientists used three-dimensional engineered heart tissue grown in the lab and subsequently sewn on to the heart like a patch, whereas other groups inject cell suspensions directly into the heart muscle. Describing the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches Weinberger says The disadvantage of the injection technique is that most of the injected cells are washed out of the heart or do not survive the injection. This is inefficient and can also be dangerous if some cells have not yet fully developed into myocardial cells and are therefore still pluripotent. These cells could settle in other parts of the body and form tumours. On the other hand, cell injection can be easily carried out via catheter. The tissue patches used in this study have the advantage that significantly fewer of the stem cell-derived heart cells are required and much fewer cells are washed away.



The scientists also performed control tests with other patches made from only matrix or cells other than heart cells, namely endothelial cells. They did this to exclude the possibility that stabilisation of the myocardium and improved cardiac function could be done with any type of tissue. However, heart function did not improve with non-cardiac patches. To rule out false positive results by subjective assessments, the researchers carried out all their tests in a blinded fashion, i.e. that they did not know themselves which animal had received the synthetic cardiac tissue and which had received other tissue.

Original and replacement heart tissue beat (mostly) in time

The twitching cardiac patches made in the lab have their own rhythm and they only achieve their full capacity when they beat in synchrony with the recipient heart. This so-called electric coupling is therefore important for the suitability of the replacement tissue. To achieve this, we sewed the tissue into healthy tissue above and below the scar. The researchers could observe this coupling of synthetic and native tissue in some of the animals. They do not yet know whether coupling failed or also happened in the other animals and was simply missed by their method of measurement.

The next steps for the use in human beings

There are still a few necessary steps to enable the use of this method for patients. For safety reasons, the researchers must closely examine whether and how many cells are washed out. Furthermore, they want to perform dosage studies to assess whether the number of cells can be reduced for the same effect. The timing of the therapy could also play a role. We do not yet know whether there are differences in terms of when the synthetic cardiac tissue is added, should it be shortly after damage or when the damage to the heart is already chronic, says Weinberger. And finally, the experiments must be repeated with larger animals, such as pigs, whose cardiovascular system is much more similar to humans. This work aims at translating the finding in animals to first-in-human therapy and will be supported by a research grant from the DZHK.
Merck inaugurated its  170 million Nantong pharmaceutical plant, which is dedicated to producing high-quality pharmaceuticals on Chinas Essential Drug List. At the inauguration ceremony, Merck also announced a further investment of around  80 million in a Life Science Center near the Nantong pharmaceutical plant to manufacture high-purity inorganic salts, cell culture media products as well as ready-to-use media.

The initial  80 million investment in the pharmaceutical plant was already announced in 2013 and has been realized. The additional investment of  90 million announced today represents the next phase of Mercks pharmaceutical production plans for China to meet forecast increased demand for medicines to be produced at the site. The first drugs from the plant inaugurated now are expected to be delivered to patients in the second half of 2017. Along with the investment of around  80 million by the Life Science business sector of Merck, this adds up to a total of investment of  250 million in its production value chain in China to create better access to health. These strategic investments further support Merck's expansion in China, which is expected to become the worlds second-largest pharmaceutical market by 2018, and enables the company to support the goals of Chinas 13th Five Year Plan by investing in technology and developing local talent.

China is of strategic importance to Merck as a key driver of our sustainable growth. In line with our long-term commitment to China, Merck has always been dedicated to localizing global expertise to make a meaningful difference to our patients and life science customers, said Stefan Oschmann, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck. Combining the strengths of our two business sectors Healthcare and Life Science, the Nantong site is a pioneering initiative to foster a comprehensive value chain that will create better access to health, enabling Merck to support Chinas evolving developmental and healthcare priorities.

With our new state-of-the-art pharmaceutical production, Merck is transforming from an import-based company to a full-fledged local industry player in China, said Marc Horn, Managing Director of the biopharma business of Merck in China. By dedicating the largest manufacturing plant outside of Europe to the production of pharmaceuticals to address widespread healthcare needs in China, Merck is connected with China more than ever. This is in line with our Healthcare vision for 2021  transforming 25 million patients lives in China, for China. We are grateful for the valuable contributions from local authorities and partners who helped make the inauguration of this facility possible according to our planned schedule. When the plant is fully up and running, we will have created new jobs for more than 400 highly skilled employees.

The Nantong pharmaceutical manufacturing site will focus on the production of Glucophage, Euthyrox and Concor, Mercks leading brands for the treatment of the major chronic diseases diabetes, thyroid disorders and cardiovascular diseases. With the next investment of  90 million announced today, the facility is designed to accommodate full production capacity of up to 10 billion tablets a year by 2021. The pharmaceutical manufacturing site currently employs 180 people and the workforce is expected to increase to more than 400 by 2021.
The Association of Practitioners in Advertising (APA) awards, which reward creativity in Kenya, have been relaunched after 12 years and will be using the Loeries Management System to run the entries, judging process and category structures.

The Loeries is the standard for the brand communications industry in our region, says Loeries CEO, Andrew Human. Not only are our systems and judging procedures independently audited, but we have developed a bespoke administration platform that is used by the Bookmark Awards, Creative Circle, Pendoring Awards  and now the APA Awards.

Lenny Ng'ang'a, APA Chairman, says, The APA Awards have been on hiatus for the last 12 years and this year is the grand comeback. The advertising industry in Kenya is gearing to celebrate creative ingenuity and excellence. Our partnership with the Loeries is integral, as it is aligned to our mission to maintain best practices and achieve global standards for the industry.

It is an honour for us to partner with the APA and it is a positive step to see an integration of standards across our region. This partnership will raise the profile of creativity in Kenya and I look forward to seeing the first APA Award winners after 12 years, says Human.

The APA Awards follow the Loeries category structures, entry rules & regulations and judging procedures. All judging will be overseen by the Loeries to ensure an independent process and judges have been selected from across Kenya. Alistair King, the top ranked creative from the Loeries Official Rankings, has been selected as the jury president. King is the co-founder and chief creative officer of the King James Group.

Judging takes place on 9-10 November at in Nairobi and the awards ceremony will be held on Friday 11 November at the Kenyan National Theatre. The awards received over 400 entries across categories that include television, video, radio, print, design, outdoor & out of home, integrated campaigns, digital & interactive, experiential media, media innovation, sustainable marketing, and the young creatives award.
There's something to be said for being peculiar. It's the link between the logic and magic that we believe in, and what our students do best.

On 17 November, the Red & Yellow School invites you to come and experience Red & Yellow's School for Magnificent Peculiars - a showcase of the very best in innovative ideas and extraordinary craftsmanship our students have to offer.

Sponsored by Spier Wines, Corona, Atlantic Storm Brewery, RedBull, Sxollie Cider and Stellenbrau Brewery, the graduate showcase is set to be the grand finale to a superb year for Red & Yellow's creative course students. Scooping up five Loerie awards, D&AD New Blood Pencils, and the Overall and Gold Student Pendoring awards, plus numerous individual successes, it's no wonder that our students are already being snapped up by the industry.

"We're exceptionally proud of the creative talent we're sending out into the industry for 2017," says Katharina Scholtz, Academic Head. "Red & Yellow's mission has always been to produce work-ready, multi-skilled graduates and this year is no exception."

Join us on 17 November 2016, 17h30, at 95-97 Durham Avenue, Cape Town - you might just see something you like.

To RSVP to this event, please contact us on or call 021 462 1946.

The Red & Yellow School has been producing industry leaders and game changers in the fields of marketing, graphic design, art direction and copywriting for 22 years. Applications for 2017 are open. Find out more on the website or contact Red & Yellow on 021 462 1946 / 011 067 3400 / az.oc.wolleydnader@ofni.




YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Armenia Bradley Busetto holds the opinion that the modernization of Bagratashen, Gogavan and Bavra checkpoints will foster the development of tourism, trade and economy.

This is an important day for both Armenia and Georgia and we are very satisfied to be able to have our contribution. This is a super modern checkpoint that meets all the best international standards. It will evidently promote peoples movements and trade turnover fostering the development of the country. Besides, a border checkpoint is the first thing a visitor encounters with, and it is of key importance that the businessmen and potential investors see how smooth and modern everything is organized just from the beginning. The modernization of border checkpoints is also of vital importance for a state in terms of national security, Armenpress reports the UN Resident Coordinator told the reporters.

The Bagratashen and Gogavan checkpoints were put into operation on November 4, while the Bavra checkpoint will be put into operation till the end of the year.
Willem Bestbier, the vice chairperson of Fruit South Africa (Fruit SA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his counterpart, vice chairperson of the Chinese Quarantine and Inspection Association (CIQA) Wang Xin in Beijing. The MoU is aimed at strengthening collaboration to ensure market access for fruit between South Africa and the Peoples Republic of China.

romanov via pixabay

China remains a country with the biggest market given its population of about 1,38 billion. The total imports of fruits into China during 2015 according to the graph below was 3,8 million tons valued at $5 billion. South Africa has only been able to export about 110,000 tonnes of fruit during the same period which is a drop in the ocean.

Given that South Africa currently export about 2,7 million tons of fruits globally, the value of its current export to China is very small and Fruit SA has been working hard in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) to gain more access for other fruit types.

Source

The objective of the MOU between the two organisations is to address the challenges that are experienced currently in expanding and broadening market access which takes a longer time than desired. The agreement will ensure that the two organisations support their governments' work in opening markets for fruits by providing the required technical information and guidance to speed-up the negotiations process for market access for new products.

To date, South Africa can only export apples, citrus and table grapes to China and the process is painstakingly slow. The two governments are currently negotiating market access for pears which will be followed by avocados, and then other types of fruits.

The two parties will use the MOU to provide the support required during market access negotiations between the two countries by sharing information the following areas: pest risk analysis, quarantine and inspections regulations, technology exchanges related to fruit production and market developments.

With the implementation of this agreement and the acceleration of market access, the fruit industry aims to increase its exports to China to about 350,000 tonnes in the next five years which will be a boon for the agriculture economy and also for job creation as more orchards will be established to support this key market.
Now may be the time for central business district (CBD)-focused Octodec Investments to sell Killarney Mall, an asset that remains a dud in its R12.3bn property portfolio.

The mall, which has been a perennial underperformer, is Octodec's second-largest asset, worth R618.9m, making up 5% of the portfolio. Octodec owns 324 properties including joint ventures. Its emphasis has been on growing its businesses in the Pretoria and Johannesburg central business districts.

In the group's annual results for the year to August, the majority of Octodec's assets performed well, contributing to 6.5% growth in distribution payouts. But Killarney again struggled, said MD Jeffrey Wapnick.

"Compared with our other assets, Killarney has not performed as we wanted it to do so over the past few years. Nevertheless, there was an increase in trading density of 14% in the financial year to August.

"We upgraded the air-conditioning system, security, ceilings, put in a generator and made other improvements at a total cost of R46m. This was during the 2016 financial year and the current 2017 year."

Killarney Mall experienced a major vacancy in 2015, when Edgars left. Dis-Chem recently replaced the retailer in the mall.

Nevertheless, vacancies have been increasing at Killarney and also at Elardus Park Shopping Centre.

"Management has been considering the disposal for a while. I think they are just waiting for the right price and we could see a sale. It seems non-core because it looks like management prefers CBD retail exposure as opposed to non-CBD retail exposure," said Lawrence Koikoi, Stanlib listed property analyst.

Evan Robins, listed property manager of Old Mutual Investment Group's MacroSolutions boutique said Killarney Mall had been a weak asset for years and it made sense to let it go.

"They've tried for a long time to make Killarney work, but it just has not. I think many people choose to shop at the Mall of Rosebank instead. Killarney does not have near the same quality of offering. It would make sense to sell it, but they would need to find a willing buyer who had a strategy to turn it around," said Robins.

While directors and associates including Wapnick's family own more than a third of Octodec, Old Mutual Investment Group and Stanlib Asset Management are significant shareholders. Koikoi said he was pleased with Octodec's results.

"Octodec achieved 6.5% dividend per share growth although they have indicated that growth would have been around 11% had they excluded yield-dilutive developments.

"Operationally the company remains robust with good collections, stable vacancies, controlled costs and it is guiding 6% dividend per share growth in the next financial year."

Source: Business Day
Whitey Basson, arguably SA's greatest retailer, has announced that at the end of this year he would retire from the helm at Shoprite, which he built into an African grocery colossus. He says he is weary and 'gatvol'. The news was somehow not a surprise and it seems clear he is stepping aside in the face of longtime associate Christo Wiese's determination to merge Shoprite with furniture retailer Steinhoff.

What it means: To Wiese, it would be natural for Steinhoff to take over Shoprite. But will Shoprites remaining 84% of shareholders agree?

It was one of those era-defining announcements that you see coming a mile away but which still come as a shock when the words are finally uttered. On Monday, the 70-year-old Whitey Basson produced just such a reaction when investors and journalists at Shoprites AGM in Parow were told he would be retiring as CEO just after Christmas.

It seemed a bit unreal.

For decades, Basson has seemed like the living, beating heart of SA retail, his virtuoso performances at Shoprites presentations the stuff of legend. (Memorably, after buying OK Bazaars for R1, Basson chided himself for not knocking the price down to 99c.)

At this weeks AGM, he appeared somewhat uncertain about what lay ahead  which must have been a strange sensation for someone who has planned every step of Shoprites conquest of African retail.

Speaking to the Financial Mail, he said he was weary and had had enough of all the "nitty gritty stuff" in the way of Shoprites growth. "Im constantly fighting on several fronts ... Im gatvol of it all now. You need to be young," he declared.

Basson seemed like a man who had woken up and realised he had been working flat-out for 45 years and now wanted out.

Renowned though he is, Bassons departure will suit those who believed he was always the obstacle to the masterplan of SAs richest man, Christo Wiese  that is, the merger of the two retail behemoths, Shoprite and Steinhoff. Wiese owns 16% of Shoprite, and 18% of Steinhoff.

Its potentially a mega-deal, and was first touted in 2006. But analysts say Basson saw no commercial value in it and remained the impediment to a tie-up. Recently, when asked about the merger, he said: "No, I dont know if its a good idea," adding for good measure: "What would you benefit by putting Anglo American and Toyota together?"

Now the odds of a tie-up have narrowed dramatically, which is why Shoprites share price jumped 5.5% immediately after the news of Bassons retirement broke.

"Bassons departure means were one step closer to that deal being done," says retail analyst Syd Vianello.

This week, Investec Securities published a research report saying that such a deal was now "not only likely but could happen in the near term".

The reason is that even though Wiese holds only 16% of Shoprite, he controls 50.9% of the retailers voting rights through 291m "deferred shares"  but its set to fall below 50% in April next year.

Investec says this means there is a "strong possibility" that such a deal will be struck in the next six months.

Of course, as Wiese owns both companies, Shoprite investors who believe they may get a juicy premium for their stock may be disappointed. Its unlikely to be more than 10% above Shoprites current value.

Whether this would offer the kind of "commercial value" Basson apparently wanted is unclear. And whether a mooted merger hastened his departure is equally unclear.

Either way, there were certainly clues that Bassons departure was imminent.

Shoprites annual report provided a great big hint by awarding Basson a one-off R50m discretionary bonus as part of his R100m package this year  a reward, the board said, for his 45 years of unstinting loyalty.

But the sense of disbelief that he had finally called time on his career tells you how much he has become part of the framework of SA business. In the retail sector, he made such an indelible mark that its difficult to imagine the place without him.

Basson will be replaced by chief operating officer Pieter Engelbrecht, who spent years as Bassons personal assistant and will have immense shoes to fill. As Wiese told shareholders at the AGM: "I told Pieter he mustnt aspire to being a second Whitey Basson but he should aspire to being the best Pieter Engelbrecht he can be."

Engelbrecht, who was two years old when Basson first went into business with Wiese in 1979, should not need the advice.

Basson is the archetypal larger-than-life character, a bruiser who took few prisoners and whose life story is full of the sort of derring-do that becomes the stuff of legend.

"Without doubt the greatest retailer in SAs history," is how Shane Watkins of All Weather Capital describes the outgoing Shoprite CEO.

Its a fitting tribute to a businessman who, in 1980, took eight stores worth a mere R1m and went on to build Africas largest retailer, with more than 2,200 stores, worth R152bn.

Basson, says Watkins, changed the face of retail in Africa in two critical ways.

First, he was the pioneer in committing to centralised distribution (which dramatically lowered costs); and second, he built the first truly pan-African retailer which, outside SA, now has 300 stores in 14 countries, from Nigeria to Mauritius.

Today, centralised distribution is a no-brainer, but Shoprite was panned for it at the time. Yet it remains the reason why Shoprites margins are much better than other food retailers, despite having the lowest prices. (Shoprites trading margin is 5.6%, compared with Pick n Pays 2.1% or Spars 3.1%.)

Watkins points out that Basson led the charge north in 1990, at a time when Africa was still recovering from civil wars in countries such as Angola and Mozambique.

Today, Shoprite has 30 stores in Angola and 20 in Nigeria  probably the largest profit opportunities outside North Africa.

In all, Shoprites African operations outside SA now account for R22bn in annual sales. And while SAs growth is anaemic, those stores up north grew sales 35.1% in the three months to September.

Even critics (of which there are more than a few) grudgingly respect Basson.

At the AGM, fund manager Mehluli Ncube laid into Shoprite for the "downright reckless and irresponsible" R100m paid to Basson in the past year, which includes the R50m bonus. However, Ncube conceded that he was an outstanding executive, worthy of a very generous package indeed.

But it is the chemistry between Wiese and Basson that has driven Shoprite to its current position.

Its a relationship that began in 1970 when, as an accountant for Brink Roos & Du Toit, Basson handled the audit for Wieses Pep Stores. The two clicked. In 1971 Basson jumped ship and joined Pep Stores as a financial manager.

The seeds of the modern Shoprite empire were sown in late 1979, when Basson began to negotiate the purchase of an eight-store Cape-based retailer from the Rogut family. Much of Shoprites early growth was achieved by swooping on dismally managed competitors.

In 1991, Shoprite picked up Checkers for R55m, a song even in those days, from Sanlam when a series of management teams failed to reverse a seemingly intractable nosedive.

Famously, in 1997, the floundering OK Bazaars was snapped up from SA Breweries for the princely sum of R1.

In December, Basson will leave Wiese with a company with turnover of more than R130bn, pre-tax profit of R6,8bn a year and a staff of 137,775 people.

Less impressive are reports that Shoprites employment conditions are the worst of the big retailers. Its a charge that fails to stir either Basson or Wiese, who believe any job is better than none; they believe they make a bigger contribution to society by providing groceries at rock-bottom prices.

A few years back, commenting on the storm over how Basson had made R627m by cashing in shares, Wiese told the Financial Mail: "I would pay R1bn in the middle of the night for another Whitey."

At this weeks AGM, Wiese repeated his praise as testy investors tackled the company for the R100m paid to Basson this year. "I would have been happy to pay him much more," Wiese defiantly told them.

Thats not surprising, considering that Wiese has become one of the wealthiest men in Africa thanks to Bassons herculean efforts over the years.

Wieses 16% of the grocery retailer is worth R17.8bn at todays share price.

Basson himself still owns a tidy 1.6% of Shoprite, worth R1.77bn.

Wiese, of course, is remarkably polite, rarely revealing anything but a pleasantly engaged demeanour in public. This meant there was little sign of emotion at the AGM about the pending termination of their presumably close 45-year relationship.

Basson, more hot-headed by nature, seemed less dispassionate about the split.

Says Basson: "Ive had a fantastic relationship with the board. It supported about 99% of my decisions. If Id worked for a big institution it wouldnt have been nearly as effective and Shoprite would have been half the size it is today."

He wont be disappearing immediately. His contract requires 12 months notice, so for the next 10 or so months he will be on call for consulting work with Engelbrecht.

But whatever Basson says about his decision to quit being motivated by weariness with "all the nitty gritty", analysts are convinced it had more to do with his opposition to whats regarded as Wieses ultimate plan  merging Shoprite with Steinhoff.

While Basson was wary of the commercial value, there was also the thorny matter of who would have been the boss: the older, more experienced Basson, or Steinhoffs whiz kid, Markus Jooste.

Wiese, who is using Frankfurt-listed Steinhoff to drive a European and US acquisition spree, boosted his holding in that company by an additional R24.3bn in late September.

Significantly, Wiese mused almost immediately that it would be a "natural development" for Steinhoff to take over Shoprite.

From Wieses perspective, perhaps it would be natural, as it pulls all his investments under one roof.

Whether Shoprites remaining 84% of shareholders will agree is another matter.

Experts are divided about the merits of such a deal. Some say Wiese and Jooste could pull off almost anything they set their minds to; others warn that selling groceries is a different game to selling mattresses.

In their analysis, Investec said Shoprite would add 47% to Steinhoffs estimated revenue for its next financial year, and 27% to its operating profit.

But the devil would be in the structuring. Vianello says that constructing a deal in a way that Shoprite shareholders would find compelling would be difficult  even with Wieses near-legendary skills in this area.

Assuming Steinhoff could find the cash to buy out all the non-Wiese shareholders at Shoprite, investors might be reluctant to cash in an investment that has provided stellar returns.

Shoprites R114bn market cap is dwarfed by Steinhoffs R305bn, and Joostes company has shown little compunction about issuing new shares to pay for assets.

A possible scenario is that Steinhoff would issue 1.42bn shares, and would buy 100% of Shoprite in an "all-share deal".

Its hard to imagine Shoprite shareholders wanting to exchange their stock for Steinhoff shares. Having said that, Steinhoff has outperformed Shoprite over the past five years  its stock growing by 212%, compared with Shoprites 66%  if only because of the dizzying number of deals it has done.

But, says one analyst, if investors wanted Steinhoff shares they could swap their Shoprite stock now. Evidently they dont.

Vianello reckons something will happen next year. He says the spike in the Shoprite share price after Bassons announcement suggests the market is expecting Wiese to offer shareholders a premium to get the deal through. This may not happen.

However, Basson is keeping schtum on the possibility of a tie-up with Steinhoff.

For Engelbrecht, of course, any deal would have the attraction that if Shoprite delisted, comparisons with his much-vaunted predecessor would be far more difficult.
Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MSA) has embarked on a project, in partnership with Beautiful News and 24.com, to bring South Africans a series of films and photography, portraying positive stories dedicated to the people of this country and continent.

From 1 November 2016, at 4.14pm for the next year, the Beautiful News platform will release a Beautiful News story, reflecting the goodness of everyday people.

MSA is proud to partner with Beautiful News on this project to help disseminate stories that demonstrate the best in humanity and the best of South Africa, says Selvin Govender, marketing director Mercedes-Benz Cars.

We will highlight our connection to positivity with a story showcasing our own employees in our East London plant. The story shows how a collaborative effort from all employees in the plant, even during difficult times, created something special for Nelson Mandela - a Mercedes-Benz S-Class - to honour his sacrifice in the fight for freedom, adds Govender.

This story is also an example of our belief in the future of South Africa, and our belief in the people of this country and the great people who work at Mercedes-Benz South Africa - the story is called the Labour of Love.

In this digital age we have the opportunity to spread the Beautiful News concept far and wide, especially as this is a visual platform. We believe digital touches every industry and, even as an automotive manufacturer, we can be involved in bringing to life a partnership such as this one. It will be done using our own digital touchpoints to the public, our customers and our own employees.

With this partnership, we have come up with novel ideas on how a digital experience can break down barriers and revolutionise the user experience to a whole new level. Digitalisation is paving the path for us and we are excited to be sharing this project with the people of South Africa in a meaningful and intelligent manner, concludes Govender.

The creator of Beautiful News, world-renowned photographer and filmmaker Adrian Steirn, continues on his journey of portraying a true reflection of South Africa and its people. Steirn brought to life the successful 21 Icons project that celebrated the lives of iconic individuals who greatly contributed to shaping South Africa as we know it today.

Beautiful News will continue sharing powerful messages, reflecting the deeds and actions of the Everyman in an inclusive and engaging style, on an aesthetically pleasing and inspiring platform, says Steirn. We look forward to carrying on the legacy of Madiba and the many South African icons who have contributed to making South Africa a vibrant, positive, forgiving and loving community, concludes Steirn.

For more information, go to www.beautifulnews.co.za.
Eskom's board fully supports the state capture report, but believes its executives were not given the opportunity to clear their names before it was published.

Eskom chairman, Baldwin Ngubane, says board members and executives would avail themselves should the commission of inquiry proposed in the report require it.

Source: Eskom

Regarding the continued innuendo that Eskom has been giving special favours to Tegeta Exploration and Resources, the Eskom board stands firm by the processes undertaken by the company to conclude extensions of its coal supply agreements with its suppliers. We are satisfied that due process had been followed and we can be proud of the savings achieved by the executive team to date. In the six months to 30 September 2016, Eskoms primary energy costs were reduced by 1,5% compared to an average increase of 18% over the past 5 years, says Ngubane in a statement.

According to Eskom, it regularly engages all its coal suppliers on the required volumes and qualities as the demand varies from time to time and contracting relationships are concluded on sound commercial principles and considerations.

In emergency situations, Eskom has utilised the prepayment mechanism to ensure security of supply. Furthermore, it is important to note that prepayment is a common commercial practice that is used widely and not unique to Eskom. The principle of prepayment is prevalent in Eskoms cost-plus supply contracts with the large mining houses such as Anglo American, BECSA and Exxaro. These mining houses supply approximately 80% of Eskoms coal while Tegeta supplies less than 5% of the coal volume required by Eskom.

The coal supply market is in need of major transformation as it has and continues to benefit a small monopoly of companies. This phenomenon is now under review as requested by the Minister of Public Enterprises in her recent budget speech and Eskom is determined to ensure that emerging black miners also benefit from Eskoms buying power.

More pertinently, Eskoms supply mix changed in April 2016 leaving Eskom with a deficit of 2,1m tons, which was required to meet the winter supply plan. Eskom approached its existing suppliers to source additional supply to mitigate this shortfall.

It must be noted that the Exxaro Arnot Colliery had a contract with Eskom to supply coal to Arnot Power Station for 40 years. This contract expired in December 2015. The cost of coal at date of expiry was R1,132/ton.

I am advised that Tegeta now supplies Arnot at an average price of R500/ton. The unit cost of coal supplied under this contract is at a discounted rate of 3%, resulting in a further saving to Eskom of billions of rand and ultimately, the consumer, says Ngubane.

Tegeta was one of the suppliers able to meet Eskoms need for this additional coal supply at the required coal quality. This company also stepped in to avert a crisis at the Hendrina Power Station by offering to take the Optimum Coal Mine out of business rescue from Glencore thereby saving thousands of jobs and continuing the supply to Eskom.
Efforts to encourage or force residents to reduce water consumption in Gauteng are failing.

As a result, the province said it was beefing up its crisis management capacity and liaising with municipalities to ensure the availability of water at established crisis points.

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs announced this week it was establishing a joint operations centre for the provinces and would broaden the scope of technical committees established in August to reduce pressure on dams.

"Now that not much progress has been made in reducing consumption, we will bring more expertise in terms of water experts and disaster management to establish a more comprehensive team," departmental spokesman Mogomotsi Mogodiri said on Wednesday, 2 November.

Since the Department of Water and Sanitation gazetted a 15% reduction in water consumption, a provincial task team has been meeting to monitor the restrictions and dam levels.

The Vaal River system's water levels stood at 27.5% as of Tuesday and were expected to continue to drop at 0.8% per week. Ideally, the ministry wants to keep levels above 25% until the end of the year.

A drop below 25% would prompt additional restrictions and supply disruptions. It is understood disruptions were unlikely to necessitate large-scale water tanker deliveries.

A weekend heat wave left some areas of Johannesburg without water as pressure was put on reservoirs. But Johannesburg Water on Wednesday described the supply as stable.

Spokeswoman Tidimalo Chuene said the shortages at reservoirs were due to demand outstripping supply. "The only way we can deal with it is by people reducing consumption."

Johannesburg Water reported that for the last week of October, the city saved 7% out of the 15% water reduction target.

Source: Business Day
Farmers in the Western Cape are looking forward to better than expected grain harvests despite SA suffering its worst drought in decades. The Western Cape government said on Wednesday dam levels in the province were showing a slight decrease as the region entered summer.

josealbafotos via pixabay

Agri Western Cape CEO Carl Opperman said on Tuesday the prospects for grain harvests were looking better than last year's because the rain had fallen within ideal intervals for production. However, he was worried about the wine and fruit industries. The Western Cape produces more than 50% of SA's agricultural exports.

Opperman said that in the Karoo area, farm dam levels were now 30% lower than the same time last year.

Grain SA's Toit Wessels said it was being estimated that the Western Cape would harvest about 900,000 tonnes of wheat, "which is impressive" during a drought. The province usually harvested between 800,000 and 1-million tonnes of wheat every year. The Western Cape has just more than 46% of SA's wheat-producing land. "We will only have the final figures at the end of November, farmers are busy harvesting now," said Wessels.

Although the drought persisted, rainfall in the province had come at the right time and was evenly spread, which boosted plant development.

Western Cape economic opportunities MEC Alan Winde said although average to below-average rainfall occurred in the Swartland, this rain fell timeously and an average grain yield was expected. "The Western Cape remains water-stressed and we all need to play our part by not wasting this vital resource."

Opperman said, although orchards were in full bloom, it was too early to predict the outcome of the fruit season.

Agri Western Cape was still delivering feed to the Karoo and West Coast areas, where livestock producers had been battling for months with no available grazing, he said.

Source: Business Day
Do you ever get the feeling that your CV hasn't actually been read by the company or recruiter that you've sent it to? That could very well be because no human eyes ever perused it at all, says research from South African job search website, Adzuna.

New screening software sifts through CVs and only shortlists those that seem to have the right qualifications and experience for the job, based on what recruiters have entered as minimum requirements.

Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) systems are now quite numerous and some of them represented by global companies. Some are very sophisticated and others rather rudimentary and your CV needs to get past both of them. Your CV, whether in a file format like Word (.doc) or PDF, is stored in a searchable database and then parsed.

Parsers are software components that remove styling to leave strings of text that are machine readable. Thereafter systems can read what your CV is about. However, if your resume doesnt parse well, youll be at a disadvantage. If you want to get past these digital doormen, youll need to make sure your CV adheres to these 15 tips.

Do:



Proofread carefully to avoid misspellings, especially on vital words such as job titles or skills. Dont rely on a spellchecker.



Use a standard word editor to format and save your CV  not every ATS can handle PDFs.



Pick out important words from the job ad and use them (and variations of them) in your CV.



Use proper capitalisation so groups of words that are related to each other are recognised.



Use a standard font in black  Arial, Courier and Tahoma are ideal.



Remain consistent when reporting employment history  company name, title, location, and date is a standard format.



Upload your CV instead of copy and pasting to ensure formatting is kept.



Use standard CV headings such as Summary, Work, Skills and Education.

Dont:



Use image files in place of text.



Use white font to include hidden keywords  some ATSs can see this invisible text and youll look like youre trying to cheat the system.



Use unnecessary abbreviations that an ATS might not recognise. When using industry abbreviations, include the spelled-out version of the word in the first instance.



Use special characters (plain bullet points are ok).



Use tables.



Put text in the header or footer  it may be ignored.



Submit multiple CVs to the same company for the same job  it can look like spam.

Getting your CV past the ATS software and into the hands of the hiring manager is only the first step. Youll still need to make sure your CV is fit for human eyes, and if invited for an interview, youll need to impress in person. Yet getting past the machines is becoming more and more of a challenge, especially for those who do not.
More of Redefine Properties' tenants paid their rents on time, despite the tough economic conditions.

Net arrears improved to R39.8m for the year to end-August, representing 6.3% of gross monthly rental, down from 8.3% in 2015, the company said in its results statement on Thursday, 3 November.

Redefine Properties has given investors the option of receiving a 44.3c cash dividend or the equivalent in new shares.

This takes the real estate investment trust's (Reit's) total dividend for the year to end-August to 86c, a 7.5% growth on the previous year's 80c.

Redefine's market capitalisation of R58bn makes it the third-largest constituent of the JSE's Reit index, behind Growthpoint, which weighs in at R72bn, and Intu, at R60bn.

Total revenue was flat at R6.65bn and aftertax profit declined 18% to R4.61bn, the company said on Thursday.

Redefine sold 15 government-tenanted offices worth about R1.3bn to Delta Property Fund in exchange for 162-million shares.

It intends to sell its remaining government-tenanted buildings on a deal-by-deal basis, it said in its results statement.

While exiting the government-building market, Redefine is moving into student accommodation.

It acquired 51% of Respublica Student Living for R438.6m, and is converting its office complexes Yale Village in Parktown and Hatfield Square into student residencies.

Revenue from its investments, which include a 30.1% stake in London- and Johannesburg-listed Redefine International, contributed 1.5% of the group's total, down from 5.2% in 2015.

Redefine said its vacancy rate improved to 4.9% from the previous year's 5.4%. Tenants paid on average 3.3% higher rentals, and its retention rate was a "pleasing" 92%.

The geographic spread of Redefine's property portfolio is 65.6% in Gauteng, 8% in KwaZulu-Natal and 26.4% in the rest of SA.

Industrial properties make up 42.9% of its portfolio, offices 28.5%, retail 28% and specialist properties 0.6%.

Source: BDpro
Blade Nzimande's department is due to table a report to Parliament that will reveal how the government will tackle the crises in higher education.

The Cabinet has signed off on Ikusasa (the future) Student Financial Aid Programme which will address the funding needs of poor and "missing middle" students - the main driver of the #FeesMustFall protests.

The Department of Higher Education on Thursday said the full report would be made available next week, when it will be presented to the higher education and training portfolio committee after which it will be gazetted and published.

Sizwe Nxasana, who chairs the ministerial task team appointment by Nzimande to develop a support and funding model for poor and missing middle students, has said Ikusasa will seek to encourage the public to put in money to support students.

Part of the plan is to appeal to people to buy coupons from commercial banks.

The coupon or student support investment scheme would entail people making deposits into their savings account, which would then be used to finance needy students.

Nxasana said investors would earn "a little bit of interest" due to students repaying their loans once they graduated and found employment.

Tensions have been running high at universities across the country as students continue with their campaign for no-fee increases and free education.

The Cabinet said on Thursday that funding higher education remained a priority for the government and the additional R17bn allocated to universities over the next three years would help to ease the burden on needy students. President Jacob Zuma has appointed a fees commission to explore the viability of free higher education.

Source: Business Day
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. International human rights organization Freedom House has urged the Azerbaijani leadership to stop the persecution of human rights campaigners.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the organization, Freedom House issued the following statement:

The government of Azerbaijan should end its campaign of innuendo and threats against Elchin Sadigov and Fariz Namazli, two of the few lawyers in the country who dare to represent political prisoners and bring attention to government wrongdoings, said Robert Herman, vice president for international programs. The government should stop mistreating lawyers for conducting their professional duties.

On November 2, a pro-government media outlet posted articles accusing human rights lawyer Elchin Sadigov of being romantically involved with the wife of one of his defendants. While Sadigov was at the Grave Crimes Unit of the Interior Ministry, one of the investigators threatened him with physical harm. The lawyers wife, Zubeyda Sadigova, also a lawyer, has also received threats with regards to her husband's work. In a separate incident on the same day, human rights lawyer Fariz Namazli was informed of a complaint filed against him alleging that he assaulted a person in court on October 20, 2016, when in fact Namazli was attacked himself.

Azerbaijan is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2016, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2016, Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2015, and receives a democracy score of 6.86 on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the worst possible score, in Nations in Transit 2016.
Bryanston Organic & Natural Market has introduced a free shuttle bus service from selected Sandton hotels. Liliesleaf in Rivonia, an icon in the struggle for freedom in South Africa, has joined the market in this exciting adventure.

The shuttle service allows visitors the combination of a glimpse into the nerve centre of the liberation movement, and a shopping experience in a well-established market, located in a tranquil leafy outdoor setting.

Lilliesleaf, an award-winning heritage site, honours South Africa's journey to democracy championed by a host of liberation leaders, including Nelson Mandela. Fascinating stories and events that helped shape our democratic nation are displayed through dynamic and cutting-edge exhibits that bring the history to life.

Over the past 40 years, Bryanston Organic & Natural Market has supported the movement to conscious and healthy living. Now, more than 130 stalls offer visitors wholesome food artisanal food and inspired crafts made locally from organic and natural ingredients and materials  removed from the rush of everyday life.

The free shuttle bus is operated by The Joburg Squirrel and offers visitors a "hassle-free and reliable door to door service". The shuttle leaves Sandton at 9am each Thursday and Saturday, calling at The Maslow, Hilton Hotel, Radisson Blu, Holiday Inn Sandton, Hotel Balalaika, Hotel Michelangelo and Da Vinci Suites, Hotel Intercontinental and Sandton Sun, before making its way to Liliesleaf and Bryanston Organic & Natural Market. Two further pick ups are made during the day at 10am and 1pm, with two return trips to Sandton via Liliesleaf at 12.15pm and 3pm.
South African Wi-Fi monitoring startup Asimmetric has rebranded as Cape, and today launches an all-new monitoring product, the Cape Sensor and Dashboard.

Asimmetric launched in February 2015 with its Wi-Fi monitoring tool, allowing Wi-Fi providers to manage the user experience on their network. Earlier this year, the startup raised a seven-figure dollar funding round from three United States (US)-based early-stage hardware and Internet of Things (IoT) investment firms, allowing it to launch operations in San Francisco.

Since raising funding, the startup has decided to rebrand from its original name to Cape  reflecting the origins of the company in Cape Town, and also pointing to the simplicity of the startups solutions.

Cape has launched an all-new Wi-Fi network and application quality monitoring tool to market, the Cape Sensor and Dashboard. The Cape Sensor monitors Wi-Fi network and application performance 24/7 by behaving like a real user and reporting issues in real-time before users complain. The Sensor is easy to install, and includes useful features such as mobile connectivity and power backup; making it equally suitable for remote offices and locations.

Cape says the accompanying new Dashboard is the simplest Wi-Fi dashboard for IT and network professionals. It is cloud-based and does not require on-premises installation.

With just five main traffic lights, the dashboard is radical departure from traditional monitoring tools. Network managers can see consolidated network issues at glance. Instant, rich hovers and drill-downs enable rapid, remote troubleshooting, the startup says.

As internet connectivity becomes a crucial service for people the world across, Cape says the importance of network monitoring, being able to identify problems, and overall user experience is paramount  prompting the design of the new product.

Wi-Fi has become a mission critical service for millions of people, but remains plagued by anecdotal complaints of issues that are difficult to diagnose, making life difficult for IT and network professionals, says David Wilson, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cape.

Most network tools are intimidating, aimed only at experts, and dont actually measure performance from the perspective of end-users. If users experience any kind of problem  with DHCP, DNS, captive portals or applications  they think the Wi-Fi sucks, Wilson says.

IT and network professionals need a simple way to assure their Wi-Fi network and applications are working perfectly for users.

The Cape Sensor and Dashboard is a complete redesign of the startups previous Wi-Fi monitoring tool; and is available to order as of today here.
Topco Media and SAFM are combining their resources in a media partnership, ahead of the 14th annual National Business Awards and Conference

Topco Media and SAFM are combining their resources in a media partnership, ahead of the 14th annual National Business Awards and Conference -- a logical move after three years of synergising the success of this event together.

Business thought leaders from the public and private sectors will assemble at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg on 17 November 2016 for this year's Awards and Conference. The annual platform allows corporate and governmental leaders to be acknowledged on both a local and global scale by showcasing their milestone successes. Prestigious sponsors who have come on board to show support for the established Awards and Conference include Billion Group, TUMI, Public Sector Manager, National School of Government and Development Bank SA, to name but a few. The additional media partners are Your Business Magazine, 3S Media, DestinyMan, DestinyConnect and SA Business Integrator.

Jeff Radebe, Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, will deliver the keynote address at the Awards' gala dinner, while renowned businessman and politician, Dr Mathews Phosa, will give a keynote address and deliver insight on "rising through the obstacles" at the conference. They will be joined by several other prominent thought leaders. Click here to view the list of speakers, and click here to join in the conversation.

According to Topco Media's Group Marketing Manager, Angelique Edwards,"Our longstanding relationship with SAFM has enhanced the positive and engaging brand image of the National Business Awards. This official partnership ensures that we will communicate the vision and mission of the National Business Awards to all relevant stakeholders."

SAfm will live broadcast from the National Business Awards and Conference.

To stay up to date with the latest news from the National Business Awards follow @SABizAwards on Twitter, or like the Facebook page @SABizAwards.




Six new films will be releasing on the Big Screen this weekend; including two South African films; thriller Hatchet Hour and romantic comedy Eintlik Nog Baie as well as Hell Or High Water, Doctor Strange, Julieta and When the Bough Breaks.

Hatchet Hour

A case of mistaken identity leads to murder in Hatchet Hour. The perpetrator, an ambitious lawyer, fears the impact the act will have on her career at a prestigious law firm and turns to her best friend to help her dispose of the body. Fiery and ambitious lawyer Belle (Erica Wessels), mistakes an acquaintance for an assailant in her home and shoots him  killing him instantly. Knowing that a criminal charge will destroy her promising career at a top legal firm  never mind how her legendary lawyer father will react  Belle decides to get rid of the body and destroy the evidence. She turns to her best friend Jade (Petronella Tshuma) to help her destroy the body. When Jade fails to convince Belle to report the matter, they heave the body into Belles car and drive up to the Kruger National Park, hoping to dump the body, leaving it  and the bullets which could pin the murder on her  at the mercy of scavengers and predators. The act sets in motion a chain of events that force Jade to confront the horror of the situation  and question her friends behaviour. When Jades boyfriend Izzy (Adam Croasdell)  no friend of Belles  starts to get suspicious, Belle must do everything in her power to stop events spiralling out of control.

Eintlik Nog Baie

Jay (Andre Lotter) is a guy at a crossroads in his life and when he meets Ally (Marisa Drummond), his life is changed forever in the most dramatic way. It is based on the screenplay, Ally, created by Jarrod de Jong (The Blanket, Die Laaste Ure, Babalas). With an intimate cast of seasoned actors, Eintlik Nogal Baies storyline is loaded with a good balance of romance, comedy, suspense, tragedy and full of charisma, says de Jong.

The story is about Jay van Niekerk, an attractive, but introverted comic book animator who has his life meticulously planned out. Life catches up with him and brings him to a crossroad in his life when he meets Ally and his life is changed forever in the most dramatic way. Viewers should definitely bring enough tissues, adds de Jong. The film is written by Jarrod de Jong and Pieter Oosthuizen, produced by Jarrod de Jong and directed by Jacques Brand.

Doctor Strange

Dr. Stephen Stranges (Benedict Cumberbatch) life changes after a car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he looks for healing, and hope, in a mysterious enclave. He quickly learns that the enclave is at the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying reality. Before long, Strange is forced to choose between his life of fortune and status or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe opens up a host of new, electrifying stories with Doctor Strange.

Julieta

Julieta (Emma Suarez) is a middle-aged woman living in Madrid with her boyfriend Lorenzo. Both are going to move to Portugal when she casually runs into Bea, former best friend of her daughter Antia, who reveals that she is living in Switzerland married and with three children. With the heart broken after 12 years of total absence of her daughter, Julieta cancels the journey to Portugal and she moves to her former building, in the hope that Antia someday communicates with her by sending a letter. Alone with her thoughts, Julieta starts to write her memories to confront the pain of the events that happened when she was a teenager (Adriana Ugarte) and met Xoan, a Galician fisherman. Falling in love with him, Julieta divides her time between the family, the job and the education of Antia until a fatal accident changes their lives. Slowly decaying in a depression, Julieta is helped by Antia and Bea, but one day Antia goes missing suddenly after a vacation with no clues on where to find her. Spanish film written and directed by Pedro Almodovar.

Hell or High Water

A divorced father and his ex-con brother commit several bank robberies to save their familys West Texas farm from foreclosure while two Texas Rangers are set to catch both brothers. The lawmen follow leads and set up a surveillance spot in order to put an end to the bank robbery spree. One robbery turns violent resulting in a shoot-out between the bank robbers and legally armed town residents. A car chase ensues between the townspeople and the criminals. The Texas Rangers make their way to the scene along with local law enforcement. A final showdown occurs on the mountain ridge. Directed by David Mackenzie, with Chris Pine and Ben Foster.

When the Bough Breaks

John and Laura Taylor (Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall) are a young, professional couple who desperately want a baby. After exhausting all other options, they finally hire Anna (Jaz Sinclair), the perfect woman to be their surrogate  but as she gets further along in her pregnancy, so too does her psychotic and dangerous fixation on the husband. The couple becomes caught up in Annas deadly game and must fight to regain control of their future before its too late.

For more information on the latest releases, visit www.writingstudio.co.za
A colleague posted pictures on social media recently of simple times, when cars had a manual gearbox and the idea of climate control was a group of sliders that adjusted the air temperature.

VW Passat interior

Today things are very different. Having spoken to a number of international car designers and executives recently, it is clear the pace of change is accelerating. No doubt the car that was featured in my colleague's pictures had dials for instrumentation. Many cars still do  simple, clear dials that have a needle for the revs and speed and possibly an electronic indication of the fuel level or engine temperature.

Then Audi introduced its virtual cockpit and everything changed. The idea of a digital dash is not new: Aston Martin had it on its Lagonda in the 1980s, although it looked more like the displays from an old Texas Instruments calculator (remember those?). Toyota also had a digital display in its Cressida. Then everything went analogue again.

I bring all this up because the other day I was at one of the big mining companies and the scientist I was meeting walked me out to my car, our long-term Volkswagen Passat. He took one look at the digital instrumentation and was seriously impressed. I am still impressed with it. Gone are the days of bland dials that might be lit up by some blue lighting. Today the once humble and underrated Passat is a technology leader compared to many rivals.

Audi calls it the virtual cockpit, but VW is a little more straightforward, calling it the digital info display. It enables you to have your navigation dominating the display in front of you while the speedo and rev counter are reduced in size. You can display your infotainment options, change the style theme, access your trip computer info and scroll through your phone book. The Passat has never been so cool.

Of course, the digital display is an option, but as I have said before, you have to have it, whether you are in a VW or an Audi. Mercedes might have had it first in the modern era in its S Class, but VW and Audi have perfected it. The days of analogue instrumentation are numbered.

While I am on the subject of things that look cool in the Passat, I also noticed the other day that it has a frameless rearview mirror. It is a bizarre discovery because unlike that numpty who has not noticed you behind them on the highway, I use my rearview mirror all the time.

Then suddenly I realised that instead of this big, bulky mirror, the designers have incorporated something cool and elegant.

I have said it before but I'll say it again, VW's designers really thought about everything and put some serious effort into the latest-generation Passat.

Now where have they fitted the Nespresso machine?

Source: Business Day
The new Suzuki Baleno, which officially joined the carmaker's range of compact cars at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, goes on sale in South Africa this November.

Produced in India for international markets, including Japan, the Baleno has posted sales of more than 100,000 units in just 12 months in India alone, with 60,000 back orders and a 33-week waiting period. It is currently exported to more than 30 markets around the world, including Europe and Australia.

Design theme

Suzuki used a so-called Liquid Flow design theme for the new Baleno. The concept allows for flowing lines from front to rear, while sculpted accent lines along the sides serve to underline the streamlined shape. Blacked out A and B-pillars, a smooth roofline and a tailgate neatly integrated into the wind-cheating profile add to the look.

The front view is dominated by the deep, wide grille and large Suzuki-logo. The grille links to the bold, clear-lensed headlight clusters on either side. The integrated bumper separates the grille from the large lower air intake, with recessed fog lamps located on either side in the case of GLX models. Pronounced contours emphasise the wheel arches, which are home to 15-inch steel or 16-inch alloy wheels, depending on model.

The rear is chunky and muscular, with a broad integrated rear bumper, prominent tail light clusters and a wide-opening tailgate. A rooftop spoiler is standard on GLX models. According to the company the streamlined shape is also aerodynamically efficient with a drag coefficient of 0,299, making it the most aerodynamic production model Suzuki has ever produced.

Roomy interior

The cabin is roomier than the compact exterior proportions suggest, says Suzuki. The distance between the front seat backrest and the rear bench seat, also referred to as the tandem distance, is an impressive 805 mm, which is 70 mm more than the Swift. In overall terms, the Balenos interior is 87 mm longer than that of the Swift, which accounts for the singular impression of roominess in the newcomers cabin.

The rear bench seat is divided 60:40, allowing each section to be folded flat individually to create range of seating versus cargo space options. The luggage compartment is 355 litres with the rear bench seat raised, and can be extended to 756 litres with the rear seated folded flat. Total rear volume to roof height with the seat folded flat is 1,085 litres.

The width of the cabin is emphasised by the smooth expanse of the instrument panel, which is home to an instrument binnacle directly ahead of the driving position. A 6,2-inch colour display for the infotainment system is located in the centre stack in the case of GLX models. Ample storage is provided via the glove compartment, as well a storage binnacles in the centre console and the bottom of the centre stack. The front doors get storage pockets too, while cup holders and bottle holders are provided front and rear.

Chassis and suspension

The Baleno employs an all-new platform, designed specifically to be more rigid while reducing overall weight. Despite being larger than the Swift, the Baleno is 11 percent lighter, with a kerb mass of just 915 kg.

The Balenos body is an integral part of the quest for less weight and improved rigidity. Its smooth, curved shape requires fewer joints and therefore less reinforcements. Using special, high-tensile steel, the basic body shell weighs just 196 kg  the lightest in the B-segment hatchback class. Weight saving measures have been applied to every component of the new Baleno, including the doors, suspension, seats and the brakes. The reduced kerb mass benefits performance by improving the Balenos power-to-weight ratio, and also enhances economy.

The body also expresses Suzukis Total Effective Control Technology (TECT) concept, which focuses on enhancing occupant protection. Thus, the Balenos lightweight body and high-tensile steel panels disperse impact forces more evenly and efficiently in the case of a collision. The steering is electrically assisted, while the ABS-assisted brake system comprises front discs and rear drums in the case of the GL model, and discs all round for GLX variants.

Safety and security

All Baleno models come with ABS anti-lock brakes, augmented electronic brake force distribution (EBD) and emergency braking assistance (EBA). Dual front airbags are standard too, while GLX models also get side and curtain airbags.

Inertia reel seatbelts are fitted to all five seating positions. The front seat belts feature pre-tensioners and load limiters. Adjustable head restraints are provided for all five occupants. Other safety and security-related features include IsoFix child seat tethers integrated into the rear bench seat, childproof rear door locks, side impact protection beams and an alarm/immobiliser system. Remote central locking is also standard.

Engine and transmission

In South Africa, all three Suzuki Baleno models are powered by the same 1,4-litre engine. The K14B four-cylinder unit produces 68 kW of maximum power at 6,000 r/min, combined with a torque peak of 130 Nm at 4 200 r/min. Highlights of the normally aspirated, 1 373 cc power unit includes four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing and multipoint fuel injection.

The engine also links up to the Balenos weight-saving theme, thanks to an aluminium cylinder head, while a pent-roof combustion chamber, and a crossflow intake and exhaust valve configuration contribute to the engines efficiency.

While the same engine is used across the range, Baleno buyers have a choice of two gearboxes: a five-speed manual, and a four-speed automatic transmission. Drive is to the front wheels in both cases.

Performance and economy

With a power-to-weight ratio of 76,5 kW/ton for the manual transmission model, and 74,9 kW/ton for the automatic version, the new Baleno offers sprightly performance and impressive fuel economy. Manual gearbox derivatives accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 10,9 seconds, and achieve a top speed of 180 km/h. The automatic model boasts a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 11,6 seconds, while top speed is 170 km/h.

Suzuki says the Balenos light kerb mass translates into agile handling characteristics and responsive rack-and-pinion steering is electrically assisted. Average fuel consumption for the combined cycle comes to 5,1 litres/100 km for the manual model, and 5,4 litres/100 km for the automatic version. The rated CO2 exhaust gas emissions are 120 g/km for manual models, and 128 g/km for the automatic version.

Model range and specification

The new Suzuki Baleno is offered in two specification grades. The more affordable GL spec level is offered in conjunction with the manual gearbox only, while the upmarket GLX versions can be ordered with either the manual or the automatic transmissions.

Baleno GL: Standard exterior features include colour-coded exterior mirrors and door handles, blacked out A and B-pillars, multi-reflector halogen headlights, and green-tinted windows. The Baleno GL runs on 15-inch steel wheels with full wheel covers, shod with 175/65 R15 tyres. Inside the cabin, you'll find smart cloth upholstery and black dashboard trim with silver accents. The drivers seat is height-adjustable, while the rear bench seat is split 60:40 and can be folded flat individually or completely.

Electric windows front and rear are standard, as is manual air-conditioning with a pollen filter, remote central locking, and electrically adjustable exterior mirrors. The front sun visors both feature vanity mirrors. The instrument binnacle is home to large circular dials for the speedometer and rev counter, together with indicators for engine temperature and fuel tank level. The two main dials are separated by a bright digital display for the Balenos on-board computer.

Selectable information includes range, instant and average fuel consumption, time, and trip distance travelled. The display also incorporates the cars odometer.

The instruments are framed by the tilt-adjustable multifunction steering wheel, which features integrated controls for the audio system, and the Bluetooth-based hands-free telephony system.

In the Baleno GL, the audio system comprises an MP3-compatible CD receiver with six loudspeakers, offering integrated Bluetooth for both hands-free telephony and audio streaming. Theres also a USB port, a 3,5 mm stereo auxiliary input, and a 12V power socket.

Baleno GLX: The GLX specification grade offers everything on the GL list, but with some additions and upgrades. Viewed front on, the headlights represent the most noticeable difference. They feature HID projector elements and LED daytime running lights, while low-mounted recessed fog lamps are standard, too. The exterior mirror housings incorporate integrate turn indicator repeaters.

Additional exterior features that set the GLX apart from its GL stablemate include the chrome-finished door handles, as well the chrome beltline mouldings and chrome tailgate garnish, while the tailgate features a roof-end spoiler. Privacy glass for the rear windows and rear screen is standard, as are revised tail light clusters. The GLX models are fitted with upgraded wheels and tyres. The 16-inch alloys are shod with 185/55 R16 tyres.

Inside, the Baleno GLX includes a 6,2-inch TFT colour screen in the centre of the dashboard, which serves as the interface for the Balenos infotainment system.

The instrument cluster remains the same, but the digital display is upgraded to a 4,2-inch TFT colour display, and gains the ability to display average speed and ambient temperature, as well as a graphic representation of engine power and torque output. The steering wheel features a leather-trimmed rim, and is adjustable for both reach and rake.

The multifunction steering wheel gets additional controls for the cruise control, which is included in the GLX specification. Also upgraded is the air-conditioning, which is now fully automatic. And rear park distance control is fitted as standard, too. Remote central locking remains standard, but is augmented by keyless starting. The interior lighting adds a front map reading light to the centrally mounted cabin light, while the centre console is fitted with an armrest over the centre storage box.

GLX models gain side and curtain airbags, bringing the total tally to six, while the ABS braking system features rear disc brakes, instead of the GL models rear drums.

The new Baleno is covered by a standard three-year/100,000 km warranty, as well as a four-year/60 000 km service plan. Services are at 15,000 km/12 month intervals.
The corporate world is undergoing three major shifts: from silo to integrated reporting; from financial capital to inclusive capital, and from short-term profit to sustainable development. This is reflected globally by the United Nations and several multinational enterprises agreeing to the Sustainable Development Goals earlier this year, which focus on three key areas namely economic, social and environmental," explains Professor Mervyn King, chair of the King Committee and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).

He elaborates that there are six capitals impacting any business: financial, human, intellectual, manufactured, natural and social capitals. None of these operate in a vacuum, and the King IV report take all of these aspects into account to guide the CFO to not only look at financial statements and profit for shareholders, but that the business is creating value from all of these six sources.

Report in clear language

Looking at the businesss strategy on this basis, the CFO must ensure that the company will be seen to be a responsible corporate citizen with its stakeholders having trust and confidence in it, a good reputation and is operating legitimately. The CFO must ensure that the board of the company discharges its duty of accountability by reporting in clear, concise and understandable language.

This means that the CFO, working together with the CEO and other senior managers, should extract the material financial information from reports and put it in clear language in the integrated report, not in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) speak, explains King.

Plague of short-term profit

One of the worlds biggest asset owners, BlackRock, indicates that before investing their ultimate beneficiarys money, it needs to know the long-term narrative of a company to see whether that company will create value in a sustainable manner long term.

The plague of short-term profit, or as Hilary Clinton has called it in her presidential campaign, the tyranny of quarterly profits is yesterdays focus whereas today the focus is on sustainable development. In this regard King IV will take account of the three critical aspects, and how the company makes its money on all three aspects, says King.

The King IV Report is outcomes based. To try and achieve quality governance the outcomes are ethical culture and effective leadership; adequate and effective control; value creation in a sustainable manner; trust and confidence in the company; good reputation and legitimacy of operations.

Reputational damage equals financial loss

The role of the CFO in terms of corporate governance should not be underestimated. For example, earlier this year four major banks severed their ties with the Gupta aligned Oakbay Investments due to allegations of integrity. This shows that even the perception of poor governance can do great reputational damage to a company, which results in financial losses.

Therefore, the forthcoming King IV Report is an important topic at the 46th World CFO Congress, taking place in Cape Town from 9 to 11 November 2016, says Nicolaas van Wyk, SA Institute for Business Accountants' (SAIBA) CEO and IAFEI board member.
Just when you thought the Loeries buzz was over, the Loeries' rankings are in! I chatted to some of this year's top-ranked creatives post-celebrations. Here, some of Joe Public United's brightest stars share their views.

Joe Public Uniteds 2016 Loerie Awards haul back in August was impressive. It encompassed a design crafts: writing campaign craft certificate for Nedbank Retails Food for thought - 'Big cheese', 'Upper crust' and 'Bring home the bacon', as well as integrated campaign bronze and bronze Loeries for the same clients Twitter Track campaign in the digital and interactive social media and live activations categories, another bronze Loerie for Nedbank Insurances Family tree in the SA non-English print advertising category.

Silver Loeries also went to client Clover SAs fresh milk drought packs in the in-store outdoor and out-of-home category and client PNets Table magazine advertising, as well as a campaign craft certificate for their Part of the furniture - Chair, table, coat hanger campaign. Then there was PR communication campaign silver for Clover Futurelifes Smartdrink Drink of the future; campaign silver in newspaper advertising andcampaign craft gold in the Print crafts  illustration category for client McCain Frozen Vegetables Frozen at their best - Rugby player, Lifeguard, Vigilante campaign. Another silver Loerie went to Ignite Joe Public for media innovation: Single medium for De Beers Voerspoed Mines Safety; with an effective creativity bronze for Dial Direct Insurances Time is precious; and (finally), craft certificates in TV crafts - production design as well as TV crafts  Cinematography for South African Breweries 18+ Be the Mentor.

The dazzling Joes

Amori Brits, head of design at Shift Joe Public, also took home the accolade as one of this years Adams & Adams Young Creative winners over the awards weekend. Thats quite a mouthful, as are Joe Publics recently revealed Loeries 2016 rankings. They range from ranking third for large-sized (100 or more employees) agencies and ranking sixth overall by agency, both for the South African and regional agency group tables; to Pepe Marais as fourth ranked chief creative officer, Roanna Williams as eighth ranked creative director and Adam Weber as ninth ranked executive creative director.

Some of team Joe at Loeries 2016. (Marais is third). More of team Joe at Loeries 2016. (Williams is second, Schlumpf third).

Here, Marais, at the agency for 18 years and currently working on three massive projects across their portfolio; Williams, at the agency for 3.5 years and working across Panado, Chicken Licken and Iwyze insurance; and Martin Schlumf, creative director at Ignite Joe Public for 3.5 years whos working on all the things; share how they feel about all their wins, plans to extend their winning streak next year and who they admire most in the industry

1. Share your top three emotions linked to your Loeries wins and 2016 rankings.

Marais: I was truly ecstatic, as we ranked better than I anticipated, as an agency and as a group. I am most happy about the recognition of our other creative leaders as they pour so many hours into the quality of our product as an agency.

Williams: Relief, gratitude and huge pride for my team.

Schlumpf: Gratitude, jubilation and pride.

2. How do you plan on keeping  if not bettering  your rankings next year?

Marais: We have been focusing for the past two years on the daily improvement of our product across our group, in line with our growth purpose and our key values  hence a very consistent performance across a multiple of categories for a second year running. This coming year we are focusing specifically on film across all platforms.

Williams: Working really hard at the work that is worth it.

Schlumpf: Hard work, keep doing what I love and the rest will happen.

3. Where are you displaying your Loeries? How does this years flock differ from your haul last year?

Marais: There's a little flock of birds all over Joe. We are, however, more interested in creating a buzz on social platforms through the work we do.

Williams: I am not one for public displays. However, I do use one as a paper weight. There are a couple more who have joined our flock.

Schlumpf: Its on my desk for now, no ones come to collect it. I got a couple more birds last year, a silver for TV was the best, but this years gold definitely outshines the rest!

4. Tell us who you personally admire in the industry  both an established mentor figure as well as a newcomer making waves.

Marais: I have always admired John Hunt for his wisdom and the calibre agency he and Reg built, and also for the role he plays on a global level. And although he is not a newcomer at all, but the next level creative leadership in our group, I look up to Xolisa Dyeshana. But more than most, I admire those rare clients who are brave enough to allow their agencies to do great, great work that deeply connects with people. In the end, we are in the business of human connection, meaning it will always take two to tango.

Williams: David Droga and Tristan Holmes.

Schlumpf: Pepe Marais is probably the person I admire most. And not because Im sucking up or anything, but because hes a great mentor and I truly admire how the team has built an agency from scratch and taken it to the place it is right now. Theyve kept it independent and proudly South African. Ill always respect that.

As do we. Looking forward to seeing what 2017 holds! Click through to our Loeries' special section for more, here for more from Joe Public United and be sure to follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
The main objective of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2C while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5. The recognition of the 1.5 degree target is of central importance. This is because African countries are highly vulnerable to climate change.

Temperatures across Africa, however, are rising. This year marks the moment when carbon dioxide officially passed the symbolic 400 parts per million (ppm) mark. And, according to scientists, it will not return to below this in our lifetimes. The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 350ppm. Passing the symbolic 400ppm mark permanently is a clear sign that mean annual temperature rise in Africa is likely to exceed 2C by the end of this century.

The deal struck last December under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris marked a seminal moment in the development of the international climate change regime. The deal is also an important tool in mobilising finance, technological support and capacity building for developing countries to help them cope with and tackle climate change.

But the details still need to be worked out. As Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary of the convention said:

while the Paris Agreement gave clear pathways and a final destination in respect to decisive action on climate change, many of the details regarding how to move forward as one global community in that common direction still need to be resolved.

The 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) taking place in Morocco holds considerable potential to accelerate and amplify the decisions made a year ago in Paris.

African concerns

In Cairo earlier this year African ministers of environment and representatives of more than 45 African countries welcomed the adoption of the Paris Agreement. They emphasised that the agreement accommodated many African concerns and interests. The meeting also stressed the need for African countries to continue engaging actively in climate change negotiations to provide further guidance on the implementation of the Agreement.

One of the most contentious issues on the table will be the progress towards mobilising the $100bn a year promised by developed countries to developing economies by 2020.

South Africa has played a leading role in helping to secure climate financing for developing countries. Ensuring meaningful progress on reaching this $100bn target will be a key element of South Africas proposed position in Marrakech.

But there is considerable concern about the promised $100bn and where it will come from.

Oxfam France recently complained that a recent meeting of European Finance Ministers gave no concrete indication about how they are going to increase the total amount of aid to meet the $100 billion objective. This omission is significant as the EU represents one of the main providers of development funding.

A paper published by the Indian Ministry of Economic Affairs questioned the findings of an earlier Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report that said developed countries had mobilised $57bn of climate aid in 2013-14. Indian officials suggested that the true amount figure mobilised by rich countries may only be $2.2bn.

The discrepancy is important because the OECDs report is accepted by developed countries as the basis of negotiations and evidence that there has been significant progress made towards the $100bn commitment.

In Marrakech South Africas will press for a clear pathway to realising the $100bn of climate finance per year by 2020.

Mitigation and adaptation

Another key element of South Africas proposed position for the conference is adaptation. The adaptation component of Nationally Determined Commitments is central to the call by a number of developing countries, particularly in Africa, for a balanced treatment of mitigation and adaptation. South Africa believes the agreement should address vulnerability, priorities, plans and actions, implementation and support needs, as well as adaptation efforts for recognition in the case of developing countries.

On mitigation, South Africa wants to see progress on the features and information contained in the Nationally Determined Contributions at COP22. This includes the consideration of common time frames for contributions to allow for effective global stocktaking and ratcheting up of country commitments in future. This is essential if the target of 2C is to be met.

South Africa has ratified the agreement along with 17 other African countries. These are Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland and Uganda. Signing the agreement requires countries to adopt it within their own legal systems through ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

They are among 92 countries to have ratified the terms of the agreement. This breaks all UN records when it comes to how fast an agreement enters into force.

But signatures alone wont do the trick. Hard decisions must be made, and commitments must be backed up by concrete action. Developing countries like South Africa will be pushing for this to happen in Marrakech.


The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists was marked on 2 November 2016 by media organisations around the globe.

Image by 123RF

In a joint statement by the European Union and African Union, the following was said:

Media accountability lies first and foremost with the general public. Freedom of opinion and expression, both online and offline, are fundamental rights and constitute essential foundations for democracy, rule of law, peace and stability. The EU fully supports AU commitment expressed in the AU Agenda 2063 to achieve by 2025 freedom of expression and the promotion of the establishment of a vibrant press that informs the public and holds governments accountable.

The EU fully supports AU commitment expressed in the AU Agenda 2063 to achieve by 2025 freedom of expression

Nevertheless, journalists continue to be killed and face increasing level of intimidation and violence. The disregard for the fundamental rights of journalists as they exercise their profession has led to a climate of impunity affecting not only victims, but also freedom of expression and rule of law.

The EU and the AU attach the highest priority to the safety of journalists, bloggers and other media actors. We welcome the recent adoption by the UN Human Rights Council of a resolution on the safety of journalists as a very positive step forward to ensure the safety for members of the media.

We call on state authorities to fulfil their responsibility to protect journalists, establish a meaningful deterrence against the violent targeting of media professionals, and fully abide by their international and continental obligations. State authorities should investigate crimes against journalists effectively, promptly and in an independent manner and ensure that both state and non-state perpetrators and instigators of such violence are brought to justice.

To strengthen engagement for the promotion of media freedom and pluralism and the protection of journalists in the EU, the EU is devoting the Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights to media pluralism and democracy (1718 November).
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn issued a joint statement on the detention of several HDP Members, including the party's co-chairs. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the EU External Action, the statement runs as follows,

The European Union is gravely concerned about the detention last night of several HDP Members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on charges alleging support of terrorist activities. Among those detained are the party's co-chairs Ms. Figen Yuksekdag and Mr. Selahattin Demirtas, both democratically elected leaders and our trusted and valued interlocutors.



These developments add to the concerns we expressed after the immunity of more than 130 democratically elected Members of Parliament was lifted in May this year. They compromise parliamentary democracy in Turkey and exacerbate the already very tense situation in the South East of the country, for which there can only be a political solution.



The EU considers actions against PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation also by the EU, as legitimate. At the same time the EU believes that such actions must never undermine the basic principles of democracy.



We expect Turkey to safeguard its parliamentary democracy, including respect for human rights and the rule of law, and we are conveying these expectations directly to the Turkish authorities. Together with the Council of Europe, the EU will continue to follow and assess the situation very closely, in constant coordination with all Member States.

European Parliament's Turkey rapporteur, Kati Piri told BBC Turkish service commenting on the recent developments that she expects a concrete signal from the Brussels to suspend accession negotiations with Turkey.
We entertain, inform and empower African communities that inspire and build us in return.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Three US soldiers were killed in a shooting attack outside a Jordanian training facility on Friday, Armenpress reports, citing Al Jazeera, a US official said, following earlier reports that one or two US personnel were dead.

"A total of three US service members died today in the incident in Jordan," the official said. "Initial reports were that one was killed, two injured. The two injured soldiers were transported to a hospital in Amman, where they died."

"The service members were in vehicles approaching the gate of a Jordanian military training facility, where they came under small arms fire," the official added.

"We are working with the Jordanian government to gather additional details about what happened."

The shooting took place at the gate of the Prince Faisal airbase in al-Jafr, southern Jordan, when the car carrying the US trainers failed to stop, the Jordanian army said, adding that a Jordanian officer was also wounded.
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: The ministrys statement reads: Overnight November 3-4 Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact more than 41 times, firing around 530 shots from various caliber small arms at Armenian positions.

In the eastern and northern directions of the line of contact, Azerbaijani forces fired a DShk type heavy machine gun (16 rounds).

The Defense Army forces mainly refrained from taking countermeasures and confidently continued protection of military positions."
Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: The sides exchanged views on the Armenian-German relations and prospects of development.

The meeting also focused on international and regional issues.

Nalbandian presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries aimed at the creation of conditions for moving the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict forward.

The sides also touched upon the situation in the Middle East, protection of minorities and issues of assistance to refugees.

The meeting also included the Armenia-EU relations and the talks on a new legal document.
Europe has criticized the detentions of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers and co-chairs, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

November 4, 2016, 15:15 Europe criticizes Turkey over detentions of HDP lawmakers

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: The high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, Federica Mogherini, reacted to the detentions of HDP lawmakers.

Mogherini said on Twitter she was extremely worried about the arrest of Selahattin Demirtas and other HDP MPs and said she was in contact with authorities, while calling for an EU ambassadors meeting in Ankara.

Very bad news from Turkey. Again. Now HDP members of parliament are being detained. Kati Piri, the European Parliaments Turkey rapporteur said on her Twitter account.
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: By praising the Bundestags adoption of the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Nalbandian appreciated the principled stance of the German Parliament.

During the meeting discussions were held regarding the Armenian-German mutual cooperation and prospects of deepening and strengthening the relations.

Nalbandian also touched upon the Armenia-European Union relations.

Minister Nalbandian briefed the attendees of the meeting on details of the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh in April, including its blatant violations of international humanitarian rights, results of the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits and the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries aimed at creating relevant conditions for the progress of the settlement process of the NK conflict.

The Minister noted that Azerbaijan refuses to realize the agreements which were reached during the summits in this regard, and is inflicting serious damage to the efforts of a peaceful resolution by continuing to escalate the situation in the line of contact.

Edward Nalbandian stressed : Another such provocative manifestation is the large-scale military exercise which is planned to be held in Azerbaijan in a week, where according to Baku, almost the entire armed forces and military equipment of Azerbaijan will be involved, which is a serious violation of international obligations on armament supervision. This is the response of Azerbaijani leadership to the urges of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries on resuming the negotiations aimed at an exclusively peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Nalbandian briefed the German lawmakers and experts on the ongoing reforms in Armenia, attaching importance to the assistance of international organizations and partner countries in that process.

Several urgent regional issues were also discussed at the meeting.

The discussions were followed by a Q&A between Minister Nalbandian and participants of the meeting.
Based on the results and an approved Youth Policy draft, the representatives will participate in and discuss the draft at the Myanmar Youth Policy Forum in Nay Pyi Taw, during the second week of November.

What we are working on now is the Mon State Youth Policy. The policy draft from this forum will be taken by representatives to the youth forum in Nay Pyi Taw. It is there that, with ministry officials and youths from other states, we will discuss the policy draft. We will then discuss further the broader Myanmar youth policy, said U Myat Min, who is in charge of the Mon State Youth Policy Drafting committee.

U Myat Min went on to say that from September 6 to 29, the Mon State Youth Network held meetings with young people across Mon States 10 townships.

At this forum, young people working at CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) will be participating. Young ethnic people will also join. We also invited all ethnic organizations. We will elect 12 representatives and these 12 representatives will then participate at the union level forum, said Daw Khine Khine Le Myint.

The forum is being held to create youth policy for the whole country and to make sure the government responds to the public as required in their respective states and regions.

At the union level Youth Policy Drafting forum, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, the Ministry of Health and Sport, the Ministry of Education, experts and UN representatives will be expected to join, and ultimately youths from states and regions will cooperate with the policy.
Land confiscation and land security is a problem in many parts of Myanmar. Why the focus on Karen State?

While land confiscation is an issue across the country, the legacy of conflict in Karen State makes the realization of land rights much more complicated. As some areas in Karen State become safer, what were seeing is investors moving in to take advantage and seize land, using their knowledge and influence with government officials, before local people have time to secure their land rights through formal systems. At the same time, BGFs and other militias in the areas are still able to use intimidation and threats of violence take land at will with seemingly no repercussions. The Tatmadaw is simply looking the other way as these BGF commanders do what they want with local people and their land.

What sort of numbers are we looking at? How many people are affected by land confiscation?

A major part of the problem is that we don't know the scale of land confiscation because the local land office records are notoriously poor, and farmers who lose their land are often too scared to report their grievances to the local government, particularly if the land seizure is being done by local armed groups like the various BGF militias.

Who is taking the land?

Its basically open season on valuable land in Karen state, and everyone is trying to grab a piece of the pie. Weve seen local militia leaders, government, and wealthy businessmen all involved in taking the land. In terms of foreign investment, Chinese companies, particularly those interested in mining operations, are prevalent.

What needs to be done to tackle this problem?

Militia leaders need to be held accountable for using their position and arms to improperly seize land. The government must stop charging farmers with criminal trespass when they simply exercise their rights to free expression and peaceful protest to defend their rights to land. Furthermore, Burma needs to amend its Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law in line with international human rights standards so that those who speak out against improper confiscations are protected. Lastly, local systems land systems must be responsive to local populations, be robust in ensuring participation by local people, and must have mechanisms to fairly and efficiently address complaints, and ensure that land that is unfairly taken is returned.

How much can the central government help?

The central government really has a key role to play in addressing the crisis in human rights and land seizures. First, the central government should continue to strengthen legal protections for farmers, including by recognizing communal land tenure systems and creating better complaint mechanisms. The government also needs to take action to deal with other abusive laws, like the Peaceful Assembly Law and Peaceful Procession Law, which affects land activists nationwide and should be amended to protect free expression and peaceful assembly in line with international human rights standards. That law is now being used as a hammer against farmers and other peaceful protesters, and these arrests and imprisonments must end immediately. The central government also has to play a key role in sorting out the complex issue of how to ensure land tenure security for displaced persons or returning refugees, like the over 100,000 people still in refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border.

Is the issue of land ownership included in the protracted peace negotiations?

Land rights issues were a key point in the preliminary ceasefire agreement between the Tatmadaw and the KNU. Signatories of the NCA agreed to avoid forcible displacement and forcible taking of property. The agreement also contains a provision to support IDPs. The KNU has its own land policy, and at times KNU-issued documents are in conflict with government-issued documents. The real test will be to see whether the two systems are able to work together, and whether, at some point down the road, they can be integrated in a way that protects rights of persons currently regulated by these two different systems. Its going to be hard, but its absolutely critical that the government and the KNU address this, and get it right.

The first batches of refugees in Thailand are going back - except they are not going back to their land, it seems? What are the issues with this?

Returning refugees will face huge challenges in accessing land upon return to Karen State. In our research, we met some returnees (who were not refugees) from Thailand attempting to access land, only to find it had been claimed for a government project. Since refugees now in camps on the Thailand-Burma border returning have most likely fled years ago, at a time when their rights to the land might not have been recorded in a formal system, it will be extremely difficult for them to return without the support of the government and assurances that their needs will be met. However, what we learned from current government actions to deal with populations displaced either by conflict or development is illustrative of what may happen in the future. Government programs to provide compensation in the form of land have thus far been unsuccessful, with complaints that the land promised already belongs to other farmers, and complaints that new villages set up for victims of conflict have in reality been reserved for army families. These issues seriously call into question the government's ability to manage land for a returning refugee population. So to summarize, land issues have the potential to be a major problem in ensuring the return of refugees from the border.

HRW is highlighting the problem. What more can be done?

Donors should take proactive steps to support grassroots level efforts to work within this new system. Promoting a strong system of public education on land laws, legal aid, and support for local grassroots organizations is the best way to ensure that local farmers have the ability to stand up for their own rights.
PR Newswire

ALBLASSERDAM, The Netherlands, November 4, 2016

ALBLASSERDAM, The Netherlands, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Unveiling of Project Spectrum at the FLIBS

102m / 334ft Nauta Design

At the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Oceanco revealed its latest design, the 102m Project Spectrum. Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, President/CEO of Show Management, performed the honors of unveiling the spectacular new scale model.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435998 )

Aptly named, Spectrum was conceived by Nauta Design and Oceanco to encompass a broad range of possibilities, both in terms of her propulsion system and her living spaces. Designer Mario Pedol of Nauta was on hand at the premiere of the yacht concept to discuss what Spectrum is all about.

Extensive investment in hull form research and development provides a refined hull shape which, when coupled with the hybrid propulsion system enables Spectrum to cruise in a variety of efficient modes. She maintains a sleek, streamlined profile, which allows lower resistance through the water.

Her layout over five decks provides a gamut of flexibility. There is a close relationship to the sea throughout the yacht, with a seamless flow from outdoor deck spaces to the interior. Light was a very important aspect in creating Spectrum, with large windows and extensive balconies all helping bring the outside atmosphere into the interior.

The lower deck includes a wellness suite with sauna, steam room, beauty treatment area and massage rooms, with two terraces opening symmetrically port and starboard from the massage room and gym areas.

The upper deck is the owners' deck with a panoramic-view forward from the owners' suite and direct access to a private spa pool and sitting area. The forward deck is equipped with a touch- and- go helicopter-landing pad. Aft is an additional salon and bar area, which can form part of the owner's private area or be opened to the other guests onboard. The secluded owner's deck aft is ideal for alfresco dining.

The bridge deck houses the command center with a large helm area, two wing stations and a Portuguese bridge. The central lift serves all five decks. A further guest lounge is located aft on the bridge deck, with a 3m X 3m Jacuzzi on the aft deck.

Spectrum is LY3 compliant offering variety, flexibility and continuity. As with a rainbow, Spectrum is like a band of colors produced by subtle variations of wave length. She is mercurial in how she offers so many possibilities.

Main Specifications

Length: 102m / 334ft

Beam: 15.3m / 50ft

Speed: 18.5 knots

Propulsion System (Hybrid)

2 x MTU 16V4000 M72 (1440 kW each)

Combined with electric propulsion motor ([email protected] each)

Flag: Cayman Islands - LY3

Accommodation

Double owner's suite with private exterior deck

2 VIP Suites with private balconies

4 Guest suites

http://www.builtbyOCEANCO.com

SOURCE Oceanco
PR Newswire

SINGAPORE, Nov. 3, 2016

SINGAPORE, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Italian workmanship, creativity and quality lies at the heart of Oro D' Italia. Beyond the scope of the craftsmanship, Oro D' Italia offers core values to its customers through their high-level expertise, long-standing reputation and complete reliability. Oro D' Italia is a jewellery retail platform which is the brainchild of Rosalind Lim, a Singaporean with over 30 years of experience in fine jewellery working very closely with high net worth individuals and buyers, and Fabio Cascapera, an Italian from a line of jewellers spanning three generations and who arrived in Singapore at the age of 19 as a diamond wholesaler. Their aim is to showcase new and upcoming Italian jewellery designers, manufacturers and artisans and to bring never-before-seen fine jewellery pieces for discerning buyers in Singapore. During their launch at the Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair 2016 held at Marina Bay Sands from 4th - 7th November, the duo will bring together collections from over 19 Italian manufacturers and designers with over 3,000 pieces.

"We are offering jewellery connoisseurs the opportunity to view and purchase pieces that are intriguing, unique and extraordinary. The collections that we have carefully picked are rare and not available in retail stores across Singapore or Southeast Asia. Italian designers have always been innovative and bold, but we are looking for the best from concept to completion. These collections are sourced not only because they are unique but also ensure quality from craftsmanship to creative use of materials, be it gold, colour diamonds, precious stones, carbon fibre or even wood. We believe in offering fine jewellery buyers the best with a reliable after-sales service as these pieces are not just a purchase but an investment," said Rosalind Lim, Owner of Oro D' Italia.

"Jewellery buyers in Singapore have an eye for good designs and we would like to offer them 100% Italian made fine jewellery that will make them stand out from the crowd. We carry a wide-range of collections going beyond classic designs which have a great appeal in this region, and we know that because of the network of buyers and retailers that we have established together over the years working in this industry. With the selection of pieces we are trying educate our buyers about the concept behind the design and not just the piece, we are offering them an experience and not just a purchase," added Fabio Cascapera, Owner of Oro D' Italia.

Oro D' Italia will be present at booth no. C123 and C129 (Halls E and F) at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre during Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair 2016. Brands at display will include Piero Milano, QUATTROCOLO, TODINI, FALCINELLI ITALY, GORGOGLIONE Preziosi, VERDI, IACOPINI, MARIA GRECA Roma, Lunati Jewellery, Ciaravolo, Paolo Piavan, Gisci, Buzzanca, Giovanni Ferraris, Talento Italiano, and Tosti Gioielli.

Notes to editor:

About Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair

Exclusively endorsed by the Singapore Jewellers Association and the Diamond Exchange of Singapore, Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair is the most significant fine jewellery event in Singapore and the region. In 2015, the event attracted internationally-acclaimed exhibitors from 28 countries, targeting the region's fastest growing high-net-worth population. The fair is organised by UBM Exhibition Singapore Pte Ltd, a member of UBM Asia, the organiser of the world's number one fine jewellery event, the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair.

About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. With a track record spanning over 30 years, UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face exhibitions and high-level professional conferences, 21 targeted trade publications, 18 round-the-clock online products for over 2,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. We provide a one-stop diversified global service for high-value business matching, quality market news and online trading networks.

Media contacts

Selena SheikhPINPOINT PRMobile: [email protected]

Clara Leong UBM Exhibition SingaporeOffice: +65-6592-0888 ext [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435789Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435791 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435790 Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160725/8521604757LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/singaporean-italian-duo-to-launch-oro-d-italia----100-italian-hand-made-fine-jewellery-retail-platform-during-singapore-jewellery-and-gem-fair-at-marina-bay-sands-300356883.html

SOURCE UBM Asia
Armenian artist Martiros Sarians (Armenia, 18801972) Poppies and Camomiles, was realized at $67,375 at Trinity International Auction held in Ohio State of the US.

November 4, 2016, 17:17 Martiros Saryans work - the top lot at Trinity International Auction

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: As Panorama.am reports, referring to antiquesandthearts.com, the works was the sales top lot.

Another Sarian work, Spring in Yeravan, 1955, oil on canvas was bid to $50,200.

The source describes Saryan as a master of the still life genre, who was devoted to the glorification of nature, which both of these works so vividly exemplify.

Other Armenian artists achieved notable results in this sale. Realizing $24,500 was Sultry Day, 1960, an oil on canvas by Minas Avetisian (19281975), a colorful infusion of sunlight tones and buildings and trees. Flowers and Fruit on a Blue Table, 1961, by Harutyun Kalents (19101967) was bid to $17,150.

According to the report, a major portion of the auction comprised a collection of Jewish American artists from 1925 to 1950. The Steven Wasser collection was exhibited at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. There are 80 pieces in the collection  approximately 50 were sold in this auction and the rest will be offered in February.
PR Newswire

DENVER, Nov. 3, 2016

DENVER, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Jon Anderson, Director of The Western Way, a conservative pro-market conservation organization, released the following policy road-map that a President Trump could take to seize the opportunity to reclaim conservatives' position as pro-business conservation champions.

Conservatives have tried hard to draw favorable links between Donald Trump and their beloved Teddy Roosevelt. While the two New Yorkers share common character traits, the more relevant question is whether a President Donald Trump would make any attempt to model his initiatives after President Roosevelt's legacy achievement as a conservative conservationist. The political and policy opportunities are ripe for a President Trump to create such a resurgence.

Somewhere between the end of President Theodore Roosevelt's term in 1909 and 2016, conservatives completely yielded the conservation mantle to the Democrat Party. This has evolved into a political relevancy problem for the GOP in 2016, as millennials cite conservation and environmental policy as priority issues. Cutting through the political narrative created over a hundred years ago, the fact remains that conservatives do not care less about the environment than liberals, they just insist on using facts rather than rhetoric to define the scope of government solutions needed to address our country's most significant environment and conservation challenges.

Energy, conservation, wildlife, and water issues are all areas in which Mr. Trump, if elected president, could engage conservative leaders to find commonsense, pro-market solutions while respecting and enhancing our country's cherished national treasures and resources. In this instance, it is an advantage that Mr. Trump has maintained a clean slate in terms of defining his substantive policies on environmental, conservation, and public lands issues. Before adopting pro forma GOP policies in this space, a President Donald Trump should take a deep breath, channel Teddy Roosevelt, and see the generational opportunity to reclaim conservatives' position as pro-business conservation champions.

Here are four priority initiatives a President Trump could initiate in the first 100 days of his Administration to accomplish this political and policy coup:

Whether you support or oppose Donald Trump, you cannot discount his innate ability to think big and act boldly. It may be that conservatives require this type of brash leadership to shed the false "anti-environment" label that progressive liberals have so effectively branded on conservatives. Conservatives are not anti-conservation or anti-environment. Conservatives are proud stewards of the land who demand efficient solutions to honest problems.

A President Trump, relying on business acumen, would see that the GOP has no opportunities for net gains if its environmental platform rests solely on opposing terrible initiatives created by extreme environmental groups. Instead, a President Trump might just see the enormous political and policy value in reclaiming ownership of President Theodore Roosevelt's legacy by leading common-sense solutions that improve U.S. conservation efforts and enhance the U.S. economy.

The Western Way (www.TheWesternWay.org) is a nonprofit organization promoting pro-market solutions to actual conservation and environmental challenges facing the United States.

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SOURCE The Western Way


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An acquaintance, Oscar Angu, said of him: This young and energetic newsman from Pangia wrote stories about social issues, tribal fights and deteriorating government services so that those of us living in urban areas knew what was happening in Hela and the Highlands region.

He was a teacher at Kuluanda Primary School before beconing a journalist and spent much of his life in Kupari village, Hela Province.

Andrew was from Pangia in the Southern Highlands and was well known for his willingness to track down a story no matter where it was, even in those remote parts of the highlands where there are no computers or telephone services.

VETERAN journalist and chief of the PNG Post-Courier newspaper in Highlands region, Andrew Alphonse, has died.

He was an influential and award-winning journalist and we mourn Andrew by recalling his hard work over so many years.

Opposition Leader Don Polye told PNG Today that Andrew was a shining star in PNGs journalism fraternity.

As a fellow Huli-Opene, I broke into tears when the news of his death reached me, Polye said.

He was full of humour. We used to make funs together when he attended my media conferences, he said.

Polye said Andrew broke a barrier in journalism because it was rare for someone from Hela to become a journalist.

He inspired readers with his style of reporting without fear or favour on issues affecting the country, Polye said.

My brother has not only left a legacy but also a gap which will take years for his young colleagues to fill. He will be missed by of his fans, colleagues and relatives.

The saddest thing is the country has lost someone who has a lot more to offer to the country for its betterment, he said.
The rumors were swirling for months.

Assemblyman Gary Finch, who has served in the Assembly since 1999, wouldn't seek re-election. Possible successors were floated. Reasons for Finch's (alleged) pending retirement were being discussed.

The speculation cooled down when Finch, R-Springport, announced that he planned to seek re-election to the Assembly after declining to run to succeed retiring state Sen. Michael Nozzolio. But it picked up some steam again when the assemblyman broke his ankle in June  around the time that candidates started passing petitions to appear on the ballot.

Finch erased any doubt he would run for re-election in an interview shortly after sustaining the injury.

"It'll take more than an ankle to put me out of commission," he said.

Finch's desire to return to the Assembly is driven by his interest in addressing two issues affecting Cayuga County: The heroin epidemic, which has impacted many families, and Owasco Lake.

On the opioid epidemic, Finch said he's worked with Michelle Gentile and Kevin Jones. Gentile's daughter, Jessica, died of a heroin overdose in 2013. The couple has since co-founded the Heroin Epidemic Action League, which is raising awareness about the drug's devastating effects.

After talking with Gentile and Jones, Finch said he wondered how he could help address the problem plaguing Cayuga County and central New York.

"I became very committed to this problem of heroin addiction, particularly the crisis and the number of deaths that happened," he said in an interview. "It's just changed their lives."

The issue renewed Finch's commitment to serving in the state Legislature.

"After awhile, one does think you've covered all the ground and all of a sudden something like this comes up," he said.

Finch is also motivated to continue representing the 126th Assembly District so he can be in a position to help improve Owasco Lake's water quality.

Tests in September detected blue-green algae toxins in drinking water supplies for the city of Auburn and town of Owasco. Once cooler weather set in, the toxins were no longer detected in public water. But local officials are concerned that the problem could re-emerge next summer when warmer weather returns.

Unlike other state representatives, Finch has a personal connection to Owasco Lake. He's a lifelong resident of the Auburn area and has consumed the water from the lake. He thinks it's important to have a legislator who's from the area advocating for Owasco Lake in Albany.

"I think I have a very good perspective on this project," he said.

Finch is running for re-election against Democratic challenger Diane Dwire. The race is a rematch of the 2014 election, which Finch won by 10 percentage points.

The 126th Assembly District includes portions of Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland and Onondaga counties.

FINCH ON THE ISSUES

Owasco Lake: Finch doesn't know if there's a legislative solution to Owasco Lake water quality issues. He views his role as more of a facilitator. He said it's important to have all sides, including the agricultural community, represented in discussions about how to improve the lake's health.

"They're a factor and they need to be at the table," Finch said of farms within the watershed.

Finch has attended Owasco Watershed Lake Association meetings and played a role in securing two grants totaling $800,000 for Owasco Lake-related projects.

A large chunk of the money  $600,000  wasn't released by the state until recently. It was initially allocated in early 2015.

Finch said the money will be used "for the reasons that the application was made for." Studies will be conducted that will help stakeholders address water quality issues.

Ethics reform: Finch said there's "no question" ethics reform measures are needed. He supports anti-corruption package backed by Assembly Republicans that contains several provisions, including legislation to increase transparency for political fundraising activities and how campaign funds are spent.

He also supports a constitutional amendment that would require state officials convicted of public corruption to forfeit their pensions. And he believes there should be term limits for legislative leaders and committee chairs.

"We should be held to a much higher standard than a regular individual out in the real world," Finch said.

Economic development: The state taxes too much and regulates too much, Finch said. He thinks the minimum wage hike, which will be phased in to $12.50 an hour in upstate and $15 an hour in the New York City area, will have a negative impact on businesses.

He questioned the state's economic development approach under Gov. Andrew Cuomo. There have been competitions held to distribute billions in economic aid to regions across the state.

Finch acknowledges that central New York has been one of the big winners in these competitions, but he wonders how fair the process has been for all regions of the state.

"All of upstate needs help," he said. "To pit one (region) against the other I don't think is particularly effective."

Finch said there needs to be a level playing field. Instead of using billions in state funds to award grants and other assistance, he said the state should use that money to cut taxes.

Education: State aid is a major issue affecting schools in Finch's district. He supported getting rid of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a controversial formula the state used to help close a large budget deficit. The formula resulted in less state aid for school districts.

But the funding challenges don't stop there. Finch said there needs to be a more equitable formula. Much like taxes, he believes there should be a more level playing field for schools, especially districts with high levels of poverty.
Diversified retail group, Sefalana has entered Lesotho market through a brownfield model, a development which has kept its regional push alive. Late yesterday (Thursday), the company announced that it has purchased a large cash and carry going concern which will trade under the banner, TFS Sefalana.

Group finance director, Mohamed Osman told shareholders that the said entity will traded under TFS Sefalana for up to one year after which Sefalana will become the only name, the brand will come to be known in the mountainous country. Osman is excited that the latest development has allowed the group to continue with its expansion within the region. Sefalana, which is quoted in the domestic stock exchange, is already trading in Namibia. It bought an existing group of supermarkets, Metro Cash and Carry Namibia after raising cash worth P255 million.

This time around the company also plans to raise P351 million to fund the latest acquisition. The funds will be raised through a Rights Offer. Osman has cautioned shareholders to exercise caution when dealing with its securities until further notice. The company, together with arch-rival, Choppies Enterprise Limited are the only known retail brands that are flying the countrys flag high in foreign lands. Sefalana, which has also assets in property, manufacturing and milling has announced ambitious plans to claim its retail top spot from Choppies, another listed retail goliath.





In Botswana, the company has also rolled out a number of stores, made some acquisitions and also made available in-house brands. In Lesotho, the company will battle for the same market with South African retail giants such as Shoprite and Pick n Pay. Sefalana also competes with them in Botswana.
Furniture group, Furnmart this week notified shareholders that year-end results will be delayed as the company has just begun winding up one of its non-Botswana operations.

The said subsidiary is in Zambia, said deputy Chairman, Tobias Mynhardt. The results of the BSE-listed company were expected to have been out on or before the last day of October 2016. Now the company, which has a market capitalisation of P630millionsays the results will be publicised not later than 28th November 2016.

Efforts to get a comment from Furnmarttop executives on why the company is closing its operations in the copper-rich country proved futile yesterday (Thursday). However, the companys 2015 annual report had intimated that the Zambian unit was not performing satisfactorily. The weaker Zambian Kwacha has been blamed for the poor profits in the Furnmart subsidiary.





Management will proceed with caution in Zambia, said the annual report. Last week, the Daily Nation reported that 350 jobs will be lost at HomeCorp and Furnmart Zambia when the company finally exits the country. Meanwhile, the company which owns HomeCorp and Furnmart stores has already notified shareholders in a notice that results for the year to be reported will be 10 percent lower when compared to the same period last year(H2:2015).
As she removed her scarf from her shoulder to paint a picture of their plight, 22-year old *Neo Mosime* from Tshwaane settlement in the Kgalagadi district brought guests from Gaborone to tears last week.

You see this scarf, it is just one of materials that a lot of us girls and women here use every month during our menstruation, she said. She went on to say that in Tshwaane, they have only five small tuck-shops which hardly sell sanitary pads. If ever they have them, traders sell them for double. For example, a small packet of 10 sanitary towels usually sold at P10.00 in Gaborone sells for P20.00 in Tshwaane. The truth, according, to Mosime is that, tuck-shop owners take advantage of the fact that sanitary pads are a rare commodity in the area. But again, the girls use toilet papers, she revealed.

A teenager from Tshwaane told Botswana Guardian that she sometimes uses Daily News newspaper during her period, which is distributed freely there. Sometimes I even miss school because of this situation. There is nothing we can do, she said. Most women and girls interviewed said that they use old pieces of cloth in place of cotton wool during their periods. Most of the time I use discarded pieces of old cloth the rest of the family no longer wish to wear, said another teenager.Another one said that she also uses torn clothes and toilet paper. However, the challenges with using pieces of cloth is that the blood can dry up and produce a putrid smell and toilet paper is too absorbent and does not last long, she said.





All this was revealed recently when members of the CBET (Publishers of the Botswana Guardian, The Midweek Sun (newspapers) and Botswana Investor Magazine) Social Club went to Tshwaane to donate sanitary pads to women and girls. The initiative, dubbed Pad-Drive, was undertaken in August during the commemoration of Womens month. When thanking the team for responding to the needs of females in his area, Tshwaane Kgosi, Othusitse Sengawane said they were faced with a severe lack of resources. Other than lack of sanitary wear, he said there was high unemployment in Tshwaane. As a result many young people have resorted to alcohol and drug (dagga) abuse. The youth have become uncontrollable because of abuse of alcoholic substances and drugs, he said.



When there is lack of sanitary wear

In 2014, it was reported that in Zimbabwe women and girls in rural areas were using cow dung during menstruation because they could not access proper sanitary wear. When the-then Proportional Representation legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga introduced a motion calling for the scrapping of duty on sanitary wear in the National Assembly, many MPs were touched as they heard how some women in the rural areas were using unhealthy means such as cow dung, maize stalks and even leaves as pads during their monthly periods.

Traditionally, the issue of menstruation is a private matter that is not discussed openly. Many women prefer to hide the fact that they are having their period due to the stigma attached to it. Not only is proper sanitary wear effective in preventing leakages of blood while menstruating, but it also prevents the odours that accompany menstruation, according to health experts.

Toilet paper is also said to be dangerous in that some of it contains chemical colourants which pose a health threat, according to a local gynecologist. In 2012, the Botswana National Front (BNF) launched a campaign on sanitary pads dubbed, Ensuring the Dignity of Women. The party said that it was going to challenge government to provide free sanitary pads to poor girls in rural areas, provide a platform for the girls to freely discuss issues of menstruation and urge members of the public to make donations to this noble project that is directly linked to human dignity. When he was leader of Opposition, Botsalo Ntuane became the first politician to make a special mention of sanitary wear, by tabling a motion calling for free provision of sanitary pads, especially in schools and public health centres.



Reusable sanitary wear

Local businesswomen, Lady Noble and Rona Tshiamo who trade under the name, Tripple Diamond, currently sell a reusable Pad called Subz- a washable sanitary towel that is reusable and needs not to be discarded. It is said that one pack which contains three pairs of panties, nine washable pads, nine plastic sealable bags for only P250 can be used for up to five years.Once it is used, the soiled pad is placed in a sealable packet for washing later. This product, according to its sellers, consists of an absorbent 100 percent cotton panty that allows the skin to breathe and hold up to 25-30 ml of discharge.

Meanwhile, New York is on track to become the first city to require free tampons and sanitary pads in public schools, shelters for the homeless and jails after lawmakers approved the idea this month amid a national discussion on the costs of having a period.The proposal, which Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasios administration supports, marks a new direction in activists push to dismantle what they see as unfair financial barriers between women and needed sanitary products. City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copelands proposal would make pads and tampons free in restrooms that serve 300,000 schoolgirls, and it would guarantee the products availability to 23,000 women in homeless shelters and add the force of law to jail standards about sanitary supplies.
Botswana Power Corporation has this week unveiled its new transformation strategy dubbed, Masa 2020. The five-year strategy is a transformation journey to realise BPCs vision of being a leading power utility in the region by 2020.

The strategy seeks to turn the corporation into a profitable and efficient entity by 2020. The five themes incorporated within the strategy are not limited to: Financial Turnaround, Service delivery, SHERQ culture, Organisational Efficiency and Service Power Supply.

BPC Board Chairman, Sebetlela Sebetlela revealed this week that they are awaiting the new CEOs work plan on how he is going to take the organisation forward. The new CEO, Dr. Stephan Schwarzfischer took over at the Corporation this week from Jacob Raleru who has been with BPC for quite some time. The German nationals appointment comes as part of the transformational strategy to turn around the business operations of the Corporation.

He joins at a time when BPC is undergoing an internal restructuring which commenced in 2015 to improve efficiency and productivity. The Corporation is also grappling with inefficiencies at the Morupule B power plant. Sebetlela told Botswana Guardian that they do acknowledge that the previous efforts to turnaround BPC might have failed, however, under the new strategy they have designed systems to monitor the execution of the strategy. He said the strategy is aimed at closing down on challenges and opening up opportunities.





Some of the key focus areas under the new strategy are: execution and monitoring, well defined organisational structure, well-articulated management standards, effective internal alignment strategies, comprehensive change management initiatives, enforced consequence management and leadership management. Sebetlela acknowledged that these have been lacking in the past. In some instances, the previous leadership did not document how to manage the roles. We have given a thought of how we want the strategy to work. We cannot give you guarantees that we would have achieved all this by 2020, but we are committed to deliver this. There is work to be done by management and the Board to convince our stakeholders that this strategy will work, he said.

Pressed further, Sebetlela said We will not spend time to find out how we got into this hole, however we will focus on the future; find how we are going to get out of this hole. For his part, the new German CEO indicated that there is an opportunity to bring BPC into a better position. I will not put anyone into failure for the wrongs that have happened in the past. We are not all perfect, however we need to work on things that were not worked on properly in the past, emphasised Dr. Schwarzfischer. Dr. Schwarzfischer is scheduled to meet with the company management this week to familiarise himself with the company structures and operations.

He also said he hopes to meet the BPC Union leadership within the next ten days. BPC, one of the worst loss-making government parastatals revealed to Parliament Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises that, it is currently selling at a loss and is unable to even meet its production costs. The Corporation in early 2015 increased the household consumer tariffs by seven and half percent, while domestic users saw an increase of 10 percent. This was an aim to boost revenues for the cash-strapped Corporation.
Botswana wants to find her niche in the global manufacturing value chain, the countrys investment agencys chief, Letsebe Sejoe has told representatives of the 62-member Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industries in South Africa (Je,Shi,Shi,Ai,Es,Ei).

However, Botswana has accepted that unlike South Africa, she cannot be a manufacturing hub because of her scale of economies. But most certainly, Sejoe told the Japanese investors on Thursday October 27th in Sandton, Johannesburg, We can find the components that we can manufacture in Botswana that can find their way into the South African manufacturing base, because we are much closer than where some of these components are being imported from.

These components are imported from as far as Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Malaysia and in some cases Taiwan. We are very close, in fact the manufacturing base of Gaborone is about three hours from Pretoria, where the Roselyn automotive centre (is) and a couple of more hours from Durban, said Sejoe, adding that, this is a key opportunity where we are positioning ourselves. He promised the investors that they will qualify for preference purchase margins from government if they manufacture some of the products that Botswana imports. BITC is also ready and willing to provide the investors with a list of products the country imports, he said.





Considering that Japan is very active in the automotive industry, BITC took pains to share with the Japanese investors gathered at the JETRO offices, a snapshot of the top ten components that are imported into South Africa by the leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in that country. And these are: automotive tooling, tyres, engine parts, transmission shafts/cranks, gauges/instruments parts, stitched leather seats and parts, engines, brake parts, lighting equipment/part and catalytic converters. Figures sourced from South Africas Automotive Industry Export Council (AIEC), show the total cost for these automotive part imports in 2013 was R43, 147 million.

This is really where the opportunity is, these components or products are currently not manufactured in South Africa, Sejoe urged the investors drawn from among others, NEC Africa, Toyota Tsuho Africa, Toshiba Africa, Nissan South Africa, Sumitomo Corporation Africa, Mitsui & Co, Marubeni Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo  Mitsubishi UFJ, KPMG, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Sojitz Corporation, JICA, Mitsubishi Corporation and Pricewaterhouse Coopers South Africa. He said that South Africa currently goes to great pains to import these components from all over the world hence this provides a comparative advantage for companies that manufacture these products and components to manufacture them in Botswana, because Botswana is close to these OEM factories, has a competitive tax rate, is a peaceful country and a member of Southern African Customs Union (SACU)  a free trade area comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

This means that these components and products will move in and out of Botswana into South Africa quota free, duty free without any restrictions or limitations on their movements, he said. Sejoe then appealed to any investor who is into automotive manufacturing to have their pick, promising that these (components) would be successful because they are in demand in the South African economy.To bolster his sales pitch, Sejoe was joined in the investment promotion mission by Ambassador of Japan to Botswana, Masahiro Onishi and his 2nd secretary for economic affairs, Yoshihiri Uemura as well as a formidable team from BITC comprising executive directors for investment promotion and international business, Reitumetse Aphiri and Moshie Ratsebe respectively.

Logistics, ICT, other services and tourism are also some of the areas into which Botswana is attracting international investments. BITC is also establishing Botswana as an international financial service centre (IFSC). This means that foreign owned companies can domicile their headquarter companies for Africa operations in Botswana and be eligible for significant taxation incentives such as exemption from withholding tax on dividends, royalties; on interest paid out and management fees. Other benefits for IFSC registered companies include a low corporate tax of 15 percent down from 22 percent and exemption from the 12 percent VAT and Capital Gains Tax, provided that the investor owns more than 25 percent of the company.

But the unique feature about Botswana and IFSC, in the view of the BITC head honcho is that a foreign owned company can actually-denominate its share capital; state of financial condition (balance sheet) or profit and loss (P & L) statement in any major convertible currency  the Euro, US Dollar; Pound Sterling or Japanese Yen  to protect it against exchange rate related risks and losses.

After Sejoe had beguiled his audience, which attestations had been corroborated by Ambassador Onishi, who exalted Botswanas peace dividend and democratic credentials, Chairman of Je,Shi,Shi,Ai,Es,Ei, Yakashi Yao, who was also representing Marubeni Corporation, told this reporter that their interaction with BITC delegation marked the beginning of a new era in Japan/Botswana commercial and trade relations.In fact, subject to a few logistics among them finalisation of the power purchase agreement with government of Botswana  hopefully by end of this month - Marubeni Corporation will take over the 300 MW Morupule B power station as an independent power producer. In his earlier speech, Yao had praised Botswana as truly unique in Africa much like the stripes of her national animal  the zebra. Executive Director for JETRO Africa Region Hiroyuki Nemoto had also expressed similar adoration for Botswanas economic fundamentals with equal oomph.
The chamber of commerce for Selibe Phikwe region demands that government, through its financial institutions, should avail the region P500million loan to incentivise projects in the area.

This is contained in a document outlining recommendations that were shared with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Investment and Trade Industry, Peggy Serame in a recent meeting. The Chamber urges that CEDA should relax security for loans and must allocate five additional officers to the Phikwe branch to proactively engage potential investors and to assist them in the successful completion of their funding applications. CEDA is also urged to undertake to either approve or reject an application within two (2) weeks of submission, and undertake to commence drawdown of the funds within seven (7) days of the approval for a successful application.

The business chamber also calls on the government investment agency, BITC, to assign an officer to Selebi Phikwe and place him at the SPEDU offices with immediate effect.That officer must avail to the public the full list of potential investors who are looking to partner with Batswana to invest in Selebi Phikwe. That officer must assist with licensing, physical planning labour and immigration departments to facilitate the ease of doing business in Selebi Phikwe.





The Chamber wants all Phikwe based companies to be given a 25 percent price advantage on all government, parastatal and local government tenders. Further, it demands that, All the BDC owned properties in Selebi Phikwe that are zoned for industrial activity, (must) offer a standardized rental of P3/sq m. As soon as this industrial space becomes fully occupied, BDC should be mandated to buy or build more industrial space and to subsequently lease out at P3/sq m. Including SPEDU plots. This should be for manufacturing companies.

SPEDU land bank needs to be fast tracked and provide a budget for SPEDU owned factory shells. Consider transferring the BDC shells to SPEDU. This will speed up the SPEDU investor facilitation. 100 new businesses are needed and each business will employ 25 people to breath fresh life into the Selebi Phikwe economy, reads the document.

Last month a task team comprising ministry of investment, trade and industry and Botswana investment and trade centre officials was formed. The task team, headed by Peggy Serame- is to deliver a strategy on re-organisation of Phikwe town. It will also present the framework to the business community before they finalise it.

Trade Minister, Vincent Seretse could not be reached for comment, whereas his Assistant Biggie Butale indicated that he was not aware of the recommendations by the Phikwe business community. He even referred this publication back to the Minister as he is the one handling the Selibe Phikwe related matters. The PSs personal assistant (PA) indicated that the PS was held up in meetings but would call back to answer to the inquiries. At the time of going to press, Serame could still not be reached.

BITC Chief Executive Officer, Letsebe Sejoe whose organisation also forms part of the task team, said progress has been made with regards to developing the Phikwe strategy; but referred this publication back to Serame who chairs the task team for the details of the strategy.
President of Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) who is also Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Duma Boko is missing in action at Parliament. Bokos absence was glaringly conspicuous this week as Parliament debated the draft National Development Plan (NDP) 11  by all means, an important document of national interest.

As per Parliament Standing Orders, Boko was scheduled to be the first to respond to the NDP11 draft on Tuesday this week but did not. Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Molatlhegi told Parliament that Boko, who is also President of Botswana National Front (BNF), was not in and would not be able to respond. He however indicated that Boko has complied with Standing Order 9.5, which directs him to inform the speaker of his absence and to designate one of his members to act on his behalf.

Thus, he had picked Ndaba Gaolathe to act as Leader of Opposition. Opposition MPs have expressed concern over Bokos continued absence in Parliament. The MPs argue that this has over time weakened them as the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has had a field day against them in previous Parliament sittings.

An MP from Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) - a contracting member of UDC said, There are issues that have to be led by the leader of opposition as a senior member of the opposition rank. Now you will find that the BDP, led by Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi, always takes advantage of Bokos absence. If he is absent on official duty it is understandable and not when it is for his private business. Another MP who also preferred anonymity said they have tried to speak to Boko on several occasions but in vain. He also alleged that at times Boko would miss an opposition Parliamentary Caucus meeting, which is a forum where the opposition prepares itself to rally as a united block against the BDP MPs, especially cabinet.





The MP revealed that this is one of the reasons why BMDs rank and file have been querying the decision to have BNF occupy the LOO seat instead of BMD which has more MPs in Parliament. The MP also stated that even though Boko left for Mauritius the following day (Wednesday) that cannot be used as an excuse not to attend Parliament. Traditionally the expectation is that the leaders of opposition should be impactful in Parliament business. Their contributions must be frequent. If you look at Boko, his contribution is more or less on the same level as that of Moupo. He is not so much heard even when compared to his deputy Ndaba Gaolathe. We continue to attack President Ian Khama for not attending Parliament but our own leader is doing the same which could simply mean that even when we take power we would not be different from the current regime, said another disillusioned opposition MP.

Boko could not be reached for comment as he is out of the country on Parliament business. BNF Information and Publicity Secretary Justin Hunyepa was also not available as his mobile phone rang unanswered. Observers argue that if opposition MPs are worried this could have a negative bearing on the cooperation talks between UDC and BCP. It is argued that this could lead to other parties requesting to have their leaders take the seat so as to increase the impact of the opposition. Political Analyst Anthony Morima said this could mean there is lack of leadership direction. He however pointed out that Boko has to be applauded for timeously and adequately responding to both SONA and budget speech.

These debates are made public to the effect that their impact is made known that the leader of opposition was in-charge. The nation has to know the impact the leader of opposition has especially when dealing with critical issues like NDP11, he stated. From Otsweletse Moupo to former BNF Vice President Olebile Gaborone to the current leader Boko, the party has been criticised for failing the seat, which is deemed crucial in the running of Parliament especially for the opposition MPs whose performance is expected to be anchored on the leader of opposition.

The position is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest opposition party in the house; it is usually regarded as the voice of the united opposition. According to Parliaments Standing Orders, the Leader of Oppositions enjoys the same status as the Leader of House in relation to the business of the house. He or she is offered the opportunity to be the first to respond to the State of the Nation Address, Budget Speech or any other major government policy statement and is allowed to read his or her speech if he or she so desires. He or she serves as the second vice president of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Botswana Branch) and an executive member of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum - SADC(PF).
Two suspected burglars, Mooketsi Setlhare, 27, and a 45-year old Zimbabwean man, Mphakadzi Shihota appeared before Francistown Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko on Wednesday accused of ransacking Francistown West Member of Parliament (MP), Ignatius Moswaanes house.

The duo allegedly made off with household goods including four Sony radio speakers worth P2800, brown Nike sneakers valued at P750 and a brown board worth P250 on October 27. Before this incident Setlhare is alleged to have broken into the MPs house in June 15. He allegedly stole gadgets worth P15 000.

According to court papers he stole a Blackberry classic, Blackberry Gold and an iPad. Setlhare pleaded guilty to all the charges while Shihota pleaded not guilty. The investigating officer, Terrence Motlogelwa told court that Moswaanes house has been broken into four times. He explained that when Setlhare was arrested on his first offence he fled away while the police were still identifying the gadgets.





He has been on the run since then, we only arrested him yesterday whereupon he led us to Shihota, Motlogelwa said. He said that some property was found at Shihotas place and that his team is still tracking the missing property. He said that the accused should be remanded in custody while they continue with the search. He also said investigations are still at an initial stage.

In his defence, the Zimbabwean told court that he was in Zimbabwe on the 27th. Even my passport can prove that I came to Botswana on the 28th, he said. Shihota told court that the reason why the speakers were found at his place is because he took them from Setlhare as insurance after he loaned him P100 to buy milk for his three-months old child. He told court that Setlhare was his brother in-law. Last year Moswaane told a Kgotla meeting that thieves should be beaten to a pulp by the mob. It remains to be seen as to whether the outspoken legislator will apply mob justice on the duo.
The recent exclusion of Botswana Democratic Party(BDP) secretary general, Botsalo Ntuane by party leadership from the list of Specially Elected Members of Parliament is said to have galvanised the anti-Masisi lobby in the party.

This happens a few months before the partys elective congress next year in which Minister Nonofo Molefhi is expected to challenge the incumbent, Mokgweetsi Masisi. Indications are that when President Khama retires in 2018, Molefhi will challenge Masisi for the position of president. Media reports show that party leader President Ian Khama, overruled the party caucus and insisted on the nomination of little known Bogolo Kwenewendo and Mephato Reatile much to the chagrin of many BDP MPs who had lobbied for Ntuane as they believe he deserved recognition for the leadership he has provided to the party since he assumed the secretary general-ship in July last year in Mmadinare.

The nominations were an outcome of a recent controversial amendment of the Constitution increasing the number of SEMPS from four to six. We rallied behind Masisi in large numbers inMmadinare because we did not want to embarrass him by voting somebody else for the chairman of the party. He was already the Vice President and had we denied him the support, he would have lost and that would have been a vote of no confidence on him. This would have compromised his chances of succeeding Khama as President of this country. The one thing he must remember is that, we had not even made him Vice President ourselves.





By failing to defend Ntuane for nomination at the next years congress, said a former rabid Masisi supporter who preferred anonymity, the matter will not end there because Ntuane was voted into the position of party secretary general by us,. He said that although he has been known to be a Masisi supporter, should Molefhi enter the presidential race, I intend to support him. We want to punch Masisi hard.

Among the litany of Masisis transgressions is reported proclivity to work almost exclusively with new recruits especially from the opposition. The fact that he surrounds himself with mainly rejects of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is itself a vote of no confidence on all of us who have been loyal to the party. Since he does not have confidence in us, he must not expect us to support him for either the chairmanship or presidency of the party.

For both these positions, we would rather rally behind Molefhi should it happen that he runs, said the source who does not think it is difficult for Molefhi to topple Masisi considering Ntuanes and Molefhis support at the Mmadinare congress last year where they got the highest numbers in the categories they contested. Ntuane beat his rival by a big margin while Molefhi, who stood for an additional member, was endorsed by the largest number of people in that category.

Indications are that the daggers are now out for Masisi. For instance, the BDP WatsApp and Facebook pages were awash with slogans such as Ko Kalakamate re nonofile (Loosely translated that, in Kalakamate we are strong) after the BDP beat the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in the Kalakamate by-election last week. The new councillor Zibani Mbalambi is said to be a Molefhi supporter. The slogan is also used to celebrate Molefhis popularity among his supporters.
Diane Dwire hopes the second time is the charm in the 126th Assembly District race.

Two years ago, Dwire gave Assemblyman Gary Finch his toughest re-election fight in a decade. The Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee aided Dwire's bid and that financial backing allowed her to fund television commercials  a campaign tool that hasn't been used often in this Auburn-area district.

The support and her own efforts  she visited thousands of homes in the four-county district  weren't enough. Finch won the race by 10 percentage points.

Dwire said she was encouraged to run again by people she met on the campaign trail in 2014. Over the past two years, she attended many community events in Auburn and other parts of the district and learned more about the issues affecting each county.

And then earlier this year, she launched her second Assembly campaign.

In an interview with The Citizen, Dwire compared the experience to her campaigns for Camillus town council. She wasn't successful in her first bid. The next time she ran for a council seat, she visited 1,700 homes three times.

"It was my hometown, but I really learned making that communication was important," she said.

A retired nurse and public health professional, Dwire said one of the issues she will focus on in the Assembly is the heroin epidemic. She recalled working in a detox facility while serving as a nurse in the U.S. Army.

Addiction, she said, is a "horrible disease."

"I think it's probably affected every single one of us in one way or another," she said.

She stressed the importance of understanding the challenges addicts face. When discussing the heroin epidemic, she'll sometimes hear people say that addicts should just stop using drugs.

"If stopping was that easy we wouldn't have an addiction problem," Dwire said.

Owasco Lake is also will be a priority for Dwire if she's elected to the Assembly. The lake has been affected by water quality issues over the years.

Most recently, blue-green algae toxins have been detected in public water for Auburn and the town of Owasco. The lake is the source of drinking water for 45,000 Auburn-area residents.

While the toxins are no longer at detectable levels, federal, state and local officials are working to develop short- and long-term solutions to address the presence of blue-green algae.

Dwire said she wants to play a role in finding those solutions.

"We do not have answers to it and we really do need to come together,' she said.

DWIRE ON THE ISSUES

Taxes: The property tax cap has helped provide stability, Dwire said, but she's heard concerns from local government and school district officials. She wants to provide balance that keeps property taxes low, while giving local governments the resources needed to fund vital projects and services.

Dwire believes that making the economic climate more business-friendly is a necessity. To achieve that goal, she proposes lowering taxes and reaching out to businesses.

She does have concerns about certain tax incentives offered to businesses through various initiatives, such as the Start-Up NY program. The concepts are good, she said, but if there's not proper monitoring, companies can take advantage of the programs with little or no accountability.

Economic development: Dwire sees some benefits in competitions such as the regional economic development councils and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. But she doesn't like the idea of pitting areas against each other.

She wants the state to consider funding good projects no matter the outcome of these competitions. One example she cited is the possibility that the state will fund a few projects in Auburn even though the city wasn't successful in the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. (Oswego won the contest.)

She also touted the benefits of tourism and the success of Prison City Pub & Brewery, which has received national recognition for its beers.

Education: Dwire said she wants to advocate for more state aid for schools in the district. She plans to educate herself on how the state's school aid formula works and how Auburn and other districts could secure more funding.

Knowing those details, she said, would help determine what's needed in the community. She added that the state tends to forget about some of the more rural areas and the challenges faced by smaller school districts.

"I would go in and find the details and then I have the backing to fight for what is needed in this district," she said.

Ethics reform: Dwire said she would vote for the constitutional amendment to strip pensions from corrupt state officials.

While there are calls for more ethics reform, and Dwire isn't necessarily opposed to more changes, she also believes the existing laws should be enforced. She noted that's worked in cases involving ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, both of whom were convicted on public corruption charges.

With concern about double dipping  the practice of government officials taking a salary while receiving a pension  Dwire pledged to donate her state pension to charitable organizations if she's elected to the Assembly. She would accept the Assembly salary, which is $79,500 a year.
You may have seen a sponsored Facebook post published by "Meet Colleen Deacon" that claims the Democratic congressional candidate "didn't show up for work and failed to address 5 key issues" impacting the 24th Congressional District race.

Of course, it wasn't Deacon, D-Syracuse, who posted this. U.S. Rep. John Katko's campaign is behind the post. The link directs readers to a johnkatkoforcongress.com page where more details are provided about these claims.

Prior to running for Congress, Deacon served as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's central New York regional director. She held that position for six years. She stepped down from the post to enter the 24th Congressional District race.

Katko claim No. 1: Deacon and Gillibrand "were unable to deliver significant infrastructure funding" to the 24th Congressional District

Analysis: Katko's campaign made sure to mention that the GOP congressman "promised to fight for a solid, long-term infrastructure bill and, serving as a lead negotiator between the House and Senate, he succeeded." There's no question Katko played a role in securing passage of a long-term highway bill. What's questionable here, though, is the claim made against Deacon.

To back up her record, Deacon said she played a key role in securing a $10 million grant for Syracuse's Connective Corridor in 2011. The funding was provided from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Tiger III Grant program.

She also said she helped the Port of Oswego secure a $1.5 million federal grant in 2013.

Those were two of the biggest examples of infrastructure funding Deacon said she brought back to the district. In responding to these claims, she's noted that she wasn't a member of Congress and didn't have an opportunity to vote on legislation that would provide major infrastructure funding to the district.

Rating: Deacon was accused of not bringing significant infrastructure funding back to central New York, yet provided two examples of grants she played a key role in securing. In news reports, her boss (Gillibrand) received the credit. But she was working behind the scenes to help the entities involved. Katko's claim is rated false.

Katko claim No. 2: Deacon and Gillibrand "were nowhere to be found" on FitzPatrick

Analysis: Katko took credit  and has been praised  for keeping the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant operating in Oswego County. The plant was on the verge of closing before federal and state officials, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, intervened.

But Katko's campaign is claiming Deacon was "nowhere to be found" on efforts to keep FitzPatrick open.

The timeline of events is important. Entergy, which owns FitzPatrick, announced on Sept. 10, 2015 that it was considering closing the plant. That same week, according to Deacon, was her last week as Gillibrand's central New York regional director. She left her post to begin preparing for her congressional bid, which she launched on Oct. 1.

Deacon says she has been engaged on the issue and, early in her campaign, had discussions with Oswego County elected officials and labor groups about the plant's possible closure.

Rating: In fairness to Deacon, saving a struggling nuclear power plant likely takes more than a couple days of work. The news broke literally in her final hours with Gillibrand's office. Due to the circumstances involved and the timeline of events, Katko's claim is rated false.

Katko claim No. 3: Deacon "failed to serve as a resource for Syracuse residents affected by FEMA flood mapping"

Analysis: The FEMA flood mapping issue is a messy one for Syracuse and Onondaga County residents and the years-long fight isn't over. The question here is about what role Deacon played in advocating for local residents.

Katko's campaign said Syracuse residents "were not sufficiently included in the process or informed of its progress, and Colleen Deacon did nothing to change that." The campaign also claims Deacon "did not acknowledge the issue until she was a candidate for office."

As Gillibrand's regional director, Deacon met with community groups to discuss the impact of the FEMA flood maps and played a role in getting FEMA to redraw the maps.

This year, FEMA announced it was adding more Syracuse properties to the flood zone. Of course, Deacon was no longer a Senate staffer when the announcement was made. She was a candidate for Congress.

Rating: As Gillibrand's regional representative, Deacon did play a role in advocating on behalf of Syracuse and Onondaga County residents affected by the FEMA flood maps. But the most recent development in the ordeal happened after she left the senator's office and was running for Congress. Katko's claim is rated false.

Katko claim No. 4: Deacon "failed to aid Owasco Lake"

Analysis: The Citizen has already conducted a fact check of claims made by both candidates that the other hasn't focused on Owasco Lake. Deacon and Katko have been guilty of falsely claiming the other hasn't paid attention to the lake's water quality issues.

In the Facebook claim against Deacon, Katko's campaign says Deacon was "until recently, largely silent on the issue." As Gillibrand's top aide in the region, she met with the Owasco Watershed Lake Association and, according to Cayuga County Legislator Aileen McNabb-Coleman, attended a manure management working group meeting in 2015.

Rating: This claim, as The Citizen has already reported, is false.

Katko claim No. 5: Deacon "failed to address the International Joint Commission's Plan 2014"

Analysis: There are a mix of supporters and opponents to Plan 2014, but many residents along the shore of Cayuga, Oswego and Wayne counties are concerned about how Lake Ontario water levels will affect their properties.

As it relates to this claim, there's incomplete information. Deacon doesn't have anything about her Plan 2014 stance on her campaign website and she hasn't commented, at least publicly, on the proposal.

Rating: Katko claims Deacon hasn't "articulated a position on this issue." That's true, at least based on the information currently available. What's unknown is whether she's engaged with local stakeholders on the issue. This assessment is based on what's publicly available and right now, nothing is known about Deacon's Plan 2014 stance.
Some 24th Congressional District news you may have missed this week:

Oswego County leaders praised U.S. Rep. John Katko and criticized Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon for their positions on saving the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba.

FitzPatrick, which has more than 600 employees, was at risk of closing until the state intervened and decided to award subsidies to keep the plant afloat. Katko, R-Camillus, said he played a key role in ensuring FitzPatrick remained open in Oswego County.

Those efforts were lauded by Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow, a fellow Republican.

"Oswego's economy depends on nuclear power," Barlow said. "FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant provides more than just high-paying jobs  it supports our local school districts, small businesses and countless families in our community and is a critical source of emissions-free energy.

He added, "We need a strong advocate in Congress who will work with both sides to be an advocate for our community and for nuclear power on the federal level. John Katko has been that leader."

Barlow had a much different assessment of Deacon's commitment to nuclear energy in Oswego County. He accused her of "taking orders from her party in Washington" and not supporting new nuclear power.

He also said that she doesn't support the vital rate parity which allowed FitzPatrick to stay open.

Deacon has said that she doesn't support building any new nuclear energy plants, but she does support maintaining FitzPatrick and other existing facilities.

When asked at the Time Warner Cable News debate last month, she said she would've supported the agreement that kept FitzPatrick open if she were the region's congressional representative.

"Yes, I mean, I think the bottom line is that we're talking about 600 very high-paying jobs and we're talking about an energy source that we couldn't afford to lose," she said.

"So both of those coupled together  we had to work to get something done to be able to keep this plant open, keep these jobs in place and I would have worked very, very hard had I been in Congress, had I been a representative for this district, to make sure we're bringing every idea to the table, every solution to the table, to fix this moving forward."

Katko endorsed by clean energy group

Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions endorsed Katko for re-election Thursday.

The group recognized the incumbent Republican as a "clean energy champion."

"Rep. John Katko has demonstrated a commitment to commonsense, clean energy solutions that grow the economy, strengthen America's national security and preserve the quality of our natural environment," said Andrew Bird, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions' director of federal affairs.


An internet imagery.

BEIJING (PTI): China on Thursday successfully launched its most powerful heavy-lift rocket which is expected to be used in future space programmes like building a permanent space station and for Moon and Mars missions as the Communist giant seeks to become a major space power.



The newly developed rocket called Long March-5 was launched from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern Hainan Province. The rocket blasted off at around 8:43 PM local time.



An official of the mission declared the launch a success about 40 minutes later, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.



The Long March-5 is a large, two-stage rocket with a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low-Earth orbit, the largest of China's carrier rockets.



According to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the developer of Long March-5, the rocket uses two kinds of fuel, kerosene and liquid oxygen as well as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, rather than highly toxic propellant, making it more environment-friendly and less expensive.



It was expected to be used in China's lunar and Mars exploration programme, state-run People's Daily had reported earlier.



China announced plans to send its Mars mission by 2020.



China had also unveiled the designs of its Mars probe and rover in August this year.



The rocket engine development and testing took place at a facility hidden in a valley to the south of Beijing.



Residents living nearby, already used to ground tremors accompanied by deep, explosive blasts, detected a noticeable increase in testing activity in recent years.



The new rocket was launched even as China's experimental space lab currently orbiting the earth with two astronauts on board.



The astronauts who entered the space lab on October 19 were on a 33 day-long space voyage.



China plans to set up its own permanent manned space station by 2022, which could make it the only country to have such a facility in service as the current in-service International Space Station (ISS) will retire by 2024.


Samantha Lakin '08 is helping to shed light on stories of victims

Samantha Lakin, center, in Uganda.

As a Fulbright Scholar in Switzerland after graduating from Brandeis, Samantha Lakin '08 worked with survivors of the Holocaust. She was drawn to their stories, and felt strongly that victims of other acts of genocide should have their voices heard.



For the last four years, Lakin has worked in Rwanda, most recently researching local perspectives of symbolic justice in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide as she works toward a PhD at Clark University.



Lakin spoke about her experiences in Rwanda at an event cosponsored by the Conflict Resolution and Coexistence master's degree programs at The Heller School and the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life on Nov. 7.



Ahead of the event, she took some time to answer questions from BrandeisNow:



What is an example of how symbolic justice has taken place in Rwanda?



I interviewed a woman who survived a massacre that took place in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. She told me that right after the genocide, finding anyone else who was a survivor was rare. So when these individuals did find each other, they came together and went to take care of victims found in mass graves.



They went to look for their relatives, but they found graves with 50 or 100 people in them. They began to mark those places as a memorial site, and gave the remains they found proper burials. If we fast-forward, that same woman is now the mother figure of the students association of genocide survivors in Rwanda and today she speaks at commemorative events, to inspire others to rebuild their own lives like she did.



She serves as a good example of some of the types of symbolic justice we have seen both immediately after the genocide and in more recent times.



What purpose do these act of symbolic justice serve?



The commemorations create a moment of remembrance and for people to feel what they want to feel. People are sitting side by side and having very different experiences of what they are remembering. They also had different experiences during the genocide, not everyone is a survivor, but the commemorations carve out a moment in busy life to support those who are survivors. Part of it is also to support those who are still struggling --some have HIV, some are elderly and have no one to take care of them, they are still affected by their traumatic past, and the memorials and commemorations can provide a space for acknowledging that.



When thinking about justice, theres no right way to do things, especially in cases of extraordinary crimes. We often think of legal forms of justice. What Im trying to show is there is a broader impact within the social relationships between people, healing, and seeking justice. There isnt one definitive form of justice that fits all people. For some of these surviving victims, the process of finding the remains of their loved ones and giving them a proper burial is a more profound form of justice than something imposed by a court against perpetrators.



Do you see opportunities for relationships between different groups to be improved? How?



Theres always an attempt to aggregate feelings and I think there is a lot of individuality to it. Some people are still angry and want revenge. Some people have forgiven. I think feelings run the spectrum today in Rwanda. I think there are opportunities for improvement. Economic opportunities can bring people together by offering a mutual benefit.



Truth seeking is also important. Seeing where victims are buried can be helpful and that knowledge usually comes from the perpetrator. Sometimes that information is discovered through the court system, but there is also a high level of people coming forward who want to tell what happened and seek forgiveness. There is a desire to not live with the guilt, especially in the eyes of their children.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Time and again, Ali Mullin is proving the crown fits.

The 24-year-old Cartwright cowgirl captured her first rodeo queen title in Virden, served as queen in Manitobas high school rodeo circuit, won Medicine Hats title last year and now hopes to represent the country.

Next week, Mullin will be one of four girls  all residing in Alberta  vying to be the next Miss Rodeo Canada.

The Big Apple Images Cartwrights Ali Mullin is competing for the Miss Rodeo Canada 2017 crown in Edmonton next week. Mullin, 24, was formerly the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede queen.

She would be honoured to capture the title, awarded next week in Edmonton at Canadian Finals Rodeo.

If I was privileged enough to be crowned Miss Rodeo Canada, I would be able to communicate with people from everywhere and just have a global influence in promoting our sport, she said.

The title of rodeo queen is not often bestowed in Manitoba, explained Mullin, who said coronations usually happen farther west.

Rodeo queens essentially act as an ambassador of the sport. In Mullins case, she represented the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede in 2015, where she now lives.

Chosen girls are experienced in horsemanship, public speaking and have a warm personality.

Being a rodeo queen, for me, one of the biggest honours is being able to promote that lifestyle and give back to rodeo, she said. All those things that Ive gained from rodeo, I can share with other people now.

She said young girls, wowed by the royalty, look up to rodeo queens.

It puts you in such an amazing position to be that role model for kids and to just teach them that they can really do anything they want, Mullin said.

Her passion as a kid was always the rodeo life.

Growing up on her familys quarter-horse ranch near Cartwright, Mullin rode as soon as she could walk. She began participating in rodeos when she was around 12, kept at it during high school and was part of her college rodeo team in Vermillion, Alta., where she graduated from Lakeland College with a diploma in agribusiness.

Her focus changed to her rodeo queen responsibilities after earning Medicine Hats crown last summer.

The title helped make the city, where she attends college, feel like home.

Over the course of my year, I just felt so accepted and welcomed and loved by the community that I found here, Mullin said, comparing the tight-knit feel to living in her hometown.

Mullin is studying visual communications and hopes to parlay her schooling into a career in graphic design, specializing in agriculture and small businesses.

She will return to the rodeo arena one day, but first theres a pageant on the line and shes thankful her family and friends back home are rooting for her.

It warms my heart and makes me feel like this is what Im supposed to be doing.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It seems the theatrics of city council are not enough for Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest.

The politician moonlighted as an actor Thursday night for a dinner theatre show in support of Samaritan House Ministries in Brandon, taking the stage with his wife Karen.

He figures theres a correlation between dramatic productions and municipal politics.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Mayor Rick Chrest and his wife Karen deliver a dinner theatre reading of A.R. Gurneys Love Letters during the Hungry Hearts Benefit Gala for Samaritan House Ministries at the Victoria Inn on Thursday evening. The fundraiser included a three-course meal, a silent auction and entertainment. Samaritan House Ministries is Manitobas second largest food bank and resource centre.

You might say that Ive never stopped being in drama, Chrest quipped.

The characters in Love Letters arent a stretch for Rick and Karen to play: a couple reading the letters they wrote to one another, discussing their hopes, dreams and disappointments.

Karen said her husband relates well  he had a way with words.

When we first met, he liked to send cards with long messages inside, Karen recalled. If youre lucky, you have those things in your life. Theres a stack of them with a ribbon around here somewhere.

Their own personal history served as inspiration.

When you are a couple, you cant help but sort of have a rhythm to your dialogue and a rhythm in the way you interact with each other. It probably comes through a little bit when were reading our letters back and forth, she said.

The play, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, was staged at the inaugural Samaritan House Ministries First Hungry Hearts Benefit Gala at the Victoria Inn.

The Chrests were approached by Assiniboine Theatre Company a few months back, and it didnt take long for them to agree to perform for a good cause.

Of the duo, Karen is the most well-known in Westmans theatrical circles, with lead roles in many productions over the years.

But Rick is no slouch in the acting department himself.

Some 25 years ago, he was at a play and said aloud that acting would be fun to try. A person who worked with a small theatre company overheard him and dropped a script on his desk the next day.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Guests mingle during the first Hungry Hearts Benefit Gala for Samaritan House Ministries at the Victoria Inn on Thursday evening. The fundraiser included a three-course meal, a silent auction and entertainment. Samaritan House Ministries is Manitobas second largest food bank and resource centre.

Hes appeared in a number of shows since, but its been a few years since a major performance.

The schedule that I have to keep with this job certainly isnt too conducive to a lot of rehearsals, he said.

He made time for Love Letters because theres less preparation; the script was on the letters they read.

Though he has theatrical experience, Rick said before the show hell lean on his wifes expertise and rely on his skill set.

The character in this thing ends up becoming a politician, so its probably not that dissimilar from me, he said. I hope I wasnt typecast.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Every Friday, The Citizen features a pet available for adoption from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York.

This week, we spotlight Jeeter

Q: Who is your best friend?

A: That would be my BFF Babs!! She came here with me and I really love her. She is a very nice Beagle lady, just about the same age as I am. Honestly, good Citizen readers, if you don't think I would be a good match for you, please take a look at Babs! She is so nice and would really love a new home soon! Thank you for looking at both of us!

Q: What has been your worst experience?

A. This is really sad. I got picked up by the dog catcher and my family never didn't come looking for me. I waited and waited and every time the door to the kennels opened I ran to my door, but it was never them. That's the worst. And, unfortunately, it happens to a lot of us. Very sad.

Q: If you could have a job, what would that be?

A: Well, if you know anything about my breed you will know that we were developed in Germany to be hunting dogs. Not that being a hunting dog would be like work, but it would be what I might be really good at.

Q: If you could visit any place in the world, where would that be?

A: Today I would like to visit Chicago and I'll bet you know why! Lots of partying going on. Congratulations Chicago Cubs!!

Q: If you could meet someone famous, who would that be?

A: Please see the next question.

Q: Do you have an interesting fact to share?

A: I do!! The TSA (Transportation Safety Administration in case you didn't know!) uses my breed, including one named Pina, as part of their security operations. Pina is part of the official canine explosives team, she sniffs boxes and crates in New York and New Jersey ports of entry for any suspicious odors. Luckily, she has yet to find any potentially dangerous scents that werent placed there for training. Good job, Pina  and I would love to meet you!

Q: Do you have any advice for our good Citizen readers?

A: I do!! My shelter people have a lot going on during the upcoming weeks!! On Saturday, Nov. 12, they are hosting a free rabies clinic from 1 to 3 p.m. right here where I live! All dogs, cats and ferrets are welcome. If your pet has had a previous rabies vaccination, please bring that paperwork. Please keep your pets and the public safe  rabies vaccinate! And, if you have time, stop by to check me out, but I am hoping that I might be in my new home by then. But, please do check. Thank you and love, Jeeter and friends.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 31-year-old woman who died in a rollover near Birdtail Sioux First Nation on Wednesday evening was remembered by her sister as a quiet, happy person who loved her family.

Her family identified her as Rena Dawn Ruth Branth, who had just celebrated her birthday on Oct. 31.

She really just kinda stuck to herself and her girlfriend, said Renas younger sister Victoria Branth. She liked to fiddle with small things, like fix radios, bikes. She was very outgoing with family, but in public, quite shy.

Submitted An undated photo of Rena Branth who, according to relatives, died on Wednesday.

Late Wednesday afternoon at about 5:30 p.m., Shoal Lake and Hamiota RCMP responded to a single-vehicle rollover on Highway 355 about five kilometres west of Highway 83.

Upon arrival, officers found the two women ejected from the vehicle at the scene. It remains unclear who was driving the vehicle.

Rena Branth lived on Birdtail Sioux First Nation with her 25-year-old girlfriend, who was apparently with her in the vehicle at the time of the rollover. Victoria said Renas partner was formerly of Sandy Bay, though is now registered to live in Birdtail. The Sun could not independently confirm the 25-year-old womans name by press time.

Rena Branth died at the scene, while the second woman was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police say she remains in hospital in stable condition.

Police believe the vehicle was travelling westbound when it entered the north ditch and rolled several times. Speed and alcohol are believed to be contributing factors. The women were not wearing seatbelts.

Virden RCMP and Dakota Ojibway Police Service both assisted with the initial investigation.

A forensic collision reconstructionist in tandem with the Criminal Collision Investigation Team continue to investigate.

When reached by the Sun, Birdtail Chief Ken Chalmers said the couple had just purchased a used vehicle and were returning with it. He said that they were only about a mile off the reserve when the rollover took place.

They were just coming in from the highway, Chalmers said. Just in the entrance to the reserve.

Chalmers remembered Rena as an outgoing person who was always friendly to everyone.

One of Renas favourite pastimes was to listen to heavy metal music while hanging out with family.

She loved being with her family, Victoria said. She was always happy, joking around.

On Thursday afternoon, Victoria posted a picture of her sister on her Facebook page, with the caption: Going to miss u rena. Several of the comments on the post also noted Renas constant smile.

This has been a deadly year for traffic fatalities on Manitoba highways. On Oct. 20, Manitoba Public Insurance issued a press release stating that the province had already far exceeded the number of road fatalities seen in 2015. As of that date, there had been 85 road fatalities, compared to 78 for all of 2015.

Then last weekend, emergency crews responded to several fatal collisions in which six people died. In at least two of those collisions, the RCMP suspect alcohol was a factor.

 mgoerzen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @MattGoerzen
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Workers at a Brandon non-profit service designed to help young people find jobs may soon be searching for employment themselves.

For the third time in as many years, Career and Employment Youth Services management has handed out two-week layoff notices to its staff while the organization waits in limbo for federal funding.

In the previous two occasions, the government came through mere days before it was set to close.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Back, from left, Eva Graham, Heidi Creek; and front, from left, Shelly Mayer and Jessica Burton with Career & Employment Youth Services are hoping federal funding will come through to keep the doors open at CEYS.

This years contract concluded Oct. 28 and CEYS has only enough money to operate until Nov. 11, when it will be forced, without funding, to shut its doors.

Eva Graham, a 12-year employee who started as CEYS co-ordinator a month ago, feels guilty.

I think thats the first thing you always feel, its something we did wrong, she said.

Im worried about the clients, theyre like our kids after a while. They come in for support. They come in for approval. They come in for somebody to say youre doing a good job today, because theyre not getting it anywhere else.

For the past three decades, CEYS has worked with people in need, between the ages of 15 and 30, to find employment. Clients receive a two-week pre-employment workshop to hone their skills in writing resumes, cover letters and interview skills.

The organization provides 10-week work placements and pays its clients minimum wage. Those wages make up 51 per cent of CEYS budget, which totals $311,000 a year. Remaining funds are spent on operational costs.

From July 2015 to October 2016, CEYS helped 58 people get work placements, 52 of which found steady employment. It also has a number of prospective employees on its waiting list.

The vast majority of the organizations funding comes from Employment and Skills Development Canada.

A government spokesperson said in a statement ESDC received approximately 900 applications for funding from across the country  worth approximately $1 billion  and they are making every effort to process applications in a timely manner.

Graham said CEYS isnt the only employment agency thats waited as the federal government reviews whether to come through with the money.

There have been offices that have been closed for a month and then theyre expected to open up.

She said CEYSs funding lapse may be just as long, but she couldnt guarantee a reopening due to complications in rent, storage and finding employees.

Former co-ordinator Shirley Hammond retired from the organization last month, after nearly 21 years helping young people find work.

She is frustrated by the uncertainty of it all.

If youre in this profession this long, you care about it, she said. We cant go ahead with the programs right now so I mean its the clients who, in the long run, are suffering  15 to 30 year olds who are looking for a new career and are struggling.

She submitted the funding application in the last week of July, before it was due. And she is optimistic funding will come through. The waiting, however, is hard on staff.

Weve had amazing staff over the years that have come through the doors that could not deal with the stress of not knowing if they had a job, so theyve left, said Graham, who is among the four staff members at risk of losing their jobs.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
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The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba will host its first AGM in Brandon at the Keystone Centre this weekend since assuming government following the April 19 election.

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Nov. 4, 1936

At the annual meeting of the Cato Church of Christ the following officers were elected: Trustees, Earl Taber, Charles Pooler and Roy L. Spooner; Elders, Charles Benton, Clarence Williams and Jarvis Reynolds; Deacons, Glenn Wilkes, Frank Briggs, Almon Campbell and Kenneth Campbell. Superinentdent of Sunday School, Glen Wilkes; assistant, Stewart B. Lang; Church Clerk, Roy L. Spooner.

Nov. 4, 1961

PORT BYRON -- Mary Waterman and Leslie Mack will participate in the all-state choir at Ithaca Nov. 17-18. Mary is the daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. Paul Waterman Sr. of Port Byron RD 2. Leslie is the son of Mrs. and Mrs. Earl Mack, also of RD 2. Both are seniors. At Ithaca they will rehearse and perform under the baton of Don Craig of the Ithaca College staff, guest conductor.

Five members of the Port Byron chapter of Future Farmers went to the recent national convention in Kansas City, Mo. They were George Southworth, Robert Gould, Leslie Mack, David McBride and William Butler.

Nov. 4, 2006

Nov. 4, 2011

The Auburn City Council explored options Thursday for increasing turnover in public parking spaces and to encourage use of the under utilized municipal parking garage. Julie Liccion, the city's parking garage supervisor, led a presentation with Police Chief Gary Giannotta to outline the current state of parking in Auburn and posed some solutions to commonly heard complaints.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/11/2016 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Earlier this week, the Sun brought you the stories of two families who were torn apart by the untimely deaths of loved ones.

Two young Westman fathers  one a recent immigrant from El Salvador who was driving home to MacGregor with another man who also died, and another a 27-year-old Brandon man  were killed one week ago today in two separate collisions along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Both men leave behind devastated families  wives and children, friends and relatives. Both were remembered as caring, loving fathers.

That particular weekend was a deadly one on Manitoba highways, as a total of six people died in collisions across the province  four as a result of drivers going the wrong way on divided highways.

Two women also died on Sunday morning on Highway 75 south of Winnipeg when two cars collided head-on. There was also a sixth person who died in Berens River, as part of a hit-and-run.

And alcohol was believed to be a factor in at least two of these incidents.

Its sad that every weekend, were still losing people to impaired driving and all these other causes, RCMP traffic services Sgt. Mark Hume told the CBC. I dont understand what people are thinking.

This year, in fact, has been exceptionally bad for highway traffic accidents. Just last month, well before the deadly collisions of last weekend, Manitoba Public Insurance issued a dire warning to motorists that Manitoba road fatalities for 2016 had already reached 85 deaths as of Oct. 20  the date of the MPI media release.

That far exceeds last years total of 78 for all of 2015  and theres still the better part of two months to go.

Unfortunately the death tally keeps rising.

As reported in todays paper, one woman was killed and another left in critical condition on Wednesday evening following a rollover near Birdtail Sioux First Nation. RCMP responded to a single-vehicle rollover on Highway 355, just west of Highway 83. The two women were not wearing seatbelts, and had been ejected from the vehicle when it entered the roads north ditch and rolled several times.

Again, speed and alcohol are believed to have been a factor. This is yet another terrible collision claiming the life of a young woman who did not need to die.

Manitoba continues to have among the toughest penalties in the country for those found to be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

And yet, it seems odd that in spite of all the efforts of groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, police enforcement and checkstops, and constant campaigns by MPI and others, that Manitoba residents still seem to be making the same mistake of getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol.

Earlier in October, Manitoba RCMP laid 12 impaired driving charges over the Thanksgiving long weekend as part of Operation Impact. That same weekend there were three people killed in highway crashes in two separate collisions.

This is simply unacceptable. All drivers have a responsibility to themselves, their passengers and to other motorists and citizens to find another way home after enjoying some drinks with friends.

With the Christmas season soon upon us, the unfortunate reality is that there will be more families affected by untimely deaths before the year is over.

There are families mourning their loved ones this year who didnt need to go through such trauma and heartache. For all motorists, please drive safely.
For the past year, Chris King has been settling into a business once owned by his father  and his father before him.

Chris is the latest King to own and operate King's Auto Supply, a vehicle parts store on Clark Street in Auburn. The 44-year-old reopened the family business earlier this year after it had been closed for the past two decades.

Chris now runs it with help from others including his sister, Colleen  returning again to the store's family roots.

The shop was first opened by Chris' grandfather, Byron, in 1943. It was later taken over by Chris' father, Joseph, around 1978 after Byron's death.

Chris said the store was ultimately closed in 1996, four years after Joseph died from cancer. But after years of working in the industry through local supply outlets, Chris decided to take a shot at owning his own business and resurrected the family shop.

"I'm not really sure what turned my mind around or got me going in the other direction, but I just had made this decision one day that this is what I wanted," Chris said. "I knew somehow I was going to make it happen."

King's Auto Supply originally started in the '40s as a repair shop that later grew into a parts store, Chris said. Byron eventually built a warehouse onto the Clark Street store and serviced folks throughout central New York  even selling bulk oil as far south as Pennsylvania.

Joseph ran the store at a point when the auto parts industry was rapidly changing between the late '80s and early '90s, Chris said. Chain stores with larger inventories were becoming more and more prevalent, and Chris said it was difficult for the smaller outlets to keep up.

Before it was closed, King's Auto Supply had always been a family operation.

Chris first started there when he was 13 years old as a counter attendant, working alongside one of his older sisters, a few uncles and his mother, Gail, who worked as an office manager. While at King's, Chris said he also got a hands-on experience from working with his father in the store's former machine shop, learning how to mix paint, sell bulk oils and rebuild engines.

"Even though I don't run a body shop, I know how to do these things from working here," he said.

Chris was 20 when Joseph died. After his father's death, Chris said the family tried to keep the store going the best they could, but his father's absence  and the advent of the larger stores  factored into the decision to close King's and leave it dormant.

"It was hard for everybody, really, when we closed. I don't even think I went down the street for a couple years. Couldn't even stand to look at it  didn't even want to see it closed," Chris said. "It kind of ate me up for a long time."

From there, Chris worked for Hahn Automotive for about eight years years until he took a job to run what was a former CarQuest Auto Parts store, a company that was later bought by Advance Auto Parts (the store itself closed in June). He continued there until last October when he decided that he would like to go out on his own.

Looking at the larger parts stores, Chris said he believes they are "made for the masses" with a consistent, uniform service line. With King's, Chris said he wants to be able to address "unique needs," specifically noting that he can make hydraulic hoses and fuel lines, while stocking specialty items.

When he did leave, Chris was joined by Colleen, who has been working under her brother for more than 20 years between jobs at Hahn, CarQuest and now King's. He's also helped by his 17-year-old son, Justin.

While King's Auto Supply is an independent operation, the store is affiliated with the Auto Value parts distribution network, which Chris says allows King's to stock its shelves just as well as the bigger stores.

Chris said a majority of King's Auto Supply's business comes from his commercial customers like local repair shops, though he does get the "Do It Yourself" crowd, as well.

"All your money stays right here in town," he said.

When Chris went to reclaim the family store, he said King's looked exactly as if nobody had touched it for 20 years.

The store office was the same as it had been after Gail left it, with the desks still rife with invoices and office supplies  right down to Gail's pens and ink stamp. Chris said they ultimately repainted a lot of the office furniture as well as a number of store shelves and racks in the rear storage room.

At the same time, the roof and the store's floor needed to be replaced due to leaks over the years. Chris said getting King's back in shape was helped by some of his longtime customers, many of whom are business owners.

He said they volunteered their time and resources to helping the family bring King's back to life, opening on the first Monday of the year, Jan. 4.

"It just really shows you how many really awesome people there are not only in this community, but that I have as customers," Chris said. "They all came out, at their own expense, and just rolled up their sleeves and helped. It was pretty awesome."
The IDA says hundreds of new jobs are being created at companies they have brought to Ireland.

Nine firms from America and mainland Europe are expanding into Dublin and Waterford.
United Airlines is to stop flying between Belfast and New York at the start of next year.

Belfast International Airport blamed the European Commission for blocking a financial assistance package mainly coming from Stormont.

A 9 million rescue to maintain the daily route had been agreed to support Northern Ireland's only direct US link.

Airport managing director Graham Keddie claimed the Commission's decision, aimed at preventing unfair state aid, defied logic.

"You could hardly get a worse example of process-driven madness.

"To block a support package for an airline that delivers direct access to the United States is almost beyond comprehension.

"This is a vital link for business and losing it will be a body blow to Executive ministers who use it to promote Northern Ireland to would-be investors from the United States."

The United service recently carried its one millionth passenger. It will end flights on January 9.

Mr Keddie added: "The adverse impact is all the greater, coming as it does ahead of the crucial decision to make Northern Ireland more competitive with reduced corporation tax designed to stimulate inward investment.

"This is a bad day for the Executive and a bad day for Northern Ireland, which is still finding its feet after a generation lost to conflict."

Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken has demanded an explanation from the region's Economy Minister and said he intends to raise the issue in the Stormont Assembly next week.

Mr Aiken said: "This is an international embarrassment. Simon Hamilton must make a statement today as we need to know how this happened.

"The Minister and his department have questions to answer over how this was allowed to happen.

"We need to know what checks were made with the European Union over state aid and who took the decision that it was not an issue?

"This is a huge blow to our international standing and the Minister must tell us what he intends to do to sort it out."

In a statement United confirmed its last flight would depart from Belfast on January 9 next year.

"We have regretfully taken this decision because of the route's poor financial performance. We will contact customers with bookings for flights beyond those dates to provide refunds and re-accommodate where possible.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

However, not everyone was disappointed by the decision to block the bailout.

Green Party leader Steven Agnew said: "This decision presents us with a huge opportunity, as the money can now be used on other projects which have a much greater benefit on ordinary people's lives.

"Proposing to give the money to a large multinational airline was a vanity project from the very start, and it has now been shown to break the rules too.

"A few people may be slightly inconvenienced by having to travel a few hours down to Dublin to get a flight to New York, but if the money is now spent on better public services for everybody, such as early years' education provision, I'm sure far more people will be happy and the money will go a lot further in the long run."
Gardai are investigating a suspicious fire at a landmark residence in Limerick, writes David Raleigh.

The blaze which destroyed the former Bishop's Palace, North Circular Road, Limerick, broke out shortly before 11.30pm.

The eight bedroom manor, Kilmoyle House, was the former residence of Catholic Limerick Bishops but has not been occupied for years.

Gerry McManus, a brother of well known philanthropist and racehorse owner JP McManus, purchased the sprawling house plus an acre of land around it in 2014, for an undisclosed price, after it went on the market for 1.1m.

It was sold by property developer Aidan Brooks who purchased it in 2007 for 26m making it one of the country's most expensive properties. Mr Brooks had previously planned to build a nursing home and retirement village on the site.

Brooks, (46), also from Limerick, but who runs a vast property portfolio from London, retained five acres of land around Kilmoyle House, leaving one acre as part of the sale. He also owns Portland House, the former Church of Irelands Bishop's residence, located next door.

It's believed Gerry McManus was planning to carry out remedial works at the historic house. In 2015, a planning notice at the property stated that Gerry McManus intended to apply for planning permission for seven works on the site.

The notice stated that he wished to remove late 20th century house extensions and outbuildings, make modifications to the existing house, construct a gate lodge near the entrance, construct courtyard buildings, construct an underground garage, and make repairs and alterations to the site boundaries.

Built around 1845, Kilmoyle House has 7,159 square feet of living space, and is listed as a building of important architectural heritage.

In the basement, there is a kitchen, utility room, bathroom, pantry room, storage room, electronics room, three bedrooms and a dining room.

The ground floor comprises a lounge, two studies, a breakfast room, dining room, kitchenette, library, archive room and a conservatory, while there are five bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor.

The property also comes with a 650 sq ft mews attached to its north side which was built around 1960.

The three-storey property, which includes one acre of land, was destroyed in last night's fire.

Fire fighters attached to Limerick city and county fire service fought the flames for four hours before bringing it under control.

"Two fire trucks, and a water taker vehicle were dispatched to the scene. On arrival the house was well alight," said a source.

Fire crews also used an aerial extendable ladder to fight the fire from above as it swept through the building.

"The house has been extensively damaged. Gardai have sealed the house off pending a technical examination this morning," the source added.

No one was injured.

Mayorstone Gardai are investigating the circumstances surrounding the cause of the fire.
The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party is encouraging politicians in the Republic to be cautious of the language used when discussing Brexit.

Mike Nesbitt (pictured) will speak in Dublin later to outline the future of Northern Ireland after the UK leaves the European Union.
CATO  A Cato woman was arrested and charged with felony driving while intoxicated after an accident in the town of Lysander, according to New York State Police.

Heather M. Walters, of 11447 Misty Meadows Dr., struck the back of the vehicle in front of her on Route 31 Thursday afternoon, police said in a press release. After an investigation at the scene, the 29-year-old was taken into custody and charged with felony DWI due to a prior DWI conviction within the past 10 years.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court has found a man guilty of raping his teenage daughter 61 times.

During a week long trial the victim testified that the 41-year-old man first raped her when she was 16 years old after tying her arms behind her back and putting a pillow over her face.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty to 84 counts of rape at locations in County Cork between March 3, 2008 and November 1, 2009.

Today, the jury of six men and six women returned unanimous guilty verdicts to 61 counts of rape.

They were previously directed by Mr Justice Paul Butler to find him not guilty of the remaining counts.

Following the verdict, Mr Justice Butler thanked the jury and exempted them from service for ten years. The man was remanded in custody for sentencing on December 19.

The week-long trial heard the victim was the eldest child of a large Traveller family that moved around frequently, but was living in the south in 2008 and 2009.

The victim told prosecution barrister, Timothy O'Leary SC, that her father raped her on a weekly basis from the time she turned 16, when her mother was out shopping and she was minding her younger siblings.

The woman broke down several times as she told the court that on the first occasion, her father ordered her into her parents' bedroom, tied her hands behind her back, spread her legs, put a pillow over her face and raped her.

He said, 'I've missed this. I won't go without it anymore', she said. She said afterwards, her father acted like nothing had happened.

He just acted like a normal loving father, when he was far from that, she said.

The woman said she wasn't allowed go to school. I had to stay at home, clean, cook, look after the kids, behave like a housewife, she said.

She said when she asked her father why he was raping her, he said it was because she was special.

She said he threatened her not to tell anyone about the abuse, telling her he would kill her and kill himself. He used to threaten that I would never see my brothers and sisters if I told anybody and that's what happened, she said. To this day, I don't see them.

The woman said her father continued to rape her months after she met her current partner and would tell her it wasn't cheating because he was her father.

The woman said the rapes only stopped when she started refusing him. I used to run out of the house. I used to lock myself in my room, she said.

Defence barrister, Thomas Creed SC, put it to the victim that she made up the allegations against her father because they were dead set against her boyfriend and she wanted to stay with him.

She denied this and told the court: I know (my father) is trying to pin this on him, but he didn't put me up to any of this.

While the woman was in the stand, both her father and mother loudly refuted her allegations, moving the judge to warn against future outbursts. At one point, the woman's mother called out, That's a load of s***! from the public gallery.
Four Nato warships have docked in Belfast.

They had been due to visit the city last month but were diverted to track a Russian aircraft carrier through the North Sea and on to the Mediterranean.

Spanish Officer, Rear Admiral Jose Enrique Delgado, who commands the group, played down any perceived threat.

He said: "We were tasked to monitor the Russian task group movements from the northern seas into the Mediterranean. So that is what we have been doing.

"There was no threat at all. We were just conducting normal maritime surveillance which is a routine activity. It was not challenging, it was just monitoring their activities.

"It was nothing special."

The ships - from the Standing Nato Maritime Group One (SNMG1) include the Belfast-affiliated HMS Duncan as well as vessels from Spain, Portugal and Germany - are manned by more than 700 sailors.

They will be at Gotto Dock in Belfast until Monday but will not be open to the public because of security issues.

"All our sailors are delighted to pull into this port. All we know about this port is good news," said the senior officer.

"We normally open the ships to the public but due to security issues of the commercial port we are in we have been advised that it is not possible because of security and safety reasons."

The ships are ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbon, a Spanish frigate; NRP Alvares Cabral, a Portuguese frigate; FGS Ludwigshafen and FGS Rhon, German naval corvette and support ship; and HMS Duncan, a Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyer.

They have recently completed a major exercise off the coast of Scotland.

Rear Admiral Delgado said: "Our main task is to be ready to provide Nato with a permanent maritime capability. To do that we have to do training and exercises and that will take a big part of our activity across the year.

"We have to train and conduct high level exercises to be operationally ready to deploy in a crisis or any task that Nato decides that we should go."

On board Belfast affiliated warship HMS Duncan which is in the city until Monday. Among 4 NATO warships in the city this weekend. pic.twitter.com/ZtC32yy20b  Lesley-Anne McKeown (@LAMcbelfast) November 4, 2016

Meanwhile, HMS Duncan previously visited Belfast in July 2014, but has since been active in the Mediterranean and Middle East, as well as training in UK and northern waters.

Although part of the Nato group, crew members will take time to catch up with affiliations in Belfast including at the City Hall, the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice, Sea Cadets and the Royal Naval Reserve unit HMS Hibernia.

Veterans and emergency services will also be invited on board.

Commanding Officer Charles Guy said: "It has been a couple of years since the ship has been in Belfast so we will do as much as we can.

"We have got community groups and cadets coming on board in reasonably large numbers. We have also got HMS Hibernia which is near Belfast coming on board as well.

"We have also got some charity money which the ship's company collected last year when it was on a deployment to the Arabian Gulf last year to present to the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice as well."

The fleet of war ships is expected to sail out of Belfast Port on Monday.
A large explosion has hit Turkey's biggest city in its mainly Kurdish south-east region, wounding at least six people, hours after authorities detained 11 MPs in connection with terror-related investigations.

The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district, near an annex to the city's police headquarters, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Several ambulances were sent to the scene.

The cause of the explosion was not known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb.

The blast came after People's Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairmen Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior members of the pro-Kurdish party were held in overnight raids.

Mr Demirtas wrote on Twitter: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant."

Anadolu said Ms Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara.

The Interior Ministry said the detention orders were issued by the chief public prosecutors of Diyarbakir, Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol provinces.

Anadolu said the politicians were detained for not appearing in court to give evidence in the continuing investigations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish MPs on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP members following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" to "membership in an armed terrorist organisation".

Mr Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to give evidence. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu.

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership in the PKK. The government appointed a local Ankara district administrator to take over Mr Kisanak's duties.

In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP and appointed trustees in their place.
Chelsea Manning has tried to kill herself for the second time in recent months, a lawyer for the US transgender soldier said.

Manning attempted suicide last month at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, said Vincent Ward.
The brother of three men who were given substantial jail sentences for sexually exploiting teenage girls in the Yorkshire town of Rotherham has been sent to prison for 19 years for subjecting his vulnerable 13-year-old victim to a "campaign of violent rape".

Sageer Hussain, 30, was jailed on Friday by the same judge who sentenced his brothers Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras to 35, 25, and 19 years in prison respectively in February.

Seven other men were given sentences of between five and 17 years alongside Hussain at Sheffield Crown Court for what Judge Sarah Wright called the "degrading and violent" sexual exploitation of teenage girls in the South Yorkshire town.

Over the course of two trials this year, the Hussain brothers and their associates have now been given prison sentences by Judge Wright totalling 198 years for their grooming and abuse activities in Rotherham.

The judge heard how Hussain's victim, who was abused by all eight defendants, had complained to police in 2003 but the inquiry was dropped, partly because she was so terrified of her abusers.

Normal teenage life 'ripped away from me'

The month-long trial heard how her family told police and their MP and then British home secretary David Blunkett about the abuse and eventually moved to Spain to get away from the men.

Judge Wright highlighted one incident in which the girl was taken to a flat where she was made to perform oral sex on five men in turn, including defendant Masoued Malik.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl, now in her 20s, said she had all the normal events of teenage life "ripped away from me".

She said: "A part of me still feels shame over what happened, like I'm to blame."

The woman, who cannot be named, described in her statement how she has panic attacks every day, has self-harmed and suffers from mental health problems including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Judge Wright told the eight men: "The victim of all eight of you was vulnerable. She was just 13 to 14 years old.

"Although she had a loving and supportive family, and was doing well at school as she was reaching adolescence, she was susceptible to the attention that you and others gave her.

"She was targeted, sexualised and subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature."

The judge rejected claims by one defence barrister that the fact this victim had written a book about child sexual exploitation and lectured on the subject was evidence that the harm she had suffered was not at the most extreme end of the scale.

Judge Wright shook her head as she dismissed the lawyer's arguments.

She said to the defendants: "The extreme damage that you have caused to her makes it all the more impressive that she has had the courage to bring her own story out into the open and has put herself into forums where she has discussed the issues of child sexual exploitation in order, selflessly, to seek to help others.

"Her courage and strength in doing that should in no way deflect from acknowledging the extreme damage she has suffered as a result of your offending. Her dignity and bravery as she gave evidence in this courtroom was palpable."

The judge added: "No one listening to the evidence will forget the obvious trauma of all the victims and Victim One emotionally recounting that if, by her efforts, she has prevented just one young girl having to go through what she has had to go through then she will feel that she has achieved what she wanted to accomplish.

"Each of the victims has shown bravery beyond measure in speaking about such intimate and traumatic experiences and exposing themselves to such intrusion and questioning."

Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Martin Tate said his team was "over the moon" with the sentences.

He said: "The rape and sexual abuse of children is completely abhorrent and this group have shown no remorse for their crimes, forcing the young women who came forward to report this awful abuse to relive traumatic experiences before the court.

"We are indebted to the victims, who have supported our investigation and have shown remarkable strength in attending court to give evidence."

Mohammed Whied, 32, of Psalters Lane, Kimberworth, was jailed for five years after being found guilty of one count of aiding and abetting rape.

Ishtiaq Khaliq, 33, of Cherry Brook, Rotherham, was sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted of one rape and three indecent assaults.

Waleed Ali, 34, of Canklow Road, Rotherham, was jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of one rape and one indecent assault.

Asif Ali, 30, of Clough Street, Rotherham, was given a 12-year term after being convicted of one rape.

Masoued Malik, 32, of Bridgewater Way, Rotherham, was jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of one rape, one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one of false imprisonment.

Naeem Rafiq, 33, of Clarendon Road, Rotherham, was sentenced to eight years after being convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one of false imprisonment.

Basharat Hussain, 40, from Goole, was convicted of one indecent assault. Hussain, who is currently serving a sentence at HMP Wakefield, was given an additional seven years to run alongside his current term.

The offending of all the defendants except Khaliq involved one girl, referred to as Victim One. Khaliq's offending related to all three victims in the trial.

Anne Longfield, Children's Commissioner for England, said: "These were terrible offences involving the cynical targeting of children.

"These men evaded justice for far too long and the sentences given today reflect the enormous damage caused to young lives.

"They used threats and intimidation to silence their victims, whose enormous courage in speaking out was pivotal in securing the convictions.

"Going forward, it is vital to prevent children from being abused in the first place and ensure that victims of abuse receive help immediately."
AUBURN  Discussions came to a boiling point at Thursday morning's Cayuga County Water Quality Management Agency meeting  and at the center of the debate was phosphorous.

With the increased intensity of harmful blue-green algae blooms on Owasco Lake this summer, combined with cyanobacteria toxins making it past water filtration plants into the treated drinking water of approximately 45,000 Cayuga County residents, local officials are working to develop a plan of attack for next year. Step one is getting toxins out of the treated drinking water completely, and step two is improving the health of the lake.

Two representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Matt Kazmierski and William Lints, attended the meeting to discuss the lake's health, and essentially told the group that they are stumped. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, phosphorous is the main cause of harmful algal blooms. But Owasco Lake's phosphorous levels have been below the DEC's threshold.

To further explain their roadblock, both Lints and Kazmierski discussed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, commonly known as CAFOs. Typically in New York, CAFOs apply to dairy farms that have 300 or more cows. Those operations are issued CAFO permits through the DEC, which help keep a farm in compliance with the state's Environmental Conservation Law and the nation's Clean Water Act. There are about four or five CAFOs in the Owasco Lake watershed. In the DEC's Region 7 area, which includes Cayuga County, there are approximately 102 CAFOs, and Kazmierski said the DEC inspects 50 of them each year.

The DEC's CAFO permit expired in June, and Kazmierski said the agency is still reviewing comments gathered from the public last winter. He said the DEC hopes to have a new permit out soon, which he believes has tighter restrictions than the expired one.

Lints explained that farms have been in more compliance with CAFO permits in the last few years than they were 11 years ago. Yet, nutrient levels and harmful algal blooms are increasing.

"So while we'd like to say maybe it's ag and that's happening, we just can't because it's not ag," Lints said. "It's not. Obviously with the announcement of the Finger Lakes Hub, one of those duties of the hub is to really find out why in the last four years we did see this increase."

The state had announced the creation of the Finger Lakes Water Hub at the same time it announced the release of $600,000 promised to the Owasco Watershed Lake Association. The hub will be a multi-region agency researching water quality issues throughout the Finger Lakes. Lints said he believed there were three people assigned to the new agency, and their work would start next year.

But Bruce Natale, environmental engineer for the county, was frustrated with Lints' response. He said there are other factors to look at such as the number of hedgerows that a farm or homeowner might remove and the narrowness of buffers on CAFOs. Those things may contribute to runoff and erosion. Another thing he said needs to be looked at is how people handle their residential waste like leaves and pet waste.

"I'm a little frustrated," Natale said, "with how slow state and federal agencies are to help us. They need to be part of the solution, and not roadblocks.

"They (the DEC representatives) were saying there's no correlation between CAFOs and phosphorous, and my point was, perhaps you're trying to correlate the wrong things," he added.

Bob Brower, director of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, also expressed frustration that while a farm may come into compliance with rules and regulations, there is no requirement to test the water quality and make sure that correction helped the lake. Lints countered that those best management practices are determined by the "best available science," so it should work, but Brower said the reality is, no one knows if those practices are working or not.

In the meantime, the county is going forward with the Nine Element Watershed Plan, which will address an array of non-point sources of pollution. The Auburn City Council had passed a resolution calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to implement a Total Maximum Daily Load, which is similar to the Nine Element Plan though it focuses on specific pollutants like phosphorous and wastewater. DEC officials had said both require similar first steps, and it would decide at a later date which would be the best for Owasco Lake.

That's not stopping the county from going forth with its Nine Element Plan, however. Michele Wunderlich, associate planner for the county, said they have received a grant from the state Department of State to create the plan, and she hopes to have a firm hired before next year to begin modeling and data collection. The plan takes less time to implement, too, and Wunderlich said there are more opportunities for the public's input throughout the process.

"We feel it fits the watershed better," she said.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton charged through vastly different corners of America on Friday hunting for vastly different voters in a final, frantic push that traced the country's geographic, racial and economic divides.

Mrs Clinton and Democratic allies bounced from city to city.

She was to campaign in urban centres of Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland on Friday while President Barack Obama was heading to Charlotte, North Carolina - all cities where minority voters are crucial.

In Pittsburgh, a city where one in three people is not white, Mrs Clinton hammered Mr Trump as "someone who demeans women, mocks people with disabilities, insults African-Americans and Latinos and demonises immigrants and Muslims".

"Everywhere he goes he leaves people behind," Mrs Clinton told rowdy supporters.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, was on a tour of rural areas, hoping to boost turnout among the white, working-class voters drawn to his promise to bring back a lost America.

He started his day Friday in Atkinson, New Hampshire, population 6,800 and almost 98% white, according to the US Census Bureau. From there, he was bound for Wilmington, Ohio, another overwhelmingly white town where just 13% of residents have a college degree.

Speaking more than 2,000 miles from the Mexican border, Mr Trump drew loud cheers in Atkinson when he vowed to build a massive wall between the US and Mexico. The crowd booed when he contended Mrs Clinton supports "open borders".

"Her plans would mean generations of terrorism, extremism and radicalism spreading into your schools and through your communities," Mr Trump declared.

In spite of a close race in national polling, Mr Trump's path to victory remains narrow. For example, he must win Florida, where polls show a neck-and-neck race. His campaign is increasingly looking to make up for losses among suburban voters, particularly women, by wrestling up new voters in out-of-the-way places.

The candidates' divergent paths highlighted the yawning gaps between race, place and economics that drive presidential policies.

Mr Trump told his largely white audience in Atkinson that "we have to rebuild our country".

"They've shipped our jobs and they've shipped our wealth to other countries," he said. "To all Americans, I say it is time for new leadership."

Mr Trump's dark views on the economy clashed with a new jobs report showing the unemployment rate declined to 4.9% while wages went up in October. The report marks 73 straight months of job growth.

First lady of Arkansas

First lady of the United States

Senator

Secretary of state

President? That's up to you:https://t.co/3TKJ4H68Kz pic.twitter.com/q5TxK9JzFJ  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 4, 2016

But the Republican said the numbers were not good enough, and he cast doubt on whether they were accurate.

"These numbers are an absolute disaster," Mr Trump said, reviving his argument that the unemployment numbers released every month by the Labour Department are skewed because they do not accurately account for those who've dropped out of the workforce.

"Nobody believes the numbers they're reporting anyway," he said.

As he spoke, Mrs Clinton campaigned in Pittsburgh, delivering a nearly opposite message. She celebrated what she described as the Rust Belt city's rebirth of "confidence" and economic renewal. She asked voters to "imagine two different Americas" - one with Mr Trump in charge, and one with her in the White House.

"Think about what it will be to trust the nuclear codes to someone with a very thin skin," she said, adding Mr Trump could "start a real war, not just a Twitter war at three in the morning."

Mrs Clinton called the jobs report "good news".

"I believe that our economy is poised to really take off and thrive," she said. "When the middle class thrives, America thrives."

Mrs Clinton's campaign has announced two more stops in Philadelphia before Tuesday.

Pennsylvania is a state where Mrs Clinton has long had a solid lead; it has not voted for a Republican in six presidential elections.

But with polls tightening across battleground states, Democrats are taking little for granted. Former president Bill Clinton worked to drive up turnout in Colorado on Friday, while Vice President Joe Biden was due in Wisconsin, both states Mrs Clinton was believed to have locked up weeks ago.

Mrs Clinton herself was to wrap her day in Cleveland at a get-out-the-vote rally with hip-hop artist Jay-Z.
Billionaire inventor James Dyson is to put his money where his mouth is by helping to bridge Britain's chronic skills gap with the launch of a new university.

Mr Dyson is ploughing 15 million over the next five years into the Dyson Institute of Technology as he looks to double his engineering workforce to 6,000 by 2020.

He told the Press Association that the private sector had a duty to help plug the engineering skills gap because the UK needed 10 times as many engineers as it did 10 years ago.

"We are competing globally with Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. It's all the major technology nations and we have got to be better than them," he said.

A dearth of skilled engineers is seen throughout developed economies, Mr Dyson said, with Asian nations outstripping the west when it came to the number of new graduates in the field.

"(The shortage of engineers is) a problem in America and Europe and has started to become a problem in Japan.

"It seems that the fast growing economies or emerging nations really recognise the value of engineering, but when you reach security there is less interest in what makes you successful."

The Dyson Institute of Technology - which will be based at Dyson's campus in Wiltshire - will take its first 25 students in September next year.

As part of the course, students will not pay any fees, be handed a salary and work alongside Dyson engineers on up-coming products.

Mr Dyson said the idea of launching the university came after he visited the Government to "moan about the lack of engineers". He was advised to take matters into his own hands.

The degrees will initially be awarded by Warwick University, with Dyson applying for powers from the Department of Education to create a full-fledged university.

But the Dyson Institute of Technology will only gain university status if proposals in a Government whitepaper - Success as a Knowledge Economy - make their way into law.

Speaking about the impact on the UK economy from the fallout of the EU referendum vote, Brexit-backing Mr Dyson said the pound had been "talked down" and there was "no reason" for it to fall.

He said there were no plans to bring the firm's Malaysian manufacturing operation back to the UK following sterling's slump.

But he said he would consider setting up a British manufacturing operation in the future if it was "the right thing to do".

On automation, Mr Dyson said people were wrong to be concerned about the impact on employment from the rise of sophisticated robots.

"A lot more of our production is fully automated, but people are needed for other things," he said.

"We don't need to worry about automation or robots at all. It increases the number of more interesting jobs for people."

Jo Johnson, universities minister, said: "The Dyson Institute of Technology will not only offer students the chance to study on cutting edge degree level programmes, it will also play a vital role in educating the next generation of much needed engineers.

"Our reforms in the Higher Education and Research Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, will ensure students can choose from a wider range of high-quality specialist institutions that can seek their own degree awarding powers and meet students' diverse needs; providing employers with the skilled graduates that will drive future productivity and the economic prosperity of our country."
Islamic State has been carrying out mass killings in Mosul amid a government-led offensive to retake the city, according to reports made to the UN human rights office.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the office has received reports of an incident in which IS allegedly killed 50 of its own militants at the Ghazlani military base in Mosul "for alleged desertion".

Ms Shamdasani also told reporters that her office has had reports indicating four women were killed and 17 other civilians wounded in air strikes on Wednesday in the Quds neighbourhood of eastern Mosul.

She also cited reports that IS has been holding nearly 400 women captive in the nearby town of Tal Afar.

The updates came as heavy fighting erupted in eastern neighbourhoods of Mosul as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into urban areas of the city and swung round to attack IS militants from a second entry point in the north east.

Columns of armoured vehicles wound through open desert to open the new front, pushing through dirt embankments, drawing heavy fire and calling in air strikes to enter the middle class neighbourhoods of Tahrir and Zahara. The area was once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Lieutenant Colonel Muhanad al-Timimi said three militants in separate explosives-laden vehicles tried to attack the troops but they were destroyed, including a bulldozer that was hit by an air strike from the US-led coalition supporting the offensive.

At least one solider was seriously wounded in the first hours of the new advance, which came under heavy fire from mortars, automatic weapons, snipers and anti-tank rockets. Commanders at the scene said his neck injury could have been the result of small arms fire or shrapnel from a mortar round.

Earlier, at the direct eastern approach to the city's urban centre, militants holed up in a building fired a rocket at an Abrams tank, disabling it and sending its crew fleeing from the smoking vehicle, seemingly unharmed. The advance in that area then stalled.

The day's fighting has been the most intense urban combat in Mosul since the Iraqi offensive began over two weeks ago to drive IS from Iraq's second-largest city.

The early morning push began with artillery and mortar strikes on the Aden, Tahrir and Quds districts, just west of special forces footholds in the Gogjali and Karama neighbourhoods, Lt Col al-Timimi said. Both sides opened up with small arms and mortar fire after an artillery barrage by special forces, ahead of their advance.

IS is fighting to hold Mosul as Iraqi forces and allied Kurdish troops squeeze in from all directions with US-led coalition support, mostly from air strikes and reconnaissance.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered the city limits for the first time in more than two years. Soldiers had withdrawn from Mosul in 2014 in the face of an IS blitz that seized large areas of territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Now the Iraqi forces are gearing up for urban warfare expected to take weeks, if not months, as they work their way neighbourhood by neighbourhood, going through a warren of dense buildings prone to booby traps and ambushes.

More than a million civilians are stuck in the city, complicating the military's efforts to advance without harming innocents.

IS militants have driven thousands of them deeper into the city's built-up areas, apparently for use as human shields, while hundreds of others have fled in recent days towards government-controlled territory despite the uncertainty of resettlement in displacement camps.

Mosul is the last major IS stronghold in Iraq, and expelling the militant group from it would be a major blow to the survival of its self-declared "caliphate" that stretches into Syria. When IS seized Mosul and other territory in 2014, the much larger Iraqi military had been neglected and demoralised by corruption.

Iraqi forces have made uneven progress in closing in on the city since the operation began on October 17. Advances have been slower to the south, with government troops still 20 miles away, although they seized a handful of villages late last week.

Kurdish fighters and Iraqi army units are deployed to the north, while government-sanctioned Shiite militias are sweeping in from the west to try to cut off any IS escape route.

One of the leading Shiite militias, the Hezbollah Brigades, said on Wednesday that its fighters had gained control of a highway linking Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate.

The militias' umbrella group, the Popular Mobilisation Units, say they will not enter Mosul and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014.
A US man has been arrested on child endangerment charges because he did not call 911 after the mother of his two children threatened to kill them and sent him videos of his son's lifeless body during two hours of angry text messages.

Andre Price Jr, 23, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, was detained without bond on two counts - one each for 17-month-old Andre III and two-year-old daughter Angel.

He did not alert authorities even though 21-year-old Christian Clark had sent him videos of his son's limp body amid rants about how she did not love the children and how the children and Price had ruined her life.

The texts indicate she was angry with Price for not returning home from work and accused him of going to have sex with another woman, according to criminal complaints against both defendants.

Allegheny County homicide detectives said Price ignored Clark's texted threats, and did not alert authorities previously when Clark texted him other pictures of her holding the children by the throat - and that Price even posted those to Facebook.

One picture showed an infant "obviously distressed and crying" being dangled in the air by its throat. The arm of the adult holding the child "had a tattoo substantially similar to the tattoo Christian Clark has on her right forearm", the complaint said.

A Facebook caption Price acknowledged posting under that and a similar picture months ago said: "These two pictures she is choking them because was ain't together ...."

Price told police Clark had texted him the choking photos a few months before his son's first birthday, and that he posted them on Facebook at that time.

Clark allegedly texted photos and three videos of Price's son on Tuesday, among threats to harm them.

The messages listed in the criminal complaint included "Ya kids ain't safe here I don't want them here" and "Answer me or im going to jail for child endangerment".

Then came a message that said "I'm killing them" - followed by a laughing emoji with tears coming from its eyes, police said.

Only after Clark sent a third video showing her picking up the boy's limp body by the arm and tossing him on the bed, did Price ask her to try to revive him, police said.

"Try to wake him up I said hold him," he texted.

"Its okay Im dialing 911," Clark responded.

"You need to if he dead," Price said.
Several dozen demonstrators have rallied outside the British Embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat response to a protest in London against Russia's action in Syria.

About two dozen protesters gathered outside the Russian embassy in London on Thursday and threw hundreds of mannequin limbs in front of the building to protest against Russia's air strikes in support of the Syrian government's siege of the city of Aleppo.
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AUBURN  Auburn lawmakers are concerned with news that truckloads of liquid material from Seneca Meadows will be hauled through the city potentially over the next several weeks using the Finger Lakes Railway system.

Tentatively starting around Nov. 15, quantities of leachate  the liquid that drains out of a landfill  will be hauled from Seneca County by trucks to a transfer area on Frank Smith Street where they will be loaded onto train cars for shipment, City Manager Jeff Dygert reported Thursday.

Frank Smith Street is a dead-end roadway located off Pulaski Street on the city's north side. Dygert said the duration could be anywhere from two weeks to a few months at a rate of six to nine tanker trucks per day.

Auburn officials are still investigating the particulars behind the process, including the total amount of leachate expected to be transferred and what sorts of regulations, if any, the city could enforce. The city was given notice Monday, while the Nov. 15 start date is not set in stone, Dygert said.

"Obviously our concern is the health and well-being of the people in that neighborhood should something happen," he said.

The city manager reported the development during Thursday's Auburn City Council meeting. City officials will look into notifying the residents of the nearby neighborhood of the upcoming process once the city has further information.

With Frank Smith Street's proximity to a residential area in mind, councilors voiced concerns with the potential for any leaks or spills, as well as whether the material is considered hazardous.

"You have a spill on the northwest side in that residential area, it'd be awful," said Councilor Dia Carabajal. "It's just not good."

Dygert said city officials have been "assured" by railway representatives that the leachate will be sealed and the process will be odorless, though the city manager indicated that officials are working to verify those details further with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

In other news

 Councilors voted Thursday to approve the city's latest capital improvement plan.

The document outlines around $75 million worth of improvement needs outlined through 2021, according to Christina Selvek, director of capital project and grants. That includes around $50 million in transportation projects, such as developing plans to resurface a part of West Genesee Street and make repairs to the North Division Street bridge.

Other measures are also underway, including an assessment of the city's water filtration plant in response blue-green algae toxins found in samples of the city's drinking water supply.

The plan also outlines a projected $6.9 million that may be needed for repairs to the city's police and fire station as plans for a brand-new facility are stalled at the moment.

The council vote was 4-0. Mayor Michael Quill was absent due to a New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal meeting in Albany.
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AUBURN  A resident of a two-family Auburn home has been charged with arson after an overnight fire destroyed the building.

The fire was started at around 3 a.m. Thursday at 7 West St., and police said that after talking with several witnesses, they arrested 30-year-old Ryan M. Wilson Sr., who allegedly set the fire in the downstairs apartment of the home where he lived.

Auburn Police Department Detective Chris Coopper said Wilson was upset with another occupant in the home and intentionally set a fire in one of the rooms downstairs. There, numerous items caught fire, causing it to spread to the whole house.

Auburn Fire Chief Joe Morabito said 16 people were displaced, including those in a house next door that had sustained damage to the neighboring wall. Morabito said he expected the six occupants next door could move back in soon despite a smoke smell. Two families had lived in the home on 7 West St., with three living in the downstairs apartment and seven living upstairs. Volunteers with the American Red Cross assisted those displaced between the two houses, including eight adults and eight children. Coopper said they are in temporary housing at this time.

Two dogs and a hamster perished in the fire. Morabito said one dog out of three was able to make it out of the home, but it had gone back into the house, possibly to bring attention and save the two dogs still left inside. Despite going back in, the third dog made it out safely.

Morabito said the initial call came in to the fire department at 3:06 a.m., and it took crews approximately two hours to get the blaze under control. The home has a metal roof, which Morabito said caused difficulties for firefighters because it was slippery to walk on, and trapped the heat in the top level. A back room on the second floor was particularly difficult to get under control, he said.

State fire investigators were at the scene Thursday morning, and the ground floor door was wide open, the home inside charred black. Firefighters swept up glass and other debris on the sidewalk as investigators surveyed the inside.

Morabito said the frame of the structure appeared sound, but the back of the building's ceiling was caving in. Based on the amount of damage, he said the home appears to be a total loss.

Wilson was charged with second-degree arson, a class B felony, and arraigned at Auburn City Court. He was remanded to the Cayuga County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail or $30,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7. Police said the investigation is ongoing, and further charges against Wilson are possible.
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Marist College Canberra will hold a healing ceremony and install a permanent plaque next week to recognise the past sexual abuse of children, moves that survivors hope will help prevent the school's dark history from being repeated.

Child sexual abuse caused profound and lasting damage to scores of children who went to Marist in the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

Marist College Canberra will hold a healing ceremony on Thursday and unveil a permanent plaque in recognition of the abuse of children in the 1970s, 80s, and 1990s.

The royal commission found the Marist Brothers Catholic order failed to intervene and remove offending brothers John Chute, known as Brother Kostka, and Gregory Joseph Sutton.

One survivor, former student Nicholas Quaine, first called for a permanent memorial in 2012 to recognise the school's past, but was rebuffed by Marist.
Watson residents were reeling on Friday in the wake of the suspicious death in of a 37-year-old man who was shot at a unit block on Thursday evening.

Several neighbours recalled hearing a loud gunshot in the Windeyer Street unit at around 7.30pm, shortly before police responded to reports of a disturbance and found the man with serious injuries.

ACT police officers remove a dead body from a block of flats in Windeyer street Watson. Credit:Karleen Minney

Sadly, he was unable to be saved.

Police offered support to a woman found inside the unit, and no one had been taken into custody by Friday afternoon as investigations continued.
Kittens from Leah's Pawsitive Future, an animal rescue organisation, helped University of Canberra students relax in Stress Less Week. Credit:Jay Cronan "I just couldn't fit everything in," she said. But the three friends have found support in each other. Socialising, studying, being there for each other, in class and away from the books. "It's been good to have friends who understand exactly what you're going through," Ms Graham said. "If you don't understand something in a class, or are just having trouble, we're here for each other."

The women are a good example of what the university is striving to achieve, encouraging a community where students are offering peer support, where students are helping each other and themselves, finding that independence. But not all students are doing so well. Vicki de Prazer, a senior counsellor at the university's medical and counselling centre, said her team of seven could sometimes see up to 200 students a week. "If we had more psychologists we'd have more people book in," Ms de Prazer said. "The services we provide are varied but there are always students who want to come and speak to one of our team about an issue."

Ms de Prazer said the counselling team was dealing with everything from timetable concerns to serious mental health issues. "At this time of year we're on the run because all of these concerns have started to blur a bit around exams and assessments period," she said. The university has just wrapped up Stress Less Week, a week of activities aimed at helping students take their minds off the approaching exams and de-stress in a fun, interactive and positive way. There have been jumping castles, petting zoos, massages and fluffy kittens to cuddle. Many universities are starting to recognise the importance of good mental health and wellness in the study environment. A 2013 study by the Australian Medical Students' Association University Student Mental Health: The Australian Context cited research that indicated the 16-24 age group exhibited the highest incidence of mental health disorder and this age group was less likely to access mental health services.

It cited a 2010 study by Dr Helen Stallman which compared psychological distress in university students to the general population, which found elevated distress levels among the university population were almost double those of the general population. It also revealed that financial stress doubled the rate of reported mental illness. Ms de Prazer said current students often placed too many demands on themselves. "One thing we have noticed in the past few years is that more students are in paid employment," she said. "They feel as though they need to work more, not just to pay the rent but they want a certain lifestyle as well. "A few years ago students were content to do things on the cheap  but now they want the high life, to go to music festivals, a trip to Bali, things students of the past didn't aspire to."

She's hesitant to blame social media, or label an "entitled" generation. "There's expectation, it's not seen as an additional extra or a luxury, it's seen as this is what everyone does so I should do it too, that places a lot of pressure on them," Ms de Prazer said. Ms de Prazer has been at the University of Canberra for about three years and in practice for decades. She is buoyed by fact more people seem to be accessing mental health services than ever before. "There is less of a stigma surrounding it now," she said.

"Less of a stigma in admitting you need help. I've worked in many, many settings, the corporate world, privately, and this age group is fun to work with. You can be provocative with them to prompt them along, other times they need so much support and nurturing. "Eventually all of them seem to make some gains, which is rewarding, because it's a time of transition, a time when many of them are still very immature. "You see a lot of students where you have to hold their hand and be gentle over a long period of time but then suddenly that sense of self and identity kind of kicks in and that's wonderful." That's not to downplay the serious cases. Ms de Prazer said depression, anxiety, eating disorders, binge drinking and even domestic violence were issues the team at the centre dealt with every day. As well as the counsellors, there are medical doctors, nurses, a social worker and a psychiatrist on staff working around the clock for the well-being of the students.
In her second campaign for the state's 126th Assembly District, Democrat Diane Dwire has proven to be a more formidable opponent to incumbent Republican Gary Finch than she was in 2014.

She has been a visible and active presence in the Auburn area, attending meetings on the heroin epidemic and taking part in discussions with the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, the Wednesday Morning Roundtable and others. She has studied the issues of local importance and offers knowledgeable answers on most topics.

Dwire says that Common Core still needs work, and that standardized testing should only be used to assess the level of learning, not whether a student passes or fails. She wants to see local school districts be given more control over how state and federal standards are administered in their schools. On the problem with the quality of local drinking water, Dwire wants the state to do more to help farmers mitigate their runoff issues if remediation would prove to costly for their operations.

As a nurse who once worked in a detox unit, Dwire is acutely aware of how dangerous drug abuse can be and understands the need for not only education and prevention but long-term treatment for addicts. Finch points out that the state is moving in the right direction with regard to the heroin problem and that the most recent state budget provided funding for a variety of programming to combat it.

Finch, too, has been an active and engaged community participant. If there is a meeting regarding drug abuse, economic development or finding solutions to keeping Owasco Lake clean, Finch will be there. And he will take what he learns back to Albany and raise his concerns there.

Finch is critical of state economic development efforts that pit communities against one another for funding. He points out that television ads promoting the state to business are really just expensive public relations campaigns for the current administration in Albany's executive branch. He is concerned about the long-term impact that a rising minimum wage will have on this area's small businesses.

On fighting corruption in Albany, Dwire and Finch agree that public employees convicted of crimes should be stripped of their pensions and both believe robust disclosure of outside income, not a ban on it, is the right path forward for dealing with conflicts of interest. But while the Assembly minority long called for term limits for its leadership positions, Dwire won't say whether she would support a similar move from the Democratic majority. For someone seeking to join a legislative body that was burned by the unchecked power former Speaker Sheldon Silver exercised for two decades, this evasive stance is not acceptable.

Overall, we can see that Dwire has done her homework, and she has been more involved in the community. But because she and Finch mostly agree on how to tackle the biggest current issues facing the Legislature and the district, Dwire just doesn't bring enough new ideas to the table to warrant knocking Finch out of his seat. And we're concerned that, should she win, Dwire could become just another rubber stamp for the Assembly majority in Albany that has supplied her with significant campaign dollars in both of her runs for office.

Given the choices at hand, we'd rather have Finch continue standing up for the people of his district, and we endorse him for another term.
For some time Australian Taxation Office boss Chris Jordan has expressed publicly his frustration that technology giant Uber is not cooperative with the ATO on issues like its drivers paying GST, and that therefore the company could become the subject of an audit.

"If you were to have a company that was not transparent with us, and hadn't co-operated particularly well with us, and in fact made publicly incorrect statements, that could impact our view of them," Mr Jordan said at a senate estimates hearing last year.

When Uber was asked by Fairfax Media about whether the ATO was auditing its tax affairs a spokeswoman for the company said there was "no audit underway".

On Friday ATO deputy commissioner, international, Mark Konza told Fairfax Media this was not accurate and that there was a need to correct the record.
"To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information," Buffett said. "What's needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework. This book precisely and clearly prescribes the proper framework. You must provide the emotional discipline." 2. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd Buffett said that Security Analysis, another groundbreaking work of Graham's, had given him "a road map for investing that I have now been following for 57 years". The book's core insight: If your analysis is thorough enough, you can figure out the value of a company - and if the market knows the same.

Buffett has said that Graham was the second most influential figure in his life, after only his father. "Ben was this incredible teacher; I mean he was a natural," he said. 3. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip Fisher Investor Philip Fisher - who specialised in investing in innovative companies - didn't shape Buffett in quite the same way as Graham did, but Buffett still holds him in the highest regard. "I am an eager reader of whatever Phil has to say, and I recommend him to you," Buffett said.

In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher emphasises that fixating on financial statements isn't enough - you also need to evaluate a company's management. 4. Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises by Tim Geithner Buffett says that the former US secretary of the Treasury's book about the financial crisis is a must-read for any manager. Lots of books have been written about how to manage an organisation through tough times. Almost none are firsthand accounts of steering a wing of government through economic catastrophe. "This wasn't just a little problem on the fringes of the US mortgage market," Geithner writes. "I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I knew what financial crises felt like, and they felt like this."

5. The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett If you want to get to know the way Buffett thinks, go straight to the sage himself. In this collection, he keeps it real - in his signature folksy-intellectual fashion. "What could be more advantageous in an intellectual contest - whether it be chess, bridge, or stock selection - than to have opponents who have been taught that thinking is a waste of energy?" he asks. 6. Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch

In his 2001 shareholder letter, Buffett gleefully endorses Jack: Straight from the Gut, a business memoir of long-time GE executive Jack Welch, whom Buffett describes as "smart, energetic, hands-on". In commenting on the book, Bloomberg Businessweek wrote: "Welch has had such an impact on modern business that a tour of his personal history offers all managers valuable lessons." Buffett's advice: "Get a copy!" 7. The Outsiders by William Thorndike Jr In his 2012 shareholder letter, Buffett praises The Outsiders as "an outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation".

Berkshire Hathaway plays a big role in the book. One chapter is on director Tom Murphy, who Buffett says is "overall the best business manager I've ever met". The book - which finds patterns of success from execs at The Washington Post, Ralston Purina, and others - has been praised as "one of the most important business books in America" by Forbes. 8. The Clash of the Cultures by John Bogle Bogle's The Clash of the Cultures is another recommendation from the 2012 shareholder letter. In it, Bogle - creator of the index fund and founder of the Vanguard Group, now managing upward of $US3 trillion ($3.9 trillion) in assets - argues that long-term investing has been crowded out by short-term speculation.

But the book isn't all argument. It finishes with practical tips, like: Remember reversion to the mean. What's hot today isn't likely to be hot tomorrow. The stock market reverts to fundamental returns over the long run. Don't follow the herd. Time is your friend, impulse is your enemy. Take advantage of compound interest and don't be captivated by the siren song of the market. That only seduces you into buying after stocks have soared and selling after they plunge. 9. Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks In 1991, Bill Gates asked Buffett for his favourite book. In reply, Buffett sent the Microsoft founder his personal copy of Business Adventures, a collection of New Yorker stories by John Brooks.

Gates says the book serves as a reminder that the principles for building a winning business stay constant. He wrote: "For one thing, there's an essential human factor in every business endeavour. "It doesn't matter if you have a perfect product, production plan and marketing pitch; you'll still need the right people to lead and implement those plans." The book has become a media darling in recent years. Slate wrote that it's "catnip for billionaires". 10. Where Are the Customers' Yachts? by Fred Schwed "The funniest book ever written about investing," Warren Buffett proclaimed in his 2006 shareholder letter. "It lightly delivers many truly important messages on the subject."

First published in 1940, the book takes its title from a story about a visitor to New York who saw the bankers' and brokers' yachts and asked where the customers' were. Obviously, they couldn't afford them - the people providing the financial advice were in a better position to splurge than the people who followed the advice. The book is filled with irreverent wisdom and colourful anecdotes about Wall Street, and remains compelling even today. 11. Essays in Persuasion by John Maynard Keynes This collection of writings by the legendary economist has remained a staple of financial literature since it was published nearly a century ago.

In Buffett's opinion, it's required reading. "Reading Keynes will make you smarter about securities and markets," he told Outstanding Investor Digest in 1989. "I'm not sure reading most economists would do the same." The collection includes the famous essay "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren", in which Keynes predicted that today's generation would work only 15 hours a week. You can read the full text online. 12. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle

In his 2014 shareholder letter, Buffett recommended reading this book over listening to the advice of most financial advisers. Based on his own experience working with Vanguard clients, Bogle tries to help readers use index investing to build wealth. Fans say it's far from boring, and the stats and charts are balanced with anecdotes and advice. 13. Poor Charlie's Almanack edited by Peter Kaufman This collection of advice from Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, got the ultimate shout-out in Buffett's 2004 shareholder letter.

"Scholars have for too long debated whether Charlie is the reincarnation of Ben Franklin," Buffett wrote. "This book should settle the question." The book includes biographical information about Munger as well as summaries of his philosophy on investing and talks Munger gave at Berkshire Hathaway meetings and elsewhere. One such talk is called the "Psychology of Human Misjudgment", in which Munger writes about the cognitive traps that trip up investors. 14. The Most Important Thing Illuminated by Howard Marks Marks, chairman and co-founder of Oak Tree Capital, intended to wait until he retired to write this book, as noted in a 2011 Barron's review. But Buffett so admired Marks' client memos that he offered to write a dust-jacket blurb if Marks would publish the book sooner.

The result is "a rarity, a useful book", Buffett reportedly said. Marks aims to help investors achieve success by putting more thought into their decisions, drawing heavily on his own mistakes and what he learned from them. 15. Dream Big by Cristiane Correa Here Correa tells the story of the three Brazilians who founded 3G Capital, an investment firm that joined Buffett in buying HJ Heinz in 2013. Buffett recommended the book at the 2014 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.

In an interview with The New York Times, Correa highlighted the main principles of 3G's management style - meritocracy and cost-cutting - that paved the way for their current success. "They trust in people and they let their teams work," she said. 16. First a Dream by Jim Clayton and Bill Retherford Jim Clayton grew up the son of a sharecropper in Tennessee and eventually went on to found Clayton Homes, now the largest producer and seller of manufactured housing in the US. Buffett credits Clayton's autobiography with inspiring him to invest in Clayton Homes in 2003. In his 2003 shareholder letter, he wrote that the book was a gift to him from students at the University of Tennessee.

Buffett told the students how much he enjoyed the book, and they urged him to call Kevin Clayton, Jim's son and the company's CEO, to deliver the praise directly. "Soon thereafter, I made an offer for the business based solely on Jim's book, my evaluation of Kevin, the public financials of Clayton" and his experience buying "distressed junk" from Oakwood Homes, a retailer of manufactured homes that he later bought after it filed for bankruptcy. It's worth noting that Fast Company reported the deal between Berkshire Hathaway and Clayton Homes was a little more complicated than that. In his "rags to riches" tale, Clayton shares lessons on business and leadership for current and aspiring entrepreneurs. 17. Take on the Street by Arthur Levitt

In Buffett's 2002 shareholder letter, he explains "how accounting standards and audit quality have eroded in recent years". Specifically, he cites the downfall of Arthur Andersen accounting. "The details of this sordid affair are related in Levitt's excellent book, Take on the Street," Buffett writes. A former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Levitt not only includes candid anecdotes, but also offers everyday investors ways to protect themselves from Wall Street. 18. Nuclear Terrorism by Graham Allison According to Allison, founding dean of Harvard's modern John F Kennedy School of Government, a nuclear attack on the US is inevitable - unless we change our political strategy.

He says the new international security order must be built upon "three No's": no loose nukes, no new nascent nukes, and no new nuclear states. In his 2004 shareholder letter, Buffett called it a "must-read for those concerned with the safety of our country". 19. The Making of the President by Theodore White In a 2016 Politico Playbook interview, Buffett said he loved reading political books, especially this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic published in 1961. (White also published three sequels.) White chronicles the 1960 race for the presidency that John F. Kennedy ultimately won, from the primaries to the general election. In its attention to detail and to the candidates' personal struggles, the book can read more like a novel - a style of political reporting that at that time had never been seen before.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, political reporter David M. Shribman said the book "stands out as the most influential political chronicle of the 20th century, perhaps of all time". 20. Limping on Water by Phil Beuth and K.C. Schulberg This recommendation from Buffett's 2015 shareholder letter tells the story of Phil Beuth's 40-year career with Capital Cities/ABC-TV. It's a personal recounting of Beuth's journey from a boy afflicted with cerebral palsy, his family struggling to make ends meet, to a top media executive. In his review of the book, Buffett raved: "'Cap Cities will forever represent the gold standard for ethical corporate behaviour accompanied by incredible financial performance. Tom Murphy and Dan Burke (former Capital City/ABC-TV executives) were the architects of these two achievements. Phil Beuth gives you a ringside seat to view this remarkable story."

21. Warren Buffett's Ground Rules by Jeremy C. Miller Another recommendation from Buffett's 2015 shareholder letter, this book is a compilation of Warren Buffett's letters - specifically, those he sent to his partners while managing Buffett Partnership Limited between 1956 and 1970. Readers get a glimpse into how Buffett built his investing strategy off the teachings of legendary investor Benjamin Graham. Buffett gave Miller's work a glowing review: "Mr Miller has done a superb job of researching and dissecting the operation of Buffett Partnership Ltd and of explaining how Berkshire's culture has evolved from its BPL origin. If you are fascinated by investment theory and practice, you will enjoy this book." Loading
Thank you to P. Sena (Letters, November 2) for suggesting that Senator Katy Gallagher (former ACT chief minister and now a shadow minister in the Federal Parliament) recommend a board of inquiry or a royal commission into the Mr Fluffy debacle. Gallagher cried crocodile tears when she announced, in late October 2014, the arrangement she had made with the federal government to deprive Fluffy homeowners of their properties and destroy their homes in the name of ridding the ACT of asbestos (Oh, but she didn't mention the 65,000 homes with asbestos lagging on the hot water pipes  no doubt they will be next in the ACT government's sights). So now we Fluffy homeowners and former owners await Gallagher's call for a royal commission, or at the very least a board of inquiry, into the Fluffy scandal which reaches back through both ACT and federal governments for nigh on 50 years. Kathleen Read, Watson Tram route convoluted

One of many issues evident in David Flannery's article "Best way for Woden rail" (Forum, October 29, p10) is the contrast with the Gungahlin route design. The Gungahlin design is all about getting the shortest time from street level trams for the 12-kilometre journey and infill to boost patronage. Flannery's proposal is based on retaining the express bus service for the 11-kilometre journey between Woden and Civic and exploiting the trams for short journeys from near suburbs towards either Barton/Parkes or Woden. While the design also gets the Gungahlin commuters to Parkes and Barton, to hint that a tour through the inner south could be part of a Tuggeranong-Civic tram route is ridiculous. Driverless technology is certain to remove the idea of buses and trams from consideration within the decade. A. Smith, Farrer Church staying quiet

James R. Smith (Letters, November 3) is correct in his assumption that I have not consulted the Catholic Church's website on the matters about which I am critical of that church's lack of action, especially in relation to refugees and the environment. I am afraid that I tend to judge people and institutions on what they do (or not) rather than what they say in some obscure mission statement. With the notable exceptions of Father Frank Brennan and Bishop Pat Power, I have seen and heard absolutely nothing from our clergy highlighting and objecting to the disgraceful and indeed sinful treatment of our asylum seekers and our environment by our politicians and their myrmidons. James Gralton, Garran Breaking the code

Can newly reinstated Planning Minister Mick Gentleman explain which description of Technical Amendment 2012-06 is correct? When the Environment and Planning Directorate implemented TA 2012-06, it said it relocated provisions within the Territory Plan, created a new development code, and created new suburb and district precinct maps and codes. By making those changes as a technical amendment, it avoided the scrutiny of the Legislative Assembly. After the legality of making those changes by technical amendment was questioned, the Directorate changed its description to, "TA 2012-06 ... simply relocated existing provisions in the Territory Plan into precinct codes". In August the minister stated "I am satisfied all Environment and Planning Directorate officials have acted in accordance with the ACT Code of Conduct." The Code of Conduct states that, "We all should ... provide accurate information (and promptly correct errors if they are made)".

The physicist Erwin Schroedinger proposed a thought experiment in which a cat would be both alive and dead. The Planning Minister appears to believe codes and maps, like Schroedinger's cat, can simultaneously exist and not exist. Leon Arundell, Downer Title not quite right I was surprised and dismayed to see Queen Maxima described as the monarch in the article "Dutch Royals hear migrant tales" (November 3, p9). The monarch is of course King Willem Alexander; Queen Maxima, as the wife of the monarch is the "queen consort". Kathleen Berg Fisher

Data proposal points to better approach than central control We will see more and more frequent headlines "Taxing times on myGov" (November 4, p1) reporting the breakdown of both Federal and the ACT government IT systems. The ACT government is implementing what is a MyGov for the ACT. The Digital Transformation Agency is trying to patch up the Federal Government MyGov. MyGov is an expensive and inefficient way to organise the relationships between citizens and governments. Peter Martin ("Giant step we've ignored", November 3, p14) "Consumers to control their own data under Productivity Commission Proposal", points to a better approach. It is cheaper, lower-risk and more secure to give citizens better access to data about themselves rather than the government try to produce a one size fits all solution. Centralisation of control rapidly becomes unwieldy because complexity increases by the square of the number of connections. If the tax office with N taxpayers combines with Social Security with M beneficiaries, then the complexity is N times M. If they are kept separate and the citizen handles their own connection then the complexity is N plus M. Citizen-centric systems are lower-cost and more secure. Kevin Cox, Ngunnawal

Energy security vital How many self-inflicted wounds must we endure before our incompetent politicians of all stripes grasp the fact that energy security and power prices are too important to trifle with? The closure of Hazelwood power station was foreseeable and avoidable given more leadership and less ideology. I predict this will prove a disaster that will haunt the politicians responsible, but it will be industry and the long-suffering punter who will pay the price. H. Ronald, Jerrabomberra, NSW Clinton's emails After reading the CT editorial "Clinton's email woes continue" (November 3, p12) regarding the Clinton emails, may I please use your letters page to direct your readers to pay TV and watch the US Fox News, in particular segments by Hannity, Bret Bier, O'Reilly and Megan Kelly. It's a little animated, and quite different from anything here, but worth a look.

The Clinton emails have had little or no coverage in the US mainstream media (New York Times, CNN etc) and the Fairfax press (all of the left of course) but when it is raised it is full of conjecture and innuendo to give the necessary bias, just like your editorial. To be up-to-date you will need to refer to the Clinton Foundation FBI investigation also. Frank Scargill, Macarthur America's divisions Without wanting to ignorantly weigh in to a political drama that seems so far removed from our own, more restrained, governmental affairs, we should be cautious of yet again writing off a Donald Trump presidency.

We need to wisely demarcate the man from the movement. A perceptive American Wall Street journalist recently observed, that, in his opinion, during the last eight years the American people have essentially been divided up into a plethora of "offendable minorities". Such a civil transformation is communally unsustainable. Patriotism is not a dirty word, and when someone is so brazenly willing to stand up to, and speak out against, the inner-Washington elites and their inclination to socially undermine what has made America great, there will be a conservative pushback. In Australia we generally follow in the footsteps of that great democracy, so we need to also be wary of casually dismissing the convictions and aspirations of the restless silent majority.

Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic Fed up with fear Greg Ellis (Letters, November 4) appears to channel American conspiracy theorists; his views exemplify obscured facts, ambiguous remarks, and exposing a fraction of a story that supports conspiratorial views. Then-and-recent analyses of Clinton's undergraduate thesis note her academic, unemotional and objective analysis, not advocacy. Clinton wrote, "I agreed with some of Saul Alinsky's ideas, particularly the value of empowering people to help themselves. But we had a fundamental disagreement. He believed you could change the system only from the outside. I didn't." Ellis exploits Alinsky's own techniques: bait the establishment. I'm volunteering in America's election because I'm fed up with the rampant fear, uncertainty, doubt, hatred, nastiness, xenophobia, bias, extremism.

The letter is misleading and objectively false; I find it appalling that the Canberra Times would publish it. Judy Bamberger, Milwaukee Wisconsin Weapons debate Neil James (Letters, November 1) claims that ads at the airport are aimed at all citizens, not just military decision makers, and that all citizens have a responsibility for defence matters. Therefore we should all enthusiastically support weapons ads at the airport.

The problem is that if lay persons like myself or Sue Wareham expressed an opinion on the evaluation of complex and highly technical equipment purchases on the basis of an ad, we would rightly be laughed out of court. I don't go about telling scientists which cyclotron to buy either. Such photos do not constitute an "informed debate". The reason I do not keep up with technical defence equipment evaluations is not due to "apathy, ideology or emotion", but due to the fact that in a free society, I have chosen to study other things. David Roth, Kambah

Open up West Papua When Malcolm Turnbull meets Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Sunday, will he ask him to open West Papua to the international news media? That way, persistent doubts about the humaneness of Indonesia's rule could be settled. Reg Naulty, Hawker Outsourcing trouble We have reached the sad situation where, not satisfied with "outsourcing" Australia's asylum and refugee policies, the government will now "outsource" to third countries the responsibility for resettling and rehabilitating the damaged people from Manus and Nauru.

David Purnell , Florey TO THE POINT SANCTUARY FROM TRUMP Donald Trump threatens to "drain the swamp" if he wins. The political class here must be so relieved that Mr Giurgola chose the hill. Adrian Gibbs, Yarralumla

It is as surprising as it is terrifying but Donald Trump makes George Bush Jr seem positively presidential. Rory McElligott, Nichols FLAGGING APPEARANCES How long it will be before Malcolm Turnbull appears in front of numerous Australian flags at media conferences? Maria Greene, Curtin

COURT DECISION CONCERNS Is it just me that finds it troubling that the three appeal judges who overturned a rape conviction were all males? ("Court sets aside rape conviction", November 2, p3). John Collet Redlynch, Qld CULINARY CONFUSION

Your restaurant review "Say hello to Jones & Co" (Good Food, November 1, p3) was replete with terms like: ceviche with nahm jim; baos; buratta; boudinnoir; or pashmak. Some explanation, in brackets, would be helpful. Pamela Fawke, Dunlop LEST WE FORGET Evelyn (Letters, November 1) praises the Lord that her husband and many mates made it back safely from WWII. So, Evelyn, who should we praise for the 27,000 Australian soldiers that didn't?

Andrew Ferguson, Lyneham RELIGIOUS POSER I can't tell if James R. Smith (Letters, November 3) is being deliberately facetious when he cites the Catholic Church's own self-aggrandisement as evidence of its worth. James Allan, Narrabundah Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.
Like many a relationship between close neighbours, Australia and Indonesia have had their ups and downs. More down than up, in the last few years.

But the personal rapport between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo presents the two countries with an opportunity to hit the reset button after the rollercoaster ride since the last official visit to Canberra by an Indonesian president in 2010.

Relations were warm and collegiate when then President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addressed a joint sitting of Parliament in March 2010, a day after accepting an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia.

But then disaster struck: former Prime Minister Julia Gillard's kneejerk 2011 ban of the live cattle export trade infuriated the Indonesians and damaged Australia's reputation as a solid trade partner.
Halloween, Melbourne Cup and all manner of frivolity filled the inbox this week. But it was our nation's federal politicians causing the most mirth: notably One Nation Senator Rod Culleton and former Families First Senator Bob Day. Letter writers were more inclined to agree with Peter Rawsthorne of Largs, who found nothing funny about Culleton's farcical press conference. "It was indicative of the current state of politics in Australia and much of the Western world. I don't expect to agree with every member of the Parliament, but I do expect them to have a working knowledge of the judicial system and a familiarity with the difference between guilt and innocence in the courts. For the Senator to stand in front of a press conference that he called and announce that he was not there to be 'cross-examined by the media' beggars belief." George Manojlovic of Mangerton quipped on the Culleton key controversy: "If the truck driver's account of the confrontation is correct, it looks like a case of the [John] Dunn key and the ass." Tony Re of Georges Hall wrote: "There is nothing surprising about any secretive arrangement that Malcolm Turnbull has had with Bob Day. This is a major pattern of his leadership. His cloak and dagger undermining of Tony Abbott was just the start. What is next to emerge from the shadows of Potts Point?" On matters Potts Point, Daniel Flesch of Bellingen wasn't the only one to point out that this week's letter writer Merona Martin of Meroo Meadow is giving Peter Pitt (no relation) of Potts Point an alliterative run for his money. Our Meroo Meadow resident was writing about point-to-point speed checks, a hot button topic especially for our rural readers.

Helen Pitt, Letters Co-editor

Former Senator Bob Day. Credit:David Mariuz


Last week, federal Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg racked up the frequent flier points jetting to Paris to meet his French counterparts and energy producers.

It was an unedifying spectacle to see Australia's Energy Minister heading to the other side of the globe in an effort to work out what the partly French government-owned multinational Engie plans to do with Hazelwood Power Station, in which it holds a 72 per cent stake.

The Hazelwood power station emits 14 per cent of Victoria's annual greenhouse gas emissions. Credit:Eddie Jim

Thursday's announcement of its closure by Engie is reflective of how much we've let go of the reins of energy and climate policy in Australia  right now the Turnbull government has no plan.

The fate of our energy system and regional communities such as Latrobe Valley is not being determined in Australia, but instead by foreign corporations and governments.
"Rather, 10 times, die in the surf," she wrote, "heralding the way to a new world, than stand idly on the shore."

She had no patience for those who lived without yearning, with wicks unlit.

Lionised as a gentle "lady of the lamp" who wandered through hospital wards tending to wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War, we seem to have forgotten her fierceness: a young woman who burned to abandon all social obligations and just work, who spurned suitors and lobbied politicians, who adored statistics and pioneered pie charts, and who revolutionised the medical establishment.

In Trumpian terms  and by that I mean in the terms determined by men who rate women simply according to their decorative value  Florence Nightingale was a "nasty woman".

We also forget, when we think of health policy, that it was a nurse who returned from an ugly, obscenely poorly-prepared war in Turkey and wrote a 830-page tome about military hospitals that sparked a royal commission and changed the way we think about health. Today, we bear the legacy of her work on infection control, hygiene, hospital design and her beloved statistics.

This makes it seem even more bizarre that today nurses are still so frequently sidelined from policy formulation and public debates about health. Why is it that most can name the Australian Medical Association, for example, how quickly will the Australian College of Nurses, or the Australian Nursery and Midwifery Federation spring to mind?

Why aren't we listening to our nurse leaders?

It's not an idle question. Recent studies have found much of our nursing population is approaching retirement  and quite alarmingly burnt out  at precisely the time the nursing needs of a broader ageing population is increasing. Earlier this month, in front of 120 nursing leaders, the Prime Minister launched a white paper from the Australian College of Nursing, about the role of nurses in future health and aged care reform, but it has entirely escaped the attention of the media.

And why is it, too, that  much like teachers  so many nurses feel unappreciated, undervalued and patronised, when it is difficult to conceive of more important work?
Senator David Leyonhjelm said he would support an inquiry. Credit:Peter Rae Criminal sanctions do not apply for breaches of section 18C, but the court can make orders including awarding compensation. In a written judgment, Judge Jarrett said the comments by Mr Wood and Mr Powell were in the category of "mere slights" and not "sufficiently profound or serious" to attract the operation of section 18C. Liberal senator Dean Smith says a postal plebiscite on same-sex marriage would be 'corrosive'. Credit:Philip Gostelow The comments were not made because of Ms Prior's race and were not reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Indigenous people, he said.

As to the post allegedly made by Mr Thwaites, Judge Jarrett said there was "no evidence" to contest his claim that he did not make the comment. He dismissed the claim against all three students. All but one Coalition Senate backbencher has publicly backed changing Section 18C, and the move also enjoys support in the lower house. A change proposed would be for the words "insult" and "offend" to be removed from the act. In Hobart, Mr Turnbull said his government was "considering" the proposal for an inquiry and that "nobody wants to encourage or condone hate speech of any kind". However, the right balance must be struck between protections from hate speech and people's right to free speech. "In this area, many people feel that the provisions of 18C oppose unreasonable restraints on free speech, or impose restraints on free speech over and above what is needed to prevent hate speech," he said.

"Parliamentary committees are a good way to examine issues of this kind because, of course, everybody with an interest can come and make a submission, can come and put their view, and the various arguments pro and con can be ventilated". One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said on Friday before the judgment that "regardless of the court's decision today ... it has now become clear that there needs to be a parliamentary enquiry [sic] into 18C". Nick Xenophon Team party leader Nick Xenophon has indicated concern about the delays in cases such as the QUT case, and could back an inquiry, but he continues to support strong protections from hate speech. Opposition leader Bill Shorten criticised the Prime Minister for "looking at horse-trading away protections against hate speech". "Old Malcolm would never have contemplated this," Mr Shorten said. "Every time the bullies on the backbench ask for something, Malcolm Turnbull gives it to them. They can sense his weakness and they will keep exploiting it."

Fairfax Media has been told by senior government sources the 18C inquiry week would probably be held by Parliament's human rights committee, though hearings may not get under way until next year. Liberal senator Dean Smith first called for an 18C inquiry as the first step towards breaking the impasse over changing the act and negotiations are well advanced with the Senate crossbenchers over the terms of reference for the inquiry. Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm, who has previously called for the repeal of 18C, told Fairfax Media he had discussed the inquiry with Mr Turnbull during a Thursday meeting and that the Prime Minister "is sympathetic to it ... I won't be surprised if it is announced next week". Liberal MP Tim Wilson, a vocal critic of 18C and advocate for change, said the the QUT case shone "another bright light on 18C's dark nature". "By continuing to oppose any change, Labor is ignoring reality and would rather Australians shut up than speak up," he said. "Students should never be hauled through the courts because they want to question university policy or stand up against segregation.

"The case is not the problem  the law is. This case was a disgrace from day one. Costs have been incurred, reputations tarnished and public money wasted. In its current form, 18C is a badly written law that has no place in a liberal democracy." "The current law and process vilifies people for having opinions. Reform is overdue to end the culture of censorship 18C is breeding." Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said after the judgment was handed down: "Sanity has prevailed; this should never have gotten to this point. "The process has been the punishment  the anxiety, financial cost and personal cost to the three students involved can't be measured and that why we need to amend this act." Conservative senator Eric Abetz said the ruling was good news but "irrespective of the outcome, the students will be the losers" and will forever be unfairly associated with the matter in Google searches.

"Sure, they have won but they have had their name trashed for three years by the Human Rights Commission. They've had uncertainty, denial of natural justice, the full force of the commission against them," he said. He said the legislation should be amended urgently to stop the Human Rights Commission's "frolics" but welcomed the suggestion of a parliamentary inquiry and the Prime Minister's apparent openness to it. Liberal senator James Paterson said: "Defenders of the law will no doubt argue that the dismissal of the case proves there is no need to change 18C." "This shows callous disregard for the welfare of three innocent students whose lives have been damaged by a tortuous three-and-a-half year case," he said.He said an inquiry was "the best path forward" to achieve real and viable change. Senator Leyonhjelm said that, at this stage, he would not back the government's industrial relations bills and that discussion about 18C had taken place in that context.
The three parties will found a joint venture and establish a global industrial zone. They will announce to construct factories in the manufacturing base of Geely Group, including Cixi of Zhejiang, Jinan of Shandong, Lanzhou of Gansu, Xiangtan of Hunan, Chengdu of Sichuan and Shanghai. These factories will design, develop and produce components such as main instrument boards, auxiliary fascia consoles, door panels, pillars and injection-molded bumpers for the corporation's brands. Thus, Geely can fully enter China's market, which indicates that it has taken the lead in modularization and globalization of development of components in the auto area throughout the country, and that the quality of Geely's products can live up to international criteria comprehensively.

Faurecia Group is one of the top 5oo enterprises and the 6th largest auto parts supplier. It focuses on developing and producing car seats, car interiors such as instrument boards and door panels, car exteriors like bumpers and exhaust systems, ranking respectively the first in Europe. Meanwhile, as the core supplier of Geely, Zhejiang Limin Co. has been supplying sets of services for several years, and knows well of its products and culture. After the set-up of the joint venture, the mature components by Faurecia Group can be matched and jointed through the platform of Zhejiang Limin Co. in a short period, managing the breakthrough in interior decoration and comfortability of all Geely models.

According to the trilateral cooperation agreement, the corporation newly established by the three parties will introduce a series of world-leading production facilities and workmanship with the most advanced technology, so as to meet the standard of "three highs and a low"-- high technology, high quality, high performance and low cost. The introduction will not only guarantee the quality of the interior and exterior decorations of Geely automobiles, but also enhance the company's ability to develop several projects. Under the context, components and parts of Geely automobiles are right on the track of a globalized, professional, systematic and modular leapfrog development.

Some experts claim that Geely's development mode on its supply of components and parts breaks through the traditional way of automobile industries of cooperating with suppliers, which highlights the leading role of main engine plants. It must be pointed out that Geely adopts the strategy of "one plus one plus one" platform, involving all the three parties. By doing so, local and cultural advantages are perfectly combined with advanced technology and quality superiority provided by top-level suppliers, as well as Geely's support. The combination will lift the quality of Geely's components and parts to the same level of international brands, and greatly shorten the investment cycle of international suppliers. As a result, Geely automobiles' quality will be improved, so does its globalized development. Geely will set a good example for other counterparts in this regard.

Chi Youzhang, the chairman of Zhejiang Limin Co., Ltd., addressed, "We have great responsibilities as a key supplier of Geely, especially when Geely is on the way up. It is not only our responsibility but also driving force to provide the most innovative and promising automaker with qualitative interior and external decoration and components. That is why we choose Geely and Faurecia as our partners."

Li shufu, the chairman of Geely, also delivered a speech. "It is a right decision to form strategic alliance with Limin and Faurecia. It is in the conformity with the principles of global economic development as well as Geely's global development strategy in the component sector. We will set up factories and focus on new-product development as soon as we sign the trilateral agreement. Our partners, as well as Geely, are destined to expand in the global car market. We hope our joint efforts can realize our dreams."

"The signature of the global strategic alliance agreement is of great importance for Faurecia's future development. To ensure a successful cooperation, the Faurecia team would like to contribute every necessary resource we have, and try our best to speed up the development of technology and products. As the CEO of Faurecia, I will look into the tripartite cooperation in person, and I hope we can produce new interior decorations through cooperation in the near future. At last, may great success rain over Faurecia's future development." French Faurecia Group's president and CEO Yann Delabriere said at the signing ceremony.
Malcolm Turnbull's claim that his planned ban on refugees processed offshore from ever visiting Australia does not breach international law has been challenged by the United Nation's refugee agency.

The agency's regional representative, Thomas Albrecht, has told Fairfax Media the ban appeared to be in breach of Article 31 of the Refugee Convention, which prohibits refugees being penalised for seeking protection in an irregular manner.

The Prime Minister has challenged Labor to back the ban when Parliament resumes on Monday, though neither the opposition nor the UNHCR has yet been shown the draft legislation. Labor leader Bill Shorten has labelled the ban "ridiculous".

Pressed on whether the ban was in breach of Article 31 of the convention, Mr Turnbull has said: "We have taken legal advice and we are satisfied it is within power and consistent with our international obligations."
Vogue is taking the term "fashion bible" far too literally. The British version of the magazine has featured an article in its December issue on the "debate" (was there one?) about the end of cleavage.

"Whatever happened to the cleavage?" they asked under the story by Kathleen Baird-Murray with the headline, "Desperately Seeking Cleavage". They also went to the public with a Twitter poll asking, "is cleavage over?"

Alicia Vikander at this year's Golden Globes. Credit:Kevork Djansezian/NBC

Their research notes "the distinct lack of pertinently pushed-up breasts everywhere from runway to red carpet," sales for padded bras slipping, and singled out those wearing high-necks on the red carpet, like Alicia Vikander at in Louis Vuitton and Jennifer Lopez in Giambattista Valli at this year's Golden Globes.

The writer says: "The cleavage  those magnificent mounds pushed together to display sexual empowerment, to seduce, to inspire lust or even just to show off  is over, or at least, taking a well-earned break," adding, "The tits will not be out for the lads. Or for anyone else, for that matter."
Katter's Australian Party MPs are calling for a rural member of parliament to be handed the agricultural portfolio.

Member for Mount Isa Robbie Katter said the position of Agriculture Minister was very important to the economy and the next minister should be selected from regional Queensland.

Rob Katter says an agriculture minister needs an "affinity with the bush".

"It's not a very happy partnership for us if we're going to be plonking someone in there who's from inner-city Brisbane with no affinity with the bush or western areas," he said.

"It's very important for us that we see someone that has at least some nexus with rural and regional Queensland."
A man has died after fleeing a burning house in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, on Friday night.

Emergency services were called to the Churchable residence about midnight where one occupant, a 70-year-old man, was seriously injured after escaping the fire.

A man has died in hospital after a house fire in the Lockyer Valley.

The man was treated at the scene, before being airlifted to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Police confirmed he died on Saturday morning.

The Main Green Swamp Road property was destroyed by the fire and a woman who was also inside the residence was uninjured.
Concerns about potential cartel behaviour among Australian surgeons has been referred to the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council for further investigation.

In September, Fairfax Media revealed claims that overseas-trained surgeons were facing anti-competitive behaviour that reached into the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons - a powerful group that largely controls the supply of surgeons in Australia and, allegedly, the level of competition and fees they can charge.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said after discussing the issue at the Council of Australian Governments' meeting of health ministers last month, concerns about unprofessional behaviour had been referred to the ministers' advisory council.

The council is made up of state and territory health department secretaries and chief executives, and it has a Victorian-based committee that works on workforce issues, including ideas for strategic reform.
WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan says more children need to be saved from their own families One of many former police officers fighting for compensation after being medically retired due to PTSD, depression and anxiety, Ms Kennedy has taken the extraordinary step of writing to Queen Elizabeth II for help. "Dear Ma'am," her letter reads. "I am sincerely hoping you get to read this letter as its contents effects both myself and hundreds of Western Australian Police Officers that have taken the oath to swear to serve you, the Queen. "I am sitting here with my psychologist of five years to help me write this letter. I am a medically retired former Western Australian Police Officer whom at the age of 20 decided to follow my fathers footsteps (now deceased) and join the WA Police force (WAPF).

"I joined the WAPF in March 1988 and served for 15 years. During this service my life was put in mortal danger on numerous occasions. "I witnessed absolute devastation and human tragedy, and at times this occurred on a daily basis. I was faced with death, trauma, violence, life threatening situations. As a female Police Officer, I had to remain strong, otherwise I would be looked upon as weak. "To this day I still struggle to speak about these events as it causes me too much anxiety and I become overwhelmed with emotion." Her letter makes for harrowing reading, detailing the pressure she felt to appear strong and capable, and how she didn't even tell her superiors when she was violently attacked in the line of duty by a man. She was heavily pregnant at the time and too scared to speak up for fear of losing her job.

After 15 years though, Ms Kennedy could no longer stand the pressure and, by her own admission, could no longer function as a police officer. "The stress and trauma of the job got the better of me. The fear and anxiety became overwhelming; I was fearful of people and life in general. I became fearful about my job." Medically retired with severe depression and PTSD, Ms Kennedy's life began a downward spiral which, at its worst, left her suicidal. A marriage breakdown, the loss of her home, and the responsibility for caring for four young children left Ms Kennedy hospitalised. The aftermath of what she describes as a full nervous breakdown forced her to declare bankruptcy in 2011.

With no money and no means to support her family, Ms Kennedy lined up with the community's most needy people for Salvation Army food hampers. "She's as genuine a case as you get, it's a really atrocious situation," Ms Kennedy's treating clinical psychologist Joseph Presti said. Mr Presti said while she had improved in many ways during that time, Ms Kennedy "certainly isn't capable of working full-time". Ms Kennedy has asked The Queen to support her effort to apply for an ex-gratia payment from the Western Australian government. And as she appeals to royalty, the Police Union is appealing to the public to support its push to establish a workers compensation scheme for WA police.

"The WA Police Union is currently running our It's Tough Enough campaign which seeks to highlight the need for a tailored workers' compensation style scheme for medically retired police officers," Mr Tilbury said. "The campaign was officially launched last year and we have recently started an online petition asking the community of WA to support our calls for a workers' compensation scheme. Currently, the petition has more than 2,700 signatures. "We believe there is significant support from the community for our campaign and the need to right this wrong. Every other worker in Australia has access to workers' compensation and police officers in WA should be no different. "We will be taking this issue to the March State Election and we want all sides of politics to support our calls for a tailored workers' compensation style scheme for medically retired police officers." WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan told Radio 6PR he is a long-time advocate for workers compensation for WA police.
Police are investigating a series of burglaries where offenders have used stolen cars to ram entry into shopping centres in Perth's north.

Once inside police say the offenders target free standing ATMs, causing extensive damage to the centres in the process.

Detectives have listed five incidents in the past few months, all thought to be linked, which all happened in the early hours of the morning.

Thieves targeted machines in Hocking on July 27, Gwelup just two days later and then in Greenwood on August 12.
In 2040, the roads will be occupied by self-driving cars. People will be shot through a series of tubes at 700 mph from city to city and, if Silicon Valley has its way, people will be hailing flying cars to avoid rush-hour traffic.

Thats the dream Ubers Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden laid out in a 99-page white paper today: A future where Uber riders can hail a Jetsons-like vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from their phones (or whatever device we may be using at that point).

What is a VTOL aircraft? Its a plane that uses propulsion to become airborne and land vertically (like a rocket).

Is Uber building them? No.

So what is this paper about? The ride-hail giant lays out what needs to be done for companies that want to build these VTOL planes.

Why? A couple of reasons: 1) So they can commercialize these planes for money; 2) So they can provide an alternative to car ownership that would ostensibly take cars off the road and funnel more users to their core business of car-hailing.

The company has been seriously researching the technology for quite some time, and it could be in use within a decade, Holden told Kara Swisher at the Nantucket Conference in September. The paper, which is very detailed, lays out the benefits of VTOL travel (less congestion, fewer emissions, may eventually be cheaper) and the many, many regulatory and logistical hurdles any company attempting to build and commercialize these aircrafts will come across.

Its Ubers  and by extension CEO Travis Kalanicks  attempt at catalyzing companies with the ambition to create air taxis to start building. In exchange, Uber plans to deliver a clear market and demand for the vehicles when theyve figured it out. Its a paper in some ways akin to Elon Musks Hyperloop blueprint that spurred the creation of two private companies, Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Technologies, that are both working vigorously to make the idea a reality.

Except  yes, there is an exception  there are a number of companies already working on flying cars, as Holden admitted. In other words, this is not exactly revolutionary in the same way Hyperloop was. Airbus Silicon Valley subsidiary A recently unveiled its VTOL concept called Vahana and said it plans to have a working prototype by the end of 2017. Alphabets Larry Page has a flying car company called Zee.Aero that as of June had 150 employees.

So while Holdens paper may not be creating an entirely new market for an unforeseen mode of transportation, it does have the potential to mobilize companies that have not yet begun their foray into flying cars but have the resources, engineering skills and ambitions to do it.

Uber is basically saying: If you build it, we will come (and we will help you commercialize your flying car).

But Holden, a former Groupon and Amazon executive, doesnt leave these companies hanging. The paper dives deeply into everything from barriers to market, certification, regulatory hurdles, pilot training and noise issues (since the aircraft will be flying so low).

Its not exactly scientific. Instead, the paper reads as a plea or a pitch to the chief business officers of Silicon Valley and beyond.

Here are some of the top points:

Whos driving it: Pilots will initially fly the aircraft, but like all things that are born in Silicon Valley, eventually it will be automated. A huge barrier to getting people to agree to take Uber Elevate  the name of the service  over taking Uber X or UberPool is convincing them that its safe. In order to ensure these flying vehicles are safe, Holden argues, they will have to take the human error aspect out of the equation. So while theyll be training pilots initially, the idea is the flying taxis will eventually be semi- and then fully automated.

Over time its highly likely that VTOLs will become autonomous, though we expect that initial operations will require pilots. Utilizing pilots in the initial period permits a strategy of building up statistical proof for FAA certification while slowly increasing the level of automation.

Autonomous technology in the air isnt exactly new, either. Autopilot technology has been used for decades particularly because there are so few obstacles to navigate around in the air. But as it is for planes, weather will be a bigger factor than it is for cars.

Compared to ground vehicles, the environment in which VTOL aircraft operate is far more open and uncluttered, except during takeoff and landing when operating in close proximity to the ground, buildings, and people.

How much will it cost: Here are some of the numbers: At a low production rate of 12 units per year, it will cost $1.2 million a unit. For around 500 units a year, it will cost $600,000 and at 5,000 units a year it will cost $200,000 a pop. But aircraft production levels havent been that high since 1946.

This post-WWII high production was a result of industry attempting to repurpose to civil markets, with a large number of pilots suddenly having been introduced to the market place. In the years after 1946 there was a sudden reduction in annual production and manufacturing rates have never again risen to 1946 levels.

However, these VTOL aircraft will have a longer lifespan than ground vehicles, which are typically manufactured to travel 250,000 miles.

We assume a design life of 25-27k hours for the VTOL to permit 13 years of service with the 2080 hour/year utilization. This enables the vehicle to provide 400,000 miles of service each year and about 5 million miles of service life before the aircraft is salvaged at a residual value of 30%.

As for the operating costs, Holden assumes it will be $50,000 a year for a piloted VTOL and, when they become automated, companies will have to pay $60,000 per vehicle to add all the necessary technology.

For consumers, the cost of taking Uber Elevate will go down over time.

Our analysis shows that in the long-term autonomous case, direct costs per vehicle mile will approach 50 cents per mile (equivalent to 35 cents per ground mile). We can expect that the price 100 for a 45-mile pool VTOL, which would replace a 60-mile automobile trip, could approach as low as $21 for the 15 minute journey.

Whats next: Uber is going to be leveraging a lot of the relationships they have with local and city regulators as well as manufacturers and other community groups to discuss what needs to be done. Theyll also be hosting a summit on Elevate in early 2017.

In the coming weeks and months, we plan to delve into the political, policy, infrastructural, and socio-economic issues that will need to be addressed. These will be important to sustainably and inclusively develop vehicles that meet sophisticated consumer demand and are able to operate safely, quietly and reliably in cities.

But Uber  and willing partners  also have to work closely with the FAA to determine how to regulate these low-flying, short-haul aircraft. Heres what that process will look like:

 First the regulatory authority and the manufacturer have to agree on the certification basis. Then the regulator and the manufacturer must agree how to determine the compliance of the vehicle with the certification basis. Next, the manufacturer demonstrates the compliance of the vehicle to the standards accepted by the regulator to obtain type certification; this is an iterative process. Following type certification, manufacturing can begin while the manufacturer seeks a production certificate to demonstrate the capability of producing many copies of that aircraft to the same standards.

This is developing...




Protesters near a fire during the protests in Jakarta. Credit:Roni Bintang Simultaneous protests took place in other Indonesian cities including Medan and Bengkulu. "Arrest and try Ahok and his cronies dead or alive," read a sign suspended from Istiqlal mosque, the largest mosque in South East Asia. Police during the rally against Ahok in Jakarta. Credit:Roni Bintang Several embassies, including those from Australia and the US, had warned their citizens to stay away from the protests, and some schools in the capital closed.

Ahok is being investigated by police for alleged blasphemy after he appeared to suggest in an edited video transcript that voters were being deceived by a verse in the Koran. Police and a protester gesturing during the violent clashes in Jakarta. Credit:RONI BINTANG Some Islamic groups had urged voters not to re-elect Ahok on the basis of verse 51 from the fifth sura or chapter of the Koran, al-Ma'ida, which some interpret as prohibiting Muslims from living under the leadership of a non-Muslim. Others say the scripture should be understood in its context  a time of war  and not interpreted literally. Muslim protesters chant slogans near burning police trucks during the clashes. Credit:AP

Ahok apologised for the offence caused by his comments and insisted he was not criticising the Koranic verse but those who used it to attack him. However many Muslims continue to call for him to be arrested and jailed. Clashes with police at a rally protesting against Ahok in Jakarta. Credit:Roni Bintang Jakarta had been on tenterhooks in the days leading up to the protest, which had ignited ugly anti-Chinese sentiment throughout the country, and sparked fears of a repeat of the 1998 riots. It is estimated more than 1000 people died in the 1998 riots which began as a protest against the Suharto regime but often targeted ethnic Chinese, looting and burning their shops.

Muslim protesters chant slogans near burning police trucks. Credit:AP Helicopters chakk-chakked over head on Friday as tens of thousands of protesters marched from Istiqlal Mosque towards the presidential palace in Jakarta. At times it was impossible to move as the streets heaved with people. A protester holds up a blowtorch during a clash with police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. Credit:AP Demonstrators sang: "Hang Ahok, Hang Ahok, do it now"  to the tune of a popular birthday song urging that the cake be cut now.

The governor had this week told rally organisers they were welcome to protest as long as they didn't trample on the street gardens. Protesters use sticks to attack riot police. Credit:AP "Don't step on the gardens, step on Ahok," yelled one man. They brandished signs saying: "We love the police  punish the man who insults the Koran."

Demonstrators rally in Jakarta on Friday to demand the arrest of the city's governor. Credit:Jewel Topsfield Dr Ratman, whose community house Rumah Amanah Rakyat prepared thousands of meals for protesters and coordinated 50 ambulances, said if the president did not ask the police to arrest Ahok, he should "step down like Suharto". "People will not accept it if Ahok is free. He has insulted Islam and Islam is our belief. The best thing is for the President [Joko Widodo] to instruct the police to arrest Ahok before the worst happens," Dr Ratman told Fairfax Media. Dr Ratman, whose organisation is feeding protesters outside the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. Credit:Roni Bintang "The President looks like he is protecting Ahok. Who is Ahok? What has he done for this country? Nothing."

Agah, from Cakung in East Jakarta, said he attended the rally to defend Islam and protest against religious defamation. He said according to Islamic law the punishment for religious defamation was stoning. People join the protests from their windows in Jakarta. Credit:Roni Bintang "We do not apply Islamic law so he must be legally processed with a minimum imprisonment of 10 years," Agah said. Vice-President Jusuf Kalla tweeted on Friday evening that he would meet representatives from the rally at his office. A protester outside Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on Friday afternoon. Credit:Roni Bintang

Ahok had spent the day campaigning in a Chinese part of North Jakarta. President Jokowi, who will this weekend travel to Australia, spent the day working as usual. He received two ministers in the morning and then inspected the progress of the airport train in the afternoon. Community house Rumah Amanah Rakyat has prepared thousands of meals for people attending the Friday protests in Jakarta. Credit:Roni Bintang In the absence of any violent incidents earlier in the day, television coverage of the demonstration reverted to colour stories, such as a 35 per cent increase in the profit turned by street vendors. Ian Wilson, from the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, said it was important to consider some of the context of the protests. He said since taking office as governor in 2014, Ahok had presided over one of the most aggressive eviction campaigns in the modern history of the city.
Trust between the leaders of Australia and Indonesia has been restored after years of wrenching crises, the Indonesian president has declared as he prepares to arrive for his first state visit.

President Joko Widodo, universally known by the nickname Jokowi, said he had been able to solve several problems simply by phoning Malcolm Turnbull. Yet he also suggested some sensitivities remain.

After the 2013 scandal of Australia tapping the mobile of his predecessor, President Jokowi revealed he does not use a mobile at all.

"I don't have a phone," he said in response to the question of whether he'd asked the Australian government for assurances that it was not spying on his mobile phone.
Latest News Reserve Bank decides on interest rates How November call will affect borrowers

Property investors abandon Queensland market Government laws threaten investor control, says industry body

Yellow Brick Road has announced that Tim Brown, CEO of lending, will be stepping down from his position effective 31 December this year. Mark Bouris , the companys executive chairman, said that the role will not be replaced. Instead, the two existing roles of general manager for both YBR and its aggregator Vow Financial will take on more responsibility for driving growth and productivity in the lending division.In line with the previously announced restructure of corporate operations this year, senior managers and I have been adopting additional responsibilities, with a major focus on achieving efficiencies and network productivity, Bouris said.He continued, saying that the appointment of the new general manager roles has commenced with Andrew Rasby starting his position as general manager as lending for Yellow Brick Road on Tuesday (1 November). The appointment of a general manager of lending for Vow Financial will be announced in due course.Our establishment phase is nearing completion and we have a clear strategy to increase productivity and conversion in our networks. Deepening the responsibility for two very hands-on general managers to drive those networks forward makes good sense for this stage of our business growth.Bouris thanked Brown for his contribution to the company in the two years since YBR acquired Vow Financial. Brown has been CEO of lending at YBR since January 2016 and CEO of Vow for five years.
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Friday Nov. 4 Fox force four

The Four Foxes exhibit opening tonight at Grumpy Bert features illustrations from four female artists from Brooklyn  Aya Kakeda, Jen Tong, Debra Ziss and Jannese Rojas  each of whom has created special images of animals for the show.

79 pm at Grumpy Bert (82 Bond St. between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, www.grump ybert.com ). Free.

Saturday Nov. 5 Mews-ical

The new comedy Vera & Valya & The Magical One Cat Circus follows two sisters training their cat for a spot in the illustrious Moscow Cat Circus  but their kitty is just a guy crawling around on all fours. Based on Russian fairy tales, the purr-formance has musical numbers, bad jokes, and slapstick numbers.

8 pm at Standard ToyKraft [722 Metropolitan Ave. between Manhattan and Graham avenues in Williamsburg, (718) 3883163, www.stand ardto ykraf t.org ]. $15.

Sunday Nov. 6 Have you been served?

Catch the first preview of Servant of Two Masters tonight at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center  a comedia dell artestyle tale of mistaken identities, cross-dressing, and a very hungry servant who takes on two jobs so he can get two dinners. The 18th century script by Carlo Goldoni leaves space for actors to improvise, so no two shows will be the same.

Prince of foxes: This image by Jannese Rojas is part of the Four Foxes exhibit opening at Grumpy Bert on Nov. 4. Jannese Rojas

7:30 pm at Polonsky Shakespeare Center [262 Ashland Pl. between Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, (212) 2292819], www.tfana.org. $65$110.

Monday

Nov. 7

Feathered fiends

In the panel discussion Our Pesky Neighbors, Part One: Pigeons Margaret Mittelbach, founder of the Secret Science Club, and some animal experts will discuss the history and lives of the citys most ubiquitous bird. Parts two and three of this weekly series will tackle insects and rats, respectively.

7 pm at Brooklyn Historical Society [128 Pierrepont St. at Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, (718) 2224111], www.brook lynhi story.org . $10.

Thursday

Nov. 10

Shout it out!

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is famous for its no-talking rules  but those will be suspended tonight for Shouting at the Screen, a new series of blaxploitaton film screenings, with comedians Wyatt Cenac (pictured) and Donwill introducing the flicks and hollering jokes from their seats, Statler and Waldorfstyle.

9:30 pm at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema [445 Albee Square West between Fulton and Willoughby streets Downtown, (718) 5132547, www.draft house.com/ nyc ]. $15.
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Its almost over!

The 2016 election season is finally hurtling towards its nail-biting conclusion, and youre going to want a drink in your hand as you watch those final returns on Nov. 8, whether to celebrate your candidates victory, or console yourself in defeat. Every bar with a television will have it tuned to the results, but here are a few spots that are doing something extra:

Whiskey and caucus

The Fundamental Theater Project hosts the Raucous Caucus Election Night Apocalypse  an evening of music, comedy, poetry, and general chaos while the election results stream in live. Your ticket will get you one free drink, and an open mic portion of the night will let you express any feelings you need to get out.

Unit J (338 Moffat St. between Irving and Knickerbocker avenues in Bushwick, www.funda menta lthea terpr oject.com ). 811:30 pm. $10.

The Hole night

The comedy duo Talk Hole hosts Election Night Live at Kickstarter Headquarters. The evening will have contests and games to keep you going until the polls close. Snacks and speciality cocktails will be provided, while comedians Jacqueline Novak, Ana Fabrega, and more act as pundits.

Kickstarter (58 Kent St. between Franklin and West streets in Greenpoint, talkh ole.tumbl r.com ). 6:3011 pm. Free, but RSVP required.

Talk it out

Performance space Jack presents the Election Night Watch Party (with Ike). Democracy devotees can drink beer and wine and watch election returns on a big screen, while comedian and talk show host Ike Ufomadu jokes during the commercial breaks.

Jack (505 Waverly Ave. between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue in Clinton Hill), www.jackn y.org . 711 pm. $5.

A laughing matter

Political Subversities offers up Election Night Live, a show with comedians updating the audience on election returns between each set. The night will feature comedian Aparna Nancheria, hip-hop improv team North Coast, and musical comedy from Pop Roulette and Friends Who Folk.

Littlefield (622 Degraw St. between Third and Fourth avenues in Gowanus, www.littl efiel dnyc.com ). 7:30 pm. $15 (10 in advance).

Electoral improv

The election will get a soundtrack tonight at Brooklyn Bowl, where the Everyone Orchestra jam band will create a musical interpretation of the election returns in real time! The band includes members of the Disco Biscuits, Snarky Puppy, and Big Gigantic, and special guests are likely to stop by.

Brooklyn Bowl [61 Wythe Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, (718) 9633369, www.brook lynbo wl.com ]. 8 pm. $25 ($75 VIP).

Studies show

The Society for the Advancement of Social Studies hosts a Presidential History and Election Night Party, featuring presidential trivia games, a lecture about the origin of democracy, a look back at the vicious, mud-slinging presidential election of 1828, and live coverage of the nights developments.

The Bedfords back room (110 Bedford Ave. at N. 11th Street in Williamsburg, (718) 3021180, getsa uceda tsass.tumbl r.com ). 7 pm. Free.

Sip and screen

The Syndicated screening room and bar will be showing the election returns in its theater and in the bar, and offering drink specials all night to help fight your nerves.

Syndicated [40 Bogart St. between Thames and Grattan streets in Williamsburg, (718) 3863399, www.syndi cated bk.com ]. 7 pm. Free.

Vote Novack: Comedian Jacqueline Novack will join the lineup of funny folk at Election Night Live, the viewing party at Kickstarter headquarters in Greenpoint. Alex John Beck

Drinkology

The Videology bar and screening room will be decked out in red, white, and blue, with election coverage screening in the theater and at the bar, which will offer drink specials until the last vote is counted.

Videology [308 Bedford Ave. at S. First Street in Williamsburg, (718) 7823468], www.video logyb arand cinem a.com . 6 pmfinal results. Free.

Sticker shock

The Hinterlands Bar is no longer selling Yuengling, but it will give away a free pint tonight to anyone wearing an I Voted sticker. It will also be showing the returns on its new projection screen, and offering snacks to cushion all that drinking youll be doing.

Hinterlands [739 Church Ave. between E. Seventh and E. Eighth streets in Kensington, (718) 6330550]. 6 pm3 am. Free.

Mexican vote

The restaurant and bar Terra Firma will hold a viewing party all night, with special deals on tacos and Mexican beers. With each drink you buy, you can take a swipe at the Trump pinata!

Terra Firma (119 Ingraham St. between Porter and Knickerbocker avenues in Bushwick, (718) 3664375 www.terra firma nyc.com

Get together

Take a break from the partisan politics with United States  An Election-Day Gameshow. This drinking game and healing ritual will put politically opposed people onto teams, then have them compete to see how many things they can agree on!

Petes Candy Store [709 Lorimer St. at Richardson Street in Williamsburg, (718) 3023770], www.petes candy store.com . 7 pm. Free.

Dem fellows

Join the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats to watch the returns at the Black Horse Pub in Park Slope.

Black Horse Pub (568 Fifth Ave. at 16th Street in Park Slope, (718) 788-1975, www.black horse brook lyn.com ). 7:3011:30 pm. Free.

Ladies night

The groups Ladies Get Paid, A Womans Thing, and Yes, Equal, along with other female-focused organizations, will gather at Cantica Royal to cheer on Clinton.

Cantina Royal New York (58 N. Third St. between Kent and Wythe avenues in Williamsburg, canti naroy al.com ). 8 pmmidnight. Free.

A good keg

The Jewish volunteering group Repair the World hosts Kegs with a Conscience election returns viewing party tonight, with a keg of beer, snacks, and a welcome for anyone who stops by.

Repair the World (808 Nostrand Ave. between St. Johns and Lincoln places in Crown Heights. www.werep air.org ). 711 pm. Free.
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The city is really shopping around for new school space Downtown!

Education officials are in talks with the developer of the massive new City Point mall and residential complex to build a long-sought-after new public school in its Fulton Street development, according to a local pol familiar with the discussions.

My understanding is that there have been discussions around siting a school there and those conversations are ongoing, said Councilman Steve Levin (DDowntown). Nothing is promised, but were going to continue to work on it. I think its absolutely appropriate to have a school there.

He said that there have been talks with City Point developer Albee Square LLC  composed of Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust  about building a learning institution to help reduce the need for school seats Downtown, which has seen a boom of residential development after a 2004 rezoning that was meant to bring more office space to the area.

Locals have long argued that the influx of new families will soon overwhelm area elementary schools. City Point alone has added 690 units, with another 450 on the way.

The School Construction Authority  which manages the construction, design, and renovation of schools in the city  has money in its coffers to build more school seats in the area, Levin said, but needs somewhere to put them.

In its latest five-year capital plan, the Department of Education identified the need for around 2,800 new seats in the area  which includes Dumbo, the Navy Yard, and Fort Greene  and said it has funding for almost 2,000 of those, with 333 already in the works.

The city might not have to foot the bill for the new school since developer is planning on paying for the house of learning, Levin said.

The SCA has already dedicated funds but I dont believe thats actually going to be necessary, he said.

The councilman revealed the discussions after voting to allow another developer to rezone a site on Willoughby Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension where it wants to build a new high-rise  on a site right next door to City Point.

Community Board 2 voted to reject the proposal in June  with members demanding the builder offer sweeteners like school space to offset the added burden it would place on the neighborhoods already taxed infrastructure  and Borough President Adams also gave it a thumbs down, likewise citing the lack of school space as well as other community benefits.

Levin gave his okay after securing a deal to make the building smaller, but argued that it was unnecessary to push developer Savanna Partners to build or set aside funding for a new Downtown school since one is being planned just next door  even though the deal with Albee Square is not done.

The discussions are a step in the right direction, one local leader said, but more school seats will still be needed to make sure all of the areas newest, littlest residents are educated.

Getting a new school very close to 141 Willoughby is an important first step, but its only a down-payment on the 3,000 school seats the School Construction Authority recognizes have to be provided in Downtown Brooklyn to meet the needs of the 11,000 units of housing that are going in, said Peter Bray, head honcho of local civic group the Brooklyn Heights Association.

Washington Square Partners did not return a request for comment by publishing. An Acadia spokesman said he was unaware of any plans to build a school on the site.
Democrats saw a surge in new voters in Pennsylvania as midterms near
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BSRIA is in support of a recent announcement that volumetric off-site construction homes will be constructed to meet the housing crisis, as 1 million new homes are needed in the UK by 2020.

Unlike the post-war off-site builds of several decades ago, the new homes will reportedly be visually vibrant and eco-friendly. More importantly, they will be modern, spacious and offer increased thermal quality.

The homes will be built off-site in a factory then transported in the back of a lorry, and craned onto shallow foundations. Another main advantage is the economic viability: 50,000 per cube. As such, rents will be affordable rent at around 148 per week.

Lynne Ceeney, technical director at BSRIA, said: Off-site manufacture is not a new method of construction, and many high-end homes such as those manufactured by HufHaus are popular and reliable. The move towards volume production of good quality, more affordable off-site manufactured homes is very welcome, with the associated increased rate in housing output offering an essential contribution to help young professionals, key workers and those starting their careers to get a foot on the housing ladder.

It is good to see the industry taking steps towards off-site and advanced manufacturing techniques. As well as providing more housing, off-site manufacture can provide better working conditions for construction workers, shorter time on-site, and improved environmental performance in the construction process.

Earlier in the year, Legal & General invested in a modular housing business, Legal & General Homes, and is planning to deliver around 3,000 homes a year from a leased mammoth warehouse in West Yorkshire. In the interim, Urban Splash has a target to deliver up to a 1,000 a year of its own modular hoUSe product.

They join contractor Laing ORourke and architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and ZEDfactory in launching plans to deliver major off-site housing programmes.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners revealed plans in February to deliver up to 7,500 units a year of its off-site housing system, a version of which has been trialled at a 24-home project in Lewisham, South London. ZEDfactory is ready to deliver up to 5,000 zero carbon homes a year built on stilts above car parks. They are highly insulated timber frame pods while the roof is fitted with solar panels which provide 90 per cent of the units energy.
Why do people keep leaving their cars unlocked in NJ? We asked
Happiest Minds, founded by former chairman of MindTree, is planning to go public in the next three years by which its revenue will double to around $150 million.
is facing yet another class action lawsuit in the US from a section of investors for issuing "false and misleading statements about its business and operations" between February and September this year.

Law firm Holzer and Holzer LLC  representing the investors  said the information technology firm had made "improper payments to obtain permits and building licences in India".

declined comment on the matter.

Cognizant, which had a headcount of over 244,000 at the end of June, has most of these employees based in India.

The company is slated to announce its third-quarter results on Monday.

On September 30, said it was conducting an internal investigation into possible violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, following which the stock price tanked, hurting shareholders. Also, Cognizant had announced the resignation of the companys president, Gordon Coburn.

Holzer & Holzer invited investors to join the class action lawsuit, in case they "purchased Cognizant shares during that time and suffered a loss" on the investment. Holzer & Holzer said the deadline to ask the court to be appointed lead plaintiff is December 5, 2016. Last month, Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP had also announced an investigation on behalf of the Cognizant investors concerning the company's and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws.

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP had invited the investors to join its lawsuit, which seeks to "file an action under the federal securities laws to recover damages and seek other relief against Cognizant".
will not resign from any group companies where he is the chairman and is ready for legal battle with Tatas  if need be, a family source told Business Standard.
Aviation regulator DGCA has sought from details of the flights it had cancelled and delayed recently after some of its pilots reported sick amid an acute shortage of flight crew, particularly in its narrow body fleet.

has also been asked to provide details of the pilots who are "habitual" of reporting sick and disrupting the airline's schedule, an official said.

The Mumbai-headquartered airline, which is already facing paucity of pilots to carry out its operations in a smooth manner, had cancelled 50-odd flights on Tuesday and Wednesday after a section of its pilots did not turn up for duty despite being rostered in protest against the malfunctioning of its new crew rostering management system.

"We have asked to provide us details of the flights it cancelled on November 1 and November 2. It has been asked to provide the number of flights it cancelled as well as the number of pilots who reported sick," a senior DGCA official said today.

The airline has also been told to provide details of the pilots who do not turn up for duty and keep passengers waiting inside the aircraft.

Jet Airways requires at least 200 more pilots to carry out its operations in a seamless manner, with its Boeing 737 fleet taking the maximum hit due to the inadequate number of flight crew in the airline, sources had said.

Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan had last week hit out at the airline after his flight to Chennai from Mumbai was allegedly delayed due to non-availability of flight crew.

"Flying to Chennai. Baggage, check. Board flight on time, check. Seat belt fastened, check. Only thing we need now are our pilots!!...Well done Jet Airways!!! Entire plane boarded without any pilots on board. Still waiting and hoping...," he had said in a series of tweets over the nearly one-and-a-half- hour delay.

The full service carrier is second largest airline in terms of number of domestic operations after no-frills IndiGo, operating more than 600 domestic and international flights every day.

The airline at present has around 1,200 pilots to operate its fleet of 117 aircraft comprising Boeing 777s, B737s, Airbus A330s and ATRs. Almost two-thirds of its fleet consist of B737s.

As part of the winter schedule, which became effective from late last month, Jet Airways would operate 3,010 flights per week while its subsidiary JetLite 507 flights per week.
Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management and investment firm the Xander Group, backed by the Rothschild family, are co-investing $450 million in retail assets in India, boosting their combined investments in the Indian real estate market.

In a statement on Friday, the two firms said they have bought three shopping centres in the country for $300 million. The remaining $150 million will be used to buy, or build new retail real estate assets.

APG is investing 77 percent of the funds, Xander the rest.

In 2014, the two parties formed a $300 million venture aimed at investing in commercial office space in major Indian cities.

Despite a surge in e-commerce, private equity investors like Blackstone and Xander have sought malls in the fast growing Indian market, betting that people will flock to stores as more foreign brands open and online retailers ease their aggressive discounting.

Indian malls, evolving from ramshackle collections of stores to modern plazas, are seen as a gateway to brands that a growing middle class aspires to own.

"It is hard to recreate the physical experience online," said Sachin Doshi, the Managing Director and head of private real estate investment for Asia Pacific at APG.

Consumer spending in India is set to top $3.6 trillion by 2020, and brands like Ikea, H&M and GAP are planning forays into a country where new rules allow shops to open 24 hours a day.

For investors, a dearth of quality malls and growing demand from retailers means faster rental growth and higher yields.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, who is aporperty consultant, retail rents in some malls have risen as much as 20 percent over the past year, and shopping centre yields in India are about 11 percent compared with 4.9 percent in Singapore and 4 percent in London.

The three shopping centres acquired by APG and Xander are spread across an area of about 3.5 million square feet and are located in Bengaluru and Chennai in southern India, and Surat in the west. Moreover, sources say new developments will be based in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune.

APG's total investment in Indian real estate, including this deal, adds up to $800 million.
expect this winter to be good for business and they have added capacity like never before, beating their peers across the globe.
In a snub to the board of Tata Sons, independent directors of Indian Hotels, the operators of the Taj hotel chain, have backed as the chairman of the company and supported his move to turn around the company.
With the Union Petroleum Ministry imposing a fine of $1.55 billion on the Mukesh Ambani-owned Limited (RIL) for illegally extracting natural gas from ONGC fields in the Krishna Godavari Basin, the companys shares fell by over 2% since morning.
The small and medium sized Tata Companies were the star performers during the Mistry's nearly 45-months tenure as Tata Sons chairman. Tata Steel subsidiary and pig-iron manufacturer Tata Metaliks tops the chart with 66.5% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in its market capitalisation during Mistry tenure at the helm of Tata Sons. The company's market capitalisation jumped nearly seven times during the period from Rs 158 crore at the end of 2012 to Rs 1068 crore on October 24, 2016 the day Cyrus was removed as Tata Sons chairman. This was largely due to a turnaround in the company finances and the investors betting the company's planned merger with Tata Steel and delisting from the bourses. (See adjoining table)
Drug makers Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, its US subsidiary Taro Pharmaceutical, and Dr Reddys Labora-tories are facing the heat in an anti-trust probe in the US on price collusion. Criminal charges could be framed by the end of the year and could face penalties if they are held responsible for fixing prices of drugs.
The first phase is expected to become operational in early 2017 and add annual capacity of 250,000 units to the existing 1.5 million unit capacity the company has from its factories in Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana.
Tata Group and NTT are planning to settle their differences by seeking the Reserve Bank of India's permission, under a fresh application, for Tata Sons to remit $1.17 billion to the Japanese company to buyback DoCoMos 26.5 per cent stake in their loss-making joint-venture Tata Teleservices, the Business Standard reported earlier.
Ratan Tata, who became interim chairman of Tata Group after Cyrus Mistry's unceremonious exit recently, is keen to keep the UK steelworks part of the conglomerate and will make a decision in this regard within four weeks, a media report said on Friday.

According to a source, Ratan Tata is conducting a detailed review of UK before making a final decision.

Quoting sources 'The Guardian' reported that he is keen to keep the UK steelworks part of the Tata Group.

"They will urgently make a decision, but whatever happens Tata will stay [in the UK steel business]. Ratan Tata will go through in detail and analyse," the source told the newspaper.

It is believed Ratan Tata will be analysing whether to go ahead with a potential ThyssenKrupp joint venture deal for the Port Talbot plant in Wales - the UK's biggest steelworks - and proposals to sell Tata Steel's speciality steel arm, which employs 2,000 people in north-east England.

Questions about the future of UK and its nearly 11,000 workers remains ever since the Mumbai-headquartered steel giant announced in March that it would be reviewing the future of the business.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will arrive in India for her three-day visit on Sunday but it is yet to be confirmed if a meeting with any Tata Group representatives would be on the agenda.

A UK government spokesperson said, "A great deal of work has been done to support the steel industry, including tackling the dumping of cheap imports into the EU and introducing guidelines so that, wherever possible, UK steel is used in government projects."

"The recent reopening of the plate mills in Scotland and British Steel taking over the Scunthorpe site and hiring more people shows the sector can remain competitive with the right investment," said the spokesperson.

Ratan Tata, 78, who retired as Tata Group Chairman nearly four years back, returned to take over the reins of the over $100 billion conglomerate after Mistry's ouster on October 24.
Two prominent US lawmakers on Thursday called on federal anti-trust regulators to probe whether Sanofi SA, Eli Lilly and Co, Merck & Co Inc and Novo Nordisk A/S colluded to set prices for insulin and other diabetes drugs.

The request by US Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings follows a similar letter they sent last fall calling for an investigation into 14 drug over price increases of .

US prosecutors could file the first charges by the end of the year in their subsequent criminal investigation of generic drugmakers over suspected price collusion, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

In their latest letter to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, Sanders, an independent, and Cummings, a Democrat, raised questions about skyrocketing prices for insulin, alleging that the price hikes seem to occur in tandem.

They noted that the original patent on insulin, a hormone used by diabetics to control blood sugar levels, expired 75 years ago.

Both Sanofi and Novo Nordisk have said prices are set indepenedently, while a Merck spokeswoman said the company does not make insulin at all. Merck makes other products to treat diabetes.

Eli Lilly, in an email, said it strongly disagrees with the accusations in the letter, adding that "the insulin market in the US is highly competitive".

Shares of several generic drugmakers fell on Thursday after the report of pending Justice Department charges.

"We do not think the major generic have likely participated in significant pricing collusion," A/B Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal said in a research note.

Aggressive drug pricing has come under intense scrutiny after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted her intent to tackle high prices last year.

An August report from the Government Accountability Office found that out of the 1,441 analysed generic drugs, more than 300 of them increased prices by at least 100 percent between the first quarter of 2010 and the corresponding period in 2015.

Recent price hikes that have drawn fire included Turing Pharmaceuticals' decision in 2015 to raise by 5,000 percent the price of a decade-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic infection.

Generic drugmakers, possibly reacting to the political headwinds, reined in price hikes this year.

Guggenheim Securities, citing polling of generic drugmakers, last month estimated that overall U.S. generic drug prices would dip by apercentage in the mid-single digits this year.
Two days after an ex-serviceman's suicide on the One Rank One Pension issue, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said most defence veterans had been given benefits under the scheme while around 1 lakh still left will be given these in two months.

"Only 1 lakh ex-servicemen out of over 20 lakh are not getting pension as per the scheme due to some technical difficulty or documentation problems," the minister said.

The minister paid homage to Major Somnath Sharma, the country's first recipient of highest military honour the Param Vir Chakra on his 69th martyrdom anniversary in central Badgam district.

"These 1 lakh personnel are yet to get the full benefits under the ... we will soon sort out the paperwork. In the next two months, we will finalise it," he said.

He said the issue had not been implemented in the past 43 years.

"We did it. Every year, an expenditure of Rs 7,500 crore will be incurred and Rs 11,000 crore have been paid as arrears. There has been an average increase of 23 to 24 per cent in pensions under the OROP," he said.

Parrikar is on a visit to Kashmir to review the preparedness of troops in the wake of repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

The Defence Minister's remarks came after a political controversy erupted in Delhi on Wednesday over the suicide on Tuesday of Ram Kishan Grewal, a retired Subedar of the Indian Army.

Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag accompanied Parrikar when he listened to the problems of army veterans present at the homage-paying ceremony.

"The problems conveyed to me by you will be resolved before I come here the next time," he assured the veterans.

The minister said he was aware that benefits under certain reservation quota were not being extended by the state government to ex-servicemen.

"I will ask for a report from the state government on this issue. The facilities offered by the Central government will also be extended to you," Parrikar assured the ex-servicemen.
Delhi's indulgence over the Diwali weekend left the city choked and blanketed by smog over the following days, with the situation worsening to the point that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday called a high-level meeting with all departments concerned to discuss steps to combat the capital's dangerous pollution levels on a "war footing".
Over the past two days, leaders from both Aam Aadmi Party and Congress first made a beeline at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and then at Bamla village in Haryanas Bhiwani district to meet the family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) on Tuesday.
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India-Pakistan relations tumbled to a new low as Islamabad on Thursday named eight Indian High Commission officials for alleged spying, which India rejected as "baseless and unsubstantiated" and as part of the neighbours' "tit for tat" move after a Pakistani official was caught "red-handed" for spying.

As the Pakistani media flashed the names and photographs of the eight Indian officials in Islamabad, which the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria confirmed later, in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India "protests strongly" against Islamabad's move to publicly name and put up photographs of the officials, four of who are diplomatic passport holders.

"This is against basic norms of diplomatic practice and courtesy," he said.

Rejecting Pakistan's allegations of the men as belonging to Indian intelligence agencies RAW and IB, Swarup said: "We completely reject the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The government categorically denies those allegations."

He also said that Mehmood Akhtar, the Pakistan High Commission official who was detained last week for allegedly running a spy network as part of the Inter Services Intelligence, has revealed "sensitive information" about "anti-India activities" being carried out with connivance of Pakistan High Commission officials.

Swarup said it was "regrettable" that Pakistani authorities chose to level these allegations against the Indians after deciding to recall, "on their own", six officials of the Pakistan High Commission.

He said some of them "may have been named" by Akhtar, who was caught "red-handed last week while indulging in anti-India activities".

Asked about revelations made by Akhtar, Swarup said he has "revealed to us rather sensitive information about the kind of anti-India activities that were going on in this country with the connivance of officials of the Pakistan High Commission and our security agencies are currently seized of the matter and we will get to the bottom of it".

The spokesperson totally rejected the allegations against the Indian officials by Islamabad.

"The allegations against the Indian officials represent an after-thought and a crude attempt to target these officials for no fault of theirs," he said.

"We regard this as an unfortunate incident. Pakistan is resorting to tit for tat without any real case against these officials, and we hope that such incidents do not recur in the future."

Asked if the eight officials will be brought back, Swarup said the Indian government will take a decision soon "keeping their safety in mind".

"A decision will be taken by government keeping their safety in mind. It is a procedural issue, and a decision will be taken soon," he said.

The spokesperson added that the officials there were working on promoting peace between India and Pakistan.

"We expect the Pakistan government to take all steps to ensure the safety of these officials," Swarup said.

Pakistan said the eight Indian High Commission officials were involved in "coordinating terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan", a day after six Pakistani officials of the high commission in New Delhi were called back.

Zakaria, in his weekly press briefing, named the Indian officials as Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, Commerical Counsellor "and RAW station chief", Anurag Singh, First Commercial Secretary, Amardeep Singh Bhatti, Attache Visa, Dharmendra Sodhi, staff member, Vijay Kumar Verma, staff, Madhavan Nanda Kumar, staff, and "suspected IB operatives", Balbir Singh, First Secretary - Press and Information and "IB station chief", Jayabalan Senthil, Assistant Personnel Welfare Officer.

"All these eight officials were involved in espionage, subversion and supporting of terrorist activities," he said.

The FO spokesman also said that the Indian diplomatic staff "also handled Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) factions".

Last week, Pakistan had declared Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh persona non grata and given him 48 hours to leave the country. Singh's expulsion followed within hours of Mehboob Akhtar's expulsion.

In March, Pakistan said it had arrested a "serving Indian naval intelligence officer" Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan for allegedly working for RAW. India, however, said that he was no longer in service.

Swarup termed the support to terror by Pakistan as the root cause of problems between the two nations.

"Root cause of problem between India and Pakistan is Pakistan's support to cross-border terrorism and its promotion as an element of state policy.

"It is important for Pakistan to desist from those policies which are failed policies which have led to its diplomatic isolation... Unless that happens relationship between two countries will continue to remain like this," he said.
A stand-off was witnessed between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), but the Indian Army on Thursday denied any "incursion" by the Chinese troops on Indian side.

According to government sources, a stand-off between Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was witnessed on Wednesday when the Chinese troops objected to some civilian construction work that is going on in Demchok.

Sources however said the Chinese troops stood along the LAC.

China has expressed opposition to certain construction project that are going on on the Indian side.

The Indian Army, while stating there was no "incursion", also said that the issue of construction projects "on both sides" is being sorted out in the Border Personnel Meetings (BPM).

"No Chinese incursion across LAC. Issues relating construction projects on both sides of LAC being resolved in BPM," the Army's Northern Command said in a tweet.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup meanwhile said even if an incident may have happened, it would be resolved through established mechanisms, and added that it should not be "sensationalised".

"I am not specifically aware of any such incident but even if something like this has happened, there are, as you know, established mechanisms to handle such situations as a result of which in the recent past at least our border with China has been free of any major incident. I would urge lets not sensationalise things out of context," he said.

The Indian Defence Ministry and Army have maintained that there have not been any incidents of "incursion" by China, but due to different perceptions of the LAC, transgressions do occur as both sides undertake patrol up to their perception of the LAC.
Lauding the media for its constructive contribution to public causes, Prime Minister on Thursday urged it to encourage debate on other constructive subjects including simultaneous elections for the state assemblies and parliament.

"It appears there is a halt in debate on some issues, and if media plays its role in carrying forward the debate, it would be good," Modi told journalists at the Diwali Mangal Milan programme at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters here.

On the issue of simultaneous elections, the Prime Minister said that leaders of almost all political parties "privately say that something must be done" but several had often hesitated to speak on the issue after he raised it publicly.

He, however, maintained that "such hesitation will prevail for some time, but notwithstanding such dilemma, the public discourse should continue".

Modi said that the decision in this regard cannot be imposed by the government, adding that it was necessary to give an impetus to a discussion.

"Often, election observers are deputed for two months, and even the states where elections are not held, have to spare their officials. It also results in economic burden. Nobody can impose it. It should not be imposed," Modi said.

The Prime Minister said issues like the code of conduct and deployment of poll observers needed to be debated on as various questions are raised on these matters.

He also complimented the media for its role in propagating the message of cleanliness.

"Cleanliness never received a due place in our society. Now states are competing in this regard. Three states have been declared open defecation free. Although they are small states but a health competition has begun. The success of Swachhata Mission can be attributed to the role of the media," he said.

BJP President Amit Shah, who was also present on the occasion said that due to surgical strikes the people of the country are feeling proud on its soldiers and are also indebted for the sacrifice they made.

He also praised the BJP-led central government and said India had developed on all fronts be it urban or rural sector, agriculture or poverty alleviation and the doubt that existed about over its prospects in 2014 have gone away.

Senior party leaders, including Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar and JP Nadda, and Ram Lal also attended the programme where other senior party leaders, functionaries and senior journalists were also present.
India's Security Advisor and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on Friday held a high-level meeting at the historic Taj Falaknuma Palace Hotel in Hyderabad. They were accompanied by teams of officials from both the countries.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, in an unusual move, has imposed a ban on NDTV India for a day for allegedly revealing strategically-sensitive information during the course of its coverage of the anti-terror operations at the Pathankot airbase earlier this year.
Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday of lying about the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme, saying it was far removed from what the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance had promised to the ex-servicemen.
Describing his visit to Nepal as a "pilgrimage", President on Thursday highlighted the age-old cultural relations between India and Nepal underlining the importance of Pashupatinath temple, Varanasi and Rameshwaram for solace seekers of both the countries.
An atonement or an apology by the British Prime Minister or the Queen will "wash away a lot" of the atrocities committed by Britain on India during its colonial rule, Congress leader today said.

"I would prefer instead an active atonement. An apology would go a long way. I am not expecting it today, tomorrow or anytime soon and certainly not during the visit of the new (Britain) Prime Minister (Theresa May)," Tharoor said, referring to May's visit to India next week.

He said an immediate step towards it would be to teach the realities of colonialism to British school children.

The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram was speaking at a book launch 'An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India', which was launched by Vice-President Hamid Ansari here.

Tharoor said, in the past German Chancellor and leader of the Social Democratic Party Willy Brandt visited the Warsaw ghetto and apologised to the Jews for the acts of the Nazis.

He also referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who in May this year, apologised for the Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamship, that arrived in Vancouver after leaving Hong Kong in early April. On board were 376 passengers, most of whom were Sikh migrants from what was then British India. The ship was not allowed to dock.

"It shows how required it is for a British leader of some significance either a Queen or the PM to simply say sorry. It will wash away a lot. You can't count value the loss of lives during the famine, of the massacres, the rapes, the loot that took place.

"Another thing that could happen would be if the British can make up by teaching their young generation about what happened in the past. After all the beauties of London were built from the resources extracted from the Common Wealth," the Congress leader said.

Speaking about the colonial legacy in Indian laws related to aspects like Freedom of Press and a one-day ban on a leading Hindi channel NDTV India, Tharoor said he was not happy about the "unusual punishment" meted out to the channel for its reporting of Pathankot terror attack.

He said all these are "troubling issues for the Indian democracy".

Tharoor also hit out at the government for not repealing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. He had introduced a legislation in Lok Sabha, seeking repealing of the section.

"I find it somewhat ironic that a party of Hindutva, actually claiming to speak for a religion that has 2000 years of recorded tolerance for various kinds of sexual practises...

A religion where there is no recorded instances of persecution or prosecution of such practices, but people speaking for such a party have instead abandoned the option of being true to their own cultural traditions and instead accepted and embraced a Victorian moral code written by T B Macaulay in 1837, enacted in 1861 and abandoned by the British in late 1960s," he said.
Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a stand-off in Ladakh's Demchok area  a region that lies along the Sino-India border and site of previous Chinese incursions  over the construction of an irrigation canal. Armed Chinese troops allegedly marched into the Indian territory in Ladakh and stopped the construction of a canal over the last two days but the Indian army has denied incursion reports.
Marking a significant moment for the country, a young Indian lawyer has won a seat in the hotly-contested United Nations (UN) General Assembly elections for membership its top body of legal experts, garnering the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group.

The 33-year-old Aniruddha Rajput is among the 34 other individuals, who have been elected by the General Assembly as members of the International Law Commission, the UN organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification.

The newly elected members will serve a five-year-term office with the Geneva-based body beginning operations from January in 2017.

The members have been elected from five geographical groupings compirising African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European states.

Rajput got 160 votes, topping the voting charts of the Asia-Pacific group. Voting was held by way of a secret ballot on Thursday.

Among the youngest to be elected to the nearly 70-year-old body, Rajput is India's first time candidate to the Commission and its permanent representative to the UN Ambassador, Syed Akbaruddin told PTI.

A practicising lawyer at the country's apex judicial authority-the Supreme Court, Rajput is also the first Indian nominee to be chosen from outside a close circle of lawyers of the Ministry of External Affairs.

An alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Rajput was a member of an expert group appointed by the Law Commission of India to study and comment upon the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty of 2015 in India, according to his profile submitted to the UN.

He has written several books, chapters, articles, conference papers on diverse legal subjects and his area of expertise lies in the field of internaltional law, including sources of international law, international arbitration and trade law, among others.

In response to a congratulatory tweet by Singapore's Ambassador to the United Nations' Burhan Gafoor on Rajput's election, Akbaruddin replied, "We are deeply appreciative of the support extended by many friends from India to ensure Dr Rajput's election by a huge margin."

Japan's Shinya Murase got the second highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group at 148, followed by Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Huikang Huang of China with 146 votes each. Korea's Ki Gab Park won 136 votes, while Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri of Qatar and Hong Thao Nguyen of Viet Nam bagged 128 and 120 votes respectively.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) has sought the opinion of the attorney-general whether it can impose a penalty on mobile operators for violating licence conditions.
The UK government has decided to increase yearly salary threshold for technology professionals applying for visa by 44 per cent. Under the new visa rules announced last evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 from the earlier pounds.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued draft guidelines on how Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies can hedge their currency exposure risk in the country.

said on Friday that subsidiaries looking to hedge their exposure outside of exports and imports could do so through all foreign currency-rupee derivatives, over-the-counter, and exchange-traded products.

It also said profits and losses arising from hedging transactions in India must be reflected in the books of the domestic subsidiaries of multinational companies, among other guidelines.

Previously, multinational companies could only hedge currency risk arising out of transactions involving imports and exports.

The had said last month that it would widen the scope of activities where hedging was allowed.

Market participants and banks can submit their comments about the proposed guidelines by Nov. 11, the said.
The upcoming visit of the United Kingdom prime minister is seen as the UK's attempt to boost relations in a post-Brexit world. Its main aim would be deal. (Brexit is "British exit," which refers to the June 23 referendum whereby UK people voted to exit the European Union or EU. The referendum roiled global markets, including currencies, causing the British pound to fall to its lowest level in decades.)



On her first visit outside EU, prime minister Theresa May (pictured) is expected to push for a deal with major business partner India, which will be negotiated and signed as soon as the UK officially leaves EU. The three-day visit begins from Sunday.
Bhutan delegation led by Minister of Home & Cultural Affairs meets the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh

A Bhutanese delegation led by Minister of Home & Cultural Affairs Mr. Dawa Gyaltshen met the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh here today.

Recalling the strong ties between the two countries, Shri Rajnath Singh thanked Bhutan for its unparalleled support in flushing out insurgents operating in Indias North-Eastern states.

Shri Rajnath Singh raised few concerns of Indian tourists, businessmen and workers facing difficulties at the border and sometimes being detained for medical examination and biometric capturing of data.

Reiterating that Bhutan will never allow its territory for any anti-India activities, Mr. Dawa Gyaltshen said since Bhutan is a small hill nation, any large scale migration strains its limited resources while border forces take a little more time to ensure no undesirable elements enter Bhutanese territory.

Both leaders said they were looking forward to a positive outcome of the Home Secretaries on the Border Management issues next week.
Japans Vice Minister for Policy Coordination meets MoS (Home) Shri Kiren Rijiju

A Japanese delegation led by Vice Minister for Policy Coordination of Cabinet Office, Mr. Shigeki Habuka met the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju here today.

Appreciating Japans technical expertise and experience in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Disaster Management, Shri Kiren Rijiju said India would like to gain from Japans leadership in the field.

Mr.

Shigeki Habuka underlined the need for the Asian countries assembled for the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016 in New Delhi to adopt the common agenda set forth in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and hoped that the goals practically possible will be achieved within the timeframe.

The Japanese Minister invited Indias participation in the two DRR related Conferences being held in Japan during December 19-20, 2016 and January 24, 2017. Shri Rijiju assured that India will be appropriately represented, even at the Ministerial level if required.

Underlining Indias special relationship with Japan, Shri Rijiju said India has given Visa-on-Arrival facility to Japanese nationals.
Jual Oram calls for strengthening Tribal Studies and Research International Seminar on understanding the Tribes of Asia held

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Jual Oram has said that there has always been a need to understand the tribes of Asia. Inaugurating an International seminar on Understanding the tribes of Asia at Shillong yesterday the Minister hailed the efforts of the organizers in holding an international seminar on tribal issues of this stature. He said this seminar will help in bringing together best practices and strategies to strengthen tribal studies and research. The Minister said, It is difficult for tribals in Asia to advocate for recognition of their rights as distinct people. Many tribes have to struggle for their survival and in the process many tribal dialects have also reached the point of extinction". The Minister was hopeful that the seminar will be able to bring more information to the people in the communities and will aid in solving the issues pertaining to the tribes of Asia.

The Minister also released a book on the occasion which contains the content of the National seminar held in 2015 at Synod College, Shillong.

Replying to a query during the interaction with the media persons, regarding ST Status to six tribes of Assam, the Minister said that the issue is being assessed by a high level committee headed by a Special Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs. The government can proceed only after the report of the committee is out, the Minister said, adding that the report is expected to be out very soon.

The two day seminar is being organized by Synod College, Shillong in collaboration with PA Sangma Foundation. Scholars from different parts of the world are participating in the seminar.

The objective of the seminar is to provide a platform where a select group of local and foreign scholars, indigenous scholars, researchers and educators, advocators, activists, environmentalists, policy makers and practitioners can engage in healthy discussions on emerging perspectives and fruitful exchanges on the questions emanating from the agenda for tribes in post-colonial era. The discussion will revolve around contentious issues in the field of tribal studies and research.

The keynote address of the inaugural session was delivered by Prof Smriti Kumar Sarkar, Vice Chancellor, University of Burdwan, West Bengal. His address was on the Early Tribal Society of North-East India. The inaugural session was also attended by Member Lok Sabha, Shri Conrad K Sangma.

Samir/GD/jk
Media Statement by the President of India Upon the Conclusion of his State Visit to Nepal

Following is the full text of the statement to media by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee upon the conclusion of his State visit to Nepal:At the invitation of the President of Nepal the Rt. Honble Bidya Devi Bhandari, I have concluded a very successful State visit to Nepal from 2 to 4 November 2016. This was the first visit of an Indian Head of State to Nepal since 1998.My delegation included the Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre, Members of Parliament Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shri L. Ganesan, Shri Jagdambika Pal and Shri R. K. Singh, Senior officials of Rashtrapati Bhavan and MEA were also part of my delegation.The warmth and affection with which I was received by the people and Government of Nepal was truly overwhelming. It reflects the historic bonds of friendship as well as the unique and multi-faceted people-centric ties that exist between India and Nepal.The Rt. Honble President of Nepal, Vice-President, Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet received me at the airport.I held fruitful meetings with Rt. Honble Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice-President, Prime Minister, former President of Nepal, the entire cross section of the political leadership of the country as well as members of the civil society. I conveyed that India remains committed to enhancing its partnership in all areas of priority for the people and Government of Nepal. As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit. I conveyed the good wishes of the people and government of India to the friendly people of Nepal in their national efforts to achieve peace, stability and development within a federal democratic polity. I reiterated my invitation to Rt. Honble Bidya Devi Bhandari to visit India. She accepted the invitation to visit India with happiness. In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two peoples.Underlining the strong cultural and religious ties that unite our two nations and peoples, I visited Pashupatinath Temple, and offered prayers.

I announced that India will undertake two small development projects to repair and renovate the Ghats near the Pashupatinath temple on River Bagmati. I was accorded a civic reception at Rashtriya Sabhagriha by the Kathmandu metropolitan city office, and was presented with the keys of the city. The function was attended by the Prime Minister of Nepal, Cabinet Ministers and distinguished citizens of Kathmandu. I was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Kathmandu University, which I accepted with humility on behalf of the people of India. I emphasized to the students and faculty of the University the need to build knowledge partnerships through academic exchanges and invest in research and development. I also stressed the need to promote innovation to enable our talented young minds to realize their dreams for a better future. I announced that from 2017 onwards, Nepali students will have the opportunity to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses in Indian Institutes of Technology on a regular basis. For this, our Institutes of Technology will open their entrance examinations to Nepali students. Aspirants would have the option to write these examinations in Kathmandu. Additionally, 23 post-graduate scholarships for courses in hydel power and water resources management at IIT, Roorkee have been offered to Nepali engineers and experts this year. I visited the ancient city of Janakpur where I offered prayers at the Janaki Mandir and was accorded civic reception by Janakpur Municipal Corporation. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Mr. Bimalendra Nidhi, representatives of prominent civic bodies and a large number of residents of the area attended the function. The city of Janakpur symbolizes the long history of our contacts and close friendship and family ties which have existed between our peoples. I announced that India will construct two Dharmashalas along the Parikrama Path, which would be of use to pilgrims from both our countries. People of Nepal have contributed immensely to the safety and security of India through their service in the Indian Army. They have distinguished themselves through their valour and courage. I visited Pokhara and interacted with Indian ex-serviceman and their families. I addressed a seminar organized by the Neeti Anusandhan Pratishthan Nepal, Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies and India Foundation, and shared my vision for advancing India-Nepal relations. My visit to Nepal has been a mission of friendship and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal. Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity. India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development. Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal. I am convinced that my visit has provided new dynamism to our common cooperative endeavours. I am confident that building on shared strength of geography, history and culture, India-Nepal relations are poised to ascend to new heights in the coming years for the mutual benefit of our two peoples".
Mongolian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister meets the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh

A Mongolian delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Khurelsukh Ukhna met the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh here today.

Shri Rajnath Singh said India and Mongolia shared concerns on terrorism and strategic ties between the two countries have strengthened during the last year with the landmark visit of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Shri Rajnath Singh hoped the Secretary level talks will be soon held and the visit of the Indian team of Ministry of Home Affairs Senior Officers to Mongolia next month will be successful. Mongolian Deputy PM said there is no disagreement between the two sides and the two countries have deep economic and cultural ties. He said a large number of Mongolian students are pursuing higher studies in Indian Universities while about 40 Indian companies have invested in Mongolia. He said there was a big scope to further Indian investment in Mongolias agriculture sector and exploiting the Central Asian nations huge natural resources in the mining sector. Mr. Khurelsukh Ukhna also sought Indias support for Mongolias plans to host the next Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction at Ulaanbaatar in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President of India Condoles the Passing Away of Shri Prasanta Nandi

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the passing away of Congress leader Shri Prasanta Nandi.

In a message to his wife, Smt. Usha Nandi, the President has said, I am saddened to know about the passing away of your husband, Shri Prasanta Nandi.

Shri Nandi was a close friend and memories of my long association with him will always be cherished.

As a Congress leader who served in various capacities such as District Congress President and General Secretary of Pradesh Congress Committee, he made valuable contribution to the welfare of the people of the State of Bengal, particularly North Bengal. In his death, we have lost a great leader and social worker who was always in touch with the grassroots of society.

Please accept my heartfelt condolences and convey them to all other members of your family. I pray to the Almighty to give you and other members of your family the strength and courage to bear this irreparable loss".
Afghan officials say a roadside blast has killed at least nine civilians on their way to a wedding in the northern Faryab province.

Javed Dedar, a spokesman for the provincial governor, says the roadside explosion killed 11 people and wounded 12 today, among them women and children.

He says it is unclear if the civilians, who were travelling to a wedding, hit a roadside mine or were targeted by mortar fire. Dedar says the bride was wounded.

Lawmaker Ahmad Tahyanj says nine people were killed and 11 were wounded in the blast, which took place at 2 pm. Mohammad Tahir Rahmani of the Faryab provincial council puts the toll at 10 people killed, nine wounded.

The blast occurred in a remote area, making it difficult to verify details.
What has the British High Court ruled?



A challenge brought by a collection of individuals to the governments intention to trigger Article 50, setting off negotiations, has been successful. This means the process cannot begin without it being put to a vote in parliament first.

The question the court considered was whether the government is entitled to use its prerogative powers to make the decision by itself.

The claimants argued that doing so would lead to changes in both domestic law (as passed by parliament) and the rights of citizens without the express authority of parliament. The government argued that the referendum gave it the prerogative power to decide whether EU law should continue to apply in the UK.

The court was not swayed by the governments argument. It found no evidence to support it in legislation (the European Communities Act 1972) or the fundamental principles of the constitution. In other words, the government cannot decide when to start the process of leaving the EU using its own powers and must put the matter before parliament.

Will this stop

In a legal sense, no. The court was clear that this is not a judgement about whether to leave the EU or not, and it was not a case attempting to overturn the result of the referendum. It simply found that the process of formally leaving the EU by triggering Article 50 cannot be started by the government alone.

Will it delay

Possibly. The government has said that it will appeal the decision, which means it is likely to be heard in the UK Supreme Court. That casts some doubt on the prime ministers intention to trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017. If the Supreme Court upholds the decision of the High Court, then the matter will go before parliament.

What will MPs be voting on?

The judgement makes clear that legislative approval to start Article 50 negotiations is needed. This means that a bill will need to be passed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. But there will not be a Brexit deal to vote on, as the process of negotiating an exit deal between the UK and the EU has not yet begun  and cannot begin until Article 50 is triggered. Parliamentary debates are public.

Are they likely to vote for or against triggering Article 50?

The majority of MPs favoured remaining in the EU according to their stated positions before the referendum. However, many may decide that the result of the referendum to leave the EU means that they should allow the government to begin that process without delay.





Many MPs are likely to be sensitive to how their individual constituencies voted, as well as the policy of their parties and what has changed in the country since the vote on June 23. In the Lords, who do not represent constituencies and do not have to worry about re-election, the outcome may be more difficult to predict.

Are there any precedents for this situation?

There is no precedent for this situation in UK constitutional law. However, the court drew on case law dating back to 1610 to set out what it found were underlying principles of the constitution. Joining the EU in 1973 resulted in one of the most significant events in UK legal history, and it looks like leaving the EU is set to cause even more of a legal and constitutional upheaval.

What will the British public make of it?

Brexit supporters are likely to be disappointed by what seems likely to cause a delay in the process of leaving the EU. However, much was made in the referendum by Leave campaigners of parliament taking back control of law-making in the UK by no longer allowing EU law to take effect. This judgement makes it clear that the government must operate within the limits of its constitutional powers and clearly underlined the importance of the role of parliament in law-making and where individual rights are concerned.

Paul James Cardwell, Reader in EU External Relations Law, University of Sheffield

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
From being the clear favourite to be the next American president, is now almost at par with Republican candidate Donald Trump in various polls predicting the next American president. Clinton has big shoes to fill. The only time when a Democrat managed to achieve what Clinton is striving to for her party was between 1931 to 1944. Franklin Roosevelt won four consecutive terms as president for the democrats and died in the first year of his fourth term. Clintons ability to take forward Barack Obamas two term legacy is not just challenged by history but also an opponent who cares little about what the world thinks of him. A majority of polls still show Clinton in lead, but the odds have heavily tilted in Trumps favour. Despite that, Clinton remains the favourite to be the next American president.
In a show of solidarity, outgoing US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama would join the Democratic presidential nominee in her final rally in Philadelphia on Monday before the November 8 general elections.

"At her final rally before Election Day, Hillary will campaign in Philadelphia, joined by President Obama and Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, on Monday evening, November 7," the Clinton Campaign said in a media release on Thursday.

In her closing remarks, Clinton will urge Pennsylvanians to make history by electing her President so she can continue pushing for the American ideals of progress, inclusion, equality and strength that our founders enshrined in the Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787, the campaign said.

"Along with President Obama, she will also lay out how the division and dangerous views espoused by Donald Trump in his campaign make him unqualified, unfit and unworthy to lead this great nation," it said.

"Obama will add that voting for Clinton is also a vote to build on the progress made under his presidency, such as protecting and strengthening expanded access to health care including women's health, advancing LGBT equality, combating climate change, tackling college costs and student debt, expanding the right to vote, and more," the Clinton Campaign said.

This week, Obama is on a campaigning spree crisscrossing key-battle ground states.

So far, he has been in North Carolina and Florida.

He would also be addressing an election rally in New Hampshire.

Clinton's rival in the primaries, Senator Bernie Sanders, has also jumped in the last phase of the election with her, and is scheduled to address election rallies in Nevada, Iowa and Colorado.

The Clinton Campaign also released a new TV ad on Thursday that demonstrates the dangers of what a Trump presidency means for the United States.

"Under a Trump presidency, Americans are divided by their gender, race and creed. Women are diminished to a number and their consent is no matter. African-Americans live in poverty with no jobs, no education, no future," the campaign said.

"Muslims are prone to terrorism, worthy of our suspicion and must be tracked. People with disabilities are stigmatised. Veterans aren't strong. Immigrants are criminals and rapists who must be shipped back where they came from, regardless of the cost or number of families torn apart," it said.
A pan handler sits with a "Give me $1 or Im voting for Trump" sign, referring to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, as he sits on the street in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York
Melania Trump, the wife of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, said on Thursday she would work to improve a social media culture that "has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers" if she becomes First Lady.

Trump, who was born in Slovenia and became an American citizen in 2006, said that becoming a United States citizen was "the greatest privilege in the world".

"I'm an immigrant, and no one values the freedoms and opportunities of America more than me," CNN quoted her as saying.

In a rare appearance on the campaign trail she discussed her vision for her role in the White House for the first time in suburban Philadelphia.

"It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other," Melania Trump said.

"We must find better ways to honour and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media," she said. "It will be one of the main focuses of my work, if I am privileged enough to become your First Lady."

However, she made no allusion to her husband's long history of bullying political foes, journalists and entertainers on Twitter.

In September, after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton cited Trump's reference to 1996 Miss Universe Alicia Machado as "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeper" during their first presidential debate, Trump said in a 3 am. Twitter rant that Machado is "disgusting" and a "con" and directed followers to check out a non-existent Machado sex tape.

It was Melania Trump's first speech since her appearance at the Republican National Convention, where her remarks triggered controversy because one section plagiarised Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Committee speech. A speechwriter later apologised.

She cast her husband as someone who's in touch with America's working class.

"Every time my husband learnt of a factory closing in Ohio or North Carolina or Pennsylvania, I could see him get very upset," CNN quoted her as saying as she made the case that the Republican candidate can fix the nation's economic woes.

Her speech on Thursday was the first of what Donald Trump said in an interview with ABC would be two or three major speeches before the November 8 election.

The speech took place in Berwyn, Pennsylvania  in the suburbs of Philadelphia  and was designed to help Trump win over the middle-class women in the region who could tip the balance of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes for Trump or Clinton.
US President has acknowledged that competition between Democratic party's Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump would be close in the upcoming presidential elections and has consequently urged his supporters to go out and vote in large numbers.

"I am here to tell you that this will be a close race and you cannot take it for granted," Obama told several thousands of his supporters at an election rally on Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida- a key battleground state.

Obama addressed two rallies in Florida on Thursday and is scheduled to come back over the weekend.

"Because all the progress we've made these last eight years goes out the window if we don't win this election. So we've got to work our hearts out in the next five days. We have to work like our future depends on it, because, you know what, our future depends on it," he said.

Making a strong pitch for his former Secretary of State, Obama said that Clinton is the only one candidate in the race who has devoted her entire life to better America, and therefore she is the next President of the United States.

Making a contrast between the two presidential candidates, Obama said while Trump is not fit to enter the White House, Clinton is the most qualified person to ever run for this position.

"So the question is, if you got one person who you know is not qualified and you got another person who is eminently qualified, the only thing that's left to do is vote," he said amidst a resounding applause from the audience.

"This is somebody who would do damage to our democracyl, who is uniquely unqualified, and shows no interest in becoming more qualified. And the good news is, Florida, all of you are uniquely qualified to make sure he doesn't get the job," he said.

Speaking further Obama urged supporters in Florida to vote for Clinton saying, "You got to vote. You don't have to just vote against something; you can vote for something. Because there's a candidate in this race who's actually worthy of your vote. Somebody who is smart. Somebody who is steady. Somebody who is tested, maybe the most qualified person to ever run for this office -- and that is our next President, Hillary Clinton."
A group of Sri Lankan Tamils in Jaffna will break over 1,000 coconuts and light as many candles to bless Hillary Clinton, saying the Democratic presidential candidate's win would be important for the future of the minority community.

"We will dash 1,008 coconuts on November 8 to bless her ahead of the US election. We expect her to win the election," MK Shivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member of the Tamil controlled northern provincial council said.

The event will take place in Jaffna's historic Kandsamy Kovil in Nallur. There will also be lighting of 1,008 candles at the Jaffna Cathedral, he said.

Tamils in Sri Lanka believe they can find political solution only with the intervention of the US and Clinton's win would be important for the future of the minority community in Sri Lanka, Shivajilingam said.

The Obama administration has extended its support to the reconciliation efforts promised by President Maithripala Sirisena to Tamils.

Sirisena, who came to power last year after ending former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa's nearly a decade-long rule, had promised to reach out to the Tamils to pursue reconciliation more vigorously than Rajapaksa, who was known for his hardline Sinhalese nationalism.

Last month, a UN rights expert asked the Lankan government to return military-occupied land and reduce the role of the army in northern areas, a long-pending demand of the ethnic Tamils since the end of the nearly three-decade-long separatist war led by the LTTE in 2009 in which thousands of civilians were killed.
Japan's Motor Corp raised its annual operating profit forecast on Friday in a surprise move, as quarterly results beat estimates thanks to strong vehicle sales in India and Europe.

The automaker dominates the Indian market, its largest, through its majority stake in Maruti India Ltd and the results come on the heels of a report that the Japanese automaker will invest in a second production line at a new plant in the country.

The maker of the Swift subcompact hatchback now sees operating profit climbing 2.4% to 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) in the year to March.

It had previously forecast a profit decline of 7.8% - an estimate that was in line with analysts' predictions.

For the second quarter, operating profit climbed 23% to 56.3 billion yen, according to Reuters calculations. That beat an average estimate of 38.3 billion yen from 11 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.

will invest about 100 billion yen ($970 million) in a second vehicle production line at its new plant in Gujarat, even before operations have begun, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

The second line could debut in early 2019, the report said, and will manufacture the same yearly volume as the first production line which is scheduled to open next year and will have an annual production capacity of 250,000 vehicles.

Maruti last month beat expectations with a 60% surge in second-quarter net profit as demand grew for its compact and utility vehicles.

Suzuki now expects vehicle sales to grow 12.2% in Europe and 9% in India this business year. It previously said vehicle sales would grow 4.3% in Europe, and 7% in India.
Turkish police today detained almost a dozen MPs from the country's main pro-Kurdish party, including its two co-leaders, as eight people were killed in a deadly car bombing blamed on Kurdish militants.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag appeared before judges in the city of Diyarbakir who would decide whether to remand them in custody, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

As the hearings got underway, a blast by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) struck outside a police station nearby in the Baglar district of Diyarbakir, Turkey's main majority Kurdish city.

Eight people were killed, including two police, and over 100 wounded, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced, updating an earlier toll, saying that the PKK had again showed its "ugly face".

The arrest of the HDP co-leaders along with nine other MPs, is a major escalation of a crackdown on leading pro-Kurdish politicians in the wake of the failed military coup in July.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Twitter she was "extremely worried" over the detentions and would call a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

Demirtas was detained at his home in Diyarbakir in the early hours while Yuksekdag was detained in Ankara. Yuksekdag was then brought to Diyarbakir where the investigation is centred.

The detention of the 11 MPs appears to be part of a large-scale operation against the HDP, which is the third largest party in the Turkish parliament with 59 seats and the main political representative of the Kurdish minority.

Demirtas and Yuksekdag had been targeted by several separate probes over the last months but this is the first time that either has been detained.

The security operations took place after midnight, with Demirtas tweeting at 0130 local time that police had arrived at his home and he was about to be detained.

NTV television said the pair were accused of spreading propaganda for the PKK while Anadolu said Demirtas was accused of provoking violence in deadly protests in October 2014.

The suspects had also failed to respond to demands to give statements to prosecutors, Anadolu said.

Those detained including the prominent lawmaker Sirri Surreya Onder, who in the past has been a pointman for contacts with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The head of the HDP's faction in the Turkish parliament, Idris Baluken, was also held. Turkish television said one of the detained MPs, Ziya Pir, had been released on bail.

The raids come as Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the wake of the July 15 failed coup, which critics say has gone well beyond targeting the actual coup plotters.

Thirteen staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, including the editor-in-chief, were detained on Monday, further heightening strains in Turkish society.

Tensions have surged in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey since a fragile ceasefire declared by the PKK collapsed in 2015.
US exports rose to about 692,000 barrels per day in September, the highest on record, from about 657,000 bpd in the previous month, foreign trade data from the US Census Bureau showed on Friday.

Canada took in the most exports at 243,000 bpd, followed by Singapore at 99,000 bpd. Exports to Europe were also high, with Italy receiving some 81,000 bpd and Spain 41,000 bpd. Other prominent destinations included South Korea and the Netherlands.

The previous record was set in May when the United States exported about 662,000 bpd, according to US government data.

US crude exports have climbed since the lifting of a decades-old ban late last year.

The discount of US crude to Brent crude had widened to as much as $2.67 a barrel in late August, the widest since February.

The US Energy Information Administration will release its closely watched monthly crude figures, which are based on the US Census data, at the end of this month.
With November 8 US Presidential election just around the corner, the world is now hooked to the big question: Who will be the next President of the US -- Republican candidate Donald Trump or his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton.



In India, people are still thinking which of the two candidates will be better for the US-India relationship.



For some time, the two sides have been working hard to improve their bilateral ties, more so since former US President George W Bush and former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a civil nuclear deal. Whether it will be taken forward or see a retreat backwards is the moot question.



A report titled, 'The US election cheat-sheet', released by HDFC Bank on Friday, looks at the respective thrusts of Clinton and Trump's policies on key issues. Here are a few takeaways from the issues that concern India the most:
The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's plea to change the judge hearing 1984 anti-Sikh riot case filed against him.

Kumar's case was transferred to the Patiala House court by the high court which directed the district judge to video record the proceedings at the cost of the accused.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had moved the high court challenging the acquittal of Kumar in a case relating to killing of five Sikhs -Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh.

Kumar, who was acquitted by a trial court in 2013 of charges of being involved in the murder of five Sikhs by a mob in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar area during the riots, has asked for another hench to hear the case.

CBI special prosecutor Senior Advocate R.S. Cheema informed the court that the FIR in this particular case was registered only in 2005, and therefore, the matter was still pending.

A lower court had held five people guilty in the case and awarded them sentences of varying terms, but acquitted Kumar.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal must stop politicising the missing JNU student case and wait for the investigation to get over, said the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday.

BJP leader Zafar Islam told ANI, "They (AAP) will not succeed because these are the issues not to politicize. It is the matter of investigation which Delhi police is doing it and they should not jump the gun unnecessarily to politicize it."

"Wait for the Delhi Police investigation to get over and truth will come out. No need to unnecessarily create hype in the media and create problem for many," he added.

On Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal threatened to join the protest of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students over missing student Najeeb Ahmned.

"They (Delhi Police) don't have courage to go against ABVP. We demand immediate arrest of ABVP members who assaulted Najeeb Ahmed. If students will sit in protest at India Gate then I will also join them," said Kejriwal after attending a solidarity meeting at the JNU campus.

He further alleged that that Delhi Police was defending and protecting Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members who assaulted Najeeb a day before he went missing.

Last month, a student of the School of Biotechnology, Najeeb Ahmed, allegedly went missing following a brawl on the campus the night before.

Till now the police have not been able to find the whereabouts of Najeeb.

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Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail has signed an exclusive deal with UK's most successful fashion brand, 'Ted Baker'.

Ted's is a style that is completely unique. From subtle embroidery and the use of the finest fabrics to amusing notes on the packaging and irreverent window schemes, everything that bears the Ted Baker name offers sophistication and quality. Ted Baker has more than 500 stores across Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia, China, South Africa and the Middle East.

A reflection of popular culture with a sense of style and humor, the menswear merchandise is a celebration of fashion and contemporary British spirit. The women's wear line has a fresh and feminine mix of exquisite European elegance with London flair with emphasis on surface decoration.

"We are happy to join hands with Ted Baker and build a strong presence for the brand with Indian consumers. This unique partnership will enable our consumers to explore a whole new world of creativity in fashion for men and women," said Head Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., Ashish Dikshit.

"Ted Baker is renowned for its perfect mix of distinctive design, beautiful quality and unconventional approach to fashion, all liberally spiced with Ted's irreverent sense of humor and a firm commitment to good old-fashioned values. Ted is proud to be partnering with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail to bring something new to customers in India," said Ted Baker.

Mr. R. Sathyajit, President - International brands - Madura F&L, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. says, "Ted is a much anticipated addition to our portfolio representing a unique and much needed statement in men's and women's fashion today, built on its unswerving focus on quality, attention to detail and quirky sense of humor."

ABFRL's portfolio of brands span luxury, premium, sub-premium and fast fashion segments. The addition of Ted Baker will further augment ABFRL's position in the affordable luxury space giving its discerning customers a true taste of high end fashion.

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Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir on Friday condemned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's move to provoke the students protesting for missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed and said this kind of attitude on the politicians part is a social crime.

"I condemn what Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress leaders have said. Students are being stopped from studying. This is exam time and they are asking the students to go out. Few of them are under pressure. This kind of attitude on the part of the politicians is a social crime and they need to stop it," he said.

Ahir further said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) soon after the student went missing.

"They are investigating it under the supervision of the DCP. Even after all this, if politicians still keep disturbing the studies of the students then it is highly condemnable," he added.

When asked whether a government representative should visit the campus and hold talks with the protesting students, Ahir said, "We do not want to visit and disturb the students. Their (JNU) management is functioning properly and independently," he added.

Kejriwal yesterday joined the protest for the missing JNU student and lashed out at the BJP stating the saffron party is not loyal to anyone.

"Ye BJP wale kisi Hindu ke nahi hain, ye apne baap ke bhi nahi hain," he said at a solidarity meeting organised by JNU students union at the Jantar Mantar.

Kejriwal also said Najeeb, who has been missing for over two weeks now, will come back only when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is made to realise that he is losing votes over the issue.

The meeting was also attended by other political leaders including Congress' Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shashi Tharoor.

Last month, Najeeb Ahmed went missing following a brawl on the campus the night before.

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Lashing out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for creating a "ruckus" over the suicide death of an ex-serviceman, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said both have always waited for someone to die to reap political mileage out issues.

BJP state president and secretary Rahul Sinha told ANI, "They have no issues to raise. They are not serious about development. They allays wait for someone to die. Be it Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, they all want to draw political mileage out of the issue. They don't care about development at all."

"Arvind Kejriwal has wrecked havoc in Delhi, but he does not care about that at all. All he cares about is creating a ruckus over a person's death and reaping benefits. I doubt whether these people are behind his suicide. It should be probed whether they are involved or not," he added.

Ram Kishan Grewal, 69, consumed poison on Tuesday. However, the cause behind his suicide is yet to be ascertained. The ex-servicemen was protesting over the One Rank One Pension issue.

The death of Grewal triggered an intense political battle between the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who has been detained and released thrice since the suicide of Grewal, charged the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with promoting a form of dictatorship.

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Omni-channel Engagement and Commerce Platform solutions company Capillary has announced the appointment of Soumajit Bhowmik as Director of e-commerce.

In his new role, Bhowmik will assume the responsibility of working towards creating integrated ecommerce solutions for clients ranging from CRM to Ecommerce platform to extensive Digital Marketing with measurable KPIs, to support every stage of customer lifecycle - acquisition, activation, reactivation and win back.

He will also be driving Capillary's attempts to move the ecommerce from a platform play to an ROI play model.

Prior to joining Capillary Technologies, he served as the Head of Marketing at Jabong.com, managing the e-commerce portal's complete performance marketing suite.

During his stint, Jabong became Gross Profitable in May 2016, and saw massive improvements in performance metrics.

An entrepreneur at heart, passionate about creative designing and digital marketing, Bhowmik started a few startups soon after graduating from college, including the Indian and Kuwait branches of sCubes Inc, AdWize, an experiential digital marketing and branding solutions company and few web startups like RowdyAuto.in, FundorasBox, etc.

"I am extremely excited to join Capillary Technologies. The company today is a market leader in Omni-channel customer engagement and commerce space and being an agile and innovation driven company with the startup DNA still at its very core, Capillary is all set to ride the growth matrix in the coming times," said Director of E-commerce Capillary Technologies, Soumajit Bhowmik.

"It will be an understatement to say that Asia is at the cusp of digital revolution

where customer is the focus. Brands are expecting to garner 10-15 percent of their revenues through digital. We acquired MartJack, which is now Asia's leading Omni-channel platform. We recently bought Sellerworx, which helps brands to manage marketplace operations and omni-channel order management," said CEO and Co-founder Capillary Technologies, Aneesh Reddy.

Soumajit Bhowmik is a graduate from IIT Kharagpur and holds a Senior Diploma in Fine Arts. He is an avid speaker and spoke at coveted platforms such as the Oracle CloudWorld Summit this year, and at the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) meet in Delhi.

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World No. 1 Novak Djokovic progressed through to the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters after battling past 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov in hard fought third round contest on Thursday.

Rallying from a set down, Djokovic came back strong to defeat Dimitrov 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The Serbian will now meet Canadian fourth seed Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, World No. 2 Andy Murray continued his battle for the numero one ranking after defeating Lucas Pouille in straight sets 6-3 6-0 in a relatively low-quality match. Murray will now face seventh seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the last eight counter.

To become world number one for the first time, the Briton must win the title if Djokovic fails to reach the final, although if the Serb should lose before the semis then Murray would only need to make the final.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday slammed the opposition parties for creating hysteria around the demise of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal and said that instead of sermonising a sensitive issue like this one, they must cooperate in the investigation process.

Asserting that the opposition parties have resorted to play drama politics, BJP leader Shaina NC said that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was detained because he was tampering the probe by being an obstacle.

"The entire nation stands in solidarity with an Army veteran that has lost his life but unfortunately because it was on a public property it was important to have an investigation where the administration did not want to be tampered with," Shaina told ANI.

"Now for those who are only trying to play drama politics and trying to be obstacle in the process of investigation, they must understand that the core issue of OROP has been resolved by the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it has not happened in the past 60 years, so rather than sermonising and politicizing a issue which should not be politicised I think it is important to look at the facts of this case," he added.

Rahul Gandhi was allegedly detained by Delhi Police yesterday again and taken around the city for a few hours, before being let off.

According to reports, Gandhi said he was detained as his party took out a protest march from Jantar Mantar against the disrespect shown to the family of ex-Indian Army Grewal who committed suicide on Tuesday.

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The military high command in Pakistan has forwarded the dossiers of four main contenders for the post of army chief, once incumbent General Raheel Sharif superannuates at the end of this month. The dossiers have been forwarded to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

According to the London-based The Nation newspaper, the contenders for the post are Lieutenant General Javed Iqbal Ramday, commander of XXXI Corps, who led a 2009 operation to drive the Pakistani Taliban militant movement from Swat Valley near the Afghan border, Lieutenant General Zubair Hayat, Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad, commanding officer in the eastern city of Multan, and Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who heads the army's Training and Evaluation Wing.

Lt. Gen. Ramday is considered among the front-runners, in part because his family has been associated with Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) party for many years. He is also seen by some security officials as being popular with General Sharif.

"He's perhaps as liked by Raheel Sharif as he is by Nawaz Sharif," said a senior security official based in Islamabad, who declining to be named.

However, neither the prime minister nor General Sharif has commented publicly on his chances of becoming the next Chief of Army Staff.

Lt. Gen. Hayat oversees intelligence and operational affairs at the General Headquarters. He has also headed the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), which is responsible for Pakistan's nuclear program.

Lt. Gen. Ahmad has extensive experience with military operations, especially against Pakistan's Taliban insurgency, and was previously the Director General Military Operations.

Meanwhile, according to The Nation, the United States has avoided comment on the issue, saying that it is for the Pakistan government to take.

General Raheel Sharif has said that he will step down when his tenure ends in November.

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President Pranab Mukherjee, who is visiting Nepal, said Friday that New Delhi deeply values its partnership with Kathmandu and as a close and friendly neighbour, India's abiding interest in Nepal is peace, stability and prosperity.

While attending a civic reception in Janakpur, he applauded the efforts of people and government of Nepal for achieving inclusive economic development, and ensuring a peaceful and prosperous life for its peoples.

"India takes pride in its close development partnership with Nepal and the achievements of friendly people of Nepal. The people and Government of India are committed to further deepen and expand their close ties with Nepal on the basis of mutual trust and mutual benefit," he said.

The press statement issued in this regard said the key to economic development of Janakpur lies in the promotion of the tourism sector.

Recently, Janakpur and Ayodhya reinforced their ancient ties by signing a twin city agreement as development of the Ramayana tourism circuit, with better facilities for millions of pilgrims, will not only generate employment opportunities but also strengthen the story of our common heritage.

President Mukherjee also announced the construction of two dharmashalas along the Parikrama Path around Janakpur as he expressed hope that these two dharamshalas would be of benefit to the pilgrims from both Nepal and India.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said he was delighted to be in Janakpur, the city of Goddess Sita, who is revered both in India and Nepal.

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South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn is doubtful for the remainder of the three-match Test series against Australia after suffering a recurrence of a shoulder injury during the ongoing opening game at the WACA Ground in Perth.

The 33-year-old sustained the injury in the 38th over of the Australia's first innings when he went down wincing in pain while holding his shoulder after bowling to Usman Khawaja, prompting the physio to immediately arrive at the scene.

Steyn had started the Day Two on a bright note by dismissing David Warner for 97 before being forced to walk off the field,Sport24 reported.

Reflecting on Steyn's injury, a team spokesperson said the paceman was sent to a nearby hospital for scans and further treatment.

Injury-prone Steyn, who took 417 wickets in 85 Tests he played, had earlier got his shoulder injured while surfing last December and eventually missed the opportunity to represent his country in majority of the home series against England. He has also been recovering from a groin strain.

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The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist who was arrested yesterday in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore area was persuaded to surrender, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Uttam Chand, North Kashmir on Friday.

Chand said that huge amounts of arms and ammunitions were recovered from the terrorists identified as Omar Khaliq.

"An effort was made to seek the surrender of terrorist, the owner of the house was also involved and finally the terrorist was persuaded to surrender his name is Kahiq alias Sameen. He surrendered and also with that we seized arms and ammunitions from him," Chand told media here.

Chand said that Khaliq had gone to Pakistan and was trained there.

Chand informed that the police had received information about the presence of a LeT terrorist, yesterday at 17:08 hrs.

The terrorist was nabbed after a joint operation launched by army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state police.

"A case has been registered and an investigation has been taken up to see if there is involvement of any other persons," Chand said.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has completely recovered and is understanding what is going on around her.

Pratap C. Reddy, chairman of the Apollo Hospitals, gave this information to the media on the sidelines of a function here.

In a first such interaction on the health status of Jayalalithaa, Reddy said a team of doctors and the prayers of millions made this excellent progress possible.

"We are so happy to hear that Pratap C. Reddy has said that the chief minister is very well. She is fully satisfied. We are so happy about it. All the people have prayed for Amma. All the religions-Christianity, Islam, Hindu.everyone prayed for Amma. God has given a very good result for that. I thank all the doctors for taking care of our honourable Chief Minister," All India Anna Dravida Muunetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader C.R. Saraswathi told ANI.

Jayalalithaa has been kept under the close observation of a specialist from London, besides three-member team of doctors from AIIMS, Delhi.

She was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration.

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Lieutenant General Najeeb Jung on Friday held a meeting with senior police officials as part of efforts to trace missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed.

The students at the JNU yesterday staged a protest on the issue as Ahmed continues to remain untraced for nearly 21 days.

At least 200 students gathered at the administrative block inside the campus and voiced their concern about Ahmed's safety.

The students urged the university officials to bring the perpetrators to book.

Ahmed went missing on the intervening night of October 14-15 after allegedly being beaten up by a mob of 20 students, who visited his room to campaign for the hostel elections.

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Kerala Director General of Police Loknath Behera on Friday confirmed that a high-level investigating team has been set up to probe the gang-rape of a 32-year-old woman.

"Only thing that I would like to say is that on the basis of all the allegations, we have taken it till toto and I have asked very high level investigating team to investigate from the scratch. IG Thrissur range is making all arrangements and in fact we have already started the investigation," Behera told the media.

"And the second part is relating to the allegations against the police and their conduct, and for that, another enquiry has been ordered to find out, whether there is any kind of omission, commission, malafide, everything has to be brought out and we are trying to do it as quickly as possible," he added.

On Thursday, a woman was allegedly raped by her husband's friends and was forced to withdraw her complaint after the policeman asked her "humiliating" questions.

Two year ago, four men came to her home in Thrissur and informed the mother of two that her husband was unwell and that she should accompany them to the hospital.

The men then took her to another house, where they took turns raping her and video-recorded the assault. Thereafter they dumped her at her home and left with a warning that the video would be made public and her children would be killed if she went to police.

Their condition worsened when they filed complaint with the police station. A police officer even showed her how she could change the affidavit to be submitted to the magistrate. The men, however, continued to harass her even after she withdrew the compliant.

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One of Michael Jackson's sons, Prince Jackson, recently opened up about his childhood with the late music icon who tragically died seven years ago.

The 19-year-old, in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, talked about the legacy his father left with him, but makes it clear that while MJ influenced Prince's life, he's not trying to imitate his dad.

"Everyone thinks I'm going to do music and dance," he laughed admitting he could not do either.

Jackson also admitted that he had "always wanted" to go into production even though music is "a big part of my life" and "shaped who I am".

"My dad would ask me what I wanted to do and my answer was always producing and directing," he said.

Earlier this year, Prince put his interests to produce his first music video for 'Automatic' and also used it to launch 'King's Son Productions', a name inspired by his father's nickname, the 'King of Pop'.

Jackson also shared the career advice his father once gave him "Trust no one".

"It sounds bad, but...a lot of people are motivated by themselves," he explains, adding, "He said don't trust someone just because it sounds like a good idea-do your research. There are a lot of people who want to interact with [me and my siblings] just because of who we are."

That might be the same reason behind MJ choosing to put masks on his children when they were younger.

"My dad spoke to me like an adult. He told us the reason for the masks was he wanted us to have our own life without him," Jackson revealed, noting he and his siblings could often go out without their father unbothered because they were unrecognizable.

The dutiful son has apparently learnt how to live life without his dad around as Prince explains that the best they can do is keeping MJ a part of their everyday life in some way.

"The way I cope with [the grief] is incorporating him into my life in every way-from my company logo having little bits of him [to] using his metaphors and trying to follow everything he taught us," Jackson said.

"My brother and my sister, we've all coped differently. I've gotten better the older I get," he added.

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A special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar on Friday sentenced National Geographic famed Afghan woman Sharbat Gula to 15-days of imprisonment and levied a fine of Rs. 110,000 for forgery.

After completing her sentence she will be deported to Afghanistan, reports the Dawn.

Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on October 26 from her house in the Nauthia area for alleged forgery of a Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).

Sharbat Gula's lawyer, Mubashir, said the accused had pleaded guilty to all charges against her in court today.

He said that she had already served about nine days in jail since her arrest and will remain imprisoned for six more to complete her sentence before she is deported to Afghanistan.

An interim challan submitted by the FIA on November 1 said the suspect had already admitted her guilt during her interrogation, an official in the know earlier said.

She became famous as the 'Afghan Girl' when National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry captured her photograph at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp situated on the edge of Peshawar in 1984 and identified her as Sharbat Gula.

She gained worldwide recognition when her image was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine at a time when she was around 12 years old.

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that he would not attend the Samajwadi Party's 25th anniversary revelry in Lucknow on Saturday due to the chhat puja celebrations.

"I have personally told Shivpal (Yadav) about this as right now chhat puja is being observed here. When Mulayam Singh Yadav ji called me yesterday, I explained him the reason behind me skipping the event. I would have definitely joined the celebration had the date not clashed with chhat puja," he said.

"I thank the Samajwadi Party for inviting the Janata Dal(United) on the 25th anniversary on Saturday. Our party's senior leader Sharad Yadav will attend the event," he added.

The Bihar Chief Minister's attendance in Lucknow was closely watched by the opposition parties amid speculations that there would be a pre-poll alliance ahead of next year's assembly polls.

Nitish, however, stated that there would not be any pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh and expressed hope that the infighting within the Samajwadi Party fold would end soon.

Addressing the media here, Nitish said that Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav would end the ongoing tussle in the party with his rich experience.

Kumar stressed that the meeting between the Samajwadi Party and JD (U) leaders should not be seen as a pre-poll alliance ahead of the polls.

"We also want the Samajwadi Party family tussle should not escalate," he said.

Last week, Samajwadi Party's Uttar Pradesh Party chief Shivpal Yadav had met JD (U) leaders Sharad Yadav and K. C. Tyagi to invite them for his party's anniversary bash.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday urged both Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to stop indulging in "cheap politics" over the OROP issue.

"These are the people who have always drawn political mileage by questioning on sensitive and security related matters. The nation knows how to answer these people. If we look at sequence of events, they first questioned on surgical strikes, they then created useless noise over the SIMI encounter, now they have racked up OROP issue," Naqvi said.

"These all are a part of a well-knit conspiracy. It is an effort to demoralise our soldiers. I believe those who indulge in such cheap politics, the people will give a befitting reply to them. The nation doesn't function on the basis of such cheap politics," he added.

Ram Kishan Grewal, ex-servicemen, had come to the capital to protest against the government's alleged backtracking on the implementation of the OROP scheme.

The 69-year-old consumed poison even as he and four others accompanying him were waiting to meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to submit a memorandum reiterating their demands on the OROP scheme.

The death of Grewal triggered an intense political battle between the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who was detained and released thrice since the suicide of Grewal, charged the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with promoting a form of dictatorship.

Kejriwal on the other hand, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying to the entire nation about the implementation of OROP. He said instead of being sympathetic, the government told the police to beat Grewal's family.

A group of ex-servicemen say the OROP scheme which was implemented by the government last year, fails to meet key expectations of soldiers.

One Rank One Pension has been a longstanding demand of the ex-servicemen, grants retired armed forces personnel pension parity with officers and soldiers of the same rank who are retiring now.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a wider public debate on holding simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Speaking at the Diwali Mangal Milan programme organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi said that it appears that there is a halt in debate on some issues, and if media plays its role in carrying forward the debate, it will be good.

The Prime Minister said leaders of almost all political parties privately say that something must be done but several had often hesitated to speak on the issue after he raised it publicly.

He, however, maintained that such hesitation will prevail for some time, but notwithstanding such dilemma, the public discourse should continue.

The Prime Minister said that this is not an issue that can be imposed by the government and suggested the need for a discussion among larger public and political parties.

Prime Minister Modi said that often election observers are deputed for two months and even the states where elections are not held, have to spare their officials. He said, it also results in economic burden. The Prime Minister said issues like the code of conduct and deployment of poll observers needed to be debated on as various questions are raised on these matters.

Senior party leaders, including Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar and J.P. Nadda, and Ram Lal also attended the programme where other senior party leaders, functionaries and senior journalists were also present.

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Congress leader Barkha Singh Shukla questioned the credibility of the police after a 32-year-old gangrape victim from Thrissur, accused the police of mentally torturing her by asking inappropriate questions during their investigation, and asked where will the women and public go, when the police turn 'bhakshak' (attackers) from 'rakshaks'(protectors).

Speaking to ANI on the incident and how the public will approach the police for justice, if such an attitude prevails amongst them, Shukla said, "It is a matter of shame and regret. Due to such fears, the violence and the rape inflicted on the women residing in the rural areas do not come to the fore. Whether it is a court or police, they are being questioned in such a manner that they do not file complaints due to fear and shame. When police who is 'rakshak' (protector) becomes 'bhakshak' (attackers) and poses such kinds of questions, where will the women go, where will the public go?"

She further added that such people should be immediately suspended, removed from jobs and punished.

Echoing similar sentiments, former NCW Chief Mamta Sharma, "The Kerala incident is very unfortunate. The lady has been gangraped, when she reported and they questioned during the investigation, she was asked who she enjoyed it the most, and I think such insensitivity is very unfortunate for our country."

Stressing the importance of sensitization programmes for the police to handle such victims, she said, "The Kerala government should suspend such policemen, whether an employee or officer. An enquiry should ensue the suspension and I would say the person would be removed from the job. The Commission for Women should also take action and send a few members for enquiry into the matter."

The victim, who was allegedly gang-raped by her husband's friends in Kerala, said cops made fun of her instead of acting against the culprits and asked her 'whom did you enjoy most?'

State chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Director General of police Loknath Behra have promised to book the guilty. Probe has been ordered into the rape allegation and the conduct of the police officials.

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Washington DC, Nov. 4 (ANI): With just four days left for the most exhausting election in the United States, panic is growing in both political parties over swing voters.

"You get out of bed and vote," Republican party presidential candidate Donald Trump said yesterday. He isn't leaving anything to chance. Till the FBI bombshell on Hillary's emails on ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner's computer dropped, Clinton was surging ahead. Not so now. She needs every supporter out there to get out and vote for her.

Polling data has shown that the margin of victory is too slim for either candidate to rest easy during the next four days. Millions of volunteers have been pressed into service to tap every reluctant voter. The task is well laid out: to ask, cajole, even drive registered voters to head to the polling center and cast his/her precious vote.

Today is the last date for early voting in the District of Columbia. Nearly 19 million voters would have cast their votes ahead of the main polling day on November 8. In 2012, as many as 46 million Americans had cast their votes in early polling. Election day falls in the middle of the week and it is not a holiday. The lines can be long and if you are not an undecided voter it makes little sense to wait for the last day to cast your vote.

The latest polls show Hillary has an edge but her supporters are not leaving anything to chance. In Florida, the two are in an absolute tie. Supporters of Hillary and Trump are knocking on doors, working the telephone lines, speaking in person to voters to just-go-vote. Both parties have extensive data of voting pattern of citizens and based on that the calls are made and persuasions done.

Christopher Healey, a resident of the District of Columbia, says of the campaign, "This election cycle has been particularly off putting due to campaign volunteers for one candidate already assuming my vote is with their candidate. Because I am one thing or another then I must vote for their candidate."

Dan Pfeiffer, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, speaking about the 2008 campaign said, "We knew if they had voted in primaries how likely they were to vote for our candidate. All data is good but you have to have volunteers to ask people to vote. In 2008, we had about a million volunteers." Pfeiffer ran the communications office for the Obama-Biden transition team.

Another communication expert Kevin Madden, who in the 2008 election cycle served as National Press Secretary and Senior Communications Strategist for Governor Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, said Romney didn't have intensity in his volunteers to get people to vote. "Intensity and momentum is on Trump's side," he said.

The highly negative campaigns run by both candidates have put off reluctant voters. Trump said yesterday, "She has spent 500 million dollars on advertisements. The best thing I have going for me is my temperament". And he said that with a straight face. Hillary's team has upped the ante in the last week of campaign highlighting Trump's misogynistic statements. One ad has Trump saying, "Putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing."

Christopher Healey who I spoke to about pesky political volunteers remarks had this to say, "the rhetoric from both campaigns have really turned off some voters who would rather not vote than cast a ballot for either candidate who's outrageious behaviour may have solidfied the fringe vote of his party. It has done so at the cost of alienating the more centrist voter in this election. Then you have another candidate that has been so mired in political scandal over the years of public service that it diminishes any legitimacy of their holding higher office. And both campaigns attack each other with such venom that voters are divided on which of these candidate are the less of two evils."

This disgust with the campaign process that Christopher spoke off is what is terrifying the volunteers. If people are too disgusted to vote then all bets are off. Some volunteers are even going to drive people to vote. In this country, it's perfectly legal for political party volunteers to pick up senior citizens or people with disabilities from their homes to drive them to get to polling stations. This will be significant in swing states of Ohio and Florida.

Winning in these states is so crucial that yesterday President Obama was actually reading out polling station lists. It has become that nitty-gritty now. A massive sprint as the date nears. Hillary Clinton in a bright pink pantsuit yesterday said she was ready to take the baton from President Obama. She sounded very very upbeat. Not so her volunteers. They are nervous. Every vote counts. Their voters have to get to the polling stations and pick the candidate.

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Scores of Shia Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir's Kargil District on Thursday took to roads to protest against the atrocities on their community in Pakistan.

Carrying placards and raising slogans, the protestors also showed solidarity to Shaikh Mohsin Ali Najafi, a Shia cleric who has been tagged as a 'terrorist' by the Pakistan government. The protestors belonged to Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust.

General Secretary of the trust Mohammad Hussain told media that it's very disturbing that the renowned cleric Shaikh Mohsin Ali Najafi from Gilgit, Baltistan, had been placed in a terrorist list, while real terrorists were roaming free.

Speaking to the gathering MLA Kargil Asgar Karbalai said the Nawaz Sharif government was engulfed in corruption and "now they are trying to protect terrorists and pleasing Saudi dynasty".

He said, "We are against oppression and always stand with the oppressed people, whether in Gilgit Baltistan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Quetta Baluchistan or in Kashmir."

"Shaikh Mohsin Ali Najafi is an academic person and not a political person and the Pakistan Government is trying to limit his social activities," he said.

Chairman of the Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust Sheikh Hussain Lufti said the people should always rise against the atrocities.

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Strongly condemning the behaviour of Kerala policemen with regard to a rape victim survivor, social activist Brinda Adige on Friday demanded immediate and stringent action against those involved in the 'shameful' act.

"It is shameful and is something that should not be accepted by anybody. They should apologise, the DGP should apologise, the party leaders of those elected representatives; those have done this; should apologise and immediate and stringent should be taken," Adige told ANI.

She said that it is unfortunate to hear of such incidents happening 69 years after independence in a state with a 100 per cent literacy rate.

"It is shocking and very atrocious behaviour by policemen to actually ask such a question to a rape victim. It is an abuse and misuse of power and position," she said.

On Thursday, a woman was allegedly raped by her husband's friends and was forced to withdraw her complaint after the policeman asked her "humiliating" questions.

"Among the four, who gave you the most pleasure?" the 32-year-old woman, quoted one of the policemen, as saying.

Two year ago, four men came to her home in Thrissur and informed the mother of two that her husband was unwell and that she should accompany them to the hospital.

The men then took her to another house, where they took turns raping her and video-recorded the assault. Thereafter they dumped her at her home and left with a warning that the video would be made public and her children would be killed if she went to police.

Their condition worsened when they filed complaint with the police station. A police officer even showed her how she could change the affidavit to be submitted to the magistrate. The men, however, continued to harass her even after she withdrew the compliant.

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The Congress Party on Friday asserted that Mysore king Tipu Sultan was a secular warrior and that he had sacrificed his life for this state.

Congress leader N.A Harris said, "If you were the king, then Mysore Maharaja would not have been there. These people have forgetting the history, he was the warrior. He always fought to protect this country and he fought always with keeping the king there at Mysore. So he is the warrior, he gave his life on the war field. He was not like other king's who was sitting in place and makes their commanders fight. So we have to appreciate and we have to see him as a true fighter for this country."

He further said, "All these people are trying to politicize entire thing, make that Hindutva. We have respect for every religion and community, and we are live as an Indian".

He told ANI, "Today there are Puja is being conducted in name of Sultan, that the Tipu Sultan Marathas who suppose to be Hindu ruler broke the Sringeri, and Tipu being from a different community, goes and helps them and reveals them entire Sringeri and give that Sringeri the total whatever assistant was needed, even today they have recognized that and they have special prayer for him. So what do have say about this, we have to live like brothers".

He also said, "All Indians are brothers and sisters. In those days, kingdoms were different today the kingdom is India, as Indians as a country democratic country we are living, so we have to understand that".

Last year, after major clashes were witnessed in Karnataka over the celebrations of Tipu Sultan Jayanti, the state government had decided to make the event an annual affair. Going forward, it will be celebrated on November 10 across the state.

This decision was taken by the government based on inputs and detailed discussions held with historians and academicians.

The event will be organized at the Ravindra Kalakshetra each year.

Three people lost their lives in clashes in Kodagu last year after outrage by anti-Tipu Sultan activists calling him a tyrant.

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The Britain Government has said that it will fight a high court ruling that could frustrate its timetable for Brexit.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said that 17.4 million leave voters had given the government the biggest mandate in history to leave the European Union.

Britain's plans to leave the European Union hit a large speed bump yesterday when the high court ruled that the government cannot start exit negotiations without a vote in Parliament.

It is expected that that Supreme Court will next month hear the government's plea.

Yesterday's ruling opens a major constitutional battle over the balance of power between Parliament and the govesrnment.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she will use centuries-old powers known as royal prerogative to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty, which launches two years of exit negotiations, by the end of March.

The powers - traditionally held by the monarch but now used by politicians - enable decisions about international treaties and other issues to be made without a vote of Parliament.

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Ranveer Singh, who is already smitten by Switzerland's beauty, has got another reason to love the country even more. The 'Befikre' actor has been named the first Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism.

The heartthrob of millions of Indians, Ranveer has recently returned from his maiden trip to the beautiful country and now he can't wait to endorse its virtues to everybody.

The 31-year old actor said, "Switzerland has always been known for its serenity and its natural beauty but what surprised me were the adventures in store for me when I visited. Going to Switzerland has always been my dream. After all it's a country made famous by Yashji!"

Claudio Zemp, Director - India, Switzerland Tourism said, "Being a versatile energetic and adventurous personality, Ranveer explored and enjoyed all that Switzerland has to offer. His passion and excitement for the country is what compelled us to request him if he would take on the mantle of Brand Ambassador to which he enthusiastically agreed. With Ranveer on board we would like to showcase the multifaceted holiday experience that is Switzerland."

A lover of nature, adventure, great outdoors and extreme sports, the dashing actor has already planned his next visit to Switzerland in winter early next year.

On a related note, the Bajirao of Bollywood would be seen next in 'Befikre' starring Vaani Kapoor and the film is slated to release on December 9.

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On 11 November 2016

Birla Capital & Financial Services will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 11 November 2016, to approve & take on record, the Un-Audited Financial Results of the Company for the Quarter ended 30 September 2016.

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Of Rs 15 per share

Monsanto India announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 3 November 2016, inter alia, have recommended the dividend of Rs 15 per equity Share (i.e. 150%) , subject to the approval of the shareholders.

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Sales decline 7.43% to Rs 1.62 crore

Net profit of Bombay Cycle & Motor Agency declined 48.65% to Rs 0.19 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 as against Rs 0.37 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2015. Sales declined 7.43% to Rs 1.62 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 as against Rs 1.75 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2015.1.621.755.5614.860.310.530.280.500.190.37

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On 12 November 2016

Global Infratech & Finance will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 12 November 2016, to approve the Un-audited Financial Results for the Quarter and half year ended 30 September 2016.

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Sales rise 17.79% to Rs 163.95 crore

Net profit of Gujarat Pipavav Port declined 32.08% to Rs 59.42 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 as against Rs 87.48 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2015. Sales rose 17.79% to Rs 163.95 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 as against Rs 139.19 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2015.163.95139.1960.1354.80110.3086.0582.3163.3359.4287.48

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While appreciating the importance in Ease of Doing Business to the rank of 130 by the World Bank, Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that lot of things at the ground level are becoming visible and the business community is enthusiastic to enhance its growth trajectory going forward.

India is now ranked at 130th among 190 economies by the World Bank.

Implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code would improve the ranking further.

It is also expected that the goods and services tax will help make significant improvement in India's ranking next year, he said.

Going ahead, President, PHD Chamber, Dr. Mahesh Gupta suggested that the Government must focus on the reforms in labour laws and decriminalization of businesses as stringent labour laws are a major roadblock to enhance production possibility frontiers and employment generation in the economy.

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Food Processing Industries Minister Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal while addressing a press conference on the activities undertaken during the Swachchhta Pakhwada said that time has come to show by act and not only by words that cleanliness is next to godliness. Highlighting the objective of Swachchh Bharat Mission, the vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi to make India clean by the year 2019; the year when we celebrate Gandhiji's 150th birth anniversary, Hon'ble Minister said that the goal of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat can not be achieved without ensuring total cleanliness of our offices, schools, colleges, villages, cities, rivers etc. She also exhorted everyone to contribute in achieving this goal. Smt. Badal further said that we are integrating swachchhata into our schemes and promoting the concept of swachchh abattoir in Shimla, which will be implemented in other projects in the coming time.

As a part of the Government's initiative to observe Swachchhta Pakhwada during 16-31 October, 2016, Ministry of Food Processing Industries also organized various special events during the Pakhwada through active involvement of the officials and other stakeholders of the ministry. A special Swachchhta Pledge taking event, Essay & Debate Competitions for employees of MoFPI and Special drive for weeding out of old files/papers as per the Government norms was organized by the ministry. In a meeting held in Panchsheel Bhawan that houses the ministry, Secretary, FPI, Shri Avinash Srivastava sensitized the promoters of Cold Chain Projects on the importance of Swachchhta and hygiene in their project area. NIFTEM, a deemed university under MoFPI, organized events like street vendors sensitization camps, cleanliness and hygiene drive in campus, hostel and a swachchhta awareness rally.

IICPT at Thanjavur, another institution under the ministry, observed Swachchhta Pakhwada through cleanliness drive, beautification and tree planting activities within the campus and organized activities like Essay Competition, Workshops, Food Safety awareness camp for street vendors, skits etc., for highlighting benefits of swachchhta. Industry bodies like CII, PHD Chamber of Commerce and ASSOCHAM organised several programmes and workshops to create awareness on good hygiene practices.

The Minister also launched web based system for submission of documents for release of grant-in-aid under Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure. Launching the software, the minister said that this robust e- Governance tool for online filing of claim for release of grant to a project this is an important initiative towards Digital India campaign. Smt. Badal said that it will help in effective monitoring of progress of the project and also ensure transparency in disbursal of funds to implementing agencies alongwith reduction of supporting documents, paper-work. Earlier, in June, 2016, similar software was launched for the Mega Food Park Scheme. Based on the experience gained, the software has been upgraded and now launched for the Cold Chain scheme also. It is an investor friendly initiative taken by the ministry. The minister also launched the new look website of the Ministry.

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With effect from 04 November 2016

Pfizer announced that Lu Hong has resigned as the Non-executive (Woman) Director from the Board of the Company effective 04 November 2016, on account of her relocation to USA for taking up a global role with Pfizer Inc., USA.

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Following change in excise duty on country liquor by Govt. of West Bengal

Pincon Spirit announced that Government of West Bengal vide it's Notification No. 03-EXE dated 28 October 2016 has revised the rate of Excise Duty on Country Liquor w.e.f. 08 November 2016, along with instruction to all Country Liquor Manufacturers to apply immediately for label re-registration with new MRP.

The Company has made urgent initiation for upward revision in MRP of its Country Liquor Brands viz. Pincon Bangia No. 1, Bengal Tiger & Uddan.

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On 12 November 2016

Rasoya Proteins will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 12 November 2016, to consider the Un-audited Financial Results of the Company for the Second Quarter and half year ended on 30 September 2016.

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Britain has constantly suffered from "deliberate historical amnesia" about their wrong doings during their colonial rule in India, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said here on Friday.

Speaking at the release of his book "An Era of Darkness- The British Empire in India", he said the British have only "portrayed one sided vision of the colonial rule" so far.

The Congress MP said Britain needs to tender an apology to India for their brutality and misgovernance and they should also teach British children the true history of "horrendous" colonial rule in India.

"After all, the beauties of the city like London were built by the resources taken away from India," Tharoor said, adding "the loot in fact was extensive."

He also criticised Winston Churchill for his indifference to the sufferings of Indians during the infamous Bengal famine.

Tharoor, however, said he is not expecting the apology from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is arriving in India on November 7.

"It is a co-incidence that the book is being released today, just two days before the arrival of the British Prime Minister," he said.

The book was released by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who said "famine, force migration and brutality" were principal characteristics of the colonial rule in India.

Interacting with noted TV anchor Karan Thapar, Tharoor said the British destroyed the textile industry is Dhaka and also carried out the same formula with the steel and shipping industry - which was far superior than Britain.

--IANS

nd-rak/vgu/vm

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A Chinese diplomat on Friday denied reported "incursion" of Chinese troops into Leh in Jammu and Kashmir and said Beijing was neutral on India-Pakistan differences.

"China has a neutral position on differences that exist between India and Pakistan and we hope the countries settle their disputes peacefully through discussion and dialogue," Chinese Consul General Ma Zhanwu said here.

China's ties with India have been hit over India's efforts to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group. China has also blocked India's appeal to the UN to label Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a terrorist.

Asked about the reported Chinese incursion in Leh on Thursday, the envoy denied it.

"I don't believe Chinese troops would cross into India ... and your government has given a statement on it," Ma told the media.

The Indian Army on Thursday denied any incursion by the Chinese troops.

--IANS

sgh/ssp/ahm/mr

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The Criminal Investigation department (CID) of West Bengal Police is mulling legal action against the Ruia Group Chairman and Jessop owner Pawan Kumar Ruia, for not appearing before the CID even after repeated summons, a senior officer said on Friday.

"We might take the necessary legal action if he does not appear before the CID," a senior CID officer said.

Ruia was summoned by the CID officials for the fourth time on Friday morning (November 4) in relation to its investigation into repeated incidents of fire in the Jessop factory over the past one month.

The CID had earlier summoned Ruia to appear at its headquarters on three occasions on October 26 and 28, and November 2 for questioning.

Earlier, Ruia had informed the CID sleuths that he was now "away from the state on a business trip" and hence needed two weeks time before he could present himself before them.

--IANS

mgr/ssp/sm/rn

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Film: "Doctor Strange"; Director: Scott Derrickson; Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton; Rating:***

If the new supernatural spectacle from the self contained world of Marvel Comics were to be described in one word, it would have to be 'strange'. If we stretch it -- as the film does its spindly wiry spiralling narrative that goes effortlessly onward with its dazzling display of alternate reality -- to another word then it would be 'strange and stirring'.

The film lays out an elaborate supernatural plan for its surgeon-hero, a plan so steeped in mythology and esotericism that it takes Dr Strange all the way from London to Kathmandu with a stopover in places that are not on any map.

Nepal is filmed like a crowded cosmos of mystery and mysticism, the way Dev Anand shot 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' 45 years ago. The Himalayan country hasn't changed much. It's that continuity in a rapidly-changing world that "Doctor Strange" purports to capture in rapidly moving images that are staggering in their temerity.

Dr Strange has some heart-stopping narrative points where time does the opposite of stopping still. Events move simultaneously in the real and an alternate world to show how the healing of the body and the mind can be achieved through a transcendental transposition of the consciousness to a dimension beyond the physical.

Director Scott Derrickson, who specialises in supernatural sagas ("The Exorcism Of Emily Rose", "The Day The Earth Stood Still"), unravels the mysteries of the universe accompanied by a growing sense of wonderment.

The imaging of the visuals where ground-reality clashes with an otherworldly reality is so splendid as to freeze all scepticism about the future of Hollywood's large-screen spectacles that seems jeopardized in 2016 after a series of crippling failures in the genre.

"Doctor Strange" dazzles but never to deceive. Its visual opulence is never over-stated. The special effects generate a kind of implosive illumination that lights up the film's theme of travel, knowledge and wisdom.

In effect, the more we know the less we seem to know about the mysteries of the universe. In delivering the dazzle to the realm of the dark, "Doctor Strange" manifests a cinema of austere majesty, more remarkable for holding back than flaunting the spectacle.

A lot of the narrative's ongoing effectuality depends on Benedict Cumberbatch's central performance. He conveys the character's exploratory curiosity with a magnetic blend of confidence and curiosity. No matter how extravagant the excursion into the unknown, Cumberbatch looks like a man in charge.

And even when he is swept into a reality that has no connection to the real world he looks like man in control of his destiny.

It's a confident performance where tenets of existence and beliefs of continuity in the cosmic chaos are constantly shaken and questioned.

While the supporting cast is effortlessly able, some characters don't convey the energy that they promise. Tilda Swinton in a role originally written for a male Tibetan character seems lacking in kinetic energy which is otherwise obtained in abundant measure throughout the film.

There is a free flow of energy in the combats between Cumberbatch and the forces that control the universe beyond his own reality.

It all adds up to an experience that is more satisfying than most of the recent screen adaptations of comic books.

--IANS

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Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba left on a three-day visit to New Delhi on Friday.

This was his first India visit after being elected Nepal's largest political party's president in March.

According to the party, Deuba has been invited as Keynote Speaker at the India Ideas Conclave-2016 in Goa by India Foundation and will deliver his speech on Saturday.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely are among the other prominent speaker at the conclave.

After concluding his Goa visit, Deuba will reach New Delhi and meet top Indian politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah.

Deuba, who is seen as Prime Minister-in-waiting, will meet leaders from both the opposition and ruling parties. He is also expected to address students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

There has been an agreement between Nepali Congress and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal(Maoist) to hand over the country's leadership to Deuba after April 2017.

--IANS

giri/in

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Remember that energetic little boy who led his grandfather, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi -- revered as Mahatma Gandhi worldwide -- holding his stick on the beaches of Gujarat's Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930?

That picture has been etched in public memory for over eight decades and even immortalised in memorials on the Salt Satyagraha at Mumbai's Juhu Beach and several other parts of the country.

Today, that small boy -- Kanu Ramdas Gandhi -- is a ripe old 87, an ex-NASA scientist, and lies critical in a charitable hospital here, with little monetary resources and virtually nobody to care for him.

Ahmedabad-based Dhimant Badhia, an old friend and grandson of a close associate of Gandhi, is arranging for small monetary help for the ailing Kanu, and recently donated Rs 21,000 ($315) from his personal resources.

"The Radhakrishna Temple is rendering great service. They got him admitted to the Shiv Jyoti Hospital nearby and are taking care of his 90-year old wife, Shivalaxmi Kanu Gandhi, who is practically deaf and suffers from other old age-related problems," Badhia told IANS.

The going has not been good for the elderly childless Gandhi couple since their return after a four-decade-long stay in the US in 2014, including Kanu's career of over 25 years with NASA.

Handpicked by the then US Ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, for studies at the Massachusets Institute of Technology (in MIT), Kanu later worked with NASA and the US Defence Department on wing structures fighter aircraft, while Shivalaxmi was a professor and researcher at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.

"After returning to India, they kept moving from one place to another as they have no place of their own here. They lived for short spells in ashrams or inns, and at one point they were compelled to spend six months in New Delhi's Guru Vishram Vruddha Ashram," Badhia said.

That experience was harrowing as the ashram, meant for mentally ill senior citizens, was located in an unsafe localilty, and the Gandhis had to hire private armed security guards against internal and external threats.

At that time, a Union minister got in touch with Kanu and made him speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The PM was most sympathetic and even assured help. But till date, we have not heard from either his office or the Gujarat government," rued Badhia, adding that no Gujarat leader or ministers have visited or enquired about Kanu.

The turning point came on his arrival at this famed diamond city of Surat in south Gujarat on October 22 when he suffered a cardiac arrest and a severe stroke which has left half his body paralysed.

Since that attack, he remains in coma and on life-support systems, with Shivalaxmi and an aide Rakesh, deployed by the temple authorities, beside him.

"I cannot frequently travel from Ahmedabad to Surat due to old age. An ashram sevak, Rakesh, is deployed for round-the-clock services to look after Kanu, while the temple authorities care for Shivalaxmi," Badhia said.

Fortunately, Kanu's very aged sister -- Usha Gokani from Mumbai -- regularly enquires after his health and another Bangalore-based sister, Sumitra Kulkarni, a former Rajya Sabha member, visited him recently.

"They even offered to bear Kanu's medical expenses but the temple authorities politely declined, saying they were repaying the debts of Mahatma Gandhi's services to the nation," Badhia said.

Momentarily, he feels irked that the world-famous Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, "which is splurging crores of rupees to prepare for its upcoming centenary next year; or scores of institutions set up by Mahatma Gandhi or named after him with huge funding from the government -- simply don't care for Gandhiji's ideals or his descendents".

Badhia pointed out how the relief funds of the Prime Minister or Chief Minister are available for various purposes, but not for taking care of the descendents of the Father of Nation, especially those who are not affluent.

Incidentally, Badhia recalled how Kanu and Shivalaxmi always proudly referred to their marriage many decades ago which was arranged and solemnised in the US in the presence of the late Morarji Desai, later the Prime Minister of India.

On the immediate needs of the senior couple, Badhia said at this advanced age they need nothing but love, medical help and round-the-clock caring without having to bother about arranging finances.

"Kanubhai is among the last few surviving links with Gandhiji's famous stick and the epoch-making Salt Satyagraha. This is the least the nation and its leaders can do for him" Badhia sighed.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with Hindi news channel NDTV India, which has been penalised for its Pathankot terror attack coverage.

"I hope the whole goes off air for a day in solidarity with NDTV," Kejriwal tweeted.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has directed NDTV India to go off air for 24 hours from the midnight of November 8-9 for allegedly breaching broadcast norms in its coverage of the attack on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab in January.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the ban on NDTV was "shocking" and shows an "Emergency-like attitude".

Kejriwal also hailed the Editors Guild of India for what he said was standing up to the Centre's decision vis-a-vis the news channel.

"Congratulations to (the) Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi government's dictatorship," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader tweeted.

The AAP on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of strangling the fourth pillar of democracy and said that by banning NDTV broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking the country back to the days of Emergency.

"We would like to remind the BJP that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gagged the in 1975 and the country's people cleaned up the Congress in 1977," AAP leader Sanjay Singh said at a press conference here.

"We want to request the BJP and the PM (Modi) not to encourage the politics of hate," Singh said.

The Editors Guild of India on Friday condemned the "unprecedented decision" of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demanded that the order be immediately rescinded.

The Guild said in a statement that the decision was a direct violation of the freedom of the media, and therefore of the citizens of India, and "amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre on an appeal filed by Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, against the order asking her to vacate government accommodation allotted to Omar in 1999 in Lutyens' Zone here.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal sought the central government's response by November 10.

Payal has challenged the single judge's August 19 order, through which she was asked to "gracefully" vacate bungalow No.7 on Akbar Road here.

Seeking government accommodation for her and her sons on the ground that they have 'Z' and 'Z Plus' category security, Payal said she along with her sons are living in a rented flat after vacating the bungalow, but it is not appropriate on security grounds.

The bungalow was allotted to Omar Abdullah, the National Conference leader, in 1999 when he was elected to parliament from Jammu and Kashmir and became a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Wobbly chair leg? A hole in your favorite sweater? Blender on the fritz? Don't throw it away. Volunteers will be on hand Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Local Works to fix small household appliances, toys, clothing, electronics and more for free.

Hosted by the City of Flagstaff Sustainability Program, the Fix-it Clinic is designed to extend the life of material goods and keep them out of the landfill. In past Fix-It Clinics, volunteers have helped repair 80 percent of all the items brought in including toys, lamps, electronics and clothing.

Local Works is located behind Hunan East at 1926 N. Fourth St. Local Works is a workshop where people can design, build and create their ideas. This community workshop provides local craftsman, inventors, engineers, artists and entrepreneurs with access to affordable design space.

Anyone good at soldering, electronics repair, electrical repair, sewing, woodworking or general tinkering who would like to volunteer at this or a future Fix-it Clinic can contact Maggie Twomey at 213-2144 or mtwomey@flagstaffaz.gov.

Fundraiser focused on river-themed films

Grand Canyon Youths 17th annual Rivers & Reels Fundraiser is set for Saturday from 5-10 p.m., at the Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 N. Fort Valley Road. This event is open to the public and features dinner, river-themed films and a silent auction. Admission is $15 for individuals and $40 for a family, with tickets sold at the door.

The evening will feature several short films, beginning with "A Deeper Creek," a look at an innovative river snorkeling program that has brought thousands of citizen snorkelers to the waters of Southern Appalachia.

Next up is "Why," a video that explores the motivations behind outdoor adventure through interviews with climber Alex Honnold, mountain biker Rebecca Rusch and kayaker Dane Jackson. For "Salween Spring," filmmaker Travis Winn traveled to China for the first time 15 years ago to join his dad on a first descent of the Headwaters of the Salween River in Tibet.

"The Confluence" features Navajo families describing why they oppose the Grand Canyon Escalade. The story explores how the physical landscapes of the Grand Canyon region shape the cultural, emotional and spiritual landscapes of the Navajo people who inhabit it. "World Beneath the Rims" explores the lives of an author, photographer and painter whose art is inspired by the Grand Canyon.

"Zambezi Carnage 2008" is about rafting on the Zambezi River in Africa. Finally, in "Defrag Moment," Grand Canyon Youth alumni Flint McGuire shares three ways his GCY experience has had an impact on his life.

Grand Canyon Youth is a non-profit organization offering young people from diverse backgrounds experiential education along the rivers and canyons of the Southwest since 1998.

Willow Bend to host endangered species art exhibition

Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, in partnership with local artist Frederica Hall, will be hosting an endangered species art exhibition at the Willow Bend Center, 703 E. Sawmill Road. A free opening reception will take place Saturday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., in conjunction with Willow Bends monthly Science Saturday event.

In addition to the reception, the event will include hands-on wildlife-focused activities, interactive art blocks, pollinator games, an opportunity for participants to create and add their own art pieces, and a solo performance, "Come into the World Again, Wild Bees'' at noon.

Hundreds of wildlife and insect species are going extinct. Science estimates the present rate of extinction is 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens of species going extinct every day. The exhibition is an ongoing artistic inquiry into the web of inter-species communication, expressed through paintings, and offering a connection to some of the disappearing wildlife species.

Since the beginning of the industrial age, extinction has been speeding up; we are now in the mist of the sixth Great Extinction and possibly greater than the extinction of the dinosaurs, species are passing away, many are gone already said artist Frederica Hall. As we lose each species we lose a part of ourselves in the interconnected web of consciousness. This is a work in progress documenting the many endangered species, and the ones that have been lost to extinction.

The project aims to integrate art into traditional STEM events and programs. The show will be up at Willow Bend until the end of November. For more information visit willowbendcenter.org or call 779-1745.
India is funding a $ 2 million project for the greenhouse production of tomatoes in Ghana to increase yields and boost the agricultural sector, the Indian mission here has said.

"The concept was developed keeping in mind the enormous dependence on tomato and tomato derivatives in Ghana and with the objective of increasing local production of tomato to boost the agricultural sector," the High Commission said.

"Once the research establishes the high yield varieties suitable according to the agronomy of the region, farmers in Ghana would once again be able to espouse tomato cultivation on a large scale to make it commercially viable and remove the dependence on imported tomatoes for processing and consumption," it added.

India's National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) is jointly implementing the project with the Soil Research Institute of Ghana's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

"NRDC has set up research projects in three location at Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, Ada in the Greater Accra Region and at Navrongo in the Upper East Region," its cprporate communications chief, A. Pradhan told IANS in an email interaction.

Research by local consulting firm, Goodman AMC says Ghana currently produces over 300,000 metric tonnes of tomatoes, 90 per cent of which is consumed locally and accounts for 38 per cent of a family's expenditure on vegetables.

The NRDC is has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the CSIR to set up an Incubation Centre to facilitate the creation of start-ups to enable the transfer of technology.

The MoU would also support potential entrepreneurs in developing business ideas, business plans and models to boost innovation and productivity in various sectors. The CSIR will make the necessary arrangements to operate and run the Incubation Centre with technical assistance from NRDC.

The High Commission also said that through the MoU, NRDC will assist CSIR to develop a suitable business innovation platform for promotion of entrepreneurship and startups to fill this vital gap, thus leading to skill development of the youth .

Goodman AMC said the project has come at a time when the "demand for tomato paste (in quantity and quality) is also spreading in the sub-region and could provide a meaningful consumer base for locally-processed tomatoes".

It notes, however, that Ghana's tomato processing industry remains small and the country relies heavily on imports. Ghana is estimated to consume in excess of 100,000 tonnes of tomato paste annually at a cost of more than $100 million.

(Francis Kokutse can be contacted at fkokutse@gmail.com)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India is an important innovation hub for Adobe and over time a lot of the company's products have been developed in its Indian R&D centres located in Noida and Bengaluru, stressed top Adobe executives.

"Tools like InDesign and Illustrator are completely built in India. Photoshop elements team is also entirely based in India," Mala Sharma, Vice President and Manager of Creative Cloud at Adobe, told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Adobe Max 2016 creativity conference here.

"A big part of Adobe Sensei -- which was released earlier in the day -- was developed in India," Sharma noted, adding that India has a lot to offer on a global stage.

Sharma also pointed out that there has been a 200 per cent increase (year-on-year) in job postings across Asia Pacific (APAC) in the creativity and design industry.

Adobe's R&D is focused on developing product innovations that help businesses drive digital transformation and deliver amazing experiences for their customers, Shanmugh Natarajan, Executive Director and Vice President (Products) at Adobe India, added.

"Adobe's India R&D centres are an integral part of the company's overall innovation focus and significant contributors to our global efforts towards creating, developing and supporting products and innovations across Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud," Natarajan said.

"Various parts of the many technology showcases announced at Adobe MAX 2016 (including Adobe XD, Illustrator and InDesign) have been developed with close involvement of the India R&D centers and our team is excited to be a part of these amazing technology innovations," Natarajan added.

Digital marketing is a high growth business for Adobe and a significant part of R&D activities for Adobe Marketing Cloud are driven out of Adobe's India R&D labs.

"India is a huge investment for us," Sharma said.

(Sourabh Kulesh is attending Adobe Max 2016 creative conference in San Diego at the invitation by Adobe. He can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delegates from across the world will discuss aviation medicine in the national capital from November 7 to 10 in the 64th International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine, officials said here on Friday.

The conference is being organised by the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine.

Aerospace medicine deals with occupational and preventive medicine for pilots, aircrew and astronauts.

"The conference will provide a platform for sharing the experiences and views of participating delegates on these aspects, helping both military and civil aviation sectors to suitable amend existing policies related to medical fitness of aircrew," an Aviation medicine specialist from the Indian Air Force said.

Aerospace medicine in India comes under the Indian Air Force.

"With the growth of civil aviation, there is a growing challenge of aero-medical doctrine of civil aircrew, their initial and periodic medical examinations and decision on their fitness to fly," the official said.

"The recent advances in clinical medicine and their follow up have proved that now many more disabilities can be cured permanently or can be permitted to fly with permissible medication," the official said adding that the conference will deliberate on these issues.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iraqi security forces on Friday recaptured six districts in the eastern part of Mosul after fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants, a security source said.

Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) personnel and the Iraqi army made significant progress on Friday morning on the eastern side of Mosul, and managed to seize the districts of Aden, Samah, Karkukli, al-Khadraa, al-Ikhaa and al-Quds, the source told Xinhua news agency.

The troops raised the Iraqi flag on the main buildings of the districts, while fierce battles continued in the adjacent Karamah district.

The latest push into the city came after more than two weeks of a massive offensive to dislodge the IS militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.

On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Since then, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city, preparing for a major battle to drive out the IS terrorists.

Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling the militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The top boss of the Islamic State -- who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul -- has himself fled, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was "cruelly ironic" because intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.

In an audio recording released on Thursday, al-Baghdadi said he was confident of victory in the de-facto capital Mosul and urged followers to continue fighting.

But Johnson, while responding to queries in the House of Commons, said: "It is a cruel irony that some of the intelligence we have, you may know, suggests that the gentleman in question has actually vacated the scene himself and is nonetheless using internet media to encourage people to take part in violence."

He pledged that the IS would be repelled from the war-torn Iraqi city which has been controlled by the IS since June 2014, and told MPs: "The house can be sure that Daesh will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraq's security forces have yet encountered."

In his first statement since the major offensive began, al-Baghdadi implored jihadis to attack the "enemies of God" in what is seen as an all or nothing battle for them.

"Turn the nights of the unbelievers into days, to wreck havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers," he said in an audio release, the first since the major Iraqi offensive began.

The leader said he was "confident of victory" and called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised to enter the city, declared a "caliphate" when it was overrun by the group two years ago.

In his latest message, which is undated but makes references to events that are at most a few weeks old, Al-Baghdadi calls for attacks against Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Ankara has troops stationed at a base just outside Mosul and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's escalating rhetoric has raised fears of a unilateral Turkish intervention in Iraq.

The US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition and its warplanes, launched a massive offensive on Mosul on October 17.

More than 40,000 Iraqi and Kurd troops are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, jailed earlier this year for 17 days on charges of sedition, is advocating an umbrella coalition of opposition parties to take on the BJP.

Kanhaiya Kumar, whose book "From Bihar to Tihar" (Juggernaut) has hit the market, says such a coming together of the Congress, the Left and parties like the AAP should be based on issues.

"Why can't (Arvind) Kejriwal, Congress, Left and Mayawati come together?" the left-leaning activist asked in an interview with IANS. "There should be unity."

These parties "need to get together to defeat the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)".

Kanhaiya Kumar, a vocal advocate of Left-Bahujan unity, said an anti-BJP alliance must be based on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) that prevailed during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-I regime.

Asked about the ideological contradictions in such a grouping, Kanhaiya Kumar cited the example of South Africa where the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) co-exist in an alliance.

"The ANC and SACP too have differences but they work on the basis of certain commonalities."

Now 29, Kanhaiya Kumar was President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) when he was arrested in February 2016 on charges of sedition.

The dramatic arrest followed a meeting held in the JNU campus where a section of students and outsiders -- most of whom were never caught -- raised anti-national slogans.

Kanhaiya Kumar had nothing to do with that February 9 meeting, and he says in his book "From Bihar to Tihar" that most policemen who dealt with him quickly realised he had been framed.

It was the fiery, nearly hour-long speech Kanhaiya Kumar gave at the JNU after his release -- telecast live and watched by millions -- that gave him a star status.

Kanhaiya Kumar told IANS that he was not enamoured of his fame.

A member of the CPI-affiliated All India Students Federation (AISF), he says he is part of "active politics" but has no desire to take part in electoral .

Arguing that dissent was vital in any democracy, he said that all those opposed to majoritarianism, irrespective of their different streams, have to unite.

"Today, if you speak against the government, you are dubbed anti-national."

In his book, Kanhaiya Kumar details his struggle with poverty since childhood. Son of a father who dabbled in radical Left and a mother who earned Rs 3,000 a month, the family didn't have a toilet or a bathroom, bathed at a hand pump, used just one light and fan at night to keep the power bill down and had the previous night's dinner as the next day's breakfast.

At one time, Kanhaiya Kumar got a job for Rs 50 a day -- he had to go from house to house and give polio drops to children.

When he moved to Patna, his mother gave him a bed sheet she had stitched together with bits and pieces of old fabric. Perennially short of money, he mostly walked in Patna as he could not afford an auto or even a cycle rickshaw.

He gave tuition in history, geography and sociology, earning Rs 15 every hour to beat the financial crisis.

Debating skills that he acquired in college in Patna helped Kanhaiya Kumar to become one of the most articulate student leaders when he moved to Delhi and joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

(M.R. Narayan Swamy and Ruwa Shah can be reached on narayan.swamy@ians.in and ruwa.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Friday accused the Kerala government and the CPI-M of shielding the men who raped a woman in Thrissur district two years ago.

The 2014 case became public on Thursday when the victim along with her husband and two women activists told her horrid experience to the media here.

The 34-year-old victim, who hails from Thrissur, alleged that she was raped by a Communist Party of India-Marxist councillor, P.N. Jayanthan, his brother and two others.

Congress legislator Anil Akkara said in the assembly that Kerala, which celebrated its 60th birthday recently, now had to bend its head in shame because of numerous incidents of rape and abuse of women.

"The need of the hour is to keep aside and solve the case," he said.

"What's very serious is the victim had in a registered letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in August this year given a complaint and no one knows what happened to it and what follow up action was taken."

Akkara said the CPI-M government was protecting the accused as one of the them was seen in the assembly complex the other day, meeting ministers.

State Minister for Law A.K. Balan said the government was committed to make the accused face the law.

"A new investigation team has been appointed and neither nor party affiliations would come before anyone. You (opposition) can also cooperate and provide all the information you have to the government."

But opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said crimes against women were on the rise in Kerala now.

"Every day a 'Draupadi' is being disrobed in Kerala," he said.

He said while it was true that the incident took place in 2014 when the Congress was in office, the first complaint surfaced only in 2016 after the Left assumed office.

"This case should be handed over to a lady additional director general of police. But you have handed over the probe to an officer who was part of the team before also," said Chennithala, and led the opposition out of the house.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has reportedly hired three off-duty police officers to escort her to and from model Kendall Jenner's birthday party.

The 36-year-old star, who is married to rapper Kanye West, paid each police officer $100 an hour to keep an eye on her while she attended her half-sister's 21st birthday here on Wednesday, reports tmz.com.

The "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star has been keeping a low profile since she was robbed by an armed gang of men in Paris, France, last month and, although she's now safe, she's not taking any chances now.

Kim's decision to hire three off-duty officers comes days after she reportedly sacked her personal guard Pascal Duvier.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine gave a speech entirely in Spanish in Arizona state, telling a largely Hispanic crowd that Latinos "are the future of the US".

The Virginia senator became fluent in Spanish while previously working with missionaries in Honduras, Efe news reported.

Five days ahead of the November 8 vote, Hillary Clinton's running mate spoke of the great diversity of the US population and the pioneering role of Hispanics.

"Spanish is the first European language spoken in this country. A few years ago, I gave the first speech in Spanish in the history of the Senate. I thought that if we were discussing an immigration bill, it needed to be explained in Spanish. Especially when Spanish is the language of more than 40 million people in this country," Kaine said on Thursday in state capital Phoenix.

The senator reminded his listeners that Donald Trump launched his campaign for the Republican nomination with a speech denouncing Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.

"Hillary Clinton and I, we believe that you are our brothers and sisters, and we will fight for you," Kaine said.

He said that a Clinton administration would enact comprehensive immigration reform within 100 days of taking office.

"Too many children in the United States say goodbye to their parents every morning without knowing whether their father or mother will be there when they return," Kaine said, adding that Clinton would also put an end to deportations and immigration raids.

"Tomorrow is the last day to vote early in Arizona. But why wait until tomorrow if you can go vote today," Kaine said amid shouts of "Yes, We Can".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant was arrested on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town, police said.

Police said a pistol, two magazines and three cartridges were seized from Ishfaq Ahmad Kanna, a Sopore resident.

The accused had evaded a joint checkpost set up by police, Rashtriya Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force on Seer Amargarh road leading to the Sopore railway station and entered a nearby orchard. Security forces surrounded the orchard and arrested him.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
PHOENIX -- A federal judge late Thursday refused to order that people who registered to vote on Oct. 11 be allowed to cast a ballot in this election.

Judge Steven Logan acknowledged that the deadline set by Secretary of State Michele Reagan to register for the general election fell on Oct. 10. That is Columbus Day, both a state and federal holiday.

And Logan acknowledged that Arizona law says that when deadlines fall on a holiday, it is moved to the following day.

But the judge said he would not order Reagan to put the more than 2,000 people who signed up on Oct. 11 on the voter registration rolls.

Logan pointed out that the deadline -- and the fact it fell on a holiday -- had been known for months. But he said the Arizona Democratic Party did not file suit to challenge Reagan's reading of the law until after the registration deadline "and only a few weeks before the general election is to take place.''

"This delay was unreasonable,'' the judge wrote. And Logan said even if there were people who did not register on Oct. 10 because it fell on a holiday, that does not mean they were disenfranchised.

"The holiday deadline did not limit the methods of voter registration,'' Logan said. "It merely imposed a timeframe in which voters had to act in order to register to vote in the general election.''

He said other methods were available on Oct. 10, including the offices of 14 of the 15 counties. There also was the option of registering to vote online for those who already have a state-issued driver's license or identification card.

Logan said it is true that the holiday meant people could not register in person at Motor Vehicle Division offices on Oct. 10 or getting their registration postmarked by that day. But he said that did not create an undue hardship.

"The voters at issue here could have registered in time for the general election, but unfortunately did not do so,'' he wrote.

An appeal by the Democrats is possible, though time is running out with the election on Tuesday.
Visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee was accorded a civic reception in the southern Nepali city of Janakpur, known for the famed Ram-Janaki temple.

Janakpur Municipality authorities held the civic reception in honour of the Indian head of state on behalf of the people of the temple town.

"I am really grateful to the people of Janakpur," Mukherjee said.

The holy land of Janakpur, the birthplace of Lord Rama's consort Sita, has inspired Indians for research, promoted culture and enriched knowledge, he said.

Mukherjee highlighted the religious and cultural aspects of Janakpur and its surrounding areas, saying India was planning several works to boost tourism in the region.

India is constructing two dharamshalas in Janakpur and integrated checkposts in Birgunj and Biratnagar.

Speaking on the occasion, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi said India should help in the multifaceted development of Janakpur due to its close geographical and cultural proximity and urged him to get Janakpur listed in the must-visit religious sites in Nepal.

At the function, the Indian President was given a key to Janakpur city, denoting that he will always be welcome in the holy city.

Earlier, the visiting President performed a special 'puja' before the golden idols of Lord Ram and Sita in the Ram-Janaki temple's sanctum sanctorum as per vedic rituals.

Mukherjee is the third Indian President to perform religious prayers at the temple, after Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and Giani Zail Singh.

He also paid obeisance to other gods and goddesses in the temple premises.

Temple chief priest (Mahanta) Ram Tapeshwar welcomed President Mukherjee as per vedic rituals and Maithli culture.

Earlier, Mukherjee left Kathmandu for Janakpur by a mountain flight of Buddha Air with his delegation and senior Nepali officials.

After the Janakpur function, the President was scheduled to leave for Pokhara, another famous tourist city of Nepal known as 'City of Lakes'.

Here, Mukherjee was to address over 10,000 Indian ex-Gurkhas at the Pension Paying Office and interact with them.

--IANS

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Famed "Afghan Girl" Sharbat Gula is to be deported to Afghanistan after serving a 15-day imprisonment and paying a fine of Pakistani Rs 110,000, a special anti-corruption and immigration court ordered on Friday.

Gula, known as the "Mona Lisa" of Afghanistan, has already served 11 days in prison and will be freed on Monday, her lawyer told media. The 46-year-old was arrested last month for fraudulently acquiring a Pakistani ID card, an allegation she has strongly denied.

A special court ordered Sharbat Gula, who featured on NatGeo's famed green-eyed "Afghan Girl" cover, to leave Pakistan by Monday, November 7.

Following the court's verdict, Afghan ambassador Omar Zakhilwal said, "With utmost delight, I announce that Sharbat Gula is now free from the legal troubles she endured over the past couple of weeks. She soon will also be free from an uncertain life of a refugee as she will be on her way back to her own country... where she still is a beloved image and a national icon."

Sharbat Bibi became famously known as the "Afghan Girl" when National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry captured her photograph at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp situated on the edge of Peshawar in 1984 and identified her as Sharbat Gula.

She gained worldwide recognition when her image was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic magazine at a time when she was approximately 12 years old.

That photo has been likened with Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

National Geographic also made a short documentary about her life and dubbed her the "Mona Lisa of Afghan war".

She remained anonymous for years after her first photo made her an icon around the world and until she was discovered by National Geographic in 2002.

After Sharbat's family granted her permission to meet with the man who photographed her 17 years ago, McCurry knew immediately, even after so many years, that he had found her again.

"Her eyes are as haunting now as they were then," he had said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
I once had a boss who said: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I told her that wearing a skirt and crucifying people was against my religion.

I soon moved on from that job and indeed believed that my dream job did not exist -- until recently, when a reader sent me a link to a report about a paid post of "hermit" being offered by the Swiss authorities.

Hermits live on mountains and think about the meaning of life. The downside is that they traditionally receive no pay and no company car. Yet this particular hermit was offered a salary, free housing and paid holidays. Later, I saw a picture of the man who got the job, and he was balding with a long white beard -- this seems a crucial requirement for the job, but was not specified in the advertisement, probably to avoid accusations of sexism, this "look" being harder for the fairer sex to achieve.

Yet the Swiss town of Solothurn's original hermit, Saint Verena, was female. She lived in a cave circa AD 270, so the level of perks has definitely gone up and in theory could eventually involve a corporate credit card.

Paid, high-level spiritual jobs are becoming depressingly rare. Nepal still has a post of Incarnated Deity in the temples of the Kathmandu valley but applicants need to be female and under 13.

I mentioned this at work and a colleague pointed out that one can act in a high-minded, spiritual way even in mundane jobs. She sent me a link to a report about a police traffic monitor in the US who spotted a driver running a red light on a recorded surveillance video. He realised it was him. Officer Tim Glover hit himself with a hefty fine, and became a hero for his moral uprightness.

Any Asian examples of jobs with a moral angle? A different colleague told me that in China, professional "mistress dispellers" are being paid by married women to track down their husbands' mistresses and persuade them to decamp quietly. But it doesn't sound very moral. Apparently the line that works best is, "He's not as rich as you think."

Meanwhile, a reader wrote in with a story about possibly the least moral job of the year. Most matchmakers offer to find "that special someone" for single people, but Azad Chaiwala's firm offers to find that "second special someone" for men who come from cultures that allow multiple wives. It's a bit risky, since he works from the UK, where polygamy is illegal.

Chaiwala claims to be a moralist, arguing that polygamy is more moral than having love affairs. This is a bit like saying robbing old people is okay because robbing children is worse.

I guess in truth, it is harder to be moralistic now than it used to be. If sexting US politician Anthony Weiner lived in 1600, he would have had to commission fine artists to do oil portraits of him in his underpants and then have footmen hand-carry them to the fathers of girls he liked. All too much like hard work. Much better to live on a mountain and think about the meaning of life, right?

(Nury Vittachi is an Asia-based frequent traveller. Send ideas and comments via his Facebook page)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Early implementation of the historic Paris Agreement is a common political will to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and a worldwide green light for climate action, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said on Friday.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement -- the result of the most complex, comprehensive and critical climate negotiation ever attempted -- became an law on Friday.

So far, 97 countries, including India, accounting for just over two-thirds of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, have formally joined the accord, which aims to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius.

"The Paris Agreement's ambitious and essential goals are now a live reality for every government. From today, ever-increasing climate action becomes an accepted responsibility and a central part of the sustainable development plans of all countries," a statement said quoting UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

The effort to bring the Paris Agreement into force in less than a year -- an unexpectedly rapid result -- reflects the strong, common political will to shift as quickly as possible towards the low-carbon regime.

"Climate action -- faster, smarter, bigger and better -- reduces the greenhouse gas emissions which drive climate change and at the same time catalyses the clean power economies and climate-resilient societies, which are the foundation on which the future health, wealth and well-being of all people now depend," Espinosa said.

The Paris Agreement's primary goal -- to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible to prevent dangerous tipping points in the climate system -- means that global emissions must peak soon then be driven down very rapidly.

A big green light for faster, stronger climate action was switched on as the Paris Climate Change Agreement entered into force, only three days before the start of this year's UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech in Morocco November 7 to 18, said the UNFCCC.

Next week at UN climate change conference in Marrakech, the first meeting of the Paris Agreement's governing body, known as the CMA, will take place during it on November 15.

Marrakech also gives developed countries the opportunity to present their roadmap to mobilise the pledged 100 billion dollars in annual support to developing countries by 2020.

Last year, countries of the world constructed a fresh, integrated vision for the future which rests firmly on the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

"These momentous agreements must succeed together and require unprecedented scale and depth of universal and concerted action involving all governments," said the Executive Secretary.

The Paris Agreement has broken all records in the collective efforts to address climate change, said Christiana Figueres, Convenor of Mission 2020 and former UNFCCC Executive Secretary.

"Just 10 months ago, despite the enormous momentum around the Paris Agreement, no one thought it could enter into force until 2020," said World Resources Institute Climate Program Global Director Paula Caballero.

The Paris Agreement was hailed by the corporate world too.

"We must now, governments and businesses together, turn the vision of a carbon emission-free economy into reality," said Philippe Joubert, chair of The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group.

The Paris Agreement was adopted in Paris, France, at the UN climate conference in December 2015. In order to enter into force, at least 55 Parties accounting for at least 55 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions were required, with the Agreement then entering into force 30 days later.

India on October 2 deposited its Instrument of Ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the United Nations.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
French police on Friday evacuated a makeshift migrant camp located between two metro stations in the northeast of Paris.

The operation to shift the camp's population of between 2,000 and 3,000 people to reception centres across the capital began at 6 a.m., Efe news reported.

Some 600 police officers and 250 volunteers from various humanitarian organisations were involved in evacuating the camp, which was made up of tents and other temporary structures.

Following the dismantling of the "Jungle" migrant camp in the northern port city of Calais last week, French authorities had warned that this camp, between the Stalingrad and Jaures metro stations, would also be dismantled.

The camp at Stalingrad has been cleared on other occasions -- the last time being on September 16 -- but it has been building up again in recent weeks.

On Monday, the authorities conducted an operation to identify the camp's occupants, discovering that the majority were from the Horn of Africa region -- Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia -- and from the Asian countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday left for Janakpur, a city in south Nepal, where he will visit the revered Ram-Janaki temple and offer prayers.

According to the itinerary, he will take a mountain flight of Buddha Air to Janakpur. Besides offering worship in the Ram-Janaki temple, he will attend a civic reception by the Janakpur Municipality.

A special aircraft of Buddha Air will take Mukherjee across the Himalaya -- popularly known as mountain flight. Two ATR-42 twin-turboprop, short-haul aircraft will carry the Indian delegation and senior Nepal government officials to Janakpur and Pokhara.

After the Janakpur function, the President will leave for Pokhara, another famous tourist city of Nepal, also known as City of Lake. Here Mukherjee will address over 10,000 Indian ex-Gurkhas at the Pension Paying Office and interact with them.

He is then scheduled to return to Kathmandu on Friday afternoon and leave for New Delhi straight from the airport.

Nepal's President Bidhya Devi Bhandari will see off her Indian guest at Tribhuvan International Airport.

All national and international flights landing and taking off in Kathmandu will be affected during Mukherjee's departure by a special Indian Air Force aircraft.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Filmmaker Raam Reddy, who received several international honours for his directorial venture "Thithi", says his next project will be based on "magical realism" -- a genre which has not been explored much in filmmaking.

"In 'Thithi', the starting point was the place. For my next film, the starting point is its genre. I want to make a magic realism film. It's a very realistic film with magic. It will be treated in a realistic way," Reddy told IANS on the sidelines of the fifth Dharamshala International Film Festival, where "Thithi" was the opening film.

Talking about his next directorial venture, he said: "There are a lot of authors from Latin America, who used magical realism as a staple in literature. But it is not well explored in cinema. Eastern or European cinema has explored it, but not so much. So I am keen on doing that."

Reddy notes that the "film will be a fictional one".

"It will be from my own ideas and imagination. I am going to write the film myself. 'Thithi' producers are ready to work with me again. So, I have a very big base now to work on a bigger professional project," he added.

"Thithi", which won honours at 68th Locarno International Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, 19th Shanghai International Film Festival and 63rd National Film Awards, is a dramatic comedy about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest in their clan, a man named Century Gowda -- a locally renowned, highly cantankerous 101-year-old man.

The film, which has been extensively shot in the Nodekoppalu village in the Mandya district of Karnataka, features non-actors in the lead.

"Before coming up with the story of 'Thithi', the idea was to make an authentic film with non-actors. I was keen to work with multiple generations. I have done a lot of documentaries with non-actors. I wanted to explore making a film that had a very rooted soul," Reddy said.

"To keep the idea of authenticity as key, we decided to shoot with non-actors...We wanted them to understand the story really well. So, if you will try to do it with actors, then it would look as an imitation of something that already exists," he added.

However, Reddy said for his next project he is looking forward to work with actors.

"I am keen on working with actors too. I don't think 'Thithi' would have worked with actual actors at all. However, I am right now working on a script for which I will look forward to work with actors. It depends on what your intentions are. It all depends on the story of the film," he said.

(The writer's trip to Dharamsala is at the invitation of the Dharamshala International Film Festival organisers. Sandeep Sharma can be contacted at sandeep.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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The RSS on Friday asked BJP leadership how its core issues, including the Ram temple at Ayodhya, will be addressed during the party's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, informed sources said.

The issue was taken up at a meeting RSS leadership held with senior BJP leaders, including its chief Amit Shah, at central Delhi's Maharashtra Sadan.

The meeting comes a day ahead of the BJP's "Parivartan Yatra", which is all set to begin from Saharanpur.

Shah will flag off the first yatra, which will be followed by three more yatras from Jhansi, Sonbhadra and Balia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address six public rallies during these yatras.

The sources said the BJP's strategy for the assembly polls figured prominently during hour-long deliberations.

According to the sources, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's Joint General Secretaries Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal sought to know from the BJP leadership about its poll preperations in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from Shah, Union minister Mahesh Sharma, General Secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal and Vice-President Vinay Sahasrabudhhe were also present.

The sources said that RSS leaders noted that it was appropriate to fight the elections on the agenda of development and firm steps of the government on national security but the campaign "should also address core ideological issues, including construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya".

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma's recent visit to Ayodhya to inspect the site for the proposed Ramayana Museum had reignited the political row over the Ram Mandir issue.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar also urged the Union government to take steps for the temple construction.

According to sources, party's preparations in other poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur were also discussed.

The RSS leaders also sought to know about the status of the National Education Policy, which is in the works, and party appointments in states where posts are lying vacant.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Even as the hunt is on for a new chairman following the ouster of Cyrus Mistry, Tata Sons on Friday announced major changes in their organisational structure, including the resignation of three top executives.

"Nirmalya Kumar, N.S. Rajan and Madhu Kannan have decided to explore options outside Tata Sons and have left the services of the company," a statement from the group said. The trio was seen to be close to Mistry.

The group said human resources will be overseen by S. Padmanabhan in addition to his existing responsibilities of leading the Tata Business Excellence Group, while Mukund Rajan will continue to be responsible for ethics and sustainability.

Rajan is also being given the additional responsibility of overseeing the operations of the overseas representative offices of Tata Sons in the US, Singapore, Dubai and China.

This apart, Harish Bhat, who oversees marketing and customer affairs, will also be responsible for managing the Tata Brand. "In the interim, he will also oversee the functions of Strategy and Business Development," the statement said.

Among the others, Gopichand Katragadda continues as Group Chief Technology Officer, and Sanjay Singh as Chief of Public Affairs out of the Delhi office.

--IANS

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British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday moved to dismiss talk of an early general election despite a High Court ruling that Parliament must vote on whether to start the Brexit process.

With just a narrow majority in the House of Commons and most MPs having backed Remain, the ruling by the court presents a new hurdle to the Prime Minister - who would be far from certain to get Article 50 through, the Independent online reported.

However, asked about the possibility of an early election to shore up the Conservatives' majority, the Prime Minister's official spokesperson said: "No. Our position has been clear that there should not be an election until 2020 - and that remains the Prime Minister's view."

Current polls suggest May would be returned to office with a significantly increased majority as Labour flounders on some of its lowest poll ratings in recent history.

Whether a parliamentary vote will take place is not yet certain as the Government has said it will appeal the High Court ruling at the Supreme Court, which will hear the case in December.

The refusal to countenance an early contest comes despite Brexit Secretary David Davis warning that the Government would need to pass a bill through both the House of Commons and House of Lords - both of which are thought to have a Remain majority.

"The judges have laid out what we can't do and not exactly what we can do, but we are presuming it requires an Act of Parliament, therefore both Commons and Lords," the Independent online quoted Davis as saying on Thursday.

Though there were few outright calls for an early election from politicians, a number said they believed the ruling brought one a step closer.

The court ruling came on a landmark case brought by businesswoman Gina Miller who sought to block the Prime Minister from formally enacting the Britain's withdrawal from the European Union without first submitting it to a parliamentary vote.--IANS

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Sitting on a school district governing board can be a thankless task  and certainly not a remunerative one. The state constitution sets the salary at zero, and the state has taken control over funding, the curriculum and graduation requirements. That leaves the board to handle things like building maintenance, teacher recruitment and student discipline appeals  perhaps not thankless, but not very sexy, either.

So we are always indebted to citizens who step forward to run for school board  they not only show a commitment to public education but are willing to act on it. In the case of the Flagstaff Unified School District, four candidates are running for three, four-year seats (a fifth, Paul Kulpinski, dropped out after the ballots were printed, and votes for him wont be counted). The other two seats will come open in two years. The district includes the city of Flagstaff as well the outlying communities of Doney Park, Kachina Village, Fort Valley and Leupp.

The campaign features one incumbent and three challengers  at least two of the latter will win seats. The election comes as the board is launching a nationwide search for a new, permanent superintendent, and in two years it will again seek voter approval for renewal of the 15 percent budget override. It is also sorting out a new relationship with teachers, who no longer have exclusive bargaining rights under district policy. Each side tells a slightly different version of why the split came about, but teachers and others did receive raises this past year as part of Prop. 123 under the new board consultation arrangement.

CHRISTINE FREDERICKS

Christine Fredericks was elected four years ago on a pledge to create programs more responsive to parental preferences in light of the hemorrhaging of students to the charter schools. She has largely made good on that pledge by supporting new magnet programs while also keeping an open door to cooperation with the charters  enrollment has stabilized. She also was part of the board that campaigned successfully for the critical 15 percent budget override in 2014 amid falling or stagnant state revenues. Those are impressive achievements, and Fredericks also brings experience on a board that otherwise would have just two continuing members. She has earned another four years on the board.

CAROLE GILMORE

Carole Gilmore supervises NAU student teachers in FUSD classrooms and would bring a unique inside-the-classroom perspective to the board  state law says board members or their spouses cannot be employed by the district, which explains why no teachers are on the board. She, like Fredericks, does not believe teacher pay and promotion should be tied to test scores but does want higher teacher pay to be at the top of the boards agenda once they hire a new superintendent. She opposed Prop. 123 as depleting an education asset in the short run (the state land trust fund) vs. setting up a long-term, dedicated K-12 funding mechanism. Gilmore would bring a unique combination of academic expertise and hands-on classroom experience to the board, and we support her election Nov. 8.

KARA KELTY

Kara Kelty has a long and varied resume in Flagstaff that includes service on the Flagstaff City Council, director of United Ways Success by Six program and as a founding head of the Basis charter school. She said she is ready to use her experience as a charter school administrator to explore flexible and innovative programs at FUSD, but in a more diverse socio-economic setting. Kelty has the political and organizational skills to potentially play a leadership role on the board that will be missing with the departure of Kulpinski, first elected in 2004, and Sarah Ells, a tenacious school funding advocate who is not seeking re-election. For those who question her commitment to mainstream public schools, we are willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, given her 20-year track record in a variety of local programs that advance the common good in Flagstaff. We recommend Kelty for the third seat on the FUSD board.

DANI LAWRENCE

Dani Lawrence got involved with FUSD through her advocacy on behalf of her special needs son, resulting in a changeover in the districts contract for services for the sight- and hearing-impaired. She is continuing to appeal his case while lobbying for an overhaul of special needs program in the district. She says her dealings with former Superintendent Barbara Hickman lacked humane treatment and if elected she will look to appoint a new superintendent who is a thoughtful listener with an open mind and not a defender of mistakes and inadequacies.

We would fully expect Lawrence to continue to advocate for special needs students were she elected or not. But starting out on the board with such a narrow focus and one that includes an animus toward the FUSD administration could shortchange other priorities. Lawrence needs no urging from us to stay involved, but at least for this election cycle, it is best done from the other side of the board dais.

And again to all the candidates, our gratitude for stepping forward and engaging the issues. We look forward to a healthy voter turnout in FUSD on Nov. 8.
Despite the pause in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops for the second consecutive day, an uneasy calm prevailed along the IB and LoC in Jammu on Friday as border villages remained empty and schools closed.

"For the second day today (Friday), there was no violation of ceasefire by Pakistan troops, either on the International Border or the Line of Control in Jammu region," the police here said.

Some male members did visit their empty homes and fields during the day, but the return of their families to a routine life remain illusive.

Schools in border villages vulnerable to Pakistan shelling also remained closed.

Authorities ordered 174 schools near the IB in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts to remain shut.

At least 400 schools along the IB and the LoC are reportedly affected in the Pakistan shelling of civilian areas.

The Indian Army said at least four border outposts of the Pakistan Army were decimated in retaliatory action in Rajouri and Poonch districts that followed targeting of the civilian areas by Pakistan in these districts.

The Border Security Force (BSF), that guards the IB, had said it almost completely destroyed 14 Pakistan border outposts on Wednesday.

BSF officials said these outposts were being used for shelling civilian areas by the Pakistan Rangers.

Villagers in R.S. Pura, Arnia, Suchetgarh, Akhnoor, Ramgarh and other sectors along the IB moved away from their homes following the indiscriminate targeting of their homes and agricultural fields.

The residents want peace so that they could return home and tend their cattle and reap their harvest-ready crop.

The BSF has dug defence ditches away from the IB and no civilian movement is allowed beyond them.

Villagers have demanded compensation for their livestocks killed in the shelling.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was stopped on Thursday from crossing the defence ditches and visiting Rangoor village close to the IB.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Venezuelan opposition needs to understand that "the revolution is going to continue", President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday while urging his political foes to remain part of the dialogue the two sides began earlier this week.

The revolution begun in 1999 by his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, "is irreversible", EFE news quoted Maduro as saying in a speech at the presidential palace.

He said that his opponents "must learn to co-exist with the revolution" and to accept the principle of democratic governance.

The leftist head of state went on to accuse the opposition alliance, known as MUD, of looking for "excuses" to abandon the dialogue that got under way last Sunday under the auspices of the Union of South American Nations and the Vatican.

Addressing opposition leaders, Maduro said: "I am the only President of the republic who ensures that you continue existing and the MUD continues exercising its political rights - and you know it."

Earlier on Thursday, the MUD set several conditions for resuming talks with the government on November 11, including a demand that both sides commit to an "electoral solution" to the nation's political crisis.

That electoral solution could involve a reactivation of a suspended presidential recall referendum process or early presidential elections, opposition Mayor Carlos Ocariz said.

Maduro responded to Ocariz by accusing the MUD of presenting an ultimatum and creating "false expectations".

"Nobody can say that in 10 days, if the government does not respond the way they want ... they will go to war," the President said. "Nobody can accept that."

The purpose of the November 11 session will be to review the findings from the four working groups established during Sunday's opening of the talks, Maduro said hours after government supporters began pitching tents around the presidential palace, Miraflores.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kanhaiya Kumar, the former JNU Students Union president, who found himself pitchforked into national limelight after his arrest earlier this year, is not an easy man to meet, especially if you are a journalist.
Social activist Traffic K Ramaswamy on Thursday filed a petition in the Madras High Court, seeking to declare as "illegal and ultra vires of the Constitution" Chief Minister affixing her left thumb impression on poll papers.

He claimed that affixing the thumb impression was a violation of the election code. The petition is, however, yet to be taken up by the court.

AIADMK candidates in Aravakurichi, Thanjavur and Thirupparankundram assembly segments had filed Forms A and B, featuring the left thumb impression of hospitalised party general secretary Jayalalithaa, instead of her signature.

All three constituencies go to the polls on November 19.

AIADMK had sought permission from Election Commission, allowing to put her thumb impression in view of her health and the poll body had given its nod.

Her thumb impression was attested by Professor of Minimal Access Surgery, Madras Medical College, Dr P Balaji and Dr Babu K Abraham of Apollo Hospitals who had signed the papers as a witness.

was admitted to the Apollo Hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration. Later the hospital said she was being treated for infection with respiratory support, among others.
Leaders across the party line lashed out at the Narendra Modi government for its order to take a private news channel off air for a day and asked is it 'ache din for anyone'.
Two days after the ruling (SP) heir apparent and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav marshalled a massive show of strength in Lucknow through his Vikas Rath Yatra, the partys old guard is gearing up to exhibit might at SPs silver jubilee foundation day celebration on Saturday.
Congress party workers on Thursday burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in front of the collectorate here protesting the detention of party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.

"The Delhi Police has become puppets of the ruling party in the Centre. They are trying to infringe the fundamental rights of the leaders and the public as well. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's behaviour is like a dictator," Congress state organising secretary Narendra Rathi said.

Gandhi was detained at Ram Manohar Lohiya Hospital in Delhi on Wednesday when he was trying to meet the bereaved family members of ex-serviceman Ram Krishan Grewal who allegedly committed suicide over the One rank, One pension issue.
Around 150 ducks were culled in Hisar district of Haryana today to prevent spread of bird flu after samples of dead birds from a local resort tested positive for Avian influenza.

The Centre also asked the Haryana government to take steps to control bird flu after the samples of ducks sent from a Haryana Tourism resort at Hisar were found positive.

"Around 150 ducks have been culled today. Earlier 11 birds were found dead at lake and samples of dead birds were tested positive for bird flu," a district official said.

"We are on high alert," Hisar Deputy Commissioner Nikhil Gajraj said and added that all precautionary measures are being taken to prevent spread of virus.

Entry to the Blue Bird tourist complex has been restricted, he said further.

Meanwhile, the Union Agriculture Ministry in a statement said, "The samples sent from domestic ducks at Blue Bird Restaurant of Haryana Tourism in Hisar, Haryana, to NIHSAD, Bhopal on November 2 have been found positive for H5N8 AI virus.

"The state government of Haryana has been requested to initiate control and containment operation as per action plan."



The 'Action Plan of Animal Husbandry for Preparedness, Control and Containment of Avian Influenza' was released by the Centre in 2015.

Giving an update on bird flu situation in various parts of the country, the Centre said that the control and containment operations are being carried out at various epicenters in Kerala.

"A video conferencing was conducted by this Department on November 2 to review the situation in Kerala and preparedness of the neighboring states namely Karnataka and Tamil Nadu," the statement said.

There is no further report of mortality from any part of Punjab where post operation surveillance is going on.

In Delhi, the Centre said that six ducks at Madipur Lake reportedly died on November 3.

"The samples have been collected by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Delhi. There is no report of mortality from any other part of Delhi. The Delhi Government has carried out disinfection process at all the affected sites as per Action Plan on Avian Influenza," the statement said.

There is no further report of mortality from Gwalior or any other part of Madhya Pradesh too.

Taking no chances, the authorities decided to cull all



birds kept in the centre, as they shared the same enclosure.

"There were high chances of infection being spread in other healthy birds as they were kept with infected birds. Though the result of samples collected from those 550 newly arrived birds is still awaited, we had to cull all the birds," said Patel.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Agriculture Minister Babubhai Bokhiria and Health Minister Shankar Chaudhary called a joint press conference on the issue at Gandhinagar today.

According to Bokhiria, the state government has taken all the precautionary steps to stop bird flu from spreading into humans.

"We have secured the area surrounding the centre by culling around 1,400 birds. Our teams have sprinkled disinfectant powder in various poultry farms located in 10 km area surrounding the centre. The government has taken all the necessary steps to make sure that bird flu does not spread into humans," Bokhiria told reporters.

Chaudhary said the bird flu has not infected any person yet.

"Out of 14 employees working at the centre, no one is found to be infected with the virus. They all are healthy. All the birds which were culled have been buried in a pit by our teams," he said.
Tens of thousands of Muslim hardliners called for Jakarta's Christian governor to be prosecuted for blasphemy in a massive demonstration in the Indonesian capital today, sparking fears of violence and putting authorities on alert.

A sea of protesters wearing white Islamic robes swarmed the city's largest mosque for Friday prayers before taking to the streets in a huge show of force against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is accused of insulting Islam.

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Purnama apologised for the remarks, but his opponents have built a groundswell of support calling for his arrest and incarceration under Indonesia's tough blasphemy laws.

"It's no wonder people arise. Why when it comes to Ahok is the law not upheld?" deputy house speaker Fahri Hamzah, a prominent politician from an Islamic political party, told demonstrators today.

Anger at Purnama, Jakarta's second Christian governor and the first from the country's ethnic Chinese community, spread beyond the capital, with solidarity marches also held across Java and in cities as far away as Makassar in Indonesia's east.

Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told AFP there were no reports of violence so far, declaring the rally "peaceful".

But police took no chances in the lead up, deploying 18,000 officers amid fears that radical elements could infiltrate the march.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Seven persons have been arrested for poisoning 233 swans with pesticide in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local authorities said today.

The swans were found dead in a lake in Zhenglan Banner where migrating swans had stopped in late October.

Tests showed that they were poisoned with carbofuran, a type of pesticide, which was detected on the dead birds, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

Police spent nine days searching for the suspects and caught them in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities as well as the provinces of Jilin and Hebei as of yesterday, according to the information office of Zhenglan Banner in Xilingol League.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eight Pakistani-origin men, who sexually abused three teenage girls in the UK between 1999 and 2003, were today jailed for a total of 96 years.

Sageer Hussain, Ishtiaq Khaliq, Waleed Ali, Masoued Malik, Asif Ali, Naeem Rafiq, Basharat Hussain and Mohammed Whied were sentenced to the prison terms by Sheffield Crown Court, having been convicted of a total of 16 charges after a trial.

The judge said their victims had been "targeted, sexualised and subjected to degrading and violent acts."



The offences included rape, indecent assault and false imprisonment.

During a month-long trial one victim said she and her family had been forced to move to Spain to escape the abuse.

Jailing Sageer Hussain, who was said to be the ringleader, Judge Sarah Wright said he had a "campaign of violent rape" against the vulnerable 13-year-old.

Addressing all eight men she said: "The victim of all eight of you was vulnerable. She was just 13 to 14 years old.

"Although she had a loving and supportive family, and was doing well at school as she was reaching adolescence, she was susceptible to the attention that you and others gave her.

"She was targeted, sexualised and subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature. The childhood and adolescence of each of the victims can never be reclaimed."



Hussain's brothers Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras were jailed in April in the first Rotherham grooming trial.

Arshid and Basharat Hussain were found guilty of 38 offences, including rape, indecent assault, abduction, false imprisonment and making threats to kill. They were jailed for 35 years and 25 years respectively.

Bannaras Hussain pleaded guilty to 10 charges before the trial and was jailed for 19 years.

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said: "I welcome the that these eight men have been jailed for a total of 96 years for their utterly despicable crimes.

"This sends the strongest signal that we will not stand for the abuse of children. I hope today's sentences bring some closure to the survivors and that they feel justice has been done.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aam Aadmi Party today condemned the one-day ban on a Hindi channel with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urging the media to go "off air" for a day in protest against the order.

Senior party leader Sanjay Singh told reporters that the order of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against NDTV India amounted to throttling the fourth pillar of democracy and was a step towards "imposing emergency" in the country.

"I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity wid NDTV. Congratulations to Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi Govt's dictatorship," Kejriwal tweeted, referring to the Guild's strongly worded letter demanding that the order be rescinded.

Singh attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought to remind him of the drubbing the Indira Gandhi-led Congress received in the 1977 general elections, held immediately after the 21 month long Emergency period.

"AAP strongly condemns this move. We believe Narendra Modi is taking the country towards another emergency," Singh alleged in a press conference here.

Earlier, the I&B ministry had issued an order saying that NDTV India should be taken off air for a day after an inter- ministerial panel constituted by the ministry recommended this action over the broadcaster's coverage of the Pathankot terror attack in January.

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The Aarey milk retail shops, located mostly in the western suburbs, will soon start selling fresh vegetables and fruits directly supplied by farmers.

"There are approximately one thousand milk shops in Mumbai and its suburbs, which will get a supply of fresh vegetables through the farmer-producer companies that are licenced by the state Marketing Department, Sadabhau Khot, Minister of State for Marketing told PTI today.

The 'farmer-producer companies' as they are called, have been started by farmers, under which vegetables from their farms are directly sold to consumers in urban areas.

"The Aarey retail shops are positioned at key locations. If the supply of fresh vegetables is streamlined, it would be beneficial to farmers as well as consumers, who can purchase milk and vegetables. The farmer-producer companies, where a group of farmers grow vegetables and supply, would also get assured customers," Khot said.

Similar experiment has been successfully carried out by Mother Dairy in New Delhi, he added.

"I have drafted the proposal and intimated State Dairy Development Minister Mahadev Jankar about it. He has also liked the concept. We will soon finalise the proposal and start the implementation," Khot said.

According to the minister, the state government has lifted the restrictions on vegetable supply to the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and encouraged farmers to form companies for vegetable collection and distribution to urban areas.

"The contact details of such companies are provided to the urban retailers who sell vegetables on a daily basis," he said.

Such by-passing of APMC saved unnecessary taxation of loading-unloading, weighing and transportation of vegetables, whereby farmers are guaranteed better prices for their produce, Khot said.

Aarey is a state government dairy established in 1949 at Aarey colony, Goregaon.

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Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL), formerly known as Pantaloons Fashion, today announced tie-up with Ted Baker to bring UK fashion brand to the country.

"It has signed an exclusive deal with the UK's Ted Baker... The 'No Ordinary Designer Label' luxury brand will offer men's wear, women's wear and accessories in India," ABFRL said in a BSE filing.

"We are happy to join hands with Ted Baker and build a strong presence for the brand with Indian consumers... This partnership will enable our consumers to explore a whole new world of creativity in fashion for men and women," Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Business Head Ashish Dikshit said.

The company said Ted Baker has more than 500 stores across Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, China, South Africa and the Middle-East.

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As many as 11 persons were booked, including three couples of a family, for allegedly assaulting an advocate in Bhiwandi here, police said today.

Advocate Anand Khanderao, 53, in his complaint alleged that he was beaten on Wednesday by a group of villagers at his house in Kongaon area with iron rods, sticks and they also verbally abused him and his wife, inspector of Kongaon police station, M V Deshmukh said.

No one has been arrested so far in this connection, he said.

According to the complainant, he alleged that the family, three brothers and their wives, want him to vacate his house in the area and hence, manhandled him.

The official said the accused were irked over a complaint filed against them by the advocate.

Police gave the names of some of the accused as Santosh Karale, Yeshwant Karale and Sanjay Karale.

A case has been booked under relevant sections of the IPC and further investigation is on, he said.

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After a gap of over four years, Air India Express, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, will resume two of its flights connecting Kolkata with Singapore and Dhaka from November 20.

Announcing these direct flights from Kolkata to Singapore and Dhaka here today, Air India Express CEO K Shyam Sundar told reporters the decision was taken to meet the long-standing demand of the national carrier's connectivity between Kolkata and South East Asia.

With this, Kolkata stood as 15th domestic destination and Dhaka as 14th international destination of the airline.

While a return ticket on Kolkata-Singapore sector would cost only Rs 16,000 including taxes, it would cost only Rs 7,000 including taxes on the Kolkata-Dhaka sector, he said.

"In line with AIE's policy of offering cost effective travel, we will be offering the most competitive and affordable fares on the services to and from Kolkata," he said adding "we maintain 100 per cent schedule reliability and the on-time performance of the airline is around 85 per cent."



A 189-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft would fly from Singapore to Kolkata and then to Dhaka after a stopover here. The return flight from Dhaka would arrive here and leave for Singapore after a stopover, he said.

Flight IX-922 on the Kolkata-Singapore sector would depart Kolkata at 9 PM and arrive in Singapore at 3.30 AM next day (local time).

On the return leg, flight IX-921 would depart Singapore at 3 PM (local time) and arrive in Kolkata at 4.30 PM.

On the Kolkata-Dhaka sector, flight IX-912 would depart Kolkata at 5.20 PM and arrive in Dhaka at 6.40 PM (local time).

In the return direction, IX-911 would depart Dhaka at 7.30 PM (local time) and arrive in Kolkata at 7.50 PM.

Both Singapore and Dhaka services would be available four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Sunder said Air India Express has already procured six



Boeing 737-800 aircraft on dry lease, expanding its fleet from 17 to 23, to make its plan effective.

In the next three years, Air India Express would go for further expansion of its fleet to 36 aircrafts, the CEO said.

Air India Express, with a turnover of Rs 2,900 crore in 2015-16, has registered a net profit of Rs 362 crore for the first time since its inception.

With introduction of new routes and expansion of the fleet size, revenue of the airline was expected to grow by about 25 per cent in the current financial year.

"Though the airline follows the market principles of a low cost carrier, Air India Express offers complimentary tea, coffee and light meals on board as its USP," he said.

The airline also offers its customers the additional facility to buy a special meal of their choice online on selected sectors against a payment of about Rs 250 to Rs 300.

For excess baggage beyond the standard 20 kg, passengers have to pay Rs 750 for the first 5 kg and Rs 1,500 for next 5 kg, he added.

To a question, Sunder said Air India Express has a massive expansion plan in the pipeline, which included connection to various important destinations like Dubai, Hongkong, Guangzhou, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Yangon.

The country's first international budget carrier, Air India Express currently operates over 550 flights per week, connecting 14 Indian cities to 13 destinations in the Middle East and South East Asia.
Opposition AIADMK today urged the Election Commission to ensure that the November 19 Nellithope assembly bypoll was held in a free and fair manner.

The Election Commission should also deploy Central Reserve Police replacing the local police for election duty for the peaceful conduct of the bypoll, AIADMK legislature party leader A Anbalagan said in a release.

Anbalagan alleged that there had been distribution of gifts and cash in the constituency.

"We have held discussions with the Chief Electoral Officer in the wake of the several hiccups we are facing in our campaign programme and consequently the vehicles impounded by the authorities had been returned", he said.

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Even as tension continues to simmer on the border amid ceasefire violations by Pakistan, a man from Mumbai has got betrothed to a woman from the neighbouring country here.

Moiz Amir, 30, first met his Karachi-born fiancee Fatema Gadiwala through common relatives in January this year and fell in love with her instantly.

"When India was partitioned, some of our relatives shifted to Karachi. My family was looking for a bride for me and suddenly we realised that Fatema's family too was looking for a groom for her through common relatives," Amir told PTI.

Her said once both families approved their match, they started talking to each other via video calling on social networking applications.

Once the pair firmed up their plan to live together, the process of securing visa for the bride started.

"The bride's family approached the Dawoodi Bohra 'jamat' (office) in Karachi to apply for a visa for niqah ceremony, which they then forwarded to government officials in Islamabad. The Indian embassy in Pakistan was very forthcoming in giving visas to the bride, her mother, her brother and her uncle to visit India for the engagement ceremony," Amir, who works with a web portal in the city, said.

The bride along with her relatives reached India by train earlier this week while her uncle flew day before yesterday for the ceremony.

The couple then got engaged amidst much fanfare in South Mumbai yesterday, with a few relatives of the bride and all family members of the groom attending the function.

Amir said he will now get the marriage registered in India.

He will approach the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi next month for him and his mother to travel to Karachi for the 'niqah' and the reception ceremony early next year.

"We are hoping that Pakistani officials too are helpful like their Indian counterparts in giving us a visa to visit the neighbouring nation.

"Through our marriage we hope that we send out a message to both governments, that the world can be a much better place to live in if we keep aside weapons and use the language of love for communication," Amir said.

Fatema said she is eager to come and live in India, enjoying the ambience of its diverse and accommodating culture, post the marriage reception in Karachi.

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The Supreme Court has asked the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to appoint a panel of experts to scrutinise the conditions in government hospitals in the state.

A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said the High Court would be at liberty to constitute a committee of medical experts and administrators, which would submit its report on various aspects including infrastructure, staffs, hygiene and availability of medicines at the hospitals.

"We would commend to the High Court the need for constituting a committee of experts to scrutinise the conditions in public-government hospitals in the state. The High Court would be at liberty to constitute a committee of medical experts and administrators.

"The Committee shall submit a report on the state of public-government hospitals in the state...", the bench said.

The court directed the High Court to scrutinise this report and after hearing relevant stakeholders including the state government, it could issue appropriate directions and ensure compliance of the orders.

"The hospitals which are conducted by the state and by public agencies cater to medical needs of the poorest strata of society. The need for ensuring proper medical care of a requisite standard has to be duly addressed," the apex court said.

The apex court verdict came on an appeal filed by the state government against the High Court order which prohibited the government doctors from private practice or engaging in self-employment.

Jammu and Kashmir government contended before the apex court that the High Court had passed the "blanket direction" erroneously on the basis that a government circular with regard to restraining teachers from giving tuition classes without prior permission also covered the services of medical practitioners.

The High Court had set aside the circular of August 11, 2005, which was aimed at regulating teachers from private tuition.

The bench, agreed with the contention of state government and said the matter of doctors was not before the High Court and the medical practitioners were governed by separate rules with regard to private practice or self-employment.

The apex court set aside the November 18, 2011 order of



the High Court and remanded back the matter to it for hearing afresh.

The bench also listed some of the issues to be scrutinised by the committee which include the availability of adequate infrastructure in government hospitals, availability of essential equipment for treatment, availability of staff- medical, para medical and of a supporting nature.

The bench also said the panel would examine the enforcement of conditions of hygiene to secure proper medical treatment facilities and availability of essential medicines.

Petitioners Vichar Kranti International and others had filed a PIL before the High Court challenging the circular of the state government's education department issued in 2005, prohibiting a government servant from taking up any assignment without the permission of the competent authority.
Assam Public Service Commission chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul was today arrested on charges of alleged corruption in the organisation.

Assam Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay said Paul was arrested by Dibrugarh police on "corruption-related allegations".

The APSC chairman would be produced before a court tomorrow, he said.

"There is an ongoing case against him and Dibrugarh police has arrested him in that connection," Sahay told PTI.

Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police Gautam Borah said Paul was arrested under various sections of the IPC "on the basis of complaints by Nabakanta Patir" and declined to give further details.

Borah said police would seek 14 days' custody from the court tomorrow.

Asked if Paul would be taken to Dibrugarh, he said it was not decided yet. "We may keep him in Guwahati and interrogate there also."



The APSC has been embroiled in controversies for quite some time over alleged corruption in the selection and appointment process in various services including Assam Police Service and Assam Civil Service.

Organisations like Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and All Assam Students' Union have attacked Paul for his alleged involvement in irregularities and had charged former chief minister Tarun Gogoi of protecting him.

Gogoi in July last year had announced setting up of an inquiry commission headed by a retired judge to probe alleged irregularities in state civil services examinations and recruitment.

A month before that, the Assam government had ordered a probe by an Additional Chief Secretary into the alleged irregularities in the results of civil services examinations after receiving five specific complaints.

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According to Dibrugarh district Additional



Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Paneshar, who is also the Investigating Officer, on October 27, Dibrugarh Town Planning Engineer Naba Kanta Patir was arrested based on a complaint filed by a dental surgeon whom he had promised a job through the APSC for a bribe of Rs ten lakh.

Based on Patir's statement during interrogation, personal security officer of APSC member Samedur Rehman, Mabud Ali Choudhury, was arrested the next day, Paneshar said.

Interrogation of Patir and Rehman and phone conversations about money transaction between Patir and the APSC chairman revealed strong evidences about a big racket involving Rakesh Paul, the police officer said.

Paul was picked up from his office around 5 PM today and taken to the 4 Assam Police Battalion (APBN) at Kahilipara here for interrogation prior to his arrest, the Additional SP said.
Two associates of New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie, a key ally of Donald Trump, were found guilty today of deliberately causing major traffic snarl-ups to wreak political revenge on a Democrat.

Bridget Kelly, then-deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, whom the governor appointed deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty on all counts, prosecutors said.

The 12-person jury took five days to reach the verdict. The convictions include wire fraud, depriving people of their civil rights and conspiracy.

A third Christie aide, David Wildstein, had pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors argued during the six-week trial that the defendants unlawfully forced days of traffic jams on the world's busiest bridge to punish a Democratic mayor for refusing to endorse their boss's re-election bid in 2013.

Thousands were affected in the town of Fort Lee in September 2013, with children prevented from going to school and emergency response times delayed when traffic was forced into a solitary lane on the George Washington Bridge.

The verdict will embarrass the Trump campaign, four days before the election at a time the Republican presidential candidate has been gaining momentum in the polls.

The trial spotlighted a bruising political climate around some of those closest to Christie, who is chairman of Trump's transition team preparing for the New York billionaire's possible victory.

Lampooned by rock star Bruce Springsteen and others, the scandal helped strip Christie of his status as a leading Republican primary candidate in the 2016 White House race.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly wrote in one email to Wildstein. To cover up the crime, they claimed the lane closures were part of a traffic study, which the prosecution called a sham.

"Is it wrong that I am smiling?" Kelly wrote in a text message to Wildstein when told about Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich's complaints.

Their "cruel and callous" scheme "disrupted and endangered the lives of thousands," assistant US attorney Lee Cortes told the federal court in his summation last Friday in Newark, New Jersey.

They "chose personal and political revenge over public safety," and ignored Sokolich's repeated entreaties for help, he added.

The trio wasted government money, resources and employees "just to mess with people so they could send a clear and nasty message," the prosecutor said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed officers to organise mega camps for distributing benefits of pension and blue cards to genuine beneficiaries.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Chief Minister during a meeting with the delegation of Kisan Sangarsh Committee here, a spokesman said.

The Chief Minister asked all the Deputy Commissioners to organise such camps to ensure that the benefits of these pro-poor schemes percolate to the genuine beneficiaries.

He said that the aim of these schemes was to ensure the welfare of these strata of society and no laxity in this regard would be tolerated at any cost.

Expressing concern over cases of farmer suicides, the Chief Minister asked the revenue department to open a special cell to process the cases for disbursing compensation in a fast track mode, to the next of the kin of the farmers who ended their lives in distress.

He asked the officers to explore the possibility of extending the facility of 200 units of free power to landless farmers of the state on the pattern of given to members of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.

The Chief Minister also assured the delegation that the state government would again impress upon the Centre to constitute Basmati Trading Corporation on lines of Cotton Corporation of India to safeguard the interests of Basmati cultivators by ensuring a fair price for their produce, the spokesman said.

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Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today launched the state government's programme of 'Aware and Care' by flagging off 100 Information Education Communication (IEC) mobile vans.

On the sidelines of the function here, he said that the basic objective of rolling out these vans was to apprise people about the diseases like cancer, hepatitis-C, cervical cancer and the preventive measures to be taken to cure the patients suffering from these diseases in the early stages.

This programme would also aim at creating awareness amongst the people about the diseases like dengue, chicken guniya, malaria with the focus on sensitising them about personal hygiene and cleanliness of environs around them, he said.

The Chief Minister said that he hopes that this unique programme would provide the quality health care and diagnostic services to the people at their doorsteps.

He said that the state government would soon launch a scheme to provide free medicines to the people through special chemist shops being setup in the villages across the state.

He said that these vans were equipped with audio video gadgets to inform the people about various healthcare programmes.

A team of doctors would accompany the vans to diagnose the people and provide free medicines to them, he said.

Badal said that these vans would revolutionise the health sector by offering free and quality mobile healthcare services to the people especially in the far flung areas of rural sector by offering a direct access to the best health and diagnostic facilities.

He said that these vans would act as a catalyst for making Punjab a healthy and vigorous state.

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The Madras High Court today granted bail to five persons, arrested last month for allegedly spreading rumours on the health condition of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The court, before which the bail applications of the five persons came up, granted bail to them.

All the five were arrested last month.

The court directed each of them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with two sureties, to the satisfaction of the magistrates concerned to secure the bail and get released.

Eight persons had already been arrested on the charge of spreading rumours about the health of Jayalalithaa, undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospitals here since September 22.

Police had warned of stern action against those spreading rumours on the Chief Minister's health and had already registered around 50 cases in this connection.

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The basic pension of ex-servicemen of the Indian Army has increased by 2.57 times as compared to pension of December 31, 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee today said here while addressing ex-servicemen of the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army.

Mukherjee, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, lauded the valour and discipline of the Gurkha soldiers in guarding the borders of India.

Mukherjee, who is on a three-day state visit to Nepal, visited the Pension Office for Gurkha ex-servicemen here in the last segment as large number of these soldiers live here after retirement.

The scenic Pokhara Valley, nestled in the shadow of towering snowcapped peaks of Dhaulgiri, Machapuchare, and Annapurna is home to a large number of soldiers of the famed Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army.

The President received a warm welcome here with people dressed in traditional clothes carrying flags of India and Nepal had lined up the roads from airport to hotel where he stayed briefly and then from hotel to pension office of the Gurkha regiments ex-servicemen.

People stood there throughout the stay of the President who was in the city for nearly an hour playing drums, dancing and waving as his convoy passed through the streets of Pokhara city.

"According to the seventh Pay Commission the basic pension has increased 2.57 times under the One Rank One Pension scheme as compared to basic pension on December 31, 2015," Mukherjee said.

He said being the supreme commander of the Indian defence forces, it was a matter of great satisfaction and pride that all the welfare schemes of ex-servicemen are being implemented in Nepal on time.

The President said there are 32,000 Gurkha soldiers in Indian Army besides 1.26 lakh ex-servicemen from the community. Mukherjee said India will never hesitate to take all possible steps for the welfare of ex-servicemen.

"Every year about Nepalese Rs (NPR) 3,100 crore of pensions is being distributed in Nepal. In the current financial year, the target is to distribute about NPR 4,000 crore of pension as per One Rank One Pension and Seventh Pay Commission," he said.

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West Bengal BJP has decided to highlight the army's surgical strikes in PoK and the developmental policies of the Centre in its campaign for the November 19 by-poll in the state.

"TMC, in its campaign, is calling the BJP a communal force. We will campaign on how fundamentalism is rising in the state under the TMC rule. We will highlight what a strong government can do to give a befitting reply to Pakistan. We will also use the developmental policies of the (Narendra) Modi government in our campaign," a senior state BJP leader said.

The saffron party also accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal of "unleashing terror" in various parts of the two Lok Sabha constituencies which will go to polls on November 19.

"In Tamluk, our cadres are being beaten up and prevented from campaigning. This is the real face of the TMC. The Congress and the CPI(M) have ceased to exist (in the state). Thus, the TMC is afraid of the BJP in Cooch Behar and Tamluk," state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh claimed.

Tamluk in East Midnapore district and Cooch Behar parliamentary seats, along with the Monteswar Assembly seat in Burdwan, will go to polls on November 19.

By-polls to the Cooch Behar and Monteswar seats were necessitated following the deaths of TMC MP Renuka Sinha and MLA Sajal Panja respectively. The by-poll to the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat is being held as TMC MP Suvendu Adhikari subsequently won the West Bengal Assembly election from the Nandigram seat.

Adhikari is now a state minister.

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A roadside bomb has killed 11 people on their way to a wedding in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, officials said today, as civilian casualties rise in the war-torn country.

The blast occurred yesterday just as 30 Afghan civilians were killed in US air strikes in the neighbouring province of Kunduz, a hotbed of Taliban insurgency.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the Faryab blast, which also killed women and children, but officials blamed Taliban militants.

"Eleven civilians were martyred and 12 others wounded when they struck a roadside bomb in Kosa Qala village in Faryab province," provincial spokesman Ahmad Jawed Bedar told AFP, adding that the victims were heading to a wedding.

A provincial police spokesman confirmed the same toll.

Roadside bombs are the favourite weapon of the Islamist militants fighting to oust the Western-backed Kabul government.

Insurgents frequently target Afghan police and military, but the surge in attacks has also taken a heavy toll on civilians.

The UN recently cited a 42 per cent rise in casualties caused by pro-government forces this year compared to 2015.

But Islamist militants were responsible for the majority - 61 per cent - of total casualties.

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Government bonds (G-Secs) weakened further on heavy selling pressure from banks and corporates and the Interbank call rates also ended lower due to lack of demand from borrowing banks amidst ample liquidity situation in the banking system.

The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2026 dropped to Rs 104.37 from Rs 104.53 previously, while its yield moved up to 6.94 per cent from 6.91 per cent.

The 7.61 per cent government security maturing in 2030 fell to Rs 104.8925 from Rs 105.0650, while its yield edged down to 7.04 per cent from 7.02 per cent.

The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2029 declined to Rs 104.36 from Rs 104.47, while its yield inched up to 7.05 per cent from 7.04 per cent.

The 6.97 per cent government security maturing in 2026, the 7.88 per cent government security maturing in 2030 and the 7.68 per cent government security maturing in 2023 were also quoted lower at Rs 100.9150, Rs 106.8650 and Rs 104.37 respectively.

The overnight call money rates finished lower at 6.00 per cent from Thursday's level 6.24 per cent. It resumed lower at 6.20 per cent and moved in a range of 6.20 per cent and 6.00 per cent.

The 3-days call money rates ended 6.23 per cent and moved in a range of 6.30 per cent and 6.15 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), purchased securities worth Rs 43.20 billion in a 9-bids at the 3-days repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.25 per cent as on today, while it sold securities worth Rs 45.30 billion from 27-bids at the overnight reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 5.75 per cent as on November 3.

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Actor Channing Tatum says he will go to any extent to get Tom Hanks in "Splash" remake.

In the gender-swapped remake of Hanks' 1984 romantic comedy classic, Tatum is set to star as the mermaid love interest originally played by Daryl Hannah, while Jillian Bell will star in the role Hanks originated, reported ET online.

"I will be washing Tom's car (and) doing everything that I can to get him in that movie!"



Tatum said that he and Bell are "too afraid" to talk with Hanks about the remake, because for years their idea for the film was just a joke that they threw out to Disney as a "shot in the dark.

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Cornwall based business Peboryon Bakery has created a machine made out of cake that bakes its very own cakes.

The machine, inspired by animation characters Wallace & Gromits iconic inventions and named the Cake-o-matic, is made entirely of fruit cake, which is covered in marzipan, sugar paste and contains nearly 100,000 currants.

The cake would feed around 1,800 people, but the plan is to keep it on show - generating its mini cakes.

Christine Jensen, who owns the bakery, designed the cake which took her around 400 hours to make.

Essentially weve made four individual sculpted cakes out of fruit cake, because the project was such a huge endeavour that we needed something to last a long time, and the cakes that come out of the other end are little Victoria sponges, Jensen told British Baker.

Im also a massive fan of Wallace & Gromit, its been incredible working with [creator] Ardman and we have met with them on a number of occasions and done a bit of modelling with them to make sure colours and characters were absolutely spot on. It has been a journey but just to be able to walk into Ardman studios and be greeted by some of the people who have shaped my childhood, its been such an honour. We also made a cake for Ardmans 40th anniversary recently.

The Cake-o-matic has been made for Wallace & Gromits Grand Appeal, which raises funds for Bristol Childrens Hospital.

At the moment it is in two halves so it can be transported safely to Birmingham for the Cake International exhibition this weekend  claimed to be the biggest sugarcraft show in the world.

Attendees of the Birmingham show will be able to buy the cakes when the creation is on display and later at the charitys shop in Bristol.

Heres a sneak peek of the of Cake-o-matic machine.
The four-day Chhath festival that pays obeisance to the Sun god began today with devotees performing the rituals, even as authorities made further arrangements to ensure sanitation and safety at various ghats in anticipation of huge crowd.

Day one is called 'nahai-khai' (bathing-eating ritual) when people observing the festival, take a dip in rivers or other water bodies, and then cook food on traditional chullah.

Day two is called 'kharna', when devotees cook 'kheer' and 'roti' which is then distributed as 'prasad'.

The ghats witness massive crowd on last two days when people throng them for the offering ('arghyas') to the setting and rising sun in succession.

Civic authorities have spruced up the ghats and made arrangements while police and disaster management team are working on measures to ensure no untoward incident occurs.

North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar today inspected various ghats to assess the preparedness.

A number of ghats fall under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation's Civil Lines Zone -- Qudsia Ghat, Wazirabad Ghat, Rambagh Ghat, while Kalindi Kunj Ghat in south Delhi draws a major crowd on the last two days. In east Delhi, Sonia Vihar and Geeta Colony are some of the important ghats.

The mayor directed officials to further improve the sanitation and cleanliness on ghats.

"60 temporary toilets are being developed on Qudsia Ghat for the convenience of the devotees. Mobile toilets would also be installed. Besides, levelling and other work on ghats are being done," Nayyar said.

Civic authorities said, fogging would be continued for twice a day, early morning and late evening, at the ghats.

The Flood Control and Irrigation Department has also been be asked to clean the river. Municipal staff have been instructed to clear garbabe under the ISBT Bridge immediately.

"We will have 17-18 designated parking places for people. There will be routine diversions in place on Ring Road," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Garima Bhatnagar said.

The North District has Kudsia Ghat, Geeta Ghat, Ram Ghat, etc, under its purview.

"We held meetings with the representatives from the various associations and it is for the first time that ghats will have CCTV cameras to monitor the crowd situation.

"There will be three rescue teams each on all the ghats and there will be waterboats and divers. Close to 100 personnel from the local police will be assisting traffic cops in monitoring traffic movement," Madhur Verma, DCP(North) said.

Rishi Pal, DCP (East) said, "There are 17 ghats in our district. The deployment of police personnel near the ghats will be stepped up. Our personnel will be involved in crowd management and motorcycle patrolling will be increased in the area around the ghats."



Delhi is home to a sizeable population of migrant community. Chhath is observed mainly by people from Bihar and easter Uttar Pradesh.

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China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, today said it will reduce by 2020 CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 18 per cent compared to 2015 figures, as the landmark Paris climate agreement came into force.

The decision was taken at the central cabinet meeting, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

China and the US are the top two emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.

The new pledge to cut greenhouse gases was announced as Beijing is enveloped by severe industrial pollution forcing people to wear masks.

As per the new plan, the government will restrict other greenhouse gas emissions and start a carbon trading market in the next five years to help meet the commitment to peaking carbon dioxide emission around 2030, according to the 13th Five-Year work plan for greenhouse gas emission control by the cabinet.

Total energy consumption will be kept within five billion tonnes of standard coal by the end of 2020, with more use of non-fossil fuels including hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power, whose installed capacity would reach 340 million, 58 million, 200 million and 100 million kilowatts respectively, the cabinet decision said.

Total coal consumption will be kept at about 4.2 billion tonnes, while smoggy regions should aim for negative coal use growth after 2017.

The share of natural gas consumption in total energy consumption should be lifted to about 10 per cent by 2020, it said.

China will also speed up industrial upgrades to support low-carbon industries while promoting green technologies in industrial production.

The government will also promote a green lifestyle, encouraging low-carbon consumption such as buying new-energy cars, the Xinhua report said.

The cabinet decision comes on a day the landmark Paris Agreement to combat climate change becomes international law.

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China will work closely with Bihar government to discover several sites mentioned in the travelogue of 7th century Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang who came to India in 630 AD.

"We will work with the government of Bihar for discovering sites recorded in the travelogue of Hiuen Tsang but are not known. All these sites are in Bihar for which excavation is needed," Consul General of China in Kolkata Zhanwu Ma said today.

This, he said, would require the permission of the Ministry of Culture in India.

"Some places recorded in the travelogue are yet to be discovered. Some places like Nalanda and Bodh Gaya have already become famous," Ma told a conference here.

The Chinese embassy along with Nalanda University would organise a seminar on Hiuen Tsang on Monday in the city where foreign and national experts would participate.

The seminar will explore the works of Hiuen Tsang and appreciate the philosopher's role in bringing the two countries closer, he said.

Meanwhile, for the first time, Chinese films would be screened in the upcoming Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF).

Ma said seven Chinese films would be screened at the festival.

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China today lashed out at Britain for allowing a meeting between the Prime Minister of Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay and the UK House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, saying it should avoid taking actions that damage bilateral ties.

"China is opposed to this act by the Speaker of UK House of Commons which imperils China's core interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here while answering a question on Sangay's meeting with Bercow.

The meeting took place on November 1.

"The so called Tibetan government in exile was formed by fleeing separatists after a failed coup in 1959 and has no legitimacy or international recognition," she said.

"China strongly opposes Lobsang Sangay and other people's separatist acts in any capacity in any country and will strongly oppose their contact with foreign officials," Hua said.

"We urge the UK to honour their promise and avoid causing damage to China-UK relations," she said.

China routinely protests foreign dignitaries meetings with Tibetan Spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and his associates.

During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama fled to India, where he currently lives. He has since travelled the world, advocating the welfare of Tibetans.

China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s, but several Buddhist Tibetans accuse Beijing of often repressing their religion and culture. China denies the charges.

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An angry China today lodged a diplomatic protest with South Korea and said it "resolutely opposes any radical measure" after the Korean coast guard used machine-gun fire as warning shots at Chinese fishermen.

"The Chinese fishermen's illegal operations should not be grounds for the ROK (Republic of Korea) coast guard to open fire," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

On Tuesday, the South Korea used machine-gun fire to stop two Chinese vessels, prompting about 30 other Chinese boats in the same group to swarm around and ram the coast guard vessel, according to media reports.

"China resolutely opposes any radical measure taken by the ROK that may threaten Chinese fishermen's lives," Hua said.

An official in charge of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry has lodged representations with the minister of the ROK embassy in Beijing over the matter, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

The long-standing fishing issue between the two countries cannot be solved overnight, Hua said.

China has made great efforts to strengthen management and discipline of its fishermen, she said, noting that the number of illegal fishing boats had decreased significantly from last year.

Hua asked South Korea to properly handle the issue, keep calm and show restraint, in the overall interest of bilateral ties.

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New York's state bank regulator fined the giant $215 million today for violating anti-money laundering laws and obscuring suspicious transactions involving Russia, China, Afghanistan and other countries.

Citing a deliberate failure to scrutinize dubious money transfers, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) said the bank, the third-largest in the world, created "a substantial risk" that terrorist groups, sanctions-barred countries and criminals could have passed funds through the bank.

The bank had also "silenced" a whistleblower who attempted to carry out internal investigations, according to the DFS.

The move by the powerful New York regulator followed a September action by the Federal Reserve, which ordered Agriculture Bank to improve internal controls against money laundering.

Natasha Taft, a former staffer, settled a lawsuit against the bank that month after claiming she had been forced out of her job after reporting potential violations to the Fed.

DFS also said today that bank staff had taken deliberate steps to hide US dollar transactions passing through its New York branch that could have been tied to violations of trade sanctions and anti-money laundering laws.

Bank examiners found the bank had used "evasive" transaction methods, including masking the true identity of parties to transactions using SWIFT, the global network which enables financial transfers.

According to the DFS, examiners identified unusually large round-dollar transactions between Chinese companies and counterparties in Russia and Yemen, dollar payments between a customer of Turkish Bank and a client at Afghan Bank whom the US Treasury had linked to financial network used to fund drug trafficking.

"Certain invoices involving China and Russia appeared to be counterfeit or falsified, while other documents suggested US-dollar trades with Iranian counterparties  including documentation indicating dollar transactions were made for a sanctioned counterparty," the DFS said.

The bank also deliberately ignored warnings from the agency to improve its internal compliance measures as the volume of transactions increased beginning in 2013, the DFS said.

"DFS will take swift and appropriate action when our investigation finds egregious conduct and intentional circumvention of a regulated bank's compliance program," Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo said in a statement.

In addition to paying the penalty, the bank agreed to take immediate steps to improve its legal compliance, including hiring an outside monitor.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump today alleged that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with America's security and the country's generals do not want her as their boss.

"We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," Trump said at a massive election rally in Salem, North Carolina wherein he outlined his plan to rebuild military and support veterans.

Trump began the rally by naming recipients of medals of honours who were present at the meeting. In between he paused and compared himself with them.

"Oh, they're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave, I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave," said Trump, who has never served in the US military.

The meeting was attended by a large number of veterans.

"To think of her being their boss, I don't think so. I know what they are thinking. It's not for them," Trump said.

"These men display to the whole world the unyielding strength, courage and grit of the United States of America. They went above and beyond the call of duty, thought nothing of their own safety in order to protect their fellow man, and acted with a bravery that will etch their legacy into the history of this nation," he said.

Trump alleged that under the failures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, ISIS has become a clear and present danger to Europe and the US.

"After all the sacrifice our soldiers made, Clinton and Obama pulled out the troops on a public timetable, giving rise to ISIS and handing Iraq over to ISIS killers," he said.

"Now, ISIS is on a campaign of genocide in the Middle East, torturing, drowning and burning people alive. ISIS has slaughtered men, women and children in France, Germany, Belgium, and there are now 1,000 open ISIS investigations in the United States. We have seen the bloodshed in the attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino, and the recent bomb plot in New York and New Jersey," he added.

"Yet, as we send brave men and women overseas to fight terrorists in the Middle East, Hillary Clinton wants to fling our borders wide open, allowing those same terrorists to infiltrate our country at home. She wants a 550 per cent increase in Syrian refugees, and virtually unlimited immigration from some of the most extreme and dangerous places in the world," he said.

"A Trump Administration will suspend the Syrian Refugee programme and keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," he said. (MORE) PTI LKJd Trump today alleged that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with America's security and the country's generals do not want her as their boss.

"We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," Trump said at a massive election rally in Salem, North Carolina wherein he outlined his plan to rebuild military and support veterans.

Trump began the rally by naming recipients of medals of honours who were present at the meeting. In between he paused and compared himself with them.

"Oh, they're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave, I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave," said Trump, who has never served in the US military.

The meeting was attended by a large number of veterans.

"To think of her being their boss, I don't think so. I know what they are thinking. It's not for them," Trump said.

"These men display to the whole world the unyielding strength, courage and grit of the United States of America. They went above and beyond the call of duty, thought nothing of their own safety in order to protect their fellow man, and acted with a bravery that will etch their legacy into the history of this nation," he said.

Trump alleged that under the failures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, ISIS has become a clear and present danger to Europe and the US.

"After all the sacrifice our soldiers made, Clinton and Obama pulled out the troops on a public timetable, giving rise to ISIS and handing Iraq over to ISIS killers," he said.

"Now, ISIS is on a campaign of genocide in the Middle East, torturing, drowning and burning people alive. ISIS has slaughtered men, women and children in France, Germany, Belgium, and there are now 1,000 open ISIS investigations in the United States. We have seen the bloodshed in the attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino, and the recent bomb plot in New York and New Jersey," he added.

"Yet, as we send brave men and women overseas to fight terrorists in the Middle East, Hillary Clinton wants to fling our borders wide open, allowing those same terrorists to infiltrate our country at home. She wants a 550 per cent increase in Syrian refugees, and virtually unlimited immigration from some of the most extreme and dangerous places in the world," he said.

"A Trump Administration will suspend the Syrian Refugee programme and keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," he said.

Trump alleged that Clinton was more interested in keeping



her emails a secret than in keeping the classified intelligence a secret.

"She was more interested in protecting herself than protecting all of you. Ending this criminal government corruption is one of the most important reasons we must win on November 8," he said.

"We also know Hillary can't be trusted with our security because of her disastrous record on foreign policy," he said.

Trump said that no Secretary of State in history has failed in more places, in more ways, than Clinton.

"In 2009, pre-Hillary, Libya was stable, Syria was under control, Iraq was seeing a reduction in violence, and ISIS wasn't even on the map. Fast forward to today. Libya is in ruins. Syria is in the middle of a catastrophic civil war. Iraq is in chaos. And ISIS is spreading across the region, into Europe, and into America - and they've launched a campaign of genocide against Christians," he said.
Congress today demanded that army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal be declared a martyr, saying he "sacrificed his life for some cause" but Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar dismissed it, insisting a "wrong precedent" will be set if a person who committed suicide is accorded such a status.

During Obituary Resolutions moved during the special session of the state Assembly here, Haryana Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhary demanded that Grewal's name be included in the list of martyrs.

A special session was convened today as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Haryana's formation. The state was carved out from the then joint Punjab on November 1, 1966.

Replying to Chaudhary's demand, Khattar said his name should not be included in the list of martyrs.

"(Kiran) Choudhary has taken a name of a soldier (Grewal) to be included in martyr list but I feel that he has committed suicide and his name should not be added in the list.

"We should not set wrong precedent in the House. We have sympathy with him but that does not mean that he should be declared as martyr. It is not appropriate to put his name in martyr list," Khattar said.

Leader of opposition and INLD MLA Abhay Chautala asked Khattar if he has objection to the demand of Choudhary, then he should inform the House why Haryana government promised Rs 10 lakh and a government job to the family of the ex- serviceman.

"We have full sympathy with him (Grewal)...A lot of accidents take place (in state) even then we extend financial help to the tune of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh," said Khattar.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the opposition party should avoid turning this issue into any controversy.

"We just want to know why Rs 10 lakh and a government job is being given to him. If you (Khattar) have sympathy with every citizen of the state, the government should decide today that if any youth dies in an accident, his family should be given Rs 10 lakh and a government job," Chautala said.

Senior Congress leader Raghubir Kadiyan said it was not suicide.

"He sacrificed his life for some cause," said the former Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, drawing objections from the treasury benches.

The Obituary Motion was adopted by the House without incorporating the demand of the opposition.

Yesterday, Khattar when asked whether Haryana would declare the ex-serviceman a martyr, had said only those who lay down their lives at the border are declared martyrs.

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As a controversy raged over the suicide of an ex-serviceman, Union Minister V K Singh today attacked Congress and AAP, alleging that they were "doing politics over dead bodies".

Singh alleged that the two parties were left with no issues and knew nothing about the 'one rank, one pension' matter.

"They have nothing else (no issue) to do politics on. That is why they do politics over dead bodies. Go and ask them whether they have attended funeral of any other soldier.

"So many soldiers have been martyred, did Aam Aadmi Party leaders and Congress leaders went to pay homage to them. They are talking senseless," the Minister of State for External Affairs told reporters on the sidelines of an energy efficiency conference.

Asked about criticism from other parties on his remarks, Singh said, "There is no point discussing with those who don't know anything about it (one rank one pension)."



Earlier on Wednesday, Singh had raised questions about the "mental state" of Ram Kishan Grewal, an army veteran whose suicide, allegedly over OROP, had sparked a political row.

He had also rejected reports about Grewal being a prominent face of the 'One Rank-One Pension' agitation.

"He (Grewal) was a Congress worker. He became sarpanch on Congress' ticket. However, he was our soldier. I feel sad over his death," Singh had said yesterday.

(REOPENS DES4)



Meanwhile, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi demanded resignation of General (retd.) Singh for his remarks on the suicide by ex-serviceman Grewal.

"I demand V K Singh's immediate resignation. I feel sorry that a person of such mindset became the army chief. He has insulted a jawan. There are still shortcomings in the OROP implementation even after 6th and 7th Pay Commissions' recommendations. The government should address them," he said.
Various factions of the Congress' Tamil Nadu unit today exhibited a rare show of unity when several leaders including former TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan participated at a protest held against the detention of their Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in Delhi over the OROP issue.

TNCC President Su Thirunavukkarasar, Elangovan and other leaders slammed the detention of Gandhi by Delhi police three times in two days.

Gandhi's detention "shows their (Centre) anti-democratic attitude and arrogance," Thirunavukkarasar said.

"We condemn this illegal act," he said at the protest.

Elangovan, who had resigned as TNCC chief in June owning responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the May 2016 Assembly polls, also joined his successor in criticising the Centre today.

He questioned "whether there is no permission for the leader of the main opposition party" to visit the family of the ex-serviceman.

Rahul Gandhi was detained twice on Wednesday after he tried to meet the family members of the ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue.

Gandhi was detained for the third time yesterday, when the Delhi Police picked him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide.

Today's protest by TNCC turned out to be a rare show of unity as various leaders of the faction-riddled state Congress unit were present at the protest meeting.

Besides Elangovan, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karthi, ex-TNCC Presidents KV Thangkabalu and Krishnasamy, AICC General Secretary Nagma and All India Spokesperson Khushbu Sundar were present at the protest meeting.

Interestingly, Elangovan had virtually boycotted a protest led by Thirunavukkarasar last month on the Cauvery issue at Tiruchirappally, when he visited Apollo Hospitals here to inquire about the health of ailing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

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Pidy has secured its first branded retail listing as part of its ambitions to become a recognised name with UK consumers.

The Belgium-based business supplies pastry products to the UK foodservice industry and a wide range of own-label supermarkets in this country, but until now has not had a branded presence at retail.

Its first UK listing comprises two products that have launched with online retailer Ocado - a Do it Yourself Mince Pie Kit (RSP 1.99/12-pack) and festive Christmas Tree-shaped pastry cases (RSP 2.95). They are available at an introductory 20% discount.

Our aim is to make the Pidy brand itself as big and recognisable in the UK as it is across the rest of Europe, and the Ocado listing is the perfect platform with which to do this, said Pidy UK general manager Robert Whittle.

Pidy makes products including dry puff pastry and shortcrust, foncage dough, choux pastry and sponge cakes from production units in Belgium, France and the US.

The manufacturer - which turns over around 33m (40m) a year - was this summer acquired by French manufacturer Biscuits Bouvard Group.
Ahead of a global meet on tobacco in India, a civil society network today said that one billion people, which is nearly the population of India, will die from tobacco use this century while urging countries taking part in the meet to take meaningful steps to alter this forecast.

India is all set to host the Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties (COP7) to World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) during November 7-12, at Greater Noida, which will be inaugurated by Union Health Minister J P Nadda.

"After 10 years, FCTC Parties have developed a detailed consensus on the measures needed to address the global tobacco epidemic. Starting next week, Parties must shift their focus to ensuring that the treaty is as effective as possible on the ground," said Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) Executive Director Francis Thompson.

It said that another agenda which should be prioritised is the report of a working group on mobilising more resources for tobacco control.

Despite the FCTC's life-saving measures being widely recognised as effective and low-cost, in general few resources are dedicated to them.

"FCA urges COP7 to review parties' current implementation needs and develop a list of priorities, agree on a mechanism to routinely review parties' needs, and mandate the FCTC Secretariat, working with relevant stakeholders, to communicate implementation needs to potential donors strategically and systematically," FCA said.

"One billion people - nearly the population of India - will die from tobacco use this century unless current trends change. Parties to the FCTC COP meeting in New Delhi next week can take meaningful steps to alter that forecast," it said.

It said that at COP6 in 2012, FCTC Parties adopted a global target to reduce tobacco use by 30 per cent by 2025 and highlighting Parties' progress towards that target would help potential donors to focus on the effectiveness of the treaty's measures.

"The COP, as the specialised body that deals with the FCTC, must make the case for much more energetic implementation, with the necessary political will, technical assistance and resources to make this global target a reality," said Thompson.

Other issues on the COP7 agenda that FCA will be focussing include, tobacco industry liability for the devastation caused by its products, FCTC's illicit trade protocol, the treatment of tobacco in trade agreements, and tobacco and sustainable development.

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A day after a woman levelled allegations of gang rape against a local Marxist party functionary and three others, the CPI(M) today suspended two accused, who are party workers.

The decision to suspend Jayanthan and Bineesh was taken at the CPI(M)'s district committee this evening, the party's Thrissur district secretary K Radhakrishnan told reporters.

The Area committee had earlier in the day recommended to the district committee to suspend the accused.

Radhakrishnan said the party had not examined if Jayanthan, who is CPI(M)'s Wadakancherry Municipal Council member, should resign from the council.

Jayanthan has denied the charges, saying they were baseless.

The 33-year-old woman and her husband had appeared before the media here with their faces covered yesterday, giving details of the sordid incident two years ago and how she was humiliated by police when she tried to file a police complaint.

She said the accused continued to 'taunt' her, threatening that they would make a video footage of the incident public.

DGP Loknath Behara today said a probe was already on the complaint of the 33-year-old woman.

Another probe had also been ordered with regard to allegations relating to police conduct to see if there are omissions on the part of police.

The issue also figured in the assembly and the government assured that a fair probe and stern action would be taken against the accused.

Law minister A K Balan, who spoke on behalf of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijyan, said the government would not protect culprits in criminal cases even if they belong to the ruling party.

Guruvayur Assistant Commissioner of Police had already been entrusted the task of probing the matter on the basis of the woman's complaint, he said.

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CPI today slammed the central government over the one-day ban on a Hindi channel, terming it as an "attack on the freedom of media" which, the party claimed, amounted to "strangulating" its voice.

"It is an attack on freedom of the media and government should not resort to such repressive force and strangulate the voice of media," CPI National Secretary D Raja told PTI.

The unprecedented decision of an inter-ministerial panel to take NDTV India off air for a day over its reporting of the Pathankot attack has already come under severe criticism from media bodies and opposition parties such as Congress and AAP.

"It (the decision) means government wants the media to toe its line. Good sense should prevail and government should give up," he said.

On growing tensions on the Indo-Pak border, he urged both countries to adopt a "sober approach" to de-escalate tensions, saying they cannot afford a military conflict.

Asking how long can the tensions continue between the two countries, Raja said both India and Pakistan should conduct themselves in "a mature, sober way".

"Both countries should conduct themselves in a mature way, sober way to de-escalate (tensions) and not to allow the situation to continue like this," he said.

Raja said the actions of the two countries in summoning each other's diplomats to express "their disapproval or some kind of protest," was not correct.

"At the government level there should be some sober approach, keeping in view the future of the two countries because both cannot afford to have such military conflict or go for a kind of a war. This they should understand," he said.

Post the Uri attack in Kashmir, tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated, with Pakistan regularly violating the ceasefire on the border, even as the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes at terror camps in PoK.

Raja, a Rajya Sabha MP, slammed the Narendra Modi



government on various fronts, including the economy and agriculture, besides handling of the Kashmir issue.

He claimed that Modi had not implemented the promises, including that of job creation, made during the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign even as the "economy is in shambles".

India was now ranked below even some of its neighbours and certain African countries on various social indices, including health and hunger and many of Modi's schemes including Make In India "remain a rhetoric," he said.

"The Acche Din (good days) are for corporate houses and they are taking advantage as Modi has stopped talking about black money and NPAs (Non-Performing Assets). Who are all the defaulters? They are all the corporate houses," he alleged.

Even the Supreme Court had asked why their names were not revealed, while "we have been asking in Parliament" to reveal the names, but the government was not doing so, Raja said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's voluntary disclosure of black money scheme was a "bonanza" to corporate houses, he added.

Raja also slammed the RSS, saying the saffron unit, besides other Sangh outfits, have "become so aggressive" and charged them with trying to "control the state apparatus."



Even universities have become the "hotbed of tension", he said.
Turkey's input will be pivotal in overcoming key obstacles preventing a deal reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus, the island's president said today ahead of crucial talks in Switzerland next week.

Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, says he and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have made significant progress on numerous issues making an envisioned federation workable.

Those issues include ensuring the country's economic viability and the right of all citizens to live and work wherever they chose.

But he says it'll take the "resolute contribution" of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership to reach agreement on core issues such as security and how much territory either side will administer under an envisioned federal state.

Five days of intensive, UN-backed talks in the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin will concentrate directly on territory issues.

Officials say sufficient progress on this key issue would pave the way for a final summit to hammer out a comprehensive deal encompassing security matters.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend Monday's opening session.

"This is a critical juncture in the talks and he welcomes very much the fact that the two leaders have jointly expressed their hope that this meeting will pave the way for the last phase of the talks," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

A Turkish invasion in 1974 following a coup aiming at union with Greece split the eastern Mediterranean island into a breakaway Turkish-speaking north and an internationally recognized Greek-speaking south.

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Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today urged Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to name Hatia-Ernakulam Express after freedom fighter Bhagawan Birsa Munda.

The train was flagged off on October 27 from Hatia station.

In a telephonic conversation with Prabhu, the Chief Minister said naming the train after Munda would enable the people in the south know about his fight against exploitation under the British rule, a release said here.

The Railway Minister gave his consent, it said, adding a letter in this regard has been submitted to the railway ministry.

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The death toll from a speedboat accident in Indonesia has climbed to 54, an official said today, after dozens of bodies were found floating in the ocean.

Search teams today pulled another 36 corpses from the sea around Batam island, south of Singapore, near where the boat struck a reef and sunk more than two days ago, local police chief Sam Budi Gusdian told reporters.

The overcrowded speedboat was carrying three crew and 98 passengers, mostly Indonesian migrant workers, from Malaysia to Batam at the time of the accident.

Authorities managed to save 41 passengers and had hoped to find more alive before making the grisly discovery.

"Forty-one people have been found alive while six remain missing. The rest died, Gusdian told reporters.

Only 12 passengers have been formally identified, he added. Among the dead were two young girls.

Police said the passengers were likely illegal Indonesian migrant workers returning from jobs in Malaysia, and the boat was over capacity at the time of the accident.

One of the crew members managed to survive and was being questioned by police, Gusdian said.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport, but safety standards are lax and fatal accidents common.

More than 60 people died in December when huge waves capsized a ferry charting a course through Sulawesi province.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today expressed "strong displeasure" at the steps taken by DPCC to deal with the city's alarming air pollution and directed it to immediately explore the possibility of engaging an expert agency for remedial steps in tackling the situation.

Kejriwal, who held a Cabinet meeting where DPCC officers made a presentation on the situation, directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to make a fresh presentation on Monday on the ways to deal with the rising pollution along with action plan.

Sources said that the Chief Minister also wanted to know the reasons behind the prevailing situation.

"In the meeting, the CM was angry with the way the DPCC was handling the situation. He directed DPCC to immediately explore the possibility of involving an expert agency to study the reasons behind the prevailing situation and to recommend remedial steps to deal with the rising air pollution," a source said.

In view of the heavy smog, the worst the capital has faced in 17 years, municipal corporations today ordered closure of their about 1,700 schools tomorrow.

The national capital is facing the worst smog in 17 years, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had said yesterday, while asking the Delhi government to issue health alerts and convey that children should stay indoors as there is a state of health emergency due to peaking air pollution.

Peak level of respirable pollutants PM 2.5 and PM10 had crossed the safe limits by over 15 times at places like R K Puram. The prescribed standard of PM2.5 is 60 micrograms per cubic metre, but it touched 955 in real-time during early morning hours yesterday.

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"The biggest reason for pollution in Delhi is the smoke from burning of stubble in neighbouring states like UP, Punjab and Haryana.

"That is the number one reason, but we haven't looked at that, instead we are looking at other reasons... In Delhi we need a regional plan," Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.

With Delhi being engulfed by the worst smog in 17 years, the National Green Tribunal, today came down heavily on the Centre and Delhi government for not taking steps to tackle the alarming air pollution level, asking them not to shift the blame on each other.
The Delhi government today aproved a proposal to give a compensation of Rs one crore to the family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal who had allegedly committed suicide over the implementation of 'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) issue.

The Aam Aadmi Party government has also decided to declare Grewal a martyr.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today at his official residence.

"The Delhi Cabinet has given its nod to provide Rs one crore compensation to family of Grewal. It has also decided to declare him a martyr," a senior official said.

Kejriwal had announced the compensation yesterday when he had gone to Grewal's village Bamla in Haryana where he had gone to attend the cremation of army veteran.

The Delhi Chief Minister had been detained by police on Wednesday when he tried to meet Grewal's family.

"I want the people to take his fight forward. We will fight till our last breath and snatch OROP from the Centre. Our soldiers deserve what is their due," Kejriwal had told reporters here.

Under the AAP government's compensation policy, the families of martyrs, who are residents of Delhi, are given Rs one crore.

Kejriwal had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement the same across the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi government today rejected Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's decision to revoke the appointment of 15 lawyers by it, setting another stage for fresh round of confrontation between the LG office and AAP dispensation.

However, LG office has slammed the Kejriwal government over the move, saying that after the August 4 High Court verdict, the Lt Governor is the final authority in all administrative issues.

Yesterday, Jung had revoked the appointment of a panel of 15 Supreme Court lawyers while refusing to give his post-facto approval on the appointment of these advocate.

The decision to reject the LG's decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today.

"The Cabinet has rejected the LG's decision to revoke the appointment of panel of Delhi Government's SC lawyers.

"Cabinet also resolved that Law is a transferred subject and as per August 4, 2016 Delhi HC Judgement power to appoint lawyers lies with the elected government," said a senior government official.

Sources in the LG office said that the AAP government had appointed 15 lawyers without prior approval of Lt Governor and in view of this, if the city administration gives salaries of these advocates, it will be their own responsibility.

"Law is not a transferred subject. It falls only under the LG's jurisdiction. By rejecting the LG's decision to revoke appointment of 15 lawyers, government is overlooking all constitutional and judicial machineries," LG office's sources said.

The Kejriwal government had appointed 15 lawyers without prior approval of the Lt Governor in 2014 and 2015.

Recently, government had sent the file to LG seeking his post facto approval.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi Police team has been sent to ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal's home town Bhiwani in Haryana today to meet his family members, a day after his suicide case was handed over to the Crime Branch.

"A team has been sent to Bhiwani to talk to Grewal's family members. However, the team is still waiting to talk to them since they have been surrounded by media and politicians. They have shared all the details with the media but we still need to talk to them," said a senior police officer privy to the probe.

Yesterday, the case was transferred from New Delhi district to Crime Branch keeping in mind the sensitivity of the matter and the fact that the district police is busy with law and order duties in the area.

The Crime Branch team led by DCP(Crime) Bhisham Singh is conducting inquest proceedings in the matter.

Grewal, along with three of his companions, had come to the city apparently to submit a memorandum to the Defence Ministry over the issue of OROP.

The 70-year-old ex-serviceman had consumed poison in the lawns behind Jawahar Bhavan, which houses some offices of the Ministry of External Affairs, on November 1. He was rushed to RML Hospital where he died later.

The officer said that they are still searching for the three men who were accompanying him when he took the extreme step.

Police has procured the suicide note and the audio recording of Grewal's last conversation with his son from media persons as the family members haven't shared any details with the police yet, he added.

Grewal's suicide had snowballed into a huge political showdown on Wednesday in the capital with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi being detained twice by Delhi Police amid high drama and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also being detained by the policemen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Schools running under the three municipal corporations of Delhi have been ordered to be closed tomorrow in view of the heavy smog, the worst the national capital has faced in 17 years.

"All municipal schools under the three corporations will be closed tomorrow due to the heavy smog and pollution. The order for closure is only for a day as of now. As per the situation, we may decide to close them later as well," Leader of Opposition in SDMC, Subhash Arya said.

About 10 lakh students are enrolled in the schools administered by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Nouth Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

"The decision was taken today at a meeting held in the wake of severe pollution Delhiites are reeling under. And, since the smog is worse during the morning, it was decided to close the schools," said Arya, also the former Mayor of south Delhi.

The national capital is facing the worst smog in 17 years, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had said yesterday, while asking the Delhi government to issue health alerts and convey that children should stay indoors as there is a state of health emergency due to peaking air pollution.

Peak level of respirable pollutants PM 2.5 and PM10 had also violated the safe limits by over 15 times at places like R K Puram. The prescribed standard of PM 2.5 is 60 micrograms per cubic metre, but it touched 955 in real-time during early morning hours.

Admitting that the enforcement of rules for tackling air pollution was "weak", the Environment Ministry today asked states to "strictly" implement a host of measures, including checking spread of fly ash from Delhi's Badarpur plant and shutting down of old brick kilns.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has said that during the tricky Brexit negotiations, the UK government should develop "workable policies", including "pragmatic" immigration reforms, to promote Britain as an attractive destination for international students.

Participating in a debate in the House of Lords on the potential impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on funding for universities and scientific research, Paul, Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, admitted that the Brexit negotiations would be "complex, tricky and time-consuming".

"But, we must not allow our universities to be unnecessarily and unhelpfully constrained," he said yesterday.

He wanted the government to "develop workable policies to promote the UK as an attractive destination for all international students and staff - including considerate and pragmatic immigration policy reforms".

"Collectively, we have some 1,25,000 EU students and 43,000 EU staff in our universities - all adding value to our economy," he added.

Paul urged the government to foster and grow global opportunities for UK students and staff by enhancing mobility programmes and create an environment that facilitates the recruitment and retention of the best available talent.

He noted that last year the total value of knowledge exchange interaction between UK universities and their partners across the economy increased to 4.2 billion pounds.

He added that the higher education sector generates nearly 11 billion pounds per annum in export earnings.

Britain leads the world in terms of return on investment from commercialisation of research and matches the US in its level of engagement with industry, Paul said.

"Universities help create new jobs and new businesses in communities - last year alone there were over 4,100 new start- ups founded by UK graduates, a great many nurtured by our universities.

"My own University of Wolverhampton has recently created the Caparo Management Suite as a forum space in which business leaders, academics and students can all come together to exchange ideas and promote new business opportunities and development," he added.

At the outset, Paul said that the outcome of the EU referendum was not the result that most in the higher education sector wanted, wished for or indeed expected.

"However, a decision has been made and we must all accept the result and work constructively with the government to support the best possible outcome for the UK during the negotiations and beyond," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aviation regulator DGCA has launched its probe into a series of incidents involving budget carrier SpiceJet's two Bombardier Q400 planes that took place due to some defect in the landing gear of the turboprop aircraft.

Separately, the Gurgaon-based airline has also taken up the issue with the original equipment maker, Bombardier, in this regard, a senior DGCA official said today.

The incidents of one of the two nose wheel tyres deflating immediately after landing occurred in a short span of six days, with the latest one reported by the airline on November 1, the official said.

"We are probing this. The airline has also taken up this issue with Bombardier," the official said, adding that this happened twice on one aircraft.

When contacted, a SpiceJet spokesperson said the carrier has taken all "precautionary" measures on its entire Q400 fleet in the wake of the incidents.

"In the last five years no such incident has taken place. Coincidentally, these three instances have come to our notice. We have taken all precautionary measures on our entire Bombardier Q400 fleet. Passengers' safety is paramount to SpiceJet," SpiceJet corporate affairs' vertical head Ajay Jasra said.

Country's second largest budget carrier after IndiGo, SpiceJet at present operates 324 flights per day including international ones from 39 domestic and nine overseas airports.

It has a fleet of 47 aircraft comprising 39 Boeing 737s and rest 16 Bombardier Q400s.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Admitting that the enforcement of rules for tackling air pollution was "weak", the Environment Ministry today asked states to "strictly" implement a host of measures, including checking spread of fly ash from Delhi's Badarpur plant and shutting down of old brick kilns.

Faced with "severe" air pollution problem in Delhi, Union Environment Secretary A N Jha today held a review meeting with secretaries of NCR states.

Jha said crop burning has been controlled in almost all states except Punjab where large scale burning has been reported and during the meeting Punjab has assured that it will make efforts to check it.

"Last year in December Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had instructed states on 42 points (to tackle air pollution). There were short, medium and long term measures. After issuing these orders, five or six meetings have already been held at the ministerial as well as CPCB level. Many steps have been taken.

"There are many areas where much more needs to be done. Special focus needs to be given on enforcement of these orders. Because enforcement mechanism is still weak, states have been asked to make enforcement stricter and take whatever steps which needs to be taken," Jha told reporters.

Jha said various issues related to air pollution, including crop burning, dust pollution, pollution from landfill sites, building construction, vehicular pollution, industrial pollution were discussed during the meeting.

"Delhi government has been asked to regulate and check the fly ash which is coming out of the Badarpur plant. We will also issue orders to NTPC so that while transportation whatever fly ash is going into the atmosphere, it stops.

"Delhi government has also assured us that it will immediately come out with an plan of action to utilise the money available with it from the collection of environmental tax and one per cent cess for steps to improve the environment," Jha said.

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"Stubble burning has been controlled to a large extent in most of the states except in Punjab where there have been instances of stubble burning on a large scale between the last few days of October and first few days of this month.

"However, the Punjab government has assured us that they will make all efforts to check them. There are certain medium and long term measures to wean away the farmers from burning the crop. We have taken them on board and we shall be pursuing them in terms of making funds available to them and through schemes," Jha said.

He said although various steps have been taken separately by states, "much more" needs to be taken and all the states have agreed on the "seriousness" of the problem.

Jha said around Delhi, all states have agreed to review and check pollution arising out of brick kilns and the ministry has also asked states to take immediate action against them.

"Those brick kilns which are functioning on old technology, instructions have been given to states to check and review them and possible shut them down if they are polluting," he said.

Among other instructions, states, especially Delhi, has been asked to check, monitor and review all the check points where PUC certificates are given to vehicles as to how many vehicles are coming in and getting certificates by the state traffic police and transport department.

He said that cleaning of roads is another focus area where states have been asked to take measures.

He said the CPCB will check the 17 critically polluting industries in the NCR region and see whether they are following norms while it will also monitor if diesel generator (DG) set guidelines are being followed or not.

The CPCB chairman will review these measures with states every month so that the air quality of the national capital improves.
Delhi Congress today urged Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and AAP government to ensure cleaning of unused canals passing through unauthorised colonies in the city for the benefit of people observing Chhath festival.

Senior Congress leader and former MLA Mukesh Sharma wrote to Jung after visiting the ghats at Hastsal and alleged that preparations there were inadequate.

The four-day festival, observed mainly by people from Bihar and easter Uttar Pradesh or Poorvanchalis, began today. On the last two days, people throng the ghats to make offering to the rising and the setting sun.

With Delhi municipal polls due next year, political parties are likely to woo this migrant community as they comprise a sizeable voting population.

Sharma said there are around 50 unused canals in Delhi out of which only 19 are used for irrigation purposes.

"Poorvanchal people live in large numbers in Delhi and therefore it was essential that these canals which pass through unauthorised colonies are cleaned up and filled with fresh water for Chhat puja," he said.

The senior Congress leader also complained of mounds of garbage lying around the ghats.

"Local Chhath committees were doing the cleaning up work at the ghats due to inaction by government agencies," he alleged, adding, "It was for the first time that there are no major preparations by the Delhi government and the MCD for the festival."



During inspection of the ghats, Sharma was accompanied by president of Uttar Pradesh-Bihar Development Committee Avdesh Tiwari and other puja committee officials.

In the letter, Sharma has also requested to the Lt Governor for ensuring speeding up of work by the city government, so that people could observe Chhath at Yamuna- Balaswa Lake and Hindon Cut Canal, as they have been doing in the past years.

"The administration should ensure that fresh water is released from Tajiawala Gate No 8before, so that all ghats gets fresh water," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bengaluru Police Commissionerhas advised television channels to exercise "restraint" and "sensitivity" while reporting on events like sensational murder of RSS activists in the city and celebration of the controversial Tipu Jayanti.

Issuing the advisory by exercising powers as anauthorised Officer under Section 2(a) (iii) and in terms ofSection 19 of the "Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act,1995, city police Chief N S Megharikh has said violating the advisory may lead to prosecution of offenders asper provisions of the Act.

The advisory said it has come to the notice that inthe wake of recent murder of RSS activist Rudreshand subsequent arrest of the accused of this casebelonging to Popular Front of India and celebration of TipuJayanti on November 10, some TV channels had beentelecasting provocative and inciting reports/programmes.

"These provocative reports and programmes maycause disaffection amongst the members of public, ignitingcommunal tensions resulting in serious law and order situation in the State of Karnataka specifically in Bengaluru city," it said.

The advisory said news, views or commentsrelating to the murder case and celebrationof Tipu Jayanti should be telecast only after properverification of facts and presented with due caution andrestraint in manner which is in the public interest tomaintain harmony



35-year-old RSS worker Rudresh was hacked to death bytwo motorcycle-borne men on Kamaraja Road on October 16 whenhe was with his friends after attending a Sangh event.

Five persons, including the PFI Bengaluru president, have been arrested in connection with the case.

Also, the Congress government's decision to observe the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, 18th century ruler of erstwhileMysore kingdom has stirred a major row, with opinion sharplydivided among intellectuals, academia and various communitiesand organisations, who have differing views on his reign.

The event which had led to clashes in Kodagu district last year, had even reached the High Court.

The advisory. Signed by Megharikh, has asked allTV channels to follow provisions of the ProgrammeCode and Advertising Code "scrupulously" and exercise"restraint" and "sensitivity" while reporting such and"refrain" from telecasting any material which could ignitepassions and create law and order problem in Bengaluru.

The advisory issued in 'public interest'states that care may also be exercised in the choice of words.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With an eye on north Indian votes in the megalopolis which can tilt scales in upcoming high-stakes BMC polls, various political parties are trying to leverage the forthcoming Chhat festival, mainly celebrated by people from Bihar.

While city unit of ruling BJP has organised Chhat puja at various places, Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which thrives on the sons-of-soil agenda, feels the saffron party was trying to "woo" outsiders ahead of BMC polls through the festival.

Country's richest civic body the Brihanumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been ruled by Sena, with BJP as a junior partner. The 2017 BMC polls are crucial for Sena, which is facing aggressive BJP on its home turf.

Mumbai BJP is actively involved in organising Chhat Puja at around a dozen locations including popular Juhu beach.

"BJP is holding Chhat puja to attract 'outsiders'", an MNS leader said, in a veiled reference to north Indian voters in Mumbai.

Chhat is performed in order to thank the Sun god for sustaining life on earth. The festival is mainly celebrated in Bihar, eastern UP and Jharkhand.

City unit Congress president Sanjay Nirupam has said that "BJP only celebrates Chhat Puja when there is an election round the corner."



Nirupam, who originally hails from Bihar, today asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ensure that BJP does not politicise Chhat ahead of the BMC polls.

"BJP is known to use religious rituals for political gains. I have been organising Chhath puja celebrations at Juhu beach for the last 18 years. As per the High Court guidelines, the celebrations should not take place under the banner of any political party and party flags should not be displayed at the venue," Nirupam stated in a letter to Fadnavis today.

Yesterday, a delegation of some BJP leaders called on the CM and sought assistance of state government for celebrating Chhat puja at sea fronts in different parts of city on November 6.

Shiv Sena, known for its aggressive 'bhumiputra' stance, said Chhat events are being organised with an eye on BMC polls and that they are a show of "political affection to people".

"Sena is not concerned about which party is doing what. Entire country knows Sena for its unwavering stand on Hindutva. It's only Sena which never backtracked from its stand and even Biharis know that.

"All these events are being held in view of BMC polls, but it's true love and affection that people require. People are fed up with political affection towards them," said local Sena MP Arvind Sawant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Karnataka Urban Development Minister R Roshan Baig today said he was ready for any enquiry as BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje accused him of "being directly involved" in the recent murder of an RSS worker here.

Baig also said he was contemplating legal actionagainst Karandlaje.

"People in Shivajinagar know my style of politics;there are BJP and RSS workers in the area who are my friends. They know about me. Ms Shobha has come from Mangaluru. Shedoesn't know about Shivajinagar. She is doing this forpublicity," Baig, who is also the MLA of the area, told reportershere.

He said he would consult his lawyers regarding filing a defamation case against the BJP leader.

RSS worker Rudresh (35) was allegedly hacked to death by two motorcycle-borne men on October 16. He was with his friends after attending a Sangh event when the incident occurred.

Five persons, including the Popular Front of India (PFI) Bengaluru chief have been arrested in connection with the case so far.

Karandlaje had earlier today said, "It is getting clear that minister Roshan Baig is directly involved in it."



She said many officials had expressed suspicion and the people of the area, police andintelligence officials and "our party workers from the area are saying that Baig had himself got Rudresh killedby giving supari (contract)".

Alleging that Rudresh was killed to "halt his personal growth" and also that of the organisation in the area, she demanded a CBI or an NIA enquiry into the incident and the removal of Baig from the state cabinet.

Also accusing the SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India), the PFI and others of involvement in the murder of several Sangh Parivar activists, Karandlaje sought a ban on these outfits.

Baig claimed that he had opposed organisations such as the SDPI and thePFI and said Rudresh was a "good man" and there was no reason for him to give 'supari' and get him killed.

"I am ready for any kind of an enquiry, whether it is a CBIor an NIA enquiry," the minister said.

The BJP, which had staged protests over Rudresh's murder, had blamed the "unholy nexus of Jihadists and Marxists" for the killing and had named the PFI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chilean police used tear gas and water cannon to break up a protest against the country's privatised pension system, which opponents say is leaving many retirees in poverty.

Protesters set fire to at least two buses, forcing passengers to flee, and blocked some two dozen streets with burning barricades in the capital Santiago on a day of nationwide demonstrations.

Launched in 1981, Chile's "pension fund administrators" (AFPs) have been held up by pro-market politicians and pundits worldwide as a model of how to privatize a national pension system.

But opponents say the system has left the 10 million Chileans enrolled in it with deplorable retirement benefits far short of the Pinochet regime's promise of 70 per cent of workers' last paychecks.

The average pension is less than the minimum wage in Chile.

The yesterday's protests came on the same day as a strike by public sector workers demanding a raise, adding to the pressure on center-left President Michelle Bachelet.

Protesters disrupted the morning commute in Santiago by blocking off streets and attacking buses with Molotov cocktails.

Thousands later gathered at a central square in Santiago, the Plaza de Armas.

"I'm 70 years old and I worked for more than 40 years for the government. My pension is 300,000 pesos (USD 460) a month," said retiree Juan Ugarte.

"I don't know what the solution is, but no more AFPs."



Protesters later tried to march on the seat of government, but police broke them up with tear gas and water cannons, arresting 68 people.

Some 10,000 people protested in Santiago and 58,000 nationwide, the interior ministry said.

On August 21, another protest against the pension system drew half a million people, according to organizers. It was one of the largest marches in recent years in Chile.

Pinochet's dictatorship lasted from 1973, when he came to power in a military coup, until 1990. It remains heavy baggage for Chile.

Despite the atrocities committed by his regime, which killed an estimated 3,200 people and tortured 38,000, Chile's constitution and much of its policy framework still date to his rule.

Bachelet, Chile's first female president, won a second term in 2013 promising deep reforms.

But her popularity has since plunged amid a corruption scandal involving her son, and it is unclear whether she still has the political capital to deliver on her reform agenda.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The seventh and final volume of Jeffrey Archer's popular "Clifton Chronicles" series is out.

"This Was a Man" is a captivating final installment of the "Clifton Chronicles", a series of seven novels that has topped the bestseller lists around the world, and enhanced Archer's reputation as a master storyteller, according to publishers Pan Macmillan India.

Spanning the 20th century, "The Clifton Chronicles" is a gripping family saga of the trials and tribulations of the Clifton and Barringtons, two families at opposite ends of the social spectrum.

In "This Was a Man", Harry Clifton sets out to write his magnum opus, while his wife Emma completes her 10 years as Chairman of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, and receives an unexpected call from Margaret Thatcher offering her a job.

Sebastian Clifton becomes chairman of Farthings Kaufman bank, but only after Hakim Bishara has to resign for personal reasons. Sebastian and Samantha's talented daughter, Jessica, is expelled from the Slade School of Fine Art, but her aunt Grace comes to her rescue.

Meanwhile, Lady Virginia is about to flee the country to avoid her creditors when the Duchess of Hertford dies, and she sees another opportunity to clear her debts and finally trump the Cliftons and Barringtons.

In a devastating twist, tragedy engulfs the Clifton family when one of them receives a shocking diagnosis that will throw all their lives into turmoil.

"Only Time Will Tell" is the first novel in "The Clifton Chronicles". The epic tale of Harry Clifton's life begins in 1920, with the words "I was told that my father was killed in the war."



A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father and expects to continue on at the shipyard, until a remarkable gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys' school, and his life changes.

"Sins of the Father" is the second book in the series and



begins from the time before Britain declares war on Germany. The subsequent titles in the series are "Best Kept Secret", "Be Careful What You Wish For", "Mightier than the Sword" and "Cometh the Hour".

"Cometh the Hour" opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia.

Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy?



Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy, and can see no way out of her financial problems, until she is introduced to the hapless Cyrus T Grant III from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who's in England to see his horse run at Royal Ascot.

Sebastian is now the Chief Executive of Farthings Bank and a workaholic, whose personal life is thrown into disarray when he falls for Priya, a beautiful Indian girl. But her parents have already chosen the man she is going to marry.

Meanwhile, Sebastian's rivals Adrian Sloane and Desmond Mellor are still plotting to bring him and his chairman Hakim Bishara down, so they can take over Farthings.

Harry remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.
An FIR has been registered against a Congress MLA and over 40 others for showing black flags to Union minister Anupriya Patel in protest against detention of Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

The incident had taken place yesterday in Kachahri campus where the Minister of state for Health and Family Welfare had gone for a function. Congress workers shouted slogans and showed black flags to her.

According to the FIR lodged by BJP workers, the protesters also hit a car of the minister's cavalcade.

Superintendent of Police (SP), Arvind Sen, said that an FIR was registered against Congress MLA from Madihan seat, Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, former district president Mata Prasad Dubey, Satish Mishra and 42 others under various sections of CrPC including sec-147 (rioting), 188 (Disobedience of prohibitory orders), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).

No arrest has been made so far in this connection, the SP said.

Anupriya represents Mirzapur in Lok Sabha.

Yesterday, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was detained for the third time in two days, with Delhi Police picking him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide of an ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP).

On Wednesday, Rahul was detained twice when he went to meet the family of Grewal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, who died yesterday, was cremated here today.

Sharma was cremated at Shastri Nagar crematorium in the presence of the people from all walks of life, including leadership of various political parties, state Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma said.

Congress leaders, including Gulam Nabi Azad and G A Mir, besides state BJP Chief Sat Sharma, were also present.

The opposition National Conference (NC) batted for a state funeral for him as he had been the Speaker of the state Legislative Assembly, however, the government did not concede it.

"NC chief Farooq Abdullah telephoned Chief Secretary of the J K government asking him to request Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to give Sharma a state funeral," party spokesman said here.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee condoled the demise of Sharma.

Paying rich tributes, JKPCC chief Mir described him as a "great leader who was liked by one and all because of his humbleness and leadership qualities."



Sharma was twice elected to state Legislative Council in 1961 and 1968. He won elections for five times for the state Legislative Assembly in 1972, 1977, 1983, 1987 and 2002.

He served as Minister of State for Transport, Relief and Rehabilitation in 1975-1977 and Minister for Food and Supplies in 1989.

Sharma was elected as Assembly Speaker in 1984-1987. He was also elected as an MP in 1996.

He served as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state in the PDP-Congress coalition government in 2002.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Alleging that the government action smacked of "authoritarianism and intimidation", Congress today hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a one-day ban on a Hindi channel with Rahul Gandhi terming it as "shocking and unprecedented".

Party leader Digvijay Singh suggested that all newspapers and channels should "show courage" and "go off air and not publish" on November 9 to register their protest.

"Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India.

"NDTVBanned-shocking and unprecedented (sic)," the Congress Vice President said on twitter.

Several Congress leaders attacked the government over the issue of putting the channel off air and asked if these were the promised "achhe din" (good days) by Modi.

"It is only a beginning of BJP Model of Good Governance and their expertise of Media Control.

"Modi's Model of Gujarat Governance has begun to show its real face. First Farmers then Labour then Traders then Servicemen and now Media.

"Don't tell me later I didn't warn you ! I may be seen to be speaking out of turn but I know these people better than any of you. Good Luck," Digvijay Singh said in a series of tweets.

He also put out a small note entitled "First they came ..." asking all to see Pastor Martin Niemoller famous statement "First they came.." about cowardice of German Intellectuals following Nazis' rise.

"With my compliments to Media pl learn from History else you know what is in store for you !," he said along with the note.

Singh also wondered if media houses would protest against the order against the channel and said, "Would they also show courage and go off air and not print Newspapers on 9th November ?



"I am certain they won't. May God give them courage."



Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is also political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, said, "Government's decision to ban NDTV India smacks of authoritarianism and intimidation."



"Mark of authoritarianism is when political leaders are detained by police and channels are banned. What Rights will Modi ji come for next," Congress said on its twitter handle while lashing out at the PM.

(REOPENS DEL12)



Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Democracy is being throttled, asphyxiated. Media freedom is on the ventilator. NDTV Banned is a warning signal. Everyone must fight it."



"The Modi government's DNA is to trample, infringe, crush and violate all dissent. Muzzling press freedom integral to fascist, political strategy," he said.

Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said, "Modiji, the media is the Fourth Estate in a democracy, not government-owned real estate. And everyone is not a news-trader."



"I think Prime Minister Modi walks the talk; when he says press freedom, he does mean 'press' freedom," he tweeted.

Jha also said that the real journalist is not the one making noise but is "that quiet one who speaks his mind".

"The NDTV ban is symptomatic of the dangers ahead. Forget #TRP war folks, unitedly resist the fascist takeover. It could be your turn next," he warned and made a call to journalists for standing unitedly.

He said Modi did not appoint Lokpal and "destroyed" the CVC. "Now going after the judiciary and media, the only organs standing against fascism. Time to stand united."



Meanwhile, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot slammed the government over the decision to bar telecast of NDTV India for a day.

"The government's decision to ban NDTV India is shocking. It is an arbitrary decision and misuse of authority," Gehlot tweeted.
An extraordinary provision of the Constitution can now be invoked to appoint retired judges with proven integrity and track record as judges of high courts to tackle rising pendency, the government and the Judiciary have agreed.

As per the minutes of the meeting of the Chief Ministers- Chief Justices Conference held in April, approved after a gap of nearly six months, it has been resolved that "subject to integrity, suitability and performance of a person who has held the office as a judge of the high court, the provisions of Article 224 A can be invoked to deal with the extraordinary situation involving the large pendency of civil and criminal cases in the high courts..."



As per the provision, the chief justice of a high court, with the previous consent of the President (Centre), can request any person who has held the office of a judge of that court or any other high court to sit and act as a judge of the high court for that state.

The minutes were prepared by the Supreme Court. But the Law Ministry said some of the points drafted by the apex court were "definitive" in nature, whereas talks on those issues remained inconclusive in the meeting.

When the conference was held in April, D V Sadananda Gowda was the Law Minister and he kept the matter pending due to disagreement over certain points. The issue was brought to the knowledge of present incumbent Ravi Shankar Prasad who took over in July. The ministry has now cleared the minutes a few days ago.

The agreement on the minutes comes at a time when the Executive and the Judiciary are trying to find a common ground on memorandum of procedure -- a document to guide future appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts.

The document is being redrafted on the orders of an apex court bench to bring more transparency in judges' appointment. But the government and the Judiciary have so far not agreed to the various provisions.

According to the minutes of the meeting, appointment of retired judges in high courts can also help achieve the goal 'five plus zero' pendency. 'Five plus zero' is an initiative to ensure that cases pending for more than five years are taken up on priority basis and pendency of such cases is brought down to zero level.

The other resolutions adopted by the conference, according to the minutes, are asking the states to fill up vacancies of jail staff on a "mission mode" basis.

Also the state governments will be urged to increase the cadre strength of district judiciary at the rate of 10 per cent per annum.

As on June 30 while the total sanctioned strength was 21,303, the subordinate courts were functioning with 16,192 judicial officers -- a shortage of 5,111.

The 24 high courts face a shortage of nearly 450 judges.

Nearly three crore cases are pending in courts across India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government has sought USD 1.55 billion from Reliance Industries and its partners for drawing natural gas belonging to state-owned ONGC in the KG basin over the last seven years.

The Oil Ministry has sent a notice to RIL seeking USD 1.55 billion compensation, sources privy to the development said.

The Justice A P Shah Committee had in a report presented to Oil Ministry on August 30 opined that RIL should pay the government for the natural gas it has drawn from an adjacent block of ONGC in the KG basin of the Bay of Bengal in the past seven years.

In its report, the one-member Shah panel said the Mukesh Ambani-run firm should pay for the gas that had migrated or seeped from ONGC blocks into its gas fields.

"RIL's action of producing and selling gas migrated from ONGC block is unjust enrichment," the report said, adding that over 11 billion cubic metres of gas had flowed from the ONGC block to RIL's fields between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2015. Of this, RIL has already produced about 9 bcm.

The panel, however, said the compensation should go to the government and not ONGC.

The committee said: "The Government of India, and not ONGC, is entitled to claim restitution from RIL for the unjust benefit it received and unfairly retained. ONGC has no locus standi to bring a tortuous claim against RIL for trespass/conversion since it does not have any ownership rights or possessory interest in the natural gas."



As much as 11.122 billion cubic metres of ONGC gas had migrated from its Godavari-PML and KG-DWN-98/2 blocks to adjoining KG-D6 of RIL between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2015. At prevailing prices, the gas was worth Rs 11,000 crore.

While ONGC's reservoirs have almost emptied, RIL continues to produce gas from D1&D3 fields in KG-D6 block, some of it belonging to ONGC.

Shah committee had relied on report of independent consultant D&M to make its case.

D&M had in its November 2015 report indicated that as on March 31, 2015, 44.32 per cent of the gas initially in place in Godavari PML and 34.71 per cent in KG-DWN-98/2 (both of ONGC) had migrated to KG-D6 of RIL. The report projected a higher proportion of gas migration and its production through RIL operated KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) block by the end of 2019.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Green bodies in India today hailed the coming into force of the Paris agreement on climate change which they termed as "inclusive" and one that will mark the "end of fossil fuel era".

They, however, said more needed to be done now to restrict the annual rise in global warming below 1.5 degrees for which India should give priority to renewable energy over energy produced by using coal.

The Paris agreement came into force today, 30 days after the date on which at least 55 signatory countries to the Convention accounting for a minimum of 55 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions deposited their instruments of ratification.

"From now on, serious negotiations should take place on the issue of procedure and outcome. It is clear that terms of action pledged by the countries is not sufficient enough.

"Much more hard work has to be done so that countries, especially the developed ones, can increase their ambition (of cutting emissions). Civil societies need to play a crucial role as well," deputy director general Centre for Science and Environment Chandra Bhushan told PTI.

Director General of TERI Ajay Mathur said the swift coming into force of the agreement reflects the changed sensibilities across the world in addressing climate change and the wide appreciation of the need to act expeditiously.

"The Paris Agreement is inclusive, recognizing the development imperatives of nations like India and the developing world. It is just, upholding and operationalizing the principles of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities," he said.

India ratified the Paris agreement on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Till now around 94 nations have ratified it out of 197 Parties to the Convention.

"In the coming weeks at the 22nd session of the Conference of Parties in Marrakesh in Morocco, the nations of the world will look to define actions that can be fast-forwarded in the four years before the requirements of the Agreement become operative in 2020. Today thus marks not the end, but the beginning of this journey," said Mathur.

Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan said that by committing to the Paris agreement the governments have underscored the inevitable global transition away from fossil fuels.

"We need to see all governments' national plans be much more ambitious in cutting emissions because their current contributions to this agreement are nowhere near enough to achieve its goals and prevent dangerous climate change.

"We expect that in the next couple of weeks, at the Marrakesh climate talks, governments will start addressing this dangerous gap with the urgency our planet requires," said Morgan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gujarat is focussing on creating a framework for helping investors at "every level" of their requirement, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today said here as he invited diplomats of various countries in India to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in his state next year.

Speaking at the 'Diplomats Meet' organised by Gujarat government to interact with Ambassadors and High Commissioners of different countries here, he said his government has initiated several measures to promote wide range of sectors and announced as many as 14 policies which include solar power policy, IT and ITES policy, electronics policy and the upcoming aerospace and defence equipment policy.

Rupani said his government's "focus is on creating a framework for supporting investors by addressing their requirements at every level of investment."



He told the diplomats that Gujarat has 102 product clusters, more than 200 industrial estates, 19 operational SEZs and 13 special investment regions.

"Representing only 6 per cent of India's geographical area and only 5 per cent of India's population, Gujarat is the growth engine of India's economy.

"Gujarat has been a trend-setting state in the progress that India is witnessing today. Gujarat is tuned to receive the maximum benefits from various programmes of government of India like 'Make in India', 'Start up India', 'Stand Up India', 'Digital India' and 'Skill India'," he said.

He said the state government's objective is "to strengthen the relationship and promote cooperation between various countries and the state of Gujarat."



The Chief Minister appealed to the diplomats to share their experiences in the field of skill development and collaborate with Gujarat in creating those skill development facilities as he extended his invitation to the diplomats to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017



During the event, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar praised the efforts that Gujarat has been making in strengthening economic ties with different countries.

The Summit will be organised from January 10-13th January next year on the theme 'Gujarat- Connecting India to the World' and it will be inauguarted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gujarat Pipavav Port today posted a 32 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 59.41 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 87.48 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal, Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd said in a filing to BSE.

However, its total income from operations during the quarter increased to Rs 172.17 crore from Rs 148.98 crore in the year-ago period.

In a separate filing, Gujarat Pipavav Port said that its board has declared payment of interim dividend of Rs 2 per share for the current financial year, on the company's outstanding equity share capital.

(REOPENS DCM 41)



Gujarat Pipavav Port's total revenues increased to Rs 172.17 crore from the Rs 167.19 crore in the year-ago period, while its pretax profit stood at Rs 82.30 crore as against Rs 123.74 crore.

The pretax profit margin has moved up to 57 per cent from 51 per cent a year ago, the company said in a statement.

The business environment is challenging and the company will continue to focus on growth through close co-operation with customers, its Managing Director Keld Pederson said.

The firm's container volumes grew marginally over the previous quarter to 665,000 standard units and the bulk was up to 0.71 million tonnes from 0.60 million tonnes.

It also witnessed 21 RORO calls in which 21,570 cars were handled, a jump of 96 per cent over the preceding quarter.

Shares of the company today closed 1.53 per cent down at Rs 166.85 a piece on BSE.
Gunmen killed a top Egyptian army officer outside his home today in the northern Sinai where the local affiliate of the Islamic State group is leading an insurrection, the army spokesman said.

"Three terrorist elements fired on Brigadier General Hisham Mohammed Mahmud, one of the heroes of the armed forces, outside his home in El-Arish after prayers, resulting in his martyrdom," the spokesman said on Facebook.

The army has been battling an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai which escalated after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Egypt's government says hundreds of police and soldiers have died in the attacks, which have also hit Cairo and the Nile Delta.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Egyptian IS affiliate, which also said it bombed a Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015 killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian tourists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Haryana Assembly today unanimously passed a resolution condemning Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's recent statement that Punjab and Punjabis will not accept any verdict against the state's interest on river waters.

The resolution was moved by Haryana's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma in the state Assembly and passed by the House, which met here today as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Haryana's formation.

The Assembly's main opposition INLD had sought that the resolution condemning Punjab Chief Minister's statement on river water issue be brought in the House. Senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda seconded the demand.

On Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had said Punjab or Punjabis will not accept any verdict against the state's interest on river waters and are ready to make any sacrifice to safeguard their legitimate share on it.

Badal said this while addressing the public gathering in Amritsar on November 1 on the occasion of 50th year of Punjabi Suba celebrations, in which Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah, were also present.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda



described as "serious" the SYL issue and accused BJP government of remaining mute spectator. He asked the treasury benches to pass a motion to condemn the statement of Badal.

"Badal is our elder and I respect him. But he (Badal) said he will not spare single drop of water and will not abide by SC order. I want to warn Badal that they will stop power supply and will not allow entry of truck to the state. They want to break the country," said Hooda.

Taking on opposition benches, state minister O P Dhankar said the way the Congress and INLD members boycotted a conference to mark golden jubilee celebrations at Panchkula yesterday should also be condemned.

"Some political leaders who left the ceremony yesterday wanted to set a political agenda which should be condemned," said Dhankar, drawing angry reactions from opposition benches.

Haryana minister Anil Vij also hit out at the opposition party for boycotting the function.

Members of INLD took objection to the statement of Vij and engaged into heated exchange of words with the sports minister.

INLD MLAs led by Abhay Chautala rushed to the Well of the House to protest against Vij as pandemonium prevailed in the Vidhan Sabha.

Speaker then 'named' several MLAs of INLD before adjourning the House for 15 minutes twice.

Before the adjournment of the House, Punjab Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal was also sitting in the visitors' gallery.

When the House proceedings resumed, INLD MLAs returned to their seats with Speaker expunging the objectionable remarks of both Vij and Chauatla.

Later, Independent MLA Jai Prakash demanded that those INLD MLAs who were being provided Punjab cops for their security and who were staying in Punjab government-run accommodations and hotels should also be condemned.

Haryana Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Punjab Chief Minister's recent statement that Punjab or Punjabis will not accept any verdict against his state's interest on river waters.

The resolution was moved by Haryana's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma in the State Assembly.

Haryana was carved out as a separate state from the then joint Punjab on November 1, 1966.

Notably, on November 1, Badal had said that Punjab or Punjabis would not accept any verdict against state's interest on river waters and were ever ready to make any sacrifice to safeguard the legitimate share of river waters.

Badal had said this while addressing a public gathering in Amritsar on the occasion of 50th year of Punjabi Suba celebrations, in which Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP President Amit Shah, were also present.
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The special session of the Haryana Assembly, which was organised to mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the State's formation, witnessed noisy scenes and verbal duels between the ruling BJP and the opposition members.

A day after INLD and Congress had boycotted the conference marking the golden jubilee of Haryana Vidhan Sabha in Panchkula, Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar today sought a resolution condemning the behaviour of the opposition party members.

Yesterday, the INLD and Congress members had also hit out at the government for "failing" to acknowledge the contribution of their senior leaders in the formation of the state.

"You left the conference, which was not of any party or government..It was a people's event," Dhankar told the opposition MLAs.

Outspoken Cabinet Minister Anil Vij said the opposition parties have nothing to do with the golden jubilee celebrations and they were "making a mockery" of the parliamentary system by getting up on their toes repeatedly on every issue.

Thereafter, the opposition INLD members rushed to the Well of the House and started raising slogans against the government.

The Speaker named several INLD legislators forcing the Assembly to be adjourned twice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana Finance Minister Abhimanyu today said Haryana has left behind Punjab in terms of development with state making progress in every field.

"The state has created a distinct identity for itself in the fields of economics and politics, and has even left Punjab far behind in terms of development," the Minister was speaking at the Swarna Jayanti Session of Haryana Assembly here.

He said that Haryana was unique in terms of its history and geography.

"The presence of mountain ranges, both new and the oldest in the world, and Saraswati river have given a unique identity to Haryana," the minister said.

He also paid glowing tributes to the political leaders, farmers, labourers, soldiers, sportspersons, industrialists and traders who had made significant contributions throughout the 50-year journey of the state.

He said that his father had also been jailed along with many other people during the 'Hindi Satyagraha' movement on August 9, 1957.

He claimed that upon the inception of Haryana as a separate state, the officers of Punjab government had, said that Haryana officers should turn to Punjab when they did not receive their salaries.

However, today Haryana is ahead of Punjab in every field. While the plan outlay of Haryana was Rs 26 crore at the time of reorganisation of Punjab, the plan outlay of Punjab stood at Rs 44 crore. Today, the plan outlay of Haryana and Punjab stand at Rs 24,871 crore and Rs 21,174 crore, respectively, the Finance minister said.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Haryana has increased from Rs 332 crore in 1966 to Rs 3,96,642 crore, and that of Punjab has increased from Rs 570.69 crore to Rs 3,31,940 crore during the same period.

Similarly, the per capita income in Haryana is Rs 1.32 lakh per person and in Punjab it is Rs 1,01,400 per person, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court has directed authorities to file affidavits explaining reasons for non-participation of heads of Municipal Administrative and Water Supply Department and Town Planning at a meeting to discuss steps to be taken with regard to the North East Monsoon.

Taking a serious view, the court directed the Director of Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, The Director and the Commissioner of Town Planning to file affidavits explaining the reasons.

The matter relates a PIL by A. Narayanan, Director of Change India, an NGO, seeking a direction to authorities to desilt storm water drains, waterways and water bodies to prevent any flood situation experienced by the city during last year's monsoon.

When the matter came up earlier on September 16, the court had directed that the special Committee constituted by the government shall meet within ten days of the order.

When the matter came up today, it was brought to the notice of the court by the petitioner that though the meeting was convened the Heads of the Department, who have to take main decisions, did not participate.

The court recorded the submission and said: "Let all the three officers file affidavits explaining their absence in the meeting and as to why the meetings are being conducted in breach of the order for which purpose, even the Chairman and Managing Director, Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board who is the Chairman of the Committee will file an affidavit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi High Court today dismissed the pleas of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others for transfer of their case relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots before another bench, saying these were "baseless and misconceived" and an "abuse of law".

A bench of justices Gita Mittal and P S Teji also rejected their plea alleging bias by one member of the division bench which is hearing the matter, saying the contentions raised amounted to contempt of court but it was not initiating any action as it would delay the proceedings.

"The present applications are baseless, malafide and misconcieved. We find no merit and hence the same are dismissed," the bench said, adding "it is abuse of law".

Kumar and others had alleged in their applications that Justice Teji should not hear the matter as he had heard the case as a trial court judge earlier.

Countering their submissions, CBI had said that Justice Teji had never conducted trial proceedings in the case but only heard the bail plea when he was a trial court judge, as being a sessions judge then, he was handling bail matters.

The bench today said that none of the life convicts in the case joined the applicants alleging bias by any member of the bench and hence there was "no apprehension of injustice".

The applications are "just a delaying tactics. Therefore we cannot allow this because the incident is of 1984", it said.

The bench said the contentions raised in the petitions tantamounted to contempt of court, but it was not initiating such proceedings against Kumar and others so that the matter is not further delayed.

The bench, in its order, said they were also refraining from imposing fine on the petitioners for filing such baseless applications and there was no reasonable apprehension of bias as expressed by them.

Besides Kumar, former MLA Mahender Yadav, who was handed a three-year jail term in the matter and is currently on bail, had alleged that "Justice Teji was exercising keen interest in the matter" and should recuse himself from hearing these appeals.

Convict Kishan Khokkar, who was sentenced to three years in jail and is on bail, had also filed a similar application.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bombay High Court has rejected a petition filed by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Undertaking (BEST) workers union seeking quashing of certain provisions related to working hours in Motor Transport Workers Act on the ground that they violated the right to life.

Dismissing the petition, a bench of Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M S Sonak observed, "The dynamic interpretation of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India is no doubt, here to stay. However, we are not convinced that the impugned provisions, in any manner, denude the motor transport workers of such right to life, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the decisions cited."



Refusing to quash the provisions related to working hours, the court held that these are matters of legislative policy and unless, manifest unreasonableness or arbitrariness is made out, it is not for the courts to strike down the law or to declare that such a law will not apply to metropolitan areas.

"The provisions of Chapter V of the Act which comprises section 13 to 20 have to be construed in their entirety. Thus construed, no case of arbitrariness or unreasonableness is made out. So also, it cannot be said that impugned provisions denude motor transport workers of rights as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution," the bench ruled recently.

The petition sought declaration of section 16(1) of the Motor Transport Workers Act and the second proviso to section 13 of the same Act as ultra vires, contending thatthey violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The counsel for petitioner, Neeta Karnik, submitted that Aection 13 of the said Act mandates that no adult motor transport workers shall be required or allowed to work for more than eight hours in any day or 48 hours in any week.

However, she submitted that the second proviso to section 13 completely negates this mandate by permitting the employer to require motor transport workers to work for more than 8 hours in any day or more than 48 hours in any week.

Karnik argued that the dilution which the second proviso to section 13 brings about to the mandate of section 13(1) is arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

The BEST Union lawyer further submitted that requiring any motor transport workers to work beyond 8 hours on any day or more than 48 hours in any week, adversely affects the right to life of such workers, constitutes bonded labour and is consequently violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.

Karnik argued that section 16(1) of the Act which permits



spread over of more than 12 hours in any day takes no cognisance whatsoever of the conditions of service in metropolitan areas where, it is practically impossible for the workers to afford any housing or place, where to take rest.

She submitted that provisions contained in the second proviso to section 13 and section 16 of the Act, are virtually being observed on regular basis in metropolitan places.

Such breach or abuse of the statutory provisions affects the life and health of the transport workers and this constitutes sufficient reason to declare the provisions as violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, Karnik told the court.

However, the high court was of the view that the purpose for spread over of not more than 12 hours in any day is in fact, intended to benefit the motor transport workers.

"The provision is also in public interest, since, the motor transport workers transport, on most occasions, members of the public and if the motor transport workers are over-strained, there is possibility of accidents. Situations like breakdown, dislocation of motor transport service, interruption of traffic or act of God are generally, not matters of routine."



"In such a situation, if the rigours otherwise imposed by the legislation are marginally relaxed, it cannot be said that such statutory relaxation is unreasonable or arbitrary or that it results in denial of right to life as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution," said the bench.

These are matters of legislative policy and unless, manifest unreasonableness or arbitrariness is made out, it is not for the courts to strike down the law or to declare that such a law will not apply to metropolitan areas or may continue to apply in other areas only, the judges observed.

"The classification which is not in tune with the Constitution is per se unreasonable and cannot be permitted. In this case, as we have found the impugned provisions are neither unreasonable nor out of tune with the constitutional provisions, the decision cited therefore, does not assist the petitioners," the Judges remarked.

"For the aforesaid reasons, we dismiss this petition. There shall however be no order as to costs," the Judges ruled.
The Madras High Court today observed that "process has not been followed" on the appointment of Kalyani Mathivanan as chairperson of Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights and warned the state government of judicial intervention on the issue.

A Narayanan, director of NGO Change India, had challenged the appointment, contending that the mandatory pre-appointment rules had not been followed in her case.

When the petition came up, the court said, "It is quite obvious that the process has not been followed. We put the learned Advocate General whether he would like to review the issue himself and advise the government appropriately or it would be necessary for judicial intervention, especially keeping in mind the judgment of the Division Bench of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court."



The Advocate General, who appeared on behalf the state government, assured the court that he will advise the government which was recorded by the bench.

Earlier, when the matter came up on September 2, the court had said, "The appointment prima facie appears to be in breach of the affidavit furnished to this court."



"The records be, thus, produced in respect of the recruitment process, for us to scrutinise, where after we will examine as to whether suo motu quo warranto petition should be issued questioning the appointment of the chairperson in breach of the sworn affidavit of the state government."



Kalyani was appointed Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University on April 9, 2012, but it was set aside by Madurai Bench of the high court on June 26, 2014 on the ground that she had served only as an associate professor and not as a professor as required under UGC regulations. However, the Supreme Court upheld her appointment on March 11, 2015.

Her academic tenure, however, was marked by allegations of inappropriate appointments, instigated assaults on her critics and general campus unrest.

Kalyani's present appointment pertains to an earlier PIL by Narayanan seeking mandatory registration of child care homes and to close down illegal homes not maintaining minimum facilities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Himachal Pradesh government today said the state has improved its score in "ease of doing business" in 2016 and was placed 17th among states in the latest ranking.

"While evaluating the states on 98 points by Industrial Policy and Expansion Department, Government of India during September, 2015, Himachal had attained a score of 23.95 per cent and with efforts of the government, which laid emphasis on simplifying the Rules for attracting industrial investment, the scored improved to 65.48 in 2016," an official spokesman said.

It was "inappropriate" to question the ranking of Himachal Pradesh in 'ease of doing business' sector, the spokesman said.

The state government had successfully implemented 220 points out of 340 points which comprised environment, labour, construction rules, tax related reforms etc. And the progress on remaining points was in process.

Chief Secretary was monitoring this process personally and a review meeting in this regard would soon be held under chairmanship of the Chief Minister, he said.

The spokesman further said that in future all the permissions of various departments would be provided through single online web portal in coordination with the Industries Department so that investor's time was not wasted in getting permissions.

Stressing that simplification of procedures was a continuous process which would gain momentum with the active cooperation and suggestions of entrepreneurs and industrial associations; he hoped that the State would certainly improve its ranking in next evaluation.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have jointly topped the ease of doing business ranking while Gujarat was placed third in the list prepared by the World Bank and DIPP.

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana occupied the fourth, fifth and sixth slots, respectively in the index based on degree of implementation of DIPP's 340-point Business Reform Action Plan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A worldwide pact to battle global warming entered into force today, just a week before nations reassemble to discuss how to make good on their promises to cut planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Dubbed the Paris Agreement, it is the first-ever deal binding all the world's nations, rich and poor, to a commitment to cap global warming caused mainly from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

"A historic day for the planet," said the office of President Francois Hollande of France, host to the 2015 negotiations that yielded the breakthrough pact.

"Humanity will look back on November 4, 2016, as the day that countries of the world shut the door on inevitable climate disaster," UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa and Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said in a joint statement.

Mezouar will preside over the UN meeting opening in Marrakesh on Monday.

"It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead," they said.

This meant drastically and urgently cutting emissions, which requires political commitment and considerable financial investment.

The urgency was brought home by a UN report Thursday warning that emissions trends were steering the world towards climate "tragedy".

By 2030, said the UN Environment Programme, annual emissions will be 12 to 14 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) higher than the desired level of 42 billion tonnes.

The 2014 level was about 52.7 billion tonnes.

2016 is on track to become the hottest year on record, and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere passed an ominous milestone in 2015.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris as well as public buildings in Marrakesh, Adelaide, Brussels, New Delhi and Sao Paulo were to be lit in green to mark the entry into force of the pact meant to stop the rot.

That historic agreement was finally endorsed in the French capital last December, after years of complex and divisive negotiations, but the ratification was reached with record speed.

At least 55 parties to the UN's climate convention (UNFCCC), responsible for at least 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, had to ratify it for it to take effect.

It passed the threshold last month, and by today had been ratified by 97 of the 197 UNFCCC parties, representing 67.5 per cent of emissions, according to France's environment minister Segolene Royal, the outgoing president of the UN talks.

"It is a magnificent day, concluding years of hard work," Royal told journalists in Paris.

"We must maintain this extraordinary momentum by encouraging countries to continue ratifying the deal, and by moving full steam ahead with our preparations to put it into action across the world," Europe's climate commissioner Miguel Canete added in a statement.

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A 12-day-old baby boy was "taken away" from Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital in northwest Delhi today and was brought back by a couple within six hours after police teams started searching for the missing infant.

For Kartik's parents, nothing could match the joy of seeing their son again after he was "taken away" from the hospital where he was born.

The child was taken away by a woman when Kartik's mother went to the washroom around 5.52 AM, the infant's father Sunil Upadhyay alleged.

He said, "I got a call from my wife that our son has been kidnapped. When I reached the hospital and asked them (authorities) to show me the CCTV footage they initially didn't relent but when I threatened about calling media, they agreed. They were initially skeptical about informing police."



The couple that had taken the child away brought him back to the hospital around 11.30 AM after they got to know that police was investigating the matter, police said.

"They panicked after hearing that police teams are looking for the child. They are currently detained and we are questioning them to know why they had taken the child away," DCP(Northwest) Milind Dumbere said, adding since it was a sensitive matter, many teams were formed to find the baby.

Police said the couple who had taken the child has three daughters. They have twin daughters and the woman had recently given birth to another girl child. They wanted a son, which is why they might have kidnapped the infant, police said.

The couple stays at Shahbad Dairy and had taken the infant to their home.

The child was born on October 22 at the hospital. Since he developed some infection, he was kept at the hospital.

Upadhyay also alleged that the hospital authorities didn't allow any family members apart from the child's mother to stay with the infant.

"The security guard didn't allow any local guardian apart from the mother to stay with the child," he said.

He said that since the child wasn't well, they hadn't even formally named him. "We have thought of the name Kartik for him. After the incident, I brought my child and wife home," he said.

Meanwhile, the hospital authorities said that they were quite prompt in informing the police about the incident.

Dr Surender Pal, Medical Superintendent of Babu Jagjivan Ram hospital said, "The allegations of the parents are baseless. After the mother raised an alarm about her baby being not in the ward, we alerted the security and also informed the police.

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India and Bangladesh are committed to root out terrorism, no matter from where it originates, and address other concerns like human trafficking and fake currency, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.

He made the remarks during a meeting with a Bangladesh delegation led by Minister of Disaster Management and Relief Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya who voiced Dhaka's concern over terror attacks in Pathankot and Uri.

In an apparent reference to Pakistan, Singh said India and Bangladesh have no difference of opinion on where from terrorism originates and how to eradicate it from the South Asian region, an official release said.

Thanking Bangladesh for its crackdown on Indian insurgent groups operating from its soil, Singh said both countries also have an understanding on addressing various issues of concern including human trafficking and fake currency.

Chowdhury Maya sought India's help in weather forecasting and real-time sharing of satellite imagery and remote sensing data so that the risks of disasters such as floods and cyclone can be minimized.

He also sought training for Bangladesh personnel in earthquake Rescue Operations.

The Home Minister assured India's all help and sharing of all weather inputs besides extending training facilities to Bangladesh disaster response forces at the Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management and other premier institutions.

A Bangladesh government statement said the Home Minister conveyed his appreciation for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for strongly pursuing a policy of "zero tolerance" towards terrorism.

India, he said, was thankful to Dhaka's firm determination not to allow its land for use by terrorists and militants, the release said.

The statement said India and Bangladesh also agreed to bolster cooperation in disaster management through sharing of each other's experience in advanced warning, evacuation, rescue and relief operation.

Chowdhury Maya is leading Bangladesh delegation to the Asian Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction being held in New Delhi.

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The community pantry is kicking off its fall food drive with grocery bags being delivered throughout Beatrice over the next week to stock up on food before Thanksgiving.

The drive hopes to see Beatrice residents filling up the bags with some of the items listed in the flyer attached to them, and members of the pantry will come by to pick them up on Saturday, Nov. 12.

The food drive has been going on for years, but it keeps getting bigger and bigger, said Karen Mains, who coordinates the pantry. Over the past 10-15 years it has really grown. Monetary donations are also very welcome.

The grocery bags will be dropped off at houses through Wednesday, depending on the area of the city, and will be collected by 10 a.m. next Saturday. Once the grocery bags are collected, they will be delivered to the community pantry at St. John Lutheran Church where the food will be cataloged and used to feed members of the community who cannot afford groceries.

We usually serve over 5,000 people in need over the course of the year, Mains said. At the beginning of the month churches throughout the town will ask us what we are short of and at the end of the month they bring it in.

The St. John Lutheran Church pantry serves as the pantry for the entire community and Mains estimated that around 25 churches help to send in volunteers and keep the supplies stocked.

We have a lot of people and families in need that have to go somewhere for help so this provides a necessary service for them, Mains said. We have over 65 volunteers per month helping out with people from every church in town.

Martin and Marlene Seckel were bagging some of the items from the pantry for families that requested them on Thursday, and have been helping the church pantry for decades. They are members of the St. Paul Church and both have sat on the pantry board for 25 years, which is a 22 member board with individuals from just about every church in town.

Its a needy thing so we all have to do our part, Marlene Seckel said. We never deny anyone food and a few try to repay the pantry when they can.

Its very enjoyable, Martin Seckel added. You meet different people and people in town are very thankful.

So far in 2016, the pantry has delivered food for 1,222 households for more than 3,500 people and 123 new clients were added this year. Most of the individuals were ages 18-64.

Some of the items asked for from Beatrice residents include basics like noodles, canned meats and shampoo and condition, nice extras like mustard and cake mix, and shortage items like cereal, fruits, and toilet paper.
India's forex reserves rose up by USD 16.6 million to USD 367.157 billion for the week ended October 28, the Reserve Bank said today.

Total reserves had risen by USD 1 billion to USD 367.14 billion in the previous week.

In the reporting week, foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, increased by USD 21.6 million to USD 341.944 billion.

FCAs, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and the yen held in the reserves.

Gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 21.406 billion, the apex bank said.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund declined by USD 1.9 million to USD 1.461 billion, while India's reserve position with the Fund dipped by USD 3.1 million to USD 2.344 billion, the apex bank said.

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Demand for Chinese products in India is decelerating and imports from the country would see a "major hit" in the coming months, according to a report, which revealed a significant shift in the consumption pattern of Indian consumers towards domestic products.

The analysis by the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry said increasing competitiveness of India's production capabilities to match its Chinese counterparts due to the improvement in the ease of doing business was another factor responsible for the trend.

"Indian production capabilities are becoming competitive as compared with China because of many reasons such as improvement in the ease of doing business. Also, there is a significant shift in the consumption pattern of Indian consumers from the Chinese products to domestic products.

"As the Make in India programme is getting pace month after month, we can anticipate a significant improvement in the balance of trade with China," said PHD Chamber's President Mahesh Gupta.

The analysis is based on around 2,000 responses from the consumption segment and more than 100 industry stakeholders who participated in the survey.

"Demand for industrial products such as raw materials etc. Is declining by 10-15 per cent and demand for consumption goods is less by 20-25 per cent," said the study.

India's imports from China increased more than 500 per cent from USD 10 billion to USD 61 billion during the last ten years from 2005 to 2015. China's share in India's imports increased from 7 per cent in 2005 to around 16 per cent in 2015, said the analysis by PHD Research Bureau.

However, the trend has been reversed and growth of imports from China decelerated by 8 per cent in the first six months of the current financial year 2016-17.

"The growth of imports from China has been decelerating and is in the negative trajectory in the recent months; no enthusiasm is seen in the upcoming months too," Gupta said.

Despite the festive season imports from China decelerated (-) 14.5 per cent in the month of September whereas imports from World decelerated (-) 2.5 per cent, the study revealed.

Majority of the decline in India's imports from China has been witnessed in products such as ships and boats, tobacco products, aquatic products, pearls and precious stones, musical instruments and parts thereof, mineral fuels and oils, lead and articles thereof, cocoa products, and wool and products thereof, further revealed the analysis.

It highlighted the pivotal role of investments for the long term sustainable goals.

"FDI inflows from China to India between April 2000 and March 2015 stood at USD 288.512 billion wherein China's share was roughly 0.47 per cent which rightfully indicates that China is not a significant and substantial investor in India as compared to Singapore, Mauritius and Switzerland," the report pointed out.

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India has stepped up its campaign for enhanced Chinese investments in the country by holding several high-profile investor meetings in China over the past two days.

After addressing a well-attended seminar here yesterday, Ravneet Kaur, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Alkesh Kumar Sharma, CEO, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Corporation addressed a similar event in Zhengzhou, a metropolis and the provincial capital of Henan.

The India-China Trade Investment and Economic Cooperation Seminar in Zhengzhou got overwhelming response, a statement from the Indian Embassy here said.

Kaur yesterday said Chinese investments in India in the last 10 years totalled USD 1.37 billion. Chinese officials say investments in India from China amounted to USD 4 billion.

Besides Kaur and her colleagues, three Chinese companies including Henan Senyuan Group, Henan Tianrui Group, and China Railway Engineering Equipment Group also made detailed presentations and expressed strong interest in investing in India, the statement said.

Their presentations were followed by a lively Q&A session with Chinese enterprises asking specific questions on areas of interest for investment, it said.

K Nagaraj Naidu, Director General of Investments, Technology Promotion & Energy Security Division, Ministry of External Affairs who had earlier addressed an investment campaign meet at Huzhou city organised by Indian Consulate in Shanghai addressed a similar event at Wuxi in Jiangsu province yesterday.

He spoke at the Renewable Energy Conference (CREC) in Wuxi, during which investment opportunities in India's renewable energy sector were put on display for potential renewable energy investors from the Eastern China region.

Naidu made a detailed presentation for all Chinese participants at the 8th CREC Plenary Session highlighting the scale of investment opportunity available to Chinese companies in the Solar, Wind and other renewable energy sector.

India was designated 'Guest Country of Honour' at the conference, a statement from Indian Consulate in Shanghai said.

The Indian Pavilion showcasing India's renewable energy requirements and strengths was jointly inaugurated by Naidu, along with Wang Jinjian, Vice Mayor of Wuxi and Consul General, Shanghai Prakash Gupta.

During the discussions with Vice Mayor Wang, Wuxi companies were encouraged to aggressively explore opportunities of investment in the renewable energy sector in India, the press release said.

The opening ceremony of the 8th CREC was attended by nearly 300 delegates from China and abroad.

Some of these companies were leading energy players from China, the US, Europe and Africa, it said. Earlier Indian Embassy here held a seminar to promote Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit to be held next month.

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India and Sweden have agreed to enhance collaboration in energy sector with special focus on areas such as waste-to-energy, hydropower, smart metering and solar energy.

On an official visit to Sweden from November 1-3, Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines Minister Piyush Goyal had a bilateral meeting with the Swedish Minister for Policy Coordination and Energy, Ibrahim Baylan.

The Power Ministry said in a statement that both sides referred to the existing MoU on Renewable Energy Cooperation.

It said the ministerial delegation participated in three round tables on green financing and investment, smart grid and energy solutions, smart cities, electro mobility and waste to energy and energy efficient mining and mine automation /optimisation.

The statement said the visit epitomised the mutual interest in strengthening the all-round bilateral relationship between India and Sweden on the basis of solid groundwork laid by the first ever State Visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to Sweden in 2015 and the visit of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to India in February for the Make in India Week in Mumbai.

The accompanying delegation included senior government officials from the ministry as well as representatives from industry bodies CII and FICCI.

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India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace and stability, President Pranab Mukherjee said today as he described his visit as a "mission of friendship" reflecting the priority attached by the country to further strengthening the unique bilateral relationship.

"As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit. I conveyed the good wishes of the people and government of India to the friendly people of Nepal in their national efforts to achieve peace, stability and development within a federal democratic polity," Mukherjee said after the conclusion of his three-day state visit.

"Nepal has been a 'mission of friendship' and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal. Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity," he said.

Mukherjee, the first Indian President to visit Nepal in 18 years, described his trip as successful and said, "The warmth and affection with which I was received by the people and Government of Nepal was truly overwhelming. It reflects the historic bonds of friendship as well as the unique and multi-faceted people-centric ties that exist between India and Nepal."



"India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development. Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal," he said.

During his visit, Mukherjee held "fruitful" meetings with his Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Prachanda and the entire cross section of the political leadership of the country as well as members of the civil society, an official statement said.

"I conveyed that India remains committed to enhancing its partnership in all areas of priority for the people and Government of Nepal," he said.

Mukherjee invited President Bhandari to visit India. She accepted the invitation with happiness, the statement said.

"In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two peoples," he said.

Underlining the strong cultural and religious ties that unite the two nations and peoples, Mukherjee visited Pashupatinath Temple and offered prayers.

During his visit to the temple, the President announced that India will undertake two small development projects to repair and renovate the Ghats near the Pashupatinath temple on River Bagmati.

He was accorded a civic reception at Rashtriya Sabhagriha by the Kathmandu metropolitan city office, and was presented with the keys of the city.

He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Kathmandu University.

Today Mukherjee visited the ancient city of Janakpur where he offered prayers at the Janaki Mandir and was accorded civic reception by Janakpur Municipal Corporation.

"The city of Janakpur symbolises the long history of our



contacts and close friendship and family ties which have existed between our peoples. I announced that India will construct two Dharmashalas along the Parikrama Path, which would be of use to pilgrims from both our countries," Mukherjee said.

In Janakpur, he also spoke about development of border areas of the two countries.

"It is essential that we pay adequate attention to the development of border infrastructure and connectivity to facilitate movement of people. Today, in consonance with priorities of the people of Nepal, both governments are giving particular attention to expediting implementation of connectivity and developmental projects such as Terai roads, cross border rail links integrated check posts, power and transmission lines," the President said.

These projects, he said, are vital not only for Nepal's socio-economic and infrastructural transformation but also demonstrate our "collaborative efforts to facilitate trade, investments and movement of people."



"The government of India is assisting in the construction of four integrated check posts along important India-Nepal entry point. The ICPs at Birgunj and Biratnagar will be of great advantage to the people of Janakpur around the surrounding region," Mukherjee said.

He also lauded the People of Nepal for their contribution towards the safety and security of India through their service in the Indian Army.

"They have distinguished themselves through their valour and courage," Mukherjee said.

"It is a matter of pride that the brave Gurkhas have been serving in India since the last 200 years with exemplary courage and sincerity. They have earned a name for themselves in the Indian Army," Mukherjee said as he visited Pokhara and interacted with Indian ex-serviceman and their families.

"Today, 32,000 Gurkha soldiers are serving in the Indian Army and around 1 Lakh, 26 thousand ex-servicemen and their dependents are drawing pension in Nepal.

"The ex-servicemen are the foundational pillars of the friendship between Nepal and India. The Indian Government and Indian Army are proud of the Gurkha soldiers and ex-servicemen. I, on behalf of Government of India assure you that the Government of India will never step back in its efforts for the welfare of its ex-servicemen.

"I am happy to say that Government of India is running many welfare schemes for your prosperity and well-being. Every year nearly 3,100 crore Nepali rupees are being distributed as pension in Nepal. In the current year our objective is to distribute around 4,000 crore Nepali rupees under 'One Rank One Pension' and 7th Central Pay Commission.

Mukherjee said India is committed to rehabilitation



efforts pertaining to the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal last year and is working with the Government of Nepal in this direction.

"The Government of India has provided 32,000 Nepali Rupees per pensioner in addition to other aid to 6,832 earthquake affected ex-servicemen," he said.

"I am convinced that my visit has provided new dynamism to our common cooperative endeavours. I am confident that building on shared strength of geography, history and culture, India-Nepal relations are poised to ascend to new heights in the coming years for the mutual benefit of our two peoples," he said after the conclusion of his visit.

Mukherjee also addressed a seminar organised by the Neeti Anusandhan Pratishthan Nepal, Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies and India Foundation, and shared his vision for advancing India-Nepal relations.
Ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry today received a major boost, with the board of directors of the group's hospitality arm Indian Hotels Co Ltd unanimously supporting his leadership and continuance as chairman of the company.

While the independent directors of Indian Hotels Co Ltd (IHCL) endorsed Mistry's leadership and expressed their 'unanimous' full confidence in him at a meeting just before the board of the company that runs Taj Group of Hotels met, sources said other members of the board supported him later.

"There was unanimous support by the board members to Mistry and his continuance as chairman of the company," a source in the know said.

Just as independent directors of the firm, including banker Deepak Parekh and Nadir Godrej, met ahead of a scheduled board meeting, Tata security personnel roughed up journalists and lensmen gathered outside Bombay House to report the meetings.

After ousting Mistry from Tata Sons - the holding company of 100-odd firms with India's largest conglomerate, the promoter Tata Trust is looking at removing him from the operating companies as well.

The vote of confidence by the board of IHCL is a boost to Mistry. The board of Tata Chemicals is scheduled to meet on November 10 to consider second quarter results and Tata Motors will do so on November 14.

In a BSE filing, IHCL said: "The independent directors unanimously expressed their full confidence in Chairman Cyrus Mistry and praised steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership to the company."



The other independent directors of IHCL include Gautam Banerjee (of Blackstone Group), Keki Dadiseth (ex-HUL MD), Vibha Rishi Paul (former executive director, brand and human capital, Max India) and Ireena Vittal (former partner with McKinsey & Co).

Besides Mistry, his sibling Shapoor Mistry is a director on the board of IHCL, as also his confidant and CEO Rakesh K Sarna.

Ratan Tata-led interim management of Tata Sons is seeking to oust Mistry from his positions in the operating group firms, including IHCL and Tata Motors.

As on September 30, 2016, the promoter group controls 38.65 per cent stake in IHCL, out of which Tata Sons has 28.01 per cent.

(REOPENS DEL 78)



The board of IHCL met after the meeting of the independent directors and approved the financial results for the second quarter ended September.

The meeting was chaired by Mistry and it is not clear if the promoter group brought any supplementary agenda to remove Mistry.

Explaining the reasons for making public their views, IHCL said: "After deliberations, the independent directors came to a view that being a listed company, it was imperative for the independent directors to state their views to the investors and public at large such that those who trade in securities of the company make an informed decision.
Undergoing treatment for severe neck, spinal and abdominal injuries at a hospital here, 14-month-old Pari is a testimony of the "barbarism" unleashed by the Pakistan Rangers on unarmed civilians on the Indian side.

The girl has lost her grandfather, an aunt and two cousins in the cross-border shelling by Pakistan on her village in Rangoor Camp on November 1. She underwent a life saving surgery at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital on Wednesday.

"At this tender age she is unable to understand what tragedy has befallen on the family. Her parents were also injured in the Pakistani shelling," Baljeet Kumar a relative of Pari said.

Doctors attending to Pari said she received severe splinter injuries in the neck, spine and abdomen. Some portions of her intestines were also damaged. She has been operated for "Exploratory Latropomy" and has been placed under observation in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

While Pari is battling for her life in the hospital, her father, Rakesh Kumar, who was also injured in the attack, is recuperating in the same hospital.

"The attack on our village was sheer barbarianism unleashed by the Pakistani Rangers. They continued to pound our village for several hours, without giving us any time to run for safety. Pari is a living testimony of all this," Geeta Kumari, another relative of Pari, said.

"Pari's father has not been able to see her. He is injured in the leg. We had to lift him on our shoulders so that he could perform the last rites of his father," Kumari said.

People across Jammu region have been praying for early recovery of Pari as she has become a symbol of the agony and pain being faced by the border residents across the region due to the continuous firing from across the border.

Rishab (7) and Abhi (5) were among the eight killed in the cross-border firing in Ramgarh sector of Samba district.

"These kids had no idea of what cross-border firing is. Their life was cut short by the madness of Pakistan which deliberately targeted the civilian areas," Pardeep Kumar a relative of another injured border resident said.

Terming the attack on civilian areas the "height of barbarianism", Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said it is insane that small kids are targeted by the Pakistan.

"It is barbarianism on part of Pakistan to target kids. Pakistan is a rouge state which attacked villages and killed eight civilians and injured scores others including Pari," he said.

Singh also said the Jammu and Kashmir government will take care of all medical expenses incurred for the treatment of the firing victims and will ensure that Pari gets the best possible medical care.

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Insurance sector regulator Irdai has slapped a penalty of Rs 15 lakh on Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company (RNLIC) for violation of outsourcing norms and other regulations.

Irdai said many Channel Development Associates (CDAs) were not imparting training and there were no adequate office space.

If RNLIC is involved in these activities the objective of appointing CDAs is questionable and making payments to CDAs will only increase the costs to RNLIC in violation of Corporate Governance Guidelines and asked the company to ensure strict compliance to the said norms, it added.

The Authority directed RNLIC to review all arrangements with CDAs and terminate all the CDA agreements which are not as per the provisions of Outsourcing Guideline.

"The penalty amount of Rs 15 lakh shall be remitted by RNLIC by debiting the shareholder's account within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of this order," the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) said in its order issued today.

Irdai said the company adopted poor management principles as CDAs were paid without any basis prior to December 2013.

"The payments to CDAs without invoices and without any basis prior to December 2013 clearly establishes the poor risk management principles adopted by RNLIC and proves the violations of set of provisions of Outsourcing Guidelines. The Authority imposes a penalty of Rs 10 lakh for violating the provisions of Outsourcing Guidelines during the years 2011-12, 2012-13," read the order.

Another fine of Rs 5 lakh was imposed as the company had failed to provide information to auditors about some CDAs.

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Islamic State's reclusive chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has escaped from the terrorist group's stronghold of Mosul as the Iraqi Army advanced for a final assault, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said today.

He said western intelligence sources believe Baghdadi is no longer in Mosul, The Guardian reported.

Baghdadi yesterday broke his year-long silence and issued an audio recording, urging his jihadists to continue their fight to the end in Mosul, where he was believed to be hiding.

Johnson, in an unusual reference to intelligence, said Baghdadi's audio recording was "cruelly ironic since some of the intelligence we have suggests he had himself vacated the scene and is yet using internet media to encourage others to take part in violence."



The battle for Mosul was expected to end in a decisive defeat for the terrorist group, but Baghdadi's escape is likely to complicate matters for Iraqi and coalition forces.

Johnson said the recapture of Mosul, in the face of IS's "scorched earth campaign", would take time and represented "the coalition's greatest challenge", according to the report.

If Baghdadi, who surprised the world by establishing the caliphate after capturing Mosul in June 2014, were to be killed, IS would have to choose a new caliph, but no successor would have the authority and prestige of the reclusive leader.

There is widespread concern that, despite a year of planning, there is little agreement among the many ethnic groups in the region on the future political structure of Mosul or the surrounding Nineveh province.

Giving an update to British parliament on the fight against IS, Johnson also said efforts were under way to prevent sectarian violence being unleashed as the group was ousted from Mosul and surrounding towns such as Tal Afar.

He said 30,000 civilians had fled the city and the UN had plans in place for as many as 90,000 refugees. But he accepted there were also reports that citizens would be used as human shields to raise the human cost of Iraqi Army incursions deeper into the city.

Mosul is a multi-ethnic city, but the large Sunni population is fearful that liberation will lead to massacres by Shia militias determined to take reprisals against those who collaborated with IS.

The anti-IS offensive is dependent on US-led air strikes and the presence of US special forces.

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A two-member technical evaluation mission team of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) deputed by the UNESCO, today visited the Bhitarkanika National Park here, officials said.

The objective of the visit is for the ground-zero assessment of the bio-diversity of the unique mangrove eco-system of park.

The national park, a bio-diversity treasure-trove, presently figures in the Ramsar international wetland site. The park figured on the tentative list of future heritage sites of UNESCO in 2009 and made its way to the final list in 2014.

The Odisha government had submitted a dossier, the compilation of which, was made by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, recommending to UNESCO that the park be declared a World Heritage Site.

Earlier, in 1984, UNESCO had declared the Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha as a World Heritage Site.

"We hope Bhitarkanika gets the tag on merit and the visit of IUCN team is a move towards this direction. This will enable the park to get more funding from the government and international agencies and will also attract more tourists," said Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Forest Division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya.

Acharya said the local economy would receive the much-needed fillip after the park was declared as heritage site.

M Doak and Renco Van-merm, members of the IUCN technical evaluation team, said "the dossier provided to us by Odisha government has presented graphic details of Bhitarkanika's rich flora and fauna along with unique mangrove eco-system. We are visiting today and would stay here for four days to assess the bio-diversities. Today we caught glimpses of mangrove cover during the course of boat journey to Bhitarkanika."



Stating that the team interacted with local residents living on the fringes of forest area, Doka said "in the coming days, we'll pay visit to the core area of the national park and the surrounding water bodies. We'll also visit Wheelers' Island and Gahirmatha marine sanctuary. The bio-diversity, eco-system and local human habitation and socio-economic condition of locals and their dependence on forest produce will be assessed by us as it has been desired by UNESCO."



Bhitarkanika is a unique ecosystem, highly dynamic and at the same time fragile. The delta, the river mouth, the sea, mangrove forest, avian fauna, reptiles, amphibians and fauna and flora contribute to the park's biological diversity.

In 1974, the ministry of forest and environment, in collaboration with the UNDP, had started a crocodile hatchery and rearing project at Dangmal in the park.

Under the project, the crocodile population in the park increased from 96 in 1974 to 1,665 his January. Six years ago, the Guinness World Records recorded a 23-foot saltwater crocodile in Bhitarkanika as the largest in the world.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Youve probably heard the slogan: Beef. Its whats for dinner in Nebraska. From world-class packing plants in Omaha to ranches which span as far as the eye can see throughout the Sandhills, beef is our states largest industry. There are few things better than eating a (very!) rare steak at the Peppermill in Valentine or Plainsman Steakhouse in Juniata.

Increasingly, our beef isnt just being served for dinner in Nebraska, but also around the world. In 2006, Nebraska beef accounted for less than four percent of all beef exported from the United States. In the first six months of 2016, Nebraska beef has risen to over 18 percent of U.S. beef exports.

These successes didnt happen by accident. Theyve happened because Nebraskans have worked together to grow opportunities for our quality beef products over the past decade. Since 2005, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) has worked in partnership with the Nebraska Beef Council on a focused effort to grow beef exports internationally. For decades, Nebraska Governors have been leading overseas trade missions to establish new relationships and expand existing ones as well as hosting overseas diplomats and investors here in our state.

In the first two years of my administration, we have built upon this tradition. Last year, I led overseas trade missions to the European Union (EU) and Asia. Next week, I will be leading a trade mission to China, Hong Kong, and Macau with 80 individuals, one of the largest trade delegations the state has ever had. Trade mission attendees include representatives from Nebraska businesses, the University of Nebraska, and farmers and ranchers.

As Nebraskas fourth largest trading partner, China presents many opportunities because of its growing middle class. For example, a growing middle class will demand more high quality food products. During the trade mission, we will be promoting Nebraskas commodities, meeting with potential investors, and working to establish new partnerships.

In addition to the trade missions I personally lead, my agencies also spearhead additional missions throughout the year. Just a couple of weeks ago, Nebraska Agriculture Director Greg Ibach returned from a trip to the European Union where he followed up on our trade mission from last year, and promoted Nebraska beef. He was joined by representatives from the Nebraska Beef Council, Greater Omaha Packing Company, and the University of Nebraska. During visits to England, Germany, France, and Spain, the delegation promoted Nebraska commodities as well as signed agreements with businesses and organizations to feature and promote beef from Nebraska.

Continued commitment to developing trade opportunities has resulted in a huge increase in market share for Nebraska beef in the European Union. In 2005, the U.S. exported $36.3 million worth of beef to the EU, and Nebraskas share of the market was only five percent valued at $1.8 million. In 2015, the U.S. exported $315.4 million worth of beef to the EU, and Nebraskas market share grew to 45.2 percent valued at $142.7 million.

Continued success will require continued commitment. As I travel to China next week, I look forward to sharing with you some of the success stories about the trade mission, and to highlight some of the individuals and companies that will be joining us to promote Nebraska. If you have thoughts you would like to share about Nebraskas trade relationships or partnerships, I hope youll write me at pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov or call my office at 402-471-2244. Working together, we can continue to grow Nebraska!
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has given consent to attend "Momentum Jharkhand" to be held on February 16, an official release said here today.

Jaitley accepted the invitation handed by Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das in New Delhi during the day.

Jaitley will be the chief guest and inaugurate the Global Investor Summit, the release said.

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Steel pipe maker Jindal Saw today reported a 35 per cent fall in its standalone net profit at Rs 47.32 crore for the quarter ended September.

The firm, part of the O P Jindal Group, had clocked a net profit of Rs 72.65 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.

Total standalone income of the company rose marginally to Rs 1,411.17 crore in July-September this fiscal, from Rs 1,402.61 crore in the same quarter in 2015-16.

The company's total expenses declined to Rs 1,253.74 crore, from Rs 1,290.65 crore during the period under review.

During the September quarter, Jindal Saw produced pipes and pig iron of around 2.56 lakh tonnes (LT) and pellets of about 3.15 LT.

Its current orderbook for pipes and pellets is around USD 700 million while the position in terms of volume is over 1.08 million tonnes (mt).

As of September 2016, its net institutional debt (at a standalone level) was about Rs 4,183 crore (around USD 625 million) including ECB/long-term loans and fund-based working capital.

This includes net working capital borrowings (short term) of Rs 1,982.2 crore (around USD 296 million) and long term loans (ECB/ rupee loans/ rupee NCD) of Rs 2,200.8 crore (about USD 329 million).

"Working capital borrowing remains high on account of higher orderbook. The company is working towards debt re-profiling to have the long dated debt," Jindal Saw said.

It has deferred its decision to set up a steel plant at Bhilwara (Rajasthan) for the time being.

On outlook, the firm said increase in commodity prices including cocking coal is expected to influence the finished goods sale prices.

Export of pipes from India to countries like the US, Europe and Mexico has been impacted negatively due to imposition of anti-dumping duties by these countries on Indian pipes. On the other hand, India has seen dumping of seamless pipes by countries such as China that has impacted domestic demand.

To provide a level-playing field, India has imposed anti-dumping duties on import of seamless pipes from China, which has supported the Indian seamless pipe industry for some time, Jindal Saw added.

The revenue portfolio is well diversified where about one-third of revenue is generated from oil and gas. Slowdown in exploration and drilling, continued weakness in oil prices coupled with geo-political and war-like situation in MENA region may still have a negative impact on the new demand for steel pipes, it said.

However, it is optimistic that opening of new markets like Iran will provide additional business opportunities to Indian pipe companies.

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The Kanara Chamber of Commerce has suggested that 'Brand Mangaluru' should be promoted across the country to encourage tourism, information technology, manufacturing and generation of employment in the city.

In a memorandum submitted to Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner K G Jagadeesh, the Chamber said the state government should be asked to form a Karavali Tourism Development Authority to showcase Mangaluru as a tourism hub.

The city had the potential to become a major tourist destination if right efforts were made in the direction, it said.

The city should be promoted as the next IT destination in Karnataka during the 'Invest Karnataka' meet.The memorandum also suggested ban on processions and demonstrations through main roads and action against vehicle users violating one-way rules.

It also suggested enforcing 'no horn' zones within the city and planning of skywalks and involvement of traffic police department in urban planning.Basic comfort level should be provided to all citizens using markets and shopping centres.

The Chamber registered its opposition to the proposal of New Mangalore Port Trust to hand over all cargo operations in one premium berth at the port to a privateparty, thereby depriving the right to livelihood of those who have been dependent on port-related activities there fordecades.

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Kenya has accused the UN secretary-general of instigating an investigation of deadly attacks in South Sudan with the "preordained" outcome of blaming the Kenyan commander of the UN peacekeeping force who was fired after just three weeks on the job.

Kenya's UN Ambassador Macharia Kamau told a conference yesterday that Lt Gen Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki was sacked by UN chief Ban Ki-moon as "a scapegoat" for the systemic failures of the UN peacekeeping system.

He said the investigation was demanded "by certain current and future members" of the Security Council who wanted to protect their interests during the July attacks in South Sudan's capital, Juba. He refused to identify them.

The investigation sharply criticized the UN peacekeeping force's response to attacks on a UN compound in Juba housing 27,000 displaced people.

Over three days in July, at least 73 people were killed, including two Chinese peacekeepers and more than 20 internally displaced people who had sought UN protection. The investigators also criticized UN peacekeepers for failing to respond to an attack on a private compound just over a kilometer away where UN staff, aid workers and local staff were robbed, beaten, raped and killed by armed government soldiers.

Kenya's Foreign Ministry, expressing "dismay" at Ondieki's firing and the way the investigation was conducted, announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its 1,000 troops from the UN peacekeeping operation in South Sudan and will not contribute to beefing up the force by 4,000 troops.

"Kenya had warned that any unfair or prejudicial action taken on the basis of this investigation would compel Kenya to re-evaluate completely its engagement in South Sudan," Kamau said. "The secretary-general, in his lame-duck season, seems to have found the courage that has eluded him throughout his tenure by choosing to ignore Kenya's plea."



Ban's 10 years as UN chief ends on Dec 31 and Antonio Guterres will take over as secretary-general on Jan 1.

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Kerala government today said all necessary arrangements are in place to smoothly conduct the three-month long 'mandala pooja' and 'makaravilakku' pilgrimage season at Lord Ayyappa temple in the hill shrine of Sabarimala which begins on November 15.

A meeting of ministers in charge of Devaswoms from south India, to be chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, will be held here on November 8 for a final review of preparations, Minister for Devaswoms and Power Kadakampally Surendran said in the Assembly.

Nearly four crore devotees visit the shrine during the festival period. The total hundi collection last year stood at Rs 109 crore.

Rejecting the opposition's charge that the government and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), that manages the temple, has rift over implementing the programmes, Surendran said, "There is no difference of opinion between government and TDB."



Dismissing the allegation that the government is trying to infringe upon the powers of TDB, he said, "Whether we are believers or not, the government is committed to provide and ensure facilities for believers who visit the shrine."



He was referring to a remark of BJP member O Rajagopal, who, raising the issue of Sabarimala pilgrimage through a calling attention motion, alleged that the CPI(M)-led LDF government "lacked interest" to beef up facilities, may be because they are "non-believers".

On Rajagopal's request that tribals in the region who are said to have lighted 'makara jyothi' in ancient times, should be handed over the right now also, Surendran said the government is examining the tribals' demand and has not taken a final decision on the matter.

"The present practice started 69 years ago," he said.

According to some historians lighting the lamp atop the Ponnambalamedu hill has been an ancient tradition of tribal communities living around the hill shrine. The ritual was taken over by TDB and done with the help of forest and electricity departments now.

Giving details of the facilities, Surendran said nearly 40 lakh tins of 'Aravana', the main prasadam at the temple, will be ready on the day of opening of the shire. Special arrangements have been made to reduce the 'Ghee' abishekam, one of the main rituals of Ayyapa pilgrims, he said.

On providing drinking water, he said more than 100 kiosks for drinking water will be made available on the hill pathway from Pamab to Sanidhanam. Health Centres at the hill-shrine have been equipped with equipment to meet emergency situation.

According to the custom, the shrine opens only for five days every month of the Malayalam calendar, besides the November to January 'mandala pooja' and 'makaravilakku' pilgrimage season.

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RJD chief Lalu Prasad today alleged that an "Emergency-like situation" prevailed in the country where the democratic rights of the citizens were being "trampled" by the NDA government.

Comparing the NDA regime with that of the Emergency in the mid 70s, he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "giving a new definition to democracy by destroying the Constitution through subversion of the democratic rights of the people to express free opinion".

"Which kind of democracy are you giving shape to Modiji? The administration is run in the spirit of democratic values. One cannot ignore the people's concern in democracy. An Emergency-like situation is prevailing in the country," Prasad said in a series of tweets today.

"Fascism is knocking on the doors of the country. The constitutional and democratic values are in danger. People who speak against the government are being arrested and banned," the former Bihar chief minister and former Union minister added.

He regretted that the people were "undermining" the Constitution and alleged that democratically elected heads of states were being arrested for meeting the victims of tragedies.

The RJD chief was referring to the detention of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia following the alleged suicide by ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal in New Delhi.

Reminding the current regime of the old days when the people of the country "taught a lesson to such oppressive governments", Prasad said, "People (in power) should not forget that justice loving people had taught a lesson to those who tried to crush the freedom of individuals or non-government organisations."



The Central government had "lost its sheen" within two-and-a-half years of coming to power, he claimed, adding "they would not have dreamt of such a situation within a span of two-and-a-half years. Such a situation is quite natural for the government of headlines and marketing".

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A Latvian man in the UK has been charged with the murder of a 30-year-old Indian-origin woman who was found dead near London's Heathrow airport last month, Scotland Yard said today.

Vadims Ruskuls, 24, from Latvia, was also charged yesterday with preventing lawful burial of Pardeep Kaur.

"Vadims Ruskuls appeared in custody at Hendon Magistrates Court and was remanded to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday, 7 November," a Scotland Yard statement said.

Kaur, who was married and worked as a hotel housekeeper, had been reported missing on October 17 by a relative after she did not come home from work.

The investigation was taken over by the Metropolitan Police's Homicide and Major Crime Command on October 20.

On October 22, Met Police detectives discovered her body concealed on waste ground underneath the Harlington High Street flyover in Hayes, near Heathrow airport in south-west London.

A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive in establishing the cause of death and the results of further tests are awaited.

Her body was found by police nearly a week after, during their search and it is believed she was strangled by a stranger on her way back home from work in south-west London.

Local police increased patrols in the area to reassure the neighbourhood following the murder.

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The CPI(M) today alleged that an anonymous letter, threatening Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan "not to clash with the Sangh Parivar outfits", has been received in Kanyakumari ahead of his visit there next week for party events, and sought police action.

In a letter to Tamil Nadu DGP TK Rajendran, CPI(M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan said the letter had no names or addresses, but asked Vijayan "not to clash with the Sangh Parivar outfits".

"The letter warned the Kerala Chief Minister not to clash with the Sangh Parivar outfits. A complaint has been filed with the district SP, but no action seems to have been taken on it by the police so far," said Ramakrishnan.

Vijayan is scheduled to address a public meeting at Nagercoil on November 9 and flag off a farmers' rally the next day from Kanyakumari, bordering Kerala, he added.

The letter also threatened to "blow up" the local party offices of the CPI(M), Ramakrishnan said and urged for the DGP's intervention in nabbing the culprits.

Kerala has recently seen a spate of murders of RSS and CPI(M) activists with each side blaming the other for the violence.

Vijayan had even accused the RSS of "unleashing violence" in his hometown of Pinarayi in Kannur district even as the BJP had alleged that the Kerala Chief Minister was "spreading lies to cover up the political violence".

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The Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, which has been volatile over the last several weeks, remained calm for the second day today, with no firing of shelling taking place from across.

"There has been no firing or shelling by Pakistan along LoC and IB today," a senior officer said.

While there has been no shelling or firing along International Border since November one, there has been no shelling since yesterday along LoC.

On November 2, two people were injured when Pakistani troops resorted to shelling and firing along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts.

The preceding day saw the worst-ever Pakistani shelling along the IB and Loc targeting civil population, killing 8 people, including 2 children and 4 women, and injuring 22 others.

However, even as there was no firing or shelling along the frontier, the border dwellers refuse to return to their homes because of the looming fears.

Officials said most of the border people are staying in camps and they do not want to return to their border homes in view of threat to their lives from Pakistani firing and shelling.

They fear that this is just a lull before another round of hostilities, the officials said.

Jammu & Kashmir government has closed over 400 schools along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu region in wake of heavy cross border firing from Pakistan.

So far, a total of 18 people including 12 civilians have been killed and more than 83 injured in Pakistan shelling and firing along IB and LoC in Jammu.

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The Union Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises is partnering with IIT Kharagpur to set up a center of excellence on advanced manufacturing for heavy industries as part of the 'Make in India' initiative.

"In comparison to western and southern India, east has a dearth of such centres of excellence. Being a representative from the state of West Bengal, I am committed to bring central schemes for benefit of the state," said Babul Supriyo, union minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises.

Department joint secretary Vishvajit Sahay said through this centre local industries big or small would work with IIT Kharagpur for requirement of heavy machineries.

"The centre will cater to current and future research and development needs of heavy industries and MSMEs, delivering prototypes of high quality and supporting not just West Bengal but India to carve out a significant place globally," IIT-Kgp director Prof P P Chakrabarti said.

"The Institute will do the R&D and share it with the industries for commercialisation. The model will be of a consortium and also promoting start-up culture in this part of the country," he added.

Central government has schemes wherein centres of excellence will receive 80 per cent funding from it while 20 per cent would be raised by various stakeholders. The facility built could be used by all stakeholders.

This was the first meeting regarding the centre with the institute and industry representatives.

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An American flag now proudly flies over the Northfield Villa & Vista facility in Gering. On November 1, I had the opportunity to attend the dedication ceremony and learn more about how the community came together to honor our country and those who defend our freedom.

Our flag is a powerful symbol of the dedication shown by all the men and women in our Armed Forces, as well as the police officers, firefighters, and other first responders who risk their lives to keep us safe. Words cannot describe the debt we owe them.

Flying the flag is a lasting way to honor all those who have answered the call to serve our country. On Veterans Day, we set aside time to recognize and thank these brave heroes who have fought to defend our nation and preserve our liberty.

Throughout the year, I have had the privilege of attending send-off ceremonies for Nebraska service members and welcoming Honor and Hero Flights to Washington, D.C. Both are truly humbling experiences  watching our military men and women say goodbye to their loved ones with confidence in their mission and purpose, and seeing veterans visit the memorials honoring their service and sacrifices.

While pessimistic news about the divisions and challenges in our country can consume the spotlight, these heroes quietly reflect the greatness of America.

As chairman of the Rural Veterans Caucus, I remain committed to ensuring our veterans receive the care and resources they deserve. This requires finding legislative solutions to improve management of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The House passed legislation this summer, which I cosponsored, to provide the VA Secretary increased flexibility to remove VA employees for poor performance or misconduct, while also strengthening whistleblower protections.

We face many challenges regarding the budget, but Congress was able to come together and pass the Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, which has been signed into law by the President. This legislation funds veterans programs, including much-needed improvements to the VA, and also provides the funding to equip military personnel, house military families, and maintain our bases and health care facilities.

Here in Nebraska, we celebrated the dedication of the new Omaha National Cemetery in August, which will serve more than 120,000 veterans and their family members over the next 100 years. Thousands of people will visit these hallowed grounds to pay tribute to our fallen heroes.

To the many veterans in the Third District, please share your stories. My grandfather was a Seabee in World War II, and his story inspired me to get involved and work to preserve freedom and opportunity in America. The Library of Congress manages the Veterans History Project, which recorded its 100,000th narrative earlier this year. For more information on how to participate, please visit www.loc.gov/vets or call my office for assistance.

Whether you fly the flag, attend a ceremony, or shake the hand of a veteran in your community, please be sure to thank a hero this Veterans Day. The cost of freedom is high, and we owe everything to those who have been willing to pay it.
As the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) situation remained alarming in Odisha's Malkangiri, the District Collector personally took a six-year-old girl suffering from the disease to the hospital from her unwilling parents.

Shattered by the death of their two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son due to the killer disease earlier, the tribal parents had resisted any move to get their ailing daughter admitted to the hospital for treatment.

However, District Collector K Sudarshan Chakrabarthy went to village Daniguda and took the girl to the hospital after a lot of persuasion.

The local Sarpanch and Anganwadi and ASHA workers also impressed upon the parents of the JE-afflicted girl on the need to admit their daughter to the hospital.

The Collector assured the girl's parents, Sudarshan Padiami and Irme Padiami, that all necessary measures would be taken to ensure proper medical treatment for their daughter at the district headquarters hospital here.

Doctors at the hospital said the girl was showing signs of improvement after being admitted to the medical facility.

The parents of the girl were reluctant to take her to the hospital as they appeared to have lost confidence after losing their two children to the disese, officials said.

Meanwhile, the toll due to the dreaded disease mounted to 76 today following the death of another child at the district headquarters hospital, officials said.

Unconfirmed sources, however, put the death toll due to JE at 89.

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The prime suspect involved in gouging out the eyes and cutting off the feet of his sister for allegedly kidnapping his daughter in Pakistan's Punjab province has been arrested, police said today.

Muhammad Afzal, the prime suspect in the horrific November 1 incident, has been arrested and police are conducting raids to trace eight other suspects named in the FIR, Muzaffarghar police head Awais Malik told reporters.

According to the FIR, Afzal and Munir abducted their sister Sharifan Bibi, who is in her 40s, and gouged out her eyes with a sharp knife and also cut off her feet in Muzaffarghar district, some 400 kms from Lahore.

Nine persons took Sharifan to Afzal's house, where they tied her with rope and assaulted her with knife and axe, according to the FIR lodged against the accused based on the complaint of Sharifan's daughter Nusrat Mai.

Afzal had earlier registered an FIR against Sharifan for kidnapping his daughter. However, police said it appearsto be a matrimonial issue between the two families.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the police to arrest the culprits at the earliest.

Sharifan is under treatment at a hospital in Multan where her condition is said to be stable.

Last year, 1,100 women were killed in the name of honour in Punjab province.

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ManpowerGroup Solutions, part of ManpowerGroup, has partnered with PeopleTicker, the global standard for independent compensation rate and benchmarking data, to provide market intelligence to recruiters.

Through this partnership, ManpowerGroup Solutions will leverage PeopleTicker's ability to analyse and compare salary information with bill and pay rate data to provide market intelligence that improves benchmarking and enables clients to achieve accelerated cost optimisation, a company release said.

"PeopleTicker's global data integrates seamlessly with our industry-leading market intelligence to not only accelerate cost savings but ensure our clients have access to the information they need to make better and more competitive decisions when pricing talent," Jamiel Saliba, Vice President and General Manager of TAPFIN Global, ManpowerGroup Solutions' managed service provider (MSP) said.

ManpowerGroup Solutions' total talent management solutions are designed to enable all aspects of workforce management, from sourcing to separation. The company partners with Client teams in HR, IT and Procurement to continuously improve processes and results throughout the engagement.

"PeopleTicker is excited to partner with ManpowerGroup Solutions to provide independent labour market data and analysis for their programmes across the globe," PeopleTicker Chairman John Sculley said.

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Many of the Indian-Americans in Florida who voted for the US President Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections say they are switching sides this time and are supporting Republican candidate Donald Trump.

But there appears to be a gender divide, as women appear to be solidly behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (69), because of her life-long work for children and women.

"She (Clinton) has a lot of experience. She has worked for children and women all her life. There is such a huge gap between her experience and what Trump (70) represent," Indrani Sindhuvalli, professor of Biology at the Florida State College in Jacksonville told PTI in an interview.

"He (Trump) is so negative and so inexperienced. I can't support him," said Sindhuvalli, who voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

"Have you listened to what he has said about women? I would not be voting for him. (Hillary Clinton) is my choice for presidency," Rani Ignatius, 61, who lives near Orlando said.

But Rani and several other Indian-American women are having a problem at home convincing their husband to vote for Clinton.

"This is time that we hand over the leadership of the country to a non-politician. Even though he is not very articulate as a politician should be, his policies are in the best interest of the United States," Iggy Ignatius, 61, who is the founder and chairman of Orlando-based Shantiniketan, a home for Indian American senior citizens, said.

Similarly, Dr Pawan Rattan, a life-long registered Democrat from Tampa, finds himself in the Trump camp.

"His policies makes a lot of sense and is in the best interest of the US and the world," Dr Rattan said.

"This is a man who appears to be genuine in his commitment," he said, adding that he is making a one-time exception to vote for Trump because of his commitment to fight terrorism, and policies on health care and immigration.

However, Dr Rattan acknowledged that he faces a tough opposition from his daughter on his support to Trump.

"She wants me to support Clinton," he said.

Indian-American Satya Shaw, a certified public accountant, is an independent and had voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

"I voted for change. But there is no change. Tax rates have increased. Health care bills have jumped," Shaw, who comes from Orissa and lives near Tampa, said.

Impressed by Trump's policies Shaw said: "He will repeal and replace Obamacare on day one. Our income tax would come down.

Having created a national niche for herself even before



being sworn in Pramila Jayapal (51) is the first Indian American woman in the US House of Representatives. Her 78-year-old mother, who especially came in from India, watched the proceedings from the gallery.

"Today is not about me. It's about we. It is about the movement of hundreds of thousands of people in Washington's seventh Congressional District, a diverse coalition of people from all walks of life, who want to ensure that we continue to provide opportunity for all," she said.

"In Congress, I pledge to draw on my experiences as a woman of colour, as an immigrant, and as a Washingtonian to speak out against injustice, even when it is not popular, to push for creative solutions to people's everyday problems, and to find common ground where it can be found," said Jayapal, who is one of only twenty-three Members of Congress born in another country apart from Krishnamoorthi.

Less than a mile away, Indian Americans from across the country gathered later in the night to celebrate the historic occasion at a gala organised by Indiaspora.

"This is a historic moment. Today we are celebrating from success to significance," said M R Rangaswami, eminent investor, philanthropist and entrepreneur.

"Today, we are actually one per cent of the Congress. We have come a long way but we have a long way to go," Rangaswami said.

"The best of the (Indian American) community is yet to come," said eminent Indian American Ashley Telis at a pre-gala conference, adding that more is in store from the next generation of Indian Americans.

"Indian Americans running for office and winning for Congress is really historic," said political activist Neera Tanden.

Having created a national niche for herself even before



being sworn in Pramila Jayapal (51) is the first Indian American woman in the US House of Representatives. Her 78-year-old mother, who especially came in from India, watched the proceedings from the gallery.

"Today is not about me. It's about we. It is about the movement of hundreds of thousands of people in Washington's seventh Congressional District, a diverse coalition of people from all walks of life, who want to ensure that we continue to provide opportunity for all," she said.

"In Congress, I pledge to draw on my experiences as a woman of colour, as an immigrant, and as a Washingtonian to speak out against injustice, even when it is not popular, to push for creative solutions to people's everyday problems, and to find common ground where it can be found," said Jayapal, who is one of only twenty-three Members of Congress born in another country apart from Krishnamoorthi.

Less than a mile away, Indian Americans from across the country gathered later in the night to celebrate the historic occasion at a gala organised by Indiaspora.

"This is a historic moment. Today we are celebrating from success to significance," said M R Rangaswami, eminent investor, philanthropist and entrepreneur.

"Today, we are actually one per cent of the Congress. We have come a long way but we have a long way to go," Rangaswami said.

"The best of the (Indian American) community is yet to come," said eminent Indian American Ashley Telis at a pre-gala conference, adding that more is in store from the next generation of Indian Americans.

"Indian Americans running for office and winning for Congress is really historic," said political activist Neera Tanden.
Entering the Indian market, Mega Maldives Airlines will start direct flights connecting the national capital and Male this month as the carrier looks to tap the growth potential in tourism.

Besides, the private carrier from Maldives will start direct flights between Mumbai and Male next month and is also in talks with some Indian carriers for possible partnerships.

Announcing the launch here today, Mega Maldives Airlines said it will operate three direct flights every week starting from the national capital on November 15.

Mega Maldives Airlines' founder and CEO George Weinmann said the response has been positive from both countries for the new services.

The carrier will have flights from the national capital to Male on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday while the services from Male will be on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

"India is one of the largest growing economies in Asia and is right on the doorstep of Maldives. Maldives has a long relationship with India in business and tourism. Our job as an airline is to connect people and connect the markets. That is what we are going to do," he said.

It will be operating Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a configuration of 12 business class and 156 economy class seats.

As an inaugural offer, Mega Maldives Airlines is providing round-trip economy class ticket at Rs 22,900.

"During January-August this year, there has been 21.4 per cent increase in Indian tourist inflows into Maldives. I think it is quite a good moment for an airline to start direct connections," Maldives Ambassador to India Ahmed Mohamed said.

According to the airline, over 52,000 Indian tourists arrived in Maldives last year and the numbers are growing at over 20 per cent annually.

Weinmann said the carrier expects to start direct flights connecting Mumbai and Male next month. Discussions are also going on with Indian airlines for possible partnership, he said, adding that it would be too early to provide further details.

The airline flies to China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid the ongoing debate over the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP), former Chief of Army Staff Gen Ved Prakash Malik, said military is "no longer a right choice" today.

"Throughout my service, I have always believed that the man behind the gun is more important. We have to look after the man behind the gun. There has been a static erosion of soldiers' status within the government and in society also," Malik said during a plenary session at the "India Ideas Conclave" which kicked off here today.

"This is reflected in the qualitative and quantitative dilution of military rank and file," Malik, who was the Army chief during the Kargil War, said.

"By taking away its pride, status and making career unattractive, the military is no longer a right choice today, which I believe is neither good for military nor for the nation," he added.

"We are talking not only about what the government sometimes give, but what hurts me more is the manner in which it is given. I think this hint of mine would be obvious to everybody," he said without mentioning the OROP issue.

Malik further said that considering the globalised security challenges, the territorial defence would be our primary concern.

"India has to be a strategic stabiliser. We are in the middle. We have so many nations around. I believe our stability is most important for the subcontinent," he added.

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A judge, who was trying one of the cases against Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi, today survived an assassination attempt in a bomb attack here, judicial sources said.

A car bomb exploded in the busy district of Nasr city targeting Ahmed Abu El-Fotouh, one of the judges trying Morsi in "Ittihadeya case", in which Morsi got 20 years in prison recently, they said.

Abu el-Fotouh, who was also trying Muslim Brotherhood supporters in another case, survived the attack and no injuries have been reported, the sources added.

A bomb defusing team rushed to the area of the explosion for investigations.

Egypt has witnessed a series of terrorist attacks which targeted policemen, judges and military personnel in different parts of the country.

Since the 2011 revolution that topped ex-president Hosni Mubarak, North Sinai, which is the base of a number of extremist outlaw groups, became the main stage of many violent attacks by hardline 'takfiri' gunmen.

The attacks increased after the ouster of Islamist president Morsi in 2013 following massive protests against his rule.

Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then.

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An emotional appeal of a mother paid rich dividends when a Kashmiri youth, who had joined Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT), was persuaded to surrender.

This happened in an interior area of Sopore late last night after the army with the help of other security agencies laid a siege of a locality after intelligence inputs indicated presence of a militant in a house.

A senior army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said today that the troops came to know the identity of the holed up militant as Umaq Khaliq Mir alias 'Sameer', a resident of Tujjar in North Kashmir.

When attempts to draw out the youth proved futile it was decided to request his parents, whose home was five km away, to come and persuade him to surrender, the official said.

His mother agreed readily and came to the place and pleaded with his son as the army had assured her that they would take a lenient view in case her son surrendered.

"It was an anxious moment for us as we were risking life of a civilian along with some of my boys, who had provided human shield to the woman," the official said.

The mother was allowed to go inside the house and request her son to come out and surrender which he eventually did.

After lot of persuasion, Mir emerged from the house and handed over one AK rifle, three magazines, three grenades and a radio set.

Mir, a 26 year-old boy of Tujjar, had been missing from May this year and had joined the LeT.

"We make all out efforts to preserve human life and this is one such example. I am glad that my decision was right because at the end, motherhood prevailed over a boy who had been brainwashed to carry out innocent killings in the state," the official added.

After his surrender, he was handed over to the local police which arrested him.

(REOPENS DES9)



The army's Northern Command later tweeted: "#JKOps. Back to mainstream. One Local Terrorist of LeT tanzeem (outfit) surrenders (sic)."



"Mir surrendered to the Army troops after being motivated for several hours through all channels including the parents. The life of a Kashmiri youth has been saved," a senior Army officer told
Mumbai Congress today took out a candlelight march over ex-serviceman Subedar (Retd) Ram Kishen Grewal's alleged suicide over the 'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) issue in New Delhi on Tuesday.

City Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam led the march from Metro Cinema to Azad Maidan here.

Condemning the detention of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who was prevented by the police from meeting the family members of Grewal, Nirupam said the Congress will not tolerate this kind of "high-handed behaviour" of the Narendra Modi government.

"We will continue to discharge our responsibilities as an opposition party and the government has no right to prevent us from doing our duty," he said while accusing Prime Minister Modi of being "anti-soldier".

Nirupam also criticised the one-day ban on TV channel NDTV India, describing the move as "dictatorship".

"The BJP government should have the decency to accept its mistakes," he said.

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A French court has handed a three-month suspended jail sentence to a teenager who named his domestic wifi network after the Islamic State group, his lawyer said today.

"There was no sympathy for terrorism! There was only the word 'Daesh21'," explained lawyer Karima Manhouli, saying he would appeal his client's criminal conviction.

Daesh is a widely-used Arabic acronym for IS.

"It was a stupid act by a young man of 18 who can't explain why he did it," he said.

The case came to court in the eastern town of Dijon after a neighbour saw the name pop up on a list of available wifi networks in July and called the police.

"There was an investigation and searches but nothing was found. There is nothing to suggest (my client) shares this ideology. On the contrary, he strenuously denies it," Manhouli said.

The court handed the youth a suspended jail sentence after he turned down an offer of 100 hours of community service.

The lawyer said there had been a spate of similar criminal charges since January 2015 when authorities were instructed to quickly prosecute suspected cases of sympathy for terrorism.

On November 13, France will mark the first anniversary of coordinated jihadist attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

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President Pranab Mukherjee today returned after a three-day state visit to Nepal and described it as a "mission of friendship" which has provided new dynamism to our common cooperative endeavours.

Mukherjee, who is the first Indian President to have visited the Himalayan neighbour in 18 years, equated the occasional coldness in relations between the two countries as a "difference of opinion in a family".

"Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity. India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development.

"Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal," he said after completion of visit in Pokhra.

"My visit to Nepal has been a 'mission of friendship' and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal," he said.

Mukherjee was accompanied by Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre besides Congress Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita and BJP MPs L Ganesan, Jagdambika Pal and R K Singh.

The President visited Nepal's capital Kathmandu where he was accorded an elaborate welcome by President Bidya Devi Bhandari herself at the Tribhuvan International Airport with the Vice-President and the Prime Minister.

He also visited Janakpur, which has been the hotbed of Madhesi protests, to offer prayers at historical Janaki temple and Pokhra to meet ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiment.

During the visit, Mukherjee had meetings with his counterpart, Vice President Nand Bahadur Pun and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "prachanda".

Mukherjee said he reiterated his invitation to Bhandari to visit India which she accepted with happiness.

"In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two people," he said.

India remains committed to enhancing its partnership in all areas of priority for the people and Government of Nepal, he said.

"As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit," Mukherjee said.

"I announced that from 2017 onwards, Nepali students will have the opportunity to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses in Indian Institutes of Technology on a regular basis. For this, our IITs will open their entrance examinations to Nepali students," he said.

Mukherjee, who also visited Pokhra where large number of ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiments live, said people of Nepal have contributed immensely to the safety and security of India through their service in the Indian Army.

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Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba today embarked on a three-day visit to India during which he is scheduled to meet top Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Deuba will go directly to Goa to attend attend a programme organised by the India Foundation, a think-tank.

After addressing the programme, Deuba will travel to New Delhi where he will meet top politicians.

According to sources, Deuba will meet Prime Minister Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and other prominent leaders from ruling and opposition party. He will also deliver a speech at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Kathmandu Post reported.

This is Deuba's first official visit to India after he was elected as the NC chief in March.

The visit comes at a time when the political parties in Nepal are working to register a constitution amendment motion in Parliament in an attempt to address the demands of the agitating Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin.

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A new 400,000-pound investment fund aimed at taking research from the laboratory to the commercial world has been set up by the UK's University of Wolverhampton and NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul's Caparo Group.

The fund is a joint project designed to support the exploitation of University of Wolverhampton Intellectual Property to take to the market place.

The university and Caparo have a longstanding collaboration in the form of the Caparo Innovation Centre, based at the University of Wolverhampton Science Park.

The fund will make investments in return for shares in separate university spinout companies, with representatives from the varsity and Caparo sitting alongside the academic staff responsible for the creation of the intellectual property on each board of directors.

Each company will be independent and able to apply for further research and innovation funding in its own right, which makes it easier to develop new solutions or technologies commercially, with the potential to attract greater investment from bigger companies or backers.

Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton and founder of Caparo, Lord Paulsaid, "This is another exciting project with the University linked to the Caparo Innovation Centre and it is something I am very proud of".

"This is a 400,000-pound technology investment fund, which will be a great opportunity for University researchers and will be extremely positive for the economic development of the region, through the support it will provide to new companies specialising in the science and technology sectors.

"Interestingly, the idea for this venture originally initiated during my time studying at the MIT in America and I hope it will act as an exemplar in how new innovation and technological development can help drive business development and growth; particularly at a time when there is so much uncertainty arising from the recent EU referendum decision.

"My company Caparo and the university have had a longstanding tradition of collaboration and I am delighted and proud of this partnership," he said.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said, "As a university we are always striving to provide innovation and to foster an entrepreneurial way of working. This new partnership with Caparo will allow us to transform some of the fantastic research that goes on in the University into commercial realities to create both an economic and societal impact.

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A Sri Lankan court today refused bail to five policemen charged with the murder of two Tamil students and remanded them in custody till November 18.

The Jaffna magistrate rejected their bail petition and remanded them in custody for two more weeks.

On October 20, two students of the Jaffna University were gunned down by police in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern Province, prompting authorities to arrest five policemen.

The students were shot dead at a police checkpoint in Jaffna. Though police initially denied shooting the students, a post-mortem report found bullets in one of the bodies.

The killing had ignited large-scale protests in Jaffna.

President Maithripala Sirisena had ordered a special probe and compensation for the families of the students.

Several days later, at least two state intelligence officers operating in Jaffna were assaulted by members of the suspected Ava Group. This led to a police crackdown on the group with two being arrested.

The Jaffna residents complained that the group was responsible for large scale intimidation, extortion and attacks on individuals.

Minister Rajith Senaratne blamed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of being behind the group to create unrest in the north.

Gotabhaya, the then powerful defense ministry secretary, however has denied the accusation.

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The one-day ban on a leading Hindi TV channel 'NDTV India' by the Centre over its coverage of Pathankot attack drew sharp condemnation today from opposition parties and media bodies which called it "shocking and authoritarian" and reminiscent of Emergency days.

The leaders of the non-BJP parties and the media bodies also demanded immediate withdrawal of the order imposing the blackout on November 9.

There was also a suggestion by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh that all newspapers and channels "show courage" and "go off air and not publish" on that day to register their protest.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the order of the inter-ministerial panel of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry showed that an emergency-like situation prevailed in the country while Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi slammed it as "shocking and unprecedented".

The Editors Guild of India condemned the order as a "direct violation" of the freedom of the press and similar sentiments were echoed by the Broadcast Editors' Association (BEA).

NDTV while terming the order as "shocking" has alleged that it has been "singled out" and said it is examining all options in the matter.

"The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded," the Guild said in a statement.

"The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency."



The BEA while expressing deep concern at the government's decision said imposing a ban is a violation of freedom of expression.

Alleging that the government action smacked of "authoritarianism and intimidation", Rahul and other Congress leaders hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India.

"NDTVBanned-shocking and unprecedented (sic)," the Congress Vice President said on twitter.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is also political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, said, "Government's decision to ban NDTV India smacks of authoritarianism and intimidation."



Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah lashed out at the Centre, asking if these were the promised "achhe din (good days)".

"NDTV ban is shocking. If Government had issues with Pathankot coverage, there are provisions available. But ban shows an Emergency-like attitude.," Banerjee said in a statement in Kolkata.

"I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity wid NDTV. Congratulations to Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi Govt's dictatorship," Kejriwal tweeted.

(Reopens DEL25)



NCP leader Tariq Anwar also condemned the one-day ban on NDTV India, dubbing it as a "dictatorial" move that goes against the freedom of the media.

Anwar, who is leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, said the irony is that those people who used to denounce Emergency, have taken such an "authoritarian" step.

Reacting sharply, BJD leader Tathagata Satpathy remarked that "death of freedom of speech is death of democracy".

"I feel people in power have become very paranoid. No administration can function with equanimity in a state of paranoia. November 9 is a black day for democracy," said Satpathy, himself editor of two prominent newspapers from Odisha.

Broadcasters Association (NBA) also said that it is deeply concerned with the Centre's decision to ban 'NDTV India' for one day.

NBA requested the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to kindly re-consider its decision in the interest of the freedom of the media.

"It is surprising to note that NDTV INDIA has been singled out...When the rest of the media also did cover the terror attack and all such reports were available in the public domain.

"The Inter- Ministerial Committee (IMC) and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MoI&B) should have seen it from the prism of freedom of the media, which is guaranteed in the constitution and not gone strictly by the regulations under the Cable Act," NBA said in a statement.

It would have been appropriate, if the MoI&B had referred the alleged violations of 'NDTV India' to the Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), the independent self regulatory body of the NBA.
Government has slapped a USD 1.55 billion demand on Reliance Industries and its partners BP and Niko for "unfairly enriching" by producing natural gas belonging to state-owned ONGC, a move that is most likely to land in arbitration.

The oil ministry on November 3 issued a notice to all the three partners seeking USD 1.47 billion for producing 338.332 million British thermal unit in seven years ended March 2016.

After deducting USD 71.71 million royalty paid on the gas produced and adding an interest at the rate of Libor plus 2 per cent totaling USD 149.86 million, a total demand of USD 1.55 billion was made on RIL, BP and Niko.

Originally, ONGC had sought suing RIL and seeking compensation for the gas that had migrated from its blocks KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) and Godavari PML in the KG basin in the Bay of Bengal to neighbouring KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) block of RIL and produced by the private company.

The government had appointed a one-man committee under retired Justice A P Shah to go into the issue. The panel in its report on August 29 felt that the government and not ONGC is entitled to compensation.

Subsequently, the ministry asked its upstream technical arm DGH to calculate the amount of compensation and a demand notice has now been slapped on RIL-BP-Niko.

"The committee has concluded that the contractor's (RIL- BP-Niko) production of migrated gas and retention of ensuing benefits amounts to unjust enrichment, since the production sharing contract (PSC)... Does not permit a contractor to produce and sell migrated gas," the demand note said.

The ministry said it had accepted the Shah committee report and consequently "it has been decided by the government to claim restitution from the contractor of the block KG-DWN- 98/3 for the unjust benefit received and unfairly retained by them".

The notice also sought USD 177 million in profit petroleum from the partners after the government disallowed certain costs previously for KG-D6 output not matching targets.

Since both the ministry as well as the Shah panel had cited provisions of the signed PSC between the patners and the government, the issue may be headed for arbitration.

RIL contests that it had knowingly produced any gas belonging to ONGC as all the wells it drilled were within the boundary walls of KG-D6 block and with explicit permission of the government.

While RIL and partners are likely to contest the compensation claim, arbitration is likely to be resorted to as that is the dispute resolution mechanism set out under PSC for settling any differences between the government and a private contractor.

The cost disallowance issue is already under arbitration.

RIL did not offer any immediate comments but a BP spokesperson said: "We have received a letter from the government on the issue of migration of gas from the neighboring block. We believe resolution of such geological boundary disputes should be based on well-established international petroleum industry practices and in line with the PSC.

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Kerala government today came under scathing attack from UDF opposition in the Assembly over an alleged gangrape complaint by a woman against a CPI(M) functionary and three others two years ago, even as the ruling LDF assured a fair probe and stern action against the accused.

Raising the harrowing experience of the woman, a mother of two, in the House, Congress-led Opposition members alleged that the government and police were trying to "protect" the accused, including CPI(M) Wadakancherry Municipal Council member Jayanthan, due to their affiliation with the ruling party.

They said the accused and police officials, who allegedly ill-treated the woman when she had lodged a complaint, were getting "political protection" and demanded that a woman ADGP should probe the case to ensure justice to the victim.

Rejecting the charges, Law Minister A K Balan, who spoke on behalf of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijyan, said the government would not protect culprits in criminal cases even if they belong to the ruling party.

He also said Guruvayur Assistant Commissioner of police had already been entrusted to probe the matter on the basis of the woman's complaint.

"The accused will not escape law because of their party affiliations... Whoever be the accused, even if they belong to our own party, we will make them pay the price for their act," Balan said.

"They will not find any place in party," the minister said while replying to a notice seeking an adjournment motion by Anil Akkara (Congress) over a number of recent "atrocities" against women reported in the state including the gangrape complaint by the woman, a native of Wadakancherry in Thrissur district.

Irked over Balan's statement that the Opposition could submit to the investigating officer all the information with them in connection with the gangrape case, Opposition members stood up from their seats demanding withdrawal of the remarks as it amounted to "disrespect" to the entire House.

The minister later withdrew the statement following the Opposition protest.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Peramangalam



Circle Inspector M V Manikandan, who allegedly verbally abused the rape victim when she lodged the complaint, should be suspended from the service for dereliction of duty.

The Opposition later staged a walkout after Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan rejected the demand for discussion over the issue.

Meanwhile, DGP Loknath Behera told reporters that a probe was already on over the complaint of the 33-year-old woman.

On the allegations by the victim against police officials, he said another probe had also been ordered.

The couple, who addressed the media here yesterday with their faces covered, said the accused continued to "taunt" the woman about the horrifying incident, which happened in 2014, threatening that the video footage of the ghastly act would be made public.

They also sought the state government's help through media for justice.

The incident came to light after the couple approached actor and activist Bhagyalakshmi, who narrated the incident in one of her Facebook posts which became viral.

Inspector General of Police (Thrissur Range), M R Ajith Kumar said police was not vigilant enough when the case came up earlier. The case would be investigated as a fresh one, he said.
Several white South Africans who posted anti-Indian racist remarks on social media on Diwali have been taken to court by the country's ruling and opposition parties.

The most serious of the posts read, "To those idol- worshippers and devil disciples who buy them in the name of religion, p*** off to your backwoods of India".

The same user also wrote that he would derive great pleasure from "strangling them and watching them turn blue while their tongues popped out".

Amid outraged reaction from South Africans of all races, the user put up an apology, but both the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament have laid charges in the Equality Court (EC) after refusing to accept the apology.

"I posted some remarks in anger yesterday and would like to apologise to those people I have offended. Anger is not an excuse and I realise the foolishness of my remarks was uncalled for. Once again, my sincere apology and I will undertake to promote divali (sic) in a positive no-bangs manner," the apology read.

Another offensive post which has since been deleted read "(Indians) are supposed to revere animals, with a cow being sacred, but as my friend from India once said, the f****** 'charos' (a derogatory term for South African Indians) sent here from India to cut cane were all the low class rubbish with no morals, it shows!".

"Vulgar and offensive language hark back to the crude apartheid past and undermines the hard work in building social cohesion in our country," ANC provincial secretary Super Zuma told the Daily .

"We are determined to make an example of racists who chance their hand and think they will get away with it. Racists are a tiny, badly-bred minority who must be isolated in our communities and be forced to bear the consequences of the actions. It is important that all our communities learn about each other's practices and respect the right to freedom of religion," Zuma said.

"This language has no place in our constitutional democracy, where the right to religious freedom is enshrined in our Bill of Rights. It is disgustingly hateful and fundamentally undermines the dignity of many South Africans," said DA provincial chairman Haniff Hoosen.

South African Hindu Mahasabha president Ashwin Trikamjee welcomed the ANC's decision to prosecute the offenders.

He said people who were upset about even controlled fireworks displays during Diwali were taking advantage of the soft nature of the Hindu community by using the occasion to make racist remarks about Indians.

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Over 300 construction sites were penalised for violating dust pollution norms in the city although the drive against open burning of waste did not gather as much steam.

Analysis of data shared by the Delhi government brought out the trend. Around Rs 2 crore has been recovered by the government departments and civic bodies empowered to act against dust violators since November 2015.

Agencies, including the Delhi government's Revenue Department, PWD, Delhi Pollution Control Committee and all the civic bodies hold the power to fine construction norms' violators and those who burn waste in the open.

The data shows that revenue department, EDMC, SDMC, North MCD, NDMC challened around 342 sites in the months of September, October and November, while only 90 waste burning violators were penalised during the same period.

The National Green Tribunal had directed all land owning agencies in Delhi to impose a fine of Rs 5,000 on persons found burning waste like leaves in the open and Rs 5 lakh on the owners/builders who are found violating dust control measures.

Revenue Department has issued only 136 challans against people found burning waste in open in the last one year while the same stands at 242 for EDMC and 262 for North MCD.

Environment Minister Imran Hussain appealed to all land owning agencies to intensify their inspection.

The report of the IIT-Kanpur study titled 'Source Apportionment Study of PM2.5 and PM10' had identified trucks and dust as the largest contributors behind Delhi's polluted air.

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India today dismissed as "totally speculative and nonsensical" a Pakistani media report that the two countries were planning to recall their respective High Commissioners temporarily in the backdrop of continuing slide in the ties.

Government sources were totally dismissive of the report in Pakistani daily 'Express Tribune' which said Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their envoys and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each other's missions.

"It is totally speculative and nonsensical," a source said.

The report comes in the wake of Pakistan pulling out six of its senior officials, including diplomats, after Pakistan High Commission staffer Mahmood Akhtar was expelled last week after being caught running a spy ring. He had also named four Pakistan diplomats as being part of the spying operations in India.

India is also mulling withdrawal of eight of its diplomats from Islamabad as their security has been "completely compromised". It had strongly protested against the manner in which their names and photos were published. According to sources, these diplomats were likely to return by Sunday.

Pakistan had claimed that these Indian officials were involved in "espionage, subversion and supporting terrorist activities in Balochistan and Sindh, especially Karachi, sabotaging China Pakistan Economic Corridor, and fuelling instability in the two provinces".

Reacting sharply to Pakistan's charge, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the allegations against Indian officials represent an "after-thought" and a "crude attempt" to target them for no fault of theirs, after the Pakistan High Commission staffer was caught.

"We completely reject the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The Government categorically denies those allegations.

"It is especially regrettable that Pakistani authorities have chosen to level these allegations after deciding to recall, on their own, six officials of the Pakistan High Commission, some of whom may have been named to Indian authorities by Mehmood Akhtar - Pakistan High Commission official caught red handed," Swarup had said.

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In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic?

Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm.

Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice."
Pakistan today announced that it will skip an international anti-tobacco conference in India next week amidst "ongoing tensions" between the two nations.

Delegates from about 180 countries are expected to attend the biennial conference of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in India from November 7 to 12.

Pakistan's State Minister of Health Sciences Regulation and Coordination, Saira Afzal Tarar, said that Pakistan cannot attend the conference.

"It is an important meeting on tobacco. As far as Pakistan's participation is concerned, it is not feasible due to ongoing tensions," she said.

Today's development came following a spat between the two countries after a staff member of Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi was detained by police for questioning over espionage charges.

The tension intensified after tit-for-tat naming of diplomatic staff for alleged spy work by both sides.

The latest incident further increased the tension that started with a militant attack on an Indian army camp in Uri in September.

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The government today maintained that a top-level committee decided on the penalty of taking NDTV India off air just for a day instead of 30 days which it had considered because it felt the channel cannot get away with the "huge indiscretion and violation of rules" in its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack.

Rejecting criticism that the decision on NDTV India amounted to an Emergency-era order, officials said 21 such orders had been issued by the UPA governments since 2005.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), which looked into the matter has in their comments, mentioned clearly that the threat to national security cannot be justified on any grounds whatsoever, sources said.

"The IMC also noted that this was not the first violation by the channel and that there are previous incidents where the channel had violated the Program code of Cable act," a source said.

Senior officials in the I&B ministry also said that this is not the first time when an order has been issued to take a channel off air. Since 2005, 28 such orders banning channels from one day to two months have been issued when the channels had been found violating the cable TV rules and programme code guidelines.

"Of these, around 21 orders were issued against different channels during the term of the Congress-led UPA," an official said.

Sources said the IMC had noted with grave concern that the channel had revealed sensitive detail like location of ammunition depot and place where terrorists were held up, location of school and residential areas which could have been misused by handlers of the intruders.

This could have jeopardised national security and also lives of civilians and defence personnel, they added.

A senior I&B ministry official emphasised that the channel had been given ample opportunity to explain its side as well which was factored in by the high-level panel.

Emphasising that coverage of anti-terror operations is a sensitive issue, officials said several advisories in this regard have been issued to broadcasters.

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Officials said after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, I&B ministry had issued an advisory to all and current affairs channels not to reveal strategically important details.

Subsequently, advisories were issued on different occasions in December 2008, November 2009, February 2010, March 2015, sensitising channels about the sensitivities involved in coverage of anti-terror attacks.

Officials said even on the occasion of anti-terror operations in Gurdaspur, an advisory was issued to broadcasters.
Payal Abdullah, estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, has moved Delhi High Court seeking government accommodation for her and her sons on the ground that they enjoyed 'Z' and 'Z plus' security status.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notice to the Centre and sought their response on her appeal challenging a single judge's August 19 order asking her to vacate the 7 Akbar Road bungalow in Lutyen's Delhi that she was residing in.

In her appeal, she has sought a direction to the Centre to provide her and her sons with accommodation on parity with others who enjoyed similar security status and have been given government accommodation.

She has also claimed to be a central government protectee, a claim which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), represented by advocate Anurag Ahluwalia, had disputed before the single judge.

Her petition claims that she and her sons were living in a rented flat which is not appropriate on security grounds.

In her appeal, she has contended that the August 19 order of the single judge mentioned no date and time of eviction and "hence the very act of summoning and pressing into service of armed public auxiliary/servants of different forces" for giving effect to the order was in violation of The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act.

She has contended that under the Act, possession of a public premises cannot be taken after sunset, whereas she and her sons were evicted on the evening of August 22.

Payal has also challenged the single judge's observation



that if her husband and father-in-law, both of whom are 'Z plus' protectees, could be secured in private accommodation, there is "no reason" why she and her sons cannot be.

She contended that her husband, Omar, and father-in-law, Farooq Abdullah, were temporary visitors to Delhi and can be protected in private premises for the short duration, unlike her who is a permanent resident here.

The single judge in her order had said Payal and her sons were "liable to be evicted forthwith", after terming their entitlement to retain the bungalow as "wholly illegal".

The court had said that Payal's apprehension that she and her sons would not be given adequate security cover was "misconceived" and dismissed her plea to retain the 7 Akbar Road bungalow.

Prior to the high court's August 19 decision, on August 16, a trial court here had asked her to move out of the house. Three days later, Justice Indermeet Kaur had asked Payal's counsel "Will you gracefully evict or I should pass an order?"



However, as the counsel had refused, the high court had said it would pass a detailed order later on her plea.

In its 15-page judgement, the high court had said that Payal and her sons were deriving their entitlement to retain the bungalow only through the official position of Omar Abdullah and "have no independent right or claim in this property".

"This accommodation has now been alloted to the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The admitted position as on date is thus that the petitioners are residing in this property as illegal occupants. Their entitlement to stay in the aforenoted government alloted bungalow is no longer available to them. They are admittedly not in government employment," the court had said.

The single judge had also rejected Payal's argument that she and her sons were central protectees by saying that as per a secret document submitted by MHA, their security status was granted by the state of Jammu and Kashmir because they were the wife and children of Omar Abdullah.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan's movie "Pink" will be shown to Rajasthan police personnels to teach them to be sensitive towards women.

The police headquarter recently dispatched letter to the superintendent of police of all the 33 districts of the state asking them to immediately make arrangements for the screening of the Shoojit Sircar-produced movie to all the police personnel in their respective areas.

The instruction to screen the film aims at making the police sensitive and sensible about woman dignity, woman rights so that they can act more promptly and actively to deliver justice in cases of harassment, torture or any crime against women.

The ADG (civil rights) has strictly asked the district police captains to take a serious note on screening of the movie.

The letter by the ADG says the the movie has most strongly and vividly depicted gender impartiality, gender equality and gender sensitivity. The movie also portrays how to defend the woman dignity and woman rights.

"The letter from the Police state headquarter, Jaipur regarding mass screening of movie 'Pink' to the police personnel was received in last week of September following which police officials at police stations were directed for the screening of the same," said Rajendra Verma, Additional Superintend of Police (ASP).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A racket of fake manpower consultancy agencies was today busted here and six people were arrested for allegedly cheating unemployed youths by promising jobs in Gulf countries after taking money from them, police said.

The sleuths of Hyderabad Police Commissioner's Task Force raided the fake recruiting agencies in the limits of Banjara Hills, Humayun Nagar, Mahankali, Abid Road police stations here yesterday and today.

The six persons nabbed were identified as - Irfan Ali Khan, Mohd Rizwan Qureshi, Syed Parvez, Syed Abdul Raheem, Mohammed Saleem Khan and Mohd Ayoob Khan, police said.

According to Task Force Deputy Commissioner of Police B Limba Reddy, the six accused were cheating unemployed youths and carrying on the business of recruitment for deployment of Indian workers with foreign employers without any permission from Protector General of Emigration, Ministry of External Affairs.

Police seized 44 Indian passports, applications/bio-data and medical reports, forms of applicants, and other incriminating material from their possession.

"The accused persons were running fake manpower consultant agencies and cheating the unemployed youths by posing that they had licensed/authorised agents to carry on the business of recruitment for providing jobs to Indian workers with foreign employers/companies and collecting huge amount ranging from Rs 50,000 to 1.5 lakh from each job aspirant," the DCP said.

The accused collected amounts and passports for "visa processing", but they did not provide any visas and jobs to the them and also they did not return their passports and money.

They also sent some innocent people to Dubai for job by giving visiting visa. However, some job aspirants managed to return with great difficulty to their native places from Dubai and Saudi Arabia after they were given fake visas, police added.

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Indonesian police said one person died and seven were injured in clashes in the capital today that followed a protest by hard-line Muslims demanding the arrest of the city's minority-Christian governor for alleged blasphemy.

Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono said an elderly man died, possibly from the effects of tear gas. He said four civilians and three police officers were injured.

Clashes broke out between police and hard-core protesters who refused to disperse following nightfall. Police fired tear gas and water cannons and protesters set alight two police vehicles and piles of rubbish left behind from the protest, which drew tens of thousands of people.

Setiyono said police responded after protesters near the presidential palace threw stones, bamboo sticks and bottles.

The confrontation subsided after a protest leader appealed for calm.

MetroTV reported that a mob tried to enter the housing complex where Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama lives in northern Jakarta but were stopped by police, who fired tear gas.

Setiyono said rioting in north Jakarta involving the looting of a convenience store and damage to police vehicles had been brought under control.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo planned to hold an emergency meeting with Cabinet ministers and top military and intelligence officials, according to MetroTV.

Fearing violence, police put on a show of force for the protest, supported by soldiers and public order officers, while embassies closed, some shops were shuttered and Jakarta's normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.

The predominantly male demonstrators, most wearing white shirts and skull caps, had massed at the Istiqlal Mosque for the protest following weekly Friday prayers and marched on the nearby presidential palace.

Large protests also took place in other cities including Medan on Sumatra, Makassar in Sulawesi and Malang in East Java.

Members of an Islamic student group threw plastic water bottles and other objects at riot police in Jakarta, but the massive demonstration appeared to have gone off without any major incident during the day.

The accusation of blasphemy against Ahok, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian who is an ally of the president, has galvanized his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million, and given a notorious group of hard-liners a national stage.

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President Pranab Mukherjee would award Presidential Colours to 30 Squadron of Air Force and 501 Signals Unit, Barnala on November 10 at a function to be organised at the Air Force station here.

President's Colours is one of the greatest honours bestowed upon an Air Force Unit or Squadron in recognition of exceptional service rendered by it to the nation, both during war and in peace.

Air Marshal S B Deo here today expressed pride over the units being selected for the prestigious honour and applauded them for their services.

He said preparations are underway for the function, adding that after a march past a demonstration would be conducted by aerobatics team of Air Force -- Surya Kiran (SKAT).

A helicopters display would also be made on this occasion, he said.

He said the IAF equipped with latest fighters plain is always ready for any challenge that come in the way.

He said the wife and the father of Pathankot terror attack martyr Gursewak Singh have also been invited for the event.

The 30 Squadron of the IAF which will get president colour was formed on November 1, 1969 with the legendary MIG-21 FL aircraft at the Air Force Station.

At present the unit is located at Air Force Station, Pune under the control of South Western Air Command, IAF.

The unit is currently operating the 'Sukhoi 30 MKI' fourth generation fighter aircraft under the command of Wing Commander A A Phansalkar.

501 Signals Unit has been entrusted with the responsibility of defending Punjab Sector opposite the western adversary.

The unit is located at Barnala, Punjab under the functional control of HQ Western Air Command being commanded by Group Captain Vineet Jindal.

The unit commenced operations right from its inception in 1966.

In the 1971 Indo-Pak War, the unit proved its mettle by providing uninterrupted surveillance and tactical control over Air Defence weapons in the Punjab sector.

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The Telangana BJP today urged Union IT and Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad to take steps for the implementation of Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project sanctioned to Hyderabad.

The ITIR project was envisaged with an investment of Rs 2.19 lakh crore in 50,000 acres of land and it is aimed at creating employment to 15 lakh people, state BJP president K Laxman said in a memorandum submitted to Prasad here.

"Unfortunately, the implementation of the project is being delayed which is hampering the growth of IT/ITES services in Hyderabad. It is known that the Central government so far sanctioned and released only Rs 160 crore for this project...," the memorandum said.

Laxman also urged the Union Minister to consider extension of IT/ITES parks to other cities in Telangana.

Meanwhile, ABVP submitted a memorandum to the Minister requesting him, among other things, to set up a law university in every state bringing all law colleges under the purview of the law university.

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President Pranab Mukherjee has given his approval to payment of a 2 per cent dearness allowance (DA) to central government employees.

The move will benefit about 50.68 lakh employees and 54.24 lakh pensioners.

The decision to provide 2 per cent DA on basic pay was earlier approved by the Union Cabinet and will be applicable from July 1.

The DA will result in an annual burden of Rs 5,622.10 crore.

"Consequent upon the decision taken by the government on recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission relating to DA, the President is pleased to decide that the DA to all categories of the central government employees shall be admissible at the rate of 2 per cent of basic pay per month, w.E.F 1.7.2016," the Finance Ministry said.

The revised pay structure, effective January 1, 2016, includes the DA of 125 per cent sanctioned from that date in the pre-revised pay structure.

Thus, DA in the revised pay structure is zero from January 1, 2016.

The ministry further said till a final decision on allowances is taken based on recommendations of the committee constituted under the chairmanship of the finance secretary and the expenditure secretary, "all allowances will continue to be paid at existing rates".

"The DA will continue to be a distinct element of remuneration...," it added.

The ministry further said the orders will also apply to the civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates.

"In respect of armed forces personnel and railway employees, separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Railways, respectively," it said.

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President Pranab Mukherjee today offered prayers at the historic Janaki temple here and promised to construct two Dharmashalas to facilitate pilgrims to visit this ancient city in Nepal, bordering India.

Mukherjee, the first Indian President to visit Nepal in 18 years, wore traditional headgear while visiting the Janaki temple where he offered prayers on the third and last leg of his three-day State Visit to Nepal.

He was welcomed by priest reciting 'Swasti vachan', a kind of traditional Sanskrit prayer for welcoming guest.

"I am happy to announce, during my State Visit to Nepal, that government of India will construct 2 Dharmashalas along the 'parikarma path' of Janakpur Dham to facilitate visiting this ancient city," the President said.

"I am confident that the twin city agreement between Janakpur and the ancient Indian city of Ayodhya will further strengthen the close bonds and enhance the cooperation between our two peoples - particularly in the development of trade and tourism in this region," he said.

Describing his visit to Janakpur city as "memorable", Mukherjee said this important pilgrimage destination is one of the most significant focal points of the cultural and spiritual linkages between India and Nepal.

"I thank the Janaki mandir authorities and the people of Janakpur for receiving me today. I am deeply touched by their warm affection. I offer them greetings on the festival of Chhath from the government and the people of India and best wishes for their progress and prosperity," he added.

Large number of school children lined up the road from the airport to the temple. Several of them dressed up as characters from 'Ramayana' like King Janak, the father of Goddess of Sita.

The temple built in 1910 by Queen of Tikamgarh is in the centre of Janakpur which is said to be once ruled by King Janak.

Built in bright white, the temple is constructed in a mixed style of Islamic and Rajput domes. The temple is a three storied structure made entirely of stone and marble.

Janakpur is also considered as epicentre of protests by Madhesis who are demanding population based proportional representation in Parliament among others.

(Reopens FGN 5)



The President said India-Nepal relations are founded on the two countries' ancient linkages and traditions.

"The ties that bind Janakpur and Ayodhya have existed since times immemorial. The residents of this great city are heirs to the bond of familial ties that were established between Raja Janak and Raja Dashrath. People of India value this unique relationship, shared tradition and rich heritage," he said.

Mukherjee added that the key to economic development of Janakpur lies in the promotion of the tourism sector.

"Recently, Janakpur and Ayodhya reinforced their ancient ties by signing a twin city agreement. The development of Ramayana tourism circuit, with better facilities for millions of pilgrims, will not only generate employment opportunities but also strengthen the story of our common heritage," he said.

He also spoke about development of border areas of the two countries.

"It is essential that we pay adequate attention to the development of border infrastructure and connectivity to facilitate movement of people. Today, in consonance with priorities of the people of Nepal, both governments are giving particular attention to expediting implementation of connectivity and developmental projects such as terai roads, cross border rail links integrated check posts, power and transmission lines," the President said.

These projects, he said, are vital not only for Nepal's socio-economic and infrastructural transformation but also demonstrate our "collaborative efforts to facilitate trade, investments and movement of people."



"The government of India is assisting in the construction of four integrated check posts along important India-Nepal entry point. The ICPs at Birgunj and Biratnagar will be of great advantage to the people of Janakpur around the surrounding region," Mukherjee said.
Tom Campbell

Come Tuesday night (or soon after) we should know the outcomes of the long and contentious 2016 elections. It has been the subject of frequent conversations, dominated our news cycles, filled both our email and snail mailboxes and loaded our voicemails. We are weary from the election, but can't help but ponder: when it is over what we will talk about?North Carolinians need to devote our energies to helping thousands of our neighbors impacted by Hurricane Matthew. Governor McCrory says he will call a special session of the legislature to deal with disaster response, but government alone won't be enough. The effects of Matthew will linger for many months, requiring churches, charitable organizations and individuals to help with cleanup, repairs and other necessities. People need our physical, emotional and financial support.While the legislature is in Raleigh for the special session it is time to stop the bleeding resulting from HB2. Nobody likes to admit when they are wrong but most can agree the damage is real, significant and needs to stop. There is a common sense solution that can be a win-win. Since local governments are creations of the state, our legislature can overturn the Charlotte ordinance, repeal HB2 and simultaneously establish a high-level group of people from all perspectives to engage in honest discussions about discrimination and the rights for all. We have confidence such a group could find acceptable solutions and report to the 2017 legislature.Thankfully, North Carolina's economy has improved considerably. Some of that improvement can be directly attributed to actions taken by our legislature, governor and economic developers, but it also must be said that some of it is a result of the normal cyclical nature of our state's economy. There are, however, trouble spots. Our unemployment picture is certainly brighter and more than 250,000 new jobs have been created, but much of that improvement has benefitted Mecklenburg, Wake and the more urban counties. Rural counties continue to suffer and decline. Income growth in the middle class is sluggish; many of the new jobs come from sectors that don't pay as well as those requiring more skills and training. Employers increasingly complain they cannot find workers for the jobs they need to fill, inevitably leading into the topic of education.Our state has made improvements in education but not enough. We need reform at the k-12, community college and university levels. We spend so much time talking about issues like teacher pay, per-pupil expenditures, test scores and subjects like charter schools, all worthy of consideration, but the ultimate goal is student outcomes. Those not wanting or unable to seek higher education struggle to find jobs and too many graduates require remediation courses to perform in community colleges and our universities. Community colleges are not adequately funded for workforce training and university costs are too high for too many. There is much work to be done.The election has sidelined a long list of issues like healthcare, environmental, public safety, agricultural and other concerns. So let's give ourselves permission to take a deep breath and clear our minds for a few days following the election. We've got a lot to discuss and we should renew our resolve to talk but, more essentially, to find solutions that will make North Carolina better.
Well known producer and director of Pakistan Television (PTV) Yawar Hayat Khan has died. He was 73.

Hayat was suffering from lung complications as he breathed his last in Combined Military Hospital Lahore yesterday. He was laid to rest in Lahore today.

Born 18 October 1943, Yawar started his career with PTV in 1965. He was initially educated at the Aitchison College, and then went on for his Bachelor of Arts degree to the Forman Christian College.

He was considered one of the chief architects of Pakistan Television drama serials. He ruled the PTV screen in 1970s and 80s with serials such as Jhok Siyal, Samandar, Nasheman, Kundi, Farar, Dehleez, Sahil, Gumshuda, Qila Kahani and many others.

"Yawar was the last tower of creative era of production," says playwright Mustansar Hussain Tarar.

"With the departure of Yawar Hayat an era of production and direction has come to an end," Tarar told Dawn.

Tarar, who worked with Hayat as playwright and actor, said: "You became a little Yawar after being with him for a few hours. He was an excellent conversationalist and had that profound an influence on you."



Tarar called Yawar among the best three producers and directors in Pakistan. The other two are Muhammad Nisar Hussain and kanwar Aftab Ahmed.

"Yawar had a distinctive quality of production. He would give suggestions that improve the script of the drama to a great extend. Even if you start watching his drama on TV midway and you immediately know that it's Yawar's production."



Known veteran actor Qavi Khan, who worked with Yawar in various dramas like Dehleez (1981) said the producer-director had a beautiful personality and voice. "Yawar had a great command over script and we would do a lot of rehearsal to achieve perfection.

In an interview before his death, Yawar compared some of his work to the writings of the American writer William Faulkner.

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Rahul Gandhi will meet several ex-servicemen today keeping up his campaign on the cause of 'one rank, one pension' which is back in limelight after the suicide by a former army man.

Yesterday, the Congress Vice-President was detained by Delhi Police to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide by ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of OROP.

"Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will meet several ex-servicemen today afternoon over the OROP issue," party sources said.

Gandhi had yesterday met Grewal's family in their native village in Bamla in Haryana where the former subedar was cremated. On Wednesday, he was detained here when he went to meet the family of Grewal.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, yesterday, had said that Modi government may see politics when Rahul Gandhi and others raise issues involving soldiers over OROP issue, but the party would not remain a mute spectator on it.

Government had in November last year issued a notification on OROP to meet the long pending demand but a section veterans had expressed their dissatisfaction with it.

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A railway official was today arrested by CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 20,000 in Merta of Nagaur district.

The accused official Kailash Meena, an engineer, had demanded the bribe from a contractor for the payment of his bill.

After verification of the complaint, the accused was held today in Merta while taking the bribe, sources said.

The accused is posted in Jodhpur and a search operation in his house is going on.

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Opposing vehemently genetically modified (GM) food crops, the Rajasthan government today said "no and never" for commercial cultivation of yet to be approved GM mustard crop saying agriculture is the state subject and it has every right to decide what crop to grow.

At present, biotech regulator Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is vetting a proposal on GM mustard variety developed by the Delhi University's Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants. A decision on this is still awaited amid strong opposition from green activists.

Citing safety concerns and divided opinion among scientists, Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Prabhu Lal Saini said that the state government has decided not to permit field trials of GM mustard in three districts and will not allow its commercial cultivation.

"Many courts in other countries including EU have not allowed, be it GM brinjal, GM mustard or GM peas or tomato. It is no and never in Rajasthan if there is no unanimity on this issue," he said.

The Minister said Rajasthan is a leading state in mustard production and there is no need for GM variety which can disturb the traditional seeds and create imbalance in nature.

"I am not against this (GM) but farmers welfare and human beings safety is my priority. So, our CM and I have decided not to allow unless there is unanimity," Saini told reporters on sidelines of an event here to announce a three-day agri-tech meet in Jaipur next week.

He said the state government has not allowed field trial of GM mustard in three districts -- Bharatpur, Alwar and Hanumangarh.

"We have denied permission for field trials. We will not allow now because there will be a problem of pollination through bee, air or bird. We will not allow unless we ascertain the benefits," he said.

Asked will the state allow if there is consensus on GM mustard, he said, "If there is consensus, then there will be problem. We are looking at side effects. Madam (CM) is deliberating on this.

"If it is in the interest of humanity and if there is decision at national level, even then we will think. Agriculture is a state subject. The state will decide what crop to grow. If the current crop is benefiting, then why we need to disturb that," he said.

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Rajasthan government is expecting an investment of Rs 7,000 crore in the upcoming agri-technology meet starting November 9 in Jaipur, State Agriculture Minister Prabhu Lal Saini said today.

The three-day Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) 2016, is expected to witness the participation of around 50,000 farmers and 200 industry players, he told reporters here.

The event is jointly organized by the Rajasthan government and FICCI. Israel is the partner country for the event.

"Farmers will get to know the technological advancements and global best practices in this event. We will also showcase investment opportunities in the State to agri-business communities across the world," Saini said.

"We have already received investment proposals worth Rs 4,000 crore. We expect this figure to reach about Rs 7,000 crore. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed during the event," he said, adding that investment could come from foreign countries like Israel and Australia.

The Minister highlighted several steps taken by the State government to double farmers' income by 2022 like promotion of horticulture crops and organic farming. Rajasthan is also promoting cultivation of olive, date palm and pistachio to give farmers option to diversify into non-traditional crops.

"Our aim is to become the top state in the agriculture sector," he said, adding that NITI Aayog had ranked Rajasthan third, after Maharashtra and Gujarat, in the area of agricultural reform.

The event is aimed at ensuring economic empowerment of the farmers. It would showcase global best practices and best of technologies suited to the agro-climatic conditions of Rajasthan. It is expected to be an important platform for investors, manufacturers, academicians and researchers.

To promote agri-entrepreneurship, a special pavilion on start-ups will be set up. Furthermore, there will be a special pavilion on organic farming as well to promote herbal and medicinal plans.

Neelkamal Darbari, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Government of Rajasthan, said the focus will be on innovative farming techniques and high value crops to give farmers the incomes due to them.

Rajasthan has 40,000 villages and the effort is to bring at least one farmer from each village to the mega event, she said.

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The Mumbai Press Club today condemned the attack on the photojournalists by private securitymen before the Tata group headquarters Bombay House here today and demanded arrest of the guards involved in the scuffle.

"We strongly condemn the brutal attack on photographers at the Bombay House," Press Club secretary Dharmendra Jore said in a statement.

"We demand immediate arrest of the security personnel who beat up the reporters at the Tata Group headquarters, who were involved in a shameful act of violence against the professionals from various media houses who were performing their duty this afternoon," Jore said.

The attack followed a scuffle as the ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry arrived to chair the board meeting of Indian Hotels, that runs the group's Taj brand of hotels to approve the second quarter earnings.

The scuffle started as soon as Mistry, who is the chairman of IHCL, arrived at the Tata group headquarters to chair the board meeting, and standing photographers went beyond the cordoned off area to click his pictures.

Three photojournalists from Times of India, Mid-Day and the Hindustan Times were allegedly beaten by the guards, and are in hospital now.

"The Press Club does not expect a corporate house like the Tatas to indulge in violent practices against the media persons. We demand explanation from the corporate authorities who allowed their security to take this extreme step," the statement said.

"We extend our full support to the affected colleagues and their families. We will soon declare our next course of action to seek justice," the statement said.

The Press Club has already reported the matter to the government and the the city police.

A Tata Group spokesperson apologised for the incident saying, "whatever happened, should not have happened".

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A Delhi court issued a fresh non-bailable warrant (NBW), the second one today, against Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, in a 2012 cheque bounce case following his non-appearance.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand passed the order with the direction that NBW be executed through Ministry of External Affairs as the liquor baron is reportedly in London.

The court then listed the matter for further hearing on February 4 next year.

The court, on August 6, had also issued an NBW against Mallya saying that coercive steps were required to ensure his appearance.

The court had earlier noted that despite repeated orders, Mallya did not appear in the court and it was inevitable for the state machinery to intervene and ensure his presence.

The trial court had summoned Mallya as accused following a complaint by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates the capital's IGI Airport, claiming that a cheque for Rs one crore issued by Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) on February 22, 2012 was returned to them a month later containing the remarks - "fund insufficient".

DIAL had filed four cases in June 2012 against Mallya over KFA's cheques totalling Rs 7.5 crore not being honoured.

The grounded airline had issued the cheques towards payment for services availed by them at the IGI airport here.

Mallya, Chairman of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is facing action after defaulting on over Rs 9,000-crore loan from 17 banks.

In July this year, he had skipped appearance before a PMLA court in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering probe against him in alleged bank loan fraud case.

Mallya had left the country in March and is currently said to be in the UK. Several cheque bounce cases have been filed against him.

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Spooked investors remained hesitant for the fifth session in a row amid uncertainty over US election result, pulling Sensex 156 points to near four-month low of 27,274.15 led by huge sell-off in pharma counters.

For the week, the first of the new Samvat Year 2073, the Sensex and Nifty both recorded losses by plunging 667.36 points, or 2.38 per cent, and 204.25 points, or 0.36 per cent, respectively.

The relentless losses in stocks continued amid sustained selling by foreign funds and retail investors, tracking global cues dominated by fear that market favourite Hillary Clinton is lagging behind Donald Trump in the US presidential race.

Investors could not find any solace even after the finalisation of tax structure by the GST council as markets continued to ferry in the negative zone.

Moreover, domestic market woes piled up as the session saw pharma stocks tumbling following reports of a likely US probe against Indian pharma companies making generic drugs.

Reacting to the news, Sunpharma shares tumbled 7.45 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy 5.67 per cent, Lupin 3.57 per cent and Cipla 2.60 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd, said, "Market tumbled as investors are concerned over the final lap of US political battle and higher tax burden from GST. Even though GST is one step closer, white goods were impacted on fears of a higher tax burden than expected earlier. Pharma companies are the major casualty due to the price collusion in US market. The rising volatility led the investors to wait and watch for a favorable risk reward."



The Sensex, which had lost 511.23 points in the previous four sessions, dropped by another 156.13 points, or 0.57 per cent, to end at 27,274.15, its lowest closing since July 8. It shuttled between 27,498.91 and 27,193.61. The 30-share index hit the day's lowest at 27,193.61.

The NSE Nifty shed 51.20 points, or 0.60 per cent, to end at 8,433.75, after moving between 8,504 and 8,400.25.

The broader markets too remained under pressure as investors indulged in cutting down their bets with the small-cap index falling by 2.20 per cent and the mid-cap index shedding 1.34 per cent.

Bucking the overall trend, shares of consumer goods companies turned buyers' fancy on hopes that lower tax rates would be applied after a four-tier GST tax structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent decided by a high-powered council yesterday.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 706.77 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Globally, in the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei fell 1.34 per cent, Shanghai Composite fell 0.12 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.18 per cent.

European markets too were under pressure with Frankfurt's DAx 30 lost 0.4 per cent and the Paris CAC shed 0.2 per cent in their initial deals. London FTSE dipped 0.7 per cent.

(Reopen DEL44)



Moving to the domestic market, 18 scrips ended lower while 12 others closed higher.

Besides pharma majors, other major laggards were Coal India 3.44 per cent, Hero Motocorp 2.86 per cent, RIL 1.92 per cent, L&T 1.78 per cent, Maruti 1.58 per cent, HDFC 1.41 per cent and SBI 1.14 per cent.

While, shares of cigarette major ITC jumped 3.64 per cent to Rs 249.05 after fears of GST overhang subsided after the finalisation of a four-tier tax structure. Earlier, there were uncertainties about charging higher tax on tobacco post GST.

Other gainers were M&M 1.02 per cent, HUL 0.91 per cent, Wipro 0.91 per cent, ONGC 0.78 per cent and Asian Paints 0.55 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, healthcare dropped 4.16 per cent, realty 2.44 per cent, metal 2.41 per cent, telecom 2.08 per cent, capital goods 1.72 per cent, consumer durables 1.60 per cent and energy 1.35 per cent.

However, FMCG rose by 1.41 per cent and IT 0.66 per cent.

The market breadth remained negative as 2,224 stocks ended in red, 681 closed in red while 115 ruled steady.

Total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,542.79 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3,202.47 crore registered during the previous trading session.
A judicial probe into the jailbreak by eight SIMI activists and their killing has been ordered by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, giving into the demand by opposition which has raised questions on claims by police about the Monday encounter.

The state government had earlier announced a probe by an SIT comprising CID officers into the encounter and a separate investigation by former Director General of Police Nandan Dubey into the jailbreak but the Congress and other opposition parties had been pressing for a judicial probe



An official release issued late last night here stated that the judicial probe will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice S K Pandey.

"Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high security jail and the encounter that took place after that," it said.

State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh today said Pandey will also give his recommendations on improving security in prisons.

The BJP government led by Chouhan has vociferously defended the police action and accused the opposition of "politicising and communalising" the issue.

The party today said that the judicial inquiry has been ordered as the state government has nothing to hide.

"I don't think there was any inquiry necessary but since Shivraj Chouhan has nothing to hide, so he agreed to a judicial probe, which was their demand," BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said.

Meanwhile, Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele rejected allegations that there was lax security at the prison and that a large number of security personnel were posted with ministers.

A PIL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court yesterday on the issue demanding judicial probe into the incident.

The under-trial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail here on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.

Before escaping from the jail, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav.

Since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state Home Minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

A controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.
Undertaking a major branding exercise, Singapore Airlines will fly its budget carriers under the single brand name 'Scoot'.

The move, expected to be completed "between mid and end 2017", would see the Singaporean major doing away with the brand name 'Tigerair' -- used for its medium haul budget operations.

Together, Tigerair and Scoot operates 50 flights into India per week.

Scoot's India chief Bharath Mahadevan today said the decision to have a single brand is expected to provide more leverage in India.

"Next year, Tigerair brand would go away and Scoot would be operating into eight destinations. Then, India would become the second-biggest market for Scoot after China," he told PTI.

Approaching regulators, airports and customers as a single brand is much more beneficial for the brand, he explained.

Scoot, which started operations in India this year, flies to Chennai, Jaipur and Amritsar. Tigerair, which has been operating since 2007, has services to Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad, Trichy and Lucknow.

"The basic idea is we wanted a single brand so that customer is very clear. Now, customer is slightly confused on what is Tigerair, what is Scoot and what is the difference between them. The idea is to position a single brand in front of the customers saying Scoot is the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines," Mahadevan noted.

Budget Aviation Holdings Pte Ltd, which owns and manages the Singapore Airlines Group's budget carriers Scoot and Tigerair, plans to pursue a single brand and operating licence next year.

"The integration is expected to be realised between mid and end 2017, given the full spectrum of commercial, operational and regulatory considerations," Singapore Airlines said in a release earlier today.

"This will encompass flight scheduling and connections as well as touchpoint integration for guests, including a common website, contact centre and check-in counters."



Budget Aviation Holdings was established as a common holding company for the two carriers in May.

"The integration has already led to commercial and operational synergies between Scoot and Tigerair that are providing growth opportunities for both airlines.

"... Following a review, we have determined that the logical next step is to pursue a common operating licence and common brand identity to enable a more seamless travel experience for customers," Singapore Airlines CEO and Budget Aviation Holdings Chairman Goh Choon Phong said.

Together, Scoot and Tigerair offer a network of 59 destinations over 16 countries across the Asia-Pacific. While Scoot operates all-787 Dreamliner fleet for medium-to-long- haul destinations, Tigerair flies short-to-medium-haul flights with its Airbus A320-family aircraft.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Online cab aggregator Uber today said certain clauses in the draft Maharashtra City Taxi Rules will serve as speed bumps in its attempt to make life better for riders as well as drivers in the financial capital.

Last month, the state government proposed regulations to govern the ride-sharing industry.

While welcoming the government's recognition of the industry, Uber in a statement said that "certain elements of the draft risk the very progress we have made in making life better for riders, drivers and the city itself".

The proposed stipulation that more than 50 per cent of the vehicles on ride-sharing platforms should be over 1400cc would result in disappearance of economical and fuel efficient vehicles from the platform, it said.

"It also takes away the freedom and flexibility of drivers to have the vehicle of their choice, forcing them to buy more expensive cars which will in turn increase fares," it said.

Moreover, the proposed steep increase in the price of permits for such cabs would create barriers in accessing economic opportunities by drivers, it said.

"Also of concern are restrictions that put a cap on the minimum amount that can be charged for a trip, preventing market forces determining lower fares when possible," it said.

"Taken together, these moves strike at the heart of our promise of ensuring affordable and convenient rides to Mumbaikars whenever possible. They jeopardise the benefits ride-sharing bring, in terms of reduced congestion," Uber added.

Uber came to Mumbai in early 2014. The platform has been accessed by over 5.8 million people in the city and in Maharashtra so far.

Uber's online petition against stringent clauses in the draft rules had received one lakh signatures till yesterday evening.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Stating that Afghanistan's ties with India are "time-tested", Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali today said South Asian nations should learn from the relationship between the two countries, which is based on common values, interests and problems.

"Afghanistan's relationship with India is time-tested and it is a great example of how two neighbours should live together and help each other," Abdali told PTI on the sidelines of the 'India Conclave Ideas', a three-day-long event that kicked off here today.

The conclave is on the theme "Democracy, Development and Dissents".

"We (Afghanistan) hope other countries in this region can also learn from the relationship between India and Afghanistan, which is based on common values, interests and problems," he added.

"India-Afghanistan relationship is going to set an example that can help the rest of the region," Abdali said.

"I hope that we overcome the tension looking at the common problem that we face like poverty, terrorism. It's time that the countries in this region join hands and put aside issues of contention," he added.

"'Democracy, Development and Dissents' is very important for the countries within the region. Afghanistan has lot of take-aways from such a discussion. Our achievements in these three areas would have been impossible without the contribution from India," the envoy said.

"We need to support democracies in this region. India is the largest democracy and the full fledged democracy can give a lot of experience and support to the democracies within the region," Abdali said.

"Our region is suffering because of lack of full fledged democracy that we should have. Democracy will allow the country to prosper and to develop," Abdali said.

According to him,India can take the region forward, especially in dealing with the problem of terrorism, dictatorships and civil military relationship.

"Our region will have good future if we develop democracy and support democracy. There is less of tolerance in some part of our region, where there is opposition to certain set of ideas," the Ambassador said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar today said the Samajwadi Party's foundation day celebrations tomorrow should not be seen as a "prelude to alliance" for the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

"The SP programme is for the celebration of its 25th foundation day. It should not be seen as a prelude to any alliance (for the UP Assembly election)," he told reporters here.

Kumar said he had received a phone call from SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav last night inviting him to the function and thanked him for it.

"Had it not been for Chhath festival, I would have thought about going to Lucknow for the programme. It is courtesy to invite people who share similar ideological and emotional affinity to any function," he said after inspecting the preparations for Chhath festival at different ghats on the banks of Ganga.

Commenting on the feud in Uttar Pradesh's first family, the JD(U) supremo said, "We will be happy if there is no dispute within Samajwadi Party. I have full faith that veteran leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will be able to solve any problem within that party."



Kumar said JD(U) was going for the 2017 UP polls with full preparation.

Party worker meetings have been held in five divisions of that state, he said.

Kumar said talks for alliance and cooperation have been held with many parties, while also referring to the unsuccessful bid by six parties of old Janata Parivar to merge into one.

However, it does not mean that no such efforts would be made in future and that it would not succeed, he had said earlier.

The presence of leaders of prominent parties of socialist and secular leaning in the SP foundation day function is seen as a step towards forging a strong grouping for the crucial UP polls.

With Kumar expressing inability to go to Lucknow due to Chhath, JD(U) has decided to send its senior leaders Sharad Yadav and K C Tyagi to the foundation day function tomorrow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ruling Samajwadi Party is all geared up for the party's mega silver jubilee celebrations tomorrow with JD(U), RJD, RLD leaders set to share the stage with Uttar Pradesh's first family.

"The preparations for the historic event have been made. Samajwadi and Lohiawadi leaders will be sharing the stage with 'netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav)", SP state president Shivpal Yadav told reporters at party office today.

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, RLD Cheif Ajit Singh, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala, KC Tyagi (JD-U) and noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani are some of the prominent names to attend the event.

"With the event, SP will be formally launching its election campaign from tomorrow," Shivpal said, adding that its main objective was not to let BJP form government in Uttar Pradesh.

In a press conference yesterday, the SP state unit chief had said, "After forming majority government in UP in 2017, all secular forces will unite to uproot the BJP government at the Centre."



In a bid to portray a united front ahead of the 2017 state Assembly elections, the feuding first family had come together to flag off Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's 'rath yatra' here yesterday. Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal, with whom the Chief Minister was locked in a bitter power struggle, extended him "best wishes".

Meanwhile, Shivpal said that the entire route from SP headquarter to Janeshwar Mishra park, the venue for the silver jubilee celebrations, is dotted with hoardings and banners welcoming workers for the event.

"We are expecting a huge crowd tomorrow. The workers have already started coming to the state capital. We are expecting over 5 lakh people. The event will also pass a strong message for BJP and rival parties," convenor of the event and Cabinet minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati said.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made by police to ensure security of VVIP guests and party workers.

"Besides a DIG level officer, there would be five Superintendents of Police (SP), 24 ASPs, 39 Circle Officers and a considerable number of PAC personnel as part of the security cover for the event," IG, Lucknow Zone, A Satish Ganesh said.

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The SP state chief said that he also met with party supremo Mulayam Singh at his residence for the success of the event.

Shivpal has also asked the district administration and police to ensure that expelled party leaders are not allowed inside the venue of the event.

The SP leader was reportedly peeved by the presence of expelled leaders including MLCs Santosh Yadav Sunny, Sunil Yadav Sajan, Anand Bhadauria and others at Akhilesh's rath yatra yesterday.

Though there is no official word from the party or administration on the matter, party sources said that Shivpal was strongly batting for restricting the expelled leaders at tomorrow's event.
A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal critiqued the city police for failing to trace a JNU student, missing since October 15, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today asked the force to speed up their efforts.

The Lt Governor today held a meeting with top cops, including Special Commissioner (law and order), Joint CP (South-East Range), Head of SIT and took stock of the investigation in the case, LG office said in a statement.

He also increased the reward money from Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh for giving information about the whereabouts of the missing student.

27-year-old Najeeb Ahmed, a student of School of Biotechnology and a native of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, went missing on October 15 following an on-campus scuffle allegedly with the members of ABVP the night before.

Jung directed the police that no effort be spared to trace the student.

In the meeting, police told the LG that all out efforts were being made to trace Najeeb. They said that over 20,000 posters have been pasted in Delhi and outside.

The force also apprised the Lt Governor that the entire incident has been repeatedly re-examined and that areas in and around Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) searched comprehensively several times.

"SIT probing the case has verified over 300 autorickshaws plying in the area. It has so far deployed about 150 police personnel, including two teams per district," the statement said.

It also stated that teams have been sent to Ajmer, Kota, Bareilley, Roorkee, Faizabad, Azamgarh, Badaun and other neighbouring cities.

"Many of Najeeb's former teachers, friends and relatives have been contacted, including the schools and other educational institutions which he attended. CCTV cameras at various locations including metro, ISBT, railway stations and tolls are being scanned," it said.

While participating in a solidarity meeting at JNU yesterday, Kejriwal had said that Najeeb would come back only when Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be made to realise that he was losing votes over the issue.

Kejriwal, who has had frequent run-ins with the Delhi Police, said the force would not dare to pursue any investigation in this regard as "RSS students' wing ABVP was involved in the brawl following which Najeeb went missing."



Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and former General Secretary of CPI(M) Prakash Karat had also called for immediate steps to trace the student.

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Meanwhile, four members of the JNU unit of



Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) began an indefinite hunger strike today demanding action against ABVP members, who were allegedly involved in the brawl a day before Najeeb went missing.

An ABVP delegation, on their part, met Delhi police commissioner Alok Verma and submitted a memorandum asking for an expedited process and serious investigation into the issue.

Following a call by Kejriwal to take the protest against the missing of Najeeb to "mainstream", the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) has called for a candle light march at India Gate on November 6.

Alleging "inaction" on part of the administration, JNUSU has been agitating against Najeeb's disappearance. The protesting students had even confined the JNU VC and other senior officials in the administrative building of the campus for over 20 hours.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today accused Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal of "stooping to the lowest level of politics and trying to flare up communal tension" in the state.

The party's Punjab convenor, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, said Sukhbir must "own up to putting pressure on police officers" to "falsely implicate" AAP MLA from Delhi Naresh Yadav in the Malerkotla Quran Sharif sacrilege case.

"He (Sukhbir) should resign immediately," Ghuggi said.

Stating that the key accused in the case, Vijay Kumar, has confessed that he had named Yadav under pressure from certain officers of Punjab police, the AAP leader said, "Now it is clear that Sukhbir has politicised the police force and is using it to snub his political opponents."



Ghuggi said AAP leaders will meet the Punjab Governor, seeking an independent enquiry to unearth the names of those police officers who had registered the case against Yadav.

"This is not the first time that Sukhbir has misused his power to register false cases. Even at the time of the Bargari case, two innocent Sikh youths were arrested on false charges of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib but later, they had to be released as there was no evidence against them," he said.

Yadav, the AAP MLA from Delhi's Mehrauli, said, "Being a law abiding citizen of this country, I have always cooperated with Punjab police. I am ready to face any enquiry in the future as well."



He said the SAD's "attempt to create tension among communities" will never work as the people of Punjab have now understood the party's "politics of hatred".

Yadav alleged that because of politicians like Sukhbir, the country was going through a "bad phase".

"Sukhbir sent the police to arrest an elected legislator on the statement of an accused. What action will he now take when the same person has levelled allegations against his own police officers?" he asked.

AAP leader and Yadav's lawyer in the case Himmat Singh Shergill said the court granted bail to the Mehrauli MLA as there was "no evidence" against him.

"Even though he got bail early, who will compensate for those six days he spent in jail and the mental trauma he and his family went through," he said, adding that it was a "perfect example of miscarriage of justice".

Yadav was accused of "playing a role in trying to foment communal tension" during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan after miscreants dumped torn pages from the Quran into a drain at Malerkotla.

(REOPENS DES 18)



Meanwhile, youth Congress leader and party's Fatehgarh Sahib unit General Secretary Rupinder Singh Happy, Block Samiti member Lakhwinder Singh, Block Samiti Members Swaranjit Kaur, Inderpreet Dhillon and Jaswinder Singh joined Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Punjab incharge Sanjay Singh and AAP candidate from Bassi Pathana, Santokh Singh Salana.

Welcoming the leaders in party fold, Sanjay Singh said that "Congress party has been rejected by the people of Punjab twice in a row and they do not trust Congress anymore."



He said that the leaders will be given due respect in the party.

Rupinder said that there is a strong wave in favor of Aam Aadmi Party in the state and youngsters are enthusiastic to join AAP and be part of the revolution.

He said that Congress earlier promised to give tickets to youth from non political background but did opposite to their promise.
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon has hit out at Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump of being "untrustable" while confirming that she will be voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the US presidential polls.

During an interview with CNN, the 70-year-old veteran star said, "I wanted to vote for somebody who, in some way, is concerned about the things that concern me.

"After my experience, it's very clear to me that the DNC (Democratic National Convention) is gone, and we need a progressive party."



Sarandon also said she still admires former primary rival Bernie Sanders, whom she previously supported.

The actress's comments came in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline project, the issue that has seen many celebrities and environmentalists protest.

Native American people have criticised the project, saying it will disturb various ancestral sites, including stone circles and sacred ground, if it is built.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today responded to a visa request by an Indian man living in Dubai for his Pakistani wife for treatment of their son in Mumbai.

In a tweet, Yasin said he applied for visa for his Pakistani wife in September to travel to Mumbai for treatment of their son who is special child.

"Where have you applied for Indian visa for your Pakistani wife ? Also pl give details of your child's treatment in Mumbai ?" Swaraj tweeted today.

Earlier, Yasin tweeted "I am struggling to get medical attendant visa for my wife who is pakistani, to get treatment for my child in Mumbai."



The External Affairs Minister also assured help when a man named Namuduri Venkata Rao requested her to help him get a visa to visit Ukraine to attend to his son who is admitted in a hospital in that country.

"My son suffering pneumonia coma from 10days, pls help me provide visa urgently to visit my son in zaprozhye hospital,ukraine," tweeted the man to which Swaraj said her office will contact him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: DMK treasurer and leader of the opposition M K today appeared before the Madras High Court in connection with an election petition filed by former mayor Saidai Duraisamy, challenging his election from Kolathur in the 2011 assembly polls.

This is the second time he is appearing before the Court in connection with the case.

Duraisamy's counsel cross examined him.

The court then adjourned the case to Monday and Stalin has to appear again in continuation of the cross examination.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kathy Manos Penn

Once again this year, my husband will march in the Georgia Veterans Day Parade with members of the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association (AVVBA), and that evening we'll attend the Freedom Ball. The parade kicks off on November 12 at 11:11 hours in Downtown Atlanta. Though Veterans Day is always on November 11, the parade typically occurs on the nearest Saturday.Last year's ball honored Vietnam Veterans, and this year's honors the USO as it celebrates its 75th anniversary. What does the USO do? Many of us recall seeing Bob Hope and more recently Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band entertaining the troops, but that's just one small part of what this organization does for the members of the military and their families. The mission of the USO is to "strengthen America's military service members by keeping them connected to family, home, and country, throughout their service to the nation."Established in 1941 before our country entered WWII, the USO was created by bringing together several service organizations into one entity to support our troops. Those service groups included the Salvation Army, Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, National Catholic Community Services, National Travelers Aid Association and the National Jewish Welfare Board.Today's USO operates over 180 centers in countries on every continent except Antartica. Those centers are operated by staff and volunteers and are located at or near military installations, even in combat zones. Airport centers like those at the Atlanta and Charlotte airports provide a space where service men and women can connect with friends and family via Internet or phone, play a video game, watch a movie, have a snack or just plain relax.Not only does the organization support our troops, it also supports their families. For example, "[t]he USO partners with the Comfort Crew for Military Kids to send motivational speakers on tour to promote self-confidence and resiliency in military children ages 6 to 15 years old." The Comfort Crew helps these children deal with issues such as bullying and adjusting to life during and after deployment. And, of course, supporting military children helps their parents to feel confident that their children are getting the best care.I was touched when I read about the United Through Reading program which allows parents to read aloud stories to their children. The USO records story time on camera and mails the DVD and book home so that children can watch and listen to their parent anytime. The caring circle is complete when families send back a photo of the child or children watching and listening to the DVD. In 2015, USO delivered over 14,000 recordings.I've described just a few of the services the USO offers our military families, and you can learn more at https://www.uso.org/75. You can also donate there. When you volunteer or send a donation, you too support our troops.Here in Dunwoody, Georgia, many residents donated multiple times this summer when VFW and AVVBA members collected funds outside the local Kroger, helping the Dunwoody group to raise $10,000 and win the district competition for the third year in a row. The fact that the Dunwoody gang beat the second place location by $6,000 is a testament to the generosity of our community. Hats off to our USO supporters!To read more of Kathy's columns and blogs, visit her website theinkpenn.com where you can also purchase her just published book "The Ink Penn, Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday."
Three US troops were killed in a shooting outside a military training facility in Jordan today, a US official said.

"A total of three US service members died today in the incident in Jordan," the official said in Washington.

"The service members were in vehicles approaching the gate of a Jordanian military training facility, where they came under small arms fire," the official added.

"Initial reports were that one was killed, two injured. The two injured service members were transported to a hospital in Amman, where they died."



"We are working with the Jordanian government to gather additional details about what happened."



Earlier, the Jordanian army said the shooting took place at the gate of Al-Jafr base in southern Jordan after the car carrying the US trainers failed to stop.

It said that a Jordanian officer was also wounded.

"An exchange of fire occurred Friday morning at the gate of the Prince Feisal Air Base in Al-Jafr when a car carrying trainers attempted to enter the gate without heeding the guards' orders to stop," it said in a statement, quoting a military source.

The army said an investigation was under way to determine the causes of the shooting.

An American defence official described the incident as "green on blue", a military term for when friendly forces attack US personnel.

"But we can't say for the moment if it was a deliberate" act to kill US personnel or "some kind of misunderstanding," the official told AFP.

The death of three American troops in Jordan could prove very embarrassing for Amman, a key recipient of US financial aid and member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

US forces have trained a small group of vetted Syrian rebels in Jordan, and American instructors have trained Iraqi and Palestinian security forces in Jordan as well over the past few years.

Today's incident comes almost a year after a Jordanian policeman shot dead two US instructors, a South African and two Jordanians at a police training centre east of Amman, before being gunned down.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top Naxalite leader Ramakrishna's wife today informed the Hyderabad High Court that her husband is "safe" and sought the court's permission for withdrawal of the habeas corpus petition she filed earlier in this regard.

"We informed the high court that Ramakrishna is safe and said we got information last night that he is safe. We requested to permit us to withdraw the habeas corpus which is posted after two weeks," Kandula Sirisha told the court through her counsel V Raghunath.

As the matter was not posted for today, the high court asked the petitioner to make an application through Registrar (Judicial) seeking to withdraw the petition.

The matter is likely to come up for listing on Monday (November 7) and the court will pass an order in view of request by the petitioner.

In the wake of an exchange of fire on Andhra-Odisha border on October 24 in which 24 Maoists were killed, doubts were expressed by the wife of Ramakrishna alias RK and relatives and party comrades that he might be in police custody.

In the habeas corpus petition, Sirisha sought directions to the Andhra Pradesh government to produce the outlaw before the court and to record his statement for appropriate action.

Andhra Pradesh Police yesterday informed the high court that RK is not in their custody and following submission from the state police, the court had asked the petitioner, to produce before it any material with regard to him and posted the matter after two weeks.

A division bench of justices C V Nagarjuna Reddy and M S K Jaiswal had earlier directed the Andhra Pradesh government to file counter affidavit informing the court whether RK was in police custody or not, while hearing the habeas corpus plea filed last week by Sirisha.

Responding to the petition, Visakhapatnam Rural District Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Sharma filed an affidavit before the court that RK, who is a member of the banned Central Committee of CPI (ML), is not in the custody of police.

The senior police officer further submitted that the incident of exchange of fire has occurred in the territory of Odisha state and requested the court to dismiss the petition.

Last night, in a dramatic turn of events, a frontal organisation of the Maoists, the Revolutionary Writers Association (RWA) announced that RK was "safe", barely hours after Sirisha alleged in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad that her husband was in police custody.

RWA leader Varavara Rao called Telugu television



channels over phone and announced that RK was "safe" but did not give any details about his whereabouts or condition.

The late night announcement brought to an end the 10-day- old suspense and anxiety over RK's state as there were allegations from Maoists' frontal organisations and civil liberties groups that he might have been killed by the police in the October 24 encounter on the Andhra-Odisha border.

Subsequently, these organisations alleged that RK was being held captive by the police and expressed apprehension that he too might be bumped off in a false encounter.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has slammed US President Barack Obama for holding election rallies in support of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, describing him as campaigner-in-chief.

"Because of our failed leaders, including from the campaigner-in-chief Obama -this guys does nothing but campaign," Trump yesterday said at an election rally in Salema, North Carolina.

According to police, the rally was attended by nearly 18,000 people, considered to be big by American standards.

"You know I said the other day, I said, 'Let him work on bringing our jobs back from Mexico who stole our jobs. Let him work on building up our very depleted, you know it better than anybody, our depleted military,'" he said.

"Instead, he is campaigning with somebody who is under the FBI investigation," he alleged.

Obama has hit a campaign blitz this week. He addressed two election rallies in Florida yesterday. Both the events attracted thousands of people, with his supporters standing in long ques for hours to listen to him.

The development seems to have unnerved the Trump Campaign, given the kind of increased attack against him by Republican leaders.

"We need a president that's gonna go in and do their job. And I just left, by the way, Miami. And in leaving, I see Air Force One. So I said to myself I wonder who that could be. And it's our president. And he's down here campaigning for crooked Hillary," Trump told his supporters in Jacksonville.

"Now why, why isn't he back in the office, sometimes referred to as the Oval Office? Why isn't he back in the White House bringing our jobs back? And helping our veterans? Right? Why, why isn't he back working? He's campaigning every day, and I actually think considering that she is under criminal investigation, I think he's actually got a conflict," he said.

Obama has a number of election rallies scheduled over the next few days including those in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida.

"We are led by stupid people. Ok? We are led by stupid people, and one of them is campaigning just too much," Trump said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Among the people with serious financial problems who taught for Trump University is a case that crossed international borders, an Ontario couple who securities regulators sanctioned over a multimillion-dollar fraud, according to a joint investigation.

Records, reviewed through a joint investigation by The Associated Press and The Canadian Press, show a husband-and- wife team who called themselves Dave Ravindra and Rita Bahadur taught a course for Trump's program on "Creative Financing" in Canada in 2010, shortly before his namesake real-estate seminars folded amid mounting complaints from former students and inquiries from US regulators.

The names match known aliases used by Ravindra Dave, 59, and Chandramattie Dave, 55, according to Canadian authorities.

The Ontario Securities Commission concluded last year that the Daves defrauded numerous Canadian investors between 2009 and 2012.

Records also show that "Dave Ravindra" was stripped of his license to practice real estate in Ontario in 2008, two years before he went to work for Trump University.

The Daves, who immigrated to Canada from Guyana decades ago, have filed for personal bankruptcy at least four times since 2001 twice by him, and twice by her, records show.

Government records list at least nine different names used by the couple, a mix of pseudonyms that include various combinations mixing the order of their first, middle and last names.

Trump said he personally hand-picked only the best people to teach for Trump University, but the Daves are only the latest examples of those selected despite questionable credentials. AP reported last month that the roster of Trump University speakers and staff included at least four convicted felons, including a Florida cocaine trafficker and a former Army sergeant from Georgia court-martialed for sexually assaulting the 8-year-old daughter of a fellow soldier.

Half the 68 former Trump University staffers whose backgrounds the AP reviewed had personal bankruptcies, home foreclosures, credit card defaults, tax liens or other indicators of significant money troubles prior to teaching Trump University courses promoting wealth building.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued in 2013, alleging that Trump University was a "fraud from beginning to end," geared toward pressuring cash-strapped students into buying ever more expensive seminars.

In California, two federal class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of former students. One is headed to trial November 28, three weeks after the presidential election.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India is a "very important" country for Turkey that can serve as a gateway for India to enter the European Union market, Turkey's Minister of Development Lutfi Elvan said today.

"India is a very important country in Asia for Turkey. Indian economy is growing at 7 per cent plus. In India, the number of people living below poverty line has declined by 10 per cent in the last 10 years," Elvan said at an event here.

"Turkey can be a place for India to enter into the European Union market. If you will make investment in Turkey, it will be same as making investment in the European Union."



The minister hoped that both economies will improve provided businessmen from Turkey and India come together.

"Legal regulations of Turkey are almost same as the European Union," Elvan said.

The Turkish minister pointed to the complaints often voiced by businessmen from both sides related to bureaucracy, emphasising that there is need to find a solution.

"If there is a problem in Turkey, then we will solve it. If there is bureaucratic problem in India, then India should solve it," he suggested.

India's export to Turkey stood at USD 5 billion last year.

The minister is optimistic that Turkey, the 17th largest economy, will be 10th largest by 2023.

Making the point that Turkey has been a high performer and its national income has tripled in the past 14 years, Elvan said, "Turkey is likely to grow at 3.2 per cent this year and Turkey's per capita income is converging to OECD average and that of the European Union.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Turkish court today formally arrested the two co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) as well as five of the party's MPs, state-run Anadolu agency said.

Party leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, who were detained overnight during a terror investigation, were today remanded in custody by a court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

They will be held behind bars pending trial, although no date has been set yet.

A total of 12 HDP parliamentarians were rounded up overnight in an unprecedented crackdown on the party, which has sparked international alarm.

As well as Demirtas and Yuksekdag, five other MPs were also remanded in custody following hearings in Diyarbakir and in other cities.

Among them were Idris Baluken, head of HDP's parliamentary faction, and four other parliamentarians: Leyla Birlik, Nursel Aydogan, Selma Irmak and Gulser Yildirim.

Another three HDP lawmakers -- Ziya Pir, Imam Tascier and Sirri Sureyya Onder -- were allowed to go free under judicial control, the Turkish equivalent of bail.

Court hearings for two others, Ferhat Encu and Abdullah Zeydan, were ongoing.

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Turkey today urged India to crack down on terrorist organisation FETO, claiming it has opened schools in India and is trying to inflitrate into strategic government institutions in the country.

Turkey's Minister of Development Lutfi Elvan, who is currently on a visit to India, raised the issue with Home Minister Rajnath Singh when he met him here today.

Addressing a press conference later, he said the Indian government has assured him that it will take necessary measures to check the activities of that organisation.

Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO) was blamed for a failed coup in July to topple President Tayyip Erdogan.

"Unfortunately, in India too this terrorist organisation has organised themselves. They have got four schools here, one international school and a college and they are organised in Delhi, South Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

"During our meeting we also had the opportunity to discuss this with Minister (Singh) about the preventive measures to be taken against this terorist organisation," Lutfi said.

Elaborating on the modus operandi of the terrorist group, the Minister explained that it operates under the disguise of providing education to students by setting up schools and offering scholarships.

"However, in the meantime they brainwash the students and they are trying to inflitrate with their alumni important strategic government institutions and once their alumni infiltrate in strategic government institutions they are acting towards the interest of this terrorist organisation," Lutfi said.

The Minister said the Indian Government has pledged to take necessary measures to stop the activities of the terrorist organisation.

"We expressed our concern about the FETO -- the terorist organisation, and the India side showed their solidarity with us and they have indicated to take necessary measures and we are going to follow uo the details of the procedures with the Indian side in the future," Lutfi said.

He informed that Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs has notified the Indian Ministry of External Affairs regarding the issue and the necessary channels will be used for follow up.

Lutfi said Indian authorities showed "great sensitivity" towards the issue and assured that they will work on it and take necessary measures.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two Chinese nationals have visited Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, on wrong Protected Area Permits (PAPs), instead of the Restricted Area Permit (RAP), issued by the Deputy Resident Commissioner (DRC) of Arunachal Pradesh office in Guwahati.

DRC officials here said they came to know about the "administrative mix-up" only when a local newspaper of Arunachal Pradesh reported about it yesterday.

The office immediately launched a probe and preliminary investigations revealed that the two Chinese nationals from Hong Kong -- Young James John and Wu Chong Shong -- were issued the Protected Area Permit (PAP) when they should have been given the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) as per the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines, the officials said.

Stating that citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan require RAP to be issued by the MHA, they said the two Chinese nationals' application for PAP was recommended to the DRC Guwahati office by the Resident Tourism Officer of the Arunachal Pradesh government based on their tourist visa.

It must have been a case of the officer concerned here "overlooking" the Chinese citizenship of the two and issuing them the PAP, instead of RAP, without taking prior permission from the MHA, the officials said.

"We are conducting an investigation into the case and will send our report to the Arunachal Pradesh government which will submit it to the MHA," they said.

Giving details of the permit issued to the two foreign tourists, the officials said that PAP was issued to the two Chinese nationals on August 30 on their applications to visit Tawang, West Kameng and Lower Subansiri districts for 30 days from September 12 to October 11.

The officials also confirmed that the two Chinese



nationals had visited Bomdila and a copy of their PAP was found from a hotel there.

But, the officials did not immediately know if they visited strategically important Tawang and West Kameng which are out of bounds for Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Chinese citizens.

These places are of security concern for India as China claims Tawang as its territory.

The Arunachal Pradesh daily had reported that "taking serious cognizance over illegal issuance of PAP to Chinese nationals, Arunachal Pradesh Tour Operators Association (ATOA) has lodged a complaint against the then DRC DJ Borah at Itanagar police station, alleging violation of the PAP Act".

"The association has demanded for the immediate arrest of the DRC responsible for letting the Chinese nationals to venture into Arunachal Pradesh. Terming the incident as breach of national security and gross violation of the laid down guidelines, the association opined that such an instance of issuing PAP to foreign nationals could be subversive for national security," the newspaper report said.

"It (ATOA) demanded the government to modify and issue notification that PAP should be allowed with sponsorship of local registered tour operators," it added.
In a joint operation, security forces apprehended two active cadre of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) from Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The joint team of Assam police and Jairampur Battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of Dao Division apprehended the ULFA men from Jairampur on Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on Tuesday, an Assam Rifles release said today.

The arrested duo was identified as Sarat Mohan and Chiteshwar Chetia.

During interrogation, they revealed that they were given specific tasks by Arun Dahotia of ULFA (I) to carry out extortion and recruit new cadre to strengthen the banned outfit, the release claimed, adding they said the organisation was planning to abduct a local businessman for ransom.

They also revealed the presence of an overground worker, Monto Sonowal of Duliajan Village in Assam, who was apprehended from Phulbari.

A revolver along with ammunition and Rs 8,000 have been recovered from the cadre who were later handed over to police, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Vidant Health Receives $30,000 Grant from 1In9 Organization to Assist with Cancer Patients

Press Release:



GREENVILLE The 1in9 organization has awarded Vidant Health a $30,000 grant to assist women undergoing treatment for breast, ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancer or the gynecological cancers. The recipients, identified by their treatment team, must be proven to need financial assistance to meet the day-to-day expenses not otherwise provided for by other funding sources including but not limited to: transportation expense assistance, nutritional assistance and medication assistance.



<>"We are so pleased to partner with 1in9 to help female cancer patients here in eastern North Carolina," said Scott Senatore, vice president for development, Vidant Health Foundation. "We appreciate the support of such an inspirational organization because the fight against cancer cannot be won alone."



Stephanie Beguelin, with the help of her friends and family, founded the 1in9 organization because she was inspired to help others. Her inspiration was rooted in being a breast cancer survivor herself and realizing how many others were affected by the disease, as well as how many do not have the emotional support or financial resources to pay for their treatment. She was overwhelmed with this knowledge and felt the need to help others diagnosed with cancer.



The founding mission of the 1in9 organization is to assist women and their families facing financial crisis due to non-medical costs of cancer care. The organization initially began to help others through UNC Lineberger Cancer Center in Chapel Hill where Beguelin had been treated. Beguelin decided that she didn't want to stop there, so she and her team at 1in9 recently reached out to Vidant Health to see how they could assist those in eastern North Carolina and expand their resources. After learning about the region's higher mortality rates, as well as how many are uninsured and underinsured, 1in9 organization decided to give an initial grant of $30,000 to assist women cancer patients.



When Beguelin was asked about their reason for giving to Vidant and eastern North Carolina, she shared, "We are so excited about the remainder of 2016 and the ability to provide your patients with some desperately needed support. We truly look forward to growing this partnership and assisting eastern North Carolina women for the long haul. 1in9 is committed to removing barriers that would prohibit women from completing their cancer treatment. Our primary cancer focus has been breast cancer up to this point, and now we are expanding to include the gynecological cancers - ovarian, endometrial, cervical and uterine."



Vidant Cancer Care and Vidant Health Foundation are truly grateful for the support of 1in9 organization, and grant dollars are already being distributed in our region to those in need. Patients are receiving assistance with lodging, meals, travel expenses, medicine, groceries, household needs or child care.



For more information, please contact Varessa Wall, director of development, Vidant Health Foundation at (252) 847-8994 or varessa.wall@vidanthealth.com.


In a crackdown to curb its soaring immigration figures, the UK government has announced changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals, which will affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals.

Under the new visa rules announced last evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds.

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted fornearly90percentof visas issued under thisroute.

The changes come just days beforeBritish Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India on Sunday for her three-day visit.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

Besides the Tier 2 ICT salary threshold hike, the other changes announced include increasing the Tier 2 (General) salary threshold for experienced workers to 25,000 pounds, with some exemptions; reducing the Tier 2 (ICT) graduate trainee salary threshold to 23,000 pounds and increasing the number of places to 20 per company per year; and closing the Tier 2 (ICT) skills transfer sub-category.

A number of changes have also been announced for the Tier 4 category, which covers maintenance requirements for the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

Nationals outside the European Union, including Indians, will also be affected by new English language requirements when applying for settlement as a family member after two and a half years in the UK on a five-year route to residency settlement in the UK.

The new requirement will apply to partners and parents whose current leave to remain in the UK under the family immigration rules is due to expire on or after May 1, 2017.

The changes follow advice by the MAC earlier this year to curb the Tier 2 ICT route and reduce reliance on foreign workers.

"(Immigration) is not serving to increase the incentive to employers to train and upskill the UK workforce. Ready access to a pool of skilled IT professionals in India is an example of this," the MAC report had said in its findings.

"We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staff are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India," it noted.

(REOPENS FGN 1)



The MAC had added that the evidence indicates that



multinational companies with a presence in India had developed a competitive advantage in delivering IT projects in the UK.

"They have developed a delivery model, whereby significant elements of projects are delivered offshore in India, taking advantage of the fact that Indian salaries are lower than in the UK for equivalent workers.

"Indeed, partners told us that India currently has a competitive advantage in training IT workers and in the time it would take to fully upskill the native population, technology would have moved on," the report concluded.

The new rules follow further tightening of the Tier 2 category, which came into force in April this year.

"The UK government's reforms toTier2work visas are intended to ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled people they need, but also see that they get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first," then UK Immigration minister James Brokenshire had said.
The UK Foreign Office today admitted removing from the National Archives a number of files on the India-UK relations in the 1980s, including some related to the Operation Blue Star, prompting a Sikh group to demand an independent investigation into the matter.

The files were released by the National Archives under the 30-year declassification rules earlier this year.

Sikh Federation UK claimed to have found a memo within the filesreferring to the possibility of the Special Air Services (SAS) unit of the British Army being involved after "an Indian request for military assistance in the setting up of a National Guard for internal security duties" during Operation Blue Star in 1984.

"The UK government considered SAS assistance for the Indian military just weeks after the 1984 Amritsar massacre, a fact omitted from an official review ordered by David Cameron in 2014, fresh evidence obtained by the Sikh Federation (UK) reveals.

"Lawyers have now written to home secretary Amber Rudd demanding an independent investigation into Britain's role in one of the darkest periods in Sikh history, after new evidence was found at the UK National Archives," a Sikh Federation UK statement said.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in an apparent revenge attack a few months after the military operation on Golden Temple in June 1984.

The row over how much the British government knew and helped in the incidents 32 years ago threatens to overshadow British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India next week.

Sikh Federation UK, a UK-based Sikh NGO, has accused the government of a "cover-up" and its lawyers from law firm KRW Law have now written to UK home secretary Amber Rudd demanding an "independent investigation".

But the Foreign Office has insisted the files have been merely "borrowed" following concerns raised by the group.

"The FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] borrowed some of their files from 1984 that were released to the National Archives so they could read the content following concerns raised by the Sikh Federation. They will return all the files in full shortly," a UK government spokesperson said.

"The issue of SAS advice prior to Operation Blue Star was dealt with in the 2014 report by the Cabinet Secretary. These files contain nothing about this incident," the spokesperson adds.

The 2014 report refers to an official government inquiry into the exact nature of British involvement linked to theIndian Army operation at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984.

The inquiry had been ordered by then British Prime Minister David Cameron after documents released previously under the 30-year declassification rule had implied British SAS commanders had advised the Indian government as it drew up plans for the removal of militants from Golden Temple.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Possibility for an India-UK free trade agreement is likely to figure in the meeting of Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox on November 7.

Both sides will also deliberate on ways to strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties, an official said.

The ministers met here last time in August. Then, India and the UK deliberated on the possibility of negotiating a free trade agreement.

Sitharaman had stated that the UK is very keen on deepening economic ties with India.

The Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) of India and UK is also expected to meet next week.

India is already negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU, and after the Brexit, it will have to rework its strategy of negotiations.

The bilateral trade between India and the UK stood at USD 14 billion in 2015-16 as against USD 14.33 billion in 2014-15.

India received USD 23.10 billion FDI from Britain between April 2000 to March 2016.

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Dismayed at UK's proposed changes in visa system that will impact skilled IT migration, software body Nasscom today called for a high skilled worker mobility pact between the two countries to safeguard the economic interests of both nations.

Nasscom said that the movement of tech workers should be treated as a trade priority rather than an immigration issue.

"Indian IT companies play a key role in driving the UK's growth and prosperity by significantly enhancing productivity and global competitiveness of British businesses, contributing to overall growth and job creation of the UK economy," Nasscom said.

Nasscom said it intends to focus on opportunities that UK Prime Minister Theresa May's forthcoming visit offers, for a fresh approach to skilled IT migration as part of a possibly new India-UK trade agreement.

It said that the fast growing and high value tech sectors rely on an effective immigration policy.

Such a policy should attract high skilled workers and minimise barriers to the flow of talented people between the two countries, it added.

"A system that restricts the UK's ability to access talent is also likely to restrict the growth and productivity of the UK economy," the association said.

The UK needs to have the "right" policies in place to encourage valuable temporary immigration, and minimise barriers to the flow of talented people, it added.

"Our key ask to both Governments is for a high skilled worker mobility agreement, along with an agreement on the free movement of data. The movement of skilled tech workers from India should be seen as a trade priority rather than an immigration issue," it said.

Under the new visa rules announced last evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds.

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain, and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union HRD Ministry has agreed to release the pending amount of Rs 53 crore to Arunachal Pradesh under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) salary for the year 2015-16 which has been pending with the ministry.

This was intimated by the ministry to the state government today, an official communique informed.

The state government had released two months pending salary of SSA teachers from the state's exchequer even before the HRD ministry released the pending share of Rs 53 crore meant for the state.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu thanked Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javedekar for his timely intervention in releasing the long pending share of the state.

He also sought the Centre's continuous support in all key sectors to make the state a vibrant and front runner in terms of development, the communique added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US is trying to take India in its "embrace" as an ally to counter China, but New Delhi has "remained independent" and joined fora like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Russian international relations experts said today.

Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, said it is seen that "India is also increasing its Eurasian footprint".

Speaking at a day-long conference on 'Russia in Global Affairs: Indian and Russian perspective', Suslov, who belongs to the leading Russian university, said there is no other country who has explicitly challenged the US like Russia.

"The US tries to use economic interdependence to undermine those who do not want to join the US-led forces. In case of India, to counter China, the US is trying to take it in embrace. But there is no evidence that India is keen on doing that. By joining the SCO, India has shown that it has remained independent," he said.

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation which was founded in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. On July 10, 2015, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members.

Andrei Skriba, associate professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, said Russia's foreign policy is not yet equipped like the West in terms of using soft power.

Speaking about the Russian foreign policy, Skriba said that Russia was moving towards Asia Pacific and laid emphasis on good relations in the region.

Referring to China, Suslov said Russia will cooperate with Beijing, not as an "ally" but as a partner and on its terms and conditions.

Nandan Unnikrishnan, Vice President and Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, said the greatest threat to the US hegemony is China and if "Russia becomes an adjunct of China" then it will be difficult for the US to maintain its supremacy.

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US security and intelligence agencies fear that Russia-backed hackers might try another round of cyber-attack on the election day next week, multiple media reports have said.

Even though such a move is unlikely to impact the election outcome, but it might sow doubts about the legitimacy of the results, reports said.

"The assessment reflects widespread concern among US spy agencies that a months-long campaign by Russia to rattle the mechanisms of American democracy will probably continue after polls close on one of the most polarizing races in recent history, extending and amplifying the political turbulence," The Washington Post said in a major story.

"I think it's correct to say the Russians don't think they can dictate the outcome," Congressman Adam B Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was quoted as saying in the US media.

Still Russian intelligence services are likely to be "looking through their troves of hacked documents and seeing what they can release," he said.

In another report, NBC said government officials believe hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to undermine Tuesday's presidential election. They are mounting an unprecedented effort to counter their cyber meddling.

According to the news channel, Russia has been warned that any effort to manipulate the actual voting or vote counting would be viewed as a serious breach.

"The Russians are in an offensive mode and [the US is] working on strategies to respond to that, and at the highest levels," Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, was quoted as saying in the US media.

The Russians "want to sow as much confusion as possible and undermine our process in ways they've done elsewhere," a senior Obama administration official told NBC news.

"So this is to make sure that we have all the tools at our disposal and that we're prepared to respond to whatever it is that they do," the official said.

"We need to be prepared on every front, not just technical but messaging, and so on. Because any reporting irregularity could be incredibly disruptive. They can cause tremendous chaos, and by the time we are able to attribute, the damage may have already been done," the official said.

US officials have said that given the nature of decentralization of elections, it would be extremely difficult for a nation or a non-state actor to alter ballot counts.

"This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place. States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process," the official said.

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Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel today said the United States Supreme Court has turned down a petition filed by the firm's US-based subsidiary in an anti-trust case.

JSW Steel USA Inc, a subsidiary of JSW Steel, approached the US Supreme Court contesting an appeal of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

JSW USA had sought a review of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision by filing a petition for writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court, which if successful could result in the refund of part or all funds of USD 54.85 million paid to satisfy judgment of the Court of Appeals, the firm said in a regulatory filing.

"The US Supreme Court has since declined to hear an appeal of the decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals," it added.

As JSW USA has already made the provision in its books and discharged the liability arising from the earlier judgment, there is no impact on its decision. There is no further appeals available and this matter is, therefore, concluded, the filing said.

In June 2016, the US District Court issued an order releasing JSW Steel USA Inc from any further liability to MM Steel under the judgment in return for a payment of USD 54.85 million.

JSW had then said: "This payment has been made and JSW USA intends to seek review of the Fifth Circuit's decision by filing a petition for writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court, which if successful, could result in the refund of part or all of the funds paid to satisfy the judgment."



In December 2015, the district court in the US had directed the JSW Steel subsidiary to pay a USD 156 million fine, as it confirmed an earlier ruling by a jury in an anti-trust case filed by a local steel distributor.

MM Steel had sued its competing distributors and steel manufacturers, including JSW Steel, in 2012, claiming that its rivals had conspired to deprive it of supplies and that the manufacturers had knowingly joined the plot, the court document showed.

MM Steel shut down its business in 2013.

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One woman was killed while her daughter was injured as their 80-year-old four-storeyed house collapsed today in north Delhi's Azad Market area.

The deceased, identified as 45-year-old Jingla, was pulled out from the debris by firefighters and taken to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital where she was declared brought dead, said a senior police officer.

Her 23-year-old daughter Komal, is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital and her condition is stable, added the officer.

"A call was received today around 4.05 PM and 12 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. A team from NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) was also involved in the rescue operation," said a senior officer from Delhi Fire Services.

Police said that two families were living in the building.

"One family had gone to their home town in Bihar for Chhath Puja. Jingla and her daughter Komal were present inside the house, police said.

The deplorable condition of the building might be the reason for the collapse, said the officer.

"A case under sections 288(Negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) and 304A (Causing death by negligence) has been registered and further investigation is underway," said Madhur Verma, DCP(North).

Jingla's son has alleged that their neighbours were constructing a staircase in their house which weakened the common wall between the two houses thereby triggering their house to collapse, he said, adding that they will also be investigating this angle.

A senior North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) official said, work to remove the debris is underway, as the entire building had collapsed.

North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar, NDMC Standing Committee Chairman Pravesh Wahi and NDMC Commissioner P K Gupta visited the site of the incident and took stock of the situation.

Meanwhile, the Commission has sought a detailed report from the Deputy Commissioner of the Sadar Pahar Ganj Zone on the incident.

"Based on the report, further action would be taken, as to whether any probe is needed in the case," a senior official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A joint venture of global private equity Xander and APG Asset Management has acquired an initial portfolio of 3 retail assets from the PE sponsored fund in a transaction valued at Rs 2,000 crore (USD 300 million), making it one of the largest deals in retail real estate space.

Virtuous Retail South Asia (VRSA) is a joint venture fund formed by Dutch pension fund asset manager APG and Virtuous Retail, sponsored by global private equity player Xander Group.

The JV firm has also committed an acquisition capital of USD 150 million, a joint statement by the firms said.

"In the largest single deal in the retail real estate sector in India, Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management and Virtuous Retail, sponsored by Xander Group have partnered to form a joint venture that has acquired an initial portfolio of 3 retail assets from a Xander sponsored fund in a transaction valued at Rs 2,000 crore," it said.

The initial portfolio comprises 3.5 million square feet across three flagship centres developed by Virtuous Retail (VR) in Bengaluru, Surat and Chennai that will continue to operate under the VR flag, it said.

APG has invested 77 per cent of the equity for a majority shareholding in the joint venture. Xander has invested the balance 23 per cent.

The joint venture has also integrated VR's 150-strong management and operational team in India.

Headquartered in Singapore, VRSA will be the partners' exclusive, integrated retail mall developer, owner, operator and asset manager for India.

The two partners will have equal representation on the board of the new company which will be chaired by Sid Yog, the founder of Virtous Retail, the statement said.

"Simultaneously, APG and Xander have committed an additional USD 150 million as equity capital giving the new company investment capacity of USD 300 million that will be used to expand the portfolio through new acquisitions and greenfield development," APG MD & Head of Private Real Estate Investments for Asia-Pacific Sachin Doshi said.

With the arrival and expansion of major global and domestic brands, coupled with the severe shortage of high quality malls, we believe organised retail is in early stages of take-off in the country, he said, adding that it a landmark transaction for Indian retail real estate at a time when the sector is at an inflection point.

"This transaction allows us to get immediate scale and



access to a portfolio of dominant shopping centres and management capability through the integration of VR's Indian management and operating platform into VRSA," he said.

Rohit George, who was responsible for overseeing Xander's retail portfolio in India, has relocated to Singapore and joined VRSA as Managing Director and an executive director on the board, the statement said.

The company will leverage its now decade old capabilities across the value chain of development, ownership and operations to grow its national portfolio of dominant retail-anchored lifestyle projects by adding centres in key markets, including the National Capital Region of Delhi, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Hyderabad.

"By partnering with APG, a like-minded long term investor, we take a big leap forward in the evolution of VR's Indian platform. The transaction creates a self-managed operating company, in line with successful global trends of well capitalised ventures with clearly defined strategies, not limited by fund life," Founder of Xander and Virtuous Retail Sid Yog said.
Arunachal Pradesh Governor V Shanmuganathan today asked the youths to make the state a paradise on earth and called upon them to build a new, strong, prosperous, disciplined and efficient India.

Addressing the inaugural function of the three-day Youth Festival at Tezu in Lohit district, the governor said that the youth must prepare themselves to shoulder their responsibilities effectively in various sectors and professions.

He reminded them that they have an important role in addressing social issues, including protecting the environment, preserving good age old traditions, eliminating evil social customs and contributing to socio-economic development, a Raj Bhavan communique informed.

Shanmuganathan also advised them to inculcate self-discipline.

He said that their action, thoughts and words must reflect the highest sense of integrity, honesty, commitment and a very high sense of patriotism.

"You must have quest for knowledge and be inquisitive. Strive to be excellent and best in whatever field you choose. Think globally and have purpose in life," he said.

He said that the youth must change their mindset and open up to new ideas and new friends.

He advised them to be an entrepreneur and provide jobs to others as there are many scope for entrepreneurship in horticulture, tourism, hydropower, handloom and handicrafts.

Appreciating the Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP), the organiser of the event, for working tirelessly in preserving and promoting the cultural identity and the traditional art of every indigenous faith since its inception in 1999, the governor wished that the NGO carry on its bounden work and further strengthen the indigenous faiths and beliefs of the state.

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram who also attended the festival, said that indigenous people must be proud of the tradition based on community living.

IFCSAP President Dr Ligu Tacho in his presidential address called for implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religions Act (1978).

President of Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram Jagdeoram Oram, Research scholar from USA Yvette Chaire Rosser and Lok Sabha MP Ninong Ering also attended the festival, the communique said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Banks in Britain may face stricter capital requirements to counter relief given to banks in the immediate aftermath of the June vote to leave the European Union, a top Bank of England official said on Thursday.

The BoE said just after the vote, which sparked a sharp fall in sterling, it would allow banks to exclude central bank reserves from calculations of their broad measure of capital known as the leverage ratio.

This would give lenders more leeway to use central bank money to help them keep lending to the economy without facing extra capital requirements.

On Thursday, BoE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said this relief could now be offset in part.

"We will offset this elsewhere to ensure that the overall stringency of the capital requirement is not weakened," Cunliffe told the annual dinner of AFME, a European banking industry body.

The banking industry in London is drawing up contingency plans to move some operations to the continent in the event there will be no unfettered access to the bloc's market after Britain's departure from the European Union.

Cunliffe said that London as a financial centre had many "cluster" benefits from the proximity of banks, asset managers and ancillary services built up over many years.

It was conceivable that some activities could shift out of London due to Brexit, Cunliffe said.

"It is in my view more likely that if they are lost in London they would be lost to Europe - for the foreseeable future at the least."

Fragmentation of wholesale financial markets activity in Europe, to the extent it occurs, is likely to have a general cost to European economies, including the United Kingdom, he added.

"And to the extent that the transition to whatever new arrangements will apply is not orderly and smooth, the costs and risks will be greater," Cunliffe said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Chris Reese)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian federal and state finance officials failed on Friday to resolve a deadlock on who would administer a new national sales tax that Prime Narendra Modi wants to launch in April.

The long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) would transform Asia's No.3 economy into a single market, could boost revenues through better compliance and make life simpler for businesses that now pay a host of federal and state levies.

A council of federal and regional authorities agreed on Thursday the tax rates to apply to goods, but are still struggling to forge a consensus on how to collect the tax that will have federal and state elements.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley doesn't favour dual agencies auditing and scrutinising each taxpayer. But states are reluctant to cede their turf.

"One of the objectives is that each assessee will have to face only one assessing officer," Jaitley told reporters after meeting his state counterparts. "Functionally, you can't have two competing assessing officers."

Jaitley said he will meet state finance ministers again informally on Nov. 20 to try and resolve the issue.

Both federal and state governments now levy and collect taxes on goods. However, taxes on services come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.

The whole regime is set to undergo a change with the implementation of the GST, as both goods and service providers will be required to file returns with federal and state tax agencies.

This system of so-called "dual control" has raised worries among taxpayers that multiple authorities could end up acting at cross-purposes, creating confusion.

Jaitley remained hopeful of finding a solution before the next meeting of federal and state finance officials on Nov. 24 when it is expected to approve key bills that federal and state lawmakers must pass in this calendar year to ensure the GST's rollout from April 1.

India's parliament opens for a month-long winter session on Nov. 16.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
You want to make sure you prepare thoroughly before starting a business, but realize that things will almost certainly go awry. To run a successful business, you must adapt to changing situations.

Conducting in-depth market research on your field and the demographics of your potential clientele is an important part of crafting a business plan. This involves running surveys, holding focus groups, and researching SEO and public data.

Before you start selling your product or service, you need to build up your brand and get a following of people who are ready to jump when you open your doors for business.

This article is for entrepreneurs who want to learn the basics steps of starting a new business.

Tasks like naming the business and creating a logo are obvious, but what about the less-heralded, equally important steps? Whether its determining your business structure or crafting a detailed marketing strategy, the workload can quickly pile up. Rather than spinning your wheels and guessing at where to start, follow this 10-step checklist to transform your business from a lightbulb above your head to a real entity.

How to start a small business

1. Refine your idea.

If youre thinking about starting a business, you likely already have an idea of what you want to sell online, or at least the market you want to enter. Do a quick search for existing companies in your chosen industry. Learn what current brand leaders are doing and figure out how you can do it better. If you think your business can deliver something other companies dont (or deliver the same thing, only faster and cheaper), or youve got a solid idea and are ready to create a business plan.

Define your why.

In the words of Simon Sinek, always start with why,' Glenn Gutek, CEO of Awake Consulting and Coaching, told Business News Daily. It is good to know why you are launching your business. In this process, it may be wise to differentiate between [whether] the business serves a personal why or a marketplace why. When your why is focused on meeting a need in the marketplace, the scope of your business will always be larger than a business that is designed to serve a personal need.

Consider franchising.

Another option is to open a franchise of an established company. The concept, brand following and business model are already in place; all you need is a good location and the means to fund your operation.

Brainstorm your business name.

Regardless of which option you choose, its vital to understand the reasoning behind your idea. Stephanie Desaulniers, owner of Business by Dezign and former director of operations and womens business programs at Covation Center, cautions entrepreneurs against writing a business plan or brainstorming a business name before nailing down the ideas value.

Clarify your target customers.

Desaulniers said too often people jump into launching their business without spending time to think about who their customers will be and why would want to buy from them or hire them.

You need to clarify why you want to work with these customers  do you have a passion for making peoples lives easier? Desaulniers said. Or enjoy creating art to bring color to their world? Identifying these answers helps clarify your mission. Third, you want to define how you will provide this value to your customers and how to communicate that value in a way that they are willing to pay.

TIP: To refine your business idea, identify your why, your target customers and your business name.

During the ideation phase, you need to iron out the major details. If the idea isnt something youre passionate about or if theres not a market for your creation, it might be time to brainstorm other ideas.

2. Write a business plan.

Once you have your idea in place, you need to ask yourself a few important questions: What is the purpose of your business? Who are you selling to? What are your end goals? How will you finance your startup costs? These questions can be answered in a well-written business plan.

A lot of mistakes are made by new businesses rushing into things without pondering these aspects of the business. You need to find your target customer base. Who is going to buy your product or service? If you cant find evidence that theres a demand for your idea, then what would be the point?

Free download: Here is our business plan template you can use to plan and grow your business.

Conduct market research.

Conducting thorough market research on your field and demographics of potential clientele is an important part of crafting a business plan. This involves conducting surveys, holding focus groups, and researching SEO and public data.

Market research helps you understand your target customer  their needs, preferences and behavior  as well as your industry and competitors. Many small business professionals recommend gathering demographic information and conducting a competitive analysis to better understand opportunities and limitations within your market.

The best small businesses have products or services that are differentiated from the competition. This has a significant impact on your competitive landscape and allows you to convey unique value to potential customers.

Consider an exit strategy.

Its also a good idea to consider an exit strategy as you compile your business plan. Generating some idea of how youll eventually exit the business forces you to look to the future.

Too often, new entrepreneurs are so excited about their business and so sure everyone everywhere will be a customer that they give very little, if any, time to show the plan on leaving the business, said Josh Tolley, CEO of both Shyft Capital and Kavana.

When you board an airplane, what is the first thing they show you? How to get off of it. When you go to a movie, what do they point out before the feature begins to play? Where the exits are. Your first week of kindergarten, they line up all the kids and teach them fire drills to exit the building. Too many times I have witnessed business leaders that dont have three or four predetermined exit routes. This has led to lower company value and even destroyed family relationships.

A business plan helps you figure out where your company is going, how it will overcome any potential difficulties and what you need to sustain it. When youre ready to put pen to paper, these free templates can help.

3. Assess your finances.

Starting any business has a price, so you need to determine how youre going to cover those costs. Do you have the means to fund your startup, or will you need to borrow money? If youre planning to leave your current job to focus on your business, do you have money put away to support yourself until you make a profit? Its best to find out how much your startup costs will be.

Many startups fail because they run out of money before turning a profit. Its never a bad idea to overestimate the amount of startup capital you need, as it can be a while before the business begins to bring in sustainable revenue.

Perform a break-even analysis.

One way you can determine how much money you need is to perform a break-even analysis. This is an essential element of financial planning that helps business owners determine when their company, product or service will be profitable.

The formula is simple:

Fixed Costs  (Average Price  Variable Costs) = Break-Even Point

Every entrepreneur should use this formula as a tool because it informs you about the minimum performance your business must achieve to avoid losing money. Furthermore, it helps you understand exactly where your profits come from, so you can set production goals accordingly.

Here are the three most common reasons to conduct a break-even analysis:

Determine profitability. This is generally every business owners highest interest. Ask yourself: How much revenue do I need to generate to cover all my expenses? Which products or services turn a profit, and which ones are sold at a loss? Price a product or service. When most people think about pricing, they consider how much their product costs to create and how competitors are pricing their products. Ask yourself: What are the fixed rates, what are the variable costs, and what is the total cost? What is the cost of any physical goods? What is the cost of labor? Analyze the data. What volumes of goods or services do you have to sell to be profitable? Ask yourself: How can I reduce my overall fixed costs? How can I reduce the variable costs per unit? How can I improve sales?

Watch your expenses.

Dont overspend when starting a business. Understand the types of purchases that make sense for your business and avoid overspending on fancy new equipment that wont help you reach your business goals. Monitor your business expenses to ensure you are staying on track.

A lot of startups tend to spend money on unnecessary things, said Jean Paldan, founder and CEO of Rare Form New Media. We worked with a startup that had two employees but spent a huge amount on office space that would fit 20 people. They also leased a professional high-end printer that was more suited for a team of 100; it had key cards to track who was printing what and when. Spend as little as possible when you start, and only on the things that are essential for the business to grow and be a success. Luxuries can come when youre established.

Consider your funding options.

Startup capital for your business can come from various means. The best way to acquire funding for your business depends on several factors, including creditworthiness, the amount needed and available options.

Business loans. If you need financial assistance, a commercial loan through a bank is a good starting point, although these are often difficult to secure. If you are unable to take out a bank loan, you can apply for a small business loan through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) or an alternative lender. [Read related article: Best Alternative Small Business Loans] Business grants. Business grants are similar to loans; however, they do not need to be paid back. Business grants are typically very competitive, and come with stipulations that the business must meet to be considered. When trying to secure a small business grant, look for ones that are uniquely specific to your situation. Options include minority-owned business grants, grants for women-owned businesses and government grants. Investors. Startups requiring significant funding upfront may want to bring on an investor. Investors can provide several million dollars or more to a fledgling company, with the expectation that the backers will have a hands-on role in running your business. Crowdfunding. Alternatively, you could launch an equity crowdfunding campaign to raise smaller amounts of money from multiple backers. Crowdfunding has helped numerous companies in recent years, and there are dozens of reliable crowdfunding platforms designed for different types of businesses.

You can learn more about each of these capital sources and more in our guide to startup finance options.

Editors note: Looking for a small business loan? Fill out the questionnaire below to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

Choose the right business bank.

When youre choosing a business bank, size matters. Marcus Anwar, co-founder of OhMy Canada, recommends smaller community banks because they are in tune with the local market conditions and will work with you based on your overall business profile and character.

Theyre unlike big banks that look at your credit score and will be more selective to loan money to small businesses, Anwar said. Not only that, but small banks want to build a personal relationship with you and ultimately help you if you run into problems and miss a payment. Another good thing about smaller banks is that decisions are made at the branch level, which can be much quicker than big banks, where decisions are made at a higher level.

Anwar believes that you should ask yourself these questions when choosing a bank for your business:

What is important to me?

Do I want to build a close relationship with a bank thats willing to help me in any way possible?

Do I want to be just another bank account, like big banks will view me as?

Ultimately, the right bank for your business comes down to your needs. Writing down your banking needs can help narrow your focus to what you should be looking for. Schedule meetings with various banks and ask questions about how they work with small businesses to find the best bank for your business. [Read related article: Business Bank Account Checklist: Documents Youll Need]

Key takeaway: Financially, you will want to perform a break-even analysis, consider your expenses and funding options, and choose the right bank for your business.

4. Determine your legal business structure.

Before you can register your company, you need to decide what kind of entity it is. Your business structure legally affects everything from how you file your taxes to your personal liability if something goes wrong.

Sole proprietorship. If you own the business entirely by yourself and plan to be responsible for all debts and obligations, you can register for a sole proprietorship. Be warned that this route can directly affect your personal credit.

If you own the business entirely by yourself and plan to be responsible for all debts and obligations, you can register for a sole proprietorship. Be warned that this route can directly affect your personal credit. Partnership. Alternatively, a business partnership, as its name implies, means that two or more people are held personally liable as business owners. You dont have to go it alone if you can find a business partner with complementary skills to your own. Its usually a good idea to add someone into the mix to help your business flourish.

Alternatively, a business partnership, as its name implies, means that two or more people are held personally liable as business owners. You dont have to go it alone if you can find a business partner with complementary skills to your own. Its usually a good idea to add someone into the mix to help your business flourish. Corporation. If you want to separate your personal liability from your companys liability, you may want to consider forming one of several types of corporations (e.g., S corporation, C corporation or B corporation). Although each type of corporation is subject to different guidelines, this legal structure generally makes a business a separate entity from its owners, and, therefore, corporations can own property, assume liability, pay taxes, enter contracts, sue and be sued like any other individual. Corporations, especially C corporations, are especially suitable for new businesses that plan on going public or seeking funding from venture capitalists in the near future, said Deryck Jordan, managing attorney at Jordan Counsel.

If you want to separate your personal liability from your companys liability, you may want to consider forming one of several types of corporations (e.g., S corporation, C corporation or B corporation). Although each type of corporation is subject to different guidelines, this legal structure generally makes a business a separate entity from its owners, and, therefore, corporations can own property, assume liability, pay taxes, enter contracts, sue and be sued like any other individual. Corporations, especially C corporations, are especially suitable for new businesses that plan on going public or seeking funding from venture capitalists in the near future, said Deryck Jordan, managing attorney at Jordan Counsel. Limited liability company. One of the most common structures for small businesses is the limited liability company (LLC). This hybrid structure has the legal protections of a corporation while allowing for the tax benefits of a partnership.

Ultimately, it is up to you to determine which type of entity is best for your current needs and future business goals. Its important to learn about the various legal business structures available. If youre struggling to make up your mind, its not a bad idea to discuss the decision with a business or legal advisor.

Did You Know: You need to choose a legal structure for your business, such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or LLC.

5. Register with the government and IRS.

You will need to acquire a variety of business licenses before you can legally operate your business. For example, you need to register your business with federal, state and local governments. There are several documents you must prepare before registering.

Articles of incorporation and operating agreements

To become an officially recognized business entity, you must register with the government. Corporations need an articles of incorporation document, which includes your business name, business purpose, corporate structure, stock details and other information about your company. Similarly, some LLCs will need to create an operating agreement.

Doing business as (DBA)

If you dont have articles of incorporation or an operating agreement, you will need to register your business name, which can be your legal name, a fictitious DBA name (if you are the sole proprietor), or the name youve come up with for your company. You may also want to take steps to trademark your business name for extra legal protection.

Most states require you to get a DBA. If youre in a general partnership or a proprietorship operating under a fictitious name, you may need to apply for a DBA certificate. Its best to contact or visit your local county clerks office and ask about specific requirements and fees. Generally, there is a registration fee involved.

Employer identification number (EIN)

After you register your business, you may need to get an employer identification number from the IRS. While this is not required for sole proprietorships with no employees, you may want to apply for one anyway to keep your personal and business taxes separate, or simply to save yourself the trouble later if you decide to hire someone. The IRS has provided a checklist to determine whether you will require an EIN to run your business. If you do need an EIN, you can register online for free.

Income tax forms

You also need to file certain forms to fulfill your federal and state income tax obligations. The forms you need are determined by your business structure. You will need to check your states website for information on state-specific and local tax obligations.

You might be tempted to wing it with a PayPal account and social media platform, but if you start with a proper foundation, your business will have fewer hiccups to worry about in the long run, said Natalie Pierre-Louis, licensed attorney and owner of NPL Consulting.

Federal, state, and local licenses and permits

Some businesses may also require federal, state or local licenses and permits to operate. The best place to obtain a business license is at your local city hall. You can then use the SBAs database to search for licensing requirements by state and business type.

Businesses and independent contractors in certain trades are required to carry professional licenses. One example of a professional business license is a commercial drivers license (CDL). Individuals with a CDL are allowed to operate certain types of vehicles, such as buses, tank trucks and tractor-trailers. A CDL is divided into three classes: Class A, Class B and Class C.

You should also check with your city and state to find out if you need a sellers permit that authorizes your business to collect sales tax from your customers. A sellers permit goes by numerous names, including resale permit, resell permit, permit license, reseller permit, resale ID, state tax ID number, reseller number, reseller license permit or certificate of authority.

Its important to note that these requirements and names vary from state to state. You can register for a sellers permit through the state government website of the state(s) youre doing business in.

Jordan says that not all businesses need to collect sales tax (or obtain a sellers permit).

For example, New York sales tax generally is not required for the sale of most services (such as professional services, education, and capital improvements to real estate), medicine or food for home consumption, Jordan said. So, for example, if your business only sells medicine, you do not need a New York sellers permit. But New York sales tax must be collected in conjunction with the sale of new tangible personal goods, utilities, telephone service, hotel stays, and food and beverages (in restaurants).

Key takeaway: Register key documents like articles of incorporation or an operating agreement, a DBA, an EIN, income tax forms, and other applicable licenses and permits.

6. Purchase an insurance policy.

It might slip your mind as something youll get around to eventually, but purchasing the right insurance for your business is an important step to take before you officially launch. Dealing with incidents such as property damage, theft or even a customer lawsuit can be costly, and you need to be sure that youre properly protected.

Although you should consider several types of business insurance, there are a few basic insurance plans that most small businesses can benefit from. For example, if your business will have employees, you will at least need to purchase workers compensation and unemployment insurance.

You may also need other types of coverage, depending on your location and industry, but most small businesses are advised to purchase general liability (GL) insurance, or a business owners policy. GL covers property damage, bodily injury, and personal injury to yourself or a third party.

If your business provides a service, you may also want to consider professional liability insurance. It covers you if you do something wrong or neglect to do something you should have done while operating your business.

7. Build your team.

Unless youre planning to be your only employee, youre going to need to recruit and hire a great team to get your company off the ground. Joe Zawadzki, CEO and founder of MediaMath, said entrepreneurs need to give the people element of their businesses the same attention they give their products.

Your product is built by people, Zawadzki said. Identifying your founding team, understanding what gaps exist, and [determining] how and when you will address them should be top priority. Figuring out how the team will work together  is equally important. Defining roles and responsibility, division of labor, how to give feedback, or how to work together when not everyone is in the same room will save you a lot of headaches down the line.

8. Choose your vendors.

Running a business can be overwhelming, and you and your team probably arent going to be able to do it all on your own. Thats where third-party vendors come in. Companies in every industry from HR to business phone systems exist to partner with you and help you run your business better.

When youre searching for B2B partners, youll have to choose carefully. These companies will have access to vital and potentially sensitive business data, so its critical to find someone you can trust. In our guide to choosing business partners, our expert sources recommend asking potential vendors about their experience in your industry, their track record with existing clients and what kind of growth theyve helped other clients achieve.

Not every business will need the same type of vendors, but there are common products and services that almost every business will need. Consider the following functions that are a neccessity for any type of business.

Taking payments from customers: Offering multiple payment options will ensure you can make a sale in whatever format is easiest for target customer. Youll need to compare options are find the right credit card processing provider to ensure youre getting the best rate for your type of business.

Managing finances: Many business owners can manager their own accounting functions when starting their business, but as your business grows you can save time by hiring an accountant, or comparing accounting software providers.

9. Brand yourself and advertise.

Before you start selling your product or service, you need to build up your brand and get a following of people ready to jump when you open your literal or figurative doors for business.

Company website. Take your reputation online and build a company website. Many customers turn to the internet to learn about a business, and a website is digital proof that your small business exists. It is also a great way to interact with current and potential customers.

Take your reputation online and build a company website. Many customers turn to the internet to learn about a business, and a website is digital proof that your small business exists. It is also a great way to interact with current and potential customers. Social media. Use social media to spread the word about your new business, perhaps as a promotional tool to offer coupons and discounts to followers once you launch. The best social media platforms to utilize will depend on your target audience.

Use social media to spread the word about your new business, perhaps as a promotional tool to offer coupons and discounts to followers once you launch. The best social media platforms to utilize will depend on your target audience. CRM. The best CRM software solutions allow you to store customer data to to improve how you market to them. A well-thought-out email marketing campaign can do wonders for reaching customers and communicating with your audience. To be successful, you will want to strategically build your email marketing contact list.

The best CRM software solutions allow you to store customer data to to improve how you market to them. A well-thought-out email marketing campaign can do wonders for reaching customers and communicating with your audience. To be successful, you will want to strategically build your email marketing contact list. Logo. Create a logo that can help people easily identify your brand, and be consistent in using it across all of your platforms.

Also, keep these digital assets up to date with relevant, interesting content about your business and industry. According to Ruthann Bowen, chief marketing officer at EastCamp Creative, too many startups have the wrong mindset about their websites.

The issue is they see their website as a cost, not an investment, Bowen said. In todays digital age, thats a huge mistake. The small business owners who understand how critical it is to have a great online presence will have a leg up on starting out strong.

Creating a marketing plan that goes beyond your launch is essential to building a clientele by continually getting the word out about your business. This process, especially in the beginning, is just as important as providing a quality product or service.

Ask customers to opt in to your marketing communications.

As you build your brand, ask your customers and potential customers for permission to communicate with them. The easiest way to do this is by using opt-in forms. These are forms of consent given by web users, authorizing you to contact them with further information about your business, according to Dan Edmonson, founder and CEO of Dronegenuity.

These types of forms usually pertain to email communication and are often used in e-commerce to request permission to send newsletters, marketing material, product sales, etc. to customers, Edmonson said. Folks get so many throwaway emails and other messages these days that, by getting them to opt in to your services in a transparent way, you begin to build trust with your customers.

Opt-in forms are a great starting point for building trust and respect with potential customers. Even more importantly, these forms are required by law. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 sets requirements for commercial email by the Federal Trade Commission. This law doesnt just apply to bulk email; it covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service. Each email in violation of this law is subject to fines of more than $40,000.

TIP: Create a strategic marketing campaign that combines various marketing channels, like a company website, social media, email newsletters and opt-in forms.

10. Grow your business.

Your launch and first sales are only the beginning of your task as an entrepreneur. To make a profit and stay afloat, you always need to be growing your business. Its going to take time and effort, but youll get out of your business what you put into it.

Collaborating with more established brands in your industry is a great way to achieve growth. Reach out to other companies and ask for some promotion in exchange for a free product sample or service. Partner with a charity organization, and volunteer some of your time or products to get your name out there.

While these tips will help launch your business and get you set to grow, theres never a perfect plan. You want to make sure you prepare thoroughly for starting a business, but things will almost certainly go awry. To run a successful business, you must adapt to changing situations.

Free download: Weve created a sales plan template you can use to scale customer acquisition.

Be prepared to adjust, said Stephanie Murray, founder of Fiddlestix Party + Supply. Theres a saying in the military that no plan survives the first contact, meaning that you can have the best plan in the world, but as soon as its in action, things change, and you have to be ready and willing to adapt and problem-solve quickly. As an entrepreneur, your value lies in solving problems, whether that is your product or service solving problems for other people or you solving problems within your organization.

FAQs about starting a business

How can I start my own business with no money?

You can launch a successful business without any startup funds. Work on a business idea that builds on your skill set to offer something new and innovative to the market. While developing a new business, keep working in your current position (or day job) to reduce the financial risk.

Once youve developed your business idea and youre ready to start on a business plan, youll need to get creative with funding. You can raise money through investments by pitching your idea to financial backers. You could also gather funding through crowdsourcing platforms like Kickstarter, or set aside a certain amount of money from your weekly earnings to put toward a new business. Finally, you can seek out loan options from banks and other financial institutions as a way to get your company up and running.

What is the easiest business to start?

The easiest business to start is one that requires little to no financial investment upfront, nor should it require extensive training to learn the business. One of the easiest types of new business to launch is a dropshipping company. Dropshipping requires no inventory management, saving you the hassle of buying, storing and tracking stock. Instead, another company will fulfill your customer orders at your behest. This company will manage the inventory, package goods, and ship out your business orders. To get started, you can create an online store by selecting curated products from the catalog available through partners.

When is the best time to start a business?

Each persons ideal timeline for starting a new business will be different. First and foremost, you should start a business when you have enough time to devote your attention to the launch. If you have a seasonal product or service, then you want to start your business a quarter before your predicted busy time of the year. For nonseasonal companies, spring and fall are popular times of years to launch. Winter is the least popular launch season, because many new owners prefer to have their LLC or corporation approved for a new fiscal year.

Skye Schooley contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.
Cyrus Mistry on Friday received strong support from independent directors on the board of Tata Group's Indian Hotels.

Directors of the Tata Group's Indian Hotels unanimously expressed full confidence in chairman Mistry, praising the "steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership to the company".

Mistry was removed last month as chairman of Tata Sons and Ratan Tata was brought back as interim chairman.

Mistry, however, remains on the boards of about a dozen companies such as Indian Hotels Co, Tata Motors, Tata Communications and Tata Steel.

Indian Hotels, owner of the Taj chain of hotels, was the first to hold a board meeting after Mistry's ouster.

The announcement came on a day Tata Sons put in place a new management team for the $100 billion steel-to-software group.

Ratan Tata, who is temporarily back at the helm as interim chairman, has put together a team of five executives, including two former Mistry advisers, Tata Sons said in a statement on Friday.




Delhi is reeling with extremely bad air quality, so much so that schools are being shut because of the thick smog over the city. Despite the attempt towards a developed India, it is ironical that the capital itself is losing its charm as an ideal city to live in.

The air pollution (PM2.5) is 14 times higher than the acceptable measurements.

The city is under heavy pollution since three days in a row, reaching levels of over 900 (PM2.5) in a few places. The rest of the country has no respite either. Mumbai's air is suffering with a bad score of 500 (PM2.5), which is way above the safe zone.

Though most Indian major cities are suffering with high pollution, there are a few small towns that are capable of providing respite.



Here's a list of cities that can still provide the much needed fresh air:

Nashik:



A city in Maharashtra, Nashik is popular for its vineyards. The city is in close proximity with major cities like Pune and Mumbai but still manages to keep control on the air pollution mainly because of thier relatively small population and vast green cover.

Ooty:



Ooty is a serene and calm town located in the state of Tamil Nadu. Most millennials will remember it from old Bollywood movies and songs. The town is 80 kms north of Coimbatore.

Manali:



Manali is a popular tourist spot among north Indians. The city offers a escape from the big city hustle bustle. The city has plush green environment which makes it a good city to walk around rather than in a vehicle. The Parvati Valley is a popular trek among backpackers.

Kasol:



Fourteen hours from Delhi, via road, the city not only offers respite to your lungs but also, to your eyes. The city is situated in a valley surrounded with all-green mountains in the summers. With a flurry of cafes and eating joints, you won't miss your big-city lifestyles.

Puducherry:



A French settlement till the year 1954, the city has a strong character that still lives in the city's unique architecture. Puducherry is a Union Territory bounded by the southeastern Tamil Nadu state. The relatively low population gives an ample breathing space to a metro-resident.

Rishikesh:



Rishikesh is located in the state of Uttarakhand. Though the city is located within the Dehradun district, it has better air quality due to superior altitude and a much lesser populace. An overnight journey from Delhi will take you to the city of Ganga.

Kodagu/Coorg:



Coorg was a separate administrative state till the year 1956 after which it was absorbed in the Mysore state. It has the least population of a district in the state of Karnataka.

Shillong:



Situated in the North Eastern state Meghalaya, Shillong is a haven for music lovers and is a great escape from big cities. The Lady Hydari Park is centrally located and is one of the biggest attraction for nature lovers. A deer park within the premises of the park adds to the beauty of the place.

Agartala:



Named after a tree called Agarwood, Agartala relishes nature. The city has a pleasant climate throughout the year with heavy rainfalls during monsoon. The city is situated along the River Haora and has a rich history to compliment the beauty of the town.

Munnar:



A hill-lovers paradise, Munnar lies in the state of Kerala and is an excellent place to take a break before hitting the same old monotonous routine. The city also has a stone Christ Church, built by the British in 1910.
Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory's request for federal direct temporary housing assistance has been approved to help people displaced from their homes in Columbus, Edgecombe, Robeson and Wayne counties following his meeting with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. The governor said the state hopes to add additional counties to the declaration in the coming days.said Governor McCrory.Temporary housing has proven challenging because many hotels and rental homes in the impacted communities were also flooded. Currently, 240 people remain in four shelters across the state and more than 1,700 families are living in temporary housing.Last week, the governor requested direct temporary housing authorization from the federal government to help provide manufactured homes as a temporary housing solution. The state signed contracts last month to ensure that once the request was approved work could start immediately.According to FEMA officials, manufactured homes are just one of many options available for temporary housing. Other options include rental homes, apartments and hotels. Based on the FEMA contract, more than 165 manufactured homes are now available in North Carolina with others on the way. Officials are continuing to assess the need for these homes in impacted areas.An additional fatality has been attributed to the storm bringing the total to 28. A Pitt County man passed away as a result of injuries sustained while cleaning up storm debris.Governor McCrory noted that his team continues to monitor water system issues in Robeson and Brunswick counties. The good news is that the water system in Lumberton should be repaired this week. Additionally, a bypass line should be completed and operational this week in Brunswick County.While the state continues to work with FEMA, the governor is seeking approval of additional assistance for Carteret, Perquimans, Scotland, Richmond, Anson, Chatham and Northampton counties.The governor has encouraged individuals and groups to help in the relief efforts by making a financial or other contribution. Monetary contributions to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund for Hurricane Matthew can be made by texting NCRECOVERS to 30306 or by visiting NCDisasterRelief.org . This is one of the best ways to help fund long-term recovery efforts.
Next week, the Rajasthan government will organise special trains and chartered buses to bring some 50,000 farmers from all across the state's 40,000 villages to its capital Jaipur.

The objective of the government sponsored mega tour is to expose the farming community to the technological advances and global best practices that are at display at the three-day Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) that begins on November9.

Addressing a curtain raiser press meet here today, Prabhu Lal Saini, Agriculture Minister of Rajasthan, said that in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, the State Government had initiated several steps to help farmers grow high value added crops through systematic and aggressive marketing and other farmer-friendly policies. He expressed confidence that these steps would enable the State to over-achieve the target of raising farm incomes.

Highlighting the NITI Aayog ranking where Rajasthan stands third -- after Maharashtra and Gujarat -- in the area of agricultural reform, the minister said that the policies adopted by the government would make Rajasthan the leading state soon.

GRAM is jointly organized by the Government of Rajasthan and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Israel is the partner country for the event.

The event will focus on farmer empowerment, showcase agri-innovations, marketing tie-ups, joint ventures, technology transfers, international investments, business opportunities, encourage agri-based research and common platform for agri and allied ecosystem.

A total area of 20,000 sq mt space has been earmarked as an exhibition area during the event. The exhibition area will be divided into various categories like livestock, post harvest Technologies, agri inputs & protected cultivation, organic farming, food & food processing technologies, farm machinery, implements and allied Service, financial institution, irrigation, plasticulture & precision farming.

To promote agri-entrepreneurship a special pavilion on startups will be setup. Furthermore, there will be a special pavilion on organic farming as well to promote herbal and medicinal plans, the organisers said.

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh will inaugurate the event.
A new global forum touRRoir in Croke Park marked the tenth anniversary of Good Food Ireland this week with the Best of the Decade Awards honouring Irelands food heroes.

Winners were announced at a Chefs Collaborative Gala Dinner Ceremony with Guest of Honour Charlie Flanagan T.D., Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

It also hosted the inaugural touRRoir Hall of Fame a new International Food Tourism and Culture Award, the first of its kind in the world and with a global judging panel.

Leaders from the Irish agri-food and tourism industries will come together with International food tourism and culture experts to celebrate achievements in raising Irelands profile in food tourism around the world over the last ten years. Five awards were presented and International Ambassadors of Irelands agri-food and tourism sectors were honoured.

The Inaugural touRRoir Hall of Fame took place at a Chefs Collaborative Gala Dinner in Croke Park as part of the launch of touRRoir a new global forum for food tourism and culture.

Rene Redzepi from NOMA Restaurant in Denmark, Agencia Catalana de Turisme (The Catalan Tourism Agency) and Lee Wook Jung, Film Director and Producer with the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), the national public broadcaster of South Korea were the first honourees to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.

This International Food Tourism and Culture Hall of Fame is the only recognition for individuals, teams or destinations anywhere in the world whose vision, creativity and drive has had a positive and significant impact on the development of food, tourism and culture for the long term benefit of all stakeholders as well as consumers.

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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New independent research conducted by AIG has examined consumer attitudes to insurance claims, fraud and compensation in Ireland. The Independent research was conducted amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,000 people.

The research reveals that 73% of people surveyed are unhappy with the perceived compensation culture in Ireland while 84% believe that the government needs to find a solution to the current problem of rising premiums.

According to the research, 21% of people are aware of someone who has exaggerated an insurance claim while a further 15% know someone who has falsified a claim. Eighty per cent agree that premiums are affected directly as a result of these false claims.

Furthermore, the findings of the research also reveal that 78% of people believe that the current average whiplash claim in Ireland of 15,000 is too high. The research also asked respondents what they felt was an adequate amount to reward whiplash claimants with 3,631 the average figure outlined across 1,000 respondents.

Commenting on the research, Head of Consumer Insurance at AIG Ireland, Aidan Connaughton said, "The research provides a fascinating insight into public opinion surrounding the insurance claims and compensation culture in Ireland. It is evidently clear that there is a deep frustration with the current compensation culture with 73% outlining their dis-satisfaction."

He added, "Its also surprising that 21% of people (1 in 5) know someone who has exaggerated an insurance claim, especially when you consider that 80% of people believe insurance scams directly result in higher premiums."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Airbnb has today launched a report highlighting the positive social and economic impact of the Airbnb community on regional and rural Ireland.

The report entitled - "Home-Sharing: Empowering Regional & Rural Ireland", was launched by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD, at an Airbnb listing in her own constituency of County Monaghan.

It shows that the Airbnb community contributed an estimated 74 million to regional and rural communities across Ireland in the last year.

This includes 47 million of estimated visitor spending by driving additional footfall to regional businesses and 27 million earned by the host communities themselves. The report is an analysis of all travel to, and within, regional and rural Ireland outside of Dublin from September 2015 through to August 2016.

In the past year alone, 11,000 unique hosts welcomed over 650,000 guests to their homes across Ireland (including Dublin). It is estimated that 6,000 hosts in regional and rural Ireland have earned an average additional income of 2,700 per household.

Furthermore, 44% of hosts in the regional and rural report said that they are using the income to make ends meet.

Global Head of Customer Experience at Airbnb, Aisling Hassell commented, "This report shows the positive impact this new form of tourism is having on more remote parts of the country that havent traditionally benefited from tourism, enabling guests to experience some of the most beautiful parts of The Emerald Isle, away from the typical holiday destinations."

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys added, "The benefit of the Airbnb model is that it can bring new visitors to remote locations, providing a new potential source of revenue for communities. By providing alternative accommodation options in rural villages and towns, we can help to grow tourism and have a positive knock-on impact on other businesses in rural Ireland."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The former chairman of the failed Anglo Irish Bank went on trial on Thursday on charges of misleading auditors about personal loans worth tens of millions of euros, in one of the most high profile prosecutions related to Ireland's 2008 banking crisis.

Sean FitzPatrick was accused of "artificially reducing" loans worth tens of millions of euros for a few weeks around the end of the company's financial year to avoid their full value being shown on the bank's annual accounts.

Prosecutor Dominic McGinn told the court that the loans ballooned to about 100 million euros in 2007 from about 10 million in 2002 and were used for commercial property development, which was highly profitable at the time.

FitzPatrick pleaded not guilty to all 27 charges, including providing misleading, false or deceptive statement to auditors Ernst & Young (EY) and for furnishing false information.

Two Anglo Irish executives were among three Irish bankers jailed in July for between 24 and 42 months conspiring to defraud investors. They were the first senior bank executives to be jailed in relation to the crisis.

FitzPatrick was found not guilty in 2014 on charges of illegal lending and providing unlawful assistance to investors.

Anglo Irish, which was nationalised in 2009 and wound down in 2011 was synonymous with the casino-style lending practices that drove the "Celtic Tiger" boom and subsequent bust, pushing the state to the brink of meltdown in 2010.

Ireland's taxpayers stumped up 64 billion euros - almost 40% of annual economic output - to bail out the banks, and the country was forced into a three-year bailout in 2010.

On Thursday, McGinn told the jury that FitzPatrick signed off on accounts that were "inaccurate as to the true position" of loans extended to himself and his family.

"The prosecution contention is that Mr FitzPatrick authorised all that and did it for the reason of making sure ... the official loans that were on the books at year end at Anglo were artificially reduced," he told the court.

He said the bank used "temporary refinancing" at the Irish Nationwide Building Society to mask the true size of the loans.

The trial was due to continue on Friday and is expected to last for three months. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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One of the questions on the ballot this election season is: Should Cache County enter into a water district-style of water development and management? As opposed to the water manager style thats been dominant for the last several decades.

Proponents say a water district gives Cache County a larger voice in legislative debates where more and more water development decisions are and will be made as the population grows. Opponents say a district could be easily hijacked by water developers sitting on committees making decisions that could pad their pockets.

Billy Hesterman, of the Utah Taxpayers Association, has another concern when it comes to property taxes.

The special service districts, while I think most are just trying to do their job and do the right thing, we do get concerned. Weve had multiple state auditors (like) Val Oveson back in the (19)80s and our current state auditor, John Dougall, has kind of renewed this call that these are districts that are hidden levels of government that most people arent aware of that have property-taxing power. They just see it on their bill and they go I dont know what that is but I guess I (have) to pay it, explained Hesterman.

He was a guest on KVNUs For the People program on Thursday. The Utah Taxpayer Association is a private organization that serves as a watchdog, of sorts, for taxpayer-related issues.

They recently took a stand against a proposed Facebook Data Center receiving big tax breaks in West Jordan. Hesterman said the data center would have only brought in 50 to 100 jobs and not high-paying jobs. He said it wasnt fair to the Jordan School District, one of the largest in the state, to give up that much tax money.
There are snakes, and then there are snakes.One snake making headlines recently in North Carolina is the infamous 12th Congressional District, which winds its way from Greensboro to Charlotte, traveling a path that looks remarkably similar to Interstate 85.For those who've yet to cast a ballot in this year's election, it's important to note that the snake represents the "old" 12th District. The new version, adopted just this year, occupies part of only one county: Mecklenburg.But the changing map hasn't stopped political partisans from using the old snake to their advantage. The first half of a current television ad says, "It's called the snake - a long, skinny congressional district drawn along I-85 to segregate African-American voters. The snake, and others like it, were drawn by state legislators as a partisan power grab."That's true.But that truth gets muddled by the rest of the ad, which attacks incumbent N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds. In the next sentence, the ad blames Edmunds for writing a court decision "supporting his party's discrimination."Edmunds did, in fact, write a 2014 N.C. Supreme Court opinion that upheld North Carolina's congressional districts. Edmunds is a registered Republican. The Republican-led General Assembly drew the congressional districts covered in Edmunds' majority opinion.But that opinion affirmed a unanimous 171-page decision in July 2013 from a three-member panel of N.C. Superior Court judges. Two of those three judges were Democrats. All three were appointed by a Democratic N.C. Supreme Court chief justice.Yes, a three-judge panel led by Democrats upheld the congressional districts that included the snake. And that's not all.The snake also survived a review from President Obama's U.S. Justice Department in 2011. That was no small feat, given the fact that the federal approval process - officially known as preclearance - had led the Justice Department to reject North Carolina's electoral redistricting plans eight times from 1981 through the end of Democratic Party control of the process in 2010.A federal Cabinet agency, led by Democrats, with a long history of scrutinizing and rejecting North Carolina election maps, approved the snake and the rest of the Republican-led General Assembly's election maps in November 2011. The Justice Department rendered its decision roughly three months after lawmakers approved the maps. That decision arrived three years before Edmunds' legal opinion.You'll find no mention of any of these facts in the snake ad - facts that counter the narrative of Bob Edmunds writing a decision supporting "his party's discrimination."But careful readers will note that this column contends that the first half of the ad is true. One needs to dig a little deeper into Tar Heel political history to understand why.North Carolina lawmakers must redraw state congressional and legislative election maps at least once every 10 years to incorporate new census data. Reformers, including those with the John Locke Foundation , have argued for years that the map-drawing process should change.But current rules allow the party controlling the General Assembly to draw election maps to their partisan advantage. The process is the same today as it was after the 1990 census, when Democrats controlled the General Assembly and enjoyed a majority within North Carolina's congressional delegation.As lawmakers attempted to draw election maps to preserve Democratic control, they ran into a new obstacle. For the first time, the federal government was requiring that lawmakers draw maps to ensure that minorities had a chance to elect candidates of their choice.For the state's congressional map, Democrats attempted to meet this requirement by drawing a single "majority-minority" district among North Carolina's then 12 congressional slots. Complaints from state Republicans prompted the U.S. Justice Department, led by then-President George H.W. Bush's GOP appointees, to call for creation of a second "majority-minority" district. The justification was that North Carolina's African-American population was large enough to necessitate more than one in 12 districts in which the black vote would hold sway.Republicans had their own plan for meeting this requirement, one which would have given the GOP a better chance to win congressional elections statewide, but Democrats had the opportunity to redraw their own set of maps.Hoping to meet the feds' mandate while still maintaining partisan control (or making a "partisan power grab") of the congressional delegation, legislative Democrats working more than 20 years ago came up with ... the snake, "a long, skinny congressional district drawn along I-85 to segregate African-American voters."Voters first saw that snake in 1992 . They've seen it in every congressional election - 12 in all - since then. It survived more than 20 years of U.S. Justice Department reviews and every round of election-map court fights until the most recent litigation threw it out.Whoever concocted the snake ad for its sponsor, N.C. Families First, should have looked into the truth of the two-decade-old 12th District before smearing Edmunds.Not to have done so shows the signs of being a "treacherous person" or "insidious enemy." There's a word in the dictionary under the letter "s" for that sort of person.
Efforts by the Public Service in 2015 led to the unmasking of over 2,000 workers illegally collecting salaries and allowances.

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The story of the bloated Cameroon Civil Service and the financial incidence to the State purse is not new, with efforts to rein in culprits and their accomplices dating back to the mid eighties. However, each time the attempt is made to stem the scourge, the tricksters seem to become wiser by developing new techniques. Consequently, the State monthly wage bill has continued to rise exponentially without a truthful corresponding increase in the number of workers.



And so, it was no surprise to watchers of the Cameroon Civil Service after it was announced in 2015 that at least 2,000 people were collecting undue salaries and allowances from the State. Of particular concern were teachers who continued to collect teaching and research allowances long after being assigned to other positions outside of the classroom.



Earlier in late August 2015, the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms published over 10,000 names of suspected ghost workers, giving them a week to clarify their situation. Those who failed to do so were going to have their salaries cut, the Ministry warned.



The measure was in line with the transition from the current management of State employees with two softwares - the Integrated Computerised System of Human Resources, SIGIPES and Antelope. The new system will merge the two softwares. It is against this backdrop that Prime Minister Philemon Yang instructed that only civil servants recognised by their user ministries be transferred to the new computerised system, SIGIPES II.



The Permanent Secretary of Administrative Reforms, Chancel Ako Takem, explained that the 10,000 workers could not be identified as belonging to any ministry. He therefore urged them to meet Directors of Human Resources in their ministries to clear the air.

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| BY Ricki Green |

Ahead of its ninth anniversary of operations in Australia, award-winning low-cost airline AirAsia has taken the wraps off its latest campaign from Publicis Brisbane to help educate consumers about how they can Fly Smarter with AirAsia.

The campaign features a series of 6 short videos that reveal insider knowledge on the not-often talked about lengths that AirAsia goes to keep costs low for long-haul travel to Asia, with savings passed directly back to customers.

The videos address different themes, such as cabin service, the abundance of legroom on their Airbus 330s and also the airlines recent global Skytrax Award for the worlds best low-cost airline.

The videos and supporting digital marketing campaign lead through to a content hub where customers can learn more about how they can Fly Smarter with AirAsia.

Says Linda Na, head of marketing, AirAsia: Our new campaign will appeal to Aussies who choose to Fly Smarter, to save money on their flight and spend the savings at their destination. There is a common misconception that low-cost airlines cut corners to offer low fares. We are able to offer low fares because of our meticulous low-cost management measures and by carrying only what passengers need and choose.

Were a business which is focused on offering a great travel experience for the real travelling public who, like us, are focused on flying for less rather than first class luxuries, which are experienced by few. All savings are passed back to passengers in the form of low fares.

Client: AirAsia

Head of Brand: Brendan McGruther

Head of Marketing: Linda Na

Creative Director: Andy Ward

Producer: Vicki Lee

Production Company: Taxi Film Production

Director: Miles Murphy

Producer: Mark Bishop

Post/Audio: Chop Shop

Talent: Leon Cain

Brand Planning Director: Gabriella Frigenti

Account Manager: Amelia Shaw
| BY Ricki Green |

IPG Mediabrands has announced the appointment of Melissa Fein as CEO of media agency Initiative Australia. She is currently CEO of IPG Mediabrands partnerships and brand experience agency Ensemble.

Says Danny Bass, CEO, Mediabrands Australia: Melissa is the ideal executive to lead Initiative in Australia. Her media experience plus the great results she has achieved in re-engineering Ensemble will be the key to how Initiative embraces a new positioning in the market and the future of brand engagement for clients.

Melissas superb media instincts and business acumen, coupled to her career accomplishments, are also ideal credentials for her to lead Initiative in this rapidly evolving industry.

Fein will tap into the Ensembles skill sets to help accelerate Initiatives capabilities through its offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. She will lead a senior team from both businesses with diverse skills in creativity, strategy, experiential marketing, partnerships and implementation.

Says Bass: Initiative will bring a unique competitive proposition to the Australia media landscape with greatly expanded abilities in brand building and consulting for clients who are navigating their brands in a vastly more complex market.

Prior to leading Ensemble Fein led Generate, Network Tens client solutions division that specialised in strategic and creative content creation, digital and social integration. She was also previously responsible for launching and leading ESP, Mindshares content and partnership division, in the Australian market.

Says Fein: Mediabrands broad resources are allowing us the opportunity to create a very distinctive business for this market. Clients want to take advantage of many varied platforms to build their brands. Drawing on Ensembles complementary skills means Initiative can challenge media conventions in this newly empowered world.
| BY Ricki Green |

TRACK Melbourne (formerly known as RAPP) has announced the appointment of two key recruits to its growing suite of customer experience experts.

Laura Hague (right) has been appointed as senior insights manager. Hague is a senior analytics professional with 15 years experience in Australia and the UK with clients including Accenture, Coles, Tesco, Open Universities Australia and the London 2012 Olympic Games. Lisa Song (left), with a decade of experience in the customer relationship space, has been appointed to the role of customer relationship planner.

TRACK launched in Australia earlier this year and is a customer-growth agency using data insight to enrich customer relationships.

Says Tess Doughty, managing director, TRACK Melbourne: Laura and Lisa are key players in providing customer insights so that better customer connections can be made. The specialist experience that both Laura and Lisa bring will be incredibly valuable to our clients.

Says Hague: Were in an era of information overload, for marketers and customers alike. Its our job to make sense of the mountains of transactional data thats now available and use it to converse with our customers in a relevant and personalised way. Developing a deep understanding of customer behaviours and how they interact with a brand, and using this to predict future behaviours, is no longer a nice-to-have for organisations.

Hague is excited to be involved in an initiative aimed at women in analytical roles. Women in Data, founded by Precision Sourcing, is a diversity focused platform where women are in the majority, giving them the opportunity to network with like-minded colleagues in data centric roles.

Says Hague: This is a much needed platform since its estimated that women represent only 24% of the current analytics talent pool in Australia. With hugely successful networking events already up and running in Sydney, Melbourne will host its first event early next year.

Says Song: I always want to get up close and personal to find out what truly matters to people in this crazy world of clutter and complexity. The customer needs to be at the heart of strategy. Im obsessed with understanding those critical moments when customers genuinely engage with client businesses and their offerings in the path to purchase and re-purchase. Its a privilege to be invited to communicate with customers who opt-in for email communication for example and its a privilege that shouldnt be abused with random and self-serving content.
| BY Lynchy |

Y&R Group Indonesia has announced four major new business wins, namely Pizza Hut Delivery, UOB Bank, Vivo and yet another brand for existing client Mayora.

A team effort between Y&R and VML sees Pizza Hut Delivery award the Group its branding, above-the-line and digital duties following a multi-agency pitch.

Creative-focused wins see Y&R appointed to handle UOB Banks credit card repositioning and Vivos launch of its new V5 smartphone.

And existing client Mayora Group, one of Indonesias biggest FMCG companies, has added biscuit brand Slai Olai to Y&Rs existing portfolio of major Mayora brands including Beng Beng, Roma Wafer and Kopiko.
Justice Burns noted the value of the drugs, which suggested their owners were high in the operation's hierarchy. He was convinced Hagan was close to the drug's owners, or those who were close to them. He said Hagan had a significant amount of autonomy over the drugs and appeared to be under no supervision when organising their transport.
"The third effect, this is if the guide dog was attacked is that the dog can develop a fear of the area and then be unable to return to working in that environment. So for the client whose dog was attacked the other day, that dog may not be able to return to that area and work safely. This is something we're going to have to work through with the client."
During a press briefing on Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the man claiming to be former President Bill Clinton's illegitimate son, Danney Williams, said is seeking help from Clinton's White House mistress. He is asking for a DNA sample from Lewinsky's infamous dress that possesses a semen stain from President Clinton, according to Accuracy in Media The Arkansas man claiming to be Bill Clinton's illegitimate son appealed to Monica Lewinsky for access to her blue dress to provide a sample of the former president's genetic material for a paternity test. It's believed that Lewinsky kept her dress with the stain.The now 30-year-old Danney Williams who lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas has maintained for a number of years that Clinton is his biological father. The African American man said that he was born as a result of a sexual affair between the former president and his mother, Bobbie Ann Williams, who once worked as a prostitute. Bobbie Ann continues to claim she and Bill Clinton had sex 13 times.Ms. Williams states that she began a sexual relationship with Clinton, who was her only white client at the time. Williams also states that on several occasions she participated in a menage a trois with Clinton and other women.She claims that when she turned up pregnant and informed Clinton, he laughed, rubbed her belly and said,Clinton is known for being a philanderer and has admitted to affairs. Clinton was also reported to authorities for sexual assault and rape.For a long time, Danney Williams has sought the attention of the man he believes to be his biological father, the 42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton.Williams states he wants to meet Clinton and say, "Hi dad." He also wants to meet the Clinton's daughter, Chelsea. However, Williams and his mother stated Hillary Clinton has shut them out of Bill's life for the past 30-years.said former sex crimes detective and university professor Dr. Stanley Weldner.Below is the letter Danney Williams penned to Lewinsky begging her for a DNA sample from the notorious blue dress.
"Old Malcolm would never have contemplated this," Mr Shorten said. "Every time the bullies on the backbench ask for something, Malcolm Turnbull gives it to them. They can sense his weakness and they will keep exploiting it."
The Spanish operators Business Solutions arm said the deployment of Nokias VSR in a Provider Edge application for fixed networks was a significant step forward in the evolution of telecoms infrastructure.

It means Telefonica can now deploy and configure vPEs, expanding their VPN offerings o new locations more rapidly. It will also allow the operator to deploy on-net points of presence in areas with lower customer density.

Telefonica said it will also use the technology to deploy new PoPs in both Spain and other countries, although locations were not revealed.

Javier Gavilan, Telefonica's global CTO planning and technology director, said: "We have been working together with Nokia in our NFV Reference Implementation Lab for some time in order to advance the availability of virtualized solutions and, in fact, the Virtualized Service Router was successfully tested in 2015 and the current deployment is UNICA-ready as part of the overall strategy of the company."

The news comes just weeks after Nokia helped Telefonica achieve 4G download speeds of up to 800Mbps in network tests carried out with Qualcomm. It has also been involved in the process of upgrading the Spanish firms 4G network across its home market.

General manager for Nokia's IP routing business, said: "When multinational companies want to extend their VPNs - or add capacity to those already deployed - speed, performance and reliability are all essential.

Telefonica has taken a leadership role in virtualization, and with the certification and deployment of the Nokia VSR, they are well positioned to expand the range and reach of their VPN services and address their customers' evolving needs."
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Incumbent Republican Burr having tough battle with former state Rep. Ross for key Senate seat

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a distant relative of 19th century Vice President Aaron Burr, trounced Democrat Elaine Marshall in 2010 with the largest percentage of the vote in North Carolina's U.S. Senate races since the Watergate era.This year Burr faces what he has called "the race of my life" against former state representative Deborah Ross, in a contest that could determine the partisan control of the Senate. Most polls show Burr narrowly leading, with Libertarian Sean Haugh trailing far behind.said Andy Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University who also writes a column for Carolina Journal.There's a distinctive ideological contrast between the major party candidates. Burr has a 100 percent rating from the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Right to Life Committee, a 91 percent lifetime score from Americans for Prosperity, and an 8 percent lifetime rating from the environmentalist League of Conservation Voters. However, Burr also received a Conservation Leadership Award in 2015 from the Nature Conservancy for voting to extend a conservation fund that uses revenues from oil and natural gas production to purchase private property for public use.Ross' endorsements include NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Sierra Club, Environment North Carolina, the N.C. State AFL-CIO, and the National Education Association.Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate, or five if Donald Trump wins the White House; his vice president gets to vote in the Senate to break a tie.Eric Heberlig, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, said the key to the election might be voter turnout and how many voters split their tickets.Heberlig said.Burr, 60, a former sales manager for a lawncare equipment company who served five terms in the U.S. House, said more than a decade ago he represented the values of most North Carolina residents.he said.Ross, 53, told The News & Observer the election isshe told the newspaper.Burr's campaign has raised about $11 million so far, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. The Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee connected to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is spending $8.1 million on TV ads to help Burr.Ross is getting help from EMILY's List, a political action committee that supports Democratic women candidates who back abortion rights. Ross has raised about $8.4 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.Burr is anti-abortion and opposes taxpayer funding for the procedures. Ross supports abortion on demand and taxpayer-funded abortions. The Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion organization, worked to get out the vote in 2014 to help Thom Tillis defeat pro-abortion incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan. The group is going door-to-door in North Carolina.The Charlotte Observer endorsed Ross over Burr, calling himThe News-Record of Greensboro also endorsed Ross, saying she would "bring a new voice to Washington.Burr has received endorsements from groups such as the American Conservative Union, which said heRoss criticized Burr for his support of Trump in a recent TV ad that includes comments Trump made to former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about women.In their only scheduled debate Oct. 13, Ross said Burr's support of Trump showed a "lack of judgment" and that Trump is "singularly not qualified."Burr said he has forgiven Trump.Burr told the N&O.Burr's supporters have criticized Ross for her record as the state director of the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. A recent TV ad paid for by Burr supporters says the ACLU under Ross refused to represent a veteran threatened with a lawsuit for flying the U.S. flag, while she supported the right to burn the flag.Another TV ad claims Ross opposed creating North Carolina's sex offender registry. The ad featured a Marine sergeant who was raped. Ross, the Marine says in the ad,Burr spokesman Jesse Hunt said Burr understands the values North Carolinians hold dear.Hunt said.The former North Carolina state senator who wrote the law creating the sex offender registry, Fountain Odom, said the adOdom wrote The Charlotte Observer.Ross did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Her campaign website is deborahross.com Burr chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence, which oversees the CIA. He opposed disclosing a Senate report on CIA interrogation, including waterboarding, calling the report "partisan."Many of the bills Burr sponsors involve the military and national security. He has criticized Ross for calling the country's national intelligence agencies dangerous and for her support of the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal.Burr has supported placing Veterans Affairs health-care centers and clinics in communities where veterans live, according to his campaign. He also supported a law tying student loan rates to the market.In 2012, Burr was one of just three senators to vote against a bill that prohibited members of Congress from using insider information to profit in the stock market. Burr said laws to stop insider trading existed already, and another law wasn't needed.Burr reported assets of $1.95 million to $3.52 million on financial disclosure documents. Ross is similarly wealthy, with reported assets of $1.9 million to $4.56 million. Burr has challenged Ross to disclose her tax records. His campaign said she has paid little or no state or federal taxes, made possible in part from tax credit deductions for historic preservation she championed while in the General Assembly.Ross has said that she would have voted for Obamacare. Burr has helped to draft an alternative plan to replace it.North Carolina voters have changed since Burr referred to Helms, his mentor and the longest-serving popularly elected senator in North Carolina's history, and Ervin, who won acclaim for chairing the Senate Watergate committee.said Michael Bitzer, provost and professor of political science at Catawba College in Salisbury.About 45 percent of registered voters in the state in 2012 and before were born in North Carolina, according to Bitzer's analysis of state election numbers. The percentage of North Carolina natives had dropped to 34 percent for voters registered in 2013 and later.Between 2010 and 2015, about 557,000 of the state's 7.1 million eligible voters moved to North Carolina, according to federal estimates. Most were from Florida. Others were from Arizona, New York, California, and outside the United States.About 2.7 million, or 40 percent, of the state's 6.7 million registered voters are Democrats. Republicans and unaffiliated voters each account for about 30 percent of registered voters. Libertarians account for about 0.4 percent.Burr has said this Senate race is his last.he told North Carolina Republican delegates this summer at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
There is hardly a month left for the UPSC Civil Services Main Exam 2016 that is scheduled on 3 December 2016. It's that time when the candidates' tails are on fire to give their best shot. Keep calm and follow these witty tips to confidently face the exam and crack it.

Read is the Seed

The road to being informed is by taking the direction of reading the newspapers everyday. To keep updated with the current affairs, simply follow the current news and have knowledge about the news that took place this year. Reading is the seed to the tree of knowledge.

The exam's main objective is to test how aware you are about the current happenings. So, read and talk about it to people. This way, it is only a jolly read and not rote learning.

Fat books don't add feather to your hat

It is a common practice to buy bulky books that contain a volley of information with the intent of reading more. But this is a blunder as it would only jam your mind and make you feel tired. Purchase easy to read books and mark the answers in breakable points so that you can remember it easily.

Opt for legible text that would take you easily through the pages than cramped text that is filled in volumes of books.

Addition is subtraction

Do not study new topics in the last minute, as it will not stay in your head longer. It will make you forget what you have already studied. Your preparation round the year is a collective effort that needs to be effectively used. So revise what you have already gone through and thorough yourself in the subject. Be confident of what you have learnt and write it clearly.

Keep map at your finger tips

Be well versed in the map of India and the world map. This is a sure shot question in the Geography section and it is a very important question when it comes to testing your General Knowledge. So don't miss out on that.

Anxiety is paltry

As time nears, it is natural to feel the anxiety building. But that should not pull your marks down. Getting tensed will only exacerbate the situation and do no good. So stay calm and don't let the fears eat you up. Have faith that what you prepare will help you do the exam well and give your best shot.

Keep calm and handle exams
The Institute of Banking and Personnel Selection (IBPS) probationary officer (PO) preliminary recruitment exam 2016 results is expected to be released soon this month.

Once the results are out, the candidates can get it online from IBPS official website http://www.ibps.in/

The common written preliminary examination for recruitment of Probationary Officers (POs) was held by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) on October 16, 22 and 23.

Follow these steps to check the results:

Log on to the official website http://www.ibps.in/

Click on the Results link.

link. Fill all the necessary details like registration number, password and an image code for verification in the space provided

Click the Submit button

button Results will be displayed

However, the main exam is scheduled on November 20 and those results will also be declared in the month of November. The interview session will be held in January, next year.

Eligibility

The eligibility for the main exam is that candidates should qualify in preliminary examination. Those of them will be shortlisted to appear for main examination. They will eventually be called for a common interview conducted by the participating organisations and co-ordinated by the Nodal Bank.

Banks Hiring

IBPS conducts exams for banks such as Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, United Bank of India and Vijaya Bank.

Roles of PO

Handling general banking and bank administration would be the prominent role of a PO. In order to supervise various issues PO are expected to have good communication skills and ability to resolve conflicts. A PO can work in the sectors such as customer service, business promotion, cash flow, payment clearance and report verification.
The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) now seconds the recommendation of Central Advisory Board for Education's (CABE) recommendation to amend the "no-detention" clause in the Right to Education Act and again introduce pass-fail system from Class V.

According to CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon cumulative assessment system from Classes VI to XII, based on a comprehensive continuous evaluation process should be formulated in order to evaluate students.

If the Cabinet brings up the policy and amendment of RTE Act 2009 takes place, the idea would finally need to be approved by the council of members in order to implement it, Arathoon said.

Further, after the approval, a circular would be sent to the affiliated schools in order to bring in uniformity among them, he added. The reason to urge all schools to follow the norm he said is that when some of them follow and others dont, there will not be parity in the running of schools and it would bring in lot of confusion.

''The current no-detention practice should be abolished and teachers must be given the powers to evaluate their students right with a fair practice." On interfering with the governing of schools, he said that although CISCE can only conduct exams, they can also advice for the betterment of students and schools.

In a recent meeting conducted by Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), the top education advisory had granted states the volition to take a decision on the policy in the current school education environment. The states have not come up with their final decision yet and the policy is yet to get a parity in the country.

CABE reviews no-detention policy
With the FBI's reopening of the Clinton email investigation and the ongoing drama surrounding the marriage of Hillary Clinton's "Girl Friday" and confidante Huma Abedin with disgraced congressman Andrew Weiner, there isn't much else being covered by the news media echo chamber. But among the emails released by Wikileaks is an indication that John Podesta received a list that most Americans will never hear about.Apparently President Barack Obama and his administration have been collecting lists of Muslim candidates for positions in the White House and in a number of federal departments, according to previously unseen emails sent to the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign John Podesta and released by Wikileaks . Podesta was also a former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.A report released by the nonpartisan Clarion Project suggests that while the list was meant for the Obama administration's hiring policy, many believe the reason for Podesta being emailed is meant to open the door for the listed Muslims to work in a Clinton administration.The revealing Wikileaks email refers to a list of Muslim leaders vetted for top jobs within the administration , but unfortunately it doesn't provide an actual list of names and descriptions, according to Peter Reinghold, a former member of an anti-terrorism task force, who brought the study to the attention of Conservative Base's editor.The Clarion Project author, Preeta Bansal , adds three points by way of explanation, the first of which is as follows:The paragraph is angering many readers who view it as evidence of Barack Obama and his White House staff deliberately and with forethought banning Christians from senior positions. Such activities led to private-sector companies and executives being prosecuted by the hypocrites running Obama's Justice Department.said Dr. Bansal.While Conservative Base doesn't accuse the U.S. government of illegal activities, it is suspicious of the Democratic Party's appearance of favoring Muslims over Christians and Jews. For example, in a recent Conservative Base report , it was noted that out of more than 10,000 Syrian refugees allowed asylum in the United States, only 52 of them were listed as "Christians" which included Catholics, Protestants, and Yazidis, who are not really Christians but an ancient Mesopotamian religion practiced mostly by the Kurds in Iraq.If the Obama jobs list - and perhaps Clinton's jobs list should she win the election - is specifically designed for Christians to be denied jobs merely to fill Muslim quotas, rather than to increase representation of Muslims, this is unacceptable.Founded in 2006, Clarion Project (formerly Clarion Fund Inc) is an independently funded, non-profit organization dedicated to exposing the dangers of Islamist extremism while providing a platform for the voices of moderation and promoting grassroots activism.
When artist Kate Morris went looking for somebody to design her idea of converting a steel grain bin into a home, she picked a young architect who also happened to be a former student, Nick Pancheau.

Pancheau embraced the project enthusiastically, and his inspired design has received widespread acclaim.

Billings-based Collaborative Design Architects, where Pancheau is now a partner, took home top honors in the recent Montana American Institute of Architects awards ceremony for Morriss grain bin house, which is near Great Falls. The home has become a tourist attraction, and has developed a devoted following online. A blog "sheknows" even identified the home as one of 10 houses capable of withstanding a zombie apocalypse.

Panchaeu credits the projects success to the vision of Morris, a Billings-based artist who was his art teacher from kindergarten through eighth grade when he attended school in Lockwood.

She had two fantastic things going on, Pancheau said. She had an existing grain bin on a beautiful site, and she said I want a bridge from the sloping landscape into the house. Thats what opened up this realm of possibilities.

Pancheau is a 2002 Billings Senior High graduate and received his masters of architecture degree from Montana State University. The Honor Award is the highest level of achievement awarded at the recent AIA gathering.

Morris isnt the first person to think about converting a grain bin into a home. Mother Earth News, a popular publication among rural denizens and back-to-the-land enthusiasts, occasionally publishes articles about converting grain bins into dwellings. Most plans show simple dividers erected within the bins cylindrical walls.

By contrast, Pancheaus design involved fitting the dwellings main floor, 900 square feet of living space, within the bin, while cantilevering two large sections of living space outside the bins corrugated walls. A long narrow bridge enters the bin at the dwellings main floor, where it meets up with the main floor, an insulated box that rests on steel supports inside the bin. Unconditioned spaces are located above and below the living space.

As an artist, Kate was trying to let us express all that could be expressed in this kind of setting, Pancheau said. Theres an artfulness and a beauty to these agrarian structures. One way to approach it would be to put up some studs and put a lid on it inside and say you have a grain bin house. In this project we tried to explore the limits that could be done in this kind of setting. Obviously its in a beautiful area, and its a beautiful structure.

Because the design called for piercing the sides of the steel bin to accommodate the living space, the architects had to sharpen their pencils to make it work. A grain bin is engineered to handle hoop stress  the force that results when tons of grain pushes out against the cylindrical structure. But things get complicated when large holes are cut in the side.

Basically, you have a pop can, and whenever you cut a hole in it you need to run a piece of tube steel adjacent to the opening for reinforcement, Pancheau said. Structural engineer Matt Krivonen developed a plan to make sure the walls were adequately reinforced, and the supports holding up the dwelling space were properly engineered.

Another distinguishing feature of the dwelling is what Pancheau referred to as reciprocal space, an unconditioned void that displays the bins interior walls. The bins interior wall is visible through a bank of windows on the living area.

You can see the beauty of the inside of the grain bin, so you havent lost that connection, said Jeff Canning, a principal at Collaborative Design. Thats what some of the jurors noted: the beauty of knowing youre living inside a grain bin.

The house has received a lot of attention, and Collaborative Design Architects has fielded a number of inquiries from people who have expressed an interest in this type of architecture.

One misnomer about converting a grain bin into a house is that its a cheap way to build a home. Brian Johnson, a principal at Collaborative Design, said the higher cost of building discourages some people who ask about the home.

But the project has also led to other projects.

Our motto is that were a proponent of Eastern Montana architecture, Pancheau said. This project puts it in the forefront of peoples minds. They love what we did with the grain bin, and they think we understand Eastern Montana in a way they appreciate.
According to the World Bank, 12.7 percent of the population earns below $1.90 per day. This segment of the population is underserved and it has been estimated that insurance coverage could extend to four billion people and translate into potential premium volume of up to $40 billion.

Executive Summary Chris OKane, Chief Executive Officer of Aspen and a Board director of Blue Marble Microinsurance, highlights the importance of innovation and customer satisfactionattributes that have sometimes proved elusive to the insurance industry, using the example of the microinsurance potential innovations of the Blue Marble venture to support his ideas. Chris OKane, Chief Executive Officer of Aspen and a Board director of Blue Marble Microinsurance, highlights the importance of innovation and customer satisfactionattributes that have sometimes proved elusive to the insurance industry, using the example of the microinsurance potential innovations of the Blue Marble venture to support his ideas. Providing risk protection for the underserved emphasizes the importance of economic sustainability and satisfying the needs of all stakeholdersensuring continued development for underserved communities and sustainable levels of profit for insurers, he notes.

The graph below demonstrates that there is plenty of scope to narrow the difference between insured and economic losses often referred to as the protection gap. Insured losses arising from natural catastrophes account for less than one-third of average total losses in a number of time periods, but a comparison of the costliest and deadliest events is perhaps more interesting. The latter comprises events with a greater bias to emerging economies where the percentage of insured losses is significantly lower. Unsurprisingly, the impact of a disaster hits those with the lowest incomes hardest, and if economic development is to prove sustainable, then this impact has to be minimized.

The opportunity to take an active role in this white space and work towards narrowing the protection gap in underserved geographies around the world is a real opportunity. Success will not be found in a traditional product-centric solution. Rather, it will be discovered through employing new models, new ideas, new approaches, new relationships and innovative technologies.

These principles are clear to participants in the Blue Marble microinsurance venture. The Blue Marble venture, which is based on a consortium of eight global companies, has recently announced its inaugural pilot project in Zimbabwe with ambitions to extend this across the African continent. Blue Marble has targeted 10 new ventures for launch in the next 10 years.

Dynamic Tension

The Blue Marble venture, which is based on a consortium of eight global companies, has recently announced its inaugural pilot project in Zimbabwe to provide drought protection to maize farmers. The insurance product is supported by a proprietary index which is the collaborative innovation of the consortia data scientists and agronomists. It employs innovative sensor technology to measure rainfall and crop welfare and uses mobile technology to communicate with customers.

Despite these differences, there is a core value to both traditional and microinsurance providers and there are strong arguments for a shared central principlenamely, longevity. This has to be based on sustainability, which requires adequate returns.

Aspen, together with the other Blue Marble consortium founder members, believes that the for-profit nature of the venture will provide the motivation for long-term success. Proposals are viewed through both a social impact lens, as well as a commercial one, with particular attention paid to ensuring that the desired social outcome is achieved. In effect, there is likely a continuousand importantlyan ever changing trade-off between development and sustainability goals. Success will be evaluated in relation to how the ventures deliver value to both Blue Marble customers and consortium members. The acceptance of this dynamic tension is an important factor.

Creation and Collaboration

Blue Marble is based on a mission-driven business model with collaborative innovation to extend insurance protection in a socially responsible and sustainable manner. The aim is to create active markets through profitable ventures. The outcomes must have social relevance (for example, greater food security) and they must be measurable to gauge effectiveness.

Goals to achieve greater food security include an increase in continuity of yield and cultivated land. Sustainability goals include, for example, lower expense ratios through reduction of frictional and intermediated costs.

The challenge lies not only in creating products that meet demand but also in devising efficient processes for collecting premiums and managing claims. This is not simply about adaption of existing generic product offerings, but rather about considering the real needs of risk management in this environment to achieve economic growth.

As a specialty insurer, Aspen is attuned to business that is specialist and non-standard. The sharing of knowledge among Blue Marble members and the expertise of the Blue Marble management team will help ensure an efficient delivery to market.

Leverage

Each venture will leverage support and learnings from the Blue Marble management team, consortium members and other stakeholders. The goal is to develop services and solutions which either enable or support insurance carriers to enter the market. This includes business services such as distribution platforms, premium collection and claims settlement. Innovation services and impact services include measuring and monitoring the effect of insurance on development. Local third-party partners, such as governments or other third-party administrators, are key to the success of any project.

Blue Marbles inaugural project, which is now in pilot stage, provides drought protection to Zimbabwean maize farmers. The insurance product is supported by a proprietary index which is the collaborative innovation of the consortia data scientists and agronomists. It employs innovative sensor technology to measure rainfall and crop welfare and uses mobile technology to communicate with customers.

Success will be evaluated in relation to how the ventures deliver value to both Blue Marble customers and consortium members. The acceptance of this dynamic tension is an important factor. Success will be evaluated in relation to how the ventures deliver value to both Blue Marble customers and consortium members. The acceptance of this dynamic tension is an important factor. Chris OKane, CEO, Aspen

These ventures also yield an important benefit in terms of inspiration for reverse engineering, as Blue Marble is leveraged into the corporate culture of the consortium members.

Talent

Technologyparticularly mobile technologyis likely to play a key part in the Blue Marble ventures and is a cornerstone of the Zimbabwe project. Traditionally, insurance has relied on banks to provide the financial infrastructure, but a different approach is needed where such banking organizations are absent. Blue Marbles management includes software engineering expertise with experience in analyzing demographic data and monetizing markets, but is also reliant on experience with the potential venture consortia. This provides a key benefit for the consortia as the ventures are inspired by, and also inspire, millennials who value the opportunity to work for those firms that can offer flexibility, freedom and space to grow. They also want to be stretched and challenged and able to fulfill strong beliefs and expectations within the work place. The benefits of microinsurance extend beyond the insurance contract and include access to growth markets and attracting a more diverse talent pool.

Entering the White Space

The World Bank, Poverty Overview , (October 24, 2016).

(October 24, 2016). Swiss re, sigma 6/10, MicroinsuranceRisk protection for 4 billion people Statistics in the first paragraph taken from the following sources:

New models, new ideas, new relationships and innovative technologies will be needed our success as we take an active role in the white space of protecting underserved economies.

Our lives are ruled by increasing complexity. Understanding those complexities and breaking new ground are universal goals for insurance innovation.

(Editors Note: A version of this article was published on Aspens website.)
One season of "Extreme Huntress" wasnt enough for one East Helenan.

Taylor Reisbeck is taking aim at the title for the online hunting show, bringing her skills from the mountains of Montana for the second time up against women from the United States and Canada. She is the only competitor in the history of the show to make the finals twice.

I really wasnt sure if I wanted to go back, but now Im really glad I did, she said. It was really good meeting the other women, and now were all friends.

Extreme Huntress selects six women to compete in various hunting related skills competitions at the 777 Ranch in Texas, followed by hunting on the ranch. The adventures are featured at www.extremehuntress.com with voting following each episode.

Reisbeck is in second place behind Lindsey Christensen of Idaho. She hopes to get Helena-area voters and Montana behind her as the women charge toward a January finish.

Encouragement from Reisbecks parents, boyfriend and some of the judges nudged her application, and competing again has allowed her to open up a bit more this season.

Last year I was really shy just because I wasnt used to being in front of the camera and having it right in my face, she said. People kept asking me if I thought I had more of a chance than these other girls because I competed before. I really didnt  the vegetation was completely overgrown over last year, and every hunting experience was a lot different.

Reisbecks life has changed since first competing on the show. Now shed like to stake a career in the hunting industry. She makes public appearances to talk about the role of hunting in wildlife management and to encourage more women and children to spend time in the outdoors.

Putting herself out there for public praise and public scrutiny has been a learning experience. Contestants, including Reisbeck, have been subjects of social media scorn and even some threats.

Ive honestly learned and youve got to be patient with people that dont like hunting, and youve got to let people think in their own ways, Reisbeck said.
Two Chinese companies have had their SEMA booths raided and parts seized by federal marshals on allegations of copyright infringement.



In an emergency suit filed in the U.S. District Court in Nevada on Tuesday, aftermarket Jeep parts manufacturer Omix-ADA said the Chinese firms were displaying and selling knocks-offs of a plethora its patented parts.

On the back of this lawsuit, an additional six Chinese companies were raided at the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo, also taking place in Las Vegas. District Judge Gloria Navarro has scheduled a preliminary hearing for November 10 to further discuss the matter.

In a blog post on Quadratec, Omix-ADAs director of marketing, Henk Van Dongen, said: This is something we were aware of (before SEMA) and we talked with SEMA about how do we go through the steps because we dont want to upset the industry at an event like this.

So they recommended a few local attorneys and we got all of our paperwork in place by Monday night, then Tuesday we went to the judge.

An employee of Omix-ADA says that during the raids, employees of the Chinese companies attempted to hide knock-off products when marshals arrived at their respective booths.

PHOTO GALLERY
The 2016 World Series Most Valuable Player Ben Zobrist has walked away with a 2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS 50th Anniversary Edition Convertible thanks to his impressive performance during the Chicago Cubs World Series win.



The MVP was selected by a media panel and fans casting their online votes and now, Zobrist will be able to parade around in his special Camaro.

The 50th Anniversary Edition commemorates the 50th birthday of the famed American muscle car and is painted in Nightfall Gray Metallic and complete with a black soft top.

Additionally, the car includes a special set of 20-inch wheels, a satin chrome grille, orange brake calipers, 2LT RS Appearance Package, black leather throughout the interior with suede inserts and orange accent stitching.

As with the standard Camaro SS, the range-topping 50th Anniversary Edition is powered by a 6.2-liter V8 engine delivering 455 hp.

In a statement, U.S. vice president of Chevrolet Marketing, Paul Edwards, said In this historic matchup, Zobrists performance on the field truly embodies the same Never Give Up spirit that drives the Chevrolet team to innovate every day and that has made us the Most Awarded Automotive Brand two years in a row.

We are proud to recognize the tremendous efforts of Zobrist with the MVP award and the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro 50thAnniversary Edition convertible.

PHOTO GALLERY
Chinese group Cultural Investment Holdings Co (CIH) is taking over British visual effects studio Framestore, according to several British media reports.

Framestore won a vfx Oscar for Gravity and is also well known for its contributions to films such as Paddington, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Harry Potter franchise, as well as numerous television commercials and vr projects.

The deal, valued in the neighborhood of 150 million (US$187 million), will see CIH acquire 75% of the business with the remaining shares held by Framestores management team, including founder and CEO William Sargent. According to Sargent, CIH was chosen from among dozens of interested parties, including buyers from North America, the U.K., and Asia-Pacific.
You should buy Ben a beer.

Ben is basically an every man - well, every person who works in the hospitality industry.

We all have a Ben in our life. They are the local barista, bartender or hotel concierge.

If something happened to Ben, people would notice. Which is why the BC Hospitality Foundation is starting an initiative to raise $50,000, which will help at least 10 (Ben)eficiaries across the province.

Buy Ben A Beer is an online fundraiser where a "beer" can be purchased with a $5 minimum donation.

Supporters are asked to post their own photo and encourage friends and family to buy the next round, using the hashtag #BuyBenABeer. The goal is to raise enough money to help approximately 10 people with $5,000 each in beneficiary support.

Funds raised will be used to cover the cost of medical equipment, prescriptions, transportation to therapy appointments, or to cover shortfalls towards housing, food or other expenses until "Ben" is able to return to the work force.

The British Columbia Hospitality Foundation is a charity that supports workers facing financial crisis due to a health issue, and offers scholarship programs to foster the development of the hospitality workers of tomorrow.
Sometimes after a long day at the office, minding your manners, the best remedy for any pent up aggression is to throw axes, knives and spears at log targets.

And for those living in Kelowna, that option is just around the corner.

The owners of Axe Monkeys, a new business in the industrial area on Sexsmith Road, plan to open up for business by the end of the month.

Axe Monkeys will be the only indoor axe throwing facility in town.

Ryan Chamberlain and Dave Calhoun are the brains behind the business. They've got big plans for Axe Monkeys that reaches beyond Kelowna.

They are currently building a facility in Las Vegas, twice as big as the Kelowna facility. Calhoun envisions a World Series of Axe Throwing tournament held at the Vegas facility in the future, where the winner will take home a $50,000 grand prize.

For now though, the Kelowna facility will host an axe throwing league, where players can meet once a week and keep score.

While the Kelowna facility is still under construction, the facility will have its own party room, separate from the throwing area, and the pair plans to build an upstairs mezzanine lounge within the year.

While they still need to get the particulars sorted out, they plan to have a "bring your own alcohol" policy at the facility as well.

The owners say the venue will be great for hosting bachelor and bachelorette parties, divorce parties, corporate events and Christmas parties.

Chamberlain says anyone seven and older can throw, and they've seen people as old as 93 participate.

Prices to get your axe throw on are $25 per hour or $40 for two hours.
Photo: Contributed

Just how much interest is there in the U.S. presidential election on this side of the border?

Enough that legal betting on the presidential race through PlayNow.com has surpassed the Super Bowl as the most popular betting event.

The BC Lottery Corporation says nearly $400,000 of the $533,000 wagered on U.S. politics, has been wagered on the outcome of the presidential election.

More bets have been placed on Donald Trump to win, while more money has been wagered on Hillary Clinton.

Clinton is the betting favourite, with her odds set at 17/50, while Trump is a 7/4 underdog.

In B.C., wagers can be placed online through PlayNow.com.

BCLC was the first jurisdiction in Canada to offer novelty betting on the US election through PlayNow.com in 2014.
Photo: Contributed

Recently, I went to Bermuda on business. Since I had never been there before, I needed to know as much as possible about the island to find out how to conduct business there.

Fortuitously, a few months before, we met Mervin Mascarenhas, a humble pen maker from Kelowna.

Mervin was introduced to us because of the craftsmanship displayed in his luxury, hand-crafted pens.

If you have ever dreamed of owing a pen crafted from wood that is hundreds or thousands of years old, you met the right guy.

All the pens, whether made from wood thousands of years old or from meteorites, are verified with carbon-dating certificates and incredible stories of how Mervin came across such unique materials.

One of the main projects my company works on is flying cars and we figured that there might be a buyer or two out in Bermuda, but how do we start?

After a brief conversation with Mervin who we found out had lived there for several years, we laid the groundwork for what was to become a successful trip.

Far from being a humble pen maker, it became obvious during our trip that Mervin was somewhat of an icon in Bermuda.

It took approximately 20 minutes of driving from the airport to make our first connection with Mervin at our side.

We had stopped off for groceries before we arrived at our apartment and literally in two separate isles in a random grocery store, Mervin re-connected with people who he had not seen for many years.

It was clear that the roots in the friendships ran deep.

That was just the start of what continued to be a productive and entertaining visit.

Mervin continued to astound us with his connections on the island and the depth of the friendships he had created for many years living there.

What was clear to us at the end was that the title of humble pen maker is completely understated.

Mervin is a confident and talented craftsman with a broad imagination and incredible creativity.

His creations are made right here in Kelowna and I have no doubt that you will ready much more about Mervin as his business grows and matures in the luxury pen market place.

If you are looking for a unique and novel gift for Christmas, definitely check out his website.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: The Canadian Press

More than 180 people are expected at a rally Sunday in Kelowna in support of the Standing Rock protest.

The Facebook event is encouraging supporters to head to Stuart Park from 2 to 4 p.m. to stand with those protesting the Dakota Access pipeline.

The controversial pipeline, a $3.8-billion, four-state project designed to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois, is the epicentre of a massive protest by multiple First Nations and others determined to block it.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota, and those supporting them, want construction to stop on the pipeline, saying it could contaminate the water supply and would encroach on tribal burial sites.

Protests supporting the tribe have been going on for months and have drawn thousands of people to the area, where Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners is attempting to finish construction on the 1,200-mile pipeline.

Protests began in April and have continued to heat up since, with more than 400 arrests since day one.

In an unprecedented show of unity, multiple tribes in the U.S. have joined forces. Recently, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma donated $10,000 to the Standing Rock Sioux to support its fight against the pipeline.

For information on the Kelowna event, click here.

 with files from The Canadian Press
Crow tribal members are concerned that their per-capita checks will be reduced because of a deal offered by tribal leaders to Westmoreland Resources.

Opponents of the deal, that continues through 2018, gathered outside the U.S. Department of Interior building in Billings on Thursday, demanding federal officials intervene. The rally took place two days before tribal elections.

At issue is a late-August decision in which the Crow Legislature agreed to cut the tribes share of profits from tribal coal mined by Westmoreland. Tribal Legislator Shawn Real Bird said the reduction will put December per-capita payments at $22.10. The previous payment, issued before the cut, was about $210.

They kept this a secret. They made absolutely sure no one would stop it, said Real Bird, who was one of three legislators to vote against the cut on Aug. 30.

The coal mined by Westmoreland under lease with the Crow Tribe fuels the Sherburne County Generating Station, or SHERCO plant, in Becker, Minn.

Crow Tribal Chairman Darrin Old Coyote told The Gazette that while Westmoreland did receive a tax cut, per capita payments will be spared, while other government services take a hit.

"Per cap's going to be the same no matter what they say, or do," Old Coyote said. "Basically were selling the same number of tons to SHERCO at a reduced price. It doesn't really affect the per cap."

Old Coyote said per cap payments  the dividend paid to each tribal member for coal sales  should be about $200 in December.

Westmoreland approached tribal leaders in August asking the tribe to accept smaller payments for coal extracted from Absaloka Mine, which is on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeast Montana.

Westmoreland, according to a letter issued by the CEO Kevin Paprzycki, had informed the tribe that the mining company was prepared to terminate its lease by Oct. 17 unless the Crow agreed to a coal pay cut. The letter cited a plan to reduce tribal payments in order to maintain the economic viability of the Absaloka Mine.

Worried the mine would close, the Crow Legislature agreed to lower Westmorlands payment of the Tribal Severance Tax by 85 cents a ton. It then agreed to cut the amount Westmoreland paid in the Tribal Gross Proceeds Tax by 40 cents a ton.

Old Coyote said Westmoreland wanted the tribe to take off an additional 50 cents a ton, but Crow leaders refused.

Those cuts put the tribes profit share below 12.5 percent. Real Bird said. By law, any return below 12.5 percent requires approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he said. That BIA approval hasnt happened, which is why protesters rallied in Billings on Thursday, hoping to get BIA to kill the deal.

Coal has been in an economic slump for more than a year, as U.S. power plants switch to cheap natural gas and a global market glut makes shipping U.S. coal abroad unprofitable. One planned Montana coal mine failed after Arch Coal filed for bankruptcy. Other Montana coal companies ceased coal exports after market prices fell too low to cover shipping costs.

But coal sales have been improving lately, and that has Sharon Stewart Peregoy thinking that Crow Tribal Chairman Darrin Old Coyote and the Legislature cut a deal they didnt have to. Peregoy said the Crows reduction in what Westmoreland pays the tribe comes with the promise of $1.5 million, which tribal leaders, strapped for cash, accepted.

Im going to use the word collusion. Thats whats going on, Peregoy said.

As Peregoy and Real Bird met with the press, protester Peggy Wellknown Buffalo shouted at no one in particular that Crow families were going to struggle because of the cuts in per capita payments, which for a family of enrolled tribal members could mean thousands of dollars less a year.

Not coincidentally, the protest was taking place two days before tribal elections. Real Bird is running for tribal vice chairman on the same ticket as chairman candidate A.J. Not Afraid. Peregoy, a candidate for tribal secretary is rounding out the ticket with Erlise Birdinground Hogan.

The tribal election is Saturday.

Not Afraid, who is the current tribal secretary, said after the rally that the $1.5 million Westmoreland agreed to pay the tribe is an advance payment on coal the company wont mine for a few more years. When that coal comes out of the ground, there will be no additional payment, Not Afraid said.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Secondary residences and rental properties make up nearly one-fifth of Penticton's residential real estate, according to data on the 2016 home owner grants in B.C.

Home owner grants reduce the property taxes people pay on their principal residences, and are administered by the provincial government.

That data is typically quite distilled by the time it gets to the city, due to privacy reasons, but what that information does provide the city is an idea of where to market Penticton for potential tourists or people who may be thinking of moving.

Home owner grants were not given to 4,158 homes in Penticton, which would indicate that those homes are not primary residences, according to City of Penticton economic development officer Colleen Pennington.

BC Stats, which does a home count for health regions, pegs the number of homes at 19,680, but Pennington says that only includes primary residences.

Added up, that makes 23,838 homes in Penticton, if BC Stats's numbers are up-to-date and correct, 17 per cent of which are likely not primary residences.

About 2,160, or 52 per cent of those 4,158 homes not granted in Penticton have their primary residence in the city, which Pennington says likely means they are rental units.

To operate a rental home in Penticton, city planner Blake Laven says a business licence is technically required, but noted that it's likely that many of those operating rental units or houses don't apply for a licence.

In a council meeting Wednesday evening, Coun. Helena Konanz said there is an issue with illegal suites in the city.

"There are a lot of illegal basement suites in town that we haven't been able to do much about," Konanz said.

Those illegal suites, she said, are less safe than apartment buildings or legal suites, which can be regulated and moderated more closely.

To add to the approximately 2,160 secondary or tertiary homes whose owners live in Penticton, Pennington adds that there are 1,991 homes where the owners' primary residence is out of town, and while there is some consistency to where those property owners live, there's also some diversity.

"People list their addresses as far away as South Africa, Germany, the UK or Paraguay," Pennington said in an email. "We have a small group from the US primarily from Washington State."

But there are some patterns as to where some of those property owners are coming from. Of the 1,991 property owners whose primary residence is outside of Penticton, 26.3 per cent call somewhere in the Okanagan Valley home, a contingent Penntington speculated is also largely made up of landlords.

Making up even greater numbers is the 36.7 per cent, who call the Lower Mainland home, which adds to some who have reportedly been trickling into the South Okanagan to escape Metro Vancouver's skyrocketing prices.

Edmonton has just over two thirds of Calgary's property owners in Penticton, at 6.7 per cent and 9.7 per cent respectively, while Victoria and the Island residents make up just 2 per cent of Penticton's property owners.

That leaves 18.6 per cent of the 1,991 homes in Penticton owned from those outside of those main clusters, though Pennington didn't provide any breakdown of that group.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A new poll suggests Canadians would like to see efforts to honour fallen soldiers extend well beyond Remembrance Day.

The study commissioned by Historica Canada found a vast majority of respondents would like to see a national monument to soldiers who died in combat in modern times.

About 76 per cent of them said they'd like to see a memorial similar to the United States' Vietnam Wall, which lists the names of those who have died while serving in their country's military.

The poll also found 86 per cent of those surveyed felt creating some sort of national monument should be part of Canada's upcoming 150th birthday celebrations.

Survey respondents also emphasized the need for ongoing education on Canada's military accomplishments, with 62 per cent saying Canada's students are not learning enough about the country's war-time efforts.

The finding comes despite a growing number of Canadian provinces emphasizing Canadian history as part of the middle or high school curriculum.

Historica Canada Chief Executive Anthony Wilson-Smith said the poll results, prepared by Ipsos, carry on a trend that's emerged in recent years.

"We continue to see very strong support that transcends political divisions or even philosophical difference for the principle of honouring veterans," he said in a telephone interview.

The desire for a single, comprehensive monument has been a consistent theme in all of the company's research and on-the-ground outreach efforts, he said.

While people appreciate the hundreds of individual cenotaphs and memorials that exist, Wilson-Smith said there is a clear appetite for a single point at which to congregate and pay tribute to soldiers who fell in conflicts spanning the First World War to the more recent mission in Afghanistan.
Photo: CTV

A B.C. Court of Appeal ruling has cleared the way for soil dumping to continue at a Vancouver Island contaminated soil facility.

The decision overturns a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that previously gave the Cowichan Valley Regional District the authority to prohibit soil dumping under their local bylaws.

The new decision was welcomed by the Cobble Hill Holdings, which owns the facility near Shawnigan Lake.

Its lawyer John Alexander says the ruling sets a precedent across the province by putting mining-related activity squarely under provincial jurisdiction.

Alexander says the mining industry as a whole will be relieved that it will not have to adapt to local regulations in different districts across the province.

The Shawnigan Lake soil facility is categorized as a mining activity because the operation involves filling an old quarry.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Federal Court judge says Canada's spy agency illegally kept potentially revealing electronic data about people over a 10-year period.

In a hard-hitting ruling made public Thursday, Justice Simon Noel said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service breached its duty to inform the court of its data-collection program, since the information was gathered using judicial warrants.

CSIS should not have retained the information since it was not directly related to threats to the security of Canada, the ruling said.

"Ultimately, the rule of law must prevail," Noel wrote, adding, "without it, the actions of people and institutions cannot be trusted to accurately reflect the purpose they were entrusted to fulfil."

CSIS crunched the data beginning in 2006 using a powerful program known as the Operational Data Analysis Centre to produce intelligence that can reveal specific, intimate details about people the spy service investigates, the judge said.

The improperly retained material was metadata  information associated with a communication, such as a telephone number or email address, but not the message itself.

However, it is difficult to determine the precise nature of the metadata involved due to heavy redactions to the 126-page court ruling.

At a hastily arranged news conference late Thursday, CSIS director Michel Coulombe said the spy service had halted all access to, and analysis of, the data in question while it thoroughly reviews the court decision.

"I deeply regret the court's serious concerns with respect to meeting our duty of candour, and I commit to continuing my efforts, with the deputy minister of justice, to address this concern," Coulombe said.

Sifting through data can help CSIS identify patterns of movement, communication, behaviours, significant trends and links that are otherwise unidentifiable, he added.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Trudeau government's latest update on federal finances shows that slow growth is taking a toll on the books  but they say they have a cure: a long-term plan to attract billions in new private-sector investment.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau laid out plans Tuesday to lift the sluggish economy with help from a new infrastructure bank. He pledged to prime the bank's pump with $35 billion worth of public money as a way to bring in foreign capital.

But at the same time, he warned Canadians that tougher-than-expected economic hurdles still lie ahead.

Read more.
Photo: Google Maps

UPDATED: 8:30 p.m.

Police responded to Cardinal Creek Road in the Joe Rich area Thursday afternoon, after receiving reports of a possible gunshot.

Upon arrival, Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey says the RCMP determined there had been a 'disturbance' between people who knew each other, but no firearms had been involved at all.

O'Donaghey says there is no risk to the public in the area.

ORIGINAL: 7:13 p.m.

There is a heavy police presence in the Joe Rich area Thursday night, but it's unclear what they're doing.

A witness in the area said she saw seven police cars and two ambulances on Highway 33, in between Goudie Road and Cardinal Creek Road, as well as a police plane in the sky and two K9 units at about 5:30 p.m.

The witness said it looked like police were searching for someone.

She said another woman in her Joe Rich Facebook group said an officer had told her to stay inside her home.

Everybody's yakking about it, because everyone wants to know what's going on, the witness said.

Another witness reported seeing six police cars "flying up Highway 33" just after 4 p.m.

Castanet will update this story as more information becomes available.
Photo: Facebook

Brandon Oswald's defence attorney has brought forth a constitutional challenge to the mandatory minimum sentence her client faces.

Oswald, 25, was found guilty of robbery, disguising one's face while committing an offence and using an imitation firearm while committing an offence by a jury in June, after robbing a Shopper's Drug Mart for drugs and cash in West Kelowna on March 11, 2014.

Oswald had become addicted to prescription opiates prior to the robbery.

The charge of using an imitation firearm while committing an offence carries with it a mandatory minimum sentence of one year, served consecutively with any other sentences.

While this mandatory minimum sentence for this particular crime has been a part of the criminal code since at least 2001, it has been challenged several times, successfully in some cases.

One such case is that of Daniel Atwin of Ontario. In June, an Ontario Supreme Court judge ruled that consecutive one-year mandatory minimum sentences for using an imitation firearm while Atwin robbed several banks violated his Charter rights.

Oswald's defence lawyer Valerie Hartney argued Thursday that the one-year mandatory sentence for Oswald violates Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects individuals against "cruel and unusual" punishment.

A person should not be made to suffer a grossly disproportionate punishment simply to send a message to discourage others, Hartney said.

Oswald will get credit for just under one year for the time he spent in custody after his arrest.

His defence is seeking a sentence of time already served, while the Crown would like to see him face three to five years, minus time served.

While Hartney says Oswald could be given the mandatory one-year sentence for the imitation firearm charge and still only be sentenced to time served, she wants to constitutionally challenge the mandatory minimum to affect change in a broader sense by setting precedent.

Hartney said that, based on Oswald's time in prison before receiving bail, jail is no place for him.

(That was) pretty traumatizing for someone who had never been to a jail, she said. That's where things really went downhill for him with respect to getting involved with heroin, which led to extreme struggles upon release.

After he was found guilty in June, Oswald moved to Vancouver Island, where he has remained sober, secured a job, and has maintained good behaviour.

There is no benefit to society whatsoever by returning him to custody, Hartney said.

The Crown will respond to the defence's challenge Friday. Justice Alison Beames will sentence Oswald Friday, or early next week.
Photo: Facebook

A case that sparked outrage from indigenous leaders over treaty rights has ended with two men from the Pine Creek First Nation in Manitoba pleading guilty to charges of unlawful hunting on property near Canora, Sask.

Charlie Boucher, 55, who is also the chief of the First Nation, and Georgie Lamirande, 40, were each fined a total of $7,500 for unlawfully hunting on posted land, unlawful possession of wildlife and illegally transporting wildlife to another province.

Earlier this year, Boucher and other aboriginal leaders said their treaty right to provide food for their families wasn't being understood.

Government officials say that in Saskatchewan, individuals exercising treaty rights to hunt for food must ask for prior permission to hunt on private land.

In January, Grand Chief Derek Nepinak with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said indigenous hunters were being harassed by farmers who feel the hunters have been trespassing on private land for decades.

At the time, Boucher said indigenous people had been hunting on the land long before Canada or its provinces existed.

"The Creator gave me that authority to harvest and take," Boucher said. "I beg for us to be understood."

Boucher could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Photo: CTV

A toddler who was hoping to snack on raisins appears to have found pills instead.

Carly Lauderdale says her three-year-old son, Jude, was about to snack at preschool Monday on a box of Jumbo Thompson seedless raisins sold at Superstore. The Coquitlam mother alleges several unidentified pills were in the package.

"The teacher called me," Lidderdale told CTV News. "(She said) Jude is at the table with me eating our snacks, he dumped out the raisins on the table and out came three pills."

She contacted the store and also filed a complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The pills are three different sizes and it's unclear what they are.

"(My son) could choke on it, chew on it thinking it's candy," she said. "I mean, I don't know what's in them."

The store was apologetic about the incident.

"I just want them taken off the shelves and for parents to be warned," said the mom.

Superstore's parent company, Loblaw, issued a statement saying it's investigating.

"The health and safety of our customers and their children is our top priority. We intend to resolve this complaint through further investigation," a company spokesperson told CTV News.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: DriveBC

UPDATE: 10:55 p.m.

The Highway 93 border crossing is now open to single-lane alternating traffic.

ORIGINAL: 10:30 p.m.

A border crossing in southeastern B.C. is closed.

DriveBC says Highway 93, which crosses into Montana from the East Kootenays, was closed in both directions late Thursday because of a vehicle incident.

There is no estimated time of reopening.

For the latest updates check DriveBC.
Health care is an important issue to Montana voters  but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the current campaign.

Among registered voters surveyed Oct. 10-12, 13 percent named health care as the most important issue in this election, ranking behind the economy and national security, according to a Mason-Dixon poll commissioned by Lee Newspapers. Yet the issue has not been a prominent discussion in most statewide campaigns this fall.

U.S. House race

The contest for Montanas U.S. House seat has the clearest potential to reshape the federal law and other aspects of the nations health care system.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke argues the country should repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

He said he has seen pieces of a replacement plan that he could support, which should generally provide patients more options and ones that are actually affordable. Among promising ideas for improving the quality of care while reducing costs, he listed individual health care accounts, expanded telemedicine, increased Medicare reimbursement rates for frontier communities, more rural medical residencies, and expanded authority for some frontline providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Its going to take both sides. On the extremes, which we hear a lot, people argue the government has no part in medicine. I think we do. We deal with Medicaid and Medicare, he said. Obamacare will evolve and change no matter what.

His Democrat challenger, Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau, said that repealing the law is a waste of taxpayers' time and taxpayers' money. She said targeted reforms are needed to drive down costs, primarily a tightening of regulations.

Its a mixed bag. The Affordable Care Act did some great things, she said. The problem is we left insurance companies in the drivers seat. We need to fix that.

She said the long-term solution should probably include a candid discussion about a single-payer system, but thats a long ways off. Especially in this Congress, its not going to happen.

Governors race

Gov. Steve Bullock has touted his success building a bipartisan coalition that approved Medicaid expansion in the 2015 Legislature, noting that more than than 50,000 people have enrolled, and some hospitals have told him that the reduced level of charity care has helped their finances.

That was a very important step that we took, Bullock said.

He has made two health-related pitches while on the campaign trail this fall.

First, he has joined with state Sen. Diane Sands of Missoula, a Democrat, to propose a $1.6 million funding increase to state assistance programs for the elderly and the family members who care for them so the elderly can remain at home.

Bullock also has joined Jesse Laslovich, a Democrat running for state auditor, in proposing a price transparency measure that would make it easier for consumers to compare prices of procedures at major hospitals with a state-run website.

Republican candidate for governor Greg Gianforte agreed that price transparency is a step in the right direction.

Gianforte has toured several of the states hospitals and visited with industry leaders, but has said he does not have detailed health proposals in mind.

Asked about some Republican legislators who want to reverse at least part of the states Medicaid expansion during the 2017 session, Gianforte said he does not support changing the program between now and 2019, when the final, lowest level of federal support takes effect.

Generally, he said he thinks the state should look for ways to expand the use of telemedicine without incurring additional costs and review licensure requirements for ways to make it easier for physicians to move to Montana. He also would look to states like Texas for ideas about how best to drive down the cost of malpractice insurance by reforming tort law, a proposal that has drawn opposition from some who fear reducing physician liability could hurt consumers.

There is no silver bullet in health care, he said. Anything that will bring costs down for the hospitals or doctors while maintaining the quality of care and preserving rural access, we ought to look at  Anytime you can take, just from a business perspective, take costs out of the delivery of a product, youre going to ultimately lower the end cost to the consumer.

Auditors race

In the auditors race, Republican Senate Majority Leader Matt Rosendale opposed Medicaid expansion, has widely criticized his opponent Laslovich for not fighting the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Montana.

There is a big difference between making sure everybody is covered with insurance and making sure people have access to good health care, he said. The legislation I worked on has not had any support from the auditors office or the governors office.

He referenced bills to establish health care sharing ministries as an alternative to insurance in the state and a bill that would have allowed and outlined rules for primary care provider contracts. Rosendale supported these alternatives as good fee-for-service options for some Montanans.

Opponents of the measures, including some health care industry groups and his campaign opponent, argued the options do not offer the same level of patient care or protection under the law as insurance coverage. Rosendale has argued the choice should be left to Montanans.

He also has proposed changing the way some allegations of wrongdoing in regulated industries, including insurance, are investigated and sanctioned. He suggested forming panels to review lesser violations in a move to reduce the power concentrated within the insurance commissioner.

He said Laslovich "is a litigator and Im not. And while that may be necessary at times, it shouldnt be the first course of action.

Laslovich, chief legal counsel to Montana state auditor Monica Lindeen, questioned Rosendales understanding of the office for which he is running and defended his record in the auditors office.

If Matt wants to get rid of Obamacare, he should run for Congress. The state auditor cant do anything about Obamacare. It is the law. The Supreme Court has upheld it, Laslovich said, noting that recent state legislation, opposed for years by Republicans, did grant the auditor power to review insurance rate change proposals at a state level rather than relying on federal officials to do so. My biggest criticism of Obamacare is the regulation of insurance is a state-based activity, always has been and for good reason.

Laslovich has said it might make sense for the state to consider implementing a state-based health insurance exchange to replace the federally managed one so we can control our own destiny.

He also has suggested the nation might want to consider a single-payer system to control skyrocketing costs for patients, but said that is a federal, not state issue. Rosendale nonetheless has seized on the remark to cast Laslovich as a puppet of national Democrats seeking to expand the Affordable Care Act.

Laslovich has called the debate about the federal health care law a distraction from practical proposals a state auditor can make to actually protect Montana consumers and their pocketbooks. He cites his seven years in the office as having helped him prepare a list of specific health-related proposals for the 2017 Legislature.

One proposal stems out of a working group led by Laslovich last year. It reviewed high balance bills  frequently $20,000 or more  some Montanans must pay for air ambulance rides provided by out-of-network providers. Laslovich has suggested that air ambulance companies and other health providers should not send balance bills to families, instead going to direct arbitration or to court with insurance companies for additional payments.

The working group could not reach a consensus on draft legislation in large part because insurance companies opposed the proposal.

Laslovich said the reforms wont get done the way it needs to be done unless hes elected because he is the only person that has put so much time into working on the issue. In addition to leading the working group, he noted he has helped dozens of families negotiate their bills through his role as legal counsel and consumer advocate in the auditors office.

Among Laslovich's priorities are reform bills previously advocated by the current State Auditor, Monica Lindeen, who is running for Secretary of State. One such proposal would grant firefighters and other emergency responders presumptive disease status under workers compensation law so they would not have to prove certain illnesses were caused by their job. It shifts the burden to the insurance company to prove it did not. The legislation passed in many other states is designed to recognize that firefighters are routinely exposed to hazardous chemicals.
Photo: CTV

UPDATE: 12:45 p.m.

Police are warning people to be careful when they cross the road after a family was struck Thursday night.

"Because it's darker earlier, we have more people driving and more pedestrians out (in the dark), so we are going to see more accidents," Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann told CTV Vancouver.

Police said pedestrians should only cross at marked crosswalks, wear bright clothing and make eye contact with drivers.

ORIGINAL: 7 a.m.

Three pedestrians were struck in a car crash in Surrey Thursday night.

A mother, father and their three-year-old child were all hit as they were crossing the road on the 2700 block of 160th Street about 8:30 p.m.

All three were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The family was crossing the street mid-block.

The driver of the car, a 46-year-old resident of Surrey, remained at the scene, and is co-operating with police.

Neither alcohol nor drugs appear to be a factor in the collision

Witnesses are asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or CrimeStoppers.

Staff Sgt. M.A. Hedderson said in a press release that as winter approaches and darkness falls earlier, drivers and pedestrians need to be more cautious.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Canadian crooner Michael Buble has announced that his oldest son, three-year-old Noah, has been diagnosed with cancer.

The Burnaby native, who is married to Argentine actress Luisana Lopilato, made the announcement in a posting on his Facebook page on Friday.

"We are devastated about the recent cancer diagnosis of our oldest son Noah who is currently undergoing treatment in the U.S.," wrote Buble, who did not specify the type of cancer that was diagnosed.

"We have always been very vocal about the importance of family and the love we have for our children. Luisana and I have put our careers on hold in order to devote all our time and attention to helping Noah get well.

"At this difficult time, we ask only for your prayers and respect for our privacy," he added in the statement. "We have a long journey in front of us and hope that with the support of family, friends and fans around the world, we will win this battle, God willing."

Buble and Lopilato have another son, Elias, who turns one in January.

The diagnosis comes during a busy time for the multiple Grammy and Juno winner, who recently released the album "Nobody But Me."

It was also recently announced that he would be hosting the Brit Awards in February and the Junos in April.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the news would affect his hosting plans.

Noah was born on Aug. 27, 2013. In a June 2014 conference call with reporters, Buble gushed about the impact his son had on his life.

"I'm better at what I do  way better," he said. "There's a fulfillment and a joy that I have in my life that I didn't have before.

"I was always a happy guy, I always had a good life, but I didn't know how good it could be. That's the truth. This kid has brought something to my life that I never knew was there. I didn't know that kind of love existed.

"It's allowed me to be way better at what I do."
Photo: The Canadian Press Bruce Carson

An Ontario Court judge has imposed $50,000 in fines on Bruce Carson, a former Stephen Harper confidant convicted of illegal lobbying.

Although Carsons lawyer, Patrick McCann, argued that his client was on the verge of bankruptcy and unable to pay, Ontario Court Justice Catherine Kehoe said Carson remains employable, calling the fine a necessary deterrent to others.

The Crown had asked for a $50,000 penalty.

Carson was found guilty in September on three counts under the Lobbying Act over work he did on a national energy strategy while director of the Canada School of Energy and Environment and later as the vice-chair of the Energy Policy Institute of Canada.

The judge determined he had contact with ministers and deputy ministers at Industry Canada and Environment Canada, as well as the Prime Ministers Office and the Privy Council Office, while he was employed at the institute even though he was under a five-year prohibition from lobbying public office holders because he had worked in the PMO until February 2009.

The court was told that, between 2009 and 2011, Carson was paid about $600,000 for his lobbying work.

There have only been two previous convictions under the Lobbying Act, which resulted in fines of $7,500 and $20,000, Crown prosecutor Robert Zsigo told the judge.

In her sentencing ruling, Kehoe said the gravity of the offence could not be more serious and that Carson had decided to simply ignore the prohibitions against lobbying.

"It is necessary to impose a significant fine to deter Mr. Carson and others who would engage in lobbying and ignore the law, which goes to the heart of the integrity of government and public trust of government," she wrote.

She said a lesser fine would not send the right message.

"I reject that a nominal fine would address the principles of sentencing in this case, as it would not address the seriousness of the offences, their ongoing nature, the impact on the integrity of government and the need to denounce such conduct."

Last year, Carson was found not guilty of influence-peddling in connection with attempts to persuade government officials to buy water filtration systems for First Nation communities, which were being sold by a company that employed Carsons former escort girlfriend.

While the judge in that case found Carson had attempted to influence high-ranking government officials, he was acquitted because the officials had no power to decide whether to buy the water systems.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The NDP says revelations that Canada's lead spy agency illegally kept sensitive data for years underscores the need for stronger parliamentary oversight.

The New Democrats are pushing for changes to a bill that would create a committee of parliamentarians to keep an eye on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and other spy services.

NDP MP Murray Rankin says the proposed model would allow the government to arbitrarily deny crucial information to the committee.

A Federal Court judge says CSIS violated the law by keeping potentially revealing electronic data about people who posed no security threat over a 10-year period.

In a hard-hitting ruling made public Thursday, Justice Simon Noel said CSIS breached its duty to inform the court of its data-collection program, since the information was gathered using judicial warrants.

The ruling said CSIS should not have held on to the information since it was not directly related to threats to the security of Canada.
Photo: Wikipedia File photo of a Beechcraft 1900 airplane.

There were tense moments in the air and on the ground in Kelowna Friday morning, as an incoming aircraft reported having issues deploying its landing gear.

A Beechcraft 1900, a 19-passenger twin-engine turboprop, reported at 8:14 a.m. that it might have issues with its landing gear, prompting a stand-by emergency response from the airport.

YLW emergency crews rushed to the runway to prepare for a possible emergency situation, if the landing gear on the plane did not lower.

Fortunately, the mid-size plane was eventually able to deploy the gear, and landed safely at 8:33 a.m. without incident.

There were no service disruptions at the airport during the incident.
Photo: Contributed A black bear was spotted in the Wilden area of Kelowna recently.

More than twice as many bears have been destroyed this year around Kamloops, compared to the 10-year average.

Despite a promising start to the summer, an abundance of late-summer run-ins with bears resulted in 17 bears killed in 2016, seven more than in all of 2015 and nine more than the 10-year average.

September's been an extremely busy month for us, which was interesting because up until July we were running way below average, said Kamloops Conservation Officer Kevin Van Damme. Complaints this year were at a 10-year low until the third week in August.

Van Damme says the moist conditions at the start of the summer helped keep bears out of human-populated areas.

The natural food, berries for example, do well under those conditions, which provides a lot of natural foods for the bears, and so they just stay in their habitats and have all the things they need to sustain themselves and keep themselves happy and keep themselves up in the forested areas, he said.

As soon as that food source starts to dry up, they work themselves down to the valley bottoms where all the people live.

Chris Doyle, deputy chief of B.C.'s Conservation Officer Service, says the source of most of the conflicts has been unsecured attractants like garbage and fruit.

Interestingly, the number of bear-human interactions in the region this year has been significantly lower than previous years  just 290 compared to the 10-year average of 409.

Kamloops wasn't the only place that had bear issues this summer. Conservation officers were forced to kill eight bears in one week in Revelstoke in August that had become habituated to eating garbage.
Photo: City of Vernon

There was more rain than expected over the summer but Vernon tourism sizzled.

The amount of hotel tax collected for the City of Vernon in August was $116,350,69  a record for that month.

In July, the city collected a total of $110,712.30 from the two per cent hotel room tax.

As you can see, two record months in a row, said Kevin Poole, the city's economic development manager. Over the past 8 months or so we have experienced some fluctuations (one month up followed by one month down) which we believe is due to some of the accommodators reporting every second month and sometimes quarterly.

Either way, we are currently up over 15 per cent year-to-date, which is great to see.

Those numbers equate to millions of dollars spent in the community on hotels, dining, retail shopping and activities, according to a city spokesperson.
Photo: CTV

Woodfibre LNG says it is proceeding with its proposed liquefied natural gas development near Squamish in what would be the province's first LNG project.

Premier Christy Clark says the $1.6-billion development will create 650 jobs during construction and 100 operational jobs over its estimated lifespan of 25 years.

The project has cleared regulatory hurdles at the provincial and federal levels, including securing federal approval in March of this year.

Woodfibre LNG is licensed to export about 2.1 million tonnes of LNG annually.

There are approximately 20 LNG proposals in B.C. on the drawing board.

Pacific Northwest LNG, which is much larger than the Woodfibre LNG project, recently secured federal sanctioning and is now being reviewed by Malaysia's state-owned company Petronas for final approval.
Photo: Joe Sengotta

A man charged with a series of arsons that occurred in Vernon two years ago has chosen to be tried by a judge and jury when the case heads to B.C. Superior Court.

William Munton, 55, is facing 19 charges of arson in connection with fires targeting dumpsters, vehicles, boats and structures. The fires were set in 2014 between May and November.

A number of groups are relieved the case is headed to trial, although no date has been set.

A lawyer for the accused has requested a preliminary inquiry be held first to hear the evidence.

There was a tremendous amount of work done by our investigators, Supt. Jim McNamara, head of the Vernon/North Okanagan RCMP detachment, told Castanet this week. We have a long ways to go through the court process.

McNamara called it a very challenging investigation that was brought to a successful conclusion as a result of some very hard work by some very competent investigators.

It's nice to see this hasn't been forgotten by the police and was something they were working on, said Ed Woolley, lawyer for the Okanagan Equestrian Society.

A July 9, 2014, fire at the Kin Race Track grandstand ended any chance of racing that year.

Munton is charged in connection with that fire.

Woolley is hopeful the case may provide some closure for members of the society.

Munton's next appearance in provincial court on the arson charges is Nov. 23.

In a separate matter, Munton has been ordered to stand trial in B.C. Supreme Court on child pornography charges. A judge has imposed a ban on publication of details. No trial date has been set.
I saw your recent piece on the random school attack in Abbotsford, B.C, that tragically took the life of a 13-year-old female student named Letisha Reimer, and left another 13-year-old female student named Emily Isaak in critical condition.

I wanted to let you know that British Columbians have shown an outpouring of support, raising more than $27,900 to support Letisha's family in just 21 hours, and more than $7,600 in 17 hours to help Emily's family in their time of need.

Here are the GoFundMe pages set up to raise money in the case that they may be of interest to your readers who are familiar with this horrific tragedy.

https://www.gofundme.com/loss-of-a-lifetime

https://www.gofundme.com/2x7rlpg

Sarah Stockall
HELENA  Rhetoric has been flying fast and furious over whether Republican governor candidate Greg Gianforte favors a sales tax.

Democrats and Gov. Steve Bullock have been accusing Gianforte of wanting a sales tax, even though in the 406 tax plan Gianforte released the zero stands for, in part, no sales tax.

A sales tax is politically unpopular in Montana. A 2011 poll by Lee Newspapers showed that residents did not support one, with 64 percent opposing the idea only 25 percent supporting it. Voters in 1971 and 1993 decisively killed proposed sales taxes in the past and the Legislature has never passed an overall sales tax, though bills to do so have been introduced.

Bullock and the Montana Democratic Party make that claim by using Gianfortes own words from an income tax advisory council meeting in 2002.

On Sept. 29 the party released audio from a meeting 14 years ago in which Gianforte, then the CEO of RightNow Technologies, called a sales tax an ideal solution from a high-tech perspective.

Gianforte was testifying before then-Gov. Judy Martz's Income Tax Advisory Council, tasked with coming up with a proposal to reduce the state's income tax by 10 percent, reduce the effective capital gains rate and explore eliminating federal deductibility.

Since the release of the audio, Democrats have hammered Gianforte over his testimony, saying hes lying when he tells voters hes never supported a sales tax.

At the 2002 meeting, Gianforte acknowledged political roadblocks to implementing a sales tax, one of three ideas he presented. He said in 2002 it may be politically impossible to do the wholesale change from an income tax to a sales tax."

Gianforte spokesman Aaron Flint this week said that Gianfortes testimony before the committee was not advocating for a sales tax.

He was lobbying the Legislature to lower the tax rates, which they eventually did, Flint said.

Gianfortes campaign has called the discussion of a sales tax during the meeting hypothetical and said Gianforte acknowledged at the time the political unlikelihood of Montana enacting a sales tax.

There are huge political issues and constitutional issues to a sales tax, Gianforte said in 2002. He also called it politically untenable and suggested the possibility of exemptions for farm equipment, before adding:

But I didnt think I would be fair in coming here and not saying I believe that this is the ideal solution to move to a consumptive tax that would focus more on maybe the tourism industry we have in the state. But if you want high-tech, our competition has zero income, zero capital gains. Thats an ideal solution.

Gianforte then said: Lets assume for a second thats an ideal solution, before presenting two other ideas.

Montanas tax code in 2002 made it hard, Gianforte said, to attract and keep qualified workers in the state. At the time, the state had a income tax rate of 11 percent, the highest in the nation then, and a 9 percent effective capital gains rate, the highest in the region.

Gianforte said a sales tax would make Montana competitive with other states that did not have as high of an income tax as Montana and create high-wage jobs that allowed the next generation to stay in Montana or return for work.

Flint this week said Gianfortes tax plan presented to voters this year calls for no sales tax. "If Greg got a bill on his desk banning a sales tax, as governor he would sign it, he said.

Democrats have countered that while Gianforte may not support a sales tax now, he is lying about his past support.

In audio provided by Montana Democrats, Gianforte told a voter in Belgrade on Monday, "I've never advocated for a sales tax." The person at the tour said "That's not true," to which Gianforte said, "Well, you're wrong."

Gianforte told the voter he said it was politically impossible and that he was not in favor of a sales tax. Audio from the 2002 meeting does not show Gianforte saying he was not in favor of a sales tax.

Earlier this month Bullock said if re-elected he would ask the Legislature to send voters a referendum to ban a statewide sales tax.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who was a state senator representing Big Sandy in 2002 and attended the meeting, said its distressing to see Gianfortes claims now.

He solidly advocated for a sales tax, Tester said. Theres no ifs, ands or buts about it. Its there, it was 14 years ago but thats how I remember it and I think the record confirms that.

Kurt Alme, Revenue Department director under Martz, was at the meeting and said this week that Gianfortes testimony was helpful.

At the senate hearing on Gov. Martz's proposal, Greg Gianforte's testimony was very helpful as we encouraged the Legislature to lower Montana's high income and capital gains tax rates. His efforts helped secure the lower tax rates all Montanans now enjoy."

At the meeting, Gianforte talked about what would happen if the company went public and employees, who owned 30 percent of RightNow in stock, wanted to sell it.

Were going to have a difficult decision in a couple years when this business morphs into something else and theres going to be a $7 to $10 million personal incentive to leave the state.

The advisory council ended up recommending a limited sales tax on goods and services which it said nonresidents bought more than Montanans, things like eating out, alcoholic beverages, rental cars and guided trips.

In 2003 the Legislature passed and Martz signed the Montana Economic Development Tax Act, which reduced the number of tax brackets, lowered the top bracket from 11 percent to 6.9 percent and gave a credit on capital gains of 2 percent by 2007, among other things. The act created a limited sales tax on accommodations and campgrounds and rental cars and increased taxes on cigarettes and other types of tobacco.

A report by the Montana Budget and Policy Center in 2009 said the act did not expand the states economy. A 2013 report by Dan Dodds, a senior economist with the Department of Revenue, in part says, any effect SB 407 had on the state economy appears to be smaller than the effects due to other influences.
Photo: Getty Images

A Cape Breton craft association and several local legions say they have been swept up in a nasty public spat that has generated threats and ill will over the location of a Remembrance Day service  all because of a misunderstanding.

Audrey Pyke of Home Crafters of Cape Breton says her 29-year-old group booked Centre 200 for its annual craft sale several years ago, and has held the three-day event there for the last decade.

But, the problem this year is that Remembrance Day falls on the first day of the sale and the legions say they had gone through the mayor's office last March to book the large facility in Sydney.

Stephen MacLennan, president of the legion in Whitney Pier, says that as a result the Remembrance Day ceremony has been moved to a smaller facility  a revelation that angered residents and resulted in dozens of emails, calls and Facebook postings criticizing the crafters.

Pyke says that has caused some members to take down their social media sites because of a slew of hostile comments, including some that say they will boycott the sale because of the misperception that the group forced the veterans out of the location.

But MacLennan says the mixup was due to a miscommunication between the centre and the mayor's office and is not the fault of the crafters' group.
Photo: City of Enderby

There appears to be an end in sight for the Cliff Avenue restoration and beautification project in Enderby.

The final asphalt was being poured on the main street Friday as work on the second phase of the ambitious project continued, from the Vernon Street intersection to the Bawtree Bridge.

2nd & final asphalt lift today on a#Cliff Ave. Everything looking awesome! Next up line painting & sidewalks, read a tweet from the City of Enderby.

Once the asphalt is set and line painting is done then work will begin on sidewalks, said Tate Bengston, the city's chief administrative officer.

Then we will have a functional street for pedestrians and vehicles although it won't have all the bells and whistles.

Those bells and whistles, landscaping and benches, will be added once the sidewalks are in, Bengston said.

In April, the city embarked on a $1.9 million project for the whole of its main street, replacing critical underground infrastructure and creating a new streetscape.

The second phase of the work began in September.
Photo: Contributed

Don't forget to fall back into time this weekend.

Love daylight time or hate it, the clocks will all get turned back one hour overnight Saturday.

Pushing clocks forward in the spring and back in autumn was put into practice so that evening daylight lasts an extra hour.

There is a provincial movement against daylight time, citing increased likelihood of car crashes and workplace accidents in the days after the time adjustment.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
Louis Engels gets this question a lot: Just what are ratepayers getting for the $65 million or so theyre set to spend on a new wastewater treatment plant?

The answer, in short, is quite a lot of technology, improved odor control  and the approval, at least for the foreseeable future, of state regulators over whats being discharged into the Yellowstone River.

Engels, utility systems engineer in the Billings Public Works Department, said during a tour of the existing plant last week that odor control alone will comprise up to $9 million of the project, which will go to bid Dec. 13. Construction is set to begin this spring and be completed two years later.

Located near MetraPark along the Yellowstone River, the plant treats the sewage generated by the city of Billings in accordance with state and federal requirements.

Sewer rates have been ratcheted up in recent years to provide enough money to upgrade the plant.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has set a deadline of 2019 for reducing the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous that the plant can discharge into the river. Nitrogen and phosphorous serve as fertilizers that promote algae bloom.

During the day, the nutrients' role is beneficial, adding dissolved oxygen into the river. But after the sun sets, they suck oxygen from the river, which can kill fish.

Are we killing fish now? No, Engels said, standing near the plants outfall, a 60-inch pipe that empties into the river. But, theyre going to a lower standard.

Construction will occur while the plant and its workers remain busy treating about 12 million gallons of wastewater per day during the winter and up to 20 million gallons per day in the summer.

Public Works Director Dave Mumford told the Billings City Council that the new plant is the largest public works upgrade in state history.

But even in a $65 million project, the science involved can be downright tiny, Engels said. The plants bacteria-eating organisms are so minuscule that more than 7 billion organisms exist in a thimbleful of wastewater. Thats an organism for each resident on Earth.

The design of the new plant, which is being handled by HDR Engineering, includes three basic zones, Engels said, anaerobic, anoxic and oxic.

The first is where the phosphorous accumulates. Bacteria needs phosphorous to grow.

In the anoxic zone, nitrite is converted into nitrogen, then released into the air. Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the Earths atmosphere.

The third zone includes nitrification, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines as a microbial process by which nitrogen compounds are oxidized.

"We are providing the right environmental conditions to remove the contaminant," Engels said.

Those months in between the completion of construction and the switch-over to operations of the new plant will be crucial, Engels said, if for no other reason but that the plant can be fined $25,000 per day for not meeting its DEQ permit requirements.

What's that smell?

The primary odor control process is simple in concept  its a pile of a wood chip-like material in a 200-foot-by-50-foot concrete tank designed to remove hydrogen sulfide, which Engels says is that stink at (MontanaFair, held each August at the nearby MetraPark).

That process has the added benefit of reducing hydrogen sulfide emissions, which will also help control corrosion at the new plant, he said.

Hydrogen sulfide is really hard on metals, he said. Anything with copper wires or pipes doesnt last as long. It really eats through it, he said, gesturing toward a metal building with obvious signs of corrosion on the exterior.

Another scientific advancement  one thats already in use at the current plant  is a turbo blower, which improves efficiency and reduces emissions. The bright blue device has been purchased and is in place for testing; five more will be installed in the new plant.

The new blower eases the plants power demand, which is no small matter, since the plants annual electric bill can reach $700,000.

Most blowers operate at about 3,500 revolutions per minute. The turbo blower turns about 10 times that fast, Engels said.

It rotates so fast that its not rotating on bearings  it levitates. Its turning on air, he said. Theres no resistance at all.

He said that the pilot test on the new device is going well so far.

The plants ultraviolet disinfectant system will also receive an upgrade.

While the disinfectant process resembles what a tanning bed does, its actually more genetically diabolical than that. UV rays, Engels said, actually scramble the DNA of micro-organisms, effectively preventing them from reproducing.

Thats the last step, Engels said, before it hits the river.
At least 50 veterans were given something Friday that has been more than 50 years in the making  gratitude for their service during the Vietnam War.

The veterans, many of them wearing caps describing their Vietnam experience, were each handed a pin and a presidential proclamation commemorating the 50th anniversary of U.S. involvement, a document first issued by President Barack Obama four years ago.

Obama has proclaimed Memorial Day in 2012 through Veterans Day in 2025 as the period that Americans should honor the nations estimated 7 million living Vietnam-era veterans, the 58,000 men and women killed in battle or in theater, the 1,627 still counted as missing in action, and their families.

Bryan Gray, team leader at the Billings Vet Center, spoke during a brief ceremony before asking vets to come forward and accept their pins, copies of the proclamation and the thanks of the crowd gathered outside the West End office.

Fridays turnout was large enough to move the ceremony outdoors, where veterans enjoyed sparkling weather and the satisfaction of knowing their sacrifice and their pain were at last being acknowledged.

People saw us as baby killers, said John Dehoyos of Shepherd, 69, who served for a year in Vietnam in law enforcement for the U.S. Air Force as part of his 22-year military career.

Dehoyos said he was injured in a 1968 explosion while serving at the Phu Cat Air Base in Vietnam, was exposed to Agent Orange and received a 60-percent disability. The explosion knocked out some teeth and left him with a permanent ringing in his ears. But, Fridays ceremony left him with a good feeling, both he and his wife Robyn said.

As a bonus: Robyns son, Isaac Reiss, whom John Dehoyos helped raise, has himself chosen an Air Force career. Dehoyos said the familys newest airman is three weeks away from completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

Will Dehoyos and his wife be on hand to help Isaac celebrate his accomplishment before hes shipped off to his first assignment in South Korea?

You bet we will, he said with a proud grin.

In his proclamation, Obama, speaking at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, said the nation sees in the reflection of what's commonly called The Wall the military family members and veterans who carry a pain that may never fade.

Obama called the 13-year observance a way to honor and give thanks to a generation of proud Americans who saw our country through one of the most challenging missions we have ever faced  Let us remember that it is never too late to pay tribute to the men and women who answered the call of duty with courage and valor. Let us renew our commitment to the fullest possible accounting for those who have not returned.

You sacrificed during one of the most painful chapters in our history, Gray told the assembled veterans and their families. You were blamed for a war you didnt start. You were denigrated when you should have been celebrated. We owe you a debt of gratitude.

Fridays ceremony, he said, gives us the opportunity to do something we should have done 50 years ago.

The Billings Vet Service, at 2795 Enterprise Ave., Suite 1, offers mental health and other services to Billings-area veterans. Phone 406-657-6071 or visit www.va.gov/directory/guide/facility.asp?ID=618 for more information.
From gas to garbage

Published 04 November 2016

The cement industry in Egypt is at a cross-roads: forced to diversify its energy mix due to gas shortages, the sector is quickly switching to emissions-intensive coal. And yet, integrating alternative fuels into the energy mix can help ensure a lower carbon transition that is commercially viable. However, such an opportunity requires knowledgable investors to build linkages in a complex supply chain, and committed government stakeholders to increase regulatory support and create long-term partnerships with the private sector. By Dalia Sakr, Dina Zayed and Bryanne Tait, IFC, Egypt.

In the face of frequent electricity blackouts in 2012, the Egyptian government diverted natural gas from heavy industrial users towards power production, leaving most of the 25 cement companies with only a fraction of the natural gas needed to continue their operations. By 2013 domestic cement production had fallen by 50 per cent. With no end to fuel shortages in sight, the industry lobbied to switch from natural gas to coal and petcoke.

In 2015 49Mt of clinker were produced with a thermal energy appetite of 46mGcal. By 2025 clinker production is expected to grow to 72Mt, requiring 68mGcal. Assuming an average calorific value of 7000kcal/kg for coal, the cement industrys total energy demand in 2025 would require about 9.7Mta of coal. This coal demand would lead to associated CO 2 emissions of 27Mta.

IFC AFR study

To alleviate the energy supply-demand tension and reduce the impact of GHG emissions from cement sector fuel switching, IFC  a World Bank Group member  carried out an in-depth assessment of the potential to increase the use of alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR). IFC has mapped, quantified and analysed the price competitiveness of four AF streams in the country: refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from municipal solid waste (MSW), dried sewage sludge (DSS) from wastewater treatment plants, agricultural waste, and tyre-derived fuel (TDF) from scrap tyres.

Driving the AFR switch

In 2014 cement companies achieved on average a thermal substitution rate (TSR) of 6.4 per cent, equivalent to ~2.9mGcal/year of AFR, mainly from RDF and agricultural waste. In comparison, Europe achieved 39 per cent.

The use of coal by the cement industry triggered a heated political debate among government and civil society stakeholders, ending in a compromise that cement companies burning coal must establish an action plan to mitigate CO 2 emissions and meet strict environmental regulations. To abide with the operational licence mitigation requirement, the cement sector as a whole would need to achieve emissions avoidance of ~5.3Mt CO 2 by 2025. Such a target could be fully achieved if the sector reached a TSR of 30 per cent by 2025, which would require ~20.4mGcal of AFR.

AFR provides a further benefit as it is expected to reduce pressure on foreign currency reserves for coal imports. Importing coal or clinker puts pressure on Egypts hard currency reserves, which are at an all-time low. AFR, however, is a locally-available resource with immense growth prospects: a steadily-growing population base generates a continuous flow of waste.

Futhermore, AFR usage will have fewer negative externalities, it will conserve valuable fossil fuels and allow for the safe disposal of waste that would otherwise be burned, landfilled or illegally dumped.

Of the 14 cement plants interviewed for the study, 86 per cent now use, or plan to incorporate, up to 30 per cent AFR within the next five years.

The IFC study anticipates that the five key drivers supporting a strong market for AFR in Egypt are:

local fossil fuel shortages constraining cement production

competitiveness amidst rising fuel costs

severe shortage of foreign currency reserves hindering imports (clinker, coal etc)

CO 2 mitigation requirements, environmental regulations and licenses

mitigation requirements, environmental regulations and licenses corporate/company-set AFR substitution targets.

These drivers could lead to a five-fold increase in current AFR consumption, if companies reach a 20-30 per cent TSR.

Waste availability

As shown in Figure 1, of the four waste streams evaluated as part of the study, technical availability of waste varies significantly: agricultural waste  10.7Mta, RDF from MSW  2-5Mta and DSS  1Mta. Tyres are a distant fourth, due primarily to competition from the tyre retread and reuse industry.

The study concludes that current waste volumes in Egypt from the first three sources offer between 46-72mGCal of potential fuel that goes untapped each year  sufficient technically-viable fuel to supply nearly 1.6 times the 2015 energy needs of the countrys cement industry.

AFR as a lower-cost option

For AFR to be competitive, the price difference between AFR and traditional fuels (coal and petcoke) must be taken into account, including:

the amortisation of the equipment installed at the cement plant to co-process with either fuel

the operational cost of co-processing, handling, operations and maintenance

the cost of procuring the AFR

the cost of any potential negative impacts of the AFR on the kiln process and equipment.

An economic viability analysis of the four currently-available waste streams demonstrates that AFR could be commercially competitive with coal. The cost competitiveness of each fuel varies depending on preparation, processing and transport costs. IFCs initial analysis (see Figure 2) shows that for 2015 the average AFR pricing is between 5-40 per cent less expensive per GCal than coal at the burner point, including transportation, pre-processing (such as sorting and shredding), handling and co-processing.

Pre-processing of AFR, which may be carried out by cement plants or by a third-party service provider, requires estimated capital investment ranging from US$0.6m for TDF to US$5m for RDF per processing platform depending on size, complexity and waste type. Operating costs vary significantly depending on the waste stream, due to quality and availability. However, RDF is considered the most expensive waste to prepare, whereas TDF is the least expensive since it requires only shredding.

The total investment required to pre-process the required AFR amounts to reach a TSR of 20 per cent by 2025 is estimated at US$114m and potentially up to US$320m. This investment represents a significant opportunity to attract investors and financial institutions to upscale the AFR market. Based on the study findings, the economic feasibility of AFR pre-processing projects could result in an internal rate of return (IRR) above 15 per cent and a payback period of 3-5 years.

Setting a realistic target

The TSR at each cement plant varies widely. Most Egyptian plants are quite modern and could theoretically accept TSRs up to 30 per cent without significant kiln modifications and related investments. Though achieving a limited TSR (5-15 per cent) is relatively easy, the path to a higher TSR (> 20-30 per cent) is still long and requires technical knowledge that needs to be encouraged and developed in Egypt. International producers, which represent the majority of installed capacity, have this technical knowledge at the corporate level and are expected to lead the market to higher TSRs.

Figure 3 illustrates that a 20 per cent TSR by 2025 is a realistic scenario, while a 30 per cent TSR is also technically achievable but only with the implementation of significant regulatory measures to overcome existing market barriers. Reaching the 20 per cent TSR target by 2025 means an additional 13.6 per cent in AFR substitution beyond the 6.4 per cent TSR levels of 2014. This means increasing the present 2.9mGcal level by 10.7mGcal. This would require a combination of the various waste streams, as no single waste stream could meet the demand, but this would also deliver greater fuel security. Moreover, although cement plants would be spending around US$217m annually on procuring AFR (based on an average of US$16/Gcal), when compared with coal, this represents an annual saving to the industry of US$51m and avoids 3.9Mt of CO 2 emissions as ~1.9Mt of coal is replaced.

The missing link

The lack of an established supply chain to collect, process and deliver this waste to the cement plant gates at the required quality and mutually-acceptable prices is the key barrier to more widespread substitution of AFR in Egyptian cement production.

To be successful and sustainable, strong partnerships will need to be developed between waste suppliers, waste management operators, government authorities and the industry. However, irrespective of the waste type, there must be basic commercial arrangements between the market players, which include a secured AFR supply and return on investment, a fair pricing mechanism, acceptable quality of fuel delivered to the cement plant, and economic and regulatory reinforcements.

IFCs analysis highlights the opportunity for the private sector to promote and invest in a commercially-attractive AFR market in Egypt. If the supply chain for AFR can be unlocked by the private sector through developing and investing in pre-processing facilities and operations, investors will be rewarded with sustainable and long-term demand from the cement industry.

The volumes of waste available are more than sufficient, however, implementation of improved waste collection efficiency by the authorities will be vital, along with a variety of other regulatory improvements, building partnerships with the private sector to operate transfer and sorting stations, as well as enabling long-term agreements on access to waste streams at realistic pricing levels. To support the release of the study, IFC has also produced a web-based GIS mapping tool (http://arcg.is/1ToAspz) which will enable users to evaluate the physical locations of waste sources in Egypt, the locations of cement plants and various other attributes such as transportation routes.
Monday was a sunshine day in Montana. A U.S. District Court judge in Missoula upheld the constitutionality of the states campaign finance disclosure laws.

To understand the significance of Judge Dana Christensens ruling, consider that Montanas campaign laws have been under continuous attack since the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. Proponents of unlimited election spending have overturned the states anti-corruption law and challenged the states contribution limits and other laws intended to keep Montana elections fair and open.

Organized three years ago, Montanans for Community Development reports no members, telephone number, email address or website. It isnt incorporated in the state of Montana and has neither applied for nor received U.S. Internal Revenue Service recognition that it is tax exempt. The only thing the public really knows about Montanans for Community Development is that it wants to send out mailings praising some Montana candidates and criticizing others  without reporting legally required information to the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices.

MCD filed a federal lawsuit on Sept. 3, 2014, seeking an injunction to prevent Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl from enforcing Montana law during the 2014 election season. Christensen and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the injunction.

In June 2015, MCD amended its complaint and again appealed to the Ninth Circuit judges to intervene, but the appellate court declined. On Dec. 31, 2015, MCD filed a third complaint, this time alleging 23 counts in 93 pages.

On Monday, Christensen dismissed each MCD allegation in a well-reasoned 53-page decision. He dismissed MCD claims for lack of standing, for being moot, and threw out its claims that Montana law was vague.

In upholding the constitutionality of Montana law, Christensen cited the U.S. Supreme Courts Citizens United opinion, which though it opened the floodgates for big money in elections, also said:  Disclosure requirements are constitutional because though they may burden the ability to speak  (they) do not prevent anyone from speaking. 

Christensen rejected MCDs argument that the Montana reporting forms were too much of a burden. Some forms would take about 10 minutes to complete, the judge wrote.

It is common sense that in order to inform the electorate about a committees spending or receipt of funds before an election, these events must be reported on a continual and timely basis, Christensen wrote. Second, the court strenuously disagrees with MCD that electronic reporting is burdensome. Electronic reporting allows for timely reporting and furthers the states interest in transparency. Further, the United States Supreme Court has recognized the benefits of electronic reporting.

Its no coincidence that one of MCDs attorneys was involved in Citizens United. James Bopp is from Indiana, but has offices in Montana, all the better to challenge our laws so other outsiders can try to influence our elections.

Montana voters should take notice of another attorney-client connection: Anita Milanovich, the lead attorney for MCD, is also the attorney for Greg Gianfortes gubernatorial campaign. Contacted by the Associated Press for comment on the MCD decision, a Gianforte spokesman didnt applaud the victory for public disclosure.

But Gov. Steve Bullock understood that Montana won an important case. The best way to get rid of the shadows it to turn up the sunshine, and thats what our Legislature did, Bullock told AP, referring to the Disclose Act that he championed in the 2015 session. Sponsored by Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, the bill passed with bipartisan support. Although MCD initially filed before the Disclose Act became law, the amended complaint included objections to the new law and the administrative rules implementing it.

Voters need to know who is putting out information, especially because there are no requirements that election ads be truthful. Courts have ruled that would be an unconstitutional limit on free speech. Knowing who is speaking  or paying for the speech  helps voters evaluate the veracity and relevance of the words and images that are bombarding them on TV, social media and in their mailboxes.

Montanans won big this week. Christensen upheld our right to know whos speaking and spending in our elections.
HELENA  If hunters are hoping for an early winter blast to bring game herds down from the high country, theyll likely be waiting for a while.

Montanas general big game season is two weeks old but the weather has been less than cooperative in terms of mountain snow. A few inches up high make a big difference, allowing hunters to better track animals and pushing them to lower and often more accessible elevations.

But even as much of Montana saw one of the wettest Octobers on record, precipitation came in the form of rain.

With clearing skies expected in the coming weeks, forecasters say hunters may remain disappointed. Ten-day forecasts call for little chance of precipitation, making for some stellar days to be outside but not much to get animals thinking about moving to winter range.

Unfortunately its not a good weather pattern for hunters for the first half of November, said Bob Hoenisch, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls. A high pressure pattern over the U.S. is pushing weather north into Canada.

Elk harvest started off solid in many parts of the state but has since tapered off, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Game Management Bureau Chief John Vore.

As elk remain difficult to find, the mid-November deer rut will still kick off regardless if temperatures and snow begin to fall.

Snow does make a difference as it makes an animal much easier to hunt, but its the daylight and the time of year that triggers the rut, Vore said. Deer in the mountain environments may not be driven down and stay up high, but theyll be wandering far and wide looking for does.

Many areas of Montana are reporting above average deer harvest despite warm weather, which is indicative of an uptick in deer numbers in recent years, he added.
CANNON BALL, N.D.  Hundreds of clergy of various faiths joined protests Thursday against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in southern North Dakota, singing hymns, marching and ceremonially burning a copy of a 600-year-old document.

The interfaith event was organized to draw attention to the concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux and push elected officials to call for a halt to construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline that's to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The tribe believes the pipeline that will skirt its reservation threatens its drinking water and cultural sites.

The pipeline "is a textbook case of marginalizing minority communities in the drive to increase fossil fuel supplies," the Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said in a statement. Morales' group sent more than 30 clergy to the event.

More than 500 clergy from around the world gathered with protesters at a campfire at the main protest camp to burn a copy of a religious document from the 1400s sanctioning the taking of land from indigenous peoples. About 200 people then sang hymns while they marched to a bridge that was the site of a recent clash between protesters and law officers. Some held signs that read, "Clergy for Standing Rock."

"It's amazing the spirituality going around this place," said Joe Gangone, who came with an Episcopalian church group from South Dakota's Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

The Rev. Tet Gallardo, a Unitarian Universalist minister from the Philippines, said she was "moved to come" to the gathering.

"Water is the subject of concern also in the Philippines," she said. "How can this happen to people who are so faithful to God?"

The group sang and prayed while gathered in a semicircle at the still-closed bridge while law officers monitored from vehicles at a barricade on the other side, from surrounding hillsides and from a helicopter flying overhead.

John Floberg, an Episcopalian minister from the Standing Rock Reservation who organized the event, called for "peaceful, prayerful, nonviolent and lawful activity here." There were no immediate confrontations between group members and authorities, and no arrests, Morton County sheriff's spokesman Rob Keller said.

Later Thursday, authorities in North Dakota arrested three people who refused to leave the governor's residence on the Capitol grounds. Earlier, 14 protesters who were sitting, chanting and singing in a wing of the Capitol were arrested after refusing to leave, said Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson.

The 17 individuals face criminal trespass charges in Burleigh County. At one point about 100 demonstrators were massed on a residential street near the Capitol, Iverson said.

Clashes between protesters and police have resulted in more than 400 arrests since August.

On Wednesday, law officers in riot gear used pepper spray to deter dozens of protesters who tried to cross a frigid stream to access property owned by the pipeline developer. Two people were arrested. About 140 people were arrested on the property last week in a law enforcement operation that cleared the encampment that protesters had established on the land.

Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners has said the 1,200-mile pipeline is largely complete outside of the area in south central North Dakota where it will go under Lake Oahe, a large Missouri River reservoir and the source of the tribe's drinking water. The federal government in September ordered a temporary halt to construction on Army Corps of Engineers land around and beneath the lake while the agency reviews its permitting of the project. There's no timetable for a decision.
University of Mary theater director Daniel Bielinski is following up last year's film short, "The Good Father," with a more ambitious project called "You Beautiful Crazy Blind Cripple."

Principal shooting for the romantic comedy Western was conducted over four intense days of filming in the middle of July that once again utilized talents from the community and the University of Mary.

Bielinski, an actor who moved from New York to Bismarck in 2014, made his first North Dakota film, "The Good Father," with the help of his students last year. His latest film follows Walter, a first-time criminal whose car breaks down in rural North Dakota, where he discovers an old farmhouse where Maya, a quirky blind widow, lives, said Marek Dojs, the film's director.

"We continued to cultivate both student talent and professional talent here in Bismarck-Mandan, but we also strengthened our ties with talent in Fargo and elsewhere in North Dakota, as well as maintaining ties to my professional contacts in New York," he said.

This film, in particular, makes use of its location, a farmhouse in New Salem.

"This film is very much a North Dakota film," Bielinski said. "Not only was the film made by North Dakotans, but the story itself embraced the beautiful landscape of North Dakota and also captured the unique qualities of the people who live here. As a film that showcases North Dakota as few other films have ever done, it will be something that North Dakotans will watch and be proud of."

Students at the University of Mary were exposed to working on a professional film set through the making of this short film.

With the expansion of the film and theater programs at University of Mary and encouragement of creative work outside the classroom, Bielinski said he is starting to see more student interest in media production. Roles, such as assistant director, script supervisor, grip and others, were filled by students. Students also will be involved in the digital marketing of the film.

Dojs says the process is important for students to learn versatility. Trained as a documentary film-maker, Dojs has found the flexibility within himself to direct fiction.

"Doing the initial work on the narrative is itself so important," Dojs said. "You have to ensure that you have a good story before you enter production. Once that is in place, I really enjoy visualization of the project: planning all the shots and ensuring that the story is told in the best way. Shooting is work-intensive, but it is so rewarding to see scenes that I've only been seeing in my head now appearing through a lens .... It is in editing that the movie magic happens, and that is a process that I really enjoy."

Networking across the country was involved, according to Bielinski, who said he chose industry professionals who could teach his students along the way.

"KK Moggie, our extraordinary lead actress, has also been a professor at Columbia University, and she mentored our students about performance in the industry," Bielinski said. "Alvah Holmes, our cinematographer from 'The Good Father,' consistently took time to explain to students what it means to compose a beautiful cinematic shot. Jason Bedard, our gaffer from Fargo, trained our students to set up the lights and gear required by each shot of the film."

Much of the Bismarck and Mandan art community participated in some way. Such support was critical, according to Bielinski. Even food was catered for the shoot each day, along with period set pieces, props and costumes.

"We received a tremendous amount of local recognition for our past film, 'The Good Father,'" said Bielinski, indicating that support has continued to grow. "Community members have rallied around the university taking charge of an art form hitherto unexplored in this part of North Dakota."
The protest movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline for the first time was brought right up to the state Capitol steps and, later, just yards away from the governors front doorstep.

More than 15 people were arrested Thursday evening among a group of clergy and other protesters who staged a demonstration on the North Dakota state Capitol grounds in opposition to the multi-billion dollar project. The demonstration brought the number of arrests to at least 425 since August.

It was one individual who was arrested and later released during a brief rise in tensions in front of the governors residence, however, that brought the demonstration to a conclusion that satisfied the group.

The power of prayer is powerful, Eric Poemoceah of Lawton, Okla., said after being released by police.

Poemoceah was among about 60 protesters that included a large number of clergy that arrived at the Capitol shortly after 3:30 p.m. They later gathered along the sidewalk across the street from the governors residence along North Fourth Street.

Tensions mounted when a group of five protesters crossed Fourth Street and knelt down on the edge of the lawn of the governors residence, which was being guarded by dozens of riot gear-clad law enforcement. Protesters, who had been gathered singing gospel hymns and praying, looked on.

Multiple members of the group were arrested after law enforcement closed in on both them and the crowd across the street. After several warnings to disperse, Poemoceah was also arrested.

Clergy members negotiated with law enforcement to release Poemoceah in exchange for them to disperse immediately. After about 20 minutes he was released.

This is not a safe area to demonstrate with that many people, Bismarck Police Department Sgt. Jason Stugelmeyer said of the residential sidewalk area, adding that charges wont be pursued against Poemeceah.

The protesters that allowed themselves to be arrested on the lawn of the governors residence, as well as at least one protester near the east entrance of the Capitol building, were charged with criminal trespass.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m. when the demonstration started, officers arrested 14 protesters that had sat down in a circle on the ground floor lobby of the judicial wing inside the state Capitol.

North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said those individuals were charged with disorderly conduct.

They were given multiple chances to leave. There were a couple that passively resisted, Iverson said.

The Capitol building was put on lockdown shortly before 4 p.m., however, state employees were free to leave, according to a Morton County press release.

About 70 people began the demonstration outside by gathering in a circle on the south side of the Capitol building, alongside the staircase and just below the governors office. They proceeded to engage in singing, praying and waving flags and holding banners with slogans of solidarity with the protesters camping down in Morton County.

Rick Ufford-Chase, co-director of Stony Point Center in Hudson Valley, N.Y., said he and several others began a two-day drive to North Dakota to join in the rally of clergy at the protest camps earlier on Thursday.

Ufford-Chase said hed been following the events of recent months in opposition to the 1,172-mile, $3.8 billion pipeline project and the protest movement thats grown near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes reservation boundary.

Opponents of the project are concerned about the portion of the project planned to be bored under the Missouri River and the potential environmental damage if the line were to leak in the future. Numerous demonstrations have occurred at construction sites since August as well as a few that resulted in clashes with police.

I was shocked along with thousands of people across the country, Ufford-Chase said.

He was referring to last weeks clash on private property that resulted in 141 arrests near the protests camps. Officers used pepper spray and rubber bullets to clear the property, while some protesters burnt multiple makeshift barricades and threw objects at officers.

This pipeline is no more than another example of the genocide of Native peoples, Ufford-Chase said.

Jesse Lukes, a conservationist from Minneapolis, said the goal Thursday was to let the governor know that the voices of the tribal members and opponents need to be heard.

In terms of government support we have none. The whole point for the movement is dinosaur energy is over, Lukes said of oil and gas.

A spokesman for Gov. Jack Dalrymple said there was no official statement from the governor on Thursdays events.
A highway patrol car and the wall of a hotel, where out-of-town troopers are staying as they police the Dakota Access protests, were spray painted with graffiti on Wednesday night, according to Bismarck Police.

The highway patrol car had "NDSPL" sprayed on the side door. The Kelly Inn on North 12th Street had an obscene phrase ".... THEPOLICENDPL" painted on an exterior wall.

Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $100.

Police said the vandalism happened from 6 Wednesday night to 7:35 a.m. Thursday.

That same night, several instances of #NODAPL graffiti were reported around town, including on Memorial Bridge and at Sertoma and Kiwanis parks.
The vice chairman of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents has apologized for questioning whether declining enrollment at one college is due to its diversity. Steve Sviggum said in a statement issued late Tuesday that hes willing to learn and must do better, referring to his comment about falling student numbers at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Sviggum said during a board meeting last week that he has received a couple letters from friends who decided not to attend Morris because it is too diverse. He said the prospective students just didnt feel comfortable there. Sviggum wrote that he was truly sorry too those he offended. He added that his question was meant to encourage discussion about enrollment, which is down 50% from its peak.
A total of 18 Dakota Access Pipeline protesters were arrested Thursday due to activity authorities deemed illegal on the Capitol grounds and near the governor's residence, according to Lt. Tom Iverson, of the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The incident resulted in a lockdown being ordered at 3:48 p.m. at the Capitol building.

Iverson and Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier fielded questions from the media Friday afternoon at Mandan City Hall.

About 15 to 20 people entered the east judicial wing, formed a circle in the atrium, but had not obtained a permit for a public protest, according to Iverson, who noted the action was preceded by a large number of vehicles entering the Capitol grounds.

Protesters ignored multiple warnings to vacate the area, he said.

"It was obvious they were there to get arrested. They were there for their commitment to civil disobedience," Iverson said.

Fourteen were arrested from the Capitol building for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Iverson said the passive resistance involved "childish acts," in which protesters refused to stand or walk, forcing officers to carry them from the scene.

Another group moved toward lawn of the governor's residence and began protesting at about 5:15 p.m.

"They were warned multiple times to remove themselves ... and, once again, it was apparent they just wanted to make a statement and be arrested," said Iverson, adding the group, including clergy, did remain peaceful.

"We have to look back on prior actions that have been happening in the prior week and keep in the forefront of our minds that some of the people that have been creating these heinous acts could be in this group. As law enforcement, we cannot differentiate who is in the group and who is not," said Iverson, stressing that law enforcement was there to protect everyone.

Kirchmeier restated that law enforcement is not taking sides in reacting to protesters.

"You cannot break laws and violate other people's rights just because you or any other individual wants to protest .... It's private property that is being invaded .... We are protecting the rule of law. We are not protecting the pipeline," he said.

When asked about criticism of military tactics used against protesters, he said officers have to protect themselves.

"There's been rocks, logs, water bottles, sticks; they have wasp spray and bear spray .... As long as it is a legal protest, we will support and protect that. We will not stand and let unlawful activities occur," he said. "The only time anything happens is when protesters approach law enforcement and press the issue. We are forced to do what we need to protect the law."
The Thank Heavens for Babies gift drive is underway through Nov. 15, as the Zonta Club of Bismarck collects baby supplies and clothing for families in need.

Community members are invited to provide these items at all Bismarck-Mandan locations of Gate City Bank and Security First Bank.

The drive, in its ninth year, supports North Dakota Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the Welcome House.

Needed items include diapers, especially larger sizes, diaper ointment and Vaseline, baby shampoo, lotion and wipes, pacifiers, rattles and teething rings, baby spoons, bowls, books, brushes and combs, medicine droppers, blankets, baby socks, booties and onesies, baby washclothes and bibs, clothing, sippy cups, cotton swabs and over-the-counter medicine. The drive does not collect baby bottles or powder.
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With the months-long din of the presidential race taking center stage, North Dakota candidates and party operatives say theyve quietly positioned themselves well in advance of a bizarre election.

Republicans are aiming to maintain their stranglehold on statewide offices and legislative seats. Meanwhile, Democrats are working to take their first step toward rebuilding and becoming more of a part of the political discussion. And the Libertarian Party could solidify and emerge as a viable third party.

Despite all that political energy, North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Kelly Armstrong said he hasnt seen anything to indicate any major change in the elections trajectory at the state level.

The general public has recently turned its attention to the state level, but they have been watching the presidential race unfold for months, according to Armstrong.

I also think people are ready for it to be over, he said.

Armstrong expects several legislative races to be competitive, particularly in the eastern part of the state. He said the partys statewide candidates, incumbents and newcomers alike, are in a great position.

Go vote. Please, go vote. Democracy only works with participation, he said.

North Dakota Republicans own a decisive advantage going in, holding every elected statewide office at the Capitol, two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers, and two of three seats in the congressional delegation. The states at-large congressional seat and one U.S. Senate seat are up for grabs this year.

Statewide offices up for election are governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, insurance commissioner, public service commissioner and state superintendent of public instruction, as well as two seats on the North Dakota Supreme Court. All even-numbered legislative districts are also up for election.

Democratic-NPL Party Chairwoman Kylie Oversen said the party is primed and ready to begin replenishing its bench and chipping away at the GOP majority in the Legislature -- its primary focus this cycle.

Any gains for us, were going to be proud of. In the House, if youre thinking strategically, were hoping to end the two-thirds majority, she said.

Republicans have a 71-23 House majority and 32-15 Senate majority. Oversen said the party should have a decent shot at picking up a few House seats -- and if they can make any pickups in the Senate, that would be good, too.

North Dakota Libertarian Party Chairman Tony Mangnall called the two-party system insane and urged voters to consider Libertarians as the viable alternative.

Were a clear third choice, he said.

The party has seen significant growth since the past election and is primed to capitalize on voter angst over the presidential race and the uncompetitive nature of statewide races, according to Mangnall.

Our ballot access will be maintained without question. Our sights are set on winning races and making a difference in North Dakota, he said.

Despite the talk by party officials, Mark Springer, an associate professor of political science at the University of Mary, said he doesnt expect the needle to move much Tuesday.

As far as the candidates, I dont think its generated as much as interest as past elections. It just doesnt seem that competitive, he said.

Springer said Measure 3, the victims rights initiative, and Measure 4, the tobacco tax increase, have drawn the lions share of debate recently among the public and among his students.

Springer said hes seen more out-of-state interest on Measure 5, the medical marijuana initiative. He said the interest is in seeing how the North Dakota public reacts to the concept.

The ideology in our state probably isnt going to support it, he said.

A record 325,862 votes were cast statewide in the 2012 general election.

That record may stand, but that doesnt bother the three gubernatorial candidates: Republican Doug Burgum, Dem-NPL state Rep. Marvin Nelson and Libertarian Marty Riske. Republicans have held the states top elected office since 1992.

Id say the whole experience has been super energizing, said Burgum. Were feeling pretty good for where we are for Nov. 8. Were campaigning hard until Tuesday, but were ready to go to work.

Over the past 10 months, he said hes taken time to meet with the heads of nearly every state department, which he said has been extremely enlightening. He sees far more positives than negatives within state agencies; for him, its a matter of bringing agencies and their budgets back into balance after the recent budget shortfall.

If victorious, Burgum said therell be no time to waste preparing for outgoing Gov. Jack Dalrymple to pass the baton.

Its going to be an organized sprint between Nov. 9 and Dec. 15, he said.

Nelson said his call for a state government thats responsive to all North Dakotans has resonated on the campaign trail. Whether that translates into votes remains to be seen.

If people have paid attention, they know theres going to be a difference, he said. The state government doesnt really represent the people of North Dakota.

Nelson said that includes being a staunch supporter of human services programs that help elderly people and other parts of the population in need from further cuts.

While he acknowledges he hasnt been able to compete with Burgum in overall fundraising and advertising, he said hes done the best he could with what he had.

Riske said hes participated in several events across the state in recent weeks and believes his campaign is finishing strong.

Our main thing is to remain on the ballot, he said. I didnt know what to expect coming into this thing. Im pretty confident I might even get a bit of a surprise on the upside.

The gubernatorial race has been extremely quiet since Burgum won the GOP primary in June, according to Riske, adding that most of the public's attention has been diverted to the gradual escalation of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in Morton County in recent months.
The annual State of the Cities Address will begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday at the Ramkota Best Western in Bismarck. The morning event will start with breakfast and include presentations by Mandan Mayor Tim Helbling and Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary.

Attendees will learn about the previous year's successes and challenges the cities have faced, along with the latest outlook for the Bismarck-Mandan community.

Cost to attend is $25 for Chamber of Commerce members and $35 for non-members. Breakfast is included. Registration is preferred and available at bismarckmandan.com.

For more information, call 701-223-5660.
FORT YATES  After winding up a five-hour meeting with Sioux tribal leaders that went well into the evening Thursday, the Omaha District commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revealed little about the time spent other than to speak of safety concerns in the wake of a confrontation on Cantapeta Creek on Wednesday.

There were no arrests during that incident, though police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to fend off protesters crossing the creek. There is no road access from anti-pipeline encampments to the pipeline route a half-mile north on Highway 1806 because protesters burned vehicles at one end of the bridge in a stand-off with police. The integrity of the bridge remains in question following the fire's high temperatures.

Col. John Henderson fended off questions regarding the encounter in the hallway of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe administration offices, saying only that the agency was worried about safety.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault said the long meeting included Sioux tribal leaders from Oglala, Rosebud and Yankton and all were united in their disappointment about the stand-off on corps land.

He said Henderson told the tribes police were called in to prevent another flash point like Oct. 27, when 141 were arrested in a sweep by law enforcement through a camp set up directly on the pipeline route.

Flasher rancher David Meyer was at the meeting and part of the discussion centered around the Oceti Sakowin camp on corps land currently leased by Meyer for grazing, according to Archambault, who said there are no dangerous activities at the camp and theres no need to forcibly remove the estimated 800 to 1,000 people living there.

Completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline remains in limbo while the corps continues to withhold a critical easement to cross the Missouri River/Lake Oahe just north of the Standing Rock reservation. President Barack Obama delivered a small bombshell earlier this week, when he said the corps is looking at whether the pipeline can be rerouted away from the reservation to protect sacred lands.

Archambault said that decision wont happen at the Omaha level.

It would be a huge win for indigenous people, he said. The spirit is rising.
JAMESTOWN  The three candidates for U.S. House of Representatives differ on their views on how to change to the Affordable Care Act, gun control and how they will reduce terrorism, but they had similar views on whether or not the U.S. should have open borders.

Voters will choose between incumbent Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and challengers Chase Iron Eyes, a Democrat, and Jack Seaman, a Libertarian, for the states lone U.S. House seat on Election Day.

Cramer said his first choice with the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would be to repeal it and replace it with a health care plan that he would want. He said some of the mandates are clobbering small businesses and job creators.

For example, 30 hours being full time, that is a job killer, he said. That is an incentive for businesses to not let people work more than 29 hours. The requirement at 50 employees is an incentive to not hire more than 50 employees. We have to eliminate those kinds of things.

An employee must work at least an average of 30 hours a week or 130 hours a month to be considered full time, and employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees must offer coverage to them or be fined, according to irs.gov.

He also said there are some egregious coverage requirements. For example, ranching couples in their 60s and 25-year-old men are required to have comprehensive coverage that they dont need at their age.

It is all just designed for people to pay more than they should have to pay, so the fund can raise more money, he said. It is just an unnecessary tax and burden to create some incentive for people to not even have insurance in many respects.

Iron Eyes said the ACA should not be scrapped and should be salvaged. He said job creators and small businesses should not be punished if their employees arent purchasing insurance.

Youve got to remember that we cant punish the small clinics and the businesses, he said. Any time you fine somebody, it is almost counterproductive, so that is one thing I would change on that.

Seaman said the ACA should be repealed and shouldnt be replaced with another health care plan. He said it isnt the governments job to interfere in the health care marketplace.

I think a lot of Republicans talk about how they want to replace it and how they want a free market health care system, he said. Well, if the government is interfering in the market, then it is not a free market.

Second Amendment

Cramer said he will resist any effort to try and restrict legal gun ownership for people who have a legal right to own one under the Constitution. He wants to see a national conceal and carry law because problems are created for people traveling from state to state.

He also said the House passed a comprehensive mental health law that allows for more family intervention and communication to make it more difficult for people who have mental illness issues who might be a danger to themselves and others to purchase a firearm.

We could certainly find some ways to responsibly use mental health data, but at the same time we cant prejudge people and that is what some people want to do, he said.

Iron Eyes said there needs to be more protective steps - a proper vetting - so it is more difficult for people who either are known terrorists or show a propensity of violence or mental instability to get a firearm.

Almost 100 percent of North Dakotans are responsible gun owners, he said. Nobody wants potential terrorists to obtain those kind of weapons - assault weapons.

Seaman said he will vote in favor of the Second Amendment whenever he has an opportunity. He doesnt think further restrictions should be added.

I put a lot of stock into the line shall not be infringed when it comes to the Second Amendment, he said.

Reducing terrorism

Cramer said the United States borders and laws for immigration - illegal and legal - need to be tightened up to make sure the right people are getting into the country. He said a law was passed that requires certification by the FBI director, the director of Homeland Security and the director of intelligence of every refugee coming from Syria or Iraq.

We can beef up or security, our intelligence capabilities (without infringing on personal privacy) and secure our borders and our refugee and immigration programs, he said. Keep us compassionate but dont allow people in that shouldnt be in.

He also said the military needs to be strengthened so the U.S. can take the fight to terrorists on their land versus waiting for them to come to the U.S. He said the U.S. has to be more certain and aggressive on taking the fight to terrorists where they live.

In order to reduce terrorism, the U.S. needs to be smart about its international posturing, Iron Eyes said. He said terrorists arent attacking the U.S. because they hate the countrys freedom, but they are attacking the country because their families are being drone bombed. He said the U.S. needs to promote education for war-torn and impoverished countries to help prevent people from becoming radicalized.

But in order to do that, weve also got to hold up our end of the bargain, which means we cant go around regime-changing people, he said.

Seaman said he would propose a non-interventionist foreign policy. He said a majority of Americans dont feel safer now than they did before 9/11.

We have been intervening in the Middle East for 15 years, he said.  We need to get out and stay out of the Middle East and stop the bombing and meddling and arming of certain factions.

Seaman also said the U.S. is $20 trillion in debt. The U.S. national debt has surpassed $19 trillion, according to TreasuryDirect.

We dont have the money to intervene militarily all over the globe, he said.

Open borders?

All three candidates agreed that the U.S. should not have open borders.

Cramer said the U.S. should be able to determine who comes into the country and who doesnt.

I dont know if you have to build a physical wall  that is one area where I dont necessarily agree with Donald Trump that we have to have a concrete or wooden or some sort of physical wall  but rather we should be able to have a series of technology advancements, use of UAVs, sensors, more border patrol, more border protection personnel, use of Homeland Security assets, vessels in the Gulf and our oceans, he said.

He said illegal immigration is a threat to jobs for Americans, and the U.S. had the lowest workforce participation rates since the 1970s.

We need to make sure Americans are working first before we turn it over to illegal, undocumented workers, he said. We need to be able to beef up requirements for that so a high percentage of them are allowed in based on our economy and the work that is available.

Iron Eyes said the U.S. needs intelligent border control and should make it possible for immigrants to stay in the country, obtain citizenship and become participating members of the nations democracy.

We dont need to exclude anybody, but we need to be very smart, very vigilant, especially with people coming from war-torn countries with a history of not liking America, he said. Im not saying we exclude them at all, but they should be vetted. I dont see anything wrong with that. But to categorically exclude people that is foolish and impractical.

Seaman said the U.S. needs to know who is coming into the country. He said the current system is severely flawed and is one of the contributors to the amount of undocumented workers in the U.S. He believes people should be able to come into the country freely as long as they can be vetted with a background check and health screening and issued a Social Security number so they can begin paying taxes.

Debate in front of an audience

Iron Eyes said Cramer wont debate him in front of an audience. He said he debated Cramer on two radio shows and once on Prairie Public.

It was all in a studio, he said. I kind of feel robbed a bit.

Cramer said he debated Iron Eyes three times and two of the debates were with a live radio audience. He said he has never turned down a debate.

Chase is a very desperate young man. I have never been invited to a debate in front of a live audience. I dont know what the point of a live audience is, he said. We debated on two live radio shows where as many as 100,000 people could have been listening and have the opportunities to ask questions.
Huber Engineered Woods LLC officials announced Friday the company will reopen its manufacturing facility in Spring City. Huber Engineered Woods, a manufacturer of specialty building products, will create 141 new jobs as part of the reopening.

We thank Huber Engineered Woods for its decision to reopen its Spring City mill, creating more than 140 new jobs in Rhea County, Governor Bill Haslam said. Huber Engineered Woods serves thousands of building products dealers and distributors throughout North America and choosing to restart its Tennessee operations speaks volumes to Rhea Countys skilled, well-trained workforce. We appreciate Huber Engineered Woods continued commitment to Tennessee and for bringing us another step closer to our goal of being the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.

With over 3,700 employees at approximately 30 establishments, the manufacturing sector employs more people in Rhea County than any other industry, and we are pleased to see that number grow in Spring City because of Huber Engineered Woods, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd said. Rhea County recently advanced out of its designation as one of Tennessees 21 distressed counties, and I couldnt be more proud of the efforts made by local officials and Team Tennessee for promoting everything the county has to offer, including the strength of its workforce. I thank Huber Engineered Woods for reopening its Spring City facility and creating new opportunities for nearly 150 Tennesseans.

HEWs Spring City facility, located northeast of Chattanooga, is currently undergoing upgrades in preparation of manufacturing specialty panel products including AdvanTech subflooring and ZIP System sheathing products beginning in April 2018.

The facility is one of only five continuous press operations in North America dedicated to the production of oriented strand board products.

The reopening of our Spring City mill is an indication of the strength and resiliency of our ZIP System and AdvanTech branded products, Huber Engineered Woods President Brian Carlson said. This operational investment will increase our companys production capacity and further enhance our product availability and highly regarded customer service.

We are thankful for the support we received from the State of Tennessee, TVA and Rhea County for the reopening of the Spring City facility. Governor Bill Haslam, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd, TVA Senior Vice President John Bradley and Rhea County Executive George Thacker and their teams played instrumental roles in our decision-making process for the re-start of our Spring City location, Mr. Carlson added.

The facility originally opened in 1997, but halted production during the housing market downturn in 2011. The decision to reopen the mill comes as welcome news to executives in Rhea County TVA.

I want to personally thank the Rhea County Commission for its full support," said Rhea County Executive George Thacker. "With the help of the State of Tennessee, TVA and other partners, we are thrilled to have successfully competed for this project and secure 141 jobs. Living in Rhea County, I know what an impact this will have on our community, and we appreciate Huber Engineered Woods reinvestment in the county."

I am very excited about landing the Huber Engineered Woods project, and Im especially excited for the people of this community, Spring City Mayor Billy Ray Patton said. Huber Engineered Woods will offer great paying jobs right here in Spring City.

This is certainly great news for Rhea County and surrounding areas, said Rep. Ron Travis. We are all truly thankful to Huber for making this important commitment to our community and I offer my full support to ensure things move forward as smoothly as possible.

TVA and Volunteer Electric Cooperative congratulate Huber Engineered Woods on this exciting announcement in Spring City, Tennessee, TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said. We are proud to serve with our partners, the Rhea Economic and Tourism Council and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development to help foster continued growth in the Valley.

Huber Engineered Woods will begin hiring at its Spring City facility in early 2017, with the mill scheduled to begin full production in April 2018.
Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced the results from the first year of TNReady Friday, following an extended scoring process that was led by Tennessee educators. With the new results, Tennessee high school students have set a new baseline for future growth based on new, educator-developed expectations that will better ensure all students are on track to graduate prepared for college and careers. Overall, students performance on TNReady reflects the readiness they showed on national tests like the ACT.

TNReady scores fell into one of four new achievement levels, which were created through public feedback: mastered, on-track, approaching, and below. The new categories aim to help teachers and parents more easily understand if students are ready for the next step in their academic journey and identify which students may need additional supportwhich is the goal of state assessments. Along with the new achievement levels, high school families and teachers will receive new score reports to help them support their students.

TNReady provides us with a unique window into Tennessee students growth. For the first time, we are able to provide educators, families, and students with better information about where students truly are on their path to college and careers, Commissioner McQueen said. Tennessees students are growing into problem solvers and critical thinkers, and they are rising to meet the higher standards that are based on what our colleges and employers expect. We expected scores to be lower in this first year of a more rigorous assessment, but we also expect that scores will rebound over time as all students grow to meet these higher expectationsjust as we have seen in the past.

In 2015-16, 228,287 high school students took at least one of the End of Course exams, which are the only tests for which there are results due to the suspension of testing in grades 3-8. Students took new TNReady assessments in three subjects: English language arts, math, and social studies.

Generally, on the three English End of Course assessments, 8.3 percent of students are considered as having mastered their End of Course exam, 22 percent are on track, 42.4 percent are approaching, and 27.3 percent are below course expectations. In high school mathwhich includes the traditional algebra I, algebra II, and geometry courses and the integrated math series3.7 percent of students are considered mastered, 17.1 percent are on track, 26.2 percent are approaching, and 53 percent are below expectations. On the U.S. history End of Course test, 9.5 percent of students are considered mastered, 20.4 percent are on track, 34.6 percent are approaching, and 35.5 percent are below expectations. Gaps in student achievement widened among different student groups.

In science, the two exams in biology and chemistry were similar to previous End of Course assessments but introduced a time limit. On those assessments, which use the old achievement levels, overall 15.8 percent of students are advanced, 33 percent of students are proficient, 26.8 percent of students score as basic, and 24.4 percent of students are below basic.

Tennessee students have shown similar results on other national exams that look at postsecondary readiness. For example, the percentages of students who scored in the combined mastered and on track categories on TNReady are similar to the percentages of students who met the ACTs readiness benchmarks. In 2016, 34 percent of Tennessee public school students met ACTs college readiness benchmark in reading, and 27 percent of Tennessee students met that mark in math. Overall, 17 percent of students met all four of ACTs college readiness benchmarks in 2016.

Students achievement scores from the first year of TNReady cannot be compared to previous years results from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program because TNReady has more challenging questions and is based on a different, more rigorous set of expectations developed by Tennessee educators, said officials. TNReady looks at students problem solving abilities and critical thinking skills, and it includes different types of questions, including some for which students did not have answers to choose from, like short response and fill in the blank. For the first time, writing was included as a component in students English scores, and students were not allowed to use a calculator on parts of the math assessment in order to determine the depth of their understanding. Additionally, there were new End of Course tests this year that had not been offered in the past. These adjustments help to ensure that all students are being prepared for postsecondary goals.

These results are an opportunity, and we want our teachers, families, and students to know we will all grow from here, Commissioner McQueen said. In past transitions to more rigorous expectations, while scores dropped initially, they rose over the long termand students performed better on national assessments, including by making our state the fastest improving in the country. Tennessee students and teachers have a growth mindset and are looking to improve each year. That focus will continue from this new baseline.

District, high school, and high school student results will be shared with districts, schools, students, and parents in mid-November, and district and school results will be published on the state report card in December. Teacher evaluation data will also be available for educators later this month.

Updates and more information about TNReady, including graphics that break down state-level student performance in individual subjects, can be found at TNReady.gov. District-level results will not be available until later this year.
When Monique Hanson sold her first box of Girl Scout Cookies at age 8, she got hooked on fundraising.

She went from selling cookies door-to-door to raffles in high school and then, after college, a career helping organizations like the Newberry Library, the Alzheimer's Association, the YMCA of the USA and National Public Radio raise money.

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Hanson was on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois for a decade before joining the organization as director of development earlier this year. Her charge at the nearly 71-year-old organization is to grow its donor base and embrace what she calls the "next generation" of philanthropists aimed at keeping the group's mission  promoting civil rights and criminal justice, among other issues  alive.

Hanson, 53, sat down with the Tribune to discuss philanthropy and how to convince people to give. The interview was edited for length and clarity.

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Q: What are the ACLU's biggest challenges and priorities today?

A: Our priorities are the work in racial justice, women's rights and reproductive rights, the rights of children in foster care, and people with disabilities. The primary challenge is resourcing the work adequately in a time of budgetary constraints across the state.

Q: Why did you get involved in the ACLU so many years ago? Why is it important to you personally?

A: My father was an immigrant  South Asian, and as a newcomer to this country, he believed, and I believe, this is the greatest country in the world. I learned very early that what makes this country special is our Constitution, our rule of law.

Q: Yet there are many nonprofits and important causes you could have taken on.

A: It's always been about access, equality and equity for me. And being a kid from northern Wisconsin, mixed race, I know what it feels like to be different. So I wanted to reach out and make sure every kid has a sense of belonging.

Q: How do you court and cultivate relationships with donors? How do you talk to people about money and how do you convince them that you are the organization they should give to?

A: When you talk about development, you think about it in terms of the pitch  the ask. What I'm really doing is listening. If I'm talking less and listening more, then that's a successful meeting. Then I'm really learning what matters to them, what they care about. So if a development person is pitching, it's probably less authentic than building a philanthropic plan with someone that is suited to them.

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Q: How do you get to know your donor base?

A: I'm having lunch frequently. I'm making a lot of calls. Some of the people I knew already because I was on the board. So I'm reconnecting with people. It's very personal. If I can't see them, I call. If I can't call, I write.

Q: You are charged with raising nearly $5 million for the ACLU of Illinois this year. How will you do it?

A: I do it by building relationships. I break fundraising down into four essential activities: you identify who cares about the organization, you get to know them, you make "the ask" and you keep current donors giving. I'm sort of an old-fashioned fundraiser. I believe it's incredibly important to get to know the people. Understand what they care about. Match the organization to their desired philanthropy roles and it should be meaningful to everyone. That's how we build a major gift.

Q: What is the great challenge facing the ACLU in the next five or so years?

A: The ACLU is continuing our work to repair racial biases that have pervaded our nation since its founding. Currently that work focuses on our broken criminal justice system, but certainly is not limited to criminal justice. We incarcerate far too many people in Illinois and across the country. This failed policy falls disproportionately on people of color, especially young men of color. Young men of color are more likely to be targeted by police for stops and investigation, more likely to be arrested, more likely to be prosecuted and more likely to be incarcerated  often for crimes that are committed at the same rates by young white men. A system worthy of the name "justice" cannot be marred by such blatant bias.

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Q: Is it the ACLU's role to address the violence in Chicago? Is that the organization's role?

A: It is everyone's role to reduce violence in our society and the ACLU accepts the role we play. Look around the country and see how those communities that are not facing a challenge (deal) with gun violence. Those communities share a common trait  there is trust and cooperation between the police and residents. Unfortunately, that trust between the police and the community has been completely eroded in Chicago. We are working to put in place reforms that build transparency and accountability for CPD. But we need a new, innovative approach to policing that brings together police with members of the community to identify and solve problems in a way that respects all parties.

Q: How are you working to guarantee the rights of the LGBT community?

A: We have seen opponents turn the tools of discrimination and dehumanization on people who are transgender. It is especially galling to see the harmful, harsh language being aimed at young people who are transgender in our public schools. For those students, the ACLU is not going to permit this to go unchecked or unchallenged. We are working in the courts, in the legislature and with school officials to create policies that recognize students who are transgender and treat them with dignity and fairness  including allowing the use of appropriate bathrooms and locker rooms.

Q: What will the ACLU's role be in addressing Gov. Bruce Rauner's decision to keep Syrian refugees out of Illinois?

A: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals  in a case from Indiana  recently made very clear that a governor does not have the power to bar the settlement of newcomers based on their country of origin. We are sure that the governor and his staff understand the futility of his publicly announced position. We need an immigration policy based on facts, not fear. I am the daughter of an immigrant and I understand and appreciate the value of diversity in this country. The immigration story is a quintessentially American story and has made Chicago "the most American of American cities."

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crshropshire@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @corilyns
FARGO  An alumnus has given North Dakota State University a record donation of $13.5 million earmarked for scholarships in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The gift, announced Thursday, was given by Harry D. McGovern, a 1966 civil engineering graduate who grew up in Erie. His donation was matched by $1.2 million from the states challenge grant program, for a total of $14.7 million.

NDSU President Dean Bresciani expressed thanks, saying the donation will improve many lives and benefit North Dakota.

Harrys commitment to NDSU and enthusiasm about what is happening here is demonstrated in this generous gift, Bresciani said in a statement. Just as his experience as an NDSU student was transformative, his gift will change the lives of students who receive his scholarship.

The gift combines current donations with estate planning. Once fully implemented, the fund will provide about 50 students with full-tuition scholarships each year. The first McGovern scholars will be enrolled for the 2017-18 academic year.

When President Bresciani and I began talking about ways to make a difference for students, he impressed upon me the need to have a signature scholarship program that would attract young people to NDSU, McGovern said in a statement. I wanted to make an impact on as many students as possible, particularly for students pursuing STEM degrees, and he said full-tuition scholarships could accomplish that.

McGovern declined to be interviewed for this story.

The scholarships will be awarded based on academic achievement as well as pursuit of degrees in STEM fields. NDSU recently named a new STEM classroom and laboratory building for the late A. Glenn Hill, a former math professor at the university.

The gift was handled by the NDSU Foundation and Alumni Association, whose president said McGovern is not only making an impact today, but leaving a permanent legacy.

The gifts structure is such that Harry will enjoy the impact of having nearly 50 McGovern scholars pursuing their education dreams today, while his long-term plan is to permanently endow the scholarship for future generations, said John Glover, president of the foundation and alumni group.

McGovern lives in California, where he was co-owner of MCM Construction Inc., a bridge and highway contractor.

Earlier, he donated $1 million to the foundation for the alumni center that opened in 2012 and bears his name. At the time, McGovern credited the university for teaching him engineering and business skills that enabled him to give back to his alma mater.

My heart remains in North Dakota and at North Dakota State University, he said when he made the earlier gift.
Jerome Zeldis remembers exactly how he felt when he heard about the $84,000 price tag on a powerful new hepatitis C treatment three years ago.

"I was somewhere between annoyed and outraged," recalled Zeldis, the former chief medical officer of the biotech juggernaut Celgene.

The cost of a 12-week course of Gilead Sciences' drug Sovaldi triggered fierce pushback from insurers, politicians and the public, and helped spark a national debate on high drug prices.

As a physician, Zeldis had cared for hundreds of patients infected with hepatitis C and seen how, untreated, the virus ravaged people's livers. That a high price could bar patients from easy access to a cure seemed unethical to him in the face of a rare public health opportunity to vanquish a disease that afflicts 150 million people globally.

"If we make it affordable . . . this epidemic can be cured," Zeldis said. "I want to be bold -- I want to treat 100 million people by 2030 - end of story. And there is really no reason why we can't."

Zeldis had been mulling hepatitis C therapies, and he believed it was possible to develop a medicine, sell it for a fraction of the price of Sovaldi and still make money.

So in 2014, Zeldis put $1 million of his own money on the table to co-found Trek Therapeutics, a startup with the mission of creating a novel, affordable hepatitis C treatment for the world.

To attempt to produce an effective and safe treatment at a modest price, Zeldis and his co-founder, Ann Kwong, had to blow up the typical drug company model. The reality of the pharmaceutical industry is that executives answer to investors, not just patients. Creating new medicines is a high-risk, high-reward business in which companies invest huge amounts of money on uncertain payoffs. Shareholders demand extremely high profits in return.

Trek is taking a unique approach. The company is organized as a public benefit corporation - a relatively new type of corporate structure that places public welfare on equal footing with profit. Trek's legal charter requires the board to weigh stockholder interests against the need to "provide therapies for the treatment of infectious diseases that are accessible and affordable."

The company cuts costs by piggybacking on the work other companies have already done to develop and test drugs.

"What they proposed and introduced at the board meeting was quite a revelation, I think, for many of us who had been used to working with major pharmaceutical companies - the idea of a company with a different ethos," said Geoffrey Dusheiko, an emeritus professor of medicine at University College London Medical School who joined the company's clinical advisory board. "Their profit system will be different; they are trying to put access first - and are risking a great deal."

- - -

Trek's leaders are industry veterans with enviable track records in the failure-prone business of inventing new cures. The executive team has collectively launched seven antiviral drugs for previous employers and has deep expertise in hepatitis C. Their newest experiment is in business, not in a test tube: After years of working in established drug companies, they're running a startup on a shoestring.

Instead of hiring a small army of scientists and building an expensive laboratory, Trek is a virtual, 10-person company that operates out of a small incubator space in Cambridge, Mass. The company acquires experimental drugs that typically have been vetted through some degree of human testing.

Trek capitalized on the fact that, for years, drug companies had raced to develop new hepatitis C treatments, which meant there were promising drugs stuck halfway through the pipeline.The availability of these drugs de-risks Trek's job considerably, cutting down on the cost and time of developing molecules from scratch.

Trek has acquired or licensed five drugs so far, of which all but one have been through some human clinical trials. The company contracts with outside labs and clinics for additional testing.

Treatment of hepatitis C typically requires a combination of drugs, which meant that Trek could pluck drugs from different companies and bring them together in powerful new pairings. In fall of last year, Trek began a small clinical trial, using a drug called faldaprevir in combination with an experimental drug called TD-6450 and ribavirin.

Trek hopes to get a medicine on the market in 2020. The company is still in the earliest stages and investors will have a long and risky wait for a return.

So far, the startup has raised $9 million in its initial funding round and is seeking an additional $50 million to fund the large trials needed to push drugs toward approval. That might seem like a lot of money, but in drug development it's pocket change.

One study pegs the cost of developing and launching a drug at $2.6 billion. That work has been critiqued because of questions about the data and the analysis, which was done by a university group that receives funding from the industry. At the other extreme, the non-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative has estimated the cost of developing a drug for diseases that are overlooked because they affect poor people at less than $170 million -- a number that can't be interpreted too broadly because critics argue the model won't work for all diseases and it underestimates some costs.

To avoid the cost and uncertainty of challenging behemoth drug companies in the American market, Trek plans to focus on middle-income countries where new hepatitis C drugs have been slow to roll out, such as nations in eastern and central Europe. If they are successful at finding a new balancing point of profit and access - a true "if" - they hope their example could inspire companies working on other diseases to experiment with similar pricing models.

"That's exactly why, when Trek organized, we became a benefit corporation," said Robert Hindes, Trek's chief medical officer, who helped develop Sovaldi. "So we would have the option of not charging as much money as we could charge, or make as much money as we could make, but to take other factors into consideration - so we could set the price that was consistent with our mission of affordability."

Ann Kwong, chief executive of Trek, said the team is working on health economic models to find the right price, based on need and ability to pay, for each country it could distribute to - although they haven't named where they'll start yet.

"We can go into different countries, such as Romania and say, 'This is how much this disease is going to cost you over the next X years; for a fraction of that, you could cure these people and avoid that future cost,'" Kwong said.

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Jose Vilchez, of Chicago, mans the grill area at a Chicago Mariano's store on July 23, 2015. Grocery stores have ramped up their prepared food options in recent years. (Michael Noble Jr. / Chicago Tribune)

Food prices are falling, so why isn't the price of your favorite restaurant meal?

Restaurants are raising prices after years of stagnant growth, citing swelling labor costs that are offsetting the benefits of lower food prices. But their competition isn't budging. Grocery stores, which have ramped up their prepared food options markedly in recent years, are passing those lower costs onto consumers as they compete among themselves for a bigger slice of the market.

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The result?

The gap between the cost of eating at home and eating at a restaurant is the widest in decades.

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Over the last year, a government index measuring grocery prices has fallen by 2.2 percent, the largest decline since December 2009, near the recession's peak. In contrast, the index measuring the cost of food eaten away from home, or restaurant prices, has risen 2.4 percent. The difference in prices between eating out and eating at home is now the widest in 30 years.

Oysters are displayed Nov. 11, 2016, in the oyster bar at the Mariano's Fresh Market grocery in Chicago's Goose Island neighborhood. Grocery stores like Mariano's have added offerings such as sushi and stone hearth oven pizza as they try to take advantage of customers' shift to eating at home. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

These issues are only accelerating a shift that's been happening for years: Americans are grabbing more rotisserie chickens and other hot meals from supermarkets for the convenience and the cheap prices relative to dining out. In major cities where rents are steep, the difference in cost between lunch at a quick-service restaurant chain and a comparable supermarket meal could be as wide as 10 to 12 percent, said Michael Whiteman, president of Baum+Whiteman International Restaurant Consultants.

Cheaper alternatives to restaurants, like grocery stores, as well as competition from meal services like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, have kept more people home, and restaurants are hurting as a result. Ruby Tuesday closed most of its Illinois locations this summer. The latest to shutter in Greater Chicago was soup and salad chain Sweet Tomatoes, which closed its "underperforming" Illinois restaurants last month after its parent company filed for bankruptcy. It was among more than a dozen restaurant chains that have filed for bankruptcy this year, Whiteman said.

"It is counterintuitive. Wholesale prices ... have plummeted. That sounds like a good thing, right? But restaurants, and chain restaurants in particular, have been closing units left and right," Whiteman said.

Restaurants are stuck between a rock and a hard place, observers say, because competition is stiffer than ever, but the line between profit and loss is thinning. Rising minimum wages around the country, including here in Chicago, overtime regulations, health care costs, shifting parental leave policies and other mandates are squeezing restaurants at a time when many expected to be recovering  finally  from the recession, Whiteman said.

But the impact of those issues, while widespread across all types of businesses, hurt restaurants more than supermarkets because staff requirements  and therefore costs  are far higher for restaurants than supermarkets. Picture it: A restaurant at the height of the dinner rush can have dozens of waiters, hosts, cooks and table bussers, while grocery store employees are concentrated at the checkout with limited staff helping to stock the shelves and man stations like the prepared food and deli counters.

McDonald's, the world's largest burger chain, has acknowledged that consumers are opting for more home-cooked meals and packed lunches in recent months. In the latest quarter, McDonald's raised its prices in the U.S. about 3.5 percent and said it's continuing to swipe customers from its closest competitors to keep its business strong while consumers' appetite to eat out wanes.

Grocery stores have moved to take advantage of the shift. Stores like Mariano's and Pete's Fresh Market in the Chicago area have put a big emphasis on "restaurant-quality" prepared food offerings in recent years. Pete's offers a taqueria with made-to-order tacos, burritos and other Mexican staples, a carving station and sushi, among other things. Its newest store in Willowbrook will have a wok station when it opens next year, spokeswoman Vanessa Dremonas said.

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Pete's Fresh Market has seen a marked increase in its prepared food demand in recent years, and Dremonas said that while it has had hot food for 20 years, the prepared food departments at its newest stores have at least doubled in size.

At Mariano's, customers can grab stone hearth oven pizza, swing by for a coffee or a glass of wine, pick up sushi or oysters, or design a meal made from a number of fresh entrees and sides for $6 or $10  a staple of the store's prepared food section that's been updated and expanded over the years as demand has steadily increased, said Donald G. Fitzgerald, vice president of merchandising and marketing. Both Mariano's and Pete's have in-store chefs.

In Mariano's newest location in Lakeview, the store is testing some new concepts that could be replicated in the future, including Gem & Vine Salad Co., Four Star Burger Bar and Nutella and pasta bars.

As supermarkets continue to attract consumers with a growing slate of restaurant-quality food, prices may start to rise next year.

"I think the supermarket business will continue to be challenged. There are price wars going on," consultant Bob Goldin said. "I mean, how low can you go?"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expecting supermarket prices to rise between 1 and 2 percent next year. And analysts believe that restaurants, to remain competitive, must keep prices in check.

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Casual dining chains like Chili's and Outback should feel the squeeze the most, Moody's analyst William Fahy forecasts, while so-called fast-casual chains including Chipotle and Panera should continue to do better than the industry overall, he said. Fast-food chains, meanwhile, will face a tough road ahead as more choose to brown-bag their lunches and eat more dinners at home instead of in the drive-thru.

The big danger for restaurants now, Whiteman says, is that if food prices continue to fall as expected, restaurants will be pushed to lower menu prices as costs continue to increase, which could lead to more restaurants failing.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that all Ruby Tuesday locations in Illinois closed this summer.

sbomkamp@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @SamWillTravel
Tribune Publishing says its board of directors has rejected Gannett's $815 million bid to buy the company. CNBC's David Faber asks Michael Ferro, Tribune Publishing Chairman, about the offer, and digitizing the business. CNBC Photo. - Original Credit: CNBC (HANDOUT)

Three days after Gannett declared its six-month pursuit of Tronc over, Michael Ferro, Tronc's chairman and largest shareholder, left open the possibility that a different type of deal could still get done.

Friday morning on CNBC, Ferro said "absolutely" when asked whether newspaper chains Gannett and Tronc could ultimately strike a deal.

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"If it's in the best interest of our shareholders, yes," Ferro said, but added there were no ongoing discussions between the two companies.

On Tuesday, Gannett pulled its offer to buy Tronc, the Chicago-based newspaper company that publishes the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and seven other major newspapers, following reports last week that banks had withdrawn financing. Ferro confirmed Friday that Tronc had accepted Gannett's escalated offer at $18.75 per share.

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"We've been saying yes at $18.75 for a long time," Ferro said. "Gannett, they asked us to wait  they had to get their financing in place."

Gannett said Tuesday it had a "number of financing options available," but ended discussions with Tronc "after considering both accretion to shareholders and whether the terms make sense for the company."

Friday, Ferro had another explanation. "We were as surprised as anyone," Ferro said. "They just couldn't get it financed."

A Gannett spokesman declined to comment Friday.

McLean, Va.-based Gannett, publisher of USA Today and more than 100 other titles, has pursued an acquisition strategy after spinning off from its broadcast parent last year.

Tronc rebuffed Gannett since an unsolicited $12.25-per-share offer was made public in April, adopting a "poison pill" approach to prevent a tender offer and force negotiations to run through the board. Tronc also rejected a $15-per-share bid in May, saying its plan for leveraging the digital assets of the legacy newspaper chain would bring more value to shareholders.

Both Gannett's and Tronc's shares have tumbled since the deal fell through.

Ferro on Friday told CNBC that the newspaper industry, which has seen revenues decline for more a decade in the face of digital competition, will continue to consolidate, and touted the attractiveness of Tronc's brands.

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For now, Ferro said Tronc is moving forward on its own. "Tronc goes back to doing what we were trying to do eight months ago when we got here  try to figure out how to get paid for our journalism," Ferro said.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @RobertChannick
Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, right, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, left, face off in their first televised debate on Oct. 27, 2016. (Seth Perlman / AP)

WASHINGTON  The U.S. Senate race pitting Republican Sen. Mark Kirk against Democratic challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth has featured plenty of TV attack ads, but there are actual differences on the issues between the candidates as well.

Kirk, a former North Shore congressman who has long billed himself as a moderate, and independent, calls himself a "pro-choice, pro-gay marriage and pro-gun control Republican who is outspoken on national security and fiscal sanity."

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Duckworth, a two-term congresswoman from Hoffman Estates, has campaigned on a message of more help for middle-class and working families. She says the country should lead the international community to confront foreign threats, but cautions against deploying U.S. troops without fully considering the cost.

Here's a look at where they're at on the issues:

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Refugees: Kirk has called for a pause in the admission of refugees from Syria and Iraq, assailing the screening of refugees by the U.S. as "weak."

"There's a difference between Mexican immigrants and Syrian refugees. Syrian refugees might tend toward Islamic terror and we've never had a Mexican terror problem in this country," he has said.

The senator's allies aired TV ads during the summer blasting Duckworth on the issue. She opposes a moratorium and has called for accepting 100,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. She says the vetting of refugees by the U.S. uses biographical and biometric screening and is the "most rigorous in the world."

"Slamming our doors" on refugees fleeing "terror and barbarism" will make the country less safe in the long run, she has said.

Iran nuclear deal: Kirk is a vocal opponent of the pact reached last year to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing atomic weapons capability in exchange for the lifting of various sanctions. The deal was hammered out by Iran and the U.S. and other world powers.

He called the Iran deal "the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler" and contended Obama wanted to "get nukes" to Iran. Kirk also likened the president to a "drug dealer in chief" over a $400 million U.S. payment as part of the agreement. He didn't apologize about the "drug dealer in chief" line, but acknowledged last year that some of his rhetoric "was me being too carried away."

Duckworth says after researching the deal and hearing from military and national security officials, she concluded the Iran deal is not perfect but represents the "most realistic and effective course of action to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program."

Immigration reform: Both favor comprehensive changes.

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In 2013, Kirk voted for the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" immigration plan that cracked down on Mexican border security, offered a path to citizenship after 10 years and expanded guest workers programs. It passed the Senate 68-32, but did not advance in the House.

Now Kirk says reforms would bring 525,000 people in Illinois "out of the shadows" and he wants a "tough but fair path" to citizenship, as well as safe borders to protect against terrorists and cut off the flow of drugs he says fuel the "drug and gang war" in Chicago.

In 2013, Duckworth signed a House members' petition to try to force a vote on comprehensive reforms, but the bill never came up for a vote. She also wants secure borders and endorses a path to citizenship for undocumented persons who pay a fine and taxes they owe and pass a criminal background check.

Trans-Pacific Partnership: Kirk supports the White House-backed, 12-country free trade deal that awaits congressional approval. He says it would benefit Illinois farmers, manufacturers and exports.

Duckworth opposes the pact, saying it is ridden with loopholes that hurt U.S. workers.

National security: Kirk, a retired Navy Reserve officer, said the U.S. and its allies should fight terrorism, promote free markets, safeguard global trade and promote freedom and democracy around the world.

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Duckworth, who lost her legs while serving in Iraq, said the U.S. should play a more active role leading the international community with respect to challenges including the Islamic State, Middle Eastern instability and Russia's "reassertion of influence."

She does not favor sending U.S. troops into harm's way "without fully considering and understanding the true costs of war  including to those in the military and their families."

Entitlement programs: Duckworth says she is "open to the possibility" of raising the $118,500 wage cap for Social Security taxes. Millionaires "should not be paying a smaller percentage of their income into Social Security than middle-class families," she says.

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Kirk says both entitlement programs and the tax code should be reformed "in a balanced way" to protect seniors, grow the economy and confront the national debt.

College affordability: Kirk says the U.S. can't afford free college tuition because he worries about creating a "new entitlement program."

Duckworth supports tuition-free community college and says the $60 billion cost would be paid by ending special-interest tax loopholes and ensuring millionaires pay adequate taxes.

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She says people with large student loans should be able to refinance their debt; he disagrees.

Gun control: Duckworth and Kirk both have an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association in light of their support for a variety of gun-control measures including universal background checks for gun buyers, limits on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and preventing terror suspects from buying firearms.

kskiba@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @KatherineSkiba
Topolobampo retained it's Michelin star, but it should have been elevated to the two-star level. ( Read Phil Vettel's lastest review here .) (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)

The day before the Michelin Chicago Guide star winners were announced, I dusted off my crystal ball and predicted which restaurants would be named.

Of the 26 restaurants named, I correctly predicted 24 of them. Not too shabby, although I'm kicking myself for overlooking GreenRiver and Band of Bohemia.

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But guessing what Michelin would do, and believing what Michelin should have done, are different.

For example, I was pleasantly surprised that Tru, after six years at the one-star level, made the jump to two stars. (I predicted Tru would be on the list, but I didn't see the promotion coming.) But as happy as I was to see Tru's rise, I think Topolobampo should have gotten there first.

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Monteverde, which has made every "best new restaurant" list I've seen this year, didn't get a star. Honey's, a terrific new Market District restaurant operated by alums of Sepia (which did get a star), was left out. And where in the name of all-season radials is Momotaro, arguably one of the best Japanese restaurants in the country?

When I spoke with Michelin U.S. director Michael Ellis, one of his remarks really stuck with me. In describing Band of Bohemia, which marries high-level cuisine with innovative beer brewing, Ellis said it was "almost the epitome of what makes Chicago a great food city."

I think that's telling. When Michelin comes to Chicago, I think its inspectors look for restaurants, and dining experiences, they can't find elsewhere. The list of Chicago star recipients is heavy with highly personal restaurants that communicate a particular chef's unique vision (EL Ideas, Elizabeth, Goosefoot), and restaurants with strong local/Midwest identities (Band of Bohemia, Dusek's, Longman & Eagle). I think Michelin has a notion of Chicago "terroir," and restaurants that fit that definition have a much greater chance of catching the inspectors' collective eye.

Thus Roister, which Michelin praised for its earthy, open-flame cooking, earned a well-deserved star, but the open-flame cooking at Lena Brava, which embraces the style of the Baja Norte, and at El Che Bar, which has an Argentinian focus, remained on the sidelines.

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Perhaps because it has guides in New York and San Francisco, not to mention myriad cities in Europe, Michelin has all the French, Italian and Latin-American restaurants it needs. In Chicago, they clearly prefer something with strong regional identity.

So while Spiaggia's exquisitely refined Italian cuisine is good enough for a Michelin star (Tony Mantuano's restaurant should be at the two-level, easy), I don't think another Italian restaurant will crack the one-star level for a long time (sorry, Nico Osteria and Osteria Langhe). Vera? Salero? You guys are great, but we're not looking for Spanish at this time.

Big Jones, whose absence from the list puzzles me every year, combines superior cooking with terrific scholarship and a strong regional focus, but perhaps, as a proponent of Southern cooking, Paul Fehribach picked the wrong region.

French? Everest is a perennial one-star restaurant, along with ... nobody else. Bistronomic, The Blanchard, Brandille and Les Nomades are all on the outside looking in. There isn't even a bistro among the Bib Gourmands, Michelin's designation for good-quality restaurants that are also affordable. Sounds like a perfect description of Bistro Campagne, La Sardine and Le Bouchon, non?

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The suburbs, again, were ignored, unless you count the Bib Gourmand awarded to San Soo Gab San, the Korean restaurant in Ravenswood that also has a Morton Grove location. (I don't.) I won't go so far as to say that the suburbs have a great deal of star-worthy restaurants, but Vie (which won a star a few years back but had it taken away), Autre Monde (once a Bib Gourmand recipient, not currently), Restaurant Michael, Inovasi and Oceanique absolutely belong in the conversation.

Chicago's restaurant community of course is pleased with Michelin's attention; after all, Michelin publishes guides in only four U.S. cities. (Washington, D.C. was added this year.) And the inspectors do a fine job of ferreting out the best of the best of Chicago. I just wish the Michelin Man would expand his focus.

Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic
In a scathing open letter this week, Mila Kunis condemned a Hollywood producer who threatened her when she refused to pose semi-nude -- and joined a rapidly growing list of actresses who have vocally rebuked the sexism they regularly face.

Kunis didn't name the producer who told her she'd "never work in this town again" if she refused to pose partially naked on the cover of a men's magazine to promote a film years ago. His words made her "livid," she wrote, and she said "no."

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"And guess what? The world didn't end," she wrote in her essay for A Plus magazine. "The film made a lot of money and I did work in this town again, and again, and again. What this producer may never realize is that he spoke aloud the exact fear every woman feels when confronted with gender bias in the workplace."

And gender bias is undeniably rampant in Hollywood. Recent studies, including research conducted by Geena Davis' advocacy organization, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, consistently reveal discouraging trends: Actresses get paid less. They are three times as likely to appear in nude scenes as their male counterparts. They get fewer roles, especially as they age, and the parts they do get have fewer speaking lines.

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"Throughout my career, there have been moments when I have been insulted, sidelined, paid less, creatively ignored, and otherwise diminished based on my gender," Kunis wrote. "And always, I tried to give people the benefit of the doubt; maybe they knew more, maybe they had more experience, maybe there was something I was missing. I taught myself that to succeed as a woman in this industry I had to play by the rules of the boy's club. But the older I got and the longer I worked in this industry, the more I realized that it's bull---! And, worse, that I was complicit in allowing it to happen."

Davis, one of the industry's most vocal women's rights activists, has often said that the treatment of women in Hollywood -- and the way they are portrayed onscreen -- has become so standardized that the problem is all but invisible. But more and more women in Hollywood -- Melissa McCarthy, Patricia Arquette, and Jennifer Aniston, among many others -- are aiming to change that by speaking up about their experiences.

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Last year, Cate Blanchett told the New York Times that she's learned to push back when asked to do nude scenes: "When the director says you really need to be topless in this scene, I go, 'Do I?'" she said. "Women need to empower themselves and claim even a character that's written in a cliched way."

At Elle Magazine's 2014 Women in Hollywood event, Jennifer Garner talked about attending a press event with her then-husband, Ben Affleck, and what she learned when they compared notes afterward: "I told him every single person who interviewed me, I mean every single one . . . asked me, 'How do you balance work and family?' " she said in a speech. "And he said the only thing that people asked him repeatedly was about the t--s on the 'Blurred Lines' girl."

Maggie Gyllenhaal has spoken about how she was made to feel too old for a part -- at age 37: "I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me," she told the Wrap last year. "It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh."

Kunis added her voice to the chorus this week, making it clear that she would no longer give sexist comments -- intentional or otherwise -- a pass.

"I'm done compromising; even more so, I'm done with being compromised," she wrote. "So from this point forward, when I am confronted with one of these comments, subtle or overt, I will address them head on; I will stop in the moment and do my best to educate. I cannot guarantee that my objections will be taken to heart, but at least now I am part of creating an environment where there is the opportunity for growth. And if my comments fall on deaf ears, I will choose to walk away."

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Kunis also acknowledged her privilege in being able to safely speak about her experience; her hope, she said, was that her words might make things better for other women, too.

"If this is happening to me, it is happening more aggressively to women everywhere," she wrote. "I am fortunate that I have reached a place that I can stop compromising and stand my ground, without fearing how I will put food on my table. I am also fortunate that I have the platform to talk about this experience in the hope of bringing one more voice to the conversation so that women in the workplace feel a little less alone and more able to push back for themselves."

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Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
We knew that Megyn Kelly, the star anchor at Fox News, has alleged that now-ousted Fox News chief Roger Ailes sexually harassed her about a decade ago, before she became a host. Those allegations were among many  prompted by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment suit  that forced the ouster of Ailes from his post over the summer. As part of an inquiry by the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Kelly came forward with her explosive story.

What we didn't know were details. That's changing, thanks to leaks from Kelly's forthcoming book, "Settle For More," whose official release date is Nov. 15.

Radar Online is reporting that Kelly wrote in the book that she received word from her managing editor that she'd "captured the attention of Mr. Ailes." She was called in to meet with Ailes at Fox News' Manhattan offices. Via Radar:

"Roger began pushing the limits," she alleges. "There was a pattern to his behavior. I would be called into Roger's office, he would shut the door, and over the next hour or two, he would engage in a kind of cat-and-mouse game with me  veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments (e.g. about the 'very sexy bras' I must have and how he'd like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice."

The account overlaps with the stories of many women who have come forward to detail their awful experiences with Ailes, the 76-year-old TV whiz who founded Fox News and turned it into a ratings powerhouse. Kelly writes in her book that Ailes volunteered to promote her "in exchange for sexual favors," a dubious trade-off that Kelly says she rejected at every turn. As one of the most unaccountable people in the news business, however, Ailes felt license to proceed.

Escalation took place in January 2006, according to Radar Online. Again from Radar Online: ... he "crossed a new line - trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips." When she shoved him away, she alleges, "he asked me an ominous question: 'When is your contract up?' And then, for the third time, he tried to kiss me."

Susan Estrich, a lawyer who represents Ailes, issued this statement: "This is what Ms. Kelly had to say about Roger Ailes only one year ago on the Charlie Rose program, 'I really care about Roger. And he has been nothing but good to me. And he's been very loyal. And he's had my back. And he's looked out for me.' Mr. Ailes denies her allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind."

The truth is that both scenarios could well be viable -- that Ailes could have sexually harassed Kelly and then promoted her. Our world, after all, is twisted.

As conveyed by Radar Online, the story is lacking in at least one particular: Who is this "supervisor" to whom Kelly addressed her sexual harassment complaint? Is that person still employed at Fox News? Did that person suppress the complaint, or just pass it along?

Questions of that nature may never be adequately addressed, in part because of Fox News itself. After the Carlson suit hit, 21st Century Fox engaged Paul, Weiss to look at the allegations. Though many folks  including this blog  short-handed the firm's mission as an "investigation," its purpose was not to promulgate a "wholesale overhaul of Fox News's culture," as Vanity Fair put it, but simply to give the company legal advice as it figured out how to handle the Ailes situation and a transition to new leadership.

The upshot? Ailes is gone, though employees and executives who may have assisted him or put on blinders could well have escaped consequence.

Though the harassment sequence outlined by Kelly is outrageous, so is the pressure that fell on Kelly over the summer as the allegations against Ailes mounted. A campaign among Fox Newsers to stick up for Ailes knocked on Kelly's door. "I was approached several times, and several times I refused," she writes in the book, according to Radar Online. "There was no way I was going to lie to protect him."
Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster was the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 2003. It will be renamed Top Thrill Cubster opening weekend in honor of the Cubs' World Series victory. (Paul M. Walsh / AP)

The Cubs had a wild ride to this week's World Series win, and that victory means another wild ride  Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster  will be renamed in the Cubs' honor.

The amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, announced on its Facebook page Friday that its tallest, fastest roller coaster will go by the moniker "Top Thrill Cubster" during next season's opening weekend May 6 and 7.

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The renaming results from a lost bet between the popular Ohio park and Six Flags Great America/Hurricane Harbor in Gurnee.

The 420-foot-tall Top Thrill Dragster reaches speeds of 120 mph  just a bit faster than an Aroldis Chapman pitch.

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"It wasn't the way we wanted it to end, but we're paying up!" the Facebook post reads. "Congrats to the Chicago Cubs on their history-making World Series win!"

Accompanying the post is a video of dejected Cedar Point staffers decked out in Cubs' gear lip-syncing "Go, Cubs, Go." (The losing park promised to sing the winning team's song.)

(Cedar Point Amusement Park)

Cedar Point isn't the only Ohio business forced to pay up for the Indians' loss to Chicago.

The Schofield Hotel, a Kimpton property in Cleveland, will be offering $99 rooms to Illinois residents for the month of December as a result of the Cubs' World Series win.

If the Indians had won, several Kimpton hotels in Chicago were on the hook to sell reduced-rate rooms to Ohio folks.

lrackl@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lorirackl

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When I worked as a journalist in Southeast Asia in the '90s, many parts of the region were still undeveloped and untraveled.

Today, this part of the world is modernizing at an accelerated pace, and much of the ancient culture is vanishing.

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Last winter I went searching for the primal Southeast Asia I remembered and loved, and I found it in two relatively unspoiled destinations: Myanmar and the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

My voyage back in time began in one of the area's most modern cities, Singapore. A blend of East and West, this island city-state full of ethnic neighborhoods is an ideal spot for travelers to acclimate to Asia.

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After a couple of days in Singapore enjoying the scent of flower garlands, spices and incense in Little India, feasting on chicken rice and other street food delights at Maxwell Road Hawker Centre in Chinatown, and touring the quaint colonial homes in the Muslim Quarter, my photographer and I were ready for the first leg of our journey: Myanmar.

Military rule all but shut down tourism and economic growth in Myanmar from 1962 to 2011. The former capital, Yangon, is one of the few cities even partially modernized. The clock stopped here at the end of British rule, leaving behind mostly colonial-era buildings and an antiquated rail system. We stayed in one of these beautiful architectural wonders, the Strand Hotel, which recently had a face-lift but maintains its turn-of-the-century charm. Overnight rates from $313; www.hotelthestrand.com.

We also took a ride on the famed Circle Line train that runs around the city at a speed just above walking pace. This old-school excursion gave us our first taste of true Myanmar, as just outside of Yangon paved roads turn to dirt and ox carts replace cars.

Our next stop and primary destination, the ancient city of Bagan, likely looks much as it did in the days when British author George Orwell worked for the Indian Imperial Police in what was then Burma. Bagan is a popular tourist destination, thanks largely to its 2,000-plus Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries scattered across the village on the banks of the Irrawaddy River.

It was my photographer's birthday, so we opted for the most spectacular way to view the temples, via a hot air balloon. Balloons Over Bagan ($330 a person, www.balloonsoverbagan.com) has been taking guests on lofty rides over the temple fields since 1997.

Before dawn, we met Robert, our balloon pilot, on a grassy field. We boarded our craft and rose into the air just as the horizon started to glow in the fiery light of the coming day. As we drifted toward the first of the temples, the sun bathed the old buildings with golden rays.

Our next adventure, a cruise up the Irrawaddy from Bagan to the fabled city of Mandalay, was equally mesmerizing. The intimate, luxury river vessel Belmond Road to Mandalay holds a maximum of 82 guests (two-night cruises start at $1,500 a person; www.belmond.com/road-to-mandalay-myanmar). As we glided upriver, we were greeted with the sights and sounds of fishermen throwing hand nets and merchants plying the swirling, silt-laden waters in all forms of primitive crafts.

The captain, when he wasn't keeping us clear of dangerous sand bars, explained that the river is so shallow and variable, he has to send his men out in a small skiff to mark the channel with bamboo poles so he won't run aground.

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This magical voyage made several delightful stops along the way, including the fabled Mingun temple, said to have the largest ringing bell in the world; the former British colonial hill station at Maymyo; the ancient imperial capital city of Inwa; and volcanic Mount Popa, with its 777 steps leading to a sacred monastery at the summit.

One of my favorite excursions was at Taungthaman Lake, just outside of Mandalay. We boarded a small skiff and enjoyed a glass of Champagne while watching the sunset behind the lengthy teakwood expanse of U Bein Bridge.

For an even more intense foray into the mysteries of ancient Myanmar, Burma Boating offers sailing adventures through the Mergui Archipelago off Myanmar's far southwest coast. Limited to 10 guests, these high-end excursions drop by some of the most remote populated islands in Southeast Asia. The tour includes encounters with village locals, swimming at magical deserted beaches and indulging in multicultural delicacies prepared by the on-board chef. Five-night cruises start at $2,600 a person, www.burmaboating.com.

After stepping back in time in Myanmar, we visited one of the last outposts of Indonesia that remains unspoiled by the march of progress. The island of Sulawesi between Borneo and New Guinea looks like the Bali of old, before its beaches became littered with mega resorts and partying tourists.

All you'll find in Sulawesi are jungle, sea, sand and a few small fishing villages. We were headed to an end-of-the-world oasis called Wakatobi, a dive resort on a tiny island southeast of Sulawesi. The resort and its handful of tasteful bungalows situated on a perfect white sand beach are nothing less than amazing, especially if you love diving and snorkeling. Sulawesi's unspoiled waters brim with perfectly pristine reefs and varied marine life. Rates, including meals, start at $290 a person; www.wakatobi.com.

These two wonderful locations assured me that the Southeast Asia I remember from my past isn't gone forever. One can only hope it will stay that way.

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Eric Vohr is a freelance writer.

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A petition with celebrity backing is asking people to pull money out of banks that back the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Actress and activist Susan Sarandon on Wednesday started the petition through Care2, an online advocacy site. By noon Friday, it had garnered more than 38,000 signatures

This is not a partisan issue, Sarandon said in a statement. And its not enough to just be sending Tweets and posting to Facebook. If we cant go to North Dakota, we have to put our money where our mouth is and withdraw our money from the big banks that are funding this pipeline. I want my Care2 petition to catalyze a movement to hold the big banks accountable.

The financial institutions backing DAPL include Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Chase and Citigroup.

According to a post on lastrealindians.com, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe moved in early October to take its money out of Wells Fargo, severing a long relationship with the bank. An Oct. 4 resolution made the move official.

As free, independent and self-determining Original Nations, we pledge and commit that our national treasuries, financial holdings, bank accounts and other financial interests will be divested and severed from any and all banks, mutual funds, securities companies or other financial entities that invest in, or otherwise financially support, any aspect of the Dakota Access Pipeline project, the resolution said.

Indigenous climate activist and musician Xiuhtezcatl Martinez said the movement is a way to make a statement, but also a way to pressure banks to stop supporting the companies involved in building the pipeline.

This is a pressure tactic using the clients of different big banks, he said.

People who want to help the movement but who cannot go to Standing Rock can make a difference by taking their money from the banks and putting it in local credit unions, Martinez said.

The petition asks people to film themselves withdrawing their money while explaining why they are doing it, then to post the videos on Twitter. Martinez said hes seen a handful of such videos. Other celebrities have joined the effort.

Martinez called the Dakota Access Pipeline opposition one of the most important movements of our time and compared it to civil rights and womens rights movements.

"This is not just an environmental issue; it's a human rights issue. By funding this pipeline, these banks are contributing to the violation of basic rights, such as access to clean water and native sovereignty, he said.
Three teens were in custody and one more person was being sought after a robbery call Thursday afternoon in Evanston led to a pursuit that ended on a Rogers Park beach, police said.

Evanston officers responded to a call of a robbery in progress in the 1700 block of Monroe Street in the north suburb about 4:05 p.m., said Evanston Police Lt. Joe Dugan.

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Officers found that two teens had tried to rob a 70-year-old woman in the alley there. One of the teens was armed with a weapon, which was later determined to be a pellet gun, and demanded the woman's purse.

After the woman began to scream, the teens jumped into a vehicle and started driving south on Ridge Avenue, Dugan said. After a short time, Evanston police gave up their pursuit and Chicago police took it over, he said.

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Just before 4:15 p.m., Chicago police near Sheridan Road and Touhy Avenue saw a red minivan wanted in connection with the attempted robbery, heading south in the northbound lanes of Sheridan, said Officer Kevin Quaid, a Chicago police spokesman.

Officers followed the minivan until it got stuck in the sand at the lakefront in Loyola Park--witnesses said near North Shore Avenue--where four people in the van ran away, Quaid said.

Three teens were taken into custody, while a fourth "made good his escape," Quaid said.

Police found a pellet gun inside the vehicle the teens were driving, Evanston police said. The vehicle had been reported stolen in Chicago.

A 15-year-old boy from Calumet City, 16-year-old boy from Chicago and a 17-year-old boy from Chicago face a charge of aggravated robbery, Evanston police said. The 15-year-old boy was taken to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

The teens could face additional charges, because of the stolen vehicle. Detectives are also working to bring charges against the fourth teen who was never arrested on the scene.

No one was injured in the robbery attempt or the pursuit.
A sign lets residents know they can cast early ballots in the general election there. (David Sharos / The Beacon-News)

Cook County voters are getting a once-in-a-generation opportunity: the chance to determine whether to eliminate an elected office.

It comes in the form of a referendum question on Tuesday's ballot that lets them have the final say on whether the duties of the recorder of deeds should be transferred to the county clerk. If approved, the merger would happen in 2020.

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The last time voters were asked such a question was in 1972, when they overwhelmingly chose to eliminate the elected post of county coroner and replace it with the appointed position of medical examiner  a change billed as a way to make the office more professional. That proved to have mixed results over the decades.

In the modern-day case of the recorder, the argument in favor of doing away with it is more about efficiency, with proponents saying it would save somewhere between $800,000 and $2 million a year. The higher figure comes from county Clerk David Orr, who said most of the money would be saved by consolidating administrative functions.

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Opponents, however, question whether the savings will be that much and say that even if the money materializes, the amount pales in comparison to the county's $4.9 billion budget. They also point to efforts under Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough of Maywood  who is running unopposed for a second term  to combat mortgage fraud and assist veterans, with the implication that those functions would whither away under a consolidation.

The clerk's office keeps birth, marriage and death records, oversees suburban elections, calculates property tax rates, and maintains County Board government records and government ethics filings. The smaller recorder's office keeps property records, tracks liens, collects transfer taxes and, upon request, stores veterans' discharge records.

The debate, as it often does in Cook County, has gone beyond the topics of dry bureaucratic duties and efficiencies to include the subject of racial politics. When the County Board voted 10-5 to put the referendum on the ballot, all five African-American commissioners voted against it. Commissioner Richard Boykin, D-Oak Park, said people in his district viewed it "an all-out attack on black elected officials."

Yarbrough is African-American, and the office has long been the bailiwick of black politicians, used by some as a steppingstone to higher political office. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White once was county recorder, as was former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.

"To inject race into this issue was about as shameless a thing as I've seen in my entire political career," said John Fritchey, D-Chicago, a white commissioner who proposed the referendum. "This is about providing services more efficiently and more effectively.

"Maybe the more ridiculous argument was that it was worth doing because it would only save one or two million dollars a year," Fritchey added. "When we start thinking that saving $1 million or $2 million a year isn't worth the effort, we've got real problems."

Fritchey also described implications that programs would be cut as "fearmongering," with Orr adding that there would be no need to get rid of programs that served the public.

"Obviously, you'd want to do anything that you thought was doing well," said Orr, who called the consolidation "the right thing to do."

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Asked about the race issue, Yarbrough demurred: "Who can know the heart?"

She contends voters don't understand the roles of the two offices that would be combined, that the savings are overestimated and that there would be costs involved in combining the two offices.

"I think taxpayers are getting more than a bang for their buck having a robust recorder's office," added Yarbrough, who also noted the office brings in tens of millions more dollars than it spends each year.

Yarbrough and Fritchey agree on one point: The referendum is likely to pass.

If it does, Yarbrough has the option of running for county clerk in two years. Orr, 72, has been clerk for 25 years and it's widely expected he won't run again. "If he doesn't, I'm certainly going to be looking at it," Yarbrough said.

Also on the county ballot is a nonbinding advisory referendum on whether the state should require all businesses to give their employees up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year.

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The city has three advisory referendums, placed on the ballot by allies of Mayor Rahm Emanuel to block a question that could have been embarrassing to the mayor: Should the mayor's control of airports be handed over to an elected airport authority?

Instead, Chicago voters will be asked three slam-dunk questions, the results of which will not have the force of law. The questions ask if the state should strengthen penalties for the illegal trafficking of firearms and require background checks for gun dealers and their employees; whether the state should "provide full and equitable funding for the Chicago Public Schools"; and if the city should work with the state and federal governments "to prioritize significant new investments in important infrastructure like roads, bridges, public transportation, river and lakefront redevelopment, and additional green space."

hdardick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ReporterHal
Two Republican Days at the Illinois State Fair. Two U.S. Senate campaign speeches. Two Mark Kirks.

"I am the candidate who wants to spend less, borrow less and tax less against the candidate who wants to spend more, borrow more and tax more," Kirk said to cheers in 2010, en route to narrowly defeating Democrat Alexi Giannoulias. "The choice could not be more clear."

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Fast forward to August. Kirk didn't ask the supportive audience of Republican faithful for their help or their votes, and he didn't make the case of why he's a better choice than Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth. Instead, Kirk spent three minutes reminding the crowd of the state's history of inventions, including the cellphone transmitter featured in the iPhone, modern dentistry and the vacuum cleaner.

"When people from other states laugh at you because you're from this state, remind them that this iPhone here has roots in Illinois as deep as Abraham Lincoln. A lot of times when I give that talk, I say that if it wasn't for Illinois you would have a lot of friends missing teeth and living in dirty houses," Kirk told the sun-drenched fair audience.

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"Want to make sure we emphasize that point and pick up our spirits as citizens of the Land of Lincoln and make sure that you know we are victors, not victims," he said.

The contrast between then and now illustrates how much Kirk and the political circumstances he faces have changed in the last six years. Once viewed as a rising star, reflecting the social moderation and fiscal conservatism that has been a winning formula for Republicans running statewide in Democrat-leaning Illinois, Kirk's path to re-election is challenging.

There was, of course, the stroke. Occurring about a year into his term, it cost him almost a full year away from the Senate and politics. And it required him to rebuild his life after he lost partial sight in one eye and the use of his left arm, and was left with limited use of his left leg.

The vibrancy Kirk had displayed during his first Senate campaign and, before that, the five campaigns he won for a U.S. House seat from the North Shore, was in shorter supply.

There was always the difficult prospect of seeking a second term during a presidential election year that traditionally leads to a big Democratic turnout in Illinois.

And there was the added concern of a controversial Republican presidential nominee at the top of the ticket, prompting Kirk to unendorse businessman and former reality TV star Donald Trump.

Viewed nationally as the most vulnerable Senate Republican this fall, the high-stakes campaign between Kirk and Duckworth  each with a tale of recovery to tell  had been expected to draw considerable outside attention from big-money super political action committees and independent expenditure groups as the GOP looks to try to hold its majority.

To that end, Kirk spent much of what campaign money he had early, airing attack ads trying to negatively define his challenger in voters' minds. But the outside money failed to materialize, and Kirk largely has had to go it alone. Outraised by Duckworth for more than a year, Kirk's campaign funds began to dwindle and his campaign has had less of a TV presence in the waning weeks of the contest.

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Amid all those political factors, Kirk has made his recovery from the stroke a big part of his re-election strategy.

"For people who have strokes, they can make a tremendous comeback mentally and physically, and I have picked up my new sport of tower climbing," the 57-year-old senator told reporters after appearing at a summer agricultural forum in Bloomington. "I've climbed the Willis Tower four times now. Last time I was there, I did 37 stories and if you guys fall behind, I won't rebuke you."

His rehabilitation and recovery, including climbing the U.S. Capitol stairs accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden and his close friend from across the aisle, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, has been featured in Kirk campaign ads. Even Duckworth was on the Capitol steps to cheer Kirk on back then and hailed his achievement as one for all people with disabilities.

On trips to Rockford, Springfield and Champaign last month, Kirk pledged to work to obtain $25 million in federal funding for research and study of strokes, including money that would go to Downstate hospitals.

The Chicago Tribune has asked for detailed information about Kirk's health since early July, but the campaign released only a one-page letter from a treating doctor who wrote that the senator had made a "full cognitive recovery" despite physical impairments that included speech that "is occasionally halting but has vastly improved."

During the campaign, Kirk has taken a lower profile, in contrast to what would be expected of a senator facing the race of his political career. Campaign aides have notified journalists of some Kirk appearances only after the fact, instead promoting events with photos on social media.

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One Kirk adviser said the Republican senator took it upon himself to adopt the issue of stroke awareness.

"Having these (health-care) professionals who forced him up and forced him to do these things, not only physical therapy but working on speech and other physical limitations, it was tough," said the adviser, who was not authorized to speak publicly. "He was like, 'Hey, I've gone through this. I've got to encourage these other folks.' He doesn't think a lot of public officials understand what it's like."

The Senate is a place for speechifying, and Kirk did not jump back into the fray until November 2013, about 11 months after his return. His chosen topic was the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

"I think it's particularly appropriate for an Illinois Republican to speak on behalf of this measure. In the true tradition of (the late Sen.) Everett McKinley Dirksen and Abraham Lincoln, men who gave us the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution," he said.

Kirk was one of the few Republicans to back the measure and his decision to speak on the bill was an indication of his longtime support for gay rights.

He was born in Champaign in 1959, but his family moved to the Chicago area when he was a toddler and landed in Kenilworth by the time he hit fifth-grade. Long known as a policy wonk, Kirk said that when he was young, he wanted to become an astronaut. He credits the space program for inspiring him to study science and mathematics.

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Educated at New Trier East High School, Cornell University, the London School of Economics and Georgetown University Law Center, Kirk worked for longtime north suburban Rep. John Porter and joined the Navy Reserve. Kirk left Porter's staff in 1990 for the World Bank and a series of other positions, including stints at the State Department and on the Republican staff of the House International Relations Committee. In 2000, Porter retired and Kirk was elected to replace him.

Some of the senator's remarks have led him to issue apologies, such as when he recently questioned Duckworth's family history and military lineage. Kirk said he "had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington."

The pattern of controversial statements has been much chronicled, and reporters asked Kirk last summer if the stroke had affected his ability to filter out such statements before uttering them.

"Not at all. Not at all," he replied.

But the scrutiny of Kirk's remarks have clouded efforts to promote his record in the U.S. Senate, one in which he stresses independence and bipartisanship, including his relationship with senior Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat and political mentor to Duckworth.

"This guy from Illinois and of Illinois is a thoughtful independent thinker and has been the glue between the two parties," Kirk has said of himself.

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He has backed efforts to improve water quality of the Great Lakes, seek funding for anti-gang law enforcement, improvements in Veterans Affairs hospitals and protections for whistleblowers and supporting the re-imposition of the Export-Import Bank.

He has supported comprehensive immigration reform and wants automatic citizenship for the undocumented fighting in the military who receive a combat infantry badge. As a congressman in 2005, he launched his "abuelitas program" to help seniors in Mexico get 30-day travel visas to visit their Illinois relatives.

Kirk also has called for a pause on the U.S. acceptance of refugees from war-torn Syria, fearing jihadists will enter the country and has criticized Duckworth for wanting to accept more refugees than Obama.

On occasion, Kirk also has sounded politically tone deaf.

In August, amid rising violence in the city on the same day when yet another controversial Chicago police shooting video was released, Kirk met at the Union League Club with police and prosecutors "to talk about key law enforcement issues facing us here in Chicagoland." Kirk told reporters the issue of restoring trust between communities and local police hadn't really been discussed.

"I focused on where my Senate office could really deliver for these 16 police departments. And on making sure there's good community relations between these 16 police departments is probably beyond my Senate office capability," he said.

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Kirk also found himself confronted by an obstacle that hadn't presented itself in full until the middle of last year  Trump's decision to run for president and his eventual rise to the nomination. At first, Kirk said he would support the GOP nominee, even if it was Trump, but unendorsed him after Trump questioned the fairness of an Indiana-born federal judge of Mexican heritage to oversee a trial involving Trump University.

"I'm putting patriotism ahead of party to make sure that the Illinois First logo is, if Trump or Clinton wins, I go there as our ambassador for Illinois to make sure the people of Illinois always come first, especially over party," Kirk said in August before departing on a Downstate bus tour from Grant Park.

In 2010, a nonpresidential year, Kirk got 48 percent of the vote to eke out a victory against Giannoulias, then the state treasurer, by less than 2 percentage points. Republicans widely celebrated the victory because Kirk had won Obama's old Senate seat.

This fall, Republicans point to Kirk's previous ability as a North Shore congressman to consistently outperform GOP presidential candidates in election years. Kirk, though, has never run statewide before with the presidency on the ballot. Federal campaign finance paperwork shows his money is running out, and only about $2.5 million in outside money has been used to help Kirk, primarily from Independent Voice for Illinois, a super PAC run by his former chief of staff, Eric Elk.

While circumstances are very different this time for Kirk, some things are the same. He's trying to affix the same labels he assigned Giannoulias, his 2010 opponent and subject of his speech at the State Fair, to Duckworth, the foe on Tuesday.

"She wants to spend more and tax more and borrow more and push us even further in the red."

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rap30@aol.com

Twitter @rap30
Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth waves to her supporters at her election night party at the JW Marriott in downtown Chicago on Nov. 8, 2016. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Outnumbered by TV cameras and campaign staff, the dozen students who'd been plucked from the ranks of hundreds of teens at a Navy Pier college admissions fair sat in a cramped room and listened to U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth.

Asked to give some life advice, the Democratic congresswoman talked about her time as a teenager. Back in the day, she was a "perfectionist" who "wanted to make sure everything was right before I moved forward with something."

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The personal story set up a piece of wisdom Duckworth said was drawn from her experience as a wounded war veteran turned politician: "Don't be afraid to fail."

While she urged the students to take risks, Duckworth herself hasn't had to take many during her U.S. Senate campaign against Republican Sen. Mark Kirk. Seeking a promotion in a year when the political advantages are stacked in her favor, Duckworth has employed a play-it-safe approach marked by photo ops and stage-managed events like the one at Navy Pier that have allowed her to stick to a carefully crafted campaign message.

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The strategy is made possible in part by Duckworth's status as a darling of her party  a war hero who overcame a debilitating injury to win election to Congress  and awareness among party loyalists that the seat could be key to the Democratic hopes of taking control of the Senate. Heavy hitters, including President Barack Obama and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, have flown in to campaign for Duckworth while Democratic donors across the country have opened their wallets for her.

Beyond that, Illinois trends Democratic during higher-turnout presidential years, making it difficult for a Republican to win a statewide contest here. The two high-profile Republicans who managed to break through, Kirk in 2010 and Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2014, did so in midterm elections. In addition, Duckworth also hopes to benefit from attempts to link her opponent to controversial GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump as she and Kirk battle for the key voting bloc of independent suburban women.

All of it makes for near-perfect circumstances for Duckworth, who during the campaign has fine-tuned a personal narrative that seems designed to touch women, students and minorities  constituencies Democrats are trying mightily to mobilize this year.

At the center of that effort is Duckworth's tale of a childhood marked by unexpected poverty.

To union workers, she assures that watching her father struggle to find work after being laid off midcareer instilled in her a respect for the job-protecting impulses of organized labor. To parents, she retells how her family struggled to help cover her dorm room rent while she was an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaii. To college students, she says she can relate to concerns about student loan debt because she's still paying down the cost of a doctorate she earned in 2014. To immigrants, she recalls being separated from her Thai-born mother when her family first moved to Hawaii. To veterans, Duckworth goes beyond her own battle scars to note that her family's history of military service dates to the Revolutionary War.

That military heritage became a flash point in a recent debate between the candidates when Kirk questioned the narrative by saying he'd "forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington."

The remark drew widespread criticism, including from both presidential campaigns, and Kirk apologized on Twitter the following day.

For Duckworth, the debate stage was another opportunity to deliver her personal story, which she turned to repeatedly throughout the forum.

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"I think what the people need is to understand that the members of Congress understand their challenges," Duckworth said. "But they can't trust in their representatives if they feel that we're disassociated from them. And I would just say this, that the people of Illinois can count on me to fight for them every single day, because I know what it's like, I've been there, I know what it's like to think, 'Oh my God, how am I ever going to pay off that student loan debt?' I've lived that life."

Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Duckworth grew up traveling Asia, where her father, a retired Marine, worked on refugee, development and housing programs. Along the way, her father lost his job and the family fell into poverty. Duckworth often mentions being reliant on food stamps and reduced-price school breakfast and lunch programs while attending high school in Hawaii in 1984 and 1985. She went on to earn a degree in political science at the University of Hawaii, a master's degree in international affairs at George Washington University and a doctorate in human services at Capella University, an accredited, online, for-profit university based in Minneapolis.

As a helicopter pilot with the Army National Guard, Duckworth was deployed to Iraq in 2004. The Black Hawk helicopter she co-piloted was felled by a rocket-propelled grenade. She lost her legs, suffered severe injuries to her right arm and spent a year recovering.

Duckworth took in the February 2005 State of the Union as a guest of Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who would go on to be a political mentor.

She was quickly absorbed into the network of Illinois Democratic power brokers but lost her first campaign in 2006. The close loss to then-state Sen. Peter Roskam of Wheaton stood out because Democrats had orchestrated a successful take-back of the House and Senate that year. By 2012, Illinois Democrats had redrawn the lines of the 8th Congressional District to suit one of their own, and Duckworth coasted into the U.S. House over future conservative radio talk-show firebrand Rep. Joe Walsh.

Now Duckworth is trying to move beyond her established identity as a war veteran who went into politics to help fellow soldiers, casting both her military and political careers as attempts to repay the federal help she received when her family was down on its luck.

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"I hope that in my 23 years in the Reserves and National Guard, I've paid back the investment this nation made in me, with the public school system, with the food stamps, with the school lunch and school breakfast. But I just think we can do more, and that's why I'm running for Senate," Duckworth told veterans during an August campaign stop at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Downstate Shelbyville.

In between the two congressional races, Duckworth scored a pair of political appointments at veterans affairs agencies, first for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and then for President Obama. A Chicago Tribune review of Duckworth's record found that many of her initiatives at the state VA fell flat, while her time at the federal VA was focused mostly on public relations.

Duckworth's two terms in the House have been marked by only a few legislative successes, though she has served in the minority party, making it tougher to pass legislation. Kirk has gone after her record on veterans' issues, airing attack ads that accuse her of firing and threatening whistleblowers to cover up abuses at a veterans home  the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.

On an August afternoon, Duckworth wheeled her wheelchair into a Decatur elementary school gym. Sporting one camouflage-covered artificial leg and another adorned with the American flag, Duckworth got a laugh from the students when she joked that one advantage to being without legs is "you can be as tall as you want. ... It's like Transformers. I can do all of that."

Asked by a fifth-grader how she plans to improve Illinois, Duckworth pointed to creating jobs in clean energy and making education more affordable before bringing her answer back to the theme that has become her go-to when trying to explain her candidacy.

"I think we need to take care of people who can't take care of themselves. If you're in a bad accident and you're in a wheelchair or you can't work, if you're a senior citizen and you don't work anymore, if you don't have health insurance, we should make sure that those programs are there to take care of you. If you are hungry like I was as a kid, there should be SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), there should be school breakfast and school lunch so that people have health care and have food and all of the basic things" Duckworth said.

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In broadening her story, Duckworth's daughter, Abigail, is playing an expanded role. Named after Abigail Adams, the Revolutionary War figure who famously implored the Founding Fathers to "remember the ladies," the 2-year-old has made appearances on the campaign trail.

"She inspires me because to her, everything is possible," Duckworth told the Decatur students. The "idea that she can do anything is really amazing to me and I want to make sure that that is available to everyone in this country."

The candidate has adopted the issue of college affordability, making campus appearances to tout her goals of free community college, more funding for federal grants and the refinancing of student debt.

"I love tanks and guns and helicopters. I've ridden in them, I've fired them and I've flown them," Duckworth recently told students at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "But bottom line, an educated workforce is just as important, and investing in education is another pillar of strength for our nation."

Whether Duckworth will be able to transition from the personal symbolism of a Senate campaign to the practical work of policymaking if she's elected remains to be seen.

The university-bound students who met with her at Navy Pier appeared underwhelmed by the proposal of free community college, asking how the plan would help minorities specifically and whether the extra spending would actually benefit students. When a student asked how quality would be maintained at tuition-free schools, Duckworth offered a vague response: "You have to set the highest standards for those schools and the schools that don't meet those standards have to be punished."

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Booker, the New Jersey senator who'd flown in to campaign with Duckworth that day, quickly moved the conversation back to Duckworth's personal story. He rose from his seat next to Duckworth, moved across the room and, posing in jest as a student, tossed a softball her way.

"You're an extraordinary woman. You're college-educated, you're a veteran, you're a United States congressperson. I would like to know, what advice would you have for us that you wish you knew at 17 years old?" Booker asked.

"I would say don't be afraid to fail," Duckworth said. "Just because you don't come from a wealthy family or you're a new immigrant family doesn't mean  or you're the first person in your family to go to college  you shouldn't not dream about going to college. You should strive for it. ... I failed in my first run for Congress. I had a huge, spectacular loss in 2006. But I kept trying."

kgeiger@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimgeiger
The Greenville County Sheriff's Office assists Spartanburg County investigators Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, as they work on the Wofford Road property in Woodruff, S.C., where a missing woman was found Thursday chained in a large storage container. (Heidi Heilbrunn / AP)

SPARTANBURG, S.C.  A woman who was "chained up like a dog" for weeks in a dark storage container was lured to her captor's South Carolina property for a cleaning job, a family friend said Friday as search teams digging up the area found one body and looked for more.

Authorities were "trying to make sure that we don't have a serial killer on our hands," the sheriff said. Investigators were told the property could hold as many as three other corpses.

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Prosecutor Barry Barnette said the woman saw her captor shoot and kill her boyfriend, who went with her to the job. The body discovered Friday was not immediately identified.

The couple disappeared around Aug. 31 when they went to do the work on the suspect's nearly 100-acre property in a rural area near the community of Woodruff, said Daniel Herren, a friend who sat with her in her hospital room after she was rescued Thursday.

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"They were going to do some work, help cleaning up the property. And he pulled out a gun and took them hostage," Herren said, adding that the abduction happened quickly.

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, a 45-year-old registered sex offender with a previous kidnapping conviction as a teenager in Arizona, appeared at a bond hearing Friday in Spartanburg on a kidnapping charge. More charges will be filed later, the prosecutor told the court.

Todd Kohlhepp of Moore, S.C. (Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The judge did not set bond and instead referred the matter to circuit court. The suspect did not appear to have an attorney, and the judge urged him to get one.

The search of his property was unfolding as more details of the suspect's violent past emerged, including an Arizona judge noting in 1987 that he had displayed aggressive behavior and sexual preoccupation since he was a child  behavior the judge expected to continue.

The Associated Press is not naming the woman because the suspect is a sex offender, though authorities have not said whether she was sexually assaulted. Her boyfriend was identified as 32-year-old Charles Carver.

Herren, who visited her in the hospital and had dinner with her Thursday, said he did not ask the woman if she was sexually assaulted.

But she did describe to him the details of her captivity, telling him she was in the container nearly the entire time except for when she was taken out for occasional walks.

"He never took the chain off of her, but he was taking her around, let her get, not so much exercise, but let her walk around some," Herren said. "It didn't sound like it was every day. It was kind of sporadic."

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She was fed once a day about 6 p.m. She "didn't tell us exactly what she was eating. But from what I gathered, it could have been fast food. ... It wasn't like he was keeping her alive on bread and water. He was in a weird, sick kind of way being, I guess, kind of humane, as far as feeding her," Herren said.

She left the hospital late Thursday and is staying with family, Herren said.

The property includes grassy areas, some covered in waist-high weeds, as well as stands of trees. Most or all of it is surrounded by a chain-link fence 6 to 7 feet tall.

In the middle was the cargo container, which measured about 30 feet by 15 feet. It was next to a two-car garage that had a living space on top, Barnette said.

During Friday's search efforts, officers using all-terrain vehicles and a backhoe came and went while a law enforcement helicopter circled overhead.

Investigators began excavating after cadaver dogs signaled the possible presence of remains.

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Acting on a tip, deputies found the woman after hearing her banging inside the container, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said.

Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said computer and cellphone records led authorities to the property near Woodruff, 80 miles northwest of the state capital of Columbia, because it was the last place that a cellphone pinged.

Guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized from Kohlhepp, the prosecutor said.

"It's unbelievable how much he had," he said.

Records indicate Kohlhepp is a licensed real estate agent and licensed pilot. As a teenager, he was convicted and sentenced to prison in Arizona for kidnapping and crimes against children, according to South Carolina's sex offender registry.

Online prison records from Arizona show that Kohlhepp served about 14 years for the 1986 felony. He was released in 2001.

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In court Friday, Barnette said the Arizona case occurred when Kohlhepp kidnapped a 14-year-old girl, bound her and raped her.

Court records from the Arizona case obtained by WHNS-TV in South Carolina show that a judge decided in January of 1987 to transfer the case to adult court partly because of concerns about Kohlhepp's aggressive nature.

"At less than the age of 9 this juvenile was impulsive, explosive and preoccupied with sexual content. He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school," the judge wrote, adding that his aggressive behavior was likely to continue into the future.

A real estate agent who worked at a firm run by Kohlhepp said she had known him for 10 years after they met at a university in the Spartanburg area and were study partners in a statistics class. She said she was in disbelief.

"He's not the kind of person to do something like this," Cherry Laurens said by phone. "Working with him, he was an excellent boss. He stood up for us whenever we needed him."

She said it was widely known that he was registered as a sex offender, but he told people that it was based on trumped-up charges after he "had gone joyriding with a girl" and upset her father, who was a prominent local official.

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Kohlhepp also had a house in Moore, on the outskirts of Spartanburg, about 15 minutes from the rural property where the woman was chained.

His neighbor there, 76-year-old Ron Owen, said Kohlhepp was private but pleasant.

"Todd was in my opinion a likable guy," Owen said.

Associated Press
In this Oct. 12, 2016, file photo, voters mill about as early voting begins outside the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati. (John Minchillo / AP)

NEWARK, N.J.  Lawyers for Democrats around the country are filing lawsuits claiming Republicans and the campaign of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump are pushing supporters to intimidate and confront voters on Election Day.

Trump has called on his supporters to act as "election observers" in certain areas of the country to help prevent fraud.

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In Ohio, a federal judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against Trump's campaign and his friend and informal adviser, Roger Stone, barring them from harassing or intimidating Ohio voters during Tuesday's election. Friday evening, a federal judge in Arizona denied a similar injunction request.

Attorneys representing the Democratic Party argued Friday in New Jersey court that the GOP was coordinating with Trump to intimidate voters, accusations that the Republican Party says are not true in that state or in five other states where Democrats are waging similar battles.

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Here's a look at the cases being heard around the country:

NEW JERSEY

The case is different than the ones filed in the states as it relates to a consent decree in place since 1982 regulating what the Republican National Committee can do when it comes to issues of ballot security.

The consent decree was created after Democrats alleged that the RNC helped intimidate black voters during New Jersey's 1981 gubernatorial election. The RNC and New Jersey's Republican Party allegedly had off-duty law enforcement officers stand at polling places in urban areas wearing "National Ballot Security Task Force" armbands. Some had guns visible.



The RNC admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to the decree to settle the case. The decree only regulates work done by the RNC and is scheduled to end next year. The Democratic National Committee wants it extended another eight years, but needs to convince a judge that the RNC has violated the 34-year-old rules.



Joshua Kaul, an attorney representing the Democratic National Committee, told the judge in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday that Trump has "repeatedly encouraged his supporters to engage in vigilante efforts" in the guise of ferreting out potential voter fraud. Kaul said the RNC is participating.



Bobby Burchfield, an attorney for Republicans, told the judge that party volunteers are engaging in normal poll-watching and that Democrats haven't found one instance in which someone was intimidated or prevented from voting.



Judge John Michael Vazquez did not immediately rule.

OHIO

A federal judge said Friday in issuing a temporary restraining order against Trump's campaign and his friend Roger Stone that anyone who engaged in intimidation or harassment inside or near Ohio polling places would face contempt of court charges.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin in Cleveland said charges would be filed regardless of political alliance.



The judge's written order blocks activities from both campaigns that include unauthorized poll watching, the admonishing or questioning of voters, and taking photos or recording voters inside or near polling places.



The Ohio Democratic Party had claimed in its lawsuit that the Ohio GOP, the Trump campaign, Stone and Stone's political action committee Stop the Steal were conspiring to suppress minorities in urban areas from casting ballots on Tuesday. The lawsuit cited comments made by Trump and his surrogates about voter fraud and efforts by Democrats to steal the election.



Gwin dismissed the Ohio Republican Party as a defendant in the case.



David Pepper, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said the judge's decision was "a big win for Ohio voters."

MICHIGAN

The Michigan Democratic Party on Friday filed a lawsuit Friday asking a judge to order the state Republican Party not to intimidate voters on Election Day.

Democrats sued in Detroit federal court, seeking an injunction against Republicans, Donald Trump's presidential campaign and GOP allies. The court filing listed no specific allegations in Michigan.



Republican spokeswoman Sarah Anderson said the lawsuit is "insulting and shameful." She called it a "desperate act" by supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

NEVADA

A federal judge in Las Vegas said Friday he'll hold a hearing Monday before deciding whether to restrict Election Day exit polling in Nevada by Republican political operative Roger Stone's group, "Stop the Steal."

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Attorney Paul Jensen, representing Stone, said he needed time to prepare because he only recently got legal notice about a lawsuit alleging that Stone is encouraging what Nevada Democrats call "vigilante voter intimidation" by exit-pollers.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware said he's also keeping time open for a Tuesday hearing, in case allegations of voter intimidation come up during morning voting.

The judge made official his findings following hearings Wednesday and Thursday that the Nevada Republican Party and the Donald Trump campaign aren't working together and the campaign isn't training people to intimidate voters in Nevada.

The decision not to issue a restraining order regarding poll-watchers came after Nevada's top Trump election day official testified Thursday that he went back and notified everyone he's trained as poll observers about state laws they have to follow if they challenge a voter's eligibility.

ARIZONA

A federal judge in Phoenix on Friday refused to issue an injunction sought by Democrats that would have ordered Republicans not to engage in illegal voter intimidation tactics at the polls next week.

U.S. District Judge John Tuchi's ruling said the state Democratic Party hadn't shown evidence that the Republicans were conspiring to conduct illegal voter intimidation. He said he's willing to revisit the issue if evidence of voter intimidation appears.

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The suit named the Arizona Republican Party, Trump's presidential campaign, a Republican political operative and his group. The Democrats alleged that Trump supporter Roger Stone and his group "Stop the Steal" planned to harass Arizona voters, mainly in minority communities. They said Trump has encouraged the activity and the state GOP has gone along.

All denied the accusations. Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham testified at a hearing Thursday that the party specifically trains its poll watchers not to harass or intimidate voters. Stone's attorney said he's engaging in protected free speech.

PENNSYLVANIA

A judge has scheduled arguments in Pennsylvania on Monday.
Life doesnt prepare you for having your skin grabbed by a stranger while walking down Michigan Avenue. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)

He was wearing pink headphones.

I remember, because it was a detail I noted for the police report I never filed.

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The man had groped me, reaching underneath my skirt to squeeze my skin as I walked across Michigan Avenue. It was a sunny summer day. I was on my way to get ice cream.

I could tell you that I was in the middle of a crosswalk with throngs of people, but it shouldn't matter. I could tell you that my skirt wasn't short, that it passed my high school's below-the-fingertips test, but it shouldn't matter. I could tell you that I was walking and talking with a male co-worker at the time, but it shouldn't matter.

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It shouldn't matter because this wasn't about me. It's about a man who felt he had every right to grab my skin in broad daylight on Chicago's busiest street.

But it happened to me. And it's still affecting me, a year later, in how I think about getting dressed, the way I avoid that ice cream shop and in the way I gave away that skirt.

I felt a sickness in my gut when audio surfaced of presidential candidate Donald Trump boasting about assaulting women.

I didn't want to write this column. I barely talk about that summer day.

But the topic kept coming up  with friends I hadn't seen in years, skipping other catch-up topics to drift into shared experiences. Over red wine, a friend told of a stranger reaching inside her shirt. How her friends laughed. A Facebook chat recalled a school trip 10 years ago when a man exposed himself outside the Art Institute of Chicago. When I told a friend over lunch that I was writing this, she responded, "Let me tell you my groping story."

We had all hidden them, and yet we silently cataloged them.

I kept track of theirs; they knew mine.

Meanwhile, even as the presidential campaign pushed the topic into the spotlight, we felt society was telling us we're being too sensitive. Many of us said that to ourselves.

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We think, "It's not like it was rape." We want to be tough. We want to move on.

I remember whirling around, cursing. I remember the horrified look of a mother with her two children staring at me as I screamed in the street. And I remember thinking, "You should be horrified. Your daughter should know that was horrifying."

I remember scanning for a cop, any cop, and it being the one time they weren't milling around on a Michigan Avenue corner. I remember staring at the man I was 99 percent sure grabbed me, standing alone looking smugly my way while everyone else kept walking.

And I remember the second terrible thing that happened to me that day  an infuriating, stomach-clenching feeling that there was nothing to do.

Life doesn't prepare you for having your skin grabbed by a stranger.

Could I say with 100 percent certainty it was the man with pink headphones? No. He had perfected his technique, ensuring I'd never glimpse him as he walked past and reached under.

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Any witnesses kept walking. Any cops didn't see it. Every television courtroom scene of lawyers badgering a woman's memory filled my mind. What could the cops do? And how much did I want to prolong this terrible moment?

Should I charge and punch him in the face, use everything I had learned in self-defense class? I wanted to, of course. But as any woman who's been cat-called or stared at knows, it's never worth the chance that he might have a gun.

I screamed my entire vocabulary of curse words at him. And then I just kept walking.

Why don't women report crimes? Time, for one. Not everyone can take an afternoon from work to answer intimate questions at a police station. And not everyone wants to.

I was a victim of a crime once in New York City, and upon entering a Midtown police station in a dress and boots, an officer said to me, "Aren't you the party girl!" Another time, reporting a stolen purse, I gave up and rushed to work after waiting more than an hour. The cops were brusque, no matter that I was there, in compliance with their request, to report that also stolen with my bag were NYPD press credentials.

Most depressingly, groping isn't unusual.

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In my case, I thought moving forward would extinguish the disgusting feeling of a stranger's hands on my body.

Hours later, barely concentrating and feeling sick, I called a police station near Michigan Avenue. I described the creep, to flag him for nearby officers. The policewoman who answered was very nice  and was unsurprised that I wasn't filing an official report. In fact, we commiserated about the hazards of being a woman.

To the sleazebag with pink headphones, that afternoon was nothing.

I was not a person with ice cream plans. I was a body he felt entitled to.

But this wasn't a flattering compliment to my body. It was an invasion.

It's not possible to be too sensitive about a stranger touching your body. This is, after all, what we teach children.

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Groping a woman is not a juvenile joke. It is against the law.

Alison Bowen is a Chicago Tribune reporter.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, speaks to lawmakers during session at the state Capitol on Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Springfield, Ill. (Seth Perlman / AP)

Six years ago we published an editorial titled "Change the House." We asked voters to think twice before re-electing incumbents. A Democratic-led General Assembly had passed yet another unbalanced budget. Social services providers weren't being paid on time. State debt was climbing. Even then-Gov. Pat Quinn, also a Democrat, was complaining.

Sound familiar? Democrats won additional seats in 2012 and 2014, building supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate.

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It's time  beyond, actually  to swing the pendulum back toward the political center. Democrats hold a 24-seat advantage over Republicans in the House. The majority party controls the agenda. Republicans are shut out. In May, House Democrats passed a budget that was at least $7 billion out of balance. No Republicans voted for it. The budget did not go through the proper vetting process. It was plopped on lawmakers' desks and voted on hours later. When Republicans tried to ask about line-by-line spending, Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, wouldn't engage, then only answered "Ditto" to a host of reasonable questions.

That's the muscle of a supermajority. Even many Springfield Democrats will tell you state government works better when there is more balance.

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So today we ask again: Change the House. The chance of flipping to Republican control is slim to none. But we hope voters weaken Speaker Michael Madigan's chokehold on a broke, broken state.

Here are some races where we're giving voters an extra tap on the shoulder:

In the suburban 46th District, Republican Heidi Holan of Glen Ellyn is challenging incumbent Democrat Deb Conroy of Villa Park. Conroy generally sticks to Madigan's script. She voted for a controversial union-backed bill that had been roundly criticized by editorial boards and nonpartisan groups as anti-taxpayer. That miserably out-of-balance budget? Conroy voted for it. Suburban voters could send a message by voting for Holan, who'd be a fiscal watchdog.

Another go-along Democrat, Rep. Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg, promised when she ran in 2010 she would whip Springfield and its wasteful spending into shape. We believed her. Then she voted for phony, unbalanced budgets. Yes, she's likable. But it's time to break up with lawmakers who don't keep their word. A much better choice is Jillian Rose Bernas, a Republican from Schaumburg, who supports efforts to grow the tax base in Illinois, not promote policies that send taxpayers packing.

We've endorsed Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Grayslake, in the past. But this time we're recommending his opponent, Rod Drobinski, a prosecutor from Wauconda. Yingling first ran as an independent Democrat. He hasn't shown much independence. Drobinski is the better choice.

Incumbent Rep. Katherine "Kate" Cloonen, D-Kankakee, got caught playing video games on her phone during House debate on higher education funding. Her opponent, Lindsay Parkhurst, a Republican attorney, has gotten wrongly blasted in campaign ads as anti-senior citizen. The anti-Parkhurst ads have been cited as among the most misleading nationwide in this election cycle. Enough of Cloonen's fealty to Madigan. Elect Parkhurst.

We also hope Jerry Lee Long of Streator defeats Rep. Andy Skoog, D-LaSalle. Long is an independent Republican, a union member and a fan of the late Milton Friedman's philosophy of smaller government. Illinois needs that thinking.

Two U.S. House races have our eye too.

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In the 10th District race between Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Dold and Democrat Brad Schneider, we're recommending Dold. He's a rare creature of moderation who doesn't walk in lockstep with his party. Heavier Democratic turnout for presidential elections means Schneider could beat him. We like Schneider, but he's a party loyalist, not an independent.

Google "party loyalist" and you should see photos of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat. She appeals to liberal North Siders. But at what point do voters tire of her predictable talking points? Recently she defended the actions of her husband, Robert Creamer, who was implicated in pro-Hillary Clinton efforts to provoke violence at rallies for Donald Trump. Schakowsky's opponent, Joan McCarthy Lasonde, a marketing executive from Wilmette, is the underdog in this race. But she's a far better choice.

On ballots statewide, we urge a full term for the incumbent comptroller, Leslie Munger. She's running against Chicago city clerk Susana Mendoza. Mendoza is a fine clerk. But if Mendoza hadn't voted for a slew of unbalanced state budgets when she was a legislator mentored by Madigan, Munger wouldn't be facing a bill backlog north of $8 billion.

Also: The so-called Safe Roads amendment would mean transportation money can't be used for other needs  not even in a grave emergency. Foolhardy idea. A constitutional amendment is a drastic remedy to a simple problem: Lawmakers, stop raiding road funds.

And if Cook County residents don't vote to merge the offices of recorder and clerk, they should never again complain about this taxaholic government.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
Donald Trump's big Pee-wee Herman moment came during a clash in his final debate with his opponent Hillary Clinton over Russia.

The moment came during a question about one of her speeches released by WikiLeaks. Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin has no respect for Clinton.

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"That's because he'd rather have a puppet as president," Clinton replied sharply.

Trump, after taking a moment to comprehend what he had just been served, fired back with all the sophistication of Pee-wee, the former kiddie show star:

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"No puppet," he said, trying to talk over her. "No puppet. You're the puppet. No, you're the puppet."

It was a classic Trump move. When you're backed into a corner with virtually zero knowledge of what you're talking about, accuse your opponent of whatever happens to be his or her worst charge against you.

But back in the real world, suspicions about Trump's relationship with Putin took on a new urgency in the final days of their presidential bids. Clinton suddenly found herself ahead in the polls but slipping, reportedly because of a strange alliance: FBI agents, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, Russian hackers and "the highest levels" of Russian intelligence.

All, according to various reports, were ganging up on the former secretary of state in service of  what? That's the big question.

We know that the FBI is divided internally. FBI Director James Comey, according to various reports, has been taking heat internally for deciding in July not to prosecute Clinton for what he called her "extremely careless" handling of emails that included some classified information.

We also know that former KGB operative Putin has had a burr under his saddle for Clinton since at least 2011, when he accused her of inciting street protests that erupted against him over charges of  guess what?  election fraud.

We know Assange has it in for Clinton because he thinks she's too pro-war.

And we know that Trump sounds so cozy with Putin whenever the Russian autocrat's name comes up that they should invite each other for sleepovers.

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Remember how little Trump could contain his glee when Putin reportedly described the Manhattan developer and reality TV star as "brilliant"? Russian language experts later said the word Putin used is more often translated as "colorful" or "flashy." But Trump, as is his fashion, filtered out everything but the "brilliant" part.

Instead of disavowing Russia as Clinton said that he should during their debate, Trump responded with what I call the Beach Boys Doctrine, harking back to their 1960s hit "Wouldn't It Be Nice?"

"Wouldn't it be nice," Trump has said on the campaign trail and with similar words in this debate, "if Russia and the United States got along and knocked the hell out of ISIS?" Maybe, except that Putin has proved himself to be a deceitful partner, less interested in killing Islamic State militants than propping up Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's (and Iran's) murderous regime, which has killed more civilians than Islamic State.

Trump also curiously and routinely has rushed to the defense of Putin, even when the high-confidence judgment of U.S. intelligence found that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and used embarrassing emails to sow internal confusion.

"I don't think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC " he said. "It could also be lots of other people," and "They always blame Russia."

Oh? Here's another view. "Rejecting a fact-based intelligence assessment  not because of compelling contrarian data, but because it is inconsistent with a pre-existing worldview  that's the stuff of ideological authoritarianism, not pragmatic democracy. And it is frightening." So wrote Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005 and the CIA from 2006 to 2009, in a recent Washington Post op-ed headlined "Russia's useful fool."

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Other disturbing signs include Trump's declaration in July that as president he would be "looking at"  recognizing Crimea as "Russian territory," reversing current U.S. policy toward Putin's illegal incursion.

Trump's comfort with Putin may well be connected to Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort's consulting work for the pro-Russian regime of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine.

Yet as hazardous as a Trump presidency might be to the health of the international order that the U.S. has helped build and maintain since World War II, the movement that has grown up to put Trump into the White House is undaunted by such niceties. They're mad as hell at the status quo, they tell me repeatedly, and just want to "shake things up."

I understand. But the destruction of our delicate post-WWII balance of powers is, in my humble view, too big a price to pay.

Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage.

cpage@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @cptime
NEAR CANNON BALL  Suitcases, sage and sleeping bags left behind at the "front line" camp as protesters were evicted by law enforcement last week are slowly finding their owners.

Law enforcement allowed two small groups to re-enter the camp and retrieve teepees, cooking stoves and some sacred items last Friday and Saturday, according to Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. The rest of the gear from the quickly established camp was packed into roll-off containers by Dakota Access Pipeline security and dumped near the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs checkpoint in Cannon Ball on Wednesday.

The sheriff indicated the plan was practical and adequately respectful, but many protesters feel their property was disrespected.

Returning to camp

Kirchmeier was on scene at the northern camp when a tribal leader and several protesters came to collect teepees and whatever else they could carry in trailers on Friday.

"I wanted to make sure (the teepees) didn't get destroyed," Kirchmeier said. "I know theyre very important to the tribal members."

Everett Iron Eyes, a tribal leader, coordinated the trips to the northern camp. With a group of eight people, he packed up about a dozen teepees and cookware. Iron Eyes met Kirchmeier for the first time there, calling him professional, courteous and accommodating.

"They said, if we didn't get it out, it might be thrown away," he said. "They were professional and good about it."

Mark Lesser, of Minot, who helped Iron Eyes disassemble the camp, called it a sad day. There were tents and teepees and stews still sitting in abandoned pots.

"It kind of affects a person to see a deserted area like that," he said.

Law enforcement watched closely as the group did their work, and construction moved quickly across the road on the pipeline, he said.

'It was basically just dumped, not cared for'

Many charged with unpacking this week indicated they were upset by how Dakota Access handled their belongings.

Virginia Hill wore plastic gloves as she sorted through piles of items at the BIA checkpoint Wednesday and at the main camp on Thursday. She said cans of beans and paint were cracked open, spilling onto the hundreds of pounds of blankets, jackets, tables and purses.

"It was basically just dumped and not cared for in any way, shape or form," Hill said as she salvaged and sorted.

Some tents and air mattresses had holes in them, and many people were still missing belongings on Thursday afternoon.

Kirchmeier defended his decision to allow pipeline security to send the rest of the property back en masse, saying he could not have allowed a bigger group to return to the site of the pipeline easement.

"This was the next best thing other than to have them take it out to the landfill," Kirchemeier said. "I think it served a better purpose turning it back to the owners as much as possible."

He said he asked the security personnel to take care with the items.

"I asked the individuals to put it in in an orderly fashion so that the property that was there in a group stayed together," he said.

Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for Dakota Access said in an email Thursday, "the removal of any items left on our property was done with the utmost care and respect."

Jessica Yellow Hammer, of Fort Yates, said she found several sacred items amid the pile, including a staff, feathers, medicine wheel and a chinupa pipe bag.

Asked if there would have been a more appropriate way for the possessions to be returned, she said, "I don't think there is a good way to give back something that is forcibly taken."

The northern "front line" camp was established by protesters on Oct. 23 atop the pipeline route on property owned by Dakota Access. Protesters said it was theirs by an 1851 treaty.

Protesters called the camp and an accompanying roadblock a "no-surrender line" in their fight against the pipeline, which they fear will contaminate their water and desecrate sacred sites. Law enforcement called it trespassing, removing the protesters from the camp and road in a day-long confrontation Oct. 27 in which 141 people were arrested.
A Kendall County Jail inmate, behind bars on attempted murder charges, is accused of ambushing a sheriff's deputy by throwing feces at him when officers opened his cell door.

Taylor James Cano, 26, of the 300 block of South Fordham Avenue, Aurora, was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, a class 2 felony, and remains in the jail.

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Two deputies making rounds around the cells at 6 p.m. Wednesday were attempting to speak with Cano in his cell before the altercation started, Kendall County Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Mike Mrozek said. When the deputies opened the cell door, Cano allegedly threw the feces, which landed on one of the deputies, Mrozek said.

"I guess it was a surprise to the deputy," Mrozek said. "He wasn't expecting that to happen when the cell door opened."

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Cano is then accused of charging the deputies, punching the officer hit by the feces three to four times with a closed fist, Mrozek said.

Mrozek did not elaborate on how Cano was subdued, but said deputies did not use force on the inmate. A total of three deputies responded to the fight, he said. The deputies "were able to use their training to get him to stop," Mrozek said.

The deputy was treated and released from a local hospital following the incident, Mrozek said.

The new charge is not the first Cano has picked up since he was jailed on attempted murder charges last September.

In February, Cano was accused of creating a "stabbing instrument" from a toothbrush in the jail and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon in the custody of a department of corrections. Corrections deputies found the "sharp-edged" weapon after they received information from another inmate and searched Cano's cell, Mrozek told the Beacon-News at the time.

In August 2015, Oswego police shot Cano, then 25, on Ashlawn Avenue near Lombardy Lane after he called 911 and said he was going to shoot himself in the street, along with anyone who came to help, Oswego police said.

After police arrived, Cano raised a gun toward them, and was commanded to drop the weapon, according to police. He didn't, and two officers fired, striking Cano once, police said. Illinois State Police conducted an independent investigation into the shooting.

Last year, Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis announced that no criminal charges would be filed against the two Oswego police officers who fired their weapons during the August confrontation. Weis called the officers' actions warranted, justified and necessary to prevent what may have transpired.

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For that incident, Cano was charged with attempted first-degree murder, unlawful use or possession of a weapon by a felon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

He is next scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. Nov. 30 in Room 113 at the Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville.

hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone
Aurora police are investigating six van burglaries in the city involving the theft of thousands of dollars worth of tools and other items.

Signs of forced entry were visible on four of the vans, and two had been left unlocked, according to an email from police spokesman Dan Ferrelli.

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Police estimate the total loss from all six burglaries is close to $33,000. On two occasions, a gray Chevrolet van was seen near the targeted vehicles, Ferrelli said.

It's possible that one or more of the burglaries are related, Ferrelli said.

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Most recently, between 11 a.m. and 12:50 p.m. Thursday, $3,200 worth of tools were stolen from an unlocked van parked in a lot on the 600 block of Plum Street, Ferrelli said.

Between 2:45 and 3:35 p.m. Oct. 27, a generator worth about $500 was taken from a locked van parked in a lot on the 1000 block of Hill Avenue.

Between noon Oct. 23 and 5 a.m. Oct. 24, about $1,120 worth of tools were taken from an unlocked van parked in a driveway on the 500 block of Farnum Avenue.

Between midnight and 5 a.m. Oct. 23, $16,600 worth of tools were taken from a van parked on the street on the 1300 block of Valayna Drive.

At about 10:55 a.m. Oct. 4, more than $10,000 worth of items were taken from a van parked in a lot on the 2400 block of Church Road, Ferrelli said.

Police ask anyone with information about the incidents to call Aurora police investigators at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and qualify for a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to any arrests.

People also can submit tips through the Aurora Police Department's free My PD mobile app.

hleone@tribpub.com

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Twitter @hannahmleone
Every branch of the military service will be saluted during "Stars and Stripes: The Music of our Country with the Matt Kowalski Quartet," a Veterans Day Concert at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre.

"I'd really like to show the veterans out there how much it means to us that they put their time in and that they've dedicated their lives to making this country a better place," Kowalski said. "I'm hoping that I can do some talking about that and showing our respect, and hopefully playing some patriotic music for these guys in a style that reflects why this country is so great. We're hoping to put a jazzier feel toward all these old standard American tunes."

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The program will include the songs associated with the Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines. "We're hoping that we can get the audience to participate a little bit when they hear their song," Kowalski said. "They can stand up and be recognized."

All of those tunes will be performed in a jazzier style, the musician indicated. "We're hoping to make it something fresh out of something that they've known their whole livessomething that they identify with," he explained.

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At press time, the quartet was still finalizing their song list but they are definitely planning to perform, "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," a song associated with Louis Armstrong. "America" and "Amazing Grace" are likely to also be on the program. Their plan is to play "some old-timey things that we can really wail on," Kowalski said.

Trombonist Kowalski's group includes Gomeh Barak on trumpet, Devin Foster on bass and Adler Scheidt on guitar. The quartet has been performing together for about six years. "I knew the majority of the musicians through college at the Eastman School of Music," Kowalski said. "The bass player I grew up with in Chicago."

The Matt Kowalski Quartet has performed in clubs all over Chicago and New York.

Kowalski also runs a brass quintet that performs frequently at churches and for holiday events. In addition, he plays in an orchestra for weddings and other events.

Kowalski's quartet played a small role in last year's Veterans Day Concert at Metropolis. "My group got called in at the last minute," he said. "We ended up really doing well. We had maybe a five-minute segment and the staff at Metropolis said, 'We'd love to have you back next year to do the whole show.'"

Kowalski was thrilled to be asked to create an entire show for Veterans Day.

"It's been very important to me to show veterans that we appreciate what they do; that we appreciate their service to their country," Kowalski said. "It's been incredibly important to me that we can reach out to these people and hopefully entertain them for an hour."

Besides, the musician noted, Veterans Day has always been important to him for another reason. He revealed, "It happens to be my birthday."

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Stars and Stripes: The Music of our Country with the Matt Kowalski Quartet

When: 2 p.m. Nov. 11

Where: Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights

Tickets: Free; reservations are required

Information: (847) 577-2121; www.metropolisarts.com
A Darien teenager charged with several felonies was ordered released to home custody Friday but was barred from his high school, which he had allegedly targeted for violence on social media.

After conferring in chambers almost an hour with attorneys and probation staff, DuPage County Judge Michael Wolfe ordered the 16-year-old to be released to the custody of his mother, but the judge placed the youth on a GPS tracker and home detention.

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The judge also barred the youth from any noneducational use of the internet and explicitly banned him from Hinsdale South High School in Darien, which he had allegedly threatened to "shoot up" in a social media post in early October.

After seeing that post and another that threatened violence to a fellow student, police went to his home and found several firearms, explosives, knives and Nazi memorabilia, including a uniform, according to authorities. The youth has been in custody since then and is charged with weapons and firearms violations, disorderly conduct and possession of explosives.

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The Tribune is not naming the youth because he has been charged as a juvenile.

The judge said in court Friday that the youth has continued to do "exceptional" work in school while in juvenile custody.

"He has been a model detainee," Wolfe said.

The judge's order also included a ban on possessing any type of weapon, and he barred the youth from contact with four students who had been involved in the investigation. The youth also should undergo any counseling deemed appropriate by the probation department as he awaits adjudication of his case, Wolfe said.

His school system still has not taken any disciplinary action because, school officials said, it would be premature while the youth remains in custody. Hinsdale Township High School District Superintendent Bruce Law said Friday he would confer with prosecutors and then the school attorneys to see whether the change in the youth's status would initiate the disciplinary process.

In a previous hearing, the youth's mother told the judge that she had arranged for her son to take independent classes online while his case moves through the court system.

Wolfe said he wanted to keep a tight rein on the case, so he ordered the youth back to court Nov. 10 for an update.

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
Volunteers for Caring Patriots Inc. ready thousands of bags of food for veterans in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The effort originated several years ago in Alsip and has expanded to serve veterans throughout the Southland. (Caring Patriots photo)

Treats, turkey and gratitude are on the menu for active military and Southland veterans this fall.

The Oak Lawn Park District is conducting its 6th annual Treats for Troops candy drive for members of the military on duty overseas. It's the perfect way to dispose of leftover and extra Halloween candy, said Mary Hensley, a park district program supervisor at the park district.

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"We are proud to do our share in honoring our troops who have sacrificed so much for our freedom," she said.

Students in the Ice Arena's Rising Stars Skating School and participants in the park district's Spookview Halloween event were given bags with a letter explaining the program to decorate and then fill with wrapped candy they collected on Halloween.

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"A lot of kids like to write a little thank you note to the troops," Hensley said.

The park district's Pack-a-Box-for-a-Soldier care package program, coordinated by park district employee Jacky Connelly, takes over from there.

Connelly said a group of volunteers called Mrs. Jacky's Soldiers has been packing boxes of food, toiletries and other items for troops serving "in harm's way" on a weekly basis for about 13 years. Additional boxes containing holiday items are sent out several times a year, she said.

Last year, more than 500 pounds of Halloween candy was sent to the troops between Halloween and Christmas.

Connelly said the program is in need of postage stamps to mail the care packages as well as items to supplement the candy, including travel-size toiletries, books and CDs.

A full list of list of requested items is available at Oak View Center, 4625 W. 110th St., Oak Lawn, where volunteers gathered Friday to assemble packages containing the first donations of Halloween candy.

Connelly said most of the 5700 packages sent to troops since 2003 have gone to local soldiers, but some were sent to soldiers whose family members have simply made the request.

Connelly said as long as "they're still there," no soldier will be denied a package from home.

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"We never turn away a request for a soldier that's overseas," she said.

Donations of candy and other items are being collected at Oak View Center.

Treating veterans to turkey dinners

While the care package program is for troops serving overseas, another local effort is turning its attention to those who already have served.

Caring Patriots Inc. will supply veterans with a complete family-size Thanksgiving dinner and more this November said Mike Cozzi, cofounder and president of the group. He said six to eight bags "stuffed" with groceries and a 20-pound turkey will be distributed to about 1,000 veterans in the area.

The non-profit organization will hold its eighth annual Veterans' Food Drive from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 19 at the former Dominick's building, 435 N. Weber Road, Romeoville.

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"Our biggest concern right now is to get veterans who could use assistance to come forward and register," Cozzi said.

Cozzi said there are no restrictions for veterans to qualify for the food drive, but recipients will need to bring their DD-214 proof of discharge or equivalent documentation.

"We don't judge based on financial situation. We do this because it's a chance to give back and give our thanks to those who have served," Cozzi said.

The Caring Patriots was originally a loosely-formed group of friends who wanted to help veterans in some way, he said. Everyone in the group had some family connection to the military and appreciated their service to the country.

In 2015, Cozzi and his wife Tiffany Cozzi, David and Teresa Torres, Mike Devlin, Tom Tallman and Tom Battreall formed the not for profit organization and continued their work to benefit veterans.

Cozzi said the food drive has come a long way since it began in 2009 when just over 100 veterans were provided with groceries.

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"It's grown every year," he said. "Last year our goal was to do a thousand and we were just able to exceed that. We're hoping to do the same this year."

Caring Patriots reaches out to schools, churches, businesses, hospitals and veterans' organizations and uses social media for help to provide each veteran with food for the holiday and some for the pantry, he said.

He said financial donations are used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.

Cozzi said the food drive is "something we are passionate about."

"We have respect for those who have made the sacrifice and the commitment," he said. "This is our committed effort to try to give back and, as I like to say, to help the heroes that have served us."

The organization needs volunteers Nov.18 to help sort and pack thousands of items and Nov. 19 to help with distribution. Information on donating, registering as a veteran or volunteering is at www.caringpatriots.org.

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Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Traffic flows on I-55 over the bridge on Kankakee River, north of the future interchange at I-55 and proposed Illiana Corridor tollway near Wilmington on Oct. 16, 2013. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Environmental groups that oppose construction of the Illiana toll road are celebrating a second federal court judge's ruling that the Federal Highway Administration's 2014 approval of the bi-state project was invalid.

U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle ruled Tuesday that portions of the project's proposal that relied on its already legally invalidated foundation also were invalid.

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The environmental plaintiffs  Openlands, Midewin Heritage Association and Sierra Club Illinois  had challenged both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 environmental impact statements and the federal government's "records of decision" greenlighting the 47-mile highway project through Will County.

The U.S., Illinois and Indiana transportation departments were named as defendants in the lawsuit.

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Last June, a federal court judge ruled that the Federal Highway Administration's approval of the Tier 1 portion of the project, which looked at broad issues like the location, mode choice and areawide environmental impact of the alternatives under consideration, was "arbitrary and capricious" and in violation of U.S. environmental law.

Norgle's decision Tuesday found that the prior federal approval of the Tier 2 statement, which relied upon the invalidated Tier 1 statement, must also be invalid and was thus "no longer effective."

"The federal district court has now twice ruled in favor of the environmental plaintiffs that the Tier 1 and the Tier 2 environmental impact statements are legally invalid," said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, which challenged the toll road project in court on behalf of the environmental plaintiffs.

"Enough is enough. It's time for (the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Indiana Department of Transportation) to stop wasting public officials' time and taxpayers' money and bring this to an end."

Shortly after taking office in January 2015, Gov. Bruce Rauner suspended planning and development of the $1.3 billion Illiana project, which aims to connect Interstate 55 near Wilmington with Interstate 65 near Lowell, Ind., as an alternative to Interstate 80 for truckers.

While the project remains on hold in Illinois, Indiana is set on seeing it through.

In April, INDOT agreed to fund a new environmental impact statement to comply with the court order in an attempt to keep the controversial project alive.

"Indiana has always been committed to the Illiana Expressway and is ready to proceed with the project once Illinois is," INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said following this week's ruling, which all but guarantees that both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 environmental impact statements will need to be revised.

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Despite terminating all spending on the Illiana project, IDOT has said that it continues "working cooperatively" with INDOT to address the problematic environmental impact statement, as required by court order, because it includes other state transportation projects like the Interstate 55 interchange with Illinois 129 and Lorenzo Road.

"We will continue to work with the court on a solution," IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said following the judge's ruling this week. "The Illinois Department of Transportation will consult with (the) Federal Highway Administration and other stakeholders to determine the best path forward."

For Learner, the best path would be to drop the project entirely rather than redraft the environmental impact statements to comply with federal environmental law.

"If they do their job right," he said," it would likely show that the tollway is not economically justified or environmentally sensible.

"The better approach would be to stop wasting taxpayers' money and time and bring the boondoggle to its well-deserved end."

zkoeske@tribpub.com

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Twitter @ZakKoeske
Palos Hills officials approved a 2.5 percent pay raise for municipal employees.

The pay raise is retroactive to May 1. The salary hike is for all employees, including 31 full-time police officers, 19 full-time public works employees, and administrative staff from other city departments.

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The City Council unanimously approved the three-year contract at a meeting Nov. 3 without comment.

The contract was negotiated with representatives from the Police Department's union, Metropolitan Alliance of Police, and public works union, Service Employees International Union, though it also covers nonunion employees.

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Under the new contract, employees with one year of service earn one week of vacation, those with two years of service earn two weeks, those with at least five years earn three weeks, those with at least 12 years earn four weeks and those with at least 25 years earn five weeks.

The pay hike means the building commissioner will be paid $79,950 yearly; the police chief, $128,540; and the two deputy chiefs, $108,707 each.

City officials also recognized a Police Department worker who is retiring and one receiving a promotion.

Police Deputy Chief Jim Boie, who worked his way up from patrolman 30 years ago, received high praise and applause from Chief Paul Madigan, Mayor Jerry Bennett and the audience. Boie also received a plaque honoring his service and his retiring star at the meeting.

"I want to thank you for 30 years of really being a dedicated officer for this community," Madigan said. "I can't thank you enough."

Bennett told Boie that he appreciated him always being ready to help at any hour, adding that was true of the entire police force.

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Tracy Hlado, a 16-year veteran of the department, who also worked her way up from patrolwoman and most recently has been a lieutenant supervisor, is being promoted to deputy chief. Hlado is also the first female officer in the position, Madigan said.

"I know you're going to fill those shoes," Bennett said of Hlado taking over for Boie.

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The final recognition went to Wolf, the Police Department's K-9.

Patrolman Aaron Boatright, who has worked with Wolf for the past 11 years and accompanied him to the meeting, said the police dog had undergone several surgeries, including removal of his spleen, but always returned to the job. Wolf will be retiring to Boatright's home.

"He was huge. Most dogs don't last as long as he did," said Boatright, who worked narcotics and patrol with his K-9. "It's been the best 11 years of my career."

Bennett gave Boatright and Wolf a plaque and gave Boatwright his retiring star "in recognition of 11 years of outstanding dedicated service." The K-9 had a few comments, too, barking several times when Bennett thanked him.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
A federal jury on Thursday convicted an Indiana man who prosecutors said was a "world-class con" faking a doctor routine for months at a Chicago clinic.

Scott Redman was found guilty inside a Dirksen Federal Building courtroom on all 10 counts, which included wire fraud, stealing the identity and license number of a physician, providing false information on a Drug Enforcement Agency application, and distributing a controlled substance. Last year, he pleaded guilty in Cook County court to a similar scheme to see patients from the south suburbs.

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Redman used the name and medical license number of Dr. Julian Lopez-Garcia, who is employed at Stroger Hospital in Chicago, to see and write prescriptions for patients at Near North Side Clinic, federal prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Madden likened Redman to Frank Abagnale Jr., whose real-life exploits pretending to be a doctor and attorney were portrayed in the movie "Catch Me If You Can."

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Like Abagnale, Redman operated as a "fake doctor who pulled it off for months."

Former patients of Clarity Clinic testified during trial that Redman talked with them about their serious mental health issues. Two of the witnesses testified about how they had their 9-year-old son see Redman, who prescribed the child a stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

At least five former Clarity Clinic patients are suing the clinic.

According to testimony, Redman made post-arrest statements to authorities justifying his actions by saying he desperately needed the money for his family.

"It was incredibly unconventional, but I had to do something," he said.

Redman, who did not take the stand in his own trial, described in the post-trial statement as a "rigged game" where the "powers that be" make the rules for how to become a doctor.

"That's more than unconventional," Madden said during closing arguments. "It's illegal. It's criminal."

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In October, Redman received one year of supervision and was ordered by a Cook County judge to pay restitution after pleading guilty to a single count of misdemeanor practicing psychological therapy without a license in the south suburbs. One of his former patients in that case told the Daily Southtown the punishment for Redman was like a "little slap."

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Around that time, Redman had begun searching for a new job and eventually interviewed with Clarity Clinic, according to testimony.

Redman contacted a hacker to have fake medical school records created and emailed websites that offer doctored documents or diplomas for money, according to testimony.

According to testimony, Redman claimed to have graduated from medical school and done a residency at the University of Connecticut.

Prosecutors said Redman used a real Illinois state medical license number to apply for a registration number with the DEA.

Redman returns to federal court Feb. 8 for sentencing.

Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, right, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, left, face off in their first televised debate in what's considered a crucial race that could determine which party controls the Senate on Oct. 27, 2016, at the University of Illinois in Springfield, Ill. (Seth Perlman / AP)

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk rightly says he isn't endorsing fellow Republican Donald Trump because he says he's a bigot, but Kirk exhibited his own prejudices when he attacked the patriotism of the family of his opponent, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth.

In 2004, Duckworth lost her legs in the Iraq War when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter she was piloting.

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And during a debate last week, Duckworth spoke about the human costs of war.

"My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I'm a daughter of the American Revolution. I've bled for this nation," she said.

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"But I still want to be there in the Senate when the drums of war sound," she added. "Families like mine are the ones that bleed first. But let's make sure the American people understand what we are engaging in, and let's hold our allies accountable, because we can't do it all."

Kirk responded by saying, "I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington," he said.

Duckworth's mother is from Thailand and her father's family has lived in this nation for many generations.

Kirk later apologized to Duckworth via Twitter.

Not classy.

Kirk will deny it, but his remarks are all about race.

It harkens back to 2008 when the "birther" movement was born. Folks questioned whether the U.S.-born Barack Obama was eligible to be president because his father was from Kenya.

We rarely heard anyone suggest that Obama's opponent John McCain wasn't eligible even though he was born outside the 50 United States. His father, a U.S. naval officer, was stationed in what is now Panama along with his wife when McCain was born in 1936.

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For the record, I believe that McCain was eligible, but his claim to being a "natural born" citizen would seem to be far more tenuous than someone, like Obama, who was actually born here.

The Constitution requires a candidate be a "natural born citizen" to be eligible to be president, a qualification most legal scholars agree includes individuals born abroad to an American parent or someone born in the U.S.

For years, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has fanned the flames of the birther movement. He was the most prominent advocate for that ridiculous notion that our president isn't eligible to be president.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Back in January, Trump suggested that his GOP rival Ted Cruz wasn't a natural born citizen because he was born in Canada to a U.S.-born mother and Cuban-born father.

So what do Cruz, Obama and Duckworth have in common? They each had a parent born overseas and have had their own devotion to this country called into question based on that fact.

But it goes beyond that. It is their "otherness" that is the dog whistle in these fights.

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The parents in question weren't of immediate European descent, leaving Trump, Kirk and others of their ilk free to attack their children's patriotism.

Don't believe me?

Well, how often have you heard anyone attack Trump for having a mother born in Scotland?

Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse journalist. He works as a freelance reporter in the Springfield area.
The Elgin City Council more than likely will opt out of the minimum wage hike approved by the Cook County Board. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

A majority of Elgin City Council members said they are willing to opt out of a minimum wage increase adopted by the Cook County board, with some arguing the issue would be better decided by state lawmakers.

The Cook County Board agreed to gradually raise the 8.25 an hour minimum wage to $13 by 2020.

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A portion of Elgin's east side is in Cook County, with the rest in Kane County. As a home rule community, Elgin can vote to opt out of the higher wage and has until July to do so, Elgin City Manager Rick Kozal said.

Mayor Dave Kaptain said he would support opting out of the minimum wage increase because it would create an unlevel playing field for businesses in Elgin, with one set of rules in one part of town and another in the other. And increasing the minimum wage requirements for all of Elgin would have the city's businesses with different requirements than neighboring towns.

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"This is something that would be best addressed at the state level," Kaptain said.

The Cook County Board action will increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour on July 1. The wage rises to $11 a year later and to $12 in July 2019. It becomes $13 an hour in 2020.

Kozal said the council's and staff's primary focus is the upcoming 2017 budget discussions.

Council member Terry Gavin said he is not in favor of minimum wage requirements, in general, and agreed with Kaptain's assessment of why to opt out of the Cook County measure.

Council member Toby Shaw said he was surprised at the county's action and supports opting out as the measure would divide the community per what had to be paid. Putting a minimum wage requirement in place for the whole of the city that differed with what was being paid in surrounding towns would be a mistake, too, he said.

Council member RIch Dunne said he agreed with Kaptain about opting out, particularly when it comes to having a level playing field. He cited the example of the city matching the county for police enforcement in the autumn of 2015.

In April 2015, the Cook County state's attorney's office started not to prosecute first or second offense misdemeanor cannabis possession cases involving having no more than 30 grams of pot without other circumstances such as intent to deliver. So that fall, the Elgin City Council approved an ordinance making first and second offenses for possession of 30 grams or less of cannabis ticketed offenses with fines and possibly community service.

Council member Tish Powell was a proponent of Elgin creating uniform regulations related to cannabis. But Dunne, who works for FEMA, was the lone nay vote, noting then it was still against state and federal law to possess marijuana. If any changes are to be made, they should be at those levels, he said.

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Powell said the city couldn't wait for Springfield, which has yet to balance the Illinois budget, or Washington and its gridlock to address the issue.

On minimum wage, though, Powell said the state should tackle raising it, if it's done at all.

"I'm all for a living wage, but am not into dictating," Powell said. "If any change was made, we need to be talking to local businesses first."

Council member Carol Rauschenberger said, "In general, I support the concept of a living wage," but added she needs more information from the Elgin community and business owners.

Attorney and City Council member John Steffen said he's been busy with his practice and would be getting details on the Cook County ordinance.

"We have until summer of 2017 to opt out, so there isn't a rush," he said.

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Being split between two counties leads Rose Martinez to favor opting out. "As I understand it, (what Cook County will be doing) creates a delicate imbalance."

Trade groups representing the retail and restaurant industries oppose raising wages, saying businesses operating on 3 to 5 percent profit margins already are squeezed by a battery of cost increases, including a federal rule extending overtime pay to millions more Americans that takes effect Dec. 1.

Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce President Carol Gieske said members recently met with Kaptain on the measure.

"Cook County's ordinance certainly is difficult for a community like ours where Elgin is one-third in Cook County and the two-thirds in Kane County," Gieske said. "There is a disadvantage to local businesses on the far east side of Elgin to the rest of the community with this wage ordinance."

Chamber board member Michael Wong, a wage and employment law specialist and a partner at the SmithAmundsen law firm out of its St. Charles office, also sees an imbalance.

"The largest impact of the county board's ordinance will be on smaller businesses which are operating with smaller margins," Wong said. "Nonprofits also will be affected."

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Wong noted the county did modify its action by taking steps toward the new $13 minimum instead of implementing it immediately. It also was an effort to spur on the state to act on the issue, he said.

The ordinance applies to employees who work at least two hours in any two-week period at a company's Cook County office, Wong said. If making less than the Cook County wage, that employee would be paid the higher rate for the hours worked in Cook County. That rate would also apply to compensation for an employee traveling through the county for business activities, he said.

"This creates an administrative nightmare," Wong said.

Council member John Prigge could not be reached for comment.

Associated Press contributed.

mdanahey@tribpub.com
A note about voting: I am so against letting people register to vote on election day. Have they been living in a cave and didn't know they need to be registered to vote? If they have been living in a cave and are not aware of the issues, they have no business trying to vote. I think every voter must show a photo identification before they can vote. I also want term limits. I want to vote some of these longtime senators and representatives out of office since they only represent their good buddies and themselves. One person who I don't need to name has been in office so long he thinks he owns Illinois. I pray every night that we get decent people on the ballot who will work for us. We deserve better than what we've been getting. The commercial for term limits is right on target. People get elected to go to Springfield, and they forget to come back.

Frowning on clowns: With the recent creepy clown panic, many are protesting McDonald's restaurant's Ronald McDonald. If this was 1960, the heyday of "Bozo's Circus," how would our politically correct society react?

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Aurora not reaching potential: Whether you think Aurora has improved during the current administration or not, you can't deny that Aurora still has the same negative stigmas it's held for years. Obviously we are not reaching our full potential. All you need to do is to look around you. Our downtown has no innovation and has vacant buildings that could be repurposed. Next year we will have a chance to elect a new mayor in Aurora. In order to get to the next level, I believe we need a mayor who has not been part of the past administration. We need a mayor who has the experience and proven leadership to get things done and can take Aurora to the next level. For me, that person is Linda Chapa LaVia.

Riled about refugees: I wish someone would explain to me how our government is going to handle all these Syrian refugees coming in and taking jobs away from people in the United States. We have a job shortage as it is. People aren't making enough money. We'll have to support them for a while until they get started. It doesn't make any sense. What is going on with this Democratic Party?

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Comparing Clinton to Blagojevich: There was a small news item about Hillary Clinton's State Department making a quid pro quo offer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They wanted the FBI to change the subject classification of some of Hillary's private emails from classified to unclassified so they would look less serious. In return, the FBI would be given more operatives in certain foreign countries. There was no denial of this from the State Department, but since the offer was never taken, it was of no significance. A few years ago, former Gov. Blagojevich got 14 years in prison for making his own quid pro quo offer for getting campaign money in exchange for appointing someone to a vacant Illinois Senate seat. Why does one unused offer have no significance while the other unused offer got someone 14 years in prison? Perhaps someone could explain that to me.

Border issue: To all the women who complain about how Donald Trump talked or felt about women, ask yourself one question: Who would you feel safer with? Hillary Clinton wants to open borders and let tens of thousands of Muslims come in. Trump is for America first.

Blame game: I was watching President Obama calling Donald Trump a whiner. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. For the first four years of his administration, Obama blamed everything on former President George W. Bush. Talk about whiners.

Trump talk: Donald Trump is claiming that the media is rigging the election against him. The media is simply reporting on the outrageous and unacceptable things he says and does. He is his own worst enemy. Trump says that in this great and historic presidential election, he will accept the outcome if he is the winner. The ironic part is what will be great and historic is that we will likely elect our first woman president.

Vexed about election: This is the most disgraceful presidential election in the history of the United States. I've never seen anything like this. I know people have their issues with Hillary Clinton dealing with honesty, but let me tell you this: All politicians out there have done something that could discredit them. Donald Trump is a disgrace to our nation, yet he has people supporting him who don't care what he does or says. Sometimes I think this man is trying his best to bring down the GOP single-handedly. I don't get it. We are supposed to be the leader of the world, and we look like the Keystone Cops or the Three Stooges. This has got to stop. We can't ever let this happen again.

Dual scandals: Politics and much of the ministry are just a path to making an easy living. After the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, the Rev. Jesse Jackson went to Washington to counsel President Bill Clinton on his moral failings. As this event was occurring, the news came out that Jackson had just become a new father by a former staff worker who relocated to California.

Warring against women: What I don't understand is why the Donald Trump camp keeps picking fights with women. I watched while Newt Gingrich was picking a fight with Megyn Kelly. It's amazing. Trump is down 17 points with women, and Gingrich is picking a fight with Kelly on Trump's behalf. They keep talking about former President Bill Clinton. He is not running for president. What's killing Trump right now is he cannot stay the course. He wants to keep picking fights with women instead of apologizing and moving on.

Past permeates the present: I read Speak Outs from Donald Trump supporters that said the comments Trump made about women 10 years ago are no big deal. Yes, they are a big deal. You don't want your president to have stuff coming out of the closet. Look at Hillary Clinton. Stuff comes out about her husband that happened 20 years ago, and stuff comes out about her that was 20 or 30 years ago. It is a big deal. Don't blame everything on the media. Trump digs his own grave. If someone says something about him that he doesn't like, he doesn't just walk it off. He carries it further. He gives the media news to report. He acts like someone who is on the playground at recess in elementary school.

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Editor's note

Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-2460 or email couriernews@tribpub.com. Please include "speak out" in the subject line.
Graham Jackson looks at a poster at a meeting held by the Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation and Amtrak regarding the proposed Amtrak Hiawatha project. An environmental assessment of the project proposes building a freight train holding track through Glenview. Jackson moved into a home two months ago near that area. (Alexandra Kukulka / Pioneer Press)

Two hours before the final game of the World Series, hundreds of residents attended a meeting to learn about a project that would increase rail service through Glenview.

The Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation and Amtrak held the Wednesday meeting regarding the proposed Amtrak Hiawatha project, which would increase service from Chicago to Milwaukee from seven to 10 round trips.

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About 240 residents attended the meeting, held in the Lakeview Room of Park Center, 2400 Chestnut Avenue. On one side of the room, a 25-minute video continuously played and explained the purpose, need and proposed elements of the project. The other side of the room was lined with poster boards further explaining the project, and representatives from the three agencies were available to answer questions.

A number of area residents have expressed opposition to the project, and the Glenview Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution objecting to the findings of an environmental assessment of the proposal last month.

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"Why are they building the holding track right behind us? I mean, it's right behind us," Glenview resident Suzye Doblin asked an official as she signed in before the meeting.

Some village officials and residents have questioned the need for an increase in Hiawatha line service. According to Amtrak data, 2013 ridership was 807,000 and decreased to 792,000 in 2015. However, Amtrak data also shows that ridership in fiscal year 2016 had increased by 1.1 percent to 807,700 from the previous fiscal year.

The project is meant to "address passenger rail demand" on the Hiawatha line, and the need for this project is "near capacity and over capacity of peak Hiawatha service trains," according to the video presentation.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said ridership is "at a steady rate," but if the frequency of the trains increases, then ridership will increase. If the project is approved by the FRA, the Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation and Amtrak officials will discuss a timeline for the project, he said in an interview at the meeting.

The environmental assessment, released last month by the Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation and the FRA, proposes two options for building a freight train holding track from Glenview to Northbrook: an 11,000-foot holding track on the west side of the existing Metra tracks from West Lake Avenue to Techny Road, or a 10,000-foot holding track on the east side of the existing tracks in the same area.

The two proposed options for the holding track both "mitigate conflict" between the freight trains and the passenger trains that go through the area, according to the video. But, the 10,000-foot track "would have no impact on noise and vibration," it said.

According to the video, in 2014 dollars, the 11,000-foot holding track would cost $42 million and the 10,000-foot holding track would cost $39 million.

Both holding track options would require building a new bridge over Shermer Road next to the existing bridge, according to the assessment. Village officials and residents have raised concerns about building a bridge in that area because of a July 2012 derailment that killed a Glenview couple.

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Mae Knowles, a WDOT representative, said she spoke to many residents who were concerned about pollution and the need for the project.

"What we've really tried to emphasize is this is a proposal based on the trends of increasing passengers (on the Hiawatha line)," she said.

Scott Speegle, an IDOT spokesman, said that many concerns were raised when he spoke with residents.

"People are rightly concerned about the possible impacts in their community," he said.

Residents were able to submit comments at the meeting and through Nov. 15, and those comments will be addressed in the final environmental assessment filed with the FRA for approval, Speegle said.

If the project is approved, the agencies involved will look for funding, but it is "hard to tell," when funding will be available and when the project would be completed, he said.

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Graham Jackson said he moved to Glenview two months ago, and his home is near the proposed holding track options. He said he was not made aware of the project before he moved in, but he is concerned about the possible noise and impacts on the environment and property values.

"There's nothing here that talks about how this project will benefit the community," he said.

Thomas Aldrich, a resident of the Glen Lake Estates neighborhood, said the agencies involved have not "demonstrated a business case" to increase the number of trains.

Residents who live near the existing freight train tracks oppose the project because they deal with noise, pollution and damage to their homes when the freight trains come through, and the holding track will add to those elements, Aldrich said.

"There are hundreds of people here on a rainy night when the Cubs are in Game 7. No one wants this holding track," Aldrich said.

akukulka@tribpub.com
Candidates are urgently campaigning with only days to go until Election Day, and the tone in some Lake County races has taken a contentious turn as would-be officeholders seek an edge.

In the state legislative contest for the 62nd House District, the debate has at times focused not on the candidates' policy stances or their proposals for solving Illinois' budget crisis, but on a 2011 federal court case involving Republican challenger Rod Drobinski.

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Drobinski's opponent, Democratic state Rep. Sam Yingling of Grayslake, has seized on the federal complaint, in which the health care company Abbott Laboratories accused Drobinski of collecting more than $19,000 in monthly payments from his mother's pension fund after she died and refusing to refund the money. Drobinski, a Lake County prosecutor, collected the payments between June 2005 and January 2007, the complaint alleged.

"He needs to be held accountable for that," Yingling said. "And voters need to know about that before they vote for him."

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In a court ruling, Drobinski was eventually ordered to pay the money back under an agreement reached by the parties involved.

For his part, Drobinski said he notified Abbott about his mother's death within two weeks and said, "it was their mistake." He said he didn't know the pension payments continued to be made.

"I did everything I was supposed to do," Drobinski said. "And the most important thing, I think, from anybody's standpoint is I never touched a dime of that money."

Drobinski discovered that the payments had continued, he said, after the Internal Revenue Service seized several thousand dollars from his mother's account and sent Drobinski a letter. A dispute arose between him and Abbott over who should straighten the matter out with the IRS, he said.

Representatives of Abbott Laboratories did not immediately comment on the matter when reached by phone Thursday.

Bonnie Berger-Neel, a former Abbott employee who worked for 32 years in the company's diagnostics division, said in an email that it is "completely implausible that Drobinski was unaware for a period of 18 months that his mother's pension continued to be paid." Abbott mails a statement every month, she said, and Drobinski, as executor of his mother's will, also should have received an annual tax form.

Berger-Neel, who said she has "direct familiarity with how the pension fund works," is also active within the local Democratic Party. She is listed as secretary of the Warren Township Democrats.

"There are many Abbott retirees living in our community, and we are aghast that a lawyer employed by the State's Attorney's Office would keep that money in the first place, and then fight paying it back," Berger-Neel wrote.

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Yingling said Drobinski's explanation is meant to "cover up the fact that he executed this pension scam."

Drobinski responded by calling Yingling's comments, "a desperate attack from a desperate candidate."

"This is Madigan-style politics that the people are sick and tired of," Drobinski said, referring to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, a Democrat.

Candidate draws attention to abortion stances

In the race for the state's 26th Senate District, Democratic challenger Kelly Mazeski has drawn attention to the conservative pro-life stances of her Republican opponent, Dan McConchie, who was appointed to the seat earlier this year.

Mazeski, a former village trustee in North Barrington, held a news conference earlier this week in Barrington, where two women from outside the district appeared and expressed their opposition to McConchie's views.

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Joyce Mason, 47, of Gurnee, is a domestic violence survivor. She said she appeared at the news conference because she "felt like it was important for me to step up and to come talk in support of" Mazeski.

"One thing that we see is abusers using rape and assault and pregnancy as a means of controlling women, and keeping them vulnerable, and keeping them dependent," Mason said, calling McConchie "very dangerously anti-choice."

"He's against abortion. He's against birth control. He's against in vitro fertilization. He doesn't believe in abortion, even in cases of rape or incest," Mason said.

Another woman, Debbie Saul, 52, of Chicago, appeared alongside Mason and spoke about her experience with in vitro fertilization, a procedure she used because of her late husband's multiple sclerosis. Without the procedure, she would have never had triplets, she said. The children are now 17 years old.

Mazeski has pointed to comments McConchie made while working for the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life as evidence of his views.

In a written statement, McConchie suggested Mazeski was using the abortion issue to avoid talking about the problems currently plaguing the Democratic-controlled legislature.

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"I offer solutions to the problems voters ask about, such as fixing the state's budget, high property taxes and rampant corruption," McConchie said in the statement. "Instead of talking solutions, my opponent is fixated on mischaracterizing and sensationalizing my views on one issue with big money from the Madigan machine. If people want a leader who listens to and fights for them, the choice is clear."

But Mazeski defended her approach.

"Obviously the budget is a huge, pressing issue today," she said. "But the person who wins this election could be serving for many years, and there have been many bills related to choice that have been introduced. And you can't assume that all the Democrats are on the same page about this, either."

Local governmental races, too

The feisty rhetoric has even made its way to the county board level. In an email, Democrat Gerri Songer, a political newcomer and a teacher in Township High School District 214, accused her opponent, Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor, of flip-flopping on the Route 53 extension for political reasons and taking donations from business interests that could have benefited from the project while he still supported it.

The two candidates are competing to represent District 18, which includes Vernon Hills and Indian Creek.

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Lawlor denied he changed his mind only to get re-elected.

"I find her accusations extremely troubling, because they go straight to my integrity," he said. "I can't imagine looking myself in the mirror if I did something like that."

Lawlor added, "I made this decision based on changing facts"  namely, the rising cost of the project beyond projections.

But Lawlor didn't shy from the opportunity to take a political jab of his own at his opponent. Referring to Songer's fixation on oil trains in the area  which are regulated by the federal government, not the county  Lawlor said he thinks "it's important to elect a board member that's not a one-trick pony" and can actually "get things done for people."

Pointing to his efforts to work across bureaucratic and intergovernmental lines to make public bodies more efficient, Lawlor said, "My opponent's approach is more divisive."

lhammill@tribpub.com

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Lake Bluff police said Friday they are investigating reports of illegal sexual conduct by a teacher who worked in Lake Bluff schools in the 1970s and 1980s.

In June, police were informed of social media postings that included allegations of such conduct. Since then, Lake Bluff police have interviewed possible victims and individuals involved in the social media exchanges, according to a news release. The teacher has not worked in Lake Bluff School District 65 since the mid-1980s and is currently living outside of Illinois, police said.

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Police are working with officials from District 65, the Lake County State's Attorney's Office, the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

"Because of the amount of time that has passed between the alleged incidents and the information being made available to us, this investigation presents several challenges related to fact finding and potential criminal challenges," police said in the release.

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Police declined to offer any additional details citing the ongoing investigation.

Police encourage anyone with information related to the investigation to call (847) 234-8760.

mlawton@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @reporterdude
The large sign to the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort could be relocated once state officials start a widening project along Milwaukee Avenue in the village. (Ronnie Wachter / Pioneer Press)

Lincolnshire officials are figuring out ways to reduce an estimated $1.4 million in roadwork bills that the Illinois Department of Transportation said the village has to pay once it starts work to widen Route 45 and Milwaukee Avenue.

Village trustees first had to move past the initial sticker shock after IDOT told Lincolnshire to prepare to cover the money needed to relocate traffic signals, overhead lights and underground utilities

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"Oh, my word," trustee Mara Grujanac said of the $1.4 million in potential expenses.

Mayor Liz Brandt said she would try to negotiate with IDOT to reduce the village's share of expenses on a project that the state transportation agency is planning. IDOT officials did not return requests for comment.

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Since 2003, state transportation officials have been working on plans to add lanes along Route 45, from Milwaukee Avenue in Lincolnshire to Town Line Road in Vernon Hills, as well as widen lanes along a high-traffic segment of Milwaukee Avenue on both sides of Route 22.

Village Engineer Wally Dittrich said he also has contacted IDOT on ways to manage the $1.4 million in expenses that Lincolnshire may need to pay. He said construction on the project likely is five years away.

"I've been talking to them for three months, trying to figure out a different way to do this," Dittrich said

The largest village cost related to the project could be tied to the overhead streetlights that the village own.

A memo from IDOT to the Lincolnshire Village Board stated how the state agency would move the lighting and urged Lincolnshire officials to upgrade to newer lights  all for an estimated sum of $855,000.

If negotiating with IDOT doesn't work, village officials simply could not replace the lighting once the state agency tears them down, Brandt said.

"I'm not necessarily sold that we need lighting," she said.

The cost to relocate traffic signals to make room for widened roads could cost $509,000, according to the memo IDOT sent to Lincolnshire.

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A majority of that total  $460,000  would be tied to the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Marriott Drive, which is heavily used as the entrance to the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort.

To manage that cost, Brandt recently told trustees they possibly could create a special taxing area within the area of the hotel that could help cover the work to the traffic signals.

Marriott General Manager Eric Bates said he had spoken briefly with Lincolnshire officials about the idea.

"We have not had any substantive conversations about that yet," he said.

Dittrich said IDOT never indicated in its memo the cost estimates to relocate underground utilities in Lincolnshire.

rwachter@pioneerlocal.com

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With "W" cupcakes to celebrate the Cubs' World Series win, there was a "whole different buzz" among patrons at DeEtta's Bakery in Naperville Thursday morning, bakery co-owner Kevin Tyschper said.

DeEtta's had already sold an entire batch of "W" cupcakes by Thursday afternoon, and rolled out the second batch in time for an expected after-school rush starting at 3 p.m. "There are so many kids coming in the bakery, we had to do something that was relevant to them," Tyschper said.

The bakery had been selling items tied to the Cubs as the playoffs started but they didn't really start taking off until the team won the pennant. Tyschper speculated that die-hard Cubs fans remembered teams of the past and had "been there, done that" with looking too far ahead.

"We really started to seeing the impacts in the bakery once we hit the World Series," Tyschper said.

For a few days leading up to Wednesday night's game seven, the bakery stocked cookies featuring the face of Harry Caray, the late Cubs announcer, and the "W" win logo. The Harry Caray cookies appealed a little more to the older crowd. Tyschper said it was fun watching kids come in and ask who the guy on the cookie was.

The bakery sold hundreds of the cookies in about three days, and the cupcakes are expected to be just as popular.

And not only are the cookies and cupcakes bleeding the Cubbie blue, but more customers are calling in and asking for cakes decorated in the Cubs colors, Tyschper said.

Photo by Morgan Tyschper / HANDOUT DeEttas Bakery in Naperville started making cookies featuring the face of the late Cubs announcer Harry Caray and the Cubs W win logo last week. The bakery sold hundreds of the cookies in about three days. DeEttas Bakery in Naperville started making cookies featuring the face of the late Cubs announcer Harry Caray and the Cubs W win logo last week. The bakery sold hundreds of the cookies in about three days. (Photo by Morgan Tyschper / HANDOUT)

"I'm kind of a Chicago fan in general, so I like to see them win. I'm happy for the city and the true die-hard Cubs fans," Tyschper said.

The cupcakes are expected to be a mainstay through the weekend.

ehegarty@tribpub.com
Regardless of whether you see links between politicians and lizards as author Douglas Adams does, you still have to decide which you prefer and then go vote, columnist Bill Mego says. (MILBERT O. BROWN / CHICAGO TRIBUNE)

Those of you who aren't familiar with the late humorist and writer Douglas Adams might find a passage from one of his books appropriate this week. The book is "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish," the fourth book in Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" planned six-book "trilogy."

The passage is a brief conversation between Arthur Dent, the last surviving man after Earth is demolished to make way for a space bypass, and Ford Prefect, an alien writer for a galactic travel guide, who rescues him. (I actually have a cousin who still drives an old Ford Prefect.)

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In the conversation, Arthur asks Ford about an ancient democracy populated by people and lizards. The lizards are the leaders. The people hate the lizards, but the lizards rule the people. Arthur thinks that's odd because Ford had told him that it was a democracy, so he asks the obvious question. Why don't the people get rid of the lizards?

Ford answers him. "It honestly doesn't occur to them. They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

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Arthur is surprised. "You mean they actually vote for the lizards." Ford said, Oh yes, of course. Arthur then asks why. "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."

Now, I'm not being partisan here, by which I mean that you can't actually prove I'm being partisan because you can interpret that story either way, depending on whom you think the wrong lizard is. But if there was ever an election before which folks should be made familiar with that story, it is this one.

But no matter how we feel about the current slate of candidates, no amount of dissatisfaction should relieve us from our responsibility to vote. In each race, somebody is going to win, and we will be stuck with them for the duration of their term. Besides, some of them are actually pretty good.

Most of us don't do much for the country that provides us with so much, and I have little patience with those who are constantly unhappy with our rate of growth, trade policy, wage growth and immigration. Those things are not primarily caused by elected officials.

They're caused by the same group of greedy billionaire gamblers who crashed our economy eight years ago, the big business types who refuse to reinvest in America, who move offshore in search of the last penny of profit, who refuse to pay their employees equitably, and who lobby our representatives not to pass bipartisan immigration reform. They're powerful precisely because we don't exercise our even greater power, the franchise.

What a week/looking ahead

Well, this has been a wild week. I'm a South Sider and a White Sox fan, but our oldest boy bleeds Cubbie blue and I'm happy for all the Cubs faithful. This team will be back for years. But by next weekend the thrill of victory and the agony on the election will both be behind us, for better or for worse.

So next week I'm going to be writing about puppies, at least the way they are raised and sold. For those who care about dogs as much as I do, I want to give advance notice of a film being screened at 5 p.m. Nov. 13 at Classic Cinemas Ogden 6, 1227 E. Ogden Ave., Naperville.

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The film is "Dog By Dog," a documentary examining the monetary and political support that allows puppy mills and the most irresponsible dog breeders to continue to thrive, despite evidence that shows what damage they do to man's best friend. Tickets are $15, with proceeds benefiting the Naperville Area Humane Society. Until then, remember what was written on the cover of the Hitchhiker's travel guide: Don't Panic.

bill.mego@sbcglobal.net
Left, Vaughn Watts of the Norridge Police Department sings"The Star-Spangled Bannera" at the Veterans Day assembly at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights on Nov. 3.. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

An estimated 400 people attended the annual Veterans Day assembly on Nov. 3 at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights.

The mid-morning program included a presentation of colors by the Norridge Police Department's honor guard, an appearance by Vaughn Watts of the police department, who sang "The Star-Spangled Banner," and Thomas Day of Berwyn, who performed taps.

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"It makes me feel proud," Watts said of the privilege of being asked to sing the patriotic solo. "I never get tired of singing it."

Skye Gutierrez, 9, a Union Ridge fourth-grader from Harwood Heights, gave her uncle, Sgt. Rene Gutierrez of the U.S. Army Reserve, a hug before the ceremony began in the gym. Refreshments were served early to welcome guests.

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"I'm really proud of him," Skye said.

Gutierrez wore his uniform.

"I'm here for my niece, and it's just an honor to be here for those who have served and are still serving," Skye's uncle said.

Skye Gutierrez, 9, a fourth-grader from Harwood Heights, gives her uncle Sgt. Rene Gutierrez of the U.S. Army Reserve a hug before the Veterans Day assembly at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

For Ed Baumann of Chicago, who said he served in the U.S. Army in Korea during the 1950s, not all events in the lives of veterans are pleasant memories.

"I think we (veterans) should all be recognized," Baumann said. "A lot of people came back here as secondary citizens."

Hank Karkoszka of Chicago enlisted to serve during Vietnam from 1967 to 1970 with the U.S. Navy. His grandchildren attend Union Ridge School.

"Being in the military, it's a lot like a brotherhood," Karkoszka said. "It's like a common bond we have. I only knew them (fellow soldiers) for 13 months, but they're friends for life. It's like I've known them forever."

The chorus performs "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at the Veterans Day assembly in the gym at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights on Nov. 3.. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

Leonard Scallion of Harwood Heights, who said he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1951 to 1954, said, "I wanted to serve my country. I love this country, and that's why I enlisted for the Korean War."

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The assembly lasted approximately one hour. As veterans were leaving, Stephanie Mihali, 13, a Union Ridge eighth-grader from Harwood Heights, stood in the school's vestibule.

"Thank you for serving our country," she said to veterans.

Michael Maguire, Union Ridge School District 86 superintendent, said the assembly "is an amazing experience for our students and our community."

"We get a chance to demonstrate our appreciation to men and women who have sacrificed everything for our freedom and safety," Maguire said.

From left, Eliot Cortez, Luis Alejandre, and Rich Golebiowski, all with the Norridge Police Department, are part of the Norridge Police Department's honor guard at the Veterans Day Assembly at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights on Nov. 3. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

Karie Angell Luc is a freelance photographer and reporter for Pioneer Press.
The childhood home of Hillary Rodham Clinton along the 200 block of North Wisner Street in Park Ridge on Oct. 3. The house sits on the corner of Wisner and Elm, facing Elm. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Designating Hillary Clinton's childhood Park Ridge home as a local landmark was a topic briefly touched upon by the city's Historic Preservation Commission in the run-up to the presidential election.

Stressing that granting landmark status to any building requires the owner's permission, Commission Chairwoman Judy Barclay said on Nov. 2 that she would send a letter to the home's occupants "after the election" to gauge their interest.

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"It's their prerogative," Barclay said. "It's still their house."

In the 1950s and 60s, Clinton, who became the first woman to run for president as a major party nominee, spent her childhood in a two-story home at 235 Wisner St. County records show her parents, Hugh and Dorothy Rodham, sold the house in 1987.

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Barclay said that over the last few weeks she had received "numerous questions" about the house, particularly whether the commission would recommend it be named a local landmark, regardless of whether Clinton is elected president of the United States.

"We as a commission cannot landmark it; we need the owner's consent," Barclay said.

According to the city's ordinance on historic preservation, anyone can apply for a building to receive landmark designation, but the application must be signed by the owner of the property as well.

Barclay said she was not aware of the current owner of 235 N. Wisner St. expressing interest.

Attempts by the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate to speak with the occupants of the house have been unsuccessful.

The house was built in 1925, according to the Cook County Assessor's Office, though Barclay said additions have been added.

The Park Ridge Historic Preservation ordinance sets several standards that should be considered when the commission is faced with a landmark request. One of these is the "site's significance with respect to the historic, cultural, artistic, social, ethnic or other heritage of the nation, state or community."

Some of the buildings that received landmark designation from the commission and City Council include the house of Park Ridge's second mayor, William H. Malone; the home and studio of artist Alfonso Iannelli; the Pickwick Theatre; and Town of Maine Cemetery.

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Special commission approval is needed if the owner of a building with landmark designation wants to make exterior changes, according to the ordinance.

Historic Preservation Commissioner Sharon Bollinger volunteered to research what other communities in similar situations have done, while Commissioner Barb Christopher said it "would be interesting to learn if the Clintons would supply us with historic imagery of when she lived [in the Wisner house]."

After the meeting, Commissioner Paul Adlaf, who is also a member of the Park Ridge Historical Society, said he believes the house should be recognized just based on Clinton's roles as first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

"Any one of those accomplishments is remarkable, let alone all three," he said.

Like Barclay, Commissioner Shel Newman acknowledged that the board's "hands are tied" unless the owner comes forward, but just having the house in the city and knowing it is there will generate interest.

"People who are Hillary Clinton fans are going to go down that street and look at her house, whether there's a landmark sign or not," Newman said.

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jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
Isiah Barker has been charged in the death of his pregnant girlfriend, Cynthia Funches, of Highland. (Lake County Sheriff's Department)

Lake Superior Court jurors saw photographs of a Chicago man buying items that included a padlock found on a boarded-up garage where the battered body of the his pregnant girlfriend was found in a plastic storage tote.

A detective who assisted in the investigation identified Isiah Barker, 32, on a still photograph taken from video surveillance at the Halsted True Value Hardware in Chicago as one of two men making about $60 in purchases that included the padlock. Former Highland police Detective Douglas Shaginaw, now a Hobart police detective, pointed to Barker in court Thursday as the person in the photographs.

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Barker is on trial on charges of murder and feticide. He has pleaded not guilty.

The padlock was found on a garage at 10038 S. Normal Ave., Chicago, where the owner discovered it June 22, 2011, on the garage side door. Inside the garage, police found the body of Cynthia Funches, 26, who was about 20 weeks pregnant with Barker's child.

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Also included in the items purchased at the hardware store and recovered by police in a car that Barker was driving were a 60-pound bag of Quikrete, a drain cleaner called Liquid Fire that contains acid, a bucket and scrub brush. The purchases were made the morning of June 22, 2011.

Jurors also heard testimony that Barker's childhood friend, Octavius Barlow, purchased a 49-gallon plastic storage tote at about 10 p.m. June 21, 2011, from the Wal-Mart in Schererville. Barlow, who is charged in the case with assisting a criminal, has pleaded not guilty.

Police had been to Funches' apartment in Highland on June 21, 2011, after her family had asked for a welfare check. Inside the apartment, police found carpeting and padding pulled up, the mattress and box spring gone from the bedroom, and blood stains inside.

Funches died of multiple blunt force trauma, court records state.

Testimony is expected to resume on Friday.

Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Isiah Barker has been charged in the death of his pregnant girlfriend, Cynthia Funches, of Highland. (Lake County Sheriff's Department / Post-Tribune)

Jurors had viewed about half of the photos taken at the autopsy of a pregnant Highland woman who died of multiple blunt force trauma when the judge called for a 10-minute break.

"The jurors are losing their composure," Lake Superior Judge Samuel Cappas said as jurors filed out of court to the jury room. Several family members of victim Cynthia Funches, 26, left the courtroom before the images were displayed on a large flat-screen TV.

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Dr. John Feczko, a forensic pathologist who reviewed findings from the Cook County (Ill.) medical examiner's office in the death of Funches, described the numerous injuries, which ranged from fresh purple bruises and scrapes covering her body to stab wounds and bleeding under the scalp and within the layers of her brain.

While some jurors appeared to become emotional, Isiah Barker, 32, who is on trial on charges of murder and feticide, showed no emotion Friday as he sat between his defense attorneys on the fifth day of trial.

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Barker, of Chicago, has pleaded not guilty in the death of Funches, his girlfriend.

Feczko said some of Funches' injuries could have been inflicted by an anti-car theft device called The Club, or some other cylindrical object, such as a bat or pipe.

Feczko said he agreed with the medical examiner's findings that the cause of death for Funches was multiple blunt force trauma. "The fatal blow is the injury to her head," he said.

Feczko said Funches probably died within minutes, not hours, after she was struck in the head. Funches was about 18 to 24 weeks pregnant, Feczko said.

Prosecutors said police were called June 22, 2011, to Funches' apartment at 9509 Southmoor Ave. in the Hampton-in-Highland apartment complex to check on her well-being. Officers found the apartment in disarray and blood stains on the floors and elsewhere.

Chicago police discovered Funches' body the same day in a boarded-up garage in the 10000 block of South Normal Avenue in Chicago.

Barker fled after being charged in the case and was arrested in October 2013 in Georgia.

Testimony is expected to resume Monday.

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Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Charges of murder and murder in perpetration of robbery have been filed against a Gary man in a shooting at a Gary gas station.

Demonta Lamont Jarrett, 23, was charged in the shooting death of Steven Wayne Marquand, 40, of Cedar Lake.

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Video surveillance footage recorded shortly before 9 p.m. Oct. 18 at the gas station at 4890 Maryland St. shows Marquand making two purchases at the gas station. A man whose car was at a nearby gas pump followed Marquand into the station, where some words were exchanged, the probable cause affidavit states.

Marquand looked at the man, finished his transaction and left the store, where he returned to his car and sat with the door open. The man who had followed Marquand appeared angry or agitated, ran to Marquand's car and kicked the interior of the driver's-side door, and it opened wider, where a struggle occurred, records state.

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The assailant came out of the car, and Marquand tried to drive away, causing the door to shut on the man and the handgun he was holding to fly through the air before it landed on the pavement, records state. The man picked up the gun, ran back to his car and left the station, court records state.

Marquand's girlfriend, who was in the car at the time of the shooting, told police she and Marquand had stopped at the gas station to buy cigarettes, pop and ice, records state. The woman told police that after Marquand got into the car, a man ran up to the car and demanded money from him, records state.

The woman said the next thing she heard was a gunshot. As Marquand began driving east on 49th Avenue, he told his girlfriend he'd been shot, records state. Marquand began to lose consciousness, but the woman managed to pull the car over, get out and climb onto Marquand's lap. The woman drove to the 5000 block of Maryland Street, where they had been staying, and called police, records state.

One of the detectives recognized the gunman in the surveillance video as an individual with whom he'd had prior contact and identified him as Jarrett, court records state.

U.S. marshals located the car in the 1000 block of West 52nd Place in Gary, near where the mother of Jarrett's children lives. The woman told police Jarrett had taken her car two to three weeks before the shooting, records state. The car was dropped off near her home on West 52nd Drive in Gary early Oct. 19.

Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
"Sugar and spice

"And all that's nice;

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"That's what little girls are made of."

 Robert Southey (1773-1843)

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On Sept. 29, Maria D'Ambrose was named one of the 2016 Influential Women of Northwest Indiana in the Up and Coming Women in Government category. The awards banquet was held at Avalon Manor in Merrillville where 22 women were honored in 11 categories. There were more than 200 nominees.

I met with D'Ambrose at the Newton County Government Center in Morocco where she works as an administrative assistant for the Newton County board of commissioners in the economic development department.

D'Ambrose, 35, lives in Brook.

**

"I grew up in Tinley Park, Ill.," D'Ambrose began.

Childhood memories?

"My dad worked as a mechanic for Joe Rizza Ford in Orland by day and at his race car business by night. My mom worked doubles at South Suburban Hospital. I can remember being out in the shop with my dad and being covered in grease. Grandma would come into the shop and yell: 'No, no, no! That's my baby girl.' She'd clean me up and put a dress on me because that's the way it's supposed to be for a girl. Five minutes after Grandma left, that white dress would be covered in grease.

"I have a brother who is seven years older than I am. He worked at the roller rink in Tinley Park. So, I was there every Friday and Saturday night at the age of 5 or 6 handing out skates for him while he ran the food shop."

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Anything else?

"I also remember the World Music Theater being constructed. It has had multiple names since then."

So has Comiskey Park.

"We could sit on our back deck and listen to the music. I remember the Grateful Dead performing there. We lived on Sayer Avenue which was the only unincorporated road in Tinley Park. Because we were unincorporated, that's where the Deadheads all camped. The police couldn't do anything to them. To a teenager, it was really cool to see all those fans along both sides of our road. Not so cool for Mom and Dad when they would wake up, have their first cups of coffee and see someone (urinating) in their front yard."

And then your parents relocated to southern Newton County.

"I wanted nothin' to do with that move. I didn't speak to them for two months when they moved me here. I was like: 'This is horse (manure).'"

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Literally.

"It was the middle of my sophomore year in high school when we moved here. I didn't even know this area existed. I thought this was just in movies."

Probably not a lot of Italian-American kids who went to South Newton High School when you did.

"Uh, no."

But now you love it here in God's Country.

"I love raising my kids here. I couldn't imagine doing it where I grew up. I'm a city girl through and through. You bring me to the city and I light up. But I have children. And that's much more important than anything. We live right across the street from a park. My 8-year-old is allowed to go over there as long as I can see him. That's not something that would've ever happened in Tinley. We weren't allowed to play in the front yard because that's where you could get snatched up. You played in the fenced-in back yard."

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Tell me about your kids.

"I have an 8-year-old son who is in 4-H. I'm learning it right along with him. He did aerospace. Next year, Lyric wants to do the Lego building. He's fearful of large animals.

"In the past, I always worked multiple jobs, but then we learned that Lyric is on the autism spectrum. He needed mom more than mom needed that second job. So, I gave up the second job to be there for him with the struggles he was having in school. When we had him tested a year ago, we were told one (in) 68 boys now has autism."

Alarming how those numbers continue to increase.

"I'm very proud of Lyric. This is the first year he's not in special classes. He's going full force like every other kid.

"Treyton, our first baby, was a stillborn. He will always be very much a part of our family. Our third baby is a girl; her name is Arya Honey. In Italy, they spell it Aria."

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Great names. Very unique.

"I call my little brother Jose because there's just so many Joes in our family. It gets confusing. You scream out Joe and everybody in the room turns around and looks at you."

Your job?

"It's very rewarding. I work with many different people on a daily basis."

Elaborate, please.

"It would be difficult to put my job description on paper. Everything that's Newton County comes across my desk at one point or another. I set the phones up for everybody who has a county phone. I work with elected officials, the county attorney and with people wanting to visit the county. I work with the commissioners and the county attorney. I set up all the agendas for the commissioners' meetings. I'm the liaison who makes connections. What I do today is definitely not what I'm going to do tomorrow. That's what I like about the job."

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How long have you held this position?

"Seven years."

Final thoughts from one of the most Influential Women in Northwest Indiana?

"I'm very much into pumping up other females, boosting their confidence. We all need to work together. I think in the world we live in today, any magazine or website that you look at, there's this certain figure that a female is supposed to fit into. And I think it's all bull (manure). So, if we can get away from that, that would be fantastic because there's more to us than what we look like."

After those spirited comments, I realize this is a real no-brainer. Humor me. Who are you voting for in the presidential election?

"Trump."

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Huh?

**

Well, I got faked out of my jock strap on that one. All I can say is, what I hear today is definitely not what I'm gonna hear tomorrow.

That's what I like about the job.

Jeff Manes is a freelance columnist for the Post-Tribune.

jeffmanes@sbcglobal.net
Crown Point Mayor David Uran and Jackie Meux, mother of the late Lake County Corrections Officer Brittany Meux, share a moment during the dedication of the 93rd Avenue and Chase Street roundabout. (Carrie Napoleon / Post-Tribune)

In dedicating Crown Point's first roundabout at 93rd Avenue and Chase Street and the new Erie Lackawanna trail head, local officials celebrated what governmental collaboration can accomplish.

Crown Point Mayor David Uran called it a positive partnership among the city, town of Merrillville, Lake County commissioners and the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

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"This is a new gateway to the city," Uran said last week..

The more than $2 million project designed by Butler, Fairman & Seufert of Indianapolis was completed with a federal grant distributed through NIRPC that paid 80 percent of the cost. Lake County donated the land where the trailhead is located, which was used as part of the city's 20 percent match. Crown Point's Redevelopment Commission financed the remainder of the match.

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"This is the very first roundabout in the city of Crown Point. It's kind of like training wheels to educate the city," Uran said jokingly.

The traffic circle corrects a 90-degree turn where 93rd Avenue and Chase Street meet at the west end of the Lake County Government complex. There are three spokes instead of the typical four in the roundabout with the third leading to the Erie Lackawanna trail head.

Work at the intersection included drainage improvements to prevent flooding and safety improvements -- a sidewalk on the south side of 93rd Avenue from Main Street to the trail head.

Family and friends of the late Lake County Corrections Officer Brittney Meux, who was killed when she and three coworkers were struck by a drunken driver while jogging along the south shoulder of 93rd Avenue near the Lake County Government Center in March 2012, joined the ceremony.

Dan Murchek, deputy chief with the Lake County Sheriff's Department, said the improvements were an important way to remember Meux.

"It put a hole in our department. It put a void in our department. Those dedicated officers worked hard. It is unfortunate a terrible tragedy like that happened. It's appreciated what the city has done here," Murchek said.

Jackie Meux, Brittney Meux's mother, thanked officials for the improvements and for the dedication of the roadway in her daughter's honor. She said the improved lighting and the sidewalk will hopefully mean no other family has to suffer such a loss.

"This will make sure the next person who comes down that street is safe," Meux said.

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Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
The Gary Redevelopment Commission approved an agreement that will assist Community HealthNet Inc. in developing a clinic in the Glen Park neighborhood.

The organization, which operates at 1021 5th Ave., wants to expand its services by building on land owned by Ivy Tech Community College and across the street from the Gary campus, 1440 E. 35th Ave.

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Attorney Jim Meyer said Community HealthNet has a combination of federal grants and private loans to build a 8,500-square-foot structure after the college donates the land.

"They're willing to give us the land, provided we use it for a clinic," he said.

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But Meyer said state laws require a land-transfer process that would take several months, while possible lenders wanted the organization to have title by Nov. 4.

The resolution requested by Community HealthNet would allow Ivy Tech to transfer land to the Redevelopment Commission, which could be accomplished promptly because it would be to a government rather than to a private organization. The commission could then permit Community HealthNet to use the land for the clinic.

"They'd be acting as a middle man," Meyer said of the commission. "There's not enough time for us to do it the direct way."

Redevelopment commission members had no objections to their involvement.

In other business, the commission approved a resolution to hire Gus Frangos, of Cleveland, to advise members on dealing with the Indiana General Assembly during 2017.

The commission also voted to award a $69,545 contract to SES Inc. to purchase an excavator for demolition projects. SES is based in North Chicago, Ill., but also has offices in Gary.

Another contract was approved with Macer Truck and Trailer Repair Co., for emergency repairs of demolition equipment.

Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
 Where's the Coverage? Palestinian Police Officer Commits Terror Attack | Main | In Haaretz Headline, Alleged Attack Becomes Fact 

November 04, 2016

PA Official: Honoring Terrorists is Our Culture



A Palestinian Authority (PA) official, Issam Abu Bakr, has defended the authoritys decision to name a school after an arch-terrorist.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit organization that monitors Arab media in eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), highlighted Bakrs defense of the authoritys decision to name a school in Tulkarem after Salah Khalef. Khalef was one of the planners of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered.

Bakr, the District Governor of Tulkarem, took umbrage at PMW for their reporting of his decision to name an educational institution the Martyr Salah Khalef School.? Bakr told Maan News Agency:

The occupation [Israel] is deluded if it thinks that the Palestinian people can change its culture and forget its leaders, Martyrs Yasser Arafat, Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), Salah Khalaf, and a great number of the fighters who sacrificed their blood for the freedom, independence, and establishment of the independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem.?

PMW noted that later that same week, Fatah, the movement that dominates the PA, honored another Palestinian terrorist who took part in the Munich massacre. In an Oct. 24, 2016 post on their official Facebook page, Fatah called Muhammad Daoud, aka Abu Dauod, one of the leaders of Fatahs Black September organization and the main planner of the Munich operation that executed the Israeli Olympic delegation in 1972 in the heart of Germany.? A picture of Daoud, surrounded by doves, was displayed with Fatahs post.

Major U.S. print news outlets failed to report Fatahs decision to glorify Daoud and Khalef.

As CAMERA pointed out in a July 6, 2016 Washington Examiner Op-Ed entitled Missing the Palestinian after-terror after party,? Western media frequently omit the glorification of anti-Jewish violence that permeates Palestinian society.

Posted by SD at November 4, 2016 10:38 AM

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Hobart officials say the city could play some role in bringing a neglected detention pond in the Liberty Heights subdivision into compliance, but added future maintenance will be the responsibility of homeowners.

Tim Kingsland, the city's MS4 coordinator, told the Board of Public Works and Safety at a recent meeting that he sent developer Randy Hall a certified letter saying the pond needs to be maintained, but had not yet received a response.

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"There are several items that need to be completed and as of last Friday [Oct. 28], nothing had been done," Kingsland said.

Kingsland considers the pond to be a public health issue.

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City Attorney Anthony DeBonis said the original developer of the subdivision off Indiana 51 near Rand Street filed bankruptcy. Hall purchased some of the remaining undeveloped lots and signed an agreement with the city to do drainage and other work and install streetlights, but DeBonis said there is nothing in the agreement requiring him to maintain the pond.

"The pond belongs to a property owners' association that may or may not have been formed. They need to provide proper maintenance of the pond," DeBonis said.

The residents said they haven't formed a POA yet, but DeBonis urged them to do so.

Councilman Josh Huddlestun, D-2nd, which serves Liberty Heights, said he didn't think it was fair for residents to have to pay to bring the pond into compliance, given its current poor state.

"They shouldn't inherit this mess right off the bat," Huddlestun said.

Mayor Brian Snedecor said he and other officials would meet with residents to come up with a plan to fix the pond.

"The city wants to work with residents, but it will need to be a team effort. Residents will have to participate," Snedecor said. "The city will not continue to maintain it."

Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
First-term Lake County Recorder Mike Brown, a Democrat, is trying to stave off a challenge from first-time Republican candidate Gerald Swets in the upcoming election.

Brown said he has digitized the vast majority of his office's records so everything that once required a trip to the recorder's office can be completed online.

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"We were able to accomplish pretty much every single thing we set out to do," Brown said.

While Brown is running on his record, Swets, 61, wants to carry the spirit of service in his homeowners association and his church into the public sector. He touts his more than 18 years of experience in document management and security and said he would work to make sure no private information is released.

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"I am concerned about some of the documents and how they are scanned in," Swets said, citing veterans' discharge papers as an example. "There could be some sensitive material on that."

Brown said he follows the philosophy of empowering employees to do their jobs and not micromanage how they do their work. He said his office helps reduce pressure on the general fund by being one of the only offices in the county that generates revenues through user fees.

The fees go into the recorder's perpetuation fund and are also split with the offices of the assessor, treasurer and auditor to help pay for operations.

"The more funds we generate for our office, the less reliable I am on the general fund," Brown said.

He said he has served with the Indiana Recorders Association, voted to the position of district vice president in 2014 by the recorders of the state's 92 counties, of which 12 were Democrats and 80 Republicans..

"We were able to pass a lot of legislation in Indianapolis that has helped recorder offices throughout the state," Brown said, citing legislation that permits police officers, judges, domestic violence victims and specified others to have their addresses redacted from public documents upon request. Representatives of his office went to every police department in Lake County and signed up over 500 police officers, Brown said.

"I believe a successful first term deserves a second," he said.

Swets said he was inspired to get into public service after working with his church and the St. John Township Homeowners Association during the 2015 municipal elections.

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He wants to review the fees being charged by the recorder to see if they're responsible. He would push to get the rest of the documents digitally archived and to share resources among departments to help reduce costs.

"I would like to make access to records as inexpensive to the taxpayer as possible," Swets said.

Swets said the recorder's office would be a good fit for him since it is an administrative position and he has experience running a business.

"I have been managing businesses the last 30 years, and I've been in technology and documents the last 18.  I know how to run an office, turn in a budget. Based on my work experience, I believe I would do a good job in the recorder's office with the business end of things," Swets said.

Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Henry Maday Jr. of Cedar Lake views the traveling war memorial on display at the Armory in Hammond. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune)

Henry Maday Jr. didn't know any of the deceased soldiers on the memorial but as a Vietnam veteran he said he felt compelled to pay homage to the service members that lost their lives fighting for the country.

"As a veteran I'm obviously very patriotic," Maday said. "But it's jarring to be reminded of the people that lost their lives in war."

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Maday, of Cedar Lake, was the first person to visit the Indiana's traveling war memorial, "Remember Our Fallen," at the National Guard Armory in Hammond when nit opened to the public Thursday.

The photographic war memorial continues to circulate throughout Northwest Indiana honoring the military service men and women from Indiana who lost their lives in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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After being at a Crown Point church last week, the memorial will be on display from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Monday before moving to Shelbyville.

Staff Sgt. Ashley Pool said the Hammond National Guard Armory is honored to be hosting the memorial wall.

"I think it's great to have a wall dedicated to Indiana fallen soldiers," Pool said, adding that's it's important to give the families from around the area an opportunity to see their fallen service members lives appropriately commemorated.

Mark Smith, American Legion Riders of Indiana and a Navy veteran, said the biographies and pictures on the memorial made him feel an emotional attachment to the service members.

"To come here and see the pictures of the people really brings something out of you," he said. "Then to read a bio with their picture makes it really hit home."

For Vietnam veteran and past Commander of American Legion Post 168, Patrick O'Donnell, the memorial is a sobering reminder of the sacrifices that are required to make America "the greatest country on this Earth."

"When you think about this country and how good we have it to be able to go out and vote when other countries can't it's because these men and women have given their lives for our freedoms," O'Donnell said.

Maday said he encourages everyone in Indiana to take some time and visit the memorial.

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"It's nice that Indiana has this so we can take time out of our day to show our support."

The Indiana Remembering Our Fallen memorial is on loan to the Eastern Seals-Crossroads, an organization in Indianapolis that takes care of its maintenance and coordinates its touring around the state. Indiana is one of the 18 states with a statewide traveling memorial.

jaanderson@tribpub.com

Twitter @JavonteA
The location of this empty house, 1504 Vale Park Road in Valparaiso, is planned as the site for eight townhouses to serve low-income families through Aurora View, a partnership between Housing Opportunities and Porter-Starke Services. (Amy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

Plans for low-income housing in Valparaiso are moving forward on a smaller scale after the City Council, in a split vote, turned down rezoning and donating city-owned land for the project.

Representatives from Housing Opportunities and Porter-Starke Services said the need for low-income housing, particularly in light of a recent study that showed the number of people in Valparaiso living in poverty or on its brink is on the upswing, is still needed, despite the setback.

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"(The study) shows 40 percent of the people who live in Valparaiso are either the working poor or living in poverty and that is who this project was going to help," said Caroline Shook, executive director of Housing Opportunities, which operates a homeless shelter and offers transitional and low-income housing.

She noted statistics from a 2014 report called "ALICE in Porter County," an acronym for "asset limited, income constrained, employed." Those considered "ALICE" make more than the poverty level but still don't have enough to get by.

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According to a "point in time" count of the homeless population in Porter County a few years ago, the county had at least 154 adults and 75 children who lacked housing, said Elliott Miller, director of marketing and development for Porter-Starke, which provides mental health services.

Around the time of the City Council vote, Miller said Porter-Starke reached out to two other non-profits to see how many people between the three agencies could benefit if the project went forward as originally planned; 150 people could have moved into the apartments.

"I think we're going to continue to look at options," he said. "There certainly is a need."

Aurora View Apartment Homes will proceed with fewer units than originally planned, with new units on property on Vale Park Road that does not need to be rezoned, Shook said. Housing Opportunities and Porter-Starke have an option to buy property at 1504 Vale Park Road, the site of an empty house.

"We re-did the project a little bit and took the city lot out so that's no longer part of it," Shook said.

The two non-profits are under the gun to meet a Monday grant deadline with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority for federal tax credits. They will find out in February if they receive that grant, Shook said, and if so, can apply for a second grant through a federal home loan bank for additional funding.

The total in grants would be $6 million, she said, and if all goes as planned, construction could begin on the project in August. The original grant request was for around $11 million.

While Mayor Jon Costas supported the project during an Oct. 24 council meeting for rezoning and donating a city-owned parking lot block between Valparaiso Street and Valley Drive, the City Council voted 4-3 along party lines against the move.

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Neighbors and the owner of a nearby Montessori school expressed concerns about the clientele of the proposed apartment complex and their property values.

Shook said she was disheartened by the comments she heard at the meeting.

"Every day we see people who need housing and housing is very unaffordable in Valparaiso," she said.

The project encompasses 15 units split between three buildings already owned by Porter-Starke along Valparaiso Street just south of the post office. The residents there will remain, Shook said, and those buildings, which are 30 years old, will be rehabilitated.

"They're going to get a major facelift," she said.

The city-owned lot would have had two buildings with a total of 31 units, and the property on Vale Park was going to have three town homes. Instead, that property will have eight town homes, Shook said, and they will be permanent supportive housing for the homeless, with income-based rent.

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"It needs no rezoning, no density variances, no nothing," she said.

But the apartments also won't serve nearly as many families.

"Probably the biggest change is that under the original project, we were gong to have 49 units, with 15 existing, so there would be a net gain of 34 units. Now it's eight units. That's huge," she said.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Valparaiso Parks Superintendent John Seibert, left, stands next to plans and aerial shots Friday of the newly opened Vale Park West pathway while City Administrator Bill Oeding talks about the five-year process for the hiking and biking trail that extends from Valparaiso High School to the southwest side of town. (James D. Wolf Jr. / Post-Tribune)

When Michele Irzyk decided to ride her bike along the new Vale Park West pathway on Friday, she didn't expect to become the center of attention.

However, as the North Judson woman reached the west end of the concrete trail, she was applauded as the path's first user following the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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"I didn't plan on biking today, but I thought I'd check it out," Irzyk said. "I decided to jump on it because it was a nice day."

Besides the fall colors and the bridge over Beauty Creek, she liked the path's smoothness and scenery.

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"I think it's going to be a nice addition to the town," she said.

Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Stu Summers said work on the path began about five years ago.

Jan Dick, who was both Valparaiso Councilman and head of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission's Ped, Pedal and Paddle Commission at the time, said he became aware of funds available then.

There'd been talk about a trail that connected to with the existing Vale Park Road trail and would follow the planned Vale Park extension that will eventually connect the eastern portion with a section of the road in the west side's growing developments.

Dick added that this is the first pathway that predates a road.

City Engineer Tim Burkman said the trail, which follows NIPSCO and water easements from Valparaiso High School west toward Froberg Road now connects the city to subdivisions where homes under construction are expected to reach 700.

"If you lived on this west side, the only way to and from it safely was by car," Burkman said.

The city plans to install gates to block vehicles from the path and benches and trees along it.

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Dick said that when the city ties into the Kankakee biking trail along Indiana 49, "we will eventually be a bicyclist's destination."

He foresees Chicagoans coming down on the South Shore line to bike and spend money.

City Manager Bill Oeding said that a property on the east side of the trail is already up for sale, and he expects more development along it because trails seems to bring development and improvements.

James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
What have we learned about our country, our candidates and ourselves during this historic and unforgettable presidential election, which should finally end on Election Day? (Neil Blake / AP)

Election Day is finally at hand but, before we find out who our next president will be, let's first look back at what we've learned during this historic election.

First and foremost, whomever America elects as its new president  Republican nominee Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton  will say more about us than either of them. Their campaigns, their rhetoric, their human flaws and embarrassing excuses also reveal telling characteristics about their supporters.

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Yes, both candidates have been ruthless, shifty and shameful at times. Yet both candidates got to this point in their lives largely due to their supporters. I believe many of these voters would stick with their chosen candidate no matter what, regardless of hidden emails, racist charges or conspiracy theories.

At this point, too many voters feel they're "all in," to use a gambling term. Even if they realize they're now holding only a pair of deuces, they'll try to bluff their way through the payout come Election Day. Even if there is no payout. Again, this says more about voters than about Trump or Clinton, who are as predictable as a campaign speech.

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Too many people, I believe, are so frustrated with the governmental status quo, aka the Clintons, they'll vote into office a billionaire bully who has shown no real grasp of domestic issues and foreign policy. Others are determined to vote into office a woman because, well, she's a woman, she's a Democrat and she's not Trump. End of debate.

We've also learned that Americans will act desperately when pushed to the brink of frustration regarding presidential politics. And the fact that presidential candidates will say or do anything to keep themselves in the race for the White House. Yes, anything.

Such outrageous antics and accusations, however, have compelled voters to actually vote. This is another lesson  negative feelings are more powerful than positive ones to motivate us into action. In this case, to vote.

Without fail this time of year, I write a column imploring Northwest Indiana voters to cast a ballot on Election Day, if not before. This is how our voices can be heard, and counted, beyond social media rants with strangers and dining room debates with family members.

"This is on voters and they  we  know it," I wrote two years ago just before Election Day. "It's why so many people don't vote. It takes effort. And this, obviously, is too much to ask, even for a few minutes. How sad. How lazy. How American."

Fortunately, we're not so lazy this year. Millions of Americans have voted early on several races, including at the local and state level, but most importantly for U.S. president. In Lake County alone, election officials said that more than 37,000 early votes had been cast by Friday morning. The previous mark in the county was 26,000 in 2012.

In Porter County, early voting numbers have been steady and rising, punctuated by this social media post Thursday from Kathy Kozuszek, the Democratic director of voter registration in Porter County.

"RECORD BREAKING NUMBERS TODAY!!! Thanks to all of the 1,661 Porter County voters for exercising your right to vote and your patience. Because of you....this is a historical one day turnout."

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If there's a silver lining to this dark cloud of a presidential election, it's that people are engaged again with the democratic process. Yes, it took campaigns full of misleading truths, exaggerated fears and bubbling anger, but it worked.

We're engaged. We're enraged. But at least we care.

Voters are conditioned to wade through the muck of politics to choose candidates they hope will not act the same way once in office. It's an illusion we pretend to believe. It gives us hope in what we feel is a hopeless situation.

After months of being told implausible promises, by both presidential candidates, Election Day turns out to be a masquerade ball for voters. Sadly, we're the guests without a disguise trying to figure out who is who behind the candidates' masks of lies and allegations.

This goes for local public office races, too. I've received a couple dozen political fliers caked with mudslinging accusations from various Northwest Indiana candidates. This strategy has become Politics 101 for many candidates, starting at the top of the ballot.

A new New York Times poll says Americans "doubt the abilities" of either presidential candidate to unite the country after Election Day. I agree completely. There will be no instant, bipartisan unity after this bloodbath of an election campaign. You can't stab someone in the back on Tuesday and expect them to forget it on Wednesday.

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CBS News reported Friday about a potential terror threat that may take place Monday, the day before the election.

As a journalist, I've noticed news organizations are reporting differently than in previous presidential elections. Instead of citing what each candidate claims about various issues, there is more emphasis on fact-checking and putting things into perspective for readers or viewers. This is partly why so many media stories appear as editorials with a push for accuracy at the sake of fairness, I believe.

So, it all comes down to trust. After this long, heated and infamous election, who do we trust? Trump's promises? Clinton's rhetoric? WikiLeaks' information? President Obama's campaigning? Media outlets' fact checking? At times, all of these sources seem like a "false equivalency," the latest buzz phrase of this election.

This election has taught us about ourselves and the human condition. Trump and Clinton have been our teachers, like it or not. Their rhetoric has revealed our fears, our spite, our anger, our desperation, and our dwindling hopes for a country in turmoil.

Whichever candidate gets elected into the Oval Office, we deserve it. This will be our greatest lesson.

jdavich@post-trib.com

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The middle school teacher who allegedly told her students to openly taunt a fellow 13-year-old student in class has resigned.

During a scheduled hearing regarding the Oct. 4 incident last week, North Newton School Corp. Superintendent Destin Haas accepted a letter of resignation from Kari Smundin, a math teacher at North Newton Junior-Senior High School.

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"There were other options, but this was the quickest," Haas told me after the hearing.

In a previous column, I wrote about the incident at the Morocco school. The teacher told her class to stand up, one by one, and tell the boy why they didn't like him, according to statements from other students.

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That column prompted several readers to contact me, outraged at the teacher's actions while sympathizing with the troubled boy. A few readers mailed cards and letters of encouragement to the boy, via the Post-Tribune office, which I have delivered to his mother.

The mother told me she was disappointed that the teacher was not fired, but she didn't elaborate on her feelings, citing instructions from her attorney. Her son's story exploded on different media outlets after my column ran, and she's hoping his school life can return to some kind of normal, she said.

A certified math teacher has taken Smundin's place, Haas said. I asked if Smundin can continue to teach in Indiana schools.

"In the state of Indiana, I have the right to appeal to the Indiana Department of Education to repeal a license, which I have done regarding that process," Haas replied.

Why did Smundin do what she did that day? Was it out of sheer frustration? Is she burnt out from teaching? Does she have any remorse from that incident? And hasn't she reached out to the boy?

I tried contacting Smundin to hear her side of the story, but received no reply. I'm still interested in talking with her.

Maci Moor case

My recent column on the mysterious killing of 8-month-old Maci Ann Moor also sparked anger with many readers who wondered why no charges have been filed in the Hammond baby's death.

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"Please tell me that you're not finished with this article? You have to have more questions than answers after this first article," wrote Kene Byrd via email.

Maci Moor's death in April was ruled a homicide but no charges have been filed in the case. She was less than 9 months old. - Original Credit: Post-Tribune (Ryan Moor / Handout)

As I wrote, the 8-month-old girl was rushed to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus on April 15 from her babysitter's home in Calumet Township. She was air transported to Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago for medical treatment of head injuries and was pronounced dead two days later.

According to the Cook County medical examiner's office, Maci's death was due to abuse and later ruled a homicide. The Lake County Sheriff's Department opened a criminal investigation in April, forwarding its findings to the Lake County prosecutor's office. But no charges have been filed to date.

"This case is still considered an open investigation until charges have been filed," said Mark Back, spokesman for the sheriff. "We cannot comment with regard to the guilt or innocence of any individual. That determination is for the courts when the time comes."

A few readers asked if the baby's parents, Ryan Moor and his fiance Megan Garner, were ever suspected of foul play with the baby's death.

"We cannot yet comment on details of an open investigation, including if specific individuals have ever been suspects," Back said.

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Moor said Child Protective Services spoke with him and Garner after their baby's death. Nothing ever came from it.

Back said, "Once the case has been made legally public, those details will be available."

The return of letter writing

Velma Thiel never dreamed that her handwritten letters to me would blossom into something "so wonderful," as she wrote in her latest letter.

One reader, Kara Graper, and her daughter Ava, have been exchanging letters and pictures with Thiel since reading my column on her mailings. Their old-fashioned pen pal relationship sparked an unusual idea in our Digital Age.

"It inspired Ava's Girl Scout troop to be pen pals with residents of St. Anthony's nursing home," wrote Thiel, 91, of Griffith.

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Velma Thiel of Griffith sorts through all the greeting cards, handwritten letters and kids drawings she's received. (Jerry Davich / Post-Tribune)

A case worker at that facility assigned a resident's name to each Girl Scout, and each girl has already written a letter, I'm told. The girls plan to visit their new pen pals in the near future.

"How nice is that?" Thiel wrote along with a small smiley face.

Mysterious envelope arrives

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

I received an envelope filled with an odd collection of items, each one related to a deceased World War II veteran named John M. Connors. The large manila envelope contained no note of explanation or a return mailing address.

Connors, a Gary native who was born in 1909 and died in 1965, received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army on July 10, 1945. Other than that, I know little about him and even less about why someone mailed his personal items to me.

The envelope contained a small key (possible for a suitcase), his Social Security card, several religious invocations, an appointment card for military medical care, a prescription note from 1963, and an empty leather wallet marked JMC.

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Are these pieces to some kind of puzzle? Do they hold meaning beyond face value? Why were they mailed to me? What should I do with them, as the new caretaker for this man's final belongings?

I'm hoping someone will come forward with more information to unravel this mystery. And, if they do, I'll write about it in my Veterans Day column.

jdavich@post-trib.com

Twitter@jdavich
A jet aircraft arrives for a landing at Midway Airport, at 63rd St. and Cicero Ave. in Chicago Sept. 11, photographed from the parking lot of Giordano's Pizza. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Kamala Kirthika, a mother of two from La Grange Park, has noticed an increase in airplanes flying over her house on Barnsdale Road, but she's not bothered by them too much.

"My kids like to watch them from the dining room window," said Kirthika, who has lived in the village for four years with her husband, Patta.

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Their neighbor, Jan Bisek, who lives a few doors away, is not so complacent about the noise from jets. He has lived in his home for 10 years and believes his quiet is being disrupted.

"There are more airplanes and they are landing lower," said Bisek. "It's like a highway over my yard."

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Village officials from numerous western suburbs including La Grange, La Grange Park, Western Springs, Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills have been fielding complaints over the past few months from residents who have noticed more low-flying planes and noise over their houses.

Some of those complaints also are made to the Chicago Department of Aviation, where Gregg Cunningham, coordinator for special projects, said the department logs them. It received 30,220 complaints from 1,943 people in the third quarter, which runs from July through September, the department reports. Those complaints come from Chicago, as well as other suburbs such as Riverside, Justice and Berwyn.

Complaints have to do with such issues as low-flying planes, vibration, noise and frequency of operations.

Of those complaints received during the July through September period, there were 524 complaints from 202 complainants in La Grange Park, 292 complaints from 142 complainants in Western Springs, 18 complaints from 14 complainants in La Grange, 56 complaints from 41 complainants in Hinsdale, 391 complaints from 330 complainants in Riverside and 32 complaints from 20 complainants in Clarendon Hills. No complaints were reported from Burr Ridge.

Complaints in the third quarter of 2015 totaled 4,151, of which 53 percent came from the same eight addresses, the department notes. The total number of complaints throughout 2015 was 28,068. By comparison, there were 3,192 in 2014, 2,281 in 2013, 493 in 2012 and 237 in 2011.

Cunningham said there is no permanent changes in flight patterns affecting these west suburban communities. The increase in low-flying planes is due to runway construction that takes place every four years and is slated to be finished by the end of the year. Weather conditions and aircraft performance also play a role in runway usage, he said.

"This planned construction work is performed on Runway 4R-22L approximately every four years," Cunningham said. "During this activity, the runway is closed for several hours. This planned construction activity is coordinated well in advance and is done in close coordination between the Chicago Department of Aviation, the FAA and the airlines."

Hinsdale village manager Kathleen Gargano said Nov. 1 that five closures of 56 hours each were planned and four have been completed already. The FAA schedules much of the work at night, she said. Of those four closures, only two resulted in increased flight activity over Hinsdale, Gargano reported.

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Southern winds also caused more flights to use the alternate runway, she said.

An average of 7.5 percent of flight paths are over Hinsdale, but it can be as much as 10 percent, Gargano said.

Cunningham attributes the large spike in complaints compared to previous years to an app that was started that year by a community group and has led to more complaints at both Midway and O'Hare International Airport.

Runway 13C, which is the runway that affects La Grange Park and other west suburban communities, is used more often during construction, but not as much as people may think, he said.

"This particular runway configuration (13C) is used by the FAA less than 10 percent of the time annually," Cunningham said.

The many complaints from La Grange Park prompted village manager Julia Cedillo to seek answers from the aviation department about why residents were witnessing more low-flying planes and noise.

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According to the aviation department, the number of arrivals at Midway on Runway 13C was 2,665 in 2010, 4,180 in 2012, 5,345 in 2013, 1,297 in 2015 and 2,387 to date in 2016. The number of departures was 2,141 in 2010, 3,408 in 2011, 2,175 in 2012, 3,914 in 2013, 4,233 in 2014, 2,898 in 2015, and 2,659 to date in 2016.

While Cedillo noted no increased pattern over time of arrivals and departures on Runway 13C, she wishes she could get a heads-up from the aviation department when construction and/or wind and weather patterns will lead to prolonged use of it.

"I wish we'd have more information as to when they're doing maintenance so we could notify residents," said Ingrid Velkme, assistant village manager in Western Springs.

Cunningham said the aviation department makes runway closures public on its website.

"If there was an extended closure of a runway  more than seven days  we would post an advisory on our website, flychicago.com," Cunningham wrote in an email. "The flight impacts recently in the western suburbs have been related to weather conditions and not construction. The FAA manages how the airspace is used and sets forth aircraft arrival and departure procedures for all airports."

Hinsdale officials note they have no control over the flight paths, so they encourage residents to send their inquiries or complaints about the air traffic to the Chicago Department of Aviation via www.flychicago.com/midway and then click "about us" and then "noise management," or by phone at 800-914-8537.

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Hinsdale Village President Thomas Cauley, Jr., also advised the village should join a group of municipalities that advocate for noise mitigation over their communities, so their views will be represented.

While Cedillo is so far satisfied with the aviation department's answers, she plans to continue to monitor airplanes over La Grange Park, particularly as the department has promised the current runway construction project will be completed by the end of this year.

"I'm keeping my eyes on the sky," she said.

Although Kirthika's children enjoy seeing the airplanes overhead, she also is hoping the pattern is not permanent.

"It's supposed to be temporary," she said.

Bisek, who works as a truck driver, agrees.

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"This used to be a nice neighborhood," he said. "It's starting to be noisy. When they're landing, we can't be in our yard."

Staff writer Kimberly Fornek contributed to this article.

amannion@tribpub.com

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Japanese film director Shunji Iwai, enjoying fame across Asia for his hit films depicting youth and love, told Xinhua recently that he thinks Chinese market poses great opportunities and he is currently working on two films that involve cooperation with Chinese film industry.

He made the remarks at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, during which he was presented as a representative of contemporary Japanese directors and five of his works were screened, including Fireworks, Love Letter, Swallowtail Butterfly, Vampire, and Rip Van Winkle's Bride.

Iwai considered Fireworks, the 1993 TV drama, as his best work for a period of time, which brought him critical praise and the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his portrayal of a group of children.

However, Iwai was surprised that another film Love Letter in 1995, made a great impact in Asian countries, especially in China and South Korea, though the script was written and the film shot within a rather short period of time.

"I realized that it was probably my mission to be a bridge between different cultures with my films," Iwai told Xinhua.

From Swallowtail Butterfly on, Chinese characters and factors began to make repeated appearances in Iwai's works. The film, both a commercial and critical success in 1996, told the story of a group of immigrants in search of hope and a better life in a fictitious city.

"I think the film tells the story of immigrants in Japan in a positive way...I have always been paying attention to the immigrant community, their sufferings and struggle," he said.

Iwai started to learn the Chinese language when Swallowtail Butterfly was being shot, and it later paid off. "It was my idea that the main character in the film Hana and Alice should say 'I love you' in Mandarin," he said, referring to his popular 2004 film.

Iwai said that he had always been feeling close to the Chinese culture, as his mother was born in China and he often heard stories about China from his mother when he was a little boy.

The friendly feeling to China also came from the fact that famous Chinese writer Lu Xun had been a student in Iwai's hometown Sendai in the 1900s and was very famous there, according to Iwai.

When talking about Vampire, a rather recent work that marked his English-language film debut, he said that it was also his first "overseas work" in the true sense and he hoped to create more works overseas, including in China.

"China has a huge film market, which poses a lot of opportunities," he said, adding that he is currently working on two films that involve cooperation with Chinese film industry.

"The storylines of the new films are still a secret, but yes, they involve cooperation with Chinese film industry," he said.

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), kicking off on Oct. 25, is to close on Thursday. The 10-day event, with some 200 films shown at theaters in the Japanese capital, was expected to attract tens of thousands of movie fans and viewers.
Premier Li Keqiang advocates the establishment of a free-trade zone at the 15th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of Governments in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Nov 3, 2016. [Photo/China News Service]

The six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Thursday proposed to advance the establishment of a development bank and fund to boost financial cooperation.

The proposal was signed by member countries at the 15th meeting of the heads of government of the group, which consists of China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Premier Li Keqiang, attending the meeting, also said China is open to the establishment of a free-trade zone among the SCO members.

He called on SCO members to continue promoting investment and trade, as well as initiating feasibility studies for a free-trade zone.

"Member countries should break restrictions in the economy and trade by establishing a free-trade zone to expand wider-scale exchanges in this field," Li said.

A list of 38 "pragmatic measures" was approved at the meeting to govern cooperation in fields such as finance, transport and agriculture from 2017 to 2021.

Experts said these proposals showed that SCO is moving beyond traditional concerns like fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promote pragmatic cooperation in economic topics.

The six members cover 30 million square kilometers with about a quarter of the world's total population. It is working on legal procedures to grant India and Pakistan membership.

Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the SCO meeting is to help deepen economic cooperation and carry out projects in transport, production capacity and other fields.

Chen Yurong, an expert on the region's economy at the China Institute of International Studies, said the SCO members are in dire need of an FTA mechanism to boost their economies, while the group also has the necessary conditions for the establishment of an FTA.

Chen also said that the establishment of a development bank and fund will help break the bottleneck in development capital, and help realize many projects that the countries are planning.

Kazakh Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev said the SCO needs to promote effective economic cooperation to stabilize their economies, and Kazakhstan would like to link up with China's Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russia-dominated initiative.

After the meeting, Premier Li departed from Bishkek for Kazakh capital Astana to attend the 3rd Regular Meeting between Chinese and Kazakh Prime Ministers.
China and Malaysia agreed on Thursday that bilateral ties are in their best period ever and that cooperation in the long term will be sought on regional infrastructure projects.

During their meeting in Beijing, President Xi Jinping told Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak that his guest had inherited the spirit of his father, Abdul Razak Hussein, the second Malaysian prime minister, and had carried China-Malaysia ties forward.

"The bilateral cooperation is in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of both countries, and we are willing to deepen the cooperation in all sectors to benefit the two peoples," Xi said.

He added that he was glad to see that the consensus reached in previous bilateral meetings has been translated into concrete results.

Najib, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a six-day trip, described his visit as "extremely successful". Bilateral trust has been enhanced, and Malaysia is ready to boost cooperation with China in the fields of investment, transportation and port construction, he added.

Najib and his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Keqiang, witnessed the signing of a dozen deals that include the purchase of four patrol ships and loans for the construction of a planned railway line in Malaysia.

Because his third official trip to China followed the recent visit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, some Western media portrayed the visit as a move by China to counterbalance the influence of the United States in the region and as another setback for the US policy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing on Wednesday that China's development of normal diplomatic relations between countries never targets any third party and that the enhancement of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Malaysia is conducive to regional peace and development.

Han Feng, a researcher at the Center of Southeast Asian Studies in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Western media portrayal is unreasonable, since Sino-Malaysian ties go back a long way and Malaysia was the first country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region to establish a diplomatic relationship with China.

Total bilateral trade volume was $97.3 billion last year, according to Chinese government statistics, and trade with China accounted for 15.8 percent of Malaysia's total trade worldwide. Among ASEAN countries, Malaysia has been China's largest trading partner since 2008.

"China and Malaysia both are reforming their economies. Given the scale of trade, it is normal for leaders from both countries to strengthen mutual political trust and facilitate practical cooperation," Han said.

China has the capital, technology and experience to build infrastructure, facilitate cooperation and generate win-win opportunities in Southeast Asia, he added.
The aircraft pilot who avoided a fatal collision between two planes at Shanghai Hongqiao airport has been rewarded 3 million yuan (440,000 USD) from China's Eastern Airlines.

The incident occurred in early October when a traffic controller at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport gave two planes the wrong orders, resulting in them sharing a runway, one taking off, while another taxied into the airport.

He Chao, the pilot in control of the plane taking off, staged an emergency take-off and was able to fly over the taxiing plane. He Chao ultimately saved the lives of over 500 passengers onboard both flights.

The award ceremony was held on Thursday and the management of Eastern Airlines and Chinese Civil Aviation Administration honored He Chao, rewarding him with 3 million yuan (440,000 USD). His air crew was also rewarded 600,000 yuan (90,000 USD).

In the fallout from the incident, China's Civil Aviation Authorities have suspended the 13 air traffic controllers and officials on-duty at the time for improperly directing the other flight onto He Chao's runway.
The National Palace Museum in Taipei took judicial proceedings against the Palace Museum in Beijing (also known as the Forbidden City) for allegedly publishing three paintings preserved by The Palace Museum in Taipei without its authorization.

Part of "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" that was published in Beijing against Taipei's wishes, prompting a lawsuit. [Photo: peoplearts.cn]

The Taipei museum officially filed the lawsuit on Wednesday to the Education and Culture Committee of the Legislative Yuan in the city.

Ho Hsin-chun, member of the Committee said the Beijing Palace Museum scanned and published "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", "Traveling amid Mountains and Streams" and "Early Spring" in their collections without receiving Taipei's authorization.

However, the Copyright Administration of the Chinese mainland was reported as saying they were not in a position to rule on this issue, and that the Palace Museum in Taipei should go to court to decide the matter.

Further, they suggested the Palace Museum in Taipei should open a line of communication with the Palace Museum in Beijing to discuss the issue and how to further resolve the dispute.

Though the Chinese mainland and Taiwan have different laws on relics and patents, relics in the National Palace Museum in Taipei are not technically owned by the Taiwan authorities as they are in fact owned by the whole of China, argued Wang Jianmin, researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The expert said that Taiwan has the right to use relics of the Palace Museum, rather than having actual ownership.

The Beijing Palace Museum has the right to use pictures and texts about collections in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, added Wang.

The Palace Museum in Beijing is set up at the original location of the Forbidden City where numerous emperors lived in ancient China.

The Kuomintang took part of the relics in the historic buildings to Taiwan after defeated in 1949 and established another Palace Museum in the city of Taipei.
Developing a new strain of crop is time-consuming, but that doesn't worry 86-year-old Yuan Longping, China's renowned rice scientist, in the least.

Yuan, best known as the country's "father of hybrid rice", has set his eye on his next trophy-a seawater rice for full commercial production in five years.

By that time, a rice strain grown by his research team is expected to yield up to 4.5 metric tons per hectare-around 60 percent of the yield from regular paddies, Yuan said.

If the potential is fully utilized, Yuan said, China can reap an additional 50 million metric tons of grain per year, enough to feed 200 million people.

Although wild rice that is potentially resistant to diseases and does not need fertilizer is known to grow in briny swamps, such rice has never been turned into a commercial crop.

China has much saline-alkaline wasteland that could be put to use when the country's arable land is sparse, Yuan said. More than 13 million hectares of such wasteland in the country is suitable for seawater rice farming, he added.

Under Yuan's direction, a research center will be built in Licang district of Qingdao, Shandong province, where his team will use molecular breeding technologies to develop a sea rice strain with high photosynthetic efficiency and yield.

With funding of 100 million yuan ($14.79 million), scientists will start their experiments on 2 hectares of saline-alkaline marshland north of Jiaozhou Bay in April, and they expect their first harvest next autumn.

Once the 2 billion yuan research and development center is completed, Yuan's team will start planting a sea rice species in 1.33 million hectares of saline-alkaline soil along the coast.

Seawater rice seeds and planting techniques could also be exported, such as to countries in Southeast Asia, which has a total of 20 million hectares of saline-alkaline soil, Yuan said.

"Our Qingdao center is likely to help Southeast Asia raise its yearly rice production by 20 million tons," he said.

Zhang Guodong, general manager of Yuance Biotech, a partner in Yuan's project, said this marks the first time a rice strain that can thrive on seawater as well as yield a high output has been reported.

Although overseas institutions reportedly are trying to develop seawater rice using genetic technology, the efforts seem to be merely lab attempts so far, Zhang said.
China has successfully prevented a Japanese auction of looted Chinese cultural relics, a statement from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) said Thursday.

The statement did not include the name of the Japanese auction house, nor details of the relics.

It said the SACH had learned from local media reports that a Japanese auction house planned to put several looted Chinese cultural relics on auction at the end of October.

The SACH immediately contacted the auction company, demanding it halt the sale. Upon investigation, the company decided to cancel the auction, according to the statement.

A letter widely circulated on the Internet, purportedly sent by the SACH to the Yokohama-based Japanese auction house, said that the relics, "illegally obtained by Otani Kozui and his fellows," included a few pieces of mural and handwritten Buddhist manuscripts dated from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

From 1902 to 1914, Otani Kozui, a Japanese Buddhist and explorer, led or financed three expeditions to northwest China, according to "Central Asian Expedition," a book by Zuicho Tachibana, who took part in the trips.

China consistently opposes sales of illegally looted cultural relics, according to the SACH statement. "In recent years this position has gained increasing understanding and support."
Work will begin on China's first zero-waste seawater desalination plant in 2017 and it will come into use in 2019, according to the project operator on Thursday.

Malaysia's Xianda (Tianjin) Seawater Resources Development Co., Ltd. reached agreement on construction and operation of the plant with Tianjin Municipality where the plant will be located.

The agreement is one of the cooperation programs that China and Malaysia agreed during Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's current visit to China.

China and its largest trade partner in ASEAN on Tuesday signed agreements on railway, energy, defense, and joint development of Malaysia's navy.

The zero-liquid discharge seawater desalination project was a highlight of the Malaysia-China Economic Summit in 2013 when the two countries upgraded their bilateral relations to comprehensive strategic partnership.

Located in Tianjin's Nangang Industrial Zone, the plant will provide treated seawater for industrial consumption, while producing salts and other chemicals and keeping the nearby environment clean.

The project will cost 15 billion yuan (2.2 billion U.S. dollars) with the first phase requiring 5.5 billion yuan. It will be built by Xianda, and owned and operated by the company for fifty years with government support.

Chinese government has put environmental protection high on the agenda, offering plenty of opportunities for foreign companies like Xianda to participate, said Mah Sau Cheong, chairman and CEO of Xianda Group.

"We will expand the engagement in China by enhancing investment and more technology transfer while strengthening environmental protection," he added.
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The former head of a state-owned company in south China's Guangdong Province went on trial for allegedly taking 570 million yuan (84 million U.S. dollars) in bribes and public property.

The hearing of Zhuang Yao, former president of Guangdong Materials Group, was held at the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City, Guangdong from Tuesday to Thursday.

Prosecutors accused Zhuang of taking bribes worth 16.5 million yuan from 2002 to 2012 and of embezzling public property worth 554 million yuan independently or with others from 1999 to 2009.

The company was renamed Guangdong GW Holdings Group Co., Ltd. in November 2015.

The verdict will be announced another day.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends a welcome dinner at the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 6, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Earlier this year there was a build-up of tension in and around the South China Sea, as U.S.-allied countries including the Philippines and Vietnam openly disputed China's claim to sovereignty over large areas of sea and the islands within those areas, as set out in China's "dotted-line" map of the region. The Philippines was particularly vocal in their opposition to Chinese claims, and fears grew that they might try to embroil the United States in a conflict with China.

This became, inevitably, a factor in the Presidential election in the Philippines in May. Many Filipinos feared that the front-runner, Rodrigo Duterte, known as an outspoken statesman of radical views, might exacerbate the situation by taking up a strong anti-China position.

In fact, following Duterte's election, the reverse has happened. Far from seeking conflict over the islands and their surrounding waters, Duterte visited China a week ago and appears to have proclaimed total alignment with China on the global stage, and to have distanced himself unequivocally from his country's long-standing American ally (and former colonial master).

"In this venue (the Great Hall of the People), I announce my separation from the United States," Duterte proclaimed on Oct. 20. "I have realigned myself ideologically to China, and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to President Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world  China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way."

Now, while this declaration can hardly have been unwelcome to the Chinese leaders, they will be aware that Duterte has a tendency of grandiloquence speech and mercurial shifts of thought and logic. They also know that such a radical reversal of alliances cannot take place in the course of a single speech, however impressive the venue. Already a number of Philippine government ministers and senior officials have attempted to water down Duterte's words and place them in a slightly more rational context.

The world knows  and Duterte has made no secret of it  that his outburst was largely motivated by anger at American "interference" on the subject of his shoot-to-kill anti-drugs policy. No country likes to have a finger wagged at it by a former colonial power. In practice there are such close ties between American and Philippine economies and military forces that a clean break would be completely impossible. The Philippines and the U.S. will be able to get back on terms quite easily, once the turmoil of the U.S. presidential election is over.

But the real significance of Duterte's proclaimed shift of allegiance is probably related to the regional economic order. By making it absolutely clear that the Philippines no longer intends to allow territorial disputes to stand in the way of cooperation and friendship with China, he is showing readiness to align his country, not necessarily with all of China's global policies, but with the new Chinese-led regional economic order represented by the AIIB and the Belt and Road project building on China's consistent policy of grounding international relations on solid economic cooperation.

He is, of course, hoping for a reward for this show of friendship and loyalty  and he will probably get it, given that China is such a huge source of lending and foreign direct investment for her regional neighbors. Reports from the Philippines talk of low-interest Chinese loans, from both state and private sources, to the value of US$9 billion.

There is huge potential for development of Chinese investment in the Philippines. Average annual inflows into the Philippines have fallen far behind other South East Asian countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. And, in 2015, only 1.4 percent of total FDI came from China (including Hong Kong). Duterte has ambitious infrastructural plans, aiming to raise infrastructure spending to 7 percent of GDP; his main support base is in the poorer and remoter areas of the country, which would benefit considerably from such a program. China could provide a source from which to finance it.

On top of that, Duterte's change in approach has encouraged China to come up with a major aid donation for the victims of the recent super-typhoon Haima, known in the Philippines as "Lawin," which wreaked devastation over parts of the central Philippines in mid-October. China has pledged US$1.85 million in support.

Thus, although President Duterte's speech in the Great Hall of the People does not really denote an intention to break the U.S. alliance, it signifies that the Philippines have powerful alternatives to the U.S. link. In particular, next time Duterte speaks to a U.S. president he will be able to point to considerable Chinese contributions to his country's economy, and expect the Americans at least to match it to retain their position as an alliance partner. In fact, he has positioned his country very neatly between the two superpowers.

Tim Collard is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/timcollard.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday criticized the U.S.-led coalition for launching strikes against civilian objects in Iraq.

On Oct. 24, U.S. Air Force aircraft carried out a bomb and missile attack on the locality of Tel Kaif, 14 km north of Mosul, damaging a school and residential buildings, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate, said in a statement.

The U.S.-led coalition continued to strike residential areas in Mosul and other towns of the Iraqi province of Nineveh, and the satellite images showed heavy damage to residential buildings and a mosque, Rudskoi added.

Iraqi forces, supported by the U.S. coalition, have launched a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second-largest city, from Islamic State (IS) terrorist group militants.

The Russian military said it is monitoring the developments via satellites.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Beijing on Thursday, pledging to boost cooperation with the country in diverse areas and cement their all-round strategic partnership.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi hailed the progress of relations since diplomatic ties were established 42 years ago, citing mutual respect, trust, win-win cooperation and close communications.

He urged both countries to maintain frequent high-level exchanges, deepen political trust, keep to the right direction of bilateral relations and continue to support each other on issues related to each other's major concerns.

Xi called on the two sides to combine their development strategies, and to lay a solid foundation for stronger trade cooperation.

China welcomes Malaysia's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, and is ready to work with the country to increase cooperation in areas such as infrastructure, energy, technology, agriculture and finance, he said.

Xi also urged stronger bilateral cooperation in education, culture, health, media, and in fighting terrorism and cross-border crime.

Najib congratulated the successful convening of the sixth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee last week, and praised China's economic and social development.

It is proven in practice that socialism with Chinese characteristics is a correct choice for China, he said.

Calling the two countries friendly neighbors and trustworthy friends, he said Malaysia-China ties are currently at their highest level.

Malaysia is glad to see China's Belt and Road Initiative get a warm response, he said, vowing to facilitate the cooperation in trade, transportation, and port construction, with China under the Belt and Road framework.

Malaysia is committed to boosting ASEAN-China relations, he added.

Najib is on an official visit to China from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5.
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Over 32 million voters have already cast their ballots to choose the next U.S. president by Thursday, but mixed trends still leave much in uncertainty.

Statistics gathered by the University of Florida show though overall early voter number remained steady, reaching 71 percent of that in 2012, state turnout rates and early voter demographic have changed considerably.

In the key swing states of Florida and North Carolina, which are believed to hold the biggest sway in the outcome, early voter turnout has reached 101 and 84 percent of that in 2012.

Other states with particularly enthusiastic voters include Massachusettes, which traditionally supports the Democratic Party and Louisiana, a red state.

In addition, numbers showed that black early voter turnout dropped 18 percent compared with the 2008, which does not bode well for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, who lacks the popularity the sitting president Barack Obama enjoys among blacks.

Despite changing trends, experts say it is too early to make predictions for the big question.

Seth Masket, a political scientist from University of Denver, warned against reading too much into early voting results, as past records have showed that it "very weakly" predict the final result.

According to state voting laws, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow voters to cast their ballots in person or through mail prior to the election day, while six states allow absentee voting with an excuse and seven do not allow any form of early voting.
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An estimated 239 migrants are missing after two separate boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast on Wednesday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) confirmed Thursday.

"Survivors from one boat said about 140 people, including six children and approximately 20 women, some of them pregnant, left Libya at around 3:00 a.m.," UNHCR spokesman Leo Dobbs told Xinhua in a written statement.

"After a few hours, the wooden planks at the bottom of the dinghy they were travelling on broke, causing it to capsize approximately 25 miles off the Libyan coast," he added.

According to initial reports, rescuers saved 29 people and recovered 12 bodies.

In the second incident, reports from survivors who disembarked at the Italian port of Lampedusa were that around 128 people had lost their lives after "an already unsafe dinghy" sank at around 5 a.m. local time (0400) on Wednesday.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), this brings this year's total number of Mediterranean migrant deaths to a record-breaking 4,220.
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Heavy clashes are underway as the Iraqi forces are fighting inside the city of Mosul on Thursday after more than two weeks of a major offensive to flush out the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants from their last stronghold in Iraq.

Iraqi forces, including elite counter-terrorism forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni tribesmen and pre-dominantly Shiite Hashd Shaabi units, are currently engaged in the offensive to retake Mosul that started on Oct. 17. The operation is estimated to take weeks, if not months.

On Oct. 31, the Iraqi-led forces have made a significant progress on the fringes of the city and managed later to enter Mosul's eastern Gogjali district and took first foothold in the city, sparking first street battles inside the city after it was seized by IS more than two years ago.

The troops are in heavy clashes with IS militants as they are trying to extend foothold inside the eastern part of the city.

On Thursday, the Iraqi forces, backed by international coalition and Iraqi aircraft, made a new push and took new positions at the edges of the districts of Intisar, Karama and Samah in eastern Mosul, said Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, commander of the Iraqi counter-terrorism forces.

"The Iraqi army artillery and mortars are shelling the IS positions in three districts, and the troops could start storming the three districts in the coming hours," Saadi said.

"The presence of civilians in the districts is hampering an all-out attack to sweep the IS positions," he added.

Progress has also been made on front lines in other directions around Mosul.

In north of the city, Iraqi army and allied Sunni fighters of Hashd Watani advanced closer to the northern fringes of Mosul two days after they freed two villages and nearby Shalalat area, some 7 km northeast of Mosul.

Kurdish Peshmerga also made advance in northeast of Mosul and recaptured several villages and surrounded Bashiqa town, 30 km away from Mosul.

Other troops are coming closer to the southeastern edge of Mosul after clearing the villages of Twila and Sharezad, and prepared to push into Jadidat al-Mufti district, but the troops were encountered by stiff resistance from the IS militants.

In south of Mosul, the Iraqi army, federal police and allied Hashd Shaabi units met fierce resistance from IS militants. They retook several villages and are now 15 km away from the city.

Also on Thursday, the Hashd Shaabi units recaptured a total of six villages as they advanced in southwest of Mosul toward the town of Tal Afar, Lieutenant General Abul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command told reporters.

The paramilitary units fought fierce clashes with the IS group during their advance, killing a large number of IS militants, including five suicide bombers wearing explosive vests, Yarallah said.

The operation of the pre-dominantly Shiite Hashd Shaabi units was designed to recapture Tal Afar in order to cut off the supply lines between Mosul and neighboring Syria.

Tal Afar, which is inhabited mostly by both Sunni and Shiite Turkoman, as well as other minorities of Kurds and Arabs, fell to IS control in 2014.

Early in the month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, at the Qayyara military airbase south of Mosul, said the Iraqi forces were trying to close off all escape routes for the several thousand IS militants inside Mosul.

"They have no escape, they either die or surrender," he told state television.

IS militants have been fighting off the offensive with mortar fire, rockets, bombs, snipers, suicide attacks and booby traps.

Heavier battles are anticipated as some 3,000 to 5,000 IS militants are expected to show stiffer resistance in the populated neighborhoods.

However, the Iraqi army is confident that victory will come soon. Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said in an interview with Iraqi national television of Iraqya that he predicts that collapse of IS militants in Mosul will be fast.

"I believe the counter-terrorism forces will manage soon to seize the districts of Karama and nearby district, and that will enable them to go deeper into the center of the city left bank (eastern side of Mosul)," Khalaf said.

He said that the fall of the western side of Mosul will be fast, as the fall of the eastern side, which forms two-third of the city, will be the main part of the battle.

"There is a well-known principle in the military action: those who were defeated and changed their position will not be able to fight in the new position, because their will to fight will be weak," Khalaf said.

However, some experts showed their concerns that the street battles will be difficult.

Laith al-Ani, a military expert, told Xinhua that IS group has evacuated most of its fighters from its headquarters in the eastern side to the western side.

"Most of the neighborhoods in the eastern side were built in recent decades with separated houses and wide streets, which would be difficult for IS militants to defend, unlike the neighborhoods of the western side where the old city located with its heavy populated old buildings and narrow alleys," Ani said.

The battles in the eastern side of Mosul would mainly depend on suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and snipers attacks, which aim at hindering the progress of the troops, while the fierce battles are expected to be on the western side, he said.

He added that Mosul is the IS last major stronghold in Iraq, so the group is unwilling to surrender without a fight.

In the past two and a half years, the militants dug an extensive network of tunnels to transport equipment and fighters, and rigged roads and bridges with bombs.

In an audio recording posted online by IS websites late on Wednesday, the IS top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urged his fighters not to retreat from Mosul.

He called on the militants "to confront the enemy (security forces) and transform their blood into rivers, their days into dark nights," according to the recording which could not be authentically verified.

Mosul, with a population of about 1.5 million and some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014.

The United Nations has warned of a displacement of up to one million people, requiring the world's largest humanitarian operation.
 Flash

China on Friday urged the United States to stop deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Army Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander said earlier Friday that the THAAD anti-missile system would be deployed to ROK soil in the next eight to 10 months.

"The U.S. deployment of the THAAD in the Republic of Korea severely undermines regional strategic balance and harms strategic and security interests of countries in the region, including China," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at the daily press briefing.

Hua added that THAAD deployment goes against efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

"China has repeatedly expressed concern and opposition to the issue,"she said, stressing that China will take necessary measures to safeguard its national security interests.

He urged relevant sides to pay due attention to China's legitimate concern and immediately stop the deployment process.

The size of the THAAD battery, which Seoul and Washington agreed in early July to install in southeastern ROK, would be bigger than the one deployed to the island of Guam, according to the report.
URLs and DOIs: a complicated relationship

As the linking hub for scholarly content, its our job to tame URLs and put in their place something better. Why? Most URLs suffer from link rot and can be created, deleted or changed at any time. And thats a problem if youre trying to cite them.

Thus the Crossref DOI was born: an Identifier which is Persistent, which means that its designed to live forever (or, as Geoff Bilder rather more prosaically puts it, as long as we do), and also Resolvable, which means that you can click on it. A DOI is a URL, but its imbued with special properties. I say special, not magical, because all of the things that make Crossref DOIs what they are, are obtained through agreements and common standards rather than any kind of magic.

As part of the development of Crossref Event Data Ive been doing some research about the relationship between DOIs and URLs. Its a problem we have to solve in order to make Event Data work, but its a much broader and more interesting story, and the results have wide applicability. Ill be telling this story at PIDapalooza. If youre interested in Persistent Identifiers you should go and registration is open, though hurry, as its next week and in Rejkjavik, Iceland!

This is also a story in progress. As I write not all of the data is in, and we can be certain that it will evolve in ways we have no idea about. Its also quite long but Ill do my best to disqualify it from the bedtime reading list.

Full circle

Crossref was established just over fifteen years ago with the purpose of forming the linking hub between publishers. Our job was  and still is  to register content for publishers and then continue to work with them to ensure their DOIs always point to the right location of the content. To do this we need to do one main thing: send people in the right direction when they click on a DOI, and know which direction to point them in.

Today, linking is still an important part of what Crossref does, but we do a huge amount more. One of the new things were working on is Crossref Event Data. Its a service for tracking how and where people use scholarly content (such as articles) across the web and social media. Early research suggested that if we limited ourselves to just looking for DOIs we wouldnt find much. Instead we broadened our aims a little: rather than looking for mentions of registered content exclusively via their DOIs, we look for them via the most suitable mechanism. In most cases this means the actual URL of the Item. So we have come full circle: we started linking DOIs to URLs. Now were trying to link URLs back to DOIs.

Which URL are we talking about here? The Crossref Guidelines say:

DOI-routed reference links enabled by Crossref must resolve to a response page containing no less than complete bibliographic information about the target content 

http://www.crossref.org/02publishers/59pub_rules.html

This is whats referred to as the Landing Page. Every Landing Page has a URL. Usually when you want to read information about an Article, its the Landing Page that youre looking at. I should also say at this point that when I say Article I mean any item of Crossref Registered Content with a DOI. So the same applies to books, chapters, conference proceedings etc. But as most items are Articles, Ill stick with that for now.

Im going to make some assumptions. Unfortunately, and I dont want to spoil the surprise here, they all turn out to be false. Theyre all reasonable assumptions, though, and you would be forgiven for thinking, or at least wishing, that they were true.

So suspend your disbelief and follow me down the rabbit-hole

Assumption 1: A DOI points directly to a Landing Page URL

When you click on a DOI you are taken to the Article Landing Page. It seems like a perfectly valid assumption to think that you are taken directly there.

The DOI system is essentially a big lookup table. In the first column is the DOI and in the second column is the URL. Publishers request that we register each items DOI and supply us with the URL it should point to. We work with CNRI and the International DOI Foundation to keep the system running and it means that when you, the reader at home, click on a DOI, you end up on the articles Landing Page.

It would be very convenient if our assumption were true. If we wanted to turn a URL back into an article page, we could just swap the two columns and find the DOI by looking up the URL.

It turns out that its not quite so simple.

The Landing Page is under control of the publisher, as is the URL that they supply us with. They dont need to supply us with the final landing page URL, only with one that leads to the landing page.

HTTP redirects

When you request a URL, either by typing it into your browser or by clicking on a link, your browser contacts the server and gets a reply. That reply can be 200 OK, heres your page, 303, look over there or the dreaded 404, I cant find it. Other HTTP response codes are available, including well-known classics such as 201, 500 and 418.

If its a 303, your browser will follow the redirect URL. The response that comes back from that redirect could be another 303. You could end up following a whole chain of redirects. You wouldnt notice anything, except having to wait an extra few milliseconds.

Extraordinary diversity

Crossref was created by a group of publishers who needed a way to link between articles. It was an ambitious goal: create a central system with which any publisher can integrate their own systems; one that allows linking to any article no matter who published it. Today we have over 5,000 members and counting, all contributing to our metadata engine. And up to 2 million DOIs are resolved every day, by all kinds of people and systems. Our wide range of members means a wide range of systems with a wide range of designs.

This brings an extraordinary diversity of behavior. If we want to make observations about DOIs we cant just take a random sample of the over 80 million. Instead, we need to take a sample of DOIs per Publisher System. Even taking a sample per publisher might not do the job because some publishers run a variety of systems.

Experiment 1: Does Crossref know all Landing Pages?

By NASA / Paul Riedel (Great Images in NASA: Home - info - pic) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hypothesis: Crossref knows the Landing Page URL for all DOIs.

For a sample of Items, we can follow the DOI link all the way through to the Landing Page, following any redirects, then compare the final Landing Page URL to the one that Crossref knows about. If there are extra redirects, that means that the one we have on file isnt the final one.

We need to tighten up the terminology at this stage:

DOI URL - The full DOI, e.g. https://doi.org/10.5555/12345678 .

- The full DOI, e.g. https://doi.org/10.5555/12345678 . Resource URL - The URL that Crossref has on file (stored in our system). This is where the browser is initially redirected.

- The URL that Crossref has on file (stored in our system). This is where the browser is initially redirected. Destination URL - The URL that we end up at if we follow all the redirects.

- The URL that we end up at if we follow all the redirects. Article Landing Page - The page that represents the item. If everything works, this should be the same as the Destination URL.

The reason were talking about the Destination URL as distinct from the Article Landing Page when they should be the same thing will become clear later. Consider yourself foreshadowed.

So lets re-word our hypothesis:

Hypothesis: The Destination URL is the same as the Resource URL.

Method: A sample of DOIs was taken (most items updated in 2016, all from 2009 or earlier). The Resource URL was obtained for all of them. The DOIs were split by the domain name of the Resource URL (to give a good coverage of all Publisher systems). A sample of Resource URLs was followed per domain, at least 200 (or fewer if that exceeds the number of DOIs available). Where there were HTTP redirects they were followed.

Observations:

Number of Items sampled Destination URL: 253,381

Number where Resource URL = Destination URL: 46,995 or 19.96%

Conclusion: Not all Resource URLs are the same as the Destination URL by a long shot. Crossref does not automatically know every landing page URL.

Now we know the truth about our first assumption: DOIs dont point directly to Landing Pages. If we want to reverse Landing Pages back into DOIs, were going to need to go a bit deeper

Interlude

But first, an interlude with some information about publishers, owners, and systems, because now seems like the right time to do it.

Assumption 2: You can tell the publisher of a DOI by looking at its prefix

This is a real one one that people believe. Again, its entirely understandable. People look at a DOI like https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136117.g001 , which takes them to PLoS and naturally assume that another DOI like https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136053.t003  because it has the same prefix of 10.1371  is also for a PLoS item.

Whilst this turns out to be true most of the time, its not true for all Items, which makes it a dangerous assumption to make.

It is true that every publisher is given a prefix. They can then register DOIs with this prefix. It is also true that Items can be transferred between publishers. Because DOIs are persistent, the prefix in the DOI doesnt change. So you might find a DOI that belongs to a publisher that has an unexpected prefix. Publishers can also be bought and sold, merged and split, which means that whilst most publishers have a single prefix, some, like Elsevier, have several. Take the case of Elsevier, who has 26 at the time of writing (you can see this in Elseviers entry in the Crossref Metadata API).

Every Item has an owner prefix in addition to the prefix in the DOI. The owner prefix is the same as the DOI prefix when the Item is created, but over time, as articles are transferred, that can change to indicate that it is owned by another publisher.

Every Item has a DOI, and every DOI has a prefix. But every Item also has an Owner Prefix (you can check this in the Metadata API in the prefix field).

So Assumption 2 has been laid to rest. The only thing you can tell from looking at a DOI is that it is, in fact, a DOI (you can tell by the 10. index code).

Why do we care about identifying publishers anyway?

A Fair Test

We fundamentally want to conduct a fair test. The reason we cant just take a random sample from the set of all DOIs is that there are lots of members who all do things slightly differently. Therefore we need to take a sample per publisher system. The word system is a bit fuzzy, but my assumption is that two articles in the same system will behave the same way so we can treat them the same.

We also know that each Crossref member may be running more than one system, or a mixture. Therefore just looking at the owner of a DOI may not give accurate results if we want to conduct a survey of all the systems out there.

Theres no perfect answer, but the approach Im taking is to look at the domain name of the Resource URL. We often find lots of subdomains for the same publisher, for example, psw.sagepub.com, pol.sagepub.com, psx.sagepub.com and bpi.sagepub.com. Its clear that these are all operated by Sage, but they might or might not all be running on different systems.

Therefore Im splitting DOIs up into groups based on the domain of their Resource URL. It may turn out that some publishers use a single system running on many domains, or it may turn out that some publishers use a different system for each domain they use. The key point is to find a sampling technique that broadly works, and that allows us to explore and differentiate, as keenly as possible, the variety of systems and behaviours.

Why all the redirects?

Curious minds might at this stage be wondering about all these extra redirects. Surely its extra stuff for the publisher to maintain. Why dont they just point the DOI directly to the landing page?

The answer must be prefaced by repeating that there is a huge number of publishers, running a variety of systems, so well never be able to completely answer that. But some humble suggestions:

They might want to be able to change the URLs of the Landing Pages. It may be easier to update their internal systems than send the update to Crossref, especially in bulk. Different parts of their technology stack may be owned by different parts of the company, or outsourced. Its easier to define internal boundaries than to co-ordinate business units and cross an external one. A publisher may run a mix of different technology. As part of their systems integration process, they set up a redirect server to make everything work together. A publisher assigns DOIs to articles but also has their own internal IDs. They maintain their own DOI-to-internal-ID lookup service.

Internal DOI resolvers

That last point is an interesting one. The DOI system is the canonical DOI-to-URL resolver. That doesnt prevent publishers from running their own. Indeed, many do.

To take a real example of PLoS, an Open Access publisher who registers lots of content with Crossref. To follow one of their DOIs we go on the following journey of redirects:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164910

http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164910

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0164910

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0164910

Given that the last step uses a DOI, this suggests that they use the DOI as an internal identifier. All those redirects were for some purpose, but they werent mapping a DOI to an internal ID. This is therefore not an internal DOI resolver.

Another example from JAMA Surgery:

In this case we see a mapping from the DOI 10.1001/archsurg.142.7.595 to the ID 487551.

Can we define a heuristic for this pattern? Yes, but not a perfect one. My test is this:

Does the resource URL contain the DOI?

If so, does it redirect to a different destination URL?

If so, does the destination URL not contain the DOI?

The last step is important, because we cant really say the publisher is running a DOI resolver if they use the DOI all the way through.

Its not perfect and no doubt has false negatives. But were just trying to find out whether some publishers run their own DOI resolver systems.

Experiment 2: Determine how widespread use of internal DOI resolvers is:

Hypothesis: Some publishers run their own DOI resolvers.

Method: A number of Destination URLs were sampled per Resource URL Domain. If the Resource URL contains the DOI but the Destination URL doesnt, thats marked as a Publisher DOI resolver redirect.

Observations:

Number of Items sampled with Resource URL and Destination URL: 253,381

Number of Items that appear to be DOI resolvers: 166,352 = 65.6%

Conclusions: Some publishers run their own DOI resolvers.

This isnt of much practical use, but its interesting to know, and hints at the way the Crossref system and DOIs are integrated with Publishers systems. Now that weve got a little insight into the reasons that publishers might run their own DOI resolvers, we can resume our journey of assumptions.

Assumption 3: We can find the Landing Page for Every DOI

Now we know that we cant just use the lookup table in reverse, but have to follow the links all the way to their destination. Does this approach actually work?

This is a pretty big question and we need to be clear about what we mean by every DOI. The set of DOIs Im using (although Im using a subset) is all DOIs in our Metadata API that are found in doi.org.

What is a DOI? Geoff Bilder went over it in the DOI-like-strings blog post earlier this year. The definition Im working to here is:

A DOI is an identifier for an item of content registered in the DOI system.

That is, if you resolve the DOI on https://doi.org/ and its recognised, that counts as a DOI. Im working from the set of DOIs found in the Crossref system as Im primarily concerned with Crossref DOIs. However, we collaborate closely with DataCite.

Back to our assumption: we can find the Landing Page for every DOI. The answer is that we can, most of the time. But because Crossref Event Data has to work as well as possible, and therefore work with as many DOIs as possible, we have to scour all the nooks and crannies.

Assumption 4: Every DOI points somewhere unique

Stop me when you find the deliberate mistake:

Every Item corresponds to a different thing Every Item has a single DOI Every DOI is different Every DOI points to a landing page Therefore every DOI points to a different landing page

Two things immediately suggest themselves:

Every item has a single DOI should be true, but it isnt. We find that sometimes two DOIs are assigned to the same item. This can happen when publications change hands between publishers, or when mistakes are made, or for a variety of other reasons. We also find that in some cases Publishers registered a DOI for the metadata and one for the article abstract. The two DOIs point to the same place. In some cases where there were two DOIs registered for the same thing we create an Alias.

When we alias a DOI we simply say this DOI should actually point to this one. Both DOIs still exist, and both still point to the correct thing, its just that they both point to the same place. If we have two DOIs pointing to the same place, then there isnt a one-to-one mapping, and Assumption 4 is incorrect.

Experiment 4: Aliased DOIs

Hypothesis: There isnt a one-to-one mapping between DOIs and URLs because some DOIs are aliased to others.

Method: We collected a sample of Resource URLs from the DOI API. We count how many DOIs are classified as Aliases in the DOI system.

Observations:

From a sample of 11,227,458 DOIs

14,566 are aliased to others, or 0.129%

Conclusion: There arent many aliases. But there are some, and we should be aware of them.

Experiment 5: Duplicate Resource URLs

Hypothesis: There isnt a one-to-one mapping between DOIs and URLs because some DOIs have duplicate Resource URLs.

Method: A sample of Resource URLs was collected from the DOI API. We counted how many DOIs have Resource URLs that arent unique. We subtract the number of deleted DOIs because all deleted DOIs have the same resource URL.

Observations:

From a sample size of 11,227,458

a total of 112,195 have duplicate resource URLs, or 0.99%

of these duplicates, 77,896 have the deleted URL

leaving 34,229, or 0.30% having non-unique Resource URLs

Conclusion: A small number of DOIs have duplicate Resource URLs, even if we exclude those that have been deleted, which means that not every DOI can have a unique URL.

Assumption 5: The Landing Page is the same as the Destination Page.

HTTP has a very neat system for doing redirects. If it were that simple, then we could easily look up every Destination page and confidently say that it was the Landing Page. Not so.

Cookies

Web browsers arent the only tools that use HTTP. Most programming languages have HTTP capabilities built in.

Using cookies is a requirement of some websites, but its not a requirement of HTTP. Most websites use cookies in some way or another. When you log into a site, you expect cookies. But when youre just browsing there isnt any technical need. A small number of websites absolutely require cookies to be enabled to use the site, even if youre just browsing and not logged in. Unfortunately, this includes some publishers.

Requiring cookies to use a publisher site means that you cant fully resolve a DOI without enabling cookies. Most tools out there dont. Some privacy-conscious people quite reasonably dont enable cookies from all sites.

Using cookies when resolving a DOI adds considerable overhead and isnt fool-proof.

Lets try a quick experiment to see when we land up on a cookie page. Heres an example page that tells us that we should have enabled cookies: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/cookieAbsent . Its reachable from the DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envhaz.2007.09.007 .

Experiment 6: Some DOIs cant be resolved without cookies

Hypothesis: We cant resolve some DOIs to the Landing Page using standard tools because cookies are required.

Method: A sample of DOIs was taken per Resource URL Domain. They were resolved by following HTTP links. Where the Destination URL contains the word cookie, we mark that as a DOI requiring a cookie.

Observations:

A sample of 253,381 DOIs were resolved following HTTP redirects where necessary

a total of 6305 resolved to a page with cookie in the URL or 2.48%

Conclusion: There are cookies at play for at least 2.48% of DOIs. This is probably a very conservative estimate, as were using a blunt tool looking for cookie in the URL.

Cookies Required

For one DOI I found, the publisher system set cookies, then sent us on a series of redirects which set cookies that expired in the past and then, as far as I can tell, checked whether or not they were sent back. My working hypothesis is that it was profiling the behaviour to see what browser I was using.

I have also seen javascript-based redirects. This is where a web page loads a javascript file, which executes and sends the browser onto another URL. This seems to be to be a browser detection method. There is no way you can follow these DOIs without actually using a real browser.

This is a problem for Crossref Event Data. We cant fire up a browser and follow every DOI: it isnt practical. When I tried this for a sample as an experiment I got an email from another publisher who was worried that we were scraping data (good bot operators always put contact details in their request headers!).

The Crossref member rules leave some wiggle-room about whether this is allowed, but for the Event Data service, we can say that its a physical impossibility to collect all Event Data for DOIs like this.

Bring in the Browser

To quantify the size of the problem, we need to bring in a web browser. If we assume that some Publishers design their sites to work only with real browsers, thats what well use. Luckily there are web browsers packaged up into an automatable package, and we can use these to visit the DOI.

Using one of these is considerably slower than just following link headers.

I have split the destination concept into two:

Naive destination URL: The URL that you get from following HTTP redirects acccording to the HTTP specification Browser destination URL: The URL that you get from letting a browser follow the DOI doing whatever a browser does.

Rather than defining a complicated spectrum of types of DOI resolution behaviour, I am classifying DOIs into two groups: those where standard HTTP redirects are sufficient and everything else.

The method I am using is to resolve a sample of URLs using the browser. I can then compare the Naive Destination URL with the Browser Destination URL. If they are the same, then I didnt need to use the browser after all. If they give a different result however, I trust the Browser one better and declare that DOI to require a browser to resolve.

Again, I took a sample of DOIs per Resource URL domain.

Experiment 7: Quantify proportion of DOIs that require a browser to redirect

Hypothesis: A number of DOIs cant be resolved with standard tools but instead require a browser.

Method: A sample of DOIs was selected per Resource URL domain. The links were followed using standard HTTP and using a browser. Where the URLs between the two were different, the DOI was counted as requiring a browser to resolve.

Observations:

A total of 59,453 items were followed both using the Naive and Browser methods.

Of these 5,883 items have a different URL between the two methods, or 9.88%

Conclusion: We cant rely on the Naive redirect, and would have to fire up the browser in about 10% of cases in the sample.

Other gnarly things

There are one or two supplementary gnarly things that crop up.

First, session IDs are sometimes embedded in the URL. This is a tracking technique similar to cookies, but instead of sending cookies, which are invisible to the user, a unique code is placed on the end of the URL. This means that everyone gets a different URL. The most popular of these is the JSESSIONID, which is used by servers in the Java ecosystem. An example URL is:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/047084289X.rn00615.pub3/abstract;jsessionid=0D1B7AC4689A494E0EA78BD2F0A710C4.f04t04

We can easily remove these if they appear at the end of a URL. Sometimes they occur in the middle of a URL, as above. Sometimes they appear as query parameters:

http://jpharmsci.org/action/consumeSharedSessionAction?SERVER=WZ6myaEXBLGvmNGtLlDx7g%3D%3D&MAID=npYBLvZTaUI3JTHw%2BH63WQ%3D%3D&JSESSIONID=aaajjhdDL5ssK6d1HHrFv&ORIGIN=207988872&RD=RD

In this case we make no attempt to remove them. These URLs wont be any use for matching, and we have to acknowledge that and move on.

Interpreting the results

All the above experiments involved taking as many DOIs as we had time for, gathering the Resource URLs, and then grouping the DOIs per Resource URL Domain. A sample of DOIs was investigated per each Resource URL domain to give the best chance at even coverage. The above figures have been presented as a proportion of the sampled data-set.

Now its time to draw some practical conclusions. I grouped the results per Resource URL Domain, so I can say that for this domain, X% of DOIs was deleted, or aliased, or whatever. This means that we can look at the statistics for a given domain and work out the best method for working with DOIs that belong to it.

I have created histograms of domains by their various proportions.

Our first chart is histogram of Resource URL Domains where the Naive Destination = the Resource URL. Each domain is given a proportion which represents how many DOIs sampled on that domain have a Landing Page equal to the Resource URL.

Theres a clear bimodal distribution here. The conclusion here is most domains require you to follow the link to find the destination URL. Furthermore, the domains are consistent: there are virtually no domains that have a mix of DOIs that behave differently.

Our second chart is a histogram of Resource URLs where the Browser-based redirect = the Naive URL. Each domain is given a proportion which represents how many DOIs sampled on that domain require us to fire up a browser.

Overwhelmingly, the Browser Redirect URL is the same as the Naive Redirect URL, meaning that we dont need to fire up the browser, we can just use the Naive URL, which is much easier to compute. There are some resource URL domains which require every DOI to be followed in a browser rather than just following links.

We know from this that we dont have to use the browser most of the time. There is a small number of domains where were unsure (under 500) and a small number of domains where we know that we have to use a browser. This means we can focus our efforts.

There are lots of DOIs and they all behave differently.

There are thousands of publishers out there registering DOIs. There are thousands of domains. Some publishers have lots of domains. This makes it impossible to make many general observations about DOIs.

You cant tell anything by looking at the DOI

Just by looking at the DOI you cant tell who published it, or which publishers system is hosting it. Therefore you cant tell how its going to behave.

Weve looked at five kinds of URLs:

The DOI itself The Resource URL The naive redirect URL The browser redirect URL The Article Landing Page

In some cases, the Resource URL, naive redirect URL, browser redirect and Article Landing Page are the same. In some cases they arent. Of these, the fifth is somewhat mythical.

DOIs fall into classifications

Each DOI falls into a category, most preferable first:

The Resource URL is the same as the Landing Page. The Landing Page can be discovered by following HTTP redirects. The Landing Page can be discovered by firing up a web browser to follow redirects. The Landing Page cant be determined.

We can predictively group DOIs

We can group DOIs by their Resource URLs and take a sample per Resource URL Domain. If all samples for a domain behave a certain way, we can place the DOIs into one of the above four groups with a probability.

Well never know the full story.

Because of the diversity of Publisher Systems and the long history of Crossref DOIs, well never be able to describe exactly whats going on for all DOIs.

What next?

Were continuing to develop Crossref Event Data. The part of the system that handles turning URLs back into DOIs will never be perfect, but we know from this research that we can at least work with a subset.

Im also working on another project which will attempt to reverse a Landing Page URL back into a DOI by looking at the metadata on the Landing Page. You can read about it here. Ultimately were going to have to take a blended approach. Building a useful set of Landing Page URL to DOI mappings will be part of the mix.

As Event Data matures well be sharing all the datasets automatically as part of our infrastructure, including our DOI-to-URL mapping.

And any members reading, please make your DOIs as easy to follow as possible! Please dont require JavaScript or cookies when resolving DOIs.

If youre read this far, perhaps youre as interested in DOIs as we are. Theres a lot more to say on the subject, but thats enough for now. See you at PIDapalooza!

Image Credits

All images from Wikipedia Commons. Click or hover on the image to see the attribution.
The America.jpg

Members of the Singing River Yacht Club and Pascagoula residents boarded the 'America' on Thursday to tour the Gulf Coast. The tour, in conjunction with the City of Pascagoula provided historical insight into a race that was popular in the country's history and being that Americans beat the British in the first race held, the tour took on the moniker the, "America Cup Tour." (Tyler Carter/tcarter@al.com)

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Residents took the opportunity on Thursday to board the 'America' on Thursday to tour the Gulf and to learn more about the 139-foot replica yacht that shocked the world and won the first ever Royal Yacht Squadron's "100 Pound Cup" regatta around the Isle of Wight in 1851.

The City of Pascagoula and Singing River Yacht Club (SRYC) in conjunction with Next Level Sailing in an effort to bring residents a day filled with fun and excitement, coupled with history, education and tradition available for kids.

According to Singing River Yacht Club member Elizabeth Stallworth, the response from residents in the community who have boarded the yacht has been extremely positive.

"The response has been wonderful," Stallworth said.

Residents and members of the Singing River Yacht Club set sail to tour the Gulf Coast for its final tour in Pascagoula.

Thursday's sailing was specifically for members of the SRYC, but also allowed residents who had yet to experience the 'America' the opportunity to do so. Troy Sears, captain of the 'America' said he was pleased with the way the tours were going and the numerous inquiries people had.

"It's been great," Sears said. "The goal of this America's Cup Tour was to celebrate the event's storied history and infuse a new level of excitement and involvement in the America's Cup now and for generations to come," Sears said.

After the yacht returned, yacht club members, residents, and Sears convened at the yacht club. There, Sears gave his history as a sailor and a brief history of the America's Cup.

According to Sears, the authentic 'America' was commissioned in 1851 by a group of businessmen in New York that wanted to showcase America's superior naval architecture at the first Worlds Fair in London.

From there, it is said that the 'America' beat a fleet of British vessels in a race around the Isle of Wight to win a race and trophy that has become known as the America's Cup, an event that takes it's name from the winning boat, not the country.
Two years ago, Wang Fei was a typical middle school student - an aspiring fashionista, who enjoyed Korean movies and hanging out with friends.

Fast forward to today, and the 20-year old police officer at the Mukang border checkpoint in Mangshi city, Yunnan province, has taken a crash course in drug law enforcement, covering everything from vehicle inspections to apprehending suspects.

The worst part of her job used to be performing cavity searches and extracting drugs swallowed by "mules".

"The first time I did one, I couldn't eat for two days. I even vomited several times a few days later. I never thought I would be put on the frontline and expected to do such a tough job just a few months after being recruited," she said. "I asked myself some tough questions and even thought about quitting, but the thought of the urgent cases at Mukang encouraged me to continue with my 'mission'."

Wang's role model is Su Dan, a former officer at the checkpoint who seized 15 kilograms of drugs during her first year in the force.

"I trained harder and accepted tougher assignments after I discovered what my predecessors had been through and the things they achieved. Now, I'm capable of disassembling a truck for a drug examination," she said.

"The most difficult of part of my job isn't limited to drug inspections anymore. I could hardly bear the moment last year when I had to arrest a drug-trafficking mother, who had her child with her. She knelt and begged me to let her go because she was only carrying a small amount of heroin, and because her child was so young. I had to arrest her, though. If I hadn't, more families could have been destroyed by drugs."
Premier Li Keqiang advocates the establishment of a free-trade zone at the 15th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of Governments in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Nov 3, 2016. LIU ZHEN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE

The six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Thursday proposed to advance the establishment of a development bank and fund to boost financial cooperation.

The proposal was signed by member countries at the 15th meeting of the heads of government of the group, which consists of China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Premier Li Keqiang, attending the meeting, also said China is open to the establishment of a free-trade zone among the SCO members.

He called on SCO members to continue promoting investment and trade, as well as initiating feasibility studies for a free-trade zone.

"Member countries should break restrictions in the economy and trade by establishing a free-trade zone to expand wider-scale exchanges in this field," Li said.

A list of 38 "pragmatic measures" was approved at the meeting to govern cooperation in fields such as finance, transport and agriculture from 2017 to 2021.

Experts said these proposals showed that SCO is moving beyond traditional concerns like fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promote pragmatic cooperation in economic topics.

The six members cover 30 million square kilometers with about a quarter of the world's total population. It is working on legal procedures to grant India and Pakistan membership.

Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the SCO meeting is to help deepen economic cooperation and carry out projects in transport, production capacity and other fields.

Chen Yurong, an expert on the region's economy at the China Institute of International Studies, said the SCO members are in dire need of an FTA mechanism to boost their economies, while the group also has the necessary conditions for the establishment of an FTA.

Chen also said that the establishment of a development bank and fund will help break the bottleneck in development capital, and help realize many projects that the countries are planning.

Kazakh Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev said the SCO needs to promote effective economic cooperation to stabilize their economies, and Kazakhstan would like to link up with China's Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russia-dominated initiative.

After the meeting, Premier Li departed from Bishkek for Kazakh capital Astana to attend the 3rd Regular Meeting between Chinese and Kazakh Prime Ministers.
A woman takes a selfie as Chinese COSCO container vessel navigates through the Agua Clara locks during the first ceremonial pass through the newly expanded Panama Canal in Agua Clara, on the outskirts of Colon City, Panama, on June 26. [Photo / Agencies]

OCEAN Alliance to deploy 350 vessels to take on major rival 2M

OCEAN Alliance, formed by China COSCO Shipping Corp Ltd, France's CMA CGM SA and another two partners in April, on Thursday announced it will deploy 350 container vessels to the global market to further challenge 2M, another major global container carrier alliance.

With a total carrying capacity of 3.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, OCEAN Alliance will be able to provide a service coverage in the market on a number of trade lanes including 20 trans-Pacific and six Asia-Europe shipping services.

Formed by Denmark's Maersk Line and Switzerland's Mediterranean Shipping Co SA, 2M started its operations in 2015, and controls more than 2.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units, and manages more than 200 vessels.

Other members of the OCEAN alliance are Taiwan-based Evergreen Line and Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line. They announced this shipping partnership in April to further enhance their earning ability and optimize operational efficiency amid the current decline in global trade.

"The top priority of the OCEAN Alliance is service quality and schedule reliability," said Wang Haimin, managing director of COSCO Shipping Lines Co Ltd.

"Unlike other shipping alliances, OCEAN Alliance has a Hong Kong-based operation center to monitor its operation and collect market information."

The four companies signed a document entitled the Day One Product, which sets out the proposed OCEAN Alliance's network, including port rotation for each service loop. The vessel deployment details for each service loop will be released by the end of this November.

"Customers will benefit from a competitive selection of sailing schedules and direct port pairs, fast transit times, and a highly efficient fleet of vessels to cater to the needs of today's demanding and increasingly green global supply chains," said Wang.

Rodolphe Saade, vice-chairman of CMA CGM, said member companies will have an attractive selection of frequent departures and direct calls to meet their supply chain needs, including access to a vast network with the largest number of sailings and port rotations connecting markets in Asia, Europe and the United States.

CMA CGM, a key driver in the alliance, will deploy 35 percent of container ships within the alliance's service network in the initial stage.

The members of the OCEAN Alliance also announced that they have filed the alliance agreement to China's Ministry of Transport, and that the US Federal Maritime Commission and South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries have expressed approval of the OCEAN Alliance.

The OCEAN Alliance has also completed its self-assessment compliance review to the European Union.

Lee Mong-jye, president of Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) Ltd said, the OCEAN Alliance will continue to work closely with all the authorities to ensure full compliance with applicable laws and regulations and secure the necessary regulatory approvals for the alliance to commence operations from April in 2017.
Workers inspect the gas and oil facilities at an oilfield belonging to China Petrochemical Corp in Puyang, Henan province. TONG JIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY

Lower prices and weak demand take toll on global energy producers

China's oil and gas giants saw their revenues slump in the July-September period, according to their financial reports, against the backdrop of a suppressed global oil and gas market and lower domestic natural gas prices.

The third-quarter reports of China's big three oil firmsChina National Petroleum Corp, China National Offshore Oil Corp and China Petrochemical Corpshowed that CNPC's revenue fell by 3.8 percent to 411.4 billion yuan ($60.97 billion), CNOOC by 15.2 percent to 30.75 billion yuan, and Sinopec by 3.1 percent to 472 billion yuan.

The drop in revenues for the big three is a direct result of plummeting international oil prices, as well as weak economic growth. So, the glory days of high oil prices have long gone and the downtrend will continue, said analysts.

Wang Lu, an Asia-Pacific oil and gas analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, said cheap oil and lowered gas prices are the major reasons behind the revenue declines of PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC.

Oil firms have shut down high cost wells, reduced infill drilling and renegotiated contracts to cut costs, said Wang.

According to Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the China University of Petroleum in Beijing, while oil companies are struggling when prices are falling, it is an opportunity for them to restructure and reduce costs.

Deteriorating business in oil exploration is not all bad, Sinopec has taken advantage of falling oil prices to lower its production costs for the downstream refining business.

It reported a sixfold third-quarter profit rise as refining gains helped overcome deepening losses from oil and gas production, while CNOOC and CNPC witnessed declining profits during the past three months.

According to Wang, Sinopec's gains in refining, chemicals and marketing more than offset its exploration and production losses. CNOOC is a pure upstream company, so its earnings are most exposed to low oil prices among the three oil majors.

PetroChina's refining, marketing and chemical segments are weaker and smaller than Sinopec's, while its exploration and production unit is bigger than Sinopec's. That's why PetroChina had an earnings decline despite improvements in the downstream sector, she said.

The State-owned companies are not alone among international peers struggling with plummeting oil and gas prices. Exxon Mobil Corp has recently extended its longest streak of profit declines, while France's Total SA also posted a 25 percent drop in third-quarter profit.
A model of an ATR regional turboprop aircraft on display in Beijing. Provided to China Daily

ATR, a French turboprop aircraft manufacturer that makes planes with less than 90 seats, said it is bullish on the huge growth potential of the regional aircraft market in China, and foresees demand for 300 new turboprops in China over the next two decades.

Regional network growth is the next big opportunity in China, with some 800 new regional routes expected to be flown by turboprops, company executives said at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai.

Nearly 80 percent of the turboprops expected for delivery in China will be used for new routes, particularly in less-densely populated cities and regions, where they have less-developed road infrastructure, limitations to developing high-speed railways and lower traffic demand.

Currently, regional aircraft account for only 2.5 percent of the total fleet operating in China, compared with 25 percent worldwide, said ATR, a joint venture between Airbus Group and Italy-based aerospace company Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

"We see a tremendous potential to introduce modern turboprops for short-haul routes in China, especially in areas such as the commuting between smaller cities, chartered aircraft for business and travel and cross-sea routes," said John Moore, ATR's head of global sales.

"There is a real need to further develop regional connectivity in China, both between smaller towns and from smaller towns to larger hubs. Regional aviation is essential to providing more efficient connections and to fueling economic growth."

ATR and Shaanxi Tianju Investment Group have agreed to co-develop the short-haul air market in Northwest China by using ATR aircraft.

Currently, there is no ATR aircraft flying in China, as the regional aircraft market in the country has been underdeveloped, Moore said.

ATR, however, has had Chinese suppliers for more than 20 years.

Over the next 20 years, among the 300 expected deliveries of new turboprops, 270 would be in the 61-80 seat segment and 30 in the 40-60 seat segment, the company said.

By 2020, China plans to build more than 500 airports and create a market worth more than 1 trillion yuan ($148 billion) for its general aviation industry, the government announced in June.
Global Logistic Properties Ltd, the $6 billion owner of industrial property, has attracted takeover interest from an investor group that includes China's sovereign fund, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

China Investment Corp, Hopu Investment Management and Hillhouse Capital Management have held talks about making a joint offer for Singapore-based GLP, the sources added.

The suitors have reached out to potential partners to weigh their interest in joining the consortium, one source said.

GLP shares gained 8.7 percent to S$1.945 ($1.40) at the close on Wednesday in Singapore, after earlier jumping by an intraday record of 14.5 percent. Any deal would depend on the receptiveness of GLP's biggest shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, and there was no certainty the consortium would proceed with a bid, the sources said.

A transaction could rank among Asia's biggest-ever buyouts and would add to this year's record flow of Chinese acquisitions abroad, a binge that's been partially driven by anticipation of further declines in the yuan. GLP was trading on Tuesday at about 0.7 times the book value, making it a potentially attractive buyout target.

"GLP has been operating in China and the Chinese consortium knows the target very well, so it's a deal working in their favor," said Andrew Sullivan, a managing director at Haitong International Securities Group Ltd. "The Chinese investors are expecting the yuan to depreciate further, so they are watching very closely for any opportunity to acquire overseas assets."

Officials at the consortium members declined to comment or didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

"The company wishes to advise that it is not in discussions with the above referenced investor group at this time," GLP said in an exchange statement on Wednesday in response to queries from the Singapore bourse. "The company remains committed to enhancing shareholder value and continues to review and assess potential opportunities."

GLP has been involved in at least $17.1 billion of acquisitions in the past three years, data showed, as the warehouse owner seeks to bulk up and take advantage of booming demand from customers like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc. The company's clients also include Adidas AG, Carrefour SA and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, its website shows.

Bloomberg
A stand of Honghua Group at the 14th China International Petroleum & Petrochemical Technology and Equipment Exhibition in Beijing, March 19, 2014. [Photo / IC]

Chinese onshore drilling rig maker Honghua Group said it had signed its first offshore deal, to build a giant LNG facility in the Gulf of Mexico for US company Argo LNG Partners LLC, in a contract worth about $1.8 billion.

The deal was inked by Honghua's unit Shanghai Honghua Offshore Oil and Gas Equipment Co and Argo, and the first phase of construction is scheduled to take two to three years.

The liquefied natural gas facility will comprise four production platforms, four storage platforms, an accommodation platform, one central processing platform and a pier for LNG ships. Its annual processing capacity and storage capability will be up to 3.6 million metric tons and 240,000 cubic meters, respectively.

Honghua Chairman Zhang Mi said the integration of a port and LNG facilities using Chinese manufacturing processes could help lower costs.

He said the first phase of the LNG plant would be delivered to clients using a modular manufacturing process and employing the world's biggest offshore crane with a lifting capacity of 22,000 tons.

"The cooperation not only presents a Sino-US break-through in development and utilization of clean energy, but a significant and innovative cooperation between the two parties in manufacturing high-end equipment," Zhang said.

LNG is a clean and non-toxic liquid which is formed when natural gas is frozen to minus 126 C for easier storage and transportation.

According to Platts, the leading independent provider of information and bench-mark prices for the commodities and energy markets, demand for LNG in China has been rising and the US as a LNG producer would be targeting the Chinese market in the future.

Total Chinese LNG imports in 2016 so far are up by about 18 percent year-on-year and US LNG is relatively cheap compared with other sources of LNG, said senior Platts correspondent Stuart Elliot.

China imports LNG from several countries. The more alternatives available, the cheaper LNG could be procured, Elliott added.

Zhang said the US would become the biggest LNG exporter in the world, while natural gas consumption in China was increasing rapidly due to enforcement of environmental protection rules.

Honghua said that last year natural gas consumption in China was less than 200 billion cu m, counting for less than 6 percent in terms of total amount of primary energy consumption, far lower than the global average level of 24 percent.
A Chinese resident displays his Chinese currency and US dollar banknotes in Qionghai city, South China's Hainan province, March 15, 2014. [Photo/IC]

WASHINGTON - Capital outflows from China will not pose a significant long-term risk to the world's second-largest economy, as it's largely a natural process of portfolio diversification, US experts said Thursday.

"A very important part of capital outflows from China are healthy developments, in the sense that Chinese households are diversifying international portfolios of assets and Chinese corporates are investing overseas and developing global businesses," Charles Collyns, managing director and chief economist at the Institute of International Finance (IIF), told Xinhua during a conference call on its latest Capital Flows to Emerging Markets Report released Thursday.

Hung Tran, executive managing director of the IIF, also said in the conference call that "now more and more acquisitions of international assets have been done by the private sector" in China, particularly the households and the corporate sector. He believed China will continue to increase its net international investment position as it accumulates large current account surplus for years.

Collyns noted that capital outflows from China have diminished in the past several months, compared with the second half of last year and earlier this year, as China's policy makers continue focusing on supporting economic growth and avoiding exchange rate volatility.

"They provided support for the economy to maintain growth in line with the target. They managed the renminbi (RMB) against the currency basket with greater transparency and consistency. Such regime reduced fears of a disorderly RMB depreciation. These policies have been successful for now," he said.

But he also warned that if there were more capital flight in the short term, it could generate a loss of confidence in China's exchange rate policy and raise concerns of financial stress as a result of the buildup of the debt in China.

The IIF in the report estimated that total net outflows from China will decline from more than $670 billion in 2015 to around $460 billion in 2016 and to $350 billion in 2017.

Given the moderation of capital outflows, the IIF expected the Chinese government to continue advancing capital account liberalization, but through cautious measured steps.

"The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, to be launched in late November, should attract more portfolio inflows. The QDII2 program, which allows qualified individuals to directly invest overseas, will also be approved in the near future," the report said. "This is a clear signal that authorities do not see massive retail outflows as a significant long-term risk."
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- A 21-year-old Ocean Springs man was sentenced to 18 years in state prison for robbing an elderly St. Martin woman in her home at knifepoint in 2014.

Ladarius Dominique McClelland pleaded guilty to charges of armed robbery, burglary of a dwelling and taking of a motor vehicle. All of the crimes were committed on Dec. 26, 2014, when McClelland entered a St. Martin residence and threatened the elderly homeowner with a knife.

McClelland took the woman's car keys and fled the scene in her vehicle. He was apprehended a short time later at a D'Iberville gas station. In entering his guilty plea, McClelland told the court he was under the influence of Xanax and Spice on the night of the crimes.

Jackson County Judge Kathy King Jackson sentenced McClelland to 35 years for armed robbery, 25 years for burglary and five years for motor vehicle theft, with the sentences to run concurrent. McClelland will serve 18 years, day for day, in state prison, with the remainder on post-release supervision with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

He was also fined $3,000, ordered to pay $300 to the Victim's Compensation Fund, and court costs.

"People have the right to feel safe and secure in their homes," said district attorney Tony Lawrence. "This case is yet another example of the ongoing problem addition to drugs is causing in our society."

Assistant DA's Kathlyn Van Buskirk and George Huffman prosecuted the case.

McClelland is still facing charges for a similar crime in Harrison County, where he has an extensive criminal record, including prior arrests for grand larceny, armed robbery, motor vehicle theft, attempted burglary, providing false information to police and marijuana possession.
HARARE - Chinese contractor Sino-Hydro has signed an agreement with the Zimbabwean government for the construction of a new dam northeast of the capital Harare that will augment supplies from four other reservoirs which are failing to cope with demand, water minister has said.

Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told news agency New Ziana Wednesday that an environmental impact assessment will be done before the construction of Kunzvi Dam begins 67 km outside the city.

The estimated cost of building the dam is $400 million, but all major works including laying a pipeline and building a new waterworks will push the bill up to $850-900 million.

"Government policy is that wherever there are such major developments many people will be displaced so we are going to carry out that exercise to make sure that component is addressed," Muchinguri-Kashiri said.

The government had intended to build the dam as far back as the early 1990s, with interested contractors in the private sector being invited for on-site tours on a number of occasions, but financial challenges had stalled the project.

Muchinguri-Kashiri said Sino-Hydro had agreed to do the project under a build, operate and transfer arrangement.

Kunzvi Dam, which is situated on the Nyagui River in Goromonzi district, Mashonaland East province, is seen as the solution to the city's water woes which have persisted for decades, forcing authorities to impose water rationing during the dry months.

Currently, some residential areas are going for five days a week without municipal water supplies.

The new dam is expected to produce 250,000 cubic meters for the city daily.

Harare has 2.5 million residents and also caters for another 2 million consumers in the satellite towns of Chitungwiza, Norton, Ruwa, Epworth and other settlements on its boundaries, putting the combined need of water at 1,200 megaliters a day.

On its own, the city requires 800 megaliters a day but is only pumping 450 megaliters.

All its four reservoirs - Harava Dam, Seke Dam, Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame -- are on the Manyame River and suffer heavy pollution from the surrounding urban settlements and farming areas.
A clerk counts yuan bills at a bank in Huaibei, East China's Anhui province. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - The latest quarterly reports of Chinese banks pointed to milder growth in bad loans, adding to evidence that the country's credit risk is under control albeit increasing.

China Construction Bank (CCB), one of China's "big four" state-owned lenders, posted a 1.56-percent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at the end of September, down from 1.58 percent at the end of 2015.

China Minsheng Bank and China Everbright Bank, two smaller lenders, saw their bad loan ratios drop 0.03 percentage points and 0.1 percentage point, respectively, in the past three quarters.

Agricultural Bank of China, another of the "big four," kept a stable NPL ratio, while that of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, rose to 1.62 percent from 1.5 percent at the end of 2015.

Though some banks' NPL ratios continued to increase, overall growth was subdued compared with late 2015, when almost all banks reported higher NPL ratios, said Guo Tianyong, a researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

He attributed the improvement to a stabilizing economy and counter measures introduced by lenders.

Concerns about the quality of China's banking assets have been on the rise amid fast credit expansion, as the country seeks to prop up the economy against a backdrop of lackluster global growth.

Chinese banks as a whole saw an NPL ratio of 1.75 percent at the end of June, stable from a quarter earlier but up from 1.67 percent at the end of 2015, with bad loans reaching 1.44 trillion yuan ($213 billion), according to official data.

In a sign of abating pressure, the country's economy stabilized in recent months, holding steady at 6.7-percent growth in the third quarter of 2016. Its manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years in October, well above market expectations.

Banks have used their profits and loss provisions to write off bad loans, while adjusting their lending structure to avoid potential losses.

Lenders in East China's Jiangsu province rejected combined applications of 16.5 billion yuan of loans in five poorly performing industries in the first nine months of this year, said Ding Can, deputy head of the provincial banking watchdog.

In contrast, loans to strategic emerging industries such as new materials, high-end equipment and biotechnology reached 311.7 billion yuan at the end of September, up 41.6 billion yuan since the start of the year, Ding told Xinhua.

Moreover, banks are exploring new ways to tackle bad loans. China has allowed lenders to issue asset-backed securities using NPLs as collateral on a trial basis. Last month, the government detailed a plan for the long-discussed debt-for-equity swaps, where companies can exchange bad debt for stocks.

Overall, China's banking sector has a relatively high provision coverage ratio, capital adequacy and profitability; and the country's credit risk is controllable, said Wang Zhaoxing, deputy chair of China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the national banking regulator.

It is normal for banks' NPL ratio to go up when the economy slows, he said, noting that the Chinese banking industry's bad loan level is not very high compared with foreign counterparts.

ICBC and CCB saw their provision coverage ratios, a measure of funds set aside to cover loan losses, fall to 136 percent and 149 percent respectively, below the safety threshold of 150 percent set by the CBRC.

However, Guo said a provision coverage ratio of above 100 percent is enough to offset bad loan losses in theory, adding that the risk is under control.

Analysts have called on authorities to stay cautious as uncertainties in the Chinese economy remain.

Zhao Qingming, an economist with China Financial Futures Exchange, predicted that Chinese banks' bad loans will continue to rise but at a slower rate in future as the country cuts industrial capacity and goes through structural transition.

The banks should watch out for an increase in "special mention" loans, loans that are performing currently but could potentially turn sour, said Wen Bin, a researcher at China Minsheng Bank.

The "special-mention" loans of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, a medium-sized lender, surged 68 percent in the past three quarters to 109 billion yuan, while that of Industrial Bank rose 43.7 percent to 60 billion yuan, according to the banks' quarterly reports.
A Chinese company is close to completing a deal for a 75 percent stake in an Oscar-winning British special effects company, which worked on films such as Doctor Strange and the Harry Potter franchise.

Londonbased firm Framestore, which also worked on Superman Returns and Gravity, has agreed a deal with Cultural Investment Holdings Co that values the UK business at 150 million pounds, according to its founder.

Sir William Sargent told China Daily that partnering with CIH was a very exciting prospect.

"The world is very much evolving and that's why we looked east for our next partner," he said.

Sir William will retain a 10 percent stake in the company.

He explained that Framestore was more than a special effects company for feature films. It was also involved in theme park design, including one project underway in China.
Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of French healthcare giant Sanofi. PHOTO BY CELINE CLANET/INTERLINKS IMAGE

Healthcare giant's boss keen to have China market's latest updates

Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of French healthcare giant Sanofi has a very tight schedule during his trip in China. In the early morning, he had breakfast meeting with young talent in China, the largest market for Sanofi's emerging market.

He would like to have detailed knowledge of the Chinese market's latest updates, he says, and wants to expand the French healthcare company's coverage in the country, as he stresses several times.

A doctor trained in Paris with 28 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Brandicourt has played various roles in multinational healthcare corporations. On many occasions, he saw important collaborations between foreign healthcare companies and China's local ones before he joined Sanofi in 2015, including the launch of Hisun-Pfizer Pharmaceutical Co Ltd in 2012 and Bayer's acquisition of 100 percent of the shares of China's privately-held Dihon Pharmaceutical Group.

Brandicourt recently talked with China Daily about the company's strategy. The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

What are the major drivers of growth for Sanofi after it restructured in 2015?

Sanofi's long term strategy rests on four pillars: reshape the portfolio, deliver outstanding launches, sustain innovation in R&D and simplify the organization.

In 2015, we set out a strategic roadmap for the next five-years. The healthcare industry is undergoing a transformation unlike anything we've previously seen. Continued consolidation in the sector has created a more competitive environment over the last few years and, at the same time, science has never been more exciting.

What are the priorities for Sanofi after restructuring?

The company will remain diversified, but with a portfolio refocused on areas where we can win and innovate to improve the lives of millions of people.

By building on the successes of products which give Sanofi strong advantages, we are confident that Sanofi will be well-positioned for sustained, long-term growth. Sanofi is also seeking external opportunities to enhance its growth profile.

What does the Chinese market mean to Sanofi?

China accounted for about 5 percent of Sanofi's 2,218 million euros in sales last year. It is a very important emerging market for us. As Sanofi's third-largest market, China is definitely important. Net growth of the Chinese market is between 6 percent and 7 percent, which is faster than that of many other countries.

We have been making great efforts to drive growth in China and bringing new products to the market here.

In the past 15 years, particularly after 2009, China has achieved great progress in medical services, such as expanding coverage of medical insurance. This is a great achievement and we want to be a part of it.

How does Sanofi strengthen its penetration in county-level markets in China?

Sanofi is the first multinational pharmaceutical that expanded into county-level markets through an independent business unit. In the future, we would like to continue to expand our market in counties in China. Now we have covered 1,200 counties in China.

I know that about 900 million residents, or 70 percent of China's entire populations are living in counties, so we really hope that we can continue to participate in the market and make a difference.

What is your view on the pricing system of medicines in China?

We know that in October 2015, the central government started to let provinces decide their own medicine approval and pricing. A complete pricing system is yet to be established. We have also seen that policy makers will give guidance on pricing of some medicines for certain diseases, such as cancer.

What is your opinion on price negotiations between the authorities and foreign pharmaceuticals in a bid to enable more users in China to get access to them?

If we have proper products to be included in the negotiations, we are ready for negotiations, which will potentially bring significant growth of volume. I would likely to stress products for treatment of chronic diseases in China, a very important field, with 290 million cardiovascular patients, and 114 million diabetes patients, 10 percent of the entire adults population. These patients need adequate treatment.

What are your plans for launching new medicines in Chinese market?

Five of our six important products will be launched in China by 2025. Two are diabetes-related, which is expected to be launched in China after 2019, and the other is expected to be launched in China after 2020, after we apply for approval. Another is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

It is expected to be launched in China in the next few years. We plan to apply for approval for the launch of a monoclonal antibody designed for the treatment of atopic dermatitis and asthma. Praluent is also a very important product that can lower your "bad cholesterol" to the level of that at your birth time.

How is the progress of Sanofi's development of vaccines for Dengue and Zika?

Sanofi Pasteur announced the first dengue vaccine approved in Mexico in December 2015, and in April 2016 the first public dengue immunization program started in the Philippines using Sanofi Pasteur's tetravalent dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia.

Sanofi Pasteur is also working on a vaccine for Zika. We announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research on the co-development of a Zika vaccine candidate, which opens the door for a broader collaboration with the US government.

Zika virus is closely related to dengue; it belongs to the same Flavivirus genus and is spread by the same species of mosquito. The developer can change the "coating" of Dengue vaccines when developing the Zika vaccine.

Of course the development procedure takes more time than just saying this, but we are looking at ways to get a Zika vaccine into the clinics as soon as possible.

How would you describe your working style and leadership style?

I think it is quite important to understand a market by visiting it in person and doing on-site research.

For example, I visit China from time to time all through these years. I visited a community health center in China two days ago, and I find it great.

The entire executive committee has been there to see how it works, too. In this way, I could feel the obvious differences and improvements between the current community health center and what I saw in 2011 and 2012. I think focusing on areas where we have the advantages is important to business success.

In China our strategies have three focuses: to strengthen our core business of successful products; to expand coverage to more counties, and rural population; to innovate and focus on development.

As a veteran in the healthcare sector, what views can you share with your counterparts in China?

One topic we might discuss is whether approval of a medicine to be launched in a market should be linked to the medicine's pricing.

Approval of a medicine and pricing of it should be separated. Approvals should be made based on its effectiveness, safety, and proven data to support these conclusions, while pricing of a medicine, including whether it is covered by medical insurance, should depend on the value the medicine brings to the medical system.
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Factors that have attracted Chinese science students to US universities - scholarships, high-tech laboratories, international conferences and academic exchanges - are now drawing foreign students to China, especially from countries along the Belt and Road Initiative routes.

Victor Dike of Nigeria is three years into a four-year PhD program at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Atmospheric Physics. He signed up for the program after a short stint as a visiting scholar in 2013.

"As a climate scientist, I have opportunities to travel around the world," he said. "But if I could advise somebody who is going to study abroad, I would say China, because the research environment here is really good."

Imoulan Abdessamad of Morocco, a post-doctoral student who specializes in fungus research, said he was swayed by the nation's progress in DNA sequencing.

"If you want to find new fungi species, you need to sequence DNA. In my country, I can't do it because it's too expensive and takes too long," he said. "Here in Beijing, if I send the sample away today, I can get the result tomorrow, so I can do any experiment I want."

Through his work at the CAS Institute of Microbiology, Abdessamad has identified two new species from samples taken from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and has published his discoveries in scientific journals.

Yao Yijian, a PhD supervisor at the Institute of Microbiology, said, "For most students from developing countries, we can provide the research facilities, ideas, environment and platform they have no access to (at home).

"When they return to their own countries, I believe they still have emotional connections to China and to the institute," he added.

Adewole Adetoro Ajala, a Nigerian third-year PhD student at the Centre of Excellence for Green Technology, a joint project in Beijing between the CAS and The World Academy of Sciences, said that "the Chinese are not only interested in training you, but also care about building collaboration".

China is quickly building links with nations along the proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which form a major initiative aimed at boosting connectivity between Asia, Africa and Europe.

In 2013, the CAS launched the President's International Fellowship Initiative, a project that offers full scholarships to 200 overseas PhD candidates a year, which has led to students from developing countries gaining urgently needed knowledge and skills.

The CAS has established five bases for overseas students from Belt and Road countries at affiliated research institutes, covering a wide range of research - including climate change, clean energy, biotechnology and applications for space technology in disaster relief and water safety.

"Our research fields meet the needs of many developing countries, so our reputation is rapidly growing," said Wei Yuansong, deputy director of the CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment.
Other nations set to benefit from China's mapping technology

China plans to expand its geographic information services through wider cooperation with major countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, allowing it to play a larger role in the global market, the national mapping authority said on Thursday.

The international mapping service cooperation will be focused on areas such as environmental monitoring, transport network construction, public security, and disaster reduction and prevention, Li Pengde, deputy head of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, said on Thursday.

The geographic information services will lay the foundation for the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, serving for construction, energy exploration and other projects, and the 65 countries covered in the initiative will be major targets with which China plans to cooperate, the administration said.

China has seen tremendous changes, from being an importer of geographic information technology to a large exporter of services, technology and equipment in the past 30 years, Li said at the conference, which promotes global cooperation.

For example, the Ziyuan 3 Earth mapping satellite has covered more than 70 million square kilometers, and effective coverage in Asia, Oceania and South America has reached 62 percent, according to the administration.

In addition, the navigation systems based on the Beidou satellites have expanded to cover more than 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, it added.

"We have built more than 20 stations to amplify the signal from Beidou satellites in Thailand, which allow us to provide higher resolution in our services to cover the whole country," said Du Li, manager of Wuhan Optics Valley Beidou Holding Group, a company specialized in geospatial technology output and assistance projects, located in Wuhan, Hubei province.

With the help of stations, they can draw more accurate maps for users with details at the millimeter level, but before the stations they only had a resolution of 15 meters, he said.

Geographic information services with high resolution have been vital for many industries, such as navigation systems for vehicles, mineral exploration and road construction, which Du said was "a very promising market at home and abroad", he said.

But he suggested the central government issue policies to regulate the companies' exploration in other countries to avoid low price competition.

Currently, more than 200 Chinese companies have provided geographic information services, technologies and equipment worldwide.

Li, deputy head of administration, admitted that the competition is chaotic, saying the authority would improve policies and give more support, such as financial aid, to guarantee its growth, presenting China a larger voice in the world.
By Cecily Liu in London and Du Juan in Beijing | China Daily | Updated: 2016-11-04 08:13

University College London agreed to a new entrepreneurship-focused MBA program in partnership with Peking University in Beijing on Thursday, riding on a wave of Chinese demand for such qualifications.

The program sells itself as a highly hands-on course, preparing graduates for running their own startups, rather than the more traditional MBA programs that equip graduates to fill senior management roles.

Lin Jianhua, president of Peking University, said during a signing ceremony that the strategic cooperation framework the two universities have signed not only includes the MBA program, but also institutional-level cooperation.

Michael Arthur, president of UCL, said there is a whole range of areas that two universities can cooperate in.

"We would like to have educational cooperation in both directions, which allows us to think big," Arthur said.

"Graduates recognize the importance of applying their knowledge to the real world," said Bert de Reyck, director of the UCL School of Management.

The full-time program, with first intake in September next year, takes 18 months to complete and is taught in English, with students receiving UCL degrees. It costs 310,000 yuan ($45,800) and is China's second-most expensive MBA program, with most MBA degrees in the country costing less than 200,000 yuan.

Yang Yao, dean of Peking University's National School of Development, said the UCL partnership comes at an opportune time for China's MBA market because increasing numbers of Chinese students are setting up their own companies in China.

"UCL has another advantage of being in London, which is a big center for startups and innovation, so we can take our students to visit," Yang said.

Entrepreneurship and international collaboration have taken off as big selling points for Chinese MBA programs.

Wu Xiaobo, a professor of innovation and strategic management at Zhejiang University, said that a lot of graduates end up starting their own global businesses with fellow classmates from other countries.

"The key trend for China's MBA program market is to offer better quality programs. This upgrade in the quality of MBA programs is consistent with the overall upgrade of China's economy," Wu said.
Police have confirmed that an abducted pregnant girl, whose story received wide attention on social media, is Vietnamese and is 19 years old, not 12 years old as she originally claimed.

According to the Ministry of Public Security's criminal investigation bureau, Vietnam authorities who were asked to help with the investigation confirmed that the girl is Vietnamese and was born in 1997.

The ministry has formed a special team with the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau in Jiangsu province to further investigate the case, according to the ministry's Weibo account.

The girl, who is 14 weeks pregnant, was unable to confirm her name, date of birth and address at a hospital in Xuzhou.

In early October, the girl was taken to Xuzhou No 4 People's Hospital to receive a prenatal examination.

The girl's young appearance and inability to speak Chinese arose the suspicions of doctors, who called police to help assess whether the girl was a victim of human trafficking or rape.

The girl, who told local police that she was 12 years old, could only understand simple Chinese and was not willing to communicate, police said.

An investigation found that two Vietnamese human traffickers had abducted her in 2014 and taken her to Central China's Henan province, where a go-between surnamed Xie introduced her to a man surnamed Liu in Xu - zhou's Tongshan district.

The 35-year-old Liu, who was unable to find a wife due to poverty, paid Xie a betrothal fee of 30,000 yuan ($4,500). The girl then lived under the pretext of the man's wife until she went for the prenatal examination.

Liu and Xie were detained in October by local police, who are searching for others related to the case in Henan province.

Police said the girl has been transferred to a safe place.

Other incidents involving Vietnamese women and girls being trafficked to China's poor areas have been reported recently.

In mid-October, police in Tengzhou, Shandong province, detained five suspects for abducting an 18-year-old Vietnamese woman who was sold for 80,000 yuan.

In September, police in Yunnan province saved 32 abducted Vietnamese and detained 75 suspects from China and Vietnam.
A 2015 statewide poll found New Mexicans opposed cougar trapping and snaring by a three-to-one margin.

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This past Tuesday marked the resumption of an ugly, archaic chapter in the history of wildlife management in the West: New Mexico resumed a recreational trapping program for cougars, a practice that had been prohibited in the state for the last 40 years. New Mexico joins Texas as the only states to permit cougar trapping.

The cruelty inflicted by leg-hold traps and snares is well documented. When trapped, animals struggle fiercely to break free. They endure tremendous suffering, psychological distress, and severe injuries to their joints, tendons, and even their spines. They can suffer hypothermia or heat exhaustion. Trapped cougars, even tiny kittens, may die from dehydration, starvation, or predation.

The HSUS, along with our partner Animal Protection of New Mexico and a group of New Mexico citizens concerned with the harm that trapping will have on cougars, filed a lawsuit challenging this recent rule change, which allowed steel-jawed leg-hold traps and snares to be set on more than nine million acres of state trust landsincluding vast swaths of habitat shared with the critically endangered Mexican wolf and jaguar.

Our lawyers are making sure that cougars, jaguars, and wolves get their day in court, and that the state is held accountable for its rash and uninformed decision making. A 2015 statewide poll found New Mexicans opposed cougar trapping and snaring by a three-to-one margin. Yet, the New Mexico Game Commission, a governor-appointed (not elected) body, ignored the publics wishes.

But even in states where cougar trapping is not specifically permitted, were still seeing incidental trapping. In Nevada, according to state inspectors, one in six cougars killed by trophy hunters showed damage to their claws, paws, and legs from traps and snares set out for bobcats. Not all survive, even after release; they are too damaged to hunt wild prey again. In the West, cougars in Idaho and Montana are victims to wolf traps.

Of the 16 remaining states with established cougar populations, California and Florida are the only ones to protect cougars from trophy hunters. The magnitude of trophy hunting Americas own lions is jaw-dropping. In the last 10 years, approximately 29,000 cougars have been killed by trophy hunters in the United States, according to a report we released earlier this year. But those are only the animals that wildlife managers know about. Never are the orphaned cougar kittens counted in this toll.

Most cougars will be chased by packs of trailing hounds wearing GPS collars, making the hunt a sort of high-tech search-and-destroy mission. Hounding poses significant risk to the hounds as well as to young wildlife, including dependent kittens, who may be attacked and killed by hounds. Hounds also disturb or kill non-target wildlife and trespass onto private lands. The practice is not fair chase and remains highly controversial even among hunters.

The HSUS works each day to protect cougars and other native carnivores from the seemingly endless persecution of trophy hunting. In 2016, we successfully helped stop efforts to allow cougar trapping in Wyoming. In 2015, we prevented the increase of cougar-hunting quotas to scientifically unsustainable levels in Washington and halted a wasteful and redundant study that would have culled cougars in Colorado in a vain attempt to inflate prey populations. But our work is never done.

State wildlife agencies compound the work of trophy hunters. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) proposed two egregious cougar- and bear-killing studies. They plan to cull up to 50 percent of their populations using both trophy hunters and wildlife services. They claim that with fewer predators, mule deer numbers will magically swellso CPW can sell more deer tags. CPW wants to make a killing on all the killing. Yet even the agencys own biologists have shown, over decades of research, that mule deer populations are limited because of human-caused factors. The real culprits in Colorados mule deer decline are oil and gas drilling, urban sprawl, climate change, and degradation of mule deer winter range. CPWs proposed studies are merely predator-culling schemes designed to appease mule deer hunters and livestock owners.

Beautiful and elusive, cougars are apex predators in their native habitats. As we learn more about their familial nature and importance to their ecosystems, its no wonder so many Americans value them so highly. Well continue to fight for them, since theres just no good reason to engage in the recreational killing of Americas lions.
After four decades, retiring fossil expert concerned over lack of successors

Chongqing's Museum of Natural History boasts one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the country and since 1977, Zhu Songlin and his team have worked hard to preserve nearly 200 dinosaur skeletons.

Zhu, 59, started work at the museum after finishing high school. He became one of China's first dinosaur fossil repair technicians almost by accident, after a large cache of prehistoric remains were discovered in Southwest China in the 1970s.

Along with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the museum in Chongqing was among the first institutions to study the fossils.

"Actually at that time, people knew very little about dinosaurs and the subject was not as popular as it is now," Zhu said. "Only two or three people at our museum did the dinosaur work back then."

His team went to the archaeological sites near Chongqing and excavated as many fossils as they could, before studying and repairing them. Some of the specimens were then put on public display.

"It is a job that requires extensive knowledge, superb craftsmanship and hard work," Zhu said.

"As for the presentation of the fossils, you need to have good artistic taste."

As the son of a museum director, Zhu said he was more interested in large mammals, such as tigers and bears, when he was a child.

"But I grew up in a family with good knowledge of the arts, so I regard fossil repair as a kind of artwork and I always feel a sense of achievement when completing a set of fossils," he said.

Though he never went to college, Zhu has studied a wide range of topics, including taphonomy, biology, paleoanthropology, anatomy and prehistoric archaeology, all in his spare time.

He also attended English classes at Chongqing's Sichuan University of Foreign Studies for three years, to better understand foreign literature on dinosaurs. "In my time, we all studied Russian in middle school, so I had to start learning English from ABC," he said.

Much of the fossil repair work Zhu undertakes is difficult and labor intensive. His workshop at the museum is always full of rock dust and the smell of chemicals. Sometimes, he spends more than 10 hours a day at work in the room.

"It takes nearly threes years to repair a full set of large dinosaur fossils," he said.

"A dinosaur has 300 bones at most, the smallest being only 1 millimeter long. You cannot make any mistakes."

The expert knowledge that Zhu has accumulated over the years has earned him an international reputation, and he has been invited to a number of countries to help museums organize their dinosaur exhibitions.

This year, he will retire from his role at the Museum of Natural History and his biggest concern is the lack of young technicians to replace him.

He said that most young college graduates nowadays are unwilling to do labor-intensive fieldwork and would rather just concentrate on research in the lab.

"Every piece of fossil is a gift from nature. I hope there are some young people who really love fossils and dinosaurs and can carry on my work," he said.

Zhu Songlin (right) discusses fossil repair with one of his colleagues at Chongqing's Museum of Natural History.Photos Provided To China Daily
BEIJING - The biggest political party in the world by membership, the ruling party of the world's most populous country, and the architect for one of the fastest growing economies over the past three decades: the Communist Party of China (CPC) is all these and more.

Turning 95 this year, the CPC now boasts over 88 million members in the world's second largest economy. Since 1949, it has been the ruling party in China where it receives overwhelming support from the public while China's enviable development has left the rest of the world amazed.

As its success stories continue to roll out, the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has offered an in-depth look into what goes on behind the scenes.

XI AS THE CORE

The endorsement of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, as the core leader was perhaps the most eye-catching move at last week's plenum.

In a communique released after the meeting that gathered high-ranking CPC officials in Beijing, the Party called on all its members to "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core."

Xi took the helm of the CPC in late 2012 when the Party held its 18th national congress. Since then, he has headed an array of leading groups overseeing economic development and national defense, among others, and launched a popular, nationwide anti-graft campaign that promised to bring down both "tigers and flies" -- high and low-ranking corrupt officials.

Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said since Xi took the helm of the CPC, the Party has made profound achievements in reform, development, stability, internal and foreign affairs, national defense, Party governance and state administration.

The reason the CPC has always been endorsed by the public and won victory in revolutionary struggles lies in its core of strong leadership, which leads the Party and people to progress constantly, Xin said.

In an editorial published last month, the CPC mouthpiece the People's Daily also said Xi's core status is "of great importance to China and the CPC."

"The Party and its Central Committee ... need a core to bond the Party, to unite the people, to tide over the challenges and to continue to forge ahead," it read.

STRICT PARTY GOVERNANCE

Xi explained two documents on the discipline of the Party at the plenum, namely the norms of political life in the Party under the current conditions, an update from a 1980 document, and the regulation on intra-Party supervision.

The norms stress consolidating ideals and beliefs, keeping to the basic Party line, safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee, and maintaining close ties with the people, among others. The regulation is aimed at upholding CPC leadership, strengthened Party building, strict governance of the Party and maintaining the Party's status and purity.

In his own comments, Xi said the two documents, the full texts of which were published on Wednesday, are part of the Party's efforts to "fasten the cage of regulations" to curb corruption, by preventing old problems from recurring and new ones from spreading.

They are introduced to supplement the layout of the "Four Comprehensives," a strategy to promote reform and opening up, refine the socialist modernization drive, as well as to adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

The "Four Comprehensives" are the comprehensive building of an all-round moderately prosperous society, deepening of reform, advancement of the rule of law and strict governing of the CPC.

In the past years, the third, fourth and fifth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee studied and made arrangements for the first three "Comprehensives," and the sixth plenary session completed the picture by zeroing in on the fourth "Comprehensive," according to Xi.

The documents are also born out of a necessity to promote the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and to solve outstanding problems within the Party, Xi said.

Xie Chuntao, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, agreed.

The two documents, one setting requirements on intra-Party life and the other making rules on supervising the requirements' implementation, are vital to the CPC drive of strict Party governance, Xie said.

He said the CPC has always been a political party of tight discipline and strict governance ever since its inception.

The emphasis was again amplified after 2012 as Xi spearheaded a sweeping anti-corruption campaign which has seen scores of senior officials investigated and sentenced for graft.

According to a statement made by the Supreme People's Procuratorate in July, a total of 97 officials at the vice ministerial level and above were investigated by prosecutors over the past five years.

The list gets a lot longer when lower level officials are included.

In many cases, the Party's internal disciplinary body starts its own probe before the judiciary steps in.

"That's what the Party's been repeatedly stressing: that its own discipline is stricter than law," Xie said.

DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM

But the Party is not all about discipline. The norms of political life in the Party under the current conditions also stipulated to create within the Party "a political landscape, which integrates concentration with democracy, discipline with freedom, and unified will with ease of individual mind."

Democratic centralism has been taken by the CPC as a fundamental organizational principle.

The principle is reiterated in the newly published norms of political life in the Party under the current conditions, which says intra-Party democracy is vital to the CPC, and is fundamental to a positive, healthy internal political environment.

Party committees at all levels must adhere to the collective leadership system, the document says, adding all major decisions must be made after collective discussion and in line with the principle of majority rule.

According to Sun Xiaoli, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, the democratic aspect of the principle involves the freedom of Party members to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction, while the leadership of the Party makes decisions based on the debate and discussion. This latter aspect represents centralism.

"Democracy and centralism are always closely linked," she said.

Her words were echoed by Wang Chuanzhi with the Qiushi Journal Press.

The essence of democratic centralism is democracy with leadership, Wang said.

"Only by finding and then maintaining a natural balance between centralization on the basis of democracy and democracy under centralized guidance will we be able to guarantee the smooth operation and effectiveness of democratic centralism," Wang said.

"Collective leadership, strict governance and democratic centralism, these are the lifelines of the CPC and what makes the Party what it is today," Xie Chuntao said.
The average starting salaries for full-timeMaster of Finance (MF) and Financial Master of Business Administration (FMBA)graduates from the Class of 2016 at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF)have hit a record high, according to the institute's latest employment report.

The report showed that the average annual salary for new MF graduates is 284,000yuan, an increase of 25.4 percent compared with their 2015 counterparts. The report also found that one graduateeven managed to secure a job which paid 680,000 yuan a year - the highest salary in the cohort.

Statistics show that 15.8 percent of the MF graduates who graduated in 2016 have managed to find jobs in financial institutions outside of Chinese mainland in places such as Germany, Canada and Hong Kong, while many others have also landed positions in financial institutions located in first-tier Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

In addition, more than 40 percentof these MF graduates work in investment banks and institutions related to venture capital and private equity. The top fourjob sectors that 2016 graduates are in are investment bank service, investment management,, research and consultancy.

Meanwhile, the employment trends of SAIFs full-time MBA graduates have alsobeen cause for celebration. The report showed that the average annual salary for the 2016 MBA graduates stood at a record-high of 266,000 yuan, an increase of 26.6 percent compared with the previous cohort.

There are many challenges facing the economy. Global economic recovery has been very slowwhile on the other hand, the Chinese economy is continuing to face pressure. As a result, people of all industries have been conservative when recruiting staff, said Professor Chun Chang, executive dean of SAIF.

Despite this backdrop, our graduates have still been able to make breakthroughs by securing high level jobs in the labor market. This indicates that SAIFs teaching philosophy of being international and professional, as well as its education methods have been recognized by the market, he added.

SAIF was established in 2009 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University with support from the Shanghai Municipal Government as part of the national strategy to transform Shanghai into a global financial center. The institute aims to become a world-class institution for research and advanced learning in both finance and management.

In February, SAIF became one of the youngest AACSB-accredited business schools in the world.This year, the Financial Times annual rankings of the best Master in Finance programs in the world saw SAIF making a strong debut when it came in 2nd in Asia and 28th in the world.
Seven caught for poisoning swans in North China

Xinhua | Updated: 2016-11-04 13:05

HOHHOT - Seven people have been nabbed for poisoning 233 swans in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, local authorities said on Friday.



The police spent nine days searching for the suspects and had caught them in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities as well as the provinces of Jilin and Hebei as of Thursday, according to the information office of Zhenglan Banner in Xilingol League.



The swans were found dead in a lake in Zhenglan Banner where migrating swans had stopped in late October. Tests revealed that they were poisoned with carbofuran, a type of pesticide, which was detected on the dead birds.



Further investigation is under way.
China successfully launched its newly-developed heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5 from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Hainan province at 8:43 pm on Nov 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - International scholars spoke highly of China's launch on Thursday of its first heavy-lift rocket, saying it will lay the foundation for China's future launch of rockets with heavier payload capabilities.

China launched Long March-5 from the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Hainan province, in a bid to verify the design and performance of the new rocket and test the rocket's flight program. With the heavy-lift carrier rocket, China can build a permanent manned space station and explore the moon and Mars.

The successful launch reflects China's "greatest advancement" in developing a new launcher family for both its un-crewed and crewed space programs, said Charles Vick, senior technical & space policy analyst with US think tank globalsecurity.org.

"Eventually once the Long March-5 has gained high reliability, it will serve several mission for the crewed lunar program efforts and may become the crew launch vehicle for the eventual crewed lunar landing programs in planning," Vick told Xinhua.

Instead of highly toxic propellants, the new series, also consisting of Long March 6 and 7, uses kerosene and liquid oxygen, making it more environmental friendly and less expensive.

Vick said he was impressed that this new Long March series was developed without Russian rocket engine technology know-how and American cryogenic technology involved.

Gao Yang, director of British Surrey Technology for Autonomous Systems and Robotics (STAR) Lab, told Xinhua that the technology of the Long March-5 has proved not inferior to heavy carrier rockets developed by other nations.

She added that the stunning carrying capacity of the Long March-5 represents China's rising capabilities and competence in this aspect, noting China's progress in space technology will, to a large extent, increase its influence in future international cooperation.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Thursday that "the Long March-5 gives China the capability to orbit the heaviest of payloads - such as big telecoms spacecraft and sections of its future astronaut space station."

"This puts the Long March-5 in the same class as America's current most powerful rocket - the Delta-IV Heavy," BBC noted.

Alexander Zheleznyakov, a member of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, told xinhua that Long March-5 will remarkably raise China's competitive edge in the international commercial launch market.

As for the rocket's technical advantage, Zheleznyakov said the notable operability within its inner systems will help facilitate its production and decrease costs, which is key to its future commercialization.

China is now developing a mega rocket with the capacity of sending up to 100 tonnes of payload to low-Earth orbit. Its maiden flight will probably take place before 2030.
Liu Jin, founder of the CKGSB Young Investor Forum says internet technology, industrial upgrading and policy incentives are the main three drivers for China's innovation and entrepreneurship in Beijing. Provided to China Daily.

Internet technology, industrial upgrading and policy incentives are the main three drivers for China's innovation and entrepreneurship, says Liu Jin, associate dean of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.

The Global Innovator Conference is being held in Beijing from Nov 3 to 5, and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business held the 7th CKGSB Young Investor Forum on the first day.

Liu, also founder of the investor forum, says that many young people in China are starting businesses, even though they don't have much management expertise or work experience, but internet technology has provided them many opportunities. As long as they understand the internet, they have the chance to grasp opportunities.

He adds that China's economy has seen great development but the old economic model is no longer sustainable. The country is restructuring, which means companies in traditional industries might disappear while others will be created.

"This is a second huge opportunity for innovation and entrepreneurship in China. The economy is now in 'new normal', which means we need new industries, new technology and new business models," he says.

Another opportunity is provided by the policy incentives that China's government has made to push forward innovation and entrepreneurship, which is also the reason that CKGSB built its own community to incubate and support start-ups and innovative ideas, he says.

Liu says that the CKGSB's innovation community has built partnerships with Tencent, Baidu Inc and IBM to support and incubate start-ups.

"Our community would like to cultivate world-class entrepreneurs within five years," he says.
Experts have gathered in Beijing to discuss the importance of sustainable infrastructure and connectivity at a summit organised by Tsinghua University, in partnership with Volvo Group.

The Global Sustainable Infrastructure and Connectivity Summit , held on October 25, highlighted the key role infrastructure plays in economic growth, social development, job creation and poverty alleviation.

However, expanding services effectively remains a challenge, especially in developing countries.

With mega-projects such as China's Belt and Road Initiative underway, finding new ways to develop global sustainable infrastructure and connectivity is in sharp focus.

The development strategy designed to improve connections between China and Eurasia, also puts the spotlight on the potential of technology to drive sustainable regional development, multilateral cooperation and the responsibilities of entities and countries.

Director of Green Economy and Sustainable Development Research Center of Tsinghua University, Qian Xiaojun, said the shortage of non-renewable resources and climate change was testing the sustainability of human society.

"If current population and consumption trends continue, by the 2030s we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us." Qian said.

"Infrastructure is a fundamental public service, for production activities and people's lifestyle. Sustainable infrastructure, to some extent, determines a sustainable overall economic operation."

"To secure infrastructure projects that protect the environment and reach targets of energy saving and emission reduction, efforts of policy making and supervising, industrial standard unifyication and technologu upgrades and commercialisation are all needed," she said. "All relevant interests should form a joint force, reach a consensus, and realize the common goal of sustainable development."

Senior vice president of Volvo Construction Equipment, Bill Law said sustainable development is a high priority for his company.

In 2014, Volvo Construction Equipment launched a Construction Climate Challenge project that aimed to build an effective dialogue platform for the industry and to promote communication among academics, business and government about climate action.

"It also provides funding for research and promotes and shares its findings in a bid to achieve the goal of reducing negative impacts on environment and addressing the climate change challenge," Law said.

About 120 business leaders and academics at the summit also discussed infrastructure investment and financing issues, and how Chinese enterprises can act more socially responsibly.

During the summit, Volvo Group launched a White Paper on Transport Solutions and Connectivity, which illustrates the findings of various worldwide case studies in this field, while analyzing the current level of sustainability in China as the Belt and Road Initiative is developed.
Beijing Chaoyang District Court sentenced Li, a man who attacked a woman in a hotel earlier this year, to two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 yuan ($740) for pandering on Friday afternoon, reported Beijing News.

The local procuratorate announced that the 25-year-old from Henan province only received a junior middle school education and was unemployed at the time of committing the crime.

Li admitted that he belongs to a prostitution ring and he was acting as a procurer on the night of the attack.

Li usually got commission fees from prostitutes as a cut of what they charged clients.

The reason Li attacked the victim is because he thought the victim was a prostitute who belonged to another prostitution ring potentially competing against his.

That night he noticed the victim couldn't find her door key in the elevator which usually happened to prostitutes who came to clients in the hotel but didn't have door keys pretended to have them.
Former Chinese company head stands trial for corruption

Xinhua | Updated: 2016-11-04 16:21

GUANGZHOU - The former head of a state-owned company in south China's Guangdong Province went on trial for allegedly taking 570 million yuan (84 million U.S. dollars) in bribes and public property.



The hearing of Zhuang Yao, former president of Guangdong Materials Group, was held at the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City, Guangdong from Tuesday to Thursday.



Prosecutors accused Zhuang of taking bribes worth 16.5 million yuan from 2002 to 2012 and of embezzling pubic property worth 554 million yuan independently or with others from 1999 to 2009.

The company was renamed Guangdong GW Holdings Group Co., Ltd. in November 2015.



The verdict will be announced another day.
BEIJING - Official WeChat accounts of procuratorates should properly respond to users' tip-offs and appeals, said a guideline issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Friday.

According to figures provided by the SPP, procuratorates at all levels have registered more than 3,800 official accounts on WeChat, China's leading instant messaging service, attracting 5.2 million followers.

The guideline said that, via WeChat, people should be able to access information about cases, bribery crime files, legal interpretations and consulting services as well as make reservations to file charges and report tips.

All procuratorates should innovate to provide convenient service through their WeChat accounts, it said.

Official accounts should not carry out commercial activities nor should they publicize speeches that are not relevant to prosecution. Those who violate the norms and bring about negative consequences will be punished, it added.
Pat and Rick Serine were ready for a change.

After a lifetime of suburbia, including the last 30-plus years living in a 4,000-square-foot home in Clarks Summit, Pa., they were ready for a different lifestyle for their retirement years.

"We wanted to retire somewhere with some excitement," Rick said. "We're in relatively good health and very mobile, so our intent was to move from the suburbs to the city. Our whole experience was suburbia. Everywhere we went, we had to drive. Now, we wanted to be able to leave the car at home, walk around and explore the city. We had the big home with the pool on 2.5 acres, which was great. But it's also a lot of upkeep. We were done with all that. Now, we didn't want to worry about anything other than taking care of ourselves and enjoying life."

Being near their daughter was important, so the couple chose Philadelphia.

After an extensive search, they found what they were looking for at The Residences at Dockside, one of the city's most popular waterfront condominium communities.

The 16-story luxury building has earned a reputation as one of the area's most unique residential experiences.

The homes at The Residences at Dockside feature private terraces, designer kitchens with high-end appliances and granite countertops, in-unit washers and dryers, hardwood floors and generous storage space.

Set on the Delaware River, the building features upscale condominiums with a low-maintenance lifestyle and some of the finest resort-style amenities available in the area. Residents are near Center City and within easy walking distance to the best of Philadelphia.

Considering the magnitude of this lifestyle change, the Serines spent considerable time exploring different places in Philadelphia before choosing Dockside.

"We looked for about a year and visited dozens of places, but nothing compared to Dockside," Rick said. "Much of what we saw were older-style buildings, or three-story homes, which would not be good for us in the long-term, to deal with all those steps. A lot of other elevator buildings that did have one-floor condos either did not have a nice view, or didn't have enough of a terrace to enjoy outdoor living. Dockside had that and much more. And we can leave our door and be in the city in minutes."

At Dockside, buyers can choose from spacious two- and three-bedroom condominium homes in a variety of floor plans, with prices starting from the $400,000s. All homes feature private terraces, designer kitchens with high-end appliances and granite countertops, in-unit washers and dryers, hardwood floors and generous storage space. Residents enjoy gated access, state-of-the-art security, a 24-hour concierge and ample indoor parking with reserved spaces and free visitor parking. Residents also enjoy spectacular views of the Delaware River and the Philadelphia skyline.

Amenities include a heated indoor pool and hot tub, a fitness center with cardio and resistance equipment and a spacious club room for entertaining, which features a full catering kitchen, pool table, grand piano, large-screen television and adjacent 4,100-square-foot terrace overlooking the river. Residents also can take advantage of a free shuttle bus that runs daily from the building to Center City, with a number of convenient stops.

"The amenities are fantastic," Rick said. "We use the fitness center regularly. And the shuttle system is great. We take it to go further into the city and then walk our way back."

Located in the center of the thriving Delaware River waterfront, Dockside is a short walk from Penn's Landing and near high-end shopping, restaurants and nightlife. The Race Street Pier, SugarHouse Casino, Delaware River Trail, Seaport Museum, Adventure Aquarium and Susquehanna Bank Center are easily accessible. Residents also can take a short walk over the South Street Bridge for more great shopping and dining in the city.

The community's proximity to major thoroughfares, including Interstates 95, 76 and 676, makes it easy for residents to travel to the Jersey Shore or throughout the tri-state area.

"We were very impressed with Dockside," Rick said, "but at first, our feeling was that we should be right in Center City. So we continued to look at other places, but nothing really compared to Dockside. We realized that what we have here is a building that's literally on the water, with expansive views that are just unbelievable. And we can be in the city in literally minutes. So that became a big selling point for us. Then, as we met people who already lived here, nobody ever had a bad thing to say about it. Everyone loves it here."

The Residences at Dockside Sales Office is located at 717 S. Columbus Blvd. and is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. or by appointment.

For more information, call (215) 925-3000, or visit DocksideCondominiums.com.
The United Nations released its annual report on global emissions on Thursday, stating that while China was leading the way on climate change, others must take urgent action to combat a forecast 2.9 to 3.4 degree temperature rise this century.

China was one of only three G20 membersalong with the European Union and Indiathat were on track to meet their pledges under the Paris Agreement, which comes into force today.

"China is big on the emissions side but also on the solutions side," said Erik Solheim, executive director of the UN Environment Programme."China leads the way for progressive nations in terms of actions."

He said Beijing's efforts to harness energy from renewables were crucial.

"China is bringing down the price of solar at a speed never thought possible, it has five times the high-speed rail of any other nation," Solheim explained at the launch of the report in London."The leadership is no longer coming from Europe."

UNEP said that, even if the Paris pledges are implemented, the world must cut a further 25 percent from projected 2030 emissions to avoid "human tragedy". Meeting the target of limiting temperature rise this century to 1.5 degrees would significantly reducethough not eliminatethe likelihood of more-intense storms, longer droughts, a rise in sea levels, and other severe climate impacts, the report said.

UNEP did state that 2015 was a year that inspired cautious optimism in terms of developments in the renewable energy sector. The report found that global new investment in renewable power and fuels reached a record $265.8 billion, more than double the$130 billion allocated to new coal and natural gas power generation.

China dominated contributions to the global total, increasing its investment by 17 percent to $102.9 billion, some 36 percent of the global total.

In 2015, China led the world in investment in renewable power and fuels, and in net additions to hydropower, wind, and solar capacity, according to the Renewable Energy Policy Network's Global Status Report 2016.

China also topped the global list for its total capacity, or generation, from renewable power.
The heart-wrenchcing case of cancer patient Liu Fulan and her two sons has taken a turn for the better after their story spread on the internet and kind-hearted people extended helping hands.

Life for Liu, 42, from Chaling county in Hunan province, has not been easy. Her husband died of liver cancer in 2008, leaving her with two sons and more than 100,000 yuan ($14,800) in debt. Her parents and parents-in-law are all gone.

Liu struggled to make ends meet, earning about 1,200 yuan a month, working three shifts a day, seven days a week in a restaurant, washing dishes and cleaning tables.

In August, Liu was also diagnosed with liver cancer. Medical bills were at least 4,000 yuan a month, a burden too heavy for Liu.

So, about two weeks ago, she left the hospital and, fearing there was not much time left for her, began to look for someone to take care of her two sons, ages 9 and 11.

"There is nothing I can do. I hope they will live a better life (after I die)," she told a local newspaper.

Zhou Shiwen, head of the Chaling Volunteers Association, a local nongovernmental organization, heard about Liu's wish and visited her. Saddened by her plight, Zhou spread her story on many WeChat social networking groups.

The local Zhuzhou Evening News, after hearing her story, gave Liu three days of coverage that attracted even wider public attention nationwide. Zhou said he has received up to 400 phone calls a day offering help.

Then Liu saw new hope.

The local government on Thursday morning sent her to Chaling People's Hospital for treatment, and it promised to pay "all medical expenses", government spokesman Ouyang Fan said on Thursday.

Liu, now too weak to take calls from the media, had said earlier: "I am confident I can fight the disease. I must be with my children as long as possible."

The government has also decided to waive her sons' tuition fees until they finish senior high school, Ouyang said.

As for the two boys' guardians, Zhou and local government officials have asked Liu's elder sister, who is 60, to take care of Liu's sons.

Liu's sister is now living with her husband and two sons at a government-sponsored low rent apartment. To make their life easier, the government has provided another apartment one floor above theirs for free.

Liao Mingding, head of the local Communist Youth League committee, promised to provide 6,000 yuan a year to support the two boys after Liu dies.

The local civil affairs bureau will also give the two boys a 1,200 yuan monthly stipend.

Zhou said the priority now is to find the best medical treatment for Liu to prolong her life.
People protect themselves from the pollution in Beijing's downtown Guomao area during heavy smog on Friday. ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY

Northern regions of the country will confront more frequent and stronger smog this winter due to the impact of the La Nina phenomena, a senior air pollution control official warned.

La Nina is a periodic cooling of the surface of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which causes abnormal weather patterns.

Beijing has experienced four rounds of smog since October, and neighboring cities like Tianjin and those in Hebei province have issued emergency response alerts.

"La Nina will bring challenges for governments to control smog during the heating season, but the peak this year will not be as high as last year," said Liu Bingjiang, head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's atmospheric environment department.

In November and December, many cities including Beijing, and Harbin in Heilongjiang province, saw air quality index readings off the chart.

Liu said the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has taken tough measures to reduce emissions. For example, over 500,000 households in the region have changed their energy consumption from coal to gas or electricity, which is forecast to cut the emission of sulfur dioxide and dust by 40,000 metric tons.

But governments are urged to fully implement the restrictive measures, especially on smoggy days, said Tian Wei-yong, head of environmental monitoring in the ministry.

The ministry's inspection teams, which have been in eight smoggy cities since Wednesday, have exposed many companies that were discharging pollutants against government restrictions, Tian said.

"For the polluters, it's more than just receiving heavy fines," he said. "Those who falsify monitoring data will face severe punishments from judicial organs."

Chen Jining, minister of environmental protection, said the revised laws have helped to deter polluters and reduce pollution.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.


Officials take part in a promotion meeting about learning the spirit of the 18th CPC Central Committee's sixth plenary session on Nov 4, 2016 in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

Foreign nations are maintaining a positive outlook for the Communist Party of China as it enters a new era with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the core leader and strict internal oversights, foreign officials said on Friday.

More than 220 diplomats and senior officials from 130 countries attended a briefing organized by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee on the outcomes of the just-ended sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.

Guo Yezhou, the department's deputy minister, hosted the event and Q&A sections between diplomats and senior CPC officials Tian Peiyan and Miao Qingwang, who helped draft the plenum communique.

"This is a good opportunity for diplomats to better understand China's intraparty ecology before the 19th CPC National Congress next year," said Ali Murat Ersoy, Turkey's ambassador to China.

The sixth plenary session, held from Oct 24 to 27, issued a regulation on the norms of intraparty political life and a revision of intraparty supervision regulation, with details ranging from upholding Party rule to prohibiting flattery.

"This demonstrates the Party's determination to strictly regulate itself and institutionalize supervision for clean Party and government," said Miao, head of the research office of the CPC Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection.

The session also established Xi as the "core" leader of the Party. "Under his leadership, China will reach its goal of building a moderately prosperous society for 1.4 billion people," said Guo.

But China still faces many internal and external challenges.

The four challenges the Party needs to overcome are long-term governance, opening-up, a market economy and external environments, said Tian, head of the Party building bureau of the Policy Research Office of CPC Central Committee.

Party members also have to beware of the four dangers: lack of discipline and spirit, incompetence, alienation from the people and corruption, he said.

In the global context, competition among nations is highlighted by the conflict in ideology, methodology and efficiency, Tian said. "Only through improving the Party can we strengthen its governing capacity and the leadership of the country.

"For a party with 88 million members, it is better to take care of discipline instead of letting it run its way," said Leonidas Rokanas, Greece's ambassador to China.

Discipline is good because it forces the Party to focus on its goals of poverty alleviation and building a moderately prosperous society, he added.

Augustin Buregeya, the first secretary of the Republic of Rwanda, said the Party needs strong leadership and a high level of discipline to weed out corruption.

"President Xi is the visionary leader China needs to push forward its government and social transformation," Buregeya said.




Sri Lanka will continue its support for the one-China policy and push forward greater development of relations with China, a parliamentary leader and government officials said.

Sri Lanka appreciates the great achievements Tibet has made in various fields, Thilanga Sumathipala, deputy speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament, said as he met with a visiting delegation of Tibetan deputies of the National People's Congress of China on Wednesday.

He also said Sri Lanka would further deepen exchanges in the economy, trade, culture and other fields with China.

The Chinese delegation also met with Wijayadasa Rajapaksha, minister of Buddha Sasana, famous Buddhist figures of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka's Parliamentary Friendship Group and a number of Sri Lankan and Chinese friendly groups.

Penba Tashi, head of the delegation and vice-chairman of the Tibet autonomous region, briefed the hosts on the achievements in Tibet in the areas of political democracy, economic development, social undertakings, ecological protection and freedom of religious belief since the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

During their three-day visit, Penba Tashi also advocated the system of the NPC, the national legislature of China, clarified China's principled stance on Tibet-related issues and expressed hope that Sri Lanka would, as always, support China's principled stance on Tibet-related issues.
Italian conductor Rico Saccani takes the baton of the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra. [Photo provided to China Daily]

When Italian conductor Rico Saccani was appointed the music director of Guiyang Symphony Orchestra in September, he felt like he was home.

"Almost all the familiar faces when I first came are still here. I kept in touch with several of the orchestra members over the past two years," says Saccani, 64.

Saccani and his predecessor in the orchestra, Chinese conductor Chen Zuohuang, met in the United States as students in the early 1980s.

In 2014, Chen invited him to Guiyang for a few concerts. Saccani's performance was well received by the local audience, and Saccani was impressed by the symphony's professional management. The two sides continue to collaborate, says Sheng Wenqiang, deputy head of the orchestra.

Last year, when Chen's term as music director of the orchestra was ending, the orchestra owner asked Saccani to take over.

"And the rest is history," Saccani says during an interview at a theater in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, where the orchestra is based.

"On top of everything else, being the first foreign music director for a Chinese orchestra is quite an honor," he says.

In picking Saccani, Sheng looked for new energy to take the orchestra forward.

"We hope he can take our orchestra to new heights," says Sheng.
The Guanfu Museum is located on the 37th floor of Shanghai Center and is split into five exhibition halls. The first show is about gold. [Photo/CCTV.com]

One of China's first private museums has opened in Lujiazui, complete with more than 400 pieces.

The Guanfu Museum is located on the 37th floor of Shanghai Center and is split into five exhibition halls. The first show is about gold. It includes more than 200 items from Ma Weidu's personal collection. They include cups, bowls and other accessories, with some dating back to the fourth Century BC.

"Gold is the common currency of humans, not just Chinese people. It's used worldwide. There are few well-preserved gold relics due to its function as a currency. Many items made from gold were used as money with the change of dynasties. I present the exhibition on gold items especially in Shanghai in response to the financial status of Lujiazui. You know, gold can be seen as a symbol of finance," Ma said.

Ma Weidu started to collect relics in the 1980s. His collection includes china, Buddhist statues and royal costumes from the late Qing Dynasty. In 1997, he set up a private museum in Beijing, one of the first on the mainland. He has since opened branches in Hangzhou and Xiamen. One of the highlights of the local branch are these china pieces exported to the West during the Qing Dynasty. Many of them were tailor-made by Chinese masters according to orders from western trading companies.

"Two or three hundred year's ago, Chinese products were popular among western countries, just as years' ago western products were warmly welcomed by Chinese people. These are the evidence of that period. Some of the china items are painted with Christian stories and some are with Greek mythology and they are all made by Chinese artists. We can learn from these pieces that China was relatively open to the world at that time," Ma said.

Admission to the museum is 88 yuan, but an appointment is needed in advance.
[Photo/Weibo.com]

China has successfully prevented a Japanese auction of looted Chinese cultural relics, a statement from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) said Thursday.

The statement did not include the name of the Japanese auction house, nor details of the relics.

It said the SACH had learned from local media reports that a Japanese auction house planned to put several looted Chinese cultural relics on auction at the end of October.

The SACH immediately contacted the auction company, demanding it halt the sale. Upon investigation, the company decided to cancel the auction, according to the statement.

A letter widely circulated on the internet, purportedly sent by the SACH to the Yokohama-based Japanese auction house, said that the relics, "illegally obtained by Otani Kozui and his fellows," included a few pieces of mural and handwritten Buddhist manuscripts dated from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

From 1902 to 1914, Otani Kozui, a Japanese Buddhist and explorer, led or financed three expeditions to Northwest China, according to Central Asian Expedition, a book by Zuicho Tachibana, who took part in the trips.

China consistently opposes sales of illegally looted cultural relics, according to the SACH statement. "In recent years this position has gained increasing understanding and support."
Digital image of Old Summer Palace. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

In 1860, Beijing's Old Summer Palace of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) was burned down by Anglo-French forces. The great loss of this exquisite palace was a tragedy in history.

However, modern technology has brought it back to life again, in terms of digital images and experience.

An exhibition featuring a digital Old Summer Palace, based on 10 years of research, was held at the Center of International Cultural Exchange in Beijing on Tuesday.

With a total of 14 general showpieces, the event provided 11 digital interactive experience activities, six digital films and presentations of 50 historical sites from the palace.

The showcase also features a series of lectures, documentaries, books and cultural creative products fairs.

Running through Nov 27, the exhibition offers free admission.
Poster of The Bloom of Yesterday. [Photo/Mtime]

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival closed Thursday with the top prize going to a Holocaust-themed film, while a Chinese film won an award for artistic contribution.

A total of 16 films competed in the main section of the festival, and The Bloom of Yesterday, a German-Austrian film tackling the Holocaust theme, won the $50,000 Tokyo Grand Prix.

The film, directed by Chris Kraus, depicts the life crisis and struggle of a renowned German Holocaust researcher who is grandson of a Nazi war criminal yet falls in love with a French Jewish woman.

The film "put things into perspective" about how people in current times would "pay the price" for crimes of the past, Jean-Jacques Beineix, French director and producer and head of the international jury for the award, was quoted as saying.

Chinese film Mr. No Problem by director Mei Feng won the award for best artistic contribution.

The film, based on a 1943 short story by famous Chinese writer Lao She, was shot in stylish black-and-white and tells the story of a high productive farm in wartime Chongqing failing to turn a profit under the facade of having no problem.

The special jury prize went to Swedish film Sami Blood, which depicts prejudice against the Sami indigenous people of the Swedish mountains. The film also won best actress for Lene Cecilia Sparrok, while best actor award went to Paolo Ballesteros for his performance in Die Beautiful as a Filipino transgender woman.

In the Asian Future section, Philippine film Birdshot won the Best Asian Future Film Award which aims to recognize aspiring new directors from the Asian region, while the Spirit of Asia Award by the Japan Foundation Asia Center went to Indian film Lipstick Under My Burkha.

The Tokyo International Film Festival started in 1985 as Japan's first major film festival. During the 10-day event this year, a total of 206 films were screened at theaters in the Roppongi Hills and other areas in Tokyo.

Related:

29th Tokyo International Film Festival kicks off
A smart jewelry collection by Totwoo is released at the recent China Fashion Week. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese brand Totwoo wants the classic looks of its bracelets and necklaces to win. Sun Yuanqing reports.

While most smart jewelry brands these days are focusing more on technology and less on the jewelry to get ahead in business, a few are still focused on jewelry.

Chinese jewelry brand Totwoo, which released a collection during China Fashion Week on Oct 29 is one of them.

Based on the theme "magic jewelry of love and luck", the collection comprises bracelets and necklaces that sparkle in different hues to indicate different messages.

Calling itself the first fine jewelry collection that features smart functions, it was presented by online personalities at the event.

As the only jewelry brand showing at China Fashion Week this season, it stood out.

"We want our jewelry to focus on love, identity and luck," says Wang Jieming, co-founder and CEO of the brand.

"The messages are the same, but we express them in a different way."

Despite its focus on design, Totwoo is committed to the "stay healthy and stay connected" concept, and the jewelry is connected to a smartphone app. The jewelry also sparkles and vibrates to let users receive messages, and give users phone alerts and fitness reminders.
A carbon fiber chair designed by Chinese firm Shang Xia. Photo provided to China Daily

It was a sense of discovery and learning that recently permeated a room in Paris during a panel discussion about Chinese contemporary design. Held at Asia Now, a rare European fair dedicated to contemporary Asian art, the discussion was anchored around one of the fair's exhibitors Shang Xia - a Chinese contemporary design firm that is co-owned by French luxury house Hermes.

The panel comprised three experts - Jiang Qionger, Shang Xia's co-founder and artistic director; Geraldine Lenain, international director of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at auction house Christie's; and collector Dominque Levy - and was held on the eve of the preview of Asia Now.

The fair, in its second edition, and which ran over Oct 19-23, was one of the many satellite fairs around Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain, a contemporary art fair that every autumn attracts global collectors to the "city of light".

Shang Xia and Christie's jointly showed 12 of the design firm's pieces that had not been seen before.

The exhibition, Light Is More, highlighted the ethos of the Chinese firm, which aims to take Chinese techniques and materials and fuse them with 21st-century design.

Shang Xia literally means "up, down", signaling the movement from past to present to future, but also, as Jiang says: "It is a philosophy of two opposites - and how to bring them together in harmony and balance."

Light Is More, says Jiang, is to "take craftsmanship in contemporary design, and merge it with real functionality and modernity that correspond to life today. The result is lightness, purity, simplicity, comfort and an emotional touch".

She refers to her porcelain echo bowls, on display at Asia Now, which are less than 0.5 millimeters thick and made in kilns at 1,200 C. The pieces can take up to two months to create, and come in a range of ethereal-like glazes, or in a striking red or black print. Ultrathin and delicate, it's the next generation of this beloved, ancient Chinese material, she says.
The ruins of an 800-year-old royal temple at the foot of Changbai Mountain was recently verified to have been established in the middle of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), making it the oldest temple used by the royal family for worship at the Changbai Mountain.

Leading archaeologists nationwide based their analysis on previously unearthed antiques and historical records and came to their final conclusion at a meeting in the Er'daohe town at the foot of Changbai Mountain.

Many stone relics are excavated at the Baoma town ruins, the oldest temple at which royal families of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) held worship ceremonies. This file photo was taken on Sept 26, 2014. [Photo by Liu Shuo/xinhuanet]

The ruins of Baoma, where the temple is located, is on a hill in Antu county, 50 kilometers south of the summit. On a sunny day, the town can see Changbai Mountain quite clearly.

Many ancient Chinese emperors performed mountain worship ceremonies (called fengchan in Chinese, meaning worship of heaven and earth) to ensure a dynasty's fortunes.

For many decades, archaeologists in China and elsewhere lacked adequate knowledge about Changbai Mountain's history and culture, and for many people, the mountain was considered a scenic spot only.

The discovery of the Baoma town site, to some extent, helps to fill that void.

This file photo from Sept 26, 2014, shows an archeologist putting together two parts of an unearthed antique from the ruins of Baoma. [Photo by Liu Shuo/xinhuanet]

"The ruins of Baoma plays such a crucial role in helping us understand the history of Changbai Mountain, and for our academic research," said Fan Enshi, from the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The ruins were first excavated in 2013, and archaeologists have found many delicate bricks and other building parts.

"[These] bricks and building parts our team has dug out have the distinctive characteristic of being from the Jin Dynasty," said Zhao Junjie, from the research center for Chinese frontier archaeology at Jilin University and also the team leader for the Baomao archaeological discovery.

A plinth, with a diameter of 100cm, is unearthed in the northwest corner of the Baoma town site. This file photo was taken on Sept 26, 2014. [Photo by Liu Shuo/xinhuanet]

The Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (960-1279) saw emperors use jade tablets inscribed with worship essays, some of which were excavated on Mount Tai, an important official ritual site in use over the same time period.

Earlier this year, Zhao's team unearthed a couple of ruins with white jade tablets, on which were carved characters such as "Jin" and "Kui Chou", the year the worship ceremony was held.

According to Zhao, this information matched the description of the royal temple in Jin records.

"It's priceless," said Li Ji, head archaeologist of the Palace Museum, regarding the well-preserved Baoma ruins.

Leading national archaeologists and government officials from the Jilin provincial cultural heritage department hold a meeting to conclude that the ruins of Baoma were established during the Jin Dynasty, Oct 24 to 25, in Er'daohe town at the foot of Changbai Mountain. Previously, experts had thought the ruins belonged to Balhae in the northern Korean Peninsula (698-926). [Photo/xinhuanet]

As the ruins were buried in only soil and no other buildings were built on top of it, the structure has not shifted much since the Jin Dynasty, and now they have found antiques to match the historical records, according to Li.

"All of these are rarely seen just in one site," Li added.

The Jin Dynasty began in 1115 with Wanyan Aguda who led his Nuzhen (Jurchen) tribe to inhabit what is now Northeast China, and they eventually swept across Northern China, establishing a boundary with the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1280) around the Huai River. Wang Xiaokun, assistant professor at the history department of Renmin University, said the architectural style of Baoma is pretty similar to that of the inland region, and that it reflects a cultural blending and acceptance of Han culture.

Experts and government officials pay a visit to the Baoma site, in An'tu, 50 kilometers away from Changbai Mountain, in Northeast China's Jilin province. [Photo/xinhuanet]

"The Jin Dynasty was governed by a non-Han political power, and was greatly influenced by Han's culture," Wang said. "So I think it is a distinctive character of Chinese culture."

A museum is said to be built around the Baoma ruins with the offering of worship ritual services and other cultural related facilities in the near future.

"We willdevelop culture tourism on the site with zero tolerance for damaging it," said Li Yiyang, from the management body of Changbai Mountain scenic spot.
The first installation of public housing for Taiwan residents working in Pingtan opened to the public on Nov 1. After submitting application forms, a total of 74 Taiwan people have been approved to relocate to low-rent public houses or economically affordable houses constructed by the Pingtan government.

The public housing newly built for Taiwan people working in Pingtan [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Lin Maolin, a liquor vendor at Pingtan-Taiwan Commodity Duty-free Market, currently known as Aoqian Taiwan-style Town, is one such Taiwan resident.

He showed his application form to the reporter excitedly and said, "I have selected a public rental house, the rent, of which, is much cheaper than the market price. Perhaps all of my family would like to move to the city."

An official from Taiwan affairs office of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone revealed that the government has specially conscripted two residential buildings for the Taiwan compatriots, hoping more of them can work and enjoy their stays in the city.

In addition to public housing for residents of Taiwan, Pingtan has also allocated many other preferential policies in their favor over the past six years. For instance, Taiwan youth working in Pingtan are entitled to apply for employment subsidies and awards. Taiwan vendors who run business in Pingtan for several decades can apply for housing subsidies offered by the government.

These polices appear to be paying dividends.

A total of 118 Taiwan companies have settled in Taiwan Innovation Park since it open last year.

Liu Hanliang, director of Taiwan Xiaomairen Incubator Management Co., told a reporter that the park has seen substantial improvements in regards to catering and leisure. Due to the tremendous support from the local government, more and more Taiwan youth are willing to start businesses in Pingtan.

A bird's-eye view of the Taiwan Innovation Park in Pingtan [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As the only place where Taiwan construction companies can register in South China's Fujian province, there have been 24 Taiwan construction companies recorded in Pingtan since June, 2012.

According to statistics, from January to July of this year, the number of new registered Taiwan companies in Pingtan reached 151.

Pingtan has received more than 30,000 visitors from Taiwan, an increase of 25 percent over the same period last year.

Currently, there are nearly 2,000 Taiwan people living in Pingtan. 300 Taiwan businessmen have purchased properties in the city, and over 200 Taiwan students are currently pursuing education in Pingtan. In an effort to provide more support, Pingtan has taken a number of measures including introducing Taiwan specialized hospitals and initiating the mainlands first credit reference system for Taiwan compatriots.
Rules to streamline employment application process are being tested

A trial program to test the issuance of a single, unified work permit for foreigners - replacing the current system under which two government entities have issuing authority - is expected to ease the burden of getting work in Shanghai for highly skilled expats, starting in October.

The trial was highlighted in a recently released notice about further deepening of measures to attract more foreign talent to speed up the development of the scientific and technological innovation hub.

Until now, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs has been responsible for issuing a certificate qualifying some individuals to work in China; local labor bureaus issued their own work licenses to authorize others.

In the pilot program, highly skilled applicants will not need to submit applications before entering the country, and only need to complete an online application after being recruited to work in Shanghai.

Expats who have applied at least twice for a one-year work permit will be eligible for a five-year work permit, making the process more convenient.

In July 2015, 20 measures including 12 released by the Exit-Entry Administration Bureau of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau reduced complexity for highly skilled overseas passport holders. Also, the length of an overseas talent residence permit was extended to 10 years, opening Shanghai's door wider to the world.

"We retain the core spirit of creating an environment for talent to grow and explore innovation, in order to shape the city into a cluster of global innovative talent by 2020," said Chen Hao, deputy director of the organization department of the municipal government.

Apart from looser application requirements for work permits, the more open and efficient overseas talent policy will allow the staff of foreign work teams to apply for permanent residence directly.

High-level workers in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone who qualify will be recommended by the administrations of the zones for permanent residency.

Investment companies, regional company headquarters, and research and design centers registered in the two zones will also be able to recruit new graduates from world-class universities to work in Shanghai.

"It will encourage employers to fill positions with better-fitting talent, especially those international students who may add value and fresh thoughts, to compete with local talent in the Chinese job market," said Pete Chia, managing director of BRecruit China, a recruitment service provider in Asia.

Sadik Senturk, a 32-year-old Turkish project manager at a consulting company in Shanghai, said: "I will apply for a green card for the sake of my son, who just turned 2 years old and will be enrolled in the education system like a local child.

"I hope the lower requirements for permanent residence and expanded benefits will narrow the gap between green card holders and local residents."

Senturk is also applying for a residence permit based on talent.
The final of Financial Eyas, a youth financial talent competition, was held at Lujiazui, Shanghai's financial hub on Oct 29. [Photo/ljzfin.com]

The final of a youth financial talent competition called Financial Eyas took place at Lujiazui, Shanghai's financial hub on Oct 29.

Ten winners were chosen as the "Top Ten Outstanding Financial Eyas of the Year". The winners will be attractive as new employees of financial companies or be offered internships and scholarships.

Contestants debate at the Financial Eyas final held at Lujiazui, Shanghai's financial hub on Oct 29. [Photo/ljzfin.com]

The competition, first launched last year, aims to select and nurture excellent young talented people to deal with Shanghai's shortage of financial professionals, helping the city reach its goal of becoming an international financial center.

The competition targets top Chinese and foreign university students who want to work in the financial sector. This year, the event grew in popularity, attracting 14,242 students from 198 universities in China, the UK, Germany, the US, Australia and other countries and regions, nearly doubling last year's number. After several rounds of competition, only 30 participants entered the final.

Newly-branded Financial Eyas receive awards at Lujiazui, Shanghai's financial hub on Oct 29. [Photo/ljzfin.com]

Organizers of the competition said that the event serves as a bridge between university students and companies, giving the students more opportunities to find jobs and helping the companies to hire the employees they need.
Premier Li Keqiang is undertaking official visits to four countries: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Russia. The fact that these four, specifically, are on his itinerary is significant in a number of ways.

Firstly, all four of these countries are part of Chinas Belt and Road initiative (also sometimes called One Belt, One Road, or the New Silk Road). The Belt and Road is an ambitious project to connect East Asia with Europe via Central Asia and many other stops in between.

Due to their strategic geographical position, it can readily be seen that the Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are key participants in the project, as is Russia. The Silk Road Economic Belt is intended to link China via all three of these countries with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), which includes Latvia.

Importantly, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia are (along with China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) also members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which will hold a meeting during Lis stay in Bishkek. Discussing specific projects to deepen cooperation within the Belt and Road initiative will be a key aspect of the SCO summit. In fact, 38 new measures are due to be announced during the meeting in areas such as infrastructure, trade and finance.

In Riga, Latvia, Li will attend the annual forum of heads of state from 16 CEE countries. The European Union will also be in attendance as an observer, indicating how critical the "16+1" cooperative mechanism has now become for Chinas relations with Europe.

Finally, Lis stop-off in Moscow at the end of the trip is suggestive of the ever-closer, ever-warmer relations between China and Russia in recent years. This high-level meeting is undoubtedly designed, at least in part, to tie together the agreements reached in Bishkek, Astana and Riga concerning the progress of Belt and Road projects.

All in all, the Chinese prime ministers trip seems to be very tightly focused on creating synergies between the Belt and Road, the SCO and the "16+1" cooperative mechanism.

There is much talk in Chinese diplomatic, foreign policy and academic circles of achieving win-win outcomes, which grow economies both in China and its partner countries, through new initiatives such as the Belt and Road. To Western observers, this talk can sometimes seem vague, opaque and propagandistic. Yet there is no doubt that it genuinely contains within it the long-term goal of mutually beneficial cooperation.

The logic of economic game theory suggests that pursuing positive rather than zero-sum goals is better, both for China and its partners. Put simply, richer, more developed partners mean more business for Chinese companies, while impoverishment and lack of development do nobody any good. It is therefore in Chinas interests to invest in the development of those countries which elect to establish close trade ties, and it is in the interests of those nations to work closely with China to improve both their economies and the lives of their citizens.

It is to this end that Premier Li is travelling through the countries mentioned above. Close coordination of the complex projects in which China is involved in Central Asia and CEE is likely to bring results for all involved.

Ignoring Chinas attempts at building win-win synergies across the Belt and Road zone is therefore unwise. This, presumably, is why the EU, thus far apparently reluctant to fully commit to supporting Chinas initiatives, is present in Riga as an observer.

Others who are not present at Lis meetings would also do well to take note of the progress that is being made under Chinese and Russian guidance across the Eurasian landmass. Chinas activity in this part of the world is not only likely to be win-win for the participants, but is also going to change the rules of how games of geo-economic significance are played globally.

Jeremy Garlick is a lecturer in international relations at the Jan Masaryk Centre for International Studies, University of Economics in Prague.
Police officers hold the buckets stuck with road safety slogans.[Photo from Sina Weibo]

SHENZHEN MUNICIPAL traffic police began a campaign to promote proper high beam usage on Nov 1 in the South China city. The action is aimed at curbing drivers' misuse of the high beam, which can cause accidents. In addition to a fine of 300 yuan ($45) and a 1 point penalty, the traffic police also ask the driver to sit in a green chair for one minute to experience for themselves the effects it has on an oncoming driver. Beijing Times commented on Thursday:

The Shenzhen traffic police are not the first to ask drivers to experience what happens when looking into headlights on high beam. However, in many other places it has caused controversy. Supporters believe that it improves road safety, while opponents say it might damage a person's vision and it exceeds the requirements for law enforcement.

Judgment should be based on the law and the basic facts and specific circumstances. The relevant laws and regulations do not include such a punishment, but the Shenzhen police have said that it is not mandatory, which means that this is essentially a flexible educational means, rather than rigid punishment.

Criticism of looking into a high beam, in a sense is actually a narrow understanding of the laws and regulations, but it also ignores the complexity of reality.

A website poll shows that up to 92 percent of users support the practice of Shenzhen, and 97 percent of users have experienced looking into headlights on high beam while driving. Public opinion is not the sole basis for evaluating a certain traffic law enforcement action. But when public opinion reaches a high degree of consensus, its meaning should be taken seriously.

The overwhelming majority of users support the police action, which can be seen as a comment on weak enforcement of the traffic regulations.
Workers assemble lithium batteries in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. The electric-car industry gives a boost to the battery manufacturing sector. [Photo/China Daily]

Today China is seen as an "upper-middle-income" country. But only structural reforms will allow it to avoid the middle-income trap.

A recent report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says China has entered the ranks of the "upper-middle-income" countries. While most observers agree the pace of transformation has been extraordinary in China, many remain concerned about increasing wealth and income inequality. Others point to successful industrialization in East Asiafrom Japan to the Republic of Koreaarguing that improving social welfare will be critical to avoiding the middle-income trap.

These viewpoints are not mutually exclusive. Together, they drive the rebalancing of the Chinese economy, and the associated new urbanization and industrial upgrading that seeks to overcome the middle-income trap in the next 10 to 15 years. But why do many countries get stuck in the trap?

China has been a so-called upper-middle-income country for a few years. The CASS report relies on the World Bank classification, which groups economies based on gross national income (GNI) per capita. Based on the World Bank's method, it groups countries to four categories: low-income economies ($1,025 or less); lower middle-income economies ($1,026-$4,035); upper middle-income economies ($4,036-$12,475); and high-income economies ($12,476 or more).

In the early days of economic reform, China was in the low-income group. In 2008, after decades of investment and export-led growth, China joined the ranks of the lower-middle-income countries.

According to the CASS, China's per capita GDP is currently $8,016 (52,000 yuan). In effect, China joined the ranks of the upper middle-income countries around 2012. As a result, living standards in China are approaching those in Turkey, Brazil and Southern Europe. But these findings should be taken with a grain of salt.

Today's advanced economies industrialized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So they have enjoyed the benefits of wealth and income for a long time. In China and other emerging economies, prosperity is still newand thus far, far more fragile.

Just because an economy has great potential does not always mean that this promise will be delivered. And yet that's what Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neill, who created the "BRIC" concept in the early 2000s, seemed to imply. While O'Neill did wonderful work in promoting emerging economies, analysts focus on abstract data rather than real life.

If the theory had been valid, we would continue to see solid economic progress in China, India, Brazil and Russia.

But the reality is that we don't. The emerging and developing economies have always relied on diverse sources of industrial advantages. Before the global crisis, those BRIC economies that relied excessively on their natural resources enjoyed high growth as long as the prices of oil, gas and commodities continued to soar. Conversely, with the end of the "commodities super-cycle", the very same economies have taken heavy hits.

What's worrisome, even though economies diversify their industrial structures and get their policies right, external constraintsincluding sanctions by Western nationseffectively undermine the benefits of modernization.

It is for these reasons that I have argued, for more than a decade, that the hopes associated with some BRIC economies will prove inflated. It was misguiding in the early 2000s to project glorious futures for economies that relied excessively on resourceand commodity-driven growth.

What really matters in economic development is not only industrialization but how it actually materializes.

Once, when I met the legendary investor Jim Rogers and we talked about the future of emerging economies, he referred to some BRIC analysts as "number crunchers." It sounded pejorative but, while Rogers is a commodity expert, he started his career as a historian and knows too well that numbers without history and context are hollow.

In this regard, China is better positioned to overcome the middle-income trap with a more diversified industrial structure, as long as regional rebalancing can proceed and the external environment remains peaceful.

However, it does not follow that all, or even most emerging economies can follow in the footprints. Success requires structural reforms.

The author is a guest fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), and founder of Difference Group. This commentary is based on his SIIS project on "China and the multipolar world economy".
MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY

Since the launch of Belt and Road Initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road), China has reached cooperation agreements with more than 30 countries along the Belt and Road.

Infrastructure is a key priority of the Belt and Road Initiative to promote transport connectivity between regions. Work on many cross-border projects, including railway networks, highways and ports, has already started, while other projects are in the pipeline. The Belt and Road projects could potentially channel China's savings, production capacity and construction expertise to other countries to help reduce their infrastructure bottlenecks and promote regional development.

The initiative has boosted trade and investment growth. Trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road exceeded $1 trillion in 2015, a quarter of China's total trade value. The initiative also accelerated China's shift from the world's biggest goods exporter to a major capital exporter. China's outbound direct investment to economies along the Belt and Road grew 23.8 percent year-on-year in 2015 and nearly 60 percent in the first half of 2016.

China has also made efforts to reduce trade barriers, by developing more than 50 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones with countries along the Belt and Road and expanded its free trade zones' trial to seven more provinces, in order to strengthen industrial cooperation and enhance liberalization with other countries.

The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative has also facilitated the renminbi's internationalization and financial cooperation. China has expanded its bilateral local-currency swap program to 21 countries along the Belt and Road, granted renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor quotas to seven countries and set up renminbi settlement banks in eight countries along the Belt and Road.

Key multilateral organizations have begun operations and new financing mechanisms are being set up. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, BRICS New Development Bank and the Silk Road Fund, together with China's policy banks, have taken the lead and started participating in cross-border investment projects.

But despite the progress made in the past three years, the Belt and Road Initiative face risks and challenges at both the country and corporate levels, with strategy alignment and cost-sharing between participating countries being the main challenges. Some projects in foreign countries have been suspended or deferred highlighting the obstacles China faces in implementing the initiative. To remove these obstacles, China needs to align its strategy with those of other Belt and Road countries, and effectively address these countries' doubts and concerns.

We think proper strategy alignment and dispute settlement procedures will reduce the probability of project suspension even in case governments change. China needs to ensure mutual benefits from the initiative, as it is a commercially oriented project, not a foreign aid program. And it requires participating countries to make long-term commitments and invest to gain mutual benefits and joint development.

To be successful, China must make other countries fully aware of the economic logic and mutual benefits of the initiative, and demonstrate through existing projects that it will create jobs, improve local areas' connectivity with the rest of the world, and enhance their welfare.

Chinese companies investing in Belt and Road projects are also facing risks, including general debt risks, foreign currency risks, local policy risks and geopolitical risks, because of the lack of experience and knowledge in operating and investing in other countries. To mitigate these risks, they need to conduct professional project assessments and devise risk management systems before venturing into those countries, while effectively using credit insurance and overseas investment service platforms to improve the management of their foreign projects.

Furthermore, the government should encourage participation from multilateral institutions and continue to promote the renminbi's internationalization to help private companies better control their risks. Dealing with these challenges should provide useful lessons for the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The author is an economist at Standard Chartered China.
Now, a lot of people may be divided by the image above, thinking, Gosh, I hate winter? or Omg, I cant wait to make snow angels!

All travelers have our preferences for when to travel, and its easy to say summer is the best time to see an attraction or city. The dress code is more lax, weather more welcoming, but lets be honest, some places just look better in winter. Putting on a few layers, watching your breath puff before you, its all worth it to see the following attractions decked out for the Winter holidays.

Gullfoss Waterfall

Iceland is truly a land of ice and fire, and nothing captures it more than the transition of the iconic Gulffoss Waterfall from roaring cascades to icy, snow filled waves. A key attraction on the Golden Circle tour, it is one of the first attractions visitors to Iceland tend to encounter, and with good reason. Its just somajestic, any time of year.

Niagara Falls

Not to be outdone, the mighty Niagara Falls is another iconic waterfall that transforms in the winter season. While keeping its roaring fury, it gains a bit of charm when the snow settles around its base. And, while the Niagara Falls Illumination Show is great throughout the year, but were partial to the colorful lights when they reflect off Niagaras icicle covered cascades.

Lake Louise

Banff National Park is a personal favorite of mine, even though Ive never been. One of the most iconic attractions here is the stunning Lake Louise, a requirement on any road trip to Banff, particularly due to its mystical aqua surface. But winter turns it into a true wonderland, with a clean sheet of frost making this an ice skaters paradise! Even with the chilly weather, you can still take a day trip from Banff to Lake Louise and experience the amazing winter transformation first hand!

Central Park

New York as a whole is another story in Winter, but Central Park gets some special attention. Iconic, scenic, and historic, the Big Apples famous green space is perfectly contrasted against the hustle and bustle of the city. Once snow has settled in, this green space turns sparkly white and truly enchanting at Christmas time.

Yellowstone

We mentioned Yellowstone earlier in our 7 Best National Parks For A Winter Getaway, and we couldnt help but add it this list. We cannot say enough about how astoundingly different it looks in winter while stilling maintaining its otherworldly allure. Even coated in ice and snow Americas oldest national park finds a way to shine throughout the year.

Draculas Castle

We know, we know, its traditional name is Bran Castle and its disputed as to whether or not it inspired Bram Strokers novel, but we bury all our arguing under a few feet of snow this holiday season and just focus on how mystical Draculas Castle looks in Winter? The snow covered parapets and withered trees make it all the more alluring. Whether or not Dracula lorded over the ancient halls, wed still love to spend our winter vacation in this monumental fortress.

If you want to discover more amazing destinations or learn all the tips and tricks to planning your next vacation, please subscribe to our Tours4fun Newsletter below.
A gavel in a court. [Photo/IC]

Among a series of core governance concepts put forward by the Communist Party of China since its 18th National Congress in late 2012, the Party has deeply impressed the public with the one about stricter self-governance.

Looking back, people would realize that the Party's campaign for stricter self-governance did help tighten its lax discipline, clean its tainted political ecology, eliminate unhealthy social trends within the Party, and inject into the country fresh vitality for further development.

The campaign for stricter governance within the Party is aimed at strengthening inner-CPC discipline, which had remained lax for years, preventing extravagance and squandering of public money by officials, eliminating "unspoken rules" and purifying the decadent political ecology. The CPC's past campaigns to rectify the deviating tendencies of its members and promote stricter self-governance indicate that such campaigns played a big role in the survival of the Party and saving the revolution in China's history. One of the key factors of the CPC's success has been its strong organizing and governing capabilities, and strict discipline.

The crux of how to better deal with the nation's affairs lies in the Party, its self-management and stricter self-governance. And the vow to promote stricter governance within the Party at the just-concluded Sixth Plenum of 18th CPC Central Committee demonstrates the CPC's resolve to continue the campaign and combat corruption. It also reflects the Party's crystal-clear stance that any clues of corruption will be investigated without exception, and there is no hiding place for corrupt officials within the Party.

In four years, a series of measures taken by the Party with Xi Jinping as its general secretary has brought about enormous changes in the Party and the country, and opened new vistas for further development. The capability, courage, insight and boldness Xi has shown have strengthened his authority and won him the honor of the core of the Party.

In these times, the core is of great significance to the Party's unity and the country's stability and development. When confronted with the challenge posed by an important mission, the Party should have its own powerful core leader. And that Xi is now the core will help the Party lay a sound political foundation for its 19th National Congress in 2017.

At the plenum, the CPC made clear that stricter Party governance must start with the introduction of measures for Party members to lead a strict political life. The new stricter requirements for Party members' political life are different from those that previously tolerated some Party organizations to lead a casual and non-binding political life. The lack of strict intra-Party political life led to the formation of the "one voice" and even cliques within some Party organizations.

To avoid this, the Party now emphasizes the implementation of democratic centralism, the criticism and self-criticism system as well as intra-Party supervision to form a serious and democratic atmosphere within the Party and ensure the Party's decision-makings are correct.

As a significant step toward institutionalized Party building, the CPC has issued two documents: one aimed at introducing a code of conduct for Party members and the other at conducting intra-Party supervision. These will serve as the core institutional documents for promoting stricter Party governance.

The move for stricter self-governance is essentially aimed at ensuring the Party and its leading officials do not forget their original missions. With a self-restrained intra-Party political life and strengthened intra-Party supervision, the CPC will always keep in mind its mission to serve the people. People's support helped the Party found New China in 1949 and achieve remarkable progress in the decades that followed. To sustain this public support, the Party must adhere to a self-restrained intra-Party political life and strengthen intra-Party supervision to achieve a victory in its "New Long March".

The author is an associate professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (L) and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrive before the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Sunday, Oct 9, 2016. [Photo/IC]

The 2016 US presidential election will produce a winner and a loser on Nov 8. To me, the losers will also include the US news media, which has lost its journalism objectivity in covering the race.

Recently, I was on a panel of international journalists discussing the 2016 election that was organized by the Columbia Global Centers and held in the Pulitzer Hall at Columbia University. Since I believe that journalists should be observers, not participants, I asked if the way the US news media has covered the election means the demise of objective US journalism.

Never did I expect that my words would make the headline of an article on the Columbia Journalism Review website the next day.

Bias in the news media has become obvious since before the primaries when US news outlets devoted disproportional space and time to Donald Trump, compared with 16 other Republican candidates who either withdrew or suspended their campaigns during the primaries. This was despite the fact that Trump did not score high during the initial polls compared to his rivals.

It doesn't take an expert to figure out that for many news organizations, Trump's often politically incorrect or outrageous language has been good for their ratings and readership numbers.

A study by the Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy in June found that Trump received the equivalent of $55 million in free advertising from several major news outlets, including that worth $16 million from New York Times alone. The study concluded: "Trump is arguably the first bona fide media-created presidential nominee."

Meanwhile, the campaigns of candidates such as Bernie Sanders, were grossly under-reported. Most US news organizations have a tradition of endorsing a particular candidate, but that should not undermine the objectivity and fairness of their reporting.

However, this is what has happened during this campaign. If you read a US newspaper or watch a US TV channel these days about the election news, you can immediately tell which candidate they have endorsed.

That means they are not informing their readers and viewers but misinforming them.

For example, the news media has shown such enthusiasm for covering and spinning Trump's lewd conversation about women recorded on video many years ago that it overshadowed the coverage of serious campaign issues such as economy, terrorism, foreign policy, gun control and immigrationthe main election issues for voters according to Pew Center surveys.

On the other hand, most news outlets have not shown nearly the same kind of passion to dig into the scandal of the Democratic National Committee's treatment of Bernie Sanders when he was competing with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic ticket.

A national Quinnipiac University poll released on Oct 19 showed that 55 percent of likely voters surveyed described the media as biased against Trump, while 42 percent, mostly Democrats, said there is no media bias against him.

On election night, New York-based ProPublica, which claims to be an independent news organization of investigative journalism, will launch a nationwide network of journalists, journalism students and concerned citizens to track and report on problems that prevent people from voting.

That could also include tracking and reporting the problems of US news organizations in covering the 2016 election.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
The recently ended three-month subway card design contest aroused Kunming people's fond memories of the city's storied past.

On Oct 26 the contest concluded in Kunming with 18 out of 300 designs claiming prizes.

A three-month subway Card design contest in Kunming brought back local peoples memories of the city.[Photo/ynci.cn]

There is a common feature in the 18 winners  a depiction of Kunming's history and culture.

The first prize winner, for instance, is a pen drawing which puts ancient Kunming's landscape in black and white on the little card.

"Such a design of ancient Kunming scenery can shorten people's psychological distance as it arouses their love towards the city," said a member of the expert judge panel.

Before the 128 eligible productions from across China were given to the judges, they were posted on the Kunming Rail Group Co's micro blog to be voted on from Aug 29 to Sep 11.

The final result came from the combined scores of the online votes and judge panels.

The first prize winner received 10,000 yuan ($1,477), the second prize winner won 6,000 and the third got 4,000.

Edited by Peter Nordinger
Recently, a platform powered by big data tech was set up in Arun Banner, Hulunbuir League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, producing accurate and efficient poverty alleviation in the local area.

This big data system covers detailed information of the more than 15,000 local residents living in the impoverished area, and also manages the aid-funds to guarantee it can benefit the poor. Furthermore, around 1,500 local cadres and their corresponding aiding subjects are filed in the system.

As a self-designed system, the poverty-alleviation e-platform cost over 170,000 yuan ($25,000) to be built and was sponsored by the regional and local finance departments, said Chen Qian, head of the poverty relief office in Arun Banner.

Every time I pay a visit for the poor in a village, I need to write a journal and upload photos on this big data system, mainly about the present living conditions of those in need, said Feng Lizhi, deputy mayor of Xiangyangyu, a town in Arun Banner.

Look at this picture; this family harvested an amount of edible fungus, which means the family could earn 20,000 yuan per capita this year, said Feng, clearly excited.

Feng came to visit Zhang Ronghua, a villager labeled as poor in the system, and helped him escape poverty by providing a job as a cleaner. Also, Feng contacted local retailers to help Zhang distribute his mushrooms.

Feng also showed how the big data platform runs by taking out a phone and scanning a code in Zhangs home, and then the basic information and daily aid records were instantly presented on the screen.

As a farmer receiving targeted poverty-alleviation funds, Zhang Ronghua has suffered from cirrhosis and his wife has been tormented with heart disease for years, resulting in high medical bills that far beyond the familys ability to cope.

Nowadays, the local government has taken practical actions to support poor families, and I am quite grateful for what they have done to help our family, especially Feng, who often comes to visit and solve our problems. And thanks to his support, the fungus can be sold at a nice price, Zhang said.

This year, the income for Zhangs family is expected to reach 40,174 yuan, which means this familys dire situation will soon be changed, according to Feng.

With 6.72 percent of the population in poverty, Arun Banner has been recognized as a key target poverty-reduction county in Inner Mongolia. With a population of 320,000 people, it houses 64 poor villages and 15,000 impoverished residents, and the big data platform provides local cadres and departments with a manageable, efficient and practical tool to tackle poverty.
Giant pandas have once again stolen the global spotlight as visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the Berlin Zoo's Panda Garden on Wednesday to mark the debut of two Chengdu-born pandas, 4-year-old female Meng Meng and 7-year-old male Jiao Qing. The couple landed at the zoo on June 24 to kick off their 15-year stay, raising the number of giant pandas living abroad to 48.

For decades, the animal has never failed in its duty as China's ambassador of friendship and has won hearts of thousands of fans worldwide. As China's national treasure, giant pandas have witnessed many significant diplomatic moments and been playing a key role in building China's international image.
British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the EC headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to bring Britain out of the European Union (EU) were thrown into chaos Thursday.

The High Court in London ruled that parliament, and not May's government, should trigger the Article 50 mechanism to start the Brexit process.

The decision by three of the leading judges in Britain sent shock waves through Westminster, with government officials now studying the full judgement.

Within an hour of the decision, the government confirmed it would appeal by taking the case to the highest court in England, the Supreme Court.

Government lawyers have been given permission to "fast track" an appeal by by-passing the Court of Appeal and going instead to the Supreme Court.

A time slot in early December has already been set aside for an appeal hearing, with all 11 law lords sitting to decide the case.

An official government spokesman expressed disappointment in the High Court's judgment.

"The country voted to leave the European Union in a referendum approved by an Act of Parliament," he said. "And the government is determined to respect the result of the referendum," said the spokesman.

It is not yet known whether May's stated aim to trigger Article 50 by the end of next March can now be met.

A group of individuals who took the case to law to challenge May's Brexit plans were jubilant at the decision, describing it as a victory for parliamentary democracy. They urged the government not to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court.

Lawyer David Greene, one of the individuals who took the case to court, said that although he voted Brexit, his view was that parliament should be the body to trigger Article 50.

In the ruling Thursday, Lord Chief Justice Thomas said: "The government does not have power under the Crown's prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 for the UK to withdraw from the European Union."

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party said: "This ruling underlines the need for the government to bring its negotiating terms to parliament without delay."

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the anti-EU party UKIP, said after the judgement: "I now fear every attempt will be made to block or delay triggering Article 50.

They have no idea the level of public anger they will provoke. I think we could be at the beginning, with this ruling, of a process where there is a deliberate, wilful attempt by our political class to betray 17.4 million voters."

One legal expert has warned that the decision could mean Brexit would not even happen.

Professor Jon Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool, said: "The government may well appeal against the decision, but regardless, what it shows is that the battle for Brexit is far from over. Parliament will determine the terms on which we leave the EU. The lack of consensus over what any Brexit deal will look like may mean that ultimately it may never happen."

The issue has centered on who is responsible for implementing the will of the people, the government or parliament?

From the moment she became Prime Minister in July of this year, Theresa May's mantra became Brexit means Brexit and she would lead the people out of the EU.

Political commentators are already speculating whether May will call an early general election to put her authority to the test.
Giant Panda twin cubs which were born on August 7, 2016, are seen in this handout photograph dated October 27, 2016, released on November 3, 2016, at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria. [Photo/Agencies]

VIENNA - The twin panda cubs born at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria have now been given their names, the zoo announced on Thursday.

The zoo had put the naming of the male cub up for online vote on its homepage. It said about 12,000 people voted from three possible options over the past two weeks, with the largest proportion of voters, 48.3 percent, choosing "Fu Ban."

The name means "lucky half," playing on his nature as a twin.

The zoo chose the name for the female cub itself, revealing it as "Fu Feng", with "feng" referring to "phoenix."

Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter explained that as the first cub born at the zoo was named "Fu Long" ("lucky dragon"), the name phoenix was chosen in keeping with the Chinese mythological pairing of dragon and phoenix as a celestial couple.
Senior US officials are using more positive tones to describe US-China relations a little more than two months before President Barack Obama leaves the Oval Office.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel on Thursday would not confirm if there has been an instruction from the White House to the Pentagon and others last month not to describe US-China relations as a "great power competition" because that suggests the two countries are on a collision course.

He said he had not seen the document. "However, I do know that it is not the policy of the United States and it is not the belief of President Obama that we should treat China as a Cold War adversary," Russel told a briefing at the Foreign Press Center after a recent trip that took him to the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia.

He admitted that the two countries have profound differences in some important areas and there are differences in strategic objectives and perspectives on issues such as human rights and tactics of how to achieve peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

He emphasized that Obama has been determined to engage China in a "direct, open, candid, honest dialogue" and "that solves problems where we can solve problems, that narrows differences where we can't solve them and that manages difference where we can't narrow them.

"And I think that sustained effort has put a strong foundation under the relationship that can absorb a great deal of stress and does. And that's a good thing," said Russel, who has worked in the Obama administration since 2009, first as White House special assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs before taking his current job in 2013.

He described the meeting on Tuesday in New York between Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and US National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry as part of a rich set of high-level consultations between the two countries and the importance the two countries placed on expanding areas of cooperation and addressing areas of differences.

The North Korea nuclear issue featured prominently in the talk, according to Russel.

The veteran US diplomat was bombarded with questions about the warming relations between China and some Southeast Asian nations, in particular the Philippines and Malaysia.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing last month to improve ties that were strained under his predecessor Benigno Aquino III. Duterte also has talked about distancing his country from the US on foreign policy decisions and the US troop presence.

In Beijing on Thursday, President Xi Jinping met with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Razak invited Xi to visit his country again.

Late last month, three PLA Navy ships made a five-day port call to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam to strengthen military-to-military ties between the two neighbors.

"The very idea that third country cooperation with China is somehow a bad thing to the United States is ridiculous," Russel said.

"The notion that the US and China in the Asia-Pacific region are engaged in some sort of strategic rivalry, some sort of great games is wrong," he said.

In the past, US diplomats often have portrayed China as an actor destabilizing the region that should be held responsible for the tension in the South China Sea. Chinese have blamed the US for the problems in the region.

On Thursday, Russel and other State Department officials joined Kerry in the swearing-in of the new US ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim. Kim was the previous US special envoy to the Six-Party Talks and former US ambassador to South Korea.
A bipartisan group of senators wrote to President Barack Obama back in September criticizing proposed U.S. Department of Education regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Washington Post reports.

According to a letter published by the Post , the 10 senators are concerned about the departments proposed regulations for accountability and for supplement-not-supplant, a spending provision in the law, which was passed by overwhelming margins late last year.

The senators say that neither draft regulation complies with the plain language of the law. And they ask for Obamas help in reining the department in.

Most Americans are grateful for the law, that Congress, working with you, enacted, they wrote. We urge you to make certain that the Department of Education regulations stay within the statutory text.

For its part, the department has said that its proposed regulations are well within ESSAs parameters and would help strengthen so-called guardrails in the law to protect historically overlooked groups of students.

The letter, dated Sept. 30, was signed by a cadre of Republican senators, including Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, an ESSA architect, as well as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Johnny Isakson of Georgia.

It was also signed by Democrats, most of whom represent Republican-leaning states, including Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Angus King of Maine, an Independent who organizes with the Democrats.

Noteably, that list doesnt include Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee. Murray, also an ESSA architect, has generally backed the department up on its regulatory approach.

And its clear that Murray disagrees with the premise of the letter. These proposed regulations are within the spirit of ESSA and the congressional intent that we agreed to around that balanced approach, she said in a statement. I am encouraged to see the Department continuing to gather feedback from stakeholders, including teachers, principals, superintendents, and civil rights groups as it works to implement the law.

Department officials were unable to comment on the substance of the proposed regulations because they are still gathering and considering feedback.
Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co Ltd, the third largest industrial park developer in China, has set up its first overseas innovation center in San Francisco to tap into the Silicon Valley.

The Shanghai-based company chose San Francisco to build its first overseas innovation center over many other options in Europe, Israel and Japan, because of the city's innovation culture and its positioning with the Silicon Valley  the world's capital of innovation.

"As an industrial park developer, we have the responsibility to experience and learn first-hand the innovative culture and get integrated with global innovation in the place where the most advanced technologies were created," said Yuan Guohua, president of Shanghai Lingang, at a launch ceremony held on Tuesday in San Francisco.

"Through the platform of the innovation center, the innovators and entrepreneurs in Shanghai and even China are expected to connect with the overseas resources, including talents technologies and capital, to enter the US market," he said.

In June 2016, the state-owned company invested $42.6 million to purchase an office building in downtown San Francisco. The six-story building (and a basement), with a floor space of 63,143 square feet (5,866 square meters) houses the innovation center.

Thanks to the expansion of high-tech companies in San Francisco, the area where the building is located will continue attracting more high-tech companies to move in, said the company.

Established in September 2003 with a registered capital of 6.8 billion yuan ($1 billion), Shanghai Lingang has been carrying out more than 10 urban renovation projects as well as industrial parks development in Shanghai.

Among the industrial parks developed by the company, the Shanghai Lingang Industrial Area and Caohejing Hi-Tech Park have been designated by the Shanghai government to build high-tech innovation centers.

Other parks developed by Shanghai Lingang include the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shanghai Lingang Tech and Innovation City, Shanghai Lingang Songjiang Hi-Tech City, Shanghai Lingang Taopu Tech Town, Caohejing Kangqiao Hi-tech Park, Nanqiao Hi-tech Park, Pujiang Hi-tech Park and Fengjing Tech and Innovation Town.

Currently, Shanghai Lingang's industrial parks house more than 7,000 companies and over 400,000 staff. The total revenue of the companies registered 537.1 billion yuan ($79.4 billion), with a total investment of 54.9 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), and the total assets of the group at 58.7 billion yuan ($8.68 billion) in 2014.

Yuan said internationalization will be the long-term strategy for Shanghai Lingang because only by integrating with global innovation can a company thrive and realize sustainable development.

The innovation center also will service the American companies to help them enter the Chinese market and promote exchanges between the two sides to realize "two-way integration" and serve as a "two-way incubator", Yuan noted.

"Shanghai, with the growth of the parks, has already begun this innovation by providing service to some of the companies that have been here for several years now," said Ed Lee, mayor of San Francisco.

He said the Shanghai-San Francisco sister city relationship has been one of the most productive of its kind around the world. "So it's befitting that Shanghai Lingang builds another innovation center in San Francisco to continue the over 35 years of exchanges of talent," Lee said.

He called the relationship between Shanghai Lingang and San Francisco "blossoming" by exposing and introducing many San Francisco-based entrepreneurs to China.

Lee said San Francisco will continue to be a desirable place for Chinese innovators and entrepreneurs, citing the almost $18 billion capital investment in the city in the first three quarters of 2016.

"The bilateral trade and investment between China and the US has seen a spectacular increase in recent years," said Yang Yihang, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco.

In the first eight months of 2016, the Chinese companies' investment in the US increased 193 percent compared to the same period last year; the US company's investment saw an 80 percent rise year-on-year, according to Yang.

"This shows the companies of both countries put high value on each other's market and they are confident in each other's economic development," said Yang.

The innovation center also will serve as a window for Shanghai Lingang to promote its brand and the key enterprises in Shanghai and other places in China to increase the brand recognition of Chinese enterprises in the international science and technology industries.

Shanghai Lingang plans to launch more innovation centers in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Germany, London, Israel and Japan to integrate with global innovation.

"As an old Chinese saying has it, new things start small, but will develop into the power that can change the world," said Yuan.
SEOUL - South Korean President Park Geun-hye saw her approval rating fall to 5 percent, lower than any other predecessors, amid rising public furor over a scandal involving her longtime confidante and senior secretaries, a local pollster survey showed on Friday.

Support for Park tumbled from 17 percent last week to 5 percent this week, falling below 6 percent recorded by former President Kim Young-sam in the last year in 1997 of his single, five-year-term presidency when the country's financial crisis erupted.

It is based on a poll of 1,005 adults nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday.

Park's support base kept falling for seven weeks in a row since the second week of September when suspicions emerged over Choi Soon-sil suspected of pulling government strings behind the scenes by using her close friendship with the president for four decades.

Public anger was nonstop on spreading views that Choi's interference with government affairs could not happen without the president's protection and connivance.

Park said in her second national address over the scandal that she would accept criminal investigation, if necessary, by prosecutors, vowing to cooperate as much as possible for the ongoing investigation.

The first South Korean female leader apologized for the political scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, after making her first apology last week.

Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets last Saturday night, shouting for the president's resignation or impeachment. The rally is forecast to be repeated this Saturday, with about 50,000 enraged people expected to gather in capital Seoul alone.

A Seoul court approved an arrest warrant for Choi last night on charges of fraud and abuse of power. Choi is charged with peddling undue influence to establish and raise funds for two nonprofit foundations that she actually controls.

The 60-year-old private citizen with no security clearance and government position is suspected of accessing secret presidential reports and meddling in state affairs, including the appointment of key officials as well as diplomatic and defense affairs.

Prosecutors is seeking an arrest warrant for Ahn Jong-beom, former senior presidential advisor on policy coordination who has been placed under emergency detention on Wednesday for a flight risk and a possible attempt to destroy evidence.

Ahn is seen as an accomplice to Choi accused of pressuring 53 conglomerates into donating 77.4 billion won (67.7 million US dollars) to create Mir and K-Sports foundations presumably controlled by Choi.

Chung Ho-seong, former presidential secretary, was urgently arrested by prosecutors on Thursday night as he is accused of having brought confidential documents for the president to Choi, including reports on defense, diplomatic and economic affairs.
Events and stories coming up in the next few days

Expert charts birth of porcelain fad

The annual Bonhams' Oriental Ceramic Society Lecture will be held at Bonhams Auction House on New Bond Street, London, on Monday. Bond Street Blues: The Victorian Passion for 'Nankin' will be presented by Colin Sheaf, chairman of Bonhams UK and Asia. He will talk about the significance of a Dutch artdealing family that settled in the UK city of Hull 150 years ago and started selling Kangxi blue and white porcelain to rich British buyers.

Chinese society holding rare fundraiser

The Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding is hosting its first fundraising event for several years, at The Swan in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, on Tuesday. The organization hopes members and supporters will drop by to meet one another and take part in a fundraising rafle and auction of Chinese gifts. Money raised will support the George Hogg Cooperative Education Fund, which aims to advance the education of Chinese people about Britain and increase understanding of China among Britons. The society was established in 1965.

Future of Asian art mulled

The Great Britain China Centre is hosting Forecasting the Future: The Next Generation on Monday, in partnership with the Antiques Trade Gazette. Experts will explore the future of the Asian art industry and talk about buying trends. The event is set for Asia House on New Cavendish Street, London. It will be chaired by Nixi Cura, the program director at Christie's Education. Panelists will include Mark Slaats, from Littleton& Hennessy Asian Art, art consultant Hu Lichun, and Paul Ruitenbeek, from an art consultancy in Amsterdam.
A flight attendant is welcomed in Addis Ababa after Air China debuted a direct flight from Beijing to the African city in November last year.

Driving along the street in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Marakeegn Bengi was impressed with the Chinese presence in Africa, in particular regarding infrastructure.

"The two light railways in the city are built by the Chinese, and a third one is being planned," said the employee of Taycon Real Estate.

Others are impressed as well. Two surveys indicated that Africans' view is positive toward the increasing Chinese engagements on the continent.

According to surveys conducted in 2014 and last year in 36 African countries by Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan research network, the public largely holds favorable views of economic activities and assistance by China.

An average of 63 percent said China's influence in Africa is "somewhat", or "very" positive.

Afrobarometer interviewed about 54,000 people in the surveys. Overall, Africans ranked the United States and China No 1 and No 2, respectively, as development models to follow, although the ranking varied by region.

The respondents not only affirmed the important economic and political role that China plays in Africa, but also generally saw its influence as beneficial, the report said.

Among the ways that China has increased ties to the continent is the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, initiated in 2000. Ministers gather every three years for the forum, which is the primary vehicle for China's strategic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa.

"FOCAC ... is also successfully changing Africa's perception toward the second-largest economy in the world," said Symerre Grey-Johnson, head of regional integration and trade division at the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

"There is a solid political impetus by China to invest in Africa. The underlining strategy is to develop as mutual friends. Hence, this engagement has taken a friendship approach, which has struck an affinity chord with many African governments," Grey-Johnson said from South Africa.

China's infrastructure development and business investment are major reasons behind China's positive image in Africa, although that image is tainted by perceptions of poor-quality Chinese products, according to the report.

In the second poll, the Policy Monitoring and Research Center, a think tank in Zambia, conducted interviews about the ways Chinese nationals in the African country are integrated into local society, and how they contribute to socio-economic development there.

According to the results, 63 percent of Zambians interviewed said they had benefited from the Chinese through job creation and income, while 26 percent said infrastructure had improved due to the presence of Chinese in the community.

Additionally, 77 percent of Zambian respondents said their communities were in some way affected by Chinese work ethics such as professionalism, commitment and efficiency.

Wilson Muna, director of research and coordinator for the Tafiti Center at the Africa Policy Institute, a Kenyan policy research company, said the Chinese companies' openness in sharing their knowledge "is an invaluable asset for Africa, as it facilitates knowledge and technological transfer".

Sino-African trade has increased from $10 billion in 2000 to nearly $300 billion last year.

More than 1 million Chinese, most of them laborers and traders, have worked in Africa over the past decade.

"The $60 billion in assistance offered by President Xi Jinping during the FOCAC summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in December was a strong testament that China sees Africa as a market full of potential," Muna said.

Contact the writers at lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn


By Mike Clutter

What do you consider a stable lifestyle? Does it include a job, a roof over your head, and a full belly? Families in outer-east Portland constantly battle the challenges that come with living in a poverty-impacted community including food insecurity, foster care and homelessness. Students often wonder where they will get their next meal or where they will sleep at nightnot if they will get their math homework done or if theyll pass the next vocabulary test.

In the heart of Portlands Rockwood neighborhood sits Alder Elementary , where approximately 20% of students are homeless, 100% of students are on free or reduced lunch, and more than 60% are English language learners . Our school has consistently ranked in the bottom 15% in the state.

Even in the face of such challenging poverty and language-related barriers, Alder students and staff continue to amaze our community and beat the odds by holding the title of fastest improving school in the Reynolds School District. Test scores over a recent two-year period show that reading proficiency in 3rd grade doubled. Over the same period math proficiency for 4th grade tripled, giving us the number one rate of growth in math among all middle and elementary schools in our district in the last two years.

How did we do it?

I Have a Dream Oregon has taken on the challenge of addressing poverty-related systemic challenges by giving hundreds of students what they need to graduate high school, attend college, and become successful citizens. In 2010, Alder Elementary became the first-in-the-nation Dreamer school where every student is a Dreamer and provided with whatever it takes to succeed: mentors, tutoring, after-school programs, college and workplace visits, and more. The goal is for 100 percent of its students to earn a diploma, and for at least 80 percent to earn a post-secondary degree or certificate.

The organization is built on a community mission to open the door to opportunity for these students and give them the tools they need to overcome poverty related barriers to learning and achievement. We track progress towards this goal using two key indicators: improving classroom outcomes and decreasing educational barriers.

Volunteers and Donations Change Lives

For the past 26 years, more than 60 school partners including businesses, colleges, public and private organizations, and individual community members have aimed to create an environment where generations of students from poverty-impacted communities are empowered to graduate from high school, pursue post-secondary education, and become economically independent. This combined effort has led to unprecedented student success. Volunteers, donations, and free services help disadvantaged learners and their families overcome challenges outside the classroom. Last year, volunteers and supporters donated 6,200 hours and $1.75 million to I Have a Dream Oregon.

For example, Kurt Kroon, an adult mentor, was paired with Dreamer Marcus in 2012 through a partnership with an organization called Family of Friends. Marcus lived in a rough apartment complex, and had to deal with stressful home life issues that eventually landed him in a school for students with behavioral challenges.

The Marcus I knew outside the classroom blew me away; he was warm, friendly, and very sharp, said Kroon. I knew he didnt belong there. So we made a plan to get him back to mainstream as soon as possible.

Less than a year later, Marcus proved to himself and his teachers that he could succeed in school. He was transitioned back to a mainstream class and soon returned to Alder Elementary. To celebrate, Kroon took him to a G6 Airpark for some extreme trampoline sports.

Even this one celebratory experience could in some small way contribute to Marcus belief in his abilities, said Kroon. I am honored to watch this amazing person mature and to be that consistent, positive force in his life.

Forging a Path from Kindergarten to College

Donations by businesses such as Lightspeed Technologies , an I Have a Dream Oregon Corporate Partner, are another example of community generosity aimed to help students at Alder Elementary succeed. The company develops audio systems for classrooms that enable every student to clearly hear their teachers voice and digital content. In 2014, Lightspeed donated five systems to Alder. Once word about Alder got out to the entire staff, Lightspeed employees outfitted the remaining 14 classrooms through its employee donation program.

Additionally, every year a local college or university sponsors each grade level. In the fall, school officials visit classrooms and talk to students about what their college has to offer. In the spring, the entire class goes on a field trip to the campus so theyre able to get a firsthand view of what campus life is like. By the end of students elementary education, they will have been to six college campuses.

Its all part of the I Have a Dream college-to-career pipeline, which starts in kindergarten. The idea is to plant the seed early on that Alder students are college bound. No matter how far away it seems, students take pride in, and identify themselves by, their college graduation year. For example, kindergarteners show ownership of being the class of 2032.

Graduation Rates Keep Growing

To ensure the highest success rate possible, Dreamer students are given opportunities, resources, and mentorship through their first two years of post-secondary education. They are also give financial aid support to ensure they have everything they need financially to complete a post-secondary program.

Since 1990, about 1,100 Oregon students have the honor of calling themselves Dreamers, and with the students coming through Alder Elementary, that number is expected to exponentially climb. Past Dreamer classes have graduated at two to three times higher rate than their low-income peers. Thanks to donor support, there has been an increase in the number of Dreamer students on track to graduate. We are pleased to see that the class of 2018 is 76% on track and the class of 2019 is 92% on track. The Alder class of 2017 did not receive services until 5th grade; consequently only 40% are on track to graduate, but we are working with the highest needs students to increase that number!

The I Have a Dream Oregon organization and Alder Elementary are all about everyday people taking a step back to help those who need it most. Its making an impact on not only students at Alder Elementary, but the entire community as well. If were going to make sure these kids graduate, move onto college, and get careers, were going to have to work together.

Mike Clutter is the principal of Alder Elementary in Portland, OR. He can be reached via email at mclutter@rsd7.net .
Asheville, N.C.Last fall, anti-immigrant signs posted in the halls as part of a homework assignment tied to immigration and the presidential election sparked anger, confusion, and fear at Erwin High School, a 1,300-student school here.

More than a year later, school staff still refer to it as The Incident, a class assignment viewed out of context on social media, and something that doesnt reflect what really goes in the hallways and classrooms of one of the most diverse schools in the region.

In the 14 months since, the district has taken steps to repair their rapport with immigrant students and their families. In a visit to Buncombe County, Education Week examined how the presidential campaigns rhetoric on immigration has affected Latino and immigrant students in the district and nationally.

Here are excerpts of interviews Education Week conducted with four school district employees: David Thompson, the districts director of student services; Norma Duran-Brown, family outreach specialist; Erwin High social worker Shelly Rose; and Jim Brown, the high school principal.

The interviews, edited for clarity and brevity, explore their roles and actions in the recovery. Please take a look:

David Thompson has worked in the district for about a quarter century. The reason many of our families come here is because they want a safe, better place for their families and more opportunities for their families, he said. Thats something that we cannot be reminded of too often in our work.

EW: What did the district do ... in response to the community reaction, but also to prevent something like that from happening again?

Thompson: One of the things, that we immediately did, was try to engage our Latino families, and the Spanish-speaking families. We began a series of evening meetings with the administration, at Erwin High School with counseling, the student services department there, the superintendent [Tony] Baldwin, and myself.

It was really around listening to what their issues were, what they perceived to be barriers to their participation in school, or the adjustment of their students in school, or to their students success, while they were there. It was really as much about listening sessions to understand their perspective, and to problem solve what they thought was part of that process.

Yeah, thats the other thing that happened, immediately, the same day of the incident that occurred is kids were angry. They were emotional, but, they needed to be heard. We took a whole afternoon and allowed them ... Just like we would a public comment, because there were so many who wanted to be heard, we gave them three minutes apiece. Come say what you want to, and were not going to censor you.

We heard some things we wanted to hear, and some things we didnt want to hear, and some things that were real, and some things that werent, but it was the anger that we heard. It was the frustration that we heard. Thats what they needed to do.

We took the notes. We put everything up on charts. We shared those comments with the parents. We got their input about it. We got kids who actually came, with their parents, to some of those meetings and what their reaction was to those things, now. There was a student group that started meeting with the student services department, shortly after Norma [Duran-Brown] became hired ... a student group, who came so that they could talk, with the counselors and social workers and the department, about what their concerns were and felt supported there.

The immediate response was really listening, as much as anything, and acknowledging that, yes, we realize this is an issue for you. Were going to address those things with you, and you will help us address those things.

EW: When you say that the students were angry, what was the source of the frustration? Were these solely Hispanic students that had frustration, or were they coming from the entire student body?

Thompson: It was from across the student body. It was a good number of our Hispanic, Latino families and kids, but they were also white kids who believe in equality and equal opportunity. There were Eastern European kids who were there, some of the [students from the Marshall Islands], who were neighbors and friends. I mean, it was really across the board ... we looked at ourselves, as an institution and an organization, and make sure that what we practice is fair to everybody.

I need to say up front that there was not ... I think if you were to ask somebody, before this incident, Is this is an unfriendly environment? They probably would say, No. As in any organization, there was this perception of institutional bias thats kind of underlying. It took one incident that was a homework assignment, where they were asked to take a different perspective, a political perspective, and develop a campaign sign, based upon that. What they wrote, on those signs, may not have even been their opinion.

It was an assignment, but it hit the nerve that was reality to those who have experienced that frustration, and anger, and that cultural difference. Many of our students ... Norma will tell you this, and she can speak more from the Latino families. I certainly dont want to be their spokesperson ... many of them do have that chronic stress trauma experience, as their immigration process, or the reason why they immigrate into the U.S.

I think that assignment touched that nerve, that relates back to their own experience, prior to coming to the U.S., and since theyve been here. That was kind of the touchstone that created the environment for that to happen.

Norman Duran-Brown came to the district in February after playing a vital role in helping students and families affected by The Incident. A bilingual immigrant from Argentina, shes a person on campus that immigrant and English-language-learner students consider a confidante.

EW: Did you find the school district? Or, did the school district find you?

Duran-Brown: So, when all this happens, its like they knew where I was. I think the fact that I went through all those stages, as a mother, immigrant, putting their children to school, it gives me that perspective.

EW: What was happening, or what was not happening, for students to perceive that [the school] was unfriendly in some way?

Duran-Brown: What was very interesting for me, is to find how many, even Latino students, that say, I didnt feel that I was treated different. I feel that my teachers care about me and this is an incident but I didnt feel that the culture the school was that. Of course, there will be another ones that will say, No. I felt it. It was there. I think we are working very intentionally in finding and more one-on-one, why a student might have that feeling. We are looking at each of our students and trying to find whats going on and making sure that they dont feel unwelcome.

EW: Whats your big challenge now?

Duran-Brown: I would say from my point of view trying to get that very accurate grasp of what means to be an immigrant and dont speak the language and even when you speak the language, where many of our students live in two realities and have to find your own identity.

They identify themselves as Latino, they feel Latino, but they also feel as American as anybody else and what that means, even once that you feel part of here, what that means. When youre not, because you just came and you dont speak the language at all, and everything is a constant threat, try to put that in numbers, in situations, in things that they become tangible and real for everybody, it is challenging. Also, its challenging for these students and their families.

I try to accomplish that, to make that tangible for them too, that for this beautiful community in the mountain, so protected by the mountains, things have changed in the last twenty years so fast. Honestly, it was really, really fast. I was shocked when I came [back] in 2000. I left in 86. I couldnt find anybody that speaks Spanish. I come in 2000, and my first thing was, Holy crap, [whats] been happening in this time? In the grocery stores, that they were full of people speaking Spanish.

Erwin High Schools Forum Addressing Improper Display of Immigration Posters from BCS Communications on Vimeo .

Shelly Rose took a job at Erwin High in the weeks after The Incident, arriving from a job in a neighboring county.

EW: You came here in the aftermath. Was it a planned shift, or was it something in response to what happened?

Rose: I had a parent pointedly ask, Ill never forget that, and he pointedly asked, Why did you come here when you knew that this is what happened? My honest answer, and I continue to stand by it, is that there wasnt anything along the way they made me say, I dont want to do this. I want to be part of it. I want to be part of how we move forward. Of course theres a, Wow, how do we manage it? It was where I thought I needed to be.

EW: What sort of things are [students] looking to talk about that concern them?

Rose: Im the school social worker, and so Im a big picture person when it comes to the school setting for any student. What that means is that, hopefully, as students get to know me they can figure out that there are all sorts of reasons, and hosts of reasons, that students can access me. There are, without thinking too hard, I can think of several students with whom I meet regularly, who are navigating issues much like any other student. The differences come in, maybe, around families being divided, family members being in other countries. Then what does that mean for that child, that kid whos here? Then how do we make sure that in looking at that bigger picture that were pulling all those players in when its not necessarily so easy to do?

Im certainly very mindful as Im working through those kinds of things with kids, that sometimes theyre cautious about what they share because they want to protect their families and they want to protect maybe what they know about family members in terms of legal status. But mine is a confidential setting, but thats always something thats in the back of my mind as I watch them close.

What do you call it? It was certainly a time of discomfort. How do we move forward? How do we educate ourselves as staff, so that students feel safe here? I think that thats something that, with our students who are immigrants ... Our educational system is so different from what kids are used to, who are from other countries. One of the things that weve worked on at a county level is our, its the longest title ever, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students Committee. One of the things that weve worked on, and Ive been on a subcommittee of that committee, to address what do we do when we have an immigrant family come in? What are the steps that we need to be able to follow? The check boxes, Okay, weve done this, weve done this, nuts and bolts, but then beyond that, what can we do that will help sustain these families, and particularly the students, throughout the day and throughout the course of their school career, but to get them up and running?

Part of what were trying to do is figure out some sort of, for a lack of a better word, ambassador program. Theres lots of ideas floating around out there right now. Weve talked in the committee about trying to connect students with teachers who are very comfortable with families who are immigrants, and students who are immigrants, so that a students initial welcome into this school is with folks who really feel like they have their heads wrapped around that. This is all in the works. Then weve talked about an ambassador program where we have students who, and we do that now where we have students who give tours to students and try to help understand just the basics of our educational system, which is amazing, but also very difficult to navigate, for any of us, never mind if youre brand new to the country. I think were doing some things here, at Erwin High, but I also think its allowed us to have that larger focus as a county, too. To try to figure out how we make sure that were meeting their needs in the best way that we can.

EW: You mentioned a word, discomfort. Why do you think there was discomfort?

Rose: I think, honestly, that probably what that did was bring to light some things that, perhaps, in any microcosm of society theyre there under the surface anyway, and so I think we can all move through, and go about our day, and not put our glasses on and really see those things. I think that this said, Nope, youre not going to ignore this. I think it forced everybody to take a deep breath and to say, Okay. Going back to the word, the incident, its not just about that. To me that just was the impetus for looking at some things that are deeply rooted, and I dont think thats just here at Erwin High School. I think it happened at Erwin High School, it happened to happen at Erwin High School, but I think that speaks to any school, USA, any microcosm of our society. If we respond to it in the right way, and continue to, we will hopefully be able to use it as a huge learning tool.

EW: Is there still some residual [pain] for any of these students?

Rose: I cant say that specifically any students have brought it up to me this year, in certain terms, but I think wed be remiss to say that its not there, and that its not underlying. As recently as last spring we were definitely hearing that there was still some anger around everything that went down during that time period. I dont think that by any stretch of the imagination that its not a part of these kids lives.

My hope is that, truly, that people, like myself, the four school counselors, Norma, our school nurse, our student services department, if kids are feeling not heard, discriminated against, or not supported in some way, that they know that they have other voices in the building to help pull heads together and figure out, Okay, where do we go from here? A lot of times I think it is just education, and helping for, me included, the larger population of staff to figure out, Okay, so we maybe dont understand this because of this, but what does that mean, and how do we deal with it, and how do we move forward? How do we help this kid get their education that they deserve just like every other kid?

Jim Brown is in his ninth year as Erwin High principal. Hes also worked as a teacher, counselor and assistant principal at the school, having spent most of his career in public education on the campus and lives in the neighborhood.

EW: What kind of demographic changes have you noticed over time here, especially as it relates to immigrant students and English-learners?

Jim Brown: When I first started here in the early 90s the only diversity we had was the white population and African-American population. Even within that community, it was unique because our school district ... You take a look at our county, its like a slice of a pie. The wider part of the pie is rural, what you associate as southern rural Appalachian farming communities, very remote families that have got six or seven generations of the same family living on the farm. Its a farming community, and it still is. Theres still a large farming community in this community.

Part of our diversity has been immigrants coming in, both Latino and Hispanic immigrants, but we also have to recognize the fact that we also have a very solid portion of Eastern European immigrants, kids from Ukraine and Russia. Also too, a large Pacific Rim immigrant community from the [Marshall] Islands. It is in many ways almost like a United Nations here with the diversity.

EW: How much did what happened last year catch you off guard?

Brown: It totally caught me off guard, and Ill tell you the reason why. We thought we were doing a good job reaching out to our immigrant community, to our Latino community, as we did to all the other communities we serve. Getting back to what I said earlier, when I hire teachers, when I work with teachers, when I counsel with teachers, I explain to them that its all about the relationships here at this school. We cant accomplish anything if we dont have a good working relationship with our kids, with our families, with our stakeholders.

EW: This could happen at any high school across the country. What advice can you offer for principals who think that [theyre] doing a good job in bridging that gap and making that connection. What is it that you have to do without some sort of incident or blowup to try to insure that youre actually reaching out and connecting with those families who help shape the students experience as well?

Brown: It depends on what kind of resources they have. I think that any school that has a large portion of non-native immigrant students needs to have some type of support position similar to what Norma has to help facilitate ... Someone who is able to speak the language and to understand the culture. I think to be proactive, I think to have community forums where folks come in, and have it in the evening hours that the parents are off from work, and have it in a non-threatening location where they feel comfortable to come to, and it doesnt hurt to have a meal.

I think it showed to our immigrant community that we want them to be as much a part of this community as everyone else. I think for a long time ... Im not sure, and correct me if Im wrong Norma, Im not sure ... We never saw them. I only deduced certain reasons why. Maybe they just felt intimidated to come up here. Maybe it was the language barrier. Maybe it was they just didnt feel comfortable coming into a government building. I think what weve done is weve taken away that hesitancy and they feel more comfortable because they know people in this building and theyve got those connections.

If I had a principal anywhere in this country that had a similar situation, Id say get out in front of it. I would even say probably bring in some type of sensitivity training when it comes to cultural awareness about the difference between what youre saying and how its being perceived by people in the community.

EW: This all came about because of the social studies assignment discussing immigration. Is that a topic thats off limits in your classrooms now?

Brown: Its part of our curriculum. I think what happened was things were taken out of context. If you knew the whole story behind it, the teacher who actually facilitated that activity had just recently moved back to North Carolina from Arizona, where she had been working on an Indian reservation school teaching the students at the reservation.

Without any type of putting it into context, she took the work samples and posted them outside her classroom, on the wall outside her classroom, and a student walked by, saw it, didnt have the context of what this was about, took photographs, and once it got on Facebook it took a life of its own and became viral.

[The teacher] understood how it was taken out of context and how it was inflammatory. Those comments were inflammatory. They were unacceptable. Had a student said that to another kid here at this school, they would have gotten a consequence for being disrespectful to a student, but they were taken out of context. You know what? Our superintendent likes to say we find the silver linings in every storm cloud, and the silver lining is what were doing here right now.

Photo Credit: Kayla Estrada , 19, is an immigrant from Mexico and student at Erwin High in Asheville. In her first week at the school in 2015, controversy erupted when some students created posters with anti-immigrant messages as part of a civics assignment.

-Jacob Biba for Education Week
Theres a big disconnect between school schedules and the schedules of most working parents. Schools are often closed when parents are expected to be at work. And school start and end times dont align with the traditional work day causing lots of problems for moms and dads, especially those with low-wage jobs that dont offer much flexibility.

These are some of the findings of a study released last month by the Center for American Progress .

The report titled, Workin 9 to 5: How School Schedules Make Life Harder for Working Parents  examines the disconnect between school schedules and the schedules of working parents and offers possible solutions to the problem.

Catherine Brown is one of the studys authors and the vice president of education policy at the Center for American Progress.

She said the typical school schedule today harkens back to a much different time in American society.

School schedules got formulated at a time when one parent, typically the mother, didnt work outside of the home and was available to pick the child up at 3 and be there on the days off, said Brown. As society has evolved, we havent invested more in our school systems to allow them to evolve. I think we still idealize the family structure that I just described, so we have a resistance to accept that thats not the norm anymore.

The study highlights the daily challenges faced by working parents from the typical two-hour gap between when school ends and when parents get off work to intermittent school closures.

The researchers surveyed the nations largest school districts about their schedules, calendars, and policies during the summer and fall of 2015 and also analyzed data from the Schools and Staffing Survey for the 2011-12 school year.

They found that on average schools are closed 29 days a year, excluding summer recess. Thats more than 10 days longer than the average private-sector worker gets off in paid vacation and holidays.

On top of that, parents also have to contend with things like snow days, which many employers dont observe. And, then there are school sick policies, which often require a child to be picked up immediately for even the mildest of ailments.

Researchers found that many districts require parents to pick up their child within an hour of being notified that the child is sick.

When a worker has to walk away because the school says you must be here immediately, thats just time when youre not working, so theres no question there is a productivity loss, said Brown.

The researchers quantified that loss at $55 billion dollars annually.

The study finds that moms bear the brunt of these challenges with some dropping down to part-time work to accommodate school schedules, particularly when their children are in elementary school.

The researchers note that only 53 percent of mothers whose youngest child is in elementary school work full-time compared with 60 percent of mothers whose youngest child is in middle or high school.

Unusual School Closures

There are some days that tend to be days off for nearly everyone. Think Thanksgiving and New Years Day. But the researchers found some districts closing on unusual days. For example, in Lancaster, Pa., school is closed on the first day of hunting season.

The holidays vary a lot, said Brown. Some districts are closed for Veterans Day or Columbus Day. Others arent.

Some districts also observe Jewish holidays, while others observe Muslim holidays. And some districts close for both.

Families with children in public, private, and charter schools may also face vast differences in schedules. One may only close for Thanksgiving and the following Friday, while another shuts down for the whole week.

This can easily more than double the amount of days off that a parent has to take, and often not connected to core academic purposes, said Brown. Its pretty hard to justify shutting down for the start of hunting season.

Professional Development

The researchers find that professional development for teachers is a huge driver in days off for students. For example, in the Miami-Dade school district, school is closed for seven full days for this.

The study suggests that professional development should be incorporated into the school day and mentions that other industries dont often shut down so workers can receive training. The study recommends staggered schedules for teachers as one way to deal with the problem.

Schools can really think outside of the box and get teachers the professional learning that they need and deserve and do it in a way that its not shutting down the entire school, said Brown.

Possible Solutions

Many parents turn to after-school programs to help make sure their kids have something productive to do when school ends. But the report found that the need exceeds the demand, and many programs are inaccessible to parents due to the cost associated with them.

Fewer than half of elementary schools offer before- and after-school programs, and that number is even lower for low-income schools.

The report suggests that a 9-to-5 school day would be a better solution. This would solve what they cite as a disconnect that often occurs between what kids are learning in after-school programs versus what theyre learning during the regular school day.

The researchers say Title I funds could be used to design a 9-to-5 school day, and other federal funds could be used to provide extended learning time and to change the way schools handle professional development.

But asking teachers to work a longer day is problematic, especially if theyre not being offered higher wages. And, Brown says that is something the Center for American Progress would be against.

Were not saying in this report that teachers should work longer hours for the same amount of pay, said Brown. Wed like to see a different set of staff or staggered schedules or community-based organizations come to school to extend the school day.

In Browns vision, teachers would have a more professional workday with lots of support that would end the common practice of teachers having to routinely take work home with them.
(Photo : Getty Images) People walk past the Microsoft stand at the 2016 CeBIT digital technology trade fair on the fair's opening day in Hanover, Germany.

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Tech giant Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it is working on a patch to fix a recently discovered vulnerability or bug. The exploit was published by Google on the public domain just 10 days after the company informed Microsoft.



In a statement posted on the company's official blog, Microsoft head of Windows and devices group Terry Myerson wrote, "All versions of Windows are now being tested ... and we plan to release [the patches] publicly on the next Update Tuesday, Nov. 8."



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Microsoft also criticized Google's disclosure policy regarding the publication of the vulnerability to the public. Microsoft said that Google's decision to release the vulnerability to the public may have compromised some of the former's customers, according to Computer World.



Google, following the disclosure, said that the company have notified Microsoft about the flaw on Oct. 21. Google added that since hackers were actively exploiting the flaw, the company's seven-day policy applied.



Also on Oct. 21, Google informed Adobe of a flaw in the latter's Flash Player which attackers can take advantage using a multi-exploit package that includes attacks on both Windows and Flash. Adobe was able to patch the flaw on Oct. 26.



On its part, Microsoft criticized Google for tagging the vulnerability as "particularly serious." Microsoft argued that users can protect their computers from said exploits by simply updating their Adobe Flash Players.



Google and Microsoft have been on each other's throat regarding vulnerability disclosures for quite some time already. Microsoft accuses Google of publicly disclosing vulnerabilities before the former can issue the necessary patch. The tension between the two tech giants started back in 2010 when a Google security engineer publicly disclosed a critical Windows flaw just five days after notifying Microsoft.



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TagsMicrosoft, exploit, vulnerabilities, hack, Google, microsoft hack, hacking
(Photo : Pixabay) Yum China owns the Pizza Hut and KFC brands in China.

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Yum China Holdings debuted in New York on Tuesday, marking the first day of trading after the company's spinoff. The stock traded under the ticker symbol YUMC and gained nearly 10 percent during the trading session.



The China division of the brand was hived off due to the pressure from activist shareholders. Yum China owns the Pizza Hut and KFC brands in China.



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Micky Pant, the CEO of Yum China Holdings, told Reuters that the company is likely to face a tough situation in China. He said that the market has many strong local rivals. Further, volatility in the market is also expected to take a toll on the company. The firm has opened over 1,500 stores in China since 2012. However, its revenue has remained flat through the period. The company is looking to reverse the trend in 2017.



Yum China plans to open 600 restaurants a year in China. The long-term strategy is to have more than 20,000 restaurants in the coming 20 to 30 years. It is also looking to expand its market by opening a Mongolian hot pot chain globally. Pant said that Yum China has the flexibility to make investments as it pleases.



Yum brand has been struggling with a declining market share in China over the years. After the spin-off, Yum China is expected to regain market share by offering more localized services.



Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed said that Yum China is now in a position to gain more customers by becoming a local business. He added that Yum China is no longer a US brand and is a Chinese brand now.



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(Photo : Pixabay) Marks& Spencer could be planning to close some of its stores in China.

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Marks & Spencer Group Plc may close some of its stores in China as the company looks to trim its loss-making outlets.



The company has not announced any such plans, but it is highly likely that the management may make such an announcement on November 8. The company had been operational in China for eight years. However, it is likely to close its stores in other international locations as well.



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Marks & Spencer CEO Steve Rowe is scheduled to provide an update to investors on the company's plans for its international ventures on November 8. The UK cloth retailer is looking to cut its costs to improve its margins.



According to Bloomberg, the company is also rumored to be planning to slash nearly 525 head office jobs. Apart from closing stores in China, the company may also shutdown its flagship Paris department store, located on the Champ Elysees.



Marks & Spencer debuted its business in China in 2008. Bloomberg cited Paul French, an independent brand consultant, saying that the company did not have any UK customer base in China. He stated that Chinese culture is more aspirational, offering better chances for high-end brands to thrive.



Marks & Spencer faces a tough business environment in China. While it opened its flagship store in Beijing late last year, it also saw the closing of five of its smaller branches in the country. The company plans to focus on key markets such as Shanghai. The British brand currently has ten stores in the country. Marks & Spencer also retails its products through JD.com and TMall.com.



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(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) China has unveiled its new killer drone CH-5, dubbed as the deadliest unmanned combat aircraft in the world.

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China has unveiled its new killer drone Caihong 5 (CH-5), dubbed as the deadliest unmanned combat aircraft in the world, during the International Aviation and Aerial Space Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, on Wednesday.



The new powerful CH-5 drone bomber could carry out spying and bombing missions for two days without refueling within a range of 15,000 miles, the Mail Online reported.



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Its payload includes smart bombs, missiles, and cutting-edge radar jammers, according to the Daily Star. When armed, CH-5 could carry as many as 24 missiles. The unmanned drone is also made of composite materials with a wing span of about 70 feet.



It can also conduct a joint strike with its predecessors, namely, the CH-3 and CH4, since their data link and control system are the same. The CH-5 is also capable of carrying airborne early warning systems for regional surveillance and battlefield command and control, the UPI noted.



According to Mail Online, China's largest combat drone, which made its maiden flight in 2015, appears to be based on the US MQ-9 reaper. The CH-5 was released the day after the J-20 stealth fighter made its first public debut.



The details about the hardware were revealed after a top US army chief said that the "World War Three with China is inevitable," The Sun reported.



Meanwhile, state-run China Daily reported that the country has already granted an export license for the CH-5 reconnaissance and combat drone.



"Several foreign nations have expressed intentions to purchase the CH-5 and we are in talks with them," Shi Wen, a chief designer at the China Academy Aerospace Aerodynamics, said.







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TagsCH-5 drone, CH-5 series, drone, killer drone, combat drone, MQ-9 reaper, Airshow China 2016
Judge Rejects Class Action Settlement in NYPD Muslim Surveillance Case

In what came as a shock to many, a New York Federal Judge rejected the settlement proposed by the attorneys for the NYPD and the group of Muslim plaintiffs that filed a class action lawsuit. The class action lawsuit stems from the post-9/11 actions of the NYPD in conducting undercover surveillance on Muslim communities.

The order rejecting the settlement was actually part of a 45-year-old case that essentially stopped the NYPD from keeping records when conducting suspicionless surveillance, as well as put investigatory guidelines into place. The half-a-century old case did not concern the Muslim community, but rather focused on the NYPD's undercover surveillance of political activities. However, counsel in the old case joined forces with counsel on the new case, and sought to resolve problems with the NYPD together.

Why the Settlement Was Rejected

Basically, the settlement sought to remedy claims by Muslim community members that NYPD officers would conduct undercover surveillance on Muslim communities, and Muslim gathering places, without any particular reason other than their ethnicity. The proposed settlement would have modified the court's order in the old case, which would have remedied the problems in the new case.

However, the judge rejected the settlement for not going far enough to hold the NYPD accountable. One of the primary criticism was that the independent citizen attorney that would be appointed to oversee the NYPD's investigations could be easily removed by the city's mayor in five years. While this was not the only criticism of the proposed settlement, the federal judge was happy to see that the parties attempted to settle the case and advised the attorneys to try again in light of his advice.

Why Must a Class Action Settlement Be Approved by a Judge?

When a class action lawsuit is certified by a court to go forward, the court is allowing a small group of individuals, or maybe even just one, to represent the rights of many others. In a class action case, a judge's ruling can essentially prevent a person who would have had an individual case from being able to file their case. As such, before a class action settlement can be approved, there must be notification to the absent class members providing them an opportunity to comment, question and opt-out. Additionally, a judge must determine whether the proposed settlement is fair to those absent class members before approving it.

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(Photo : Getty Images) Russian expert instructs Su-35 fighter jet to Chinese visitors at Airshow China 2006 on November 1, 2006 in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong province.

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Russia is set to deliver its first batch of four advanced Su-35 fighters to China later this year, officials from both countries who attended the Airshow China 2016 jointly announced, as reported by the Financial Times.



"We are now fulfilling the contract," Vladimir Drozhzhov, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Co-operation, said referring to the agreement signed last November 2015.



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The Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production plant will deliver 24 Su-35 combat fighter jets to China worth at least $2 billion, the Next Big Future noted. The first four will be completed within the year, while the rest is expected to be delivered over the next three years.



Chinese pilots are already in Russia to train with the aircraft and will eventually fly back to the mainland, the Financial Times reported citing Russian news reports.



Following the recent Su-35 deal as well as the 2014 sale agreement of Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile, it seems that Russia has lifted its informal ban to sell advanced systems to China in place more than a decade ago.



The deals are "a clear sign that China is back as one of Russia's top arms importers," Vasily Kashin, an expert on China's arms industry at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, told the Financial Times.



Meanwhile, Drozhzhov also noted China's signed agreement to protect Russia's intellectual property onboard the Su-35. In the previous years, China reverse engineered older versions of the Flanker into the Shenyang J-11, J-15, and J-16 series jets, the National Interest noted.



"We established a Russian-Chinese working group for the purposes of practical implementation of this agreement, which held a regular meeting in September this year," Drozhzhov said.



The Su-35 is a fourth++ generation, twin-engine, multirole fighter jet equipped with two AL-117S turbofan engines. Russia's power turbofan engine is pointed as likely the reason for China's interest in acquiring the Su-35 fighters.



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TagsSu-35, Su-35 fighter jets, Su-35 Fighter Jets China, Russia, Fighter Jets, Airshow China 2016
(Photo : US Army) ATacMS launch

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The U.S. Army's realization its huge MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATacMS) that blasted Iraqi Army positions in the Iraq War of 2003 might become an effective anti-ship missile (ASM) opens the possibility of the missile also being deployed to sink enemy warships.



And given a few tweaks, this long-range tactical ballistic missile will confer on the U.S. the capability to organize its own anti-access/anti denial (A2/AD) zones along its coast, or along the coasts of allied nations such as the Philippines and the Baltic States.



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ATacMS will be upgraded to attack moving targets on land and at sea, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter.



The U.S. Navy has been playing catch-up to both China and Russia in the realm of long-range ASM, the development of which has languished as the US military focused its resources on fighting insurgencies for over a decade. Weapons needed to prevail against Russia and China in a modern conventional war were left undeveloped.



Using ATacMS as an ASM will eliminate the massive cost and long wait times often associated with developing a new weapons system. The ATacMS ASM can be available as soon as the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), which recommended this weapon's use as a warship killer, integrates the guidance system technology to allow this missile top hit moving targets.



The latest version of ATacMS -- MGM-168 ATacMS-Block IVA -- can send its 230 kg unitary warhead to destroy a target up to 300 km distant flying at a speed of Mach 3 (3,700 km/h). This version will be converted into an ASM.



Analysts said SCO will have to integrate an existing seeker capable of detecting and tracking moving targets onto the front of the ATacMS. The seeker is effective against warships and mobile land targets such as tanks.



With this capability, what before was an Army surface-to-surface missile system will soon prevent enemy warships such as those from the Russian Navy from venturing inside the ATacMS kill zone.



"My goal is to develop and demonstrate an ATacMS that's capable of hitting moving targets at land and sea," said SCO Director Will Roper. "We're bringing in seeker technology that's being developed in the Department (of Defense)."



"We're very likely to succeed on this, because we've got the technologies on hand," he noted.



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TagsMGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System, ATacMS, U.S. Army, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Strategic Capabilities Office, Will Roper
(Photo : Airbus Group) Project Vahana VTOL air taxi

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A subsidiary of Airbus Group that prides itself as "disruptors" plans to build a Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) single-passenger plane to be propelled by eight electric rotors.



The subsidiary named A3 (pronounced A cubed) will launch this VTOL plane that might one day be used for an Uber-like ride hailing service as part of "Project Vahana." Project Vahana is A3's self-piloted electric aircraft project.



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A3 is the advanced projects and partnership outpost of Airbus Group in Silicon Valley. It says its mission is to define the future of flight.



"The mission of Airbus Group is to make things that fly. Our aim is to define the future of flight.



"We believe that the future is created through episodic disruption with intervening periods of incremental innovation. Our mission is to build the future of flight now, by disrupting Airbus Group and its competitors before someone else does."



Zach Lovering, Project Executive for Vahana, said A3 plans to have the production version of its VTOL aircraft (you can call it a sky car) ready in four years.



The Vahana VTOL will have a range long enough to fly over the city it operates in and have a speed twice as fast as cars. It can fly as high as 305 meters.



It will be equipped with Lidar, radar and digital cameras, which are standard on many self-driving cars, so it can safely deviate from its flight path if an obstacle gets in its way.



Vahana is a self-piloted flying vehicle for individual passenger and cargo transport. It seeks to advance automated electric VTOL flight for the emerging on-demand mobility market.



A3 recently awarded a Flight Test and Range Services contract to Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. (MTSI), and their partner, SOAR Oregon (SOAR).



The contract covers the prototype Alpha Phase, which seeks to identify and resolve major technical and certification risks, culminating in a flight test demonstration at the end of 2017. MTSI will lead the Flight Test effort, while their partner SOAR Oregon will provide test range support and other services.



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TagsAirbus Group, Vertical Take-off and Landing, VTOL, single-passenger plane, air taxi, A3, Project Vahana
(Photo : Getty Images ) Beijing has slammed South Korea for using force against Chinese fishing vessels.

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China has expressed its displeasure over South Korea's use of force against Chinese fishing vessels in the Yellow Sea.



China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said during a regular press briefing on Wednesday that Beijing is "strongly" dissatisfied with South Korea for using "extreme measures" against Chinese finishing boats.



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"The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with the use of force by the ROK side in its law enforcement operation," Hua said. "We have, more than once, made solemn representations with the ROK about its coast guard's use of force in law enforcement operations. The use of destructive weapons against fishing boats in the rough sea will highly likely cause casualties or property losses."



China called on Seoul to South Korea to exercise restraint and refrain from "extreme measures" that may endanger the Chinese fishermen.



Earlier this week, South Korean Coast Guard fired a M60 machine gun at two Chinese finishing vessels after they were found operating illegally in country's exclusive economic zone. The South Korean Coast Guard, which captured the two Chinese fishing boats, is currently interrogating two captains and nearly 20 crews to find out details of the illegal fishing in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).



"The decision to use the weapon was made to safeguard the officers who had already boarded the Chinese vessels, and would have been cut off if other Chinese vessels succeeded in ramming the patrol boats that took part in the seizure operations," the South Korean Coast Guard said in a statement on Wednesday.



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(Photo : Getty Images ) China has denied that it had a confrontation with Indian troops in India's Ladakh region.

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China has categorically refuted reports about an 'incursion' by Chinese troops into India's Ladakh region.



China's foreign ministry on Friday dismissed claims that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered into the Demchok sector in Ladakh region and stopped construction works on an irrigation canal project.



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"I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said during a regular press briefing on Friday.



"Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited, the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area," Hua noted. "This issue is once again published by Indian media outlets. Either side shall not take action that may unilaterally change the status quo of LAC."



On Thursday, media reports said that Chinese and Indian forces were engaged in a major standoff in Demchok area of Ladakh after PLA personnel entered into the area and stopped an irrigation canal project.



"The Chinese Army came on Wednesday afternoon and stayed till night. They went back and returned this morning," a senior Indian government official claimed. "It's an eyeball-to-eyeball situation there. Both the sides have held their ground."



Indian border force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), has also denied that it had engaged in a major face-off with Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control in Demchok area on Wednesday afternoon.



"No Chinese incursion across LAC. Issues relating construction projects on both sides of LAC being resolved," the ITBP said in a statement on Thursday.



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(Photo : AdamBerry/GettyImages) Germanys European commissioner Guenther Oettinger issued an apology for his disparaging remarks about China, gay people and French-speaking Belgians.

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Germany's European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has issued an apology for his disparaging remarks about China, gay people, and French-speaking Belgians. The commissioner said now he realizes that his words had 'hurt' people. He was recorded passing insulting comments during a German business forum held last week.



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Oettinger's apology comes a day after his comments were strongly condemned by the Chinese foreign ministry. The ministry said that the comments betrayed a 'baffling sense of superiority' among western politicians. Earlier, the European commissioner had merely acknowledged that his comments were 'somewhat sloppy' and had maintained that he had nothing to apologize for.



Oettinger wrote a 300-word apology and explained that he merely intended to pull businesses out of their contented attitude towards competition from China. He added that he did not intend to create bad feelings or to hurt people. The commissioner said that he apologizes for 'any remark that was not as respectful as it should have been.' He also clarified his position about the remarks related to French-speaking Belgians.



The Commissioner is a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party. His comments were widely mocked and criticized. He is scheduled to take over EU Budget vice-president position from Kristalina Georgieva, who is leaving for a new job with the World Bank. His comments cast a shadow of doubt about him joining the organization. Oettinger is also likely to be interrogated by the European Parliament, which will hold a hearing to test his suitability for the new role. The meeting is likely to take place before the end of this year.



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(Photo : US Army) Gen. Vincent Brooks

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The deployment of the first THAAD missile system battery in South Korea, which should be completed by September 2017, is part of a strategic rotation campaign meant to increase deterrence pressure on North Korea.



More disturbingly, there are calls from segments of the South Korean military and the government that South Korea begin developing its own home grown nuclear weapons to further deter North Korea from testing nuclear weapons and mobile intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs).



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Rotating strategic weaponry onto the Korean Peninsula will have a deterrent effect against North Korean provocations that have included nuclear weapons and ballistic missile threats, said Gen. Vincent Keith Brooks , Commander, United States Forces Korea (USFK), United Nations Command and ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command.



Gen. Brooks also said the first U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system battery will be deployed to South Korea within 8 to 10 months. The battery's interceptors can destroy North Korean ballistic missiles such as the Hwasong-10 (Musudan) IRBM North Korea has tested over the past few months.



Gen. Brooks also said this THAAD battery will deploy more mobile launchers than the one deployed in Guam. The THAAD battery will be under Gen. Brooks' command.



The THAAD battery will be under the operational control of Gen Brooks' USFK, the joint headquarters through which U.S. combat forces are deployed to the U.S.' and South Korea's combined ground, air, naval, marine and special operations forces component commands.



A THAAD battery consists of six mobile launchers, 48 missiles, airborne radar and fire control system. Its X-band radar can detect missiles 2,000 kilometers away on a forward-based mode and 600 kilometers on a terminal mode.



The U.S. and South Korean governments are discussing such strategic weaponry deployment options apart from the THAAD deployment. These options could include basing U.S. Air Force such as the B-1 Lancer in South Korean USAF bases or flying more show of force flights close to the border with North Korea.



Some believe the U.S. should again deploy its tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea as part of this strategic weapons deployment but Gen. Brooks said this move will complicate the already tense military situation where a small miscalculation might trigger a larger war.



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Can You Get Workers' Comp for Zika?

It may sound far-fetched, but when you consider that over 2.5 billion people worldwide live within Zika danger zones, wondering if you can get compensated for contracting the virus on the job is a legitimate concern. The Florida Fraternal Order of Police seems to think so, as the police union has requested that Sunshine State workers' compensation coverage be extended to first responders who come into contact with Zika while working.

So will they get it? And what about workers' comp for other employees who contract Zika?

Taking a Bite out of Crime Fighters

The Florida FOP also confirmed this week that a second Miami Beach police officer contracted the Zika virus in South Florida. The union did not release the officer's name, but says Miami Beach officials refused both officers' workers' compensation claims. Current workers' compensation laws require proof of Zika exposure while working, and while the union claims officers were infected on the job, they didn't release details on where the officers contracted the virus.

Miami has two designated Zika transmission zones within the city and Miami Beach spokeswoman Tonya Daniels said city employees have been offered free Zika testing and mosquito repellent. But police union president Bobby Jenkins told the AP that testing "does not mitigate the need for their coverage of the employees that they place at risk," and is asking lawmakers to step in.

In Harm's Way on the Job

As a general rule, workers' compensation insurance covers on-the-job injuries, which can either mean injuries incurred at the work location or elsewhere while performing work duties, as long as the injury is work-related. State laws on workers' comp claims may vary however, in terms of coverage and filing requirements. If an employee is forced to work somewhere with a high risk of Zika infection, or comes into contact with virus as part of his or her job, an infection most likely would be covered.

Most state workers' comp structures require employees to file a workers' comp claim before they can file a lawsuit. If the claim is denied, employees may have other legal options to get compensation for their injuries.

Related Resources:
Over 540,000 people have signed a global petition to call on the government of Pakistan to release Asia Bibi who is on death row for blasphemy charges.

Asia Bibi was falsely accused of blasphemy -- speaking against the Prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith. She would be the first woman executed under Pakistans Shariah blasphemy law. This is the ultimate human rights violation, states the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) petition on behalf of Bibi.

The Islamic radicals have expressed rage towards Bibi, and have stated that they will kill her if she is not given the death sentence.

However, several national and international human rights organizations are calling on Pakistan to release her and reform the blasphemy laws.

Bibi has been living in captivity for the last seven years, waiting for the verdict to be pronounced.

Human rights activists say that most of the blasphemy cases in Pakistan have no real ground and are motivated by personal vendettas. They also argue trials for blasphemy cases are not fair, and the judiciary hands out sentences under the pressure of radicalized mobs.

Article 10-A of the Constitution of Pakistan requires that a person facing a criminal charge shall be entitled to a fair trial and due process. Asias trial was anything but fair, and the process she has experienced and is experiencing even to this very day is anything but due process, ACLJ said in a letter to Pakistans Ambassador to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani.

The Pakistan Supreme Court was to hear Asia Bibis appeal in the blasphemy case on October 13th, but the trial was delayed again after one of the judges on the bench recused himself.

The judge had earlier presided over the prosecution of late Punjab Governor Salman Taseers murder, and said that an implicit connection between that trial and that of Asia Bibi makes him unsuitable to hear the case.

The matter is now in the hands of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who will constitute a new bench for the trial.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
home Life Former lesbian responds to Christian author Jen Hatmaker's remarks supporting LGBT relationships

A former lesbian has spoken out against best-selling Christian author Jen Hatmaker's comments expressing support for LGBT relationships.

In an interview with Religion News Service last week, Hatmaker affirmed her support for gay marriage and said that LGBT relationships can be "holy."

Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian who turned to Christ in 1999, asserted Hatmaker's words would have harmed her if she heard it before she converted to Christianity.

"If I were still in the thick of the battle over the indwelling sin of lesbian desire, Jen's words would have put a millstone around my neck," she wrote in a blog published by The Gospel Coalition.

The former lesbian stated that she has not converted out of homosexuality but out of her unbelief.

Butterfield recalled her encounter with a 75-year-old woman who approached her after she spoke at a church a few years ago. The woman told her that she had been married to another woman for 50 years and they already had children and grandchildren.

"Then she said something chilling," said Butterfield. "In a hushed voice, she whispered, 'I have heard the Gospel, and I understand that I may lose everything. Why didn't anyone tell me this before? Why did people I love not tell me that I would one day have to choose like this?'" she narrated.

Butterfield acknowledged that the Church has failed to demonstrate the love of God to the LGBT community but cautioned that Christians have also failed to recognize the true nature of the doctrine of sin.

"For when we advocate for laws and policies that bless the relationships that God calls sin, we are acting as though we think ourselves more merciful than God is," she concluded.

LifeWay Christian Resources decided to stop selling Hatmaker's books after she expressed her approval of LGBT relationships.

In a Facebook message posted on Monday, Hatmaker encouraged Christians to speak with grace regarding the controversy, noting that the LGBT community is keeping track of the conversations.
home World ISIS plants bombs in toys to kill unsuspecting children returning to Mosul

The Islamic State has come up with cunning ways to victimize Iraqis returning to Mosul by hiding bombs in colorful toys like teddy bears and rabbits that would explode when picked up by children.

"Why would ISIS use something nice, like a bear or a rabbit? They used this toy because they know the peshmerga [Kurdish fighters] will not touch it, but children will," said Col. Nawzad Kamil Hassan, an engineer with the Kurdish forces.

The engineer added that his unit has already cleared more than 50 tons of explosives in areas liberated from ISIS, The Guardian reports.

The militant group has turned seemingly innocuous items such as playing cards and abandoned watches into detonators. Many Iraqis are now afraid to return to their homes because the militant group has laced civilian and military areas with explosives.

In Sinjar city, Hassan's men were able to clear five tons of explosives from one school.

"Every day there is a new device. Some of our men have disposed of things that others have not even seen before," Hassan said.

Hassan is now using the most unusual explosive devices to use as training aids for his new recruits.

Two men were killed and 15 have been injured because they have little protective equipment. The training school aims to limit casualties by training recruits to recognize and defuse bombs.

Some of the bombs were designed for active combat that must be detonated by a fighter nearby. Others were created to lie in wait for victims. Hassan fears that his collection of bombs will keep growing until ISIS runs out of space and resources.

"They are not even animals. They are worse than animals," he said.

It was reported that ISIS has kidnapped tens of thousands of people, including women and children, to use as human shields. Those who refused were killed while the abducted men, women and children were forced to walk barefoot with the militants on their way to Mosul.

"ISIL's depraved, cowardly strategy is to try to use the presence of civilian hostages to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military action, essentially using tens of thousands of men, women and children as human shields," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani.
10-Year-Old Girl, Kayla Gomez, Abducted From Church During Prayer Meeting Is In 'Grave Danger'

A nationwide Amber Alert has been issued after a 10-year-old girl vanished from a church in Texas while her parents attended a prayer service.

Kayla Gomez disappeared from the First Assembly of God church, in Bullard, on Tuesday night and authorities fear she is in "grave danger" after being abducted.

Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell said in a statement: "The family seems to be a very good, hard-working, religious family with no problems."

Her disappearance has been met with shock and disbelief in the small community.

As police continue to comb the area with sniffer dogs, the community has rallied together to support the Gomez family.

A prayer vigil held for Kayla at the city hall in Bullard was attended by hundreds. Among those showing their support was local pastor Scott Brown. "Our hearts are heavy as clergy, pastors [and] as dads," he said, according to CBS19.

A relative of Kayla, Esther Zivalla, was also at the vigil. As the family continue to hope for a miracle, she asked people to pray.

"My daughter and her [Kayla] are inseparable when it comes to church or anywhere we go," Zivalla said. "All we ask is for people to continue to pray."

A Facebook page has been set up to financially support the Gomez family as the search for Kayla continues.

The FBI are involved in the investigation and Cherokee County Crimestoppers is offering a $13,000 reward for information leading to Kayla's recovery. Call Crimestoppers at 903-586-7867 to provide tips.
Christians Feel More Threatened in Turkey With New Order Making Deportations Easier

Christians in Turkey are feeling more threatened and unsettled after the government issued an emergency order over the weekend that makes it easier to deport expatriates.

According to a report on Christian News, the Turkish government amended its three-year-old law on foreigners and international protection to remove the provision requiring a court decision before a foreigner can be deported from the country. The change in the law is still part of efforts to boost security measures in Turkey after a failed coup attempt last July.

Observers said the new policy does not bode well for Christians in Turkey, who have been experiencing increased persecution in the past weeks. Last month, two American Christians doing ministry work in Turkey were ordered deported on accusations that they were threats to national security.

An expatriate Christian, who asked not to be named for security reasons, expressed concern about the Turkish government's greater power on deportation, saying it can be used by authorities to step up their crackdown on Christians.

"It's just like they can come to your door and drag you out of your home, and there is nothing you can do about it," the expatriate Christian told Christian News. "It really makes no sense. They're going after people who love the country, pray for it, help improve it and invest their money here, and not those who are really hurting the country."

Soner Tufan, spokesman of the Association of Protestant Churches, meanwhile said that Christians in Turkey, particularly Americans, have indeed been increasingly affected by residency issues and deportations from the country.

Tufan said that "active" Christians, or those who are practicing their faith, are particularly being targeted by Turkish officials who perceive anyone who is not a Sunni Muslim as automatically someone who is a threat to national security.

The association's spokesman further explained that this crackdown on American Christians may also have a political dimension, particularly Turkey's displeasure towards the extradition process of the alleged architect of the coup attempt currently staying in the U.S.
Former Female Al-Qaeda Fighter Swaps Her AK-47 for Bible After Finding Faith in Jesus

Amid the horrors of war in Syria, God is performing amazing miracles that are turning more and more people to Jesus Christ.

Brother John, a Syrian Christian and ministry partner with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA, shared with Mission Network News some inspiring testimonials of new believers, some of whom could be considered the unlikeliest Christian converts.

One of them is a veiled Muslim woman who had been seen walking in and out of a new church plant in Syria for about two months. Finally, she found the courage to talk to one of the church leaders and tell him her story.

She said she used to carry an AK-47 assault rifle and fight for al-Qaeda as well as serve as nurse to wounded fighters of the Islamist militant group. "But I came [to the new church] and I heard the Gospel and I started coming and came to know Christ. I was afraid to tell you because I was afraid you would report me and then I would be arrested," she told the church leader.

Now, she has replaced her AK-47 with something that gives her the ultimate protection and the key to a glorious Christian life: the Bible.

Brother John shared his own personal account of God manifesting His presence among Christians in Syria.

He said he recently visited a camp to see one of the Christian workers there. He saw the worker inside a tent and he was holding a Bible in the presence of Muslim men and women who were celebrating a Muslim holiday.

Brother John said he was praying that the Christian worker would not share the Gospel to the Muslims inside the tent, fearing that this could lead to something unpleasant.

To his consternation, the Christian worker began sharing the Gospel.

"There was talk, a question, an answer, and he was just strategically answering and answering. One angry man walked out, and as soon as this angry man walked out, the Lord began to move," Brother John recalled.

"One woman stood up and she said, 'I saw Jesus in a dream,' in the midst of that group, and then another woman, and a new woman came into that gathering and she said she saw also Jesus. So we began just in two hour' period of time hearing about three different stories of people seeing Jesus in dreams and visions," he told Mission Network News.

Brother John said the Christians in Syria are holding on to their faith despite being "literally, in the cross-hairs of danger and persecution."

He said he asked one of the pastors why is he and his family are still in Aleppo despite the hard life and constant threats of death.

The pastor told him, "If I say Jesus is the ultimate example and He died for me, I'm willing to put my life on the line ... Of course there is death, but [there is] also the beautiful image of the resurrection of people to know Jesus Christ. That's why they stay and that's why they remain inside Syria."
God Gave Me A Vision That Trump Will Be President, Says Pastor Saeed Abedini

Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini has explained that he is backing Donald Trump for President because of a vision he had four years ago while in prison in Iran.

"I saw a young man with blue eyes, blond hair. I was sitting with him in a room," Abedini said in an interview with HuffPost. "Someone told me, 'He's going to be the next president of the United States and you're going to be friends with him.'"

At that time he did not recognise the man in the vision. When the original candidates for the race were announced, he looked through all the photographs and none matched his vision, so he thought the vision perhaps applied to a future election.

But then he found his blond, blue-eyed man in a Facebook post and he started to shake.

"Ohmygosh, this is the one that I saw in the dream!" he told HuffPo. He clicked through and found it was a photograph of Donald Trump as a young man.

"I believe that this was a vision from God," said Abedini, who believes he saw a vision of Trump when he was the age God decided he was to be President.

This is not the first time Abedini has voiced his support for the Republican nominee.

On his Facebook page he wrote: "When Donald Trump supported me in prison, he wasn't even a candidate for president. Hillary Clinton didn't do anything, and she was the Secretary of the United States of America. She had the position, but didn't do her job for Americans detained in Iran during the first year I was in prison.

"Donald Trump didn't have a political position, but he did the job, and he did a good job! This paradox should make everyone think. It clearly shows who has the real heart for America.

"One person who does NOT have a political position but does the responsible thing. The other person has political position but does NOT do their job.

"Who do you vote for? I voted for the person who does NOT need a position to do the right thing; Donald Trump."

He also wrote that Trump helped provide for the needs of his family in Boise, Idaho while he was locked up in an Iranian prison for his faith. The pastor said Trump gave his family $10,000 while he was imprisoned for three and a half years.

"I am finally free in a free country. Last year on the same day I was sick and in chains for Christ, and now I can vote to choose my next president.

"And most amazingly, I can vote for someone that I know fought for me and called my name so many times. He met my family and gave them a $10,000 gift. I think his ideas are more biblical than the other candidates."

In contrast, Abedini said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did not do or say anything to help secure his release from Iranian prison. The pastor said Clinton never spoke his name or met his family.

He has also described Trump as "the Cyrus of our modern day" but like everyone a flawed person, in the process of spiritual growth.

He added: "When we hear that this candidate or that candidate is not a strong Christian or has a past that disqualifies him to be the president of the United States, my answer is that we are a nation, a people who are also sinners, saved by grace."

Abedini was arrested in Iran 2012 and sentenced to eight years imprisonment for preaching the gospel.

He and three other Americans were released in January in exchange for seven Iranians.
Internet Campaign Raises $200,000 For Church Vandalised With 'Vote Trump'

An internet fundraising campaign to repair a historic black Mississippi church that was burned and spray-painted with "Vote Trump" a week before the US presidential election had raised nearly $200,000 by late Thursday afternoon.

The drive was organised by a self-described "boring office guy" after Tuesday night's fire at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, which has a 111-year history.

The fire, declared arson, was being investigated as a hate crime. During the US civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, southern black churches were often targets of burnings and bombings.

"Burning a black church in Mississippi, there is a meaning and a context to that," said Blair Reeves, 35, who set up the GoFundMe.com page.

"As a white southerner who knows the history and the context, this is the least that any human being can do," Reeves said.

Black churches in the U.S. South have long been a base of support for the Democratic Party.

The goal was $10,000, said Reeves, who is from North Carolina and works for a software company in New York. According to the webpage, as of late Thursday afternoon 5,326 people had donated $184,927.

Reeves said he worked with the church's bishop to organise the campaign and that the funds would go into the church's bank account. He said donors have come from supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump and people around the world.

No arrests have been made but police said on Thursday they had "a person of interest in the case".

"Rather than speculate who did it, how about we agree it was an idiot and the church needs help, regardless? Either make a donation or move along," one donor wrote.

"I am very sorry that this happened. It shouldn't happen in America in 2016," another donor wrote. "I can't give much but I can give a little. I also shared on my Facebook page so others may give, too."

Another person's message read, "I'm a Christian and a Trump supporter. I hope the pastor will pray for our country and that the donations will help rebuild the church."

"We have your back," another wrote. "Bigotry will not stand in 2016."

Pastor Carilyn Hudson said the incident "left our hearts broken", adding that the church has a 111-year history.

Greenville police chief Delando Wilson confirmed the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. "We feel that the quote on the church is intimidating," he said.

"It tries to push your beliefs on someone else, and this is a predominantly black church and no one has a right to try to influence the way someone votes in this election."

Additional reporting by Reuters.
ISIS Fanatics Desecrate Churches, Leave Christian City in Ruins as They Face Defeat in Iraq

With their hold on territories in Iraq quickly slipping away, desperate fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group are making last-ditch efforts to leave a path of destruction.

According to a report from The Sun, ISIS militants fleeing back towards Mosul have deliberately desecrated churches and decimated Christian villages in the nearby city of Qaraqosh, the oldest and what used to be the largest Christian area in the Middle Eastern nation.

The website posted photos of The Immaculate Conception Church at the city centre, which was left in ruins by the ISIS. The church's bell tower was partially destroyed, the windows appeared black and blown up, while the cross on the dome was purposely taken down.

Worse, a statue of Jesus Christ inside the church was shown to have been beheaded by the ISIS militants. Walls of the place of worship were also vandalised and were ridden with bullets.

Saleh Abu-Yousef, a 32-year-old Christian fighter, also told The Sun how the ISIS fighters used the church's central square to train for warfare.

"They used the courtyard as target practice...they even cut the head off of our beloved statue of Jesus," Saleh lamented.

Aside from churches, the extremist group also destroyed commercial areas in Qaraqosh, and also rendered a local school almost unusable.

"You can see ISIS hand of destruction everywhere," said the Christian fighter, who was forced to take up arms to be able to defeat the terrorist in his homeland.

Still, Saleh is optimistic that his city will rise from the ashes. He shared how the city was able to hold its first Holy Mass following its liberation from the ISIS militants, describing it as a "good day."

Likewise, Christian faithful like him are slowly returning to Qaraqosh and trying to rebuild their homes and their lives.

"It was the first time Christians had returned to our church in over two years," he said.
Muslims And Christians In Pakistan Are Working Together To Defeat False Blasphemy Accusations

Two blasphemy cases against Pakistani Christians accused of desecrating Islamic scriptures have been dropped in the past week, according to the persecution watchdog World Watch Monitor.

The new developments, which involved religous leaders and influential people coming together to help the falsely-accused Christians, raise hopes once again of an improving climate in the Muslim-majority country.

In the first incident in Sheikhupura, a burned and torn copy of the Quran was found in an abandoned house next door to the home of the Christian family of Parvaiz Masih, 50, and his wife Azra Bibi.

Masih told World Watch Monitor his wife had returned home after working as a cleaner and saw smoke coming from the neighbouring house.

According to the police report, pages of the Quran were found the courtyard. The report said the house, vacant for several months, was owned by a man called Anwar Khan Lodhi. The "desecrated" Quran was found in a wash room.

A mob gathered and even though one of the Lodhi family witnessed that the Christians would never have desecrated the Quran, a case was registerd against Masih, who works as a cleaner in a bank.

At a meeting called a few days later, prominent Muslims in the town assured police and other concerned people that they had "complete trust" in the Christian family and one local lawyer, Abu Obaid, even offered to stand accused himself of the crime if it was ever proved that the Christian family was involved.

Masih said there had been a long-standing issue over ownership of the house and the property's deeds.

In the second incident, in Quetta, a young boy and his mother were also suspected of blasphemy after false claims they had desecrated the Quran. They too were investigated then released after the intervention of prominent and influential Muslims in the area.
Pope Francis' Deal With China Risks 'Destroying The Church' Says Former Bishop

A possible landmark deal that would see China and the Vatican come to an agreement on the appointment of bishops would be "absolutely unacceptable", China's most senior Catholic cleric has said.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the retired bishop of Hong Kong, told the Wall Street Journal that if the Vatican agrees to let Beijing appoint bishops, the Catholic Church would become "totally subservient to an atheist government".

Relations have historically been strained between the Catholic Church and China's ruling Communist party (CCP) over irreconcilable claims to authority. The Vatican does not accept the validity of episcopal consecrations by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association  the government's state-approved Catholic body  while the CCP has strongly opposed Rome's right to ordain Chinese bishops.

An underground Catholic Church refuses to compromise with the state and is loyal only to the Pope. The feud has been ongoing for more than six decades, alongside growing concerns from the CCP about the growth of Christianity in China.

The government has signalled a crackdown on churches, and closely monitors members of even state-controlled institutions.

The new deal would see the Vatican accept eight bishops ordained by the CCP without the Church's permission.

Cardinal Zen accused state-appointed bishops of being "slaves" and "puppets" of the CCP, though he added that they were "very faithful to the Church".

But "with fake bishops you are destroying the Church," he said.

However, though he said Pope Francis  who isn't known to have signed any deal yet  "has no real knowledge of communism" and may make the wrong decision in this case, he will respect his authority.

But Chinese Catholics are "not bound to join the Patriotic Association," the Cardinal added. "You can pray at home if you lose your churches."
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 release date news, specs rumors: new Note 8 still part of Samsung's plans

Following the disastrous release of Samsung's newest flagship phablet smartphone  the Samsung Galaxy Note 7  several fans have been wondering if the company will eventually discard the brand altogether. The entire exploding battery issue has, of course, stained the name of the brand, with some users automatically associating the Note name with exploding batteries and faulty construction.

However, new developments in South Korea seem to suggest that Samsung may not be giving up on the brand just yet and is in fact busy developing the next generation Note smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The PR nightmare could be resolved if the company does choose to provide another device to prove to its consumers that the Note 7 was a one-time mistake and that it will not be happening ever again.

The new model itself is expected to be coming out sometime next year, and hopefully Samsung has learned enough from its mistake to make improvements and changes to ensure a safer and more durable device.

Samsung recently announced its brand new recall program  called the "Galaxy Upgrade" program  in South Korea. The program will allow all Galaxy Note 7 users, including those who purchased second hand units, to exchange their devices for a brand new Galaxy S7 for free. Additionally, these users will also have the option to upgrade their device to a brand new Galaxy Note 8 or a new Galaxy Note 8 next year.

Users will be offered a 50 percent discount on the two devices if they should wish to upgrade. If not, then they still have the option of sticking with their Galaxy S7 units. The program will be open to affected customers until Wednesday, Nov. 30.

As of the moment, the program is still only available in South Korea. However, the company is expected to run a similar program in different territories, but Samsung has yet to confirm when they would be implementing it.
Tens Of Thousands Of Muslim Hardliners Demand Jail For Christian Governor In Jakarta

Tens of thousands of hardline Muslims protesters marched through Jakarta on Friday to demand the arrest of the city's Christian governor.

Led by a group called the Islamic Defenders Front, they want Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to be jailed for blasphemy. Around 18,000 armed security guards were sent out across the city of 10 million, police said, as authorities feared the mass demonstration could turn violent.

Purnama is the first ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta and is accused by the Muslim protestors of insulting the Qur'an. He dismissed a political attack by an opponent who urged opposition to Purnama by citing a verse from the Qu'ran.

"He is not Muslim but he humiliated the Qu'ran," protester Muhammad Said told Reuters.

"Don't refer to anything in the Qu'an, especially interpreting it incorrectly... I call on God to jail him."

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country, where many people follow a moderate form of Islam. While hardliners have launched occasional agitation in the past, protests on such a large scale have been rare.

The atmosphere in Jakarta was tense and some companies asked employees to work from home, access to business districts was restricted and embassies urged caution.

Purnama served as deputy to President Joko Widodo when Widodo was city governor from 2012 to 2014, and has long been seen as an ally of the president.

Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla called for a peaceful protest in a joint statement on Thursday, saying "everything and everyone should continue to work as normal".

Police are investigating the case against Purnama, who has apologised for the remarks. Widodo, a Muslim, has vowed not to interfere in any legal proceedings against Purnama, according to the Indonesian Clerical Council.

Critics say Widodo's government has not done enough to contain the religious and ethnic tension that is mounting ahead of a city governor election in February.

Purnama, popularly known as "Ahok", has a reputation as a tough reformer. He will compete for re-election against two Muslims  Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, a son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and a former education minister, Anies Baswedan.

Ethnic Chinese make up just over one per cent of Indonesia's 250 million people, and they typically do not enter politics.

There has been opposition to the hardliners on social media and some banners draped from an overpass called for respect of diversity.

"Your religion or ethnicity doesn't matter, as long as you can do something good for everybody," said one banner.

Indonesia suffered a series of Islamist militant attacks early in the last decade. In the most serious incident, 202 people were killed in bombings of a nightclub on the island of Bali in 2002.

An attack in Jakarta early this year by supporters of Islamic State raised fears of a new wave of violent militancy.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
The five days of worship had been planned for months, but ended up coinciding with the beginning of the offensive to take back Mosul  ISIS' last stronghold in Iraq  that began on October 17. Iraqi troops backed up by a US-led coalition began the battle to liberate the city which was overrun by ISIS militants in June 2014, and have since recaptured dozens of surrounding towns and villages.

"With the Iraqi's launching of efforts to liberate the 2.5 year captivated city of Mosul beginning just a couple days before we started our 100 hours, we couldn't help but feel it was the timing of the Lord to seek his face. This is exactly where he wanted us," Kelsie told Christian Today.

"What a powerful time having people who are persecuted believers, forced to leave their homes and all they own because they are followers of Jesus, get on their knees and pray for ISIS, their persecutors."

Over the five days, those gathered used several prayer focuses: unity in the global church, salvation for the lost, freedom for people in physical and spiritual captivity, and "for ISIS members to encounter the love of Jesus". Teams also went out to pray for the sick in local camps for the displaced, to play with children and share the gospel.

"As we closed out, even after 100 hours of continuous night and day worship the room was packed out," Kelsie said.

"You could hardly hear anyone talk because the shouting and dancing overtook everything else! Jesus was being glorified and hope released!! What a powerful five days it was, so hard to describe all that took place but that is a little glimpse."
Each of WebMDs 2016 Health Heroes has one thing in common: They saw the need for change, and used their passion, intellect, and creativity to bring it about. And behind each Health Hero was an inspiration  someone who motivated them to tackle a difficult health or medical challenge

For biomedical engineer Ed Damiano, the inspiration to develop a bionic pancreas came from his son, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 11 months old.

A teenage girl more than a thousand miles away motivated Trisha Prabhu to develop an anti-cyber-bullying app.

Actor Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller Rogen founded an Alzheimers research and advocacy organization after Laurens mother was diagnosed with the disease at age 55.

And the terminally ill patients nurse Betty Ferrell cared for inspired her to become a palliative care activist.

Celebrities and health industry leaders gathered at The TimesCenter in New York City to honor these four WebMD Health Heroes, whose vision and determination in addressing these issues have helped to advance health care.

Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABCs Good Morning America, hosted the awards ceremony for the third time. I always look forward to this wonderful event, Roberts said.

After a welcome from WebMD CEO Steve Zatz, MD, awards were presented in four categories:

Peoples Choice: Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen founded Hilarity for Charity in 2012, after her mothers Alzheimers diagnosis. The couples charity hosts an annual celebrity-studded variety show that uses humor to raise money and increase young peoples awareness of the disease.

They had this vision for an event that was comedy driven, not maudlin, said actor David Krumholtz of the CBS show Numb3rs, who presented the award. Seth and Lauren have found a new and unique way to fight the deep sadness that accompanies Alzheimers disease. And theyve done it in a way that reminds us all why we fight. Because life is all too short and the simple healing profundity of laughter should be a part of every day for everyone.
Turkey's Crackdown Continues: Christian Groups Protest Detention Of US Pastor

An American pastor has been detained in Turkey for nearly a month, accused by authorities of posing a "national security threat". Christian groups have been criticising the detention.

Andrew Brunson, a Protestant missionary who has been in Turkey for more than 20 years, is now being held at the Izmir detention facility, according to representatives of Turkey's Protestant community, VOA News reports.

Brunson and his wife Norine together led the Protestant Resurrection Church in the City of Izmir. Turkish officials confirm that the couple were detained on October 7. Norine was originally released and ordered home but is now allowed to stay until her visa expires on November 10, while Andrew is expected to be deported following his release.

Christian advocacy group Voice of the Persecuted has defended the Brunsons alongside opposition members of Turkey's Parliament and other Protestant pastors.

"At this point, the priority is to get Norine and Andrew safely out of Turkey, something entirely in keeping with the deportation order," Voice of the Persecuted said in a statement on its website.

They described the detention: "The authorities denied repeated requests from their lawyers, the US State Department, and friends to see them or communicate with them in any way. They were explicitly forbidden from having a Bible, and were not allowed to receive books or any change of clothes. Andrew's glasses and watch were taken away. They were told that their government had forgotten about them and that 'hopefully' they would be deported, suggesting that they might simply disappear and never be heard from again.

"Norine is also concerned that her husband might be transferred from the current immigration centre to a prison. Prison in that environment is entirely different from prison in the United States, and often includes people disappearing and without ever being heard from again."

Selina Dogan is a parliament member of the Republican's People's Party (CHP), Turkey's primary opposition party, who has been vocal in support of the Brunson's case. She says she has received no response from authorities upon enquiry about the detention. She has been liasing with church officials and lawyers also attempting to liberate Brunson.

Dogan said that the authorities' "acts towards the pastor are arbitrary." She added: "According to the international treaties Turkey has signed, religious liberty covers not believing in any religion as well as sharing any religion without resorting to violence or coercion."

As such, Dogan says: "The pastors do have the right to share their faith with people, and what the Turkish authorities mean when they accuse the pastors of being a threat to national security does require some explanation."

Turkey is a majority Muslim nation, home to about 10,000 Protestant Christians. The Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey (APCT) says that 100 expatriate Protestants have been prevented from working in Turkey in the past four years. A spokesperson for APCT said: "Missionary activities are still considered a criminal offense in Turkey. Our country is in a very bad situation in terms of free speech and religious liberty."

Turkey saw an attempted coup d'etat against its President Erdogan in July, and the failed revolution has also lead to a crackdown on religious freedom. American Christian Ryan Keating had been a Turkish citizen since 1993 but this year was deported as "a threat to national security," and given a lifetime ban. Many other Christian ministry workers report similar experiences.

"Unfortunately this is typical of the kind of treatment that Christians often get in Turkey," Keating told Christian Today. Christians in Turkey are feeling more threatened and unsettled after the government issued an emergency order over the weekend that makes it easier to deport expatriates.
When This Pastor Needed To Buy A House His Congregation Stepped In And Gave 66,000

A Christian pastor and his wife have been able to buy a 485,000 five-bedroom detached home with a self-contained annex after their congregation donated 66,000.

While most of the money donated  55,000  was offered by a few friends of the Stanfield family in the church, a further 11,000 was given anonymously by church goers.

This was in response to a letter in which certain members of Living Hope Church in Douglas in the Isle of Man were offered the opportunity to bless their pastor and his family if they so chose. Jonathan and Annette have pastored what became Living Hope from Port St Mary Baptist for the last 19 years, growing it in the last four years from a single congregation of 290 members to now five congregations across the Isle of Man, with average attendance of over 650 people.

Holly Cottage at Ballaughton Meadows was rented by Pastor Jonathan Stanfield and his wife Annette for two years. Due to on-going ministry requirements on Jonathan the church required a relocation to Douglas, so their previous house was sold in order to buy it but still needed 150,000 to make up the difference.

As the church did not have access to a manse or permanent venue in Douglas, having considered various potential options, Holly Cottage was identified as a suitable property for the family and for the regular church activities to be held in weekly, such as pastoral ministry, youth groups, life groups, leader's meetings, church hospitality and for hosting visitors from all round the world.

In the letter, Living Hope's Douglas church elders Chris Staples and Stuart Nelson quoted the Bible: "Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

They wrote: "The Stanfield family love Holly Cottage, would like to be based there permanently, and have agreed terms to purchase (subject to finance) at a discounted price.

"Jonathan has a funding gap of circa 150,000 to purchase the property, and we would love to bless them, by raising as much of this as we can as a church family through gifts."

The elders also said that no one should feel compelled to donate saying "importantly we do not wish you to feel compelled to do so. This should be something that comes from the heart, as each decides".

They described the pastor and his wife as "models of hospitality and stewardship of the property for the church's growth, and God's glory".

Living Hope church, set up in 2008, runs the Alpha course and encourages members to tithe, or give 10 per cent of their income.

In a Facebook post quoted by the Examiner, Stanfield said he felt "humbled and utterly overwhelmed" that the money had been donated to help them buy Holly Cottage.

"It's going to be a wonderful base for our pastoral ministry in the heart of Douglas.

"It's a miracle, we just want to say a huge thank you to the anonymous individuals who have contributed towards this incredible personal gift of 66,000. This considerable generosity has made it possible for us to acquire this manse in which we will now be able to continue to offer the hospitality to which the Lord has called us."

Stanfield this week posted on Facebook: "But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity." Isaiah 32:8 NLT / Generosity is a way of life!
Why Are We Standing By While Yemen Burns?

It's a difficult thing to look into the eyes of a starving child.

There's something so incredibly bleak about the kind of images that to many of us in the West were unimaginable until the arrival of modern technology.

Michael Buerk's reporting from the Ethiopian famine in 1984 was the first exposure many of us had to the horrific consequences of prolonged starvation on a mass of people.

In the case of Ethiopia, as with many examples of chronic food shortage, the problem wasn't just 'natural'  the crops didn't simply fail because of nature. Instead, Ethiopia was a country suffering under years of Dictatorship  specifically that of the Derg, the Stalinist regime which used hunger as a weapon.

When we are presented with images of starvation, it is incumbent on us to ask, not only what the natural causes might be, but where the political impetus is coming from.

Finally, five years after some brave journalists began reporting hunger in Yemen, the conflict has become newsworthy in the West. The Times carried a harrowing picture of the suffering going on in the small Arab nation on its front page last month. Now we know, we need to ask why this suffering is being perpetrated and, more challengingly, if we in the US and UK are partly responsible.

If a natural disaster is tragic, then a politically and militarily enforced humanitarian disaster is obscene. The principalities and powers are conspiring to leave Yemen's innocent children short of food, medicine and worst of all, hope.

Evangelical NGO Tearfund says the situation in Yemen is so dire that it should be ranked alongside the devastating crisis in Iraq and Syria. "The statistics speak for themselves" says an article on Tearfund's website, "over 21 million people urgently need humanitarian assistance  that's 83% of the population, higher than for Syria (74%). Over 14 million lack safe regular access to food  rising to 19 million for water and sanitation."

These are astonishing figures. To put them in context, look at the United States. If an equivalent percentage of US citizens were under threat of starvation, it would equal 284 million Americans. Make no mistake, this is a calamity.

The UN, which is also now categorising Yemen as one of the three most serious situations in the world  along with Iraq and Syria  has detailed the devastating consequences of the violence in Yemen. The UN also says, "Those engaged in the conflict are not meeting their basic responsibilities, under international law, to respect, protect, and meet basic needs of the civilian population." Oxfam has camapigned for an end to hostilities and has described Yemen as being "on the bring of catastrophe".

This is the heart of the problem. Neither side in what is both a civil war within Yemen, and a proxy war within the wider Middle East, seems to be respecting human rights. Worse still, one of the sides is backed by the West.

Essentially, the conflict is between forces loyal to two men who claim to be the rightful president. In the worlds of Iona Craig, a journalist who has done more than most to draw attention to Yemen's crisis, "Saudi Arabia waded into what began as a domestic political power struggle between the country's incumbent president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and his predecessor of 33 years' standing, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The marginalised, predominantly Shia Houthi militiamen, viewed as an Iranian proxy by the Sunni kingdom [Saudi Arabia], joined forces with Saleh's loyalists in the military to seize swathes of territory over the past 18 months."

Since then, both sides have been accused of various human rights abuses. But, disgracefully, Britain and the US continue to support the Saudi-led coalition. In an excoriating piece, Peter Oborne highlights the British complicity in Saudi's war: "In the face of a mountain of evidence that crimes have been committed, Britain repeatedly insisted that the Saudis have not breached international humanitarian law. Britain has advisers in the heart of the Saudi command centre which sets targets for the bombers. We provide Saudi with crucial diplomatic cover, for instance blocking Dutch calls for a very badly needed independent inquiry into war crimes by all sides. Throughout the war we have supplied arms to the Saudis. This is almost certainly illegal."

Funerals, hospitals and other civilian targets have been hit during the war. The Obama administration also offers support. The New York Times reported that, in the wake of the Saudi bombing of an MSF hospital, "the Pentagon has given steady support to the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, with targeting intelligence and fuel for the Saudi planes involved in the air campaign."

The reason we're given? Well, as Prime Minister Theresa May insisted in the House of Commons, "Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is an important relationship. It's a particularly important relationship in relation to the security of this country and counter-terrorism."

What craven nonsense. May suggests that keeping British people safe comes at the expense of Yemeni lives. Well, not in my name. Our reprehensible genuflection before the Saudis is one of the deepest stains on modern British and American foreign policy. No 'pragmatist' talk about our oil dependency or the (very real) need to keep our citizens safe from terrorists will persuade me otherwise.

What makes it even harder to swallow Western support for Saudi Arabia is its treatment of Christians. Open Doors describes the level of persecution of the 1.2 million believers in Saudi as "severe" and says anyone who converts from Islam is in danger of losing their life.

As we gather to remember our brave servicepeople who have given so much over many generations to keep the West safe from fascism, we should gather with a sense of deep disquiet that our governments aren't merely standing by on the other side  we seem to be deepening and intensifying one of the world's most deadly conflicts.

Shame on us.

Follow Andy Walton on Twitter @waltonandy
Why Don't More Christian Parents Talk To Their Kids About Faith?

Christians are significantly less concerned about passing on religion to their children than parents from other faiths in the UK, a new study has found.

Research carried out by ComRes for a report by the think tank Theos shows that while 36 per cent of people who call themselves Christian were worried about whether their children would end up holding the same religious views as them, some 69 per cent of parents who belong to other faiths were concerned about passing on their faith.

The findings also show that one in four parents fear that teaching religion to their children will alienate the children at school.

The 'Passing on Faith' project was commissioned by ComRes and the academic Dr Olwyn Mark to explore the changing attitudes of parents towards teaching their children about faith, and the ways in which religion may be passed onto future generations.

Within the category of 'Christians', 57 per cent of self-defined Christians who believed in God said that they would like their children to hold the same beliefs (about God or a 'higher power') when they are older, and 69 per cent of those Christians who attended church once a month or more felt the same way.

The research also shows that while more than half of British parents are confident talking to their children about religion, less than half (40 per cent) had actually spoken to their children about faith, with many respondents citing that the subject "never came up in family discussions".

Asked whether it was important "to actively pass on beliefs about whether or not there is a God or Higher Power to [their] children", 30 per cent said it was important, while twice that number, 60 per cent, said that children should make up their own minds on this topic "independently of their parents".

Regular church attenders were most likely to want to pass their beliefs on (77 per cent), compared to 15 per cent of non-attenders.

Nick Spencer, head of research at Theos said: "The right of parents to nurture and develop the religious faith of their children has come under fire by New Atheists over recent years.

"That could be because  as Dr Mark's research shows  parents do have the greatest influence on their children's faith, not least through the integrity and authenticity of their own beliefs.

"That noted, just calling yourself Christian makes little difference here; the more serious parents take their own faith, the more concerned they are to want to pass it on."

Dr Olwyn Mark said: "Despite the perceived strength of other social and cultural forces, parents should have confidence that they can make all the difference to the way their children spiritually grow."
10 things to know about George Grosz

An introduction to the artist who became a key figure in Dadaism, the leading chronicler of Weimar Berlin and was later labelled Cultural Bolshevist Number One by the Nazis  illustrated by works offered at Christies

1

He was a master of disguise

George Grosz was born Georg Gross in Berlin in 1893. No accepted explanation has been given as to why, in his twenties, he changed his name, other than that he loved the art of disguise. In public he often pretended to be a cowboy or a Dutch businessman, while in private he occasionally greeted first-time visitors to his home by saying he was Herr Groszs butler and apologising for his masters absence. He also adopted a range of pseudonyms throughout his life: from Count Bessler-Orffyre and George Leboeuf to Dr William King Thomas.

2

No matter how many times Grosz left Berlin, something kept drawing him back

Grosz was born in Berlin but grew up in Stolp, a small town in Eastern Pomerania, not far from the Baltic. He returned to Berlin in 1910 to study at the School of Arts and Crafts, becoming a regular at the Cafe des Westens where the German Expressionists gathered.



Arguably an even more important artistic influence on the young Grosz, however, was Futurism. The dynamic angularity of the jostling forms in his two breakthrough paintings, The Funeral: Dedicated to Oskar Panizza (1917-18) and Germany, A Winter's Tale (1918), shows a clear debt to the movement.

3

He joined the army twice during the First World War  and twice was discharged War broke out while Grosz was still a student. He reluctantly signed up for the Deustches Heer in November 1914, only to be invalided out of the conflict with a sinus infection months later. Recalled to the front in 1917, he soon suffered a breakdown and was admitted to a field hospital, and then a military mental asylum, where doctors declared him unfit for service on grounds of insanity. The experience prompted a number of rapidly sketched drawings  featuring, in the artist's own words, the beastly faces of comrades, arrogant officers and lecherous nurses.

Open a larger version of this image George Grosz (1893-1959), Gefahrliche Strae, painted in July 1918. Oil on canvas. 18 x 25 in (47.3 x 65.3 cm). Estimate: 4,500,000-6,500,000. Offered in the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on 5 February 2020 at Christies in London

Gefahrliche Strae (above) captures Berlins descent into moral and physical chaos. It is one of a series of around 20 paintings  roughly half of which are now lost  that Grosz made of the city at night between spring 1917 and November 1918. Peace would be signed with the Allies on 11 November 1918, two days after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as Emperor. In the wake of Germanys defeat, Grosz said he was disappointed not because the war had been lost, but because the people had suffered for so long without heeding the few voices raised against the mass slaughter.

4

He became a key figure of the Dada movement

Starting in Zurich, before spreading to other European cities as war came to an end, Dada was rooted in disbelief that a conflict as absurdly long and devastating as World War I could have been fought in the name of progress. Dadaists concluded that the world had gone mad and that received values must be turned on their head. In a defeated, demoralised Berlin, this included provocative stage performances  such as an obscene tap-dance routine with which Grosz made a name for himself. He also helped pioneer the technique of photomontage, which involved assembling fragments of photographs to create a synthetic new image  a reflection of the fractured Europe that was being unconvincingly pieced back together in the wake of the Treaty of Versailles.

5

Grosz was the pre-eminent chronicler of Berlin in the Twenties

Between the collapse of Germany's monarchy in 1918 and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Berlin gained a reputation for being the bawdiest, most licentious city in Europe. Its cabaret acts were outrageously explicit, and its brothels were infamous. It is said that cocaine could be bought in the city's nightclubs for half the price of a decent dinner.



Barbarism prevailed... the times were mad, wrote Grosz in his autobiography, A Little Yes and a Big No. His best-known works are visions of the seamy side of German metropolitan life at this time, which, along with Christopher Isherwood's Berlin stories about Mr Norris and Sally Bowles, have indelibly shaped our picture of what the German capital was like in the Weimar years. They give off a heavy whiff of social decadence and political corruption. Take, for instance, Groszs 1922 watercolour Orgie, depicting a dingy bar in which a grotesque, cigar-chomping drunk spews wine through his teeth, while other patrons defecate and copulate around him.

6

He was sued on various occasions

In his drawing collections such as The Face of the Ruling Class and Ecce Homo  as well as in his work for journals and broadsheets  Grosz depicted greedy capitalists, smug bourgeoisie and nouveaux riches hags, among other social groups. Blessed with a razor-sharp wit, he was a social satirist who saw himself continuing in the tradition of William Hogarth.

Open a larger version of this image George Grosz (1893-1959), Society, circa 1926. 17 x 14 in (45.4 x 35.6 cm). Sold for $13,750 on 14 November 2017 at Christies in New York

As the German philosopher Hannah Arendt observed years later, however, Grosz's cartoons seemed to us not satire so much as realistic reportage. We recognised these types, they were all around us. Pimps and prostitutes abound in Ecce Homo, a book that caused such a furore that Grosz felt compelled to apply for a pistol license on the grounds of self-defence. He was also taken to court on charges that 52 of the books 100 images were pornographic. Grosz was tried in February 1924 and was fined 6,000 marks. Numerous plates from the publication were confiscated and banned. This was the first of three separate occasions on which Grosz was successfully sued for producing offensive artwork. These events may have led to his extended trip to France in 1924, and a further stay in Paris from June to October in 1925. The Dingo American Bar was opened in 1923 and quickly gained notoriety among English-speaking artists and writers, not least because it was one of the few drinking-houses that was open all night. Ernest Hemingway first met F. Scott Fitzgerald there in April 1925, two weeks after the publication of The Great Gatsby and a few months before Grosz executed a study of the bar.







7

He briefly became a Communist

Grosz's work often expressed sympathy for poor, downtrodden workers suffering at the hands of rich, fat-cat bosses. To show the oppressed the true face of their masters is the purpose of my work, he once said.

For a while, he was a member of the Communist Party, even receiving his membership card personally from Rosa Luxemburg (though over time, and after an underwhelming meeting with Lenin in the Soviet Union in 1922, his party loyalties waned).

Grosz felt that the fall of the Kaiser removed few of the inequalities that had long existed in German society. In 1930, he found an outlet for his frustrations by designing the costumes for Carl Sternheims adaptation of Flauberts political satire, The Candidate. Updated from 19th-century France to contemporary Berlin, it follows an ambitious candidate for the Reichstag who is courted by three different political party leaders  and who ultimately gives up his own wife to one of them to win the election.

8

His work was included in the Nazis' exhibition of Degenerate Art After a brief, enjoyable spell spent teaching in New York, Grosz returned to the US on what turned out to be a long-term basis in 1933, just a week before Hitler became German chancellor. (He would remain in America for more than two decades.) Groszs subject matter was highly objectionable to the Nazis: they labelled him Cultural Bolshevist Number One, destroyed many of the works hed left behind and included another 15 in their Entartete Kunst exhibition of degenerate art in Munich in 1937.

By this point, however, Grosz was revelling in life across the Atlantic: as an artist he largely split his efforts between street scenes of Manhattan and windswept landscapes of Cape Cod. For the former, he roamed New York by day, sketchbook in hand, creating finished versions of his scenes by night  a typical result of this process being Quick Lunch, which shows customers of all socio-economic backgrounds crowding around a fast-food counter.

9

He became an American citizen

In 1938, having been stripped of his German citizenship, Grosz legally became an American. His style softened in these years, although there was still the occasional, apocalyptic painting of hell-fire on earth, which suggests the repression of freedoms back in his birth country were never far from his mind.

More than a hint of poignancy can be found in certain works on paper, too, such as the ink drawing titled Refugees, a self-portrait with his two sons. During the Second World War, his mother (who hadn't emigrated to the US with him) was killed in a bombing raid.
Dubuffets Les Grandes Arteres unveiled as a highlight of November sales in New York

The 1961 canvas, a masterful work from Jean Dubuffets celebrated Paris Circus series, depicts a Paris revitalised after years of suffering during the Second World War

Across the bold and vibrant surface of Les Grandes Arteres Dubuffet convenes a cast of characters that capture the sense of liberation enjoyed by Paris as it emerged from the darkness of the Second World War. Using his signature naive style, he lays out the vitality of the French capital, filled with shops, cars and people. Dubuffets breakthrough came in February 1961 with the Paris Circus series. Having returned to the city after a six-year self-imposed hiatus in the countryside of southern France, these paintings signalled the artists vivacious rediscovery of urban life.

Throughout the 1960s an intoxicating energy swept the globe, in which everyday phenomena were seen anew
Royal jewels sold by Christies

Vincent Meylan, a leading expert and historian in haute joaillerie, has written many seminal books on the subject. His latest traces 250 years of jewellery auctions at Christies

Jewels play numerous and diverse roles in our lives, writes Francois Curiel, who joined the Jewellery department at Christies in 1969, in the foreword to Vincent Meylan's meticulously researched new book. But, above all, jewels are the embodiment of beauty, Curiel states. They have been coveted by the most memorable names in history, heroes and villains, famous lovers, glamorous stars, distinguished families, commanding dynasties. Meylan's book, Christies: The Jewellery Archives Revealed (ACC Art Books), is filled with fascinating stories about royalty and leading figures whose jewels have passed through Christies salerooms over the last 250 years. Here, we present a series of extracts on important auctions with a royal theme.

1

The cowardly Empress  The jewels of Marie-Louise of Austria

Sold at Christies in 1894, 1959 and 1961 Marie-Louise, Archduchess of Austria, niece of Marie Antoinette, second wife of Napoleon and mother of his son, the King of Rome, is as unpopular today in France as she was two centuries ago. Her marriage to Napoleon in 1810 marked the beginning of the end of the Emperors glory. Indeed, many blamed her for contributing to his downfall.

After Napoleons first abdication in 1814, Marie-Louise returned to her native Austria where her father, Emperor Francis II, made provision for her to have a quiet life. After the death of the Empress in 1847, her jewels remained in the Austrian imperial family, and a number of them were put up for sale at Christies during the 19th and 20th centuries. After sales at Christies in 1894 and 1959, an ensemble of jewellery in sapphires and diamonds was offered in London in July of 1961. The provenance in the catalogue mentions Marie-Louise, although the composite style of the jewels suggests that certain elements may have been remounted at various times.

Offered again, in the Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on 15 November, the jewels as they exist today clearly do not date from Empress Marie-Louises era. It is more likely that they were made after her death using some of the sapphires and diamonds she left behind in the Royal Palace in Vienna when she moved to Rome.

2

Pomp and circumstance: The Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara Sold at Christies in 1981

The Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara was made in the early 19th century, possibly in Germany, for Princess Augusta of Hesse Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge. It passed to her daughter, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and her great granddaughter, Princess Jutta of Montenegro, before its sale at Christies in 1981.

Open a larger version of this image The Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara was created at the beginning of the 19th century, possibly in Germany, for Princess Augusta of Hesse Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge

A copy was made at the request of Queen Mary, who left it to Queen Elizabeth II. That copy has since been worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, and the present Duchess of Cambridge. Two other models were produced in Germany in the early 19th century. One was for Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece, which still belongs to the Bavarian royal family and is displayed at the Residenz Museum in Munich. The other, created for Princess Youssoupov, disappeared after the Russian Revolution.

Open a larger version of this image One of the six copies of the Cambridge Lovers Knot pearl and diamond tiara. Sold at Christies Geneva on 14 November 1985

Two additional models (possibly only one) of the tiara were worn in the 1900s by Princess Maria Immaculata of Saxony, Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and in the 1930s by the Maharani of Patiala. One of these two tiaras (unless, of course, there is only one) was sold at Christies in 1985.

3

A Kings first love: The Mancini Pearls

Sold at Christies in 1969

Marie Mancini (1639-1715) was the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, the prime minister to King Louis XIV of France. When she fell in love with the young king some spied ambition in the infatuation, but Louis returned her love.

Open a larger version of this image The Mancini Pearls. Sold at Christies Geneva on 2 October 1969

Anne of Austria, Queen Mother of France, violently opposed the romance. Her sons marriage was political; the ideal fiancee was the Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain, which had long been at war with France. Louis and Marie fought to pursue their love, but in 1659 Marie was forced into exile. Weeks before, Louis bought a string of pearls from his aunt, the Queen of England, who was living in exile in Paris. This was all he could offer the woman he had wished to give his crown. Read the book Find out more about the magnificent jewels sold at Christies since 1766 in Vincent Meylans authoritative history, Christie's: The Jewellery Archives Revealed Marie later married the Italian Prince Colonna, abandoning Louis XIV for good. When leaving France, she took an important collection of jewellery and gems with her. Even while pushing her out, Anne showed Marie great generosity. It was perhaps from Anne that Marie received two enormous pear-shaped pearls weighing approximately 200 grains each. The pearls were passed down through Maries descendants for over three centuries, before their sale at Christies in Geneva in 1969.

4

Diamonds and Bolsheviks: The Russian State Jewels Sold at Christies in 1927

The 124 gems and precious objects on sale at Christies in 1928 had all the mystery of Atlantis. Ten years before, the Romanov empire had fallen in one of historys most violent revolutions: the Tsar, his wife and their children were all slaughtered in Ekaterinburg in 1918.

Open a larger version of this image The diamond Nuptial crown, from the Russian State Jewels. Sold at Christies London on 16 March 1927 Open a larger version of this image Catalogue of the Russian State Jewels. Sold at Christies London on 16 March 1927

The purge continued under Stalin in the 1920s. Paintings, gold, silverware, porcelain  everything seized from aristocratic households or the imperial palaces was assembled in warehouses, to which international dealers were invited. Alongside these valuables were the Russian Crown Jewels, amassed since the time of Catherine the Great. It took nearly two years for Agathon Faberge to inventory the gems for Leon Trotsky. Faberge counted 25,300 carats of diamonds, 4,300 carats of sapphires, hundreds of emeralds, thousands of pearls, and fantastic diamonds such as the Orlov, weighing some 189.62 carats.

Open a larger version of this image A pair of amethyst and diamond girandole ear pendants, from the Russian State Jewels. Sold at Christies London on 16 March 1927 and at Christies Geneva, 15 November 2007 Open a larger version of this image The drop pearl and diamond tiara, from the Russian State Jewels auction. Sold at Christies London on 16 March 1927

The collection was divided into three parts. The first, conserved by Russia and today on view at the Kremlin, unites coronation ornaments and jewels dating from the 18th century. The second consisted mainly of ladies jewellery, some of which was broken down and the stones discreetly sold. The third part, comprising 124 pieces, was ultimately offered at Christies. Among the most important pieces was a diamond nuptial crown, probably made in the late 18th century at Catherine the Greats request. It sold for 6,100, then a high price. Today the crown is exhibited at the Hillwood Museum in Washington, D.C.

5

The most beautiful pearl in the world: La Regente

Sold at Christies in 1987, 1988 and 2005 At 302.68 grains, the Regente pearl is one of the worlds biggest, and its beauty is unequalled. When the pearl appeared at Christies New York in 1987, its history was unknown. The sale catalogue referred simply to a Russian provenance. But the Berlin Wall had yet to fall, and anything Soviet was shrouded in mystery. The anonymous pearl was, in fact, La Regente, worn by the empresses of France and Princess Youssoupov, one of the great ladies of Imperial Russia.

Open a larger version of this image La Regente pearl. Sold at Christies Geneva on 16 November 2005 Open a larger version of this image The Regente pearl set on a coloured diamond necklace. Sold at Christies New York on 16 June 1987

Officially, La Regente dates from 1811. Emperor Napoleon acquired the gem from Nitot, the jeweller, mounting it in a diadem worn by his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise. When the French Empire fell in 1870, La Regente and the other Crown Jewels were left in Paris. The Third Republic was proclaimed, leaving the future of the state treasure uncertain. Finally, in 1887, most of the collection was auctioned at the Louvre. La Regente went to a dealer called Rossel, apparently bidding for Russian prince Nikolai Youssoupov. In 1919 the Youssoupovs went into exile, abandoning gems too difficult to transport. These they hid under the stairs of their Moscow palace, with the jewels of the Grand Duchess Xenia. The trove was discovered in 1925, and 62 years later, La Regente appeared at Christies New York. How it found its way from Moscow remains something of a mystery. One year later the pearl, in its new setting, was offered at Christies in Geneva, before returning to Christies for a third time in November 2005, selling for $2.5 million.

6

Connected to three European royal families: The Wittelsbach diamond

Sold at Christies in 2008 This striking blue diamond of Indian origin is linked to three European royal families: the kings of Spain, the Holy Roman emperors and the Bavarian kings. In 1666, it formed part of the dowry of Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain on her marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor. It came to Bavaria in 1722 when Maria Amalia of Austria married Bavarias prince-elector. During its long stay in the Bavarian royal treasure, the diamond was the centre of a pendant of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Open a larger version of this image The Wittelsbach diamond as it appeared at Christies in 2008. After purchasing it for 16.4 million, jeweller Laurence Graff had it recut to remove the small nicks on the edges of the stone
A deep dive into Obama 08, the installation that satirised the 2008 American presidential contest  and a preview of its update for the 2016 election

Obama 08 (estimate: US$100,000-150,000), a suite of 43 replicas of official presidential portraits, takes its title from the name of the most recent White House incumbent. The work was the main installation at the Gavin Brown Enterprise gallery in New York from 18 October through to 18 November 2008 . At its installation ahead of the American presidential election, 42 portraits were hung in a line, organised chronologically. A portrait of Barack Obama leaned against the wall, awaiting the elections outcome. Not to be confused with political art, which asserts a specific position, Horowitz instead takes the media frenzy that surrounds the government machine as his subject. As curator and critic Sue Spaid has written, Horowitz is a dyed-in-the-wool conceptualist, driven more by connecting, abutting, and playing with mass media than by some urge to scourge.

Jonathan Horowitz (b. 1966), Obama '08, 2008 . 43 elementsdigital chromogenic prints in artist's frames, each: 38 x 30 in (96.8 x 77.2 cm). This work is number two from an edition of three plus one artist's proof. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. This lot is offered in Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 15 November 2016 at Christies in New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Appropriately, given this interest in media influence, Horowitz saw the gallery space as the perfect place to screen campaign coverage. As part of the installation, two oversized television sets were hung back-to-back, live-streaming CNN and Fox News. The room itself, carpeted half in red and half in blue, underscored the increasing party polarisation. Upon the announcement of Obamas win, red, white and blue balloons were released and the president-elects portrait was hung on the wall. Had John McCain  the Republican contender  been victorious, the balloons would have been left to deflate and Obamas portrait would have remained on the floor; no portrait of McCain was prepared.



Each image in the suite is a photographic reproduction of a painted presidential portrait. These pieces were often commissioned to mark the end of a presidents tenure; viewed together, they reveal the changing styles and fashions in portraiture. John F. Kennedys picture depicts the former president with his head downturned, referencing his untimely death. Woodrow Wilsons portrait notes the passage of the 19th Amendment, which extended suffrage to women nationwide; Lyndon Johnsons highlights the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The portrait of Obama prepared for the 2008 installation  a reproduction of a campaign photograph  indicated his relative newness.



In his Artforum review of the Gavin Brown show, critic and curator Joshua Decter described Obama 08 as cynical, hopeful, soulful, empty, celebratory, critical, complicit, engaged, fatalistic, satirical, stupid and thoughtful. The work is indeed multifaceted, capturing the range of conflicting emotional states prompted by election season.

Obama 08 was recently reinstalled as part of the Occupy Greenwich exhibition at The Brant Foundation, no doubt underlining for many viewers the extraordinary media circus that has characterised the 2016 presidential election season.

In recent months, Horowitz has displayed a new version  updated to include Obamas presidential portrait  in which Hillary Clintons portrait is set against the wall, as Obamas was in 2008. (This version will not be offered at Christies.) He has also produced an election poster, available for download on his website.

Obama 08 will be offered at Christies New York as part of the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 15 November. The installation will be on view at Christies Rockefeller Center from 5 November, ahead of the auction.
Reports of a shooting drew police to Independence Heights Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The first call came in just after 3:30 p.m., according to a police spokesman.

A man armed with a pistol opened fire on passing cars near the 800 block of Crosstimbers, a caller told authorities.

One person was detained and one was injured, according to KPRC.

Police also responded to a scene in the 700 block of Crosstimbers where concerned callers reported the sound of gunfire, police said.
Welp, God apparently didn't get the memo about keeping the 2016 U.S. presidential election results under embargo for a few more days.

The big guy told renowned con artist and shamed televangelist asshole Jim Bakker that 'Donald Trump Is Going To Be Your Next President.' Thanks. Thanks a lot, God.

PS:

James Orsen "Jim" Bakker is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister and a former host of The PTL Club, an evangelical Christian television program. A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry.

[Thanks, Gina!]
The owner of three for-profit residential group homes sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for alleged overtime violations said it disagrees with the government's interpretation of wage rules for 24-hour shift workers and vowed to vigorously fight the government's lawsuit.

Last week, the Five Oaks Achievement Center in New Ulm, Whispering Hills Achievement Center in Flatonia and the North Fork Educational Center in Wylie were sued for $2.2 million by the Labor Department for improperly deducting sleep time from the wages of 68 employees who work 24-hour shifts. The three centers care for Texas' special needs children through two contracts with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
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Thirty-one years ago, Ohio-based Armco Steel prepared to sell its Burns & McDonnell unit. But before a corporate buyer could step in, a group of employees put together financing and bought the engineering, architecture and construction firm.

Since then, Burns & McDonnell has been owned by its workers, and that ownership and the sense of sharing in the company's future have helped the company make the Chronicle's Top Workplaces list every year since the survey began seven years ago. This year, company came in at No. 5.

"All employees have a stake in the company; they have a vested interest in the success of our projects," said Leslie Duke, senior vice president and general manager in Burns & McDonnell's Houston office. "It's part of who we are, and it drives everything we do, and how we do it."

Burns & McDonnell is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., but it has more than 500 employees in its Houston operation, which specializes in engineering and construction for the energy industry. In the Top Workplaces survey, employees cited the employee stock ownership program as a key advantage of working for Burns & McDonnell.

At the end of each year, the company provides a cash contribution to its employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, accounts, in proportion with each worker's compensation. Employees use the cash to buy stock. New employees automatically are enrolled in the program.

"We own the place," one employee said in the survey. "You can see it in the faces and actions of the individuals that make up the company."

Several employees noted that the company's work offers a chance to expand technical skills across different fields. Workers get up to 25 paid days off, and last year, the company started a flextime program "to encourage work-life balance."

The flextime program, the company says, means employees can arrange schedules to fit with the demands of their personal lives. For example, they can compress the workweek into fewer days so they can take every other Friday off.

There is "flexibility in nearly everything I need," another employees said, and "opportunity in everything I'm interested in. I feel important here."

Burns & McDonnell was founded in Kansas City 118 years ago. It was acquired by Armco Steel in 1971, then sold in the employee-led buyout in 1985.

The company employs 5,700 workers across the United States and has another 200 employees in other countries. It helps industrial clients with everything from engineering, procurement and construction to environmental permitting.

In Houston, Dukes said, roughly 95 percent of the company's contract work stems from the energy industry, either in power or oil and gas, while the remainder often comes from infrastructure projects, which includes airports, transportation, water and commercial buildings, in the region.
On a recent weekday afternoon, David Lengyel was in downtown Houston putting the final touches on what would amount to an elaborate treasure hunt in which teams used everything from GPS devices to calculators to solve puzzles and navigate the city.

Based on television's "The Amazing Race," it sounded like a college outing or child's birthday party, but for Lengyel, managing director of Houston firm Venture Up, this was not about simple fun. His corporate client wanted employees to compete against one another outside the office, as a way to forge relationships that could yield benefits when it tackled projects requiring collaboration between departments.

And if they had a little fun along the way, so be it.

"Diversity is everything, and it doesn't just mean race or religion or orientation. It's what I like to do as a hobby or eat or how I spend my free time," Lengyel said. "The worst team in the world is with all the same kinds of people. They might get stuff done, but there's no innovation."

An activity that came of age in the corporate culture of the 1990s, team building exercises seem like they should be relegated to the archives alongside the word "synergy." But two decades on, the practice remains a mainstay among corporations seeking ways to get employees to work together more.

Even in the midst of the oil bust, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. continues to organize team building events, in one case, putting its lawyers and logistics managers together to assemble bicycles for low-income students. In another, call center employees of The Woodlands company used Post-it notes to create a giant Pac-Man on the wall.

"In the past few years, our teams have come up with innovative ideas for team building activities at little to no cost, and as a result, we become more aligned and efficient as an organization, which can help reduce costs throughout the business," Anadarko General Counsel Amanda McMillian said.

Team building exercises have their roots in psychological studies undertaken in the 1920s and '30s to better understand why the productivity of factory workers ebbed and flowed. The concept became the subject of numerous books and journal articles, and social scientists glommed on to the idea that employees performed better when they understood themselves to be part of a cohesive unit with a defined set of goals.

Lengyel launched his firm in the early 1980s, at first taking thrill-seeking corporate executives on weeklong ice climbing and backcountry skiiing trips in locales like the French Alps. Enthralled, they asked whether Lengyel could put together something closer to home for their employees to enjoy.

Early on it was ropes courses and rafting trips; now it's more likely to be salsa making competitions and running around town solving puzzles. But the idea of getting employees to get to know one another and collaborate outside the office remains fundamental, Lengyel said.

"We still have ropes courses, but the majority of our stuff is done indoors in a resort or a corporate office," he said. "The number one thing they want is people to stay safe and have fun."
A stronger economy is good news for workers, who have more employment options than they did in the wake of the last recession. But business leaders are likely to face some daunting human resources challenges if they haven't already.

Those who aren't doing everything they can to keep great employees risk watching them walk out the door.

Nationwide, our research shows 37 percent of employees considered pursuing better jobs elsewhere in 2015. That figure is an increase over the previous year (35.7 percent).

Keep in mind, we're studying organizations that qualify as Top Workplaces or aspire to get there. These are companies that reap the benefits of employee engagement at levels more than double the norm in the United States.

What makes employees want to stay? Connection, alignment and effectiveness. Healthy organizations thrive when people feel connected. Whose responsibility is this? Senior leaders. It is their role to ensure employees understand where the company is going and how it is getting there.

Connection should be a big concern for employers, because hiring and retention are not getting easier. Companies are citing a skilled-labor shortage as their most serious long-term challenge.

When the Employer Associations of America asked executives to express their greatest challenges for business growth in their industry, hiring tops the list.

While pay and perks can offer some happiness, they are part of what we consider "me" factors in workplace engagement. That's not what earns organizations a place on the Houston Chronicle's 2016 Top Workplaces list. What matters more are the "we" factors. With that connection, employees are willing to invest more of themselves. Without it, they are more likely to underperform or leave.

Nationwide, organizations that ranked as Top Workplaces by WorkplaceDynamics reported, on average, a 67 percent employee engagement rate, according to our surveys in 2015. That compares with 32 percent employee engagement for all U.S. workers, according to the most recent Gallup poll.

Engaged employees are motivated to do great work, remain loyal to the organization and will recommend the organization to others. Lack of engagement hurts productivity, hiring, retention and, ultimately, profits.

Those who "got it" years ago are well-prepared, while organizations without a solid retention plan are probably in trouble. Workplace culture and employee engagement are more important than ever before.

When you combine the "me" and the "we," you've got the recipe for the organizational health to serve up long-term, sustainable performance.
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It's been a tough year for the Houston office market, with the oil bust decimating headcounts everywhere, from super major energy companies to the smallest consulting shops.

As a result, interior designers have faced a special challenge. Preceding the downturn, they dealt with expansions, helping energy and other companies build out campuses and stuffing them with workspaces and amenities, like fitness centers, dining options, and even auto servicing. But today, they must contend with vast, empty buildings and unused furniture while satisfying who want to outfit offices cheaply and flexibly, because they don't how many employees they might have in the future.

And that is leading many to think about how the make the most of large, empty room as companies work to position themselves for the recovery.

"These days, our clients in the energy industry are looking for ways to cut costs, not spend money," said Dean Strombom, energy practice leader at the global design firm Gensler. "So anything we can do with creativity and innovation, without spending much if any money, that's seen as a good thing."

Gensler's concept is the "free-range workplace." Energy company employees, who used to need spacious offices to accommodate large seismic maps, now have everything they need on laptops they can tote over to a lounge or a meeting room. Those communal spaces can accommodate people more efficiently, allowing offices to shrink down the square footage they allot to individual work stations, which themselves are made of less expensive stuff.

"In a workstation, you've got work surfaces, and you've got panels, and typically you see them all lined up," Strombom says. "But that's not the way people are working today."

Even law firms are coming around to the lighter, less solitary, more mobile aesthetic.

"The last thing you want to do is have the big, heavy wood desk, pedestals with drawers on either side, credenza in the back," says Jackie Wheat, a lead designer at Houston-based PDR Corp. "It's not supporting ergonomics, not supporting change, it's just very static."

Wheat, who led the interior work for ExxonMobil's new campus in The Woodlands is also doing a lot of work for smaller companies moving into the glut of recently vacated subleased office space. Those companies might only be there for a year or two, which leads to more extreme versions of the flexibility that what larger corporate clients want. Sort of like Legos, where different components and easily be snapped in and out to change configurations.

"The idea is that everything is very modular and very flexible, so you don't have to have an electrician come in and change things," she says.

For some employers, moving towards a more Lego-like office environment is also about conforming to the expectations of a younger generation shaped by their university campuses and consumer technology. Things like desks that adjust to a perfect height at the command of a smartphone, for example, and whatever else they see coming out of media reports of futuristic buildings in Silicon Valley.

Even banks, long seen as the epitome of tradition and stability, are starting to adapt and adopt more open, flexible, and creative office designs.

"We need to attract the same people that the Googles and the Microsofts attract," says Russell Manthy, managing director of the Houston office of IA Interior Architects, paraphrasing his clients in the financial industry. "And they don't want to sit in a space that looks like a bank from the mid-80s."
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At Texas Saffire, business is largely a family affair. Thirty to 40 percent of employees have a relative, maybe a brother or cousin, a father or son, who also works at the automatic fire-sprinkler system installation company, co-owner Hal Wychopen said.

"It's kind of the old American way of doing things," Wychopen said.

Its focus on building a family friendly environment helped Texas Saffire secure a No. 2 ranking in the small-business category on this year's Top Workplaces list compiled by WorkplaceDynamics.

"The owners show their love and support for each of our families even though we are not truly related," one employee wrote in the Top Workplaces survey.

The company, newly relocated to Magnolia, has 76 employees in the Houston area, with additional staff in McAllen, Laredo and other Texas cities. It handles nearly 75 projects a year, mostly working with big-box retailers like Wal-Mart Stores, Target and Sam's Club. It also works with local schools.

Though projects haven't grown by number since last year, they've increased by 40 to 50 percent in size and scope. Wychopen said there are plans to turn 20 to 25 of the contracted workers into full-time employees by next year.

For Wychopen, the most successful employees not only embrace the family environment the company has developed but are also committed to their work because they appreciate a job well done. In some cases, Wychopen has had a foreman call him up at night to double-check details.

"Family" was mentioned specifically by several employees surveyed by WorkplaceDynamics.

"There are not many companies out there that truly strive to make every employee feel like they are part of something bigger," another said.

Wychopen did acknowledge that working with relatives has presented challenges at times.

"The toughest part of business in general is dealing with interpersonal relationships," he said.

But just as households can run smoothly when family members actively communicate and listen to one another, the employees at Texas Saffire have managed to work through any issues.

"The unique atmosphere combined with the amazing team we have just can't be beat!" one survey respondent enthused.
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A Tulsa man allegedly went on the joyride of a lifetime after stealing a vehicle from the Tulsa Police Department. He has proof too, because he broadcast the ride on Facebook Live.

John Pinney was eventually arrested by Tulsa police on Halloween. He posted four separate videos on his personal Facebook page and is accused of stealing a police cruiser.

UBER SCANDAL: Uber driver busted on suspicion of groping passenger

In the recordings, Pinney appears to be lost and confused as to how the police lights work.

"I can't help it, I'm just going to do what I got to do," Pinney said. "I can't even believe I'm doing this though, for real. I got away from like five cops today, so it's whatever."

GTA HOUSTON: Police chase stolen vehicle through southwest Houston

At one point, Pinney is seen getting out of the police cruiser and posing in front of it, showing off the working lights to his Facebook friends and followers. Police told news outlets that the chase lasted 30 to 40 minutes, reaching speeds of up to 120 miles per hour.

Tulsa police sergeant Steve Stolz told news station KOTV in Oklahoma, "I would encourage every criminal out there to Facebook Live their crimes so that we can catch you a lot easier and use that Facebook Live at your trial to get a better conviction."

FAST FOOD RUN: Man leading police on car chase stops at Im-N-Out for food

According to the news station, Pinney faces nine charges including eluding, resisting arrest and possession of a firearm by a felon. The news station also reports Pinney was sentenced to four years in prison in June of 2014 for receiving stolen property, malicious injury to property and possession of a stolen vehicle.

In September of 2013, Pinney was sentenced to five years probation for stealing a vehicle. On June 3, he was given a four-year suspended sentence in Tulsa County for assaulting a police office, KOTV reports.
Dear Abby:

Our daughter, a young Thai adult, is socially immature. Her mother and I are American citizens, and we recently brought her to the U.S. on a tourist visa to expose her to Western culture. While she was there, a suitor - who is nearly 40 and divorced - manipulated her. After she returned to Thailand, she continued communicating with him.

The guy flew to Thailand, secretly married her and left the country. He is now in the process of acquiring a spousal immigration visa, and we are desperately afraid of losing our daughter. We're not convinced that she's in love with him. We think she's just trying to escape her Tiger Mom.

We are considering appealing to the government requesting denial of the visa request. Your take?

Concerned Dad in Thailand

Dear Concerned Dad:

What this man did is reprehensible. Because you don't know him, one has to wonder if anything he told your daughter about himself is true - including his age, marital status and whether he is a parent.

Since you didn't mention your daughter's age or if she is old enough to consent to marriage, consulting a lawyer to help you navigate through government channels would be a good place to start. You have my sympathy. I wish you luck.

Dear Abby:

I've been with "Derek" for two months. We're both 14, and had an on-and-off friendship before it started.

Derek has a history of mental illness (including depression and anxiety). Lately, he has started talking about things like college plans and even marriage. He flatters me nonstop and says repeatedly how "perfect" and "goddess-like" I am, completely degrading himself in the process. He says he is "weak, stupid and ugly" compared to me.

I'm afraid to dump him because Derek has attempted suicide several times in the past and has hinted at doing it again if I do. I can't say the words to him with that hanging over me.

His parents are unreachable, and he's already on medication. Derek has refused counseling in the past. I'm really afraid, but I can't stand staying in this relationship much longer.

Afraid in Oregon

Dear Afraid:

If you haven't spoken to your parents about Derek and his emotional blackmail, do it immediately. You are not responsible for his welfare - his family is. Derek appears to be in need of more professional help than he is receiving. Encourage him to think about positive things like college, but tell him you are too young for any kind of permanent exclusive relationship. Period. Once your parents know what's going on, I'm sure they will back you up 100 percent.

DearAbby.comDear AbbyP.O. Box 69440Los Angeles, CA 90069Universal Press Syndicate
It's the first day of fall, and it also happens to be National Hunting and Fishing Day.

Hunters across the state are already dreaming of their favorite Hill Country retreats, Mossy Oak gear and Yeti coolers.
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Some Houston bartenders are making a splash in Galveston, at an improbable address for a new business.

Former Boheme bar staff Ian Ramirez and Brad Stringer  who's also known for being among the founding staff members at Heights bar Johnny's Gold Brick  put down roots in Galveston with business partner Robert Hollis. Over the summer the trio opened Daiquiri Time Out, better known as DTO, at 2701 Market St.

DTO is joined by a small string of other retailers west of 25th Street by the Strand.

That might not seem peculiar to those unfamiliar with the area's onetime reputation as a hub of prostitution. It's known to islanders as the old red-light district, where brothels once lined the streets between 25th and 29th.

Now, it's a small up-and-coming dining row that attracts Galveston natives and tourists alike. Nearby are fellow newcomers Soul 2 Soul, 3104 Market St., a Southern fare restaurant, and Gypsy Joynt, 2711 Market St. The latter is an American cafe launched by a Massachusetts family who relocated to Galveston.

BLOCKS AWAY: Galveston's Hubcap Grill now open on the Strand

For the owners of DTO, the decision to establish their bar on this block was simple. Rental prices were more affordable just off the Strand, but it's still only blocks from the tourist district.

"People ask why we came to Galveston, why we opened (this side) of 25th," Ramirez says. "Our goal was to open a small business. It's not an easy thing for someone who doesn't have investors, and we wanted to prove that you don't have to spend an enormous amount of money."

Likewise, Stringer says that they're proud of what they've "put together so far on a little money and a lot of hard work."

"I think this block will definitely change over the next year or two," Stringer says. "We're off the beaten path, but we're a destination bar in a destination spot."

Co-founder Ramirez agrees. "People drive out of their comfort zones if a place offers quality service and quality product," he explains.

Previously, the main outpost in that area was Maceo Spice & Import Company, a longtime island business founded and still owned by iconic Galveston family, the Maceos. Ironically, they ran Galveston during the prohibition era, and their spice shop/cafe is across the street from the bar.

RELATED: Houston entrepreneur plans to buy Galveston's historic Fadden Building

DTO's owners learned about the Maceos, as well as other general island history, while poring over archives  historic maps, menus and advertisements  at Galveston's Rosenberg Library. They say they wanted to learn more about their new home so that it might inform the look, feel and menu at the bar.

Their research and strategy seems to be working. Despite the area's prior reputation, Stringer says Galveston residents "really support it," adding that 90 percent of their clientele is comprised of locals.

By now, many Galveston residents are familiar with the bar's offerings, although the name might at first be misleading. The primary drink offerings are mixed cocktails, with a few frozen options. Eventually, they say, the bar's menu will include seasonal and specialty cocktails. Stringer competes in cocktail competitions, which leads to new ideas for a separate drinks list. For now, the menu features primarily old-fashioned, quintessential concoctions.

"These are classic cocktails, and what's more historic than Galveston?" Stringer says.
Nearly 77,000 Houston-area employees evaluated their employers for this year's Top Workplaces section.

Either online or on paper, they rated their companies in such areas as opportunities for advancement, the value of pay and benefits, and the leadership and environment of their workplaces.

WorkplaceDynamics, a Pennsylvania research firm, invited 1,496 local companies to participate and surveyed 281 of them, then tallied the results.

Anyone, such as an employee or a customer, could nominate a workplace for consideration. The Chronicle ran articles and ads about the contest earlier this year. The surveys were done over a four-month period beginning in mid-April.

The Chronicle is one of 45 media partners for which WorkplaceDynamics compiles workplace rankings. In 2015, the company surveyed 2.4 million employees at 6,600 organizations to generate the Top Workplaces lists.

The local list, which made its debut in 2010 with 100 companies, was expanded to 150 companies in 2012.

In total, 17 employers have earned spots on the list all seven years. This year, 46 companies are new to the list.

The local survey participants employ 145,547 people in the area; 122,118 of the employees received surveys, and 76,694 responded.

The organizations on the list included public and private entities and nonprofit groups.

WorkplaceDynamics reached out to companies with at least 50 employees.

Included in the Houston Top Workplaces rankings:

 Top 30 Large (out of 41 participants with 500 or more employees in the region)

 Top 50 Midsize (out of 88 participants with 150-499 employees in the region)

 Top 70 Small (out of 152 participants with 149 or fewer employees in the region)

Notes about the survey:

WorkplaceDynamics required a response rate of at least 35 percent for employers based in the area.

For employers with 85 or fewer employees, at least 30 responders were required. For larger employers, surveys could be sent to employees in a random sample. For those with 2,500 or fewer employees, surveys were sent to at least 500 employees. For employers with more than 2,500 but fewer than 5,000 employees, surveys were sent to at least 20 percent. For employers with 5,000 or more, at least 1,000 surveys were sent.

Employers are ranked by size bands because smaller employers tend to score higher than midsize employers, which in turn tend to score higher than large employers.
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At King's Biergarten in Pearland, co-owner Phillip Sitter says the key to success is casting aside conventional rules of employer-employee interactions.

In five years, the Bavarian and Austrian castle-themed restaurant has expanded far beyond his father Johann Sitter's idea for a carwash that offered beer and brats for waiting customers.

It's now a full-service restaurant that has expanded 11 times and now seats 350 people and serves about 15,000 customers monthly. The business ranked No. 3 among small businesses on this year's Top Workplaces list compiled by WorkplaceDynamics.

King's Biergarten also will expand to a second location in Houston's Heights area near T.C. Jester and Ella later this year. Phillip Sitter expects to duplicate the family atmosphere there that has made the original a hit with customers as well as servers, cooks and dishwashers.

"We're just people who just put 100 percent of our heart and soul into our business," Sitter said.

Unconventional doesn't begin to describe the restaurant. You won't find employee handbooks to read or prepared scripts to memorize.

The general rule is: Talk to and treat customers the way you feel they should be talked to and treated.

The staff of 60 isn't divided between traditional "back-of-house" and "front-of-house" sections like in other restaurants. Co-workers say they really know each other and work together to serve their customers.

"So by following standards, that's how you're adding value," said Jeannette Gonzalez, who began as a server the first week the restaurant opened and now is general manager.

Pre-shift meetings can end with impromptu water balloon fights or spontaneous dancing. Employees can choose their own work attire, a tradition begun when Gonzalez showed up in a dirndl, the traditional skirt and apron worn in Bavaria and Austria, to get more tips.

The look caught on with the other servers. Women wear dirndls, while men don lederhosen and suspenders.

Building a sense of purpose in an atmosphere where fun is encouraged builds trust. Sitter offers $200 cash to anyone who quits. He hasn't had to pay it.

"We're all practically family," one of those 60 employees told WorkplaceDynamics. "I love that I look forward to coming to work every day because of them and our guests."

"I love how we are a team and we are constantly seeking to grow," another employee said. "It's such an incredible blessing to work here. Wish more people could experience the joy I feel when they go to their jobs."
Wood Group, a multinational oil and gas company with nearly 3,000 employees at several locations around Houston, is the winner of this year's Top Workplaces award for work/life flexibility.

Vikki Pink, president of the People and Organization team at the 34-year-old U.K.-based company, recently discussed Wood Group's initiatives in this area and how giving employees more control over their work life makes them happier and more willing to go the extra mile when the company needs them to.

Following are edited excerpts:

Q: How does Wood Group make it easier for employees to achieve work-life flexibility?

A: It's not the same across our organization because we have quite varied work sites, and we have a whole different range of services that we offer our clients. It means our work sites are very varied. Because of this, we have put these policies and practices in place that provide flexible work to our people, and we really do need that to make sure we're not cookie-cutter, we're not trying to make people all fit into one thing, but we're looking at the needs of our people and we're working to address those. To me, though, the core piece of what we offer to our people is not just in our policies, but also in our process, how we implement something on a daily basis. A big part of that is that we employ the right people. When we bring people into the business, we look for high performance, we look for motivation, we look for people who will be engaged right from Day 1. The second piece of this is that leaders are accountable for the performance of their people, and therefore, we trust our leaders to manage people on a daily basis, and that includes providing flexibility. So it's really important that our leaders have the right people, they can then trust their people and when our people need a certain level of flexibility for needs that pop up, that leaders will trust their people to tend to their own lives. It's a real blend because just as we are prepared to go the extra mile and give people as much flexibility as we can within reason, we often times ask them to go the extra mile for us so that we are able to deliver the best to our clients.

Q: Do you have a written structure on flexibility, and what might that look like?

A: We have things like a 9/80, where people work 80 hours over nine days and they have every second Friday off, some have a half-day during the week that people are allowed to take, and usually it's a Friday afternoon. Sometimes we have flexible hours where they have to work four hours but they can start and finish their day pretty much at the times that they choose. And then of course there's the ad hoc, when one-off things happen to people and we trust them to go and achieve the things they need to do.

Q: So you don't restrict workers to a handful of policies but try to work together within the guidelines with them to see what's the best?

A: Absolutely. A good example is a person who worked with us who lives quite a way away and at the moment, she's really had a hard time getting through areas damaged by water, and so this person has asked us if she would be able to work two days from home in the next three weeks while they repair some roads. Well, of course she can. I look at her productivity, her attitude, her commitment, there is no doubt that we can give her that flexibility. There would be nothing worse in such a situation than saying no, and then you've got a disgruntled employee who is not going to be performing well at work when they're dealing with such a serious issue.

Q: How does flexibility for employees benefit the company? At the end of the day, why did you decide to implement these policies?

A: We know that when people feel that they're well treated and well looked after by the business that they will perform at the maximum. We have higher engagement, and we know that higher engagement from our people means they will bring their best to work.

Q: Are there any other things you do for employees in this area?

A: We also offer, at work and during work hours, the opportunity for people to participate in social responsibility activities. For example, once people physically made bicycles, and those bikes were sold for charity. We've had people make food packages and deliver them to food banks. Those things are done on-site during work hours.

So for the people who have strong social responsibility and commitment who may find it hard to stick to those type of events, we do provide some of it on site here, and we think it's really important for us as a business to give back to the community and if we can get our people involved in that, it kind of meets two things. They're able to have a little bit of balance in their workday, and feel like they're contributing to something as well.
Hector Herrera, assistant superintendent of support services for Dayton ISD, was inducted Thursday, Nov. 3, into the Dayton Rotary Club.

Herrera has been with the Dayton Independent School District for the past 2  years. Bill Buchanan, long-time Rotarian, did the honor of inducting Herrera. Dr. Jessica Johnson, Dayton ISD superintendent and Rotary president, sponsored Herrera and Mr. Kory Whitley has been assigned his Rotarian mentor.

This was the Club's 'Rotary Themed' program, so after the induction, Johnson did some team building activities with the club. The Rotarians played the "Who Am I?" game from a survey conducted previously over interesting facts about each member. Afterward, the team-building continued in an entertaining inside/outside circle activity over Thanksgiving fun facts.

Rotarian Jeff Lambright told the group they were ready to roll out their service project for the year which is called 'Bucks for Bus Stops'.

"Please join us in brightening a child's day! The Dayton Rotary Club will be installing bus stops around town in various locations so our school children will no longer have to worry about the weather while waiting for the bus. One hundred percent of all funds donated to this service project will go directly to the bus stops and all donations are 100 percent tax deductible. Your support is vital to helping us build a better community," Lambright said.

The various levels of donations were done with the Rotary's 4-Way Test and the donation levels are:

Truth: $25 - $100

Fair: $125 - $300

Good Will: $325 - $500

Beneficial to All: $525 - $900

4 Way Test: $ 1,000 and above

For more information, contact any Dayton Rotary member or call Jessica Johnson at 936-258-2667 or Jeff Lambright at 936 334-5137.

The Rotarians were reminded that Americans have so much for which to be thankful. Johnson shared a short poem over "What I Am Thankful For" that she had heard Lester Ray Wisegerber read at another meeting. She reminded the Rotarians that she was thankful for the Dayton Rotary Club. Johnson stated that she was appreciative they were a solid club that has a strong foundation and together make a positive impact upon the community.
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Blame it on Beyonce. Really.

Clara De Decker, a film student at The Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, is traveling across the country for her final project, a documentary called "Blame Beyonce."

She's in Houston for a week, exploring the places and talking to people connected to the Houston superstar.

The title is a playful ode to Beyonce, who De Decker says inspired her to believe "that I too, could do anything I wanted in life as long as I worked hard enough to get there. It was a state of mind that has comforted me through the hard moments in life, the occasional lack of confidence, the existential doubts."

COUNTRY STRONG: Beyonce joins the Dixie Chicks for spectacular CMA Awards performance

In short, she blames Beyonce for motivating her to follow her dreams. And she's pushing to see how far she can take it. She's chronicling it all on social media.

De Decker met with Jessica Bolanos Vanegas, arguably the biggest Bey fan in Houston, and is exploring various Bey-related points all over the city. She then heads to L.A. and New York with hopes of meeting her idol face to face.

Watch the video for more on the "Blame Beyonce" project and to see some of Bolanos Vanegas' staggering collection.
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Mother's Day was six months ago, but Houston Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Cohen voted at the West Gray polling place Wednesday accompanied by her 101-year-old mother Elaine Rippner.

The inter-generational outing took place at the West Gray polling location in central Houston.
Beckwith's Open House

Lynn Beckwith started hosting an annual Veterans Day open house several years ago as a way to honor those who have served in the military.

"I have veterans both in my family and staff," said Beckwith, owner of Beckwith's Car Care in Humble. "My family and I are very patriotic. I tear up when they play the National Anthem. Veterans and active military have given up so much to serve our country. It is important to honor, celebrate and pay tribute to them."

This year is no exception.

To thank veterans for their service, Beckwith's Car Care will offer free food, beverages and special gifts for veterans and active military members from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11.

The special gift includes a commemorative mug filled with treats. The mug also includes a certificate for a complimentary oil change to be redeemed at the convenience of the recipient.

"There's no purchase necessary," Beckwith said. "You do not have to be a customer. This is just our way to say thank you to veterans."

For the address and more information, visit http://www.beckwiths.com/.

Beckwith's Car Care is not the only local entity hosting an event in honor of Veterans Day this year.

Wildcat Salute

Humble High School will be hosting its 10th annual community Wildcat Veterans Salute in the school commons at 7:25 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11.

Veterans and the Humble community are invited to enjoy the program, which includes the efforts of the band, choir, Key Club, Future Farmers of America and several other students, faculty and community members.

A replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier will be displayed in honor of those who lost their life but have not been identified.

"A wreath will be placed in front of the tomb in remembrance to honor those who served in the military and armed services, and the JROTC will guard the tomb throughout the day," said Valonia Walker, Humble ISD Public Communications representative. "There will be several speakers and a performance from the choir. Afterward, there will be a continental breakfast where the community can sit and talk with veterans. It's a good opportunity for students to speak with veterans, learn about them and thank them for all they've done."

JROTC cadets will be available to direct parking.

Those interested in attending can RSVP to Stacey Hamlet, SL and IB CAS coordinator, at 281-641-6395 or Stacey.hamlet@humble.k12.tx.us.

For more information, visit http://www.humbleisd.net/hhs.

Veterans Luncheon

The May Community Center also has hosted an annual Veterans Day event for several years.

The 2016 Veterans Luncheon will be at the May Community Center at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11.

All veterans are treated to a complimentary meal. There is a suggested $5 donation for non-veterans attending the event.

"It's a very moving event," said Kim Rapsilver, May Center administrative assistant. "The JROTC from Hargrave High School presents the Color Guard; there will be the Missing Man Table and ceremony honoring veterans. We've been asking people here at the center to bring photos of their veterans, so there will be a collection of those nearby as well. It really is very heartwarming; I cried last year. We are proud to give honor to the men and women who served our country."

Reservations can be made by calling the May Community Center at 713-274-2434.

Civil war presentation

For those who already have plans for Nov. 11, Lone Star College-Kingwood is offering a Veterans Day-inspired event the day prior to Veterans Day.

LSC-Kingwood invites the community to a unique presentation about the American Civil War and Union veterans from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in the Student Conference Center.

Author and Sam Houston State University history professor Dr. Brian Jordan will discuss his book "Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War," which was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in 2015.

"We try to always honor veterans in one way or another, but this is the first year we've had a speaker," said Dr. John Barr, LSC-Kingwood history professor. "Any time you have someone that has written a book as well received runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize, you want that person to speak with people in the community. His book is on Union veterans in the Civil War and how they coped with the peace.

"There were so many veterans after the Civil War and it was really the first time the United States had to cope with that. It is interesting in and of itself to learn of the difficulties the country and veterans faced. We tend to think about the actual battles and not as much about the aftermath. I think part of the premise of his work is that by looking at how veterans coped in the 19th century, it sheds light on current issues regarding the treatment of veterans coming back."

The presentation is free and registration is not required.

For more information visit http://www.lonestar.edu/visiting-professor-discusses-the-american-civil-war-at-lsc-kingwood.htm.
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The continued growth in the Humble ISD will required a bond referendum within two years to fund necessary expansion and improvement projects, a district official said.

"We have a lot of growth in this area, especially along West Lake Houston Parkway and in the southern part of Humble ISD," Roger Brown, Humble ISD assistant superintendent of support services, said during the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce's Atascocita BizCom meeting Thursday, Nov. 3.

He said Humble ISD serves a little over 41,000 students; and by 2023, that will grow to 52,000. Brown said 50 new subdivisions will have been built by then, creating the need for more schools. Eventually Humble ISD will need to have six new schools, including one high school, two middle schools and three elementary schools.

The bond package probably will go to the voters in fall 2017 or spring 2018.

Humble ISD recently engaged the services of PBK Architects to conduct a facility assessment for the past seven months.

"This means they are going into every one of our facilities to walk through, study, meet the staff and are currently in the process of putting together a long-range facility plan, which will give us and our residents an idea of improvements we need to do in the future," Brown said. "These detailed plans will also give us great history and knowledge on Humble ISD."

Brown said the assessment will give the district a priority list:

* Priority 1  highlights issues that need to be addressed right away

* Priority 2  shows issues that need to be looked at within two years

* Priority 3  issues that need to be looked at in the next 10 years or so.

"What this does is help us build for our next bond issue," Brown said. "These are the planning documents for what the school district needs as we continue to grow."

District representatives hope to have the completed planning documents by the beginning of 2017 and start moving forward with renovations and improvements.

"Until we assemble the bond study committee, which is made up of district staff and community members, and look at the priority items as well as look at what our bond capacity is, then we will have a better idea of when we will put together that bond package for a vote," Humble ISD board member Robert Sitton said.

New Construction

Middle school #9 will be an approximately 204,000-square-foot facility that can house up to 1,050 students, while elementary school #28 will serve 950 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade. The building will be approximately 111,000 square feet.

The district has $155 million in authorized unsold bonds from the bond election in 2008.

This will cover the costs of all the land purchases and construction for elementary #28, elementary #29, which the district is in negotiations for a parcel of land in the Lakewood Pines subdivision, and middle school #9. But they will have to put together a bond referendum that is approved or not approved by the voters.

Construction continues to progress on elementary #28, located in The Groves, as they recently poured the slab and it is expected to be open for students in fall 2017; while middle school #9 will open in fall 2018.

For more information, visit http://humbleisd.net/.
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A Houston mother remained in jail Thursday, accused of falling asleep in a car with the motor running and her two young daughters in the back seat.

Jessica Bello, 20, was arrested about 11:35 p.m. Tuesday in nwest Houston. She was in a car stopped at a stop sign at Parana and Neuens with the motor running, according to the Houston Police Department.
Much of Adrianna Rodriguez's role in Purple Box Theater's production of "August: Osage County" is performed by her eyes.

Rodriguez, 36, of Pasadena portrays Johnna, a Cheyenne woman whom a frustrated, once-famous poet named Beverly Weston hires to be a live-in cook and caregiver for his drug-addled, chain-smoking wife, Violet.

"She is a silent observer," Rodriguez said of her character. "Her eyes are always moving, taking in the interaction between Violet and Beverly, then Barbara and her husband, Bill, and Violet and her daughters.

"Johnna is in and out in almost every scene; so she gets a good feel for each character and what makes them tick," Rodriguez said. "In her own little way, she is like the glue, trying to keep it all together."

"August: Osage County," the story about how an Oklahoma family comes apart at the seams when the patriarch goes missing, plays through Nov. 13 at the Friendswood theater, 1309 W. Parkwood.

The pl;ay is the second show for Rodriguez at Purple Box Theatre. Both she and Friendswood City Council Steve Rockey, who plays Beverly Weston, appeared in the theater's recent mystery, "Web of Murder."

"He's great," said Rodriguez. "He's funny."

Victoria Reyes of League City plays Ivy, the spinster middle daughter of Beverly and Violet Weston.

"Violet is really, really mean, and Ivy is very shy and timid," said Reyes. "She is the only daughter who stayed close to home, and she gets beaten up a lot by her mom."

As Violet, Friendswood realtor Deborah Winters Chaney is "so amazing, so fabulous, so real," Reyes said, "it makes me feel very much like Ivy. It doesn't take a whole lot of acting to cower when Violet says mean things."

Ivy's younger sister, Karen, is played by Gina McPherson, also of League City.

"She is very happy until she arrives to all of this horrible stuff going on," said McPherson. "At first, she is pretty self-absorbed, how she goes on and on about herself. It's kind of funny. She's pretty 'out there.'"

Karen is accompanied by her shifty fiancee, a Florida playboy who flirts with Karen's 14-year-old niece and gets caught smoking a joint with her.

"What I love about Karen is that she has a lot of meaty layers that don't show up until the end of the play," said McPherson. "You don't see them at the beginning."

As the family matriarch, Violet is not a good example on parenting for McPherson, who is divorced and rearing two daughters, ages 15 and 12, who attend Clear Falls High School and League City Intermediate.

"They are the most supportive daughters in the world," McPherson said. "Since I got back into acting two years ago, they have encouraged me to keep at it. I'm a little too much of a 'good friend' to them, but there is a lot of laughter."

The oldest of Violet's three daughters, Karen, is played by Christine Jones of Webster.

Karen decides to clean up the play's toxic messes by taking control of the household, but she soon finds that to be an impossible task in a family so dysfunctional.

The 2013 film version of the play scored Academy Award nominations for Meryl Streep as Violet and Julia Roberts as Karen.

The epic, tragicomic play by Tracy Letts contains a prologue, followed by three acts. It won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama after premiering at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.

The play transferred to Broadway with 11 members of the original cast, including the playwright's father, Dennis Letts, as the family's patriarch.

"August: Osage County" won Tony Awards for best play, direction, scenic design and acting honors for two Chicago actresses, Deanna Dunagan (lead) as Violet and Rondi Reed (featured) as Violet's spunky sister, Mattie Fae Aikin.

Mattie Fae is portrayed by Teresa McLemore of Pearland, whose new granddaughter, coincidentally, is named Maddie Kay.

"It was meant to be, I guess," said McLemore, who is 61.

A counselor at Carleston Elementary School in Pearland, she added, "I get to act every day. I'm on the microphone in the cafeteria. I announce the spelling bee and different parent programs."

In addition, McLemore has recently performed in "The Sound of Music" at Pasadena Little Theatre, "The Philadelphia Story" at Clear Creek Community Theatre and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" for Kids' Backporch Productions in Pearland.

"Of course, everybody knows me for my Cher imitation," laughed McLemore. "Mattie Fae is a whole lot like me."

Midway through Act III, Mattie Fae utters perhaps the funniest line in the play when she deflects a monumental problem into the lap of another character.

"It's a zinger," said McLemore. "I love it. It's a great blackout line."

Mattie Fae's husband, Charlie Aiken, is played by Pat Monks, 58, of Clear Lake.

Monks is a native of Rush, Ireland, where his entire family participated in shows at Millbank Theatre.

Purple Box Theatre artistic director Cathy Holbrook directed the production.

The title of the play is an homage to the playwright's late mentor, Howard Stark, who penned a poem, "August: Osage County," that was published in "Family Album: a Collection of Poetry" in 1995.
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According to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, a vote for Hillary Clinton is a condemnation to hell.

The San Diego church released a bulletin stating that it "is a mortal sin to vote Democrat ... immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell," the San Diego Union Tribune reports.

A second flyer, published Oct. 30, 2016, twisted a quote from a 2015 Clinton speech to suggest that she was telling Christians to support abortion.

The flyer read: "The devil does this through tactics outlined by (late American community organizer) Saul Alinsky with the outcome as Hillary Clinton stated 'And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed,' to draw us away from God's teachings regarding the sanctity of life to those of the world and its prince."

MORE CONTROVERSY: Pope's 10 most controversial comments

The San Diego Tribune reports that the actual quote was made regarding "eliminating cultural barriers that prevent girls from attending elementary school and women from attending college" as well as access to maternal and reproductive healthcare, and ensuring that domestic violence laws are enforced.

It also lists five "non-negotiables," which it claims includes abortion, homosexual marriage and embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia and human cloning.

According to the Daily News, church pastor Richard Perozich claimed that a third party wrote the flyer, and that they'd gone "a little beyond" the church-approved message. "I would never tell anyone to 'vote this' or 'vote that," Perozich told the publication.

NOT IN THE MOVIES: Vatican denies pope's rumored cinematic debut

As a non-profit organization, one of the IRS regulations for receiving tax-free status includes not supporting or opposing political campaigns. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was immediately at risk of losing its tax-exempt status the moment that bulletin was distributed. Although the church would not be to blame if a third party was guilty of secretly inserting the handout.

In the past, the pope Francis has spoken out against Donald Trump, saying that his actions and proposal were "not Christian," but he's never suggested a vote for either party.

A curious note that the Huffington Post pointed out: The only Catholic president elected to office in the U.S. was John F. Kennedy, a democrat.
The legacy of a University of Bristol graduate will continue in the form of a new scholarship, designed to help Ethiopian people better understand the threat volcanoes pose to life, livelihood and the landscape.

Michael Dreyfus died in a road accident in Kenya at the age of 28 and will be remembered thanks to the newly established 'Michael Dreyfus Scholarship'  set-up to support an Ethiopian PhD student to study in Bristol.

The scholarship has been made possible thanks to Michael's university friends, George Elliston, Skip and Cathy McMullan, who read about joint research between the University of Bristol and Addis Ababa University into volcanic activity in Africa's Great Rift Valley.

Their donation has enabled 35-year-old Tesfaye Temtime Tessema to undertake a PhD in Bristol over three years, during which he will focus his research on applying geophysical methods to the tectonics and geothermal processes of volcanoes in the Ethiopian Rift.

George Elliston, who completed a Law degree in 1971, said: "What was attractive to us as donors was the idea of giving an Ethiopian PhD student the opportunity to learn from Bristol's first rate volcano specialists.

"We have named this scholarship after one of our dearest friends from Bristol, Michael Dreyfus, who died aged 28 during a trip to Kenya. Mike was a quick-witted and charismatic man, whom we all loved. He died close to the Rift Valley, and here we are in another part of the Rift, looking to the future. So, it's a nice way of keeping his memory alive in our hearts, and establishing some continuity between successive Bristol generations."

The overall aim of the scholarship is to help develop a strong network of well-trained Ethiopian scientists who will be able to advise the government, shape policies on energy and risk, and continue with the important research.

"Finding finance for non-UK and EU postgraduates is a real challenge, yet volcanology by its nature is international. By training these students, Bristol can extend its world reputation, developing close relations with universities throughout the world. We very much hope that more alumni donors will in the future join us in supporting these kinds of projects," added George Elliston.

Tesfaye's research is part of the ongoing 3.7 million RiftVolc study. Researchers aim to understand past volcanic behaviour, search for signs of current activity and make a long-range eruptive forecast for the region. A recent report for the World Bank ranked 49 of Ethiopia's 65 volcanoes in the highest category of hazard uncertainty.

Tesfaye, who has just started his PhD in Bristol after completing his masters at Addis Ababa University, said: "There isn't a full PhD programme in Ethiopia for my area of research so it's been amazing to have this opportunity in Bristol, which has a reputation for being the best at volcanology research.

"People are used to living with the risk of earthquakes in Ethiopia but it isn't a top priority for the government, so research like this is really important for improving peoples understanding and assessing the threat they pose."

Tesfaye's PhD supervisor is Dr Juliet Biggs, from the School of Earth Sciences, who was the first person to discover that Ethiopia's volcanoes are restless and has worked extensively in the country.

Another important element of the RiftVolc project, which runs until 2019, is learning more about the volcanoes' enormous potential for geothermal energy. Ethiopia aims to increase its geothermal output by 300 times by 2030, but the resource needs to be developed safely and efficiently.
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About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com

From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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News / Africa

by BBC

Clive Derby-Lewis, a South African politician jailed for the 1993 assassination of Communist Party leader Chris Hani, has died at the age of 80.Mr Hani led the military wing of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress Party and was among South Africa's most popular black politicians.Derby-Lewis opposed ending white minority rule and was trying to start a race war in the last days of apartheid.Another man, Janusz Walus, shot Mr Hani but Derby-Lewis provided the gun.He was initially sentenced to death, alongside Walus, but his sentence was commuted when South Africa abolished the death penalty in 1995.The murder was intended to spark riots that escalated racial tensions and harmed reconciliation efforts.But it backfired as Mandela appeared presidential while he called for calm, and pressured then-President FW de Klerk to set a date for the historic democratic election in which he was swept to power.Derby-Lewis was a founder member of the Conservative Party in 1982.Partly due to his terminal lung cancer, he was granted parole in June 2015 after 22 years in prison, despite fierce objections from the Hani family.He is survived by his wife Gaye, a fellow Conservative Party politician.
News / Education

by Staff Reporter

The Chancellor of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) President Robert Mugabe has capped 2 342 graduands.In his address at the graduation ceremony, NUST Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Samson Sibanda said the institution has taken giant strides to redirect itself to its core mandate of being the country's technology nerve center in line with the STEM national vision.He said in its 2016-2017 academic intake of 2 096 students, 1 222 of them accounting for 58 percent of the enrolment are studying STEM subjects.Professor Sibanda said in line with NUST's new mission statement that seeks to spearhead human capital development for industrial and socio-economic transformation through science and technology-based solutions, they have established an Applied Genetic Testing Center and are now offering DNA testing services.He also said that the university is now hosting the geo-spatial technology laboratory which is a SADC project monitoring the environment.Professor Sibanda revealed that NUST is on a massive drive to position the university as a big player in appropriate human capital development in the country.Amongst those that graduated was Sunday News Editor Limukani Ncube and former ZBC SFM chief executive officer Methuseli Moyo who graduated with a Master of Science degree in Journalism and Media
News / National

by Tshisa

SHOCKING video of what appears to be South African "police" inflicting torture to theft-accused woman. The woman is in handcuffs, a long stick put to tie her legs together dangling face up balanced by the stick on a bench. The woman is heard apologising and appears to be in excruciating pain. Its raising the spectre of another police brutality scandal in SA. This can't be allowed in the 21st Century.The wrongful conduct of those in the room was intentional, evilly motivated and involved reckless, callous and deliberate indifference to South African human rights charter. To force someone to admit a crime using such barbaric tactics is gross violation of human rights. They don't even torture murderers, rapists and robbers the way they brutalised the woman. South African people should look for this woman in the video and help her get justice! They had the guts to video the woman and avoided filming themselves!
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Mater Dei Hospital has sued a Bulawayo resident for a debt of over $3 700 that she owes the health institution on unspecified service bill.The hospital filed its summons at the Bulawayo High Court on October 27 citing Chumile Tshuma as the defendant in the matter."You the defendant you are called upon to pay the plaintiff the sum of $3 765.48 interests on the said amount at the prescribed rate from June 1 2012 to date of full and final payment."You are required to pay the sum by virtue of judgement obtained against you in Bulawayo on March 2 2016 under which you were ordered to pay the sum of $3 765.48."You were also ordered to pay the costs that case and the collection commission," reads the summons in part.The summons states that if she failed to pay at a stipulated time she must appear before the court on November 10 to explain why she has not yet paid.Tshuma is yet to respond to the summons.
Law enforcement officials said they are remaining vigilant in the wake of a report that Texas is a possible target for a pre-election terror attack, but would neither confirm nor deny reported warnings of an al-Qaeda plot to shed blood on U.S. soil.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his office was monitoring the situation and is in close coordination with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

"Texans should go about their daily lives as usual, but remain vigilant over the next several days and report any suspicious activity to state or local law enforcement," he said. "The state of Texas will continue to do everything it can to ensure the safety and security of its citizens."

The FBI said it was working on a daily basis to assess intelligence and disrupt any potential threats.

"The counter-terrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States," said FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, spokeswoman for the FBI's Houston Division.

CBS News reported Friday that sources had confirmed that U.S. intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces that al Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday, the day before Tuesday's election.

"It is believed that New York, Texas and Virginia are all possible targets, though no specific locations are mentioned," CBS notes.

Houston Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said anti-terror efforts are regularly ongoing.

"We don't confirm any specific threats, however we are always monitoring and assessing the environment and take actions accordingly," she said.

Fred Burton, a terrorism expert for Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm, said the latest buzz words are "overabundance of caution," meaning that until proven otherwise, it has to be assumed that groups are planning attacks.

"When isn't al-Qaeda trying to kill us?" said Burton, who previously worked in counter-terrorism for the State Department.

"I would argue that al-Qadea has never stopped planning attacks since 911," he said. "If you have an organization that certainly has the Untied States in its gun sights, this date is certainly one of those that counter terrorism officials have to take seriously."

No matter whether the plot is valid, Burton said it is all but impossible to prevent all types of attacks.

"I have no confirmation of the credibility of this information, but having said that, how difficult is it to pick up a machete or drive a truck into a crowd?" he said.

"I'm confident that the FBI has a good enough handle on the interdiction of any massive 911 type strike, but I don't think you can stop every potential lone wolf that decides to act under the name of al Qaeda," he said. "That is the problem."

A Houston man who pledged his allegiance to ISIS and plotted to detonate homemade bombs in local shopping malls pleaded guilty last month to to a terrorism-related charge.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, a 24-year-old father, stockpiled circuitry components, wireless remotes and other bomb-making implements in his west Houston apartment, according to court documents.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison at a January sentencing.

Authorities began investigating him in April 2014, looking at his communications with other suspected terrorists and monitoring his social media posts.

"I will make a widow of you," he told his wife in a call intercepted by authorities. "You will get a phone call with news of my death."

Burton, the Stratfor expert, said significant dates, such as the presidential election, always bring the potential for terrorism, but counter-terror agents face a double-edge sword.

"If you elevate your collection efforts for looking for these threats, you will find them," he said, "but whether or not on an operational level there is actually any tactical plan is a whole other kettle of fish."
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Sandra Bland's mother has reached a final settlement in the lawsuit over her daughter's arrest and suicide at the Waller County Jail, ending a 16-month quest for answers in a case that brought international attention to allegations of disparate treatment of African Americans by police.

A federal judge this week dismissed the civil case after the parties agreed to a $1.9 million settlement, clearing the way for a misdemeanor perjury charge to proceed against the state trooper who stopped Bland on a rural roadway for failing to signal a lane change.

In a terse one-page ruling, U.S. District Judge David Hittner accepted the mediated agreement lawyers for Bland's mother hammered out with the attorneys for 11 Waller County officials and the trooper who arrested her on allegations she was combative after the traffic stop.

The trooper, Brian Encinia, was fired by Texas Department of Public Safety. His criminal case on allegations he lied during the investigation is pending in state court.

In mid-September, Bland's mother announced the parties had arrived at a monetary settlement and county officials agreed to improve how inmates are booked and supervised at the jail. They also agreed to re-mediate how rural jails handle medical and mental health needs when they don't have on-site providers.

Waller County has budgeted for next year to hire a jailer with EMT qualifications and has already implemented a system that automates cell checks, making it impossible for guards to falsify that they've checked on an inmate if they haven't. The jail also has increased its training for jailers on how to handle mental health assessment and suicide risks during intake.

Elton Mathis, the district attorney for Waller County, said "One of the positive things to come out of this is there's a dialogue being had in the corridors of power that it's OK to talk about mental health issues, there's nothing to be ashamed of. They are conversations that need to be had by those in government so the laws and the resources are there for us to care for people."

County Judge Trey Duhon said too heavy a burden had been placed on jailers who had a minimal amount training to deal with mental health issues they were not equipped to handle.

In addition, DPS has implemented de-escalation training for state troopers and cadets in training -- to help prevent incidents from becoming contentious -- prior to the settlement.

The state Attorney General could not be reached for comment.

In Austin, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, has been advocating for a Sandra Bland Act in the upcoming legislative session. The reforms he has discussed would include a provision that would prohibit police from stopping vehicles under petty pretexts when their intent is to execute a random search. Coleman and many Black Lives Matter activists have said they believe Bland was stopped under such a pretext.

Mathis, the Waller County DA ,said he and the county judge will advocate in the legislature that the state fund telemedicine, so rural jails can have a psychiatrist on call 24 hours.

"It's inexcusable in this day and age that we have cell phones and FaceTime and Skype that rural counties can't each have a medical doctor available by Skype," Mathis said.

When she announced a settlement was in the works, Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, stated the resolution would have "a rippling effect across the country."

"I'm hopeful there won't be any more unlawful arrests. I'm hopeful with this spotlight and this settlement that others don't have to receive a call from 1,000 miles away that their child is on the way to the morgue," she said.

She could not be reached on Wednesday, but her lawyer, Thomas Rhodes reiterated Reed-Veal's previous statement that her emphasis was never on money.

"The driving force for the family was always to make changes to hopefully prevent needless deaths like this in the future," Rhodes said.

Duhon said jail improvements began in the county before the Bland's death: "There's no doubt we've been painted with a very broad brush in a way that doesn't reflect what Waller County really is about here and now. In other words, this is not your grandfather's Waller County."

He added, "There be positive things that will come about as a result of the Sandra Bland incident, absolutely. No doubt."

Bland, who was from a suburb of Chicago, had recently relocated to Waller County and was about to begin a job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, when Encinia pulled her over July 10, 2015.

In a dash-cam video that went viral after Bland's death, Encinia drew his Taser and told Bland he would "light her up" if she did not extinguish her cigarette. He ordered Bland to exit her car and after a scuffle off camera, arrested her.

A Prairie View patrolman who arrived to assist the trooper after Bland had been detained in the back of a squad car, told the Houston Chronicle heoverheard Encinia verbally debating what charge he should file against Bland.

Bland told officials at the jail she had previously attempted suicide but was not suicidal.

A former jailer said in a sworn deposition that he had falsified records to indicate he had checked on Bland shortly before she was found in her cell three days after she was booked, with a noose fashioned from a garbage bag.

Her family in Illinois said communications broke down over the weekend and they were unable to get her bonded out.
Police have released the sketch of a man suspected in the kidnapping of a 13-year-old boy last month as the teen walked to school in northwest Houston.

The incident happened about 8:15 a.m. Oct. 18 in the 7600 block of Tidwell near Hollister, according to the Houston Police Department.

Police said the boy was walking along Tidwell on his way to school when a white van stopped beside him. The driver asked the student if he needed a ride to school. Thinking the van picked up students to take them to school, the teen climbed into the front passenger seat.

As they drove, the suspect inappropriately touched the boy and offered him money to perform sexual acts. When the boy resisted, the man grabbed the teen's hand and placed it on his lap.

When the van stopped at a red light the teen opened the door, jumped out and ran away.

The suspect is described as being black and between 40 years old and 50 years old. He was bald and had brown eyes and a medium build. He had loose skin under his chin similar to a double chin. He wore a black polo T-shirt and navy-blue cargo shorts.

Anyone with information about the case or the suspect's identity is urged to contact the HPD Northeast Patrol Division at 713-635-0200 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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Former lawyer Hilda Valadez, on probation since 2014 for defrauding Bexar County by forging judges signatures to overcharge on indigent defense work, was found dead at her residence Monday.

A woman called police after going to her apartment in the 20000 block of Huebner Road to check on her, a police report said. Valadez was in bed, fully clothed, with her head on the pillow and had evidently been there for some time, the report stated.

Valadez was 55. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet determined a cause or manner of death.

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Police did not identify the woman who made the discovery. The report said she told officers she had not talked to Valadez in several days and that Valadez had demonstrated suicidal behavior in the past, and had previously tried to overdose on pills.

Officers found pill containers on a table in the living room but none near Valadez's body, the report stated.

Valadez had made a name for herself with more court-appointed criminal defense cases for indigent clients than any other attorney in Bexar County until authorities found she repeatedly forged the signatures of three judges over a four-year period during which the county paid her more than $594,000.

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She pleaded guilty in March, 2014 to one count each of forgery and securing execution of a document by deception. Visiting Judge Stephen Ables commuted a 10-year prison sentence to probation after Valadez paid Bexar County $76,670, the full amount she owed in restitution.

Valadez had an alcohol problem and had mental health issues that were not being addressed, which is why she was making bad decisions, her attorney, Joel Hoelscher, said at the time.

Her probation officer had seen no indication in recent weeks that anything was wrong, Jarvis Anderson, chief probation officer for the Bexar County Community Supervision & Corrections Department, said Thursday.

Valadez was doing well on probation and was happy and seemed upbeat during her last in-person visit Sept. 7, he said. She last spoke with the officer on Oct. 12, said Anderson, who added, It's tragic whenever anyone loses their life.

ezavala@express-news.net

Twitter: @elizabeth2863
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If a meme or hashtag is pithy or even funny, it's not likely to be kind.

Such is the case with one of the latest hashtags about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: #DrunkHillary.

In the past week or so, about a dozen photos have been circulated on Twitter, purporting to show that Clinton drinks to excess. In some of these unflattering poses, the candidate has a glass in her hand.

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According to The Washington Post, "drunk Hillary" as a Google search topic started gaining steam in the fall and surpassed "Hillary's health" in late October.

Some of the same photos and videos that were cited as evidence of Clinton's failing health are now used as "proof" she is a secret alcoholic.

A leaked email that has been interpreted to be about Clinton is adding to the "drunk" theory.

"I think you should call her and sober her up some," Clinton campaign Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri wrote in an email to campaign chair John Podesta. The time stamp of about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 8, 2015, a Saturday, has been cited as incriminatingly early in the day to be tipsy.

UPS AND DOWNS: Trump leads Clinton by just 3 percentage points in Texas

There is no proof, however, that the email was about Clinton and that "sober up" referred to alcohol, the Post stated. Nor is there any proof that Clinton has a drinking problem.

"It seems very plausible that memes circulating that show Clinton as having a drinking problem are to draw into question her fitness for the presidency, where 'fitness' is physical strength and a masculine quality," Meredith Conroy, an assistant professor of political science at California State University, told The Washington Post in an email.

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is a well known teetotaler, a fact the GOP presidential candidate credits to his brother's death from alcoholism.
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By Abby Livingston, The Texas Tribune

WASHINGTON  Not so long ago, a legion of Texans were in contention to wind up on a presidential ticket this fall. None made it. And then, out of nowhere a few weeks ago, a woman with Texas roots burst onto the national scene as an independent candidate for vice president.

Her name is Mindy Finn, and she is a native of Kingwood, Texas. Up until her launch as a candidate only a month ago, she was a nationally unknown political consultant in Washington.

But amid the chaos and disgust of the 2016 presidential campaign, there is a real chance she could be the first non-major party vice presidential candidate in a generation to win electoral votes come next Tuesday.

On Oct. 6, she joined the presidential ticket of a fellow Republican, Evan McMullin, a renegade who left the party as part of the "Never Trump" movement.

It's an independent bid, with no affiliation to any of the peripheral political parties. The McMullin-Finn organization has secured ballot access in 34 states, according to the campaign website. As of mid-October, the three-month campaign had raised a little over $1 million, and a staff of professional mostly anti-Trump GOP consultants is running the organization.

"I don't see how I can comfortably fit in a party that normalizes the bigotry of Donald Trump," Finn said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.

"I see what's happening in the two major parties right now as an attack on our system and our future," she later added.

It's a risky gambit for both McMullin and Finn: They're career Republicans who've worked on Capitol Hill, in Finn's case as a consultant. Their campaign is blowing up the GOP and, possibly, their future careers.

They're running as the conservative anti-Trumps, arguing that a modern political party should not harbor the racist, sexist and anti-Semitic tones coming out of some pockets of the Trump support base.

"She's decided to endure all of the slings and arrows that will come from those demanding all Republicans fall in line because she knows that it is important to take a stand now, rather than only taking a stand when it is convenient," said Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson, a friend of Finn's.

This is no half-baked campaign.

Polls show McMullin, a Mormon, is within striking distance of winning Utah. Some conservatives fantasize that the Utah win could result in a 269-269 electoral vote tie between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton  throwing the election to the House of Representatives.

Oddly enough, Texans will not technically be able to vote for Finn: She signed onto the campaign too late to make the state's ballot.

"Sure, it's bittersweet, but I view us as a ticket and I'm just happy to support our ticket and what it stands for," she said.

Born in Houston and raised in Kingwood, Finn was a standout at Kingwood High as a drill team officer, a National Honor Society member and math tutor.

Many back home are startled to see their friend running for vice presidency.

"I'm in touch with a fair number of people from Kingwood, because some are personal friends, some just through Facebook, but there's definitely been people who've come out of the woodwork since the announcement that I knew in high school," she said.

"That's been one of the surprises of the process ... it's been a pleasant surprise is what I keep hearing is all of these people from Kingwood who are feeling inspired and hopeful and proud that their hometown girl is running for vice president," she added.

After graduation, she attended Boston University and for a short time was a journalist. Eventually she made her way into Republican politics, working on Capitol Hill, including for U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.

But she also had a rare talent among both Republicans and women in the mid-2000s: She could code.

Finn was one of the earliest pioneers of a political digital campaign, working for George W. Bush's 2004 re-election and Mitt Romney's first presidential campaign in 2007.

She acknowledged the difficulty of the field at that time.

"You have barriers of people who were slow to adapt to the changing media landscape and the way that the people like to engage in politics today, but nonetheless, I charged forward," she said.

She made enough of a mark that amid this vice presidential run, a number of Republican friends and allies said it was her greatest strength.

"Mindy was a leader in the digital space before there really was a digital space," said Phil Musser, a Republican who worked with her on the Romney campaign. "At every turn in her career she has been looking around the corner to identify and help build the next big thing."

"She's always been thinking about new ideas and new horizons, probably something that stems from her Texas roots."

She went on to work for the Republican National Committee, consult for Google and work for Twitter  long before many in politics understood the platform.

In more recent years, she was known for founding a networking non-profit called Empowered Women.

Laura Cox Kaplan, a native of Rising Star, Texas who now lives in the Washington area, came to know Finn while serving on the Empowered Women board.

She called Finn "a tremendous influence ... for young women, in particular.""What's really special about her, even before she threw her hat in the ring  which was an incredibly brave thing to do  she was charging new ground in redefining feminism as a conservative, Republican ideal," Kaplan said.

Finn speaks in aspirational tones about the integrity of democracy and the pursuit of happiness. But what she essentially did in committing to this role was declare war on a party she has nurtured for much of her adult life.

Consultants, party officials and officeholders have swung erratically back and forth between supporting and opposing Trump since he secured the nomination in May. Now, in the twilight of the campaign, most are coming home and falling in line.

And yet, a stubborn and small band of Never Trumpers holds out, leaving the entire party bracing for a civil war as soon as this election concludes.

"War paint is on," tweeted John Weaver, another GOP holdout with Texas roots.

Finn said she sees the GOP going in two directions. The first, which she treats with skepticism, is that Republicans come out "full-throatedly" against the forces that came to the fore of the Trump candidacy: racism, sexism and religious bigotry.

The other choice would blow apart American politics.

"If they fail to do that, then 30-40 percent, potentially more, [of the GOP] ultimately will break off and form its own party or organization  but probably a party  that can run actually candidates and be elected to office and have an impact on the governing agenda," she said.

There will also likely be retribution for Finn. She is a consultant by trade, and those in the campaign concede they may be on blacklists for going against party leadership this year.

"We're all doing this knowing that we're potentially limiting future career opportunities," said Sarah Rumpf, a Texan who is working on the campaign's digital communications side. "We realize this is professionally risky."

Either way, there are serious struggles in the Republican party. The coarsened rhetoric of this campaign has left many Republicans disillusioned about their future. They say they cannot support a candidate as personally objectionable as Trump, but Clinton's own legal complications repel them.

They have no political home. And so, in this moment, a small group of them in Texas and elsewhere are giving the McMullin-Finn campaign serious consideration.

"I think you look at someone like Evan, who's running with a vice presidential candidate, Mindy Finn, and it resonated so much with Republican women," said Randan Steinhauser, a member of the Republican Party of Texas executive committee.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/11/04/texas-woman-who-blowing-gop/

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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NASA recently delivered the grim news that the Great Salt Lake has lost 48 percent of its water volume since 1847.

The largest body of water in the United States after the Great Lakes has suffered due to both nature and man. Farming, industry, a five-year drought and higher-than-normal temperatures have all contributed to The Great Salt Lake's lowest recorded water level.

According to NASA, nearly 40 percent of the water that would naturally flow into the Great Salt Lake has been diverted by man, raising concerns for the 250 species of migratory birds that depend on the lake for food.

WARMING SUMMERS: Video: NASA timelapse footage shows Arctic Sea ice disappearing

The images above are of Farmington Bay, one of the areas of the lake that has shrunk the most.

"Farmington Bay has been nearly desiccated as the result of the combined effects of drought and water withdrawals from the rivers feeding the lake," said Wayne Wurtsbaugh, a watershed scientist at Utah State University, in a prepared statement. "Farmington Bay is an immensely important feeding area for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl. Even at the low level we have now, it is still important, but the greatly reduced size has diminished its value."

Wurtsbaugh said the solution is greater conversation, especially for the water used in agricultural irrigation, which makes up approximately 63 percent of water usage.

RECORD-BREAKING: NASA calls it: 2016 will be the hottest year in Earth's history

The drying of the Great Salt Lake has led to more and larger dust storms in the area, but Wurtsbaugh said the worst may be yet come.

"A wildcard for the fate of the lake is what global climate change may do to the basin," Wurtsbaugh said. "Warmer air temperatures are projected to lower runoff, but our data shown in the white paper suggests there haven't been climate change effects on the runoff yet."

Click through above to see the images as well as harrowing statistics about climate change.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Political commentator Pedzisai Ruhanya has said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has colluded with the government of Zanu PF to steal people's money by introducing the bond notes which are yet to be distributed to the banks - thereby resulting to serious shortage of cash in banks ahead of the distribution of the highly rejected bonds.President Robert Mugabe has officialised the introduction of the bond notes by signing statutory instrument SI 133 under the Presidential emergency decree. But the RBZ is currently conducting awareness campaigns to educate people on bond notes before putting them in the market."RBZ should tell us where our deposits went before the introduction of bond notes. This is official theft. My view is that RBZ and the banking sector colluded with the government to steal from us. This day light robbery should not be accepted. They did it in 2007/8 and impoverished millions and they are doing it for the second time," Ruhanya said."This official criminal activity by the state should be resisted. There should be very high costs for this brazen criminal behavior; citizens must make the cost of authoritarian rule, official theft very expensive."Another concerned citizen who asked to speak on condition of anonymity said the introduction of what he called 'fake money' is taking people back to 2008 where many lost a lot of their savings including himself."We must not watch thieves taking all what we worked for. This is very unfair. As we speak we are struggling to get our money from the banks as if we did not work for it. Why are these leaders treating us like this. They have failed why can they not admit and allow us to try others. Zimbabwe has more than 14 million people do they mean we can not have people who can do better that them among this large favour?" he said.
News / National

by Mary Charamba

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has come under a barrage of attack for claiming that 'unscrupulous characters' are printing fake bond notes.The bond notes are due to be released this month but the notes spacemen have not been availed for the public to familiarize with the features.He told legislators in Bulawayo yesterday that "You may not be aware of this but fake bond notes have been printed to coincide with our release in order to confuse the situation".However, Zimbabweans have dismissed Chinamasa's claims questioning how the designs leaked.Below are a selected twitter posts seen by Bulawayo24.com :@ShingiMunyeza "State media states that there are fake #bondnotes when the public has not even seen the genuine ones. #RBZ gambling with livelihoods!"MDC-T secretary general Douglas Mwonzora said "So where did the people who printed counterfeit bond notes get the samples from? This is evidence of state corruption at the highest level"@FaraiMazhandu said "Who knows features of a 'surrogate' currency yet to be released except the powers that be? "@ArtwellCzysz said "@Wamagaisa and Chinamasa has just confirmed our fears that they're printing the bond locally. how else could the design have leaked".@rpdarlington wrote "@Wamagaisa the only people who can produce these fakes are the ones who have been entrusted with producing thme simple as that".@1Tate said " I think it's best to cancel the whole #BondNotes issue if there are already fake ones sitting in someone's safe"
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
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Cherokee Skate Park awaits FEMA okay As opposed to speedy skate board wheels, the wheels of progress grind slowly regarding the citys proposed new skate park...

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News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Chief Fortune Charumbira has come under fire for openly supporting the ruling Zanu PF when the traditional leaders are supposed to be non partisan.This come at a time when the traditional leader who is also the President of the Chiefs' council openly speaks in allegiance to Zanu PF in public thereby violating the constitutional clauses which stipulates that chiefs must be non partisan.Chasvika Chimurenga said Chiefs of Zimbabwe must respect themselves and not be political and partisan. Chiefs represent blood, hereditary lineage and royalty."They are fathers of everyone in their domains.I am appalled and disgusted by Chief Fortune Charumbira. He is President of the Chiefs Council but declares and flaunts his Zanu PF membership," he said."I was shocked that he is in the fundraising team for the Zanu PF Conference to be held in Masvingo. Shame on you Chief Fortune Charumbira. Shame !!!!"
News / National

by Staff Reporter

The Zanu PF National Fundraising Dinner got underway this evening with some party leaders, legislators and government ministers in attendance.Some of the party leaders in attendance include National Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, Secretary for Administration Ignatius Chombo, Secretary for Finance Obert Mpofu, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan province Miriam Chikukwa and Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Christopher Mushowe and Zanu PF Harare province chairman Charles Tawengwa.The daughter of the first family Bona Chikore is also attending.Zanu PF women's league secretary for administration Letina Undenge and Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi and spouse also joined the evening proceedings.
When I learned that Tom Hayden had passed away last week, I found myself thinking about the first time I met him. The occasion was a conference Hayden organized in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, in September 1967, to open lines of communication between the U.S. antiwar movement and the Vietnamese revolutionaries. Hayden was regarded as the leading light of the New Left at the time. He had served as first president of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and was the principal author of the radical campus groups 25,000-word founding document, the Port Huron Statement.

Haydens political manifesto, written when he was 22, made a powerful, eloquent case for a new form of participatory democracy. Though SDSs theory of democracy was never adequately spelled out, participatory democracy soon became a catch phrase among student activists. The SDS document also criticized Americas Cold War policies, while explicitly rejecting the Old Lefts illusions about Communism.

Haydens views on these issues were influenced by his intellectual hero, the radical Columbia University sociologist C. Wright Mills. Millss big ideaelaborated in his 1956 book The Power Elitewas that bourgeois democracy was a facade and elections merely served to cover up the process through which corporations, the military, and the permanent political class exercised power. To put this in terms that will be familiar to anyone following this years presidential election, Mills and his epigones believed that the system was rigged. It was this quasi-Marxist revelation that made Hayden and his fellow student radicals believe that they had the license to take democracy into the streetsand even to engage in violent, destructive acts.

A few weeks before Hayden convened the Bratislava meeting, The New York Review of Books created a literary sensation by publishing his Franz Fanon-like account of the racial riots in Newark, New Jersey, that left 24 people dead and large parts of the city in flames. The title of Haydens opus: The Occupation of Newark. The author analogized the violence in that urban ghetto to the Communist-led uprising against the U.S. militarys colonial occupation of Vietnam. The highbrow magazines cover featured Haydens accurate diagram for making a Molotov cocktail. Such were the bizarre intellectual alliances created in those tumultuous days.

The North Vietnamese government designated Hayden as its principal conduit for making contact with the American peace camp. The Communist regimes strategy was to conduct the war simultaneously on two fronts: first to stand firm against the American military in its homeland; then to win over public opinion in the United States. Hayden had already visited Hanoi in 1965, and he came back singing the praises of this nation of brave peasants resisting the American war machine. He now had the imprimatur from the Vietnamese to select the American representatives for the four-day confab in the beautiful Slovakian city on the banks of the Danube. I was one of the chosen few by virtue of being an editor of Ramparts, the radical magazine with the largest circulation in the country.

The two-dozen American radicals and the 30 or so Vietnamese delegates, equally divided between cadres of the North Vietnamese government and the National Liberation Front, stayed in a college dormitory graciously provided by the Czechoslovak government. We took our meals together in a communal dining hall and conducted seminars on a variety of subjects ranging from conditions on the battlefield in Vietnam to the prospects for success of the antiwar movement.

Most of the Americans were in their twenties. Our Vietnamese counterparts were older, hardened revolutionaries. They dressed in almost-identical black pants and jackets, and were under strict party discipline. The leader of the Vietnamese delegation was the commanding, austere Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, the NLFs titular foreign minister (and soon to be a principal negotiator at the real peace conference in Paris). We were told that several of Madame Binhs travelling companions were Viet Cong guerrillas who had come to Bratislava after a long, dangerous journey from the liberated zones of South Vietnam.

When I received the invitation to Bratislava, Hayden assured me that the American group would issue no joint political statement, other than affirming the need for bringing the war to an end. But it soon became clear that he and some of his younger acolytes were trying to move us toward a more advanced position. Hayden wasnt interested in peace as much as making an alliance with the other side.

At the final plenary session, Hayden gave a long speech summarizing the conferences accomplishments and emphasizing the need to continue working together for a Vietnam liberated and unified by the Communists. In a final peroration, he recounted the climactic episode from the 1960 Hollywood blockbuster Spartacus, in which the victorious Roman centurions, having finally defeated the rebel slave army, are searching for the revolts leader among a crowd of prisoners. The Roman commander warns that unless the slave named Spartacus steps forward, every one of the captives would be executed. At that point, each of the slaves takes two steps forward and announces, I am Spartacus. The Romans then crucify all the slaves. In our time, Hayden announced, the U.S. military was trying to annihilate our Vietnamese brothers and sisters in an unjust colonial war. Thus, each of us in the antiwar movement must step forward and proclaim: Take us, too. We are all Viet Cong now.

I didnt think at the time that the Vietnamese delegates, despite the services of an excellent translator, grasped the full meaning of Haydens historical metaphor. But for the Americans it was an electrifying moment. Years later, I came to see this episode as a turning point in the very short history of the American New Left.

It was a mere five years between the publication of the pro-democracy Port Huron Statement and Haydens decision at Bratislava to attempt to tether the new American radicalism to a foreign totalitarian regime. The tragedy is that he largely succeeded. And within a couple of years, the idealistic SDS had blown apart into warring sects.

After Bratislava, Hayden took five of the American delegates on yet another pilgrimage to Hanoi. I certainly wanted to be included in the travelling group in order to do some reporting, but was by then considered too unreliable. Once again, the Vietnamese used Hayden as a go-between, this time to bring home three American prisoners as part of a propagandist peace gesture to Washington. In fact, Hayden was now frequently consulting with Johnson administration officials eager to learn about Vietnamese intentions regarding a possible settlement of the conflict. In his comprehensive history of SDS, Democracy Is in the Streets, James Miller accurately described Hayden during this period as part New Left guerrilla warrior and part shadow diplomat.

Yet, Hayden was always ready to discard his faux diplomatic credentials whenever he saw an opportunity to take the struggle to the streets. In April 1968, he was preparing to move to Chicago to start planning the forthcoming demonstrations at the Democratic Partys national convention when he heard the news that a student rebellion had broken out at Columbia University. Hayden dropped everything and dashed over to Columbia to get in on the revolutionary action. With the help of Columbias SDS chapter president Mark Rudd, Hayden was smuggled into one of the occupied buildings, now a revolutionary commune. The outside agitator was soon leading the radical students resistance to the university authorities.

Eventually, the police evacuated all of the liberated buildings with excessive and unnecessary violence. Hayden walked away unscathed, never to return to Columbia, but with another notch on his belt in fulfillment of his promises to the Vietnamese comrades. He wrote about the uprising for Ramparts, commenting that the students at Columbia discovered that the barricades are only the beginning of what they call bringing the war home.

Columbia was a dress rehearsal for the mother of all street battles: the showdown at the 1968 Democratic convention. Hayden never hid the fact that the antiwar demonstrations were meant to provoke a violent confrontation with the Chicago police and the National Guard. In a statement that could have been written by C. Wright Mills, Hayden said that the street demonstrations would demystify a false democracy, showing the organized violence underneath reformism and manipulation.

At Ramparts headquarters in San Francisco, we knew exactly what Hayden and a wide coalition of antiwar activistsincluding the Weatherman faction and the Yippie contingent led by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffmanwere planning. Our editor Warren Hinckle (who passed away two months ago) led a large contingent of reporters and editors to the Windy City to record the action for a special issue of the magazine. We also created a Ramparts wall poster to provide a running account on the daily battles in the streets and made it available for Haydens occasional bulletins from the frontlines. We are coming to Chicago to vomit on the politics of joy, he wrote in one dispatch, to expose the secret decisions, upset the night club orgies, and face the Democratic Party with its illegitimacy and criminality.

Hayden certainly fulfilled his promise to his Vietnamese comrades to bring the war home. When the week of mayhem was over, though, and after the thousands of arrests and serious injuries and extensive property damage, the militants managed merely to help elect Richard Nixon and extend the war for another few years.

After Chicago, Hayden seemed to need some rest and relaxation, and a different kind of political and cultural experience. He moved to bucolic Berkeley, California, the epicenter of the sixties student revolution, and joined a radical commune pompously called the Red Family. I was then living in a nearby house with some fellow leftists and journalists. We would have been embarrassed to call ourselves a commune, and we made fun of the Red Family, which seemed to be consumed by sexual politics and interminable arguments about feminism.

Yet Hayden continued his search for the right agents for radical change. He now decided that the Black Panthers, headquartered in neighboring Oakland, would be the vanguard of the next revolt. In Ramparts, Hayden spun out a somewhat insane theory of revolution in which the radical students would create sanctuaries for the armed Black Panthers until they set off a guerrilla war against the American imperium. To prepare for the coming conflagration, he took the Red Family communards to a shooting range for target practice. In a secret meeting with Berkeley radicals during the Peoples Park riots in 1969, he mused about the possibility, perhaps with the help of the Black Panthers, of shooting down a police helicopter.

Apparently Hayden had watched too many reruns of Spartacus. It was all too fantastic, a form of playacting to make up for the undeniable fact that there would be no revolution. I soon broke with the Left and began a decade-long drift toward conservatism. After those zany Berkeley days, I never saw Hayden again. Yet I continued to read about the next and most extraordinary phase in his life. At a peace rally he met Jane Fonda, just returned from France and looking to get involved in the antiwar movement. As in an unlikely movie script, Hayden married the princess. The radical couple moved to Santa Monica, not far from Hollywood.

With a boost from Fondas movie earnings, Hayden entered electoral politics as a member of the Democratic Party, the same party he had denounced a few years earlier as a criminal enterprise. He was elected to the California state assembly and served continuously in the legislature for 18 years. He also attended ten Democratic Party conventions, six times as a delegate from California.

Haydens life in politics after the 1960s proved that he and his intellectual hero Mills were wrong when they claimed that the democratic system was rigged. Hayden collaborated with Americas enemy during wartime and was never punished. He conspired to start a riot in Chicago to disrupt the Democratic Party, yet he beat the federal rap. He entered electoral politics and helped push the Democratic Party so far to the left that it would be unrecognizable to the 1968 Chicago protesters. When Hayden died, the mainstream medias obituaries celebrated his achievements in human rights but erased from history his advocacy for violent revolution.

Only in Americawhere nothing is written in stone, where anything is possible as long as we have elections and free speechis a life like Tom Haydens possible.

Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Its been only two months since New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood was rocked by a powerful homemade bomb. Twenty-nine people were injured on September 17 when the device exploded in a West 23rd Street dumpster. Heaven only knows what the butchers bill would have been had an equally powerful device, planted nearby, gone off. It wasnt Orlando, San Bernardino, or Fort Hood, Texasthough not for lack of trying on the part of the young jihadist who authorities say built the bombs.

No city has been treated more roughly by Islamist terrorism than New York. It suffered the 1993 World Trade Center truck-bombing before 9/11, and has been the target of at least 17 plots since the towers came downthe most recent being the Chelsea attack. Linden, New Jersey, police arrested 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahamian Afghanistan-born, naturalized American citizen who authorities described as an Islamist extremistfollowing a shootout. Hes been charged with the dumpster bombing and others on the Jersey Shore that same weekend.

Bitter experience suggests that while Rahami may have been a so-called lone wolf, the threat he represents is by no means unique. Simple prudence dictates that New York City should now double down on public safety. But thats not how U.S. District Court Judge Charles Haight sees it. The 86-year-old jurist has embraced NYPD inspector general Philip Eures claim that the department has abused court-mandated protocols governing covert police investigationsdeep-sixing the pending settlement of a lawsuit brought by Muslim activists who claim that their civil rights had been violated. But there simply is no evidence that substantive violations have occurred.

NYPD intelligence-gathering, including surveillance and other covert activities, is governed by a 1971 federal court consent decree known as the Handschu Guidelinesan agreement that was tightened up after 9/11 by Judge Haight himself. As such techniques go, NYPD practices are beyond benign, and governed by exceptionally restrictive reporting requirements. Undercover officers essentially are sent to public places to listen for problematic rhetoric. But some object to surveillance of any sortincluding, it would appear, Eure. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Eure makes his living nitpicking cops. He headed the Washington, D.C., police complaint bureau for 14 years before becoming NYPD inspector general in 2014 and promising to help lead the department out of what he termed the dark ages.

With a few notable exceptions, Eure has scarcely been heard from sincesuggesting, at the very least, that the NYPD needs far less oversight than activists claim. The two exceptionscritical reports on quality-of-life policing and the terror-surveillance programare readily falsifiable teapot tempests, but they did generate attention.

Judge Haight paid particular attention to the terror-surveillance report. He seized on it to overturn the pending civil-rights lawsuit settlement. Never mind that Eure had found no substantive abuse of anybodys rights; it was enough that the IG had discovered occasional, albeit inconsequential, failures to meet reporting deadlines. The judge termed the delays evidence of a near-systemic failure by the NYPD to follow the Handschu Guidelines. Its a preposterous assertion. Even Eure hasnt made such a claim.

The judges proposed remedy is even more otherworldly. Hes seeking the appointment of yet one more monitor for the NYPDthis one charged with specific oversight of the departments antiterror investigative practices. Those efforts are already under Haights thumb, per the terms of the original Handschu agreement. They also are subject to review by Eure, the NYPDs Civilian Complaint Review Board, and a city council unrelentingly hostile to even modestly aggressive police activity.

Again, all of this proceeds without any evidence that anyones rights have even been bruised by the NYPD since 9/11, let alone violated. On the other side of the ledger is the fact that the department has cracked, or assisted in taking down, 16 terror plots aimed at New York City. Why Judge Haight chooses to stand with the purveyors of nihilist, anti-police prejudice is a mystery, though the potential consequences of what hes proposing seem clear enough. New York City remains a prime target for terror, and the next bomb stands to do more than wreck a Chelsea dumpster. Why make it any easier?

Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images
Caritas Cehia in cautarea unui expert/unei experte sau unei echipe de experti in prestarea serviciilor de consiliere psihologica (pe segmentul burnout) pentru echipa mobila de prestare a serviciilor psiho-sociale pentru refugiatii ucraineni
When Robert Moses, the notorious New York master builder, wanted to cow the journalists who covered him, he knew he didnt have to harangue or threaten his way to a favorable story. Food and drink did the trick. A reporter on the Moses beat, whether covering the opening of a new hydroelectric power dam or a row of toll booths, could expect to be treated to a fountain of liquor, a 40-foot buffet table, or a chartered airplane packed with celebrities. In addition to these Dionysian ribbon cuttings, Moses hosted working lunches for the press, a way to advance his agenda while offering special access.

Hospitality has always been a potent political weapon, Robert Caro wrote in The Power Broker, his seminal biography of Moses. Moses used it like a master.

This practice continues unabated, as made clear in a recent batch of hacked emails released by WikiLeaks. The meals may be smaller and the settings less lavish, but the goals remain the same: for a person in a position of power, in this case Hillary Clinton, to groom a friendlier press corps. Non-journalists, as well as conservative outlets, reacted with anger and incredulity at emailsthe Clinton campaign has not disputed their validitythat showed the campaign setting up off-the-record dinners and cocktails with John Podesta, the campaign chairman, and Joel Benenson, her chief strategist. (The Huffington Post had reported on the Podesta meeting previously.) Journalists mostly shrugged at the revelations.

Their dismissal is misguided. The emails may highlight business as usual, but it is a business practice that has helped stoke distrust of the press in 2016 and has propelled a narrative, pushed by Donald Trump, that the mainstream media is in the bag for Clinton. The implications of that will linger long after Election Day.

Related: Journalists shower Hillary Clinton with campaign cash

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On April 9th, 2015shortly before Clinton officially announced she was running for presidentPodesta cooked for at least 28 reporters at his Washington DC home. The reporters came from leading national outlets like the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NBC. According to the leaked email, the dinner had five goals for the Clinton campaign: Getting to know reporters closely covering Clinton; setting expectations for the announcement and launch period; framing Clintons message and the race; demystifying key players on Clintons campaign; and having fun and enjoying good cooking.

For reporters, the goals were likely twofold: to cultivate high-level Clinton sources to bolster their campaign coverage, and make themselves known to the influential people serving a woman who is favored to become the next president of the United States. Journalists will argue they need to get drinks with sources, attend dinners and play the role of chum to gain the kind of access they need to do their jobs. No right-thinking reporter would turn down the opportunity to lap up Podestas cooking.

But outsiders not privy to the favor trading of traditional journalism are right to decry the clubby relationship between reporters, particularly those covering presidential candidates, and the campaigns they must hold accountable. In an election year that has been defined by the failure of elite political operatives and members of the media to anticipate the volcanic discontent that drove the insurgencies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the idea of reporters and campaigns periodically shedding their oppositional roles to party together seems particularly odious. An already jaded public takes a whiff and smells collusion.





Youre less likely to spit in the face thats smiling back at you from across the dinner table.

Witness WikiLeaks emails that showed one reporter offering up whole chunks of a story for Podesta to read before publication in a seeming effort to ensure it conformed to the portrait the campaign chief had painted of his fundraising efforts. Or a Clinton email identifying a friendly reporter to help shape their campaign narrative. Clinton still does come in for plenty of harsh coverage, and the national reporters they cultivate will bite the hand that feeds them. No tactic is foolproof.

If the reporters understand, implicitly or explicitly, that these events exist solely to advance the agenda of a particular candidate, why show up? Why spend a night in the spin zone over Podestas creamy risotto, knowing the campaign is trying to co-opt you? If reporters can document with outrage the ways in which lobbyists fete elected officials, why is the practice okay when reporters are on the receiving end?

Its worth remembering that the most inspired reporting from this presidential race has sprung from people who clearly didnt need to cajole high-powered campaign sources to get their scoops. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post has doggedly documented how little Trump has given to charities, inviting readers on Twitter to help him along. Andrew Kaczynski, a former BuzzFeed reporter now at CNN, has spent the election cycle exhuming old audio clips of Trump that contradict public statements he makes now, doing his digging without glad-handing. Its also not clear how a Podesta dinner wouldve helped The New York Times Michael Schmidt break the news that Clinton had used a personal email account to conduct government business when she was secretary of state.

Related: Best journalism of October 2016

But theres no denying that theres a certain warm feeling you get when a particularly important or famous person recognizes you. Its an age-old sensation dating back to the schoolyard days: you know you are in, not out.

Before I go on, let me say that I have not always practiced what Im preaching here. For two years, I was a member of the New York City Hall press corps and attended several off-the-record parties at Gracie Mansion, the lavish mayoral residence on the Upper East Side. I went because, in addition to thinking the visit would be good for building sources, it felt nice to amble around a mansion with a buzz. Important people were around me, so I felt important. I regret going now and I dont intend to show up again. No knock against Mayor Bill de Blasios hors doeuvres, all reimbursed by my former employers at the New York Observer, but it makes far more sense for the mayor to host one of these soirees than for me to show up. I canand shoulddo my job despite them.

The trouble with the Moses, Podesta, and Gracie Mansion parties isnt so much the degree to which reporters are fed and supplied with booze. A mansion versus a townhouse, five glasses of white wine against onequantity is not immaterial, though its also not the point. Socializing with powerful people can soften reporting. Youre less likely to spit in the face thats smiling back at you from across the dinner table.

The best reporting is done on the margins, away from the siren charms of power and prestige.

Caro, a former Newsday reporter, saw the folly in journalists drawing too close to their sources. Of Moses, he wrote: Coupled with his overpowering personality, a buffet often did as much for a proposal as a bribe. Lunches with Moses were relentlessly social: friendly, easy, gracious. For most men, this setting made disagreement difficult. Moses knew his elegant feasts were an excellent way to reinforce the status quo. The press happily obliged.

Since WikiLeaks did not target Trump, we do not know the extent to which his campaign tried to court the press, though based on the ways he either tried to curtail access or denigrate reporters, its unclear whether they were ever extended the same dinnertime courtesy. Sure, journalists reportedly went to a strip joint with Trump advisers, but that kind of clubbiness has been more the exception, not the rule. In New York and Washington, Trumps vulgar populism is anathema to the reporters who either cover him or look on from the distance in horror. The millions of people who intend to vote for Trump probably think (and perhaps rightly so) that the urbane press corps has more in common with the people in Clintons orbit.

Of course, even less sophisticated campaigns dont have the same type of wherewithal or resources, so their coverage tends to suffer. There likely were no bountiful off-the-record dinners to tee up coverage of the Jill Stein or Gary Johnson campaigns. The same holds true for activists or those beyond the electoral power structure who cant hope to court reporters in that manner. They wont get their voices in the room to the same degree, especially if they arent living in a tony section of New York or DC. In turn, a certain weltanschauung is amplified, and reporters only hear from the people they want to hear: those that talk like they do, and offer a window into the inner sanctum of power. With few exceptions, most journalists still sniff at anyone daring to hold multiple positions outside the center-left to center-right consensus. If youre an emissary from a marginalized group hoping for the ear of the campaign press corps, youre out of luck.

As Caro understood, the best reporting is done on the margins, away from the siren charms of power and prestige. It is more difficult to challenge a mans facts over cocktails than over a conference table, Caro wrote. More difficult to flatly give the lie to a statement over a gleaming white tablecloth, filet mignon, and fine wine than it would have been to do so over a hard-polished board-room and legal pads.

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Ross Barkan is a journalist and writer from New York City. He frequently contributes to the Village Voice and his work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Esquire and Reuters.
When An Xiao Mina traveled to Shenzhen, China, to do research on selfie stick production, she needed a way to know where people were talking. She contacted Jue Ren, a digital anthropologist working in the area who she had met at a panel on urbanization in Shenzhen. After just a few minutes, Ren introduced her to people from a WeChat network of 500 people discussing selfie stick production.

Reporters have long used fixerspeople familiar with the area and with lines of communicationto guide them through foreign countries. Now, a new role is opening up for those who can be gatekeepers for online, mobile-first communities: the digital fixer.

Mina, who leads the product team at Meedan, an organization which builds tools around journalism and translation, introduced the concept of the digital fixer in a panel at Perugia in April as a way for reporters to enter the world of closed apps, such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Weibo, Wickr, and Telegram. These are all services that communities use to talk to each otherand theyre all closed to journalists.

In fact, theyre closed to everyone. The appeal of these messaging apps, for many, is that they allow people to have private group chats with a trusted network or family and friends. These private chats arent searchable, and new members have to be invited in. Different apps afford different advantages: certain apps are designed for low-bandwidth phones; others are chosen for their encryption capabilities.

But theyre all wildly popular. As of 2016, there are 1 billion on WhatsApp users and 400 million users on WeChat. Newsrooms such as The Guardian already use WhatsApp to disseminate news, and organizations such as Storyful aim to help newsrooms use them for newsgathering. Chat apps are also now an important venue for reporting, write Valerie Belair-Gagnon, Colin Agur, and Nicholas Frisch in a new Tow Center for Digital Journalism report.

Marginalized communities and activist groups often communicate through private chat apps, as do terrorist groups. Telegram is favored in countries where government surveillance is an issue, mainly in the Middle East, and is reportedly ISISs app of choice. In Zimbabwe, The New York Times reported, WhatsApp poses a threat to President Robert Mugabes power. Wickr is used in drug networks in South America for its burn after reading security options, said Storyful journalist Ben Decker.

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It is difficult for reporters who parachute into a region to discover where people are communicating without tapping into the community. How can reporters quickly embed themselves in these networks of trust? This is where the concept of a digital fixer comes in.

Digital fixing is unlike typical fixing in that it is not currently a paid role. Rather, it operates in the currency of personal trust. When Ren introduced Mina to the group, she was personally vouching for her. For the digital fixers themselves, Mina emphasized, keeping up these relationships is time consuming; Ren belongs to 30 to 40 groups and had over 300 WeChat friends, and communicates with them regularly.

It can also be difficult, even with an introduction, for reporters to understand the local culture and nuances of the dialect. Belair-Gagnon, Agur, and Frisch write about the use of chat apps during the Hong Kong Umbrella protests in 2014. In planning the protests, they write, protesters rely on subtleties of language to distinguish between allies and adversaries. One journalist, who is fluent in Mandarin, misread some of the details, written in colloquial Cantonese, and ended up at the wrong location.

Reporters also have to pay attention to social etiquette. QR codes are a popular way of friending each other on WeChat in Chinaand there is significance, in the scanning process, whether your phone is on the top or the bottom, Mina said at the panel. Once they join, the normal rules and methods of reporting apply: journalists need to be clear with their intentions, Mina told me. But the fact that there is so much friction to adding friends is a way of proving and developing trust.

The closed networks can also be a great way to spread information. The BBC has used WhatsApp to spread public health information about Ebola and Zika. BBC World Services mobile editor, Trushar Barot, formerly head of user-generated content, said spreading information about the Zika virus via chat groups was highly effective because of the contacts they had already developed and the active user base.

There are things that journalists have to be careful about in using these chat apps for reporting. Journalists have been spoiled by open platforms, said Laura Byrne, a Storyful journalist on a recent podcast, which allow journalists to directly search for content. On closed apps, one of her guests noted, Theres an ongoing tension between what might be going on journalistically and what these platforms have been created for. The reason people use platforms is because they want privacyand that needs to be respected. Activists want to spread the word about their cause. But they want to do it in a way that wont jeopardize their safety.

Nor can journalists just rely on content they find on the messaging service. Verification in these situations is still tricky, the Perugia panel emphasized, and journalists have to be careful about revealing sensitive information. The apps strip EXIF datathe data that lets you know where and when an image was takenand so an extra measure is needed to check the facts.

This is an experimental space, where best practices have yet to be codified. But the digital fixer is an important emerging role. Journalism as a field should aim to recognize this role in more formal ways, and define ethics and best practices around this kind of work, said Mina.

Related: How Foreign Correspondents Use Chat Apps to Cover Political Unrest, a new report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

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Nausicaa Renner is digital editor of CJR.
Opinion / Columnist

There can be no meaningful political independence without economic freedom, economic emancipation of all Zimbabweans.All fighters must remind fellow citizens that there can be no meaningful political independence without economic freedom of our people.PresidentNdibaliZimbabwe economic freedom fighters

Source - Ndibali

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Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Coverage of any breaking news event today often includes footage captured by eyewitnesses and uploaded to the social web. This has changed how journalists and news organizations not only report and produce news, but also how they engage with sources and audiences. In addition to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, chat apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat are a rapidly growing source of information about newsworthy events and an essential link between participants and reporters covering those events.

To look at how journalists at major news organizations use chat apps for newsgathering during political unrest, we focus on a case study of foreign correspondents based in Hong Kong and China during and since the 2014 Umbrella Movement Hong Kong protests. Political unrest in Hong Kong and China often centers around civic rights and government corruption. The Umbrella Movement involved large-scale, sit-in street protests, rejecting proposed changes to Hong Kongs electoral laws and demanding voting rights for all Hong Kong citizens.

Through a combination of observation and interviews with foreign correspondents, this report explores technologys implications for reporting political unrest: how and why the protesters and official sources used chat apps, and the ways foreign reporters used chat apps (which are typically closed platforms) for newsgathering, internal coordination, and information sharing.

The key findings of our study include:

Discussions on chat apps allowed reporters to acquire multimedia information (e.g., pictures, graphics, video, or text), pursue sources from real-life encounters (e.g., with QR code function) *

Protesters and, to a lesser extent, official sources used dedicated media chat groups to communicate political statements.

Digital fixers *

Journalists used WhatsApp as a way to organize news production across news organizations, and within them.

Journalists faced similar challenges as they do in social newsgathering on open platformsfor example, in verifying content and identifying echo chambers.

Over the course of the protests, journalists saw a movement of users away from public networks to private chat apps. This was mainly because young, mobile people prefer these applications for ease of use, or because of issues such as privacy and surveillance.

Reporters suggested that the fundamental process of reporting remains largely unchanged from one-to-one newsgathering on the phone or by email (e.g., get background, get contacts). Rather, it is the technology that has changed.

Chat Apps and Newsgathering

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Chat apps occupy a role between public broadcast and private communication, and offer a range of functionalities. Some allow small numbers of people to participate and see the same content (e.g., Facebook Messenger or Telegram). Others allow for a wider range of participants and are thus useful for news organizations at different levels of scale (e.g., WeChat and WhatsApp). Like social networking sites, chat apps present advantages and challenges for journalists covering fast-moving events. Because their functionalities vary and are constantly evolving, chat apps demand technical savvy and social nuance from journalists.

In terms of popularity, mobile chat applications have now caught up with social networking sitesand in some cases surpassed them by considerable margins. From 2011, when the earliest mobile phone chat applications were launched on the global market (Kik, KakaoTalk, and

WhatsApp), to 2015, these mobile applications reached the same number of monthly users as did the four leading social networking sites (see Chart 1). Today, the most popular chat app, WhatsApp, has more than one billion monthly active users (MAU).

Chart 1: The growth of messaging apps versus social networks

Source: Business Insider.1

Mobile chat apps allow users to exchange information with other users in real time, using text messaging, voice messaging, and file sharing. The most popular of these apps are (in order of monthly active users): WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Snapchat (see Chart 2 for a glance at the state of messaging apps as of 2015). Some of these apps have large active user bases, such as the four hundred million users on WeChat and one billion on WhatsApp (as of 2016), while others have smaller active user bases (e.g., KakaoTalk, Kik, and Tango).

Chart 2: Top mobile messaging apps (as of Q3 2015)

Source: Business Insider.2

Mobile instant messaging apps are distinct from other social networking sites because of the size of their user bases, usage rates, demographics (notably young users, who are important for publishers or brands), higher user retention, and ability to connect with other users privately. The combined user base of the top four chat apps is higher than that of the top four social networking sites together. Popular in Asia, WeChat, KakaoTalk, and LINE have built strategies to keep their users engaged and monetize their services. The table highlights different functionalities these mobile applications offer.

With varied functionalities, chat apps can assist news organizations with newsgathering and sourcing in domestic and international stories.3

Chat logs can provide information of potential value to companies and governments, even though the one-on-one or many-to-many conversation is supposed to be private and inaccessible. In 2013, scholars from the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto reverse-engineered and analyzed censorship and surveillance mechanisms of the chat app LINE. These scholars uncovered that when the user set their country to China during installation of the application on a mobile device, the app enabled a censorship functionality, for example by downloading a list of censored keywords and blocking messages that contain these words.4,5

The importance of chat apps to foreign correspondents covering political unrest is rooted in the status of mobile devices as the primary digital tool in developing-world consumer markets and the growing number of digital native youth in developed societies. Because people involved in political unrest communicate via groups on chat apps, journalists have been able to cultivate sources and gather news by gaining access to those conversationssome private and others public.

The widespread usage of social media has introduced substantial changes to how journalists and news organizations produce news, and how they engage with audiences. For example, it is now common for images on Twitter or Facebook to make it into news production.6,7 Similarly, mobile chat applications and ensuing discussions on those apps provide opportunities for newsgathering. Chat apps can operate on top of existing social networking platforms (as does Facebook Messenger); they can also be standalone applications (like WhatsApp). Unlike many social networking sites, these apps allow for communication in real time through the transmission of text and multimedia from senders to receivers, either publicly or privately.

The arrival of open sites such as Twitter, Sino Weibo, and Instagram gave reporters new ways of finding content and sources; with chat apps, the changes are more of a mixed bag. What we are seeing is not a simple, linear progression toward greater transparency and easier newsgathering. While public sites allow reporters to find content rapidly and often with greater ease than before, closed networks limit access and can make newsgathering more complicated and labor-intensive. In this report, we emphasize the role of these new private and semi-private spaces in news production processes.

In this context of rapidly growing chat app usage, what does the rise of private social networks and chat apps mean for newsgathering? Does it mean the end of social newsgathering?

David Clinch, global news editor at Storyful, said that finding relevant chat app conversations can be a challenge. Thats why Storyfuls teams have identified people in particular places, where WhatsApp is very useful as a newsgathering tool, who act as the nodes.8 An Xiao Mina, a product director at software nonprofit Meedan, agreed that while contacts are easily searchable on Twitter or Facebook, the story is different on chat apps such as Telegram, Cryptocat, or WeChat. Mina spoke of the emergence of a digital fixer, somebody who performs ad-hoc assistance for reporters on platforms and managing dataanything from translation to local connections and knowledge. While conducting research for a project in China, Mina was introduced to a WeChat group where 500 people were trading ideas about products and issues. She said: This was not discoverable by any other means. I literally needed someone to tell me the group existed, then to invite me into that group, to bring me into the circle of trust . . . Finding information on private social networks means developing sources in a more traditional manner.9

Especially in breaking news, mobile chat apps are playing increasingly significant roles in news production and journalist-audience interactions. Around the world, users are not only logging in to messaging apps to chat among themselves, but also to connect with journalists, news organizations, and brands. This report examines how journalists at major news organizations used chat apps for newsgathering to cover the 2014 Hong Kong protests, and how chat apps have shaped their journalistic practice since.

Chat Apps in Asia During Political Unrest

Hong Kongs high level of technological penetration at all levels of society, status as regional headquarters for many large news organizations, recent political unrest, and location in the center of an emerging-markets regionwhere many consumers are direct-to-mobile usersall make the city a unique test case in the use of chat apps for crisis journalism. Typically, news organizations favor Hong Kong as a regional base because it is stable and wealthy, and has a high degree of technological sophistication, low corruption, and well-regarded rule of law. It is a window into the region, but rarely a news story itself.

During the 2014 protests, thousands of foreign journalists found a major political crisis and global news story on their own doorsteps, to which they brought their full reporting resources to develop a news story driven mainly by young locals, and organized using mobile technologyespecially chat apps. Since journalists in Hong Kong are also responsible for covering the broader Asia regionhome to the worlds most dynamic developing markets and key consumer mobile tech innovationthis experience gave them a unique perspective on the relative uses and risks associated with varied chat app platforms.

Memes of the 2014 Umbrella Revolution. Source: South China Morning Post.10

Research Questions

To explore the impact of chat apps on newsgathering during cases of political unrest during and since the 2014 Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, this report examines the following research questions:

How and why did protestors and official sources use chat apps?

How and why did foreign reporters use chat apps for newsgathering?

How did foreign reporters use chat apps for internal coordination and information sharing?

How have journalists embedded these processes into their newsgathering systems since the Hong Kong protests?

The aim of this report is to understand how reporters have integrated chat apps into their coverage of political unrest. This report examines how a sub-section of foreign correspondents used chat apps to cover one particular type of story in one location, and assess the implications for journalistic practice.

Methodology

Sampling

For this report, we conducted thirty-four qualitative, in-depth interviews with foreign correspondents from Europe and the United States who have used chat apps to cover recent political unrest. Our interviews focused on Hong Kong, China, and the surrounding region. Questions included:

How did you cover the 2014 protests?

How do you use chat apps during political unrest coverage (during the 2014 Hong Kong protests and since in those areas)?

Can you provide examples of how you used chats apps in comparison to other social networking sites during and since the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests?

What are the major challenges you encountered when using chat apps?

Hong Kong is the primary Asian hub for most global news organizationsthe center of a region that has seen significant use of chat apps in newsgathering, and a city that has witnessed recent mass political unrest. Hong Kong and its surrounding regions offer rich context to study spaces in chat app reportage by foreign correspondents

The Admiralty protest site. Source: Pasu Au Yeung.11

In order to identify respondents for this report, we selected journalists based on a snowball sampling method. To narrow the list of respondents, we first chose reporters who covered the 2014 Hong Kong protests, some of whom were based in China, and others in Hong Kong. We narrowed the list to journalists working for major international news organizations, including reporters employed by broadcasters, print and digital news, and magazines. Then, we interviewed reporters recommended to us by individuals in our first sample of foreign correspondents. In interviews, we discussed coverage of the 2014 Hong Kong protests and subsequent coverage of political unrest in the region.

Coding

We had our interviews transcribed professionally. We then thematically coded the results using a software system called Dedoose. This system allowed us to code interview segments multiple times.

Literature Review

In this section, we survey the literature on social newsgathering, mobile chat applications, and how journalists use chat apps to cover political unrest. By political unrest, we mean the widespread dissatisfaction with a government, manifesting itself in organized protests on varied levels of intensity and scale.

Industry Sites and Chat Apps

Industry sites such as the BBC Academy and Poynter have produced a wealth of how-to guides and practical knowledge on chat apps for newsgathering12,13 and distribution.14,15 In terms of newsgatheringthe primary focus of this reportsubjects range from social discovery to distinct issues associated with these apps, including the anonymity feature with Yik Yak.16,17 First Draft News has been one of the online pioneers in news discovery and verification practices. While praising the possibilities associated with chat apps to make contacts and share information with audiences, Alastair Reid reported that chat apps such as WhatsApp can have limitations for finding sources or stories. WhatsApp isnt really a platform, Storyfuls David Clinch told First Draft News. He continued:

It just isnt. Its a private messaging app. Theres no platform that you can search, theres no API, theres no geolocation you can search [to find nearby users], you just have to be connected to people [through prior acquaintance or with a phone number]. So weve cheated by identifying the people, in particular places where WhatsApp is very useful as a newsgathering tool, who act as the nodes.18

While discussions on chat apps can have features similar to those on other social networking sites, on the Storyful blog Mark Little noted that when using WeChat he was struck by the addictive clutter of voice and video chats, group conversations, innovative friend-finder features and highly effective QR codes. An online payment system powers a frenetic marketplace, offering everything from limitless emojis to taxi hire.19 He added that public debate takes place within a very narrow spectrum but it is perhaps fiercer and more impactful because of that. In debates around corruption, police misconduct and official neglect, social networks have become a channel for populist outrage and a source of offline action and opportunity. In the past few years, empirical evidence on how reporters and sources have been using chat apps has been abundant. Other industry sites include the Verification Handbook, BBC Academy, 20,21,22 and Poynter.23,24 In addition to these sites, Hong Kong University also published industry-related pieces on verification on chat apps during the 2014 Hong Kong protest.25,26

Journalism and Chat Apps in Academic Literature

Reporting on political unrest has always posed challenges for journalists.27 These include censorship and surveillance, misinformation, and distortions introduced by witnessing events at a distance. Correspondents might not know local languages, or may be sent to a place temporarily as so-called parachute journalists.28 Chat apps thus afford new opportunities for reporters to fulfill the core objectives of crisis coverage: being there fast and first with eyewitness accounts. In addition to old challenges, reporters covering political unrest must also deal with new complexities arising from online journalism. Gaining access to news sites and sources (especially elite sources), verifying facts, protesters access to media, and relaying information to newsrooms all involve practices and pose challenges for general news reporting and critical coverage of political unrest.29

The academic literature on chat apps notes how reporters are using chat apps to solve these long persistent challenges. For example, Lee and Ho write that Chinese authorities have aggressively censored coverage of sensitive events from public-facing platforms such as Weibo (a platform similar to Twitter) and QZone (similar to MySpace), but rarely have done so on more closed, peer-to-peer platforms such as WeChat, which is often monitored by the Chinese authorities.30,31 While apps like FireChat can leave protesters open to surveillance, in contrast others can encrypt information, helping reporters contact sources who may not otherwise feel secure (see Barot and Oren 2015 for examples of journalistic use of Telegram in Uzbekistan and Iran).32 Other studies have focused on how journalists use email and SMS to source content, which could be instructive in chat app scenarios. For large and complex stories, chat apps allow a reporting team or individual journalists to share information in real time with each other and with newsrooms. Journalists with cellphones can communicate with their newsrooms while out in the field, or obtain information without being physically present at the scene33 both on chat apps and social networking platforms. Chat apps provide opportunities for journalists and individuals taking part in political unrest to communicate more directly than before, over the course of a breaking news eventfor instance, when a group uses Voxer, Viber, and WhatsApp to coordinate and organize street protests.34,35,36 As a result, its been reported that chat apps foster a sense of shared identity and solidarity among participants (see the Trere 2015 for study of YoSoy in Mexico)37 and build social bonds.38 While these studies shed light on several aspects of journalistic chat app usage, they do not address whether chat apps represent a shift in newsgathering behavior in terms of discovering online discussion and eyewitness media.

This report provides a unique perspective on how and why protestors and official sources use chat apps; how news organizations use chat apps to organize themselves; and how foreign news organizations have used chat apps for newsgathering, as well as internal coordination and information sharing.

How Protesters and Official Sources Used Chat Apps

Simon Cottle observed: Protests and demonstrations today have become reflexively conditioned by their pursuit of media attention, and need to be if they are to get their message across and mobilize wider support Certainly todays media ecology offers new political opportunities for protest organizations, activists and their supporters to communicate independently of mainstream news media.39

Our findings point to a similar trend. Beyond the general uptick in the use of chat apps across all demographics, it was younger peoplethemselves digital natives comfortable with using chat apps as their primary means of communicationwho instigated and led the Hong Kong protests. As their actions forced a response from those institutions where an older demographic holds decisive powerthe government, the police, and the mediathese stakeholders had to adapt quickly to technological platforms and habits which otherwise would have shifted more slowly, on a generational scale. For example, student leaders drafted statements in response to certain events, putting them out on a public Facebook page and private WhatsApp groups for journalists. Emailed statements came later, or never. Meanwhile, some government bodies still using fax machines and dependent on newspapers, radio, and television to release their messages were behind. As the protests developed, and even after they ended, pro-government individuals and others opposed to the protesters message began developing media platforms and social media practices, including the use of chat apps, to engage the protesters more directly and swiftly. What is striking about this interplay is the extent to which chat apps became so quickly normalized in political discourse and reporting. While the initial impetus came from a tech-savvy protest leadership, the widespread popularity and functionalities of chat apps sustained the conversation.

How Reporters Used Chat Apps

How Reporters Used Chat Apps

With the protestors and official sources using groups on chat apps, journalists had to inhabit these same spaces, which became hugely beneficial to their reporting. They joined WhatsApp or WeChat groups populated by fellow journalists, activists, and other sources. Well-organized activist groups often invited journalists to join dedicated media chat groups. These digital spaces function effectively as long-running digital press conferences, a primary space for press interactions with newsmakers. In Hong Kong, student and civil society protest groups used WhatsApp extensively to communicate with journalists covering the protests. Such groups are especially valuable for journalists who are not part of large news organizations (e.g., solo foreign correspondents or stringers).

The value of chat apps for newsgathering extends beyond specific case studies in political unrest; it is part of a larger shift in which journalists are using social networking sites and chat apps as routine, essential parts of their newsgathering processes. But as the previous section (on protesters and official sources access to reporters on those apps) showed, because young people have been disproportionality involved on these apps, this means usage is more widespread during protest situations. From 2014 on, chat apps have been a more efficient way for reporters to gather news on political unrest, when compared to Facebook or Twitter. In interviews and informal conversations, many reporters mentioned that they used Twitter only to have access to other reporters. Chat apps afford reporters the opportunity for multimedia-rich, some-to-some conversations with sources. Reporters use chat apps because they are cost-effective, efficient, flexible, and allow for multimedia information gathering (voice or text messaging, as well as video or image sharing). And if the participants use them correctly, encrypted chat apps (e.g., Telegram and Signal) allow reporters and sources to communicate about sensitive topics and evade surveillance. With these features, chat apps facilitate journalistic sourcing from real-life encounters, while offering advantages for small and large news organizations covering political unrest in the region under scrutiny. In the following sections, we explore the different reasons why chat apps have become such powerful newsgathering tools.

Multimedia-Rich, Some-to-Some Conversations

Reporters we interviewed highlighted that one of chat apps key functionalities is the ability to accommodate a range of conversation sizes: one-to-one, some-to-some, and many-to-many. Second, our interviewees suggested that chat apps minimize the use of a data plan, thus providing a low-cost way to report unrest. Third, on social platforms like Twitter, in-person social encounters often led to connections on chat apps, and vice-versa. For example, after making initial contact on an open platform, reporters often followed sources to other chat apps.

Chat apps are flexible in that they can accommodate a role between broadcast and private communication. Some apps are narrow in the sense that they limit how many people can participate and see specific content (these include Facebook Messenger and Telegram), while others such as WeChat are broader. Apps like WhatsApp allow for a wide range in participant numbers, from one-on-one to large groups, and are thus useful for news organizations at different levels of scale. When journalists engage in a combination of one-on-one and group conversations, chat apps became an important source of information about ongoing events.

Many of our interviewees explained that chat apps are particularly useful for background information. While it might not make it into the finished piece, the information gleaned from them was invaluable. Our research suggests that a large part of chat apps value is in allowing journalists to dip into different streams of information at will, picking out bits of multimedia or zeroing in on useful informants for a private one-to-one conversation. For example, youth groups leading the protests in Hong Kong treated their official media chat groups as rolling digital press conferences. This provided correspondents covering the Hong Kong unrest with a multilingual, text-searchable record of the students view of events and answers to press questions, with direct access to the individual posting content through chat or a phone call if a reporter wanted to follow up. This ability to swiftly zoom in and out of newsmakers discourse on an evolving news story, and follow up quickly with confirmation and corroborating multimedia, constitutes an important addition to the reporters toolbox. In previous generations, journalists in crisis situations had to rely on media sources that were one-to-many (e.g., state radio) many-to-many (e.g., protesters leaflets and speeches), or one-to-one (e.g., telephone calls or in-person interviews).

In summary, chat apps group-chat functions offer journalists a multimedia-rich set of some-to-some conversations with sources, one-to-one chats, or phone calls a few buttons away.

Chat Apps as Cost-Effective and Efficient Reporting Tools

Our interviewees reported that chat apps versatility in using Wi-Fi is an attractive feature for reporting in the field. In places where SMS texting costs money, chat apps offer a cheaper alternative. In addition, they let users circumvent the limits of their data plans and other constraints. For example, instead of having a constantly streaming voice conversation, WeChat allows users to send short audio messages.

When Wi-Fi is not available, most chat apps rely on cellular data connections; but some offer alternative types of connectivity that can prove useful when cellular networks are overloaded, disabled, or otherwise unavailable. During the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, FireChat briefly gained popularity as a mesh-networking tool that could not be disabled by a hostile government action. This is because FireChat works not only on cellular and Wi-Fi connections, but also through a Bluetooth mesh connection. During an early, critical phase in Hong Kongs Umbrella Movement, when Hong Kongs streets were filled with protestors and concerns spread about cellular networks overloading or being shut down, nearly five hundred thousand people downloaded the app. Journalists onsite told us that FireChats main virtue was that it could be used when there was no possibility of accessing the internet.40

However, FireChats open-access, many-to-many model quickly made the app ineffective as a vector of organizational information, as its digital spaces filled with rumor and unverified information. A European digital editor told us: FireChat was something that we were monitoring, and everybody downloaded it during the [Umbrella] Revolution. It wasnt really a platform for the sharing of content, though.41 Like many others, the editor was drawn to FireChat because of concerns that cellular networks might fail, but found WhatsApp to be a more reliable source of information: On the first day there was this concern that [the government] would shut down the cellphone network at Admiralty, where the first protest was. So we looked into FireChat, but we ended up not really using it because WhatsApp worked perfectly fine. The open chatroom nature of FireChat meant it was neither a site for important discussions about the protest, nor a useful tool for newsgathering or sourcing. While FireChat found enthusiasts as a tech story and reporting tool,42,43,44,45,46 the app played only a brief and minor role in the protests from the perspective of the resident foreign correspondents we interviewed.

In the context of political protests, when large numbers of people are gathered together, chat apps offer journalists ways of quickly finding and connecting with sources, and sourcing multimedia content. Some chat apps even offer a location-based tool for finding contacts, which enables journalists to source news from specific locations relatively quickly. Reporters noted that their access to richer contextual information through chat apps was helpful in targeting specific people and places. WeChat has a GPS-based friend-finder for meeting people nearby so journalists on the platform can contact nearby persons at a breaking news event to interview as sources. A social media-savvy reporter highlighted the advantage of speed and multimedia that WeChat offered in protest situations:

It takes two seconds to just go, Hey can I get your WeChat [contact details], and you scan the QR code. You have that information, you can communicate with them. Youre not going to get portraits of them, youre not going to get them on camera talking for video footage but you can definitely get information from them and you can conduct a [livestream] video [footage] from that [chat app].47

Similar to Nimbuzz, a cross-platform instant messaging app, WeChat has a multimedia advantage because of its ability to connect to Facebook (except within mainland China). In summary, the low cost of connectivity, access to location data, and multimedia functionalities have all played important roles in journalists uses of chat apps to cover political unrest.

Facilitating Sourcing from Real-Life Encounters

A common theme we heard from journalists was the way in-person social encounters led to cultivating sources via follow-up conversations on chat apps. An American wire service reporter told us how chat apps allowed him to continue chance conversations: Ill go out to some party or a reception or a press conference. Ill have a short conversation with someone Ive just met. I might be in the line for the bathroom and meet someone who works in some beleaguered industry in China that Ive never turned my attention to before.48 A digital news journalist found that his most reliable sources on chat apps were people he had met in person. Usually I approach [potential sources] in person. Once I approach them, we try to establish a method of communication, and it was almost always Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.49 Similarly, some journalists discovered that chat apps offered the type of communicative space that lent itself to follow-up discussions.

After making initial contact on an open platform, reporters often followed a sources lead on which platforms to use in subsequent conversations. As a print reporter described:

A lot of the information you get at the start of the reporting process is derived from people posting anonymously on these forums. A very common thing is somebody will post something on Baidu. The way we contact them is we send a private message to them and say, Hey, Id love to talk to you, or reply to them in the forum and say, Can you talk to me? Then somebody will say, Heres my QQ, you know, just message me. The other option is if were reaching out to them well say, I want to talk to you. Heres my QQ. Can you contact me?50

Just as reporters use chat apps to follow sources, some media-savvy sources use chat apps to keep in contact with reporters.

Private Networking

What Is Private Networking?

Private networking sites refer to sites that allow individuals or groups to leverage knowledge and experiences of people in a network privately. While social networking sites have allowed individuals or groups to socialize and intersect with people and content online openly, private networking sites have allowed for the privatization of socialization and online content. Some of the chat apps that we studied in this report have public and private features. For example, WeChat is searchable, but many reporters mentioned difficulty accessing certain private groups. In a sense, private networking sites such as WeChat or Telegram could transform newsgathering. This section explores two important dimensions of private networking that came up in our interviews: the possibility for journalists to gain trust and circumvent censorship, and the emergence of the role of the digital fixer.

Journalistic Uses of Chat Apps Under Censorship and Surveillance

In our interviews, we found that, unlike social networking sites, chat apps provide means for reporters to circumvent government censorship and surveillance. When reporting with chat apps under conditions of political unrest, savvy journalists familiarized themselves with apps privacy and security features, and stayed current with these chat apps evolving functionalities. Changing features can lead to enhanced or reduced levels of privacy. Journalists said they must accommodate sources varying familiarity with specific apps.

One journalist warned about the risks of reporting with chat apps: I think people dont really have a sense of the danger out there, the security issues associated with these apps. Although there have been more people who turned to Telegram, or even some people turning to CryptoCat, or other encrypted methods, most people stick to WhatsApp for everything.51 We found journalists who tried to take a conversation offline to protect sources and data by meeting in person or switching to an encrypted channel. But these moves (specifically the latter) can make the source nervous and may reduce their willingness to continue the conversation, especially about sensitive subjects (for sources not already aware of the likely level of surveillance on less secure channels). Journalists told us that, to some less sophisticated sources, the mere mention of encrypted channels can seem like an escalation and may cause the source to lose trust in the journalist or withhold information they may have been willing to provide. For sources with low technical skills, encrypted channels may involve onerous work. Sources may need to download and install additional software, possibly purchase new hardware, learn an interface, and invest considerable time and effort in the process.

Journalists noted that the choice of channel for communication with sources can be complex and depends on the source. An American print journalist working in mainland China told us:

If [a source] is on WeChat, which he probably will be, hell say, Heres my WeChat, lets talk. And so you talk to him a little bit, and then if hes saying stuff that youre pretty sure is problematic, you might bring it up and say, Hey, do you have other apps? Maybe it would be better to, like, meet in person, you know, talk over the phone or something like that. And you kind of get the sense of how paranoid that person is and how much they want to protect things. And you can push them. I usually give them a couple of different options . . . A lot of times people arent necessarily sophisticated enough or just dont care, and then theres people who are Youre either paranoid or youre not.52

Journalists interviewed noted that some sources involved in political protests are inexperienced and unaware of the extent of surveillance on chat apps.

They likewise reported that, if a conversation is progressing well, sources may be reluctant to shift to an encrypted channel for reasons of user preference, thereby increasing potential exposure to surveillance. Indeed, some sources may want to intentionally keep the conversation open to surveillance, to demonstrate to the authorities that despite their conversations with foreign journalists they are not engaging in substantive activities offensive to the government. By remaining in the open, some sources believe that they are marking themselves as working within the system, thereby decreasing the likelihood that they will encounter trouble from the government. In response to the dilemmas surveillance poses for users, WhatsApp has implemented end-to-end encryption for its more than one billion accounts, starting in April of 2016. Since August 2016, WhatsApp users now have to opt out of WhatsApp sharing data with Facebook. However, even heavily encrypted communications may be surveilled if either end-user device is compromised.

We also found that journalists calibrate their choice of chat app according to privacy needs. One investigative reporter used WeChat as a starting point for conversations, but preferred to move the discussion to Tencent QQ, a Chinese messaging app, because it offers fewer ways to track users than WeChat does: QQ is also a sort of instant messaging service. Its even more anonymous than WeChat, because with a WeChat account my phone numbers tied to that account. Whereas with QQ you can set it up through an email address, so you can create an anonymous email, and then create your own QQ address. You do it online, on a computer to chat with people, or on your phone.53 In China, more common than QQ was Telegram, which served as an encrypted channel for protest organizers internal deliberations, as well as a secure space for journalists to source stories. In some cases, journalists removed certain unencrypted chat apps from their phones and relied exclusively on secure channels.

Sometimes the surveillance possibilities of chat apps led journalists to turn down potentially useful sources, as a reporter working for a European media outlet told us. For journalists in large news organizations, institutional rules often determined what technology they had access to and were familiar with using. The reporter said: My company requires that my phone and computer are encrypted . . . I use [encrypted email], but I havent had much success in trying to get any of my sources to use encrypted email. I also use RedPhone, encrypted calling, but thats hard to get Chinese sources to use and it doesnt work well if the Wi-Fi is not very strong.54

We sometimes hear chat apps as a category, but these more specialized tools differ in a number of important respects. For example, they have varying types and levels of security, and these can have significant effects on journalists efforts to protect sources and the information they provide. Journalists also need to understand the level of openness in a given chat app, such as whether it is relatively narrow and private, or wide open. And they need to know who owns the data on the platform and what the terms of service say about possible uses of that data. Tech-savviness is uneven among journalists, but through word of mouth, trial and error, and, in some cases, training from employers, journalists gained a sense of which apps were secure and how to use these apps.

In addition to needing to master the functionalities, security features, language, and culture of chat apps, reporters told us they must also contend with the hardware challenges of heavy mobile phone use. A common complaint from journalists was the need to have backup battery packs on hand when reporting from protest sites. Since power sources were sometimes difficult to find, reporters learned to bring multiple battery packs and sometimes multiple phones. Another problem was with connectivity, since the size of the protests often meant that cellular data transmission slowed or stopped. As one reporter said: We had many technology woes because there were so many people that the network wasnt working. If I knew this, I would have prepared beforehand by setting up a portable Wi-Fi hotspot. I would have been able to connect anywhere instead of having to run away from the crowd to do work.55

As Hong Kongs 2014 protests grew in size and chat apps became the targets of hacking, surveillance, and misinformation, activists crowdsourced solutions to security problems. One stringer said:

[One student group] was getting hacked all the time. [The groups leader] would often post a screen grab of a message that says someone has tried to enter your account or something. It tells you when someones tried to access your account. Then I would see him ask people in the hacking community, Can someone help me run through this and see whats happened? Theres a good solid community here, like pro-democracy tech activists who will help and jump to anyones rescue if they have these sorts of tech problems.56

As a result, the private nature of chat apps led to the rise of digital fixers, reporters that were able to swiftly navigate the complex information on chat apps and provide guidance and potential access to those who knew less about how to gain access to information on those sites.

The Digital Fixer

When you are writing in a new context and location, you work with a fixer who understands that context, said An Xiao Mina at the 2016 International Journalism Festival in Perugia.57 They might be a journalist or researcher themselves, and theoretically we can apply this to the digital context. That there are digital fixers embedded in digital communities who can introduce you to the local culture. The concept of the digital fixer points to the challenge of sourcing on closed networking sites such as WhatsApp, WeChat, or KakaoTalk. How reporters discover the news when sites or communities on these sites are closed was a recurring question in our interviews, particularly when established journalists talked about parachute journalists, or reporters who had little knowledge of local languages.

Reporters commonly fly in from other places to report in sites of political unrest. Since the events are often fast moving, reporters turn to chat apps to understand the issues at stake, identify sources, acquire content for stories, and check for the latest updates from the different groups involved. Long-term resident journalists in zones of protest noted that so-called parachute journalists could be over-reliant on chat apps as a collective approach to newsgathering.

Many journalists noted language barriers in using chat apps. Despite apps facility in transmitting photos and videos, chat apps are language-intensive and require journalists to have a detailed understanding of formal and informal aspects of a given language (and often, more than one language). To use a chat app well, journalists need to know regional and local slang, and keep track of an ever-changing set of abbreviations and expressions, which are sometimes specific to a platform. During political unrest, journalists told us that the challenge is evermore present. Protesting is a public act, but participants want to know who is on their side and who is on the other side(s). Journalists observed that protesters rely on subtleties of language to distinguish between allies and adversaries. Because protesters knew that political adversaries, police, and government agencies would watch much of their communication, they also used codes and deliberate misspellings of words to create uncertainty and confusion among outsiders.

In the case of the 2014 Hong Kong protests, protesters intentionally used local idioms that would be challenging for malicious outsiders, even other Chinese, who tried to gain access to closed groups on chat apps. This included not just the traditional Chinese characters that are common to Hong Kongs Cantonese, but also combinations of characters that carried specific local meanings. This complexity posed challenges for the many journalists who sought to follow, understand, and report on the fast-moving conversations on chat apps. One interviewee wanted to report on a major protest march starting in Hong Kongs central business district, but misread the details (written in colloquial Cantonese-style Chinese, substantially variant from standard Chinese) on WhatsApp. Although this journalist spoke good Mandarin Chinese, he found himself in the wrong place when the protest began. If an experienced Mandarin-speaking journalist can make this mistake, imagine the difficulty that journalists covering fast-moving chats full of slang on multiple platforms simultaneously face.

Similarities with Newsgathering on Other Social Networks

While chat apps provide opportunities for reporters to cheaply and quickly source information during political unrest, there are other ways these apps open up challenges for reporters in the field. Similar to social networking and other online sources, these include: creating echo chambers, verification, curtailing government censorship and surveillance, and acquiring professional skills and experience.

Creating Echo Chambers

In addition to creating opportunities to engage audiences, chat apps allow journalists to target audiences and segment interests. Our case study showed that chat apps may initially appear to offer an alternative to the generally pro-government stories offered by news programs on television. But as journalists explored chat apps during political unrest, they found that a new and different set of echo chambers existed. Describing the Hong Kong protests of 2014, one digital journalist said, I try to counter [echo chambers] by liking [on Facebook] different pages, by including [pro-protest] pages, [pro-government] pages, and some more centrist websites or opinion sites.58

Yet, some journalists were disillusioned by the ways that social media discourse became siloed and partisan. One reporter told us: On the [pro-government] side they also have an extremely active social media presence. They do the same thing, mirroring what the [protest] side is doing with their own propaganda . . . I dont see those things because my friends, by and large, do not share those things.59 Some reporters found that chat apps gave journalists more access to media-savvy activists, but did little to enhance discourse with government figures. The result was a communicative space as polarized as other media. Indeed, not all sides in the debate used chat apps with equal enthusiasm or skill (i.e., the student group with the youngest supporters dominated this space).

Like other social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook,60,61 chat apps can create an illusion of a wider source network than journalists use in practice. On chat apps, journalists are less technologically reliant on a handful of legacy sources (e.g., state radio, dissidents with telephones, NGOs), but may choose to rely on a different but equally narrow set of sources, such as a small group of protest leaders. We found that some journalists saw chat apps not necessarily as an expansion of their social network, but instead as a way to keep in closer contact with people they already knew.

A related challenge of chat apps is particular platforms regional and national specificity. A digital reporter told us: A really challenging thing about social media is that its so fragmented [across nations]. Likewise, everyone in the U.S. is on Snapchat, but people here are like, Whats Snapchat? 62 This meant that journalists could make more effective use of existing sources for a particular region, but also that they might become more dependent on a regular set of sources. On [chat apps] its more difficult to gather opinions across a broad range of people and fields of expertise, said one reporter, adding: Its a lot more direct in that if I have somebody in my network already, its a lot easier to reach out to them to ask a question or arrange a phone call.63 Thus, the regional popularity of chat apps can perpetuate the classic reportorial problem of overreliance on a few sources while providing the illusion of a wider source network.

Verification

Within the coverage of the political protests, whether it is in-person conversation, on social networking sites, or on chat apps, rumors present some of the most difficult challenges for journalists. During a fast-moving event, rumors develop quickly and frequently, and journalists must decide which to take seriously, what to investigate, and what to report to audiences. Procedures for verifying information vary from one news organization to anotherand even within news organizationsdepending on the nature of the story covered. Chat apps further complicate this picture, since they can provide a mix of information and user-generated content from people personally known to journalists (contacts in real life) and sources emerging from the swiftness and anonymity of more open social media platforms. Chat apps do, however, come with features (geolocation, image tagging) that can assist in verifying user-generated content.

Alternatively, chat apps spread rumors quickly due to the volume of communication they host and the multimedia nature of chat content, which can include images, videos, and text that is fabricated or provided out of context. Our interviews showed that many people use chat apps to communicate with preexisting social groups in real life, allowing one individual to quickly spread unverified or un-contextualized information to persons immediately known to him or her. With chat apps and well-connected protesters, a rumor can move across a protest site, to other protest sites in the same city, and to audiences around the world long before journalists are able to corroborate and weigh evidence.

For example, during the 2014 Hong Kong protests a widely circulated photo appeared to show an armored personnel carrier entering a major tunnel leading to Hong Kong Island. Had the photo been current, it would have suggested a major escalation of force involving the Peoples Liberation Army. Journalists who covered this event told us they were asking questions like: Was this really a tunnel in Hong Kong? Was the photo current? Had the photo been altered in some way? The answer required local knowledge. Soon, local journalists and journalism students in Hong Kong determined that the photo was authentic, but dated to a military exercise from 2012. The chat apps group-chat function, and the ability to quickly share multimedia data along contact networks, assisted quicker contextualization and verification of this information. A wire journalist explained: If the information is not verified, its not going to make it onto the wire. If its some sort of piece of color, like people are at the scene and sharing photographs of this and that, we take care to verify the dates of photos.64

Confirming the origin of an image or clip that reaches a journalist through multiple re-sharings can be a difficult process. To determine the origins of user-generated content, journalists need to be active participants in chat app networks, not simply passive harvesters of the content. As a European digital journalist noted:

Its hard to find the original uploader on WeChat. I think you really need to have somebody whos entrenched in WeChat and uses it regularly. We run into a similar problem in Syria also, where a lot of photos and videos are shared via WhatsApp, and Israel, where WhatsApp is also quite big I think the strategy for us is also to make relationships with people in these WhatsApp groups.65

When news breaks, and reporters in the field and newsroom are regularly sharing footage within groups, their verification work is made easier by physical or digital access to the point of content origin. Similarly, when reporters are part of preexisting groups or networks on chat apps, other users are more likely to trust the reporter and respond to requests for confirmations. During the Hong Kong protests, a reporter active on chat apps found that being a known participant was a critical part of verification:

Often well get a message that says, The police are coming to this place in fifteen minutes, or I heard that the police are going to shut down this section of Hong Kong, or something. Word would just spread so fast. The quickest way [to verify this] would just be to go on the [protest movement message board] Facebook page and check: Do they have anyone on the ground in these places? Do they have pictures to verify that rumor?66

Even small online communities of dedicated witnesses and fact-checkers can make a critical difference in verifying rumors.

Although in the case we studied news organizations and individual reporters used chat apps in a method similar to how social networking sites and user-generated content have been used since their beginnings,67 one of the more interesting findings of this report was how and why news organizations used chat apps to organize themselves.

How Reporters Used Chat Apps as Tools of Organization

Chat App Groups Within and Across Newsrooms

Our interviews show that journalists have been using chat apps to communicate within and across newsrooms, and between reporters, as a way to organize themselves when newsgathering.

Collective chat apps groups

For a major story with numerous foreign journalists onsite, like the Hong Kong protests, there is a professional incentive to create groups of peers to stay in touch about major developments, even as individual journalists will pursue specific scoops or angles that might not be shared with potential competitors. One interviewee observed:

A lot of journalists started their own separate chat groups, especially some foreign ones who maybe dont speak Chinese or didnt have a really firm grasp of what was going on, so they would have a support system where they could ask questions about what was going on. I wasnt that involved in those groups, because I knew what was going on and I didnt really need help. I wanted to protect my own knowledge and information, but I knew that these groups existed.68

As previously stated in this report, well-organized activist groups were often inviting journalists (and still do) to join dedicated media chat groups. The groups used these digital spaces as long-running press conferences.

Source: WhatsApp

Chat apps groups for journalists within news organization

News organizations may also create more siloed groups specific to their own institutions to increase their competitiveness and overage vis-a-vis other major news organizations. For example, large organizations leveraged institutional size to cover the protest at all sites around the clock, often coordinated in real time, through WhatsApp as an alternative to email. A wire service social media reporter explained: We took shifts. We would go to one of the main protest sites and just monitor. The editor would assign us to each one of these locations and we would just file [our content] to the WhatsApp group.69

Journalists invoked notions of shareability speed on chat apps when covering political unrest. As a former Asia foreign correspondent told us, chat apps proved especially useful in team-based reporting:

We used that as a way to communicate with each other and with the editor, whoever was editing back in the office. It was really hard as a reporter on your own to understand what was going on in the greater context, because you were caught in the middle. All you saw was the crowd in front of you, and it was a multi-site protest, so it was really hard to know what was going on in other places without using WhatsApp.70

The Curious Case of Slack

The chat app of choice in Hong Kong was WhatsApp. Few journalists mentioned using Slack, which is popular in some newsrooms but not a place where sources make themselves available. Slack was only released in August 2013, so it was not surprising that journalists did not use Slack that much during the 2014 protests. This also appears to be a case of uneven, technological adoption: Some Silicon Valley innovations catch on in Asia, such as Facebook, and some, like Twitter, are simply not as popular or significant as a platform for communication. Our interviews highlighted that newsmakers did not use Slack internally, and only some of the news reporters found it useful during the 2014 Hong Kong protests and subsequent political unrest coverage. Slack was used at an institutional level among major news organizations with offices in Hong Kong. Correspondents told us that they were forming their own internal WhatsApp groups to cover all their bases during a breaking news story, since it was so much more efficient than email. We only found one case of reporters in a small-capacity news organization using Slack with the hashtag #Editorial. They would add comments about topics of interest on this hashtag. When there was sufficient information (e.g., URLs, quotes, sources) on a topic in the hashtag channel, they could write up a story based on that information.

Slack was not the preferred application of established, big-box news organizations looking to integrate chat apps as an extension of the newsroom. For example, Reuters staff used WhatsApp or WeChat both as a reporting tool and as an internal collaboration tool, similar to Slack. We found that during breaking news events, interviewees at large news organizations would communicate and coordinate with a small group of colleagues covering the story through the most easily available chat apps. Those apps are already integrated into their daily social lives and phone use; for instance, WeChat in mainland China and WhatsApp in Hong Kong. It remains difficult to answer whether Slack has reached a more dominant position within newsroom crisis reporting by now. Slack security concerns were not mentioned in our interviews. However, in our study the app of choice was WhatsApp mainly because this was where most information about the protest circulated, with WeChat (which is dominant in mainland China but less used globally) as a secondary app favored by correspondents based in Beijing and Shanghai, but who reported from Hong Kong.

Conclusions and Future Research

In the last decade, social media applications have become central to a kind of newsgathering that lends itself to more open and social ways of communicating. This report used the case study of the Hong Kong protests to explore two ambitious questions: What do the patterns which emerged during the protests mean in terms of newsgathering in the age of private social networks and chat apps? Could private social networks and mobile chat apps mean the end of social newsgathering and the return of pre-social networking ways of gathering the news?

Findings

Using the Hong Kong protests and subsequent political unrest in the region, we found the following to be true: 1) Discussions on chat apps have allowed reporters to develop rich multimedia sources of information, drawn from real-life encounters (e.g., with QR code function); chat apps can also provide private network communication, which is particularly useful in contexts of censorship and surveillance; 2) Protesters and, to a lesser extent, official sources used chat apps to communicate statements, notably on the dedicated media chat group which supplemented press conferences and printed releases; 3) For reporters who flew in and had little knowledge of the culture and language, digital fixers allowed them to navigate the muddy informational terrains of these mobile applications; 4) Journalists used WhatsApp (as the chosen platform) as a way to organize themselves both across and within news organizations; 5) Journalists faced similar challenges to those they already encounter in social newsgathering on open platformsfor example, verifying content and identifying echo chambers; 6) Closed networks emulate one-to-one newsgathering methods that used to happen over the phone or email. This is primarily because young, mobile people prefer these applications for their ease of use, or to combat issues around privacy and surveillance.

Our case study highlighted the ever-present tension between closed versus open social networks for newsgathering. While early social platforms pointed toward a potential newsgathering democratization on open social networks online, chat apps offer a counter-narrative: a more exclusive and closed way of newsgathering.

Journalism and Changing Technology

In this report, we interviewed foreign correspondents, as opposed to innovators or people who have technologically specific jobs.71 Journalism scholarship has long grappled with the challenge for reporters and news organizations to embrace change in the industry. Most research points to the difficulty of adaptation in journalism practice and norms, whether outlets use innovation flow theories such as adoption (e.g., technology acceptance model, theory of reasoned action, or diffusion of innovation theory) or social construction of technology.72,73 In journalism practice and norms, change can also take multiple forms. Brian Ekdale et al. argued that technological change faces fewer hurdles than audience relationships, because journalists recognize the need to adapt their practices to newer capabilities.74 Josep Lluis Mico et al. suggested that journalistic change depends on the position of journalists in the network (i.e., the complexity of groups within the media company, the historical distance between newsrooms, and power relationships complicated capability to change).75

Since our report focuses on foreign correspondents rather than full-time technologists or newsroom innovators, our findings point toward relative continuity in foreign correspondents newsgathering practices. These are reporters trying to catch up with sources, who have moved to new technologies in order to communicate with each other. This journalistic practice represents a form of cat-and-mouse game. Echoing Welschs observation that chat apps are a supplement to regular reporting, the intention behind this game is driven by pre-social networking journalistic methods of seeking sources and stories where they are.76 As a result, the journalistic construction of the technology [chat apps] is tied to foreign correspondents practices during political unrest. In this context, chat apps become evermore relevant as an object of study since this is where sources are increasingly communicating with each other to make sense of their social lives and world events.

A key finding of this report is the way that chat apps have become essential tools for reporting teams located both near and far from events. Reporters have relied on chat apps in their work at the center of the action, across town in a newsroom, and hundreds or thousands of miles away. Chat apps are the latest in a long line of tools journalists have used to supplement their on-the-ground reporting with information gleaned from a variety of sources. Using a mixture of public and private social networks, journalists follow stories as they emerge and piece together sources, questions, and facts. Especially in large-scale instances of political unrest, they have become the preferred tools for many reporters and news organizations as they undertake fundamental journalistic practices: sourcing, newsgathering, and verification. Old goals and processes remain intact; what is new is the technology.

We can identify ways that, beyond their coverage of specific events, journalists have embedded chat apps into their newsgathering processes. Our interviewees gave many examples of the routinization of chat apps in ordinary day-to-day coverage of political unrest. In the nearly two years since the Hong Kong protests, journalists in Hong Kong and China have come to depend on chat apps for daily newsgathering and sourcing, background information, and for verifying everything from claims to quotes to content. Journalists with language and technical skills have made active use of the some-to-some and one-to-one functionalities of chat apps. In some cases this has given reporters access to a wider set of sources; in other cases, reporters have used chat apps to stay in more constant touch with preexisting sources. Some of the more large-scale uses of chat appssuch as the in-house WhatsApp groupsset up by large news organizations to coordinate a dozen or more reporters arose in response to the specific circumstances of the Umbrella Movement protests. In interviews, reporters and editors indicated that there was much they liked about these groups. Faced with large physical gatherings and a torrent of user-generated content, they could work with colleagues at protest sites and in the newsroom. Our interviewees consistently said they were satisfied with what chat apps brought to their coverage. Asked if they would approach coverage differently in a future event of this magnitude, no reporter said they would abandon or lessen usage of chat apps. So while large-scale chat app groups are not a daily feature of reporting, the technology allowing those groups remains very much in the daily practices and consciousness of reporters.

Future Research

As more and more people are moving on to chat apps, further research on national and cross-national uses of chat apps for newsgathering is pressing. For example, as mobile chat apps become an established part of news production, will chat apps change the need of professional journalists to be onsite to get the story, or will good journalism of the future simply require an extension of shoe-leather reporting into the digital realm? Do chat apps present unique functionalities requiring that news organizations seeking to use them institutionally set different policies and approaches distinct from those applied to their social networking sites? And will media consumers growing familiarity with chat apps change norms and expectations of how chat apps newsgathering is featured in published media? With the digital fixer, especially for people who do not already have a network or knowledge of language, can chat apps emulate one-to-one newsgathering methods that happen on the phone or email? All of these questions raise new ones around trust building, especially when reporters discuss trust with sources in the context of censorship and surveillance.

Acknowledgments

We thank all those journalists who agreed to speak to us during the course of this research. We also thank the team at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism (Claire Wardle, Elizabeth Hansen, Emily Bell, and Pete Brown) for the help with selecting case studies, and thinking through our research framework and findings. Were grateful to the Tow Center and Brown Institute for providing us with facilities, opportunities to present our work, and participation in a community of talented and engaging thinkers on digital journalism. Thanks to other Tow fellows, including Matthew Weber, Caitlin Petre, Jennifer Stromer-Galley, and Jonathan Stray for their useful comments on our research. Our gratitude to the Yale Information Society Project fellows, staff, and director, Jack Balkin, for providing us with space and support to develop our work. Thanks to Jesse Woo, who contributed to the literature review, and to Ryan Calo for suggesting that we work with Jesse. And thanks to the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Minnesota Journalism Center (particularly Nora Paul and Sue Couling), and Public Radio International (particularly Michael Skoler, Angilee Shah, and Lynn Walker) for helping with the dissemination of the reports findings in academic and journalistic communities.

Footnotes

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is a type of barcode. On chat apps, users can use their camera, scan the code, and link it to a URL (e.g. user page on a chat app). A digital fixer is somebody who performs ad-hoc assistance for reporters on platforms and managing data (e.g., from translation to local connections and knowledge).

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Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Valerie Belair-Gagnon, Colin Agur, and Nicholas Frisch are the authors of this report. Valerie Belair-Gagnon, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Journalism Studies at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She is also an affiliated fellow at the Yale Information Society Project where sh e was executive director from 201416. Her research draws from media sociology, news production, emerging media, and digital cultures. Her work explores the implications of emerging media in newsgathering and news production, and builds on her book, Social Media at BBC News: The Re-Making of Crisis Reporting (Routledge, 2015). She tweets @journoscholar. Colin Agur, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He is also an affiliated fellow at the Yale Law School Information Society Project. His research examines the history of telecommunications and contemporary mobile phone usage, the social and legal implications of mass mobile telephony, and the unanticipated consequences of network development. At the International Communication Association (ICA), Agur is the vice chair for the Mobile Communication Interest Group. He tweets @colinagur. Nicholas Frisch is an Asian studies doctoral student at Yales graduate school and a resident fellow at the Yale Law School Information Society Project. He has covered Asian politics and culture for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Foreign Affairs.
About five months ago, a for-profit, hyperlocal online news site called Denverite launched in Colorados capital with the feel of a national startup. Backed by a trio of investors in Business Insider, the news outlet is the pilot project for a potential string of sites in other cities.

Denverite does not yet have a business model, but will start experimenting with how to make the site profitable. On Election Day, for instance, the outlet will host a ticketed event at its downtown office. In the meantime, the news organizations team of about 10 journalists have been cranking out the news about Denver and its metro area of nearly 3 million people.

So what has the journey been like so far? Last month I sat down with site editor Dave Burdick, who left his job as deputy features editor of The Denver Post to run the new startup. We talked about the challenges of launching a hyperlocal, digital-only news product, how hes building new audiences, and what a potential revenue stream might one day look like. The man has a passion for local news.

You can stream the conversation from the embedded player below or, to listen to the Denverite podcast via CJRs iTunes library.



Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Corey Hutchins is CJRs correspondent based in Colorado, where he teaches journalism at Colorado College. A former alt-weekly reporter in South Carolina, he was twice named journalist of the year in the weekly division by the SC Press Association. Hutchins writes about politics and media for the Colorado Independent and worked on the State Integrity Investigation at the Center for Public Integrity; he has contributed to Slate, The Nation, the Washington Post, and others. Follow him on Twitter @coreyhutchins or email him at coreyhutchins@gmail.com.
The Baltimore school bus driver who died along with five others in a collision with a commuter bus was found at fault in three traffic-related cases in the last eight years, according to civil and criminal court records and an attorney interviewed by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Glenn R. Chappell, 67, lost a civil case over hitting a parked car in Baltimore in 2008. Nationwide Insurance said in its complaint that Chappells vehicle veered from the roadway and struck the car.

The complaint alleged he was negligent for failing to pay full time and attention to the roadway, operating at excessive speed, failing to maintain control of his vehicle, failing to avoid colliding with other vehicles.

The court ordered Chappell to pay about $2,400, which he did, according to Nationwides lawyer, Michael David Johnson.

Chappell was convicted in 2014 of failing to show a registration card during a traffic stop, and convicted again last November of driving a vehicle with suspended registration. Neither of these offenses involved a school bus.

The records also show that Chappell was convicted of violating three protective orders issued in 2012. He spent much of the fall of 2012 in jail, awaiting judgment in those cases. In December 2012, he was sentenced to seven days for a second-degree assault conviction.

Chappells employer, bus contractor AA Affordable Transportation, didnt immediately respond to calls and emails about Chappells history.

Baltimore City Public Schools spokeswoman Edie House declined to comment on the court records, saying school officials needed to review them first.

None of the 18 elementary school students served by Chappells bus was aboard when it hit a car and roadside pillar before crashing into an oncoming Maryland Transit Administration bus early Tuesday, killing both drivers and four mass transit riders.

On Wednesday, Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith released the names of five of the deceased, including Chappell and MTA bus driver Ebonee Baker, 33.

Federal records show that AA Affordable had no violations or other crashes reported during the two years ending this September. In 2012, an AA Affordable school bus was involved in a crash that injured at least 13 people, including students, when it collided with a minivan. Smith said the company was not at fault in that case, because another vehicle ran a red light.

The companys five-year contract with the school district ends in June 2018, according to online public records.

Investigators hope Chappells autopsy will reveal whether he suffered a medical emergency, which Smith described Tuesday as a working theory, since there were no skid marks indicating hard braking.

We dont know if the driver of the yellow bus suffered any type of medical condition, Smith said at a Wednesday news conference. I do not have any information on a previous medical history to discuss.

Police released Wednesday 911 calls about the crash. A man who gave his name as Cameron described the scene, saying: The school bus was going 90. The school bus tore off the street and kept on moving.

The only school bus passenger, an aide, survived with minor injuries, and police planned to interview her, Smith said.

Weve interviewed a number of people, but those are still ongoing, Smith said.

Investigators recovered recording equipment from the MTA bus, but the condition of the equipment after the crash was unclear, Smith said.

Police also identified three of the four deceased MTA bus passengers: Cherry Denise Yarborough, 51; Terance Lee Casey, 52; and Gerald Holloway, 51, all of Baltimore. Smith said police havent yet reached relatives of the other deceased passenger, a 46-year-old woman.

He said three of the 10 people injured remain hospitalized at the University of Maryland Medical Center, in fair, serious and critical condition.

Michelle Kennedy, a 32-year-old house keeper at Spring Grove Medical Center who was injured in the crash, urged anyone with knowledge of the accident to reach out to her attorney, Billy Murphy, who obtained a $6.4 million settlement for the family of Freddie Gray last year. Kennedy described losing consciousness after the accident.

I woke up with glass in my mouth, Kennedy said, recalling the moments before she was carried out by emergency personnel.

Bakers sister Deonne Perry said in a telephone interview that Baker, a married mother of four, worked an overnight shift. She said she last spoke with her sister by phone around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, about three hours before the crash.

She loved her husband, her kids, and everyone elses kids, Perry said.

Baker was friendly, funny and always wanted to shine, said the Rev. Donald Wright of the Greater Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, where she was a member.

When Minnie Yarborough didnt hear from her daughter, Cherry, on Tuesday morning like a mother knows, she could tell something was wrong. She saw reports of a bus wreck along her daughters daily route to work and began calling hospitals. Later, she learned that her 51-year-old daughter, who loved sports, movies and puzzles was among the passengers killed.

She was a loving daughter, Minnie Yarborough said by telephone. She was kind, considerate and she truly loved her job.

Yarborough was riding the bus to her office at Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville, Behavioral Health Administration Executive Director Dr. Barbara Bazron said in a statement. Yarborough, a secretary who always had a ready smile and a kind word for everyone had worked in various roles in the department for 30 years, she said.

Steve Gondol, executive director for Live Baltimore, which promotes city living, says Yarborough had been a fixture at its Buying in Baltimore events since 2008, greeting people at the registration table. Gondol says Yarborough saw life as an education. He says she enjoyed living in the city and wanted to make sure others benefited too.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. Lead investigator Jennifer Morrison said her team will likely remain in Baltimore through the week, gathering facts to determine the cause of the crash and make safety recommendations.

The public transit riders were on the No. 10 route from Dundalk, a largely blue-collar community southeast of Baltimore, to Catonsville, a western suburb.

Bus fatalities are rare, accounting for less than 1 percent of all highway fatalities in 2013, according to a chart on the NTSB website.

(Associated Press writers Kasey Jones in Baltimore; Sarah Brumfield in Washington; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Maryland, contributed to this story.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
QBE North America Appoints Owens to SVP of Operations, Specialty Business Group

QBE North America announced that Carla Owens joined the organization as senior vice president, Operations for the Specialty Business Group. Based in New York City, Owens will report to Jeffrey S. Grange, president, Specialty Insurance, QBE North America.

In this new role, Ms. Owens will manage the design and implementation of the Specialty Operating Platform (SOP). This critical business technology project will deliver core processing capabilities across policy administration and billing functions for QBEs Specialty Insurance business, which includes Accident & Health, Aviation, Cyber, Healthcare, Inland Marine, Management Liability and Professional Lines, Programs, Surety, Trade Credit and Transactional Liability practices. The platform will also be integrated with existing financial, customer, processing and policy systems.

A proven business program manager with a depth of expertise across Specialty Insurance product lines, Owens has a track record of success launching, directing and managing large-scale programs and projects to drive operational, underwriting and profit improvement.

Prior to joining QBE, she spent 15 years at Chubb. Starting as an executive protection underwriter, she quickly advanced to the position of executive protection leader, where she was responsible for underwriting profit and loss results and marketing of a $60 million Management Liability portfolio. Later, as the assistant vice president, Profitability Indicator Business Project manager, Owens worked as the business lead for the development and implementation of predictive models to support risk selection and pricing for Specialty coverage lines and segments. Most recently, she served as vice president, Small Business Solution Program manager, responsible for a $30 million program of work that included predictive modeling, renewal processing and online quoting portal projects.

Novarica adds Former Travelers, PMA Executive Klotz to Insurance Team

Novarica, a Boston-based research and advisory firm focused on insurance technology strategy, announced that Jim Klotz has joined the firm as a vice president of research and consulting.

Prior to joining Novarica, Klotz spent fifteen years as senior vice president and CIO of PMA Companies, where he led efforts to replace all core legacy technology, establish a corporate call center, introduce a risk management information system, and manage operational areas. He also spent nearly twenty years in various leadership IT assignments at Travelers Insurance, including overseeing actuarial, billing and collections, and claims systems. He additionally served as VP Claims, Strategic Operations and Systems for Selective Insurance. More recently, Klotz has worked as an independent consultant providing strategic counsel to P/C insurers and solution providers.

Klotz can be reached directly at jklotz@novarica.com.

MEMIC Hires Morehouse as Safety Management Consultant in New York

Workers compensation specialist The MEMIC Group announced the appointment of Randy Morehouse as safety management consultant. Morehouse will join safety management consultants Jennifer Campbell, David Darnley and Rob Sylvester in providing safety training services and advice to MEMICs growing customer base in New York.

With more than 10 years of environmental health and safety experience, Morehouse was the Environmental Health and Safety manager at D&W Diesel in Auburn, New York prior to joining MEMIC and has experience in industrial printing as well as the hospitality industry.
Earlier this month, The Travelers Companies, Inc., announced that it would be using drones to assist in assessing damage resulting from Hurricane Matthew.

The insurer deployed a team of newly trained drone operators to inspect residential and commercial property damage in the five states impacted by the hurricane.

Were also flying drones in Texas and a couple of other locations around the country,said Jim Wucherpfennig, vice president, Property Claim for Travelers. Were learning every day and inspecting different types of damages, from some small hail damage that weve seen in the San Antonio area recently in Texas totrees on roofs and wind damage, those types of damages that we saw more with Hurricane Matthew.

The newly trained drone operators are claims adjusters who have been trained to meet the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) drone regulations and have been certified by the agency as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operators.

Hurricane Matthews strong winds and heavy rain caused property damage in a umber of communities, said Patrick Gee, senior vice president of Claim at Travelers. Our use of drones will help customers recover from losses more quickly because it expedites inspections, payments and repairs. The drones also help protect our claim professionals by eliminating the need to climb ladders to inspect roofs and other elevated structures.

Travelers launched its drone training program last spring in anticipation of the FAAs commercial drone regulations, which took effect in August. By the end of that month, Travelers first group of 20 property claim handlers were trained.

According to Wucherpfennig, the in-house five day program was conducted in Windsor, Conn., at the insurers claims training facility known as Claim University, a 200,000 square feet former airplane hangar.

The program begins with a drone simulation using a joystick and a computer. Then adjusters move on to microdrones and regular sized drones which they can practice flying in and outdoors. The program offers education on how using drones will better serve their customers, FAA regulations and protocols, wind conditions as well as other internal training criteria.

We can fly indoors, over the homes and businesses that are under the roof. We also have outdoor flying areas on site at Claim University, Wucherpfennig said.

Though the FAA doesnt require drone operators to have a certain number of flying hours under their belt, there are many other requirements, he said.

They do get flying experience. We dont start training them on the big drones first. We have a drone simulator. Think about a joystick and a computer screen. All of the students first start with the drone simulator, explained Wucherpfennig. Then we move them to microdrones, very small, inexpensive drones that are actually a little bit harder to fly than the big drones. Over the course of the week, they graduate up to the larger drones, which are still small. Theyre under four pounds in total weight. They fly those both inside and outside. Then theres various written tests. Like I said, all aimed at giving them the knowledge that they need to pass the FAA exam.

Once adjusters finish the program, they must pass an FAA exam and have a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) background check completed.

After they take and pass the FAA exam, theres aTSA background andother paperwork things to do. Then theyre ready to fly. We put 60 Travelers employees so far through that process. Every one of them, 100 percent of them have passed the FAA exam and are out and about flying drones today, said Wucherpfennig.

Most of the adjusters are part of the Catastrophe response team.

Weve also trained a few risk control employees, three from fraud investigative services, SIU investigators, one oil and gas claim professional for oil and gas type claims. Most of them are outside property claim professionals. That was really wave one, explained Wucherpfennig.

He expects that most of the property adjusters will become trained drone operators, though more will be based in the eastern and Midwestern states where the number of roof claims is higher.

The insurer has an aggressive expansion plan, said Wucherpfennig, indicating the insurer will study the first drones used to examine workflow and possible enhancements to the program. Of the 60 drones in use nationally, 20 of them were deployed to Matthew affected states.

According to the VP of Property Claims, contact was made with the insurance departments in the states where the insurer planned to use the drones for inspections. In addition, Travelers has a drone policy of not flying over a policyholders house or business unless it receives approval first.

Both policyholders and adjusters have offered positive feedback. The insurer has found that the use of drones in these types of claims has helped speed up the inspections, appraisals and payment to policyholders.

From a policyholder perspective, I think its been very positive, he said. Theyre able to see that when we use the drone technology, were able toinspect the losses more quickly, write the property appraisals more quickly, then give the customer and covered losses a check more quickly so that they can begin repairs and get back up on their feet.

Adjusters are excited about the news skills and increased safety.

From an employee perspective, its fun, its niche. Its a new technology that theyre able to use. Its a new skill that weve been training these folks on. Its quicker for them too. Instead of lugging a ladder out of the back of their car, setting it up, and making sure they have all the safety protocols, flying the drones is quicker, Wucherpfennig explained.

Drones are safer because adjusters no longer must climb on to a roof to inspect damages.

Some roofs are very steep and very complicated and too steep for our employees, he said. We dont want our employees to climb on very steep roofs. What you end up having to do in those situations is hire a company, hire an expert to come out and set up harnesses, set up rigging to get up on the roof. That often entails coming out on a different day. You have to impose on a customer twice. All of that is prevented by the use of drones, he added.

In addition, he said, drones offer the ability to capture visual imagery using geospatial and satellite technology that can be used to calculate roof measurements.

Allstate Insurance has also recently reported that it is using drones to adjust Hurricane Matthew claims in Georgia and South Carolina.
Italian manuscript leaf returned

Going back to Italy: Leaf from an Antiphonary with Historiated Initial L[ucia virgo] with St. Lucy (recto) and with music (verso), c. 1340. Master of the Dominican Effigies (Italian) Ink, tempera, and gold on parchment; sheet: 44.30 x 35.20 cm (17 7/16 x 13 13/16 inches) The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1952.281

(David Brichford)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Museum of Art is returning to Italy a medieval illuminated manuscript page, or leaf, after the country showed the work was illegally cut from the book that once contained it.

The removal of the leaf occurred sometime between 1933 and 1952, when the museum bought the work in good faith, museum director William Griswold said Thursday.

He said Italian authorities presented the museum with convincing evidence that the Cleveland leaf came from the Italian book, or codex.

"We know this from photographic documentation of which we were [previously] unaware," Griswold said. "That [documentation] strongly suggests that the manuscript was intact as recently as 1933."

Griswold said the work was neither of major importance nor expensive to acquire in 1952, although following museum policy, he declined to give the price.

But he said, "It's a fine thing and a beautiful object, and it will give enjoyment to audiences in Italy as well."

The return of the illuminated leaf is unrelated to the museum's decision in 2009 to return to Italy 14 artworks said by the Italian government to have been tainted by illegal activity.

Of those, 13 were antiquities reportedly looted from sites in southern Italy; the 14th was a late Gothic processional cross stolen from a church in a village near Siena.

The illuminated page now being returned depicts St. Lucy (Santa Lucia) in ink, tempera and gold on parchment. It measures 17.5 inches high and nearly 14 inches wide, and is attributed to the Master of Dominican Effigies, whom the museum described as an important illuminator.

The book to which it belongs, known as Codex D, is an antiphonary, or a type of hymnal, and was made sometime between 1335 and 1345 in parchment with seven illuminated pages and leather binding.

The antiphonary formerly belonged to the Church of Sts. Ippolito and Biagio of Castelfiorentino, in Tuscany near Florence, and is now preserved in the Museum of Santa Verdiana in Castelfiorentino.

The Cleveland museum was contacted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit about the leaf after a second leaf from the same antiphonary appeared on the market, triggering interest in the Cleveland object.

The museum said the illuminated leaf would be transferred to the federal agency, which would in turn transport the work to Italy, where it will be reunited with the antiphonary in Castelfiorentino.

"It wasn't a hard decision to make," Griswold said. "Upon seeing that evidence, it was a perfectly straightforward decision."
BAY VILLAGE, Ohio - Fall for coffee lovers means pumpkin spice drinks. For the past week, cleveland.com has been on the hunt to find the best one in Greater Cleveland. With the help of our readers and an online poll, we've found the top three - and Mojo's Coffee and More came in first place.

Check out profiles on the second- and third-place winners: Open Door Coffee Company and Nervous Dog Coffee Company.

When you walk into Mojo's Coffee and More, you feel like you're walking into a family reunion. The rapport among the baristas and owner shows they've known each other for years -- a decade for some. The comfortable decor is complete with leather chairs and a fireplace.

Located in a quiet plaza in the heart of Bay Village, the coffee shop welcomes all who are looking for a quiet place to relax, work or catch up with friends.

The best part, though, is the drinks.

Check out the shop's profile below and at the bottom find our reviews of the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Apple Cinnamon Chai-der.

Name of shop: Mojo's Coffee and More.

Address: 600 Dover Center Road, Bay Village.

Owner: Tracy Advellas.

Social media: It primarily uses Facebook.

How long have you been in business: The shop celebrated its 10-year anniversary this year.

What different autumn/seasonal drinks do you offer: Seasonal drinks include maple white mocha, apple cinnamon chai-der, pumpkin spice latte, autumn spice tea, cinnamon white mocha and dark chocolate buckeye mocha. Every month a new seasonal drink is added as well.

When are they available: September through November for the fall/autumn drinks. Holiday drinks will become available in December.

Where do your recipes come from: Most of the drinks are thought-up by Advellas.

What makes your pumpkin drinks unique: "It all starts with our espresso," said Caleb Lumsden, barista manager. "We've really worked on it a lot in the past year. We've trained our staff to be able to pull the best shot of espresso, steam the milk perfectly every time and achieve the perfect aeration when steaming the milk. We obviously use high-quality fresh ingredients but a lot has to do with trained baristas making the drink properly."

Do you have a bakery: "We bake almost everything here," Lumsden said. "The few things we don't, we get from a bakery in Lakewood. All of our recipes we've crafted here and we sell things so fast that they're always fresh."

What other menu items are popular: A new addition to the shop - the espresso menu. It has created a whole new group of people coming in that appreciate espresso.

What else should we know about your shop: "Mojo's started off as less coffee-oriented, but in the past two years it's become a place to get the best cup of coffee," said Lumsden. "We've all worked really hard and never stop changing. Whether it's creating the best environment to sit and drink your coffee or changing barista techniques - we're constantly trying to better ourselves."

Taste test review

We tasted the pumpkin spice drink, as well as another fall drink chosen by the baristas. Reporters Brenda Cain and Hannah Drown share their thoughts:

Pumpkin spice latte (Hannah Drown): The latte was the perfect temperature and mix between sweet and spicy that makes a pumpkin spice latte what it is. The espresso was delicious and you could tell the ingredients were fresh.

Apple cinnamon chai-der (Brenda Cain): This drink is extremely unique -- a mix of apple cider and chia tea that is perfectly balanced. Very soothing."

Check out our other winners in the Best Pumpkin Spice Drink contest:
DAVIS_BESSE_POWER_PLANT_12120101.JPG

FirstEnergy wants Ohio lawmakers to allow the company to move its power plants back into regulated rates and to create special subsidies for its nuclear power plants, Davis-Besse and Perry. The company also owns two nuclear plants in Pennsylvania and is planning to approach regulators and lawmakers there as well. Old coal and nuclear plants do not always successfully compete with new gas-fired power plants and at times with wind farms.

(Peggy Turbett, The Plain Dealer)

AKRON, Ohio -- FirstEnergy Corp. plans to begin lobbying Ohio lawmakers and regulators as early as next week to make it possible for the company to move its power plants back under regulation -- with rates set by the state rather than competition.

"We are looking to convert competitive generation to a regulated or regulated-like construct in Ohio," Chuck Jones, CEO, announced at the start of today's third quarter financial conference call with analysts.

The announcement that the company will go all-out to pull its no-longer-competitive power plants back under the protection of regulation was not a surprise to them.

Trade publications and analysts' notes to investors in recent weeks have warned that FirstEnergy Solutions, FirstEnergy's unregulated subsidiary which owns the power plants, is facing a bond ratings downgrade and could even be pushed into bankruptcy.

In other words, the once wildly-profitable subsidiary that championed competition has become a dangerous drag on the parent company because its old power plants cannot generate electricity as cheaply as the constantly growing number of gas-fired power plants and wind farms pushing power into wholesale power markets.

FirstEnergy's local delivery companies -- the Illuminating Co., Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison in Ohio -- buy their power from those wholesale markets, using auctions to secure the lowest prices.

FirstEnergy Solutions does sell directly to consumers in communities that have "aggregated" their residents to negotiate an even lower price. The largest aggregation in Ohio has been created by the Solon-based Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, which now represents 500,000 electric customers in 12 counties.

FirstEnergy Solutions last week told NOPEC it was cancelling its contract, which was good for three more years, at the end of the year. NOPEC in turn moved to cash the irrevocable line of credit the company had arranged with the Bank of Nova Scotia if for some reason -- such as bankruptcy -- it could not provide power.

The line of credit was worth tens of millions of dollars, but when NOPEC tried to draw on it, the company went to court claiming the move was fraudulent and won a temporary restraining order preventing NOPEC from cashing in the credit. Another hearing is set for Nov. 28.

NOPEC then began negotiating with other wholesale suppliers and expects as early as Monday, after a special board meeting, to announce a new supplier replacing FirstEnergy Solutions on Jan. 1.

A return to regulation would probably end a consumer's option to buy power from competitors -- now numbering more than two dozen in Northeast Ohio, as listed on the state's Apples to Apples energy choice website.

And re-regulation would most likely mean consumers would pay higher electric rates to cover the cost of operating the old power plants.

FirstEnergy also wants a special regulatory deal that recognizes the "environmental benefits" for its four nuclear power plants, Davis-Besse and Perry plants on Lake Erie in Ohio and its twin-reactors at Beaver Valley power plant on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, said Jones.

New York state on Aug. 1 created customer-paid subsidies for some of the state's nuclear power plants.

In answer to questions from analysts, Jones said the company's objective is to complete this transition away from competition and back into regulatory protection within 12 to 18 months.

He said that means lawmakers will have to act in "early 2017."

"We will work diligently with legislators and regulators in each of these states to assess the appetite for solutions that can benefit customers and communities, but not at the expense of extending our transition to becoming fully regulated," Jones said.

Whether Ohio lawmakers, dominated by Republicans, have the appetite to turn their backs on market competition will be the question.

Opposition from competitors, consumer groups and environmentalists to turning the clock back will probably be fierce. Ohio began a gradual move to utility deregulation in 2000, accelerating the transition in 2005 and 2008. FirstEnergy's electric prices are now lower than they were in 2009, but its delivery fees have grown.

FirstEnergy Solutions should not have cash problems in 2017 and 2018, said Jones, but it does face financial challenges in the near future, including problems with coal contracts. And in 2018 the subsidiary must extend or refinance some of its debt -- which could lead it into seeking bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Jones stressed that FirstEnergy does not intend to raise money by issuing new shares of stock to bail out FirstEnergy Solutions. FirstEnergy has already announced it will issue $500 million in new shares directly to its pension plan to cover required contributions. The independently managed pension plan can keep the shares or sell them.

The bond rating companies are now paying close attention to the company and how it handles the problems created by FirstEnergy Solutions, which has already suffered a downgrade.

"We met last week with all three of the rating agencies to outline our transition to becoming a fully regulated utility, and we expect to see announcements from them shortly," Jones said.

"Further downgrades of FES by the rating agencies could require posting additional collateral of $355 million, which FES could address through a combination of cash on hand, borrowing under the unregulated money pool or proceeds from asset sales," said Jones.

If power plants have to be closed to raise money, Jones said he would try to close the oldest boilers in the company's large coal-burning plants, as the company did last summer when it announced it would close the smallest and oldest boilers at its W.H. Sammis power plant and at its Bayshore power plant near Toledo.

Jones' announcement came on the same day the company reported better-than-expected sales and profits for the July-August-September quarter.

The company earned $310 million, or 89 cents per share, on sales totaling $3.9 billion. Year-ago third quarter sales and profits were $395 million, or 94 cents per share, on sales totaling $4.1 billion.

The company said the record-hot weather drove sales higher than it had anticipated.
PEPPER PIKE, Ohio -- Theft by deception, fraud; Shaker Boulevard: A resident came to the police station Oct. 28 to report that he had negotiated a deal online last year with someone named Geoffrey from Standard Motor Group in California to buy or lease his 2014 Porsche Panamera, then had it shipped across the country by truck.

He said he received no payment until January, the title has never been transferred and he has not been able to make contact with the company. Police said the Ohio Highway Patrol is also investigating additional complaints with this company.

Theft by deception, fraud; Shaker Boulevard: A resident reported Nov. 1 that she had used her PayPal account to buy $438 worth of clothing and accessories back in mid-September. But the only package she had received to date from TB Dress was a pair of earrings valued at about $2.50, for which PayPal suggested that she file a police report.

Drunk driving, private property crash; Lander Circle: A Shaker Heights man, 75, was charged with suspicion of drunk driving after he struck a wall in the Waterway car wash on the afternoon of Nov. 1. He took his Nissan Maxima through the car wash himself and later registered a .096 BAC on the Breathalyzer, slightly over Ohio's .08 BAC threshold. He was taken to the Beachwood Jail.

Animal complaint (miscellaneous), Northwood Drive: On Oct. 26, a resident reported a neighbor's dog charged at her.

Harassing communications, Pinetree Road: On Oct. 25, police were dispatched to the Lu-Jean Feng Clinic for a report of threatening text messages being sent to current employees by a former employee.

Driving under suspension, North Woodland Road: A Pepper Pike resident, 22 was stopped Nov. 1 for driving on a suspended license and the car was towed from the scene.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
voting.JPG

A federal judge indicated Friday that he would bar any sort of harassing conduct outside polling places.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

U.S. District Judge James Gwin

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal judge on Friday said he will issue a restraining order against Donald Trump's campaign and longtime adviser Roger Stone to avoid "harassing or intimidating conduct" at polling places on Nov. 8 Election Day.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin did not specify exactly what will or will not be allowed but said the order would likely be generic and prohibit both Democrats and Republicans from harassment of people entering and leaving polling places.

"It wouldn't be any attempt to particularly identify as somebody being a Trump supporter or not," Gwin said.

The judge also appeared unlikely to tinker with those poll observers whose names are submitted by each political party and are then approved by county boards of elections.

It also seemed like many of the actions he would forbid in his restraining order are already illegal, though the order could result in a contempt charge for anybody accused of violating it.

The decision came following a more than two-hour hearing. Gwin issued his written order Friday afternoon.

By Friday evening, Trump's campaign had asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to review the order.

The Democrats filed a lawsuit Sunday against state Republicans, Trump's campaign and Stone that said they fear that an aggressive presence from Trump supporters could discourage voters from the black community and other groups.

The judge said he will issue the restraining order against Trump's campaign and Stone, who has not responded to the lawsuit and did not have an attorney present. He did not order it against the Ohio Republican Party, saying there was not enough evidence to show that a restraining order against it was needed.

Gwin also said the restraining order that the Ohio Democratic Party sought, which included disallowing Trump supporters from congregating and talking to voters 100 feet or more away from a polling place, was too broad.

Democrats filed similar lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona.

As his election chances have faltered, Trump recently has repeatedly claimed the election is "rigged" and said his supporters should visit polling places to ensure integrity within the election. The lawsuit says such tactics are being encouraged in Democratic strongholds like Cleveland.

It also says Stone and his organizations have recruited volunteers to watch polling places. He's also encouraged the so-called "protectors" to download and print out "official looking identification badges" and to livestream activities in November as they talk to voters about "election fraud."

Elections officials from both parties, as well as independent experts, say that election fraud is very rare, and to the extent that it does happen, it occurs on a scale much too small to influence a national election.

While Gwin considered many issues during Friday's hearing, he seemed most interested in Trump's views on voter fraud, despite the overwhelming evidence that it is incredibly rare.

He seized on a quote Trump made at Aug. 22 rally in Akron, in which he said, "you've got to get everybody to go out and watch, and go out and vote. And when I say 'watch,' you know what I'm talking about, right?"

The judge asked Chad Readler, an attorney representing the Trump campaign, whether he actually believed, "as an officer of the court, that there is such a thing as voter fraud that impacts elections?"

Readler said after a bit of prodding, "Your honor, I don't know. I'm not a political scientist and we've had elections that come down to coin flips because they're tied. So in that race, if one vote was illegal, that illegal vote decided the race."

Dawn Smalls, an attorney representing the Ohio Democratic Party, said that the people heeding Trump's call "are not just citizens that are seeking to fulfill their civic duty.

"These are people that are specifically reacting to the racially tinged and racially charged language," Smalls said "And that these are the people that are being fed to the state parties. Not, you know, Republicans of a normal year ..."

The state Republicans, Trump's campaign and Stone maintain that they have not done nor are planning to do anything illegal. Attorneys for Trump's campaign and the Republican Party argued that a restraining order is not necessary because many of the actions Democrats say they fear are already against the law.

Trump's campaign also said the restraining order the Democrats wanted would chill free speech and impede the campaign's ability to perform certain get-out-the-vote measures.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said in a statement that "with this decision, Ohioans can feel confident that they will be able to make their voices heard in this election."

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges said in a statement that he was happy that Gwin found that there was not enough evidence to specifically include the party in the restraining order.

The statement also says that the Democrats' "eleventh hour publicity stunt backfired as the Hillary Clinton campaign is now also subject to the restraining order." It does not note that the party's actions, like many others, are also restricted by the restraining order.

Messages left for a Stone spokesman and Trump's Ohio campaign staff were not returned.

Updated with background and information from Friday's hearing.
Buffalo Woman Sues To Stop Presidential Election

Trending News: A Woman Is Suing To Stop The Election Because The Candidates Suck

Why Is This Important?

Because Americans sue for everything else, why not this?

Long Story Short

A Buffalo woman has filed a lawsuit in federal court requesting that Tuesday's presidential election be postponed until we find someone more competent. In the meantime, we'd stick with Barack Obama temporarily.

Long Story

At 62-years-old, Louise K. Nolley was really looking forward to voting for the first time. She'd never voted before due to run-ins with the law and a heroin addiction (something all too familiar these days), but now she wants to delay her first time voting even longer.

Why? Because both major party candidates suck.

The Buffalo News reports that Nolley has filed a lawsuit with a federal court demanding the election be postponed.

Neither of the candidates running for the Presidential seat shows that they can handle the position, her lawsuit states, adding that the character of both candidates falls far below acceptability.

Nolley says she decided to make a case because she really wanted her first time voting to be special.

This is the first time Ill ever get a chance to vote, and I just wanted it to mean something for me and other people who really need a leader, she said to the local paper. So I really want to make a difference and do something different.

With just days before the election, it seems a little late to be bringing up this case, but Nolley said she decided to file it now because she got the "OK from God."

If the lawsuit works and the election gets postponed, Nolley hopes that President Obama can stick around longer, despite that being a violation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits presidents to two terms.

In the sad case that she loses (I'll speak for all America and say we're all rooting for her), she says she won't vote for anyone on the presidential ballot, only regional races.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Out of 319 million Americans, these are the bozos we came up with?

Disrupt Your Feed

We're all rooting for you Louise!

Drop This Fact

Want another reason to consider postponing? There may be an al Qaeda terror threat on election day.
First Carnegie Colloquium Focuses on Artificial Intelligence in Military, Data Privacy

November 04, 2016Policy experts from several countries discussed the implications of artificial intelligence on data privacy and military operations at the inaugural Carnegie Colloquium in Washington, D.C.Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) co-hosted the Oct. 31 event at CEIP headquarters. The second part of the colloquium is set for Dec. 2 at CMU's Cohon University Center in Pittsburgh and will focus on internet governance and cyber deterrence.CMU President Subra Suresh told more than 120 people in attendance that the university's advances in AI and cybersecurity benefit from Carnegie Mellon's partnership with (CEIP)."We hope these discussions will better inform ongoing thinking about how technology affects global society and diplomacy," Suresh said.In a panel discussion on the future of consumer privacy, Andrew Moore, dean of CMU's School of Computer Science, posed some of the challenges to consumers created by artificial intelligence."Privacy and personalization, which seem like clear goods, lead us to very difficult societal and technical challenges," Moore said.Panelists in the discussion included: Ed Felton , deputy CTO of the White House and a computer science professor at Princeton University; Yuet Tham , a partner at Sidley Austin in Hong Kong; and Paul Timmers , director of the Sustainable and Secure Society Directorate in the European Commission Communications Networks.CyLab Director David Brumley set the stage for a second panel discussion focusing on autonomous technology and counter-autonomy in military operations. Brumley recently led a team that won the DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge , an autonomous hacking competition in which systems competed for a $2 million prize."Countries around the world, including the U.S., Russia, Israel, China and India, are increasingly deploying and investing in artificial intelligence and autonomy technology in their operations," said Brumley, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. "Autonomy is going to be huge, and it's absolutely critical we get it right."Panelists in this discussion included: Lt. Gen. Dr. R.S. Panwar , former colonel commandant of the Indian Army Corps of Signals; Daniel Reisner , former head of the Israel Defense Force's International Law Department; and Mary Wareham , advocacy director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch and global coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots."The wide span of impact from artificial intelligence and cybersecurity demands these kinds of international discussions," said Jim Garrett, dean of CMU's College of Engineering. "These forums provide an exchange of ideas, an appreciation for a wide variety of views and a debate on tough topics."
watch now

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a tearful apology on Friday that her "heart was breaking" over a political scandal that has engulfed her administration and said she will cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation. Park has been rocked by an influence peddling scandal involving an old friend, sending her approval rating to an all-time low of just 5 percent, a 12 percentage point drop from last week, according to a Gallup poll released on Friday. In a brief televised address to journalists, Park said that prosecutors should clarify what happened and that everyone involved should be held accountable, including herself, and take responsibility if found guilty. "It is hard to forgive myself and sleep at night with feelings of sorrow," Park, 64, said, her voice trembling.

watch now

A prosecution official declined to comment to Reuters when asked if Park would be subject to investigators' questioning, which would be a first for a sitting South Korean president. Park's old friend, Choi Soon-sil, 60, is alleged to have used her closeness to the president to meddle in state affairs, and her lawyer has said he expects prosecutors to look into whether she inappropriately received classified documents and benefited unlawfully from two non-profit organisations. "It is very miserable and regrettable that a particular individual is said to have taken profits and committed several unlawful acts, while we are working on a job in hopes of helping the national economy and people's lives," Park said, referring to Choi.

Protestors call for the resignation of South Korea's President Park Geun-hye as a snowballing political scandal continues to unfold. Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images

Park, who has faced growing calls from the public and political opponents to step down, closed her remarks with a bow and walked towards a row of journalists and repeated her apology. She did not take questions. A former Park aide was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of abuse of power, according to prosecutors, and a second former aide was arrested late on Thursday on suspicion of leaking classified information, a prosecution official told Reuters. Choi, 60, who has been in custody since Monday, told South Korea's Segye Ilbo newspaper last week that she received drafts of Park's speeches after Park's election victory but denied she had access to other official material, influenced state affairs or benefited financially.

Employees watch TV sets broadcasting a news report on South Korean President Park Geun-hye releasing a statement to the public in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Hong-Ji | Reuters
The presidential contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may be dominating headlines this election cycle, but there are numerous propositions on state ballots this November that together could have just as significant an effect on policy as the victor in the presidential race. Thirty-four states have a combined total of 157 propositions on the ballot in November, according to the University of Southern California's Initiative and Referendum Institute. California alone has 17 propositions. All told, multiple states will vote on whether to legalize marijuana, raise the minimum wage, issue new bonds and expand gambling among various measures.

"If you look at the things that are directly affecting people's lives, I actually think state propositions have big big effects," said John Matsusaka, executive director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute. "[State propositions] in some respects could be more important than the way the presidential election would touch people's lives."

Especially given current levels of gridlock in Congress and inaction on issues in state capitols, some organizers advocating for various propositions said the process provides a way to move forward on policy when a state legislature proves unable to pass the bill or there is a disconnect between politicians and popular opinion.

And the use of ballot propositions may only grow, according to Matsusaka.

"I do think over time we are going to see increasing use of propositions," Matsusaka said. "It's becoming increasingly easy for citizens to understand and get information about what's going on around them, and that makes them want to participate more."

Here are a few of the most notable issues being voted on through propositions this Election Day:





Marijuana

Across the country, state ballots have increasingly put to voters the question of whether marijuana should be legalized for medical or recreational usage. Voters in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will be able to weigh in on fully legalizing the drug. There are also medical marijuana propositions on the ballot in Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota.

This year's votes come on the heels of the historic 2012 decision by voters in Colorado and Washington to legalize recreational marijuana usage.

If all nine states vote this coming Tuesday to ease restrictions on marijuana, then more than 25 states in total would allow for recreational or medical use. While polling has varied from state to state, at least in Maine recent polls have found legalizing recreational marijuana usage with a strong lead.

David Boyer, the campaign manager for the "Yes on 1" coalition that has been a driving force behind the Maine proposition, said the national wave surrounding marijuana ballot proposals stemmed from current dysfunction.

"It's recognition of, our current system prohibiting marijuana hasn't worked and it's cost a lot of money," Boyer said. "Some of it is a symptom of our Congress and even our local state legislature not taking up the issues the people want."





Minimum wage

The federal minimum wage remains $7.25, but voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington will be able to vote on whether to increase their own state's minimum wage. In Arizona, Colorado and Maine, the ballot proposition asks voters whether the minimum wage should be increased to $12, and in Washington state the proposition asks about raising the minimum wage to $13.50. In Arizona and Washington, the proposition includes paid sick leave as well.

As of Aug. 1, no state had a minimum wage higher than $10, according to data from the Department of Labor. Bill Scheel, the campaign manager for AZ Healthy Working Families, a political group pushing the proposal, said Arizona's ballot measure and others like it are a reaction to congressional inaction.

"The lack of action at the federal level has just been building up pressure in so many states so even, you've got the ballot initiatives in four or five states, but also California and New York have accomplished it legislatively," Scheel said. "So I think it really is a commentary on how Congress has abdicated its responsibility."

The Arizona proposition has polled recently at about 60 percent support.





Bonds and taxes

Some states require voter approval to issue new bonds, and six states will get the chance to vote on a total of about $12 billion in new bonds, according to a report from the University of Southern California's Initiative and Referendum Institute. The report also noted that the most expensive proposal regarding bonds is California's Proposition 51 that would authorize issuing $9 billion in bonds for educational facilities.

Per that same report, the "most common subject of ballot propositions historically and this year" are taxes. Florida voters already approved a ballot proposition on Aug. 30 that provided property tax breaks for solar energy, and numerous others will be on ballots Nov. 8. that could have effects such as taxing tobacco or providing property tax exemptions.





Miscellaneous

BSIP | UIG | Getty Images
It's so customary to make charitable contributions around the holidays that some people don't even think twice about doing it. But that doesn't mean those good deeds don't reap tax benefits as well.

For starters, any charitable contribution is tax deductible up to 50 percent of your income. And you can get tax savings with noncash donations as well.

For example, there are benefits if you are stocking up at the supermarket for a food-collection truck or purchasing winter coats for a coat drive. In that case, the entire cost of a new coat is tax deductible.

If you are contributing gently worn coats or jackets and other clothing your kids outgrew, you can only deduct the thrift shop or fair market value, which is less than retail.

Other noncash donations can work as well, like cleaning out your closets and donating old clothing, books, toys, furniture and kitchen goods. All count toward your charitable contribution, as far as Uncle Sam is concerned.

"Those are great actions to take this time of year," said Kathy Pickering, executive director of H&R Block's Tax Institute.

In order to get the deduction come next April, keep a receipt of the donation, a note of the organization's name, and the date and fair market value of all noncash goods, Pickering said.
Workers in four states may be getting a raise post-Election Day, with initiatives to raise the minimum wage heading to a vote. Arizona, Colorado and Maine all have ballot measures to hike local wages to $12 an hour, while Washington State voters will consider $13.80 an hour. All increases are to be phased in gradually by the year 2020. The pendulum seems to be swinging in favor of higher wages nationally, where 29 states and Washington, D.C., now have minimum wages above the federal level of $7.25 an hour. The federal minimum wage has been stagnant since 2009, but the Obama Administration has taken steps to offer workers better protections during that time period; the Department of Labor, for example, enacted sweeping changes on overtime regulations. In less than a month, on December 1, more than four million salaried employees earning $23,660 to $47,476 each year will be eligible for overtime pay. While economists continue to debate whether or not higher pay is good for business, employers like Wal-mart, Target, and Facebook have offered higher pay to workers in recent years. And both presidential candidates agree that a raise of the minimum wage is in order: Republican nominee Donald Trump has proposed $10 an hour, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton supports a wage of $12 an hour, and $15 an hour in cities and municipalities where that is economically feasible.

Since 2000, every ballot initiative that's been put in front of voters to increase the minimum wage has succeeded. Laura Huizar staff attorney for the National Employment Law Project

Wage advocates like Laura Huizar, staff attorney for the New York City-based nonprofit National Employment Law Project, hope to see all four state ballot initiatives pass next week. "State and local action is putting more pressure on the federal government. The growing support for higher wages across the country is showing that you can increase wages and improve communities, improve conditions for families and workers .... There's a strong message that Congress should do something," Huizar says. "In recent years, since 2000, every ballot initiative that's been put in front of voters to increase the minimum wage has succeeded."

If you are going to occupy someone's time for 40 hours a week, you ought to provide them with a wage that is sufficient for them to at least get by Judy Amabile owner of Product Architects, Inc.

In Boulder, Colorado, Judy Amabile, owner of Product Architects, Inc., said she's supporting the ballot initiative to hike wages to$12 an hour by 2020 from the state's current rate of $8.31. Although she already pays workers above the minimum, starting at $12 an hour, Amabile says it's simply the right thing to do. "We see that as a fundamental fairness issue," she says. "If you are going to occupy someone's time for 40 hours a week, you ought to provide them with a wage that is sufficient for them to at least get by, put a roof over their head and put food on their table." When she began paying her entry level workers more several years ago, Amabile expected labor costs to increase at the business, which manufactures water bottles. But costs per worker went down, while retention went up. People were working harder and calling out sick less.

An employee prepares a bag containing a customer's food order inside a Burger King fast food restaurant in Moscow, Russia. Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Million Air Orlando, which is at Orlando Sanford International Airport on October 25, 2016 in Sanford, Florida.

Republican nominee Donald Trump has a message for voters, but it likely is not going to be effective enough to clinch the presidency or siphon many early voters away from Hillary Clinton, one election expert said.



"This is a good time to make an important public service announcement because a lot of things have happened over the last few days," Trump said at a rally earlier this week. "This is a message for any Democratic voter who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and who are having a bad case of buyer's remorse  in other words, you want to change your vote."

In a separate tweet, Trump urged people to change their votes in the states that allow it. More than 31 million ballots have already been cast, or roughly a quarter of the total expected turnout.

Tweet: Donald Trump: You can change your vote insix states.

But so far, the fallout from FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress informing it that the bureau is once again looking at Clinton's emails does not seem to be having much of an effect.

"The race remains on the same path as it did before the release of the letter and after the release of the letter," said Michael McDonald, associate professor at the University of Florida, who specializes in American elections. "It appears the letter had no effect on the trajectory of the early vote so far."

Part of this stems from the unprecedented attention this election has received. The race has gripped voters' attention, leading to Americans' having a lot of information to inform their votes before casting early ballots.

"People have been paying attention," McDonald said. "No one is forcing them to cast an early vote. They're casting their vote after they've made up their minds."

"It's not going to be nearly enough to change the outcome of the election," he added.

Only a handful of states even offer people the ability to change votes they have already cast ahead of Nov. 8.

These states include Wisconsin (where the deadline expired Thursday), Minnesota (where the deadline has also already expired), Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Mississippi. A few of these states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, are important states for Trump in his bid to get enough electoral votes to defeat Clinton, who has been favored by many pollsters to win.

Some states say voters are asking how to change their ballots. Since changing an absentee ballot involves either voting in person on Election Day or requesting a new absentee ballot depending on a state's rules, it is unclear how many of these voters will actually follow through and switch their choices.

"A lot of people have called the state board and asked if they can do it," said John Conklin, director of public information for the New York State Board of Elections.

On Friday, Reid Magney, public information officer at the Wisconsin Elections Commission, wrote in an email: "We may have some data late today, but it is very fuzzy. No way to break out numbers of people who change votes versus ballots cancelled for other reasons. Probably just a few per city on average."

In Mississippi, which has absentee voting but not early voting, the state has received more calls from voters asking to change their absentee ballots than in prior years. Since the only way to override an absentee vote is to vote on Election Day, officials will not know how many people actually replace their vote until then.

"We have gotten some requests," said Leah Rupp Smith, Mississippi's assistant secretary of state of communications. "We do not know, though, if they are tied to any one event."

Is it possible that this year's election, with its many twists and turns leading up to Election Day, would spark more states to tweak their rules moving forward for switching their votes?

McDonald said voting changes of heart only really work in places where people are casting absentee ballots and can request to void the ballot.

"It's possible where you have privacy envelopes that are still associated with the voter," McDonald said.

But without those, it would create a "logistical nightmare" for election officials to find the ballots of voters who cast early in-person ballots and changed their minds.

While it would be difficult to accomplish, McDonald said he still sees a path to victory for Trump as the election nears.

"He's got to run the board on every battleground state and he's got to pick up a blue state," he said. "It's going to be very tough."
Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns is beginning to seem less an aberration than a prelude. And that has open-government advocates worried that a decades-long standard of transparency is at risk of extinction.



This week, two Republican governors, New Jersey's Chris Christie and Illinois' Bruce Rauner, broke with their own past precedent in declining to release their returns ahead of Election Day.



In a statement to Politico, a Christie spokesman was duly dismissive: "The Governor and Mrs. Christie will release their taxes when they are ready to do so." Christie did release his returns last October, following his announced run for president.



Rauner, meanwhile, is insisting that he wants to wait until his family foundation files it returns, before he releases any information. In an email exchange with CNBC.com, Rauner's spokesman ignored questions about whether Rauner was behaving any differently than his party's frontrunner when it came to financial disclosure.



"I am afraid that this is [a] case of defining deviancy down," said Trevor Potter, the former head of the Federal Election Commission who served as chief counsel to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. "Once the tradition is broken and someone effectively gets away with it, other people look at it and say they can do the same thing."



Despite rounds of polls confirming the American electorate's expectations for tax returns, watchdogs concede that Trump has paid little price for his resistance. And they only expect that other politicians are taking note.



"There has been enormous pressure on Trump to release his tax returns," said Anne Weismann, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability. "He has gotten away with it with seeming little ill-effect on his campaign and it doesn't surprise me if other candidates say: Why should I release mine?"



Following the resignation of Richard Nixon, Congress passed laws requiring presidential nominees, members of Congress, and other federal officeholders to reveal certain personal financial information each year. Although those have never required income tax returns, every presidential nominee and most major party candidates since Nixon have nonetheless provided them. Many gubernatorial and congressional office-seekers likewise followed suit.



Beyond the information and revelation of the documents themselves, open-government advocates argue, this nonlegal standard of disclosure has represented a rare example of political compromise.



"Democracy doesn't work if the attitude of people running for leadership is 'I will get away with whatever I can get away with and what the law doesn't specifically prohibit,'" said Yochai Benkler, a Harvard Law professor and advisor to the Sunlight Foundation. "That is a barely acceptable way for people who work in the private sector."



House members are required to annually file statements of their personal finances. In addition, all but three states  Idaho, Michigan, and Vermont  require state legislators to file financial disclosure statements, although the extent of those disclosures can vary widely. (You can see the disparities in this table provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures). But while these statements do reveal certain information about public officials' assets, investments, and liabilities, they do not provide the same nuance and detail that can be found on a common IRS Form 1040, which might show offshore investments, charitable contributions, specific debts and how taxes are paid or avoided.
An explosion on Friday rocked a central district of Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, hours after police detained 11 lawmakers from parliament's pro-Kurdish grouping.

The blast took place near a police station where lawmakers apprehended in Diyarbakir were taken, a security source said. Police overnight arrested the joint leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), parliament's second-biggest opposition grouping, due to their reluctance to give testimony on crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda."

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast in the Baglar district, but the explosion resounded through the city. People were wounded, and several ambulances were dispatched to the area.

The armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's southeast.

Turkey's Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.

Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the party's lawyers told Reuters.

"HDP call international community to react against Erdogan Regime's coup," the party said on Twitter, referring to President Tayyip Erdogan.

Police also raided and searched the party's head office in central Ankara.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has been on a charm offensive to gain support for the U.K. ahead of formal Brexit negotiations next year. Having visited Western Europe, May is now turning her focus to emerging economies, with India as her first stop. Accompanied by a business delegation from across the U.K., the 60-year-old arrived in New Delhi on Sunday in her first bilateral visit outside Europe as PM. As one of Asia's fastest-growing economies and a former U.K. colony, India is of paramount interest to a post-Brexit Britain. "The prime minister will deliver on her ambitious vision for Britain after Brexit," a press release on the website of the prime minister's office stated Sunday. "A number of commercial deals are expected to be signed during the visit, creating and securing jobs at home and demonstrating market confidence in the strength of the British economy."

Kirsty Wigglesworth - WPA Pool - Getty Images

India was the third-largest source of foreign direct investment into the U.K. last year, after the U.S. and France, and May will do all she can on her three-day trip to ensure this continues, said Narayan Iyer, India head at global law firm Linklaters. "The British PM will want to show how the U.K. will capitalize on the economic and diplomatic opportunities outside of Europe. She will be keen to send a strong message that the U.K. remains an advocate for free trade and is open for business," he continued. May's visit touches on a key argument of Brexit supporters. The "leave" campaign had long argued EU bureaucracy was hurting economic relations with emerging economies, and that the U.K. would be able to negotiate new trade deals on its own. Hopes for an India-E.U. free trade agreement (FTA)in the works for nearly a decadeare low so New Delhi would welcome a FTA with the U.K, Iyer noted. Defense may be another key sector to watch. India, one of the world's biggest arms importers, mostly buys from the U.S. and Russia, so strategists widely anticipate May to push the case for U.K. weapons instead. However, no concrete deals will be inked on this visit as agreements can only be signed once the U.K. formally leaves the E.U., pointed out Dhruva Jaishankar, foreign policy fellow at Brookings India.

A strategic visit

Trade and business aside, there may be geopolitical motives behind May's trip.

India is the only major non-European country willing and able to host her at this time, explained Kanti Bajpai, Wilmar professor in Asian studies at the National University of Singapore. Washington is caught up in a tumultuous presidential election and U.K.-China relations are presently rocky, so New Delhi was the best choice, he continued. Chinese state media accused Britain of "China-phobia" in August after May's government delayed a deal involving mainland companies to build a $21.9 billion nuclear power plant in Somerset, amid national security concerns. The deal was finally signed in September. Because the U.K. does not have any major quarrels with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, an India trip is politically safe and gives her an opportunity to bolster her international reputation, said Bajpai.

watch now

Will India reciprocate?
China's top internet regulator released controversial new rules on Friday requiring the country's live-streamers to hold a broadcasting license.

The restrictions put forward by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) will mean anyone who uses or provides content which could be considered as threatening to social order or the country's security faces punishment.



Booming live-streaming industry

Zhong Zhi | Getty Images | Getty Images News

Similar laws are in place in China for other media services though the county's booming live-streaming industry is the latest to be targeted with strict restrictions.

Dr. Rogier Creemers, a researcher in the law and government of China at Leiden University, told CNBC in a phone interview on Friday that Chinese authorities can be particularly stringent in order to cover against every eventuality. He went on to add: "Everyone and their sister can upload content which naturally presents a problem for the government. Primarily these rules are to make sure that live streaming can be managed more easily by the authorities."

'Narrow the playing field'
WHEN: Today, Friday, November 4th

WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk Alley"

Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and CNBC's Carl Quintanilla on "Squawk Alley" (M-F, 11AM-12PM ET) today, Friday, November 4th. Following are links to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000565416, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000565418, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000565419, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000565420 and http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000565421.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

MUSK ON SPACEX

I THINK WE'VE GOTTEN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PROBLEM. REALLY SUPRISING PROBLEM THAT'S NEVER BEEN ENCOUNTERED BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF ROCKETRY. AND IT BASICALLY INVOLVES A COMBININATION OF LIQUID HELIUM, ADVANCED CARBON FIBER COMPOSITS AND SOLID OXYGEN. OXYGEN SO COLD THAT IT ACTUALLY ENTERS SOLID PHASE. SO IT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN HISTORYSO THIS WAS THE TOUGHEST PUZZLE SOLVED THAT WE'VE EVER HAD TO SOLVE. IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO BE BACK TO LAUNCHING AROUND MID-DECEMBER.

MUSK ON ISS APPROVAL

INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDER SERVICES HASI MEAN, THEY'RE THE LEADING INDEPENDENCE EVALUATOR IN THE WORLD AND ACTUALLY HAVE A TENDENCY TO BE, IF ANYTHING, CONSERVATIVE IN THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS. SO ACTUALLY, WE ARE  I HATE TO SAY IT, BUT I THOUGHT THEY WOULDN'T RECOMMEND US BUT THEY DID. I'M VERY GLAD THEY DID.

MUSK ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

IF YOU HAVE SOLAR PANELS FACTORIES AND ELECTRIC CARS, YOU HAVE A COMPLETE SOLUTION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE. BUT IF ANY ONE OF THOSE PIECES ARE MISSING, THEN YOU DON'T. SO IT'S JUST CRITICAL THAT ALL THREE PIECES ARE THERE BECAUSE I THINK THAT'S THE FUTURE WE AS HUMANITY WANT.

MUSK ON SOLAR ROOF

I REALLY THINK IT'S GOING GET TO THE POINT WHERE IF YOU GET A NORMAL ROOF, IT'S SORT OF ODD. IT'S GOING TO BE LIKE OF COURSE YOU GET A SOLAR ROOF BECAUSE IT LOOKS BETTER, IT LASTS LONGER, IT'S GOT BETTER INSULATING VALUE, AND IT COSTS LESS WHEN YOU FACTOR IN THE ELECTRICITY THAT IT GENERATES. LIKE WHY WOULD YOU GET ANYTHING ELSE?

MUSK ON TIMING

I THINK THE TIMING IS JUST RIGHT IF NOT  I MEAN, FRANKLY, WE MAY BE A LITTLE LATE. I WOULDN'T SAY THAT WE'RE EARLY. IT'S REALLY AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY THAT THE COMPANIES ARE EVEN SEPARATE. IN MY ORIGINAL PLAN, ORIGINAL BUSINESS PLAN FOR TESLA, I PLANNED FOR TESLA TO DO SOLAR PANELS. BUT AT THE TIME, THERE WASN'T THE OVERLAP BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE THE STATIONARY STORAGE FOR HOUSES, WE DIDN'T HAVE THE BATTERY POWER FOR HOUSES.

MUSK ON EQUITY

WE DON'T NEED TO DO AN EQUITY ROUND OR GENERAL CORPORATE DEBT IN ORDER TO REACH CASH FLOW POSITIVE WITH THE MODEL 3. SO THERE'S ACTUALLY, THERE IS NO EXPLICIT NEED FOR US TO RAISE MONEY. THERE MAY  IT MAY BE PRUDENT FOR US TO RAISE SOME CAPITAL AS A BUFFER AND JUST TO DERISK THE BUSINESS, BUT WE'VE NOT YET DECIDED WHEN THAT MIGHT BE.

MUSK ON AUTOPILOT

AUTOPILOT DIDN'T STEER AWAY OR BREAK AWAY FROM THE TRUCK THAT CROSSED THE HIGHWAY. AUTOPILOT DIDN'T VEER OFF THE ROAD AND SMASH INTO ANYTHING. IT JUST, IT STAYED IN LANE, BUT THE NATURE OF THE TRUCK THAT WAS CROSSING THE HIGHWAY WAS SORT OF VERY UNEXPECTED AND, UNFORTUNATELY, THE DRIVER WAS NOT LOOKING AT THE TIME AND DIDN'T TAKE ACTION.

MUSK ON DEALS

IT TOOK MONTHS TO VET THAT THROUGH OUR INDEPENDENT BOARD MEMBERS OF BOTH COMPANIES AND CONFIRM THAT IT WAS AN ARM'S-LENGTH TRANSACTION. AND IT WAS JUST VERY UNWIELDY. NOW, WE ARE GOING TO DO HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF DEALS OF THAT SIZE AND BIGGER. THERE'S JUST NO WAY TO HAVE  ARE WE GOING TO RUN THEM ALL THROUGH THE INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE? IT'S JUST  THERE'S NO WAY TO DO THAT EFFECTIVELY.

MUSK ON HILLARY CLINTON

I THINK HILLARY'S ECONOMIC POLICIES  HER ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES PARTICULARLY ARE THE RIGHT ONES, YOU KNOW. BUT ALSO, I DON'T THINK THIS IS THE FINEST MOMENT IN OUR DEMOCRACY IN GENERAL.

MUSK ON DONALD TRUMP

I FEEL A BIT STRONGER THAT PROBABLY HE'S NOT THE RIGHT GUY. HE JUST DOESN'T SEEM  HE DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE THE SORT OF CHARACTER THAT REFLECTS WELL ON THE UNITED STATES. IT'S JUST, I DON'T KNOW. NO.

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Computers, intelligent machines, and robots seem like the workforce of the future. And as more and more jobs are replaced by technology, people will have less work to do and ultimately will be sustained by payments from the government, predicts Elon Musk, the iconic Silicon Valley futurist who is the founder and CEO of SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX.

According to Musk, there really won't be any other options.

"There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation," says Musk to CNBC. "Yeah, I am not sure what else one would do. I think that is what would happen."

In a country with universal basic income, each individual gets a regular check from the government. Switzerland considered instituting a universal basic income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2578) a month this summer. Voters ultimately rejected the plan, but it sparked a broad, global conversation.

Also this summer, President Obama addressed the idea of a universal basic income in an interview with the Director of MIT's Media Lab, Joi Ito, and Scott Dadich, editor in chief of WIRED: "Whether a universal income is the right model  is it gonna be accepted by a broad base of people?  that's a debate that we'll be having over the next 10 or 20 years."
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Shares of Endo International were choppy in intraday trade Friday after a report said it has held talks to sell Paladin Labs, its specialty pharmaceutical subsidiary.

The pharma company may sell it to Canadian drugmaker Knight Therapeutics , according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. Endo International did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. A spokesperson for Knight Therapeutics said the company does not comment on rumors.



The report said the possible deal could help Endo pay off some its $8 billion debt as it has struggled amid pressure from regulators on drug prices. The transaction could also aid Knight in further expansion in Canada, Reuters reports.

Reuters said there is no certainty the talks will result in a deal. The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

Shares of Endo ended the day 2 percent higher, but even with Friday's gains, the shares have fallen more than 75 percent year to date.

Read the full report from Reuters here.


Amid increasing reports of email hacks and Russian cyberthreats, at least one struggling business has found a silver lining.

FireEye shares gained 12 percent on Friday after the cybersecurity firm posted better-than-expected third quarter results. Sales were up 13 percent year-over-year, in part thanks to strong demand for cloud-based email security and threat intelligence solutions, FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said in a statement.

Concerns about cyberattacks are on the rise this year, Mandia told Reuters, adding that FireEye was responding to state-sponsored intrusions from Russia.



"I think Russia's operating at it's fullest scale and scope right now, and for the first time in maybe 15 years, in my opinion, we're responding to more state actor intrusions from Russia than in China," Mandia told Reuters in an interview.

The California-based company reported a third-quarter loss of 18 cents per share, excluding items, on revenues of $186 million. Analysts expected a loss per share of 31 cents a share on revenues of $183 million, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.



The company also grew margins by cutting expenses, including headcount reductions during the quarter, the company said. Shares of FireEye are about 57 percent lower over the past year, as the company has pivoted to accommodate the growing popularity of cloud computing.

Wedbush Securities analyst Steve Koenig said that the stock may have seen a bounce because so many short sellers had bet against it. The company has much work ahead to beat competition amid an uneasy restructuring, Koenig wrote in a research note on Friday.



"We believe cybersecurity has become a top IT spending priority among enterprises, as highly publicized breaches of major organizations are occurring with increasing frequency, resulting in large-scale theft of consumer data, litigation costs, and reputational damage. Our checks indicate [FireEye] has a differentiated and relatively effective core technology," Koenig wrote. "Even though the market perceives [FireEye] technology to be generally superior, companies must find new budget for advanced threat solutions, which can take time."
Wage growth typically indicates the final stages of a recovery, but if this is the peak of labor growth, former Bush advisor Ed Lazear worries it will not be felt among the U.S. population as much as it should be.

"If we look at the economy, it basically looks like we've peaked out and we've peaked out at a low level," the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush told CNBC.

And, with the employment rate "stuck" and lower job number increases relative to 2015, Lazear told "Squawk on the Street" that while "things are not terrible, they're not great."

Lazear noted the inconsistency in the year 2015 between the numbers  a pretty good year, by his standards  and how they affected the U.S. population, which he contended still felt like it lacked buying power.

"Primarily what's going on is we have more people working  but the point is we're working harder and we're not making a whole lot more," Lazear said.

Moving forward, Lazear would like to see a more significant increase in productivity, which jumped in October but remained flat year over year.

"To my mind, the only way to get [more sustained productivity growth] going is to see higher investment, to create a climate where businesses want to get capital expenditures growing again," the former chairman said.

"Without that, we're not going to see productivity growth; without productivity growth, we're not going to see wage growth," he added.
If Rudolph Giuliani were prosecuting Hillary Clinton for her emails, she would already be indicted, the former federal prosecutor told CNBC on Friday.

"The two main elements to prove intent is destroying evidence  well, she destroyed 33,000 emails  and what we call false exculpatory statements. You've got at least 12 lies," the former New York mayor said on "Squawk Box." "How about 'I had only 1 cellphone?' She had 13 cellphones, and they've all disappeared. How could 13 cellphones disappear unless you destroyed them?"

Clinton has said she did delete the emails on the belief they were not related to her work as secretary of state.



According to The Hill, the FBI investigation uncovered 13 total mobile devices associated with Clinton's two known phone numbers that she may have used to send emails.

Though the FBI was unable to uncover any of the devices, the report did not find that she used more than one device at a time while secretary of state.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.



Though he would not confirm whether he would want a personal stake in a Clinton prosecution, Giuliani stood by the evidence he believes is enough to cause significant setbacks for Clinton.

"I've prosecuted a lot of cases. I've never seen one with more evidence against Hillary and her whole band of co-conspirators. I see it as a racketeering case," he said.

The New York Reublican, an outspoken Donald Trump supporter, has repeatedly condemned Clinton and deemed her untrustworthy based on her alleged mishandling of classified information.


Overall views of Clinton and Trump have remained fixed and negative in NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls all year. They weigh down either's ability to expand their support very much. And the recurrent negative headlines about them  regarding everything from sexual assault to email  discourage even voters who already support them.

The first flows from the extraordinary unpopularity of, and frequency of unflattering news about, both major party nominees.

The 2016 presidential campaign, which enters its final weekend with Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump , has challenged conventional understanding in two significant ways  both of which add uncertainty to Tuesday's outcome.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, on October 9, 2016.

One consequence of that is swings in the polls that have less to do with changing voter preferences than with the propensity of either candidate's supporters to respond to calls from pollsters. The less willing they are to respond, the more poorly their preferred candidate does in the survey. This factor partly explains swings in the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, which over two weeks moved from a 12-point Clinton lead to a one-point Trump lead and back to a three-point Clinton edge again.



"There's response bias for Trump and against us  like there was response bias for us after the debates," a top Clinton strategist told me. But the strategist added that "things have improved a bit in the last two days," returning the race to the modest advantage Clinton enjoyed two weeks ago.



The second shift concerns the relationship between national polling and prospects for the candidates in the electoral college, the results of which actually determine the outcome. In past elections, because political preferences were distributed fairly evenly across decisive battleground states, national polls served as a valuable proxy for electoral college outcomes. A candidate leading the popular vote by virtually any margin seemed assured of an electoral majority.



Then Al Gore won the 2000 popular vote but lost the presidency to George W. Bush. And now, 16 years later, continuing polarization by education, race and income has shifted the balance.



Trump's strongest appeal lies among white voters without college degrees. His best chances of winning states that President Barack Obama carried in 2008 and 2012 lies in those with above-average proportions of those voters, such as Ohio and Iowa.



At the same time, Clinton has shown above-average appeal to both college-educated whites and Hispanics alienated by Trump. Given some large key states where such voters are concentrated, that means the Democratic nominee is padding her national popular-vote total in ways that won't win her any more electoral votes.



In California, for example, she now leads Trump by a greater margin than Obama defeated Mitt Romney by in 2012. In Texas, with its large Latino constituency, she's running closer to Trump than Obama ran in losing it to Romney. It won't help her in the electoral college because she would be winning California, and losing Texas, even without those extra votes.



"The national polls are really meaningless at this juncture," a senior Trump strategist told me. "Once we are within three points, we can win over 270 (electoral votes) because of her over-performance in Democratic states, and our winning but still under-performing in GOP states like Texas."



Clinton's national lead appears to be roughly three points. She continues to lead in enough battleground states to reach the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. But those leads are tenuous enough that, more than in past races with similar national polling, Trump still has a chance.



And even if he can't close the gap, Clinton could end up with a larger popular vote lead than Obama's four-point 2012 margin, but fewer electoral votes than Obama's 332.

The Clinton strategist projected that she would be elected as America's first woman president with an electoral total of between 300 and 310. If she wins all the states Obama did four years ago, except for Ohio and Iowa, she would end up at 308.


The ruling caused frustration among those in favour of Brexit, with fears that the move may delay the U.K. from leaving.

On Thursday, the High Court ruled that the U.K. government must pass a vote in the country's parliament to trigger Article 50 and begin the process of leaving the European Union. The ruling reinforces the sovereignty of parliament to pass laws and decisions affecting the U.K.

A ruling by the U.K. High Court concerning Brexit has angered sections of the British press and public, with many of them expressing their frustration on social media.

The responses to the event shine a spotlight on the deep divisions that remain in the U.K. following the June referendum.

The judges in the court case came under fire from British newspapers including the Daily Express and the Daily Mail.

Link

Link

Many politicians attacked the decision. Nigel Farage, former leader of the U.K. Independence Party, who was a leading figure in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, called the decision a betrayal and tweeted that he was beginning to question the independence of the U.K. judiciary.

Link

Conservative MP David Davies was also unhappy with the decision and criticised the judges.

https://twitter.com/DavidTCDavies/status/794133320162537472

Other politicians welcomed the decision, such as Vince Cable, a former member of parliament for the Liberal Democrat party.

https://twitter.com/vincecable/status/794289510242811904

Meanwhile, many members of the public criticised those who attacked the judges' decision.

https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Pryor/status/794438729557561348

https://twitter.com/AdderCowley/status/794330968748343296

Others pointed out the irony of the complaints against the judges' decision, as one of the arguments put forward by those in favour of leaving the European Union was that the U.K. parliament and its courts would regain control over the country's laws.

https://twitter.com/kirby_pj/status/794468227539750912

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The average janitor earns $26,180 a year. But one San Francisco-based janitor has managed to increase that average tenfold. Liang Zhao Zhang, a BART system service worker, raked in over $275,000 in 2015, thanks to overtime pay.

BART spokesperson Alicia Trost confirmed that Zhang made a base salary of $57,945 and $162,050 in overtime pay. Benefits brought him to a total of $276,121.

This is the third year in a row the janitor has made a six-figure salary.

While researchers at Transparent California, the nonprofit that released the 2015 public employee compensation data, call BART's compensation packages outrageous and irresponsible, Zhang isn't the one to blame, according to his employers. He "signs up for every overtime slot that becomes available," Trost tells CNBC. "He is likely working almost every day of the year cleaning our stations."
Starbucks is making more money  but a divisive presidential election is making business tougher, the company's president told CNBC's on Friday.

"All retailers are facing some challenging operating conditions today," said Kevin Johnson, president and chief operating officer for Starbucks . "Certainly, the election is creating a lot of noise in the market. That's requiring retailers, us included, to work harder to break through. "

The coffee chain posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, hitting a fiscal fourth-quarter record. But same-store sales, a key measure of improvement in the restaurant industry, fell short of Wall Street's estimates.

The Seattle-based company reported adjusted earnings of 56 cents a share on $5.71 billion in revenue, topping the 55 cents a share on $5.68 billion in revenue expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.
Oil prices fell Friday on news that Saudi Arabia and Iran were further from reaching an agreement on freezing output. However, the head of one of the world's biggest oil companies told CNBC he is confident that OPEC countries would reach a consensus later this month.

"I think (there will be a deal). It's time to do something for the oil price," Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni , told CNBC on the sidelines of the launch of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative in London.

The head of the Italian oil company believes that both consumer and producers need "a different kind of price". Brent crude reached a $45.08 low during Friday's trading and WTI fell as low as $43.57 a barrel.

Descalzi is confident the price of oil would increase next year, but it is hard to predict by how much.

"I share the view that the price is going up, but the level is hard to say," the head of the Italian company told CNBC.
Michael Moore told CNBC's "Fast Money" on Friday that he has "never wanted to be more wrong" than about the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency.

"People are upset. They're angry at the system and they see Trump  not so much that they agree with him  but they see him as the human Molotov cocktail that they get to toss into the system with Brexit and blow it up, send a message," Moore said.

The "Fahrenheit 9/11" director explained that Trump's ideologies don't fall under capitalism, socialism or even democracy.

"His ideology is called Donald J. Trump. He believes in Donald J. Trump. If it's good for him, then it's a good thing. Not good for him, it's a bad thing," Moore said.

Moore said that Trump's success in the race so far comes from his willingness to "say anything to get elected." For example, the director said Trump's threat to slap Ford with tariff for cars manufactured in Mexico is "music to the ears of the working class of Michigan and Wisconsin and Ohio."

Moore, who lives in Michigan, said he's been trying to explain to people in his state that Trump is "conning" them.

"He doesn't really know if he even has the power to do what he says he is going to do to Ford Motor, but I know it sounds good. I know it sounds good when he says 'Apple is going to make those iPhones here," the director said.

Hillary Clinton has similarly railed against the pharmaceutical companies, slamming them for exorbitant prices. But the difference between Clinton's hawkishness on drug pricing reform and Trump's promise to keep jobs in America is that Clinton "doesn't behave like a 12-year-old."

"There is an actual adult inside of her. There's a rational person who's going to weigh things," Moore said.



The director said that if voter turnout is high among women, minorities and young Americans, then Clinton will win. He cautioned, however, that this only happens if people actually go to the polls on Tuesday.



"Don't use the ballot on Tuesday as an anger management exercise," Moore said.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
For many, November 4th will go down as an important day in the battle to save the planet and we need to go back to 2015 to understand why.



At last year's COP21 summit in Paris, after days of painstaking and fraught negotiations, world leaders agreed to make sure global warming stayed "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and to "pursue efforts" to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

Today, that agreement comes into force.

"It's an historic day for so many reasons," Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment (UNEP), said in a recorded statement released in the hours before the agreement passed. "It shows the shift to a greener world is irreversible," he added. "It shows we're able to set aside differences to tackle common problems with consensus. It shows the world is swayed by good science and solid evidence."

On Friday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that the agreement's ratification and coming into force showed that the world was "finally committing to tackling climate change" while WWF International's Manuel Pulgar-Vidal  who leads the body on climate change  wrote in a blogpost that the agreement had created "a unique framework for partnership among governments, businesses, civil society, faith groups and communities to collaborate and rally behind this crucial common cause for the planet."

Today's news is seen as a boon for environmental organisations and climate change activists, but a great amount of work still needs to be done.

On Thursday, UNEP released a new report which pointed to temperature rise of up to 3.4 degrees centigrade this century, even with the commitments made at Paris. Emissions were expected to hit between 54 to 56 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030, UNEP added. If this scenario plays out, then the planet's temperature would be on course to rise by 2.9 to 3.4 degrees centigrade this century, UNEP said.

"We are moving in the right direction," Solheim said in news release. "The Paris Agreement will slow climate change, as will the recent Kigali Amendment to reduce HFCs," he added, referencing a recent agreement to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons. "They both show strong commitment, but it's still not good enough if we are to stand a chance of avoiding serious climate change."

World leaders will have an opportunity to maintain momentum on climate change when they gather in Morocco for the COP22 climate summit next week. If additional action was not agreed upon, then an "avoidable human tragedy" would take place, Solheim said.

"The growing numbers of climate refugees hit by hunger, poverty, illness and conflict will be a constant reminder of our failure to deliver," he added. "The science shows that we need to move much faster."

The IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol, also cautioned about the momentous challenge. "Let's not underestimate the task ahead," he said on Friday.

"Limiting carbon emissions and changing our energy systems is a monumental challenge. But the IEA is working with governments around the world to help identify solutions and show how it can be done."
The industry has faced sharp criticism about its drug pricing practices. Notably, Mylan has faced Congressional scrutiny over the price hike on its anti-allergy device, EpiPen . Several other companies are under the microscope, as well.

Specifically, Merck has the right game plan and names like Amgen and Gilead Sciences have done well, although they've been hit recently, the Harvard Business School senior fellow and CNBC contributor noted.

"The ones that are really serious about research, they are going to pay off big time, very big," he said in an interview with " Power Lunch ."

Pharmaceutical stocks have been under pressure thanks to the public outcry over drug pricing, but certain companies are doing things right, former Medtronic CEO Bill George told CNBC on Friday.

This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings called on federal antitrust regulators to prove whether Sanofi SA , Eli Lilly , Merck and Novo Nordisk colluded to set prices for insulin and other diabetes drugs.

The request follows a similar letter they sent last fall calling for an investigation into 14 drug companies over prices increases of generic drugs.

The Department of Justice could file charges by the end of the year in its subsequent criminal investigation of generic drugmakers over suspected price collusion, according to Bloomberg.

The uproar has taken its toll on the sector, with the key biotech ETF down more than 25 percent in 2016.

George said the drug companies can't continually jack up prices and are not in business just to serve shareholders. They are in business to serve consumers, he noted. If they do that well, he believes profits will follow.

"The key to making money in pharma is very straightforward," George said. "It is through innovation, through breakthroughs."

David Maris, specialty pharmaceutical analyst with Wells Fargo, believes the pricing debate is only in its early stages.

He agrees that collusion should certainly be addressed, and companies who raise prices too much should be looked at.

However, Maris said the public should not lose sight of the fact that pharma is the best industry in America, employing 4.5 million people.

"The pharmaceutical industry actually spends more in R&D than both the aerospace and the tech industry combined. So you go after these, what might happen is  fewer innovations," he told "Power Lunch."

 Reuters contributed to this report.
Shares in the company were trading 5.4 percent higher at the open of the European markets Friday.

The Swiss company said its board was making changes in reaction to the challenges that rapidly changing technology brought to traditional business models, as well as the impending retirement of key executives.

Luxury goods group Richemont's chief executive and chief financial officer will step down along with nearly a third of its board members next year as it tackles chronic low demand, it announced on Friday.

Shoppers pass a Cartier luxury store, operated by Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, in the Galeries Lafayette SA luxury department store in Paris, France.

Swiss watchmakers are grappling with weak demand for pricey timepieces as Chinese shoppers, their biggest customer group, travel less to Europe's luxury capitals for fear of Islamist attacks and, deterred by an anti-graft campaign, also buy fewer watches in Hong Kong.

The Geneva-based group said Chairman Johann Rupert would stay on as the struggling luxury firm restructured the responsibilities of senior management.

It has not yet named a successor to Chief Executive Richard Lepeu, who the group said will retire in March.

Its shares were indicated 0.4 percent firmer in pre-market business.

Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox called the news "not really a surprise as the CFO has been wanting to step down for years (and have been market rumours for about a year) although the surprise is it all happens at the same time. But at the centre will remain Johann Rupert, who will remain uberboss and former executives will be hanging around to give advice."

Richemont also said it would address watch overcapacity after net profit nosedived in the six months to September, hit by one-off restructuring charges and product buy-backs.

"Concerning watches, we will look to deal with overcapacity issues, adapting manufacturing structures to the level of demand," the maker of Cartier jewellery and IWC watches said.

Sales fell 12 percent at constant exchange rates to 5.1 billion euros ($5.66 billion), while net profit dropped 51 percent to 540 million euros. The company had issued a profit warning in September.
There aren't too many issues that trigger as much instant anger as the question of voter fraud in America. Of course, presidential candidate Donald Trump has made the issue even more controversial with his recent claims that the election may be "rigged" to go along with the more traditional argument that the voter registration rolls are seriously inaccurate and ripe for abuse.

The basic divide in the nation can be summed up this way: Most Republicans and conservatives believe voter fraud is a serious problem or at least a serious potential problem that needs to be combated with voter I.D. laws. Most Democrats and liberals refuse to believe voter fraud is a problem and think voter I.D. laws are really just racist voter suppression schemes. These two beliefs seem oceans apart, and it doesn't look like there's any chance of reconciling them anytime soon. But there's no need to be so pessimistic as long as we can agree to a broader definition of what vote fraud and chicanery really is, and follow a little common sense.

On the first point, let's agree that voter fraud or the actual acting of fouling the vote isn't just about bogus registration rolls, repeat voters, or even illegal immigrants showing up to the polls. It also includes confusing ballots, tampered ballots, electronic voting mishaps, and even insufficient or ill-prepared polling station volunteers. And let's further agree that all of the above can and has hurt both parties in the past.

And let's also use that common sense and agree that elections are extremely valuable to the winners. Even local offices present the victors with real power over lots of people and the ability to profit politically and financially for years to come. Anything of value is going to be stolen from time to time, or at least people will always try to steal it.

This is not even up for some kind of Utopian counter-argument. It's simply human nature. Another weak argument comes from those who are willing to admit there is limited vote fraud in every election, but not enough to make much of a difference. That reasoning would make sense if elections in America weren't winner take all affairs that can be decided by just one vote. This is especially true in presidential elections where 48 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia award all their electoral votes to the top vote getter no matter how small the majority or plurality.

And we should all remember recent elections where small margins of victory coupled with some voting or ballot irregularities made major news. In 2000, the infamous "butterfly ballot" and hanging chads in Florida helped add to the chaos that became a presidential election where millions of Americans still believe the Supreme Court simply selected George W. Bush to take the Oval Office.

In 2008, Al Franken won his U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota, and gave the Democrats a super majority in the Senate, by a 312-vote margin fraught with evidence that many ineligible votes were cast and counted. And we're already hearing of a number of questionable cases of possible repeat voters in the early voting process across many states in this election so far.
A federal jury has found Rolling Stone magazine, its publisher and a reporter defamed a University of Virginia administrator in a discredited story about gang rape at a fraternity house, news media reported Friday.

Word of the jury decision came Friday afternoon in multiple news outlets.

University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo claimed the 2014 article portrayed her as a villain who discouraged the woman identified only as Jackie from reporting the incident to police. A police investigation found no evidence to back up Jackie's claims.



Rolling Stone's attorneys said there was no evidence that the reporter knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or had serious doubts about whether it was true.

After the verdict, the publication gave NBC News the following statement:



"For almost 50 years, Rolling Stone has aimed to produce journalism with the highest reporting and ethical standards, and with a strong humanistic point of view. When we published 'A Rape on Campus' in 2014, we were attempting to tackle the very serious and complex topic of sexual assault on college campuses, a subject that is more relevant today than ever. In our desire to present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor, we overlooked reporting paths and made journalistic mistakes that we are committed to never making again. We deeply regret these missteps and sincerely apologize to anyone hurt by them, including Ms. Eramo. It is our deep hope that our failings do not deflect from the pervasive issues discussed in the piece, and that reporting on sexual assault cases ultimately results in campus policies that better protect our students. We will continue to publish stories that shine a light on the defining social, political and cultural issues of our times, and we will continue to seek the truth in every story we publish."

Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday after listening to more than two weeks' worth of evidence.

The story about Jackie's rape set off a firestorm at the university and in schools nationwide. Eramo received hundreds of angry letters and emails calling her the "dean of rape," among other things, and faced protesters outside her office. The story crumbled after other news outlets began asking questions and police found no evidence to back it up. The article was officially retracted in April 2015.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, left, and CEO Steve Ballmer speak to each other at the annual stockholders meeting in Bellevue, Washington, November 9, 2004.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he made a big mistake when he claimed that the iPhone wouldn't sell because it cost too much.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ballmer said he didn't understand at the time how mobile carrier subsidies would make the iPhone affordable.

"I wish I'd thought about the model of subsidizing phones through the operators," he told Bloomberg. "And there was business model innovation by Apple to get it essentially built into the monthly cell phone bill," Ballmer said.



Ballmer also said his commitment for the company to make its own handsets and tablets aided in the breakup with his friend, company co-founder Bill Gates.



Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO from 2000 to 2014, told Bloomberg recently that the tech company got into the hardware business too late and, when it did, Gates and other board members disapproved due to differences in strategic direction. Afterwards, Ballmer and Gates "drifted apart," according to the report.

The former executive said he had pushed the board for support with its Surface RT, Microsoft's first-generation hybrid tablet computer. When the device didn't do too well, Ballmer said the mistake was waiting too long, according to the report.

A spokesperson for Microsoft did not immediately respond for CNBC's request for comment about the report.



Read the full report from Bloomberg here.
A man walks past a TV broadcast of the first presidential debate between U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in Seoul, South Korea, September 27, 2016. Kim Hong-Ji | Reuters

As the U.S. election season enters its final days, Americans are stressed out about who will win, but they're not the only ones closely watching the presidential contest. U.S. allies  and otherwise  are monitoring the election with apprehension, as the winner will have significant influence over the global agenda. But just as Americans are divided on their preference, so too are key nations around the world. Here's a brief collection of how other countries are assessing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

Russia

A new investigation from Newsweek claims to reveal why President Vladimir Putin's Russia is "backing" Trump, saying that "the Kremlin's campaign is motivated not so much to support Trump as it is to hurt the Democratic nominee." That campaign, intelligence officials have said, includes the repeated cyberattacks against Democrats, but it also includes wall-to-wall promotion of anti-Clinton stories on Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik. Several top former officials have suggested that Russia likes Trump because he serves as a "useful idiot" for Moscow when he allegedly undermines U.S. alliances with isolationist and transactional foreign policy comments. According to Newsweek, meanwhile, Putin was "infuriated" by Clinton's tough talk on the fairness of Russia's 2011 parliamentary elections. Additionally, according to the report, Putin "was also encouraged by the relentlessly positive comments about him by Trump, even after the Republican nominee began receiving criticism within his own party for sounding too supportive of the Kremlin." For his part, Trump used to insist that he "got to know [Putin] very well" when both appeared (separately) on the CBS program "60 Minutes." But when pressed by Clinton on the relationship during the third presidential debate, Trump said, "I don't know Putin. He said nice things about me. If we got along well, that would be good." Clinton, meanwhile, has repeatedly painted Moscow as a malevolent international actor, not only for its actions in Ukraine and the Middle East, but also for its alleged involvement in her own campaign.

France

As Europe's third-largest economy, and a historical American ally, France occupies an important place in the American view of the world. But just like in the U.S., France has seen a war of words between a center-left presidency and an increasingly vocal right-populist movement. As might be expected, French President Francois Hollande endorsed Clinton over the summer, saying in a newspaper article in Les Echos newspaper that "the best thing the Democrats can do is to elect Hillary Clinton." As for Trump, Hollande reportedly said the Republican nominee's "excesses" gives observers a "retching feeling." But Marine Le Pen, who leads France's far-right National Front party, has said she would cast her vote for Trump if she lived in the United States. The National Front's anti-migrant sentiments and skepticism of globalist outlooks share considerable similarities with Trump's platform. Still, a recent poll from YouGov showed that only 9 percent of the French would cast their vote for Trump if they lived in the U.S. Clinton, meanwhile, saw hypothetical support from 62 percent of French people.

Germany

According to that YouGov poll, Europe's largest economy is an even bigger supporter of Clinton: 69 percent said they would hypothetically vote for Clinton, while only 8 percent tapped Trump. Perhaps more strikingly, a whopping 65 percent of Germans said they would be "afraid" if Trump won the election. Those poll results mirror CNBC's reporting in the country, where nearly everyone interviewed either expressed support for Clinton, distaste for Trump or apathy on the subject. Business leaders in the country said they were concerned about the GOP nominee's rhetoric on trade, which has emphasized renegotiating deals to be tougher on other countries. But even leaders of Germany's strong movement against a free trade agreement backed by President Barack Obama said they opposed Trump: Although their goals aligned on trade, these campaigners said, Trump's reasoning came from a zero-sum understanding of global interaction, while theirs was more about promoting environmentalism and democratic values. For his part, Trump has been critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying incorrectly that crime had skyrocketed under Germany's liberal refugee policies. In fact, one of his lines of attack against Clinton has been likening her to the German leader. But even Merkel's opponents say they are not Trump supporters. As one German politician told CNBC, most in the country don't think Trump would help the U.S., and those who do think Trump's prescriptions will "make America great again" are largely anti-Americans who don't want the U.S. to succeed in the first place.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is still reeling from its June Brexit vote to leave the European Union. That campaign has been likened to the U.S. election  including by Trump himself  as many prognosticators said the establishment-backed "stay" side would defeat the populist "leave" proponents. Although that unanticipated result does not mean Trump is a favorite in the U.K., it perhaps explains Clinton's relative unpopularity: In the October YouGov poll of several European nations, the U.K. boasted the lowest percentage who said they'd vote for Clinton  a meager 59 percent to Trump's 8 percent. Scott Lucas, a professor of American studies at the University of Birmingham, told CNBC this summer that a lack of clarity on what exactly Trump would do if elected "unsettles" many people in Britain. "I think in general most people in the U.K. would feel much more comfortable with Hillary, because she's a known factor. Even if you disagree with her, you know pretty much where she's going to come from," he said.

Mexico

The U.S. neighbor to the south has been a favorite punching bag for Trump. In fact, Mexico was one of the very first targets for the political pugilist. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said when he announced his candidacy in 2015. "They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." The GOP nominee attempted to patch up the relationship when he met with President Enrique Pena Nieto, but that confab appeared unsuccessful after Trump and the Mexican leader publicly disagreed about what had been said. "Regardless of where in Mexico, the people here don't want Donald Trump to win," Eloisa Hernandez, a 29-year-old restaurant owner from Queretaro, Mexico, told CNBC this summer. "He's a person who is not qualified to hold the presidency of the most powerful country in the world, as is the U.S," she told CNBC via telephone. "The racist comments he made when he began his campaign were obviously not received well by us."

Israel

A less obvious supporter of Trump or Clinton is Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this week that U.S. absentee-voters in Israel were siding for Trump 49 percent to Clinton's 44 percent, according to exit polling. A survey of Israelis, however, found that 42 percent preferred Clinton and 26.5 percent favored Trump. That same poll found, however, that 63 percent thought that Clinton would be tougher on the Israeli government about renewing peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Both candidates have attempted to paint themselves as unshakable stewards of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. Trump has said he would ensure that Palestinians enter any negotiations "knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is absolutely, totally unbreakable." Clinton, for her part, has said "we will never allow Israel's adversaries to think a wedge can be driven between us."

China
Note the positioning of the five-pointed stars between the dentils.

The 1794 Liberty Cap, Starred Reverse cent is revered for its 94 tiny five-pointed stars between the dentils around the border. No one knows exactly why.

No one seems to know the reason for the placement of stars between the dentils on the reverse of the 1794 Liberty Cap, Starred Reverse cent.

Coin Lore column from the Nov. 21, 2016, weekly issue of Coin World:

Double chins, ugly teeth, apple cheeks, trephined heads and stars, lots of stars, mark the large cents of 1794. Using 39 obverse dies and 38 reverse dies, the United States Mint at Philadelphia produced some 918,521 cents that year.

Dr. William H. Sheldon, author of the 1949 book Early American Cents and its 1958 update, Penny Whimsy, noted, In the early days at the Mint the dies were all cut by hand, and a good deal of the personality of the diecutter was likely to find its way into the new die.

That personality is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the massive number of large cents of 1794 that were struck. Collectors have long reveled in the series and delighted in giving the die varieties descriptive names.

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In 1869, just a few years after large cents were retired from circulation, Dr. Edward Maris wrote the ground-breaking Varieties of the Copper Issues of the United States Mint in the Year 1794, which detailed the years cents and christened many with fanciful names.

Double Chin is the moniker given to Sheldon 18b, arguably the first 1794 Liberty Cap cent struck. Liberty on the coin appears to have a prominent double chin. The double chin obverse die was later married with a reverse to produce S-19, a coin with large pointed dentils on the reverse, a feature early collectors labeled Ugly Teeth.

One engraver went a little too deep when cutting Libertys cheek, giving her the appearance of having an apple stuffed in her mouth. Apple Cheek dies were paired with several reverse dies.

The Apple Cheek variety is so distinctive that it is sought after even by collectors who do not collect by die variety.

The Trephined Head variety  S-62  is one of the more oddly named coins. A hole or depression at the back of Libertys head caused Dr. Maris to imagine a medical condition.

The most famous 1794 Liberty Cap cent is also the most enigmatic, the Starred Reverse cent. The coin, for reasons no one has ever been able to determine, has 94 tiny five-pointed stars placed between the dentils. About 50 are known today.

John W. Adams, who sold his 1794 cent collection in a landmark 1982 fixed-price sale, noted, For one hundred years, the Starred Reverse has been the premier variety of 1794. Its origins have caused hours of speculation. Its acquisition inspires collectors to frenzied effort. Its very being is contemplated with what Dr. Sheldon described as religious awe.

Sheldon, for his part, speculated the coin (S-48) was the whim of an idle hour at the Mint.
Pitzer says trash fix a goal by end of tenure

Pitzer still has a goal he would like to accomplish by April: finding a solution to the city's trash collection system.
Wyoming-based Mountain Khakis will open its first independently owned retail store on Denver's historic Larimer Square in Feb. 2017.The mountain town-inspired lifestyle apparel brand will open a 600-square-foot preview store Nov. 17. The store will feature the brand's selection of mountain-inspired accessories and apparel and play host to Santa and visitors as part of Larimer Square's popular holiday tradition every weekend from Thanksgiving to Christmas."Mountain Khakis was born in the mountains so it is natural for us to open our first independent retail location -- our flagship store -- in the Mile High City," says Ross Saldarini, president of Mountain Khakis. "Larimer Square is a vibrant block that perfectly suits our brand's playful spirit, and we look forward to establishing roots in the Denver community. The store will provide outdoor and fashion devotees a closer look at our Jackson Hole heritage, which showcases a fusion of old west and new west flair combined with urban appeal."Mountain Khakis' offerings for men and women include pants, tops and outerwear with performance details that will transition easily from the trail to city streets without sacrificing style. The company also offers accessories ranging from canvas market tote bags fashioned with recycled climbing rope to handcrafted glass belt buckles, artisan-made trade bead bracelets and American-crafted leather luggage."We are thrilled to welcome Mountain Khakis' first-ever retail location to Larimer Square," says Jeff Hermanson, president and CEO of Larimer Associates . "Our goal on the historic block is to provide unique retail opportunities and Colorado-specific experiences not found anywhere else."Contact Confluence Denver Development News Editor Margaret Jackson with tips and leads for future stories at margaret@confluence-denver.com
Student effort seeks to reduce stigma of menstruation

Menstrual hygiene products are now provided free of charge in some campus restrooms as part of an ongoing student initiative

Emma Horst-Martz wants to talk periods.

Over a year ago I was doing some research for a gender and womens studies class on the stigma of menstruation, said Horst-Martz, a junior majoring in American studies. All over the world, people miss school, work and social engagements while theyre on their periods.

And when a period arrives unexpectedly, a lack of access to basic suppliestampons and pads, to be exactcan stir feelings of fear and embarrassment on top of the inconvenience.

So Horst-Martz launched the Menstrual Health Pilot Program at Connecticut College to provide tampons and pads free of charge to anyone who many be caught off guard during that time of the month.

Tampons and pads should be available for free the same way that toilet paper is, she explained. Both are medical necessities and allow people to go through menstruation with dignity.

On Wednesday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Student Center at Crozier-Williams marked the programs launch with the recent installation of three tampon and pad dispensers in Cro restrooms. The Student Government Association Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved funding for two more dispensers, as well as additional supplies, in restrooms at Shain Library.

And thats just the start.

The goal is to eventually have a dispenser in every bathroom on campus, just as there is toilet paper in each bathroom, Horst-Martz said. This may sound radical, which goes to show that we need to shift how we think about health, gender equity and the body.

As she was developing the program last year, Horst-Martz met with Connecticut College President Katherine Bergeron early on to discuss her ideas.

Bergeron, who spoke at the ceremony, described her initial meeting with Horst-Martz as an example of the administration working closely with students to implement important projects.

This is a phenomenon of Connecticut College: that students can have access directly to the administration in helping to achieve their goals. I want to praise Emma for her initiative, for her tenacity and for seeing a dream come into reality.

Horst-Martz then worked with Rich Madonna, vice president for finance and administration, to see the Menstrual Health program through.

It has really been a great collaboration, Madonna said. Emma had this wonderful idea. We sat down and we talked about how to implement it. We did some brainstorming, and came up with the idea that Cro was a space that all could access.

The three dispensers are installed in two womens restrooms and one gender inclusive restroom because, as Horst-Martz stressed, menstrual health is not simply a womens issue.

As a campus that values full gender inclusivity, it is important that we provide these supplies to those who may not present as female, but still menstruate.

Menstrual health has been a growing topic of conversation in recent years both nationally and globally with UNICEF taking up menstrual hygiene management as an important component of its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) initiative in developing nations. The hashtag #MenstruationMatters is among many related to menstrual health that keeps the conversation going on social media.

November 4, 2016
Speculation swirled this morning that a Conservative MP was set to quit over the Governments approach to Brexit. Eventually, a name emerged  Stephen Phillips, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, was going. But would it be a Soft Stexit, merely not standing again at the next election, or a Hard Stexit, triggering an instant by-election?

It turns out to be the latter: Phillips has resigned with immediate effect. So immediate in fact that he apparently couldnt find time to inform the Prime Minister before announcing the news. There will therefore be a by-election in his Lincolnshire constituency.

What are his reasons?

The top line is dissatisfaction with the way Brexit is being handled  Phillips went on the record to express his unhappiness a few weeks ago. But it isnt quite clear why he feels he must now resign. After all, things have broadly moved in his direction in recent months. He supported Leave in the referendum. Leave won, and the Government is implementing it. He demanded a bigger role for Parliament in the process. Yesterdays High Court judgment goes some way to providing that.

It seems natural to look to his resignation statement for further explanation:

it has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me.

There are two parts to that sentence. The first is the growing and very significant policy differences between Phillips and Downing Street. Perhaps he simply means the Governments declared aims in Mays conference speech about leaving the EU, and its continued insistence on retaining the prerogative right to trigger Article 50. Or perhaps there are other policies in addition to that on the EU with which Phillips disagrees. Either way, its unusual for an MP to feel they must resign because the Government is making them into a rebel  most MPs in that situation simply stick to their guns and start rebelling.

A better insight into his motivations might lie in the second half of the sentence: I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me. That implies that Phillips believes his electors support the Government over the policies that he disagrees with, making his position untenable as he would like to oppose things that his constituents want him to support. That sounds like a more understandable source of discomfort in his daily life, finding himself conscience-bound to be routinely at odds with his electors on issues which are both important and constantly in the headlines.

There might also be unspoken aspects to consider. Phillips is an accomplished lawyer who enthusiastically backed May for the leadership  he might reasonably have hoped to become one of the Governments law officers when she took power, and therefore could reasonably be disappointed that that did not happen.

Some have interpreted the coming by-election as a Brexit by-election, even going so far as to suggest Phillips is seeking a ballot in order to challenge the Governments agenda. That doesnt sound plausible.

For a start, he isnt standing; this isnt David Davis putting himself forward as a champion of ancient liberties, or Zac Goldsmith standing as an anti-airport independent. If Phillips was seeking a new mandate to oppose what he sees as excessively Hard Brexit, that could be a different matter. But in reality hes simply vacating the seat.

Its inconceivable that the new Conservative candidate wouldnt support the official position of leaving the EU, and the numbers suggest theyd have a good chance of victory even if the Lib Dems or someone else tried to make it into a Brexit by-election. The 2015 General Election result went like this:

Conservative 34,805

Labour 10,690

UKIP 9,716

Liberal Democrat 3,500

Lincolnshire Independents 3,233

In short, this is not Richmond Park  the electorate supported Leave, and there can be no fantasy of a progressive alliance of Lib Dem and Labour voters teaming up to win the day. Together, UKIP and the Conservatives got almost 72 per cent of the vote in 2015 while Labour plus the Lib Dems secured just 23 per cent. According to psephologist Chris Hanrettys model, Sleaford and North Hykeham voted 61.5 per cent Leave in June. Phillips comment that he is unable properly to represent the people who elected me further suggests that if anything the voters here are more keen on a full-fat Brexit than he is.

So what will happen next? Rather than the snub to the Government that some Continuity Remainers seem to be vainly hoping for, the constituency will elect someone else who supports leaving the EU. In all likelihood, given the size of the majority and the political context, that person will be a Conservative.

If theres a story at all, it seems most likely to be the question of whether UKIP can get their act together and overtake the Labour Party for second place, or whether Mays commitment to Brexit combined with the Peoples Armys ongoing troubles will see their vote share decline. UKIP have a long tradition of seriously messing things up only to suddenly be granted an opportunity to regain momentum by chance political circumstance  theyll be hoping it might happen again.
Ashley Fox is an MEP for South West England, and is the leader of Britains Conservative MEPs.

Three weeks ago, not many people in Britain could have located Wallonia on a map, if they knew it existed at all.

But the decision by the Walloon Parliament, led by Paul Magnettes Parti Socialiste, not to ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada, which had been seven years in the making, catapulted the southern Belgian region onto every television news bulletin. It also plunged the European Union into crisis, saw the trade minister of a G7 nation negotiating with regional politicians in the town of Namur, and prompted headline writers to produce gems such as 99 red Walloons and  my personal favourite  Walloony Tunes.

Magnette, under pressure from Marxists in Wallonia and leading a party that has been squeezed out of the Belgian federal government, saw an opportunity to raise his profile by tapping into the anti-globalisation mood that has gained support in an area experiencing steep industrial decline.

Ostensibly, the Walloons concerns centred on the new mechanism for settling investor-state disputes, which they claimed may override national policies, and fears that their agricultural sector would be threatened by cheap imports. However, when you consider that only 10 per cent of Belgiums exports to Canada come from Wallonia, and only two per cent of Canadas exports to Belgium end up there, it is difficult not to conclude that political, not practical, considerations were driving the dispute.

But this was not just a local issue: it was also a problem partly of the EUs own making. Brussels had known for some time that the ratification process would involve the blocs 38 national and regional parliaments yet little attempt was made to convince them of CETAs many merits or address their concerns. Not for the first time, the European Commission was unprepared for its will to be questioned.

Eventually agreement came, but only after Justin Trudeaus plane had been wheeled back into the hangar when last weeks summit was cancelled. The treaty was finally signed at a re-arranged summit on Sunday, and CETA will now come into provisional effect. The contentious dispute settlement process has been passed the European Court of Justice for an opinion on its legality, allowing Magnette to claim a victory of sorts, although the deal remains unchanged. In the words of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, not a comma has been touched.

So, as Wallonia slips back into obscurity, where does that leave us? The EUs credibility has taken another battering following its inability to present a united front on dealing with Russia and its confused response to the migration crisis. Meanwhile, experts are speculating what the implications might be for the UK as it seeks to establish a new relationship with the 27 nation bloc.

The EU certainly needs to re-examine how it manages trade deals, but on the latter point I believe the past few weeks have actually improved Britains prospects post-Brexit. Unintentionally, the Walloon socialists have done us a favour by making the free trade championing UK look an increasingly attractive partner to do business with compared to an EU unable to predict how its 38 national and regional parliaments will vote and slipping towards ever greater protectionism.

There is also lesson for everyone committed to open international commerce. Those on the left have seized the initiative on both CETA and its larger brother TTIP. Opposition to free trade deals is now widespread, not just in Europe but also growing in Britain, and we need to work doubly hard to explain to the electorate how free trade benefits everyone, both in terms of lower prices and in access to better quality products.

Finally, I noticed this week that in April 2017 eight members of the European Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee are due to travel to Canada to observe the constitutional and political process and see what lessons can be learnt to enhance the democratic legitimacy of European governance.

I wonder if ratifying trade deals will be on the agenda?
Iain Dale is Presenter of LBC Drive, Managing Director of Biteback Publishing, a columnist and broadcaster and a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

For several years now, I have been trying to entice John Howard onto my radio show. This week, Dan Hannan kindly invited me to a dinner at the National Gallery where the former Prime Minister of Australia was being awarded this years Edmund Burke award.

It really was a gathering of Britains right-of-centre clans. I first met Howard 25 years ago when I went to Australia with Nick Finney, my colleague from The Waterfront Partnership (a transport lobbying company we had founded following the abolition of the Dock Labour Scheme), to advise Australias Liberal Party on its own waterfront labour reform.

Howard was at that time the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister. I remember being slightly underwhelmed by the meeting, and would never have predicted he would end up as one of the countrys longest-serving prime ministers. In some ways he was Australias John Major  and I mean that as a compliment. He was a no frills politician who got on with the job with a great measure of success.

I had 20 minutes with him in the studio, which for a Drivetime newsy show is quite a long time. I asked him about Brexit, and he immediately declared that he would have voted Leave, had he had a vote. He also believes that Britain will make a great success of it  a view you dont often hear from a foreign politician. It was an honour to meet him.

         

On Tuesday, I hosted the first live broadcast debate between the four contenders for the UKIP leadership. If I am honest, I was a bit gutted when Raheem Kassam pulled out of the contest the day before. I thought that without him to liven things up it might turn into a bit of a borefest.

Boy, was I wrong. If you listened to or saw it, you will know why. The new kid on the block in the contest was a complete unknown quantity. John Rees-Evans, or Jonathan as he used to be called, turned out to be quite something. So unknown is he that the other three  Paul Nuttall, Suzanne Evans and Peter Whittle  had never met him before.

And one suspects that after an hour with him, they wished it had stayed that way. Nuttall and Evans clearly couldnt believe what they were hearing from him. As the host of the debate, nor could I. In the end I decided I had to challenge him on the nonsense he was spouting, which led to some people accusing me of treating him differently to the others.

Well, yes I did  and I dont regret it for one minute. How this man was ever allowed to stand for the leadership, Christ alone knows. Hes living proof that if you have enough money, you can subvert debate for your own narcissistic means. I didnt even have to bring up his claim that his horse had been raped by a gay donkey to ridicule him. He ridiculed himself by virtually every word he uttered.

        

Im a bit of a homebird. Once I finish my radio show, I like to go straight home. This week, however, Ive been out every night. Wednesday night saw the Spectator Parliamentary Awards take place at the Rosewood Hotel (no, me neither) in High Holborn. I have to say it was the most entertaining one of these I have been to. Its always a bit of an honour to be invited to it, to be honest.

The Guest of Honour was George Osborne, who made the funniest speech I have heard this year  full of self-deprecation and jokes at the expense of a whole host of his former Cabinet colleagues. If only he had appeared this human while he was Chancellor.

The first few awards all went to Labour politicians. I really felt for Rachel Reeves when she picked up the Speech of the Year award for her tribute to the late Jo Cox. It must have been a very hard acceptance speech to make, given that shed have given anything not to have had to make the original speech for which the prize was rewarded.

I had thought David Davis would win Comeback of the Year, but instead it went to Boris Johnson, a former Spectator Editor himself, who made a rather shambolic speech, the highlight of which came when he said Brexit will be a titanic success. Oh dear. The Prime Minister held her head in her hands.

But it was she who stole the whole show, not just by wearing a hard hat and high vis jacket, thus mimicking Osbornes favourite photo-opportunity costume, to accept the Politician of the Year award. Her speech was hilarious. She ripped into Craig Oliver, who was sitting a few feet away from the podium. We all read in Craig Olivers book how, on hearing the result, he went into Whitehall and was physically sick. We all know that feeling Craig. We all had it when we heard about your knighthood.

Ouch. But she wasnt finished. Responding to a Boris Johnson joke about Michael Heseltine killing his dog, she pointed out that the dog was not strangled but put down  by a master who no longer needed it.

Wow. The woman has some balls. And a sense of humour, which I suspect were going to experience a lot more. Sometimes you only find out about a politicians real character when they reach the top job. Im seeing sides to May which, despite following her career quite closely, and knowing her (albeit not well) for many years, I never knew existed. And I have to say, I very much like what I am seeing.

         

Next week is going to be a busy one. In the 27 hours from 16.00 on Tuesday Ill be on the radio for 13 of them. Ill be broadcasting my normal show from 16.00-19.00 on both days, but in between Ill be co-hosting LBCs US election night coverage with Shelagh Fogarty from 22.00 through until 5am, when Nick Ferrari will take over.

It promises to be quite a night. Im beginning to believe that Donald Trump might actually win. It really is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. A Trump presidency will be fantastic from a journalistic point of view. Hours of phone-in fun to be had. But, oh my God: pity the poor bloody United States of America if it actually happens.

         

I think the government is making a mistake by appealing the Article 50 court ruling. Theresa May should call the bluff of those who seek to frustrate the Brexit process by immediately tabling a one-line Bill to trigger Article 50 by next March, and put it to a vote immediately.

I suspect there would be fewer than 50 MPs would dare to defy the will of the people but, even if there were, at least they would be flushed out into the open. And I doubt very much whether the House of Lords would be in a mood to create a 1910 style constitutional crisis, mainly because it would be signing its own death warrant. The Government should not be afraid of this process, or in any way appear to be defensive.
If a negotiation is like a card game, consider the Brexit one to come. On the one side of the table will be our EU interlocutors, with their cards clamped close to their chest. On the other will be Theresa May, attempting to do the same. But standing close behind her will be the best part of 650 or so fellow MPs, demanding to know whats in her hand, suggesting what should be, and shouting out any details they see. No poker player could possibly win a game under these circumstances. However tightly May might try to grip her cards with both hands, she would be playing, in such circumstances, with one of them tied behind her back.

This is now the most likely consequence of yesterdays High Court judgement, a point whose significance has been missed by nearly everyone  amidst more cod constitutional cobblers about the role of Parliament, the privileges of the legislature, the tyranny of the executive, the place of judges, the Bill of Rights, Coke, Bagehot, Dicey, and all the rest of them than anyone has assembled since 1066 and All That, which in any event was satirical by intention rather than by accident, and a good deal more to the point.

Some Leave supporters have railed against the judges, claiming an establishment plot. How much it must have cheered Nigel Farage, whose party is in danger of being put out of business by the referendum, to glimpse an opportunity to revive its fortunes! Others leaned in the opposite direction, saying that the Prime Minister should have put the matter to a vote in Parliament in the first place  adding that MPs and peers will not dare to deny the verdict of the referendum, and will vote overwhelmingly to move Article 50 as soon as it is moved. This is much closer to the mark.

But matters are not quite that straightforward. As May herself pointed out yesterday evening, moving Article 50 will require not simply a vote but a Bill, and Bills are amendable, and must make their way through both houses of Parliament. And make no mistake: while most MPs and peers simply want to influence the terms of Brexit, some of them want to stop it altogether. From Nick Clegg through to Lord Kerr back again to Ken Clarke, there is a small group of parliamentarians who itch to raise two fingers to the biggest vote by the people in the post-war history of Britain.

That, after all, is what drove yesterdays court case in the first place. Gina Miller et al are not disinterested purists, seeking after constitutional truth. They are Remain partisans fighting a no-holds-barred political battle. They may well succeed in pushing Brexit itself back to beyond the next election, thus denying May the breathing space she wants before the latter takes place (though some elements of the settlement may well still be on the negotiating table then in any event). It isnt hard to see their game. Quibble, niggle, question, nit-pick, qualify and procrastinate in the hope that the next election result somehow overturns last Junes verdict.

You may well counter that this is exactly what the legislature should do to the plans of the executive. And, most certainly, Parliament is and (do we have to add?) should be sovereign. There is no dispute  despite the attempts of some remainers to manufacture one  about that. But it is simply beside the point. So, too, is all the back and forth about whether the referendum verdict trumps Parliaments place in the constitution. (It does not.) The question is not what MPs and peers are entitled to do, but what they would be wise to do.

Of course the Government should set out its aims to Parliament, and of course Parliamentarians should have their say on them. Indeed, Ministers have set these out again and again. Here they are in case you have somehow missed them, as set out by David Davis in the Commons itself only last month: bringing back control of our laws to Parliament; bringing back control of decisions over immigration to the UK; maintaining the strong security co-operation we have with the EU; and establishing the freest possible market in goods and services with the EU and the rest of the world.

And the Brexit Secretary should, as he and other Ministers have already been doing, answer questions in Parliament, respond to Opposition Day debates and hold their own in Government time, and be quizzed by Select Committees  of which two brand-new, Brexit-related ones have just been set up. Oh, and just in case anyone had forgotten, the Government is already committed to bringing in a Brexit Bill  the Great Repeal Bill  which will give the legislature the opportunity to instruct the executive on the shape of Brexit to its hearts content.

The Parliamentary process will give a chance for the government, but also business, academic researchers and civil society towork out what the priorities are when Article 50 is eventually invoked, the UK in a Changing Europe said yesterday in the wake of the High Courts decision. But none of all this activity, both inside and outside Parliament, is taking place in splendid isolation. The card game of that negotiation will soon begin. And with all due respect to the distinguished professors of UK in a Changing Europe, they will not be playing Britains hand when it begins. Nor will businesses, civil society  or, for that matter, the editors of ConservativeHome.

Nor will most MPs. And there is a point at which advising May what cards to play becomes demanding she declare which ones are in her hand. It is a distinction with a very big difference. When Disraeli and Salisbury toddled off to the Congress of Berlin, they didnt do so with a detailed instruction from the Commons about whether or not to try forming a Big Bulgaria. They acted as Ministers and then reported to Parliament, which had the right to hold them to account. Which, talking of the way our constitution works, was exactly as it should be.

When Stanley Baldwin confirmed Northern Irelands border with W.T.Cosgrove and James Craig, he didnt do so with a specification from MPs in his pocket about on which side of it Crossmaglen should lie. When Margaret Thatcher sat down with Gorbachev, she didnt go with a prospectus from the Commons in that famous handbag. But you get the point. And the stakes in the coming Brexit negotiation are arguably even higher. Prospects for exporters, opportunities for the City, the extent of security co-operation, family incomes, jobs  all will hang on the outcome. The business May must transact is more than a showcase for legislative fun and games.

Parliamentary scrutiny, yes. Instructing the Prime Minister exactly what cards to play, and blurting out her hand to our interlocutors, no. May and pro-Leave campaigners should get ready to fight back if the Government loses its appeal. Remain won in only three of Englands nine regions. If vote Vote Leave had been a political party it would probably have won 421 seats. A landslide representing 65 per cent of all seats (including Scotland) and 73 per cent of seats in England and Wales, as Gary Bennett wrote on this site.

Most of the seats represented by diehard Remain MPs plumped unhestitangly for Brexit. It is their Burkean right to act not as delegates but as representatives. But they cannot complain if their constituents remind them of their views. There is work for Change Britain and other pro-Leave campaigning groups here. Just as there is for the Conservative whips, who should now rally Tory MPs to the Prime Ministers support. And if some make her task impossible, there can only be one outcome. A general election. I quite fancy her chances in one. Dont you?
One of the problems that arises when the courts get involved  or involve themselves  in political issues is the way it greatly narrows the range of people who can have a truly informed debate about whats going on.

Those of us without legal training find ourselves in a similar position to medieval peasants, putting our faith in a Latin Bible we cannot read and the cognoscenti who interpret it for us. This makes it difficult to take a hard stance on the narrow issue of the High Courts ruling on Article 50.

For the record my instincts lie with this unexpected harmony of views between Lawyers for Britain and very-Europhile legal expert and ex-Government lawyer Carl Gardner, to the effect that this represents a major diminution of the royal prerogative.

In particular, this Tweet looks a lot like the court indulging in what we might call ought judgements, the basis of judicial activism:

But theres only so much to be said about the specifics of the case, save to wish the Government well on appeal, and as Mark Wallace points out theres no chance that Article 50 isnt going to happen.

Instead this judgement should be a wake-up call that alerts us to a very damaging long-term trend: the erosion of the royal prerogative, which is to say the executives discretionary powers in our democratic system.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the royal prerogative refers to powers which are still vested in the Crown. This theoretically makes them the Queens powers, but in reality they are wielded by our elected executive which, unlike in a presidential system, doesnt otherwise have a discrete source of power.

Many of you will probably have seen the common refrain from Remainers on social media: Looks like Brexiteers arent go keen on Parliamentary sovereignty now! The tone and phrasing may vary, but the key message is the same  that the High Court has hoist Leavers by their own petard.

Except of course that Parliament does not mean the House of Commons. It also consists of both the House of Lords and, crucially, the Crown-in-Parliament, from whence flows the royal prerogative. Advocating Parliamentary sovereignty against external institutions does not place you automatically on one side of a dispute between the legislature and the executive.

And whilst some people clearly feel very strongly that Parliament should be running the show  Stephen Philips has today resigned over it  Paul Goodman is right that the Government will fatally undermine Britains negotiating position if it loses control of the process.

Theres much more to this than just the EU. Tony Blairs abdicating responsibility for the Iraq War to Parliament has created the absurd precedent that the Government feels the need for a vote before even the most limited overseas intervention.

That vote was accompanied by rhetoric that, whilst stirring, was out of all proportion to the actual action proposed, and followed an earlier defeat wherein Ed Milibands need for a tough-guy moment was allowed to short-circuit the entire Western response to Bashar al-Assads crimes against his people.

Or theres the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, which should have been a one-off fix but looks like becoming a permanent part of our constitution, despite widespread recognition that replacing the organic tempo of British politics with a rigid structure which imprisons administrations in office does more bad than good.

Its up for review, and a private members bill has been tabled to repeal it, but even amongst people whod like to see the back of it there is one objection which, whilst entirely lacking in substance or merit, they fear will prove insuperable: You cant give powers back to the Queen!. But you can, and we should.

Nobody with the faintest grasp of how our constitution actually works could mistake the royal prerogative for powers actually exercised by the monarch. Rather, the Crown is a very useful and entirely passive vessel in which executive powers are stored, ready when the elected Government needs them.

But this monarchical aesthetic  and constitutional reform often turns out, like so much progressivism, to be little more than a pre-occupation with aesthetics  leads some people to treat perfectly normal, discretionary executive powers as some kind of aberration. Or an ancient vestigial power left over from a time before the UK was a democracy, in the words of one staunch Remainer.

If the intent of those behind the challenge wasnt entirely clear, by the way, this article by a QC on the Independent website clears things up: the ruling is all about giving MPs and peers a chance to speak for a silent Remain majority (non-voters being complacent Remainers, obviously) and either block Brexit or demand another referendum designed to ensure Leave cannot win.

For good measure the author then goes on to advocate a codified constitution, a constitutional innovation the primary effect of which would be a huge transfer of power from the Government to the legal profession and the interest groups who employ it. The best argument he can muster are that its what other countries do, which ought detain only the fashion-conscious.

However, we should be grateful to Geoffrey Robinson QC for providing us with such a timely reminder that we should never allow a veil of legal technicality to exclude us from what are fundamentally political debates. He couches his piece in terms of how our country works but in truth it is much more about how he feels it ought to work, a subject on which his opinion is no more important or valuable than anybody elses.

The Government may have lost this case, and may well lose the appeal, but Theresa May is absolutely right to defend the royal prerogative and should continue to do so.

Not only is executive power a legitimate and normal part of how democratic government works, but the Government must be able to act decisively on its mandate if the snares of the privileged and powerful (wherever they be laid) are not to bind it tight to their own interests.

If she does intend to bring about the return of a more grown-up sort of Government, defeating and dismissing the childish complaint about giving powers back to the Queen, and all the error that flows from it, would be a welcome step in the right direction.
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The leadership behind the Global Tobacco Treaty is proposing to ban delegates from participating in the conference slated on Nov. 7 to 12 in India. The said restriction is in place to ensure that the conference will not suffer any kind of tobacco industry intimidation as some of the delegations come from countries with state-owned tobacco companies.

The proposal is met with mixed reactions. Some have praised the move as courageous while others consider it as unworthy of an agency like the United Nations. Nonetheless, the ban clearly indicates that there is a growing tension between the supporters of the treaty and its opponents.

The Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) has been initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the purpose of eradicating tobacco use. The industry is believed to have a direct hand in the 6 million deaths across the globe each year, according to Reuters.

The FCTC will provide guidelines on drafting national laws and policies about controlling tobacco production. Its strength lies on its focus on domestic tobacco control.

To reduce tobacco use, national governments are asked to ban cigarettes in public places. Stricter requirements are enforced when it comes to tobacco promotion and labeling. Perhaps the most effective approach is to raise the taxes on tobacco thereby discouraging its use.

However, implementation of the guidelines set in the Global Tobacco Treaty is lagging behind as reported by The Atlantic. In many developing countries, the taxes are still falling short of the standards set by WHO. Moreover, there are countries that are not adhering to the treaty guidelines by not completely prohibiting cigarette smoking in restaurants or bars.

Despite various efforts in the past, the tobacco industry has continuously intimidated and pressured national legislation to promote their self-interests. This is not surprising for the industry rake in profits by as much as $80 billion dollars for this year alone.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Channel programs News

CSC CEO: We're Not Waiting To Make Improvements, Restructuring Ongoing Ahead Of HPE Enterprise Services Merger

Michael Novinson

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CSC plans to take additional restructuring actions this quarter as both CSC and HPE Enterprise Services take steps to manage costs before their merger, according to CEO Mike Lawrie. The companies have committed to $1 billion in cost synergies in their first year as a combined entity.

Management teams from the Tysons, Va.-based company, No. 8 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, have attended regular integration summits with their counterparts from HPE Enterprise Services, No. 3 on the CRN SP500, where clear and disciplined synergy targets are set, Lawrie explained.

"We are not waiting for the merger to take place to position the business," said Lawrie, CEO's chairman, president and CEO, during an earnings call Thursday. "Both HPE ES and CSC have identified areas where we can make improvements, and we're making those improvements as we go throughout the year."

[RELATED: CSC's Top Execs Eligible For $90.5M In Possible Payouts Thanks To HPE Enterprise Services Deal]

CFO Paul Saleh told investors that CSC has shipped some 1,500 positions out of high-costs locations and is using automation to get more efficiency in low-cost locations. Roughly half of CSC's workforce is based in low-cost locations today, Saleh said, up from 45 percent a year ago.

One risk factor associated with the merger pertains to the public sector business of HPE Enterprise Services, according to a filing Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

CSC's separation agreement with its North American public sector business  which was spun off in November 2015 to become CSRA  restricts CSC and its controlled affiliates from engaged in certain activities related to U.S. federal and certain state and local government customers until Nov. 27, 2017. That's nearly eight months after the HPE Enterprise Services merger is set to close.

Saleh said Thursday that CSC is taking its time to evaluate all appropriate options for the public sector business HPE Enterprise Services, and he promised to update investors in due course.

CSC's separation agreement with CSRA doesn't restrict parties that control or are under common control with CSC from engaging in public sector activities, according to the SEC filing.

CSC CEO Lawrie said he came away very pleased with a just-concluded worldwide trip meeting clients, partners and employees of both CSC and HPE Enterprise Services in Asia, Europe, India and Australia.

"I've come away from this particular trip and experience really impressed with the strength of our talent, the similarities of our company cultures, and the clear opportunity to serve our clients more effectively as a combined organization," Lawrie said.

CSC is working closely with its counterparts at HPE Enterprise Services on integration planning across more than a dozen organizations, Lawrie said, including delivery, sales, finance, human resources and IT.

The two companies have also made headway with regulatory authorities across various geographies, Lawrie said. CSC doesn't anticipate any issues in securing the clearances necessary to close on April 1, Lawrie said.

CSC reported that sales in the fiscal 2017 second quarter ended Sept. 30 increased to $1.87 million, up 7.2 percent from $1.75 billion a year ago. That beat the Seeking Alpha projection of $1.86 billion.

Net income plummeted to $15 million, or 10 cents per share, down 92.3 percent from $171 million, or 66 cents per share, last year. On a non-GAAP basis, net income fell to $88 million, or 61 cents per share, down 43.6 percent from $156 million, or 55 cents per share, last year. That was well over Seeking Alpha's estimate of 47 cents per share.

The solution provider saw Global Business Services (GBS) sales skyrocket to $1.03 billion, up 16.2 percent from $891 million a year ago due in large part to the acquisitions of Australia-based UXC Limited and U.K.-based Xchanging, both of which closed in May.

Industry software and solutions revenue jumped by 27 percent after factoring out changes in foreign currency exchange rates, while CSC's newly-formed digital apps group (which combines its consulting and applications business) enjoyed 13 percent growth in constant currency.

Global Infrastructure Services (GIS) revenue, though, slipped to $836 million, down 2.1 percent from $854 million a year ago, as an enhanced focus on the company's next-generation platform failed to mitigate the headwinds facing GIS's traditional business.

Revenue from next-generation offerings nearly doubled on a constant currency basis, Lawrie said. Sales of CSC's MyWorkStyle virtualized desktop service and revenue from CSC's next-generation network service, delivered in partnership with AT&T, each grew by 70 percent over the past year. Storage-as-a-service revenue, meanwhile, jumped up 35 percent on a year-over-year basis, Lawrie said.

CSC's stock fell 0.1 percent to $53.40 per share in after-hours trading Thursday. Earnings were announced after the market closed.

For the 2017 fiscal year  which ends March 31, 2017  CSC continues to project earnings from continuing operations of between $2.75 and $3 per share, with overall revenue increased in the low double digits on a constant currency basis. GBS revenue is expected to climb sharply, while GIS revenue is projected to decrease in the single digits inclusive of acquisitions.
Channel programs News

CRN Poll: Clinton Closes Significant Gap As Campaign Ends, Election Looms

Jimmy Sheridan

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With just four days left until most voters cast their ballots, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has closed what just last month was a formidable gap among solution providers in a CRN poll between herself and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Clinton, who was 14 percentage points behind Trump has nearly closed the gap, now trailing Trump by only two points in the latest - and last - monthly CRN survey on the race.

This month, 44 percent of survey participants in the survey said that a Clinton presidency would be better for business, a significant increase from the results of a similar poll in August, when only 38 percent of participants chose the Democrat. The latest survey, taken by nearly 1300 CRN readers, ran from October 6 to November 4.

[Related: CRN Poll: Trump Continues To Lead Clinton By Double Digits ]

Tim Shea, president and senior consultant of Alpha NetSolutions, a Millbury, Mass., solution provider, said his vote for Clinton will mark the first time he has ever voted for a Democrat for president.

"I don't like Hillary, but the devil I know is better than the devil I don't, " said Shea, a self-described Northeast Republican. "I know what I am getting with Hillary. She is a traditional American politician. Donald Trump is a wild card who has never held an elected office and sounds like a crazy person. I have never voted for a Democrat for president in my life. I am saying to myself, 'What the hell did the Republican National Committee do to me?"

Shea, who said his business has been flat this year, said he does not view Trump as a great business leader but as the P.T. Barnum of our generation. "I am not a Clinton fan by any stretch of the imagination, but the (former President Bill) Clinton years weren't that bad for us as businesses," he said.

Shea said he sees both parties ignoring the bread and butter issues affecting small businesses like his. "We are always overlooked by government," he said.

Trump, who still holds the lead in CRNs poll this month, won the support of 46 percent of poll participants in October, a decline compared to last month when 52 percent of participants said the New York businessman would be the best president for solution provider businesses.

A marketing executive for a Pennsylvania-based IT solution provider, who participated in the poll and requested anonymity, said her vote would be going to Trump, a decision based mainly on party loyalties and the belief that another four years with a Democrat in the White House would be bad for the country.

Trump has the mentality of a businessman and that could be good for the economy, she said.

This month's two-point gap between Trump and Clinton is one of the closest poll results that CRN has seen in its monthly polls, which reach back to April.

Trump has held an average lead of 13 percentage points over Clinton since then, an average that includes a tie between the two candidates in July.

According to a senior account manager for an IT solution provider, who also asked for anonymity, said Trump is losing his lead in the poll because voters are realizing that they need a candidate with experience, which Trump does not.

Clinton has the experience,  Lets say she lied - even if she did - she has experience and Trump does not, he said. He added that although Trump may have connections in his own business circle, his influence does not give him the experience needed to govern the most powerful nation in the world.

He went on to say that he believes Clinton will be better for the economy because she has focused her campaign on bringing people together.

When Trump says we will win big, I think he means it will be at the expense of other people instead of brokering deals that will benefit both sides," he said. "Hillary is bringing people together, And working together allows people to work more efficiently and progressively.
Networking News

Report: Windstream, EarthLink In Advanced Merger Talks

Gina Narcisi

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Telecom providers Windstream and EarthLink are in "advanced" merger discussions that would allow both companies to combine their network infrastructure to better compete in a crowded telecommunications market, according to a Reuters report.

The reported all-stock deal, which has not been finalized yet, would result in Windstream owning slightly more than half of the combined company, the Reuters report said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The telecommunications market has been abuzz with merger and acquisition news over the past few weeks, with Dallas-based AT&T announcing its intent to buy media giant Time Warner, and fellow telecom provider CenturyLink revealing plans to buy service provider Level 3.

[Related: Telecom Turmoil: Solution Providers Place Their Bets As Carrier Churn Rocks The Industry ]

The CenturyLink-Level 3 merger will help the two companies reach more business customers with a larger fiber footprint, and a possible Windstream-EarthLink partnership follows CenturyLink's lead, according to one Windstream partner that requested anonymity.

Telecom providers are struggling to find growth in a market where basic connectivity already reaches most businesses and consumers. Some providers have worked to differentiate themselves by adding software-defined networking to curb infrastructure costs and cloud-based services to turn software- and appliance-based products into recurring revenues. Others are aggressively working to expand their network infrastructure to reach more customers.

The reported partnership would bring together two providers with largely traditional telecommunication services portfolios, as well as networking services, the Windstream partner said.

"It's not terribly strategic," the executive said. "Both are a bit behind in the marketplace and are going hard to try to catch up."

Little Rock, Ark.-based Windstream also got out of the data center business in 2015 when it sold its data center and co-location business to St. Louis-based TierPoint for $575 million. CenturyLink, likewise, is selling its data center business in preparation for its merger with Level 3.

Both EarthLink and Windstream have seen declining revenues in recent years. The reported deal would help both companies achieve cost savings by combining their communications networks and infrastructure, the Reuters report said.

Windstream did not returned CRN's request for comment before publication time. EarthLink declined to comment on the story.

As of the market close on Thursday, Windstream was valued at $653 million, and Atlanta-based EarthLink was valued at about $572 million.

The Windstream-EarthLink merger could be formally announced during EarthLink's Q3 2016 earnings call, scheduled for Monday morning, the anonymous partner said.
Networking News

CenturyLink Calls Partners 'Essential' In Driving Cloud Growth, Partners Pleased With Data Center Sale

Gina Narcisi

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Telecom giant CenturyLink has made its official exit from the data center market, but partners are not alarmed. In fact, solution providers selling colocation and cloud-based services believe that, as carriers offloading their physical data center assets to an operator more familiar with this business, support for data center and colocation services could improve.

CenturyLink announced on Friday its plans to sell its data centers and colocation business for $2.15 billion to a consortium advised by investment firm BC Partners. The consortium, which also includes Medina Capital Advisors and Longview Asset Management, will include CenturyLink's 57 data centers and colocation business into a newly formed global, secure infrastructure company.

C3DNA is one of the companies that believes that CenturyLink's value in the cloud market has never come from its data center facilities. C3DNA is an application life-cycle management provider and CenturyLink partner that sells the carrier's multi-cloud connectivity services.

[Related: CenturyLink To Sell Off Its Data Centers, Co-Location Business For $2.15B]

"That's a very commoditized business, so if they can eliminate the data center operations costs and offload it to someone who can do that part really efficiently, that's a great move for CenturyLink," said Paul Camacho, co-founder of Santa Clara, Calif.-based C3DNA.

Camacho doesn't believe the change in ownership of the data center and colocation business will change margins for partners, either.

"There will be little to no impact for us  there's no difference from a cost or margin perspective," he said. "The only thing for us is we need to make sure to maintain a certain quality of service that we have come to expect from CenturyLink."

Despite selling its data center facilities, CenturyLink will receive minority stake valued at $150 million in the new infrastructure company. As a result, CenturyLink will be largest sales channel and customer for the new company, and will continue to sell colocation, hosting, and public and private cloud services and solutions. The carrier is encouraging its partners to do the same, David Meredith, senior vice president and global general manager for CenturyLink's global data center and hosting business, told CRN.

"It's going to be business as usual," Meredith said. "Really, it's just CenturyLink not owning the underlining data centers and being responsible for operating the data centers, but it will continue to offer the same solutions."

Meredith said that the goal of the transaction is to drive growth in cloud and hybrid IT adoption.

"We view the channel ecosystem as an essential element in driving growth in this business, so we plan to be very friendly and easy to deal with for partners helping us grow the business by closing deals," he said.

Association Resource Group (ARG) is a telecom solution provider that sells colocation and data center services from CenturyLink. Greg Praske, CEO of McLean, Va.-based ARG agrees with Camacho that CenturyLink's decision on whether to own and operate data centers will have very little, if any, impact on partners.

However, Praske believes that partners could see service and support improvements as a result, similar to the outcome of Windstream's data center business sale to TierPoint. Atlanta-based TierPoint, who scooped up Windstream's data center assets in 2015 for $575 million, is more focused on data center operations, and that deal has been beneficial to partners, he said.

"It was a nice concept when CenturyLink bought [the data center business unit] Savvis, but you need to be laser-focused on data center operations," he said.

"I would expect that the buyers will bring the data center talent from CenturyLink over," Praske added.

CenturyLink's Meridith said that today's data center deal only includes CenturyLink's 57 data center facilities that the carrier has today. The transaction will not include Level 3's 350 global data centers.

[Nearly] every large network provider has some data center component, and the Level 3 deal is network focused, he said.

Solution providers that are selling CenturyLink's colocation and data center services will also have access to additional security services from security and analytics companies including Cryptzone, Easy Solutions, Brainspace and Catbird. The BC Partners-led consortium acquired these four companies, in addition to CenturyLink's data center assets, on Friday.

Tina Gravel, senior vice president of strategic alliances for Cryptzone said that CenturyLink would be its largest channel customer. Gravel expects CenturyLink partners to resell Cryptzone's services via the new deal.

It's really exciting," she said. "We have never been the kind of company ever to do anything to harm the channel  We are going to do our best to make sure our channel partners are happy with this.

ARG's Praske said it would be smart for solution providers to sell security services alongside data center services.

"I don't think you can talk about data centers without talking about security," he said.

CenturyLink's Meredith said that the deal with BC Partners is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017.
Security News

Security Experts: IoT Will Be Biggest Threat Of The Next Decade

Sarah Kuranda

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The Internet of Things will be at the center of enterprise security and infrastructure readiness for the next several years, a panel of security experts said at Intel Security's Focus 16 in Las Vegas.

"It's going to be the story of the next decade. We're probably just in the first inning when it comes to connected devices," Optiv CFO Dave Roshak said on the panel.

While consumer use of connected devices is growing, Roshak said he sees IoT starting to gain traction in enterprises. He said Optiv, for example, is already helping enterprises use IoT to become nimbler in their business processes. That's a huge opportunity for solution providers who can have those security conversations around IoT, he said.

[Related: Q&A: Future McAfee CEO Chris Young On New Products, Spinout From Intel And Cybersecurity In The Election]

"I think it's a unique opportunity from a security standpoint to be baked in from the beginning of that process, as opposed to being brought in as an afterthought," Roshak said.

And, from where companies stand today, they are wholly unable to handle these emerging threats, Tony Gigliotti, president of Autonomic Software, said.

"I just look at [the Internet of Things] and I say to myself, if we're not careful, this thing could get messier than a food fight in an Italian restaurant  I just don't know how we are going to handle it from where we stand today," Gigliotti said.

One example of where IoT can have devastating effects, if not implemented properly, is in the national power grid, Ted Koppel, renowned journalist and author of Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath, said in a keynote presentation following the panel.

As computer systems and IoT devices are used to optimize the power grid and keep an appropriate balance of power in the systems, Koppel said there is a huge risk of a catastrophic outage from hackers and nation-state attacks. He said evidence has already shown hackers from Russia, China and more poking around in those environments, readying for an attack if necessary.

"It isnt a question of 'if,' it's a question of 'when,'" Koppel said. He said the government and companies need to start preparing now to minimize the impact of an attack, as well as take measures to prepare in the event of an attack, including lining up food, resources and a plan of action.

The attacker ecosystem is also evolving, Art Wong, senior vice president of enterprise security services at HPE, said. Wong said attackers are getting much more sophisticated and building an ecosystem and innovating around the entire lifecycle of an attack. That means more companies than ever are vulnerable to attack, no matter their size or vertical, Wong said.

"When you look at some of the assets being stolen today involving intellectual property and commercial and enterprise data, it's really every single vertical and every single industry thats vulnerable to this kind of attack," Wong said.

Wong said companies are challenged to fight back as they deal with a complex vendor landscape and a talent shortage in security. For that reason, he said many are looking to partners to help them integrate solutions, manage complex systems and overall implement the people, process and technology to reduce security risk.

However, with all the talk about risk around the Internet of Things, Autonomic Software's Gigliotti said it is also important to think of the benefits.

"The Internet of Things is its fraught with problems, but the risk is worth it," Gigliotti said.
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) announced it had welcomed more than 550,000 passengers and 212,000 crew from 224 ships to Ogden Point, Canadas busiest cruise ship port of call, during the 2016 cruise season.

Royal Caribbean Internationals Explorer of the Seas made 21 daytime calls to Ogden Point, making it the largest cruise ship as a regular call on an Alaskan route. The Explorer was the first Voyager-class cruise ship to make regular stops in Victoria, bringing an average of 3,626 visitors during each call.

We are incredibly proud to have welcomed these visitors to Victoria throughout our 2016 season, said Ian Robertson, CEO of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. Were anticipating an increase in ship calls for 2017, mostly as a result of repositioning cruises during the shoulder season. With these types of voyages, cruise lines may select any Canadian west coast port of call, and the fact that they are choosing Victoria signals to our team and our member agencies that we are a preferred destination for cruise lines and their guests.

In 2017, GVHA is predicting more than 240 ship calls.

Congratulations to the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority for a very busy cruise ship season, added the Honourable Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour. I was delighted to be on hand at the start of Victorias cruise ship season to welcome the Explorer of the Seas to Victoria in May. With an 11.5 per cent increase in international visits so far this year, the cruise ship sector is helping grow our tourism industry and keeping B.C.s economy leading the way in Canada."

The 2016 season kicked off on April 3 and wrapped up on October 17.

In 2016, ships from Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Princess Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Crystal Cruises, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas each made calls to Ogden Point.






Norwegian Cruise Line has announced that Camille Olivere is joining the brand as senior vice president, sales effective November 30, 2016. Formerly senior vice president of Partner Brands at World Travel Holdings, Olivere returns to Norwegian to cultivate and further enhance travel partner engagement across sales channels under the Norwegians Partners First philosophy and lead the continued development of sales in North America.

Olivere originally joined the Norwegian sales team in 2009 as vice president of sales. In 2012, she was promoted to senior vice president, achieving significant growth in the companys charter business and leading efforts to re-energize the brands travel agency advocacy, with a focus on growing trade relationships through optimized marketing and co-op budgets to maximize sales.

In addition to her time at World Travel Holdings where she was responsible for the companys private-label partnership cruise portfolio including new business development, Olivere also previously served as senior vice president of sales for ClubMed, a role that saw her initiate a turnaround of U.S. travel agency sales and launch new partnerships. She has also served on the board of directors for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) supplier trade committee and the America Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) marketing committee.

Olivere will be based at Norwegian Cruise Lines headquarters in Miami reporting to Andy Stuart, president and CEO, and will head the North American sales leadership team that includes Alex Pinelo, vice president, key accounts and Nathan Hickman, vice president, field sales.
The situation often dictates how to approach a new job. Did the company just have a humiliating experience with a data breach? Did they not have a CSO previously and that is why they are looking for security help to lock down their network?

If during the job interview, there was a blunt plea for help then most new hires would come in guns a blazin to get things under control quickly. But in most scenarios, CSOs interviewed said there is a general time period to examine the culture of the company to help in getting a grasp of what needs to be done.

"The first thing needed is to review the current state of the information security policy. Getting intimate with this document, as well as the lessons learned in creating it, is instrumental in being successful. To do this you must meet with department leads, stakeholders, and business executives to find out its context and history. My main stakeholders at Bugcrowd are the IT and Engineering groups so getting comfortable working with them was priority #1, Jason Haddix, head of trust and security, Bugcrowd.

From here he started to notice any hung-up initiatives, incomplete policy and fragmented responsibilities. Once he wrapped his head around how the company was set up, he created a plan to address each 30, 60, and 90 days out. At Bugcrowd, quick wins were identified related to business enablement and security architecture.

There can be varying levels of responsibility in each CISO role, but one could never argue there isn't enough to do, he said. Once you have your battle plan, have reviewed the budget, etc, rally your direct reports and inform them of your plans. Be honest and transparent about priorities and responsibilities. Take constructive criticism and compromise where necessary, but ultimately break down these plans to quarterly goals as an organization.

Haddix said the next steps are rolling out initiatives in a structured manner. Working at a startup, his role at Bugcrowd is heavy on business enablement, security architecture, and some compliance and audit. Other roles will work more closely with risk management and security operations.

Alvaro Hoyos, took much the same approach as Haddix in rallying the troops upon his arrival as chief information security officer at OneLogin. I reached out to all personnel to introduce myself, describe what my role consists of, and what we wanted to accomplish in the short term. The CISO role is still somewhat uncommon and has been evolving over the last few years. This role works with all departments and you will be enlisting the help of various team members as you roll out various projects, not to mention that you are also responsible for improving your organization's security culture, which is probably one of the toughest items on your to-do list. Therefore, it is critical to get the organization behind you from the start because personnel outside of your own team will be in the critical path of a lot of your activities and your success will be tied to them.

The next step was to secure an inventory of information assets. He said knowing what you are tasked to secure is one of the first steps you need to take in order to lay down a good foundational framework to build upon. This requires meeting with information owners and being fluent in all the data coming and going out of the organization. Part of knowing the data is determining what compliance and legal requirements you must meet, so you can build a security program that is commensurate to the appropriate risks, and more importantly you can focus your resources efficiently to address them.

Hoyos noted that a security data is an ongoing strategy. A security program is an ongoing journey. Once you have the lay of the land, you need to determine how you will maintain and grow that program effectively. Once you determine what framework(s) you will base your program on, you have to come up with a strategy for what you need to, and more importantly, can realistically tackle in the short term and long term, he said.

A key step in this process is performing a risk assessment to use as a guide to help you prioritize what you tackle. This is especially useful when getting buy-in from management and defining what your budgetary needs will be.

Just as important as knowing what you can tackle in the short term, being able to plan for the long term is equally important, he said.

Knowing the risk

"As a CSO, it all begins and ends with risk -- at the end of the day, you have to understand the risk and how to manage and mitigate that risk, said Malcolm Harkins, chief security and trust officer, Cylance.

Specifically, there's two battlefields we have to face: one that is external and one that is internal. The external battlefield is made up of threat factors and agents that we read about in the press everyday and the internal battlefield is made up of budgets, bureaucracy and behaviors, he said.

Harkins noted that it's a two-pronged approach of evaluation, and CSOs need to understand what the risks and controls are externally and how to build relationships, rapport and influence internally.

Dawn-Marie Hutchinson, executive director, office of the CSIO, Optiv, took the cautionary approach as well when she first settled in.

I met with each leader of the IT divisions to understand what their specific data security concerns were and what data was stored, processed or transmitted through their division. The first 30 days were spent just learning the general IT layout; things like how data moved through it and gain their perspectives on security. The first months of the role was just about learning about the company, the culture and the business, she said.
As a consumer, I have found the implementation of the EMV chip to be a complete nuisance. Depending on where I'm shopping, I might still have to swipe my card.

Still, it's annoying. First the machine demands that I not remove my card. I patiently wait and wait and wait for what seems longer than it took to write out a check circa 2000. Then suddenly, the machine demands that I remove my card--immediately, lest it incessantly beep at me.

I know I'm not alone because a recent report by The Strawhecker Group found that only 29 percent of U.S. merchants can actually accept chip cards, the report said, with terminal certification delays the main culprit.

But, this blog post isn't really about me. Nor is it about consumers (though it is indirectly). EMV is about retailers, and the anniversary of the roll out that was intended to prevent onsite fraud. Point of sale (POS) fraud has indeed diminished, according to Dave Britton, vice president, fraud & identity industry solutions at Experian.

[ ALSO ON CSO: Here's how businesses can prevent point-of-sale attacks ]

While many studies have found that the implementation has decreased in-store counterfeit fraud, Britton said, "The truth is, it didnt get rid of the fraud it just migrated it. Since the liability shift, we have seen an increase in other areas of fraud including online and account opening fraud."

... businesses are struggling to identify which accounts are fake.

Dave Britton, vice president, fraud & identity industry solutions at Experian

Wells Fargo is the prime example of the kind of fraud that cannot be prevented by EMV, and innovators have yet to develop a solution for human greed. As a result, "Legitimate consumer data is being used more than ever to open false accounts without consumers knowing and businesses are struggling to identify which accounts are fake," Britton said.

Retailers need to take additional steps to protect their consumers data in several different ways. Understanding where the risk has moved to is an important first step.

"The problem," Britton said, "is that you put pressure on any system in some particular point, and that fraud is going to move elsewhere in the system. Weve seen an uptick in channels outside EMV, in the e-commerce space itself."

While customers at a retail store front have to present a card for a transaction to get EMV approval, using those same cards in the online channel is easier for criminals because there is no chip to read.

In a world where even employees of a massive banking enterprise are willing to risk the monetary reward of opening accounts under false pretenses, how can defenders protect customer data?

One solution, said Britton, "Bring together the data from multiple risk systems. Instead of specific risk detection within a particular channel, pull all of the data into a holistic common platform that gives a comprehensive view of the consumer and transaction activity across the organization."

The problem, though, is maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty while also implementing the right solutions that allow for risk mitigation. "Risk mitigation that slows the process can result in the customer going elsewhere," said Britton.

To a certain extent, the retail sector should have been prepared for this shifting of risk. The migration of fraud from POS to card-not-present doesn't come as a great shock, said Smrithi Konanur. global product management, HPE Data Security.

That card-not-present fraud in the U.S is surging is no surprise. Earlier EMV adoption in other regions such as Europe and Canada have experienced the same shift to fraudulent card-not-present transactions."

When criminals are able to access card holder data, they can easily do online transactions with minimal risk. "In order to mitigate card-not-present fraud, businesses should implement security strategies that include additional authentication like 3D-secure, end-to-end encryption, and tokenization," Konanur said.

Lots of other technologies can help to plug the leaks in the retailer data flow. "Data-centric technologies like format-preserving encryption provides the security solutions for businesses which are effective, optimal, scalable, and flexible to keep card holder data safe from hackers in case of a breach or attempted theft of data," Konanur said.

Not to make light of a very sensitive security concern, but the image of data leaks continuing to pop up is reminiscent of what could have been an episode of "I Love Lucy." There's a leak spewing water through one hole, then when it's plugged, another busts open. In the comedy sitcoms of old, it's hysterically funny, but in security it can be discouraging and costly.
Chris Nickerson is CEO of Lares, which focuses in hyper-competitive areas of cybersecurity like penetration testing, red-team testing and adversarial attack modeling.

But delivering the closing keynote at UNITED2016, the Rapid7 Security Summit in Boston this week, he came across as more Zen master than battle-tested general.

Nickerson never actually said the Z word. But he said real empowerment in cybersecurity isnt a matter of being bullied into a decision by charts, graphs and data sets, but from freedom to choose.

In his view, there is a vast difference between choosing and deciding. One of them  choosing  has freedom, he said. Deciding is totally different. Ive been bullied by data sets around me into decisions.

This awakening came courtesy of a torrential rainstorm in China, while he was walking with a friend. His friend was fuming at getting soaked by the downpour.

[ MORE FROM UNITED2016: Protection of white-hat hackers slow in coming ]

I asked him, Is it the rain thats hurting you and making you mad, or is it just you? he said, noting that instead of telling his friend to lighten up, I was just taking the data points around us, bringing it down to what it was, he said.

And after that we had a great time. We were walking through the rain, soaked, and laughing. It wasnt my words. It was the transition to not feeling held hostage by the data. We were free to make a choice.

That, he said, should be applied to the intense world of what his company does  risk assessment, penetration testing, application testing, social engineering, red-team testing and adversarial attack modeling.

We spend all this time fighting hackers, he said, adding that the overwhelming number and variety of attacks can burn out defenders. Instead he said, we dont need charts and graphs to know its raining. We just need to choose to deal with it.

Nickerson confessed to having played the data bully in the past. How many times have I bullied people into decisions? I was robbing people of freedom to choose, he said.

A more effective approach is to take note if the data is leading somebody to a particular conclusion. If it is, get out of the way and let them choose, he said.

Feeling able with our mind, heart and soul to choose what were going to think and do is really powerful  really profound, he said.

He also urged his audience not to feel like they have to stop every attack. This is a long game, he said, and sometimes you feel like youre not going to change anything.

But the answer isnt to stop it (the attacks). Be present in those moments when you know you dont have the power. And then remember that rain is just rain.
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A Connecticut congressman says white supremacists are plotting to suppress minority voter turnout in the state on Election Day in a bid to help Donald Trump.

U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., warned his supporters in an email Friday that they could face intimidation from hate groups when they head to the polls Tuesday.

The cautionary message  its subject line was This is disgraceful  included a toll-free hotline and email address for state election officials. It came as Democrats and Republican prepare to make a final push to get out the vote in the caustic campaign between Trump and Hillary Clinton, one that could have a domino effect on which party controls Congress and the Legislature.

White supremacists are mobilizing across the country  including right here in Connecticut  to keep African-Americans and other communities from voting on Election Day, Larson wrote. This is a disgusting attempt at voter suppression, and it will not stand.

The states top Republican admonished Larson, who is from East Hartford and is seeking a 10th term in the House.

Its fear-mongering at its worst, said J.R. Romano, the state GOP chairman.

Accusations of misinformation

Romano said Democrats are struggling to gin up support for Clinton among minority voters loyal to President Barack Obama.

The KKK is a disgusting organization thats roots are in the Democratic Party, Romano said. This is what Democrats in Connecticut have resorted to, this spreading of misinformation.

Larsons email linked to a Politico story detailing the efforts of Neo-Nazi and militia groups to monitor inner-city polling locations in all 50 states. The article also mentioned an exit polling initiative by Trump operative and Norwalk native Roger Stone in 7,000 precincts across the nation, including in Philadelphia and Ohio. A request for comment was left Friday for Stone.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., who represents southwestern Connecticut, including Bridgeport, where 73 percent of city residents are minorities, said he was not aware of any such plots locally.

I havent heard in my district any plans, Himes said. Theres obviously been some well-publicized statements nationally by people who seem to be white supremacists that theyre going to watch the polls.

The office of Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said cities and towns, in consultation with local law enforcement, are prepared to deal with any attempts to interfere with voting. Poll monitors acting on behalf of a candidate or political group fall under the definition of electioneering, which Merrills office said is prohibited within 75 feet of a polling place.

Secretary Merrill made it very clear this week that any harassment will not be tolerated, said Patrick Gallahue, a Merrill spokesman.

Final weekend before vote

The specter of Election Day strife loomed over a frenetic final weekend of the campaign, with both state parties enlisting dozens of volunteers do phone banking from their headquarters. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is scheduled to visit the Democrats central phone bank at lunchtime Saturday in Hartford.

Our big focus right now as a party is keeping Connecticut blue, said Leigh Appleby, a state party spokesman. We are going to be in full throttle.

Republicans will be dialing voters from Hartford and two mobile phone banks. They need four seats to flip the state Senate, where Democrats hold 21 seats to 15 for Republicans.

We have massive opportunities at the state level for the Legislature on the House and the Senate side, Romano said.

Canvassers organized by local town committees and different campaigns will also hit the streets this weekend to knock on doors. But the final push isnt confined to Connecticut. Some diehards are flocking to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia to volunteer for Clinton or Trump.

Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is scheduled to take part in a door-knocking push in Philadelphia for Clinton, who has enlisted feminist icon Gloria Steinem as part of the effort.

I think people in Connecticut want to help in the battleground states because those 10 states are critical, Bysiewicz said.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
The Connecticut State Police announced Friday is moving forward with a voluntary recall of a drug overdose antidote after some of the units were found to be defective.

We are confident in the device, but out of an abundance of caution are taking steps to mitigate the risks associated with the recall, said CSP spokesman Trooper Tyler Weerden, in a statement.

The device is an atomized nose spray that administers a dose of naxolone (or brand-name version Narcan), a medicine that can mitigate the effects of an opioid overdose.

Called the MAD Nasal Intranasal Mucosal Atomization Device, its manufactured by Teleflex Medical Corp., who issued the recall earlier this week.

It is supposed to deliver a plume or a puff of the drug up your sinuses, Chris Stan, spokesman for the state Department of Public Health, told Hearst Connecticut Media Thursday. The defective ones deliver it in a stream instead of a plume.

Local and state first responders are scrambling to deal with the recall without disrupting their ability to treated high numbers of overdoses.

Since the recall weve used this device to administer Narcan 33 times, said Weerden. These 33 applications were successful and saved lives.

Despite no documented cases of a failing device affecting treatments, the department has recalled 700 units and plans to pull an additional 500 in the coming weeks.

While the officers are migrating out the possibly defective units, theyre doubling up when responding to suspected overdoses, sending two troopers to each call in case one of the devices fails.

We have conducted shift briefings and implemented additional training to inform personnel of the potential for a defective dispensing mechanism and its indicators, Weereden said.

According to Weereden, the CSP has responded to128 opioid overdose calls since they started carrying the devices in October of 2014.

Of those, 116 were revived, four had no response to the medicine but survived, and eight didnt make it.
Derby  Derby High School has received a $10,000 donation from AT&T Connecticut to support the schools college and career readiness program.

The funds will provide 20 $500 scholarships to be presented to members of the Class of 2017. The scholarships will go to students who are continuing their education in a two-year, four-year or certificate program and who demonstrate strong school service, outstanding school citizenship, a strong academic record and financial need.
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What is more beautiful than fall in New England? The autumn leaves make even the most mundane daily commute seem idyllic unless youre taking the train.

Yes, its time for our annual battle against slip slide, that dangerous rail condition caused by wet leaves on our tracks. Mind you, this is no small problem. In past years as many as 50 or 60 trains a week were delayed by the issue when sloppy, wet leaves turned steel rails into the railroad equivalent of a skating rink. The trains often couldnt stop, or in some cases, even start.

OK. Weve sent a man to the moon, mapped the human genome and built super computers. Why cant we solve this leaf-goo problem? If only it was that easy.

Its really a matter of physics. The flanged steel wheel of a locomotive only makes contact with the rail at a spot about the size of a dime. Thats why a train can usually ride so smoothly, gliding on a very small but stable area of friction.

But when fall arrives, the leaves fall, get wet and get mulched into one of the slipperiest substances known to man, creating a compound called pectin. When the train hits a slippery patch, its computer freaks out like a downhill skier encountering ice, and it tries to stop. This is called dumping the air, as the train automatically drops its air pressure, engaging the brakes. When it happens you can actually hear it  and feel it as the train lurches to a stop.

Dont worry. The train is not going to fly off the tracks. But it also may not stop on a dime, sliding along the slippery track. Sometimes the air brakes are engaged so hard that the steel wheel is dragged along the track and ground into a flat spot. In some years, these flat wheel issues have seen 25 percent of the railcar fleet out of action for regrinding.

More Information Join the conversation Use #GettingThereCT to chime in on Facebook and Twitter See More Collapse

Uphill climb

This leaf-caused slip-slide is at its worst on the Danbury branch, an almost continual uphill climb from Norwalk to The Hat City, which is almost 400 feet above sea level. At its worst, the leafy goo means the diesel-pulled trains cant make their usual stop at Cannondale because they have to keep up momentum to climb the grade.

On mainline MU (multiple unit) electric trains every car is a locomotive, spreading out the traction power to all the wheels. But on a branch line train, a single locomotive weighing 137 tons has only eight wheels touching the track and needs enough traction there to pull an eight-car train. Thats just eight, dime-sized friction points, each compromised by slippery leaf-goo.

Now, if the Danbury branch was electrified, as it once was, this problem would go away, or at least be minimized.

What can be done to battle the slippery scourge? Well, all trains carry sand which they can throw under their traction wheels, improving friction. But Metro-North has gone further, creating a car called Water World that blasts the tracks clean with high pressure hoses. And then the leaves keep falling.

This problem is not unique to Metro-North. Other railroads fight the leaf-wars too, but few travel through such steep, wooded glens as the bucolic Danbury branch.

In the UK theres a scientist who proposes zapping the tracks clear with lasers. Others are trying chemicals. Clearly, people are working on this problem and have been for decades.

So take heart, dear commuter. Enjoy the ride and the foliage, slippery as it may be.

Jim Cameron is a longtime commuter advocate based in Fairfield County. Contact him at CommuterActionGroup@

gmail.com
MILFORD  A local resident who serves as the national legislative director of the Military Order of the Purple Heart will serve as grand marshal of the citys Veterans Day Parade on Sunday.

The parade steps off at 2 p.m. from the Parsons Center parking lot and proceeds down West River to River Street, turning right to follow Broad Street along the Green.
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BRIDGEPORT  In the race for the House District 130, the incumbent Ezequiel Santiago, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican political newcomer Melissa Borres.

Santiago, 43, the father of three children, is special projects coordinator for the citys Department of Public Facilities.

Borres, who has two children, is patient associate with the Northeast Medical Group.

Borres did not answer repeated requests for information on her platform.

The district includes the East Side and the South End.

As chairman of the house appropriations subcommittee of conservation and development, Santiago said he worked with committee members and the general public, mostly through public hearings to craft and eventually pass budgets for the state departments of labor, housing, economic and community development, energy, environmental protection and agriculture. He said he was also was able to lower proposed cuts to the Beardsley Zoo, Barnum and Discovery Museums.

Outside of my capacity as chairman of the Appropriations Conservation and Development subcommittee, I was able to secure $80,000 for the Orcutt Boys Club and $50,000 for the Caribe Youth Leaders in Gun Violence Prevention funds for both years of the biennial budget. I fought to ensure the fund to give Bridgeport more municipal aide from the state was not eliminated, which resulted in the citys ability to lower the car taxes and sent additional funds to the city to provide further tax relief, he said.

Santiago said he is close to getting a $2,600,000 bond authorization for the Klein Memorial and funding for the Orcutt Boys Club and funds for a new South End Health Clinic run by SouthWest Community Health.

I will continue to fight for legislation which will have wealthy corporations pay their fair share of taxes, he said.
Cubas Special Development Zone among main attractions of FIHAV

Submitted by: Juana

Havana

Business and Economy

11 / 03 / 2016



Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM by its Spanish acronym), one of the main destinations in Cuba for the attraction of foreign capital became focus of attention in the 34th International Fair of Havana (FIHAV 2016 by its Spanish acronym) when announcing its 11 new users.

Now there are 19 companies that, under different modalities of foreign investment, will operate in this enclave, located 45 kilometers from Havana and called to become the Logistical hub in the Americas.

Those attending the third day of FIHAV knew that the new companies approved to settle down at ZEDM cover strategic areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical, advanced technology, construction and engineering, as well as banking and logistics.

The previous year, in a similar context, it was announced that the first eight investors covered the sectors of food, high technology, paint and cigarette manufacturing, among others of vital importance to the national economy.

Negotiations and meetings between foreign and Cuban companies continued in the framework of FIHAV 2016, and the signing of the first memorandum of understanding in the port sector between Germany and the Caribbean island took place also this day.

The legal instrument was signed by officials from both nations, and it aims to trace the patterns of future business related to cruises.

It was significant also the signing of a cooperation agreement between Cuba and Venezuela to diversify and boost economic ties with non-oil sectors, a step that takes the Caribbean nation closer to establish partnerships with companies and industries of all areas from the South American country on mutually favorable basis.

The objective is to promote exports and strengthen the current exchange with the proposal of more than 400 products of potential importance in the Cuban market.

Meanwhile, the inauguration of pavilions of several of the countries attending FIHAV 2016, the most attended edition in recent years with the presence of 73 nations, also continued today.

Brazil was one of the countries which celebrated the opening of its pavilion, where the trade between the South American nation and Cuba was highlighted, with a volume that exceeded 650 million dollars in the last seven years.

45 companies from seven Brazilian states represented by more than a hundred executives, part of them with a habitual presence in the important event, and ratified between the main suppliers of food and agricultural equipment to Cuba, participate in this commercial meeting.

It was also opened the stand of the European Union, another important Cuban trading partner, with presence in the sectors of electricity generation, hydraulic development, medical equipment, food and agriculture.

Among EU members, Spain, Holland and Germany stand out among the main destinations of Cuban exports, while the main suppliers of the Caribbean nation are Spain, Italy, Germany and France. (acn)
Arkansas residents will vote on Nov. 8 for the second time in four years about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, a change supported by 60 percent of all Americans according to the latest statistic in a Gallup poll released Oct. 2016.

Florida, Montana and North Dakota will be joining Arkansas in the vote to legalize medical marijuana, while Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will vote to expand their medical use laws to full recreational legalization.

aPeople leaving Arkansas to get marijuana for medicinal purposes initiated the proposal of the measure,a Melissa Fults, campaign director for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, said.

Arkansans for Compassionate Care are the sponsors of the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act to legalize medical marijuana and are overseen by the Arkansas Department of Health.

aWe have done as much as we can to protect the patients and the community,a Fults said. Fults is also running for State Representative in District 27.

The Arkansas initiative includes a maximum limit on the cost of licenses and a plan to help low-income patients by pooling 1 percent of all dispensariesa gross profits into a healthcare fund.

Fults said studies have shown promising results for using marijuana to treat certain conditions such as migraines, ADD, ADHD, cancer, Crohnas, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsonas disease.

Of the 1600 volunteers for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, 95 percent are either patients or have family members who are patients who use medical marijuana.

Easier access to marijuana may make it harder for Arkansas business owners to find drug-free workers said Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin in a statement released on Sept. 26.

aGrowing sustainable high-tech and manufacturing jobs being able to compete with other statesa economies might be undercut by a lack of workers who can pass drug tests,a Griffin said.A

Gary Wheeler, chief medical officer for the Arkansas Department of Health, said the public should not be able to make decisions on drugs outside of the FDAas jurisdiction.

aThe point of the FDA is to make sure that consumers have available to them medications that are safe and effective,a Wheeler said.

Wheeler does not rule out that some strains of marijuana could have medical benefits, but he said it is a tricky balance to recreate a specific strain of marijuana for all medical uses.

aMy observation is that anyone who wants marijuana can get it,a Wheeler said.

Marijuana is still illegal in the state of Tennessee, but was partially decriminalized in both Nashville and Memphis earlier this year. An ordinance passed on Oct. 4 changed the civil punishment in Memphis to a $50 fine, where courts may waive the fine if the individual completes community service.

Possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana in Tennessee is criminalized at the state level as a class A misdemeanor and the penalty for possession is a fine of $2500 along with up to a year in jail. Police arrested 3,800 individuals for either misdemeanor marijuana possession or misdemeanor marijuana possession with paraphernalia in 2015, as claimed by data from the Shelby County Clerk.

It cost the state of Tennessee almost $43 million to enforce 42 percent of all drug arrests, which were for less than one-half ounce of marijuana, as indicated by budget data from 2010.

aIn places where medical marijuana is legal, such as California, the act of legalizing it for medicinal use was just a step towards legalizing it for recreational use,a Wheeler said.

A
When mentioning Shakespeare, most people dont picture New York City during the 1970s, but the University of Memphis production of Measure for Measure promises to intrigue students with a modernized version of the play.

The play will be performed Nov. 3-5 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. in the Theatre building. Colton Baker, a 20-year-old musical theatre major, will play Elbow, the Shakespearean comic relief.

He speaks in malapropism, where he says words that are incorrect but sound the same, Baker said. I will perform the character big and ridiculous and communicate the humor of Shakespearean language.

Baker was always interested in theatre, but his hometown in Arkansas isnt exactly known for it. I was a big fish in a small pond, Baker said. I felt that theatre was my calling, and it was what I wanted to do. So I auditioned at the university and got selected.

This is Bakers fourth main-stage play. The department performs a Shakespeare play every few years. Measure for Measure is a dark Shakespearean comedy about Claudio, who is arrested by Viennas temporary leader, Lord Angelo.

Angelo is considered the main villain because he tries to stamp out the epidemic of loose living, sentencing Claudio to death for impregnating an unmarried woman. Claudios sister, who is about to take her vows as a nun, begs Angelo to save her brother Claudios life.

Angelo, at first, denies her requests but soon finds himself overwhelmed by lust for her and proposes an arrangement for the life of Claudio. Background elements of the play greatly help set the scene, according to Baker.

The lighting helps for the caution of the play and helps students go into the world that we are going, Baker said.

Baker also explained why Measure for Measure is considered a dark comedy.

It is a dark-humored play because it is dealing with a sexual barrier that exists with the law of peace, Baker said. Claudio impregnated a woman, and he is not married. The comic part is pointing out the humanity within all that.
Former Chancellor George Osborne was paid 70,000 for giving a speech in Washington and 30,000 for one in California. Meanwhile, Europhile ex-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg trousered 30,000 speaking in Holland. He was also paid 15,000 for presenting Have I Got News For You. His successor as Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, got 1,500 for appearing as a panellist on the show. That such details become public  via Westminsters register of members interests  suggests that our last three PMs might have quit the Commons chiefly to avoid such scrutiny.

George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Tim Farron have all pocketed thousands by giving speeches and presenting television shows

Jeremy Clarkson is an admirer of Miss Edwardes

Flirty interviewer Charlotte Edwardess Tatler article about Lord Heseltine prompted the Tory veteran belatedly to deny that hed once strangled his mothers pet Alsatian. Hed choked it and had it put down afterwards, he explained. Now Charlotte has interviewed pop star Zayn Malik, formerly of One Direction. An admirer of Miss Edwardes, TVs Jeremy Clarkson, pictured with her, tweets: Did he strangle a dog, though? She replies: You know, I forgot to ask. Waggish Clarkson adds: Shoddy journalism really.

Jeffery Archer, 76, says he wouldnt vote for Donald Trump, 70, in the American election, declaring on TV: Trump is a character, but I think his approach to women is appalling. Archers approach to women was once seen as questionable. He denied in court having sex with prostitute Monica Coghlan, while admitting giving her 2,000. He was subsequently convicted of perjury in the case and jailed in 2001. He took everything from me  my home, my dignity, my self respect, any hope of the future, said Ms Coghlan, who died in a car crash aged 50 before Archer was prosecuted for perjury.

Charlene White has vowed not to wear a poppy

The ITV newscaster Charlene White, 36, pictured, vows not to wear a poppy while broadcasting, like Channel 4 Newss lefty (and lofty) star Jon Snow. But dare she appear poppy-less when co-presenting the evening bulletin tonight with Alastair Stewart, 64? A patron of the Royal British Legion, Stewart  a TV newsreader for 31 years  would wear a poppy on his pyjamas, according to my source.
To the great mass of the fair-minded public, yesterdays ruling by three High Court judges that Parliament should have the chance to reconsider Brexit will have come as an outrageous betrayal of democracy.

No matter which side of the referendum we supported, the country is left with the profoundly disturbing impression of three members of an out-of-touch clique, prepared to countenance frustrating the clearly expressed wishes of 17.4 million voters  more than have ever before voted for any party or proposition in our countrys history.

Put to one side that judges have time and again backed Europe against the interests of the British people.

The truth is that this judgment plays with fire, fanning the feeling  not just in Britain and Europe, but also among Donald Trumps supporters in America  that western public life is becoming a conspiracy of tightly knit, self-serving Establishment elites against the public.

Gina Miller successfully brought a case against the government over the plan to activate Article 50 but the ruling 'flies in the face of justice and common sense'

True, the judges protest that they are not concerned with the rights and wrongs of leaving the European Union, insisting: This is a pure question of law.

And, yes, this paper acknowledges that on a blinkered reading of statutes and such very few precedents as exist (none of them applying exactly to this case), it is possible to argue that the Government lacks the authority to trigger Brexit without the go-ahead of the Lords and Commons.

But from every other viewpoint, the ruling flies in the face of justice and common sense.

Wouldnt any judge of real stature (the late Lord Denning springs to mind) have picked a way through the dust-encrusted legal textbooks to see the wood for the trees and come down on the side of reason?

Consider. For decades, the mainstream parties had been riven by internal splits over the question of our EU membership.

So much so that, with politicians unable to agree, David Cameron decided to lance the boil by throwing the matter open to the electorate and letting voters settle it once and for all.

But it wasnt his decision alone. Never let it be forgotten that, by a thumping majority of six to one, Government and Opposition MPs voted to back his call for a referendum and give the public the last word.

They did so knowing that whatever the result might be, ministers were determined to abide by it and act accordingly. A Remain vote would mean Remain. Leave would mean Leave.

At no stage in the long campaign that followed did any serious figure suggest the outcome would be merely advisory.

Nobody told the electorate: Dont take this vote too seriously, because we wont necessarily act on your views.

In a decision that could spark a major constitutional crisis, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas (pictured) sided with Remain campaigners who argued Parliament must have a vote before Article 50 is triggered, which starts a two-year process for leaving the EU

O n the contrary, both sides were utterly unambiguous.

As the Government told voters in its 9million leaflet for Project Fear: This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide.

What is it about those words that the High Court fails to understand? Certainly, voters knew what they meant.

Fully conscious of the weight of what was being asked of them, they listened to all the arguments  characterised, admittedly, by outrageous whoppers on both sides.

Cutting through the spin, the voters trusted their instincts on who to believe before reaching their momentous decision on June 23.

In the months that have passed since, the reaction of some in the Remain camp has been, frankly, contemptible.

Refusing to accept the result, first they accused Leave voters of being too stupid or senile to see through the Brexiteers lies.

In so doing, they conveniently ignored the fact that Project Fears lurid scaremongering (remember George Osbornes claim that a Brexit vote would cause an immediate and profound shock to our economy?) has proved increasingly groundless since Day One.

Indeed, only yesterday, after months of encouraging news on jobs, consumer and business confidence and investment, the Bank of England was forced to make its biggest ever upward revision of a growth forecast, almost doubling its estimate for next year from 0.8 to 1.4 per cent.

Not content with the charge of stupidity, the Bremoaners went on to smear Leave voters as racists, as if wishing to control our borders implied a hatred of foreigners.

Only then did they come up with what they thought was their masterstroke. Inventing a spurious distinction between hard and soft Brexit, they argued that nobody knew what the Leave vote meant, and that therefore the question should be decided by the pro-Remain political elite in Parliament, the People Who Know Best.

Prime Minister Theresa May has argued the public has delivered its verdict on the June 23 referendum and there should be no second vote by MPs which could frustrate the process

These are the people, never forget, who wanted us to join the disastrous euro and over the years have wantonly given away sovereign rights, destroying the independence of our Parliament and judiciary.

In fact, everybody is well aware of what the referendum vote meant.

It meant leaving the European Union, so that we are no longer bound by laws passed in Brussels and become once again a sovereign democracy, free to sack our rulers if we dont like what they do.

In Theresa Mays words  mocked by her opponents, but making perfect sense to most of us  Brexit means Brexit.

But the clear motive of those who demand a vote by MPs and peers before the Government invokes Article 50, setting Brexit irrevocably in train, is to frustrate and delay the whole process in the hope that it will never come about.

So what happens next, now that they have won three powerful allies in the High Court?

This papers first hope is that the Supreme Court will show the wisdom to overturn yesterdays decision when it hears the Governments appeal next month.

Heaven knows, there is a strong enough case in law  never mind common sense and justice  to find that the referendum gave ministers all the authority they need to enact the countrys wishes.

But it is by no means a certainty that the ruling will be reversed.

Indeed, as the Mail reveals today, the judiciary is so infested with europhiles that judges disgracefully slow-handclapped and booed a pro-Brexit speech by Michael Gove at a legal dinner after the campaign.

Clearly, there is a strong risk that even Supreme Court judges may allow subliminal prejudice in favour of the EU to influence their decision.

If so, they will not only provoke popular outrage.

If this High Court ruling is allowed to stand, it will seriously damage our national interest by forcing the Government to declare its negotiating hand before the talks even begin.

Judges delivered a 'slap in the face' to Theresa May (pictured at last night's Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards in central London) as they ruled that MPs must be given a vote before the Government fires the starting gun on Brexit

It will also  and this is the real tragedy of the judges decision  destabilise the economy, which has settled down so encouragingly since the shock of the referendum.

And be under no misapprehension: Remainer MPs, not to mention the overwhelmingly europhile, unelected Lords, are likely to seize on the excuse to throw up every obstacle to Brexit they can dream up.

As for the alternatives, it may still be possible to force through a Bill giving legal force to the referendum result (something Mr Cameron shamefully failed to do when he drafted the Referendum Bill).

B ut while the Commons may be relied upon to support such a measure, again it would have to jump the hurdle of the Lords.

To this, the Mail says very calmly that if the Lords defy the will of the people, then maybe the people should question whether we need such a second chamber.

The Remainers, particularly Labour, need to be careful what they wish for.

If the judiciary, the second chamber  with its disgraceful rump of third-rate Lib Dem peers  the BBC and the Civil Service seek to frustrate the referendum result, Mrs May could have no alternative but to call a General Election.

Europhile MPs, whose constituents voted overwhelmingly for Brexit, should bear one thing in mind.

The vote was distributed throughout the country in such a way that if the Leave campaign had been a political party, it would have won a massive landslide of more than 400 of the 650 seats in the Commons.
A woman who risked her life to have a boob job has admitted the surgery wasn't worth it - but she's still desperate to have a perfect cleavage.

Dennie Lees, 25, from Birmingham, has been admitted to hospital five times and could have died due to complications which arose from two cut-price procedures she had in Belgium.

But she's willing to go under the knife again as far from having the body she always dreamed of as a result of her previous plastic surgery, she now has lopsided breasts as one implant had to be removed to save her life.

Dennie Lees, 25, from Birmingham, could have died due to complications which arose from two cut-price boob jobs she had in Belgium

Dennie has been left with lopsided breasts after an implant became infected after her second augmentation. She refused to have the other implant removed as she was desperate to have a fuller cleavage

Despite being offered the opportunity to have the other removed on the NHS, she refused so that she could still have one breast she was proud of after her ordeal.

Explaining her decision she said: 'When they said they had to take the infected one out I cried to my mum and said "why isn't it working for me?".

'I didn't want to get rid of the other if there was nothing wrong with it. I was half happy I still had one and half gutted that the other side is disgusting.'

Dennie said she hoped the boob jobs would boost her confidence but now she has different shaped breasts and is too scared to go under the knife again

Dennie was initially happy when her chest was boosted from a 34A to an F, pictured

However, ten days after the first op, her wounds were sore, pictured, and started leaking pus. She had to be rushed to hospital to be treated for blood poisoning

Despite her ordeal, she said she won't give up on her dream and now intends to go private and have a third op to enhance her bust.

Dennie, who lives with her boyfriend Ed, 26, in Great Barr, Birmingham, said: 'My boyfriend is really against it after what happened but I'm determined to get them done.

'I think if I go private over here with somebody more reputable then I will be fine. I've met with two consultants already so hopefully it will be sorted soon.

'Hopefully, it will be third time lucky. It is something I always wanted. I thought I would feel like a woman if I had bigger boobs.'

Dennie shares her story on Channel 5's Body Freaks: Instagram Perfect and reveals how her medical troubles started a year ago when she decided to go under the knife to try and boost her confidence.

Some of the inflammation on Dennie's breast following the infection. At its worst, her breasts were leaking pus

She said: 'I thought if I had boobs I would feel so much more confident and I could do stuff without feeling insecure.'

Dennie, who works as a delivery driver, decided to travel to a clinic in Belgium to have the treatment as their prices were half that charged in the UK for a boob job.

She paid 2,375 to have her bust increased from 34A to 34F at the Atlas Kliniek in Miese, near Brussels, on 2 September last year.

However, she said she wasn't given any aftercare and once she flew home, problems soon started to occur.

'Ten days later I felt ill with a temperature and I was shaking,' she recalled.

The clinic near Brussels in Belgium where Dennie had her operations. She paid 2,375 for the first one and was then offered the second for free

'My boobs felt really sore under my bra and when I took it off, my boobs starting gushing with pus.'

Dennie called her mother, Angie, who rushed to be by her daughter's side and was shocked and distressed by what she saw.

She recalled: 'I went straight to the house and I could see all this fluid coming and there was a smell. It frightened me to death. Dennie said "I feel like I have been butchered".'

Dennie had advanced septicemia and could have died if she hadn't got immediate hospital treatment.

Dennie had two operations in Belgium but lived to regret them

She went to Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich, West Mids, where doctors told her she had blood poisoning.

She was told she would need emergency surgery to remove her implants and even though it would save her life, Dennie wasn't happy about it.

'As soon as the doctor said he had to take them out I was hysterical. I said "no" don't take them out!' she said.

'He told me it was my choice but if I didn't agree there was a high chance I would die.'

Dennie agreed to the life-saving op but back to square one again with her flat cleavage, she didn't learn her lesson and decided to have a second boob job.

'The Belgium clinic told me I had just been unlucky. They said they could give me a second boob job for free so I flew back to have more implants,' she said.

She had the second op at the clinic run by Belgium Surgery Services in May.

She again developed an infection afterwards and was told she would need to have the infected implant removed.

'As soon as I walked in the hospital the nurses all recognised me from last time,' she said.

This time she only let the surgeon remove the one implant as she was keen to still have something to show for all the ops she has been through.

However, she's had to return to hospital on three more occasions to treat infections with antibiotics but remains determined to keep it.

The delivery driver now has to stuff her bra with the items she holds to give herself an even chest as she now only has one implant

While she said she hates looking at her naked chest, she can make it appear fuller and more even when wearing padding in her bra.

Now she will have to brave a third op if she wants to have her chest corrected.

Her mother Angie said she hopes other young people can learn from Dennie's experience.

'The fact my daughter could have died - I can't bear to think about if that could have happened, it was a nightmare.

'I wouldn't recommend anyone to go abroad and have surgery, it is not worth the risk.'

Dennie's mother, Angie, said she hopes people learn from her daughter's experience. Dennie is now considering a third op but said this time she will go private with a reputable surgeon

Dennie agrees saying: 'I wouldn't say to people not to have surgery but just to be very careful where they go because as much as it's cheaper to go abroad, it's not always best.'

She added she won't sue the Belgium clinic who botched her boob jobs.

'I wanted to sue the clinic but lawyers have told me it would cost so much in legal fees it might not be worth my while,' she explained.
UNDER A POLE STAR by Stef Penney (Quercus 18.99)

UNDER A POLE STAR

by Stef Penney

(Quercus 18.99)

Flora Cochrane was 12 when she left Dundee on her fathers whaling ship and crossed the Arctic Circle.

In 1892, having battled to make her way as a woman explorer, she led a joint scientific expedition with her new husband to Greenland  only to clash with an ambitious, rival American outfit, which included the geologist Jakob de Beyn, to whom she was deeply attracted.

In 1948, the elderly Flora is taken on a Press trip to the North Pole and is quizzed by Randall, a young journalist, whose persistent, intrusive questioning raises questions over the discoveries of that time.

Mapping this land of dazzling monotony demanded courage, vision and ruthlessness, but did it also involve exploitation and deception?

Stef Penneys first novel, The Tenderness Of Wolves, won the Costa Book of the Year Award in 2006 and this no-less-powerful drama is played out against a landscape that dominates her imagination.

THE BLACK FRIAR by S G MacLean (Quercus 13.99)

THE BLACK FRIAR

by S G MacLean

(Quercus 13.99)

Captain Damian Seeker of Oliver Cromwells Guard has been called out to examine a corpse, dressed in the robes of a black friar, which has been found walled up in an ancient Blackfriars building.

But the death is recent and Seeker identifies the victim as an undercover agent who has infiltrated the rabidly anti-Papal Fifth Monarchists.

The discovery does not help an already tense situation: Cromwells influence is waning; Parliament has been dissolved and the Royalists are regrouping. And as equally disturbing as the political outlook, several orphans have gone missing from the streets.

Excellent at conveying the insecurities and unsettling memories that bedevil Cromwells dying Protectorate, the author brings a fresh perspective and gold-plated research to a period which has been unfairly eclipsed by the popularity of the Tudors.

This is the second in the series and Damian Seeker clearly has many successful outings ahead of him.

WHERE DEAD MEN MEET by Mark Mills (Headline Review 16.99)

WHERE DEAD MEN MEET

by Mark Mills

(Headline Review 16.99)

In 1937, Luke Hamilton is working as a junior intelligence officer in the British Embassy in Paris. An orphan abandoned at a convent door, he was brought up first by Sister Agnes and later successfully adopted.

Apart from his mysterious beginnings and a disastrous affair with a married woman, his life has been otherwise straightforward. All this changes when he hears Sister Agnes has been brutally murdered and he is a handed a note warning him that a killer is after him.

Without the least idea why he might be a target, Luke finds himself searching for the answers in a dangerous, labyrinthine chase across Europe.
RATHER BE THE DEVIL by Ian Rankin (Orion 19.99)

RATHER BE THE DEVIL

by Ian Rankin

(Orion 19.99)

Edinburghs feisty Detective Inspector John Rebus is back, in his 21st appearance since his debut almost 30 years ago in Knots And Crosses.

In that time the gloomy, sometimes sour but relentlessly determined Rebus has become as much a stalwart of British crime fiction as Agatha Christies Poirot.

Now he has retired, has given up smoking and drinking (though not without a prodigious effort), and is doing everything he can to sustain a relationship with pathologist Deborah Quant, even though he is struggling with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease  which might become something even worse.

The main players in the Rebus pantheon are here: DI Siobhan Clarke is as indefatigable as ever, while Edinburghs best-known hard man, Big Ger Cafferty, is stalking the streets in competition with a young pretender, against the background of the 40-year-old unsolved murder of a bankers wife in the Caledonian Hotel. Superbly told, impossible to put down, and laced with Rankins unmistakable laconic wit, it precisely underlines the treasure that Rebus has become.

THE HARBOUR MASTER by Daniel Pembrey (No Exit Press 7.99)

THE HARBOUR MASTER

by Daniel Pembrey

(No Exit Press 7.99)

Henk van der Pol is an inspector in the Amsterdam police, a 30-year veteran not far from retirement, and is the heart of this atmospheric story of police corruption, people-trafficking and a threat to his own family.

Compelling and fast-moving, it opens with the discovery of a womans body in the citys harbour, but quickly expands into the details of Amsterdams notorious red light district, its relaxed attitude to drugs, particularly cannabis, and the Dutch tendency for those in authority to look the other way when it comes to bending the rules.

The exquisitely drawn Inspector van der Pol battles his way to the truth in a way that his fictional ancestor, Inspector Piet van der Valk, created by Nicolas Freeling, did in the Sixties.

It is no surprise that Pembreys novel is dedicated to Freeling, whose work turned into an acclaimed TV series starring Barry Foster in the Seventies. If Pembrey can maintain this standard of storytelling and characterisation, there is no reason why van der Pol could not become every bit as successful as his fictional forebear.

TRUTH WILL OUT by A. D. Garrett (Corsair 19.99)

TRUTH WILL OUT

by A. D. Garrett

(Corsair 19.99)

This third outing for DCI Kate Simms and forensics expert Prof Nick Fennimore, the irritatingly arrogant man who has haunted her but helped unravel her cases for years, sees the pair tackle the abduction of a mother and her young daughter on their drive home from the local cinema, a crime which has uncanny similarities to a cold case the professor has been lecturing on.

Then the abductor contacts Fennimore directly, and a game of cat-and-mouse begins. Fennimore, meanwhile, is renewing the search for his daughter Suzie, who has been missing for six years, after a photograph of a girl who might just be her is emailed to him from Paris.
That is especially the case for these five men who knew her

More than three years after her death, her presence looms large in Britain

MEMOIR

THE SENECANS: Four men and Margaret Thatcher

by Peter Stothard (Duckworth Overlook 20)

At first glance, this is an utterly bonkers book. Peter Stothard, editor of The Times from 1992 to 2002, recalls Latin sessions with four friends in an East End pub, talking about Seneca, the Roman philosopher and dramatist.

Those four friends were all connected with Margaret Thatcher. Frank Johnson, the former Spectator editor, invented the parliamentary sketch, in which Thatcher often starred. Sir Ronald Millar, a postwar playwright, was one of her speechwriters, responsible for The ladys not for turning speech at the 1980 Conservative Party conference.

Woodrow Wyatt was the flamboyant, cigar-toting Labour MP turned Tory peer and staunch defender of Maggie. And David Hart was an Old Etonian businessman and Thatcher adviser, who dabbled in avant-garde filmmaking.

Elegant: Mrs Thatcher at 10 Downing Street in 1989

What a bizarre Latin class this lot were! Ranging from their 40s to their 70s, they were a distinctly mixed-ability group  and the sessions varied accordingly from basic Latin lessons to highbrow discussions about Seneca.

Ronnie Millar was a classical scholar. David Hart was keen to know how to stage a Seneca tragedy. Woodrow Wyatt was obsessed with Roman politics. Only Frank Johnson  who left school at 16  was learning Latin from Stothard.

Although the book includes chunks of Senecas life, the real star is Maggie. More than three years after her death, her presence looms larger and larger in British life for anyone who was around during her 11 years in power  particularly if, like these five men, you knew her.

All five are full of juicy little Thatcher anecdotes. She is still such an intriguing, mysterious figure that any detail  even that she asked for her salmon to be very well cooked  is gripping. The picture that unfolds of Thatcher is neither cloyingly sycophantic nor nastily aggressive. Instead, she emerges as an unusually insecure figure.

At the 1987 Trooping the Colour, shes relieved to see the ageing Queen take to a carriage rather than ride a horse, while Thatcher herself remained hale and hearty.

In forced retirement, she was still hungry for reminders of past greatness. Ronnie Millar arranged for staff members in the audience at the Haymarket Theatre to clap when she came to see a play. He calmed her down with expert flattery, reassuring her that she could wear expensive pearls without looking like a plutocrats wife.

THE SENECANS: Four men and Margaret Thatcher by Peter Stothard (Duckworth Overlook 20)

At Millars memorial service in 1998, John Major was happy to be photographed with Maggie  but she had to be cajoled into the joint picture by Stothard, staring at the sky with irritation as she did so. At the drinks at the Savoy afterwards, Thatcher said, Im piling up my cannonballs for when they are needed  really needed.

Stothard, editor of The Times during the Major years, has some good tales about him, too. Major told him he wrote a limerick every day when he was under attack from the Bastards, his eurosceptic ministers. He showed the limericks to no one, but writing them made him feel better.

Sadly, the limericks wont be published until after Majors death, when they will go to Churchill College, Cambridge, alongside his other papers  and the Thatcher archive.

Peter Stothard was a witness at Tony Blairs court, too, and attended the 1997 Cool Britannia party at Downing Street, with Noel Gallagher. Everything you suspected about shallow, star-obsessed Blair turns out to be horrifyingly true.

These people who are big in the rock world, they really understand whats going on in this country, Blair told Stothard. Take Mick Hucknall of Simply Red; he has an amazingly sharp mind. And Mick Jagger. I went to talk to him the other night about Brown Sugar and there he was, asking me about monetary union.

1,000 Number of guests at Roman philosopher Senecas parties Advertisement

These snapshots of life at Number 10 are the best bits of the book. Much of the rest is a memoir of Stothards Essex childhood and his time as an editor.

This is all told against the dramatic backdrop of Stothards old Times building being demolished, which he can view from his office at the Times Literary Supplement, which he edited until earlier this year.

He says the last thing he wanted to write is a Fleet Street memoir. But thats what the book ends up being, for all the Seneca and the Latin.

Perhaps its the Latin that has a strange effect on his writing style. Just as in Latin, he uses strange expressions and verbs in odd places. So he says things such as only for another five months will I be here and on the next day but one, instead of the day after tomorrow.
FASCIST IN THE FAMILY

by Francis Beckett

(Routledge 16.99)

Normally, when people are described as forgotten figures, theres a faint air of regret about it  as if posterity has dealt them a cruel hand. In the case of MP John Beckett, though, his obscurity seems thoroughly deserved.

He was one of the most virulent of English fascists, a rabble-rousing egomaniac with an anti-Semitic snarl constantly on his lips.

One of the few things that can be said in his favour is that he loathed Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists. Unfortunately, the main reason Beckett hated him so much was because he reckoned Mosley was a hopeless softie, lacking the backbone to be a proper Fascist leader.

Forgotten fascist: John Beckett

But John Beckett was also Francis Becketts father, and all his life Francis  a former Labour Party president and long-time Guardian journalist  has been trying to come to terms with his background.

As a child Francis Beckett grew used to people shouting abuse at his father and once woke up to find someone had painted Fascist Go Home in large letters outside their house. At school, he lived in dread of anyone finding out who his father was.

If only John Beckett had been as much of a brute at home as he was in public, Francis might have found it easier to escape his shadow. Yet the father he remembers was kind, funny and clever. Flawed certainly  but not cruel, or even especially intolerant.

In an attempt to reconcile the two sides of John Becketts character, Francis, now in his 70s, has raked though the embers of his fathers life, and in the process unearthed a remarkable tangle of contradictions.

John Beckett may have been violently anti-Semitic, but he also turns out to have been Jewish. His mother, whom he doted on, was Jewish, and when she died, Beckett, in some crazed way, seems to have held the entire Jewish people responsible.

To begin with there were few, if any, signs that he was going to go to the bad. Possessed of a boomingly loud voice as well as a good deal of charisma, Beckett became Labours youngest MP when, aged 30, he was elected to Parliament in 1924. But it wasnt long before things began to fall apart.

FASCIST IN THE FAMILY by Francis Beckett (Routledge 16.99)

Beckett never lost an opportunity to tell his fellow MPs they were a bunch of pathetic windbags and time-servers. Not surprisingly, this didnt go down too well.

In 1929 he hit the headlines when he grabbed the Mace in the House of Commons during a debate about the imprisonment of Gandhi. Here, as elsewhere in his life, absurdity was never far away. Assuming the Mace would be very heavy, Beckett braced himself like a weightlifter to pick it up.

In fact, it turned out to be as light as an umbrella and he nearly fell over in surprise. Unsure what to do next, he took it to the nearest gents loo and dumped it in a urinal.

Undeterred, he joined the-then fledgling British Union of Fascists. While other members were happy to wear off-the-peg black shirts, Beckett insisted on having his tailor-made. At first, he kept his loathing of Oswald Mosley under wraps  politically, the two men had a good deal in common and were both colossal womanisers. However, the fault lines soon started to widen.

When war was declared in 1939, they were packed off to jail. But while Mosley lived in splendour in Holloway  eating the contents of Harrods hampers and drinking fine brandy  Beckett was banged up in much more spartan conditions in Brixton. After the War he was released and launched a magazine called the Fleet Street Review which must hold some sort of record for the inaccuracy of its reporting.

Stalin, the magazine declared, was about to retire (in fact, he died in office five years later) and Hitler was apparently alive and well in Denmark.

All the time the money was running out and Beckett, once the rising star of the Labour Party, was reduced to working as a night security officer for Securicor. As he lay dying in hospital, he suddenly sat up in bed and declared in his still-deafening voice: I was right all along!
What to do when you find the object of your hearts desire is already spoken for? Challenge your rival to a duel? Accept your fate and waft around writing bleak poetry?

For young Layton, a different strategy is called for. Yes, beautiful blonde Amelia-Rose may already have told him that she will be marrying Daniel, but why let that stand in your way?

Just pretend Im Daniel, yeah? Layton tells her.

Young children Enzo, Fabion and Wilson are among the pre-schoolers to feature in the new show

If only life were that simple. Then again, our romantic protagonists are only four years old, which is why this little exchange ends not in a passionate embrace, but a return to the sandpit.

Its an enchanting snapshot from Channel Fours The Secret Life of Four, Five and Six-Year-Olds, which returns for a second series next week and once more aims to answer the perennially vexing question of how children behave when they think their parents are not watching.

The answer appears to be alternately kind, thoughtful, loving, funny, petulant, selfish and downright rude: in short, exactly like adults. The children were selected from around the country and put in a mock primary school. After installing nearly 30 multi-directional cameras split between the classroom and the playground, they spent their time overseen by a couple of firm but kindly young teachers.

The show gives an intriguing insight into the minds of four-year-olds, who were put in a mock primary school

Their endless dramas and mood swings are the reason the first series proved such a hit with more than two million viewers.

As Dr Sam Wass, a neuroscientist and one of the expert commentators on the programme puts it: In the flesh they are so small, but watching them on the screens you see they have all these grown-up emotions. And that contrast never ceases to be fascinating. Its a privilege to have this birds eye view into their world.

This is a view which comes courtesy of an enormous logistical operation. Backstage, banks of researchers monitor the footage while a full-time listener taps into conversations and homes in on the most promising exchanges. First up for their week-long stay over the summer were the four-year-olds, of which there are ten. From a variety of geographical, ethnic and social backgrounds, they had one thing in common.

Most of them have spent the majority of their lives within a small family unit and now they are meeting nine new children for the first time, Dr Wass says. At four, they are just starting to learn basic social skills. Its a massive challenge for them, whatever their character.

And theres no shortage of characters. Among them are highly articulate dictator-in-the-making Enzo, the irascible but affectionate Fabian and the fabulously pragmatic Orla, who, at the sight of a dead chick allows just a brief period of mourning before suggesting the teachers turn it into a chicken nugget.

Wilson, Orlagh and Maimoona take part in the enchanting series, which has previously attracted two million viewers

Amelia-Rose, meanwhile, is another amusing straight-talker, announcing early on that Daddy does work and Mummy is good at making phone calls.

In the first instance, however, viewers hearts are likely to be stolen by the adorable, bespectacled Taysia, who is first seen creeping hesitantly into school looking like she has been deposited in the middle of the jungle.

Taysia  who at one point solemnly announces she only takes her glasses off for bath, bed and roly-polys  spends much of her first two days wandering around plaintively imploring her peers to come and play with her, all to no avail. Sometimes its difficult to make friends, but I go and chase after them, she says.

It cant have been easy viewing for her parents, Sam and Lee Brooks, who live in Port Talbot with Taysia and her one-year-old brother, Bailey.

Taysia at one point solemnly announces she only takes her glasses off for bath, bed and roly-polys

Sam, 32, is a stay-at-home mum, while Lee, 34, is a builder, and both acknowledge their loving, kind and intelligent girl can seem a bit shy.

Nonetheless, Sam insists appearances can be deceptive. She initially seems quiet, but its because shes observing and taking it in. Once shes got her bearings she gets stuck in, says Sam.

The couple decided to apply for the show after enjoying the previous series. It just seemed a wonderful opportunity to get this unique insight into her character, recalls Sam. And she loved every minute of it.

Meanwhile, she insists she and Lee were not dismayed by the footage of their daughter apparently being rebuffed by the other children.

Nicola Lagana-Forbes, with her son Enzo, four, who is taking part in the series (left) and Taysia Brooks (pictured with her mum Sam, right)

We really werent upset  even as adults weve all been in that situation of having to get to know people. Actually, I felt proud of her for initiating things, says Sam. You can see how much effort she puts into making friends and that, for me, really stood out.

On the programme, Taysia ends up making friends with Fabian, an initially unlikely partnership given that Fabian is quickly deemed a menace by his classmates  so much so that at one point one little girl, Maimoona, declares she will punch him in the face when I get strong.

Its familiar territory at Fabians home in London, where Fabian is not infrequently dispatched to the naughty step by his parents, commercials producer mum Claire Oxley, 43, and 59-year-old telecoms engineer dad, Dale Dorival.

I call him the arch villain, says Dale. When hes quiet, youre nervous, and when hes not quiet, youre nervous.

The couple applied for Fabian to take part in the show after being egged on by friends. Like any mum I had some reservations, but hes a very sociable boy and I thought he would more than hold his own, says Claire.

Which he did  to an extent. As well as revealing his quirky side by saying if I was a king, Id fly because I want to be a butterfly, Fabian incurs the wrath of his peers early on after a test in which the children are given a piece of chocolate and told they can all have another if they can last a few minutes without touching the piece placed in front of them.

Evie Rae is one of the stars of the show, which gives an enchanting snapshot into the lives of pre-school children

As Paul Howard-Jones, educational neuroscientist at the University of Bristol, explains, its a variation on the classic marshmallow test in which you have to defer gratification for richer rewards down the line.

The difference here is its become a social task, he explains. Everyone is going to win together or lose together. And that means you have to take into account the thoughts and feelings of your friends around you. For a four-year-old, that is very challenging.

Alas the teachers are barely out of the room before Fabian plunges his finger into the chocolate, which means no second piece for anyone. Cue misery from his peers. Fabian, why did you do this to us? wails Orla. Back in London, however, there are merely exasperated but knowing smiles from his parents. He very much knows his own mind. He doesnt always listen so he sometimes breaks the rules, Claire acknowledges.

He is a handful and he does try to get away with things but he isnt nasty, so perhaps he gets away with more than he should.

With Fabian at one point rendered an outcast by the other children, the shows producers had warned Claire that she might find some of the footage upsetting.

I was worried I might be a bit emotional, says Claire. The producers did brief me before I watched it that there were a few moments. But he was very sweet with Taysia  at one point he told her he loved her  and what I got from it overall was that he isnt such a bad kid. Yes, hes quite boisterous, but at heart hes sensitive.

There are many moments in the programme which illustrate the adorable ways in which children try to make sense of the world.

Like Laytons attempts to woo Amelia-Rose, which culminate in her revealing that she cannot marry anyone else as she has kissed Daniel on the lips and you cant kiss too many mans (sic).

Or the time when perennial drama queen Evie-Rae throws herself on her teacher, wailing that it is the worst day of my life after learning that one of the chicks they watched being hatched in the nursery has died  before instantly switching mood and telling her teacher, you smell nice.

The presence of the chicks leads to a number of discussions about birth, and the revelation from Amelia-Rose that babies come out of Mummys nunny.

Enzo, meanwhile, has his own wisdom to impart on the business of bringing babies into the world. Do you know what colour babies are when they come out? he asks. Asa my little brother was red when he came out.

Then again, Enzo has a lot to say for himself. Ive just had a bath before I came here so Im really smooth, he tells the cameraman on arrival.

At home, he doesnt stop talking, he even talks in his sleep, says his mother Nicola Lagana-Forbes, 32, an information security manager for Lloyds who lives with Enzos police community support officer dad Andrew, 34, at their home in Bristol.

From the moment he gets up to the moment he goes to sleep, he is asking questions and telling me things.

As a people-pleaser, Enzo likes to make people feel good  a fact demonstrated in the programme when he gives away some chocolate he has won in a task. He is often full of compliments, says Nicola. If I come downstairs in something, he will say: That is nice, Mummy.

Hes quite grown up. I talk to him as if hes an adult and always have done because he responds like an adult, most of the time. Some of my friends call him a little old man as he just adjusts to an audience.

Hes childlike around children and he fits in around adults as well.

In fact, like Fabians parents it was Nicolas friends who encouraged her to put Enzo in for the show. I knew he would be very adaptable and while he may not behave for me all the time, I knew he would be polite in public. I did wonder if they would get his humour, as he says a lot of random things.

Such as announcing that his grandparents were pretty old and might die soon, for example? Oh I know, Nicola laughs. Andrew and I were laughing about that. But that is the sort of thing he would say.

Enzo also delivers this gem: I was looking at some pizza and I walked straight into a lamp post. But what stood out most of all, says Nicola, was that in some ways children deal with things better than grown-ups.

There were some lovely moments watching the children comfort each other when they were upset, says Nicola. At a couple of points I thought actually some adults wouldnt have dealt with that half as well. Maybe we can learn something from them.

A sentiment with which Dr Sam Wass agrees. Theres still such an innocence about being four, he says. And thats a lovely thing to see.
A jealous rival once suggested the beautiful Twenties socialite Doris Delevingne should write an autobiography entitled Around The World In Eighty Beds.

For most young women of the day, that would have been an unforgivable attack on their virtue.

But Doriss only quibble might well have been whether eighty beds was something of an underestimate.

Her long list of conquests included Sir Winston Churchill and his son Randolph, alongside numerous other men and several women, and she was unabashed about trading on her looks.

Notorious beauty: Twenties socialite Doris Delevingne was born in London in 1900

Today, her family name is famous because of her great-niece Cara Delevingne, 24, the supermodel known for her love of partying

Today, her family name is famous because of her great-niece Cara Delevingne, 24, the supermodel known for her love of partying. This is something she has in common with her outrageous forebear, along with a fondness for baring flesh.

Cara has flashed her cleavage in numerous revealing outfits and Doris was equally determined to show off what were regarded as her best assets.

Hers were the prettiest legs that ever stepped into a punt or danced a foxtrot, opined one close friend.

Those celebrated pins are on show in a previously unseen picture snapped at the Venice Lido in 1932. Taken by her lover Cecil Beaton, it shows her lying on her front in a white swimsuit, with her legs kicked up coquettishly behind her.

The photo features in a new book of Beatons work. And its publication coincides with that of The Mistress Of Mayfair, a racy new biography of Doris by Lyndsy Spence, which reveals that she took every opportunity to show off those legs.

Wherever possible, she wore shorts, tailored far higher than would have been considered decent even if it had been acceptable for women to wear such garments  which it wasnt.

Not that being acceptable mattered a jot to a woman who revelled in the impact her looks had on both sexes.

Taken by her lover Cecil Beaton, this photo shows her lying on her front in a white swimsuit, with her legs kicked up coquettishly behind her

One admirer recalled how she had hair the colour of ripe corn, a flower petal complexion and deep-set blue eyes fringed with enormously long dark lashes.

She had a small gap between her front teeth, but she resisted any suggestion that she should have this corrected, referring to the old wives tale that this quirk signalled good fortune.

Wouldnt have them changed for anything, darling, she would say, laughing raucously. Shows how Im lucky and sexy and how!

Beyond her physical charms, she also made it her business to be a highly proficient lover.

Theres no such thing as an impotent man, just an incompetent woman, she told one paramour, while another recalled how she had seduced him using an intimate trick the details of which are unprintable in a family newspaper.

Suffice it to say she described this manoeuvre as Cleopatras Grip  a sexual skill rumoured to be shared by Edward VIIIs lover and then wife Wallis Simpson  and it was clearly highly effective.

If you come across one of those, you sign away your kingdom, said the lover in question.

All this was in great contrast to her upbringing. Born in 1900, she was the only daughter of church-going parents in the quiet South-East London suburb of Beckenham.

Cara has flashed her cleavage in numerous revealing outfits - and Doris was equally determined to show off what were regarded as her best assets

But though her father would have been horrified at the thought, it was his small haberdashery business that led to her becoming the most notorious courtesan of the day.

After leaving school, she, too, set herself up in the clothing trade. Buying second-hand evening dresses, she took them to West End theatres to sell to chorus girls and actresses.

They included Gertrude Lawrence, two years her senior and later to become one of the biggest stars of the day, but then just out of a failed marriage and recently installed in a Mayfair flat as the mistress of a wealthy Household Cavalry officer.

Doris was quick to learn from Gerties example. Soon after she was invited to be her flatmate, they had a conversation in which Gertie declared she was going to become the most celebrated actress in London.

Doris was quick to respond: And Im going to marry a Lord. So she would, but first came a succession of wealthy lovers, some of whom she met at the Cavendish Hotel on Jermyn Street, a mixture of a private house and a club.

It had more than 100 bedrooms and was rumoured to be Britains most famous high-class brothel.

There, MPs, high-ranking military officers and members of the aristocracy were provided with expensive prostitutes.

One of her lovers: Randolph Churchill

Doris did not class herself in that category, but began attending bawdy parties there organised by the likes of Laddie Sandford, a polo-playing American playboy who became her first serious lover.

They met in 1923 when Laddies horse Sergeant Murphy had just won the Grand National. She quickly moved out of Gerties and into a house he bought her near the Dorchester hotel.

He also gave her a Rolls-Royce, and hired her a chauffeur and small staff. It was everything she could have dreamed of, but this arrangement ended two years later when she lost him to one of their neighbours, renowned beauty Edwina, Lady Mountbatten.

The only consolation was that she could keep the house. She paid for its upkeep by pawning the Cartier jewels he had given her, but she needed someone else to fund her extraordinarily lavish lifestyle.

Her exquisite taste in clothes included a new pair of silk stockings each day. Delivered from Paris, each pair cost a guinea, the equivalent of 55 today.

In search of new funds, Doris frequented London nightclubs, looking for eligible millionaires to pick off.

Her efforts were rewarded in 1926 when she met Valentine Castlerosse, a gossip columnist who was ten years her senior and considerably overweight but, more importantly, the heir to an Irish earldom.

In 1930, she met Winston Churchill. He was 56 and long married but  despite his renowned devotion to his wife Clementine  he was said to have slept with Doris at the Ritz in Paris

They married in 1928 at a West London register office and the viscount did not tell his parents. He was afraid of revealing that his wife came from such lowly stock.

But she was far more embracing of his background  immediately ordering that the crepe de chine sheets and pillowcases she sent to Paris to be laundered should be embroidered with the coronets she felt were her due.

The marriage was doomed, as he became exasperated by her spending and continued dalliances.

Their arguments spilled over into restaurants when he would slap her across the face to silence her and she reacted by biting him wherever she could sink her teeth into his ample flesh.

In 1930, she met Winston Churchill. He was 56 and long married but  despite his renowned devotion to his wife Clementine  he was said to have slept with Doris at the Ritz in Paris.

A famously keen amateur artist, the future prime minister would paint her three times and remarked, somewhat tastelessly, that her beauty was such that she could arouse even a corpse.

Just two years later, she bedded his son Randolph, who was just 21  11 years younger than her.

Their affair was made public when they were caught in flagrante in a room at the Cavalry club, the manager opening the door to be confronted by a pair of long, gorgeous legs waving happily in the air.

Whether motivated by concern for his son or jealousy, Churchill warned Randolph off Doris and eventually they parted company.

The Castlerosses finally divorced in 1938, by which time Doris had taken numerous lovers including, somewhat bizarrely, the high-society photographer Cecil Beaton whose sexual proclivities famously lay in the opposite direction.

To make him feel more comfortable about their intimate proceedings, she reassured him he wouldnt have to do a thing.

In later years, she would also enjoy several affairs with women, most notably the American Margot Hoffman who, like most of her male partners, was considerably wealthy.

Doriss greed would eventually prove her downfall.

She moved to New York at the start of World War II to be with Hoffman, but the end of the affair two years later saw her return to England penniless. Doris had even pawned the last of her diamonds, unaware this was illegal during wartime.

Realising that she was in trouble with the police, she took a fatal overdose of barbiturates in December 1942, in a hotel room at the ritzy Dorchester.

Haunted by money troubles she may have been, but she died as she had lived  extravagant to the last.
She has done the Cure Brain Cancer Walk 4 Brain Cancer twice

Since her mum died, Ms Wyatt has become 'obsessed' with helping others

Ms Wyatt also spoke about the heartbreaking moments of her death

She told the story of the discovery of her mother's brain tumour

The Channel 10 news anchor is an ambassador for Cure Brain Cancer

Channel 10 newsreader, Candice Wyatt, has shared a heartbreaking video in which she speaks about the death of her mother, Karyn, from a brain tumour.

Now working as an ambassador for Cure Brain Cancer, the news presenter for Melbourne's Ten Eyewitness News told the story of her mum's death.

She also explained how she has become 'obsessed' with finding out more information and raising awareness of cancer.

'My mum went from being the most active person I've ever known to never walking again,' a clearly emotional Ms Wyatt said.

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Channel 10 newsreader, Candice Wyatt (pictured), has shared a heartbreaking video in which she speaks about the death of her mother, Karyn, from a brain tumour

'My mum went from being the most active person I've ever known to never walking again,' a clearly emotional Ms Wyatt said of her mother (pictured)

While doctors initially didn't think that there was anything to worry about when Karyn developed vertigo, it wasn't long before medical professionals realised that there was something quite seriously the matter with Karyn.

'She was sent for scans, and then my step father phoned me,' Ms Wyatt said.

'He told me: "Your mum has got a brain tumour" about the size of my pinky nail.'

Candice Wyatt (pictured) was phoned by her step father and told about her mother's cancer - she had a brain tumour 'about the size of my pinky nail', she said

Candice Wyatt's mum was then flown to Melbourne, where she underwent seven-and-a-half hours of surgery.

The surgery left her left arm and leg paralysed.

'Her leg never came back, her arm never came back - she was in a wheelchair or bedbound for the rest of her life,' Ms Wyatt said.

The high-profile journalist's mother was flown to Melbourne where she had surgery - while there were ups and downs, she was soon left paralysed in her left arm and leg

Ms Wyatt has become an ambassador for Cure Brain Cancer, twice going on their Walk 4 Brain Cancer in the past two years

And though things seemed to improve at one point, the high-profile journalist explained that there are countless difficulties when it comes to dealing with cancer.

From seizures to a personality change and an increasingly 'demanding' parent, Ms Wyatt revealed just how hard it was for her mother and the rest of her family in her final days.

Just to be with people who have witnessed the same things you've witnessed is really important

'One Friday night [after I'd just left], the phone rang - they told me I needed to come back,' she said.

'Of course, the minute I leave.'

Ms Wyatt's mother passed away just four and a half hours later.

Since then, the newsreader has became an ambassador for Cure Brain Cancer.

She has been on the foundation's Walk 4 Brain Cancer twice over the past two years, and says it's important to speak to other people who have been through the same thing.

'Just to be with people who have witnessed the same things you've witnessed is really important,' she said.

'Just to be with people who have witnessed the same things you've witnessed is really important,' she said on the clip (pictured)

In the past, Ms Wyatt has spoken extensively about her mother, writing on Cure Brain Cancer about her interest in other people's stories.

'I never knew much about brain cancer but now I'm obsessed,' she wrote.

'Obsessed with trying to make a difference, obsessed with raising awareness, obsessed with reading about new research, progress and developments and obsessed with hearing about other people's journeys because, I've discovered, no two are the same and we're all part of one big family now.'
Queen Maxima has proved popular with Australian fans, as she stopped to greet royal enthusiasts on the Brisbane leg of her tour.

The Dutch royal and her husband, King Willem-Alexander, paused to shake the hands of two young girls upon arriving in Brisbane, marking the end of their state visit.

Maxima, who is a mother of three girls, gave a big smile to her young fans who politely shook hands with the Queen.

Royal welcome: Dutch royals Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander shook the hands of two young fans on the Brisbane leg of their Australian tour

All smiles: Maxima, 45, smiled as she shook hands with a royal enthusiast while Willem-Alexander held a bunch of sunflowers

The couple are currently on a tour of Australia after arriving in Perth to commemorate 400 years since Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog landed on an island off the coast of Western Australia.

On Friday they arrived in Brisbane, where they visited the Queensland Art Gallery.

The royals were taken on a tour of the gallery, and were photographed inspecting Indigenous artwork.

Love of the arts: The royal couple visited the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane

Ever-stylish: Maxima wore a black-and-white striped dress paired with a peal necklace, pearl drop earrings and a black head piece

Pausing to look: They inspected work done by Indigenous artists

Maxima, 45, wore a stunning striped dress for the occasion.

The designer gown featured a pleated skirt and fitted waist, and she accessorised with a string of pearls.

She finished the look with a matching black headpiece, silver stilettos and peal drop earrings.

Coming to a close: The Brisbane visit marked the end of their Australian tour

Off to New Zealand: The Dutch royals will embark on a three-day state visit of New Zealand from Monday, November 7

The couple were shown Indigenous artwork, and paused to look at the pieces.

The Brisbane visit marks the end of their Australian state visit, which included visits to Sydney, Canberra and Perth.

They visited Parliament House and the Australian War memorial, caught one of Sydney's iconic ferries on the harbour and unveiled Australia's oldest European artifact, the historic Hartog plate, in Perth.
A baby who was born prematurely at 25 weeks was so small he could wear his father's wedding ring around his tiny leg.

Rayden Isavic Mondragen was just 10.5 inches (26.7 cm) and weighed 14oz (28g), less than a punnet of strawberries, when he was born on September 29.

Mother Marissa Mondragon, 23, from Othello, Washington, said: 'He's shocked all of us  everyday he surprises us. We expected to have more problems with him, but he's doing great.'

A baby who was born prematurely at 25 weeks was so small he could wear his father's wedding ring around his tiny leg. Pictured, Rayden Isavic Mondragen with mother Marissa Mondragon (left)

Marissa, who has an older son Robert Jnr, six, with husband Robert, 24, had a healthy pregnancy until a routine screening to check for Down's Syndrome at 20 weeks.

Rayden was delivered by emergency Caesarean section, because he was starved of oxygen, and only had the developmental age of a 21-week-old foetus  five weeks younger than Washington's - and three weeks younger than the UK's - legal abortion rate.

Doctors detected a high level of spinal fluid, but they also discovered that Rayden was unnaturally small and he was not getting enough oxygen.

Marissa was given two shots of steroids to stimulate her baby's lungs and she was sent home for two weeks to let the drugs take effect.

Rayden Isavic Mondragen was just 10.5 inches (26.7 cm) and weighed 14oz (28g), when he was born on September 29. Marissa said: 'Robert put his wedding ring on his leg when he was just three days old'

But a check-up scan at Samaritan Healthcare, in Moses Lake, Washington, revealed Rayden still wasn't receiving enough oxygen or nutrients through the placenta.

Doctors told Marissa and warehouse supervisor Robert that they needed to perform an emergency C-section, because there was a risk that their baby could die in the womb.

'At first I didn't want to take Rayden out,' Marissa said. 'I would feel him kick at night and he was felt perfectly fine.'

'But I didn't want to risk his chances.'

Rayden was delivered at Sacred Heart Medical Centre and Children Hospital in Spokane, the closest specialist hospital, two hours away from their home.

Marissa, who has an older son Robert Jnr, six, with husband Robert (left), 24, had a healthy pregnancy until a routine screening to check for Down's Syndrome at 20 weeks

The moment he arrived, he was rushed to the neo-natal intensive care unit, where he was put in an incubator.

His lungs were feeble and undeveloped and his digestive system was struggling to work properly.

At just 14oz, the 10.5 in long baby was no bigger than a 30cm ruler.

Rayden had scans to check for bleeds on his brain, but luckily he was unaffected.

Marissa said: 'It was a really scary time, because he was so small.

Rayden was delivered at Sacred Heart Medical Centre and Children Hospital in Spokane. Pictured, Marissa with baby Rayden and older son Robert Jnr (left)

'Robert put his wedding ring on his leg when he was just three days old.'

For the first few weeks of his life, Robert and Marissa could only stare at their baby boy through glass.

She said: 'I couldn't hold him until October 15. It had been really hard not to touch him and comfort him, when he wasn't doing so well.

'But on that day, the nurse sat him on my chest. He was so tiny.

'It was amazing to finally hold him and I just watched him for an hour and a half.'

But Rayden now appears to be out of the woods.

For the first few weeks of his life, Robert and Marissa could only stare at their baby boy through glass

Rayden's stay in hospital has also started to take a toll on the family as they are split up for most of the week

Although he is still extremely small for his age his lungs have become stronger.

The family are unsure what the future will hold for Rayden as it is too early to determine any long-term repercussions of his prematurity.

Rayden's stay in hospital has also started to take a toll on the family as they are split up for most of the week.

While Marissa stays at nearby hospital accommodation, Robert remains at home working night shifts while their oldest son stays with Marissa's cousin.

Marissa said: 'It's been a tough month and we've had a few scares.

'Luckily Rayden is getting stronger and stronger each day.

'Each day is a fight for him but to have him for a month is a miracle.'

The family are raising money for Rayden's healthcare costs: https://www.youcaring.com/rayden-marissa-and-robert-mondragon-663311
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Grasslands, which cover a quarter of the worlds landmass, might seem the most benign of habitats, with both food and water plentiful. They appear to be a paradise for animals  an all-you-can-eat buffet for both the vegetarian herbivores and the carnivorous predators that prey on them.

That idyll, however, is shattered by violent changes in weather: floods, droughts, dust storms and flash fires can all turn the grasslands into the most dangerous places on earth.

There is prey almost without number in Botswanas Okavango Delta when the river breaks its banks and floods the grassland. Up to 200,000 big grazing animals throng to the floodplain  elephants, buffalo, wildebeest and rhinos. And with them come the lions.

A lion in Botswanas aziranga National Park Okavango Delta on the lookout for prey

For months the prides have been going hungry: unlike grass-eaters, predators stick to their territory even when the herds have migrated away. They are thin, and desperate for food. But to reach it, they have to overcome their fear of water. Like domestic housecats, lions hate getting wet.

Yet they must plunge into the swamp and wade across muddy plains as they hunt. Its impossible for them to move quietly: instead, they rely on strength of numbers, and will fearlessly attack animals much bigger than themselves.

Chadden Hunter, who produced the Grasslands episode, followed them with a single cameraman, an experienced operator who insisted they could get up close by getting out of their canoe and wading through the chest-high water, pushing their gear ahead of them.

He told me to take my shoes off, says Chadden. If youre barefoot, its much easier to tell when youve trodden on a crocodile  your toes feel the scales and you have a chance of getting your foot out of the way before it strikes. Their daring was rewarded with outstanding footage of lions attacking a bull buffalo and attempting to bring it down. The fight that follows is one of the most breathtaking sequences ever shot for TV.

In Norfolk, a harvest mouse rests in its nest high among the reed stems

Another piece of dramatic footage was captured much closer to home, in Norfolk. The harvest mouse is Europes lightest rodent, weighing less than a 2p coin, and is able to climb stalks of grass to gather the seeds without bending the stem over. They live almost their whole lives off the ground, scampering from one stalk to the next.

But this makes them prey to hawks and barn owls, which can swoop silently and pluck them up. To give itself a fighting chance, the harvest mouse has evolved a prehensile tail and is able to throw itself through the grass like a monkey swinging through the jungle  behaviour which the cameras were able to track in vivid detail.

A serval ready to pounce on prey its detected with its radar-like ears on the African plains

Hunting for mice too, though not in Norfolk, are the serval  African savannah cats which use their huge ears like radar dishes. They can detect the faintest rustle that gives away the skittering feet of a rodent in the grass, before pouncing with a leap that begins as a vertical takeoff and usually ends with dinner. They can jump 7ft into the air, and 6ft along the ground, in a single bound.

With a nose like a baby elephants, saiga antelope are among the strangest creatures on the planet. They roam the steppes of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in central Asia in herds of 300,000 or more, as they have done for tens of thousands of years. During the Ice Age they were the prey of sabre-toothed tigers.

An Indian elephant is dwarfed by the elephant grass in Indias K A lion in Botswanas aziranga National Park

But they survived, while the tigers became extinct. Whether its summer in the grasslands they inhabit, when temperatures hit a blistering 45C, or winter when the mercury can fall to -35C, the saiga herds battle on. And it is a battle.

From the moment theyre born, usually as pairs of twins, life is tough for the saiga. Their mothers hide them in the long grass and leave them alone until they can walk unaided, usually around two days. Wolves are more likely to spot the defenceless youngsters if the females are hovering over them. One wolf can kill six calves in an hour.

A tiger moves stealthily through dry elephant grass in Indias Kaziranga National Park, its coat providing perfect camouflage

But when Chadden and his team arrived to film, after a three-day trek by car across the Kazakh prairies, something far more terrible than wolves was killing the saiga. A virus was sweeping the herds, a sort of antelope ebola, that was wiping them out by the thousand. It was gruesome, says Chadden. But the authorities didnt want us to film that: in fact, they turned up in black helicopters one day, like something out of The X-Files, to inspect our recordings.

Little is known about saiga behaviour and it is probable that epidemics are regular events, evolutions way of ensuring the herds do not overpopulate the steppes. Chadden and the team took the decision that they were not there to record a newsworthy animal tragedy, but to study the way the saiga lived. Like nature itself, wildlife film crews must sometimes make difficult choices.

A newborn saiga antelope calf learning to walk on the steppes of Kazakhstan

Cameraman Martyn Colbeck would do 15-hour stints in his tiny hide in Kazakhstan

In the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, north-east India, elephant grass proliferates. Its one of the worlds tallest grasses, growing to 13ft high, and for a baby Indian elephant that can be a problem, especially if one of the worlds most dangerous predators  the tiger  is lurking nearby.

A baby elephant encountering this habitat for the first time could find itself in mortal danger if it dawdles and gets separated from the herd. For the grass provides perfect cover for a stealth hunter with the superb camouflage of a stripy coat.

Fortunately a baby elephant has one very handy defence mechanism: its voice. The loud distress call of a panicking youngster usually enables the mother to locate it and return it to the safety of the herd. Thats what you might call a trunk call!

Mummy knows best! Planet Earth explores the toughest place on earth to survive - the desert

Nowhere on Earth is it tougher to survive than the desert, where food and drink is in very short supply.

And the need for sustenance is more pressing in elephants than it is for most desert dwellers.

A mother elephant has to consume up to 200 litres of water a day if shes to provide enough milk for herself and a calf, and she cannot go more than four days without drinking.

Elephants trek across a dry riverbed in Namibia, led by the matriarch who knows the shortest route to water

A desert long-eared bat uses echolocation to locate its prey  scorpions

That means the elephants of the Namib Desert in south-west Africa are constantly on the move.

What amazed us was just how far ele-phants move, says Ed Charles, producer of the Planet Earth Deserts episode. The entire herd we followed marched for up to 30 miles a day, moving up and down a dry riverbed in search of food and water.

Ed and his crew managed to film the herd  complete with a newborn calf  thanks to an organisation called Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA).

Its almost impossible to determine whether an elephant is pregnant, says Ed, but as soon as the call came from EHRA that one had given birth we scrambled a guy called Mike Holding in Botswana who has his own plane and was able to fly down to film the calf within days of its arrival.

A Peringueys adder lurks just below the sand in the African desert

A desert is defined as an area of land with less than 10in of average rainfall a year, and they cover around a third of the worlds land surface, but relatively few animals are able to make their homes in a habitat where temperatures can peak at a staggering 58C, before dropping to below freezing at night.

One nocturnal hunter is the desert long-eared bat, which preys on one of the worlds deadliest scorpions, the deathstalker scorpion, in Israels Negev Desert. The bat uses echolocation to find its prey, bouncing sound off objects and listening to the echoes in its huge ears.

The bat is blind, but once the scorpion has betrayed its exact position on the ground it has very little chance of survival, says Ed. The bat will swoop down and grab it, shaking it vigorously in order to kill it. And somehow its immune to the scorpions venom  which can kill a human. It even eats the scorpions poison gland.

Cameraman Rob Drewett uses a hand-held rig to film a swarm of locusts in Madagascar

A pride of desert lions in Namibia can cover an area twice the size of Wales

Deadly creatures abound in the desert: Ed and his team needed to call in a specialist snake handler before they could film the Peringueys adder in the Namib Desert. A creature just a few inches long, it has eyes on the top of its head allowing it to see while submerged in the sand. It injects its prey  such as lizards and rodents  with venom and then holds it until its incapacitated and can be swallowed.

Finding the snakes was the easy part: the sand records their tracks very well and once you get to the end you know youre going to find a snake, says Ed. But their bite can be extremely painful.

In Madagascar Ed and his team used a helicopter to track a swarm of locusts  or short-horned grasshoppers  and then filmed them from the choppers open door as well as on foot. Containing several billion individuals, these swarms are formed when theres a population explosion because food is abundant, and they were mentioned in the Old Testament.

A VERY CLEVER HAWK In Arizonas Sonoran Desert, the Harriss hawk hunts in packs, with one bird in the air forcing creatures like jackrabbits to run for cover, while its teammates on the ground pounce on them. Advertisement

A swarm this size can consume an estimated 40,000 tons of vegetation each day and cover hundreds of square miles. This was one of the biggest locust swarms ever recorded and the roar of billions and billions of wings, almost moving the air around us, was extraordinary, says Ed. It was almost surreal, unlike any other experience Ive ever had.

Eds team managed to capture the metamorphosis from juvenile locust to winged animal. We literally stumbled across it, he says. The change  that moment when their wings harden and then an hour later theres a mass take-off  happened at the exact moment we were there and was caught by our cameras.

There are desert lions too, in Namibia in south-west Africa, where they hold territories between the river systems waiting for prey to come to drink. They, like the elephants, must cover large distances in order to find sustenance, and scientists have been putting radio collars on cubs to find out more about their desert lifestyle.

One male was followed for two years, during which time he covered an area twice the size of Wales, and walked nearly 8,078 miles, almost the equivalent of wandering the length of Africa from north to south  and back!

Planet Earth II begins on Sunday 6 November at 8pm on BBC1.
Earlier this week, Sephora brought together Hollywood's top hairstylist - Jen Atkin -and Paris' top colorist - Christophe Robin - for a Q&A about all things hair on Facebook Live.

After tuning into the 35-minute chat, we walked away brimming with hair-spiration and tricks that we can't wait to try in front of the mirror.

In the video, Jen revealed that this season, her most frequently requested cuts are Hailey Baldwin's long bob and Lily Aldridge's long layers - both are among her impressive list of clients.

Meanwhile in France, bangs are all the rage. 'It's a beautiful frame for your eyes,' Christophe said.

As for tips, the pair - who both have their own haircare lines at Sephora - dropped their knowledge on everything from how to properly prep your hair to be colored to how to take your curls to their fullest potential.

If you don't have time to catch the full conversation, not to worry. Below, we rounded up Jen and Christophe's very best advice. Read on!

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Most requested: In a new Facebook Live video hosted by Sephora, celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin said that she often gets requests for Hailey Baldwin's recently cut long bob

Layers of an angel: Victoria's Secret model Lily Aldridge's long, layered style is also trending this season, according to Jen

How to avoid color damage:

Try to skip the shampoo for two or three days prior to your appointment. 'The grease in your scalp is going to protect it from the chemicals,' said Christophe.

He also recommends applying a hair oil before going to bed the night before such as his eponymous brand's Moisturizing Hair Oil with Lavender.

Afterwards, protect your color by using a sulfate-free shampoo (like L'Oreal EverPure Repair & Defend Shampoo) and by applying an oil or a mask in your hair before hitting the beach or pool.

Color theory: Top colorist Christophe Robin advises abstaining from shampoo prior to getting your hair dyed. Hopefully newly platinum Zoe Kravitz did as such before heading to the salon

How to define your curls:

Jen, who is the founder of haircare brand Ouai, has a method for creating defined, not frizzy, coils.

First, towel dry hair and work a dollop of mousse from roots to ends. Next, take a section of hair in the palm of your hand and hit it with a blow dryer with a diffuser at medium heat for ten seconds. Give it a blast of cool air from the dryer for another ten seconds and twist as you drop down the section.

How to beat grease:

'People never rinse the shampoo enough,' said Christophe. 'Rinse until there is no coating on your scalp so it can breathe.'

It may sound counter-intuitive, but he also advises minimizing how often you wash your hair. The more natural oils you strip away from the scalp, the more it will produce to compensate.

Tendril tricks: Mousse and a diffuser are the keys to achieving defined, not frizzy curls a la Jen's (left) client Lily Collins (right)

If your scalp is oily but your ends are dry, don't be afraid to use more than one shampoo in the shower. Jen herself uses a volumizing product on her roots and a nourishing product on damaged ends.

How to fight frizz:

When her hair gets fluffy, Jen likes to rake a pomade through the ends for piecey-ness and to highlight her layers.
Her family now are appealing for strangers to send her Christmas cards to make sure she stays smiling

But it proved unsuccessful and last year she nearly died when she cried

She underwent open-heart surgery when she was just 6 months old

A little girl who could die if she gets upset has appealed for strangers to keep her happy - by sending her Christmas cards.

Isabell Tipper, five, suffers from four life-threatening heart defects that mean if she gets sad her heart becomes starved of oxygen.

The range of issues can cause her blood pressure to drop to dangerous levels and lead to organ failure if her emotions run too high.

Despite undergoing open-heart surgery when she was just six months old, it proved unsuccessful and she nearly died last year when she became upset.

Her mother Kimberley, 27, and her fiance Ian Salat, 38, who live in Walsall, appealed for strangers to send Isabell birthday cards in May to keep her alive.

After receiving over 2,000 messages from well-wishers, they have appealed once more to strangers to send the poorly girl Christmas cards.

Isabell Tipper, five, suffers from four life-threatening heart defects that mean if she gets sad her heart becomes starved of oxygen (pictured with mother Kimberley, 27)

Ms Tipper said: 'Isabell was so happy and excited when she saw all her birthday cards from her appeal in June.

'Every day for a few months she had cards to open because she had that many. It helped her to focus on something else rather than her illness.

'She is a little girl and shouldn't have to worry about how her heart condition is affecting her.

'We decided to do the card appeal as it is the last time we will be doing it and why not do it for Christmas?

'If she was to wake up on Christmas Day to find the same all over again as her birthday she would be very surprised as we haven't told her we're doing it this time.'

When Isabell was first born she was blue in colour and cold to touch, but doctors just said she had a low temperature.

It can cause her blood pressure to drop to dangerous levels and lead to organ failure if her emotions run too high. Despite undergoing open-heart surgery when she was just six months old (pictured) to cut excessive fat from her pulmonary artery, it was unsuccessful

Six weeks later, tests discovered she had a range of heart defects which can normally be detected before birth.

She was found to suffer from a range of heart defects which mean her body can become starved of oxygen-rich blood when she is emotional.

If her organs do not receive enough oxygen it could lead to a dangerous drop in blood pressure and potentially death.

She underwent emergency open-heart surgery at six months old where the excess fat and muscle was cut from her pulmonary artery.

Experts said this was causing her nose, lips, fingers and toenails to turn blue due to the lack of oxygen.

But the fat has since grown back and last year she almost died when she got upset.

In May, medics told Isabell's parents they had to wait for her to deteriorate further until they could giver her a life-saving transplant of the artery.

The family say they have been annoyed by the fact other children didn't have to go through the temporary procedure.

The fat in her artery has since grown back as she nearly died during a bout of sadness last year. In May, medics told Isabell's parents they had to wait for her to deteriorate further until they could giver her a life-saving transplant of the artery

When Isabell was first born she was blue in colour and cold to touch, but doctors just said she had a low temperature (pictured in hospital just after her open-heart surgery)

She said if surgeons had cut her excessive fat and muscle off and pinned it back in one operation when was young then they wouldn't be in this situation.

Ms Tipper added: 'It's absolutely heartbreaking. They are asking us to watch her get worse in front of us.'

ISABELL'S HEART DEFECTS Ventricular septal defect (VSD) - a hole in the heart Overriding aorta - where the aorta is positioned directly over a ventricular septal defect instead of over the left ventricle Pulmonary stenosis - the narrowing of the pulmonary valve Right ventricular hypertrophy - the increase in size of the right ventricle - responsible for pumping blood to the lungs Advertisement

The family now have to monitor her moods regularly and make sure she doesn't over exert herself.

Launching the Christmas card appeal on Facebook, Kimberley said: 'Christmas is just around the corner and with how well Isabell's birthday card drive went we are doing a Christmas card drive too.

'This post is for people who want to send Isabell a Christmas card! A simple card bring so much excitement and joy to her!

'She loves to open happy mail and loves me to read the cards to her. She has no idea I've done this post like her birthday one so let's surprise her.'

The British Heart Foundation say it is likely she suffers from a complication as a result of her defects.

They believe this leaves her at higher risk of a cardiac arrest if she went into a hysterical state of emotion.
For city cyclists, weaving in and out of traffic as they snake their way through the urban jungle can make them feel invincible.

But there are fears that while traditional bike helmets can make cyclists take more risks, they do not offer sufficient protection to prevent injuries.

Now researchers in the US believe an alternative to the hard foam helmets borrowed from the airbags found in most modern cars could help to save lives - but need Congress to allow them to go on sale in America.

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Airbag 'helmets' are already commercially available from companies like Hovding (pictured). The airbag is contained in a collar that features algorithms that detect sudden movements of the head in a crash and deploy the airbag in a fraction of a second

BANNED IN AMERICA These inflatable helmets cannot be sold in the United States due to current federal regulations. U.S. regulations do not reflect new research on the dangers of concussions and other brain injuries, researchers say. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates bicycle helmets, does not even have a testing method in place for inflatable versions, he added. Advertisement

These inflatable helmets cannot be sold in the United States due to current federal regulations.

A team at Stanford University is crash testing the helmets to measure the level of protection they provide against standard foam helmets.

While traditional helmets can make the difference in a crash, reducing skull fractures, riders may not be as safe as the think they are.

'Foam bike helmets can and have been proven to reduce the likelihood of skull fracture and other, more severe brain injury,' said David Camarillo, a bioengineer at Stanford.

'But, I think many falsely believe that a bike helmet is there to protect against a concussion. That's not true.'

In the lab, tests showed that helmets with air bags can dramatically reduce acceleration, which can lead to more severe injuries.

They claim that inflatable helmets are up to six times more effective than the foam alternatives.

Commercially available airbags for cyclists have been available for years and consist of a collar worn around the neck that contains the inflatable device.

HOW THEY WORK Inflatable cycle helmets borrow their concept from the airbags used in cars. The airbag itself is rolled up inside a collar along with a canister of compressed air. A computer inside the collar uses an algorithm and motion detectors to work out when a cyclist moves in a sudden and unusual way that indicates an accident. The airbag is then inflated within a fraction of a second so that it envelopes the rider's head. Advertisement

Algorithms in the collar detect when a cyclist has a fall and deploys the airbag in a fraction of a second so that it envelopes the head.

Swedish manufacturer Hovding is one of those manufacturing airbag helmets for cyclists. They are, however, far more expensive than traditional bike helmets, costing around 219 ($279) each.

U.S. regulations do not reflect new research on the dangers of concussions and other brain injuries, Camarillo said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates bicycle helmets, does not even have a testing method in place for inflatable versions, he added.

As a result, he does not expect U.S. laws governing bicycle helmets to change any time soon.

Researchers have found that inflatable crash helmets (pictured) can reduce the impact of a head on the ground by up to six times compared to traditional foam based helmets. The tests used a model head that was dropped from a height of two meters to test impacts

Many cyclists ride without helmets altogether because they find them sweaty or hot. There are also some concerns they can make cyclists take more risks when riding. Inflatable airbags, contained within collars worn around the neck (as pictured above) could overcome this

Once the airbag has been deployed it needs to be replaced, much like traditional helmets after a crash.

Testing carried out by the company in 2014 showed the devices are three times safer than traditional head protection alone.

'We conducted drop tests, which are typical federal tests to assess bicycle helmets,' explained Mehmet Kurt, one of the team at Stanford putting the helmets through their paces.

'We found that airbag helmets, with the right initial pressure, can reduce head accelerations five to six times compared to a traditional bicycle helmet.'

The researchers used drop tests from a height of two meters (pictured), which are typical federal tests to assess bicycle helmets

Using dummy heads with accelerometers to measure the forces involved, the team dropped heads from a number of heights onto a solid platform  the equivalent of someone going full over the handlebars and onto their head.

The findings are published in the journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

'As our paper suggests, although air bag helmets have the potential to reduce the acceleration levels that you experience during a bicycle accident, it also suggests that the initial pressure that your air bag helmet has is very critical in reducing these acceleration levels,' said Dr Kurt.

Tests by Hovding (pictured), who make inflatable helmets, have suggested they can be three times safer than traditional helmets, but the new research suggests the airbag based devices may be even better than that

If the airbag is not fully inflated, the team claims it could cause the head to hit the ground with more force than if the rider wore a standard foam helmet.

They add that the airbag approach could potentially protect against concussions  which is thought to be a result of the brain tissue contorting rapidly inside the head on impact, stretching the neurons  paving the way for the use of such helmets around the world to protect cyclists.
A branch of social, that totally hip and cool pub chain across India, is the last place youd expect to be objectionable.

But thats exactly what happened in Goregaon Social. The pub, located in Oberoi Mall, had a church-themed decor- Bible quotes and stained-glass paintings - that Christian activists found blasphemous' and protested against it.

As the protests took a serious turn, the pubs management pulled down the decor to appease the infuriated Christian community.

The management of Goregaon Social pulled down its decor which supposedly hurt the religious sentiments of Christians

It all started when a parishioner from a Goregaon church visited the Social branch with friends.

He saw the decor and was offended by its warped representations of Bible quotes on the walls and saints on stained glass.

He then sent its pictures to his parish priest, who then forwarded them to the Watchdog Foundation.

Representatives then went to the pub on Sunday, to check the extent of this blasphemy by Goregaon Social.

After they found that the decor did indeed warp Christian representations, the group filed an FIR at Dindoshi police station under Section 295A.

Representatives of Watchdog Foundation demanded an apology from the pub owners

After protests were organised against the pub, the company that designed Goregaon Social, The Busride Design Studio, offered an unconditional apology on their Facebook page.
Ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide over PM's controversial One Rank-One Pension (OROP), was cremated in Balma village on Thursday.

The ceremony took place in the presence of hundreds of people and a number of top politicians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress leader Kamal Nath, Trinamool Congress MP Derek OBrien and several other Aam Aadmi Party leaders were present as well.

Ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide over PM's controversial One Rank-One Pension (OROP), was cremated in Balma village

The leaders walked along with the villagers to the cremation ground to pay tribute to Grewal.

On Wednesday night, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda had reached the village with Grewals body.

Subedar Ram Kishen Grewal served in the Territorial Army and Defence Security Corps for nearly three decades

On Thursday, the Congress vice-president reached the village at around 10.50 am where he met Grewals grieving family.

Speaking to the media Gandhi slammed the Narendra Modi government for partial implementation of the OROP scheme.

Around noon, Kejriwal reached Bamla and announced a financial assistance of Rs 1 crore for Grewals family.

Ram Kishan Grewal sacrificed his life while fighting for the welfare of ex-Army personnel. He should be considered a martyr.

"He was a brave soldier who lived for the country and died for the country. As per policy of the Delhi government, I am announcing assistance of Rs 1 crore, Kejriwal said.

We will not let Grewals sacrifice go in vain. The whole country will fight for total implementation of OROP and we will put pressure on the Modi government, Kejriwal added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he would not let Grewals sacrifice go in vain, and would fight for total implementation of the OROP scheme

When asked whether Grewals suicide has become a political tool, Kejriwal said: Yes, we are doing politics. We are doing politics to secure the soldiers rights and the Modi government is doing politics to cheat the soldiers.

Trinamool Congress MP O Brien said: I have come here on the directions of our leader Mamata Banerjee to be with Grewals family.

Grewals son Jaswant alleged that the Delhi Police had abused them during their detention at the Mandir Marg police station on Wednesday.

The police did not listen to our plea. They kicked us and abused us. The central government should implement OROP without any delay so that no one else suffers like us, Jaswant said.

Grewals son Kulwant said the politics over his fathers death should end.

I dont understand why they are playing politics over our fathers death. He was deeply committed to all causes which he was associated with.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: PM Narendra Modi used to do politics over sacrifices of security personnel, but when it comes to justice for the soldiers, the government puts the issue into a dustbin.

On its part, the Haryana government announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for Grewals family and promised a government job to one of his family members.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police said it has begun the inquest proceedings and the case has been handed over to the Crime Branch as was ordered by Delhi police commissioner.

Ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide over PM's controversial One Rank-One Pension (OROP), was cremated in Balma village on Thursday in the presence of hundreds of people and top politicians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi

We have taken over the case. Inquest proceedings have been initiated, joint commissioner of police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

"State Congress leader Ashok Tanwar targeted Union minister VK Singh for his reported comment on Grewals state of mind when he committed suicide. Tanwar said: Singh was also part of the Army but he has forgotten the pain of others who are suffering due to non-implementation of the OROP.

However, stoking further controversy, the former Army chief said Grewal was a Congress worker and his suicide was not related to OROP.

He had become the sarpanch on Congress ticket. His issue was with the bank, not with OROP, Singh said.
Najeeb went missing on the intervening night of October 14-15 after allegedly being beaten by a 20-strong mob of students

In one of the biggest search operations ever launched by the Delhi Police, over 200 police personnel have been engaged in three states to find missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.

According to a senior police officer, this is one of the biggest search operations in the recent times to find a missing person.

Police are scanning records of each hospital, police stations, railways stations, night shelters, highways and even forest areas in Delhi and neighboruring areas.

Members of JNUSU and other students' organisations during a protest march over missing of JNU student Najeeb

A senior officer associated with the search operation told Mail Today that a total of 52 officers across the police districts have been tasked to check all the unidentified bodies, accident cases and unconscious patients brought to the hospitals.

Najeeb went missing on the intervening night of October 14-15 after allegedly being beaten by a 20-strong mob of students who had arrived at his door campaigning for hostel elections.

After an FIR was lodged by Najeebs mother at Vasant Kunj (north) police station, a Special Investigation Team of Delhi Police was also formed to trace him.

"A static team of one senior officer and four cops have been deployed at crucial places where we hope Najeeb can be found.

"This team is also camping around JNU and in all the cities where Najeeb lived and studied. These places include Ajmer, Aligarh, Badaun, Bareilly, etc, said the officer, adding that teams have been deployed in several cities.

Najeeb's mother (pictured) lodged an FIR at Vasant Kunj (north) police station

Police are relying mostly on human intelligence as Najeeb was not using his mobile phone when he went missing.

On Thursday, the JNU Students Union held a solidarity meeting on the issue which was attended by various political leaders, including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Kejriwal alleged that the JNU vice-chancellor is not doing enough to trace Najeeb.
After more revealing videos and photos emerged, the controversy over the killing of eight undertrials (prisoner awaiting trial) has taken another turn.

New audio tapes emerged of a conversation between policemen that hints at the encounter being a pre-planned murder.

The audio clips accessed from the Madhya Pradesh police by news channel Aaj Tak show that the police allegedly chose to shot and kill the eight members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) instead of arresting them.

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Congress party workers protest demanding judicial enquiry into the encounter of eight SIMI terrorists who escaped from jail, in Allahabad

In the audio tapes, a police officer can be heard instructing the cops engaged in the operation.

Sabko nipta do... Sahab aanewale hain (Finish everyone... Sahab is about to reach), he says.

Another order says: Bilkul peechhe nahi hatna hai. Gher ke pura kar do kaam tamaam (Dont hesitate at all. Surround them and finish them off).

Police had claimed that the fugitives, who had allegedly escaped from the high-security Bhopal Central Jail that morning and killed a prison guard, had firearms.

Police at the encounter site at the hillocks of Acharpura village after the STF killed 8 SIMI

But the audio tapes do not suggest any exchange of fire, and instead hint at an operation completed in a few minutes. Sigma Seven One: chaar paanch mar gaye hain. Unko goli lag gayi hai (Sigma Seven One, four-five are dead. They have been shot), the tapes say.

To which a senior officer replies: Chalo, shaabash. Koi dikkat nahi hai. Hum log pahunch rahe hain (Well done, no problem at all. We are reaching the spot).

Madhya Pradeshs anti-terror squad chief Sanjeev Shami had also claimed the eight SIMI activists shot dead in Bhopal were unarmed.

Police investigate the encounter site at the hillocks of Acharpura village after the STF killed 8 SIMI activists who escaped Central Jail

Around the ninth minute into the clip, the cops can be heard announcing: Aathon maare gaye. Khel Khatam. (All eight are dead. Game over).

The announcement of their death is followed by loud claps from the cops engaged in the Monday killing.

Most opposition parties have demanded a high-level, independent probe into the killing of the eight men.

Meanwhile, autopsy reports have revealed that the eight SIMI activists killed on Monday had sustained gun shots in the chest and abdomen.
See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome

She denies any family feud between her father-in-law and uncle

husband and UP CM Akhilesh on the road show

Dimple Yadav, the Firozabad MP, believes her husband Akhilesh Yadav deserves a second term as Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Speaking exclusively to Mail Today, Dimple said that Akhilesh would complete his internship and in his second term he would perform even better.

Trainee CM ne itna kaam kiya hai, anubhavi CM aur achcha karenge (The trainee CM has done a lot in the past an experienced chief minister would do even better), Dimple said.

Akhilesh's wife Dimple refuted that there was any rift in the ruling Yadav family

She also refuted that there was any rift in the ruling Yadav family.

These (family tussle) are all rumours. Everything is well. Pitaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and chachaji (Shivpal Yadav) dine together every night, she said.

Commenting on the chances of the Samajwadi Party returning to power in the state, Dimple said the outfit will form the government with full majority.

Yadavs are hopeful that the Samajwadi Party will return in full majority

The youth is with the chief minister. The state is progressing and people have noticed what the Samajwadi Party has done in the last four-and-a-half years.

Joining the conversation, chief minister Akhilesh said: Neither I am angry with anyone nor anyone is angry with me.

Later in the day, Akhilesh embarked on the 100-km rath yatra (road show) in Lucknow.

Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav flagged off the rath yatra, while UP SP president Shivpal Yadav wished the CM good luck.

However, Shivpal was visibly uneasy as he shared the stage with the Uttar Pradesh CM, who looked nonchalant at the presence of his uncle.
Just days after the Diwali festivities doctors have been forced to scoop out the eyes of half a dozen Delhiites injured by fireworks.

The use of the invasive procedure that involves permanently blinding the patient by removing the retina, cornea, iris lens and vitreous of the eye underscoring the need for stricter enforcement of regulations on crackers.

While the celebrations have left the city gasping for breath amid choking smog, they have also led to a slew of mishaps and critical injuries.

A child suffers from a burnt hand and a damaged eye after Diwali celebrations in Delhi

About 110 people were taken to AIIMS on Diwali night after suffering 95 per cent burns in their eyes.

This is for the first time that we have come across such terrible eye injures due to cracker burning, said (Prof) Dr Atul Kumar, chief of AIIMSs Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences and professor of ophthalmology.

For five patients, we had to scoop out one eye each as it was totally damaged. We rarely perform evisceration surgery for scooping out eyes and for the past many years we had not conducted a single operation like this.

Among those whose eyes had to be removed were man merely passing by and a child holding a fire cracker.

A 70-year- man, whos a diabetic and heart patient, was standing outside his house when a splinter from an exploding firecracker hit his eye.

About 110 people were taken to AIIMS on Diwali after suffering 95 per cent burns in their eyes

The other victims are children studying in private schools.

Doctors suspect poor quality of ingredients used in the manufacturing of crackers may have caused the injuries.

While some experts argue it takes flying shrapnel from fireworks to make eyes bleed or rupture, others say pressure waves from the explosion itself are enough.

Evisceration Evisceration is the removal of the contents of the eyeball, leaving the white part of the eye and the eye muscles intact Removal of the eye or its contents is usually performed for a painful blind eye, to treat some tumours, severe injuries to the eye, severe infection inside the eye or for cosmetic improvement of a disfigurement. During an evisceration, the contents of the eye are removed, leaving the white part of the eye intact. The remaining space is usually filled by an implant. This implant is generally a sphere made of silicone rubber or plastic. Source NHS Advertisement

Mail Today has a copy of an AIIMS internal report on patients who suffered severe ocular injuries due to firecrackers, and it shows 110 people came in from the morning of 30th October till the night of 31st October. Slew of mishaps Last Diwali, we had just 10-15 eye injury cases and not too severe ones, said Dr Atul Kumar.

And scooping of eyes is only done in the condition when tissues, corneas, retina get totally damaged and nothing is left for medical treatment.

Most of the patients belong to middle class families.

Dr Kumar, who treated them, said, More than 90 per cent of the patients were literate and from well-off families. I was shocked to see well-educated people playing with their lives.

"There is no deterrence from the awareness campaign against firecrackers. Ankit Kumar, 18, has lost vision in both eyes while his face is badly burnt.

I was on my way home when suddenly a burning firecracker hit my face and eyes, said the youngster who is receiving treatment at AIIMS.

Dr Vineet Muthai, an eye surgeon at the hospital, said, Ankit has 25 per cent burn injuries in both eyes, due to which he has lost vision completely. His face will also require plastic surgery.

The doctor said such patients may opt for poly-carbonated glass eyes for cosmetic purposes.

Surgeons usually avoid evisceration surgery, which involves the removal of the inside contents of the eye (cornea, iris, lens, vitreous, and retina).

Because of rising air pollution since Diwali, patients are complaining of redness, itching, and burning sensation in eyes with hospital OPDs packed to capacity.

Doctors suspect poor quality of ingredients used in the manufacturing of crackers may have caused the injuries (file pic)

Four of our senior eye consultants were operating on patients on Diwali night, Dr Kumar Said.

Previously, we used to appoint only one doctor for duty on Diwali night.
With children bearing the brunt of the heavy smog that has engulfed the city in the last few days, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has recommended closure of all schools in Delhi and NCR until the pollution level drops.

As the Capital grapples with extremely severe air pollution for the fourth consecutive day, the pollution watchdogs executive director Anumita Roy Chowdhury, said: Very heavy smog is hanging over the city.

"The situation is expected to continue for another three days and urgently some daily health advisory requires to be issued by the government.

With children bearing the brunt of the Delhi's heavy smog the CSE has recommended the closure of all schools in Delhi and NCR until the pollution level drops

Children and the aged are the most vulnerable to such a situation. Closure of schools needs to be considered till the situation improved, she added.

CSE, which is part of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, also filed a report in the Supreme Court recently, urging it to direct all Delhi schools to declare a holiday on days air pollution levels are so high that they are deemed harmful for human health.

Closure of kindergartens, primary and middle schools is one of the steps taken in China on days when pollution levels are high. Such a measure is essential in Delhi, the EPCA had said in a report submitted to the apex court in August.

Schools in China resort to a temporary solution to avoid children missing days because of pollution  offering classes online.

They use online tools to take class for students who stay home on particularly smoggy days.

The CSE has said the national Capital is facing the worst smog in 17 years and asked the Delhi government to issue daily health advisory to the people

The other option is that it should be ensured that kids are taken to schools in fully covered vehicles and there is no outside activity during till the smog subsides.

"Even when children are at home, they should not be allowed to play outside, said Roychowdhury, who is the head of CSE's air pollution and sustainable mobility teams.

The CSE has said the national Capital is facing the worst smog in 17 years and asked the Delhi government to issue daily health advisory to the people.

This demands emergency response to protect the vulnerable - those who are suffering from respiratory and heart diseases and children.

"The government should aggressively inform all and advise them to stay indoors and avoid outdoor exercises, it said.

It said the analysis of data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) shows that the levels of PM2.5 have increased by 62.7 per cent on November 2 as compared to that on Diwali (October 30) and the levels were 9.4 times the standard on November 2.

However, Roy Chowdhury said all these could only be temporary measures as kids cannot be kept shut at home indefinitely.

On Thursday Delhi again woke up to hazardous levels of pollution and extremely reduced visibility even three days after Diwali

CSE suggested some long-term measures like restriction on use of private vehicles through a hike in parking fee, a 30 per cent increase in cess on diesel cars, complete ban on crop burning and certain categories of commercial vehicles, allowing of only public transport on roads on days when pollution is deemed to be particularly severe, permitting of only Euro III and Euro IV vehicles on road and wearing masks to be made compulsory on highly polluted days.

On Thursday Delhi again woke up to hazardous levels of pollution and extremely reduced visibility even three days after Diwali.
Aung San Suu Kyi is seeking to take her country from its long-held path of non-alignment, to multi-alignment

Like India, Myanmar is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which was established in Belgrade in 1961, six years after the historic Bandung Asian-African Conference.

And like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is seeking to take her country from its long-held path of non-alignment to multi-alignment, a contemporary, globalised practicality that values a proactive approach in international relations.

In fact, Suu Kyis foreign-policy approach appears to mirror Modis line - a non-doctrinaire vision, with pragmatism as the hallmark that aims to build equilibrium in relations with major powers.

Both Modi and Suu Kyi have shaken up their respective countrys diffident foreign-policy establishment with a readiness to break with conventional methods and shibboleths.

It has taken Suu Kyi just a few months, like Modi, to put her stamp on her countrys international relations.

Challenges

Myanmar is no small state: It is as large as Britain and France combined.

Yet, by coming under severe US-led sanctions for over a quarter century, Myanmar was left out of Asias economic boom.

Since 2011, its democratic transition - cemented by the landslide election victory of Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party a year ago - has helped reverse its fortunes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Myanmar's Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi before a bilateral meeting at Hyderabad House

To be sure, both Suu Kyi and Modi face major regional challenges.

With revanchist or scofflaw states to its west and north, India faces difficult choices.

Myanmars economic and political vulnerability, however, is acute. Suu Kyi confronts a bigger challenge on the foreign-policy front than Modi.

This crimps her ambitious diplomacy, forcing her to perform a delicate balancing act between major powers vying for influence.

Take China, with which Myanmar shares a 2,129-km border. As if to signal that her countrys pro-China tilt and dependence on Beijing was an aberration fostered by crippling US-led sanctions, Suu Kyi, soon after coming to power, committed to revive the countrys tradition of pursuing a neutral foreign policy.

Yet, her first visit to a major capital was to Beijing in August.

Even though China impeded the Suu Kyi-led democracy movement by siding with Myanmars military rulers, its aggressive pursuit of strategic and resource interests has left it with considerable clout in the country.

It accounts for about half of Myanmars foreign investment and 40 per cent of its trade, with new multi-billion dollar oil and gas pipelines.

Four weeks after her China trip, Suu Kyi visited the US. Her White House meeting led to President Barack Obamas October 7 executive order lifting US economic sanctions on Myanmar.

Tightrope

Then, after a tour of India, Suu Kyi visited Asias oldest (and richest) democracy, Japan, from November 1.

That Suu Kyi prioritised visits to Beijing and Washington over trips to New Delhi, where she was educated, and Tokyo, Myanmars largest provider of debt relief, showed that she regards India and Japan as of lesser importance to her countrys interest than China and the US.

Yet the fact is that Japan and India, with traditionally close ties to Myanmar, have played key roles in helping to end the countrys pariah status and reintegrating it regionally.

Both Modi and Suu Kyi have shaken up their respective countrys diffident foreign-policy establishment with a readiness to break with conventional methods and shibboleths

China, by contrast, represents the biggest test of Suu Kyis diplomacy.

How long will she be able to walk the tightrope with a country that poses the most complex challenge for Myanmar?

China, by strategically penetrating Myanmar, has not only armed itself with formidable leverage but also sought to turn the country into its corridor to the Indian Ocean.

Having established a firm foothold in Myanmars Bay of Bengal port of Kyaukpyu, Beijing is seeking to open a shorter, cheaper trade route to Europe via Myanmars Irrawaddy river, which flows into the Andaman Sea.

Balance

Like India, Myanmar has long complained about the flow of Chinese arms to guerrilla groups.

Indeed, China holds the keys to ending decades of ethnic conflict in Myanmar. But it is unclear whether Beijing, despite being invited by Suu Kyi to play mediator, will genuinely aid her effort to build ethnic peace or use its role as a broker between the government and guerrilla groups to merely underpin its own leverage.

Like India, Myanmar has long complained about the flow of Chinese arms to guerrilla groups

A crucial peace conference hosted by Suu Kyi in the capital Naypyitaw ended in early September without any tangible progress.

In concept, Suu Kyis neutrality in foreign policy seems attractive, potentially allowing her to carefully balance cooperation with all the major players in a way that advances Myanmars interest, without the country being forced to choose one power over another.

In reality, though, it might be difficult for an aid-dependent, internally torn Myanmar to sustain a neutral foreign policy.
The controversial boss of Lowcostholidays racked up debts of more than 25m at the online travel agent that collapsed into administration in July.

New filings reveal how entrepreneur Paul Evans told officials that the firm was 25m in the red when it went under. However, experts believe total debts could be far higher as the full accounts of the firm are not yet known.

The collapse of Lowcostholidays, which made annual sales of 500m, hit 137,000 customers.

Holiday hell: The collapse of Lowcostholidays hit 137,000 customers

As many as 27,000 were travelling at the time and a further 110,000 had future bookings.

The vast debts of the company means these customers are likely never to see a penny of the money they spent on trips. This is because any cash reclaimed by administrator Smith & Williamson will have to be used to pay back these creditors.

Smith & Williamson has warned customers will get only 1p to 2p for every pound they spent.

The administrator is still unravelling the complex financial structure of Lowcostholidays.

Evans has gone to ground since his firm collapsed. He lived and worked in Spain with his Spanish wife, who was the commercial director of Lowcost Travel Group, while often flitting back to the UK to a spacious four-bedroom house in Fulham in west London.

Evans has been described as cocksure and boastful and is said to often brag of going to Eton. He is reportedly also a former elephant keeper.

The 56-year-old, who sent his son to 32,000-a-year Charterhouse School, sold his 2m London home last year.

Customers have been left out of pocket because Evans tried to maximise profit by moving the business to Spain in 2013, which meant it could avoid contributing towards the industry safety-net run by travel body Atol.

In a separate document, administrators have pinned technology problems as the key issue for the failure of Lowcostholidays.

The firm sold Intuitive, its software business, after regulators said it had to bolster reserves.
When Tahlia Khamas grandparents met and fell in love, it was a union that split their families and sent political, social and racial shockwaves around the world.

Today, the beautiful 21-year-old described how their courageous love story  brought to life on the big screen in the film A United Kingdom  has given her greater freedom to choose a partner.

The movie movingly re-creates the then-scandalous marriage between Tahlias African king grandfather and British typist grandmother which has left their only granddaughter feeling more than proud of their brave early challenge to prejudice against interracial love.

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Love story: Tahlia Khama, pictured, describes the love story of her British typist grandmother who fell for African king Seretse Khama in London in the 1940s. Their controversial union split their families and sent political, social and racial shockwaves around the world

Battle against the odds: Ruth Williams, pictured, kissing her granddaughter Tahlia, was an insurance clerk when she fell in love with Seretse Khama, who was in London studying law

Ruth and Seretse Khama, above with their two eldest children, met at a dance in London and their union wreaked havoc not only among their families, but at the highest political levels in Britain and southern Africa

Big screen: Now their love story which thrived despite widespread opposition to inter-racial marriage has been turned into a blockbuster film starring Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo

Stars: Pike, pictured at the London Film Festival premier of 'A United Kingdom' with Tahila, plays Ruth, from south London, who fell for Seretse, an Oxford graduate from Botswana

My grandparents changed a lot in terms of providing interracial couples with the opportunity to feel free, the fashion student told MailOnline in a candid interview.

It has allowed us to grow up in a more united and accepting society. As a family we look up to them and they inspire us in many aspects of life and with our relationships with people.

In the epic film, Rosamund Pike takes on the role of Ruth whose prosaic middle-class life as an insurance clerk from south London was rocked to its core after falling for Seretse, an Oxford graduate and African king-in-waiting - played by David Oyelowo - after being introduced to him at a missionary society dance.

Their whirlwind romance and wedding wreaked havoc not only among their families, but at the highest political levels in Britain and southern Africa, where Seretses own Bechuanaland, now Botswana, was a longtime protectorate under British imperial rule.

Shunned: Ruth, pictured with Tahila, lost her job and was cut off by her father, a retired captain in the Indian Army, over her choice of husband. Not long after the couple moved to Africa, the British colonial authorities banished them back to Britain to live in exile

Ruth and Seretse's struggle for acceptance both in the UK and Botswana has hit the big screen, pictured, a moving film which reduced fashion student Tahila to tears

Forced out of Britain by Ruth's disapproving father, the couple moved to Bechuanaland. But not long after they arrived in Africa the colonial authorities forced them to back into exile to live in Britain for six years

After six years living and working in London in the 1950s, Ruth, pictured with her grandson Kaedi, and her husband were given leave to return to Africa  after Seretses tribe sent a telegram to the Queen to 'send us our real Chief - the man born our Chief'

In the film, the tumultuous events of their love story move between the bleak grey of postwar Britain and the raw, burned-earth landscapes of Africa. Pictured: Tahlia at film's premier

In the film, the tumultuous events of the unfolding love story move between the bleak grey of postwar Britain and the raw, burned-earth landscapes of Africa, chronicling the couples impenetrable bond in the face of vicious, racist plots to break it, which came from both sides of the equator.

They did not judge people by their skin complexions or their religions or details, they were totally accepting. Tahlia Khama

They really supported one another through thick and thin - they were a team Tahlia said, sharing intimate family photographs.

What I know about my grandfather is that he had utmost respect for my grandmother. They saw the world very objectively, because of what they had been through together.

'They did not judge people by their skin complexions or their religions or details, they were totally accepting. When I eventually say my own vows to someone, it will be based on equality and there must be no problems about race or religion.

Five years after his return to Africa and a frustrating foray into farming, Seretse made a bold bid for power, getting elected as first Prime Minister of Bechuanaland, and then Botswanas first President following independence in 1966. Pictured: Ruth and Seretse with the Queen and Princess Anne on an official visit to London in 1978

The couple had four children, including Tahlias father Tshekedi - a government minister - and the current president, Ian Khama. Pictured: Tshekedi, married Thea, an American originally from Mexico

Five years after returning to Botswana, Seretse moved into politics and pushed for independence in 1966 in a victory which led him to become Botswanas first President. Pictured: Tahlia as a child with her father and brother

My grandmother came from a very ordinary background, but her life was far from ordinary from the moment she had met my grandfather, said Tahlia, who met the films A-list stars at its London premiere last month.

After falling in love and marrying, the couple faced years of hostility on all fronts - from the government in London that denied them a church wedding and the strict elders back in Seretses tribal lands, who refused to accept a white queen.

Ruth, who had left school to drive an ambulance during the second world war, lost her job and was cut off by her father, a retired captain in the Indian Army, over her choice of husband. Not long after the couple moved to Africa, the British colonial authorities banished them back to Britain to live in exile.

Sharing intimate images from the familys photo album, Tahlia was left in no doubt about the couples love, which she believes deepened in response to adversity. Although, her grandfather  she refers to him as Gramps  died before she was born, she treasures fond memories of time with Ruth.

Until her last breath my grandmother wore a necklace with my grandfathers face on a coin around her neck. What they shared is what I base my own views about love on. I hope that one day I may aspire to have what they had, she revealed from her home in Johannesburg.

Tahlia's father, Tshekedi, above with wife and children, is now a minister in the government of President Ian Khama, her uncle - who was the first of three boys born to Seretse and Ruth

Since Ruths death in 2002, Tahlia, pictured, has taken inspiration from her grace under fire survival to find the strength to leave a troubled relationship. She told MailOnline: 'My grandmother came from a very ordinary background, but her life was far from ordinary from the moment she had met my grandfather.'

Tahlia, who is based in Johannesburg studying fashion, recalled her completely English grandmother, who lived a mile from where and her brother, Kaedi, pictured, 23, grew up

After six years living and working in London in the 1950s, the couple were given leave to return to Africa  after Seretses tribe sent a telegram to the Queen to `send us our real Chief - the man born our Chief.

Five years after his return to Africa and a frustrating foray into farming, Seretse made a bold bid for power, getting elected as first Prime Minister of Bechuanaland, and then Botswanas first President following independence in 1966.

His time leading the mineral-rich nation saw its countrys fortunes reversed from one of the worlds poorest countries to its fastest developing.

Tahlias favourite scene in A United Kingdom recreates the moment when the women of her grandfathers Serowe tribe gather to finally accept Ruth as one of their own, and dedicate a song to her.

I found it very moving as it was the demonstration of acceptance of her as one of them, Tahlia, a trained make-up artist, explained. They had written a song for her that they wanted to sing, dedicating it to her and welcoming her to the tribe. It must have meant a lot to her.'

Ruth sent Tahlias father Tshekedi, pictured with his daughter, and his siblings off to boarding school to give them a a more normal childhood after their father became President

Seretse, or Gramps as Tahlia calls him, died of cancer in 1980 with Ruth nursing him on their farm in Botswana. Pictured: Tahlia with family including her uncle, left, Ian, the president

The couple had four children, including Tahlias father Tshekedi - a government minister - and the current president, Ian Khama. Ruth became Lady Khama after her husband was knighted by the Queen.

Following Seretses death in 1980, his tribe bestowed on her the title Mohumagadi Mma Kgosi, which means mother of the chief, or the queen mother.

Ruths heart was very much with him all her life, perhaps even more so after his death. I felt I knew him just because I heard so much about him, the love she had for him made me feel like he was part of our every day life.

'She spoke about him all the time, and he was very much part of my growing up, Tahlia recalled.

The student, who is studying fashion and merchandising, fondly recalled her completely English to the end grandmother, who spent the remainder of her life on her African farm, just a mile from where Tahlia and her 23 year-old brother, Kaedi, grew up.

We went over to her house for scones and tea every Sunday. It was always a typically British occasion and she was always just a lovely loving grandmother to us.

'Her house had a very English feel to it, with touches of Botswana. She remained very English in the way she dressed, quite a 1940s style with high-waisted long skirts, blouses and little heels  thats what she wore every day of her life.

Tahlia says her grandparents' love has inspired her: I feel Ruth has given me a special pair of goggles to guide me through life, I still feel close to her'. Pictured: With her mother Thea

'She was always very elegant and spoke very properly, often correcting our grammar! she said.

Since Ruths death in 2002, Tahlia has taken inspiration from her grace under fire style of survival to navigate her own personal challenges. And when she found herself in an abusive relationship in recent years, Tahlia drew on her grandparents love story to summon the strength to leave.

I feel Ruth has given me a special pair of goggles to guide me through life, I still feel close to her. Tahlia Khama

The one thing that got me out of that relationship was to compare it to what my grandparents had, she revealed. I feel Ruth has given me a special pair of goggles to guide me through life, I still feel close to her.

'I definitely feel like I would have been a victim in that relationship if I hadnt reflected on whether my grandmother would have been proud of what I was doing, what I was involved in, who I was involved with.

'She gave me a lot. She only had one granddaughter, and I now feel it is up to me to make sure my life is led in a way that is worthy of that legacy.'

:: A United Kingdom opens in the UK on general release on November 25
Two Moroccan teenage girls, who face three years in jail after they were photographed kissing, were badly beaten by their families, it has emerged.

Police arrested the 16-year-old, identified only as Sanaa, and the 17-year-old, Hajar, after they were spotted embracing on a rooftop in Marrakesh.

Pictures were taken of them kissing before they were sent to family members and the mother of one of the girls then called police, it has emerged.

They now face charges of homosexuality and will be put on trial amid fears they could end up facing a three-year jail term if found guilty.

A Moroccan activist wears a shirt with the number 489 in reference to article 489 which stipulates that homosexuality is punishable in Morocco by up to three years in jail

A joint statement from about 20 human rights groups said the girls were badly beaten by their families after being filmed by a neighbour with a mobile phone.

The statement said the pair were denied food for three days by the police who then forced one of them to sign a statement before releasing them Thursday.

The two girls were caught kissing last Thursday according to Omar Arbib, an activist at the Moroccan Association of Human Rights.

'They were caught kissing and hugging on the roof of a house in Hay Mohammadi district,' said Arbib.

'Someone photographed them, sent the picture to the family who informed the police' and the two girls were arrested on the same day, he told AFP.

They appeared before prosecutors and were due in court on Friday.

The pair face charges of 'licentious or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex' under article 489 of the penal code.

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights has appointed a lawyer to defend the girls who if convicted could be imprisoned for between six months and three years.

But Arbib called for the release of the pair and for the law they are accused of breaking to be abolished.

The arrests have prompted outrage, with Moroccan writer Leila Slimani (pictured) calling for a for a rebellion against the country's 'medieval' laws which 'weigh down' its citizens

Morocco, a country of 35 million people torn between religious conservatism and openness to the West, has had several controversial cases concerning homosexuality in recent years.

On Friday the winner of France's top literary prize said Moroccans must rebel against the 'mediaeval laws' which weigh them down.

Writer Leila Slimani, who became the first Moroccan woman to win the prestigious Prix Goncourt Thursday for her novel Chanson Douce (Sweet Song), lambasted her homeland's human rights record, and in particular the way women are treated.

'The humiliation of citizens, the way they are kept down, encourages a political system based on disdain, humiliation and the abuse of power,' Slimani told France Inter radio.

'I think it is time people took this in hand and rebelled,' said the 35-year-old, whose winning novel is based on a real-life case of a nanny in the United States accused of killing two children she was looking after.

Police arrested the 16-year-old, identified only as Sanaa, and the 17-year-old, Hajar, after they were spotted embracing on a rooftop in Marrakesh (file picture)

'The laws in Morocco are completely medieval, completely disconnected from reality... they ban sex outside marriage, homosexuality and adultery,' Slimani added.

'We shouldn't be hypocrites. Moroccans have sex lives outside marriage, and it good that that there are homosexuals,' the author said.

Slimani, who raised eyebrows at home with her debut novel last year about a female nymphomaniac, said the oppression that women suffered had nothing to do with religion.

'Lots of imams and enlightened theologians will explain that to you... It is a question of human rights, sexual rights, the right to dignity and in particular the dignity of women's bodies.'
A former New York police chief who orchestrated a cover-up after bashing a handcuffed man for stealing embarrassing items from his car has been jailed.

Ex-Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke was sentenced to serve 46 months in prison on Wednesday.

The assault took place after the bag was stolen in December 2012, and Burke made it his mission to recover his items and dish out his own brand of justice to the thief.

The stolen duffel bag contained pornography and sex toys, while Burke's gun belt, ammunition, and a box of cigars were also taken from the SUV.

Ex-Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke (middle) has been jailed for orchestrating a cover-up after he bashed a handcuffed man for stealing embarrassing items from his car

Witnesses testified Burke 'went out of control' during an interrogation after catching the suspect, Christopher Loeb.

Loeb called Burke a 'pervert' while he was handcuffed, which set off the former police chief.

He then started screaming and cursing at Loeb, while punching him and threatening to kill him with a heroin overdose.

In court on Wednesday, Burke apologized to his victim, as well as the judge, his family and his Long Island community before the punishment was handed down.

However, US District Court Judge Leonard Wexler said Burke's crimes went beyond the beating and affected the entire 2,000-member police department.

'I feel Mr Burke acted as a dictator,' the judge said as the former chief sat stoically with his hands folded in front of his chin.

Wexler noted more than 80 people wrote letters seeking leniency, calling Burke a good man who helped many people in a 31-year career.

But, Wexler said: 'He also did bad if you were not on his side. That's corruption.'

Loeb, a heroin addict who often would rummage through cars to see what he could find, addressed his attacker in court.

'You told me my word was no good against that of a decorated police chief,' he said.

'Well fortunately today, for the first time in my life, my belief in the justice system has surfaced, because today, defendant Burke, there is law and this is order.'

In a pre-sentencing letter, prosecutors said 'high-ranking officials' from other county agencies helped Burke silence potential whistleblowers after the incident.

Christopher Loeb (pictured) was bashed by Burke in December 2012. Loeb was being interrogated for stealing from the former top cop's car, when he called him a 'pervert'

Officers subpoenaed by FBI agents investigating the 2012 beating were interrogated afterward about whether they had talked, prosecutors said.

Unnamed co-conspirators had warned some that if they admitted wrongdoing, their union would not pay their legal fees, prosecutors said.

A union official falsely told several officers Burke and 'other high-ranking Suffolk County law enforcement authorities' had obtained copies of FBI memos containing the names of people speaking with investigators.

One officer told a federal agent he was 'a dead man,' if that were true, the letter said.

As a result, officers working the night of the beating or heard Burke brag about it at a Christmas party stayed quiet for years, prosecutors said. One lied in court and said the attack had not happened.

'In terms of obstructing justice, it is hard to imagine a more serious example of this conduct than the highest-ranking uniform member of the police department assaulting a suspect and then orchestrating a cover-up of his actions for three years during which he suborned perjury and prevented witnesses from telling the truth,' US Attorney Robert Capers said in the letter.

The ex-police chief pleaded guilty last winter in the beating and cover-up. He asked for no prison time because he says his mother is dying of cancer.

The investigation is ongoing.

Federal prosecutors indicated other charges may be looming for accomplices who aided the cover-up.

Burke became chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the country's largest suburban police forces, in 2012 after serving for nearly a decade as chief investigator for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Prosecutors called Burke's time as chief a 'reign of terror.'

They said he kept liquor in his office and regularly drove drunk.

He had subordinates conduct surveillance on his girlfriends, prosecutors said.

In 2013, he had a contractor illegally put a GPS device on a high-ranking civilian police official he disliked, hoping to gather blackmail information, prosecutors said.

Questions of Burke's fitness to lead surfaced as far back as 1995, when he twice was found to have failed to safeguard his weapon.
Prince Harry's new love interest slammed Donald Trump as 'misogynistic' during a TV interview and threatened to leave America if he becomes president.

Meghan Markle, 35, who stars in legal drama Suits, voiced her strong opposition to the Republican nominee while appearing on the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on May 4.

Protocol dictates that members of the British Royal family must remain politically impartial.

But the actress - who is not quite in the royal fold yet - tore into Trump, branding him a divisive misogynist.

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Prince Harry's new love interest Meghan Markle, 35, voiced her strong opposition to the Republican nominee while appearing on the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on May 4

The Suits star tore into Trump, branding him a divisive misogynist

The Californian native appeared alongside two other guests during a discussion about the presidential race in the political segment of the comedy show.

The Californian actress' months-long affair with Harry was revealed at the weekend

Meghan, who is best known for playing office vamp Rachel Zane in Suits, even claimed that she would leave America for Canada because she was so worried about Trump's candidacy.

'It's really the moment I go, we film Suits in Toronto and I might just stay in Canada,' she said.

'If that is really the reality we are talking about then that is a game changer in terms of how we move in the world here.'

She added that it was 'crazy' that Trump's offensive comments do not have an effect on his supporters.

'Yes of course Trump is divisive, think about female voters alone, right?

'I think it was in 2012 the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points, that is a huge number and with as misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that is a huge chunk of it.'

His loss: Meghan Markle threatened to leave America if Trump becomes president. The actress was spotted leaving her home on Thursday in Toronto, Canada on her way to the Suits set

Meghan slammed Trump as 'misogynistic' and 'divisive'

Meghan also went on to say that it would be crazy if disgruntled Sanders supporters refused to get out and vote for Clinton

The seven minute discussion also included Nightly Show contributors Ricky Velez (left) and Francesca Ramsey (second left)

Prince Harry is said to be 'besotted' with the American beauty, according to friends

Meghan continued, 'You are not just voting for a woman if it's Hillary just because she is a woman, but certainly because Trump has made it easy to see that you don't really want that kind of world that he is painting for us.'

The seven minute discussion also included Nightly Show contributors Francesca Ramsey and Ricky Velez, who bizarrely bragged that he would take more drugs than usual on election day, which sent Meghan into a fit of laughter.

The actress went on to discuss whether or not Clinton would need the support of Bernie Sanders and his followers in order to win the election.

At the time of filming, Clinton was still struggling to defeat Sanders, the senator from Vermont, New Hampshire who went up against the former secretary of state and won huge swathes of support among young Democrats seeking a more left-wing alternative to Clinton.

She said: 'I don't think at this point it is necessary. I think at a certain point it is going to need to happen but do we need to get all hands on deck at this point?

'Hillary is in a really strong position at the moment. Just look at how much she has had in donations for her campaign.

'I think Trump has raised 12 or 20 million, something like that. She has raised 200 and something million from supporters.'

Larry Wilmore's Comedy Central series was cancelled in August. Markle displayed her political knowledge when she was asked whether or not Clinton would need the support of Bernie Sanders and his followers in order to win the election

The day before the show was aired Trump had just ousted Ted Cruz as his main rival in the Republican nomination race and become the presumptive nominee.

Clinton would defeat Sanders to become the Democrat candidate in July.

Trump had mainly used his own funds at that point in the race but has gone on to raise $247.5 million while Clinton has amassed $497.8 million.

Meghan also went on to say that it would be crazy if disgruntled Sanders supporters refused to get out and vote for Clinton.

She added: 'That is crazy to think that it is really going to put people in a position where they don't feel mobilized to vote at all.

'Bernie brought so many, especially young voters, to the table, so how is that going to parlay itself in terms of Hillary?'

It is believed Prince Harry met Meghan while promoting the Invictus games in Canada, which is where she films her television show.

The palace has declined to comment on the romance but Harry is said to be 'besotted' with the American, according to friends.

A number of pictures also emerged last Sunday showing the pair wearing matching bracelets.
The man accused of slaying two Iowa cops was facing intense money problems, had hit and financially exploited his mother and was ordered to move out of her basement the day before the shootings, it has emerged.

Scott Michael Greene, 46, was arrested Thursday for the Wednesday morning killings of Urbandale Police officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Police sgt Anthony Beminio.

The revelations about his past came the day after police dogs uncovered a high-powered rifle hidden in woodland that officials say was used to execute the two officers.

Scott Michael Greene (left), 46, hit and demanded money from his mom, Patricia (right, pictured after being arrested for hitting him on Oct 16). He was subject to a restraining order

The order demanded he leave his mom's basement (pictured: her home) and repay $10,000 on Tuesday. The next day he opened fire on two cops in two separate incidents, killing them

Greene, an unemployed father who lived in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, was behaving erratically and increasingly desperate for money in recent weeks, court records show.

District judge Carla Schemmel ruled Tuesday that he had committed elder abuse against his 66-year-old mother, Patricia Greene, by 'physically hitting and financially exploiting' her.

Schemmel ordered him to move out of his mother's home, where he had been living in a basement bedroom, before November 6 and to stay away from the home for a year.

Patricia Greene had applied for the restraining order on October 19, two days after she was arrested and charged with striking her son in the face during an altercation that he had recorded with his cellphone.

She wrote in the application that she believed her son 'set me up to get me in trouble, saying that while in jail he told one of her friends that if his mom paid him $20,000 'he would move and not bother' her again.

Des Poines Police sgt Anthony 'Tony' Beminio (left) and Urbandale, Iowa Police officer Justin Martin (right) were both gunned down by Greene on Wednesday, police say

Greene is alleged to have shot the officers while they sat in their cars (pictured: Beminio's car). A .223 rifle was found Wednesday hidden in woodland by a police dog. Cops say it is Greene's

He had also sent an acquaintance 'a bunch of rambling, offensive' text messages, warned he would no longer take care of her cat and was going through her personal belongings, she said.

She claimed her son had subjected her to mental, emotional and financial abuse.

A temporary protective order was issued on October 20, and Schemmel issued the permanent order during Tuesday's hearing.

That order, which warned that any violations would lead to his arrest, also directed Greene to return $10,000 to his mother and to not take any of her assets.

Other court records reveal Greene's mounting financial problems.

Last year, a credit union attempted to collect a $5,000 debt from Greene by garnishing wages from one of his former employers and two banks with which he had accounts. But none of them reported having funds.

The debt grew beyond $10,000, and there's no indication it was ever paid. An apartment complex filed a $1,300 claim for delinquent lease payments that he hasn't paid.

In August, a court ordered Greene to pay another company a $678 debt charged to a Best Buy credit card.

Law enforcement officials investigate the scene of Martin's shooting

Despite being desperate for cash, Greene had failed to hold down a job.

Last month he told Central Iowa Fencing, a construction business, that he 'was pretty desperate' for a job and had a teenage daughter he needed to support, office manager Sara Nicklin said.

But despite being hired there, he quit within days.

Greene initially contacted the company looking for work last summer but there were no openings. The company gave Greene a chance after he inquired again last month, even though he had no experience building fences, Nicklin said.

She said Greene was sent home on the morning of his third day of employment 'because he was not taking directions and wasn't working.'

Nicklin said the company gave Greene the chance to come back the next day on a different crew but 'he chose not to show up' and quit instead.

'We wish we never would have contact with this person,' she said. 'We're all devastated.'

Greene is accused of shooting both officers within two miles of one another on Wednesday morning

As well as a teenage daughter, Greene has at least two other children: another daughter who is an adult, and a 26-year-old son named Scott Michael Greene Jr, who is in the Iowa National Guard, the Herald Tribune reported.

Sgt Beminio, 38, and officer Martin, 24, were gunned down after 1am Wednesday in separate incidents less than two miles apart.

Both men were sitting in their patrol cars when the vehicles were riddled with bullets.

The .223-caliber rifle believed to be used in the attacks was discovered Wednesday by a police dog apparently hidden in a wooded area 'where no person probably could have found it,' said Des Moines police spokesman, sgt Paul Parizek.

A motive for the shootings remains unclear, Parizek said.

Greene had been hospitalized for treatment of a pre-existing medical condition following his surrender Wednesday morning. He left the hospital Thursday.

He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

A statement from Des Moines police said the investigation has produced probable cause to support the charges.
An Indian man who paid a wedding fixer 5,000 for a sham marriage in a bid to obtain a British passport is facing jail after being outed in an undercover sting.

Syed Intesar Ali faces up to two years in prison after finding a British 'bride' through a self-styled sham marriage fixer he found on Gumtree.

He paid Shaheena Perveen to find him a British bride who he could marry in a bid to stay living in the country. But the pair were caught by an undercover sting for Channel 5 documentary Sham Wedding Crashers.

They now face jail after admitting the charges at Snaresbrook Crown Court this week after the CPS brought a case following a Home Office investigation.

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Syed Intesar Ali, of London, has admitted deception after finding a British 'bride' through a self-styled sham marriage fixer he found on Gumtree and attempting to marry her for a British passport. He is pictured walking down the aisle with 'bride' Harriet - an undercover reporter

Despite Ali believing he was marrying a British woman to get a passport, the blushing bride was actually a journalist with a secret camera hidden in her bouquet to record the events

Ali pleaded guilty to deception under Section 24A of the Immigration Act 1971, while Perveen pleaded guilty to two charges of assisting unlawful conduct under the Serious Crime Act 2007. They will be sentenced at a later date.

Appearing under the names Ali and Elizabeth, the pair were filmed taking part in the sham marriage  with Ali even walking down the aisle in his wedding finery.

His 'bride' was journalist Harriet Morter, who was part of the undercover operation.

Playing his part in a TV sting operation, journalist Paul Connolly also posed as the best man and filmed the process with a hidden camera in his button.

Ali, originally from India, had agreed to pay 5,000 to marry his 'bride' after being introduced to her by self-styled sham marriage fixer Perveen.

He paid Miss Morter 400 for her part in the sham and even offered her an extra 10,000 to have a baby with him.

To make their relationship seem more authentic, he hired a Rolls-Royce to drive her to the register office and even took her shopping for a wedding dress.

Ali met Harriet - the undercover journalist - through 'fixer' Shaheena Perveen, who advertised her services on Gumtree. Ali agreed to pay 5,000 to marry his British bride for a passport

The most difficult moment came before the big day, when the couple were interviewed by a registrar who wanted to make sure their love was real.

Amazingly, Ali forgot his bride's address and couldn't even name the borough where she lived  but they were still allowed to set a wedding date.

The filmmakers said the registrar, who was not named, did report his suspicions to the Home Office but the case simply 'slipped through the net'.

The sham ceremony was only called off at the last moment, when the registrar asked if anyone present knew of any lawful impediment to the marriage.

At that point, Mr Connolly stepped up and revealed he had filmed the entire process.

In dramatic footage that aired on Channel 5, Ali could then be seen fleeing from the register office.

Before the ceremony, he had boasted to the undercover team that he would use the marriage to get a British passport.

He explained he had been living on a student visa, despite the fact he never attended classes, and admitted he had been surviving on 'cash in hand' work.

As the visa was about to expire, he was urgently looking for a European bride to help him stay in the country.

Undercover journalist Paul Connolly, pictured behind the couple, stopped the ceremony in London when the registrar asked the congregation if anyone had any objections to the vows

The journalists said they never expected the ceremony, assuming it would be blocked by the safeguards that are in place - but it wasn't. Ali and Perveen now face jail over the sham attempt

Ali told Miss Morter that she would be free to leave him immediately after the wedding ceremony, although they would have to wait five years before they divorced.

He even invented a back-story to help them fool the authorities, claiming they had met a year-and-a-half ago at Mile End tube station in East London when she had lost her travel card. He told his prospective bride: 'When I get the card, you can leave. That's it, me and you. If I want a passport I need only one signature, that's it.

'I want to make money. Why do I have to go to university? I came here to make money.'

Interviewed on the programme, Mark Rimmer, superintendent registrar at Brent Council, said the number of sham marriages was 'absolutely enormous'. He said: 'In London we see that possibly one in five of our marriages are suspicious.

'The goal is always the British passport. It is like gold dust.

'We had a Lithuanian girl who spoke no English marrying a Pakistani male who spoke British and Urdu. I asked them how they communicate and they told me 'through Google translate'.'

The groom fled the wedding ceremony when the journalists revealed they were undercover

The journalists said they have made all their evidence available to the police. Mr Connolly said: 'Neither Ali nor Elizabeth are hardened criminals. They tried to play the system, but lost.

'The truth is we never expected to end our investigation with a sham marriage ceremony. We assumed the road would be blocked by the safeguards that are in place. But it wasn't.'

Earlier this year, the Home Affairs select committee said that sham marriages are 'spiralling out of control' in the UK, with as many as 10,000 fake weddings carried out each year.

The filmmakers refused to name the registry office or the officials who gave permission for the ceremony because they were 'testing the system, not seeking to... blame individuals'.

Speaking about the convictions, Assistant Director Martin Huxley, from the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement's Criminal and Financial Investigations team, said: 'Sham marriage abuse will not be tolerated.

'This was a thorough and successful investigation by our team of specialist officers and the message to anyone tempted to get involved in this sort of criminality is clear; we have the resource, expertise and dedication to catch you and prosecute you.'

A Gumtree spokesman added: 'We do not tolerate ads which result in illegal or immoral activity being listed on our site. Our full list of rules for posting in our 'Services' category can be found on our website, and we encourage anyone who comes across a suspicious ad to report it to us immediately through the 'Report this ad' button which can be found on every page.
Police are searching for a robber who wore a skull mask and used a scalpel-like knife to rob a petrol station staff.

The male robber entered the Caltex petrol station on the Thompson Road and McLeod Road in Patterson Lakes, south east of Melbourne, at about 5.20am on Thursday.

In the CCTV footage, the robber can be seen entering the premise and approaching the counter holding out a scalpel-like knife at the worker.

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A skull masked robber has robbed a petrol station in Patterson Lakes, south east of Melbourne

CCTV footage shows the masked man walking into the Caltex petrol station at about 5.20am on Thursday

The robber demands for cash and cigarettes, which the worker can be seen placing the cash and cigarettes in a plastic shopping bag.

The masked man walked out of the service station and fled the scene on foot.

No one was injured during the robbery.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

He threathened the service station staff with a scalpel-like knife, and demanded cash and cigarettes
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson is launching a new weeknight Fox News show that will replace the slot recently vacated by Greta Van Susteren.

The network said Thursday that Carlson, 47, will take over the 7pm Eastern hour on November 14. The name of the new program hasn't been announced.

The married father-of-four joined Fox News as a contributor in 2009. He is a co-host of 'Fox & Friends Weekends' and regularly appears on the network's other shows.

Fox News Channel says Tucker Carlson (above) is claiming the weeknight host slot recently vacated by Greta Van Susteren with a new show

The network said Thursday that Carlson, 47, will take over the 7pm Eastern hour on November 14. The name of the new program hasn't been announced. Above left to right: Steve Doocy, Mary J. Blige, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Tucker Carlson

Carlson also was a founder of the conservative news site The Daily Caller and served as its editor-in-chief. Fox says he'll no longer serve in an active editorial role.

Van Susteren's 'On The Record' has been hosted by Brit Hume since her abrupt exit from the network in September.

Hume tweeted on Thursday: "Great news! @TuckerCarlson will take over On the Record after the election as the new host. Congratulations to him. Terrific choice!"

The California native is the first major hire at the network since former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes was forced out over sexual harassment allegations.

Brit Hume tweeted the above message of support to Carlson on Thursday

Carlson (above) joined Fox News as a contributor in 2009. He is a co-host of 'Fox & Friends Weekends' and regularly appears on the network's other shows

The Los Angeles Times reported that Carlson is 'to be a favorite' of executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, Rupert Murdoch, who has taken control of operating Fox News since Ailes departed.

Prior to joining Fox News, Carlson co-hosted a CNN debate program called 'Crossfire.'

On the show he represented the conservative viewpoints. He joined MSNBC in 2005 for his own nightly program, 'Tucker,' which ended in 2008.

Carlson attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut where he studied history.

His father, Richard Carlson, is a former Los Angeles news anchor and served as president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The mother of a University of Massachusetts Amherst student who died of a heroin overdose has filed a $5million lawsuit against the school for breach of contract.

Eric Sinacori, 20, was found dead on the floor of an off-campus apartment in October 2013 by his father and stepmother, who had come to visit the New Jersey native for parents' weekend.

The unspeakable tragedy was made even more difficult because of the fact that neither of Eric's parents had any idea that their son was using heroin.

It was shortly after her son's death though that Eric's mother Francesca found out that campus police did know that her son was possibly using heroin, learning that her son was found to be in possession of a hypodermic needle when he was arrested in 2012 for dealing drugs.

Francesca knew nothing about the needle or the arrest because the school allowed all charges to be dropped and agreed to keep the matter a secret from Eric's parents when he agreed to become a drug informant for campus police.

One of those officers, who is identified in the complaint as Officer John Doe, is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit alongside the university.

Fighting back: Francesca Sinacori (abov with her late son Eric) has filed a $5million lawsuit against University of Massachusetts Amherst for breach of contract

Francesca states in her complaint, filed in Hampshire Superior Court on October 3, that under the student code of conduct the university was required to notify the parents and/or guardians of a student if they were found to be in possession of illegal drugs.

The complaint goes on to claim that campus police did not follow this code, and instead kept these incidents a secret from administrators and parents if a student agreed to work with them as an informant.

This practice had actually been approved by the school to some degree, with the University of Massachusetts Police Department starting a program in 2009 that allowed students who were drug offenders to have their charges dropped or reduced if they worked with authorities.

The details of these deals were confidential, and the program was later amended in 2011 to allow campus police to also use drug addicts as informants, with the new policy noting that these individuals had to be 'carefully supervised and controlled.'

Francesca claims in her complaint that another problem with the program was that police were not able to properly identify addicts, and received no training with how to deal with those who were struggling with drugs.

Eric was arrested in 2012 after he twice sold illegal drugs to undercover officers at the school.

Police organized the buy from Eric after another informant told them he was selling MDMA.

It was during a search of his room following the arrest that police discovered a hypodermic needle, illegal drugs including MDMA and LSD, and $700 in cash.

Nothing ever came of Eric's arrest though after police offered to set the charges aside for the time being if he would wear a wire and purchase drugs from other students.

Eric agreed, and as a result his parents were never notified of what was discovered in his room or that their son was dealing drugs.

The complaint claims that in one instance, Eric was outfitted with a wire by police and sent to buy LSD from an individual with a criminal record.

Then, just moments after he made the purchase, that dealer was arrested by police, which the complaint argues made it clear to other dealers on campus that Eric was an informant.

Francesca also states in her complaint that Officer Doe's negligent behavior allowed Eric's 'fatal drug addiction to go untreated.'

Officer Doe's decision to return the $700 he took from Eric during the drug bust a few months later is included as an example of this neglect in the complaint, with Francesca claiming that this money was then used by Eric to buy drugs.

Tragedy: Eric (left, his mother with his memorial marker on right) was found dead of a heroin overdose at his off-campus apartment in October 2013 at the age of 20

Francesca previously expressed her despair about her son's death and her disbelief with the school's informant program in a 2015 interview with 20/20.

'We should have been called, under the policies and procedures of the university. I would have been up there in the middle of the night, bringing him home and finding him help,' said the grieving mother.

She later added: 'Just knowing there was a syringe, I would have gotten him help. I would have just automatically made an assumption it was heroin.'

The details of her son's arrangement were not even shared with Francesca by police or the school, but rather two student reporters at the university.

A good deal of the information contained in Francesca's complaint was first revealed a year after her son's death by two of his fellow students, Eric Bosco and Kayla Marchetti.

The pair decided to look into the school's informant practice as part of an assignment for their investigative journalism class, which became a front-page story in The Boston Globe.

And after University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy read that piece in 2014 he made the decision to suspend the informant program.

Bosco and Marchetti were also able to get a look at Eric's text messages, including some that showed just how bad the college student's addiction had become in his final year.

They released some of the texts in another story they did for The Boston Globe.

Hard to udnerstand: Francesca was not told about the arrest because her son agreed to be a police informant in a program that was approved by the school (UMass left, Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy right)

Civil suit: Francesca is also suing her son's alleged drug dealer Jesse Carrillo (above with lawyer J.W. Carney, Jr. in october of last year) for $1million in a wrongful death suit, claiming her sold Eric the heroin

Ten months before his death Eric texted: 'If the spot I shot is black and blue and a big lump does that mean I busted a vein.'

Seven months before his death Eric texted one friend that he was going to have to come clean about his heroin addiction to his parents, saying that he would 'presumably be going to rehab' after he shared the news with them.

A month before his death he sent a text in which he said that his apartment was becoming a 'shootup den.'

And the night before he died he texted his alleged drug dealer as he made his way to him with nine bags of heroin: 'My veins are crying.'

That alleged dealer, 28-year-old Jesse Carrillo, responded by writing: 'I know youre hurting but you will very soon be in the loving comforting arms of Miss H.'

Carrillo sent one final text message shortly after he allegedly sold Eric the nine bags, asking: 'How much Tropicana did you drink?'

In the wake of Eric's death, Carrillo was charged with involuntary manslaughter and heroin distribution.

He pleaded not guilty to both charges and is awaiting trial.

Carrillo is also a defendant in a wrongful death suit filed by Francesca last month as well, with Eric's mother asking for $1million on account of Carrillo's 'reckless conduct.'

Francesca was also able to let Carrillo know how she felt about him shortly after her son's death when she texted him from Eric's phone.

In a text sent a little over three weeks after her son died, Francesca wrote to Carrillo: 'You killed my son you f****** bastard. I hope you live a life of f****** hell and are as haunted as you've made me for the rest of your miserable f****** life Jesse. You will rot in hell!'
The Corrections Minister David Elliott has since called for a review

A second teen, 17, says he has scars across his face from being isolated

One teen, 16, says he tried to hang himself and now hallucinates as a result

Two teenage detainees to sue the NSW government for compensation

A teenage boy who attempted to hang himself with his shirt and another boy who slashed his face after they were placed in isolation for extended periods of time are launching legal action against the NSW government.

The teenage detainees, charged with serious offences, were held at Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre in western Sydney, when they were placed in their cells for up to 23 hours a day, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

During another instance one teenager was held in isolation for 166 days during a 10-month period, Corrections Minister David Elliott said.

A 16-year-old (right) and a 17-year-old (left) are launching legal action against the NSW government for being placed for prolonged periods of time in isolation

A 16-year-old Aboriginal boy is preparing to sue for compensation said he was left 'stuffed in the head' and claims he now hears voices.

The boy destroyed his cell after learning his mother had passed away and was then forced to spend 22 to 23 hours a day locked in his cell.

'If you don't have anyone to talk to it makes you crazy... you are living like an animal locked in a cage,' he told his solicitor, Rebecca Dunlop.

'He spent six weeks isolated and alone while dealing with the grief of losing a parent,' Ms Dunlop said.

During periods that 'recreational' hours were allowed, the teenager claims he was handcuffed in a small concrete area.

The youth now remains on anti-psychotic medication due to his hallucinations, a condition he did not experience before his time in isolation, he said.

The pair charged with serious offences, were held at Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre in western Sydney

Corrections Minister David Elliott has said a $1 million funding boost will also be announced to manage high-risk detainees

The second 17-year-old boy suing the government, began to self-harm himself while in isolation and now has scars across his face.

'There are kids in here who have been on the program who are now covered in big scars, all over,' the 17-year-old told Ms Dunlop.

The minister has since called for an independent review of the extended times spent in isolation.
Theresa May could be forced to hold an early election if judges and Remain campaigners do not back down in the war against Brexit, Tory MPs warned last night.

On a frantic day at Westminster, the Prime Minister vowed to appeal yesterdays High Court verdict which would allow Parliament to frustrate or even scupper the process of Britain leaving the EU.

No 10 sent a clear message to the courts that 17.4million voters had backed Brexit and that they should not get in the way of delivering the best deal for Britain.

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Prime Minister Theresa May could be forced to hold an early election next year if judges and Remain campaigners continue to fight Brexit, Tory MPs have warned

Brexit Secretary David Davis, left, and said the 'people want us to get on with Brexit' while Iain Duncan-Smith, right, said if the referendum result was blocked it would mean an 'immediate' General Election

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said that  if yesterdays verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court  a full Act of Parliament would be required to trigger Brexit.

This would allow MPs or unelected peers to table amendments that could dictate the terms of Brexit or even halt the process.

But Mr Davis warned that heading down this path would be a huge mistake.

And senior Tories said that, if MPs and peers did try to frustrate Brexit, a General Election was almost inevitable, suggesting Mrs May would have no option but to trigger an immediate poll in early 2017.

Last night, Mr Davis said: Parliament voted by six to one to give the decision to the people, no ifs or buts, and thats why we are appealing this to get on with delivering the best deal for Britain.

Parliament is sovereign and has been sovereign, but of course the people are sovereign.

The High Court ruled the Government had to go through Parliament to activate Article 50 after a case brought forward by Gina Miller, pictured and other activists

'The people are the ones who parliament represents...17.4 million of them, the biggest mandate in history, voted for us to leave the European Union.

'Were going to deliver on that mandate in the best way possible for the British national interest.

The people want us to get on with it and that is what we intend to do.

Ex-justice minister Dominic Raab said the verdict had opened Pandoras box.

He added: I think the elephant in the room here is if we get to the stage where [Remainers] allow this negotiation to even begin, I think there must be an increased chance that we will need to go to the country again.

'I think that would be a mistake and I dont think those trying to frustrate the verdict in the referendum will be rewarded.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said that if peers or MPs overturned the Brexit verdict then it is a General Election immediately.

He added: The Supreme Court is going to have to take stock of this mess. There has not been another time that I can think of when a court has behaved like this.

In a decision that could spark a major constitutional crisis, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas (pictured) sided with Remain campaigners who argued Parliament must have a vote before Article 50 is triggered, which starts a two-year process for leaving the EU

He was aided by 'Master of the Rolls' Sir Terence Etherton (left) and Lord Justice Sales (right)

Mr Duncan Smith warned of a constitutional crisis  literally pitting Parliament against the will of the people.

Tory MP Steve Baker, a leading figure in Vote Leave said: Its conceivable that we could end up in General Election territory.

And Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: I think most MPs accept the will of the people and will vote for Article 50.

'If that turns out to be wrong, its definitely a matter of confidence and there would have to be a General Election.

'If the Lords was obstructive we would just have to create 1,000 peers.

Economists at Deutsche Bank last night told investors that Mrs May is likely to have to call an election next year.

ARTICLE 50 U-TURN STILL POSSIBLE SAYS PEER The cross-bench peer who wrote Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty  the means by which Britain leaves the EU  last night suggested the country could still change its mind after triggering it. In an interview with the BBC, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard said it was not irrevocable and renewed calls for Parliament or the public to be given a chance to stop Brexit. If a country were to decide we dont want to leave after all, everybody would be very cross about it being a waste of time, he said. They might try to extract a political price but legally they couldnt insist that you leave. Advertisement

Bookmakers also shortened the odds on a 2017 poll to just 2/1.

Mrs May is personally resistant to the idea of an early election and her spokesman was last night emphatic there would be no poll before 2020.

Ministers are still hopeful that, when their appeal is heard next month, the Supreme Court will overturn yesterdays verdict.

However, should the Supreme Court uphold it, ministers believe they would be required to introduce a full Act of Parliament to trigger Article 50.

Remain MPs would have the opportunity to amend legislation  demanding, for example, that we stay in the single market.

Alternatively, MPs could demand that the Government spells out its negotiating strategy before Article 50 is triggered.

No 10 has been clear this would be unacceptable, as it would hand a negotiating advantage to the EU.

Labour remained in chaos yesterday over what to do next.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn  who had previously called for Article 50 to be triggered straight after the EU referendum  said the wishes of the public must be respected.

Mrs May will spend today phoning European leaders to tell them she remains committed to starting the process by March 2017.

Meanwhile, the deputy leader of the DUP, Nigel Dodds, expressed his disappointment at the ruling.

He told those attempting to block Brexit they must respect the will of the people.
Celebrity chef Michael Chiarello has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drug possession in Napa County.

The California Highway Patrol says Chiarello, 54, was arrested after his Porsche Boxster was stopped around 3.30am Wednesday on Silverado Trail.

The area is a couple of miles from Yountville, where Chiarello has a restaurant, Bottega.

Chef Michael Chiarello, of Bottega restaurant gesturing before the start of an East meets West cooking battle in St. Helena, Calif. Chiarello was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drug possession in Napa County

Chiarello was booked and released on driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance charges.

The chef's spokesman, Terry Fahn, released a statement saying the chief was embarrassed and apologizes to his family, friends and business colleagues but that 'he intends to vigorously challenge the misdemeanor charges filed against him,' according to The Los Angeles Times.

Chiarello is known for his 'Easy Entertaining' show on the Food Network and appearing on the popular cooking reality show Top Chef Masters.

Chef Michael Chiarello is shown at the Far Niente winery in Oakville, California

He was arrested days after settling a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by two former servers at his San Francisco restaurant, Coqueta.

The servers also accused him of not paying wages, and a hearing for that lawsuit is set for next month, according to the outlet.



In March, he faced two lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and refusal to pay his employees their due wages.

Two former servers of Chiarello's high-end tapas restaurant Coqueta filed lawsuits in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging a work environment that was hostile and sexually charged.

The famous chef was arrested only a couple of miles from his restaurant Bottega, above

Attorney Kelly Armstrong, who filed the lawsuits on behalf of Katherine Page and Asja Sever, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the women hoped to 'send a strong message that this type of treatment will not be tolerated'.

One lawsuit says Chiarello crudely likened martinis to breasts and once said: 'Martinis are like t**s, one is too few, three is too many.'

He also allegedly told managers to only hire people they found sexually desirable.

In another incident, the lawsuit claimed Chiarello held a baguette to his crotch in an overly suggestive manner and stroked it in full view of his employees.

In addition, the lawsuit alleged he compared a sandwich on his menu to a vagina.

The suit also accused various chefs and managers of inappropriate touching and making remarks that were sexually abusive, racist and homophobic.

A second lawsuit by the women is a class-action complaint alleging that the restaurant didn't pay the women and others for all the hours they worked, including overtime.

The women, who worked at the restaurant for more than a year before filing the lawsuit, also claimed they and others were denied meal breaks and rest periods.
The Chandra Levy case unraveled because of seven hours of secret audio recordings a House of Cards actress made of the prosecution's star witness.

Ingmar Guandique was found guilty of killing the Washington DC intern in 2001 after Armando Morales, his former cellmate, claimed he confessed to the murder.

But all charges were dropped against Guandique in July after actress Babs Proller revealed that Morales admitted to fabricating his entire testimony while they were talking about a case.

She hid a recording device in a storage unit the pair both visited while they were living in the same hotel, and caught him suggesting that prosecutors 'wanted him to lie'.

The bombshell rocked one of the country's most notorious murder mysteries and devastated Levy's parents, who have since questioned Proller's own motives.

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Babs Proller (right), an actress who once appeared in House of Cards (pictured), provided secret audio recordings that got all charges dropped against Chandra Levy's convicted killer

Ingmar Guandique (pictured) was found guilty in 2010 of killing the 24-year-old Washington DC intern after Armando Morales, his former cellmate, claimed he confessed to the murder. he is pictured above in 2009

Guandique, pictured left, spent six years behind bars for Levy's murder, which made national headlines throughout the years as it was revealed she had an affair with a married congressman. Levy is pictured right

Proller, a divorced 51-year-old mother, told ABC News' 20/20 in an interview that she met Morales while they both stayed at a hotel in Maryland.

The actress, who appeared briefly in the Netflix series as an uncredited 'Clerk of Courts', was in the middle of moving homes and staying at a Country Inn & Suites.

She said that he helped her carry her dog to her car, and that soon after she started to get to know him while taking her dog for walks.

Proller said that Morales told her he had recently been released from spending more than 20 years in prison and that he had been in a gang and 'was in prison for gang-related, drug-related charges,' Proller told '20/20'.

Morales appeared to be a model witness when he took the stands to testify against Guandique, who he once shared a cell with at a federal Kentucky prison in 2006.

The five-time convicted felon and gang leader said he was a changed man.

'I got tired of all the violence,' Morales told jurors and he described his experience in a 'life skills' mentoring program, according to the Washington Post.

Proller said that she was not scared of Morales, despite his lengthy criminal history.

Proller (above), a divorced 51-year-old mother, told ABC News' 20/20 in an interview that she met Morales while they both stayed at a hotel in Maryland

The actress said at first Armando Morales (above) gave her 'no reason to be scared', but that quickly changed. She decided to secretly record their conversations and that resulted in seven hours of audio

'He gave me no reason to be scared,' she said. 'He's carrying my dog into a hotel very gently, and he has all this affection and kindness He felt sorry for whatever he had done.

'He convinced me that he was a completely changed man. I totally believed everything he told me.'

She explained that Morales insisted on taking care of her dog and watching over her belongings while she was out of town and she allowed him to do so.

While away, she quickly realized 'that everything he told me was really a lie.'

'While I'm in Ocean City, he texts me pictures of himself and Buddy, selfies, how they're walking and they're having a good time, and then suddenly I get a text from him and the text has a business card of mine,' she said.

'I've never given him my business card. I've never given him my last name. I'm thinking, 'That's odd.' The only place I have business cards are in my locked file folder.

'At this point, I'm nervous,' she added. 'He betrayed my trust.'

Their friendship turned sour when Morales threatened to hurt her ex-husband and a man who allegedly stole jewelry from her.

Proller hid a recording device inside her storage unit where she kept her belongings while living in between homes. She claims that Morales told her 'prosecutors wanted him to lie' during Guandique's trial

When she returned, Proller said he offered to keep her company at her storage unit where she kept the bulk of her belongings while between homes.

That's whens she decided to record their conversations and hid a device near one of the bins in her storage locker.

'I never in my life thought he would be talking about the case or for him to admit at any point that he lied,' Proller said.

They started talking about the murder mystery and Proller said she asked Morales what Guandique told him since they were cellmates.

According to Proller, Morales responded and replied that Guandique had said: 'Homeboy, I killed that  effing b****. But I didn't rape her.'

That statement is consistent with what Morales said during Guandique's trial.

However, Proller said that soon enough, Morales made it clear he had lied about Guandique's confession.

She said Morales said, 'The prosecutors wanted me to lie. They knew they had the right guy. They just needed somebody to say it.'

According to the actress, Morales called Guandique a 'thug' who 'belongs in jail' because he attacked two other women.

She said the Morales was a 'master of manipulation' who 'can convince you of anything'.

Levy, who disappeared while on a jog in 2001, was seeing Congressman Gary Condit (center)

Proller explained that his motivation for lying during the widely publicized 2010 trial in the Levy murder case was so that he could be moved to another prison.

'He had a mentor [who] had testified in a case and gotten a reduced sentence,' Proller said.

'That mentor kind of put that thought in his mind if you have any information in a case, then you can get better conditions in prison or get a reduced sentence.'

Proller admitted that she was terrified while secretly recording their conversations, as Morales could have found the recorder at any time.

'I was just thinking, 'If he finds the recorder He's gonna kill me,' she said.

Morales can be heard bragging about shooting gang rivals and his ability to make prison shanks out of foam cups.

He told Proller how the shank could then be stuck into somebody's eye and 'penetrate that shell into their brain and take their life'.

Condit admitted to police authorities that he was romantically involved with Chandra Levy before her disappearance

Proller can be heard coaxing Morales to admit that he fabricated his testimony against Guandique in 2010.

Before she went to officials with the recordings, Proller said she first offered to give it to the victim's mother, Susan Levy, who suggested she tell the prosecution and defense about it.

During the seven hours of recordings of their conversations, Morales is not heard on tape admitting to making up Guandique's confession, '20/20' reported, as they have obtained the recordings.

Chandra (second right) was last heard from on May 1, 2001 when she emailed her parents Susan and Robert as she prepared to head home to California for her graduation

Her parents attempted to contact her for three days before reaching out to police on May 5 and filing a missing persons report

It is not believed that any additional recordings exist.

Morales' attorney said his client never told anyone, including Proller, that he made up Guandique's confession, '20/20' reported.

Susan Levy said that she does not trust Proller and that she was 'stunned' at how the case 'unraveled' within five days this summer.

Her husband, Bob Levy, said that despite the charges being dropped against Guandique, he still thinks he is guilty of his daughter's murder.

'They had all this evidence  it just fit the whole scenario. It really fit,' he said.

'It fell apart because  this woman tampered with the witness and got him to say a bunch of things on tape, which was illegally taped.  He didn't know he was being taped.

'Why did she do that? What was her motive?'

In defending herself, Proller said that she did not take money and that she's not trying to 'scam' anyone involved.

But whether or not Morales was actually caught on tape admitting he made it all up, the prosecution believed it was enough to clear Guandique, who was set for a retrial in October.

Authorities spent days searching for evidence relating to Levy's disappearance in Rock Creek Park (above)

The undocumented Guatemalan immigrant now faces deportation.

Morales' testimony was vital to the prosecution, which had no forensic evidence or weapon tying Guandique, now 60, to the crime.

Their case rested on the alleged jail cell confession, as well as the fact that Guandique had also attacked two other female joggers in the same park.

But the recording and Proller's claims have tarnished Morales' credibility and prosecutors said they could no longer prove Guandique was Levy's killer beyond a reasonable doubt.

As the Washington intern's murder is back to being unsolved, the Metropolitan Police Department said it 'will continue to pursue any new leads that are uncovered or brought to our attention.'

Levy's name became headline - and tabloid - fodder for years after the 24-year-old intern disappeared while out on a jog in 2001.

It would soon be revealed she was having an affair with California Congressman Gary Condit at the time of her murder, and he quickly became a prime suspect.

It would be a year before Levy's remains were found in Rock Creek Park, and eight more before Guandique was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder.

Susan Levy said she was in a 'state of shock' when news that Guandique would go free was first released.

Just in May, the intern's mother, Susan Levy, was shocked to learn that her daughter (right) allegedly had rough bondage sex with Condit (left )

'It kind of puts you back to the level of grief that you originally had,' she told NBC Bay Area.

'I only wish that we can get the right person, whoever did what happened to my daughter.'

In a motion filed in May, Guandique's legal team wrote that Condit, a married father of two, had a 'powerful' and 'obvious' motivation for killing Chandra.

'Mr. Condit was fully aware of the cost he could pay if his affair with Ms Levy became public,' the defense motion states.

'He therefore had an obvious motive to kill Ms Levy in order to keep the relationship secret, and an equally powerful motive to cover-up the circumstances of her death if she died while she was with him  either through his intentional conduct or otherwise.'

Opening up: Gary Condit (above) spoke for the first time in 15 years about the death of Chandra Levy in October

The defense also attempted to convince the judge to allow depositions to be taken from three women who claim to have had affairs with Condit as well as a friend who worked as his former driver and bodyguard.

Condit knew Levy, then a Bureau of Prisons intern, but previously refused to answer questions about the nature of their relationship while under oath.

Last week, Condit went on Dr. Phil's talk show and denied that he ever had an affair with Levy.

'I saw her one time. I saw her one time outside the office, at a restaurant. And she came by my condo once,' Condit told Dr. Phil during the interview.

When Dr. Phil asked if Condit is certain it was only once, the former congressman stumbles over his words, and begins to change his story.

'Maybe twice. Yeah I think it was twice she came by,' said Condit.
Sydneysiders woke to thick smoke blanketing the city on Friday morning

has been issued for people with

A health warning has been issued after Sydneysiders woke to a thick smoke haze across the city for the second Friday in a row.

Health authorities have warned people with breathing problems to avoid smoke affected areas following controlled burns across New South Wales yesterday.

'Those with asthma or susceptible to respiratory problems should avoid these areas or remain inside with windows and doors closed,' NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Regional Manager Christine Hopkins said.

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A health warning has been issued after Sydneysiders woke to a thick smoke haze across the city on Friday morning

Health authorities have warned people with breathing problems to avoid smoke affected areas following controlled burns across New South Wales yesterday

The hazard reduction burns started on Thursday in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park near Terrey Hills

The hazard reduction burns started on Thursday in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park near Terrey Hills, north of Sydney.

'This 275 hectare burn will be undertaken with the Rural Fire Service and will involve over 100 fire crew as well as a number of large fire appliances including multiple aircraft,' Ms Hopkins said.

Images show thick smoke blanketing the city and Sydney's northern beaches.

Rural Fire Service Inspector Ben Shepherd said the controlled burns are expected to finish on Friday afternoon.

'There is a slight swell of smoke, but that will dissipate over the day as it warms up,' he said.

Images show thick smoke blanketing the city and Sydney's northern beaches
Video shows Australian 7th Division attack in Indonesia in Pacific War

The flamethrower was widely used in WWII to burn bunkers and vehicles

Allied forces using flamethrowers to flush out bunkers and burn enemies

The Second World War was one of the most significant periods of the 20th century and glimpses of the brutality of war are still emerging today.

A grisly video from the Australian 7th Division attacking Japanese troops in Balikpapan, Indonesia, during the Pacific War has been unearthed.

The glimpse of the video shows the horrors of war with Allied forces using flamethrowers to flush out enemy bunkers in WWII.

The video shows Australian troops and tanks torching bunkers and one graphic moment of a man or soldier burning alive as he attempts to escape his shelter, according to British Pathe.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Flamethrowers were used in WWI and WWII to flush out enemy bunkers in trench warfare

The video emerged shows military troops using portable flamethrowers to burn bunkers and enemy troops

The video shows flamethrowers mounted on tanks and troops incinerating enemy bunkers.

Invasion of Balikpapan One of the last major encounters of the Pacific War in WWII

Japanese forces captured Borneo in 1942

Australian troops landed in Balikpapan, south eastern coast of Borneo, in July 1, 1945

Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in the Pacific General Douglas MacArthur led the invasion

The video showed the Australian 7th Division invading Balikpapan

The landing on July 1, was the largest ever amphibious assault with more than 33,000 military, air force and navy personnel

The Japanese were heavily outnumbered Advertisement

The video ends with footage showing the devastating damage the flamethrower, which could shoot a stream of flames up to 30-40m long, can cause with the air filled with billows of smoke.

The video was an old news update of Australian troops landing on Balikpapan, south eastern coast of Borneo, in July 1, 1945.

Borneo had been captured by the Japanese forces in 1942.

This battle was considered one of the last major encounters of the Pacific War and after heavy bombing, the Japanese were outnumbered.

The battle occurred only a few weeks before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which subsequently ended the war.

Flamethrowers in warfare The FlammenWerfer was invented by German scientist Richard Fiedler

First introduced in WWI trench warfare

The standard U.S. flamethrower was the M1A1

It was superseded by the M2

Most military grade flamethrowers used flammable liquid, propelled by gas

Portable flamethrowers had a range of 20-40 metres

Tanks had enough fuel for 10 seconds of continuous fire

The flamethrower was used in significant wars including WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars

U.S. military stopped using the flamethrower in 1978 Advertisement

The flamethrower was ubiquitously used in WWII between 1939 - 1945 by both the Allied forces and the Germans.

Allied forces used the M1A1 and M2 flamethrower in the second world war, until the arrival of flamethrower tanks, reduced the risk of men lugging around the heavy tanks.

The heavy packs, weighing up to 30kg, made troops vulnerable to enemy fire.

The flamethrower was also used in both the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The U.S. Department of Defence voluntarily removed the weapon from their military's arsenal in 1978.

This was due to the lack of effectiveness of the flamethrower in modern day warfare and the public issues with the gruesome results of the weapon.

Australian troops landed in Balikpapan, south eastern coast of Borneo, in July 1, 1945
The hunt is on for two people who rammed a car into a tattoo parlour and then set the shop on fire in what police believe is a bikie-related attack.

Footage of the attack at the Tattoo Culture studio in Greenway, Canberra, has been released with the hope of the public identifying the offenders.

Emergency services were called to a suspicious fire that ripped through the shop about 1.20am on October 14.

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Police are looking for the two people responsible for setting the Tattoo Culture shop on fire

In a Facebook message, Tattoo Culture notified their loyal clients their computers had been seized by the Australia Federal Police as part of the investigation. A female tattoo artist works on a colourful design for a customer (pictured)

The footage shows a stolen ute driving up on the nature strip outside of the parlour and quickly reversing into the shop's window.

Two offenders wearing hoodies jump out of the vehicle carrying large bottles of petrol.

They can be seen entering the property and dousing it in the liquid.

Before fleeing the scene one of the offenders sets the fire and the shop is quickly engulfed in flames.

In the CCTV video, a stolen black ute can be seen quickly reversing into the window of the tattoo shop

CCTV of the attack shows a car ramming into the store and two people wearing hoodies entering the property, dousing it in petrol and setting it on fire

Police say the attack is outlaw motorcycle gang related. This is the second time this year Tattoo Culture has been set on fire

This is the second time this year Tattoo Culture shop has been set on fire.

In May this year, the store was also set on fire, which police also deemed as suspicious.

The damage from this fire appeared to be more severe than the May attack, shop owners told The Canberra Times.

'When the same thing happened in May, we were interviewed by police in our shops at 8am. This time we haven't been able to step foot in our stores all day,' Labrini McDonald owner of Arnold's Pizza and Ribs said.

Tattoo Culture told their customers through their Facebook page that they had not received any further update on the investigation

One customer who was eager to get her tattoo said: 'I'm so sorry you guys are going through this, it's a horrible thing'

Another customer wrote: 'we'll wait for your guys to get up and going again. Hope it's all sorted soon'

Police say the attack is outlaw motorcycle gang-related and are asking members of the public to assist with the identifying the individuals.

Tattoo Culture recently posted a message on their Facebook page telling their customers they had not received any further update on the investigation.

'We are still waiting on our computer systems from the AFP but rest assured we will update you all as soon as we have any news! We thank you all for your patience and loyalty at this difficult time, stay awesome!

One woman commented: 'I'm so sorry you guys are going through this, it's a horrible thing. I'm sad that I can't get my tattoo this weekend but I will wait... you guys are awesome and I don't want to go anywhere else.'

Another customer said: 'We'll wait for your guys to get up and going again. Hope it's all sorted soon.'

Anyone who witnessed suspicious activity near Scollay Street on this night or saw this vehicle, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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After early signs that she may not be getting the numbers she needs out of younger and minority voters in battleground North Carolina, Hillary Clinton brought musician Pharrell Williams and former rival senator Bernie Sanders to fire up young people, minorities, and women voters.

'So tell me this, North Carolina: Are you really really happy that were here tonight?' Clinton told a cheering crowd of supporters.

From the way she embraced her one time primary rival, it wasn't entirely clear Clinton was happy to be campaigning by Sanders' side  though the Vermont senator has been campaigning for her tirelessly in the campaign's final days.

After an awkward embrace, Sanders delivered a long speech making the case for Clinton  where off the bat he made the point that the race is not about Hillary Clinton but about a series of issues that he, and she, campaigned on.

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So, you been up up to much since the DNC? Hillary and Bernie tried to put on a united front for the Democratic party during a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday night

Come on Bernie, for old times' sake! The pair went in for an awkward hug backstage as they prepared to address the crowd in one of the last pushes of the race for the White House

Won't be long before winter's here.... Bernie was seen fiddling with his notes while Hillary stared off into the distance

Did I turn the oven off? Finally Bernie put away his notes and joined Hillary in the thousand-yard stare

Despite what media may tell you this campaign is not about Hillary Clinton. It is not about Donald Trump. It is not about Bill Clinton, he continued.

This campaign is about you, Sanders said.

Acknowledging that his preferred candidate might not be the cool kid in the race, Sanders said: And this campaign is not a personality contest. Were not voting for high school president. Were voting for the most powerful leader in the entire world.

And what this campaign must be about is which candidate has the experience and the vision to work for the middle class and the working class and the families of our country. Without a shadow of a doubt that candidate is Hillary Clinton our next president, Sanders said.

Clinton hailed 'these two extraordinary men' after getting saluted by both of them. Then she borrowed President Obama's slogan, saying, 'I feel all fired up and ready to go for the next five days.'

According to hacked emails that appeared on WikiLeaks, Clinton's campaign wasn't always so sanguine about Sanders. Campaign chair John Podesta responded to one email by saying of Sanders, 'Where would you stick the knife?'

Introducing Clinton, Sanders returned to the wealth and equality based themes of his campaign. 'We are not gonna become an oligarchy,' said Sanders, whose attacks on income inequality allowed him to run a spirited primary against Clinton that had the Clinton operation running scared.

'And this campaign is not a personality contest. Were not voting for high school president,' Sanders told a cheering crowd of about 4,000 in the university town.

He blasted the 'grotesque level' of income inequality, and said 'nobody can make it' on the $7.25 federal minimum wage, which he called a 'starvation wage.'

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Fancy meeting you here! Sanders was willing to put his differences with Clinton aside as he backed her in the final week of the campaign

Thank goodness Pharrell's here! At least for a little while the pair could enjoy the distraction presented by the hit singer's speech

Seen any good films lately, Pharrell? The two candidates stand alongside Pharrell Williams (right) backstage before stepping out on stage

He added, 'You can't make it on $10 an hour,' he said. Sanders noted there is one candidate 'who has pledged to make the minimum wage a living wage'  Clinton, although he didn't mention the 'fight for $15.'

In a campaign that has lately devolved into a series of charges of sexism, assault, and corruption between Trump and Clinton, Sanders ran through the gamut of liberal issues he campaigned on, including paid family leave, rebuilding 'crumbling infrastructure,' and other issues he campaigned on.

He said Clinton would deliver 'tuition free' college  which he termed a 'pretty revolutionary idea.'

Williams, who gushed about Clinton in an appearance on 'Ellen' this month, indicated that he knows something about the 'Art of the Deal.'

Remember what we said, no bickering! The pair looked deep in thought as they walked the back corridors

He's still got it! Bernie lightened up when he took to the podium and suddenly Hillary could be seen grinning as The Bern worked his magic with the crowd

He held a brief tarmac meeting with Clinton and met young voters with her  and says Clinton made 'commitments.'

But in a surprise comment that was revealed this week, Williams said Clinton had been 'dishonest.'

On Tuesday, the record producer said that Clinton has been 'dishonest' while speaking at Variety's Inclusion summit at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

'Has she been dishonest about things? Sure. Have you?' Williams said of Clinton. 'She don't lie no more than any other politician does.'

Clinton and Sanders applaud during the rally at the Coastal Credit Union Music Park in North Carolina

Clinton met with hit musician Pharrell Williams, who met with her aboard her campaign plane and said he got 'commitments' from her

Hillary Clinton held an evening rally in North Carolina with musician Pharrell Williams and former primary rival Bernie Sanders

'This country hasnt always been fair to all people, especially my culture,' Williams said. 'But I think Hillarys going to help fix these wrongs.'

'Shes made some commitments. She made some commitments,' he continued. 'Whether its pay equality for women, free public college tuition ... and very important to me, addressing the mass incarceration issue of 1994,' Williams said.

Bill Clinton signed the crime bill in 1994 that included 'Three strikes, you're out' sentencing  an action that became an issue for Clinton to overcome in her primary campaign.

'Shes made a commitment to me. Three strikes, all those things. Were gonna deal with all those things,' Williams said.

Speaking after Williams, Clinton introduced an additional issue into the mix  music and arts education.

'Im especially pleased to have Pharrell here,' she told the crowd, which lit up for the 'Happy' star. 'Every time I see him, which is not often enough, we always have a good conversation like we did before this event.'

'He always gets you to think. Not only is he a world class talent but he is a passionate advocate for issues,' Clinton gushed.

Then she added: 'Im going to do everything I can help him to deliver giving kids who are at risk access to education and arts programs that they deserve to have.'

The pair step off the plane in Morrisville, North Carolina, before making their way to the campaign event

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets members of the audience after speaking at a rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, N.C. earlier Thursday

Clinton brought the hit-maker to greet about 100 students at North Carolina Central University. The crowd grew before the duo left.

The two posed for selfies and Pharrell flashed a pieace sign, urging his fans to 'vote for Hillary.'

'Get out and vote,' Clinton told the students. 'I just need you to got vote.'

The latest Quinnipiac Unversity poll in the state has Clinton leading by just 47 to 44 per cent, with Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson at 3 per cent.

Clinton is counting on the nod from Sanders to help drive up turnout among young voters. Media reports have revealed a drop off in early vote totals compared to 2012.

The importance of the battleground was made plain Thursday night as Clinton's campaign plane landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport just before sun down.

Pharrell Williams caught the press off guard when he sauntered up the jetway to board Clinton's plane. Olympic skater Michelle Kwan, another Clinton backer, also boarded the plane at one point.

LETS MAKE A DEAL: Clinton said she would do 'everything I can' to deliver arts and music education to at-risk kids

As Clinton and the hit-maker were chatting, while reporters were waiting to snap pictures of the pair, Trump's Boeing-757 landed on a nearby runway.

Clinton was there to attend her evening rally in Raleigh, while Trump was headed to Selma, North Carolina for his event.

The gathered media then got to shoot well-staged photos of Clinton and Williams getting into the candidates SUV to go get out the vote.

Reporters aboard Trump's plane, who typically follow just one candidate from rally to rally, were able to film and photograph Clinton's motorcade.

Not long after, Clinton's press corps, which had to take a slight detour to pick up additional members, were able to view Trump and his entourage exiting the mogul's jet. That is something Trump's own press corps doesn't usually get to witness, because the candidate does not fly on the same aircraft as the reporters who cover him.

Pharrell made clear his support for Clinton in an appearance earlier in October on the 'Ellen' show.

'Its time for a woman to be in there, he said. Women think about things in a holistic way, its not so individual.' Williams continued: 'Im saying Im happy to be a man, but I love women. The thing is, if we had somebody looking after our country that thought about things as a whole, I just feel like it just would be different.'
The FBI is investigating its own Twitter account after it started sharing documents relevant to the election.

The Bureau launched the probe after one of its verified accounts @FBIRecordsVault, which had been unactive for almost a year, suddenly began spouting files, Think Progress reported.

One described Donald Trump's father Fred as a 'philanthropist' while another mentioned President Bill Clintons controversial pardon of Marc Rich, the trader who made illegal deals with Iran while his wife donated to the Democrats.

The FBIs assistant director in the office of professional responsibility, Candice Will, said they are looking into what happened, reports the outlet.

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The FBI is investigating its own Twitter account after it started sharing documents relevant to the election. One described Donald Trump's father Fred as a 'philanthropist' while another mentioned President Bill Clintons controversial pardon of Marc Rich

On October 30, the account, which had been dormant since October 8 of last year, suddenly sprang to life.

There was a tweet posted about Donald Trump's father, Fred, and led to an eight-page document on him.

The document lists a history of his businesses and investments and the FBI's request for a 'name check.'

'Fred C. Trump: Fred C. Trump (1905-1999) was a real estate developer and philanthropist,' the tweet said.

Hillary Clinton with Denise Rich, the ex-wife of Marc Rich, whose pardon on Bill Clinton's last day in office was controversial

That day, the account also tweeted about documents relating to Hillary Clinton: 'Hillary Rodham Clinton served as U.S. Secretary of State from January 21, 2009 to February 1, 2013. The FBI conducted an investigation into allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure.'

The tweet included a 47-page document on the email investigations.

The account also released many other tweets that had nothing to do with the presidential candidates

It included aerial surveillance footage on the Baltimore protests in 2015 and documents related to Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla.

At first the FBI said these were standard, automatic tweets as a result of FOIA requests, but now reportedly says it is investigating its own account

On November 1, the account tweeted about the Clinton Foundation and the 2001 FBI investigation of Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, the ex-husband of Denise Rich, the songwriter who had given $1million to the Democratic party and $100,000 to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.

Rich was in Switzerland when he was indicted on charged of tax evasion and making illegal oil deals with Iran.

At question would be whether the documents, released eight days before the general election, might influence them, which is against federal law.

Earlier, the FBI had said that the tweets were in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
When patients enter the cardio rehab gym at Southampton Hospital, a bright pink sign warns them to leave their political affiliations at the door.

Southampton Hospital, in Long Island, New York, has banned all debates involving the presidential election to protect its patients with heart conditions from getting into heated arguments.

Jessica Swiatocha, who manages the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation gym at Southampton Hospital, told Newsday a good debate can still be bad for blood pressure.

Jessica Swiatocha (pictured), manager of the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation gym at Southampton Hospital, has banned political debates in the unit

A sign warning patients not to engage in political debate (pictured) has been posted in the gym. Swiatocha said patients in recovery there have heart conditions that could be stressed by heated political discourse

To prevent patients from getting political, the gym posted the sign, which reads: 'Due to the fact that we have patients with heart conditions we cannot allow political debates in the gym.'

Swiatocha said the many patients who are recovering in the gym have had heart surgery, heart attack or suffer from congestive heart failure and the last thing they want to do is increase their stress levels.

One patient said she was stuck between a Trump supporter and a Clinton supporter as all three walked on treadmills.

As heated comments flew back and forth, the patient in the middle said she was 'very uncomfortable'.

After that, political arguments were prohibited from the center.

'Stress has been proven to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It can increase blood pressure, increase irregular heart rhythms, decrease immune response, increase anxiety and worsen insomnia.

'Because of this we like to keep our cardiac rehab a stress free zone.

'We do a lot of education to our patients on stress reduction and didnt want to be preaching a low stress lifestyle in a high stress environment,' Swiatocha told Newsday in an email.

Swiatocha said her staff has even had to scold some patients after they continued talking about politics in the gym, assuming the sign was just a joke.

Televisions in the gym, which used to show CNN and other news outlets that have dedicated coverage to the election, have been switched to more relaxing channels (Southampton Hospital, pictured)

'It is meant in a lighthearted way, but we do take it seriously. People are free to discuss the issues but we dont want people raising their voices or for anything to get too heated,' she said.

Televisions in the gym, which used to show CNN and other news outlets that have dedicated coverage to the election, have been switched to more relaxing channels.

But it's not just patients with bad hearts that are feeling the stress of the election.

American Psychological Association conducted a survey in August, which determined 52 per cent of adults feel the election is a 'very or somewhat significant' source of stress in their lives, Newsday reported.

Gallup conducted a similar survey in July and found that 51 per cent of Americans are afraid of the election results.
Voters were too immature  and influenced by racism  to decide a big thing like Brexit, said a Labour MP with satisfaction after the High Court ruled against the Government. This claim came from Paul Flynn (Newport W), whose constituents voted Leave by 56 per cent. How very childish of them. We must hope they soon realise Comrade Flynn is their superior being.

Mr Flynn, speaking in the Commons, said: What should be supreme: the single snapshot of public opinion taken on a single day in June, heavily influenced by racial scaremongering and the downright lies of extra billions for the health service; or the mature opinion of Parliament when the full titanic consequences of Brexit are known?

And there you have it, mes braves: the authentic sound of the snooterati and their belief they know better than you little voters. Being MPs and unelected peers, they are mature. They are above being influenced.

Gordon Brown thought the Government had won. No, no, Gordon, said a young woman, the pro-Brussels lot had carried the day. Broon, pinging a smile: Thats tremendous!

The decision came just after 10am. Sky Newss Faisal Islam almost took off, he was waving his hands around so much as he relayed the news. Faisal was wearing a lovely Rupert Bear scarf. Out of the courthouse shot Gina Miller, the City millionaire who brought the case against the Government. Boy, she was some media performer. An egomaniac, too. Gobbling down her airtime on rolling news, she repeatedly referred to herself. As often happens, she mis-used the term Mother of Parliaments.

When the news broke I was listening (such are the sketchwriters burdens) to a speech by Gordon Brown. Old Gordon, on being told the result from Chancery Lane, initially got the wrong end of the stick, as he often does. He thought the Government had won. No, no, Gordon, said a young woman, the pro-Brussels lot had carried the day. Broon, pinging a smile: Thats tremendous!

Cabinet Brexiteer Liam Fox, at the Commons despatch box, was soon saying the Government was disappointed (translation: steaming with anger). Cue delighted Labour laughter.

Commons Leader David Lidington added that a minister would on Monday give MPs an update. The shadow minister, Valerie Vaz, weak as a pub gin and tonic, had almost nothing to say on the matter. Jeremy Corbyn and his front bench have been placed in a fix over this. The last thing they want is to trigger a general election as they could be slaughtered. That would suit the Blairite kamikaze crowd fine because they are desperate to get rid of Corbyn.

Remorseless Remainer Ken Clarke (Con, Rushcliffe), perhaps seeing that the High Court decision may smoke out the pro-EU Establishment, limited himself to a demand for more parliamentary time to discuss the EU. I should add that Mr Clarke nodded firm assent to Paul Flynns comments about the maturity and possible racism of the voters.

Gina Miller, the City millionaire who brought the case against the Government was some media performer outside the courthouse

In a back corner of the Chamber, Tory Europhiles Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan crouched close, limbs knotted in urgent consultation. Mrs Morgan soon flew from the Chamber and was presently to be found on Her Majestys Sky News, announcing she would be very mindful of how people voted in the referendum. How gracious of Lady Muck to concede she may take into consideration the view of 17.4million voters.

Sir Bill Cash (Con, Stone) pointed out that the Commons had already expressed its view when it set up the referendum, thus contracting out the decision to the people. Mike Gapes (Lab, Ilford S) said the referendum merely had the status of advice to the Commons. Again Mr Clarke nodded. But Mr Lidington said MPs had given the British people the final say on EU membership.
All three judges who caused chaos yesterday were among a crowd who slow-handclapped Brexit campaigner Michael Gove earlier this year, it can be revealed.

It is understood none of these three was disrespectful to Mr Gove. The judiciarys unprecedented display of hostility towards Mr Gove, then the Lord Chancellor, came days after the referendum.

He was subjected to jeers, loud muttering and slow handclaps from some as he addressed a white tie banquet at Mansion House in the City of London.

It was a vivid demonstration of the solidly pro-EU view of the British judiciary.

All three judges who voted to force the Government to put Brexit to Parliament were among a crowd who slow-clapped Michael Gove, pictured, earlier this year

In a decision that could spark a major constitutional crisis, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas (pictured) sided with Remain campaigners who argued Parliament must have a vote before Article 50 is triggered, which starts a two-year process for leaving the EU

The guests at the Dinner with the Queens Judges, the most prestigious in the judicial calendar, included the Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and his two fellow judges who delivered yesterdays shock verdict.

The then-minister was heard for the most part in a sullen and stony silence, but some parts of his speech triggered audible jeers.

Some guests were seen to pointedly talk to one other, as Mr Gove told them 17million Britons voted for Brexit, adding: Globalisation may have benefited the City of London, but it caused a chill wind to blow through those neglected communities which voted overwhelmingly to leave.

'We here should humbly reflect on those peoples experiences.

Not since Tony Blair was slow-handclapped by the Womens Institute in 2000 had a senior government minister faced such ignominy.

It was almost certainly the first time judges had conducted themselves in this way.

One Brexiteer, who was at the dinner, said: It was astonishing. As Michael Gove was speaking it was as if the room temperature plunged below freezing point.

It was incredibly frosty and hostile. I heard myself saying, These people, at a feast in the heart of the prosperous Square Mile, are so out of touch with the real world.

I thought then, They havent a clue why so many disadvantaged communities voted overwhelmingly to leave.

He was aided by 'Master of the Rolls' Sir Terence Etherton (left) and Lord Justice Sales (right)

Another guest said: It was just horrible. The guests hated Michael Gove and everything he stood for on the referendum.

By contrast, an earlier speech by Lord Mountevans, the Lord Mayor of London  a millionaire Swedish-born ship broker  was greeted with whoops, cheers, and clapping when he attacked the result and some of those who had voted Leave.

The referendum debate shone a light on all UK institutions and industries including our justice system, he said.

As head of the City of London Corporation, and ambassador for all UK financial services, I  we  made our position clear.

'For businesses, employees and our communities  we wanted to remain in the EU.

This drew the nights loudest cheers.

Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, made only one cryptic reference to the EU referendum in his speech.

He said: We all know that Harold Wilson said that a week was a long time in politics.

'Whatever may be the speed or nature of changes in matters political, the judiciary does not comment.
Spending on Black Friday bargains is expected to soar by almost 40per cent despite a history of queues, crushes and violence.

New research suggests spending will reach 2.9billion over the weekend of Black Friday through to Cyber Monday.

The rise of the American import is remarkable in that it appears to be hated by many shoppers and retailers alike.

Two years ago, police chiefs criticised supermarkets, like Tesco and Asda, for failing to have enough security to cope with queues, crushes and violence as shoppers fought over TVs

Many people resent what is very much an American tradition has been brought to Britain at all. It falls on November 25 this year, which is the first Friday after Thanksgiving.

In the States it effectively fires the starting gun on the Christmas shopping season and it is now touted as doing the same thing here.

However, the event has been mired in controversy.

Two years ago, police chiefs criticised supermarkets, like Tesco and Asda, for failing to have enough security to cope with queues, crushes and violence as shoppers fought over cheap TVs.

Black Friday has also been a disaster for many retailers as it concentrates store and online spending on the final weekend of November, rather than spreading purchases in the run-up to Christmas.

The concentration of buying around the weekend also causes a delivery backlog for online stores.

Many people resent what is very much an American tradition has been brought to Britain at all

Many retail bosses want nothing to do with Black Friday, however they feel compelled to take part for fear of losing sales to rivals.

Asda, which is owned by US grocery giant Walmart, led the adoption of Black Friday in the UK, along with American web giant Amazon.

The spending predictions from accountants PwC, who said: 'More than a quarter of UK adults intend to buy something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year and expect to spend an average figure of 203.'

However, an online survey by PwC found over a third  36per cent - of adults have no interest in either Black Friday or Cyber Monday and one in seven purposely avoid them.

Black Friday has also been a disaster for many retailers as it concentrates store and online spending on the final weekend of November, rather than spreading purchases in the run-up to Christmas.

Retail and Consumer lead at PwC, Madeleine Thomson, said: 'Our research shows Black Friday and Cyber Monday are definitely here to stay, with sales over the weekend due to grow by a predicted 38per cent to 2.9 billion.

'Nearly a third of respondents expected goods to be cheaper than across pre-Christmas sales. The average expected spend is 203, nearly double that of 2015, and higher amongst men and younger consumers, with the majority of people expecting to spend the most on electrical and technology.

'The report also found consumers are embracing online shopping, with 77per cent of respondents now planning on making their purchases in the sales online, compared to just 17per cent in store.'
A man who was raping a seven-year-old girl on a Queensland farm only stopped when she was dragged away by her nine-year-old friend.

The incident took place at a property in Gympie, north of Brisbane, owned by the seven-year-old's father and happened on January 10 when the girls were walking across the farm to bottle-feed a lamb.

A 24-year-old man, who worked for the girl's father, was living in a caravan on the farm, The Chronicle reported.

Two girls, aged seven and nine, were on their way to bottle-feed a lamb when attacked

He had been consuming rum and vodka that afternoon and he started chasing the girls before catching them and tickling them when they walked past the caravan.

The older girl managed to escape but the seven-year-old was held down between his legs as he raped her.

The nine-year-old went back for her friend and dragged her from the man by her legs.

The man pleaded guilty to rape on Wednesday in Gympie District Court.

Judge Gary Long said the only reason he stopped was because of the courage of the older friend.

The man pleaded guilty to rape in court on Wednesday in Gympie, Queensland

The man let the two girls escape, as they ran back to the family home and alerted the girl's parents.

Both girls fathers immediately set out to confront the man but he had fled into surrounding bushland.
A couple lured two 14-year-old girls from a shopping mall and gave them alcohol at their home before raping one of them for hours while she was passed out, a court has heard.

Rachel Smith, 23 and her boyfriend Matthew Blazely, 31, allegedly subjected the girls to the ordeal after meeting at a shopping mall in Hornsby, Sydney, on Tuesday.

Hornsby Local Court heard on Thursday that the teenagers were taken from the shopping centre to the couple's home in Denison Street, Hornsby, where the couple plied them with alcohol.

One of the girls left the house at around 9.30pm and the other was sexually assaulted for hours by both the man and the woman, the Daily Telegraph reports. The girl may have been unconscious during part of the assault, the court heard.

Rachel Smith, 23 and her boyfriend Matthew Blazely, 31, allegedly had a threesome with a 14-year-old girl after she was lured to their home from a Sydney shopping centre on Tuesday (stock image)

The Hornsby Local Court heard the teenagers were taken from the couple's home in Denison Street, Hornsby (pictured), gave her alcohol and then allegedly raped one

It is alleged that after the last girl left the home she was followed by the couple, with Smith telling her she 'should be ashamed of herself'.

Police will also allege Blazely told the girl it was 'all her fault' and threatened to 'hurt' her if she told anyone.

The court heard that Smith believed the girls were 18 when she met them and plans to claim the girl consented to the sexual acts.

Both accused will plead not guilty, the court heard, with Blazely claiming he was not even at the house at the time the alleged rape occurred.

Smith's lawyer Mark Warren told reporters outside court his client had 'heroin issues' between the ages of 16 and 19, and has been on the methadone program for two-and-a-half years'.

The couple are both facing five charges of committing an act of indecency with person under 16 years, aggravated indecent assault in company and five counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with person under 16 years.

Following extensive investigations by the State Crime Command's Child Abuse Squad, police executed a crime scene warrant at the property on Wednesday.

Following extensive investigations, police executed a crime scene warrant at the property

While carrying out the warrant, the man and woman returned to the home where they were arrested, before taken to Hornsby Police Station.

Magistrate Daniel Reiss told the court the case had multiple 'troubling issues' by said that 'certainly at her age she can't consent'.
The number of lone child refugees cared for by English councils has more than doubled in two years because of the spiralling migration crisis.

There were at least 4,210 unaccompanied youngsters seeking asylum at the end of March  a rise from 2,050 two years earlier, said a report.

And the numbers are still rising following the closure of the Calais Jungle camp and the arrival of almost 300 child migrants in Britain at the end of last month.

Women and children pictured leaving the Jungle migrant camp in Calais

But council chiefs have admitted they are struggling to cope because of the massive influx of young refugees without parents or carers who have travelled across the Channel to the UK.

A national shortage of foster carers means councils are struggling to care for the children, said the Association of Directors of Childrens Services (ADCS).

Earlier this year it was estimated that 7,600 foster families were urgently needed in England.

The local authority with the largest number of child asylum seekers is Kent, the closest British county to northern France, where thousands of migrants were holed up in the squalid makeshift camp.

Council chiefs have admitted they are struggling to cope because of the massive influx of young refugees without parents or carers

Dave Hill, president of the ADCS, said: This figure is now much greater as we prepare for the arrival of more unaccompanied children and young people in the coming weeks.

Finding a safe, suitable placement is the main priority for us but it is getting increasingly difficult due to the ongoing national shortage of foster carers.

This crisis is driving up the usage of independent fostering agencies out of necessity and this in turn is driving up costs and draining already stretched council budgets.

Mr Hill added: The will to help these vulnerable children is largely strong in local government, and in local communities, but as our research shows the funding provided by central government is wholly inadequate.

Government plans to bring 3,000 refugee children from the Middle East and Africa to the UK as well as 20,000 Syrian refugee families could place councils under even more pressure, says the report

If a child claims asylum in the UK they become the legal responsibility of the local authority in which they are discovered.

The numbers are still rising following the closure of the Calais Jungle camp and the arrival of almost 300 child migrants in Britain at the end of last month

But council chiefs have warned their arrival has significant implications for the taxpayer because councils are responsible for all costs associated with child asylum seekers until they are 25.

It includes schooling, foster care or childrens homes, through to university fees and housing costs. Daily rates paid to councils went up from 95 to 114 for under 16s and from 71 to 91 for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Information from more than 100 local authorities revealed that more than a third of the children are suffering psychological symptoms like post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks and depression.

Costs to local authorities for every 100 unaccompanied children are estimated at 6.75million a year with the Home Office providing 3.35million  leaving a shortfall of 3.4million, says the report.

Three-quarters of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK were aged 16 or 17 and over 90 per cent were male.

Most came from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Albania, Iran, Vietnam, Iraq and Syria.

A row flared last month amid mounting concern that adult refugees were lying about their ages to gain entry to Britain.

Calls for the Home Office to carry out dental checks grew after suspiciously mature-looking child migrants were among those who arrived to be reunited with relatives.

Earlier this week the family of a child migrant described as a 22-year-old on a dating website insist that his older brother borrowed his photo because he was better looking.

The uncle of Haris Stanikzai - who arrived in London from the Calais Jungle on October 17 - issued the bizarre explanation as Haris denied pretending to be 16 to exploit asylum rules.

Ministers have ruled out dental X-rays for youngsters claiming they were inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical.
Mother-of-two Sarah Hargrave, 34, put on a smiling face and posed as a trustworthy figure of authority at the privately-run home

A care home manager who plundered the life savings of an Alzheimers suffer and squandered the money on luxuries was exposed as a thief after turning up to work in a Mini Cooper bought with the proceeds of her heartless betrayal.

Mother-of-two Sarah Hargrave, 34, put on a smiling face and posed as a trustworthy figure of authority at the privately-run home where she worked.

But in reality she was exploiting her position to get access to vulnerable 73-year old David Litherlands bank card and PIN, stealing over 34,000 before the alarm was raised.

As well as buying the secondhand Mini for 4,500 she spent the money on a holiday, luxury goods including a Radley handbag  and a pet tortoise.

Her callous crimes were only exposed when Mr Litherlands bank wrote to say he was overdrawn  and suspicion fell on Hargrave due to her new car, which she claimed had been a surprise gift from her estranged husband.

Hargrave apologised after confessing but then blamed her former husband, only entering a guilty plea on the day her trial had been due to start.

Her defence lawyer quipped that like her tortoise she had stuck her head back in the shell.

He argued that she should not be sent to prison as she was expecting another baby  a pregnancy branded conveniently timed by prosecutors.

But a judge told Hargrave he would be failing in his duty to the public if he didnt have her locked up, jailing her for 12 months.

Judge Timothy Mort said: You had put on a smiling face and people wanted to place their families in your care.

But over a period of time you took 34,000, spending it on items for you. They were things you didnt need.

I accept you feel very guilty for what you have done, you are a mother and have huge responsibilities.

in reality she was exploiting her position to get access to vulnerable 73-year old David Litherlands bank card and PIN, stealing over 34,000 before the alarm was raised at Anbridge House, Oldham (pictured)

On the other hand I have to balance the perception to how it looks to the public. This is too serious to avoid a sentence of imprisonment.

It is thought she will be released after serving half her sentence meaning she will be free in time for the birth next June.

Hargrave had started working at Anbridge Care Home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in 2014 as an administration manager with duties which included being Mr Litherlands key worker.

Hayley Bennett, prosecuting, said: She was a trusted member of staff and her duties included looking after the finances of the residents.

After his local authority agreed to fund his accommodation, a healthy balance began to accumulate in Mr Litherlands account, a court heard.

Due to his memory loss, his wallet and bank cards were kept under lock and key - only accessible to a certain few members of staff - alongside a piece of paper with his PIN number written on.

As well as buying the secondhand Mini for 4,500 she spent the money on a holiday, luxury goods including a Radley handbag  and a pet tortoise

Hargrave was one of the people who had access to Mr Litherlands financial details, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told.

In August last year while Hargrave was on holiday a letter from his bank was opened by the care home owner who was shocked to discover the account was overdrawn.

Bank statements from December 2014 revealed multiple withdrawals of large amounts of cash plus regular payments to shops such as Tesco, Argos and The Range plus a Mini Cooper bought for 4,490 in March 2015.

Hargrave apologised after confessing but only entered a guilty plea on the day her trial had been due to start

This the owner remembered coincided with the time Hargrave arrived driving a Mini Cooper which she claimed was a surprise from her husband, Miss Bennett said.

There was also a purchase of an aquarium and a tortoise.

Police raided Hargraves home in Royton, Oldham, and discovered she had paid off a loan for her mother. They were also receipts for furniture worth 234 and also for a Radley handbag bought for 255.

Miss Bennett said: At first the defendant said she couldnt explain the transactions but then said they were used by her.

She said she was sorry and that she hadnt kept a check on what she was spending. She then entered a not guilty plea, blaming her estranged husband.

She has two children and is now conveniently pregnant once again as due to give birth on June 1.

In mitigation defence lawyer Jonathan Turner said her client - who now has another job - wanted to pay back the stolen money.

This offence was not sophisticated, it was simply taking a card to which a PIN number lay next to it, he said.

Her defence lawyer argued that she should not be sent to prison as she was expecting another baby  a pregnancy branded conveniently timed by prosecutors

Hargrave had started working at Anbridge Care Home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in 2014 as an administration manager with duties which included being Mr Litherlands key worker

She did cooperate with the investigation initially but, just like her tortoise, she stuck her head back in the shell and remained with this case up to trial.

Bearing in mind her children and the fact that shes pregnant there are others to think of, to the other children she cares for daily and the child she is carrying. The only way she can pay money back is to allow her to carry on working.

Hargrave was jailed for 12 months after she admitted fraud by abuse of position

Hargrave was jailed for 12 months after she admitted fraud by abuse of position.

Jailing her, Judge Mort said she had abused the trust placed in her.

You realised it was quite likely that you could take money from his account and people would not find out - he certainly would not find out because you knew how far gone he was with his memory, he said.

Anbridge House proprietor Charles Jones welcomed the sentence last night.

We were completely taken in, he said. She put on this smiling face, she was everyones best friend, yet all the time we were being taken in.

It was such a callous thing to do, and weve found it very hard to trust anyone since this happened.

Were pleased with the outcome of the court case and hopefully it will stop this happening to anyone else.

Hargrave is said to have explained her purchases by telling colleagues she had received an inheritance from a relative.
British office workers are becoming scruffier with one in five admitting they spend less than ten minutes getting ready for work and with men ditching suits for T-shirts.

A survey of 2,000 office staff has revealed that casual wear is becoming the new formal with just 18 per cent of men now wearing a suit to work.

Workers are embracing shabbier alternatives to smart shirts and blouses, with over a third of us opting for t-shirt on a daily basis.

On average Brits spend a meagre 23 minutes a day on their appearance, with one in five of us spending less than ten minutes getting ready.

Suits are out of fashion and man are embracing shabbier alternatives to smart shirts, according to a new survey

London and North East-based workers are the sloppiest dressers - with over 40 per cent opting for a t-shirt instead of a traditional suit.

But a third of workers in the North West are still dressing formally for work, making it the smartest area in the UK.

Unsurprisingly, lawyers and insurance brokers were the most likely to dress up with half saying their official work dress code was formal.

By contrast media sector workers dress the most casually, according to the survey by Printerland.co.uk.

Extraordinarily, a whopping 42 per cent of people claimed to sometimes not wear underwear to work, and 47 per cent of us occasionally don't bother with socks.

Alongside slacking dress codes, workers are spending less time laundering - with one in six happy to wear the same shirt all week.

But 80 per cent of those surveyed disapprove of their colleagues wearing flip flops and 65 per cent said leggings were unacceptable.

Similarly, a shocking 42 per cent of people said that beards should never be allowed in offices, while 45 per cent claimed that high heels were a big no-no.

A quarter of office workers even say that make-up is inappropriate in the workplace.

London and North East-based workers are the sloppiest dressers - with over 40 per cent opting for a t-shirt instead of a traditional suit

Despite spending less time and effort on their appearance, Brits still splash an average of A397 on their entire work wardrobe.

Catherine Bannan, HR Manager at Printerland.co.uk, said: 'Wearing casual clothes in the workplace can make people feel more comfortable and thereby increase the productivity and creativity of your staff.

'Offices are taking a much more relaxed approach to work attire these days and some say that being in clothes we find comfortable can spark our imagination.
It will open distribution and performance centres in every state

Amazons international e-store is planning to decimate the retail environment in Australia once it opens across the country next year.

The $500 billion online retailer is planning to open distribution and performance centres in every state as well as physical stores in regional areas, Financial Review reported.

The launch which was initially expected to be in March has been delayed until September as they plan to sell fresh produce in addition to their general merchandise.

Amazon is planning on opening distribution and performance centres in every state in Australia

The $500 billion online retailer wants to decimate the retail environment in the country

We spoke to the guy rolling out Amazon's business here in Australia and in his words: We are going to destroy the retail environment in Australia, chief investment officer at Watermark Funds Management, Justin Braitling, said.

'They will be doing general merchandise and they will be doing fresh as well.

'They will also be putting physical stores on the ground which I don't think anyone knows about.

The expansion is already set to shake up JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman with expectation it could generate sales of up to $4 billion with electrical items in the limelight.

Amazon will operate in Australia under its Prime, Prime Now and Prime Fresh brands.

Amazon already operates in the USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany France, Italy, Spain, Japan, China and India.

Amazon plans on selling fresh produce as well as general merchandise once it opens next year
The mother of a three-year-old girl who reported her missing in 2011 has been arrested for her death.

Lena Lunsford was arrested in St Petersburg, Florida on Thursday, on suspicion of killing her daughter Aliayah in West Virginia five years ago.

Lewis County Sheriff's Department, which issued her arrest warrant, would not confirm on Friday morning whether the child's body had been found.

They later said her mother is the only person who knows where her remains are.

Lunsford, 34, mother faces one count of child abuse causing death and is due to be extradited from Florida back to West Virginia.

She is accused of killing her daughter by striking her over the back of the head with a blunt force object, a police complaint revealed.

Lena Lunsford, 34, has been arrested for the death of her three-year-old daughter Aliayah (right) who she reported missing in 2011

' It is great sadness that I report Aliayah Lunsford is deceased. Evidence has come to light that Aliayah was killed by her mother,' said Lewis County Sheriff Adam Gissy.

'I realise there are several questions unanswered however the one question I'm sure is weighing on everyone's mind - have we located Aliayah?

'The investigation has led us to believe that the one person who possesses this knowledge is the person in custody.'

Police believe the mother-of-six hit Aliayah over the head on the day on September 24, the day she was reported later missing, causing her death.

At the time Lunsford claimed her other child saw Aliayah alive in her bed at 6am.

Police say she instructed victims to lie, however, and that witnesses saw her striking the three-year-old.

'The child victim was knowingly and intentionally struck by her mother while inside their residence.

'Present witnesses observed the aforementioned strike and thereafter stated the child victim fell to the ground from the injury sustained to her head,' the complaint, that was obtained by WDTV, read.

Lunsford made no effort to save the girl and did not allow others to give her medical help, it continued.

'Within hours of the strike, the child victim died. Thereafter, the defendant did knowingly and intentionally take steps to conceal the crime.

Video courtesy of WDTV

'These include but are not limited to originating a fictitious narrative regarding the death, destroying evidence, concealing the victim's body, and instructing witnesses to conceal the true circumstances of the victim's death.'

Hundreds of people looked for the girl including local authorities, the FBI and volunteers after she was reported missing on September 24.

Her mother, who was pregnant with twins at the time, told police that she had vanished from her bed in their home in Weston, West Virginia, sometime between early and late morning.

She said Aliayah had been vomiting the night before and had 'flu' symptoms. Lunsford claimed to have seen her asleep in her bed in Dora the Explorer pajamas at 6am.

By 9am she said she was missing. Lunsford did not call police for another two and a half hours.

Within hours of the report, however, scores of people had volunteered to help find the girl.

Police conducted diver searches of nearby rivers and combed woodland near the house but never found her.

The search was called off four days later.

Within two weeks of her disappearance, Lunsford was arrested for welfare fraud and her four other children were removed from her care.

Aliayah's mother told police she vanished from their home in Weston, West Virginia (above), in her Dora the Explorer pajamas

Her disappearance sparked a massive police search effort which involved local authorities and FBI agents who combed nearby rivers and woodlands for the girl

Aliayah's mother and stepfather, Ralph, (above, left, in a 2009 mugshot after being arrested for felony assault) have lost all their parental rights to their other six children. Right, an imagined photograph of how Aliayah would have looked age five

Prosecutors expressed fears for their safety in the house which she shared with boyfriend Ralph Lundsford.

After spending eight months in prison she was released on probation but later jailed again for violating it.

Lunsford and her partner have lost all their parental rights to their six children.

In March 2012, investigators said the theory that Aliayah had been taken by an intruder was unlikely.

'The initial concerns of somebody slipping in and taking Aliayah -- a break-in -- we found no evidence of that.

'We were not able to develop that as a theory,' Supervisory Agent John Hambrick told Charleston Gazette Mail at the time.

After leaving jail for her Aliayah's mother is understood to have moved from Virginia, where her other children remain, to Florida.
All prison officers will wear bodyworn cameras after it emerged attacks against staff are running at one every 90 minutes.

Liz Truss announced she would effectively turn every guard into a walking CCTV camera in a bid to tackle spiralling violence in jails.

The Justice Secretary hopes the devices  the size of a cigarette pack will deter prisoners from carrying out assaults because evidence would be captured on film.

All prison officers will have bodyworn cameras, similar to this one pictured, as part of a plan to crack down on attacks on jail staff

Cameras could also cut the time staff spend suspended while prisoners complaints are investigated and ensure officers behave more appropriately towards inmates.

The details emerged as compensation payments to prisoners and guards were revealed to have totalled almost 100million in just six years.

Huge sums were paid out to inmates who claim they were harmed behind bars and prison officers who were attacked.

A record 19million was paid out in the year to March  double the 9.8million in 2010-11.

Justice Secretary Liz Truss, pictured, wants to make it so all 18,000 prison officers in England and Wales have cameras

Miss Truss intends to bring in the cameras for all 18,000 officers in England and Wales after a successful trial at a handful of jails.

She acted after revealing yesterday there were 5,954 assaults on staff in the year to June  typically 16 attacks a day  up from 3,087 in June 2012.

Prison officers are routinely stabbed, bottled, slashed, beaten up or injured in other ways by convicts as jails become increasingly violent.

Miss Truss condemned the unacceptable levels of violence behind bars as the Government unveiled its blueprint for what ministers say is the biggest shake-up of jails in a generation.

A White Paper outlining the flagship reforms said assaults against prison officers were the highest on record  and still rising.

But in a speech in central London, the Justice Secretary vowed to turn the tide.

Things have changed rapidly and dramatically as dangerous psychoactive substances have flooded our prisons, fuelling violence and holding back reform, she said.

Earlier she told the Commons an extra 104million and 2,500 new officers were among key measures to ease the serious and sustained pressure on prisons and bolster safety.

Steve Gillan, from the Prison Officers Association (POA), said proper staffing levels were needed if jails were not to turn into bloodbaths.

It comes after Ms Truss, pictured touring HMP Brixton with governor David Bamford, has announced a raft of prison reforms including jail 'league tables'

Officer numbers had fallen by 7,000 since 2010 under the austerity agenda.

He said: The reality is this Government has caused the problem. Theyve cut the staffing levels.

Theyve taken so much money out of the system that the system is broken.

My union will not stand by and watch our members become punchbags on a daily basis.
The base was home to various private companies, including Reynolds Metal Company, for years until it was finally abandoned by all

By 1941, the US Navy had spent $1.8million on the base; which consisted of four runways, aircraft maintenance services, and housing for military personnel

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Florida became the center for naval aviation training during the late 1930s. The warm climate, miles of sandy beaches, and rugged land became ideal training grounds for troops.

On September 11, 1940, the US Navy opened Naval Air Station Lee Field in northeast Florida at Green Cove Springs on the west side of the St. Johns River.

The Air Station was named in honor of Ensign Benjamin Lee, who died during the First World War.

A Beechcraft Queen Air model 80 sits abandoned in one of the former Navy hangars. It sits in the former US Navy opened Naval Air Station Lee Field in northeast Florida, now eerily empty

Approximately 956 Beechcraft Queen Air aircraft were built

This Beechcraft jet was partly disassembled and may of been stored for parts

By March 1941, the US Navy had spent $1.8million on the base; which consisted of four runways, aircraft maintenance services, and housing for military personnel.

NAS Lee Field was primarily used to train pilots for aircraft carrier landing operations during the Second World War.

In August 1943, the facility was renamed Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs.

At the end of the war the Naval base was downgraded in status to a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) and transferred to NAS Jacksonville for limited training purposes.

The cockpit in the plane was mostly gutted with only a few gauges remaining

The Beechcraft Queen Air model 80 was in production between 1961 and 1978

Its proximity to the St. Johns River made the facility an excellent location to securely store the U.S. Naval Atlantic Reserve or 'Mothball Fleet' of Second World War US Navy ships.

President Lyndon B. Johnson decommissioned the naval base in 1960 under his first executive order. He relocated the 'Mothball Fleet' to his home state of Texas.

The city of Green Cove Springs annexed the abandoned naval base and sold it to Reynolds Metal Company for redevelopment. Reynolds Industrial Park was established in 1965, which included 1,700 acres served by rail, highway, water and private airport.

A large railroad map in the shape of the United States peels off an upstairs wall of the abandoned Naval base

An up-close look at the United States map at the Naval base which was the center for naval aviation training in the late '30s but now sits decayed and abandoned

The rusted shell of the original air traffic control station. The Air Station was named in honor of Ensign Benjamin Lee, who died during World War I

The long, upstairs hallway inside the abandoned Navy hangar, which once had four working runways, aircraft maintenance services, and military housing

The dusty license plate on this 18-wheeler was dated 1998. The base was sold to Reynolds Metal Company for redevelopment in 1965

The private airfield portion of Reynolds Industrial Park was known as Reynolds Airpark. The single 5,000-foot runway is in very poor condition, but is listed as currently operational with the FAA.

The original air traffic control tower is still attached to the former Navy aircraft hangar.

By 2000, a majority of Reynolds Industrial Park had fallen into decline. Military relics still littered the landscape.

Reynolds Industrial Park was established in 1965, which included 1,700 acres served by rail, highway, water and private airport

By 2000, a majority of Reynolds Industrial Park had fallen into decline. Military relics like the rusty air traffic board above still littered the landscape.

President Lyndon B. Johnson decommissioned the naval base in 1960 under his first executive order

World War II infrastructure and buildings sat in a dilapidated state. Over the next few years, several of the Navy hangars and the former power plant were sold to private companies.

The 154-foot long, 75,000 pound external fuel tank from NASAs Space Shuttle Program was one of the original test articles. Loaded by barge and moved down the inland waterways, the tank was headed to its new home at Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Starke, Florida.

Unfortunately, after it was unloaded in Green Cove Springs the fuel tank proved to be impossible to haul the 55-mile route by truck due to low hanging power lines. Today the fuel tank remains at the Marina in the exact spot it was unloaded.

Several of the Navy hangars and the former power plant were sold to private companies

The 18-wheeler, above, was dated 1998, it sits abandoned along with World War II relics

Hangars at the abandoned Naval base are littered with the detritus of the various private companies that took over the space over the years

Atlas Hovercrafts envisioned a river transport system by hovercraft. After two years of building, the company closed in May 2008 due to a lack of funding.

The hovercraft shell sits in a state of decay on the tarmac after the owner decided to abandon the project.

One of the failed tenants of Reynolds Industrial Park was Atlas Hovercrafts, which envisioned a river transport system by hovercraft

After two years of building, the hovercraft company closed in May 2008 due to a lack of funding

In 2012, a redevelopment plan was adopted that focused on transforming Reynolds Industrial Park.

The project focused on adapting the former naval base into a multi-use activity center.
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The Tinder stalker who stabbed his ex-girlfriend 11 times and doused her in petrol moved to Sydney for a fresh start after his father died and his marriage broke down.

On May 18, Paul Lambert was filmed in the TripleM Brisbane studio with rugby league legend Wally Lewis spruiking a raffle to buy a $20,000 autism assistance dog for Akira Slater, four, with State of Origin tickets as the prize.

Akira's mother Valli Slater told Daily Mail Australia on Friday that Lambert moved to Sydney in May after he and his wife divorced last year and his father and another close family member died.

I didnt see this coming, no one could have, but I think there would have been red flags for people who knew him well,' she said.

Scroll down for video

Paul Lambert (left), 36, stabbed Angela Jay, 28, on Thursday evening before he was shot dead by police

She also said Lambert had 'a history of mental illness' but she wasn't sure what exactly he suffered from.

Theres a lot of things that I didnt know about Paul and I think theres a lot of things that a lot of people didnt know about him,' she said.

Theres definitely more that hasnt come out yet.

Ms Slater said she and Lambert went to high school at St James College in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, graduating in 1998.

I lost contact with him for more than 10 years before we reconnected on Facebook several years ago like everyone does,' she said.

Less than six months eralier, Lambert appeared on radio with rugby league legend Wally Lewis (L) to raise money for a disabled child

The baby-faced Tinder stalker was filmed in the TripleM Brisbane studio on May 18 spruiking a raffle with State of Origin tickets as the prize

He saw me post about my daughter and he offered to help because he knew she was disabled. He said Im going to help you get this dog.'

'Wow just, I'm blown away, absolutely blown away,' Lambert said of the amount raised, more than $25,000, in the clip aired on 7 News.

Lambert also promoted the cause on his Facebook page and received free tickets to the third match of the series for his part in the effort.

'It's been a massive positive response and thank you to all who have helped. Good things happen when people come together,' he wrote on Facebook.

He was raising money to buy a $20,000 autism assistance dog for Akira Slater, four

Lambert also promoted the cause on his Facebook page and received free tickets to the third match of the series for his part in the effort that raised $25,000

The finance worker stalked Ms Jay, 28, a young doctor, for days and set an ambush by getting inside her home and waiting for her to get home from work - just two months after they met on dating app Tinder.

He then led police on a wild car chase up Pacific Highway before his rental car was stopped with tyre spikes and he was shot dead while charging officers with a knife.

Lambert's Sydney housemate Elisa Patten said on Friday police had shown up at the home looking for him two-days-ago and she 'knew something was wrong'.

'I knew he had a girlfriend Angela who was pretty, but I only met her briefly,' she told the Daily Telegraoh.

'He was excited he had met someone and said that he really liked her.'

The receptionist told 7 News she was shocked Lambert had committed such a violent act.

'He was a very nice guy, he's quiet, we don't see much of him at all. This is completely a shock,' she said.

Lambert's Sydney housemate Elisa Patten (pictured) said on Friday police had shown up at the home looking for him two-days-ago and she 'knew something was wrong'

The house (L) in Kograh, Sydney, where Lambert was living before he flew to Port Macquarie to stalk Dr Jay

Daily Mail Australia can reveal Lambert was 'amped up' when he arrived in the coastal town of Port Macquarie, last Sunday, after flying in from Sydney, 390 kilometres to the south.

Lambert told his rental car dealer he did not want to end his relationship with Dr Jay on 'a bad note', the dealer told Daily Mail Australia.

On Thursday, Lambert waited at Dr Jay's home for her to finish her shift before launching his attack at around 6.30pm, repeatedly stabbing her and dousing her in petrol.

Dr Jay crawled to a neighbour's house and talked him through the first aid that saved her life, until paramedics arrived.

Lambert fled the scene and was shot dead by police hours later near Coffs Harbour, about 150 kilometres further north.

Lambert flew from Sydney to Port Macquarie and rented a car at the airport. After stabbing Dr Jay in her home he led police on a wild chase 150 kilometres north up Pacific Highway before his rental car was stopped and he was shot dead while charging officers with a knife

The scene at Bonville on the NSW Mid North Coast near Coffs Harbour is pictured on Thursday night

Paul Lambert, 36, had flown up to Port Macquarie and told the owner of his rental car he and Angela Jay, 28, had an argument, Daily Mail Australia can reveal

Police have been unable to confirm the pair met on social media, NSW assistant commissioner Jeff Loy said on Friday morning.

The man who rented a 2016 Corolla hatchback to Lambert in Port Macquarie said he appeared 'amped up on something'.

'The guy was going on about his girlfriend to me, said they had an argument,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Lambert had been trying to conceal his bags in the boot of the car, 'which I thought was real odd', the man, who did not want to be identified, said.

I'm here to make amends. I don't want it to finish on a bad note- Lambert said days before he violently attacked his ex-girlfriend

'He was very agitated, very anxious, you know like - very anxious.

'He was speaking reasonably calmly but he was constantly saying: "I'm in a hurry. I need a car".'

Lambert had been talking about his relationship and had flown up to see her.

The white Corolla hatchback Lambert rented and fled the scene from on Thursday

Emergency Services pictured at the scene on Thursday night

'He said: "Yeah, yeah, this is last minute. I've just had an argument with my girlfriend and I'm here to resolve it and make amends. I don't want it to finish on a bad note",' the staff member at a Port Macquarie car rental company, who asked not to be named, told Daily Mail Australia.

Dr Jay is in a stable condition

Ms Jay had ended their relationship after about seven-weeks, when he is suspected to have begun stalking her for several days.

She had applied for an apprehended violence order (AVO) on October 31 which was issued by police.

But Lambert had avoided being served the AVO by police.

'Since that time the police have been trying to find the offender and serve that but the offender has been avoiding service of that AVO,' assistant commissioner Loy told a press conference.

Lambert was due to appear in court in Port Macquarie on November 16 for the AVO.

He had hired the car at Port Macquarie Airport on Sunday afternoon, about 1.30pm.

'He wasn't saying, "I hate that bitch" or anything like that. He seemed quite genuine and remorseful.'

Lambert repeatedly stabbed Dr Jay days later after stalking her. The 28-year-old lived next to a reserve.

Police shot a man dead after he stabbed a woman and doused her in petrol before leading police on a car chase

Two male police officers shot Lambert several times when a Taser failed

The scene at Bonville near Coffs Harbour where Lambert was shot dead about 9.45pm

'Poor girl getting mixed up with a guy like that,' the man who rented the car to Lambert said.

'She's making a recovery but how do you recover from that mentally.'

The man said Lambert did not appear under the influence but he was 'really anxious' and 'amped up'.

He was a 'bit of a know-it-all' and 'well-spoken'.

'He was no bikie-looking dude.'

The man also claimed Lambert had been pulled over for speeding just days prior to the attack.

He is believed to have previously had run-ins with police in Queensland where he had a suspended licence.

Lambert instead got a NSW licence and had recently changed his name from Paul Scales, Daily Mail Australia understands.

Lambert had harassed Dr Jay for weeks after she told him it was over, court documents state according to Daily Telegraph.

The 36-year-old threatened to 'throw himself in front of a train' and used a different phone to pretend to be someone else and say it would be her fault if he killed himself.

Dr Jay decided to give him another chance but soon regretted it when the pair attended a function in Gosford on Saturday night.

She went to stay with her sister but she felt 'scared and uncomfortable' when he showed up a 'couple of times'.

Angela Jay, 28, was repeatedly stabbed and doused in petrol in her home (left) and crawled to her neighbour's (right) for help in Port Macquarie on Thursday, about 6.30pm

On Sunday, Lambert called her about 50 times and sent threatening text messages.

One said: 'Your not safe in that house. I have some of the house keys.

'I need you to understand that this is my good side right night. The good side won't last long. Especially being rejected.'

Lambert worked in finance and moved to the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah in recent months from the Sunshine Coast.

His housemate Elisa Patten said police had shown up at the home looking for Lambert two-days-ago and she 'knew something was wrong', she told Daily Telegraph.

He had entered her home and waited for her to get home from work when he stabbed her with a knife and doused her with petrol as she walked through the front door.

She 'bravely made an escape' from the 'vicious attack' to her neighbour's home at Magnolia Place.

An elderly neighbour said she kept to herself.

An officer is pictured at the scene on the Pacific Highway in NSW Mid North Coast

An ambulance is pictured but the 36-year-old died at the scene

The traffic is pictured backed-up on the Pacific Highway near Coffs Harbour after police released road spikes to stop Lambert

The woman's family has requested privacy, a hospital spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

The man had fled Port Macquarie in a white hatchback and was pursued by police for about two-hours north to Bonville, near Coffs Harbour, reaching speeds of up to 180km/h.

At a press conference about 11am on Friday, assistant commissioner Loy said police stopped the vehicle using road spikes for public safety.

A confrontation occurred and two male police fired several shots about 9.45pm on Thursday.

He had lunged at officers with a knife and police attempted to use a Taser but it failed to work, according to reports.

Assistant commissioner Loy would not confirm where he was struck or how many bullets were fired.

Police are pictured at the scene where Lambert was shot dead by two policemen

Officers rushed to the neighbours' home on Magnolia Place in Port Macquarie (pictured) on the NSW Mid North Coast to find the injured woman in a pool of blood

The woman's home on Magnolia Place in Port Macquarie is roped off

He said the welfare of those officers would be monitored and they were at home resting on Friday.

Assistant commissioner Loy called on any passers-by with footage of the shooting to hand it in to police.

Port Macquarie man Caleb Williams, 25, said sirens 'just kept coming one after another', and he knew 'something big' must have happened.

'Our neighbourhood is pretty calm; it's nice and nothing like this has happened as far as I can remember,' he told Port News.

A critical incident team from State Crime Command's Homicide Squad will now investigate all circumstances surrounding the incident including the discharge of a police firearm.

That investigation will be subject to independent review and will be provided to the Coroner, police said.
A new internet provider says Australian consumers have been getting a raw deal with their broadband plans because of 'lazy' telecommunication companies.

MyRepublic's Australian managing director, Nicholas Demos, says established telco's have gotten away with providing lackluster technology and confusing plans because of a lack of competition in the market.

'They've taken their existing product and moved that across to the NBN. It's not that the NBN can't give you faster speeds, it's because the incumbents have sold customers into that through lack of innovation,' Mr Demos said.

A new broadband provided has arrived in Australia and is set to offer plans that will be hard to beat

The provider that has caused a frenzy overseas has now set its sights on Australia and it's offering a plan that's hard to refuse - unlimited data at lightning speed.

MyRepublic has simplified its plans so customers wont be confused by technical conditions like how much they can use and how quick their internet speed will be.

It's a strategy that intimidates Telstra. Last year the outgoing CEO David Thodey admitted he was more concerned with MyRepublic's infiltration of the Australian market than they were about existing telco's TPG or Optus.

'We are seeing more innovation at the tier three level at the moment (with) more start-ups like MyRepublic from Singapore... and that is where we are really focusing,' Mr Thodey said.

MyRepublic has already seen plenty of success in Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand

MyRepublic concentrates on offering unbeatable plans, priced at $59.99 a month for unlimited data and the fastest possible speed, 100Mbps.

With the continual roll out of the National Broadband Network (NBN), now is the perfect time for MyRepublic to launch in Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald said that 80 per cent of customers on the NBN are running on speeds similar to ADSL technology which is 25 Mbps or slower.

MyRepublic accused established broadband providers of being lazy

As the NBN slowly arrives in more and more households across the country, MyRepublic says it's the perfect time to enter the Australian market.
A doctor in New South Wales has been charged with sexually assaults committed against three women patients this year.

Dr Glenn Taylor, 61, was charged

Dr Glenn Taylor, 61, an obstetrician and gynaecologist with the Genea IVF clinic in Lismore, north NSW, has been charged by police after the three women came forward.

A 21-year-old woman reported to police that she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Dr Taylor during a specialist appointment at the Lismore clinic in March.

After police carried out further investigations two other women alleged they were also indecently assaulted by the doctor.

Following the police reports by the women, detectives carried out a search of the medical clinic in Lismore, where they seized a number of items.

Taylor was then arrested at the fertility clinic and taken to Lismore Police Station.

Taylor was charged with four counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of aggravated sexual assault

He was charged with four counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of aggravated sexual assault.

Genea confirmed Dr Glenn Taylor has managed the treatment of their patients in Lismore for a number of years.

'Upon being advised of Dr Glenn Taylor's arrest on Friday 4 November 2016, Genea immediately terminated association with Dr Taylor,' a Genea spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'All Genea Lismore patients treated by Dr Glenn Taylor are being contacted and offered counselling.'

Taylor was granted conditional bail to appear at Lismore Local Court on Monday, November 28.

Before taking the doctor's profile off their website, Genea stated that after graduating from the University of New South Wales, Taylor completed his post-graduate specialist training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St George Hospital in Sydney.
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After weeks of unseasonably warm autumnal weather - get ready for a shock.

The Met Office has predicted a greater than normal chance of an unseasonably cold early winter, due to a change in Arctic conditions and 'unusual' tropical rainfall patterns.

An isolated cold snap is set to engulf Britain with temperatures forecast to drop below freezing over the weekend.

People walk their dog on frost covered grass in Winchester yesterday morning, as Met Office chiefs warn of a cold snap

Snow could fall over the hills in northern England and Scotland and forecasters warned revellers should wrap up warm on Bonfire Night when temperatures will plummet to minus figures in parts of the country.

But the cold conditions could become a longer trend, with forecasters saying there is the highest risk of a cold start since the bitter season of 2010/11.

The Met Office said it was too early to predict whether it would be a snowy, wet or dry three-month period from the start of this month, however.

The key factors leading to colder temperatures include 'disturbed' stratospheric Arctic winds known as the polar vortex, which affects the jet stream, and a La Nina, the opposite of an El Nino, bringing lower temperatures in the tropics.

There was a frosty start yesterday on the River Avon in Hampshire, where temperatures have dropped to below zero

Forecasters reached the long-range prediction after feeding their analysis of those factors into a computer model, with a 30 per cent probability of colder than average conditions, compared with the expected 20% probability suggested by a 30-year rolling average up to 2010.

Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: 'The risk of a cold start to winter has increased to 30 per cent this year.

'Statistically, however, it is still more likely that the UK will experience a normal start to winter, but there is an increased risk of cold snaps between now and Christmas, although this doesn't necessarily mean we will get large amounts of snow.

Autumnal colours on display, as seen from a drone over Savernake forest in Wiltshire yesterday, with temperatures set to drop

'Several factors, including tropical rainfall, are known to drive UK and European winter conditions: following a strong El Nino last year, the tropics are now influenced by a weak La Nina and unusual rainfall conditions in the Indian Ocean.

'Historical weather observations and our latest computer model simulations agree that these factors are increasing the risk of a cold start to winter for the UK, but this is unlikely to persist through winter as a whole.'

This weekend's sudden shift came as the Met Office reported yesterday (THUR) that much of England had seen just a third of average rainfall last month with northern Scotland reporting the driest, sunniest October since records began.

The Met Office says there is an increased chance of a particularly cold start to winter after a change in Arctic conditions

As summer-style temperatures were felt earlier this week in Wales, a farming couple was left stunned when lambing season started five months early.

Smallholders Peter Crook and Tricia Stewart, from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, have farmed sheep for 18 years but have never seen births as early as October.

Miss Stewart, 58, said: 'For the past five days we have been going up to the field and there has been a new lamb there.

'They have been okay because it is dry but they don't fare so well if it's cold and wet outside. They are all healthy thankfully.'

Forecasters described last month as 'unseasonal' with an 'eerily' warm Halloween. In Ceredigion, mid Wales, a temperature of 22C (71.6F) was recorded.

The cold could be a taste of things to come as the risk of an unusually cold early winter is the highest since the bitter season of 2010/11

Remarkably, within a matter of days the same area could see lows of 1C (33.8F) on Saturday.

THREE-DAY FORECAST Today (FRI) North: Some sunny spells but with showers too. High: 8C (46F) Low: 0C (32F) South: Cloud and outbreaks of rain. High: 11C (52F) Low: 0C (32F) Tomorrow (SAT) North: Windy with showers. High: 8C (46F) Low: 0C (32F) South: Sunny but cold. High: 10C (50F) Low: -1C (30F) Sunday North: Windy with showers. High: 7C (45F) Low -1C (30F) South: Sunny spells but still feeling cold. High: 9C (48F) Low: 0C (32F) Advertisement

Widespread frost is expected and Scotland and northern Britain could see some snow leaving many switching on their heating.

Meteogroup forecaster George Goodfellow said: 'It is going to be noticeably colder with a pretty chilly evening on Saturday.'

Although the sun will shine on Saturday and Sunday, limited cloud coverage in parts of the country will mean temperatures will drop significantly, leaving many areas struggling to get into double figures as a blast of northerly air blasts in from the Arctic.

Bonfire Night is expected to be relatively clear.

'There will be patches of cloud but hopefully good visibility for everyone,' the Met Office's Oli Claydon said.

Of the sudden change in climate, he added: 'It is a change of air mass really, the cold front, we are now in a colder pocket of polar maritime air.

'The cooler temperatures are probably around for the weekend and the beginning of next week.'

BBC forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas said: 'It has been a real week of contrasts across the UK.

'To start the week, Halloween on Monday was eerily mild  temperatures up to around 22C to start the week. By the end of the week a really different feel.'
Hillary Clinton has given voters another reason to oppose Republican Donald Trump: she says his 'distressful' campaign is causing people to lose sleep, develop stomach problems, and suffer headaches.

Clinton made the sick attack on her rival after going through her usual list of people he has insulted. Campaigning in Raleigh, Clinton said Trump had 'demeaned women, mocked the disabled,' and 'pitted people against each other.

Then, she lingered on the issue, talking about 'how distressful its been' for voters she has spoken with.

'I know there are a lot of people that are upset about whats gone on in this campaign, arent they?' she asked a crowd, winning signs of agreement.

CAN YOU KEEP YOUR DOCTOR? Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump's attacks have been 'distressful' to a lot of people  even causing stomach aches

'Ive had people say that they cant sleep, that their stomachs are bothering them, they have headaches,' Clinton continued.

Then she referenced a quote by first lady Michelle Obama, that the presidency ' doesnt change who you are  it reveals who you are.'

Clinton's gut punch on her rival came on a day when she came out with another all-out attack, raising the issue of a KKK newspaper that endorsed Trump under a headline that used his 'Make America Great Again' slogan. The Trump campaign denounced the endorsement, although at other times in the campaign Trump has retweeted white nationalists.

Days ago, Clinton accused Trump of 'assaulting' women, and campaigned with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

After early signs that she may not be getting the numbers she needs out of younger and minority voters in battleground North Carolina, Clinton brought musician Pharrell Williams and former rival senatorBernie Sanders to fire up young people, minorities, and women voters.

'So tell me this, North Carolina: Are you really really happy that were here tonight?' Clinton told a cheering crowd of supporters.

Clinton hailed 'these two extraordinary men' after getting saluted by both of them. Then she borrowed President Obama's slogan, saying, 'I feel all fired up and ready to go for the next five days.'

Introducing Clinton, sanders returned to the wealth and equality based themes of his campaign. 'We are not gonna become an oligarchy,' said Sanders, whose attacks on income inequality allowed him to run a spirited primary against Clinton that had the Clinton operation running scared.

'And this campaign is not a personality contest. Were not voting for high school president,' Sanders told a cheering crowd of about 4,000 in the university town.

He blasted the 'grotesque level' of income inequality, and said 'nobody can make it' on the $7.25 federal minimum wage, which he called a 'starvation wage.'

Clinton met with hit musician Pharrell Williams, who met with her aboard her campaign plane and said he got 'commitments' from her

He added, 'You can't make it on $10 an hour,' he said. Sanders noted there is one candidate 'who has pledged to make the minimum wage a living wage'  Clinton, although he didn't mention the 'fight for $15.'

In a campaign that has lately devolved into a series of charges of sexism, assault, and corruption between Trump and Clinton, Sanders ran through the gamut of liberal issues he campaigned on, including paid family leave, rebuilding 'crumbling infrastructure,' and other issues he campaigned on.

He said Clinton would deliver 'tuition free' college  which he termed a 'pretty revolutionary idea.'

Williams, who gushed about Clinton in an appearance on 'Ellen' this month, indicated that he knows something about the 'Art of the Deal.'

He held a brief tarmac meeting with Clinton and met young voters with her  and says Clinton made 'commitments.'

Hillary Clinton held an evening rally in North Carolina with musician Pharrell Williams and former primary rival Bernie Sanders

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets members of the audience after speaking at a rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, N.C. earlier Thursday

LETS MAKE A DEAL: Clinton said she would do 'everything I can' to deliver arts and music education to at-risk kids

'This country hasnt always been fair to all people, especially my culture,' Williams said. 'But I think Hillarys going to help fix these wrongs.'

'Shes made some commitments. She made some commitments,' he continued. 'Whether its pay equality for women, free public college tuition ... and very important to me, addressing the mass incarceration issue of 1994,' Williams said.

Bill Clinton signed the crime bill in 1994 that included 'Three strikes, you're out' sentencing  an action that became an issue for Clinton to overcome in her primary campaign.

'Shes made a commitment to me. Three strikes, all those things. Were gonna deal with all those things,' Williams said.

Speaking after Williams, Clinton introduced an additional issue into the mix  music and arts education.

'Im especially pleased to have Pharrell here,' she told the crowd, which lit up for the 'Happy' star. 'Every time I see him, which is not often enough, we always have a good conversation like we did before this event.'

'He always gets you to think. Not only is he a world class talent but he is a passionate advocate for issues,' Clinton gushed.

Then she added: 'Im going to do everything I can help him to deliver giving kids who are at risk access to education and arts programs that they deserve to have.'

Clinton brought the hit-maker to greet about 100 students at North Carolina Central University. The crowd grew before the duo left.

The two posed for selfies and Pharrell flashed a pieace sign, urging his fans to 'vote for Hillary.'

'Get out and vote,' Clinton told the students. 'I just need you to got vote.'

The latest Quinnipiac Unversity poll in the state has Clinton leading by just 47 to 44 per cent, with Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson at 3 per cent.

Clinton is counting on the nod from Sanders to help drive up turnout among young voters. Media reports have revealed a drop off in early vote totals compared to 2012.

The importance of the battleground was made plain Thursday night as Clinton's campaign plane landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport just before sun down.

Pharrell Williams caught the press off guard when he sauntered up the jetway to board Clinton's plane. Olympic skater Michelle Kwan, another Clinton backer, also boarded the plane at one point.

As Clinton and the hit-maker were chatting, while reporters were waiting to snap pictures of the pair, Trump's Boeing-757 landed on a nearby runway.

Clinton was there to attend her evening rally in Raleigh, while Trump was headed to Selma, North Carolina for his event.

The gathered media then got to shoot well-staged photos of Clinton and Williams getting into the candidates SUV to go get out the vote.

Reporters aboard Trump's plane, who typically follow just one candidate from rally to rally, were able to film and photograph Clinton's motorcade.

Not long after, Clinton's press corps, which had to take a slight detour to pick up additional members, were able to view Trump and his entourage exiting the mogul's jet. That is something Trump's own press corps doesn't usually get to witness, because the candidate does not fly on the same aircraft as the reporters who cover him.

Pharrell made clear his support for Clinton in an appearance earlier in October on the 'Ellen' show.
The man is set to face Bunbury Magistrates Court on December 1

The driver 'failed to negotiate a turn' on Clifton road on October 23

A man has been charged with drink-driving and dangerous driving causing death after a girl, 10, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Western Australia.

The young girl died while riding passenger on an off-road motorbike after the 46-year-old male driver lost control and crashed on October 23.

As they travelled southeast on Clifton Road in Waterloo, east of Bunbury, the driver 'failed to negotiate' a left hand bend and crashed.

As they travelled southeast on Clifton Road (pictured) in Waterloo, east of Bunbury, the driver 'failed to negotiate' a left hand bend and crashed

The little girl was thrown from the bike and died at the scene- The 46-year-old driver was airlifted to the Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries

The little girl was thrown from the bike and died at the scene.

The 46-year-old driver was airlifted to the Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries.

Police have now charged him with dangerous driving causing death and driving with a blood alcohol level exceeding .08.

He is set to face Bunbury Magistrates Court on December 1.
The further north people live the earlier people get multiple sclerosis symptoms - and it could be down to darker winters.

Every 10 degrees in latitude was linked with a 10 month earlier onset of symptoms, according to a new study.

Those in the most northerly climes start their symptoms almost two years earlier than those in the least northerly climes.

Every 10 degrees in latitude was linked with a 10 month earlier onset of symptoms, according to a new study. Those in colder climes can get symptoms almost two years earlier. Stock image

More than 100,000 people diagnosed with MS in the UK and is most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s with women three times more likely than men to get it.

MS is a progressive neurodegenerative autoimmune disease affecting the affect the brain and spinal cord, causing problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance.

Although the exact cause of the disease was unknown, it is thought it was a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, including latitude and exposure to sunlight and vitamin D levels.

Previous studies linked latitude with prevalence of the disease but the new study examined the age at which symptoms first start.

Professor Bruce Taylor from the University of Tasmania, which conducted the study, said: The explanations of this geographical variation have largely been considered to reflect changes in ambient ultraviolet radiation and or ... variations in vitamin D sufficiency although this is by no means the only potential explanation.

In the present study, we sought to evaluate whether there was any evidence of a latitudinal variation in the age of symptom onset of MS and if so, whether such variation could be ascribed to a similar UV-based mechanism or if other factors were at play.

The study drew on an international database of more than 22,000 MS patients from 52 centres in 21 countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia Minor, South Asia and Australia.

More than 100,000 people diagnosed with MS in the UK and it is most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s with women three times more likely than men to get it. Stock image

The latitude of each of the centres was divided into lower than 40 degrees, 40 to 50 degrees, and higher than 50 degrees.

The average amount of winter ultraviolet B (UVB) sunlight - the type involved in vitamin D manufacture in the skin - was calculated from information supplied by the Solar Radiation Database service.

It found latitude brought on the early onset of systems and a similar pattern emerged for exposure to UVB, with those getting the smallest dose during the winter months nearly two years ahead of those who got the largest dose.

Prof Taylor said: We found evidence that those living at higher latitude had a significantly younger age at onset, with every 10 increase in latitude associated with around a 10-month earlier age at onset.

The results were consistent when latitude was analysed as a categorical variable, demonstrating a strong inverse association between latitude and age at onset, such that those in the highest latitudinal range had a nearly two years earlier onset than those in the lowest latitudinal range.

Accordingly, we found a positive association between a lower winter ambient UV level and an earlier age at onset, these results are neatly in harmony due to the known relationship between UV levels and latitude.

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.




Mrs Hedge Fund, a 5million divorce and a touch of Jackie Collins: The life story of the woman behind the action

Gina Miller outside the courthouse today

There is a whiff of the Jackie Collins heroine about Gina Miller  at least in the version she tells of her life story.

She says she struggled alone to bring up a daughter with special needs and claims to have endured a troubled relationship  before emerging triumphant to find happiness with a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager husband.

Often described as a former model  though it is not clear exactly when she was modelling  three-times married Mrs Miller styles herself as an investment guru and philanthropist.

As a young woman in the 1980s, La Miller is said to have been the inspiration behind Dennis Potters sexually charged TV drama Blackeyes about a model played by her slinky namesake Gina Bellman. Whether this story, or the tale that her silhouette was used in the opening credits of a Bond film, is true remains open to question. But she has done little to dispel the rumours.

Now a mother of three aged 51, Mrs Miller is a woman whose sultry appearance can still turn heads.

For her victory speech yesterday outside court, she was dressed, librarian-style, in a blue tweed jacket and high-necked navy T-shirt. Usually, though, she prowls the City  where in some quarters she is known as the black widow after her campaign to force investment firms to make their charges clearer and cheaper  in killer heels and tight- fitting frocks.

Like Theresa May, she has a penchant for leopard print. Unlike the Prime Minister, however, she doesnt confine it to footwear, but is partial to whole dresses in the design. Yet despite this cougarish attire, Labour-supporting Mrs Miller paints herself as a femme serieuse whose moral compass is so highly attuned she is kept awake at night worrying about issues such as how the country will afford an ageing population.

Not that she sleeps much anyway. She recently told me that she regularly works until 2 or 3am and then gets up again at 6.30 to 7am.

I get a huge amount done between midnight and two or three oclock, she said. Mrs Miller was born in 1965 in Guyana into a prosperous and socially prominent family. Her grandfather was a wealthy landowner, while her father served as attorney general of the former British colony.

She came to Britain to study at the 36,000-a-year Roedean boarding school in Sussex where she claims she experienced racism for the first time. Mrs Miller also claims she spent her free time there volunteering to visit the elderly. She cites daughter Lucy-Ann, now 28, from her first marriage, as her greatest inspiration. Lucy-Ann was deprived of oxygen at birth and has a mental age of six. I say she has different abilities rather than disabilities, says Mrs Miller.

The girl apparently picked up her mothers concerns for the downtrodden. Mrs Miller tells how, when she was little, she asked whether they could take in homeless people to live in their house so they dont die, as they had so many rooms.

My answer was No, but I promised her that I would always spend time helping people and children who needed help, was her reply.

She met met current husband Alan Miller (pictured together at their home) in 2002 when they worked at New Star, a firm based across the road from Harrods in Londons Knightsbridge

Initially Mrs Miller wanted a career as a barrister but claims she was deterred by sexism. Instead, she took jobs in marketing and events management before venturing into investment. Her second marriage was to controversial financier Jon Maguire whose fund later lost around 120million. She walked away and met current husband Alan Miller in 2002 when they worked at New Star, a firm based across the road from Harrods in Londons Knightsbridge.

Mr Miller  now known as Mr Hedge Fund  left his wife Melissa and there followed a bitterly acrimonious divorce battle in which he was forced to hand over a record 5million after less than three years of marriage.

At the time, he was reportedly worth 17.5million. Today the balding, bespectacled financier is worth nearer 30million. Some have wondered why a livewire like Mrs Miller is married to him. Cynics may say she has about thirty million good reasons.

Facts, rumours and wishful thinking all meld together in the sometimes improbable but always fascinating life of Gina Miller.

Brazillian hairdresser who started it all (but voted for Brexit)

Deir Dos Santos, 37, who holds both Brazilian and British passports

The court battle that plunged Britain into a constitutional crisis may have been led by Gina Miller, but it was started by a mysterious hairdresser who was born in Brazil.

Few had heard of Deir Dos Santos until yesterday. He has no legal expertise and it is unclear where he developed his niche interest in the minutiae of the British constitution.

Even more puzzlingly, he actually voted for Brexit. But Mr Dos Santos, 37, who holds both Brazilian and British passports, apparently took exception to the way Theresa May was going about it.

Yesterday even his own lawyer admitted Mr Dos Santos, who lives in London, does not have any technical knowledge about it at all. But because he seems to have been the first person to lodge a complaint about Article 50 with the courts, he is named as one of the key claimants in the landmark battle.

He later took a back seat after he claims he received abuse on social media. Mr Dos Santos, who is single and not thought to have any children, now wants to return to his quiet life. He was not at court yesterday, but said afterwards: Todays judgment is a victory for everyone who believes in the supremacy of our Parliament and the rule of law.

He said he wanted to see everything done legally, fairly and properly, adding: I did not think it was right for the Government then just to bypass Parliament.

Millionaire plumbing boss in Bentley who backed the action

Flamboyant plumbing tycoon Charlie Mullins  a dedicated Remainer and key backer of the legal challenge  cut a bizarre figure at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday.

The founder of Pimlico Plumbers, who describes himself as the plumber to the stars, bobbed up and down in front of the cameras wearing a tight-fitting pinstriped suit. He also illegally parked his blue Bentley on the pavement outside.

The entrepreneur, who is worth more than 70million and is a Tory donor, even brought along a livery-clad lackey to buff his 336,000 Bentley Mulsanne, which has a customised number plate CH4RLE.

Flamboyant plumbing tycoon Charlie Mullins  a dedicated Remainer and key backer of the legal challenge  cut a bizarre figure at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday

He said the judges decision was a no-brainer, adding: It took three minutes to prove Article 50 needs to be triggered by Parliament, not by the Government.

He described Brexit supporters in Government as busybodies and claimed any appeal to the Supreme Court would fail, adding: Were on a winning horse, and a jockey doesnt get off a winning horse.
The price of cherries will soar by more than $5 a kilogram after a disappointing season for farmers.

Cold and wet weather across Australia battered farms in September leaving producers with a significantly smaller than expected harvest for 2016.

Australian Cherry Growers Association president Tom Eastlake said he had never seen a harvest this bad.

Consumer could pay an extra $5 or more for a kilo of cherries this coming Christmas

'We are in uncharted territory at the moment, crops have never been this low. But the quality is good and customers who love cherries will pay more,' Mr Eastlake said.

Mr Eastlake said farmers around the country could harvest 9,000 tonnes of the fruit, half of the 18,000 tonnes that was expected.

'It's going to be tough for farmers to make a profit because the yield is so low,' he said.

But he encourage consumers to buy cherries and support the Australian cherry farmers.

'If you like good cherries this is going to be a good year for sure,' he said.

'Assuming the good weather patterns hold, were going to see some of the best fruit weve ever produced in Australia and the fruit size is going to big this year,' he added.

Tom Eastlake, president of the Australian Cherry Growers Association said: '[The cherries] will be good quality, we just need strong demand from consumers as the growers will be hurting this year'

Mr Eastlake also said there would certainly be cherries available between November and February.

He also said the $5 extra price projection, reported by The Daily Telegraph, was in no way certain, despite a smaller a significantly smaller than expected harvest for 2016.

Also affected by the storms were potato crops in farms across southern New South Wales and Victoria, which has caused a shortage on supply that could last until the next season.

Trudi Yip, a potato wholesaler from Sydney markets, said: 'the shortage is affecting everyone from grower, supermarket to consumer.'
Sir Craig Tunstall, who earns more than double the salary of the Prime Minister

The head of a group of primary schools was paid 374,000 last year.

Sir Craig Tunstall, who earns more than double the salary of the Prime Minister, is believed to be the best-paid primary head in Britain.

His package of 330,000 plus 44,000 pension contributions was paid by the London borough of Lambeth, newly published accounts reveal. Theresa Mays salary is 143,500.

Sir Craigs package made him Lambeth councils best-paid employee. His salary is around 80 per cent higher than the councils chief executive and around double that of the other directors in the borough.

Sir Craig is executive head of the Gipsy Hill Federation, a group of eight primary schools that are still council-run.

His case is particularly surprising because it is usually academies  not council-controlled schools  that pay senior staff eye-watering amounts.

His salary, contained in council accounts, was uncovered by a website, ourcity.london, which said Lambeths top six employees earned 1.3million in pay and benefits last year, at a time when it had been shedding lower-paid jobs due to budget cuts.

Sir Craig was awarded a knighthood in 2014 for his services to education and he is also designated as a national leader of education, a super head who gives their expertise to other schools.

He has turned around a number of schools as a super head, but his methods have not always been well-received. In 2011, he left Oval Primary in Croydon just two days into his new job after suspending seven pupils for minor offences  one of whom was a five-year-old with special needs.

These included wearing the wrong coat in the playground, refusing to finish their school lunch and failing to stand in line.

In 2011, he left Oval Primary in Croydon just two days into his new job after suspending seven pupils for minor offences  one of whom was a five-year-old with special needs

Council bosses removed him following complaints.

Sir Craig had originally been brought in as part of a plan for the Gipsy Hill Federation to take over the failing school.

Before now, the highest paid primary school head in the country was thought to be Sir Greg Martin of the Durand Academy, also in Lambeth, which is independent of the council.

He stepped down from that school last year on a basic salary of 200,000.

This was supplemented by an extra 160,000 for running a leisure centre and a block of flats on the school site for visiting language students.

His package of 330,000 plus 44,000 pension contributions was paid by the London borough of Lambeth

Durand Academy was recently notified that its funding would be terminated by the Department for Education.

Another head with a knighthood, Sir Daniel Moynihan, is the highest paid secondary head. He is chief executive of the Harris Federation, a group of 41 primary and secondary academies in and around London, and earns 395,000.

Last year the average teachers salary was 37,800, an increase of 400 on the year before.

A spokesman for Gipsy Hill Federation said the majority of schools run by Sir Craig had been rated outstanding.

She told The Times: Sir Craig Tunstall receives remuneration for the post of chief executive head teacher of five Lambeth schools, one Lambeth childrens centre, three Southwark schools, and one Southwark childrens centre, consisting of just over 4,000 pupils, and over 600 staff, and [will also run] one free secondary school due to open in 2017.

Six of the schools have Ofsted grades of outstanding and two currently have good judgments with outstanding features.

Due to his outstanding achievements within these schools he was awarded a knighthood. He is currently a national leader of education and one of his schools is a national support school, which means he can be asked to assist other schools who are in need of help.

Sir Craig and his senior leadership team have gone through an amazing journey in each of our eight schools and two childrens centres. We do not do quick-fix remedies.
Donald Trump wowed more than 17,500 North Carolinians on Thursday night with a speech heavy on military policy  and did it under the watchful eye of nearly a dozen admirals and generals, and seven Medal of Honor recipients.

As Trump set his Pentagon pledges in stone, he couldn't help peppering his speech with one-liners while the decorated heroes sat behind him on stage.

Calling the more than 200 military flag officers who have endorsed him 'amazing people' and 'tough cookies,' the Republican presidential nominee laughed about sizing one of them up after his Secret Service motorcade arrived.

'I saw somebody backstage. Big, strong, powerful,' he told his screaming crowd.

'I said to the guys, "You think I could take this guy in a fight? You think I could take him?" They all said no. I said "I agree".'

'UNDER THE FAILED LEADERSHIP OF HILLARY CLINTON ...' Donald Trump rallied 17,500 North Carolinians on Thursday night, bashing his Democratic rival and boasting his own national security bona fides

MILITARY CATHEDRAL: Flanked by Medal of Honor recipients and retired generals and admirals, the Republican presidential nominee made his case to be commander-in-chief

And as he introduced the recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor in battle, he found his own Trumpian way of praising them.

'Oh, they're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did,' Trump said. 'I'm brave in other ways.'

'I'm brave  I'm financially brave. Big deal. These are real brave men.'

The Trump campaign released a statement from 22 living recipients of the medal including the seven who stood with him Thursday, saying they 'will be voting for Donald Trump and we encourage you to do the same. And our enemies will hate us for it.'

'Our nation is blessed with the promise of freedom and the glory of liberty. And our enemies hate us for it,' the statement began.

'The street corners in any American city might be lined with churches and temples and mosques. And our enemies hate us for it.

'Men and women of any race, color or creed can enjoy the fruits of their labors under American laws. And our enemies hate us for it.

BRAVE, ALMOST: Trump said the decorated soldiers were brave, but he was merely 'financially brave'

'TOUGH COOKIES': Trump said he admitted backstage that he couldn't take any of the soldier-heroes in a fight

'The time is upon us to remind the enemies of freedom that the United States of America is the shining city on the hill and that we will never surrender it.'

Trump, they said, would 'restore our military readiness while modernizing our national defense capabilities,' and also 'develop and employ a plan to destroy ISIS and defeat radical Islamist terrorism.'

Hillary Clinton, his liberal rival, earned their scorn.

'We cannot continue, nor can our freedoms afford, the feckless foreign policies and defense strategies promised by the Democratic nominee,' the war heroes said.

'The philosophy of retreat, apology, and weakness has already jeopardized the safety and freedom of every American, stressed the readiness of our Armed Forces and allowed our nation's enemies to advance.'

Trump's speech was heavy on policy specifics, including vows to better equip America's servicemen and women, cancel the congressional 'sequester' that has trimmed the Pentagon's budget, and 'only engage the use of military forces when it's vital to the national security ... of the United States.

No more nation-building or regime-toppling, he promised, but instead an emphasis on 'keeping America safe and on destroying ISIS and defeating radical Islamic terrorism.'

Trump drew on those three words  'radical Islamic terrorism'  as he has hundreds of times before to separate his swashbuckling style from the more politically correct vocabulary of Clinton and President Barack Obama.

After a half-minute of gesticulating, he let a pregnant pause hang in the air.

And then, slow and measured, he delivered the kill shot.

'Anyone who cannot name the enemy cannot lead the country,' Trump declared.

SEA OF PEOPLE: The Johnston County, North Carolina sheriff said after Thursday night's rally that 17,500 people attended

'USA! USA!' Trump raucous crowd shouted, cheered, clapped  and booed when Trump talked about Hillary Clinton or the national news media that he calls 'dishonest'

He also reiterated his goal of wresting money away from allies in NATO and elsewhere who don't 'pay their fair share of our military burden' that protects them.

'Nobody's ever brought that up, right?' he asked, before guaranteeing that 'our allies will' pay up, 'but somebody has to ask them. I'll ask them. They will.'

Trump said Hillary Clinton would not be a respected commander-in-chief.

He gestured to the military brass on stage, paused, and shook his head.

'To think of her being their boss? I don't think so!' Trump boomed.

'And you know, they're incredible patriots who would never say a thing, but I know what they're thinking.'

Trump also clobbered Clinton on the deadly dividends from her State Department's failed mission in the Libyan port city of Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans perished in a bloody terror attack four years ago.

'A Trump administration will honor that sacred pledge to leave no man or woman behind,' he said, charging that she abandoned them instead of sending help.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll in the state of North Carolina has Clinton leading Trump by just a 47-44 margin.

'I DON'T THINK SO': Trump said he can't imagine Hillary Clinton as commander-in-chief in charge of the retired warriors on stage with him. Clinton appeared with singed Pharrell Williams at her own rally less than an hour's drive away in Raleigh

The importance of the battleground was made plain Thursday night as Clinton's campaign aircraft landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport just before sundown. She was there to attend her own evening rally in Raleigh.

Minutes later Trump's Boeing 757 landed on a nearby runway, chasing the 737 carrying his traveling press corps.

The crowd in sleepy Selma, North Carolina was reminiscent of film reels showing the Woodstock rock festival, only with chewing tobacco instead of hallucinogens.

Trump surveyed the masses and imagined a victory on Nov. 8, raising his eyebrows in the direction of Generals Keith Kellogg and Michael Flynn on stage.
in a faulty pipe in a nearby shop on Friday

More than 200 people were forced to evacuate a popular tourist spot in Melbourne after a gas leak.

The fire brigade rushed to Federation Square in Melbournes city centre at about 11.30 am on Friday after urgent calls came in about the leak, the ABC reported.

The leaking gas appeared to be from a faulty pipe at a nearby shop, authorities said.

Over 200 people were forced to evacuate a popular tourists spot in Melbourne after a gas leak was detected

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) was called to Federation Square in Melbournes city centre at about 11.30 am on Friday

The entire area was evacuated as a large amount of gas filled the air, for people's safety and to reduce the chances that someone would set off an explosion.

Authorities said later the leak had been contained.

Federation square is in the heart of Melbournes busy CBD and opposite Flinders Street station.

The MFB said a large amount of gas leaked from the pipe and people were evacuated from the area

The leak is now contained but authorities will continue to monitor the area
The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur, pictured

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay for the execution of an Alabama inmate convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire plot.

The court on Thursday night stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur without comment, until further order of the court.

Arthur, 74, had been scheduled to be executed Thursday evening by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said the state will wait until Arthur's death warrant expires at midnight to see if the execution can proceed.

This is the seventh time Arthur, who has waged a lengthy legal battle challenging his conviction and the death penalty, has been granted an execution stay.

Arthur was convicted of killing Troy Wicker as he slept inside his Muscle Shoals home.

Wicker's wife Judy initially said she had been raped and an intruder killed her husband, but she later testified she had sex with Arthur and paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.

The court on Thursday night stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur without comment, until further order of the court

Concerned citizens gather for a candlelight vigil for convicted murderer Tommy Arthur on the steps of the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, on Thursday

Arthur, 74, had been scheduled to be executed Thursday evening by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore

She also testified that Arthur, who is white, wore a wig and makeup to disguise himself as an African-American man when he shot her husband.

Arthur once asked a jury to give him the death penalty, but has avoided it for decades.

Juries twice convicted Arthur, but those convictions were overturned on appeal.

During his third trial in 1991, Arthur ignored the advice of his attorneys and pleaded with the jury to convict him on the capital charge and sentence him to death.

He said he didn't have a death wish, but it was a way of opening more avenues of appeal.

Arthur has maintained his innocence through the years.

The Alabama Supreme Court had six times set an execution date for Arthur, but he won reprieves each time.

Alabama's governor stayed Arthur's execution in 2007 - hours ahead of when it was scheduled to occur - for 45 days to allow new lethal injection procedures to take place.

Above, the execution chamber at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama

Another stay came in 2008 after another man confessed to the crime and his attorneys sought DNA testing on the wig.

A judge later said there was no evidence to back up the man's claim.

The Alabama attorney general's office in July had asked the court to set an 'expedited seventh execution date' after a federal judge dismissed Arthur's most recent challenge to state death penalty procedures.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday refused to stay the execution after he challenged Alabama's death penalty procedure as unconstitutional.

Earlier Thursday, Arthur's attorneys filed two requests for a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court.
She is the huntsman spider who sent the world into a spin.

And now experts have told Daily Mail Australia the creepy crawly pictured dwarfing a broom head in Queensland's Brisbane Valley is the biggest huntsman they have ever laid eyes on.

Photographs of the arachnid, dubbed Charlotte, being moved from harm's way in an animal rescue farm grabbed headlines and chilled spines the world over.

Specialists say they the huntsman is believed to be a green giant species with a legspan of 20 centimetres.

It's believed the behemoth arachnid grew to a fearsome stature gorging on bugs, safe from predators, in an old farmer's shed.

Charlotte the giant huntsman shot to internet stardom after pictures surfaced of her crawling on a broom

Experts have says Charlotte is the biggest huntsman they have ever laid eyes on in Australia

Australian Reptile Park's Michael Tate, also known as 'Ranger Mick', told Daily Mail Australia Charlotte was a 'gobsmacker.'

'She's an exceptionally large female. I've been working at the Park for 25 years and she would have to be the biggest one I've seen. She's a gobsmacker.'

He said it was an optimum environment that allowed the critter to grow to such a large build.

'It looks to me like she grew to that size in an optimum environment. An abundance of food and a distinct lack of predators let her grow old and fat.'

Mr Tate said Charlotte would have proportionately more venom because of her size, but was no more dangerous than the average huntsman.

Australian Museum Arachnology Department's Graham Milledge told Daily Mail Australia he suspects Charlotte boasted a 20cm legspan.

Barnyard Betty, who found Charlotte in Brisbane Valley, said she wasn't scared but instead marvelled at Charlotte's size after finding g her in an old shed

Charlotte isn't the first huntsman to terrify the internet - take this creepy crawly snapped lurking in a window

The bite of a huntsman isn't dangerous to humans  it's their fearsome appearance that's the real concern

'It looks to be a species of green huntsman known as hue typostola barbata, aka the green giant. I would say it's legspan is at least 20 centimetres.'

He said the green giant is the largest species of huntsman in Australia, however the world's biggest is believed to have been discovered in a cave in Laos in 2001.

The woman who discovered Charlotte, who asked to be referred to as Barnyard Betty, has shed light on the day she discovered Charlotte hiding out in a dilapidated shed back in October 2015.

'We were looking into on an old farm that was being renovated. We had some kids with us, and they came bolting out of the shed screaming their lungs out,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

She jumped to the animal's aid  but got a little more than she bargained for once she went in to investigate.

Experts Graham Milledge (left) and Michael Tate said Charlotte grew to such a fearsome stature gorging safe from predators in a farmer's shed

'I thought I could do the old glass and paper trick to get her out. When I got inside I saw I wouldn't have had any hope using a bucket. She was huge.'

Betty said Mr Tate's estimation about of environmental conditions that gave rise to her size were were bang on the money.

'She was living in this abandoned shed just rife with bugs and no predators in sight. She ate herself that big.'

It might be hard for arachnophobes to digest, but Betty said wasn't scared of the behemoth spider.

'I'm not scared of animals, I was just marvelling at her size.'

On Tuesday a man crashed his car into Lake Cathie in NSW after a huntsman fell on his lap, causing him to accidentally slam his foot on the accelerator

Betty moved Charlotte to another shed one years before the spider shot to internet stardom.

Charlotte isn't the first huntsman to terrify the internet: images have circulated in the past of the spiders lurking in windows and cars.

The bite of a huntsman isn't dangerous to humans  it's their fearsome appearance that's the real concern.

The spiders are notorious for popping out of car dashboards at unexpected times - and with catastrophic consequences.
A Texas teacher has been fired and is facing criminal charges after she punched a second grader in the face 'with a closed fist' and then sat on him in a school hallway, officials said.

Lisa Allison, 48, allegedly told the boy 'I'm tired of you' before grabbing him, punching him and forcing him to the ground before she sat on him.

She was charged on Monday with injury to a child after the shocking ordeal was caught on camera at Landis Elementary School earlier this month, KTRK reported.

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Lisa Allison, 48, has been fired from Landis Elementary School (pictured) and faces charges after allegedly punching a second grader in the face and sitting on him in a school hallway

The incident unfolded on October 12 when Allison said she had asked the boy to leave the classroom because he was being noisy, according to court documents.

While in the hallway, Allison told Alief Independent School District police the student was kicking lockers in the hallway so she went to take him to the office.

Surveillance video allegedly shows the child sitting on the floor in the hallway as Allison bends over to say something to him.

The boy reportedly stands up with his backpack and walks away when Allison grabs his hand and near the back of his neck as he attempts get away from her.

Footage then shows the pair engaging in a scuffle before Allison is seen punching the second grader 'with a closed fist' on the right side of his face, authorities said.

She then allegedly pushes him to the ground and sits on him.

Administrators eventually come into the hallway and tell her to get off the boy who then walked calmly as he was escorted to the office, according to documents.

Allison told authorities she had only gone into the hallway to take the child to the office and did not remember hitting him, according to the Houston Chronicle.

However, she admitted to holding him down, authorities said.

The school district said Allison was 'immediately placed on leave' after administrators learned of the allegations.

The school district said Allison was 'immediately placed on leave' after administrators learned of the allegations. An aerial view of the school shown above

Allison appears to no longer be in custody and parents were left shocked after learning about the incident.

'That's crazy, I don't think they should be doing anything like that, if it did happen,' parent Mito Garcia told KHOU.

'I mean, if you're a teacher, you go to school for this,' said parent Diana Rodriguez. 'To be able to know you have to have patience.'
A man has been found guilty of the historic murder of Sydney nurse Mary Louise Wallace.

Robert John Adams, 64, was handed the verdict in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday over Ms Shelley's 1983 death.

Justice Richard Button said he was satisfied Adams had choked or strangled Ms Wallace with the intention of having non-consensual sex with her, causing her sudden death.

Robert John Adams has been found guilty of the murder of Sydney nurse Mary Louise Wallace (pictured)

Adams, 64, (pictured) choked or strangled Ms Wallace with the intention of having non-consensual sex with her, the judge said

There were hugs and tears from Ms Wallace's supporters in the public gallery when the verdict was handed down.

Ms Wallace, 33, was last seen in Adams' car leaving a Crows Nest bar in the early hours of Saturday, September 24, 1983.

Adams told police he fell asleep in the vehicle after consensual sexual contact with Ms Wallace, and when he woke she was gone.

But Justice Button accepted the Crown's case, that Adams strangled her to force her to have sex, in line with his tendency to choke women in order to force them to submit.

In reaching his verdict, Justice Button said he was persuaded by the proven tendency of Adams to rape and strangle women, the fact Ms Wallace was last seen in his company, that he used his hose on his car boot within 48 hours after their interaction, and that hairs that matched Ms Wallace's were seized from his boot.

He said Adams' modus operandi of raping and strangling women was chronic, repetitive and specific.

Ms Wallace, 33, was last seen in Adams' car leaving a Crows Nest bar in the early hours of Saturday, September 24, 1983

Adams told police he fell asleep in the vehicle after consensual sexual contact with Ms Wallace, and when he woke she was gone

'The accused treated the deceased very much as object, just as he had treated three other young women,' the judge said on Friday.

Ms Wallace's sister Anne Fraser said the family had been waiting 33 years for this day.

'I didn't believe it, it'll take a while to sink in,' she said of Friday's verdict.

'We've known since the first week and it's just thanks to the police.'

Ms Fraser said the family was desperate for Adams to tell her where her sister was, but doubted he would.

'He's never changed his story in 33 years,' she said.

'That would be the (best) result for us.'

Adams' bail was withdrawn following the verdict and he has been taken into custody.
One of the US Navy's newest warships suffered damaged while passing through the Panama Canal last week in its latest run of bad luck.

As the $360 million state-of-the-art USS Montgomery was traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean on October 29, it crashed into one of the walls of the canal's locks.

At the time, the littoral combat ship was en route to its new homeport in San Diego, California, and sustained an 18-inch-long crack to its hull, USNI News reported.

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The $360 million state-of-the-art USS Montgomery (pictured) suffered damaged while passing through the Panama Canal last week in its latest run of bad luck

The crack is located eight to 10 feet above the waterline, but 'poses no water intrusion or stability risk,' Cmdr. Ryan Perry with U.S. 3rd Fleet told USNI.

The ship did not require immediate repair and continued its transit as scheduled, according to CNN.

The newly commissioned ship is expected to arrive in San Diego next month.

The October 29 incident is the third mishap to occur to the ship, an Independence-class LCS (LCS-8), which has only been in service since September.

Only weeks before this latest incident, the USS Montgomery was damaged on October 4 during a collision with a tugboat as it prepared to leave Mayport Naval Station for safe waters ahead of Hurricane Matthew.

It again suffered a crack to its hull above the water line so the repair was 'relatively simple,' Naval Surface Forces spokesman Cmdr John Perkins said at the time.

He also noted that high waves and heavy wind appeared to have contributed to the collision.

As the littoral combat ship was traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean on October 29, it crashed into one of the walls of the canal's locks (pictured)

Then in September, the USS Montgomery suffered two major engineering problems just three days after its commissioning.

The first was when the crew discovered a seawater leak in the hydraulic cooling system, USNI reported.

Then later that day it discovered an issue with one of its gas turbine engines.

USS MONTGOMERY'S STRING OF MISHAPS October 29: The littoral combat ship sustained an 18-inch-long crack to its hull after crashing into one of the walls of the Panama Canal's locks. At the time, it was en route to its new homeport in San Diego, California. October 4: It suffered damaged again to its hull during a collision with a tugboat as it prepared to leave Mayport Naval Station for safe waters ahead of Hurricane Matthew. September 13: The warship suffered two major engineering problems, including a seawater leak in its hydraulic cooling system and an issue with one of its gas turbine engines. Advertisement

In September it was reported that five of seven of the U.S. Navy's speedy new warships, including USS Montgomery, have had engine problems in the past year and four of them are now considered 'test' ships that'll rarely, if ever, be deployed.

The Navy insists the costly littoral combat ship program is going to be fine after a bumpy start.

Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, said recently in Newport, Rhode Island, that most major shipbuilding programs have 'startup types of issues.'

'They're very complex programs and so I think, overall, this program is on track and we are seeing that we're learning lessons as it starts up,' he said.

But two senior senators, Arizona Republican John McCain and Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed, said it is time for the Navy to question all of its assumptions about the littoral combat ship program, which has been criticized for its growing costs, questions about the warships' warfighting ability and now, the ships' mechanical reliability.

The USS Montgomery has now suffered three mishaps since it was commissioned in September

They said acquisition mistakes and the ship's complexity have led to problems now.

McCain and Reed, ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, want the Navy to consider deploying the ships less often, establishing a site on land for engineering and technical support and reviewing the number of sailors assigned to each ship.

The Navy is overhauling how it operates the ships, to change how crews will be assigned and how the ships will deploy.

The first four ships will be used for testing developing technologies and systems being installed on the littoral combat ships.
The man was arrested and is set to appear at Blacktown Local Court

Police spotted girl trying to escape on Balmoral Street at 1.30am Thursday

the young girl at the home

teenage girl against her will

A man has been accused of holding a teenage girl hostage for a month at a home in Sydney's west where he sexually assaulted her.

The 15-year-old girl was found at 1.30am on Thursday when police spotted her running along Balmoral Street in Blacktown, allegedly being chased by a man.

The man, 29, caught up to the young girl and allegedly attempted to drag her away before police intervened and he was arrested.

A man has been accused of holding a teenage girl hostage for a month at a home in Sydney's west where he sexually assaulted her (stock image)

He was taken to Blacktown Police Station for questioning.

The girl told police the man had been holding her against her will for four weeks at a Blacktown home, where it's alleged he sexually assaulted her.

Further inquiries revealed the girl had been reported missing from a residential out-of-home care facility earlier this month.

She was taken to The Children's Hospital at Westmead and has since been released.

The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has been notified.

Police also notified the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, regarding the man's arrest.

The 15-year-old girl was found at 1.30am on Thursday when police spotted her running along Balmoral Street in Blacktown, allegedly being chased by a man (Balmoral street pictured)

The man has been charged with aggravated sexual assault and common assault- He was refused bail and is set to appear at Blacktown Local Court (pictured) on Friday

A crime scene was established and police seized a number of items from the Balmoral Street address that will undergo forensic examination.

The 29-year-old man has been charged with aggravated sexual assault and common assault.

He was refused bail and is set to appear at Blacktown Local Court on Friday.
An out-of-school carer accused of sexually assaulting 10 children has been attacked outside court by the mother of one of his alleged victims.

Brenton Kelly Dickson was hit eight times outside the South Australian District Court in Adelaide on Friday, where he was earlier convicted of one count of persistent sexual exploitation of a child.

The 35-year-old was found not-guilty of 12 other charges related to his conduct between 2007 and 2013, when he was the director of an after school centre.

'You f****** loser,' one of the mothers yelled at Dickson.

Brenton Kelly Dickson was hit and abused outside the South Australian District Court in Adelaide on Friday

Dickson (pictured) was found not-guilty of nine other charges related to his conduct between 2007 and 2013, when he was the director of an after school centre

She said her daughter, who was an alleged victim in a charge Dickson was acquitted of, had trusted him for six years.

'What am I going to say to her now?' she said.

The series of punches thrown at Dickson caused his dark sunglasses to fall off his face, forcing the large man to bend over and pick them up from the pavement.

It was alleged by the prosecution Dickson had groomed and abused up to 10 kids during his time at the centre.

His conviction sparked widespread anger outside court from parents of children once under his care.

At his trial Dickson had pleaded not guilty to eight counts of persistent sexual exploitation and two counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Dickson was punched eight times by the woman as she and another lady hurdled abuse at him

Prosecutors alleged he was a child molester who hid in plain sight and committed his offences while working at two centres.

Judge Michael Boylan deliberated on his verdict for 12 months before handing it down on Friday.

Dickson denied the allegations and said all he had done was hug children when they were hurt or upset.

He was suspended in 2013 after he was seen washing an 11-year-old girl's legs.

The case will return to court in December to start the sentencing process.
Studies are being conducted to specify what fish people are allergic to

The proteins which cause the adverse reactions are being modified

The studies are being conducted on the proteins in fish, shellfish and eggs

Australian scientists are developing a world-first vaccine to combat food allergies using the proteins from fish, shellfish and eggs.

The vaccine is being developed at James Cook University's Molecular Immunology Research Group, in north Queensland, the ABC reported.

In addition to a vaccine, the scientists are working towards figuring out which specific fish people are allergic to - allowing them to recognise which fish they can and cannot eat.

A world first vaccine for those who suffer allergies to fish, shellfish and eggs is being developed

Professor Andreas Lopata said the current studies are based mainly on cod, a fish which is rarely consumed in Australia.

That means patients [are] coming in with clearly some kind of allergy to fish but it's not clear to which type of fish  so if it's cod, if it's hake, if it's barramundi or if it's mackerel, he said.

The vaccine which may take four years to develop will differ to an epipen.

'Immunotherapy, or therapy to food allergens, you can imagine almost like a vaccine, so it's not acute treatment like an epi-pen,' Professor Lopata said.

'That would be the first [in the] world because nothing is available commercially right now,' he said.

Scientists are studying the proteins which cause the allergic reaction and manners in which to modify them

Professor Andreas Lopata is part of a group of north Queensland scientists working towards developing the vaccine at James Cook University




A seven-year-old girl has been called 'a dead-set little champion' after she rescued her baby brothers when the car they were travelling in was involved in a terrifying crash.

The family of Olivia Valli and the emergency services praised her actions after she pulled her two and three-year-old brothers from the car crash on the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday morning.

Olivia's mother, Amber, was driving the car when she lost control of the vehicle on a back country road in Woolmar, with the car rolling twice and come to rest on its side, the Sunshine Coast Daily reports.

Olivia Valli (pictured) pulled her two and three-year-old brothers from the car crash on the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday

With Amber unconscious in the driver's seat, Olivia was able to get herself out of her seat belt and pulled her two younger brothers out of the wrecked car despite that they were still buckled in to their baby seats.

The three children escaped unscathed, while their mother was flown to Nambour Hospital in a stable condition with suspected chest, arm and spinal injuries.

LifeFlight critical care doctor Matthew Mulkeen said the young girl was very brave, the ABC reports, and explained how she wriggled out of the front seat of the car.

'To have the state of mind and the composure to do that after the car has rolled over twice and to be lying on its side, that's quite amazing in itself,' he said.

'Just to be able to tell us when we arrived, strange adults in emergency vehicles and suits, to be able to tell us what happened and what she'd done, it's quite mature and brave for a seven-year-old.'

Olivia's Uncle Wade described how incredibly proud he was of his little niece and couldn't believe that she was composed enough to think of others after such a shocking experience

Olivia's mother, Amber, lost control of the vehicle on a back country road in Woolmar, with the car rolling twice (pictured)

'Olivia was incredibly brave and a dead set little champion to do what she did,' he said 'After being in a car that rolled two times all she was thinking about was her two little brothers and getting them to safety.'

A GoFundMe page to try and raise some money for the family to get through this difficult time has been created.
Callala Beach Road is closed and residents are warned to seek shelter

Firefighters have been tasked to the area as crews waterbomb from above

Another fire in Callala Bay, Sydney's south cropped up on Friday afternoon

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with causing the bushfire that ripped through Cranebrook on Friday afternoon.

The two men, aged 17 and 19, arrested yesterday in relation to the fire, were released without charge pending further inquires, police said.

More than 200 firefighters battled to contain the bushfire which was believed to be around 500m long and damaged several homes in Sydney's west.

A New South Wales Rural Fire Service spokesman said the fire had been contained about 6pm, a long four hours after crews were first alerted to it.

But just as one fire was contained, reports of another bushfire in Sydney's south near Jervis Bay surfaced.

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The fire tore through Vincent Road in Cranebrook threatening homes on Friday afternoon

A large bushfire has reportedly destroyed at least one home and damaged two more in Sydney's west

The fire was burning 'out of control' to the west of Callala Bay - a small town on Sydney's south coast.

Firefighters were alerted to the fire about 5.30pm on Friday and are currently on the scene working to contain it.

Firefighters on the ground were also assisted by a waterbombing aircraft.

An emergency warning was put in place for Callala Bay.

Callala Beach Road was closed and residents in local streets were asked to seek shelter as the fire approached late on Friday afternoon.

The fire was downgraded to Watch and Act about 7.30pm Friday after crews worked tirelessly to contain it.

More than 200 firefighters battled to contain the bushfire which was believed to be around 500m long

Fire fighters battle to put out a large fire front as a bushfire in Penrith threatens homes

Billowing smoke pours from the bush as homes in Sydney's west are reportedly evacuated

More than 200 firefighters are now in Sydney's west attempting to put out the fire

Students at Xavier College in Llandilo were evacuated on Friday afternoon to protect them from the fire burning out of control in Sydney's west.

Fire trucks were also tasked to surround a nursing home to protect the elderly residents from the blaze, according to Nine News.

Local man Mark Reynolds' video captured the intensity of the blaze in Sydney's west as it swept through Cranebrook, and just moments away from his house.

Smoke from the fire at Cranebrook billowed over the neighbourhood on Friday afternoon

More than 100 firefighters and air support are attempting to control the dangerous fire in Cranebrook, near Penrith, as it travels towards Terrybrook road

Onlookers at Windmalee watch the smoke rise into the sky from Penrith

The NSW Rural Fire Service are attempting to put out the blaze in Sydney's west

A number of homes have been reportedly evacuated as the NSW fire service attempt to control the bushfire

An air tanker was tasked to Llandilo, near Penrith, to put out the fire as an emergency warning was issued for Sydneys west.

Telephone warnings and messages were sent to Llandilo and Londonderry residents as the bushfire threatened homes, with further spot fires reported in a backyard of a house.

More than 200 firefighters worked to control the dangerous fire in Cranebrook, near Penrith, as it travelled towards Terrybrook road, according to a spokeswoman from the NSW Fire and Rescue.

Firefighters battling to put out a blaze in Penrith as smoke clouds the sky

Onlookers at Windmalee watch the smoke rise into the sky from Penrith on Friday afternoon

Houses in local streets in Cranebrook affected by the fire were also evacuated, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The NSW Rural Fire Service downgraded the fire to Watch and Act in Llandilo about 6pm Friday.

Both Northern Road in Sydney's west and Callala Beach Road in Sydney's south remain closed after the two fires tore through.

If your life is at risk, call 000 immediately.

More than 200 firefighters are attempting to control the dangerous fire in Cranebrook, near Penrith, as it travels towards Terrybrook road, according to a spokeswoman from the NSW Fire and Rescue

The fire front is believed to be around 500m long and people are advised to stay away

Reports a bushfire has burned down a home in Cranebrook near Penrith
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will axe more than a hundred jobs just months after the census debacle.

Bureau staff were told on Friday that as many as 150 voluntary redundancies were being offered, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

An ABS spokesperson said the voluntary redundancies were being offered to staff as part of a planned approach to transform its workforce for the future.

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The voluntary redundancies were being offered to ABS staff to transform its workforce for the future (stock image)

'With the Government's $257 million investment to modernise the ABS' ageing IT systems and processes, the agency will achieve efficiencies and require fewer staff in coming years,' their statement read.

'As the ABS shifts from manual processes and identifies efficiencies, staff with skills that are not essential for the future (including staff in roles that are no longer required) may apply for packages.'

The statement also said that the voluntary redundancies are necessary as the ABS moves from 'higher staffing levels to implement the 2016 Census'.

Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh said the government's obsession with downsizing the public sector is overshadowing the important work they ABS does for informing public policy.

Melissa Donnelly from the Community and Public Sector Union said 'cutting these 150 jobs has been forced on the ABS by the Turnbull Government's stupidly short-sighted budget decisions (stock image)

'Now the very public servants who have worked so hard to rescue the census disaster are being forced to pay the price for the Turnbull Government's mismanagement with their jobs,' Mr Leigh said.

Community and Public Sector Union's deputy national secretary Melissa Donnelly blamed the government's budget cuts.
The suspect in a shooting at a Pennsylvania Walmart store said he opened fire on his coworker because the employee was offended he was changing genders to female and had threatened him, police said.

Zachary McClimans, 22, of Sharon, said he had reported the issue to management at the Hermitage store last week but 'no decision had been made' regarding the other employee, police said in a criminal complaint on Friday.

McClimans decided one 'solution' to prevent his co-worker, identified as Jayson Hall, from harming him was shooting him, according to court documents.

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Walmart shooting suspect Zachary McClimans, 22, (left and right) said he opened fire on his co-worker because the employee was offended he was changing genders to female and had threatened him, police said

McClimans shot his coworker, identified as Jayson Hall, with his grandfather's .380-caliber pistol inside the store in Hermitage, Pennsylvania on Thursday at about 10.30pm. People stand outside the store following the shooting

So McClimans took his grandfather's .380-caliber pistol, drove to the store and shot Hall inside at about 10.30pm on Thursday, police said.

McClimans, who had left during his shift earlier in the day before returning to the store later that night, had originally planned to shoot the Hall outside the store.

However, 'he felt so strongly about shooting Hall that he could not wait, at which time he tracked down Hall inside the store,' according to the complaint.

Hall - who was found in a back stockroom - was shot four times, including twice in the back, according to authorities.

Chaotic scenes followed inside the store as frantic customers and Walmart employees were seen fleeing, WKBN reported.

When officers arrived, witnesses told police the shooter was still at the store in the parking lot.

Chaotic scenes ensued following the shooting as frantic customers and Walmart employees were seen fleeing from the store

Hall - who was found in a back stockroom - was shot four times, including twice in the back, according to authorities. He was taken to a local hospital where he is listed in stable condition

Officers then approached the vehicle where McClimans was sitting inside, who had a gun with him that was taken into evidence.

He surrendered to police and was arrested at the scene, according to the station.

Hall was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, where he is listed in stable condition. He is expected to recover, Hermitage police said.

While McClimans told police he is switching genders, it was not known if he has begun identifying as female.

Police checked the box marked 'male' on the criminal complaint and did not list any feminine aliases for McClimans.

The Walmart store in Hermitage, about 70 miles north of Pittsburgh, closed overnight Thursday following the shooting and reopened on Friday morning.

Store employees would not comment, but Walmart spokesman Charles Crowson confirmed in an email that one worker was injured and said one worker was fired.

'Our thoughts are with the associate who was injured. The other associate involved has been terminated,' Crowson said.

'We're continuing to gather all of the facts and work closely with law enforcement.'

Following the shooting, officers at the scene located him inside a vehicle in the parking lot. He surrendered and was taken into custody

McClimans has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, theft and carrying a firearm without a license

Walmart said police would have to answer any questions about McCliman's allegation of harassment at the store.

The victim named in the criminal complaint is not charged with a crime and could not immediately be reached to respond to McClimans' accusations against him.

Police did not return calls seeking additional information about Hall or other aspects of the shooting.

McClimans has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, theft and carrying a firearm without a license, WTAE reported.

An attorney for him was not listed in court documents.
He downed the decadent drink in a 'mind blowing' 13.28 minutes

Ingredients: 5L of ice cream, litre-and-a-half of cream, 500mLs milk

Crowned first person ever to conquer a monstrous 'Godfather' milkshake

He was found not guilty of murder, manslaughter of his Tinder date

He was cleared of the murder and the manslaughter of his Kiwi Tinder date just a fortnight ago.

And Gable Tostee certainly is hungry to get back into the swing of everyday life.

The 30-year-old this week became the first person ever to conquer Gold Coast cafe Gangster and Gatsby's monstrous 'godfather' milkshake.

Ingredients include 5L a whopping five litres of ice cream, a litre-and-a-half of cream and a splash of milk.

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Gable Tostee grins in a triumphant post after conquering the 'Godfather' shake

Pictured: A combination of 5L of ice cream, a litre-and-a-half of cream and 500mLs of milk

The cafe announced his achievement in a triumphant Facebook post - using the name Mr Tostee recently assumed, Eric Thomas.

'Eric Thomas is the first person ever to emerge victorious in the Godfather Challenge!'

He downed the humongous drink in a 'mind blowing' 13.28 minutes.

In a photograph shared online, Mr Tostee could be seen cheering his achievement with a full belly and triumphant smile.

He held the half-a-metre tall decadent drink above his head in a victorious pose.

For his efforts, Mr Tostee got his money back, won $50, reecived a T-shirt and advanced to the grand final of the 'Godfather Challenge'.

There, he can compete for $1000 worth of 'travel'.

Some surprised punters were quick to point out Mr Tostee's identity.

'Correct me if I'm wrong... isn't this Gable Tostee?????' one asked.

Warriena Wright - the Kiwi girl who plunged to her death from Tostee's 14th floor balcony

Exonerated: Tostee, seen outside the Brisbane Supreme Court prior to being found innocent

Others were more concerned with his future bowel movements after such a huge meal.

A jury of twelve men and women last month found Mr Tostee 'not guilty' of culpability in New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright's death.

Friends have since told Daily Mail Australia Mr Tostee was hoping for a 'fresh start'.

Since the trial, he has been seen chilling out with his girlfriend Lizzi Evans.

She told friends the pair hoped to move to New Zealand together once Mr Tostee completes his architecture studies.




The pair decided to bash a man who was 'messing with their family'

A couple who decided to take matters into their own hands and bashed a man for 'messing with their family' have been jailed, leaving their son, 14, without his parents.

Jason Radford and wife Cheryl Stubley, both 44, have been put behind bars in separate jails until at least 2019 after facing LaTrobe Valley County Court, in Victoria's south-east, on Friday.

The bashing came a fortnight after Stubley told police, 'If you don't do anything this time I'm going to have to take it into my own hands', referring to several attacks on her daughter, Herald Sun reported.

Jason Radford (right) and his wife Cheryl Stubley (left) have been sent to separate jails after they bashed a man for 'messing with their family'

Stubley had warned police of the attacks on her 25-year-old daughter from an acquaintance and an unidentified person's friend.

The couple visited the acquaintances' homes on October 4 last year before the husband forced his way into the house, the court heard.

Radford then repeatedly punched the victim in the face, while Stubley - holding a pool cue - went inside after waiting for her husband and threatened a woman.

Their lawyer told court Radford had been affected by alcohol and the couple had only gone over to the house to talk to the victim.

Stubley and Radford visited the acquaintances' homes on October 4 last year, before the husband forced his way into the house and bashed the man

Stubley was sentenced to two years and five months while Radford was sentened to three years and two months sentence

Taking the pool cue was just a coincidence, he said.

'This was part of what appears to have been a tit-for-tat course of conduct between you and at least one of the victims of the aggravated burglary,' Judge Maidment said.

'This kind of confrontational aggravated burglary is serious, and it requires the court to mark the seriousness of the offending by imposing appropriate terms of imprisonment.'

Stubley was sentenced to two years and five months behind bars and an 18 month non parole period.
Maria Ridulph (above) was murdered when she was seven years old in 1957 in Illinois

Police in Illinois are now looking at a possible new suspect in the 1957 abduction and murder of a seven-year-old girl after receiving an anonymous tip in the mail.

Jack McCullough, 76, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2012 in the tragic killing of Maria Ridulph in the small community of Sycamore, Illinois, where McCullough grew up.

However, the murder charge against McCullough was dismissed by DeKalb County Circuit Court Associate Judge William Brady in April.

The new potential suspect in the case emerged on the same day McCullough's conviction started to unravel on March 24, 2016, CNN reported.

On that day, an anonymous tipster sent a neatly typed letter naming someone as suspect in the murder, but did not sign it.

Prosecutor Richard Schmack confirmed that he received the letter and turned it over to Illinois State Police.

Illinois State Police Special Agent Ron Ogarek has completed 'an investigative work-up of the individual named in the anonymous tip' and is trying to locate the person.

Jack McCullough (above), 76, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2012 in the murder of Ridulph. The conviction was overturned in April and he was released

Police in Illinois are now looking into a possible new suspect in the 1957 abduction and murder of a Ridulph (grave-marker pictured) after they received an anonymous tip

The new development in the cold case was revealed in an affidavit by Ogarek and it was filed by attorneys for the state in response to a public-records lawsuit started by accountant Casey Porter, who is McCullough's son-in-law..

In addition, Sycamore police chief Glenn Therialut disclosed in an affidavit that his department met with Schmack on April 27.

They discussed 'new information' in the murder case, and by May 10 Sycamore police had forwarded that 'new information' to state police who were 'actively' investigating the new lead, CNN reported.

McCullough had been one of Ridulph's neighbors and was accused of killing the girl on December 3, 1957.

At the time, McCullough, who was 18 years old, was known as John Tessier, and was questioned and cleared by the FBI of the murder.

He then entered the US Air Force 11 days after the girl's disappearance.

McCullough claimed he was actually 40 miles away at the time the girl was snatched from her house, before her body turned up five months later.

A review of the case found the prosecution against McCullough (above) was so flawed he should never have been convicted of the crime

Her disappearance made headlines nationwide in the 1950s, when reports of child abductions were rare.

She had been playing outside in the snow with a friend on December 3, 1957, when a young man approached, introduced himself as 'Johnny' and offered them piggyback rides.

Ridulph's friend dashed home to grab mittens, and when she came back, the seven-year-old girl and the man were gone.

During the trial, prosecutors said McCullough was Johnny, because he went by John Tessier in his youth. They said McCullough dragged Ridulph away, choked and stabbed her to death.

Porter said that he requested the information to help clear his 76-year-old father-in-law's name of the murder.

Since his conviction was tossed, many questions have been raised about the case and if police manipulated or withheld evidence while trying to build a case around him.

Porter's lawsuit seeks police reports, emails and other records in the case.

Ogarek said that the more 123 pages of files that Porter is seeking contain confidential information about potential witnesses, along with details that the public does not yet know.

In addition, authorities say that turning over reports, emails and field notes taken during the McCullough's investigation could hinder their new inquiry.
Damning: Scotland Yard chiefs are said to be shocked by the scathing criticism by retired judge Sir Richard Henriques, pictured, about their handling of the 2million Operation Midland

The Met Police took too long investigating unfounded allegations of sexual abuse and murder aimed at VIPs, a leaked report revealed today.

Scotland Yard chiefs are said to be shocked by the scathing criticism doled out by retired judge Sir Richard Henriques about their handling of the 2million Operation Midland.

Sir Richard is believed to have concluded that it should have been shut down before March because there wasn't enough evidence to arrest suspects let alone prosecute them.

His report is said to question why detectives gave so much credibility to star witness 'Nick' even though there were inconsistencies in his evidence.

The flawed investigation also appeared unlikely to meet the evidence threshold required to get suspects into the dock.

The Guardian has said there is still no timetable for the release of Sir Richard's report, and say Met officers criticised in the report are demanding a 'right of reply'.

Operation Midland has been widely criticised, in part because it was based, largely, on the evidence of one man. Victims and their families called it an expensive 'fishing exercise'.

A senior detective described Nick's evidence as a 'credible and true' at the outset of its investigation into his claims of murder and rape by an Establishment paedophile ring in the 1970s and 1980s.

His family called him a fantasist and later an abuse victim lodged a complaint with police, claiming Nick stole parts of his story from him and should face criminal proceedings.

Nick claimed former MP Harvey Proctor, ex-prime minister Sir Edward Heath, former Tory home secretary Leon Brittan and ex-chief of the defence staff Lord Bramall were involved. But police found no evidence to support his allegations.

After his ordeal Harvey Proctor, who had been accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy in a town he had never visited almost 25 years ago, said people who make false claims of historic sex abuse should be prosecuted for wasting police time.

Hounded: War hero Lord Bramall and former Home Secretary Leon Brittan were both falsely accused by Nick

Harvey Proctor, pictured at a press conference last year, has revealed the 'agony' of facing repeated unfounded allegations

Mr Proctor said the impact of the two investigations - the first triggered by 'Nick', an anonymous man who made a string of allegations about a Westminster VIP sex abuse ring that triggered Operation Midland - had been 'devastating'.

Lord Brittans widow has repeatedly attacked police and MPs for hounding dead VIPs over baseless child sex allegations.

Discussing Scotland Yards disastrous 2million investigation into her late husband and other Establishment figures, Diana Brittan has insisted Sir Bernard Hogan-Howes force still had many outstanding questions to answer.

Lady Brittan, 75, also queried why warrants were issued to search the homes of people who had already died and therefore could never be prosecuted.

She also queried why the VIP accused were subjected to a tougher, longer and more stringent test than other people.

The London and Yorkshire homes of the late former home secretary were raided after his death from cancer at the age of 75 in January last year.

Police removed clothes, diaries, pictures, computers and phones as his widow grieved.

Ex-Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Bramall, 92, and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, 69, also had their homes raided under the 16-month probe.

Lord Bramall hit out at police for failing to clear him of baseless paedophile allegations until after his wife had died.

The late former prime minister Edward Heath was also named in connection with the probe.

But it took more than a year for the Met to finally admitted it had found no evidence to support claims made by a man known as Nick that Establishment figures were responsible for killing three boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Metropolitan Police has received severe criticism from Sir Richard's inquiry into Operation Midland

Last October Labour deputy leader Mr Watson apologised to Lady Brittan for remarks he made about her husband.
Uber is facing hundreds of more claims from drivers for holiday pay and wages after a landmark ruling said they should be treated as employees.

Drivers for the taxi-hailing service believe they are now entitled to the UK's national living wage, holiday and sick pay, as well as paid breaks.

They have previously been treated as self-employed, meaning they missed out on basic employee benefits.

Uber said it plans to take its case to the employment appeal tribunal. If unsuccessful, it can then fight the case in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court

James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, outside the Central London Employment Tribunal (July 21 2016) who both won Uber case

The GMB union described last week's Central London Employment Tribunal decision, which saw James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam win their cases, as a monumental victory for around 40,000 Uber drivers in England and Wales.

And despite Uber saying it will appeal the decision, an employment lawyer said her firm has been inundated with calls from drivers wishing to claim what they believe they are owed.

Annie Powell, of Leigh Day solicitors, told The Guardian: 'We have received hundreds of inquiries from Uber drivers who are unhappy with their working conditions and are interested in bringing a claim for back pay of holiday pay and the national minimum wage.

'We will lodge further employment tribunal claims with the support of the GMB union. It will be exactly the same claim for the first 19 drivers and we will argue they should be workers rather than self-employed and so should be entitled to workers' rights.'

Frank Field, Labour chairman of the work and pensions select committee, said the ruling would ricochet through the whole gig economy  including for workers on zero hours contracts.

The gig economy refers to the piecemeal work done by individuals who bounce between multiple employers on demand, without having a fixed contract.

Other companies such as courier services Deliveroo and Hermes use a similar business model to Uber, and could experience a knock-on effect from yesterdays ruling.

In July, lawyers for James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam (pictured) told the tribunal they were under tremendous pressure to work long hours and there would be repercussions if they refused jobs

Uber  which operates through a smartphone app in a dozen areas of the UK  insists that it does not give its drivers in England and Wales basic employee benefits because they are self-employed contractors who choose when and where they work.

But two disgruntled drivers have challenged this approach  and won a stunning victory over the San Francisco-based firm.

In July, lawyers for James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam told the tribunal they were under tremendous pressure to work long hours and there would be repercussions if they refused jobs.

The pair said they were effectively controlled by the firm but did not have basic employees rights.

Mr Farrar told judges he earned just 5.03 an hour after expenses in August last year  far less than the national living wage of 7.20 which came into force in April.

After spearheading a class action brought by 25 Uber drivers, 48-year-old Mr Farrar, from Hampshire, said: This is a great victory for mini cab drivers. It has been a rotten trade for a long time. But the exploitation since Uber came to the market has been supercharged.

Mr Farrar told judges he earned just 5.03 an hour after expenses in August last year  far less than the national living wage of 7.20 which came into force in April.

Employment lawyer Nigel MacKay speaks to the media after Uber lost a tribunal case on the employment rights of drivers at the Central London Employment Tribunal Service

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL JUDGES QUOTE SHAKESPEARE Employment tribunal judges were scathing of Uber's claims that its drivers are self-employed, even quoting from Shakespeare tragedy Hamlet to underline their dismissal of the private hire firm's arguments. The firm had claimed its workers are their own bosses, with freedom to work as they choose, rather than being employed workers. But the judges found otherwise, ruling the two drivers who brought the test case were employees and entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay. In his ruling, judge Anthony Snelson said the panel had been struck by the 'remarkable lengths to which Uber has gone to compel agreement with its - perhaps we should say its lawyers' - description of itself and with its analysis of the legal relationship between the two companies, the drivers and the passengers.' The panel accused Uber of trying to bamboozle drivers and their passengers. The judge said that any company with the 'function of carrying people in motor cars' from one place to another, that operates as a private hire company but requires its drivers and their passengers to agree otherwise - while using 'fictions, twisted language and even brand new terminology' in its terms for workers - 'merits, we think, a degree of scepticism'. Judge Snelson said: 'Reflecting on the respondents' general case, and on the grimly loyal evidence of (Uber regional general manager) Jo Bertram in particular, we cannot help being reminded of Queen Gertrude's most celebrated line, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks".' Advertisement

Mr Aslam, 35, from High Wycombe, quit Uber last year.

Tribunal judges were scathing of Ubers claims that its drivers are self-employed. Judge Anthony Snelson accused the firm of using twisted language and brand new terminology in its terms for workers.

The ruling means drivers involved in the tribunal could be entitled to compensation for missed holiday pay and back payments for earnings below the living wage.

Uber said it plans to take its case to the employment appeal tribunal. If unsuccessful, it can then fight the case in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

However, legal experts said the firm will have to change its contracts for all drivers if it loses. Nigel Mackay, from law firm Leigh Day, which represented the drivers, described it as ground-breaking.

He said: It will impact not just the thousands of Uber drivers in this country, but on all workers in the gig economy whose employers wrongly classify them as self-employed and deny them rights.

Research by Citizens Advice has suggested as many as 460,000 people could be wrongly classified as self-employed, at a cost of up to 314million a year in lost tax and national insurance contributions.

Earlier this week MPs on the business committee launched an inquiry into the gig economy amid growing concerns over employment conditions at a number of firms.

UBER'S CASES WORLDWIDE In addition to the decision made by judges in the UK today, in April Uber tried to settle a class-action lawsuit with its California and Massachusetts drivers for up to $100m to prevent its contractors being reclassified as employees. The proposed settlement was rejected by a judge and a trial date is still to be set.

In New York, two former Uber drivers have been found eligible for unemployment payments. According to the state those drivers are being classified as employees, not contractors. Advertisement

The committee is understood to be considering whether to summon Uber executives to give evidence. TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said: This case has exposed the dark side of flexible labour. For many workers the gig economy is rigged, where bosses can get out of paying the minimum wage and providing basics.

Justin Bowden, of the GMB union, described the ruling as the most important employment law decision of the decade.

Jo Bertram, Ubers regional general manager, said: Thousands of people drive with Uber precisely because they want to be self-employed. The overwhelming majority of drivers who use the Uber app want to keep the freedom of being able to drive when they want.

While the decision of this preliminary hearing only affects two people we will be appealing it.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the case had exposed the 'dark side' of the UK's labour market.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'The GMB deserve huge credit for shining a light on conditions at Uber and winning this landmark action.

'This case has exposed the dark side of so-called 'flexible' labour. For many workers the gig economy is a rigged economy, where bosses can get out of paying the minimum wage and providing basics like paid holidays and rest breaks.

'What is happening at Uber is just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of people are now trapped in insecure jobs, with low pay and no voice at work.

'We need the Government to get tough on sham self-employment. The Taylor review of employment practices must be a no-holds-barred investigation.

'And it must recognise the important role trade unions can play in ending precarious working.'

Experts said the ruling would have massive implications on the entire industry (file picture)

Uber driver Mr Farrar, from Bordon in Hampshire, had earlier told the tribunal that there was 'tremendous pressure' to meet Uber's demands and drivers were forced to choose between safety and doing the job.

He also claimed he had been paid around 5 an hour for some work, far below the minimum wage and what Uber said it paid him.

Mr Farrar dismissed suggestions that Uber is a customer of drivers who run their own businesses, saying it 'in no way reflects the reality'.

He joined Uber in December 2014, almost a year after being made redundant from a job in the technology industry, and works in London and the Home Counties in the evenings and at nights while pursuing his own interests in the days.

Mr Farrar said: 'Working for Uber is my job. I do not run a private hire business - I do not have a service company. I do not advertise 'driving services', I have no-one working for me, I have only one car licensed with TfL for private hire work and I only drive for Uber.'

Laura Gardiner of the Resolution Foundation, a living standards think tank, speaks to the media after Uber lost a tribunal case on the employment rights of drivers at the Central London Employment Tribunal Service

He added: 'I understand that Uber is arguing that I run my own business and that Uber is a customer of that business, but this in no way reflects the daily reality of my job.'

Mr Farrar said he provides a service for Uber by driving for the company and carrying out work for it, adding: 'I am not sure what service Uber provides to me.'

He added: 'There are times when things have been tight and I have had to work many more hours than perhaps I should have done.

'This time last year I did 91 hours in a week. Is that a choice? I am not sure. I felt I had to do that at that time to survive.'

This time last year I did 91 hours in a week. Is that a choice? I am not sure. I felt I had to do that at that time to survive Uber driver James Farrar

David Reade QC, representing Uber, argued drivers have a choice about their work, there is nothing to force them to work exclusively for Uber, and they are free to work with other private hire operators.

The private tax hire firm said it would be appealing against the judgment.

Jo Bertram, the company's regional general manager, said: 'Tens of thousands of people in London drive with Uber precisely because they want to be self-employed and their own boss.

'The overwhelming majority of drivers who use the Uber app want to keep the freedom and flexibility of being able to drive when and where they want. While the decision of this preliminary hearing only affects two people we will be appealing it.'
A British banker who raped and killed two prostitutes in his Hong Kong flat 'was permanently obsessed about sadistic sexual fantasies', a court heard.

Rurik Jutting needed 'dutch courage' from cocaine to torture and slit the throats of the two Indonesian women, a prosecutor said.

But the 31-year-old was as 'as far from normal as possible' at the time of the killings, his defence said at the close of his trial.

Double killer: Rurik Jutting has lost dramatic amounts of weight since he was arrested after killing two prostitutes in an orgy of violence in Hong Kong two years ago

Chained: Jutting was seen walking through a courtyard at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre shortly before boarding a high security prison van which took him to his trial at the High Court of Hong Kong

Victim: Jurors viewed harrowing iPhone footage showing his attacks on Sumarti Ningsih (pictured), whose body was later found dead in a suitcase in his Hong Kong flat

Horrific: Officers discovered 26-year-old Seneng Mujiasih's naked body with knife wounds to her legs and buttocks

Once a 'brilliant superman investment banker' earning several million Hong Kong dollars a year, 31-year-old Rurik Jutting spiralled out of control under the influence of personality disorders, defence counsel Tim Owen told the court.

He became 'a bloated, unshaven, permanently intoxicated, isolated and depraved drug and alcohol addict whose mind was permanently obsessed about sadistic sexual fantasies,' he said.

Cambridge graduate Jutting is accused of murdering the two women, Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, two years ago, after saying he would pay them for sex.

Defence: In interviews with two UK based psychologists Jutting admitted his life was in chaos and he was unable to control his sexual urges

Bloated: Jutting, 31, pictured in 2014 looking overweight and unshaven, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of two Indonesian sex workers

The trial, which has captivated the Chinese city, heard that he tortured Ningsih inside his apartment for three days before killing her and stuffing her body in a suitcase found on his balcony.

The Briton has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges, instead pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility - an argument the prosecution has rejected.

The past week has seen witnesses from both sides arguing the extent to which Jutting was impaired by multiple disorders.

Defence psychiatrists said Jutting was consumed by addictions to alcohol and huge amounts of cocaine, and suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and sexual sadism disorder.

Rurik Jutting (shown in a court drawing) said he took huge quantities of cocaine before clambering on to the balcony of the apartment in the Wan Chai district with some vodka and an energy drink - fearing special forces were in his home

Prosecution counsel John Reading told the jury in his concluding speech that Jutting 'wasn't substantially impaired', took cocaine in order to gain 'dutch courage', and looked and sounded calm in the videos he made between the killings.

'He took the cocaine in order to be able to torture and ultimately kill,' Reading said.

But Owen argued that the picture painted by the prosecution that Jutting was cool, calm and collected at the time of the killings was untrue.

'Rurik Jutting was as far from normal as possible to be,' he said. 'He was off the scale... by any standard of normality'.

Owen apologised to the jury for making them watch 'shocking and disturbing' videos showing the deaths of the two women.

He told the jury there had been was no alternative but for them to sit through the harrowing footage.

Many of the female jurors had flinched as they watched tapes made by Jutting where he boasted about how he had killed two prostitutes.

The blood soaked and mutilated bodies of the prostitutes could clearly be seen in videos made by the Cambridge educated banker on his phone. One of the women could be heard begging for her life before further pain was inflicted on her.

Summing up for the defence at Hong Kong's High Court Mr. Owen said: 'I am sure you will never forget the horror of what those poor women had to endure and the dreadful circumstances the way their lives were ended.

'I am very sorry you had to watch, but there was no alternative.

'You must have wondered what on earth this trial was about. It is obvious what the outcome is.

'He intentionally cut their throat. How can any other conclusion be reached other than he murdered them?'
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A major operation is underway in Paris to clear more than 3,000 migrants from a temporary camp that swelled in size after the Calais Jungle was demolished.

Refugees had set up a sprawling tent encampment near the Canal Saint-Martin under an overhead metro bridge in the French capital's Stalingrad district.

But this morning officials started a mass evacuation, gathering several hundred male migrants shortly before 6am behind a police line in a part of the camp housing Afghans.

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A huge clearance operation got underway at a migrant camp in Paris today. Refugees are pictured being pushed back by police officers as they wait to board buses to temporary shelters in Paris this morning

A major operation is underway in Paris to clear more than 3,000 migrants from a temporary camp that swelled in size after the Calais Jungle was demolished

On the move: Migrants were seen waiting to be transported to new accommodation around Paris this morning

Abandoned: This was the scene after migrants were ordered to leave their tents in the centre of Paris today

It comes just days after the Calais Jungle migrant camp was flattened with hundreds of refugees then making their way to temporary encampments in Pari

It comes just days after the Calais Jungle migrant camp was flattened with hundreds of refugees then making their way to temporary encampments in Paris.

Demolition workers supported by riot police today began smashing up camps full of thousands of UK-bound camps in Paris.

Many  including the largest close to the Eurostar hub  had sprung up following the razing of the Calais Jungle.

'Between three thousand and three thousand migrants' were being evacuated, said housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse, who attended the scene of the mass operation.

French riot police officers stand guard as workers clean a dismantled makeshift camp in a street near Stalingrad metro

Refugees had set up a sprawling tent encampment near the Canal Saint-Martin under an overhead metro bridge in the French capital's Stalingrad district

The operation comes after a major operation last week to clear the notorious 'Jungle' migrant camp at the northern French port of Calais

Buses were due to take them during the morning to accommodation centres around the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France

The Paris encampment has also been cleared twice in recent months, in July and September

Clean-up: Workers were moved in to clean the camp after riot police descended on the area this morning

'We have the places to accommodate everyone. It's going well  there are a few families,' Ms Cosse added, while making it clear that most of the migrants were young men.

They have been camping out on pavements and in parks while many try to work out how to get to Britain, where they want to claim asylum.

Khal Abdul, a 23-year-old Somalian said: 'Me and my friends want to get to England but the French make it harder every day.

French riot police officers secure the area as migrants wait before entering buses as part of their transfer to reception centres across the country

There were chaotic scenes as riot police started the clearance this morning with a huge crowd of refugees waiting to get on buses

Migrants wait before boarding buses ahead of being moved to temporary accommodation around Paris and the wider region

Migrants wait to get onto a bus during the evacuation of a makeshift camp in the 19th district of Paris, France

Migrants stand near police as they wait to board a bus on the Avenue de Flandre during an evacuation of a makeshift camp

This morning officials started a mass evacuation, gathering several hundred male migrants shortly before 6am behind a police line in a part of the camp housing Afghans

'There is nowhere left for us to stay,' Mr Adbul added. 'If we try to stick up for ourselves we are attacked by the police.'

Hundreds of CRS riot police moved in shortly after 6am today, forcing the migrants on to buses, which will take them to 80 resettlement centres around France.

Once areas were cleared of migrants, demolition workers moved in, along with those clearing piles of rubbish.

The biggest camp was next to the Stalingrad Metro station, which is just a short walk from the Eurostar hub at Gare du Nord.

Most of those staying there were Eritreans and Afghans, and they were involved in regular late night disturbances.

Today there was very little resistance to the evacuation, with most migrants remain peaceful as they obeyed orders barked out by officials.

The French authorities have pledged a zero tolerance approach to those who try and return, saying they will not stand for illegal camps anymore.

Many of the 5,000 people officially evacuated from the Jungle last were also taken to reception centres around France, but thousands more headed off alone.
Prime Ministers of Indira Gandhi of India and Margaret Thatcher of Britain shown here at Delhi Airport in 1981

Dozens of files were pulled from the National Archives amid fears they detail British involvement in the Indian Army's attack on Amritsar in 1984.

Papers were released from Whitehall to the National Archives this summer but recalled abruptly after the Sikh Federation wrote to Boris Johnson to tell him they had found 'delicate information' relating to 'UK military assistance to India'.

A note, seen by the MailOnline, found by a researcher reportedly referred to the possibility of SAS involvement after 'an Indian request for military assistance in the setting up of a National Guard for internal security duties'.

The note was written by a civil servant in the Foreign Office's South Asia department in July, 1984, and was copied to Ministry of Defence official and the high commissioner in Delhi.

Hundreds of people were killed on June 6, 1984 when Indian troops stormed the Golden Temple at Amritsar, which was being held by a Sikh group.

The three-day siege saw the Indian Army storm the Golden Temple to flush out the group and arrest Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a Sikh leader and his followers.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar India. In 1984 it was the scene of an assault by the Indian Army as they sought to flush out Sikh separatists

As a result, Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards following the bloodbath.

Nearly 3,000 people were subsequently killed in retaliatory riots against the Sikhs.

In 2014, it was revealed that Britain may have had a role in Operation Blue Star, which sent shockwaves through India and the Sikh community.

A review called for by David Cameron was criticised as having too narrow a scope, and concluded that the UK provided expert military advice after an urgent request from the Indian Intelligence Co-Coordinator.

Margaret Thatcher with Indira Ghandi in the early 1980s. The Sikh Federation claims there is growing evidence of Thatcher's involvement with the Indian government before Operation Blue Star

After the discovery of the 'delicate information' in the archives, human rights lawyers have written to the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on behalf of the Sikh Federation asking for another review.

The call comes shortly before Prime Minister Theresa May's diplomatic visit to India next week.

A statement released on the Sikh Federation's Twitter said: 'On the eve of her critical trade visit to India, she [Mrs May] is being pressured to come clean about the role played by the SAS in the Sikh genocide in the 1980s.

'There is increasing evidence that Margaret Thatcher's administration worked more closely with the Indian government than was known at the time.

'Vital new documents have been removed from the National Archives.

'There should be a full, independent investigation into these matters.'

A government spokesman for the Foreign Office said: 'The FCO borrowed some of their files from 1984 that were released to the National Archives so they could read the content following concerns raised by the Sikh Federation. They will return all the files in full shortly.
Women were only saved from being raped by migrants in the Cologne New Year's Eve celebrations because they were wearing tights, according to a policewoman.

Police Commissioner Sonja E, 26, was giving evidence before a fact-finding investigative committee of the state parliament in Dusseldorf when she made the statement about the everyday garment sparing women from even worse ordeals.

The officer, whose surname was withheld in the public hearing, told how marauding gangs of up to 50 mainly migrant men surrounded victims as some had their skirts lifted as the attackers attempted to penetrate them.

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Women were only saved from being raped by migrants in the Cologne New Year's Eve celebrations because they were wearing tights, according to a policewoman

'They broke down completely and just wept,' she said. 'They were completely overwhelmed.'

She helped four victims near the entrance to Cologne Cathedral on the night of the attacks in and around the central station.

And the room fell silent as she described how some victims were surrounded by up to 50 men at a time.

'The men pulled up their short dresses and grabbed their buttocks and breasts,' she added.

'The four women I spoke with said the men attempted to pentrate into their bottoms and vaginas with their fingers.

'But that did not happen because they were all wearing tights.'

Police Commissioner Sonja E, 26, was giving evidence before a fact-finding investigative committee of the state parliament in Dusseldorf when she made the statement about the everyday garment sparing women from even worse ordeals

The officer said she believed such clothing saved many of the victims from suffering far worse than just groping.

The policewoman said the level of violence on the night was 'unusually high'.

Men with broken beer bottles were attacking each other.

'I have never seen such brutally violent crime before,' she said.

'There were rockets and smoke in the air everywhere, people threw firecrackers at each other. That was not normal.'

A total of 1,600 crimes were reported on the night, most of them sexual assaults and robberies.

The attackers were almost exclusively migrant men from North Africa.

VICTIMS DESCRIBE TERRIFYING ORDEAL AT HANDS OF MOB ATTACKERS Since the vast scale of the attacks emerged, several victims have come forward to describe terrifying scenes in the marauding mob. Katja L, 28, said she was with three friends outside the station when they encountered a group of 'foreign-looking men'. 'Suddenly I felt a hand on my bottom, then on my breasts, then I was groped everywhere,' she told Cologne tabloid Express. Fireworks are set off among revellers in the city town square on New Year's Eve. The evening was marred by a wave of sex attacks that police say witnesses claim were carried out by 'Arab' or 'North African' men 'It was horrible. Although we screamed and flailed about, the guys didn't stop. I was beside myself and think that I was touched about 100 times across around 200 metres [220 yards].' A woman in her 30s, interviewed on rolling news channel N24, said she was groped by a group of 'Arab-looking men'. 'They didn't look at me aggressively, they seemed more curious than anything, and a little drunk,' she said. 'I was furious.' According to Bild, a student named Evelyn, 24, from Rheinland-Pfalz, who was at the train station in Cologne, said: 'I had a knee-length skirt on, and suddenly I felt a hand on my backside under my dress. I turned round immediately and saw a grinning face.' She said that she managed to get to the cathedral and sat on a bench and suddenly she was surrounded by men once again, and had only heard them speaking Arabic. 'The only English they knew was 'Hey Baby'. I was grabbed and held by the arm and it was a nightmare. We were trapped in a mass of people.' Lea Westkamp, 19, told a TV station: 'I was surrounded and helpless. I could do nothing. These men were all over me.' Advertisement

A woman holds a sign reading 'Have respect and nice sex' during a demonstration in Cologne

A leaked report in July revealed a staggering 1,200 women and girls were sexually abused in German cities during New Year's Eve celebrations.

The police document stated detectives believe 2,000 men were involved across various cities but that the bulk of the crimes were committed in Cologne and Hamburg where 600 and 400 sexual assaults on women were reported respectively.

One of the victims, an 18-year-old woman, had an abortion after she was raped in the mass sexual frenzy at Cologne train station on New Year's Eve.

She was thrown around a group of men before eventually falling on the floor, where she was raped alongside another girl.

Her ordeal ended when a policeman pulled the man away and she ran home in a panic.

Out of shame at what happened she decided not to report the rape to police, and had never raised the matter, but did visit the hospital.

When she was told there that she was pregnant, an abortion was arranged, but she admitted she was not 100 percent sure if her attacker was the father of the unborn child.

BOOM IN IMMIGRATION LEADS TO HEIGHTENED TENSIONS Cologne, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is a 2000-year-old city which was first established as an outpost of the Roman Empire. Throughout the following centuries, its population has steadily increased to now number more than 1million people, with a total of 3million living in the wider area. The huge population boom is attributed to immigration, much of which comes from Turkey. Official statistics show that in 2006, just over 30 percent of the population were migrants and 120,000 were Muslim. However, these figures are likely to have drastically altered in the past two years as waves of migrants from Syria and other conflicts in the Middle East make their way into the country. Last year alone Cologne welcomed 10,000 migrants into the city. The exact numbers of the recent influx have not yet been confirmed by official statisticians, but in 2012 - before the worst of the asylum-seeking crisis had begun - migration flows had already risen by a third from the previous year. This huge migration, which many in Germany fear will over-run existing social systems and infrastructure, has been partly facilitated by Chancellor Angela Merkel's willingness to take in 1million migrants this year alone. Advertisement




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Satellite pictures have revealed how ISIS fanatics are digging in with Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul as it emerged desperate fanatics are recruiting boys aged just nine to fight on the front line.

Aerial images show how extremists have built huge defences at the entrances to the city and blocked off roads with military reinforcements.

Today has seen the most intense street battles of the three-week-old assault on the ISIS-controlled city, with explosions and machine gun fire echoing through the streets after sunset.

ISIS fighters appear to have bulldozed parts of the city to create a 'clear line of sight' in the hope it will help them fight off Iraqi forces.

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Aerial photos also appear to suggest that roads leading into the city have been blockaded with military reinforcements

At one city entrance, ISIS appears to have built a giant earth barrier to block advances from Iraqi security forces

raqi special forces today attacked Islamic State militants in Mosul from a new entry point, to the city's northeast

Dramatic aerial pictures show how retreating ISIS fanatics have sparked huge fires and a toxic smoke cloud the size of London by torching oil wells

It comes as dramatic pictures showed how retreating ISIS fanatics have sparked huge fires and created a toxic smoke cloud the size of New York City by torching oil wells.

Footage shows a massive blaze close to buildings in an area to the south of the besieged terror stronghold of Mosul.

Thousands of families are said to be living in a 'smoke-filled hell' in Qayyarah, with no access to clean water after ISIS set 19 wells ablaze during their retreat from villages.

Iraqi special forces soldiers move in formation in an alley on the outskirts of Mosul as heavy fighting broke out with ISIS militants

An Iraqi special forces sniper searches for a target as heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighbourhoods of Mosul today

The UN human rights office in Geneva says it has new reports that ISIS has been carrying out mass killings in Mosul, and has executed 50 of its own militants for desertion.

It comes as an estimated 3,000 Elite Iraqi forces backed by artillery and air strikes have captured six districts of Mosul from ISIS - and raised the nation's flag above the city for the first time in two years.

The United Nations warned ISIS were prepared to use brutal tactics to defend the city amid reports boys as young as nine were being ordered to fight.

Aerial pictures show how ISIS has bulldozed large areas of Mosul to provide lines of sight as part of defensive preparations

Iraqi soldiers load an injured man into a van, near the village of Gogjali, on the eastern edge of Mosul, as families flee the violence

Iraqi special forces today attacked Islamic State militants in Mosul from a new entry point, to the city's northeast.

The Iraqi troops' move prompted heavy fire from IS, forcing soldiers to call in airstrikes. Two suicide bombers detonated their targets, while five other vehicles laden with explosives were destroyed, including a bulldozer.

At least seven Iraqi Army troops were killed, and a further four have been injured in the intense fighting, an Iraqi military officer told The Associated Press.

Columns of armoured vehicles wound through open desert on Friday, pushing through dirt berms to enter the middle class neighbourhoods of Tahrir and Zahara, and passing a district once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The advance came under heavy fire from mortars, automatic weapons, snipers and anti-tank rockets.

With several oil fields still under ISIS control around Mosul, and the potential for thousands of people to flee to the Qayyarah area, there is a risk that many more will be affected, Oxfam reported

Iraqi special forces Captain Malik Hameed said: 'The operation is going well, but it's slow. These kinds of advances are always slow. If we tried to go any faster we would take even more injuries.'

An Iraqi television journalist traveling in a Humvee was wounded in one of the suicide car bomb attacks.

A boy cries out as Iraqi soldiers help him away from the front line during a fierce gun battle with ISIS today

According to Oxfam, which distributed the video, the fires have produced clouds of thick black smoke and fumes across an area larger than Greater London while residents told the charity they had been burning for months.

People living close to the burning oil say that the smoke burns their throat and lungs and that their babies have difficulty breathing Oxfam statement

With several oil fields still under ISIS control around Mosul, and the potential for thousands of people to flee to the Qayyarah area, there is a risk that many more will be affected, Oxfam reported.

The charity said: 'The smoke blocks out the sun and turns children's faces grey with oily soot. People living close to the burning oil say that the smoke burns their throat and lungs and that their babies have difficulty breathing. One doctor in Haiji Ali, close to Qayyarah, said many of her patients were suffering from bronchitis and that there was a shortage of medicine.'

Andres Gonzalez, Oxfam's country director in Iraq, added: 'Even after ISIS has left, many of the people living amid its trail of destruction have told us that life remains unbearable.

'Burning oil wells continue to spew out toxic fumes that burn people's throats and turn their communities into a smoke-filled hell. The Iraqi government needs to tell citizens what is being done to put out these fires and to avoid a potentially bigger crisis in Mosul.'

Footage shows a massive blaze close to buildings in an area to the south of the besieged terror stronghold of Mosul

Thousands of families are said to be living in a 'smoke-filled hell' in Qayyarah, with no access to clean water after ISIS set 19 wells ablaze during their retreat from villages

A member of the Iraqi security forces looks at fire from oil wells set ablaze by ISIS militants before they fled the oil-producing region

Meanwhile Iraqi special forces took over the neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, a military statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.

One Mosul resident, speaking to Reuters by phone, said he could still hear the sound of fighting coming from one of those districts.

The territory taken by the government still amounts to just a fraction of the sprawling city, which is divided into dozens of residential and industrial districts and held 2 million people before it was captured by ISIS in 2014.

The battle to drive the fighters out is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, and is likely to decide the fate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate that has defied the world for two years.

The advances took the troops one mile inside the city. Districts captured so far, however, are less built-up than other areas, particularly those on the west bank of the Tigris River, where the population is more exclusively Sunni Muslim Arab and the hardline Sunni Islamists could be more deeply embedded.

Arrest: A man suspected of being an ISIS militant is detained at a checkpoint near Bartella, east of Mosul, this morning

An Iraqi army M1 Abrams tank drives through Gogjali as it heads to Mosul during a military operation to retake the main hub city from ISIS

Iraqi special forces took over the neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, a military statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings

Displaced men sit as they wait to be screened after arriving in the Hassan Sham camp, east of Mosul, Iraq

An Iraqi boy holding a white flag stands on a truck heading to camps housing displaced peopl

Iraqi soldiers talk to a boy during a fight with ISIS, near the front line in the Shahrazad district of eastern Mosul

Iraqi officers and those from a US-led coalition providing air and ground support to the offensive say progress has been faster than expected, but stress that the operation is still in its early stages.

Speaking at the CTS command post in the village of Bartella, east of Mosul, a senior officer said the advancing troops were coming up against fierce opposition, including car bombs and sniper fire.

In the village of Ali Rash, four miles to the south east, a Reuters reporter heard helicopter gunships and cannon fire over Mosul. Volleys of automatic rifle fire, possibly from the militants, were also audible and smoke could be seen rising from the east of the city.

An officer in the village said Iraqi troops had also taken two thirds of another Mosul district, Intisar, in the same eastern section of the city.

An Iraqi soldier aims his rifle during a battle with ISIS fighters at the front line in the Intisar district of eastern Mosul

Dramatic pictures show Iraqi fighters battling to reclaim Mosul on the outskirts of the city this morning

Iraqi soldiers are seen in dust cloud after a tank fired towards ISIS positions in Mosul

Celebrations: Iraqi soldiers danced and waved their guns in the air as they celebrated an advance over ISIS today

An Iraqi fighter kneels down and aims his rifle during a fierce gun fight against ISIS today

Iraqi special forces soldiers move on foot through an alley on the outskirts of Mosul as heavy fighting broke out in the eastern districts of the war-torn city

ISIS fighters 'are trying to get away', Lieutenant-General Qassem Jassim Nazzal told Reuters.

In a sign of the fierce resistance which soldiers have encountered since entering the city on Monday, Nazzal said they blew up six bomb-laden cars, killed two suicide bombers, and killed 30 other people.

In the village of Ali Rash, retaken by Iraqi forces sweeping towards Mosul from the south and the east, the bloated and blackened bodies of three ISIS fighters, dressed in khaki trousers and military boots, were left out in the open.

'They're criminals, let the dogs eat them,' another officer said.

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air strikes launched their campaign to retake Mosul nearly three weeks ago.

Displaced men queue to receive food after arriving in the Hassan Sham camp, east of Mosul. Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack ISIS from a different entry point

Iraqi officers and those from a US-led coalition providing air and ground support to the offensive say progress has been faster than expected, but stress that the operation is still in its early stages. Displaced men are pictured waiting for food

UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said human rights officers have received reports that that ISIS killed 50 of its own militants on Monday at the Ghazlani military base for alleged 'desertion'.

Shamdasani told reporters that her office also has reports indicating that four women were killed and 17 other civilians wounded in airstrikes on Wednesday in Mosul's Quds neighborhood.

She says it was not the first time that her office had received reports of civilian deaths. She also cited reports that IS has been holding nearly 400 women captive in the town of Tal Afar, near Mosul.

People gather outside the Khazer camp, east of Mosul as heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of the city

An injured man leaves the village of Gogjali, on the eastern edge of Mosul as families flee the area

Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a cross-border caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.

ISIS also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country, many times bigger than any other city the militants have held.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on fighters not to surrender - but is not himself believed to be in Mosul, according to intelligence reports

In a speech released on Thursday Baghdadi - whose whereabouts are unknown - said there could be no retreat in a 'total war' against the forces arrayed against Islamic State, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yesterday told the House of Commons that despite the rallying cry, Baghdadi had fled the city - a development he branded a 'cruel irony'.

Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus. Iraqi officials say ISIS is holding the civilian population as human shields.

UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday ISIS fighters had killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around Mosul.

They have also transported 1,600 people from the town of Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, to Tal Afar to the west, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told residents to hand over boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers.

Militants told residents of Hammam al-Alil that they must hand over their children, especially boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers.

'They've been knocking on people's doors and asking for their boys,' she said, adding that families that did not comply were threatened with severe punishment.

Emotional: An elderly woman kisses a child on the cheek through metal fencing at a refugee camp east of Mosul

Reunion: There were tearful scenes as people were reunited with their loved ones at the Al-Khazer refugee camp today

Hundreds of people now live in the Al-Khazer refugee camp to the easy of Mosul as war continues to ravage the city

Support: Two children are comforted in the crowds of displaced people living in the Al-Khazer refugee camp

A woman takes pictures of children through the metal fencing of the refugee camp this morning

The United Nations says 22,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign, not including thousands from outlying villages forced to head to Mosul by retreating ISIS fighters who used them as human shields.

Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said ISIS fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas.

Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosul airport, they said.

'We saw Daesh (ISIS) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well,' one Mosul resident said.

People in southern and eastern neighbourhoods reported on Thursday night that their houses had been shaken by artillery and rocket barrages launched from their districts towards the advancing troops.

As well as the ISIS resistance in Mosul itself, the militants have launched diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive.

The United Nations says 22,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign

Thousands have been forced to flee towards Mosul from outlying villages because of the threat posed by retreating ISIS extremists

On the move: Children look out of a car window as they drive away from war-torn Mosul

People in southern and eastern neighbourhoods reported on Thursday night that their houses had been shaken by artillery and rocket barrages launched from their districts towards the advancing troops

In the town of Shirqat, about 60 miles south of Mosul, militants stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation force.

The insurgents crossed from the eastern bank of the Tigris into the town at 3am, taking over al-Baaja mosque and fanning out into alleyways. Security forces imposed a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, forces were being sent to the town.

In their drive towards Mosul, Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the Tigris from the south.

The Hashid Shaabi forces of mainly Shi'ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, launching an offensive to cut off the west.
Intelligence chiefs are planning a major operation to prevent Russian hackers from attacking next week's presidential election in an attempt to undermine US democracy.

Russian government-backed hackers have already been accused of targeting Hillary Clinton and passing data to WikiLeaks in an effort to scupper her presidential campaign.

The White House has ordered the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Defence Department to prepare themselves for a possible cyber attack.

The Russian government under Vladimir Putin, pictured, is accused of hiring a team of internet hackers to to try and influence next week's election by undermining Democrat Hillary Clinton

The National Security Agency is currently monitoring the internet in an effort to thwart any targeted hacks before they have an opportunity to influence next week's election

Russia has already been accused of trying to influence the election by circulating faked letters deliberately designed to destroy Hillary Clinton's campaign for the White House

Officials have warned hackers may try and bring down power networks or even deliberately spread misinformation on the internet in an effort to subvert the electoral process.

Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Moscow between 2012 and 2014 said: ' The Russians are in an offensive mode and [the U.S. is] working on strategies to respond to that, and at the highest levels.'

The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are already examining faked documents aimed at discrediting the Hillary Clinton campaign as part of a broader investigation into what US officials believe has been an attempt by Russia to disrupt the presidential election.

US Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has referred one of the documents to the FBI for investigation on the grounds that his name and stationery were forged to appear authentic.

In the letter identified as fake, Carper is quoted as writing to Clinton, 'We will not let you lose this election.'

The fake Carper letter, which was described to Reuters, is one of several documents presented to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Justice for review in recent weeks, the sources said.

A spokeswoman for Carper declined to comment.

Wikileaks chief Julian Assange has fuelled the election rigging conspiracy by claiming in a new interview that Mr Trump wont be permitted to win the election.

Mr Assange, who denies his anti-privacy website is being used by the Kremlin, offered no evidence for his startling claim.

As part of an investigation into suspected Russian hacking, FBI investigators have also asked Democratic Party officials to provide copies of other suspected faked documents that have been circulating along with emails and other legitimate documents taken in the hack, people involved in those conversations said.

The Russian hacking attempts are believed to be designed to bolster Trump's campaign

A spokesman for the FBI confirmed the agency was 'in receipt of a complaint about an alleged fake letter' related to the election but declined further comment. Others with knowledge of the matter said the FBI was also examining other fake documents that recently surfaced.

US intelligence officials have warned privately that a campaign they believe is backed by the Russian government to undermine the credibility of the US presidential election could move beyond the hacking of Democratic Party email systems. That could include posting fictional evidence of voter fraud or other disinformation in the run-up to voting on November 8, US officials have said.

Russian officials deny any such effort.

In addition to the Carper letter, the FBI has also reviewed a seven-page electronic document that carries the logos of Democratic pollster Joel Benenson's firm, the Benenson Strategy Group, and the Clinton Foundation, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The document, identified as a fake by the Clinton campaign, claims poll ratings had plunged for Clinton and called for 'severe strategy changes for November' that could include 'staged civil unrest' and 'radiological attack' with dirty bombs to disrupt the vote.

Hillary Clinton, pictured here with Bernie Sanders has been forced to deal with the impact of thousands of confidential emails released by WikiLeaks as well as faked documentation

Like the Carper letter, it was not immediately clear where the fraudulent document had originated or how it had begun to circulate.

On October 20, Roger Stone, a former Trump aide and Republican operative, linked to a copy of the document on Twitter with the tag, 'If this is real: OMG!!'

Benenson's firm had no immediate comment. Craig Minassian, a spokesman for the Clinton Foundation, said the document was 'fake.' He said he did not know if the FBI had examined it.

Stone did not respond to emails requesting comment.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Glen Caplin, said the document was a fake and part of a 'desperate stunt' to capitalize on the leak of Democratic emails by Wikileaks.

The developments highlight the unusually prominent role U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have played in a contentious election and an ongoing debate about how public they can or should be about their inquiries.

FBI Director James Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama, touched off an outcry from Democrats last week when he alerted Congress that agents had found other emails that could be linked to an inquiry into Clinton's use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State, effectively re-opening an investigation he had closed in July.

The White House believes Russian hackers want to 'sow confusion' among the electorate

One White House source told NBC News about Russian plans to 'sow as much confusion as possible and undermine our process in ways they've done elsewhere'.

He added: 'So this is to make sure that we have all the tools at our disposal and that we're prepared to respond to whatever it is that they do.

'We need to be prepared on every front, not just technical but messaging, and so on. Because any reporting irregularity could be incredibly disruptive.  They can cause tremendous chaos, and by the time we are able to attribute, the damage may have already been done.'

Officials were reluctant to discuss how they might be respond to such 'influence operations,' other than to say they will make efforts to counter misinformation and keep open communication nodes.

The U.S. intelligence community and the Department of Homeland Security assess that it would be extremely difficult for even a nation-state actor to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyber-attack, a second senior administration official told NBC News.

VLADIMIR PUTIN DENIES ELECTION HACKING CLAIMS Vladimir Putin denied his government is trying to 'fix' the US election and accused Washington of trying to distract the public from the real issues. He rejected ' the hysteria about Russia's influence on the US presidential election'. Putin described the claims as 'mythical and fictitious'. He said: 'Does anyone seriously think Russia can somehow influence the American people's choice? 'Is America some kind of banana republic? America is a great power!' He also described claims that he wants Trump to triumph as 'sheer nonsense'. He added: 'It's just an instrument of political struggle, a way of manipulating public opinion. 'We don't know how Trump or Clinton will behave, what they will or will not deliver. We feel more or less indifferent about it. 'We will work with any president who will be elected by the American people.' Advertisement

'This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place,' the official said. 'States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process.'

However, a Department of Homeland Security official said, other possible hacks pose 'the potential for causing confusion and misperception' around the election.

For example, 'Somebody could tamper with voter registration information or unofficial election night reporting.'

While multiple intelligence officials told NBC that they have no specific warning about an Election Day attack, they also say they consider the massive and sophisticated internet disruption of Friday, Oct. 21, a potential dry run.

The 'distributed denial of service' attack on equipment provided by the company DYN, which took down popular internet sites like PayPal and Amazon for hours, 'had all the signs of what would be considered a drill,' said Ann Barron-DiCamillo, former director of Homeland Security's computer emergency readiness team.

If a similar attack began unfolding on Election Day, DHS would work with big internet providers such as Comcast (owner of NBC Universal) and Verizon to try to mitigate it, Barron-DiCamillo said. Since most of the internet is owned by private companies, the government relies on the private sector to help stop attacks, she said.

As is standard for major national events, all six federal cyber centers will be up and running, closely monitoring network traffic and hunting for malware.

'Given (the Russians') past behavior in other contexts, we understand the way they like to go about potentially causing confusion and so we want to make sure that we are mitigating that potential,' the DHS official said.

A current Obama administration national security official said that a White House working group has been watching Russia's apparent intervention in other foreign elections with growing concern.

A recent case study, the official said, was the October 16 parliamentary election in Montenegro.

The incumbent Democratic Party of Socialists narrowly won, but fell short of an absolute majority after facing stiff and well-financed opposition from a pro-Russian coalition that opposes the country's proposed membership in NATO  a position also held by Putin.

In the run-up to the election, US officials believe Russia secretly funneled money to opposition parties and either set up or co-opted friendly media outlets and 'influencers' to undermine the pro-West party and highlight the risks of joining NATO, the official said.

During the election, Russia launched a coordinated disinformation campaign using traditional and social media to allege widespread voting irregularities, including that dead people had been registered to vote, according to the Obama national security official. Social media networks were so bombarded with complaints and accusations that Montenegro ordered telecom operators to temporarily shut down WhatsApp, Viper and similar messaging apps, creating even more questions about the election, the official said.

A network of anti-censorship bloggers also reported that the website of Montenegro's top election observation NGO, the Center for Democratic Transitions (CDT), was knocked out for part of Election Day, raising concerns among U.S. officials about Russian interference.

Montenegro's state election commission released the final results October 29  and certified the pro-NATO party's win  despite protests by the pro-Russian opposition party, which cited the very irregularities the US blames on Russia as reason to doubt the vote totals.

'It's the kind of thing that we are anticipating that they will try here,' the official said. 'But they will target whatever they can  voting infrastructure, putting out false stories about the Democratic Party intentionally manipulating the results. That's what they do.'

Montenegro's leaders publicly accused Russia of meddling in the election. Russian officials and opposition party members denied any interference, but Russia's foreign minister said NATO was being 'irresponsible' for supporting admission for Montenegro, which could come as soon as Spring 2017.
Viewers called on her to be sacked and pledged not to give cash to GOSH

Speech and language therapist, from Watford, said: ' I want people who are leaving to one day unfortunately have a child who needs that treatment'

Nicola Gorb, 47, said leaving the EU will cut funding and research

An NHS worker sparked fury when she wished illnesses on the children of Brexiteers during an appearance on BBC One's Question Time last night.

Nicola Gorb, 47, a language and speech therapist at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, now faces calls to be sacked.

Introduced by David Dimbleby as 'the woman shaking her head', the mother-of-one told the panel she is 'very much a Remainer' who believes that Brexit will impair medical research and funding.

Nicola Gorb covered her face with her hood as she left her home in Watford this afternoon (pictured). The Great Ormond Street language and speech therapist sparked fury when she wished illnesses on the children of Brexiteers during Question Time

Row: This NHS worker said she suggested the children of Brexiteers get illnesses

Reaction: The worker, who said she worked at Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London, was met with gasps as she spoke on Question Time last night

Nicola Gorb, 47, a language and speech therapist at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, now faces calls to be sacked

In hot water: In the minutes after she opened her mouth viewers shocked by the rant called on the NHS to fire her

And amid gasps from the audience, the self-proclaimed 'professional anti-Brexiter', from Watford, said: 'I want people who are leaving to one day unfortunately have a child who needs that treatment but it's not there because collaboration's not been there.'

She also claimed 44 research projects at the hospital were 'collaborative' and that a quarter of research staff are from other EU countries.

As the people tried to yell over her she said: 'I'm sorry, but the research has to continue.'

After the show, the City University graduate boasted about her performance on social media, saying: 'Well I had a good rant about NHS, great ormond street hospital and eu staff and collaboration - sick children not getting treatment blah blah...'

But today, after a public backlash, she apologised for her comments on the show.

She told The Huffington Post UK: 'I'm deeply sorry if what I said has been misconstrued or misinterpreted. It's not what I meant to say. I care deeply about the care of children and that's what I wanted to get across.

'I hope nobody is in that position with an ill child who can't receive care because that research has been cut. It is so distressing to see headlines written about you like that.

'I can only apologise profusely for what I said and say it is not what I meant. I didn't mean to say it and I would never wish this on children or their parents.

'I am very committed to the care of children. I'm just really sorry for this.'

Great Ormond Street distanced themselves from Ms Gorb's comments - but it is a PR disaster for the hospital, which relies on charitable donations to deliver its world class care for unwell children.

Her statement also caused fury among BBC viewers who said she should be sacked.

Gorb works at Great Ormond Street Hospital 'with children with complex voice and airway disorders'

Pictured is pro-EU stickers on the window of Ms Gorb's home in Watford, Hertfordshire

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) told MailOnline it is considering whether her comments constitutes a fitness to practice hearing. Pictured is Ms Gorb's home in Watford

Daniel Heads tweeted: 'Hoping 'leavers' have a sick child once we leave the EU. What a disgusting woman she is, witch #bbcqt #questiontime'.

Paul Letts wrote: 'The woman from @GreatOrmondSt should be ashamed wishing people have sick kids needing treatment #bbcqt'.

Rhys Hughes said: 'The NHS worker on question time who wishes illness on people's children for voting Brexit should be sacked #bbcqt #vile'.

Gorb works at Great Ormond Street Hospital 'with children with complex voice and airway disorders'.

A spokesperson for the hospital said: 'This is not a Great Ormond Street Hospital stance.

'We want to reassure all families that we will do our very best to find and offer new cures and treatments to all children that need them - whatever political circumstances the country find itself in.'

'We cannot comment on questions around personal conduct of individual members of staff.'

Gorb also does work for the the London Gender Identity Clinic with transgender people and has a private practice at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and another in Watford.

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) told MailOnline it is considering whether her comments constitutes a fitness to practice hearing.

A picture on Nicola Gorb's Facebook page shows her support for the Remain campaign

The HCPC is the regulatory body for speech therapists and has the power to carry out an independent investigation.

On her Twitter profile, she describes herself as a 'political activist, friend of Greens, Lib Dem, professional anti-brexiter'.

Panellists on the shows last night were Tory Communities Minister Sajid Javid and Labour MP Lisa Nandy.

They were joined by editor-in-chief of the Economist Zanny Minton Beddoes, talk show host Charlie Wolf, and radio presenter Huey Morgan.

But tempers on a relatively sedate episode of the show boiled over when the NHS worker spoke.

As she talked about fears about funding cuts other audience members clapped in appreciation, but as she went on it turned to anger.

Fury: Viewers were quick to jump on her comments and suggested she should be disciplined for her comments

She said: 'I'm very much a Remainer, I want to stay in the EU, I want freedom of movement.

'If you have a child who requires specialist services, that knowledge may not be there because that collaboration has been cut.

'You have to have the people to come together to get the knowledge to progress - from the EU.
Sipping beer, eating a Toy Story cupcake and watching cartoons - this is how paedophile Michael Quinn spent his last minutes as a free man while waiting for what he thought would be a sexual encounter with a six-year-old boy.

But moments later he was left 'shaking and terrified' after being busted by FBI agents who had trapped him in a sting operation.

Recalling the moment he was arrested, Supervisory Special Agent Kelly Kottas said: 'He was ordered to put his hands up and took one last sip of beer before (doing so).'

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Michael Quinn, 33, was jailed for 12 years last week for paying for sex with a child - now FBI agents who arrested him in Los Angeles have revealed his final moments

Agents said Quinn was drinking beer, eating a Toy Story cupcake and watching cartoons when he was busted - and took a last sip before putting his hands up

Special Agent Aaron McClellan told the Herald Sun: 'He had this look on this face ... a look of total distress.

'He was shaking and the look on his face ... he knew he had been had and he was terrified.'

After his arrest, Quinn even tried to claim he had only travelled to the apartment to buy methamphetamine.

But agents had recorded earlier online conversations in which the rugby player had agree to hand over $260 in order to have sex with a young boy.

During his interview, officials said they could see an artery pumping in Quinn's neck, adding that he completely shut down when they asked for access to his phone.

Quinn, an IVF geneticist from Melbourne, was arrested in Los Angeles back in May this year while on tour there with his team, the Melbourne Chargers.

Last week he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, weeping through his sentencing while claiming it was the first time he had sought sex with a child.

Investigators said he was 'terrified and shaking' and tried to claim he was only buying meth, when in fact he had paid $260 to have sex with a six-year-old boy

But agents dispute that, saying paedophiles usually start close to the age of consent and work their way down - though there is no evidence to suggest Quinn operated this way.

At his trial, Quinn had begged for a second chance , telling judge John Walker 'I won't let you down,' but his pleas were brushed aside.

The court heard Quinn told the undercover agents he was travelling to Los Angeles with the intention of meeting with a 'dad who shares his young ones' and had hoped to meet 'other pervs' on his vacation.

An agent started a conversation with Quinn, who went by 'Mick' online, and the Australian told how he was 'looking for sex with children' and while 'he liked both boys and girls, his favourite were boys, aged 5-10'.

'Would love to share one with you mate,' Quinn told the agent.

Two days after Quinn landed in Los Angeles and after he settled in with some team-mates at a Hollywood Hills home they had rented, he snuck away.

He caught an Uber to the hotel where the undercover agent had promised a child sex party with 'like-minded men'.

When Quinn arrived, the hotel room was prepped for the 'party', with the Cartoon Network on the TV and Toy Story-themed cupcakes to eat.

Quinn brought a camera and a monopod to record the experience.

After about 10 minutes in the room and a beer, an agent posing as a pimp turned up and announced: 'Money time.'

Quinn wept and begged for 'a second chance' during his sentencing in America last week, but his pleas were swept aside

'Quinn, clearly remembering the previous discussions where he had been told the price would be $US250 to sodomise the boy for approximately an hour, he pulled out his money and gave the pimp $US260,' ICE special agent Aaron McClellan wrote in the criminal complaint.

'After Quinn paid the pimp, law enforcement came into the room and arrested everyone.'

Quinn pleaded guilty to the charge of travelling to the US with the intention to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Last month, court documents revealed Quinn was addicted to methamphetamine and authorities seized a pipe when he was arrested at a LA hotel.

His lawyer, Lisa Shinar LaBarre, said Quinn's severe drug addiction had altered his thinking and created psychotic thoughts.

Quinn had also claimed to have been abused as a child.

The court heard a psychologist who examined Quinn in jail concluded it was unlikely he would reoffend.

Judge Walter said he was not 'overly impressed' by the doctor's report, noting Quinn did not undergo standard testing for pedophilia.

'It upsets me so much that I could be capable of harming a child,' Quinn, dressed in a white prison jumpsuit, told the judge.

Quinn also apologised to Australia for 'damaging its reputation' and told the court 'I never want to put a child in danger again'.

Judge Walter said he did not 'buy' the cause and effect of Quinn's drug addiction and the abuse he suffered as a child.
This is the terrifying moment polar bears circled a BBC crew after their 4x4 broke down in the middle of the wilderness while filming Arctic Live.

Cameraman Jonathan Young was forced to jump out of the faulty vehicle - despite warnings not to do so - and get the car going as quickly as possible.

Photographs reveal how he fashioned makeshift jump leads just as two menacing polar bears started approaching the group near Hudson Bay, Canada.

Mr Young shared a picture, saying: 'Not a great place to have a flat battery...in the Canadian tundra with polar bears close by #makingjumpleads #ArcticLive.'

Cameraman Jonathan Young, who was part of a BBC crew filming for Arctic Live, jump-started the crew's faulty car - just as two polar bears started to approach

Thankfully, the brave cameraman managed to get the car going again and they made a swift escape.

The team had just wrapped their third day of filming the majestic predators for the BBC 2 wildlife show when the close encounter occurred.

They were shooting in Churchill which is known as the 'polar bear capital of the world'.

Experts had warned the team never to get out of their vehicle unless it was an emergency.

This is because polar bears can run faster than Usain Bolt and are officially the only animals that actively hunt humans for food.

Mr Young has since uploaded a picture of a sign which reads 'Stop, don't walk in this area. Report bear sightings.'

Mr Young has since uploaded a picture of a sign which reads 'Stop, don't walk in this area. Report bear sightings'

The other presenters, including Kate Humble (pictured), had not arrived in the country when the crew were surrounded, pictured on her first day in Churchill

'My office today, day three Arctic Live by the shores of the Hudson Bay here in Churchill,' he captioned the picture.

'I filmed a polar bear at this spot right outside my house a few days ago.'

Presenters Kate Humble, Simon Reeve and Gordan Buchanan had not arrived in the country when the crew were surrounded.

But Kate has since spoken about how she saw her first polar bear just two minutes after arriving in the remote town.

'I have long wished to see a wild polar bear and on Tuesday last week, just two minutes after arriving in Churchill, my wish was granted,' she told the Telegraph.

'By the end of that same day Id seen four, and I hadnt even left the town.'
Last month 13 cats were killed in 13 days making it the deadliest month

The Croydon Cat Killer is butchering almost one animal a day and has struck across the country, it was claimed today.

Campaigners involved with the police investigation have revealed dead cats, all with the same signature mutilations, have been found in Birmingham, Manchester, Northampton, Maidstone, Maidenhead and Sheffield.

Last month 13 cats were killed in 13 days making it the deadliest month since the killer first struck. A 170 corpses of cats and other animals are now lying in freezers as police continue their hunt.

Police officers from the Serious Crime Squad in Croydon are believed to have spent 1,000 man hours on the case and are under increasing pressure for a breakthrough.

Campaigners involved with the police investigation have revealed dead cats, all with the same signature mutilations, have been found across Britain

Amber (left) was found with head and tail cut off, while (centre) Missy's body was dumped near the family home in Coulsdon. Louie (right) had his leg chopped off

A psychologist has warned the killer could move to dogs next and there are fears the individual could also 'flip to humans'.

The killings were initially sporadic in nature with two to three dead cats found over a few days and months apart but have now increased to six a week.

Boudicca Rising, 45, founder of South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL) has been instrumental in helping police with the ongoing investigation.

She said the killer has struck in Birmingham, Manchester, Northampton, Maidenhead, Maidstone and Sheffield.

Miss Rising said: 'Theres every indication from the post mortems that its the same person working across London. He then every so often goes out to Birmingham or somewhere else and the wounds are identical. The post mortem then confirms our suspicions.

Despite the police investigation now being a year old she is convinced there will soon be a breakthrough. Serial killers are very difficult to catch, they work across a wide area and tend to change behaviour and we are seeing that, Miss Rising said.

He changes his behaviour depending on what the situation is. We are dealing with someone bright who is not going to blunder in front of CCTV cameras. He takes risks, but is also quite risk averse.

Dead and mutilated cats were first found almost two years ago in Croydon, South London.

Since then scores have been found in West Norwood, Sutton and further afield in the Home Counties, all with the same signature mutilations.

They are often decapitated, have a tail or paw removed and in some cases have been cut in half. The bodies are being stored in freezers by police to use as evidence to convict the killer.

Ukiyo, disappeared in September in Croydon  his eviscerated body turned up on the doorstep of a house

The killer could be linked to the disappearances of up to 100 cats since 2014.

Post-mortem examinations on 37 animals so far have revealed the cats were killed by 'blunt force' before being mutilated.

Some experts believe the killer could progress to targeting other animals.

Dr David Holmes, a criminal psychologist from Manchester Metropolitan University, told MailOnline: 'I think if the publicity died out and no one reported it may spark an advance on moving to dogs or something like that however it does seem that the person has this total grudge against cats for some reason.

'The idea that someone moves on from animals to humans has always been a major part of the advance of a serial killer  they often harm animals in childhood. Its an early sign of callousness and intent.

'Its not simply killing them it goes beyond that, its clearly done for a ritual perhaps to satisfy something or other.'

Dr Holmes said the suspect is likely to be a 'loner' and will be someone who 'keeps themselves to themselves'.

'This could be someone who has had some experience in childhood that bred hatred  locked up in cupboard with a cat possibly as a punishment which lead to a deep hatred or fear.'

Detective Sergeant Andy Collin said: 'We are investigating a number of leads, and are keeping an open mind re suspects, while following up different lines of enquiry.

'We are now convinced the cats are being killed then mutilated - and would be really keen to hear any relevant information from members of the public who believe they can help us.'

Anyone with information should call the Met police on 101 or the RSPCA on 0300 123 8018. Crimestoppers can also be contacted, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty can be contacted on 07961 030064 or 07957 830490 and further information can be found here.
The Tooth Fairy appears to be giving children in the North West a whopping 6 per tooth

The Tooth Fairy appears to be giving children in the North West a whopping 6 per tooth.

New research has revealed the regional favouritism by the Tooth Fairy, highlighting a 5.50 difference per tooth between the highest and lowest paying regions.

Those in the North West receive on average 6 per tooth, while those in the West Midlands get on average 50p per tooth.

According to the poll, half of children choose to use their money from the Tooth Fairy to buy themselves sweets.

The team at www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk conducted the research as part of an ongoing study into Britons' finances, with a particular focus on children's pocket-money politics.

A total of 2,491 British parents over the age of 18, all of whom stated they have at least one child under the age of 10, were quizzed about their children's finances and treats surrounding the Tooth Fairy.

Initially all respondents were asked 'Does your child still believe in the Tooth Fairy?' and asked to state the age of their children, to which the results showed that almost all children seven years old and under (96 per cent) believe in the tooth fairy, whilst just 25 per cent of those eight and over believe in the tooth fairy.

Wanting to delve a little deeper, all respondents were then asked to state what they gave their child typically per tooth, and what region they were from in order to determine any possible patterns.

According to the poll, when asked what their children typically did with the money, the most popular responses were 'buy sweets' (51 per cent) and 'save it to buy something bigger' (40 per cent).

Furthermore, 34 per cent of respondents admitted that the Tooth Fairy had forgotten to visit at least once before.

New research has revealed the regional favouritism by the Tooth Fairy, highlighting a 5.50 difference per tooth between the highest and lowest paying regions

When asked what the top excuses were when the children realised the Tooth Fairy had forgotten, it was revealed that 'the Tooth Fairy was taking a day off' (33 per cent).

George Charles, spokesperson for www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, made the following comments:

'It doesn't seem fair that some get more from the Tooth Fairy than others, but ultimately if the child is happy with a visit from the Tooth Fairy then it doesn't matter what is left behind in exchange for the teeth that have fallen out.
Torney, 32, also claimed he considered hiding her body in the backyard

He claimed he hugged the toddler for five minutes before hiding her body

The court was played a recording of him breaking down to detectives

John Torney is on trial for murdering Nikki Francis-Coslovich, two, in 2015

The accused murderer of a toddler who was found in the roof of her Mildura home in August 2015 has allegedly broken down claiming he cuddled her dead body for five minutes before hiding her in the roof cavity.

John Torney, 32, is charged with killing Nikki Francis Coslovich who was found dead in August last year, but has since accused his ex-girlfriend Peta Ann Francis  the girl's mother  of the murder.

A Supreme Court jury has watched a video re-enactment showing Torney breaking down to detectives and claiming he hugged the slain toddler for five minutes before hiding her in the roof.

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John Torney has pleaded not guilty to murdering his former partner's daughter in Mildura, Victoria in 2015

Nikki's body was discovered in the roof cavity of the family's Mildura home after Ms Francis reported her missing around 3.30pm on August 25 last year

Torney told detectives he first saw Nikki lying motionless with her eyes open on the bed, according to ABC News.

When he saw her, Torney said he closed her eyes and laid with her cuddling before picking her limp body up to move her.

He allegedly said he carried her dead body into the hallway while crying her name before hiding her in the roof cavity.

Torney also claimed he was calling Ms Francis  his girlfriend at the time  a 'c**t' as he did it.

Torney (pictured) claims he hugged the toddler's dead body for five minutes before hiding her in the roof cavity

Peta-Ann Francis, the mother of murdered toddler Nikki Francis-Coslovich

The accused murderer also claimed Ms Francis demanded sex from him when she returned home, shortly after the toddler was murdered.

Torney said the only reason he didn't give in to her request was because he could not 'get it up'.

In the video played to the Supreme Court jury in Mildura, Torney also told detectives he initially considered burying the child in a shallow grave in the backyard.

He said he first considered digging a hole and burying her but decided against it amid fears the family dog would find her.

John Torney - who has been charged with Nikki's murder - in court blamed Ms Francis for the toddler's death

Then he claimed he 'freaked out' and hid her in the roof because he wanted her to be found quickly.

In his interview with detectives, Torney maintained he was not guilty of the toddler's murderer and Ms Francis was to blame.

He claimed Ms Francis told him she had gone too far and asked him to deal with it before leaving the house to sell a laptop at a pawnbroker nearby.

He said it was after she left he hid Nikki's body.

Peta-Ann Francis leaves after giving evidence in the murder trial of her former partner, John Clifford Torney, at the Victorian Supreme Court in Mildura

The Victorian Supreme Court jury also heard secret recordings from an undercover police officer who befriended Ms Francis, The Age reported.

In the audio, Ms Francis was heard speaking to 'Steph' about having to 'get her story right' when asked about irregularities in her explanation of events.

After parts of the recording played in court, Mr Torney's lawyer asked the mother if she was a 'clever, cunning person'. Ms Francis disagreed.

She was also suggested to have sounded 'emotionless' while talking about her dead daughter.

Ms Francis agreed, but said it was because she'd shut out her emotions.

Then, referencing emotion exhibited before the court, Mr Torney's lawyer suggested Ms Francis was manipulative in order to get sympathy from the jury, but the woman rejected the suggestion.

Mr Torney has pleaded not guilty and accused Ms Francis of being behind the two-year-old's death.

Peta Ann Francis' recorded conversation with undercover cop 'Steph' Steph: Who was that? Peta: Detectives from Melbourne. Steph: From the Homicide Squad? What was that about? Peta: That was about JT. Steph: But what about? Peta: Ahh, um, My statement. Steph: Okay. Peta: And there's some inconsistencies when I said I've seen her in the morning. Yeah. ... Steph: Yeah, Yeah. Yeah that's pretty full on, but if they've found- think that you've said once in this statement in then something different in that statement, they are going to be like - - - Peta: Yeah I know. Nit pick. Steph: A dog on the bone  dogs with the bone. Whatever that saying is. And they'll be at you about it. Peta: Yeah I know. I've got to get my story straight Steph: Yeah, yeah. Have you  did you speak to like JT about it before. Peta: No. Steph: No, OK So you don't know what he's said to them. That makes it a bit hard doesn't it? I guess? Peta: JT confessed to it as far as my knowledge on the statement now on the Friday Morning. And then, I simply go, I said I'll remember bits and pieces. I knew roughly what I'd said. Steph: Yeah. Peta: In the statement, but not word for word. Steph: Yeah, yeah you are never going to remember that are you? Peta: No. Steph: Not when you are like - - - Peta: Not when I'm in shock and everything is going on. Steph: Yeah. Peta: And then the coopers searching me house on me statement. You know. And then um. Advertisement

Ms Francis only found out in the witness stand her friend 'Steph' was in fact assigned to speak to her by the police homicide squad.

Nikki Francis-Coslovich, two, was found in the roof of her mother's Mildura home in August last year

On Wedneday, the court heard audio of Mr Torney confessing to hiding the body of two-year-old Nikki Francis-Coslovich.

In a conversation with police, recorded in secret, Mr Torney said: 'It's eating me up inside, I can't hold back anymore, I've got to get it out.'

Nikki's bruised and beaten body was found hidden in the roof of Ms Francis' home on August 25 last year after she reported her daughter missing.

In the recording played to the court Mr Torney told police Ms Francis had told him she'd 'gone too far ... she'd killed her'.

'She just said that she threw her on the bed, that, that could I help her get rid of the body... I put Nikki in the manhole.'

He said he'd climbed up on a chest of drawers to reach the roof cavity and that he'd 'freaked out' when Ms Francis asked for his help.

When asked in the recording about the point at which he'd decided to come clean, Mr Torney told police he'd been waiting for two days to tell them.

I've been having nightmares, waking up in hot and cold sweats. I've got to get it off my chest... It's killing me inside.

'I've been having nightmares, waking up in hot and cold sweats. I've got to get it off my chest... It's killing me inside. I loved that little girl like she was my own.'

Mr Torney is not Nikki's father but was in a relationship with Ms Francis.

The court has heard them blame the other for murdering the girl.

Mr Torney pleaded not guilty to Nikki's murder in the opening of his trial in Mildura in October and made explosive allegations that Ms Francis had killed her daughter and asked him to hide the body.

But the court heard she told police she 'did not hurt Nikki' and had no idea how her body ended up in the roof of her home.

In a police interview on August 28, 2015, Ms Francis broke down when detectives told her Mr Torney would be charged with murder.

JOHN TORNEY'S CONFESSION TO POLICE Police: Gerard said you wanted to speak to us about something? John Torney: Yep. Police: What's the go? Mr Torney: Peta killed Nikki. The mother killed her. Police: Her mother killed her? Mr Torney: Yeah. Later in the conversation Police: What are the circumstances John? Mr Torney: She killed her, then asked me to help her get rid of the body. Police: How did this all take place? Mr Torney: It was whilst we were laying down on the bed that she goes: 'I've gone a bit too far with Nikki' and then 'she's dead'. Later Police: Did she say how, or? Mr Torney: She just said that she threw her on the bed, that, that could I help her get rid of the body... Police: OK, and what did you do? Mr Torney: I put Nikki in the manhole. It's eating me up inside. I can't hold back anymore. I've got to get it out. Later Police: When did you decide to that you'd come clean and tell us what actually happened? Mr Torney: I've been wanting to tell youse for the last two days. Police: Mmm. Mr Torney: I've been having nightmares, waking up in hot and cold sweats. I've got to get it off my chest. Police: Mmm. Mr Torney: It's killing me inside. I loved that little girl like she was my own. Advertisement

'Why,' she said through her tears in the video played for the jury.

'How could he do it... my baby... how?'

She told police she didn't know anything about what had happened the day Nikki died and Torney hadn't told her anything.

'When? Do you know how she died?' she said.

'I need to know.'

'When I found out she was missing, I searched everywhere a little child would go to,' Ms Francis told police.

She said she had never been into the roof, that she didn't have a ladder, and couldn't stand on a chair because she doesn't have any cartilage in her knees.

Ms Francis pictured right with Nikki's father and her three other children

The court had previously heard Sergeant Kaare Anderson, who responded to the missing person report, thought it was 'very odd' that Ms Francis was smiling and appeared happy when telling police her daughter was missing.

A recording of her triple zero call to report Nikki missing also revealed her giggling while she spoke to the operator.

Ms Francis told the trial 'having the cops at my house makes me nervous'.

'It's a nervous smirk that I have,' Ms Francis said.

She denied Ms Condon's assertion that she referred to her daughter as 'the little cow'.

Ms Francis had told the court earlier she sometimes psychically disciplined her children but never laid a hand on her two-year-old daughter.

'Not hard, it was just a tap. I've never hurt my children,' Ms Francis said.

The trial continues before Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth.

Mr Torney has pleaded not guilty to the two-year-old girl's murder

Nikki's body was found in the roof of her Mildura home in August last year
Hillary Clinton's presidential running mate is Satan, according to a fire and brimstone condemnation in a Catholic bulletin in California, which warned that a vote for her was a 'mortal sin'.

Last month's newsletter from the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in San Diego listed five of her policies which earmarked her as the Devil incarnate - support for abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research.

The flier, written in English and Spanish, said: 'It is a mortal sin to vote Democratimmediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell.'

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Hillary Clinton (pictured left, with the Catholic Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Donald Trump at a dinner last month) grew up in a Methodist household

An extract from the bulletin which states that it's a 'mortal sin to vote democrat'

The bulletin took aim at Clinton but the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said yesterday the messages in the bulletin were 'inappropriate' and did not correctly reflect Catholic teaching or the policy of the diocese

Another article in a version of the church bulletin which came out last weekend claimed Clinton was influenced by Satan.

The bulletin claimed a speech Clinton made last year, in which she referenced community organizer Saul Alinsky, was an implicit call for Christians to drop their opposition to abortion.

In the speech Clinton said: 'Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed' and the bulletin went on to draw an inference that she was urging people to welcome the Prince of Darkness.

Video courtesy of CBS 8/San Diego

Clinton was actually talking about eliminating cultural barriers in some parts of the world that prevent girls from attending elementary school and women from going to college.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said yesterday the messages in the bulletin were 'inappropriate' and did not correctly reflect Catholic teaching or the policy of the diocese.

Diocesan spokesman Kevin Eckery told the San Diego Tribune: 'It's not a mortal sin to vote for Democrats, number one. And number two, the church doesn't take positions on this, and we're not going to.'

The bulletin was put out by the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in San Diego (pictured), whose pastor, Reverend Richard Perozich, has described 'five non-negotiables' to the Catholic faith

It is not clear who wrote the bulletin but the church's pastor, the Reverend Richard Perozich, said in a homily: 'In the church, we have what we call the five non-negotiables, things that are most important, and they're around life issues. Clinton is seen above in North Carolina on Thursday

The Bishop of San Diego, Robert McElroy, said he was 'part of a long tradition in Catholic episcopal leadership in the United States which holds that both the Church and society are best served when bishops refrain from publicly endorsing or favoring, either directly or indirectly, specific candidates in partisan elections.'

It is not clear who wrote the bulletin but the church's pastor, the Reverend Richard Perozich, said in a homily: 'In the church, we have what we call the five non-negotiables, things that are most important, and they're around life issues.

'There's life, from conception to natural death. There's marriage and sexuality, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia. When we vote, we don't vote for candidates who support these things, even if they support other things that we really like.'
An Akansas murder trial had to be abandoned after jurors complained of a man taking photographs of them outside the courthouse.

Michael Mitchell, 20, was on trial for first-degree murder and first-degree battery

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims declared a mistrial after two jurors said they were frightened by the man.

The judge said he was considering whether to take any action against the man, a cousin of defendant Michael Mitchell.

The request to halt the trial came from the defense, as defense attorney Bill Luppen said he believed that jurors could no longer be impartial about his client.

The trial of 20-year-old Mitchell ended just after both sides had delivered their opening statements, and has been rescheduled for April.

Sims said the jurors felt intimidated by the man, who stood outside the courtroom door and used a cellphone to take photographs of at least four jurors as they returned from lunch.

Mitchell was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree battery after a shooting in December 2014.

Troy Lee Holmes was shot dead following an altercation in his front yard

The incident, two days after Christmas, killed Troy Lee Holmes in his front yard in Stevenson Drive, and wounded Holmes' teenage stepdaughter, Asia Lacey.

Mitchell claims that he is innocent because he was acting to protect his friends.

The defense claims 6-foot-2-inch, 257-pound Holmes lunged at Mitchell and his friends during a late-night altercation, which led to Mitchell firing at least three shots.

He did not immediately realize he had hit anyone, Luppen said.

Lacey sustained minor injuries caused by a bullet fragment that grazed her left thigh and embedded in her right thigh, the attorney said, telling jurors that Mitchell did not know anyone in the Holmes family and had only gone there with a friend, Shaheed Williams.

The altercation arose due to a feud between Williams' girlfriend, Tatianna Curry, and Holmes' cousin, Roderick Gulley, with whom she had had a child.

Deputy prosecutor Kimberly Woods told jurors that Holmes was a father and a husband who was protecting his home, and was shot in the back by Mitchell before he forced his way into the family home to pistol-whip Holmes' wife and wound his stepdaughter.

The trial was abandoned after jurors complained of a man taking photographs of them outside the courthouse

After Sims dismissed the jury of 10 women and four men of the jury, the judge's bailiff, Rod Bostic said the man taking the photographs was the defendant's cousin, 39-year-old Kelton Deshon Ayers.

Ayers had left the courthouse by the time the judge was informed about the photographs, which Bostic had ordered him to delete.

Court records show that Ayers is on probation for felony battery and terroristic threatening convictions, and is scheduled to be sentenced November 16 for a probation violation.
A 'family planning' adviser to the Polish government has claimed contraception can lead to 'sex addiction' and make people more likely to cheat.

Professor Urszula Dudziak from the Catholic University of Lublin, who was appointed to advise on sex education classes in schools, branded contraception 'wicked'.

Her comments, which came to light after Polish media published parts of a 2014 speech called 'Know the Truth About Contraception', have attracted criticism.

The academic's appointment has also raised concerns over the sex education taking place in Polish schools.

A 'family planning' adviser to the Polish government has claimed contraception can lead to 'sex addiction' and make people more likely to cheat

'People protecting themselves against unwanted pregnancy risk serious consequences such as hedonism, sex addiction, a sense of shame and a tendency to betray,' Professor Dudziak said.

'Using contraception is wicked. That is why we need to educate about love.'

She also claimed that using contraception was a 'sign of immaturity'.

Her comments, made at a 2014 conference called 'The Great Defenders of Life', have sparked a debate in Poland.

Professor Urszula Dudziak from the Catholic University of Lublin, who was appointed to advise on sex education classes in schools, branded contraception 'wicked'

Some fear the conservative government, which has strong links with the Catholic Church, will place even less emphasis on family planning courses.

Alexandra Jozefowska, a sex-education specialist, raised concerns about the government's choice of an adviser who has 'hostile' views on safe sex.

'Most schools already skip contraception [classes],' the expert told The Telegraph.

'The choice of somebody known for her hostile views on contraception will increase the tendency of schools to avoid providing pupils with proper knowledge about this.'
Melbourne man said he wanted to 'kill everyone' before

A Melbourne man declared he wanted to 'kill everyone' before shooting dead a family friend in an ice-fuelled rage.

Alexander John Semaan, 41, has been jailed for at least 18 years for the murder of Michael Bakhaze in December 2014 in the Melbourne suburb of East Brunswick.

Semaan's sister, Hanna, and ex-girlfriend Megan Beljulji were also jailed on Friday for at least two years for attempting to cover up the crime by putting police on a 'false trail'.

Alexander Semaan (left) has been jailed for at least 18 years for the murder of Michael Bakhaze in 2014. His then-girlfriend Megan Beljulji (right) was also jailed for attempting to cover up the crime

Michael Bakhaze (pictured) was shot in the forehead by Semaan in an ice-fuelled rage

Semaan was seen before the senseless murder with an ice pipe and a gun by eyewitness Tony Kannan.

Mr Kannan said when he asked Semaan why he had the gun, the 41-year-old replied, 'I want to kill everyone'.

The court heard Semaan was armed when he walked out of the East Brunswick bungalow where his friend Bakhaze was in the courtyard looking through a bag, 7 News reports.

'You put the gun to the back of his head as Kannan looked on in disbelief. Kannan tried to reason with you,' Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale said. told Semaan.

Semaan then pointed the firearm at a neighbour putting her bins out, before putting the gun to Mr Bakhaze's forehead and pulling the trigger.

'Bakhaze perhaps not believing you would do it, simply lowered his head submissively. You fired and Bakhaze collapsed to the ground fatally wounded,' Justice Beale continued.

Semaan had claimed a gun-wielding intruder had been attempting to rob him and Mr Bakhaze had been shot as they struggled

Beljulji (left) and Semaan's sister attempted to put the police on a 'false trail' to support Semaan's story of an armed intruder

He then retreated into his East Brunswick bungalow, triggering a tense five hour long stand-off with police when he and then-girlfriend Beljulji refused to surrender.

Semaan had claimed a gun-wielding intruder had been attempting to rob him and Mr Bakhaze had been shot as they struggled.

Beljulji and Hanna attempted to put the police on a 'false trail' to support Semaan's story of an armed intruder by getting Mr Kannan to change his statement.

Following the shooting, Semaan treated into his East Brunswick bungalow, triggering a tense five hour long stand-off with police when he and then-girlfriend Beljulji refused to surrender

Semaan then pointed the firearm at a neighbour putting her bins out, before putting the gun to Mr Bakhaze's forehead and pulling the trigger

Semaan's then-girlfriend told ballistics police to re-examine the crime scene, where they found additional, intentionally placed bullet holes that would appear consistent with the false story.

'As to who made the bullet holes to lend credence to Alex's defence, that remains a mystery,' Justice Beale said.

Semaan has been sentenced to 22 years and two months jail, with a non-parole period of 18.
A 'lovely' father of two died in his fiancee's arms on a flight back to Britain just 24 hours after the pair got engaged at the Grand Canyon during a 'holiday of a lifetime'.

Martyn Foulds and Sally Mondryk, of Halifax, West Yorkshire, were enjoying a 'once in a lifetime' trip to the U.S. when the 55-year-old fell seriously ill in Los Angeles.

Just 24 hours before he began vomiting and suffering back pain, Ms Mondryk had proposed to her partner - popping the question at the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

They had planned to visit Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Florida during their trip but were forced to cut short their holiday when the senior Lloyds bank manager fell ill.

Martyn Foulds and Sally Mondryk were enjoying a 'once in a lifetime' trip to the U.S. when he fell seriously ill in Los Angeles and died on the flight back to London Gatwick. The pair are pictured together at the Grand Canyon after getting engaged - just 24 hours before he died

Mr Foulds had been backwards and forwards to doctors in the UK after developing several urine infections before the trip. A post-morten found he had a 15cm tumour in his bowel

They managed to get an earlier flight home from LA but Mr Foulds took a turn for the worse on the plane and died in his new fiancee's arms - in front of 300 passengers.

He even told Ms Mondryk 'I'm dying' before tragically passing away in her arms.

Speaking from their home in Halifax, she said: 'I felt numb - it was disbelief and almost as if I was watching someone else [die].

'That was the worst thing - 300 people were watching him die.'

Mr Foulds had been backwards and forwards to doctors in the UK after developing several urine infections before the trip.

He hadn't been well since June and was even admitted to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in July.

Doctors found he had a fistula, which means that a hole had developed between his bowel and his bladder, after a variety of tests.

Mr Foulds took his partner on the 'once in a lifetime' trip to the U.S. (pictured) but fell seriously ill just days after they arrived in LA

He was awaiting an operation to fix the issue but medics said he could go on the holiday which the couple had booked a year in advance.

The pair flew out to the U.S. on October 15 but just days into the trip he fell unwell.

Describing her partner's problems, Ms Mondryk said: 'He was OK for the first couple of days, just the general niggling pains he lived with all the time and then he started being sick.

'He had lost his appetite and hadn't really been eating, so the fact he was being sick was a bit unusual.

'It was getting worse and we woke up on the Thursday morning and he said 'I think we might need to try and get a flight home, I really don't feel well'.'

The couple booked a flight back to Gatwick, but when they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, Mr Foulds collapsed at the check-in desk before their 11-hour flight home.

Ms Mondryk said: 'It was horrific, but he wanted to get home at that point so I just followed his wishes.

'My instinct was to get an ambulance, but he kept saying he could sleep on the plane and he would get help when he got home.

'About four hours in, he was complaining of back pain and he was struggling to breathe properly by that point.'

A call-out for medics was issued on the flight and two doctors and two nurses came forward to help, but his condition continued to worsen and he collapsed again.

She said: 'At that point, he actually said 'I think I'm dying'. It was horrific.

'I got him back to his seat and about another hour in he started breathing funny. Everybody was looking at him.

Mr Foulds even told Ms Mondryk (above) 'I'm dying' before tragically passing away in her arms

'I had his head in my hands - he kept trying to move me and I wouldn't.

'I was making him look at me, his eyes kept drifting off and I kept asking him if he was alright. He'd come back and say he was fine and then, he just died.

'Two doctors hoisted him out of the chair and got him to the back of the plane as fast as they could.'

The captain turned the plane around and headed to the nearest airport, which was just over an hour away in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Canada.

I'd give anything to hear that laugh now. He was very caring and very honest. He'd help everybody else, before he helped himself Sally Mondryk

Medics performed CPR on Mr Foulds until the plane landed, at which point he was pronounced dead.

To add to her devastating ordeal, Ms Mondryk had to leave her partner in Canada while a post-mortem was carried out.

It found that he had been living with an advanced 15cm tumour on his bowel, which hadn't been picked up by previous scans at the hospital.

His bowel had ruptured because of the tumour and he also had metastasis of the liver.

Now Ms Mondryk and her family are waiting for his body to be flown back to the UK so they can make funeral arrangements.

While they aren't able to organise anything at the moment, they are determined to give him a 'big party'.

Mr Foulds took a turn for the worse on the plane and died in his fiancee's arms (pictured)

Paying tribute to 'lovely and well driven' partner, she said: 'He cared about everyone else more than himself, hence why he probably didn't go to the doctor sooner.

'He had the most booming laugh and everybody has said they will miss that.

'On one of our first dates we went to a comedy club and he made me sit on the front row.

'He started laughing and I was sinking into my shoulders - and I'd give anything to hear that laugh now.

'He was very caring and very honest. He'd help everybody else, before he helped himself.

'I have some fantastic memories of the holiday, obviously some very sad ones too, but he got to show me what he wanted to show me.

'We had a brilliant future planned and things had just got to where we needed them to be.'
These are the Mad Max style tunnelling machines ISIS fanatics made out of old farm equipment to bore a maze of rat-runs under Mosul.

Footage shows giant rusting drills attached to heavy vehicles abandoned in the streets of the ISIS Iraqi stronghold.

They were used to make a sprawling network of tunnels used by extremists to scurry around the city avoiding airstrikes and the gaze of overhead drones.

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These are the Mad Max style tunnelling machines ISIS fanatics made out of old farm equipment to bore a maze of rat-runs under Mosul

ISIS fanatics made the make-shift drills - reminiscent of the kind of vehicles seen in the film Mad Max - out of reclaimed industrial farmyard equipment, according to local reports.

And as Iraqi forces continue their advance on the city, many of the entrances have been booby trapped with explosives.

It comes days after the first pictures emerged of the labyrinth of tunnels ISIS has built in the area.

Refugees streaming out of the city said every street has a secret entrance to the catacombs, which are ideal hiding places for machine gunners, grenade throwers and suicide bombers.

It is not clear how extensive the network of ISIS tunnels is, but there are fears it might allow ISIS fighters and even their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to wriggle free from the noose which is being slowly closed around Iraq's second city.

Footage shows giant rusting drills attached to heavy vehicles abandoned in the streets of the ISIS Iraqi stronghold

Tunnels are being found every day. Jackhammers were needed to break through the rock

A Kurdish peshmerga fighter points towards the entrance to one of the tunnels, which was obscured by soil

The tunnels are used as storerooms, sleeping quarters and bomb shelters and inside were tea mugs, books, mattresses and even a lady's handbag.

It comes as Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul today, a expanding the army's foothold in the ISIS stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service said CTS troops had launched a major operation against the militants, who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

CTS special forces took over the neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, a military statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.
Trolls called for the lawyer to be shot while another wished cancer on her

The woman accused of derailing British democracy following her Brexit victory in the High Court has received rape and death threats online.

Gina Miller has been targeted on social media by online trolls, with calls from some for her to be shot dead, while others wished cancer on her.

She told the Guardian she believes the same attacks would not have happened if she was a white man.

The newspaper asked her if she thought a white man would get the same threats, to which she said: 'No. The simple answer is: absolutely no.'

She did not go into detail about the abuse she received since the ruling on Thursday but said: 'All I will say is that people who wanted to support me have done so quietly rather than audibly because theyre frightened.'

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Gina Miller has been targeted on social media by online trolls, with calls for someone to shoot her while others wished cancer on her

The threats come after the former model's lawsuit forced the Government into putting its plans to leave the European Union to Parliament

The mother-of-three, who was born in Guyana but grew up in Britain, was called a 'foreigner' and an 'immigrant' by some, with others saying she should be deported.

However, not all were targeting the millionaire Remain campaigner, with some posting concerns about her safety and calling for her to receive police protection.

She also told the Guardian the reluctance of so many to support her publicly made her more determined because she did not want a fractured society.

It comes after the former model's lawsuit forced the Government into putting its plans to leave the European Union to Parliament.

In a Facebook group called UKIP Peoples Forum 2020, the lawyer was targeted by several comments urging for her to be killed for her part in the lawsuit.

One wrote: 'Kill her! 2 behind the ear. Throw her in the garbage. Dustbin, whatever...'

Another person added 'I hope she gets f...king killed', while one user wrote 'she's not even British, I hope she gets lots of hate mail'.

Posting to a website called 'English and Proud', one Facebook user said: 'Gina Miller should be shot if Brexit is overturned.

'I hope this country becomes a warzone. They are creating hatred among hard-working English men and women.'

The Labour supporter was photo-shopped with a Swastika on her head in one image, with the creator adding the words: 'Who's going to help me rape this b****?'

The London-based investment manager (shown) was seen walking through Westminster today

But others have defended the actions of the businesswoman and are now calling on the authorities to ensure she is not harmed by angry members of the public.

Polly Phillips posted: 'I hope Gina Miller has sufficient police protection. She did a very brave thing. I'm grateful to her.'

While tweeter Comrade Maxwell wrote: 'Gina Miller should be put under police protection. I do not trust the lunatic right wing domestic terrorists.'

Other posters called her a 'class act'.

Mrs Miller put the Government's Brexit plans in her sights after she was left 'absolutely stunned' by the referendum result.

The 51-year-old (shown left and right) brought the case with the help of a Portuguese hairdresser called Deir Santos after the Brexit result made her feel 'physically sick'

The 51-year-old, who voted Remain, brought the case with the help of a Portuguese hairdresser called Deir Santos after the Brexit result made her feel 'physically sick'.

Last month, she told The Times how she had received 'horrendous' abuse after helping to launch the lawsuit.

Their high-powered team of lawyers, led by Lord Pannick QC and a team up to 11 other barristers, have now embarrassed Theresa May following Thursday's verdict.
A British soldier was found dead in France just days after his family was 'duped' by a property conman.

Dad Lee John, 41, spent nine years in the Welsh Guards but moved abroad to start a new life to bring his two youngest children up in the sunshine.

Tragically Mr John was found dead just days after saying how he and wife Jenny had been victims of a property scam in the south of France.

Lee John, 41, from the Welsh Guards, took his own life after him and his wife Jenny (pictured) were conned by property scam in France

Mr John, of Newport, Gwent said he was trying to trace the 'conman' he had met in Phuket, Thailand, and promised his wife a job and apartment in France.

He said: 'He has duped my wife into believing he has high-end property rentals globally and promised her a very well paid job in the south of France.

'He was that convincing with rental agreements and work contracts emails from various apartments etc, that Jen and my boys packed up our house in Toulouse and moved nine hours across country for this new life.

The couple were living in France for a better life for them and their children

'But 18 days on and after paying him 1,100 Euros we are effectively homeless in a one bedroom studio apartment the four of us and the dog.

'This guy and his sidekicks are still daily in contact giving bull*** after bull**** about our refund etc etc. But he has turn our happy lifestyle upside down.'

But just three days after posting the message on Facebook Lee was found dead near Nice. Friends say he took his own life.

Mr John was a Guardsman in the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards for nine years including foreign tours in action.

Mr John's Facebook plea for help after being scammed on October 28

After leaving the army Lee used his soldiering expertise to work as a maritime security contractor protecting ships from pirates.

His heartbroken family that includes his wife Jenny and three children Alana 17, Lucca 9 and Hari, 2, were trying to raise 3,000 to bring his body back to the UK and pay for his funeral, and have set up a crowdfunding page.

Alana shared a link to the page saying: 'Please, please donate and help bring my daddy home.'

She said: 'RIP daddy I cant believe youre gone.

The family are trying to raise 3,000 on JustGiving to bring Mr John home for his funeral

'Weve had our ups and down but Ive always loved you with all my heart. I will make you proud wherever you may be I promise.

'I hope youre happy and at peace now. I love you so so much and I miss you already.'

After leaving the army Mr John used his soldiering expertise to work as a maritime security contractor protecting ships from pirates

Pal Daniel Adams, who set up the page, commented: 'Lee and his wife have been living in France for the past year after deciding to try to give their two young sons a better life in the sun.

'Due to circumstances that no-one could have foreseen, and for his own reasons Lee tragically took his life this week.

'Lee has left behind a wife and three children, Alana, 17, Lucca, nine, and Hari, two, and friends and family that love him.

'Lee was currently working in maritime security after proudly serving for nine years in the Welsh Guards where he served his country and was a keen rugby player.

'Lee was a hard working man, who was utterly devoted to his family.

'The family need to raise funds to repatriate Lee home to Wales and to ease the pressure at this devastating time.'

The JustGiving page has raised over its 3,000 target with more than 5,000 being donated to support the family.

Daniel Adams, who set up the fundraising page for his friend's family (pictured), commented 'due to circumstances that no-one could have foreseen, and for his own reasons Lee tragically took his life this week'
A high school student was threatened with suspension from her classes after wearing a T-shirt declaring Hillary for Prison 2016.

Maxine Yeakle, who is voting for Donald Trump, said she was pulled out of class at Boca Raton High School in Florida because of what she was wearing.

The 18-year-old posted a video on Facebook on Tuesday saying the school's assistant principal had admitted there were no rules against clothes with political slogans on them but said she faced in-school suspension (ISS) because of the disruption it was causing.

Maxine Yeakle (pictured) said nobody said anything to her face in class but she later called to the principal's office

In the Facebook video Maxine said: 'I am wearing a Hillary for Prison t-shirt at my public school today, and in my class today some people had a problem with it.

'They didn't say anything to me. They had a private conversation about it and my teacher told them to stop talking and they didn't listen. So...I got called down to the office.'

Maxine told WPTV: 'There was a group of girls in there who started talking really loudly and kind of obnoxiously about how awful Trump supporters are and how they are all racist and saying some really ignorant things.'

Maxine Yeakle (pictured) said she almost deleted the video from Facebook because she was getting so much abuse and 'it hurt'

Boca Raton High School's handbook says any clothes deemed 'potentially disruptive' are banned.

But Maxine believes her right to free expression are being restricted and she said: 'It's totally ridiculous. It opens up a can of worms and who is to say I'm not offended by a Hillary shirt? And why don't they have to change?'

Amanda Figueras posted under Maxine's video: 'I think that your wrong because even though you voiced yourself and wore a Hillary for prison shirt, if it causes a disruption in class it shouldn't be worn.'
This is the terrifying moment a fireworks display went horribly wrong and exploded over the crowd.

Two rockets launched towards spectators at the display in central Bristol on Thursday night. At least four children reported being hit by ashes from the fireworks, which left them with minor burns.

The display was forced to end abruptly and an investigation has now been launched into the incident.

Several people were recording the fireworks at Millennium Square, which was hosted by At-Bristol, a science centre by the river Avon in the city.

In one footage, the jovial crowd was seen looking up at the fireworks display.

A stray rocket was seen veering towards the spectators but no one seemed to notice it.

But suddenly, it explodes terrifyingly close to the people standing underneath it, causing several screams and curses.

Other footage from the incident on Thursday night showed that more than one rocket had launched towards the crowd.

The event to celebrate the launch of a festive fair had been attended by hundreds of people.

Terror: A large crowd had gathered at Millennium Square in Bristol to watch the firework (left) when, seemingly out of nowhere, a rocket explodes over the spectators

On Twitter, several attendees reported that they were almost hit and that the display was forced to finish early.

Queeny_Matty commented: 'Went to a firework display last night at @ Bristol in Millennium Square and it went horribly wrong, shot out into crowd.'

Josh Gater wrote: 'Relive the terror of guy Fawkes by standing in Millennium Sq and having fireworks shot at you by trained professionals. Cheers.'

Some attendees said the explosions were so close, they were forced to duck to avoid being hit.

But the Campho family weren't so lucky.

They were standing near the front of the display at the time and four of the children in the family were hit by the ashes.

Nancy, 13, was hit just inches from her eye, leaving burn marks on her cheeks.

Shock: The explosion caused several people to scream out in terror and the person who filmed the incident to duck

Her sister Gracie, 9, went home with a red mark above her lip while Sophia, 11, and Lucy, 5, were hit on the hand and neck by ashes respectively.

Their mother, Charlene, said: 'It had started off really well, but then suddenly all the children were just screaming.

'One was saying how she was hit on the hand and it had burnt her and another in the face. I was trying to get them out of there, put their heads down and their hoods up on their coats to protect their faces.

'There was a little boy next to us just screaming for his life it was horrible.

'It was the first time my youngest two had been to a display and Im not sure they will want to go back to another. But it could have been a lot worse.

'I understand it is no ones fault and was not intentional, but you do trust displays like that. I have never experienced anything like it before and it was frightening.'

At Bristol has since issue a statement on their website saying that they are investigating the incident.

Celebration: The fireworks display had been set up by At Bristol to celebrate the launch of a festive fair

It said: 'Thanks to everyone who attended the launch of the Millennium Square Festive Fair and fireworks last night.

'The display went as planned until a fault at then end, which we and the professional firework display company SkyBurst are fully investigating.

'At-Bristol takes the safety of its visitors both in venue and in the outside spaces very seriously. The firework display was carried out by a team of trained professionals from SkyBurst who knew the site very well and have delivered many similar displays in the past.

'All the necessary safety checks were carried out and the display was fully risk assessed prior to the event and on the night.

'After a post event inspection, SkyBurst have identified an unforeseeable manufacturing malfunction which has been reported to the manufacturer and UK importer.'

Matthew Tosh from SkyBurst also released a statement about the incident.
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They say the three most important things about a house are location, location and location - so how far would you go to preserve your own little slice of paradise if it was under threat?

For investment tycoon Nick Langley, that meant paying $13million in order to buy the property opposite his already pricey $30.5million Sydney home in order to protect his view of the nearby beach.

The 1960s period property, located in exclusive Point Piper, belonged to Betty Harris, who lived in the property alone following husband Keith Harris's death in 1991, Domain reports.

Nick Langley, an investment tycoon, bought this property in Sydney's exclusive Point Piper for $30.5million last year

But when the home opposite his was put on the market (pictured bottom right) his view down to the ocean was under threat

Rather than hope the new owners didn't decide to add a second story to their new home, he bought it himself for $13million

Langley's home is already a considerable jump up from the previous property he shared with wife Lorraine Tarabay, which cost a comparatively small $11.4million

Harris passed away herself in 2009, leaving the property to neighbour Beatrice Gray following a bitter dispute with her niece who she said 'was waiting for me to die.'

Gray rented the property until recently, according to records, before deciding to put the home on the market.

Langley is believed to have picked up the home as an investment, but his purchase will also prevent the site from being overdeveloped and blocking his view to the nearby beach at the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club.

Langley's $30.5million property boasts four bedrooms, six bathrooms and an outdoor swimming pool with beach views

The luxurious pad is located in the exclusive Point Piper, to the west of Sydney city centre and close to Bondi Beach

The home also features multiple entertaining rooms, including this one which is complete with its own bar

Langley made his fortune from Rare Infrastructure, an investment company he helped establish back in 2006

Langley's $30.5million property was designed in 1962 by Professor Leslie Wilkinson, and features four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a swimming pool.

The home also has multiple entertaining spaces with balconies over two levels looking down toward the beach, according to an old listing by Sotheby's.

Meanwhile Harris's old property is much valued as a 1960s time capsule, designed by architect John Suttor for Harris and her late racing identity husband Keith Harris after they bought the block for 15,000 in 1962.

Langely's neighbour was Betty Harris, a reclusive woman who left the house to a friend after saying that her family were 'waiting for me to die' in order to buy it

Harris's friend, Beatrice Gray, rented the home until recently when she put it on the market (pictured, Langley's home)

Langley is believed to have purchased the home as an investment property, but also to stop it being overly developed
Her family had been in the process of

A family have been left devastated after their bubbly and beautiful toddler drowned in the backyard pool of her mothers villa.

The Australian-born, 18-month-old girl was discovered in pool of the Casa Ganteng villa in the Balinese district of North Kuta on Wednesday.

Its understood the family had been in the process of relocating from Perth to Bali, with the girl and her mother arriving in the Indonesian villa just days before the accident, Perth Now reports.

A family have been left devastated after their bubbly and beautiful toddler drowned in the backyard pool of her mothers Casa Ganteng villa in the Balinese district of North Kuta

The girls stepfather, from the Perth suburb of Clarkson, reportedly described the little toddler as a perfect little girl who loved people.

She was the happiest kid youd ever meet, bubbly and beautiful.

He has reportedly now flown to Bali to join his devastated partner.

The 18-month-old was taken to Denpasars Sanglah Hospital by her mother, but was unable to be revived.

Its believed she had slipped and fell into the pool.

An autopsy will be performed to confirm the exact cause of death.

The 18-month-old is believed to have slipped and fell into the pool (stock image)
Commonwealth chief Baroness Scotland today denied she had been 'extravagant' in spending hundreds of thousands of pounds refurbishing her Mayfair mansion.

The Labour former Cabinet minister has been under mounting pressure over the renovations to her grace-and-favour residence.

Leaked documents have indicated she requested luxurious fixtures and fittings including marble furniture, 100-per-roll wallpaper at a cost of 10,500 and 5,000 on 'refurbishing' a safe.

But Lady Scotland furiously rejected the idea that she had been frivolous with the organisation's money, and insisted the final bill had been more like 330,000 than the 450,000 previously claimed.

Baroness Scotland (pictured) has denied that spending on her grace-and-favour Mayfair mansion has been 'extravagant'

She also dismissed signs that Theresa May is withdrawing support for her position as secretary-general - a post she only took on in April.

A Downing Street spokesman said yesterday that the PM had confidence in 'the role of the secretary-general', but batted away repeated questions from reporters over whether she had confidence in Lady Scotland herself.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lady Scotland said: 'I have got a letter from Theresa May herself making absolutely clear she supports what I am doing, what I, Patricia Scotland, am doing as secretary-general of the Commonwealth to reform it, to make sure it works.'

Amid claims that the 52-nation's finances are in crisis, Lady Scotland admitted the Commonwealth's budget had 'certainly tightened'.

But she said the idea that her own spending was wasteful was 'nonsense', insisting 'there is no extravagance at all' about the refurbishment.

'We are just getting the final figure now. I can say there are no chandeliers, there are no marble fireplaces - none of those things which are alleged has been spent at all,' she said.

'I said, and I was really clear about this, there had to be no extravagance whatsoever.'

Lady Scotland said the original expectation was the work would cost 'about 260,000 plus the fees plus things that would come up that needed to be done', with the final cost expected to be 'just over 300,000, maybe 330,000'.

She said the Commonwealth was a 'small organisation' which faced the need to reform in order to cope with restricted budgets.

Downing Street refused to say yesterday that the PM had confidence in Baroness Scotland

discuss the 'dire financial position' of the Commonwealth Secretariat was reportedly postponed after an unnamed 'big contributor' agreed to bring forward payment of its dues.

The row is likely to be raised during Mrs May's visit to India next week, with one news website in the country quoting sources close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying there were 'concerns' about Commonwealth spending.

'The budget has certainly tightened,' Lady Scotland said. 'You will know that many countries are going through a fiscally quite difficult time and there is about a 10 million difference between the budget that was there four years ago and the budget that will be there next year.

'I have inherited that position; it was clear when I took on the job that reform was going to be necessary because of that tightened position.'

She insisted she had 'absolutely complied with the procurement rules' following reports that Labour peer Lord Patel's consultancy firm was paid 90,000 to work on the transition as she took over the Commonwealth.

Lady Scotland said: 'I wanted the very best opportunity and the best people to do it. Unfortunately there are many, many people who I know extremely well who would want to come forward and it certainly wasn't on the basis of friendship, it was on the basis of excellence, experience, being able to do it in a cost-effective, cost-efficient way and quickly.'

She added: 'If we had had others doing it, it would have cost us a fortune.'
She pleaded guilty to living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers

Pakistani court has ordered she be deported back to war-torn homeland

She fled war in Afghanistan and was pictured in refugee camp aged 12

She became the face of the Afghan war after her piercing green eyes were captured in an iconic photograph taken in a Pakistan refugee camp when she was just 12.

But Sharbat Gula, whose picture appeared on the National Geographic cover, will soon be forced to return to the war-torn homeland she fled more than 30 years ago.

The famed 'Afghan Girl' was wearing a full burka - which completely covered her blazing eyes - when a Pakistani court today ordered that she be deported.

She was arrested 10 days ago and accused of living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers following a two-year investigation.

'Afghan girl' Sharbat Gula who was immortalised on a National Geographic cover donned a burka as a Pakistani court today ordered her deportation back to her war-torn homeland

The illiterate mother-of-four, now aged in her 40s, pleaded guilty on Friday and the court sentenced her to 15 days in jail and a 110,000 Pakistani rupee (841) fine.

Her lawyer Mubashar Nazar told AFP that Gula has already spent 11 days in jail, meaning she could be freed as early as Monday.

'We had requested the court to release her on humanitarian grounds,' he added.

An Afghan consulate official said that the fine imposed on Gula at the Peshawar court has already been paid and confirmed she would be released Monday.

'We... will take her to Afghanistan in an honourable way on Monday,' Abdul Hameed Jalili, counselor for refugees at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, told AFP.

Her children will also return with her. Gula, who is suffering from hepatitis C, has told media her husband passed away several years ago.

She became the face of the Afghan war after her piercing green eyes were captured in an iconic photograph which was used on the National Geographic front cover

Gula was arrested 10 days ago and accused of living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers following a two-year investigation

The 1985 National Geographic image of Gula, then aged 12, became the most famous cover in the magazine's history.

After a 17-year search, the photographer Steve McCurry tracked Gula down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters at the time.

Pakistani officials say she applied for the fraudulent ID card in Peshawar in 2014.

The photo attached to the application has the same piercing green eyes and sculpted face seen in McCurry's famous image only older, lined by age and surrounded by a black hijab covering her hair completely.

She was wearing a full beige burka - which completely covered her blazing eyes - when a Pakistani court today ordered that she be deported

Police could be seen escorting Gula after the hearing at the court in Peshawar, Pakistan, today

The illiterate mother-of-four, now aged in her 40s, pleaded guilty on Friday and the court sentenced her to 15 days in jail and a 110,000 Pakistani rupee (841) fine

An Afghan consulate official said that the fine imposed on Gula at the Peshawar court has already been paid and confirmed she would be released Monday

Gula's plight highlights the desperate measures many Afghans are willing to take to avoid returning to their war-torn homeland as Pakistan cracks down on undocumented foreigners.

Pakistan has for decades provided safe haven for millions of Afghans who fled their country after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

But since July hundreds of thousands have returned to Afghanistan in a desperate exodus amid fears of a crackdown, as Pakistan's famed hospitality ran out.

Last month UNHCR said more than 350,000 Afghan refugees - documented and undocumented - had returned from Pakistan so far in 2016, adding it expects a further 450,000 to do so by the year's end.

They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis.
Federal officials have warned New York City authorities about possible attacks by the al Qaeda militant group around Election Day, putting local law enforcement on alert the weekend before Tuesday's vote, officials said on Friday.

Both the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were given the information, the local agencies said.

Virginia and Texas were also put on alert, according to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News.

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The FBI have warned law enforcement in New York, Virginia and Texas about possible terror attacks planned for the day before the election. Above, a view of the aftermath of the Chelsea, New York City bombing in September

'We are continuing with the high level of patrols at all of our facilities that we have had in place for some time now,' said spokesman Steve Coleman of the Port Authority, which operates airports, tunnels and bridges around the New York City area.

He declined to offer specifics of the warning.

The NYPD said the threat report lacked specifics and was still being assessed.

'We are aware of the information. We have been working with the FBI through the Joint Terrorism Task Force and our Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureaus,' the NYPD said.

The United States has collected intelligence about a possible al Qaeda threat to attack around election time. As a consequence, some agencies sent bulletins to local and state officials flagging the information, a U.S. government source in Washington told Reuters.

The source said, however, the nonspecific threat was relatively low level.

CBS News reported earlier Friday that U.S. intelligence officials have warned local authorities in New York, Texas and Virginia about possible attacks by al Qaeda on Monday, a day before the U.S. presidential election.

Officials are also concerned that foreign hackers may conduct a cyber attack on election systems next Tuesday as well. The candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, pictured left and right

CBS cited unidentified sources and no specific locations within those states.

The FBI did not comment on details of the CBS report. 'The counterterrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States,' it said in a statement on Friday.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

The potential for clashes has already darkened a rancorous presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, on top of the threat of computer hacking and fears that Russia or other state actors could spread political misinformation online or tamper with voting.
Margaret Davies, 91, faces eviction after her son took legal action against her when she didn't sign the deeds of a barn and land to him after the death of her husband

A 91-year-old widow is facing eviction from her 2million farmhouse after a row with her pensioner son over a derelict barn and one acre of land.

Sidney Davies, 70, claimed he was promised the barn and land, part of his parents' Worcestershire farm, by his father more than 40 years ago.

He even gave up his own home and moved into a caravan in order to convert the property, but the project was left unfinished, and the barn has been left derelict.

After his father's death two decades ago, his mother, Margaret, 91, failed to honour the promise that the acre of Mosewick Farm, Suckley, would be his.

Now, after a series of defeats before judges, Mrs Davies, who has lived on the farm since 1959, faces being thrown out of her home.

Appeal Court judges have confirmed orders for her eviction and sale of the farm so that her penniless son can get what he is owed.

During a previous hearing in the five-year dispute, Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC lamented the family breakdown which had led to the costly battle.

Three generations had lined up against each other in court, with Mr Davies on one side and his mother, his brother John, 68, and even his own son Greg, 31, on the other.

He said: 'This is unhappy and to my mind unnecessary litigation, the product of family disharmony that appears to go from one generation to another.'

Judges were told that Welsh-speaking Mrs Davies moved from Yorkshire to the farm, on the edge of the Malvern hills, with her husband, Thomas, in 1959.

Sidney, the family's second son, said he was promised by his father in the early 1970s that he could have the barn and 1.3 acres of surrounding land for 6,000.

His father was happy with the arrangement and happy that the land would stay in the family as he was 'not tolerant of other people and outsiders'.

Mr Davies told the court: 'I recall very specifically that the final deal that I would buy the barn was agreed whilst I was working on the roof at Mosewick Farm.

'We were talking as I was working, as he was fetching tiles for me.'

Sidney Davies said he moved out of his home and into a caravan to renovate the barn, above, but it became clear to him after his father's death that his mother would not be handing over the land his father promised to him

Mosewick Farm, which Mrs Davies has lived in since 1959. She stands to lose it over the derelict barn and an acre of land and a long-running dispute with her son

The price was never paid, but instead Mr Davies invested the same amount of money in the family business.

Work began on creating the idyllic barn conversion where Judge Pearce-Higgins said Mr Davies dreamed he could live 'the good life'.

He moved onto the land, but the work was never completed and the deeds were never handed over to him.

The elder Mr Davies died in 1996, when ownership of the farm, including the disputed barn and land, passed into the name of his mother alone.

He believed she would honour the promise, but gradually realised that it would never happen, which he found difficult to accept.

By then, he had lived on the land for over 20 years and spent thousands of pounds restoring the barn.

In 2011, he launched court action against his mother and, in 2013, Judge Pearce-Higgins found that there had been an agreement that the land would be his.

Mr Davies had relied upon his father's promise when, in 1975, he sold his home in Rugby to move initially into a caravan beside the barn.

Mrs Davies had acknowledged the existence of the agreement in 1996, but was reluctant to see the land leave the farm, he said.

However, the judge decided that handing the barn and land to Sidney now would likely lead only to further trouble with his mum and brother John living as neighbours.

Sidney Davies outside court with his wife Jennifer. Judges have ruled in his favour meaning his mother could be evicted

He decided instead to put a price on the Mr Davies's rights and ordered his mother to pay him 68,000, together with more than 50,000 in legal bills.

To provide security for the debt, Judge Pearce-Higgins put a charge over the whole of Mosewick Farm.

Mr Davies moved off the land, but his mother failed to pay up, leading to orders that she get out so that it can be sold to pay him what he is owed.

Appealing, Mrs Davies argued that it was wrong to secure the debt - now standing at over 150,000 due to interest - against the whole farm, when the dispute was about only a derelict barn and 1.3 acres of land.

But Lord Justice Briggs, who heard the appeal with Lord Justice Longmore, said Mr Davies, who now lives with his second wife in Birmingham, was entitled to enforce his security against the whole farm.

Lord Justice Briggs said: 'Mr Davies has now, for a considerable period of more than two years, been trying to realise his interest and payment of his costs on the genuine assumption that his charge was over the farm, rather than the barn land.

'He vacated the barn land as ordered by the judge on that basis.

'Throughout that time, Mrs Davies has done nothing to raise the funds to make that payment.

'She has taken a variety of steps to resist enforcement.'

During another hearing in the case last year, Lord Justice Vos said the best possible outcome for Mrs Davies would be for her to keep her farm.

He urged the parties to find a way of settling the dispute without further 'hostile family litigation'.

But 13 months later, the case was back in court, as Mrs Davies pursued her appeal.

Rejecting it, Lord Justice Briggs said it would be a 'very sorry outcome' if Mrs Davies were now to lose her home at the ripe age of 91.
These are the first pictures of the Latvian 'victim' of an alleged brawl involving British soldiers in Riga which is being investigated as part of a Kremlin plot to smear UK forces posted to the Baltic states.

Aksels Aizkalns, 23, a male model who also works as an administrator for a local law firm, said he was given a 10-second warning by a drunk British soldier before being punched in the face.

He angrily denies being part of any Russian propaganda plot to disgrace British troops and said the soldiers were drunk and abusive before he was hit during a clash in McDonald's.

These are the first pictures of the Latvian 'victim' of an alleged brawl involving British soldiers in Riga which is being investigated as part of a Kremlin plot to smear UK forces posted to the Baltic states

Aksels Aizkalns, 23, a male model who also works as an administrator for a local law firm, said he was given a 10-second warning by a drunk British soldier before being punched in the face

He angrily denies being part of any Russian propaganda plot to disgrace British troops and said the soldiers were drunk and abusive before he was hit during a clash in McDonald's

His version appears to be accepted by the Latvian Defence Ministry which has announced it has 'video evidence' that the fracas was a 'social conflict', according to the country's news agency LETA

The British army has said it is probing claims that the two soldiers from the Grenadier Guards were targeted by a gang during a two week training exercise in Latvia

His version appears to be accepted by the Latvian Defence Ministry which has announced it has 'video evidence' that the fracas was a 'social conflict', according to the country's news agency LETA.

The British army has said it is probing claims that the two soldiers from the Grenadier Guards were targeted by a gang during a two week training exercise in Latvia.

UK suspicions are that the brawl was filmed with the footage immediately delivered to the office of a pro-Moscow media outlet, it was reported.

No footage of the alleged attack has appeared in the Russian media of the clash and Moscow sources have dismissed the claims as nonsense.

Britain has ramped up its presence in the Baltic states amid fears that Vladimir Putin is seeking to destabilise the staunchly Western ex-Soviet states, now members of NATO and the EU.

The Army is investigating claims British troops in Latvia were involved in brawl as part of a plot by Russia to smear UK forces. Pictured are British troops taking part in a training exercise in Latvia on Monday

In a media interview in Latvia, he said a gang of about 10 drunk British soldiers began to antagonise him at the counter of the fast food branch.

Specifically referring to one '1.95m tall man', he said he was threatened by the man who said he would count to 10 and if he hadn't left, he would punch Aizkalns in the face.

He said judging by their behaviour it was 'clear many of them were drunk' and that it was 'obvious they were trained soldiers'.

After the attack, Aizkalns said he could not sleep for two days and suffered a headache, adding he had no ties to the Kremlin.

A friend of the male model said he was at the scene soon after the attack and said: 'We noticed our colleague with a broken, bleeding nose and inside the restaurant, and next to it, were a large number of English-speaking men, about 30.

'They all were heavily influenced by alcohol, and behaved very aggressively and provocatively.'

Another witness said: 'The fight was started by one of the British people, for no reason causing serious bodily injury to my colleague, who by nature is very peaceful.'

A spokesman for the state police said a British soldier born in 1987 had 'possibly caused minor bodily injury to another man.

'Since the 1987-born man behaved aggressively and in an inadequate way, a decision was taken to deliver him to the police station.'

The Army is investigating the claims British troops, who have been in the Baltic nation for a two-week training exercise, were involved.

It comes amid heightened tensions between the West and Russia.

According to the Telegraph, the brawl was captured on camera and when the fighting finished, a Latvian accompanying the two British servicemen followed the film crew and saw them go to a media outlet known to be pro-Russian.

And a source says the reported attack could be have been part of an attempt to portray British troops as hooligans in Russia.

They told the newspaper: 'Our assessment is that this is clearly a set up: 'Lets go and make these guys look like thugs and film it.'

Meanwhile an Army spokeswoman told MailOnline that they were investigating the incident.

She said: 'We can confirm that we are aware of an incident involving a soldier in Riga.

'The circumstances are being investigated, however we are not investigating the involvement of third parties in this incident.

'We are working closely with the Latvian civil authorities and MOD and it would be inappropriate to comment further.'

It has been reported that two soldiers with the Grenadier Guards were targeted with violence by a local gang as they ate at a McDonalds restaurant in the Latvian capital Riga, pictured

News of the brawl comes as Britain is sending tanks, drones and 800 troops to neighbouring Estonia as part of the biggest military build-up on Russia's borders since the Cold War.

The soldiers will be sent to the Eastern European country and will be joined by forces from Denmark and France, according to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

Meanwhile earlier this week, the head of MI5 warned that Russia's increasingly aggressive behaviour is a threat to the stability of the UK.

News of the brawl comes as Britain is sending tanks, drones and 800 troops to neighbouring Estonia as part of the biggest military build-up on Russia's borders since the Cold War. Pictured are British troops in Latvia on Monday

Soldiers of all nationalities gather at the Adazi military training ground in Latvia. Troops from Baltic states as well as the UK, US, Canada and Germany are taking part in the exercise

Andrew Parker, the director general of the home intelligence service, gave the first interview by a serving spy chief in 107 years, and took aim at Moscow for escalating tensions at a time when the West was fighting Islamist extremists.

He told the Guardian that Russia had plenty of spies still working in Britain but that the difference between today and the Cold War era was that it was also using the weapon of cyber warfare.

Russia was targeting military secrets, industrial projects and economic information, he said.

However, this prompted the Kremlin to hit back and said there was no evidence to support the claims.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: 'Those words to do correspond to the reality.

'We do not agree with them, and claims regarding cyber-attacks we have already commented on.

'No-one has yet given any evidence so we cannot consider claims that are not founded on evidence.

'Until someone produces proof, we will consider those statements unfounded and baseless.'
But the 63-year-old German has finally apologised for the comments

Germany's European commissioner has finally apologised for describing Chinese people as 'slitty-eyed' after days of denying the jibe was racist.

Gunther Oettinger was secretly filmed mocking a delegation of Chinese ministers who had visited Brussels for having 'their hair combed from left to right with shoe polish'.

The 63-year-old also joked about gay marriage and former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder's separation from his wife.

But a spokesman for the EU executive, which is trying to improve relations with Beijing, said Oettinger had released the apology after a call from Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday.

Gunther Oettinger (pictured) has finally said sorry after he was secretly filmed saying Chinese ministers looked like they had 'their hair combed from left to right with shoe polish'

His U-turn came a day after the Chinese foreign ministry condemned his remarks and said they reflected a 'baffling sense of superiority' among Western politicians.

Mr Oettinger, who is responsible for EU digital policy, was recorded making the comments during an after-dinner speech in Hamburg last Wednesday to nervous laughter and applause.

The footage is particularly embarrassing as just hours after it emerged online on Friday, Mr Oettinger was promoted to take charge of the EU budget.

Guests at the dinner said Mr Oettinger, who is a senior member of Angela Merkel's CDU party, used the derogatory term Schlitzaugen - slitty eyed - to describe people from China.

On the tape he is then heard describing a recent visit to Brussels by Chinese ministers as: 'Nine men, one party, no democracy. No female quota and no women - which follows logically.

'All of them in suits, single-breasted dark blue jackets. All of them had their hair combed from left to right, with black shoe polish on their hair.'

Mr Oettinger also suggested that German MPs would soon introduce a law for 'mandatory gay marriage'.

And he joked that following the recent collapse of Mr Schroder's fourth marriage he would now 'have plenty of time on his hands'.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying yesterday said the comments were baffling.

'I think the relevant remarks actually reflect some western politicians' deep-rooted and baffling sense of superiority,' she said.

'We hope these people can learn to objectively view themselves and others and learn mutual respect and equal treatment.'

Earlier, Mr Oettinger had told German newspaper Die Welt that his comment was 'a somewhat sloppy expression that was not meant in any way disrespectfully towards China'. However, he denied it was racist.

Guests at a dinner said Mr Oettinger, who is a senior member of Angela Merkel's (pictured) CDU party, also used the derogatory term Schlitzaugen - slitty eyed - to describe people from China

When asked again to apologise shortly after, Mr Oettinger told Brussels website Euractiv: 'Everything has been said. There is nothing to apologise for.

'There is no scandal. It's you [the press], that has made the scandal.'

A spokesman for European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said at the time that he would not investigate the remarks. 'We have nothing to add to the interview,' he said.

Mr Oettinger, who has a reputation for being gaffe prone, previously suggested the flags of heavily indebted countries should be flown at half-mast outside EU buildings as a punishment.

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, he blamed the result on David Cameron's 's**t campaign'.

The controversy over Mr Oettinger's use of the term comes 30 years after the Duke of Edinburgh caused upset for similar remarks.
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These pictures offer a fascinating glimpse into a Wild West ghost town - a once-thriving mining community that was soon abandoned after gold supplies dried up.

The town of Bodie dates back to 1859 when a group of prospectors - including W.S. Bodey - built up a settlement after they struck gold in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The town lies down a dusty, bumpy, slow 13 mile long road off of State Highway 395 in Mono County, around 75 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe.

Filmmaker, photographer and producer Aya Okawa travelled to Bodie in October to explore what remains of it. Her eerie photo series captures sun rays filtering into dusty, abandoned rooms.

'When I was shooting, a number of houses had calendars on the walls from the early 1900s,' said Okawa. Now, the site is monitored by the California State Park service to protect the historical buildings from looters.

'They preserve it in a state of "arrested decay" - so the items are not moved, and the dust is left in tact - built up over decades and decades.'

Old utensils were left behind in Bodie, a once-thriving mining town that was abandoned after gold supplies dried up. Despite the decline, Bodie had permanent residents through most of the 20th century, even after a fire ravaged much of the downtown business district in 1932.

Furniture decays in Bodie, an authentic California Wild West ghost town, which was designated a National Historic landmark in 1961. What is left today stands in a state of 'arrested decay'

Scales were left behind at an old store in Bodie where a busy settlement sprung up after prospectors struck gold in 1859. By the 1940s the population had dwindled to just three, with caretakers hired to look after the town's buildings.

W. S. Bodey was among those who flocked to the Bodie Hills in the hope of making it rich. Here tobacco tins were left behind in a store after men were lured away by gold booms elsewhere

Cups, saucers and plates laid out in Bodie, which is maintained by the California State Parks System, who took over the town in 1962 to make it a State Historic Park

The sun beams on Bodie, its rays filtering into dusty, abandoned rooms - in this one coffins are stacked up against a wall. By 1920, Bodie's population was recorded by the US Federal Census at a total of just 120 people

The buildings' interiors are as originally left, with domestic furniture sitting as the town's citizens had arranged them and stores remaining stocked with goods

Not all of the town survived, but 110 or so structures still stand - including one of the once many gold mills that the town was built up around. During the late 1800s Bodie boomed, but it fell into a decline as men were lured away by promising mining booms in Butte, Montana; Tombstone, Arizona; and in Utah

By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 5,0007,000 people, and around 2,000 buildings, and was one of California's largest towns. By 1920 the population had fallen to just 120 residents

The town was first labelled a 'ghost town' in 1915 after visitors passing by in automobiles witnessed its eerie empty buildings - although the town did still have some residents.

The items in the town are not moved, and the dust is left in tact - allowed to build up over decades and decades
This is the shocking moment a Turkish loner went on a terrifying rampage stabbing four innocent women in a supermarket car park.

Ethem Orhon, 67, sparked mass panic when he began knifing shoppers outside a Sainsbury's store in Hampton, south west London on May 20.

He had been released by police just 90 minutes before he began charging at his innocent victims and slashing them with a 'Leatherman' knife.

Dramatic video footage of the attack was released today as the pensioner was jailed for 20 years for the stabbing spree.

Ethem Orhon, 67, sparked mass panic when he began knifing shoppers outside a Sainsbury's store in Hampton, south west London on May 20. CCTV shows him attacking his victims

Dramatic video footage of the attack was released today as the pensioner was jailed for 20 years for the stabbing spree. He had been released by police just 90 minutes before the attack

Mother of two Janet Morsy, 62, was left fighting for her life in hospital after she was stabbed a dozen times in the bloodbath, Kingston Crown Court heard.

Suzanna Brand, 54, Jean Sullivan, 68, and Charandasi Chandiramani, 71, were also seriously injured.

Orhon was today convicted of two counts of attempted murder and two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The jury took four hours and 55 minutes to find him guilty of all charges.

He remained emotionless as he was given two 20-year sentences for two counts of attempted murder and two nine-year sentences for two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All sentences are to be served concurrently.

Ethem Orhon, 67 (pictured), went on the rampage outside a Sainsbury's store in Hampton, south west London, just 90 minutes after he was released by police

Judge Paul Dodgson told him: 'This was a planned attempt to kill albeit while the balance of your mind was disturbed. You took that knife intending to use it, intending to kill people.'

The judge said he clearly has 'an unusual personality', adding: 'You are on your own and as a loner it may be you are someone who tends to brood on matters.'

Two of his victims broke down in tears as the verdicts were read out.

Orhon said the random attacks near his home on May 20 had been triggered after he felt humiliated by police who arrested him the previous day for possession of a knife.

The 67-year-old, who lives in Hampton, Middlesex, did not dispute the stabbings but had denied the charges. He claimed he was 'hypnotised and framed by police'.

Before the attacks, he had been arrested on drugs offences and for possession of a blade. He was held overnight but bailed the next morning to attend court at a later date.

However, he rushed home, grabbed a 'Leatherman' knife and went out on the murder rampage.

Janet Morsy, 62 (left), was left fighting for her life after the attack while Charandasi Chandiramani (pictured right outside court) was stabbed twice in the back at a bus stop

Ethem Orhon, 67, has been found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of wounding with intent to cause GBH after a stabbing spree in the car park of Sainsbury's in Hampton, west London. One of the victims is pictured being treated by paramedics following the incident

Holding up a knife with a four-inch blade, Jonathan Polnay, prosecuting, told the jury that Orhon 'plunged this knife at least 20 times into four innocent members of the public who had been doing their shopping'.

The attack only stopped when two brave schoolboys from Hampton School distracted Orhon, warned others and called police, remaining on the phone with the 999 operator the entire time.

One of the boys described Orhon as 'bats*** crazy.'

After police arrived at the scene and threatened to Taser him, the pensioner threw down his knife and gave himself up.

This was a planned attempt to kill albeit while the balance of your mind was disturbed. You took that knife intending to use it, intending to kill people Judge Paul Dodgson

He was wearing the same clothes from the day before and carrying a rucksack containing Turkish identification materials, a UK passport, 1,075 euros and 307.87 in cash, the jury was told.

Police then searched his home and found a Tube guide with the words 'murder at green lights' written in pen, a newspaper cutting about a terrorist attack and brochures advertising Leatherman knives.

Following his arrest, the bearded divorcee claimed he was 'not himself' when he walked out of the police station claiming he had been 'hypnotised' and 'framed by the police'.

He said: 'I was not myself, I was just stabbing and stabbing. I never wanted to hurt anybody.

'I was like hypnotised, I was not in my own control. It was like I was under the control of someone else, I didn't intend to kill anyone. I went to get the knife but not with the intention to kill.'

The court heard how Ms Brand, who has learning difficulties, was hit from behind, struck 13 times and left with two collapsed lungs during the rampage.

Orhon carried out the attacks just 90 minutes after police released him, a trial heard this week

A screaming Ms Morsy thought she was going to die as she was struck in the arm and chest and tried to defend herself. She begged Orhon not to hurt her, but she was stabbed anyway.

Ms Sullivan was stabbed in the back causing damage to her chest wall, right lung and liver. Ms Chandiramani was stabbed twice in the back.

Giving evidence, victim Ms Morsy told jurors she had gone out that day to buy her son a birthday present.

JURORS SHOWN CCTV FOOTAGE OF ORHON RUNNING AROUND CAR PARK 'LOOKING FOR NEXT VICTIM' Dramatic CCTV footage of Orhon allegedly attacking two of the women with a knife was shown to jurors today. He is seen first chasing a schoolboy before turning his attention to Jean Sullivan and stabbing her in the back as she tried to flee. After that, Orhon is allegedly seen running around the carpark before finding his next victim, Janet Morsy. He appears to grab her with his left hand before plunging a knife into her body. Miraculously, Ms Sullivan, unaware she has been stabbed in the back, climbs into her car and reverses out. It is only when she has driven halfway round the carpark that she realises she has been stabbed, stops and seeks help. Members of the public are then seen helping her before police arrive just minutes later. Advertisement

She said: I said 'please don't hurt me, please don't do it please'. 'He seemed to do it with intent, he didn't hesitate.

'I thought this is getting really scary, this isn't going to stop, I'm going to die in a Sainsbury's carpark.'

Another victim, Ms Brand, said she was meeting her mother when she was set upon.

'I was trying to walk away but he got me,' she said. 'He stabbed me and I kicked him. It was 12 stabs.'

Ms Chandiramani was attacked as she checked bus times. She said: 'Suddenly I heard a terrible scream.

'This woman was on the ground and he was still hurting her.

'I knew I was in danger so ran across the car park. He came after me and he stabbed me twice in the back.'

Ms Chandiramani said the knifeman looked 'deranged and on a mission.'

Orhon came to the UK from Turkey in 1989, and had lived in a council property for 14 years, a property that was only minutes away from the supermarket.

He said he was humiliated by police the day before the attacks after being arrested for alleged drugs possession.

He said: 'They strip searched me and left me naked for 20 hours. They laughed and one whistled. I was treated like an animal.'

Orhon told jurors he remembered going to the Sainsbury's, but didn't remember the attacks.

He said: 'I don't remember stabbing people.

'I may get years, I am expecting that. I am going to go to prison. But I know what I believe. I believe that I have been hypnotised, I have been set up by the police.'

Forensic officers work at the scene after the women were stabbed in the supermarket car park

Orhon was wearing the same clothes from the day before and carrying a rucksack containing Turkish identification materials when he was detained by police following the knifing rampage

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph said that Orhon, who had no previous contact with the medical services, is suffering from paranoid psychosis which may put a person out of touch with reality.

The court heard he was briefly married and has no children, he plays chess a lot, is always by himself, dropped out from an architecture course and spends a lot of time in the library.

He has said he has no friends, does not want anything, does not have a GP and does not get depressed or angry.

Orhon has had stints of homelessness and living in tents, during which time he shoplifted.

He has previous convictions for possessing an offensive weapon, shoplifting, one of obtaining property be deception, battery, disorderly behaviour and three of failing to surrender.

As well as his prison sentences, Orhon was also ordered to be on license for five years following his release, and must serve two thirds of his sentence.

Turning his attention to the bravery of the two boys who distracted Orhon, the judge awarded them 1,000 each and said: 'Their actions and their courage almost certainly prevented an even worse disaster.

'They will be invited to a ceremony by the Sheffield of London to receive these awards.'

The court heard Orhon had been arrested the day before the attack on suspicion of drugs possession in Kensington. Police are pictured gathering evidence following his arrest
Hillary Clinton's top spin doctor Jennifer Palmieri privately dismissed FBI Director James Comey's appointment as 'a bad choice' according to a batch of recently leaked emails.

The email from Palmieri to several prominent Democrats was released by WikiLeaks.

President Obama appointed life-long Republican Comey to the FBI's top job to ease the nomination through Congress.

Jennifer Palmieri, pictured, described James Comey as a poor choice to lead the FBI

Barack Obama appointed James Comey, as FBI Director, even though the former prosecutor, pictured, was a self-confessed life-long Republican who made political donations in the past

However, officials on Clinton's staff admitted it was a poor decision.

Palmieri forwarded a news story where Comey was quoted about police becoming less aggressive as a result of the 'Ferguson effect'.

She wrote, 'Get a big fat "I told you so" on Comey being a bad choice.'

She sent the email to Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, and to the private email address of someone who appeared to be White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Neither responded, and Palmieri did not appear to write further about the subject.

Palmieri was the White House director of communications when Comey was appointed FBI director by President Barack Obama in September 2013.

The disclosure came days after Comey notified Congress that during an investigation of Clinton aide Huma Abedin's now-separated husband, Anthony Weiner, FBI agents found indications that a laptop used by Weiner contained some emails related to the FBI's earlier probe of Clinton's private computer server and emails.

Comey's announcement last week of fresh probes into Clinton's emails has been attacked by Democrats as attempting to influence next week's presidential election

The disclosure disrupted the presidential campaign, and last week Palmieri openly criticized Comey about the notification.

She said: 'By taking this highly unusual, unprecedented action this close to the election, he put himself in the middle of the campaign.'

Comey had announced in July that he was recommending against criminal charges in the investigation of Clinton's use of her private server, but the FBI director also delivered blistering criticism that Clinton and her colleagues at the State Department were 'extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information'.

The Palmieri email was among more than 2,000 new messages published last week by WikiLeaks. The emails were hacked from Podesta's private account.

The US government has said the Russian government was responsible, although WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said earlier in the day that no government or any other state parties had given the stolen emails to WikiLeaks.
A Texan advertising director has traveled 64,000 miles around the world to meet World War Two veterans who enjoy dressing up in their old uniforms to re-enact the violent days of their youth.

Among those Paul Traeger, from Seguin, Texas, has photographed are a US Marine who witnessed the famous flag raising at Iwo Jima and a sailor who was on board USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered.

He said: 'Meeting the veterans is always the highlight of my travels. Though often very modest about their accomplishments, there's no better way of truly understanding what they went through than hearing a first-hand account of their experiences.'

Mahlon Fink (pictured now, left, and during the war, right) was in the U.S. Marine Corps and witnessed the raising of the flag after the Japanese were defeated in the battle of Iwo Jima

Mr Traeger, who has spent $40,000 on his hobby, said: 'I, like most people, always enjoy shaking their hand, as if by doing so, I touch the hand that fired the weapon, that guided the stick grip of the fighter jet, or that stirred the soup that fed the men in the fields.'

His passion for the war was triggered by watching the movie Saving Private Ryan and the TV series Band of Brothers, respectively directed and produced by Stephen Spielberg.

'My first big trip was when I retraced the footsteps of the 101st Airborne Division as depicted in Band of Brothers,' he said.

Fred Zimmerli (pictured left) was a scientist/technician with Project Alberta (right), one of 54 men attached to the 509th Composite Group, which worked on the atomic bomb

After that he toured Germany to visit wartime sites, then went on a Central Europe Remembrance Tour and finally visited some of the airfields where British and Polish pilots fought off the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940 during the Battle of Britain.

Next month Mr Traeger will be in Hawaii for the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, followed by a tour of Eastern Front battlefields like Kursk and Stalingrad.

He said he also enjoyed photographing World War Two re-enactments, which give an insight into what life was like in the 1940s.

Ed Buffman (pictured as he is today, left, and during the war, right) served on the USS Missouri, which survived attacks by 11 kamikaze pilots during the war

'Some of these re-enactments are so immersive that wherever you look, from the re-enactors on the ground to the bombers and fighter planes overhead, you don't have to work hard to imagine what life was like in the 1940s when the world was at war,' said Mr Traeger.

Art Staymates (pictured, left) served in the 1st Division - nicknamed the Big Red One - of the United States Army, while Polish-born David Tuck (right) survived the Holocaust. He weighed just 78 pounds when the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria was liberated

It may not be surprising that there are not many Japanese or German war veterans keen to relive their war. But these two gentlemen enjoy dressing up in the uniform of the Imperial Army (left) and the Wehrmacht (right)

Deja vu: Two men dressed up as a member of the 332nd Fighter Group - better known as the Tuskegee Airmen - (left) and a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division (right)
Nicholas van Hoogstraten, pictured outside the High Court, is being sued by the widow of a man whose killing a judge found he was involved in

A notorious slum landlord has been ordered to pay 1.5million to the family of a businessman whose killing he was found to have arranged.

Nicholas van Hoogstraten - once described as a 'self-imagined devil who thinks he is an emissary of Beelzebub' - made his fortune as a loan shark and landlord in the 1980s and 90s.

But he is better known for his court cases regarding the gruesome gangland slaying of business rival Mohammed Raja, who was stabbed five times before being shot in the head at his home in south London.

In 2002, van Hoogstraten was convicted of manslaughter over the death of Mr Raja and jailed for 10 years, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.

Three years later, Mr Raja's family was awarded 6million in a civil case after the High Court ruled that, on the balance of probability, Van Hoogstraten had been involved.

In a ruling in 2005, Mr Justice Lightman found that van Hoogstraten recruited two thugs to murder Mr Raja over a lawsuit between the two.

Another High Court judge has today ordered van Hoogstraten, now 71, to pay the family 1.5million in legal costs that have still not been paid to the family.

Mr Justice Norris also cleared the way for two properties he owns in Brighton worth up to 2million to be sold to clear the debt.

Van Hoogstraten (left, after his initial arrest) was found guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Raja (right) but cleared on appeal. A High Court judge found he was involved in the killing

Mr Raja's daughter Shazia (left) and Razia are calling for van Hoogstraten to pay legal costs

Van Hoogstraten was at the High Court today and came face to face with Mr Raja's two daughters, Shazia and Razia, and his son Anjad who attended the proceedings.

Peter Irvin, representing the family, said of van Hoogstraten: 'He has had no intention in paying this cost order.

'He has enormous wealth at his disposal whether it is in name or not. He also has assets in his name in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Can pay, won't pay is his motto.'

He added: 'His attitude to the order is that is is fraudulent as far as he is concerned. He is not obliged to comply with it and thinks it is a worthless piece of paper.'

Mr Raja's son Amjad also attended court

Van Hoogstraten has since moved to Zimbabwe, where he is said to be flourishing under Mugabe's murderous regime and owns a huge plot of land.

Mr Raja's family asked the court to declare the interim charging orders on two properties, registered by van Hoogstraten, be made final.

The properties are both in Brighton, with one worth up to 1.5million and the second 900,000.

Van Hoogstraten claimed the properties were assets of a trust he set up for his children.

But the judge found him to be in contempt of court for ignoring orders to pay costs to the Raja family which originally stood at just under 960,000 but had risen to 1.5million with interest at 180 a day.

After a day long court battle he was also ordered to pay an additional 52,000 costs with 35,000 on account within 14 days.

The judge made a charging order against both Brighton properties and Mr Raja's widow must now seek an order for sale.

Van Hoogstraten, pictured in 2004, was cleared of involvement in the killing in a criminal court, but a judge in a civil case found he had recruited Mr Raja's killers

The costs order means the family can continue with their 6million damages claim.

Before the hearing, Sabeers Stone Green, the solicitors acting for Mrs Raja, told The Times: 'The family feel that this is about obtaining justice - that is why they are pursuing the judgment that was found in their favour.'

Two years after the 2005 judgment, van Hoogstraten slunk out of the country to Zimbabwe, leaving behind his half-built 40million Sussex mansion Hamilton Palace, together with the vast mausoleum he built there for himself.

Neighbours of the sprawling property have called for it to be made into a shelter for the homeless or migrants.

The High Court hearing continues.

Van Hoogstraten has a huge mansion in Sussex which is now surrounded with scaffolding
More than 100 cases of the norovirus have been reported on the University of Southern California campus.

On Thursday the Los Angeles County Health Department confirmed that gastrointestinal virus had been making USC students sick within the last couple of weeks, according to Los Angeles CBS.

The university announced that 103 cases have been reported since the virus started.

Within the first week, there was at least 40 cases, an employee at the USC Engemann Student Health Center told the station.

More than 100 cases of the norovirus have been reported on the University of Southern California campus. On Thursday the Los Angeles County Health Department confirmed that gastrointestinal virus had been making USC students sick within the last couple of weeks

The university (pictured) announced that 103 cases have been reported since the virus started. Within the first week, there was at least 40 cases, an employee at the USC Engemann Student Health Center said

'I think it started in a couple of the dormitories and spreads like wildfire. They've got to learn to wash their hands.'

The university took action to combat the norovirus by stepping up their sanitation efforts, which included an 'intensified cleaning' of the residence and dining halls.

School officials told CBS that students seemed to be following the guidelines to prevent further spread of the virus.

Staff training and additional precautionary measures were also taken.

In several areas of the campus administration is making students use hand sanitizer, according to one student.

'They change all the dining halls. We can't serve ourselves any more,' the student told CBS.

Some students described the outbreak as going through 24-48 hours of hell.

Niko Pellette, a student at the university, told KTLA that the whole thing was 'terrible'.

One student (pictured) said that the virus lasted about two days and some students seemed to be 'very sick'

Another student said it was like 'the worst 12 hours of your entire existence and then it was gone'

'My whole floor pretty much got it and it destroyed our bathroom,' he said.

Another student said it was like 'the worst 12 hours of your entire existence and then it was gone'.

Others described it as a cruise ship nightmare 'where the ship gets stranded and everyone gets the disease'.

The Engemann Student Health Center reported an 'increased number' of cases among students living in residence halls on October 27.

The norovirus is a highly contagious illness. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, fever, muscle aches and fatigue, which often go away within 48 hours.

Students were encouraged to wash their hands after using the restroom and rinse all fruit and vegetables.

Health officials also suggested student disinfect computer keyboards or phones.
A mother-of-15 and one of her 23-year-old son were shot dead by another son on a remote ranch in Utah Wednesday evening, according to officials.

Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood said Seth Gordon Peterson, 25, has been booked into jail on suspicion of killing his mother, 45-year-old Susan Peterson, and his brother, James Peterson.

The suspect faces two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder, first-degree felony attempted murder, automobile theft, fleeing police and failure to stop at the command of a police officer, according to a press release by the sheriff's office.

Son charged: Seth Peterson, 25, has been charged with shooting dead his mother and younger brother in Utah Wednesday night

Gunned down: Susan Peterson (left), 45, a married mother-of-15, and her 23-year-old son, James Peterson (right), were killed in an apparent confrontation with the woman's older son

Remote: The bodies of the two victims were found in a field near this ranch outside of Hiawatha, an old mining town in Carbon County

Investigators say Peterson shot his mother and younger brother to death at around 6pm on Wednesday in a field near a farmhouse known in the area as Fiechko Ranch in Carbon County, reported the Price Sun Advocate.

Seth Paterson was taken into custody a short time later after a brief high-speed chase and foot pursuit.

According to Sheriff Wood, the suspect was unarmed at the time of his arrest, but deputies seized several high-powered hunting rifles at the crime scene in a field, about seven miles west of Price, Utah, near the old mining town of Hiawatha, reported Deseret News.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the sheriff said officials did not have a motive yet for the double homicide but were looking into a couple of 'different theories'.

Deputies had responded to the ranch about three hours before the killings after getting a report about a 'suspicious incident', but the sheriff said there was not threat at that time.

After allegedly shooting dead his mother and brother later that day, Seth Peterson got into a car and drove off. Deputies gave chase, pursuing the suspect for about five miles before he pulled over and fled on foot.

Big family: Susan was the wife of Shane Peterson (pictured together), with whom she had 15 children ranging in age from three to 28

Nine of Petersons' children still live at home. This photo shows Susan with three of her kids

Devout: The Peterson family belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Wood said deputies were able to quickly track him down and peacefully detain him.

The bodies of Susan and James Peterson were found lying in a field next to a four-wheel ATV, reported The Salt Lake Tribune.

The sheriff said the mother and son had driven to that location to pick up Seth Peterson, but he did not know why.

Susan and her husband, Shane, had 15 children together, ranging in age from three to 28.

Nine of their children still live at home, according to a GoFundMe campaign that has been launched by one of the daughters.

The family are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as Mormon Church.

Marilyn Larsen, Susan Peterson's friend and neighbor from Ferron, Utah, told the station KUTV the woman had left an unnamed polygamous group years earlier and later remarried, starting a new life with Shane Peterson.

The Petersons LDS bishop described James Peterson (left and right) as 'kind-hearted' and as someone who would give you the shirt off his back

Troubled past: A friend has revealed that Susan Peterson had left an unnamed polygamous community years earlier

The Petersons LDS bishop has released a statement on behalf of the family saying that Susan Peterson was very activate in the local community and her church, and was always taking care of others and putting the needs of her children above her own.

'Her family was her whole life and she supported them in all they did,' the statement read. 'She never wanted for herself.'
Diana Allan was killed when Claudiu-Ioan Almasan fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his HGV into her car

A lorry driver who fell asleep at the wheel, crashed into a car and killed a pensioner has become the second person this week to be jailed for dangerous driving on the A34, where a family of four was crushed to death in the summer.

Claudiu-Ioan Almasan had been returning to a lorry depot after delivering milk when he ploughed into the back of a hatchback driven by Diana Allan, after failing to notice that traffic had come to a standstill.

The 73-year-old woman was killed instantly, along with her dog, when Almasan's lorry hit the rear of her car, propelling her Nissan Note into other cars in stationary traffic.

The tragic concertina crash happened only a short distance from where Tracy Houghton was killed along with her sons Josh and Ethan and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith in August, in a horror crash caused by lorry driver Tomasz Kroker who was distracted by his mobile phone.

Almasan sobbed in the dock as victim impact statements relating to the maths teacher, who was still working despite her advancing years, were read out to the court and translated to him by a Romanian interpreter.

The scene of the crash on the A34 where Diana Allan was killed after the HGV ploughed into her car

Claudiu-Ioan Almasan, above, had been returning his lorry to the depot when the crash happened on the A34 in Oxford, close to another horror smash where four people died

Grieving son Dean McGregor-Allan wrote: 'Some people might have thought she was a little old lady seeing out her days but mum looked 20 years younger, had the health of someone 30 years younger and the energy of someone 40 years younger, and the innocence and trust of a child.

'Having had the cruel blow of losing my dad to cancer, mum was just beginning to come to terms with this and was looking forward to planning life with more optimism.'

Describing the day he learned of her death as 'the darkest day of my life,' Mr McGregor-Allan said the grandmother-of-six had been looking forward to learning of the GCSE and A Level results of her grandchildren that summer, which she was never able to do.

He added: 'My mum is dead - she shouldn't be. Nothing can right this wrong but if it was mum writing this, she would expect justice to be done and the truth to be told.'

Prosecutor Alan Blake read the statement to the court and described what had happened on the northbound dual carriageway of the A34.

He said: 'As he drove towards the scene of the collision the traffic was clearly slowing. Witnesses described traffic crawling to the M40 ahead.

'One driver said he then saw the defendant's lorry going past him at speed and realising it was going too fast to be able to stop, before it ploughed into a lane of traffic.'

Almasan, above, initially denied the charge of death by dangerous driving but later admitted it in court

Paramedics found Mrs Allan slumped over her steering wheel and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The prosecutor added: 'The defendant got out of the vehicle and one witness said he was collapsed on the verge and said "oh my God, I can't believe I have killed someone. I have always done good in my life, I can't believe I have done this."

When questioned by police Almasan said he had started work at 4am and was returning to Aylesbury at the end of his shift.

He said in the interview: 'I was driving on the A34, there was a queue of traffic, there were vehicles in front stopped. I did brake but I went into the car.'

The lorry driver, who was working two part-time jobs, said he thought his speed was 40mph - but a device monitoring his driving showed he had been travelling at 56mph until seconds before, when he decelerated to 53mph.

A collision investigator said the traffic queue would have been visible from 440 yards away and partially eaten food was found inside the cab, with one window open.

Officers suggested to Almasan he might have fallen asleep at the wheel and he told them: 'I'm sorry, I don't remember.'

When charges of causing death by dangerous driving were pressed Almasan denied them but pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving before admitting the earlier charged on the first day of his trial.

Defending, Bernard Richmond said: 'In 2004 Mr Almasan was sitting exactly where this family were sitting, having lost his sister in similar circumstances. He knows what is going through the hearts and minds of this family.

'Mr Almasan insisted he did not want the court to think he was trying to get away with it. He had a head injury which caused some damage and his position was that he could not explain what had happened so experts were called in. The report said there was nothing there.

'I ask you to accept that at the start he was sitting by the side of the road saying 'this was my fault' - there has been no attempt to try to justify anything. There was the possibilty there was a neurological reason why this happened.'

The 42-year-old had taken more than the stipulated number of breaks required by law for professional drivers but a window was wound down in his cab and partly eaten food was found in the cab.

Originally from Transylvania, his wife and 10-year-old child remained in Romania and Almasan sent money back to them when he came over to England to work.

The night before the collision he had stayed up beyond his usual 9pm bedtime, talking with his wife on the phone.

The crash took place 16 months ago, in July 2015, close to the A34 junction with Bicester.

Almasan was jailed by a judge at Oxford Crown Court, pictured above, for 32 months, after admitting death by dangerous driving

Mr Richmond said Almasan had been a 'hitherto responsible driver' and said: 'The window was wound down because he was feeling a little bit groggy but nothing other than what people have to deal with when they are long distance drivers.

'The microsleep which happened in a really short moment. Had he known he was struggling as much as he was he would have pulled over.

'He is trying to do what he can to provide the answer to what happened. Mr Almasan has from start to finish accepted he caused that death. That is why the careless driving plea was entered.'

On the first day of trial, Almasan changed his plea to admit the charge of death by dangerous driving.

Mr Richmond added: 'We had a very public case this week, on the A34. One of the problems for the family here is that this a horrible, unique experience.'

He said there was a difference between 'horrible people doing horrible things because they drove in that way and good people who made a mistake doing things which have horrible consequences.'

Despite not being disqualified from driving after the crash, Almasan had not driven a vehicle since, the court was told.

Mr Richmond said: 'I hope Your Honour will understand that every fibre of his being is feeling haunted by what happened. What Mr Almasan says is 'I'm being punished because I have done a bad thing and need to be punished.'

'This is not someone standing before you being blase, trying to blame someone else, this is someone standing completely broken, understanding what has gone on.'

He pushed for a suspended sentence and unpaid work to be handed down due to a lack of aggravating features.

The stretch of the A34 road is the same one where four people were killed in August after lorry driver Tomasz Kroker crashed into a car while looking at his phone

Jake Goldsmith (Far left) picked up minor injuries and survived while Ethan Houghton, Aimee Goldsmith (corr) and Josh Houghton all died in the crash. Tracy Houghton, 45, also died

The scene of the crash for which Tomasz Kroker was jailed this week, where three children and a mother died. The same stretch was also where Diana Allan lost her life

Judge Zoe Smith said: 'There is nothing that I can say or do that will in any way assist Mrs Allan's family with overcoming their devastating loss.

'From the personal impact statement the court heard, she was a much-loved 73-year-old woman who was a wonderful person, vibrant with a zest for life and a passion for teaching.

'She will doubtless be missed by many people.

'You are a person who starts work early every morning at 4am and you normally go to bed by 9pm but on Saturday night prior to the accident you had less sleep than usual because you were speaking on the telephone.

'It is right to say that you had the right breaks during the course of your work and you were on your way home at the end of your shift.

'It would appear that evidence as to what occurred and the evidence from the expert with regard to sleep is that what did happen was you fell asleep at the wheel.

'As the driver of a heavy goods vehicle you have probably a greater responsibility to ensure you are in a fit and proper condition to drive the vehicle and should have stopped and taken a further rest.'

She added: 'It is clear you are a hard working man, you have been working hard to maintain your family and your daughter. This event will be with you for the rest of your life.'
A busy motorway was covered in bleach this morning after a lorry transporting the chemical toppled over.

Commuters travelling into London were held at a standstill after the huge five axle heavy goods vehicle screeched to a halt on the M4 motorway near Reading, Berkshire.

The lorry ended up on its side and bleach and diesel spilled out on to the road at around 4.45am today.

The huge heavy goods vehicle (pictured) was carrying bleach and toppled over on the M4

The HGV (pictured) veered on to the hard shoulder and flipped on to its side on the motorway

Police, firefighters and paramedics crews rushed to the scene after the HGV veered on to the hard shoulder and flipped on to its side.

Fire service watch manager James McGuinnity said: 'It had overturned so it was partially blocking the road. The hard shoulder as well as lanes one and two were closed.

'It had partially spilled its load of domestic bleach which had mixed with other spillage.'

The driver of the HGV was not hurt and rescue vehicles were attempting to right the vehicle on to its wheels after the morning rush-hour.

Rescue vehicles tried to right the vehicle on to its wheels after the morning rush-hour

It was not believed that the bleach which was inside the lorry caused any serious environmental damage

People joked on social media that because bleach spilled out into the road, it should be 'easy to clean up'

Another user posted on Facebook that the spillage should be an 'easy clean up' on the M4

A spokesman for Highways England warned that two lanes of the eastbound carriageway between junctions 12 (Theale) and 11 (Reading) of the M4 would be closed for several hours.

Frustrated motorists were later told to expect delays of up to 40 minutes as the agency's emergency teams worked to resurface the road and remove the lorry.
The trio were being sued under the Racial Discrimination Act's section 18C

They all attended or worked at the Queensland University of Technology

Indigenous staffer Cindy Prior claimed she had been slandered by the trio

A case of alleged racial abuse against three students by an indigenous university staffer has been thrown out by the Federal Court.

Queensland University of Technology students Alex Wood, Calum Thwaites and Jackson Powell were being sued under the Racial Discrimination Act's controversial section 18C, after they allegedly posted racist comments on Facebook in 2013.

Indigenous administrative officer Cindy Prior claimed she had been slandered by the trio online after asking Mr Wood to leave an indigenous-only computer lab at the QUT.

Brisbane's Federal Court Judge Michael Jarrett threw out the $250,000 lawsuit saying Ms Prior did not have reasonable prospects of successfully bringing a case against the three men.

Indigenous administrative officer Cindy Prior (pictured) was suing the students after they allegedly posted racist comments online in 2013

QUT student Calum Thwaites arrives at the Federal Court in Brisbane on Friday. He and two other men were being sued under the Racial Discrimination Act's controversial section 18C

She had argued she was unable to continue working face-to-face with white people following a series of Facebook posts made after Mr Wood was asked to leave an indigenous-only computer lab at the QUT in 2013.

'Just got kicked out of the unsigned indigenous computer room. QUT stopping segregation with segregation,' he wrote.

The post attracted a number of responses, including one from Mr Powell who wrote: 'I wonder where the white supremacist computer lab is.'

Mr Thwaites is alleged to have written 'ITT N***ers' but has denied being responsible for the post.

He said he was extremely relieved at the outcome of the lawsuit and happy to be able to get on with his life.

Queensland University of Technology students Alex Wood was asked to leave an indigenous-only computer lab in 2013 (stock image)

Brisbane's Federal Court Judge Michael Jarrett threw out the $250,000 lawsuit saying Ms Prior did not have reasonable prospects of successfully bringing a case against the three men

Several other students have settled with Ms Prior out of court, reportedly for $5000 each, while QUT is still subject to a lawsuit.

She is said to be facing a six-figure bill if the students recoup their legal costs from her.

Outside court, Mr Thwaites' lawyer, Tony Morris QC, slammed Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs for allowing the case to get so far.

Mr Morris said Prof Triggs sat on the case against the students for 14 months before they were told a complaint had been made against them, and no inquiries were made.

He said the commissioner should have told Ms Prior there was no substance to her claim and dismissed the complaint.

'Triggs takes $400,000 a year out of the pockets of the taxpayers of this country for a job she doesn't bother to do,' Mr Morris said.

'If the woman had any decency whatsoever, her resignation would be on the attorney-general's desk on Monday.'

Mr Thwaites with his lawyer, Tony Morris QC (far right). Mr Morris said Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs should resign for allowing the case get as far as the Federal Court

The case thrown out of Brisbane's Federal Court (pictured) has been a rallying point for opponents of 18C, which makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people

The university released a statement late on Friday saying it was pleased the matter had been resolved 'as far as the three students are concerned and regrets that the issue has taken so long to come to a conclusion for them'.

The case has been a rallying point for opponents of 18C, which makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people.

Many Coalition MPs have argued the words 'insult' and 'offend' in section 18C of the act hinder free speech and have called them to be removed, the ABC reports.

On Friday, Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson joined the growing number of voices calling a parliamentary inquiry into changing the law.

Mr Paterson said while he was relieved the judge had found the students had no case to answer, they should never have endured such an appalling legal process.

'This judgment doesn't give them back that time, or their reputations, or the stress of having to endure these false allegations and defend themselves,' Mr Paterson said.

Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam said the Turnbull government could no longer stick its head in the sand on section 18C.
complained ad nauseam about unprofessional nature of the leaks and way Comey has approached case that could cost her the election

pushing back, saying there is 'no case' when it comes to her emails and the leaks should be investigated

FBI leaks about ongoing investigations and alleged indictments that have roiled Hillary Clinton's campaign are a product of discontent within the bureau over the way her email case is being handled, current and former agents are saying.

'The FBI is Trumpland,' an active agent told The Guardian.

The agent said Clinton is 'the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel....The reason why theyre leaking is theyre pro-Trump.'

FBI director James Comey's announcement a week ago, via a letter to Congress, that the bureau was looking at new emails that may or may not be significant to Clinton's email case started a brush fire within the law enforcement agency that the Obama administration has been unable to contain.

FBI leaks and alleged misinformation about coming indictments that have roiled Hillary Clinton's campaign are a product of discontent within the bureau over the way her email case was handled, current and former agents are saying

Agents, not Comey, have been the source of a constant stream of updates on the investigation that are playing out in public.

Comey has provided no further information to Congress about the emails he says the bureau came across and categorized as 'pertinent' to the probe into Clinton.

Through leaks to news outlets, the Clinton campaign, Huma Abedin and the White House all learned that the FBI found messages that were not on Clinton's server on a computer belonging to disgraced, ex-congressman Anthony Weiner.

Weiner's soon-to-be ex-wife, Abedin, acts as Clinton's right-hand and has been described by the former first lady as the daughter she never had.

The emails were discovered by the FBI's New York Field Office. Two sources told Reuters that some investigators in that office are biased against Clinton. Democratic Party operatives have in turn blamed the hostility for the leaks.

A probe into the Clinton Foundation was also revealed through an FBI leak.

Fox News said Wednesday that the stack of evidence in that case was so high, an indictment was likely, but only if the Department of Justice did not interfere.

Bret Baier issued a clarification afterward on Twitter, explaining that agents want to keep trying for an indictment, but it may not come.

'I said sources described an "avalanche of evidence" in case & barring obstruction they'd likely continue 2 push to try to get an indictment,' he said, as the report blew up online.

Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal report confirmed the investigation but indicated that it was at a standstill.

The Journal revealed that the FBI was relying recordings of a suspect in a different corruption probe who spoke about the Clinton Foundation's alleged dirty dealings to obtain an indictment.

The FBI believed those conversations were enough to move forward with the probe, the news publication said. Justice Department prosecutors disagreed because the source was not an employee of the Clinton Foundation.

As recently as August 12 the FBI was told to stand down by DOJ in a terse phone call, the Journal reported

'Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation? the FBI's deputy director Andrew McCabe reportedly replied. The Justice Department official on the other end of the line said, 'Of course not.'

U.S. attorney for Brooklyn Robert Capers was pegged as playing both sides in the report. He's said to have told DOJ officials in Washington that the agents chasing the case 'wont let it go.'

CNN backed up the Journal's reporting.

'Agents in the FBI wanted to aggressively investigate the Clinton Foundation several months ago earlier in the year, the Department of Justice told the FBI essentially you dont have enough evidence here for predication to get more tools, such as warrants and subpoenas, go back and see what else you can dig up,' Pamela Brown reported on air.

NBC's Pete Williams says there was a query into the Clinton Foundation. But he said investigation is a strong word.

'There really isnt one,' he told Chuck Todd. 'Few want to call it an investigation. Thats a term of art in the FBI. There was an initial inquiry that was opened a couple months ago based largely on media reports and a book called Clinton Cash.'

Clinton's press secretary, Brian Fallon, shared a link to the interview on his Twitter account, and said, 'FBI should say so publicly to put a stop to these baseless Fox News reports.'

Fox's reporting, which has now been 'debunked' was 'shameful,' he charged.

Comey's decision to tell Congress about renewed interest in the email case was driven by concern that lawmakers would find out anyway through a leak, Reuters said today.

Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani seemingly had the inside track on the investigation to Clinton's emails, cryptically promising that Comey had a 'pretty big surprise' coming before the FBI official sent his letter to Congress.

Giuliani said today on Fox and Friends that he has a lot of friends who are retired FBI officials who feed him information.

One agent said Clinton is 'the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel....The reason why theyre leaking is theyre pro-Trump'

They said, 'almost uniformly, that Comey made the wrong decision,' Guiliani stated. 'And from that point on, I've been hearing from retired agents that the Justice Department was obstructing the investigation of the Clinton Foundation probe, which might in fact be even more serious, because it would be a vast fraud, multi-millions of dollars.'

'All I heard was former FBI agents telling me that there's a revolution going on inside the FBI, and it's now at a boiling point,' he claimed.

Since July, Giuliani said FBI agents have been 'stymied' by DOJ when 'looking for subpoenas, looking for records.'

FBI agents had their request to see Clinton's medical records denied, he said, even though she claimed, in Giuliani's words, that 'she lost her memory after the concussion' she suffered in later 2012.

'You do that to an honest FBI agent, I mean just an honest guy, doin' his job,' Giuliani said, 'he gets angry.'

The former U.S. attorney insisted, 'I did nothing to get it out. I had no role in it. Did I hear about it? Your darn right I heard about it. And I can't even repeat the language that I heard.'

'This sure seems like adequate grounds for an Inspector General review,' Fallon said of the leak on Twitter.

Jim Kallstrom, the former head of New York's FBI field office, has said on more than one occasion since July that he regularly speaks to 'retired agents and a few on the job.'

He said in a September 28 interview on Fox that agents 'involved in this thing feel like theyve been stabbed in the back.'

'I think were going to see a lot more of the facts come out in the course of the next few months. Thats my prediction.'

Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani seemingly had the inside track on the investigation to Clinton's emails, cryptically promising that Comey had a 'pretty big surprise' coming before the FBI official sent his letter to Congress

Only one DOJ employee has been caught leaking information, and that was to the Clinton campaign.

Peter Kadzik, an official with longstanding ties to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta - he was the former Bill Clinton chief of staff's lawyer during the Monica Lewinsky scandal - was caught in Wikileaks emails giving his friend a 'heads up' on a congressional hearing on Clinton's server.

'There is a HJC [House Judiciary Committee] oversight hearing today,' Peter Kadzik wrote in 2015, 'where the head of our Civil Division will testify.'

The assistant attorney general told Podesta the DOJ lawyer testifying was 'likely to get questions on State Department emails.

'Another filing in the FOIA [Freedom Of Information Act] case went in last night or will go in this am that indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the State Department posts the emails.'

Podesta copied another senior campaign staffer on a response email that said the hearing would provide 'additional chances for mischief.'

Giuliani pointed the finger of blame at Kadzik today, and said, 'This guy has been leaking information to Podesta. He should be fired immediately.

'The Justice Department I worked in, he would have been fired three days ago, and his door would have been locked. Everything would have been seized in his office. '

The Justice Department is full of 'Obama lackeys,' he said, like Kadzik. 'The FBI are not the Clinton lackeys,' he said of the debacle.

Agents may think that Donald Trump is not 'qualified' to be president, a former official told The Guardian, but they also 'believe Clinton is corrupt.

'What you hear a lot is that its a bad choice, between an incompetent and a corrupt politician,'the source said.

Another former agent said irritation at Comey wasn't directed at his refusal to recommend an indictment, 'they believe he threw the FBI under the bus by taking the heat away from DOJ.'

Clinton and her aides have complained ad nauseam about the unprofessional nature of the leaks and the way Comey has approached the case that may well cost her the election

Clinton and her aides have complained ad nauseam about the unprofessional nature of the leaks and the way Comey has approached the case that may well cost her the election.

'The Justice Department's longstanding practice is: Don't do anything seen as trying to influence an election,' Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters during a conference call. 'It's completely unfair to Secretary Clinton and it's really unfair to the voters.'

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta has Comey 'allowed partisans to extort and exaggerate to inflict maximum political damage.'

Hillary Clinton has said 'there is no case.'

'I am sure a lot of you may be asking what this new email story is about and why in the world the FBI would decide to jump into an election with no evidence of any wrong doing with just days to go,' she told her supporters on Monday. 'That is a good question.'

President Barack Obama broke with White House tradition not to comment on the investigation to chide agents during a Now This News interview.

'We don't operate on innuendo and we don't operate on incomplete information and we don't operate on leaks,' he said. 'We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.'
This is the secluded rehab ranch deep in the heart of the Tennessee countryside where Anthony Weiner is trying to beat his sex addiction - by hiking, fishing, zip lining and looking after horses.

But the disgraced former US Congressman and serial sexter is banned from using the cellphone that has got him into so much trouble.

Weiner, who is separated from his wife, top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, is in the middle of a weeks-long course at The Ranch, a 2,000-acre facility an hour west of Nashville, that is recognized as one of the nation's top treatment centers for sex addiction, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively after first reporting that he had sought treatment.

There, 800 miles and a whole world removed from his home in Manhattan, the man whose sexting habits have placed him at the center of the nation's most contentious presidential election, is learning to wean himself from the obsessions that led to his self-destruction.

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Anthony Weiner is in the middle of a weeks-long sex-addiction rehab course at The Ranch, a 2,000-acre facility an hour west of Nashville, Tennesee.

The rehab facility in in the hills of Nunnelly, Tennessee, is 800 miles and a whole world removed from his home in Brooklyn, New York

Activities at the facility include canoeing down hte Piney River, long hikes through the undulating countryside and horseback riding along trails

Weiner, 52, checked himself into The Ranch in early October. He is living in one of 10 large buildings scattered throughout the property in tiny unincorporated Pinewood and neighboring Nunnelly.

He is believed to be living in River House, one of several buildings belonging to the treatment facility in tiny unincorporated Pinewood and neighboring Nunnelly.

All electronic devices, including cellphones and computers, are banned at The Ranch, where stays cost up to $30,000 a month.

He and other male sex addicts are kept far away from women sufferers who are housed in separate buildings.

The former politician, 52, checked himself into The Ranch in early October. He was photographed in New York before leaving for rehab

Fishing on the picturesque Piney River, long hikes through the undulating countryside and horseback riding along trails in the leafy woods are among the activities offered to the man who has spent almost his entire life in bustling New York City and Washington, DC.

A woman who answered the phone at The Ranch referred calls to the companys headquarters in Long Beach, California. Messages left there were not immediately returned.

But back in 2013, Karen Brownd, director of The Ranchs Center for Relationship and Sexual Recovery told radio talk show host Larry Elders that Weiners behavior has all the markings of sex addiction.

The Elders interview came after Weiner, a Democrat, was caught sexting for the second time as he was leading in the polls for election as New York City mayor.

After that revelation he fell to fifth place in the election with less than five percent of the vote.

Brownd - who at the time had never met Weiner - said sex addiction is 'every bit as real as drug and alcohol addiction'.

'If anyone shows an addictive pattern of behavior and they cannot stop on their own, it's highly recommended that they seek help with an intensive therapist or a residential facility so that they can look at the cause of the behavior to help them around not relapsing and to seek support in staying healthy by changing those addictive behaviors,' Brownd said at the time.

The Ranch at Nunnelly provides a highly effective, one-of-a-kind recovery experience for men and women struggling with addiction and co-occurring disorders

There is also weekly equine therapy that 'involves caring and interacting with horses' at the ranch

Men in The Ranch's sex addiction program are expected to take part in daily group therapy sessions as well as a weekly trauma group led by a trauma specialist

In 2013, Karen Brownd, director of The Ranch's Center for Relationship and Sexual Recovery told radio talk show host Larry Elders that Weiner's behavior has 'all the markings of sex addiction'

Huma Abedin, 40, announced she was ending her six-year marriage to Weiner in August. She is seen on the school run with her son Jacob on Friday

'It's escalating and they can't stop it on their own.'

Brownd described Weiner's addictive sexting as 'numbing out'.

'Why does somebody act out with alcohol, drugs, sex, all of that?' she asked. 'It's to have control over their lives  they have had trauma, abandonment issues, they need some way to numb out to what's going on so that they can meet the expectations that they've been put under most of their lives.'

But back in 2013, Karen Brownd, director of The Ranchs Center for Relationship and Sexual Recovery told radio talk show host Larry Elders that Weiners behavior has all the markings of sex addiction

Weiner sought refuge at The Ranch as he is being investigated by the FBI following DailyMail.com's bombshell revelation that he had sent obscene sexts to a 15-year-old girl.

During the bureau's probe agents discovered that emails from Hillary Clinton were on a laptop computer that Weiner and Abedin shared.

That led to a renewed focus on the FBI investigation into Clinton's email scandal involving the server she set up in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York.

News of that development, revealed by FBI director James Comey on October 28, has led to Clinton plummeting against rival Donald Trump in opinion polls leading up to Tuesday's presidential election.

Despite knowing the girl's age, Weiner sent shirtless pictures of himself, called her 'baby' and asked her to dress up in schoolgirl outfits.

The 84-bed rehab facility attendees take part in adventure therapies that are designed to 'encourage feelings of accomplishment, trust and "natural highs" without drugs, alcohol or self-defeating patterns'

Weiner and other male sex addicts are kept far away from women sufferers who are housed in separate building

All electronic devices, including cellphones and computers, are banned at The Ranch, where stays cost up to $30,000 a month

Weiner is believed to be living in River House, one of several buildings belonging to the treatment facility in tiny unincorporated Pinewood and neighboring Nunnelly

The relationship had started when the teen contacted Weiner via a Twitter private message. She told DailyMail.com she had become obsessed with him.

But despite all the worrying signs Weiner could not help himself and got caught up in an online relationship.

In one lewd message told her: 'I would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.'

He complained in one sext that he hadn't had sex with Abedin for a year.

Abedin, 40, announced she was ending her six-year marriage to Weiner in August after the New York Post revealed that he had sexted a picture of his crotch as he lay in bed with their four-year-old son to yet another woman.

Even though they are separated, therapists at The Ranch encourage Abedin to get involved in Weiner's treatment.

The facility regularly holds three-day family programs for wives and partners.

Men in The Ranch's sex addiction program are expected to take part in daily group therapy sessions as well as a weekly trauma group led by a trauma specialist.

In the messages, which were obtained by the Dailymail.com, Weiner repeatedly complimented the girl's body, told her that she made him 'hard'. He also sent the girl a selfie from a hot tub

Weiner and the girl used several anonymous messaging apps, like the one pictured above, where every line of text - and the sender's name - disappear after the message is opened. In one message he told he would 'bust that tight p***y so hard'

The message continues, and Weiner says he would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week'. Weiner began talking to the girl in January, after she messaged him on Twitter

There is also weekly equine therapy that 'involves caring and interacting with horses in ways that provide valuable lessons in accountability and in how we relate to others', according to the facility's website.

Patients, who may suffer from a range of sex addiction problems including multiple affairs, anonymous sex, use of prostitutes, chronic masturbation, compulsive porn watching and 'mistaking sex for love', also take part in adventure therapies that are designed to 'encourage feelings of accomplishment, trust and "natural highs" without drugs, alcohol or self-defeating patterns'.

'From climbing a 30-foot tall pamper pole and zip lining to canoeing, hiking, ropes courses and high jumps, our adventure therapies provide hands-on experiences that help clients be present in their bodies and the moment, and discover metaphors for challenges while gaining new perspectives,' the website boasts.

The Ranch also has a Native American sweat lodge to 'provide opportunities for physical detoxification, spiritual connection and emotional processing'. Patients build a fire and sweat their way through a group therapy session.

Views on the effectiveness of treatment at The Ranch vary. 'Ben', a former sex addiction patient wrote on Rehabs.com, that 'there is never (in MY 63 days at least) any talk about healthy sexuality. You sign an abstinence contract (leave everyone else alone and leave yourself alone) and that's that.'
This week, Tostee became first person to conquer 'Godfather' milkshake

He was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter of his Tinder date

Gable Tostee will receive a six-figure sum to break his silence on his fatal night with tourist Warriena Wright in a tell-all interview with 60 minutes.

The Gold Coast playboy had reportedly become the centre of a bidding war between Nine and Seven Network's flagship current affair programs, 60 Minutes and Sunday Night, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Channel Nine won the opportunity to sit down with Tostee and it is understood filming is underway, with the episode set to air on November 13.

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Gable Tostee (pictured after conquering the 'Godfather' shake) will receive a six-figure sum to break his silence on his fatal night with tourist Warriena Wright in a tell-all interview with 60 minutes

The Gold Coast playboy had reportedly become the centre of a bidding war between Nine and Seven Network's flagship current affair programs

The 30-year-old carpet layer is believed to be receiving a handsome six-figure sum for the interview.

At this stage it is unknown which veteran reporter Tostee will sit down with.

After he was found not guilty of the murder and manslaughter of Warriena Wright last month, it appeared Tostee was hungry to get back into the swing of everyday life.

The 30-year-old this week became the first person ever to conquer Gold Coast cafe Gangster and Gatsby's monstrous 'godfather' milkshake.

Ingredients include 5L a whopping five litres of ice cream, a litre-and-a-half of cream and a splash of milk.

Channel Nine's 60 Minutes (pictured) won the opportunity to sit down with Tostee and it is understood filming is underway, with the episode set to air on November 13

The 30-year-old carpet layer is believed to be receiving a handsome six-figure sum for the interview

The 30-year-old this week became the first person ever to conquer Gold Coast cafe Gangster and Gatsby's monstrous 'godfather' milkshake (pictured)

The cafe announced his achievement in a triumphant Facebook post - using the name Mr Tostee recently assumed, Eric Thomas.

'Eric Thomas is the first person ever to emerge victorious in the Godfather Challenge!'

He downed the humongous drink in a 'mind blowing' 13.28 minutes.

In a photograph shared online, Mr Tostee could be seen cheering his achievement with a full belly and triumphant smile.

He held the half-a-metre tall decadent drink above his head in a victorious pose.

For his efforts, Mr Tostee got his money back, won $50, reecived a T-shirt and advanced to the grand final of the 'Godfather Challenge'.

There, he can compete for $1000 worth of 'travel'.

Some surprised punters were quick to point out Mr Tostee's identity.

'Correct me if I'm wrong... isn't this Gable Tostee?????' one asked.

Warriena Wright - the Kiwi girl who plunged to her death from Tostee's 14th floor balcony

Exonerated: Tostee, seen outside the Brisbane Supreme Court prior to being found innocent

Others were more concerned with his future bowel movements after such a huge meal.

A jury of twelve men and women last month found Mr Tostee 'not guilty' of culpability in New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright's death.

Friends have since told Daily Mail Australia Mr Tostee was hoping for a 'fresh start'.

Since the trial, he has been seen chilling out with his girlfriend Lizzi Evans.

She told friends the pair hoped to move to New Zealand together once Mr Tostee completes his architecture studies.




Hemming hit her as their children slept and then when he realised she was dead he stripped her, carried her in rug and drove her to woods he knew

Paul Hemming violently beat mother-of-three Natalie Hemming in the lounge of their home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Police have released chilling footage of a controlling and jealous bully who has been jailed for life for murdering his partner after finding out she had spent the night with her new lover.

Paul Hemming violently beat mother-of-three Natalie Hemming in the lounge of their home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, while their children slept upstairs.

Today a jury found Hemming guilty of the murder and Judge Richard Foster handed him a life sentence, with at least 20 years before parole, and said: 'Having murdered your partner of ten years and the mother of your children you proceeded in the most callous way to cover up what you had done.

'You stripped her naked and put her body in the boot of your car. You drove to a remote location and dragged her body through the undergrowth. It was not found for another three weeks. You then went on to tell lie after lie.'

Following the sentence Thames Valley Police has released chilling video footage of 'extremely cold, callous and calculated' Hemming being questioned by detectives.

The detective said to Hemming: 'The children don't have a grave to visit.

'Her mother doesn't have a grave to visit and we believe that the only person who does know where her body lies right now is you.

'So we will ask you a final time. What account or explanation can you give as to why she has disappeared and is presumed dead?'

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Hemming (left), the boyfriend of Natalie Hemming (right), has been handed a life sentence today after being found guilty at Luton Crown Court today of her murder

The interview footage shows Hemming being 'extremely cold, callous and calculated' when answering questions from police

Hemming can be seen sitting with his arms crossed while wearing a light grey long sleeved top hesitating before he answers.

He said: 'I have not killed Natalie. I have not hurt Natalie. I did tell you this in the previous interview.

'There are four people that are very important to me in this world, Natalie is one of those people.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Steel from Thames Valley Police speaks through the case in the video

'You just mentioned the other three as well, my children. All four of those people are very, very important to me.

'I did not hurt her. I had no intention of hurting her and I certainly did not kill her and I have given you the truth as to what happened in the house on the Sunday.

'I have told you why the car was on the drive yet I see in none of your statements you've asked anybody, including my children, if they knew the car was broken or if the car had a problem and if mum wanted me to fix it..'

Natalie's family cheered in court after Hemming was found guilty. Pictured the couple together

He continues: 'Since Sunday I have spent every hour with my children except the day they went to school.

'So what you are saying is that I have killed my partner, I have disposed of her body, I have tidied the house, made it look pristine, managed to cook them dinner, managed to take them to the zoo and many more things without them knowing.'

The detective said: 'It's exactly what we're saying Paul.'

Hemming replied with 'Impossible'.

Natalie's family who were in court cheered as the guilty verdict was announced.

Natalie, the 31-year-old mother-of-three, suffered a fractured skull and broken arm in the savage attack as she tried to ward off blow after blow from Hemming

Natalie, the 31-year-old mother-of-three, suffered a fractured skull and broken arm in the savage attack as she tried to ward off blow after blow from Hemming.

The noise of the attack woke their six year old son who slipped downstairs and, after peeking through a gap in the door, saw his mothers body which by then his father had wrapped in a blanket.

Not realising she had been killed and fearing he would be told off for being up, he then crept back to his bedroom.

When the youngster and his two sisters got up the next morning, their father claimed their mother had left the house while they were asleep.

Police searched the wood looking for Natalie who was found by a member of the public

He then took them to Whipsnade Zoo for a Bank Holiday day out.

In fact, hours earlier while the children slept in their beds, Hemming had carried their mothers naked body out of the house, dumped it in the boot of his car and then driven from the family home in Milton Keynes, to a wooded area he knew 30 miles away in south Hertfordshire.

There, he dragged her corpse by her feet into thick undergrowth and left her face down beneath the trees in Toms Wood, Chandlers Cross near Rickmansworth.

Her badly decomposed remains were found in the wood three weeks later by a man who had been mowing a meadow nearby.

One of the children saw his mother wrapped in a blanket before Hemming drove her to Toms Wood, Chandlers Cross near Rickmansworth. Pictured police forensics at the woodland scene

Today at Luton Crown Court 43-year-old Hemming was found guilty at the end of a two week trial of murdering his partner Natalie at the home they shared with their three children.

He had earlier admitted her manslaughter claiming he never meant to kill her or cause her serious bodily harm.

During his trial Hemming had claimed Natalies death had been caused when he threw a heavy ornament at her that was standing by the TV set.

He said that as they 'grappled' with one another during an argument over her cheating, hed hurled a 1000 imitation Faberge egg at her which was made of Jade, in an effort to stop her leaving the house with their children.

He said he hadnt aimed it at her head, but said it struck her causing her to fall onto a rug by their sofa.

After dumping her in the boot of his car he left her face down beneath trees. Pictured police appealed for witnesses to this car's movements

Hemming said by the time he got to her she wasnt breathing and he knew she was dead.

'I just thought sh.. Im in trouble now. How am I going to explain this to the kids upstairs. So then I thought I am going to cover this up,'he told the jury of six men and six women.

He said the cover up involved leaving the children in their beds that night while he drove to the wood and hid her body in the undergrowth, removing her clothes and burning them so there wouldnt be any forensic links to him and disposing of the Jade egg which he said hed bought nearly 20 years ago in Taiwan.

But the prosecution said that account was a lie and Hemming had planned killing her as a 'punishment for her infidelity'.

'By May 1, she had decided to move on. She had found someone else in her life' said prosecutor Simon Russell Flint QC.

Natalie had admitted to Hemming she had slept with a colleague and was leaving him with the children

The jury was told Natalie hadnt suffered a single strike from the thrown ornament, but repeated blows with a weapon during which she had raised her arm in an effort to protect herself.

Cross-examined in the witness box by Mr Russell Flint, Hemming was even asked if hed raped Natalie on the night he murdered her.

Patholgist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki said it was impossible to say what caused her death because of the advanced state of decomposition of her body when it was discovered in the woods.

But he said he discovered she had suffered a depressed skull fracture by her right temple and the ulna bone in her left forearm had been broken.

He described the fractures as 'significant' injuries and, in addition, he found evidence of bruising to both her arms.

Dr Biedrzycki said there was also some evidence that she had suffered possible fractures to her larynx.

Prosecutor Mr Russell Flint said Natalie had been killed by Hemming 'in a fit of rage and jealousy when he learnt she had been unfaithful to him and was planning to leave him and take the children with her'.

Just a few hours before the killing and following their night in the hotel together, Natalie had sent Simon Dennis a message on WhatsApp saying 'What you did for me last night is something I have never had before'. In another message she said 'I have fallen in love with you'.

They had an argument at their home in Newton Leys and Natalie had spoken to police before. Pictured police attending the house following her disappearance

Natalie was murdered at her home in Alderney Avenue, Newton Leys in Milton Keynes on the night of Sunday May 1 this year.

She had spent the previous night with work colleague Mr Dennis after he booked a room for them St Michaels Manor Hotel in St Albans, Hertforshire, where they had sex for the first time.

The following evening as Hemming questioned about her Saturday night out, she eventually told him she had slept with Mr Dennis, which led to the violent attack in their lounge.

Hemming and Natalie had been in a relationship since 2007.

She told Hemming how she had spent the night with her colleague Simon Dennis (pictured) and was leaving him

When they first met in Hemel Hempstead, she already had a young daughter from a previous short lived marriage.

In the years that followed they had a son and a daughter and, although they werent married, she took his surname.

Over the years there were incidents of violence by Hemming on Natalie.

He could be moody and sullen and would constantly check up on her, wanting to know where she was going and what friends she was seeing.

They briefly separated in 2010 and 2013.

In 2007, Natalie had made a statement to police that after an argument with Hemming, he had thrown her mobile phone at her which struck her on the head.

The court heard it was because he had been jealous about her contact with other men.

In 2013 Natalie spoke to police and made a statement after he had poked her in the eye and hit her over the head with a bottle.

In April of this year Natalie was working at a Mercedes dealership in Milton Keynes.

Also employed there as a technician was Mr Dennis, a single man living in Northamptonshire.

The court heard how, in the Spring of this year, the couple became close after flirting with one another and began spending lunchtimes together away from colleagues kissing and cuddling.

By April of this year Natalie had told Hemming that someone at work fancied her.

Patholgist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki said it was impossible to say what caused her death because of the advanced state of decomposition of Natalie's body when it was discovered in the woods

She was also planning to leave Hemming and start a new life for herself and her children.

In the days leading up to the murder, Hemming went through Natalies phone and even managed to obtain a WhatsApp profile picture of his rival, Mr Dennis.

Just days before she was killed, he told Natalies mother that if he couldnt have her then no one else would.

Mr Russell Flint told the jury that following the killing, Hemming had driven with her body in his car to the wooded area which he knew well.

He went on: 'He then returned home and casually and glibly and convincingly proceeded to lie and lie and lie to everyone who asked, Natalies family, friends, his own family and friends, as to Natalies whereabouts.

'After the murder Hemming even sent text messages to Natalies phone pretending to be worried about her.

'When police officers came to his home on May 3 after Natalies mother had reported her missing, Hemming came out with a false story that Natalie had been raped on the Saturday night and had gone away to "clear her head".'

Hemming wrapped Natalie's body in this red rug and police released this picture in a bid to find witnesses

At the start of the trial, Hemming pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body and obstructing a coroner in the execution of his duty by 'concealing' Natalies body in the wood.

Judge Richard Foster, the Honorary Recorder of Luton, said that outwardly the couple had the appearance of being a normal family living in a nice family home.

But he said: 'The reality was far removed from those outward appearances. As Natalie Hemming knew, you were over bearing, controlling, jealous and on occasions violent. You said you would mend your ways but you did not.'

He said it was clear Natalie was making plans to move out with her three children and that Paul Hemming was aware of her new relationship with Simon Dennis.

Judge Richard Foster at Luton Crown Court said 'having murdered your partner of ten years and the mother of your children you proceeded in the most callous way to cover up what you had done'

'I have no doubt that when she arrived home on Sunday afternoon you were in a state of high agitation and overcome by anger and jealousy.

'Once the children were in bed a violent argument arose in the course of which you attacked her viciously to the head with some sort of implement. She attempted in vain to defend herself.

'Having murdered your partner of ten years and the mother of your children you proceeded in the most callous way to cover up what you had done. You stripped her naked and put her body in the boot of your car. You drove to a remote location and dragged her body through the undergrowth. It was not found for another three weeks. You then went on to tell lie after lie.

'The manner in which you have conducted yourself since the murder indicates a complete lack of remorse,' he added.

Hemming showed no reaction either when sentence was passed or when emotional victim impacts statements were read to the court about the effect of Natalie's death on her family and her three children.

The Judge passed a concurrent sentence of five years for the offences of obstructing the coroner and preventing Natalie's lawful burial. He also praised the 'superb work' of Thames Valley Police.

Police said they hope this sentence will go some way towards helping Natalie's family move forward

Speaking after sentencing, Liz Scriven, Senior Crown Prosecutor for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: 'Hemming is clearly an extremely cold, callous and calculated man and there is no doubt that, when he attacked Natalie, he intended to kill her or cause her really serious harm.'

Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Simon Steel, from Thames Valley Police Major Crime unit, said: 'He had opportunities to admit what he had done to lessen the anguish of her family who were desperately missing their mother, daughter and sister, however he only admitted to killing her on the first day of his trial.

'He then maintained this was an act of manslaughter, which resulted in Natalie's family having to endure the trial.

'This act followed episodes of domestic abuse experienced by Natalie at Paul's hands, and has left three children to grow up without their mother.

'I would like to thank Natalie's family for their support of the police investigation and to praise the dignity they have shown throughout the trial.
A teenager left paralysed in a tragic riding accident is set to receive more than 3million compensation after winning a High Court case against her ex-boyfriend's mother.

Ashleigh Harris had just turned 14 when she broke her back after falling from Polly Perks, a thoroughbred racehorse owned by Rachel Miller, the mother of her then boyfriend, Keiran Miller.

She was riding Polly in a field near Mrs Miller's home in Mathern, near Chepstow, when she suffered catastrophic injuries in September 2012.

The accident left the keen rider - now 18 - with no function in her legs, and she sued Mrs Miller at the High Court in London.

Judge Graham Wood QC today ruled that Ashleigh, of Woolaston, Lydney, in the Forest of Dean, is entitled to full compensation from Mrs Miller.

Ashleigh Harris had just turned 14 when she broke her back after falling from Polly Perks, a thoroughbred mare owned by her ex-boyfriend's mother Rachel Miller in Mathern, near Chepstow. Ms Harris, paralysed in the incident, is pictured outside the High Court last month

Polly Perk's owner was bound to suffer 'dire financial consequences' as a result, he added.

The judge said Mrs Miller, in her 40s, had 'encouraged' the teenager to ride the 'strong and wilful thoroughbred' and exposed her to a risk of injury.

He said Ashleigh first rode Polly Perks 'briefly' on 15 September 2012 when Mrs Miller went to view the horse in Abergavenny, before eventually buying her for 550.

Although the teenager was a 'competent novice', who had a lot of experience riding ponies - including her own, Beauty - she had never ridden a horse before.

The judge said Mrs Miller had 'limited knowledge' of Ashleigh's riding experience, although she knew the youngster had done more riding than she had.

Rachel Miller, in her 40s (pictured outside court), will have to pay Ashleigh - her son's former girlfriend - more than 3million

Polly, he ruled, was 'a green, unresponsive and uneducated horse who, by her very nature, as a thoroughbred racehorse, would be strong, potentially wilful and difficult to control'.

Mrs Miller had made a 'serious error of judgment' in buying the 'unsuitable horse' in the early stages of her riding hobby.

'Being committed to this type of horse, and taking the step of acquiring Polly very cheaply, she has convinced herself that there were no problems with the horse, when in fact there were, and it should have been known by her as difficult to manage, even for a competent novice rider.'

On the day of the accident, 22 September 2012, Ashleigh was taken to the field by Mrs Miller, along with Keiran and his sister Sammy.

Using Mrs Miller's body armour, as she didn't have her own with her, the teenager set up and mounted the horse and began walking, then trotting.

The judge accepted Ashleigh's account that, while she was riding the mare, the trot turned into an 'uncontrollable canter' and she was 'suddenly and unexpectedly unseated'.

Mrs Miller's account of what happened was 'implausible' and she was an 'unreliable witness', he added.

He also rejected evidence given by Keiran that he had seen the teenager ride bareback, and that she had 'waxed lyrical' about riding Polly after the Abergavenny trip.

Rachel Miller (outside the High Court last month) was sued by Mrs Harris over the horse fall

Mrs Harris was riding Polly Perks, a thoroughbred mare, in a field in Mathern, near Chepstow, when she suffered catastrophic injuries in 2012. She was left paralysed by the riding accident

Ruling in Ashleigh's favour, he added: 'By positively encouraging Ashleigh to ride the horse, and condoning, if not specifically instructing a trot in an open field for the first time, Mrs Miller was exposing her to a risk of injury from a horse which could not be controlled in other than the most benign of conditions.

'In my judgement, it was reasonably forseeable that the horse would be strong and difficult to control, and in certain conditions likely to unseat a rider who was not used to managing a horse bred to race and trained to gallop.'

The judge said that while Mrs Miller was insured, it was only for a limited amount and she therefore faces 'dire financial consequences' as a result of his ruling.

The final amount of Ashleigh's compensation has yet to be assessed but her lawyers say several million pounds will be needed to pay for a lifetime's care.
Hillary Clinton has a surprise in store for supporters with tickets to the Jay Z concert in Cleveland tonight.

She's going to upgrade you with a Beyonce performance, a source told CBS News.

The Clinton campaign has been teasing 'special guests' at the Friday evening event on the campus of Cleveland State University that the candidate is also attending but will not say who.

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James will reportedly stop by, as well as Beyonce.

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Hillary Clinton is going to upgrade you her supporters with a Beyonce performance tonight

Rapper Jay Z (left) is headlining the concert in Cleveland, Ohio. Basketball star LeBron James (right) could also stop by

Hillary Clinton is getting big names in music and Hollywood involved in her campaign for the last few weeks, enlisting the likes of Pharrell (pictured), Jay Z, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Ne-Yo, Jennifer Lopez and Jon Bon Jovi

GOTV Performance in Cleveland with Jay Z Where: The Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, 2000 Prospect Ave E, Cleveland, OH 44115 When: Friday, November 4, 2016. Doors open at 5:00 pm. Ticket Distribution: Tickets are being distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at Hillary for Ohio campaign offices at 10553 St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland and 1900 Superior Avenue. How To Sign Up: Visit hrc.io/jayz Note From the Campaign: 'A ticket does not guarantee access to the concert if capacity is reached. Only one ticket per person will be issued and guests must be present at the ticket distribution site to claim a ticket.' Advertisement

Clinton will try to pull in a Donald Trump-sized crowd in what could be her campaign's largest event yet.

Rapper Jay Z will perform at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University on her behalf at concert tonight. Doors open at 5 pm.

Tickets to the concert were to be distributed 'on a first-come, first-served basis,' the Clinton campaign said. Prospective attendees can obtain tickets at Hillary for Ohio offices.

But having a ticket isn't enough, an advisory warned. 'A ticket does not guarantee access to the concert if capacity is reached.'

And don't even think about sending one person to pick up tickets on behalf of a group, the release said.

The rules state that 'only one ticket per person will be issued and guests must be present at the ticket distribution site to claim a ticket.'

The venue has enough space for 13,610 Jay Z fans.

Buzzfeed has a source close to the Democratic nominee's campaign saying that James, who endorsed Clinton at the beginning of the month, could stop by, too.

A press release announcing the Jay Z concert teased 'special guests' and did not provide any additional clues.

The Clinton campaign did not comment on CBS' report. A senior campaign official would only tell DailyMail.com on Friday that 'special guests' will indeed be at the event. The aide declined to name names.

The Clinton campaign has held several 'Love Trumps Hate' concerts over the past week aimed at motivating certain blocs of voters.

Jennifer Lopez performed at one on Saturday in Miami. Ne-Yo headlined one in North Carolina. Katy Perry is campaigning with Clinton in Philadelphia.

The Jay Z show on will specifically target young, black voters.

If Clinton can motivate enough African-Americans to vote for her in Ohio, a swing state that has been friendly to her rival, she'll easily win the White House.

Trump needs to 'run the table' in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania if he expects to win on November 8, Clinton's campaign has pointed out.

Jay Z and his powerhouse wife endorsed Clinton months ago.

The couple has performed for Democrats before, with Jay Z doing a concert with Bruce Springsteen in Columbus, Ohio, during President Barack Obama's re-election bid.

Beyonce infamously lip-synced the national anthem at Obama's inauguration the next year.

Both Jay Z and Beyonce have spoken out and sung about police violence against black Americans, a topic Democrats have embraced and Republicans have pushed back against using slogans like 'Blue Lives Matter' and 'All Lives Matter' instead of 'Black Lives Matter.'

Clinton campaigned with Pharrell yesterday in Raleigh, North Carolina. The artist's hit song 'Happy' is on the Democrat's campaign playlist.

Band members of The National performed a concert in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jon Bon Jovi, who stumped for Clinton in his native New Jersey during the Democratic primary and performed at Bill Clinton's final Clinton Global Initiative in September in New York, chipped in with two shows. One was in Pittsburgh last Thursday and another is in Tampa tomorrow.

Earlier this month Clinton campaign deployed pop star Perry to Nevada to encourage young people early vote. Pop star Miley Cyrus knocked on dorm room doors in Northern Virginia.
Dallas realtor Martha Teran, 42, was fatally shot in the stomach while meeting with prospective buyers of her daughter's phone

Two men have been arrested for the murder of a Dallas mother, who was killed while trying to sell her daughter's iPhone 7 in a parking lot outside Medieval Times.

Lonzell Hunter, 22, and Javan Jamal Bush, 25, have both been charged with capital murder in the death of 42-year-old Martha Teran.

Authorities said Hunter fired the single gunshot to the stomach that killed Teran, while Bush drove the getaway car.

Teran went to Medieval Times on Sunday after arranging to sell the phone to a prospective buyer through the digital marketplace app OfferUp.

The app allows users to post items for sale and connect with potential buyers through localized listings.

Teran's family said the buyer first suggested one location for the face-to-face meeting, but she rejected it and proposed they meet at the popular restaurant chain instead.

She arrived at the parking lot with her daughter and son and met with Lonzell, who immediately took the phone from Teran and shot her once in the stomach, according to the Star-Telegram.

Lonzell Hunter, 22, (left) and Javan Jamal Bush, 25, (right) have both been charged with capital murder in Teran's death.

They had exchanged little to no words before Hunter allegedly fired the fatal shot.

Teran slumped into her children's arms after she was shot, her family told WFAA.

Police arrived at the scene around 6pm and Teran was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Hunter was arrested on Wednesday. Authorities said Teran's daughter was able to describe the shooter in 'great detail'.

Bush was brought in for questioning after a witness spotted him driving away from the crime scene in a white Infiniti, according to the Dallas Morning News.

He was initially released after telling police he had loaned the car to Hunter, who he said was planning to sell a phone to a woman.

But then authorities obtained a warrant for Bush's cell phone and found texts indicating that he was unhappy with his cut of the deal.

The shooting occurred in the parking lot of this Medieval Times in Dallas, Texas

Within seconds of arriving at the meeting place, Teran was shot in the stomach. Her son and daughter both witnessed the brutal killing

Phone records also proved that both Bush and Hunter were in the area at the time of Teran's murder, according to the affidavit.

Bush was taken into custody at his home on Thursday with the assistance of the US Marshal Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team.

Both Hunter and Bush are being held at the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Authorities are still looking for a third unidentified black man who was also in the car with Hunter and Bush at the time of the shooting, Teran's family said.

Teran was a real estate associate with Gilchrist & Co. Real Estate in Dallas.

Tom Gilchrist, Teran's boss, said she was a 'no-nonsense gal' with a gentle spirit and a smile on her face who was a hard worker, he told CBS DFW.

Gilchrist said Teran had been planning to a take a trip to Colorado with her family.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help Teran's heartbroken family with her funeral costs.

'I wish I could wake up,' her husband Javier Gonzales said.

'There's no waking up from reality...reality is she's gone.'
The FBI has recovered emails from Anthony Weiner's laptop that are directly related to its ongoing probe into Hillary Clinton's unauthorized, homebrew email server.

The development came after federal investigators searched the disgraced former congressman's computer as part of a probe into a DailyMail.com report that he carried on a lurid sexting relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

Some of the estimated 650,000 messages on the computer are linked to Clinton's time as secretary of state, and they are not duplicates of emails the FBI has already seen, CBS News reported Thursday.

It took the State Department and a host of intelligence agencies more than a year to sift through 30,000 emails that Clinton turned over to the State Department two years ago, long after she left the Obama administration.

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FBI Director James Comey's crew is sifting through a reported 650,000 emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop, and some of them provide new information about Hillary Clinton's time in the State Department

Broken: Weiner is under investigation for allegedly sexting with a 15-year-old girl, a story broken by DailyMail.com and which has led to the bombshell FBI announcement

It's unknown how many of Weiner's emails will figure into the Clinton investigation, but the eleventh-hour nature of the discovery means there is virtually no chance voters will know what's in them until long after election day.

USA Today reported that Attorney General Loretta Lynch has not received any briefings on what the FBI has found, a necessary step before the FBI might reveal publicly what the emails do or don't contain.

Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton campaign vice chair Huma Abedin, was forced to resign from Congress after he mistakenly tweeted a photo of his underwear-clad genitals in an aroused state, intending it as a private message to a woman who was not his wife.

FBI Director James Comey wrote to Congress a week ago to inform senior members of several committees that he was taking the unusual step of reviewing a new tranch of emails  nearly four months after publicly clearing Clinton of criminal wrongdoing.

The Democratic presidential nominee faced the possibility of prosecution for housing thousands of classified documents on the unsecured email server in the basement of her home.

Phone fan: Huma Abedin, seen on Friday dropping her son off at day-care, is at the center of the nexus which has led to the new FBI probe and the deep damage to her boss's campaign

At least five foreign intelligence services are now believed to have gained at least partial access to the server, officials said Thursday.

Separately, news emerged Thursday that the FBI has been running a year-long probe into the activities of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that Clinton used State Department favors as a fishing lure to attract donations to her family foundation, along with six-figure speaking fees for her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Comey's decision to put Congress in the loop last Friday was driven in part by a fear of leaks from inside his agency, law enforcement sources told the Reuters news agency.

The examination of the email traffic is now being carried out under the tightest secrecy by an FBI headquarters team.

One source told Reuters that as of Thursday, 'nobody really knows' whether the FBI will publicly say anything further before the election.

If the public hears no new information, the bombshell will leave Clinton in the tough position of having to calm voters' nerves about the possibility of what Trump on Thursday called 'an unprecedented constitutional crisis  having a sitting president under investigation by a Justice Department whose leadership are her political appointees.
The British government is 'scared witless' of Donald Trump being elected President next week, according to a BBC journalist who said they were particularly worried about how the world would be with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in charge.

Nicholas Watt, the political editor with the BBC's flagship Newsnight programme, said the British government was terrified of the prospect of Trump winning.

He said he had spoken to one Cabinet minister - who he did not identify - and said he was told: 'We do not want Trump to win. Then we would have two mad men running the world. It is terrifying.'

Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to assembled journalists and photographers as he board a plane on the campaign trail in Florida

Watt said the 'mad men' in question were Trump and President Putin.

The journalist said many British politicians were worried about Trump's statements during the summer when he appeared to raise a question mark about the principle of 'collective defense'.

Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty an attack on one Nato member is an attack on all Nato countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right, with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev) at the unveiling of a monument in Moscow to St Vladimir, a figure who, as Volodymyr, is also the patron saint of neighboring Ukraine

Watt said British ministers feared that if Trump eroded the principle of collective defense it would give Putin the opportunity to destabilize eastern European countries who were in Nato, such as Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Romania.

Trump has repeatedly said throughout the campaign that America's allies, including wealthy countries like Germany and Japan but also smaller nations in eastern Europe, should pay more towards the cost of U.S. forces defending them from Russia, North Korea or other potential enemies.

Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, was the Secretary of State when President Obama introduced his 'Russian reset' policy, which sought to improve relations with Moscow.

Given the choice of Donald Trump (pictured, far right, with the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan) and Hillary Clinton (left) Putin is thought to favor the Republican candidate

Trump says the 'Russian reset' has been a failure and many political commentators believe Moscow has been increasingly throwing its weight around, in the Ukraine and elsewhere, because it no longer fears or respects the U.S.

It is not the first time a senior British politician has cast aspersions on Trump's political acumen.

In December last year the then prime minister David Cameron and then Mayor of London - now Foreign Secretary - Boris Johnson poured cold water on Trump's claims that Muslims in the British capital were 'so radicalized the police are afraid for their lives'.

Mr Cameron said he 'completely disagreed' with Trump and added: 'His views are wrong'.

Mr Johnson added that Trump was talking 'complete and utter nonsense'.
Hillary Clinton's campaign team wanted to get longtime aide Huma Abedin 'the hell out' of her apartment as Rep. Anthony Weiner's career began collapsing around him when word of his crotch shots and sexting scandal first broke.

'Time to get in the haz mat suits,' wrote Hillary Clinton's now communications director Jennifer Palmieri on June 10, 2011,' according to a hacked email posted by WikiLeaks.

Palmieri wrote the message while she was working at the Center for American Progress, which employed Clinton's campaign team in-waiting.

'Time to get in the haz mat suits,' was the subject line of a message Palmieri sent to now-campaign chair John Podesta and longtime Clinton advisor Neera Tanden, who were both also at CAP.

'Bust in that house and get Huma the hell out of there,' Palmieri wrote, in a hacked email reported by the New York Post.

At the time, Weiner and Abedin were holed up inside their Washington, D.C. home, with reporters staked out outside.

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT: Abedin attended a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. Thursday even as her husband became an issue in the presidential race

DIRTY LAUNDRY: A close Clinton aide wanted to 'bust in that house' to rescue Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin when her husband Anthony Weiner's world began collapsing around him. The two remained married after Weiner's sexting scandal

The email provides the first glimpse of the horror running through Clinton-world when the Weiner scandal first broke. The then-New York Congressman had accidentally sent out a crotch shot on online. He first claimed to have been hacked, only to reverse himself and admit he had sent the tweet.

Six days after Palmieri sent the message, Weiner announced he would quit Congress amid a media frenzy at a raucous press conference.

Weiner said at the time he would seek help for his problem, but was soon revealed to have engaged in habitual sexting.

Abedin ended up staying with Weiner for five years as the two went through the birth of their son, Jordan, now 4, and raised him.

Weiner is causing headaches to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign years after her aides fretted about its impact on Huma Abedin

But her husband's lewd behavior threw Clinton's campaign for a loop when it was revealed the FBI had uncovered Clinton emails on Weiner's laptop, which the FBI is examining in connection with a probe of whether Weiner sexted with an underage girl.
Three pub staff were left injured after a vicious brawl broke out between at least nine punters just before closing time.

Fists began flying outside Lounge 1868 in Maryborough, Queensland, at around 2.40am on Saturday last week, CCTV footage shows.

Staff told 7 News that they asked the group to leave, but the men refused before going to the porch area and punching a worker.

A vicious pub brawl that broke out just before closing time at Lounge 1868 in Queensland and left three staff injured has been caught on camera

Cameras then capture the all-out brawl that ensues, in which one man is choke-slammed to the floor and another young woman is pushed off her feet.

At least nine people appear to get involved in the fight, including three women trying to pull the men apart.

It is not clear whether any of the confrontation took place off camera.

It is also not clear which people in the video are staff and which are customers, but the venue said three workers required medical treatment afterward.

Workers said they had tried to eject a group of men shortly before closing time but they refused before launching an attack on employees

Brendan Heit, from the nearby Criterion Hotel, said he had refused the same men entry earlier in the night because they appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

He added: 'Obviously they can't control themselves, they have problems with different issues and we'd rather not have that reflect on our venue.'

The men fled following the attack, and police are now reviewing the footage. No charges have so-far been laid.

Police say they are investigating the incident and reviewing footage, but so far no charges have been filed (pictured, the 1868 club)
Police believe she and the driver of another vehicle got into an

Mary Piette (pictured) was fatally struck by a vehicle in apparent hit-and-run following a confrontation with the driver of another car

A 62-year-old woman was fatally struck by a vehicle early Wednesday morning in what Austin police believe was a 'road rage hit-and-run'.

Mary Piette parked her car before getting out of it around 1.30am to confront a driver of another vehicle.

Witnesses told police that she argued with the male driver as he stepped out of his car along with at least two other passengers, KVUE reported.

The witnesses said the man 'verbally engaged the victim' before getting back into the car.

The suspect, who was described as a white male, hit Piette with his blue, four-door sedan before driving off.

Police have not released a full description of the suspect yet.

The incident occurred along the North Interstate 35 service road near 53rd Street in the parking lot of the Capital Plaza shopping center between a McDonalds and Walgreens, according to KXAN.

Surveillance video from the area is being reviewed by police as they continue to investigate into what led up to the fight and whether or not Piette knew the people in the other vehicle, KVUE reported.

The suspect, who was described as a white male, hit Piette with his blue, four-door sedan before driving off. The incident occurred along North Interstate 35 service road in the parking lot of the Capital Plaza shopping center between a McDonalds (pictured) and Walgreens

The Austin Police Department (APD) is asking anyone who knew Piette to contact them.

Lt Justin Newsom of the APD told the station: 'We don't know why she was out at 1.30 in the morning on a Wednesday.

'That could be part of her normal behavior, her normal patterns, but that's the kind of stuff we need to know and don't.'

The Travis County Medical Examiner ruled Piette's death a homicide, according to the station.

The Travis County Medical Examiner ruled Piette's death a homicide. Police investigate the scene of the incident
Volkswagen's chief historian has been ditched by the company after shedding light on the group's Nazi past and use of thousands of slave labourers from Auschwitz.

The German automaker has vehemently denied that Manfred Grieger was dismissed or forced out after news of his sudden departure sparked an uproar.

A row is thought to have erupted after Mr Grieger criticised a 2014 study into the VW's Audi subsidiary, which he claimed downplayed its links to the Nazi Party.

Following Mr Grieger's departure after 20 years at the carmaker, 75 German academics penned an open letter, accusing VW of vindictive treatment.

Volkswagen's chief historian Manfred Grieger (pictured) has been ditched by the company after shedding light on the group's Nazi past

Mr Grieger spent almost 20 years documenting Volkswagen's true past, including its connection with the Nazi Party, pictured is Adolf Hitler inspecting a VW car in 1938

'Just this brief discussion in an academic journal then led to talk that Grieger be put on a short leash and limited in his academic freedom, which in turn led the prominent historian to leave,' the letter reads, according to the New York Times.

A former Volkswagen board member and workers' representative, Walter Hiller, also branded the decision a 'scandal'.

In his review of the 500-page study into Audi's past, Mr Grieger said the authors had downplayed the company's employment of slaves from death camps.

The 2014 study has claimed that Audi, which was known as Group Auto Union during the war years, had hired 3,700 concentration camp inmates as part of a deal brokered by the SS.

Hitler And Ferdinand Porshe are seen inspecting a scale model of a Volkswagen factory

It also revealed another 16,500 forced laborers, who were not imprisoned in concentration camps, were working in Auto Union plants.

'More than 20,000 forced laborers were used in the production of Auto Union in their Saxon works, including almost one-fifth from concentration camps,' said the study authors.

Despite its revelations, Mr Grieger said the study had not gone far enough.

He spent almost 20 years documenting Volkswagen's true past, including its connection with the Nazi Party during the Second World War.

NUMBER OF SLAVES GERMAN FIRMS TOOK FROM NAZIS 1. IG Farben - 83,000 2. BASF, Bayer and Hoechst - 80,000 3. ThyssenKrupp - 75,000 4. BMW - 50,000 5. Daimler (Mercedes) - 40,000 6. Bosch - 20,000 7. Audi - 20,000 8. VW - 12,000 Advertisement

The historian was a co-author of a study published in 1996 that exposed how Volkswagen had also made extensive use of forced labour from camps.

After news emerged of his departure, a spokesman said: 'We are surprised by these assumptions. They are not based on anything.

'Volkswagen has consistently and honestly worked through its corporate history, and will continue to do so.'

The historian and VW have declined to comment on the circumstances behind his departure, citing a mutual agreement to end his contract.

VW, which was founded in the 1930s by a Nazi trade union, has previously attracted praise for being open about its dealings during the Second World War.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone for a Volkswagen factory in the firm's home town of Wolfsburg in northern Germany.

It was also found to have used around 12,000 slaves from Nazi death camps in its factories.

Previous reports have claimed that VW had a 'dying room' in one of the factories, where female forced labourers who gave birth had to leave their newborns to die.

VW was found to have used around 12,000 slaves from Nazi death camps in its factories

Jewish slave workers in striped uniforms work in a Nazi ammunition factory near Dachau concentration camp during the Second World War

WirtschaftsWoche previously published date showing how Bosch, Mercedes, Deutsche Bank, VW and many others, used a total of around 300,000 slaves.

Just over a decade ago, top German companies contributed 3billion into a fund to compensate forced labourers enslaved in Third Reich factories.

Under a programme organised by Fritz Sauckel - who was hanged at Nuremberg for war crimes - over two million people were brought to Germany from conquered lands to work for the new master race.

Many of these went to private companies, like VW and BASF, while tens of thousands more were conscripted to work under the most appalling conditions producing weaponry.
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The woman who was found chained up like a dog in a metal container after vanishing two months ago with her boyfriend has revealed she witnessed her captor murder her partner, just hours after police found a body on the 100-acre property.

Kala Brown told police that she had watched Todd Kohlhepp, 45, the man on whose 100-acre property she was found, murder boyfriend Charlie Carver, 32.

Spartenburg coroner Rusty Clavenger confirmed a corpse had been unearthed by police, less than 24 hours into the investigation of the sprawling property in Woodruff, South Carolina.

The sex of the discovered body was not revealed, and police said they are still searching for three more. Fears are growing one of the bodies they are searching for could be Carver.

Brown was discovered on Thursday by deputies acting on a tip-off they received. She and Carver had last been seen on August 30. The 32-year-old's car was found on the property on Thursday night.

It also emerged Friday that Kohlhepp had been convicted of raping a 14-year-old at gunpoint when he was 15.

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Kala Brown, 30, was found chained up in a metal container on a South Carolina property after being missing since August. She had been hired by the property's owner to help clean the homes he was selling

The man who owns the property, Todd Kohlhepp (left), is a registered sex offender. Brown went missing with her 32-year-old boyfriend Charlie Carver (right) on August 30, and says she saw Kohlhepp murder him. Carver is still missing

Todd Kohlhepp (pictured in blue shirt) appeared at a bond hearing at the Spartanburg County Detention Center Friday. He is likely to face at least one murder charge, and is being held without bond. His first court appearance is set for January 19

Solicitor Barry Barnette said Kohlhepp was 'a very, very dangerous individual' who kept chains in his bedroom, along with silenced handguns, assault weapons and an 'unbelievable' amount of ammunition

Late Friday evening, Brown's family released a statement saying the brave survivor needed privacy to cope with what had happened.

'While Kala is doing well physically, emotionally she's having good moments and bad moments,' the family said.

'She's requesting privacy at this time and will make an official statement as soon as the authorities give her permission to do so. Right now Kala needs time to process and begin to cope with the events that have occurred.

'She thanks everyone for their love and support.'

Earlier, on Friday afternoon, Kohlhepp appeared before court for a bond hearing in the Spartanburg County Detention Center.

There, lawyers for the Woodruff Solicitor's Office said that Brown told deputies she saw the 45-year-old murder her boyfriend.

Solicitor Barry Barnette said Brown saw her captor shoot her boyfriend dead, and described him as 'a very, very dangerous individual.' She added: 'She told us this individual did kill him in her presence.'

Kohlhepp had a public defender during his appearance. He was not handcuffed, but sat with his hands behind his back.

Barnette then went on to tell the hearing Brown was found with chains around her neck and ankles, and that addition chains were found in Kohlhepp's bedroom, along with an 'unbelievable' amount of ammunition.

Investigators also found silenced 9mm handguns and assault weapons, he said.

He is to remain in jail without bond until his first court hearing on January 19, the judge ruled.

A county sherriff helicopter lands at a property owned by Todd Kohlhepp, where a body was found on Friday afternoon

Police are seen standing around a hole in the ground that had been dug as part of the search for bodies on the property on Friday

A look at Kohlhepp's Facebook page suggests that the man became considerably more active online after Carver and Brown's disappearance on August 30.

Chilling: In a chilling Facebook post 16 days after Brown and Carver went missing, Kohlhepp posted about how most people who vanish turn up again

Between the start of July and the end of August, he only posted nine times, mostly showing properties that Kohlhepp - a realtor - was selling.

But in September he posted more than 40 times - sometimes multiple times a day, and more frequently about his feelings and thoughts on life.

The first post in this more active phase is on August 31, the day after the couple disappeared, in which he appears to have been focusing on the news.

'Its wednesday, the trash people picked up my trash at 5:30 this morning,' he wrote. 'this post is still way more interesting than whats on the news.. carry on.'

A more chilling post came on September 15, when he wrote: 'Reading the news.. this person missing, that person missing, another person missing.. oh wait.. that person just went to beach with friend, other person found with her parole violation boyfriend...

'In the event I become missing, please note no one would take me. I eat too much and I am crabby, they would just bring me back or give me 20 bucks for a cab ride.

Abuse: Kohlhepp also said that his family would hit him for as little as setting down a cup too hard at the table. His Facebook usage increased dramatically after the couple disappeared

'Most likely if I am missing, its because my dumb ass did something on that tractor again and I am too stubborn to go to the doctor... I got 9 lives.. I aint done yet..'

And in a post from September 26, he talks about how he was beaten by several members of his family.

'In my family you got backhanded for talking back or being disrespectful... actually acting up ended up a spanking that was epic.. you do NOT want to make the same mistake in my family again,' he said, going on to complain about rioters he'd seen on the news.

'My family believed raising me was a group effort,' he added in the comments. 'That means when I messed up, mom beat my a**, step father beat my a** when he got home.. next time I went to grandparents I got my a** beat... they made a believer out of you..'

He continued: 'you stood up for anthem, you shut up with adults spoke.. you sure as hell never set that cup down hard on the table.. noooooooooooo... and cop an attitude over anything... well.. you lost tv, bike.. friends that month..

'After the spanking.. you just didnt act up... these kids ( and adults ) just dont know.... damn shame too.. they might learn to appreciate if they did.'

Carver's family have said that some of the Facebook posts that he apparently made after his disappearance were out of character, and they believe that his account was hacked by someone who made fake updates.

Police stand guard outside a building on the property owned by registered sex offender Todd Kohlhepp, who was arrested after a woman was found chained up in a metal container

Police use a backhoe on the massive property in South Carolina as part of the ongoing search for as many as four bodies investigators believe may be buried on the land

Helicopters were seen at the property on Friday morning, along with a backhoe and police dogs that were being used in nearby woods as part of the search.

A Greenville News reporter who flew over the property noted on Twitter that there was what appeared to be a camouflaged metal storage shed on the land.

Kohlhepp, who owns the 100-acre property, was also arrested for the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in 1986, when he was 15. He was jailed from 1987 to 2001 over the incident.

Court documents, obtained by WFXG, detail how Kohlhepp pointed a 'small blue steel handgun at (the victim's) head' and led her into his house. Inside, he 'placed gray duct tape over her mouth' and 'tied her hands together with a rope', before removing her clothes and 'forcing the victim to have sexual intercourse with him'.

The judge who ruled on the case described Kohlhepp as 'impulsive, explosive, and preoccupied with sexual content' from the age of nine.

'He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school.

'He destroys his own clothing, personal possessions and pets apparently on whim,' court papers state. The documents also cite a psychiatrist's report that says the 45-year-old has 'emotional difficulties and poor impulse control'.

Kohlhepp got his realtor's license in 2006, before background checks for applicants were made compulsory.

A mugshot of Kohlhepp after his arrest shows him with a cruel smirk.

TODD KOHLHEPP'S SHOCKING PAST AS A 'MONSTER' WHO WAS JAILED FOR RAPING A 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL Court documents from an incident in 1986 that saw Todd Kohlhepp jailed for 14 years have shed light on his shocking past. Kohlhepp, who owns the property where Kala Brown was found chained up like a dog in a metal container on Thursday, kidnapping and sexual assault of a girl when he was 15 years old. A sentencing report, obtained by WFXG, claims Kohlhepp lured the girl outside by telling her an ex-boyfriend wanted to talk to her. Kohlhepp raped a 14-year-old girl at gunpoint in 1986, when he was 15, and openly admitted to the crime when police arrived to question him. This mugshot from that arrest shows him with a cruel smirk. He was jailed from 1987-2001 When the two were outside, he then pointed a 'small blue steel handgun at her head' and 'told her to walk down the alley towards his house.' Once they got into Kohlhepp's bedroom, according to the documents, he duct taped her mouth, tied her hands together, and, 'removed her clothes, then his clothes and forced the victim to have sexual intercourse with him.' The victim allegedly told police Kohlhepp had threatened to kill her and her siblings if she told anyone about the incident, however she still called police when she got home. The document continues: 'When contacted by police, the defendant was holding a .22 caliber rifle which was pointed at the ceiling. When questioned regarding this incident, the defendant fully admitted his guilty and indicated he used the victims ex-boyfriend as a ploy.' The judge who ruled on the case described Kohlhepp as 'impulsive, explosive, and preoccupied with sexual content' from the age of nine. 'He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school. He destroys his own clothing, personal possessions and pets apparently on whim,' court papers state. The documents also cite a psychiatrist's report that says the 45-year-old has 'emotional difficulties and poor impulse control'. It described him 'destroying his bedroom with a hammer; destroying other childrens projects; hitting other children; cloroxing a goldfish; shooting a dog with a BB gun; being dismissed from the Boy Scouts because he was too disruptive; shredding his own clothes'. The judge's report said: 'He is extremely self-centered with high levels of anti-social personality functioning, and likely continuing aggressive behaviors toward others in the future.' Advertisement

Brown was found on a property in Woodruff, South Carolina, police announced on Thursday evening

Carver's family released a statement on Friday afternoon, shortly before Kohlhepp's bond hearing got underway.

'We, Charlie David Carver's family, would like to begin by saying how wonderful it is Kala has been found and that she is receiving care and is back with family and friends,' it read.

'The outpouring of concern and affection from the community has been overwhelming and we are very thankful.

'At this time we know that no more than what has been reported within the media or statements made by law enforcement.

'We ask that you continue to pray for Kala's healing and for David's safe return as well. In the meantime, we ask for some time to ourselves as we process events as they unfold.

'Thank you for your understanding and expect updates as they become available.'

It was reported on Thursday Kohlhepp is a real estate agent, and Sheriff Wright said Brown worked for suspect.

Brown's close friend, Leah Miller, confirmed the 30-year-old started working for Kohlhepp only weeks before she vanished.

She said Brown helped Kohlhepp clear and clean properties before he put them on the market, according to Greenville Online.

'I was supposed to be helping Kala, but I recently had neck surgery,' Miller said.

A private property sign on a fence surrounding registered sex offender Todd Kohlhepp's property, in Woodruff, South Carolina

A police staging area is seen being set up on the property where Kala Brown was found in a metal container on Thursday

A county sherriff helicopter flies over the South Carolina property, where police are conducting a massive investigation after the discovery of a missing woman on Thursday

A shed for animals is seen surrounded by a wire fence on the property owned by Todd Kohlhepp

'I'm just in shock, wondering if she tried to reach me to help her before she disappeared.'

Another friend, Lindsey Mayson, told WSPA the suspected kidnapper did not seem like a bad person when she met him.

'We went by his house to get a key before we went by his house to clean. Didnt seem like a person who would do anything to anybody. He seemed down to earth,' Mayson said.

Earlier, Wright said Brown was 'chained inside the container like a dog' when police found her.

He said she told deputies she had been kept in the container - which measured 30 feet by 15 feet by 10 or 12 feet - for two months and had been fed regularly.

'It's all by God's grace that we found that little girl alive,' Wright told NBC News.

A massive investigation is now underway on the 100-acre property owned by Kohlhepp. Authorities search a field on the property above

A deputy is seen leaving out of Kohlhepp's home carrying a computer on Thursday

A massive investigation is now underway on the 100-acre property, according to WYFF4.

Brown has since been taken to local hospital for treatment and Wright said she was 'obviously traumatized' but 'alive and well,' according to The State.

She reportedly told police as many as four bodies may have been buried on the property.

Wright also said deputies have found several weapons and ammunition.

'We're trying to make sure we don't have a serial killer on our hands,' Wright told WYFF.

'(It) very possibly could be what we have.'

Another deputy is seen leaving the home carrying a brown paper bag filled with evidence form Kohlhepp's home

Authorities said Brown (pictured left and right) had a chain around her neck when she was found on Thursday. She told deputies she had been kept in the container for two months and had been fed regularly

Brown has told investigators that there may be other victims.

Kohlhepp will be charged with kidnapping and there is a possibility more charges are to come, Wright said.

'We're trying to get all this sorted out and figure out what were going to charge him with,' Wright told WYFF.

'One of the charges will be kidnapping, it could be murder. It could be a number of things.'

Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said his department's investigation into the disappearance of Brown and Carver led authorities to the property near Woodruff, 80 miles northwest of the state capital of Columbia, where the woman was found.

Kohlhepp, pictured in a Facebook photo right and in a mugshot in March, right, was added to the sex offender registry in 1987 when he was convicted and sentenced to prison for kidnapping and dangerous crimes against children in Arizona

Kohlhepp, pictured left as a pilot and right in a photo for his real estate work, is due to appear for an initial hearing on Friday afternoon

Stewart said more than a dozen search warrants were issued.

'We got computer and cellphone records that ultimately led us to the area in Woodruff,' Stewart said.

'We knew that was the last place that a cellphone tied to this case pinged.'

Kohlhepp was added to the sex offender registry in 1987 when he was convicted and sentenced to prison for kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl in Arizona in 1986.

Records indicate Kohlhepp, orginally from Arizona, is a licensed real estate agent as well as a licensed pilot.

Authorities removed the cars from Kohlhepp's garage include his BMW

Brown (left) and Carver (right) had been dating for a few months before they vanished on August 30

He is listed as a self-employed and as the owner/broker in charge at Todd Kohlhepp and Associates LLC located in Greenville on his Facebook page.

Carver and Brown were last seen together leaving a friend's home on August 30.

The next day, surveillance footage caught Carver leaving his work. That day marked the last the couple's friends or family heard from them.

Carver and Brown had been dating just a few months, and had moved in together over the summer as Carver was going through a divorce.

After failing to answer calls or messages from their loved ones, the couple's parents searched their apartment a few days later and found Brown's Pomeranian inside without any food or water.

As the search for the missing couple started, Carver's Facebook - which he does not typically use - started becoming more and more active. Above shows an exchange on his Facebook page on September 6

Medications and Brown's glasses were also left behind in the abandoned apartment.

Neighbor Nicholas Arocho told Greenville Online that Carver's family took Pomeranian and paid the couple's rent for a couple of months after they disappeared.

The family later packed up the couple's belongings, he said.

As the search for the missing couple started, Carver's Facebook - which he does not typically use - started becoming more active.

Relatives believe that the account has been hacked. Above, a message that someone received from Carver saying he was 'fine'

On September 1, the account posted an update that the two had gotten married and then on September 6 his profile picture was changed.

Other posts include links to stories and GoFundMe fundraisers for the missing couple.

There are also several bizarre posts unrelated to the couple's disappearance, such as memes and comic book illustrations.

The most recent post from October 2 reads: 'What color ribbon supports the cure for people who can't keep their nose out of other people's business?'

When one concerned family member reached out to Carver on the account, they received a private message saying 'yes I'm fine'.

But family members believe the account was hacked since the posts are not in Carver's style.

Meanwhile, Brown's Facebook - which she used more than her boyfriend - has been completely silent.

A friend of Brown and Carver's mother told police that someone the couple knows has 'given them problems before'.

Brown's car was found in her apartment complex and her cellphone had not been used in the 48 hours before she vanished.

Kohlhepp is scheduled for an initial hearing at 2 pm at the Spartanburg County Jail.

Pictures of the couple and 'MISSING' posters were shared on Facebook after their disappearance in August
A family member of the London banker who was killed in a terrorist massacre in Pakistan was forced to 'play dead' to avoid being murdered.

Naiyyar Mehdi Zaidi, 60, was killed when two gunmen opened fire at a Shia Muslim gathering in Pakistan on October 29.

His daughter-in-law, Qaisra Khan, former curator for the British Museum, has told the London Evening Standard how another of her relatives, Murtaza Ali Zaidi, was shot but lay low, pretending to have been killed to save his own life.

She told the paper: 'Murtaza was shot in the shoulder. He saw it all. He stayed down because if hed stood up hed have been shot again.

Pakistani security officials inspect the scene of an attack on Shia Muslims mourners in Karachi, Pakistan on October 29 where Mr Zaidi was killed

'He stayed down with the deceased. The perpetrators were in full bullet-proof gear. One of the men who survived tried to tackle them and he was shot under the chin.

'They put the gun under his face and fired. But he survived and is recovering well, amazingly.'

As well as killing Mr Zaidi, the gunmen murdered two of his brothers, American citizen Nasir Abbas Zaidi and Pakistani national Baqir Abbas Zaidi and three other victims.

His daughter-in-law described the horror of the scene, saying another relative had been forced to lay low to avoid being murdered

Ms Khan said she believes the gunmen were targeting a Shia gathering, rather than a specific person.

She paid tribute to her father-in-law, saying: 'I am Sunni and he had no problem with that. He was a really well-loved person and a wonderful human being.'

The curator also said he would have wanted an end to sectarian violence.

Mr Zaidi's funeral took place on Monday with tight security.

Ali bin Sufyan, the group's spokesperson, in a statement: 'Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Almi, a Sunni sectarian group, took responsibility for the killings. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Alami accepts responsibility for those killed in this attack, and we announce that there is no room for the enemies of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad in Pakistan.'

Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said: 'The murder of Naiyyar Mehdi Zaidi, a Londoner much loved by his community was an abhorrent act which we condemn outright.

'The information available indicates Mr Zaidi was the victim of a sectarian killing, where the assailants intended to target a religious gathering for Shia Muslim women. When they were unable to carry out their grisly attack, they instead shot Mr Zaidi and his two brothers.

'I offer my deepest condolences to Mr Zaidis family and his immediate community. I call upon the Pakistani authorities to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. I also urge everyone, especially those in positions of authority, to redouble our efforts to seek greater unity and understanding between Muslim sisters and brothers around the world.'
John Bennett (pictured), an anti-Muslim Oklahoma State Representative, has hinted at executing Hillary Clinton in a bizarre Facebook post

An anti-Muslim Oklahoma State Representative has hinted at executing Hillary Clinton in a bizarre Facebook post.

John Bennett, a Republican seeking re-election in the state's second District, made the comment in response to a right-wing blog post about the Benghazi attack in 2012.

'Two words... firing squad,' Bennett wrote in a post that has since been deleted.

After deleting the comments, Bennett claimed he was being 'sarcastic' in a text message he sent to the Oklahoman.

However, he went on to accuse Clinton of treason, which is punishable by death.

'She has committed nothing less than treason by leaving fellow Americans to die in Benghazi,' he said.

'If anyone else had done that they would be charged with treason and thrown under the jail at a minimum, and a firing squad likely.'

Many were critical of the post before it was deleted, according to KFOR.

'Isnt it treason to threaten the life of a presidential candidate? You, in effect, you wished for her death and laid out the means of her execution,' one person wrote on Facebook.

However, the network found other disgusting comments that have since been deleted supporting Bennett's suggestion.

'No firing squad. That would be too good. A public hanging would be well suited for her,' one person said.

Bennett made his comment (pictured) in response to a right-wing blog post about the Benghazi attack in 2012

'She has committed nothing less than treason by leaving fellow Americans to die in Benghazi,' Bennett said when asked about Hillary Clinton (pictured)

Bennett's Facebook page is littered with anti-Muslim comments and articles he shared from right-wing blog sites. He was also anti-abortion rights for women, and posted a number of bible verses.

In another post, he proudly displayed his letter of endorsement from the NRA.

The Republican created controversy in 2014 when he said any Muslim who follows the practices of Islam should not be trusted, while also comparing followers of the religion to Nazis.

The State Representative (pictured) created controversy in 2014 when he compared people who follow Islams to Nazis

'You think every German was a Nazi? No, they werent. But what happened with the Nazis was that once they got in power, all those Germans that sat quiet or were scared to say anything had no choice but to follow and support what they were doing,' he said.

'So is every Muslim bad? No. but if they subscribe to Islam and what it teaches, and if theyre not standing up and condemning what Islam teaches, then theyre just going right along with them, just like the Germans did when the Nazis were around,'
Two top aides to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have been found guilty of conspiracy and fraud in the 'Bridgegate' criminal trial, a jury determined on Friday.

Bridget Kelly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christi's former deputy chief of staff, and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni were charged for closing down lanes at the George Washington Bridge in an act of political retribution.

Kelly and Baroni were found guilty of all nine counts, which included conspiracy, wire fraud and misapplying the property of the agency that operates the bridge.

Kelly, a single mother of four, sobbed as she was told the verdict while Baroni appeared cold and emotionless.

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's former top officials Bridget Kelly (pictured) sobbed as she and fellow former aide Bill Baroni were found guilty on nine charges in the Bridgegate scandal

Kelly (left) and Baroni (right) have been found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud and misapplying the property of the agency that operates the bridge

The pair will be sentenced on February 21 but defense attorneys are planning to appeal the decisions (Baroni, pictured)

The most serious charges could see both defendants in jail for as many as 20 years.

The pair will be sentenced on February 21 but defense attorneys are planning to appeal the decisions.

Kelly's attorney Michael Critchley said he feels his client was used as a scapegoat as she wept behind him.

Critchley called the verdict the 'first step in a process' and that he feels the issues raised were substantial and would have affected the outcome of the trial. He maintained that Kelly is innocent.

'We're disappointed. Our primary concern is the family,' Critchley said.

Kelly did not speak during the press conference held after the verdict was read.

Baroni's attorney Michael Baldassare called the case and verdict 'a sham'.

'I am innocent of these charges and I am very, very looking forward to this appeal,' Baroni said before thanking his family and legal team.

He also thanked his friends in the gay community, who he said supported him and lifted him up throughout the case.

Baldassare had more vicious words about the case.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (pictured) hasn't been charged and has denied knowing about the intentional lane closures

'In keeping with the disgrace that was this trial, one of the things the U.S. attorney's office should be ashamed of is where it decided to draw the line on who to charge and not to charge.

'They should've had belief in their own case to charge powerful people and they did not,' Baldassare said.

U.S. Attorney Paul Jay Fishman said he wouldn't comment directly about why a case wasn't brought against Christie but said they indicted the people they believed would be convicted beyond a reasonable doubt.

He also said he doesn't know what the sentencing the judge will give or what he will recommend.

Christie has denied knowing about the plot and hasn't been charged.

However, Kelly, Baroni and former Port Authority official David Wildstein have all testified that he was informed about the lane closure.

In a statement on Friday, Christie continued to deny any knowledge of the lane closures on the bridge and said he was 'saddened' by the actions of Kelly and Baroni.

'On January 9, 2014, I apologized to the people of New Jersey for the conduct exhibited by some members of my Administration who showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government and for the people we serve.

'Like so many people in New Jersey, I'm saddened by this case and I'm saddened about the choices made by Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein. Today's verdict does not change this for me.

'But let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them.

'No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue,' he said.

However, Kelly (pictured), Baroni and former Port Authority official David Wildstein have all testified that he was informed about the lane closure

Kelly and Baroni (pictured) testified during the trial that they were under the impression the lane closures were part of a study by Wildstein

The six-week trial has served to further tarnish the Christie's damaged public reputation.

The jury began deliberations on Monday and on Thursday, attorneys for Kelly and Baroni filed a motion for a mistrial, although details were unclear as to on what grounds the mistrial was filed.

The two officials were accused of shutting down access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013, thereby creating a massive days-long traffic jam to punish a local mayor for declining to endorse Christie's reelection campaign.

The ploy was allegedly retaliation against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich who refused to endorse Christie for reelection in 2013.

CHRIS CHRISTIE STATEMENT ON BRIDGEGATE VERDICT 'On January 9, 2014, I apologized to the people of New Jersey for the conduct exhibited by some members of my Administration who showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government and for the people we serve. Those people were terminated by me and today, the jury affirms that decision by also holding them responsible for their own conduct. 'Like so many people in New Jersey, I'm saddened by this case and I'm saddened about the choices made by Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein. Today's verdict does not change this for me. 'But let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue. 'As a former federal prosecutor, I have respected these proceedings and refused to comment on the daily testimony from the trial. I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom.' Advertisement

Kelly and Baroni's co-conspirator, the former Port Authority executive and confessed mastermind Wildstein, pleaded guilty and appeared as the government's star witness, detailing how the three officials schemed to pay back Sokolich, a Democrat.

Kelly and Baroni testified during the trial that they were under the impression the lane closures were part of a study by Wildstein.

Wildstein also implicated Christie, saying he and Baroni discussed the lane closures with the governor while they were ongoing.

Christie, Wildstein testified, laughed at the notion that Sokolich was frustrated by the traffic.

At the time, Christie was eyeing a presidential run, and his aides believed that securing the backing of Democratic officials would burnish his national reputation, according to trial testimony.

The two officials were accused of shutting down access lanes at the George Washington Bridge (stock image, pictured) in September 2013, thereby creating a massive days-long traffic jam to punish a local mayor for declining to endorse Christie's reelection campaign

Kelly, who took the stand in her defense, testified she had discussed the lane closures with Christie a month beforehand, though she said she thought at the time they were part of a legitimate traffic study.

Legal experts have said it is unlikely Christie would face any criminal consequences based on the trial testimony.

Kelly and Baroni's lawyers argued that Wildstein had orchestrated the plot himself and told them he was conducting a traffic study.

Wildstein said on the stand the three of them knew all along that the study was a bogus cover story.

Prosecutors showed jurors numerous exchanges that Kelly and Baroni each had with Wildstein, who operated as a liaison between Baroni at the Port Authority and Kelly in the governor's office.

Those included Kelly's now-infamous email to Wildstein that prosecutors said launched the scheme, in which she wrote, 'Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.'

During the trial, defense lawyers were furious when U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors during deliberations in response to a question that they could convict Kelly and Baroni on conspiracy even if the act itself was not 'intentionally punitive toward Mayor Sokolich.'

Wigenton said prosecutors did not have to prove motive, even though their case had revolved around the political retribution.

'By answering the way you're answering, you're directing a verdict of guilty,' an angry Critchley told Wigenton on Tuesday.

This caused a heated debate between the defense and prosecutors, who said that 'motive' doesn't need to be proven to find someone guilty.

Critchley, said the judge's call was 'unfair' because his case was built around the idea that his client had not 'conspired' in shutting down the lanes.

Conspiracy laws state that motive or intent doesn't need to be proven. It must only show an intent to break the law.
A high school in Colorado was closed Thursday and Friday after a teenage boy was found dead inside the building after being reported missing.

According to the Larimer County Sheriff's office, deputies responded to Berthoud High School Thursday morning after getting a missing person report.

Parents contacted the authorities saying they were concerned for the safety of their son, who may have gone to Berthoud High School on Spartan Avenue.

Tragic: Berthoud High School in Colorado was closed Thursday and Friday after the body of a teenager was discovered inside

Law enforcement officials arrived at the school, saw an open door and discovered the body of a teenage boy inside the building. It is unclear if the teen was a student at the school.

The sheriff's office would not say how the boy died, but deputies noted there was no threat to the public, reported the Reporter-Herald.

Larimer County Coroner's Office said it will be releasing the identity of the deceased and the cause and manner of death at a later time.

This is only the latest is a series of tragic incidents to have befallen the Berthoud community since the beginning of the year.

On April 1, Alan 'AJ' Black, a 17-year-old junior at Berthoud High, died at his home in Johnstown from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Year of grief: In April, Berthoud junior Alan 'AJ' Black (left), 17, committed suicide at his home in Johnstown. In June, recent Berthoud graduate Ashley Doolittle (right), 18, was shot dead

Jilted boyfriend: Tanner Flores (pictured right with Ashley), 18, has admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend, telling police he was angry because she had dumped him

In June, recent Berthoud graduate Ashley Doolittle, 18, was shot twice in the head by her ex-boyfriend.

Tanner Flores, 18, has admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend, telling police he was angry that she had ended their year-long relationship.

After shooting Doolittle in the head, Flores drove her body five hours away to his grandfather's house in Collbran, where he cleaned up the corpse and hid it in the back of his truck, according to a police affidavit.

All classes and activities at Berthoud High School have been cancelled for Thursday and Friday.
An Uber driver who helped the taxi hire firm's employees win the right to take paid holiday in a landmark court battle has had his own request for time off rejected.

James Farrar, 48, from Hampshire, was one of two drivers who spearheaded a case against Uber, claiming its drivers should be entitled to the national living wage, holiday and sick pay, as well as paid breaks.

Last week, the High Court ruled in favour of his cause and said Uber should class its drivers as employees, rather than self-employed freelance operators.

James Farrar, 48, from Hampshire, was one of two drivers who spearheaded a case against Uber, claiming its drivers should be entitled to the national living wage, holiday and sick pay, as well as paid breaks. After the landmark case, he put in a holiday request but had it denied

It means they should be entitled to all the benefits awarded to a staff member.

The GMB union described the employment tribunal decision as a 'monumental victory' for around 40,000 Uber drivers in England and Wales. Meanwhile the Trades Union Congress said the case exposed the 'dark side' of the British labour market.

Mr Farrar celebrated the victory by submitting a holiday request this week asking for five days off from November 7. He posted the email request on Twitter, in which he said: 'Hello Jo and Team. In light of last week's judgement I would like to book a week's holiday from next week.

'I realise the systems may not have been updated to roll this out yet so hoping you can find a manual fix for me.

'Can you please approve my time off from work? I am planning to be off from Nov 7 to 11? My mother in law is visiting from America so I'd like to be home for a few days with the family.'

Posting the email on Twitter, he wrote: 'I just put in for my first paid holidays at Uber! Happy Days.'

However, less than 24 hours later, he wrote: 'Bad news from Uber. Just gotta keep working I suppose.'

He then shared the response he received from the private hire taxi firm.

It said: 'I can confirm that Uber will be appealing against the recent Employment Tribunal decision and therefore until a final decision is reached we will not be intending to pay any holiday pay.

Mr Farrar celebrated the victory for Uber drivers by submitting a holiday request this week asking for five days off from November 7. He posted the email request on Twitter (pictured)

'Clearly, there is no obligation on you to turn on the app next week and therefore you are free to decide whether or not to take next week as holiday.'

During the case against Uber, Mr Farrar and fellow Uber driver Yaseen Aslam told the tribunal they were under tremendous pressure to work long hours and there would be repercussions if they refused jobs.

The pair said they were effectively controlled by the firm but did not have basic employees rights.

Mr Farrar had told judges that he earned just 5.03 an hour after expenses  far less than the national living wage of 7.20 which came into force in April.

After spearheading the class action, he said: 'This is a great victory for mini cab drivers. It has been a rotten trade for a long time. But the exploitation since Uber came to the market has been supercharged.'

Uber  which operates through a smartphone app in a dozen areas of the UK  insists that it does not give its drivers in England and Wales basic employee benefits because they are self-employed contractors who choose when and where they work.

He then shared the response he received from Uber, which denied his request for paid leave

The GMB union described the employment tribunal decision as a 'monumental victory' for around 40,000 Uber drivers in England and Wales. Meanwhile the Trades Union Congress said the case exposed the 'dark side' of the British labour market (file picture)

Other companies such as courier services Deliveroo and Hermes use a similar business model to Uber, and could experience a knock-on effect from yesterdays ruling.

Frank Field, Labour chairman of the work and pensions select committee, said the ruling would ricochet through the whole gig economy  including for workers on zero hours contracts.

The gig economy refers to the piecemeal work done by individuals who bounce between multiple employers on demand, without having a fixed contract.

The ruling means drivers involved in the tribunal could be entitled to compensation for missed holiday pay and back payments for earnings below the living wage.
Kate McCann says every day brings fresh hope that her missing daughter Madeleine will be found.

Ms McCann, whose daughter has been missing since 2007, said she still believes that every new day will be the one to end her torment.

The former GP revealed her continued heartache during an impassioned speech as she joined forces with the mother of murdered Alice Gross to launch a new charity.

Kate McCann (pictured at a charity launch with Ros Hodgkiss and Trevor McDonald) says every day brings fresh hope that her missing daughter Madeleine will be found

The appeal, Find Every Child, aims to raise money so the charity Missing People can reach out to the thousands of youngsters who disappear each year.

Speaking at the launch event in London, Ms McCann said: 'We go to bed every night with the agonising feeling that just maybe tomorrow we will find something to lead us back to Madeleine. To let us know what happened. To give us hope.'

Ms McCann shared the stage at the Corinthia Hotel with Ros Hodgkiss, whose 14-year-old daughter Alice was found dead in September 2014 after she went missing for five weeks.

Together, the mothers - united it grief over the loss of their daughters - highlighted the plight of 140,000 youngsters who go missing in Britain each year.

Ms McCann, an ambassador for Missing People, then made an impromptu speech in which she urged the public to give their support.

'When my little girl first disappeared, on that horrendous night that changed our lives forever, I could never have imagined that nearly 10 years later we would still be in the same position.

Ms McCann (pictured with husband Gerry in 2014_, who has been searching for her daughter for ten years, said she still believes that every new day will be the one to end her torment

The former GP (left) revealed her continued heartache during an impassioned speech as she joined forces with the mother of murdered Alice Gross to launch a new charity

'That I would be stood here in front of you tonight talking about the issue and how important it is that we look for each and every missing child.

'Giving hope is what Missing People do day in and day out. Please help this wonderful charity in their ambitious goal to Find Every Child.'

Ms Hodgkiss also relived the nightmare of her daughter's disappearance and murder, adding that the family are indebted to the charity for its help.

She said: 'We had access to their 24 hour helpline to help us deal with the ongoing crisis of her disappearance.

'Missing People also provided specialized trauma counselling to us, which helped us manage the immediate aftermath of Alice's disappearance prior to the news of her death.'

Ros Hodgkiss, whose 14-year-old daughter Alice (left) was killed by Arnis Zalkalns (right) in September 2014 after she went missing for five weeks

She said it was still hard to express the 'enormity' of their loss.

She added: 'The one thing we can be certain of is that our lives can never be the same again.

'But Missing People helped me, and I know that they will help other parents faced with the disorienting mayhem of a child going missing. Find every child is one way of doing that.'

Madeleine, three, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz nearly 10 years ago in May 2007.

Madeleine, three, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz nearly 10 years ago in May 2007. Pictured are British police in 2013 while investigating her disappearance

Ms McCann and her heart doctor husband Gerry, both 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, believe their daughter  who would now be aged 13  could still be alive.

Her family have been buoyed up by Scotland Yard's pledge to continue searching for Madeleine for at least another five months.

Schoolgirl Alice never returned to her home in Hanwell, West London, after going for a walk in August 2014.

Ms Hodgkiss, pictured with her daughter Nina, said the family are indebted to the charity Missing People for its help

Her Latvian killer Arnis Zalkalns , who hung himself, had been able to live freely in Britain despite a conviction for murdering his wife in Latvia.

Continuing her plea, Alice's mother described the time of Alice's disappearnace as 'an unbearable period of shock and suspended grief.'

In a reference to Ms McCann, she added: 'But there are families and friends who have had people missing for months, years, decades.'

She paid tribute to her daughter as 'a vibrant girl, full of life and energy, quirky and funny, smart and pretty.' She is helping to repair her life by singing in the Missing People choir  music was her daughter's passion.

Jo Youle, charity CEO, said: 'If every vulnerable child who went missing last year in the UK were together they would fill Wembley Stadium  twice.

The number of children we are desperately searching for increased by 60 per cent this year. We have the means to help far more children.

However our team is absolutely stretched to capacity. If we don't urgently raise more funds, this year alone hundreds of vulnerable children will not be found.'

She said the fundraising event was made possible thanks to the support of players of the People's Postcode Lottery, Clear Channel and Royal Mail.

The event took place at the Corinthia Hotel in central London in front of guests including Sir Trevor McDonald, Fiona Phillips and actress Monica Dolan.
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Down a Georgia country road, camouflaged members of the Three Percent Security Force have mobilized for rifle practice, hand-to-hand combat training - and an impromptu campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

'How many people are voting for Trump? Ooh-rah!' asks Chris Hill, a paralegal who goes by the code name 'Bloodagent'.

'Ooh-rah!' shout a dozen militia members in response, as morning sunlight sifted through the trees last weekend.

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Members of the Oath Keepers and the public participate in a tactical training session in northern Idaho - the group offers sessions not just to members but also to the general public

Joseph Rice, left, of the Josephine County Oath Keepers, which later disbanded and became the Liberty Watch of Josephine County, gives a U.S. Constitution to a Oregon State Police officer after a town hall meeting

Brandon Rapolla, a founder of the Pacific Patriots Network, leads a firearms handling and safety class in Grants Pass, Oregon

As the most divisive presidential election in recent memory nears its conclusion, some armed militia groups are preparing for the possibility of a stolen election on November 8 and civil unrest in the days following a victory by Democrat Hillary Clinton.

They say they won't fire the first shot, but they're not planning to leave their guns at home, either.

Trump's populist campaign has energized militia members like Hill, who admire the Republican mogul's promise to deport illegal immigrants, stop Muslims from entering the country and build a wall along the Mexico border.

Trump has repeatedly warned that the election may be 'rigged,' and has said he may not respect the results if he does not win.

At least one paramilitary group, the Oath Keepers, has called on members to monitor voting sites for signs of fraud.

Armed paramilitary groups first gained prominence in the early 1990s, fueled by confrontations in Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas, culminating in a militia sympathizer's 1995 bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.

Ammon Bundy talks to occupiers in an office at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon

Jason Van Tatenhove, a member of the Oath Keepers, participates in a tactical training session in western Montana

Their numbers dwindled following that attack but have spiked in recent years, driven by fears that President Barack Obama will threaten gun ownership and erode the power of local government.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, estimates there were 276 active militias last year, up from 42 in 2008.

In recent years, armed groups have confronted federal authorities in a series of land-use disputes in the western United States.

Federal officials fear more clashes could come after seven militants were acquitted on conspiracy charges for occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon.

Many fear Clinton would push the county further to the left.

'This is the last chance to save America from ruin,' Hill said. 'I'm surprised I was able to survive or suffer through eight years of Obama without literally going insane, but Hillary is going to be more of the same.'

The Oath Keepers, a prominent anti-government force that sent gun-toting members to the 2014 race riots in Ferguson, Missouri, called on members last week to monitor voting sites on election day for any signs of fraud.

Jason Van Tatenhove, a member of the Oath Keepers, practices archery at his home in northern Montana

Arizona cattle rancher LaVoy Finicum talks to the media at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon

Members of the Oath Keepers and general public rest and warm up by the fire during a tactical training session in northern Idaho

An hour south of Atlanta, the Three Percent Security Force started the day around the campfire, taking turns shooting semi-automatic pistols and rifles at a makeshift target range.

They whooped with approval when blasts from one member's high-powered rifle knocked down a tree.

The group operates independently, but is affiliated with a national armed movement that calls for members to defend individual rights in the face of what they see as an overreaching federal government.

The movement draws its name from the notion that no more than three percent of the American population fought in the Revolutionary War against Britain.

Amid the war games, Hill weighed plans for a possible armed march on Washington if Clinton wins.

He said he doesn't want his members leading the way, but they will defend the protesters if need be. His group will not hesitate to act if a President Clinton tries to disarm gun owners, he said.

'I will be there to render assistance to my fellow countrymen, and prevent them from being disarmed, and I will fight and I will kill and I may die in the process,' said Hill, who founded the militia several years ago.

Members of the Oath Keepers and general public participate in a tactical training session in northern Idaho. The group promotes self sufficiency, survival skills, and sustainable living

Brandon Rapolla, a founder of the Pacific Patriots Network, leads a firearms handling and safety class in Grants Pass, Oregon

Ammon Bundy leads a prayer in an office at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon

Trump's candidacy has emboldened extremist groups to speak more openly about challenging the rule of law, said Ryan Lenz, a researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

'Prior to this campaign season, these ideas were relegated to sort of the political fringe of the American political landscape,' he said. 'Now these ideas are legitimized.'

Over the past week, some prominent Trump supporters have hinted at violence.

'If Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket,' former Illinois Representative Joe Walsh wrote on Twitter last week. Conservative commentator Wayne Root fantasized about Clinton's death while speaking at a Trump rally in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Back in Georgia, the Three Percent Security Force wrapped up rifle practice in the midday sun. They then headed further into the trees to tackle an obstacle course with loaded pistols at their sides, ready for whatever may come.

'We've building up for this, just like the Marines,' he said. 'We are going to really train harder and try to increase our operational capabilities in the event that this is the day that we hoped would never come.'

Members of the Oath Keepers and general public participate in a tactical training session in northern Idaho. The groups have attracted controversy for arming themselves with semi-automatic weapons during disputes

Supporters of those arrested after the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge attend a rally in Salt Lake City, Utah. The group were later acquitted




A man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for threatening his ex with a broken bottle after claiming she was the reason that he had AIDS.

The incident reportedly took place in the central Russian city of Perm in June this year.

In a dramatic footage of the attempted attack, the 33-year-old man, identified only as Kostya, was seen storming into a local supermarket and attacking a female cashier.

Terror: The cashier looked terrified as the man stormed into the supermarket with the bottle and threatened her

Danger: The man was seen on video smashing the bottle before apparently trying to stab the woman (above)

The couple had reportedly been in a relationship together in the past.

In the footage, a woman standing next to the cashier's counter was heard shouting 'Kostya, go away, don't touch me!'

Moments later, a man, who was said to have been heavily drunk, was seen rushing into the box counter.

He was holding what appeared to be a bottle of beer upside down and all of the contents was seen pouring out.

The man then smashed the end of the bottle against a chair to break it before threatening the woman with the jagged edge.

Attack: The couple struggled inside the counter with the woman trying to hide behind the chair and the man trying to drag her out

Surrender: At one point, the woman was seen cowering on the floor with the man standing above her

The woman managed to dodge the attack but Kostya grabbed her by the throat and said: 'Do not move.'

They then struggled for several moments with the woman attempting to hide behind two chairs while eyewitnesses called the police.

At one point, Kostya was even seen swigging from a bottle.

According to reports, officers took 50 minutes to arrive, and another 40 more minutes to negotiate with the man.

The woman was set free and was said to be unharmed after the ordeal.

A police spokesperson said: 'Policemen were talking with the man for 40 minutes.

Drinking: The man was later seen sitting at a counter and drinking from a bottle (pictured)

'They arrested him in the end. He has a criminal record for assault and theft and was released from prison in March last year.'

In court, Kostya revealed that he had been diagnosed with AIDS and said that his ex had infected him and he wanted revenge.

He discovered the condition when their sick son was diagnosed as suffering from the illness, and when he himself was tested, he found he was also suffering from the disease.

The woman however said in court that she had told the man that she suffered from the condition when they had started living together, according to local media.
Syrian migrants in Greece are facing such desperate conditions that some see no option other than to pay smugglers to take them back to their war-torn homeland, it has been reported.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing civil war have crossed the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching safety in northern Europe over the last two years.

But after Europe shut its borders, many have been left languishing in makeshift camps in Greece, a country battling its own devastating economic conditions.

Reports have surfaced that some migrants are taking the agonising decision to plot a path back to Syria - having spent months unable to secure a better life in Europe.

Syrian migrants in Greece are facing such desperate conditions that some see no option other than to pay smugglers to take them back to their war-torn homeland, it has been reported

Jeanne Carstensen, writing for GlobalPost Investigations website, interviewed one refugee,Thaer Al Nahir, who said he would willingly pay to be transported back to Syria if he had the funds.

The 39-year-old described how he made a daring escape from ISIS-held Deir Ezzor with his family before paying for a treacherous voyage in a packed dinghy across the Mediterranean.

But the family has since spent seven months 'trapped' in Greece - and has lost hope of reaching Germany.

He reportedly said: 'Give me the money to pay a smuggler and I'll go back to Syria right now. There the death is quick. Here we are dying slowly.'

He accused European leaders of treating migrants 'worse than dogs' and that he is worse off now than when he was in Syria - a situation he described as 'a joke'.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing civil war have crossed the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching safety in northern Europe over the last two years

Nearly a million people fleeing war, poverty and persecution arrived on the Greek islands last year in Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.

The number of arrivals has dropped dramatically this year, thanks to an EU-Turkey deal that went into force since March.

Another migrant intent on returning home, Adan, from Aleppo, said he had abandoned his dream of building a new life in Europe, like thousands of other Syrians trapped in Greece.

'I want to go back to Syria. There is war in my country, but we've been living for seven months in Greece like prisoners.'

He's just arrived at the station in Didymoteicho, a village near the Greece-Turkey border, with his wife, three children and five other relatives, and is preparing to go through a police checkpoint before trying to get into Turkey, the start of a long journey home.

Nearly a million people fleeing war, poverty and persecution arrived on the Greek islands last year in Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II

'We've been on the streets for months, with nowhere to live. When we arrived in Greece we went to the Idomeni camp where we stayed for three months,' hoping to cross the Greece-Macedonia border to head for Germany, says Adan.

He describes their miserable time in the makeshift camp where over 10,000 migrants were thrown together in wretched conditions, before the Greek government eventually decided to dismantle it in May and transfer them to nearby reception centres.

Adan and his family then tried their luck in Thessaloniki, the nearest major Greece city to Idomeni, before returning to Athens.

'We realised that we are trapped by the closure of the borders and finally we've decided to go home, he says.

A Greek policeman plays with a child of the Adan's family upon their arrival at the train station of Didymoteicho some 400 km North-East from Thessaloniki

More than 60,000 refugees are currently trapped in Greece, in particular after the March 18 EU-Turkey accord aimed at sending migrants arriving from Turkey systematically back there

More than 60,000 refugees are currently trapped in Greece, in particular after the March 18 EU-Turkey accord aimed at sending migrants arriving from Turkey systematically back there.

Refugees and migrants find themselves with no way ahead, their hopes to travel onward to a European country proving to be virtually impossible.

Programmes for relocating or reuniting families, the only legal way of moving to live and work in Europe, have proved slow and complicated due to the reluctance of many countries who don't want to take in any more refugees.

The EU committed itself in September 2015 to relocate 66.400 refugees from Greece over two years. So far only 4,926 have left in 13 months.

A last hope for migrants is to apply for asylum in Greece - but that is also a lengthy procedure, and daunting in a country still mired in crisis, with the highest unemployment rate in the eurozone.

Adan shows the Didymoteicho police his identity papers handed out by authorities when they first registered on the Aegean island of Lesbos, the main entry point to Greece for migrants from the Turkish coast.

'With their documents they can travel freely within the country. But we know they came here to find people smugglers who will help them cross the Evros river on the border at night, to get into Turkey,' one border guard told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The EU committed itself in September 2015 to relocate 66.400 refugees from Greece over two years. So far only 4,926 have left in 13 months

'This kind of case happens every day .. it's crazy: these are miserable people, they've already paid to come illegally to Greece, and here they have to pay again to return home,' he said.

'The people smugglers are the only ones who profit.'

The river level on the Greece-Turkey border is currently quite low.

'Some people use boats but at some points you can cross by foot,' says Chrysovalantis Gialamas, border guard chief for the Evros region.

Dozens of refugees arrive every day at the Didymoteicho station in recent weeks. Some even have German refugee papers, and so appear to be returning from Germany, disappointed that they have not integrated there.

'We can't really verify if they are genuine or fake,' said one officer, cautiously.

But apart from those who want to leave Greece, the flow of migrants in the opposite direction - from Turkey into Greece - has also increased in recent months, and police have been forced to bolster the land border between the two countries.

Since July, 70 people smugglers and over 1,000 migrants have been arrested, police say.
Posing in a shop window, this is the moment a thug admired the reflection of his blood-splatted hands after stabbing a tram passenger in an unprovoked daylight attack.

Osama Hussain, 28, knifed his 32-year-old victim three times in the arm and back - narrowly missing his spine - after he accidentally bumped into him on the tram.

Despite bleeding heavily, the heroic victim managed to film Hussain on his mobile phone, recording footage which eventually led to his arrest.

Separate CCTV also captured Hussain swaggering away from the scene, hurling a drink can to the ground and admiring his blood-splattered hands.

this is the moment a thug admired the reflection of his blood-splatted hands after stabbing a tram passenger in an unprovoked daylight attack (pictured)

Osama Hussain (left and right), 28, knifed his 32-year-old victim three times in the arm and back, narrowly missing his spine, in a shocking attack in July this year. His victim managed to film Hussain on his mobile phone in footage which eventually led to his arrest

Hussain is then seen stopping to admire his reflection in a shop window before calmly walking away from the scene in Birmingham.

Today, Hussain was jailed for a total of nine years after admitting grievous bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon.

Birmingham Crown Court heard Hussain displayed 'arrogant', 'cocky' and 'agitated' behaviour after getting on the tram on July 22.

He picked an argument with another passenger and became abusive towards the conductor when he was asked to turn his music down and stop drinking.

Today, Hussain (pictured) was jailed for a total of nine years after admitting grievous bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon

As Hussain got off the tram at Bilston, West Midlands, he turned his attentions to the victim who accidentally knocked into him while getting off.

Hussain launched a tirade of abuse and followed the man up the stairs. There, he punched his victim in the head and body while holding a folding pocket knife.

The brave victim filmed Hussain on his mobile phone as he left the station. Following an appeal, he was arrested.

Speaking after the case, Detective Constable Tim Friend, from British Transport Police, said: 'This was a completely unprovoked and callous attack which Hussain has offered no explanation for.

'This could have been a lot worse; if the stab wound on the back had been an inch to one side or had Hussain's fist, which concealed his knife, connected with the victim's head at a certain angle, the outcome would have been very different.'

But he said the incident had changed the victim's life.

CCTV captured Hussain swaggering away from the scene in Birmingham in July (pictured)

The thug was seen hurling a drink can to the ground and he sauntered along the street (pictured)

'This incident has left the victim with more than physical scars,' he added.

'It has deeply affected his outlook on life and he now feels constantly on edge, is fearful of leaving the house and suffers flashbacks.

'While nothing can repair the harm Hussain did that day, we hope this lengthy sentence goes some way to helping the victim rebuild his life and I would like to commend his quick thinking which gave us the footage that allowed Hussain to be quickly identified.

'Knives cost lives and we will do everything we can to trace offenders and put them before the courts who, as this case shows, are willing to take people like Hussain off the streets for a considerable amount of time to make the West Midlands a safer place for all.'

Birmingham Crown Court heard Hussain displayed 'arrogant', 'cocky' and 'agitated' behaviour after getting on the tram on July 22. The CCTV footage is pictured above
Only days after saying he had banned himself from swearing after talking to God, the foul-mouthed President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has hurled expletives at the United States.

The US has been critical of the Filipino President for his introduction of alleged death squads to wipe out suspected drug dealers but Duterte has contrasted Washington's stance with that of China, which funded a drugs rehabilitation centre.

Duterte said today: 'Now who helped? China. America, what did they say? "Duterte, stop the extrajudicial killings. We hold you responsible".

President Duterte (pictured at a press conference in September) said he had only been joking when he said God had told him to stop swearing

'I said: "You can go to hell. You're all s***. You look at us Filipinos like dogs...You're all really sons of b*****s because you violated our dignity".'

Duterte, 71, was elected in May and over the last four months more than 2,300 people have been killed in the last four months as he cracked down on drug dealers and addicts.

Today he claimed the campaign had cut back the supply to 'very low' levels and thanked China for supporting his crackdown.

But he swore repeatedly at the United States - a long-time ally as well as a former colonial power - for criticising the campaign and the breaching of human rights.

Duterte said: 'There is a very low supply of drugs now. But, there is a shift to kidnapping by these idiots. This is a new game, so be careful. Give me time to talk to God.'

Police examine the body of a summary execution victim with his hands tied around his back and his head wrapped in packaging tape in Manila last month

The Filipino leader visited China last week and has been flirting with Beijing, as a counterpoint to American power.

Today he told his fellow Filipinos: 'If you think America will be good for you, if you want to be a (US) territory...if it is to your personal interest, go ahead and join the demonstration.

'And maybe you can convince me to leave the presidency. But at least I leave without being treated like a pig by the Americans.'

Will I survive the six years? I'd make a prediction, maybe not Rodrigo Duterte

Last week Duterte, the former Mayor of Davao in the southern island of Mindanao, said he he had spoken to God and promised him he would no longer use bad language.

A recent opinion poll of 1,200 Filipinos showed they had far greater trust in the United States than they did in China, which Duterte has been praising and courting strongly.

'When I'm threatened, I get scared but there is a certain point in my fear when, if I think that I may die or I'm at a disadvantage, that I'm being oppressed, I become wild,' he said. 'I really lose the civility in me.'

Duterte also hinted that he may not serve out the whole six years of his presidential term.
A Romanian lorry driver who filmed himself bragging about illegally smuggling hundreds of kilos of tobacco into the UK has been jailed for 12 months.

Ionut-Bogdan Milea, 30, was stopped by Border Force officers on September 28, who searched his vehicle and found 300 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco in its trailer.

Milea was arrested and the driver inadvertently managed to incriminate himself further with damning footage taken from his smartphone.

Ionut-Bogdan Milea has been jailed after filming himself bragging about smuggling tobacco

Officers were amazed when a video on the seized handset revealed Milea boasting about smuggling 200 kilos of tobacco into the UK a month earlier.

He spoke to the camera while at the wheel of his cab - explaining how the tobacco was hidden in a fridge.

He also filmed tobacco inside a box, a suitcase and a carrier bag on August 31. In total, he managed to evade around 99,000 in tax duty.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) launched an investigation following his arrest at the UK's Channel Tunnel controls in Coquelles, France.

Milea was jailed for a year for evading excise duty at Maidstone Crown Court this week

In addition to the haul of tobacco, officers also found he had 1,950 euros and 300 cash in a wallet hidden in a fuse box under the dashboard.

Milea, of Focsani in Vrancea, Romania, admitted fraudulently evading excise duty and was jailed for 12 months at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent.

Alan Tully, Assistant Director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said: 'Milea thought his crimes wouldn't be discovered, but he was found out by officers at UK controls and further incriminated by his own mobile phone footage.

'We continue to work with other enforcement agencies to reduce the availability of illicit tobacco, which costs the UK around 2.4 billion a year in stolen revenue.

'Don't let criminals profit by undermining legitimate retailers.'
Three American military members were killed outside a military base in southern Jordan, US officials said.

An official in Washington said one US service member died at the scene and two others who were wounded died at a hospital in Amman, the Jordanian capital.

Shots were fired as a car carrying the Americans tried to enter the King Faisal Airbase in the al-Jafr area near the town of Mann around noon local time on Friday, military officials in the US and Jordan said.

Three American military members were killed outside a military base in southern Jordan, US officials said. US Marines are pictured in this 2013 photo near Amman, Jordan

An official in Washington said one US service member died at the scene and two others who were wounded died at a hospital (pictured) in Amman, the Jordanian capital

The American official said the US government was working with Jordanian officials to gather additional details.

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because details of how the attack happened are still being investigated.

A Jordanian source told CBS News that it appeared to be an accidental shooting rather than terrorism.

Jordan is a key US ally and member of a US-led military coalition fighting the extremist Islamic State group, which controls parts of neighboring Iraq and Syria.

In addition to the US casualties, a Jordanian officer was also wounded, Jordanian representatives said.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

Jordan faces homegrown extremism, with hundreds of Jordanians fighting alongside IS militants in Iraq and Syria and several thousand more supporting the extremist group in the kingdom.

Last November, a Jordanian police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. The government subsequently portrayed the police captain as troubled.

The US has spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders. Any sign of instability in Jordan would be of great concern for the West.
Conman John Darwin celebrated by taking to the sea - the same way faked his own death.

The 66-year-old was embroiled in a 250,000 insurance scam 14 years ago which left even his father and sons believing he was dead.

Now living in the Philippines with his second wife Mercy, 43, the couple shared snaps of themselves at a the tropical Seas Spring Resort.

The 66-year-old used the same kind of vessel in a 250,000 insurance scam 14 years ago which left even his father and sons believing he was dead

A source told The Sun's Tom Michael that Darwin was enjoying his life in Manilla and that they had travelled to the nearby as part of the birthday celebrations.

His first wife Anne, 64, has published a charity tell-all book on the scam, serialised in the Daily Mail.

In March 2002, beset by financial woes, the former prison officer paddled out to sea in a canoe at Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, before ditching it to give the impression that he'd drowned

The Darwins, stunned the world when their plot to fake John's death and claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in insurance was revealed.

In March 2002, beset by financial woes, the former prison officer paddled out to sea in a canoe at Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, before ditching it to give the impression that he'd drowned.

The following year he was declared dead, but was, in fact, holed up in a flat adjoining Anne's house.

The pair quietly moved to Panama in 2007, using their ill-gotten gains to buy a tropical estate they planned to turn into an eco-resort that would offer the visitor, among other things, canoeing holidays.

But when Darwin arrived back in Britain and turned himself in, apparently suffering from amnesia, things unravelled in spectacular fashion.

Even their sons were found to have fallen victim to their deceit.

Their scam involved tricking their boys into thinking their father had died and the couple were jailed.

Looking back at the final moments, Anne Darwin recalled: 'Then hed filled the canoe with water by pressing it downwards, thrown in a few rocks for good measure to reduce its buoyancy, and shoved it out into the waves to await its fate. Finally, cock-a-hoop, hed set out to meet me.

'I could see he was still running on adrenaline. "For Gods sake, John, you cant do this," I begged him. It still wasnt too late.

His first wife Anne, 64, has published a charity tell-all book on the scam, serialised in the Daily Mail

'But he was not going to change his mind. Our nightmare had well and truly begun.

'John told me to drive him to Durham railway station. From there hed go to Newcastle, then Carlisle, and onwards. "Unfortunately, it will all be up to you then," he said. "Im sorry."

'Still not really believing what I was doing, I did as he asked. In Durham I parked in an unlit side street and we had a last emotional hug.

'I think I cried all the way home  I dont know if it was for John or for me, and what I was about to do; all the terrible lies I was about to tell, the lives I was about to destroy.

'Why did I do it? That is the question I still ask myself today. Why, when I got home, did I make that phone call to the police?
Hoagland was arrested in July for identity fraud offences at the age of 63

They found that Hoadland's Terry Symansky had married - four years after his death

The identify theft only came to light when a member of the Symansky family was conducting some family research online

Hoagland stole the identity of the real Terry Symansky who had died two years earlier

He went to Florida to live in secret under a new name Terry Symansky

Richard Hoagland vanished from his family home in Indianapolis in 1993

Hoagland took on the identity of Terry Symansky, a fisherman who died in a freak accident in 1991

The sister of a dead man whose identity was stolen years after his death has been speaking about how the actions devastated their family.

Cynthia Bujnak was the sister of Terry Symansky, a fisherman who died in a freak accident in 1991.

Their father, Edward Symansky, ended up sharing the story of Terry's death to a tenant of his, Richard Hoagland, who ultimately ended up stealing the late Terry's identity.

It all began when Hoagland, now 63, disappeared from the house he shared with his second wife Linda and their two sons, Matthew and Douglas, in Indianapolis in February 1993 and secretly moved to Florida and start a new life with a new name.

Hoagland rented an apartment from Edward Symansky in Port St. Lucie.

In 1991, Symansky had lost his son, Terry, in a freak fishing accident.

Hoagland settled in Zephyrhills, Florida, with his third wife, Mary. They had a child and lived in this house

Richard Hoagland was arrested in July in Florida at the age of 63, 23 years after vanishing from his family home in Indiana

Police believe it gave Hoagland, already a married father of two boys, the idea of stealing the dead man's identity to create a new life for himself.

Hoagland prodded Symansky to share stories about his late son. He was so heartbroken over the tragic death that he was more than happy to share his memories when Hoagland rented an apartment of his.

Little did he realize he was simply helping Hoagland create an even more authentic back story for his new persona and new name: Terry Jude Symansky.

'My dad was grieving and pouring his heart out,' Terry's sister, Cynthia Bujnak, told People magazine.

'This was a perfect candidate for [Hoagland] to use for identity theft,' Bujnak says, alleging, 'He stole my brother's death certificate.'

The Symansky's only realized what had been going on when Terry's nephew had been compiling research on his family on Ancestry.com and noticed someone had been using his dead uncle's name.

A simple internet search by Bujnak's nephew threw up a number of results that used Terry Symansky's name including a marriage record that stated his uncle had married in 1995, four years after his death.

Police found Hoagland had applied for birth certificates and drivers licenses in different states and used his new adopted name when he married his third wife, Mary Hickman, in 1995.

The pair had a son together and settled in Zephyrhills where he worked as a landlord.

Linda (above with her second husband) remarried. She was informed her first husband, Richard Hoagland was alive and had been arrested in Florida in July

Bujnak called a friend at her local police department with the tip.

'My dad was the victim,' Bujnak told People. 'Even after 23 years, the truth will always come out.'

His third wife, Mary Hickman, discovered a briefcase in their home which contained his real identity after police informed her of his arrest, The Tampa Bay Times reported.

She also found the deed to a property he had bought in Louisiana in 2015 and a key to a storage unit.

In July, Pasco County police branded Hoagland, who is facing a string of fraud charges, a 'selfish coward' for his two-decade-long deceit.

'Since 1994, the defendant has exclusively used the victim Terry Symansky's identity for everything,' according to an incident report by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

'The defendant obtained a private pilot's license, got married, had a child, opened and used numerous credit cards, applied for and was granted multiple mortgages for homes with his wife.'

'This is a person who has lived his life destroying others,' said Sheriff Chris Nocco.

Hoagland remains in jail and has pleaded not guilty to the identify theft charges.

In July this year, police in Pasco County, Florida, contacted Hoagland's former wife, Linda, to say they had found her missing husband and arrested him for identity fraud.

His second wife Linda told ABC's 20/20 how he vanished after telling her he had to go to the hospital in a panicked phone call in 1993.

He left behind his wife, Linda, and their two sons Matthew and Doug (above together) when he vanished

The couple's sons Matthew (left) and Doug (right) are now adults. They even received birthday cards from their father despite living a new life and living under a new name, in Florida

'He called me at work and told me that he was ill and that he needed to go to the emergency room.

'And I said, 'Well, why don't you just wait, and I'll go with you?' He said, 'No, I don't have time to wait.'

She checked hospitals in the area frantically but found no trace of him. At the time Hoagland, who had already been married once before, had a successful insurance job.

He vanished without taking any of his clothes or his passport.

At first Linda thought he would return, she said, but gave up hope as the years passed and remarried.

She claims she was interrogated by police who felt she may have had something to do with his sudden disappearance.

Over the years he sent birthday cards to the pair's sons with $50 enclosed.

In one, he wrote: ' I love you and miss seeing you. Let your mom help spend this money, you might want to put some away.

'Maybe sometime soon we will get to see each other. I bet I won't even know you it has been so long.
Germany's foreign minister today warned that 'limbo' helps nobody as European media revelled in Theresa May's High Court humiliation.

The Prime Minister is scrambling to make an appeal to the Supreme Court after she was told by senior judges she did not have the power to start Brexit by herself.

Brexit hardliners were branded a 'laughing stock' by left-wing German paper Tagesspiegel, while the French were warned by Le Figaro Brexit could now be slowed by 'months and months' of parliamentary obstacles.

Boris Johnson (pictured left) was meeting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (right) in Berlin today

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met Mr Johnson in Berlin today and after the talks warned: 'The EU will not allow Britain to cherry pick its way out of the union.'

He said Britain 'could not talk of easy access to the internal market on the one hand, while the United Kingdom purely and simply rejected the less attractive parts of the EU rulebook.'

'Brexit - a clip round the ear for the populists,' said the centre-left Tagesspiegel newspaper of the High Court decision that parliament must vote on the Brexit referendum.

In a commentary it went on: 'Britain will leave the European Union. Because the verdict of the High Court will change nothing. A majority voted in June for leaving the biggest free trade zone of the world and the closest political partnership between nations that ever existed.

'The judges have only prevented that Britain is even more of a global laughing stock. Because, above all, Brexit hardliners, precisely that with their slogan ''take back control'', wanted to avoid that vote House of Commons and House of Lords vote on the withdrawal request.

'In the mother country of parliamentarianism. They have obviously no high opinion of the own representatives of the people, because they are still intoxicated by their success in the referendum in June.

'The direct appeal to the people for exiting the EU would have not have succeeded if it had been stripped of xenophobic undertones and plain lies about the possibilities and consequences of Brexit.

'These hard-liners, whose face is Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, is a populist force in a club with the trumps, Le Pen and Orban's of this world.

'They want to lead not only their country into a vague and potentially insecure future, but humiliate the EU. Brussels is a synonym for dictatorship and foreign domination for them - the confusion thrived on the island. (UK)

Europe's media outlets have been revelling in Theresa May's humiliation at the High Court in the case brought by businesswoman Gina Miller (pictured today)

'They have nothing against bringing the Europe they despise, if necessary, into an emergency. Boris Johnson made his first official visit to Berlin on Friday.

'Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier may make it quietly clear that London can still continue to lose influence and reputation if the the exit is dirty.'

'Britons need EU professionals,' said the influential Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

'40 percent of all specialists drawn to the UK and executives come from EU countries, shows a new analysis... Depending on the conditions of the Brexit, this could be the problem for the UK.'

In France, the right leaning Le Figaro said Brexit 'indeed now risks being slowed by months and months of parliamentary obstacles ... especially when we know that the majority of MPs lobbied to stay in the EU.'

Mr Steinmeier warned that a long period of 'limbo' over Brexit would not help anyone

'Brake on Brexit' said Le Parisian, the leading daily in the French capital. Referring to Theresa May's herculean task of delivering Brexit, it said: 'This Thursday, the British government has suffered a first serious defeat. And this time, it comes directly from London.'

Le Monde, the most famous newspaper in France, wrote: 'The setback is serious for Theresa May: in denying the government the power to trigger the process of leaving the European Union and by forcing it to submit to Parliament, the highest court in London has imposed a severe snub to the British Prime Minister.'

L'Express said: 'Brexit is a rocky road, as evidenced by the decision of the British courts to request a vote in Parliament before the start of the exit procedure.'

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls meanwhile unveiled a plan to lure businesses across the Channel after Brexit. Called 'Choose the Paris Region  Welcome to Greater Paris', it sets up a one-stop shop to help smooth the crossing.
Hillary Clinton has dropped below the threshold of 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency, according to CNN's forecasts on Friday, as formerly battleground states shift towards Donald Trump.

A shift to Trump in Ohio, Utah and the second congressional district of Maine has undercut the number of electoral college votes which the Democrat can count on, the broadcaster said.

Utah only became a 'battleground' in late October as Clinton gained ground on Trump.

CNN said that New Hampshire has now inched away from leaning Democrat and is now classified as a battleground.

Clinton can now count on 268 electoral college votes - still significantly ahead of Trump at 204. Either candidate needs 270 - the majority of the 538 votes available -to win.

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A Trump-wards shift in the three swing states of Ohio, Utah and the second congressional district of Maine has undercut the number of electoral college votes

Clinton has dropped below the threshold of 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency, according to CNN's forecasts, as formerly battleground states shift towards Donald Trump. Clinton, right, is shown disembarking her campaign plane in Moon, Pennsylvania on Friday

With just four days to go, the presidential race has tightened in Trump's favor as Clinton wrestles with the aftermath of the FBI's shock revelation that it would be investigating emails belonging to Huma Abedin in relation to its probe of Clinton's use of a private email server.

The emails were found on devices belonging to Abedin's estranged husband Anthony Weiner.

HOW DOES THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WORK? The electoral college is made up of 538 voters - 435 Representatives and 100 Senators, plus three electors for the District of Colombia. A candidate needs to win a majority of 270 electoral college votes to become President. This voters' college make their pick based on which candidate receives a majority of votes in their corresponding states. That candidate receives all that state's electoral college votes. An exception is made in Nebraska and Maine, where votes are assigned by proportional representation - meaning either candidate could receive votes from different congressional districts. It is possible to win the electoral college vote and lose the popular vote - as with George W Bush in 2000. He eventually won the presidency over Al Gore following a Supreme Court ruling which had the ultimate effect of awarding Florida's votes to Bush. The creators of the Constitution set up the system as a limit on direct democracy - or in Alexander Hamilton's words, as a way of preserving 'the sense of the people' - in other words to avoid a malicious majority forming. It also tries to ensure the rights of smaller states. The electors cast their votes on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December and are counted in Congress on January 6. The new President is then sworn in on January 20. Advertisement

Despite Clinton's weaker showing she is still in a better position than Trump. There are six battleground states to play for, accounting for 66 electoral votes between them: Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina, plus a second congressional district in and around Omaha, Nebraska.

Clinton would only need to win one of those states for victory, whereas Trump needs to sweep all of them in order to claim the presidency.

Maine and Nebraska allot electoral votes by a system of proportional representation rather than the winner-takes-all approach based on simple majority which is favored by the other states. That means both candidates could get college votes from within those two states.

CNN's forecast takes into account current polls, reporting and campaign advertisement decisions among other factors.

More than 30 million votes have already been cast across 38 states.

Electoral college vote predictions vary by forecaster. 270ToWin calculates Clinton has 272 votes to Trump's 173, leaving 93 votes to fight over.

ABC News says Clinton could nab 278 votes, leaving Trump with just 198 - meaning even if the Republican took all 62 battleground votes remaining he would still be 10 votes short of the presidency.

And the UVA Center for Politics' calculations on Thursday were similarly bleak for Trump, forecasting he will win 214 states to Clinton's 293, with 31 toss-up votes.

Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight blog predicts Clinton will win 298 votes to Trump's 240, when assumptions are made about which way the battlegrounds will swing.

The site estimates that Florida will carry the most heft in terms of tipping the election, followed by Pennsylvania and Michigan, then North Carolina and Virginia rounding out the top five.

Clinton and Trump are currently tied in the Sunshine State, at 46.1 per cent in a four-way split, according to RealClearPolitics' polling average.

In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads by three points; in Michigan she leads by 4.6 points.

In North Carolina she has a two-point advantage, and in Virginia she leads by 5.2 points.

Clinton is blitzing Pennsylvania and Michigan today, while her running mate Tim Kaine is in Florida, as the Democrat races to win over the crucial states in the final days of the race.

She also has her surrogates out in force: President Obama will pitch to North Carolina and Senator Bernie Sanders to Nebraska and Iowa. Bill Clinton is in Colorado.

Trump is in New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania, before he heads to Florida on Saturday.

New Hampshire tops Silver's 'voter power' index - the likelihood that an individual electoral college voter will determine the winner. Nevada and New Mexico take second and third place.

A week after the FBI's email bombshell, Clinton now seems to have edged back in the polls.

The daily survey had the Democrat with a three-point lead over Donald Trump at 47 points to 44, it showed Friday - although her advantage is still within the poll's three-point margin of error. Earlier this week Clinton had slipped behind Trump for the first time, trailing the Republican by one point.
Work to build eight 'sub hunter' combat ships will begin in the summer of next year, it has been announced.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the construction of the 'next generation' Type 26 Frigate will secure hundreds of jobs on the Clyde for two decades.

They will also be armed with the Sea Ceptor anti-missile system under a 100million contract confirmed by the government.

But the cutting-edge project has already been blighted by delays, with the original intention having been for work on 13 ships to start earlier this year.

A computer generated image of the new Type 26 Frigate. The government has announced that construction will begin next summer

The Type 26 Frigates are designed for anti-submarine warfare and will be equipped with the Sea Ceptor missile defence system

Speaking during a visit to the Govan area of Glasgow, Sir Michael said: 'Backed by Britain's rising defence budget, the Type 26 programme will deliver a new generation of cutting-edge warships for our Royal Navy at best value for taxpayers.

'The UK Government's commitment today will secure hundreds of high-skilled shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for at least two decades and hundreds more in the supply chain across Britain.'

Ministers' plans to build the eight anti-submarine Type 26 global combat ships were set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR15).

The ships are principally designed for anti-submarine warfare and will fulfil many ofd the functions of the current Type 23 frigate.

Each ship will carry a crew of 118 and have a top speed of more than 26 knots.

Steel-cutting will begin in the summer of 2017 subject to final contract negotiations, the MoD said, and the first ship is due to enter service in the early 2020s.

Sir Michael also unveiled a contract with MBDA to deliver the Sea Ceptor self-defence missile system for the Type 26 fleet.

It should be able to intercept multiple targets out to a range of 25km, travelling at speeds of more than 2,000 miles an hour.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: 'This is a momentous commitment for Scotland that will strengthen and secure our shipbuilding industry on the Clyde for the future.

'The UK Government is backing jobs on the Clyde and in its shipyards - and this investment is only possible because of the broad shoulders of our strong UK defence budget.'

A computer image of the Sea Ceptor air defence system, which will be able to intercept and destroy enemy missiles

Keith Brown, the Scottish Government's Economy and Veterans Secretary, said: 'I welcome the news that the MoD has now finally confirmed its order for eight Type 26 frigates, to be built on the Clyde after much delay. This is a tribute to the skilled and dedicated workforces at Govan and Scotstoun.

'However, just as the workforce at the shipyard have faced considerable uncertainty we now face a continued wait for the response to the MoD's basing review in Scotland, which is considering sites like Fort George and Kinloss.

'The Scottish Government has written to the Defence Secretary asking him to meet us and discuss his plans for base cuts in Scotland. Despite promises, he has failed to do so.

'There has been no consultation with the Scottish Government - and I reiterate my call for the Defence Secretary to provide clarity as soon as possible.'
He has been charged with three felony counts of computer tampering

Desai claimed he never meant to send out the 911 bug, but rather one that caused an annoying pop-up on people's phones instead

Emergency phone systems were clogged throughout Arizona as they received more than 100 hang-up 911 calls in just minutes

He then tweeted it out under the guise of a link to his own personal website

Desai's bug activated the telephone dialing features in iPhones and caused them to call 911 on a loop until people shut their phones off

Apple offers up to $200,000 in cash rewards to those who find glitches in the company's software and privately report them

Meetkumar Desai told police he created a 'non-harmful bug' he hoped would expose vulnerabilities in Apple's iOS software

Meetkumar Desai, 18, was arrested after creating a bug he posted on Twitter that disrupted 911 lines throughout Arizona

At first glance it seemed like a terrifying cyberattack as more than 100 911 calls suddenly tied up the lines across Arizona in mere minutes.

Emergency phone systems were clogged throughout Phoenix and much of the central part of the state, with problems even extending into California and Texas.

But this wasn't a virus or hack by a terrorist. It all began with a teenager, a link on Twitter, and thousands of dollars in desired prize money from Apple.

Meetkumar Desai, 18, told police he created a 'non-harmful' bug meant to be a funny prank that would also put some more cash in his own bank.

Desai, who describes himself as a visual designer and front-end developer, was searching for glitches in Apple's iOS system as part of its bug bounty program.

The program, launched in September, offers cash rewards that range from $25,000 to $200,000 to those who find vulnerabilities in the company's software, such as being able to access iCloud account data, and then privately report them to Apple.

Desai told investigators an online friend have given him a bug they thought he might be able to tweak.

The teenager manipulated the bug, adding 'pop-ups, commands that would open email and activate the telephone dialing feature on iOS cell phones', according to Ars Technica.

He then decided to have the dialing feature call emergency services, creating a java script code that would automatically dial 911 when people clicked on a link.

Desai claimed he had made two versions of the link, saying he had no plans to push out the 911 link because he knew it was illegal and would cause people to 'freak out'.

Desai manipulated the bug so that it would activate the dialing feature on iOS cell phones and begin calling 911 on a loop - he posted this grab that seems to indicate a link with the bug was clicked more than 151,000 times after he posted it on Twitter

But that was the exact link, seemingly disguised as a connection to his personal website, that Desai posted to his Twitter account on Tuesday night.

The next day he posted an image that seemed to indicate the webpage had received more than 151,000 views.

Desai tagged a YouTube channel page called TheHackSpot and wrote: 'Still going strong'.

TheHackSpot also encouraged people to click on the link, which police said was opened nearly 1,900 times from the YouTube channel.

Surprise Police Department, which is in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, received more than 100 calls within minutes after Desai's link was posted.

The nearby Peoria Police Department and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office were also suddenly flooded with calls.

What made the link even more harmful was that Desai had allegedly set it up so that the program would call 911 on a loop, repeatedly dialing the number after someone hung up.

In the majority of cases the cycle was only broken when the user powered off their phone, according to Network World.

But making matters even worse was the fact that it was designed so that users wouldn't even realize they were calling 911.

Desai claimed he had made two versions of the link, and accidentally pushed out the 911 link - which connected to his personal website (pictured since it has been shut down)

A cached version of Desai's site shows this personal information he had included

Authorities said the link had the potential to shut down emergency 911 service across Maricopa County and put officers in 'immediate danger of losing service to their switches'.

Desai was taken in for questioning on Wednesday and booked on suspicion of three felony counts of computer tampering, according to the Arizona Republic.

Police also seized a number of items from Desai's home that will be forensically examined.

Although the entire thing may have been an accident, it seems to have opened up more trouble.

Copycat websites have since popped up to exploit the same vulnerabilities of the 911 network that Desai's link exposed.

And although Desai's 'prank' mainly only affected Phoenix - where most of his Twitter followers are based - his code could have international implications.

If someone in Europe had clicked on the link, the phone would have been able to recognize that 911 was an emergency number and would have dialed Europe's emergency number (112) instead.

'The biggest wake-up call to nearly everyone was that all indications pointed to this as an accident,' wrote Mark Fletcher, a chief architect for public safety solutions at a California technology company.

'However, this know-how could now be easily used by anyone with nefarious intent,' he added.
A University of Virginia dean has won her lawsuit against Rolling Stone, proving the magazine defamed her in a debunked story about gang rape at the school.

Jurors read the decision aloud in court on Friday after three days of deliberations.

The jury will start deliberating on how much money to award Dean Nicole Eramo starting Monday.

Eramo wants $7.5million from the magazine, its publisher Wenner Media and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

The jury could chose to make the magazine pay less or even more, as the jury in Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker chose to do earlier this year.

Eramo's lawsuit sprang from a 2014 article about a UVa student, only identified as Jackie, who said she was gang-raped at a campus fraternity.

A police investigation later found no evidence to back up Jackie's story, and the magazine retracted the article.

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Victorious: University of Virginia Dean Nicole Eramo (left) has won her defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine. She's pictured leaving court on Friday

Pay day: Eramo (left, on Friday) filed a lawsuit against Rolling Stone, claiming she had been painted as a chief villain in the magazine's 2014 article about campus rape. The story has since been retracted

Time to pay up: A jury found that Rolling Stone and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely committed 'actual malice' by publishing a story they should have known to be false. Erdely is pictured on the left, outside of court on October 31. On the right, the former student known as 'Jackie' in the story

WHAT IS 'ACTUAL MALICE'? The linchpin to Friday's guilty verdict in the Rolling Stone trial, was the jury finding that the magazine committed 'actual malice' by publishing their campus rape story. Actual malice is a standard used in defamation cases involving a public person, such as University of Virginia Dean Nicole Eramo. While a non-famous person only needs to prove that what a person or publication said about them was false to win a defamation lawsuit, public figures are held to a different standard. In these cases, they must prove that the publication that wronged them did so with 'actual malice' - meaning that they either knew what they were reporting was wrong or published it with a 'reckless disregard' for whether it was true or false Advertisement

Attorneys for Eramo argued in court that the article portrayed her as a villain who discouraged Jackie from reporting her alleged sexual assault to police.

Rolling Stone's attorneys maintained that there was no evidence that the reporter knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or had serious doubts about whether it was true.

Because the judge determined that Eramo was a public figure, she had to prove that Rolling Stone made statements with 'actual malice', meaning it knew that what it was writing about her was false or entertained serious doubts as to whether it might be true.

In a statement Friday, the magazine apologized to Eramo and anyone else impacted by the story.

'It is our deep hope that our failings do not deflect from the pervasive issues discussed in the piece, and that reporting on sexual assault cases ultimately results in campus policies that better protect our students. We will continue to publish stories that shine a light on the defining social, political and cultural issues of our times, and we will continue to seek the truth in every story we publish.'

The story about Jackie's rape set off a firestorm at the University of Virginia and in schools nationwide and prompted police to launch an investigation into the alleged assault.

Eramo received hundreds of angry letters and emails and faced protesters outside her office.

The fraternity targeted by the article has also sued the magazine, but it's unclear whether a judge will let that case proceed to trial

False: Rolling Stone published Erdely's article in November 2014, and by December they had retracted it after a police investigation found no evidence of the alleged gang rape

STATEMENT FROM ROLLING STONE FOLLOWING THE VERDICT For almost 50 years, Rolling Stone has aimed to produce journalism with the highest reporting and ethical standards, and with a strong humanistic point of view. When we published 'A Rape on Campus' in 2014, we were attempting to tackle the very serious and complex topic of sexual assault on college campuses, a subject that is more relevant today than ever. In our desire to present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor, we overlooked reporting paths and made jouralistic mistakes that we are committed to never making again. We deeply regret these missteps and sincerely apologize to anyone hurt by them, including Ms. Eramo. It is our deep hope that our failings do not deflect from the pervasive issues discussed in the piece, and that reporting on sexual assault cases ultimately results in campus policies that better protect our students. We will continue to publish stories that shine a light on the defining social, political and cultural issues of our times, and we will continue to seek the truth in every story we publish. Advertisement

The story crumbled after other news outlets began asking questions and police found no evidence of the crime after opening up an official investigation. The article was officially retracted in April 2015.

There are only three statements about Eramo in the article in question, including one in which she is quoted - through Jackie - as saying that the university doesn't publish all of its statistics about sexual assault because 'nobody wants to send their daughter to the rape school.'

Eramo also claims that Erdely defamed her in statements she made on a radio program and podcast after the article was published.

The judge has dismissed Eramo's claim that the story, when taken as a whole, implied that Eramo was a 'false friend' to Jackie.

Rolling Stone has agreed to pay all of Erdely's legal costs and penalties.

Reaction to the verdict was mixed on Twitter on Friday. Some felt that the magazine deserved the punishment while other feared for its larger implications on journalism

Over the course of the more than two-week trial, the 10 jurors have watched 11 hours of video testimony, heard from a dozen live witnesses and have examined nearly 300 exhibits.

And while the road for this jury is close to being over, Eramo's victory opens up the door to several more lawsuits - including one from the accused fraternity.

Phi Kappa Psi filed a lawsuit against the magazine last year, which is still pending.

It's unclear whether that lawsuit will be allowed to go to trial, since another judge threw out another defamation case by a group of brothers from the frat last year.

Rolling Stone was founded in Jann Wenner in 1967. Today, Wenner is chairman of the magazine's parent company, Wenner Media, which also publishes US Weekly and Men's Journal.
The parents of a boy with cancer have lost their right-to-life case as a High Court judge backed doctors' plans to put him on an end-of-life care programme.

Doctors told Mr Justice MacDonald that a cure was no longer possible and suggested palliative care that would concentrate on easing his pain.

But the boy's parents mounted a fight in the High Court for their son's 'right to life', arguing that doctors should not 'pre-determine' his death and said his human rights were not being respected.

A schoolboy diagnosed with bone cancer four years ago should move to a palliative care regime proposed by specialists despite his parents' objections, a High Court judge has ruled

One specialist told Mr Justice MacDonald that the youngster had a 'huge, painful tumour' which was 'fast growing'.

Doctors had argued that the youngster was in pain and it would become unremitting and excruciating if not managed with 'palliative chemotherapy' and medication.

But the boy's mother, a former nurse, told the judge that she disagreed with doctors and thought that the tumour was slow growing.

She told the court she was not 'in denial' and said that her son's human rights were were not being respected.

The mother also said she was worried about the side effects of chemotherapy and a 'cocktail of painkillers'.

Parents faced with a terminal illness befalling their child have to deal with the horror in the best way they can Mr Justice MacDonald

But Mr Justice MacDonald said he was satisfied that the boy's prognosis was terminal and that the treatment plan put forward was in the boy's best interests.

The boy's father - who had described his son as 'amazing' - sobbed as the judge outlined his conclusions.

Mr Justice MacDonald said the boy's parents were suffering unimaginable agony after being given an 'apocalyptic' prognosis.

His mother, a former nurse, said the youngster's symptoms ought to be managed according to the progression of his disease but the judge approved the palliative care programme

'Parents faced with a terminal illness befalling their child have to deal with the horror in the best way they can,' said the judge.

'Neither the mother or the father in this case are anything other than loving parents who are simply trying to stay upright in the darkening storm which has engulfed their family.'

The judge had analysed issues at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

He said journalists could report the hearing even though members of the public were not allowed to attend.
A Syrian migrant who threw his three children out of a window in a rage when his wife insisted on being treated like other European women has been jailed for 15 years.

During the trial in the western German city of Bonn, an expert confirmed that the father - who could not be named under German privacy laws - is fully responsible for his actions.

The shocking incident happened at refugee accommodation in a converted Chinese restaurant in Lohmar, a town close to Cologne in the Western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

A Syrian migrant has been jailed for 15 years after he was found guilty of throwing his children from a first-floor window at a refugee shelter in Germany. He is pictured here at the start of the trial while causing a scene by raising his shirt above his head

Emergency services rushed to the scene near Cologne, Germany, and found his daughter, seven, and son, six, suffered serious internal injuries while his one-year-old daughter was relatively unharmed

The wife of the Syrian migrant had made it clear that she was not prepared to accept the traditional Arab gender roles anymore and this had infuriated her husband who then threw his three children out of the first-floor window of the house.

Judge Kunkel described the injuries of the children in detail.

His seven-year-old daughter and now six-year-old son suffered internal bleedings, multiple skull fractures and other bone fractures from the fall.

His one-year-old daughter suffered relatively few injuries from the fall and only got some minor bruises as she fell on her brother.

The oldest daughter almost died and was resuscitated in the rescue vehicle.

The couple clashed frequently because of her insistence on being treated equally, and on February 1 this year the man beat her with a cooking pot, hitting her repeatedly in the face in front of their children, the court was told.

All of the children survived the fall, which came about after an argument between the man and his wife over her wanting to be 'more like European women', the court heard

Pictured: The refugee shelter near Cologne where the attempted murder occurred

State prosecutor Florian Gessler had asked for a life sentence for attempted murder and attempted serious bodily harm.

Judge Kunkel added: 'What makes a father throw his children out of the window? It is something that makes us speechless.'

The Syrian father caused a scene at the start of the trial by throwing himself on the floor of the courtroom with his T-shirt over his head.

Another hearing was stopped because a doctor had to be alerted after he put something in his mouth.

The migrant cannot be named under German privacy laws and prosecutors had asked for him to receive a life sentence after the horrific incident

Judge Kunkel said that the Syrian migrant wanted to punish his wife in a 'maximum' way by killing the three children.

The judge said: 'He knew that by doing that he would do the worst to her.'

The court also heard the two eldest children still suffer from anxiety and nightmares over the incident.

Jurors were told his six-year-old son said: 'If he comes home now, he'll slaughter us.'
Horrific footage showing unborn calves being thrown into waste bins after their mothers are brutally killed has emerged from a French abattoir.

A disgusted employee leaked the film, showing pregnant cows stabbed to death as they frantically thrash around, before their unborn calves - suffocated in their mothers' wombs - are casually thrown away.

The graphic video has been released by animal rights group L214.

A graphic video has shed light on the way pregnant cows are killed in a French slaughterhouse

Activists said the employee, who had worked at the slaughterhouse for seven years, was 'revolted' by what he had seen.

It was shot in May in the central city of Limoges, in the largest municipal slaughterhouse in France.

Mauricio Garcia Pereira, who took the footage on a GoPro camera, told Le Monde: 'The calf is thrown in a bin full of s***.

'Sometimes it moves, as if it were alive. We do it every day, at least fifty times a week.'

He described the activity as 'awful and criminal'.

Mauricio Garcia Pereira, who took the footage on a GoPro camera, described the actions as 'awful and criminal'

The footage, narrated by French pianist Vanessa Wagner, said the man who leaked the video was responsible for throwing nearly-born calves into waste bins - an act he did 'several dozen times' a week.

Cows are shown in a state of panic as they try to escape, sensing the impending danger. Pregnant animals are given an electric jab, sometimes in the eye before their throats are slit.

Their unborn foetus dies slowly inside them from asphyxiation before being cut out and thrown away.

Workers cut open the mother's womb before throwing the body of the unborn calf in a waste bin

In the video, the narrator states: 'As a mother, my heart was broken to see these calves suffocated to death in the bellies of the their mothers that had just been killed.

'Meat and milk hide violence of unspeakable suffering.'

A petition has been launched by the activist group calling for the killing of pregnany cows to be banned.

Under EU law, cows cannot be slaughtered if they are more than eight months pregnant.

Abattoir director Pascal Pain said nothing illegal had been filmed, and criticised the employee for recording the footage.

He told The Local: 'The images of pregnant cows that I have seen do not reveal any irregularity, unlike the practice of bringing a camera into a place where taking pictures is subject to authorization.
Joe Stiff (pictured) was awarded the Legion d'Honneur for his role in the liberation of France during the Second World War

A war veteran who was almost left for dead during the battle of Dunkirk and blown up again shortly after the D-Day landings has been awarded France's highest military honour.

Joe Stiff, 96, from Lingdale, North Yorkshire, was awarded the Legion d'Honneur for his rolein the liberation of France during the Second World War.

The veteran severed with The Green Howards, also known as the Yorkshire Regiment.

He said: 'I was blown up at Dunkirk and left for dead.

'My ID tags were taken off and everything but they transported me away. I had one or two cuts but thankfully I was saved by the men around me and was taken to Lichfield Hospital in Staffordshire.

'After two days I came round and spent three months in the hospital.

'Around the time my mother even got a card from the War Office saying I was believed to have been killed.'

He added: 'A vicar came to see me in the hospital and asked if I had written a letter home and I said I hadn't so he did it for me. When my mother found out I was still alive she fainted.'

The veteran, pictured centre top during his military days, was almost left for dead at Dunkirk and blown up again shortly after the D-Day. He served with The Green Howards (pictured)

The Legion d'Honneur (pictured left) is France's highest military honour and Mr Stiff will add it to his collection of wartime medals (pictured right)

The blast caused Mr Stiff to suffer bleeding from his ears regularly and he was made a corporal attached to the ordnance corps. He volunteered to go to France two days after the D-Day landings where once again he was shelled.

He said: 'We travelled to France in a fishing trawler and were a few miles away from the shore when we got shelled. We were all blown into the water but I couldn't swim, and I had all of my gear on.

'Two of the other men had to keep hold of me as we got nearer the shore until I was able to walk.'

After his close escape, Mr Stiff was almost immediately assigned to help the medical corps to look after injured soldiers as well as having to escort 89 prisoners of war to a compound where they were then transferred to England.

He said: 'The Germans were taking pot shots at us as we were escorting the prisoners and so there was still a lot of intense fighting. I was also helping the medical corps as well, by carrying stretchers. It may have been two days after the landing but there was still a lot of fighting around.'

In September Mr Stiff received a letter (pictured) from the French government informing him about the award

Although proud of his achievement, Mr Stiff wishes he could share his Legiond'Honneur with his fallen comrades.

He said: 'All of my friends perished in the war and I still remember them all. The photo I have of us all sitting together, I never saw those men again in my life. I've made inquiries but found nothing.
Playboy model Dani Mathers will face charges for sending a cruel Snapchat that poked fun at a 70-year-old woman who was taking a shower at her gym.

Mathers, 29, was charged on Friday with a misdemeanor count of invasion of privacy and could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if she is convicted.

The former Playmate of the Year's trouble began in July when she snapped a secret photo of the elderly woman at an LA Fitness gym and then took a selfie that showed her covering her mouth in laughter.

'If I can't unsee this then you can't either,' read the caption on the images.

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Playboy model Dani Mathers has been charged with invasion of privacy for sending this cruel Snapchat that poked fun at a 70-year-old woman who was taking a shower at her gym

Mathers (pictured left) could face up to six months in jail if convicted for the picture

Detectives first began the investigation after the Los Angeles Police Department received a report of 'illegal distribution' of the image.

Mathers met with her lawyer in September, two days after the LAPD announced they had found the woman featured in Mathers' Snapchat.

Authorities also revealed they were recommending that prosecutors charge Mathers with dissemination of private images.

Mathers appeared to try and rehabilitate her image following the controversy, pledging her support for anti-bullying non-profit The Tyler Clementi Foundation.

In one tweet, Mathers said she had signed the foundation's Upstander pledge - which asks supporters to vow they will stand up to bullying and never use demeaning language to insult others.

Mathers appeared to try and rehabilitate her image following the controversy, pledging her support for anti-bullying non-profit The Tyler Clementi Foundation (tweets from September)

'Let's end bullying in its tracks by working together in being #upstanders', she wrote.

But another anti-cyberbullying group, known as Cure the Hate, claimed Mathers only reached out to them after the LAPD recommended that she be charged.

Cure the Hate said they reached out to Mathers shortly after she came under fire for the picture and followed up with her seven times, according to TMZ.

The organization claims Mathers finally responded in September - after the woman in the picture had been found.

TMZ reported that Mathers eventually decided to pass on working with the group completely.

The model first apologized for the Snapchat post in July, tweeting: 'I'm sorry for what I did... I need to take some time to myself now to reflect on why I did this horrible thing.'

Mathers also claimed in a Snapchat video to her fans that she had intended to send the photo only to a friend.

Mathers (second from left) also claimed in a Snapchat video to her fans that she had intended to send the photo only to a friend

'I just want to acknowledge a photo that I accidentally posted,' she said in the clip posted to her Snapchat Story. 'It was absolutely wrong and not what I meant to do.'

'I chose to do what I do for a living because I love the female body and I know body shaming is wrong, that's not what I'm about and this is not the type of person I am.

'The photo was taken as part of a personal conversation with a girlfriend and because I am new to Snapchat I didn't realise I had posted it, and that was a huge mistake.

'I know I have upset a lot of people out there but please believe me this is not the type of person that I am.

'I have never done this before and I will never do this again, you have my word.'

After the posting Mathers was banned from all LA Fitness facilities and dropped from a regular slot on 'The Heidi and Frank Show', an LA radio show.

LA Fitness Executive Vice President Jill Grueling called Mathers' behavior 'appalling'.

'[It] puts every member at risk of losing their privacy,' Grueling added.

The model first apologized for the Snapchat video was a tweet in July (pictured)
Prince Harry's new girl was the epitome of a lady who lunches as she swept into the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto with a girlfriend on Friday.

Meghan Markle, 35, arrived at the five-star hotel in the upmarket Yorkville neighborhood of the Canadian city around 12.30pm.

The Suits actress was dressed in double-denim with a long, tan coat and carrying a $3,500 Saint Laurent handbag. She was perfectly made up and her hair blow-dried as she hid behind sunglasses.

She spent around an hour inside before emerging with a group. She smiled broadly as she hugged friends while waiting for her car to be return by the valet.

News of Meghan's reported secret relationship with the British Royal was revealed this weekend after Harry, 32, was said to have spent time at her home in Toronto and attended a Halloween party with her at Soho House's branch in the city.

Meghan Markle had lunch with a friend at the five-star hotel in the upmarket Yorkville neighborhood of Toronto around 12.30pm on Friday

The Suits actress was dressed in double-denim with a long, tan coat and carrying a $3,500 Saint Laurent handbag. She was perfectly made up and her hair blow-dried as she hid behind sunglasses

She spent around an hour inside before emerging with a group. She smiled broadly as she hugged friends while waiting for her car to be return by the valet

The LA-born actress has spent the past five years largely living in Toronto, where Suits is filmed, and immersing herself in elite social circles of the city.

The couple are believed to have carried on their trans-Atlantic love affair for several months after meeting at a charity event.

The Prince and the actress are said to have partied at a private members' club

Harry is reportedly 'besotted' with the actress after it emerged he bombarded her with text messages for a date while she may still have been with her ex-boyfriend of two years, Canadian chef Cory Vitiello.

At his home in Brantford, Ontario, Vitiello's brother refused to comment on the new love of his brother's ex.

It's believed that Markle has already visited Balmoral, the Queen's beloved Scottish estate.

The actress was invited to join senior members of the Royal Family on a shoot to celebrate Harry's 32nd birthday on September 15, Us Weekly reported.

Royal insiders claim Markle and Harry were hosted by Prince Charles at Birkhall, his hunting lodge in the grounds of Balmoral. This is reportedly when Charles and Markle were introduced.

Royal insiders claim Markle and Harry were hosted by Prince Charles at Birkhall, his hunting lodge in the grounds of Balmoral. This is reportedly when Charles and Markle were introduced.

The actress has posted a series of romantic images on Instagram since it emerged she had been dating Harry.

The LA-born actress has spent the past five years living in Toronto, where Suits is filmed, and immersing herself in elite social circles of the city

She looked happy to see her friends as they embraced outside the Four Seasons hotel on Friday

News of Meghan's secret relationship with the British Royal was revealed this weekend after Harry, 32, reportedly spent time at her home in Toronto and they attended a Halloween party together at Soho House

Despite being out and about on Friday, she has yet to reveal any information about her relationship with Prince Harry

She posted a romantic picture of two bananas 'spooning' after news of their relationship broke.

But in her first published interview since then she told the Toronto Sun: 'My cup runneth over and I'm the luckiest girl in the world'.

One royal source suggested the pair are in a relationship but it is still considered 'very early days'.

The prince, 32, also follows the actress on the picture sharing website Instagram using a pseudonym.

Intriguingly, Harry, who publicly professes to hate social media, is one of her million followers and she also follows him.

The revelation is telling because the prince has a private account and only 'follows' a few close friends and charities, suggesting the pair know each other fairly well.

The 35-year-old actress, who is best known for her role as Rachel Zane in US legal drama Suits, is believed to have charmed the royal when he visited Toronto in May.

The mutual friend believed to have introduced Harry and Meghan is US-based fashion designed Misha Nonoo.

Fashion range: As well as acting, Markle has a fashion range which retails for less than Canadian $100 - $75 or $60

Risque: The actress strips down to her underwear in a steamy scene from US drama Suits - she says her mother taught her: 'Never give the milk away for free'

Closely guarded: Toronto Police are now keeping watch on the actress's Canadian home

Misha, married to but reportedly separated from Old Etonian Alexander Gilkes, is one of Meghan's closest pals and confidantes and holidayed with her in the summer.

Alexander was a guest at William and Kate's wedding and his younger brother, club owner Charlie, is a former flame of Pippa Middleton.

Princess Eugenie worked for his online auction company in New York and may also have been involved the introductions - meaning she could have fixed Harry up with both his current and previous girlfriends.

Markle remains close to her mother, Doria Ragland, who divorced her father Thomas, 72, when she was six, and is often seen with her on the red carpet.

Thomas, a lighting director, is currently thought to be in Mexico and recently filed for bankruptcy after racking up debts of $30,000 (24,000).

Doria, who also filed for bankruptcy herself in 2002 over a $52,750 credit-card bill, appears to be the one of the defining influences in her daughters life.

Writing in an article about her background, Markle addressed being mixed race, saying: 'While I could say Pennsylvania and Ohio, and continue this proverbial two-step, I instead give them what they're after: "My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African-American."'

Meghan wrote of her childhood and her mum and dad's mixed-race marriage on her website: 'I like to think he was drawn to her sweet eyes and her Afro, plus their shared love of antiques,' she writes. 'Whatever it was, they married and had me.
Horrifying footage shows the moment a Long Island man crashed his car into a Brooklyn gas station and chased a police officer after allegedly murdering his wife.

Surveillance footage shows Robert Crumb, 44, crashing into a Citgo gas station at Fladlands and Pennsylvania Avenues in Brooklyn on Friday as his car bursts into flames.

The vehicle slams into another car during the 1am rampage, and soon fire engulfed the gas station.

'The flames were huge, they went up all the way to the ceiling of the station,' Ben Williams, 58, who works across from the gas station told the New York Daily News.

Surveillance footage from a Brooklyn Citgo gas station shows the fiery moment Robert Crumb, 44, rammed his car through a pump and into another car after allegedly killing his wife

An officer with his gun drawn approaches Crumb's car and appears to tell him to exit the vehicle

In the clip, an officer - gun drawn - approaches and opens Crumbs door. He appears to be telling him to get out of the vehicle.

Then Crumb charges at the officer.

With his arms outstretched, Crumb runs after the cop. He appears erratic as he follows the cop backward. Although he has his gun in his hand, the officer doesn't fire.

The 44-year-old chases the cop until the two are on the ground scuffling.

With his arms outstretched, Crumb runs toward the cop who tries to get away by running backward

Crumb continues to run erratically after the officer as the car behind him goes up in flames

Soon three other cops help the first officer by subduing Crumb and keeping him pressed to the ground

The Citgo gas station is engulfed in flames as the officers take Crumb to a hospital before taking him into custody

Three more cops intervene and help the first officer subdue Crumb.

It is believed before the dramatic scene unfolded that Crumb killed his wife and wounded his daughter in their Long Island home, police said.

Crumb stabbed his 41-year-old wife to death and wounded his 16-year-old daughter, who has not been identified and was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening wounds.

A passerby also took a video of the incident. In this image the start of the fire can be seen in the center of the video

An officer is seen running toward the other cop who is fighting with Crumb on the ground as the Citgo goes up in flames

The man's 12-year-old son called 911 after Crumb left the house, the New York Daily News reported.

After fleeing the home, Nassau County police saw Crumb's car and approached him.

But he sped away, leading to a 30-mile, 20-minute high-speed chase into Brooklyn.

Eventually, Crumb lost control of his car, which is when he slammed into the Citgo gas station.

The four police involved were treated for smoke inhalation and officers are investigating the alleged murder and what the motive was

All four officers who took part in arresting Crumb were treated for smoke inhalation and one sustained a non-life-threatening wound to the head.

Crumb had stabbed himself in the neck and wrists and was taken to Brookdale University Hospital while in police custody for the minor injuries, officers said.
Hillary Clinton and one of her most prominent backers once again raised Donald Trump's ties to Russia Friday and suggested the GOP presidential candidate would be subject to bribery by top U.S. adversaries.

Clinton raised the issue in Pittsburgh, in the heart of battleground Pennsylvania, after billionaire supporter and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban took the attack even further in his own remarks introducing Clinton, who narrowly leads Trump in the Rust Belt state.

'Imagine having a president who owes hundreds of millions of dollars to foreign banks and other foreign entities that he doesn't tell us about,' Clinton told a crowd inside a facility in Heinz field, where the Steelers play.

'Ask yourself, so if he's sitting across the table negotiating with people from those countries, is he going to put his own financial interests ahead of America's interests?'

'I can tell you this, when I'm sitting across the table from the Russians or anyone else, I know who I'm representing - the American people,' Clinton said.

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Clinton and Cuban were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Friday

Clinton and billionaire Mark Cuban (right), one of her most prominent backers, once again raised Donald Trump's ties to Russia

Cuban hit even harder in his own remarks, where he hammered Trump on the issue of trust.

Clinton and Cuban chatted casually inside the campaign plane

'There's gonna come a time where Donald Trump, God help, if he's president where [Vladimir] Putin or [Bashar] Assad would say to him, 'Donald if you do this, I'll give you $20 billion.'

'What's $20 billion to them?,' Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner and 'Shark Tank' cohost continued.

'What's $30 billion? To them it's nothing. If Donald Trump  who rips off people for thousands, gets offered by some dictator somewhere, some despot somewhere, $20 billion, you think he's gonna do what's best for the country or do you think he's gonna take the money?'

'Do you think he's got the temperament to do the right thing?' Cuban asked  prompting the crowd to yell out 'No!'

'Do you think he's got the fortitude to do the right thing? Do you think he cares more about you or his bank account? Can you trust Donald Trump? Absolutely not,' Cuban said.

Clinton made the stop to Pennsylvania with Cuban. The state that is part of her 'blue firewall' cutting off Trump's White House paths

The Democrat and the billionaire went in for a hug on Friday

Cuban described a U.S. under Trump as something like a developing country where bribery is commonplace.

'There's always a time in politics, global politics, where money's at stake. You hear all the stories about all these dictators who have taken billions, hundreds of billions of dollars and absconded with it.'

'And now look at islands they own  oligarchs who have taken from people billions and now live wherever they want,' he said.

Clinton made the stop to a state that is part of her 'blue firewall' cutting off Trump's White House paths. But the polls have tightened there, even as battleground New Hampshire has become all tied up.

Clinton was speaking inside a facility in Heinz field, Pittsburgh, where the Steelers play

Clinton was joined by Pro Football Hall of Famers and former Pittsburgh Steelers Mel Blount, left, and Franco Harris, right

She campaigned with Steeler legends Franco Harris and Mel Blount.

She also commented on the 'good news' employments numbers.

'That is 73 straight months of job growth,' Clinton said. 'And I believe that our economy is poised to really take off and thrive. But we need to make sure the economy is working for everyone not just those at the top.'

Clinton hailed Cuban at the top of her remarks, then invited him aboard her campaign plane as she flew to Detroit for yet another rally.

In an unexpected aside, Clinton said she feels 'sorry' for the press who cover all of her attempts to listen to Americans.

'I do feel kind of sorry for the press covering me  what are they going to say for the 100th time? "She was listening to people,"' Clinton said.
A 'Satanist' who strangled and dismembered a police officer before dissolving his body in a bath of acid is not a monster, a court heard.

Italian web developer Stefano Brizzi killed PC Gordon Semple, 59, after meeting him through the gay dating app Grindr.

In a recreation of a scene from his favourite show Breaking Bad Brizzi then attempted to dispose of some of the remains in a bath of acid.

Stefano Brizzi (pictured left) is accused of murdering and trying to destroy the body of Met Police officer Gordon Semple (pictured right). His defense barrister today insisted the former web developer was not a monster

CCTV footage shown in court appears to show Stefano Brizzi shopping for a bin, allegedly to dissolve the body of PC Gordon Semple. The policeman was strangled after meeting his killer on Grindr, a court heard

Police visited Brizzi's south London flat after neighbours complained about the smell of rotting meat mixed with powerful chemicals in April.

When they go there he told them Satan had ordered him to kill, kill, kill.

The 50-year-old now claims PC Semple died in a drug-fuelled sado masochistic sex game and that he only had an intellectual interest in Satanism.

His defense barrister Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC insisted Brizzi was not a monster and a human being like you or I.

She said: A trial such as this cannot give and does not give anyone any pleasure.

Theres been a tragic loss of a mans life. You are asked to determine the circumstances of his death.

No one could fail to be moved by his horrific, and we dont resile from this, circumstances of the aftermath of his death.

You have heard it said that Gordon Semple was a good man and no doubt he was.

You will have to confront the fact that his respectability and his kindness to others did in fact mask another side of Mr Semples life which did bear the hall marks of promiscuity, sexual fetish in collaboration with the taking of illegal drugs.

Im afraid thats the plain truth, I hope you will not criticise me for saying so for Im afraid you have to deal with the real facts - the bald and unvarnished truth.

Ms Bennett-Jenkins added that former Morgan Stanley employee Mr Brizzi was a 'highly skilled professional' who was had been 'valued' at his work place.

Other CCTV images appearing to show PC Semple (pictured) at Blackfriars Station on his way to Brizzi's Southwark flat were given to the jury

She continued: In April of this year he had done nothing to bring himself to the attention of the police in his life - now here he is regarding the circumstances of the death of Gordon Semple.

He too inhabited that world, a world of homosexuality, of promiscuity, of sexual fetish and drug taking. That is again the bald truth.

Stefano Brizzi would be the first to accept his action between the time of PC Semples death and his arrest on 7 April were horrific.

You may think that what ever these actions were he has not attempted to run away from them.

What ever those actions were, they were carried out in a pall of his own making by virtue of the drugs he had taken.

Just as Gordon Semple was a good man, Stefano Brizzi the middle aged, urbane, interested, linguist, highly skilled professional - hes not a monster.

Hes a human being like you or I, and your good sense of fairness and your adherence to the oaths of affirmation that youve taken insist that you do not treat him as a monster.

Im afraid peoples sexuality is there own business. Peoples likes or dislikes in a sexual sense are their own business and you will have to guard against any feelings you may have about this activity or promiscuous behaviour between men that you either dont like or disapprove of.

Ms Bennett-Jenkins also warned jurors against being prejudiced be their own religious convictions if they had any.

Police visited Brizzi's south London flat (pictured) after neighbours complained about the smell of rotting meat mixed with powerful chemicals. Forensics officers found the victim's DNA on cooking equipment at the flat, the court heard

She said: The death of Gordon Semple, you will be driven to conclude we suggest, was the unintended consequence of a consensual sexual activity.

Brizzi claimed the days after the killing passed in a drugged up haze fuelled by crystal meth and sleeping pills.

After a few days, his neighbours started to complain of the overwhelming stench coming from the flat.

Two black bin liners were found to contain mounds of flesh, a human pelvis, a hand and part of a spine.

Some of the officers remains were found dissolving in a bath of acid, other body parts were found in Brizzis bin, and in the communal bins of the Peabody Estate.

Traces of PC Semples DNA were found in the oven, on the chopping board and on a pair of chopsticks, indicating he may have eaten some of the victim as well.

One of PC Semples severed feet was found by a member of the public on the south side of the river.

Brizzi and PC Semple had been trying to persuade other gay men in the area to join them for a Chemsex party, jurors heard.

The 50-year-old now claims PC Semple died in a drug-fuelled sado masochistic sex game at the flat and that he only had an intellectual interest in Satanism

Only one man agreed to join them, but was sent away by Brizzi via intercom who told him: Were having a situation here. Someone fell ill but were taking care of it. So our party is cancelled.

Hes believed to have arrived at the very moment Brizzi was strangling PC Semple.

After the killing, he Brizzi sent a message to the victim saying next time just one on one to make it seem like he had left the flat alive and well.

PC Semple, from Greenhithe, Dartford, was reported missing by Mr Meeks on Saturday 2 April after he failed to come home from work.

Brizzi, of the Peabody Estate Trust, Southwark, southeast London, denies murder.

The jury of nine men and three women have been told they can consider an alternative count of manslaughter.

He admits obstructing the coroner in his duty by dismembering PC Semples body in order to dispose of it.
Stephen Phillips has announced he is standing down from the House of Commons

One of the highest earning MPs in Westminster dramatically quit today after he expressed fury at Theresa May's refusal to give parliament a say on cutting ties with Brussels.

High-flying barrister Stephen Phillips, who in 2009 was appointed one of the youngest QCs in the country at the age of 39, tops up his salary with some 750,000-a-year with his highly lucrative legal work.

In his letter of resignation, Mr Phillips wrote: 'Some will label me a quitter, or, no doubt, worse. Those are labels with which I can live. The label Conservative no longer is.'

Senior political figures say the pro-Brexit Tory MP may have quit to return to his high-flying legal career 'where he was very successful before'.

The latest statement on the register of members' interests shows Mr Phillips received earnings of more than 140,000 from legal work in the last 12 months and in previous years he has declared even higher sums, including almost 750,000 in 2013.

The 46-year-old was a backer of both Brexit and Theresa May's ultimately successful bid to become Tory leader and Prime Minister.

The Oxford-educated QC, seen as being on the liberal wing of the Conservative Party, backed gay marriage and recently called on the Government to do more to help child refugees.

His appointment in 2009 as one of the youngest QCs in the country followed a stratospheric rise in the legal system - which saw him continue to pocket hundreds of thousands of pounds from his work as a barrister and part-time judge after becoming an MP.

Having separated from his wife Fiona, the lawyer mother of his three children, Mr Phillips is understood to be living with a young blonde South African woman called Keightley Reynolds, 33, an international economist.

Ms Reynolds holds four degrees, has worked for the Sierra Leone government, and currently works as an economist at the Ministry of Education in Rwanda.

Former colleagues of Mr Phillips pointed out that he had been passed over for promotion under both David Cameron and Theresa May

In a letter to George Clark, chairman of the Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservative Association, Mr Phillips said he could no longer live with being labelled a Conservative.

He attacked the Government for 'shirking' responsibility for unaccompanied child refugees and changes in the way international aid is spent.

The son of an MoD civil servant and a mother who worked part-time 'to help make ends meet', Mr Phillips studied law at Oxford and began his legal career after what his website described as a 'brief stint' in the Army.

Stephen Phillips has announced he is standing down from the House of Commons

He was elected in 2010 in Sleaford and Hykeham, and defended the seat in 2015 with a majority of more than 24,000.

The vast majority of his work as a barrister is in international arbitration, specialising in insurance law.

On his MPs' website - now deleted - Mr Phillips defended continuing his work as a QC and recorder.

He said: 'I still work as a lawyer and judge, largely when the House of Commons is not sitting.

'My own view is that makes for a better MP - the House of Commons is, after all, making law.'

Mr Phillips is said to have complained to friends that the party had 'lurched to the right' and become 'Ukip lite'.

It appears that the final straw was Mrs May's response to the controversial High Court ruling yesterday - which insisted she must get permission from MPs and peers before triggering Article 50 and starting the formal two-year process for leaving.

Mr Phillips recently warned against the 'tyranny' of denying MPs a say on the Government's stance in forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

Mr Phillips (pictured right), said he 'could no longer live with being labelled a Conservative'

'SOME WILL LABEL ME A QUITTER...THOSE ARE LABELS WITH WHICH I CAN LIVE. THE LABEL CONSERVATIVE NO LONGER IS' Stephen Phillips said he felt 'growing policy differences' with the government meant he could no longer serve constituents in Sleaford and North Hykeham. In his resignation letter, printed by Guido Fawkes, he wrote: 'Dear George, Following our telephone conversation earlier, I am writing to inform you of my decision to quit as an MP with immediate effect. 'You and others who know me well have been aware over the past months of my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Conservative Government. 'To identify three areas in particular: its failure to appreciate the constitutional necessity of properly consulting Parliament with regard to leaving the European Union; the continued shirking of our responsibility for unaccompanied child refugees who have been forced to flee war and conflict; and the way in which international aid is now apparently to be used other than to assist some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. 'These policy differences are irreconcilable. They mean that I am unable properly and adequately to represent the people who elected me. I take the view that it would be wrong simply to resign the whip and remain an MP. The majority of the people in the constituency voted to be represented by a Conservative. That choice should be respected. 'It has been a great honour to represent the people of Sleaford and North Hykeham for the last six years. Some will label me a quitter, or, no doubt, worse. Those are labels with which I can live. 'The label Conservative no longer is. 'With my very best regards, Stephen Phillips QC MP.' Advertisement

Insiders rubbished the idea that further resignations could follow. One said: Its not like theres a group of them plotting. He wanted to resign and has done it in this way in order to make trouble and look principled.

Christine Talbot, a member of the executive at his constituency association, said: Constituents are really angry with him. He owes us all an explanation  Its almost like a tantrum. Its as though this is just because he didnt get his own way.

But colleagues raised doubts about his motivation for resigning. He was not appointed to a frontbench post under David Cameron, and snubbed again by Mrs May when she took over in Downing Street.

Iain Duncan Smith said it was 'ironic' that Mr Phillips had gone after judges had sided with arguments that parliament had to authorise Mrs May to invoke Article 50.

'I think there is more to it than that,' he told Sky News. 'What I would suspect is that there are issues around what has happened to him personally in politics.'

Mr Duncan Smith also suggested that Mr Phillips might want to return to his high-flying legal career 'where he was very successful before'.

Fellow Tory MP Stewart Jackson, an aide to Brexit Secretary David Davis, branded the resignation 'odd'.

He posted on Twitter: 'Stephen Phillips: It's so important Parliament gets a say on Brexit that I'm, er...leaving Parliament. Very odd.'

One senior Tory MP told MailOnline Mr Phillips' decision was 'astonishing', adding: 'I thought he had hoped to be a law officer'.

The final straw for Mr Phillips appears to have been the government response to the court case brought by Remain-supporting businesswoman and ex-model Gina Miller (pictured today)

Fellow Tory MP Stewart Jackson, an aide to Brexit Secretary David Davis, expressed bewilderment at Mr Phillips' decision

A friend of Mr Phillips told the Guardian that he had also been angry about the 'decimation' of international aid and failure to take enough child refugees.

'It's about values. The values of this government are not his values. They've lurched to the right and become Ukip-lite. He is not,' the friend said.

Last month Mr Phillips called for an urgent debate in the House of Commons on the matter, insisting that bypassing Parliament was 'simply not an acceptable way for the executive to proceed'.

He told Speaker John Bercow in a letter: 'I and many others did not exercise our vote in the referendum so as to restore the sovereignty of this Parliament only to see what we regarded as the tyranny of the European Union replaced by that of a Government that apparently wishes to ignore the views of the House on the most important issue facing the nation.'

Mrs May's Government had 'no authority or mandate to adopt a negotiating position without reference to the wishes of the House and those of the British people expressed through their elected representatives', he added.

Theresa May spoke to EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker by telephone today to tell him she still intended to trigger Article 50 by the end of March despite the court ruling. They are pictured meeting in Brussels last month

Mr Phillips was viewed as an independent-minded MP. He had a majority of around 25,000 at the last general election, making it a safe seat - but the prospect of another by-election will not be welcome to the Prime Minister.

Ukip leadership hopeful Suzanne Evans immediately declared that she 'throwing my hat into the ring' for the contest.

Mr Phillips is the second MP to go in a week, after Zac Goldsmith resigned from the party and as an MP over the decision to approve a third runway at Heathrow. He is now fighting a by-election in Richmond as an independent.

Ukip leadership hopeful Suzanne Evans says she wants to fight the by-election

In a statement issued this morning, Mr Phillips said: 'It has been a great honour to serve the people of Sleaford and North Hykeham for the last six years, but it has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me.

'The decision has been a difficult one and I hope that everyone will respect the fact that I have tried to act in the best interests of all my constituents.'

A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'Stephen Phillips has been a valuable member of Parliament since 2010 and we are sorry that he has chosen to step down.

'We thank him for his hard work and we wish him every success in the future.'

The Treasury confirmed this afternoon that Mr Phillips had been appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead - the traditional way of resigning as an MP.

The PM's spokesman refused to address the resignation at a regular briefing today.

He reiterated No 10's position there is no need for an early general election when asked if the calling of a by-election over the High Court ruling would make a national poll more likely.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: I dont see any appetite for an early general election The next is not due until May 2020, the Prime Minister has made that very clear.
The assailant was taken into custody with injuries an hour afterwards

Business students were attending classes at the time of the incident

Two people were stabbed at Rutgers University in New Jersey by a knifeman who later became injured with stab wounds himself.

The victims were attacked outside the university's business school in the middle of classes on Friday at 2.45pm.

The assailant was also injured in the incident but police would not confirm how.

Officials issued a warning to staff and students to take shelter while they worked at the scene.

The university's campus police were unavailable for immediate comment.

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Two people were stabbed at Rutgers university's business school on Friday afternoon. Above, a student taking shelter photographs the scene afterward police and ambulances arrived

The university sent out this tweet at 2.45pm warning students to take shelter

Photographs taken by students who were forced to remain in class rooms showed ambulances dispersed at the scene.

The attacker was arrested by police and the area reopened around an hour after the stabbings.

Students claimed afterwards one of the victims was stabbed in the throat. Another had their 'abs ripped open', they said.

Campus police could not confirm the reports or victims' conditions on Friday afternoon.

'A suspect is in custody following a stabbing incident that occurred at the Rutgers Business School in Piscataway, New Jersey at approximately 2:30 this afternoon.

'There is no danger to the community. Three individuals, including the suspect are currently being treated for their injuries.
Police spokesman says officers were responding to a home invasion

Sgt Paul Tuozzolo, 41, was shot in the head while responding to a domestic disturbance in the Bronx on Friday afternoon. He died in hospital a short time later

A NYPD sergeant was killed and his partner was injured during a gun battle with a heavily-armed gunman.

Sgt Paul Tuozzolo, 41, was shot in the head while responding to a domestic disturbance in the Bronx on Friday afternoon. He died at a local hospital a short time later.

The gunman, identified as 35-year-old Manuel Rosales, also shot and wounded Tuozzolo's partner, who was identified as Sgt Emmanuel Kwo, 30, by the New York Daily News.

Tuozzolo, 19-year veteran on the force, leaves behind his wife, Lisa, and their two young children.

Kwo was hit in the leg during the gunfire exchange with Rosales.

After the cops were hit, back-up arrived and returned fire at Rosales.

He was killed in the exchange.

The shooting between the officers and the suspect occurred near Noble Avenue while they were pursuing the gunman after a home invasion robbery.

An official says a woman called 911 after Rosales broke into her home, violating an order of protection.

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Tuozzolo (left) leaves behind his wife, Lisa, and their two young children

The gunman, identified as 35-year-old Manuel Rosales (right) also shot and wounded Tuozzolo's partner, who was identified as Sgt Emmanuel Kwo (left)

A lawyer who previously represented Rosales says his client wasn't violent. But records revealed he has 17 prior arrests.

Rosales was reportedly carrying multiple guns before he was gunned down inside his red Jeep Cherokee by one of the injured officers.

The NYPD's spokesman Stephen Davis said the suspect's jeep was pulled over by police who had received a description of someone who had just committed a home invasion.

A lawyer who previously represented Rosales says his client wasn't violent. But records revealed he has 17 prior arrests

Rosales was reportedly carrying multiple guns before he was gunned down inside his red Jeep Cherokee by one of the injured officers

Officers spotted the vehicle outside a storage facility on Bronx River Avenue, the Daily News reported.

The officers then rammed the SUV, which led to the suspect firing on the sergeants.

Gov Andrew Cuomo released a statement expressing his 'deepest sympathies' for the officers' families.

'Every day, the brave men and women of law enforcement selflessly serve our communities to keep the rest of us safe.

'Today, a sergeant in the New York City Police Department has made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, and another officer is undergoing treatment.

The NYPD's spokesman Stephen Davis said the suspect's jeep was pulled over by police who had received a description of someone who had just committed a home invasion

'My deepest sympathies are with the families of the officers involved in today's tragedy in the Bronx, and with Commissioner O'Neill and the NYPD as they cope with the loss of one of their own.'

Stunned residents, who lived near the scene, told the Daily News that they learned of the shooting because of the sound of the police helicopters.

'I heard the chopper like it was in my bedroom. That's how I knew it was close,' one resident said.

'It's 'so sad. My brother's a cop. That's really heartbreaking,' the resident added.

The sergeant's family were still on their way to the hospital when he died, sources told the newspaper.

Kwo, who was shot in the leg, is expected to survive.

Stunned residents, who lived near the scene, said they learned of the shooting because of the sound of the police helicopters

The sergeant's family were still on their way to the hospital when he died, sources told the newspaper
A Japanese royal - who served World War Two and criticised the brutality of troops fighting in his older brother's name - has been laid to rest after his death at the age of 100.

Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of Japan's wartime ruler Emperor Hirohito, was the uncle of current monarch Emperor Akihito.

Today solemn ceremonies were held in memory of a man who challenged the notion that his brother was divine, and called for his abdication after Japan's war defeat.

Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, second from left, Crown Princess Masako, left, and other royal family attend the funeral service for Prince Mikasa

The royal, pictured with Princess Yuriko in 1941 (left) and last year (right) was 100 when he died

A car carrying the casket of the late Prince Mikasa, uncle of the current Emperor Akihito, arrives at the funeral

Prince Mikasa, the oldest monarch in Japanese history, was famously appalled by the atrocities he witnessed, and vocally criticised Japan's aggression during the war.

Although the conflict was presented to citizens as a sacred war, the royal came to question this. He wrote a scathing report about the brutality he witnessed, revealing chemical warfare experiments had been carried out on prisoners of war in Manchuria, and claimed this was fuelling Chinese resistance.

The document was kept secret by military chiefs, and the public only became aware of it 50 years later.

Akihito's heir, Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, were in attendance along with dignitaries including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy were among those who attended the funeral

Japan's Princess Mako (right) and Princess Kako (left) attend the funeral of Prince Mikasa, at the Toshimagaoka cemetery in Tokyo

Mikasa, the fourth son of the Emperor Taisho and Empress Teimei, also alleged that an attempt had been made to poison a League of Nations delegation which was investigating a bombing by Tokyo.

In a 1994 interview with the Yomiuri newspaper, Mikasa said: 'I was really shocked when an officer told me that the best way to train new soldiers was to use living prisoners of war for bayonet practice because it gave them will power.'

Following the war, Mikasa called for his brother to abdicate, supported by imperial princes at a privy council meeting.

Japan's Princess Yuriko, wife of late Prince Mikasa, is seen after praying at the altar during his funeral

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows before praying at the altar during the funeral service

He said his brother should take responsibility for what had happened. But Hirohito refused, and continued to rule until his death in 1989.

Mikasa considered renouncing his own title, but opted against such an extreme measure.

A critic of the pomp and ceremony that surrounded the royal court, he travelled by train to the Japanese Society for Middle Eastern Studies, which he founded, and ate his lunch around the students.

Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito (centre) and Crown Princess Masako bow during the funeral service for late Prince Mikasa

He preferred to be addressed as 'Mikasa-san' like ordinary Japanese people.

His death comes amid renewed attention to the future of a monarchy whose past traditionalists say stretches back 2,600 years and whose future currently rests with one 10-year-old boy. Women cannot ascend to the throne.

A Shinto priest in white robes walked slowly ahead of the hearse at Tokyo's Toshimagaoka cemetery under bright blue skies to the sound of 'shakuhachi' flute music. Mikasa's 93-year-old widow, Princess Yuriko, followed in a wheelchair.

The late prince and wife Princess Yuriko pictured during a Canadian tour

The prince was a fierce critic of Japan's brutality during World War Two, and called for his brother to abdicate following the country's defeat

Akihito's heir, Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, were in attendance along with dignitaries including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy.

In line with tradition, Akihito and Empress Michiko did not attend.

After a reading by a priest, chief mourners laid offerings of ritual greenery at an alter after which others approached and bowed to pay their respects.

Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, third from left, Crown Princess Masako, second from left, Prince Akishino, left, and other royal family bow during the funeral service

Akihito, 82, hinted in August that he wanted to abdicate - a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law.

The remaining four male heirs include 10-year-old Prince Hisahito, the emperor's only grandson, raising concerns about the monarchy's future unless reforms to allow women to inherit and pass on the throne are enacted.

'I hope the passing of Prince Mikasa will become an opportunity to think a bit more about all these issues regarding the imperial family and succession,' said Naotaka Kimizuka, a specialist in European monarchies at Kanto Gakuin University.

The three older heirs are Akihito's 80-year-old brother and his two middle-aged sons including Naruhito.

Mikasa's body will be cremated and interred at the cemetery later in the day, public broadcaster NHK said.
Morgan Helfman claims Northeastern university did not do enough after she reported being raped

A Northeastern student is suing the university claiming it did nothing to punish a male classmate who raped her then forced her to continue living in the same dorm as him.

Morgan Helfman waived her anonymity at a press conference in Boston on Friday to speak out against the institution she says deserves to pay for her alleged ordeal.

The 21-year-old political science student claims that after being raped by a male classmate and reporting it, officials did nothing to punish him.

She says they were forced to continue living in the same dorm and attending classes together despite her reports that he molested her.

The university, which has not yet responded to the lawsuit, maintains its original finding that the male student did not breach its code of conduct.

It, along with the Suffolk District Attorney, says there was not enough evidence to ever prosecute her claims.

On Friday at a press conference in her lawyer's office, however, Helfman condemned them for not doing more.

'Im not ashamed by what happened.

'If this can help other people come to terms with what happened and speak out, then its worth it, and I want the school to be held responsible and know what they did was wrong,' she said.

Morgan was an 18-year-old freshman in October 2013 when she says she was raped by the male student after a Halloween party where she got drunk.

She said the pair had attending the event that was thrown by a resident assistant and that the boy had offered to walk her home when she felt she had had too much to drink.

They walked together back to the dorm building where they both lived on St Stephen Street and the boy brought her into his room and raped her.

Helfman was living in dorms on St Stephen Street (above) when she says the boy took her back to his room when she was drunk and raped her

The student spoke out at a press conference with her lawyer Mark Itzkowitz (above) on Friday

She said she reported the incident to campus police, who are trained at police academy and able to make arrests across university grounds, but that nothing was done.

Despite her pleas to have him moved out of the dorm building and out of classes they had to attend together, the pair continued to come across each other.

University staff gave Morgan the option to move dorms but she says she did not want to leave her friends, the few she had having come from out of state, her lawyer said.

Northeastern University Police Department referred her case to Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley who did not find sufficient evidence to prosecute.

She is now seeking damages from the university and several representatives.

Her lawyer Mark Itzkowitz said she was merely determined to make the university safer for other female students.

Admitting his client was 'disappointed' when police decided not to take her case further, Mr Itzkowitz told DailyMail.com: 'We view this as an institutional problem.

'What she's really seeking is to get the university to change its practices. She wants to make the place safer,' he said.

Morgan is now a senior at the university. She will graduate next year.
It caused many more to vent their frustration after referendum result

Judges said Government must go through Parliament to

For some it was a moment to tear their hear out in frustration, while others could only laugh.

The decision at the High Court to force the Government to get Parliamentary approval to formally launch Brexit has provoked a mixed response from the British public.

Many have vented their frustration at the judges' decision following the Leave vote in the Referendum, and others seem so exasperated with the situation they have turned to humour.

It comes as the exact nature of Brexit - and whether it will be 'hard' or 'soft' is still up in the air.

One Twitter made light of the situation, referring to it as '50 Shades of Brexit'.

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The High Court decision to force the Government to get Parliament's approval to start the Brexit process and the subsequent confusion led the situation to be described as '50 Shades of Brexit'

Other compared the current political situation in the UK to the Presidential race in the US, quipping America holds a 'Trump' card

Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a message to Jean-Claude Juncker, pictured together at last month's EU summit, in a telephone call today stressing her Brexit timetable has not changed

Matt Harvey said: 'It's not just a choice between hard & soft #brexit, there's sweet & sour, dry & wet brexit - there are at least 50 shades of brexit.'

Others have compared the situation to the Presidential election in the US where many are becoming disheartened at the bad blood between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

One woman took a shot at the similar political problems the countries are going through by tweeting a sign that read: 'America and Britain are having a competition on who can f*** themselves up the most. Britain is in the lead, but America has a Trump card.'

Perhaps @Desmond_Funk summed it up best when he Tweeted: 'Brexit means Brexit. Custard means Custard. No one knows what is going on.'

But many on social media responded with fury to the High Court decision, asking why the result of the referendum was not being respected.

Internet memes have popped up in the wake of the landmark court decision, including a mocked up version of Lord Kitchener's famous First World War call to arms featuring Nigel Farage demanding Britons protect democracy

Another meme making light of the situation takes the Leave campaign's side by showing UK residents how to 'fold a flag'

Bob Smith said: ' I am confused Parliament voted by 6-1 that we should have an EU referendum. #Brexit won it. So why are they now having a further vote?'

Robert Kimbell added: 'NOW is the time for true patriots in parliament to stand up, be counted, and support the Brexit mandate delivered to the Govt by the people.'

And Roy Thomas added: 'Just get brexit done as it has to happen. As whatever is dealt it will be harder in the end make no mistakes. It can not be reversed end of.'

Others took a more sarcastic approach, such as Tim Wookey, who said: 'Why can't the 17 million who voted for #Brexit just accept the wishes of the South African who took this legal appeal to remain in the EU?'

Meanwhile former prime minister David Cameron and ex-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg also bore the brunt of angry Brexit supporters who felt let down.

Mr Cameron has previously been accused of failing to act on his promise to 'unequivocally' follow through on whatever the result of the referendum was.

Writing on Twitter, Toby Wood said: 'The whole Brexit debacle is an ill-thought-out mess. That's why there's still so much controversy. Cameron's legacy #posttruthpolitics.'

Ron Frost added: ' How dare Nick Clegg AND OTHERS demand a second referendum the country has said leave. Not soft or hard #Brexit the country said LEAVE.'

Many took to Twitter to vent their anger at the High Court decision, claiming it flew in the face of the referendum

Others said now the referendum campaign was over the result should be seen through regardless of which side you support

Some even blamed former prime minister David Cameron for the situation

But another Tweeter posted a picture making fun of the Leave campaign with a Halloween costume of a '#VoteLeave campaigner'

It comes after Prime Minister Theresa May was rocked by the resignation of a pro-Brexit Conservative MP Stephen Phillips over 'irreconcilable policy differences' as she attempted to reassure European leaders that Britain's withdrawal from the EU remained on track.

Mr Phillips announced he was quitting shortly after the Prime Minister called European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and German chancellor Angela Merkel to stress her Brexit timetable remained unchanged - despite a High Court ruling that threatened to throw her plans into turmoil.

The judges' decision that Mrs May must get parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which she has promised to do by April, prompted calls for an emergency general election to settle the question.

Mr Phillips' resignation as MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham appeared to heap yet more pressure on the PM, although a No 10 source insisted Mrs May stood by her statement that there should not be a general election before 2020.

Pro-Brexit Tory MP Stephen Phillips, pictured, resigned today over 'very significant policy differences' with the Government

The source also revealed that Mr Phillips did not speak to Mrs May before his surprise resignation.

In a statement, he said: 'It has been a great honour to serve the people of Sleaford and North Hykeham for the last six years, but it has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me.

'This decision has been a difficult one and I hope that everyone will respect the fact that I have tried to act in the best interests of all of my constituents.'

Mr Phillips' resignation leaves the Tories facing a second by-election, following Zac Goldsmith's decision to quit over Heathrow expansion, and further diminishes Mrs May's already slim Commons majority - making the process of passing legislation on Brexit even harder.

The Liberal Democrats have tried to make the contest in Mr Goldsmith's Richmond Park seat a referendum on Brexit.

Mr Phillips, who backed Leave in the June 23 referendum, has previously warned against the 'tyranny' of denying MPs a vote on the Government's stance in forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

Last month he called for an urgent debate in the House of Commons on the matter, insisting that bypassing Parliament was 'simply not an acceptable way for the executive to proceed'.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas (file picture) was the lead judge who dismissed the Government case in the High Court yesterday

Mrs May has confirmed the Government will appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court later this year

As he announced his resignation, Downing Street was briefing details on Mrs May's talks with Mr Juncker and Mrs Merkel, and her reaction to the High Court ruling.

A No 10 spokesman said the Government did not accept the court's judgment and was 'confident' of victory in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

He said Mrs May explained to Mr Juncker and Mrs Merkel that 'while the Government is disappointed by the judgment yesterday, we remain of the firm belief that we have strong legal arguments ahead of the case which will be moving to the Supreme Court next month'.
Arby's sold out of its new venison sandwich within hours at five locations in Minnesota and Tennessee this week.

The new burgers debuted at a single Nashville, Tennessee location on Monday and quickly sold out within five hours.

On Friday, six more locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Georgia started selling the unique sandwich. The sandwich was most popular in Minnesota where all four locations were sold out by 11:15am.

The sandwich will include thick-cut venison steak and crispy onions on a toasted roll with a berry sauce

This location in St. Louis Park sold out of its venison sandwiches in just 15 minutes Friday morning

At one location in St Louis Park, Minnesota, there was a line out of the door before the 10am opening. Customers were limited two sandwiches per person but they still sold out in just 15 minutes.

'We stuck a nerve, in a good way, with hunters,' Luke DeRouen, Arby's senior director of brand communications, told the Tennessean. 'Some people drove from an hour away to try it.'

The Atlanta-based chain announced last month that they would be offering the sandwiches in six states where hunting is popular: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Arby's announced last month that it would be selling venison sandwiches this fall for a few days at select restaurants in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Georgia

The meat for the burgers is supplied from a farm in New Zealand that raises red deer, since health laws wouldn't allow wild-sourced meat in such a chain.

John Kelly, Arby's senior vice president of operations, West region, says he isn't sure whether they will continue the limited-time sandwich.

'Its going to take a process to get it in,' Kelly told the Star Tribune. 'I dont know that theres a supply the size thats big enough for us. We went to places that have the most hunters per capita. We might do it for a specific regional market, say, Minnesota-Michigan-Pennsylvania-Ohio. But were also getting responses from people saying, "We hunt in North Carolina, too." There are hunters everywhere.'

The chops are slow-cooked sous vide, vacuum-sealed in a hot water bath for hours. They are then shipped to the individual locations which reheat them and them assemble the rest of the sandwich on a bun with juniper berry-seasoned Cabernet sauce and crispy friend onions.

The sandwich as part of 'It's Meats Season' campaign, which celebrates the start of hunting season and will be made with free-range farmed deer that feed on fresh grass with with premium cut top and bottom round steaks from the hind quarter.
A teenage girl has been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of a man found dead in a burned-out Audi.

Vilson Meshi, 30, was found dead in a silver Audi A4 in Pincey Mead, Essex, on February 27.

Police initially treated his death as unexplained but later launched a murder inquiry.

Vilson Meshi (pictured left) was found dead in a silver Audi A4 in Pincey Mead, Essex (pictured right) on February 27

Mr Meshi was found dead in the car and post-mortem gave Mr Meshis provisional cause of death as smoke inhalation

The 18-year-old from Pitsea, Essex, was arrested yesterday before being released on police bail until November 22 pending further enquiries.

A 15-year-old boy from London, who was previously arrested on suspicion of murder, has been rebailed until the same date.

A post-mortem gave Mr Meshis provisional cause of death as smoke inhalation.

He had previously lived in Pincey Mead, Essex, but had recently moved to Glossop in Manchester.
Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta on Friday called on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to resign his role as a key advisor to Donald Trump, after two close aides were convicted of corruption by a jury in federal court.

Speaking to reporters aboard Hillary Clinton's campaign plane, Podesta referenced Trump's repeated call to 'drain the swamp' of political corruption.

'He might want to attend to what's going on on the side of what he's doing in the campaign,' Podesta told reporters traveling with Clinton on a flight to Michigan Friday.

'So rather than just crisscrossing the country and hop-scotching, talking about cleaning up the swamp, he might start by draining his own swamp and asking Mr. Christie to resign as the head of his transition,' Podesta said.

Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta is calling for New Jersey governor Chris Christie to resign as head of Donald Trump's transition team

Podesta spoke after Bill Baroni and Bridget Ann Kelly, two former close aides to Christie, were convicted of closing several local access lanes to the bridge - the world's busiest - and creating days of gridlock in Fort Lee, where the span is located.

Prosecutors argued that they deliberately caused a traffic jam on entry lanes to the bridge to punish a local mayor who wouldn't endorse Christie's reelection campaign.

Christie has been heading Trump's presidential transition, a role that has him overseeing staff, policy development, and envisioning who might serve in a prospective Trump administration.

He has also been an advisor and a campaign surrogate on the campaign trail, although he disappeared as the case against his top aides moved forward.

Two top aides to Christie were convicted Friday in connection to the Bridgegate scandal

Christie vowed in a statement after the verdict to 'set the record straight.'

'Let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them,' Christie said.

He said that, as a former federal prosecutor, he waited to comment until the end of the trial.

'I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom,' he said.

Podesta, who served as Bill Clinton's chief of staff and as an advisor to President Obama, has been revealed as a practitioner of his own brand of brass-knuckles politics in emails that were hacked from his account and got posted on WikiLeaks.

In one February email, Joel Johnson of the Glover Park Group wrote to Podesta about the need for Bernie Sanders to be 'ground up to a pulp,' at a time when Sanders was was going after Clinton in the primaries and rising in the polls.

'Where would you stick the knife in?' Podesta wrote, back, adding that he agreed with the analysis in principle.

In another email, Podesta was asked to recommend a lawyer to the White House. He forwarded along a recommendation of Peter Katzig, who is now a Justice Department attorney.

'Willing to help. Fantastic lawyer. Kept me out of jail,' Podesta wrote.

Kadzik had represented Podesta during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He was said to have helped Lewinsky obtain a job at the United Nations as part of an effort to get the former Lewinsky out of the White House at the time she was having an affair with Bill Clinton.

In another new WikiLeaks documents posted Friday, Podesta got invited to a 'spirit dinner' being hosted by a performance artist Marina Abramovic.

The email, to Podesta's brother Tony, said, 'Dear Tony, I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining?'

Althogh the invitation appeared to be for nothing more than a meal, the email drew a load of online attention Friday because of Abramovic's background.

In a YouTube performance, the performance artist painted paranormal messages on a wall using pig's blood, One of them said, ' 'Mix fresh breast milk with fresh sperm milk / Drink on earthquake nights.'

Abramovich told the Huffington Post that Podesta didn't attend the dinner and she hasn't met him.
Lynda Donnelly, pictured, finally saw her rapist jailed 20 years after the crime following a string of police blunders

Lynda Donnelly produces notes scribbled on the packaging of the Boots No. 7 foundation she wore in the days when appearance mattered to her.

Rang Crimewatch at 9ish, March 31. Told police would ring me. Rang back three times. 11.40pm: no joy. April 1, rang police complaints. Lady gave me chief of police Paul Stephensons number . . . And so on.

It is one of many bits of paper in a file Lynda began to compile on the day the happiest years of her life abruptly ended: July 22, 1996  the date Lynda was brutally raped in her South-East London home.

Her terrifying ordeal  the full details of which are too disturbing to reveal in a family newspaper  lasted for several hours as her two young children slept in adjoining bedrooms.

Suffice to say, the injuries she sustained were so appalling she was unable to see her five-year-old daughter or four-year-old-son for six weeks for fear of distressing them.

I thought about killing myself but I couldnt do it because of my children, says Lynda, now 45.

They were the only thing that kept me going  that and because I was so sure the police were going to catch the guy.

They said: Weve put his DNA on a database. As soon as he gets caught doing something else, it will come up.

But it didnt. Instead, due to an extraordinary catalogue of police blunders  including mislaying crucial DNA evidence  her attacker was able to evade justice for 20 years.

In this time, he moved to Los Angeles, where he built a career as a music producer who could afford swanky apartments, Aston Martins and invitations to parties where he claims to have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Oscar-winning actor Leonardo Di Caprio.

But this summer, those star-studied parties ended when Pierre Antoine Bate, now 42, finally stood trial at Southwark Crown Court after the case was reopened by the Metropolitan Polices cold case unit.

After just an hour of deliberation, the jury found him guilty on eight counts of raping Lynda.

Pierre Bate, pictured, had moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a music producer and rubbed shoulders with Leonardo Di Caprio but has now been jailed for 24 years

Once he had been sentenced to 24 years in prison, jubilant police officers made much of how his conviction demonstrated their commitment to identifying and arresting such monsters no matter how much time has passed.

Try telling that to Lynda. For, until the cold case team became involved in 2011, police appeared to show woefully little interest in tracking down her attacker.

Instead, they fobbed her off, on occasion ridiculed her and even, after much of the evidence had been lost, swore blind her case didnt exist.

In short, she was treated like a fantasist.

This wasnt like an episode from an American crime series where dedicated cops battle away for years to catch the bad guys, she says.

It was more like being caught up in a film about a conspiracy.

I even phoned chief of police Paul Stephenson [former Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson] in 2008 to try to get him to do something for me, and was told by the woman officer who called me back: Im sorry, your case doesnt exist. There is no crime report, no DNA, no statement.

I said: What do I do now? She said: I dont really know.

I was at breaking point. Id been to so many different police stations over the years, and spoken to so many different officers literally begging for help, but none of them wanted to help me.

'And now I was being told my case didnt exist. I thought they were deliberately trying to drive me mad.

I was pacing the floor, literally pulling my hair out. I thought: How am I ever going to end this?

I was shaking. I could hardly breathe. I sat down and it was like an epiphany. I suddenly thought: Oh my God  the Croydon Guardian.

The local newspaper had run a story shortly after the attack.

I thought: However much the police say it didnt exist, I can prove it did. The report would have been archived in the library.

Lynda, pictured, said police 'fobbed her off' and 'treated her like a fantasist' during her lengthy battle for justice

I pulled myself together and rang the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A woman said: Im going to try to find some way to do something for you.

Today, Lynda has nothing but praise for the cold case team whose persistence led to Bates conviction.

But nothing can erase the mental anguish she suffered at the hands of other officers.

And she finds herself wondering about something Bate himself told the British court.

During his trial at Southwark Crown Court, he revealed to the jury that he had been arrested and faced charges of sexual assault and attempted murder following a particularly brutal attack on a woman in California in 2014.

The case against him was subsequently dropped, and he strenuously denies any involvement.

But instead of walking free, he was extradited to face the charges of raping Lynda as, in the meantime, police in London had identified him as her rapist.

Nine months before he raped me, he had sexually assaulted another woman in London.

Lynda waived her right to anonymity aiming to encourage more women who are victims of violent sexual attacks to come forward

'He was a repeat attacker who was getting more violent with each attack, Lynda says.

Perhaps there are other women out there  women who might be too embarrassed to call the police or did call them and were terrified out of their wits waiting, like I was, for their attacker to be caught.

Indeed, this is why Lynda has bravely decided to waive the anonymity afforded to victims of sexual attacks.

She hopes her story will encourage any other victims there might be to come forward so that Bate, who is preparing an appeal against his conviction, will die in jail.

Knowing hes in prison has made a big difference, she says. But, I do believe if theyd got this guy sooner, I wouldnt be in the state Im in.

Today, Lynda barely sleeps and rarely goes out. When she does go to bed, she sleeps for only a few hours with a knife beside her.

A year ago she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome but, much as shes begged for help, she has received no counselling.

Fear was how it started, she says. Now its a way of life. When I do go out, I get this surge in my stomach and think that Im being watched.

Going to the authorities all the time, begging for help, and then being told the case didnt even exist hasnt helped.

The sentence ends in tears. She breathes deeply. Collects herself.

When the people who are meant to help you  the police, your doctor, mental health  are looking at you as though they dont believe you, its like youre no one.

'That is how I feel, even today: that Im nothing.

Bate, pictured in 1996, began stalking Lynda and breaking into her home before finally attacking her in her bedroom while she was sleeping on July 22, 1996

Lynda is, in fact, a talented artist, who, at the age of 25, was simply trying to build a life for herself and her young children after an acrimonious separation from their father.

She was swimming three times a week, running every morning and preparing to study psychology at college when Bate, who was on remand for burglary at the time, began stalking her and periodically breaking into her home.

At first I noticed things were being moved around my house, Lynda says. Then, one day, a photograph of me went missing from a silver frame.

It was weird. Id come home and thered be this musty smell, but there was no sign of a break-in.

My family thought it was my ex-partner, until one morning I opened the curtains, sat down on the sofa, looked up at the mirror and there was a face print in the glass in Vaseline.

This guy had put Vaseline on his face and rolled it on the mirror to get this perfect print.

'You could see a goatee, stubble and it was so high up  about 6ft  and my ex was only 5ft 6in.

Lynda was asleep in her bedroom on that sweltering July night when she suddenly awoke around 1am to see a man crouching in her room.

So vivid is the attack, even after all this time, she unwittingly lapses into the present tense: I think Im dreaming. Hes looking out of my window but slowly turns round. Looks at me. I realise Im not dreaming. I try to make a beeline for the door, but he takes two strides and beats me to it.

He grabs me and says: Ive got mates in with your kids. I try to get away. He grabs this arm from behind me. She gestures to her right arm.

Theres that musty smell. I try to get away. He pushes me onto the bed. Starts raping me.

'I carry on kind of fighting, but its so hot and sweaty. Even when hes trying to grab me, his hands are sliding off.

My brains racing. Im thinking: How do I get out of this? Even if I get out of this room, theres no way Im going to run out of the house and leave my kids.

Lynda's sustained such severe injuries in the attack that she was not able to see her children for six weeks for fear of distressing them

Ill have to run into one of their bedrooms and put something against the door, but the other one will be vulnerable and I cant do it. I cant choose. I dont think there are words that can describe . . . Im sorry.

She breaks off, sobbing. But after a few minutes to compose herself, Lynda is determined to continue.

Its the detail thats important, she says. It could trigger something in someone elses mind.

'Things like the fact he told me he was waiting for someone. He kept saying he was going.

'Id hear the floorboards creak on the landing, then Id see his shadow come back into the room.

I think it was the second or third time he came back that he blindfolded me.

Bate raped Lynda a total of eight times during that dreadful night. She says it felt like a lifetime.

My biggest fear was my kids were going to walk in or find me dead. He kept putting a pillow over my head. I couldnt breathe. I thought: This is it. Hes going to kill me. 

Thankfully, Lynda survived. Bate finally left when a car pulled up outside  Lynda believes it was his friend.

I wasnt sure hed definitely gone. I heard his feet disappear, but I couldnt hear the stairs creak.

'I thought he was in one of the kids rooms. I got up, checked on the kids. He wasnt there. I grabbed a knife and a towel and dialled 999.

Police received her call at 2.49 am and responded immediately. Lyndas sister arrived to collect her children, while she was taken to a rape suite where she was examined and swabbed for DNA evidence.

Such was her distress that it took two days before police could take her statement.

Meanwhile, officers collected evidence from her home, including bedding, a dressing gown and a cigarette packet that bore the attackers fingerprint.

This crucial evidence disappeared and was never recovered. In fact, the only DNA that survived were traces of Bates semen that had been taken at the rape suite.

As the months and years passed without an arrest, Lynda found herself being shunted from officer to officer, police station to police station as she tried to get justice.

There was no offer of counselling and little information available about her case. I spent years going through the motions of waiting for them to catch this guy.

Lynda attended every day of the trial at Southwark Crown Court despite suffering anxiety attacks

'Id try to put on a smile, but it was always there in my brain. I started totally changing and not being able to sleep added to it.

I had terrible nightmares  always about the attack and about him, going over and over in my mind like a video  but I never wanted to forget his face because when they caught him . . . She stops again, overcome with emotion.

In March 2008, the BBCs Crimewatch programme featured an episode about the Minstead Rapist, a serial rapist who preyed upon and sexually assaulted more than 100 elderly women in South-East London between 1992 and 2009.

Though it transpired those offences were committed by another man, the similarities to Lyndas case were striking.

She rang the hotline, but, as documented on that make-up packet, her repeated calls were never returned.

I called Police Complaints, who gave me the chief of polices number. When the officer told me my case didnt exist, I hit the roof.

'I dont know if youve ever been so angry or shocked you can feel your adrenaline shooting through your body? Thats what I get.

You cant eat. You cant sleep. You feel completely lost. Sometimes I think: After all these years, have they driven me mad or have I driven myself mad just trying to get this guy caught?

All I can say is, thank God I remembered that newspaper report. I dont believe theyd ever have bothered with my case if I hadnt.

Her scepticism is understandable because, that same year, Bate had been extradited from the U.S. to stand trial for a sexual assault he had committed in 1995.

Yet despite DNA evidence, no link was made between him and Lyndas attacker. On his release from a 26-month jail sentence, Bate  a U.S. citizen  was free to return to his life in California.

When the cold case team turned up on my doorstep, I was very stand-offish. They wanted me to sign a release form for the DNA.

I said: Ive been told for years that this case doesnt exist. Now suddenly youre asking me to sign a release form.

I was getting angrier and angrier. The officer said theyd found my statement.

The next time she came she said: Do you know a guy called Pierre Bate? I said: No. She said: Thats the guy who attacked you. Hes out of the country. We are going to get him extradited.

I thought: Theyre just doing this to shut me up. Theyre fobbing me off again. But she said: Lynda, youve got to trust me.

Thanks to enhanced DNA techniques, the cold case team were able to establish with a one-in-a-billion certainty that the semen taken from Lyndas body at the rape suite was Bates.

Scotland Yard's cold case team got involved in the investigation in 2011 and DNA testing eventually proved Bate was the guilty party

When Bate was finally brought to justice in July this year, Lynda went to court every day, despite suffering severe anxiety attacks.

I said to the jury: I dont want to be anywhere else but here. As scary as it is, Ive fought too hard to get here.

'It was a bit emotional. Some of the women jurors were crying.

Then to hear him bragging about the famous people he knew, the parties hed been to, the life hed led. And he kept smiling at me . . .

She is angry now, as well she might be. Ive done 20 years in my own prison. Now, I have a chance of a new beginning.

But Bate is threatening to appeal, and I worry because the police mislaid so much evidence . . .

Thats why I hope that if there are any other women who have been attacked by him, theyll come forward.
For the two years when his neighbourhood was under ISIS control, barber Mahmoud Fadil risked having his fingers chopped off if he was caught trimming customers' beards.

The 43-year-old, from the newly-liberated town of Tal Kayf, which is 20km northeast of war-torn Mosul in Iraq, now says demand for his services has reached a new high.

Islamic State fighters were forced out of Tal Kayf by Iraqi forces last week.

Barber Mahmoud Fadil was told he would have his fingers chopped off if he was caught cutting customers' beards in Tal Kayf

I could not do my job properly. If ISIL caught me shaving a man's beard, they would cut one of my fingers. Mahmoud Fadil

He told Al Jazeera: 'I haven't had so many customers in one day for the last two years.

'I am now helping the men in town to redesign their beards if they wish to have one, and this is something I stopped doing while ISIL controlled Tal Kayf.'

His decision to remain meant he could be brutally punished for doing his job.

The town was liberated from ISIS on October 23, having been under the control of the terror group for more than two years

Fadil said: 'I did not want to lose everything. I stayed here, but that was not a very wise decision.

'I could not do my job properly. If ISIL caught me shaving a man's beard, they would cut one of my fingers.'

Hundreds of citizens have returned to Tal Kayf since it was liberated on October 23.

Regaining the town was a key breakthrough for the Iraqi Army, as it positioned troops on the outskirts of Mosul ahead of the battle to regain it from ISIS.
A white University of Cincinnati police officer was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of the Confederate flag when he shot dead an unarmed black motorist, a court has heard.

Ray Tensing, 26, has been charged with the murdering 43-year-old Samuel DuBose, after he pulled him over in July 2015 for a missing front license plate.

The black T-shirt was emblazoned with the Stars and Bars and the words 'Great Smoky Mountains', which appears to be in reference to the national park in Tennessee.

It was presented as evidence during a crime scene technician's testimony at Tensing's trial on Friday.

Ray Tensing, 26, (pictured left in court on Tuesday) was wearing a T-shirt with the Confederate flag on the day he shot unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose (right) in July 2015

The black T-shirt (pictured) was emblazoned with the Stars and Bars and the words 'Great Smoky Mountains', which appears to be in reference to the national park in Tennessee

The former officer was wearing the shirt underneath his uniform.

Tensing's defense team briefly discussed the uniforms worn by UC police officers, according to WCPO.

Defense attorney Stew Mathews asked David Lindenschmidt and Phillip Kidd, who both witnessed the shooting, what type of shirts officers were required to wear underneath their uniforms.

Lindenschmidt and Kidd replied that the department did not provide undershirts for the officers and that they were required to wear black T-shirts.

Tensing had pleaded not guilty to the murder and voluntary manslaughter of DuBose, who was a father to 13 children

Tensing had pleaded not guilty to the murder and voluntary manslaughter of DuBose, who was a father to 13 children.

The officer has maintained that he feared for his life and was forced to shoot DuBose in the head after allegedly being dragged underneath his car.

But the prosecution is arguing that Tensing's bodycam footage contradicts his claims.

Tensing saw DuBose driving his 1998 green Honda Accord without a front license plate at about 6.30pm on July 19, 2015.

The officer asked to see DuBose's driver's license several times, but the father said he didn't have it on him and was just heading home.

Tensing then asked DuBose to step out of his vehicle and, the video shows, at that point a struggle occurred.

As Tensing pulls the door open a few inches, DuBose can be seen pulling it closed and telling the officer, 'I didn't do nothing, man.'

As DuBose turns the key and revs the engine, Tensing pulls his gun, shouts, 'Stop! Stop!' and shoots DuBose once in the head through the open window.

The car, essentially being driven by a dying man at that point, managed to make it a block before slamming into a lamppost.

According to a police report, Tensing said he was being dragged along by the car and was forced to shoot. Lindenschmidt and Kidd corroborated his claims.

But Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters argued that video of the incident shows that wasn't the case.

The shocking footage appears to show DuBose 'slowly rolling away' before Tensing shoots him in the head.

A photograph of a video monitor shows Tensing's bodycam footage at 0.113 seconds before he shot and killed DuBose

Tensing said he feared for his life and was shot DuBose after allegedly being dragged under his car, claims the prosecution said is contradicted by his bodycam footage (pictured)

The confrontation started when Tensing pulled DuBose over for not having a front licence plate. They are seen here talking to each other through the driver's side window

'When you see this [the body cam video], you won't believe how quickly he pulls his gun. Maybe a second  it's incredible,' Tensing said in July.

'It's an absolute tragedy that anyone would behave in this manner. It was senseless. It's just horrible.'

'He wasn't dealing with someone wanted for murder. He was dealing with someone without a front license plate.'

In a lengthy press conference, the prosecutor added that the body cam footage was integral in filing charges.

Deters also said the shooting was 'the most asinine act' he had seen a police officer make in 30 years, adding that he believed Tensing 'should never have been' a cop.

Tensing had about three years of suburban police experience before joining the UC department in 2014. He had no record of using deadly force.

After a struggle, where DuBose insisted he didn't do anything wrong, Tensing is seen pulling out his gun in the bodycam footage

But an independent review commissioned by the university found that Tensing made more traffic stops and with a higher racial disparity than other UC officers.

And on Monday, Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Rick Gibson said Tensing had admitted in a taped interview with police that he 'purposely caused the death of Sam DuBose'.

The taped comments were the reason why Tensing was facing a murder charge, Gibson told jurors.

'This isn't a whodunit, it's not an accident,' he added.

Stew Mathews, Tensing's attorney, objected to the evidence being brought up in court, according to CNN.

On Monday, Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Rick Gibson said Tensing had admitted in a taped interview with police (pictured) that he 'purposely caused the death of Sam DuBose'

Tensing has five years of law enforcement experience. He faces 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted of murder

Judge Megan Shanahan ordered Gibson to abstain from talking about the recording for the time being.

Shanahan issued a gag order on Friday, ordering lawyers on both sides not to talk about the trial over the weekend.

The judge only said that 'issues have arisen' in her explanation of the decision.

Tensing faces 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted of murder.

Meanwhile, the University of Cincinnati has restructured its public safety department and made reforms since the shooting.

It also agreed to a $5.3 million settlement with DuBose's family that includes free undergraduate tuition for his 13 children.
Clinton leads Trump 42 to 38 in a new poll, but it has her steady and him climbing up

She then flew to Cleveland for a Jay Z concert, alongside two contest winners

Hillary Clinton campaigned in heavily Democratic Detroit in a bid to boost voter turnout as a new poll showed Donald Trump closing on her in a state he has talked about carrying in for months.

'People are just frustrated and angry. I get that,' Clinton told cheering supporters who crammed into Detroit's Eastern Market, in a reference to her opponent's campaign.

'I understand that. We had the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression in '08 and '09,' she said, referencing the economic crisis that lead to foreclosures and job loss throughout the nation and hit Motor City hard.

'Millions of people lost their jobs, millions lost their homes, family wealth was wiped out. That is a trauma and people are still suffering and still climbing back from that. I get it. But I learned a long time ago from my late mother, anger is not a plan,' Clinton said.

She credited President Obama with saving the auto industry, which has rebounded since 2009.

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Battleground: Clinton took her campaign to battleground states Michigan and Ohio Friday, telling Detroit (pictured) that they shouldn't let their anger at lost jobs sway them to Trump

A new Epic/MRA/Detroit Free Press poll has Clinton holding steady at 42 per cent - but Trump climbing four points from two weeks ago to 38 per cent.

'It all comes down to you, my friends,' Clinton told the Detroit crowd. 'You have to vote. Our progress is on the line. Everything that has happened up until this point is on the line. I'm ready to defend and build on the progress that we've made.'

Clinton revealed a new technique to practice for the presidential debates. 'I just had my friends and family just spend hours saying terrible things to me,' she quipped.

Then it was off to Cleveland, where Jay Z would appear to endorse Clinton to residents of battleground Ohio, where Trump has led Clinton in polling.

She boarded her campaign with two contest winners, De'Juan Stevens, who brought his mom, Tanya Wofford, and Jean Voege, who brought a friend, Susan Mulvihill. They had entered the contest on her campaign web site.

Clinton flew to Detroit with billionaire Mark Cuban (left). She is on the defensive as a new poll shows Trump is gaining on her 42 per cent in Michigan, climbing four points to 38 per cent

Earlier, in Pittsburgh, Clinton was introduced by billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban - who said Trump could be bribed by Vladimir Putin if he got elected president.

'There's gonna come a time where Donald Trump, God help, if he's president where [Vladimir] Putin or [Bashar] Assad would say to him, 'Donald if you do this, I'll give you $20 billion,' Cuban said.

'What's $20 billion to them?,' Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner and 'Shark Tank' cohost continued. 'What's $30 billion? To them it's nothing.'

'If Donald Trump - who rips off people for thousands, gets offered by some dictator somewhere, some despot somewhere, $20 billion, you think he's gonna do what's best for the country or do you think he's gonna take the money?'

'Do you think he's got the temperament to do the right thing?' Cuban asked - prompting the crowd to yell out 'No!'

'Do you think he's got the fortitude to do the right thing? Do you think he cares more about you or his bank account? Can you trust Donald Trump? Absolutely not,' Cuban said.
A 10-year-old schoolgirl didn't let the language barrier keep her from reaching out to a new classmate - and used Google Translate instead.

Amanda Moore, of Temecula, California, saw that Rafael Anaya, who is also 10, seemed lost at Paloma Elementary School.

He had recently moved from Mexico and was struggling to make friends. Understanding his teachers was hard too, as Rafael doesn't speak fluent English.

Amanda doesn't speak Spanish, but she was determined to help him. She turned to her cellphone and, thanks to the Google Translate app, wrote a touching letter asking him to join her for lunch.

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Amanda Moore (left), of Temecula, California, saw that Rafael Anaya (right), who is 10 years old like her, seemed lost at his new school - and used Google Translate to reach out to him

'Would you like to sit with me today? Look for me and I will show you where I sit. We can color or simply tell scary stories. Thank you for your time,' the letter read.

Rafael told ABC 7 Amanda's letter was the first one he had ever received and that it made him feel very happy. He predicted that Amanda would remain his friend forever.

Amanda meanwhile earned the title of student of the month last week.

Her mother, Kimber Kinard,told Inside Edition she cried when she saw Amanda's letter and encouraged him to give it to him.

'Would you like to sit with me today? Look for me and I will show you where I sit. We can color or simply tell scary stories. Thank you for your time,' Amanda's letter (pictured) read

Rafael's mother (left) said Amanda's gesture towards her son was wonderful. Amanda's mother, Kimber Kinard (right) cried when she saw Amanda's letter

Kinard shared a copy of her letter online and has been flooded with positive responses.

'I've personally received 1,600 personal Facebook messages from people all across the world just saying gracias and it doesn't take a translator to know what that means,' Kinard said.

Rafael's mother said Amanda's gesture towards her son was wonderful.

Amanda and Rafael had lunch together every day after she wrote the letter. They went trick-or-treating together this Halloween.

She hoped to show Rafael the horse rescue farm where she volunteers.

Kinard meanwhile believes their friendship will last - and hopes both can learn each other's language.
One in four people in their twenties and early thirties now live with their parents.

The number of boomerang children has soared to 3.3million  900,000 more than in 2003.

It means many families have returned to living patterns seen in the 1940s and 50s, when children would leave home only when married.

Many of the boomerangers are trapped in the family home because of sky-high house prices and rents.

The number of young adults still living with their families has soared by almost 1million over the past 13 years, meaning one in four people in their are still with their parents (file picture)

Often they have returned after graduating from university. Some still live with their parents even after marrying or forming a long-term relationship, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Its report also highlighted the plight of parents squeezed between looking after adult children as well as their own elderly parents.

The ONS found that 3.3million people aged between 20 and 34 live at home with their parents  38 per cent more than 13 years ago and 25 per cent of the age group.

The numbers exclude students who return home during the holidays.

Young women were found to be more independent. Only 20 per cent live in the family home compared with 31 per cent of men.

For the wider age group  15 to 34  the number living with parents has gone up from 5.8million in 1996 to 6.5million, a tenth of the UK population.

Sky-high house prices and rents are part of the reason young people are being forced to stay at home with their parents

Harry Benson, of the Marriage Foundation think-tank, said: Many parents must be worried that their children are not flying the nest or forming permanent partnerships. Property prices have clearly got a lot to do with it.

But it may be linked to the return of conservative attitudes, rather than a property price issue, which would affect men and women equally.

'There is some evidence that young adults are becoming more conservative.

NUMBER OF MARRIED COUPLES FALLS A rise in the numbers of cohabiting couples and single parent families was flagged up by the ONS report. The tally of cohabitees with children stood at 540,000 in 1996 but had risen to 1,270,000 this year. Married couples with children went down over the same period from 5,230,000 to 4,809,000. Numbers of cohabiting couples overall more than doubled from 1.5million in 1996 to 3.3million now, the ONS said. Lone parent families with children under 16  or under 18 if still in school or college  went up from 1,631,000 in 1996 to 1,871,000 now. The ONS also reported that 86 per cent of lone parent families were led by a woman, and this could be associated with women being more likely to take the main caring responsibilities for any children when a relationship breaks down and therefore becoming lone parents. Forty-five per cent of all families with offspring now have just one child, up from 42 per cent in 1996. Some of these families may have older children from earlier relationships. Advertisement

It may be that as couples delay marriage, and even cohabitation, young women who were previously likely to leave home in order to get married are remaining safely at home.

'While this may be a worry for their parents, it is at least avoiding the much greater risk of uncommitted cohabitation and subsequent family breakdown.

The ONS report, which drew on the Governments Labour Force Survey, said: Larger numbers of young adults tending to stay at home for longer may be explained by them staying in education or training for longer, delaying leaving the parental home as they formalise relationships and have children at older ages.

'Also it has become more expensive to rent or buy a home.

It said the rise of boomerang children had led to a corresponding increase in multi-family households.

This category, which includes childless couples, has grown from 194,000 in 2006 to 323,000 now.

Families in these households may be unrelated, or related in some way, for example a married couple with their son and his girlfriend, the report said.

Changes in the number of multi-family households may be because of older couples moving in with their adult child and their family, young adults who are partnered remaining in their parents household, and unrelated families sharing.

The boomerang phenomenon can be partly explained by changes in the lives of women, who now settle down and have children later in life.

They are also much more likely to have gone to university than earlier generations.

Their higher incomes have helped push up house prices, so that many couples now need two incomes to buy a home.
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The search for some of the lost victims of Franco's brutal regime has finally begun with the excavation of a mass grave on a Spanish island.

Skeletons have already been uncovered at the spot where around 120 bodies are believed to have been dumped under brutal dictator General Franco.

The dig started after decades of pressure from the families of those killed who demanded justice for the victims, most of whom were lined up and shot against a wall between 1936 and 1939.

The search for the lost victims of Franco's brutal regime has finally begun with the excavation of a mass grave on a quaint Spanish island

Skeletons have already been uncovered at the spot where around 120 bodies are believed to have been dumped under brutal dictator General Franco

A worker for the Spanish organisation Association for the Recuperation of Historic Memory (ARMH) holds out a handful of human bones found at the dig

The workers are using tools including brushes and hoovers (pictured) to remove the dust from the bones found in the mass grave s they record their finidngs

The remains of around 2,000 people killed by Franco's security forces are thought to be lying in unmarked graves in the island of Majorca alone, Memoria de Mallorca says.

And there are thought o be tens of thousands of unidentified people in makeshift graves around Spain, as Franco's forces did not record the names of those they killed.

The pit is just one of 500 that have already been opened, although secrecy following Franco's death has made it difficult for people to get justice.

An Amnesty Law adopted in 1977, two years after Franco's death, prevents any criminal investigation into the Franco years

After decades under the soil, the site is no a hive of activity, with dozens recovering the remains of 120 people thought to have been killed by Franco's security services and buried in the unmarked graves

The (pictured) pit is just one of 500 that have already been opened, although secrecy following Franco's death has made it difficult for people to get justce

The families of those dumped at Porreres, central Majorca, formed a group called Memoria de Mallorca and are now managing the dig

The families of those dumped at Porreres, central Majorca, formed a group called Memoria de Mallorca and are now managing the dig.

Around 30 people are working at the site and pictures reveal dozens of bullets multiple skeletons being uncovered by the workers.

The expert leading the Porreres exhumation, Francisco Etxeberria, told Spanish newspaper El Pais that 500 mass graves had been opened in Spain so far and more than 800 skeletons recovered.

'We've worked in pits 50m (160ft) deep, with rain, hail and mud, so I don't think this excavation will be more difficult,' Mr Etxeberria said.
Lollipop ladies could vanish from one city in a bid to save the council 360,000 a year.

The proposal in Bristol  which would spell the end for 67 crossing patrol staff  has sparked fears that more children could be hurt or killed walking to and from school.

Many councils have reduced the number of crossing attendants, or replaced paid staff with volunteers.

On their way out? Lollipop ladies could vanish from Bristol in a bid to save the council 360,000 a year - a proposal which would spell the end for 67 crossing patrol staff

But Bristol is thought to be the first to propose axing them completely.

It is one of several options being considered  along with halving the number of lollipop staff  to help meet a 43million budget shortfall.

After council leaders said they can no longer afford its 67 lollipop men and women, a petition blocking the move had yesterday gathered almost 1,000 signatures.

The council has not made it clear if any replacement safety measures will be put in place.

The road safety charity Brake warned four children a day are seriously hurt or killed on their way to school as it is

School governor Kevin Lee warned: It could mean children all over Bristol will be in danger when they walk to school.

Bristols lollipop men and women get up first thing in the morning to go out in the freezing conditions and help and protect Bristols children.

'They do a vital job for our city and this must continue. They are incredibly dedicated to their job, and most of them know nearly every child by name.

They give parents, children and teachers a sense of security, knowing they are there.

The road safety charity Brake warned four children a day are seriously hurt or killed on their way to school as it is.

Many local authorities up and down the country have drastically reduced the number of crossing patrol officers, or replaced salaried staff with volunteers.

But Bristol is the first to propose abandoning them completely. The council has even admitted that children will be less safe without lollipop men and women.

A report found: School crossing patrols ensure the safety of children walking to school alone and are also used for parents who walk their children to school.

The plan has sparked fears that more children could be hurt or killed walking to and from school

It will impact on the safety of young children crossing roads and could discourage parents from letting children travel to school on their own, which would affect working parents.

6.70 AN HOUR FOR LOLLIPOP LADIES... WHILE CHIEF GETS 1,000 A DAY! Lollipop ladies are typically paid between 6.70 and 8.40 an hour on a part-time basis. A recent vacancy in Bristol advertised a salary of 7.60 an hour on a temporary contract, working only five hours per week. A 2012 audit found it costs around 2,126 a year for each lollipop lady or man in Bristol. But the Labour-led city councils chief executive Stephen Hughes reportedly earns 1,000 a day for a four-day week. His predecessor Nicola Yates left in August with a 200,000 golden goodbye while the authority axed 1,000 jobs. She had held down nine other lucrative jobs during parts of her three year tenure. Last year the authority courted controversy after a freedom of information request revealed it had used payment cards to spend nearly 700,000 of taxpayers money - including 170 designer Ugg boots, 44 in a tattoo parlour and a subscription to Diva, a lesbian magazine. Advertisement

The council is already losing 1,000 jobs to try to meet a shortfall of 43million. Scrapping all lollipop people is one of three options being explored by the council.

The options include removing all lollipop people from 17 schools with crossings already in place, half of all lollipop people at 40 sites and all of them from 80 sites.

The move comes in the wake of Devon County Council voting in February to pass the cost of crossing patrols to individual schools, and Sunderland City Council approving plans in January to reduce the number of crossing patrols.

Newcastle City Council also announced last month it was looking into axing almost all school crossing patrols after a review found only two out of 55 crossings were deemed to be high-risk.

Mike Bristow, spokesperson for Brake, the road safety charity said: Four children are seriously hurt or killed while walking in the UK every day, and fewer than half of children in the UK walk to school.

While we appreciate councils have faced significant financial challenges in recent years, the safety of children should not be compromised as a result.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: School crossing patrols do an important and useful job in helping children cross busy roads safely on their way to and from school.

We recognise that local authorities have had to make cut backs due to their reduced funding and that the School Crossing Patrol Service has had to carry some of these cuts.

However, its crucial that authorities do a very careful assessment of the risk to children if a patrol is removed and only remove a patrol if they are confident that there are other measures to protect children, such as a light-controlled crossing, a reduction in the speed limit to 20mph or a reduction in traffic.

Kevin Clinton from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said 'school crossing patrols do an important and useful job'

Lollipop men and women first appeared on the streets of London in 1953. Their job is to walk to the middle of the road and hold up their sign when children want to cross the road.

It is a legal requirement for traffic to stop at this command. A typical shift as a lollypop lady might last three hours a day, split between morning and afternoon.

The job is popular with retirees who take on the small number of hours to supplement their income.

In 2000 responsibilities for lollipop ladies were handed over to local authorities and the legal requirement to provide them was removed.

A spokesman for Bristol City Council said: The financial challenge facing the city over the coming five years means we are having to consider difficult choices if we are to save upwards of 90m to balance the books.
A woman who hit her 3-year-old daughter on the head with a blunt object and watched her die after refusing to seek medical help, hid the girl's body and then reported her missing five years ago, West Virginia authorities said Friday.

In a criminal complaint, Lewis County investigators said Lena Lunsford also instructed others who were with her at the time to keep quiet about what really happened. The complaint did not name the witnesses.

Lunsford reported Aliayah missing on September 24, 2011.

Now 34, she was arraigned Friday on a charge of death of a child by abuse and jailed with bail set at $250,000. She did not enter a plea.

Lena Lunsford, 34, has been arrested for the death of her three-year-old daughter Aliayah (right) who she reported missing in 2011

She was extradited from Florida to face the charges. A defense lawyer was not immediately assigned to her case, court officials said.

After Aliayah vanished, Lunsford spent eight months in prison for welfare fraud and lesser amounts of time on probation violations, records show.

Her parental rights were terminated by the West Virginia courts, and her six other children were put in state custody.

Lunsford was arrested in St Petersburg, Florida on Thursday, on suspicion of killing her daughter Aliayah in West Virginia five years ago.

Lewis County Sheriff's Department, which issued her arrest warrant, would not confirm on Friday morning whether the child's body had been found.

They later said her mother is the only person who knows where her remains are.

She is accused of killing her daughter by striking her over the back of the head with a blunt force object, a police complaint revealed.

' It is great sadness that I report Aliayah Lunsford is deceased. Evidence has come to light that Aliayah was killed by her mother,' said Lewis County Sheriff Adam Gissy.

'I realise there are several questions unanswered however the one question I'm sure is weighing on everyone's mind - have we located Aliayah?

'The investigation has led us to believe that the one person who possesses this knowledge is the person in custody.'

Video courtesy of WDTV

Police believe the mother-of-six hit Aliayah over the head on the day of September 24, the day she was reported later missing, causing her death.

At the time Lunsford claimed her other child saw Aliayah alive in her bed at 6am.

Police say she instructed victims to lie, however, and that witnesses saw her striking the three-year-old.

'The child victim was knowingly and intentionally struck by her mother while inside their residence.

'Present witnesses observed the aforementioned strike and thereafter stated the child victim fell to the ground from the injury sustained to her head,' the complaint, that was obtained by WDTV, read.

Lunsford made no effort to save the girl and did not allow others to give her medical help, it continued.

'Within hours of the strike, the child victim died. Thereafter, the defendant did knowingly and intentionally take steps to conceal the crime.

'These include but are not limited to originating a fictitious narrative regarding the death, destroying evidence, concealing the victim's body, and instructing witnesses to conceal the true circumstances of the victim's death.'

Hundreds of people looked for the girl including local authorities, the FBI and volunteers after she was reported missing on September 24, 2011.

Her mother, who was pregnant with twins at the time, told police that she had vanished from her bed in their home in Weston, West Virginia, sometime between early and late morning.

She said Aliayah had been vomiting the night before and had 'flu' symptoms. Lunsford claimed to have seen her asleep in her bed in Dora the Explorer pajamas at 6am.

By 9am she said she was missing. Lunsford did not call police for another two and a half hours.

Within hours of the report, however, scores of people had volunteered to help find the girl.

Police conducted diver searches of nearby rivers and combed woodland near the house but never found her.

The search was called off four days later.

Within two weeks of her disappearance, Lunsford was arrested for welfare fraud and her four other children were removed from her care.

Aliayah's mother told police she vanished from their home in Weston, West Virginia (above), in her Dora the Explorer pajamas

Her disappearance sparked a massive police search effort which involved local authorities and FBI agents who combed nearby rivers and woodlands for the girl

Aliayah's mother and stepfather, Ralph, (above, left, in a 2009 mugshot after being arrested for felony assault) have lost all their parental rights to their other six children. Right, an imagined photograph of how Aliayah would have looked age five

Prosecutors expressed fears for their safety in the house which she shared with boyfriend Ralph Lundsford.

After spending eight months in prison she was released on probation but later jailed again for violating it.

Lunsford and her partner have lost all their parental rights to their six children.

In March 2012, investigators said the theory that Aliayah had been taken by an intruder was unlikely.

'The initial concerns of somebody slipping in and taking Aliayah -- a break-in -- we found no evidence of that.

'We were not able to develop that as a theory,' Supervisory Agent John Hambrick told Charleston Gazette Mail at the time.

After leaving jail for her Aliayah's mother is understood to have moved from Virginia, where her other children remain, to Florida.
San Antonio Police Department Officer Matthew Luckhurst has been fired after he gave a homeless person a fecal sandwich

A police officer in Texas has been fired after he gave a homeless person a fecal sandwich, officials say.

San Antonio Police Officer Matthew Luckhurst bragged to a fellow officer in May that he had picked up some feces, put it in between two slices of bread before placing the 'sandwich' in a Styrofoam container,My San Antonio reported.

He then sat the container next to a homeless man, police officials said.

The officer reported that he told Luckhurst, a five-year veteran of the force, to go back and throw away the container.

The officer said he watched Luckhurst go back and assumed that he threw it away, but it's not confirmed that he did.

Authorities searched for the homeless man, but have not found him as his identity is unknown.

Another officer reported Luckhurst's actions to his supervisor, who then notified internal affairs of the shocking incident in July.

The case was investigated and presented to both civilian and sworn review boards in October, which recommended that Luckhurst be placed on indefinite suspension from the police force.

Police officials said Luckhurst had been assigned to downtown bike patrol for about a year before he was fired this week.

Police Chief William McManus met with Luckhurst and said that 'type of behavior will never be tolerated.'

Another officer reported Luckhurst's actions to his supervisor, who then notified internal affairs of the shocking incident in July. Officials said he had been assigned to downtown bike patrol before he was fired this week (file photo of police headquarters)

Video courtesy of My San Antonio

'This was a vile and disgusting act that violates our guiding principles of 'treating all with integrity, compassion, fairness and respect,'' McManus said in a statement.

'The fact that his fellow officers were so disgusted with his actions that they reported him to internal affairs demonstrates that this type of behavior will never be tolerated.

'The action of this one former officer in no way reflects the actions of all the other good men and women who respectfully serve this community.'

In a statement, San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor said that the firing 'was the right thing to do.'

'His actions were a betrayal of every value we have in our community, and he is not representative of our great police force,' Taylor said.

Luckhurst reportedly plans to appeal the indefinite suspension and declined to comment.

His attorney, Ben Sifuentes, said that his Luckhurst never actually gave a homeless person an excrement sandwich, claiming that it was a joke.

'The 'joke' spiraled out of control, he said, and has turned is client into the subject of unfair persecution,' Sifuentes said. 'It didn't happen.'

He added that there are no eyewitnesses or video recordings to prove the incident is real.
A woman who was brutally assaulted by a restaurant waiter has been awarded 28,000 in compensation by a Chinese court.

The victim suffered serious burns after the waiter poured boiling water over her before slamming her to the ground because she had complained about his service.

The shocking incident took place at a hot pot restaurant in Wenzhou, eastern China, last year. The attacker was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment in January.

Ms Lin was dining in a restaurant in Wenzhou, China, last year when a waiter poured boiling water over her head and body before beating her up. She was pictured before (left) and after (right) the attack above

Ms Lin was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. The burns from the boiling water covered 24 per cent of her body

The case was ruled by the Lucheng District Court in Wenzhou on November 3, according to People's Daily Online.

The restaurant, called 'Mr Hot Pot', was ordered to pay 237,478 Yuan (28,000) to the victim, surnamed Lin, who was heavily injured from the attack.

The amount is set to be paid on top of the 280,000 Yuan (33,200) the restaurant had given Ms Lin to cover her medical bills.

According to the court, the restaurant should hold the full responsibility of the incident because it had been caused by its employee during his work hours.

The court also took in the fact that Ms Lin, reportedly aged 30, had to undergo expensive plastic surgery to treat her burns, which were mostly on her face.

Ms Lin had asked for a compensation of 577,500 (68,400) Yuan in her petition.

The restaurant is yet to announce whether or not it will appeal.

Photographs of Ms Lin's injuries showed extensive damage to her skin and severe burns. Most of the burns were restricted to her face and neck

On the night of the incident, Ms Lin was dining with her family at the restaurant when she got into a disagreement with Mr Zhu, who was then 17 years old.

According to reports on Chinese media, the pair were arguing over the amount of water that should be poured into the hot pot - a popular Chinese dish where food is cooked in boiling water by the diners.

After the argument, Ms Lin wrote about the incident on her social media account, which made the waiter angry.

He asked her to delete it and she declined. Mr Zhu then went into the kitchen and came out carrying a plastic tub filled with boiling water.

Ms Lin (sitting) was dining with her family at the restaurant when she got into a disagreement with Mr Zhu (standing)

Mr Zhu poured a whole tub of boiling water over Ms Lin's head before slamming her down

Shockingly, the teen waiter proceeded to pour the whole contents onto Ms Lin's head and body.

Not only that, he then dragged her to the floor off her chair and began violently attacking her.

Two women dining with the victim immediately rushed to her assistance and dragged him away.

He continued trying to attack the woman even after six people restrained him.

Ms Lin was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. The burns from the boiling water covered 24 per cent of her body, mostly her face.

During the attack the whole incident was captured on the restaurant's security cameras, which was quickly broadcast online and on Chinese media.

The enraged waiter continued trying to attack the woman even after six people restrained him

During the attack the whole incident was captured on the restaurant security cameras

The coverage of the story caused an online debate in China. While some people were cristising the man's behaviour, others questioned Ms Lin's attitude towards her waiter.

When Mr Zhu was arrested, he immediately admitted the attack.

On January 19, Mr Zhu was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment by the Lucheng District Court in Wenzhou.

In the final stages of the trial, Mr Zhu only had one thing to say, and that was, 'I'm sorry.'
People do different things on their commutes to make good use of the time.

One woman in China was recently spotted receiving intravenous fluid at the back of a scooter.

Photos have captured the bizarre scene which took place on November 2 in Zhenzhou, central China, reported Huanqiu, an affiliation to People's Daily.

The female passenger was seen receiving her IV infusion on a scooter in Zhengzhou, China. A six-foot tree branch was used to hold the bag containing IV fluid as pictured

The passenger, apparently a patient, had her right hand attached to an infusion tube

The woman, who was wearing a black overcoat, sat on the backseat of a scooter travelling near the city's Huanyuan Road.

Her right hand was attached to an infusion tube. Apparently the woman was receiving medication treatment as the driver wove through traffic.

The bag containing the IV fluid was hooked to a 6.6-foot-tall tree branch secured at the front part of the scooter, according to Btime.com.

The driver, wearing a black cap, was believed to be carrying the female patient out of a car park on Huanyuan Road.

The location was about six minutes drive away from the Henan People's Hospital.

They left the car park and drove on the motorway afterwards.

Apparently the woman was receiving medication treatment as the driver rode on a busy road

Thousands of people have commented on the woman's multi-tasking skills on QQ.com.

'Chinese people are too busy. They don't have time to fall sick,' one user said.

Another guessed that the woman could not afford paying bills for hospital treatment: 'Life's so difficult for Chinese. Costs for hospital stay are so high.'

A third person wondered if it would be safe: 'If the bike ride is bumpy, her veins would be hurt.'
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As the winter approaches, residents in many cities in China are yet again ready to battle with toxic pollution.

The capital city of Beijing has been blanketed in thick smog in the past two days with visibility reduced to as low as 100 metres (328 feet), reported the People's Daily Online.

Latest pictures, taken today, show the sprawling city of 21 million chocking in toxic air as residents donning masks while walking on the street.

Beijing has been blanketed by thick smog since yesterday as residents don masks while walking on the street

Latest pictures, taken today, show the sprawling city of 21 million chocking in toxic air, but tourists were still aplenty

An orange smog alert has been issued by the city's authority, which is the second-highest of the four-tier pollution system

The city's meteorological authority released warnings of heavy fog and smog in the early hours of November 4

The city's meteorological authority released warnings of heavy fog and smog in the early hours of November 4, according to the report.

Standing on the Jinshan Park, a vantage point to take in the views of the Forbidden City, one could barely make out the outlines of the pointy roofs of the former imperial buildings, as the pictures show.

Forecast said that the visibility of the majority of Beijing would be around one kilometre (0.6 miles) with some areas being as low as 100 metres (328 feet).

An orange smog alert has been issued, which is the second-highest of the four-tier pollution system.

Beijing's annual 'smog season' usually begins when the winter begins.

Billy Zi, a Beijing resident, told MailOnline today: 'The air quality last week was good, but today it was terrible. Everybody was waiting for wind to disperse the smog.'

Mr Zi said he had stopped leaving the office during his lunch break.

'I could feel the air getting thicker when I breathe - a typical Beijing smell. I have started wearing a mask,' he added.

Mr Zi said the media had given different explanations to the cause of the pollution.

'It was first attributed to the burning of agricultural crops in nearby Hebei province, then it was said to be caused by the heavy industries, and then the private cars and heaters,' he said.

In an interview with People's Daily Online earlier this year, Wang Fei, Beijing Municipal Planning Commission Deputy, said the Beijing smog was mostly caused by the use of cars and the burning of coals.

Standing on the Jinshan Park, a vantage point to view Forbidden City, one could barely make out the outlines of the buildings

The picture above showed a similar view of the former imperial compound seen on a clear day, a far cry from today

Forecast said that the visibility of the majority of Beijing would be around one kilometre (0.6 miles) as the pollution attacked

A Beijing official said in an interview that the city's smog had been mostly caused by the use of cars and the burning of coals

Beijing has faced increasing issues with smog over the past few years.

The capital city frequently features near the top of the list of China's most polluted cities.

At its worst, readings of the tiny poisonous PM2.5 particles reached into the high 600 micrograms per cubic meter through the capital, as compared with the World Health Organization safe level of 25.

When a red smog alert is issued, school are forced to close and cars are called off the roads.

For residents, however, they are left trapped in their homes constantly checking the air quality to see if they can return to daily life.

The humble face mask becomes a necessity and the purchase of in home air purifiers increases.

Spencer Musick, a 28-year-old American expat who has been living in the city for the past two years, told MailOnline on an earlier occasion that the smog was at its worst during the winter of 2015.

He said: 'There were several days where the air quality near my house in downtown Beijing did not go below 600. My air purifier kept turning red and beeping at me as if to say "you should not be here, leave immediately."

'Many people don't realise that during the bouts of heavy smog, a psychological shroud also descends on the city.

'People on the crowded subways are more pushy than usual. Shop attendants in my hutong who had been so friendly just a few weeks ago just scowled instead of speaking back to me.'

An invention labelled 'Smog Free Tower' was installed in central Beijing on September 29 as an attempt to tackle the pollution

Beijing's Urban Planning Committee announced in February that the city would build a web of five 'ventilation corridors'

Huge passageways, each measuring 1,640ft wide, will be created using parks, rivers, lakes, highways and low building blocks

A cyclist wearing a face mask against air pollution rides on the street in heavy smog in Beijing Smog in China today

Min Rui, a 27-year-old Chinese journalist from Beijing, said the smog could get unbearable at times:

'The smog last winter was really bad. I remember once I went to work at 4am and it looked like a scene from the movie Silent Hill. '

To tackle the city's notorious air pollution issue, Beijing's Urban Planning Committee announced in February that the city would build a web of five 'ventilation corridors'.

Huge passageways, each measuring 500 metres wide (1,640 feet), will be created using parks, rivers, lakes, highways and low building blocks.

An invention labelled 'Smog Free Tower' was installed at a park in central Beijing on September 29 as an attempt to tackle the upcoming pollution season.

The structure was dubbed 'the world's largest air purifier' and was invented by 37-year-old Dutchman Daan Roosegaarde.

Beijing has faced increasing issues with smog over the past few years. The picture above shows the city on a clear day

The capital city, with 21 million residents, frequently features near the top of the list of China's most polluted cities

At its worst, readings of the tiny poisonous PM2.5 particles reached into the high 600 micrograms per cubic meter through the capital, as compared with the World Health Organization safe level of 25

According to Greenpeace on July 20, air pollution levels rose in nearly a third of Chinese cities monitored in the second quarter.

Air quality worsened year-on-year in 103 cities between April-June this year in 30 percent of cities monitored.

However Beijing's PM2.5 levels dropped 6.9 percent to 59.2 micrograms per cubic metre in the same period, year on year.
It might not be surprising that London tops the list of UK regions with the highest proportion of leasehold properties - but new research reveals the North West is not far behind.

A survey found that while the average number of leasehold properties across the country is only 15 per cent, this rises sharply to 53 per cent for London and 46 per cent in Manchester.

With landlords splitting Victorian and Georgian terraces across the London into flats over the last few decades, and with developers largely offering new-build apartments, in some parts of the capital it is now hard to find a freehold property for sale.

Owners of leasehold properties often pay extra costs such ground rent and service charges

Leasehold properties dominate London and the North-East, the research reveals

But in many parts of the North West more than 80 per cent of properties are leasehold.

MyHomeMove, a conveyancing services provider that carried out the research, asks whether freehold properties could become 'a thing of the past' in some parts of the country.

It could be an issue for buyers as leasehold properties tend to take longer to purchase and have additional legal obligations and costs.

Owners of leasehold properties often have to pay ground rent and service charges to the building's freeholder, and are restricted as to what they can do to the building.

The research - based on analysis of Land Registry data - suggested that the highest density of leasehold properties tends to be in areas that have seen extensive redevelopment.

If found that these include London's N1C postcode, as well as the M15 and M50 postcodes in Manchester.

Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham also have areas that make the list of top 20 leasehold hotspots.

However, not all areas in Britain's largest cities have a proportion of leaseholds.

The research claimed that just 14 per cent of properties in Manchester's M21 postcode are leaseholds while just 3 per cent are in North Birmingham.

Elsewhere, Berkwickshire and rural Wales are among the areas with the lowest proportion of leasehold properties in the country.

Doug Crawford, chief executive of My Home Move, said: 'The redevelopment of England and Wales' towns and cities in the last 30 years means there are more leasehold properties on the market, as new build apartment blocks are constructed and old warehouses are converted into flats.

'Some new build houses in suburban and rural areas are even now sold as leasehold properties.

'The investment has given the countries' housing stock a very welcome boost, but it also means that buyers are more likely to encounter a leasehold property than ever before.

Rural Wales is among the areas with the lowest proportion of leasehold properties

He added: 'While the high proportion of leaseholds in the centre of major cities will shock few developers and estate agents, would-be buyers looking to claim a little piece of the city as their own may be in for surprise.

'Leaseholds make up almost all of the housing stock in some of our cities' redeveloped districts, and the proportion of leaseholds could grow even more as additional new developments come onto the market.'

Leasehold property ownership comes with the disadvantages of additional legal obligations and costs

It follows research earlier this year that found owners of new flats have seen their property management charges rise to almost 2,800 on average.

The typical fee of 2,777 is for new build homes while those for older properties is 1,863, according to the findings by Direct Line for Business.

The research found that 33 per cent of management companies have increased their fees in the past two years.

Alexander Bastin, a barrister at Hardwicke, said: 'This report highlights that those buying in densely populated areas, commonly city-centres, will most likely be buying a flat rather than a house. Such purchasers must be mindful of the fact that leasehold property ownership comes with it the disadvantages of additional legal obligations and costs.'
dropped by more than half in some instances

Reoffending rates among those leaving prison are high, with inmates struggling to adjust to life back in society and stay on the right side of the law.

In the UK alone, a quarter of all inmates released go on to reoffend, growing to almost 60 per cent for those serving sentences of less than a year.

In the US it is even higher, with a study in 2005 finding two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested within three years of release.

But according to new research, the solution could lie in medication.

Researchers suggest giving ex-prisoners the drugs they need to treat mental health conditions can drastically cut rates of violent reoffending (stock image used)

Giving ex-prisoners the drugs they need to treat mental health conditions could drastically cut rates of reoffending, a new study has found.

In a population of more than 22,000 Swedish prisoners, researchers found during an average follow up period of more than four and a half years over 4,000 of them went on to violently reoffend.

But providing ex-prisoners with the correct medication drastically reduced the rate of recidivism, compared with those who did not receive treatment.

Three classes of medication were found to be effective in reducing violent reoffending including antipsychotics, psychostimulants and drugs used to treat addiction.

Providing ex-prisoners with antipsychotics was linked to a 42 per cent drop in violent reoffending, while psychostimulants  used to tackle attention disorders, hyperactivity and depression  were associated with a 38 per cent reduction.

But providing ex-prisoners with the correct medication drastically reduced the rate of recidivism, compared with those who did not receive treatment

MEDICATING TO CUT REOFFENDING RATES Providing ex-prisoners with the medication they need for mental health conditions could result in a dramatic cut in the rate of violent reoffending. A team led by researchers at Oxford University looked at rates of reoffending in a population of more than 22,000 Swedish prisoners. They found that those who were given the correct treatment were less likely to commit violent crime again in the follow-up period, compared to those who did not receive medication. Antipsychotics were linked to a 42 per cent drop in violent reoffending, Psychostimulants were associated with a 38 per cent reduction. Drugs for addictive disorders resulted in a 52 per cent drop. Advertisement

The biggest change was seen when ex-prisoners were given drugs to treat addictive disorders, which saw a 52 per cent drop.

In addition to drug treatments, the researchers found prisoners completing psychological treatments, to target their attitudes to crime and substance abuse, also reoffended less.

Evidence-based provision of psychotropic medications to released prisoners may have the potential to make substantial improvements to public health and safety, particularly in countries that are undergoing decarceration [reducing the number of persons imprisoned or the rate of imprisonment] said Professor Seena Fazel, a psychologist at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study.

While the study, published in the journal JAMA, focused on a Swedish population, the approach could be potentially work in the UK and US.

The authors say further research is needed to strengthen the link, and that correctional services should potentially review their policies for prisoners on release.

It has been shown that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders, reoffending rates, and the average length of a prison sentence is similar between Swedish, UK and the US, explained Professor Fazel.

He told MailOnline: The key issue here is whether the identification and treatment of prisoners with mental health disorders and conditions is different inside prison and also on release.

Links between prison health and community health services could be stronger.
It is turning into a monumental battle between tech giants.

The race to create a smart home assistant has already seen a plethora of virtual assistants, from Apple's Siri to Amazon's Alexa and Facebook's chatbots.

Now, Google has joined the fray with Home, a $130 smart speaker that can do everything from play music to control your lights - and has the vast knowledge of Google's search engine as its 'brain'.

We pitted it against Amazon's Echo Dot and Apple's Siri in a series of tests to reveal the personality (or lack of) in each of them.

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We pitted Google, Home,Amazon's Echo Dot and Apple's Siri against each other in a series of tests, from singing to telling jokes.

Google's Home is the firm's latest AI move, after introducing its smart assistant in the new Pixel handsets last month.

After a week with Home, while it's been an incredibly impressive glimpse into how useful an AI assistant could one day be, it seems Google still has some work to do - although this is a device that oozes with potential for the future.

That said, it's already extremely capable in many areas.

Ask about your day, and the Home speaker will give you the time, weather, estimated commute, the news and upcoming calendar appointments.

The speaker is a really lovely piece of design, and it's tough to fault the hardware. If you're not keen on the colour, you can simply swap the bottom part for another colour or material.

GOOGLE HOME ANSWERS BACK TO TV ADS One issue I noticed with Google Home is that it likes to answer back to Google's own TV ads. A current Verizon ad for the firm's Pixel phone sees people asking Google's smart assistant for local restaurants - and every time it aired, my Home picked up and answered the request, hilariously (for the first couple of times, anyway). Advertisement

Sound quality was surprisingly good, and listening to music really wasn't the horrible experience I was expecting (particularly as, like Amazon's Echo, it can integrate with Spotify, and access all of your playlists and Spotify's superb recommendations).

The top of the speaker doubles as a touch sensitive control surface, although I found it was mainly used to control the volume.

Useful LEDs swirl as it is working, so you know when it is thinking.

The voice recognition is also astonishingly good - I can barely recall it not hearing something over my week with it, whether it was my British accent or my wife's American one asking the questions.

However, that does bring up one problem - it will answer anyone, and can only be linked to one Google account at the moment - so a couple can't both have their diaries available, for instance.

ALWAYS LISTENING Both Home and Echo are continually listening for commands, though Google and Amazon say nothing gets passed back to them until the speakers hear a keyword  'OK, Google' for Home and 'Alexa' for Echo. A light comes on to remind you that it's listening. You can turn off the microphone temporarily, too. Advertisement

The obvious competitor at the moment is Amazon's Echo, with its Alexa assistant.

It has a major head start on Google, and can do a lot more at the moment.

However, even with its early incarnation of a Google digital companion called Assistant, Home actually seems the smarter of the two - and most of that is down to how much Google already knows about you.

For instance, it knows about upcoming trips, based on reservations in Gmail, and also really nicely integrates commute times, complete with delays, based on data in Maps.

AMAZON ECHO VS GOOGLE HOME Google's $130 Home speaker is triggered by the phrase 'Hey Google' while Amazon's Echo uses 'Alexa'. Amazon's smart speaker is available in two versions - the full sized $180 Echo shown here, and a smaller, $50 version called the Echo Dot. Google Home AI speaker (left) shows the incredible potential of a smart home assistant - but still has a little bit of learning to do before it become indispensable. Amazon's Echo (right) is far better at using other services at the moment, known as skills. Advertisement

Echo, on the other hand, can direct you to work - and that seems about it.

However, the Echo does have the upper hand when it comes to partnerships, and can integrate with a Fitbit, order pizza and even call an Uber.

Amazon has more than a thousand of these partnerships, known as skills.

Google's integrations are initially limited to calling for Ubers, changing news or music providers and controlling smart lights from Phillips, SmartThings and the temperature of your home - if you're using Google's Nest.

The speaker will come in six different colors, and be available from November 4th

It's also possible to control your TV with home, up to a point.

Home supports Google's Chromecast but so far the support seems a little patchy, and I found it doesn't always work.

However, with a 4K version hitting the market soon, expect this to be another thing about Home that gets better very quickly.

Both devices work as alarm clocks or timers  and are great in the kitchen.

GOOGLE'S AI AMBITIONS: SMART ASSISTANTS EVERYWHERE The firm also revealed its Google Home smart speaker will go on sale in November. At the unveiling of Home in May, Google boss Sundar Pichai said: 'We think of the assistant as an ambient experience that goes across devices - this is more than just phones, it will be on devices they wear, in their car and in their living rooms.' The leading tech companies are all competing to assist consumers in their online activities such as shopping, since that gives the companies a better chance of selling advertising or other services. Home-based systems like the Echo are taking on more importance with the advent of improved voice technology, according to Julie Ask, an analyst at Forrester Research. Advertisement

Home really excels here though - you can ask it recipes, and it'll read out cooking instructions to you.

It's also a lot more fun if you have kids - for instance, it can play sound games if you ask it what sounds animals makes (although my dog was unimpressed by its cow impression).

However, using a smart speaker, be in the Echo Dot or Home, does require a big change in the behaviour of owners.

It really does take a while before you automatically remember you can ask Google for things - and I must confess, a week in with Home, I often still whip out my phone to do things I could simply have asked for.
It is a fact you might not want to mention at a bodybuilding competition.

But having bigger muscles does not necessarily make you any stronger, scientists say.

Many people try to bulk up at the gym with 'hypertrophic' exercises, deadlifting increasingly heavy weights to build up their arms.

However researchers at the University of Mississippi, reviewing existing evidence, suggest these larger muscles do not reflect how much someone can lift.

Having bigger muscles does not necessarily make you any stronger, scientists say

The proof comes in studies which show people who abandon the gym can hang onto the strength they have built up for months, even as their muscles shrink.

The researchers also point to evidence that lifting both lighter and heavier weights create the same size of muscles, even when lifting more makes you stronger.

Gyms across the country are filled with men, and some women, trying to get the biggest 'guns' they can.

It means overloading their muscles, to build up biceps by lifting larger weights at a greater intensity.

Resistance training, also called strength or weight training, is based on the principle that muscles of the body will work to overcome a force when required to do so. When enough 'reps', or repeats of lifting are done, the muscles become larger.

The US paper states that this resistance training does indeed work on muscles. Whether done with a light weight or a heavy one, a similar muscle size is achieved.

However researchers also looked at the difference between a one-repetition-maximum session with a low and heavy load.

This technique, lifting the most weight manageable only once, built up more strength with the heavier load.

It has further been found that 20 to 35-year-olds who stop going to their gym maintain their strength for eight months, despite losing their muscle mass.

The findings challenge many of the assumptions upon which traditional exercise programmes have been based

The academics state: 'The aforementioned evidence suggests that our understanding of muscle hypertrophy may be incomplete and perhaps misplaced regarding its influence on muscle strength.'

They add: 'We do not dismiss the possibility that increases in muscle size with training may be important for increasing strength  however, the current data are insufficient to make such a claim.'

The findings challenge many of the assumptions upon which traditional exercise programmes have been based.

Researchers are now conducting a two-month study recruiting 40 people to work out on two machines and will analyse the results for more information.

Senior author Dr Jeremy Loenneke said: 'As the story goes with exercise-induced changes in strength, neural adaptations are contributing first with muscle growth playing a more prominent role in the latter portion of a training program: however, there is little direct evidence that this is actually true in an adult partaking in a resistance training programme.
China is one step closer to meeting its ambitious plans to travel to the moon, and then to Mars, after the successful launch of its biggest rocket yet.

The heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket will one day carry payloads to the country's permanent space station, and a rover to Mars in 2020.

On Thursday night it successfully blasted off in front of thousands of spectators, carrying the Shijian-17 ion propulsion technology experiment satellite towards a geosynchronous orbit.

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The CZ-5 heavy-lift rocket, the latest in China's Long March series, blasts off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Wenchang county in south China's Hainan province. China says its plans for a permanent space station remain on track with the successful launch

CHINA'S MISSION TO MARS China has its sights set firmly on Mars and is aiming to launch its own rover to the red planet by 2020. Images released in August provided the first glimpse of what this rover might look like when it launches at the end of the decade. A Long March-5 carrier rocket will be dispatched from the Wenchang space launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan, Xinhua said, citing Ye Peijian, a mission consultant. The lander will separate from the orbiter at the end of a journey of around seven months and touch down near the Martian equator, where the rover will explore the surface. The 441 pounds (200 kg) rover has six wheels and four solar panels, and will operate for around 92 days. It will carry 13 sets of equipment including a remote sensing camera and a ground-penetrating radar. Advertisement

The rocket blasted off on Thursday night from the Wenchang launch centre, in Hainan province.

China launched the Tiangong 2 precursor facility in September and sent up two astronauts in mid-October to live aboard it for 30 days.

The permanent space station's 18 tonne (20 US ton) core module will be launched in 2018, and the completed 54 tonne (60 US) ton station is set to come into full service in 2022 and last at least a decade.

The Tiangong, or 'Heavenly Palace,' stations are considered stepping stones to an unmanned mission to Mars by the end of the decade.

The Long March 5's next mission will be lofting the robotic Chang'e 5 probe to the moon next year to land a rover before returning to Earth with samples.

The 187-foot (57-metre) two-stage rocket is China's largest, capable of carrying 25 tons of payload into low-earth orbit and 14 tons to the more distant geostationary transfer orbit, in which a satellite orbits constantly above a fixed position on the earth's surface.

That is more than twice the carrying capacity of China's most capable current rocket, the Long March 7.

It is can carry slightly less than the most powerful rocket in service, the United Launch Alliance's Delta IV.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, planned for launching next year, is designed to carry a payload into low-earth orbit of more than twice that size.

Not to be outdone, China is working on an even bigger rocket capable of lifting 90 tonnes (100 tons) of payload into low-earth orbit, Tian Yulong, the program's chief engineer, was quoted as saying at a news conference following Thursday's launch.

That would put it in the range of the now-retired Saturn 5 rockets the US used in the Apollo lunar missions.

China has its sights set firmly on Mars and is aiming to launch its own rover to the red planet by 2020. Images released in August provided the first glimpse of what this rover might look like (ictured) when it launches at the end of the decade

Long March 5, pictured, has more than twice the carrying capacity of China's most capable current rocket, the Long March 7. It is can carry slightly less than the most powerful rocket in service, the United Launch Alliance's Delta IV

The 187-foot (57-metre) two-stage rocket is China's largest, capable of carrying 25 tons of payload into low-earth orbit and 14 tons to the more distant geostationary transfer orbit, in which a satellite orbits constantly above a fixed position on the earth's surface

This photo taken on November 3, 2016 shows the blast trail of China's heavy-lift rocket Long March-5 as it launches from Wenchang, south China's Hainan province

CHINA'S SPACE STATION China could start building its space station starting as early as next year, Xinhua quoted Zhou Jianping, chief engineer of the manned spaceflight programme, as saying. 'Once the lab mission comes to an end, China will start building our own space station,' Zhou was quoted as saying. The station would be more economically efficient than the International Space Station and use 'more data', he said. China will launch a 'core module' for the station some time around 2018, a senior official said in April, part of a plan for a permanent manned space station in service around 2022. China was prevented from participating in the International Space Station, mainly due to US concerns over the security risks of involving the increasingly assertive Chinese military in the multinational effort. Advertisement

Unlike earlier rockets that used highly toxic fuels, the Long March 5 burns a more environmentally friendly and less expensive kerosene-liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen mix.

It has a take-off weight of 789 tonnes (870 tons) and a thrust of 962 tonnes (1,060 tons).

Wenchang, on the southern island of Hainan, is China's fourth and newest launch site.

Although Thursday's mission was mainly designed to test the reliability of the Long March 5, it also carried a satellite for testing technology used to observe space debris, new electric sources and electric propulsion, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Its upper section, the Yuanzheng 2, is designed to better launch multiple satellites and send them directly into orbit, Xinhua said.

In a joint congratulatory letter following the launch, the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee, the cabinet and the commission overseeing the military praised the new rocket as 'the pinnacle of innovation in carrier rocket science and technology.'

The Long March 5's next mission will be lofting the robotic Chang'e 5 probe to the moon next year to land a rover before returning to Earth with samples

A Long March-5 carrier rocket will be dispatched from the Wenchang space launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan in July or August 2020 carrying a Mars rover. Artist's concept of a Mars probe pictured

'Its successful launch... marks a milestone in China's transition from a major player in space to a major power in space,' the letter said, according to state media.

China has its sights set firmly on Mars and is aiming to launch its own rover to the red planet by 2020.

Images released in August provided the first glimpse of what this rover might look like when it launches at the end of the decade.

A Long March-5 carrier rocket will be dispatched from the Wenchang space launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan, carrying the rover.

The lander will separate from the orbiter at the end of a journey of around seven months and touch down near the Martian equator, where the rover will explore the surface.

The 441 pound (200 kg) rover has six wheels and four solar panels, and will operate for around 92 days.

It will carry 13 sets of equipment including a remote sensing camera and a ground-penetrating radar.

The astronauts will remain on board for 30 days - the longest stay thus far by Chinese astronauts - to conduct tests on spacecraft-related technologies and scientific and engineering experiments
The Dyson Institute of Technology, will be based in Wiltshire, will accept its first group of 25 students in September

Students will initially have their degrees

Sir James Dyson is set to spend 15 million ($18 million) launching the first new private university in the UK for more 20 years.

The billionaire inventor, pictured, is hoping that the investment will double the engineering workforce of his vacuum-cleaner firm to 6,000 by 2020.

Those working in the industry believe the Dyson Institute of Technology will help plug the growing skills gap and boost the economy.

The UK currently needs ten times the number of engineers it did ten years ago.

Billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson is to put his money where his mouth is by helping to bridge Britain's chronic skills gap with the launch of a new university. Pictured is the engineering entrepreneur with a Dyson heater

ENGINEERING SKILLS GAP To meet projected employer demand the number of engineering apprentices and graduates entering the industry will need to double. Engineering currently accounts for a quarter of UK turnover - 9 per cent higher than at the start of the recession. Engineering companies will need 182,000 people per year with engineering skills in the decade to 2022 but there is a current annual shortfall of 55,000 skilled workers. Advertisement

Those accepted on to the course will not pay fees, instead receiving a salary to work alongside Dysons engineers.

Discussing his concerns over the engineering gap, Sir James, 69, said: We are competing globally with Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Its all the major technology nations and we have got to be better than them.

[The shortage of engineers is] a problem in America and Europe and has started to become a problem in Japan.

'It seems that the fast-growing economies or emerging nations really recognise the value of engineering, but when you reach security there is less interest in what makes you successful.

Sir James believes Asian countries are now far out-performing Western nations in producing engineering graduates.

The university, based at Dysons development campus in Wiltshire, will accept its first group of 25 students in September. Pictured is an artist's impression of the Dyson Institute of Technology

Sir James believes Asian countries are now far out-performing Western nations in producing engineering graduates, with the UK needing to urgently redress the balance

DYSON UNIVERSITY Billionaire entrepreneur James Dyson is funding a private university to plug the UK's skills gap. The university, based at Dysons development campus in Wiltshire, will accept its first group of 25 students in September. Dyson hopes the investment will double the engineering workforce of his vacuum-cleaner firm to 6,000 by 2020. Advertisement

The university, based at Dysons development campus in Wiltshire, will accept its first group of 25 students in September.

Initially, the degrees will be awarded by Warwick University, with Dyson applying for powers from the Department for Education to create a fully fledged university.

But the Dyson Institute of Technology will gain university status only if proposals in a Government White Paper, Success As A Knowledge Economy, become law.

Universities Minister Jo Johnson said: The Dyson Institute of Technology will not only offer students the chance to study on cutting-edge degree-level programmes, it will also play a vital role in educating the next generation of much needed engineers.

'Our reforms in the Higher Education and Research Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, will ensure students can choose from a wider range of high-quality specialist institutions that can seek their own degree awarding powers and meet students diverse needs.

Dyson is known for his innovative engineering for household products, from the vacuum cleaners which made his fortune, to hairdryers (pictured)
Two-headed sharks sound like a monster ripped straight out of a B-list horror movie, but scientists are increasingly finding more of them worldwide.

Some have suggested that the surge in mutants is due to genetic abnormalities triggered by over-fishing.

The puzzling trend started in 2008, when fisherman Christian Johnson caught a two-headed blue shark embryo off the coast of Australia.

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The rising trend in two-headed shark sightings started in 2008, when fisherman Christian Johnston discovered this two-headed blue shark off the coast of Australia. Blue sharks produce a lot of two-headed offspring as they can carry up to 50 babies at a time in the womb

BICEPHALY - WHERE TWO HEADS ARE NOT BETTER THAN ONE The condition of having more than one head is known as polycephaly, with two-headedness described specifically by the terms bicephaly or dicephaly. The creatures rarely live beyond a few months. Each head of a polycephalic animal has its own brain, and they share control of the organs and limbs, though the specific structure of the connections varies. Such animals often move in a disoriented and dizzy fashion, with the brains 'arguing' with each other leading some specimens to simply zig-zag without getting anywhere. In snakes, each head may attack and even attempt to swallow the other. Advertisement

In 2013, a group of Floridian fishermen strained to haul in a large Bull shark, but upon gutting it found that its uterus housed a two-headed fetus.

Blue sharks have so far produced the most two-headed offspring, because they carry large litters of up to 50 babies at a time in the womb.

More recently, Spanish researchers have now found a two-headed Atlantic sawtail catshark embryo while rearing hundreds of sharks for human-health research.

An eagle-eyed scientist spotted it through one of the sharks' characteristic see-through eggs.

The resulting study has been published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

The catfish embryo was no ordinary mutant.

It is the first discovered example of a two-headed shark born by a oviparous shark species - a shark that lays eggs.

The researchers carefully opened the egg in order to study the strange embryo.

Study leader Professor Valentin Sans-Coma is unsure if the embryo would have survived had they left it to hatch naturally.

It is likely that these embryos don't live for long after hatching, which could explain why two-headed egg-laying sharks have never been found before.

In 2013, a group of Floridian fishermen strained to haul in a large Bull shark, but upon gutting it found that its uterus housed a two-headed fetus. Mutant shark findings have been on the rise over the past few years, and scientists are unsure as to why this may be

What prompted this rising trend in two-headed shark discoveries currently remains a mystery to science.

While their numbers are rising, sightings are few and far between, making it difficult for researchers to pin down exactly what triggers the mythical mutation.

Professor Sans-Coma's team suggest that genetic mutations may be behind their catfish finding.

Their embryos are grown in a lab with almost 800 other specimens, meaning they were unlikely to have exposure to any mutating infections, chemicals or radiation.

Wild sharks' rising mutation rates could come from a variety of factors, including viral infections or pollution.

Some researchers have suggested that over-fishing may be responsible for rising numbers of two-headed sharks. As population numbers dwindle, the shark gene pool shrinks, giving rise to more inbreeding and hence rising numbers of birth defects

Some researchers have suggested that over-fishing may be the culprit.

As shark population numbers dwindle, their gene pool shrinks, giving rise to more inbreeding which carries a high risk of passing on crippling genetic abnormalities.

Marine scientist Nicolas Ehemann recently discovered the first two-headed shark ever found in the Caribbean Sea.

Ehemann speculates that the high prevalence of two-headed sharks in nature points to over-fishing as the likely origin.

Accessible specimens of mutated sharks are few and far between, making them difficult for scientists to study

A master's student at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico, Ehemann agrees that the shrinking shark gene pool brought about by fishing will likely lead to rising numbers of birth defects.

Researchers in Malaga also discovered a two-headed Atlantic sawtail catshark this week, which they believe is the first of its kind.

The creature was spotted during a study of 797 embryos, and researchers from the University of Malaga say the find is a first for the species.

While previous reports of mutant fish have usually been in blue sharks, which carry their offspring in the womb, the find is believed to be the first two-headed animal discovered which is an oviparous shark - those that develop inside an egg

But Dr Felipe Galvan-Magana, a marine scientist from the Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico City, believes that the hysteria around two-headed sharks is misplaced.

Researchers in Malaga also discovered a two-headed Atlantic sawtail catshark this week, which they believe is the first of its kind

He argues that the numbers of these sharks aren't growing at all.

In fact, the surge in sightings results from the rising number of new scientific journals to publish in.

Dr Galvan-Magana is no stranger to mutant sharks.

A 'cyclops shark,' with a single, functioning eye, was caught off the coast of Mexico in 2011 and brought to his lab.

The defect was caused by a congenital condition called cyclopia, which can affect several animal species, including people.

Accessible specimens of mutated sharks are few and far between, making them challenging for scientists to study.

'I would like to study these things, but it's not like you throw out a net and you catch two-headed sharks every so often,' says Ehemann.
Governments around the world, including the UK, might know more about UFOs than they reveal to the public.

This is according to Malcolm Robinson, founder of Strange Phenomena Investigations, which carries out 'UFO & Paranormal research', who made the comments in a recent interview.

He claims a source in the Ministry of Defence tipped him off that many UFO findings have been hidden from the public.

Malcolm Robinson (pictured) founder of Strange Phenomena Investigations, which carries out 'UFO & Paranormal research', thinks the governments around the world, including the UK, know more about UFOs than they reveal to the public

BRITAIN'S UFO DESK The Ministry of Defence operated a UFO desk for 30 years, closing it in 2009. Eight years after the desk closed, Mr Robinson called for government to launch an inquiry into clusters of sightings . The findings collected in the last two years of its operation are publicly available on the National Archives website. There are 25 files containing 4,400 pages. Advertisement

'The governments of this world  including Britain  know far more than they are letting on, that's for sure,' Mr Robinson told the Daily Star.

He also claimed the manager of the old UFO desk at the MoD, Nick Pope, once told him: 'we don't even tell you the half of it.'

The Ministry of Defence operated a UFO desk for 30 years, closing it in 2009.

Eight years after the desk closed, Mr Robinson called for government to launch an inquiry into clusters of sightings.

The findings collected in the last two years of its operation are publicly available on the National Archives website.

There are 25 files containing 4,400 pages.

'The final tranche of UFO files released by The National Archives contain a wide range of UFO-related documents, drawings, letters, and photos and parliamentary questions covering the final two years of the Ministry of Defence's UFO Desk (from late 2007 until November 2009)' the website says.

'Discover the reasons behind the closure of the UFO desk, the handling of the largest number of UFO sighting reports received in 30 years and the disclosure campaign for "the truth", which was sparked by the closure of the UFO Desk.'

The Ministry of Defence operated a UFO desk for 30 years, closing it in 2009. The findings collected in the last two years of its operation are publicly available on the National Archives website. UFO sightings in 1970 and 1971, shown

More pages of UFO sightings collected by the MoD between 1970 and 1971 are shown. There are 25 files containing 4,400 pages

The National Archives of a drawing of a Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) from a recorded sighting. The findings collected in the last two years of the MoD's UFO desk operation are publicly available on the National Archives website

There are 25 files containing 4,400 pages. '"We want you, come with us," were the terrifying words coming out of the lemon-shaped head' two young boys in Staffordshire claimed in a letter, left. A UFO sketched by someone who had claimed to have seen one in the sky, right

In a briefing in November 2009, an RAF's Air Command recommended MoD 'should seek to reduce very significantly the UFO task

The desk was closed because it was not considered helpful to the country's defence.

In a briefing in November 2009, an RAF's Air Command recommended MoD 'should seek to reduce very significantly the UFO task which is consuming increasing resource, but produces no valuable defence output.'

They said in over 50 years 'no UFO sighting reported to [MoD] has ever revealed anything to suggest an extra-terrestrial presence or military threat to the UK'.

At the time, the MoD predicted the closure 'will attract negative comment from ufologists [who] may, individually or as a group, mount a vociferous, but short-lived campaign to reinstate the UFO Hotline suggesting that, by not investigating UFOs, MoD is failing its Defence commitment.'

Undated handout image from The National Archives of a drawing of a Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) from a recorded sighting
The building was near the tomb of

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered more than 120 images of ancient Egyptian boats etched into the walls of a building.

The building is around 3,800-years-old, and was built near the tomb of Pharaoh Senusret III, in Abydos.

The etchings would have been based on a real wooden boat, but it is unclear who did them or why, although the leading theory is they are images of funerary boats created to carry the Pharaoh.

Images vary in size and design, with the largest nearly 5 feet (1.5 metres) in length, and the smaller images only reaching about 4 inches (10 centimetres)

THE LINK BETWEEN THE POTTERY AND THE TABLEAU The link between the etchings and the pottery in the building is still a mystery, but the researchers suggest that the pots could have been used to spill liquid at the pharaoh's funeral. The researchers wrote: 'Potentially a massive decanting of liquid, likely predominantly water, at the entrance of the building was a way of magically floating the boat.' Another theory suggests that the boat was transported on a wooden sledge across the desert, in which case 'water and other liquids may have been used to lubricate the ground along the path of the boat', the researchers wrote. Advertisement

The tableau shows a wooden boat, which would have been constructed at Abydos or dragged across the desert, according to the researchers.

Three planks of wood were found nearby, which appeared to derive from the nearly 65 foot (20 metre) long boat that was buried intact but later dismantled for reuse of the wood.

Researchers believe the boat may have been buried alongside the Pharaoh's tomb as part of funeral tradition.

The tableau was scratched into the white plaster walls of the building.

Images vary in size and design, with the largest nearly 5 foot (1.5 metres) in length, and the smaller images only reaching about 4 inches (10 centimetres).

In their paper, published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the researchers, led by Dr Josef Wegner from the University of Pennsylvania, said that the images show: 'large, well-rendered boats depicted with masts, sails, rigging, deckhouses/cabins, rudders, oars, and in some case rowers.'

One hundred and twenty images remain today, but the researchers suggest there would have been more in ancient times.

The building itself is about 68 by 14 feet (21 by 4 metres), and housed more than 145 pottery vessels near the entrance.

The researchers wrote: 'The vessels are necked, liquid-storage jars, usually termed "beer jars" although probably used for storage and transport of a variety of liquids.'

While the building was first discovered in 1901, that team 'came down on the very top of the boat building', and ran out of time to look inside, according to Dr Wegner.

Little is known about who drew the tableau or why, but the researchers think multiple people created it in a short period of time.

Archaeologists in Egypt were shocked when they discovered more than 120 images of ancient Egyptian boats etched into the inside of a building. The etchings would have been based on a real wooden boat, but it is unclear who did them, or why

Little is known about who drew the tableau or why, but the researchers think multiple people created it in a short period of time

WHO WAS PHARAOH SENUSRET III? Pharaoh Senusret III ruled Egypt from 1878 BC to 1839 BC. A statue of the pharaoh at the British Museum is pictured Pharaoh Senusret III ruled Egypt from 1878 BC to 1839 BC. He is probably the best known of the Middle Kingdom pharaohs, because of the many statues showing him as a man with often heavily-lined eyelids. Senusret was this king's birth name, which mean, 'Man of Goddess Wosret'. He is also sometimes referred to as Senwosret III and Senusert III, or by the Greeks, Sesostris III. Sunusret III had his pyramid, the largest of the 12 Dynasty pyramids, built at Dahshur. Senusret III managed to expand Egypt's boarders further south than anyone ruler before him, an accomplishment he was proud of. Advertisement

The building was first discovered in 1901 in Abydos, Egypt, but this is the first time that a team has looked inside

The researchers believe it is possible that the people who made the boat also etched the tableau.

Or another possibility is a group of people taking part in the pharaoh's funeral etched the images.

The link between the etchings and the pottery in the building is still a mystery, but Dr Wegner suggests that the pots could have been used to spill liquid at the funeral.

According to the researchers, the images show: 'large, well-rendered boats depicted with masts, sails, rigging, deckhouses/cabins, rudders, oars, and in some case rowers'

They wrote: 'Potentially a massive decanting of liquid, likely predominantly water, at the entrance of the building was a way of magically floating the boat.'

Another theory suggests the boat was transported on a wooden sledge across the desert, in which case 'water and other liquids may have been used to lubricate the ground along the path of the boat'.

Further excavations have been planned to help solve these mysteries.
For new owners of Google's $130 smart speaker, it could be quite a surprise.

The AI assistant has a strange flaw - and it could drive owners mad.

Every time a Verizon ad for Google's Pixel phone is played, it wakes up the speaker - and asks it to recite a list of restaurants.

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The device is programmed to respond to 'Hey Google'

The Verizon ad shows people on a train using the phone's smart assistant, the same one found in the Home speaker, to ask for Korean restaurants in Boulder.

As the advert plays, the speaker begins reciting a list of restaurants.

Google's $130 Home speaker is its entry in the monumental battle between tech giants.

The race to create a smart home assistant has already seen a plethora of virtual assistants, from Apple's Siri to Amazon's Alexa and Facebook's chatbots.

We pitted Home against Amazon's Echo Dot and Apple's Siri in a series of tests to reveal the personality (or lack of) in each of them.

Google's Home is the firm's latest AI move, after introducing its smart assistant in the new Pixel handsets last month.

After a week with Home, while it's been an incredibly impressive glimpse into how useful an AI assistant could one day be, it seems Google still has some work to do - although this is a device that oozes with potential for the future.

That said, it's already extremely capable in many areas.

Ask about your day, and the Home speaker will give you the time, weather, estimated commute, the news and upcoming calendar appointments.

We pitted Google, Home,Amazon's Echo Dot and Apple's Siri against each other in a series of tests, from singing to telling jokes.

The speaker is a really lovely piece of design, and it's tough to fault the hardware. If you're not keen on the colour, you can simply swap the bottom part for another colour or material.

Sound quality was surprisingly good, and listening to music really wasn't the horrible experience I was expecting (particularly as, like Amazon's Echo, it can integrate with Spotify, and access all of your playlists and Spotify's superb recommendations).

The top of the speaker doubles as a touch sensitive control surface, although I found it was mainly used to control the volume.

Useful LEDs swirl as it is working, so you know when it is thinking.

The voice recognition is also astonishingly good - I can barely recall it not hearing something over my week with it, whether it was my British accent or my wife's American one asking the questions.

However, that does bring up one problem - it will answer anyone, and can only be linked to one Google account at the moment - so a couple can't both have their diaries available, for instance.

The top of the speaker doubles as a touch sensitive control surface, although I found it was mainly used to control the volume.

ALWAYS LISTENING Both Home and Echo are continually listening for commands, though Google and Amazon say nothing gets passed back to them until the speakers hear a keyword  'OK, Google' for Home and 'Alexa' for Echo. A light comes on to remind you that it's listening. You can turn off the microphone temporarily, too. Advertisement

The obvious competitor at the moment is Amazon's Echo, with its Alexa assistant.

It has a major head start on Google, and can do a lot more at the moment.

However, even with its early incarnation of a Google digital companion called Assistant, Home actually seems the smarter of the two - and most of that is down to how much Google already knows about you.

For instance, it knows about upcoming trips, based on reservations in Gmail, and also really nicely integrates commute times, complete with delays, based on data in Maps.

AMAZON ECHO VS GOOGLE HOME Google's $1230 Home speaker is triggered by the phrase 'Hey Google' while Amazon's Echo uses A'Alexa. Amazon's smart speaker is available in two versions - the full sized $180 Echo shown here, and a smaller, $50 version called the Echo Dot. Google Home AI speaker (left) shows the incredible potential of a smart home assistant - but still has a little bit of learning to do before it become indispensable. Amazon's Echo (right) is far better at using other services at the moment, known as skills. Advertisement

Echo, on the other hand, can direct you to work - and that seems about it.

However, the Echo does have the upper hand when it comes to partnerships, and can integrate with a Fitbit, order pizza and even call an Uber.

Amazon has more than a thousand of these partnerships, known as skills.

Google's integrations are initially limited to calling for Ubers, changing news or music providers and controlling smart lights from Phillips, SmartThings and the temperature of your home - if you're using Google's Nest.

The speaker will come in six different colors, and be available from November 4th

It's also possible to control your TV with home, up to a point.

Home supports Google's Chromecast but so far the support seems a little patchy, and I found it doesn't always work.

However, with a 4K version hitting the market soon, expect this to be another thing about Home that gets better very quickly.

Both devices work as alarm clocks or timers  and are great in the kitchen.

GOOGLE'S AI AMBITIONS: SMART ASSISTANTS EVERYWHERE The firm also revealed its Google Home smart speaker will go on sale in November. At the unveiling of Home in May, Google boss Sundar Pichai said: 'We think of the assistant as an ambient experience that goes across devices - this is more than just phones, it will be on devices they wear, in their car and in their living rooms.' The leading tech companies are all competing to assist consumers in their online activities such as shopping, since that gives the companies a better chance of selling advertising or other services. Home-based systems like the Echo are taking on more importance with the advent of improved voice technology, according to Julie Ask, an analyst at Forrester Research. Advertisement

Home really excels here though - you can ask it recipes, and it'll read out cooking instructions to you.

It's also a lot more fun if you have kids - for instance, it can play sound games if you ask it what sounds animals makes (although my dog was unimpressed by its cow impression).

However, using a smart speaker, be in the Echo Dot or Home, does require a big change in the behaviour of owners.

It really does take a while before you automatically remember you can ask Google for things - and I must confess, a week in with Home, I often still whip out my phone to do things I could simply have asked for.

But given time, it seems having the might of Google's search engine behind is will give Home a much smarter brain than anyone else - and could see Google making a smart home assistant a reality.




Now the entire Facebook family has a piece of Snapchat.

WhatsApp is currently testing Snapchat-like Stories that lets users share images with doodles and text captions.

The experimental feature, called 'Status', adds a new tab between Chats and Calls and, just like Snapchat, they vanish in 24 hours.

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WhatsApp is currently testing Snapchat-like Stories that lets users share images with doodles and text captions. The experimental feature, called 'Status', adds a new tab between Chats and Calls and, just like Snapchat, they vanish in 24 hours

WHAT IS STATUS? Status is a Snapchat-like Stories that lets users send images with doodles, text captions and emojios. Although an experimental feature, some lucky users have been able to test it while it is in beta. The feature is displayed as a new tab between Chat and Calls. It also allows you to edit videos after they've been shot, specifically trimming them down. These creations are only visible for 24 hours, but there is no way to delete them once they've been shared. Advertisement

WhatsApp's new addition is only a beta release and it is not clear how many lucky users get a chance to test the feature reports Manish Singh with Mashable.

Facebook offered to buy Snapchat in 2013 for $3 billion, but was turned down.

Snapchat, which had been dubbed a next generation messaging service, was just two years old and believed it was worth $4 billion.

Although the messaging app had no sales or business model, its smartphone app was delivering millions of messages that disappear in less than 10 seconds, making it a truly instant service, instead of a more permanent record collector like Twitter or Facebook.

But lately it seems Facebook is getting its revenge by 'borrowing' most of Snapchat's features for its own platforms.

The experimental feature in WhatsApp lets users scribble on images or add text and emojis  just like Snapchat, reports DigitalTrends.

It also allows you to edit videos after they've been shot, specifically trimming them down.

These creations are only visible for 24 hours, but there is no way to delete them once they've been shared.

WhatsApp's new addition is only a beta release and it is not clear how many lucky users get a chance to test the feature. The experimental feature in WhatsApp lets users scribble on images or add text and emojis

DOES FACEBOOK WANT TO BE A SNAPCHAT COPYCAT? In August, Facebook rolled out Stories on Instagram, which lets users create 10-second video clips and share them with a select group of followers. Users can now apply filters, type text and doodle over the clips. And videos will appear on someone's profile for 24 hours. These creations can be saved or posted to the Instagram feed, where they will become permanent like normal Instagram videos. Stories appear at the top of the Instagram feed. When someone has an unseen story, their profile picture will be circled with a colorful ring. Then just a month later, Facebook began testing what it calls Messenger Day for some users in Poland, which aims pique the interest of those who have yet to get hooked on its rival, Snapchat. This feature works just like Snapchat Stories  users add lively elements and it disappears in 24 hours. And just earlier this month, Facebook added Snapchat-like animated filters to Facebook Live in Ireland. Again, users selfies and videos and add lively filters, effects and masks that vanish within 24 hours. Facebook did offer to buy Snapchat in 2013 for $3 billion and was turned down, so 'borrowing' features may be the social media giant's way of getting revenge. Advertisement

The term 'Status' is not new term for dedicated WhatsApp users, as this feature was incorporated back in 2009.

However, it is more like the iconic AOL Instant Messenger status  it displays items like 'Away', 'Do Not Disturb' or a personal message from the user.

The new Snapchat-like feature does not replace the original Status, which can be found in the settings menu.

It also allows you to edit videos after they've been shot, specifically trimming them down. These creations are only visible for 24 hours, but there is no way to delete them once they've been shared

Earlier this year, WhatsApp announced it hit the billion-user mark according to the leading social network's chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

'One billion people now use WhatsApp,' Zuckerberg said in a post on his Facebook page.

'There are only a few services that connect more than a billion people.'

The ranks of people using WhatsApp have more than doubled since California-based Facebook bought the service for $19 billion in late 2014, according to Zuckerberg.

These creations are only visible for 24 hours, but once they are shared, they can not be deleted. The term 'Status' is not new term for dedicated WhatsApp users, as this feature was incorporated back in 2009

'That's nearly one-in-seven people on Earth who use WhatsApp each month to stay in touch with their loved ones, their friends and their family,' the WhatsApp team said in a blog post.

After buying WhatsApp, Facebook made the service completely free. The next step, according to Zuckerberg, is to make it easier to use the service to communicate with businesses.
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Havana is exactly how you imagine it: blazing heat, vintage cars, good cigars and wonderful music.

In many ways it is hard to put your finger on what makes this beautiful, crumbling, historic and vibrant city just as special as it is.

The drinks were the best I've ever tasted, the cigars the most fragrant I'd ever smelled (and smoked - sorry, mum) and the sun was the most deliciously blazing I've ever experienced. The people we encountered were, to a person, wonderful.

This beautiful Caribbean city is a palimpsest of cultures, making it unlike anywhere else in the world.

A view of the Nacional Hotel and the sea in Havana, Cuba, from Keiligh's room on the 14th floor of the NH Capri La Habana

Centuries of political and socio-economic unrest and turmoil have resulted in a heady mixture of Spanish and West African, while the influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War can still be felt on every corner.

Despite visiting in June, hurricane season, the weather was excellent. Scorching heat would temporarily be replaced by brief, intense rain, often accompanied by the most wonderful electrical storms complete with forked lightning and apocalyptic rumbles of thunder - only to quickly blow out and return to the previous intense and baking heat.

Havana is undeniably humid, but, perhaps due to the time of year we were visiting, surprisingly mosquito free - particularly at the beaches where there was almost always a pleasant - albeit warm - breeze.

I stayed at the four-star NH Capri La Habana, famously referenced in the Godfather II movie.

It boasted large and comfortable rooms, squeaky clean bathrooms and a delightful rooftop pool - complete with a bar that served truly excellent frozen daiquiris.

However, be warned - and this is true of much of Cuba - there is no 3G or 4G (gasp!) and the Wi-Fi is both intermittent and not that cheap. A Wi-Fi card at the hotel costs the equivalent of a couple of pounds and, more often than not, did not work.

Luxury: The rooftop pool at NH Capri La Habana, which is located in the heart of downtown Havana

View from the pool: While sipping on a frozen daiquiri you can admire this view of Havana from above

The air-conditioned rooms offer flat-screen satellite TV and a safety deposit box. Every room also features a minibar

The hotel also has a gym, a sauna and a Turkish bath, two on-site restaurants and two bars, a barber shop and laundry service

The rooftop swimming pool is the perfect place to soak up some sunshine and enjoy the tropical heat of Havana

On the subject of money, travellers to Havana should be aware that it is illegal to take Cuban currency out of the country, and cash points are rare. The easiest thing to do is to bring pounds out and convert them. The smaller restaurants and bars we went to did not accept credit or debit cards either, so cash really is essential.

I headed to Cuba for the 11th Havana Club Grand Prix 2016 - an event held every two years that takes the creme de la creme of bartenders from across the world, plonks them in this tropical paradise and makes them create the most delicious and innovative cocktails they can.

For my part, being more of devoted fan of alcohol rather than any sort of expert - think overexcited Labrador rather than connoisseur - I found the competition hugely exciting. It was a bit like Eurovision, thanks to the 44 competitors from 43 different countries - but with a shedload of rum and all the resulting shenanigans.

Following the initial rounds the 13 finalists were tasked with creating the next rum classic by combining Cuba's cocktail tradition, authenticity and local ingredients with their own personal experiences.

Winner: Cuban bartender Amaury Cepeda (pictured) won the coveted champion's trophy with his ingenious concoction that involved audience participation - he had friends sitting in the front row gently blow the smoke from their fragrant cigars into the mix as he carefully created a cocktail that replicated the smoke in the Cuban Cantinero where he works

Heaven-A: The Havana Club Distillery (pictured) where barrels of rum are aged in old whiskey casks before being bottled

No visit to Havana is complete without at least one rum tasting session - Cubans are passionate and rightly proud of their rum

THE WINNING FORMULA Cunyaya cocktail Created by Amaury Cepeda from Taberna Yayabu, Cuba, winner of the 11th Havana Club Cocktail Grand Prix Ingredients:  45ml Havana Club 7 Year Old  2 dashes Havana Club Essence of Cuba Island Fruit  5ml honey  7.5ml sour orange  60ml fresh sugar cane juice Method: Mix all ingredients and serve over ice garnish. Add a stick of natural sugar cane and sour orange spiral. Serve in a clay cup placed on a small plate decorated with a tobacco leaf. Advertisement

Cuban bartender Amaury Cepeda ended up winning the coveted champion's trophy with his ingenious concoction that involved audience participation - he had friends sitting in the front row gently blow the smoke from their fragrant cigars into the mix as he carefully created a cocktail that replicated the smoke in the Cuban Cantinero where he usually works.

Amaury impressed the expert panel of judges with his cocktail, Cunyaya, which included Havana Club 7 Year Old, bitter orange and cane sugar juice and honey. He told the judges it was inspired by the traditions of the slaves that were first brought to Cuba in 1515.

In a competition first Amaury, who has never left Cuba, has now won the opportunity to undertake a global rum project jointly with Havana Club  which could see him end up creating his own rum, writing a book on the spirit or even creating his own rum pop-up.

He will also be returning as a judge at the next global final in 2018.

Speaking after his win, Amaury said: 'Cuban cantineros must have all their senses in their cocktail; their heart, their soul and a profound respect towards bartending.

I am very proud to have won the 11th Havana Club Cocktail Grand Prix and I am very much looking forward to starting my collaboration with Havana Club.

'Above all, I am excited about having the opportunity to continue to better myself!'

Keiligh stands next to her ride for the day - vintage cars are the ONLY way to travel around during a trip to Havana

Havana is undeniably humid, but, perhaps due to the time of year we were visiting, surprisingly mosquito free - particularly at the beaches where there was almost always a pleasant - albeit warm - breeze
Rather than etching a message in graffiti across city walls and subways, a photographer has used the Brazilian rainforest as a dramatic canvas to convey his powerful call for environmental action.

Philippe Echaroux, who describes himself as an activist artist, has illuminated the Amazon with light projections of the faces of the Surui people.

The tribe, Echaroux said, are victims of massive deforestation and gold washers who did not hesitate to violate the Indians territory to seize deposits of precious stones'.

By illustrating the unflinching faces of the people whose lives are directly affected, the artist hopes to remind the international community of the ongoing environmental threat of deforestation and illegal logging in the region.

Describing the inspiration behind the project, Echaroux said: When you cut a tree, its like putting down a man.

Street Art 2.0 was designed in response to Indian chief Almir Surui Narayamoga asking for his peoples plight to be highlighted.
Air France-KLM will launch a new long-haul business with lower costs, the Franco-Dutch airline has announced, aiming to regain market share from Gulf rivals and revive profits without further straining relations with staff.

Like rival Lufthansa, Air France-KLM has been hit by the rapid growth of carriers such as Emirates and Turkish Airlines, which have used new planes and lower prices to lure passengers away from hubs in Europe and through Dubai and Istanbul instead.

Air France-KLM has long been trying to cut costs at its Air France operations but has faced a series of strikes, notably over plans to expand low-cost arm Transavia across Europe.

Air France-KLM will launch a new long-haul business with lower costs, the Franco-Dutch airline has announced, aiming to regain market share from Gulf rivals and revive profits without further straining relations with staff

Changing tack, the company said Transavia would now focus on its home markets of France and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the new long-haul business, set to have a fleet of 10 planes by 2020, will be staffed by pilots from Air France willing to move on a voluntary basis. Staff will be expected to work longer hours, and the company will aim to keep planes airborne for longer each day to cut costs.

Air France-KLM said the new business, which is yet to be named, was not trying to be a budget brand. CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac said the group's higher ticket revenues - stemming from its hubs, alliances, market share and image - meant it did not need costs at the level of easyJet or Gulf carriers.

But some analysts said the project, currently named Boost, was not bold enough, noting it would make up only a small fraction of a group which is aiming for a fleet of 435 planes, not including regional jets, by 2020.

'Plans at Air France-KLM look like change will still be slow and potentially thus too late,' said RBC analyst Damian Brewer, arguing the company needed to go further to tackle its high debts and high unit costs. Brewer has a 'sector perform' rating on the stock.

Like rival Lufthansa, Air France-KLM has been hit by the rapid growth of carriers such as Emirates (pictured) and Turkish Airlines

Air France-KLM shares initially fell, but recovered to trade up five per cent, helped by in-line quarterly earnings.

While rival IAG, whose boss Willie Walsh drove through deep cuts at Iberia and British Airways, reduced non-fuel unit costs by 2.4 per cent in the first nine months of 2016 to 5.11 euro cents, Air France-KLM has cut its by just 0.9 per cent to 6.08 cents.

It predicts costs will come down by one per cent this year. The group also slightly increased a longer-term target for cost cuts, saying it wanted to reduce unit costs by over 1.5 per cent a year between 2017 and 2020.

The company said the new long-haul business would help it return to profit on loss-making routes or reopen routes, especially to Asia, which it closed due to competition.

On board, the planes will have a business class, but lie-flat seats without direct aisle access.

The project is similar to Lufthansa's Jump project, which sees staff working longer to make long-haul Lufthansa-brand tourist routes more profitable and uses older A340 jets.

But Janaillac said Boost was eventually looking to use new A350 jets, due to arrive in 2019.

Air France-KLM also named Franck Terner, current head of its maintenance unit, as new CEO of Air France, replacing Frederic Gagey, who moves to the role of group chief financial officer.

The group will also study a spin-off of its maintenance arm, although it intends to retain control of the unit, it added.
New research has revealed that it pays to be extra careful with hygiene at airports - because toilet doors at some hubs could be harbouring killer superbug MRSA.

The study revealed that the superbug could be transferred between tourists on airport toilet door handles and then spread to different destinations across the world.

The study investigated how easily drug resistant bacteria could hitch a ride with travellers as they jet across the world.

The study focused on internal toilet doors, taking samples from 136 airports around the world

Authored by Frieder Schaumburg and published in medical journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, it focused specifically on internal toilet doors as they are frequently used by multiple people after potentially unhygienic activities (eg, defecation and urination) and are mostly contaminated with the flora of the skin and the gut'.

Researchers from the University Hospital Munster and Robert Koch Institute, both in Germany, asked 39 tourists to swab 400 bathroom door handles at 136 airports in 59 countries, between December 2012 and November 2015.

The travellers targeted mens toilets more frequently in their samples than womens toilets (60 per cent versus 39.5 per cent) with samples taken on arrival (16 per cent) before departure (80.7 per cent) or in transit (2.75 per cent). Researchers then took the swabs back to a lab.

MRSA: THE SYMPTOMS If only the skin is affected, patients will experience localised pain, swelling and tenderness. If the MRSA bacteria penetrates the blood, symptoms will include: - A high temperature of 38C (100.4F) - Chills - Generally feeling unwell - Dizziness - Confusion - Muscle aches and pains - Pain and swelling in affected area Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

Worldwide the team detected a variety of bacteria common to fecal contamination which could be transferred by touch from toilet door handles to tourists homes.

The study found that contamination rates were highest for Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause a variety of infections from sore throats to meningitis, recorded on 5.5 per cent of the samples. This was followed by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (two per cent) which is naturally resistant to a number of antibiotics and Acinetobacter baumannii complex in 1.3 per cent.

In the samples S.aureus was recorded as slightly more common on airport handles in Africa (7.7 per cent) than in Asia (4.7 per cent), Europe (5.5 per cent), North America (4.7 per cent) and South American (6.5 per cent).

One batch of methicillin-resistant s.aureus (MRSA) was detected in Paris and matched a community-associated MRSA clone found in India.

One batch of methicillin-resistant s.aureus (MRSA) was detected in Paris and matched a community-associated MRSA clone found in India

Mr Schaumburg told MailOnline Travel: Antimicrobial resistance is no longer a national problem but a global challenge. Resistant bacteria do not respect national borders so it is an issue of the international community.

'Our study suggests that resistant [bacteria] could be transmitted in airports but the risk seems to be low.

'Although our finding suggests that the MRSA was imported to France from the Indian sub-continent, we should keep in mind that almost every geographic region has its problems with antimicrobial resistance.

'This is not limited to MRSA but also includes Vancomycin resistant enterococci, carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter or Enterobacteriaceae or so-called Extended-spectrum betalactamase producers.'
Phoenix Sky Harbor International has been ranked the best airport in America, according to a new report.

The Arizona travel hub was compared to 29 of the country's other busiest airports and came out on top across three main indicators: timeliness, accessibility and amenities.

Lingering right at the bottom, however, were not one but two of New York's airports, with LaGuardia ranked as the worst in the US, followed by John F. Kennedy - both of them based in Queens.

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Phoenix Sky Harbor International, pictured, has been ranked the best airport in America, based on factors including timeliness, accessibility and amenities

Travel site The Points Guy trawled through data from the federal government, as well as information from the airports themselves, to determine the winners and losers.

According to researches, Phoenix was awarded the top spot based on 'excellent flight delay and flight cancellation scores, a convenient light rail, a high number of restaurants and bars for its level of passenger traffic and free Wi-Fi.'

Phoenix was followed by Portland International, in Oregon, and San Diego International, in California.

'San Diego is a serious contender that could compete for the top spot in the future,' the site remarked. 'But it will have to do something about its middling flight cancellation rate.'

LaGuardia, pictured, earned the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of flight delays and cancellations

At JFK, pictured, you can expect both the longest drive times - over an hour - and the longest waits to get through security, nearly 17 minutes

Utah's Salt Lake City airport tied with Hawaii's Honolulu as being the best for keeping on schedule, and also took top honours for the lowest number of cancellations.

The rest of the top ten list was rounded out by Washington's Seattle-Tacoma; Pennsylvania's Philadelphia; North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas; Nevada's Las Vegas McCarran and Minnesota's Minneapolis-St. Paul, respectively.

As for the lowest rated, New Jersey's Newark Liberty was followed by Illinois' Chicago O'Hare, Michigan's Detroit Metro; Florida's Orlando; Virginia's Washington Dulles, Colorado's Denver, California's Los Angeles International and Texas' Houston George Bush airport.

'LaGuardia earned the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of flight delays and cancellations, the second-longest drive time and extortionate parking rates to top it all off - $29 per day or higher,' researchers revealed.

'At JFK, you can expect both the longest drive times - over an hour - and the longest waits to get through security, nearly 17 minutes.'

The site concludes: 'By letting the higher-scoring airports know what theyre getting right and pointing out where the poorer-faring need to do better, maybe we can get the ball rolling on making US airports the jewels of the global flying network.'

TEN BEST US AIRPORTS 1. Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Arizona 2. Portland International, Oregon 3. San Diego International, California 4. Salt Lake City International, Utah 5. Honolulu International, Hawaii 6. Seattle-Tacoma International, Washington 7. Philadelphia International, Pennsylvania 8. Charlotte Douglas International, North Carolina 9. Las Vegas McCarran International, Nevada 10. Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Minnesota Advertisement
She recently admitted to promoting her line, 'all over the place.'

And Reese Witherspoon proved her statement true during a day out in LA on Thursday, where she was spotted carrying a bag from her Draper James line.

The 40-year-old beauty both appeared to be make-up free and looked fresh from a workout.

Advertise on-the-go! Reese Witherspoon, 40, enjoyed a day out in LA on Thursday, where she was spotted carrying a bag from her clothing and home goods line, Draper James

Reese was comfortable in A Fine Line grey T-shirt, tied in a know at her waist.

The mum-of-three then added a pair of black leggings and trainers.

Reese threw her blonde locks in a ponytail and accessorized with a pair of shades and her popular Vote Ya'll bag from her line.

Keeping up with fitness: The 40-year-old beauty both appeared to be make-up free and looked fresh from a workout

In May of last year, she launched her Draper James collection online, before the first store opened in Nashville that October.

And since it's debut, the Sweet Home Alabama star has been actively promoting her $ 17 million-invested line, both on social media and in her daily activities.

During an interview with Dolly Parton for the December issue of In Style, Reese discussed her lifestyle venture, which also has a second store in Dallas.

Retail beginnings: In May of last year, she launched her Draper James collection online, before the first store opened in Nashville that October

'It's a new chapter for me starting a business, going around passing the hat, and promoting it all over the place. It's a different experience, but I'm enjoying learning something new,' said the star.

'I've been acting for about 25 years, and I still love it, but I like the challenge of trying something else too.'

The owner of Pacific Standard Films drew attention to a point that many in Hollywood miss, the ability to relate to the rest of the world other than the bubble that is 'New York and Los Angeles.'

'I find there are a lot of people talking about New York and Los Angeles, but there's a whole world out there in between, and that's who I like to tell stories about and make products for  people who love the life they have and have a sense of style that's uniquely their own,' she noted.
She's expecting her first child around her 40th birthday on November 8.

And a heavily pregnant Laura Csortan opened up to women's community Poppy Renegade for their #StandTall profile, about the difficulty in raising her first child, a girl, as a single mother.

'It's the hardest thing I've ever done,' the 39-year-old candidly shared, before adding that it hasn't come without 'fear and struggles.'

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Candid: Heavily pregnant Laura Csortan, 39, revealed to women's community Poppy Renegade, the difficulty she will face in raising her first child as a single mother

'[It was] the hardest thing I've ever done and I haven't even had the baby yet,' Laura shared about her pregnancy reveal.

'It's not been without fear and struggles, I'm not pretending it's going to be a walk in the park, but it's the card I've been dealt,' the television presenter continued.

Having doubts as to how the news she would be raising the child as a single mother would be taken, Laura did reveal that she has plenty of support.

'Once I did announce it however, I was supported by family and friends and also so many women I have never met before who would write to me sharing their stories,' she added.

Positive: 'I was supported by family and friends and also so many women I have never met before who would write to me sharing their stories,' Laura also told Poppy Renegade

This is not the first time Laura has opened up about her pregnancy.

She previously told Woman's Day magazine about the difficulty she has faced having to explain she is going to be a single mother.

'I didn't know how it would go down, I was terrified but it's certainly been received really well.

'I will be a single mum and there's a lot of single mums saying, "I went through it and these are the things you might find difficult or not," so that's really fabulous as well.'

Details: Laura has not publicly revealed who the father of her unborn child is, but shared to women's community Poppy Renegade that she has plenty of support

Admiration: 'Once I did announce it however, I was supported by family and friends and also so many women I have never met before who would write to me sharing their stories,' Laura told Poppy Renegade

Laura has not publicly revealed who the father of her unborn child is.

'When the baby's older I'm happy with her finding out who her father is. I'm going into this with an open mind,' she said.

Her former flames include ex-AFL player Chad Cornes and American model Joshua Slack, 28.

Proud: Throughout her pregnancy, the former Miss Universe Australia has been keeping her Instagram followers up-to-date with her journey, sharing several snaps to the site

Speaking of her and Joshua's 11-year age gap, she previously told Daily Mail Australia that age is 'just a number.'

'I think it's great and there are a lot of really great girls in the industry that have younger boyfriends as well.

'It's just a number. Whatever makes you happy, whatever works,' she said.

Laura's due date is November 12, three days after her 40th birthday.

Celebrations: Laura revealed she was having a girl at a lavish baby shower held on board a Sydney yacht
The breakfast radio presenter rarely hesitates to share details of her private life with the nation.

And this week was no different, with Jackie 'O' Henderson cutting herself out of her pants to relieve cramps, while live on air for the Kyle and Jackie O show on Friday.

The 41-year-old media personality, who had been complaining of cramps, told listeners she had taken scissors to the material because she was 'desperate to relieve the pain.'

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The great escape: Radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson cut herself out of her pants while live on air this week after suffering stomach cramps

It appeared Jackie had attempted to perform the move subtly, as her co-host Kyle Sandilands had to ask what had happened.

'You're a champion for soldiering on... but I did just witness you producing some scissors and some girls all standing around there,' he said.

'What are you doing?'

Not as comfy as they look! Jackie cut pants like the ones above off her - but it was later revealed he garment was still sitting up on her body

Laughing, the bubbly blonde began to explain her bizarre situation.

'I'm wearing these harem pants and they're so so tight around my stomach,' she said.

'I feel like it's making my pain worse so what can I do - I'm cutting them open.

Friendly fire: Earlier in the week, the radio hosts had disagreed on the correct term for a hot flush

'I'm that desperate to relieve the pain.'

As the hosts came off air, Kyle noticed there was something not quite right about Jackie O's pant situation.

'You know you're in trouble when you've cut your elastic waist pants off - and they're still up,' he exclaimed.

'It's like skin now!'

Family time: Jackie is married to photographer Lee Henderson and they share a five-year-old daughter Catalina 'Kitty' Mae

The desperate move comes after Jackie complained about menopause symptoms, before getting in to a disagreement with her long term co-host over the terminology.

The mother-of-one called her ailment a 'hot flash', but Kyle disagreed and referred to it as a 'hot flush'.

While both are technically correct, the radio personalities took the time to explain their side.

Jackie maintained she was correct 'because it comes in a flash - it's like 'woah where did that come from,'' she said.

Kyle couldn't concede and imagined it was a hot flush 'because it flushes through your body.'
New York is aflutter with Angels in preparations of the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

All week slender leggy models have been spotted rushing around NYC to make it to their fittings.

Thursday morning was no different, as seven different models made their way to be fitted in whimsical lingerie for the much awaited event taking place in Paris in December.

Legs for days: 25-year-old model Stella Maxwell's eye-catching lengthy legs singled her out from the pack as she strutted the streets of New York on her way to a fitting on Thursday

Though she was covered from head to toe, 25-year-old model Stella Maxwell's eye-catching lengthy legs singled her out from the pack as she strutted the streets of New York on her way to a fitting.

Stella, who is Miley Cyrus' ex girlfriend, looked all-business, clad in skintight black skinny jeans that showcased her mile-long legs, a black sheer top, black coat, black laced up combat boots and black sunglasses.

All business: The beautiful model looked stern as she hurriedly made her way to her fittings

Calm and collected: Megan Williams looked sexy yet understated in tight black jeans, a structured leather jacket, and knee high-boots

Megan Williams, part of the fresh crop of models who discovered they would be walking the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for the first time, looked much more relaxed and excited as she stopped to pose for pictures.

Her blonde locks were blown out straight and her makeup was fresh, peachy and dewy.

The 22-year-old rookie looked sexy yet understated in tight black jeans, a structured leather jacket, and knee high-boots.

The beautiful blonde clutched a brown Chanel boy bag close to her body.

Ready for anything: Going from sexy catsuit to bootcut jeans and elegant sweater, Elsa Hosk looked prepared for her fitting on Thursday

Joining her fellow runway stompers, the stunning Swedish model Elsa Hosk was bundled up in a cream-coloured sweater with red and blue embellishments, a high neck, and splits on either side of her waist.

The 27-year-old model teamed the cuddly sweater up a pair of dark bootcut jeans and accessorized with a simple tan handbag and sunglasses, adopting a far different look than the sexy catsuit she showed off on Tuesday.

Simple is best: The Dutch model kept it simple with a pair of tight ripped black skinny jeans and black crop top, but her black pumps, designer handbag and sky blue bomber jacket added some va-va-voom to the outfit

Can't hide it: Sanne Vloet looked ecstatic on her way to her fitting on Thursday

Wearing arguably the cutest outfit of the day, model Sanne Vloet looked ecstatic to be a part of the festivities.

The Dutch model kept it simple with a pair of tight ripped black skinny jeans and black crop top, but her black pumps, designer handbag and sky blue bomber jacket added some va-va-voom to the outfit.

The natural beauty completed the outfit with her beautiful pearly white smile.

Functional beauty: The 22-year-old model wore a cowl neck poncho over a white hoodie and teamed the outfit with some thigh-high black suede boots

Gorgeous model Cindy Bruna was cozy, functional with a hint of sexy, clutching onto her Starbucks coffee as she made her way to her fitting Thursday in NYC.

The 22-year-old model wore a cowl neck poncho over a white hoodie and teamed the outfit with some thigh-high black suede boots.

The French model let her brunette ringlets loose and wore no makeup. Talk about natural beauty.

Burrr: Rookie LAis Oliveira looked confident after her fitting, wearing a turtle neck sweater dress, booties, and a Chanel purse

Relieved: Devon Windsor is all smiles in the streets of Manhattan after her Victoria's Secret fitting on Thursday

The annual Victoria's Secret fashion show is set to shoot in Paris for the first time ever and airs in December.
He's managed to defy the odds in Hollywood, enjoying a 20 year marriage with fellow actor Deborra-Lee Furness.

And Hugh Jackman delighted his Instagram fans on Thursday by sharing an epic throwback snap from his bachelor party in 1996.

The epic photo shows the 48-year-old star cut a youthful figure in a smart suit, as he embraced a group of jovial men who appeared keen to celebrate the occasion.

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Taking it back! Hugh Jackman (centre), 48, shared a throwback snap to Instagram on Thursday from his bachelor party in 1996

'This is the BEGINNING of the bachelor party,' Hugh began the caption.

'All other photos have been confiscated, he continued, alongside the hash-tag #throwbackthursday.

The Hollywood hunk cuts a youthful figure in a suit and tie ensemble, as he is pictured embracing his pals for a fun night out.

Union: The photo marks Hugh's long-lasting marriage to fellow actor Deborra-Lee Furness (pictured), 60

The photo highlights Hugh's long-lasting marriage to fellow actor Deborra-Lee Furness, 60.

Hugh met Deborra-Lee in 1995 on set of ABC television series Correlli, which saw the buff actor take on the lead role of Kevin Jones who arrives in prison with brain damage.

Sydney-born Deborra-Lee took on the role of the prison's psychologist Louisa Correlli.

The couple enjoyed a whirlwind romance, marrying the following year in Melbourne, before going on to raise daughter Ava, 11, and 16-year-old son Oscar.

Love on set: Hugh met Deborra-Lee in 1995 on set of ABC television series Correlli, which saw the buff actor take on the lead role of Kevin Jones who arrives in prison with brain damage

Still going strong: The couple share daughter Ava and son Oscar. Pictured in April 2003

Deborra-Lee revealed to TV Week magazine last month that the Wolverine actor is 'thrilled' with her return to Australian television in Channel Nine series Hyde & Seek.

'He wants me to do more work. He's very supportive and was thrilled I took this on,' she revealed to the publication.

The actress and producer hasn't featured in an Australian television production since starring in an episode of ABC's Sea Change in 2000.

'It was scary coming back to work', she revealed.

'It was like, ''Damn, do I remember how to do this?'' But it's like riding a bike. It was fun to get back on set and act again,' Deborra-Lee added.
She is the outspoken former socialite who recently unveiled her new identity as an orthodox Jewish woman named T'zipporah Malkah.

And Kate Fischer wasn't shy to advertise her political persuasion last week by sharing a photo of herself on Facebook posing in bed wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Donald Trump's face.

The 42-year-old former model was pictured lying back against a pile of pillows and sheets while peering down at the camera with a blank expression.

'Not long now!!!' Kate Fischer wasn't shy to advertise her political persuasion last week by sharing a photo of herself on Facebook posing in bed wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Donald Trump's face

'Not long now!!!' she wrote in the caption, possibly referring to the impending US presidential election.

In a subsequent post, the former fiancee of James Packer took a swipe at Hungarian-American business magnate George Soros.

'George Soros you're a shandah (Hebrew word for 'disgrace) to the goyim (non-Jewish people). You, MOT, one of the apples in G-ds eye, fund this disgusting Clinton woman and all the American Democrats racism'

Hitting out: In a subsequent post, the former fiancee of James Packer took a swipe at Hungarian-American business magnate George Soros

'Wasn't it enough to dob your fellow Jews in to the local police and gestapo and get rich while doing it, during the holocaust? 'You've got to keep plundering and destroying decades and decades later?' she added.

T'zipporah sent tongues wagging by stripping down to her lingerie for a risque shoot in New Idea magazine last month.

In a series of raunchy snaps, the curvaceous beauty posed confidently in a boudoir-like setup while proclaiming in an interview that she loved her new figure.

Sultry: T'zipporah sent tongues wagging by stripping down to her lingerie for a risque shoot in New Idea magazine this week

Last month, she revealed her name change to fans in a Facebook post talking about her new life as T'ziporah.

In the impassioned update, she asked fans to stop calling her Kate while also taking a swipe at body critics.

'Kate got fat! Kate got fat! Kate got fat is older news than Moses,' she said, before adding: 'And anyway that's not my legal name anymore.'

T'zipora also exclusively told Daily Mail Australia that she's happy with the new life she leads, one that is completely out of the spotlight.

New me! Last month, she revealed her name change to fans in a Facebook post talking about her new life as T'ziporah
It no doubt seemed like the ideal place for a quiet romantic meal.

But Kate Mara and Jamie Bell ended up being caught up in the excitement when they attended the same restaurant where Kendall Jenner's birthday party was being held in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The dynamic duo looked rather taken aback as they headed out for the night after their jolly feast within earshot of the Kardashian klan at the trendy Catch LA eatery.

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A not-so-quiet night out: Kate Mara and Jamie Bell went for a meal at the same place Kendall Jenner was having her birthday party in LA on Wednesday

Kate, most famous for her turn in the disastrous Fantastic Four, looked in fine form indeed in a black leather jacket, chic green tartan dress and black trainers.

The saucy 33-year-old, who wore her hair in a trendy side parting, rounded off her look with a chic designer handbag.

Billy Elliot favourite Jamie, 30, meanwhile seemed to have been trying to ingratiate himself with his other half, as he was wearing a matching jacket, jeans and white Adidas trainers.

The Adventures Of Tin Tin star also made sure he held on tightly to his other half as they made their way through the excited throng waiting outside the bustling banquet hall.

Hell bent for leather: The fine filly added allure to her look by wearing a racy cowskin coat

Matching pair: The dynamic duo had opted to wear near identical leather jackets

Holding on tight: She gripped onto Jamie as they made their way outside

The couple, who co-starred in Fox's disastrous Fantastic Four reboot last year, were not the main attractions for once however.

For Kendall was surrounded by her family and friends as she celebrated turning 21 at the expensive eatery.

The whole klan including Kris Jenner, Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Kylie, were all in attendance as they enjoyed a celebratory girls night out.

However the event is said to have been marred due to Caitlyn Jenner showing up, with a source claiming, 'It didnt seem like [Caitlyn] was warmly welcomed  it was super awkward.'

She looks pin-credible: She showcased her stunning stalks by wearing a chic dress

Combing the area: She wore her hair in a trendy side parting for her night out

The dynamic duo: Kate and Jamie both starred in the dismal Fantastic Four film
Paul Spry made headlines on Thursday after dramatically proposing to his girlfriend in the star-studded Mumm Marquee at Oaks Day.

But before finding love with glamorous divorcee Caroline Legrigore, the Melbourne-based tradie enjoyed a whirlwind romance with busty socialite and former star of The Bachelor, Zilda Williams.

The twosome enjoyed a hot-and-heavy fling throughout February until Zilda eventually said goodbye to Paul, telling Daily Mail Australia at the time: 'H e's too much of a party boy for me.'

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He loves the limelight! Paul Spry, who publicly proposed to girlfriend Caroline Legrigore at Oaks Day this week (left), enjoyed a whirlwind romance with reality star Zilda Williams (right) before meeting his fiancee

The ill-fated couple first met in Sydney back in January during Australia Day weekend at an event hosted by Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik.

According to The Bachelor babe, Paul was still legally married when they met, but had separated from his wife, with whom he shares two daughters.

The pair appeared to be inseparable after first connecting, with Paul even flying ex-glamour model Zilda to Melbourne to spend Valentine's Day weekend with him.

Love at first sight? The ill-fated couple first met at the Bondi Sands cruise in late January (pictured)

'#Misschu!' Paul posted a selfie with Zilda after they met, captioning it with a cute hashtag before flirting in the comments by saying that he 'got her' with his stylish white shirt

During her jaunt in the Victorian city, the reality star and her beau were spotted enjoying a date in a local cafe before partying up a storm at Shane Warne's Club 23.

The frisky pair couldn't keep their hands off each other inside the club, with Paul even sticking his tongue in Zilda's mouth while she filmed a video for Snapchat.

Sadly, the blonde bombshell put an end to their romance soon after, telling Daily Mail Australia in late February that the handsome Paul didn't look like he was ready to settle down just yet.

'I'm looking for a really down-to-earth guy who has his priorities right,' she said at the time.

Long distance love! Paul flew the Sydney-based starlet to his hometown of Melbourne so they could spend Valentine's Day weekend together

A quaint date! Zilda and Paul enjoyed a sweet date at a cafe in Melbourne

The New Zealand-born beauty continued: 'Paul and I were casual and just getting to know each other, but after spending more time together we both knew that it wasn't going any further.'

She concluded: 'He knows how to have a good time and it was a lot of fun,' she explained, 'but I think he's too much of a party boy for me.'

Judging by Paul's Instagram, his latest squeeze, Caroline, appears to be a perfect fit for the divorced father-of-two's social lifestyle.

In various photos, the newly-engaged couple can be seen at a seemingly endless string of glitzy events, including Fashion Aid, Riva Snow Party, a Brownlow dinner and more.

'I think he's too much of a party boy for me:' The couple called it quits after Zilda realised that Paul's hard-partying ways weren't suited to a serious relationship

Down boy! The amorous tradie stuck his tongue in Zilda's mouth while she tried to film a Snapchat video during a night out in Shane Warne's Club 23

Paul faded from the limelight after his split with Zilda in February, but he returned to the headlines on Thursday after publicly proposing to Caroline at a glamorous Oaks Day party.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia shortly after popping the question, Paul said: 'I spoke to a few different people and I thought this is the ultimate, I have this opportunity to propose to the girl I love.'

He recruited the help of Mumm Marquee, who let him up on stage to declare his eternal love.

'I'm looking for a really down-to-earth guy who has his priorities right,' Zilda told Daily Mail Australia earlier this year following her split from Paul

The perfect match! The glamorous Caroline appears to be the perfect fit for the social Paul, with the couple attending countless events together since meeting

Hitting the social scene! Caroline looks more than happy to accompany the father-of-two to various parties

'They got me up on stage around the pool amongst the DJ's and the performers, it was like it was planned but it wasn't,' he said.

His romantic gesture reduced Caroline to tears.

'She didn't have a clue, it was awesome,' he said, before adding: 'Her reaction was priceless.'

Paul explained that he and Caroline have been inseparable since meeting eight months ago, and have yet to spend more than 48 hours apart.

However, the couple have yet to set a date to tie the knot, with Paul saying: 'We haven't though that far ahead.'

'Her reaction was priceless:' Paul returned to the spotlight on Thursday after publicly proposing to Caroline at Oaks Day
She has never been shy of documenting her day-to-day life on Instagram.

And Friday was no different for Roxy Jacenko, who took to the site to share a swimsuit snap, flaunting her toned bikini body.

'#fbf,' Roxy simply captioned the beachside snap, referring to the popular saying 'Flashback Friday'.

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Hot mama! Roxy Jacenko, 36, took to Instagram on Friday, showing off her toned bikini body in a throwback snap

The snap saw the mother-of-two drawing attention to her enviably toned bikini body in a navy blue swimsuit by label Eres.

A button-up neckline highlighted the businesswoman's cleavage and bronzed skin, while the high-cut design of the swimsuit accentuated her lean legs.

Roxy's signature blonde tresses were swept into an effortless ponytail, while shielding her minimally made-up face behind a pair of dark aviator sunglasses.

Family snap: Accompanying Roxy on the day of the beachside snap was children Hunter Curtis, two, and Pixie, five, sporting caps and striped beach attire

Accompanying Roxy on the day of the beachside snap was son Hunter Curtis, sporting a striped rash vest and Ralph Lauren cap, and five-year-old daughter Pixie, clad in a black and white ensemble.

The throwback snaps come shortly after Roxy took to the social media site to share a snap of two-year-old son Hunter Curtis.

'Cup day inspired,' Roxy simply captioned the photo alongside the face with tears of joy emoji, referencing race day season.

The image, shared with the entrepreneur's 134,000 Instagram fans, saw Hunter clad in a red and white striped T-shirt and Ralph Lauren bib while clutching a patterned towel on his head.

Beaming for the camera, Roxy's followers were quick to comment with remarks such as 'this is TOO much,' and 'could he get any cuter???'

'Cup day inspired': Meanwhile, Roxy's son Hunter (pictured) looked adorable in another snap shared to Instagram, which saw the toddler donning a towel on his head

'When you simply don't agree,' penned Roxy: A previous snap saw Hunter looking less than impressed, during a swimming lesson

Another previous snap saw Hunter looking less than impressed during a swimming lesson.

'When you simply don't agree,' Roxy captioned the snap, humorously adding 'in training Japan 2020.'

With both hands resting on his legs, he cast a frustrated glance in one direction.

'Why won't you swim?' A short clip shared to Instagram previously saw a grumpy-looking Hunter, in the same garb, refusing to jump into the pool for his swimming lesson

This is not the first time Hunter has been seen in the swimming attire.

A short clip shared to Instagram saw him refusing to jump into the pool for his swimming lesson.

Roxy uploaded a video of a grumpy-looking Hunter cloaked in his towel with the same swimming cap covering his hair.

'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

Family time has become clearly important for the Sweaty Betty PR boss, after husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for two years.

She told 60 Minutes earlier this year 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 in early October.
Lindsay Lohan has a brand new voice - both literally and philosophically.

The actress, 30, has rocked the Internet with her new affected way of speaking which she credits to spending time in foreign countries and learning other languages.

But on Thursday she urged fans via Snapchat to stop focusing on her accent and instead 'be happy and help each other.'

'Don't focus on my accent': Lindsay Lohan posted this message along with a selfie to Snapchat on Thursday as she tried to stop people talking about her new way of speaking

The former Parent Trap and Mean Girls star was seen in the social media post sitting in front of a mirror as she snapped a selfie with her iPhone.

She added a crown of flowers filter as she sat looking straight ahead with brown kohl-lined eyes and glossy pink lips.

Her message to the world comes just two days after Lindsay told DailyMail.com that her new speech pattern is no big deal.

As to why she does not sound like the Lindsay we have known since childhood, she joked: 'Je ne sais pas.'

Different speech pattern: The actress's different sounding voice left fans reeling but she told DailyMail.com Tuesday that it was no big deal

Enjoying life outside the U.S.: Lindsay has embraced European living and currently divides her time between London and Greece

The now London-based actress put her changing voice down to a thirst for leaning languages, but no doubt her trans-European lifestyle also is partially to blame.

She said she is on her way to knowing six languages fluently and speaking them has influenced the way she now speaks in English.

'I've been learning different languages since I was a child. I'm fluent in English and French can understand Russian and am learning Turkish, Italian and Arabic,' she claimed.

Sound evolution: The Mean Girls star was the the belle of the ball at the opening of her Greek club last month where her new accent was caught on tape

Fluent in LilLohan: Lindsay joked on Twitter with DailyMail.com that her accent should have its own name

As for all the attention her new accent was getting, the famed-redhead said was not shocked by it.

'Nothing really shocks me these days. I moved to London four years ago and the taxes seem to be getting higher.'

Lindsay and her accent all became a trending topic after video from her Club Lohan opening in mid-October surfaced.

In the video, the actress told local reporters of her hopes for her club and also sought to clarify her relationship with business partner Dennis Papageorgi.

But, as she did, her well known American accent and husky tone was very different.

What started it all: Lindsay and her accent abecame a trending topic after video from her Club Lohan opening in mid-October surfaced. Her American accent and husky tone was different

The star told reporters she opened the club in Athens because 'maybe there is something for me to do more here so I have a reason to come back.'

'Whereas in the past I've been associated with nightclubs and clubbing I said why not do my own and make it a good place,' she went on. 'Where there's bad things happening in the world we can focus on the bad things and fix them with the club we can create charity with the club.'

Last month she made headlines after visiting with Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Gemma Arterton was on the move.

Her new picture, The Escape, was shooting on location in London, and I was tagging along for a day of guerrilla film-making.

Led by producer Guy Heeley, the leading lady strode through the streets of London: from Fitzrovia, then Bloomsbury, across the Marylebone Road and finally into King's Cross station, where cast and crew stopped for a lunch of salad and stew.

Gemma said filming had been intense, but both she and leading man Dominic Cooper had been exhilarated by it

Then it was off again, to a park where, I'm sorry to relate, a lot of dog owners had clearly not been picking up after their mutts.

Gemma and director Dominic Savage came up with the idea of making a film about the 'taboo' topic of mums who leave their kids.

Arterton described her character Tara  a mother of two who is married to a businessman called Mark, played by her pal Dominic Cooper  as a 'creative person'.

'But she's got absolutely no outlet for her creativity  and what that means is that Tara feels trapped  though she's not.'

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art-trained actress (making her debut as a producer on the film) and director Savage came up with an improvised blueprint of a script, which meant that the movie often veered off in 'varied and interesting directions'.

'This is about a woman who walks out on her family  which isn't usually the term that's used. Usually the word is 'abandoned',' she told me, pointing out that when a father leaves, 'he walks out'.

'Abandoned by my mother' is such a strong term  and I think it's because of this idea of 'How could they possibly do that?' Because women should feel: that's why we exist. And I don't think that's the case.' The last film I can think of that tackled this subject was Kramer vs. Kramer.

Gemma said filming had been intense, but both she and leading man Cooper had been exhilarated by it. 'It makes you think of your own life,' she said.

'I've always wanted to have children,' she reflected. But since working on The Escape, she's been thinking: 'Oh my God . . . do I?'

Now that she has finished filming, Gemma has moved onto rehearsals for G.B. Shaw's Saint Joan, for the Donmar Warehouse.

When director Michael Blakemore offered Sharon D. Clarke the key role in the UK premiere of The Life  a 20-year-old Broadway musical  she didn't think twice

Giving The Life a new lease of life

When director Michael Blakemore offered Sharon D. Clarke the key role in the UK premiere of The Life  a 20-year-old Broadway musical  she didn't think twice.

Clarke said she played the cast recording 'to death!' and already knows the Cy Coleman and Ira Gasman numbers by heart.

She will play Sonja: a very experienced woman indeed. 'Sonja's getting too old for the world's oldest profession,' Clarke sighed. 'She started at 15. And she knows how to look after herself. She's a strong woman.'

One number that Clarke will sing is The Oldest Profession. When I saw The Life on Broadway, Lillias White had fun with it: using a calculator to tot up how many clients she had 'helped' along the way. You'll have to go buy a ticket to see The Life to find out just how many!

The musical runs at Southwark Playhouse from March 25.

Blakemore, who also directed the New York production, spent decades trying to bring it to London before producers Amy Anzel and Matt Chisling booked Southwark Playhouse.

He said was pleased to be staging the show in South London, because tickets are cheaper. 'Going to the theatre in the West End is like buying caviar! People, like teachers and academics, who love the theatre and were our regular audience got priced out.'

Here's some magic for you: more than 60,000 tickets for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child go on sale from 11am on November 22.

They will be for performances at the Palace Theatre from December 13, 2017, through to February 4, 2018. For every performance there are more than 300 tickets at 20 or less. Cheapest seats in the Palace cost 15.

More batches of tickets will be released throughout next year, via the various Harry Potter social media channels.

More than 60,000 tickets for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child go on sale from 11am on November 22

Charlie Stemp and Devon-Elise Johnson, who are the newcomers shining in star-making roles in Half A Sixpence, which started previews at the Noel Coward Theatre on Tuesday. Emma Williams, Ian Bartholomew, Jane How and Gerard Carey are good, too, and I liked the youngsters Alex Pope, Callum Train, Sam O'Rourke and Bethany Huckle.

Director Rachel Kavanaugh and Andrew Wright (with assistance from Cameron Mackintosh, aka Camilton) are still tightening the new production. Even so, I left the theatre with a broad smile. Two numbers  Pick Out A Simple Tune and Flash, Bang, Wallop  deservedly stop the show.

 Susan George, who has arranged for celebrity friends Robert Lindsay, Sian Phillips, Michael Brandon, Patti Boulaye, Debbie McGee, Charles Dance, Lynda LaPlante and Christopher Biggins to take part in an evening of Lasting Life Love Letters: the first of three charity events (the others are in LA next year and New York in 2018) in memory of George's husband, Simon MacCorkindale.

The dinner at the Dorchester Hotel is for George's cancer charity Lasting Life and also Raft, which helps people who have suffered major trauma.
She was going to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Khloe Kardashian ensured it would be a cameo audience members won't soon forget.

The 32-year-old looked extremely sexy in a sheer black blouse that exposed her lacy bra as she headed towards the show's studios in Hollywood on Thursday.

Khloe teamed the top with a pair of skin tight jeans that clung to her hourglass shape.

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Super glam: Khloe Kardashian looked extremely sexy in a sheer black blouse that exposed her lacy bra as she headed to Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Hollywood on Thursday

Khloe's outfit showed off plenty of skin, with the top featuring a deep plunging neckline to flash plenty of cleavage.

The star's vampy blouse also featured two long and dramatic sleeves that flowed as she strode ahead.

Khloe wore her glossy blonde locks down straight with a chic center part, as she also stood tall in her sexy black heels with a furry strap over the toes.

As she ordinarily does, the star looked beyond glam with two elegant bejewelled choker necklaces, several rings, and a black purse in her hand.

Flash of skin: Khloe's outfit showed off plenty of flesh, with the top featuring a deep plunging neckline to showcase her cleavage

Fur goodness sake! The 32-year-old wore her glossy blonde locks down straight with a chic center part, as she also stood tall in her sexy black heels with a furry strap over the toes

Khloe went all out with her makeup to highlight her famous features.

She brushed on golden eye shadow, mascara, and swiped on a deep shade of lipstick.

Also spotted heading inside was Fifty Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan, who made a low-key entrance in his black shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

Makeup magic: She brushed on golden eye shadow, mascara, and swiped on a deep shade of lipstick

Be my guest! Also spotted heading inside was Fifty Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan

Khloe, meanwhile, confirmed her romance with Cleveland Cavaliers player Tristan Thompson last month.

'Khloe has been spending a lot of time in Cleveland with Tristan,' a source told People magazine in October.

'Shes very supportive of him, and they are getting serious. They really dig each other a lot, and shes planning to spend more and more time out there with him.'

Man of style! Dornan made a low-key entrance in his black shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers.
Quentin Tarantino is aiming for the prefect ten.

The director confirmed at the Adobe Max conference in San Diego on Thursday that his tenth film will be his last.

'Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody, "Match that s***", he told the crowd in Hall H of the Convention Center.

Perfect ten: Quentin Tarantino confirmed at the Adobe Max conference in San Diego on Thursday that his tenth film will be his last

THR reported that CMO of Adobe Ann Lewnes - moderator of the Q&A - asked the 53-year-old how he will personally define success.

'Hopefully, the way I define success when I finish my career is that Im considered one of the greatest filmmakers that ever lived,' he replied to cheers. 'And going further, a great artist, not just filmmaker.'

Tarantino has indicated before that he would not direct a film past his tenth.

By his own count, he has directed eight feature films so far: My Best Friends Birthday (1987), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol 1 and 2 (2003, 2004), Inglorious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015).

Debut: My Best Friend's Birthday - about a young man's continual efforts to do something nice for his friend's birthday, only to have his efforts backfire - was Quentin's first ever film.

Stuck in the middle: After that is was Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino's breakout film, considered the Greatest Independent Film Of All Time by Empire Magazine.

My Best Friend's Birthday - about a young man's continual efforts to do something nice for his friend's birthday, only to have his efforts backfire - was Quentin's first ever film.

He also wrote, produced and starred in it  roles he would continue to fill on almost all his films.

My Best Friend's Birthday has never been officially released; the original 70-minute cut was partially destroyed in a lab fire, with only 36 minutes surviving. The remaining film has been shown at occasional film festivals.

Cultural watershed: 1994's Pulp Fiction earned seven Academy nominations, and won Best Screenplay

Foxy: 1997's Jackie Brown is Tarantino's only film based on a previous work (the 1992 Novel Rum Punch)

After that is was Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino's breakout film, considered the Greatest Independent Film Of All Time by Empire Magazine.

Telling the story of a botched jewelry heist, the star-studded cast of Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, and Michael Madsen would reappear in many more of his films.

His favourite go-to actor however would be himself, as he has appeared in every one of his movies so far.

Too big: While Kill Bill was broken into two volumes, the director always considered it a single film

Since Reservoir Dogs it was strength to strength, with his six subsequent films all commercial and critical successes.

While Kill Bill was broken into two volumes, the director always considered it a single film.

Tarantino was also director on several other projects: In 1995's Four Rooms he was one of four directors who each directed a segment set in a different room of a hotel.

Similarly, 2007's Grindhouse was a double-feature horror, coupling his Death Proof with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror.

Enter Brad: Inglourious Basterds garnered eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay

Biggest hit: Django Unchained grossed $425 million worldwide against its $100 million budget

He was also 'special guest director' on Frank Miller and Rodriguez's Sin City in 2005, when he directed a single scene.

Despite claiming he only has two films left in him, the Tennessean frequently bandies about ideas for potential movies; the most recent came earlier this year when he proposed a '30s-era Australian gangster flick' in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde.

But for now he is focused on a historical nonfiction project revolving around the cinema of 1970, which he considers the most pivotal in the history of film.

This will not be one of his ten movies, however: 'It could be a book, a documentary, a five-part podcast,' he said.
As the winter social season goes into high gear, Lucy Mecklenburgh is enjoying quite the busy week.

On Thursday night, the former TOWIE star was spotted making her way to London's Vinyl Factory to attend the New Look x Stylist/Shortlist party - and she was sure to step out in style for the occasion.

The brunette beauty wowed as she hit the bash in a deeply plunging flared black catsuit, which she teamed with a faux fur stole.

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We like to party: Lucy Mecklenburgh was spotted at London's Vinyl Factory, where she attended the New Look x Stylist/Shortlist party on Thursday night

With her wavy chestnut brown tresses resting on her shoulders, the 25-year-old TV personality carried a silver clutch bag as she made her way into the bash.

Her appearance at the party came a night after she put in a glamorous appearance at the Br east Cancer Care Show, held at London's Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.

Also at Thursday's Vinyl party was Daisy Lowe, who treated herself to an evening of indulgence, taking a break from Strictly Come Dancing rehearsals.

Taking the plunge: The former TOWIE star stepped out in a deeply plunging black catsuit

She stole the show: The brunette beauty teamed her outfit with a matching faux fur stole

Lustrous locks: She wore her chestnut brown hair in lustruous shoulder-length waves

Tanned and deliver: Defying the chilly climes, Lucy was sporting her perennial tan on the night

Social butterfly: The star has been enjoying a decidedly busy social week

The 27-year-old model was stunning as ever in a blue velvet dress, a low-cut neckline and a thigh-high split accentuating her hourglass curves.

Daisy added a rock chic edge to her ensemble with a pair of lace-up ankle boots, and carried a coordinating clutch bag in one hand.

The pin-up wore her trademark fringe hanging in her eyes and kept her make-up to a minimum.

She seemed in great spirits as she prepared for her night on the town, no doubt hoping to take her mind off the stress of the weekend.

Night off: Daisy Lowe took a break from Strictly Come Dancing rehears to attend the bash

Evening attire: The 27-year-old model was stunning as ever in a blue velvet dress, a low-cut neckline and a thigh-high split accentuating her hourglass curves

Tomboy touch: Daisy added a rock chic edge to her ensemble with a pair of lace-up ankle boots, and carried a coordinating clutch bag in one hand

Daisy has landed in the bottom two for the last two weeks, and professional dancer Janette Manrara believes the reason lies in her lack of established fanbase.

'I think people don't really know Daisy,' Janette told Digital Spy this week. 'The Strictly fanbase is such a different fanbase from what Daisy normally does.

'I'm hoping after two dance-offs, people will get to know her. I think she's an incredible dancer and she shouldn't leave the competition. She's one of the strongest.'

Natural look: The pin-up wore her trademark fringe hanging in her eyes and kept her make-up to a minimum

Surprise result: Daisy has landed in the bottom two for the last two weeks, and professional dancer Janette Manrara believs the reason lies in her lack of established fanbase

Janette's fiance is Strictly co-star Aljaz Skorjanec, who is also Daisy's dance partner this series, and she admitted she finds it 'surprising' that the pair have fallen in the bottom two twice.

The duo won the dance-off against Anastacia and Brendan Cole on Sunday's show, making it the second near-miss on the trot for Daisy and Aljaz.

Head judge Len Goodman gave his own theories on why Daisy has been so unlucky over the past two weeks in an interview on Monday.

Special guest: Lilah Parsons was also spotted making an arrival at the hot ticket party

All white on the night: Roxi stepped out in a flattering white minidress for the night's festivities

Appearing on Chris Evans' Radio 2 breakfast show, he said: 'I can only imagine - because she's a terrific dancer, she's got a lovely personality and she's such a charming, lovely person.

'The only thing I can think of is that people, when they vote, may see Daisy - she's there, she's in fourth place, she's in a good position, they may think "well, she's safe".

'And then they vote for somebody, you know, down the line who they hope will come back and poor Daisy gets overlooked.

Stunning: Tallia Storm looked ravishing in a burgundy minidress, teamed with knee-high boots

Headturners: Shanie Ryan, left, and Bip Ling, right, turned heads in their ensembles of choice
Celebrities including reality star and model Joanna Krupa, and actors Robert De Niro and Arnold Schwarzenegger came out to show support for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday night in Beverly Hills.

The gala event served as a fundraiser for a support group that provides services to soldiers and the families of soldiers who serve the State of Israel.

Polish model Krupa posed up a storm at the event in an off-the-shoulder mini dress alongside the nonprofit FIDF co-chair Haim Saban at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Charity event: Joanna Krupa posed up a storm at a gala fundraiser in aid of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday night in Beverly Hills with co-chair Haim Saban

The former Real Housewives of Miami castmember showed off her tanned and toned legs in the skimpy outfit that featured silver embroidery along the bustline and the waist.

She carried a silver embellished purse and wore her blonde hair loose and sleekly styled.

Krupa also had her photo taken with former CNN talk show host Larry King.

Blonde beauty: Former Real Housewives Of Miami castmember Krupa wore an off-the-shoulder black mini dress with silver detailing. She's pictured with Larry King

Big guns: Also on hand was Robert De Niro in a pale blue short with dark blue bespoke suit and matching tie. Pictured with Saban

Look who's here: De Niro and a member of the IDF warmly greeted Hollywood star and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger

De Niro also posed for pictures with Saban as he arrived at the event.

The Oscar winner wore a pale blue shirt with patterned tie and dark blue bespoke suit.

He and Saban warmly greeted Terminator star and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger who lent his celebrity, too, to the fundraiser.

Showed support: Schwarzenegger was dapper in a dark suit with striped tie and sported some heavy designer stubble

Actress Julie Bowen showed up in a black and hwite patterned dress with black velour jacket

Israeli actress Moran Atias looked lovely in a full-length satin gown with long sleeves

The action hero: Gerard Butler made an appearance

Other celebrity attendees included Hollywood actress Julie Bowen and Israeli actress Moran Atias.

Members of the Israel Defense Forces were also guests at the gala.

According to its website, FIDF 'offers a range of programs that address the educational, social, economic, recreational, spiritual, and cultural needs of the IDF soldiers as well as the families of soldiers fallen in defense of the State of Israel.'
Drew Barrymore looked absolutely picture perfect as she attended an event for photo publishing service Shutterfly in New York City on Thursday.

The 41-year-old wowed in an elegant black maxi dress with a floral print and lace neckline.

Drew had arrived to launch Shutterfly's Holiday Gift Collection, and the E.T. actress sure had some fun playing around with some of the brand's new offerings.

Photogenic! Drew Barrymore looked absolutely picture perfect as she attended an event for photo publishing service Shutterfly in New York on Thursday

But first, the star ensured she was at her radiant best as she slicked on a bold shade of fuchsia lipstick while adding plenty of drama with jet black eyeliner and some champagne hued eyeshadow.

Her golden locks were parted at the center and styled into a silky and glossy 'do with a wavy accent.

Classic and chic! The 41-year-old wowed in an elegant black maxi dress with a floral print and lace neckline

Making a statement: Barrymore flashed a cheeky smile while holding up a graphic sign

And she topped the chic look off with a pair of strappy black heels.

Drew has her very own collection with Shutterfly, and no doubt she was more than happy to do her part to support the brand that day.

The event comes just days after Drew was spotting taking a friendly stroll through New York with her ex-husband, Will Kopelman as it was revealed the former couple will spend the holidays together.

Despite their divorce being made official in August, the former couple have remained on good terms for the sake of their daughters, Olive, four, and two-year-old Frankie.

Feeling the love: The star modeled with a Good Vibes mug

So they will all be spending Christmas together before going off in an 'adventure' in a hot country.

The 41-year-old actress told Page Six: 'Most of the family is going on this big adventure trip and our kids are just too young, so Will and I are going to do something fun with them. We have like three sets of different Christmas plans ... and then we're going on this adventure. It's going to be really nice and I'm going to a warmer climate, so I'm excited.'

And Drew admits her and Will are still very supportive of each other whatever they do.

She added: 'We were together today at our kids school. We spend weekends together. He's running in the [New York] Marathon, so we're going to go and wave him on.'

Heart to heart: Drew gave one party goer her undivided attention

Despite her marriage troubles, the 'Never Been Kissed' star recently spoke about the 'strength' and joy she takes from being with her children.

When asked what makes her happy, she shared: 'Just strength. Now that I'm a mom, and I know that it harkens back to the girls, aside from that, it really is girl power, badass. It is strength, clarity, conviction, health and focus.

'It's funny, because there are times in my life that I am so loosey-goosey, so hedonistic, and it is so just 'hippy-dippy,' but right now I feel this great backbone is, 'One foot in front of the other,' which is sort of my attitude right now. That is anything but loosey-goosey - that if you don't stay in a straight line, you are going to get into trouble.'

The actress and the art consultant had been friends for years before tying the knot in 2012.

Their divorce was amicable and swift with the former couple agreeing to continue joint parenting their daughters Olive, four, and Frankie, two.

When they announced their split, Drew and Will said their girls were their 'first priority'.

The actress divides her time between Los Angeles and New York as she and her ex focus on raising their daughters together.
Natasha Poly was a feast for the eyes as she modeled a funky bikini complete with an arrangement of bananas attached to her hip.

The 31-year-old Russian-born model showed off her exquisite physique for the world to see as she posed up a storm during a photo shoot on the beach in Miami, Florida on Wednesday.

Natasha donned a playful strawberry red bikini top with violet spaghetti straps and a pair of high-waist polka dot bottoms.

Looking good enough to eat! Natasha Poly was a feast for the eyes as she modeled a funky bikini complete with an arrangement of bananas attached to her hip in Miami, Florida on Wednesday

The very festive look was topped off with a dramatic yellow cape, which had the faux banana arrangement attached.

Barefoot, the model struck a number of sexy poses for the camera, all of which highlighted her supremely toned physique.

The camera sure does love her! The 31-year-old Russian born model showed off her exquisite physique for the world to see as she posed up a storm during a photo shoot

The look was accessorized with chunky black and yellow bracelets.

The starlet had her blonde locks slicked up into an extra high ponytail, while hew dewy skin complexion radiated.

And with a face like hers, it's no wonder the starlet has been experiencing success in modelling ever since catapulting onto the scene over a decade ago.

Spot on! The catwalk queen donned a playful fuchsia bikini top with violet spaghetti straps and a pair of high-waist polka dot bottoms

Natasha, born Natalya Sergeyevna Polevshchikova, made her debut on the catwalk for Emanuel Ungaro in 2004.

Since then, she has done campaigns for designer labels including Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and Chanel, becoming one of the most in-demand models in the world.

Natasha has three-year-old daughter Aleksandra Christina with her husband of five years, Peter Bakker.

The couple married during a three-day wedding celebration in St Tropez in 2011.
She's accustomed to being the center of attention when she takes to the catwalk.

But on Thursday, it seems Rosie Huntington-Whitley wanted to keep a low profile as she arrived in Los Angeles.

The 29-year-old model dressed in a comparatively demure outfit for her flight.

Nothing to see here: On Thursday, it seems Rosie Huntington-Whitley wanted to keep a low profile as she arrived in Los Angeles

On top she sported a black t-shirt under a duster-style coat with grey brocade pattern and black trim.

A pair of slim black jeans, which hugged her lithe gams, and some black knee-high boots completed the monochromatic outfit.

Classic wayfarer-style shades with a deep tint and some delicate earrings were also part of the laid-back look.

Dark hues: On top she sported a black t-shirt under a duster-style coat with grey brocade pattern and black trim

Always a pro: Of course the statuesque stunner's make-up was exquisite, and featured some light blush and a dash of pale rose lipstick

Of course the statuesque stunner's make-up was exquisite, and featured some light blush and a dash of pale rose lipstick.

Her distinctive blonde locks were pulled back into a tight, practical pony tail.

It also looked as though the bombshell was traveling light, as she only toted a black leather handbag and a grey soft-side rolling bag.

Efficient packer? It also looked as though the bombshell was traveling light, as she only toted a black leather handbag and a grey soft-side rolling bag

There was no sign of action star Jason Statham, 49, to whom she celebrated an engagement early this year.

On Monday, the leggy UK native collected the gong for Businesswoman of the Year at the Harper's Bazaar Women of the Year Awards in London.

She's designed lingerie for Marks & Spencer, is an ambassador for Ugg Australia and has a partnership with Paige Denim.
She's no doubt one of Australia's top supermodels.

And Miranda Kerr is about to make a group of aspiring models VERY star struck as she makes a cameo appearance on Australia's Next Top Model next week

A preview clip shared on Facebook shows the 33-year-old looking flawless as she arrives on set - leaving the young contestants in awe.

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Yes, it's really her! Supermodel Miranda Kerr is set to make an appearance on next week's episode of Australia's Next Top Model

Miranda stunned in a green dress that hugged her slender frame gorgeously while showing off her toned arms.

The mother-of-one's porcelain skin looked perfect, while her brows were expertly groomed for the appearance.

Her baby blue eyes shone through under smokey brown eyeshadow and lashings of black mascara.

Star struck: The contestants were visibly excited as they are introduced to the supermodel

Stunning: The mother-of-one looked flawless in a tight-fitting green dress for the appearance

Her short brunette locks were slicked back into a ponytail with a middle parting as she greeted the girls.

The young contestants could hardly contain their excitement when they discovered who the guest judge was.

One of the girls would be heard saying: 'I nearly fainted.'

Linnea, 16, was visibly shaken when judge Alex Perry introduced Miranda to the group, fanning away her tears of joy.

Sleek and chic: The Malibu-based beauty's brunette locks were slicked back in a low ponytail for the occasion

'I nearly fainted': Linnea, 16, was fighting back tears as she was about to meet Miranda

It appears Miranda is set to judge next week's photo shoot challenges.

Miranda's appearance is one of many by successful Australian supermodels throughout this series.

Last month, it was Gemma Ward who guest judged alongside Jennifer Hawkins.

And Elle Macpherson appeared in episode two as a guest during the contestants' photo shoot at Randwick Racecourse.
Her 21-year marriage to high-profile TV host Karl Stefanovic ended just last month.

And Cassandra Thorburn has now spoken out in her very first interview since news of the shock split broke a few weeks ago.

'I'm grieving the loss of my relationship. The loss of my best friend and life partner,' the 44-year-old told Mum Central on Friday, confirming the break-up.

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'Grieving the loss of my relationship': Cassandra Thorburn has given her first interview since her split from husband of 21 years, Karl Stefanovic, 42

The mother-of-three also said that the public scrutiny on herself and her children in the wake of the split has been causing strain.

'I'm just like every other mother and wife who is going through a marriage break up, only I have the added anxiety of having the spotlight thrust in my face at a time when what myself and my children really need is privacy,' the wife of the Logie-winning presenter said.

Meanwhile, the former journalist has also slammed critics who questioned why she made the decision to be a stay-at-home mother.

'What myself and my children really need is privacy': The 44-year-old said the spotlight on her split from the Today host has caused 'anxiety'

Going solo: After weeks of reports, Cassandra finally confirmed the marriage breakdown in her interview with website Mum Central

Explaining that the decision for her to exit the workforce was a 'shared' one made by herself and Karl, 42, Cassandra said: 'I never thought that I was going to be a stay at home mum forever.

'I didn't know when I would return to work, so the criticism that I stayed at home living off Karl because I could, was really hurtful and insulting.'

Cassandra's comments were in response to an opinion piece published on News.com.au blasting women who give up their financial independence to stay at home with children.

Stay at home mum: Cassandra had a flourishing career as a journalist when she decided to quit her career to look after her children

Her pride and joy: Since the split, Cassandra has gone on the defensive after being criticised for leaving her career behind to be a full-time mother

Mutual decision: Cassandra explained that the decision for her to give up her career to raise the couple's children while Karl worked was a 'shared' one

Meanwhile, Cassandra has recently signed with celebrity agent Max Markson in a bid to revive her career as a media personality.

Confirming the news to Daily Mail Australia last week, Max said: 'Cass is an outstanding journalist with over 20 years experience in radio, television and of course writing.'

The Sydney PR king went on to explain that the mother-of-three will be 'using her experience as an opinionated columnist and on-air TV and radio presenter' to relaunch her career.

'Hurtful and insulting': The mother-of-three slammed critics who thought she was 'living off' Karl while being a stay-at-home mum

It comes after a source close to Karl and his wife told New Idea Cassandra plans on fighting to keep the $7 million mansion, which the pair purchased a month before splitting.

Karl has reportedly moved out of his Sydney family home and is staying with his younger brother Peter Stefanovic at his Bondi apartment.

The couple share three children - Jackson, 16, Ava, 11, and 10-year-old River.

Shock split: Karl is reportedly living in his brother Peter's Bondi home following the breakdown of the couple's 21-year marriage
Fans were shocked when Michelle Bridges and her partner Steve 'Commando' Willis announced their departure from The Biggest Loser franchise this year.

But trainer Shannon Ponton appears not to be too fussed about the pair's decision to step out of the limelight, having heralded the show's incoming trainer Libby Babet as being 'a breath of fresh air'.

'My little mate, Libby! She's a ripper. She's a breath of fresh air. She's so pumped to be there, she's so happy  it's really cool,' the 42-year-old told News Corp this week.

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Water under the bridge: Shannon Ponton appears not to be too fussed about Michelle Bridges and Shannon Ponton leaving The Biggest Loser as he excitedly prepares to welcome Libby Babet to the fold

When the interview turned to the topic of his former co-stars Michelle and Commando, Shannon revealed to the publication that: 'By the end of the show last year they were doing their thing and I was doing mine so our paths didn't cross,' he said.

When quizzed about whether he had kept in touch with the enamoured pair since filming ceased, he simply responded with: 'Nah.'

The apparent feud between Shannon and partners Michelle and Commando has been bubbling along for some time now, with tensions reaching a head on-screen during last year's season of The Biggest Loser.

'My little mate, Libby!' Shannon heralded the show's incoming trainer Libby Babet (right) as being 'a breath of fresh air'

Speaking to Women's Day, Shannon slammed the couple for forming an alliance between their teams on the show.

'You would never vote a partner out. You're in a relationship', he told the magazine.

Earlier last year, Shannon revealed to Daily Mail Australia that he doesn't spend any time with Michelle and Commando outside of filming the Network 10 series because he feels like a 'third wheel' and an 'awkward friend'.

Third wheel: Earlier last year, Shannon revealed to the Daily Mail Australia that he doesn't spend any time with Michelle and Commando outside of filming

'We don't actually spend, we sort of never have really spent that much time off-set together,' he said at the time.

'I just sort of leave them to themselves, they can do their own things.'

Michelle and Commando welcomed their first child together in December last year.
As a contestant on The Biggest Loser in 2008, he shed a whopping 72kgs.

And from a throwback snap posted on Instagram on Friday, Sam Rouen drew attention to his incredible transformation.

The 26-year-old hunky firefighter is hardly recognisable in an image of himself as an overweight youth.

Is that really you, Sam? The Biggest Loser's Sam Rouen is hardly recognisable in a throwback Instagram photo image of himself as an overweight youth he shared on Friday

'Flashback Friday, always loved a BBQ,' he captioned the flashback photo from 10 years ago.

In the snap, a young Sam clutches onto a beer during a BBQ, while dressed in a button-up shirt that covered up his larger frame.

The image is in stark contrast to Sam's appearance now - having posed shirtless for a firefighter's calendar while showing off his six-pack.

Holy smokes! The image is in stark contrast to Sam's appearance now - having posed shirtless for a firefighter's calendar while showing off his six-pack

Sam famously transformed his body several years ago on Australia's version of The Biggest Loser.

He has successfully maintained his weight loss, and even appeared in the New South Wales Firefighters Calendar twice.

Last year, Sam returned to TBL: Families and told the contestants that being on the show in 2008 helped him achieve his goal of becoming a firefighter.

'Believe me when I say I know how tough it is... but also believe me when I say it's worth the reward,' he said.

Significant difference: Sam famously transformed his body several years ago after losing an impressive 72kgs on hit reality show The Biggest Loser

'It's worth the reward': Sam is a fireman of Campbelltown in Sydney's South West. Pictured with fiancee Daniella Schot

Telling his story to the four families, Sam recounted how he went from a 154kg teen to showing off his ripped physique for the calendar.

Sam, a fireman of Campbelltown in Sydney's South West, told Daily Mail Australia in 2014 he feels overwhelmed by the support he's received.

He was one of the 12 men to be featured in the calendar after beating hundreds of others to the role and said it was a no-brainer taking on the challenge, despite his lack of confidence.

'I just jumped on board not expecting anything,' he admitted.
It is easy for starlets to turn heads on the red carpet when they are dressed to the nines.

But Amy Adams managed it with ease in a much simpler ensemble as she stunned at a showing of her film Nocturnal Animals in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The ravishing redhead looked in fine form indeed as she showcased her bounteous curves at the Variety Screening Series event.

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Simple, but effective: Amy Adams turned heads in a shirt and skirt at a showing of her film Nocturnal Animals in Los Angeles on Thursday

The 42-year-old sizzled in her relatively dressed down ensemble of white blouse, which she teasingly left unbuttoned at the top, black skirt and stilettos.

Meanwhile Isla Fisher, 40, insisted she loves being mistaken for her fellow fine filly Amy as they promoted the film together.

The Scots-Australian lovely told ET: 'I find it a huge compliment because I think Amy's gorgeous.

American Hustle star Amy also said she is flattered to be compared to her fellow ginger.

Ravishing redhead: Amy looked sensational as she showcased her feminine figure

The three amigos: She was joined by director Tom Ford and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Putting a smile on his face: Amy tickled co-star Jake Gyllenhaal with one of her zingers

She said: 'Sometimes I've been like, "Oh yeah! I can totally see it." But she's small and cute, and I'm sort of not as small or as cute.'

In the film Amy plays stars an art gallery owner who is haunted after her ex-husband, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, writes a violent novel she interprets as a veiled threat against her.

Director Tom Ford, insisted the resemblance between the two women is key to the film's narrative.

He said: 'It's very important to the story that these characters resemble each other. I was absolutely struck by the similarities of their appearance, but also by their ability to act.'

Hitting her funny bone: Amy was guffawing with glee as the comical chat continued apace

Flapping her gums: She commanded the stage with ease as she chatted about the film

Ginger snap: It is almost impossible to tell Amy and co-star Isla Fisher apart
He has been helping his girlfriend deal with losing her mother to pancreatic cancer.

And on Friday, The Bachelorette's Lee Elliott took the chance to express gratitude toward his own parents in an emotional social media post.

The 35-year-old penned a touching tribute on Instagram to his mother and father, before promising Georgia Love that he'll be there for her 'today and always'.

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Touching tribute: On Friday, The Bachelorette's Lee Elliot paid tribute to his parents on social media - as his girlfriend Georgia Love copes with the tragic death of her mother Belinda

Beside a picture of himself and his parents, Lee wrote: ' This photo was taken the morning I set off on the crazy and amazing adventure that lead me to finding the love of my life.

'These are the two most incredible, inspiring, loving, encouraging and supportive people I know and I could not be happier nor prouder to call them my mother and father.'

The mechanical plumber said he'd been guilty of taking his parents 'for granted' and that he hadn't told them he loved them often enough.

Like mother, like daughter: Lee used his emotional post to tell girlfriend Georgia (L) that he'll be there for her 'today and always' in the wake of her mother Belinda's (R) passing

Thankful: Georgia previously used her Instagram account to thank the 'outpouring of love, support and condolences' she'd received after her mother's death

He also credited his parents for helping him find Georgia, citing their relationship as an inspiration for him.

He said: 'You both are the sole reason I have set the bar so high when looking for my soulmate, best friend and the person I want to wake up next to every single morning for the rest of my life.

'After nearly 37 years of marriage you are more in love today than the day you met.'

Tragic: Belinda Love passed away last Saturday after a battle against pancreatic cancer

Going public: Lee and Georgia had only just announce their relationship to the public when the tragic news came out

Family man: Lee said he knew he'd fallen for Georgia after she met his family during The Bachelorette

Lee went onto recount how his mother had been an 'absolute rock' for his dad over the past seven years as he experienced his own battle against cancer.

The Melbourne native explained she'd been with him through every chemotherapy treatment and operation, never leaving his side.

'It's hard not to bear witness to this and not hope that one day I will be so lucky as to find my rock and I finally have in you @georgiealove,' he wrote.

Lee also touched on what Georgia is currently experiencing, offering his support in her time of need.

The chosen one: Georgia picked Lee ahead of Matty J in The Bachelorette finale last month

Soulmate: Lee said Georgia is the 'person I want to wake up to every day for the rest of my life'

He said: 'I could not even fathom what you and your family are going through baby but know I am to be right there beside you, holding your hand and kissing your forehead, today and always!'

Georgia's mother Belinda passed away last Saturday after a battle against pancreatic cancer.

The news came days after The Bachelorette finale aired, which saw Georgia declare her love for Lee - leaving Matty Johnson heartbroken

The pair stepped out in public for the first time since Belinda's passing earlier this week, before Lee joined Georgia's family for dinner in Melbourne on Thursday.
The Bachelorette hunk Rhys Chilton has slammed a FAKE online dating profile using his modelling photos to get ladies' attention.

A Badoo page supposedly belonging to the reality TV star has recently surfaced, but the 29-year-old claimed he was not familiar with it.

When alerted to the profile by Daily Mail Australia on Friday, Rhys said in a statement: 'Nope, sorry! Not sure what Badoo is.'

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Catfish alert! The Bachelorette hunk Rhys Chilton (pictured) has slammed a FAKE online dating profile using his modelling photos to get ladies' attention

The Brisbane entrepreneur clarified: 'It's my pictures, but looks like old Instagram photos. I've found lots of dodgy copycat accounts.'

It would appear the profile is a 'catfishing' account, in which a dating website user impersonates somebody else for attention.

Meanwhile, the cringeworthy personal description of the fake page tells Rhys' female fans: 'Don't be shy... I'm not!'

The page also, rather unconvincingly, claims Rhys' interests are 'drifting cars', DJ Skrillex and 'Instagram King' Dan Bilzerian.

'I've found lots of dodgy copycat accounts': The 29-year-old Brisbane entrepreneur told Daily Mail Australia this is not the first time his photos have been used on fake social media pages

It's not Rhys! When alerted to the cringeworthy dating profile by Daily Mail Australia on Friday, Rhys said in a statement, 'Nope, sorry! Not sure what Badoo is'

In a recent blog post, Rhys announced plans to stay single after Georgia Love sent him packing on The Bachelorette.

He wrote: I couldnt think of anything worse (than settling down). It sounds like Im putting one foot in the grave already.

Rhys also said 'traditional' relationships often get 'stale' sexually and romantically.

'Its true and sad, but that s*** usually fades and Id rather have no relationship than a dull and boring one! he added.

I couldnt think of anything worse': In a recent blog post, Rhys announced plans to stay single after Georgia Love (R) sent him packing on The Bachelorette

In September, it emerged Rhys was still married to an American woman named Kelsi, despite taking part in a TV dating show.

According to OK! magazine, they wed in 2014 but separated shortly after due to differences.

Rhys told Daily Mail Australia at the time he was separated from Kelsi for two years and the divorce was still being finalised.

He previously said in a statement: 'Coming on the show has been my way of getting back into dating,

'I have explained my situation to Georgia (Love) for being here and she understands my reasons.'
She's the Australian model just days away from welcoming her first child.

And Laura Csortan, 39, proudly showed off her baby bump as she relaxed on Sydney's Vaucluse Beach on Friday.

The former Miss Universe Australia is expecting to give birth to a baby girl around her 40th birthday next week.

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She's ready to pop! Australian model Laura Csortan, 39, proudly showed off her baby bump as she relaxed on Sydney's Vaucluse Beach on Friday

At the beach, Laura looked happy and confident while taking a swim with a friend before soaking up the sun.

The former beauty queen wore black bikini bottoms and a matching top as she enjoyed her day out.

She accessorised with dark sunglasses and, later, a straw fedora with a black bow.

Laura was spotted chatting to her friend as they cooled off in the sea before heading back to the shore.

On its way! The former Miss Universe Australia is expecting to give birth to a baby girl around her 40th birthday next week

Picture perfect: At the beach, Laura looked happy and confident as she enjoyed a swim with a friend before soaking up the sun

Keeping it casual: The former beauty queen wore black bikini bottoms and a matching top as she enjoyed her day out

Smiling broadly while taking photos at the water's edge, the blonde was glowing as her due date rapidly approaches

The TV host recently told The Morning Show she's expecting to give birth in the next couple of days.

Laura also opened up to Women's Day magazine about how she will be raising her child as a single mother.

She said: 'I will be a single mum and there's a lot of single mums saying, "I went through it and these are the things you might find difficult or not," so that's really fabulous.'

Snap happy! She accessorised with dark sunglasses and, later, a straw fedora with a black bow

Beach day: Laura was spotted chatting to her friend as they cooled off in the sea before walking back to the shore

Good times! Smiling broadly while taking photos at the water's edge, the blonde was glowing as her due date rapidly approaches

The father of her unborn child has also been the subject of speculation after she publicly refused to name him.

'When the baby's older I'm happy with her finding out who her father is. I'm going into this with an open mind,' she said.

Meanwhile, her former flames include ex-AFL player Chad Cornes and American model Joshua Slack, 28.

Going solo: The TV host recently told The Morning Show she's expecting to give birth in the next couple of days but has not revealed the identity of the father
She told fans to be 'happy and healthy' instead of criticising her bizarre new accent which she debuted earlier this month.

And Lindsay Lohan practised what she preached as she left LouLou's private members' club in London in the early hours of Friday morning.

The actress, 30, was all smiles as she clad her trim frame in a plunging choker-style dress, which boasted thigh-high splits on both sides.

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Party gal: Lindsay Lohan, 30, was all smiles as she left LouLou's private members' club in London in the early hours of Friday morning

The Mean Girls star teamed her black and white printed dress with a pair of racy thigh-high suede boots.

Emerging in the chilly weather, Lindsay threw an oversized black coat over her shoulders as she hit the town.

A black handbag was draped across her body, and she accessorised with a simple black pendant.

Sexy style: The actress, 30, clad her trim frame in a plunging choker-style dress, which boasted thigh-high splits on both sides

Autumn chill: Emerging in the chilly weather, Lindsay threw an oversized black coat over her shoulders as she hit the town

Monochrome magic: The Mean Girls star teamed her black and white printed dress with a pair of racy thigh-high suede boots

Lindsay's fiery red locks were tied into a loose bun, placing emphasis on her pretty features as she headed home.

The star's happy appearance comes after she sent the internet into a spin with her new affected way of speaking, which she credits to spending time in foreign countries and learning other languages.

But on Thursday, she urged fans to stop focusing on her accent and instead 'be happy and help each other' in a Snapchat video.

'Don't focus on my accent': Lindsay posted this message along with a selfie to Snapchat on Thursday as she tried to stop people talking about her new way of speaking

Lindsay was seen in the social media post sitting in front of a mirror as she snapped a selfie with her iPhone.

She added a crown of flowers filter as she sat looking straight ahead with brown kohl-lined eyes and glossy pink lips.

Her message to the world comes just two days after Lindsay told DailyMail.com that her new speech pattern is no big deal.

As to why she does not sound like the Lindsay we have known since childhood, she joked: 'Je ne sais pas.'

Different speech pattern: The actress' different sounding voice left fans reeling - but she told DailyMail.com Tuesday that it was no big deal

Enjoying life outside the U.S.: Lindsay has embraced European living and currently divides her time between London and Greece

The now London-based actress put her changing voice down to a thirst for learning languages, but no doubt her trans-European lifestyle also is partially to blame.

She said she is on her way to knowing six languages fluently and speaking them has influenced the way she now speaks in English.

'I've been learning different languages since I was a child. I'm fluent in English and French can understand Russian and am learning Turkish, Italian and Arabic,' she claimed.

Sound evolution: The Mean Girls star was the the belle of the ball at the opening of her Greek club last month, where her new accent was caught on tape

Fluent in LilLohan: Lindsay joked on Twitter with DailyMail.com that her accent should have its own name

As for all the attention her new accent was getting, the former child star said was not shocked by it.

'Nothing really shocks me these days. I moved to London four years ago and the taxes seem to be getting higher.'

Lindsay and her accent became a trending topic after video from her Club Lohan opening in Greece in mid-October surfaced.

In the video, the actress told local reporters of her hopes for her club and also sought to clarify her relationship with business partner Dennis Papageorgi.

But, as she did, her well known American accent and husky tone was very different.

What started it all: Lindsay and her accent became a trending topic after video from her Club Lohan opening in mid-October surfaced

The star told reporters she opened the club in Athens because 'maybe there is something for me to do more here so I have a reason to come back.'

'Whereas in the past I've been associated with nightclubs and clubbing I said why not do my own and make it a good place,' she went on.

'Where there's bad things happening in the world we can focus on the bad things and fix them with the club we can create charity with the club.'

Last month she made headlines after visiting with Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Move over Margot Robbie: The actress transformed herself into a very sexy Harley Quinn for Halloween




She enjoyed a wild night out at Kendall Jenner's 21st birthday bash on Wednesday.

But that hasn't stopped Hailey Baldwin continuing the celebrations as she was spotted enjoying a bite to eat at West Hollywood eatery Catch on Thursday night.

The 19-year-old model slipped into a distressed off-the-shoulder oversized jumper for the outing, despite kicking off Kendall's milestone celebrations at the restaurant less than 24 hours earlier.

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Continuing the celebrations: Hailey Baldwin, 19, continuing the celebrations as she was spotted enjoying a bite to eat at West Hollywood eatery Catch on Thursday night

Hailey's baggy sweater featured a number of purposely placed rips that teased at her racy black undergarment and taut stomach.

Flaunting her toned pins, the fashionista paired her laid back ensemble with light washed denim daisy dukes that off set her radiant Californian tan.

The daughter of Stephen Baldwin strutted her stuff leaving the famed restaurant in a pair of black Puma hi-tops that highlighted her slender legs.

Carrying her croc leather tote in her perfectly manicured hand, she accessorised her look with a delicate gold necklace and a sprinkling of simple gold rings across her hands.

Work it: The model slipped into an off-the-shoulder distressed oversized jumper for the outing, despite kicking off Kendall's milestone celebrations at the restaurant less than 24 hours earlier

Fresh faced: The catwalk star - who has walked the runways for Julian McDonald and Matty Bovan at London Fashion Week - plumped up her pout with a slick of coral lipstick

Working a centre parting, she styled her glossy golden locks into a chic wave which cascaded over her shoulder.

No doubt tired from her bestie's birthday celebrations, Hailey appeared at first a tad bleary-eyed before she perked up for the waiting cameras and displayed her hazel coloured peepers.

Keeping her make-up to minimum, the catwalk star - who has walked the runways for Julian McDonald and Matty Bovan at London Fashion Week - plumped up her pout with a slick of coral lipstick.

Golden girl: Working a centre parting, she styled her glossy golden locks into a chic wave which cascaded over her shoulder

Hailey's trendy appearance comes after she shared a Snapchat which showed her yelping in pain as she was injected with a vitamin B12 boost jab into her bare backside ahead of her friend Kendall's birthday party.

The American beauty flashed her lacy underwear as she unbuttoned her Daisy Dukes for the energy boosting injection, which was administered by a nurse into her exposed buttocks.

Clutching the hand of her supportive male companion, the beauty captioned: 'Getting those vitamin shots in' and added a flexed bicep emoji, indicating she is strong.

Ouch! The 19-year-old model shared a Snapchat which showed her yelping in pain as she was injected with the B12 boost into her bare backside

Meanwhile, the star stole the limelight with her stunning outfit on Wednesday night at Kendall's 21st.

The blonde beauty showed off her figure in a sheer crop top, which exposed her lacy bra and taut midriff.

Completing her bombshell look, she worked a choker around her slender neck as she let her lacy underwear be visible above her slouchy trousers.

She rode with the supermodel in a limo as she prepared to party the night away at Delilah in West Hollywood after kicking off the night at Catch.
She made headlines last month as the latest so-called 'girlfriend' of 76-year-old Melbourne businessman Geoffrey Edelsten.

And Playboy bunny Ashley Kirk, 26, broke her silence on Wednesday - a week after her manager seemingly denied the reports in a statement to KIIS FM.

The US-born model shared an Instagram photo to her 71,000 followers, marking the end of her social media lockdown since the 'relationship' went public.

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She's back! Playboy model Ashley Kirk (L) broke her silence on Wednesday after making her Instagram account public for the first since since reports she is dating Geoffrey Edelsten (R)

After news of the 'romance' broke in October, Ashley made her Instagram and Twitter accounts private - so only approved followers could view her posts.

But she made her Instagram page public again this week, before sharing one of her signature busty selfies to celebrate 'hump day'.

In the photo, which appeared heavily Photoshopped, she displayed her 32DD assets in a plunging grey dress while smiling for the camera.

Geoffrey who? This week, the 26-year-old shared her first public Instagram photo since the Melbourne businessman, 73, confirmed the 'relationship' - but made NO reference to Geoffrey

Her complexion appeared flawless and her eyes looked oddly dramatic, all the tell-tale signs of an Instagram beauty filter.

Ashley notably did not mention Geoffrey in the post, despite their so-called 'fling' being widely reported across Australia.

Instead she seemingly brushed off her claim to fame, simply writing: 'Hi hello how are ya? #humpday'.

How rude! Meanwhile, details of Ashley's colourful past have recently surfaced - including her career as an entertainer at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion

'They were very upset': Ashley, who is based in LA, told Esquire in 2013 that her modelling career devastated her family back home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan

Daily Mail Australia has previously reached out to Ashley's management for comment.

Last week, Geoffrey declined to comment when contacted by telephone.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph last month, Geoffrey appeared to confirm his relationship with Ashley - who is 47 years his junior

'We have a lot in common and there is sensational chemistry between us,' said the eccentric Melbourne millionaire.

'Shes gorgeous, articulate and fun and is attracted to me': Speaking to The Daily Telegraph last month, Geoffrey appeared to confirm his relationship with Ashley - who is 47 years his junior

Geoffrey explained he had met Ashley on a business trip to America several weeks previously.

'Shes gorgeous, articulate and fun and is attracted to me, I believe, because Ive a lot to offer,' he said.

'I have seven masters and two doctorates and can help mentor her career.'

It was previously claimed Geoffrey met his ex-wife Gabi Grecko in New York in 2015 under similar circumstances.

But Daily Mail Australia later confirmed they actually met on a 'Sugar Daddy' website that connects young women to rich older men.

There is no evidence Geoffrey met Ashley on a 'Sugar Daddy' site and Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting this is case.

Getting over the ex? Geoffrey recently filed for divorce from New York socialite Gabi Grecko (R), who was later exposed a prostitute involved in an NYPD group sex scandal

Meanwhile, details of Ashley's colourful past have recently surfaced - including her career as an entertainer at the Playboy mansion.

For a year, she worked as a body paint model at Hugh Hefner's famous property and even posed naked for Playboy's Student Bodies.

Ashley, now based in LA, told Esquire in 2013 her nude modelling devastated her family back home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

'My family was very upset,' she recalled. 'My brother wouldnt talk to me. My dad was actually very cool about everything.

Respectable family: Ashley previously revealed her father is a 'Harvard professor', telling Rukus Magazine: 'He came from nothing and is the most intelligent man I've ever known'

'I remember he said, "Its your life. If thats what you want to do" But my mum was crying. I was like, what did I do? I didnt hurt anyone, and I couldnt understand.'

She previously revealed her father is a 'Harvard professor', telling Rukus Magazine: 'He came from nothing and is the most intelligent man I've ever known'.

More recently, Ashley set her sights on a career in Hollywood, and already has several minor roles on her IMDB page.

She played a bikini-clad party girl in 2016 film Precious Cargo, and notably 'jiggled' her breasts for the camera in a scene.

Ashley also starred alongside Bruce Willis in action movie Vice, released last year.
The stars of the much-anticipated Netflix series The Crown have revealed that they are 'in denial' about whether the Queen and Prince Philip will watch the show.

Claire Foy and Matt Smith arrived at the BBC Radio 2 studios early on Friday morning, where they were due to chat to Chris Evans about their new show.

The talented pair portray Elizabeth II and husband the Duke of Edinburgh in what is the most expensive TV series to have ever been produced.

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Royal arrival: Matt Smith and Claire Foy arrived at the BBC Radio 2 studios on Friday morning to chat to host Chris Evans about new Netflix series, The Crown

During the Chris Evans Breakfast Show chat, Claire seemed to not want to think about the idea of the Queen of England watching her portray her on screen.

'Im in denial,' the actress said of Her Majesty tuning in when the series goes live on Netflix on Friday evening. 'Shes got other things to do with her time.'

The Crown follows the early partnership of Elizabeth and Philip as they are thrust into the limelight as a young couple when George VI dies and Elizabeth inherits the throne.

'They will watch it,' insisted host Chris Evans, teasing the pair about being scrutinised by the real-life versions of their characters.

Rock star: Matt revealed that he has never met Prince Philip, but that he thinks of him as 'a total rock star'

By royal appointment: Claire and Matt portray Elizabeth II and husband the Duke of Edinburgh in what is the most expensive TV series to have ever been produced

'We'll get put in The Tower for treason,' Claire said, speculating what would happen if the royals disapproved of the series.

Matt revealed that he had never met Prince Philip, but that he thinks of him as 'a total rockstar'.

'I think we'd get on with them,' the 34-year-old said to his co-star, who agreed.

The actors went on to explain what it was like taking on the parts of these huge figures in British history and what re-telling the story of their relationship helped them to learn.

Lifting the royal veil: Matt told Chris Evans that the viewer will get to see the Queen and her husband 'being domestic'

'In this series you get a glimpse behind the royal veil,' Matt said. 'You get to see them being domestic.'

'We did lots and lots of getting into cars and out of planes and waitng behind doors,' Claire explained. 'And when that was happening [it makes you realise] they actually do this. This is their life.'

When asked whether playing the role of the Queen helped her get a true sense of what it's like to be her, the 32-year-old actress said: 'In terms of their responsibility and their actual life - no. But I think it's very very tedious.'

'Im in denial' The actress said that Her Majesty won't be tuning in when the series goes live on Netflix on Friday evening

Ever the gentleman: Matt stopped to sign autographs outside the BBC Radio studios on Friday morning ahead of The Crown's debut on Netflix

She added: 'You do forget that in order for someone else to become king or queen someone has to die, and it's normally a relation and you have an attachment to them in some way.

'Especially Elizabeth; her dad was her hero.'

Elizabeth met Philip several times throughout the 1930s when she was a teenager and was engaged to him by the summer of 1947.

By the autumn of that year, they were married.

But their newly-wedded bliss was short-lived when Elizabeth's father, King George VI, died in 1952, rendering Elizabeth the new monarch immediately.

Top notch: The pair portray Elizabeth II and husband the Duke of Edinburgh in what is reportedly the most expensive TV series to have ever been produced

Having a laugh: The pair of actors were snapped having a giggle at The Crown premiere earlier this week

This allegedly caused tension in the early years of her reign, which Matt elaborated on in the interview.

'[Philip] was a revered naval man and I think he wanted to have a really good naval career,' the former Doctor Who star explained.

'And they were going to live in Malta and [Elizabeth] used to go to the shops and have a normal life.

'With the death of George VI his life was over as much as her life was. From that day forward he had to walk two steps behind his wife.

Critical acclaim: The Crown has been raved about by television reviewers and has already been commissioned for a second series

Going live: Series one will be available to stream in its entirety from Friday night on Netflix

'He was emasculated, thats the great conflict in the show. He was emasculated but hes a macho bloke.'

The Crown has been raved about by television reviewers and has already been commissioned for a second series, which Matt and Claire confirmed on air they have begun filming.

But of series one, which will be available to stream in its entirety from Friday night on Netflix, Matt concluded: 'The script is very good. Hes clever that writer, Peter Morgan. Even if you think you know the story... you dont.'

Season 1 of The Crown is available on Netflix from November 4
Her tumultuous relationship with Gary 'Gaz' Beadle resulted in her sensationally quitting Geordie Shore earlier this year.

Despite the heartbreak, Charlotte Crosby has admitted she's moved on as she opened up about finding romance again, dating rumours and overcoming her difficult year in a revealing new interview with MailOnline.

The 26-year-old TV favourite was first linked to Ash Harrison in August and although insisting she's 'single', she candidly revealed she is enjoying getting to know the long-haired hunk.

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On the lookout: Charlotte Crosby has admitted she is moving on with new man Ash Harrison as she opened up about finding romance again

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Charlotte said of her new romance: 'I am definitely single but I am now dating that person who I was texting.

'We've been on a number of dates. It's not a relationship, let's not jump any guns.

'I don't want to call a boy I've known for a couple of weeks my boyfriend because that's bunny boiler-ish. We're just getting to know each other and that's all it is at the minute.'

Launching her stunning new Christmas clothing campaign for In The Style, the Sunderland beauty admitted she's excited getting to know the former Big Brother star and is feeling optimistic about their future.

'So far so good': The Sunderland beauty admitted she's excited getting to know the former Big Brother star and is feeling optimistic about their future

She explained: 'Yes of course [it's exciting], it's lovely. It's great going out and being treated to going out for meals is lovely. So far so good.'

Charlotte first fuelled rumours of a romance with the model - who once dated Helen Wood - after she posted a video of them partying the night away in Manchester on her Snapchat in August.

However, her recent romance with the hunk saw Charlotte reportedly come under fire from Celebs Go Dating TV bosses.

Producers of the series, which followed celebrities going on dates with members of the public, claimed to be frustrated she didn't tell them she had a secret boyfriend during filming.

Festive fancy: The Geordie Shore star modelled a black satin playsuit with lace trim

Legs eleven: Charlotte showcased her toned and tanned legs in scarlet and gold velvet thigh-skimming pieces from her sexy Christmas collection

However, Charlotte hit back at the dating claims, insisting the reports were 'mixed wires' as she met Ash a month into filming the E4 dating show and simply chatted through text with him.

She told MailOnline: 'That wasn't true. That's just people getting very very mixed wires. People who have heard something then twisted it into Chinese whispers.

'The dating show altogether was filmed over 6 to 7 weeks and I was on the dating show for a month before I met the person, who everyone seems to think I am now with and I am not.

'I met him a month into the show and It was on a night out and we chatted through text since then and that was all it ever was.

Standing up for herself: Charlotte hit back at the dating claims, insisting the reports were 'mixed wires' as she met Ash a month into filming the E4 dating show and simply chatted through text with him

'I was texting someone and that was it. So that's completely false and untrue.'

Although trying to play coy about her new relationship, it appears things have been going from strength to strength for the pair as Charlotte was spotted in October at London hotspot DSTRKT straddling her new flame.

In an exclusive video clip obtained by MailOnline at the time, the bombshell was seen on her knees, sweetly stroking his hair, oblivious to the bash around her.

Proving to only have eyes for each other, Ash was seen resting his face against the TV personality's bosom as he lapped up his stroking session for her In The Style AW16.

Going well: Charlotte was spotted in October at London hotspot DSTRKT straddling her new flame

Following the video, Charlotte is clearly moving on from her on/off five year relationship with Gaz,which came to a head earlier this year when she announced she would be quitting Geordie Shore as she couldn't be around him anymore.

Her exit came after she revealed she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy while he appeared on Ex On The Beach in March.

Looking back on what can only be described as a difficult year, the beauty revealed she's stronger and in a better place now following her lows.

She insisted: '[I am] definitely [in a better place]. The only way is up.'

Moving: Charlotte is clearly moving on from her on/off five year relationship with Gaz

Better place: Looking back on what can only be described as a difficult year, the beauty revealed she's stronger and in a better place now following her lows

Chic: Charlotte (pictured with Binky and Billie) launched the Centre Of Attention Christmas collection for In The Style

On Tuesday, Charlotte - along with Made In Chelsea's Binky Felstead, 26, and TOWIE's Billie Faiers, 26 - launched the Centre Of Attention Christmas collection for their In The Style clothing ranges.

Speaking about her highly-anticipated festive line, Charlotte revealed style mavens are to expect a mixture of textures and lots of playsuits from her range.

She excitedly revealed: 'I love playsuits. There's lots of playsuits in there and I kind of go for more classy Christmas look.

Taking the plunge: Binky dazzled as she showcased extreme cleavage in two racy plunging designs from her festive collection

'I'm going for crushed velvet, gold & silver. I've even have a lovely metallic pink colour so I think my Christmas side of things is really different.'

Working on the retailer's first ever TV campaign with Billie and Binky, she gushed: 'It's really, really exciting that we can come together and celebrate the success of our ranges with In The Style so I'm really looking forward to it.'

Billie, Binky and Charlotte's Centre Of Attention Christmas collection for In The Style launches November 1.

Talented trio: Charlotte revealed she's 'ditched the sequin' for her new collection and has mixture of textures in her range

Party girls: Binky's line also featured a metallic pleated minidress while Billie's has a number of lace party dresses
Cara Delevingne has hit back at claims she was rejected from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for being 'too bloated'.

The model, 24, took to her Instagram page on Friday to share a message from the company's casting director Edward Razek - which confirms her absence was due to filming commitments, not her appearance.

CMO Ed also goes on to praise the British beauty in the letter, adding that she 'would have made the show better' if she had been available to walk.

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Hitting back: Cara Delevingne posted a letter from Victoria's Secret CMO Edward Razek to her Instagram on Friday to dismiss claims she was rejected by the brand for being 'too bloated'

The note hits back at claims made by The Sun earlier this year that the famous lingerie brand refused to cast Cara in 2014 for being 'too bloated' - having walked in the iconic fashion show twice before.

Writing to the Burberry model personally, Ed states: 'Victoria's Secret made every effort to have you in the London show. I know, because I was the one making the effort.'

Not only dismissing the idea of her rejection, he went on to admit she had actually been the company's top choice for the job.

Confirmation: In the letter, Ed confirms her absence from the show in 2014 was due to filming commitments and that if she had been available she 'would have made the show better'

He continued in earnest: 'As a matter of fact, you were the first person invited, months ahead of anyone else.'

He added: 'There was NO casting. You had already been enthusiastically confirmed.'

Confirming the reason for her not appearing in the London edition of the vibrant and fun show, he further explained: 'The sole reason you ultimately couldn't join us was the movie you were shooting in North Carolina.'

The producer finished his letter to the Suicide Squad star with: 'We tried hard to have you there. You would have made the show better, as you do anything and everything you're involved in.'

'Shameless': The note hits back at claims made by The Sun that the lingerie brand refused to cast Cara in 2014 for being 'too bloated' - having walked in the two shows prior to this

Ed then extended his invite to this year's edition of the show, which will take place in Paris in late November, adding wittily that 'no casting [is] necessary!'

The model turned actress uploaded a photo of the kind note on her social media page for her 35million followers to see, captioning it: 'It's shameless to discuss women's bodies just to sell papers #bloated  @victoriassecret'

Earlier this week, bloating was reported as the reason for Cara not appearing in the fashion show in 2014, while another model was said to have been labelled as a 'fat cow' by the company.

Nothing but praise: Ed also writes in his letter that he would like to welcome her at the 2016 fashion show in Paris, declaring that no casting would be necessary

The Hammersmith-born beauty first took to the catwalk in 2012, and reprised the appearance the following year - but missed the UK edition as it clashed with filming for Paper Towns.

This year's show is set to star Victoria's Secret Angels Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lily Aldridge and Jasmine Tookes, who will be wearing this year's Bright Night Fantasy Bra, worth $3 million.

Also hitting the runway in Paris next month are sister duo Bella and Gigi Hadid and their model best friend Kendall Jenner.

Angel Josephine Skriver is also confirmed to make an appearance in one of the most extravagant outfits seen on the show - which features 450,000 crystals and 3,000 strands of Swarovski crystal fringe.

Meanwhile Cara has been focusing on her acting career recently - having seen the release of highly-anticipated superhero flick Suicide Squad last month.

The striking model has also just wrapped filming on period drama Tulip Fever, alongside Alicia Vikander and Judi Dench, which will be released in February 2017.

Knows how its done: The beauty first took to the catwalk in 2012, and reprised the appearance the following year - but missed the 2014 edition as it clashed with filming for Paper Towns

Model behaviour: Cara was spotted hanging out with Georgia May Jagger in California on Friday

Something funny? The group appeared amused by something on Cara's phone
Naomi Watts spent her Thursday on an outdoor location shoot in New York City for her forthcoming Netflix series Gypsy.

Not only is the 48-year-old the project's leading lady, but she's also one of its executive producers.

She's kept herself quite busy with the project since it emerged that she and Liev Schreiber, the father of her two sons, ended their 11-year relationship in September.

Working girl: On Thursday, Naomi Watts was spotted on an outdoor location shoot in New York City for her upcoming Netflix series Gypsy

Her blonde hair clipped up, the Shoreham native had pulled on a pine green jumper that tightened over her enviably flat midriff.

It'd been tucked into a robe-like dress with multicoloured floral patterns spattered over a midnight blue field. A matching belt cinched about hr waist.

She wore just a hint of make up, letting her natural beauty shine.

Spot the differences: The 48-year-old ditched the coat and donned a different pair of boots for another part of the shoot

She accessorised by way of a gold pendant and a pair of almost imperceptible earrings, as well as occasionally a stylish pearl grey coat.

The King Kong star sampled a couple of pairs of footwear; she was seen in both short black high-heeled boots and a longer brown leather pair.

She'd been wearing almost exactly the same costume during filming on Tuesday, though once again, the boots were different.

Sam Taylor-Johnson's directing the first two episodes of Gypsy, which stars Watts as a therapist whose entanglement in her patients' lives becomes excessive.

Many hats: In addition to being the project's leading lady, she's also among the executive producers

Coming shortly: The ten-episode first series is set to arrive on Netflix sometime during 2017

A ten-episode first series is set to arrive on Netflix sometime during 2017, though no exact release date has been publicised.

Meanwhile, the Ray Donovan star's been hard at work acting in New York as well. On October 30th, he opened opposite Janet McTeer in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Booth Theater on Broadway.

Directed by Josie Rourke, this production originated at the Donmar Warehouse with Dominic West as the Vicomte De Valmont, whom Schreiber's playing now.

In 1985, when Christopher Hampton's adaptation of the 18th century Pierre Choderlos De Laclos novel first opened in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the libertine Valmont was embodied by Alan Rickman in the role that made him a star.

An eventful autumn: In September, it emerged she and Liev Schreiber had split up after 11 years and two sons together; the pair are pictured here together earlier that month
Actor Ian Lavender is reprising his role in EastEnders over the festive season.

The actor, 70 - best known for his role as the infamous Private Pike in classic sitcom Dad's Army - will return to the BBC One soap as Derek Harkinson for the first time in 11 years.

Little is known about the storyline apart from the fact that it involves Martin Fowler and will air over Christmas.

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Back for Christmas: Dad's Army star Ian Lavender will return to EastEnders as Derek Harkinson for a festive-themed storyline

The old days: In 1968, when he was 22, Ian (second left) landed the role of Pike, the youngest member of the platoon in Dad's Army, referred to as 'stupid boy' by Captain Mainwaring

Martin became close to Derek when he was a fixture on the show between 2001 and 2005.

Producers of the series are keeping tight-lipped about what will take place when Derek turns up again, but Christmas is notoriously a fraught time in Albert Square, with dramatic events typically unfolding on Christmas Day.

Other than the story featuring Martin, now played by James Bye, the only other detail the producers have teased is that Derek 'will be seen in a number of episodes over the festive season as part of a storyline involving a number of the residents'.

One of Ian's main stories as Derek in his original EastEnders run saw him develop a close friendship with the late Wendy Richard's character Pauline Fowler, who made a move on him - but was turned down when he revealed that he was gay.

'Stupid boy' Ian shot to fame when he portrayed the ditzy Private Pike in 1960s sitcom Dad's Army (R). He joined EastEnders in 2001 (L)

Despite the awkward hiccup in the pair's relationship, Derek became something of a father figure to Pauline's son Martin, but left Walford to be closer to his family.

Speaking about his soap comeback, Ian said: 'It was a lovely surprise to be back and I had a great time.

'It was brilliant to work with some old friends again, especially those who I only briefly got to work with before.'

The veteran actor has had a colourful career in British TV.

Triumphant return: One of Ian's main stories saw Derek develop a close friendship with the late Wendy Richard's character Pauline Fowler

Father figure: Little is known about the storyline apart from the fact that it involves Martin Fowler, now played by James Bye

In 1968, when he was 22, he landed the role of Pike, the youngest member of the platoon in Dad's Army, referred to as 'stupid boy' by Captain Mainwaring (played by the late Arthur Lowe).

Landing the role propelled him to fame and he appeared in the entire run of the series as well as its spin-off film, radio sitcom and Edinburgh theatre show.

He also appeared in this year's Dad's Army remake, which starred the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bill Nighy.

In between Dad's Army and EastEnders, Ian stuck to several comedic roles, appearing in Carry On Behind on the big screen and various sitcoms such as Keeping Up Appearances and Goodnight Sweetheart.

Comedy great: After Dad's Army Ian stuck to several comedic roles, appearing in Carry On Behind on the big screen, Keeping Up Appearances and Goodnight Sweetheart

Peppered amongst this has been a variety of theatrical appearances which include everything from The Merchant Of Venice in the 1970s (in which he played opposite Dustin Hoffman) and Sister Act: The Musical in 2009, as Monsignor Howard.

Ian's return to EastEnders follows a spate of confirmed exits from the likes of Nitin Ganatra - who played Masood Ahmed - and Rita Simons and Samantha Womack, who play sisters Roxy and Ronnie Mitchell and are set to leave imminently in a dramatic storyline.

In all, 2016 has seen a number of shock exits take place, including the death of veteran character Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) from cancer and the dramatic murder of Paul Coker (Jonny Labey).

EastEnders continues on BBC1 on Friday at 8pm.
She recently announced she is releasing a fitness DVD to show others how she lost a whopping two stone.

And Frankie Essex looked confident in her newly-slim figure on Friday, as she headed for brunch to celebrate Chloe Sims' 35th birthday in a slinky black dress.

The reality star, 28, showed off her enviably slender physique in the form-fitting frock as she arrived to The Olive Tree in Loughton, Essex with the birthday girl herself - who decked herself out in extravagant fur for the special occasion.

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Who's that girl! Frankie Essex, 29, showed off her enviably slender physique in a slinky black dress as she arrived at The Olive Tree in Essex to celebrate Chloe Sims' birthday on Friday

Birthday girl: Meanwhile Chloe, who was celebrating her 35th birthday, upped the glamour for her special day in a chic fur jacket and high-shine boots

The pair looked remarkably fresh-faced considering they had celebrated Chloe's birthday in style the previous evening at Little Italy in Soho, London.

Frankie caught the attention of all in a chic and classic black dress, which hugged her recently slimmed-down frame from head to toe.

The long-sleeved number nipped in at her middle to show off her petite waist before skimming her body to its knee-length hem - leaving the lower half of her long and lean pins in view.

Slender: Frankie caught the attention of all in a chic and classic black dress, which hugged her recently slimmed-down frame from head to toe

The blonde beauty then broke up the black by layering a knit camel waistcoat on top, which fell all the way to her ankle and blew up softly in the wind behind her as she walked.

She finished the ensemble with a delicate 'F' necklace and thin choker, before she added a strong brow and lashings of heavy mascara to up the look's sex appeal.

Maintaining her trademark Essex glamour, Frankie teamed the outfit with a pair of suedette ankle boots and a sleek leather handbag as she headed to brunch for her cousin's big day, with a birthday card in hand.

Confident: The number nipped in at her middle to show off her petite waist before skimming her body to its hem - leaving the lower half of her long and lean pins in view

Meanwhile best friend and cousin Chloe stood out from the crowd in an all-black but incredibly bold ensemble, encorporating both fur and latex.

The mother-of-one looked incredibly glamorous in a big black fluffy coat, which shielded her petite frame, and chunky gold choker.

Making the look even more striking, the reality star then matched the jacket with a pair of high-shine boots, which stretched all the way up to her mid thigh.

While she tied half of her hair up into a comfy ponytail, Chloe still dressed her face with a slick of vampy lipstick and a full smoky eye - ensuring she was the centre of attention as she celebrated turning another year older.

Stealing the spotlight: The mother-of-one looked incredibly glamorous in a big black fluffy coat, which shielded her petite frame, and chunky gold choker

Gemma Collins, dressed in a bold leopard print shirt and stylish ripped jeans, also joined the duo as they headed inside for a tasty breakfast together.

Frankie, who has dropped two stone over the last twelve months, announced last week that she was releasing a fitness DVD to share her weightloss journey with fans.

Talking to The Sun after the news broke, the reality star admitted she had grown from a size 8 to a 14/16 after piling on the pounds following the breakdown of her relationship with ex John Lyons.

The former TOWIE star - who sadly lost her mother to suicide when she was 13 - was put on antidepressants by her doctor last year after she admitted she 'couldn't get out of bed'.

Racy: Making the look even more striking, the reality star then matched the jacket with a pair of high-shine boots, which stretched all the way up to her mid thigh

She said: 'This time last year I didn't want to wake up the next day, I couldn't get out of bed. I was in a hole, drinking and going out. I was burying my head in the sand, I was really in a bad way, overweight and in a bad relationship that I wanted to get out of.'

However she admitted that the overhaul of her lifestyle to one of clean eating and fitness not only improved her physical state, but her mental and emotional, too.

She said: 'Training has changed everything, sweating makes me feel great and the endorphins that cardio releases leave me on a natural high.

Casual but cool: While she tied half her hair up into a comfy ponytail, Chloe added slick of vampy lipstick and a smoky eye - ensuring she was the centre of attention on her big day

'I've not been to counselling, I went to one person to speak about stuff and I've actually learnt this myself. I'm off antidepressants, I've done this on my own.'

Yet, she revealed to New! magazine that she still finds it difficult to adjust to her new size - having been much larger for so long.

She said to the mag: 'Even now, I'm like, "Oh, I feel really bloated," and I get on the scales and I'm 10st 1lb, so I must have a bit of body dysmorphia. I'm not toned.'

Her DVD is set for release on 14th November.
Johnny Depp relived the horror of nearly losing daughter Lily-Rose to an E coli infection, at a charity concert on Thursday night.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star was being presented with the Rhonda's Kiss Healing And Hope Award at the Los Angeles event to raise money to support the needs of cancer patients.

And in his thank you speech he addressed the 'courage' of the 'parents in the room'.

'I was one of those parents, for weeks, when my daughter was ill,' he said, referring to the now 17-year-old's 2007 hospitalisation after an infection with E coli.

'I lived in the hospital': Johnny Depp reveals Lily-Rose nearly died from an E coli infection when she was seven at a charity fundraiser in Los Angeles on Thursday night

Survived: Lily, now 17, is an actress and model

'I lived in the hospital for three weeks with my girl and my kid, not knowing if she was going to make it or not.'

Then seven, Lily-Rose developed kidney failure as a result of the infection. She spent nine days in a London hospital, with her father and mother Vanessa Paradis by her side.

Johnny pledged to continue his work with cancer patients.

'Parents, please note that you have my utter respect,' he said. 'Please note that you have all my respect, and you have my promise to continue to fight, this noble fight right alongside you at any time.

Honoured: The Pirates of the Caribbean star was being presented with the Rhonda's Kiss Healing And Hope Award at the event to raise money to support the needs of cancer patients

'Well just never give up. Its as simple as that.'

Johnny also autographed one of his Signature Duesenberg Alliance Series guitars that was then auctioned off in aid ofRhonda's Kiss nonprofit organization.

The Hollywood star, 53, wore a dark three-piece suit and a pair of purple lens glasses.

His short hair was neatly styled and he sported a neatly trimmed goatee.

Johnny looked well and happy as he waved to fans while giving his acceptance speech.

Good cause: Johnny autographed one of his Signature Duesenberg Alliance Series guitars that was then auctioned off in aid of Rhonda's Kiss nonprofit that helps people with cancer

While Johnny is an accomplished guitar player and tours with Hollywood Vampires, he took a night off from performing.

Instead, artists Dave Navarro and Mark McGrath along with actress Juliette Lewis took to the stage at the El Rey Theatre to entertain the crowd.

Weezer were also scheduled to perform.

Rocking the house: Dave Navarro was one of the famous musicians who performed at the benefit concert held at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles

In good voice: Also performing were actress Juliette Lewis, left, and Sugar Ray vocalist Mark McGrath, right
It sure seems like Ariel Winter is Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

The 18-year-old actress was a dead ringer for Kylie Jenner as she attended the Kanye West Saint Pablo Tour date in Inglewood, California on Thursday.

No doubt several fans of the 39-year-old rapper did a double take thinking it was his half-sister-in-law as she took selfies before the concert.

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Double take: Ariel Winter looked just like Kylie Jenner (right) as she attended the Kanye West Saint Pablo Tour date in Inglewood, California on Thursday

Ariel sported an ensemble very similar to the 19-year-old make-up mogul as she sported a cleavage bearing white top held together by strings.

She also sported a clinging black mini skirt along with matching leather booties as her pals crowded around her for self-taken snapshots.

The Modern Family actress sported her raven-coloured locks down in a middle-part.

In a snap: The 18-year-old sported a low-cut white top held together by strings tucked into a black mini skirt as she took selfies outside the venue

Even her make-up was similar to Kylie's as it featured smokey eye and was topped off with a swipe of dark lip.

Little did Ariel know she was in for a bit of disappointment as Kanye abruptly ended his show because he lost his voice.

The husband of Kim Kardashian was in the middle of Only One when he stopped and told the stadium: 'Turn on the lights, shows over, Im so hoarse. I can't finish the show.'

Kanye was on his suspended platform above the crowd when he made the announcement.

Pucker up: Even her make-up was similar to Kylie's as it featured smokey eye and was topped off with a swipe of dark red lip

A couple of concert-goers caught the moment on video where booing from the crowd can be heard.

'I cant let yall have a show where I cant perform for you. Ill give everyone a refund,

'Ill do better next time.' he promised.

It was 45 minutes into his Saint Pablo tour set and the sixth and final night at The Forum venue.

Meanwhile, Ariel will be back on TV with her Modern Family on ABC on November 9.

Show's over: Ariel was in for a surprise as Kanye West walked out halfway through his final concert in Inglewood, California on Thursday night

A fan caught the moment on video when Kanye told the crowd: 'Turn on the lights, shows over, Im so hoarse. I can't finish the show.'
She struts around on the Vegas stage in a series of skimpy outfits as she entertains fans during her lucrative show.

But Britney Spears let someone else do the work for once, as she enjoyed a night off from her Planet Hollywood gig.

And this time it was the boys who were on show - as Britney and her mom Lynne caught a male strip show.

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'Just a night off in Vegas!' Britney Spears recoils in delighted horror as she enjoys the male strip show with her mom

'Just a night off in Vegas,' wrote Britney, alongside the cheeky snap of herself recoiling in mock horror at the spectacle.

Despite her pretense at shyness, it was clear the pop-star was having fun, as she laughed at the hunks disrobing in front of her as part of the Thunder From Down Under show at Excalibur.

She also shared a photo of herself and her mother posing on the red carpet with the men, captioned: 'Girls night out with the boys from down under.'

'Girls night out with the boys from down under': She also shared a photo of herself and her mother posing on the red carpet with the men

Perhaps Britney - who has sons Sean, 11, and Jayden, 10, with ex-husband Kevin Federline - was checking out the local talent.

The 34-year-old has been single since separating from film and TV producer Charlie Ebersol in June 2015 but she isn't worried about being single and is sure love will come into her life when the time is right.

She said: 'I'm in a really good place right now so I think, I'm just, I'm loving [myself] and learning about myself every day and learning [about] who I am so it's just, it's awakening, it's cool. It's OK to be single, yeah, it totally is.'

Britney, 34, remains very close to her mother Lynne Spears. They're pictured going shopping together in July near the pop star's Thousand Oaks, California, home

Meanwhile, Britney released her ninth album 'Glory' in August and said it was 'everything I wanted it to be'.

She explained: 'Honestly, this is the first project where I've really been hands-on. I was really specific about who I worked with, and I've been learning to say no.

'I'm a people pleaser, so that's hard for me. Even if I don't like something, I'll do it just to make a person happy. I made sure this album was everything I wanted it to be. I was really selfish with it.'
She has been hard at work on set of her latest flick.

And Cate Blanchett's rocker chic look has her looking like a popular children's character.

The 47-year-old star's new platinum locks were so dishevelled on the New York City set of Ocean's Eight that she resembled Worzel Gummidge.

Along with the messy hair she definitely looked rock 'n' roll flaunting her cleavage in a black three-piece suit and gold booties.

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Messy: Cate Blanchett was so hard at work on the Ocean's Eight set on Friday that her platinum locks were very dishevelled

The two-time Oscar winner is rumoured to be playing the equivalent of Brad Pitt's right-hand man character Rusty Ryan from the previous Ocean's trilogy.

She was not the only actress on the star-studded set as Rihanna also looked very fashionable.

The 28-year-old pop diva coordinated her rasta crochet cap with her mustard halter top beneath blue dungarees and Timberland 'Heritage' boots.

Rocking out: The Australian 47-year-old looked a bit more rock 'n' roll flaunting her cleavage in a black three-piece suit and gold booties

'A cup o' tea an' a slice o' cake': Her locks resembled popular children's character Worzel Gummidge

The Bajan beauty - whose character is yet unknown - had her impressive thigh-length dreadlocks attached a month ago.

'I'm excited that [Riri and I are] going to get to hang out in the make-up trailer and trade tips and get to know each other better,' Oscar winner Anne Hathaway gushed to E! News of her co-star in September.

'Rihanna and I did Saturday Night Live a few years ago and she was gorgeous in every way you can be gorgeous.'

Acting gig: Rihanna was hard at 'work, work, work' on the Manhattan set of the feminist heist flick

Overalls: The 28-year-old pop diva coordinated her rasta crochet cap with her mustard halter top beneath blue dungarees and Timberland 'Heritage' boots

Last acted in the 2015 flick Home: The Bajan beauty - whose character is yet unknown - had her impressive thigh-length dreadlocks attached a month ago

Also on the set Friday was newly-minted Emmy winner Sarah Paulson sporting an obvious blonde wig with her sweats.

Meanwhile, two-time Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter - rocking a pink-tinged updo - cinched her waist with a white corset over a black dress.

Leading the pack of powerful ladies in the female-dominated caper is Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, who's said to be playing the sister of Danny Ocean (George Clooney).

Rihanna's co-star Anne Hathaway gushed to E! News: 'I'm excited that we're going to get to hang out in the make-up trailer and trade tips and get to know each other better!'

Master of disguise: The two-time Oscar winner is rumoured to be playing the equivalent of Brad Pitt's right-hand man character Rusty Ryan from the previous Ocean's trilogy

Rolled out of bed: Also on the set Friday was newly-minted Emmy winner Sarah Paulson sporting an obvious blonde wig with her sweats

Oxford wedges: Meanwhile, two-time Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter - rocking a pink-tinged updo - cinched her waist with a white corset over a black dress

Both 55-year-old Clooney and the Ocean's trilogy director Steven Soderbergh serve as producers on Ocean's Eight, which hits theaters June 8, 2018.

According to ComingSoon.net, the plot of director Gary Ross' spin-off concerns a team of thieves stealing a necklace from the Met Ball and then framing a villainous gallery owner.

The talented ensemble also includes Mindy Kaling, Dakota Fanning, Damian Lewis, and Asian-American rapper Awkwafina.

Gravity duo: Leading the pack of ladies in the female-dominated caper is Oscar winner Sandra Bullock (L), who's said to be playing the sister of Danny Ocean (George Clooney)

Pictured in 2001: Both 55-year-old Clooney and the Ocean's trilogy director Steven Soderbergh serve as producers on Ocean's Eight, which hits theaters June 8, 2018

Filming began October 25: The plot of director Gary Ross' spin-off reportedly concerns a team of thieves stealing a necklace from the Met Ball and then framing a villainous gallery owner

On Wednesday, Cate was spotted smiling courtside at the New York Knicks game with two of her four children - sons Dashiell, 14, and Roman, 12.

The Spoils video vixen and her screenwriter husband Andrew Upton will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary on December 29.

And the eight-time Grammy winner will finally conclude her eight-month, 75-date Anti World Tour on November 27 at the du Arena located in Abu Dhabi's Yas Island.

Family fun! On Wednesday, Cate was spotted smiling courtside at the New York Knicks game with two of her four children - sons Dashiell, 14, and Roman, 12

Congrats! The Spoils video vixen and her screenwriter husband Andrew Upton will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary on December 29 (pictured June 27)
Their son recently enjoyed a play date with Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

And little Samuel Affleck certainly looked rather regal as he enjoyed a day out with parents Ben and Jennifer Garner.

Ben and Jen, both 44, and their youngest child Samuel, four, were in good spirits as they stopped for coffee in Santa Monica.

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Mingling with the royals: Samuel Affleck certainly looked rather regal as he enjoyed a day out with parents Ben and Jennifer Garner

Jennifer looked casual in leggings, a black sweater and trainers, as she carried her adorable son.

Ben opted for a puffa jacket despite the warm Californian weather, teaming it with a suave black sweater and jeans.

Meanwhile Samuel looked quite his mini me in a blue sweater and stylish black shorts.

The family headed to a cafe where they picked up some water and coffee before continuing on with their day.

Family time: Ben and Jen, both 44, and their youngest child Samuel, 4, looked in good spirits as they stopped for coffee in Santa Monica

During his most recent trip to Britain, the Argo star revealed that his youngest son had a brush with two real-life royals.

Appearing on the Graham Norton show, the 44-year-old joked that his youngest son, Samuel, had caught a cold after playing with Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

In Friday night's installment of the chat show, the actor recalls how during a trip to London he took his son to an indoor play park that was being frequented by the two young royals.

Recalling one very wet day during the trip, Ben said: 'When it was raining I took my youngest to one of those kids indoor play parks.

'It was pretty empty and then I noticed this weird vibe from the other grownups. They were all very well dressed and they had earpieces and I thought, "For a kids place this is tight security!"'

Sports-chic: Jennifer looked casual in leggings, a black sweater and trainers, as she carried her adorable son

Refreshment pit stop: The family headed to a cafe where they picked up some water and coffee before continuing on with their day

Laughing at the thought, he added: 'I was the very last person to realise that Prince George and Princess Charlotte were in there playing with my kid.'

Though it was a truly memorable moment it seems that the impromptu royal play day left Samuel a little worse for wear, with Ben adding: 'I can now tell him that he got a cold from the King of England!'

Samuel is Ben's youngest child with his estranged wife Jennifer Garner; the film star's also have two daughters: Violet, 10, and seven-year-old Seraphina.

The Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice star and the Alias actress split in June 2015, but have remained cordial.

Proud parent: During his most recent trip to Britain, the Argo star revealed that his youngest son had a brush with two real-life royals

The couple have even prompted rumours of a reconciliation during recent months, after Jennifer headed to England at the same time as Ben.

A source told TMZ: 'Jennifer followed Ben to England and the trip has given her a whole new outlook on their future.

'She still feels conflicted, and she's only telling close friends that she's started to open up to the idea that they could get back together. She thinks they have a long road ahead of them, but Ben is already proving to her that he's committed to changing.'
They are already banned from sharing the same bedroom in the X Factor house.

And now Emily Middlemas, 18, and Ryan Lawrie, 20, have reportedly decided to go on a 'sex ban' so they can focus on their performances.

The young lovebirds - who have been dating for nearly a year - admitted they have late-night trysts for a few minutes to discuss the talent show before going to bed.

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No funny business: Emily Middlemas, 18, and Ryan Lawrie, 20, have reportedly decided to go on a 'sex ban' so they can focus on their performances

Emily told The Sun that she and Ryan are '100 per cent' focused on their music.

She said: 'To be honest we don't see each other a lot at the moment and when we do everyone is around us watching a movie or something.'

'Maybe five minutes before bed we'll have a chat about what we've done or if we're feeling bad about anything,' Emily explained.

'So it's hard to do anything with each other. I guess it makes us stronger.'

In action: The young lovebirds - who have been dating for nearly a year - admitted they have late-night trysts for a few minutes to discuss the talent show before going to bed

Candid: Emily told The Sun: 'To be honest we don't see each other a lot at the moment and when we do everyone is around us watching a movie or something

The pair first caught each other's eye on the Glasgow music scene three years ago, but the brunette beauty's nerves stopped them from initially dating.

They were forced to 'fast-forward' their relationship when the final 12 X Factor contestants moved into a shared home in north London to facilitate rehearsal time - but the couple are not allowed to share a room.

They were most recently hit with rumours that they were caught having sex on the stairs of the 3.6 million pad.

Young love: The pair revealed first caught each other's eye on the Glasgow music scene three years ago, but the brunette beauty's nerves stopped them from initially dating

It's getting serious: They were forced to 'fast-forward' their relationship when the final 12 X Factor contestants moved into a shared home in north London to facilitate rehearsal time - but the couple are not allowed to share a room

The young lovers were quick to clear up the rumours in a chat with OK! Magazine.

Ryan said: 'If you could see those stairs you would understand how utterly ridiculous that story is! They have glass sides  Im not even sure that would work!

'Theres no chance we would do anything like that while living with other people.'

Emily said: 'We knew there would be some stories, but that one [about having sex on the stairs] really upset me.'

Rumour mill: They were most recently hit with rumours that they were caught having sex on the stairs of the 3.6 million pad - which they denied vehemently

Ryan originally returned to this year's X Factor as the wildcard contestant, while Emily got a second chance after being eliminated at Judges' Houses back in 2014.

Emily and Ryan, both from Scotland, have been dating for around nine months, though they first met four years ago.

Their romance was brought to light when they exchanged an array of cute snaps and good luck messages during the Six-Chair Challenge stages of this year's competition.
He called his naked scenes in The Crown his 'best bit of acting'.

And Matt Smith gave viewers a cheeky peek at this derriere in racy scenes from the hugely anticipated Netflix drama.

New stills show the Doctor Who actor, 34, rising from his bed as Prince Phillip sans clothes, before standing completely naked in his bedroom.

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Bottoms up! Matt Smith gave viewers a cheeky peek at this derriere in racy scenes from the hugely anticipated Netflix drama

The pictures show Matt at first lying in bed asleep, with sheets covering his modesty.

Then as he stands up, a revealing back shot reveals his toned physique in all its glory.

Speaking about his steamy naked scenes, he told Metro: 'That was actually the best bit of acting I did in the whole thing. No word of a lie, it's my most truthful moment.'

'Would it have been the same if he got up wearing a pair of pyjamas?

New series: The Crown follows the early partnership of Elizabeth and Philip as they are thrust into the limelight as a young couple when George VI dies and Elizabeth inherits the throne

Saucy: New stills show the Doctor Who actor, 34, rising from his bed as Prince Phillip sans clothes, before standing completely naked in his bedroom

He added: 'Is it not better that the king sees him and goes "oh no", and then they've got to go and shoot ducks together?'

The Northampton-born star claimed shooting in the nude stayed true to Prince Philip's own preferences, who is rumoured to sleep naked.

Matt is flanked by Claire Foy, who plays the current British monarch Queen Elizabeth I.

The Crown follows the early partnership of Elizabeth and Philip as they are thrust into the limelight as a young couple when George VI dies and Elizabeth inherits the throne.

Revealing: The pictures show Matt at first lying in bed asleep, with sheets covering his modesty

Hitting a bum note: Then as he stands up, a revealing back shot reveals his toned physique in all its glory

Meanwhile, Matt recently told Graham Norton Show that he 'almost died' while filming a tricky scene as the young Prince.

'We were in South Africa and these horses were being a bit frisky,' he explained.

'We were meant to get on them and trot off and have this lovely love scene, which didn't even make the cut!'

Going live: Series one will be available to stream in its entirety from Friday night on Netflix

By royal appointment: Claire and Matt portray Elizabeth II and husband the Duke of Edinburgh in what is the most expensive TV series to have ever been produced

He added: 'In my stupidity I got on the horse and cantered around and then it just went.

'I tried to grab a branch and everyone was shouting, 'Oh, my god, don't grab the branch!'

'So I went under the branch and then down a ravine. I was so scared. As it galloped towards a herd of zebra a huge man grabbed it by the reins and saved my life.'

Near miss: While Claire plays The Queen, former Doctor Who star Smith takes equal plaudits as beleaguered husband Prince Philip in The Crown

Near miss: Joining Claire and fellow guests Ben Affleck and Sir David Attenborough, he admitted he 'almost died' while filming a tricky scene as the young Prince

Elizabeth met Philip several times throughout the 1930s when she was a teenager and was engaged to him by the summer of 1947.

By the autumn of that year, they were married.

But their newly-wedded bliss was short-lived when Elizabeth's father, King George VI, died in 1952, rendering Elizabeth the new monarch immediately.

This allegedly caused tension in the early years of her reign, which Matt elaborated on in the interview.

The Crown has been raved about by television reviewers and has already been commissioned for a second series, which Matt and Claire confirmed on air they have begun filming.

The Crown airs on Netflix from November 4 2016.

Critical acclaim: The Crown has been raved about by television reviewers and has already been commissioned for a second series
Illegal immigrant worker numbers stable in US

The number of unauthorized immigrants in the US workforce has held fairly steady at about eight million since the economic crisis, according to a study released Thursday.

Contradicting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's claim the number of illegal immigrant workers is soaring, the Pew Research Center study said between 2009 and 2014 the number stayed at around eight million.

And the total number of unauthorized immigrants, working and not working, also held steady at about 11.1 million, the study said.

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has proposed building a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep immigrants from crossing the line illegally, though the total number of illegal immigrants in the US is steady, according to a study Frederic J. Brown (AFP/File)

Illegal immigrants made up 5 percent of the civilian US workforce, compared to 12 percent of legal immigrants.

"There is no sector or occupation where unauthorized immigrant workers were a majority; in all industries or occupations, they were outnumbered by US-born workers," Pew said in a statement.

The largest populations of illegal workers were in large states -- California, Texas and New York -- but made up the largest share of the workforce in relatively sparsely-populated Nevada at 10.4 percent of all workers.

Unauthorized immigrants concentrate in a few industries, including farming, construction and hotel and restaurants.

Campaigning for the White House, Trump has argued repeatedly that the country needs to build a wall along the entire US-Mexico border to halt the flow of immigrants, and meanwhile deport those already in the country.
Suspect charged with murder in Iowa police ambush killings

The suspect in the ambush-style shootings of two police officers has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, officials in the US state of Iowa said on Thursday.

Scott Michael Greene was arrested and taken to jail wearing the handcuffs carried by the two slain officers, the Des Moines Police Department said in a statement.

"The investigation has produced probable cause to support these charges," the department said, declining to offer additional information.

The vehicle driven by Urbandale Police officer Justin Martin when he was shot and killed is towed from the scene, November 2, 2016 in Urbandale, Iowa Steve Pope (Getty/AFP/File)

Anthony Beminio, 39, an 11-year veteran of the Des Moines police department, and Justin Martin, 24, who had served one year on the police force in nearby Urbandale, Iowa were ambushed Wednesday while patrolling in their cars, authorities said.

Martin was found dead just after 1:00 am (0600 GMT) near an Urbandale local high school. Twenty minutes later, Beminio was discovered gunned down at a nearby intersection.

Greene turned himself in several hours later to authorities.

Officials have declined to comment on a possible motive, but said Greene has a history of run-ins with the law.

The Iowa shootings follow a tense summer in which five police officers were fatally shot in Dallas, Texas and three killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
US jobs numbers add another issue to campaign fodder

When the US releases monthly job report Friday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be on his way to New Hampshire, where the unemployment rate is tied for lowest in the nation.

By the time Trump takes the stage, his campaign will have pored over the Labor Department statistics on hiring, wages and unemployment in October. While the report is expected to show continued job growth and lower unemployment, a disappointing result could bolster his claims of American decline.

The consensus among analysts is for an additional 170,000 jobs created in October and for the unemployment rate to drop a tenth of a point to 4.9 percent -- a result that would be the envy of many developed nations.

Employees work on building pipe at Pioneer Pipe on October 25, 2016 in Ohio, where unemployment numbers are even better than the national average Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File)

The US economy this year has produced new jobs at an average of about 180,000 a month, with the unemployment rate holding firm at around 5 percent, as well as modest wage growth and productivity gains.

But throughout the campaign, Trump has portrayed the US economy as hollowed-out ruin, whatever the official numbers.

In most of the states where next Tuesday's election outcome will be decided -- such as Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia -- the labor picture is even better than the national average. That could complicate Trump's efforts to use the jobs report in an effort to broaden his support in the final days of a tightening race.

Barclays Research said it expects a 2.6 percent increase in wage growth compared to October 2015 as well as 175,000 net new jobs created.

That would "confirm ongoing strength in the labor market. The increase in payrolls, combined with the ongoing improvement in wages, should boost household income and keep consumption on track."

But Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told AFP he expects the report will be comparatively somber, with only about 130,000 jobs created.

"The logic I see is that we've had a lot of people who were willing to take very low-paying jobs because they had no alternative," he said. "That period is largely over."

Timothy Malloy of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said a downcast jobs report can only help the Republican candidate.

"Anything that tells us this recovery is not what the administration tells us it is, helps him," Malloy told AFP.

"Is this a good strategy with five days to go? Seems like it," he said. "How much more time can you spend on the emails and the FBI thing at this point? That horse has run."

- 'Phony numbers' -

Trump's claims on the economy have been debunked repeatedly by media fact-checkers. And when the numbers do not favor his argument, he and his campaign have impugned the government agencies that produce them.

In February, after winning the New Hampshire primary, Trump told supporters, "Don't believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment."

"The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent," he added.

PolitiFact said Trump's numbers were "not even close to accurate."

Among so-called swing states, only Nevada (5.8 percent), Pennsylvania (5.7 percent) and Arizona (5.5 percent) have unemployment rates above the national average. Elsewhere, jobless rates are below 5 percent. In Colorado, unemployment is as low as 3.6 percent.

But, paradoxically, those most receptive to Trump's message on the economy are not necessarily among the unemployed, according to a recent analysis by Gallup, which found only "mixed" evidence that economic distress has driven support to Trump.

Malloy said Trump's claims about the economy have not been tethered to federal statistics.

"He's been beating that drum of an extreme depiction of a country in crisis since the beginning and a lot of people believe it," Malloy said.
US general says missile system in S. Korea in 8-10 months

The United States will deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea in eight to 10 months despite strong objections from China and Russia, a US military chief said Friday.

Seoul and Washington agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the South after North Korea conducted a series of missile launches in the wake of its fourth nuclear test in January.

The decision was condemned by Pyongyang and also caused a damaging rift between Seoul and Beijing, which sees the deployment as a US bid to flex its military muscle in the region and undermine China's own missile capabilities.

A US Department of Defense photo of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor, the type of which will soon be installed in South Korea despite objections from China and Russia Ben Listerman (DoD/AFP/File)

Speaking at a seminar, General Vincent Brooks, commander of the US Forces in Korea (USFK), said the THAAD battery would be deployed in eight to 10 months and would be bigger than the one currently in Guam, according to USFK Spokesman Kim Yong-Kyu.

Brooks also said that recent calls for South Korea to have its own nuclear arsenal to deter the North would seriously "complicate" the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, Yonhap news agency reported.

China responded to Brooks' timetable by repeating its opposition to the THAAD deployment and calling for its "immediate" cancellation.

Deploying the system "undermines the regional strategic balance and jeopardizes the strategic security interests of China and other regional countries," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

China will take "necessary measures to safeguard our own security interests," Hua said.

South Korea in September announced a new location for deploying THAAD, after vocal protests from local residents near the original site over potential health and environmental hazards.

Some opposition lawmakers are also opposed to THAAD, despite President Park Geun-Hye's insistence that the system is crucial to national defence.

Since Seoul and Washington announced the THAAD deployment was going ahead, North Korea has continued to conduct missile tests and carried out a fifth nuclear test on September 9.
Kidnapping threat in Philippine tourist spots: US

Terrorist groups are planning kidnappings on central Philippine islands that are popular with tourists, the US embassy has warned, fuelling concerns Islamic militants infamous for hostage taking are roaming wider.

A travel advisory from the US embassy in Manila on Thursday warned Americans to avoid the southern regions of Cebu island, one of the nation's most popular tourist sites because of its idyllic beaches, spectacular diving and whale watching.

"The U.S. Embassy alerts U.S. citizens that terrorist groups are planning to conduct kidnappings in areas frequented by foreigners on the southern portion of Cebu Island," the advisory said.

A travel advisory from the US embassy in Manila has warned Americans to avoid some areas of the Philippines after a surge in kidnappings by Islamic militants Jay Directo (AFP/File)

The embassy identified three locations -- Dalaguete and Santander on Cebu, and nearby Sumilon island. Those areas are a short boat ride to tourist hotspots Bohol and Dumaguete.

The warning came after a surge in kidnappings by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines, which included the first attack on a cargo ship in the high seas and the murders of foreigners after ransoms were not paid.

President Rodrigo Duterte's office released a statement on Friday confirming police had reported an unspecified kidnapping plan in southern Cebu and that security had been increased in the area.

The US embassy did not name who was planning the attacks, but the strife-torn south of the mainly Catholic Philippines is home to various militants groups that have in recent years sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.

The most notorious is the Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

The Abu Sayyaf is based on islands about 500 kilometres (300 miles) southwest of Cebu, and most often kidnap people from coastal regions and vessels close to their strongholds of Jolo and Basilan islands.

However the militants kidnapped two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina from Samal, a tourist island about 500 kilometres to the east of Jolo last year. The Canadians were beheaded and the other two were released after ransoms were reportedly paid.

The Abu Sayyaf has also been blamed for the abductions of dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors in smaller vessels in the area.

Last month the captain of a South Korean cargo ship was abducted in waters off the southern Philippines, in the first such attack on a large merchant vessel.

Duterte has launched a military offensive to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf.

Another extremist group, the Maute gang, was blamed for a bombing in Duterte's home town in the southern city of Davao that left 15 people dead in September.
Hong Kong banker accused of murder 'far from normal': defence

The British banker who slashed the throats of two women in his luxury Hong Kong apartment was "as far from normal as possible" at the time of the killings, his defence said Friday at the close of his trial.

Once a "brilliant superman investment banker" earning several million Hong Kong dollars a year, 31-year-old Rurik Jutting spiralled out of control under the influence of personality disorders, defence counsel Tim Owen told the court.

He became "a bloated, unshaven, permanently intoxicated, isolated and depraved drug and alcohol addict whose mind was permanently obsessed about sadistic sexual fantasies," he said.

A blue armoured prison van transports British banker Rurik Jutting, to the High Court in Hong Kong where he is on trial for the murder of two women Anthony Wallace (AFP/File)

Cambridge graduate Jutting is accused of murdering the two women, Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, two years ago, after saying he would pay them for sex.

The trial, which has captivated the Chinese city, heard that he tortured Ningsih inside his apartment for three days before killing her and stuffing her body in a suitcase found on his balcony.

The Briton has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges, instead pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility -- an argument the prosecution has rejected.

The past week has seen witnesses from both sides arguing the extent to which Jutting was impaired by multiple disorders.

Defence psychiatrists said Jutting was consumed by addictions to alcohol and huge amounts of cocaine, and suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and sexual sadism disorder.

Prosecution counsel John Reading told the jury in his concluding speech that Jutting "wasn't substantially impaired", took cocaine in order to gain "dutch courage", and looked and sounded calm in the videos he made between the killings.

"He took the cocaine in order to be able to torture and ultimately kill," Reading said.

But Owen argued that the picture painted by the prosecution that Jutting was cool, calm and collected at the time of the killings was untrue.

"Rurik Jutting was as far from normal as possible to be," he said. "He was off the scale... by any standard of normality".

The judge will sum up the case on Monday, with the jury expected to begin deliberating on the verdict Tuesday.
Anger at 'harsh censorship' as Indian network silenced

Journalists and media organisations accused India's government Friday of imposing censorship reminiscent of the country's 1970s emergency after a TV network was ordered off the air over its reporting of an attack by Pakistan-based militants.

NDTV India has been instructed to cease broadcasts for 24 hours next week after a government panel decreed it had revealed "strategically sensitive details" while covering January's deadly attack on Pathankot air base.

The panel said an NDTV report included details about military aircraft and weapons kept at the base in Punjab "which was likely to be used by the terrorists themselves or their handlers to cause massive harm".

NDTV India has been ordered to cease broadcasts for 24 hours next week after government panel says it revealed "strategically sensitive details" while covering January's deadly attack on Pathankot air base Narinder Nanu (AFP/File)

A spokesman for the information ministry told AFP the Indian channel would have to go off air on November 9 "for violating the cable TV act" which limits what the media can report during major security incidents.

Although India's government has ordered other temporary shutdowns of TV networks, it is the first time that this specific legislation has been invoked to take a news channel off air.

NDTV, which has had several run-ins with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing government, said it had been "singled out" for action and that its reporting had been no different from what other channels broadcast.

"After the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner," it said in a statement.

The Editors Guild of India also said the measure evoked memories of the 1975-77 emergency rule when fundamental rights were suspended in the world's largest democracy and large numbers of journalists were jailed.

"The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency," the guild said in a statement.

"Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order."

Rajdeep Sardesai, one of the main anchors of the rival India Today network, also expressed alarm at the move.

"One of India's most sober and responsible channels NDTV India to be banned for a day by I and B ministry. NDTV today, who tomorrow?" he tweeted.

The Al Jazeera news channel was taken off the air for five days last year after it broadcast a graphic of the Kashmir region which is divided between India and Pakistan but whose borders are disputed.

The previous centre-left government also ordered The Economist to cover up a map of Kashmir in 2011, forcing the news weekly to place white stickers on the 28,000 copies being sold in India.
Nigeria frees Muslims accused of murder over blasphemy

A court in northern Nigeria has freed five Muslim men accused of killing an elderly Christian woman for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed.

The court in the city of Kano discharged the five men on Thursday on the legal advice of the prosecution.

"The legal advice presented to the court, dated June 24, states that there is no case to answer as the suspects are all innocent and orders the court to discharge all the suspects," the judge said in his ruling.

Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim while the south is largely Christian and Kano city has been plagued by religious violence in the past Stefan Heunis (AFP/File)

The five men were accused, along with six others who are on the run, of killing 74-year-old Bridget Abahime on June 2 after she allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

The suspects had pleaded not guilty of the charge.

The victim, an ethnic Igbo trader from the southeast and wife of a pastor, was beaten to death, sparking outrage across the country with President Muhammadu Buhari calling the killing utterly condemnable.

Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim while the south is largely Christian and Kano city has been plagued by religious violence in the past.

In one notorious case in 1996 a trader, also an ethnic Igbo Christian, was beheaded by suspected Muslim youths who accused him of desecrating the Koran.
Pakistan to deport 'heartbroken' National Geographic 'Afghan girl'

The Afghan woman immortalised on a National Geographic cover says she is "heartbroken" at news she will be deported from Pakistan to the war-torn homeland she first fled decades ago.

Sharbat Gula, whose blazing green eyes were captured in an image taken in a Pakistan refugee camp in the 1980s that became the magazine's most famous cover in history, spoke to AFP from a hospital bed in Peshawar, where she is being treated for Hepatitis C.

"Afghanistan is only my birthplace, but Pakistan was my homeland and I always considered it as my own country," she said.

US photographer Steve McCurry poses next to his photos of the "Afghan Girl", Sharbat Gula, at a 2013 exhibition in Hamburg, northern Germany Ulrich Perrey (DPA/AFP/File)

"I had decided to live and die in Pakistan but they did the worst thing with me. It's not my fault that I born there (in Afghanistan). I am dejected. I have no other option but to leave."

Gula, who says she is now 45, was arrested last week and accused of living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers following a two-year investigation. She is one of thousands of refugees using fake ID cards to seek safe haven from the violence roiling their own country.

The illiterate mother-of-four pleaded guilty to the charges in court Friday, her lawyer Mubashar Nazar told AFP.

She was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment, after which she will be deported in a decision slammed by Amnesty International as a "grave injustice".

"She has already spent 11 days in jail," Nazar said, meaning she could be freed as early as Monday.

An Afghan consulate official said that a 110,000 Pakistani rupee ($1,050) fine also imposed on Gula has already been paid.

"We... will take her to Afghanistan in an honourable way on Monday," Abdul Hameed Jalili, counsellor for refugees at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, told AFP.

"For decades, she was known as the world's most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistan's status as a generous host," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.

"Now, by sending her back to a country she hasn't seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistan's cruel treatment of Afghan refugees."

- 'Serious rights abuses' -

The 1985 National Geographic image of Gula, then aged 12, made her the face of Afghanistan's decades-long refugee crisis.

After a 17-year search, the photographer Steve McCurry tracked Gula down to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters at the time.

Pakistani officials say she applied for the fraudulent ID card in Peshawar in 2014.

The photo attached to the application has the same piercing green eyes and sculpted face seen in McCurry's famous image, only lined by age and surrounded by a black hijab covering her hair completely.

Her children will also return with her, though Gula told AFP her husband and one of her daughters have both died of hepatitis C.

Gula said she first arrived in Pakistan an orphan, some four or five years after the Soviet invasion of 1979, one of millions of Afghans who have sought refuge over the border since.

But since July hundreds of thousands have returned to Afghanistan in a desperate exodus amid fears of a crackdown, as Pakistan's famed hospitality ran out.

Last month UNHCR said more than 350,000 Afghan refugees -- documented and undocumented -- had returned from Pakistan so far in 2016, adding it expects a further 450,000 to do so by the year's end.

They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis.

"By forcing Afghan refugees to return across the border into the arms of an increasingly deadly conflict, Pakistan ... is putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk of serious human rights abuses," the Amnesty statement said Friday.

Afghan refugee woman, Sharbat Gula (C), known internationally as the 'Afghan Girl' who appeared on the cover of a 1985 edition of National Geographic magazine, leaves the court in Peshawar on November 4, 2016 A Majeed (AFP)
Three US troops fatally shot in Jordan

Three US troops were killed in a shooting outside a military training facility in Jordan on Friday, the Pentagon said.

An initial report showed they came under fire as they were entering the facility in vehicles, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.

"We are working closely with the government of Jordan to determine exactly what happened," he said in a statement.

An F-16 Fighting Falcon from the Royal Jordanian Air Force takes off during an exercise at an air base in northern Jordan on May 12, 2014 SSgt Tyler McLain (US AIR FORCE/AFP/File)

The Jordanian army had earlier said the shooting took place at the gate of Al-Jafr base in southern Jordan after the car carrying the US trainers failed to stop.

A Jordanian officer was also wounded, it added.

"An exchange of fire occurred Friday morning at the gate of the Prince Feisal Air Base in Al-Jafr when a car carrying trainers attempted to enter the gate without heeding the guards' orders to stop," it said in a statement, quoting a military source.

Two US officials confirmed to AFP that the Americans had also fired their weapons.

An investigation was under way to determine the causes of the shooting, the army said.

Initial reports put the death toll at one or two before the trainers succumbed to their wounds.

An American defense official described the incident as "green on blue," a military term for when friendly forces attack US personnel.

"But we can't say for the moment if it was a deliberate" act to kill US personnel or "some kind of misunderstanding," the official told AFP.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US troops were part of an "ongoing" training mission.

"The United States is quite interested in getting to the bottom of what occurred," he said.

- Potentially embarrassing -

The death of American troops in Jordan could prove highly embarrassing for Amman, a key recipient of US financial aid and member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

US forces have trained a small group of vetted Syrian rebels in Jordan, and American instructors have trained Iraqi and Palestinian security forces in Jordan as well over the past few years.

Friday's incident comes almost a year after a Jordanian policeman shot dead two US instructors, a South African and two Jordanians at a police training center east of Amman, before being gunned down.

Washington said at the time that the two Americans killed in the November 9, 2015 shooting were employees of the private firm DynCorp contracted by the State Department to train Palestinian forces.

Two other Americans were wounded in that incident, which prompted concern in Washington and was condemned by the US embassy.

The center where last year's shooting took place was set up after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

It has since trained tens of thousands of Iraqi, Palestinian and Afghani police officers, and Jordan announced last year that former Libyan rebels would also be trained there.

Instructors of various nationalities, including Americans, provide training at the base to participants from different countries, a government source said.

DynCorp International spokeswoman Mary Lawrence said on Friday that the firm's employees had all been accounted for after the shooting and that none had been wounded.

Last year, the United States announced its intention to increase overall US assistance to Jordan from $660 million to $1 billion annually for the 2015-2017 period.
Kenya deports South Sudan rebel leader's spokesman

Kenya has deported the spokesman of South Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar, officials said Friday, despite rebels' warning that forcibly returning him to the war-wracked country puts his life in danger.

Senior rebel official Nyarji Roman said James Gatdet Dak had been arrested at his Nairobi home on Wednesday and taken to the airport 24 hours later.

He was sent back to the South Sudanese capital Juba where he was immediately detained, according to Roman, a spokesman for the rebel SPLM/A-IO.

South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar left the country following violent clashes last month and is now in a "safe" country in the region, his aides say Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)

Machar telephoned Kenya's deputy president, William Ruto, in a bid to halt Gatdet's deportation on the grounds of "profound fear for his life" but the spokesman was sent back anyway, Roman said.

"The deportation of Mr. James Gatdet Dak is a violation of the Geneva Convention," Roman added, saying an intervention by the UN refugee agency had failed to prevent the move.

"Moreover, the Kenyan government is a guarantor to the peace agreement that was signed in August 2015 and we do not expect that it would put in danger the life of an innocent person."

That viewpoint was shared by Gerry Simpson, a senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"In colluding with South Sudan and deporting James Gatdet Dak, Kenya has exposed him to a serious risk of persecution," said Simpson.

A Kenyan official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that Gatdet had been deported, without elaborating.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny also confirmed that Gatdet was back in the country, refusing to comment further.

"Obviously the key element we would like to emphasise right now is that this person needs to have his rights protected and his wellbeing ensured by the government," Geneva-based UNHCR spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly said.

South Sudan's rebels warned that Kenya could face repercussions over the deportation.

"This can inadvertently put in danger Kenyan NGOs' workers in (rebel-held) areas in South Sudan," said the SPLM/A-IO representative to the United Nations, Miyong G. Kuon.

- On the run -

Just before his arrest, Gatdet had expressed his support for the sacking of a Kenyan general of a United Nations peacekeeping force accused of failing to protect civilians during a fresh outbreak of violence in Juba in July.

Kenya has responded to Tuesday's sacking of lieutenant general Johnson Ondieki by announcing it will pull its 1,050 troops out of South Sudan and drop plans to contribute soldiers to a planned UN regional force for Juba.

According to South Sudanese radio station Tamazuj, a delegation of Kenyan MPs was visiting South Sudan on Friday and expressed their opposition to the rebels.

"We will discourage anybody trying to use our country as a launching pad for war," said Asman Kamama, the Kenyan chair for national security.

Violence between Machar's supporters and troops loyal to his bitter political foe, President Salva Kiir, has blighted South Sudan for much of its hard-won independence from Sudan, achieved in 2011.

South Sudan descended into war just two and a half years later when Kiir in December 2013 accused Machar -- whom he had sacked as his deputy -- of plotting a coup.

The war has left tens of thousands of people dead and forced nearly two million people to flee their homes.

Machar himself fled South Sudan following July's clashes between his rebel fighters and Kiir's government forces, and has been on the run ever since, turning up variously in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Africa.

A return to Ethiopia, where he lived during previous peace negotiations, was ruled out by that country's prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, who said in September: "We do not need someone who is leading an armed struggle in Ethiopia."

Machar's naming as a vice-president was a key condition of a hard-won peace deal signed in August 2015 which is now in tatters.
Tunisian minister sacked after Saudi remarks

Tunisia's religious affairs minister was fired Friday for "attacking the foundations of diplomacy" after he publicly suggested the conservative form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia had links to extremism.

A government statement said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had relieved Abdeljalil Ben Salem of his position because of his "attack" on Tunisia's diplomatic principles.

Justice Minister Ghazi Jribi will take on Ben Salem's duties for the time being, the statement said.

Tunisia's Minister of Religious Affairs Abdeljalil Ben Salem (2L, back row) told Saudi officials to "reform your school because terrorism has historically come from it" STRINGER (AFP/File)

The president's chief of staff Slim Azzabi spoke of a "grave error" by Ben Salem, and backed the decision to sack him.

On Thursday, Ben Salem confirmed during a parliament session that he had "dared" to question two senior Saudi officials, including Riyadh's ambassador to Tunis, about Saudi Wahhabism being a "vehicle for terrorism".

"I say to Saudis... reform your school because terrorism has historically come from it. I say this to you with love and modesty," the minister said, according to the private Mosaique FM radio station.

Wahhabism, the fundamentalist school of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia, has been accused of inspiring extremist ideologies in the region.

Ben Salem tried to row back from his comments, issuing a statement saying that Tunisia's relations with the kingdom were "completely harmonious".
Watchdog slams Morocco over reporting restrictions in WSahara

Reporters Without Borders on Friday called on Morocco to "end all reporting restrictions in Western Sahara" and allow journalists to report freely from the disputed territory.

Rabat should "stop violating the rights of Sahrawi and foreign journalists to cover developments in Western Sahara", RSF said in a statement.

"By detaining reporters during demonstrations, putting Sahrawi citizen journalists on trial and deporting foreign journalists, the Moroccan authorities make life impossible for media personnel and maintain an arbitrary control over reporting in this territory," the media watchdog said.

A 1991 truce left Morocco in control of all of Western Sahara's main towns and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front confined to a narrow strip of the desert interior Farouk Batiche (AFP/File)

Yasmine Kacha, the head of RSF's North Africa desk, said: "It is urgent and necessary that journalists should be free to report what is happening in this extremely tense territory and, in particular, to shed light on human rights violations."

RSF said two citizen journalists who report for the Sahrawi website Equipe Media Sahara were arrested in late September and charged with "attacking (a) public official", a charge punishable with up to one year in jail.

The journalists, who are to be tried on January 15, said they thought they were arrested because they were accompanying Spanish activists investigating the humanitarian situation in Western Sahara, it said.

Morocco is ranked 131st out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.

Rabat maintains that the Western Sahara is an integral part of Morocco, despite UN resolutions calling for a referendum on self-determination.

A 1991 ceasefire brokered by the United Nations ended 16 years of conflict between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front campaigning for the territory's independence.
Jury says Rolling Stone defamed college dean in rape story

A US jury on Friday found Rolling Stone magazine defamed a University of Virginia official in a discredited 2014 story about a purported gang rape on campus.

Court documents showed the federal court jury in Charlottesville, Virginia, ruled in favor for Nicole Eramo, an associate dean of students who, according to the report, had discouraged reporting of the alleged attack for fear it might tarnish the elite university's image.

The jury said both the magazine and reporter Sabrina Erdely were liable for defamation over the report.

On November 4, 2016, a jury ruled in favor of Nicole Eramo, who filed a suit alleging that Rolling Stone acted recklessly in their 2014 story "A Rape on Campus", about an alleged rape of a UVA student by Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members Jay Paul (Getty/AFP/File)

Damages were to be assessed later in the lawsuit, which sought $7.5 million.

Eramo's suit alleged that Rolling Stone acted recklessly and willfully disregarded facts in reporting the story.

Headlined "A Rape on Campus," the story triggered protests when it appeared in late 2014 with its explosive claims of a violent gang rape at a fraternity house, as recounted by the alleged victim, a student identified only as "Jackie."

But the story began to unravel within weeks, with "Jackie" refusing to discuss the alleged incident and investigators and police uncovering no evidence that it had ever taken place.

Rolling Stone retracted the story and apologized after a Columbia University investigation exposed "avoidable" failures in basic journalistic practices during its reporting and editing.
Thousands demand justice for crushed Morocco fish seller

Thousands of protesters in northern Morocco on Friday demanded justice for a fish seller whose gruesome death when he was crushed in a rubbish truck sparked nationwide outrage.

Mouhcine Fikri, 31, was accidentally killed last Friday in the northern city of Al-Hoceima as he tried to protest against the seizure and destruction of swordfish, which are not allowed to be caught at this time of year.

His death in the Rif -- an ethnically Berber region long neglected and at the heart of a 2011 protest movement for reform -- also triggered anger in other cities including the capital Rabat.

A protester holds the flag of the Rif Republic as protesters shout slogans in the northern city of Al Hoceima on October 30, 2016, following the death of fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri Fadel Senna (AFP/File)

"Mouhcine we won't abandon you!" protesters cried in Al-Hoceima, according to footage streamed live on social media, holding up photos of Fikri and waving Berber flags.

Fikri's case "concerns all Moroccans suffering from oppression", one woman cried out to fellow protesters by loudspeaker.

"We have come to protest against unfairness, against a corrupt system," she said.

Another protest was held in the Rif town of Nador, according to social media.

King Mohammed VI was quick to order a "thorough and exhaustive investigation" into Fikri's death and sent the interior minister to offer condolences to his family.

Authorities earlier this week arrested 11 people suspected of involuntary manslaughter over Fikri's death.

Of those, two interior ministry employees, two fisheries officials, the head of the local veterinary services and three rubbish collection workers were remanded in custody on Tuesday.

It remains unclear who activated the truck's crushing mechanism that killed Fikri.

Thousands attended Fikri's funeral in Al-Hoceima on Sunday after an image of his body -- head and arm sticking out from under the lorry's crusher -- went viral on social media.
Jurors in hot car death case look inside SUV firsthand

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP)  A human memory expert has testified that a man charged with murder after his toddler son died in a hot SUV could have forgotten the child in the vehicle.

Local news organizations report Dr. Gene Brewer told jurors Thursday stress could have caused Justin Ross Harris to forget his 22-year-old son Cooper Harris in the Hyundai Tucson, where the boy died in 2014.

He added he retraced Harris' short drive to work and testified it's "absolutely possible" that Harris could have forgotten his child in such a situation. Brewer studies human memory and works in psychology at Arizona State University.
Dominican court upholds drug sentence against French man

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)  An appeals court in the Dominican Republic has upheld a 20-year sentence for a French man found guilty of trafficking 1,543 pounds (700 kilograms) of cocaine.

Thursday's ruling against Alain Castany is the last one rejecting appeals filed by the four men convicted in the case. Two of them are pilots who fled to France in 2015 and remain fugitives.

Attorney Luz Diaz declined to comment on the ruling because she had not yet spoken to Castany. She previously argued that her 70-year-old client should serve his sentence in France.

Castany and the others were detained in March 2013 after authorities said they tried to fly from the Dominican Republic to St. Tropez with the drugs.
1st test evenly poised after South Africa fightback

PERTH, Australia (AP)  South Africa staged a remarkable comeback and shrugged off the loss of fast bowler Dale Steyn to injury in the first cricket test at the WACA on Friday.

After Australia's openers piled up 158-0, swing bowlers Vernon Philander (4-56) and Kasigo Rabada (2-78), and leftarm spinner Keshav Mahraj (3-56) exposed the vulnerability of the Australian batting to dismiss the host for 244 runs.

South Africa was bowled out for 242 after winning the toss and batting first on the opening day.

Australia's captain Steve Smith walks with his bat past South Africa as they celebrate taking his wicket LBW on the second day of play of their cricket test match in Perth, Australia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

The visitors were in trouble at 45-2 in the second innings after losing opener Stephen Cook (12) and Hashim Amla (1). But opener Dean Elgar (46 not out) and Jean-Paul Duminy (34 not out) guided South Africa to 104-2 at the close, a lead of 102 runs.

Mahraj bowled with guile and control to claim the wickets of skipper Steve Smith, Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc.

Australia lost 10-86 before and after lunch following an aggressive stand between David Warner (97) and Shaun Marsh (63).

Warner was racing toward his 17th career century when he pushed at a delivery from Steyn away from the body, and was caught by first slip Amla.

Warner's dismissal triggered a top-order collapse as Australia lost Usman Khawaja (4), Smith (0), and Marsh in the space of 23 runs before lunch.

Khawaja was yorked by Rabada, and two overs later, Mahraj dismissed Smith lbw for his maiden test wicket.

Soon after dismissing Warner, Steyn left the field. Maharaj completed Steyn's unfinished over and in his very next over trapped Smith, who unsuccessfully reviewed the on-field decision.

"Losing 9 for 80 is disappointing in any context in this game," Warner lamented. "I accept responsibility as well as a top order batter. We always talk about one guy going on and getting a big hundred."

Despite the loss of Steyn, Warner believes South Africa remains a formidable opponent in series.

"They've still got two very, very good fast bowlers, and we've seen the wickets they're capable of with the ball going both ways. We have to respect that.

"I'm disappointed for Dale. I know how pumped he would've been. I know he's had this injury for a while, I just hope he can get back on the park."

Steyn was taken to a nearby hospital for scans and was diagnosed with a rare bone stress which may force him out of the game for at least six months, according to team officials. Steyn will return home at the end of the first test.

Warner batted for 2 hours and hit a six and 16 fours. He has shared century opening stands in each of the past three tests against South Africa, after he and Chris Rogers put on 126 and 123 in the last two tests of the 2013-14 series.

Marsh played second fiddle to the aggressive Warner, and batted for over three hours and hit seven fours off 148 balls.

Resuming on 181-4 after lunch, Australia immediately lost Mitchell Marsh (0) trapped lbw by Philander. But Adam Voges (27) and Nevill lifted the innings before Rabada took a return catch to dismiss Voges off a leading edge.

Australia slumped to 203-7 when Starc (0) was well caught by Faf du Plessis off Maharaj.

Australia was at risk of conceding a first-innings deficit but Nevill (23) and Peter Siddle (18 not out) shared a 29-run eighth-wicket stand.

Australia's captain Steve Smith throws his arms out in frustration after he was given out LBW on the second day of play during their cricket test match against South Africa in Perth, Australia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Heavy fighting as Iraqi troops drive deeper into Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq (AP)  Iraqi special forces launched a two-pronged assault deeper into Mosul's urban center on Friday, unleashing the most intense street battles against Islamic State militants since the offensive began nearly three weeks ago.

Smoke rose across eastern neighborhoods of Iraq's second-largest city as heavy fighting continued after sundown, with explosions and machine gun fire echoing in the streets as mosques called for evening prayer.

More than 3,000 Iraqi troops took part in the assault under heavy U.S.-led coalition air support, but the pace of the fight also slowed as Iraqi forces moved from fighting in more rural areas with few civilians to the tight, narrow streets of Mosul proper. Sniper fire repeatedly stalled the advance, as commanders called in airstrikes or artillery support after coming under fire.

Iraqi special forces soldiers move in formation in an alley on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

As the operation got underway, columns of armored vehicles wound through the desert, pushing through dirt berms and drawing heavy fire as they closed in on the middle-class Tahrir and Zahara districts. The area was once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Seven suicide attackers in explosives-laden vehicles barreled toward the troops, with two getting through and detonating their charges, Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi told The Associated Press. The others were destroyed, including a bulldozer that was hit by an airstrike from the U.S.-led coalition supporting the offensive.

At least seven special forces troops were killed and an officer and three soldiers were wounded, said an Iraqi military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to brief reporters.

"The operation is going well, but it's slow. These kinds of advances are always slow," said Iraqi special forces Capt. Malik Hameed, as IS fighters could be seen running in the distance to reposition themselves. "If we tried to go any faster we would take even more injuries."

An Iraqi television journalist traveling in a Humvee was wounded in one of the suicide car bomb attacks.

Earlier, at the eastern approach to the city's urban center, militants holed up in a building fired a rocket at an Iraqi Abrams tank, disabling it and sending its crew fleeing from the smoking vehicle. The advance in that area then stalled.

The push began as dawn broke with artillery and mortar strikes on the Aden, Tahrir, and Quds districts, just west of the special forces' footholds in the Gogjali and Karama neighborhoods, al-Timimi said.

On the heels of the special forces advances, the Iraqi army's ninth division moved into the eastern Intisar neighborhood, said an officer from the unit who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered the city limits for the first time in more than two years, after a demoralized Iraqi army fled in the face of the Islamic State group's 2014 blitz across large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

The operation to retake Mosul is expected to take weeks if not months. Moving from neighborhood to neighborhood in house-to-house battles through dense warrens of booby-trapped buildings is time consuming and Iraq's military has repeatedly opted for slower operations in an effort to minimize casualties.

Some 1 million civilians still remain in the city, complicating the advance. IS militants have driven thousands of residents deeper into the city's built-up areas to be used as human shields, while hundreds of others have fled toward government-controlled territory and thousands have fled west into Syria.

Just a few miles (kilometers) from Friday's operation, dozens of cars queued up on the road to camps for displaced Mosul residents.

"We suffered and there was bombing and heavy shelling. We didn't feel safe," said Mahmoud Mahdi, who was fleeing the now government-held Gogjali neighborhood. "Everybody is displaced and walking around in this heat. It is exhausting."

Mosul is the last major IS stronghold in Iraq, and expelling the militant group from the city would be a major blow to the survival of its self-declared "caliphate" that stretches into Syria.

Iraqi forces have made uneven progress in closing in on the city since the operation began on Oct. 17. Advances have been slower from the south, with government troops still some 20 miles (35 kilometers) away. Kurdish fighters and Iraqi army units are deployed to the north, while government-sanctioned Shiite militias are sweeping in from the west to try to cut off any IS escape route.

As the sun began to set Friday, special forces troops fanned out across the city blocks retaken in the fighting. Guided by intelligence from U.S.-led coalition surveillance of the area, they knocked on the doors of homes where they believed civilians were living.

Moving from street to street, Capt. Hameed and his men found four families and an elderly couple in the sector they were assigned to clear. After sweeping the rooms for weapons, they questioned the male heads of household.

"Who were the IS fighters responsible for this neighborhood?" special forces Maj. Ahmed al-Mamouri asked an elderly man.

"They were Arabs, but not Iraqi. Foreign," the man said pointing to the houses where the fighters lived and worked.

As his children served the Iraqi soldiers tea, the man described where and when he saw the IS militants flee and the weapons they had. Al-Mamouri pulled out satellite images of central Mosul and asked the man to identify checkpoints and buildings where he believed the fighters were making explosives.

"This is all to help with our operation moving forward," al-Mamouri said. "This is almost more important than the clashes."

___

Associated Press writers Brian Rohan in Baghdad and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

___

Interactive: http://interactives.ap.org/2016/islamic-state/

Displaced people ride on the back of a truck near Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

An Iraqi special forces sniper searches for a target on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Iraqi special forces vehicles move as an airstrike hits an Islamic State militant position on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Displaced women queue to receive food after arriving in the Hassan Sham camp, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A displaced man riding in a convoy of cars cuts his beard as he waits near a checkpoint near Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Displaced people ride on the back of a truck near Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Displaced Iraqis gather outside the Khazer camp, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man suspected of being an Islamic State member is detained at a checkpoint near Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Displaced men queue to be screened after arriving in the Hassan Sham camp, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A convoy of cars carrying displaced people drives to the Hassan Sham camp, east of Mosul, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Friday as Iraqi special forces launched an assault deeper into the urban areas of the city and swung round to attack Islamic State militants from a second entry point, to the northeast. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Mobster pleads guilty to lying during probe of 1993 killing

BOSTON (AP)  A member of the New England Mafia has pleaded guilty to charges he lied to authorities investigating the 1993 slaying of a Boston nightclub owner.

Robert DeLuca entered guilty pleas on Friday to one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Steven DiSarro's remains were discovered this year behind a Providence, Rhode Island, mill owned by a mob associate.

FILE - This booking file photo released by the Broward County Sheriff's Office shows Robert Paul DeLuca, a longtime member of the New England Mafia who is expected to plead guilty to charges he lied to authorities investigating the 1993 slaying of a Boston nightclub owner. A change-of-plea hearing for DeLuca is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in federal court in Boston. (Broward County Sheriff's Office via AP)

DeLuca told investigators he helped former mob boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme (sah-LEHM'-ee) dispose of DiSarro's body. Salemme and another man have pleaded not guilty in DiSarro's killing.
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Indonesian police donned special 'Robocop' uniforms today to tackle a raging mob of Muslims who went ballistic after the Mayor of Jakarta, who is a Christian, allegedly 'insulted the Koran'.

One man died and seven were injured in clashes in the capital today following protests by hard-line Muslims demanding the arrest of the city's governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - known as Ahok - for alleged blasphemy.

Clashes broke out between police and hard-core protesters who refused to disperse following nightfall.

Indonesian police, clad in the latest 'Robocop' style uniforms, prepare to be sent out onto the streets to tackle the mob

The mob set fire to cars outside the presidential palace and hurled stones as they vented their outrage at the Christian Mayor of Jakarta

Police fired tear gas and water cannons and protesters set alight two police vehicles and piles of rubbish left behind from the protest, which drew tens of thousands of people.

Police responded after protesters near the presidential palace threw stones, bamboo sticks and bottles.

Fearing violence, police put on a show of force for the protest, supported by soldiers and public order officers, while embassies closed, some shops were shuttered and Jakarta's normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.

The Mayor, popularly known as Ahok, is seen as a moderniser but he is prone to making jokes and one of jokes was taken as an insult to the Koran

Protesters use sticks to attack riot police during a clash outside the presidential palace in Jakarta today

The accusation of blasphemy against Ahok, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian who is an ally of the president, has galvanised his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million, and given a notorious group of hardliners a national stage.

The Islamic Defenders Front, a vigilante group that wants to impose Shariah law, is demanding Ahok's arrest after a video circulated online in which he joked to an audience about a passage in the Koran that could be interpreted as prohibiting Muslims from accepting non-Muslims as leaders.

The governor has apologised for the comment.

Muslim protesters chant slogans near burning police trucks during a clash with the police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta

Ahok, who is seeking a second term as Jakarta governor, is popular with the city's middle class. He is adored as a blunt speaker who does not tolerate corruption and articulates a vision of making the chaotic, dysfunctional city more like clean, orderly and efficient Singapore.

Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono said an elderly man died, possibly from the effects of tear gas. He said four civilians and three police officers were injured.

Clashes broke out between police and hard-core protesters who refused to disperse following nightfall. Police fired tear gas and water cannons and protesters set alight two police vehicles and piles of rubbish left behind from the protest, which drew tens of thousands of people.

An Indonesian protester holds a police shield afer a clash with the police during a protest against allegedly blasphemous remark made by Jakarta's Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as 'Ahok' outside the presidential palace in Jakarta

A Muslim youth carries a riot shield near burning police trucks, during a clash with the police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta

Setiyono said police responded after protesters near the presidential palace threw stones, bamboo sticks and bottles. The confrontation subsided after a protest leader appealed for calm.

MetroTV reported that a mob tried to enter the housing complex where Jakarta Gov. Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama lives in northern Jakarta but were stopped by police, who fired tear gas.

Setiyono said rioting in north Jakarta involving the looting of a convenience store and damage to police vehicles had been brought under control.

Protesters throw sticks and mineral water bottles during a clash with the police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta

Protesters are sprayed by a police water cannon during a clash outside the presidential palace in Jakarta today

An Indonesian protester walks past burned cars outside the presidential palace during clashes with police that marred an otherwise peaceful rally against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian accused of insulting the Koran

An Indonesian man hurls a rock at police near the presidential palace in clashes that marred an otherwise peaceful rally against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian accused of insulting Islam, in Jakarta today

Earlier Muslim protesters march during a demonstration in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hardline Muslims converged Friday on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its minority-Christian governor for alleged blasphemy

Fearing violence, police put on a show of force for the protest, supported by soldiers and public order officers, while embassies closed, some shops were shuttered and Jakarta's normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.

The predominantly male demonstrators, most wearing white shirts and skull caps, had massed at the Istiqlal Mosque for the protest following weekly Friday prayers and marched on the nearby presidential palace.

Large protests also took place in other cities including Medan on Sumatra, Makassar in Sulawesi and Malang in East Java.

Muslim protesters pull razor wire blocking a road that leads to the presidential palace during a rally against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama in Jakarta today

Members of an Islamic student group threw plastic water bottles and other objects at riot police in Jakarta, but the massive demonstration appeared to have gone off without any major incident during the day.

But the anti-corruption stance has made him enemies, and the evictions of thousands of the city's poorest people to make way for urban improvement has stoked anger and resentment and played to a stereotype of Chinese as exploiters of Indonesia's poor Muslim masses.

On the national stage, Ahok is ranged against former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose son is a candidate for Jakarta governor, a position that is a stepping stone to national leadership. Yudhoyono went on national television earlier in the week to say he supported the protest.

Muslim protesters gather with a banner calling for the arrest of Jakarta's ethnic Chinese and Christian Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as 'Ahok,' outside the City Hall

Indonesian Muslim police women guard during a protest outside of the City Hall

A man uses his smartphone to take photos during a rally against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama in Jakarta
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A minibus crammed with 'a ton of explosives' has exploded near a building used by Turkish riot police killing at least eight people.

The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district and the governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has claimed the attack.

It came just hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.

The bomb left a huge crater in the road and damaged a number of buildings, vehicles and businesses nearby.

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A strong blast in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir severely damaged this building at the explosion site

Rescue officials and people carry an injured man at the explosion site in Turkey on November 4

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016

A minibus crammed with 'a ton of explosives' has exploded near a building used by Turkish riot police killing at least eight people

Selahattin Demirtas, left, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, (HDP) and Figen Yuksekdag, the other co-chair celebrate following a news conference in Istanbul (file photo)

A woman screams in horror after the blast in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey

The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district and the governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has claimed the attack

A woman holds a rag to her bloody head as she is helped away from the bomb site as people frantically try to use their phones

It came just hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said both police and civilians were killed in the attack and the state-run Anadolu Agency said at least 30 were wounded.

Anadolu said the attack was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies.

A fragile cease-fire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said both police and civilians were killed in the attack and the state-run Anadolu Agency said at least 30 were wounded

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the attack was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives

People run away after a blast in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, November 4, 2016

Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists

Turkish policemen argue with onlookers as they arrive to secure and seal off the area after an explosion in Diyarbakir, Turkey, 04 November 2016

Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: 'Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant.'

State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. Other senior officials taken away included Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken.

A twelfth legislator was also detained during the day.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol.

Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: 'Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant.'

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including 'disseminating terrorist propaganda' and 'membership in an armed terrorist organization.'

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. 'If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there,' he said, according to Anadolu.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May

A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, November 4, 2016

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including 'disseminating terrorist propaganda' and 'membership in an armed terrorist organization.'

Locals help medics carry a wounded person after an explosion in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects

Justice Minister Bozdag defended the detentions in a speech Friday, 'The legislators that were detained did not help the legal process to proceed, they did not recognize the law. They did not respect the law.'

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership in the PKK.
Kenya warned against closing world's largest refugee camp

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Another major aid group is warning Kenya not to close the world's largest refugee camp, saying the move is pressuring tens of thousands of Somali refugees to return to their deeply unstable country.

A new Refugees International report says Somali refugees in the Dadaab camp in Kenya say they feel under pressure to leave for Somalia, where attacks by Islamic extremist group al-Shabab continue and hunger is widespread.

The U.N. refugee agency "claims that it only supports voluntary returns, but none of the refugees whom we spoke with in Dadaab said they felt like they have much choice," said Mark Yarnell, who wrote the report after visiting Dadaab and Somalia. "It is a failure of the international refugee response system that other options are not available."

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2011, file photo, newly arrived Somali refugees wait outside a UNHCR processing center at the Ifo refugee camp outside Dadaab, eastern Kenya, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Somali border. Another major aid group warned Kenya Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 not to close the world's largest refugee camp, saying the move is pressuring tens of thousands of Somali refugees to return to their deeply unstable country. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

The report says Kenya should lift its Nov. 30 deadline to close the camp, which has existed for a quarter-century and holds more than 250,000 people. It sprawls in a dry, thorny region near the border with Somalia, where many born in the camp have never been.

On Monday, Kenya's High Court will hear a petition filed by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to challenge the government's plan to close the camp, Amnesty International said Friday.

Groups including Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Refugee Council also have expressed alarm in recent weeks over Kenya's reported pressure on Somali refugees to leave. They say large parts of Somalia remain insecure and aid for returnees is limited.

Kenya has expressed concern that some Dadaab residents are used by the Somalia-based al-Shabab to launch attacks inside Kenya. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said repatriations will be voluntary and humane.

The Refugees International report urges the U.N. refugee agency to give Dadaab residents "reliable information" about security conditions in Somalia.
Kenya deports South Sudan rebel official over Facebook post

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  Kenya has forcibly deported a South Sudanese rebel spokesman and registered refugee back to his country over a Facebook posting, a family member and the United Nations said Friday, while colleagues feared for his life and the U.N. regretted that its efforts to stop his removal had failed.

Human rights groups immediately condemned Kenya's deportation on Thursday of James Gatdet Dak, calling it a breach of international law. He had a U.S. green card, said the family member, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution from Kenya's government.

"He became an inadmissible person, so we cancelled his visa and he was taken to his country of origin," Kenyan government spokesman Eric Kiraithe told The Associated Press.

Rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled South Sudan in July, pleaded with Kenya's deputy president not to deport Gatdet "due to profound fear for his life," Machar said in a statement. He said he told Kenyan officials that Gatdet was a refugee, and said the U.N. refugee agency "made serious efforts" to reverse Kenya's decision.

Fighting continues in South Sudan amid ethnic tensions, despite a fragile peace deal to end civil war.

The deportation came during a bitter dispute between Kenya and the United Nations over the U.N. secretary-general's firing of the Kenyan commander of the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The U.N. forces were accused of responding poorly to attacks on civilians in July.

The Facebook posting by Gatdet, a spokesman for Machar, supported the Kenyan commander's firing.

Kenya has responded angrily to the firing, noting that Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki had been on the job for just three weeks when the July attacks occurred. Kenya has announced it is pulling its 1,000 peacekeepers from South Sudan and withdrawing from its peace process, in which it has played a key role as one of South Sudan's neighbors.

Human rights workers said the deportation of Gatdet was going too far, saying Kenya violated international law by deporting a registered refugee. Documents seen by the AP show that Gatdet was registered in Kenya as a refugee in August 2015.

"On top of this, he is now at risk of arbitrary detention and torture in the hands of South Sudanese government authorities," Elizabeth Deng, a South Sudan researcher at Amnesty International, told the AP.

"In colluding with South Sudan and deporting James Gatdet Dak, Kenya has exposed him to a serious risk of persecution," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Kenya is steadily shredding any pretense of respect for its fundamental refugee protection obligations."

South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei, said he had no knowledge of Gatdet's whereabouts. He urged the U.N. to reverse the decision to fire the Kenyan commander and urged Kenya to keep its peacekeepers in the country and remain in the peace process.

According to the family member of Gatdet, he was arrested by South Sudanese national security officials when he landed in the capital, Juba.

"They tried to forcefully take (Gatdet) to the plane, and he struggled and refused to go, and the pilot refused to take him," the family member said of his departure from Kenya. "I am very much concerned. In the first place, I don't see a reason why he should be deported. He should have been taken to a different country."

Gatdet has a U.S. green card, the family member said.

In Geneva, U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly said the agency was "deeply concerned" about Gatdet's well-being, calling his forced removal a violation of international law. She said the agency regrets that its interventions with Kenyan authorities to stop the "forced return" were unsuccessful.

Gatdet might have dual nationality, Pouilly told reporters, without giving details.

South Sudan, the world's youngest country, gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 and saw civil war break out in 2013 when government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battled rebels led by his former vice president, Machar. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million displaced.

In three days of fighting in South Sudan's capital in July, at least 73 people were killed, including more than 20 internally displaced people who had sought U.N. protection, said a U.N. report released Tuesday. The report said "a lack of leadership on the part of key senior mission personnel culminated in a chaotic and ineffective response to the violence." The firing of the Kenyan commander was announced shortly afterward.

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India TV channel to be penalized for coverage of base attack

NEW DELHI (AP)  Government officials in India have ordered a popular news channel to go off the air for a day over its coverage of an attack on an Indian air base in January.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in an order Thursday that NDTV India was being penalized for broadcasting sensitive details of the attack on the military base in the northern town of Pathankot that left seven soldiers dead. Authorities have blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack on the sprawling base that lasted for nearly four days.

The news channel has said its coverage was fair and balanced and didn't include any details not aired by other news stations. It said it is exploring all legal options to reverse the ban slated for next Wednesday.

The order to ban the channel has been criticized by other media organizations.

The Editors' Guild of India said the order was unprecedented and that the federal government appeared to have given itself the power "to intervene in the functioning of the media and take arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage." The organization, a grouping of the editors of all major newspapers and magazines in the country, said if the government finds any media coverage objectionable, it can approach the courts.

Several prominent journalists also criticized the order.

"The banning of NDTV India is a shocking flexing of govt muscle over free media. Don't shoot the messenger," journalist Sagarika Ghose tweeted.

"Govt pulling TV news channels off air is a dangerous trend," Rahul Kanwal, a top news anchor and editor, said on Twitter.

India routinely asks entertainment TV channels to censor words it deems too racy for local audiences. But the order against NDTV India is the first such ban on a television station for its reporting of a militant attack.

In insurgency-wracked Indian-controlled Kashmir, however, it's not uncommon for local newspapers to be barred from publishing for several days in a row when cycles of protests and violence flare up.
The Latest: US condemns Turkey's detention of lawmakers

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  The Latest on an explosion and detentions in Kurdish areas of Turkey (all times local):

10:25 p.m.

The U.S. government says it's "deeply disturbed" by Turkey's detention of opposition members of parliament.

Police officers detain supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, HDP, as they protest the detentions of Kurdish lawmakers, in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including both party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said. (AP Photo)

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the detentions follow Turkey's recent detention of the editor-in-chief of one of its most respected newspapers.

Earnest says Friday that senior U.S. officials have expressed these concerns to their Turkish counterparts. He acknowledges that Turkey has been rocked by deadly attacks but says Turkey has a "special obligation" as a democracy to reinforce public confidence in the rule of law.

Earnest says democracies become stronger by allowing diverse expressions of views, particularly during difficult times. He says suppressing fundamental freedoms is not an antidote to terrorism.

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9.20 p.m.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the car bomb attack in southeast Turkey and expressed concern over the detentions of pro-Kurdish legislators.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the secretary-general, said in an emailed statement that Ban was also concerned by media restrictions in the country.

Authorities on Friday detained 12 legislators of the People's Democratic Party, or HDP, for questioning over terror-related probes. Eight of them, including HDP's co-chairs, were formally arrested pending trial.

Earlier this week, authorities also detained the chief editor and senior staff members of a leading opposition newspaper for allegedly supporting terror organizations.

Dujarric said the secretary-general calls "on the Turkish authorities to make every effort to uphold fundamental rights and universal principles, including the freedom of expression, representation, independence of the judiciary, right to fair trial and strict adherence to due process, in line with Turkey's international obligations."

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7:10 p.m.

Turkey's foreign minister has rejected criticism from the European Union over his country's detention of pro-Kurdish lawmakers, and he renewed accusations that some European nations were providing support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that the pro-Kurdish legislators were not above the law, adding that the EU had no right to give Turkey "lessons concerning the superiority of the law and democracy."

Cavusoglu said: "I have never heard (an EU nation) tell the PKK to lay down its arms nor that it cannot go anywhere through terrorism. I have never encountered a country or an EU official who told the (pro-Kurdish party) to put a distance between it and the PKK."

Cavusoglu went on to accuse some EU nations of allowing the PKK to extort money or carry out fundraising on their territories, and of refusing to extradite PKK militants wanted by Turkey.

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6:25 p.m.

All three Scandinavian foreign ministers have summoned the Turkish ambassadors in Norway, Sweden and Denmark to explain the arrests of pro-Kurdish politicians.

Borge Brende, foreign minister of Norway, which is outside the European Union, says that although Turkey has the right to fight terrorism, it "does not justify gagging or even jailing opposition politicians."

His Swedish counterpart, Margot Wallstrom, says "the arrests could risk fueling the already existing tensions in the country."

In Denmark, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said Friday's arrests and earlier crackdown on activists and media outlets "has brought Turkey further away from Europe" and "obviously makes it more difficult to imagine Turkey as an EU member."

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5:15 p.m.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency has increased the death toll in Friday's car bomb attack in the mainly Kurdish southeast to nine.

Earlier, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had said eight people including two police officers had been killed.

The attack in the largest mainly Kurdish city, Diyarbakir, came just hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish lawmakers for questioning in terror related probes.

The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, claimed the attack, which Anadolu said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out.

Yildirim also said one of the assailants was "caught dead," but did not elaborate.

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5 p.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says authorities have formally arrested five pro-Kurdish lawmakers, including the party's two co-chairs, who were among 12 detained on terrorism-related charges.

Anadolu Agency says People's Democratic Party, or HDP, co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag were put under arrest by court order on Friday and will be held in custody pending trial. Three other lawmakers Nursel Aydogan, Leyla Birlik and Idris Baluken were formally arrested earlier.

Meanwhile three of the 12 detainees, Sirri Sureyya Onder, Imam Tascier and Ziya Pir, were released by the court on condition they regularly report to authorities.

A total of 15 detention warrants were issued by public prosecutors. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

The others are in court waiting for their rulings.

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4 p.m.

Turkish police have clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in four cities in protest of the detentions of pro-Kurdish lawmakers.

Riot police on Friday used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya.

The state-run Anadolu agency and other news reports said 10 people were detained in Ankara, five in Antalya and seven others were rounded up in Istanbul's Esenyurt and Kadikoy districts.

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2:50 p.m.

The European Union said Friday that the detention of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians combined with the lifting of parliamentary immunity of over 130 legislators in May "compromise parliamentary democracy in Turkey."

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini also said in a statement that the moves "exacerbate the already very tense situation" in southeastern Turkey.

In a joint statement with Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, they said that EU "is gravely concerned" about the detentions.

Over the past months, the relations between the EU and Turkey, still a candidate for membership, have steadily worsened as events in the southeastern neighbor have opened it to increasing criticism that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has overstepped the boundaries of democracy.

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2:50 p.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says a court has ordered a pro-Kurdish legislator formally arrested pending a trial.

The Anadolu Agency says a court in the southeastern city of Bingol ruled in the case of Idris Baluken, a senior lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party or HDP.

Baluken was among 12 HDP lawmakers detained for questioning early on Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations. One of them was released from custody on condition that he regularly report to authorities.

Authorities said the lawmakers were detained for ignoring orders to appear in court to testify in the probes.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has fought an armed insurgency against the state for over three decades. The HDP rejects the accusation.

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1:55 p.m.

The German Foreign Ministry says a Turkish government representative in Berlin has been summoned for talks following the arrest of a dozen pro-Kurdish politicians.

Ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said Friday that Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier sees the arrests as a "drastic intensification of the situation" in Turkey.

She says nobody disputes Turkey's right to counter the threat of terrorism and deal with the aftermath of a bloody coup attempt, but it "should not serve as a justification for silencing the political opposition."

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert says the German government is "talking with our Turkish partners at all levels" about the issue.

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1:50 p.m.

A pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, legislator has condemned the detentions of 12 of his party colleagues, including both co-chairs, saying the operation is aimed at sidelining the HDP and creating an authoritarian Turkey.

Adem Geveri described the detentions as a "political genocide operation," telling The Associated Press that they "officially put an end to the functioning of Parliament in an anti-democratic and unlawful way."

Twelve HDP parliamentarians were detained on Friday for not testifying in court on terrorism-related charges, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

"Now with the HDP removed from the political equation, they will go to an early election and establish an authoritarian Turkey without the HDP, without any democratic opposition," Geveri added.

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1:30 p.m.

Several parties in the European Union legislature have strongly condemned the detention of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians by Turkish authorities over their refusal to testify in ongoing terror-related investigations.

Adding to the groundswell of protest over the actions, the S&D socialists, the second-biggest group in the EU parliament called it "very bad news from (hashtag)Turkey. Again," in a Twitter message.

Helga Truepel of the Greens group said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is turning the nation "into despotism" and called on the EU to react strongly.

Earlier Friday, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini already called on EU ambassadors to meet in Ankara and assess the way ahead.

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1:20 p.m.

The TurkeyBlocks monitoring network is reporting that access to various social media and messaging apps have been restricted as of 1:20 a.m. Friday, coinciding with the detentions of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians.

Users nationwide have been complaining about restricted access to various social media and messaging, including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype.

TurkeyBlocks confirmed the restricted access, saying its monitoring probes have identified "throttling at the ISP level as the source of the slowdowns, with the majority of internet users affected at the time of measurement."

Rights activists say restricting access to the internet is aimed at preventing calls for demonstrations.

Last week, internet access was periodically blocked in the southeast following the arrest of the co-mayors of the largest predominantly Kurdish city, Diyarbakir.

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12:50 p.m.

The European Union's foreign policy chief has expressed concern over the detention of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians by Turkish authorities over their refusal to testify in ongoing terror-related investigations.

Friday's overnight detentions included People's Democratic Party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

EU commissioner for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini wrote on Twitter: "Extremely worried for arrest of Demirtas & other HDP MPs. In contact w/ authorities Called EU ambassadors meeting in Ankara."

Mogherini had also criticized last month the detention of the co-mayors of Turkey's largest predominantly Kurdish city, Diyarbakir, issuing a statement calling on Turkey to resume Kurdish peace efforts saying "a political solution is the only viable option."

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12:35 p.m.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says a car bomb attack in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir has killed eight people.

Yildirim said up to 100 people were hurt in Friday's blast but only seven of them remain in hospital.

The prime minister said those killed were two police officers, a technician and five civilians.

The prime minister also said one of the assailants was "caught dead" but did not provide details.

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11:55 a.m.

A large explosion, caused by a car bomb, hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said both police and civilians were killed in the attack but did not say how many. The state-run Anadolu Agency said one person was killed and some 30 others were wounded.

The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district, near a building used by the riot police. The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack.

Anadolu said the attack was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

Aysel Tugluk, a pro-Kurdish politician, speaks to the media during a protest against the detention of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, lawmakers, in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including both party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said. (AP Photo)

Police officers detain supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, HDP, as they protest against the detentions of Kurdish lawmakers, in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including both party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said. (AP Photo)

Police officers spray pepper gas to disperse supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, during a protest against the detentions of Kurdish lawmakers, in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including both party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said. (AP Photo)

FILE-In this Sunday, June 7, 2015 file photo, Selahattin Demirtas, left, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, (HDP) and Figen Yuksekdag, the other co-chair celebrate following a news conference in Istanbul. regarding their party's success at the elections. Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including Demirtas, Yuksekdag and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said. The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has fought an armed insurgency against the state for over three decades. The HDP rejects the accusation.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People help a wounded man after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb.(IHA via AP)

People view the damage after an explosion in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

Locals help medics carry a wounded person after an explosion in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but local media said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

People watch the damage after an explosion in southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. A large explosion hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but Hurriyet newspaper said it may have been caused by a car bomb. (IHA via AP)

FILE-In this Sunday, June 7, 2015 file photo, Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, (HDP) celebrates following a news conference in Istanbul, regarding their party's success at the elections. Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including Demirtas, Yuksekdag and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said. The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has fought an armed insurgency against the state for over three decades. The HDP rejects the accusation.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
Pakistan to deport National Geographic's 'Afghan Girl'

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  A court in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday ordered that the National Geographic's famed green-eyed "Afghan Girl" be deported once her detention expires, a prosecutor said.

The case of Sharbat Gulla, who was arrested 10 days ago over having allegedly forged ID papers and staying in Pakistan illegally, has drawn international attention and criticism of the Pakistani authorities.

She gained international fame in 1984 as an Afghan refugee girl, after war photographer Steve McCurry's photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on the cover of National Geographic. McCurry found her again in 2002.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, the owner of a book shop shows a copy of a magazine with the photograph of Afghan refugee woman Sharbat Gulla, from his rare collection in Islamabad, Pakistan. A Pakistani prosecutor said Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016 that a court has dismissed a bail plea from National Geographic's famed green-eyed 'Afghan Girl,' arrested a week ago over allegedly forged ID papers. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash, File)

In 2014, she surfaced in Pakistan but went into hiding when authorities accused her of buying a fake Pakistani identity card.

On Friday, prosecutor Mohsin Dawar said she faces deportation after five days, when her 15-day jail term is to expire. He said the court also fined Gulla a sum of 110,000 rupees, which is about $1,100.

Dawar said that Judge Farah Jamsheed handed down the punishment after Gulla, wearing the traditional all-covering burqa, was brought before the court where she pleaded guilty to the charges against her.

Earlier, she had denied the charges against her, according to officials.

Amnesty International criticized the decision to deport the famed Afghan woman.

"Pakistan's decision to deport Sharbat Gula is a grave injustice. For decades, she was known as the world's most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistan's status as a generous host," said Champa Patel, the London-based rights group's South Asia director.

She added that by sending her back to a country she hasn't seen in a generation, and which her children have never known, "her plight has become emblematic of Pakistan's cruel treatment of Afghan refugees."

On Thursday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Gulla was hospitalized after falling ill while in custody.

Dawar, the prosecutor, said she is being treated at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital for a liver ailment and that she is likely to stay in the hospital until her deportation.

Gulla's attorney Mubashir Nazeer claimed the court treated her kindly, in view of her illness, and that it would also consider the fact that she has four children  three daughters and a son  all minors.
Amid anger, Egypt PM defends painful economic measures

CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's prime minister tried to reassure an anxious public on Friday as Egyptians expressed alarm and anger over prices that swiftly soared a day after the nation's currency was floated, sending its value tumbling as fuel subsidies were cut.

In the capital's working class district of Imbaba, residents spoke of a sudden spike in transportation and food prices, mainly because of the increase in petrol costs.

Gaber Ramadan, a manual laborer, told The Associated Press that his commute to work rose from 2 to 3 pounds overnight, and even his morning falafel went up from a quarter to a half pound. Even the slightest increase stings, he said, as he earns 1,200 pounds a month, a third of which goes to rent.

An Egyptian man walks past a poster showing a U.S. dollar outside an exchange office in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. Egypt has devalued its currency by 48 percent, meeting a key demand set by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $12 billion loan over three years to overhaul the country's ailing economy. The much heralded decision by the Egyptian Central Bank to devalue the pound followed a sharp and sudden decline this week in the value of the dollar in the unofficial market, plunging from an all-time high of 18.25 pounds to around 13 to the U.S. currency. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The unprecedented shock therapy measures are part of a raft of reforms aimed at salvaging Egypt's crumbling economy and securing a $12 billion IMF bailout.

But it has also raised fears of a backlash from a public already struggling with high inflation and mounting unemployment.

"People are tired, really tired," said Ramadan.

A young salesman at a nearby mobile phone shop, who identified himself with his first name Hamada, yelled: "We are worth nothing!"

On Thursday, the Central Bank devalued the Egyptian pound from 8.8 to 13 to the dollar, and then floated it. By Friday, the pound was at 15 to 16 to the dollar.

At midnight on Thursday, the fuel subsidy cut also came into effect, increasing gas prices by 30 to 47 percent, depending on the type.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail appeared on state TV at a press conference with six other ministers, and said the government doesn't have the "luxury" to wait.

"It is our destiny to take action in the face of the current economic situation," he said, arguing that the way forward is to attract foreign investment to provide more job opportunities and increase exports. Egypt currently imports a third of its needs in goods.

But he pledged that steps would also be taken toward "improving the living conditions of citizens." He said past measures were only temporary "pain relief," but that the latest drastic moves were part of a comprehensive reform program.

The government aims to achieve a growth rate of no less than 6 percent, compared to the current 4.3 percent, and reduce the budget deficit from 12 to 10 percent, he said.

The move was praised by the IMF and local business community as a belated and much-needed step in the right direction.

Egypt's foreign currency reserves dwindled in recent years as tourism dried up over fears of terrorism, remittances dropped because of low oil prices, and Suez Canal revenues diminished because of a decline in global trade. Investment and business activity stalled, with inflation hitting 14 percent and unemployment 13 percent. Government efforts to shore up the currency generated a black market where the dollar reached a rate of 19 pounds  compared to 8.8 in the banks.

In recent days, basic commodities like sugar have been all but absent from markets, and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi risks paying a heavy political price.

Ismail appeared to recognize this reality, and referenced the 1977 bread riots that erupted over austerity measures which had also included subsidy cuts. Then-President Anwar Sadat deployed the military to quash ensuing riots, and was eventually compelled to cancel the austerity measures. Ismail said cancelling the cuts back then led to mounting budget deficits, which the country has been enduring ever since.

Aspiring to a better future, Egyptians have changed their president twice in the past six years. The 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and in 2013 the military removed the elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. With each transition, instability has devastated the economy.

El-Sissi, who led the military ouster of Morsi, was elected on a platform that promised security and stability. Under his rule, security forces have cracked down heavily on Islamists and dissenters, preventing any significant protests for the past two years. But with a move set to radically disrupt a subsidy system that has been in place for decades, el-Sissi risks galvanizing his opposition.

For weeks, there have been calls on social media for mass demonstrations on Nov. 11. And while many political forces have distanced themselves from the call, the Interior Ministry still issued warnings of "conspiracies to incite chaos"  a naked reference to what it considers rabblerousing by the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

Capitalizing on the public mood, Brotherhood supporters called on Friday for protests to demand the ouster of el-Sissi.

"Raise the pound with your protests; remove el-Sissi the failure," a statement by an Islamist alliance said on its Facebook page, calling for a "week of rage" against the government's economic policies.

In Imbaba, some said they will demonstrate on Nov. 11.

"I swear to God, I went to the street for el-Sissi before. This time I will go again against him because I don't want him," said Ramadan, the laborer. "He was a trap."

A minibus driver, Khaled Fathi, said the cost of filling his tank on Friday went up 30 percent to 60 pounds. In turn, he increased his fares to 1.75 pounds from 1.15, angering commuters. "Since the morning, I have been in endless arguments," he said.

"The prices of everything around us are increasing, except for human beings. People in Egypt are very cheap," he said. "I will go out and we have nothing to lose."

Although El-Sissi regularly justifies heavy-handed security measures against dissent as the cost of stability, violent attacks in the country haven't ceased since the 2011 uprising.

On Friday, authorities reported that a car bomb allegedly targeting a judge involved in a terror-linked case, exploded on Friday near the popular Al-Ahly Club in the eastern suburb of Nasr City, damaging several cars but causing no injuries.

Meanwhile, militants also killed a senior army officer in the restive Sinai Peninsula's el-Arish, where the army has been battling Islamic militants.

In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2016 photo, Egyptians ride in vehicles carrying a wedding furniture in Cairo. Egypt has devalued its currency by 48 percent, meeting a key demand set by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $12 billion loan over three years to overhaul the country's ailing economy. The much heralded decision by the Egyptian Central Bank to devalue the pound followed a sharp and sudden decline this week in the value of the dollar in the unofficial market, plunging from an all-time high of 18.25 pounds to around 13 to the U.S. currency. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Lawsuit: Canadian doctor impregnated patients with own sperm

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP)  A Canadian fertility doctor is accused in a lawsuit of using his own sperm to impregnate his patients.

An Ottawa couple claims Dr. Bernard Norman Barwin is the biological father of their 26-year-old daughter.

The statement of claim says Barwin falsely said he was using Daniel Dixon's sperm to inseminate the man's wife, Davina, in 1990 when the couple was trying to conceive a child. The statement says DNA tests have conclusively shown the couple's daughter is not Daniel Dixon's biological child.

It also says the daughter has reason to believe she is also related to another woman conceived at Barwin's clinic who has been proven to be his biological daughter.
The Latest: Group says it will donate to officers' families

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The Latest on two police officers in the Des Moines area who were killed in what authorities describe as ambush-style attacks (all times local):

2:10 p.m.

A national charity says it will donate funds to help the families of the two police officers fatally shot in Iowa in ambush-style attacks this week.

This Nov. 3, 2016 photo provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Des Moines, Iowa, shows Scott Michael Greene, of Urbandale, Iowa. Greene was arrested earlier in the day and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin. Police say Greene fired upon the officers while they were sitting in their patrol cars in separate attacks early Wednesday. (Polk County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced Friday that it would help the families of Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale Officer Justin Martin.

The foundation also said it would pay off the mortgage on Beminio's home.

The suspect in the attacks, Scott Greene, was ordered held on $10 million bond on Friday. He's been charged with first-degree murder.

Police have asked that donations be made to the Des Moines Police Officers' Credit Union. CEO Andy Fogle says the credit union has received more than 800 online donations so far.

Iowa-based grocery store chain Hy-Vee has pledged $25,000 to each officer's family.

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11:45 a.m.

A daughter of a man charged with murder in the shooting death of two Iowa police officers says she's in shock that her father might have done such a thing.

Samantha Greene says she talked by phone with her father, Scott Michael Greene, just two hours before police say he fatally shot Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin.

Police say the officers were killed in separate ambush-style attacks while sitting in their patrol cars early Wednesday morning.

Samantha Greene says she had a normal conversation with her father around 11 p.m. Tuesday. The 25-year-old says her dad has been upset at losing his father to cancer and the breakup of a relationship, but that he showed no unusual signs of anger.

She spoke outside the Polk County Jail after watching her father's first appearance before a judge. She said he had the "deepest sympathy" for the officers' families. She says her father has never expressed "any ill action or thought against the police, so it's a complete shock."

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9:50 a.m.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered U.S. and state flags to be flown at half-staff to honor two police officers who were killed in what authorities have described as ambush-style attacks.

The order will last from sunrise on Monday to sunset on Tuesday.

Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin were shot to death early Wednesday while sitting in their patrol cars. Scott Michael Greene has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection to the shootings.

Services are scheduled for Monday for Beminio and Tuesday for Martin.

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8:50 a.m.

A judge has set the bond at $10 million for a man charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two police officers in Iowa.

Judge William Price set the bond for 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene during Greene's first court appearance on Friday.

Green was apprehended Wednesday, hours after Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin were killed. Both officers were shot in ambush-style attacks while sitting in their cars in separate locations.

If convicted, Green would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. His next hearing is set for Nov. 14.

Greene appeared in pink jail inmate clothing at the hearing, staring straight ahead without saying anything. The hearing took less than a minute in the Polk County Jail, which has a small courtroom.

Greene was released from a hospital Thursday, and he was arrested later in the day after detectives questioned him at the Des Moines police station.

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7:45 a.m.

A funeral has been scheduled for the second Iowa police officer who was fatally shot in an ambush-style attack while sitting in his police vehicle.

Des Moines police said Friday that a visitation for Sgt. Anthony Beminio will be held Sunday afternoon in West Des Moines. His funeral is set for Monday morning.

The 38-year-old Beminio was killed about 20 minutes after 24-year-old Urbandale Officer Justin Martin was fatally shot less than 2 miles away.

Martin's funeral is scheduled for Tuesday in his hometown of Rockwell City.

The suspect, 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene, was charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder.

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12:25 a.m.

An Iowa man charged in the killings of two police officers was facing intense money problems, had been found by a judge to hit and financially exploit his mother and was ordered to move out of her basement hours before the shootings.

Forty-six-year-old Scott Michael Greene was arrested Thursday afternoon after detectives questioned him at the Des Moines police station. Greene was secured with the handcuffs that had belonged to the patrolmen who were killed in ambush-style attacks, Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin, and was later booked into the county jail.

Greene was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

Local residents place flowers on a memorial outside the Urbandale Police Department, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Urbandale, Iowa. Urbandale officer Justin Martin and Des Moines officer Sgt. Anthony Beminio were ambushed and fatally shot in separate attacks Wednesday as they sat in their patrol cars, authorities said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

This undated photo provided by the Des Moines Police Department shows Des Moines police Sgt. Anthony "Tony" Beminio, who is one of two Des Moines area police officers shot to death early Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. Police say Scott Michael Greene, of Urbandale, Iowa, the man suspected in the killings, surrendered Wednesday to a state Department of Natural Resources officer. (Des Moines Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Des Moines Police Department shows Urbandale, Iowa police Officer Justin Martin, who is one of two Des Moines area police officers shot to death early Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. Police say Scott Michael Greene, of Urbandale, the man suspected in the killings surrendered Wednesday to a state Department of Natural Resources officer. (Des Moines Police Department via AP)

Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek, left, pauses to fights back emotions as he speaks to media during a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, at the Des Moines Police Department in Des Moines, Iowa, regarding the fatal shooting of two officers. Police say 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene was taken into custody Wednesday hours after the killings when he turned himself in to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources employee west of Des Moines. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP)

The flag flies at half-staff over the Urbandale Police Department, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Urbandale, Iowa. Urbandale officer Justin Martin and Des Moines officer Sgt. Anthony Beminio were ambushed and fatally shot in separate attacks Wednesday as they sat in their patrol cars, authorities said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

This Oct. 16, 2016 booking photo provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Des Moines, Iowa, shows Patricia Greene of Urbandale, Iowa. Her son, Scott Michael Greene, was charged Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, with fatally shooting two Iowa police officers in ambush-style attacks. Hours before the slayings, a judge ruled that Scott Greene had committed elder abuse against his mother and ordered him to move out of her home. (Polk County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Law enforcement officers gather in front of a home near the scene of a shooting, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Urbandale, Iowa. Authorities apprehended a man Wednesday suspected in the early morning killings of two Des Moines area police officers who were shot to death while sitting in their patrol cars in what authorities described as separate ambush-style attacks. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A Des Moines police department squad car with bullet holes seen on the passenger side door sits at the scene of a shooting, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. Authorities apprehended a man Wednesday suspected in the early morning killings of two Des Moines area police officers who were shot to death while sitting in their patrol cars in what authorities described as separate ambush-style attacks. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Law enforcement officials investigate at the scene of a shooting, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Urbandale, Iowa. Authorities apprehended a man Wednesday suspected in the early morning killings of two Des Moines area police officers who were shot to death while sitting in their patrol cars in what authorities described as separate ambush-style attacks. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Scott Greene, accused of murdering two police officers, is brought in for his initial court appearance on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, at the Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa. Greene has been charged in the ambush-style attacks of Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin. (Bryon Houlgrave /The Des Moines Register via AP)

Scott Greene, accused of murdering two police officers, is brought in for his initial court appearance on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, at the Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa. Greene has been charged in the ambush-style attacks of Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin. (Bryon Houlgrave /The Des Moines Register via AP)

Scott Greene, accused of murdering two police officers, is brought in for his initial court appearance on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, at the Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa. Greene has been charged in the ambush-style attacks of Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin. (Bryon Houlgrave /The Des Moines Register via AP)
Tow driver 'wasn't thinking,' used dead man's bank card

ORANGE CITY, Fla. (AP)  Authorities say a tow truck driver in Florida is accused of using the bank card of a man who was killed in a car crash.

Records show 31-year-old Giovanni Canicatti was arrested on Wednesday, a week after he towed the dead man's vehicle to Johnny's Autobody in Orange City, near Daytona Beach. He faces charges of grand theft, illegal use of a credit card and unlawful possession of personal identification.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal (http://bit.ly/2f1pPyN ) quotes Canicatti as saying that he "wasn't thinking" when he took Robert Sullivan's credit card from the vehicle. He says he was late with his car payment and used the card to cover the bill.

After the crash, Sullivan's wife realized $1,748 had been charged to his bank card in the two days after his death.

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Bayern to play in shirts made from recycled ocean waste

MUNICH (AP)  Bayern Munich will play in shirts made of recycled plastic waste collected off the shores of the Maldives when it hosts Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

The shirts were developed by Adidas.
Slovakia proposes voluntary help for EU in migrant crisis

PRAGUE (AP)  Slovakia's interior minister says he hopes the EU will approve his country's proposal for member states to contribute to solving the migrant crisis on a voluntary basis.

Robert Kalinak says that in the system, which he calls "effective solidarity," each individual country would decide how to help. He said every country knows best what to do.

As an example, he said Slovakia deployed some 300 officers this year in other European countries to help guard the EU's borderless Schengen zone.

Slovakia currently holds the EU's rotating presidency and its plan is scheduled to be discussed in Brussels in December.

Kalinak's plan was supported by his counterparts from the Czech Republic and Austria on Friday.
Parents in Spain are telling their children to boycott weekend homework this month to protest the 'unacceptable' amount they are given.

A federation of 12,000 parental associations has united around a 'No to Homework' campaign which aims to encourage more family time between parents and children.

It also argues that the homework system is outdated and doesn't improve learning.

Parents in Spain are telling their children to boycott weekend homework this month (stock image)

Jose Luis Pazos, the President of the federation Ceapa, said: 'We've lost a bit of common sense in this country when it comes to talking about education and we've got a system in which boys' and girls' free time has disappeared.'

'Schools are passing on tasks to families that they shouldn't be. They've made us into second teachers and left children in the latter stages of secondary children with up to 60 hours of schoolwork a week. It starts with children from the ages of three to six doing half an hour's homework every day. For us, that's an unacceptable situation.'

But Education Minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo said Friday that the strike call undermines schools' and teachers' authority and he encouraged talks on the issue.

Other parent and teacher associations have criticized the proposed homework boycott.

A spokesman for the education department of Madrid said that individual schools are 'the ones who know best what the need is in each case.'

Education Minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo (left) said Friday that the strike call undermines schools' and teachers' authority

'Its a question of autonomy: the teachers know what the needs of every student and every class are. But we do urge that schools try to make sure that different teachers and departments coordinate homework so that theyre not all giving a lot of homework at the same time.

'We also recommend that schools explain their homework policy to parents when they enroll their children.'
Djokovic loses in Paris quarters, Murray has shot at No 1

PARIS (AP)  Five months after his first French Open title and completing a career Grand Slam in Paris, Novak Djokovic's reign over men's tennis could be about to end in the City of Lights.

Djokovic, a three-time defending champion, lost in the Paris Masters quarterfinals on Friday, leaving his No. 1 ranking open to being snatched by Andy Murray.

The British player can rise from No. 2 to 1 in the ATP list for the first time if he reaches the final. He needs one more win after beating Tomas Berdych 7-6 (9), 7-5. His semifinal opponent will be No. 5 Milos Raonic, who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after loosing a point against Marin Cilic of Croatia during the quarterfinal match of the Paris Masters tennis tournament at the Bercy Arena in Paris, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Cilic won 6-4, 7-6. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Murray was aware of Djokovic's defeat when he took the court and was sometimes hesitant against Berdych. He rallied from 6-1 down in the tiebreak, and needed four match points to overcome the Czech.

"Before the match there were a few more nerves maybe than there was earlier in the week," Murray said. "But once I got out there, I didn't feel any different to any other match. I didn't play the match differently to how I would have played other matches, which is good. Tomorrow will probably be the same, probably."

So dominant on the Parisian red clay last June, Djokovic was far from his best on super-fast carpet and was beaten by Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (2), his first loss against the former U.S. Open champion in 15 matchups.

Djokovic made uncharacteristic mistakes from the baseline, called the tournament doctor during the first set, struggled on his serve, and destroyed his hopes of a comeback when he served for the second set at 5-4, hit two double faults, and was broken.

He fought until the end though, saving two match points in the 12th game with a fine backhand volley and crosscourt forehand winner, the rare moments when he looked like his usual self. But Cilic, who struck nine aces overall, served extremely well to prevail in the tiebreaker and end Djokovic's 17-match winning streak in Paris.

"I wasn't on the level that I could have been on," Djokovic said. "I was also, in this kind of circumstances and with this level of play, in a good position to take the match into the third set, and then two double faults. Just in important moments I wasn't able to deliver. He is a deserved winner."

Djokovic has held the top spot for 122 consecutive weeks. But after winning the French Open for the first time in June, his form has yo-yoed. He lost in the third round at Wimbledon, and in the first round of the Olympics. At the U.S Open, he won the first set in the final but Stan Wawrinka rallied to beat him.

He admitted his long-awaited victory at Roland Garros took a toll.

"There was pride and satisfaction in the success I have had with my team, but in the other hand, it was also very exhausting," he said. "At a certain point, I had to reach this kind of phase where I had to reflect and say, 'OK, I have played on the highest possible level for that much.' The drop of form is normal in sports. I'm not too concerned about how the future will go for me."

If he makes the final, Murray, who has spent 76 weeks at No. 2, will become the 26th player to reach No. 1 since the rankings started in 1973.

"He's definitely a player who deserves that," Djokovic said. "Undoubtedly, much respect for what he has done. We have known each other since very, very early days. We were, I think, 11 years old when we first played against each other. And to see how he has raised his level in the last 12 months is quite extraordinary."

Murray could become the oldest first-time No. 1 at 29 since John Newcombe made it at 30 in 1974.

"Getting to No. 1, like I said, is 12 months of work, basically," Murray said. "Consistency. I have never done that before. My career, I have had periods where I have been consistent for a few months at a time and then dropoffs. I have put myself in a position to do something that takes a lot of consistency, a lot of concentration for a long period of time. I'm happy about that."

Cilic, who qualified for the ATP Finals this week, will take on American John Isner in the semifinals.

"The end of the season is just getting better and better," Cilic said.

Isner won a hard-fought all-American contest against Jack Sock 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4.

Tsonga's loss combined with Berdych's exit played in favor of Dominic Thiem, who qualified for the ATP Finals in London for the first time. Thiem completed the elite field of Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka, Raonic, Kei Nishikori, Gael Monfils and Cilic.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after loosing a point against Marin Cilic of Croatia during the quarterfinal match of the Paris Masters tennis tournament at the Bercy Arena in Paris, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Cilic won 6-4, 7-6. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after loosing a point against Marin Cilic of Croatia during the quarterfinal match of the Paris Masters tennis tournament at the Bercy Arena in Paris, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Cilic won 6-4, 7-6. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Marin Cilic of Croatia reacts as he wins the quarterfinal match of the Paris Masters tennis tournament at the Bercy Arena against Novak Djokovic of Serbia in Paris, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. Cilic won 6-4, 7-6. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
InnoVision to set up Ayurveda University in Odisha to promote health, Ayurveda tourism

UNI, Bhubaneswar | Published : 3rd November, 2016

The InnoVision Healthcare limited, a research based organisation, has proposed to set up an Ayurveda University and a world class global manufacturing facility in Odisha.

According to InnoVision Health care Managing Director Baidyanath Mishra, the organisation in response to the Prime Minister's 'Make in India' and Odisha Chief Minister's 'Make in Odisha', will set up the manufacturing facility in the state to cater to the Indian as well as Global market.

He said with the FDI from US and Europe, the InnoVision Health care will also set up Global University of Health Sciences with the innovative concept of health and Ayurveda tourism which would create both direct and indirect employment of hundreds of youths in the state.

Dr Mishra who was here to launch two unique products of the InnoVision said the organisation has come up with 100 per cent authentic drink free from synthetic, colour and harmful chemicals with pure and safe herbal standardised actives which will provide complete satisfaction to all.

He said the products will be available in three flavours- tulsi, ginger mint and hibiscus, all packed in 300 ml size.

The InnoVision Health care, Dr Mishra said has also introduced a 100 per cent whey based nutritional supplementation enriched with unique proprietary formulations combined with coleus, tribulus, piper longum branded as InnoVitaSportz Nutri Mix.

The new food products, he claimed will address the imbalanced metabolic syndrome and increased the stress slevel.This will also minimize the food uptake and balancing the metabolic disorders as seen in normal.

This apart, it had also launched another weight and cognition balanced formulation branded as InnoVita Kids Nutri Drink which will address the nutrition supplement of kids above 2 years of age.The InnoVision, Dr. Mishra said will soon launch cancer solution and many more products in the market after successful launching of personal care products, skin care, joint and muscle pain and stress management.

The new products launched by the company will create another milestone in the natural herbal based food and beverage, he claimed.

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The Latest: Democratic lawmaker wants Christie investigated

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  The Latest on the verdict in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial in New Jersey (all times local):

3:45 p.m.

A Democratic New Jersey lawmaker is calling for further investigation into Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

Bridget Anne Kelly, left, former Deputy Chief of Staff for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, listens as her lawyer Michael Critchley talks to reporters after she and Bill Baroni were found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial at Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Two former allies of Christie were convicted Friday of shutting down lanes to the bridge in a plot to punish a Democratic mayor for not endorsing him in 2013.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski said in a statement Friday that a special committee that looked into the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures should be reopened. The previous committee didn't find a direct link to Christie.

He says that the testimony during the trial raised questions about what Christie knew and when he knew it.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto says that the trial raised questions about the administration's behavior and that he will talk to colleagues about possible next steps.

Christie denies wrongdoing and wasn't charged.

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1:15 p.m.

The Democratic mayor targeted in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case says he is relieved that justice prevailed.

Two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of shutting down lanes to the bridge in a plot to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing him.

Sokolich told WABC-TV that a "shining light has been cast on this culture" that exists in Trenton and in the governor's office.

He says good must come from the verdict in the form of changes to the political culture that allowed the plot to happen.

Christie says the jury held his former allies responsible for "their own conduct."

The two former allies, Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, have vowed to appeal.

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12:40 p.m.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the jury in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial held his former allies responsible for "their own conduct."

Christie issued an emailed statement Friday, shortly after his former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and former bridge authority executive Bill Baroni were convicted of plotting to create traffic jams for political payback.

Christie says he had "no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them." He says, "No believable evidence to the contrary was presented to contradict that fact."

Kelly, Baroni and a third person testified that Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on.

Christie says lies were told in the courtroom and in the media.

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12:15 p.m.

An attorney for one of the former Gov. Chris Christie allies convicted in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case has called the case a "disgrace" and challenged prosecutors for not charging "powerful people."

Bill Baroni's attorney, Michael Baldassare said the U.S. Attorney's Office should have "had belief in their own case to charge powerful people and they did not."

Baroni and former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly were convicted of all counts against them Friday in the political revenge plot.

The trial raised questions about what Christie knew about the lane closings.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Friday that he only charged people where they had "evidence beyond a reasonable doubt" to convict.

Both defendants planned to appeal the convictions.

___

Noon

An attorney for one of the former allies to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie convicted in a political revenge plot says he plans to appeal the verdict.

Bridget Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley, said Friday that he will appeal to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. He cited issues including disputed jury instructions.

Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty Friday of all counts against them.

Kelly and Baroni were convicted of scheming with former Christie ally David Wildstein to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie when he ran for re-election in 2013. Wildstein pleaded guilty.

Their attorneys argued that jury instructions allowing them to convict without considering the political revenge motive were unfair.

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11:30 a.m.

Two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have been convicted in a plot to use traffic jams for political retaliation.

Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty Friday of all counts against them.

Kelly and Baroni were convicted of scheming with former Christie ally David Wildstein to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing him when he ran for re-election in 2013. Wildstein pleaded guilty.

Christie has denied any knowledge of the plot. But Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all testified Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on.

___

Associated Press writer Ula Ilnytzky contributed to this report.

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11:15 a.m.

A jury has reached a verdict in a case against two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie charged in a plot to use traffic jams for political retaliation.

The jury was set to announce its decision in a federal courtroom in New Jersey on Friday.

Prosecutors have accused Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, of undertaking the scheme to punish a Democratic mayor who wouldn't endorse the Republican governor's 2013 re-election.

Christie has denied any knowledge of the plot. But Kelly, Baroni and a third official who has pleaded guilty all testified that Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on.

Bridget Anne Kelly, left, former Deputy Chief of Staff for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, is held by her lawyer Michael Critchley while talking to reporters after she was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial at Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Bridget Anne Kelly, left, former Deputy Chief of Staff for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, walks with her lawyer Michael Critchley after she was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial at Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Bridget Anne Kelly, left, former Deputy Chief of Staff for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, is held by her lawyer Michael Critchley while talking to reporters after she was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial at Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Bill Baroni, center, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, leaves Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, after he was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Bill Baroni, right, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, talks to reporters after he was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial at Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Bill Baroni, center, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, gestures at reporters while leaving Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, after he was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Puerto Rico TSA worker indicted in $30M drug smuggling case

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  A Transportation Security Administration employee in Puerto Rico has been accused of smuggling more than $30 million worth of drugs through the island's main international airport.

Authorities say Jose Cruz Lopez and a man identified as Edwin Francisco Castro are accused of trafficking some 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) of cocaine from 2008 until this year. An indictment states they allegedly smuggled through suitcases containing up to 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of cocaine.

Authorities say Cruz received more than $215,000 for the alleged job.

It was not immediately clear if the men have attorneys.
Cyprus president urges Turkey to help reunification talks

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Turkey's input will be pivotal in overcoming key obstacles preventing a deal to reunify ethnically divided Cyprus, the island's president said Friday ahead of crucial talks in Switzerland next week.

Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, says he and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have made significant progress on numerous issues making an envisioned federation workable. Those issues include ensuring the country's economic viability and the right of all citizens to live and work wherever they choose.

But he said it'll take the "resolute contribution" of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership to reach agreement on core issues such as security and how much territory either side will administer under an envisioned federal state.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades speaks during a nationally televised news conference at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. The president of ethnically divided Cyprus says Turkey's input will be pivotal in overcoming key obstacles preventing a reunification deal. Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, says he and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have made significant progress on numerous issues making an envisioned federation workable. (Yiannis Kourtoglou, Pool Photo via AP)

Five days of intensive, U.N.-backed talks in the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin will concentrate directly on territory issues. Officials say sufficient progress on this key issue would pave the way for a final summit to hammer out a comprehensive deal encompassing security matters.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend Monday's opening session.

"This is a critical juncture in the talks and he welcomes very much the fact that the two leaders have jointly expressed their hope that this meeting will pave the way for the last phase of the talks," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

A Turkish invasion in 1974 following a coup aiming at union with Greece split the eastern Mediterranean island into a breakaway Turkish-speaking north and an internationally recognized Greek-speaking south. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and keeps more than 35,000 troops in the north.

Anastasiades said progress in the talks means both sides must produce maps showing how much territory will fall in the administrative zone of each federal state.

The territorial component of a peace deal is crucial  Anastasiades said at least 100,000 Greek Cypriots must reclaim homes and property lost in the war, which would bolster support for any deal, which will be put to a vote in both communities.

Anastasiades said in a televised news conference "there's no chance" he would accept moving onto a final phase of talks if no maps are produced.

But in a separate news conference, Akinci said maps will only appear during final the phase of talks where Britain, Greece and Turkey will join discussions to tackle the difficult issue of security.

Anastasiades ruled out allowing Turkey to retain any military intervention rights in Cyprus or to keep troops on the ground after a deal, something that Turkish Cypriots insist is crucial to their security.

"A European state has no need of either guarantors or occupation troops," Anastasiades said.

"Occupation troops may offer security for one community, but certainly they create insecurity of the other community," he said, adding that a beefed-up United Nations police force answering directly to the U.N. Security Council could provide ample security for both sides.

Akinci suggested such security guarantees could be abolished in time, but not before Turkish Cypriots feel assured their security isn't compromised.

The Turkish Cypriot leader said all citizens could live where they choose in a reunified island, but only a fifth of Greek Cypriots opting to live in the Turkish Cypriot-run zone would be granted voting rights there.

He said 8 billion euros ($8.87 billion) would be enough to cover the cost of an accord.

"This land is enough for all of us," Akinci said, adding, "It would be a great same if we miss this historic opportunity."

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades speaks during a nationally televised news conference at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. The president of ethnically divided Cyprus says Turkey's input will be pivotal in overcoming key obstacles preventing a reunification deal. Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, says he and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have made significant progress on numerous issues making an envisioned federation workable. (Yiannis Kourtoglou/Pool Photo via AP)

A television crew member adjusts a microphone on the jacket of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades before a nationally televised news conference at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. The president of ethnically divided Cyprus says Turkey's input will be pivotal in overcoming key obstacles preventing a reunification deal. Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, says he and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have made significant progress on numerous issues making an envisioned federation workable. (Yiannis Kourtoglou/Pool Photo via AP)
German prosecutors investigate complaint against Facebook

BERLIN (AP)  German prosecutors say they're investigating a lawyer's complaint against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and others, a case reportedly involving accusations of them being accessories to incitement.

Munich prosecutors said Friday they will look into whether any crime was committed, whether German law is applicable and whether they're responsible for the case.

They didn't detail the accusations, but Der Spiegel magazine reported that the criminal complaint by a Bavaria-based lawyer alleges Facebook managers have tolerated threats of violence among other things.

Facebook has faced criticism in Germany for what critics say is an insufficient response to hate speech.
Appeals court rejects Nevada patient dumping lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  A federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit Friday that accused Nevada officials and the state psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas of violating patients' civil rights by giving them bus tickets and dumping them in other states.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision said it could not consider the merits of the suit because the plaintiff, James Flavy Coy Brown, failed to raise a key argument in his initial appeal documents.

The ruling on procedural grounds upheld a lower court decision that dismissed the suit.

In a dissenting opinion, 9th Circuit Judge Susan Graber said Brown, a patient at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital, had made allegations that would support a claim that the hospital put him in greater danger.

Brown, who was homeless, said the hospital discharged him in 2013 after two days of treatment for psychosis and suicidal thoughts and put him in a cab that took him to a bus station.

He had a three-day supply of anti-psychotic medication, nutritional supplements and a pre-paid ticket to Sacramento, California, where he knew no one, according to his lawsuit. Police in Sacramento took him to a homeless services center when he arrived.

Brown's discharge prompted an investigation by the Sacramento Bee newspaper that found that Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital had sent about 1,500 patients to other states. Brown's lawsuit sought class-action status on behalf of patients who it claimed had similar experiences.

State officials argued in court documents that they did not force Brown to ride a bus to California. U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan in Nevada agreed in a 2014 ruling, saying the lawsuit did not establish that Brown was compelled to leave the state, only that the defendants gave him the resources to do so.

Mahan said Nevada officials were entitled to decide how to allocate scarce psychiatric treatment resources.

Mark Merin, an attorney for Brown, said he will appeal the 9th Circuit's ruling to a larger panel of the court. He acknowledged making a procedural error in the appeal but said the lower court judge's ruling dismissing the case was "totally off base."
Russians rally at British Embassy, mimicking London protest

MOSCOW (AP)  Several dozen demonstrators have rallied outside the British Embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat response to a protest in London against Russia's action in Syria.

About two dozen protesters gathered outside the Russian Embassy in London on Thursday and threw hundreds of mannequin limbs in front of the building to protest Russia's airstrikes in support of the Syrian government's siege of the city of Aleppo. Russia's Foreign Ministry angrily criticized British authorities for allowing the rally.

On Friday, several dozen people mimicked the British protest by throwing mannequin limbs at the British Embassy in Moscow. Russian state television extensively covered the protest.

Activists place false limbs outside the Russian Embassy in London where two campaign groups, The Syria Campaign and Syria Solidarity UK, have scattered over 800 limbs around the gates of the building in a protest at the bombing of civilians in east Aleppo, Syria, Thursday Nov. 3, 2016. Syrian rebels launched a fresh wave of attacks on Aleppo Thursday as the contested city prepared for an anticipated assault by government and allied Russian forces to seize its eastern, rebel-held districts. (Dominic Lipinski /PA via AP)

Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces are waging an offensive on the rebel-controlled eastern part of Aleppo under the cover of Russian warplanes.

Activists place false limbs outside the Russian Embassy in London where two campaign groups, The Syria Campaign and Syria Solidarity UK, have scattered over 800 limbs around the gates of the building in a protest at the bombing of civilians in east Aleppo, Syria, Thursday Nov. 3, 2016. Syrian rebels launched a fresh wave of attacks on Aleppo Thursday as the contested city prepared for an anticipated assault by government and allied Russian forces to seize its eastern, rebel-held districts. (Dominic Lipinski /PA via AP)
Coast Guard Academy cadet found guilty of 2 sex assaults

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A Coast Guard Academy cadet was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting two other cadets in crimes that took place on campus nearly two years apart, officials said.

Anthony Livingstone, of Plainfield, New Jersey, also was convicted of threatening the two women to prevent them from cooperating with law enforcement.

Livingstone, 22, was found guilty Thursday at a court-martial in Norfolk, Virginia, on charges of sexual assault, extortion, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. He was dismissed from the service and has the right to appeal his conviction and sentence.

Livingstone's attorney, Keith Anthony, did not immediately respond Friday to a message seeking comment. His office said he possibly was traveling back to Connecticut from Virginia.

Investigators were looking into an assault on one cadet from September 2015 when they learned of an allegation that Livingstone had assaulted another cadet in December 2013, said David Santos, a spokesman for the academy in New London, Connecticut.

The two women testified against Livingstone during the court-martial.

"By fully investigating reports, we move closer to creating a culture that is completely intolerant of sexual assault," Santos said.

Livingstone, a member of the class of 2016, was suspended from the academy in December 2015 and reassigned to a Coast Guard base in Massachusetts after he was charged.
UN envoy discusses peace plan in Yemen

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The United Nations' special envoy for Yemen is discussing a peace plan with both sides in the conflict during his second visit to the capital Sana'a in less than a week.

The U.N. said in a statement Friday that Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in the capital on Thursday and that he will meet with members of the diplomatic corps and others to discuss ways to alleviate the humanitarian suffering and assess the best ways to address the country's economic crisis.
FDA panel narrowly backs Cempra antibiotic

WASHINGTON (AP)  A panel of federal health advisers has narrowly recommended approval for an experimental antibiotic from Cempra Inc., a small North Carolina drugmaker.

The Food and Drug Administration's outside experts voted 7-6 in favor of the drug, saying its effectiveness outweighed risks of liver toxicity seen in company studies. The vote is nonbinding but the FDA often follows the advice of its panelists.

Cempra is one of a handful of drugmakers developing new antibiotics amid growing bacterial resistance to decades-old drugs like penicillin.
After verdict in bridge scandal trial, what comes next?

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  A federal jury's verdict Friday convicting two former insiders from Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration in a political retaliation plot to tie up traffic at the George Washington Bridge is far from the last legal development in the case.

The verdict and possibly several other rulings by the judge during the trial will be appealed, a process that could stretch several months or longer.

A look at what's next:

Bridget Anne Kelly, left, former Deputy Chief of Staff for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, is held by her lawyer Michael Critchley while talking to reporters after she was found guilty on all counts in the George Washington Bridge traffic trial at Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Court, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

___

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT

The defendants, former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni, each were convicted on seven counts ranging from depriving local residents of Fort Lee to localized travel, which carries a one-year maximum sentence, to wire fraud, which has a 20-year maximum. They are likely to be sentenced to much less time on Feb. 21.

David Wildstein, a Port Authority official who pleaded guilty to two counts and testified for the government, faces 15 years but is expected to get between 20 and 27 months under terms of his plea agreement.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Baroni and Kelly likely will get more time than Wildstein since they chose to go to trial rather than plead guilty, but he didn't estimate a sentencing range.

___

APPEALS

Attorneys have 10 days to appeal the verdict, something they plan to do quickly, said Michael Critchley, Kelly's attorney.

They also have a pending mistrial motion that hasn't been ruled on, and they could appeal that if they lose. The motion was redacted, and attorneys haven't said what it contains. Media organizations including The Associated Press have gone to court to ask the judge to release it.

Kelly and Baroni also could appeal the judge's denial of their various motions to dismiss the indictment, filed months ago.

From their comments, Critchley and Michael Baldassare, an attorney representing Baroni, believe they have a strong argument to appeal the judge's instructions to the jury on the top count, essentially a conspiracy to use the bridge, which connects Fort Lee and New York City, for an improper purpose.

They argued the jury should have been allowed to consider whether the government proved the defendants' motive. But the judge ruled motive was not part of the crime charged.

A hearing before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on any of the appeals could take months to occur, and a subsequent ruling could take months more.

Fishman said Baroni and Kelly can remain out on bail before sentencing; they likely will seek to have their sentencing date postponed if appeals are pending.

___

KEEPING SCORE

Wildstein's guilty plea and Baroni's and Kelly's convictions bring to four the number of Christie's former associates or aides facing prison time.

Former Port Authority chairman David Samson, a longtime Christie mentor, pleaded guilty last summer to bribery for using his position to extract personal favors from United Airlines, the main carrier at the Port Authority-controlled Newark Liberty Airport. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

A fifth person, Christie's former transportation commissioner Jamie Fox, was charged along with Samson but hasn't been indicted. Fox was a United lobbyist at the time. His lawyer, who also represented Kelly, has said he will fight the charges.

___

MORE TROUBLE FOR CHRISTIE?

Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Sen. Loretta Weinberg said Friday that a special committee that looked into the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures should be reopened. The previous committee didn't find a direct link to Christie.

Christie denies wrongdoing and wasn't charged, but the lawmakers said that the testimony during the trial raised questions about what Christie knew and when he knew it.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said that the trial raised questions about the Christie administration's behavior and that he will talk to colleagues about possible next steps.

Christie also is facing a citizen's complaint that he violated the state's misconduct law by failing to stop the lane closures when he found out about them. A judge ruled there was probable cause to hear the case, and a first appearance is scheduled for Nov. 23.

___

Catalini reported from Trenton. Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed from Trenton.
Wine Education in Euro Vineyards for Deserving Indian Students

PRNewswire, New Delhi| Published : 4th November, 2016

IIHM Hotel School, India Leads in Delivering Hospitality Education

A 10-day trip from India was organized to the Vineyards of Spain and France where IIHM undergraduate students were chosen to be flown to these Vineyards for understanding the world of wines.

Across its 7 campuses, a series of tests and interviews for its 3rd yr Specialization students made the management decide the winners and they were then flown for this exercise. The all-expense paid, sponsored tour for the students was conceptualized as an incentive for them to get a first-hand feel of gathering some wine knowledge in the vineyards of Europe.

The 10-day long wine tour to France and Spain started from 30th September 2016 in Bordeaux.

Day 1 the group reached Chateau Kirwan, Margaux and Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron, Pauilliac, Bordeaux. The IIHM Euro Wine tour journey began here in front of a magnificent castle and lush green lawns where the students clicked a memorabilia post which they moved to see the cellars which keep some of the best red wines of the region. They witnessed the Wineries, various wine making equipment, oak barrels, steel tanks and got to taste some of the finest wines from the region.

Pichon-Longueville-Baron has roughly 73-hectare in vines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon [http://www.bbr.com/grape-cs-cab-sauvignon ] and runs adjacent to Chateau Latour and lies on deep gravel beds. Grand Vin is Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon - Longueville and their second wine 'Les Tourelles de Longueville' are amongst the best and were made to taste by the touring students.

Day 2 the group went to Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac - Leognan and Chateau Rayne Vigneau, Sauternes, Bordeaux to study the Vineyards, picking up Botrytis affected grape bunches and tasting it, giving hands on idea of the legend behind these wines. The cellars had countless oak barrels with this iconic wine sitting and ageing. A tour of the Chateau's cellar and the methodology of making these wines were undertaken where the students tasted 'Chateau De Rayne Vigneau 2010' and Chateau's second wine 'Madame De Rayne 2010'.

1er Grand Cru Classe, Rayne Vigneau is recognized among the top wines of Sauternes, on many occasions being placed immediately after Chateau D'Yquem. Located near the village of Bommes, the gravely vineyard are about 84 hectares in total dominated by Semillon, followed by Sauvignon Blanc. The influence of the Ciron stream aides in the over-ripening of the grapes by causing morning mists encourages the growth of the Botrytis fungus. Picking is carried out by hand, so that each grape is picked only when it has been perfectly 'botrytised'.

Day 3 the group toured Hennessey Cognac, COGNAC and the famous Chateau Cheval Blanc, Saint Emilion, Bordeaux - Cheval Blanc [http://www.chateau-cheval-blanc.com ], a 1er Grand Cru Classe (A) [http://www.bbr.com/wine-knowledge/bordeaux-wine-guide ] is unquestionably the leading estate in St. Emilion.A sprawling estate, with a bit of tradition and technology, students were exposed to the vineyard and soil type, followed by a tour of the Winery. One could see how the grapes were being sorted and crushed before going in for fermentation. Rows of neatly lined concrete tanks in the winery were a treat to the eyes.

Cheval Blanc is one of the few estates to use 100% new oak for their wines. It is Located in the north-west of the St. Emilion appellation, bordering Pomerol. Cheval Blanc's vineyards dominated by Cabernet Franc followed by Merlot enjoy a peculiar variety of soil - gravel, clay and sand. Cheval Blanc's reputation has remained unchallenged, as a benchmark wine, a yardstick against which other Bordeaux are measured. Dating back to the 1830s, it is located in Bordeaux's Saint-Emilion appellation, on the right bank of the Gironde River. Although a Merlot country, Cheval Blanc normally contains a higher percentage of Cabernet Franc, which makes it a rather special wine. Amongst the best is Chateau Cheval Blanc 2011 which is a full-bodied wine, rich and voluptuous. Tannin is smooth, silky and elegant. It's perfectly balanced with lovely fresh fruit on the finish.Day 4 the group drove to South of France and picked up the legendary Master of Wine, Liam Stevenson from UK, who joined in specially to enhance the knowledge delivery to these youngsters from India.

Day 5 was spent in visiting the Commercial Winery Foncalieu, Arzens, Roussillon, Chateau Haut Gleon, Roussillon - Blending and Domain Begude, Limoux.

Day 6 the student group after a heavy breakfast visited Parellada, Finca Garbet, SPAIN, followed by the visit to Castle and Winery. Students tasted the fermenting wine from the steel tanks and were told about the differences between the various batches and tasted some exceptional Cavas from House Torello Mata - Brut Reserva, Brut Gran Reserva, Rosat Trepat and Grand Reserva Barrica.

Cava Agusti Torello Mata, PENEDES is one of the most prestigious family-owned estates of the region. Agusti Torello Mata did not have a viticulture background, but after following his passion, he opened his winery in 1959. The Cavas are a blend of three indigenous varieties, Xarel-lo, Macabeau, Parellada and to some extent local red variety - Trepat, extensively used in making their Rose' Cava. A small yet technologically updated winery uses soft pressing with separately vinifying each parcel. Kripta is their signature wine which comes in a shape of a Roman amphora. Its grapes come from the best plots and are aged for almost 5 years. Arguably it is the best Cava in Spain.The group was fortunate enough to visit the famed Torres Winery as well which has more than 1300 hectares of its own vineyards and is present in more than 150 countries. Its headquarters are in Vilafranca del Penedes and its name is associated with the best wines in the world.

Day 7 was spent on visits to Cellar Cal Pla, Priorat and to the famous Cellar Burgos Porta, Frank Massard , Priorat. As the group toured the vineyards, Liam Steevenson MW (he did his dissertation on Priorat for his MW), explained the soil structure of the region, effect on grapes, climatic conditions, vineyard management and the 'Terrior' the region to these ever inquisitive bunch of students from India who made notes and recorded every word that the legend spoke.

Franck Massard is a sommelier by profession and was crowned 'Sommelier of the Year, UK, 1996', his love of the subject made him acquire a vineyard in Spain's Priorat along with a friend. Their first harvest was just 500 bottles of their first wine, Huellas. Franck now owns vineyards in the lesser known regions like Ribeira Sacra, Terra Alta, and Valdeorras.

Wine lovers will love to note that the dominant grape here are Grenache and Carignan, although the region is very rugged and the vineyard are terraced, but this kind of landscape makes it especially great for these two varietals. Significant temperature variation between day and night means that the grapes ripen slower and therefore better accumulation of aromatic compounds, natural freshness and good acidity. The vineyard gets natural spring water rich in minerals that makes a huge difference as well. Low production and gentle pressing of grapes to extract the right flavors without any overpowering aromas is carried out.

On day 8 visits were made to Albret Winery , Navarra and Urbina Winery , Rioja before moving to Paris on day 9 and 10 for sightseeing taking the visit count to 16 best Vineyards of Spain and France making it certainly a dream tour for any wine lover in the world and finally flying back to India. New age Wine Education has indeed arrived on the world map. Lucky bunch of 10 students which any one on the planet will agree!

About IIHM Hotel School:

IIHM is one of the largest Hotel School Chains in India delivering International Hospitality Management programs from Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK and University of West London, London, UK with campuses at Kolkata, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Bangkok. For more details www.iihm.ac.in [http://www.iihm.ac.in ]

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SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK: Scalia lauded at high-court ceremony

WASHINGTON (AP)  The late Justice Antonin Scalia was a towering legal figure and a powerful writer  but he was also technologically challenged.

Former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who served as a law clerk to Scalia in the 1990s, recalls that the justice would take his draft opinions and rewrite them so thoroughly, they were almost unrecognizable.

"I strongly suspect it was because he had no idea how to format a new document on the computer," Clement joked Friday during a special Supreme Court ceremony honoring Scalia's legacy.

Jeffrey S. Sutton, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the Sixth Court, speaks during a Supreme Court Bar Memorial in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington. Sutton was a clerk to Justice Scalia during the 1991 term. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool)

Clement was among a half-dozen former law clerks  affectionately known as "clerkerati"  who joined top Justice Department officials to praise Scalia at an event in the court's Great Hall. Speaker after speaker celebrated Scalia as a brilliant jurist who fundamentally changed how courts interpret the law.

Scalia was like a bright star who could "bend space" with the "pull of his intellect and the force of his arguments," said Paul Cappucio, a former clerk who is now executive vice president and general counsel at Time Warner.

His strict text-based approach to reading laws and interpreting the Constitution are now commonplace, said Kristin Linsley, now a lawyer in private practice. He insisted the text must control, "not watered-down by new social mores or technology."

The gathering was the latest tribute to the conservative icon who died in February after serving nearly three decades on the court. It was organized by the Supreme Court bar, the lawyers admitted to practice before the high court.

A who's who of legal luminaries attended, including Merrick Garland, the appeals court judge tapped more than seven months ago to take Scalia's seat. Garland's nomination has been in limbo as Senate Republicans have refused to allow confirmation hearings or a vote, saying it should be up to the next president to fill the seat.

No mention was made during the ceremony of the political impasse over filling Scalia's seat, or the threats of some Republicans to block any future nominee if Democrat Hillary Clinton is elected president.

Clement recalled how justices in the 1970s and early 1980s would ask few questions of lawyers arguing before the court. That all changed when Scalia came aboard in 1986 and transformed the court into a "hot bench." About 15 minutes into his first argument, Scalia asked a question "and then asked the next 10."

"Arguing before the Supreme Court is now the art of answering questions," Clement said.

Following the ceremony, the justices held a special sitting in the courtroom. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Acting Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn presented a 25-page history of Scalia's life and legacy that was officially accepted into the court record.

Chief Justice John Roberts recalled Scalia's noteworthy majority opinions, particularly those on criminal law, gun rights and religious freedom. He said no one can dispute that Scalia was "patriotic, principled, loyal, courageous and brilliant."

He also joked about Scalia's many dissents.

"He was also known to write separately from time to time," Roberts said to laughter.

___

The ceremony honoring Scalia was streamed live on the Supreme Court's website. It was the first time the court has hosted a live webcast to capture events inside the building.

The court has been famously slow to adopt new technology. The justices have long resisted the idea of televising oral arguments or the announcement of opinions, worried that their comments will be taken out of context or that it may lead to members posturing for the cameras.

Friday's webcast only included footage from the Great Hall. Cameras were not permitted in the courtroom itself, where Roberts later made remarks in a special session.

The high court does release audio recordings of all argument sessions on its website at the end of each week. Since 2000, it has agreed to release same-day audio in several high-profile cases.

Paul D. Clement, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis, speaks during a Supreme Court Bar Memorial in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington. Clement was a clerk to Justice Scalia during the 1993 term. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, POOL)

Paul D. Clement, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis, speaks during a Supreme Court Bar Memorial in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington. Clement was a clerk to Justice Scalia during the 1993 term. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, POOL)

Kristin A. Linsley, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, speaks during a Supreme Court Bar Memorial in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington. Linsey was a clerk to Justice Scalia during the 1989 term. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, POOL)

Bradford R. Clark, Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School, speaks during a Supreme Court Bar Memorial in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington. Clark was a clerk to Justice Scalia during the 1989 term. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool)
Ex-Mississippi prisons chief to be jailed until sentencing

JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  A federal judge revoked the bail of Mississippi's former corrections commissioner and sent him to jail Friday to await sentencing in a corruption case after finding he had probably committed a crime when he took outdoor lights from a home he forfeited to the federal government.

Christopher Epps pleaded guilty in February 2015 to charges of money laundering and filing false tax returns over bribes. He had been free on $25,000 bond awaiting a May 24 sentencing but was arrested Tuesday and charged with burglary by police in the Jackson suburb of Flowood. The five lights and a control box are worth less than $1,000.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Friday revoked the bond and ordered Epps jailed until sentencing next May. Wingate said he believes there are no conditions that would guarantee Epps will not commit another crime.

John Colette, attorney for former state Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps, makes a quick comment to reporters as he leaves the federal courthouse in Jackson, Miss., following a detention hearing where a federal judge sent Epps to jail to await sentencing in a corruption case, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

"While Mr. Epps has been compliant all these many months, now he has determined not to be compliant," Wingate said from the bench, saying he felt Epps' history dating back to 2014 of complying with bail terms no longer applied.

Epps faces up to 23 years in federal prison and has forfeited more than $1.7 million in assets. He could face three to 25 years in state prison if convicted of burglary.

Epps acknowledged taking the lights but called it "a terrible mistake" in testimony Thursday, saying he went on the spur of the moment after realizing he had left the lights. Epps said he didn't realize, or had forgotten, that he had been ordered to remove all his belongings from the house in a gated subdivision before May 9.

Epps' lawyer, John Colette, argued Friday that Wingate could safely leave Epps at home by putting him under house arrest or electronic monitoring. Colette argued that the sequence of events that had led Epps to the house would not recur.

"Are we trying to punish him for getting into his old garage, or are we trying to ensure that he will appear for sentencing in May?" Colette asked, saying that the purpose of bail is to guarantee a defendant's appearance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca, though, said Epps should have known he was breaking the law.

"Everything the court has heard has been a justification for him breaking and entering into this home to take what he considered was his," LaMarca said.

Over the course of the two-day hearing, Wingate repeatedly expressed disbelief that Epps would have returned to the house for to retrieve lights. He first questioned whether Epps was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and then asked whether there might have been something else more valuable stashed at the house. A new owner completed the purchase of the house the next day, Oct. 28, and reported to Flowood police that the control box was missing, sparking an investigation that quickly led to Epps.

Prosecutors told Wingate that neighbors reported no indication that Epps had consumed alcohol or drugs. No evidence of any other valuables emerged, although Wingate ordered a probation officer to investigate how Epps came to have $5,000 in cash at his new home. Testimony Thursday showed Epps is drawing a state pension and his wife continues to work as a nurse.

"There was no hidden money in the attic," Colette said. "There was no jewelry."

It's unclear where Epps is being held. Typically, federal prisoners in Jackson are held at the nearby Madison County jail, but discussion Friday in the courtroom indicated Epps would be jailed a considerable distance from Jackson. As the longtime head of the state prison system, Epps could be in danger among Mississippi inmates.

___

Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/jeff-amy .
Acquittal for Louisiana sheriff whose deputies beat inmates

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP)  A south Louisiana sheriff who was accused of encouraging or ignoring the beatings of black jail inmates was acquitted on federal civil rights charges Friday.

Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal was found not guilty on all charges, news outlets covering his trial reported.

"When they said that I was not guilty on all four counts, it was a great relief," Ackal told KLFY-TV (http://bit.ly/2e9TQgz). "It told me that the jury listened to my attorney."

The charges included counts of conspiracy, deprivation of civil rights and obstruction of justice.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Blumberg told jurors that Ackal condoned and encouraged excessive force and had no regard for the black community in Iberia Parish.

Ten deputies pleaded guilty in the case. Jurors heard from some of them. They described beating suspects and inmates and said Ackal knew of their actions and never disciplined them.

But Ackal's defense lawyer, John McLindon, argued that the abuses described were the work of members of a rogue narcotics unit. He told jurors that the deputies' claims against Ackal were not credible. He said they had taken plea deals after making false statements earlier before grand juries or in depositions.

"I was hurt because these were some of the guys that I considered to be friends," Ackal said. "They were not friends. They were users."

McLindon emphasized that nobody testified that Ackal "laid a finger on anyone," and said there were no records the sheriff could have looked at that detailed the beatings.
Iowa officer who wounded man was involved in 2015 shooting

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa police officer who shot a 37-year-old black man in the neck during a traffic stop this week was involved in a fatal shooting last year.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Friday that Cedar Rapids officer Lucas Jones fired at Jerime Mitchell on Tuesday near Coe College.

The agency says the shooting came during an altercation but remains under investigation. The city has confirmed squad car video of the shooting exists.

Mitchell is in critical condition at an Iowa City hospital.
PM urged to calm 'fascist state' backlash from Brexit court ruling

Tory MPs have called on Theresa May to take action to calm the backlash sparked by the controversial High Court ruling on the process for leaving the European Union.

Former ministers have warned the Prime Minister she must "make clear" that the independence of the judiciary is a fundamental element of British democracy.

The judges behind the ruling that Mrs May must seek MPs' approval to trigger Article 50 taking Britain out of the EU have faced furious criticism from some Conservative MPs and sections of the media.

Attacks on the judges involved in the High Court Brexit decision have shocked many MPs

But Bob Neill, the Conservative chairman of the justice select committee, said the attacks were "threatening the independence of our judiciary" and had "no place in a civilised land".

He told The Times: "Some of the things which have been said about the court's judgment by politicians have been utterly disgraceful.

"All ministers from the Prime Minister down must now make clear that the independence of the judiciary is fundamental to our democracy. You have to respect that even if you think they have got a decision wrong.

"Some members of Parliament do not appear to understand that this judgment had nothing do with subverting the will of the people."

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve described the attacks as "chilling and outrageous" and " smacking of the fascist state".

Anna Soubry, a former minister and prominent Remain campaigner, said some media reports were "inciting hatred".

"I think we have to call this out and say 'not in my name'," she told the Guardian.

"It needs somebody like Boris Johnson to step up and speak out. He's our Foreign Secretary and he knows what the reaction of the rest of the world is as they look at our great country and are horrified. What message are we sending out to the rest of the world? Probably that this nation is in grave danger of losing the plot - and I think we might have done".

It comes after Mrs May was rocked by the resignation of a pro-Brexit Conservative MP over "irreconcilable policy differences".

Stephen Phillips announced he was quitting over the Government's failure to appreciate the need to consult Parliament over Brexit.

He also attacked the Government for "shirking" responsibility for unaccompanied child refugees and changes in the way international aid was spent.

The surprise resignation came as the PM made a series of calls to European leaders insisting that the Brexit timetable remained unchanged, with March the deadline for triggering the process.

In a letter to George Clark, chairman of the Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservative Association, Mr Phillips said he could no longer live with being labelled a Conservative.

Mr Phillips said: "Some will label me a quitter or, no doubt, worse. Those are labels with which I can live. The label Conservative no longer is."

His resignation as MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham fuelled speculation that the PM will call an early election , although a No 10 source insisted Mrs May stood by her statement that she would not go to the country before 2020.
Jessica Chastain backs 'responsible gun usage' rather than confiscation

Actress Jessica Chastain has said she is in favour of "responsible gun usage" rather than confiscating firearms to help tackle gun violence in America.

The Oscar nominee, who had her hand and footprints immortalised in cement in Hollywood, spoke out after playing a gun control lobbyist in her latest film Miss Sloane.

Chastain, 39, revealed she prepared for her role by speaking to an anti-gun violence organisation run by Gabrielle Giffords, the former US congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

Jessica Chastain was nominated for a best actress Oscar in 2013 for her role as a CIA agent hunting Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty

She told the Press Association: "I learnt a lot about the second amendment debate that I didn't know before.

"I talked to Gabby Giffords' organisation. I found even things like, try not to use the phrase 'gun control', try to say 'gun safety' or 'gun violence prevention', because Gabby Giffords and her husband are gun owners.

"It's not about confiscations, it's about responsible gun usage."

The Zero Dark Thirty star fought back tears as she was honoured in the traditional hand and footprint ceremony outside the TCL Chinese Theatre, where she was joined by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow.

"Having my handprints next to those of women like Elizabeth Taylor and Bette Davis, it's really unimaginable," Chastain said on stage.

"Working in this industry, often, at times it can be a lonely path. That's when I really thank God for my collaborators, the people who are there for me, who have my back, on and off camera.

"I have an incredible support system and they remind me every day that I'm not alone on this journey."

Chastain was nominated for a best actress Oscar in 2013 for her role as a CIA agent hunting Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty, which earned Bigelow her Academy Award.

She had previously received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination in 2012 for her breakthrough role in drama The Help, and has gone on to land starring roles in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi film Interstellar, The Martian and The Huntsman: Winter's War.

"I consider it one of the greatest gifts of my life that I get to walk in other people's shoes for a living," Chastain said.

"In this particular moment in time, when the other is often talked about as something to be fearful of, I think it's important that we remember to be empathetic and compassionate."
Loner jailed for 20 years for supermarket car park stabbing spree

A loner with a personality disorder has been jailed for 20 years for a vicious stabbing spree outside a supermarket in which four women were seriously injured.

Ethem Orhon, 67, said the random attacks on May 20 had been triggered after he had felt humiliated by police who had arrested him the previous day for possession of another knife.

He said he was "like a zombie" and felt as though he was "hypnotised" as he prowled silently around the car park at Sainsbury's in Hampton, west London, armed with a Leatherman knife.

Ethem Orhon has been found guilty of a vicious stabbing spree outside a supermarket (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Orhon, of Deacons Walk, Hampton, remained emotionless as he was given two 20-year sentences for two counts of attempted murder and two nine-year sentences for two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All sentences are to be served concurrently.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court took four hours and 55 minutes to find him guilty of all charges.

Judge Paul Dodgson told Orhon: "This was a planned attempt to kill albeit while the balance of your mind was disturbed. You took that knife intending to use it, intending to kill people."

The judge said he clearly has "an unusual personality", adding: "You are on your own and as a loner it may be you are someone who tends to brood on matters."

Two of his victims broke down in tears as the verdicts were read out.

Orhon had told the court he remembered assaulting one person and following two men.

These turned out to be schoolboys from Hampton Grammar, who warned other innocent passers-by that Orhon was armed and dangerous, distracted him and called 999.

Orhon said he had "no memory" of going to the car park or of the stabbings.

This is in contrast to footage from his police interviews, shown in court, where he said he had "rushed" at someone in the car park and he remembered "stabbing someone in the back".

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph said Orhon, who had no previous contact with the medical services, is suffering from paranoid psychosis, which may put a person out of touch with reality.

Victims Suzanna Brand, 53, Janet Morsy, 63, Jean Sullivan, 68, and Charandasi Chandiramani, 71, suffered serious injuries.

Miss Brand, who has learning difficulties, was hit from behind, struck 13 times and left with two collapsed lungs.

A screaming Ms Morsy thought she was going to die as she was struck in the arm and chest and tried to defend herself. She begged not to be hurt but she was stabbed anyway.

Ms Sullivan was stabbed in the back, causing damage to her chest wall, right lung and liver.

Ms Chandiramani was stabbed twice in the back.

Earlier that day, Orhon had left central London's Belgravia police station, where he was charged with having a bladed article in a public place.

He had been picked up by officers who thought he might have drugs.

After being released on bail, he went home, picked up his spare Leatherman knife and immediately went out on his stabbing spree.

Police arrived at the scene and pointed a Taser at Orhon.

Victim impact statements read in court described how being attacked had shattered independent, happy and confident lives.

Several said they were now receiving counselling, taking sleeping tablets, and had become more reclusive and anxious.

Ms Chandiramani, who now suffers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), remembered hearing a "terrified scream" and turning round to "lock eyes" with Orhon.

Her statement said: "The look in his eyes was evil. I continue to see the madness in his eyes at night.

"The mental aspect has a profound effect on my life. Today, I am a different person - my world has become smaller."

Ms Morsy's statement read: "My life is completely changed.

"I really thought I was going to die. I begged the man to not do it but he just looked at me and lunged...

"I will never forget that day for the rest of my life."

Speaking outside court, Ms Chandiramani told the Press Association: "This is like closure for me, really, I'm relieved.

"Hopefully now I can get off the sleeping tablets - I don't want to be addicted to anything - and get back to my old life."

Also speaking outside court, Ms Morsy said: "The sentence needs to be this tough because so many people carry knives now.

"When I see someone with hands in their pockets I fully expect them to pull a blade. I'm focusing now on my children and grandchildren, I feel like I've put them on the back seat."

Asked about the good chance that Orhon would die in prison, she said: "He should have thought of hat before he pulled out his Leatherman."

The judge said the schoolboys' actions "certainly averted a greater disaster" and he wanted to make sure they knew "just how highly regarded" they are.
'Caring' Kate meets inmates and staff at women's prison

The Duchess of Cambridge has met inmates at a women's prison as part of her work on addiction and mental health.

Kate spoke to staff and a small number of prisoners about their personal stories during a private visit to HMP Eastwood Park, in Gloucestershire.

Kensington Palace tweeted: "The Duchess has visited HMP Eastwood Park to learn what support is available to women prisoners and their families with complex needs.

The Duchess of Cambridge waves to well-wishers outside the Nelson Trust Women's Centre in Gloucester

"Her Royal Highness also met with a small number of women prisoners at HMP Eastwood Park to hear their personal stories.

"The Duchess wants to see the support helping vulnerable families break the cycles at the heart of issues like addiction and mental health."

Later, Kate also visited a women's centre, which works closely with the prison.

The Nelson Trust Women's Centre in Gloucestershire was set up in 2010 and is designed to support women who have vulnerabilities, particularly those who have experienced abuse and trauma.

Kate, who wore a Mulberry coat and Dolce and Gabbana skirt, met members of staff and learnt about the various strands of work including prison in-reach and social inclusion support, the sex worker outreach project, and rural outreach to young girls at risk.

She was also introduced to women who have accessed support there and heard about their personal experiences.

The Duchess also met supporters of the Trust and unveiled a plaque marking her visit.

Before leaving, Kate was presented with a bouquet of flowers by four-year-old Tilly Penhale and her mother Natashia.

The Duchess told Tilly: "Thank you so much, I think George will like them."

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Penhale, who works for the Trust, said: "The Duchess was beatiful and she was really interested in hearing from us. She was so engaging and came across as caring."

The centre has won awards for the practical and emotional support it offers, with a focus on nine "pathways of need", which include finances, physical, emotional and mental health, drugs and alcohol, trauma and abuse, sexual exploitation and sex-working.

Along with a second site in Swindon, the Women's Centre supports more than 500 women annually across Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.

John Trolan, chief executive of the Trust, said: "The Duchess is a genuine inspiration to the staff here and it has made a huge difference for her to take the time to come here.

"The Duchess has been fantastic and we were pleased she came to listen. We are pleased as punch."

Pictures showed the Duchess with a plaster on her left hand. Kensington Palace did not comment.

The Duchess of Cambridge with John Trolan, chief executive at the Nelson Trust

Kate arrives at the Nelson Trust Women's Centre in Gloucester as part of her work on addiction and mental health
Shoppers have been left fearing the worst after Marks & Spencer announced it will close 60 of its stores in the biggest blow to the high street for years after profits plunged.

Chief executive Steve Rowe - who took over from Dutchman Marc Bolland in April - has been forced to announce its biggest shake-up for years.

Some of the retailer's clothing stores will be replaced by its more successful food offerings.

The move comes amid reports that high street shops are closing at a rate of 15 a day, with fashion outlets particularly hard hit.

It has prompted dedicated customers to worry whether the brand will follow in British Home Stores footsteps and eventually go out of business.

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Revamp: Marks & Spencer is set to close up to 30 stores in its biggest shake up on the high street for years

Still trading: The Marks & Spencer 'penny bazaar' in Newcastle's Grainger Market in 1955

The news has prompted fears from shoppers on social media that it will follow in the footsteps of British Home Stores and vanish from the high street

Customers took to Twitter to voice concerns about high prices and 'out-of-date' fashions offered by the chain

The firm announced plans to shut 53 stores across 10 international markets - believed to be France, China, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Closures will include a flagship shop in Paris as one of seven stores shutting in France, with 10 branches to go in China.

Many shoppers took to social media to voice their sadness at the situation and concern over M&S's future.

Ryan Connor said on Twitter: 'Called cuts & changes to M&S 6 months ago. Haven't embraced change as yet, too similar to BHS.'

Daniel Jenks said: 'Marks and Spencer's problem is that the prices are way too high, and the fashion is a bit out of date for some.

'I have a bad feeling that this iconic high street store will become the next BHS or Woolworths? (sic)'

Rebecca Cheung added: ' Following #BHS @marksandspencer is a big blow to the British high street. Did they need to shake up their fashion for younger audience??'

Others supported the move towards the brand operating more food-only stores, criticising the current standard of clothing.

Twitter user @bippidee said: 'Not surprised Marks & Spencer is closing stores. Such a confusing overpriced mess of different styles for different ages. Great food though.'

Peter Brown added: 'Not surprised Marks & Spencer Clothing is in trouble. Once it represented quality and value. Now it's mostly overpriced and poor quality.'

M&S did not provide a statement, adding that it would not comment on 'rumours or speculation'.

Some speculated whether or not Marks & Spencer was not catering to a young enough audience

Others suggested it may be learning from the example of BHS by taking action before it is too late

But many were critical of the standard of clothes offered compared to the 'great' food

The high street giant is expected to report on another difficult quarter for its beleaguered clothing arm next week, with boss Steve Rowe also tipped to update the market on plans for the retailer's domestic and international stores.

The M&S closures  which also affect some stores overseas including a flagship outlet in Paris and others in China  are part of a major shift in policy to devote more floor space to its successful food ranges and build its website sales.

At the same time as closing some older high street stores, the company is opening another 200 of its smaller Simply Food outlets.

It is also embarking on a new approach to fashion, dropping catwalk fads in favour of classic designs and higher-quality fabrics.

Boss Steve Rowe - who took over from Dutchman Marc Bolland in April - will also consider swapping clothes for food in some stores

A consensus of City analysts expect like-for-like sales at the firm's general merchandising division, with includes clothing, to fall by 3.9 per cent in the second quarter.

In July, Marks & Spencer revealed that its clothing arm suffered its worst sales performance for more than a decade as it cut back on promotions amid a 'weak market', with like-for-like sales plummeting 8.9 per cent in the first three months of the year.

Mr Rowe - who took over from Dutchman Marc Bolland in April - is undertaking a wide-ranging overhaul of the business as he attempts to turn the retail giant around.

In August, Mr Rowe swung the axe on 525 jobs at the retailer's head office in a bid to cut costs. He later embarked on a major shake-up of staff pay in an effort to mitigate the impact of the National Living Wage.

It has also been reported that he is gearing up to shut dozens of its high street shops and phase out clothing sales at select stores as part of a major overhaul.

Kate Calvert, analyst at Investec, said: 'Steve Rowe will give part two of his strategic update on November 8. Having set his first priority as reviving clothing sales in May, he is due to come back to the ideal UK store estate in a multi-channel world, international, operations, and capital returns.

'We believe the market already anticipates action in all these areas and is likely to focus on weak trading and profit decline.'

Change of strategy: A warm September did not help winter clothes sales on the high street - and M&S could now replace clothing with food

Investec is pencilling in a 23% fall in half-year underlying pre-tax profits to 218 million.

Experts also expect the chief executive to reveal plans for the company's international arm, which has more than 450 stores, with many forecasting store closures as part of a major retreat.

Ms Calvert described Marks & Spencer's owned businesses in Ireland, Czech Republic and Greece in particular as the 'main drag' on the international business.

Marks & Spencer's better-performing food division is forecast to see growth flatline with Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, flagging that Christmas sales will be pivotal.

'Investors should appreciate that although impacted by price deflation, food sales are being helped by the launch of new food lines and the opening of more of the 'Simply Food' convenience stores, so the company will be pulling out all the stops to entice people in to buy their festive spread,' he said.

However, Mr Miah cautioned that the spectre of Brexit could emerge as a major cause of uncertainty and lead to lower economic growth, ultimately impacting consumer spending.

In July, Mr Rowe said that consumer confidence had weakened in the run-up to the EU referendum, adding: 'While it is too early to quantify the implications of Brexit, we are confident that our strategic priorities and the actions we are taking remain the right ones.'

He added shopper confidence remains 'fragile' after the Brexit decision, warning that Marks & Spencer is 'operating in uncertain times'.

Just this week Next, a fierce rival to M&S which has closed some under-performing stores, reported a dip in sales and warned next year will be tough.

The chains chief executive Simon Wolfson said: The macro-economic backdrop doesnt look exciting. It is likely we will have another year with a difficult consumer environment.

Sign of the times: Britains biggest clothing chain will use Tuesdays half-year results to signal the closure of a raft of shops around the globe

Tom Gadsby, an analyst at the stockbroker Liberum, said: Major store closures are needed to help restore margins [at M&S]. Its extensive store base, once a source of strength, is becoming a burden.

He added that a 334million increase in sales through the M&S website since 2012 had failed to make up for a fall of 568million in clothing and home sales over the same period.

We find it unsustainable that the company should continue to pay for its store base in the face of declining sales and then pay again for the channel shift by paying to fulfil online orders, he said.

The inescapable conclusion is to close space.

City analysts expect like-for-like sales at the firms general merchandising division, with includes clothing, to fall by 3.9 per cent in the second quarter. Investec is predicting a 23 per cent fall in half-year underlying pre-tax profits to 218million.

Jonathan De Mello, of the retail property advisers Harper Dennis Hobbs, believes M&S could close one in five stores by 2020, but admits this will be difficult because it changes the fabric of the high street.

There were 15 shop closures a day in the first half of 2016 and new openings fell to the lowest level for five years, according to the accountants PwC and the Local Data Company.

Some 206 fashion shops closed and 119 opened  a net decline of 87.
Charles and Camilla begin official tour of the Middle East

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have arrived in the Middle East to begin an official tour on behalf of the British Government.

Charles and Camilla will undertake 50 engagements in seven days during their visits to the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Their visit, at the request of the British Government, is to promote the UK's partnership in the region in areas including wildlife conservation and supporting women in leadership.

The Prince of Wales sits with HH Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq bin Taimur Al Said, after arriving at Muscat International Airport in Oman, to begin an official tour with his wife the Duchess of Cornwall

Charles arrived at Muscat International Airport at 9.15pm local time. His wife arrived privately earlier.

He was greeted by a Guard of Honour and welcomed by Sayyid Haithem bin Tariq bin Taimur Al Said, the minister of heritage and culture.

Jon Wilks, the UK ambassador to Oman, was also present.

On Saturday, Charles and Camilla will begin their tour as guests of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said.

They will receive a ceremonial welcome featuring a performance of folkloric dancing - consisting of two dances from different regions of Oman - to mark the start of their visit to the country.

Following their welcome, Charles will tour Muscat's new National Museum which showcases the history of the nation from its first human settlement two million years ago through to the present day.

He will view demonstrations of traditional handicraft-making at the museum, which opened in July, before being guided through the galleries.

Camilla will visit Oman Cancer Association's Dar Al Hanan Hostel to meet children and parents before attending a reception with supporters and sponsors.

She will also attend a reception for Women in Business to recognise Omani women who have succeeded in business or the public sector and become role models to others in the country.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. SURRELL MONTIA DUFF, Plaintiff  Appellant, v. CHRIS POTTER, Correctional Officer at Buncombe County Detention Facility; ROBERT MANGUM, Correctional Officer at Buncombe County Detention Facility; WILLIAM BAXTER, Correctional Officer at Buncombe County Detention Facility; THOMAS SCHINDLER, Correctional Officer at Buncombe County Detention Facility, Defendants - Appellees. No. 16-6783 Decided: November 03, 2016

Before DUNCAN and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge. Surrell Montia Duff, Appellant Pro Se. Thomas Joseph Doughton, DOUGHTON RICH BLANCATO, PLLC, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellees.

Surrell Duff appeals from the district court's order granting summary judgment to Defendants in Duff's 42 U.S.C.  1983 (2012) complaint alleging the use of excessive force in violation of the Eighth Amendment and deliberate indifference to serious medical needs. On appeal, Duff solely challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment to Defendants Potter, Mangum, and Baxter on the excessive force claim. He argues primarily that the court erred in determining that there were no genuine dispute of material fact because he did not provide an affidavit or other supporting material opposing the motion to dismiss.

Duff, now a federal inmate housed in Florida, filed a 42 U.S.C.  1983 action against four Buncombe County, North Carolina, correctional officers related to an incident at the county detention facility where Duff had been a pretrial detainee. Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. Duff received Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309 (4th Cir. 1975) notice. Duff filed a brief in response opposing summary judgment and also filed a motion to dismiss the motion for summary judgment. The court granted the Defendants' motion for summary judgment, noting that Duff's brief was not accompanied by any sworn affidavits, or any other type of evidence that would be admissible on summary judgment.

We review de novo a district court's award of summary judgment, viewing the facts and inferences reasonably drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Woollard v. Gallagher, 712 F.3d 865, 873 (4th Cir. 2013). Summary judgment is appropriate only if the record shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.  Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). The relevant inquiry on summary judgment is whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52 (1986). We will uphold the district court's grant of summary judgment unless we find that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party on the evidence presented. See EEOC v. Cent. Wholesalers, Inc., 573 F.3d 167, 174-75 (4th Cir. 2009).

Summary judgment should be granted only when it is perfectly clear that no issue of material fact exists. Haulbrook v. Michelin N. Am., 252 F.3d 696, 702 (4th Cir. 2001). A verified complaint is the equivalent of an opposing affidavit for summary judgment purposes. World Fuel Servs. Trading, DMCC v. Hebei Prince Shipping Co., 783 F.3d 507, 516 (4th Cir. 2015); see also Davis v. Zahradnick, 600 F.2d 458, 459-60 (4th Cir. 1979) (holding that factual allegations contained in a verified complaint that conflict with affidavits supporting motion for summary judgment established a prima facie case under  1983, so as to preclude summary judgment). Duff's complaint included a statement under 28 U.S.C.  1746 (2012) that the contents were true and correct. [W]here affidavits present conflicting versions of the facts which require credibility determinations, summary judgment cannot lie. Raynor v. Pugh, 817 F.3d 123, 130 (4th Cir. 2016) (internal quotation and citation omitted). Thus, Duff's statements in his complaint should have been considered by the court as admissible evidence rebutting the Defendants' evidence. It is clear that the district court did not do so, and to the extent that it may have, it resolved the factual disputes in favor of the moving party.

Turning to what Duff must prove to succeed on his excessive force claim, it is well established that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a pretrial detainee from the use of excessive force that amounts to punishment, Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395 n.10 (1989), and is not an incident of some other legitimate governmental purpose. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 538 (1979). In Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466 (2015), however, the Supreme Court held that a plaintiff must demonstrate only that the force purposely or knowingly used against him was objectively unreasonable. 135 S. Ct. at 2473. In determining whether the force was objectively unreasonable, a court considers the evidence from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, including what the officer knew at the time, not with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. Id. (citing Graham, 490 U.S. at 396).

Considerations such as the following may bear on the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the force used: the relationship between the need for the use of force and the amount of force used; the extent of the plaintiff's injury; any effort made by the officer to temper or to limit the amount of force; the severity of the security problem at issue; the threat reasonably perceived by the officer; and whether the plaintiff was actively resisting. Kingsley, 135 S. Ct. at 2473. Because the standard is an objective one, the court is not concerned with the officers' motivation or intent. See, e.g., Clay v. Emmi, 797 F.3d 364, 370 (6th Cir. 2015). Moreover, it is appropriate to determine whether the force used was objectively reasonable in full context, as a segmented view of the events misses the forest for the trees. Smith v. Ray, 781 F.3d 95, 101 (4th Cir. 2015) (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted).

Viewed from this legal lens, in the light most favorable to Duff, and to the extent supported by the record, we conclude that the district court erred in determining that a genuine dispute of material fact did not exist as to the excessive force claim. Because Duff's verified complaint acts as an opposing affidavit, there are several factual disputes: whether Duff refused to remove his hands from his jumpsuit; whether Duff made an aggressive move towards the officers; whether Duff's head was accidentally pushed into the wall while resisting, causing injury, or whether the officers carried out a more directed and significant physical altercation; whether Duff resisted officers when they attempted to secure him; and the severity of Duff's injuries. These factual disputes must be resolved to assess the Kingsley factors of need for the use of force and how much force was used, extent of Duff's injuries, any effort made by an officer to limit the amount of force used, the threat reasonably perceived by the officers, and whether Duff was actively resisting. See Kingsley, 135 S. Ct. at 2473.

Duff's version of events in his verified complaint is significantly different from the Defendants' version. Although the Defendants submitted affidavits and support for the motion for summary judgment, the court may not consider these materials in a vacuum. The court must view the facts and inferences drawn from the facts in Duff's favor. The record before this court does not conclusively establish that the district court complied with these mandates. Accordingly, we vacate and remand the order as to the excessive force claims against Defendants Potter, Mangum, and Baxter for further proceedings.

We affirm the portion of the district court order granting summary judgment to Defendant Schindler on the deliberate indifference to a serious medical need claim. Duff did not address this claim in his informal brief. Even affording Duff's informal brief liberal construction, Duff has failed to challenge this district court ruling. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (instructing courts to construe pro se documents liberally). Accordingly, we conclude that Duff has forfeited appellate review of the court's order as to deliberate indifference to a serious medical need. See 4th Cir. R. 34(b) (The Court will limit its review to the issues raised in the informal brief.); Jackson v. Lightsey, 775 F.3d 170, 177 (4th Cir. 2014) (noting importance of Rule 34(b)).

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED IN PART; VACATED AND REMANDED IN PART

PER CURIAM:
Frederik Tylicki suffered T7 paralysis in Kempton fall - Injured Jockeys Fund

Jockey Frederik Tylicki has been told by doctors he has a T7 paralysis - meaning he has movement in the upper half of his body but not lower - after he sustained spinal injuries from a fall at Kempton on Monday.

The Injured Jockeys Fund announced the news in a statement on Friday evening.

Tylicki was admitted to the major trauma unit at St George's Hospital in Tooting after he fell from the David Elsworth-trained Nellie Deen in a four-horse melee that led to the abandonment of the meeting.

Frederick Tylicki has been told he has a T7 paralysis

Lisa Hancock, CEO of the IJF, said: "After his fall at Kempton Park Racecourse earlier this week, Freddy Tylicki was transferred to St George's Hospital in London, where he has since undergone surgery to his spine.

" His surgical team have confirmed that Freddy has a T7 paralysis, which means he has movement in the upper half of his body but not his lower.

"Freddy remains in intensive care and is not receiving any visitors for the foreseeable future.

"His family would like to thank the St George's staff for the care he has received. As this is a very difficult time for Freddy and his family, they would like to thank everyone for their good wishes, and for continuing to respect their privacy."

Tylicki was airlifted to hospital when Nellie Deen and her rider both fell halfway through a one-mile maiden for fillies.

Jim Crowley, who was riding Electrify, was consequently brought down, but the newly-crowned champion jockey, who was taken by road ambulance to hospital, escaped from the pile-up with a broken nose and was released that evening.

Steve Drowne avoided injury when his mount, Skara Mae, was also brought down, while Ted Durcan was unseated from Sovrano Dolce and suffered a broken ankle.

Tylicki had this year been an emerging force in the weighing room, having claimed a first Group One victory aboard Speedy Boarding at Deauville in August.

He then secured a second top-level Flat triumph when the same filly won the Prix de l'Opera on Arc weekend at Chantilly in October.

Tylicki was named champion apprentice jockey in 2009 and counted the John Smith's Cup at York amongst his other previous big-race victories.

Born in Germany - his father was a three-times champion jockey in his homeland - Tylicki moved to Ireland with his family as a 14-year-old.

His first significant role in racing was as an apprentice to Dermot Weld, in County Kildare, before he assumed a role at Jim Bolger's County Carlow yard for three-and-a-half years.

In 2008, the rider moved to North Yorkshire and was apprenticed to Malton handler Richard Fahey, for whom he rode his first British winner on Kings College Boy in June that year.

A month later, Fahey and Tylicki teamed up to claim success in the prestigious John Smith's Cup with Flying Clarets.

Tylicki had developed a fruitful alliance with many trainers on the northern circuit but missed half of the 2010 campaign when he fractured a shoulder at Musselburgh in June of that year.

In 2014, the jockey decided to launch a freelance career in Newmarket and had this season made the breakthrough into the higher echelons of the sport, having developed a strong bond with Speedy Boarding's trainer James Fanshawe.

He was also called upon to wear the famous royal blue silks of Godolphin, while he also rode for Classic-winning handlers Luca Cumani, Roger Varian and Michael Bell.

Reacting to the news, Fahey said: "It is very sad. Freddy is a tough cookie. He was a cracking fellow in his time with us and was very dedicated and driven in everything he did.
SocGen beats forecasts in bumper quarter for trading

PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Societe Generale's shares rose more than 6 percent on Thursday after a bumper quarter for the French bank's trading business helped to produce stronger-than-expected results.

SocGen and BNP Paribas have outshone their major European investment banking rivals such as Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse in what was a strong quarter for investment banks' bond trading businesses.

The strong performance from trading helped to offset SocGen's French retail banking, where revenue fell 6 percent in the quarter on lower financial fees and home loan renegotiations. The retail business accounts for more than a third of SocGen's profits.

Like BNP Paribas, SocGen is cutting back on less profitable activities and reducing costs in its investment banking division to combat the impact of capital and regulatory charges without undertaking a radical restructuring.

The bank's front office staffing levels fell 3 percent over the first nine months of the year at its global banking and investor solutions division.

SocGen's fixed-income business produced 42.2 percent revenue growth year-on-year versus a 41.3 percent increase at BNP Paribas.

Revenues from this activity at Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse over the period were up 14 percent and 2 percent respectively.

SocGen was especially strong relative to its rivals in equities trading, where profits rose 17 percent and it reported a "robust appetite" for structured products, notably in Asia.

The French bank also benefited from a turnaround in eastern Europe and also in Russia, where its business swung into profit due to falling provisions on bad loans and on the back of restructuring measures.

Overall, SocGen's revenue fell 5.6 percent to 6.01 billion euros, above the poll average estimate of 5.91 billion.

"The group is on track to continue its transformation," chief executive Frederic Oudea told reporters.

The results helped SocGen to beef up its capital buffer, bringing its Common Equity Tier One ratio - a key measure of a lender's ability to absorb losses - to 11.4 percent by the end of September versus 11.1 percent at the end of June.

SocGen's net income fell 2.4 percent to 1.10 billion euros ($1.22 billion) in the third quarter, but beat analysts' average estimates in a Reuters poll of 745 million.

SocGen's shares were up more than 6 percent at 1135 GMT, the strongest performer in a mixed European banking sector.

Its shares have underperformed French bank rivals this year, in part due to a cautious outlook for 2016 and uncertainty over a review of the tax credit it received following rogue trading losses in 2008.

($1 = 0.9001 euros)
Chile anti-establishment presidential hopeful rises in polls

SANTIAGO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Support is growing for an independent, left-leaning senator to run for president in Chile's 2017 election, a poll released on Thursday showed, in a race with two ex-presidents.

The GfK Adimark poll showed rapidly increasing support for Alejandro Guillier, a journalist turned anti-establishment senator who was little known just a few months ago.

When asked who they would choose as president if elections were held this week, 15 percent of 1,056 Chileans surveyed from Oct. 7-27 named Guillier, up from 5 percent in August.

Guillier, 63, is gaining on Sebastian Pinera, the top choice with 20 percent of support. Center-right Pinera led the country from 2010 to 2014 and is the favorite to secure the opposition right-wing coalition ticket in the November 2017 election.

Support for Ricardo Lagos, a moderate leftist who led Chile from 2000 to 2006, remains low at 5 percent, although his campaign received a boost over the weekend when Isabel Allende, seen as a key rival to represent the governing coalition, said she would not run.

Allende, the daughter of deposed socialist leader Salvador Allende, had expressed an interest in running, but her popularity has recently declined.

Voters have turned sour on President Michelle Bachelet's government after a series of corruption scandals, an ambitious reform drive that has fallen flat with many Chileans, and weak economic growth.

Bachelet's coalition was punished in recent local elections, and abstention was high.

But as Chileans have become disillusioned with mainstream politics, Guillier scores highly on trust factors, polls show.

Leaving journalism for politics in 2013, Guillier has painted himself as a change from the status quo and a "transition" toward the next generation, a cluster of popular ex-student leaders who are too young to run for the highest office.

On his website, operational since Wednesday, Guillier emphasizes rebuilding trust and flags a meeting with former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, a leftist who championed progressive, sometimes unconventional policies.

Lagos, a 78-year-old political veteran known for the stand he took against ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s, is conscious of his political legacy and will likely withdraw if he sees a high chance of losing, political scientist Kenneth Bunker tweeted on Thursday.

The GfK Adimark poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Russia says U.N. South Sudan mission 'in ruins' after firing

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday criticized U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's decision to fire a Kenyan peacekeeping commander in South Sudan as premature, saying the mission there was now "in ruins" after Kenya vowed to withdraw all its troops in response to the move.

Ban dismissed Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki after a U.N. inquiry into the response by peacekeepers to several days of violence in the capital Juba in July found a lack of leadership and that U.N. troops failed to protect civilians.

Kenya said it would withdraw some 1,000 troops deployed with the 13,000-strong peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, where U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed since 2011 when it gained independence from Sudan.

In an unusual move, Russia, a U.N. Security Council veto power, and Kenya publicly criticized Ban's response to the report.

"For us the decision was premature," Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Illichev said. "We don't have a special representative, she's leaving, we don't have a force commander. ... The whole structure is in ruins."

Ondieki became the force commander in June, just three weeks before the outbreak of heavy fighting between South Sudan President Salva Kiir's troops and soldiers loyal to his rival, Riek Machar.

U.N. South Sudan envoy Ellen Loj is due to step down at the end of November.

The U.N. inquiry, released on Tuesday, found peacekeepers did not operate under a unified command and received multiple and sometimes conflicting orders. It said there was a "chaotic and ineffective" U.N. response.

Kenya U.N. Ambassador Macharia Kamau said his country had appealed to Ban not to single out any one individual for "what we will continually insist is a systemic failure in the United Nations system."

"The secretary-general, in his lame-duck season, seems to have found the courage that has alluded him throughout his tenure by choosing to ignore Kenya's plea," Kamau told a news conference at the United Nations.

Ban steps down at the end of 2016 after serving two five-year terms.

The United States proposed on Thursday that the Security Council welcome the inquiry's report, but diplomats said that China, backed by Russia, blocked the move. Such statements have to be agreed by consensus.

The U.N. inquiry had found that on two occasions Chinese peacekeepers abandoned their positions during the violence.

In Beijing on Friday, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the report contained "groundless criticism" of relevant U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan and expressed "regret" over its negative impact on the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the U.N. inquiry on Thursday, which he said was focused on U.N. decisions made during the several days of violence. Dozens of civilians and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed during the fighting.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, acknowledged the difficult and dangerous circumstances faced by peacekeepers in South Sudan, but said the failure to act by U.N. troops "revealed systemic shortcomings in UNMISS."

"It is clear from the U.N.'s investigation that when civilians were in desperate need of help, their pleas were ignored, and the human costs were horrific," Power said in a statement.
France's Juppe says party rival Sarkozy's attacks "suicidal"

By Ingrid Melander

PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The top two candidates for the French conservatives' presidential ticket lashed out at each other on Thursday, with Nicolas Sarkozy saying Alain Juppe would be too soft to carry out reforms and Juppe retorting Sarkozy's strategy was suicidal.

With less than three weeks before the primaries that will appoint the 2017 nominee, pressure is growing on Sarkozy, a former president, to find ways to close the gap with former prime minister Juppe, the frontrunner in opinion polls.

Whoever wins the Les Republicains party's two-round primaries on Nov.20 and 27 will most likely become France's next leader and succeed the deeply unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande, opinion polls show.

"I really don't want a weak change of power," Sarkozy told a televised debate in a criticism of Juppe, whom he said would move too slowly, not carry out necessary reforms and be hostage to centre-right ally Francois Bayrou.

"This attitude is suicidal," Juppe said, adding that refusing an alliance with Bayrou would boost far-right National Front chief Marine Le Pen's score and allow her to top the first round of the April 23/May 7 presidential election.

"I want to bring everyone together, the right, the center, those who are disappointed with Hollande ... and those who are disappointed with the National Front," Juppe said.

Bayrou, a centrist who voted for Hollande instead of Sarkozy in 2012, is a hated figure for some grassroots Les Republicains supporters. Sarkozy has been targeting him for days in a bid to boost his election chances.

A snap poll by Elabe pollsters after the debate showed that this strategy might have some success amid the party's rank and file but not necessarily be enough.

Some 34 percent of voters considered that Juppe won the debate, while 24 percent thought Sarkozy was the victor. But amid centrist and conservative sympathisers, Sarkozy edged ahead with 31 percent vs 28 percent for Juppe.

Sarkozy, who has been campaigning on a hardline law-and-order platform, is unhappy about a party rule that allows anybody willing to pay two euros and sign a declaration that they share centre-right values to vote in the primaries.
Myanmar not trying to hide anything in Rakhine, investigating - Suu Kyi

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday investigations were underway into the situation in Rakhine State, where many members of a Muslim minority live and where human rights workers say conflict has led to abuse of civilians by the military.

Suu Kyi, speaking on a visit to Tokyo, told a news conference the government was trying to get to the root of the matter, and would not accuse anyone until all the evidence was in, at which point any action would be taken in accordance with due legal process.

"We have been very careful not to blame anybody in particular unless we have complete evidence as to who has been responsible for what," she said, noting that Muslims had been killed as well as police officers and the government had not "tried to hide any of this".

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi is in Japan on a five-day visit to court investment and aid, as an upsurge in violence against the persecuted Muslim minority Rohingya at home poses the worst crisis of her six months in power.

She has faced mounting criticism abroad for her government's handling of the crisis in Rakhine State, where soldiers are accused of raping and killing civilians and where aid workers were refused access until the government on Thursday agreed to allow such work to resume.

The latest bout of violence began with attacks on Oct. 9 on three police posts by insurgents allegedly inspired by Islamist militants in which nine policemen were killed.

It is the most serious unrest to hit the state on Myanmar's western border with Bangladesh since hundreds of people were killed in communal clashes in 2012.

"We are trying to get to the root of the matter," Suu Kyi told the news conference, adding everybody had to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

"We will be going through the due process and all the incidents that have taken place ... will be examined and it will be done in accordance with our laws and regulations," she said.

"We will find out what really happened and then action will be taken accordingly."

Tension between Myanmar's ethnic minorities and the majority Burman-dominated central government has prompted many groups to take up arms to fight for greater autonomy since shortly after the country's independence in 1948.

Earlier, Suu Kyi told Japanese business executives that Myanmar needed peace to carry out sustainable development.

The Rakhine military operation has sharpened the tension between Suu Kyi's six-month-old civilian administration and the army, which ruled the country for decades and retains key powers, including control of ministries responsible for security.
Indonesia's president blames 'political actors' for stirring Muslim protest

By Johan Purnomo and Fergus Jensen

JAKARTA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo lashed out at politicians for stoking a huge protest by Muslims that briefly turned violent on Friday night as a hardcore group pressed for the resignation of Jakarta's governor, a Christian they say insulted the Koran.

The first ethnic Chinese politician to lead this sprawling city of 10 million, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is standing for re-election in February, competing with two Muslims for the job.

The governorship of the capital is a powerful position and it was a stepping stone for Joko Widodo to the presidency of the country two years ago.

At a news conference held in the early hours of Saturday, Widodo called for calm and took a swipe at politicians - whom he didn't name - for whipping up die-hard demonstrators after most had already gone home.

" ... we deplore the incident after the Isha prayers, when should have already disbanded but became violent. And, we see this was steered by political actors who were exploiting the situation," Widodo said.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to subdue a restive crowd that police said swelled to about 150,000 after Friday prayers as they congregated around the presidential palace.

Some protesters threw rocks at the police, two vehicles were torched and a fire broke out near the city's National Monument, but by the evening the demonstration was fizzling out.

However, in a northern neighbourhood of the city there was a late-night clash between police and a few dozen protesters, and social media reports showed a convenience store being looted.

And hundreds camped out until around 4 a.m. beside the parliament building to demand Purnama be charged for blasphemy.

A police spokesman said one person died and 12 were hurt. Local media said about 23 people were arrested, most of them in the north, where overnight police guarded shopping and residential areas that are home to predominantly non-Muslims.

About a dozen Muslim groups have accused Purnama of insulting Islam after he jokingly said his opponents had used a verse from the Koran to deceive voters. The verse implies that Muslims should not choose non-Muslims as leaders.

Chanting "God is greatest", many in Friday's protest waved placards calling for Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, to be jailed for blasphemy. A white banner hung at an overpass was painted with red letters that read "Hang Ahok here".

Police are investigating the case against Purnama, who has apologised for his remarks, insisting he was not criticising the Koranic verse but those who used it to attack him.

Purnama has a reputation as a no-nonsense reformer with little patience for the corruption widely blamed for the chaos and dilapidated infrastructure of an overcrowded city.

He remains popular despite efforts by Muslim groups to vilify him and is seen as the frontrunner in the election, though many voters are angry with him for evicting large numbers from slums to modernise Jakarta.

Widodo, a Muslim, has vowed not to interfere in any legal proceedings against Purnama, according to media reports. But he said at his news conference that any legal process involving Purnama would be executed "swiftly, firmly and transparently".

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country, but most follow a moderate form of Islam and protests on such a large scale are rare.

Ethnic Chinese make up just over 1 percent of Indonesia's 250 million people, and they typically do not enter politics.

Indonesian Chinese have faced persecution and violence in the past, especially during the political and social turmoil that gripped Jakarta when former strongman Suharto was toppled.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Nov 4

SOFIA, Nov 4 (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.

-- Some 6.84 million Bulgarians will be eligible to cast their ballot in the presidential vote this Sunday, the central electoral commission said.(Trud, Standart, Sega)

TRUD - The real estate prices in the capital Sofia have increased by 17 percent on an annual basis, a data from real estate company Bulgarian Properties showed.

TRUD - Aluminum products manufacturer Alcomet said it will invest 36 million euros in its plant in northeastern Bulgaria and will open 100 new jobs.

-- The parliament 's budgetary commission approved the 2017 budget draft, that plans a fiscal deficit of 1.4 percent compared to a balanced budget this year. (Trud, Standart, 24 Chasa)
Poland - Factors to Watch Nov. 4

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Friday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

COAL MINING

Poland's biggest coal mining firm, the state-run PGG, can book a net loss of 1 billion zlotys ($257.16 million) for the whole 2016, which is three times bigger than the government expected, Rzeczpospolita daily said quoting unnamed sources.

The paper also said that the government considers merging PGG with another state-owned troubled miner - KHW.

DEFENSE

Poland expects that the firs Patriot missile defence system will arrive at Polish military checkpoints in 2021, Rzeczpospolita daily said quoting an official from the defense ministry.

The paper also said that Poland, which will seek formal U.S. approval to buy eight Patriots from Raytheon Co, does not want to order the existing version of the Patriot system but wants to buy the newest ones, with the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS).

CIECH

Poland's chemical group Ciech controlled by the billionaire Sebastian Kulczyk plans to buy a Portuguese and a Spanish agrochemical firm, Parkiet daily said quoting the company's statement.

CD PROJECT

Poland's video games producer CD Project has proposed changes regarding its shareholders voting right, which may help it prevent a hostile takeover, Parkiet daily said quoting the company's statement and analysts.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
Kurdish women fighters battle Islamic State with machineguns and songs

By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Michael Georgy

SAMAQA, Iraq, Nov 3 (Reuters) - When Islamic State insurgents fired mortar bombs at Iranian Kurdish women fighters holding a desert position in northern Iraq, the women first hit back by singing through loudspeakers.

Then the women opened fire with machineguns.

"We wanted to make them angry. To tell Daesh that we are not afraid," said Mani Nasrallahpour, 21, one of about 200 female peshmerga fighters who left behind their life in Iran to take on the hardline Sunni militants.

A commander said Islamic State -- known to its enemies by the Arabic acronym Daesh -- deliberately targeted the female unit with 20 mortars when the singing began.

Islamic State prohibits singing and music. It has also imposed tight restrictions on women and took hundreds of them as sex slaves since sweeping through northern Iraq in 2014 and declaring a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.

The Kurdish women are part of a larger armed unit of some 600 fighters aligned with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, known by its Kurdish acronym PAK.

This group has joined an array of Iraqi and Kurdish forces who are backed by a U.S.-led coalition in an offensive designed to push Islamic State out of their stronghold of Mosul.

It also has a far more ambitious goal of creating an independent Kurdish nation that would stretch across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria -- a concept those nations reject.

"We fight to protect our soil, whether it is the Kurdistan of Iran or Iraq. It does not matter whether it is Daesh or another group that has occupied our soil," said Nasrallahpour, clutching an AK-47 assault rifle.

"THEY ARE AFRAID OF WOMEN"

Their presence is a reminder of the complexities of the battlefield in northern Iraq, where the women recently joined Iraqi male Kurdish fighters in driving Islamic State out of the village of Fadiliya.

Avin Vaysi ran into that fight toting a heavy machinegun and battling Islamic State street by street.

"They are afraid of women," she said. "It is true that Daesh is dangerous but we are not afraid of them."

So far in the offensive, one woman fighter from the group has been killed.

Like the other peshmerga, Vaysi was enraged by news reports of the militants abusing women. She decided to take matters into her own hands.

"I saw on television that Daesh is torturing women and it made my blood boil," said Vaysi, 32, who has a Kurdish flag painted on her cheek. "I decided to go and fight them."

The presence of the PAK in northern Iraq is controversial. Iran has pressured the Kurdistan Regional Government to expel the group.

Since the start of 2016, the PAK has clashed with Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Iran at least six times, said Hussein Yazdanpanah, military commander of the group.

Attempts to reach a Revolutionary Guard media office for comment were unsuccessful.

On Thursday afternoon, women fighters were lined up on a dirt berm, their weapons pointed at the frontline with Islamic State about 700 metres away.

A woman walked by with a sniper rifled strapped to her shoulder. Nearby were a row of captured homemade Islamic State rockets fitted with propane tanks.

Knowing the atrocities Islamic State has carried out against women, Nasrallahpour said the female fighters had made a pact never to allow themselves to be taken captive.

"We always have a bullet ready to use on ourselves in case we are about to be taken prisoner," she said, rolling a Kalashnikov round between her thumb and forefinger.

She and others hope they can get their hands on Islamic State militants.

"We will tear them apart. When they have killed our babies in the womb why should we show them mercy," said Nasrallapour.

Fighters say they are treated equally by male comrades.

"We are 100 percent equals. We are proud of the women fighters," said Hajir Bahmani, 27, a male commander.

Female fighters go through six weeks of training that includes target practice and learning how to be a sniper.

"Along with defending our Kurdish land we are also fighting for women's rights. Like a man, I can fight in the mountains and the desert," said Nasrallahpour.

Breaking stereotypes like keeping women in the kitchen is something the fighters take pride in.

"Here the men cook for us," said Nasrallahpour.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. EITAN OVADIA ELIAHU, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE OF ISRAEL, Defendant-Appellee. No. 15-15487 Decided: November 02, 2016

Before: LEAVY, GRABER, and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges.

MEMORANDUM*

Eitan Ovadia Eliahu appeals pro se from the district court's judgment dismissing his action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1291. We review de novo, Gupta v. Thai Airways Int'l, Ltd., 487 F.3d 759, 765 (9th Cir. 2007), and we affirm.

The district court properly dismissed Eliahu's action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because Eliahu failed to establish an exception to Israel's immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). See Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 443 (1989) (statutory exceptions to FSIA provide sole basis for jurisdiction over a foreign state).

The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Eliahu's request for jurisdictional discovery because Eliahu did not identify any discovery supporting his claim that a FSIA exception applied. See Boschetto v. Hansing, 539 F.3d 1011, 1020 (9th Cir. 2008) (setting forth standard of review and affirming denial of a request that was based on little more than a hunch that it might yield jurisdictionally relevant facts).

Eliahu's request for oral argument, filed on September 12, 2016, is denied.

AFFIRMED.
State's appeal against Oscar Pistorius sentence to be heard in open court

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 4 (Reuters) - South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday told state prosecutors and the defence to argue their case over the six-year sentence for murder handed to Paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius in open court.

Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison in July after being found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on appeal last December, in a case that has attracted worldwide interest.

Legal experts had expected the SCA to issue a ruling on whether prosecutors have the right to challenge the sentence but instead said both parties should first argue their case in court. The court did not set a date for the appeal hearing.

State prosecutors, led by advocate Gerrie Nel, say the sentence was too lenient as the jail term was less than half the 15-years they sought. In his arguments at the trial, Nel said Pistorius had shown no remorse for the 2013 shooting.

Lawyers for the gold medallist, known as the "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fibre prosthetics, say he did not deliberately kill model and law graduate Steenkamp.

The athlete originally received a five-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction, that was upgraded to murder on appeal.

Trial Judge Thokozile Masipa, who sent Pistorius to the six-year jail term, dismissed a request by Nel to appeal Pistorius' sentence, saying she was not persuaded that there was a reasonable prospect of success at another court.
London Metal Exchange tensions surface during gala week: Andy Home

By Andy Home

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - In the end it turned out all right on the night.

There was no booing and no slow handclapping when Garry Jones, chief executive of the London Metal Exchange (LME), rose to address the exchange's annual black-tie dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

There had been considerable speculation as to what sort of reception he would get after a year of falling exchange volumes and a protracted dispute with brokers over trading fees.

But decorum was maintained and Jones was in conciliatory mood, accepting with "some humility" that things hadn't gone "as well as we hoped".

He and his boss, Charles Li of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx), then had to humbly listen as Michael Farmer, guest speaker and copper market legend, spelt out exactly why the exchange's traditional users are so unhappy.

Well at least the two sides can talk about their differences, which as every counsellor will tell you, is the key to resolving marital problems.

Four years on from the nuptials between HKEx and LME, however, it is clear that relations need something of a reset.

Because, as Farmer pointedly noted, "there are many exchange competitors and even some here in London who are waiting in the wings and would be very happy to take over the mantle of the LME" as global price setter for industrial metals.

WHOSE MARKET IS IT ANYWAY?

Michael Farmer is a member of Britain's House of Lords and he has lorded it over the copper market for decades, most recently through the Red Kite Group he co-founded.

He is the living embodiment of the type of trader-merchant that has formed the back-bone of the LME since its inception in the 19th century.

No better person, in other words, to articulate the frustrations that have been simmering between exchange and users over the last year.

And he didn't disappoint, highlighting three areas that "need constant care and attention" if the LME is to retain its historical relevance; fees, regulatory creep and the exchange's embrace of new electronic players, particularly those of the high-frequency variety.

It was the first and the third that elicited the most cheers and applause in the Grosvenor's Great Ballroom.

The LME has reversed some of the fee hikes imposed at the start of 2015, particularly those on the short-dated spreads.

But "many users will still find the cost of trading to be high and I would strongly recommend the LME to consider further reductions to attract liquidity back."

Faced with falling volumes, the LME has been trying to entice more liquidity from proprietary electronic traders such as Jump Futures, the Chicago algo house which has recently become an exchange member.

Industrial users and brokers alike fear that such 21st century incursions are themselves part of the problem.

Farmer's contention that high-frequency trading "could be described as front-running", a now illegal practice of prioritising in-house orders over those of the customer, is a widely held view among LME brokers.

In short, according to Farmer, "an exchange, whose first priority is to serve the needs of its users rather than its own needs, will find that by so doing, it will be serving well its own needs too."

Ouch!

FROM HONG KONG WITH LOVE

At the heart of this discontent sits the LME ring, one of the last open outcry trading forums anywhere in the world.

The ring is still the fulcrum of the LME's uniquely peculiar multi-date spreads and is the last human hold-out against the algos and high-frequency traders that have come to populate other parts of the LME ecosystem.

And HKEx' Li was at pains to point out that rather than seeking to kill off such historical relics, the LME's "tradition is why we're here".

Indeed, he came to London bearing a little gift of reconciliation. HKEx likes the LME ring so much it has made a replica one to grace its new Qianhai metals exchange in mainland China.

It was a nice gesture.

But one that can't fully disguise the fact that HKEx has struggled to fulfil its part of the marriage bargain by opening up the Chinese mainland to LME players.

Spurned by China's Shanghai Futures Exchange, HKEx is now having to creep onto the mainland, forming its own spot metals platform and using its "Shield" warehouse certification initiative as a proxy for full LME warehousing.

But then, as Li said, "things happen in China that we do not fully anticipate and we do not fully control."

A NEW DAWN?

Of course, it's the things that the LME and its HKEx masters can control that are the source of all the unhappiness back in London.

The LME is showing signs of listening.

The incentives aimed at attracting electronic liquidity are under review. If something similar is happening on the fees front, the LME is not saying so publicly.

New contracts are being assessed, specifically ferro-chrome and the much-touted metal of the future, lithium.

The problem for the LME is that it's not the only exchange player launching new contracts.

CME Group was in town and announced the launch of gold and silver spot and spread contracts, a grab for the same bullion space targeted by the LME itself.

The U.S. exchange also announced the extension of its physical delivery network to Asian locations for its lead contract.

It's an increasingly aggressive challenge to the LME's historical franchise.

It may not be the only one but there was no visibility this week on the potential alternative metals trading platform being studied by former LME executive Martin Abbott at the behest of several LME brokers.

The best bit of news for the LME last week was the confirmation it had received "Foreign Board of Trade" status from the CFTC, allowing it to offer electronic trading and order matching in the United States.

The CFTC had used the approval process to put pressure on the LME to reform its warehousing network after a concerted lobbying campaign by U.S. aluminium users unhappy with the long load-out queues at Detroit.

The regulatory sign-off marks the closing of a particularly painful chapter for the LME.

It's the next chapter, though, that will determine the long-time success of the Hong Kong-London marriage.

The ever ebullient Li noted that the next Chinese zodiac year is that of the rooster, which "tells us a dawn is coming".
Pakistan to deport "Afghan Girl" from famed National Geographic photo

By Jibran Ahmad

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A Pakistani judge on Friday ordered the deportation of Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed "Afghan Girl" whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country's wars, after finding her guilty of illegally obtaining a Pakistani identity card.

Gula, now in her 40s, also was sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined 100,000 rupees ($955.11).

She had been living in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar for years with her husband and children. Her family has said her husband died a few years ago.

It was not immediately clear when Gula would be freed or deported, as she has already spent 10 days in jail, said an official at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar.

"She may spend five or four more days in Pakistan as a prisoner but we had made a special request to the Pakistani authorities to allow her to return Afghanistan either today, Friday, or Saturday," he said on condition of anonymity.

Judge Farah Jamshed of an anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar convicted Gula under the Foreign Act, according to a copy of the ruling.

She has been in custody since her arrest on Wednesday last week on accusations she was using a forged Pakistani identity card.

She had been recently shifted to a hospital with a fever and high blood pressure, said Dr Ghulam Subhani, medical superintendent of the city's Lady Reading Hospital, where her family have visited her.

However, she did appear in court on Friday for the verdict.

Gula was for years the face of Afghanistan's suffering, after National Geographic published her image as a young refugee, her defiant, pained eyes staring out from an unsmiling face, framed by a shawl over her head.
Spain government confident will meet 2016, 2017 deficit targets

MADRID, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Spain will hit its 2016 and 2017 deficit targets, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said on Friday at a press conference following the new leadership's first weekly cabinet meeting.

Spain has agreed to reduce the public deficit to 4.6 percent of economic output in 2016 from 5.1 percent in 2015. It has agreed with Brussels to hit a target of 3.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, but says with the current budget 3.6 percent is more likely.

One of the conservative government's most urgent tasks will be to pass a final 2017 budget proposal aimed at reducing the public account shortfall, one of the highest in the euro zone.
Three U.S. trainers shot dead at Jordan base -military source

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Three U.S. military trainers were shot dead in Jordan on Friday when their car failed to stop at the gate of a military base and was fired on by Jordanian security forces, a Jordanian military source said.

The incident occurred at the Prince Faisal air base in the south of Jordan, which is a close strategic ally of the United States. Two trainers died immediately and the third later in hospital. A Jordanian army guard was also shot and wounded.

"There was an exchange of fire at the entrance to the base after an attempt by the trainers' vehicle to enter the gate without heeding orders of the guards to stop," the military source said. "An investigation is now under way to know exactly what happened."

Another Jordanian security source said it was not possible to rule out political motives in the incident at an air base, where dozens of U.S. trainers work alongside Jordanians.

A third Jordanian source who requested anonymity said authorities were examining reports of friction among the U.S. trainers and Jordanian army officers that might offer clues helping to explain the shooting. He did not elaborate.

The base where the incident occurred is in the heart of the traditional Bedouin region of Jordan where radical Sunni Muslim influence has grown over the last decade.

Several incidents over the past year have jolted the Arab kingdom, which has been relatively unscathed by the uprisings, civil wars and Islamist militancy that have swept the Middle East since 2011.

In November 2015, a Jordanian army officer shot dead two U.S. government security contractors and a South African at a U.S.-funded police training facility near Amman before being gunned down.

The incident embarrassed Jordanian authorities, who did not publicly disclose the motive of the assassin. The gunman was later said by security sources to have been a sympathiser of the Islamic State militant group with strong anti-Western feelings.

WORRYING INCIDENT

"What is worrying is that if this (Friday's shooting) turns out to be deliberate it would be much more damaging than if this was a suicide or terror attack on a base because it was perpetrated by someone within the Jordanian military," another security source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters they were reviewing the incident and could not rule out the possibility of a deliberate attack. One said there were Americans in the convoy who were unharmed in the incident.

The White House said on Friday that it would work with Jordan to determine the circumstances around the shooting.

"We will certainly want to draw on the kind of cooperation that the U.S. has with Jordan to get to the bottom of what exactly happened," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a briefing.

Many ordinary Jordanians harbour strong anti-American sentiment over Washington's strong support for Israel and its military interventions in the Middle East.

Jordan is among a few Arab states that have taken part in a U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants holding territory in Syria. But many Jordanians oppose their country's involvement, saying it has caused violent deaths of fellow Muslims and raised security threats inside Jordan.

Officials worry about radical Islam's growing profile in Jordan and support in impoverished areas for militant groups.

Apart from the fatal shooting carried out by the Jordanian army officer a year ago, six Jordanian border guards were killed in June by an IS suicide bomber who drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a U.S.-funded military post.

Jordan hosts several hundred U.S. contractors in a military cooperation programme which includes the stationing of U.S. F-16 fighter jets that use Jordanian airfields to hit Islamic State positions in neighbouring Syria.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Washington has spent millions of dollars to help Jordan set up an elaborate surveillance system known as the Border Security Programme to stem infiltration by militants from Syria and Iraq.
Tunisian PM sacks minister over criticism of Saudi Arabian Islam

TUNIS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Tunisia's prime minister sacked the minister of religious affairs on Friday after he accused Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi brand of Islam of being behind "terrorism and extremism".

"Prime Minister Youssef Chahed decided to dismiss Salem Abd El Jalil, minister of religious affairs, from his duties due to the lack of respect for government work and his statements that touched principles of Tunisian diplomacy," the premier's office said in a statement.

Tunisian media on Thursday quoted Abd El Jalil as saying in parliament: "I told the Saudi ambassador in Tunisia that terrorism and extremism historically came from you ... You should reform your (religious) school."

He could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.

Tunisia, one of the Arab world's most secular countries, has turned to Western and Gulf allies for financing since its 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The North African state has become a major source of jihadists fighting in Iraq, Syria and neighbouring Libya. More than 3,000 Tunisians are believed to be involved and critics say foreign imam recruiters are partly to blame.
Angry mourners bury victims of air strike in Afghanistan

By Sardar Razmal

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds of mourners gathered on Friday to bury more than 30 civilians killed in an air strike called in to protect Afghan and U.S. forces during a raid on suspected Taliban militants outside the northern city of Kunduz.

There was an angry mood in Buz Kandahari, the village outside Kunduz where the raid took place in the early hours of Thursday, as white-shrouded bodies, many of small children, were laid out for burial.

"My brother and three of his children were killed. My brother had no connection to any group, he was a labourer," said Mawlawi Haji Allahdad, a resident of the village.

"Did you see which of those infants and children who were killed by the Americans were terrorists?"

"We will avenge our dead against the Americans and the government," he said.

Two Americans and four members of the Afghan special forces were killed during the initial raid, a month after Taliban fighters managed to enter Kunduz, threatening a repeat of their success a year earlier when they briefly captured the city.

The fighting underlined how precarious the security situation around Kunduz remains. Although the city centre was eventually secured last month, the Taliban control much of the surrounding district, including the area of Buz Kandahari.

Officials from the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Kabul have said it takes all reports of civilian deaths seriously and would investigate.

Human rights group Amnesty International called for an inquiry into the incident, saying those killed in the air strike deserved justice. "This cannot be another example of inaction in the face of such loss of life," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a trenchant critic of the use of American air power in Afghanistan, condemned the strikes, but otherwise reaction from Afghan political leaders was relatively muted.

Speaking at an event in Kabul, Government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah expressed his condolences to the victims and said there would be an investigation into the incident. He said the Taliban used Kunduz residents as human shields.

The use of air strikes in civilian areas came under heavy criticism last year after 42 people were killed in a strike against a hospital operated by aid group Medecins sans Frontieres in Kunduz.

According to figures from the United Nations, there was a 72 percent increase in civilian casualties caused by air strikes in the period from January to September, with 133 deaths and 159 injured. One third were caused by international forces.
US military service member killed, two injured in Jordan shooting-officials

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - One U.S. military service member was killed and two were critically injured on Friday in a shooting as they approached the gate to a training facility in Jordan, two U.S. officials said, declining to provide further details on the incident.

One of the officials said there was no indication at this point that it was a deliberate attack on American personnel, however.
Germany delivers frosty warning to Britain's Johnson on Brexit

By Michelle Martin and Noah Barkin

BERLIN, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Germany's foreign minister told his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Friday that Europe would not give Britain an easy ride in Brexit talks, saying his priority was to keep the remaining 27 EU member states united.

Johnson, a leading advocate of Britain leaving the European Union, struck a conciliatory note on his first visit to Berlin as foreign secretary, saying he thought Brexit could be a "win-win" for Britain and the EU.

But his host Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Johnson and other Brexit campaigners in the past, delivered a frosty warning that Britain should not delay the start of exit talks and that London would not be allowed to cherry-pick in the negotiations.

"Dear Boris, you have to understand that our priority is keeping the EU-27 together," Steinmeier told a joint news conference.

"Our view is clear and we've said it before - we can't talk about easing the conditions for access to the single market on the one hand and allowing Britain to reject those elements it sees as unattractive on the other."

Johnson has irked the German government by dismissing as "baloney" the link between the EU's core principle of free movement, which eurosceptics say makes it impossible to control immigration to Britain, and access to its tariff-free single market, which benefits British businesses. EU leaders have said repeatedly that Britain cannot have one without the other.

He started off the news conference in German with a twist on a famous speech by U.S. President John F. Kennedy, declaring "Ich bin nicht ein Berliner" (I am not a Berliner), but noting that his wife was born there.

He said the bilateral relationship was of "absolutely fundamental importance" and a guarantor of peace, stability and economic prosperity in Europe.

Johnson said the British government would stick with its plans to trigger divorce proceedings by the end of March despite a court ruling on Thursday that demands the government consult parliament before invoking Article 50 of the EU treaty to serve notice to its 27 partners.

"I don't think it will interfere with the timetable for that process," Johnson said, noting that the government planned to appeal the ruling and that there was no question of Britain changing course on Brexit.

Switching briefly into German again, he cautioned against reading too much into the "Sturm und Drang" (Storm and Stress) of the tumultuous debate in the British parliament.

Steinmeier, who kept a straight face, made clear: "A further delay isn't in anyone's interests".
Three US military servicemembers killed in Jordan shooting -official

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Three U.S. military servicemembers were killed on Friday in a shooting outside a training facility in Jordan, a U.S. official said, updating a death toll that had previously been estimated at one dead and two critically wounded.

"The servicemembers were in vehicles approaching the gate of a Jordanian military training facility, where they came under small arms fire," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are working with the Jordanian government to gather additional details about what happened."
United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. RED DOG MOBILE SHELTERS, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellant v. KAT INDUSTRIES, INC., KAT MACHINE, INCORPORATED, Defendants-Appellees 2016-1370 Decided: November 03, 2016

Before REYNA, TARANTO, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges. TARANTO, Circuit Judge. ELVIN E. SMITH, III, Law Offices of Elvin E. Smith, III PLLC, Rockwall, TX, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also represented by CLYDE MOODY SIEBMAN, Siebman, Burg, Phillips & Smith, LLP, Sherman, TX. RICHARD BRENT COOPER, Cooper & Scully, PC, Dallas, TX, argued for defendants-appellees. Also represented by DIANA L. FAUST, BENTON WILLIAMS, II, ELLIOTT TEALE COOPER.

Red Dog Mobile Shelters, LLC brought a suit for infringement against Kat Industries, Inc. and Kat Machine, Inc. (collectively, KAT), alleging that KAT's Tuffy shelter infringes Red Dog's U.S. Patent No. 8,534,001. The district court granted summary judgment of non-infringement. We affirm.

I

Red Dog's '001 patent, entitled Re-Deployable Mobile Above Ground Shelter, discloses certain protective shelters having features whose purpose is to help the shelter stay in place during high winds or similar conditions. '001 patent, col. 3, lines 3740. At least some of those features exploit the Bernoulli effect, which involves differences in air pressure related to differences in air speeds, to keep the shelter from moving from the substrate beneath it. Id., col. 3, lines 4049. Disclosed features include one or more members that elevate the floor above a substrate, a substantially enclosed sub-floor region bounded by the protected shelter and the substrate, and an air duct providing airflow communication between the substantially enclosed sub-floor region and an exterior region of the enclosure via venting. Id., col. 2, lines 2833 (summary of the invention). As to the claims, the district court in this case observed that although the specification describes the shelter as being mobile, above ground, and as taking advantage of this Bernoulli effect [,] the claims do not strictly require the claimed invention to have these features. J.A. 5.

According to the record on summary judgment that governs the decision on review, KAT manufactures mobile protective shelters that are designed to protect occupants during storms or tornadoes, and the particular one at issue here is the Tuffy shelter. Red Dog brought this infringement suit against KAT in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleging that KAT's Tuffy shelter infringed Red Dog's '001 patent. Red Dog asserted claims 44, 45, 47, 48, 55, 57, 60, 77, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94 of the '001 patent.

For purposes of this appeal, those claims may be divided into two groups: all of the asserted claims except claim 60; and claim 60. Essentially, three claim limitations are at issue. The first limitation appears in all claims except 60 (support):

multiple rails (claims 44, 45, 47, 48, 55, and 77) / elongate members (claims 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94) that extend along the first axis, are coupled to the enclosure, and support the protective shelter on a substrate (claims 44, 45, 47, 48, 55, 57, 77, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94).

'001 patent, col. 21, line 7, through col. 25, line 26 (emphasis added). The other two (elevate; ballast) appear in claim 60:

multiple rails that elevate the floor above the substrate (claim 60);

a ballast disposed beneath at least one of a set including the floor, the first deck, and the second deck (claim 60).

Id., col. 22, line 55, through col. 23, line 6 (emphases added).

The district court treated Claim 44 as representative of all the claims except claim 60. Claim 44 reads:

A protective shelter, comprising:

an enclosure having at least a floor, at least one sidewall coupled to the floor, a door, and a roof coupled to the at least one sidewall, wherein the protective shelter has a first axis and an orthogonal second axis both parallel to a plane including the floor of the enclosure, and wherein the protective shelter has a greater first dimension along the first axis and a lesser second dimension along the second axis;

multiple rails that extend along the first axis, are coupled to the enclosure, and support the protective shelter on a substrate;

first and second deck sections coupled to the rails, wherein the first and second deck sections extend substantially symmetrically from the enclosure along the first axis; and

a ballast disposed in one or more locations in the protective shelter, including at least one location in a set including beneath the floor, in the first deck section, and in the second deck section.

'001 patent, col. 21, lines 727. All claims at issue, including claim 60, require multiple rails.

Both parties filed motions for partial summary judgment. Red Dog sought a summary-judgment ruling that would reject KAT's defenses of inequitable conduct and laches, but the district court denied that motion, finding triable issues. KAT, for its part, sought summary judgment of non-liability on various grounds. As to grounds of invalidity and unenforceability, the district court denied the motion. But as to non-infringement, the issue now on appeal, the district court granted KAT's motion, ruling that there are no genuine disputes of material fact present in this issue and the Defendants are entitled to judgment [of non-infringement] as a matter of law. J.A. 7.

The court concluded that Red Dog pointed to insufficient evidence to create a triable issue about whether the accused KAT shelter meets the support and elevate limitations. In particular, the court found the declaration of Red Dog's expert insufficient, because the expert had not interpreted the claims and the accused product in a manner consistent with the way a person having ordinary skill in the art would interpret those claim terms in this patent. J.A. 910; see also J.A. 1012. Those conclusions alone required summary judgment as to all asserted claims, but the district court also concluded that Red Dog lacked sufficient evidence to create a triable issue about whether the accused shelter meets the ballast limitation of claim 60. J.A. 1215.

The district court subsequently dismissed all other claims and counterclaims without prejudice and entered a final judgment. J.A. 2. Red Dog appeals. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1295(a)(1).

II

We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. See Akzo Nobel Coatings, Inc. v. Dow Chem. Co., 811 F.3d 1334, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2016); Wright v. Excel Paralubes, 807 F.3d 730, 732 (5th Cir. 2015). Summary judgment is proper where the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56.

Infringement, which is a question of fact, is amenable to summary judgment when no reasonable factfinder could find that the accused product contains every claim limitation or its equivalent. Akzo, 811 F.3d at 1339. That determination depends on claim construction. Id. Claim construction is a matter of law, with any underlying findings about extra-patent understandings or other facts outside the patent documents calling for clear-error review. Id.

Here, the district court's analysis is best read as based ultimately on the meaning required by the patent itself: [t]his is just simply not what support means in this context, J.A. 11; Red Dog's elevate construction is certainly not an interpretation that a person of ordinary skill in the art would apply to this patent, J.A. 13. We review that context-based determination de novo. But Red Dog would not be aided even if we read the district court as making a finding about ordinary meaning outside the patent. Such a finding would call for the deferential review of the clear-error standard. Regardless, we conclude that the district court must be affirmed in its constructions of support and elevate, which exclude the accused shelters.

A

The first dispute concerns the meaning of support. Claims 44, 45, 47, 48, 55, 57, and 77 each include a requirement that the patented product include multiple rails that extend along the first axis, are coupled to the enclosure, and support the protective shelter on a substrate. '001 patent, col. 21, line 7, through col. 24, line 9. Claims 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94 each require that the product include multiple elongate members extending along the first axis that are coupled to the enclosure and support the protective shelter on a substrate. Id., col. 24, line 41, through col. 25, line 26.

In order to reach the KAT shelters, Red Dog requires an interpretation of support  on a substrate that would cover certain raised elements in the KAT shelters that do not sit under the lowered, round central shelter, which sits on the soil (the substrate). J.A. 276, 298 figure 2. Red Dog relied for such an interpretation on its expert's explanation invoking Hooke's Law and Newton's Third Law. J.A. 268, 27677. The expert drew his support conclusion from the assertion that the KAT shelter's raised elements, by their stiffness, bear more load than the shelter's bottom plate alone, J.A. 268, because, when the shelter sits on the soil and the soil produces an equal and opposite force, some of that force is transferred to the raised elements, J.A. 27677. Although the expert performed calculations to show such transfer, J.A. 299300, those calculations add nothing to the just-summarized explanation of why the support conclusion assertedly follows.

The district court properly rejected Red Dog's support interpretation. J.A. 11. To the extent that the court was making a factual finding that Red Dog's interpretation is not the ordinary, extra-patent meaning of support (of the structure by rails) in a context like this one, we find no clear error based on Red Dog's explanation. The physics analysis of forces does not clearly establish the meaning of support here. In any event, Red Dog does not meaningfully contend, and we see no basis for concluding, that the '001 patent contemplates a notion of support by rails other than the common-sense one apparent from the written descriptionnamely, rails sitting beneath the shelter, see '001 patent, col. 10, lines 2126 (shelter supported above the underlying substrate[,] rest[ing] upon one or more  rails); id., col. 4, lines 2128; id., col. 12, lines 5562, which is consistent with the focus on creating a substantially enclosed sub-floor region, id., col. 2, lines 2930; id., col. 3, lines 4546 (substantially enclosed space beneath the shelter floor).

The district court properly rejected the claim interpretation urged by Red Dog. Without that interpretation, there is no basis here for finding that KAT's shelter meets the support claim limitations. Summary judgment as to all of the asserted claims except claim 60 was proper.

B

Summary judgment also was proper as to claim 60. It is sufficient to discuss the claim term elevate. Claim 60 mandates that the product have multiple rails that elevate the floor above a substrate and first and second decks supported by the rails. '001 patent, col. 22, lines 6465. We conclude that the district court properly held that the rails that elevate the floor above a substrate limitation could not, on this record, be found to cover KAT's shelter, in which the raised elements (the asserted rails) are to the side of the shelter and do not lift its bottom plate above the ground.

Red Dog rests its contrary contention on two assertions together: first, KAT's shelter is elevated because of the thickness of the bottom plate itself, whose top surfacethe flooris necessarily above the bottom surface and therefore above the substrate; second, the rails are doing the elevating, because the bottom plate is actually part of the rails. J.A. 280. That interpretation covers even a solid floorboard that sits flush on the ground.

We think that the district court properly concluded that Red Dog's interpretation is not one a person of ordinary skill in the art would adopt, at least for this patent. As already noted, the '001 patent clearly contemplates rails that lift the bottom plate above the ground, creating a gap between the floor panel and the ground. '001 patent, col. 3, lines 4546; id., col. 2, lines 2930; see also id., col. 4, lines 2439 (particular embodiment allowing the free passage air from any locale beneath the shelter to any other locale) (emphasis added). More generally, the district court explained, under Red Dog's interpretation, it would be impossible to create a floor that was not elevated, because the floor would be the (two-dimensional) top of some (necessarily three-dimensional) material, which would have to have a thickness to it. J.A. 12. Red Dog's expert's application of elevate does not make any sense. Id.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

AFFIRMED
Sweden says worried by arrests of Kurdish lawmakers in Turkey

STOCKHOLM, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Sweden's foreign minister Margot Wallstrom said on Friday that Turkey's arrest of two leaders of the main pro-Kurdish opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) and other party members was "extremely worrying".
Mainly-Shi'ite paramilitaries join the fight for Mosul

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Among the various Iraqi forces seeking to oust Islamic State militants from their Mosul stronghold are the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a coalition of mainly Shi'ite militias who joined the U.S-backed campaign last week.

Below is some background about the forces:

- Three large militias make up the Hashid Shaabi, along with a number of smaller armed groups, totalling some 20,000 fighters. The vast majority of the fighters in the Hashid Shaabi come from Iranian-backed Arab Shi'ite militias but there are also Yazidis and Assyrians in the group. The largest of the Shi'ite militias is the Badr Organisation, headed by Hadi al-Amiri.

- Formed in 2014 to help push back Islamic State's advance in Iraq, the PMF officially report to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his Shi'ite-led government, and have led many security operations. However most of its groups have been trained by neighbouring Iran.

- The fighters also have close ties with the commander of Iran's Quds Brigade, the extra-territorial arm of the Revolutionary Guards, General Qassem Soleimani. Pictures posted on social media noted that he was recently at the frontlines around Mosul.

- The forces joined the campaign with an offensive to take the town of Tal Afar, some 55 kilometres (34 miles) west of Mosul, last Saturday, aiming to cut off any supply or retreat route for Islamic State fighters into Syria.

- Rights groups fear possible sectarian violence if the Shi'ite paramilitaries take control of areas with Sunni majorities in northern and western Iraq. Amnesty International has said Shi'ite militias in past campaigns committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing Islamic State-held areas. The forces and the government say abuses were isolated incidents.
Venezuela's PDVSA reaches $1.45 bln in finance deals with oil firms

CARACAS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on Friday announced financing deals totaling nearly $1.45 billion with local firm Delta Petroleum and India's ONGC that will be used to raise production at joint venture operations.

Venezuelan company Delta Petroleum, which holds a 40 percent stake in the Petrodelta joint venture with PDVSA, will provide $1.13 billion in financing to boost the joint venture's output, PDVSA said.
Benin authorities charge politician over cocaine haul

COTONOU, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Authorities in Benin on Friday charged prominent politician Sebastien Ajavon with drug trafficking in connection with a haul of 18 kg (40 pounds) of cocaine found last week in a shipping container.

Ajavon, who is also one of Benin's richest businessmen, came third in a presidential election in March. Detained more than a week ago, he denied charges of transporting and trafficking illegal drugs when he appeared before a tribunal in the commercial Cotonou, witnesses said.

Maritime police said they discovered the haul at the port of Cotonou in a container destined for one of his companies.
Rebel-held zone of Syria's Aleppo braces for renewed bombardment

By Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall

BEIRUT, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Syrian rebels and civilians showed no sign of leaving the besieged opposition-held sector of Aleppo on Friday, despite a Russian deadline to resume bombing Syria's largest city at nightfall after a 17-day pause.

The rebels' own shelling of residential parts of government-held western Aleppo has meanwhile killed dozens in the past week as insurgent groups staged a counter-attack from outside the city aimed at breaking the siege on areas they control.

The government sent ambulances and buses to bring people out of the besieged zone as it has done at other times during the pause, but there was still no sign that anybody would leave.

Residents contacted by Reuters seemed resigned to the resumption in bombing, which killed hundreds of people in late September and early October as the government and its Russian allies abandoned a ceasefire to launch their assault on the biggest urban area in opposition hands.

"Nothing can be done. Nobody can stop the planes," said Bebars Mishal, an official with the "white helmets" civil defence volunteer group in eastern Aleppo, which digs victims out of the rubble and runs an ambulance service.

He said there was no way for rescue workers or medical staff to prepare in advance of the expected resumption of attacks: "All we can do is take precautions and be ready 24 hours a day."

Moscow and Damascus say their pause in bombing the city will end at 7 pm (1700 GMT), accusing rebels of having used the pause to reinforce and launch attacks on government-held areas.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that by around 8:30 pm local time, there was no sign yet of resumed aerial bombardment of central parts of the city.

The government and its Russian allies say they target only militants, and that fighters are to blame for civilian casualties by operating in civilian areas.

Western countries say the bombing has deliberately targeted hospitals, aid workers and bakeries and Washington has accused Moscow of "war crimes". Rebels say the aim is to drive out civilians, some 275,000 of whom remain in the besieged zone.

"They call it a ceasefire. The regime hasn't let us hear the end of it," said Modar Shekho, a nurse in rebel-held eastern Aleppo. "As usual, when it ends they will let the bombardment loose. We've gotten used to this."

Syria's army, backed by Lebanese, Iranian, and Iraqi Shi'ite militias and Russia's air force, launched a major offensive to retake eastern Aleppo from rebel groups on Sept. 22 after a series of advances allowed them to besiege it this summer.

Aleppo has become the focal point of fighting in Syria's war, now in its sixth year, pitting President Bashar al-Assad and his allies against Sunni rebel groups including some supported by Turkey, Gulf Arab monarchies and the United States.

The city has been divided between the government-held western sector and rebel-held east for years. Winning full control of it would be the biggest victory so far for Assad's government in a war that has killed many hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than half of Syrians from their homes.

"NOBODY WILL LEAVE"

Damascus and Moscow declared a unilateral four-day pause in strikes on Oct. 18, promising rebels and residents safe passage to leave the city and have extended it for most days since, although some attacks have continued.

Russia, which has brought an additional aircraft carrier to Syria's coast, said on Wednesday that all rebels must leave Aleppo by Friday evening, adding its moratorium on air strikes could not be extended because of rebel shelling.

A witness in western Aleppo at Bustan al-Qasr, near a crossing point set up by the government to allow civilians to flee the rebel area, told Reuters on Friday he could see people waiting for relatives to come from the east. Buses and ambulances were waiting for them, but so far there was no sign of an exodus.

A woman at Bustan al-Qasr who was covering her face said she hoped the people in eastern Aleppo would be able to leave safely and peacefully.

Rebels have rejected the demand they withdraw.

"Nobody will leave and the Russians will escalate. The Russians declared this," said Zakaria Malahifji, a Turkey-based official from the politburo of the Fastaqim group, which is present in Aleppo.

The opposition says Damascus and its Russian and Iranian allies aim to win the war by depopulating rebel-held areas, starving the population out or bombing them into flight.

"The Russians are adopting a policy of demographic change with the regime and Iran, and their intentions are no longer hidden," an official from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki rebel group said.

In recent months other opposition-held areas have surrendered after long army sieges. The government calls the process reconciliation, offering safe passage out for rebel fighters who abandon territory and lay down their arms.

It has proposed a similar programme to end the siege of eastern Aleppo, opening what the army calls safe corridors, and sending ambulances for injured civilians and green city buses to transport fighters to Idlib, a rebel-held area.

But so far only a very small number of people have left the rebel-held zone since late October. Damascus has accused rebels of stopping people from leaving, including by shelling the safe corridors, which rebels have denied.

"I wish civilians would exit ... but I expect that won't happen, not under these circumstances," Fadi Ismail, an official based in Aleppo in Syria's reconciliation ministry, told Reuters via telephone.

Ismail said prospects for a deal with rebels looked bleak. "There must be military action, of course," he said, if no one evacuated.

The United Nations has said it does not have security guarantees needed to deliver aid into eastern Aleppo. It opposes evacuations of civilians from besieged areas unless they are voluntary.

After their offensive began in late September, pro-government forces managed to take ground in northern Aleppo including a camp for Palestinian refugees and smaller areas in the south, but made fewer advances into densely populated areas.

Rebels launched a counter-attack a week ago against the western edge of government-held areas from the surrounding countryside. They have made progress in the Dahiyet al-Assad suburb and the 1070 apartment blocks district, using 15 suicide car bomb attacks during the week, a war monitor said.
U.S. expanding international airport preclearance program

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Friday that it has selected 11 international airports in nine countries for a possible expansion of its U.S. preclearance program to reduce delays and help passengers make connecting U.S. flights.

The program allows travelers to undergo immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by U.S. Customs before boarding a flight to the United States rather than upon arrival.

The new airports selected to potentially take part are El Dorado International Airport in Bogota; Ministro Pistarini International Airport in Buenos Aires; Scotland's Edinburgh Airport; Keflavik International Airport in Iceland; Mexico City International Airport; Italy's Milan-Malpensa Airport; Kansai International Airport in Osaka; Rio de Janeiro-Galeao International Airport; Rome's Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport; Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, and Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten.

More than 10 million travelers fly to the United States from these airports annually.

In May 2015, the U.S. identified 10 airports in nine countries as possible participants in the program, including Stockholm Arlanda Airport. On Friday, the United States and Sweden signed an agreement to implement preclearance operations at the airport as early as 2019.

The United States expects to announce final agreements with others that were named in a 2015 expansion round.
In a remarkable achievement, Ananda Maithri Maha Vidyalaya in Balangoda, emerged the grand winner at the finale of the prestigious Marina Star Chef Hunt competition, Sri Lankas first-ever and only realty chefs contest conducted by Marina Food (Private) Limited, in collaboration with Swarnavahini Television and the Education Ministry.



The second place in the competition was won by Ave Maria Convent in Negombo, while Obbegoda National School in Moneragala secured the third place. The final round of the Marina Star Chef Hunt contest was conducted at the Sarasavi Studio, Kelaniya, under the patronage of NMK Group of Companies Chairman and Managing Director Manjula Narayana and with the participation of Education Ministry Secretary Sunil Hettiarachchi and a large turnout of guests and invitees, recently.

The initial phase of the Marina Star Chef Hunt competition was conducted with the active participation of 3,000 students drawn from 1,000 schools on a district basis under a pragmatic mechanism, which encompassed all nine districts of the country. For the final round of the event, 36 schools were selected at the competition held at Ape Gama premises in Battaramulla, and was telecast over Swarnavahini Televisions Marina Rasa Saraniya programme.



In the final round, 14 schools were shortlisted for the grand finale and it was these schools which competed vigorously amongst themselves to emerge winners by securing the first, second and third places at the competition. The grand finale was also telecast over Swarnavahini Television. Winners of the Marina Star Chef Hunt competition and the respective schools they represent are awarded valuable prizes.



Marina Star Chef Hunt competition is one of the key corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of NMK Group of Companies. We introduced this competition to provide a window of opportunity to students in schools islandwide to develop their inborn culinary talents and give them access to national recognition by identifying, appreciating and rewarding their capabilities and aptitude in cookery,

said Narayana.

As a 100% Sri Lankan company, which is committed to make a significant contribution towards building a healthy and strong nation, it is also our goal to develop the culinary art industry by producing accomplished male and female chefs who will do their motherland proud, he stressed.

Speaking on the occasion, Hettiarachchi said, Marina Star Chef Hunt is Sri Lankas first-ever and only realty chefs competition. It has given a tremendous boost to students pursuing home science as a subject in schools, while making a big contribution towards popularizing this important subject and also help school children to improve their knowledge, fine-tune their talents and broaden their horizons of knowledge.



In addition, this initiative by Marina has gone a long way to add value and afford more recognition to home science as a subject in the GCE (Advanced Level) syllabus.
Management Accountant Sutheash Balasubramaniam was appointed as the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, (SLTPB) Managing Director this week.



He holds an MBA from the University of Warwick, a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from University of Cambridge, and is also a fellow of the Charted Institute of Management Accountants , UK.



The former Managing Director Ruvini Dias Bandaranaike resigned mysteriously this June, after Tourism Development, Land and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga had requested her to provide copies of her academic certificates.

Balasubramaniam started his career in the corporate sector as an accountant at CIC Holdings PLC, and went on to join the Hayleys Group, holding many positions in group subsidiaries, and eventually rising to become the Director/CEO of Hayleys Business Solutions International (Pvt) Ltd in 2016.

He is the local partner of the boutique management consultancy firm SSA Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, Mumbai, the Cofounder of Global Strategies Corporate Sustainability (Pvt) Ltd and the Sri Lanka Network Representative of the worlds largest corporate sustainability network UN Global Compact.

He is currently serving as a committee member of the Integrated Reporting Council of Sri Lanka, and was a committee member of the ICT /BPO sector of the Export Development Board, a member of the National Institute of Business Management Governing Council, a CIMA Sri Lanka Council Member, and the first chairman of the reconstituted Sri Lanka Governance Board of the CIMA UK.
A major fire has broken out in the Musaeus College auditorium in Colombo 7, the Fire Brigade said and added that it had deployed 10 fire-fighting trucks to help douse the fire. Three ambulances had also arrived at the scene.
A delegation of Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which was in Colombo this week had expressed its keenness to invest in Sri Lanka to tap into the vast markets in Asia and Africa.

They met with the officials of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and inquired on the economic and investment climate of the country. The mission was focusing on establishing ties between Japanese and Sri Lankan SMEs, a Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) statement said.



The delegation was a joint effort between the World Business Society of Tokyo Small and Medium Enterprise Consultant Association and World Business Associates Company Limited. Japanese enterprises are looking at how they can tap into the one billion strong Indian market via Sri Lanka and also focus further into the larger regions of Africa and South-East Asia, the CCC added.

The Sri Lankan government is currently in the process of negotiating multiple duty free access agreements with India, Singapore and China, and there are ideas to pursue duty free entry into South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.



The delegation included representatives from 15 Japanese companies with diversified business operations, and were scouting for opportunities especially in the areas of agricultural product processing, textile industry, healthcare service and tourism.

The meeting took place at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and CCC Past Chairman Thilak De Soyza was also present at the meeting.
United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. BRENDA JOHNSON, Petitioner v. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, Respondent 2016-2005 Decided: November 03, 2016

Before MOORE, WALLACH, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges. BRENDA JOHNSON, San Diego, CA, pro se. LAUREN MOORE, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for respondent. Also represented by BENJAMIN C. MIZER, ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, JR., SCOTT D. AUSTIN.

Brenda Johnson appeals the Final Order of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which denied Ms. Johnson's petition for review of an administrative judge's Initial Decision denying as untimely her application for disability retirement annuity and affirmed the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) reconsideration decision. See Johnson v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., No. SF-831E-15-0377-I-1, 2016 WL 910505 (M.S.P.B. Mar. 9, 2016). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Between 1973 and 1990, Ms. Johnson was employed by several Federal Government agencies. Resp't's App. 3034. On May 5, 1990, Ms. Johnson resigned from her last federal position, id. at 30, and subsequently withdrew the retirement contributions she made during her employment, id. at 3536.

In July 2014, Ms. Johnson submitted a Statement of Disability to OPM seeking disability retirement annuity because of a right wrist injury that allegedly occurred in 1984 as a result of her job duties with the Government. Id. at 3751. The OPM responded by letter, stating that Ms. Johnson's application did not include the required Standard Form 2801 (SF-2801), Application for Immediate Retirement. Id. at 52. In August 2014, Ms. Johnson submitted the SF-2801 to complete her application. Id. at 5358.

In December 2014, the OPM informed Ms. Johnson that [t]he law requires that applications for disability retirement [annuity] be filed with OPM either prior to separation from the service or within one year thereafter, unless the former employee was mentally incompetent at the time of separation or became incompetent within one year thereafter. Id. at 59. Because [r]eview of the record show[ed] that [Ms. Johnson] separated from the [f]ederal service on May 5, 1990 and the application  was not filed with OPM until July 15, 2014, the OPM informed Ms. Johnson that her application would be dismissed absent additional evidence that waiver was appropriate. Id.; see id. at 6162 (dismissing Ms. Johnson's application). Ms. Johnson timely filed a reconsideration request, appending a physician's consultation report and other documentation regarding her wrist injury, id. at 6577, but the OPM denied Ms. Johnson's reconsideration request on the same grounds, id. at 8183.

Ms. Johnson appealed the OPM's denial of her application to the MSPB. Id. at 86. In its Initial Decision, the Administrative Judge affirmed the OPM's denial of Ms. Johnson's reconsideration request on all grounds. Id. at 2223. Ms. Johnson filed a petition for review of the Initial Decision. Johnson, 2016 WL 910505 at  1. In its Final Order, the MSPB denied Ms. Johnson's petition, holding that she ha[d] not established any basis  for granting the petition for review, and affirmed the Administrative Judge's Initial Decision. Id.

Ms. Johnson appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1295(a)(9) (2012).

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review and Filing Requirements

We set aside the MSPB's decision only if it is (1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) obtained without procedures required by law, rule, or regulation having been followed; or (3) unsupported by substantial evidence  5 U.S.C.  7703(c) (2012). We review the MSPB's legal conclusions de novo. Welshans v. U.S. Postal Serv., 550 F.3d 1100, 1102 (Fed. Cir. 2008).

An application for disability retirement annuity must be filed with the OPM before [an] employee  is separated from the service or within 1 year thereafter. 5 U.S.C.  8337(b). That time limitation may be waived if, at the date of separation from service or within 1 year thereafter, the applicant was mentally incompetent, and the application is filed with the [OPM] within [one] year from the date of restoration of  competency. Id.

II. Ms. Johnson's Application Was Untimely

The sole issue before the court is whether the OPM properly rejected Ms. Johnson's application as untimely, a conclusion that the MSPB affirmed. We agree that Ms. Johnson's application was untimely.

The record demonstrates, and the parties do not contest, that Ms. Johnson separated from federal service on May 5, 1990. Resp't's App. 30. As a result, the statutory deadline for filing occurred on May 5, 1991. And because the facts are not in dispute, we must assess whether the MSPB properly applied the law to these undisputed facts.

The MSPB properly concluded that the time limit in  8337(b) barred Ms. Johnson's application as untimely. Ms. Johnson filed her application in 2014, i.e., 23 years after the statutory filing deadline mandated by  8337(b). As to waiver, the MSPB held that the evidence submitted by Ms. Johnson said nothing about her mental status at the time she ended her federal service, Johnson, 2016 WL 910505 at  1015, and nothing in the record warrants a different conclusion. Thus, based on the record before it, the statute required the OPM to reject Ms. Johnson's application as untimely, and the MSPB properly affirmed the OPM's decision to do so.

Finally, Ms. Johnson alleges violations of the Federal Employee Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C.  81018193, unspecified medical guidelines requiring that the patient reach maximum medical improvement (MMI) before a disability determination is reached, and violations of the Civil Code of California, see Pet'r's Br. 10; Johnson v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., No. 2016-2005, Docket No. 28 at 23 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 3, 2016); id., Docket No. 29 at 23 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 3, 2016). These arguments are meritless. First, the FECA precludes judicial review of decisions made by the Secretary of Labor pursuant to that statutory scheme. See 5 U.S.C.  8128(b)(2) (stating that the Secretary's actions under this subchapter are not subject to review by  a court). Second, the requirements of unspecified medical guidelines do not supersede the filing requirements in  8337(b), and even if they did, Ms. Johnson's 2014 application still was filed more than one year after she reached MMI in 2006. Pet'r's App. 4. Finally, California law is inapplicable because federal law (i.e.,  8337(b)) is determinative of Ms. Johnson's appeal. See LaRochelle v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 774 F.2d 1079, 1080 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (OPM will consult state law where federal law is not determinative ).

CONCLUSION

We have considered Ms. Johnson's remaining arguments and find them unpersuasive. For these reasons, the Merit Systems Protection Board's Final Order is

AFFIRMED

COSTS

No costs.

FOOTNOTES

. At various points in her informal brief, Ms. Johnson appears to raise her mental status anew. See Pet'r's Br. 3, 11, 1819. However, she does not substantiate these assertions with evidence, and unsubstantiated assertions do not equal evidence. See Lucent Techs., Inc. v. Gateway, Inc., 580 F.3d 1301, 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2009) ([S]peculation does not constitute substantial evidence. (internal citations and quotation omitted)).

PER CURIAM.
President Maithripala Sirisena is seen paying his last respects to the late Great Maestro W. D. Amaradeva at the Independence Square, this morning. Mrs. Amaradeva is also seen in the picture. (Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana)
Responding to Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday said he had every right to talk on behalf of Sri Lanka as a sovereign country.

Likewise, he said the Ambassador also had the same right to talk on behalf of his country. The Ambassador, at a recent media conference, said he asked Mr. Karunanayake as to why another loan was sought if the Chinese loans were expensive.

The Minister said if the rate was only two per cent as the Ambassador said, he was prepared to show how it had been higher than that.(Kelum Bandara)

Video by Nadeeka Dayabandara
The Insurance Association of Sri Lanka (IASL) has proudly announced that Sri Lanka has been selected to be the host country of the 12th Annual International Microinsurance Conference. The event will take place from the 15th-17th of November at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo.

The Munich Re Foundation together with the Microinsurance Network first initiated the International Microinsurance Conference in 2005. Organized by the Munich Re Foundation of Germany, the purpose of the conference lies in providing a suitable platform for insurers, re-insurers, insurance/re-insurance brokers, micro credit agents, insurance regulators, international donor agencies as well as organizations like the World Bank Group and ILO, to meet and exchange views and ideas on the topic of insurance and discuss issues pertaining to the development of microinsurance. Thus ensuring that those in the world who find themselves below the poverty line will reap the benefits of schemes provided by insurance professionals from all around the world.

Having accepted the Munich Re Foundations invitation to host the prestigious international event, the IASL received the support of the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) and the Microinsurance Foundation USA; both organizations will take on the role of co-host of the conference. The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau is also a supporting organization of the conference.

In addition to the main event, a pre-conference workshop has been organized by ILO and will be held on the 14th of November at Cinnamon Grand, based on the topic, Managing Microinsurance Distribution & Building Sustainable Agriculture Insurance. The Annual General Meeting of the Microinsurance Network will be held on the 18th of November while the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) will host their financial inclusion working group and draft group on the use of Digital Technology in conjunction with the conference.

A total of 350 participants from over 50 countries have already registered themselves. The organizing committee, which consists of representatives of all insurance companies in Sri Lanka, expects to see more than 400 participants from 55 countries present at the International Microinsurance Conference 2016.

For more details and registration visit www.munichre-foundation.org or visit the IASL website homepage http://www.iasl.lk/index.php
Colombo High Court Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena today rejected the bail application submitted by former MP Tissa Attanayake.

Mr. Attanayake was arrested and remanded for allegedly publishing a letter with forged signatures of the then Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena and the then Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe during the 2015 Presidential election.

On October 19, Mr. Attanayake was remanded til December 5. (Farook Thajudeen and Shehan Chamika Silva)
Stopping the winter smog that envelops the plains of South Asia will be a significant step in combating climate change. Just like the Southeast Asian haze, the South Asian smog smothers and sickens millions across state and national boundaries. The green house gases (GHGs) emitted in the field fires and from vehicles contribute directly to global warming. Following Diwali this year, the smog in the national capital region (NCR) was worse than ever and the air quality toxic.

This is a situation that repeats itself annually. It foments communal tensions and hogs headlines. Yet, it is forgotten during the rest of the year but becomes news when it smothers the capital. Only when planes are grounded and road accidents take place as a result of the smog does this issue become news. Yet air quality in most major South Asian metros are bad most days, and Delhi this year is yet to have a good air day.

Burning post-harvest to clear the fields in Punjab and Haryana contributes significantly to the smog. Credit: Reuters

Despite the National Air Quality Index (NAQI) in place since April last year, real effort to control air pollution is lacking. Now the usual hullabaloo over "crackers being the main cause" notwithstanding, a region-wide effort to tackle the sources of pollution is essential. UN environment chief Erik Solheim's words when he was in India cleaning the shores of Mumbai on Gandhi Jayanti resonate in this context as well.

He emphasised that pollution and the related health problems and debt are common to cities across the Asia-Pacific region. The capitals of India, China and even Nepal are some of the worst affected. Fighting local pollution being linked with fighting climate change would get better results. And these linkages could be easily communicated to the layperson in any language without worrying about the climate jargon.

Burning post-harvest to clear the fields in Punjab and Haryana contributes significantly to the smog. As do the polluting heavy vehicles that traverse the national highways and state highways in the region, in general, and New Delhi in particular. And the final ingredient is the weather condition. Now burning post-harvest fields to clear them destroys the soil quality. A well-managed soil can trap carbon. It is powerful enough to serve as a carbon sink that can neutralise carbon emissions. Desertification and soil erosion are serious threats to food security as they affect soil fertility and productivity.

Fires in fields and forests destabilise soil systems, consequently stopping this protects soil fertility. Incentivising selling post-harvest residue as fodder could ensure both incomes and food for the cattle, while arresting a prime cause of the smog. The uncontrollable forest fires of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in early summer this year were a small taste of the devastation of fires. The Southeast Asian haze is another horrible example. It causes international disputes, emits tonnes of carbon, and destroys rainforests to clear more land for palm plantations! Already the smog situation is not restricted to India. Lahore woke up to smog just like New Delhi. Seasonal dust-storms are also adding to the air quality crisis in the region. Thus it's long past time to act.

Stop-gap measures are now in place in NCR to bring down the level of particulate pollutants and improve its air quality. Restricting heavy vehicles' entry; the odd-even scheme for private vehicles; calling for state and national cabinet meetings to deal with the emergency. A permanent solution is possible with a little political will and by communicating the benefits to the polluters. While the odd-even scheme was partially successful in the capital, for complete success, alternative eco-friendly yet safe and affordable means of transport need to be arranged. Pilot projects involving electric and solar autos, buses, and water ferries are in place in various parts of the country. Scaling them up and replacing fleets with these eco-friendly alternatives could generate employment as well as benefit air quality.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. But the Jammu & Kashmir government believes that if "little" is replaced with "50 per cent", the dangerous will turn safe.

The government has literally applied this mantra for Class 10 and 12 students by reducing their syllabus to half for the upcoming annual Board exams.

Though the 50 per cent reduction in syllabus sounds like a discount offer, the government looks at this unusual relaxation beyond any stock-clearance scheme.

Unwilling to buy the pleas of schoolchildren that they are yet to complete even half of their syllabus due to months of unrest in the Valley, the government wants to go ahead with the final exams scheduled for this month.

Even as Kashmir is struggling to come out of its worst ever humanitarian crisis, which left at least 94 dead, over 15,000 wounded, and another 10,000 youth arrested, the government opines that the only way out is through Board exams.

This is being done at the cost of over one lakh students, whose career is at stake. In the age of cut-throat competition, even a fractional margin in the percentage of marks obtained can doom careers.

It can deprive a Class 10-qualified student of selection into an institution or stream of their choice; be it for admission in medical, non-medical, commerce or humanities stream. A mere 0.01 per cent less may even cause the candidate to fail.

For Class 12 students, the Boards are more challenging. And, it doesnt need any rocket science to prove that these exams decide the prospects for one's admission to college. Preparation for competitive exams again finds roots in the syllabus for this higher secondary class.

But then, the government is reluctant to postpone the exams to March, something which is not uncommon in trouble-torn Kashmir. Many times in the past, the finals have been held in spring for varied reasons.

But why is the government concerned about the resumption of schooling alone? Is education confined to schools? What about higher education, which comprises of academic and technical colleges, and the universities, which are equally defunct in Kashmir?

Why arent educational activities being restored from the higher classes, when students are mature enough to find a way out? And what about an environment conducive for learning?

Around 10,000 youth have been arrested on charges of stone-pelting, and 5,000 are being hunted. (Photo credit: AP)

Albert Einstein said: I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

The conduciveness of environment in Kashmir can be gauged from the fact that education minister, Naeem Akhter Andrabi has directed the additional Director General of Police, SP Vaid, to convert jail barracks into examination centres for detained students - around 10,000 have been arrested on charges of stone-pelting. According to a Greater Kashmir news report, a manhunt is on for another 5,000.

With no let-up in protests and strike calls by separatists, at least 30 schools were gutted in a mysterious blaze, and the police has failed to check the arson.

Amid this din over schooling, education seems to be having a different meaning for the government; CM Mehbooba Mufti appreciated the fact that she spent most of her college life relishing golguppas than studies.

She publicly disclosed this last month at a college function in Jammu. But then, not all students can afford to savour golguppas ahead of exams when roadside vendors are threatened by stone-pelters.

Though cracking jokes may add to the profile of politicians, politicising education will only mar the career of students.

Theres no substitute to education, nor can there ever be. But politicising the issue to give a rosy picture of the dire situation in Kashmir is demeaning.

If the situation is not feasible for bye-elections for the Parliament seat in south Kashmir, left vacant by Mehbooba once she took over as CM, how is the situation conducive for exams?

The ruling PDP-BJP coalition is being accused of taking the Board exams as an ego issue, where both Mehbooba and Akhter abandoned press conferences during the ongoing unrest to avoid questions on the multiple crises facing the state.

No one from the government is willing to answer how 14-year-old Insha Mushtaq, a pellet-blinded student, and many others like her will sit for the exams.

Away from schools and tuitions, due to the strike calls, how will students prepare for the exams when even the internet is not available, and nocturnal police raids leave them frightened?
Like India, Myanmar is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which was established in Belgrade in 1961, six years after the historic Bandung Asian-African Conference.

And like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is seeking to take her country from its long-held path of non-alignment to multi-alignment, a contemporary, globalised practicality that values a proactive approach in international relations.

In fact, Suu Kyi's foreign policy approach appears to mirror Modi's line - a non-doctrinaire vision, with pragmatism as the hallmark that aims to build equilibrium in relations with major powers.

Both Modi and Suu Kyi have shaken up their respective country's diffident foreign-policy establishment with a readiness to break with conventional methods and shibboleths.

It has taken Suu Kyi just a few months, like Modi, to put her stamp on her country's international relations.

Challenges

Myanmar is no small state: It is as large as Britain and France combined.

Yet, by coming under severe US-led sanctions for over a quarter century, Myanmar was left out of Asia's economic boom.

Since 2011, its democratic transition - cemented by the landslide election victory of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party a year ago - has helped reverse its fortunes.

To be sure, both Suu Kyi and Modi face major regional challenges. With revanchist or scofflaw states to its west and north, India faces difficult choices.

Aung San Suu Kyi with US President Barack Obama. (Photo credit: Reuters)

Myanmar's economic and political vulnerability, however, is acute. Suu Kyi confronts a bigger challenge on the foreign policy front than Modi. This crimps her ambitious diplomacy, forcing her to perform a delicate balancing act between major powers vying for influence.

Take China, with which Myanmar shares a 2,129km border. As if to signal that her country's pro-China tilt and dependence on Beijing was an aberration fostered by crippling US-led sanctions, Suu Kyi, soon after coming to power, committed to revive the country's tradition of pursuing a neutral foreign policy.

Yet, her first visit to a major capital was to Beijing in August. Even though China impeded the Suu Kyi-led democracy movement by siding with Myanmar's military rulers, its aggressive pursuit of strategic and resource interests has left it with considerable clout in the country.

It accounts for about half of Myanmar's foreign investment and 40 per cent of its trade, with new multibillion dollar oil and gas pipelines. Four weeks after her China trip, Suu Kyi visited the US.

Her White House meeting led to President Barack Obama's October 7 executive order lifting US economic sanctions on Myanmar.

Tightrope

Then, after a tour of India, Suu Kyi visited Asia's oldest (and richest) democracy, Japan, from November 1.

That Suu Kyi prioritised visits to Beijing and Washington over trips to New Delhi, where she was educated, and Tokyo, Myanmar's largest provider of debt relief, showed that she regards India and Japan as of lesser importance to her country's interest than China and the US.

Yet the fact is that Japan and India, with traditionally close ties to Myanmar, have played key roles in helping to end the country's pariah status and reintegrating it regionally.

China, by contrast, represents the biggest test of Suu Kyi's diplomacy. How long will she be able to walk the tightrope with a country that poses the most complex challenge for Myanmar?

China, by strategically penetrating Myanmar, has not only armed itself with formidable leverage but also sought to turn the country into its corridor to the Indian Ocean.

Having established a firm foothold in Myanmar's Bay of Bengal port of Kyaukpyu, Beijing is seeking to open a shorter, cheaper trade route to Europe via Myanmar's Irrawaddy river, which flows into the Andaman Sea.

Balance

Like India, Myanmar has long complained about the flow of Chinese arms to guerrilla groups.

Indeed, China holds the keys to ending decades of ethnic conflict in Myanmar.

But it is unclear whether Beijing, despite being invited by Suu Kyi to play mediator, will genuinely aid her effort to build ethnic peace or use its role as a broker between the government and guerrilla groups to merely underpin its own leverage.

A crucial peace conference hosted by Suu Kyi in the capital Naypyitaw ended in early September without any tangible progress.

In concept, Suu Kyi's "neutrality" in foreign policy seems attractive, potentially allowing her to carefully balance cooperation with all the major players in a way that advances Myanmar's interest, without the country being forced to choose one power over another.

In reality, though, it might be difficult for an aid-dependent, internally torn Myanmar to sustain a neutral foreign policy.

Despite her diplomatic balancing act, Suu Kyi's approach faces major challenges, including an arc of insurgencies in Myanmar and the attempt by various powers to treat the country as a chessboard of geopolitics.
AmerisourceBergen Corporation sources and distributes pharmaceutical products in the United States and internationally. Its Pharmaceutical Distribution segment distributes brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to various healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, long-term care and alternate site pharmacies, and other customers. It also provides pharmacy management, staffing, and other consulting services; supply management software to retail and institutional healthcare providers; and packaging solutions to various institutional and retail healthcare providers. In addition, this segment distributes plasma and other blood products, injectable pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and other specialty products; provides other services primarily to physicians who specialize in various disease states, primarily oncology, as well as to other healthcare providers, including hospitals and dialysis clinics; and offers data analytics, outcomes research, and additional services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company's Other segment provides integrated manufacturer services, such as clinical trial support, product post-approval, and commercialization support; specialty transportation and logistics services for the biopharmaceutical industry; and sells pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed ingredients, and various other products to customers in the companion animal and production animal markets, as well as demand-creating sales force services to manufacturers. AmerisourceBergen Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
AbbVie Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals in the worldwide. The company offers HUMIRA, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behcet's diseases; SKYRIZI to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults; RINVOQ, a JAK inhibitor for the treatment of moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients; IMBRUVICA to treat adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and VENCLEXTA, a BCL-2 inhibitor used to treat adults with CLL or SLL; and MAVYRET to treat patients with chronic HCV genotype 1-6 infection. It also provides CREON, a pancreatic enzyme therapy for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency; Synthroid used in the treatment of hypothyroidism; Linzess/Constella to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and chronic idiopathic constipation; Lupron for the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, and patients with anemia caused by uterine fibroids; and Botox therapeutic. In addition, the company offers ORILISSA, a nonpeptide small molecule gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist for women with moderate to severe endometriosis pain; Duopa and Duodopa, a levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel to treat Parkinson's disease; Lumigan/Ganfort, a bimatoprost ophthalmic solution for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension; Ubrelvy to treat migraine with or without aura in adults; Alphagan/ Combigan, an alpha-adrenergic receptor agonist for the reduction of IOP in patients with OAG; and Restasis, a calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant to increase tear production, as well as other eye care products. AbbVie Inc. has a research collaboration with Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois.
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.
Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 17 million members in medical benefit plans, as well as approximately 5 million members in specialty products. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,555 customers in parts of Manhattan. The company also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and gas to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York. In addition, it operates 533 circuit miles of transmission lines; 15 transmission substations; 64 distribution substations; 87,564 in-service line transformers; 3,924 pole miles of overhead distribution lines; and 2,291 miles of underground distribution lines, as well as 4,350 miles of mains and 377,971 service lines for natural gas distribution. Further, the company owns, operates, and develops renewable and energy infrastructure projects; and provides energy-related products and services to wholesale and retail customers, as well as invests in electric and gas transmission projects. It primarily sells electricity to industrial, commercial, residential, and government customers. The company was founded in 1823 and is based in New York, New York.
VMware, Inc. provides software solutions in the areas of modern applications, cloud management and infrastructure, networking, security, and digital workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers VMware multi-cloud solutions, including VMware vSphere, a data center infrastructure that provides the fundamental compute layer; vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to applications running on vSphere; and vRealize Cloud Management solutions that manages hybrid and multi-cloud environments running in virtual machines and containers, as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with vRealize Cloud Management into an integrated stack and delivers enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds. The company also provides networking solutions, such as VMware NSX, NSX Distributed and Gateway Firewalls, NSX Network Detection and Response Engine, NSX Advanced Load Balancer, Tanzu Service Mesh, and VMware SASE; security solutions consisting of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, Workload, and Container; and digital workspace solutions comprising Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management, Access, Intelligent Hub, and Horizon. In addition, it offers application modernization solutions, such as Tanzu Application and Operations Platform, Tanzu Application Service Platform, Tanzu Observability, Tanzu Community Edition, and Tanzu Labs; and cloud management solutions, including vRealize Cloud Management, vCloud Suite, and CloudHealth by VMware Suite. The company sells its products through distributors, resellers, system vendors, and systems integrators. VMware, Inc. has a strategic alliance with Amazon Web Services to build and deliver an integrated hybrid solution. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
A large majority of U.S. voters have become disgusted with American politics and many hold doubts that either of the two nominees from the major parties can unite the nation, showed a final poll prior to next Tuesdays election by the New York Times and CBS.

In a not so pleasant preview of voters discontent that could cloud the outset of the next term of the new president, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are looked at by most voters as unlikely to bring the U.S. back together following a bitter election campaign season.

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With over eight out of 10 voters saying this campaign season left them upset instead of excited, the increasing toxicity of it threatens the eventual winner.

Clinton and Trump are looked at as being dishonest and viewed unfavorably by the majority of U.S. voters.

Clintons advantage of mid October has narrowed, but she still holds an edge in this latest survey due to a commanding lead amongst women and voters who are non-white.

Clinton is supported by close to 45% of the people likely to vote while Trump is supported by approximately 42%. Gary Johnson, the nominee of the Libertarian Party has dropped down to just 5%, while the candidate from the Green Party Jill Stein is at about 4%.

If Clinton wins, she will face immediate challenges to governing not just from steep partisanship ruling the environment in Washington, but from a large amount of supporters of Trump who are saying they will not accept the elections results.

Following weeks of accusations by Trump that the current election will be rigged on Tuesday, a little over six out of 10 of his supporters have said they would accept the election results as being legitimate if he were to lose.

Over 25% of those who support Trump said they would likely not accept the results of the election if Clinton were to be declared as the next president.

Close to 40% of them have also said they would have little to no confidence that votes by Americans will be properly counted at the Tuesday election.

The back and forth harsh words from both sides will continue for the next four days and then another election season will have come to an end.

However, this election season will likely be remembered more for its bitterness than anything else.
RICHMOND  He rests his cane against the breakfront and gingerly takes a seat at the dining room table in the Church Hill home. Surrounded by a half dozen other volunteers half his age, he begins making calls to registered voters on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Hello, may I speak to Donna please? the soft-spoken volunteer asks in a raspy voice that barely registers above a whisper. This is Henry Marsh, calling from Democratic headquarters.

For the last few months, Marsh, 83, a former civil rights lawyer, mayor of Richmond, Virginia state senator for 22 years, and current ABC board member  has been showing up at phone banks and Clintons Richmond campaign offices twice a week to do the grunt work of getting out the vote.

This is an important election, said Marsh. Every vote counts.

Both major parties are battling for Virginia, as national campaigns and state parties mobilize volunteers to make calls, knock on doors and get out the vote in the days before Americans choose their next president.

Five candidates are on the ballot in Virginia on Tuesday  Clinton, Trump, Libertarian Gary Johnson, Green Party nominee Jill Stein and independent Evan McMullin.

Stein is scheduled to speak Sunday at a 7 p.m. forum at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., will appear at a homecoming rally in Richmond on Monday evening before voting at his precinct on Tuesday. As yet, none of the other presidential campaigns has announced additional visits to Virginia.

With the focus now on getting out the vote, both major parties have built large operations to make sure their supporters get to the polls.

In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Virginia since President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Obama carried Virginia again in 2012.

Analysts credited a sophisticated, micro-targeted ground game deployed by Democrats that maximized social media and shoe leather and neighborhood connections to identify voters and get them to the polls.

Virginia Republicans say they have upped their ground game in the state.

The Republican Party of Virginia has been working hand in hand with the Republican National Committee for almost two years now, growing and developing our field efforts, RPV Chairman John Whitbeck announced earlier this fall. This is hands down the best ground game Ive ever seen.

Republicans have 65 paid staff members in 19 offices, in addition to 250 neighborhood team leaders and 400 core team members in charge of organizing and getting out the vote in precincts, according to Republican National Committee spokesman Garren Shipley.

Democrats have 34 offices across the state. The Clinton camp also has hosted organizing events daily in every region of the state, including phone banks, voter registration and door-to-door canvassing.

Campaign officials said more than 40,000 volunteers in Virginia have taken part in the campaign, knocking on more than a million doors and making more than 5.5 million phone calls to Virginia voters.

We have a superior ground game, more staff and volunteers, more field offices, better training, and better data, said Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker.

Campaign surrogates

The Trump and Clinton campaigns are deploying surrogates to Virginia and other battleground states in the late going.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Keith Kellogg, one of Trumps foreign policy advisers, is scheduled to make appearances in Virginia on Friday, according to the Republicans campaign.

Star Jones, a lawyer and former host on The View, made five stops in Hampton on Wednesday and Thursday for Clinton and Kaine. Former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination, greeted Clinton-Kaine volunteers on Thursday at Democratic campaign offices in Hampton Roads and the Richmond area.

Clinton leads in Virginia by an average of 3.4 percentage points, according to Real Clear Politics.

In an Oct. 28 Virginia tracking poll from the Wason Center at Christopher Newport University, Clinton received 46 percent to Trumps 39 percent, but CNU found that the race had tightened. In the previous weeks CNU poll, Clinton received 45 percent to Trumps 33, suggesting Trump is pulling support from independent voters and those who previously supported the Libertarian candidate, said CNU political science professor Quentin Kidd, head of the Wason Center.

Kidd said it appears that Clintons ground operation is every bit what the Obama operation was in 2012. They have opened dozens of field offices and hired dozens of staff, he said.

In Virginia, where Republicans have not won a statewide race since 2009, Clinton also has some insurance  the presence of Kaine as Clintons running mate.

The Trump campaign, while initially not organized well in the commonwealth, according to Kidd, has been ramping up of late, largely with the help of the Republican Party of Virginia and money from the campaign.

It looks like the Trump field operation is not quite what [2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt] Romneys was, but theyre trying really hard, really late.

Late ads

While the Trump and Clinton campaigns are running TV ads in Virginia in the last two weeks, Trump is spending far more in the states major markets, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics.

Clinton and Trump also are running national ads that viewers have seen in Virginia on cable TV and on broadcasts such as Wednesday nights Game 7 of the World Series.

Purchases of air time in Virginia by outside groups during the last two weeks of the campaign are down dramatically from 2012, according to VPAP.

In the two weeks before the November 2012 election, outside groups bought $10.8 million in air time in the states top four TV markets. Through Wednesday, the comparable figure this year was $880,000.

VPAP notes that one factor in the difference is that Virginia had a U.S. Senate race in 2012 between Kaine and Republican George Allen and it has no Senate race this year.

Trump also has released a radio ad featuring Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. that is slated to run on Christian radio stations in Virginia and 10 other battleground states. Falwell urges voters: Stand up for our shared, Christian values. Stand with me and vote Donald Trump for president.

Turnout is key

I think Trump thinks Virginia is winnable for him and Clinton thinks it isnt, said Kidd of CNU.

Election Day is going to really surprise Clinton, or confirm what theyve been thinking all along. Theyre counting on their ground game to bring out a coalition that will match 2012 numbers even if it doesnt look the same.

But Kidd said the early voter turnout and registration numbers in Virginia cities, typically strongholds of Democratic support, are not as great as they were in 2008 and 2012. He said the Clinton campaign may be having greater difficulty in mobilizing African-Americans who turned out in the last two presidential elections, while their numbers are good in suburban areas and Northern Virginia.

Despite the polarizing nature of the election, and the low approval ratings for Clinton and Trump, both campaigns dismiss the notion of an enthusiasm gap. Instead they are expecting record high turnout, pointing to increases in voter registration that exceeds 2008, and spikes in absentee voting statewide.

Kidd predicts turnout in the state to come in around 60 percent. That would be a significant drop from the 2012 presidential election, when 71.78 percent of the states voters cast ballots.

He said recent research suggests Republican voters are a little more excited about Trump than theyre being given credit for, and said the result is likely to be closer than polling has indicated.

He noted that Republicans broke late for Ken Cuccinelli in Virginias 2013 campaign for governor, resulting in a narrow loss to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Similarly, in 2014, Republicans broke late for former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, who nearly upset U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.

But as you know, closeness only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, Kidd said. A win is a win, whether its by four or five, or two or three.

This is an important election. Every vote counts.
On Thursday, hours before the screening of Loving, a film about the Virginia couple at the center of the fight to end anti-miscegenation laws about 50 years ago, the Virginia Film Festival opened at Violet Crown Cinema with the screening of Liberty & Slavery: The Paradox of Americas Founding Fathers.

The film, directed by Suffolk native A. Troy Thomas, explores what the Founding Fathers thought of slavery and how it weighed on them while discussing liberty and independence during the revolutionary era.

In the course of creating the film, Thomas said, more than 40 interviews were conducted to capture the history of slavery and the American Revolution for an understanding of how conflicting views on slavery and freedom shaped the framework  and fate  of a new country founded on the principle that all men are created equal.

We didnt want to do anything that was political, Thomas said during a panel discussion after the screening. We basically wanted to tell people heres what it is, heres who they are. It helps you better understand race in America and these men, he said

They werent demigods or angels. They were human beings just like me, Thomas said. I think the truth is all of us are hypocrites to some degree or another.

The panel featured representatives from James Madisons Montpelier, as well as a descendant of Paul Jennings, Madisons personal servant.

Jennings third great-granddaughter Margaret Jordan said Thomas Jeffersons Declaration of Independence and other documents from the era set the stage for todays racial climate.

I think its absolutely critical we have this discussion, said Jordan, who joined the Montpelier Foundation Board of Directors last year.

As is stated in the film, Jordan said the founders were aware of moral arguments against  and for  slavery at the time. Regardless, she said they shouldnt be condemned for failing to end the institution despite its contradictory nature within the context of the new nation.

 In trying to bring these independent Colonies together, they had compromises, she said.

Its not a matter of them not knowing that some believed slavery was an inherently unjust institution.

Without the founders, we wouldnt have America, she said, adding that we built America. All of us did.

Jordan and other members of the panel said slavery and the founders decisions need to be understood to confront contemporary racism and inequalities.

Similarly to Jordan, Price Thomas, assistant communications director at Montpelier, said theres still evidence of racism in todays society. Both of them cited contemporary issues such as police violence and voter disenfranchisement.

Thomas, an Albemarle High School graduate, said the obviously racist public policies of the past have been done away with, but that the visceral part is harder to tackle and talk about. Enforced segregation may not exist anymore, he said, but theres still latent racism and racial injustices today.

Concurring with Thomas, Christian Cotz, director of education and visitor engagement at Montpelier, said revealing more of the narrative about the founders and slavery is critical in understanding todays society.

Its not really about the judgment of the founders, so much as it is about how we can teach society today about where the roots of our troubles have come from.
How much Nicotine is in a Can of Dip | And How Old do you Have to be to Buy Zyn

How much Nicotine is in a Can of Dip | And How Old do you Have to be to Buy Zyn

How much Nicotine is in a Can of Dip

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Spit Tobacco Facts

The tobacco known as spit (a.k.a. smoking tobacco that is also known as dip chew, snuff, or chewing tobacco) is a source of ingredients that can cause serious health issues. The users can suffer from periodontal (gum) diseases, dental cavities (tooth decay), and leukoplakia (white patches of oral lesions that can cause oral cancer) and are more at risk for the throat, oral, stomach as well as pancreatic cancer. The nicotine content of dips or snuff can be as high as 140 milligrams. Thats equivalent to around 80 cigarettes.

Also, one can of dip or snuff is approximately four cigarettes. Addiction to nicotine is a major physical health issue that forces users to keep using despite the risk of serious health issues (such as the possibility of cancer) and make spit smoking a difficult habit to break. NSTEP has collaborated with a variety of famous athletes as well as others who have a hard time quitting even though they would like to quit, and are suffering from serious health issues.

New and prospective users must not undervalue what amount of nicotine in spit cigarettes and the addiction of these products. NSTEP is also aware of stories of adults offering spit tobacco to kids and teens typically at sporting events or outdoor events. It is unlawful to market spit-tobacco products to kids under 18 years old. Parents and their caregivers must be aware of the consequences of giving this substance to youngsters, especially considering the adverse health effects and its addictive nature.
11/1/2022

The Thanksgiving holiday is less than four weeks away. One way in which area families and friends can indulge in their Thanksgiving feast guilt-free is by participating in the Crown Automotive ... more
While the full-page advertisement showing a list of organizations that support the Atlantic Coast Pipeline taken out in The Daily Progress on Oct. 23 may look impressive at first glance, upon closer inspection it becomes apparent quite quickly that a majority of the organizations have a direct financial stake in the pipeline being approved.

You will have to forgive my sarcasm, but how generous of America's Natural Gas Alliance to throw its support behind the pipeline. Or for Dominion Resources, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Company Gas to add themselves to the list, seeing as how they are the ones proposing to build the pipeline. [AGL Resources is a member of the consortium planning to build the pipeline, and AGL is owned by Southern Company Gas; http://ir.aglr.com/.]

From oil and gas production companies, to companies that will provide services during the construction of the pipeline, to oil and gas industry associations  the list is simply full of companies that appear to have signed their names in order to further their own profits.

Sam Roberts

Nelson County
Norma Dunwody has excelled in several top executive positions with skill, composure, professionalism and polish. She blazed trails for women with her appointments to careers otherwise occupied by men.

Former Culpeper County administrator, past president of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, former executive director of the Culpeper Chamber and past executive director of the Free Clinic of Culpeper, 60-something Dunwody earned the local chambers top award Thursday night at the 102nd annual meeting and banquet held at Germanna Community Colleges Daniel Technology Center.

For her betterment of the business community, tireless public service and health care advocacy for the uninsured, a humble Dunwody received the L.B. Henretty Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award at the event attended by hundreds of local business and government leaders.

All the accolades dont begin to describe the impact she had made on the community, said emcee Marty Bywaters-Baldwin, reading from the nomination form. He cited Dunwodys empathy for others, keen judgment and honesty that made her trusted by a wide group of people.

She is always there when you need her, Bywaters-Baldwin said.

Dunwody served at the helm of the Culpeper Chamber for 15 years, stepping down in 2008. At the time, former State Senator Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, entered an official resolution in the General Assembly recognizing her exemplary service, enthusiasm, dedication and ability to forge partnerships.

During her tenure, the chamber tripled its membership from 200 members to about 600. Dunwody was also instrumental in the formation of Career Partners, linking business leaders to high school students for job skills training.

Her appointment as county administrator in the 1980s made her the first female in the entire state of Virginia to hold the top administrative post. Dunwody modestly accepted Thursday nights chamber acknowledgement, saying she only learned of the nomination earlier in the day.

I really dont know what to say, she said but thank you so much.

For the past 35 years, Dunwody said, she sat in the audience in awe of the contributions made by her colleagues in the room.

I feel very undeserving and unqualified to be up here, she said, admitting only one thing, that she knew how to surround herself with good people, an unbelievable staff.

Dunwody then accepted the award with the caveat that it was on behalf of all the many people who loved, encouraged and supported her.

In addition to her executive positions, Dunwody was the first and only female president of the Rotary Club of Culpeper, serving in that role from 1999 to 2000. The club, founded in 1927, has been instrumental in supporting many community projects at the hospital, parks, library and Free Clinic of Culpeper.

Following her years leading the chamber, Dunwody led the clinic for several years, retiring earlier this year with little fanfare. Her tenure at the free clinic, however, produced exceptional results with the chamber recognizing it as the non-profit of the year in 2014 for its annual provision of medical services to some 750 residents per year.

Also nominated for the 2016 Henretty Award were: the Rev. Ludwell Brown, the Rev. Brad Hales, Marshall & Kacey Jenkins and Joseph Tony Troilo.INFOBOX

Culpeper Chamber of Commerce 102nd Annual Meeting & Awards Banquet

2016 winners

Non-Profit of the Year  Healthy Culpeper

Large Business of the Year  CFC Farm & Home Center

Small Business of the Year  Able Heating & Air, LLC

Young Professional of the Year  Virginia Anne Koontz

Entrepreneur of the Year  Rebecca Lynne Elsen

L.B. Henretty Memorial Outstanding Citizen of the Year  Norma K. Dunwody

Pick up the Star-Exponent the week of Thanksgiving for features on all of the winners and always online at starexponent.com.
Democratic leaders have made the U.S.A. a great country. I am proud to be a Democrat and pleased to be working to continue the heritage of our Democratic leaders. Democratic presidents that have advanced the cause of the American people are:

Woodrow Wilson  1912-1920

President Wilson successfully concluded World War I. He was a strong advocate for the 19th Constitutional Amendment that gave women the right to vote.

Also, he passed the Federal Reserve Act and the KeatingOwen Act limiting child labor and protecting children from abuse. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his support of the League of Nations.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt  1932-1944

President Roosevelt provided leadership through the Great Depression initiating the New Deal (Civilian Conservation Corp. and other progressive legislation) to get the country back to work, created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1933to protect bank deposits), Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance or Social Security Act (1935to provide income for the elderly and disabled), Minimum Wage Act (193825 cents an hour) and secured the free world by his intelligence, temperament and policies (Lend-Lease) during World War II.

Harry Truman  1944-1952

President Truman continued the leadership model of FDR and led the U.S.A. to victory over Germany and Japan, saving thousands of U.S. soldiers lives with the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan.

President Truman led the battle for the G.I. Bill of Rights to secure the future of the returning veterans and he supported the Marshall Plan that helped the people of Europe restore a decent standard of living.

John F. Kennedy  1960-1963

President Kennedy faced down the Russians during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also advocated for equal rights for African Americans. His vision and policies established the American space program, culminating in a moon landing.

Lyndon B. Johnson  1963-1968

President Johnson led the battle for equal rights and signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 giving African Americans full citizenship. He signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 assuring the right of every American to vote regardless of skin color. He also supported health care for the uninsured and uninsurable elderly citizens and signed the Medicare Act in 1965.

Jimmy Carter 1976- 1980

President Carter established the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He led the effort that created the Camp David Accords establishing peace between Israel and Egypt. He also worked to limit nuclear armament (SALT). And, he reduced the max tax on capital gains from 49 percent to 28 percent. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his world wide humanitarian efforts in 2002.

Bill Clinton  1992-2000

President Clinton improved Americas international reputation, passed welfare reform and the Childrens Health Insurance Program. And, he operated the federal government with a balanced budget (1998-2000).

Further, the Commonwealth of Virginia has benefited tremendously from Democratic leadership. Several of the notable democrats include Harry F. Byrd, Carter Glass, Mark Warner, Jim Webb and Tim Kaine.

The Democratic Party and Democratic leaders of the past have supported policies that benefit all of us today. I believe that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have the same positive impact on the American people as the G. I. Bill of Rights, the Minimum Wage Act, the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Medicare Act.

Good government is about providing national security, quality education, affordable healthcare, a safe place to live, a steady job, solid reliable infrastructure, appropriate oversight for banks and other institutions impacting the health, welfare and safety of citizens, and equal rights for women and minorities. Democratic leaders fulfill this responsibility.

I am proud to be called a Democrat and to be a part of its heritage dedicated to improving the daily life of every American. I will vote for Hillary Clinton and Eileen Bedell as I am confident they will continue to make decisions on issues important to the American people in the tradition of Franklin D.Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson and our other Democratic leaders.

Joe Daniel Culpeper
The Lee University Chamber Strings, an all-string student ensemble from Lees School of Music, will present its fall concert on Friday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Pangle Hall.

The Chamber Strings is going to take the audience on an amazing joy ride to where the most gorgeous and exciting music is, said Xiaoqing Yu, director of the ensemble and associate professor of violin. The music from Salzburg, Sicily, Seoul, the lumpy and rugged Romanian folk dances, the sexy South American Tangos, and even a funny circus fantasy from Russia, will ensure a fabulous musical voyage to all.

The concert will feature guest violin soloist Bing Han from Bangkok, Thailand. Han is a young violinist originally from Tianjin, China, and a graduate of Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. Her gymnastic finger dances will bring great satisfaction to Russian music, said Mr. Yu.

Ms. Han will present Vivaldis Autumn from the Four Seasons. The concert will include Mozarts Divertimento, Kims Rossette Dance, and Morricones Cinema Paradiso. Bartoks Rumanian Folk Dances, Piazzollas Libertango, and Dreznins Circus Fantasy will also be performed.

Chamber Strings is a dynamic ensemble composed of the universitys finest violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists providing innovative programming for venues on and off campus.

Mr. Yu joined Lees School of Music in 2004 with worldwide performance experience, and he continues to serve as concertmaster of Greenville Symphony as well as teaching. He earned degrees from University of South Carolina, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music.

The concert is a free, non-ticketed event, and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow in Lees Communication Arts Building lobby.

For more information about the concert, contact Lees School of Music at music@leeuniversity.edu or 614-8240.


LONDON - England - The consequence of diverting the result of a democratically held referendum vote which was given full support from parliament and won by 52% of voters for Brexit will be the undoing of Britain's constitution.

To simply bypass the peoples vote will not be tolerated by many and there will be civil unrest in the future if Brexit is not delivered.

Mass rioting and looting in all cities will be the norm, because if there is no rule of law in our democracy, why should the people adhere to any rule of law on the streets?

In essence, civil unrest is the last bastion of justice, and to have the conclusive EU referendum vote stolen by crooked biased EU centric judges or corrupt MPs on the EU gravy train will be their final undoing.

There will be no peace, as the rioting masses converge burning everything in their path, who is to say what will happen, but when the anger envelopes the populace there is no stopping the torrent.

It is better to fight for justice than to be timid, civil unrest is a disruptive tool that when utilised correctly can bring forth real change. Change that crooked corrupt judges and MPs commandeered by rich business people cannot do.

Of course violence and looting is a terrible thing, but so is war, so is injustice, but these are necessary measures for survival, if nothing is done soon, Britain and its people will be no more. Already, we have been inundated, but if there is no Brexit, the numbers will increase tenfold, until the tiny island of Britain is nothing more than a holding prison, a junk filled morose, barren overpopulated garbage dump.

Britain fought two world wars and was on the winning side of both, this time, the Germans will take Britain without a single shot being fired, this is the central position of the EU. The European Union is an East German Soviet construct incorporating German Imperial fascist techniques to subjugate other nations through economic means.

By bribing the corrupt judges and MPs who are linked to EU centric projects, the EU is seeking to halt Brexit.

No More

Are you a fucking fool to take that? Are you going to stand by and let your nation be taken over? Or are you going to fucking stand up and fucking do something about it?

We must do what is necessary.

It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.  Winston S. Churchill
Security Concepts for Religious Institutions, a seminar by presented by AGAPE Tactical, LLC, will be offered Dec. 17.

This interactive seminar will teach participants how to make their organization a safer place of worship.

The seminar will cover topics such as:

1. The cost of having a safety team versus not having one

2. The truth regarding shooting incidents in churches

3. How to prevent tragedy from coming to your front door

4. How to create your own Security Vulnerability Assessment

5. How to employ the Deter, Detect and Deny methodology

6. The importance of awareness training

7. Proper positioning of volunteers and ushers

8. The proper use of surveillance equipment and where it should be located

9. How to choose your safety team

10. How to harden your exterior without losing the warmth and inviting culture of your church

Security Concepts for Religious Institutions is presented by Ken Alexandrow, founder of AGAPE Tactical, LLC. Mr. Alexandrow has spent more than 25 years serving the citizens of middle Tennessee as a career police officer. He started AGAPE Tactical, LLC in 2012, after being asked by several churches to help start their security programs. Since then, Mr. Alexandrow has spoken at numerous church conventions and travels the country setting up church safety and security programs.

His team has decades of experience in all levels of law enforcement, military, and private industry, informing their base of knowledge and experience in the field of security.

Cost for the seminar is $50 per organization with no limit to the number of representatives per organization. For more information contact Tim White, tim@whitefamily.us.

The seminar will be held at Grace Baptist Church, 7815 Shallowford Road, from 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
The Nolan Elementary Student Council raised $1,848.48 for Signal Mountain Social Services through a pumpkin decorating contest.

The winners of the pumpkin contest were first place - Dunkin Donuts by Chloe Kelle and Hannah Hensley; second place - BB8 by Wade McLemore and Dilan Stafford and third place - PacMan by Cole Phillips and Julia Baker.

Award for best school spirit was the Nolan knight and dragon by Caleb Larkin and Duncan Smith.
The Ridges of Crystal Brook Fall Fling will be held Sunday from 1-5 p.m.

Guests may tour 12 new construction homes in the Ridges of Crystal Brook in Apison.

There will be free lunch provided, as well as a drawing for a 50 inch smart television and onsite drawings for Starbucks gift cards.
Jasmin Rippon with TPL, Councilman Yusuf Hakeem, Ashley Williams with BlueCross-BlueShield Foundation, City Council Chair Moses Freeman, Chelsea Johnson with BlueCross-BlueShield Foundation and Rick Wood, State Director, The Trust for Public Land Chelsea Johnson with BlueCross-BlueShield Foundation shares the companys enthusiasm for Fitness Zones Heres a photo of a UTC athlete working out with one of the guys from the East Chattanooga Rec center Previous Next

Thanks to a partnership between The Trust for Public Land and BlueCross-BlueShield and the City of Chattanoogas Department of Youth and Family Development, encouraging Chattanoogans to get healthy just got a little easier. Fitness Zones provide various pieces of heavy duty exercise equipment that will stand more than just wear and tear as individuals use them to challenge themselves toward healthier lifestyles.

Designed and installed by Chattanooga-based play experts GameTime, three Fitness Zones were installed last year with another three placed throughout the city this year. Each Fitness Zone costs approximately $100,000 and is an investment being made by BlueCross-BlueShields Foundation.

According to foundation leaders, Fitness Zones are a wonderful fit as we seek to fund initiatives that promote healthy lifestyles for Tennessee residents. The grants improve the health, public education or economic development of the communities we serve and we believe the Fitness Zones will make a tremendous difference in Chattanooga.

Mayor Andy Berke said, "Teaching the community about health and fitness is not just about eating well but a combination of what you eat paired with physical activities. When you are fit your body works better; you feel better and you live a better quality of life. The City of Chattanooga is vested in making sure all of communities are thriving and healthy.

The Trust for Public Land served as the conduit in making the Fitness Zones available at no charge to taxpayers. Fitness Zones are making a difference across the country in how people are changing their lifestyles to include healthier choices and more time enjoying special places. The Trust for Public Land is excited to be a part of this effort and to see so many Chattanoogans using the equipment.

The Department of Youth and Family Development Administrator Lurone Jennings said, Fitness Zones can be used by people at any stage of life. They not only encourage better health but also bring people together to enjoy places throughout our community. This is vitally important to our departments mission. Fitness Zones promote healthy activities which in turn, makes our communities become healthier places to live, work and play.



Trust for Public Land State Director Rick Wood said, We hope the citizens from across the city will join us at tomorrows grand opening at the East Chattanooga Family and Youth Center at 4 p.m. Come on out and enjoy some of the last warm days we have at one of Chattanoogas newest special places.


For the sixth year in a row, Morning Pointe senior living and memory care communities in Athens, Chattanooga, Collegedale and Hixson, and The Samaritan Center are teaming up to bring toys to those in need.

As part of the life enrichment and Meaningful Day programs, Morning Pointe is committed to community involvement, encouraging its residents, families, associates and volunteers to pay it forward though partnerships with local schools, churches and non-profit organizations.

Donors have given thousands of dollars worth of gifts through the annual toy drive. This year, the community is encouraged to donate toys and games children ages 0 through 18, small stocking stuffers and winter apparel.

All proceeds will go to The Samaritan Center's distribution location, allowing qualifying families to pick out specific toys to provide a special Christmas holiday for their children.

Through the first week of December, items can be placed in a special barrel in the lobby at Morning Pointe senior living and memory care communities at the following locations:

Athens

Morning Pointe of Athens

1025 Crestway Drive | (423) 745-0608

Chattanooga

Morning Pointe of Chattanooga at Shallowford

7719 Shallowford Road | (423) 296-0097

The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimer's Center of Excellence, Chattanooga

7620 Shallowford Road | (423) 551-4190

Collegedale

Morning Pointe of Collegedale at Greenbriar Cove

9650 Leyland Drive | (423) 396-6999

The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimer's Center of Excellence, Collegedale

9300 Messinger Lane | (423) 396-4700

Hixson

Morning Pointe of Hixson

5501 Old Hixson Pike | (423) 847-1370
10/24/2022

Believers Baptist Church will hold its annual Old Fashioned Fall Festival this Saturday, from 12-3 p.m. All are invited. The church is out in the country in Catoosa County. The address ... more




Carton de Wiart was wounded a grand total of 11 times; twice in the Boer War, once in Somaliland and eight times on the Western Front. Two of these injuries resulted in serious impairments: the loss of his left eye, and the loss of his left hand. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear. He tore off his own wounded fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them. For many years after he had been wounded in the First World War, pieces of shrapnel were being taken from his body.



He summed up his experience in the First World War: Frankly I had enjoyed the war.



Carton de Wiart started his service as a Trooper in the Middlesex Yeomanry during the Boer War. He was gazetted into the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards in India in 1902 and was later seconded to the Somaliland Camel Corps with whom he won the DSO in 1916, losing his eye in the process. After returning to the 4th Dragoon Guards in Flanders, he was severely wounded and lost his left hand whilst in action near Ypres. On recovery, he returned to France, was given command of the 8th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and whilst commanding them during the fierce fighting at La Boiselle on the 2nd/3rd July 1916, he was awarded the VC. His citation reads:



He displayed conspicuous bravery, coolness and determination in forcing home the attack, thereby averting a serious reverse. After the other Battalion Commanders had become casualties, he controlled their commands as well, frequently exposing himself to the intense barrage of enemy fire. His energy and courage was an inspiration to us all.



After recovering from further wounds he was given command of 12th Brigade.



During the Second World War, Carton de Wiart served first as Head of the British Military Mission to Poland until its collapse, this was followed by command of the Central Norwegian Expeditionary Forces in its hopeless attempt to hold Trondheim. A year later, he was sent to head the Military Mission in Yugoslavia but on the way, his plane crashed into the sea and after swimming ashore he was made a prisoner of the Italians. In August 1943, the Italians released him and sent him to Lisbon to negotiate their surrender terms. From October 1943 until retirement in 1946, he was the Governments Military Representative with General Chiang Kai-Shek in China.



Carton de Wiart is the basis for the character Brigadier Ben Ritchie-Hook in Evelyn Waughs Sword of Honor trilogy.



His eyepatch and missing hand caused him to be known as Nelson to his troops.



Carton de Wiarts memoir Happy Odyssey  The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart (1950) is very good.



Governments may think and say as they like, but force cannot be eliminated, and it is the only real and unanswerable power. We are told that the pen is mightier than the sword, but I know which of these weapons I would choose.



Carton de Wiarts medals:



Top Row, L to R: Star badge, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire; Badge, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire; Companion of the Order of the Bath; Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George; Knight of the Legion dHonneur.

Bottom row: Victoria Cross; Distinguished Service Order; QueensSouth Africa Medal, with clasps: South Africa 1901, Transvaal, Orange Free State, Cape Colony; Africa General Service Medal, with clasp Shimber Berris, 1914-15; 1914 Star; British War Medal, 1914-20; Allied Victory Medal, with oak leaf for Mention in Dispatches, 1914-19; France and Germany star; Africa Star; Burma Star; Italy Star; British War Medal, 1939-45; Coronation Medal, 1937; Coronation Medal, 1953; Officer of the Belgian Order of the Crown; silver Cross of the Polish Order of Military Virtue; Belgian Croix de Guerre (WWI); Polish Cross of Valour (WWI); Polish Cross of Valour (WWII); French Croix de Guerre (WWII), with oak leaf for Mention in Dispatches.




Taking The Metra Was A Waking Nightmare After Cubs' Victory Rally

By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 4, 2016 8:25PM



Twitter / Metra

The gargantuan Cubs parade and rally in Grant Park on Friday afternoon attracted some 5 million fans to downtown Chicago, according to city officialsnearly twice as many people than actually live in Chicago. Any event of such magnitude is likely to bring forth some transportation issues, but it seems like departing Metra riders may have had the worst of it.

Metra at around 2:30 p.m. warned riders of overcrowding at Union Station.

Metra Alert - Overcrowding At Chicago Union Station - Trains Will Board From the Great Hall  Metra (@Metra) November 4, 2016

Riders on social media presented a picture of huge crowds and long lines waiting to board, which extended to those boarding at Ogilvie, too.

Good luck to all getting home @OnTheMetra pic.twitter.com/qoWsCCHjse  Metra Mayhem (@MetraMayhem) November 4, 2016

Metra added extra train service for Friday morning and afternoon, but still anticipated record-breaking travel. Tomorrow is expected to be the busiest day in Metras history, Metra Executive Director/CEO Don Orseno said in a press release on Thursday. We ask all of our regular customers and the new customers we expect to see tomorrow to be patient and, most importantly, be safe.

Metra issued the following alert on Friday afternoon to riders and passengers:

"Trains departing from downtown Chicago may be operating behind schedule due to accommodating commuters from the Cubs Parade. Please listen to platform announcements for the location of your train or refer to Track Your Train for current delay information. Metra apologizes for this inconvenience."

"We knew we'd have large crowds," Metra spokesperson Michael Gillis told Chicagoist. "We're using all trains to get everyone moving as soon as possible. We ask for everyone's patience and understanding."

Gillis said Metra had not received any reports of incidents or injury.
Paul Schrader Talks 'Dog Eat Dog' Filmmaking & Why Movie History Is Now Beyond Us All

By Joel Wicklund in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 4, 2016 4:10PM



Paul Schrader in his cameo role in "Dog Eat Dog." (Photo courtesy of RLJ Entertainment.)

It has been anything but smooth sailing for Paul Schrader in recent years.

He has seen his work abandoned and completely reshot by another director (his Exorcist prequel, Dominion, giving way to Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning), made headlines struggling through the combustible casting of Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen in The Canyons, and disowned his last film, Dying of the Light, after being denied final cut.

And while films like The Walker and Adam Resurrected have had less tumultuous behind-the-scenes tales, they have also had trouble finding an audience. It all might be enough to discourage any filmmaker, let alone an artist who has Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Blue Collar, American Gigolo and The Last Temptation of Christ on his resume as screenwriter and/or director.

But Schrader has plenty of fight left in him. Angered over the fate of Dying of the Light, he and that film's star, Nicolas Cage, were determined to reunite for another projectthis time with Schrader guaranteed final cut. The trade-off for that control was a low budget and a script (by Matthew Wilder) in a commercially safe genre. The result is the ultra-violent, wildly stylish Dog Eat Dog.

"I wanted to do a film with Nic Cage again. I wanted to have final cut and we wanted to work together to make up for the way we'd been treated," Schrader told Chicagoist. "And it just so happened it turned out to be a crime film. So I have this situation where I'm making a crime film. I'm not a 'crime film' director, but I do have final cut. I don't have a lot of money, but I can do anything I want. And the challenge becomes: what would a crime film look like in 2016? So, studying crime film and thinking about it post-Scorsese, post-Tarantino, post-Guy Ritchie...this was the answer I came up with."

Love it or hate it, Dog Eat Dog pretty much defines uninhibited. Based on a novel by Edward Bunker, a criminal-turned-author who acted in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, it is as frenetic and aggressive as anything Schrader has made to date.

"I just felt that this genre is so tired. And this storythree cons on their last big scoreis such an old trope, that you have to be bold," he said. "Otherwise, why do it?"

Despite Cage's penchant for bigger-than-life performances, the film's most unstable and savage character, Mad Dog, is played by Willem Dafoe. Cage took on the less showy role of Troy, leader of the movie's dysfunctional criminal trio.

"When I sent the script to Nic, I offered him [the role of] Mad Dog. And he said, 'I just played a whack job, I'd rather not play another one so quickly, so why don't I play Troy?' " Schrader said. "And so then we could offer really the best role to Willem."

It's Schrader's seventh time working with Dafoe, going back to the actor's performance as Jesus in the Scorsese-directed, Schrader-scripted The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Asked what he likes about the actor, Schrader said that he brings the unexpected to the set.

"He's an intellectual, a very serious guy. His background is in experimental theater, so when you ask Willem to do something, you do it because you want to see what he'll come up with. With other actors, you say, 'I want you to do exactly what you do.' With Willem, you say, 'What do you think? How would you do this?' And he always surprises you."



Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe in "Dog Eat Dog." (Photo courtesy of RLJ Entertainment.)

Schrader obviously also has a good working relationship with Cage, as evidenced by the actor's eagerness to jump in on another movie with the director after the frustrations of their last effort. While Cage has become notorious for nearly trashing his headliner status with an almost non-stop run of dubious low- to mid-budget features, his name still holds a lot of value in getting a project off the ground.

"The nice thing about working with Nic Cage is that you get your film made," Schrader said. "The drawback is that he eats your budget up."

Despite his contribution to some landmark movies, Schrader is very much in the same position as many independent filmmakersworking harder than ever to get his movies made and then hoping they get noticed in an ever-expanding world of viewing options. While the basics of getting a film made and released are easier than ever, thanks to affordable technology and self-distribution platforms, maintaining a career in the movie business is as daunting as it's ever been.

"The good news is you can make a film for $10,000 in three days," Schrader noted. "The bad news is you can lose that $10,000 in three days. There is no guarantee that being a filmmaker is a viable income-earner anymore. In the past, if you were a filmmaker, you could make money even if the films didn't. Today being a filmmaker is like being a musician. You've got about a four or five percent chance of making a buck."

Though it will get a marginal theatrical release, like most movies outside of the blockbuster realm, Dog Eat Dog will mainly reach viewers through video-on-demand (VOD). Schrader is blunt about what it takes to compete in that overcrowded digital marketplace.

"I mean, that's why we're having this conversation. The goal, the distributor told me, of everything they're doingwe've been to seven film festivals, we've had three retrospectives [of Schrader's past work], three or four premieres, all these interviewsthe goal of all of this is to be number one VOD on the opening weekend. Even the theatrical release. How do you get noticed with all the other product that's going to be available the same time you are? You have to start working the festivals because you don't have $50 million to pour into advertising."

That flood of movie product is also changing the historical record of the art form. When we talked to Schrader, it was shortly after Peter Bogdanovich received a career achievement honor at the Chicago International Film Festival. Like Bogdanovich and Scorsese, Schrader is a true film scholar. His Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer is considered one of the essential modern film studies and he has continued to explore the aesthetics and lineage of cinema in the pages of Film Comment and elsewhere.

Asked if he thought any younger filmmakers had the kind of grasp on film history that his generation of moviemakers had, Schrader again raised the sheer volume of work being producedespecially as television and films co-exist now as interchangeable at-home "content."

It is no longer quite credible to [say you] really grasp film history. It's almost impossible to grasp the current history. You know, there's 400 scripted TV series now, there's 30 films coming out a week and that's in the U.S. alone. Then you have the international markets. And you have the entire history of film that's available online. So how does anyone keep up? You don't. You simply don't. So certain directors will feed off certain influences, but you cannot expect anyone to have that kind of encyclopedic knowledge that Bogdanovich had or [legendary film critic] Pauline Kael had. I remember Pauline Kael telling me that she remembered every decade of film history...it was all present for her. Well, it's not present for anybody anymore."

Despite the odds the current content avalanche has stacked against him and his extended run of tough luck, Schrader is not waving the white flag. With his new film just opening, he is already scheduled to climb back into the director's chair soon, helming a religious-themed thriller, First Reformed, with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfriedstill carving out his place in the dog-eat-dog movie business.

Dog Eat Dog opens theatrically on Nov. 4 in Los Angeles and New York City and Nov. 11 at AMC's Loews Woodridge 18 in the Chicago area. It premieres on various VOD platforms on Friday, Nov. 11.


A Cub-Masked, Booze-Spraying Theo Epstein Owned The Wrigley Party

By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 4, 2016 4:52PM



Theo being Theo / Getty Images / Credit: Scott Olson

Grant Park is no doubt the epicenter of the Cubs mammoth, century-in-waiting rager, but it started on Friday morning exactly where it had to: outside Wrigley Field. Thousands gathered there to kick it off and send the team merrily on the way downtown.

But our favorite detail to emerge so far from Wrigelyville, perhaps unsurprisingly, comes courtesy of new Chicago folk hero and resident curse-buster Theo Epstein, who is apparently still feeling the Halloween mood. He was spotted passing out treats, sporting a bear mask and dousing (some more) champagne.

Theo Epstein is handing out candy to all the people seeing off the Cubs at Wrigley Field right now.  Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) November 1, 2016

Theo Epstein at Wrigley Field just a little bit ago wearing bear costume, pouring champagne on himself. pic.twitter.com/CrLmE0ObwV  aarcusD2.0 (@_MarcusD2_) November 3, 2016

We guess it's all part of that bender he promised. Something tells me his drinks will be on the house.
As much as 11.122 billion cubic metres of ONGC gas had migrated from its Godavari-PML and KG-DWN-98/2 blocks to adjoining KG-D6 of RIL between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2015.

New Delhi: The government has sought USD 1.55 billion from Reliance Industries and its partners for drawing natural gas belonging to state-owned ONGC in the KG basin over the last seven years.

The Oil Ministry has sent a notice to RIL seeking USD 1.55 billion compensation, sources privy to the development said.

The Justice A P Shah Committee had in a report presented to Oil Ministry on August 30 opined that RIL should pay the government for the natural gas it has drawn from an adjacent block of ONGC in the KG basin of the Bay of Bengal in the past seven years.

In its report, the one-member Shah panel said the Mukesh Ambani-run firm should pay for the gas that had migrated or seeped from ONGC blocks into its gas fields.

"RIL's action of producing and selling gas migrated from ONGC block is unjust enrichment," the report said, adding that over 11 billion cubic metres of gas had flowed from the ONGC block to RIL's fields between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2015.

Of this, RIL has already produced about 9 bcm. The panel, however, said the compensation should go to the government and not ONGC.

The committee said: "The Government of India, and not ONGC, is entitled to claim restitution from RIL for the unjust benefit it received and unfairly retained. ONGC has no locus standi to bring a tortuous claim against RIL for trespass/conversion since it does not have any ownership rights or possessory interest in the natural gas."

As much as 11.122 billion cubic metres of ONGC gas had migrated from its Godavari-PML and KG-DWN-98/2 blocks to adjoining KG-D6 of RIL between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2015. At prevailing prices, the gas was worth Rs 11,000 crore.

While ONGC's reservoirs have almost emptied, RIL continues to produce gas from D1&D3 fields in KG-D6 block, some of it belonging to ONGC. Shah committee had relied on report of independent consultant D&M to make its case.

D&M had in its November 2015 report indicated that as on March 31, 2015, 44.32 per cent of the gas initially in place in Godavari PML and 34.71 per cent in KG-DWN-98/2 (both of ONGC) had migrated to KG-D6 of RIL.

The report projected a higher proportion of gas migration and its production through RIL operated KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) block by the end of 2019.
An audience of 1.28 billion, 2,416 TV stations, a massive TV market worth 13 billion U.S. dollars, and 15,000 TV episodes produced. These are the latest numbers on China's still-booming television market.

The figures were shared at the Chinese American Film Festival TV Co-Production Summit Tuesday in Los Angeles by Yang Zheng, deputy director of TV Drama Department, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China.

Facing a huge potential market, what genre of programming to produce is something routinely on the minds of Chinese and American TV execs.

"When people talk about Chinese films or dramas, they always think about kongfu or action works," said Jin Liang, general manager of Shandong Film and Media Group. "But I think we can do more than that. We should open our mind and not stick to the old ways."

"I think romantic comedy is a much better idea, and I know now in China romantic comedies are well received," said Bobby Roth, one of the directors of hit TV series "Prison Break" and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

How to tell a good story for both Chinese and American audiences is another crucial topic discussed during the summit.

"It is really all about the stories in your hands and whether they will work in the context of co-production," said Arthur M. Sarkissian, producer of the "Rush Hour" film series. "I saw scripts in past years and everybody is trying to force on me a Chinese element or an American element. But when you see that on screen, it is so not in place. That's not story telling for me."

Sarkissian emphasized that organic relationship between the characters is key regardless of genre.

Different modes of script writing, TV producing, broadcasting and other related fields also pose some challenges in Chinese and American TV collaboration.

"American dramas mainly air on paid cable channels weekly and seasonally, while Chinese ones air on public channels daily," said Yang when talking about the differences at the summit. "We have to compromise and cooperate a lot."

In order to better tap the full potential of both the Chinese and American markets, Roth noted that to "learn from each other" was the key to success. Yang also suggested that "American TV series makers watch some Chinese TV to have a better idea about our productions."

"The American TV industry is certainly a leader in TV drama creation, producing technology and market exploration," Jin said, "At the same time, China has a huge potential TV market." He believed that "it offers great chances for both Chinese and American TV makers to tell a good story in a balanced way."

Both the Chinese and American TV makers at the summit were optimistic about future collaboration. "The path forward will be wrought with difficulty," said Yang, "but we are confident."
Mumbai: Just like any other attractive-looking teenager, Pooja Bedis daughter Aalia Ebrahim is a rage on Instagram and she thoroughly enjoys the attention. But lately, a section of Instagrammers have not been too kind on her choice of clothes and went on to call her a slut and someone who is porn ready.

While most of the times this vivacious beauty is showered with flattering comments, the teenager, who aspires to be an actress and is prepping for the same in New York Film Academy, is subjected to harsh criticism.

Some are very nice comments. Some people come up to me to say that how much they like the way I am and the way I behave. And then there are people who comment and say hurtful things and I would be lying if I said that it doesnt hurt from time to time, said Aalia in a recent interview.

Aalia further added, Oh, what good is she? All she is doing is showing skin, do not know that I have always been one to get good gradesI even read someone saying: Oh! She is not Bollywood ready, she is porn ready. I was like, Oh! Just because I wear a bikini, which is what everyone does anyway, how is it that it makes me porn ready and not Bollywood ready? Do you not see Bollywood movies or people wearing bikinis on beaches? All these beautiful and successful actresses wear bikinis and even short dresses. Why are they not porn ready? The comment just confused me.

Well if you plan on joining Bollywood, you must learn to ignore the ones who try to put you down.

Here are some of her absolutely gorgeous pictures:
Mumbai: Akshay Kumar has had a good 2016, with all his three films, 'Rustom', 'Airlift' and 'Housefull 3' doing good business at the box-office. The superstar has also completed the shooting of his next Jolly LLB and despite churning out back-to-back films, he also spends time with his family.

Akshay along with wife Twinkle Khanna, daughter Nitara and son Aarav set off to Cape Town recently. He and Twinkle have been sharing amazing pictures from the picturesque locations of the city as well of all four of them. However, none of the pictures offers a clear glimpse of the Kumars.

However, while they bring an end to their journey, Akshay finally shared a picture of him with Twinkle to talk about the good time he had in Cape Town.

Twinkle also responded to the tweet saying that she was already missing the place and leaving her hearts and stomachs filled to the brim.

Akshay will also be seen opposite Rajinikanth in the sequel to Robot titled 2.0 and will also be seen in Reema Kagti gold to be release in 2018.
Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan's movie Pink will be shown to Rajasthan police personnels to teach them to be sensitive towards women.

The police headquarter recently dispatched letter to the superintendent of police of all the 33 districts of the state asking them to immediately make arrangements for the screening of the Shoojit Sircar produced movie to all the police personnel in their respective areas.

The instruction to screen the film aims at making the police sensitive and sensible about woman dignity, woman rights so that they can act more promptly and actively to deliver justice in cases of harassment, torture or any crime against women.

The ADG (civil rights) has strictly asked the district police captains to take a serious note on screening of the movie.

The letter by the ADG says the movie has most strongly and vividly depicted gender impartiality, gender equality and gender sensitivity. The movie also portrays how to defend the woman dignity and woman rights.

"The letter from the Police state headquarter, Jaipur regarding mass screening of movie 'Pink' to the police personnel was received in last week of September following which police officials at police stations were directed for the screening of the same," said Rajendra Verma, Additional Superintendent of Police.
Mumbai: The US Presidential election is getting spicier with each passing day. Its not wrong to say that the Hillary Clinton VS Donald Trump debate have been the biggest newsmaker of the year. Things became tougher for the Democratic Partys nominee Hillary Clinton ever since Wikileaks made Hillarys some of the oldest emails public by leaking it.

Several reporters are scrutinizing through her leaked email data to find something of relevance. One of such reporters happens to be Jose A. DelReal of The Washington Post, who recently came across something which might be of great importance to Indians.

One of Hillarys leaked emails refers Amitabh Bachchan as famous older Indian actor.

The email conversation, which took place in 2011, has Hillary, the then Secretary of State, asking Huma Abedin, vice chair-woman of her presidential campaign, about a famous older Indian actor they met few years ago, to which Huma responds back saying Amitabh Bachan.

As soon as the screenshot of the email was put on Twitter, Indians lose their calm as they trolled Hillary for it.

As theres no record of Hillary and Amitabh Bachchan meeting each other officially, a Twitter user rightly so reminded everyone that the older Indian actor Hillary was referring to could just be Aamir Khan.

Hillary Clinton had met Aamir Khan at an event dedicated to education and community service where the two where talking about Teach India and Teach for India; two Indian education NGOs in July 18, 2009.

Hillary Clinton with Bollywood actor Aamir Khan (Screengrab: YouTube / U.S. Department of State)
Mumbai: Malaika Arora Khan might not be acting in films or even doing item numbers like before, but she is still considered among the hottest women in the film industry.

Her pictures from a holiday with her son where she sizzled in bikinis had amazed the world and she regularly impresses with her style in numerous pictures on Instagram like when she steps out with her group of friends like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karisma Kapoor and others.

Her fitness even today can give any current actress a run for their money. And this fitness does not come easy as a lot of effort goes into the whole process to maintain it. Malaika regularly works out in the gym and often shares pictures from those sessions and now she shared another video of her workout session in the gym.

Watch the video:

Malaikas focus during the exercise is extremely commendable and that can also be considered as one of the factors that leads to the desired results.

She was last seen as a judge on a reality show, but we would definitely like to see her on the big screen soon.
Mumbai: 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' is still running to packed houses, having already minted a good 80 odd crore rupees despite competition from Ajay Devgn's 'Shivaay' and Karan Johar has decided to spring his fans a rad surprise!

The director shared a delightful deleted scene from the film, where protagonists Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma can be seen doing impromptu jigs across the streets of France, to none other than Shammi Kapoor's 'An evening in Paris'.

Ranbir and Anushka has also recreated Rishi Kapoor-Sridevi's iconic song from Chandni,' which also had come in for a lot of appreciation.

The two, who look absolutely adorable doing their thing, have been getting rave reviews for their respective performances. Ranbir, incidentally, also had recreated a Shammi Kapoor, in Imtiaz Ali's 'Rockstar'.

'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,' which released on October 28, besides starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, also has cameos from Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt, Lisa Haydon, Imran Abbas and Shah Rukh Khan.

The film had come into major backlash for casting Fawad Khan, a Pakistani actor, in the wake of the Uri terror attacks. The MNS, especially had taken it upon themselves to stall the film's release. The hassle had ultimately been resolved after Karan Johar agreed to pay 5 crore rupees to the Indian army fund, and considerably chopped Fawad's role down.

However, the film has managed to win the audience's hearts and this video, is definitely the icing on their cakes.

Watch the video here:
Lucknow could very well be Kriti Sanons second home right now. The actress has been spending time in the city of nawabs for Ashwini Iyer Tiwaris Bareilly Ki Barfi. Even before the shoot can be wrapped up, the city is on the radar again as she prepares to shoot for her next film, Lucknow Central. The film is a comedy, helmed by debutant director Ranjit Tiwari.

About her second Lucknowi stint Kriti says, I took on this film because it offers me a chance to play a character I havent played before. Though Ive played a small-town girl before in my Hindi debut Heropanti and now in Bareilly Ki Barfi, Lucknow Central is a completely new character for me. And I also get to work with Farhan Akhtar for the first time.

As for Farhan, he had other incentives. Lucknow Central is the only acting assignment Ive accepted for now after Rock On 2. Why did I choose this and not something else? Its set in Lucknow, a city I havent shot in before. I specially look forward to exploring the legendary cuisine of the city.
Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro are among the most popular stars worldwide. (Photos: AFP)

Los Angeles: Actor Sylvester Stallone will replace Oscar-winner Robert De Niro in the upcoming heist thriller 'Idol's Eye'.

The 70-year-old star has signed on to play a Chicago mob boss in the Olivier Assayas directorial, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project, which also stars actors Robert Pattinson and Rachel Weisz, is set to begin shooting in Toronto early next year.

Pattinson will essay the role of a thief, who unknowingly steals a blue diamond from Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo (Stallone), setting off a war between the two men as they both try to keep one step ahead of the FBI.
Rating:

Cast: Sumanth, Pallavi Subhash, Thanikella Bharani, Suman Shetty, Sri Lakshmi and others

Director: Mallik Ram

Sumanth is back after a two year gap with Naruda Donaruda, the remake of the hit Hindi film, Vicky Donor. Also, Mallik Ram makes his debut as director while Pallavi Subhash is making her Telugu debut. Fertility expert Dr Anjaneyulu (Thanikella Bharani) runs a small clinic and sperm bank in Old City. He is on the lookout for a good sperm donor and comes across Vicky (Sumanth), a jobless man living with his widow mother (Sri Lakshmi) who runs a beauty parlour. When the doctor approaches Vicky for buying his sperm, he doesnt like the idea, but later agrees because the money is good. And though he makes a lot of money, he keeps the sperm donation a secret.

He then meets a Bengali girl, Ashima Roy (Pallavi Subash), working at a bank. The two fall in love and marry. But trouble starts once Ashima comes to know what her husbands real job is. Those who have seen Vicky Donor will know what happens next. The Hindi film was lauded for its story, and lead actor Ayushmann Khurana and Annu Kapoors acting. There was a lot of comedy and emotions too. However, the Telugu version has not managed to pull it off. Director Mallik Ram has not managed to bring out the emotions in the characters. The dialogues, however, are good and entertaining. But the engagement episode of the Bengali family vs the Telugu family is irritating and stretches too long.

One cannot remake a film scene by scene, but the original feelings have to be conveyed, which is missing in the Telugu version. When it comes to performances, Sumanth is good and has tried his best. However, he slips up in a few scenes. Thanikella Bharani plays the key role and it is he who lifts the film with his dialogues and performance. Though he went overboard in a few scenes, he is the best in the film. Pallavi Subhash looks beautiful and she does her part well. Sri Lakshmi and Suman Shetty too get noticed after a long time.

Technically too, the film is nothing great as the cinematography and music is average. The scenes between Sri Lakshmi and her mother-in-law also are plain irritating. Also, the film may not be suitable for Telugu audiences as in most of scenes, the characters are seen drinking. To sum up, Naruda Donaruda is a fresh subject which could have been made much better. Except for Thanikella Bharanis performance in a few scenes, the movie has nothing interesting. And its not a good comeback for Sumanth.
Andhra Pradesh achieved an energy saving of 1,500 million units in two years through use of LED lighting. (Photo: AP)

Vijayawada: The World Bank has ranked Andhra Pradesh as the best state in the country in implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programmes.

With an overall score of 42.01, AP has emerged on top followed by Rajasthan with 41.89, Karnataka 39.34 and Maharashtra 39.29 in Energy Efficiency Readiness, a release from the State Energy Conservation Mission said.

Kerala, Gujarat, NCT Delhi, Punjab, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh are the other states in the top ten ranking in that order.

Andhra Pradesh achieved an energy saving of 1,500 million units in two years through use of LED lighting.

"The result-oriented approach of AP government in implementing energy efficiency programmes is worth emulating by other states," World Bank Executive Director Subhash Chandra Garg has said.

State Principal Secretary (Energy and Infrastructure) Ajay Jain said that the state government has launched a new initiative 'AP Energy Star', making it mandatory to procure only five-star rated appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, ceiling fans and water pump sets in future.

The government also proposes to supply such appliances to consumers on installment basis at lower prices.
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Just imagine: one day, a cute child comes up to you, and calls you 'Daddy'. But you've never seen him before.

Chinese Canadian actor Aarif Lee promotes the film Making Family. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In the upcoming comedy Making Family, this stunning moment occurs when a South Korean child surprisingly appears in front of his biological father, a Chinese man who donated his sperm nine years ago in the United States.

But just like every tale with a happy ending, the father and child develop to a real relationship after a string of misunderstandings.

The Sino-South Korean production, starring Chinese Canadian actor Aarif Lee and South Korean actress Kim Ha-neul, will premier across the country on Nov 4.

The celebrity-studded cast also includes Mason Moon Moorhouse, the 9-year-old child actor born to a South Korean mother and a Canadian father and award-winning actress Lv Zhong.

Lee, who plays the father, says it's a heart-warming story with a humorous tone.

In the movie, the cultural clash and language barriers are used as funny twists to develop the dramatic storyline, said the film's producers.

Lee, 29 and single, also revealed that the film made him seriously consider getting married and having a child.
Bhubaneswar: Axel, a specially trained sniffer dog engaged in the anti-bomb disposal squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, saved many lives on Thursday as he successfully detected an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by suspected Maoists at Hatamuniguda on the Rayagada-Muniguda road in Odishas Rayagada district, nearly 450 km from here.

The male dog, however, sustained grievous inju-ries to his legs and lower part of the eye while locating the IED. Bomb disposal experts defused the device once it was located.

According to sources, had the IED, weighing about five kg, not been detected early in the morning, the rebels would have triggered it off later in the day, inflicting heavy casualties on paramilitary personnel and equipment. CRPF and Odisha police personnel were to use that route for combing operations in Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Rayagada districts.

Seven-year-old Axel has been with the sniffer squad of the CRPF for four years now. His trainer, Shambhu Prasad, is taking care of him.

Meanwhile, the one-day bandh call given by the rebels in five states to protest the October 24 encounter in which 30 of their colleagues were eliminated in Malkangiri district, threw life out of gear in southern and western districts of Odisha.

Reports from Rayagada, Kandhamal Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri and Nowrangpur districts said vehicular movement came to a halt, and attendance was thin at government and private offices. The rebels blocked roads at several areas by felling trees.
Ahmedabad: A 48-year-old cyclist was killed after he was allegedly hit by a speeding SUV and landed on the official vehicle of BJP MLA Pankaj Desai coming from behind in Anand district on , police said.

The mishap occurred near Boriyavi village when the SUV tried to overtake Mr Desai's Innova car from wrong side and hit the cyclist, who was identified as Shivabhai Rathod, from behind, they said.

"The SUV's driver tried to overtake Mr Desai's car from left side and hit Mr Rathod from behind with full speed. Due to the impact, Mr Rathod was flung in air before landing on Mr Desai's car. The SUV driver did not stop and sped away," said Anand District police station sub-inspector UA Dabhi.

He said Mr Desai stopped his car after the mishap and took Mr Rathod to Nadiad civil hospital.

"However, Mr Rathod subsequently died. We have lodged an FIR against the unidentified car driver and started our investigation," the PSI added.

Desai is the sitting MLA from Nadiad and also serves as the BJP's chief whip in Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was in Anand on Thursday to attend a government function and was returning to Nadiad when the incident took place.

Recalling the accident, he told reporters that Rathod had sustained severe head injuries in the accident.

"The man sustained severe head injuries after he landed on my car's windscreen. As he was profusely bleeding, I called '108' ambulance and went to Nadiad with him," the MLA said.
The victim joined Sonu's (the accused) laboratory last year and an affair started between them. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A 21-year-old woman has alleged that she was raped for a year on the pretext of marriage by a man, who also forced her to go for an abortion, in outer Delhi's Aman Vihar area, police said on Friday.

The victim registered a case yesterday against one Sonu (27) following a fight with his mother at his house, they said.

The woman called the police after the fight and lodged a complaint, police said.

The victim joined Sonu's laboratory last year and an affair started between them. Sonu allegedly promised that he would marry her, police said.

She alleged that he forced her to go for an abortion. A case has been registered in the matter and further investigation is underway, police added.
Jaipur: A man was arrested on Friday for brutally killing his wife, whom he suspected of infidelity, and dumping her body parts in different areas in Alwar city.

The accused Yogesh killed his wife Arti last week. He chopped his body parts and abandoned the severed body parts in different areas of the city, police said today.

"A severed leg was found in the city on Thursday last week and two hands were recovered from a different area.

"Other body parts recovered on Wednesday," circle officer city Jai Singh said.

After identification of the woman, her husband Yogesh was arrested.

"The accused, who is father of a minor girl, was detained from Hisar in Haryana and was arrested today.

"During initial interrogation, he said that he suspected the character of his wife so he brutally killed her," Additional SP Paras Jain said.
Thiruvananthapuram: Which one gave you the greatest pleasure? That was the question asked by the police officer of Peramangalam police station in Thrissur when the victim of a gang-rape went there to file a complaint in August. The 32-year-old woman, who was allegedly gang-raped by four friends of her husband, recounted her horrifying experience before mediapersons at the Press Club here on Thursday. She was accompanied by her husband and dubbing artiste Bhagyalakshmi, who revealed the tragedy in her FB post.

She identified the four accused as CPM Minalur bypass councillor P.N. Jayanthan, his brother P.N. Janesh, and two others, Bineesh and Shibu. The case took a new turn with Congress MLA Anil Akkara disclosing that the victim had sent a registered complaint to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan two months ago. She had approached him (Akkara) with the complaint months ago but later she vanished, limiting the scope for further investigation at his level, Mr Akkara said.

The woman, with her face hidden behind a veil and a trembling voice, said, more than the rape, the intimidation and humiliation suffered at the hands of the police was unbearable for me. I was called to the police station and made to sit there from morning till night. This went on for three-four days. During this period the police asked vulgar questions and made lewd remarks, she said. I was not the one who did anything wrong. But since I gave the complaint, the cops used to harass us mentally, she said sobbing. When she could not continue, Bhagyalakshmi, who was beside her, asked the victims husband Mahesh, whose face was also covered, to speak. When we went to the police station, the CI asked how you yielded to the rape ? Did you show this and that to entice them. On hearing his words, I was completely shattered, he said.

It is almost three months since we entered Thrissur because of the fear for our lives. They are powerful people and have a lot of influence over police. They coerced us to withdraw a complaint before the magistrate court. My husband was held hostage by them in the car in which we were brought to the magistrate court. They threatened us with dire consequences if we didnt withdraw the complaint, she said.

In her statement made under 164 CrPC and given before the magistrate, she stated that the compliant was given because of financial issues and that she wanted to withdraw it. While withdrawing it, she was crying. When the magistrate asked whether she was gang-raped, she said yes but insisted on withdrawing the complaint. The case came to light on Wednesday when Bhagyalakshmi wrote a post on the Facebook that a police station in Thrissur had failed to act on the complaint given by the gang-rape victim and cops present there passed lewd remarks against her.

Mr Akkara alleged that three local CPM councillors were involved in settling the case and that there had been a deal. The Congress men had taken out a march to the municipal office but nothing further could be done because the victim had gone missing soon after. He said he could not have proceeded further against the councillors, politically his rivals, because the victim herself had apparently developed cold feet. He admitted that he should have pursued the case and now, in atonement, he would go to any extent to ensure justice to the victim provided she is ready to fight the case, he said.
All the 12 girls have currently been sent to a hospital in Akola district. (Photo: Pixabay)

Mumbai: 12 minor girls from a tribal school were allegedly raped by their teachers and headmaster in Buldhana district of Maharashtra.

According to a report in dna, aged between 12 and 14, these girls were studying in a boarding school, Ninadhi Ashran School in Hivarkheda of Buldhana, about 450 kilometres from Mumbai.

Three of the girls are now pregnant, said the report.

The police have arrested 11 teachers so far for raping the minor girls.

SD Baviskar, Superintendent of Police, Buldhana was quoted as saying, The incident occurred just before Diwali. We have sent women police officials to talk to the victims and take their statements. So far, 10 teachers have been accused, and seven have been arrested."

The brutal act came to light only when three of the 12 girls returned home to Halkheda village in Muktainagar taluka in Jalgaon district.

The Deputy Sarpanch of the village said that the girls who returned home had complained of stomach pain and feeling something heavy in the stomach. When they were taken to the doctor, it was revealed that they were pregnant.

All the 12 girls have currently been sent to a hospital in Akola district, said the report.

The Deputy Sarpanch said that the relatives have lodged a complaint in the Khamgaon police station in Buldhana district. She demanded capital punishment for the culprits.

Local police have called all staffers of the school for an inquiry. Meanwhile, former Maharashtra minister and Muktainagar MLA Eknath Khadse said that everything possible was being done to help the girls and their families.

But Chitra Wagh, Women's Wing President of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has called for the resignation of Maharashtra Women and Child Minister Pankaja Munde and Tribal Minister Vishnu Savara over the incident.
Over the past few months, miscreants burnt down schools across the Valley which is in the grip of unrest following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: As many as 31 schools and 110 government buildings have been damaged in Kashmir Valley since the current unrest began four months ago.

Among the schools, which were set ablaze by unknown persons, 25 were government-run, two private and four were run by trusts or other social organisations, official sources said.

Out of the 110 government buildings, 65 were either completely gutted or partially burnt down and 55 were damaged through "other means".

Over the past few months, miscreants burnt down schools across the Valley which is in the grip of unrest following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8.

Amid outrage over the issue, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court took suo motu cognisance of this development and asked the state government to take steps to prevent such incidents and "unmask" to culprits.

The Centre had also earlier this week asked the Mehbooba Mufti government to check such attempts and make efforts for reopening the schools which have been closed since July 9.
Peak level of respirable pollutants PM2.5 and PM10 also violated the safe limits by over 15 times at places like RK Puram. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The national capital is facing the worst smog in 17 years, a green body said on Friday while asking the Delhi government to issue health alerts and convey that children should stay indoors as there is a state of health emergency due to peaking air pollution.

Four days after Diwali, the city's air quality also remained in the 'severe' category as suspended particulates (PM2.5 and PM10) mixed with moisture leading to the formation of a thick cover of smog in the absence of local wind movement.

The Delhi government's inter-ministerial task force headed by PWD Minister Satyendar Jain to combat the pollution menace also met and identified crop burning in Punjab and Haryana as one of the major factors behind the spiralling level of pollutants.

Peak level of respirable pollutants PM2.5 and PM10 also violated the safe limits by over 15 times at places like RK Puram. The prescribed standard of PM2.5 is 60 micrograms per cubic metre, but it touched 955 in real-time during early morning hours.

Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain wrote to his Union counterpart Anil Madhav Dave requesting strict action against crop burning in the neighbouring states.

Tomorrow, the Delhi government will raise the issue in a high-level meeting called by the Union Environment Ministry.

All the monitoring stations of SAFAR had air quality in the 'severe' category.

As visibility remained poor and the city choked due to a haze, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) asked the Delhi government to roll out stringent plans for controlling winter pollution from all sources of pollutants and issue daily health advisory to the people.

"This demands emergency response to protect the vulnerable - those who are suffering from respiratory and heart diseases and children.

"The government should aggressively inform all and advise them to stay indoors and avoid outdoor exercises. At the same time, it should roll out stringent winter pollution control for all sources along with emergency action," said Anumita Roychowdhury, head of CSE's air pollution and sustainable mobility teams.

CSE said that according to the Indian Meteorological Department, this is the worst smog with very poor visibility in 17 years and the Indira Gandhi International Airport recorded the worst levels of smog in 17 years on November 2, with visibility as low as 300-400 metres.

It said the analysis of data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee shows that the levels of PM2.5 have increased by 62.7 per cent on November 2 as compared to that on Diwali (October 30) and the levels were 9.4 times the standard on November 2.

Similarly on the night of November 1, PM2.5 concentration had hit 548 microgramme per cubic metre (cum) -- nine times the standard, while the following day, PM2.5 concentration increased to 696.25 microgramme per cum -- 11.6 times the standard.

According to air quality monitoring network SAFAR, PM2.5 levels are in severe category and are expected to remain in this category for more than three days, it said.

"Delhi needs strong action to protect people from such deadly exposure. Immediately step up action and put out hard health evidences and heath alerts in the public domain to sensitise people about the harmful effects of smog and push action.

"Delhi needs an effective winter pollution mitigation plan that can make a difference. Without strong action smog is only expected to get worse this winter at serious public health costs," Roychowdhury said.
Sawant wore a dress which had pictures of PM Modi printed all over it on her US trip in August. (Photo: Twitter)

Jaipur: Wearing an attire with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant in trouble.

An FIR has been lodged against her at the Kankroli police station for "allegedly indulging in obscenity and defaming the PM."

"On the basis of the photos circulated on social media, a local advocate Prajeet Tiwari had lodged the complaint yesterday," SHO Kankroli police station Laxman Ram said.

"The complainant has alleged that Sawant insulted the PM by wearing a dress with pictures of the PM in August," he said.

The FIR was registered under several sections of IPC and relevant sections of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. The matter is being investigated, he added.

Sawant wore a dress which had pictures of PM Modi printed all over it on her US trip in August.
New Delhi: Alleging that the government action smacked of "authoritarianism and intimidation", Congress on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a one-day ban on a Hindi channel with Rahul Gandhi terming it as "shocking and unprecedented".

Party leader Digvijay Singh suggested that all newspapers and channels should "show courage" and "go off air and not publish" on November 9 to register their protest.

"Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India.

"NDTV Banned-shocking and unprecedented (sic)," the Congress Vice President said on Twitter.

Several Congress leaders attacked the government over the issue of putting the channel off air and asked if these were the promised "achhe din" (good days) by Modi.

"It is only a beginning of BJP Model of Good Governance and their expertise of Media Control.

"Modi's Model of Gujarat Governance has begun to show its real face. First Farmers then Labour then Traders then Servicemen and now Media.

"Don't tell me later I didn't warn you ! I may be seen to be speaking out of turn but I know these people better than any of you. Good Luck," Digvijay Singh said in a series of tweets.

He also put out a small note entitled "First they came ..." asking all to see Pastor Martin Niemoller famous statement "First they came.." about cowardice of German Intellectuals following Nazis' rise.

"With my compliments to Media pl learn from History else you know what is in store for you !," he said along with the note.

Singh also wondered if media houses would protest against the order against the channel and said, "Would they also show courage and go off air and not print Newspapers on 9th November ?

"I am certain they won't. May God give them courage." Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is also political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, said,

"Government's decision to ban NDTV India smacks of authoritarianism and intimidation."

"Mark of authoritarianism is when political leaders are detained by police and news channels are banned. What Rights will Modi ji come for next," Congress said on its twitter handle while lashing out at the PM.
Xia Meng, a prominent Hong Kong actress and film producer, died at end of October at 83.

Xia Meng [File photo]

While some Hong Kong media reported the actress died on Oct. 28 in Hong Kong, Ng See-yuen, Hong Kong director and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, said he heard from Xia's friends that the actress actually died on Oct. 30. Xia's family has not openly made a statement to confirm the date or issued any obituary, as they want to keep a low-profile.

The legendary actress, known as "China's Audrey Hepburn," was once praised as one of the most beautiful actresses in China.

Xia, born Yang Meng in 1933 in Shanghai, China, moved with her family to Hong Kong in 1947. In 1949, she was chosen to play the leading role in the English-language production of "Saint Joan" in school.

She took her stage name "Xia Meng" (Summer Dream) from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and from the fact that she signed with leading left-wing studio Great Wall Movie Enterprises Ltd in the summer of 1950 with a dream of being a big movie star.

Xia Mengs first role as the title character in Li Pingqian's "A Night-Time Wife" (1951) rocketed her to stardom. The comedy was a hit and decades later stands out as a genuine classic of Hong Kong cinema. Many other hits followed as Xia became the prima donna of the Hong Kong Mandarin movie scene. There was the tragic demimondaine of "Sunrise" (1956), her role as the virtuous widow in "A Widow's Tears" (1956) and, perhaps most remarkably, her gender-bending turn as a man masquerading as a woman in the all-female Shaoxing opera comedy "The Bride Hunter" (1960).

Xia married to businessman Lin Baocheng in 1954 and moved to Canada in 1967.

In 1969, Xia returned to Hong Kong and started a garment manufacturing business with her husband. After the end of The Cultural Revolution, Xia was invited by Liao Chengzhi, then vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), to attend the 4th National Congress of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) in Beijing in 1979, which was considered to be her first public appearance after her final screen performance in 1967. Under the encouragement of Liao, Xia decided to return to movies as a producer.

In 1980, she formed Bluebird Movie Enterprises Ltd, and produced the debut film "Boat People," directed by Ann Hui and starring George Lam and Andy Lau in 1982, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second Hong Kong Film Awards.

"She's the one who changed my life," the now legendary Hong Kong megastar Andy Lau said.

Ann Hui called Xia the "most graceful person." "After I finished 'Boat People', there were many issues, but she never said a word and dealt with them quietly. She is a role model in demeanor and manner for future generations. "

After producing "Young Heroes" (Mou Dunfei, 1983) and "Homecoming" (Yim Ho, 1984), Xia sold her film company to Jiang Zuyi. She was not involved in movie production afterwards.

In her 17-year film career, she acted in 38 classic films and produced three. Xia's performance in "Peerless Beauty" and "A Widow's Tears" won her the Greatest Individual Achievement Award from the Cultural Ministry of China. In 1995, Xia was honored with the Chinese Film Stars Special Award, in conjunction with the 90th anniversary of Chinese cinema.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Xia has a star with hand print and autograph on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong. In August 2005, when China honored 128 movie stars in a commemorative stamp collection marking 100 years of Chinese-language cinema, Xia was one of the honorees. She received a lifetime award at the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2015.
Kumar and others had alleged in their applications that Justice Teji should not hear the matter as he had heard the case as a trial court judge earlier. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed the pleas of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others for transfer of their case relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots before another bench, saying these were "baseless and misconceived" and an "abuse of law".

A bench of justices Gita Mittal and P S Teji also rejected their plea alleging bias by one member of the division bench which is hearing the matter, saying the contentions raised amounted to contempt of court but it was not initiating any action as it would delay the proceedings.

"The present applications are baseless, malafide and misconcieved. We find no merit and hence the same are dismissed," the bench said, adding "it is abuse of law".

Kumar and others had alleged in their applications that Justice Teji should not hear the matter as he had heard the case as a trial court judge earlier.

Countering their submissions, CBI had said that Justice Teji had never conducted trial proceedings in the case but only heard the bail plea when he was a trial court judge, as being a sessions judge then, he was handling bail matters.

The bench today said that none of the life convicts in the case joined the applicants alleging bias by any member of the bench and hence there was "no apprehension of injustice".

The applications are "just a delaying tactics. Therefore we cannot allow this because the incident is of 1984", it said.

The bench said the contentions raised in the petitions tantamounted to contempt of court, but it was not initiating such proceedings against Kumar and others so that the matter is not further delayed.

The bench, in its order, said they were also refraining from imposing fine on the petitioners for filing such baseless applications and there was no reasonable apprehension of bias as expressed by them.

Besides Kumar, former MLA Mahender Yadav, who was handed a three-year jail term in the matter and is currently on bail, had alleged that "Justice Teji was exercising keen interest in the matter" and should recuse himself from hearing these appeals.

Convict Kishan Khokkar, who was sentenced to three years in jail and is on bail, had also filed a similar application.
Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations. (Photo: MEA/Twitter)

Hyderabad: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi here to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties strained by differences over a host of issues, including Beijing blocking India's NSG bid and a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar.

The meeting at the Taj Falaknuma Palace comes two days after Chinese and Indian troops were locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division after People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped civilian work.

Both sides decided to hold this meeting days before the incident in Demchok sector, located 250 km east of Leh, where the work for linking a village with 'Hot Spring' was being undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

There was no official word on the meeting.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohmmed chief Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and India's permission to the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.
Srinagar: An emotional appeal of a mother paid rich dividends when a Kashmiri youth, who had joined Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), was persuaded to surrender.

This happened in an interior area of Sopore late last night after the army with the help of other security agencies laid a siege of a locality after intelligence inputs indicated presence of a militant in a house.

A senior army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said today that the troops came to know the identity of the holed up militant as Umaq Khaliq Mir alias 'Sameer', a resident of Tujjar in North Kashmir.

When attempts to draw out the youth proved futile it was decided to request his parents, whose home was five km away, to come and persuade him to surrender, the official said.

His mother agreed readily and came to the place and pleaded with his son as the army had assured her that they would take a lenient view in case her son surrendered.

"It was an anxious moment for us as we were risking life of a civilian along with some of my boys, who had provided human shield to the woman," the official said.

The mother was allowed to go inside the house and request her son to come out and surrender which he eventually did. After lot of persuasion, Mir emerged from the house and handed over one AK rifle, three magazines, three grenades and a radio set.

Mir, a 26 year-old boy of Tujjar, had been missing from May this year and had joined the LeT.

"We make all out efforts to preserve human life and this is one such example. I am glad that my decision was right because at the end, motherhood prevailed over a boy who had been brainwashed to carry out innocent killings in the state," the official added.

After his surrender, he was handed over to the local police which arrested him.
LeT terrorist who was arrested on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore area was persuaded to surrender. (Photo: PTI/Representational Image)

Sopore: The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist who was arrested on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore area was persuaded to surrender, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Uttam Chand, North Kashmir on Friday.

Chand said that huge amounts of arms and ammunitions were recovered from the terrorist identified as Omar Khaliq.

"An effort was made to seek the surrender of terrorist, the owner of the house was also involved and finally the terrorist was persuaded to surrender his name is Kahiq alias Sameen. He surrendered and also with that we seized arms and ammunitions from him," Chand told media here.

Chand said that Khaliq had gone to Pakistan and was trained there.

Chand informed that the police had received information about the presence of a LeT terrorist, on Thursday at 17:08 hrs.

The terrorist was nabbed after a joint operation launched by army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state police.

"A case has been registered and an investigation has been taken up to see if there is involvement of any other persons," Chand said.
Kolkata: Alleging that the Narendra Modi government was "pursuing the politics of communal polarisation", the CPI(M) on Friday accused the "BJP-TMC nexus" of "feeding communalism and fundamentalism" in West Bengal.

Threats of communalism and measures to counter the menace were discussed during the day-long state committee meet of the party's Bengal unit which was attended by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

"We have discussed the threats posed by communalism to the integrity of our country and how the Modi government is pursuing the politics of communal polarisation by pampering the majority. This majority communalism is feeding the minority fundamentalism, thus endangering the basic idea of our country," a senior CPI(M) state committee member told PTI.

At the meet, CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra mentioned the "rise of communalism" in Bengal and how the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state had "entered into a negotiation" with the parties pursuing communal politics and preaching fundamentalism.

"We have been asked to reach out to the masses and apprise them of the pitfalls of communal politics. We have to raise awareness and organise people's resistance against this tendency," he said.
People attend the funeral of Mujeeb Sheikh, one of the eight Simi members who were killed in the police encounter, in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

Bhopal: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will not probe the encounter killing of the suspected Students of Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives, who escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail earlier this week.

According to sources, NIA can investigate the case only if the MP Police find evidence that the SIMI operatives were being helped by a terror group from outside or were supplied arms or other assistance during or before the encounter.

Despite demands for a probe into the encounter, the state government refused to order an NIA probe into it as it believes the encounter to be genuine. The state government has, however, expressed intentions to hand over the jailbreak probe to the NIA.

The Madhya Pradesh Government has ordered a judicial probe into the encounter of eight SIMI operatives, which escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the state government on Wednesday seeking a detailed report on the encounter.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier announced a NIA probe into the incident. However, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had said that there is no need of any probe into the encounter.

Eight SIMI operatives had escaped on Sunday night from Bhopal central jail after killing security guard Ramashankar Yadav.

They were gunned down later. Social activists and political parties have raised several questions regarding the incident.
New Delhi: The State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Bhiwani from where deceased ex-army man Ram Kishan Grewal drew his One Rank One Pension (OROP) amount has denied that it miscalculated the amount to be paid to him.

The government had claimed on Wednesday that Grewals pension had been miscalculated by the bank, and hence he was paid less.

According to a report in the Indian Express, bank officials said that Grewal however had taken a loan of Rs 3.5 lakh against his pension account. This loan was taken in May last year.

The report adds that Grewal had not informed his son or other relatives about the loan.

Before April, when OROP was implemented, Grewal drew a pension of Rs 21,927 and last month drew a pension of Rs 22,608. Grewals son Jaswant said his father told him that the pension would have increased to around Rs 30,000 if OROP had been implemented properly by the government.

The issue has assumed political dimensions with Congress and AAP in particular protesting against the Modi government for the death of the ex-serviceman. AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as well as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attended the cremation ceremony of the deceased ex-army man. Earlier, the two had been placed in detention on Wednesday for attempting to visit Grewals family members at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi, where his body was kept.
Mumbai: Days after Pakistani official Mehmood Akhtar was expelled over espionage charges, Shiv Sena on Friday said the neighbouring nation has launched a two-pronged attack on India and questioned the need for a Pakistani High Commission in India.

An editorial in Shiv Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamana' said, "Why should we tolerate the conspiracies of Pakistani officials under the garb of international laws that prohibit their arrest? Instead of issuing visas and other political works, Pakistan High Commission has been constantly busy in carrying out anti-India activities."

"Pakistan on one hand has waged a war against our nation by firing on innocents at the border and our soldiers in attacks like the one in Uri. On the other hand, it is trying to dig holes in India by laying a web of conspiracies," it alleged.

In the editorial, the ally of Maharashtra's ruling-BJP claimed that Pakistan High Commission has been involved in activities like supplying goods to extremists, allying with anti-India organisations like the Hurriyat and increasing its network of conspiracies through people who are anti-Indians.

"Why do we even need a High Commission that is only trying to attack the roots of the nation? We could not do anything to Pakistanis involved in espionage, but can at least ensure that Indians who were involved in these activities get the strictest punishment," it said.

If 16 officials were involved in espionage activities, then the "den of ISI" should be removed from Indian soil, the 'Saamana' editorial said.
New Delhi: Rubbishing Pakistans allegations that Indian High Commission officials were allegedly involved in spying, the MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday said that the thoughtless tit-for-tat act by the country has compromised the security of those named.

Speaking at a press conference, Swarup said, We expelled only one person from India for anti-India activities. After that Pakistan decided to withdraw on its own six of their staffers. And then they decided to put in the public domain details of eight of our diplomats and officials whose safety and security has been completely compromised. This is against basic norms of diplomatic practice and courtesy."

The MEA spokesperson also said that the Pakistani allegations were an "after-thought" and a "crude attempt" to target them for no fault of theirs, after a Pakistan High Commission staffer was caught red handed in New Delhi last week while indulging in anti-India activities.

It is learnt that India will withdraw the eight diplomats as their security has been compromised.

Swarup said the Indian officials "falsely implicated" were working in the fields of promoting people-to-people and trade and economic contacts between the two countries.

"Pakistan's false allegations against them have the potential to adversely affect the corresponding activities of the High Commission," he said.

He also said that Pakistan was in complete denial of the problem and deflecting its responsibility by resorting to "fanciful accusations".
Jammu: Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire 99 times along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, targeting Indian posts and civilian areas, after the surgical strike by the army on PoK-based terrorist launching pads.

"Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir 99 times after the surgical strike by Indian Army troops on terror launch pads in PoK," a senior Army officer said today.

The officer said there have been 83 ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the LoC in Jammu region falling under 16 Corps area.

As many as 16 ceasefire violations have been recorded along the LoC in Kashmir region falling under 15 corps area, he said.

The worst-ever Pakistani shelling targeting civil population took place on November 1 when eight persons, including two children and four women, were killed and 22 others injured along the IB and the LoC in five sectors of J&K, forcing Indian troops to give befitting reply by destroying 14 Pakistani posts and killing two of their troopers.

The state government had closed over 400 schools along the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu region in wake of the ongoing heavy cross-border firing.

A total of 18 people, including 12 civilians, were killed and more than 83 suffered injuries in Pakistani shelling and firing along IB and LoC in Jammu.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had on Wednesday asked the army personnel posted along the Line of Control to remain alert and give a befitting response to any "misadventure" from across the border.

"While complimenting their valour and fortitude, which Parrikar said was the entire nation's pride, he also impressed upon the soldiers to remain in a very high state of alert to give a befitting response to any misadventure from across," the officer said.
Traditional retailing business is facing a severe recession in China as the Japanese department store Ito-Yokado closed another outlet in Beijing on Nov. 1.

On Oct. 31, only the first floor and the underground supermarket of the six-floor department store in the Shilipu neighborhood of Beijing were open for service. And the two floors closed early at 7:00 p.m.

The closing of the Shilipu outlet is of great significance to Ito-Yokado, as it was the group's first outlet in Beijing.

Cheng Ning, head of the publicity department of Ito-Yokado's Beijing branch, said that the outlet was closed mainly because its sales remained low even after business adjustments.

After the closure of the Shilipu outlet, Ito-Yokado only has two outlets and one food store in Beijing, and Cheng said Ito-Yokado will "try all means to ensure the smooth operation of the stores."

In the past three years, Ito-Yokado has closed seven outlets in Beijing without opening any new ones.

The situation is no better for other department stores nationwide.

So far, 29 listed department stores, supermarkets and chain stores have released their Q3 financial reports, and 16 of them registered decline in sales as compared to the same period of last year.

The Dalian-based Friendship Group and the Wuhan-based Zhongbai Holding Group reported bigger declines among the 16 companies.

The Friendship Group, mainly engaged in the retail, hotel operation and real estate development, reported quarterly revenue of 492 million yuan (US$72.79 million), down by 23.67 percent yearly. In the first three quarters, its shareholders saw a total loss of 162 million yuan (US$23.96) in net profits, down by 799.02 percent yearly.

The Zhongbai Holding Group, mainly engaged in retail and logistics businesses, registered a total revenue of 11.64 billion yuan (US$1.72 billion) from January to September, down by 6.07 percent yearly. Its shareholders saw a loss of a loss of 174.82 million yuan (US$ 25.86 million) in net profits, down by 201.39 percent year on year.

In contrast to the sluggish situation in traditional retail sector, China's e-commerce industry is booming.

China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba posted robust revenue growth for its second fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30. Its revenue growth rose 55 percent yearly to 34.3 billion yuan (US$5.07 billion) for the quarter.
Bodies of SIMI terrorists who were killed in an encounter after they escaped from Central Jail, being handed over to their relatives and family members after post-mortem in Bhopal. (Photo: PTI)

Bhopal: A judicial probe into the jailbreak by eight SIMI activists and their killing has been ordered by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, giving into the demand by opposition which has raised questions on claims by police about the Monday encounter.

The state government had earlier announced a probe by an SIT comprising CID officers into the encounter and a separate investigation by former Director General of Police Nandan Dubey into the jailbreak but the Congress and other opposition parties had been pressing for a judicial probe

An official release issued late last night in Bhopal stated that the judicial probe will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice S K Pandey.

"Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high security jail and the encounter that took place after that," it said.

State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh on Friday said Pandey will also give his recommendations on improving security in prisons.

The BJP government led by Chouhan has vociferously defended the police action and accused the opposition of "politicising and communalising" the issue.

The party on Friday said that the judicial inquiry has been ordered as the state government has nothing to hide.

"I don't think there was any inquiry necessary but since Shivraj Chouhan has nothing to hide, so he agreed to a judicial probe, which was their demand," BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said.

Meanwhile, Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele rejected allegations that there was lax security at the prison and that a large number of security personnel were posted with ministers.

A PIL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday on the issue demanding judicial probe into the incident.

The under-trial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail here on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.

Before escaping from the jail, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav.

Since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state Home Minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

A controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.

Meanwhile, a report said that a sub-jailer and two guards are being investigated for the breakout of alleged SIMI terrorists from Bhopal Central Jail on Diwali night.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has been tasked with the investigation, because of a growing suspicion of an insider hand.

One of the first points of investigation is why a key SIMI leader, suspected to be the mastermind of the plot, was shifted from Block A to Block B without the knowledge of senior officers.

There were 17 inmates in Block B, of which eight escaped after killing security guard Ram Shankar Yadav.

The report said that nine SIMI men were supposed to break out but the ninth one fell ill. But the mastermind escaped and was only gunned down in the encounter by police later.

It is also a mystery as to how the eight managed to escape their cells. The locks of the cells are changed every night, and cannot be reached by a prisoner.

The report claimed that the eight men had already escaped their cells by the time Yadav arrived for duty on the fateful day. But after coming out of their cells, the SIMI men were still stuck because they did not have the keys to the block gates.

So they waited in the dark for Yadav to come on their rounds before pouncing on him.

But the eight were caught because a new guard posted outside the jail wall and saw them climbing over it. A headcount and search started immediately, and Yadav's body was found.

Moreover, one of the escapees had broken his leg, which made their progress slower.

Also, the area around the jail has changed dramatically over the last 5-6 years, and hence the SIMI men lost their way.

There were 29 SIMI men in the two blocks of Bhopal jail, and a report on Thursday claimed that the eight escapees were planning to help all of the remaining ones flee as well.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressing the media after a meeting with several ex-servicemen at party headquarters in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: A combative Rahul Gandhi on Friday stepped up pressure on the government over OROP, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "lying" on the issue and insisting what the retired defence personnel were now getting was "enhanced pension" and that 'One Rank-One Pension' demand was yet to be fulfilled.

The Congress vice president asserted that OROP was the right of military personnel and the government "will have to give it".

"What PM says is One Rank-One Pension is actually pension enhancement and not OROP. PM should stop lying on the issue.

"OROP is the right of armed forces personnel and government will have to give it," Rahul, who was detained thrice over two days during protests over the suicide by Army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal, told reporters.

Grewal had allegedly committed suicide over OROP. An unfazed Gandhi said he was not bothered by his detention.

Accusing the government of waiving loans of a staggering Rs 1.10 lakh crore of 15 big industrialists, Gandhi said it has nothing to give to soldiers and farmers.

"The government has not given respect and the right which is due to soldiers. If it had, why these ex-servicemen been protesting for the last 509 days at Jantar-Mantar," he said after meeting around 60-70 military veterans at the AICC headquarters.

Gandhi, who has been in the forefront of the protests after Grewal's suicide, accused the government of not "doing justice to soldiers who sacrifice their life for the country."

Gandhi said he met "experienced" ex-servicemen from across the country and had a "good discussion" with them. The Congress leader said the veterans clearly told them that what Narendra Modi was calling implementation of "One Rank One Pension" was only "pension ehancement" and not OROP.

"Every jawan, captain and general knows this, understands it. OROP is not about the money but about the dignity of our soldiers, about justice for our soldiers," he said.

Gandhi said former soldiers staging protests for implementation of OROP have also said they will not press their demand if government tells them it does not have money.

But the truth is that some 15 industrialists have been given away Rs 1.10 lakh crore by the government by way of waiving their bad loans and it can provide money for ex-servicemen, he said.

"There used to be a slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. But neither the farmer not the jawans are getting money. Neither the farmer nor the ex-servicemen are respected.

"What is happening is that Prime Minister is saying 'One Rank One Pension' has been implemented. Then why are our ex-servicemen standing at Jantar Mantar and before the media. They have been there for 509 days," he asked.

Gandhi said the former soldiers have some other demands relating to disability pension and 7th pay commission recommendations which the government needs to fulfil after it promised that it will implement OROP in toto.

"I want to tell the government that our jawans and ex-servicemen have given away their lives and years for the country. You should respect them and implement OROP in its true sense. It is their right and the government will have to do it," he said.

Recalling his detention during protests over the recent suicide of army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal, whose kin were also taken into custody, he demanded that the government must apologise to the family for the manner in which they were treated was "unacceptable" and "wrong".

Earlier, former Defence Minister A K Antony, who was also present during the meeting, said the Modi government was making "false promises" on OROP and "it will be forced to implement it in toto, this is what my feeling is".

He hailed Rahul Gandhi's efforts for implementation of OROP and said he was the inspiration behind the UPA government's decision to implement 'One Rank One Pension' scheme. "I am sure his support will go a long way in implementing the OROP," Antony said.

Former Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh and AICC incharge of Communications department Randeep Surjewala were also present.

Later speaking to the media, Maj Gen Satbir Singh of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, which is leading the fight for total implementation of OROP, said "We have apprised Rahul Gandhi of the subject and our demands. It is the duty of every Parliamentarian to raise the issue in Parliament and help the ex-servicemen get their rights."

Asked if he was satisfied with his meeting with Rahul, he said, "He wanted to understand the issue and we have explained to him. Hope he raises our issue and helps in getting OROP implemented." Singh said he was against "polticisation" of the issue.
Itanagar: Two Chinese nationals have visited Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, on wrong Protected Area Permits (PAPs), instead of the Restricted Area Permit (RAP), issued by the Deputy Resident Commissioner (DRC) of Arunachal Pradesh office in Guwahati.

DRC officials here said they came to know about the "administrative mix-up" only when a local newspaper of Arunachal Pradesh reported about it yesterday.

The office immediately launched a probe and preliminary investigations revealed that the two Chinese nationals from Hong Kong -- Young James John and Wu Chong Shong  were issued the Protected Area Permit (PAP) when they should have been given the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) as per the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines, the officials said.

Stating that citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan require RAP to be issued by the MHA, they said the two Chinese nationals' application for PAP was recommended to the DRC Guwahati office by the Resident Tourism Officer of the Arunachal Pradesh government based on their tourist visa.

It must have been a case of the officer concerned here "overlooking" the Chinese citizenship of the two and issuing them the PAP, instead of RAP, without taking prior permission from the MHA, the officials said.

"We are conducting an investigation into the case and will send our report to the Arunachal Pradesh government which will submit it to the MHA," they said.

Giving details of the permit issued to the two foreign tourists, the officials said that PAP was issued to the two Chinese nationals on August 30 on their applications to visit Tawang, West Kameng and Lower Subansiri districts for 30 days from September 12 to October 11.

The officials also confirmed that the two Chinese nationals had visited Bomdila and a copy of their PAP was found from a hotel there.

But, the officials did not immediately know if they visited strategically important Tawang and West Kameng which are out of bounds for Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Chinese citizens. These places are of security concern for India as China claims Tawang as its territory.

The Arunachal Pradesh daily had reported that "taking serious cognizance over illegal issuance of PAP to Chinese nationals, Arunachal Pradesh Tour Operators Association (ATOA) has lodged a complaint against the then DRC DJ Borah at Itanagar police station, alleging violation of the PAP Act".

"The association has demanded for the immediate arrest of the DRC responsible for letting the Chinese nationals to venture into Arunachal Pradesh. Terming the incident as breach of national security and gross violation of the laid down guidelines, the association opined that such an instance of issuing PAP to foreign nationals could be subversive for national security," the newspaper report said.

"It (ATOA) demanded the government to modify and issue notification that PAP should be allowed with sponsorship of local registered tour operators," it added.
Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia Pacific group in voting that was held by way of secret ballot on Thursday. (Photo: Videograb)

New Delhi: In a significant victory, a young Indian lawyer won a hotly-contested election in the UN General Assembly for membership to the world body's top body of legal experts, garnering the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group.

Aniruddha Rajput, 33, is among the 34 individuals elected by the General Assembly as members of the International Law Commission, the UN organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification.

The newly elected members will serve five-year terms of office with the Geneva-based body beginning January 2017.

The members have been elected from five geographical groupings of African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean and Western European states.

Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia Pacific group in voting that was held by way of secret ballot on Thursday.

Amongst the youngest to be elected to the nearly 70-year old body, Rajput is India's first time candidate to the Commission, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told PTI.

A practicising lawyer of India's Supreme Court, Rajput is also the first Indian nominee chosen from outside a close circle of lawyers of the Ministry of External Affairs.

An alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Rajput was member of an expert group appointed by the Law Commission of India to study and comment upon the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty 2015 of India, according to his profile submitted to the UN.

He has written several books, chapters, articles, conference papers on diverse legal subjects and his areas of expertise in international laws include Sources of International Law, International Arbitration, Law of the Sea, Use of Force, UN Law & Practice and International Trade Law (WTO Law).

In response to a congratulatory tweet by Singapores Ambassador to the United Nations Burhan Gafoor on Rajputs election, Akbaruddin replied, "We are deeply appreciative of support extended by many, many friends of India to ensure Dr Rajput's election by a huge margin."

Japan's Shinya Murase got the second highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group at 148, followed by Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Huikang Huang of China with 146 votes each, Korea's Ki Gab Park with 136 votes, Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri of Qatar with 128 votes and Hong Thao Nguyen of Viet Nam with 120 votes.
BENGALURU: In a radical statement which could fire up emotions, former BJP minister and Lok Sabha member Shobha Karandlaje accused urban development minister Roshan Baig with ordering the murder of RSS worker Rudresh, and sought a CBI probe into the recent daylight slaying on Commercial Street. The Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP, who described Rudresh's murder as "state-sponsored killing" during an interaction with the media on Friday, alleged that the RSS worker was eliminated at the behest of Mr Baig. "The police have informed us about Baig's involvement in the murder. We demand that the state government must hand over the case to CBI, and the CM should sack the minister immediately", she added.

Dismissing the MP's allegations against him as a "cheap publicity gimmick, Mr Baig said he would initiate legal action against her. "She does not know about my rapport with RSS workers of Shivajinagar. A majority of Hindu, Jain and Christian voters have elected me from Shivajinagar, the minister added.

Ms. Karandlaje stuck to her guns saying that she was ready to face any legal action from Baig. "If Baig was not involved in the killing, then why is he afraid to hand over the case to CBI, Shobha asked.

During an interaction with the media here, she said: It is getting clear that minister Roshan Baig is directly involved in it, adding that many officials had expressed suspicion and the people of the area, police and intelligence officials and her party workers in the area were saying that Mr Baig himself got Rudresh killed by giving supari (contract)". Alleging that Rudresh was killed to halt his personal growth and also that of the organisation in the area, she demanded a CBI or an NIA enquiry into the murder and dismissal of Mr Baig from the cabinet.

She alleged Roshan Baig is directly involved in killing of RSS worker Rudresh. Thus, the government should hand over the case to CBI for investigation. Stating that she is ready to face legal action by Mr Baig, she added If Baig was not involved in the killing, then why is he afraid of handing over the case to CBI? Accusing SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India), the PFI and others of involvement in the murder of several Sangh Parivar activists, she demanded a ban on these outfits.

Five persons, including Bengaluru chief of Popular Front of India (PFI) have been arrested in connection with the case so far. Rudresh, 35, was attacked by two motorcycle-borne men on October 16, and died on the spot.

BJP leader, who staged protests over Rudresh's murder, had blamed the Unholy nexus of Jihadists and Marxists for the killing and had named the PFI.

Baig: Ready for any probe

Dismissing the BJP leaders allegations as cheap publicity gimmick, Mr Roshan Baig said he would face any probe but would contemplate legal action against her.

Minister Roshan Baig

Mr. Baig said: people of Shivajinagar know me very well. Even Mr. Rudresh knew me. I have a very good rapport with RSS workers of Shivajinagar. A majority of Hindu, Jain and Christian voters have elected me from Shivajinagar. She has come from Mangaluru. She does not know about Shivajinagar. She is doing this for publicity, he told the media.

Mr Baig claimed that he had opposed organisations such as SDPI and PFI and said Rudresh was a good man and there was no reason for him to give supari and get him killed. I am ready for any kind of an inquiry, whether it is by CBI or an NIA enquiry, the minister said.
New Delhi/Hyderabad: The Iqbalia International School in the city has come under the spotlight after it was mentioned by the Turkish government on Friday, while urging India to crack down on Fethullah Gulen (FETO), which it says is a terrorist organisation. Turkey said FETO had opened schools in India and was trying to infiltrate strategic institutions in the country.

Turkeys minister Lutfi Elvan, after meeting Union minister Rajnath Singh, said. Unfortunately, in India too this terrorist organisation has organised itself. They have got four schools here, one international school and a college and they are organised in Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

School not under lens: Cops

The FETO was blamed for a failed coup in July to topple President Tayyip Erdogan. The Iqbalia International School in the city mentions several names as part of the school management committee. Mr Osman Koyoalu, who was named on the website, heads the Banjara Hills-based Indialogue Foundation Hyderabad.

Asked about his association with the school, Mr Koyoalu said, Our foundation has nothing to do with Iqbalia International School. My child is studying in the school and I am a businessman and I also run a Turkish cuisine outlet in Hyderabad. I have nothing to do with the school management. It is run by a Delhi-based trust,

The school on its website says it is run by the Delhi-based Education Endowments Trust. He said his foundation was inspired by peacemakers like Mahatma Gandhi. Fetullah Gulen is one such peacemaker. Our foundation is into socio-cultural activities and we conduct the Indo-Turkish festival and dialogue for peace.

A city-based environmentalist, who was also named by the school website, said he was not part of it now. I was invited for a few functions. Mr Koyoalu introduced me to the school, The principal was not available for comment.

Hyderabad police and the education department said they had no information on any suspicious activities at the school in Jubilee Hills.

Hyderabad DEO M. Ramesh said the department had not received any queries from the police on the school. West Zone DCP A. Venkateswara Rao said, It is not under our scanner so far.
Pune: In a noble gesture, a 73-year-old retired cotton expert has pledged to give away his entire wealth to nation for the welfare of armed forces and farmers by executing a joint will with his wife.

"I and my wife are delighted that we have finally executed the will. As per our will, the 30 per cent share of the wealth will go to Prime Minister's Relief Fund, 30 per cent will got to Chief Minister's Relief Fund, 30 per cent will go to armed forces and remaining 10 per cent to five NGOs, who are doing good work in society," Prakash Kelkar, who had worked as a cotton expert in several multi-national companies before retiring, said on Thursday.

The septuagenarian, who has been doing philanthropic activities post retirement, said he has mentioned in the will that his total wealth should be utilised for welfare of soldiers, their families, farmers and victims of natural as well as other calamities.

He said the thought about making such a will came to his mind in 2013.

"Post retirement, I and my wife, Deepa decided to give away total earnings to nation and started researching about the procedure. We even interacted with PMO, Finance Ministry and Defense Ministry and finally executed the will with the help of a nationalised bank," he said.

Kelkar said his decision has been supported by his two daughters, who are well-settled.

"I and my wife both are also artistes and have been working for society. Last year, we had selected 40 widows of farmers, who had committed suicide across the state and helped them monetarily," he added.

Besides doing social works, Kelkar has been helping police in maintaining traffic in the city.
Mumbai: A scuffle broke out between security personnel at Bombay House and photographers trying to click pictures of ousted Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry, injuring one of them, ahead of the board meeting of Tata group firm Indian Hotels Company Ltd here today.

As soon as Mistry, who is the Chairman of IHCL, arrived at the Tata group headquarters to chair a board meeting to consider quarterly financial performance of the company, photographers went beyond the cordoned off area to click his pictures.

In a bid to control the situation, the security personnel roughed up the photographers, injuring one photojournalist and damaging his equipment, in the process. Cameras belonging to lens men of Mid-Day and Hindustan Times were also damaged.

Later on the situation was brought under control with the intervention of police from Mata Ramabai Police station. Four security guards and three photographers have been taken for medical check up.

Digging in his heels after being ousted as Chairman of Tata Sons, Mistry plans to continue in his current role at Tata group firms, including Tata Steel, TCS and Tata Motors, where he is Chairman.

Sources close to Mistry have said he has no plans to quit as Chairman of these firms. "He will discharge his fiduciary duty as required by law in all his positions in the Tata group," a source close to Mistry had said.
Lucknow: Samajwadi Partys internal squabbles seem to be taking a toll on the partys poll prospects even before the UP elections have begun.

Ruining party supremo Mulayam Singhs plans to form a Mahagatbandhan, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Janata Dal (United) have reportedly expressed apprehension in forming an alliance with the SP unless Akhilesh is made the CM candidate.

According to reports, the political parties are wary of the SP, as they feel that the family feud would not only affect the SPs poll performance, but also bring down those in a tie-up with it.

Nitish Kumar is also reportedly treading cautiously, after Mulayam Singh pulled out of the Mahagathbandhan during the final moments of the Bihar polls last year.

The Bihar CM has reportedly made it clear that there can be no grand alliance in UP unless the rival factions SP and BSP come together.

The partys Muslim vote-base is also caught in an uncertainty over the family feud, the report noted.

The report comes days after Congress maintained that there would be no tie up unless Akhilesh was in the fray.
Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and other leaders greet the crowd during a rally held in Kakinada on Friday. BJP state president K. Haribabu and Kakinada MP T. Narasimham are also seen. (Photo: DC)

Kakinada: Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu cautioned both the Telugu Desam and Bharatiya Janata Party workers that if the BJP and TD part ways, Andhra Pradesh state will be the loser.

Addressing a public meeting here on Friday, organised by the BJP district unit, Mr Venkaiah Naidu said the alliance of the two parties is critical for the growth of the state. They both should work together for the development of the state and if they part ways, the state will suffer, he said. He called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a boon to India.

The world is looking at India because of Mr Modi's vision. He made it clear that the state will not be granted special category status as this has not been included in the AP Reorganisation Act.

Mr Venkaiah Naidu said he had raised the SCS issue in the Rajya Sabha during the bifurcation period, but the then UPA government had not included it in the Act. Though not elected to the Rajya Sabha from AP, he was working towards the development of the state, he said.

He said that there is a difference of three per cent between the SCS and the special package that AP has secured, and the deficit would be filled by the Centre. Some Rs 2,06,800 crore will devolve to AP during these five years, following the 14th Finance Commissions recommendations.

The Polavaram Project is a great boon to the people of the state and it is the BJP which had cleared all the hurdles in the way of the project, he claimed. The Centre would bear the entire cost as it a national project. The Congress had done nothing except laying a foundation stone in 1982, by the then chief minister T. Anjaiah.

Therefore the Congress leaders have no moral right to criticise the BJP, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Nimmakayala China Rajappa said Mr Venkaiah Naidu was making great efforts to develop the state.
New UK research confirmed for the first time that children taught math using a Chinese-style method fare much better than their peers, backing a decision to use such techniques in British primary schools.

An independent study by Oxford University shows pupils taught in a version of Asian "mastery" methods do "significantly better".

The research looked specifically at the Inspire Maths program, widely used in Singapore, and in which Shanghai pupils have also been shown to excel. Interest was prompted by the success of Shanghai and Singapore in 2012 in international rankings that showed how 15-year-olds compared in math. Shanghai was tops, Singapore second and the UK ranked 26th.

"Overall, we found positive evidence that Inspire Maths benefited children's maths achievement and supported teachers' professional development," said James Hall, lead author of the Oxford study.

In the system, as children progress together, their confidence is built up using high-quality textbooks. The method introduces core concepts that are broken down into small steps, starting with the use of real-life objects and drawings to help them understand. This contrasts with the UK practices of more individual teaching, games and memorization.

But a recent trend has been to adopt Chinese teaching methods. In July, the UK government said it would spend 41 million pounds ($50.6 million) over four years to support 8,000 primary schools' use of "mastery" techniques.

Around 700 teachers will be trained to support schools using the method.

That same month, 140 primary teachers in England had already been trained by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics to help schools adopt the new approach.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said an exchange program for teachers from China would continue for the following two years to strengthen math teaching in primary schools.

Scott Wellington, a teacher at Linden Primary School, said: "I was initially skeptical about a textbook scheme, but quickly I saw the conceptual understanding of the Singapore approach. Inspire Maths has really opened our eyes and as a result we are now creating very confident mathematicians."

Last year a BBC documentary followed five Chinese teachers at Bohunt School in Hampshire. Students using the Chinese method achieved marks about 10 percent higher than those taught in the English manner.
The summary order of the inter-ministerial panel of the information and broadcasting ministry asking NDTV India to black out its channel for a day for telecasting crucial information during the Pathankot attacks in January is unprecedented. It is the first such case after the government notified norms for live coverage of such incidents. Social media has been unsparing in its condemnation of this decision. That just the previous day the Prime Minister spoke of the dark days of the Emergency is an irony that has not gone unnoticed. Not has it been missed that NDTV India is one of the most sober channels in the country and its anchor Ravish Kumar a respected figure. Journalists have declared solidarity with NDTV. The Editors Guild issued a statement demanding it be taken back. The guild has emphatically said that the government could have taken the channel to court to take action against it. Where was the need to take this drastic step?

Now consider the killing  in cold blood, some videos seem to show  by policemen in Madhya Pradesh, of eight convicts who escaped a jail. A lot about the prison break seems fishy  the eight men, lodged in different barracks, managed to get out of their respective jails, kill one guard (but not his companion), climb over a 32 foot wall and jump on the other side, change into civilian clothes and sneakers and then engage in a gun battle with cops, even though they did not have any guns. And all eight were killed. It certainly sounds odd, and demands an enquiry. But the victims have already been branded as terrorists, even if they have not been tried yet. There are a number of instances when people picked up on charges of terrorism are found not guilty, sometimes after many years. Their lives are destroyed. They have no recourse to compensation  the system, having crushed them, moves on. Can we say with certainty that these accused would have been found guilty?

Yet, the cops are being hailed for having finished off terrorists and not by rabid followers of the government, especially online, for whom a Muslim arrested for terrorism is guilty beyond all doubt and deserves to be eliminated. And policemen in all parts of India are unapologetic about indulging in encounters. But when a chief minister of a state hails the cops for their action it is something to worry about. A day after the incident, and even as videos calling into question the polices version were leaking out, Shivraj Singh Chouhan declared  at a public meeting  he would bestow rewards on the cops involved in the killings. He also criticised those who were doubting the police. How long can you keep them under trial? Some people even get chicken biryani in jail, he told an approving crowd. Chicken biryani, of course, is an easy-to-decode euphemism for Muslim and Mr Chouhan was obviously appealing to the base instincts of his followers.

But it is the first part of this statement that should worry all right-minded citizens, since an elected official is expressing his disregard for the law. Cases take too long to decide, so let us just take the law into our own hands and kill off the accused, since we know they are guilty. This is a man sworn to uphold the Constitution, but is making a mockery of the rule of law. Go forth and kill, he is telling his policemen  I will protect you. There is something common in the order of the I&B ministrys panel and in Madhya Pradesh  an impatience with legal process. In the first instance, the government takes recourse to the most extreme measure, virtually banning the channel for one full day. That this will be seen as an assault on the media doesnt seem to bother the government; if anything, that may well be the objective. Make an example of one channel and everyone else will fall into line. A long-winded legal case will have zero impact, neither on NDTV and nor on other channels.

Mr Chouhan, too, thinks that quick killings, execution style, is the most efficient way to dispose off cases; we know they are guilty any way (they are Muslims, remember), so why waste time and resources. Besides, disposing them off in this manner will get the approval of millions of the faithful, which in turn, means votes.

The tedious legal process can be enervating and frustrating. Often, the powerful get away with dragging on cases, burdening the courts even more. More often than not, it is the victim who suffers as the perpetrator manages to evade justice by stretching a case. Mr Chouhan says there should be fast-track courts for terror cases  that is something to be considered. But why just terror, why not find ways to speed up the legal system? In any case, the solution to those delays is not short-circuiting the entire process by taking recourse to extreme measures.

This is no different from two people locked in a dispute bringing in a criminal boss to settle the issue. Such extra-judicial solutions cannot be allowed. The ministrys ban, if not contested and fought  and not just by NDTV but by the media in general  will become a precedent. Those who may foolishly gloat over its predicament should know that the government can turn on them too. It will have a very chilling effect on media freedom. As for the encounter killings, Mr Chouhan must make it clear that such incidents will not be allowed. This may be asking for too much, since he has already made his views known and is not likely to go back on them, but someone has to remind him that he is a chief minister, sworn to uphold the law and cannot indulge in such loose talk. When governments begin to scoff at the law, it sends a dangerous message down the line.
A piquant situation has developed in Britain after Thursdays sensational high court ruling that the government of Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the sovereign right to set in motion the process to withdraw from Europe, and that only Parliament can trigger Brexit. The government is set to appeal. Ms May had earlier declared her intention to initiate Brexit by March 2017, and complete the process in two years. It is to be seen if the Supreme Court of Britain gives the government any relief. At the very least, Brexit is likely to be delayed, and it may not be a hard exit in the end. The Conservative government has a small majority in the House of Commons. Its members are largely thought to favour Stay. The disposition of the Lords is not clear.

Nevertheless, if a Brexit bill is brought, will MPs shoot it down? Or, will they be mindful that the PMs decision to implement Brexit draws support from the June 23 referendum. While Leave narrowly won the referendum, polls since then have suggested that its numbers have shrunk. If Parliament considers this, the plausible course will be to order a second referendum, or a national election. The PM would like to have the election only when its due in four years. But her hand could be forced, depending on the way the Parliament debate goes. Theres also the Scotland factor. The Scots look keen to leave Britain if they cant remain in Europe.
A recent study form WHO alarms that India is one of the most polluted countries with Delhi being the most stained city in the world with worst air quality. Delhi has the highest concentration of PM2.5  particulate matter less than 2.5 microns  form of air pollution, which is considered serious and harmful.

Beijing was once considered as one of the most polluted cities with a PM2.5 concentration of 56 micrograms and PM10 concentration of 121 micrograms. WHO said that in most cities wherever there is enough data to compare the situation today, with previous years, air pollution is just getting worse.

Whats more appalling is that the air inside our home are actually two to five times more toxic and polluted than the air we breathe outside. Log on to http://goo.gl/a59idJ to know the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of the city you presently live in.

Beijing has installed massive outdoor air purifiers in the city, India could probably do the same, but it does not seem practical as yet. However, in order to breathe some pure air, it is always recommended that you install an air purifier at home.

Judging by the pollution crisis the world is facing, air purifiers are no longer a luxury appliance, but are soon turning out to be a dire necessity.

Air Purifiers once considered as a luxury is soon changing to becoming a necessity with the rapidly deteriorating air quality. Whether you are home or in office, the air surrounding us has worsened and house dust, allergens, viruses, bacteria and even pollutants emitted by copiers or printers can accumulate and have a long-term detrimental effect on our health. Consumers today are discerning and are more aware of the health hazards associated with breathing in poisonous air. There is a huge potential in the market as people today understand the need of air purifiers. Being one of the innovative brands in this segment, with our products, we assure quality service thereby enhancing individual health said Rakesh Malhotra, founder, Livpure told Deccan Chronicle.

Opt for the right purifier for your place

Air purifiers eliminate contaminants and pollutants from the air. It works as a filter that sucks in air, passes it through a cleaning mechanism (a particulate filter), releasing cleaner air from the other end. The process is different from water purification where chemical treatment is used. Air is not purified chemically, but filtered. The filters are made of a range of materials, and the technology differs from one purifier to another. Some even use ionizers for effective cleaning.

Recently, several companies have forayed in the manufacturing of air purifiers. Xiaomi, Livepure, Philips, Kent, Sharp and a few other brands have already stepped into the health appliance market in India. We have listed some of the air purifiers you can use to purify the air around you.

Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier 2

With the recently launched Mi Air Purifier 2, Xiaomi seems to be concerned about ensuring that one breathes in pure air. Priced at Rs 9,999, the purifier packs in a single motor with dual mixed booster fans and a three layer filter. The company claims that the Mi Air Purifier 2 offers Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of 310m3/h. Its filter will last up to six months depending on usage, and each replacement filter costs Rs 2,499.

Livpure Fresh O2 130 Air Purifier

This air purification system incorporates an anion (negative ion) generator, which disinfects your indoor environment too. Most indoor pollutants such as dust and pollen are positively charged. The negative ions from the air purifier attract these particles forming clumps, which are eventually eliminated by the filters. Priced at Rs 8,999, this air purifier is can cover a room of size 200 sq ft and has a 3-level fan speed.

Philips AC4025/10 portable room air purifier

Its filtration system eliminates harmful agents in two stages: In stage 1, the activated carbon filter acts as pre-filter to catch big particles like human hair and regular house dust, and removes odours and harmful gases. In stage 2, the HEPA filter filters out fine dust, bacteria and allergens. You can buy carbon filters, HEPA filters for around 3,000 and other accessories as well. The Philips AC4025/10 portable room air purifier is available for Rs 16,995.

Kent Aura portable air purifier

The Kent Aura comes with an in-built ionizer and uses the HEPA filter that has a special coating to eliminate bacteria from the air. Kent claims that specially treated activated carbon in the air purifier has a high absorptive value, thus absorbing all foul odours and smell, keeping the air in your house fresh at all times. The air quality in the room is continuously monitored and adjusted by this air purifier and this is indicated by a glowing LED light. The air purifier is available at a price of Rs 13,399 and is capable of covering 270 sq ft of the area.

Home air purifiers have their limitations. They are ineffective if you leave the doors or windows open and are highly effective in air-conditioned rooms. Though an air conditioner can do filtration to a particular level, they cannot outdo an appliance designed for the purpose. Though an air purifier has its own limitations and there are no assurances about your air being purified to the best, it is always good to have one installed at home so that you can care for your familys health.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Users with these smartphone should know that their WhatsApp information could be at higher risks.

If you happen to use older smartphones, today December 31 could likely be the last day for you to use WhatsApp.

WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app platform, is used by more than 95 per cent smartphone owners in India. However, a few smartphones will not be able to use WhatsApp by end of this year. These phones wont be completely blocked, but they will lose out on a lot of upcoming features. In short, users having these smartphones will only be able to use WhatsApp till the app is compatible.

According to a statement released earlier this year WhatsApp will no longer have support for a few Symbian, BBOS, Windows, Android and iOS operating system versions.

WhatsApp had announced that December 31, 2016 will be the last day for support for some older smartphones that are still in use. Those having older Android, iOS and Windows phones and others having feature phones with Symbian and BBOS will be affected. The move from WhatsApp came through since market predictions reveal feature phones will be overtaken by smartphones from 2017, probably putting an end to feature phones completely.

Users with these smartphone should know that their WhatsApp information could be at higher risks. Using WhatsApp on older smartphone operating systems and on feature phones could pose a higher security threat later since there would be no more updates and security patches from the WhatsApp development team. Third-party developers would opt for the versions and tweak it in order to make them function. However, using a third-party or tweaked application is never recommended and can contain spyware, adware or malware.

WhatsApp had announced the end of support for the said operating systems on their blog in February.

So, by the end of 2016, we will be ending support for WhatsApp Messenger on the following mobile platforms:

BlackBerry, including BlackBerry 10

Nokia S40

Nokia Symbian S60

Android 2.1 and Android 2.2

Windows Phone 7.1

iPhone 3GS/iOS 6

While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.

Those using older smartphones and feature phones are advised to upgrade to a latest smartphone if they want to continue using WhatsApp in future.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Volunteers and election officials take part in the ballot counting process for all of the Hennepin County cities, except Minneapolis. (Photo: AP)

Washington: A record number of 35 million people have already voted under the early voting provision of American democratic system ahead of Tuesday's presidential election, surpassing the 2012 record when 32.3 million people exercised their franchise in advance.

Michael McDonald, an early-voting expert who runs the Elections Project, said many states have either already set records for early voting or exceeded their 2012 turnout. Texas, for instance, was up 36 per cent from four years ago.

Because of the contentious nature of the two campaigns, voters have become familiar with the positions of Republican nominee Donald Trump and his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton and they think that they are ready to take a decision on it.

Nationwide, 29.7 per cent of all votes were cast before Election Day in 2008. Four years later, that increased to 31.6 per cent.

Projections put the percentage of early voters for this election at potentially higher than 35 per cent.

"People have been very attentive to this election. They know the candidates and they have weighed those candidates, and they are now making their choice. It's becoming evident that people are voting at higher rates early because they have that large amount of information and theyre confident making their choice," he said.

McDonald said despite surprises, there appears more stability in the early vote than volatility.

"I suspect that most people have made up their minds about the candidates and the media frenzy is another piece of information to be thrown on the heap of what we already know about the candidates," he said.

"I do not equate sexual assault with mishandling of classified information, but it strikes me that the cognitive task before voters is similar. In both cases, voters have a mountain of evidence already placed before them," he said.

"One more woman making an accusation against Trump will not change voters' assessments of the veracity of the totality of the allegations. Similarly, possibly finding new Clinton- related emails without any further evidence that they are relevant does not change voters' assessments of Clinton on this issue," McDonald added.
New York: An American elementary school which has been correctly predicting US presidents since Richard Nixon in 1968 has foreseen victory for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the November 8 general elections.

Students at the Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Yorktown Heights in New York have never been wrong on a presidential election since correctly predicting in 1968 that Richard Nixon would be the US president, a report in NBC New York said.

"Our whole staff is a little nervous. We are a good predictor (of who will win the presidential election)," said Principal Patricia Moore in the report.

Teachers explained the electoral process to students and instead of focusing on candidates, students were asked about traits that qualify a candidate as a good president, Moore said.

"We have been trying to stay away from the candidates and really talk to them about the process of what is happening and preparing them for their roles as voters as well," said teacher Danielle Stiehl.

The school students, too young to vote, lined up single file inside an election-themed classroom and a teacher assisted students with voting by instructing them to pull a lever in the direction of their choice.

This year, 69-year-old Clinton won the popular vote in the school with 52 per cent as compared to 70-year-old Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the report added.
Jacksonville: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday alleged that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with America's security and the country's generals do not want her as their boss.

"We know Hillary can't be trusted with America's security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," Trump said at a massive election rally in Salem, North Carolina wherein he outlined his plan to rebuild military and support veterans.

Trump began the rally by naming recipients of medals of honours who were present at the meeting. In between he paused and compared himself with them.

"Oh, they're so much more brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave, I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave," said Trump, who has never served in the US military.

The meeting was attended by a large number of veterans.

"To think of her being their boss, I dont think so. I know what they are thinking. It's not for them," Trump said. "These men display to the whole world the unyielding strength, courage and grit of the United States of America.

They went above and beyond the call of duty, thought nothing of their own safety in order to protect their fellow man, and acted with a bravery that will etch their legacy into the history of this nation," he said.

Trump alleged that under the failures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, ISIS has become a clear and present danger to Europe and the US.

"After all the sacrifice our soldiers made, Clinton and Obama pulled out the troops on a public timetable, giving rise to ISIS and handing Iraq over to ISIS killers," he said.

"Now, ISIS is on a campaign of genocide in the Middle East, torturing, drowning and burning people alive. ISIS has slaughtered men, women and children in France, Germany, Belgium, and there are now 1,000 open ISIS investigations in the United States. We have seen the bloodshed in the attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino, and the recent bomb plot in New York and New Jersey," he added.

"Yet, as we send brave men and women overseas to fight terrorists in the Middle East, Hillary Clinton wants to fling our borders wide open, allowing those same terrorists to infiltrate our country at home. She wants a 550 per cent increase in Syrian refugees, and virtually unlimited immigration from some of the most extreme and dangerous places in the world," he said.

"A Trump Administration will suspend the Syrian Refugee programme and keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. We know Hillary cant be trusted with Americas security. She's under multiple criminal investigations at this very moment for criminal conduct that put the safety of our entire nation at risk," he said. (MORE) PTI LKJd Trump on Friday alleged that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with America's security and the country's generals do not want her as their boss.

Trump alleged that Clinton was more interested in keeping her emails a secret than in keeping the classified intelligence a secret.

"She was more interested in protecting herself than protecting all of you. Ending this criminal government corruption is one of the most important reasons we must win on

November 8," he said.

"We also know Hillary cant be trusted with our security because of her disastrous record on foreign policy," he said.

Trump said that no Secretary of State in history has failed in more places, in more ways, than Clinton.

"In 2009, pre-Hillary, Libya was stable, Syria was under control, Iraq was seeing a reduction in violence, and ISIS wasnt even on the map. Fast forward to today. Libya is in ruins. Syria is in the middle of a catastrophic civil war. Iraq is in chaos. And ISIS is spreading across the region, into Europe, and into America and theyve launched a campaign of genocide against Christians," he said.
Jacksonville: Many of the Indian-Americans in Florida who voted for the US President Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections say they re switching sides this time and are supporting Republican candidate Donald Trump.

But there appears to be a gender divide, as women appear to be solidly behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (69), because of her life-long work for children and women.

"She (Clinton) has a lot of experience. She has worked for children and women all her life. There is such a huge gap between her experience and what Trump (70) represent," Indrani Sindhuvalli, professor of Biology at the Florida State College in Jacksonville told PTI in an interview.

"He (Trump) is so negative and so inexperienced. I can't support him," said Sindhuvalli, who voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

"Have you listened to what he has said about women? I would not be voting for him. (Hillary Clinton) is my choice for presidency," Rani Ignatius, 61, who lives near Orlando said.

But Rani and several other Indian-American women are having a problem at home convincing their husband to vote for Clinton.

"This is time that we hand over the leadership of the country to a non-politician. Even though he is not very articulate as a politician should be, his policies are in the best interest of the United States," Iggy Ignatius, 61, who is the founder and chairman of Orlando-based Shantiniketan, a home for Indian American senior citizens, said.

Similarly, Dr Pawan Rattan, a life-long registered Democrat from Tampa, finds himself in the Trump camp.

"His policies makes a lot of sense and is in the best interest of the US and the world," Dr Rattan said.

"This is a man who appears to be genuine in his commitment," he said, adding that he is making a one-time exception to vote for Trump because of his commitment to fight terrorism, and policies on health care and immigration.

However, Dr Rattan acknowledged that he faces a tough opposition from his daughter on his support to Trump.

"She wants me to support Clinton," he said. Indian-American Satya Shaw, a certified public accountant, is an independent and had voted for Obama in the last two presidential elections.

"I voted for change. But there is no change. Tax rates have increased. Health care bills have jumped," Shaw, who comes from Odisha and lives near Tampa, said.

Impressed by Trump's policies Shaw said: "He will repeal and replace Obamacare on day one. Our income tax would come down."

Dr L Gedia, says this time a lot of Indian-Americans who voted for Obama in the previous elections are switching over to Trump.

"Same is the case with Americans," he said, adding that more than 80 per cent of his American patients are supporting Trump. They have lost faith in Hillary Clinton," he said.

"I would not be surprised if it is not a repeat of Brexit," Dr Gedia said.

As per 2010 census, there are about 130,000 Indian- Americans in Florida, mostly concentrated in three major areas of the States Tampa, Miami and Orlando.

However, unlike some of the key battle ground States like Virginia, the voting pattern of Indian-Americans are unlikely to make a major impact on the overall result of the State.
Police officers approached the container after hearing the banging and knocked on the side of it. (Photo: Youtube grab)

Washington: A woman missing since August was found Thursday chained up "like a dog" in a padlocked metal container in rural South Carolina, officials said.

Kala Brown, 30, was discovered inside a shipping container after police heard a banging sound when they arrived at a property in the town of Woodruff with a search warrant.

Todd Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender who owned the property, was arrested, CNN and WYFF reported.

"It was pretty emotional, to say the least, when she was found. Especially, you know, when she was chained like a dog," Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told WYFF, a local affiliate of NBC.

"She had a chain around her neck. It's only by God's grace we found that little girl alive," Wright added.

The officers approached the container after hearing the banging and knocked on the side of it.

Brown shouted "Help me! Get me out of here!", Wright told CNN separately.

Brown told officers she had been in the container for two months.

Her boyfriend, Charles Carver, who has also been missing since August, remains unaccounted for.
New York: Pakistan's polity does not have the capacity to sustain a normal relationship with India, former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has said as he characterised relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours as "managed hostility".

"I would characterise (India-Pakistan relations) today as managed hostility, which I hope it stays managed," Menon said in response to a question on relations between the two nations at a panel discussion organised by the 'South Asia centre at New York University' in New York on Thursday.

On whether he sees any prospect for resolution of the Kashmir issue, Menon, who has been India's High Commissioner to Pakistan, replied in the negative.

He said many of the issues relating to Kashmir have been around for a long time and "we know the solutions" to many of them but they seem to be "politically difficult" to serve.

"Today I don't think Pakistans polity has the capacity to sustain a normal relationship with India. I think there is a very strong institutional interest there," he said.

Menon, who has authored the book 'Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy', however added that his "fear" is that if "it becomes a party political issue in India, which it has not always been, then you have the same dynamic operating."

He emphasized that expectations in India on any improved relations with Pakistan are "very very low" particularly after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

"There is very little public support for actually trying to fix those issues after the Mumbai attack and the series of cross-border terrorist attacks doesn't help either. Given that, I wouldn't expect rapid resolution of all these issues," he said.

Menon was asked given that India's position on various global issues like Syria, Russia and Yemen has been different from that of the US, would it vote along side the US as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

He replied India should not spend its time worrying about a seat on the UN body.

"For me frankly a seat on the Security Council, with due apology, is a status quo. That is a beauty contest. You want to win a beauty contest - go ahead and enjoy yourself," he said.

"That's not the point. Our point is to create an enabling environment for India's transformation and work with the US for that. I think that's in the US interest too," he said.
A Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) English textbook shows how people in the 19th century learned English pronunciation. Daily oral English phrases, such as "Tomorrow I will give you an answer" and "Less one half of your price" are seen in the antique book.

A page shows how the content was presented in an English textbook from the Qing Dynasty. [Photo/Chengdu Economic Daily]

The book is printed with a note in Chinese characters meaning "Emperor Xianfeng's 10th year of reign (1860)" and belongs to a Chengdu resident.

"Unreadable code" composed of Chinese characters can be seen under each English sentence, which is thought to have been used to help the reader remember English pronunciation. The corresponding Chinese meanings of each Chinese sentence can be seen above it, and are in the original complex form that is assumed to be written language in Qing Dynasty.

The Chinese annotations under English sentences seem funny and when read aloud, the nonstandard pronunciation may still confuse foreigners.

The book's content is divided into five categories covering geography, the monarch and his subjects, teachers and friends, palaces and bureaus, as well as five metals. Each page has 12 boxes, and each box offers one English sentence.

The book, with 40-50 pages, which turn over from left to right, was bought by a Mr Yao at an old book market about seven years ago.

Experts from the Western Sichuan Literature Repair Centers examined the book's printing and typeface and said that the book is likely from the late Qing Dynasty, but weren't sure of the specific year. History experts say that the phenomenon of learning English pronunciation via Chinese annotations was quite common during that time.

Lei Hanqing, a linguistics professor at Sichuan University, said that this way of learning English usually didn't appear in formal textbooks and mostly were for beginners.
Muslim protesters pull razor wire blocking a road that leads to the presidential palace during a rally. (Photo: AP)

Jakarta: Tens of thousands of Muslim hardliners called for Jakarta's Christian governor to be prosecuted for blasphemy in a massive demonstration in the Indonesian capital today, sparking fears of violence and putting authorities on alert.

A sea of protesters wearing white Islamic robes swarmed the city's largest mosque for Friday prayers before taking to the streets in a huge show of force against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is accused of insulting Islam.

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Purnama apologised for the remarks, but his opponents have built a groundswell of support calling for his arrest and incarceration under Indonesia's tough blasphemy laws.

"It's no wonder people arise. Why when it comes to Ahok is the law not upheld?" deputy house speaker Fahri Hamzah, a prominent politician from an Islamic political party, told demonstrators today.

Anger at Purnama, Jakarta's second Christian governor and the first from the country's ethnic Chinese community, spread beyond the capital, with solidarity marches also held across Java and in cities as far away as Makassar in Indonesia's east.

Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told AFP there were no reports of violence so far, declaring the rally "peaceful".

But police took no chances in the lead up, deploying 18,000 officers amid fears that radical elements could infiltrate the march.
Demonstrators gathered at Istiqlal Mosque and nearby locations for the protest expected to begin in the early afternoon following Friday prayers. (Photo: AP)

Jakarta: Thousands of devout Muslims are converging on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its governor for alleged blasphemy.

Fearing violence, police have deployed 16,000 officers along with 2,000 soldiers and the same number of city public order officers to Jakarta's streets, where embassies closed, shops shuttered and normally traffic-clogged streets are nearly empty of cars.

Demonstrators gathered at Istiqlal Mosque and nearby locations for the protest expected to begin in the early afternoon following Friday prayers.

The accusation of blasphemy against Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian who is an ally of the country's president, has galvanized his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million, and given a notorious group of hard-liners a national stage.
Manila: The Philippine president says he may not be able to survive his six-year term and seems overwhelmed by the immensity of his work, including the drug menace he's trying to fight.

President Rodrigo Duterte outlined in a rambling speech late Friday the obstacles he confronts in his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs, the heavy workload of the presidency and his cloistered existence now, saying "it gets to be a very lonely life."

Duterte said: "Will I survive the six years? I'd make a prediction, maybe not."

Duterte, who took office in June, did not explain what he meant but said there were people who want him removed, citing his reaching out to China and his lashing out at America after it raised concerns over his anti-drug crackdown.
In 2005 Hakkar was sentenced by a French court to 15 years in jail after finding him guilty of the murder of a minor drug trafficker.

Madrid: A fugitive hitman on France's most-wanted list has been arrested in Spain disguised in a devil's costume at a Halloween celebration, police said Friday.

Officers arrested Hamid Hakkar, 47, on Monday in the port of Malaga in southern Spain along with two Spaniards suspected of helping him hide, police said in a statement.

"He was disguised as a devil to blend in among the party-goers," the statement said.

Police released a photo of the red mask with black horns and sharp teeth which the man was wearing at the time of his arrest along with a black cape and wig.

The authorities said the man of Algerian background is on France's most-wanted list for murder, drug trafficking and money laundering.

In 2005 Hakkar was sentenced by a French court to 15 years in jail after finding him guilty of the murder of a minor drug trafficker.

He has been on the run since November 2013 when he did not return to a jail in northern France after being granted a temporary leave.

Hakkar -- who went by the name "Julio" -- was jailed for two years in 2010 for his role in helping Italian bank robber Antonio Ferrara escape from a French jail.

He had escaped himself from a Paris jail in 1998 by taking the place of another man in the visiting area who had come to see him at the prison. Hakkar was re-arrested in 2003.

Spanish police said they began investigating in mid-October when officers in Malaga found a "hitman's kit" that included two guns, a silencer, ammunition, eight mobile phones, false identity papers and 5,000 euros ($5,500) in cash at a house in the southern city.
One victim said she and her family had been forced to move to Spain to escape the abuse. (Representational Image)

London: Eight Pakistani-origin men, who sexually abused three teenage girls in the UK between 1999 and 2003, were today jailed for a total of 96 years.

Sageer Hussain, Ishtiaq Khaliq, Waleed Ali, Masoued Malik, Asif Ali, Naeem Rafiq, Basharat Hussain and Mohammed Whied were sentenced to the prison terms by Sheffield Crown Court, having been convicted of a total of 16 charges after a trial.

The judge said their victims had been "targeted, sexualised and subjected to degrading and violent acts."

The offences included rape, indecent assault and false imprisonment.

During a month-long trial one victim said she and her family had been forced to move to Spain to escape the abuse.

Jailing Sageer Hussain, who was said to be the ringleader, Judge Sarah Wright said he had a "campaign of violent rape" against the vulnerable 13-year-old.

Addressing all eight men she said: "The victim of all eight of you was vulnerable. She was just 13 to 14 years old.

"Although she had a loving and supportive family, and was doing well at school as she was reaching adolescence, she was susceptible to the attention that you and others gave her. She was targeted, sexualised and subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature. The childhood and adolescence of each of the victims can never be reclaimed."

Hussain's brothers Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras were jailed in April in the first Rotherham grooming trial. Arshid and Basharat Hussain were found guilty of 38 offences, including rape, indecent assault, abduction, false imprisonment and making threats to kill. They were jailed for 35 years and 25 years respectively. Bannaras Hussain pleaded guilty to 10 charges before the trial and was jailed for 19 years.

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said: "I welcome the news that these eight men have been jailed for a total of 96 years for their utterly despicable crimes.

"This sends the strongest signal that we will not stand for the abuse of children. I hope today's sentences bring some closure to the survivors and that they feel justice has been done."
In June, 1984, more than 1,000 people were killed in Operation Bluestar.

London: The UK Foreign Office on Friday admitted removing from the National Archives a number of files on the India-UK relations in the 1980s, including some related to the Operation Blue Star, prompting a Sikh group to demand an independent investigation into the matter.

The files were released by the National Archives under the 30-year declassification rules earlier this year.

Sikh Federation UK claimed to have found a memo within the Files referring to the possibility of the Special Air Services (SAS) unit of the British Army being involved after "an Indian request for military assistance in the setting up of a National Guard for internal security duties" during Operation Blue Star in 1984.

"The UK government considered SAS assistance for the Indian military just weeks after the 1984 Amritsar massacre, a fact omitted from an official review ordered by David Cameron in 2014, fresh evidence obtained by the Sikh Federation (UK) reveals.

"Lawyers have now written to home secretary Amber Rudd demanding an independent investigation into Britain's role in one of the darkest periods in Sikh history, after new evidence was found at the UK National Archives," a Sikh Federation UK statement said.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in an apparent revenge attack a few months after the military operation on Golden Temple in June 1984.

The row over how much the British government knew and helped in the incidents 32 years ago threatens to overshadow British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India next week. Sikh Federation UK, a UK-based Sikh NGO, has accused the government of a "cover-up" and its lawyers from law firm KRW Law have now written to UK home secretary Amber Rudd demanding an "independent investigation".

But the Foreign Office has insisted the files have been merely "borrowed" following concerns raised by the group.

"The FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] borrowed some of their files from 1984 that were released to the National Archives so they could read the content following concerns raised by the Sikh Federation. They will return all the files in full shortly," a UK government spokesperson said.

"The issue of SAS advice prior to Operation Blue Star was dealt with in the 2014 report by the Cabinet Secretary. These files contain nothing about this incident," the spokesperson adds.

The 2014 report refers to an official government inquiry into the exact nature of British involvement linked to the Indian Army operation at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984.

The inquiry had been ordered by then British Prime Minister David Cameron after documents released previously under the 30-year declassification rule had implied British SAS commanders had advised the Indian government as it drew up plans for the removal of militants from Golden Temple.
The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route. (Photo: Representational Image)

London: In a crackdown to curb its soaring immigration figures, the UK government has announced changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals, which will affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals.

Under the new visa rules announced last evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds.

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.

The changes come just days before British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India on Sunday for her three-day visit.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

Besides the Tier 2 ICT salary threshold hike, the other changes announced include increasing the Tier 2 (General) salary threshold for experienced workers to 25,000 pounds, with some exemptions; reducing the Tier 2 (ICT) graduate trainee salary threshold to 23,000 pounds and increasing the number of places to 20 per company per year; and closing the Tier 2 (ICT) skills transfer sub-category.

A number of changes have also been announced for the Tier 4 category, which covers maintenance requirements for the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

Nationals outside the European Union, including Indians, will also be affected by new English language requirements when applying for settlement as a family member after two and a half years in the UK on a five-year route to residency settlement in the UK.

The new requirement will apply to partners and parents whose current leave to remain in the UK under the family immigration rules is due to expire on or after May 1, 2017.

The changes follow advice by the MAC earlier this year to curb the Tier 2 ICT route and reduce reliance on foreign workers.

"(Immigration) is not serving to increase the incentive to employers to train and upskill the UK workforce. Ready access to a pool of skilled IT professionals in India is an example of this," the MAC report had said in its findings.

"We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staff are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India," it noted.
London: Islamic States reclusive chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has escaped from the terrorist groups stronghold of Mosul as the Iraqi Army advanced for a final assault, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said on Friday.

He said western intelligence sources believe Baghdadi is no longer in Mosul, The Guardian reported.

Baghdadi on Thursday broke his year-long silence and issued an audio recording, urging his jihadists to continue their fight to the end in Mosul, where he was believed to be hiding.

Johnson, in an unusual reference to intelligence, said Baghdadis audio recording was cruelly ironic since some of the intelligence we have suggests he had himself vacated the scene and is yet using internet media to encourage others to take part in violence.

Meanwhile, the ISIS militants killed seven members of Iraqs security forces during a raid south of Mosul which pro-government troops are battling to recapture. The attack comes in the third week of the massive operation to retake Iraqs second city from ISIS, which has already carried out diversionary attacks in other areas.
At least two US military trainers were shot dead in Jordan on Friday when the car they were in failed to stop at the gate of a military base and was fired on by Jordanian security forces, a Jordanian military source said.

"There was an exchange of fire at the entrance to the base after an attempt by the trainers' vehicle to enter the gate without heeding orders of the guards to stop," the military source said.

The incident occurred at the Prince Faisal air base in the south of the country, which is a close ally of the United States.

Another US trainer was injured and a Jordanian army guard was also shot and wounded during the exchange of fire.

"An investigation is now under way to know exactly what happened," the source said.

Jordan is among a few Arab states that have taken part in a U.S.-led air campaign against the hardline Islamic State militant group, and is one of the largest recipients of Washington's foreign military financing.

The U.S. army has hundreds of trainers in the country. Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Washington has spent millions of dollars to bolster Jordan's border defences and stem infiltration by militants from Syria and Iraq.
He ran away with her purse that had her mobile phone, bank cards, ID and some money in it. (Representational image)

Dubai: A 34-year-old Sri Lankan cook is facing two counts of theft and causing permanent injury after he bit his fiancees ear while snatching her purse.

The 36-year-old Sri Lankan complainant said that she met the accused three months before the incident took place and got engaged.

But due to many disputes they broke up.

She told the court that the accused had been stalking and harassing her ever since they split up.

He would assault me on the street, take my purse, steal my stuff and money then return my bag, she said.

She said that she was walking to work in Al Satwa when the cook, came from behind, grabbed her by the arms and tried to snatch her purse.

He punched her and when she tried to get away from him, he bit her ear so hard that a part of it got cut.

He ran away with her purse that had her mobile phone, bank cards, ID and some money in it.

The Criminal Evidence General Departments forensic report said that a part of the womans ear was lost in the attack.

She has been suffering of bleeding in that ear time and again.
Giant panda twins Meilun and Meihuan set off on Thursday and will arrive in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan Province two days later, said Zoo Atlanta.

Panda twins Meilun and Meihuan in Zoo Atlanta. [Photo: Xinhua]

The zoo also has prepared 170 kilograms of bamboos for the three-year-old twins.

The 3-year-old giant panda twins, daughters of the first giant panda couple in the zoo Lunlun and Yangyang, are the first surviving giant panda twins in the US. Lunlun and Yangyang have been on loan from China.

Since their births, the twins have been the most popular animals in the zoo. Their names were selected through an online vote by locals.

According to an agreement reached by China and the US, panda cubs born in the US to parents on loan from China are to be returned to China before turning four years old. They are then taken to participate in breeding projects in China.

The National Zoological Park in Washington D.C. has also announced it will send their cub Baobao back to China next year.
Islamic State militants have been knocking on the doors of families, asking them to hand over their boys. (Photo: AP)

Mosul: Islamic State militants have killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around their stronghold of Mosul, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.

The 50 were executed for desertion on Monday at the Ghazlani military base in Mosul, and the 180 died on Wednesday as Islamic State was retreating from Kokjali town, she told a regular UN briefing in Geneva, citing "credible reports" from multiple sources, including from Islamic State-occupied areas.

The militants transported 1,600 abducted civilians from the town of Hammam al-Alil to Tal Afar on Tuesday, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told some they may be taken to Syria. They also took 150 families from Hammam al-Alil to Mosul on Wednesday.

"Also on Wednesday, ISIL reportedly used loudspeakers to order the residents of Lazaghah and Arij villages, about 5 km from Hammam al-Alil city centre, to leave their villages or be severely punished," Shamdasani said.

Militants told residents of Hammam al-Alil that they must hand over their children, especially boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers.

"They've been knocking on people's doors and asking for their boys," she said, adding that families that did not comply were threatened with severe punishment.

IS militants were holding nearly 400 Kurdish, Yazidi and Shia women in Tal Afar, and had possibly killed up to 200 people in Mosul city, she said.

Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, a military statement said, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

Shamdasani said the UN had reports of air strikes causing civilian deaths during the battle, including one on Wednesday evening that reportedly killed four women and injured 17 other civilians in the al Qudus neighbourhood in eastern Mosul.

She said she was not aware of any of civilians dying in air strikes while they were being held as human shields.
Ankara: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday Germany had become a haven for terrorists and would be "judged by history", accusing it of failing to extradite supporters of a U.S.-based cleric Ankara blames for July's failed military coup.

He said Germany had long harboured militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, and far-leftists from the DHKP-C, which has carried out armed attacks in Turkey.

"We don't have any expectations from Germany but you will be judged in history for abetting terrorism. Germany has become an important haven for terrorists," Erdogan told a ceremony at his palace in the capital Ankara.

"We are concerned that Germany, which has protected the PKK and DHKP-C for years, has become the backyard of the Gulenist terror organisation."
Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work. (Photo: Representational Image)

Beijing: China on Friday said actions should not be taken by either side that may "unilaterally change" the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop the work of a canal.

"I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC. Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing.

It was reported that Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work.

"This issue is once again published by the Indian media outlets," Hua said while replying to a question over the stand off between Indian and China troops in Demchok.

Apparently referring to the canal work, Hua said, "Either side shall not take action that may unilaterally change the statues quo of LAC."

Referring to the talks between both the sides to resolve the issue, she said, "currently the two countries have an effective communication through series of mechanisms. We believe that we can maintain peace and tranquility of the border area".

Around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene in Demchok sector, located 250 km east of Leh, and halted the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel to rush to the spot and stop the high-handedness of Chinese troops at the site where the work for linking a village with 'Hot spring' was being undertaken. The LAC stretches up to 3,488-km long.

While China says the border dispute covers Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as Southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covered Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war.
Xu and his family purchased the houses from 1995 to 2015 at a cost of more than 110 million yuan (US $16 million). (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Beijing: A Chinese worker is being probed for owning a large number of properties, including 149 houses, valued about US $16 million in a city in southeastern Jiangxi province.

Xu Linbao, a worker at the People's Procuratorate of High-tech District in Nanchang City, is alleged to own 149 housing units in the city together with family members, the Nanchang City People's Procuratorate said on Thursday.

According to Procuratorate, Xu and his family purchased the houses from 1995 to 2015 at a cost of more than 110 million yuan (US $16 million). Xu is believed to own more than 300 properties in Nanchang.

Xu still owes loans of more than 96 million yuan to local banks. He was suspended from his post in October, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to an initial investigation, Xu is suspected of fraudulent fund-raising with his son-in-law Long Yuewu, who was arrested for suspected credit card fraud in October.

Procurators have passed information about the case over to local police.
Kathmandu: India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace and stability, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday as he described his visit as a "mission of friendship" reflecting the priority attached by the country to further strengthening the unique bilateral relationship.

"As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit. I conveyed the good wishes of the people and government of India to the friendly people of Nepal in their national efforts to achieve peace, stability and development within a federal democratic polity," Mukherjee said after the conclusion of his three-day state visit.

"Nepal has been a 'mission of friendship' and reflects the priority that India attaches to further strengthening our unique relationship with Nepal. Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity," he said.

Mukherjee, the first Indian President to visit Nepal in 18 years, described his trip as successful and said, "The warmth and affection with which I was received by the people and Government of Nepal was truly overwhelming. It reflects the historic bonds of friendship as well as the unique and multi-faceted people-centric ties that exist between India and Nepal."

"India is determined to support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development. Both sides agree that focus should now shift to implementation of ongoing bilateral development and connectivity projects as well as projects for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal," he said.

During his visit, Mukherjee held "fruitful" meetings with his Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Prachanda and the entire cross section of the political leadership of the country as well as members of the civil society, an official statement said.

"I conveyed that India remains committed to enhancing its partnership in all areas of priority for the people and Government of Nepal," he said.

Mukherjee invited President Bhandari to visit India. She accepted the invitation with happiness, the statement said.

"In all my meetings, I found tremendous goodwill and strong desire to advance our excellent bilateral ties for the benefit of our two peoples," he said.

Underlining the strong cultural and religious ties that unite the two nations and peoples, Mukherjee visited Pashupatinath Temple and offered prayers.

During his visit to the temple, the President announced that India will undertake two small development projects to repair and renovate the Ghats near the Pashupatinath temple on River Bagmati.

He was accorded a civic reception at Rashtriya Sabhagriha by the Kathmandu metropolitan city office, and was presented with the keys of the city.

He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Kathmandu University.

Today Mukherjee visited the ancient city of Janakpur where he offered prayers at the Janaki Mandir and was accorded civic reception by Janakpur Municipal Corporation.
Colombo: A Sri Lankan court today refused bail to five policemen charged with the murder of two Tamil students and remanded them in custody till November 18.

The Jaffna magistrate rejected their bail petition and remanded them in custody for two more weeks.

On October 20, two students of the Jaffna University were gunned down by police in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern Province, prompting authorities to arrest five policemen.

The students were shot dead at a police checkpoint in Jaffna. Though police initially denied shooting the students, a post-mortem report found bullets in one of the bodies.

The killing had ignited large-scale protests in Jaffna.

President Maithripala Sirisena had ordered a special probe and compensation for the families of the students.

Several days later, at least two state intelligence officers operating in Jaffna were assaulted by members of the suspected Ava Group. This led to a police crackdown on the group with two being arrested.

The Jaffna residents complained that the group was responsible for large scale intimidation, extortion and attacks on individuals.

Minister Rajith Senaratne blamed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of being behind the group to create unrest in the north.

Gotabhaya, the then powerful defense ministry secretary, however has denied the accusation.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday briefed the envoys of P-5 countries about the situation in Kashmir and asked them to fulfill their commitment to the people of the Valley by holding of a free, fair and impartial plebiscite.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi briefed the Ambassadors of the permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US).

Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that "the briefing focused on the deteriorating human rights situation" in Kashmir; "escalation and ceasefire violations from the Indian side at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Indian involvement in subversive and terrorist activities in Pakistan".

The SAPM called upon the permanent members of the UN Security Council to fulfill their commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, through the holding of a free, fair and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, in accordance with the Security Council resolutions.

He noted that "the people of Kashmir were being brutalised for demanding their fundamental rights, including the right to self-determination".

The SAPM stated that "unprovoked continued firing and ceasefire violations from the Indian side" on the LoC and the Working Boundary have resulted in the loss of many innocent lives.

He referred "to the Indian attempts to escalate tensions, as an effort to divert international attention from grim situation in the Kashmir".

The SAPM also "deplored Indian involvement in subversive and terrorist activities in Pakistan".

It was second such briefing by Pakistan after it briefed the Organisation of Islamic Conference envoys about Kashmir situation.
Pakistan called for vigorous efforts for the resolution of both these disputes, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. (Photo: AP)

Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday briefed ambassadors of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries about the situation in Kashmir, appealing them to condemn alleged human rights violations in the Valley and play an effective role to resolve the issue.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM), Syed Tariq Fatemi, briefed OIC Ambassadors about the latest situation in Kashmir.

The Foreign Office, in a statement, said that Fatemi briefed them about the alleged human rights violations being committed by the Indian forces in the Valley.

He urged the OIC countries to condemn the "brutalities" in Kashmir and play an effective role to resolve the issue.

He referred to Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir as the "oldest unresolved disputes" on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

He called for vigorous efforts for the resolution of both these disputes, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

The SAPM alleged that India has "deliberately escalated tension" on the border to divert international attention away from "human rights violations" in Kashmir.
The latest spat started last week after a staff member of Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi was detained by police for questioning over espionage charges. (Photo: File)

Islamabad: Signalling a fresh slide in ties, Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each other's missions in the wake of the latest diplomatic spat over the spying episode, a media report said on Friday.

The latest spat started last week after a staff member of Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi was detained by police for questioning over espionage charges.

The fresh slide in ties may also lead to a 'scaling down' of the strength of diplomatic staff by the two neighbours, the paper said. The tension intensified after tit-fit-tat naming of diplomatic staff for alleged spy work by both sides.

Mahmood Akhtar, who was working as a visa officer at the Pakistani High Commission, was later expelled from India.

"However, India, using a statement Delhi police extracted from Akhtar through coercive means, implicated other Pakistani staffers. The identities of at least six such officials were leaked to the media, jeopardising their security. The move prompted Pakistan to withdraw them from New Delhi," it said.

In what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan on Thursday claimed that eight officials posted in India's High Commission in Islamabad were agents of RAW and IB. The disclosure left New Delhi with no other options but to withdraw the named officials, the paper said.

An official with knowledge of latest developments said that India had breached an 'understanding' by revealing the identities of certain Pakistani officials posted in New Delhi, the paper said.

The official said both sides knew that certain officials worked under cover and they did so with the full official knowledge, it said.

"What India did was unthinkable," the official added, saying the Indian move would have serious implications for the two countries.

He said the immediate fallout of this controversy could be the recalling of high commissioners by the two countries for the time being, the paper said.

The official said another implication might be 'cutting down' the size of diplomatic staff posted in each others countries till the situation normalised, it added.
Colombo: A group of Sri Lankan Tamils in Jaffna will break over 1,000 coconuts and light as many candles to bless Hillary Clinton, saying the Democratic presidential candidate's win would be important for the future of the minority community.

"We will dash 1,008 coconuts on November 8 to bless her ahead of the US election. We expect her to win the election," MK Shivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member of the Tamil controlled northern provincial council said.

The event will take place in Jaffna's historic Kandsamy Kovil in Nallur. There will also be lighting of 1,008 candles at the Jaffna Cathedral, he said.

Tamils in Sri Lanka believe they can find political solution only with the intervention of the US and Clinton's win would be important for the future of the minority community in Sri Lanka, Shivajilingam said.

The Obama administration has extended its support to the reconciliation efforts promised by President Maithripala Sirisena to Tamils.

Sirisena, who came to power last year after ending former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa's nearly a decade-long rule, had promised to reach out to the Tamils to pursue reconciliation more vigorously than Rajapaksa, who was known for his hardline Sinhalese nationalism.

Last month, a UN rights expert asked the Lankan government to return military-occupied land and reduce the role of the army in northern areas, a long-pending demand of the ethnic

Tamils since the end of the nearly three-decade-long separatist war led by the LTTE in 2009 in which thousands of civilians were killed.
The twin panda cubs born at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria have now been given their names, the zoo announced on Thursday.

The zoo had put the naming of the male cub up for online vote on its homepage. It said about 12,000 people voted from three possible options over the past two weeks, with the largest proportion of voters, 48.3 percent, choosing "Fu Ban."

The name means "lucky half," playing on his nature as a twin.

The zoo chose the name for the female cub itself, revealing it as "Fu Feng", with "feng" referring to "phoenix."

Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter explained that as the first cub born at the zoo was named "Fu Long" ("lucky dragon"), the name phoenix was chosen in keeping with the Chinese mythological pairing of dragon and phoenix as a celestial couple.
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on Thursday said it had suspended work on the controversial steel flyover.





Senior counsel S S Naganand, representing the BDA, gave a verbal undertaking to the high court: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Chennai bench, has stayed the construction... The BDA will comply with the NGT orders and not proceed with the construction. The Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) has filed a petition in the high court, challenging the construction of the six-lane elevated road.



The flyover was to cost Rs 1,791 crore, but the government has been talking of extending its length, which means the cost could go up to Rs 2,200 crore.



The government has held no public consultation, and experts have raised questions over its feasibility, petitioners had submitted to the court.



The high court bench had, however, refused to grant a stay on the construction. It said, Public projects of big magnitude should not be stalled by an interim order. Thus, we clarify that the authorities may continue with the implementation of the project, but subject to the result of the writ petition.



Citizen Action Forum, a registered society, then moved the NGT, and obtained a stay on the construction for four weeks. That was on October 28, 2016. The next hearing at the NGT is on November 18.



A division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice RB Budihal admitted two interlocutory applications on Thursday.



One of them was filed by Aruna Pinewood Residents Association, Yelahanka, which is supporting the flyover, and the other by Co-ordinated Action of Consumer and Voluntary Organisations, which wants the BDA to follow all procedures.
In a show of solidarity, the outgoing US President Barack Obama and the First Lady, would join the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, in her final rally in Philadelphia on Monday before the November 8 general elections.





"At her final rally before Election Day, Hillary will campaign in Philadelphia, joined by President Obama and Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, on Monday evening, November 7," the Clinton Campaign said in a media release today.



In her closing remarks, Clinton will urge Pennsylvanians to make history by electing her president so she can continue pushing for the American ideals of progress, inclusion, equality and strength that our founders enshrined in the Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787, the campaign said.



"Along with President Obama, she will also lay out how the division and dangerous views espoused by Donald Trump in his campaign make him unqualified, unfit and unworthy to lead this great nation," it said.



"Obama will add that voting for Clinton is also a vote to build on the progress made under his presidency, such as protecting and strengthening expanded access to health care including women's health, advancing LGBT equality, combating climate change, tackling college costs and student debt, expanding the right to vote, and more," the Clinton Campaign said.



This week, Obama is on a campaigning spree crisscrossing key-battle ground States.

So far, he has been in North Carolina and Florida.



He would also be addressing an election rally in New Hampshire.



Clinton's rival in the primaries, Senator Bernie Sanders, has also jumped in the last phase of the election with her, and is scheduled to address election rallies in Nevada, Iowa and Colorado.



The Clinton Campaign also released a new TV ad today that demonstrates the dangers of what a Trump presidency means for the United States.



"Under a Trump presidency, Americans are divided by their gender, race and creed. Women are diminished to a number and their consent is no matter. African-Americans live in poverty with no jobs, no education, no future," the campaign said.



"Muslims are prone to terrorism, worthy of our suspicion and must be tracked. People with disabilities are stigmatized. Veterans aren't strong. Immigrants are criminals and rapists who must be shipped back where they came from, regardless of the cost or number of families torn apart," it said.


Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the sensational jail-break by eight SIMI activists from the Bhopal central prison and their alleged encounter.





The judicial probe will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice S K Pandey, an official release issued late last night here stated.



"Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high security jail and the encounter that took place after that," it said.



A PIL was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court yesterday on the issue demanding judicial probe into the incident.



The under-trial activists of the outlawed SIMI escaped from the central jail here on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.



Before escaping from the jail, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav.



Since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from police and state Home Minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.



A controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.




Women may have succeeded in gaining entry into Mumbais Haji Ali dargah, but there is a fresh setback for their quest for equality as the Ala Hazrat dargah in Bareilly has banned their entry.





On Thursday, an official of the Bareilly dargah said posters put up in the city clearly stated that women are prohibited from visiting the tomb during Urs, the death anniversary of a Sufi saint usually held at the saints dargah, scheduled to begin from November 24.



Dargah officials have also appointed men to ensure the ban is strictly implemented.

The Shariat (Islamic law) very clearly says that women cannot be allowed to visit the tombs and graveyards, said senior cleric and dargah spokesman Mufti Mohammed Saleem Noori in Bareilly.



He said clerics, during their sermons on Urs, will also shed more light on provisions in the Islamic law on the issue of women visiting tombs. We will also explain in detail the reasons behind the ban, Noori added.



Though the dargah had banned women on earlier occasions, it has ventured to enforce it strictly this time by deploying men specifically for the purpose, sources added.

Strict instructions have been issued to men not to bring women with them when they visit the tomb, an official said.



The dargah had earlier issued a fatwa banning the entry of women into the tomb.

The Bareilly-based Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat is the dargah of Ahmed Raza Khan, a 19th century Hanafi jurist, known for his staunch opposition to the Wahabis in India. It is a spiritual centre for Sunnis across South Asia.



The dargah had sharply condemned the killing of innocent people by the Taliban, and the ideology of the Wahabi sect.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was detained on Thursday evening as he led a candlelight march from Jantar Mantar in the capital over the suicide of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal.





Police said they detained Gandhi when he continued his march towards India Gate despite repeated requests not to proceed.



He and some other Congress protesters were then brought to Tughlak Road police station, but were released immediately, according to police.



Other reports said that he spent a couple of hours at the station before walking out.

As social media went wild over reports of his detention, a police officer initially said that Gandhi had himself sat in a police van around 7pm.



This is the third time Gandhi has been detained by Delhi Police. On Wednesday, he was detained and released twice.



The ruckus in Parliament Street and nearby areas continued on a day when Gandhi attended Grewals cremation in Haryanas Bhiwani district and the investigation of the controversial suicide was handed over to the Crime Branch from the New Delhi district police.



The case has been handed over to the Crime Branch and we are investigating the circumstances under which he ended his life. We cant share the details of the post mortem report as we are still studying it, said Special Commissioner of Police Taj Hassan.

Police will question the dead ex-soldiers family members and the three men who were with him when he died, an official said.



A magisterial inquiry has also been ordered into the suicide.



The Delhi Congress decided to organise a candlelight march at Jantar Mantar in the national capital against the Centre over Grewals suicide as well as the detention of Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. Senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Digvijaya Singh, Salman Khursheed and Ajay Maken among others were also present at the rally.



Speaking to the media at the protest venue, Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee said, Rahul Gandhi wanted to meet the bereaved family but he and family were detained on Wednesday. This is outright autocracy.



Mukherjee also condemned Union Minister and former Army chief V K Singhs statement asking for a probe into Grewals mental state.



Grewal ended his life for the OROP issue, she said, citing Grewals suicide note, and added, The incumbent government has exposed itself by making such insensitive comments.



The UPA government had taken a decision to implement OROP in February, 2014, and the Defence Ministry eventually notified in the April of that year that a working committee was to look into the modalities and execution of the policy, she further claimed.



AAP stages protest



Earlier in the day, the Aam Aadmi Party also held a separate rally at the same venue and paid tributes to ex-serviceman, attended by senior leaders Gopal Rai, Kapil Mishra and Dilip Pandey among others.



Leading the attack for the AAP, legislator Alka Lamba said, There are two ex-servicemen who forgot about the Army when the Prime Minister offered them Cabinet berths.



A letter written by Grewal to the Centre is in the public domain. He wanted to meet the Defence Minister over OROP but the Centre had no time, the MLA from Chandni Chowk constituency charged.



Lamba also questioned the Delhi Police over the detention of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia on Wednesday.



Show me one state where its police has detained the chief minister for attempting to visit a victims family, she said.



Addressing the large gathering of AAP volunteers at Jantar Mantar, Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra said, It is unfortunate that an ex-serviceman was martyred fighting for his right from his own government.



Countering V K Singhs statement, Mishra asked, Is the Centre trying to suggest that farmers who have committed suicide over the years were mentally imbalanced?



He also said that the detention of Kejriwal, Sisodia and Gandhi on Wednesday exposed the empty promises made by the Modi government.



The Centre must understand that soldiers are not beggars. OROP is more than just a monetary issue. It is about a soldiers right to equality and dignity, he concluded.

Former officials of paramilitary forces also reignited their protest at Jantar Mantar on Thursday and demanded One Rank One Pension for themselves.

DH News Service
When many states are still trying to end open defecation, retired Subedar Ram Krishan Grewal, who died in New Delhi on Wednesday after reportedly consuming poison, made his village proud by making it open defecation free eight years ago.





Then, the idea of open defecation free villages was less talked about, but that did not stop the former soldier from taking up the challenge.



On Thursday, the soldier was laid to rest at his native Bamla village in Bhiwani district of Haryana. Politicians, including Rahul Gandhi, Derek OBrien, B S Hooda, Kamal Nath and others, made a beeline for his funeral, in what the BJP has criticised as playing politics over the death of a soldier.



As sarpanch of Bamla, Grewal led by example even after his retirement in 2004. He was elected village headman with a margin of 1,200 votes, reportedly with support from the Congress. His initiative to make the village open defecation free bagged the Nirmal Gram prize, which was handed out by former president Pratibha Patel in 2008.



He was also instrumental in starting a school for girls in the village.



When the village faced a water crisis, Grewal took the initiative to lay pipelines for the supply of water to every doorstep. As sarpanch, he also ensured every street was sufficiently lit.



According to his son Jaswant, Grewal was fighting for the cause of army pensioners, who were handed out pensions with incorrect calculations, which led to a monthly shortfall of about Rs 5,000.



Grewal, who lived with a 16-member joint family, is survived by wife Kitab Kaur and seven children, including five sons and two daughters. The family now wants Grewal to be designated a martyr.


A renewed push for acquiring 50 acres of land has taken the Tihar authorities closer to starting the citys maiden open jail that will allow inmates serving prison terms to step out of the jail compound for jobs in private companies and return in the evening.



We have planned to setup an open jail in Dwarka for which acquisition of 50 acres of land has been agreed. The rules for acquisition of the land have been changed for which it is taking time, a Tihar official said.



A different infrastructure is needed for implementing the open jail concept, the official said, adding that the conditions in Tihar are not conducive for introducing the globally practiced inmate reformation scheme.



He said an open jail attempts to reintegrate the prisoners with the society, just before their impending release after serving the imprisonment.



Only those inmates would be selected for stay in the open jail who are towards the end of their term and have maintained a good conduct are those entitled to stay in this kind of jails, he said.



According to Tihar Director General Sudhir Yadav, there are two models of open jails. The first model allows the inmates to leave the premise in the morning, return in the evening and spend the night in the jail.



The second model allows the family members of the inmates to come in the jail and stay with them in small cottages provided for them.



Tihar already has semi-open jails wherein the inmates are entitled to stay only after they have served 12 years in the prison.



The prisoners can come out of their four-walled cells and work in workshops on the jail premises. Their cells are better furnished and have some additional facilities as compared to the conventional ones.



The prisoners have the liberty to go here and there in the jail premises but cant step out of the guarded prison complex, said the official.



Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has already approved Tihar Jails proposal for initiation of open prison for inmates. The inmates have to sign a personal bond for maintaining good conduct while they are out on work according to the new jail setup. Tihar Jail, which is the largest complex of prison in South Asia, houses over 14,000 prisoners including convicts and undertrials.
Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has removed about 15 lawyers who were hired by the AAP government for fighting cases in the Supreme Court, sources said on Thursday.





The lawyers were removed from the government panel as they had been hired without the approval of Raj Niwas, sources said.



The move is likely to escalate bitterness between the elected government and the Raj

Niwas.



After the August 4 decision of the Delhi High Court upholding, Jung as the administrative head of the Union Territory, the Raj Niwas has been rectifying several wrong decisions taken by the elected government, said an official.



Those removed by Jung on Thursday include three advocates on record and 12 lawyers from the arguing panel, said a source.



Sources in the Raj Niwas said the reversal of the empanelment of lawyers is also accompanied with questioning of the Delhi government officials who allowed the AAP government to expand the team of counsel without the approval of the LG and in contravention of the provisions of the NCT of Delhi Act.



A committee inspecting files of decisions taken by the AAP government before the August 4 verdict of the high court has also pointed to anomalies in the process for hiring government lawyers, said a senior functionary.



Responsibility of officials for the unconstitutional decisions is also likely to be fixed by the panel which is scanning over 400 files containing decisions taken by the AAP government while bypassing the LG, he said.



Similar pruning of the team of government lawyers team was done by the LG in September, questioning the criteria of selection and the basis for fixation of allegedly exorbitant fees.



Jung also removed lawyers hired by the Arvind Kejriwal government for representing the elected government against the Raj Niwas in thorny issues like control over bureaucrats and administrative matters.



Earlier in February, Jung and Kejriwal crossed swords over the appointment of lawyers to represent Delhi Police in the JNU sedition matter.



Jung removed a lawyer hand-picked by Kejriwal and appointed four lawyers to represent Delhi Police in JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar case.



According to an official, the LG needs to accord approval for appointment of each lawyer who represents the government counsel.


A Delhi court today issued a non-bailable warrant against beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya in a case of allegedly evading summons in a FERA violation matter and warned of initiating coercive process against him.





The court observed that he had no inclination to return and had scant regard for the law of the land.



It said coercive process has to be initiated against liquor baron Mallya as he was facing proceedings in several cases and evading appearence in those matters.



Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass also held that Mallya's plea, that he wanted to return to India but was "incapacitated" to travel as his passport had been revoked by Indian authorities, was "malafide" and "abuse of the process of law".



"He has no inclination whatsoever to come to this court and appear here... He has scant regard for the law of the land," the court said.



"Keeping in view the conduct of the accused, coercive process has to be directed against the accused. Issue non-bailable warrant against the accused. Put up the matter for December 22," the court said.



During the hearing senior advocate Ramesh Gupta and advocate Ajay Bhargava, appearing for Mallya, said he does not wish to file any reply to Enforcement Directorate's response on his plea and the matter should be fixed for final arguments.



The court also said that on October 4 it had specifically noted that he could approach authorities and obtain emergency document to return to India but the situation is that he has not taken any such step.



"It appears that accused is not willing to take any steps to return to India," the CMM said.





Second NBW issued against Mallya in 2012 cheque bounce case:



A Delhi court issued a fresh non-bailable warrant (NBW), the second one today, against Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, in a 2012 cheque bounce case following his non-appearance.



Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand passed the order with the direction that NBW be executed through Ministry of External Affairs as the liquor baron is reportedly in London.

The court then listed the matter for further hearing on February 4 next year.



The court, on August 6, had also issued an NBW against Mallya saying that coercive steps were required to ensure his appearance.



The court had earlier noted that despite repeated orders, Mallya did not appear in the court and it was inevitable for the state machinery to intervene and ensure his presence.



The trial court had summoned Mallya as accused following a complaint by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates the capital's IGI Airport, claiming that a cheque for Rs one crore issued by Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) on February 22, 2012 was returned to them a month later containing the remarks - "fund insufficient".



DIAL had filed four cases in June 2012 against Mallya over KFA's cheques totalling Rs 7.5 crore not being honoured.



The grounded airline had issued the cheques towards payment for services availed by them at the IGI airport here.



Mallya, Chairman of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is facing action after defaulting on over Rs 9,000-crore loan from 17 banks.



In July this year, he had skipped appearance before a PMLA court in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering probe against him in alleged bank loan fraud case.



Mallya had left the country in March and is currently said to be in the UK. Several cheque bounce cases have been filed against him.








A Pakistani court today ordered the deportation of Sharbat Gula, National Geographic's famed green-eyed 'Afghan Girl' immortalised in a 1985 haunting picture on the cover, after she pleaded guilty to charges of staying in Peshawar with fake ID cards.



A special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar ordered Gula's deportation to Afghanistan after serving a 15-day jail sentence besides slapping a fine of 1,10,000 rupees (USD 1,100).



Gula, who was dubbed as 'Mona Lisa of Afghan war', was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on October 26 from Peshawar for alleged forgery of a Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).



The court issued the verdict after the accused pleaded guilty to the charges, Gula's lawyer Mubashir Khan said.



"She has served about nine days in jail already and will remain imprisoned for six more to complete her sentence," he said.



The fine was also paid so she is will be deported from Pakistan at the end of her sentence, he added.



The court was informed during the hearing that Gula was a widow and the sole bread winner of family. She was also suffering from Hepatitis C.



The United Nations High Commissioner distanced itself from Sharbat Gula, claiming that she was not a registered refugee.



According to interim charge sheet submitted on November 1, the prosecutor said that she accepted the main charge of faking her identity to get the CNIC.



Gula said that her late husband, Rehmat Gul, had earlier made a manual national identity card in 1988, which was used to get the CNIC with the help of an agent who was bribed.



The FIA also registered an FIR on October 20 against three former government employees for fraudulently issuing Pakistani CNICs to Afghan nationals, including Gula.



Gula became famously known as the 'Afghan Girl' when National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry took her photograph at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp situated on the edge of Peshawar in 1984.



Her photo, with hauntingly sea-green eyes, appeared on the cover of the June, 1985 issue of the National Geographic magazine and went to become one of magazine's most famous covers.



The photo, which was taken by Steve McCurry in a refugee camp in Pakistan in 1984 when Gula was about 12 years old, was compared to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, with National Geographic also making a short documentary on her.
The one-day ban on a leading Hindi TV channel 'NDTV India' by the Centre over its coverage of Pathankot attack drew sharp condemnation today from opposition parties and media bodies which called it "shocking and authoritarian" and reminiscent of Emergency days.





The leaders of the non-BJP parties and the media bodies also demanded immediate withdrawal of the order imposing the blackout on November 9.



There was also a suggestion by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh that all newspapers and channels "show courage" and "go off air and not publish" on that day to register their protest.



West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the order of the inter-ministerial panel of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry showed that an emergency-like situation prevailed in the country while Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi slammed it as "shocking and unprecedented".



The Editors Guild of India condemned the order as a "direct violation" of the freedom of the press and similar sentiments were echoed by the Broadcast Editors' Association (BEA).



NDTV while terming the order as "shocking" has alleged that it has been "singled out" and said it is examining all options in the matter.



"The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded," the Guild said in a statement.



"The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency."



The BEA while expressing deep concern at the government's decision said imposing a ban is a violation of freedom of expression.



Alleging that the government action smacked of "authoritarianism and intimidation", Rahul and other Congress leaders hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



"Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India. NDTVBanned-shocking and unprecedented (sic)," the Congress Vice President said on twitter.



Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is also political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, said, "Government's decision to ban NDTV India smacks of authoritarianism and intimidation."



Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah lashed out at the Centre, asking if these were the promised "achhe din (good days)".



"NDTV ban is shocking. If Government had issues with Pathankot coverage, there are provisions available. But ban shows an Emergency-like attitude.," Banerjee said in a statement in Kolkata.



"I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity wid NDTV. Congratulations to Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi Govt's dictatorship," Kejriwal tweeted.
A combative Rahul Gandhi today stepped up pressure on the government over OROP, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "lying" on the issue and insisting what the retired defence personnel were now getting was "enhanced pension" and that 'One Rank-One Pension' demand was yet to be fulfilled.





The Congress vice president asserted that OROP was the right of military personnel and the government "will have to give it".



"What PM says is One Rank-One Pension is actually pension enhancement and not OROP. PM should stop lying on the issue.



"OROP is the right of armed forces personnel and government will have to give it," Rahul, who was detained thrice over two days during protests over the suicide by army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal, told reporters. Grewal had allegedly committed suicide over OROP. An unfazed Gandhi said he was not bothered by his detention.



Accusing the government of waiving loans of a staggering Rs 1.10 lakh crore of 15 big industrialists, Gandhi said it has nothing to give to soldiers and farmers.



"The government has not given respect and the right which is due to soldiers. If it had, why these ex-servicemen been protesting for the last 509 days at Jantar-Mantar," he said after meeting around 60-70 military veterans at the AICC headquarters.



Gandhi, who has been in the forefront of the protests after Grewal's suicide, accussed the government of not "doing justice to soldiers who sacrifice their life for the country."
Slamming the Congress for playing politics over an ex-soldier's suicide, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today blamed administrative lapse on the part of bank for not remitting the entitled pension after he was granted OROP.





On Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh branding the deceased as a Congress worker, he said all leaders must be "sensitive" to the suicide.



Taking Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi head-on, he said no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially by a party whose fortune is already sinking.



The UPA government, he said, had not taken any meaningful step towards implementing one-rank-one-pension (OROP) for defence personnel in its 10 years of rule as was evident from a meagre Rs 500 crore allocation it made for the purpose.



The government sympathises with the defence personnel who committed suicide, but there was not a lapse that OROP was not granted to him, he clarified.



"It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted. It was not a lapse that there was some exception made in his favour. Obviously, communication with the bank, there seems to be some gap in that and therefore, he was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part of the service which he was legitimately entitled to," Jaitley told reporters here.



Asked about comments by V K Singh, he said, "Everybody has to be sensitive... we must appreciate the sensitivity of the person who under stress has committed suicide. I do sympathise with him and all our comments have to be sensitive on this issue."



Critical of Gandhi for playing politics over the suicide, he said, "It is equally important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy of an individual into a political gain for a party whose fortunes are otherwise sinking."



He said further: "It doesn't behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals. A more responsible behaviour is expected of them."



The government, he said, fully sympathises with the defence personnel and his family who committed suicide.
A pilot of an Augusta 109 chopper belonging to a Mumbai-based aviation firm was grounded for allegedly allowing car mechanics to fix some problem in its engine.





The incident took place on October 12 when the company Varva Aviation's chairman was flying to Pune from Goa and the aircraft engine developed problem, DGCA sources said.



"We have grounded the pilot and are investigating the incident," a source said.



The aircraft VT-VCA was registered with the DGCA in 2012.



The pilot cleared transit inspection without reporting any snag, an official said, adding it was informed that the Augusta 109 helicopter carrying the company's chairman to Pune from Goa via Kolhapur was repaired by "car mechanics".



The official also said that although the pilot in its report to the DGCA has not reported any snag, "we suspect that car mechanics were called to repair the helicopter following which the aircraft became airworthy".



As part of the aviation safely norm, only qualified aircraft maintenance engineers are allowed to inspect and repair aircraft or helicopter engines.
The basic pension of ex-servicemen of the Indian Army has increased by 2.57 times as compared to pension of December 31, 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee today said here while addressing ex-servicemen of the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army. Mukherjee, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, lauded the valour and discipline of the Gurkha soldiers in guarding the borders of India.



Mukherjee, who is on a three-day state visit to Nepal, visited the Pension Office for Gurkha ex-servicemen here in the last segment as large number of these soldiers live here after retirement. The scenic Pokhara Valley, nestled in the shadow of towering snowcapped peaks of Dhaulgiri, Machapuchare, and Annapurna is home to a large number of soldiers of the famed Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army.



The President received a warm welcome here with people dressed in traditional clothes carrying flags of India and Nepal had lined up the roads from airport to hotel where he stayed briefly and then from hotel to pension office of the Gurkha regiments ex-servicemen. People stood there throughout the stay of the President who was in the city for nearly an hour playing drums, dancing and waving as his convoy passed through the streets of Pokhara city.



"According to the seventh Pay Commission the basic pension has increased 2.57 times under the One Rank One Pension scheme as compared to basic pension on December 31, 2015," Mukherjee said. He said being the supreme commander of the Indian defence forces, it was a matter of great satisfaction and pride that all the welfare schemes of ex-servicemen are being implemented in Nepal on time.



The President said there are 32,000 Gurkha soldiers in Indian Army besides 1.26 lakh ex-servicemen from the community. Mukherjee said India will never hesitate to take all possible steps for the welfare of ex-servicemen.



"Every year about Nepalese Rs (NPR) 3,100 crore of pensions is being distributed in Nepal. In the current financial year, the target is to distribute about NPR 4,000 crore of pension as per One Rank One Pension and Seventh Pay Commission," he said.


Days after ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry blamed Nano for bleeding Tata Motors, the company today said it has significantly written off development cost and investments related to the car and is now refocusing its strategy on "growing and attractive segments" of the passenger vehicles market.



The company, however, refuted Mistry's allegations that another reason for it not shutting down the Nano, besides emotional reasons, was the supply of gliders to an electric car maker in which Ratan Tata has a stake. "... due to combination of several factors including project delays, due to change in location of the factory and the perception of being a low-priced car, the volumes initially anticipated did not materialise and utilisation of capacities are significantly lower," Tata Motors said in a clarification to BSE.



It further said: "In a highly-priced sensitive segment of the market, coupled with low volumes, it has been a loss-making product." The company, however, said a major part of investments at the Sanand plant, where the Nano is manufactured, is capable of being utilised for other products as is evident from the production of Tiago model.



"As far as development cost and investments in Nano-specific dyes and toolings are concerned, these have been significantly written off in line with the accounting policies of over the last several years," Tata Motors added. A day after he was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, Mistry had written to the board members of Tata Sons, saying the Nano product development required a concept that called for a car below Rs 1 lakh but the cost was always above this. This product has consistently lost money, peaking at Rs 1,000 crore.



He had said Tata Motors has been unable to shut down the loss-making small car Nano due to "emotional reasons" and doing so would also stop the supply of "gliders" to an entity that makes electric cars in which Ratan Tata has a stake. Refuting the particular allegation, the company said: "We would like to clarify that the matter is at a preliminary exploratory stage and no arrangement for supply of gliders has been concluded."



On its turnaround plan, Tata Motors said it has recently presented and received the approval of the board for its future passenger vehicle product and business strategy. The strategy envisaged refocusing strategy "on growing and attractive segments of the passenger vehicle market in terms of volumes and profitability and aligning with the changing and enhanced expectations of the consumers regarding content and features".



"The company is committed to pursuing this refocused long-term strategy and future product decisions arising from the will be announced in the course of implementation of this approved strategy," it said. Mistry had said that before 2013, in order to shore up sales and market share, Tata Motors Finance extended credit with tax risk assessment which resulted in NPAs exceeding Rs 4,000 crore, a claim that the company refuted.



"These credits were pre-dominantly comprising financing for the entry-level vehicle segment and first-time users, which were severely impacted by business and macro economic downturn in the previous years, which aggravated the risk profile of this portfolio," the auto major said.



"We would like to clarify that these have been fully provided for in line with our current assessment of future loses and we do not anticipate further provisions." The company said its accounting policies are in due compliance of the relevant accounting standards under IGAAP, IND-AS and IFRS accounting standards and appropriate to present true and fair view of the financial statements.



"These are regularly reviewed by our audit committee, statutory auditors and appropriately discussed in our financial statements," it added. Tata Motors was responding to Mistry's charge that it had employed "aggressive accounting" to capitalise on substantial proportion of the product development expenses creating future liability.



Ratan Tata's dream project Nano came alive in January 2008 when it was launched at a promised price tag of Rs 1 lakh, which was then the cheapest car in the world. However, the car faced setbacks one after another. Tata Motors had to shift the manufacturing plant of the car to Sanand in Gujarat from its original site at Singur in West Bengal due to farmers' opposition led by the Trinamool Congress.



Although the company had managed to roll out the car from its new location, initial instances of the car catching fire raised many safety issues. It could never live up to its potential, with Tata even admitting that Tata Motors had made a mistake of marketing Nano as the cheapest car.
Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management has partnered with Singapore-based global investment firm The Xander Group, which owns retail development arm Virtuous Retail (VR) in India, to form a joint venture by co-investing $450 million.





In an interaction with DH, The Xander Group founder and chairman of the investment committee Siddharth Yog said that the APG-Xander JV has 77% equity investment from APG while the rest is owned by The Xander Group.



This is one of the largest single deals in the retail real estate sector in India. The JV has acquired an initial portfolio of three retail assets from a Xander sponsored fund in a transaction valued at Rs 2,000 crore, he said. Yog said the two partners will have equal representation. on the board of the new company.



Simultaneously, APG and Xander have committed an additional $150 million as equity capital giving the new company investment capacity of $300 million that will be used to expand the portfolio through new acquisitions and greenfield development, he said.



Yog also made it clear that the JV has also integrated Rs 150-strong management and operational team in India, creating a new company  Virtuous Retail South Asia (VRSA).



Headquartered in Singapore, VRSA will be the partners exclusive, integrated retail mall developer, owner, operator and asset manager for India. Rohit George, who was responsible for overseeing Xanders retail portfolio in India, has relocated to Singapore and joined VRSA as Managing Director and an executive director on the board, he said.



Commenting on the development, APG Managing Director & Head of Private Real Estate Investments for Asia-Pacific Sachin Doshi said this landmark transaction in Indian retail real estate at an inflection point.



This transaction allows us to get immediate scale and access to a portfolio of dominant shopping centers and management capability through the integration of VRs Indian management and operating platform into VRSA. We are also delighted to expand our relationship with Xander and look forward to growing VRSA together into a leadership position in Indias emerging retail landscape, said Doshi.



VRs initial portfolio comprises 3.5 million square feet across three flagship centers in Bengaluru, Surat and Chennai. Besides building and opreating these retail properties under the VR flag, the company will expand its national portfolio by adding projects in key markets, including the National Capital Region of Delhi, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and Hyderabad.



Launched in 2007, Virtuous Retail officials in a recent interaction with DH had made its commitment to build $5 million sq feet retail space across six cities.



While Xander Group has committed over $2.3 billion of capital to the Indian market across private, public, credit and venture investments since 2005, APG's total investment in Indian real estate, including this deal, adds up to $800 million.



Indian real estate market has become a beehive of activities with the investment of Blackstone Group and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC. Besides Canadian fund CPPIB, more wealth funds and pension funds are making queries to invest in India.




Butterfield declined to say whether he was approached by Microsoft about a deal, but it would not have mattered if it had. I think weve been pretty clear publicly, and in private conversations with everyone else in the industry, that we have no interest in being acquired, he said.





In the last couple of years at Microsoft, some old habits have been tossed away, like obsessively placing Windows software at the centre of all the companys big bets. But the company would still dig trenches to protect Office, its $23-billion-a-year software franchise.Microsoft on Wednesday took the wraps off Microsoft Teams, an addition to the Office package that will allow professionals to huddle virtually with colleagues in private chat rooms to talk about anything from work projects to where to get lunch. If you think Microsoft Teams sounds a little like Slack, the relatively new chat service that has pulses pounding among Silicon Valley investors and customers, you would be correct.In fact, if this were 1997, a more bellicose time at Microsoft, people inside the company would be whispering that the new application was a Slack killer. But the tone is different these days, even if the intent is essentially the same.Look, my job No. 1 is to make sure that the 85 million users I have on Office 365, we go meet their needs and keep growing that base, Satya Nadella, Microsofts chief executive, said in a conference room last week on the Microsoft campus. This is not to take away any success anyone else has. Weve always had lots of tools out here that have competed and also coexisted.Microsoft Teams is the most significant new addition in years to Office 365, the current name of the Microsoft software suite, which has over the years migrated from the PC to become a product delivered over the internet that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other applications. Bill Gates, a Microsoft co-founder and now technology adviser, even had a hand in its creation.The reception to Microsoft Teams will help determine whether Nadella, who became chief executive of the company in early 2014, can extend his recent run of success. Microsoft is finally viewed as a credible player in cloud computing. A new desktop PC it announced last week, the Surface Studio, is earning favourable comparisons to Apple hardware. And the companys stock is even trading near a high. Microsoft plans to use distribution, an old standby, to get people using Microsoft Teams, bundling it with the business version of Office 365 at no additional cost.We have orders of magnitude bigger in terms of the users we serve, said Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of Office engineering at Microsoft. Customers generally pay $5 to $20 a month to subscribe to Office 365. Nadellas 85 million figure is the number of active monthly business users of the software.Samir Diwan, chief executive of Polly, a startup in Seattle that has created polling software that works with Slack and Microsoft Teams, said Microsoft had an advantage because Slack did not yet have the credibility Microsoft enjoyed among the biggest companies. Thats where Microsoft has an inherent advantage around security, Diwan said.But distribution power does not guarantee victory for Microsoft or any other big tech company. Its influence with Windows did not help it vanquish Google in internet search. Google was unable to use search and YouTube to beat Facebook in social networking. And Facebook has not yet figured out how to make Snapchat go away even as it introduces its own Slack competitor.The moral of the story is if youre a large incumbent with many lines of business, it is incredibly difficult to take on a smaller, focused startup that has traction in the market, said Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and chief executive of Slack, which took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Wednesday welcoming Microsoft to the market.Slack has about 4 million daily active users, 1.25 million of whom are paying for the software (Basic Slack functions are free, but people can pay $6.67 or more a month for features like unlimited searching of message archives.) The San Francisco company, which introduced its product just over three years ago, was valued by private investors at $3.6 billion when it raised money last spring.What is more, most people are using Slack because they want to, not because it is being shoved down their throats by a corporate IT department. Slack has been embraced by many as a more efficient way for teams to communicate than email, which is not designed for real-time conversations. You want to use the best tool possible, not the one thats included with your subscription product, said James Allworth, a business strategist and co-host of a technology podcast, Exponent, who has not used Microsoft Teams.Messages in Slack are archived and searchable, and people can use it on mobile devices and PCs. Butterfield said Slack had particularly helped create more transparency across boundaries inside companies, allowing, for example, marketing teams to see what sales staff are talking about and engineers to eavesdrop on product designers. Atlassian, a company that held an initial public offering last year, also has a team communications product, HipChat.Adding to innovationsIn a demonstration last week at Microsofts headquarters, executives showed how Microsoft Teams both resembles Slack and adds to its innovations. Like Slack, the software lets people pepper their messages with GIFs and emojis. Microsoft Teams can connect with other applications and services like Twitter and GitHub.The most noticeable difference is that Microsoft Teams organise conversations into threads, grouping messages on the same topic to make conversations easier to follow than they are in Slacks unthreaded message streams. It has customisable tabs for making it simpler to get to commonly used services and files, like budget spreadsheets.Mira Lane, principal architect of Microsoft Teams, demonstrated how people could spontaneously start video-conferences inside the software if they would rather hash things out face to face. Its a really low-friction way of having an ad hoc meeting, Lane said. Butterfield of Slack said the service had plans to support both threaded conversations and videoconferencing in the future.Microsoft began working on Microsoft Teams about 18 months ago, after Gates encouraged Brian MacDonald, a respected Microsoft engineer credited with creating Outlook, the companys flagship email application, to come up with a new take on productivity applications. Wed have pretty frequent conversations, sometimes group reviews, sometimes one-on-ones, MacDonald said.Microsoft does not always build a new product when it wants to expand the range of Office. About four years ago, it paid $1.2 billion to acquire Yammer, a social networking app that had found a following in the tech industry. So did Microsoft consider buying Slack? Its not something that I looked at, Nadella said, adding that he did not know if others who work for him seriously considered it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, speaks at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in Beijing, capital of China. The meeting was held from Oct. 24 to 27 in Beijing. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

During his ongoing presidency Xi Jinping has been at the center of international attention on several occasions. The "Chinese Dream" notion, the "New Normal" concept, the revitalization of the ancient Silk Road, the insistence on patriotism and the fight against poverty, all these are only examples of his personality and work. During these days the name of President Xi is associated  both in China and internationally  with a new label: "core leader" of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Three Chinese leaders enjoyed this title in the past  Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. Approximately four years ago, Xi gave a speech at the first group study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee and made reference to all of them. In particular, he talked about three different generations of leadership making valuable contributions to the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Xi also did so in other speeches he gave reiterating his high respect for the history of his country. And now, he has become the fourth Chinese leader to be named as "core leader." The rare attribution of the "core leader" status outlines its importance and the symbolism of the recent decision of the Beijing high-level plenum.

This is not the right time for a comparison of the performance of the four Chinese leaders to share the title. Xi has not yet reached the mid-way point of his presidency. Also, every period is different, and therefore Chinese leaders have encountered challenges which can be hardly put on an equal footing. The Cold War era, for instance, is different from the post-Cold war phase with regards to internal developments in China and foreign policy.

Although the study of history is necessary, the presidency of Xi is marked by two new elements: the battle against corruption and the effort to stabilize the national economy on the basis of a new, sustainable growth model. The "core leader" title does not bring new powers to Xi. Nevertheless, it constitutes an acknowledgment by the Communist Party of his commitment and competence to deliver at a critical juncture of China's history.

As far as corruption is concerned, for example, his policy has already yielded positive results. Even CNN, which is traditionally skeptical vis-a-vis China's politics, asserts that his "campaign has been very popular with the Chinese public but has worried some elites." All this goes in line with Xi's promise in January 2013 to eradicate corruption. In a speech he gave at the Second Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he warned party members against exploiting their position against the public interest. "Members of the CPC are at all times ordinary members of the working people" was the phrase he used.

From an economic perspective, the "core leader" label signals that President Xi enjoys the confidence of the Party to proceed with structural reforms and push towards more liberalization. This support is particularly critical now. The transitive period of the Chinese economy and the debate over the role of the "invisible" or the "visible hand" have domestically and internationally caused some concern because growth rates are not any longer in the double-digits. As the process requires patience, Xi can be more confident to use his authority to overcome obstacles and persuade elite and public opinion against existing doubts.

In their discourse, some Western media have revealed a contradiction between the "core leader" designation and the emphasis by the plenum on "collective leadership." They also link developments to Xi's future political ambitions and the 19th CPC National Congress, which will take place in the second half of 2017. It is not always easy to interpret China's politics employing Western characteristics. It should be mentioned, however, that Xi himself is not economical in using the term "collective leadership" in his public speeches. And, although he is well aware that his methods could remove immunity and relaxation of some CPC members and subsequently increase the possibility of political pressure, he sees the virtue of being a true leader with a vision for the future rather than an ordinary politician who complies with pathogenies because of fear.

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Police see striking similarities between the murder of RSS worker R Rudresh in Bengaluru on October 16 and the killing of C Sasikumar, a spokesperson of Hindu Munnani, in Coimbatore of Tamil Nadu on September 22.





Both the murders were carried out by four masked men riding two motorbikes. The suspects could be part of a single gang or at least know each other well, a senior police officer said on the condition of anonymity.



Sasikumar was hacked to death by a four-member gang while returning home. The murder triggered protests by pro-Hindu organisations in Tamil Nadu, much the same way Rudreshs killing led to demonstrations and a call for shutdown of Shivajinagar in Bengaluru.



The ostensible similarity prompted a team of Tamil Nadus Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department to arrive in Bengaluru on Thursday and interrogate the five men arrested for Rudreshs murder. The officer, however, said that it was still a suspicion that the murders could be linked. These men are tough nuts to crack. They arent revealing much, he said.



In addition, a police team from Andhra Pradesh has also arrived here to grill the suspects in the Rudresh murder case and investigate their links, if any, with banned outfits. P Harishekaran, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), said that all the teams were exchanging information on similar attacks in the recent times.



Meanwhile, police believe that another man is involved in Rudreshs murder. The man likely helped Asim Shariff, the Bengaluru district president of the Popular Front of India (PFI), who was arrested on Wednesday night, said the officer quoted in the beginning.



Besides, police also believe that the murder plot was hatched at three places: the garage of one of the suspects, Mohammad Sadiq alias Mohammad Mazhar, in Shivajinagar; a house in Benson Town; and the house of another suspect, Irfan Pasha, in Govindapura. When asked if the main suspects were paid for the job, the officer said, Asim provided the logistics. We are still investigating if he paid the assailants.



Police advisory to news channels



The Bengaluru city police commissioner has requested the vernacular news channels to refrain from telecasting provocative and insensitive reports on the murder of RSS worker Rudresh and the Tipu Jayanti, reports DHNS from Bengaluru.



In an advisory, Police Commissioner N S Megharikh said it had been brought to his notice that a few local news channels were airing programmes which would create disharmony in society. He asked the channels to confirm the facts

before telecasting the reports. The advisory also says that channels should refrain from airing news reports and programmes which would provoke people. Violators would be prosecuted under the provisions of the Cable Televisions Network Regulations Act, 1995, it said.




Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said he was ready to attend a meeting on the Mahadayi water dispute if his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis called a fresh one.





Parsekar, who was in the capital to attend a media conclave, told reporters that he couldnt attend the previous meeting convened by Fadnavis, due to some pressing engagements. I am ready to attend the meeting if the Maharashtra chief minister calls a fresh one, he said. Karnataka is like our big brother. We are ready to resolve the water dispute amicably.



Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also attended the conclave, requested Fadnavis, who was also present at the event, to fix a fresh date for the meeting. I have requested Fadnavis to fix a fresh date and he agreed. I hope the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka will meet soon to resolve the issue, he said.



Previously, Fadnavis had offered to mediate between Karnataka and Goa to resolve the long-standing dispute on the Mahadayi water and scheduled the meeting for October 21. But the meeting was cancelled when the Goa chief minister expressed his inability to attend it.



The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal, headed by Justice J M Panchal, had suggested that the three riparian states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka resolve the issue through talks with or without third party mediation.




In a sensational claim, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje on Friday accused Information Minister R Roshan Baig of paying supari for the murder of RSS worker R Rudresh. She said she had credible information that Baig was involved in the killing.





The minister reacted angrily to the accusation and declared he would sue Karandlaje. This is what the BJP parliamentarian told DH, Police and intelligence officials are speaking about Baigs involvement in the killing of Rudresh. We have also run the government and have contacts in the police and the state intelligence. They have told us that there is credible evidence of Baigs involvement. She is attending an orientation camp organised by the BJP at a star hotel on Hosur Road.



Rudresh, 38, was hacked to death on Kamaraj Road, central Bengaluru, on October 16.



Karandlaje, who is the partys state general secretary, said Rudresh had gained popularity in Shivajinagar, the Assembly constituency of Baig. Baig has been losing hold over his constituency and could not digest the growth of Rudresh. So, he finished him off, she suggested.



She demanded that the murder be investigated by the CBI or the NIA and that Baig resign immediately. Police are under pressure to go slow on the investigation, she claimed.



Karandlaje also claimed that the Social Democratic Party of India and the Popular Front of India were involved in the murder of several RSS and BJP workers, and urged the state government to ban the two organisations. She said these organisations, which were active in Kerala, had now set up their base in Bengaluru, Mysuru and other parts of Karnataka.



She further said that the BJP would hold protests across the state on November 8, demanding Baigs resignation. A delegation of state BJP leaders kwill meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on November 9 and brief him on the recent killings of RSS and BJP workers and the deteriorating law and order in Karnataka, Karandlaje added.Baig dismissed the charge as baseless and said Karandlaje was indulging in cheap politics and publicity gimmicks as she nursed greater political ambitions. Speaking to reporters, Baig said that Karandlaje hailed from Udupi and knew nothing about Shivajinagar. She is trying to create communal disharmony in order to polarise voters in the constituency, he said.



Ready for CBI probe



The minister further said that the government was free to order a CBI or NIA probe into the murder, as he had nothing to fear. I knew Rudresh well, he was a good man. He was neither my political opponent nor had he tried to vilify me. His death saddened me, he said.



He said the police had apprehended the suspects. Since the BJP has no issues to rake up, it is trying to keep the matter alive through such statements, he added. Karandlaje said she was ready to face the defamation suit by Baig.




The number of NGOs losing their licences to collect foreign funds this month may cross 13,000 if around 1,700 organisations, including IIT-Roorke, cannot convince the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) by providing more documents by Tuesday.





Already, 11,319 organisations, including Aligarh Muslim University and Adani Foundation, have lost permission to collect foreign funds, as they did not apply for renewing their registrations under Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) this year.



This number may rise if the NGOs, whose applications have been closed due to non-submission of documents or deficient documents or other statutory shortcoming within the stipulated time, do not use a lifeline provided by the MHA to provide appropriate papers for the licences.



These NGOs, numbering 1,736, include Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA), Manipal Foundation, Gandhi Mission Trust, Ramakrishna Mission, Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram, Krishnamurthi Foundation, Young Mens Christian Association and India Islamic Cultural Centre. It also includes Bangalore Jesuit Education Society, Karnataka State Trainers Collective, Bangalore Kidney Foundation and The Mysore Rotary Club Charitable Trust.



Officials said these organisations applied online for renewal of registrations before June 30 but did not provide adequate documentation. They have now been now given time till November 8 to submit representations in support of deficiencies in applications. The officials also said the MHA deregistered the 11,319 NGOs as they did not apply for renewal of their registrations.



Their validity of registration is deemed expired from November 1, 2016, the MHA said. The NGOs which did not apply for renewal and lost their licences include Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), Indian Medical Association (IMA), Indian Institute Of Public Administration and India Habitat Centre.



The list also includes Karnataka State Harijan Girijan Organisation, Bangalore Education Trust, Bangalore East Rotary Trust, Bangalore Speech and Hearing Trust, Alliance Francaise of Bangalore, University Womens Association of Bangalore and Association for Social Health in India, Karnataka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his counterpart Chinas state councilor Yang Jiechi met in Hyderabad on Friday to remove irritants in bilateral relations.





Doval and Yang discussed several issues that troubled relations between New Delhi and Beijing in the recent months, including Chinas policy of blocking Indias attempts to get the United Nations impose sanctions on terror leaders based in Pakistan.



They also explored ways to step up bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation.

Doval and Yang are at present Special Representatives of India and China for negotiations on boundary dispute and strategic consultations.



They held the 19th round of boundary negotiations in Beijing on April 20. Their discussion in Hyderabad on Friday, however, did not focus much on the boundary dispute and rather tried to iron out the newer wrinkles in bilateral relations. Doval made it clear to Yang that China must stop shielding Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar and other terror leaders based in Pakistan from being brought under the United Nations sanctions.



He argued that India and China should not have any difference on the issue of terrorism, as no country could now claim to be immune from the menace, said sources.



China recently made its latest move to block Indias attempts to designate the JeM chief as a terrorist by the UN panel established under the Security Councils resolutions.



No unilateral action to change status quo



China on Friday said actions should not be taken by either side that may unilaterally change the status quo of the Line of Actual Control, PTI reports from Beijing.

Beijings statement came as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop the work of a canal.




Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa on Friday said the government has been exploring the possibility of providing succour to farmers who have lost crops due to severe drought in the state.



Crop loan waiver, deferring crop loan repayment and providing monetary compensation for the crop loss are among the options before the government. Deputy commissioners of all the districts have been directed to submit reports to the government on the crop loss. The state Cabinet will soon take an appropriate decision on how to bail out farmers who are in distress, Thimmappa told reporters here.



A Cabinet sub-committee has recommended to the government to declare 29 more taluks as drought-affected. The government has already declared 110 taluks as drought-hit. There has been extensive damage to crops across the state. The Centre will provide financial assistance only on the basis of the National Disaster Relief Fund norms. So, the state government has to mobilise resources on its own to effectively implement drought-relief works, he added.



Asked whether the government was planning to either increase Value Added Tax or impose a new cess for mobilising resources, Thimmappa said the government will take an appropriate decision in the coming days. Though he said the government may have to divert funds earmarked for other programmes in the budget towards drought-relief works, he did not divulge any information on this count.



He said the government has decided to effectively implement the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) so that those who are affected by drought can get jobs. But, some MLAs are opposed to the scheme as it creates scarcity of farm labourers. These elected representatives are misled by middlemen, he added.


Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on November 7 to discuss organisational matters, supporters of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwara have begun a campaign seeking a third term for him.



Parameshwara, who was here to attend the meeting of PCC presidents convened by Congress General Secretary Motilal Vora, is learnt to have met former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhis political secretary Ahmed Patel and senior leader A K Antony to present his case.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was also here to attend a media conclave, is said to have suggested to Patel that former minister S R Patil be considered for the post.

Speaking to reporters, Siddaramaiah said, We have to accept the decision of the party high command. Though I have made some suggestions, I will not disclose anything.



Supporters of Parameshwara conveyed to the Central leadership that they should ensure that a Dalit leader such as Parameshwara is at the helm of party affairs.



They are of the view that his continuation as KPCC chief can compensate the loss suffered by the party following the recent exit of senior Dalit leader V Srinivas Prasad. As the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal (S) are trying hard to woo senior Dalit leaders from the Congress into their fold, the Congress should have a Dalit as KPCC president instead of a Vokkaliga or a Lingayat, they say.



Though Parameshwara completed his second term as KPCC president on October 26, a section of Congress leaders in the state is in favour of a third term for him as the Assembly elections will be held in 2018. With just 15 months left for the next Assembly polls, a new president would have a tough time to prepare the party for the elections. It is better to continue with the incumbent till the elections are over, a senior leader said.



When contacted, Parameshwara said, I am not asking the high command to continue me for another term. However, if the party asks me to continue, I am ready to shoulder the responsibility.



Meanwhile, supporters of Kolar MP K H Muniyappa, also a Dalit, and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar are also pressing the case of their leaders. The state leaders are expecting that the CWC may take up long-pending organisation reshuffle in many states including Karnataka, though there is no official word from the high command whether this will be on the CWC meetings agenda.
India saw a fresh move by Pakistan to further escalate tension between the two nations, when a media report in the neighbouring country indicated that New Delhi and Islamabad could scale down diplomatic ties.





India dismissed as speculative and nonsensical the report in Express Tribune newspaper of Pakistan that both sides might recall their envoys to each others capitals.



Sources in New Delhi made it clear on Friday that India did not have any plan to recall its envoy to Pakistan, Gautam Bambawale.



Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners in the wake of the latest diplomatic debacle triggered after the cover of certain officials posted in each others capitals was revealed by the two sides through media leaks, the Express Tribune reported quoting unidentified officials.



New Delhi started the process of bringing back eight officials of High Commission of India (HCI) in Islamabad. The government decided to bring them back, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan named them and accused them of working for intelligence agencies of India. The details of the eight officials and their pictures along with the charges against them earlier appeared in newspapers in Pakistan as well as in social media platforms.



Sources in New Delhi on Friday said that the speculative report in Express Tribune newspaper of Pakistan might be a ploy by the government of the neighbouring country to vitiate the atmosphere and escalate the tension between the two.



Islamabads move to launch a media campaign against HCI officials came after six of its own officials posted in the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi were found to be part of the espionage network that was busted by the police last week.



New Delhi on October 27 last expelled Akhtar, who was working as an assistant to commercial counsellor Syed Furrukh Habib at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi.


Stepping up his attack on the government, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying on the implementation of one- rank, one-pension scheme.





A day after facing police detention for the third time, Rahul met delegations of ex-servicemen from across the country at the Congress headquarters here signalling that the party would be unrelenting in its campaign to press for justice on the OROP issue.



As Rahul interacted with the delegations, Youth Congress activists set out to march to the Prime Ministers Office to protest the non-implementation of OROP.



What prime minister calls one-rank, one-pension, is actually pension enhancement and not OROP. The prime minister should stop lying on the issue, an aggressive Rahul told reporters after meeting 60-70 ex-servicemen here.



The Congress vice-president said the ex-servicemen have some other demands relating to disability pension and the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations which the government should fulfil after the promise to implement OROP in toto.



Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan



There used to be a slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. But neither the farmers nor the jawans are getting money. Neither of them is respected, Rahul said.



He wanted the government to apologise for the police manhandling of the family of ex-soldier Ram Kishan Grewal, who reportedly committed suicide over not getting full benefits of OROP. Former defence minister A K Antony, who was also present at the meeting, hailed Rahul as the inspiration for the UPA governments decision to implement OROP.



I am sure his support will go a long way in implementing the OROP, Antony said.

Maj Gen Satbir Singh (retd.) of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement said he apprised the Congress vice-president of the entire OROP issue and their demands. He wanted to understand the issue and we have explained to him, Singh said.



Govt slams Cong for politicising suicide



The government on Friday slammed the Congress for not only politicising an ex-servicemans suicide, but also expressed unhappiness over junior minister Gen V K Singhs comment on the mental state of deceased Ram Kishan Grewal, DHNS reports from New Delhi. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took a direct potshot at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and said no one should exploit a personal tragedy for political gain, more so a party whose fortune is dwindling. It doesnt behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals.



A more responsible behaviour is expected of them, Jaitley said. Rahul had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying on the issue. The Congress leader charged that what government gave was pension to defence personnel and not OROP. But for allocating Rs 500 crore for OROP for armed forces employees, the UPA did nothing in its decade-long rule while it was the NDA government which implemented it, countered Jaitley.


A TV actor has lodged a plaint with Rajarajeshwarinagar police accusing four persons of sexually harassing her and stealing valuables from her house. The actor, in her complaint, alleged that Naveen and his friends Darshan, Prithvi and Vinuthan, created a ruckus at her house on October 19. They sexually harassed her and burgled valuables.



The actor also claimed that Naveen threatened her of acid attack. Naveen is the brother of Harish, who died of dengue on September 6. Harish and the actor were staying together for the last few years and they got enaged recently.



Naveen was upset with the actor as she had not visited the hospital to enquire about Harishs well-being. She was keeping Harishs car and Naveen had demanded her to return the car. The two had an argument over the issue, said the police. I went to her house asking her to return my brothers valuables and the car. Her claims of sexual harassment and acid attack are false, Naveen said.


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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Thursday in Astana, during his official visit to Kazakhstan.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) meets with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, Kazakhstan, Nov. 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Li extended greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping to Nazarbayev, saying the two countries should continue to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state on bilateral cooperation.

He said China and Kazakhstan are highly complementary in economy and facing broad cooperation prospect. China was willing to deepen the production capacity cooperation with Kazakhstan, expand cooperation in energy, connectivity and deep processing of agricultural products, and increase people-to-people exchanges.

Li also called on the two countries to strengthen coordination under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and increase communication and cooperation on international and regional affairs, so as to achieve common development of the two countries and maintain the regional peace and stability.

Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan and China, as good neighborly countries, are a model of countries' friendly cooperation. Kazakhstan stands ready to deepen the cooperation in production capacity with China and push forward the implementation of more projects in the Central Asian country.

Kazakhstan is willing to expand cooperation with China in energy, agriculture and technology innovation, and strengthen the bilateral trade, Nazarbayev said.

He also vowed to conduct better cooperation with China within the SCO framework.

The land-locked Central Asian state is the second leg of Li's tour to four Eurasian countries. Li also attended the third regular meeting between the two countries' prime ministers with his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will put up 10,000 advertisement hoardings across the city to generate revenue and weed out illegal billboards, Mayor G Padmavathi said on Friday.



Our advertisement hoardings will rid the city of ugly billboards and generate adequate revenue for the BBMP so as to reduce its dependence on the state government for funds, she said at a Meet the Press programme organised by the Press Club of Bangalore.



The mayor didnt answer a question whether the BBMPs hoardings will replace the private billboards. She, however, said that the civic body had served notices on advertisers who have put up around 5,000 hoardings illegally.



The BBMP has also filed a caveat petition in the court against 1,600-odd private hoardings. Padmavathi said she had directed the BBMPs Special Commissioner (Revenue/Advertisement), V Rashmi, to crack down on illegal hoardings.



The mayor also spoke about the Palikes plan to revive temple tanks (kalyanis) by de-silting them and clearing encroachments, if any. Many historic kalyanis in the city are in a bad shape. We will renovate them, she said.



Padmavathi repeated the grievance raised by her predecessors that the mayors existing term of 11 months was grossly insufficient. Bengaluru faces too many challenges, and the tenure of a mayor is too short.



A tenure of two-and-a-half-years to five years is needed for a mayor to leave a lasting impression on the city and its people. Chennai has a mayor-in-council system. Other metros have a five-year tenure for the mayor, she said.



Mid-day meals

Padmavathi also said that the scheme to provide mid-day meals to pourakarmikas (municipal workers), which was to be launched on November 1, will now kick-start on November 8. Besides pouraka-rmikas, 50 senior citizens in each ward will also get the midday meals, she said.


Days after eight SIMI men were killed in controversial police action, the Madhya Pradesh government has ordered a judicial probe into the sensational jail-break and encounter, giving in to the oppositions demand.





Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered the probe, which will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice S K Pandey, an official release issued late last night here said.



Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high security jail and the encounter that took place after that, it said.



The purported audio tape about conversation related to the encounter will also be part of overall investigation, a senior police official said.



The tape, which has gone viral on social media, states that the policemen on job were getting instructions from control room to bump them off and khel khatam ho gaya (game is over now).



The purported conversation took place on the day of the encounter and it was recorded and released on social media.



The state government had earlier announced a probe by an SIT comprising CID officers into the encounter and a separate investigation by former DGP Nandan Dubey into the jailbreak, but Congress and other opposition parties had been pressing for a judicial probe



State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh on Friday said Pandey will also give his recommendations on improving security in prisons.



The BJP government led by Chouhan has vociferously defended the police action and accused the opposition of politicising and communalising the issue.



The party on Friday said that a judicial inquiry has been ordered as the state government has nothing to hide.



I dont think there was any inquiry necessary, but since Shivraj Chouhan has nothing to hide so he agreed to a judicial probe, which was their demand, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said.



Reacting to the announcement of probe, Congress spokesperson J P Dhanopia said, Our stand is clear right from day one on the issue that the probe should be conducted by a sitting High Court Judge.



The same demand was also made in the petition filed in the high court on the issue, he added.
The pilot of an Augusta 109 chopper belonging to a Mumbai-based aviation firm was grounded for reportedly allowing car mechanics to fix some problem in its engine.





The incident took place on October 12 when the chairman of Varva Aviation was flying to Pune from Goa and the aircraft engine developed a problem, DGCA sources said.

We have grounded the pilot and are investigating the incident, a source said. The aircraft VT-VCA was registered with the DGCA in 2012.



The pilot cleared the transit inspection without reporting any snag, an official said, adding it was informed that the Augusta 109 helicopter carrying the companys chairman to Pune from Goa via Kolhapur was repaired by some car mechanics.



The official also said that although the pilot in its report to the DGCA has not reported any snag, we suspect that car mechanics were called to repair the helicopter, following which the aircraft became airworthy.



As part of the aviation safety norm, only qualified aircraft maintenance engineers are allowed to inspect and repair aircraft or helicopter engines.




A day after the sexual abuse of girls in an ashram shala in Buldhana surfaced, the Maharashtra government made a series of arrests, appointed a probe panel and interviewed inmates of residential schools.





Director General of Police Satish Mathur was briefed on the incident. Thirteen people have been identified, of which 11 have been arrested and a search is on for the other two, Mathur said in Mumbai.



There are around 525 tribal boarding schools in Maharashtra, catering to 2.1 lakh students from ten districts. Some of them are run by the government, while others are government-aided.



Fadnavis said a woman IPS officer would head the team probing the Buldhana issue.

A case has been registered against the main accused under IPC 376 (rape) and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act).



The incident came to light when a student of the ashram shala at Khamgaon was taken to hospital by her parents in Jalgaon after she complained of stomach ache. Medical examination revealed that the girl was pregnant.


Taking medication for blood pressure or undergoing a laser eye surgery will no longer make an IAF pilot ineligible for the cockpit of a fighter jet.





For, the government has changed the norms to cope with the shortage of fighter

pilots.



IAFs criteria to pick pilots for flying the mean machines used to be stringent. But some of these norms have now been relaxed to increase the pilot count. Those who take medicine to lower their blood pressure can fly the fighter aircraft. Similarly, those who underwent a Lasik surgery at least a year before flying are also being permitted.



Experienced pilots who wear glasses are permitted to fly the jets, which was not the case earlier. Medical experts advising the air headquarters said these pilots could counter the vision deficiency with their experience.



The air headquarters is in the process of changing another norm, which denied flying permission to a section of fighter pilots who had to eject from the aircraft.



While a section of these pilots return to flying within four weeks, many are denied permission based on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) check of the spine. Though doctors admit the problems detected through the MRI scan were not related to ejection, they were denied permission to fly the fighter aircraft.



We are going to change this norm as well. Why should we lose the pilots if the indications flagged by the MRI scan are not linked to ejection. We want to put the maximum number of pilots back in the cockpit, said an IAF source.



IAFs medical specialists would discuss these norms with experts from around the world at an international conference on aviation and space medicine in Delhi next week.



All of these steps are aimed at raising the number of fighter pilots in the IAF, which is suffering not only from a depleting squadron strength, but also from manpower crunch.



The government does not disclose the exact number of fighter pilots, but a 2015 Parliamentary Standing Committee report indicates a shortage of pilots compared to other nations.



IAFs pilot-cockpit ratio was only 0.81 for fighter jets. In comparison, the ratio is 2:1 for USA and 2.5:1 for Pakistan. The sanctioned pilot to cockpit ratio in IAF is 1.25 for fighters, 1.5 for transport planes and 1 for helicopters. The insufficiency in the number of available pilots in the IAF deteriorates our operational capabilities, said the panel.
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The Seoul District Court on Thursday night issued a warrant to formally arrest President Park Geun-hye's confidante over a political scandal, according to a report from Yonhap.

The court said it is necessary to arrest Choi Soon-sil in a bid to carry out a thorough probe into the political scandal.

Choi Soon-sil has been put under custody since late Monday after questioned by prosecutors.

Choi, 60, is suspected of meddling in government decisions including the shutdown of the last remaining symbol of inter-Korea economic cooperation and the editing of one of Park's most important speeches made in 2014 in Dresden, Germany that laid out a vision for reunification of the two Koreas.

President Park made a public apology early last week following a report of local cable channel JTBC that Choi had accessed speeches of the president even before they were actually delivered.

Yonhap also quoted the presidential office as reporting that President Park will deliver another address to the nation on Friday.

Approval rating for President Park has dropped to the lowest since her inauguration in February 2013.
 Flash

The second wave of rebel attack on government-controlled areas in the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday has largely failed to achieve its goals, a military source told Xinhua.

The attack on the Dahyeit al-Assad and Menyan suburbs in western Aleppo failed, as the Syrian army and allied fighters foiled the attack, after destroying booby-trapped vehicles and a tank the rebels were using in Dahyeit al-Assad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Several rebel leaders were also killed during the battles that raged on Thursday, after the Jaish a-Fateh rebel group, or the Army of Conquest, declared the commencement of the second stage of a wide-scale offensive they started last Friday.

Meanwhile, state news agency SANA said the Syrian air forces struck the rebel positions near Menyan and Dahyeit al-Assad, killing tens of militants.

SANA also said that the Syrian forces thwarted the attack on Menyan.

The rebels' second attack killed 12 people as a result of the intense shelling on government-controlled areas in western Aleppo.

Last Friday, the rebels launched the first offensive to break Aleppo siege, firing hundreds of mortar shells and grad rockets, and killing over 82 civilians, according to SANA.

The rebels also fired rockets with chemical gas on Menyan earlier this week, causing many people with suffocation, before repeating the attack on Thursday.

The Syrian army has laid siege on rebel-held areas in Aleppo in recent months, urging the rebels to surrender themselves or leave eastern Aleppo to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

But the rebels didn't comply and went on several attacks to wobble the government siege.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating its conditions to resolve the crisis, as the province contains all the groups that are supported by regional and international powers, with the civilians paying the price for this proxy war.
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A senior commander from the Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that if the United States fails to adhere to last year's nuclear deal, Iran will reconsider its obligations.

Iranian students take part in a rally marking the 37th anniversary of taking over the U.S. embassy by a group of Iranian students in Tehran, capital of Iran, on Nov. 3, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua]

"The Iranian nation is bound to its nuclear commitments, but this commitment is not a one way road," said the lieutenant commander of IRGC, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, on the 37th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

"If the United States does not meet its obligations, we will return to the point prior to the nuclear agreement," he said. "We will reactivate our centrifuges with even further force."

The nuclear deal was reached between Iran and world powers in July 2015 and was implemented in January 2016.

The deal saw Iran scrap major parts of its nuclear program in return for easing Western and international sanctions.

The United Sates still maintains sanctions on Iran over alleged violations of human rights and support of terrorism, all of which Iran denies.

As for the Islamic republic's development of a missile program and the West's concerns regarding it, Salami said Iran will continue to develop its deterrent power and will improve it.

He hailed the seizure of the U.S. embassy, saying it was an outcome of the Islamic revolution.

Salami decried as "unreal" what he called U.S. claims of combating terrorism, disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, and seeking world peace.

He praised "resistance" movements in Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Bahrain as signs of the expansion of Iran's Islamic revolution regionally and also as an indicator of the "decadent" U.S. influence over the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reiterated his opposition to the restoration of relations with the United States.

The U.S. embassy was stormed by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979, with its its personnel held hostage for 444 days.

The U.S. subsequently broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980, and ties have remained severed since then.
Fawad Khan To Be Replaced By Saif Ali Khan In Karan Johars Raat Baaki?
Turkeys government has reportedly blocked access to social media services including Twitter and WhatsApp.

Monitoring group Turkey Blocks has also noted that Facebook, Instagram, Skype and YouTube have been affected by the throttling, which has slowed the sites to the extent that they cannot be used functionally.

The move follows the arrest of several pro-Kurdish members of parliament, and came into effect at around the same time as the early morning raids that saw the lawmakers apprehended.

After weathering an attempted coup in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has implemented a crackdown on both the media and his political opponents, including members of parliament and the armed forces.

A full shutdown of the internet was imposed earlier this week in Turkeys predominantly Kurdish southwest region, with reports indicating that the intent was to prevent patients from receiving medical supplies.
Oil and gas company Faroe Petroleums partners chose the Njord facilities as the preferred concept for development of the Pil & Bue discoveries in the Norwegian Sea.

The companys partners in the Pil & Bue discoveries, of which the company owns 25%, and which include Statoil Petroleum, Engie E&P Norge, DEA Norge and VNG Norge, have decided that a subsea development solution tied back to the Njord platform in the Norwegian Sea, which Faroe owns 7.5% of, is the preferred concept for development of the discoveries.

Three concepts were considered, but the subsea installation tied back to the Njord platform was considered the best option and received the full support of the Njord partners.

The AIM-listed company said the development solution will be matured from the front end engineering design stage towards a formal field development plan.

Chief executive Graham Stewart said: "This is a significant step in the maturation of these high quality discoveries and the fact that they will be tied back to infrastructure we know well, and are joint venture partners in, further consolidates one of our core areas in Norway."

Shares in Faroe Petroleum were down 0.96% to 77.25p at 1034 GMT.
Energy storage and clean fuel company ITM Power signed a fuel contract with Hyundai Motor to refuel its electric car fleet in the UK.

The AIM-listed company will sell hydrogen at 10 per kilogram to refuel the South Korean carmakers iX35 electric fuel cell vehicle fleet.

This is the fifth fuel supply contract for the company as Hyundai joins Toyota, Commercial Group, Arcola Energy and Arval as fuel customers.

The deal covers fuel dispensed across the company's hydrogen refuelling network, which has been financially supported by government agencies, Innovate UK and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, and Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a European public private partnership.

The company has 16.85m of projects under contract and a further 4.15m of contracts in the offing, collectively coming to 21m.

Dr Graham Cooley, chief executive of ITM Power, said: "We are extremely pleased to be working with Hyundai Motor UK in providing clean fuel for the operation of their fuel cell electric vehicles and promoting clean emission motoring without compromise to their customers.

We look forward to further supporting their refuelling requirements as our hydrogen refuelling station network expands throughout the UK."

Shares in ITM Power were up 7.87% to 24p at 0938 GMT.
Mobile management software company ServicePower Technologies won a $1m contract with a global insurer to deploy its workforce platform in its Canada insurance business.

The AIM-listed company agreed for the next five years for its platform, Service Power Unity, which combines all of its mobile workforce management software including entitlement and work order management, schedule and route optimisation, contractor dispatch and claims management and business intelligence, to be used in managing the insurers Canadian insurance operations.

The company said the insurer chose it its mobile workforce management solution to provide enhanced productivity, efficiency and field mobilisation to its remote teams of inspectors and adjusters.

Chief executive Marne Martin said that ServicePower Unity continues to gain market share as customers look for long term solutions.

He added: A mobile workforce visionary, ServicePower launched our first software-as-a-service applications in 2004, with integration across the platform in 2008, offering both our large enterprise customers, as well as our network of thousands of independent contractors within our ServiceOperations ecosystem, schedule optimization, dispatching and warranty processing and business management."

Shares in ServicePower Technologies were up 10.53% to 2.62p at 0909 GMT.
 Flash

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday expressed confidence about the future of the U.S.-Philippines relationship, which has soured following Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's tirades against the U.S.

"I am confident about the future of our bilateral relationship, notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another," Kerry said at the State Department as he swore in Sung Kim as the new U.S. ambassador to the Philippines.

"The United States continues to place a high value on the close ties that exist between our countries," Kerry said. "We continue to recognize our ironclad commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and security of the Philippines."

Kerry also expressed the hope to visit the Southeast Asian country before the end of his term as Secretary of State.

In recent months, Duterte repeated lashed out at the U.S., throwing the alliance between the two countries into disarray, after Washington raised concern on the reported extrajudicial killings of drug suspects amid Manila's war on illegal drugs.

The Philippine president also threatened to "break up" with Washington. He hit out at the United States, the European Union and the United Nations for using human rights to criticize his campaign to curb the illicit drug menace in the Philippines.

"I will be re-configuring my foreign policy", Duterte said in a speech before the Jewish Asssociation of the Philippines in Makati City on Oct. 4.

"Eventually I might in my time break up with America. I would rather go to Russia and to China", said Duterte.
Commodities were weaker nearly across the board at the end of the week, although energy was by far the softest segment of the market.

Front month Brent crude futures lost 2.05% to trade at $45.40 per barrel on the ICE after Reuters reported that at a meeting held during the previous week Saudi Arabia had told Iran it could increase output "steeply" if Tehran refused to limit its supply.

That was denied by the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Mohammed Barkindo, according to whom Saudi officials' contribution, at the technical meeting held in Vienna on 28 October, "as usual were constructive".

In other news, after the close of trading in London Baker Hughes reported that the number of US on-shore oil rigs increased by nine week-on-week over the seven days ending on 4 November, hitting 450, although they remained 122 below their levels of a year ago.

NYMEX-traded RBOB gasoline was especially weak, losing 3.34% to $1.3769 per gallon, while December natural gas futures Stateside managed to eke out a small advance, rising 0.33% to $2.78/MMBtu.

Acting as a backdrop, the US dollar spot index was off by 0.07% to 97.08, amid political uncertainty in the States ahead of the 8 November presidential elections.

In parallel, the Bloomberg commodity index was down by 0.39% to 83.28.

Weakness in gold and silver futures despite the poor tone to trading in the Greenback and the increasingly tense political environment caught the attention of some traders, although the daily variations were slight.

Chris Beauchamp attributed the move in gold to its "rapid move" above the $1,300 mark over the past week, adding that a victory by US presidential canidate Donald Trump sould see the rally extend.

Copper futures on the other hand were managing to swim against the tide, tacking on 0.49% to change hands at $2.26 a pound on COMEX.

Agricultural commodities were mixed, with cocoa futures on ICE retreating by 3.84% to $2,532.00 a metric tonne, but corn and wheat futures trading slightly higher on the day.
Cable was moderately higher at the tail-end of the week as markets hedged their bets heading into the following week's US presidential elections.

Somewhat ironically, the recent High Court decision, and the possibility that Parliament will finally be given some say over how Brexit proceeds, likely added to Sterling's allure on Friday.

As of 1909 GMT the US dollar index could be seen drifting lower by 0.08% to 97.07 despite a slightly better than expected US employment report for the month of October, while cable was up by 0.41% to 1.2511.

US non-farm payrolls grew by 161,000 in October (consensus: 173,000), but upwards revisions of 44,000 to the prior two months of data offset the negative surprise.

Furthermore, average hourly earnings rose by 0.4% month-on-month (2.8% year-on-year), outpacing forecasts for a rise of 0.3% and 2.6%, respectively.

Commenting on the US jobs report, Barclays Research said: "overall, we believe the wage data and upward revisions to prior months data more than offset the softness in services employment. In our view, this report clears the bar for a December rate hike and represents some of the progress towards the dual mandate that the committee requires."

Worth noting, the US dollar was in fact on its backfoot against Mexico's peso - widely considered to be a barometre - of worries that a trade protectionist such as Donald Trump might become the next resident of the White House.

The US dollar was down by 0.68% to 19.05 pesos.

Levels of FX volatility showed that the Mexican peso had gone a large way towards pricing in a surprise Trump victory.

"FX volatility shows certain assets (e.g. Mexican peso) have gone a long way toward pricing in a surprise Trump victory next week; but other assets, e.g. S&P500, European peripheral bonds, EM equities have not fully priced-in the event," Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's Michael Hartnett said in a research report sent to clients dated 3 November.

Wall Street on the other hand was flirting with a ninth consecutive session of losses for the S&P 500, which would mark the worst such streak since 1980.

On a related note, the latest RealClear Politics tracking poll had US Democratic party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ahead of her main rival Donald Trump by a margin of 2.7 percentage points.
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Decker: Developers know Columbus won't take away tax breaks

What we might see as "required" is "optional" to others. How else to explain the attitude of developers receiving tax breaks from Columbus?
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  An attorney for Volkswagen says car owners eligible for a buyback or fix under a $15 billion settlement deal over the company's emissions cheating scandal are signing up and submitting claims at a high rate.

Sharon Nelles told a federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday that more than 370,000 people have registered on the settlement website and nearly 200,000 people have submitted claims. Nelles said the participation rate was exceptional.





. . .
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By MICHAEL BALSAMO

Associated Press

NEW YORK  Federal investigators looking into a New York City transit death Thursday are examining whether escape alcoves used to protect workers from an oncoming subway train have enough room, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees were setting up a work zone on the southbound subway tracks near the Fort Hamilton Parkway station in Brooklyn when a train struck two workers around 12:05 a.m. The train was traveling around a curve when it pinned the two workers, authorities said.





. . .
Subscriber content preview

Southern California Gas. Co. needs to store gas for winter heating, cooking and electricity needs.



By BRIAN MELLEY

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES  A utility asked California regulators Tuesday to resume operations at the largest underground gas storage facility in the West a year after a well blowout spewed methane uncontrollably for months and drove thousands of residents from their Los Angeles homes.

Southern California Gas Co. said about a quarter of its wells at the Aliso Canyon facility had passed rigorous testing ordered by the state in the wake of the disruptive leak that persisted for four months and led to widespread complaints of nausea, nosebleeds, headaches and other vexing symptoms.





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Veterans Day events at MOF

Ted Huetter/The Museum of Flight World War II fighter pilot Al Jones and his grandson check out a plane that Jones loved to fly: the F-86.

SEATTLE  On Veteran's Day, Nov. 11, the Museum of Flight will honor U.S. military personnel with special events and free admission for all veterans and current service members.

A Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter will fly in Friday at 11 a.m., and there will be a ceremony with Washington Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Bruce C. Linton at noon. Afternoon events include a program about the Grumman A-6 Intruder aircraft during Vietnam and Desert Storm, with an A-6 aircrew joined by Stephen Coonts, author of Flight of the Intruder.

The CH-47D Chinook is nicknamed My Old Lady and the museum said is the oldest flyable Chinook in the Army's inventory. It was built in 1962 and is based at JBLM in Tacoma. The helicopter was used in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan as well as domestic emergencies such as the 2015 Okanogan Complex wildfire.

A living history performer will show women's military uniforms from World War I to Vietnam, and talk about the history of the women who wore them.









Previous columns:
Modi's Japan visit seen clinching civil nuclear deal

India and Japan are likely to sign a long overdue civil nuclear cooperation agreement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Japan next week.

The two countries had agreed on the broad contours of cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to New Delhi last December, but a deal was delayed as certain technical and legal issues had to be sorted out.

Now that these issues have been sorted out and the two sides have completed all internal procedures, the agreement is likely to be signed during PM Modi's two-day visit on 11-12 November.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup, however, said while both the countries have completed the internal procedures, including legal and technical aspects of the text of the pact, a final deal could yet be delayed.

For one thing, there is political and moral resistance to Japan going ahead with a nuclear deal with India, particularly after the disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.

A civil nuclear cooperation deal with Japan would open up the Indian market for US-based Japanese nuclear plant makers Westinghouse Electric Corporation and GE Energy Inc to set up atomic plants in India.

PM Modi will also hold his annual summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and have an audience with the Emperor of Japan during his two-day visit.

Swarup also said the PM has welcomed the increased interaction between both the countries and has now called for a strengthening of exchanges between state-level legislatures.

Ahead of his trip, a delegation of Japanese parliamentarians called on Prime Minister Modi on Thursday, which was led by Toshihiro Nikai.

''The prime minister welcomed the initiative of Toshihiro Nikai to raise awareness about the threat posed by tsunamis, and sought strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction and disaster managemen

Swarup said the Prime Minister recalled his interaction with the Japan-India Parliamentarians' Friendship League in September, and welcomed increased interaction between the legislatures of both countries. He said PM Modi also called for strengthening exchanges between State-level legislatures.

"The Prime Minister welcomed the initiative of Toshihiro Nikai to raise awareness about the threat posed by tsunamis, and sought strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction and disaster management," he said.

A Japanese delegation led by vice minister for policy coordination of cabinet office, Shigeki Habuka also met the union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju on Thursday.

Appreciating Japan's technical expertise and experience in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Disaster Management, Rijiju said India would like to gain from Japan's leadership in the field.

Habuka underlined the need for the Asian countries assembled for the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016 in New Delhi to adopt the common agenda set forth in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and hoped that the goals practically possible will be achieved within the timeframe.

The Japanese Minister invited India's participation in the two DRR related Conferences being held in Japan during 19-20 December 2016 and 24 January 2017.

Rijiju assured that India will be appropriately represented, even at the ministerial level if required.
Cllr. Sean McEniff is in an induced coma and in intensive care in Spain after collapsing and losing consciousness last week while walking at the beach at a resort there, his family said today.

In a statement, the McEniff family said the long-serving councillor "is in an induced coma and in intensive care in Clinica Roca in San Agustin, where he has been, almost continuously, since his admission on October 27th".

The statement said that Cllr. McEniff, collapsed and lost consciousness, taking in a lot of salt water and was close to drowning, but thanks to the alertness of other tourists he was rescued and taken to the nearest hospital. He has a collapsed lung, pneumonia and fractured ribs but he is currently in a stable condition and the family is hopeful that his condition will slowly improve.

Cllr. McEniff had been summonsed as a witness in the case before a special sitting of Ballyshannon District Court on Thursday. His son, Conor McEniff, told the court his father, "is not ever going to be able to give evidence in this case, saying, His heart specialist has told him that he is in no fit state to give evidence."

The case involves former Bundoran Town Councillor Florence McNulty (56) of The Palace, Main Street, Bundoran, who is charged with allegedly assaulting Garda Helen Munnelly. Her son Joseph McNulty (34) of 85 Doran Close, Bundoran is charged with alleged threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour as is her husband, Thomas McNulty (57) of Main Street, Bundoran. All charges relate to an incident which occurred at Bundoran Town Council offices on February 10th, 2014. All three defendants have given evidence and have denied all charges.



The McEniff family statement:



There are a number of different stories circulating about the health of Sean McEniff, ranging from him being perfectly healthy and flying home to give testimony in a court case to being at death's door. His family would like to briefly clarify that he is in an induced coma and in intensive care in Clinica Roca in San Agustin, where he has been, almost continuously, since his admission on October 27th.



The priorities of the staff at the hospital is on ensuring that Sean, and indeed all their patients, get the best of medical care. On our own behalf and on behalf of Clinica Roca, the family would respectfully request that people do not contact the hospital seeking information as none will be given. There have been a number of instances already of journalists claiming to be family members wasting the time of hospital translators and medical staff to the extent that VHI in Ireland could not initially get information they requested and had to rely on the intervention of family members to get access to the doctors.



Sean was having an afternoon walk in the water at the beach in the resort of Puerto Rico. He collapsed and lost consciousness taking in a lot of salt water and was close to drowning but thanks to the alertness of other tourists he was rescued and taken to the nearest hospital. He has a collapsed lung, pneumonia and fractured ribs but he is currently in a stable condition and the family is hopeful that his condition will slowly improve. The family would like to thank everyone that has inquired after Sean's health and are gratified by the many kind words, messages of support and prayers. Clinica Rosa is a very proficient but small hospital, without the resources to be dealing with sustained inquiries, and we would finally like to emphasize once again that people should not contact the hospital and distract them from the core mission of looking after their patients.
U.S. Strategic Command welcomes Hyten as new commander

Gen. John E. Hyten assumed command of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) from Adm. Cecil D. Haney during a change of command ceremony here, Nov. 3.



Hyten previously served as commander of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., from Aug. 2014 to Oct. 2016. While there, he was responsible for organizing, equipping, training and maintaining mission-ready space and cyberspace forces and capabilities for North American Aerospace Defense Command, USSTRATCOM and other combatant commands around the world.



Presiding over the change of command, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter expressed his confidence in Hyten as the new USSTRATCOM commander.



"In the days to come, [US]STRATCOMs mission will continue to remain vitally important to the bedrock of our security, and General Hyten will lead this critical team with the full trust and confidence of me, Chairman Dunford and President Obama, Carter said. The force he inherits is ready to execute any mission required, thanks to Admiral Haneys visionary leadership.



Carter reflected on his long history with Hyten, praising his leadership and accomplishments such as building interagency partnerships and a more resilient national security space enterprise.



"Thats important work hell continue here at [US]STRATCOM, because theres more to be done to confront those 21st century threats  we have to continuously adapt, innovate and stay flexible, Carter said. With his demonstrated leadership, expertise, managerial acumen and strategic vision, John will be a strong leader for this command for years to come  ensuring it meets not only the challenges we face today, but also those well confront in the future.



As the new commander of USSTRATCOM, Hyten said he is honored to follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest leaders in the history of our country.



In recent years, the leaders of USSTRATCOM have been heroes and mentors of mine, Hyten said. Most recently that meant [Retired Air Force Gen. Kevin P.] Chilton, [Retired Air Force Gen. C. Robert] Kehler, and Haney, but there were many other heroes of mine before that. I know I am not their equal, not even close, but I am motivated to try to live up to their legacy.



To each and every one of the amazing joint warriors of this command, the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of U.S. Strategic Command, from all across our nation, and to our allies  who stand with us against the most dangerous threats on the planet  I pledge my best efforts to support you each and every day I am lucky enough to be allowed to command this incredible organization, Hyten added.



During the ceremony, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford presented the Joint Meritorious Unit Award to USSTRATCOM and spoke about the continuity of command.



Tomorrow morning, just like this morning, the men and women of [US]STRATCOM will wake up with complete focus and commitment to the mission, and complete trust in their leadership, Dunford said. Day in and day out, the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of [U.S.] Strategic Command protect our nation against strategic attacks, they prepare to defeat those who would attack us if deterrence fails, and they ensure that the joint force has assured access to space and cyberspace.



Hyten said he observed how life seems to come full circle so often in ways you never expect, noting that 20 years ago, he and his family moved to Offutt Air Force Base when he assumed command of the 6th Space Operations Squadron.



It was a special time both in my career and our lives, he said. We loved that squadron, and we were so impressed with how the local community reached out and took care of us. We had a group of incredible Airmen and families, and we together accomplished some amazing things.



And now, once again here we are. Weve just packed and moved again from Colorado Springs to Nebraska to take command once again  this time of a slightly larger, slightly more complex organization in United States Strategic Command, Hyten continued. It is great to be back here at Offutt. It is a special community with great people, so the circle is complete and we are excited to be here.



Hyten attended Harvard University on an Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship, graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in engineering and applied sciences, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. General Hyten's career includes assignments in a variety of space acquisition and operations positions. He served in senior engineering positions on both Air Force and Army anti-satellite weapon system programs.



Haney will retire from active duty in January after 38 years of service.



For more information, contact the USSTRATCOM Public Affairs Office at 402-294-4130 or USSTRATCOMPA@mail.mil or visit www.stratcom.mil.


Nearly 70% of Australian consumers use social media [1], and were living in an increasingly social-first world. In fact, today more than 93% of social conversations between brands and people are one-to-one [2]. For businesses, being responsive is table stakes, and consumers now expect that social media will offer a better customer service experience than email or phone.

More than half of Australian small businesses, nearly half of medium-sized firms, and more than 20% of large companies do not have a social media strategy [1]. And at a time when more and more consumers expect quick responses from brands on social media, Australian businesses are largely failing to deliver on these expectations. With customers increasingly demanding service and support on social media, brands that fail to be present and engaged risk alienating their customers.

Its also costing them a lot of money. On average, it costs $6 to resolve a customer phone call, and $5 to close out a complaint over email. On social, it costs just a $1 [3]. The bottom-line impact of moving the bulk of customer care to social is potentially enormous. And businesses can expect future innovation from social networks to push more and more customers to seek out help from brands without leaving the social network.

For the most part, businesses in Australia are unprepared for this shift. When there is a social strategy in place, its often under-staffed and under-resourced. A great social customer care experience starts with a great social experience. Thats why its so important to have achievable and measureable social objectives, and brands must also be vigilant about constantly reinforcing the brand image and values.

This is even more crucial in a social care situation when consumers may be frustrated or upset. As more customers adapt to social media platforms, like Facebook or Twitter, they expect assistance and prompt responses from businesses. However, failure to do so can expose businesses to unfavourable to damning reviews and comments. This can truly impact a businesss reputation online as well as a customers trust and loyalty in the business.

Businesses, especially large companies, also need to prioritise keeping pace with innovation. Social media is the fastest-moving industry in history, and innovation from the social networks is moving at a blistering pace.

Whether businesses are ready or not, customers will soon be seeking help and information on company social channels. Not meeting that need, and pretending that delivering for customers will not increasingly mean delivering on social, simply wont work. Instead, its time for all companies in Australia to develop a sound social strategy, backed by the right planning, publishing, and analytics tools. And its time to start a race to the top and focus on the customer experience. This means pressure on businesses to provide a satisfying resolution.

Those that do not adapt to this world will be left out of the conversation.

About the author

Adrian Mottershead is the ANZ Market Director at Spredfast. His role takes him around the region, working with the companys biggest strategic partners to ensure they leverage social technology to drive their business objectives.

Reference

[1] https://www.sensis.com.au/assets/PDFdirectory/Sensis_Social_Media_Report_2016.PDF

[2] http://lp.spredfast.com/rs/766-CWH-446/images/Smart%20Social%20Report%20%234_v9.pdf

[3] https://hbr.org/2012/12/turn-customer-care-into-social
This is my first time to try fencing. Ive always wanted to do it because of Richard Gomez, Zorro and the Three Musketeers! Haha! Anyway ,Fencing is known as a very elite sports in the Philippines because of the expensive equipment, but now you can try it out without having to buy a thing! Just []
Access Services Plenary meeting 2015, Brussels / EBU

This year's meeting will be held in Berlin on 2 November, at the kind invitation of ARD/RBB. The event is open to all EBU Members and to special guests upon invitation.

PRE-EVENTS ON 1 NOVEMBER

All participants are invited to attend 2 events on the day before the AS plenary meeting, on 1 November.

From 14:00: Visit to ARD Text (live-subtitling) at RBB Potsdam (upon appointment)

Visit to ARD Text (live-subtitling) at RBB Potsdam (upon appointment) 17:30: A guided tour of the historical side of RBB Berlin, Haus des Rundfunks (HdR) - the first radio building in Germany - to be followed by a reception.

Please tick the corresponding boxes in the online registration form if youre interested!

PLENARY MEETING ON 2 NOVEMBER

Download the final 2016 programme (.PDF)

Broadcasters are not only affected by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and national legislation but more and more by other kinds of agreements such as the EU Accessibility Act or the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This becomes more and more a problem if broadcasters have to offer access services on all devices and distribution channels.

What should broadcasters do to minimize costs and provide the best service possible?

Well tackle the question in greater depth in a dedicated session presented by Jacques Lovell, EBU European Affairs Adviser.

We will also share knowledge, best practices and experiences to enable EBU Members to find out about new services, tools and ongoing projects designed to meet access service needs.

Here is a glimpse into some of the sessions scheduled for this year's AS meeting:

SPEECH RECOGNITION, RESPEAKING AND (SEMI-) LIVE SUBTITLING

Gunter Saerens, Head of subtitling department

Erik De Snerk, Member of the Eurovision Access Services Experts bureau, Manager of Production Facilities and Coordinator of Access Services, VRT, Belgium VRT

Gunter Saerens, Head of subtitling department Erik De Snerk, Member of the Eurovision Access Services Experts bureau, Manager of Production Facilities and Coordinator of Access Services, VRT, Belgium VRT ARTE'S MULTILINGUAL OFFERS AND THE EXAMPLE OF ARTE EUROPE

Chloe Roux, ARTE

Chloe Roux, ARTE UPDATE ON EUROPEAN ACCESSIBILITY ACT

Jacques Lovell, European Affairs Adviser, EBU

Jacques Lovell, European Affairs Adviser, EBU ACCESS SERVICES ACROSS EUROPE: PRESENTATION OF THE PAN-EUROPEAN SURVEY RESULTS

Gion Linder, Head of Swiss Text, Chairman of the Access Services Experts Group

Gion Linder, Head of Swiss Text, Chairman of the Access Services Experts Group HBB4ALL: HBBTV-BASED ACCESS SERVICES AND LESSONS LEARNED

Annette Wilson, Project Manager, RBB Innovation Projects, RBB, Germany

Annette Wilson, Project Manager, RBB Innovation Projects, RBB, Germany Special showcase on HBB4ALL

Demo from Authot

ABOUT LAST YEAR'S MEETING

Last year, over 50 Member delegates attended the Eurovision Access Services Experts 2015 meeting in Brussels. Read more on ebu.ch: News article / Programme and presentations from last years edition
The following guest post was written by my friend Rich Peterson. Rich describes himself as a Midwestern kid who graduated from Michigan State University before there were CDs, let alone MP3s. I found my way to Silicon Valley where I live with my wife, two kids and the worlds most spoiled dog (trust me), Rich told me.

I had intended to post this earlier but time got away from me. His essay was written just following the release of now-infamous Trump Access Hollywood pussy grabbing video.

Enjoy.

My daughter and I waited for our ride at a nearby Starbucks. Nathan said hed be picking us up at 6:00 in the morning, and we were ready with our coffee and bagels when he arrived. His girlfriend Jessica and Debbie, another volunteer, were already in the car. We got settled in and started the four-hour drive to Reno.

If you live in one of the forty-odd states that are considered to be decided in the presidential election, you can volunteer to support state and local candidates, but theres not much you can do in your own neighborhood that will affect the presidential election. If you live in California like I do, and you want to volunteer to help Hillary Clintons campaign, youll be making plans to travel to our neighboring swing state of Nevada. From California you can do phone work to help the Nevada Democrats  the campaign is very well organized, and the technology is easy  but you arent actually there.

So thats what we were doing in Nathans car at 6:00 in the morning: driving to Reno to canvass for voter registration before the registrars deadline.

Im old enough to have a daughter in high school, but this is the first time Id ever volunteered for a political campaign of any sort. But she was determined to do this, and I agreed to accompany her. Thats what parents do, right?

Our work was literally pedestrian. We walked around neighborhoods and knocked on doors. If someone answered we said that we were volunteering with the Democratic Party and we were helping people make sure that they were registered to vote in the upcoming election. We couldnt refuse anyone who wanted to register, and while we could explain the questions on the registration form and make sure they were filled out completely, we couldnt write on the forms or do anything with them except return them to be submitted to the state registrar.

One couple we met had moved recently, and they had picked up voter registration forms but hadnt filled them out. Also they were unaware that that weekend was the registration deadline. The wife called her husband out to the front porch right away and they filled in the registration forms for us to turn in to the registrar. Looking at the party affiliation box, they both hesitated. Well, I know what I would have said before, but Im just going to check non-partisan for now, the wife said.

Being a swing state voter is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, your vote for president counts in a way that mine doesnt. On the other hand, you pay for that with a barrage of (lets face it) really unpleasant advertising.

As my daughter and I walked around the sunny Reno suburb, we met people who were strong in their convictions, but respectful and polite even if they opposed Hillary or other Democratic candidates. Many thanked us for stopping by, and appreciated that we could give them a sheet showing Washoe countys locations and schedules for early voting polling stations. (Nevada allows early voting from October 22.)

We seemed to have met a few more Republicans than Democrats, but we didnt ask people about who they were going to vote. Often the committed Republicans saw our Hillary buttons let us know right away that they were on the other side.

But theres a third group of Nevadans that we encountered, like the couple that had recently moved. These voters were just as committed in their personal conservative convictions, but conflicted over the behavior of their partys presidential candidate. After all, we were canvassing on the day after Trumps latest scandal, the When youre a star, you can do anything hot mic quote.

Driving back from Reno, our carpool had a lot of time to talk about what wed heard from Silver State voters. With Trumps bankruptcies, the illegal workers on construction projects, the phony foundation, the scam university  with all this scandal in his history, why did it take this latest revelation to sway those voters?

As usual in this kind of conversation, it takes a woman to help a man understand. Its because hes bragging about committing sexual assault, Debbie said.

Wait, what?

Heres what men often dont fully understand. Sexual assault  unwanted touching, kissing, and other behavior  is really, really common in our society. And when it happens in a home, school or workplace because the man feels entitled to it, its especially difficult for a woman. Its not just a couple of overly friendly interactions  its an emotional struggle just to be around that man. At the very least, it leaves deep, disgusting memories. Some women give up jobs or make other big changes just to get away from situations where sexual assault occurs. Some women fight back, but in most cases sexual assault goes unreported. But the woman doesnt forget the incident, or that guy for the rest of her life.

On the Friday when the Access Hollywood video was posted, Donald Trump became that guy.

A lot of women with conservative values were ready to hold their noses and vote for Trump. Those scandals, theyd been told, were no worse than Hillarys.

But now these women are being asked to support that guy and vote for him to be President of the United States. And it will be a cold day in Hell before theyll do that.

Thats what I didnt understand at first. But in my trip to Reno as a first-time campaign volunteer, thats another thing I learned. From women in Nevada.

[CC image credit: Thomas Hawk | Flickr]
The following guest post was written by Friend of the Blog (and the blogger) Linsey Pecikonis. Linsey is the Communications Lead at #VOTEPROCHOICE.

Enjoy.

In a few days, the 2016 election will come to an end. While a majority of us are still transfixed by a presidential election like no other, the key races across the country are decided much lower on the ballot.

For the past 18 months its been an onslaught of where the presidential hopefuls, then nominees stand on a slew of issues. With so much vitriol being spewed from the top, its been difficult to stay focused on what issues are important to your local candidates  the ones whose decisions impact your life daily.

Thats why #VOTEPROCHOICE, a radically inclusive political engagement platform, created a voter guide allowing you to see where candidates stand on Choice. During the last Presidential debate, the one where Donald Trump incorrectly described why women have term abortions, we heard where both candidates at the top of the ticket stand on reproductive rights. In the vice president debate, both candidates were able to articulate positions so voters could decide which candidate most aligned with their values and visions.

In local elections, its not always as easy. Thats why this voter guide is so important. It features all national, state, and most local elections across the country in a geographically accurate sample ballot. With over 10,000 pro-Choice endorsements from partners and pro-Choice friends, we need your help getting this voter guide into the hands of voters.

The Eclectablog community understands the importance of this election and the impact this election can have on the issues progressives care about. But we also understand the power our local elected officials have on important issues like healthcare, taxes, and on womens rights. the #VOTEPROCHOICE voter-guide, you can decide whether that county commissioner or state senator deserves your vote.

Check out the #VOTEPROCHOICE voter guide today. Once youve checked out your candidates, be sure to share with other prochoice friends. Help get this guide into millions of voters hands. Its our time to stand up and defend safe access for legal abortions.

Graphic by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog.
Salesforce has agreed to acquire its Marketing Cloud partner Krux, which offers a data management platform.

Salesforce will pay US$340 million in cash and issue between 3.4 million and six million shares of common stock to consummate the deal, according to documentation filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Thats worth an estimated $700 million in all.

Benefits to Both

Krux will extend the Salesforce Marketing Clouds segmentation and targeting capabilities to power consumer marketing with even more precision at scale, said Krux CEO Tom Chavez.

Further, Krux will feed Salesforces new artificial intelligence system, Einstein, with billions of new signals, providing corporations with more data about their users.

Krux will continue supporting its partner ecosystem.

The acquisition was absolutely needed and expected, said Sheryl Kingstone, a research director at 451 Research.

Its a great addition to not just the data cloud, but also the marketing cloud, as the world demands contextual 1:1 intent-driven engagement, she told CRM Buyer. Its all about the data for the future of intelligent business applications.

Salesforce is making a big push into AI, having developed Einstein to integrate AI into all of its products and serve as a nervous system across its entire business.

Einstein includes product recommendations; Predictive Sort, which turns up sort and search results based on how likely customers are to make a purchase; and Commerce Insights, which helps retailers understand product purchase correlations to help improve their store planning and merchandising.

Data lies at the heart of those efforts, and that is just what Krux offers. Through its data management platform, it serves as an intelligent marketing center that corporations can leverage to deliver media, content and commerce experiences to deepen customer engagement, strengthen

At the Crux of Krux

Every month, Krux interacts with more than 3 billion browsers and devices, supports more than 200 billion data collection events, processes more than 5 billion CRM records, and orchestrates more than 200 billion personalized consumer experiences.

Krux uses AI to analyze all of those signals to identify audiences for targeted marketing and advertising efforts.

Clients include Kellogg, ConAgra, JetBlue, Time Warner and Peugeot-PSA.

Happier Together

When Salesforce unveiled its next-generation marketing cloud last year, Krux was one of the partners in its digital marketing and digital advertising ecosystems.

Krux earlier this year deepened its integration with the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, empowering advertisers to match third-party data with customer information on their Salesforce instances.

Krux also entered the Salesforce independent software vendor partner program, which enables customers of both firms to use their customer data to target consumers on the open Web, while also enriching their customer profiles with online engagement data.

The resulting two-way data exchange between the data sets let Salesforce clients consistently increase the value of both their online and offline data.

It made sound business sense for Salesforce to extend the partnership by purchasing Krux.

Kruxs technology has real-time access to extensive customer data, which is crucial to understanding the process a consumer goes through when making a purchase, said Anne Moxie, a senior analyst at Nucleus Research.

Salesforce will be able to leverage this data with its artificial intelligence offering, Einstein, she told CRM Buyer, to potentially either make its marketing campaigns more dynamic, so that it can respond to consumer actions in real time, or  for highly granular customer segmentation.

It will make targeting more accurate, Moxie noted, because the neural networks and deep learning models in Einstein can use the real-time data thats collected from Krux for improved campaigns.
Social media has sharpened humans age-old appetite for public shaming, providing a stage and unlimited seating for a seemingly unending stream of immorality plays. Those who share even the simplest identifying details about themselves are vulnerable to being pushed into the glare of the spotlight.

The anonymity the Internet provides frees many individuals of the consequences they might face offline for being abusive to other people. Perhaps appearing to their friends, family and connections as ordinary people in the real world, these Jekyll-and-Hyde netizens transform into trolls to carry out their online assaults.

Anonymity has been a hot button issue for just about the entire life of the Internet, and although there is no 100 percent solution in sight, the situation is not entirely hopeless, according to Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

So long as public sites enable user anonymity, pathological behavior will continue, because it thrives in the shadows, he told TechNewsWorld. Forcing abusers into the sunlight may be difficult or impossible  but changes in rules, laws and enforcement practices could make their lives more complicated and less comfortable.

Deep Dive Into Dirt

We know what the problem looks like, thanks to big data and analytics.

Arecent analysis identified more than17,000 tweets related to body shaming, for example, and ranked the most common terms Twitter users lobbed at others to shame them for their weight.

Artificial intelligence soon might be able to catch and moderate cruel posts mere moments after publication, suggested a University of Lisbon team of researchers who have leveraged machine learning to teach AI to suss out sarcasm.

For now, the moderation and reporting tools available arent set up to prevent or discourage online abuse, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Reputation protection services can be used, but that doesnt scale well  they target one person at a time  and it can be really expensive if you have to litigate and your attacker has no money, he told TechNewsWorld.

What to Do?

It appears Reddit currently has the best system in place, in Enderles view, as its shadow-blocking tools shield users from whomever they wish to block, while allowing offenders to keep their accounts. Offenders are none the wiser, barring some detective work.

Of course, publicizing shamers so they lose their jobs, gym memberships, and get attacked themselves does work, he acknowledged, and if it is done enough, that should change behavior.

However, that approach so far hasnt been used enough to make a difference, Enderle said.

That could change if social media sites and other forums were willing to make some changes.

They could take proactive steps that might make a difference, noted King, who pointed to a list of suggestions for Twitter, posted online by Randi Lee Harper, founder of the Online Abuse Prevention Initiative.

Those changes might result in a significant decrease in the prevalence of abuse on Twitter, but what will it take to inspire websites and their parent companies to intercede?

Many, if not most, technology vendors bend over backward to avoid favoritism and maintain level playing fields for users of all stripes, King pointed out. I respect that attitude, but its often subject to being gamed by some users  and in some circumstances has resulted in online environments that amplify abusive behavior.

Societal Shift

Machine learning tools one day might be capable of rejecting abusive comments before their intended targets ever see them. However, even if the companies running social networks work strenuously to stomp out online abuse, its ultimately up to humans to ensure that humanity prevails.

The best line of defense against social shaming starts at home, suggested counselor Scott A. Spackey.

Family validation and bonding, and personal achievement with sports, school work and personal goals is the antidote to ANY source of social shaming, he told TechNewsWorld.

People are more immune to criticism from outsiders when they have evidence to the contrary, provided by self knowledge and by those in their inner circles, Spackey said. For example, its easier to brush off being called stupid when ones grades indicate otherwise.

We all need to remember theres no law against unfriending a social network contact at any time, he noted. Virtual life has same rules as non-virtual life: You get to have the final say on who you interact with and what you are exposed to.

While its ideal to teach those lessons in the home, its never too late to improve oneself with education and re-education.

Pity the Fool?

When Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers snapchatted an image of an older woman nude in a locker room, that was an opportunity for education, according to relationship and etiquette expert April Masini.

It was a moment to talk about what happens, naturally, to our bodies, she told TechNewsWorld.

There is a lesson for Ms. Mathers to learn that bodies age and they dont look the same at 20 as they do at 60 or 70 or 80, and that its important to celebrate the changes of a healthy and aging human being, Masini said, instead of mocking the change that is often difficult to endure because its a signal life is slipping away  as it should.

Mathers undoubtedly was afraid of what she saw to some degree, she suggested, and might not even be conscious of the aging of her own body.

The impetus for body shamers and bullies is usually fear, Masini said. We see bravado and mean-spirited posts  we dont acknowledge the fear behind the person posting.
Verizon last week indicated that its US$4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo could be in jeopardy in light of the companys delay in disclosing a massive 2014 data breach that compromised about 500 million account holders.

Verizon may need some additional assurances about the effects of the breach, suggested General Counsel Craig Silliman at an event in Washington, D.C.

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, he said. If they believe that its not, then theyll need to show us that.

Those comments followed an earlier New York Post report that Verizon had demanded a $1 billion discount on the acquisition price after Yahoo disclosed the extent of the data breach, which was kept under wraps for months after its discovery.

Yahoo expects the acquisition to move forward in spite of the stumbling block. It is scheduled to close by the first quarter 2017.

We are confident in Yahoos value, and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon, the company said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Suzanne Philion.

Earnings on Tap

Yahoo will release third-quarter earnings results after the close of business on Oct. 18, it said, but it will not hold an earnings call or host a webcast for investors due to the pending Verizon deal.

Yahoo had been under enormous pressure from investors and analysts to develop a strategy to compete in the modern world of social media, Web content and analytics.

A perception has taken hold that under the leadership of Marissa Mayer, Yahoo completely failed to develop products that would grow user engagement, fell further behind Google in the Internet search area, and spent way too much money on corporate expenses and noncore assets.

Yahoo confirmed in late September that it had been the victim one of the biggest data breaches ever  a 2014 hack that compromised a wide range of personal data belonging to at least 500 million Yahoo account holders: names, email addresses, dates of birth, hashed passwords, telephone numbers, and in some cases encrypted or unencrypted security questions.

The hack was state sponsored, Bob Lord, chief information security officer at Yahoo, wrote in an online post last month.

Russia was suspected of being behind the massive data breach, according to multiple reports.

The yahoo hack showed a level of sophistication consistent with a state-sponsored hack, but it is too early to draw any definitive conclusion, a law enforcement source familiar with the case told the E-Commerce Times.

Show Cards

Verizon should be able to walk away without any liability if need be, according to attorney Peter Vogel, a partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell.

During the due diligence period, it has the right to investigate the companys financial statements and intellectual property, he pointed out, and that gives the parties the right to make changes in the sales price and scope of the deal.

So it seems to me that Verizon could conclude that Yahoos business was so badly damaged by the cyberintrusion that the value of the business is greatly diminished, and if Yahoo disagrees that the deal could end at that point, Vogel told the E-Commerce Times.

Verizon is likely to renegotiate a better deal or walk away entirely, said industry analyst Jeff Kagan.

Before, acquiring Yahoo seemed like a good idea from Verizons point of view, he told the E-Commerce Times. However, now Yahoo is a double-sided coin, full of both good and bad.
One of the most volatile conspiracy theories in recent times ended with a whimper last month, when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made the terse statement, President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.

Though birthers may be with us always, it seems that many have turned their attention to other potentially scandalous topics  and they need look no further than the place most conspiracy theories are born these days, the Internet.

Scientists recently made a discovery that might explain why Trumps search for President Obamas real birth certificate resonated with his supporters  those most drawn to his promise to make America great again.

Highly stressed people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, according to research published this spring in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Based on the responses of 420 U.S. adults surveyed, stress and discontent correlated with a higher likelihood of belief in conspiracy theories ranging from 9/11 being an inside job to the moon landing being produced on a Hollywood set, researchers found, regardless of the participants social status.

That offers some insight into why some people are more likely to believe, but it does not explain why they push away a preponderance of evidence in favor of the generally accepted answers to questions most people dont even ask.

There always have been conspiracy theories, noted pop culture expert Paul Levinson, a communications professor atFordham University, who pointed to all the wild ideas that emerged in the aftermath of the JFK assassination.

Social media have fanned the flames, making conspiracy theories more likely to spread, he said.

Anyone can write anything, and it can be viewed by millions in the blink of an eye on Twitter. Millions can, in turn, easily retweet the comment or image or link, Levinson told TechNewsWorld.

At the Intersection

One of the most popular conspiracy theories  one thats likely to outlive this generation and the next  concerns the untimely death of Princess Diana in a 1997 automobile accident. That event occurred squarely at the intersection of two eras, spinning one of the first major series of conspiracy theories of the Information Age.

Suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident intrigued the world. Back then, newspapers were still alive and well, birds were the only ones tweeting, and posting meant sending mail.

Author and self-described Diana fanatic Roman Clay recalled how old-school TV and print media coverage of the princess death focused on certain details and missed many others.

Clay was surprised by the common perception that Diana had died immediately in the tunnel, as well as by the many other details that generally were unknown  for example, that it took 108 minutes to rush her to the ER, and that she passed away due to internal hemorrhaging.

There were a few writers who questioned the official report and wrote investigative books on Dianas death, but they received very little coverage in mass media, Clay told TechNewsWorld.

So Clay, using the freedom fiction allows to fill in the blanks, wrote Death of the Queen of Hearts to publish his own theory and encourage more people to question the official line.

Coverage of the princess death certainly would have been a lot different had it occurred a decade or so later. These days, individuals can express themselves to a large audience over the Internet, and thats definitely a plus, Clay said.

Researchers into Dianas death would be able to present the facts quickly and widely, he noted, but that easy access to the Internet also permits some outrageous theories that bring in aliens or lizard people, which thereby dilutes and buries other serious investigative research.

New Millennia, New Media, No Change

Although news of Dianas death traveled quickly, its dissemination was nothing like it would be today. Anyone with an Internet connection now has up-to-the-minute access to every detail, true or false  whether its the latest controversial police shooting, an Olympic divers tale of being held at gunpoint by Brazilian muggers, or the discovery that the divers story was fabricated.

The worlds current connectedness gives everyone a voice and a platform. However, voices that once were dominated now get drowned out by a crowd of blog, forum and social media posts.

Governments have harder time controlling their messages, noted Richard W. Lachmann, a professor specializing in comparative/historical sociology and political sociology at the University at Albany.

Its a way around censorship, he said, pointing to the U.S. governments inability to control information about the Iraq war, due in large to soldiers sharing impressions online.

Compare that to Vietnam, Lachmann told TechNewsWorld. It took years for enough soldiers to come home and tell civilians that the reality of the war was very different from the governments version.

As for terrorism, the Internet has increased the amount or rumors and conspiracies on the subject, he noted.

That can induce panic and the feeling that the government does not have terror under control, Lachmann said.

However, savvy government can take advantage of a climate of fear, he suggested.

The Bush administration repeatedly tried to increase public fear after 9/11 to build support for the Iraq war and for others of its policies, and to win the 2004 election, Lachmann maintained. For those purposes, rumors about terror were helpful, even though they had no basis in reality.

While the Internet has turbocharged the speed and distances at which conspiracy theories travel, that doesnt necessarily mean more people buy into them, observed Joseph Uscinski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami and author ofAmerican Conspiracy Theories.

Many people blame the Internet for conspiracy theories, he told TechNewsWorld but conspiracy theories are a part of the human experience and existed, sometimes in great numbers, long before the advent of the Web.

Conspiracy Theories in the Information Age, Part 2
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Cincinnati City Council members have sent a strongly-worded letter to Ohio Gov. John Kasich demanding the recall of 37 state troopers from the escalating

Dakota Access Pipeline protests in North Dakota.

Majority of Cincinnati City Council calling on @JohnKasich to recall the Ohio Troopers sent to North Dakota. pic.twitter.com/lrSj7U6qKy  Chris Seelbach (@ChrisSeelbach) November 1, 2016

The images of militarized police facing off against unarmed Native Americans protecting their water and their history recalls back to the worst time period of American history; a time when the Federal government committed genocide against native tribes in an attempt to gain control over their land and their resources, the letter states.

[facebook https://www.facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/1333980263281574/ expand=1]

The letter was signed by a majority of city council members including Vice Mayor David Mann, President Pro-Tem Yvette Simpson as well as councilmembers Chris Seelbach, P.G. Sittenfeld and Wendell Youngwas sent to Gov. Kasich on Tuesday.

As you know, this pipeline was originally routed near Bismarck, ND, but changed after residents of Bismarck opposed the pipeline coming near their homes, the letter continues. Instead, the pipeline was routed from mostly white Bismarck, to native lands bordering a reservation. This is a sensitive and delicate situation that Ohio voters have not taken a position on.

The 37 Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers were sent to the Standing Rock protests on Saturday. The letter urges state troopers to come home so they can focus on Ohio issues, such as the heroin epidemic, increased traffic fatalities and other issues that need greater attention within our state.

Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Robert Sellers said that Ohio simply answered a call for support from North Dakota law enforcement.

We are going there to support the people of North Dakota, Sellers told Cincinnati.com. More specifically, to provide safety and protect everyones rights.

Besides Ohio, many other states have deployed reinforcements to North Dakota after Gov. Jack Dalrymple

declared a state of emergency surrounding the ongoing protests. Wisconsin, Indiana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming and Nebraska have all sent personnel, according to an Oct. 23 release from the Morton County Sheriffs Department.

The protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation started in April and has since entered the national conversation. More than 1.6 million Facebook users have checked in at the

Standing Rock Indian Reservation page on Facebook to show solidarity with those on the front lines.

1 Million People 'Check In' on Facebook to Support Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters https://t.co/XQVRD5kYW8 @dhlovelife @Indigeneity  EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) November 1, 2016

Native American communities and their supporters have been battling the construction of the controversial $3.7 billion, 1,168-mile pipeline that will transfer up to 570,00 barrels of crude oil per day from the Bakken oilfield in North Dakota to a refinery near Chicago, crossing the Missouri River less than a mile away from the Standing Rock Reservation.

The people of Standing Rock, often called Sioux, warn that a potential spill into the river would threaten their drinking water, desecrate sacred sites and risk the health of their reservation.

What started off as a peaceful protest has, at times, turned violent. Many

reports have emerged of police cracking down on the protestors, from the releasing of dogs to firing mace. Hundreds of arrests have been made.

Josh Fox, the founder and producing artistic director of the International WOW Company, recorded footage of the protests and wrote, there were many eyewitnesses to these events, including myself and

Erin Schrode, a 25-year old journalist who recently became the youngest person to run for Congress in California. Erin was shot yesterday by police at point-blank range with rubber bullets.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/190114684 expand=1]

This morning, roughly 100 protesters will gather at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to deliver a petition to Gov. Kasich, demanding that he recall state troopers from the protest site.



The

Change.org petition has collected more than 30,000 signatures and is one of the fastest-growing environmental campaigns on the site since it was first posted a week ago, a Change.org representative told EcoWatch.

Ohio taxpayers do not want 37 of their highway patrol officers to participate in this unconstitutional and unethical violation of Native American peoples rights. Change.org

Ohio taxpayers do not want 37 of their highway patrol officers to participate in this unconstitutional and unethical violation of Native American peoples rights. We demand that Gov. John Kasich bring these state troopers back home now, Grove City, Ohio resident Cathy Becker, who started the petition, said.



Becker and other organizers involved in Ohios movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline will be speaking at todays gathering. You can watch the event on

Facebook Live.
(Photo: Ecumenical News / Young Kun Park)The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby holds a press conference during the 10th Assembly of the World Council of churches in Busan, South Korea on November 1, 2013.

Archbishop Justin Welby, the most senior bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, says that Christianity has never felt as threatened as it does in its historic birthplace, the Middle East.

"It would not be over-stating matters to say that Christianity is both the numerically largest faith and the most persecuted," said Welby speaking in Abu Dhabi before a Muslim body debating integration and religious freedom.

"The historic center of the Christian Church in the Middle East has never felt so threatened, but is also under attack in countries as diverse as North Korea and Eritrea, where Christians are harassed, imprisoned, persecuted and killed."

Welby, who is the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the spiritual leader of the Church of England was addressing a senior Islamic group from the Muslim Council of Elders known as the "Council of the Wise."

"It is fitting too that we meet in a country which has taken practical steps to enable religious minorities to meet, teach, worship and express themselves. It shows a confidence in granting freedom, and a self-confidence which is fitting and proper.

Christians have recently been on the receiving end of persecution both from militantly atheist and religiously intolerant regimes, said Welby.

"As faith communities we must step up and hold governments to account," asserted Welby. "This is a challenge for us all everywhere but none-more-so than in countries where faith communities have serious power through numerical, political or civic strength."

RIGHTS OF MUSLIMS IN THE UK

Welby said that in the United Kingdom, the Anglican church advocates for the rights of Muslims to set up schools, madrassahs and mosques across the country.

"But the increasing integration of Muslim communities within British society, in which we rejoice, is in stark contrast to the increasing marginalization of and outright hostility to Christian communities within many parts of the world, not least in significant parts of the Middle East."

The Archbishop of Canterbury also criticized the definition of British values given by Britain's education regulation body, Ofsted, as a recipe for tyranny.

He said: "In the UK we find British values, so called, defined by Ofsted as belief in democracy, in the rule of law and in mutual respect of faiths, or for those of no faith.

"This approach is good, but entirely inadequate as a foundation for a healthy society. Democracy without fundamental values around the value of the human being, and, I would say, without the understanding of God's grace and love for the humanity God created, is a recipe for majority tyranny."
Lake Hallies referendum on Tuesday offers voters a unique choice. They will be asked to approve money to add a specific position with the village police department.

If approved, the referendum allows the village to increase the village tax levy by $85,000 each year to pay for a full-time detectives position. The money goes toward wages, benefits, uniforms and equipment for the position.

We could have used a person who was earmarked for investigation years and years ago, Police Chief Cal Smokowicz said. We need it as far as Im concerned.

Village Board President Wayne Walkoviak agreed.

Its about time we start thinking of a detective, he said, noting the village is growing.

The department currently has eight full-time and eight part-time officers. Right now, they do investigations as needed.

Smokowicz said a detective positions would free up department patrol officers to do patrol work and keep department squad cars in the village limits.

A detective would also allow the village to have someone who could work with neighboring municipalities on investigations, something that hasnt happened a lot because of time constraints.

For years, neighboring departments helped Lake Hallie with investigations. That practice has ended.

We have borrowed from our neighbors a lot, Smokowicz said.

Under the current system, an officer goes out on a call, makes a report and often is called elsewhere.

The detective would do legwork on cases with the goal of shortening the time it takes to resolve them.

Its possible the detective could spend a significant amount of time behind a computer, Smokowicz said, going through and examining data.

He thinks specialists are needed in most fields, including law enforcement.

You dont hire one guy and he builds your entire home, he said.
According to this new information the Russians have known about alien civilizations for several decades, to many this comes as no surprise,...
Date: 04/11/2016 ST to contribute to HDBaseT Automotive, a single cable for in-car wiring Semiconductor chip maker STMicroelectronics and Valens joined hands to develop HDBaseT Automotive as a better wired connectivity solution in automotives.



Valens HDBaseT enables transmission of ultra-high-definition video & audio, Ethernet, controls, and USB and also source a power of 100W using a single cable, which can be used up to a distance of 100 m/328 ft.To eliminate a cluster of cables, HDBaseT uses single cable for multiple data.



HDBaseT automotive is better alternative for in-vehicle connectivity with 6Gbps through-put and is used to transmit infotainment data, road safety data, and automotive-control content across the vehicle using low-cost infrastructure and also this data is transmitted or communicated at near zero latency.



Valens is the inventor of HDBaseT and founder of the HDBaseT Alliance. By joining this alliance STMicroelectronics says it will contribute extensive design and manufacturing experience and know-how in compliance with the strict automotive quality and reliability requirements.



As Valens meets significant milestones in our vision to optimize in-vehicle connectivity, we are excited to welcome ST as our major partner in pursuing this goal. ST will help us accelerate the introduction of HDBaseT Automotive to the market, said Dror Jerushalmi, CEO, Valens.



With long leadership in serving the Automotive industry and Smart Driving as one of our key focus areas, we can see the potential of HDBaseT Automotive as a high-throughput, low-latency, low-cost technology. Thats why we are excited to be part of this project to help Valens bring the HDBaseT Automotive technology and devices to the market, with the highest levels of quality and reliability expected, said Fabio Marchio, Vice President and General Manager, Automotive Digital division, STMicroelectronics.



Some of the other members in the group includes, GM, LG, SAMSUNG and SONY PICTURES.

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JERUSALEM: Christians worldwide should flood United Nations organizations with Bibles 04 November, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

JERUSALEM (Christian Examiner)  In an effort to highlight the "genuine, historic connection" Jews and Christians have to Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is calling on Christians worldwide to flood the offices of the UN's science, education, and cultural organization (UNESCO) with Bibles.

The request from the pro-Israel and pro-Messianic Jewish organization based in the Israeli capital comes just after UNESCO passed a resolution last week ignoring Jewish claims to historical sites in and around Jerusalem.

The resolution references the Jewish Temple Mount solely by its Arab name. In doing so, UNESCO bypassed 4,000 years of Jewish history to placate the Palestinians.

The First Temple for Jews to worship God was built where the Dome of the Rock now sits around 960-920 B.C., about 1,600 years before Muslims conquered the Holy Land and built two mosques on the Temple Mount.

In an announcement on its website, ICEJ said it recently celebrated the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles) with its Jewish friends in Jerusalem. The Jewish festival  which commemorates the people of Israel's time of dwelling in the desert in tents after the Exodus  took place the same week UNESCO, which is supposed to preserve world heritage sites, issued its resolution.

ICEJ called the resolution "disgraceful" and said it was aimed at "erasing the Jewish and Christian bonds to the Temple Mount and other holy sites in the Land of Israel, which they referred to only by their Muslim names." The ICEJ denounced the decision.

The organization asks now that Christians the world over send Bibles to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

It says Christians should open the Bible and highlight as many ancient references to the "Temple" and "Jerusalem" as possible.

"We are hoping to inundate UNESCO with tens of thousands of Bibles to drive home the message that Jews and Christians have a much more genuine, historic connection to Jerusalem and the Temple than Muslims. In fact, the city is never mentioned even once in the Koran, whereas Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are central to nearly every book in the Bible and to the Jewish and Christian faiths," the statement said.

In the sample letter ICEJ provides to accompany the Bible, Jerusalem's historic connection to the Jewish people is in focus. Conquered by King David and made his capital and the site of the Temple, the mountain and Jerusalem are mentioned more than 1,000 times in the Bible.

"So this omission is either a deliberate rewriting of history or a case of ignorance by those we would otherwise expect to be educated and informed," the ICEJ letter states.

Muslims call the city "Al Quds."
Judicial Watch Statement on State Department Release of 357 New Hillary Clinton Emails

Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch , 202-646-5172WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Judicial Watch today reacted to the State Department's release of hundreds additional emails that were recovered by the FBI in its investigation of former Secretary of State Clinton's use of a non-state.gov email system during her tenure. These emails had not been previously turned over to the State Department. As of yesterday, the State Department has now released 549 emails produced by the FBI's investigation. These records further appear to contradict statements by Clinton that, " as far as she knew ," all of her government emails were turned over to the State Department."The Obama State Department is doing its best to slow walk the release of Hillary Clinton's 'deleted' emails. The agency had these records since July and will have only released a portion before Election Day," stated Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president. "Thanks to Judicial Watch, and in this case the intrepid work of Vice News reporter Jason Leopold, two federal courts have forced these disclosures. The Clinton/Obama cover-up of these emails continues to unravel."Additional documents are to be released to Judicial Watch this afternoon. The State Department has been producing documents in accordance with a September 23, 2016, court order issued by Judge Boasberg, who ordered the Department of State to begin processing at least 1,050 pages of Hillary Clinton emails recovered by the FBI and provide Judicial Watch all non-exempt documents before November 4. State Department confirmed in September that the FBI had discovered nearly 15,000 new Clinton emails as a result of Judicial Watch's litigation seeking all of Clinton's work-related emails ( Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00687)). Yesterday's release of documents is associated with a lawsuit brought by Jason Leopold of Vice News ( Leopold v. Department of Justice (1:15-cv-2117)).A hearing will be held Monday, November 7, 2016, regarding Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking emails sent or received by Clinton in her official capacity during her tenure as Secretary of State. The timeframe for this request is February 2, 2009, to January 31, 2013.Hillary Clinton has repeatedly stated that she believes that the 55,000 pages of documents she turned over to the State Department in December 2014 included all of her work-related emails. In response to a court order in other Judicial Watch litigation, she declared under penalty of perjury that she had "directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or are potentially federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done." This new email find is also at odds with her official campaign statement suggesting all "work or potentially work-related emails" were provided to the State Department.
Homeschooled Girl Hopes to Bring Millions More Christians to the Polls Via Pro-Trump Song



FORT MYERS, Fla., Nov. 4, 2016 /



"I hope that this song, 'Christians  Don't Stay Home on Election Day,'



Izzy notes that the song was a homeschool project their family took on after meeting fellow Christians who wanted to sit out the election or do a protest vote for a third party.



"There are Christians who think they are being holy by not voting, but that's not true. Like in the Good Samaritan parable Jesus told, if you walk on and ignore the cries, you are guilty," said Izzy, who plays the song on the piano to a tune she and her 13 year-old sister came up with.



Izzy's mother noted that "Millions of Christians sat out or voted third party the last two presidential elections which led to the Democrats taking over and causing millions of innocent lives to be lost. Under Obama and Hillary's watch, ISIS grew huge, and hundreds of thousands of Christians have had to flee their homes, while thousands more have been tortured, killed, and raped." She notes Hillary has taken millions of dollars from radical Islamist countries  and from Planned Parenthood. Hillary has pledged even more federal dollars for the abortion giant. "If we allow this innocent blood to be shed by not voting for the one who will save lives, God will hold us accountable."



The song "Christians  Don't Stay Home on Election Day" can be found at this link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0G1pmb-iNI

Share Tweet Contact: Kathy L., 239-580-7529FORT MYERS, Fla., Nov. 4, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- With less than a week until Election Day, a young girl sings a song to appeal to Christian voters. "Christians - Don't Stay Home on Election Day" is a powerful plea that focuses on the massacre of Christians in the Middle East and the plight of the preborn under the Democrats."I hope that this song, 'Christians  Don't Stay Home on Election Day,' www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0G1pmb-iNI will show Christians that there is a big difference between Trump and Hilary," said Izzy, an eleven year-old homeschooled student, "It is the difference between life and death."Izzy notes that the song was a homeschool project their family took on after meeting fellow Christians who wanted to sit out the election or do a protest vote for a third party."There are Christians who think they are being holy by not voting, but that's not true. Like in the Good Samaritan parable Jesus told, if you walk on and ignore the cries, you are guilty," said Izzy, who plays the song on the piano to a tune she and her 13 year-old sister came up with.Izzy's mother noted that "Millions of Christians sat out or voted third party the last two presidential elections which led to the Democrats taking over and causing millions of innocent lives to be lost. Under Obama and Hillary's watch, ISIS grew huge, and hundreds of thousands of Christians have had to flee their homes, while thousands more have been tortured, killed, and raped." She notes Hillary has taken millions of dollars from radical Islamist countries  and from Planned Parenthood. Hillary has pledged even more federal dollars for the abortion giant. "If we allow this innocent blood to be shed by not voting for the one who will save lives, God will hold us accountable."The song "Christians  Don't Stay Home on Election Day" can be found at this link:
FRC Action Unveils Vote Scorecard for Second Session of 114th Congress Contact: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, Family Research Council Action, 866-FRC-NEWS or 866-372-6397



WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- FRC Action released its annual Vote Scorecard for Members of Congress and Senators showing which Members demonstrated an unwavering commitment and consistent support of faith, family and freedom during the second session of the 114th Congress. FRC Action may score additional votes for the 114th Congress as they wrap up their term at the end of this year. Votes in the U.S. House included: Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015 (FRC Action Supported)



Reauthorization of the D.C. School Choice Act (FRC Action Supported)



Allowing Veterans Affairs Medical Professionals to Recommend Marijuana as Medicine (FRC Action Opposed)



Codifying Special Hiring Rights Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (FRC Action Opposed)



District of Columbia Home Rule Act (FRC Action Supported)



Religious Freedom for Contractors (FRC Action Supported)



Amendment to Fund Abortion Coverage in Federal Health Benefits Plans (FRC Action Opposed)



Amendment to Undermine Congressional Authority over DC Budget (FRC Action Opposed)



Amendment to Repeal D.C.'s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (FRC Action Supported)



Amendment to Keep Women from Being Forced to Register for the Draft (FRC Action Supported)



Conscience Protection Act (FRC Action Supported) Votes in the U.S. Senate included: Nomination of John B. King, Jr. as Secretary of the Department of Education (FRC Action Opposed) Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins made the following comments: "The FRC Action Scorecard and the FRC Action voter guide, are great tools every freedom loving Christian in America needs to make biblically informed voting choices. The outcomes of this year's elections, from the White House, Congress, state legislatures and governor's mansions, will have a major impact on the future of religious liberty, family values, sanctity of life, and the Supreme Court.



"As I've traveled across North Carolina this week on the Values Bus tour, I am encouraging those values voters who have been on the sidelines to look closely at the voting records of those running for office along with the two party platforms. There has never been a clearer contrast between the two platforms than it is today. Platforms matter because studies have shown that candidates adhere to the platform more than 80 percent of the time. If you are concerned about the candidates, then instead vote the platform and the future of the Supreme Court.



"In 2012, there were about 39 million voting-eligible Christians who did not vote. Conservatives can't afford to sit back and watch their country go over the edge with four more years of ultraliberal policies. America, this cannot be an election about two people running for president. It's about two fundamentally different visions for our country at the national and state levels. If polling has shown us anything, it's how razor-thin the margin of victory may be. In a nation this divided, even one vote can make a difference. So get out there and stand for faith, family, and freedom," Perkins concluded. FRC Action will finish distributing more than 4 million voter guides across the country by Election Day and its social media videos have already reached more than a million targeted Christian conservative voters. FRC Action's Values Bus tour has made stops in every North Carolina county and its ground team will knock on 153,000 doors and phone calls total this weekend in the state.



To view a copy of the Vote Scorecard, visit www.frcaction.org/scorecard

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Agile Cigar Reviews replace what we termed Assessment Updates. The concept is the same, but the name is different. Agile Cigar Reviews use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or providing a score for a first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at Eiroa The First 20 Years in the 60 x 6 (Gordo) format. This is a cigar line we have previously assessed in the 50 x 5 (Robusto) size back in January, 2016.

Wrapper: Honduras

Binder: Honduras

Filler: Honduras

Country of Origin: Honduras

Size: 6 x 60

Eiroa  The First 20 Years is the third blend under CLE Cigar Companys Eiroa brand. 2015 marked CLE founder Christian Eiroas 20th anniversary in the cigar business. To commemorate the occasion, Christians father, Julio Eiroa presented him what he considered to be some very special tobacco . Christian took the tobacco and created a blend. The result would be the Eiroa First 20 Years release. The cigar made its debut at the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show and would be released later that year.

Given the Eiroa familys ties to Honduras, it is no surprise that the Eiroa First 20 Years is a Honduran puro. The line is available in four box-pressed sizes and today we take a look at the 60 x 6 size.

The Eiroa First 20 Years 60 x 6 delivers notes is highlighted by notes of lemon and coffee. Along the way there are also notes of cedar, pepper, cream, and bread. The lemon notes are more prominent early on, but as the cigar experienced progresses the coffee notes become more prominent and eventually take over in the second third. The flavors delivered are full-bodied and this is countered by medium to full strength.

While I do think this cigar smoked better in the Robusto size, I was quite pleased with the 60 x 60 format. While it has a little less complexity in the larger size, it has no shortage of flavor. Its a cigar Id recommend to a more experienced cigar enthusiast, but its also one that is nice for the novice to graduate to something fuller. Its one that is worthy of a box purchase.

Summary

Burn: Very Good

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium

Strength: Medium to Full

Body: Full

Finish: Excellent

Assessment: 4.0-Box Worthy

Score: 91

References

Previous Assessment: Eiroa The First 20 Years 50 x 5

News: Eiroa: The First 20 Years

Price: $14.00

Source: Purchased

Stogie Feeks Podcast: Episode 202

Stogie Feed: EIROA First 20 Years 60 x 6

Brand Reference: Eiroa

Photo Credit: Cigar Coop
When one thinks of tension between two parties, one should take a look at Iraq and Turkey right now.

Iran and Turkey are in deep waters as they both are on the brink of war, all because of the city of Mosul.

Mosul is a large city which was apparently recaptured by ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) in 2014. Recently the Iraqi forces have pushed the borders and entered the city and this caused the tensions between Iraq and Turkey to rise.

Al Jazeera has covered the entire story with full details regarding which side contains whom and what exactly do they want.

Turkey is sending forces to the border area where Iraqi forces are. However, Haider al-Abadi, the Prime Minister of Iraq has been sternly informing Turkey that it should not do that. Abadi does not want a war at all.

He does say that if Turkey continues to persist its forces down the border, he will consider Turkey an enemy of Iraq and will take following actions on it.

Turkey, on the other hand, has been trying to tell Abadi that it is not sending troops to the border to create conflict but merely to avoid it by being cautious. On the side of Turkey they are right as they need to protect their people too and need to have some defense in the area if things go south.

From Iraq's side, Turkish troops being in close proximity may rise tension and increase the chances of war in an ample amount.

Al Monitor, on the other hand, covered another story where they mentioned how Iran may be able to help out between the two nations in heat. It is mentioned how Turkey has been reaching out to Iran for assistance and solutions and this could end things one way or another.

As of now things are on a tipping point as various news broadcasts are going out with people from Turkey and Iraq warning each other and giving threats.
On November 2, a large speedboat was headed to Indonesia. The boat was large enough to contain 95 people. The boat's passengers were all migrant workers.

This is quite common as people between Malaysia and Indonesia travel through sea all the time. Considering how both of the countries are islands floating in the middle of the sea and both are very close to each other.

These workers worked in Malaysia as immigrants and were now headed back to their own families and friends.

They head off from the state of Johor in Malaysia. After a long journey they were already in Indonesian waters when bad weather hit them.

The big waves and strong weather was simply too strong for even the giant speedboat to handle and that caused the boat to go out of control and it then crashed into an ocean reef.

The crash completely dismantled the boat and forced it to disable itself and sink underwater.

The Edge Markets report how there are 39 known survivors at the moment. A helicopter was sent out to search for survivors and any dead bodies.

As of right now there are 18 confirmed kills. One of the confirmed kill is a baby.

A man named Zainul Arifin managed to survive the crash. He mentioned how he was sitting at the back of the speedboat and saw water coming onto the deck. He then said he had no choice but to jump off and then to simply start swimming.

Straits Times also mentioned how Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands scattered throughout the sea and that of course would mean a high number of reefs. This means that accidents as such as common as they come.

Nonetheless, as high the statistics are for the tragedies it does not make them any less depressing to hear.
Davidoff Cigars most premium offering is returning for a very limited run. The company has announced it is releasing five batches of the Davidoff Oro Blanco  a cigar that carries a price tag of $500.00 per cigar.

A total of 250 cigars are being produced for this limited run. Each batch will consist of five boxes of ten cigars for a total of 50 cigar per batch. The five batches will be made available to five cigar enthusiasts. In other words, five people will get an opportunity to purchase five boxes  and that price tag will be $25,000.00 per batch.

This is the ultimate indulgence for a passionate cigar collector. The question one may ask is when will there be a moment special enough to enjoy an Oro Blanco? As one of the worlds rarest cigars, Oro Blanco Special Reserve 2002 is ideal to celebrate a momentous occasion or to be relished at leisure during a rare or life-changing moment. An Oro Blanco moment is guaranteed to be beautifully and memorably filled with the finest flavors and aromas that Davidoff has ever crafted, commented Charles Awad, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing & Innovation at Oettinger Davidoff AG in a press release.

This is the first release of the Davidoff Oro Blanco since the initial release in 2014. According to the company, the tobaccos come from the Mao region of the Dominican Republic where the Mao, Gurabo, and Yaqui del Norte rivers meet. The tobaccos come from a 2002 harvest where Davidoff Master Blender Eladio Diaz aged the tobaccos for 12 years  plus another 18 months. These tobaccos are only used in the Davidoff Oro Blanco and are not used in any other cigars.

The cigar is available in one size  a 6 x 54 Toro.

Photo Credits:  Oettinger Davidoff AG
Democratic socialists have always been at the forefront of game- changing political movements in India. Be it the 1942 Quit India Movement, where Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), Rammanohar Lohia, Aruna Asaf Ali and Achyut Patwardhan emerged as heroes, or the 1967 Anti-Congress Samyukta Gatbhandhan experiment propagated by Lohia that was perhaps the first serious attempt at overthrowing the monolithic Congress, or the JP movement forSampurna Kranti or total revolution in 1974 that spread throughout the country, giving Indira Gandhi sleepless nights, or the underground and jail-bharo andolan during the Emergency, or the formation of the Janata Party that brought the first non-Congress government to power at the centre in 1977, the socialists were central in all these endeavours.

There is also perhaps no political organisation in India, barring the Congress that has had such luminaries at its helmJP, Lohia, Acharya Narendra Deva, Patwardhan, Minoo Masani, Kamladevi Chattopadhyay, S M Joshi, N G Goray, Ashoka Mehta and later Madhu Limaye, Karpoori Thakur, Chandrashekhar, George Fernandes, Raj Narain, Mrinal Gore, Madhu Dandavate.
The Dalit struggle in Gujarat sparked off by the public flogging of a Dalit family by the gau rakshaks has caught the imagination of the Dalits all over the country. By no means is it the first incident of its kind. As for tormenting the Dalits on account of the suspicion of cow killing, a far more horrific incident had taken place on 15 October 2002, the Dussehra day, near Jhajjar in Haryana. A Hindutva mob caught five Dalits who were carrying animal hides to Karnal, near the Duleena police chowki, lynched them, gouged their eyes out, mutilated their bodies and set them on fire. There were more than 47,000 atrocities that were officially recorded in the country the previous year, which yields an average of more than two Dalits murdered and five Dalit women raped every day. The difference the Una protest made was to raise the issue of land which would liberate the Dalits from their traditional humiliating vocations like scavenging and dealing with dead cattle. Another distinction was that it happened in Gujarat which was being flaunted as the model of development created by Narendra Modi over the years. It is this propaganda that hugely contributed to his image as the development man, catapulting him to the top post. Una squarely nailed this lie for the world to see.

The first Una-inspired Dalit agitation erupted somewhat expectedly in Karnataka. It all began with the discussions of Una on social media that led to an impromptu meeting being called at Bengaluru, to which over 300 youth turned up. They decided to enact Chalo Una by taking a march from Bengaluru to Udupi, one of the dens of the Hindutva forces, where in August 2016 one Praveen Poojary, belonging to a backward caste, was beaten to death by 18 Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal activists camouflaged under the banner of Hindu Jagarana Vedike after they found him transporting two cows in a vehicle. Interestingly, 29-year-old Poojary was himself a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member and pleaded with them that he was just transporting the calves for his friend. It, of course, did not matter as he became the victim of the obnoxious cow vigilantism of the Sangh Parivar.
Andrzej Wajda was anointed from his arrival as the poet laureate of Poland, with his films reflective of the memories and grudges of its unique history, surrounded by Germany and Russia, partitioned several times by its neighbours, with the final time being World War II. Wajda, born in 1926 to an army officer and a schoolteacher, had his life shattered by that conflict. He joined the anti-Nazi resistance of the Home Army, while his father would be murdered in the famous Katyn massacre by Stalins NKVD (Narodnyi komissariat vnutrennikh del, the Soviet security and secret police apparatus). The USSR, after defeating the Nazis, would eventually occupy Poland, with the official memory of the regime denying responsibility for the massacre until 1989 and Wajda himself would return to this painful moment in history with one of his final films, 2007s Katyn.

Being marked and divided by the violence of war and bitterness of post-war politics, Wajda engaged in artistic activities. He studied painting at the Krakow School of Fine Arts and later joined the National Film School at odz, headed by Aleksander Ford. Wajdas early films would draw global attention to Poland, through works such as A Generation, Kanal and, above all, Ashes and Diamonds. Kanal won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, while Ashes and Diamonds was a true sensation, skirting the communist censorship by featuring an anti-communist hero of the 1940s with an anachronistic James Dean swagger, symbolically reflective of the audiences experiences chafing under Soviet repression. In addition, it introduced Zbigniew Cybulski, Polands great movie star whose desperate frustrations captured the thwarted dreams and immense frustration of the Poland of his time.
The atmospheres of the Earth and Mars are depleted of the noble gas Xenon, whilst meteorites similar to the rocky material that formed the Earth have it in abundance. All the other so-called noble gases appear in the Earth, Mars and meteorites. So what happened to Xenon and where has it gone? Researchers from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris, are spending the weekend at the ESRF in their quest for the vanished noble gas.

Sherlock Holmes would have a field day at the ESRF. A big synchrotron, a beamline where you can transport the samples to the centre of the Earth and a team of eager scientists who will work around the clock trying to find the missing Xenon. It is one of the great puzzles of science and, who knows, maybe they will find the clues that will solve it this time?

Like in a detective story, the researchers from the University Pierre et Marie Curie have already come up with some ideas of where the missing Xenon might be: We think that Xenon might have been stored underground, based on previous experiments and on remains of primitive rocks found on Earth, explains Chrystele Sanloup, leader of the group, adding that maybe it sank there in the early days of the Earth.

The team on BM23, in front of the set-up. From left to right: Jennifer Hudspeth, Angelika Rosa (from the ESRF) and Celine Crepisson. Crystele Sanloup is missing in the photo. Credits: C. Argoud.

The experiment they will carry out will submit the samples to the extreme pressure and temperature conditions of the crust and upper mantle of the Earth. The team will insert the gas onto quartz and feldspars, two minerals found in these layers. They will not only study Xenon but also Krypton, a noble gas more abundant in the Earth, Mars and meteorites. The aim is to compare the behaviour between the two noble gases.

A challenging experiment

The approach is unusual, as the team will use X-ray absorption spectroscopy on BM23, a technique not normally used for these experiments. It is the first time that such a technique is used to probe the Xenon bonding in minerals, says Celine Crepisson, who is studying this as the subject of her PhD. Hopefully, it will provide us with answers about how Xenon differs from other gases, she adds. As for the technical challenges of the experiment, Angelika Rosa, the ESRF local contact, explains that the sample is very small under extreme conditions and we have very low concentrations of the gas, so it is very difficult to get a signal.

Celine Crepisson in the lab. Credits: Chantal Argoud.

Another challenge of the experiment is the cell where the sample will be placed. In a little box, tiny pieces are separated into small compartments. Jessica Hudspeth, post-doctoral researcher in the group, is in charge of putting the sample in the cell, and explains that the cell assembly has to be very stable and as transparent as possible so it lets the X-rays through. It was developed by Yoshio Kono, at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and it is a crucial part for the success of the experiment. We also collaborate with Tetsuo Irifune in Ehime University (Japan), who synthesised the nanopolycristalline diamond needed for this kind of experiment.

Crystele Sanloup recalls the first time she attempted to do this experiment: It was 15 years ago and I didnt get any good data. The ESRFs capabilities were not those of today, and I still had to learn a lot about the subject. And networking has proven essential in this field. Luckily things have improved and I am quite confident that we will get interesting data. Recently, since papers have started coming out, more motivated scientists have taken on this subject of research, namely chemists and high pressure physicists, and this is great as we are all contributing to it.

Text by Montserrat Capellas Espuny
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
To reach me for collaborations, sponsorships, and event invitations, I am contactable at

the-ice-angel@hotmail.com


Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel
Russian oil giant Gazprom said that the EU was not needed as a mediator in Russias gas dispute with Ukraine and it played down the blocks decision to ease access to the Opal gas pipeline, which is detrimental in Russias plans to boost its supplies via the Baltic Sea. Last week, Brussels enabled Russia to expand its Nord Stream capacity and bypass Ukraine as a transit route by lifting a cap on Gazproms use of the Opal pipeline in Germany.

However, the decision was not readily embraced by Gazprom, whose CEO, Alexander Medvedev, said that the company would still have to analyze the next steps. Unfortunately, the European Commission has made changes to our agreement  unilaterally. Thats why, before saying that the problem is solved, it should be analyzed, Mr Medvedev commented. Gazproms CEO also said that the EUs involvement in brokering gas deals between Kiev and Moscow was not necessary although the European Commission was successfully involved in such talks in the past. Interference or help from someone else is not necessary. Its enough for them to make a pre-payment and the gas will flow, Mr Medvedev said.

Gazprom has been allowed to use only about a half of the capacity of the Opal pipeline since 2011 following an EU directive, as Brussels sought to prevent Russia from dominating the supply side of the market. The Russian company is also planning to market more gas in Turkey and southern Europe through the Black Sea as well as construct two new Turkish Stream pipelines. One of the lines would supply Turkey, while the other would target other markets, such as Greece.
Events of recent weeks seem to offer little hope of narrowing the deep divide between Russia and the Western powers. Moscows continuing military support for the Assad regime and the attack on the UN food relief convoy near Aleppo, drawing accusations of war crimes; official Russian confirmation of stationing an Iskander-M missile complex in the Kaliningrad exclave; accusations of Russian breaches of the INF Treaty; the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov being escorted through the English channel (albeit at a discreet distance) by the Royal Navy; Moscows scrapping of the US-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement; the Dutch report which blames eastern Ukrainian rebels for shooting down the MH-17 aircraft using a Russian-supplied Buk missile system; and reports of Russian cyber-mischief against Democratic Party officials in the US  all have been extensively reported in the media. UK defence secretary Michael Fallon has argued that Russia must now be regarded as a competitor, not a partner, of the West (somewhat contrary to President Hollandes statement in July).

Recent speeches by President Putin and foreign minister Lavrov suggest little immediate change in Russias foreign policy. There has been speculation that longer-term relations will depend on a Hillary Clinton presidency which  in contrast with Mr Trumps promise to do a deal with his apprentice, Mr Putin  may take a tougher line on Moscow. But given the myriad challenges facing Washington, in the wider Middle East and indeed further afield, and the failure to date to change Russian minds over Ukraine and Syria, what would a tougher line consist of? Scaling up US military support to Poland and Baltics states through the European Reassurance Initiative, effectively sealing a long-term policy of containment and deterrence, would not sit well with some European capitals who want to resolve differences with Moscow (albeit not at any price). Further US sanctions are unlikely to be a game-changer. NATOs Warsaw summit communique promises an enhanced defence and deterrence posture, while arguably taking quite modest steps in the form of the trip-wire Joint Task Force and talking of aspirations for partnership with Russia if the latter complies with its international obligations (and is notably silent on Ukraines aspirations for NATO membership). Europes own pressing challenges  from migration through Brexit and nationalist trends in other countries to economic problems in the Eurozone  leave limited political resources to invest in a Russia strategy that goes beyond sanctions which, reports suggest, have had limited impact on trade flows (and which are being bypassed by some businesses). Indeed, the November 2015 Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy underlined that the EU will take stabilisation as its main political priority.

Western insistence that Moscow make a volte-face on its policy in Ukraine and its support for the Syrian regime before political relations can be fully resumed is meeting with little success. The Kiev government is resisting calls for what would be unpopular constitutional reform, fearing that elections leading to far-reaching autonomy (or special status) for the eastern regions would allow them to veto moves towards European integration, effectively limiting Ukraines sovereignty. Breaking the Minsk II deadlock will entail compromise so that sanctions on Russia can be removed, as proposed by German foreign minister Steinmeier. But any coherent long-term strategy must balance a viable plan for Ukraine with a viable framework for future European security governance. In his recent speech in Yalta, Putin voiced support for an enhanced OSCE mission to improve security but offered no further positive message. There are no immediate signs that Moscow will reconsider the status of Crimea or its support for Russophone eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, the political and economic situation in Ukraine remains difficult.

The situation in Syria  the crucible in which a shifting regional political calculus reacts with ethno-confessional divides and societal tensions to wreak such appalling humanitarian damage  is not a proxy war that either Moscow or Washington can control. Putins recent statement in Berlin reaffirms Russian support for an inclusive political transition as called for in the Geneva 2012 principles that guarantees the security of all groups in Syria while avoiding the countrys fragmentation and mitigating the threat of sectarian violence and terrorism. The prospect for an early settlement of the conflict appears remote. Minimising the damage to US-Russia relations through painstaking diplomacy, which would allow the two sides to negotiate over Syria and any further conflicts in a turbulent region, is the best one can hope for. Russian foreign policy-making is an uneasy balance between defending what Moscow sees as fundamental principles of international relations  sovereign equality and the right of incumbent governments to resist intervention that increases the prospects of regime change  and pushing hard for its perceived security and trade interests.

Julie Newtons recent article on this site made two key points: many of Moscows actions are a response to turbulence and unpredictability in the international environment, which the West is also struggling to deal with; and we must look more closely at Russias domestic politics when deciphering foreign policy trends. That Western policy-makers currently draw a blank when attempting to engage Moscow may be more a reflection of divisions within a Russian governing elite fearful of change than of any deep-rooted anti-Western ideology. A deterioration of the situation in Syria and Ukraine may put a further drain on resources, both material and reputational, which carries risks for that elite  not least at home. The demonstrations in Russian cities in 2011-12, and the further closing down of the public political space, seem to have settled down into voter apathy, judging by the recent Duma and regional elections. Russian society values order and stability as a public good. However, fundamental economic challenges that jeopardise the provision of welfare underpinning that stability could well mount up by the time of presidential elections in 2018. Using foreign policy as a tool to mobilise public support for the governing elite brings only short-term tactical gains. Some within the governing elite are open to measures that would improve the economy and secure the kind of longer-term prosperity through trade and investment relations with Western economies that would create an environment for genuine modernisation  something sanctions do nothing to promote.

Uncertainty over Russias longer-term policies in Europe justifies NATOs defence and deterrence posture and the military measures being taken by regional Baltic Sea states to enhance the security of their territories. However, it should also prompt sustained attempts to move from a containment approach towards re-engagement with Moscow. Managing insecurity through the kind of risk reduction and confidence-building measures outlined in a recent ELN report is the key task for the short term, but there must eventually be a return to managing interdependence. The challenge  that none of the parties currently seems prepared for or has the political resources to commit to  is to revive an intellectual framework that builds on the political and institutional engagement of much of the post-Cold War period, including unfreezing dialogue at the NATO-Russia Council and pursuing a genuine Helsinki-plus, to convey a positive-sum message to the international community and publics at large. This may have to wait until after the 2018 Russian presidential elections, but as the new US administration takes office Western leaders should step up efforts to explore the possibilities: no package deals, but a start on the long road to serious negotiations on collectively legitimised and universally applicable principles to underpin negotiations on arms control and non-proliferation and on resolving the increasing number of global flashpoints.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.
Its gratifying to see stereotypes shattered by hard data, even if the stereotype is merely about bird coloration. We think of tropical birds as lushly colorful. Two scientists, Nicholas R. Friedman and Vladimir Remes, tested this out on Australian birds. They found it was not true, or at least not confirmed.

Tropical regions support a greater diversity of species, including more colorful birds, but, species for species, arid areas actually have the fancier colored birds. Now notice where the hard data starts and ends.

From Science Daily:

Friedman began his study at the Australian National Wildlife Collection, where he examined bird specimens from different regions of Australia. A total of 137 different species from two major songbird families were examined. Songbirds originated in Australia nearly 30 million years ago. Research suggests that these birds began diversifying there before colonizing other parts of the world. The familial relationships of the birds that Friedman examined were compared using an evolutionary tree based on the birds DNA. Friedman then used a special instrument to measure the color of the feathers in particular places on the birds.Next, Friedman used data from satellites to describe the geographical region each species lives in. He looked at vegetation, precipitation, and humidity of each region, then combined this data with the evolutionary relationships and color measurements of the birds. The results of this study, published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, show that bird species do not evolve more colorful feathers in the tropics compared to their cousins in temperate climates. If you look at birds in the tropics, there are a lot of colorful birds that stand out. But there are really more species in general there, and there are just as many more of the little brown ones describes Friedman. Instead, birds living in the harsh arid climates of inland Australia tended to have fancier colors than those in the lush tropical islands.

In more technical language, from the Abstract:

Methods Here, we compared plumage coloration across two families of Australian birds (Meliphagidae, n = 97 species; Acanthizidae, n = 40 species) in a combined spatial and phylogenetic framework. We assessed the extent to which environmental variables extracted from species ranges explain variation in colour traits, while correcting for the autocorrelation inherent in spatially structured data using extensive simulations. Results We found several strong effects of environment on plumage coloration. Inland species with ranges marked by high aridity and temperature seasonality showed greater colour span among acanthizids, and greater saturation among meliphagids. Glogers rule was supported in both clades, but more strongly for dorsal plumage. The most consistent correlate in this relationship was vegetation: birds in regions with more vegetation had markedly darker plumage. Ornament hue showed no significant associations with vegetation or climate.

Glogers rule observes a negative relationship between brightness and humidity.

That is interesting. The conventional wisdom is either wrong or, as they say more cautiously, still largely untested. Another stereotype is that with evolutionary scholarship theres a bright red light where the data ends and the storytelling begins. That conventional wisdom has been tested here many times and appears to hold true again in this instance.

Friedman again: Since desert birds have to scramble for mates during the wet season, we think they may be evolving colors that can attract mates quickly. (Emphasis added.) More:

The pattern is really clear, Friedman reports, birds living in the desert tend to be more grey on their backs, while birds living in the forest have evolved to be more of a dark green  we think they are evolving these colors to match their background. This would be an example of natural selection, in this case more camouflaged organisms can survive and pass on their genes.

The data are what they know. The narrative gloss of natural selection is what they think, what may be or would be the case. The thinking, not necessarily wrong, is along predictably stereotypical lines. Before hearing what they think, you can probably fill in the blanks yourself from experience of reading this kind of thing.

We dont need research to tell us that evading predators and mating successfully contribute to passing down your genes, and therefore would be favored given an evolutionary framework. Again, this is not to say theyre wrong. But from the science to the speculation, its a steep step down.

Photo: Crescent honeyeater, a species studied by Friedman and Remes, Lindisfarne, Tasmania, by Flying Freddy [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Im on Twitter. Follow me @d_klinghoffer.
PM May remains confident on 'Brexit means Brexit' despite the High Court ruling that the UK Government cannot trigger Article 50 without Parliament approval. What possible outcomes lie ahead for the UK and the foreign exchange rate markets?

"Labour will block the UKs exit from the European Union if the Government is unable to guarantee access to the single market, Jeremy Corbyn has said" reports the Independent.

The latest news in the Brexit saga could see the British pound open with some additional volatility tonight.

The Brexit drama is set to prolong as the high court has added another act to the existing storyline.

The court ruled that the government can't trigger Article 50, which is needed to formally start the process of leaving the EU, without the approval of the Parliament. Let's understand the ramifications of the ruling.

The government will appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will hear the case in December within a tight deadline. A lot will depend on whether they uphold the high court's ruling or overturn it.

Latest Pound / Euro Exchange Rates

On Tuesday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.861

The pound conversion rate (against euro) is quoted at 1.162 EUR/GBP.

The GBP to USD exchange rate converts at 1.147 today.

FX markets see the pound vs australian dollar exchange rate converting at 1.794.

NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 1st Nov 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.

What happens to the March 2017 timeline to trigger article 50?

A number of the MP's were in the 'Remain' camp during the referendum.

This whole process of getting the approval from the parliament is likely to delay the March timeline to trigger article 50.

However, the Prime Minister's spokeswoman has said that Theresa May is determined to stick to her deadline of March 2017 to trigger article 50.

Will the government call for a general election?

Theresa May's spokeswoman said that "there shouldn't be an election until 2020 and that remains her (Mrs. Mays) view," reports BBC.

However, as she has only a thin majority of 15 lawmakers, if the Supreme Court rules against the government, snap elections cant be ruled out, as Mrs. May will want to go into the negotiations from a point of strength.

Hard Brexit will turn to Soft Brexit

The MP's who supported the Remain camp are likely to force the government to abandon its Hard Brexit stance. This ruling is likely to lead to a Soft Brexit, which should bring relief to many.

Will this ruling stall Brexit?

Though the Parliament can stall Brexit, it is unlikely that the lawmakers will go against the referendum result.

A lot of MPs would regard it as a risky thing for Parliament to set itself up against the people, said Tim Bale, politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Long story short, I've been approved for a work permit through the inter company transfer route,



But I would like to convert this to PR sooner rather than later,



I'm a plumber/gas fitter to trade over 15years apprenticeship trained, so I guess I could apply through my own skills? Or could get my company to do a LMIO and go for PR or apply to the province for sponsorship?



What would you guys think would be the quickest route to take?



Thanks



Steven





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hi everyone.



I have two questions. Vfs told us yesterday morning that there was no longer an interview required to submit an application for PR. However when we paid and got an appointment date, they sent us info saying we need to go to an interview first before submission. Can anyone advise?



Secondly, can one use certify copies of police clearance, medical and radiology reports? Do they need to be from a South African practitioner/Dr if submitting here in SA? We handed in the originals when we applied for the TRV but had copies made and certified before.



Thanks in advance.
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This Christmas, avoid the clutter of unwanted items and make holiday gift giving an opportunity to downsize.

"The chaos and clutter of holiday gift giving is stress-inducing," said Gail Rubin, CT, author of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. "Yes, it is possible to use the holidays to downsize and start meaningful conversations when the family gatherings start at Thanksgiving."

Rubin offers these seven tips to make your holiday gift giving an adventure in downsizing:

Prior to Thanksgiving, tell your friends and relatives that you'd like experiences or consumables for holiday gifts - and let them know that's what you'll be giving them.

Also before Thanksgiving, donate your excess gift wrap, bows and unwanted Christmas decorations to a charity that can use them for those in need or for fundraising.

Put unused fabric such as sheets, pillowcases, tablecloths, napkins, bandanas, handkerchiefs and decorative towels to work as gift wrap, instead of paper.

Repurpose boxes, baskets, tins, jars, vases and bowls as gift containers for consumables.

Give heirloom items to family members while you can still tell the stories behind those objects.

Downsize and distribute family photographs by having a scrapbook session with family members and tell the family stories that the photos document. Feel free to toss photos that are blurred or unremarkable.

Give copies of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die along with a home-made coupon for your time as a downsizing assistant.

Gail Rubin has dozens of other creative clutter clearing ideas that can help you keep calm during a hectic holiday season. She is available for interviews by calling 505.265.7215.

Rubin speaks about ideas in KICKING THE BUCKET LIST in this video recorded at Bookworks independent bookstore in Albuquerque, NM (recorded October 30, 2016).
Trumbull County, Ohio, November 4, 2016 - - Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman have filed a lawsuit in Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Nancy Ayers for the wrongful death of her husband, Wayne R. Ayers, a truck driver who was killed in a collision with a La-Z-Boy box truck earlier this year.

The wrongful death lawsuit names Robert R. Arms, James George, Ryder Truck Rental LT, Specialized Moving Services Inc., Final Touch Delivery Service Inc., La-Z-Boy Inc. and La-Z-Boy Logistics Inc. Mr. Arms was the driver of the La-Z-Boy box truck owned by Ryder Truck Rental, leased to Final Touch Delivery Services, and subleased to Specialized Moving Services. The case number is 2016cv023.

James George was a passenger in the La-Z-Boy box truck. Both Mr. Arms and Mr. George were employed by Specialized Moving Services, which is the alter ego for Final Touch Delivery, La-Z-Boy and La-Z-Boy Logistics. Mr. George is named in the lawsuit because, according to the allegations, he was aware that Arms was impaired, a threat to the motoring public and driving recklessly prior to the collision, yet failed to take sufficient action, take over the vehicle or contact law enforcement.

On the morning of February 24, 2016, Wayne Ayers was driving a Pitt Ohio Express 2006 Sterling truck westbound on State Route 82 (SR 82), which has two lanes in each direction with a median dividing the roadway. At the same time, Robert Ray Arms was driving a La-Z-Boy box truck, a 2014 Freightliner M2 conventional truck, northbound on CR 43.

Mr. Ayers had the right-of-way as he approached the intersection with CR 43, when the La-Z-Boy box truck crossed the eastbound lane of SR 82, then attempted to cross the westbound lane of SR 82 from a stop sign. It is unknown whether the La-Z-Boy truck stopped at the stop sign before entering the intersection.

The La-Z-Boy box truck tried to cross westbound SR 82 ahead of Mr. Ayer's vehicle, but instead struck Mr. Ayers' truck, forcing both vehicles off the northwest corner of the intersection. Both vehicles ended up crashing into a ditch.

The front of Mr. Ayers' truck sustained substantial damage upon impact. Mr. Ayres had the right of way and was operating the truck at the speed limit or lower. The speedometer of Mr. Ayers' truck was stuck on 55 miles-per-hour, which corresponds to the speed indicated by a witness prior to the crash and is within the posted speed limit.

Wayne Ayers sustained very serious traumatic brain injuries in the truck accident and was transported to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where he clung to life for nearly a month in incapacitating pain and impairment. On March 22, 2016, he succumbed to his injuries. He was 56-years-old at the time of his death.

In his statement to the Ohio State Highway Patrol following the box truck crash, Arms claimed that Mr. Ayers' truck must have been in his "blind spot" when he attempted to merge onto the westbound side of SR 82. According to the lawsuit, Arms admitted that his view of the westbound traffic was obstructed by his side mirror. According to Arms he did not see Mr. Ayers' truck until his passenger yelled, "Truck, Truck, Truck!" Arms failed to explain why he entered the highway without being able to see oncoming traffic.

Despite the prominent yield sign and obvious right-of-way, Mr. Arms' failure to yield at the intersection was the immediate cause of the crash that took Mr. Ayers' life. Arms was criminally charged for violating Ohio law which resulted in the fatal crash. Arms' criminal trial has been set for November 17, 2016 at 10:00 a.m., Room 1 at Trumbull County Eastern District Court in Ohio.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Arms operated the box truck in a careless, reckless and negligent manner by not only failing to yield, but also failing to keep a proper lookout, failing to enter the roadway when it was safe to do so, failing to drive at a safe speed and failing to avoid being distracted by his passenger, the radio, his cell phone and his schedule, among other things.

This was not the first time that Mr. Arms operated a commercial truck in an unsafe manner, the allegations state. Mr. Arms was previously cited by law enforcement for a variety of traffic violations, including driving an unregistered vehicle, operating a vehicle without valid inspection, disobedience to traffic control devices and failure to stop for a law enforcement official, according to the complaint.

Baum Hedlund's research indicates that Mr. Arms has an extensive record of traffic violations in Pennsylvania, as follows:

January 9, 2016 Driving an unregistered vehicle (no plea indicated)

September 7, 2015 Driving an unregistered vehicle (pled guilty)

September 7, 2015 Operating a vehicle without valid inspection (pled guilty)

April 17, 2013 Violation of rules of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (pled guilty)

March 12, 2012 Failure to obey traffic-control devices (pled guilty)

January 21, 2012 Failure to obey traffic-control devices (pled guilty)

As a result of Arms' extensive record of traffic violations, the lawsuit claims that Ryder Truck Rental, Specialized Moving Services, Final Touch Delivery Service and La-Z-Boy should never have allowed Arms behind the wheel of the box truck. According to the lawsuit, the defendants knew or should have known about Arms' record of safety violations, and are therefore liable for hiring him, retaining him as an employee and for his negligence.

"What's clear from the investigation is that Arms was careless and reckless behind the wheel. Tragically, there were plenty of warning signs and red flags in Mr. Arms' driving record that should have precluded him from driving a commercial vehicle in the first place," said one of Ms. Ayers attorneys.

As a result of the defendants' negligence and wanton disregard for safety, Nancy Ayers is seeking damages for her husband's pain and suffering, loss of life and punitive damages in her lawsuit.

Statement from Wayne's widow, Nancy Ayers: "I am devastated by the loss of the love of my life. Mr. Arms should never have been behind the wheel of that truck with a checkered driving record like his. My husband would still be here today if these companies were vigilant and responsible about the drivers they hire. They must be held accountable."

About Wayne R. Ayers

Wayne Ralph Ayers was born on January 24, 1960 in Warren, Ohio. He married his wife Nancy on September 14, 2002 in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Mr. Ayers was the stepfather to Nancy's two daughters, Vanessa Palmer and Sherry Carter, and was also step grandfather to Sherry's son John-Wesley Adams and Vanessa's son Ryan Palmer.

At the time of the accident, Wayne Ayers was employed by Pitt Ohio as a truck driver. He worked for Pitt Ohio Express, LLC from February 22, 2015 up until the date of the crash. He passed away a month after the incident due to injuries suffered in the crash. His life rooted in family, Ayers began working for Pitt Ohio because his position allowed him to be home with his family every night, something he yearned for but didn't have with previous jobs.

About Baum Hedlund

The national law firm of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman is representing Nancy Ayers in her lawsuit. Known for its dedication to clients and success in complex cases, the firm has successfully recovered over $1.5 billion in personal injury and wrongful death claims stemming from transportation accidents and defective pharmaceutical products*.

Baum Hedlund has litigated against some of the largest trucking and transportation companies in the world, including Allied Waste Management, Schneider National Carriers, Food 4 Less, CR England, Food Express Inc., GARDA Inc., Eagle Systems, Ryder Truck Rental and J.B. Hunt, among many others.

Having represented families in more than 200 commercial truck crash cases, the firm knows firsthand of the devastation caused by truck accidents. Baum Hedlund has helped hundreds of victims across the country cope with the aftermath of these tragedies.

*Prior results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Additional photos can be viewed here.
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Anheuser-Busch InBevs acquisition of Texas-based Karbach Brewing Co. could mark the end of the global giants craft-beer buying spree, the president of its craft division said Thursday.

Most of that effort, if not all of it, is behind us, division President Felipe Szpigel told the Houston Chronicle.

After purchasing Chicagos Goose Island Brewery in 2011, AB InBev acquired seven other U.S. crafts, including Breckenridge, Elysian and 10 Barrel. On Thursday, it said it was adding Karbach to its craft brewing, or High End, unit for an undisclosed purchase price. The group, focused on the U.S. market, also includes Stella Artois, Shock Top, a cider company and a hard seltzer company.

Szpigel said the High End is now 99.99 percent focused on organic growth within that portfolio and is not actively seeking more acquisitions. He singled out Karbachs Love Street Kolsch as an example of a lower-alcohol, or session, beer that will fill a niche in the AB InBev brands.

He said he first visited the Karbach brewery during a site visit to Houston about a year and a half ago. As he talked with the owners and brewers, I really fell in love with what they are doing.

Brewmaster Eric Warner said he is excited about the sale and about the opportunity for him and his team to collaborate with the other craft brewers in the business unit. That could include teaming up on special beers, sharing expertise and brainstorming ideas.

The High End wants to see us innovate, he said.

Ken Goodman and longtime business partner Chuck Robertson, who founded Karbach five years ago, said existing management and brewers will remain in place and the company will retain much of its independence while gaining access to the resources of the worlds largest beer company.

The financial piece wasnt that important at the end of the day, Goodman said. It was the resources.

Were fired up, Robertson added.

But news of the acquisition was greeted with a storm of protest from fans and some retailers. Social media comments reflected a sense of betrayal from those who have flocked to craft beer in recent years in repudiation of the major players.

Its hard to be mad at someone for their success, said Jake Rainey, partner and chief operating officer of the craft beer bars Liberty Station, Cottonwood and La Grange. But as a business owner, I get to choose who to support and why. Part of our values is to support local.

AB InBev is the evil empire in our industry, he said, accusing the company of using its market power to hurt smaller, independently owned craft breweries. He predicted pushback from some bar and restaurant owners. He said Karbach products would not get special promotion, although he said he would not immediately drop Karbach products.

Kevin Floyd, the fiery owner of Hay Merchant, was less reserved. The bar immediately began a fire sale of Karbach products and will not sell them in the future, he said.

Were going to sell everything and move on, he said.

Floyd, a frequent critic of AB InBev in the past, reiterated his belief that the company would prefer to simply put crafts out of business and return to the days when Budweiser and other American light lagers completely dominated the domestic beer scene. Consumer demand, he said, forced the big players hands as they lost market share to the independents.

These acquisitions are their way of trying to stop the bleeding, he said.

The Karbach deal comes three months after MillerCoors announced it would take over the Fort Worth areas Revolver Brewing. To date, more than a dozen deals have been announced involving smaller craft breweries and cider companies and mainstream beer companies such as AB-InBev and MillerCoors.

The feelings of Floyd and others were heightened during last years Super Bowl when AB InBev aired a Budweiser commercial that derided craft beers and said its beer was made the hard way. Earlier this week, the head of the trade group for the smaller independents offered a tart response to AB InBev chief Carlos Britos assertion that consumers are a bit tired of choice while calling out the companys craft brewery shopping spree of late.

While a growing corporate craft portfolio of once-independent brands benefits from ABs marketing muscle, the truly small and independent brands not under their ownership get pushed off the shelves and left off of restaurant menus, Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease wrote. Thats reducing choice all right  but not based on beer lover demand.

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.

The shelves and taps belong to beer drinkers and retailers, not the producers. If one mega company tries to manufacture or force demand, consumers will rebel.

Szpigel acknowledged that in previous acquisitions, fans have had some anxiety at first, but that softens once they see the same product on the shelves and see that it tastes the same. People get over it, he said.

Warner, the Karbach brewmaster, pledged to work maintain the standards that have made Karbach so popular in Houston and beyond.

I look at this almost as a challenge, he said. We have to make our beer even better.

He also said he intends to remain part of the Karbach team.

Like everybody else, Im here for the long haul, he said.

Karbach has grown rapidly since its launch in late summer 2011. Last year, it produced 55,000 barrels of beer and it is on track to make more than 80,000 this year.

The AB InBev investment will push Karbachs annual capacity to 150,000 or more barrels by 2019, the companies said. The immediate focus will be to continue spreading across Texas.

AB InBev claims 45.8 percent share of the U.S. beer market.

ronnie.crocker@chron.com

twitter.com/rcrocker
AUSTIN - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn urged people to take a deep breath on the suggestion by some fellow Republicans that the nations highest court could function with just eight justices indefinitely if the alternative is approving someone nominated by Hillary Clinton.

Cornyn said an odd number of justices is needed because a deadlocked Supreme Court isnt in anybodys best interest, although he said theres not necessarily any magic about nine.

Cornyns fellow Texan, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, is among those whove said theres precedent for the Supreme Court operating with fewer than a full complement of nine justices. Cornyn urged caution on that idea.

The court has been operating with eight justices because U.S. Senate Republicans have refused to take up President Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Cornyn, talking to reporters after a Friday speech, pointed out that its unknown if Democrat Clinton or Republican Donald Trump will be the next president making appointments.

Senate Republicans have blocked President Obamas appointment of Merrick Garland. Cornyn and others have said the power to shape the Supreme Court is an overriding issue in the battle for the White House. That has prompted a number of Republicans to support Trump despite some concerns about other aspects of his candidacy.

But Cornyn also said blocking an appointee could have repercussions down the road.

We know that one of the laws of politics follows the laws of physics, which says for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, he said. So if in fact people are going to head down this path, then they are going to have to be prepared for the fact that this same weapon will be used against their party when a person of their party is elected president as well.

pfikac@express-news.net

Twitter: @pfikac
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Former lawyer Hilda Valadez, on probation since 2014 for defrauding Bexar County by forging judges signatures to overcharge on indigent defense work, was found dead at her residence Monday.

A woman called police after going to Valadezs apartment in the 20000 block of Huebner Road to check on her, a police report said. Valadez was in bed, fully clothed, with her head on the pillow, and had evidently been there for some time, the report stated.

Valadez was 55. The Bexar County medical examiners office has not yet determined a cause or manner of death.

Police did not identify the woman who made the discovery. The report said she told officers she had not talked to Valadez in several days and that Valadez had demonstrated suicidal behavior in the past and had previously tried to overdose on pills.

Officers found pill containers on a table in the living room but none near Valadezs body, the report stated.

Valadez had made a name for herself with more court-appointed criminal defense cases for indigent clients than any other attorney in Bexar County. That was until authorities found that she repeatedly forged the signatures of three judges over a four-year period during which the county paid her more than $594,000.

She pleaded guilty in March 2014 to one count each of forgery and securing execution of a document by deception. Visiting Judge Stephen Ables commuted a 10-year prison sentence to probation after Valadez paid Bexar County $76,670, the full amount she owed in restitution.

Valadez had an alcohol problem and had mental health issues that were not being addressed, which is why she was making bad decisions, her attorney, Joel Hoelscher, said at the time.

Her probation officer had seen no indication in recent weeks that anything was wrong, Jarvis Anderson, chief probation officer for the Bexar County Community Supervision & Corrections Department, said Thursday.

Valadez was doing well on probation and was happy and seemed upbeat during her last in-person visit Sept. 7, he said. She last spoke with her officer Oct. 12, said Anderson, who added, Its tragic whenever anyone loses their life.

ezavala@express-news.net
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After a career as a stevedore in Florida, amateur astronomer James Lowrey retired 11 years ago to the Big Bend, drawn by the otherworldly viewing possibilities of its inky night skies.

I use my telescope every dark night. Its the fourth largest in Texas, he began, describing an instrument with a 48-inch mirror. The night before last, I saw a quasar that was 10 billion light years away. Thats three quarters the way back to the Big Bang.

But Lowrey and other astronomers in the region fear that lights from flares and oil rigs in the ever-expanding Permian Basin oil boom to the north may soon endanger their precious dark skies.

In late October, Lowrey filed six complaints in Reeves County, claiming Apache Corp. is violating the countys dark sky ordinance, which is designed to protect the nearby McDonald Observatory.

Big telescopes are like light buckets. They gather the ambient light. And when you have all this light, it washes out the skies, he said.

The observatory, some 30 miles from Apaches recent Alpine High oil field discovery, is considered one of the best places in the world for stargazing and possesses one of the largest optical instruments ever built, the 10-meter Hobby-Eberly telescope.

Officials at the observatory, which was built in the Davis Mountains in 1932 and sometimes is called the crown jewel of the University of Texas System, are likewise worried about oilfield light.

Its a very clear concern. Our skies are not as dark as they used to be. Over the last six or seven years, since the boom took off, weve seen the sky brighten to the northeast, said Bill Wren, special assistant to the observatory superintendent.

The activity in southern Reeves County is extremely troublesome because it is so close. Its brightening our skies even now, he added.

The observatory is an internationally recognized research facility that also attracts nearly 90,000 amateur astronomers and visitors annually at its tours and star parties. It also does accredited summer workshops for hundreds of science teachers.

It is currently in the middle of a $40 million upgrade to study dark energy.

In August, Apache Corp. announced its discovery of the Alpine High field in southern Reeves County around Balmorhea. It may be the decades biggest oil and gas discovery in West Texas, containing the equivalent of 15 billion barrels of oil.

They say they are going to drill 3,000 wells just east of here. If they do that, they will destroy one of the last truly dark places in America, Lowrey warned, citing Apache statements.

Flares from some of the 21 wells already drilled there are easily seen from the Jeff Davis County line, he said.

In an email, Apache spokesman Castlen Kennedy said the company already is working closely with officials from observatory. In seeking to minimize light from its operations in Reeves County, it is retrofitting rigs and adjusting stationary lighting at pads, she said.

Outdoor lighting for our drilling rigs and permanent production facilities needs to be installed with the dark skies in mind. We believe this is absolutely possible, she added.

Reducing the light produced by gas flares may take more time, she said.

In an exploration play such as this, there is always a lag between the discovery and the installation of infrastructure to move the product. We are in that short window with the Alpine High, she said, predicting that by next year, gas will be moved by pipeline.

Others, who share Lowreys interests, also share his concerns.

Organizers of the Texas Star Party, an event that over the last 35 years has attracted more than 15,000 astronomers from around the world for a week of stargazing, study and photography, are likewise worried.

The Texas Star Party is the largest observing conference in the world and without these dark skies, they wouldnt have any place to go, said Dave Clark, one of the founders of the annual gathering near Fort Davis.

Were very concerned. In the last two years, weve seen increased lighting and drilling activity, he added.

Officials at the McDonald Observatory have been grappling with such threats for years.

Wren, 61, who said his job at the observatory is now dominated by dark sky issues, has been working closely with the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, as well as various companies on the light problem.

Some companies, including Pioneer Energy Services, have been receptive to recommendations to reduce rig lighting, he said. He is also in discussions with Apache over its Alpine High field.

I spoke to their operations team in Midland last week. Ill be speaking to their management team in San Antonio in a couple of weeks. They want to be good neighbors, he said.

As one example of what can be done, he cited a huge flare just south of Balmorhea, about 30 miles from the observatory.

Within the next few weeks, they plan on putting an incinerator chamber on the flare stack so the gas will be flared inside, and you wont see the light from it, he said.

Even so, Wren said, the potential problems that the enormous field could pose are sobering.

If the night brightens, its a distinct possibility it could shut down a lot of our research. We will no longer be able to make certain observations for which a dark sky is necessary, he added.

Earlier this year, the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas producers, sent a notice encouraging Permian Basin operators to minimize light pollution.

Without mitigation, the gleam of light form oil and gas operations could compromise the research for which the McDonald Observatory is famous, read the notice, which went on to list several available studies about the issue.

You are encouraged to consult these resources and consider ways to reduce stray light. The solutions can be simple and cost effective, and can actually improve nighttime visibility and increase worker safety, concluded the notice.

Seven counties in the region around the observatory have outdoor lighting ordinances, which in 2011 were made mandatory by state law to protect the dark skies.

The Reeves County ordinance requires all new lighting to be fully shielded or pointed toward the ground. It also prohibits mercury vapor lighting but makes no mention of light from drilling activity. It carries a $500 monthly fine for violations.

Lowrey said he is waiting for law enforcement officials in Reeves County to act upon his complaints.

I spoke with the sheriffs department yesterday. They said they are waiting on direction from the county attorney, he said Wednesday.

Calls for comment made to Reeves County Attorney Alva Alvarez about the matter were not returned.

jmaccormack@express-news.net
Councilman Roberto Trevino and some of his colleagues have temporarily staved off a vote to seat several new Planning Commission members until they can recast the composition of the board to better represent San Antonio.

Nearly two months ago, Trevino filed a Council Consideration Request, the process council members use to recommend policy changes, calling for an overhaul of how planning commissioners are appointed.

Unlike the Zoning Commission, which has commissioners appointed by council members to represent their respective districts, members of the Planning Commission serve in an at-large capacity. And while the city charter requires that they be appointed by the council as nearly as practicable from various areas of the city, in practice, that hasnt occurred. The commission overwhelmingly represents the development community and the North Side, council members and others say.

Trevinos request calls for changing the format to mirror zoning appointments so each council member and the mayor appoint a member. Beyond geographic representation, Trevino is seeking members with expertise in fields such as transportation, urban design and architecture  not just land development.

Last month, the councils Governance Committee, led by Mayor Ivy Taylor, approved a slate of appointees that were all from North Side Districts 8, 9 and 10. Councilman Ron Nirenberg was the lone vote against sending the slate to the council, which was set to confirm the appointments on Thursday.

The work of the Planning Commission is critical to protecting neighborhoods and implementing a comprehensive plan that the public created. To ensure the commissions decisions are made in the best interests of the public, there should be a much better balance of technical expertise and neighbors voices, Nirenberg said.

The councilman added that recent decisions of the Planning Commission suggest we have a long way to go in that. But while overhauling the appointment process to allow district appointments would be a step in the right direction, the focus should be on preventing conflicts of interest. The Governance Committee missed an opportunity to do either, which is why I voted against moving that whole slate out. Im glad we are taking a step back.

The Governance Committee was also scheduled to discuss Trevinos request but ran out of time and tabled it for a future meeting.

Late Wednesday, the agenda item for approving the applicants was pulled from the agenda because council members expressed concerns about the commissions composition. Such appointments are usually rubber-stamped by the full council.

I feel very optimistic that there seems to be an agreement or consensus on council that we want more of that (diverse representation), Trevino said. We as a council should be trying to nominate some folks, endorse some people, that represent the city in a more representative way.

Council members Rey Saldana, Shirley Gonzales and Nirenberg have all voiced concerns over the matter.

Annalisa Peace of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance said in a press release the slate that was originally up for approval would guarantee continued dominance by vested interests.

Peace said in her press release that the Governance Committee passed over several qualified candidates in favor of those who are closely tied to the industries they are charged with regulating.

The alliance and its local member organizations have called on San Antonians to ask their council representatives to spike the list of appointees and instead choose applicants who will represent our citizens and neighborhoods.

What will happen next isnt exactly clear. Taylor said in a Thursday interview that she doesnt disagree with Trevinos assessment that the Planning Commission should better represent the city. But the process of changing the city charter is a slow one, and she wants to move forward with the candidates who have already applied and won committee approval.

A former planning commissioner, Taylor said there are several members who want to be replaced and that starting the process over would delay that. She said she worries that the commission wouldnt be able to do its work because commissioners might stop showing up for meetings.

She also said some council members arent aggressively seeking candidates for the board.

Taylor said that diversity brings value to the commission, but at the same time, she said she wants to ensure members have the experience and background necessary to make sure theyre effective planning commissioners.

But, she said, shes also not pushing for the commission to be stacked with people from the development community.

Saldana said hes not opposed to starting the process from scratch and believes the appointees currently in limbo would understand a push from council for better citywide representation.

We will ask them for their forgiveness in taking their time, he said. I think they understand the goal is important here. We want geographic equity.

Saldana said he believes the development community should and would continue to have representation on the commission but shouldnt wholly own it.

Gonzales said shes also concerned with gender equity on the board.

The planning committee is one of the few whose members are not appointed by council district, she said. In order to reflect diversity on the committee each council member should be able to make the recommendation. This would create a more balanced commission in terms of background and gender.

jbaugh@express-news.net

Twitter: @jbaugh
Two men were arrested Thursday for allegedly swindling at least $95,000 from at least 15 victims following recent hailstorms as part of a roofing scam, according to police.

Richard Stevens, 51, and Mark Rodriguez, 42, are being charged with a second-degree felony of theft to the elderly between $30,000 and $100,000.

Sgt. Jesse Salame, a San Antonio Police Department spokesman, said the men preyed on victims of the record hailstorms that occurred earlier this year. He said additional charges may follow in the future.

The roofing company, Durizon Roofing Co., would offer free estimates to people who suffered damage to their homes.

In exchange for the free estimates, they would then sell these people on having them do the work, Salame said. The people would get their insurance checks, turn it right over to the company and theyd said Well see you in about three to six months, were running behind on schedule. Of course, they never showed up, never returned any money.

Salame added that the two men arrested were the main players of the organization and they were smooth talkers, and very articulate.

So far, the investigation has found 15 victims. Salame said he believes there to be as many as 60 victims, possibly more.

The two men allegedly collected about $95,000 in funds from the victims.

Youre vulnerable, Salame said. You cant be in a house with a leaky roof. They really preyed upon those people and took advantage of them.

If convicted, the two men face up to 20 years in prison.

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @TylerLWhite
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If Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election next Tuesday, she could have a former San Antonian on her radar for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wallace Jefferson, a 53-year-old John Jay alum, former president of the San Antonio Bar Association and former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, was the topic of discussion during an email exchange between Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Christopher Stone, president of the Open Society Foundations, an organization funded by Democratic sugar daddy George Soros.

The emails, contained in a recent WikiLeaks document dump, were exchanged on the evening of February 13, only hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a luxury resort in West Texas.

Backed by a subject line that read Scalia replacement, Stone emailed Podesta the following question: Remember our discussion of Wallace Jefferson, (former) Chief Justice in Texas?

Podesta replied, Yup.

Theres much that this brief exchange doesnt tell us, and Stone did not respond to an interview request for this column. But a few points are obvious.

We know that Stone and Podesta didnt wait long after Scalias passing to start contemplating how his seat should be filled. We also know that the two men had talked about Jefferson as a potential Supreme Court appointee even before Scalias sudden, surprising death.

Its not hard to understand why two Democrats such as Stone and Podesta would find this Texas Republican intriguing.

Almost immediately after Scalias death, Senate Republicans made it clear that they would block any appointee offered by President Barack Obama, on the grounds that a lame duck with less than a year in office should let their successor fill the vacancy. When Obama offered up Merrick Garland, a milquetoast moderate with nearly 20 years of experience on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Senate took no action.

In recent weeks, two veteran Republican senators  John McCain and Richard Burr  have upped the partisan ante, pledging that if Clinton wins the presidency, they will automatically reject her Supreme Court appointments.

Given this hostile, hyper-partisan climate, Jefferson could offer a bipartisan solution.

He is an African American Republican who was appointed to this states highest bench by former Gov. Rick Perry; a compassionate conservative with an independent streak; an appellate attorney who has represented deep-pocketed interests; and a thoughtful jurist who has spoken with eloquence about the need to make the court system work for people on the low end of the economic ladder.

Jefferson also has a compelling story. The descendant of a slave who went on to become a Waco City Council member during Reconstruction, and the son of an Air Force major, he became the first African American justice on the Texas Supreme Court.

For progressive Democrats, who carry visions of Elizabeth Warren filling Scalias old seat on the bench, Jefferson would be a letdown, but a letdown they would accept.

For Republicans, he would be a hard candidate to reject, regardless of their hatred for Clinton.

Jefferson, whose law practice is currently based in Austin, declined to comment on the possibility of a Supreme Court appointment. But he knows the conjecture is out there.

Back in March 2015, Texas Week host Rick Casey wrote an op-ed for the San Antonio Express-News, suggesting that if a Supreme Court vacancy occurred before Obama left office, the president should give Jefferson a serious look.

That same argument would apply to Clinton next year.

Jeffersons most appealing quality  aside from his incisive mind and fundamental decency  is his refusal to let partisan thinking contaminate his commitment to the rule of law.

Im feeling like Im independent, he told the Longview News-Journal in 2002.

Although Jefferson was the beneficiary of straight-ticket Republican voting in Texas, he has consistently argued that this state must reform its partisan system for electing judges.

In 2013, he told The Atlantic: I dont like the concept of a Republican or Democratic judge. I think fundraising undermines the confidence in a fair and impartial judicial system.

Jefferson would be for Clinton what Anthony Kennedy turned out to be for Ronald Reagan: a compromise choice who cant be pigeonholed. And that might be just what the court needs right now.

ggarcia@express-news.net

Twitter: @gilgamesh470
The hunt is on for the 'King of Ducks': Mark Grovijahn

South Dakota is renowned for its pheasant hunting, but there's another bird worth bagging this season: the canvasback duck.
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The fertiliser industry is showing increased solidarity as UK edges towards an EU exit, due to new 'draconian' EU laws limiting the levels of of cadmium in phosphate fertilisers.

Howard Clark, from the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), said the most important task for the industry is the continuing development of a new EU Fertilser Regulation. He described this process as a tortuous journey through the legislative process.

However, the list of issues identified as important in the face of Brexit is extensive for the fertiliser industry. These include: the risk of trade barriers and tariffs; the threat of losing access to the single market; and the possibility of a return to border and customs controls.

Already we have seen a devalued pound lead to raw material costs increasing by some 15%, which is bad news for the whole food chain, said Mr Clark.

But the most pressing matter is proposals to limit the levels of cadmium in phosphate fertilisers. As ever, the EU has been draconian and proposed a phased reduction to just 20mg/kg of phosphate under the new regulation.

To accept this proposal would mean a drastic reduction in potential sources of phosphate for the industry. Or a massive investment in a process called decadmiation which remains unproven at commercial scale of operations, said Mr Clark.

This is why AIC has committed considerable time to lobbying both in Brussels with MEPs and officials as well as with Defra and the devolved governments. The Confederation contends that an acceptable level of no less than 80mg/kg is acceptable.

In addition, we are pressing for the right  at national level  for Member States to be able to operate independently of the Regulation and maintain their own national regulations.
The problem of late delivery of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and farmer statements has still not been resolved, the rural sector has said.

The National Sheep Association (NSA) has heard of many unresolved BPS cases relating to sheep farmers in upland and common grazing situations.

The NSA has called the well-documented situation 'unacceptable' in Scotland, but sheep farmers in England and Wales are also still waiting for settlement almost nine months after the deadline.

Some have not had their statement outlining the total amount they can expect.

NSA believes urgent action is needed from the rural payments agencies in all three nations to remedy the problems caused to farm businesses.

Some farmers have had to rely on farming charities for financial help

Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive, says: The types of farms affected are those often living hand to mouth, with struggles enough already without the issue of settlement payments still not being made.

This is creating real hardship amongst farming families, some of whom we have heard are turning to charities to put food on the table.

To make matters worse we are hearing of cases where statements have not been received indicating the monies due, which means getting support from banks or credit from suppliers is difficult. As the year end approaches, so too does the time of year many businesses will be looking at end of year accounts and budgeting.

It is simply unacceptable for the government to expect them to be able to do this without the financial information provided by the statements.

The situation as it stands simply cannot be allowed to replicate itself next year. It is vital the RPA steps up its game and puts procedures and measures in place now to ensure payments and statements go out in timely fashion next year.

'Bailiffs at door demanding payments'

Greg Dalton, NSA Northern Region Chairman and sheep farmer from County Durham, echoes the comments about the increasing severity of the situation.

He says: Ive heard of some farmers whove had bailiffs at their door demanding payments, and I know several people whove had to seek assistance from farming charities. There are people in this area of the country who are struggling to keep their heads above water, solely down to the fact they are yet to receive a payment which was due months ago.

George Milne, NSA Scottish Region Development Officer, provides an update on the situation north of the border.

He says: Figures produced in mid-October show progress has been made, with 18,268 businesses out of 18,327 eligible to claim a BPS payment last year having now received it.

Obviously, there are still a proportion of businesses yet to receive their money and the whole process has been extremely difficult for farmers to say the least. In terms of this years payment, Scottish Government has recently announced a new loan scheme due to start this month.

Farmers who sign up will receive 80% of their BPS due during November, although a start date for payments is yet to be announced. My understanding is that there are still a significant number of farmers eligible for this scheme who are yet to sign up, Id urge those individuals to do so immediately to avoid missing out.

In stark contrast to those farmers in England, Wales and Scotland still waiting for last year's payment, Northern Ireland delivered the 2015 scheme on time.
Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU, the High Court has ruled.

This means the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - beginning formal exit negotiations with the EU - on its own.

The Farmers Union of Wales is calling for urgent clarity on Brexit following the High Court ruling.

The decision by the High Court means that the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to begin formal exit negotiations with the EU on its own, which the Union says adds further to the confusion already surrounding Brexit planning.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: "We need clarity. This decision has introduced more instability at a time when we can really do without it.

"The Brexit planning process has occupied us for many months now and we welcomed the Prime Ministers recent announcement about a timeline for Article 50 initiation.

"To throw that timeline away now is not in the least bit helpful. And of course it may have huge implications, not just on the timing of Brexit but possibly on the terms of Brexit.

'Best possible deal for agri-food sector'

Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday that the government will be doing everything possible to get the best deal for the farming sector once the country leaves the EU.

"We're very conscious of the importance of the food and agricultural sector across the United Kingdom but particularly of that sector to Northern Ireland and we will be doing everything we can ... to ensure we get the best deal possible for the agri-food sector," she told parliament at Prime Minister's Questions.

But the UK's four farming unions have reiterated that it is essential for the sector to maintain 'full, unfettered' access to the single market while having continued access to a 'flexible, competent and reliable' workforce.

In a joint statement, the four Presidents said: UK agriculture supplies the building blocks to the UKs largest manufacturing sector, food and drink.

Worth 108bn and employing 3.9m people spread across every parliamentary constituency, the industry is bigger than the automotive and aerospace sectors combined.

In common with other sectors of the economy, British farmers and food producers need the government to be acutely aware of whats at stake for this vitally important industry and the UK economy as a whole."

Could Brexit be stopped?

According to the Lord Chief Justice, the Prime Minister cannot trigger Article 50 herself, but can only be done with parliamentary approval.

A huge majority of MPs in Parliament are opposed to Brexit, but rejecting the vote of the people in a referendum would be seen as extraordinary, not least for the scores of Labour MPs whose constituents voted to leave.

If Theresa May would like Parliament to trigger Article 50 with a clear conscience, she may decide to call a general election.
Plans to digitise all tax-related accounting is due to be phased in from 2018 onwards, but rural businesses and farmers have criticised the plans.

Farmers have said the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) initiative to make tax digital will be difficult for businesses in the countryside without fast and reliable broadband.

They have also warned that poor digital connectivity in rural areas and no plan from HMRC to undertake comprehensive user testing of the new system could throw the rural economy into chaos.

The current rural broadband roll-out is 'not sufficient' to meet the needs of most farmers, according to a report from October.

Rural business owners have voiced concerns over government plans to force taxpayers to submit tax information online

The government has said it is committed to making the UK the best connected country in the world but farmers are already being held back by poor connections.

The report, published by the NFU, said it was vital for connections to be improved.

There are social, economic and environmental benefits' of connecting the final 5% of those without broadband, especially for the delivery of a sustainable and productive agricultural sector, the report states.

'Government must look at the whole picture'

The CLA, which represents farmers and rural businesses, said it is 'vitally important' to help everyone achieve tax compliance.

We support new technology which aims to make life simpler for businesses but the government must look at the whole picture before making tax digital," CLA President Ross Murray said.

Rollout of superfast rural broadband has been too slow and the governments Universal Service Obligation (USO) of 10Mbps by 2020 is not guaranteed to be met.

Current broadband technology in the UK means download speeds are faster than upload speeds, so the government must reassure businesses they will not be unfairly penalised as a result of poor connectivity when trying to complete and submit tax information online.

Mr Murray added that without the right broadband infrastructure in place or by ensuring the new digital system is fully tested in advance, rural businesses could suffer and HMRC could experience similar problems to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) when it digitised the Basic Payment System for farmers.

He said: It is crucial in view of previous government digital systems failures such as the RPA that HMRC should reflect on the lessons learned from that project to avoid a serious breakdown in the system which would cause yet more chaos for the rural economy.
Farmers, landowners and rural businesses have urged the public and councils to think twice about setting off sky lanterns due to the dangers associated with them.

Numerous organisations have been working hard to influence councils across the UK to ban the release of sky lanterns and balloons on their land.

Twenty five councils in England have already banned sky lanterns, and the majority of Wales 22 local authorities.

The National Farmers Union continues to call for an outright ban on the sale of sky lanterns.

What are the risks?

There is a risk to animals and livestock - frames can contaminate forage crops which are later fed to the animals. The frames of sky lanterns can harm or even kill farm animals if they are eaten. Animals can get tangled or injured from the sharp wire frames, and bamboo framed lanterns can splinter causing serious injuries if ingested.

They often cause a false alarm - the Coastguard has reported incidents of sky lanterns being mistaken for distress signals and the Civil Aviation Authority are concerned with airborne lanterns being drawn into aircraft engines. They can also delay take-off and landing.

Sky lanterns can be a major fire risk  once lit and set off into the sky you don't know where an ignited lantern will land. Fields of standing crops, hay and straw stacks, farm buildings and thatched roofs are all at significant risk of being set alight.

And lastly, they are a litter nuisance - farmers and other land owners have to clear up the remnants of sky lanterns from their fields.

The farming industry is urging the public to send a letter to local MPs, prospective Parliamentary candidate, local council/authority or local venues that regularly hold events asking them to support a ban.

'Risks are significant'

CLA South West Director, John Mortimer said the fire risks associated with releasing sky lanterns is 'significant'.

"They pose a threat to homes, businesses and lives in both urban and rural areas - add to that the proven risks to livestock and wildlife and there is a compelling case for a ban."

Mr Mortimer said that if other authorities were to follow suit, it would send a strong message to the public that this is a very important issue which requires serious action.

It would be a real boost if all councils backed our stance and helped ensure that someones home, property, business or life isnt destroyed by one of these flying bonfires.

We strongly object to any guidance that suggests there is a safe way to light and release these lanterns, because the safest thing to do is not to light them at all. They pose an enormous fire risk, and endanger the lives of both humans and animals.

Even after it has finished flaming, the fuel cell of a lantern can register a spot temperature of over 200C  and even after two minutes it can be around the 100C mark. Lanterns landing or crossing fields can panic livestock, but the biggest concern to farmers is that their animals can suffer a slow, agonising death if they ingest debris from spent lanterns.

'A mass landing of 28 sky lanterns'

Beef and arable farming couple Tony and Sue Robinson from Coolham, West Sussex experienced a mass landing of 28 sky lanterns on their farm in 2013 and are urging people not to release them.

They believe they were lucky to escape a fire, given many sky lanterns had landed alight, scorching the ground around them.

Sue Robinson said: All we want is for people to be aware of what could happen and we hope we will dissuade people from releasing sky lanterns. If this had happened three weeks earlier, during the dry weather, we could have had a major fire here as many lanterns landed in fields that were earlier growing corn.

By the burn marks, many were still alight on landing. One landed yards from our supplies of winter straw and feed for the cattle.
Muller Milk & Ingredients is proposing to invest 60m to upgrade capabilities and efficiencies, in a move to secure a 'sustainable and vibrant future'.

The investment, to be pumped into the dairy organisation's processing facilities at Severnside and Foston, with further enhancements to dairies at Droitwich, Manchester and Bridgwater, will create up to 180 new jobs.

The investment is part of a total of more than 100m which will be spent by Muller in the UK in the next 18 months to improve operational, innovation and marketing capabilities.

MMI has already confirmed a major investment at its dairy at Bellshill in Scotland and reversed the decision taken by Dairy Crest prior to the sale of its dairies to Muller to close a dairy at Hanworth in South West London, securing 170 jobs at the site.

Chadwell Heath dairy closure

"It is clear that the dairy at Chadwell Heath is no longer economically viable," Andrew McInnes, Managing Director of Muller Milk & Ingredients said

However, the business is now proposing to commence a phased wind down of the Chadwell Heath dairy in North East London over an 18 month period with the potential loss of 389 permanent posts.

MMIs distribution network in the South East is unaffected by this proposal and will be maintained and developed to meet current and future customer requirements.

MMI will begin a 45 day consultation on 10 November 2016 and will work with affected employees and their representatives to look at all options including offering alternative roles within the business.

In the event that a decision is taken to wind down processing operations at Chadwell Heath, Muller will work with dairy farmers who supply the site to review their options with the intention that wherever possible, they will not be disadvantaged.

Andrew McInnes, Managing Director of Muller Milk & Ingredients said: We are pleased to confirm proposals to invest in the capabilities of our dairies at Severnside, Foston, Droitwich, Manchester and Bridgwater having already confirmed plans to upgrade our dairy at Bellshill.

Regrettably, it is clear that the dairy at Chadwell Heath is no longer economically viable. It requires complete overhaul and modernisation and in an industry which has struggled for many years with excess and inefficient processing capacity, we cannot justify committing the level of investment which would be required to bring this site to an acceptable and sustainable level of performance.

Our proposal is to maintain and develop our distribution footprint in the South East of England, but to wind down processing operations at Chadwell Heath over an 18 month period. We will enter the consultation with an open mind and a determination to listen to our colleagues and rigorously assess the situation in Chadwell Heath before arriving at a decision.
Current beef quotations do not reflect the actual prices being paid by processors, according to Ulster Farmers' Union.

Beef and lamb chairman Crosby Cleland said he was encouraging farmers to push hard for better prices.

"There is strong demand for UK origin beef, driven by the build up in stocks for the Christmas period and an exchange rate that is boosting UK exports.

"Over the past number of weeks prices paid have been consistently eight to ten pence a kilo higher than quotes on offer across all cattle."

Mr Cleland said this demonstrates that processors are willing to pay more for cattle that meet the correct specification.

"With much of our beef going into the UK retail market it is crucial farmers ensure that cattle meet the specification if the best price is to be secured, said Mr Cleland.

'Farmers remain concerned'

Despite opportunities for better prices here, many farmers remain concerned about the NI-GB price differential.

This is sitting at an unacceptable level, with U and R grade cattle making at least 20p/kg more in Great Britain than in Northern Ireland.

Mr Cleland said this price differential remains unjustified.

"Our beef meets the same quality assurance standard and is being sold to the same retailer customers. This begs the question, as to why local processors are not matching the GB price for the same quality of cattle," he said.

Mr Cleland said one way to inject greater competition into the local market is to export more live cattle to GB.

"Already there are farmers and hauliers are taking advantage of the higher prices there. They are doing local beef producers an important service and it is crucial DAERA ensures this process is as straightforward as possible. I would certainly encourage farmers to investigate the live export option if the price they are offered by processors here is not acceptable," he said.
An outbreak of Asian hornets has been successfully contained by bee inspectors who promptly tracked down and destroyed their nest in Gloucestershire.

Asian hornets were first discovered in the Tetbury area in September, but the National Bee Unit moved swiftly to find the nest and remove it.

No further live Asian hornets have been seen since the nest was treated with pesticide and removed in early October.

Two dead Asian hornets were discovered in separate locations close by in north Somerset, but no nests or live hornets have been located by inspectors and there have been no further sightings.

Asian hornets pose no greater risk to human health than a bee, though they are a threat to honey bee colonies. The species arrived in France in 2004 and is now common across large areas of Europe. It was discovered for the first time in the British Isles in Jersey and Alderney this summer.

It is possible Asian hornets could reappear in England next year and members of the public are urged to report any suspected sightings in the spring.

NFU acting chief horticulture adviser Chris Hartfield said the first finding of this "new serious" pest of honeybees represents a "worrying time" for bee farmers and beekeepers.

"Robust control measures are already in place, so lets hope its a limited outbreak that can be quickly contained and controlled," said Mr Hartfield.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth probe to assess whether the proposed acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina is in line with the EU Merger Regulation.

The Commission will assess whether the deal may reduce competition in crop protection products and the supply of certain input chemicals.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "This deal would lead to the combination of a leading crop protection company with one of its main generic competitors.

Syngenta and ChemChina each have strong partially overlapping portfolios of crop protection products

"Therefore we need to carefully assess whether the proposed merger would lead to higher prices or a reduced choice for farmers".

The proposed merger would combine Syngenta of Switzerland, one of the main global seeds and crop protection companies, and ChemChina of China, which controls Adama, the largest supplier of generic crop protection products in Europe.

The transaction would take place in an industry that is already relatively concentrated.

The Commission's preliminary concerns

European Commission

Syngenta and ChemChina, through Adama, each have strong partially overlapping portfolios of crop protection products, including herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and plant growth regulators.

These products are used for the cultivation of several of the main crops grown in Europe, including cereals, cotton, corn, fruits and vegetables, oilseed rape, soybean, sugarbeet and sunflowers.

The Commission's initial investigation identified preliminary concerns in a number of these crop protection markets and suggests that the parties have relatively high combined market shares in many of these markets, and that at least some of each party's products may compete directly with those of the other.

Adama may be an important generic competitor of Syngenta in many of these markets.

And for a company that focuses on generic crop protection products, Adama has a broad portfolio of products, wide geographic coverage and good access to downstream distributors.

The Commission therefore has preliminary concerns that the proposed merger could reduce competition on these markets and that this in turn could have an impact on price and choices for farmers.

As well as looking into crop protection markets, the in-depth investigation will also verify whether the merger may negatively affect Syngenta's and ChemChina's supply of active ingredients.

These are the key chemical input for other manufacturers to make crop protection products.

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 23 September 2016. The Commission now has 90 working days, until 15 March 2017, to take a decision. The opening of an in-depth inquiry does not prejudge the final result of the investigation.

Given the worldwide scope of Syngenta's and ChemChina's activities, the Commission is cooperating closely with other competition authorities, notably with the Federal Trade Commission in the US and the antitrust authorities of Brazil and Canada.
Convert 10% of arable land to agroforestry, Woodland Trust says
By Darrel Good

Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

University of Illinois

We have extensively analyzed the history of U.S. corn and soybean yields and deviations from trend yield as a basis for evaluating annual yield risk in the U.S. Examples include the farmdoc daily articles of February 26, 2015 and March 19, 2015, which examine the history of yield deviations from trend values not adjusted for growing season weather, and March 2, 2016 and March 9, 2016, which examine the history of yield deviations in years of El Nino episodes. Here, we start a series of articles that evaluate the history of corn and soybean yields and deviations from trend yield in Brazil and Argentina. Yield and production in those two countries have become increasingly important in determining the price of corn and soybeans as production and exports have expanded rapidly.

Background

Corn production in Brazil, for example, increased by 120 percent during the 20 years ending in 2016, while Argentine production increased by 80 percent. At the same time, soybean production increased by 260 percent in Brazil and by 450 percent in Argentina. For the 2014-15 marketing year, Brazil accounted for eight percent of world corn production and 24 percent of world exports and Argentina accounted for three percent of production and 13 percent of exports. Brazil accounted for 30 percent of world soybean production and 40 percent of world exports and Argentina accounted for 19 percent of production and eight percent of exports. The two countries also accounted for 67 percent of world soybean meal exports and 60 percent of world soybean oil exports. Each year, then, the size of the corn and soybean crops in Brazil and Argentina has a strong influence on the price of those two crops. There is special interest in 2017 yield and production prospects in those two countries for at least three reasons. First, yield and production in Brazil and Argentina were reduced in 2016 due to adverse weather conditions. The largest impacts were on corn in Brazil and soybeans in Argentina. Second, a weak to moderate La Nina episode is underway which may have some influence on growing season weather in those two countries. Third, Argentina is expected to sharply increase corn acreage due to reductions in corn export taxes.

Yield Data

Identifying and evaluating corn and soybean yield data for Brazil and Argentina is more complicated than for the U.S. In the U.S., one USDA agency, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), has the responsibility for estimating yields. Those estimates are based on extensive data collection and statistical analysis as detailed in the publication The Yield Forecasting Program of NASS. We have written extensively about U.S. corn and soybean yield forecasts issued by NASS (Good and Irwin, 2006; Good and Irwin, 2011; Irwin, Sanders and Good, 2014; farmdoc daily, August 28, 2013; August 29, 2014; August 18, 2016; August 26, 2016). In contrast, yield estimates for Brazil and Argentina are provided by at least three agencies. For both Brazil and Argentina, these include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). In addition, in-country estimates for Brazil are provided by CONAB , The National Food and Supply Company, which is a public company allied with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply for evaluating crop data. In-country estimates for Argentina are provided by the Argentina Ministry of Agribusiness. The yield estimating methodology used by these organizations is very different than used by NASS to make yield estimates for the U.S. To the best of our knowledge, these organizations use satellite data, information from field operators, and various statistical methodologies to derive area and yield estimates. The FAO calculates area and crop production data on the calendar year using figures supplied by member countries. Most of the data is accumulated via annual FAO questionnaires. The FAS makes production, supply, and distribution estimates from a variety of information sources on a marketing year basis for corn and soybeans. These sources include official country statistics, foreign agricultural attache reports, and a variety of other information sources available to the organization.

Yield estimates provided by FAO are readily available for both countries for the period 1961 through 2014 for corn and soybeans. FAS yield estimates are readily available for corn for both countries from 1961 through 2016 and for soybeans from 1978 through 2016. In-country yield estimates are readily available for Argentina from 1970 through 2016 and for Brazil from 1977 through 2016. These yield estimates are shown in Tables 1 and 2. The yield estimates have been converted from metric units and reported as bushels per acre. Brazilian corn yield estimates are weighted averages of the first and second crops by using production and planted acreage for each crop during the year to calculate corn yield.

In general, the FAO corn and soybean yield estimates tend to be very consistent with in-country estimates for Argentina in the years that overlap. That is, FAO tends to accept and report in-country estimates. The one exception is the nearly four bushel difference in 2014. There have been frequent, but generally small differences between FAO and in-country corn and soybean estimates for Brazil. Yield estimates provided by FAS have frequently deviated by small amounts from both FAO and in-county estimates. However, some differences are large. Most notable are the 2006 Argentine corn yield estimates and the 1998 Brazilian soybean estimates.

While corn and soybean yield estimates from various sources tend to track fairly closely over time for both countries, frequent small differences and occasional large differences have occurred. To accurately assess future yield risks based on historical yields, it is best to use the "correct" historical yield series. Since FAO and in-country estimates are nearly identical, the choice is between FAO and FAS yield estimates. Based on our understanding of the methodology used by the agencies, we believe that FAS estimates likely reflect the most rigorous reconciliation of area, production, and yield estimates. We will use FAS yield estimates in future articles to evaluate yield risks for both crops for both countries, even though that choice results in fewer observations for soybean yields.

Figures 1 and 2 present the FAS yield estimates for corn from 1961 through 2016 and for soybeans from 1978 through 2016. Average yields for both crops in both countries have trended higher with frequent deviations above and below trend. Argentina corn yields have historically been higher than in Brazil, but rapid growth in Brazilian yields in the last decade has reduced the gap. Soybean yields in Argentina exceeded yields in Brazil through the 1980s, but yields have generally been in the same range since that time.

Implications

There are at least three sources of corn and soybean yield estimates for Brazil and Argentina, including those provided by the FAS of the USDA, FAO of the UN, and in-country agencies. FAO and in-country estimates are nearly identical for most years, while FAS estimates have deviated somewhat from the other two sources. We will use historical yield estimates provided by FAS in future articles to evaluate corn and soybean yield risk for 2017 in both countries based on historical deviations from trend yields not adjusted for growing season weather and adjusted for years La Nina conditions existed.
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Manassas, VA (20110)

Today

Considerable clouds this morning. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. High 73F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable.
Where can you get free diapers in Cumberland County?

The Partnership for Children of Cumberland County helps hundreds of families a month, according to the nonprofit's community engagement administrator.
Prosecutors in the Singapore trial of a former BSI banker said this week the defendant and other former employees of the Swiss bank helped launder up to $2.3 billion looted from the Malaysia sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei is the first person to be tried in Singapore in what prosecutors there have described as the biggest money laundering case in Singapores history.

Yeo, 33, is on trial for allegedly urging witnesses to lie to police and destroy evidence related to 1MDB or 1 Malaysia Development Berhad.

Hell face other charges with at last four other former bankers for money laundering and forgery in a separate trial scheduled to start in April next year.

Prosecutors this week said BSI entered into an agreement with fund management company Bridge Partners International Management in 2012 involving $2.3 billion from 1MDB-owned Brazen Sky.

Yeo and another banker allegedly each pocketed $5 million in a private side deal as compensation for handling the 1MDB funds in the Brazen Sky deal, prosecutors said.

Yeo earned nearly $19 million from several other illicit transactions he carried out using other schemes and shell companies, according to trial coverage from Channel News Asia.

In May, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shut down the local operations of BSI Bank. MAS gave prosecutors the names of six bankers suspected of possible criminal conduct in connection with the handling of the Malaysian government fund.

BSI is a private bank based in Switzerland that maintained a branch in Singapore.

MAS named four other banks in July for anti-money laundering lapses linked to 1MDB. They were DBS Bank Ltd, and the Singapore branches of Standard Chartered Bank, UBS AG, and Falcon Private Bank Limited.

Last month, MAS shut down Falcon Private Bank for serious failures in anti-money laundering controls and improper conduct linked to 1MDB.

On October 5, police in Singapore arrested the local manager of Falcon Private Bank, Jens Sturzenegger.

Zurich-based Falcon Bank is owned by a subsidiary of Abu Dhabis sovereign fund, International Petroleum Investment Company.

Evidence from Singapore played a key role in the 144-page civil forfeiture complaint the U.S. Justice Department filed in July against about $1 billion in assets allegedly bought with money looted from 1MDB.

The DOJ complaint described how BSI accounts were used to move some of the $3.5 billion allegedly misappropriated from the Malaysia sovereign wealth fund.

In July, Singapore seized property and bank accounts worth about $177 million linked to money allegedly diverted from 1MDB.

About $88 million was in accounts controlled by Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, Singapore authorities said.

___

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
DOJ criminal division chief Leslie Caldwell used a wide-ranging talk Thursday at George Washington University Law School to defend the six-month old Pilot Program and to describe the Justice Departments FCPA enforcement efforts and the current state of corporate compliance.

The DOJ Pilot Program is working, Caldwell said.

[W]hat were seeing is that the Pilot Program is having an effect. Although I cant share precise figures, anecdotally weve seen an uptick in the number of companies coming in to voluntarily disclose potential FCPA violations.

Companies can qualify for the program by self reporting FCPA violations, cooperating, and disgorging profits made from bribes.

Companies that qualify can receive a 50 percent discount on fines they might face under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

Speaking last week at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference, former AAG Lanny Breuer said its still early days for the Pilot Program. But he said the underlying problem of prosecutorial discretion in how to run investigations and who to charge is still there.

There are very desirable benefits to the program, but theyre still discretionary, Breuer said.

Caldwell said Thursday the Pilot Program is part of the DOJs effort to be transparent.

Transparency about expectations and the consequences of corporate misconduct is a way to promote lawful corporate behavior, she said.

The guidance provided by the Pilot Program is designed to enable companies to make more rational decisions when they learn of foreign corrupt activity by their agents and employees, Caldwell said.

* * *

In her talk Thursday, Caldwell said both the DOJ and FBI have beefed up their anti-corruption enforcement resources. The DOJ has doubled the number of prosecutors involved in the cases and the FBI has added three new squads.

She emphasized expanding international cooperation, mentioning recent enforcement actions involving Alstom, VimpelCom, Och-Ziff, Embraer, and Venezuelas PDVSA.

Anti-corruption enforcement will continue to be a high priority.

International graft presents public safety concerns, Caldwell said.

Indeed, criminal networks of all kinds, including narcotics traffickers, cyber criminals, terrorists and human traffickers, often take advantage of countries whose commitment to the rule of law is weakened by the corruption of its officials. And, as weve seen in the more extreme cases, corrupt regimes have created safe havens for criminals and terrorists by giving them a secure base from which they can orchestrate their activities.

Caldwell said since 2009 the DOJ has convicted more than 65 individuals in FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) and FCPA-related cases, and resolved criminal cases against more than 65 companies with penalties and forfeiture of approximately $4.5 billion.

Caldwell spoke at length about compliance. She said over the past 20 years the role of compliance has evolved, becoming more sophisticated, industry-specific and metrics-oriented.

Still, she said, a consistent theme of the fraud, corruption, money laundering and sanctions cases weve brought over the years has been a failure of corporate compliance.

____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Irish women aren't known for being shrinking violets. In fact, Ireland has a strong and proud feminist history. In ancient Ireland women were allowed to own property, divorce their husbands, and hold the same professions as men. Sadly, much of that changed once Christianity, and later the English, came to the island, but that didn't stop many Irish women from asserting their independence and taking a stand for equality.

Jodi McIsaac

Granuaile/Grace O'Malley. She was known as the Pirate Queen of Connaught and the "nurse to all rebellions." Granuaile was the defacto head of the O'Malley clan and a well-known pirate who went head-to-head with Queen Elizabeth I-and won.

Constance Markievicz. Born into wealth and privilege, the countess joined the fight against the English during the Revolutionary period, later becoming the first woman elected to the British House of Commons (she was in jail at the time). Her advice to young women? "Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels and gold wands in the bank, and buy a revolver."

The Inion Dubh. Finola MacDonnell (her nickname, The Inion Dubh, means "dark daughter") was married to the chieftain of the O'Donnell clan, who ruled Donegal in the 1500s. After her husband went senile, she took control of the clan and ensured that her son became the next chieftain, disposing of a few of his rivals along the way.

Maud Gonne. The muse of famed poet William Butler Yeats, Maud shunned his regular proposals in favour of her one true love: Ireland.

Mary Robinson. A Professor of Law by age 25, Mary went on to win a seat in the Senate, before becoming Ireland's first female President, where she campaigned for birth control and gay rights. She then became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and continues to fight for the rights of the marginalized.

St. Brigid. St. Brigid was abbess of Kildare and head of all of Ireland's monasteries for both women and men in the fifth century, back when women were allowed to do such things. She's now one of Ireland's patron saints.

Mary Kenny. Ireland's modern, secular society can thank women like Mary Kenny and the Irish Women's Liberation Movement. The journalist challenged the ban on contraception and the influence of the Catholic Church in matters of state.

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington. Hanna fought for women's right to vote and women's employment rights while at the same time rebelling against the Anglo-Irish treaty. She was in and out of jail for her activism, and traveled to Canada and America to publicize the political situation in Ireland.

Queen Maeve. A mythical queen from pre-Christian times, Maeve had equal wealth and status as her husband the king-except she was one bull short. Her solution? Go to war to claim the finest bull in Ireland and even the score.

Gormlaith. Gormlaith was a Leinster princess married to the Viking King of Dublin, the King of Tara, and the High King of Ireland (not at the same time). She was heavily involved in 11th-century Irish politics, and may have been the instigator behind the Battle of Clontarf, which finally broke the rule of the Danes in Ireland.

Bury The Living is out now.
Trevante Rhodes is set to join the cast of 'Horse Soldiers'.

Trevante Rhodes

The 26-year-old actor first made his break into Hollywood with indie sensation 'Moonlight', but he is now in talks to be the newest addition to the cast of real life war project.

If Trevante takes on the role, he'll join a previously announced cast comprised of Chris Hemsworth, Michael Pena, and Michael Shannon.

'Horse Soldiers' is based on the book by Doug Stanton entitled 'Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan'.

Set just weeks after the tragic events of 9/11, the story follows a team of US Special Forces who head out to Afghanistan to take over the city of Mazar E Sharif. However, when their modern equipment proves useless in the harsh Afghan terrain, they must retrain with local forces and learn to fight using only horses and their personal gear as weapons.

Nicolai Fuglsig is taking up directorial duties for the project, using a script penned by Peter Craig and Ted Tally.

Jerry Bruckheimer - under his Jerry Bruckheimer Films banner - will produce alongside Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill from Black Label Media.

Bruckenheimer Films will also send in Chad Oman to serve as executive producer, whilst Black Label Media - the company behind Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's new project 'La La Land' - will head up the financing.

'Horse Soldiers' is yet to have a release date, and until the project is finished Trevante Rhodes can be seen in HBO's 'Westworld', and will also appear in upcoming Terrance Malick project 'Weightless'.
Professor Green has been confirmed to perform at the MOBO awards.

Professor Green

The 32-year-old rapper - whose real name is Stephen Manderson - will be taking to the stage on Friday (04.11.16) alongside Craig David, Tinie Tempah, Chase & Status and Best Female Act nominees Lady Leshurr and Laura Mvula.

The annual event - which celebrates Music of Black Origin - will be celebrating its 21st anniversary with a thrilling line up at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

WSTRN, Fekky, Section Boyz and Izzy Bizzu are also to perform.

MC Fekky said: "it's gonna be a mad ting! Make sure you lock in!"

Clean Bandit will also rock the awards' stage for the time as they team up with Best Newcomer nominee Anne-Marie for an energetic set.

Although most of them haven't graced the MOBO stage before, the 'When The Bassline Drops' hitmaker - who is nominated for Best Male and Best Song - is thrilled to be making a return to the awards ceremony after first wowing the show in 2000.

He said: "I first performed at the MOBO Awards 16 years ago and walked away with three awards that night. I'm back with new music and it's only right that I celebrate this by joining MOBO as they celebrate their 21st birthday."

Meanwhile, Laura Mvula - who last performed at the 2013 MOBOs - will be hoping her performance will be a celebration of a successful night as she's up for an impressive four awards.

She said: "I'm so thrilled to be back in Glasgow performing on the MOBO Awards stage. The MOBOs are one of the few music events that have really championed and supported urban music from Gospel to Grime, so it's an honour to be taking part once again."

Like Craig, Tinie is up for Best Male and Best Song for 'Girls Like', and will be hoping to add to the two awards he picked up in 2010.

Laura and Kano lead the nominations with four each, with Skepta narrowly behind with three nods.

The MOBO awards will be aired live tonight (04.11.16) on ITV2 at 8pm.
Prince Harry reportedly took Meghan Markle to Balmoral to help celebrate his 32nd birthday.

Prince Harry

The loved-up royal is said to have taken his new girlfriend to grandmother Queen Elizabeth's Scottish estate six weeks ago, where she was introduced to his father, Prince Charles.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Meghan's visit is significant. She met Charles and he was charmed by her. She was a real hit."

Although the queen was in residence, it's not thought she met Meghan as she was hosting UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

As well as staying at Balmoral, Meghan was also a guest at Harry's shooting party on the estate and she has also met his cousin Princess Eugenie.

And last month, the smitten pair visited Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds, England, before Harry flew to Toronto, Canada, to spend Halloween with Meghan.

The source continued: "Despite the fact that Harry and Meghan live on opposite sides of the Atlantic, they have managed to meet up fairly often.

"Harry as been paranoid at the relationship getting out before either of them knew if they wanted to continue.

"But it's moved very fast and they can't bear to be apart.

"They'll be meeting up again very soon."

While Meghan has gone down well with the royal family, her half sister recently hit out at her, saying Harry cannot trust the 'Suits' actress.

Samantha Grant - who shares the same father, Thomas Markle, as Meghan - said: "The royal family would be appalled by what she's done to her own family. The truth would kill her relationship with Prince Harry, he wouldn't want to date her any more because it puts her in a bad public light.

"I certainly don't think Harry or his family would want to associate with her afterwards."
Ola Jordan wants to star in 'Hollyoaks'.

Ola Jordan and James Jordan

The 34-year-old professional dancer - best known for her time competing on BBC One show 'Strictly Come Dancing' - believes British soaps should start including Polish characters to represent the population of Poles who live in the UK and she would be up for taking on a role in the Channel 4 series.

Ola - who was born in Legionowo, Poland - is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying: "Acting would be quite fun. I'd do anything. I could be in 'Hollyoaks'. I could be the Polish cleaner. There are so many Polish people in the UK but they don't have any in the soaps. They need one. And I'd be the right person to do it."

While waiting to achieve her acting ambitions, Ola has posed for a new racy calendar for 2017, and her husband James Jordan, also a former 'Strictly' dancer, has described the photos as "seriously hot".

He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "She has a calendar coming out that is really hot. It's so hot it should be x rated. I'm not kidding it's seriously hot."

The couple - who married in 2003 - are no strangers to posing for revealing photo shoots and are not shy about speaking about the sex life together.

Ola previously claimed that lovemaking with her husband is "short and sweet" but "very good".

She said: "James is very good and very quick. A bit like a salsa. It only takes five minutes. It is quick. It's always short but sweet. And he's as fiery as you'd expect. It's a natural thing to do when you have five minutes here and there."

The raunchy couple also previously made headlines after admitting to having sex behind the scenes of 'Strictly'.

She said: "We've been married for a long time and we used to have a dressing room together. I haven't spoken to Brucie (Bruce Forsyth) about it, but we did it behind a closed door."
Italian fashion brand Benetton under its Women Empowerment Program (WEP) has unveiled the Sustainable Livelihood Project, which aims for concrete initiatives in two years time. The project aims to empower women in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh and also home based women workers in Pakistan, to reduce their vulnerability at both, home and workplace.In Bangladesh, the project will support around 5,000-6,000 women currently employed in the garment industry and will organise training courses that will help them strengthen their professional skills.

Italian fashion brand Benetton under its Women Empowerment Program (WEP) has unveiled the Sustainable Livelihood Project, which aims for concrete initiatives in two years time. The project aims to empower women in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh and also home based women workers in Pakistan, to reduce their vulnerability at both, home and work.#

In the process, the company will help them sign up for basic financial products at banks, such as loans, insurances and savings accounts and speak to their employers, with the aim to increase their safety at the workplace.In Pakistan, the initiative will support around 1,500 women from Sialkot, under which, priority will be given to the unemployed, those working at home or in the fields and those belonging to ethnic and religious minorities.Benetton will help each of them obtain an ID, necessary to vote, open a bank account or get access to training courses, while also helping them obtain formal employment and working with textile factories to make them more welcoming for women. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Mayer & Cie, developers of reconditioned circular knitting machines and parts, is set to show a highly productive interlock machine, a mattress cover specialist, and a spinning and knitting machine that can produce patterns, at the India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) expo, in Mumbai from December 3 to 8, 2016, in stand H5 B19.At the Indian Mayer representative Batliboi stand, visitors will find a D4 2.2 II HPI, an OVJA 1.6 EM HS and a Spinit 3.0 E equipped with the new Fancy module. With each of these three machines the German knitting machine manufacturer aims to fulfil central requirements of the Indian market and at the same time to underscore its claim to technology and innovation leadership.

Mayer & Cie, developers of reconditioned circular knitting machines and parts, is set to show a highly productive interlock machine, a mattress cover specialist, and a spinning and knitting machine that can produce patterns, at the India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) expo, in Mumbai from December 3 to 8, 2016, in stand H5 B19.#

The key strength of the D4 2.2 II HPI is its productivity, which is twice to three times that of a conventional interlock machine. With the D4 2.2 II a knitter can produce up to 400 kg of fabric per day. It knits with 4.4 systems per inch with an overall diameter of 30 inches. With 132 systems in all, the machine runs at 34 rpm  a speed and a number of systems at which it is way ahead of the field.The company will also show the OVJA 1.6 EM HS, a flexible high performance machine for the manufacture of mattress cover fabrics. The Spinit 3.0 E spinning and knitting machine will also be displayed at the ITME, equipped with the Fancy module. With the Fancy module the machine, which combines three previously separate operations, can produce patterns. Via the electronically controlled drafting systems, different yarn counts can be generated in the ongoing process. Unique patterns, characterised by a free alternation of transparent and opaque areas, are created. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
1971 Beyond Borders, the upcoming Mohanlal movie directed by Major Ravi, is one of the most anticipated upcoming projects of Mollywood. The movie is the prequel of 2006-released army film Keerthi Chakra.

Recently, Mohanlal revealed his look from the movie, by sharing some location pictures on his official Facebook page. The actor is sporting a twirled moustache with a different hairstyle, for his role in the movie.

Interestingly, Mohanlal is essaying a double role in 1971 Beyond Borders. The actor is reprising his highly-celebrated role Major Mahadevan, as well as playing his father, Major Sahadevan, in 1971 Beyond Borders.

The movie revolves around the soldiers who fought for India during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. 1971 Beyond Borders will be a different film, which will have no similarities with the earlier installments of the series.

Bollywood actor Arunoday Singh and Telgu actor Allu Sirish are making their Mollywood debut with the movie. The movie will also have Renji Panicker, Saiju Kurup, and Sudheer Karamana in the key roles.

1971 Beyond Borders will be filmed at the various locations of Rajasthan, Punjab, Kashmir, and Uganda, as two different schedules. The movie is produced by Haneef Ahamed for Red Rose Creations.
Bank of China, rated A1/A/A, raised $500 million from a three-year green covered bond issue on Thursday. The deal marked the first ever sale of covered bonds from a Chinese bank  although covered bond experts might not recognise it as such.

Covered bonds are typically backed by a pool of retail mortgages. But in this case, the cover pool consists of renminbi-denominated green bonds, almost entirely sold by two issuers in China's onshore market. The bonds in the pool have a maturities ranging from 2 to 8 years, with a weighted average life of about 3 years.

Bonds of China Railway Corp and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank collectively represent 97.7% of the initial collateral pool. In theory, investors have recourse to both Bank of China and the underlying assets in the event of default. But Moody's analysts said the enforcement of the separation of the cover pool was hazy, and said there was a "weak level of asset ring-fencing protection".

In any case, investors do not appear to have given up much in exchange for the protection of the cover pool. The $500 million three year bond priced at 95bp over Treasuries, slightly inside the bank's secondary curve.

Syndicate bankers said the issuer's outstanding senior unsecured bonds were the best reference point for pricing. Bank of China's $500 million July 2019 1.875% note was trading at 109bp over Treasuries, or a G-spread of 98bp on a three-year basis.

But bankers also pointed to a pair of outstanding Asian covered bonds as second reference. Korean lender Kookmin Bank's $500 million 2.25% February 2021 bond were trading at a G-spread of 83bp. DBS's $1 billion 1.625% August 2018 bond offered a G-spread of 73bp.

The bookrunners set initial price guidance at Treasury plus 115bp, before narrowing that to between 95bp and 100bp. The final pricing of the November 2019 bond was fixed at 99.852% on a coupon of 1.875% to yield 1.9265, according to a term sheet seen by FinanceAsia.

Bank of China generate demand of $900 million from 49 accounts, a sharp contrast to what it achieved for its green bond sale in July, when it ended up with final demand of more than $7 billion for a $3 billion deal. But bankers say the market environment has become tougher over the last few weeks, and the novelty of the structure will have limited demand. Asian investors took 72% of the deal, leaving the rest to European accounts. By investor type, banks took 73%, fund managers 17%, insurers 5% and private banks 4%. The remaining 1% went into sovereign wealth funds.

The group plans to use the new proceeds from the debt sale to fund eligible green projects in renewable energy, pollution prevention and control, clean transportation, and susitanable water management.

The joint global coordinators were Bank of China, Citi and HSBC, while Barclays, Bank of America Merill Lynch, China Construction Bank, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered.
ALBLASSERDAM, The Netherlands, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Unveiling of Project Spectrum at the FLIBS

102m / 334ft Nauta Design

At the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Oceanco revealed its latest design, the 102m Project Spectrum. Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, President/CEO of Show Management, performed the honors of unveiling the spectacular new scale model.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/435998 )



Aptly named, Spectrum was conceived by Nauta Design and Oceanco to encompass a broad range of possibilities, both in terms of her propulsion system and her living spaces. Designer Mario Pedol of Nauta was on hand at the premiere of the yacht concept to discuss what Spectrum is all about.

Extensive investment in hull form research and development provides a refined hull shape which, when coupled with the hybrid propulsion system enables Spectrum to cruise in a variety of efficient modes. She maintains a sleek, streamlined profile, which allows lower resistance through the water.

Her layout over five decks provides a gamut of flexibility. There is a close relationship to the sea throughout the yacht, with a seamless flow from outdoor deck spaces to the interior. Light was a very important aspect in creating Spectrum, with large windows and extensive balconies all helping bring the outside atmosphere into the interior.

The lower deck includes a wellness suite with sauna, steam room, beauty treatment area and massage rooms, with two terraces opening symmetrically port and starboard from the massage room and gym areas.

The upper deck is the owners' deck with a panoramic-view forward from the owners' suite and direct access to a private spa pool and sitting area.The forward deck is equipped with a touch- and- go helicopter-landing pad. Aft is an additional salon and bar area, which can form part of the owner's private area or be opened to the other guests onboard. The secluded owner's deck aft is ideal for alfresco dining.

The bridge deck houses the command center with a large helm area, two wing stations and a Portuguese bridge. The central lift serves all five decks. A further guest lounge is located aft on the bridge deck, with a 3m X 3m Jacuzzi on the aft deck.

Spectrum is LY3 compliant offering variety, flexibility and continuity. As with a rainbow, Spectrum is like a band of colors produced by subtle variations of wave length. She is mercurial in how she offers so many possibilities.

Main Specifications

Length: 102m / 334ft

Beam: 15.3m / 50ft

Speed: 18.5 knots

Propulsion System (Hybrid)

2 x MTU 16V4000 M72 (1440 kW each)

Combined with electric propulsion motor (500kW@2250rpm each)

Flag: Cayman Islands - LY3

Accommodation

Double owner's suite with private exterior deck

2 VIP Suites with private balconies

4 Guest suites

http://www.builtbyOCEANCO.com
HONG KONG, Nov 4, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - A leading real estate developer of green technological properties - Modern Land (China) Co., Ltd. ("Modern Land," the "Company," together with its subsidiaries the "Group," HKSE stock code: 1107.HK) -- is pleased to announce that the Group entered into a Subscription Agreement with China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd. ("China Cinda", HKSE stock code: 1359.HK). After the Subscription is completed, China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited will become the second largest shareholder of Modern Land. Relying on this cooperation, Modern Land will replenish its capital base, integrate resources from property and financial business and upgrade market competitiveness.According to the Subscription Agreement, China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited has conditionally agreed to subscribe for and the Company has conditionally agreed to allot and issue a total of 243,525,000 Subscription Shares at the Subscription Price of HK$ 1.10 per share, at a total consideration of HK$ 267,877,500 which will be payable in cash by China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited. The number of Subscription Shares represents approximately 10.78% of the existing issued share capital of the Company as at the date of this announcement and approximately 9.73% of the total enlarged issued share capital of the Company immediately following completion of the Subscription. The Company intends to utilise the net proceeds from the Subscription for general working capital of the Group.The Subscription Price of HK$1.10 represents a premium of approximately 5.77% to the closing price of HK$1.04 per Share on 3 November 2016; and a premium of approximately 1.29% to the average of the closing prices of HK$1.086 per Share for the last five consecutive trading days immediately prior to 3 November 2016.China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited is a company incorporated in Hong Kong with limited liability and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Cinda. It is principally engaged in asset management, investment and financing businesses, non-performing assets acquisition and disposal, cross-border financial services and industrial investment, asset management entrustment business, investment in property and related sectors, debt-equity swap, mergers and acquisitions and asset restructuring businesses.The Chairman of the Board of Modern Land, Mr. Zhang Lei, said: "As a property developer focused on development of green, energy-saving and eco-friendly residences, Modern Land has been continually seeking for appropriate and competitive partners to promote our market influence. We highly welcome China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited to become our second largest shareholder. China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited possess distinguished competence, which would inject new force for business development and finance activities of the Group. Currently, the two parties have been conducting negotiation on potential cooperation in multi sectors."The Executive Director and President of Modern Land, Mr. Zhang Peng, said: "There is no doubt that the partnership we entered this time indicates that Modern Land's successful business and development blueprints are acknowledged by China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited. China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Limited's parent company, China Cinda maintains a diversified business layout. We anticipate the two parties can vigorously create synergy with each other to enlarge business scope in the future."Source: Modern Land (China) Co LtdCopyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (IAG.L, BAIRY.PK, BAY.L) announced its long-term planning goals for 2016-2020 now include: EBITDAR of approximately 5.3 billion euros average per annum, compared to 5.6 billion euros average per annum previously; Capex average of 1.7 billion euros per annum compared to targeting less than 2.5 billion euros per annum previously; and ASK growth of approximately 3% per annum, compared to 3% to 4% per annum previously. The company said its long-term planning goals for 2016-2020 continue to include: Return on Invested Capital (real terms) targeting sustainable 15%; an operating profit margin of 12% to 15%; average EPS growth of 12% per annum; and an equity free-cash flow of 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion euros per annum. 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.
AMSTERDAM (dpa-AFX) - Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips Electronics NV (PHGFF.PK, PHG) Friday said that it has transformed into a global HealthTech leader, and that it expects growth in sales and earnings margin for the HealthTech portfolio for the next three to four years. For the HealthTech portfolio, the company expects mid-single-digit comparable sales growth, between 4% and 6%, and an adjusted EBITA margin step-up of 100 basis points on average per year. The company noted that the given forecast will bring it in line with the average market profitability of mid-teens. Philips also expects to improve the Return on Invested Capital or ROIC to mid-to-high teens based on the organic growth plan, and to generate approximately 1 billion euros to 1.5 billion euros in cash annually. At the Capital Markets Day meeting, Philips Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten and Chief Financial Officer Abhijit Bhattacharya will discuss the company's strategy regarding the growing health technology market. Frans van Houten said, 'I am proud that after five years, Philips has transformed into a focused HealthTech leader with a broad portfolio of innovative solutions to drive better health outcomes for people and higher productivity for care providers. The businesses in our HealthTech portfolio are strong and have the right fundamentals for sustained profitable growth. Looking ahead, I am confident in our strategy.' 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.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ChikPea will be hosting an event in Tel Aviv on 17 November 2016 to empower the emerging subscription business economy in Israel.

< >

In a recent interview with MGI Research, Adam Kleinberg, ChikPea CEOand Co-Founder, states, "We want to be the company people use not just for writing quotes or sending out bills, but also the company people use to oversee the deployment and implementation of their services. This means having tools that integrate with third party suppliers, legal departments, and offering features that expand our core business."

Watch Video "Developing Subscription Business Solutions within the salesforce.com Eco-System"

The demand for cloud-based billing and order management systems is accelerating as more businesses, large and small, recognise the critical importance of offering a much wider range of pricing and business models to their customers.

The earliest adopter of the Salesforce.com platform, ChikPea, is benefiting from this shift to cloud-based solutions.

ChikPea Solutions are designed to augment your usage of the Salesforce CRM, while making a complex quoting, pricing or process model change simple, optimising your return on investment from your Salesforce decision.

Download PDF Interview "Enabling the Digital Business Platform"

Join ChikPea in Tel Aviv, 17 November 2016 and learn about the benefits that ChikPea, Salesforce.com and Force.com can bring to your business.

< >

Product Videos:

ChikPea in a Nutshell

ChikPea Order to Billing (O2B)

ChikPea Telecom Order Management (TOM)

About ChikPea

Founded in 2006, ChikPea provides business process automation and management solutions for companies that use Salesforce CRM. Our Force.com native applications software turns Salesforce into an agile SRM (Subscriber Relationship Management) system for companies that sell any sort of business subscription service. Everything from the necessity of quoting subscription based services to delivering those services, on boarding or order management, provisioning, billing for those services, payment collections, dunning management and change orders is powered by ChikPea. ChikPea leads the field with graphical business process management tools that manage all salesforce objects and some of the most advanced CPQ solutions available on the Salesforce AppExchange. While there are expressive solutions in the market, none have the extensive out-of-the-box functionalities that can be further customised. For more information email us or follow us on Twitter @chikpea_inc.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4:45 am ET Wednesday, Markit Economics is due to release its services PMI figures for Italy. PMI reports for France and Germany are due at 4:50 am ET and 4:55 am ET, respectively. The services PMI for the Eurozone is due 5:00 am ET. Ahead of the reports, the euro showed mixed trading against the other major currencies. While the euro fell against the yen and the Swiss franc, it held steady against the pound and the U.S. dollar. As of 4:40 am ET, the euro was trading at 0.8903 against the pound, 1.0812 against the Swiss franc, 1.1077 against the U.S. dollar and 114.33 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.
Microsoft Dynamics International User Conference to be held 4-6 April, Amsterdam.

TAMPA, Florida, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynamic Communities, the supporting organization behind the official user groups for Microsoft Dynamics AX (AXUG), Microsoft Dynamics CRM (CRMUG), Microsoft Dynamics NAV (NAVUG), and Microsoft Power BI (PBIUG) products, announces Summit EMEA to be held 4-6 April, 2017 at the RAI in Amsterdam.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436095LOGO

Summit EMEA is a peer-to-peer focused conference dedicated to end user education and networking. At this year's event, experienced Microsoft Dynamics users and partners will lead instructional sessions focusing on past and current versions of Dynamics AX, NAV, CRM, and Power BI.

Attendees will have direct access to product insights, practical answers to Dynamics questions, and peer to peer expertise that will provide gains in product knowledge and streamline business operations. Summit EMEA also facilitates connections between Dynamics professionals both from local user groups and from an international network of likeminded professionals.

Attendees representing Dynamics end user organizations, partners, and ISVs benefit from access to Microsoft leaders, Microsoft MVPs, and other subject matter experts while exploring a wide range of solutions to optimise their Dynamics investment and experience a solid return on investment.

"If you have the chance to go to just one conference on Dynamics this year, then you need to make it Summit EMEA. The thing that makes this event so valuable is that it is planned by the Dynamics users, and almost all of the presentations that are given are hosted by Dynamics customers as well," said Murray Fife, Technology Solution Professional for Microsoft and member of the AXUG Summit EMEA Planning Committee. "There is no better way to get unfiltered and un-salesy information that can help you in the real world than by learning from people who are in the same position as you are - a user of Dynamics."

"We were quite pleased with the NAVUG European Congress, the Dynamics end-user event hosted by Dynamic Communities, in Frankfurt last year. The content was very relevant for us and the presenters brought a great depth of knowledge and breadth of experience. We are looking forward to attending Summit EMEA 2017 in Amsterdam," said Mike Hitzhusen, Application Manager for Intrum Justitia and member of the NAVUG Summit EMEA Planning committee.

Dynamics users can save $400 by registering prior to the Early Bird registration deadline of 12 January. To register, visit: www.summitemea.com/pricing.

Dynamic Communities is the business management organization that supports technology-centric user groups and associations - providing necessary resources and business operations such as staff, systems and event production. Dynamic Communities is independent from Microsoft; however, the two organizations maintain an intentional close working relationship so that our members can provide a collective voice to Microsoft on user concerns, needs, and requests.


DUESSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Shares of Metro AG (MTAGF.PK, MTTRY.PK) were losing around 3 percent in the early morning trading after the German retail giant reported Friday sharply lower profit in its first quarter. The results reflected the absence of prior year's gain from the sale of METRO Cash & Carry Vietnam, as well as weak sales.



Further, the company confirmed its fiscal 2017 outlook for slight increase in sales, despite the persistently challenging economic environment. In like-for-like sales, METRO foresees another slight increase that will follow the reporting period's rise of 0.2 percent.



Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG, said, 'We performed solidly in a challenging market environment during the first quarter of the new financial year.... We remain confident that we will achieve our full-year sales and earnings targets for METRO GROUP.'



For the first quarter, attributable profit declined to 200 million euros from 549 million euros a year ago. Earnings per share were 0.61 euro, down from 1.68 euros last year.



The previous year's figure included the income from the sale of METRO Cash & Carry Vietnam.



Adjusted attributable profit was 381 million euros or 1.17 euros per share, compared to 367 million euros or 1.12 euros per share.



EBIT fell to 733 million euros from last year's 1.24 billion euros. Adjusted EBIT totaled 821 million euros, compared to 828 million euros a year ago.



Sales edged down 0.6 percent to 16.99 billion euros from 17.09 billion euros last year. METRO GROUP sales in local currency declined by 0.4 percent. Adjusted for portfolio effects, sales came in only slightly below previous year's level.



METRO generated a slight increase in like-for-like sales of 0.1 percent, with higher Cash & Carry sales, while Media-Saturn sales were on the prior-year level.



Sales in Germany fell 1.8 percent, while International sales edged up 0.1 percent.



Online and delivery sales continue to grow fast. At Media-Saturn, the online sales increased more than 25 percent and, for the first time, accounted for over 10 percent of total sales. METRO Cash & Carry's delivery sales climbed by 16.5 percent, accounting for 12.7 percent of total sales.



Further, the company confirmed its fiscal 2017 outlook, and said it expects to see a slight rise in overall sales, despite the persistently challenging economic environment.



The company also said its Management and Supervisory Boards have taken all preparatory decisions for the planned demerger. The demerger agreement was executed on 13 December 2016.



In Germany, Metro shares were trading at 31.22 euros, down 2.83 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de




BANGKOK, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning plantation management company Asia Plantation Capital held its Thailand Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 21 October 2016, at the Renaissance Bangkok, Thailand.

Asia Plantation Capital is delighted to announce that despite the slowdown in global economic activity, its revenues grew 6% in Thailand and similarly increased by around 4.5% in Singapore in FY2015.

Addressing the crowd of 300 Thailand-based plantation owners and stakeholders, Mr. Barry Rawlinson, Chief Executive Officer of the APC Group, opened the AGM by detailing how the company expanded its horizons with exponential growth throughout 2016, despite facing several challenges. Mr. Rawlinson also spoke about the ongoing effects of climate change in the agriculture sector, and how the company has worked tirelessly to address the relevant issues and mitigate the negative effects.

Asia Plantation Capital remains steadfast to its ethos of 'holistic sustainability'. Throughout 2016, the company has embraced programmes and directives that are more than mere Corporate Social Responsibility projects, ensuring that equal care, consideration and encouragement are given to all members of staff-- from top and middle management all the way through to plantation workers and their families.

JindaTonkhambai outlined the details of past projects, as well as those that have been carried out over the last year, from which many local communities have benefited. Asia Plantation Capital's projects have focused on local infrastructure - such as schools and places of worship- improving the lives of all the people who live in and work around the company's areas of operation.

Three 4th year students from the Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, were also presented with scholarships at the meeting, comprising the payment of tuition fees of up to THB 150,000 over the course of four years.

In light of the company's ongoing expansion and the additional plantations that are needed to meet the growing demand for products, Phanitta Matwangsaeng from General Administration, updated attendees on the processes and due diligence carried out prior to the purchase of land. Technical details, such as the land designing process, plot diagrams, water systems, and tree management systems, were also further explained by architect, Phoom Matwangsaeng.

Nadiah Abdullah, Operations Manager, presented the significant milestones that have been reached this year on behalf of Asia Plantation Capital Berhad (APCB)- the Malaysian arm of the APC Group - with the emphasis placed on the major joint ventures that have been entered into, as well as the breakthroughs that were made in research and development.

The factory- the largest agarwood distillery in Southeast Asia- now sees some new manufacturing processes, as well as an expanded nursery facility and a laboratory with state of the art equipment to monitor oil quality and production methods.

One of the most significant achievements for APCB has been the recent recognition and unconditional approval of its products by the SSM (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia) which is Malaysia's equivalent to the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), and the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in the UK.

Experts in the field, Robin Jewer - Agricultural Director, and Boonchuay Jomkhamsee - Forestry Specialist, provided information on the current state of Asia Plantation Capital's plantations that were affected by excessive rainfall, along with the measures that were taken to deal with erratic weather patterns. For example; all company plantations now manage the risk by using rain gauges and moisture measuring metres to ensure that a tree has access to just the right amount of water. This in turn, significantly reduces water usage, as well as the power that is required to pump water.

Special Scientific Advisor and Associate professor, Dr Pakamas Chetpattanondh, from the Prince of Songkla University, also presented the audience with her ongoing research on the medicinal and healing benefits of Oud oil - specifically regarding its anti-ageing properties and its potential efficacy in treating various forms of cancer.

Described as 'the miracle plant', Asia Plantation Capital is now heavily invested in bamboo as another 'agrocrop' in which the group of companies perceives a great deal of potential. As yet another part of the group's commitment to securing innovative, sustainable, commercial solutions and new technologies, it is supporting Boo-Tex', which is developing a new range of luxury bamboo fabrics for the fashion and sportswear industries. Mr Roger Hargreaves, Chairman of Asia Plantation Capital Thailand, took the opportunity to update the attendees on the exciting developments in the sector and provided a comprehensive overview of the ever-expanding commercial bamboo landscape.

The audience was also given updates on French, niche, luxury perfume house, Fragrance Du Bois, by Clotilde Antoine, Brand and Retail Manager. The young and innovative brand scaled new heights this year with new partnerships being forged, and openings in Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Marbella, and its very own European flagship boutique in Geneva.

Additionally, the brand also decided to widen and augment its portfolio of products with the introduction and launch of an alcohol-free 'Lite Attars' collection and 'Nature's Treasures' - an original collection of hand-blended, non-Oud based perfumes, using only natural ingredients of the finest quality.

Asia Plantation Capital also announced that it will be entering into exclusive 'off-take' agreements with Fragrance Du Bois and a to-be-announced beauty and personal care company - ultimately increasing the demand for the Oud supplied by Asia Plantation Capital, and further securing the end market for Asia Plantation Capital produced agarwood products.

It was also revealed during the meeting that the Asia Plantation Distilleries 'super distilleries' are expected to be fully operational by the year 2020.

In his closing speech, APC Group's CEO, Barry Rawlinson said, "2016 has been an exceptionally good year for all of us at Asia Plantation Capital, as we have reaped the rewards that have accrued from the 'hard yards' and the long hours we have put in. Despite the challenges we have faced, we have managed to ensure that performance, growth and momentum across all regions have been maintained."

Rawlinson concluded, "On behalf of the company, I would like to thank all our stakeholders, shareholders and every member of staff for their contribution and support. These are exciting times for our company, and you can rest assured that as stakeholders, we have your best interests in our hearts and minds, as well as at the forefront of each and every decision that we make."

Notes for Editors

For further information, please contact:

Zaahira Muhammad

Senior PR & Marketing Executive

Email: zaahira@asiaplantationcapital.com

Office: +6012-203-5344

Samantha Tham

PR & Marketing Executive

Email: samantha.tham@asiaplantationcapital.com

Mobile: +65-9144-0933

About Asia Plantation Capital

Asia Plantation Capital Berhad in Malaysia is currently investing heavily in the Malaysian plantation sector, developing new plantations and factories for the production of agarwood (gaharu) and other associated products for international export markets. The company is further strengthening its presence in Malaysia by moving its headquarters to downtown Kuala Lumpur, a year after opening Southeast Asia's biggest agarwood processing factory and distillery in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The Asia Plantation Capital Group is a multi-award-winning sustainable plantation operator and management company, with projects across four continents, and a global workforce in excess of 2,000. A market leader in the industry, its Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of leading academics from various countries (China, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates), who have, between them, developed and patented industry-leading technologies and systems.

With a focus on commercial plantation projects and vertically integrated businesses that offer a combination of commercial, environmental and community benefits, Asia Plantation Capital has created a successful and dynamic 'triple bottom line' company.

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161104/8521607201-a

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161104/8521607201-b

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LONDON, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently AI Magazine interviewed Dennis Klemming, global President andGiovanni Cataldi InternationalCEO of the Prudent Group on the "Most Innovative Hedge Fund Manager for 2016: U.S./ Europe" and "Best in Funds 2016" award, how they work, and what solutions they are offering to the market.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161103/436076

The Prudent Group operates in Brazil with operating units in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, and has investor relations in Luxembourg, Vienna, Miami and New York.

"Brazil is a key market for the Prudent Group tojoin the South American region, and the success of this strategic focuswas directly reflected in our recognition as the most innovative Hedge Fund in the U.S.and Europe in 2016," said Dennis Klemming.

The Prudent Group focuses on offering the best financing and working capital solutions for small and medium sized businesses where the transaction flow is easy to understand and very predictable. Our clients are often suppliers to larger (industrial) buyers. Prudent Group seeks to create long-term relationships with this business chain, helping to establish predictability of financial operations among companies, facilitating access to capital.

The traditional channels for investment and working capital for companies in Brazil are not meeting the real needs of the market. In general, they are very large financial institutions, with very slow and bureaucratic processes, leaving companies with high potential without bank financing for their financial needs for turnover capital and their growth capacity.

Prudent Group has recently been approved to distribute our fund products locally in Germany and Sweden to well-informed investors.

"As CEO, I split my time between our office in Porto Alegre and our main office in Sao Paulo. I'm also a director of the fund vehicles domiciled in Luxembourg. The challenge that I face every day, is to run the business in a way that meets global standards, while at the same time is consistent with how Brazilian employees are used to working effectively. Our local staff in Brazil is almost exclusively Brazilian, except for our chief investment officer. Furthermore, there are capital controls and a myriad of administrative rules which complicate some aspects of our business".

"I would like tosay that I sincerely appreciate both recognition awards," said Giovanni Cataldi to expresshis thanks".

More information:

www.prudentgroup.us / www.prudentbrazil.com

Contact: +55 51 92746580








NEW YORK, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Global Managed Security Services Market Expected to Register a CAGR of 17.6% Between 2016 and 2026, Owing to Increasing Vulnerabilities of Advanced Cyber Attacks and Threats

Persistence Market Research delivers in depth research on the globalmanaged security services marketin its latest report titled,"Global Market Study on Managed Security Services: North America Market Expected to Expand 7X in Terms of Value by 2026 End (http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/managed-security-services-market.asp)". According to the report, the global managed security services market is estimated to be valued at US$ 19.98 Bn by 2016 end.

Factors such as increasing cybercrime activities, cost effectiveness, delivering timely and speedy action against advanced threats, skilled workforce, 24 x 7 monitoring and support, continuous change in compliance standards and regulations and growing trend of BYOD and mobile devices at workplace are some of the drivers which are expected to grow global managed security services market during the forecast period.

However, barriers to entry in the form of scalability, automation and professional expertise act as major restraints in the global managed security services market. Moreover, there is always a huge amount of risk associated with outsourcing the critical and sensitive security information of any organization to the service providers. This also acts as a hindrance to the growth of the global managed security services market.

The global managed security services market is segmented on the basis of deployment type, service type, application type, organization and region. By software type, the market is segmented into cloud-based software and web-based software. On the basis of application type, the market is segmented into BFSI, retail, healthcare, telecommunications and others. By service type, the market is segmented into IPS/IDS, DDoS, threat management, firewall management, end point security and SIEM. The market is also segmented on the basis of the organization which includes large enterprises and small and medium enterprises. Key regions covered in the report are North America, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Latin America and Japan.

Demand for cloud-based deployment is expected to grow over the web-based deployment during the forecast period. The cloud-based deployment market is expected to register a significantly high CAGR of 20.1% over the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the flexibility, scalability and easy deployment of the cloud-based platforms.

Managed Security Services is gaining traction in terms of service types in endpoint security, SIEM and threat management segment. The growing trend of "Bring Your Own device" which refer to the policy of permitting employee owned devices and mobile devices in the workplace is driving the major growth of the segment during the forecast period. Moreover, digital and social innovation, cloud platforms, mobile solutions and Internet of Things are expected to expand the segment with a high CAGR during the forecast period.

In terms of organization, small & medium enterprise segment is expected to grow at a high CAGR of 19.2% due to increasing focus towards the compliance and security regulations in these enterprises.

View and Download Report Table of Contents, Figures, and Tables:http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/managed-security-services-market/toc

On the basis of regions, North America is anticipated to be the most attractive region in terms of value share by 2026. The region is estimated to account for 31.4% value share in 2016 and is anticipated to continue the dominance in value share over 2016-2026.The markets in North America and Western Europe are anticipated to contribute majorly to the global managed security services market. The market in North America is estimated to be valued at US$ 6,270 Mn by 2016 and is expected to expand at the CAGR of 18.8% during the forecast period. The market in the Western Europe is expected to be valued at US$ 20.613 Bn by 2026. North America and Western Europe are the quicker adopters of managed security services. Their society are more connected and possess high risk from advanced cyber-attacks such as advanced persistent threats and zero day attacks.

Key market participants covered in the report include IBM Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Fortinet, Inc., Computer Science Corporation, Accenture PLC, AT&T Inc., Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc. Checkpoint Software Technologies Limited, and Trustwave Holdings, Inc.

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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.

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CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The euro showed mixed trading against its major rivals in the European session on Friday, following the release of Eurozone service sector growth figures for October.



Data from Markit showed that the Eurozone composite output index rose to 53.3 in October from 52.6 in September. However, the reading was below the initial estimate of 53.7. Faster output growth was seen in both the manufacturing and service sectors, reaching a 30-month high in the former.



The final services Purchasing Managers' Index also improved in October, to 52.8 from 52.2 a month ago but stayed below the initial reading was 53.5.



Germany's final composite PMI rose to 55.1, in line with flash estimate, from a 16-month low of 52.8 in September. This was the highest reading in three months. The services PMI also climbed to a three-month high of 54.2 from 50.9 in September. The flash score was 54.1.



The France composite PMI fell more-than-estimated to 51.6 from 52.7 in September. The flash score was 52.2. Similarly, the services PMI dropped to 51.4 from 53.3 and was also below the initial estimate of 52.1.



Meanwhile, European stock markets traded lower, as U.S. election uncertainty persisted and investors looked ahead to the U.S. jobs report due tonight for clues on the timing of a rate hike.



In the Asian trading today, the euro held steady against its major rivals.



In the European trading, the euro rose to 1.1108 against the U.S. dollar, from an early low of 1.1086 and held steady thereafter.



Against the pound and the yen, the euro fell to 0.8887 and 114.22 from early lows of 0.8916 and 114.71, respectively. If the euro extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.84 against the pound and 112.00 against the yen.



The euro edged down to 1.0805 against the Swiss franc, from an early 3-day high of 1.0826. The euro may test support near the 1.07 region.



Looking ahead, Canada and U.S. trade data and unemployment data, for October, and Canada Ivey PMI for October are slated for release in the New York session.



At 8:45 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart is expected to speak at the 2016 Realtors Conference and Expo, in Orlando.



At 9:00 am ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard and European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio are expected to speak before the 19th Annual International Banking Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, In Chicago.



At 12:00 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Rob Kaplan is expected to speak at an Association of Banks of Mexico forum, in Mexico city.



At 10:45 am ET, Bank of England External MPC Member Kristin Forbes is expected to speak about the unintended consequences of monetary and regulatory policies at the Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference, in Washington DC. Subsequently, Federal Reserve Governor Stanley Fischer will also participate in a panel discussion titled 'Policy Challenges after the Great Recession' in the same venue, at 4:00 pm ET.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Health insurer Humana Inc. (HUM), which is in deal to be acquired by peer Aetna Inc. (AET), on Friday trimmed its fiscal 2016 reported earnings per share guidance on certain costs, while reiterated adjusted earnings view. In its third quarter, the company recorded higher profit and revenues, above analysts' estimates.



The company now expects full-year earnings per share of approximately $8.68, compared to previous estimate of approximately $8.80. The revision was to include transaction and integration costs for third quarter, the company said. For the year, the company continues to expect adjusted earnings of approximately $9.50 per share.



On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings of $9.51 per share for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.



Brian Kane, Chief Financial Officer for Humana, said, 'We are pleased that our third-quarter results enable us to reaffirm our recently-raised EPS guidance for 2016, which includes two meaningful guidance increases during the course of the year. These increases are largely attributable to our better-than-expected performance in Medicare Advantage and Healthcare Services and we believe our performance positions us well for 2017.'



For fiscal 2017, the company anticipates growth in consolidated pretax income, mainly on anticipated improvement in individual Medicare Advantage and Healthcare Services businesses. Lower expected losses in its Individual Commercial business would also impact results.



The company also expects net growth in individual Medicare Advantage membership to approximate that of previous year, despite competitor aggressiveness in external sales channels.



In its third quarter, consolidated pretax income of $902 million increased 39 percent from last year's $648 million. The results mainly reflected higher operating earnings in the Retail and Healthcare Services segments, partially offset by lower Group segment operating earnings.



Earnings per share were $2.98, higher than $2.09 a year ago.



Adjusted pre-tax income was $940 million, compared to $681 million last year. Adjusted earnings per share were $3.18, compared to $2.25 a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of $3.15 per share for the quarter.



Consolidated revenues, including investment income, were $13.69 billion, an increase of 2 percent from $13.36 billion last year. Analysts expected revenues of $13.41 billion for the quarter.



Total premiums and services revenues were $13.60 billion, up 3 percent from last year.



Consolidated benefit ratio of 81.5 percent decreased 240 basis points primarily due to lower year-over-year utilization for the Medicare Advantage business.



Regarding its pending acquisition by Aetna, the company noted that the U.S. Department of Justice on July 21, 2016 had filed a civil antitrust lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction that would prevent the closing of the transaction. The related trial is scheduled to commence on December 5, 2016.



Humana said it cannot predict when the DOJ litigation will be resolved. Both companies intend to vigorously defend the transaction in response to the lawsuit.



Humana shares closed Thursday's trading at $165.31, down 1.71 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - ITT Inc. (ITT) lowered its 2016 adjusted EPS guidance primarily due to lower short-cycle volumes, lower project profitability and unfavorable foreign exchange at Industrial Process. The revised adjusted EPS guidance also reflects a higher tax rate. The company now expects adjusted EPS guidance range to be $2.20 to $2.30. The company said its organic revenue is expected to be down 9 to 10 percent, primarily due to lower short-cycle pump and project activity across all key end markets. In August, the company projected its 2016 adjusted earnings to be $2.34 to $2.46; and organic revenue to be down 7 percent to down 9 percent. Separately, ITT Inc. announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Axtone, a manufacturer of highly engineered and customized components for railway and other harsh-environment industrial markets. The transaction represents a cash consideration of approximately $118 million. ITT said the transaction is expected to be accretive to its earnings in the first full year after closing. Axtone is headquartered in Kanczuga, Poland, and has approximately 660 employees and six manufacturing locations. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
PUNE, India, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "BYOD & Enterprise Mobility Market by Software (MDM, Mobile Content Management), Security (Device Security, Network Security, IAM), Service (Managed & Professional Services), Deployment (Cloud & On-Premise), Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market size is estimated to grow from USD 35.10 Billion in 2016 to USD 73.30 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 15.87%.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 76 market data Tables and 58 Figures spread through 147 Pages and in-depth TOC on"BYOD & Enterprise Mobility Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/enterprise-mobility-334.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Increased productivity and employee satisfaction, reduced hardware cost for enterprises, increase smartphone penetration, demand for enterprise mobility software in large enterprises with in-house IT departments and growing prominence of managed mobility services are some of the driving forces of the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market.

Mobile device management software to play a key role in the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market by 2021

The mobile device management software has the largest market share in the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market software market during the forecast period. Its market share is expected to grow because of the rapid increase in the use of mobile devices for personal as well as professional work. Mobile device management has allowed organizations to deploy, monitor, integrate, and manage mobile devices in the workplace.

The need to mitigate security risks will drive theidentity access management market

Security concerns in BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market drives the mobility security market. Among enterprise mobility security market, identity access management market is expected to grow at the highest rate, followed by mobile content security market. Identity access management provides authorized individuals to access to resources and manages and monitors user activities to protect company information.

The North American region is expected to contribute the largest market share in the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market

North America is expected to hold the largest market share in the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market during the forecast period. This is because of the huge acceptance of BYOD and enterprise mobility services by the enterprises. The increasing innovative developments in technologies are benefiting all the stakeholders present in the BYOD and enterprise mobility market ecosystem in this region.

Inquiry before Buying @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=334

The major vendors in the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility Market are Microsoft (Washington, U.S.), Cisco (California, U.S.), IBM (New York, U.S.), SAP SE (Walldorf, Germany), Infosys (Bengaluru, India), Oracle (California, U.S.), TCS (Mumbai, India), Blackberry (Ontario, Canada), Tech Mahindra (Pune, India), HCL (Noida, India), and AT&T (Texas, U.S.).

Browse Related Reports

Managed Mobility Services Market by Function (Device Management, Application Management, Security Management, and Maintenance & Support), by Organization Size (SME and Enterprise), Industry Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/managed-mobility-service-market-176912020.html

Enterprise Mobility Management Market by Solution (Mobile Device Management, Mobile Content Management, Mobile Application Management), by Services (Maintenance & Support, Professional Services)- Global Forecast to 2019

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/enterprise-mobility-management-market-31847012.html

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This report is the result of extensive research on the SME and commercial insurance industry in the UK, covering the market dynamics, competitive landscape and consumer perspectives through insights and forecasts. It also discusses key products and distribution channels, and gives an overview of the leading companies in the category, along with details of their performance.

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.
The hearings of the international arbitration proceedings between AS Tallinna Vesi and the Republic of Estonia will be held next week from November 7th - 11th November 2016 and the following week on November 14th - 15th, 2016 in Paris, France. All hearings will be broadcasted live on the ICSID website. In addition, certain key documents issued during the arbitration process are disclosed on the ICSID website. The decision is expected in 2017. Background information: In October 2014, AS Tallinna Vesi and its shareholder United Utilities (Tallinn) B.V., registered in the Kingdom of The Netherlands, commenced international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Estonia for breach of the Agreement on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the Republic of Estonia. Riina Kai AS Tallinna Vesi Chief Financial Officer riina.kai@tvesi.ee Phone: (372) 62 62 262

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) -- 11/04/16 -- Cameo Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: CRU)(OTC PINK: SIDNF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the board of directors and the management team have been exploring multiple acquisition opportunities in the medical marijuana and CBD oil industry. The company has been reviewing legislation in those US States which have approved the growing and sale of marijuana.

In November 2012, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board ("WSLCB") passed Initiative 502 ("I-502") pursuant to a vote by the people of the State of Washington. I-502 authorized the WSLCB to regulate and tax recreational marijuana products for persons over twenty-one years of age and thereby created a new industry for the growing, processing and selling of Washington State-regulated recreational marijuana products. A recent WSLCB commissioned report by the Rand organization suggests that there are currently up to 650,000 recreational marijuana users in Washington State, worth approximately $1.25 - $1.5 Billion USD in annual sales.

Akash Patel, President of Cameo, remarks that, "Our management team looks to broaden the scope of Cameo beyond its ongoing commitment to mineral exploration with this new objective. The company looks to source, develop, distribute and sell products through retail outlets where permitted in US States and Canada. We believe we have identified several such opportunities and are continuing our due diligence to choose the ones best suited for Cameo."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Akash Patel, President

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Cameo Resources Inc.

Akash Patel

President

akashp006@gmail.com

www.cameoresources.com




ISTANBUL, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Shortly after commencing production, Abdi Abrahim Global Pharm, Turkish pharmaceutical leader Abdi Abrahim's Kazakhstan subsidiary, qualified for GMP certification, one of the key systems in good manufacturing practices. "As regards our foreign investments, not only do we expand geographically but also we strive to maximize our production capacity. We are proud to be granted GMP certification with our $60-million Kazakhstan plant in such a short time after commencing operations," commented Nezih Barut, Abdi Abrahim Chairman, on the facilities.

Offering pioneering, bold and innovative services for healing the life and the future for 105 years, Abdi Abrahim approaches its 2020 goals with its Kazakhstan investment, the most critical foreign investment.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404076LOGO )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436222 )



Abdi Abrahim invested 285 million dollars in its Esenyurt campus, which features a production facility as well as R&D and logistics centers. After breaking ground on Turkey's largest biotechnological pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with a total investment budget of $100 million last year, Abdi Abrahim began production at its $60-million Kazakhstan plant, which boasts an annual capacity of 24 million units.

Only a short time after groundbreaking in 2013, Abdi Abrahim's Kazakhstan facilities qualified for GMP certification, a benchmark in best manufacturing practices. Abdi Abrahim Global Pharm, operating across a 12,000 square meter indoor area and employing 190 people, will produce approximately 100 products, predominantly diabetes care and anti-viral products, as well as products for treatment of central nervous system and cardiovascular diseases.

On the investment in Kazakhstan, Abdi Abrahim Chairman Nezih Barut noted: "Our plant in Kazakhstan is an indicator of our determination to become a powerful actor in global markets, one of the five growth areas within our 2020 strategy. As of now, we employ a total of around 190 people in Kazakhstan, and 95 personnel in the plant. First exports from the Kazakhstan plant went to Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. In 2017, Georgia will join those countries as well. We aim to expand our current potential by exporting to the Eurasian Customs Union and CIS member countries in the upcoming years. As we near 2020, we will maintain our momentum in the free market by stepping up exports. Our goal for Kazakhstan is $40 million."

Esra Erdinc +90(212)-366-84-00, esra.erdinc@abdiibrahim.com.tr
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- Two highly-regarded experts in the area of ethics and governance will address the critical link between ethics, corporate governance and financial performance at the Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing (SRI), November 9-11, 2016, in Denver. JLL's (NYSE: JLL) General Counsel, Mark Ohringer, and Ethisphere Institute CEO Tim Erblich will share compelling research and first-hand experience from the global real estate services company during the Thursday session titled: "It Pays To Be Honest: Linking Integrity to ROI."

The joint presentation will explore the internal and external indicators, ethical behavior and performance metrics that companies must recognize and act on in order to build trust and accountability among investors and stakeholders, such as regulatory compliance, sustainability, employee engagement, Board of Directors' leadership and guidance, and reputation management. In addition, Ohringer and Erblich will address how companies must also acknowledge the external negligence factors that can adversely impact an organization's standing with the investment community, such as industry quality validations, negative media scrutiny and litigation pleadings in major cases.

"In today's complex and dynamic investing environment, an enterprise can only sustain itself over the long-term by acting responsibly and with integrity," said Ohringer. "The interrelationships and link between ethics, corporate governance and financial performance have been well-documented, and companies that embrace and deliver on these factors can be rewarded by the investment community and key stakeholders. We believe JLL is uniquely positioned to steward an 'Ethics Everywhere' approach to our global business."

Ethisphere CEO Tim Erblich believes today's regulatory, economic and cultural environments pose unique challenges for companies striving to distinguish themselves from their peers and competitors.

"A company's ethical and responsible behavior, combined with a number of critical intangibles, have clearly become the driving factors in evaluating a company's performance and investment appeal," he noted. "Sophisticated investors now place a premium on leading companies' quality governance and compliance practices compared with companies who exhibit poor corporate governance and business practices," he said.

Erblich noted that JLL and other companies recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Company award recipients outperformed the S&P 500 Index as a group by 3.3% last year, as well as outperforming other major financial benchmarks. "We believe the financial performance of JLL and other award recipient companies illustrates the value sophisticated investors place on the link between ethical behavior and strong corporate governance," he added.

JLL, named a 2016 World's Most Ethical Company by Ethisphere for the ninth consecutive year, has fully embraced strong ethical behavior and business practices through its ongoing "Ethics Everywhere" initiative, and maintains a global team of ethics officers and liaisons to ensure that it remains a foundational standard for JLL. The company's 2015 Annual Report (http://www.jll.com/InvestorPDFs/JLL-2015-Annual-Report.pdf) details JLL and LaSalle Investment Management's commitment to key issues that guide its actions in all countries of operation. This commitment manifests itself through "Building a Better Tomorrow," JLL's vision for becoming the world's most sustainable global real estate services firm (http://www.jll.com/Documents/csr/JLL-2015-Global-Sustainability-Report.pdf).

JLL is the recipient of dozens of awards globally for its achievements in environmental stewardship, ethics and corporate social responsibility and diversity. These include Fortune Magazine's 2015 World's Most Admired Companies, Energy Star's 2016 Partner of the Year Award - Sustained Excellence, CR Magazine's 100 Best Corporate Citizens, Affinity Inc. Magazine's 2016 Top Corporations for LGBT Economic Empowerment, and a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2015 Corporate Equality Index.

For more information about the Conference On SRI, November 9-11, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Denver Hotel, visit http://www.sriconference.com/.

About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with, as of December 31, 2015, revenue of $6.0 billion and fee revenue of $5.2 billion, more than 280 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 60,000. On behalf of its clients, the company provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 4.0 billion square feet, or 372 million square meters, and completed $138 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2015. As of September 30, 2016, its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $59.7 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit www.jll.com.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3076468

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Contact:

Gayle Kantro

Phone: +1 312 228 2795

Email: Gayle.kantro@am.jll.com



Brianna Totten

Phone: +1 303 217 7944

Email: Brianna.totten@am.jll.com




DUBLIN, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Dublin - Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Encryption Software Market - Global Forecast to 2021" report to their offering.

The encryption software market size is estimated to grow from USD 3.05 billion in 2016 to USD 8.94 billion by 2021, at an estimated CAGR of 24.0%.

The encryption software market is driven by factors such as increasing need to safeguard critical business information against advanced threats, manifestation of dynamic business environment, and compliance to cyber security guidelines and regulations. However, increasing operational costs and emergence of hardware-based full disk encryption limit the growth of encryption software market.

The cloud encryption segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, due to the increased adoption of cloud-based storage and applications across various business processes. Increased intensity and volume of cyber-attacks have further increased data security concerns for organization that have adopted cloud for data storage. Disk encryption will have largest market size in 2016, as data storage disks are also susceptible to cyber attacks. Moreover, with the emergence of BYOD trend, the loss and theft of mobile devices comprising business data, further increases the data security concerns.

The organizations are steadily growing their partnership networks in order to deploy the encryption software solutions across the globe. Thus, the managed services segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. However, professional services segment is expected to have the largest market size in 2016.

APAC includes emerging economies, such as China, Japan, and India, which are rapidly deploying encryption software solutions. APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This is primarily due to the increasing instances of severe cyber-attacks in verticals such as BFSI and IT & Telecom with the surging volume payments and transactions taking place over the internet. Furthermore, North America is expected to have the largest market size in 2016.

Companies Mentioned:

Checkpoint Software Technologies

EMC Corporation

Gemalto

IBM Corporation

Intel Corporation (McaFee)

Microsoft Corporation

Pkware

SAS Institute, Inc.

Sophos Ltd.

Symantec Corporation

Trend Micro, Inc.

Winmagic, Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Industry Trends

7 Encryption Software Market Analysis, By Application

8 Encryption Software Market Analysis, By Service

9 Encryption Software Market Analysis, By Deployment Type

10 Encryption Software Market Analysis, By User Type

11 Encryption Software Market Analysis, By Industry Vertical

12 Geographic Analysis

13 Competitive Landscape

14 Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ls46xw/encryption

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
Sprint Becomes First Operator to Launch Service with Google; GSMA's Universal Profile Now Backed by 58 Global Operators and Manufacturers

The GSMA welcomes today's announcement by Google and mobile operator Sprint that Sprint has become first to partner with Google to deploy the GSMA's Universal Profile for Advanced Messaging1. The profile, which is backed by 58 global operators, OEMs and OS providers, upgrades existing operator messaging services, providing users with a common, consistent and globally interoperable service that includes features such as group chat, hi-res photo sharing and read receipts. Sprint's service is available from today via the Messenger app for Android devices developed by Google to subscribers using Android. In 2017, all new Android devices from Sprint will come pre-loaded with Messenger for Android.

"We are delighted that Sprint has become the first operator to roll out the Universal Profile to their subscribers and hope that this will encourage other markets across the world to follow their lead," said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. "A single, open and common universal profile will help to drive the global adoption of RCS services, and make it easier for consumers to enjoy rich, consistent and interoperable messaging experiences regardless of device or network."

The Universal Profile reduces cost and time-to-market for OEMs by allowing them to use the same client for both operator customers and open market devices. It will also mean that users have uniform feature sets and a consistent user experience. The profile simplifies the process for operators who want consistency across devices and for OEMs who are expected to keep up with ever-changing standards. The Universal Profile will also be supported by a formal GSMA accreditation process.

To find out more about the GSMA Universal Profile please go to: http://www.gsma.com/network2020/universal-profile/. To find out more about Advanced Communications go to http://www.gsma.com/network2020/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Network-2020-006-Advanced-Communications-eBook-edition-1.pdf.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

1. The Universal Profile is supported by 58 operators, OEMs and OS providers worldwide including AIS, America Movil, Axiata Group, Beeline, Bell Mobility, Bharti Airtel Ltd, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Claro Brazil, Claro Colombia, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Globe Telecom, Indosat Ooredoo, KPN, M1, Millicom, Megafon, MTS, MTN, Optus, Orange, Personal Argentina, Personal Paraguay, PLAY, Reliance Jio, Rogers Communications, Singtel, Smart Communications, Sprint, StarHub, Telefonica, Telenor Group, Telcel Mexico, Tele2 Russia, TeliaSonera, Telkomsel, Telstra, TIM, Telus, Turkcell, T-Mobile US, VimpelCom, Vodafone and Verizon. It is also supported by device manufacturers Alcatel, ASUS, General Mobile, HTC, Intex Technologies, Lava International Ltd., LG Electronics, Lenovo/Motorola, Samsung Electronics and ZTE, as well as OS providers Microsoft and Google.

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with almost 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series of conferences.

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005283/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts:

For the GSMA

Charlie Meredith-Hardy

+44 7917 298428

CMeredith-Hardy@webershandwick.com

or

GSMA Press Office

pressoffice@gsma.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Republican party has said that yet another month of disappointing job growth means many American families are still hurting in the Obama economy. 'With millions of Americans still out of the labor force and the country treading water on economic growth, voters looking for a new direction will not find it with Hillary Clinton, whose tax plan will shrink wages, kill 700,000 jobs, and stifle prosperity,' Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement Friday. 'Our country is in sore need of new ideas to get our economy to full strength and only a lifelong job creator like Donald Trump can deliver a robust pro-growth, pro-opportunity agenda,' he added. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEW YORK, 2016-11-04 15:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LifeSci Advisors, a leading life sciences-focused investor relations consultancy, announced today the fifth placement of a female executive to a life science company board, as part of their Board Placement Initiative (BPI), launched this year to match qualified female candidates with open seats on corporate boards of life sciences companies. Cynthia Smith, Chief Commercial Officer of ZS Pharma, Inc, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca, has joined the Board of Directors of Nivalis Therapeutics, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative solutions for people with cystic fibrosis (CF).Ms. Smith's placement marks the fifth successful connection made by the program, with LifeSci Advisors looking to match many more candidates in the coming months. Ms. Smith is also one of the 20 recent graduates of Women In Bio's Boardroom Ready Program, of which LifeSci Advisors is the founding sponsor."I am delighted to join the Nivalis team and look forward to contributing my experience and helping to further the company's efforts to deliver promising therapeutic options for the cystic fibrosis community," said Cynthia Smith. "I want to thank LifeSci Advisors and Women In Bio for providing additional networking and professional development opportunities to women eager to lend their talents to boards in our industry."Ms. Smith brings more than 20 years of experience to her new role. Since 2013, she has served as chief commercial officer and a member of the executive team of ZS Pharma, where she led efforts to transition the company from the development stage to a commercial enterprise. Prior to joining ZS Pharma, Ms. Smith held the position of Vice President, Market Access and Commercial Development at Affymax, Inc. Ms. Smith has also held various senior leadership positions in market access, corporate strategy, government relations and external affairs at Merck & Co. and served as a healthcare policy analyst in the White House Office of Management and Budget."Supporting outstanding female leaders like Ms. Smith and cultivating diversity on boards in the life sciences industry is at the core of our gender diversity work," said Michael Rice, Founding Partner of LifeSci Advisors. "It is our hope that our own Board Placement Initiative and Women In Bio's Boardroom Ready Program will continue to support women in our industry in overcoming barriers and make the life sciences industry a more diverse and inclusive space.""We are pleased to welcome Cynthia to the Nivalis Board of Directors. Her impressive industry experience, corporate leadership and commercialization expertise will be profound assets to our team," said Jon Congleton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nivalis Therapeutics. "We are delighted to have been introduced to Cynthia through LifeSci Advisors, and applaud their work in connecting board candidates with companies like ours."LifeSci Advisors' BPI is accepting resumes from interested candidates on an ongoing basis. Resumes or open board seat positions can be sent to boarddiversity@lifesciadvisors.com.About LifeSci Advisors, LLC LifeSci Advisors, LLC (www.lifesciadvisors.com) is a unique investor relations consultancy founded to provide companies in the life sciences a comprehensive solution to investor communications and outreach. With a local presence in New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, London, Geneva and Tel Aviv, the firm provides the highest quality service for its clients through its deep sector specialization. Our roster of PhDs enables us to better understand our clients' R&D, regulatory, and commercial strategy, and our team of capital markets, investor relations, and public relations specialists help our clients effectively communicate to the marketplace. This combination of life sciences, capital markets, and investor relations competencies allows us to provide a valuable and highly differentiated service offering to our clients.About Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc. Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc. (http://www.nivalis.com) is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutics for people with CF. In addition to developing innovative solutions intended to extend and improve the lives of people with CF, Nivalis plans to utilize its proprietary GSNOR inhibitor portfolio to develop therapeutics for other diseases.Media Contact: Ann Kaiser The TASC Group Phone: 212-337-8870 ann@thetascgroup.com


MIDLAND (dpa-AFX) - The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that it has competition concerns about the proposed merger of The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) and E.l. Du Pont de Nemours and Company (DD) or DuPont.



'The ACCC is concerned about the effect that the proposed merger may have on competition for a diverse range of products, including insecticides, seeds, and materials science products,' ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.



Rod Sims noted that Dow and DuPont may be the only suppliers, or potential suppliers, of ionomer and acid co-polymer materials to plastics manufacturers in Australia. The merger would remove competition between them, potentially to the detriment of Australian customers.



Sims also said the proposed merger may also reduce the competitive tension in the research and development of new crop protection products. It could therefore reduce the rate at which new products come onto the market. This is especially significant where pests have developed resistance to older chemical controls.



'In addition, Dow and DuPont's existing products overlap in a large number of areas. Market inquiries have raised particular concerns about certain competing patented insecticides for chewing and sucking pests. These competitive overlaps are explored in detail in the Statement of Issues,' Mr Sims said.



The ACCC noted that Dow and DuPont are also both active in the research and development of new canola seed varieties which are adapted to Australian conditions. DuPont recently sold the supply side of its seed business, but retained the research and development functions. Dow has not yet released canola seed in Australia but has announced that it will.



'The ACCC is concerned about the merger's long-term effect on canola seed innovation in Australia...The ACCC is liaising closely with overseas competition regulators, as many of these potential competition issues arise in other countries as well,' Mr Sims said.



The ACCC noted that it invites further submissions from interested parties in response to the Statement of Issues by 24 November 2016. The ACCC's final decision will be announced on 2 February 2017.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Taco Bell and franchisee Casual Brands Group to open 45 more restaurants by 2020

Taco Bell continues to accelerate its international growth by expanding further into the Spanish market.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161213005444/en/

Taco Bell announced that the brand, in collaboration with its franchisee Casual Brands Group of Madrid, will begin building an additional 45 restaurants across Spain and will add more than 900 jobs to the local economy. (Photo: Business Wire)

Today, Taco Bell the world's largest Mexican-inspired restaurant chain - announced that the brand, in collaboration with its franchisee, Casual Brands Group of Madrid, will begin building an additional 45 restaurants across Spain and add more than 900 jobs to the local economy. By 2020, Spain will be home to more than 70 Taco Bell Restaurants and will be the largest market in Europe.

Casual Brands Group, led by CEO Ignacio Mora-Figueroa, began working with Taco Bell in 2008. The Group owns and operates all Taco Bell locations in Spain, as well as Juan Valdez Cafe and Delina's. Mora-Figueroa, recognized as Taco Bell's International Franchisee of the Year in 2015, is a well-respected entrepreneur in Spain and has done an amazing job developing and promoting the brand.

"I am passionate about Taco Bell and what the brand stands for," said Mora-Figueroa. "My team is committed to providing mas flavor, mas value, mas enjoyment and mas life to all of our fans."

Casual Brands Group has been integral in building an avid fan base of taco lovers across the country. Starting with its first restaurant in Madrid, Casual Brands Group has now expanded to Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and most recently, Seville. In 2015 alone, Taco Bell and Casual Brands Group added 10 new locations and there will be 31 Taco Bells across Spain by the end of 2016.

"We are thrilled to continue our restaurant development in Spain alongside Ignacio, who has shown his commitment to investing and growing our brand since day one," said Melissa Lora, President of Taco Bell International. "We've seen immense enthusiasm from our Spanish fans over the past eight years, and know they will continue to celebrate our Live Mas spirit as we expand to more communities across the country."

While Spain's claim to fame has been that it was the first Taco Bell market in the world to serve beer, Spanish Taco Bells have now pioneered tapas-style happy hour promotions that showcase the brand's ability to leverage local insights to create unique market specials. Spain's Tuesday Taco Happy Day has now become a regular part of fans' weekly routines and continues to drive increased trial and loyalty for the brand.

There are currently more than 330 Taco Bell restaurants (including military bases) across 26 markets outside of the United States, with the goal of expanding the brand's international presence to 1,000 restaurants by 2022. Domestically, Taco Bell is the nation's leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain. The company and its franchisees operate more than 7,000 restaurants, generating more than $9 billion in sales. By 2022, the brand plans to become a $15 billion company in global system sales with 9,000 restaurants globally.

For more information about Taco Bell Spain, visit:

Like: Facebook.com/tacobellspain

Follow: @TacoBellSpain(Twitter)and @tacobellspain (Instagram)

About Taco Bell Corp.

Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), is the nation's leading Mexican-inspired quick service restaurant. Taco Bell serves made to order and customizable tacos, burritos, and specialties such as the exclusive Doritos Locos Tacos, gourmet-inspired Cantina Power Menu and Fresco Menu with six items each less than 350 calories. Taco Bell Breakfast offers portable, classic items such as the A.M. Crunchwrap, Waffle Taco and signature burritos. The company encourages customers to "Live Mas," both through its food and in ways such as its Feed The Beat music program and its nonprofit organization, the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens. Taco Bell and its more than 350 franchise organizations have more than 7,000 restaurants across the United States that proudly serve more than 42 million customers every week.

Like: Facebook.com/tacobell

Follow: @TacoBell (Twitter) and tacobell (Instagram)

Subscribe: YouTube.com/tacobell

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161213005444/en/

Contacts:

Taco Bell Corp.

Richa Anand, 949-863-4652

Richa.Anand@yum.com
LONDON, April 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Award-winning independent trust, fund and corporate services provider Crestbridge has established a presence in the GCC following the completion of its acquisition of Ohad Trust B.S.C.(c) ('Ohad'), a leading Bahrain-based trust, fund and corporate services provider in Manama.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486921/Crestbridge.jpg )



With regulatory consent having now been received from the Central Bank of Bahrain, Ohad has with immediate effect become part of the Crestbridge Group, which also has complementary offices in Jersey, London, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands.A full rebranding of Ohad is planned for later in 2017 to bring the business fully under the Crestbridge brand.

Ohad was the first licensed provider of trust services in Bahrain when in 2005 it obtained its Ancillary Services Provider license and is the market leader in the provision of Private Investment Undertakings ('PIUs').A highly-regarded provider of Shari'a compliant and Islamic Finance products such as Sukuk, Ohad benefits from a highly experienced team many of whom are professionally qualified in Islamic Finance, complementing Crestbridge's highly qualified existing team.

Commenting on the new office Paul Perris, Group Managing Director said: "This is a significant achievement in delivering our strategy to provide a wider range of services to our clients and demonstrates Crestbridge's continued commitment to the region. As a leading independent provider of trust, fund and corporate services to UHNW and institutional clients we are delighted to add Bahrain to our network of jurisdictions. We welcome the team from Ohad which has a wealth of experience of operating in the region spanning almost 15 years. The Middle East is strategically important and having on the ground capability in Bahrain enables us to continue to add value to clients who require increasingly sophisticated support in relation to their local and international assets."

Graham Journeaux and Naser Obaid will continue to lead the Bahrain office, which consists of more than ten staff and will be supported by staff transfers from the Crestbridge Group.Naser Obaid added:"We have worked very successfully with the team at Crestbridge over the last few years and see this initiative as a very exciting opportunity for us and for the region. Crestbridge is a highly-regarded service provider in the region and brings a great deal of knowledge and expertise combined with a broad service range."

Crestbridge's new office enjoys prestigious business premises located at the Bahrain World Trade Centre, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.

Notes to editors:

Crestbridge has its head office at 47 Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey and employs over 180 people. Crestbridge is regulated in Jersey by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority in the Cayman Islands and in Luxembourg by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.

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LONDON, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

ClearlySo, Europe's leading impact investment bank, announced today that it is recruiting a new Head of Investment Banking with current Head Matthew Vickerstaff's imminent departure for a soon to be announced senior UK government infrastructure position.

Over the past year, ClearlySo's investment banking business, under Matthew's leadership, saw a series of successful client fundraisings including 10.9 million for Unity Trust Bank, a specialist bank for organisations and businesses that aim to create community, social or environmental benefit, 1.1 million for Latimer Group, a youth co-creation agency, 640k for SteamaCo, the market leader in technology for managing off-grid renewable energy networks in emerging markets, and 500k for Brighter World Energy, a new socially conscious energy company that recently launched in the UK.

The firm also enjoyed other important milestones this year, including Octopus Investments becoming the largest institutional investor in the firm, moving into upgraded office premises, a surge in impact fund mandates, and being named 'Business Consultancy of the Year' at the British Small Business Awards.

Rodney Schwartz, ClearlySo CEO, said: "Not for the first time, the UK government has recruited from our ranks to find superior talent to fill senior leadership positions. Matthew's deep expertise and leadership quality played an important role in our successes this year. Our search begins for a professional of equal calibre to lead our Investment Banking division in 2017 and beyond. Matthew's achievements have made that recruiting easier by strengthening both our platform and our pipeline. Of course, we wish Matthew well in all his endeavours".

Interested applicants should please send resume and cover letter to contact@clearlyso.com.

Notes to editors

About ClearlySo

ClearlySo is Europe's leading impact investment bank, working exclusively with businesses and funds delivering positive social, ethical, and/or environmental impact as well as financial return.

Originally founded in 2008, ClearlySo has helped more than 100 clients raise more than 108 million in impact investment from its extensive network of high-net-worth individual and institutional investors.

ClearlySo is headquartered in London.

Further Information

http://www.clearlyso.com

http://www.linkedin.com/company/clearlyso

@clearlyso



John Lloyd

ClearlySo Chief Marketing Officer

E: john.lloyd@clearlyso.com

T: +44(0)207-490-9529




BEIJING, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, today completed the first portion of his ten-day mission to China. Over 100 Canadian industry representatives from across Canada travelled with the Minister to Qingdao and Beijing.

Building on Prime Minister Trudeau's visit in September, this mission showcases Canada's agriculture, agri-food, fish and seafood. The mission also highlights the importance of bilateral trade between Canada and China and will create new opportunities to help grow Canada's economy and middle class.

While in Qingdao and Beijing, Minister MacAulay met with key Chinese officials to discuss important issues of mutual interest, including market development opportunities, and hosted networking and business-to-business opportunities to promote Canadian agricultural, agri-food and seafood products.

Minister MacAulay will continue his mission tomorrow in Shanghai and other members of the delegation will also attend important business meetings and events in Guangzhou.

Quick facts

-- China is Canada's second largest trading partner, after the United States. -- Over the past three years, bilateral agriculture and food trade has increased by 13% to reach $7.7 billion dollars. -- With a population of more than 1.4 billion people, China is one the fastest-growing economies in the world. -- Over 100 participants from across Canada are part of this mission including: -- Agriculture ministers from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta. -- Representatives from the seafood, livestock, pork, beef, grains, oilseeds, pulses, processed foods, beverages and horticultural sectors -- Over 120 Canadian exhibitors are participating in the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo in Qingdao and in the Food and Hospitality China trade show in Shanghai.

Quote

"This trade mission is a great example of the Government of Canada's commitment to working with our global partners to expand market opportunities in China and around the world. We are not only creating tremendous trade opportunities for Canadian companies and exporters of agricultural products, we are creating jobs, strengthening the middle class and growing the Canadian economy."

-- Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Canada's Minister of Agriculture and Agri- Food

-2-

Additional links

Minister MacAulay Announces Trade Mission to China

Canada signs new agreements securing access for canola and beef

Prime Minister concludes successful first official visit to China

Minister MacAulay attends G20 Agricultural Ministers' Meeting in China

China - At a Glance

Follow us on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada

Like us on Facebook: CanadianAgriculture

BACKGROUNDER

Qingdao

-- Launched online promotion of Canadian fresh food products on JD.com, China's second largest e-commerce platform. An agreement was renewed for global on-line sales, raising the profile of Canadian industry products available in China. -- Participated in a Canadian fish and seafood networking reception to encourage sales of Canadian fish and seafood to China, the world's largest importer of fishery products. -- Attended the opening of the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo and toured the Canada Pavilion to highlight Canada's strong presence at the exposition, helping to promote Canadian products and enhance market development opportunities.

Beijing

-- Signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State Administration of Grain (SAG) to strengthen the relationship between SAG and the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). The signing of this MOU was announced by Prime Minister Trudeau during a visit by Premier Li to Canada. -- Met with his counterpart Minister Han Changfu, from China's Ministry of Agriculture, to discuss cooperation in areas of mutual interest between the two countries. -- Met with Zhi Shuping, Minister of the General Administration of Quality, Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine for the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) to discuss key agricultural trade issues, including implementation of the canola memorandum of understanding agreed upon in September 2016 and witnessed the signing of a cooperative arrangement between the Canadian Food Inspection agency (CFIA) and AQSIQ. -- Participated in a signing ceremony for Canada's animal genetics with Chinese partners. -- Met with the Beijing Hualian Group and COFCO Corporation to continue to encourage commercial sales and to confirm the opening of a COFCO office in Winnipeg. -- Participated in an Export-Cafe and cooking demonstration to promote Canadian agriculture and agri-food products, to encourage business-to- business meetings and to identify export opportunities to China. -- Participated in a maple syrup tasting event organized by Canadian Liquid Gold, to help promote this iconic food product from Canada.

Contacts:

Guy Gallant

Director of Communications

Office of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay

613-773-1059



Media Relations

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Ottawa, Ontario

613-773-7972

1-866-345-7972




LONDON, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation has this week made a 5million donation to the British Lung Foundation to fund vital research into mesothelioma, matching UK government funding announced in March. The donation is the largest ever made to the BLF.

The landmark gift from the charitable organisation of Canadian philanthropist Victor Dahdaleh will support the research teams at the University of Leicester and Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, both of which will join forces with the government-funded National Mesothelioma Research Centre at Imperial College to develop new treatments for the disease.

In a further boost to mesothelioma research and to maximise patient benefit, the British Lung Foundation will also establish a Mesothelioma Research Network, to include the research programmes at Leicester, Papworth and Imperial together with other specialist mesothelioma centres across the UK.

Speaking at the announcement on Tuesday, Victor Dahdaleh said: "The Foundation is delighted to be working with the British Lung Foundation and the teams at Leicester, Papworth and Imperial to support this vital research, ultimately to find a cure for mesothelioma.

"While the UK already has world leading expertise in studying and treating mesothelioma, we hope that our donation, matching the government funding announced earlier this year, will enhance research programmes and enable closer collaboration between all those working hard to bring tangible benefits to patients affected by this dreadful disease.

"The professionalism and commitment already shown by all the teams involved give us confidence that together we can make a real difference over the next four years."

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer which affects the chest or abdomen, and is particularly associated with exposure to asbestos fibres. There are more than 5,400 sufferers in the UK, and numbers have increased over the last four decades. With no cure, 2,500 people die in Britain each year from the disease, often with frightening speed - the average survival time after diagnosis is just 11 months.

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation said:

"This unprecedented and generous donation from the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation means we can co-ordinate a network of researchers into mesothelioma and ensure that the number and scope of research projects and clinical trials can be greatly increased. This investment will help to speed up much needed progress in finding better treatments and, eventually, a cure for this awful killer disease.

"We will continue to pursue further funding from individuals and industry, including insurers and businesses to secure the long-term future of the Mesothelioma Research Network. We won't stop until a cure is found."

The donation from the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation is the latest in a long history of support for health-related issues around the world. In Canada last year, the Foundation funded the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health, a state-of-the art research facility at York University in Toronto. The institute, which was funded by a record $20million donation to the university, will seek to reframe the ways in which high- and low-income countries collaborate on global health challenges.

At McGill University in Montreal, the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation this year funded the establishment of a new chair in neurosciences, which will integrate the university's neurology, psychiatry and rehabilitation science expertise. The Foundation also doubled an existing scholarship endowment, which gives overseas students the opportunity to study at the university.

Back in the UK, the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation supports efforts to find new treatments for a range of cardiovascular diseases, and has funded research at Imperial College London and Royal Brompton Hospital in London and Middlesex.

Alongside health and wellness, the Foundation is committed to giving young disadvantaged people opportunities for higher education at some of the world's top universities. Through Victor Dahdaleh's strong affiliations with a number of leading academic institutions, his charitable organisation has set up several scholarship programmes aimed at students from lower income countries.

Victor Dahdaleh is the owner and chairman of Dadco, a privately owned investment, manufacturing and trading group established in 1915. A lifelong promoter of closer collaboration between Canada and the UK, he served as president of the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2009.

For more information on the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation, visit victordahdalehfoundation.com
Vilnius, Lithuania, 2016-11-04 15:47 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the initiative of the INVALDA INVL, AB, which is a shareholder of the AB INVL Baltic Real Estate (legal entity code 152105644, address of the registered office: Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania, hereinafter, the Company), alternative draft decisions on issues of the agenda of an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on 10 November 2016 at 9:30 a.m. were received.The alternative draft decisions of the 10 November 2016 extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Company on issues No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 of the agenda of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders are provided below:Draft resolutions of the Company's extraordinary general meeting of shareholders:1. Approval of the new wording of the Articles of Association of special closed-end type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate.To approve new wording of the Articles of Association of special closed-end type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate, by replacing the text of the Articles of Association in full (enclosed as an annex to this notification).To authorize Egidijus Damulis or Andrius Dauksas (both with a right to reauthorize other persons) to sign the Articles of Association of special closed-end type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate.3. Selection of the depository of the special closed-ended type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate.To select AB SEB bankas, as a depository of the special closed-ended type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate.4. Approval of the Depository Services Agreement of special closed-ended type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate.To approve the Depository Services Agreement of special closed-ended type real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate (enclosed as an annex to this notification).The Company provided the information, which according to legal acts must be provided when notifying of the convocation of a meeting, on 20 October 2016 by publishing a notification on material event. An updated ballot paper is enclosed with this notification.The person authorized to provide additional information: Egidijus Damulis CEO E-mail: Egidijus.damulis@invl.comAttachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=603107
ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

This week Rotterdam Ahoy will be hosting the 2016 MTV European Music Awards (EMA), one of the world's biggest music spectacles. United is responsible for the overall technical infrastructure of this prestigious show.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436262LOGO )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436263LOGO )



It will be the fourth time for United to supply MTV EMA with a full array of high-end facilities for recording all elements that together will culminate in the live show on Sunday evening. Hilversum-based United facilitated the EMA three times before, in Glasgow, Amsterdam and Milan. 'Thanks to our advanced network equipment everyone can access every piece of content,' Burnaby Lautier, Manager Special Projects, explains. 'Using special servers, all elements are linked through a fibre network. This is how we create a complete network where everyone can go and pick content. Whether you direct the show in the US, or need videos for social media, everyone can access all files 24/7. No matter what edit or clip you need. Are you looking for some red carpet shots of the stars? No problem.'

To make it all possible a United crew of more than 100 people has pitched camp in Rotterdam, bringing with them an impressive arsenal of technical equipment, including 13 vehicles. There are 5 big broadcast vehicles, a complete digital audio unit, a DDP truck, 14 mobile editing units, 100 monitors and screens, 38 cameras and countless kilometres of cable. A full state-of-the-art intercom system has been set up allowing hundreds of people to stay in touch constantly. 'Communication is key.'

United is proud that once again the organisation has trusted United as its facility management partner for the EMA 2016.

At the EMA various awards will be presented to (European) musicians and artists. The line-up includes Bruno Mars, Zara Larsson, Lukas Graham, Shawn Mendes, DNCE and Dutch DJ's Martin Garrix and Afrojack. Every year the show attracts 40 million viewers across more than 60 stations worldwide. On-line views are close to 200 million. This year sees the 23rd anniversary of the MTV European Music Awards.

For more information, please contact our Sales department at sales@united4all.nl .

United:

Based in the Music Pavilion at Hilversum's Media Park, United is a service provider operating nationally and internationally that offers technical and creative support for TV and multimedia projects. We have state-of-the-art facilities and service-minded staff who always see the customer as their number-one priority.

Our joint experience, passion for the profession, flexibility and versatility have made us an obvious partner. Together with our customers we are always innovating to retain our lead in terms of quality. The focus of our cutting-edge projects lies on Augmented Reality, Remote Broadcast and 4K. United is a member of the Euro Media Group (http://www.euromediagroup.com) (http://www.united4all.nl)

Irvin de Vette, irvin.devette@united4all.nl
TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- Chess Supersite Corporation (OTC PINK: CHZP) (the "Company") is pleased to announce they have met all necessary provisions for its $4 million dollar funding commitment.

The $4 million dollar funding commitment is being made available through an equity line provided by New York based Blackbridge Capital Growth Fund, LLC. "We are very excited to work alongside Chess Supersite. We believe this is the first of many steps to a long lasting relationship," said David Jacobi, Director of Business Development. The Company is now in the process of filing a registration statement with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission ("SEC") in order to register shares for the aforementioned investment.

Additionally, Chess Supersite received $ 125,000.00 in the form of a Promissory Note which will help market its new platform.

Rubin Schindermann, Chess Supersite Corporation CEO, stated, "We are very pleased to announce that we have met all the provisions necessary for us to move forward with our $4 million funding commitment. This equity line will now afford us the ability to control our destiny by raising capital at our discretion without taking on additional debt once our registration statement goes effective. Additionally, this credit line is structured to produce a much more advantageous cost base allowing investors more support and price stability. We plan on using a portion of this equity line to eventually eliminate all of our convertible debt in order to create greater shareholder value. We will now be focusing our efforts with strategic marketing in order to build brand awareness of our State of the art Playing Zone."

Chess Supersite Corporation

www.chesssupersitecorp.com

www.chessstars.com

alexander.starr@gmail.com




EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, will host an event in Edmonton on Monday with representatives from a variety of cultural sectors as part of the consultations on Canadian Content in a Digital World.

Representatives from the media are invited to take pictures at the beginning of the event. A media availability will follow Minister Joly's remarks. In order to engage and hear from as many Canadians as possible on the future of Canadian content in a digital world, Canadians from across the country will have the opportunity to follow and contribute to this event through Facebook Live.

Please note that all details are subject to change. All times are local.

The details are as follows:

DATE: Monday, November 7, 2016 TIME: Artistic performance and B-roll at 1:00 p.m. Opening remarks from Minister Joly at 1:10 p.m. Media availability outside the room at 1:40 p.m. PLACE: Winspear Centre, Studio Room 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square NW Edmonton, Alberta

Stay Connected

Follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr, DigiCancon

Contacts:

Pierre-Olivier Herbert

Press Secretary

Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage

819-997-7788



Media Relations

Canadian Heritage

819-994-9101

1-866-569-6155

pch.media-media.pch@canada.ca




SAN RAMON, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- Time is running out for homebuyers to take advantage of TRI Pointe Homes' Move-In Ready Buying Event -- more than 10 homes have already sold! The time-sensitive campaign has allowed enthusiastic shoppers the opportunity to choose from some of the most popular residences that feature highly desired upgrades at all of their Northern California communities.

"We've had a tremendous response already to our Move-In Ready Buying Event where future residents are securing their dream home just in time for the holidays," said Susan Cleary, Marketing Manager for TRI Pointe Homes. "But, this opportunity won't be available much longer. So, the time to make a move is right now."

One of our featured communities is Barrington in Brentwood. Highlighted by three neighborhoods -- Berkshire, Hawthorne and Marquette -- that capture the imagination and inspire the hopes of homebuyers who desire a life lived well in an exceptional home and among neighbors who aspire for the same.

"The Brentwood residences are extraordinary and offer a range of options, whether a homebuyer seeks the attainable luxury of Berkshire, impressive style of Hawthorne or the crown jewel of Marquette. So, homebuyers will not want to delay in making one of these homes their own. Best of all, these move-in ready homes have some incredible design and decor options already built in," Cleary said.

Cleary added that the Move-In Ready Buying Event is making dreams come true for families throughout Northern California.

TRI Pointe's communities are located in Alameda, Solano, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, and San Joaquin counties including: Ventana in Tracy; Sundance in Mountain House; Redstone in Vacaville; Blackstone at the Cannery in Hayward; Berkshire, Hawthorne, Marquette at Barrington in Brentwood; Cadence and Symmetry at Alameda Landing in Alameda; and Parasol in Fremont.

Beautiful and functional interior designs, along with energy-efficient features make any TRI Pointe Homes' residence the perfect choice for modern, growing families who seek the quality craftsmanship and innovation of a home nestled in a thriving community.

"The clock is ticking, so this is the perfect time to visit any one of our TRI Pointe Homes' communities and choose from among these popular homesites," Cleary said. "You will be moved in and settled just in time for the holidays."

To discover Brentwood's Barrington community, exit John Marsh Heritage Hwy / Vasco Rd. and travel east. Turn left on Brentwood Blvd., right on Sand Creek Rd., left on Garin Pkwy, left again on Auburn St. and follow the signs to the sales center. From 580 take Vasco Road, turn right on Walnut Blvd., right on Balfour, left on Brentwood Blvd. and right on Sand Creek, left on Garin Parkway and right on Portsmouth Drive. The Sales Center for all three neighborhoods is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call (925) 420-0088 or visit www.tripointehomes.com/brentwood.

For a complete listing of TRI Pointe Homes locations, visit www.tripointehomes.com/northern-california

With a growing number of new home communities throughout Northern California, TRI Pointe Homes, Inc. is a member of TRI Pointe Group (NYSE: TPH), headquartered in Irvine, California. The company is one of the top 10 largest public homebuilders by equity market capitalization in the United States, supported by the significant resources, economies of scale and thoughtful leadership of a national foundation. Additional information is available at www.tripointehomes.com/northern-california.

Contact:

Fran Bangert

Kovach Marketing

714-335-9646

Email Contact




A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" of Pozavarovalnica Sava d.d. (Sava Re) (Slovenia), the operating holding company of the Sava Re Group. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The rating affirmations reflect Sava Re's strong consolidated risk-adjusted capitalisation, good operating performance and solid business profile in Slovenia's insurance market. A partly offsetting rating factor is Sava Re's exposure to the challenging operating market conditions in Slovenia and the West Balkan region.

A.M. Best expects Sava Re's consolidated risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain strong in 2016, supported by solid earnings retention and a cautious growth strategy.

The Sava Re Group reported a good pre-tax profit of EUR 20 million for the first six months of 2016 compared with the EUR 22 million produced in the same period of the previous year. The group's focus on underwriting discipline, combined with foreign exchange rate movements returning to a normalised level, supported the improvement in the combined ratio to 96.1% for the first half of 2016 (first half of 2015: 97.0%). In the absence of a major loss event occurring in the remaining quarter of 2016, A.M. Best expects Sava Re's net earnings in 2016 to be similar to the post-tax profits of EUR 30 million reported for the full year of 2015.

The merger of Sava Re's four European-based subsidiaries, which completed on 2 November 2016, is expected to result in annual cost synergies of approximately EUR 6 million, further enhancing the group's prospective earnings. A.M. Best does not have an immediate concern regarding the reorganisation of Sava Re's group operations. However, some integration risk exists.

The Sava Re Group has a strong business profile in its core market, with a 17% market share in 2015. The group also benefits from its leading profile within the smaller insurance markets of the West Balkans and continues to develop its competitive position in the international reinsurance markets. Growth in premium volumes is expected to be modest in 2016. This reflects the impact of the challenging economic and insurance operating conditions in Slovenia, and the highly competitive international reinsurance markets.

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/20161104005754/en/

Contacts:

A.M. Best

Nicola Gaisford, +44-20-7397-0306

Senior Financial Analyst

nicola.gaisford@ambest.com

or

Deniese Imoukhuede, +44-20-7397-0277

Associate Director, Analytics

deniese.imoukhuede@ambest.com

or

Christopher Sharkey, +1-908-439-2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

or

Jim Peavy, +1-908-439-2200, ext. 5644

Director, Public Relations

james.peavy@ambest.com
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND -- (Marketwired) -- 11/04/16 -- Agria Corporation ("Agria" or "the Company"), today announced that it received a letter from the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), on November 3, 2016 (the "Letter"), informing the Company that the NYSE has determined to commence proceedings to delist the American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") of Agria from the NYSE. Trading of the Company's ADSs was suspended on November 3, 2016.

Prior to the notice of commencement of proceedings to delist the Company's ADSs, the Company received a request for information from the NYSE on July 13, 2016 in connection with a review of the Company's compliance with the NYSE's minimum price requirements and trading activity. The Company has been, and will continue to, work with the NYSE in responding to its request for information.

According to NYSE, the determination to delist the Company was based on an investigation conducted by NYSE Regulation, which uncovered evidence demonstrating that the Company and its management engaged in operations contrary to the public interest and not in keeping with sound public policy pursuant to Section 802.01D of the Listed Company Manual. NYSE stated that it identified evidence indicating that the Company (i) through a top executive and other intermediaries engaged in trading intended to artificially inflate Agria's stock price, including to improperly avoid having the Company delisted for failing to comply with NYSE's continued listing standards requiring companies to maintain an average stock price of at least $1.000 per share over a consecutive thirty-day trading period; and (ii) provided incomplete, misleading, or false information in connection with investigations related to these issues.

The Company is in the process of obtaining additional information about the circumstances of the NYSE allegations and considering additional options, including filing an appeal to the Committee of the Board of Directors of the NYSE challenging the commencement of delisting proceedings.

In addition, on December 23, 2015, the Company received a subpoena from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") in connection with a non-public investigation. The SEC's subpoena is focused on, among other things, Agria's historic and ongoing business operations in China. The subpoena advised that the existence of the investigation should not be construed as an indication by the SEC or its Staff that the Company or any of its officers or directors had violated any of the federal securities laws. The company is cooperating with the SEC's investigation.

About Agria Corporation

Agria (NYSE: GRO) is a global agricultural company with three principal business segments: Seed and Grain; Crop Protection, Nutrients and Merchandise; and Rural Services. The Seed and Grain segment is engaged in research and development, production and sale of a broad range of seed products and trading of seed and grain products globally. The Crop Protection, Nutrients and Merchandise segment operates an extensive chain of retail stores that supply farm input materials. The Rural Services segment provides livestock trading, wool trading, irrigation and pumping, real estate agency and other agriservices. For more information about Agria Corporation, please visit www.agriacorp.com.

Safe Harbor Statement:

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements, including the management's commentary, are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Agria may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 20-F and 6-K, etc., in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Agria's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those risks outlined in Agria's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this announcement unless otherwise stated and Agria does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Contact:

The Blueshirt Group



Asia

Gary Dvorchak, CFA

Phone (China): +86 (138) 1079-1480

Email: gary@blueshirtgroup.com



United States

Ralph Fong

Phone: +1 (415) 489-2195

Email: ralph@blueshirtgroup.com




DUBLIN, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Seed China News" newsletter to their offering.

MOA's response to GM corn planting in Xinjiang: seeds are smuggled from abroad

Recently, a research and development (R&D) unit in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was discovered illicitly planting genetically modified (GM) corn. Yesterday, in a GM media seminar, a person in charge of Department of Science, Technology and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China (MOA) gave a response to this matter. He believed that this R&D unit intentionally did it for the pursuit of personal business interests. Besides, the seeds were smuggled from abroad. Meanwhile, in experimental planting, it is quite possible that GM crops sneak into the market for illegal planting.

In May 2016, Xinjiang Altay Prefecture Seed Administration Station found out that GM corn was illegally planted in corn seed farm covering an area of 133.33 ha (2,000 mu) in Fuhai County, Altay Prefecture. Now, all the GM crops have been uprooted. However, each side sticks to his own argument about where the GM seeds come from.

Whether GM crops will sneak into the market for the so-called violation operations during experimental planting? For this question asked by a reporter from the Beijing Times, Lin Xiangming, the director of Genetically Modified Organisms Safety and Intellectual Property Right, Department of Science, Technology and Education of the MOA, said that it is quite possible that GM crops sneak into the market for illegal planting during experimental planting period. Besides, the illegal planting in Xinjiang was intentionally done by R&D unit it for the pursuit of personal business interests. Moreover, the seeds were smuggled from abroad.

"In general, clearance of these GM seeds is not allowed, but the search is really difficult. In addition, someone works in a company related to GM technology in America, therefore it is more convenient to smuggle the parent back," said Lin Xiangming.

Executive Summary:

In order to ensure national food security and effective supply of important agricultural products, China specially formulates the National Structure Adjustment Plan for Crop Farming (201 6-2020). The objective of planting structure adjustment is mainly "two guarantees, three stabilities, and two coordinations".

This article introduces the diverse financial performance of nine China's listed seed enterprises in H1 201 6. They are Longping

High-tech, Shandong Denghai, Wanxiang Doneed, Winall Hi-Tech, Hefei Fengle, Gansu Dunhuang, Beijing Dabeinong, Shennong

Gene and Zhongnongfa Seed.

China carries out a comprehensive inspection over seed production bases around the country in Sept. 201 6. Random check in

fields should be finished before 1 5 Sept., 201 6; the results and a summary should be submitted to the Bureau of Seed Management of the MOA before the end of Nov. 201 6.

Recently, an R&D unit in Xinjiang was discovered illicitly planting GM corn. Yesterday, in a GM media seminar, a person in charge of Department of Science, Technology and Education of the MOA gave a response to this matter. He believed that this R&D unit intentionally did it for the pursuit of personal business interests. Besides, the seeds were smuggled from abroad.

Affected by the slowdown in domestic demand and the impact of imported substitutes, at present, China's corn industry is in

oversupply, with greatly increased inventory and decreased planting benefits. In order to further optimize planting structure and

regional layout, improve agricultural benefit and sustainable development ability, China issued the Structure Adjustment Plan on

Corn Planting Area in Sickle-shape Region (201 6-2020) to decrease corn planting area by over 3.33 million ha (50 million mu) by

2020, and vigorously develop silage corn, soybean, high quality forage, coarse cereals and beans, spring wheat, etc. based on

current supply and demand situation.

According to the Structure Adjustment Plan for Chinese Crop Farming (201 6-2020), China will reduce grain corn, extend silage corn, and properly develop fresh corn.

China has implemented the purchase policy of corn for temporary storage since 2007, but this policy was canceled in 201 6 and the

corn subsidy will be established.

Due to special reasons, China decided to cancel the purchase policy of corn for temporary storage implemented for many years in three northeast provinces and Inner Mongolia. And instead, a corn subsidy system would be established in order to improve quality and benefits of agricultural development.

On 16 July, 201 6, the NCVAC announced the detail information of the division of the appropriate ecoregions of state-approved

corn varieties. Eleven ecoregions were divided for common corn and silage corn, belonging to the first major type; 4 ecoregions

were divided for fresh sweet corn and fresh waxy maize, belonging to the second major type; one ecoregions was divided for pop

corn, a separate type.

On 5 Sept., 2016, the 5th National Media Reporter Transgenic Seminar was held in Changchun. Wan Jianmin, an academician of CAE and the chief engineer of transgenic major project introduced three types of special GM rice. Heilongjiang Province carried out the implementation program for the pilot subsidy on corn-soybean rotation in 201 5, in order to initiate big farms, cooperatives and other new business entities to conduct corn-soybean rotation instead of planting corn only to optimize the planting structure of the province.

China's unit yield of soybean averaged at about 1 ,787.30 kg/ha (11 9.1 5 kg/mu) in 201 4. However, that of space soybean

'Shuangke 1 ' can hit over 7,500 kg/ha (500 kg/mu).

Two new vegetable clutivars namely "Jin Fanqie1 0" and "Jinyou409" are introduced in this article. Currently, the development of China's cotton industry is hampered by severe problems. Minor pests strike cotton fields heavily, pesticide consumption doubles, the quality of cotton fiber drops and the cotton planting area shrinks dramatically

Companies Mentioned:

Ningxia Guanrui Seed Science and Technology Co., Ltd.

Shandong Denghai Seeds Co., Ltd.

Chongqing Banghao Seed Industry Co., Ltd.

Jilin Xianmeida Seed Co., Ltd.

For more information about this newsletter visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/lk3dx9/seed_china_news

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

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Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
The Global Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (Miles) Marketis expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 8% during the period 2016-2020, according to Technavio's latest report.

In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the globalMILESmarketfor 2016-2020. The market is further categorized into two application segments, namely soldiers and vehicles, of which the soldier segment accounted for over 80% of the market share during 2015.

"The global MILES market is expected to grow during the forecast period due to extensive investments in the development and procurement of MILES by countries such as the US, China, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, and the UK. Live laser training systems are also known as tactical engagement simulation (TES) systems. MILES is one such equipment that confers TES, using eye-safe laser bullets. Its instrumentation and tracking system provides authorities with detailed after-action reports (AAR)," says Arushi Thakur, an industry expert for defense research at Technavio.

Technavio's aerospace and defense research analysts segment the global MILES market into the following regions:

Americas

EMEA

APAC

In 2015, with a market share of over 55%, the Americas dominated the global MILES market, followed by EMEA with 27% and APAC with 18%.

America: MILES simulators being used for training more than 200,000 US Army soldiers

The MILES market in the Americas is expected at a CAGR of around 7.7%. The Obama administration's budget for 2016 is USD 4 trillion, of which USD 619 billion has been allotted for defense programs, and an additional USD 54 billion has been assigned to all the US intelligence agencies to meet both long-term challenges and immediate extremist threats, which include training and simulation exercises.

In the US, MILES simulators are being acquired by the US Department of Defense (DoD) under a large army program with an aim to provide upgraded devices for in-training soldiers in military tactics. They are contracting companies like Lockheed Martin and Cubic for the supply of I-MILES and army mobile instrument training system variants (PEO STRI). In addition, more than 200,000 US Army soldiers are being trained using I-MILES. Such programs and procurement plans will propel the market during the forecast period.

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EMEA: increase in defense budgets to boost market

The MILES market in EMEA is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7%. The amounts allocated as part of the defense budgets in countries such as Russia and South Africa have increased as compared to previous years. In 2015, Saudi Arabia witnessed a budget of close to USD 82 billion and was ahead of the world's major powers with approximately 13% of its GDP allocated to defense.

Despite the economic crisis in the European countries such as Portugal, Greece, Ireland, and Cyprus, the market share of the region is projected to grow during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the significant growth in many European countries' GDP and military spending. "The increase in defense budgets and a simultaneous rise in the investments in R&D for training equipment will drive the market during the forecast period," says Arushi.

APAC: fastest growing market

The MILES market in APAC is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 9.5%. The strong economic progress in APAC has fueled the market.

In 2015, the military spending in APAC was USD 435 billion with China, India, Japan, and South Korea being the top three spenders. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam made it to the top 10 countries with the fastest-growing defense budgets in 2015.

Such military expenditures of any country define the contribution of investments in various sectors such as R&D, military training, equipment, ammunition expenditure, and many other segments. These intensive military expenditures are expected to drive the market during the forecast period. For instance, USD 70 million was spent on the procurement of wireless version of laser TES in 2009.

The top vendors in the global MILES market as highlighted in the report are:

Cubic

Lockheed Martin

Saab

Raytheon

Browse Related Reports:

Global Military Laser Systems Market 2016-2020

Global Laser Distance Meter Market 2016-2020

Global Radar Systems and Technology Market 2016-2020

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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 4, 2016) - Minnova Corp. (TSXV: MCI) ("Minnova" or the "Company"), an advanced-stage mining exploration and development company focused on the advancement and re-start of our 100% owned PL Mine in central Manitoba, announces today that, further to its press releases from September 21, 2016 and October 25, 2016, it has closed the first tranche ("First Tranche") of its previously announced brokered (the "Brokered Offering") and non-brokered (the "Non-Brokered Offering") private placement raising aggregate gross proceeds of $3,334,750.

Pursuant to the Brokered Offering co-led by Mackie Research Capital Corporation and Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. (together, the "Agents"), the Company issued 71,000 flow-through units (each, a "Flow-Through Unit") at a price of $0.85 per Flow-Through Unit for gross proceeds of $60,350, and 966,200 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.65 per Unit for gross proceeds of $628,030.

Each Flow-Through Unit consists of one common share of the Company (each, a "Common Share") issued on a flow-through basis and one-half of a Common Share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant shall entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.85 until May 4, 2019. Each Unit consists of one Common Share and one-half of one Warrant.

In consideration for their services in connection with the Brokered Offering, the Agents received a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds of the Brokered Offering and were issued 62,232 broker warrants (the "Broker Warrants"). Each Broker Warrant is exercisable for one Unit for at a price of $0.65 per Unit until May 4, 2019.

Pursuant to the Non-Brokered Offering, the Company issued 2,612,200 Flow-Through Units at a price of $0.85 per Flow-Through Unit for gross proceeds of $2,220,370, and 655,385 Units at a price of $0.65 per Unit for gross proceeds of $426,000. The Brokered Offering and the Non-Brokered Offering are collectively referred to as the "Offering".

In connection with the Non-Brokered Offering, certain eligible finders received a cash finder's fee equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds sourced by such finders, and the Company issued to such finders an aggregate of 196,055 finder warrants (the "Finder Warrants"). Each Finder Warrant is be exercisable for one Unit at a price of $0.65 per Unit until May 4, 2019.

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for work programs related to advancement and re-start of mining operations at the Company's PL Mine including; 10,000 meter drill program for definition drilling, resource expansion and property wide exploration and revised and updated NI 43-101 technical reports, debt reduction as well as for general working capital purposes.

In addition to the Offering, the Company is also pleased to announce that it has settled a portion of its previously announced shares for debt transaction by issuing an aggregate of 165,549 Common Shares at a deemed price of $0.80 per Common Share in settlement of an aggregate of $132,440.09 owed to certain arm's length parties (the "Debt Settlement").

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering and the Debt Settlement will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring on March 5, 2017 in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

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 as defined under applicable securities laws unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Minnova Corp.

Minnova Corp. is an emerging Canadian gold producer focused on re-starting the PL Mine and expanding gold resources on its PL and Nokomis gold deposits. The Company completed an Updated PEA which supports average annual production of 48,100 ounces over a +10 year mine life. Work to date supports advancing the project toward production with an initial program of detailed definition drilling to be followed by a future underground test mining and bulk sample program and completion of a Feasibility Study to bring the PL Mine back into production. The PL Mine has a valid underground mining license, an existing flotation mill, over 7,000 meters of developed underground ramp to 135 metres depth, is fully road accessible and close to existing mining infrastructure in the prolific Flin Flon - Snow Lake Greenstone Belt of Central Manitoba.

Qualified Person

Mr. Brian Robertson, B. Sc., P. Eng., a Director of the Company and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

For more information please contact:

Minnova Corp.

Gorden Glenn

President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact Investor Relations at 647-985-2785 or info@minnovacorp.ca

Visit our website at www.minnovacorp.ca

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information regarding the Company including management's assessment of future plans and operations, that may involve risks associated with mining exploration and development, volatility of prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of resource estimates, environmental and permitting risks, access to labour and services, competition from other companies and ability to access sufficient capital. As a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements. A feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the disclosed targets will be achieved nor that the proposed operations will be economically viable. Although Minnova 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 information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Minnova 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.



NOT FOR DISSEMINATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
DUBLIN, November 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Dairy Products China News" report to their offering.

Fresh Milk, A Market Opportunity

On 4 September, the 5th Cross-Strait Fresh Milk Development Forum was held in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. During this event, the "Circle of Friends" for the China Quality Milk Programme was jointly established by 20+ dairy companies (including New Hope Dairy, Changfu Dairy, Bright Dairy, Beijing Sanyuan, Huishan Dairy, Wondersun Dairy, NanJing Weigang Dairy, Kunming Xuelan Dairy, Jinan Jiabao Dairy, Henan Huahuaniu Group Dairy, Yantang Milk, Fengxing Milk, Jiangxi Sunshine, Guizhou Haoyiduo Dairy, Xuzhou Lujian Dairy, Tianyou Dairy). This aimed to promote the programme's implementation and speed the development of the fresh milk segment ("Circle of Friends" is an imitation of WeChat's function, "Moment", which is also known as "Circle of Friends".)

For a long period take-up of the programme has been called for by the domestic dairy industry. However, some large dairy companies have held back from full implementation. The programme mainly consists of: Labelling products as "Quality Milk" Dairy farming technology upgrade Supervision of standardisation of processing

The accreditation is mainly targeted at fresh milk, which should have characteristics such as "near to raw milk sources", "short-distance refrigerated transportation" and "instant consumption". Consumers are expected to easily see whether the milks are "quality" through the labelling. "The programme will help rebuild confidence in domestic milk products and ease the imbalance of profit distribution in the industry," commented a trade source.

Ever since the melamine scandal, China's dairy market has endured periods of rapid price drops or increases. This year is "the hardest year for the domestic dairy business," stated Gao Hongbin, Director of the Dairy Association of China (DAC): "In March, 51% of companies made a loss. In H2, this proportion is still growing."

There are two fundamental factors behind the flat domestic dairy market:

- Weak demand, causing slower growth in consumption and oversupply.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, local sales of liquid milk (fresh + UHT, including imports) stood at 27.39 million tonnes in 2015, up by 3.6%

- this compared with averages of 5.1% in 2011-2015 and 11.1% in 2006-2010.

On 16 August, the DAC issued the China Dairy Industry Quality Report (2016), produced with support from China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the China Food and Drug Administration. In 2015, national milk production (incl. goat milk) reportedly hit 38.70 million tonnes, whilst consumption of dairy products was 29.58 million tonnes. According to the 2015 China Rural Statistical Yearbook, the country's dairy herd stood at 15.07 million head in the same year.

- The threat posed by foreign dairy products: China imported 1.79 million tonnes of dairy products in 2015, equal to about 11 million tonnes of milk (based on 1:8 ratio between powders and raw milk); in January-June, imports of milk powder (incl. infant formula) hit 407,800 tonnes (= 3.26 million tonnes of raw milk), up by 18.6% YoY; liquid milk imports were up by 77.55% to 314,000 tonnes.

"Developing the fresh milk segment is a key means of surviving the sluggish market, depending on stressing the original milk's quality," said Gao Hongbin, implying its greater nutritional properties compared with long-life milk. Many local processors recombine imported powder to produce UHT milk as the international price is nearly 1/2 the domestic one. According to statistics from the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), the theoretical world milk price was about RMB1.44/kg in May, compared with RMB3.46/kg from China's 10 leading milk producing regions. However, going from raw milk to powder and then to reconstituted milk means 2 high-temperature sterilisations which cause huge nutritional losses (local processing specialists cite 60% of active protein being lost in the initial spray-drying).

According to the Notice to Enhance Administration on Liquid Milk Production and Sales (released by the General Office of the State Council in September 2005,implemented on October 15, 2005), if reconstituted milk is used for producing UHT milk, manufacturers should note this on the label, and make clear the proportion used. The Identification of Reconstituted Milk in Fresh Milk and UHT Milk issued in April also stresses increased inspection of reconstituted milk.

However few local dairy products using reconstituted milk are declared as such on-pack, an issue which clearly needs tackling. This represents an opportunity for fresh milk. Practice of the quality milk programme is expected to push dairy processors to purchase higher quality raw milk, and dairy farmers to increase their efforts to produce such a product.

"The price of raw milk will increase materially in early 2017," stated dairy analyst Song Liang; "We expect fresh dairy products including fresh milk, yoghurt and ice cream will grow also. It is necessary to encourage companies to develop fresh milk to make a turnaround."

Taiwan provides a good example of an industry countering use of imported milk powder with fresh milk: "30 years ago, we started promoting labelling for quality milk, and focused on developing fresh milk. Now 98%+ of local farm milk is used for producing fresh milk," stated Shi Zongxiong, Honorary Director of the Dairy Association of Taiwan.

In mainland China, this percentage is very low. According to the China Dairy Industry Quality Report (2016), fresh milk accounts for 10% of the liquid milk market compared with 80%+ in the US and Australia.

"We are making a 5-year plan for the quality milk programme, a move intended to increase the consumption of quality dairy products (meaning fresh milk) to 30%, and to 90%+ within 10 years," claimed Wang Jiaqi, DAC's Vice Director.

Executive Summary:

On 23 August, Dali announced to launch soymilk next year; 2 days later, Vitasoy released its new coconut juice "Vitakaka". In reality, many plant protein beverage manufacturers have launched many new products. All this is strong demonstration about the market potential.

On 4 September, at the 5th Cross-Strait Fresh Milk Development Forum in Fujian, the "Circle of Friends" for the China Quality Milk Programme was established by 20+ dairy companies.

On 30 August, the CNCA announced to enhance supervision on Australian fresh milk companies. It seems that the manufacturers are facing risk of being suspended for registration in China.

On 24 August, Ausnutria announced the takeover of Australian company Nutrition Care, a notable step in its diversification.

In H1, Yili grew both sales and net profit, whereas Mengniu recorded a fall in net profit, achieving just 1/3 of the figure posted by Yili. In the future, growth will be centre on the 3rd-/4th-tier cities, where both companies are already active.

On 13 September, local milk tea manufacturer Xiangpiaopiao launched the first "pure milk pure tea" on the market, a move intended to transform itself into a "healthier" supplier.

On 19 September, Beingmate announced it had received government approval for its establishment of an infant formula plant with Fonterra. This is expected to strengthen their partnership and help Beingmate deal with the changes brought about by the Chinese infant formula registration policy.

In September, the price of raw milk continued an upward trend, thanks to the traditional sales peak and decreased milk supply.

On 22 September, the ground-breaking ceremony for a 10,000 cow farm jointly constructed by Qianjin Animal Husbandry and Jule Group was held.

In September, Bright Dairy, following the launch of premium-marketed "Momchilovtsi" yoghurt, started marketing another such yoghurt "Zhi Da". This differentiated product is positioned as healthy and snack yoghurt and is targeted at South China.

Key Topics Covered:

Giant Players Rush for Plant Protein Beverage Business

Fresh Milk, A Market Opportunity

China Enhances Supervision on Australian Fresh Milk

Ausnutria Acquires Australian Nutrition Care

Yili Makes Profits 3 Times Larger than Mengniu in H1

Xiangpiaopiao Launches China's 1st Pure Milk Tea

Beingmate-Fonterra UJV Approved

Milk Price Continues Rising in September

10,000 Head Dairy Farm Starts Up

Bright Dairy Launches Premium Cheese Yoghurt

August Import Data

D20 Forum Held in Hebei's Shijiazhuang

Mengniu at Royal Melbourne Show

Fortune Sells Dairy Cow Business

Bright Dairy Re-Invests in Synlait

3rd Sino-Holland Dairy Industry Chain Safety Guarantee Seminar Held

Yiyi Food Cited for Substandard Infant Formulas in July

62 Students Suffer After Drinking Jinjian Milk

Mengniu: Lu Minfang Replaces Sun Yiping as CEO

Yili Suspends Share Trading

Yantang Dairy to Raise USD78.3 million for Business Expansion

Companies Mentioned:

Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co., Ltd.

Xiangpiaopiao Food Co., Ltd.

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd.

China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited

Bright Dairy & Food Co., Ltd.

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xxcg4r/dairy_products

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

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LONDON, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The year-end ceremony for Sanya, China's overseas new media project "Hearts to Hearts" experience trip,hosted by Sanya Tourism Development Commission, was held on Nov. 2th, 2016 at the Westin Sanya Haitang Bay Resort. Officials from Sanya Municipal Government and Sanya Tourism Development Commission, VIP guests from Sanya tourism industry, the 6 experience trip winners of the campaign and journalists attended this grand event to witness and celebrate the success of the project.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436314

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161104/436315

Atop tourism destination in southern China, Sanya launched the "Hearts to Hearts" online campaign on May 20th to recruit Sanya ambassadors through the city's official social media platforms for a 15-day experience trip. New software was adapted to calculate scores automatically, which encouraged all participants to actively interact with Sanya's social media accounts with all the efforts they could gain from their networks. The Sanya ambassadors went through several rounds of fierce competitions, from Top 60 to Top 20, and then Top 5, with 6 candidatesfinally winning the dream tour in Sanya, staying at top hotels, enjoying relaxing beach times, watching grand performance shows, exploring the rainforests, Li and Miao ethnic customs and Buddhist culture, experiencing Taichi, hot spring spa and traditional Chinese physical therapies and many more.They carried out an exciting task of sharing their experiences in Sanya on social media to compete for the final cash award of USD 30,000 based on marketing performanceandengagement scores.

The most exciting moment was to announce the year-end grand prize - the USD 30,000 award - which went to Mr. Luke Campbell Charny from London, UK. Luke is the founder of Yettio Travel Magazine, an independent online magazine providing travel guides and information of global destinations. Luke has actively taken part in the campaign since the very beginning and spared no efforts to help promote Sanya online using his expertise in the travel industry and online marketing supported by magnificent social networking.

As one of the 6 Sanya Ambassadors, Luke joined the experience trip in Sanya with his girlfriend. "The locals seem to use the beach in a very different, casual way. Group activities like ballroom dancing and Tai Chi are taking place right at the seafront which gives the city a real community feel", the couple said. It was hard for Luke to pick just one awesome experience, but the fanciful show in the Romance Park would stand out for its costumed dancers, impressive aerobatics, and the touching story of an ancient Chinese female general. For them, Sanya is a brand new refreshing seaside destination, more than just beaches and sunshine.

Sanya, your tropical paradise is inviting you to experience and bring your holiday fantasy to life!

S anya "Hearts to Hearts" online Campaign Page: https://app.gotrips.net/

anya "Hearts to Hearts" online Campaign Page: https://app.gotrips.net/ Sanya Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Sanya.China/

Sanya Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/VisitSanya

Sanya Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/visit_sanya/

Sanya Pinterest Page: https://www.pinterest.com/visitsanya/

Sanya Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3YoIvvyt78j1ztngkzMlcg?




Luxfer Holdings PLC (Luxfer Group, NYSE: LXFR) announced today that Brian Purves, the company's chief executive officer for the last 15 years, has informed the board of directors of his intention to retire during the course of 2017.

At the board's request, Mr. Purves has agreed to remain in his current role until his successor is appointed. The company is working to ensure a smooth transition, and the nominations committee of the board has appointed an external advisor to consider suitable candidates.

Mr. Purves was a member of the two-man buy-in team that led the private equity-funded purchase of certain downstream assets from British Alcan in 1996, forming a new company initially called British Aluminium. Since that date, the re-named Luxfer Group has been significantly re-shaped and put on a sound financial footing, culminating in its listing on the NYSE in October 2012.

Mr. Purves said: "Whilst I continue to relish the challenge of running such a diverse and global group of businesses, after over 20 years with the company and 15 years as CEO, I feel that the time is right to hand over the reins. The company has a bright future, with many new products in the pipeline, and I am confident that we will make a great success of them, but coming up to 40 years of continuous full-on work in manufacturing industry, I am looking forward to being able reduce the pace of life a little."

Joseph Bonn, the non-executive chairman, said: "Brian has managed the business through some very challenging times, and he has played the major role in shaping the successful listed group that we have today. The board is grateful for his invaluable contribution to the business over the last 20 years."

The company currently expects to provide an update on the transition plan in early 2017.

About Luxfer Group

Luxfer Group is a global materials technology group focused on sustained value creation using its broad array of technical know-how and proprietary materials technologies. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of high-performance materials, components and high-pressure gas-containment devices for environmental, healthcare, protection and specialty end-markets. Luxfer customers include both end-users of its products and manufacturers that incorporate Luxfer products into finished goods.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains forward-looking statements.

Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

(i) statements regarding the Group's results of operations and financial condition; (ii) statements of plans, objectives or goals of the Group or its management, including those related to financing, products or services; (iii) statements of future economic performance; and (iv) statements of assumptions underlying such statements. Words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "forecasts" and "plans" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. The Group cautions that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: (i) future revenues being lower than expected; (ii) increasing competitive pressures in the industry; (iii) general economic conditions or conditions affecting demand for the services offered by us in the markets in which we operate, both domestically and internationally, including as a result of the Brexit referendum, being less favorable than expected; (iv) worldwide economic and business conditions and conditions in the industries in which we operate; (v) fluctuations in the cost of raw materials and utilities; (vi) currency fluctuations and hedging risks; (vii) our ability to protect our intellectual property; and (viii) the significant amount of indebtedness we have incurred and may incur and the obligations to service such indebtedness and to comply with the covenants contained therein. The Group cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. These factors are more fully discussed in the sections "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2016. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to the Group, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and events. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Group does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005977/en/

Contacts:

Luxfer Holdings PLC

Dan Stracner, +1 951-341-2375
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 4, 2016) - Portofino Resources Inc. (TSXV: POR) ("Portofino", or the "Company") wishes to announce the resignation of Mr. Robert Coltura as a director of Portofino. The Company would like to thank Mr. Coltura for his time and service as a director and previous officer of the Company.

On Behalf of the Board,

"David G. Tafel"

Chief Executive Officer

Director

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.

For Further Information, Contact:

David Tafel

604-683-1991

This news release contains forward looking statements concerning future operations of Portofino Resources Inc. (the "Company"). All forward looking statements concerning the Company's future plans and operations, including management's assessment of the Company's project expectations or beliefs may be subject to certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual performance and exploration and financial results may differ materially from any estimates or projections.

Such statements include, among others: possible variations in mineralization, grade or recovery rates; actual results of current exploration activities; actual results of reclamation activities; conclusions of future economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents and other risks of the mining industry; delays and other risks related to construction activities and operations; timing and receipt of regulatory approvals of operations; the ability of the Company and other relevant parties to satisfy regulatory requirements; the availability of financing for proposed transactions, programs and working capital requirements on reasonable terms; the ability of third party service providers to deliver services on reasonable terms and in a timely manner; market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social conditions. It is important to note that the information provided in this news release is preliminary in nature. There is no certainty that a potential mine will be realized. A mine production decision that is not based on a feasibility study demonstrating economic and technical viability does not provide adequate disclosure of the increased uncertainty and specific risks of failure associated with such a production decision.
Keen Venture Partners LLP, a venture capital firm operating from London and Amsterdam, announced a 90m first close of its inaugural fund.

Key investors in Keen Venture Partners Fund, L.P., include the European Investment Fund (which benefits from EU support under the COSME program funded by the European Commission), Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), ING Netherlands, and KPN Ventures in addition to several private investors and entrepreneurs.

Set up by Ben Verwaayen, former CEO of both BT and Alcatel-Lucent, Alexander Ribbink, former COO of TomTom and Robert Verwaayen, former principal at Prime Ventures, the fund will seek to provide early growth capital for technology companies across Europe with a particular focus on innovation hubs in the UK, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. In addition, it will consider North American-based technology companies looking to expand into Europe.

The fund will invest 5m to 10m per company.

The firm, which is targeting a final close in 2017, has also appointed a number of network partners, technology professionals focused on providing investment advice and support portfolio companies. These network partners include Marcus Weldon, CTO of Nokia and President of Bell Labs, Clare Johnston, Founder and CEO of The Up Group, among others.

FinSMEs

04/11/2016
pi-top, a London, UK-based edtech startup providing Raspberry Pi-powered laptop and desktop building kits, raised 3.5m in Series A funding.

The round was led by Hambro Perks, with participation from Committed Capital.

The company intends to use the funds to expand into the US and India.

Led by Jesse Lozano, pi-top provides pi-top, a fully portable 3D printed Raspberry Pi powered laptop in a do-it-yourself building kit (featuring a 12-hour long-life battery) and pi-topCEED, Raspberry Pi powered desktop with a 14 HD screen ideal to be used as a workstation and aimed to offering IT/STEM education to schools and enthusiasts.

The pi-top and the pi-topCEED provide the office tasks of a regular desktop with the use of Libre office (compatible with Microsoft office) which allows the user to create, documents, spreadsheets, powerpoints, as well as the standard features of an office desktop.

The company also offers the pi-topPROTO board, which allows the user to add their hardware-creations to the pi-top and the pi-topCEED, universally.

pi-top and/or pi-topCEED also have an audio system, the pi-topSPEAKER.

FinSMEs

03/11/2016
Planetary Resources, Inc., a Redmond, Washington  based asteroid mining company, has finalized a 25m agreement with the Luxembourg Government.

The deal includes direct capital investment of 12m and grants of 13m from the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the banking institution Societe Nationale de Credit et dInvestissement (SNCI). In conjunction with the agreement, the public equity position is taken by the SNCI. Georges Schmit, an advisory board member of the SpaceResources.lu initiative, joined Planetary Resources Board of Directors. The company is also establishing a European headquarters in Luxembourg that will conduct key research and development activities in support of its commercial asteroid prospecting capabilities, as well as support international business activities.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate technical advancements with the aim of launching the first commercial asteroid prospecting mission by 2020.

Founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis and President & CEO Chris Lewicki, Planetary Resources has developed and tested on orbit core hardware and software technologies. The companys next mission, now undergoing final testing, will validate the thermographic sensor that will precisely measure temperature differences of objects on Earth. When deployed on future commercial asteroid prospecting missions, the sensor will acquire data related to the presence of water and water-bearing minerals on asteroids, key resources that have the potential to accelerate the development of off-planet economic activities applicable to global markets, including the agriculture, oil & gas, mining and insurance industries..

FinSMEs

04/11/2016
Apartment List, a San Francisco, CA-based rental marketplace, raised $30M in Series B funding.

The round was led by Canaan Partners, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners and Glynn Capital.

The company will use the funds to continue investment in its renter experience and expand its presence to another 30+ metro areas. In conjunction with the funding, Rich Boyle, Partner with Canaan and previously Chairman and CEO of LoopNet, will be joining the Apartment List Board.

Launched in September 2011 by CEO John Kobs and COO Chris Erickson, Apartment List offers a transaction-based marketplace for long-term rentals, completely aligning incentives between the renters it serves and the landlords who advertise on the platform.

Today, the platform reaches more than four million renters each month and has over 2.4M apartments and works with many of the industrys top owners and managers, including Greystar, Equity Residential, Avalon Bay, and Camden.

By focusing on integrating directly with each of these clients, it can offer renters real-time unit availability, detailed amenities, and online tour booking.

FinSMEs

04/11/2016
Filmmaker Anand L Rai is noted for his twin abilities of shaping strong female characters and depicting small towns with heartwarming beauty. While the lead actress of his next with Shah Rukh Khan remains a mystery, the setting of the film has been revealed.

According to a report by Pinkvilla, Rai has left for Meerut, a small town in Uttar Pradesh for a recce. He will be in the city for the next five days to scout for locations and familiarise himself with the culture and the people of the town.

If all works well, this will be the third city of Uttar Pradesh that Rai will shoot in, following Kanpur in the Tanu Weds Manu franchise and Varanasi in Raanjhanaa. Going by his track record, it is quite evident that Rai knows the heart of these small towns inside out, and he will do complete justice to Meerut in his next.

This film will mark his return to direction after Tanu Weds Manu Returns, since his last two outings, Nil Battey Sannata and Happy Bhag Jayegi, were in the capacity of a producer.

For the uninitiated, this is the first time that Shah Rukh Khan will collaborate with Rai and he will play the role of a dwarf in this romantic film. Khan recently completed the shooting schedule of The Ring, his third film opposite Anushka Sharma, directed by Imtiaz Ali, in Prague.

Now that he has returned to India, SRK is likely to start promoting his upcoming releases Gauri Shindes Dear Zindagi with Alia Bhatt and Rahul Dholakias Raees which are set to release on 25 November and 26 January, 2017. After the promotions, he is likely to start shooting for Rais film in Meerut.

Anand L Rais untitled next with Shah Rukh Khan is slated to release on 21 December, 2018.
By Aditi Shah

| MUMBAI

MUMBAI Tata Sons has put in place a new management team for the $100 billion steel-to-software group, days after its board ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry and disbanded his advisory council, triggering a public spat between him and Ratan Tata.Ratan Tata, patriarch of the Tata group who is temporarily back at the helm as interim chairman, has put together a team of five executives, including two former Mistry advisers, Tata Sons said in a statement on Friday.The team comprises S. Padmanabhan, who currently leads the Tata business excellence group and will also be group human resources head, Gopichand Katragadda, who will continue in his current role as group chief technology officer, and Sanjay Singh, who will oversee public affairs in Delhi.The new team also includes Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, formerly part of Mistry's five-member advisory council. Rajan will continue to be responsible for ethics and sustainability, and will also oversee the group's international operations in the United States, Singapore, Dubai and China.

Bhat, who oversees marketing, will also be brand custodian and interim strategy and business development head.The remaining three Mistry advisers - Nirmalya Kumar, NS Rajan and Madhu Kannan - have left the company, Tata Sons said.

Tata veteran Prasad Menon, who last served as chairman of Vistara, an airline venture with Singapore Airlines, has also been brought in to help Ratan Tata temporarily, a source close to the company had told Reuters.While Mistry has been removed as chairman of Tata Sons, he is still chairman of some of the key listed group companies such as Indian Hotels Co, Tata Motors, Tata Communications and Tata Steel.

Removing him as chairman from some of the companies, where Tata Sons is not a majority shareholder, might prove harder.Indian Hotels, owner of the Taj chain of hotels, will be the first to hold a board meeting after Mistry's ouster. The meeting, on Friday, is to discuss the company's quarterly results, but what else might be on the agenda is not yet known. (Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

| AMMAN

AMMAN Three U.S. military trainers were shot dead in Jordan on Friday when their car failed to stop at the gate of a military base and was fired on by Jordanian security forces, a Jordanian military source said.The incident occurred at the Prince Faisal air base in the south of the country, a close ally of the United States. Two trainers died immediately and a third died later in hospital. A Jordanian army guard was also shot and wounded. "There was an exchange of fire at the entrance to the base after an attempt by the trainers' vehicle to enter the gate without heeding orders of the guards to stop," the military source said."An investigation is now under way to know exactly what happened."Another Jordanian security source said it was not possible to rule out political motives in the incident at an air base where dozens of U.S. trainers work alongside Jordanians. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters they were reviewing the incident and could not rule out the possibility of a deliberate attack.

One said there were Americans in the convoy who were unharmed in the incident.ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT

Many ordinary Jordanians harbour strong anti-American sentiment over Washington's strong support for Israel and its military interventions in the region.

Several incidents this year have jolted the Arab kingdom, which has been relatively unscathed by the instability that has swept the region since 2011.A Pentagon spokesman confirmed the shooting incident."We are saddened to report that three U.S. service members were killed today in a shooting incident at a Jordanian military base," Peter Cook said, adding more information would be provided "as appropriate".Jordan hosts several hundred U.S. contractors in a military programme which includes the stationing of F-16 fighter jets that use Jordanian airfields to hit Islamic State positions in neighbouring Syria.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Washington has spent millions of dollars to help Jordan set up an elaborate surveillance system known as the Border Security Programme to stem infiltration by militants from Syria and Iraq.U.S. officials say aid to Jordan, one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign military assistance, is expected to rise to $800 million in 2016 and grow in future years.The last incident involving U.S. personnel was in November last year when a Jordanian officer shot dead two U.S. government security contractors and a South African at a U.S.-funded police training facility near Amman before being gunned down. The incident embarrassed the Jordanian authorities, who did not publicly disclose the motive of the assassin. The gunman was later said by security sources to have been a sympathiser of Islamic State with strong anti-Western feelings. Six Jordanian border guards were killed in June by an Islamic State suicide bomber who drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a U.S.-funded military post. (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Andrew Roche)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Maurice Tamman

| NEW YORK

NEW YORK The race for the Oval Office tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Republican Donald Trump must win shifted from favouring Democrat Hillary Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.The two presidential candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clintons lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Pennsylvania is now tilting to Clinton.While Clinton remains the odds-on favourite to win Tuesday's election, Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election.Still, Trump must win both Florida and North Carolina to have a good chance of winning the White House. Clinton could lose both states and still win.The States of the Nation project estimates Clintons odds of winning the needed 270 Electoral College votes at about 90 percent, down from 95 percent last week. If the election had been held on Wednesday, the project estimates, she would have had 256 solid electoral votes and an estimated final tally of about 302 votes, to 236 for Trump. Last week, she had 278 solid votes and a final tally of 320 votes, to 218 for Trump.By any measure, however, Trump has had a good run in the past week. He has seen his support grow in 24 states while losing ground in 11. Conversely, Clintons support grew in 13 states while shrinking in 22.Trumps gains came in a period in which he had few new controversies to fend off, while Clinton faced renewed scrutiny of her email practices.Most respondents to the latest survey were asked about their support for the candidates after FBI Director James Comey announced last Friday the agency was examining newly discovered emails that might pertain to Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.Comey had concluded in July at the end of a year-long FBI probe of the email issue that there were no grounds to bring any charges against Clinton. His brief letter to Congress last week said the new trove of emails might or might not be significant.

Trump and other Republicans seized on the news to question Clinton's credibility, while Democrats complained it could unfairly influence voters so close to the election.The States of the Nation project is a survey of about 15,000 people every week in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. State by state results are available by visiting hereEARLY VOTING INDICATORS

It is unclear if the FBI inquiry upset the balance in the race. But many national polls have found the race tightening in recent days. Polling averages last week showed Clinton with a lead of between 4 and 7 points. Those averages now show her lead at just 2 to 3 points. Last week, the project had her leading 47 percent to 40 percent. This week, it dropped to 45 percent to 42 percent. In the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, Clinton led Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters, the same margin as before the FBI announcement.There are other reasons for the Clinton campaign to worry. Among voters who have cast early ballots, she leads Trump by about 8 points. At the same point in the 2012 race, President Barack Obama had a lead of 11 points among early voters over Republican rival Mitt Romney. Obamas gap narrowed, however, to 6 points just before Election Day, according to the States of the Nation project and separate Reuters/Ipsos polling.In Florida, where the candidates are tied at 47 percent, Clinton leads by 8 points among early voters. In 2012, Obama led by about 15 points.In Ohio, where the race also is tied, she leads by about 20 points among early voters. At this point in 2012, Obama led by about 30 points.

It is not clear why Clintons early voting support has fallen short of Obamas. The shift could indicate a broader cross-section of voters is casting early ballots than in 2012. But the drop might also foreshadow lower-than-expected turnout among the core Democratic constituencies who propelled Obama to victory in 2008 and 2012.Clintons success is built on holding together those blocs of voters. She does not, for example, enjoy the same support among African-Americans as Obama, the first black U.S. president. Diminished support among blacks, coupled with a large drop in black turnout, would hurt the Democrat. If black Democratic turnout drops by 15 points nationally, for example, Clintons odds of winning drop to about 72 percent, by a projected margin of just 32 Electoral College votes. A drop of 20 points would reduce the odds of a Clinton victory to little more than a coin toss, according to the project.Even a 10-point drop in black Democratic turnout coupled with a 5-point increase among white Republicans would flip the race to Trump, the project found.The good news for Clinton is that about 60 percent of likely Hispanic voters are supporting her, similar to the numbers Obama enjoyed in 2012. A 10-point increase in Hispanic turnout would go a long way towards offsetting a 10-point decrease in black turnout, according to the project. The outlook is not all gloom for Clinton. She has made the race close in Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold. She has also regained the lead in Pennsylvania and is leading in Nevada. (Editing by Michael Williams and Peter Cooney)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Aditya Kalra and Suchitra Mohanty

| NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI Ketan Desai, an Indian doctor recently installed as president of the World Medical Association (WMA), appeared in a New Delhi courthouse on Friday to attend a hearing in a case where he faces charges of corruption.The proceedings were adjourned until February.Desai was last month installed as the president of the global medical-ethics body for 2016/17 despite controversy surrounding his appointment while legal cases are pending. In the New Delhi case filed in 2010, Desai faces charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy for allegedly being involved in a conspiracy to obtain a bribe of 20 million rupees ($450,000 at the time) from a medical college.Desai denies any wrongdoing, but investigators allege he helped the school get permission from the Medical Council of India to add more students. When contacted last year, the college, which is not a defendant in the case, declined to comment.Wearing a checked shirt, Desai on Friday walked through the corridor of the Delhi district courthouse and entered the courtroom when his name was called out by an official.The case was not heard immediately as the judge was not available and was transferred to another courtroom. Desai did not appear there.

Desai declined to answer questions from a Reuters reporter in the court complex on Friday. He also did not respond immediately to subsequent questions sent to him by email.Asked about Desai's court appearance and the charges against him, WMA spokesman Nigel Duncan said: "To the best of our knowledge all criminal charges have been dismissed against Dr. Desai". Duncan added that the court procedure was "complicated" and referred Reuters to the Indian Medical Association. K.K. Aggarwal of the Indian Medical Association was not immediately available for a comment.A source at India's Central Bureau of Investigation told Reuters on Friday that charges against Desai in the case had not been dropped. The Delhi case remains on hold pending an appeal in the Supreme Court. Judge Bharat Parashar said Friday that the next hearing in the case will be held on Feb. 6.

After he was first selected in 2009 as a future president of the WMA, Desai faced corruption and conspiracy allegations.Desai was arrested in the Delhi case and jailed in 2010 pending a possible trial. He was later released on bail. That year his inauguration as the WMA president was suspended. In 2013, the WMA decided to lift the suspension after receiving assurances from the Indian Medical Association, which Desai once headed.A Reuters investigation published in July last year showed that the Indian Medical Association had incorrectly told the WMA that charges against Desai had been withdrawn.

Representatives of major doctors' organizations accepted the information as fact. The Indian Medical Association said last year that it never misled the WMA. (reut.rs/1LZx8BM)The WMA had said it took questions raised in the Reuters article "very seriously" and would look into them. Later, in October 2015, the WMA upheld its decision to appoint Desai as president, without giving reasons. Last month, when Desai was installed as president, the WMA told Reuters it had nothing more to say.An overburdened and under-resourced Indian judiciary system means court cases can drag on for years.Proceedings in a separate case, alleging Desai was involved in a conspiracy to have the Medical Council of India allow a private medical school to add more students, were put on hold last year by a district court in northern Uttar Pradesh state until investigators obtain government permission to prosecute.Based in France, the WMA sets ethical standards for physicians worldwide and represents millions of doctors. Known for its pioneering work in ethics, its members include the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association. (Editing by Peter Hirschberg)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: The Centre has called a meeting with Delhi's neighbouring states on Friday to discuss the national capital's deteriorating air quality.

The Secretary of Union Ministry of Environment, AN Jha, will be meeting the Secretaries of neighbouring states  Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab  of the national capital, the government said on Thursday in a statement.

The air quality of the national capital has sharply deteriorated, while smog situation on Wednesday was worse in last 17 years.

Paddy burning in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and slow wind speed are few of the reasons attributed to the situation.
In a shocking incident, 11 people have been arrested from the Buldhana area of Maharashtra for allegedly raping 12 minor tribal students of Ninadhi Ashram school late Thursday night.

What is even more disturbing that News18 reported that seven out of those arrested are said to be teachers of the school and the remaining four are staffers. Another DNA report also said that Digambar Kharat, the headmaster of the school, was also allegedly involved in the rape.

Another report in The Hindu said that the police have arrested sweeper Ittusingh Pawar, Kharat, superintendent-cum-rector Narayan Ambhore, assistant Swapnil Lakhe, cook Deepak Kokre, teachers Lalita Vajire, Mantha Kokre and Shewanta Raut, chairman of the school Gajanan Kokre, and trust members, Sanjay and Purushottam Kokre.

However, a report in The Times of India said that Kharat, chairman of the school Gajanan Kokare, trustees and other staff were arrested for not informing the police about the crime.

Sources also claimed in the News18 report that three of out of the 12 victims were suspected to be pregnant. All the 12 girls are believed to be in the age group of 12-14 years.

The report also said that the girls told their families about the assault after returning home for Diwali holidays.

"During Diwali, many girls were running and playing. But three girls (who are related to her) were sitting quietly in a corner. When we asked them why they were not playing, they said they had stomach pain and were feeling something heavy in their stomachs. When we took them to the doctor, he told us that these girls were pregnant," DNA quoted Bulesterni Sati Bhosale, deputy sarpanch of Halkheda village, as saying.

Bhosale has also said that capital punishment should be given to all the accused in the case.

Muktainagar MLA Eknath Khadse said that everything possible to help the girls and their families was being done.

CNN-News18 further reported that the police said that it is possible that other cases of sexual assault on the girls in the school might also come out now.

A Special Investigative Team (SIT) has been formed under the leadership of IPS officer Shweta Khedekar to investigate this case.

The Times of India report also said that a panel report had pointed out that almost 800 students have died in such ashram schools over 10 years because of poor sanitation and security, medical neglect and food poisoning.

One of the other findings of the panel was the absence of women superintendents, auxiliary nurses and social workers to attend to the children. These schools, by the way, are meant to educate children from the most disadvantaged families.

Another report in Hindustan Times said that Maharashtra has more than 1,000 ashram schools which are run either directly by the state government or by trusts supported by the state government through grant in aid. Around 4.45 lakh students are studying these schools, out of which 1.99 lakh are girls.
- Delhis Air Quality Index is at 500+ (hazardous stage).

- The level of particulate matter is at 955 umg/m3 which is 16 times higher than the permissible limit.

- Delhi is facing the worst smog in 17 years.

Andthe worst is yet to come!

Five days post-Diwali, Delhi continues to be a toxic gas chamber.

There is no respite for children who continue to suffer due to hazardous air pollution that has reached alarming level. Whether it is dawn or midnight, the national capital remains under the cloud of thick smog.

Despite the study by Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), Kolkata along with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showing that 40% of Delhi kids have weak lungs, why did the government fail to take any precautionary measure ahead of festive season?

Its not for the first time that Delhi has witnessed such egregious air quality; its almost a decade since Delhis air quality gradually started worsening to alarming levels. But, the last three years have been particularly bad.

Answers needed

- Why no health advisory was issued prior to Diwali for the citizens of Delhi-NCR?

- Why there is no emergency action?

- Why there is no action plan to deal with this perennial crisis?

Its an emergency-like situation in Delhi-NCR. Why has the government not issued any health advisory yet? questioned Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Post-Diwali, the condition has worsened in Delhi-NCR as the pollution level in air has reached a dangerous level. Delhi government got one full year to plan and act, but we failed to hear anything from them. Its a lost opportunity. Moreover, there is no emergency action, despite the situation having reached an alarming stage. It has become a regular practice in Delhi every winter, citizens, especially children, have to face the brunt. The agencies may talk of various measures, but the ultimate test of any action is its impact on air quality. Its missing in Delhi, added Roychowdhury, who also heads the air pollution programme at CSE.

According to experts, the government should have short-term, mid-term and long-term action plans to combat the air pollution menace in the national capital, which has taken the shape of a monster. Though Delhi has been suffering due to worsening air pollution, no strategy has yet been developed to counter it. Every year, children and adults, are compelled to breathe noxious gases and hazardous particulates, with no fault of their own.

What are the pollutants?

- Vehicular pollution.

- Burning of crop stubble in neigbouring states, and burning of garbage and waste in the city.

- Dust and construction debris.

- Industrial pollution  from thermal plants in Delhi.

- Burning of crackers.

Lack of political will and concrete planning both at national and state level have compounded the crisis. The motor vehicle fleet of Delhi is more than that of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai put together  and its growing every day.

Delhis neighbouring states like Haryana, Punjab and UP continue to burn crop wastes without any inhibition, and smoke emanating from it is a major component in the formation of smog over Delhi. It even reduces the visibility of aircraft, as has recently been reported.

While my flight was advancing towards the IGI Airport, I could see through the window a blanket of thick smog over the ground and runway. After stepping out, I could feel irritation in my eyes and nose. Its so horrifying, a senior World Bank official, who arrived from New York on Wednesday, told Firstpost.

Environmentalists have attributed the cause of the menace to the governments myopic attitude and decision-making, and lack of political will.

Government has a lot of baseline data but there is no action plan for a complete year. Political statements and piece-meal action wont help. Theres lack of serious political decision-making and now it has led to a big crisis. Delhi has virtually become a toxic gas chamber, remarked Ravi Agarwal, director, Toxics Link, an environmental NGO.

Air-pollution is not just Delhis problem. Its pan-India. But, there is no national plan to deal with it. Central agencies have powers to initiate action, but its missing. Eventually, people have been left on their fate to deal it themselves, he added.

Recently, Delhis Transport Minister Satyendar Jain had announced that giant air purifiers would be installed at certain public locations in Delhi, which experts have dubbed as impractical. Air purifier is best suited for enclosed places like offices, homes etc, an expert said.

Ram Rahman, artist-activist and founding member of Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, who lives in Delhis Civil Lines said, The air quality has deteriorated so much this time that I had to spend Rs 35,000 to buy an air-purifier at home. And, Im not the only person doing so, there are many who suffer from respiratory ailments have been compelled to go for air-purifiers. Whatever precautionary measures like not burning crackers, etc. have been taken, its at a personal level. But, what about the government? Due to growing number of vehicles, Delhi has reached the point of explosion.
When matched against his 'stage performer' image  that he assumed after his post-jail speech in JNU on 4 March  Kanhaiya Kumar's persona, in real life, is a lot less dramatic. One particular trait of the former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union president, however, remains the same  his ability to give a rhetorical spin to everything he says, with astonishing ease.

Kanhaiya shot to fame and became an overnight sensation following his arrest from the JNU campus on 12 February on charges of sedition. As many of his peers in JNU campus call him, this 'accidental hero', till sometime ago, was just an affable boy next door. He chose politics, which he prefers to call activism, over the hunt for a well-paying government job.

His short stint at Tihar jail and protests by the student community that followed, made him an instant celebrity of sorts. After coming out of jail, his speech, televised live, made him a favourite of 'liberals and progressive intelligentsia' in general and the Left in particular. Now Kanhaiya has penned his journey in a book, From Bihar to Tihar (published by Juggernaut).

In conversation with Firstpost, Kanhaiya revealed some honest insights about his journey, put forward some philosophical explanations to some simple questions and offered a host of rhetorical arguments on his activism and politics.

How does someone with limited means, coming from an extremely humble background, choose between a secure career and an uncertain one offered by activism?

"I have engaged with this aspect in my book. It was not a deliberate attempt, rather it instinctively became a part of the narrative. My life trajectory has been full of ups and downs. I feel that when you reach a certain height, it overwhelms you. But when you fall, you understand that success is transient. This makes you strong and helps you get in the mould where you start feeling content with whatever you have," Kanhaiya said.

Chronicling the events that shaped his life, Kanhaiya stressed that he always wanted to secure a job but the circumstances did not allow him to do so.

"After coming to Delhi, I was preparing for the civil services exam but there was a sudden change in the syllabus and I decided not to take the exam. You have to understand that it is not always you who determine the trajectory of your life but, many a times, it is your circumstances that shape your life," Kanhaiya added.

While combing through the rhetoric, we tried to understand what triggered Kanhaiya's entry into student politics, and what circumstances forced him to leave behind his dream of becoming a civil servant.

"By then, I had read a lot of books. One amongst them was a book by Bhagat Singh, which has often been quoted in films and popular culture, where he talks about his loyalty and devotion towards the nation. The essence of Bhagat Singh's conversation was to define what love is. Love, when it is for a person, gets liquidated in him or her. Likewise, when the love is for the community, it liquidates with the community," philosophises the young JNU scholar.

He adds, "This journey from micro level to macro becomes very natural. The question is where you keep your state of mind, at the smaller lever or take it to the bigger canvas."

But didn't his financial condition, of which he talks at length in his book, compel him to look for employment? "All my moves since I grew up were aimed at getting a job. Bur gradually, I felt that I was content as all my needs were fulfilled," Kanhaiya said.

On being asked why he chose JNU, Kanhaiya said that finances played important factor, as this was perhaps the only place where someone from his background could come and study.

"JNU has a great peer group. The bonding between students is so strong that they stand for each other, even in difficult times. And this gives someone like me an immense sense of security. Also, it meant that after I started getting fellowships, I could help my family out financially. Also, I feel that doing research is good work. People might not consider reading Premchand as work but I don't think in the same manner, Kanhaiya said.

Ask him how he convinced his parents and he says, "I have also tried to broaden the ideological prism of my parents, through which they see the world. Now when someone asks my mother when she will get me married, she quips that why will she do that and that I will marry when and to whomever I want."

When asked what is the logical conclusion of what many feel is 'protest activism', Kanhaiya says, "One of my teachers used to give an example. He used to say that in a temple, people go with different motives: a boy goes there to look for a girl, a girl to wish for a nice groom, a businessman for his profits and a thief to steal shoes. People live their life as they want and the conclusion follows."

Rhetoric aside, when asked how he sees his 'activism' moving forward, Kanhaiya said, "I want the ideals that are enshrined in the preamble of our constitution to become a reality. That is the reason why I am in student politics. All my activism and politics is for this and whether I do it as a student leader or as a member of parliament (MP), the end goal will remain the same."

Replying to whether the Left, as it is today, has the ability to mobilise people to realise his ideals, Kanhaiya said, If the right wing ideology has increased then the Left also needs to increase its influence, but that has not happened. The reason is that they [Left] don't have a connect with the masses, they don't have any organic links with people. My connection with the masses was also accidental. That is why I can understand that flaw. That effort should begin at the grass root level."

He adds, There is no doubt that polarisation is taking place. But then there will also be counter polarisation and the question is, who will capture this space? Like in Bihar, if people become disillusioned with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav, who will they opt for?

On whether he thinks Left politics can fill that space of alternative discourse, Kanhaiya promptly answers: "No, it is not possible with the current Left politics; I feel there is no Left in politics and where there is Left, there is no politics."

He adds, "After independence, the first opposition was provided by the Communist party. But why was it that when Congress started losing ground, the Communist party could not replace it? It was because before replacement could take place, it broke down."

"In India, you need to mobilise people on the issue which concerns them and not on the basis of some foreign idioms and categorisation," Kanhaiya said.

On being asked if he will join a political party, Kanhaiya curtly gave a rehearsed answer: "I want to be a teacher and have never thought about it." But his ambition and inclination towards politics is palpable, which he, like an astute politician, hides behind the garb of lofty ideals.
Srinagar: A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant was arrested from north Kashmir's Baramulla district, the state police said on Friday.

Umar Khalid Mir was arrested on Thursday in a joint operation from Tojjar village of Sopore area.

"He had joined the militant ranks in May 2014. An AK-47 rifle and three magazines was recovered from him," a police official said.

"His interrogation is likely to reveal vital information about LeT cadre operating in north Kashmir," the police added.
Live coverage of terror events and the compromise of ongoing operations is now a global point to not just ponder but evolve into creating a balance between the right to allow dissemination of information in real time and aiding and abetting the enemy by providing helpful data on whats going on to winkle them out.

Banning NDTV for 24 hours for its coverage of the Pathankot attack is a childish, petulant and utterly naive penalty.

For one, who the hell thought up this novel punishment more appropriate to nursery school? Beside the Press Council, we do not really have any major functional watchdog or body capable of admonishment. The government is often an adversary and, therefore, should not be in a position to take on the fourth estate in an arbitrary fashion which this is.

If it feels that the security of the country was compromised put a criminal case against the channel or the publication.

If you wish to use Defence of India (as in defence of the realm) gag orders then use them in advance. Since there is no clear-cut policy on what constitutes the white line shutting down a channel unilaterally is unacceptable.

As unacceptable as media endangering lives of innocent people held hostage or in the line of fire with a lack of concern.

Create a law that monitors, lays down parameters and establishes norms of conduct in cases where information contrary to safety is controlled.

Afterward, the media can interpret the actions as it feels.

After the dogs breakfast that was made of TV coverage in the Mumbai attack 26/11 and the clumsy almost oafish manner in which live feeds were offering the killers a ringside view of the ops to flush them, government and the representatives of the fourth estate should have created a caveat, introduced a law.

They did not. Nobody has done anything but talk.

Then you get up one fine morning and decide okay lets close down a specific channel for 24 hours and show the media we mean business.

It is all so up in the air and lacking in substance to order such a penalty. On what grounds, under what law, what clauses.

At least study other channels. Section IV (A) 9.2 of the CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices (1993) says: "CBC journalists must ensure that any action they take will not further endanger the lives of the hostages or interfere with efforts of authorities to secure the hostages' release. They must guard against being used or manipulated by the terrorists/hostage takers."

 The media need to be accountable for the consequences of their coverage.

 The media should not jeopardise human life.

 The media are advised to co-operate with the government when human lives are at stake in order to bring a peaceful end to the terrorist episode. This is not to suggest that the police or other security organisations should have a veto power over reporting. What is suggested is co-operation and mutual respect and understanding between the government agencies and the media.

 The media should not glorify acts of terror as they glorified the SLA during the Hearst kidnapping.

 The media should refrain from sensational and panicky headlines, from inflammatory catchwords, and from needless repletion of photos from bloody scenes.

You want to blame a media organ for indiscretion and interference in an ongoing operation arrest them, put a criminal case, do what can be done under the law. But do not create a precedent that goes so against the freedom of the press.

Fine them financially but dont shut for even one minute that TV, radio or newspaper.

You think media itself has not realised that you do not suck out TRPs from an ongoing military initiative. We can police ourselves and we do not need the government telling us to zip it and place a tape on our lips.

If someone errs lets have the blueprint for the consequences made public.

I am not sure if NDTV plans to carry out the order but take a scenario where it refused to shut down, just said, do your worst, bring in the cops, march us off to court or jail we are not obeying this kindergarten order. The whole fourth estate will plough with them.

Tomorrow the state chief ministers will start doing the same in their fiefdoms. For every little infringement. Oh! You insulted me, I'll shut you down for two days. That guy wrote against me, banned for a week.

Not done.
New Delhi: Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav today expressed shock at the government's decision to take news channel NDTV India off the air for 24 hours as a punitive measure.

"I am shocked... I highly condemn this decision of the government. It is an infringement on the freedom of speech as provided in the Constitution of India. Further, without going into the details of what this channel has shown and other channels have shown while covering the Pathankot terrorist attack, it is completely unfair to take such an action against this channel.

"I do not remember such an action has been taken by any government in the past after the Emergency period. From now on the press will have fear in their minds while giving free and fair news. It is a great threat to democracy," he said.

The Rajya Sabha member hoped that right sense will prevail upon the government and it will withdraw the order.
New Delhi: Proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill has caused a fault line in the BJP-led coalition government in Assam. Former chief minister of Assam and an MLA from the Asom Gana Parishad Prafulla Kumar Mahanta expressed his discontent over the bill's stand to grant citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis those who have migrated to India facing religious persecution in Bangladesh. The AGP is also an ally of the ruling BJP in the state.

In a press meet on Monday, Mahanta said told the media that granting Hindu Bangladeshis citizenship could be suicidal, as reported by Asomia Pratidin a leading regional daily. He demanded the Centre to implement the Assam Accord in its entirety. Mahanta who was among the signatories of the Accord said that he and his party cannot accept the bill.

"The decision of the BJP-led government to bring non-Muslim Bangladeshis might have a terrible impact on the social structure of the state. Thus our party is strongly opposing the bill. Biraj Sharma and I are the two persons alive who signed the Assam Accord. Our party and we can hardly accept any decision which is against the accord," the former chief minister said as reported by The North East Today.

Mahanta said that contrary to the popular belief the neighbouring country is quite safe for the Hindus which he found out during a recent visit.

"Tripura and Bengal already cleared their stand none of them is in a position to accept the foreigners load. If they cannot accept the load why will Assam do that only for some political gain?" he asked.

The Congress is all set to take advantage of this rift. Party general secretary Mukul Sharma told Firstpost that the BJP is trying to cause communal tension in Assam, which is well understood by many along with Mahanta.

"BJPs bid to grant Hindu Bangladeshis Indian citizenship will only damage the social fabric of communal harmony in Assam. Mahantas musings on the bill reflect the inner rifts within the government itself, he said.

He further said that BJP and AGP allied to form a government but the NDAs move to defy the Assam Accord held so dear by the AGP is a manifestation of BJPs disrespect to its allies.

AGP spokesperson Manoj Saikia reiterated Mahantas stand and said that the party has demanded the BJP to implement the Assam Accord, which is an indirect way of saying that the regional party is opposed to the move of granting Hindu Bangladeshis Indian Citizenship.

"We have let the Centre and the state government know about our reservation on the bill. We hope that our demand will be paid heed to," he said.

When asked if his party is contemplating on withdrawing support from the BJP if in case its demand is not made, the spokesperson said that AGP is optimistic that its demand will be accepted and hence considering any another option is not justified at this moment.

Implementation of the Assam Accord has all along been the grand standing of the AGP. As per the accord, any person who infiltrated to Assam after 24 March 1971 would be considered a foreigner. But the new amendment in the Citizenship Act intends to grant citizenship of India to the Hindu Bangladeshis who infiltrated even after the cut-off date.

Analysts say that the BJP-AGP alliance in Assam is now trapped in a catch-22 situation over the Citizenship Bill, which is to be tabled in Parliament this winter session.

Sliding even a single step away from the agreements made in the Assam Accord, that was signed after historic the Assam Agitation on 14 August 1985, would mean political death for the AGP. Continued disagreement over the bill might prompt the party to withdraw support from the BJP-led alliance leading to political instability in the state.

In similar lines backtracking from the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act in order to save its alliance in Assam would be seen as a defeat for the BJP, as it has been one of the major planks in last general election.

Contrarily moving ahead with the amendment might lead to severance of ties with AGP.

The BJP can hardly afford to lose any of its allies in Assam, at a time when the party is raring to march ahead in North East with Assam as its model.

Analysts say that the only way out for both the parties from this situation is to carve an escape route out and continue to enjoy the present political stability. In a bid to maintain political stability the alliance is likely to take advantage of the growing demand to exempt Assam from the impact of the new amendment.

Some of the civil society organisations in Assam have been maintaining that rehabilitation of the Hindu Bangladeshis who would be granted fresh citizenship should not be done in Assam, if the Centre has to at all move ahead with the amendment of the Citizenship Act.

Naba Thakuria, of Patriotic Peoples Front Assam, a civil society organisation that appeals for Assams exemption from the proposed bill told Firstpost, "Since Assam has already bore the pains to rehabilitate both Hindu and Muslim infiltrators who migrated to the state during the period starting from the year 1951 to 1971, we should not be imposed with further load of rehabilitation."
Delhi is the city of the walking dead. If it is not already then, rest assured, it will soon be, thanks to air pollution. Being alarmist? Yes, because it is better to be alarmist than apathetic. Every time you breathe here you inhale a cocktail of toxic chemicals; every time you step out in the open you take into your system pollution equivalent to smoking more than two packs of cigarettes; and the more you are exposed to Delhis air the more you would be cutting years from your life. In case you dont already know this the national capital. It is the countrys power hub; people sitting here operate the nation.

Now, consider these: a generation of Delhis children will grow up to be very unhealthy adults; and yes, they will die much earlier than the previous generations. Continuous exposure to pollution will leave them with debilitating diseases. Respiratory diseases will be common as will be ailments related to immunity, blood pressure and the heart. A few schools are closed temporarily in the times of heavy smog in early winter. If pollution goes unchecked, then the shutdown period may get longer and longer, affecting the education of children.

According to media reports, as many as 30,000 people die in the city due to pollution every year. However, theres no respite in sight. The number may get bigger. Experts and doctors advise people not to move out of their homes in the morning and evening. Toxic gases hang very low, close to the ground, during these periods. Where does it stop? Delhi has a really big problem on its hands.

If all this does not wake up Delhiites, nothing will. But chances are that these grim details wont. There wont be angry voices on the streets demanding action to curb pollution or efforts to pressure the political class to acknowledge the problem at the least. Like we have mentioned earlier, it is a city of the walking dead. It has stopped the ability to respond and react to real issues. Bring in politics, make it an AAP vs BJP or BJP vs Congress issue and see how Delhi jumps to life. Only politics manages to stir people in the capital.

Theres little point discussing whats causing air pollution in the city as it has been analysed to death by experts. We know burning of crop stalk and thousands of tonnes of solid waste in neighbouring states are a major contributor to air toxicity in Delhi. We know the ever burgeoning number of vehicles in the NCR add to the problem; floating dust particles, fire in the citys garbage dumps and industrial emission make the matter worse. Experts have been offering solutions year after year. But nothing has moved. The degree of density of suspended particulate matter, which is close to five times the normal in places like East Delhi, tells a story of apathy and indifference.

The solution to the problem needs the involvement of several state governments and coordination among them. Thus it calls for an active intervention of the Union government. We have seen no such effort so far

As politics, that unending reality show, plays out on the streets of the national capital in quick adrenaline-filled episodes  on Thursday, the theme was the detention of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the protests by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal; on Friday it might be something else with a slightly different or the same cast of characters  someone has to tell the leaders and parties to smell the air, literally, and get their priorities right.

When is Delhi, more specifically its political class, going to react? Will there be pressure from the citizenry on the government through street protests?

It is difficult to decide at the moment what is more toxic: Delhis chemical-laden air or the apathy of the leaders and its people.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with Hindi news channel NDTV India, which has been penalised for its Pathankot terror attack coverage.

"I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity with NDTV," Kejriwal tweeted.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has directed NDTV India to go off air for 24 hours from the midnight of 8-9 November for allegedly breaching broadcast norms in its coverage of the attack on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab in January.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the ban on NDTV was "shocking" and shows an "Emergency-like attitude".

Kejriwal also hailed the Editors Guild of India for what he said was standing up to the Centre's decision vis-a-vis the news channel.

"Congratulations to (the) Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi government's dictatorship," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader tweeted.

The AAP on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of strangling the fourth pillar of democracy and said that by banning NDTV broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking the country back to the days of Emergency.

"We would like to remind the BJP that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gagged the media in 1975 and the country's people cleaned up the Congress in 1977," AAP leader Sanjay Singh said at a press conference in New Delhi.

"We want to request the BJP and the PM (Modi) not to encourage the politics of hate," Singh said.

The Editors Guild of India on Friday condemned the "unprecedented decision" of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demanded that the order be immediately rescinded.

The Guild said in a statement that the decision was a direct violation of the freedom of the media, and therefore of the citizens of India, and "amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency".
Hillary Clinton continues to maintain an edge over Donald Trump, with roughly one-fourth of all expected ballots cast in the 2016 election in her favour. However, data about the early vote suggests she's not doing as well as President Barack Obama in 2012. Ballot requests from likely supporters have been weak in parts of the Midwest, and African-American turnout has fallen, too.

With more than half the votes already cast in those states, Democrats are matching, if not exceeding their successful 2012 pace, according to data compiled by The Associated Press. Early voting  by mail and at polling stations  is underway in 37 states. More than 31 million votes have been cast, representing nearly 25 percent of the total votes expected nationwide if turnout is similar to 2012. In all, more than 46 million people  or as much as 40 percent of the electorate  are expected to vote before Tuesday, according to AP data.

With the US Presidential Election 2016 just four days away, it is the battleground states that will determine the winner. According to ABC News, 15 states and two congressional districts are either leaning towards Democrats, Republicans or are the battleground states. Among the 12-odd purple states, let's look at Florida, Virginia and Arizona, which are touted to be a few of the swingiest states.

Florida

What happened during the 2000 election is common history now. In that election, Florida tipped the presidency in favour of George W Bush. The winner was decided after a month-long legal battle. In 2000, the television networks had made a premature call and had announced that Bush had won. Al Gore conceded as Florida was the deciding state. However, it was later announced that the it was too close to call. As per American law, the situation called for a recount. After a month-long legal tussle, the Supreme Court of America rejected the Florida courts recount order and Gore had to concede once again.

In Florida, more than half of voters have already cast ballots. Democrats remain virtually tied with Republicans. At this point in 2008 and 2012, Democrats held an advantage in ballots cast. Obama won the state in both the years.

The black share of ballots is down, while the Latino share is up.

Democrats and Republican analysts say they see signs that Republican early voters are those who previously voted on Election Day, while Democrats are drawing new voters. That would be good news for Democrats.

"I'm still bullish that Clinton will get to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House," said Scott Tranter, co-founder of the Republican data firm Optimus, according to AP.

Arizona

The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll indicates that Trump has the support of 45 percent of the surveyed voters, while Clinton has 40 percent of the support.

In Arizona, where two-thirds of votes have been cast, Democrats trail by 6 percentage points. But at this point in 2012, Republicans had opened a lead of roughly 10 percentage points. The share of independent voters or those whose party affiliation is unknown is also up slightly.

Turnout rose among all races, but at higher rates among Hispanics. "Arizona is close," Tranter said, reported AP.

According to CBC News, the demographic constitution has undergone change in Arizona, which has traditionally has been a red state. The growing Hispanic population in the state might help Democrats clinch a win in this state. Trumps promise of building a border wall with Mexico to stop illegal immigration has not resonated well with the high Hispanic population in the state.

Virginia

Hillary Clinton has a 6 percentage-point lead over Donald Trump in this swing state, reported Politico. In fact, the recent Clinton email scandal and FBI director James Comey's announcement have not affected the voting preferences. The report states: "The bulk of Clintons support comes from the Northern Virginia counties that surround Washington, where Trump is especially unpopular."

However, according to Newsweek, though Clinton has a lead in Virginia, it's still a swing state as the Democrat Presidential nominee's vote share has shrunk.

(With inputs from AP)
By Julia Harte

(This version of the November 3 story corrects paragraph 13 to read Chapel Hill, instead of Raleigh. The White House initially misidentified Obama's location in a transcript of his remarks)By Julia HarteASHEBORO, N.C. When Bill McAnulty, an elections board chairman in a mostly white North Carolina county, agreed in July to open a Sunday voting site where black church members could cast ballots after services, the reaction was swift: he was labelled a traitor by his fellow Republicans."I became a villain, quite frankly," recalled McAnulty at a state board of elections meeting in September that had been called to resolve disputes over early voting plans. "I got accused of being a traitor and everything else by the Republican Party," McAnulty said.Following the blowback from Republicans, McAnulty later withdrew his support for the Sunday site.In an interview with Reuters, he said he ultimately ruled against opening the Sunday voting site in Randolph County because he had "made a mistake in reading the wishes of the voters." He declined to discuss the episode further.This year's highly charged presidential contest between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump has stoked accusations by both parties of political meddling in the scheduling of early voting hours in North Carolina, a coveted battleground state with a history of tight elections.In emails, state and county Republican officials lobbied members of at least 17 county election boards to keep early-voting sites open for shorter hours on weekends and in evenings  times that usually see disproportionately high turnout by Democratic voters. Reuters obtained the emails through a public records request.The officials also urged county election boards to open fewer sites for residents to cast ballots during early voting that began on Oct. 20 and ends on Saturday.Civil rights advocates and Democrats launched their own campaigns for expanded early voting hours. The tug-of-war yielded mixed results.The state did ultimately add nearly 5,900 more hours and 78 more sites to vote early than in 2012. But several counties opened only one polling site during the first week of early voting, slightly denting turnout across the state. Voter turnout dropped by 20 percent in the counties that had multiple polling sites during the first week of early voting in 2012 but just one site during the first week in 2016.We currently have more early voting locations and hours open than ever were open under Democrat control, said North Carolina Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse, denying his party was trying to suppress the Democratic vote.President Barack Obama praised the expanded early voting opportunities during an election stop in North Carolina on Wednesday."Those who wanted to suppress the vote, they're going to fail," he said at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Raleigh. "Right now, there are more one-stop early vote sites in North Carolina than ever before."

Counties that Obama, a Democrat, won in 2012 increased their Sunday hours this year by 16 percent, while counties that voted for his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, decreased them by nearly a quarter, the records show.State Republican officials say keeping polls open during evenings and weekends, or "off-hour" times, drains county resources.'FOLKS ARE ANGRY'

In two emails, on Aug. 11 and Aug. 14, Woodhouse urged Republicans serving on county election boards to follow the "party line" on curtailing the early voting period. "Many of our folks are angry and opposed to Sunday voting," he wrote. Six days of voting in one week is enough. Period. Keeping polling sites open for the full 17-day early voting period "may be wasteful and unnecessary," he added. Woodhouse's emails were subsequently published by local media, but he was not alone in lobbying to limit voting hours, the Reuters review of public records shows. The review counted similar emails from at least four other Republican Party officials to election boards, each of which is composed of two Republicans and one Democrat.

The same day that Woodhouse sent his Aug. 11 email, Elaine Hewitt, a member of the Rowan County Republican Executive Committee, sent the county elections board two proposed schedules for early voting, both of which included just one site for the first four days and no sites on Sundays. "With all of the opportunities to vote by mail, early in person Monday - Saturday, and on Election Day, there is no justification for requiring election workers to work on Sundays," she wrote. Garry Terry, the chairman of the Republican Party for North Carolinas First Congressional District, sent an email on Aug. 13 to elections board members in his region, reminding them to act "in the best interest of the Republican Party" by opposing Sunday voting and restricting early voting to one location.Hewitt and Terry did not respond to requests for comment. Woodhouse defended the actions of the Republican officials, telling Reuters that Republican opposition to Sunday voting was not discriminatory but was rather based on the belief that people should not be required to work on Sundays.The Sunday polling site that McAnulty first supported and then opposed would have been located at the Randolph County Board of Elections office and would have cost around $1,000 to operate, according to the office director."If it's not wasteful and it allows more people to vote... the board has historically been for that," Margaret Megerian, the Democratic member of board, told Reuters.

'A SIGNIFICANT TRIUMPH'

In contrast with the Republicans' email campaign, the Democratic push to expand early voting hours has largely taken shape in public forums.In Democratic-leaning Guilford County, the state's third largest, a county board of elections meeting on Aug. 8 attracted about 75 people after word spread that the board was planning to halve the number of early voting sites, from 24 in 2012.The Rev. Nelson Johnson said in an interview that the proposal by the board's Republican chairwoman would "prevent voting especially by people who can't easily take time off" and said it "absolutely" had a racial intent. Johnson, who is African American, leads a community centre in Greensboro, North Carolina.Board Chairwoman Kathryn Lindley told Reuters she believed "a lesser number of sites would cause less confusion about which places were going to be open," and that it was "ludicrous" to think her suggested plan had been discriminatory.The board ultimately agreed to 25 early voting sites and one day of Sunday voting before the November election. Johnson said the decision was "a significant triumph." Lindley said Johnson's group had no influence on the final outcome.Guilford's plan also included one restriction that particularly angered Democrats. In the first week of early voting in 2012, residents could vote at 16 sites. This year, that has been reduced to one. Mary Cranford, 52, a registered Republican, was fourth in line on the first day of early voting in Guilford. She was able to vote but said she was upset that only one site was open for the first week. She said she voted for Clinton this year. "I can't believe what's been done to keep some people from voting in this state," she said.Just 7,916 people voted in the first week of early voting in Guilford this year, compared to 60,732 in 2012, according to state elections board records.The general counsel for Clinton's campaign and other plaintiffs filed a court motion on Oct. 1 demanding Guilford and four other North Carolina counties expand their early voting opportunities. The court denied it, saying that changing the early voting plans would create logistical difficulties. (Reporting by Julia Harte, additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, editing by Jason Szep and Ross Colvin)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Johan Purnomo and Fergus Jensen

| JAKARTA

JAKARTA Indonesian police quelled a mass protest by tens of thousands of hardline Muslims on Friday, firing tear gas and water cannon into crowds demanding the resignation of the Christian governor of Jakarta, who they said had insulted the Koran.A police spokesman said one person died and 12 were hurt.Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country, but most follow a moderate form of Islam and protests on such a large scale are rare. Critics say the protest was whipped up by an extremist group that latched on to political tension ahead of February's election for the governorship of Jakarta, the country's capital, and was allowed to grow because the government failed to rein it in.Police said the number of demonstrators in central Jakarta swelled to about 150,000 in the hours after Friday prayers as they congregated around the palace of President Joko Widodo. By late afternoon the crowd grew restive - some threw rocks at the police, two vehicles were torched and a fire broke out near the city's National Monument.Police responded with tear gas and water cannon and, by late evening, most protesters had left. However, hundreds said they would camp out overnight beside the parliament building, while in the north of the capital media reported a clash between police and a few dozen protesters and social media reports showed a convenience store being looted."We see that political actors were taking advantage of the situation," President Widodo told reporters at an after-midnight news conference, referring to the violence, which he said took place after the demonstration should have dispersed. Many protesters were clad in robes and Muslim caps as they called for the resignation of Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama. A Christian and the first ethnic Chinese politician to lead the sprawling city of 10 million, Purnama is standing for re-election, competing with two Muslims for the job.

Ethnic Chinese make up just over 1 percent of Indonesia's 250 million people, and they typically do not enter politics.Indonesian Chinese have faced persecution and violence in the past, especially during the political and social turmoil that gripped Jakarta when former strongman Suharto was toppled.More than a thousand were killed during the 1998 violence and many ethnic Chinese fled the country as mobs rampaged through Jakarta, looting and burning Chinese-owned shops and houses."EXTREMISM, THUGGERY AND POLITICAL INTERESTS"

The atmosphere in Jakarta was tense through Friday and some companies asked employees to work from home. Jakarta has some of the world's worst traffic jams at the best of times, but on Friday access to business districts was impossible for many.About a dozen Muslim groups have accused Purnama of blasphemy after he jokingly said his opponents had used a verse from the Koran to deceive voters. The verse implies that Muslims should not choose non-Muslims as leaders."He is not Muslim but he humiliated the Koran," said one of Friday's protesters, Muhammad Said. "Don't refer to anything in the Koran, especially interpreting it incorrectly ... I call on God to jail him." Led by a group called the Islamic Defenders Front, the protesters chanted "God is greatest" and waved placards calling for Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, to be jailed for blasphemy. A white banner hung at an overpass was painted with red letters that read "Hang Ahok here".Police are investigating the case against Purnama, who has apologised for his remarks, insisting he was not criticising the Koranic verse but those who used it to attack him.

Purnama served as deputy to Widodo when the now-president was city governor from 2012 to 2014. He has a reputation as a no-nonsense reformer with little patience for the corruption widely blamed for the chaos of an overcrowded city, and remains popular despite the protests. Widodo, a Muslim, has vowed not to interfere in any legal proceedings against Purnama, according to media reports. But after government and security officials met representatives of the protesters on Friday, the president said that the legal process involving Purnama would be executed "swiftly, firmly and transparently".Critics say Widodo's government has not done enough to contain the religious and ethnic tension. As the protests raged in the heart of Jakarta on Friday, the president visited a rail construction project at the capital's airport, his office said.Security expert Sidney Jones said in an online commentary ahead of the protest that the movement brought together "violent extremists, moralist thugs and powerful political interests"."And because of the latter, no one dares challenge it. Indonesia's spineless political leaders have allowed extremists to seize the momentum and foment religious hatred," she said.There was talk that Islamist militants would use Friday's protest as cover to launch an attack in Jakarta. An attack in the capital early this year by supporters of Islamic State raised fears of a wave of violent militancy. (Reporting by Fergus Jensen and Johan Purnomo; Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo, Fransiska Nangoy, Eveline Danubrata, Angie Teo and Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Eveline Danubrata and John Chalmers; Editing by Alex Richardson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Michael Georgy

| MOSUL, Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi special forces said they recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State bastion a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service, which has spearheaded the Mosul offensive, said troops had launched a major operation against the militants who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban redoubt in Iraq.CTS special forces took over Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama districts, the army said. "This is something very big - it means large parts of the left bank have been liberated," CTS commander Lieutenant-General Talib Shaghati said, referring to the half of Mosul which lies on the east bank of the Tigris. However, a resident of one district which the army declared recaptured told Reuters after the announcement that clashes continued. "It's true urban warfare," he said by telephone. In the neighbourhood of Intisar, still fiercely contested by the army and jihadists, a Reuters correspondent heard heavy gunfire and explosions. Black smoke rose from an area nearby and damaged buildings showed signs of combat.The territory taken by the government still amounts to just a fraction of the sprawling city, which is divided into dozens of residential and industrial districts and was home to 2 million people before it was captured by Islamic State in 2014.The battle to drive the fighters out is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, and is likely to decide the fate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate that has defied the world for two years.The advances took the troops 1 mile (1 1/2 km) inside the city. Districts captured so far, however, are less built-up than other areas, particularly those on the west bank of the Tigris, where the population is more exclusively Sunni Muslim Arab and the hardline Sunni Islamists could be more deeply embedded.Iraqi officers and those from a U.S.-led coalition providing air and ground support to the offensive say progress has been faster than expected but stress that the operation is still in its early stages.SPECIAL FORCES

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by U.S.-led air strikes launched their campaign to retake Mosul nearly three weeks ago.Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a cross-border caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.Islamic State also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country, many times bigger than any other city the militants have held.In a speech released on Thursday Baghdadi said there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against Islamic State, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders. Baghdadi's whereabouts are unknown. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said intelligence suggested he had "vacated the scene", and a Kurdish intelligence source said he was believed to be in the region of Baaj, about 130 km (80 miles) west of Mosul. Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus. Iraqi officials say Islamic State is holding the civilian population as human shields.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday Islamic State fighters had killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around Mosul.They have also transported 1,600 people from the town of Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, to Tal Afar to the west, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told residents to hand over boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers.The United Nations says 22,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign, not including thousands from outlying villages forced to head to Mosul by retreating Islamic State fighters who used them as human shields.ROCKET LAUNCHERS

Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said Islamic State fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas. Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosul airport, they said.

"We saw Daesh (Islamic State) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well," one resident said. People in southern and eastern neighbourhoods said on Thursday night that their houses had been shaken by artillery and rocket barrages launched from their districts towards the advancing troops.As well as the Islamic State resistance in Mosul itself, the militants have launched diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive.In the town of Shirqat, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, militants stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation force.The insurgents crossed from the eastern bank of the Tigris into the town at 3 a.m., taking over al-Baaja mosque and fanning out into alleyways. Security forces imposed a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, forces were being sent to the town.In their drive towards Mosul, Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the Tigris from the south.The Hashid Shaabi forces of mainly Shi'ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, fighting to cut off the western supply route to Islamic State areas in Syria. A Hashid spokesman said they had made progress, but cars have continued to leave Mosul, heading west.A witness in western Mosul told Reuters by telephone that vehicles flowed in and out of the city on Friday. "I can see long convoys...some of them are heading outside the city through the Mosul-Rabiya road and others are coming into the city".As well as families forced back into Mosul by Islamic State, residents say some Sunni Muslims in the western villages around the city may have chosen to move back into the city, fearing the advancing Shi'ite forces. (Additional reporting by Stephen Kalin in Bartella, Saif Hameed in Baghdad, Tom Miles in Geneva and Isabel Coles; writing by Dominic Evans, editing by Angus MacSwan)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trumps crass attitude, disrespect for women and policy ignorance are just some of the many things about him that seem to have irked the American voters to a level of desperation.

As more and more reports of Trumps misbehaviour emerged, Hillary Clinton supporters decided to take matters in their own hands to ensure that at least he does not win. Not surprisingly, not many are enthused about the prospect of a Trump America. Some voters have started a website to ensure that any one, except Trump, wins. They have decided to trade their votes.

The entire mechanism of vote trading is very simple. Voters talk to each other about how they should vote to achieve a shared goal. In this case, to defeat Trump. The website trumptraders.org matches a third party voter in a swing state with a Hillary Clinton voter in a safe state.

A swing state has the largest number of electors like Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20) and Ohio (18) and are prone to shift back and forth between the parties, often determining the final result.

Whereas safe states historically support either the Democrat or Republican candidate election after election.

A Democrat from a Clinton safe state will trade vote with a third party supporter from a swing state, thereby ensuring that Trump does not get the votes to win.

The website matches a voter with voter in other states based on their party preferences. It matches a swing state voter with a third party voter. Vote trades will shift votes for candidates like Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and Evan McMullin into safe states, and votes for Hillary Clinton into battleground states like Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

The website claims that this vote trading is significant because in the mid-October poll of Ohio voters, Trump was leading Clinton by 1 percent. This is even after the allegations of sexual assault against the Republican candidate emerged.

There are also mobile apps which ease the whole process and help voters connect with others to trade their votes. #NeverTrump is one such app.

This app was launched by Amit Kumar, who realised that the best way he could help Clinton win was by getting third party swing state residents to vote for Clinton, while still being able to show support for their original candidates, Vox reported.

In 2000, during the Presidential race between George W Bush and Al Gore, a constitutional law professor Jamin Raskin noticed that thousands of Gore supporters living in Republican states felt the uselessness of their vote.

The dilemma emerged because a strong showing by Ralph Nader in 10 swing states could help give Bush the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win, as Raskin writes in a Slate article.

In 2000, the Nader voters were in a conundrum. They didnt know if they should vote for Nader and make sure he gets the 5 percent of the popular vote needed to qualify the 2004 Green Party Presidential candidate for federal funding or, should they vote strategically for Gore to stop Bush?

Raskin found out that the key to bring them out of this quandary was a voting device called pairing used in the Senate. In this, senators on opposite sides of issues match up their votes if they are going to be away from Washington.

As the election neared, Nader Trader website emerged. The idea was to link individual Gore Democrats in Republican states with individual Nader supporters in swing states.

However, the concept didnt work back in 2000 because the internet was still in its amateur stage and not everyone had access to it. Moreover, the word could not spread fast enough, as The New York Times points out.

Fortunately, the internet is easily accessible now and can help defeat Trump. Clinton supporters are using it to spread the word and the presence of vote trading software to ensure a Trump defeat.

The trading is also based on an honor system. However, Raskin believed that the logic of vote swapping is so appealing that it might encourage voters to spontaneously cast their ballots for the other guy without registering at the website.

The state law prohibits selling of votes but trading of votes is perfectly permissible. It is a matter of voters publicly expressing their political preference and hence, it is protected by the First Amendment, according to The New York Times.

The National Voting Rights Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California previously brought a case on behalf of exchanges created for the 2000 election and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Porter vs Bowen that voter exchanges were constitutionally protected speech and conduct.

Americans might actually be able to prevent Trump from becoming the President by simply trading their votes.
By Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall

| BEIRUT

BEIRUT Syrian rebels and civilians showed no sign of leaving the besieged opposition-held sector of Aleppo on Friday, despite a Russian deadline to resume bombing Syria's largest city at nightfall after a 17-day pause.The rebels' own shelling of residential parts of government-held western Aleppo has meanwhile killed dozens in the past week as insurgent groups staged a counter-attack from outside the city aimed at breaking the siege on areas they control. The government sent ambulances and buses to bring people out of the besieged zone as it has done at other times during the pause, but there was still no sign that anybody would leave.Residents contacted by Reuters seemed resigned to the resumption in bombing, which killed hundreds of people in late September and early October as the government and its Russian allies abandoned a ceasefire to launch their assault on the biggest urban area in opposition hands."Nothing can be done. Nobody can stop the planes," said Bebars Mishal, an official with the "white helmets" civil defence volunteer group in eastern Aleppo, which digs victims out of the rubble and runs an ambulance service.He said there was no way for rescue workers or medical staff to prepare in advance of the expected resumption of attacks: "All we can do is take precautions and be ready 24 hours a day."Moscow and Damascus say their pause in bombing the city will end at 7 pm (1700 GMT), accusing rebels of having used the pause to reinforce and launch attacks on government-held areas.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that by around 8:30 pm local time, there was no sign yet of resumed aerial bombardment of central parts of the city.The government and its Russian allies say they target only militants, and that fighters are to blame for civilian casualties by operating in civilian areas.Western countries say the bombing has deliberately targeted hospitals, aid workers and bakeries and Washington has accused Moscow of "war crimes". Rebels say the aim is to drive out civilians, some 275,000 of whom remain in the besieged zone. "They call it a ceasefire. The regime hasn't let us hear the end of it," said Modar Shekho, a nurse in rebel-held eastern Aleppo. "As usual, when it ends they will let the bombardment loose. We've gotten used to this." Syria's army, backed by Lebanese, Iranian, and Iraqi Shi'ite militias and Russia's air force, launched a major offensive to retake eastern Aleppo from rebel groups on Sept. 22 after a series of advances allowed them to besiege it this summer.

Aleppo has become the focal point of fighting in Syria's war, now in its sixth year, pitting President Bashar al-Assad and his allies against Sunni rebel groups including some supported by Turkey, Gulf Arab monarchies and the United States.The city has been divided between the government-held western sector and rebel-held east for years. Winning full control of it would be the biggest victory so far for Assad's government in a war that has killed many hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than half of Syrians from their homes."NOBODY WILL LEAVE"

Damascus and Moscow declared a unilateral four-day pause in strikes on Oct. 18, promising rebels and residents safe passage to leave the city and have extended it for most days since, although some attacks have continued.Russia, which has brought an additional aircraft carrier to Syria's coast, said on Wednesday that all rebels must leave Aleppo by Friday evening, adding its moratorium on air strikes could not be extended because of rebel shelling.

A witness in western Aleppo at Bustan al-Qasr, near a crossing point set up by the government to allow civilians to flee the rebel area, told Reuters on Friday he could see people waiting for relatives to come from the east. Buses and ambulances were waiting for them, but so far there was no sign of an exodus. A woman at Bustan al-Qasr who was covering her face said she hoped the people in eastern Aleppo would be able to leave safely and peacefully. Rebels have rejected the demand they withdraw. "Nobody will leave and the Russians will escalate. The Russians declared this," said Zakaria Malahifji, a Turkey-based official from the politburo of the Fastaqim group, which is present in Aleppo.The opposition says Damascus and its Russian and Iranian allies aim to win the war by depopulating rebel-held areas, starving the population out or bombing them into flight."The Russians are adopting a policy of demographic change with the regime and Iran, and their intentions are no longer hidden," an official from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki rebel group said.

In recent months other opposition-held areas have surrendered after long army sieges. The government calls the process reconciliation, offering safe passage out for rebel fighters who abandon territory and lay down their arms.It has proposed a similar programme to end the siege of eastern Aleppo, opening what the army calls safe corridors, and sending ambulances for injured civilians and green city buses to transport fighters to Idlib, a rebel-held area. But so far only a very small number of people have left the rebel-held zone since late October. Damascus has accused rebels of stopping people from leaving, including by shelling the safe corridors, which rebels have denied. "I wish civilians would exit ... but I expect that won't happen, not under these circumstances," Fadi Ismail, an official based in Aleppo in Syria's reconciliation ministry, told Reuters via telephone.Ismail said prospects for a deal with rebels looked bleak. "There must be military action, of course," he said, if no one evacuated.The United Nations has said it does not have security guarantees needed to deliver aid into eastern Aleppo. It opposes evacuations of civilians from besieged areas unless they are voluntary. After their offensive began in late September, pro-government forces managed to take ground in northern Aleppo including a camp for Palestinian refugees and smaller areas in the south, but made fewer advances into densely populated areas.Rebels launched a counter-attack a week ago against the western edge of government-held areas from the surrounding countryside. They have made progress in the Dahiyet al-Assad suburb and the 1070 apartment blocks district, using 15 suicide car bomb attacks during the week, a war monitor said. The Observatory said the rebels had killed 69 civilians including 25 children in shelling during their counter-attack. (Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Tom Miles in Geneva; editing by Anna Willard)

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By Ece Toksabay

| ANKARA

ANKARA Turkey detained two co-leaders and nine other lawmakers of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday over reluctance to give testimony for crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda."The Turkish Interior Ministry said detention orders for 13 MPs were issued, but only 11 were detained as two lawmakers were abroad. Lawyers had earlier said 15 MPs were detained.Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters. "HDP call international community to react against Erdogan Regime's coup," the party said on Twitter, referring to President Tayyip Erdogan.

Police also raided and searched the party's head office in central Ankara. Television images showed party officials quarrelling with police during the raid, and a Reuters witness said many police cars and armed vehicles had closed the entrances to the street of the HDP headquarters.A group of protesters chanting slogans tried to reach the party offices, but were stopped by police before they could enter the street, a Reuters witness said.

"Very bad news from Turkey. Again. Now HDP members of parliament are being detained," European Parliament's Turkey rapporteur, Kati Piri, said on Twitter.A widespread difficulty in reaching social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook as well as messaging app WhatsApp were reported across Turkey after the detentions started at midnight.

HDP is the third largest party in the 550-seat Turkish parliament, with 59 seats. Parliamentarians in Turkey normally enjoy immunity from prosecution, but the pro-Kurdish party's immunity was lifted earlier this year.Turkey accuses the HDP of links to the Kurdish militant group PKK, which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Sandra Maler; Editing by Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
ANKARA Two leaders and at least 13 lawmakers of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were detained early on Friday over reluctance to give testimony for crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda."Turkish police raided the Ankara house of co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and the house of co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the party's lawyers told Reuters. Police also raided and searched the party's head office in central Ankara. Television images showed party officials quarreling with police during the raid, and a Reuters witness said many police cars and armed vehicles had closed the entrances to the street of the HDP headquarters.

At least 13 other HDP parliamentarians were detained, lawyers said. HDP is the third largest party in the 550-seat Turkish parliament, with 59 seats. Parliamentarians in Turkey normally enjoy immunity from prosecution, but the pro-Kurdish party's immunity was lifted earlier this year.

Turkey accuses the HDP of links to the Kurdish militant group PKK, which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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By David Ingram

| NEW YORK

NEW YORK Federal officials have warned authorities in New York, Texas and Virginia about an unspecific threat of attacks by the al Qaeda militant group around Election Day, putting local law enforcement on alert the weekend before Tuesday's vote, officials said on Friday.A U.S. government source in Washington said some federal agencies sent bulletins to local and state officials flagging the information but that the threat was relatively low level.The New York Police Department and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were alerted to the information, the local agencies said.The port authority, which operates airports, tunnels and bridges around New York City, is continuing high levels of patrol it has had in place, said spokesman Steve Coleman.He declined to offer specifics of the warning, but the police department said the threat report lacked specifics and was still being assessed.

"We are aware of the information," the department said in a statement, adding it was working with intelligence agencies and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his office was monitoring the situation. "Texans should go about their daily lives as usual, but remain vigilant over the next several days and report any suspicious activity," Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement.The task force issued a notice identifying the three states as possible targets of an al Qaeda plot, a New York law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity. The official said the type of threat was common but authorities were giving it more attention because of Election Day.

Authorities were assessing whether there was a plot and whether the states named were real targets or misdirection. "Another possibility is that this is just an attempt to inspire someone here to mount an attack," the official said.The FBI did not confirm the reports or comment on details. Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

CBS News first reported the threat of attacks, which it said were possible on Monday, the day before the U.S. presidential election.The potential for violence related to the election has already darkened a rancorous presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, on top of the threat of computer hacking and fears that Russia or other state actors could spread political misinformation online or tamper with voting. While federal and state authorities are beefing up cyber defenses against electronic threats to voting systems before Election Day, others are taking additional steps to guard against possible civil unrest or violence. (Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and John Walcott in Washington, Nate Raymond in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Alistair Bell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New York: The 2016 US presidential campaign moves back to Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday as Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump try to put their best message forward leading up to the final weekend of a bruising race.

The race for the White House tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favoring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.

The two candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clintons lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Pennsylvania is now tilting to Clinton.

Clinton is still the favorite to win Tuesday's election, but Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election.

The race tightened in the week since FBI Directory James Comey revealed the existence of more emails possibly related to the private server Clinton used while she was secretary of state.

That announcement, which did not indicate wrongdoing by Clinton, gave Trump the opening he needed to shift the spotlight from allegations of sexual assault that followed the release last month of a 2005 video in which he boasted about groping women. Trump has denied the allegations.

With four days until Election Day, Trump and Clinton are touring the states that are key to their path to the White House.

Clinton planned to highlight the economy in a speech in Pittsburgh, contrasting "her vision for an economy that works for everyone with Donald Trumps plans to build an economy that works for people like him," a campaign aide said.

"Shell focus on the pressures facing women  who are either the sole or primary breadwinner in four out of 10 families  and working families, who are facing rising costs for everything from childcare to prescription drugs," the aide said.

She planned to travel to Detroit afterward and end her day in Ohio.

Trump, a New York real estate magnate who has never run for political office, was scheduled to visit New Hampshire, where many polls are showing a close race, before heading to Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Both candidates campaigned in North Carolina on Thursday. President Barack Obama will continue his campaign blitz for Clinton in that state on Friday. The Clinton campaign is trying to drum up more support from African-Americans who are a key voting bloc for her in North Carolina.

Trump focused on military issues in North Carolina, home to Army base Fort Bragg and Marine base Camp Lejeune. In Florida later on Thursday, he was joined by seven Medal of Honor recipients. Trump described the heroes as being brave in ways he wasn't.

"I wouldnt have done what they did. Im brave in other ways," said Trump, who says his business experience qualifies him to be commander in chief. "I'm financially brave.
United State-based Nigerian Surgeon, Dr Oluyinka Olutoye, has achieved a feat by performing a rare surgical operation in carrying out a successful operation on an unborn baby with tumour in her mothers womb.

Professor Olutoye of Texas Childrens Hospital, alongside his surgeon partner carried out the delicate surgery on a 23 weeks old foetus who was removed from the mothers womb, operated upon and returned to the womb to heal and continue to grow until the baby girl was born at 36 weeks.



Baby Lynlee Hope suffered from a tumour known as Sacrococcygeal Teratoma.

Doctors discovered a tumour in the tailbone of Margaret Boemers unborn baby when the mother-to-be went for a routine ultrasound just 16 weeks into her pregnancy.

Dr. Olutoyes success has made headlines in the US.

The Nigerian Government also congratulated him on Monday.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, felicitated with Dr Olutoye on behalf of the President and people of Nigeria.

According to the statement, President Muhammadu Buhari received the news of the unique feat with excitement and fulfillment and looking forward to meeting with him soonest.

Commended Nigerians in the Diaspora for their positive roles in enhancing the image of the country, Dabiri-Erewa stated that it is important to celebrate Dr Olutoye for the wonderful feat he performed in saving lives and projecting the good image of Nigeria.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President said Nigerians in the Diaspora are a huge potential, playing greater role in all sectors, assuring that her office was working on having a database for all the Nigeria achievers.

Nigerians are great people, making greater positive impacts in all fields of human endeavour in the Diaspora. Dr Olutoyes feat is one of such testimonies, the statement added.

To complement that, Dabiri-Erewa said that Nigeria is working on a National Diaspora Policy guideline geared towards regulating all engagements with all Nigerians in the Diaspora.

According to her, Nigerians in the Diaspora are of high importance to the growth and development of the country.

She appealed to other Nigerians in the Diaspora to emulate the positive image Dr Oluyinka Olutoye has given to Nigeria which earned him recognition.

Dr Olutoye is Co-Director of the Texas Childrens Fetal Center and fetal surgery team member, as well as a general paediatric surgeon in USA.

Dr Olutoye received his medical degree from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, in 1988 and his PhD in anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, in 1996.

He completed his residency in general surgery at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University, and his fellowship in paediatric surgery at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa.

In addition, he is a member of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society and is a Fellow of the Surgical Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Surgeons; he is also a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons.
To the editor:

I have known Mike Moser for more than 40 years. Having spent my professional life in big cities I returned to Columbus a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised to find that, although Columbus understandably had progressed and was bigger, it had retained the charm and community connectivity that were major factors in my development as a youth.

Its plane to me that over the years Mikes stewardship as mayor has a good deal to do with preserving the unique qualities many of us enjoy about Columbus. I feel that Mike has a vision and quiet, but effective, management style that has kept city costs down while steadfastly holding to a vision for Columbus that preserves the treasured good life that can only be found in Columbus.
Samsung unveiled its Gear S3 smartwatches during IFA trade show in September. After the U.K and Canada release last month, it will now be made available in the United States from November 18.

To remind you, Samsung Gear S3 smartwatches comes in two models  the Gear S3 classic and Gear S3 frontier. Both these have a 1.3-inch (360360 pixels) Circular Super AMOLED Always On Display with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass SR+ protection and has rotating bezel. These run on Tizen-based Wearable Platform 2.3.2. The Gear S3 frontier includes LTE connectivity and offers a rugged outdoor look, while the Gear S3 classic offers minimalist, elegant look.

Consumers are increasingly recognizing the benefits of a smartwatch that operates even without their phone, said Gary Riding, senior vice president of Product Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. With the LTE capability of Gear S3 it is easy to make or receive phone calls and read or reply to texts and notifications, so they can stay connected while leaving their phone behind.

Samsung will start taking pre-orders for both variants of the Gear S3  classic and frontier  from Sunday, November 6th and the sale will start from Friday, November 18. Both are priced at $349.99. These will be made available through Samsung.com as well as Amazon, Best Buy, and Macys.

The LTE version of the Gear S3 frontier will be available from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. The pricing and availability will be provided by respective carriers separately.

Check our hands videos of the Samsung Gear S3 classic and Samsung Gear S3 frontier.
On the back of the Galaxy Note 7 explosion saga, the companys washing machines are in the news for the very same reason. Samsung Electronics and the product safety officials in the United States have announced a recall of about 2.8 million washing machines.

The latest recall is another dent in the South Korean manufacturers reputation. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the top of the washing machine could detach during the use, which of course is a big risk for consumer safety.

Samsung has received more than 700 reports of incidents and there were more than nine injuries reported including a broken jaw. Samsung is recalling 34 top-loading models sold starting from 2011. The recall program offers an option for a free in-home repair that includes reinforcement of the washers top and the consumers who choose this option will receive a free one-year extension of warranty, regardless of the age of the washer.

The second option is to get a discount, which can be applied towards the purchase of a new washer from Samsung or any other brand along with free installation of the new unit. However, the rebate amount is based on the manufacturing date and model of the washer. The company is also offering a further $150 loyalty incentive to those consumers who pick a new Samsung washer.

Our priority is to reduce any safety risks in the home and to provide our customers with easy and simple choices in response to the recall, says John Herrington, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Home Appliances, Samsung Electronics America.We are moving quickly and in partnership with the CPSC to ensure consumers know the options available to them and that any disruption in the home is minimized.

The issue is not affected to washer models sold outside North America. Samsung claims to be working with retailers to inform consumers about its faulty washing machines through direct outreach, including customer service, social media, marketing and in-store communication.

Its really sad to see Samsung mess up with their products across categories and its really shocking to understand that the companys quality control procedures are not as efficient as we expect it to be. With each product recall, its becoming difficult to feel secured with a Samsung consumer electronic product in the immediate vicinity.
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If there's one thing investors need to know about EOG Resources (EOG -0.55%), it is that the company just keeps getting better at getting oil out of the ground. That was abundantly clear in its third-quarter report, when the company delivered guidance-beating production. However, that was just one of the three remarkable numbers EOG Resources detailed this quarter.

A beat and a raise

EOG Resources reported that it produced 275,700 barrels of oil in the U.S. during the third quarter, which was 3% above the company's guidance. What makes this a remarkable result is that EOG did it despite the fact that investment spending was down 32% from the prior year.

Fueling that expectation-beating result were wells the company recently completed in the Eagle Ford shale. During the quarter, the company completed 47 wells, which delivered an average 30-day initial production rate of 1,825 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d). That is a higher rate than the 60 wells it brought online last quarter, which averaged 1,705 BOE/d over their first 30 days.

As a result of the stronger-than-expected production as well as improving production from new wells, EOG Resources is boosting its full-year production guidance. The company now expects to produce between 278,500 to 282,100 barrels of oil per day, which at the midpoint is up 3% from its prior guidance. The company also noted that it is adding $200 million to its capex budget, boosting it up to a range of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion, which will enable it to complete additional wells to drive production growth as it heads into 2017.

Detailing a monster field

While the Eagle Ford shale is currently EOG Resources' largest contributor to production, it no longer is its biggest resource play. That is after the company detailed a remarkable upward revision to the net resource potential of its Delaware Basin oil play. The company said that it is increasing its resource potential by 155% to 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, due in part to its recent acquisition of Yates as well as its ability to get more oil out of the ground. For perspective, EOG's Delaware Basin resource potential is now almost twice that of its Eagle Ford shale position.

This most recent increase comes just one year after the company raised its net resource potential by 1 billion barrels, boosting it up to 2.35 billion barrels of oil equivalent. It also likely will not be the last, with the company believing that it could add more resources through further advances in cost management and technology.

Oil companies continue to find more oil in West Texas' Delaware Basin than ever imagined. This past September, for example, Apache (APA 1.88%) announced a monster discovery in a largely overlooked portion of the play. According to Apache, Alpine High has at least 3 billion barrels of oil resources, and it is optimistic that there could be even more oil in some of the other formations underneath its acreage position.

Ratcheting up the growth rate

Last quarter, EOG Resources was one of the first major shale producers to introduce a long-term oil growth forecast. Fueling that forecast was EOG's ability to get more oil out of each well for less money than ever before, which allowed it to return to growth mode despite low oil prices.

Initially, the company forecast that it could grow its oil output by a 10% compound annual growth rate through 2020 at flat $50 oil, with the capability to ramp that rate up to 20% at $60 oil. However, thanks to its continued success at permanently pushing out costs and improving production rates, it is increasing that growth forecast. The company now sees its oil output growing by 15% annually through 2020 at $50 oil and by 25% compounded annually at $60 oil. It is a remarkable improvement in such a short amount of time, especially when peers like Apache do not expect to return to a growth trajectory until the second half of next year.

Investor takeaway

EOG Resources continues to make stunning advancements in shale development. Because of that, it seems like every couple of quarters it revises the resource potential of one of its major shale plays up by a meaningful amount. Now it is doing the same thing with its growth potential. The net result is that EOG Resources is poised to deliver a tremendous amount of oil in the years ahead even if oil prices do not budge.
Oil and gas prices were higher during the third quarter than they were earlier this year, which provided an added lift to oil producer profits. However, the improvement in prices was only part of the reason why Encana (OVV 1.27%) reported a surprisingly strong quarter. The real standout performers this quarter were its falling costs, exceptional well results, and a big decline in net debt.

The unexpected profit

Analysts didn't expect too much from Encana during the third quarter, with the consensus that the company would lose about $30 million, or $0.04 per share. Encana, however, turned in a surprising profit of $32 million, or $0.04 per share. Fueling that standout result was a 5% reduction in operating expenses and transportation and processing costs compared to last quarter, with those costs now down 30% year over year. Those cost reductions helped push cash flow up to $252 million, or $0.29 per share, which was 38% higher than the second quarter.

Wall Street vastly underestimated the ability of shale drillers to keep their costs in check while at the same time delivering excellent well results. That's evident in the wide divergence between consensus estimates heading into the quarter and the results reported by several top drillers. For example, analysts expected Chesapeake Energy (CHKA.Q) to report a loss of $0.03 per share; however, it trounced expectations by reporting a surprise profit of $0.09 per share. Fueling Chesapeake's first profit in six quarters was its ability to push down costs.

Top-tier well results

Aside from falling costs, one of the other drivers of Encana's strong third-quarter showing was robust production from recently completed wells. In fact, the company reported several standout wells during the quarter, which delivered initial 30-day production rates of at least 1,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d).

In the Eagle Ford shale, for example, Encana completed its first two Austin Chalk wells, which delivered initial 30-day production rates of 2,000 BOE/d and 3,100 BOE/d, with the latter well representing one of the top wells drilled in the play to date. Meanwhile, in the Montney, the company noted that four recent wells delivered initial production rates of 1,900 BOE/d. Finally, in the Duvernay, Encana has drilled 63% of the top 40 wells in the play. These excellent well results are enabling Encana to deliver more production for less money, which has it on pace to meet -- if not exceed -- its 2016 guidance.

Dwindling debt level

The best number Encana reported during the quarter, in my opinion, was a $2 billion reduction in its net debt, bringing it down to $3.5 billion. Driving this decline was a combination of asset sales, an equity issuance, and cash flow. Overall, total debt has decreased by $3.5 billion since the end of 2014, meaning the company has virtually cut leverage in half over the past two years.

Encana has done an exceptional job improving its balance sheet during the downturn. For comparison's sake, it made more progress than Chesapeake Energy, which has been chipping away at its enormous debt load. In fact, over the past year, Chesapeake's debt is down by about $3 billion, or roughly 25% of the $11.7 billion it had last September. Encana's substantial progress on debt reduction puts it in a much stronger position than most other drillers, including Chesapeake, which still has to address a significant amount of near-term debt maturities.

Investor takeaway

There were a lot of positives in Encana's third-quarter report. Most notably were the fact that its falling costs and robust recent well results fueled a surprising profit, and that the company achieved a meaningful amount of debt reduction. The report clearly shows that the company can do more than just survive on lower oil prices, which puts it in a position to thrive in the years ahead, even if prices don't budge all that much.
LINCOLN  The Legislature will have new Hewlett-Packard state computers next session, and formalized policies to go with them.

The new policies came as a response to Sen. Bill Kintner's misuse of a state computer more than a year ago for a cybersex encounter, but also other senators' and staffers' sometimes questionable use of state property, said Executive Board Chairman Bob Krist.

The policies were approved by the board Thursday.

Senators also learned the State Patrol is investigating a recent attempted cyberattack from a child pornography site on the Legislature's secure website, Krist said.

Such attempts to get into the secure site come from someone opening a window of opportunity when he or she is using the state's secure network to surf unsecure sites, he said.

The new policies call for all senators and legislative employees to take a technology training course and read and understand the policies.

They include an explanation of state law regarding use of state property, and spell out appropriate and inappropriate use. They also detail what could happen as a result of violations, including temporarily suspending, blocking or restricting access to the network. For employees, it could mean disciplinary action, including firing.

"The last (Kintner) incident was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me, but there were many instances, both by staff and senators, that have been brought to their attention over the last couple of years," Krist said.

Kintner's violation, when he was at an out-of-state conference, showed Krist there are gray areas in the understanding of state policies, and citizens' investment in state equipment needed to be protected.

No one has been disciplined or dismissed, he said, but he has had to remind people that state property is not for personal or campaign use, or to be used for posting personal messages on Facebook or Twitter during work time, especially in unprofessional ways.

Senators or staffers have used state copy machines to print thousands of mailers or fliers for campaigns, and their state website to tell people to vote for a specific candidate. Some have taken their state computer home or with them when they travel and used it for personal reasons.

Krist said there isn't a large or small corporation in this country that isn't dealing with social media issues, and most have clear guidelines on what are fireable offenses for staff.

"I don't want to be big brother. I want to remind people of their statutory responsibilities in using government and state equipment, but I think you need to start someplace in establishing what those lines of responsibility are," he said.

Krist developed the policy after consultation with legislative officials, the State Patrol and a cybersecurity expert.

Several senators argued that one of the proposed rules, a ban on posting to social media, was too far reaching. Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse said the rule would make it difficult for staff to do constituent outreach on Twitter or Facebook.

That rule was modified to say that posting information on personal, commercial or campaign-related social media sites would not be acceptable.

The Capitol's unsecure public network is available for use on personal cellphones and tablets.

Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango said he would tell his staff to not use their state computer to post anything. It will force everyone to have two computers in their offices, he said.

"I don't think senators should have state computers. I think it would solve all of our problems," Hughes said.
What happened

Shares of California Resources (CRC) jumped as much as 12% on Friday after reporting its third-quarter results.

So what

After months of bare-bones spending as the company worked to get both its costs and debt down, California Resources detailed a notable turn during the third quarter. Thanks to rising oil prices and a 14% year-over-year decline in production costs, the company generated $88 million in free cash flow during the quarter.

The company achieved that number even after investing incremental capital to begin ramping up its activity levels. This first step puts the company on a path to reach an inflection point by the middle of next year where its production will, once again, begin to rise.

The other highlight during the quarter was the progress the company made to improve its balance sheet. California Resources completed a tender offer that resulted in a net $625-million reduction in debt. That brought its total debt reduction to $1.5 billion from the peak when it was spun out. As a result of that debt reduction and improving market conditions, the company's banks reaffirmed its borrowing base at $2.3 billion, which gives it ample liquidity for what lies ahead.

With oil prices rising and debt levels falling, banks have left most oil company credit lines intact. Another example is Denbury Resources (DNR), which recently had its credit line affirmed at $1.05 billion. That's due, in part, to Denbury's ability to cut its total debt balance by $562 million since the start of the year. As a result, Denbury, like California Resources, has plenty of liquidity as it heads into 2017, which gives both companies the flexibility to pursue opportunities to create shareholder value as the oil market begins to improve.

Now what

California Resources is in a much better spot than it was to start the year. The company has significantly reduced its debt and operating costs, which is what's allowing it to restart drilling activity now that the oil market is starting to improve. That said, the company is still well behind its shale-focused peers. Many of them are already planning on delivering double-digit production growth next year, even while living within their cash flow.
LINCOLN -- More Nebraskans than usual could face challenges from fellow voters at the polls this Election Day following a tumultuous presidential campaign cycle, the state's top election official says.

State law allows any registered voter to challenge the eligibility of another person seeking to vote.

This year, "it's possible that we'll have more people who want to show up and be a potential challenger," said Secretary of State John Gale.

But challengers risk arrest and federal prosecution if they intimidate, harass or disturb voters or target people at the polls based on race, national origin or another protected class, Gale said.

"If there is behavior of a challenger that becomes combative or argumentative, then that allows the poll workers or the poll site judge to call law enforcement and have the person removed."

Challenges should only be made on a "good-faith basis," Gale said  for example, if a voter recognizes a neighbor at the polls and knows the person is registered in another precinct.

Voters are also limited to 20 minutes inside the polling place, unless they are waiting in line, and 10 minutes inside the voting booth.

The nonprofit Nebraskans for Civic Reform will field volunteer election observers at 65 precincts in 10 counties and has encouraged observers to engage with voters who experience problems at the polls.

"We're putting some emphasis on south Omaha," said Bri McClarty, the organization's director of voting rights.

That focus is due to the area's significant Latino population and the overall tone of this year's election, McClarty said. During the primary, she said, a man was told to leave a polling place at a south Omaha church because he was standing outside questioning people about their votes.

Nebraskans for Civic Reform will have observers in Lancaster, Douglas, Sarpy, Seward, Saline, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Hall and Scotts Bluff counties Nov. 8.

The organization has also adjusted its observer training.

Before the primary, that training focused on which ballots were available to voters based on their political party registration.

For the general election, McClarty said, "sadly we've had to change it to talk about voter challenges."

Observers typically watch for systemic issues or potential policy changes that might benefit future elections. This year, the observers are encouraged to pursue people who leave polling places after being challenged and explain their options, McClarty said.

"This is one of those times where we want them to talk to voters," she said.

Gale's office and Nebraskans for Civic Reform will have hotlines available for voters who experience problems.

If something is amiss at the polling place, or theres a concern that some type of voter fraud is taking place, we want to hear about it, Gale said in a news release. The goal is to make sure all issues are handled in an appropriate and lawful way.

 Gale's election fraud hotline can be reached at 1-888-727-0007.

Nebraskans for Civic Reform and its partners have four hotlines:

 English: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)

 Spanish: 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)

 Arabic: 1-844-418-1682

 Asian-American languages: 1-888-274-8683

Lancaster County Election Commissioner Dave Shively said he received a few more questions than usual this year from poll workers on how to handle disturbances or other issues that might arise at polling places.

"Every cycle, it always seems like people are worried about things like this and they never really happen," said Shively, who is handling his fifth presidential election.

Voters elsewhere might experience problems, but Nebraskans are conscientious and courteous, he said.

"I don't think you're going to see that happen here."
Most companies that have exposure to the energy industry have suffered greatly over the past couple of years, as oil prices have plunged and haven't been able to muster a strong rebound. For MasTec (NYSE: MTZ), the oil and gas industry plays a key role, with energy companies demanding its infrastructure construction services. Coming into Thursday's third-quarter financial report, MasTec investors were quite optimistic that the company would be able to bounce back from recent adversity, and MasTec's results were even better than most investors were looking to see. Let's take a closer look at how MasTec did during the past quarter and whether it can keep up its positive momentum going forward.

Image source: MasTec.

MasTec soars higher

MasTec's third-quarter results were incredibly strong, given the tough conditions in the energy industry right now. Revenue jumped by 43% to $1.59 billion, easily outpacing the 35% growth rate that most investors were expecting from the infrastructure construction specialist. Adjusted net income more than tripled from year-ago levels to $66.3 million, and that produced adjusted earnings of $0.81 per share. That number compared favorably to the consensus forecast of $0.69 per share among those following the stock.

Taking a closer look at how MasTec's businesses did, the shocking takeaway was that the company benefited greatly from its oil and gas segment. Energy-related revenue soared by 80%, bringing in nearly half of MasTec's total revenue and making energy the most important segment for the overall company during the quarter. Adjusted pre-tax operating earnings for the oil and gas business more than doubled during the quarter, representing more than two-thirds of MasTec's total.

MasTec's other businesses also had solid performances. Sales from the communications segment, which had been the largest revenue producer for the company until this quarter, were up more than a fifth, and pre-tax operating earnings for the segment were up by nearly a quarter. Sales from electrical transmission rose more than a third, allowing the business to narrow its pre-tax operating loss from a year ago, and the power generation business showed more modest rises in segment revenue and profit.

CEO Jose Mas didn't hide his happiness at the way that MasTec performed during the quarter. "Our third-quarter results significantly exceeded our expectations," Mas said, "primarily due to strength in our oil and gas segment." The company has also improved its working capital management practices to strengthen its balance sheet and capital structure, and that should help foster growth in the future.

Can MasTec keep succeeding?

MasTec sees no reason to think that the good times will end anytime soon. In the CEO's words, "We continue to have clear visibility for significant new project opportunities in the oil and gas segment for 2017 and beyond, and we expect to end 2016 with record oil and gas segment backlog."

The company's strong results led MasTec to boost its guidance for the full year, a move that we've already seen in past quarters. MasTec now expects to bring in about $5.1 billion during 2016, and I believes it will be able to post adjusted earnings of $1.73 per share. Those figures are both well above the consensus projections among investors going into the report. Fourth-quarter projections were equally solid, including revenue projections for $1.3 billion and adjusted earnings expected at $0.54 per share.

MasTec investors were ecstatic about the news, sending the stock soaring by 13% in after-hours trading following the announcement. Given that it has been able to keep itself strong in the energy arena even under tough industry conditions, MasTec has made its long-term shareholders extremely optimistic that the company can continue to be a bright light in the sector and keep producing the growth that will set it apart from its peers in the space.

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.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends MasTec. 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.
Samsung Electronics, which is already reeling from a global recall of its Note 7 smartphones, said it would recall about 2.8 million of its top-load washing machines in the United States to address safety concerns.

The top of the washing machines can unexpectedly detach from the chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement on Friday.

The machines being recalled were manufactured between March 2011 and November 2016.

Samsung received nine related reports of injuries, including a broken jaw, injured shoulder and other fall-related injuries.

Samsung, the world's top smartphone maker, is grappling with a global recall of at least 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets due to faulty batteries causing some phones to catch fire.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
The nitrogen fertilizer market over the past several years has not been too kind to Terra Nitrogen Company (NYSE: TNH). Since 2011, the price of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) have slowly been sliding thanks to the aftershock of the Chinese commodity boom. Despite the troubles of the market, the company has been able to still generate strong margins and return cash to its investors. This quarter was particularly tough in that regard because fertilizer prices were so low, but according to the management team at Terra Nitrogen's parent company, CF Industries (NYSE: CF), the worst of the market may be behind us. Let's take a quick look at Terra Nitrogen's results as well as what CF Industries is seeing in the future of the fertilizer market that should leave investors encouraged.

Image source: Getty Images.

By the numbers

Results* Q3 2016 Q2 2016 Q3 2015 Revenue $90.2 $126.5 $150.2 Operating income $28.8 $98.6 $69.4 Earnings per unit $1.04 $3.22 $2.23 Distributions per unit $1.77 $2.58 $2.81

*in millions, except per share data. Source: Terra Nitrogen Company earnings release.

The largest driving factor in Terra Nitrogen's sales decline came from the falling prices of both ammonia and UAN. Prices for these two products are typically lower in the third quarter because of seasonal cycles in the agricultural market, but this year's lows have been particularly noticeable because of a global oversupply of nitrogen based fertilizer production. The company was able to offset some of these weaknesses by shifting more of its production toward ammonia versus UAN since ammonia prices are that much higher, but it can only do so much in this regard.

The thing that does stand out, though, is that earnings appear to have dropped rather significantly compared to the prior quarter. That's because the company reported anunrealized net mark-to-market gain on natural gas derivatives of$27.3million, which artificiallylowered costs of goods sold for the quarter.

From a cash flow perspective. This quarter was obviouslyhurt by lower realized prices, but it also helps that capital spending this year is significantly lower than in 2015. Last year, Terra Nitrogen's' facility went through a large turnaroundthat cost $82 million over the first 9 months of the year. In 2016, though, capital spending has been just $25 million, so a little more cash is flowing out to investors.

What management had to say

Terra Nitrogen doesn't hold its own conference call to discuss its results because it is a subsidiary of CF Industries. On the CF Industries call, Bert Frost, SVP of Sales, Market Development, and Supply Chain at CF Industries, gave a pretty extensive outlook for the nitrogen fertilizer market that is very pertinent to the future prospects of Terra Nitrogen.

What a Fool believes

This was one of the tougher quarters for Terra Nitrogen as fertilizer prices were very weak. Still, the company was able to produce net income margins greater than 30% and return a pretty hefty amount of cash to unitholders in what is traditionally the low point in the company's earnings cycle.

Based on the outlook from CF Industries execs, investors in Terra Nitrogen should expect this year and possibly 2017 to be so-so years as the glut of nitrogen fertilizer production will still be high, but eventually rising demand and the shut down of marginal cost players should bring prices back up again. This should set up Terra Nitrogen rather nicely to pay out hefty distributions to shareholders for many years to come.

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.

Tyler Crowe owns shares of Terra Nitrogen.You can follow him at Fool.comor on Twitter,@TylerCroweFool.

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump differed sharply on the economy in the final stretch of their race for the White House on Friday, with Clinton praising the latest U.S. jobs report while Trump dismissed it as a fraudulent disaster.

With four days left in a tight contest, the candidates hammered each other as unfit to be president as they made a late push for votes in battleground states that could decide the outcome in next Tuesday's election.

At a rally in Pittsburgh, Clinton offered an optimistic view of Friday's government report, which showed a strong rate of hiring and higher wages for workers. The economy added 161,000 jobs in October as the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent the Labor Department said.

"I believe our economy is poised to really take off and thrive," Clinton told the gathering, after being introduced by billionaire investor Mark Cuban. "When the middle class thrives, America thrives."

Trump disputed Clinton's rosy view, telling a crowd in New Hampshire the jobs report was "an absolute disaster" and was skewed by the large number of people who have stopped looking for jobs and are not in the labor market anymore.

"Nobody believes the numbers anyway. The numbers they put out are phony," he said at a rally in Atkinson.

The economy and the candidates' competing visions for the future could be critical in swaying voters in ailing Rust Belt states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Both candidates planned to visit Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday, with Trump adding a stop in New Hampshire and Clinton in Michigan. Each of those states is critical in the state-by-state quest for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

The race tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Trump must win shifted from favoring Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.

The two candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clintons lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Clinton has a slight lead in Pennsylvania.

Clinton is still the favorite to win Tuesday's election, but Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election.

'A BLUE-COLLAR APPEAL'

Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star, has made a pitch for blue-collar workers who have been angered by free-trade deals and feel abandoned by Washington. But Trumps protectionist rhetoric - he has promised to review trade agreements - appears to be having mixed success in the Rust Belt.

Reuters/Ipsos polling from mid-October found a majority in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, including a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, agree international trade benefits Americans by keeping the cost of goods low although they also think it hurts "average Americans" by depressing wages and causing job losses at home.

Clinton appears to be leading among labor union households in both states, the poll found. She has a double-digit lead with women in both, while Trump has a more modest lead with men. Among whites, Trump has a 7-point lead over Clinton in Ohio and a 3-point lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania.

In the final stretch, the two candidates continued to paint a dire scenario of life in the United States if their opponent captures the White House. Trump said the FBI's fresh examination of emails that may be related to Clinton's use of a private email server for government work while she was secretary of state could lead to "a constitutional crisis."

"Aren't we tired of all this stuff?" he asked. "America deserves a government that can go to work on Day One."

HISPANIC VOTER PUSH

Clinton suggested the volatile Trump, who has feuded with and insulted a wide array of people and groups including Muslims, Mexican immigrants and women, was too unpredictable to trust.

"Think about what it would mean to entrust the nuclear codes to someone with very thin skin who lashes out at anyone who insults him," Clinton said.

Hispanic groups in swing states cranked up their get-out-the-vote efforts for the final stretch of the race on Friday, hoping to push the contest Clinton's way.

Lizet Ocampo, director of the Latinos Vote! program for People for the American Way, said the group has Spanish-language radio and television ads up in Nevada and North Carolina and radio ads in Pennsylvania, and will soon launch Arizona radio ads as well.

The group focuses in part on states where the Latino population might not be huge, "but even if theyre a small part they can make the difference" in tight races, Ocampo said, adding the group also will kick off voter canvassing in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

The Love Bus - an old school bus repainted in various colors by nine Miami-based immigrant artists - will make the rounds in south Florida all weekend offering to take voters to the polls early in Haitian and migrant worker communities, said Ruth Moreno, state coordinator for the immigrant rights group iAmerica Action.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is unlikely to face criminal prosecution for the "Bridgegate" lane closure scandal, even after two of his former associates were convicted for their roles in the scheme on Friday.

U.S. prosecutors have essentially conceded that charges are not forthcoming against the Republican, even though a key government witness testified that Christie was aware of the scheme as it unfolded in September 2013.

State charges are also a long shot, legal experts said. The Democratic-controlled state assembly might explore impeaching Christie, though that is no sure thing.

"Much as I do think this was an abuse of office, I think the potential remedy for that is a political one, rather than a criminal law one," said Stuart Green, a law professor at Rutgers University who has followed the case.

Christie was a rising political star before the scandal left his reputation in tatters. After his own presidential campaign failed, he became a key adviser to Republican nominee Donald Trump, and many observers believe he hopes to secure an administration post if Trump wins the presidency on Tuesday.

Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey deputy executive director Bill Baroni were found guilty on Friday of all counts in Newark federal court.

The pair were accused of closing down access lanes at the busy George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to create a massive traffic jam as payback for the town's Democratic mayor failing to endorse Christie's reelection campaign.

During the trial, David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official who pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, testified he and Baroni discussed the lane closures with Christie on the third day of the gridlock.

The governor, Wildstein said, laughed when he heard that Mayor Mark Sokolich was frustrated that his calls for help were going unanswered.

Kelly, meanwhile, testified that she discussed the lane closures with Christie a month before they occurred, though she said she thought they were part of a traffic study.

Prosecutors would not specifically explain why they decided not to prosecute Christie.

"I'm not going to answer the question of why I did or didn't pursue anyone in particular," U.S. Attorney in New Jersey Paul Fishman told reporters. "At the time, we indicted only the people who we believed had evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict."

Christie, who is barred from running for a third term, denied any involvement again on Friday. His term ends in January 2018.

"I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them," he said. "Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue."

State prosecutors could pursue their own case against Christie, but Green, the Rutgers professor, said they have probably known about the evidence for some time and would likely have done so by now.

Last month, a judge referred a citizen's criminal complaint against Christie to a local prosecutor in Bergen County to decide whether it warrants criminal charges, though experts consider that unlikely.

Impeachment, which carries a lower standard of proof, is a more likely scenario, said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University.

But Democratic state lawmakers may prefer to leave Christie in office as a convenient punching bag and focus on trying to recapture the governor's mansion next year, she added.

"The reason why Democrats are not pursuing charges of impeachment already is they want to run against the Christie legacy in 2017," she said.
This might seem like an inflated fish story. It is not.

Having served in the public sector in various capacities for 30 years, I know that when something is done in government that is novel and innovative, well its a big hairy deal. It can also have potential to be a real recipe for disaster. That is presently the case at one government regulatory agency seeking to obtain private intellectual property from individuals and firms. It is particularly precedent-setting and could easily be required by other governmental agencies, unless those concerned make their voices heard. To date, thats not occurred and in this instance, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is barreling down this dangerous unpaved highway, Reg AT (Regulation Automated Trading), in tow.

Imagine a marketplace in which government is allowed access to the secret recipe for Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), the algorithms for a Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) search, bio-genetically engineered therapeutics, or for any number of other highly-guarded trade secrets. What becomes of the private sector when incentives for innovation and protections for IP owners no longer exist? What is done with the proprietary formula once in government hands? How is it protected? Who has access? Can Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA) be used to obtain access? How about wink and a nod access? What about government employees who learn secrets then leave government to work for competitors? Oh, and what about foreign or domestic security breaches? There are those.

As Police Chief Brody said to Captain Quint when they were searching for the mad great white shark in the movie Jaws, Were gonna need a bigger boat. That is, supporters of individual and firm rights and those that care about due process prior to the government obtaining private intellectual property need to speak up. They should comment upon this rule once it is proposed, which is expected to occur on Friday morning at the CFTCs meeting.

The proposal is just a bad idea. Heres why:

1) Private intellectual property often takes years and millions of dollars to develop. As the name suggests, it is private and should remain so. It is also, many times, protected by patent and trade secret laws. For the individuals or the firms that own it, it could well be their lifeblood. Allowing the government to obtain such highly-valuable and confidential information reeks of the quintessential Big Brother going one step too far. During my seven years as Commissioner at the CFTC there was never a substantive issue with obtaining information from individuals or firms due to using the standard subpoena system. Subpoenas ensure appropriate due process, guarding against government grabs and over-reach.

2) This over-reach, however, doesn't seem to concern regulators. In Jaws, as Chief Brody is endeavoring to determine if a caught shark is the culprit to killings, he suggests to his wife, Why dont we have one more drink and go down there and cut that shark open? Mrs. Brody asks, Can you do that? The Chief retorts, I can do anything. Im the Chief of Police. Well, thats sorta what the CFTC seems to be saying. They are the regulator and they can do this, even if it abridges rights of individuals or firms.

Furthermore, theres no guarantee that such private intellectual private property would remain safe and secure in the government's hands. After all, we see cyber security breaches all the time, in the private sector and especially in government. Up the ante for the valuable intellectual property data and the motivation for hacking and theft escalates exponentially. Just last Friday the CFTCs own website crashed, ironically only moments after the Agency announced the public meeting on this problematic proposal. The agency cant keep their website up and running, but it will protect your intellectual property? Right.

In fact, while I served at the CFTC our cyber security was breached and all personnel records became available to the hackers. In the recent past the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and even the Internal Revenue Service were all hacked. The mother of all government hackings occurred last year when the Office of Personnel Management was breached and the culprits had access to 21.5 million records!

Bottom line: When the government says, Trust us, hold onto your wallets and your private intellectual property.

This policy proposal is a high-risk and fundamentally flawed attempt to grab privately held intellectual property and trade secrets for the presumed purpose of even more intensely regulating markets. The problem is that no reasonable explanation has been offered for why it is needed. That said, it wont stop government from going forward unless those concerned about this extraordinary over-reach react and comment. If they dont do so, one thing is clear: like Jaws, government will become acutely carnivorous, continuing to eat and eat, devouring our private information and competitiveness oftenunintentional as it might bewith careless disregard.

Bart Chilton served at the CFTC from 2007-2014 and is the author of Ponzimonium: How Scam Artists Are Ripping Off America. He can be reached at bartchiton@bartchilton.com.
Fox News strategic analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said when it comes to foreign policy he prefers Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.

Im much more alarmed and concerned about Donald Trumps adoration of Vladimir Putin and Putins intent to do all he can to help Trump get elected, he told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo.

Peters said while the military is divided, the people close to him fear Trump deeply.

I detest Hillary Clinton, I find her despicable. But I still think shes a safer bet for President than Donald Trump. His attacks on NATO, crazy statements on Aleppo and Syria about Iran, his insistence that he knows more about ISIS than the generals I just cant swallow that, he said.

He added, Im not getting on anyones bandwagon but when asked a question by God I will give the American people my honest view On foreign policy and national security Hillary Clinton is clearly preferable to the irresponsible and madcap Donald Trump.
Tesla Motors said in a statement on Thursday its unlikely that its semi-autonomous Autopilot system was engaged when a Model S crashed in Indianapolis, killing the driver and a passenger.

The statement said that the company is cooperating with state officials investigating the crash.

Tesla reported that the car had sustained too much damage to be able to transmit data to servers at the company. The data would have been able to tell if the driver had the car in Autopilot.

Autopilot limits the vehicles speed to less than 35 miles per hour on the street. Tesla says it is likely the system wasnt engaged due to the speed limits. Witness statements and the damage to the car suggest the car was going faster than that, Tesla said.

"We are deeply saddened to hear that this accident involved fatalities," the company said.

Witnesses reported that the vehicle was driving at a high speed when it hit a tree, crashed and caught fire, killing 27-year-old driver Casey Speckman and 44-year-old passenger Kevin McCarthy.

Police spokesman Maj. Richard Riddle said earlier Thursday that investigators were looking at whether Autopilot played a role in the accident. The system, which was introduced last year, can automatically drive the car at a set speed and keep it within its lane. Drivers need to touch the wheel at certain intervals or the system will turn off.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In addition to spectacular natural treasures like the Banff and Jasper National Parks, Canada houses some automotive treasures as well. Our northern neighbor has the power to taunt American classic car collectors with its enlightened 15-year rule on non-compliant imports, while U.S. citizens have to wait a full decade longer to legally register their favorite forbidden fruits.

Here are five cars that are now becoming eligible for Canadian importation for the first time.

Alfa Romeo 147

The Walter de Silva-designed Alfa 147 may well be remembered as the high-water mark of European hot hatch design. The 2001 winner of the European Car of the Year award and several design honors, the 147 was a front-driver that managed to meet the handling expectations of the Alfisti. Just one shortfall: Youll have to wait another year for the 247-horsepower V-6 GTA to become legal.

MG ZT

This was it for the Rover Group, which had been nicknamed the English Patient (after the movie) by the German press. BMW may have been arrogant in thinking it could turn Rover into a profitable enterprise, but there was at least one good car left in the pipeline: the Rover 75/MG ZT. The sport sedan and wagon got excellent reviews, with a more-than-adequate 190 horsepower on tap. Like the Alfa 147, though, the real payoff arrives in a few years when the Ford V-8-powered version becomes Canada-legal.

TVR T350

The T350 (not to be confused with the wedge-shaped 350i of the 1980s) marked TVRs ascent to near-hypercar status. Smooth and pretty in contrast with later cars like the Sagaris  which was just outrageous and rather juvenile  the T350 boasted a potent 350-horsepower inline-six. Left-hand-drive cars are extremely rare, but they are out there. The first T350s came from the 2002 model year (though some were said to be built in late 2001), which means these cars will be Canada-legal very soon.

Renault Clio V-6 Phase 1

The French have an interesting habit of taking already-desirable hot hatches and swapping out the back seat for the engine, thus converting a front-engine, front-drive car into a mid-engine, rear-drive car. They did it with the Renault 5 and the Peugeot 205. The Clio V-6 was more of the same insanity. Motive power here was supplied by the venerable PRV (Peugeot/Renault/Volvo) V-6 in 227-horsepower form. Now THAT would have made the DeLorean DMC-12 a bit more interesting But really, the Clio V-6 could have been powered by the screams of its passenger and driver, as handling was said to be downright frightening.

Holden Monaro V2

The Holden Monaro is the novelty pick of the list. The same basic car was actually available in North America as the Pontiac GTO. But with a near-cottage industry developing on eBay selling Holden Commodore badges to Pontiac G8 owners, how much hipper would it be to have a right-hand drive Monaro?

Click here for more classic car stories from Hagerty
A former disc jockey who was fired from a radio station in Denver after Taylor Swift alleged that he groped her is firing back in court, saying her story defies credibility.

David Mueller was fired from KYGO after an alleged incident backstage at a Swift performance at the Pepsi Center in Denver in 2013. The superstar alleges that Mueller reached up her skirt and touched her inappropriately while taking a photo during a meet-and-greet. KYGO dismissed the disc jockey after Swifts management brought up the subject to station management.

Billboard reports that Mueller and his legal team have filed a response to Swifts request for summary judgment in an ongoing lawsuit over the incident, writing, The contention that Mr. Mueller lifted up Ms. Swifts skirt and grabbed her bare ass (while standing with his girlfriend, in front of Ms. Swift's photographer and other staff, as well as Ms. Swift's highly trained security personnel, during an employer sponsored, VIP, backstage meet and greet) defies credibility.

Mueller first filed a lawsuit against Swift in 2015, alleging slander and interference with his employment contract, and Swift fired back with a countersuit claiming assault and battery. Swift gave her side of the alleged incident in a deposition in July.

Right as the moment came for us to pose for the photo, he took his hand and put it up my dress and grabbed onto my ass cheek and no matter how much I scooted over it was still there, Swift said, according to Billboard. "A meet and greet is supposed to be a situation where you're thanking people for coming, you're supposed to be welcoming people into your home, which is the arena for that day, and for someone to violate that hospitality in that way, I was completely stunned."

On Oct. 21, a judge agreed to seal a photo from the meet-and-greet that Swift says supports her claim of assault. The photo will remain sealed until the case goes to trial.
Sadie Robertson says she's living a "'Hannah Montana' lifestyle."

The "Duck Dynasty" star spoke to NKD magazine about how she splits her time between her "normal" life in West Monroe, Louisiana and her life in the spotlight.

Robertson's entire life changed when her family landed their hit A&E reality show. But it wasn't until she was asked to compete on "Dancing With the Stars" in 2014 that the teenager gained her own fame.

Sadie Robertson on leaked Trump tapes: I'm still voting for him

"That was the first time that I was to be separated from my family, and was just by myself, which was really weird but it kind of established who I was," Robertson told NKD.

When the show was over -- Robertson came in second place to Alfonso Ribeiro -- she returned to her high school in West Monroe. But not everyone was accepting at first of her newfound fame.

"A lot of people didn't like that...When you're in Louisiana, you literally have a target just on your face. That was really hard at first, but I feel like now everybody's been able to just know that I didn't change. Even though my life changed, I didn't change."

'Duck Dynasty's' Sadie Robertson defends faith, family on 'DWTS'

Robertson graduated high school and told us she's taking some time off to focus on her career despite most of her friends starting college.

She told NKD her next step is to move to Nashville.

"A lot of people my age right now are going to college, and that's kind of like my college, it's like my next step in life."
A Canadian woman is suing the fertility doctor who artificially inseminated her mother  after learning that he used his own sperm to impregnate her.

Rebecca Dixon, 26, always knew that something was different about her as a child.

While her parents are both fair-skinned with blue eyes, she bears an olive complexion and brown eyes  sparking loads of questions from friends about whether she was adopted, according to The Globe and Mail.

The Ottawa native was told for years that she was their biological daughter and that nothing was strange about her. But things changed forever in the spring after she was diagnosed with celiac disease, a hereditary condition that her family was not known to have.

Dixon and her parents, Daniel and Davina Dixon, decided to investigate further  and eventually learned through blood testing that her dad was type AB, while she was type O-positive, meaning he could not be her biological father.

It was a complete shock, Dixon told the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday. Theres a sense of injustice, theres a sense of anger on behalf of my parents who do feel violated and betrayed.

In 2013, Dr. Barwin was suspended from practice for two months after he admitted to inseminating four different women with the wrong sperm. He resigned from the order of Canada a year later.

[Dr. Barwins] reckless and wanton conduct, including the cavalier use of his own sperm in his insemination procedures, demonstrated a reprehensible disregard for the health, safety, and rights of the plaintiffs,' Dixons lawsuit reads.

Click for more from the New York Post.
If you yourself havent said it yet, youve probably had a friend or two jokingly claim that this presidential election is going to make them have a heart attack. But the truth is, for many voters it may not be a joke at all. The amount of anger in this country, combined with a sharp political divide and hurtful rhetoric coming from both candidates camps, is enough to create the perfect storm for patients who are already considered at-risk for a heart attack -- which is about half of Americans.

As we get closer to Election Day, it will not come as a shock to me if we see a corresponding spike in hospital visits from cardiac patients. One hospital on Long Island has already posted a notice to patients informing them that engaging in political discussionsabout either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the facilitys gym is prohibited.

Due to the fact that we have patients with heart conditions we can not allow debates in the gym, Southampton Hospital posted on the facility's doors.

Therapists have also instructed their patients who blame difficulty sleeping, irritability and heart palpitations on the election to stop reading the news and to practice yoga instead. I think that advice holds true for an even larger audience, and especially applies to those who have cardiac risk factors like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure or a history of heart disease.

In an October study published in the journal Circulation, researchers found an association between anger or emotional upset and the onset of heart attack symptoms within one hour. Experts involved in the study warned that people who are at risk for a heart attack would do best to avoid extreme emotional situations, and to cope by seeking peer support.

I can think of no better way to spend Election Day than by exercising my right to vote and engaging in a healthy, thoughtful conversation with my peers. But we must also have the capacity to realize that when we feel ourselves getting worked up, it will be vital to step back and ask, Is this really worth risking my life over? If you dont think its possible to carry on a conversation this way, its probably best to avoid it altogether.

To help keep your emotions in check, I can offer some advice:

-Try to enjoy the political process of voting and electing officials

-Do not take the drama involved in this election personally

-Keep negative thoughts out of your head and focus on the positive

-If youre gutted by the election results, remember theres another one coming soon

-Communicate with others who share similar passions

-Dont drink excessively as alcohol can only heighten your emotions

-Make it a night of celebration because remember, we still live in the best country in the world

Most importantly, if you are experiencing chest pains, shortness of breath, severe headache or loss of consciousness, do not wait until the last vote is counted. Immediately go to the nearest emergency room or call paramedics for help.


Just five months after federal health officials asked hospitals and physicians to be on the lookout for an often-fatal, antibiotic-resistant fungus called Candida auris, 13 cases have been reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. It is the first time that the fungus, which is easily misidentified in lab tests as a more common candida yeast infection, has been found in the US, and four of the first seven patients with it have died.

We need to act now to better understand, contain and stop the spread of this drug-resistant fungus, the CDCs director, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said in a statement. This is an emerging threat, and we need to protect vulnerable patients and others.

C. auriss emergence and apparent global spread  it was first identified in Japan in 2009 and since then has been found in a dozen countries on four continents  put the pathogen on the ever-growing list of superbugs, disease-causing microbes that are resistant to many and, in some cases, all antibiotics.

Read more: Loopholes on animal antibiotics may undermine battle against superbugs

More From Stat News Loopholes on animal antibiotics may undermine battle against superbugs

The first seven cases, which are described in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, occurred in New York, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey in 2013 (one case), 2015 (one case), and this year (five cases). The older cases were identified through a review of patients lab records conducted after the CDC sent its clinical alert in June. All seven of the patients had been hospitalized for cancer, respiratory failure, or other serious condition, so it is not clear if C. auris contributed to the deaths of four of them, the CDC said.

The other six cases came to the CDCs attention after August.

Five of the first seven cases had not been flagged as C. auris at the time the patients were hospitalized, underlining the difficulty of identifying the fungus. Five were also resistant to the common antifungal drug fluconazole (sold as Diflucan). One was resistant to amphotericin B, an antifungal usually saved for serious infections, and one to echinocandins, a newer class of antifungals touted as being effective against Candida.

Although C. auris strains from other countries have been found to be resistant to all three major classes of antifungal drugs, none of the US cases was.

The global spread of C. auris has had public health officials on alert for imported cases, but all of the US cases seem to have been contracted domestically. When scientists sequenced the genomes of C. auris in the first seven cases, they found that they were related to strains from South Asia and South America. Since none of the patients had traveled to those areas or were known to have been in contact with anyone from there, CDC scientists concluded that they had acquired the infections locally.

It appears that C. auris arrived in the United States only in the past few years, Dr. Tom Chiller, who leads CDCs Mycotic Diseases Branch, said in a statement. Were working hard with partners to better understand this fungus and how it spreads.

A partial answer: easily. After one of the Illinois patients was hospitalized for an unrelated illness, researchers found C. auris in his mattress, bedside table, bed rail, chair, and windowsill.

More evidence of how easy C. auris is spread, at least in hospitals: The genome sequencing showed that the two patients treated in the same New Jersey hospital at the same time had nearly identical strains; the genome sequences of the C. auris infecting the two Illinois patients, also treated at the same hospital at the same time, were also nearly identical to one another. These findings suggest that C. auris could be spread in healthcare settings, the CDC said.

Although 60 percent of people with C. auris infections outside the US have died, the CDC said, that figure is based on a small number of patients, many of whom had other severe illnesses, making it unclear how serious the infection on its own might be.
The "shotgun marriage" may be on the decline: It's only very rarely now, statistics from one state suggest, that couples hastily marry to avoid the social stigma of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

Nevertheless, new research finds that even as overall marriage rates have declined, the "midpregnancy marriage," as it's more scientifically known, has become an important subset of marriages in some demographic groups. And surprisingly, in some groups whose members are generally at a higher risk of divorce, getting married during the woman's pregnancy may not make a couple more likely to split.

"These were fairly resilient marriages, much to our surprise," said study author Christina Gibson-Davis, a researcher in public policy at Duke University.

Marrying midpregnancy

In the study, Gibson-Davis and her colleagues analyzed all records of new marriages and births in North Carolina between 1992 and 2012 and found that overall, midpregnancy marriages are down. Only 5.2 percent of all births in 2012 were to parents who married during a woman's pregnancy, according to the findings that were published Nov. 1 in the journal Demography.

When considered as a percentage of all births, births after midpregnancy marriage dropped between 1992 and 2012 among both blacks and whites. In 1992, 8.8 percent of all births to white mothers were in the context of a midpregnancy marriage, compared with 6.3 percent in 2012. For black mothers, the decline was smaller, from 2.7 percent of all births to 2.6 percent of all births.

These findings echo what earlier national studies have suggested  that the stereotypical "shotgun marriage" is getting pretty uncommon: Only about 4 percent to 8 percent of births in the U.S. were to women who got married during the pregnancy, according to a 2012 study that analyzed data from 1997 and which was co-authored by Gibson-Davis. (For comparison, 10 percent of births were to women who started living with their partner but who didn't marry during the pregnancy, the same study found.)

"Nobody thinks there's a man out there with a shotgun pointing at some quivering guy, saying, 'You must marry my daughter'" because she's pregnant, Gibson-Davis told Live Science.

Nevertheless, she and her colleagues were interested in the role of midpregnancy marriages and what they might reveal about how people's childbearing choices and their marriage choices influence each other.

Disadvantage and divorce

Gibson-Davis and her colleagues narrowed their data to 244,753 "married births"  meaning births that occurred among couples who had both married in North Carolina and had their first child there sometime after they got married. Among these marriages, there were 46,772 divorces over the study period.

While the first numbers in the study examined midpregnancy marriages in the context of all births, this matched data allowed the researchers to study midpregnancy marriages in the context of only married births. Marriage rates in general are on the decline, especially in more disadvantaged groups like black Americans and those with lower education  thus, midpregnancy marriages could represent a decline overall (because fewer people feel the stigma of an unwed pregnancy and can just dispense of marriage entirely), while still making up a growing percentage of the shrinking slice of births to married couples.

"What we were really surprised to find is that the prevalence of these midpregnancy married births among more disadvantaged groups is actually pretty high," Gibson-Davis said. "It was about 20 percent [of all married births], roughly."

For example, among white women under 25, midpregnancy marriages made up 24 percent of births to married couples, the researchers reported. For black women under 25, the percentage was 26 percent of all married births. For white women with a high school diploma or less, 23 percent of births were to married couples, up from 16 percent in 1990. For black women with a high school diploma or less, 19 percent of births were to couples who married during midpregnancy, up from 12 percent in 1990.

In comparison, midpregnancy marriages among white women older than 25 with at least a bachelor's degree was a steady 5 percent of all married births between 1990 and 2012, highlighting the fact that for more-educated and white couples, marriage is still likely to precede pregnancy.

Another surprise was the finding that "shotgun marriages" don't always herald relationships that are headed for divorce. Among white women, these marriages did increase the divorce rate: A midpregnancy marriage raised the risk of divorce to 30 percent over the first 10 years of marriage, compared to 19 percent among couples who married before the woman became pregnant.

But for black women, midpregnancy marriages had a 23 percent chance of ending in divorce by 10 years, while couples who married before the woman became pregnant had a 20 percent chance of breaking up  a "striking" similarity in rates, the researchers reported.

The data doesn't speak directly to why the risk of divorce for white women who marry during midpregnancy might be bigger than it is for black women. Women in higher-educated demographics may experience more pressure and stigma to marry before they have a child, Gibson-Davis said, meaning that they might be more likely to choose to marry more for the baby than for any real desire to cement the relationship. Women in demographic groups where marriage is comparatively less common may not feel as much pressure to just get married, and might marry only if they really want to.

"Maybe these are more relationship-based decisions," Gibson-Davis said.

The researchers did not look at racial or ethnic groups beyond whites and blacks, and focused only on North Carolina  though that state's numbers are relatively representative of the rest of the nation, Gibson-Davis said. There are many questions left to answer, she said. The study couldn't discern whether the couples who had midpregnancy marriages were happy, or how children of these relationships fare.

Government programs to encourage marriage, especially for low-income families, are predicated on the idea that children of married parents are better off than children of unmarried parents. It's important, Gibson-Davis said, to find out more about how the timing of those marriages might influence the children.

Original article on Live Science.
The more surgical trauma centers there are in an area, the lower death rates tend to be, according to a study that finds the density of trauma centers varies widely by state.

States like Maine, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan and North Dakota had the highest density of surgical critical care (SCC) providers, while Alaska, Georgia, Oklahoma and New Mexico had the lowest density, based on 2013 data.

"We already know that healthcare resources are inequitably distributed across the United States," said coauthor David Metcalfe, a Clinical Research Fellow in Musculoskeletal Trauma at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

The number of injured patients is related to the number of people living in a given area, and some populations, such as young males, are particularly likely to be injured, he said.

The researchers used several sources to obtain state-level data on trauma admissions, trauma centers and SCC providers, SCC fellowship positions to train doctors, per-capita income, population size and mortality rates for 2013.

Overall, they found there were just over 1.3 million trauma admissions, 2,496 SCC providers and 1,987 trauma centers across the country, including 521 Level I or II trauma centers.

Trauma centers are designated levels I through V based on the kinds of resources available there. Level I centers can provide total care for every aspect of injury while Level V centers have basic emergency department facilities and can prepare patients to be transferred to higher levels of care.

Level I and II centers were more often located in the Mid Atlantic and South Atlantic regions and in larger cities, according to the results in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Trauma admission density - the number of admissions per million population - was highest in West Virginia, Missouri and Florida, and lowest in North Carolina, Texas and Illinois. While the admissions density ratio between highest- and lowest- density states was about 1.5 to 1, the ratio of availability of SCC providers and of SCC fellowships was 8 to 1.

The study also found that when density of SCC providers went up, mortality rates went down. For each additional SCC provider per million population, there was a decrease of 618 deaths per year.

"Unfortunately, this study suggests that trauma services are not always located where the 'need' is greatest," Metcalfe said.

"Trauma centers are not established and maintained based on need," said Dr. Edward Kelly of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, who was not part of the new study.

Cities that have a lot of other resources also have trauma services, like New York, Boston and the Bay area, which are also hubs for other jobs in Silicon Valley, finance and advertising, Kelly told Reuters Health by phone.

"The trauma training programs are in places that can afford to train people," he said.

"There are lots of reasons why trauma services might be inequitably distributed," Metcalfe told Reuters Health by email. "These include whether local hospitals have the resources that are necessary to achieve trauma center accreditation, whether or not local trauma services are profitable, and difficulties recruiting trauma specialists to some areas."

Trauma survival and recovery depends largely on the speed at which patients reach specialist treatment, he said.

While in general more trauma centers mean better patient outcomes, "some markets are saturated, and others are underserved," Kelly said. As of right now there's no agency body or person with the authority to force regions to establish or develop trauma centers, he said.

"Although it is great to have lots of trauma centers and specialists, this can actually be sub-optimal if that means each hospital only treats a small number of critically injured patients," Metcalfe said. "This is because hospitals and individual specialists risk losing their expertise if they only treat a small number of patients each year."
Editor's note: The following column originally appeared in City Journal, a publication of the Manhattan Institute.



One of the strangest ironies of this strangest of campaigns is that, if America does elect its first woman president, it will be Donald Trump, not Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will have played the crucial role. As if to confirm the most fevered feminist images of predatory male sexuality, Trump has managed to offend some of the most loyal Republican women, from senators, to local organizers, to rank and file. He now lags about 20 points behind Clinton among women voters.

But while the media have been celebrating Republican women who finally get it, they have been less vocal about a striking class and education divide that should be a familiar theme in this election. Yes, college-educated women are overwhelmingly for Clinton; but women without college degrees are sticking with the Republican nominee. They may be less enthusiastic than they were in 2012, when they overwhelmingly supported Mitt Romney, and they are far less gung-ho than the almost two-thirds of their male counterparts in the Trump camp. Still, while the polls vary widely, Trump runs as high as 27 points ahead among white women without a college degree, higher than Clintons 23-point advantage among college-educated women.

So why are less-educated white women willing to look past Trumps serial offenses? One preferred media explanation is that many of these women are evangelical Christians who remain wedded to traditional gender roles and feel anxious about women in powerful positions. Women who want to be protected in the private sphere or need to be protected in the private sphere tend to emphasize the need to protect and privilege womens special capacities for nurturing, the feminist historian Stephanie Coontz said in an interview in Vox.

The picture that emerges from on-the-ground reporting, including some of my own, clashes with this image of the timid Biblical help meet. Consider the most memorable character in J.D. Vances bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy": his grandmother, Mawmaw, a woman at ease with a rifle. Mawmaw was so disgusted by her husbands drinking that she doused him with gasoline and tossed a lit match. For good reason, her grandson took her seriously when she threatened to run over a classmate whom she believed was having a bad influence on him. (Amazingly, both men avoided serious injury.)

Yes, college-educated women are overwhelmingly for Clinton; but women without college degrees are sticking with the Republican nominee.

Not that most of Trumps female supporters resemble Mawmaw. They work in insurance offices, hospitals, or schools, where they have to put on proper attire and say Pardon me without thinking when they bump into someone. Still, away from work, they are familiar with rural life and the coarser manners that sometimes go along with it. Their husbands or uncles may drive a truck; maybe their brother-in-law is a fireman or a plumber, men who come home muddy, greasy, and smelling more like an oil spill than Valentino Uomo. In her recent book "Strangers in Their Own Land," the sociologist Arlie Hochschild profiles a single, 60-year-old Lake Charles, Louisiana accountant, a Pentecostal with a direct, forceful manner. I learned to handle a shotgun when I was six, picking off cottonmouth and copperhead snakes, she tells Hochschild. My daddy used to say if you shoot em, you clean em and eat em.

Almost all these women have male relatives or friends in the military; some of those men are serving in very dangerous places. Their devotion to these men motivates some of their bitterness toward elites whose men dont have to worry about IEDs and midnight visits from the military police. Their fears for the mens safety also explain much of their contempt for Hillary Clinton, whose infamous question from the Benghazi hearingsWhat difference at this point does it make?was the verbal equivalent of a cottonmouth bite.

None of this means that Trump-supporting women approve of the candidates wandering hands and foul mouth. But they take for granted a certain degree of bawdiness in relations between the sexes. When a group of women are together, were talking just as nasty as the guys, a Trump-supporting teacher from Staten Island told me. Were all guilty.

At any rate, she continues, she doesnt get the gap between, on the one hand, empowered feminist talkthe quasi-ironic embrace of terms like bitch and nasty womanand the reluctance to say anything when theyre mistreated by a man, on the other. (Or when they say they were mistreated; a lot of Trump women are extremely skeptical.) All of these liberal women, I find it funny theyre so outspoken fighting for womens rights and now theyre afraid? Its all bullshit. Atlantic writer Molly Ball once asked Ivana Trump, Donalds first wife, whether it was painful to be treated like she was disposable, discarded abruptly after more than a decade of marriage for a younger woman? Ivana harrumphed . . . I am Eastern European woman. I am strong.

This language and worldview is a planet apart from our Trump-o-phobic media, professional, and political class, among whom I include myself. We were raised to use our words not gasoline cans and pick-up trucks. We work with men who sweat primarily when they go to the gym. We intuitively sense the line between playfully suggestive and inappropriate, a word that has become oddly resurgent in this era of the bourgeois f-bomb.

To understand this election, we should have spent much more time talking to women at ease with skinning a snake or having nightly dinner with a bone-tired man with calloused hands and few words. Had we done so, we might be less surprised by the results next Tuesday, whatever they might be.
A recent New York Times headline: Peter Thiel Defends His Most Contrarian Move Yet: Supporting Trump. Isnt it time people started defending their support for Hillary Clinton?

Why arent Hillarys backers made to explain how they can vote for a candidate who promised not to trade access for money while she served as Secretary of State, but then did it anyway?

Who vowed to reveal all monies collected by the Clinton Foundation from foreign entities while she was in office but failed to do so?

AN "AVALANCHE OF EVIDENCE" MAY NOW BURY HILLARY

Who has lied innumerable times to the American people and who has time and again revealed herself as lacking a moral compass?

Whose campaign has engaged in dirty tricks, colluding with the DNC and with the media?

Shouldnt we question those who are putting their money behind Hilary Clinton, the first person to run for the presidency while subject of a criminal investigation? Whose natural instincts are to lie, about matters serious and inconsequential? Whose greed outweighs incandescent ambition?

Who offers voters nothing but enraged disparagement of her opponent?

Its a reasonable question that should be asked: how can anyone with good conscience vote for Hillary Clinton?

Thiel, the successful founder of PayPal, sinned against the liberal establishment by donating $1.25 million to the Trump campaign. He has come under withering criticism from Silicon Valley elites, followed by demands that Facebook drop him from its board of directors and that Silicon Valleys leading start-up incubator, Y Combinator, sever ties with him. This, for supporting the standard-bearer of one of Americas main political parties; a candidate who has a real shot at winning.

The shunning comes from those accusing Thiel of condoning racism and intolerance, says the Times, an organization that seems to being doing its best to further such associations. Indeed, the liberal media, exposed through numerous leaked emails as colluding with the Hillary Clinton campaign, has done a terrific job of turning Trump backers into pariahs.

But shouldnt we question those who are putting their money behind Hilary Clinton, the first person to run for the presidency while subject of a criminal investigation? Whose natural instincts are to lie, about matters serious and inconsequential? Whose greed outweighs incandescent ambition?

Despite decades of scandal, Wall Street tycoons and Hollywood eminences gather to promote the Good Ship Hillary, happy to sail with the progressive tides. Even as cranky investigators expose icebergs in their path. And no one calls them to account.

Many take solace in following President Obama, who has not stinted in his efforts to elect Clinton. Obama, who remains popular with those who absolve him of his lies about the Iran deal, ObamaCare, Benghazi, and now about his professed ignorance of the Clinton private server, is out campaigning for Hillary, whom he has repeatedly called the most qualified candidate in history. He does not call her the most trustworthy, or the most genuine, or respectable or moral; the man is not a total idiot. He describes her as tough and says she has tenacity. That we know.

Obama isnt campaigning for Hillary Clinton because he likes her; hes out there hustling for votes because if Donald Trump is elected, Obamas cherished legacy will melt away faster than ice cream in August. ObamaCare? Gone. Amnesty for undocumented immigrants? Gone. Overreaching EPA rules that will set our power costs soaring? Done for. The Iran deal? Well, chances are that collapses regardless of who succeeds him.

Obama knows that Hillary is the protector of the status quo and of his legacy. He also knows she cannot be trusted. When she joined his cabinet, Hillary was required to sign an agreement aimed at minimizing her pay-to-play opportunities while she served at the State Department. She vowed that she would not personally participate in any matter that could impact the finances of the Clinton Foundation or the earnings of her husband, Bill. In a separate agreement, she agreed to reveal all foreign donations to the foundation.

We know she broke these promises. In just one of many such examples, after Hillary intervened to solve a tax problem for Swiss banking giant UBS (an unusual gig for Secretary of State), the bank paid husband Bill $1.5 million in speaking fees and donated generously to the foundation. Even more alarming, there were 1,100 foreign donations funneled through the Clinton Foundations Canadian affiliate that were received while Clinton was in office but never reported. Clintons memorandum of understanding with the Obama White House specifies that the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (the Canadian branch) is part of the Clinton Foundation and must follow the same protocols. It did not.

The estimated net worth of Bill and Hillary Clinton in 2006 was $34 million. In 2015, it was $111 million. Hillary did not rack up such wealth. After all, during her four years as Secretary of State her salary was only $186,000. Filings suggest her net worth in 2006 was about $30 million; in 2015, it was nearly unchanged at $31 million. In 2006 Bills wealth was about $4 million; by 2015 that had soared to $80 million. Note that during those years the U.S. financial markets endured one of the worst downdrafts ever, which lopped off a sizeable slug of the countrys wealth. By 2015 financial markets had recovered, but it is safe to conclude that Bill Clintons good fortune did not come by way of investment returns.

No, Bill made a fortune giving speeches, often to groups also funding the Clinton Foundation, and who had business before the U.S. government. It was a seamy arrangement  seamy enough to apparently invite scrutiny from FBI agents who were then blocked from pursuing an investigation.

Donald Trump is no Boy Scout. His business history is checkered and his personal manner is off-putting. But, the portrayal of him as racist and dangerous has been overblown by Hillarys team, because they have nothing else to talk about.

Hillary fears the appeal of a fresh-start candidate, and especially one who is willing to challenge the status quo and push back at the politically correct idiocy ensnaring our national discourse. Trump is offering voters a real choice, which doesnt happen often.

President Obama campaigned on hope and change, but delivered neither. It is possible  likely, even  that it will take an outsider to shift the direction of the country, to upend the corrupt politics of Washington, to stem the unbridled expansion of the federal government and return power to the people, which most Americans seem to want. That outsider, in this cycle, is Donald Trump.


Ronald Reagan had it. Both Roosevelts  Teddy and Franklin  had it. The next president will have it too -- a unique historic opportunity that comes along once every generation or so. It is the chance to break loose from the stale and stagnant status quo and fix the economy, rethink American foreign policy, and restore our sense of national purpose.

Will the next president seize the moment? Only by first turning the economy around with a pro-growth program to cut personal and corporate taxes, streamline regulations, and embrace the American energy revolution. If so, he or she will unleash an economic renaissance that is poised at the starting gate, ready to take off.

There are a dozen new technologies and products that were invented in America, ready to be mass produced in America and sold not only here at home to all over the world. Things like 3D printing, driverless cars, wearable medical devices, robotics, DNA-based medicines, nanotechnology, bioengineering, and the internet of things. But this burst of new manufactures will only happen if the next president gets government out of the way of the free market.

THE FORGOTTEN WOMEN WHO ARE SUPPORTING TRUMP

If the next president fails to do it, our economy will continue to languish under the triple weight of big government, crippling regulations and confiscatory taxes. We will miss the once in a lifetime moment to return to prosperity. As for improving our foreign policy? It will become much collateral damage. We simply wont have the resources necessary to rebuild the military, shore up our alliances, push back against our enemies, and deal with the cyber and terrorist threats that are already upon us. We will be stuck with the failed policies of the past.

Nobody thinks American foreign policy in the last fifteen years has been a success. Our adversaries, and even some of our allies, think were a spent power, mired in decadence, self-indulgence and smug self-satisfaction. Weve had two wars  three if you count Libya  that weve lost every one, some twice. Instead of destroying and defeating radical Islamic movements, weve seen them expand to more places and in greater strength than before. They have spread throughout western civilization, and now even to our homeland. Russia has restarted the Cold War and is pushing up against us and our allies in Northern Europe, Central Europe and the Middle East.

Reagan turned everything around  he fixed the economy, repaired our foreign policy and set us on the path to the greatest period of peace and prosperity in our history. The next president can do the same.

We gave Iran everything it wanted and more in the nuclear deal, hoping it would buy us a new and friendly Iran. Instead their chants for Death to America have grown louder, even while they continue their sprint to have a nuclear weapons arsenal within the decade. China is expanding into the South China Sea and will soon claim one of the worlds major trade routes as an internal Chinese lake.

Right now, things look grim for American leadership and the American dream. But weve been in scrapes like this before and recovered.

Thats exactly what we thought in 1980. But we elected a new leader who threw out the Washington Establishment and their stale old policies. Reagan turned everything around  he fixed the economy, repaired our foreign policy and set us on the path to the greatest period of peace and prosperity in our history. The next president can do the same.

If the next president chooses, like Reagan before him, to reject the status quo for a pro-growth economic plan, we will soon have the opportunity and leverage necessary to rethink our relations with adversaries and allies.

As much as our enemies have been on the ascendancy of late, they are all headed for tough times ahead. Russias future is bleak: they have built their entire economy and society on oil and natural gas prices remaining high, and those prices have fallen sharply and suddenly and will never rise again. Within the next year or two Russia will be forced to dramatically reduce government spending, cut back on social programs, military modernization and clip its global ambitions -- or face bankruptcy. Chinas mighty economic engine of growth is slowing down, too. That, coupled with their demographic time bomb, could spell political instability and civil unrest for the world most populous nation.

The Middle East will be wracked by ethno-tribal religious wars for the next thirty years. Even our allies in Europe are headed for social unrest under the economic and security burdens of the mass Muslim migration. We are entering an era that cries out for American leadership.

Seizing this unique historic opportunity wont happen if we elect a status quo president on Tuesday. And Hillary Clinton is the status quo candidate -- supersized.

She wont take us in a new direction, or usher in new ideas. She will be President Obamas third term, but lack his eloquence.

She will be the Clinton Restoration, but without Bill Clintons charm. She will plod along the same route she has followed before.

Her joyless presidency will be driven by focus groups and pollsters, by the folks whose main job is to keep the Establishment in power  the donor class, the media mandarins, the inside-the-beltway crowd. These are the folks whose lives are just fine, whose houses are worth more than they paid for them, whose kids go to good schools, who have generous health care and retirement plans. They are the folks who believe in globalism, big government, and high taxes -- for the other guy.

She will lock in their grip on power. And, as we have seen in recent days, a Hillary Clinton administration is likely to be haunted by investigations, corruption, indictments and even a constitutional crisis.

I worked in the West Wing during Watergate and saw firsthand what how such a crisis can destroy a president, the administration and test the mettle of the country.

I think the choice is simple. Its the same question Ronald Reagan asked the American people in 1980. If you think everything is just fine, and youre better off than you were eight years ago, if you think the world is a safer place, then you should vote for the status quo candidate, Hillary Clinton, who will continue things just as they are.

But if you, like me, think we need to throw the bums out, drain the swamp, revitalize our economy and reclaim the mantle of global leadership, then by all means vote for the one candidate who has shown time and again that hes not afraid of challenging the conventional wisdom and rejecting the status quo.

Only one of the candidates can seize this unique historic moment to Make America Great Again.

Thats why Ill be pulling the lever for Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Federal judge in Las Vegas said on Thursday he hasnt seen evidence that Republican nominee Donald Trumps campaign is training people to intimate voters in Nevada.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware announced that he doesnt expect he will need to issue the restraining order that Democrats were seeking ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Boulware said he there won't be a final ruling until a hearing on Friday about whether another defendant, Roger Stone Jr., and his group called "Stop the Steal" are encouraging what Democrats call "vigilante voter intimidation."

Similar claims have been made in lawsuits filed in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

"There doesn't seem to be a basis at this point to issue a temporary restraining order," Boulware said.

Stones attorney said Democrats havent provided any evidence that Stone or Stop the Steal has been intimidating voters.

"My client is engaging in legal First Amendment speech," attorney Paul Jensen told U.S. District Judge John Tuchi.

Democrats allege that Trumps call on his supporters to help stop voter fraud by showing up at the polls is a call to illegal intimidation tactics.

Democrats also allege that Stone is organizing volunteers to confront voters at the polls.

"This is an election unlike any other where the candidate has gone around the country and implored his supporters to engage in aggressive poll watching," attorney for Arizona Democrats, Mike Gottlieb said.

"The law doesn't really allow for an injunction based on their mere speculation that someone may hear something somewhere and come to a state and harass voters," Trump attorney Tim La Sota said.

The Trump campaign says the lawsuits are long on rhetoric and short on substance and designed to distract from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's troubles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The polls are tightening. The electoral map is shifting. And while Donald Trump still faces a narrow path to the White House, analysts say the first-time, convention-defying Republican presidential candidate has a real shot four days from now.

The Republican nominee, tellingly, has gone from complaining about a rigged system to vowing victory once again.

The impact from the FBIs decision to revisit the Hillary Clinton email probe may be modest, but the polls were tightening even before that twist. Both candidates are taking nothing for granted and have kept a packed schedule crisscrossing the battlegrounds in their final push. Trump spent his week in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina; while Clinton campaigned in many of the same states  their respective surrogates fanning out to cover more ground.

The magic number on Election Night is 270 electoral votes. Heres how each candidate could get there:

Clintons Map

For Clinton, the path is much easier.

The latest Fox News Electoral Scorecard shows that if she wins all the states considered to be leaning or solidly Democrat, she wins the White House  with 283 electoral votes. She wouldnt have to win any of the pure toss-ups, which right now are Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Utah and one Maine district. She could even lose a Democrat-leaning state like Colorado or Wisconsin.

Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor Joe Trippi said Clinton retains the electoral advantage.

Its going to be very tough for [Trump], Trippi told Fox News.

David Goodfriend, former deputy staff secretary to President Bill Clinton, pointed to flexibility in the map for Clinton.

Hillary can lose Florida and Ohio and still win the presidency. I like her odds on the electoral map, he said.

Goodfriend predicted the FBI probe and WikiLeaks revelations of the past days would not hurt Clintons base, but rather drive independents and Republicans that hate Trump back home to vote Republican.

Arnon Mishkin, director of the Fox News Decision Team, characterized Clintons Election Day task this way:

Hillary needs to make sure she is defending the states that we have leaning in her direction. She also needs to try to win the toss-up states  wed argue Florida, Nevada and maybe even Arizona.

Trumps Map

For Trump, its trickier  but still possible.

The Fox News scorecard shows that if Trump wins the states leaning or solidly Republican, hed have 192 electoral votes. If he also wins the toss-ups, hed be 15 electoral votes short of 270.

One win in North Carolina, Michigan or Pennsylvania could get him to victory.

According to the Fox News Decision Team, Trumps path to victory depends not only on holding down the red states and claiming the toss-ups, but executing a strategic steal from the Democratic column.

The clearest opportunity I see for Donald Trump is either he wins both New Hampshire and North Carolina or takes just Pennsylvania, said Mishkin. Trump needs to win all toss-up states  all of which, really, are quite do-able.

New Hampshire is one state that has been trending away from Clinton. It had been rated lean Democrat but the Fox News Decision Team updated that to toss-up on Thursday.

Trump is looking much stronger than he was looking a week ago, Mishkin said.

Trump nevertheless has trailed consistently in states like Pennsylvania, worth a significant 20 electoral votes. Trump surrogate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he thinks Trumps votes in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the Rust Belt states are going to be significantly higher than anyone predicted.

I am convinced there is going to be a dramatic turn on Election Night, he said.

But while Clinton, as Mishkin noted, will try to win Florida, many analysts say Trump absolutely must win the Sunshine State to have a chance.

His pathway runs straight through Florida and that is it, Goodfriend said.

A fundraising email sent from the Trump campaign Thursday night went into detail about how they could win. The email said that if they can lock down the battlegrounds, theyd need to win one of these states: Colorado, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, New Mexico or Minnesota.

All About Turnout

Voter enthusiasm and turnout is a factor, too. Clinton and President Obama both have stepped up their rhetoric on the stump, urging supporters to get out to vote and warning them not to be complacent.

Clinton supporters are slightly less enthusiastic than Trump supporters, Trippi acknowledged.

But, he said, Clinton has a much stronger organization on the ground. People are really going to turn out to stop Trump and to stop Clinton  they are each others greatest motivators.

Karl Rove, Fox News contributor and former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, suggested Trump could benefit from registered Republicans dropping their reservations at the end.

There is a natural tendency, as you near the end, for partisans to come home, and the race really looks to be moving into his direction, Rove said.

Split Decision?

Then again, if the race really tightens, it could be 2000 all over again.

Mishkin said that data and polls are suggesting Trump may have sufficient support to pull off a win in the popular vote  but he could still lose in the electoral vote, and with it the race.

This has happened four times in American history, most recently when Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but lost to George W. Bush.

The Fox News Decision Team also says there is a fairly high chance at least one state will have a recount.

Each state has certain rules regarding vote count, Mishkin explained. Were looking at an election where, it is possible, neither candidate gets a huge electoral majority  recounts could be very important in this race.
Giant, spike-toothed salmon that weighed almost 400 lbs. once made their home in the ancient coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean, according to new research.

The now-extinct salmon species spawned in California rivers approximately 11 million to 5 million years ago, the scientists said. The fish measured up to 9 feet long, with spike-like teeth that were more than 1 inch long. Though its dagger-like teeth could have been deadly for prey, the ancient salmon was probably a filter feeder rather than a predatory species, meaning the fish took in water full of plankton as it swam, as modern Pacific salmon do, they added.

The salmon's unusual spiky teeth were likely used to fight, helping them to defend their fertilized eggs, according to researchers from California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California. [My, What Sharp Teeth! 12 Living and Extinct Saber-Toothed Animals]

The team of researchers, led by vertebrate paleontologist Julia Sankey, studied 51 fossils from the extinct salmon species in both freshwater and saltwater environments.

"Scientifically, our research on the giant salmon is filling in a gap in our knowledge about how these salmon lived and, specifically, if they developmentally changed prior to migration upriver like modern salmon do today," Sankey said in a statement.

Modern salmon experience physical changes, especially in their skull, prior to spawning, the scientists said. They noted that modern male salmon will fight to defend their eggs, and their ancient ancestors likely exhibited the same behavior.

The new study found that teeth from the giant salmon found in freshwater environments were consistently longer and more sharply curved than those of the salmon found in the saltwater environments, and showed signs of wear. They added that these differences suggest that the salmon experienced changes prior to migrating upriver to spawn.

The salmon's spiky teeth also may have been used to display a sign of dominance, the researchers said.

"These giant, spike-toothed salmon were amazing fish," Sankey said. "You can picture them getting scooped out of the Proto-Tuolumne River [near Modesto, California] by large bears 5 million years ago."

Sankey and her colleagues presented their research Oct. 27 at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Salt Lake City.

Original article on Live Science.
Outraged Brits have been left feeling shortchanged (pun intended) after learning that the British one-pound coin will take on a new shape next year, losing its roundness in favor of a pristine (and controversial) 12-sided polygon.

According to The Royal Mint, which is responsible for making and distributing all British coins, the replacement will begin circulating in March, with a six-month window before the old coin is phased out that September.

But it wont be all plain sailing: U.K. retailers are already anticipating chaos amid concerns that millions of machines accepting cashparking meters, vending machines, and ticket machines, for exampledont have a slot that can accommodate the updated silver and gold colored tender.

But if the introduction of the new cointhe first time for the pound since 1983is such an inconvenience, then why is it happening at all? The current pound has grown increasingly vulnerable to counterfeiting over the years, with around one in 30 one-pound coins discovered to be fake.

The updated design, the Royal Mint says, will be the most secure piece of currency in the world, and even has a hidden high-security feature built in to make it less replicable, in turn cutting costs for business owners who lose money by accepting fake currency, and for taxpayers, who have to pay for new currency to be made.

The U.S. is not immune to the forgery problem, either: In 2015, almost 70 percent of the $78 million fake currency found within the United States was produced via 3D-printing, says USA Today.

More from Conde Nast Traveler

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While the introduction of the new coin bears no relation to Brexit, it does come as the latest in a string of burdens inflicted on the Britishback in September, the news arrived that U.K. citizens may have to obtain visas to travel within Europe, and earlier this month, the pound plummeted in value to a 168-year low.

The mRoyal Mint is urging retailers to start preparing for the transition now, which could cost as much as 32 million (around $39 million) to ensure every vending machine can take the new coin, and even more to replace parking machines. Still, the process won't be without snags: If you're planning a trip to Britain any time after March, especially considering how affordable it is for U.S. travelers right now, it's probably best to exchange any pound coins you have.

Obama Lifts Restrictions on Cuban Cigars, Rum
The husband of a man who died after falling overboard on a Royal Caribbean cruise is suing the line, claiming the company failed to make a timely attempt to save him or to recover the body after he fell.

In Nov. 2015, Bernardo Garcia Teixeira was presumed dead after he fell into the water during a Caribbean cruise. Garcia Teixeira and his husband Erik Elbaz were reportedly involved in a domestic dispute before incident. Cruise line authorities and police maintained at the time that Garcia Teixeira intentionally jumped off the stateroom balcony.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in Miami Federal Court by Elbaz, alleges that he and Teixeira were subjected to repeated homophobic taunts and slurs and other offensive behaviors from crewmembers even before the Nov. 6 tragedy, reports Courthouse News Service.

Nudist cruise ship worker sentenced to 30 years for violent attack on passenger

The taunting escalated, says Elbaz, and on Nov. 5, one Royal Caribbean employee reportedly called his husband a pedophile. According to the suit, the two men returned to their room and began talking loudly about being mistreated.

Crewmembers and security officers were called to the couples room and, the suit says, threatened to arrest Garcia. At the time of the incident, crewmembers reported that furnishings in the room had been damaged before authorities arrived.

The men began arguing with the officers and, the suit says, at some point Garcia Teixeira fell off the stateroom balcony, landing on a life boat below. He was able to hang on for a few minutes before falling into the ocean.

"Several RCCL security officers and/or crewmembers grabbed Mr. Garcia by his arms and had a hold of him for several minutes, but ultimately failed to secure and rescue him from falling overboard," the complaint says.

Elbaz says he begged the ships officials to stop the ship and order a search and rescue mission immediately but claims he was dismissed and told to calm down.

Virgin's cruising company has a new name

The U.S. Coast Guard did perform a search-and-rescue operation after being notified by Royal Caribbean, but Garcia's body was never found. Elbaz says Royal Caribbean failed to deploy life boats within a reasonable time.

In 2015, the Cruise Lines International Association, told Yahoo News that about 20 peopleout of 22 million passengers-- fall off cruise ships annually.

Elbaz is seeking compensatory damages on claims of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of the High Seas Act.

Royal Caribbean was not immediately available for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the execution of an Alabama inmate convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire.

The court on Thursday night stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur without comment, until further order of the court.

Seventh-four-year-old Arthur had been scheduled to be executed Thursday evening by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said the state will wait until Arthur's death warrant expires at midnight to see if the execution can proceed.

He was convicted of killing Troy Wicker. Police on Feb. 1, 1982 found Wicker shot to death in his bed. Wicker's wife initially said she had been raped and an intruder killed her husband. She later testified that she had sex with Arthur and promised him $10,000 to kill her husband.

This is the seventh time Arthur, who has waged a lengthy legal battle challenging his conviction and the death penalty, has been granted an execution stay.
A shipping vessel from Malta named Newlead Grandino has been stranded since Sept. 20--yards from the coast of Baltimore harbor-- and since most of the crew is foreign and without visas, they cannot come ashore.

The 18-man crew is in good health, but there is no clear timetable for the ship's departure, Fox 45 Baltimore reports. The ships owner, Aeolus Compania Naviera S.A. is reportedly behind payments on its lease, crew and operation dues and there are equipment issues.

A Long Way from Home: Stranded foreign ship in Baltimore Harbor in need of supplies @PaulGessler reports: https://t.co/PytFTdRgIR pic.twitter.com/KcNJRkBdEf  FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) November 4, 2016

What we need to happen at this point is that the bank that has the lien on this ship needs to come forward and take care of these men, take care of the issues taking place on this vessel, Barbara Shipley, from the International Trade Workers Union, told the station.

"The men have been reportedly floating in the harbor for over a month after an asphalt delivery," she added. "Theyre hungry. Theyre tired. Theyre dirty. They want to get paid and they want to go home. They want to see their families. Their families are all very concerned. Ive been told theyre fishing off the side of the vessel.

Shipley met with the captain Thursday. She said the captain "does not want to abuse the kindness of the people of Baltimore."

In August, Newlead Castellano, another ship, spent nearly four months off the coast of Georgia after U.S. marshals seized the 590-foot ship during a legal dispute between the vessels owners and creditors. The ship was eventually able to move.

They have had the occasional visit from the coast guard, and a few supplies from the Seafarers Center.

I think its really important for them to know that somebody cares and that if additional needs develop they can reach out to us and we'll reach out to our supporters and do the best we can, said Mary Davisson, Baltimore International Seafarers Center.

Click for more from Fox 45 Baltimore.
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Authorities say two New York City police officers have been shot and wounded.

A New York Police Department spokeswoman says the injured officers have been taken to a Bronx hospital. She has no information on their conditions.

She says the shooting occurred Friday afternoon in the borough's Parkchester neighborhood.

The circumstances of the shooting are unclear.
One NYPD officer was killed and another wounded in a shootout in the Bronx Friday afternoon following a 911 call to report a home invasion. The gunman also was killed.

New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio identified the dead officer as Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran of the force and father of two young children.

"The city is in mourning, the whole family of the NYPD is in mourning," De Blasio said.

The gunman was identified as Manuel Rosales, 35, who had 17 prior arrests.

According to Police Commissioner James P. ONeill, a woman called 911 about 2:45 pm to report a man armed with a gun had broken into her apartment. The suspect, who was armed with a .45 caliber handgun, then fled the scene in a red jeep, which was spotted about half a mile away.

As officers approached the vehicle, ONeill said, the suspect opened fire, which the police returned. The suspect was declared dead at the scene.

In addition to Tuozzolo, Sgt. Emmanuel Kwo, a nine-year veteran, was shot in the leg and currently is in stable condition at Jacobi Hospital.

Rosales was identified as the estranged husband of a woman in the apartment, although she was not the one who made the call.

In a statement late Friday afternoon, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, "Every day, the brave men and women of law enforcement selflessly serve our communities to keep the rest of us safe. Today, a sergeant in the New York City Police Department has made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, and another officer is undergoing treatment.

"My deepest sympathies are with the families of the officers involved in today's tragedy in the Bronx, and with Commissioner O'Neill and the NYPD as they cope with the loss of one of their own."

FoxNews.com's Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report
Authorities have confirmed that the body found on a rural South Carolina property is the boyfriend of a woman found chained inside a storage container.

A woman who was found chained "like a dog" in a rural South Carolina shed told authorities she watched her alleged kidnapper shoot her boyfriend who vanished with her in late August, investigators said Friday.

Search teams digging on the property owned by 45-year-old Todd Christopher Kohlhepp found one body and fear there may be more.

The remains have not been identified, but prosecutor Barry Barnette said the woman, 30-year-old Kala Brown, saw her captor shoot and kill her boyfriend, 32-year-old Charles Carver, who went with her for a cleaning job on the suspect's property.

ABC NEWS INVESTIGATES PRODUCER OVER DOCTORED 'CRIME SCENE' LIVE SHOT

"This is a very, very dangerous individual," Barnette said.

Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender with a previous kidnapping conviction in Arizona appeared Friday at a bond hearing in Spartanburg on a kidnapping charge. More charges are expected.



The judge did not set bond and instead referred the matter to circuit court. The suspect didn't appear to have an attorney.

SEX OFFENDER IN CUSTODY AFTER WOMAN FOUND IN METAL CONTAINER

Kohlhepp was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old Arizona girl in 1986. Online prison records show he served about 14 years for the felony. He was released in 2001.



Records from the case obtained by Fox Carolina show that a judge decided in 1987 to transfer the case to adult court partly because of Kohlhepp's aggressive nature.



"At less than the age of 9 this juvenile was impulsive, explosive and preoccupied with sexual content. He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school," the judge wrote.



Brown and Carver disappeared about Aug. 31 when they went to do the work on the suspect's nearly 100-acre property near Woodruff, said Daniel Herren, a friend who sat with the woman in her hospital room after she was rescued Thursday.



"They were going to do some work, help cleaning up the property. And he pulled out a gun and took them hostage," Herren said, adding that the abduction happened quickly.

Herren said Brown described to him the details of her captivity, telling him she was in the container nearly the entire time except for when she was taken out for occasional walks.



"He never took the chain off of her, but he was taking her around, let her get, not so much exercise, but let her walk around some," Herren said. "It didn't sound like it was every day. It was kind of sporadic."



She left the hospital late Thursday and is staying with family, Herren said.



The property includes grassy areas, some covered in waist-high weeds, as well as stands of trees. Most or all of it is surrounded by a chain-link fence 6 to 7 feet tall.



In the middle was the cargo container, which measured about 30 feet by 15 feet. It was next to a two-car garage that had a living space on top, Barnette said.



Guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized from Kohlhepp, the prosecutor said.



"It's unbelievable how much he had," he said, adding that Kohlhepp frequently took target practice in an area near the storage container.



Records show Kohlhepp received his South Carolina real-estate license in 2006 before a state law went into effect requiring background checks.



A real estate agent who worked at the firm run by Kohlhepp said she had known him for 10 years after they met at a university in the Spartanburg area and were study partners. She said she was in disbelief.



"He's not the kind of person to do something like this," Cherry Laurens said by phone. "Working with him, he was an excellent boss. He stood up for us whenever we needed him."



She said it was widely known that he was registered as a sex offender, but he told people that it was based on trumped-up charges after he "had gone joyriding with a girl" and upset her father.



Kohlhepp made frequent online posts about moving around rocks and trimming trees at the rural property, according to the Facebook page that Laurens confirmed was his.



About two weeks after the couple disappeared, he wrote a post about news reports on missing people: "reading the news.. this person missing, that person missing, another person missing.. oh wait.. that person just went to beach with friend, other person found with her parole violation boyfriend... in the event I become missing, please note no one would take me. I eat too much and I am crabby..."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from FoxCarolina.com.
After a problem this afternoon, DirecTV viewers were once again able to access Fox News HD by early this evening.

Viewers had been frustrated and looking for answers after an apparent technical glitch left them unable to tune in to Fox News HD.

AT&T released the following statement:

Early this morning, a technical issue impacted the high definition (HD) channels of the following networks for our satellite customers:

BBC World News, CNN, Comedy Central, FOX News, Fusion, Golf, NBC Sports, Ovation

With the exception of Fusion and BBC World News, we continued to provide the standard definition (SD) versions of these channels to our customers. We proactively reached out to customers via social and online channels to help ensure that they understood how to view the content.

The HD versions of these channels for most customers were back

online early this afternoon CT.

We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.

The AT&T-owned satellite television carrier, which has about 20 million subscribers in the U.S., apologized to customers, but initially gave no information about what was behind the problem or when it might be fixed.

We are experiencing temporary technical difficulties," read an on-screen message posted in English and Spanish to viewers looking for the channel. "Please stand by. We apologize for the inconvenience.

The non-HD Fox News station was still available to viewers, and was apparently unaffected by the problem.

The issue for some Fox News HD DirecTV viewers started earlier this week, on Wednesday, with intermittent disruptions.

Fox News has received a flurry of complaints about the disruptions, but is unable to address a problem that lies with DirecTV. Viewers with questions or complaints may contact DirecTVs national customer service number at (800) 531-5000.

The disappearance of Fox News HD has particularly angered those who have been closely following the remaining days of the presidential campaign, leading some to question if the problem was in fact a technical difficulty.

This happened early yesterday morning for a couple of hours. Now it's off again for several hours. At first my husband were throwing around conspiracy jokes. As the morning goes on, it's not as funny, said a post on the DirecTV forum page.

CANCELLING Dtv after FOX NEWS BLACKOUT, said another posting, left by by a lifelong customer to DirecTV who questioned why backup systems couldnt efficiently address the issue.
The driver of a Baltimore school bus involved in a deadly crash with a commuter bus this week should not have been at the wheel because his commercial driver's license was suspended two months earlier, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration said Thursday.

Glenn R. Chappell's one-year Medical Examiner's Certificate expired Aug. 31, and the agency did not receive an updated one, as required by federal law for holders of commercial driver's licenses, spokesman Chuck Brown said in a statement. These licenses are required for school bus drivers in Maryland.

Brown provided copies of two warning letters the agency sent Chappell. One, dated July 17, reminded him that his certificate would soon expire. The other, dated Sept. 8, told Chappell, "you are no longer authorized to operate a commercial motor vehicle."

He was told to either submit updated information or have his permit downgraded to a noncommercial driver's license.

Chappell also could have been kept from driving for another reason: He pleaded guilty in 2012 to second-degree assault. A State Board of Education regulation says a school system "may not" permit someone convicted of a violent crime to operate a school vehicle.

Neither Chappell's employer, AA Affordable Transportation, nor Baltimore City Public Schools answered questions posed by The Associated Press in calls and emails about the crash and Chappell's fitness.

A statement from AA Affordable Thursday evening, obtained by WJZ-TV, offered condolences to the victims' families and said the company is "cooperating fully" with investigators and cannot comment during the investigation.

Brown said that to renew a certification, drivers must say whether they have experienced a brain injury, seizure, high blood pressure or dizziness, and submit to measurements of other standard health indicators. The resulting certificate doesn't contain this information, however, so the MVA doesn't know about any medical conditions a driver might have.

Brown said the MVA sends warning letters only to commercial driver's license holders, not their employers. However, federal regulations require employers to maintain the certificates, which includes the date of expiration, for all of their drivers with commercial licenses, Brown said.

"Responsibility to maintain this certificate is on the individual and the employer," Brown said.

Chappell, 67, was killed Tuesday, along with a Maryland Transit Administration bus driver and four mass transit passengers, when his school bus crossed the center line and smashed into the commuter bus after hitting a car and a roadside pillar in southwest Baltimore. No children were aboard.

Chappell's son Moses said family members, like investigators, are awaiting his father's autopsy results, which could show if he suffered a medical emergency. Moses Chappell said he never saw his father drink alcohol, he maintained a healthy lifestyle, and that "day to day," he didn't seem to have any health issues.

Moses Chappell said his father drove taxi cabs, trucks and buses over the years, and loved driving.

"It's been the toughest 48 hours of my life," he said.

A close reading of the board of education rules suggests that Glenn Chappell's assault conviction wouldn't have automatically disqualified him from driving a school bus; the wording appears to give authorities some discretion.

Board of Education spokesman Bill Reinhard said the local school district would have been responsible for making sure Chappell met state requirements, even though he worked for a contractor.

Investigators released little new information Thursday about the crash. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said investigators were examining both buses and requesting maintenance, medical and inspection records.

A bit of video recorded by a camera at a gas station a block from the crash scene that morning has raised new questions about the speed of the school bus. The 11-second clip, shot at 6:30 a.m., around the time of the crash, shows a silver car, similar to the Ford Mustang that Chappell hit, rolling along Frederick Ave. with a faster-moving school bus on its tail.

Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith said Wednesday that the buses were moving "at a pretty good rate of speed" when they collided. A caller to 911 said, "The school bus was going 90."

Investigators have recovered recording equipment from the MTA bus, and were trying to determine if it's in usable condition.

Police Lt. Jarron Jackson said Thursday that investigators have identified the sixth deceased victim, but her name won't be released until her relatives have been notified. Police released the names of the other deceased victims Wednesday.
Haitians crossing illegally into the U.S. via the Mexican border could wind up in an Ohio prison under a federal plan to accommodate them pending immigration hearings.

The Department of Homeland Security is negotiating with the operators of the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center to lease space to house an anticipated influx of Haitian illegal immigrants, according to the Wall Street Journal. Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of DHS, expect thousands from the impoverished island nation to cross across the U.S.s southwestern border from Mexico.

The proposed use of the prison, which is operated by private company CoreCivic, has met opposition in the Buckeye State.

Incarcerating thousands of immigrants in a private prison before deporting them is unjust and allowing a corporation to profit from it is a travesty, said Mike Brickner, senior policy director of the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement.

The ALCU calls negotiations between DHS and CoreCivic -- which was known until recently as Corrections Corporation of America  troubling, considering it was just two months ago that the Department of Justice announced that they would end their use of private prisons after evidence of widespread abuse was found.

The DHSs decision to partner with private prisons sends a horrible message about profiteering at the expense of individuals seeking asylum, Brickner said. During ICE detention, these people have been subject to abuse and mistreatment. Incentivizing private companies to detain people for profit only exacerbates our criminal justice system problems. To allow more people to be incarcerated for a profit in Ohio sends our state in the wrong direction.

DHS is also looking to lease similar spaces at facilities in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.

Officials say they have room to fulfill DHS request.

The facility currently houses inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service, but does have additional available capacity, read a statement provided by CoreCivic to FoxNews.com.

Officials for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return requests for comment.

The surge is due to thousands of Haitian nationals who fled their country after the devastating earthquake in 2010 for South America and have taken the past several years to slowly make their way to the U.S. border. Over 5,000 Haitians have reached the U.S. Southern Border. According to the Journal, when these immigrants present themselves at ports of entry looking for asylum they are then turned over to ICE and are held before any possible deportation.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said back in September that it was widening efforts to deport Haitians, in response to the large influx.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldana testified to Congress at the time that other governments told her on a recent trip to Central America that 40,000 Haitians were on their way and called it an "emergency situation" on California's border. She said the estimate of people on their way contributed to the policy shift, as did changing conditions in Haiti.

The move lifted previous special protections that shielded Haitians from deportation after the earthquake.
A man accused of killing three people at a barbershop outside Cleveland has been found guilty of aggravated murder and other charges and could face the death penalty.

The jury returned its verdict Friday and will now decide whether or not to recommend to the judge that 21-year-old Douglas Shine Jr. be sentenced to death. The jury began deliberating Thursday in Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland.

Authorities say Shine walked into a Warrensville Heights barbershop in February 2015 and gunned down employee Walter Lee Barfield, shop owner William Gonzalez and customer Brandon White. Prosecutors say three other people were wounded in a barrage of gunfire from Shine, who held guns in both hands.

Prosecutors say Shine's primary target was Barfield, a rival gang member.

Shine had pleaded not guilty.
An Iowa man charged in the killings of two police officers was facing intense money problems, had been found by a judge to hit and financially exploit his mother and was ordered to move out of her basement hours before the shootings.

Scott Michael Greene, 46, was arrested Thursday afternoon after detectives questioned him at the Des Moines police station. Greene was secured with the handcuffs that had belonged to the patrolmen who were killed in ambush-style attacks, Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin, and was later booked into the county jail.

Greene was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. A statement from Des Moines police said the investigation has produced probable cause to support the charges.

Police said earlier Thursday that a search dog recovered a high-powered rifle in a wooded area that they believe Greene used to fire on the officers. Greene had been hospitalized for treatment of a pre-existing medical condition following his surrender Wednesday morning. He left the hospital Thursday.

Greene, an unemployed father who lived in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, was behaving erratically and was increasingly desperate for money in recent weeks, court records show.

District Judge Carla Schemmel ruled Tuesday that Greene had committed elder abuse against his 66-year-old mother, Patricia Greene, by "physically hitting and financially exploiting" her. She ordered him to move out of his mother's home, where he had been living in a basement bedroom, before Nov. 6 and to stay away from the home for a year.

Patricia Greene had applied for the restraining order Oct. 19, two days after she was arrested and charged with striking her son in the face during an altercation that he recorded with his cellphone. She wrote in the application that she believed her son "set me up to get me in trouble." Patricia Greene wrote that while she was in jail, Scott Greene told one of her friends that Patricia Greene needed to give him $20,000 and that if his mother paid, "he would move and not bother" her again.

Patricia Greene also wrote that her son had sent an acquaintance "a bunch of rambling, offensive" text messages, warned that he would no longer take care of her cat and was going through her personal belongings. She said her son had subjected her to mental, emotional and financial abuse.

A temporary protective order was issued Oct. 20. Schemmel issued the permanent order during Tuesday's hearing, where it was served on Scott Greene. The order, which warned that any violations would lead to his arrest, also directed Greene to return $10,000 to his mother and to not take any of her assets.

Beminio, 38, and Martin, 24, were shot after 1 a.m. Wednesday while sitting in their patrol cars in separate incidents less than 2 miles apart. Several bullets were fired into the vehicles.

The .223-caliber rifle believed to be used was discovered Wednesday by a police dog apparently hidden in a wooded area "where no person probably could have found it," said Des Moines police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek.

Parizek thanked the community for its outpouring of support and said the officers represent "the security blanket you guys sleep under every night." He said a motive for the shootings remains unclear.

Greene was hired last month to work at Central Iowa Fencing, a construction business in suburban Des Moines, but quit within days, a manager there said Thursday.

Greene "was pretty desperate" for a job and told the company he had a teenage daughter he needed to support, officer manager Sara Nicklin said. He has at least two other children. Court records show he has another daughter who is an adult, and the Iowa National Guard confirmed Thursday that his 26-year-old son is a member.

Greene initially contacted the company looking for work last summer but there were no openings. The company gave Greene a chance after he inquired again last month, even though he had no experience building fences, Nicklin said.

She said Greene was sent home on the morning of his third day of employment "because he was not taking directions and wasn't working."

Nicklin said the company gave Greene the chance to come back the next day on a different crew but "he chose not to show up" and quit instead.

"We wish we never would have contact with this person," she said. "We're all devastated."

Other court records reveal Greene's mounting financial problems.

Last year, a credit union attempted to collect a $5,000 debt from Greene by garnishing wages from one of his former employers and two banks with which he had accounts. But none of them reported having funds. The debt grew beyond $10,000, and there's no indication it was ever paid. An apartment complex filed a $1,300 claim for delinquent lease payments that he hasn't paid.

In August, a court ordered Greene to pay another company a $678 debt charged to a Best Buy credit card
A man has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the shooting death of a fellow churchgoer during Sunday services in a suburban Philadelphia church.

A jury convicted 46-year-old Mark Storms of Lansdale hours after beginning deliberations on Thursday in the April death of Robert Braxton III in North Wales.

Investigators say the 27-year-old Braxton became disruptive and that Storms ordered him to leave, showing him a concealed weapons permit and a handgun. They say Braxton punched Storms and was then shot twice.

About 300 congregants attended the service that day.

Storms' attorney has said the shooting was in self-defense. Prosecutors say Storms chose to approach Braxton and show his gun.

His sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.
A man who shot and paralyzed a St. Louis Cardinals fan after a 2015 game, heightening concerns about the safety of fans leaving the ballpark, was sentenced Friday to 35 years in prison.

Kilwa Jones, 32, pleaded guilty in July to five charges for shooting Army veteran Christopher Sanna and robbing Sanna's girlfriend. The case was heard in federal court because the shooting happened on federal property, near the Old Cathedral. That area is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which also includes the Gateway Arch.

The crime happened after a night game on Sept. 25, 2015, as the couple walked to their car that was parked near the Arch, several blocks from the stadium. Court records show that when Jones confronted the couple, they tried to ignore him and walked away.

Jones shot Sanna in the back, took his girlfriend's purse and rifled through Sanna's pants pockets as he lay on the ground. Surveillance video showed Jones using Sanna's debit card after the robbery.

Jones still faces charges of assault, robbery and armed criminal action related to the crime in St. Louis Circuit Court, and prosecutors have accused him of threatening a witness to stop her from responding to a subpoena and testifying before a grand jury. A hearing to schedule the state trial is set for Dec. 12.

Jones also has pending charges of second-degree domestic assault and unlawful possession of a firearm in St. Louis County.

In 2006, he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and first-degree assault in St. Louis County in two separate cases and received probation, shock time behind bars and house arrest. He later violated his probation and went to prison. He also was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to fraudulent use of a credit card in St. Louis.
Media report a federal jury has found Rolling Stone magazine, its publisher and a reporter defamed a University of Virginia administrator in a discredited story about gang rape at a fraternity house.

Word of the jury decision came Friday afternoon in multiple news outlets.

University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo claimed the 2014 article portrayed her as a villain who discouraged the woman identified only as Jackie from reporting the incident to police. A police investigation found no evidence to back up Jackie's claims.

Rolling Stone's attorneys said there was no evidence that the reporter knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or had serious doubts about whether it was true.

Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday after listening to more than two weeks' worth of evidence.
A member of the New England Mafia has pleaded guilty to charges he lied to authorities investigating the 1993 slaying of a Boston nightclub owner.

Robert DeLuca entered guilty pleas Friday to a single count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Steven DiSarro's remains were discovered earlier this year behind a Providence, Rhode Island, mill owned by a mob associate.

DeLuca told investigators he helped former mob boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme (sah-LEHM'-ee) dispose of DiSarro's body. Salemme and another man have pleaded not guilty in DiSarro's killing.

A plea agreement says DeLuca also intends to plead guilty in state court in Rhode Island to conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of mob enforcer Kevin Hanrahan in 1992.
A police officer in San Antonio has been fired after boasting to his partner that he gave a homeless person a fecal sandwich, according to reports Friday.

Fox 29 San Antonio identified the officer as Matthew Luckhurst.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told the station Luckhurst took two bread slices, put feces between them and put the sandwich in a Styrofoam container.

McManus said Luckhurst told his partner what he did and that the partner told him to retrieve the container which he did, according to the station.

McManus said Luckhursts actions disgusted other officers and the story reached the departments chain of command.

Mayor Ivy Taylor issued a statement on the termination.

Firing this officer was the right thing to do, he said. His actions were a betrayal of every value we have in our community, and he is not representative of our great police force.

Luckhurst told the San Antonio Express-News that his lawyer advised him not to comment. The paper said Luckhurst became a San Antonio cop five years ago.

His lawyer, Ben Sifuentes, told the paper his client joked about giving an excrement sandwich to a homeless person but never actually did so.

It didnt happen, he told the paper.

The paper said investigators tried to track down the intended recipient of the alleged sandwich without success.
A freaked-out squirrel jumped on and bit several people at a Florida senior living complex Thursday, according to reports.

A caller to 911 requesting medical assistance told the dispatcher that several people were left bleeding before the animal was tossed outside, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Its jumping on people and biting them and scratching them so we need help, the woman caller told the dispatcher, according to the paper.

Sheriff deputies told the paper the animal attacked someone outside the Sterling Court Apartments activity room in Deltona in the middle of the afternoon Thursday, the paper reported.

The squirrel latched on to that person who then ran inside. There the animal attacked others.

WKMG-TV Orlando obtained the 911 call.

I dont know if we need an ambulance, but we need some care for people here, the caller is heard saying.

At one point the caller tells the dispatcher the squirrel bit at least 3 or 4 people and was then tossed outside.

The manager at the senior center did not want to comment, the station reported.
The U.S. military has ended its bombing campaign against ISIS in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte after three months of round-the-clock airstrikes beginning on Aug. 1, multiple U.S. defense officials tell Fox News. When the strikes were first announced, the Pentagon said they would last for weeks.

Multiple officials said ISIS has been decimated inside Sirte, another reason to pause the strikes, as one official put it, while consultations with the Libyan government take place. The officials did not rule out strikes in the future.

The reality is there are fewer targets to hit right now without risk of civilian casualties, said a senior defense official.

The U.S. military conducted a total of 367 airstrikes since August 1, according to the last press release issued by the U.S. Africa Command, tasked with running the air campaign. No American airstrikes have taken place since Oct. 31 when the current authorization expired, according to officials.

President Obama approved two month-long extensions to the bombing campaign, but has not reauthorized strikes for this month yet, according to one official.

New orders were issued from U.S. Africa Command to units on Nov. 1 which ends offensive and collective self-defense strikes, against ISIS in Sirte, located halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi.

NEARLY 100 REFUGEES FEARED DEAD IN RICKETY BOAT OFF LIBYA



A U.S. official with knowledge of the order says only President Obama can authorize additional strikes in Libya, which the U.S. military says it reserves the right to do going forward against targets of interest.

The U.S. military has conducted the ISIS bombing campaign unilaterally, but at the request of the UN-backed Libyan government known as the GNA, or Government of National Accord.

Beginning in August, USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, conducted flight operations using Marine Harrier jets and Cobra attack helicopters. But a majority of the strikes were carried out by drones from bases in the region.

But Wasp departed the area recently and was replaced by USS San Antonio, which does not have the capability to launch Harrier jets. USS Carney, Wasps escort ship, had been firing illumination rounds over Sirte as part of the effort to disrupt ISIS movements in the city. Carney has since sailed to the Black Sea and returned to the Mediterranean, but is no longer taking part in the Libya operation.

POLITICAL ACTIVIST KILLED IN CAR EXPLOSION IN EASTERN LIBYA



A senior defense official said the U.S. military would continue to provide military support to the GNAISIL-held territory in Sirte is down to a few hundred square meters. We'll continue to discuss with the GNA leadership what additional support they may need moving forward including air strikes.

The Pentagon has acknowledged in the past that U.S. special operations forces have been going in and out of Libya to support the GNA.

Before the air campaign against ISIS kicked off in early August, the U.S. military had conducted two separate airstrikes in Libya since November 2015.

In March 2011, the U.S. took part in an international military coalition to destroy government forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi and implement a no-fly zone to protect anti-Qaddafi forces and civilians near Benghazi.

The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes in seven countries in 2016.

In April, President Obama told Fox Newss Chris Wallace the biggest mistake of his presidency was probably failing to plan for the day after, what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya.
A Walmart employee was shot multiple times inside the Pennsylvania store Thursday evening.

The suspect has been taken into custody.

WPXI reported that the victim was flown to a hospital in Youngstown, Ohio and is expected to survive.

Officials say the suspect was taken into custody in the store parking lot.

The building was evacuated with no other injuries reported.

It is unclear what lead to the shooting. No other information was immediately available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click here for more from WPXI.
A community is pleading for answers after a University of Wisconsin-Stout student died after he was injured in a weekend assault.

Menomonie police offered a $20,000 reward Thursday for any information in the murder of Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, according to the New York Times. The 24-year-old was attacked at around 2 a.m. Sunday outside a pizza place near the campus. He died at an Eau Claire hospital Monday.

Police were called to the scene and found an unconscious man bleeding from his mouth and nose. Witnesses told police that the victim had been assaulted by a white man who seemed to be about 6 feet tall. The man apparently fled the scene before police arrived.

Alnahdi was from Buraydah, Saudi Arabia and a junior majoring in business administration, Chancellor Bob Meyer said in a letter.

Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to Hussains family in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and his friends at UW-Stout, Meyer said. I want to make a personal appeal to anyone on campus or in the community who might have information that would help authorities locate the individual involved in the attack to come forward.

His first year at UW-Stout was in 2015, according to Fox 6 Now. Meyer also pleaded with the community to come through with information in the mans death.

The killing had left the small college community shaken and in fear the attack may have been racially motivated. About 9,600 students attend UW-Stout, about 142 of them from Saudi Arabia, according to the Times.

There is more fear, especially because we dont know who the assailant is, Michael Lee, an international student adviser, told the paper. It was an extremely rare, almost-unheard-of event.

Assistant English and philosophy professor Genesea M. Carter told The Washington Post that she was worried for her Saudi students safety.

Police havent identified a suspect or released motive in the fatal beating. Theyre treating it as a homicide.

Overall, the city has raised $20,000 to be used as a reward to bring the culprit to justice. Meyer and Menomonie Police Chief Eric Atkinson raised $15,000. The Council of American-Islamic Relations contributed $5,000.

Click for more from the New York Times.
On the Western side of Mosul, far from the medias attention, lies a forgotten front crucial to choking off ISIS' lifeline to Syria.

Fox News recently made the eight hour trip west from Mosul to the front outside the devastated city of Sinjar and found a small outpost where a handful of men hold off near-daily attacks from ISIS fighters.

One soldier manning the post was David Shumock, a 62-year-old Floridian and former U.S. Air Foreces pararescueman. The American fights side-by-side with the Kurdish Peshmerga, and serves as medic and trainer to his comrades, as well.

ALLIES WATCH AS ISIS EXODUS HEADS FOR RAQQA

Shumock has called the dusty, makeshift, camp surrounded on three sides by ISIS, for a year. When he and his fellow fighters arrived, ISIS had only just been ousted from Sinjar city. Their first effort was to rebuild the forward base by hand  fixing roofs, and ringing it with lookouts posts.

From this base, the men, part of the Kurdish quick reaction force, support a 500-mile long line, responding to attacks wherever and whenever they come. Often, its their base under attack from artillery.

The line they oversee straddles the ISIS corridor to Syria, and is a key supply route to reinforce Mosul with both men and equipment. Yet even as the long-awaited move to retake Mosul is underway, the western front has been largely unguarded by the coalition of Iraqi army, Kurdish forces, Shia militia and U.S. advisersworking together against ISIS.

Conventional military wisdom says you encircle your enemy and defeat him," Shumock said. "For some reason, theyve left the western side of Mosul all the way to Syria open, and, as the general told you, we see 500 vehicles moving every day, resupplying Mosul and Tal Afar. And theres nothing we can do.

As he watches these convoys, Shumock explained how theyre prohibited from attacking unless they are certain no civilians are in the line of fire.

It's not just the rules of engagement handcuffing Shumock and his fellow fighters. They are sorely lacking in support, he said.



In the year Ive been here, weve never seen a U.S. officer, or received any support from them, he said.

Theyre so undersupplied theyve had to raise money in the U.S. just to buy night vision goggles so they can see what theyre shooting at during nightly raids.

Shumock came to Iraq after losing his only daughter in a car crash, and seeing videos of ISIS murdering women and children. He said he wanted to put his military skills into service of a righteous cause.

Near the base lies a grim reminder of the brutality of ISIS: The mass graves of thousands of Yazidi villagers who were killed as their ancestral home was overrun.

Shumock himself has found some of the mass graves while on patrol. Once, he followed a trail of bone fragments to a place where the skulls and bones of countless souls were piled up.
Hundreds of residents of the predominantly Bosnian Croat town of Orasje protested Friday against the arrest of former members of Bosnian Croat armed forces for alleged war crimes against Bosnian Serbs in 1992.

The protests in a town square were initiated by Bosnian Croat veterans who claimed the suspects had only defended the town from Serb attacks.

The arrest of 10 former Bosnian Croat soldiers Monday in Orasje, near the border to Croatia, prompted a wave of condemnations from Croatian leaders.

All 10 suspects have both Bosnian and Croatian citizenship.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he rejected any characterization of the alleged crimes as a joint criminal enterprise involving Croatia. Bosnia's prosecution office said Friday it had never said it treated the case as a joint criminal enterprise, but that the 10 were suspected of individual and command responsibility for war crimes.

Croatia supported Bosnian Croats during Bosnia's 1992-95 war and is concerned whether "command responsibility" could mean Croatia was accused of involvement in the alleged crimes.

Croatia's president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, condemned the arrests and Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier said Croatia had informed NATO allies as well as the EU about the arrests.

Among those arrested was Djuro Matuzovic, a Bosnian Croat general. His lawyer, Almin Dautbegovic, told the AP on Friday his client was himself under the command of the Croatian Army at the time of the alleged the crimes.

At the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Bosnia had agreed with Croatia that the Croatian Army could enter Bosnia and help local troops fight the Serbs.

"Therefore Croatia legally entered Bosnia at the time and commanded over the troops in Orasje," Dautbegovic said. Thanks to this cooperation between the two countries the Orasje area was never occupied by the Serbs, he said.

Matuzovic had no effective control over troops and had no authority to either "issue orders, prevent crimes or punish anyone for them," his lawyer said.

"If any (crimes) were committed at all, they were certainly " done by individuals, he added.

Zlatko Matuzovic, the genera's son, said "we never thought for a moment that my father did something bad, and dishonest."

"Everyone in this region knows that my father is an honest and honorable person," the son said.
A South Sudanese rebel spokesman has been deported to South Sudan over a Facebook posting, a Kenyan official said Friday, while colleagues feared for his life and human rights workers and a relative said he was a registered refugee with a U.S. green card.

Human rights groups immediately condemned Kenya's deportation of James Gatdet Dak, calling it a breach of international law.

"He became an inadmissible person, so we cancelled his visa and he was taken to his country of origin," Kenyan government spokesman Eric Kiraithe told The Associated Press. A police official said Gatdet was deported Thursday evening. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give the information.

Rebel leader Riek Machar pleaded with Kenya's deputy president not to deport Gatdet "due to profound fear for his life," Machar said in a statement. He said he told Kenyan officials that Gatdet was a refugee, and said the U.N. refugee agency "made serious efforts" to reverse Kenya's decision. He did not give details.

Fighting continues in South Sudan amid ethnic tensions, despite a fragile peace deal to end civil war.

The deportation came during a bitter dispute between Kenya and the United Nations over the U.N. secretary-general's firing of the Kenyan commander of the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The U.N. forces were accused of responding poorly to attacks on civilians in July.

The Facebook posting by Gatdet, a spokesman for Machar, supported the Kenyan commander's firing.

Kenya has responded angrily to the firing, noting that Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki had been on the job for just three weeks when the July attacks occurred. Kenya has announced it is pulling its 1,000 peacekeepers from South Sudan and withdrawing from its peace process, in which it has played a key role.

Human rights workers said the deportation of Gatdet was going too far, saying Kenya violated international law by deporting a registered refugee. Documents seen by the AP indicate that Gatdet was registered in Kenya as a refugee in August 2015.

"On top of this, he is now at risk of arbitrary detention and torture in the hands of South Sudanese government authorities," Elizabeth Deng, a South Sudan researcher at Amnesty International, told the AP.

"In colluding with South Sudan and deporting James Gatdet Dak, Kenya has exposed him to a serious risk of persecution," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Kenya is steadily shredding any pretense of respect for its fundamental refugee protection obligations."

According to a family member of Gatdet who insisted on anonymity because they feared retribution from Kenya's government, he was arrested by South Sudanese national security officials when he landed in the capital, Juba.

"They tried to forcefully take (Gatdet) to the plane, and he struggled and refused to go, and the pilot refused to take him," the family member said of his departure from Kenya. "I am very much concerned. In the first place, I don't see a reason why he should be deported. He should have been taken to a different country."

Gatdet has a United States green card, the family member said.

In Geneva, U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly said she was checking into what efforts the agency had made in Gatdet's case: "We are still trying to clarify a number of circumstances around this deportation."

She added: "The key element is that this person needs to have his rights protected and his well-being ensured by the government."

Gatdet might have dual nationality, Pouilly said, without giving details.

South Sudan, the world's youngest country, has been riven by ethnic violence since shortly after gaining its independence from Sudan in 2011. Civil war broke out in 2013 when government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battled rebels led by his former vice president, Machar. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million displaced.

In three days of fighting in South Sudan's capital in July, at least 73 people were killed, including more than 20 internally displaced people who had sought U.N. protection, said a U.N. report released Tuesday. The report said "a lack of leadership on the part of key senior mission personnel culminated in a chaotic and ineffective response to the violence." The firing of the Kenyan commander was announced shortly afterward.

____

Lynch reported from Juba, South Sudan. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.
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The Latest on an explosion and detentions in Kurdish areas of Turkey (all times local):

4:00 p.m.

Turkish police have clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in four cities in protest of the detentions of pro-Kurdish lawmakers.

Riot police on Friday used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya.

The state-run Anadolu agency and other news reports said 10 people were detained in Ankara, five in Antalya and seven others were rounded up in Istanbul's Esenyurt and Kadikoy districts.

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2:50 p.m.

The European Union said Friday that the detention of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians combined with the lifting of parliamentary immunity of over 130 legislators in May "compromise parliamentary democracy in Turkey."

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini also said in a statement that the moves "exacerbate the already very tense situation" in southeastern Turkey.

In a joint statement with Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, they said that EU "is gravely concerned" about the detentions.

Over the past months, the relations between the EU and Turkey, still a candidate for membership, have steadily worsened as events in the southeastern neighbor have opened it to increasing criticism that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has overstepped the boundaries of democracy.

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2:50 p.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says a court has ordered a pro-Kurdish legislator formally arrested pending a trial.

The Anadolu Agency says a court in the southeastern city of Bingol ruled in the case of Idris Baluken, a senior lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party or HDP.

Baluken was among 12 HDP lawmakers detained for questioning early on Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations. One of them was released from custody on condition that he regularly report to authorities.

Authorities said the lawmakers were detained for ignoring orders to appear in court to testify in the probes.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has fought an armed insurgency against the state for over three decades. The HDP rejects the accusation.

___

1:55 p.m.

The German Foreign Ministry says a Turkish government representative in Berlin has been summoned for talks following the arrest of a dozen pro-Kurdish politicians.

Ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said Friday that Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier sees the arrests as a "drastic intensification of the situation" in Turkey.

She says nobody disputes Turkey's right to counter the threat of terrorism and deal with the aftermath of a bloody coup attempt, but it "should not serve as a justification for silencing the political opposition."

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert says the German government is "talking with our Turkish partners at all levels" about the issue.

___

1:50 p.m.

A pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, legislator has condemned the detentions of 12 of his party colleagues, including both co-chairs, saying the operation is aimed at sidelining the HDP and creating an authoritarian Turkey.

Adem Geveri described the detentions as a "political genocide operation," telling The Associated Press that they "officially put an end to the functioning of Parliament in an anti-democratic and unlawful way."

Twelve HDP parliamentarians were detained on Friday for not testifying in court on terrorism-related charges, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

"Now with the HDP removed from the political equation, they will go to an early election and establish an authoritarian Turkey without the HDP, without any democratic opposition," Geveri added.

___

1:30 p.m.

Several parties in the European Union legislature have strongly condemned the detention of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians by Turkish authorities over their refusal to testify in ongoing terror-related investigations.

Adding to the groundswell of protest over the actions, the S&D socialists, the second-biggest group in the EU parliament called it "very bad news from (hashtag)Turkey. Again," in a Twitter message.

Helga Truepel of the Greens group said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is turning the nation "into despotism" and called on the EU to react strongly.

Earlier Friday, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini already called on EU ambassadors to meet in Ankara and assess the way ahead.

___

1:20 p.m.

The TurkeyBlocks monitoring network is reporting that access to various social media and messaging apps have been restricted as of 1:20 a.m. Friday, coinciding with the detentions of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians.

Users nationwide have been complaining about restricted access to various social media and messaging, including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype.

TurkeyBlocks confirmed the restricted access, saying its monitoring probes have identified "throttling at the ISP level as the source of the slowdowns, with the majority of internet users affected at the time of measurement."

Rights activists say restricting access to the internet is aimed at preventing calls for demonstrations.

Last week, internet access was periodically blocked in the southeast following the arrest of the co-mayors of the largest predominantly Kurdish city, Diyarbakir.

___

12:50 p.m.

The European Union's foreign policy chief has expressed concern over the detention of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians by Turkish authorities over their refusal to testify in ongoing terror-related investigations.

Friday's overnight detentions included People's Democratic Party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

EU commissioner for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini wrote on Twitter: "Extremely worried for arrest of Demirtas & other HDP MPs. In contact w/ authorities Called EU ambassadors meeting in Ankara."

Mogherini had also criticized last month the detention of the co-mayors of Turkey's largest predominantly Kurdish city, Diyarbakir, issuing a statement calling on Turkey to resume Kurdish peace efforts saying "a political solution is the only viable option."

___

12:35 p.m.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says a car bomb attack in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir has killed eight people.

Yildirim said up to 100 people were hurt in Friday's blast but only seven of them remain in hospital.

The prime minister said those killed were two police officers, a technician and five civilians.

The prime minister also said one of the assailants was "caught dead" but did not provide details.

___

11:55 a.m.

A large explosion, caused by a car bomb, hit the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said both police and civilians were killed in the attack but did not say how many. The state-run Anadolu Agency said one person was killed and some 30 others were wounded.

The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district, near a building used by the riot police. The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack.

Anadolu said the attack was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.
It s being called the heaviest fighting since the clash with ISIS in and around Mosul began nearly three weeks ago. Even the small taste of it that we got today showed how dangerous it is.

Held up by Iraqi military a few miles away from the Mosul city limits, we watched as ambulance after ambulance rushed the wounded from the battlefield. We heard artillery blasts, watched helicopters overhead and saw a pall of black smoke build over the city hit by terrorist car bombs, rockets and small arms fire.

It is a rough fight, Gen. Sabah Noman, spokesman for the Iraqi Special Forces, the lead unit in the fight, told me.  It is tough because it is in the streetsbecause we are in the neighborhoods.

In fact, Gen. Noman claimed his troops had already secured a quarter of the eastern side of Mosul. That would be a great feat, considering they only crossed into the city Tuesday night.

We also saw a growing presence of American soldiers near this deadly fight. In just two days, we observed six different vehicles with U.S. troops on board, including heavily armored MRAPs. Reuters reported the U.S. had opened a base near the Iraqi town of Bartella.

In an email response to Fox News, U.S. Army Maj. Mike Burns told us they dont discuss locations or dispositions of coalition units. He went on to say, however, they position themselves on the battlefield in the best position to support our partner forces.

A 34-year-old Iraqi Special Force soldier named Mohammed showed me how he knows ISIS is out there and how he stays safe. He pointed out two massive bullet hits against the side window of his battered, but armored ex-U.S. Humvee.

He said he was targeted by an ISIS sniper two days ago.

The glass repelled the bullets and, as Mohammed noted with a smile, I made it through.

It remains to be seen how his colleagues do.
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Several dozen demonstrators have rallied outside the British Embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat response to a protest in London against Russia's action in Syria.

About two dozen protesters gathered outside the Russian Embassy in London on Thursday and threw hundreds of mannequin limbs in front of the building to protest Russia's airstrikes in support of the Syrian government's siege of the city of Aleppo. Russia's Foreign Ministry angrily criticized British authorities for allowing the rally.

On Friday, several dozen people mimicked the British protest by throwing mannequin limbs at the British Embassy in Moscow. Russian state television extensively covered the protest.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces are waging an offensive on the rebel-controlled eastern part of Aleppo under the cover of Russian warplanes.
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Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi says her government will not blame anyone for recent violence involving minority Rohingya Muslims until authorities have all the evidence.

Her comment Friday comes amid growing international concern over a surge in violence by security forces in Rakhine state since Oct. 9.

Suu Kyi acknowledged attacks on police outposts, where one policeman was killed, while some Muslims were also attacked.

She said the Rakhine situation is delicate and that Myanmar's government has been "very careful not to blame anybody in particular unless we have complete evidence as to who has been responsible for what."

Suu Kyi, Myanmar's state counsellor and foreign minister, is in Japan on a five-day visit.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May sought Friday to reassure European Union leaders that her timetable for Britain to leave the EU remains intact despite a court ruling requiring British lawmakers to have more of a say in the process.

She telephoned Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's top official, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to say her plan is still to start the process to remove Britain from the EU by the end of March. Officials say she will also call French President Francois Hollande and European Council President Donald Tusk.

In Berlin, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said the court ruling should not interfere with the government's Brexit timetable. He described Britain's planned EU exit as a "huge opportunity" and said "with the right spirit, I believe we can turn these negotiations into a win-win discussion."

But May's hopes of a "business as usual" approach suffered an unexpected blow with the abrupt resignation of a pro-Brexit Conservative Party legislator who had complained about the government's plan to implement Brexit without involving Parliament. A by-election will be held, and the resignation reduces May's already slender Conservative majority in the House of Commons.

Her round of calls to senior European figures came a day after a High Court ruling that the British government needs Parliament's approval before invoking Article 50 of the EU treaty, which formally begins a two-year countdown to Britain's exit from the 28-nation bloc. The decision by the three-judge court has the potential to delay that process.

The government is appealing the ruling at the Supreme Court, with a hearing expected next month. If the country's highest court rules against the government, Parliament will become directly involved in discussions over how the Brexit process begins.

A number of lawmakers from opposition parties want assurances from the government that it won't be seeking a so-called "hard Brexit" that will see Britain leave the European single market of more than 500 million people.

The court decision Thursday has stoked speculation that May will look to call an early general election next spring, where Conservative Party is predicted to win an overwhelming majority, according to opinion polls.

Party unity suffered a blow with the resignation of lawmaker Stephen Phillips, who said he was leaving office because of differences with May's approach. In the past, he complained that it was "tyranny" for the government to move forward on Brexit without giving Parliament a say.

"It has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me," said Phillips, who represents Sleaford and North Hykeham, 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London.

Another Conservative legislator, Zac Goldsmith, resigned last week in disagreement with the government's support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

In the German capital, Johnson sought to calm fears about the U.K. court ruling while his German counterpart called for Brexit negotiations to start "as soon as possible."

"This is one stage in a legal process, that the government is going to appeal that ruling, and I think that it's very important to recognize that the British people voted to leave the European Union," Johnson said after meeting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"And that is what we are going to get on and do, and ... no, I don't think it will interfere with the timetable for that process."

Steinmeier said "we should create the conditions as soon as possible for the negotiations to begin."

"A stalemate won't do either side any good," he added.

Several pro-Brexit newspapers reacted with anger to the court decision.

The Daily Mail tabloid's front page characterized the three High Court judges as "Enemies of the People." Its editorial complained they were willing to frustrate the wishes of the more than 17 million people who voted in favor of leaving the EU.

The Daily Telegraph headlined its front page: "The judges versus the people," and carried a front-page column by U.K. Independence Party interim leader Nigel Farage saying the court ruling means that "a great betrayal is underway."
RE/MAX, LLC Agrees to Purchase RE/MAX New Jersey Master Franchise

NJ Latest in Franchisors Acquisition of Independent Regions

November 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // DENVER - RE/MAX, LLC, the global real estate franchisor headquartered in Denver, CO, has signed an agreement to purchase the Master Franchise for the state of New Jersey from RE/MAX of New Jersey, Inc. The announcement comes less than six months after RE/MAX, LLC purchased the Master Franchise rights for Alaska and eight months after the company reacquired RE/MAX New York.

Joe Ventresca and Jeff Snyder established RE/MAX of New Jersey in 1985 and have built the region into a powerhouse with over 160 offices and nearly 3,000 Associates.

Im grateful for Joe and Jeffs contributions in building the brand and making RE/MAX the preeminent real estate franchise in New Jersey, said Dave Liniger, CEO, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of RE/MAX, LLC. Were excited to continue growing these offices with our Broker/Owners by recruiting the most experienced agents in the business, making RE/MAX the No. 1 choice for buyers and sellers in the state.

RE/MAX of New Jersey agents represent approximately 6% of Realtors in the state and they were No. 1 statewide in transaction sides in 2015.

The acquisition of the Region is expected to close before the end of the year. Following the purchase, 14 RE/MAX regions in the U.S. will be company-owned.

Elena Dean, who leads Regional Development for Pennsylvania and Delaware, will become Region Vice President of New Jersey as well. She has worked in RE/MAX Regional Development since 2006.

RE/MAX has a worldwide network of over 110,000 agents in over 100 countries and territories, a global footprint larger than any of its competitors.

About the RE/MAX Network

RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. Over 110,000 agents provide RE/MAX a global reach of over 100 countries and territories. Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX when measured by residential transaction sides.

RE/MAX, LLC, one of the worlds leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RMCO, LLC, which is controlled and managed by RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RMAX).

With a passion for the communities in which its agents live and work, RE/MAX is proud to have raised more than $150 million for Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities.

For more information about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit www.remax.com/newsroom.

SOURCE the RE/MAX Network

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1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
The next time King George County residents hear what theyve described as excessively loud noises from nearby dirt bike riders, members of the Board of Supervisors want them to reach for the phone.

All you gotta do is pick up the phone and call us, any of us, when that noise gets unbearable, Supervisor Jim Howard said Tuesday night. I think everyone should get to enjoy their home and the use of their home, and if you cant enjoy your home on a Saturday or a Sunday, then somethings wrong.

For the second time in two weeks, residents of Cleydael subdivision off Dahlgren Road complained that there is, indeed, something wrong in the neighborhood. Their property abuts 256 acres owned by Cleydael Limited Partnership thats being used by Southern Maryland Dirt Riders.

Complaints that the riders were disturbing the quiet countryside first surfaced in mid-March, and club members said they made some changes to mitigate noise. All seemed peaceful for several months until mid-October, when the roar of motorbikes once again filled the air. Residents returned to the Board of Supervisors board room to complain about the noisethe most excessive I have ever heard, resident Harry Devault saidand to ask the board to do something about it.

Supervisors agreed with the landowners concerns. Supervisor John Jenkins Jr. said it was certainly a struggle between the rights of landowners to open up their property for various uses and those who want to enjoy a peaceful environment.

Along with Howard and Supervisor Richard Granger, Jenkins told the residents to call any of them the next time the noise gets out of hand.

Supervisor Cedell Brooks Jr. didnt go that far, but he, too, said he respected their concerns. I think this board will do what it can to rectify the situation.
Cladding Systems Market worth 242.84 Billion USD by 2021, at an CAGR of 6.95%

The market for cladding systems is growing due to increasing infrastructure and construction activities. Rising per capita income of the middle class has increased its purchasing power, which has resulted in an increase in the number of new constructions.

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The report "Cladding Systems Market by Material (Wood, Brick & Stone, Vinyl, Stucco & EIFS, Metal, Fiber Cement), Component (Walls, Roofs, Windows & Doors), Function (Insulation, Air & Vapor Control, Precipitation Control), by Application - Forecast to 2021", The market for cladding systems is projected to grow from USD 173.51 Billion in 2016 to USD 242.84 Billion by 2021, at an estimated CAGR of 6.95%. This growth is due to the growing construction activities, globally. Government regulations regarding zero energy building codes also provides an opportunity to the market to grow further, especially in the emerging Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions.

Browse 153 market data Tables and 59 Figures spread through 197 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Cladding Systems Market"

Download Free PDF Brochure: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=148899031

Non-residential sector is projected to gain maximum traction during the forecast period

The non-residential sector is projected to be the fastest-growing segment from 2016 to 2021. The non-residential sector comprises industrial, commercial, and other applications. New construction and remodeling is expected to increase the demand for cladding systems.

The vinyl segment contributes maximum market share to the cladding systems market

Vinyl accounted for the largest market share in 2015. This is because of its low cost and easy installation techniques. Vinyl siding is the most preferred siding for residential buildings. Vinyl siding is durable and can last for up to 30 to 40 years. Also, growing construction projects, both residential and commercial, have driven the market in this segment. Other cladding materials include stone & brick, wood, stucco & EIFS, metal, and fiber cement.

Asia-Pacific to play a key role in the growth of the market for cladding systems

On the basis of key regions, the market for cladding systems is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). The Asia-Pacific region is the most attractive market for cladding systems. Rising economy and rapid growth in the infrastructure sector in this region have significantly impacted the growth of the cladding systems market. This region is projected to witness the highest number of new constructions and infrastructural activities in the near future.

The global market for cladding systems is dominated by large players such as:

o Tata Steel Limited (India)

o Alcoa Inc. (U.S.)

o Etex Group (Belgium)

o James Hardie Industries PLC (Ireland)

o Compagnie de Saint Gobain SA (France)

o Boral Limited (Australia)

o Axiall Corporation (U.S.)

o CSR Limited (Australia)

o Nichiha Corporation (Japan)

o Cembrit Holding A/S (Denmark)

The research methodology used to estimate and forecast the market size included the top-down and bottom-up approach. The total size of the cladding systems market was calculated, and accordingly, a percentage was allotted to different sectors in each of the segments. This allotment and calculation was done on the basis of extensive primary interviews and secondary research. Primary research involved in this report includes extensive interviews with key people such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market was split into several segments and subsegments. These data triangulation and market breakdown procedures were employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and sub segments.

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With the given market data, MarketsandMarkets offers customizations according to the client-specific scientific needs.

o Cladding systems market, by other RoW countries

o Cladding systems market, sub-application by country

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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.

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North America is Estimated to Hold the Largest Share of the Encryption Software Market in 2016

The North American region, followed by Europe, is expected to become the largest revenue generating region for encryption software solution vendors in 2016.

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According to report "Encryption Software Market by Application (Disk Encryption, File/Folder Encryption, Database Encryption, Communication Encryption, Cloud Encryption), Service, Deployment Type, User Type, Industry Vertical, Region - Global Forecast to 2021", The encryption software market size is estimated to grow from USD 3.05 Billion in 2016 to USD 8.94 Billion by 2021, at an estimated CAGR of 24.0%.

Browse 57 market data tables and 51 figures spread through 157 pages and in-depth TOC on "Encryption Software Market"

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The encryption software solutions safeguard business information from unauthorized access and theft from inside and outside of the organization. Moreover, increasing frequency of cyber-attacks on enterprises across various industry verticals is expected to drive market growth over the forecast period.

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Need to safeguard critical data against unauthorized access is driving the encryption software market

The major forces driving the encryption software market are increasing need to safeguard critical organizational data against unauthorized access, compliance to cybersecurity regulations and guidelines, and increasing dynamicity of the business environment. Globalization of business has given rise to new and sophisticated threats putting critical data at risk. Moreover, with the increasing implementation of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend to boost employee efficiency has further escalated the issues pertaining to data theft and loss. This has led businesses to stringently follow regulations and compliances during the deployment of cyber security solutions to safeguard their business critical information against possible abuse.

Cloud encryption segment to play a significant role in the encryption software market

Disk encryption is expected to have the largest market share and dominate the encryption software market from 2016 to 2021, due to the growing demand for hardware-based encryption to ensure data security at the source. Cloud encryption is expected to play a key role in changing the encryption software landscape and is projected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period owing to the increasing adoption of cloud-based encryption and solutions across SMEs and large enterprises.

Telecom vertical is expected to grow the fastest in the encryption software market

BFSI vertical is expected to contribute largest market share in encryption software market, as the sector holds critical financial information, which are considered as the prime target for cyber criminals. Telecom and healthcare sectors are expected to grow with the highest CAGRs from 2016 to 2021, in the encryption software market, due to the increase in the amount of personal and health-related data being stored on cell phones, wearables, and the internet.

North America expected to contribute the largest market share, whereas APAC is expected to grow the fastest

North America is expected to have the largest market share and dominate the encryption software market from 2016 to 2021, due to the presence of large number of encryption software vendors across the region. APAC offers extensive growth avenues in the encryption software market, owing to a wide-spread presence of SMEs that are implementing enhanced encryption software solutions to prevent unauthorized access to critical business data and unethical use of such information.

The major vendors in the encryption software market include Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Sophos Ltd. (U.S.), CheckPoint Software Technologies Ltd. (Israel)., Trend Micro Inc. (Japan), Symantec Corporation (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), SAS Institute Inc. (U.S.), Intel Security Group (McAfee) (U.S.), EMC Corporation (U.S.), and WinMagic Inc. (Canada), and others. Other noticeable vendors include Gemalto NV (France), and PKWARE, Inc. (U.S.).

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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.

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Contact Info:

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Organization: MarketsandMarkets



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/north-america-is-estimated-to-hold-the-largest-share-of-the-encryption-software-market-in-2016/143289

Release ID: 143289

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Men's Lifestyle Spa Services & Products store Celebrates 20th year Anniversary

Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle is celebrating its 20 year anniversary and reveals some of its big wins and challenges it faced getting this far. More information on this Men's Health and Beauty business can be found at http://www.malebeautyforum.com/

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Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle : is celebrating a milestone 20 years Anniversary, which commemorates 20 transformational years in business. This is a huge milestone for the 10 Huntley Street ,Toronto, Ontario based Men's Lifestyle Spa Services and Products business, which has provided Men's Lifestyle Spa services and products to Men's Body Hair Grooming needs since 1996.

Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle got it's start in 1997 when founder Claude Edwin Theriault saw an opportunity in the Men's Health and Beauty niche.

One of the earliest challenges Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle faced was finding an effective way of getting relevant content in front of the right target audience.

While every business of course faces challenges, some, like Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle are fortunate enough to enjoy real successes, wins and victories too. Once such victory came by locking into this sub niche; and meeting with male clients very interested in getting plain and simple solutions to their excess body hair grooming needs.

Claude Edwin Theriault, Owner at Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle was also quoted when discussing another big win. "One of the high points of Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle's history so far was using social media platforms like Youtube,Google+, LinkedIn,Twitter and of course Instagram to get multiple indented listings on the first page of google ."

Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle's Founder, Claude Edwin Theriault expresses gratitude and "Great delighted to be celebrating this 20 Year Anniversary of operation in Toronto. Since the secret to getting this far in business today is by simply providing cost effective solutions to Men's Health and Beauty needs, in a clear and professional manner."....It's that simple.

Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle currently consists of One employee and has big plans for the upcoming year. One of the core objectives is to continue promoting relevant Affluent Men's Lifestyle products on the Amazon and Shopify e-commerce platform.

Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle would also like to thank friends, customers and all its business partners for their well wishes on this happy occasion.

More information on the business can be found at http://www.malebeautyforum.com/

For more information, please visit http://www.malebeautyforum.com

Contact Info:

Name: Claude Edwin Theriault

Organization: Male Beauty Forum Lifestyle

Address: Suite 1904 10 Huntley Street



Release ID: 142639

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Home Inspections Calgary Co. Begin Inspections Celebrates Its Eighth Anniversary

Begin Inspections Ltd. is celebrating its Eight year anniversary as a Calgary home inspections business and reveals some of their successes and challenges overcome in order to become one of Calgary's best home inspection companies. Contact Begin Inspections Ltd. begininspections@telus.net

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Home Inspections Calgary company Begin Inspections Ltd. celebrates their eighth Anniversary, which commemorates a number of challenging and rewarding years in business. This is a huge milestone for the Calgary Alberta-based Home Inspections company, which has provided home and property inspections to home owners and home buyers since 2008.

Begin Inspections Ltd. got it's start eight years ago when founder Dennis Begin realized that with his knowledge of home construction and renovations, he could capitalise on the need for more qualified experienced home inspectors in Calgary. Inspectors who had the knowledge and ability to teach their customers the best ways of maintaining and keeping their homes in the best possible condition while providing a comprehensive property inspection using the most up to date and non invasive inspection methods available..

One of the earliest challenges Begin Inspections Ltd. faced was completing all the necessary interNACHI and related courses such as infrared thermography and ozone shock treatment as well as air quality control and mould inspection in order to become a certified master home inspector..

While every business of course faces challenges, some, like Begin Inspections Ltd. are fortunate enough to enjoy real successes, wins and victories too. One such victory came when Begin Inspections was recognised as a master interNACHI certified inspection company and received endorsements and referrals from some of the top realtors in Calgary..

Dennis Begin, owner and sole proprietor of Begin Inspections Ltd. was also quoted when discussing another milestone. "One of the biggest accomplishments of my company was having a very good website created and ranking on the first page of Google for my Calgary home inspection business as well as a Youtube channel and a number of home inspection videos created, uploaded and ranking for various competitive keywords in the search engines. I have a great relationship with an SEO company in Calgary that has done a lot of work in social media and internet marketing for my business and has led to new leads and customers that I would have not had the opportunity to reach using Craigslist or the outdated and expensive newspaper advertising platforms. Localmobileze is a video marketing and SEO company in Calgary that has been very beneficial for my business over the past few years. They have also set up a Pay per Call Adwords account where I only pay Google when some one actually calls my business. This has led to many new leads and customers for my home inspection business.."

Begin Inspections Ltd.'s Founder, Dennis Begin says "We're delighted to be celebrating our Eight Year Anniversary. I believe the secret to getting this far in business today is having a very good relationship with a number of top realtors, having a very good presence online and being able to network with as many of the people in the home construction and home renovation niche as possible.".

Begin Inspections Ltd. currently services Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane and surrounding area and has big plans for the upcoming year. One of their core objectives is to help as many people as possible understand how important a certified interNACHI home inspection is whether they are purchasing or selling property. and to continue to provide the best home inspections to home owners and home buyers concentrating on pre-listing and pre-purchase inspections in Calgary..

Begin Inspections Ltd. would also like to thank friends, customers and all its associates for their well wishes on this milestone.

More information on the business can be found at www.thecalgaryhomeinspection.com

For more information, please visit http://www.thecalgaryhomeinspection.com

Contact Info:

Name: Dennis Begin

Organization: Begin Inspections Ltd.

Address: 47 Mckenna Way S.E. Calgary Alberta T2Z 1X4

Phone: (403) 803-1596

Release ID: 143239

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Outcome Of 2016 US Presidential Elections Will Cause Global Catastrophe Americans are in the process of choosing their next President. One of two people will become leader of the free world - Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. The wrong choice will have devastating consequences for our world. View as PDF Print View Virend Singh and Verusha Singh, Australian best-selling authors of The Inexplicable Laws of Success, have released a free report detailing the catastrophic results of the 2016 presidential election. They believe that the election is not just a domestic concern, but one that drastically affects the rest of the world. The report titled, Hillary Clinton: The Tragic Truth, outlines three major global concerns that will conclude in devastating results if Hillary Clinton is not voted in as President. The Singhs wrote the report in an effort to promote global unity and peace, which they feel is currently under threat.



The three major issue are as follows:



1. Climate Change: Of all the major conservative parties in the free world, the Republican Party stands alone in its denial of the legitimacy of climate science and believes that no national or international response to climate change is needed.



The reports say in reference to his twitter post, Donald Trump actually thinks that climate change is a hoax cooked up by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.



2. Global Consciousness: The presidential candidate of choice will have an incredible impact on the mindset of people across the world. As such, they should aspire to bring about global cohesion across all communities, as well as break barriers and build bridges between the diversity of cultures and groups regardless of faith.



3. A Role Model For Current and Future Generations: They talk about the qualities the leader of the free world should imbue,



Presidential leadership is a serious responsibility that demands extraordinary leadership  experienced, stable, mentally-sound, reliable, predictable, consistent, dependable, unambiguous, decisive, clear-sighted, clear-thinking, focused, purposeful, influential leadership. and make it clear that these qualities are lacking in Trump.



They urge Americans to come out at vote, and also vote for the representatives they think can best effect the changes they want to see.



Voter turnout is important. Apathy might result in unintended consequences as was the case in Brexit. Millions who wanted the UK to remain a member of the EU did not vote only to learn that the opposing camp narrowly beat them at the polls. Their laziness to vote could cause unfavorable global consequences.



Interested parties can find the report ready to download, for free, at Amazon, iTunes or their website, http://theinexplicablelawsofsuccess.com/hillary/



Ink 'N Ivory Pty Ltd was founded in 2012 and is a Fledgling Publishing Company within the Self-help industry. It is best known for promoting quality self-help resources.





Send an email to Virend Singh of r

+61410550414 Recent Press Releases By The Same User
TopRecommendedExperts.com Announces Top Performers for November 2016

( November 04, 2016 ) Gainesville, FL -- TRE recognizes David Choi as a top experts in Media Citations and Dental Marketing.

"When it comes to Media Citations, Dental Marketing David is bar none one of the best in the business. Thanks to his abilities and knowledge I was able to better understand the elements that go into those particular fields. Definitely recommend David Choi's skill and expertise."

For more information or to contact David Choi at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dentalseo

About TopRecommendedExperts.com:

TopRecommendedExperts.com is a website that accept nominees from the top experts worldwide, is pleased to announce the selected top performers for each month.

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Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising Introduces Mobile Billboard Services

The company is now creating mobile billboard experiences that help brands stand out in a crowded marketplace, reports http://kre8outdooradvertising.com/.

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Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising, a premier agency serving business owners and event promoters in the Las Vegas area, announced the introduction of their mobile billboard advertising services. The company is presenting their customers with multiple options to help them get their advertisements in the same space as other major brands on the Las Vegas Strip at a fraction of the cost of traditional billboards Las Vegas.

Christine Kiely, Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising's Director of Sales, commented "The results are in, and statistics are showing mobile billboards to be a powerful form of advertising that can boost name recognition 15 times greater than any other form of advertising. A whopping 98 percent of in-car audiences indicate that they remember mobile billboards, and 96 percent of people say it's more effective than other forms of outdoor advertising. Simply put, we offer mobile billboard services to our customers because they work."

Kre8 Media strives to be the industry innovator in mobile billboards Las Vegas. The company offers digital mobile billboard displays over 1,000 times brighter than traditional static mobile billboard advertising and can play static images, animation, and broadcast-quality commercial spots. Kre8 Media's 2Digital Network is comprised of digital mobile billboards and various digital bus shelters with LED faces located throughout the Las Vegas Strip. With coverage from the Mandalay Bay to the Encore, the company can help any business owner or event promoter cut through the advertising clutter and reach millions of impressions on a weekly basis.

As Kiely further commented, "Our mobile billboard services give customers complete control over any sequence of their running advertisements and the geo-targeted location in which they can run. This offers them unprecedented flexibility and freedom to optimize advertisements for maximum impact and value. As a results-driven company, we want to help advertisers reach their goals, and our mobile billboards las vegas have been proven to get the job done."

About Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising:

KRE8 Media outdoor advertising is a company built with a passion to enhance the outdoor advertising standards in Las Vegas, NV. It was founded in 2012 by two experienced and enterprising business/outdoor professionals with a dedication to service and results. KRE8 has a team of over 150, dedicated, hardworking and loyal team members. Their client relations staff is comprised of a team of 30 dedicated office personnel.

For more information, please visit http://kre8outdooradvertising.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Christine Kiely

Organization: Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising

Phone: (702) 777-2111

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/kre8-media-outdoor-advertising-introduces-mobile-billboard-services/143454

Release ID: 143454

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Graphbyte Marketing Launches Innovative New "Local Score" Reputation Tool

Exclusive, free tool quickly, automatically produces a grade from "A" to "F" that summarizes a company's online reputation among local customers, Graphbyte Marketing reports

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Graphbyte Marketing, a leading Florida SEO Company and digital marketing specialist, launched its exclusive new "Local Score" reputation evaluation tool. Acting like a credit score but for local business reputation, the powerful new Local Score system automatically evaluates factors including online reviews and business directory listings to produce an easy-to-understand grade from "A" to "F." Business owners can make use of the new system for free at the Graphbyte Marketing website starting now, finding out in seconds how local customers are likely to perceive their companies online.

"We're happy to announce the launch and immediate availability of our unique new Local Score system," Graphbyte Marketing representative Fernando Vela said, "We've worked hard to make this new tool as powerful and accurate as possible, and we're truly proud of what it can deliver. It has never been easier to quickly, reliably assess a business's online reputation, and we think this new service is going to make a big difference for our clients and others."

With as many as 80% of all consumers today regularly seeking out Internet-hosted information before making purchasing decisions, owners of locally oriented businesses have a lot to gain or lose when it comes to online buzz. Even just a few negative reviews at a popular site like Yelp can cause potentially valuable customers to look elsewhere, whether the complaints in question were justified or not.

Unfortunately, many owners of smaller, local businesses are not as aware as they might be of just what kind of online reputations their operations have built up. With countless responsibilities of other sorts to handle and only so much time and energy, few business owners are able to keep up with what is happening at the many online review sites, business directories, social networks, and other digital destinations that could ultimately impact their levels of business.

As a leading Digital Marketing Company, Graphbyte Marketing sought a solution to this common problem and has now delivered it in the form of its brand-new Local Score tool. Automatically assessing the accuracy and extent of information at all the important online business directories, the tool builds up a baseline profile of a selected company. It then supplements this metric with review averages and details from a range of influential sites around the web, producing a complete, accurate picture of how prospective customers will perceive a business as they research it online.

The system then delivers up a grade ranging from "A" to "F," making it as easy as possible to understand at a glance just how a particular business's reputation is faring. A strong grade can be taken as a sign that existing processes are working well, while a lower one might signal a need for active Reputation Management or other efforts. The new Local Score tool is online now at the Graphbyte Marketing website, where visitors can request their own free reports.

About Graphbyte Marketing:

With a full range of highly effective digital marketing services that make a real difference for clients, Graphbyte Marketing helps organizations of all scales and focuses stand out online and find new customers.

For more information, please visit http://graphbytemarketing.com

Contact Info:

Name: Fernando Vela

Organization: Graphbyte Marketing

Phone: 787-564-2100

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/graphbyte-marketing-launches-innovative-new-local-score-reputation-tool/141496

Release ID: 141496

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Foothills Painting Expands Its Service Area To Include Longmont CO

Foothills Painting has created a new website, Foothills Painting Longmont, designed to reach new customers in their newest service area of Longmont, Colorado.

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Painting is an essential part of completing any house, home, office or store building. To get a flawless finish, it is always best to call in the professionals. A reputable company can help clients save time, money and stress over trying to do it themselves. Foothills Painting is a business owned and operated by experienced Colorado painters, who have this year committed to a strategic expansion of their service area to provide the best possible painting services to the greatest number of customers. They have just launched their service in Longmont, together with a locally optimized website designed to help new customers discover the new service.

The company offer exterior, interior and commercial painting services, and have made selected new hires from amongst the best professional painters Longmont has to offer, in order to keep their standards as high as they have always been. The company has an A+ BBB rating, and stands by it with a 100% satisfaction money back guarantee.

The new Longmont Painters' website is fully locally optimized, and designed to introduce the company, their team and services to the Longmont community, so that they can find out why they should be choosing Foothills for their next major painting job.

A spokesperson for Foothills Painting explained, "Foothills Painting is a company founded upon outstanding results, and caring about each customer's individual needs and requirements. We turn up on time, get the job done efficiently, and make sure we have smiles on our faces when we interact with customers. These simple things amount to a huge difference over many painting companies. Our expansion into Longmont is part of a continuing strategy of development, and we look forward to announcing where we'll be expanding next. This website will help the people of Longmont discover our company when searching online, ensuring more people than ever get the best residential and commercial painting services available."

About Foothills Painting: Foothills Painting is one of the most trusted painting companies in Northern Colorado. They provide the best painting services to clients, with a commitment to providing the best customer experience. Their work has secured positive reviews and recommendations together with an A+ BBB rating. The company has just expanded into Longmont, Colorado.

For more information, please visit http://foothillspaintinglongmont.com/

Contact Info:

Name: PRWhirlWind

Organization: PRWhirlWind

Address: 1716 Main Street Suite A Longmont CO 80501

Phone: 720-370-4005

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/foothills-painting-expands-its-service-area-to-include-longmont-co/143590

Release ID: 143590

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Daniel Yomtobian - Introduces InText Publisher Monetization Tool

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Daniel Yomtobian, CEO of one of the largest privately owned online advertising networks, Advertise.com has recently announced the release of the firm's InText publisher monetization tool. This new, text-based advertising product will help website publishers boost their revenue by targeting users' incoming search behavior and page interests. The appearance of the solution is both simple and elegant: InText automatically identifies and highlights commercial keywords that advertisers bid on, then triggers relevant text ads when a user scrolls over a highlighted keyword. Because the user sees a related ad in the context of their browsing session, it is likely to be more useful and less intrusive. "By implementing a keyword-targeted ad unit for related content sites, we hope to create a pleasant viewing experience for the user that is also flexible to the various needs of our publishers, explains Daniel Yomtobian, CEO and Founder of Advertise.com. "So we made InText very easy to implement with a simple JavaScript code--requiring no change to a website's structure or general design."

InText joins the network's comprehensive suite of publisher monetization products, including Banner Ads, Adentify, InterYield, ExitYield, ConversionPlus, and XML Ad Feed. Similar to other products in the Advertise.com portfolio, InText generates revenues for publishers at highly competitive CPC rates. Advertise.com has been delivering high-quality traffic to advertisers and publishers around the globe for 13 years. With advertising solutions such as contextual pay per click, display, mobile, video and remarketing traffic, Daniel Yomtobian and his team offer full-service digital solutions suitable for businesses large and small. The company follows its mission to provide advertisers with quality traffic that converts, and publishers with competitive listings that yield high revenues. More than ten thousand businesses have used Advertise.com to drive traffic to their website, and 240 million visitors (as verified by comScore) are delivered to publisher websites every month.

Advertise.com was originally founded by Daniel Yomtobian in 2001 as ABCSearch.com, and rebranded in 2009. Yomtobian, who was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, started experimenting with the Internet almost two decades ago when a family friend suggested he learn web design. What started as a two-day HTML course developed into a hugely successful career resulting in a company that Daniel is rightly proud of: "We launched Advertise.com to provide advertisers and publishers with a new value proposition--effective, affordable, and easy-to-use advertising campaigns all under one roof."

Prior to founding Advertise.com, Daniel launched the online media and advertising company, WayInternet, as well as the search engine, Findology. Today, Daniel is considered a pioneer in the online advertising industry and is acknowledged for his innovative concept. He was recently described by C-Suite Quarterly as a "...young leader [who] will continue to play an important role in shaping the online world of tomorrow."

Daniel Yomtobian Blog: http://www.DanielYomtobianInfo.com

Daniel Yomtobian - CEO & Founder @ Advertise.com | crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/daniel-yomtobian#/entity

Companies Are Turning to Daniel Yomtobian and Advertise.com for Contextual Advertising: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/companies-turning-daniel-yomtobian-advertise-070000163.html

For more information, please visit http://www.ICMediaDirect.com

Contact Info:

Name: ICMD

Email: pr@icmediadirect.com

Organization: ICMediaDirect.com

Phone: (800) 595-0821

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoZr4UgvY8Q

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/daniel-yomtobian-introduces-intext-publisher-monetization-tool/143413

Release ID: 143413

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By Stef Gijssels We love solo bass albums, and it seems that they keep coming in great numbers. The overview below is indeed nothing more t...
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Jack Harris is someone who thrives on variety and pressure, as demonstrated by the four years he spent working for the police force responding to 999 calls from the public.

Its a job he loved because every shift was different and he dealt with anything and everything. But he has come to love agriculture even more.

Now, aged 29, five years after the last time he donned a police uniform, he is a fully qualified agronomist working in the precision services arm of agronomy and crop protection company Agrovista.

He has walked away from policing and is instead forging a new career in farming, describing it as one of the best, if not the best, industry to work in.

See also: How experience outside farming improves your agricultural career

Jacks decision to swap police work for agriculture initially came about because of his granny. She was 94, living on her own, with health problems, but didnt want to go into a home.

So Jack took a two-year career break from the police, moved to Essex to care for her and started working on a friends farm to give him an income.

Hed been visiting the farm since he was born, assisting at harvest since he had been old enough to help out, so agriculture was not completely new to him.

But his is far from the traditional farming background  his father is a freelance editor and his mother is a former teacher, who now works as a trainer.

Yet after two years on the 242ha farm, which also had 250,000 broilers, Jack had developed a passion for the industry that meant he wanted to take things further.

His colleagues in the police also gave him the impression that he may have got out at a good time.

A friend suggested he applied to become an agronomist and so he applied to join Agrovista in 2013 as a trainee.

Challenge

Jack admits studying for the Facts and Basis qualifications, required to become an agronomist, was a challenge.

I did find it hard. I didnt go to university, so it had been a while since I had really done any learning. However, I think it was the same for those from a farming background. We all went through the same ups and downs.

Jack says what really helped him was the support of his colleagues, other agronomists and farmers who went out of their way to support and encourage him.

The amount of agronomists and farmers willing to take the time to teach me things was amazing.

I remember after completing Basis wanting to get gifts for people who had helped me. I was told not to, but just help someone else when they need it. That sort of attitude in an industry is hard to find.

No two days the same

After completing his training, he took up a role as an agronomist in Essex, moving to his current job  based in Cambridgeshire, but requiring travel all over the UK  about a year ago.

Its hard to describe what I do on a day-to-day basis. Like a lot of jobs within agriculture, no two days are really the same. I guess it depends on what time of year it is. Day-to-day I would be helping colleagues with precision farming questions, or going to see their customers about new technology.

I could also be setting up trials, getting GPS soil samples ordered and getting the data back to the customer. Or I could be flying our drones to capture crop data, servicing weather stations and walking fields to keep my eye in on whats happening.

Skills required to do Jacks job Communication

Strong work ethic

Enthusiasm

Basis/Facts qualification

Positive attitude

Its the variety that really keeps Jack motivated. He also likes the challenge of talking to people about precision farming methods.

The ability to listen, talk to people and solve problems are all skills which he developed in the police, but have been transferable into his current role, he says.

I have had a lot of experience in the police dealing with all sorts of people and dealing with any situation you can think of. I think Im unfazed by most things and find it easy to talk to people.

Jack says he feels he has been welcomed into the farming industry and it would be good if more people from a different background considered it.

I think the more people we get in from outside agriculture the better it will be. Its easy for an industry to be wrapped up in its own bubble.

But with people from all sorts of backgrounds working together, different skills and experiences can be shared.

Good work ethic

I definitely think you need to have a good work ethic and be able to talk to people. Knowledge can be taught but positive attitudes and work ethics cant be taught.

I think a lot of the industry is about relationships. A good agronomist on farm is like part of the family.

So, enthused by his own job and the job satisfaction it offers him, Jack says he readily recommends agriculture as a career to others. The industry is far more diverse than people realise.

They just think farmers grow stuff, harvest it, then its on their plates. The dont see the industry working behind them doing loads of interesting things  bringing new technology to farming. I told someone the other day about GPS autosteer and variable rate seed and how it works. They actually couldnt believe how that was being used. They just thought of farming as a really primitive industry.
Bangalore

Property has always been an attractive investment avenue for NRIs, with the easy norms. Here are some rules governing acquiring property and repatriation of funds on its sale.

Real estate investments have always been a favourite option for non-resident Indians (NRIs). Any depreciation in the rupee value is an added incentive for NRIs to invest here. The regulatory requirements are quite flexible. An NRI or Person of Indian Origin (PIO) can own both residential and commercial properties in India. There are no restrictions on the number of properties one can buy. The remittance should be made in rupees and through normal banking channels using an NRI account. It is to be noted that NRIs cannot buy agricultural land, farms and plantation property.

A PIO does not require any special permission to buy property in India. However, the payment cannot be made in foreign currency. It has to be in rupees through funds received in India through normal banking channels, or funds maintained in a non-resident account under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations.

A foreign national resident outside India cannot buy property in India. However, foreign nationals who are resident in India (who are not citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal, or Bhutan) can purchase property in India without any special approval from the RBI.

To be considered a resident of India under the FEMA, a foreign national has to meet two conditions must have been residing in India for more than 182 days during the preceding financial year, and the continued presence in India in the current financial year must be for the purpose of employment, business or for any other purpose that indicates an intention to stay in India for an uncertain period. Both conditions must necessarily be met for a foreign national to be considered a resident of India under the FEMA.

One can opt for a housing loan from a bank to fund the purchase. The normal credit review conditions apply.

Rupee accounts

An NRI has to maintain a rupee account in India in order to invest in property here. It is needed to transfer the money earned in India to a foreign account or to park the money earned here within the country.

A Non-resident Ordinary Rupee (NRO) account or a Non-resident Rupee (NRE) account can be opened by an NRI. Both these can be savings or current accounts.

All transactions must happen through the banking channel. Repayment of loan has to be made by inward remittances. One can get the money remitted directly from a NRO or NRE account in India or pay from a Foreign Currency Non-resident (FCNR) account.

In case one lets out the property, the rent can be used to repay the loan as well. The rental income will be taxable in India and may be in the country of the NRI's residence too depending on the tax treaty. In order to ensure local compliances, an NRI can issue a power of attorney (POA) in favour of a resident here to execute contracts, deeds, mortgage, lease etc.

NRIs can sell any residential or commercial property bought or inherited to anyone. In case one wishes to repatriate the money earned, it needs to come in foreign currency from an overseas account, NRE or FCNR account. One can repatriate up to the amount invested in the property. The repatriation amount cannot exceed the foreign exchange amount paid for the purchase of the property. Also, an NRI cannot repatriate proceeds from sale of more than two properties.

Tax benefits

An NRI is entitled to a tax deduction of Rs 1.50 lakhs under Section 80C. There is no upper limit on interest deduction for an NRI. Other deductions such as stamp duty, registration charges, and municipal taxes paid during the year and a flat 30 percent of the rent (excluding municipal taxes) deduction for maintenance is available to NRIs as well.

NRIs have to deduct TDS at the rate of one percent on payments made for a property worth more than Rs 50 lakhs.

In case one sells the property, capital gains tax will have to be paid. One can get long-term capital gains tax benefits if the property was held for more than 36 months. NRIs can claim capital gains tax exemption by investing in another property.

A general permission is available to NRIs and PIOs to repatriate the sale proceeds of property inherited from an Indian resident, subject to certain conditions. If these conditions are met, an NRI need not seek the RBI's permission. However, if the property was inherited from a person residing outside India, specific permission from the RBI is required.
Greenpeace says it is willing to campaign with the NFU to secure the best post-Brexit deal for the countryside  so long as the offer is right.

The NFU has called for the countryside to speak with one voice if it is to have any chance of retaining full access to the single European market.

It has asked UK farm organisations to help deliver a unified message to government  and intends to invite environmental groups to join the coalition too.

See also: NFU calls for single voice to secure post-Brexit trade

Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr said it was clear agricultural policy would undergo major changes as the UK left the EU.

Greater good

Dr Parr said Greenpeace had not yet been invited to work with the NFU  but would be willing to consider doing so if it was for the greater good.

There is no doubt that the structure of payments in the post-Brexit world is going to be different, he told the East of England Farming conference on Thursday (3 November).

For me, that constitutes an opportunity.

Brexit was an opportunity to restructure the farm payment system so it delivered public benefits, Dr Parr told the conference delegates at the East of England showground, Peterborough.

Drop in support

UK farmers and the agricultural sector receive some 3bn/year under the EUs CAP.

But this amount of money is expected to fall post-Brexit.

Dr Parr said was abundantly clear that future government support to farmers was more likely to be based on environmental measures, rather than on direct payments.

Given the choice between investing more money in social care and supporting agriculture, it was clear the government would be looking towards the former.

The only way in which that sort of level of cash is going to be directed towards farming is if it can be seen, broadly speaking, to be for the public good.

Dr Parr suggested this could include farmers who undertook measures that improved biodiversity, soil health, flood protection, water management and climate change mitigation.

Broad debate

It will need a very broad public consent for anything like the same amount of money to be heading in the direction of farming.

This is a time for a very broad public debate, not a very narrow one.

Unless there is a buy-in from a much wider range of the public, it is not going to be a durable political solution.

This debate needs to include a lot more people to give consent to the final outcome, otherwise it will simply become unstuck.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Tablet Arriving with Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note 8? Launching January 2017!

It was previous rumored that the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is going to be revealed in September 2016. However, the upcoming tablet is now reported to be launched early next year.

Despite the continued silence from the South Korean tech giant, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 has become the subject of numerous rumors and speculations online. Although Samsung has yet to provide the official details of the new tablet, several reports over the Internet have revealed its specs and features. According to the report, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 was spotted with model numbers SM-T820 and SM-T825, which is said to represent the two variants of the tablet.

First spotted in the GFXBench, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will allegedly run on a Snapdragon 652 processor from Qualcomm paired with 3 GB of RAM and a 32 GB internal storage capacity. The new handheld device is said to carry a 9.7-inch screen with 2048 X 1536 pixel resolution.

Other features of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will include an 8 MP primary camera, paired with 2 MP front-facing snapper. Users will definitely have more time to enjoy its amazing features as it will have a large battery at 4,000 mAh.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is also expected to run on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow mobile operating system. It has yet to be confirmed if the device will get the new Google OS, Android 7.0 Nougat, which was recently released by the American search engine.

Meanwhile, it is reported that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 might sport a USB Type-C port, which the company also used for its Samsung Galaxy S7. It is said that the tablet will be released simultaneously across all markets globally.

Samsung is also expected to release its new Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 next year. Many believe that the company might hold a major event early 2017 to launch several devices. Stay tuned for more news and updates about Samsung Galaxy Tab S3.
Samsung Galaxy S8 & S8 Edge Release Date, News & Update: Samsung Works On Improving Its Smartphones To A Whole New Level To Regain Trust

"Samsung" will be having a lot of riding as it is releasing its "Samsung Galaxy S8" and will need to ensure an all-out excellence to get the customers trust after the Galaxy note 7 issues. Further information will surface in the coming months, but for now there are collected hearsays that can help the possible buyers conclude what is coming next.

In 2016 "Samsung" had a powerful year, until Galaxy note 7 failed. The Galaxy 7 and 7 Edge are the most selling smartphones in the market. Earning the most impressive scheme of the Galaxy S6 enhancing it in key areas. The camera was better, battery life was greatly improved, and get feature like water-resistance and Micro SD slot as per reported by the BGR.

The extension of a bigger 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 edge helped, it gives customers more option to choose from. Customers are wanting something the same next year and the best to compete throughout 2017. According to CNET, speculations have already indicated "Samsung Galaxy S8" will attribute improved curved displays. In familiar sizes that includes 5.1-inches and 5.5inches. But first things first, when is it coming?

Samsung Galaxy S8 to get full-screen OLED display, rumor suggests - https://t.co/lNiJibmbk1 pic.twitter.com/U9QLPbqsVv  PhoneArena (@phonearena) November 1, 2016



An official "Samsung Galaxy S8" release date is obviously months away. Each year since the original Galaxy S release has been much earlier, with the Galaxy 7 being announced in February and released in March.

For 2017, the "Samsung Galaxy S8" will probably be announced at the end of February before the Mobile World Congress, and released in March. This was exactly how it happened in 2016. There are even speculations from trusted sources saying this already.

If the Galaxy 7 launch was any indication, the "Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Edge" will be exposed on February 26 in Spain. The next Mobile World Congress will begin and many companies will make huge announcements.

Pre-orders will begin and the release date will be sometime in early March of 2017.


HTC 11 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Smartphone Powerful but Cheaper than iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S7; Specs, Price Revealed

The Taiwanese tech manufacturer, HTC, has been rumored to launch a new flagship smartphone called HTC 11 before the year ends or in the first quarter of 2017. Although the company has yet to provide the official details with regard to the development and release date of HTC 11, several rumors and speculations have already hit the Internet revealing its impressive specs under the hood. According to the latest report, the new device is said to challenge best smartphones in the market today such as the recently released iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S7 and the upcoming Galaxy S8.

According to a source, HTC 11 will carry a 5.5-inch screen with 2560 x 1440 Quad HD display, and the report added that the powerful smartphone might sport a dual-edged screen similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Edge series. The device could come out with the latest smartphone technology these days such as water and dust resistance; however, no specific information has come out yet regarding the said features.

There are speculations suggesting that HTC's goal is to develop a new smartphone with DSLR-like cameras, and that is exactly what consumers will get once the new HTC 11 arrives in the market. According to the report, the device will sport a 12 MP primary camera with optical zoom paired with an 8 MP front-facing shooter. There are rumors saying that HTC is currently developing a new VR technology, which will be compatible with the upcoming HTC 11.

Meanwhile, the impressive specs under the hood will be headed by a Snapdragon 830 processor from Qualcomm paired with 6 GB of RAM and a 256 internal storage capacity. There are also speculations suggesting that HTC 11 might get an 8 GB RAM with 256 storage, which will be expandable through microSD.

Despite the continued silence by HTC regarding its upcoming smartphone, several reports are saying that HTC 11 will come out with an $800 price tag. Stay tuned for more news and update about the new HTC 11.
Kate Middleton News: Suits Actress Megan Markle Dubbed As The Next Kate; Duchess Flattered Or Worried?

News of Kate Middleton's reaction to being compared to "Suits" actress Meghan Markle has been vague and inconsistent. Some news says that the duchess is flattered, others say that she is worried.

Meghan Markle is the rumored girlfriend of Prince Harry. Kate Middleton is allegedly worried that Meghan might take away the limelight from her once she becomes a part of the royal family.

Meghan Markle has definitely made a name for herself and her stardom that could indeed threaten Kate Middleton's influence in the society and even in the fashion business. However, Meghan and Prince Harry have still to confirm if there's a truth to their relationship. Even then, Meghan seems to be getting a whole of attention to herself.

Not only is Meghan Markle a good actress, she is also has a heart for the community just like Prince Harry. Reports say that Meghan is a good public speaker because she has been exposed in the university. Kate Middleton, on the other hand, should have no worries about these attributes as she herself has all these as well.

It was Vogue Magazine which first called Meghan Markle as the "Next Kate." Anyone who is compared to Kate Middleton, or at least to be at par with her, will surely grab the limelight to herself.

There are rumors that Kate Middleton is voting against Prince Harry's person of interest as of the moment because she does not want the limelight to go far from her. However, some hearsays say that the real reason the Duchess of Cambridge does not want Meghan Markle for the younger prince is because she has been married to Trevor Engelson in 2011.

Do you think Kate Middleton is flattered or worried that she is being compared to Meghan Markle? Stay tuned to GamenGuide for the latest news and update.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Flagship to Arrive in February 2017 with Note 8? iPhone 7 Killer?

The upcoming flagship smartphone Samsung Galaxy S8 has been a subject of numerous reports and speculations all over the Internet. The device has become the focus of Android fans following the disappointing release of the hybrid phablet Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Previous reports suggested that the new entry of Samsung's Galaxy S series might arrive earlier than expect; however, new reports have emerged suggesting that the South Korean company might delay its launching.

According to the Samsung vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, the new Samsung Galaxy S8 will carry a smooth and glossy design. Lee Jae-yong also said that the company will no longer take any chances after what happened to the Galaxy Note 7 and make sure the device comes out in perfection. Apart from its expected top-tier specs under the hood, the new Samsung Galaxy S8 will also arrive with the best smartphone camera technology in the market today.

Although Samsung has yet to provide the official details of the new Samsung Galaxy S8, fans and critics have already shared their prediction on what consumers can expect on the upcoming device. According to the report, the company is said to develop the handset with the best hardware specs Samsung can offer. There are speculations suggesting that Samsung fans will no longer see the traditional home button on Samsung Galaxy S8 as it will be replaced with a fingerprint sensor on the display.

Rumor has it that the new Samsung Galaxy S8 will feature a dual camera; however, this has yet to be confirmed by the company. Samsung is also expected to release its new Galaxy Note 8 in 2017, but tech fans must take these rumors and speculations with a grain of salt until Samsung decides to make an official statement.

Meanwhile, there are reports suggesting that Samsung Galaxy S8 might be launched during the Mobile World Congress early next year. If rumors prove to be true, consumers can expect the device to hit the shelves in February 2017. Stay tuned for more news and updates about Samsung Galaxy S8.
Google Nexus 7 2016 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Upcoming Device Better Than Apple iPad Pro? Andromeda OS On Board?

The year is almost coming to a close but Google has not released a refreshed Nexus 7 device. There had been rumors that the tech giant had never planned to release a Google Nexus 7 2016 this year. In addition, it was speculated that the recently released Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones are actually the Google Nexus 7. However, latest reports suggest that Google Nexus 7 2016 does exist, is still in the works and will release before 2016 ends.

The name for Google Nexus 7 2016 is still up for a debate, but more and more reports suggest that Google has discontinued the Nexus line in favor of the Pixel series. Whether or not this is true, the upcoming Google device is expected to be an eligible contender against Apple's iPad Pro. Media outlets have reported that the Google Nexus 7 2016 will carry a Snapdragon 820 chipset paired with a 4 GB of RAM. It will reportedly run on an Andromeda operating system, have 64 GB of disk space, a 13-megapixel main camera and an efficient 5100mAh battery.

Reportedly, HTC has partnered up with Google to develop the new Google Nexus 7 2016, but more experts are placing their bets on Huawei being the next manufacturing partner. PCAdvisor reached out to Huawei for confirmation on this piece of news, but the company's PR representative only gave this statement: "We don't comment on future products, as a matter of policy. Huawei is committed to creating the world's most compelling and innovative devices, offering an exceptional performance and outstanding user experience."

Meanwhile, reports have it that the Google Nexus 7 2016 should be a budget-friendly device. Although the device may carry top quality specs, it is expected to be priced affordably. For now, fans will just have to wait for more concrete details and official announcement regarding Google Nexus 7. Since most of the details surrounding the device are based on speculation, it should be taken with a grain of salt.
Star Wars: Han Solo Movie' Release Date and Cast: Who Will Replace Harrison Ford?

Disney recently announced the schedule of the new Star Wars Movie: Han Solo. The Hail Caesar actor Alden Ehrenreich is officially confirmed as the new actor for the character of Han Solo.

The film announced to release on May 25, 2018. However, after the Star Wars Episode 8 was re-scheduled from May 2017 to December 2017, Star Wars: Han Solo film could also be delayed until December 2018 since the schedule is not yet finalized unlike the other Star Wars movies which have been officially slated for December..

Over the 2,500 actors auditioned for the chance to be the next Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich was chosen by Disney to portray the boots-and-vest role of Solo. We all know that Harrison Ford is old enough that he could not play the role meant for a younger man.

Two actors confirmed to cast the upcoming movie Star Wars: Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and an American actor, writer, and musician Donald McKinley Glover as Lando Calrissian. The other cast members are yet to be confirmed by the filmmakers. Some famous characters of the Star Wars universe are expecting to be featured in the movie, most especially Chewbacca.

It is really risky to use a new actor for the roles that became famous in the face of the original actor and actresses like Han Solo of Harrison Ford. Ford is already engraved as Han Solo in the minds of the fans. Although actors in some roles are difficult to replace, some roles of the main characters in the movie have no problem on whoever the actor will play for them, like Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C3PO. The only problem for such characters is how to make their costume consistent from the previous movies.

Star Wars: Han Solo movie will start its shooting on January 2017 in London. According to a report, the film may focus on how the smuggler won the Millennium Falcon from Calrissian.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Release Date, Features and Updates: S Pen Redesign Promises Improved Functionality; Possible Specs and Highlights

Next year, Samsung fans can expect the Galaxy Note 8 to come out with a bang especially after the battery and explosion issues of its predecessor. Even though there is still no confirmation from the company, fans are already expecting a lot from the upcoming device.

Redesigned S Pen

Speculated to be unveiled this January, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could come with improved functionality with the help of an all-new S Pen. The redesign in the pointer tool will reportedly help users do more and perform better functions with their phablets.

The upcoming offering is also thought to have a revamp for its look like change in color offerings and coating details. It hopes to compete with another much-awaited device, the iPhone 8.

Other features

Aside from these changes, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will also reportedly have a new battery that will redeem the name of the brand to its customers. Samsung faced one of its hardest battles with the explosion and overheating issues of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that led to a massive recall.

Note 7 exchange program

The company earlier announced that those who bought the Note 7 can exchange their device for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 when it comes out next year. This was taken by fans as a confirmation by fans from the company that the next Note instalment is coming.

Though it has just been an exclusive offering in South Korea, users of the brand hope the company will expand it to other countries like the United States. Those who would like to grab the exchange program will have to change to the Galaxy S7 Edge or a Galaxy S7 first then exchange it with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 after its release.

Possible release date

Analyst firm Moor Insights & Strategy president Patrick Moorhead claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could be announced either in January during the CES or at the Mobile World Congress in March. He expressed confidence that the company will continue the Note line even with the issues with the Note 7.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Phablet to Arrive Alongside Samsung Galaxy S8; Big Discounts Coming Soon!

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is said to be the redeeming factor for the South Korean tech giant following the disappointing release of its Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in August this year. The latter was supposedly the company's last big release before the year ends; however, the hybrid device was surrounded by several controversies including a major safety issue. Samsung decided to recall all Galaxy Note 7 and stop its production immediately. Now the company and its followers have shifted their focus on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Specs and Features

Although Samsung has yet to provide the official details of the development and release of Samsung Galaxy Note 8, there are already speculations suggesting that it might come with an improved S Pen. Rumor has it that the upcoming Samsung stylus will have its own speakers, which makes it to be the first of its kind.

According to a report by Yahoo, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could come with a much improved camera feature with zooming-related technologies. Despite Samsung's continued silence with regard to the official details of the new hybrid phablet, there are reports saying that the company will focus on the safety features of the device to avoid duplicating the issues they had with its predecessor. Nonetheless, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to carry top-tier specs under the hood to make sure the device can compete with Apple's new iPhone 7.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Samsung Galaxy S8 Release

Meanwhile, Samsung had already confirmed the arrival of Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in 2017. It was previously announced by the company that Galaxy Note 7 users who decided to replace it with Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge will get a big discount once the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or Galaxy S8 arrives in the market.

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 might arrive sooner than expected due to the recent Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. There are reports that the handheld device will be launched alongside the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S8. Stay tuned for more news and updates about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 Specs, News & Updates: More Powerful CPU; Better Than Microsoft Surface Pro 4?

Lenovo is set to launch the IdeaPad Miix 720 to compete with the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. The laptop/tablet hybrid will feature powerful specifications, while keeping some of its original qualities.

Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 Specs: 2-in-1 Laptop & Tablet Device

WinFuture, a German website, stated that the Lenovo IdeaPadMiix 720 is a 2-in-1 device. The display and keyboard can be attached to create a laptop setup, or detached to transform the screen into a portable tablet.

The Lenovo IdeaPadMiix 720 will reportedly feature the Intel 7th generation Kaby Lake Y-series CPUs, a 2880 x 1920 screen, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal memory. The Lenovo IdeaPad is also said to feature USB Type-C support and a couple of USB Type-A ports.

In terms of design, the LenovoIdeaPad Miix 720 will arrive in either black or gold. It will retain the trademark watchband hinge by Lenovo.

It will also have an infrared camera that allows users to log in with Windows Hello via facial recognition. The Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 will also bring the Active Pen 2, a new version of its stylus, with added levels of pressure sensitivity.

Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 To Come In Three Variants

WCCFTech reported that the Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 may arrive in three variants, depending on the chipset. Users may choose between a Core i3-7300 U, Core i5-7200U or Corei3-7500U processor. The improved chipsets may also boost battery life.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 has a 12-inch screen, a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1-megapixel front shooter. The tablet has a thickness of 0.35 inch and weighs about 1.7 pounds. There is also a keyboard cover that will slightly increase the thickness and weight.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is also a hybrid device with a 12.3-inch PixelSense display, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal memory. It also works with the Surface Pen, Type Cover and Surface Dock.

The lower-end model of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 currently costs $899. The Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 has the upper hand in terms of chipset, but the Surface Pro 4 has the advantage of fully running Windows and Microsoft Office.

The price of the Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 720 have yet to be announced. It is expected to arrive in Christmas 2016.
Battlefield 1 Latest News & Update: Game Receiving Bad Reviews? Reenacting Actual WWI Campaigns Not Working Due To Server Problems? Gameplay Details

Fans are calling the "Battlefield 1" as one of this generation's best first-person shooter games. It is one of the most complete games in the series since "Bad Company 2." Taking things back to the World War 1 setting has done the trick for EA DICE.

The "Battlefield 1" has received amazing reviews from gaming enthusiasts who have highly praised the immersive gameplay, the raw battle feel and of course the addition of "Operations" that allows players to reenact actual WWI campaigns. The incredible narratives add to the awesome experience, writes Independent.

The "Battlefield 1" multiplayer mode is extremely fast-paced and invigorating and there's almost no room for contemplation. Players have to keep themselves alive under excruciatingly insane circumstances in abandoned French towns and ditches. Players first need to adapt themselves to the various gameplay mechanics.

They can adopt various play styles while controlling a tank or when playing in heavy armor. Each and every storyline feels unbelievable human. There are six short single player campaigns in "Battlefield 1" and every story is different from the other. They narrate the harrowing experiences of different soldiers around the world, all fighting for the allies.

Finally, EA has released a game that fans believe has even surpassed the recent "Call of Duty" installments. This is because, "Battlefield 1" has stayed away from simply impersonating other gameplays and has provided something out-of-the-box and outright unique.

However, "Battlefield 1" server problems have been reported all over the world. EA servers are down for many Xbox One, PC and PS4 users and also Origin and Access services, reports Express. Unfortunately, the EA Support page does not have any official warning confirming the server problem.

Fans in the UK and North America are struggling. The EA Support Twitter page has acknowledged the problems affecting the EA Access and Origin services. It is not known how long the servers will be down and how much the problem has spread. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for more "Battlefield 1" news and updates!
Rotary got started in Long Beach in 1917 when seven local businessmen met with a New York Rotarian who talked about his club there.
The steering committee working on the Imagine Corvallis 2040 vision and action plan is holding an open house at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the downtown fire station, 400 N.W. Harrison Blvd.

This will be the final opportunity for members of the public to offer feedback on the plan before it goes to the City Council on Nov. 21.

The event includes a brief presentation on the outreach, engagement and planning that went into the document. Participants also will have time to discuss the plan, ask questions and offer feedback. The program will repeat at 6 p.m.

In other public meetings:

Saturday

 Ward 1 Corvallis Councilor Penny York is the government comment corner guest from 10 a.m. to noon at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave.

Monday

 The Corvallis City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. at the downtown fire station. On the agenda are a discussion of a new contract for City Manager Mark Shepard and deliberations on comprehensive plan amendments proposed to assist city review of Oregon State University growth and planning.

The council has a 7:30 p.m. public hearing to consider a construction excise tax and inclusionary zoning, two recommendations that were forwarded by a task force working on the councils housing development goal.

The meeting will be preceded by a 5:30 p.m. executive session at which councilors will continue their evaluation of Shepards performance.

The main council session will include a community comments segment in which the public can testify on any subject except the OSU amendments and the excise tax and zoning. The record is closed on the OSU amendments and public testimony on the excise tax/zoning issues will be heard during the public hearing. Residents also can submit testimony on any topic in advance at www.corvallisoregon.gov/publicinput.

Tuesday

 The Corvallis City Council has a work session at 3 p.m. at the Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 S.W. Madison Ave. Councilors will interview an applicant from a Historic Resources Commission position, review the annual report from the Planning Commission, hear an update on the transportation systems plan work and discuss a council self-evaluation. The council cannot make a decision at a work session, but public testimony will be taken at the end of the meeting. Residents can submit testimony in advance at www.corvallisoregon.gov/publicinput.

The meeting is started 30 minutes earlier than normal because of the Historic Resources Commission interview.

Wednesday

 The Corvallis Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board will meet at 5 p.m. at the Sunset Building, 4077 S.W. Research Way. The agenda includes discussion of the Oregon Public Transportation Plan, the Regional Transportation Plan goals and objectives, state transportation funding packages and Benton Countys 2040 Thriving Communities Initiative.

 The Corvallis Community Policing Department Advisory Committee meets at 3 p.m. at the law enforcement building, 180 N.W. 5th St.

 The Bonneville Power Administration hosts a public meeting from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Philomath High School, 2054 Applegate St. The agency will discuss its plans to maintain and upgrade its communication site on top of Marys Peak.

 The Corvallis Downtown Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at the Madison Avenue room.

Thursday

 The Corvallis Civic Beautification and Urban Forestry Department Advisory Committee meets at 9 a.m. at the Parks and Recreation Department, 1310 S.W. Avery Park Drive.

 The Philomath Police Committee meets at the Police Department, 1101 Applegate St.

 The Community Involvement and Diversity Advisory Board meets at 5 p.m., at the Madison Avenue room.
Aug. 26, 1931  Nov. 2, 2016

Joseph E. Worth III, 85, of Philomath died Nov. 2 in Corvallis.

Born in Salem on Aug. 26, 1931, to Geary and Edith Worth and younger brother of Edward Worth, Joe Worth III grew up in Eugene, graduated from Eugene High School and entered Oregon State College (OSC) in 1950. In 1953, he left to serve in the U.S. Army and returned from active duty in 1955 to earn his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering as an honor student and Kappa Sigma Fraternity member in 1958. He completed his Master of Science in Fluid Dynamics, Hydraulics, and Structural Engineering (1961), while an instructor in civil engineering from 1958-1962 and working on the hydraulic design modeling of the Hanford K-Reactor core water system. Throughout these years, he worked as a surveyor and engineer for the Oregon State Highway Department.

Joe joined some of his former OSC instructors as an entry-level civil engineer at CH2M in 1962. He devoted his entire 33-year career to help grow and lead CH2M, advancing through the ranks to become the U.S. Eastern District Manager, Director of Professional Practice, and serve four terms on the CH2M Hill Board of Directors. Joe took great pleasure serving in leadership roles with professional organizations, culminating with his role as Chair of the Engineers Joint Contracts Documents Committee (EJCDC) in 1993-1994.

Joe married Carol Reagan in 1953 and had their daughter, Marianne, in 1957. They divorced and Joe married Jean Mortensen in 1976. Joe adopted Jeans son, Phill, in 1984.

Joe is survived by his wife, Jean; daughter Marianne Rudd and son-in-law Terry Rudd; son Phill Worth and daughter-in-law Lynn Mallicoat Worth; grandsons Erik Rudd, Sam Worth and Ike Worth; nieces and nephews Kris Worth Kalsic, Jody Worth Bartja and Ed Worth; and his namesake nephew Joseph E. Worth IV.

Joe shared many stories of growing up and working at the Eugene Ice Arena, driving the Zamboni, working alongside his brother and under the supervision of his father and mother. He was a promoter of family traditions that included hunting, fishing and camping, and the commensurate teaching and storytelling that came with these occasions. Throughout his life, he dedicated himself to teaching, mentoring and leading his family and professional colleagues. He was committed to the virtues of honesty and integrity, of working smarter not harder, and doing your best. He used his life experience to teach that, Its not how you start; its how you finish. We love you Papa Joe!

A service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, at Peace Lutheran Church, 2540 Applegate, Philomath.

Memorial contributions may be made to Peace Lutheran Church Shepard in Training.
Sept. 10, 1921  Nov. 2, 2016

Marian Louise (Kester) Patterson was born Sept. 10, 1921 in Independence to Wesley W. and Francis Louise (Donaldson) Kester. She died Nov. 2, 2016 at the Evergreen Hospice House in Albany, at 95 years of age.

Marian grew up on a farm which included Coffin Butte and attended elementary school in Wells, both of which became part of Camp Adair. She attended Corvallis High School and was a member of the 2nd graduating class in the new building on 11th Street in 1939. After the start of World War II Marian moved to Vallejo, California and worked as a civilian employee at Mare Island Naval Yard. While there she met and married E. E. "Pat" Patterson in April 1944. At the end of the war they relocated to Oregon and settled in the Philomath area where they lived for many years and raised their family.

Marian drove a school bus for the Olson Bus Company for 11 years and worked for many years in food service/catering at Oregon State University and for a short time as a rural mail carrier and postal clerk in the Philomath Post Office. She and her sister, Emmalou, leased and operated what was CD&J Cafe for several years.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Pat; sister Emmalou; and parents, Wes and Francis. Marian is survived by daughter, Elona Bell (Monty) of Albany; and son, Wesley (Diane) Colton, Washington; three grandchildren, Jeffrey Bell (Chris), Curtis Bell (Emily), and Theresa Patterson; three great-grandchildren, Erin and Ian Bell and Trish Schneider; and beloved nieces, Patty Sather and Kitty Stott; and nephew, Ed Lossett.

Family and friends are invited to a graveside service at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Oak Lawn Memorial Park, 2245 SW Whiteside Drive, Corvallis. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Evergreen Hospice House in care of DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home. Please share your thoughts and memories for the family at www.demossdurdan.com
Ive been told that I dont belong here and that I should go back to where I came from. The United States of America is my home.

I am not a terrorist, an extremist or a criminal. I am a mother. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am an educator. I am American and I am Muslim.

These words spoken by Yalda Asmatey, co-director of This American Muslim, open a new video set to debut later this month that seeks to challenge so-called "Islamophobia" in America.

More than a dozen Oregon State University students and educators who are Muslim filmed the short video Wednesday at OSUs Craft Center. The video is being created in partnership with OSU's Ettihad Cultural Center and the Muslim Student Association.

The video is set to help launch This American Muslim, a debut art exhibit of Project Prism, a local nonprofit organization seeking to empower marginalized communities by documenting and preserving their stories and experiences. The first This American Muslim art exhibit is set for January 2018 at OSU. Later in 2018, the exhibit will be showcased at galleries across the country.

In the video, local Muslims tell their stories about being Muslim in Corvallis and at OSU. They also encourage other Muslims in the community to come forward to tell their own stories through art, photographs, drawings, paintings, short stories and creative writing for the "This American Muslim" exhibit and a book set to be published after the exhibit.

The goal of this entire project is to raise awareness," Asmatey said. "And the idea was that people dont really know who Muslims are in America. Too often people are exposed to hateful words and descriptions about this community. Not only are we American, but we are humans who can connect about everyday things. Its empowering and liberating to finally, in the face of this heated election coming up, be able to say who I am and that I am very much an American.

Asmatey, who teaches ethnic studies at OSU, was born in Afghanistan and moved to the United States when she was 3 years old. Now a mother of two young daughters, both born in America, Asmatey said it was important for her to be able to pass on true stories of American Muslims to younger generations.

My children are American through and through. I want to raise them with the values of Islam but also to be global citizens with empathy for all cultures and communities, she said. Hopefully this project will serve as a reminder for them that not only should they call for social justice for all human beings, but hopefully they too can serve as a bridge for that call for justice.

Jonathan Stoll, Asmateys husband and the co-creator of This American Muslim, is a native of Hayward, California who was raised Catholic but has grown to love Muslims in the community and is himself on the journey to becoming Muslim.

That Islamophobia that were challenging comes in part from xenophobia and that fear of the unknown. And also people not knowing any Muslims on a personal level.

Stoll said he was amazed to see the diversity of the Muslim students and educators who showed up Wednesday for filming.

Its viewed that Muslims are a homogeneous community that thinks in the same way or practices in the same way, Stoll said. And a lot of people think of a Muslim as Arab. But Muslims come from all walks of life and all backgrounds, just like Christians. They come from a wide variety of socioeconomic statuses, classes and ethnic backgrounds. There are so many different identities we have and faith is just one.

Ismail Warsame, international student adviser at OSU and treasurer for This American Muslim, said that there is often talk about Muslims in America but it rarely comes from Muslims themselves.

Im reminded of a South African quote that says nothing about us, without us, is for us, Warsame said. A lot of times we have to talk about who we are not. This is a chance for us to talk about who we actually are and to talk about things we love and care about.

Warsame, a practicing Muslim who emigrated to the U.S. from Somalia, has lived in Corvallis since 2010. He said Wednesday he was excited that the project was launching in Corvallis.

Im excited that this is an art project. Art connects everyone. And Muslims have always been a part of art, he said. We care about many thing that connect everyone. We care about family, health care, education, the environment, social justice. And you should talk to us and see our work. Looking at our work is a way to talk to us. Whether its through poetry, storytelling or art, you will be able to see who we are.

The video is scheduled to launch around Thanksgiving on the Facebook group for "This American Muslim" and the group's website at www.thisamericanmuslim.org.
I've never experienced such a contentious election process in all my 55 years, nor have I been able to find anything remotely similar in the historical record. The current state of politics has made the United State a laughingstock across the world. This election cycle has been a source of anxiety for those who look to this nation as a shining example of democracy.

How can our nation promote a concept of free and honest participation in governance by and for the people when one of our presidential candidates mocks the election process and refuses to accept the results of the general election? A constitutional crisis could be looming in our future.

The choice this general election is clear. We can slip backward toward authoritarianism with an uncertain future, or we can move forward along a more progressive path with all of us working together to build that more perfect union. I see only one option and that is to move forward with a momentum that lifts everyone along with it.

I support Hillary Clinton for president along with Democrats in all other races nationally and statewide. Join me in building a more prosperous future truly representative of democracy.

Mark Keller

Corvallis (Oct. 22)
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 court ruling : Syrian man sentenced to 15 years in prison

Lohmar/Bonn A sentence was handed down on Thursday in the trial of a Syrian refugee who threw his three children out of a first-floor window. The 35-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

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The 35-year-old father remained quiet as the sentencing was handed down. He was convicted on three counts of attempted murder and for assaulting his wife in a separate incident. On February 1 of 2016, he threw his three children out of a first-floor window of a refugee home in Lohmar. The seven-year-old daughter received life threatening injuries, and his five-year-old son also suffered critical injuries. Because the one-year-old daughter landed on top of her brother, she was spared from serious injury.

Prosecutors had called for a life sentence but a Bonn court sentenced the defendant to 15 years. The court acknowledged the mans background, growing up poor and illiterate, and affected by the violence around him in his homeland. His first wife and son died in a car accident. After his newly arranged marriage did not go as he thought it should, with his wife not as obedient as he expected, he took the family to Germany. He expected things to get better in Germany because his new wife said she would accept his authority when they lived there. Instead, he became angry and violent when she expressed her will to become more independent like German women. She can read and write and was attending a German language course.

On January 4, he assaulted his wife, hitting her with a pan in the face, and he received a 10-day restraining order. She later allowed him back home. When he returned, he had threatened that he would throw the children out of the window if she would ever humiliate him like that again, but she couldnt imagine he would commit such an act.
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.
How Vimeo is Planning to Take on rival Netflix Features oi -Rohit Vimeo is soon going to launch consumer-facing subscription business to fight Netflix.

It's the age of 'Mobile based' video streaming services and unless you are living under a rock, you must be familiar with names- Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vimeo, etc. These services have a repository of media content spread across a variety of genres to meet the needs of consumers around the globe.

Besides free content available on the services, some of them also have subscription based model that lets users watch exclusive original content. Netflix is the undisputed leader in offering original content on a subscription based service.

The Game Can Change Anytime

But nothing is permanent in the world of technology as one product can be replaced by another in just a matter of time. That said, Vimeo is now planning to take on Netflix by launching its consumer-facing subscription business.

As per a report by Hollywood Reporter, Vimeo owner IAC has announced the addition of subscription services as part of its recent earnings report.

SEE ALSO: How to Download WhatsApp Messenger 2.16.318 App and Enjoy Video Calling [3 Simple Steps]

The interim CEO Joey Levin recently discussed the plans in a letter to Vimeo's shareholders saying, "Vimeo has the once-in-a-generation opportunity to, following in Netflix's footsteps, deliver compelling subscription viewing experiences for consumers in the market for pay TV".

As per Joey, the changes in the pay TV and film industry have left an opportunity that Vimeo feels can seize. He also added that Vimeo has the once-in-a-generation opportunity to, following in Netflix's footsteps and to deliver compelling subscription viewing experiences for consumers in the market for pay TV.

What's in Store?

For now, Vimeo has a library of 115 million videos and reaches an audience of 240 million a month. The Vimeo offerings as a consumer facing subscription based service will be available through the company's own platform.

A Bold Attempt

However, Vimeo's plans to take on Netflix and other is a bold attempt as Netflix is one of the true cross-platform video streaming application. You can access it on iOS, Android, Windows, Smart TV platforms, Apple TV, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox consoles and Google Chromecast supported device and Blu-Ray players.

Besides, Netflix is quite popular among the consumers for its original content that includes popular TV series- Daredevil, House of cards, Stranger Things, Jessica Jones, etc.

On the other hand, Vimeo has the benefit of allowing people to publish their videos for public consumption or just for friends and family.

It offers its services on Web, Mobile, Desktop Windows, Desktop Mac OSX, Desktop Linux, Mobile App IOS and Mobile App Android. It will be interesting to see how Vimeo fights the reign of Netflix in the coming year.

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'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.
Pakistan Accuses Indian Diplomats of Espionage and Terrorism

By Ayaz Gul, Anjana Pasricha November 03, 2016

Pakistan has accused eight Indian diplomats of espionage and sponsoring terrorism on its soil, just days after withdrawing six of its diplomatic staffers facing similar allegations in India.

The reciprocal actions come as military clashes between the two nuclear-armed rival nations continued across their disputed Kashmir border amid fears of another full-scale war in the region.

"A number of Indian diplomats and staff belonging to the Indian intelligence agencies RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) and IB (Intelligence Bureau) have been found involved in coordinating terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan under the garb of diplomatic assignments," foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Thursday in Islamabad.

He identified India's commercial counselor, Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, as RAW's station chief in Islamabad.

India reacts

India rejected the allegations as "baseless."

"We completely reject the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad" Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday. "The allegations against the Indian officials represent an afterthought and a crude attempt to target these officials for no fault of theirs", he said.

New Delhi says the officials named by Islamabad were involved in promoting people-to-people, trade and economic contacts between the two countries.

"We also regret the fact that Pakistan's step adds to the risks to peace and security in the region emanating from Pakistan's support to cross border terrorism against its neighbors," Swarup said.

Pakistan details allegations

Back in Islamabad, foreign ministry spokesman Zakaria released a list of alleged espionage activities the Indian diplomatic staff was involved in.

They included alleged subversive activities aimed at fueling violence in the province of Baluchistan and the largest southern port city of Karachi. Zakaria added the network was also plotting to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC.

Beijing is investing around $50 billion to build road, rail and communication networks to link western China to Pakistan's deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

The foreign ministry spokesman asserted that Indian officials were also in contact with the anti-state Pakistani Taliban in their bid to damage Islamabad's relations with neighboring Afghanistan.

"This is the gravest development that goes against the accepted norms of conducted diplomatic relations. This serious and most deplorable development is under constant review by the relevant authorities who will determine the next course of action," Zakaria said when asked whether the Indians will be expelled from Pakistan.

He criticized India for subjecting a Pakistani diplomatic staffer to torture and a beating before expelling him from the country last week and later deliberately releasing names of six other diplomats accusing them of terrorism.

Zakaria defended the withdrawal of the Pakistani diplomatic staff, saying the media leaks endangered their lives while their families were harassed, preventing them from undertaking diplomatic duties.

Deadly clashes

The diplomatic actions and counter actions follow days of clashes along the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani portions of Kashmir.

The skirmishes left at least 20 people dead, mostly civilians, while dozens more were wounded and thousands fled to safer places.

An already tense relationship between India and Pakistan worsened after New Delhi accused Islamabad of being behind a September militant raid on an Indian military base in Kashmir that killed 19 Indian soldiers. Pakistan rejected the charges.

Days later, India announced it conducted retaliatory "surgical strikes" on the Pakistani side of the Kashmir frontier to eliminate militants, assertions Islamabad rejected as "concocted and fabricated".

Bilateral relations have since plunged to new lows amid fears the military clashes could escalate into a full-blown war.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over Kashmir, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. But the rival nations have since equipped their militaries with nuclear weapons, raising concerns of nuclear exchanges in the event of a war.

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Deputy UN chief urges Central African lawmakers to act as 'defenders of dialogue and reconciliation'

2 November 2016  Addressing the National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) today, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the legislators that the country's people had given them a clear mandate, and as such, he urged them not only to play their traditional role as parliamentarians, "but also as defenders of dialogue and reconciliation."

"Reconciliation should be at the heart of all your efforts. To guide the country on the path of peace, reconciliation and development, it is essential to work together," Mr. Eliasson said on the second day of his visit to the country, where he urged the Assembly to draw on the outcomes of the May 2015 Bangui Forum, a milestone in the country's reconciliation process.

Noting that CAR faced "daunting" challenges  nearly one million Central Africans are displaced; half the population needs humanitarian assistance; and virtually all infrastructure and essential services must be rebuilt  Mr. Eliasson said moving forward would require addressing the root causes of the conflict, end impunity, promoting political openness and fighting against the marginalization of certain groups and certain communities.

"You, as parliamentarians, you play a crucial role. You have the power to enact legislation to ensure equality and the well-being of all Central Africans," he said, adding that the Assembly members have the power to hold the Government to account on its management of the country "and to meet the needs and aspirations of men, women and children that you represent."

More than three years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced thousands of people in the CAR amid continuing clashes between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian.

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the country, known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, was set up two years ago to protect civilians and assist with the political transition. The Mission now has a troop strength of nearly 10,000.

In his remarks, Mr. Eliasson said the month of October has been particularly violent, resulting in the tragic deaths of many people, which many injured, including in the capital, Bangui, as well as Bambari or Kaga Bandoro. "We have learned from these painful events and will do everything in our capacity to prevent such atrocities," he said.

Strongly condemning the violence, he assured the Assembly of the termination of the United Nations "to shed light on the unfortunate incident last Monday in Bangui," referring to demonstrations against the Government and the United Nations that were accompanied by violence on 24 October.

"MINUSCA will support any request by the judicial authorities of the Central African Republic to that effect," he continued, and the Mission is "unequivocally here to protect the Central African population and will do so impartially. We respect everyone's right to demonstrate peacefully and protect this right if necessary."

"But I also call on you not to yield to provocative speeches or attempts to destabilize your new democratic institutions by the enemies of peace. We must all [stand] against those who want to prevent the peaceful and resolute march of the country towards more progress and shared prosperity," the UN deputy chief underscored.

Mr. Eliasson went on to reaffirm the deep commitment of the United Nations and the international community to honour fully their partnership with CAR, noting that the UN has provided support in areas such as humanitarian assistance, reconciliation, recovery and development, and through the presence of MINUSCA.

"In fulfilling our mission in your country, we will continue to make the protection of civilians a fundamental concern. In this regard, the Secretary-General and I will continue to require our peacekeepers and our personal exemplary conduct and strict compliance with our zero-tolerance policy against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse," he stated.

In addition, cooperation among the Central African Government, the European Union, the UN and the World Bank, has led to the development of "national plan for recovery." This plan will be presented and discussed at the donor conference in Brussels on 17 November, which, Mr. Eliasson would attend as the head of the UN delegation.

"Together we must build [] a better future for the Central African people. The UN is here, at your side, in this noble and necessary mission," concluded the UN deputy chief.

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Minister vows to protect fishing rights near Okinotori Atoll

ROC Central News Agency

2016/11/03 18:35:59

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's top official in charge of fisheries on Thursday reaffirmed the country's fishing rights in the waters near Japan's Okinotori Atoll and vowed to protect those rights.

Agriculture Minister Tsao Chi-hung () made the remarks at a legislative session after the two countries failed to reach agreement on fishing rights at a maritime affairs meeting held in Tokyo on Oct. 31.

Tsao said that Taiwan has the right to fish in the open sea surrounding the atoll, which is 1,600 kilometers east of Taiwan. However, Japan claims the atoll is an island, which would entitle it to a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Tsao said the government remained firm on the right of Taiwanese fishermen to operate in waters 12-200 nautical miles from Okinotori and undertook to take responsibility for any incident involving Taiwanese fishermen operating in the area.

Tsao was responding to concerns that Taiwanese fishermen might not be able to fish in the area during the peak fishing period next month due to the ongoing disagreement over fishing rights between the two countries.

Taiwan has consistently asserted that fishing vessels from Taiwan have the right to operate in waters near Okinotori and will continue to hold talks with Japan to address the issue, Tsao said, adding that Taiwanese fishermen definitely have the right to fish in the area.

(By Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao)

Enditem/ AW

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenter: Colonel John Dorrian, Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman November 03, 2016

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Col. Dorrian, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman, via teleconference from Baghdad, Iraq

CAPTAIN JEFF DAVIS: Good morning -- or actually, afternoon as of two minutes ago, ladies and gentlemen.

Pleased to be joined today from Baghdad live by Colonel John Dorrian.

J.D., we want to make sure you can hear us and we can hear you.

COLONEL JOHN DORRIAN: I've got you loud and clear, Jeff.

CAPT. DAVIS: Without any further hesitation or ado, we will hand it over to you for your opening comments.

COL. DORRIAN: Very good. Thanks very much.

Good afternoon. I've seen a lot of discussion in recent days about plans for isolating and liberating Raqqah. And I thought it would be appropriate to spend a few minutes on where we are now, the impact of past operations, and what we're going to do to set conditions for the liberation of Raqqah.

In Syria, Operation Noble Lance, the operation with Turkey and their partnered forces, has liberated approximately 50 villages to date, further isolating pockets of Daesh's presence, including Raqqah. Before -- excuse me -- further isolating the areas in the northern -- in the north of Syria surrounding Raqqah.

Before Noble Lance, Turkey and their partner forces conducted Operation Euphrates Shield, liberating Jarablus and a number of villages along the border. Those operations built a significant buffer along Syria's Northern border, making it much more difficult for Daesh to infiltrate across the border into Europe.

Before that operation, our partner force -- the Syrian Democratic Forces -- liberated Manbij after fierce resistance from Daesh. The enemy fought hard to retain this territory, which they've used as a command and control node for external operations, leveraging its strategic location along the border. Ultimately, Daesh were forced to retreat and used human shields as they were driven from the city. Those operations have already done quite a bit to isolate Raqqah, reducing the access to infiltration roots to and from Europe.

Throughout these operations, which were designed to increase pressure on the enemy, coalition forces have continued to relentlessly attack Daesh leadership figures, decimating Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Shura Council, and extended leadership network. We've also continuously attacked their ability to make money in both Iraq and Syria from illicit sales of petroleum products, and we've used strikes to destroy their favored supply and infiltration run.

All of these operations are intended to disrupt and dismantle the enemy's ability to function as a coherent organization or respond to coalition and partner operations. And we've also seen a reduced ability to maintain the tempo of propaganda that we saw early in their campaign. In August of 2015, the group released more than 700 items from their official outlets. In August of 2016, after having lost a considerable amount of territory and a year of air strikes, that number declined to under 200 items.

Of course, the advance of the Iraqi Security Forces on Mosul further complicates the enemy's ability to command and control its fighters. Daesh fighters have fought hard, but continue to lose ground against advancing Iraqi and Kurdish Security Forces.

As many of you know, some Iraqi forces have reached Mosul, and others continue advancing toward the city, making steady progress as Daesh are forced to fall back. The ISF are conducting their advance deliberately as Daesh continue their tactics to intimidate civilians and complicate the Iraqi advance.

To assist the ISF and KSF, the coalition has conducted a relentless campaign of precision air, artillery and rocket strikes; more than 3,000 since the operation to liberate Mosul started on October 17.

With the government of Iraq, we've been planning for the liberation of Mosul for a long time. We'll continue to use precision as we support the Iraqi operations to liberate the city not just in our use of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, but also in our procedures for coordinating strikes and our selection of munitions.

Again, the government of Iraq has been clear that the protection of civilian life is a fundamental principle of their operations, and we'll offer our very best efforts to support that same principle.

A word about our logistical support in Iraq. The coalition continues delivering equipment, vehicles, ammunition and food, to support the ISF and KSF advances.

To give you some data on these efforts, the coalition's provided 279 Humvees, 84 MRAPs, 31 bulldozers, plus ambulances, bridging material, and obstacle breaching equipment. We believe all of these things will help provide a decisive advantage to our partners as the tougher phases of the battle ensue.

And with that, let's open it up for questions.

CAPT. DAVIS: We'll start Lita Baldor from the Associated Press.

Q: Hi, John.

A follow up on your comments on Raqqah and then I have a quick Mosul question. You said that there's -- quite a bit has been done to isolate Raqqah. Can you give us a little bit more granularity on how isolated are we talking about? Has Raqqah -- have there been efforts to encircle Raqqah? Has that begun and how much of the city would you consider has been either isolated or encircled? And then just a quick one on Mosul. Can you tell us a little bit about these efforts by the Islamic State to collect and use human shields?

There's a lot of reports about them doing that. I'm wondering if you've been able to gather any data or any numbers of where and how much that's happening.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes. Now, with regard to Raqqah, we'll start there. The enemy still has freedom of movement into and out of Raqqah. Now, it's as it's been for many months. They don't have the ability to move large troop formations, large convoys but they do have the ability to move into and out of the area. What we've done to try to limit that is we've conducted a lot of strikes on their favored supply routes and infiltration routes so we've done more than 100 strikes on that. We're talking about roads -- in order to limit their freedom of movement, make it take longer for them to move and move around the battlefield.

So, that's one of the tangible things that's been done. Now, there is a degree of isolation and pressure that's put on Raqqah on all the operations that I just described, so one of the things that I think it's very important for people to understand is all of that work that's been done up around the Northern border between Turkey and Syria, all of that isolates Raqqah because it limits their ability to resupply. It limits their ability to bring in fighters and equipment. It limits their ability to get out and conduct external operations in Europe and other places around the world.

So, if I were to characterize it I would say still freedom of movement. Not fully isolated by any means and not encircled but that's what's coming in the -- in the near future.

CAPT. DAVIS: We've lost sound.

COL. DORRIAN: We have seen and heard the same reports as you've had. There have been many reports of Daesh trying to gather civilians and push them closer to the city for use as human shields. We've also seen a lot of reports of executions of people that are in these areas that are around Mosul. People that they believe might be plotting to do attacks inside the city against Daesh, sort of an internal uprising situation. So, we've seen and we've heard those types of reports as well. I think I'll leave it there.

CAPT. DAVIS: We're back to Barbara Starr in the back with CNN.

Q: Thank you, Colonel Dorrian.

Can you go back on a couple of points you were making? You had mentioned some things that happened that you felt decimated Baghdadi Shura. Can you talk about -- now that we have this latest recording overnight which appears to be his voice for the first time in many months? What is the assessment about his state of command of his forces, his role right now, how isolated he may or may not be, what it says that he can get communication even out the door?

What do you assess about Baghdadi? And my follow-up, other quick question on Mosul. Now that Iraqi troops have entered the eastern edge of the city, can you bring us up to date on any indication you have that U.S. military advisers will be entering with them?

COL. DORRIAN: Okay, well, we'll start with Baghdadi. As far as that audio tape is concerned -- the audio release -- we cannot at this time verify its authenticity. There's probably an intelligence community expert that would be a better resource for that than I.

But it is quite clearly an effort on the part of Daesh to communicate to their fighters. And this is probably excellent evidence that their command and control and ability to communicate directly with their fighters and control them has been severely reduced.

So there are some indications inside Mosul that there are people that are abandoning their posts or trying to get away. We have seen reports that Daesh had executed people who do that and that you know, one of the interesting things that we've seen in this English translation of this is that Baghdadi is saying, don't fight amongst yourselves.

This is the type of thing that a leader who's losing command and control and ability to keep everybody on the same page says. We don't believe that it's going to work. We don't know -- again, we don't know if it's him. But you know, Daesh has a long track record, more than a year, they've been going backwards, losing territory. They've had a number of fighters very near to Baghdadi that have been killed in targeted strikes.

Not just his number two, that -- I think that's probably the least popular job in the world because your shelf life is not gonna be very long as his number two. But people that are responsible for creating their propaganda, their network is just much less effective than it's been, you know, prior to the Iraqi advance and the coalition involvement here in Iraq and in Syria.

Let's see, in back to Mosul, Barb, I'm sorry, I just wrote Mosul, what's the rest of your question on that?

Q: That's okay. Do -- can you tell us anything now that Iraqi troops have entered eastern Mosul, the most eastern edges of the city. What is the current state of whether or not U.S. troops will join them in entering Mosul?

Will U.S. advisers go into Mosul with them and as long as I have you back on Baghdadi, just have to ask, any idea where he is?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I'll take the Baghdadi piece off the table, if we knew where he was he would be killed at once. So we don't know where he is.

As far as U.S. forces or coalition forces going into Mosul, we're executing the Iraqi plan and the Iraqi plan is that the only ones going in there right now are Iraqi forces. So, that's the Army, that's the CTS, and that's the police. As far as I know, I -- I have not seen any change in the plan with that. I have been doing public affairs for a very long time. And I don't like to use the word never.

So, I don't -- I won't say that. But I -- I do know that right now, where we at, there is no plan for coalition forces to go in there. And the Iraqis have said, it's just gonna be their forces.

CAPT. DAVIS: Great. Next we'll go to Kasim Ileri with Anadolu.

Q: Colonel, thanks for doing is. There are reports coming out of Turkey right now claiming that Turkey and U.S. have -- are establishing a joint task force to facilitate the withdrawal of YPG forces from Manbij.

Could you confirm that?

COL. DORRIAN: I -- I'm afraid I can't. I've not seen those reports. And -- and I'm not up to speed on it. I -- I would ask you to follow that up with my -- my colleagues in the Pentagon there.

Q: And the other question on isolation of Raqqah. We know that the U.S. is intending to use SDF forces to encircle -- to -- to -- to isolate the city from the north. But what about the southern flank of Raqqah city?

Who -- who do -- do you think to use -- to isolate -- to encircle the city with -- from the south?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, there are significant numbers of Arab forces in that area as well, and we -- we intend to train as many of them as we possibly can.

We'll continue to work with our partners in Syria and to continue to enlarge that force and create enough that we'll be able to -- to have that force encircle -- encircle Raqqah. So that -- that's -- that is the plan at this point.

Right now I don't think that all the forces that'll be involved in that liberation campaign for Raqqah are yet trained. But that'll be the part of the effort. As well, ongoing diplomatic discussions with our allies and our partners and coalition members to make sure that we get everybody on the same page and -- and isolate Raqqah, and then move in at a time of our partner's choosing.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Tara Copp with Stars and Stripes.

Q: Hi, Colonel Dorrian. Good to see you again.

So, with Mosul, the western flank of the city appears to still be open. Are you -- are you seeing freedom of movement of ISIS fighters out of Mosul from the west? And if so, are they able to freely move to Raqqah?

Are you seeing that at all?

COL. DORRIAN: Daesh has very limited freedom of movement. They don't have the ability to move in large columns. I don't think that I would characterize them as having freedom of movement to the west at all. So, we're -- we're not seeing significant numbers of Daesh leaving the city or going in for that matter. I've been asked that before. So, we'll have to just let that play out.

My understanding is that the government of Iraq has a -- a plan for -- for dealing with western Mosul. And we're -- we're certainly not gonna facilitate the exit for Daesh, if that's the question.

Q: Okay. And just a follow -- are you seeing any additional ISIS fighters moving in to Raqqah as Mosul is more sealed off?

COL. DORRIAN: (inaudible) -- pretty limited numbers, Tara. They're -- we don't see a lot of that. You know, really, throughout northern Syria, Daesh is on the back foot. They're on the back foot coming from the north against Turkey and they're a partnered force.

And they'll -- they're going to stay on the back foot -- back foot. Because ultimately, we're going to move in with our partner forces and the noose will start to close on Mosul -- or on Raqqah as well.

One of the elements here, and I tried to capture that in the opening comments, is that it's in the coalition forces' and our partnered forces' interests to pressure Daesh across every formation in every area where they have a presence. So there's an ongoing operation to liberate Mosul.

The Iraqis are largely on plan. They're able to advance on every axis. They've really taken it to Daesh, although Daesh continues to fight hard. It would be a desirable situation to pressure them by having concurrent operations to isolate and then liberate Mosul, because they just would not have the ability to control all that.

Again, you know, see this announcement today. It's an effort to rally the troops who are under constant pressure, who have been pushed back and pushed out of the areas that they used to control; that are no longer able to make as much money from illicit sales of oil; no longer able to tax the residents that are around them in as many areas.

So they're under pressure all the time and subject to being struck anywhere where they mass. So, you know, it -- it's a -- it's a developing situation for our partners in Raqqah. And I think what you'll see is that they'll start to move on Raqqah here very soon.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Now next we'll go to Joe Tabet with Al Hurra.

Q: Thank you.

Colonel Dorrian, could you give us an update on the current status of Tal Afar? Are you concerned if the PMF takes over the supply route to Mosul, this could trigger or could lead to a Turkish intervention to protect the Sunni Turkmen in the city?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I understand that the Popular Mobilization Forces are moving in the direction of Tal Afar. I also understand that this is a part of the government of Iraq's plan. And Prime Minister Abadi has been very clear that he doesn't want any human rights abuses or any types of abuses and that he's going to hold people accountable if he sees those sorts of things.

The forces that are moving in that direction have acknowledged that and said that they would operate within the parameters that they've been given. And so that's kind of where this is at this point. The plan is being executed in accordance with what the government of Iraq planned and that's where this is headed.

Q: A quick follow-up. Given what you said, I mean, are you concerned about Turkey -- Turkish position in regards to the presence of the PMF in Tal Afar?

COL. DORRIAN: We have seen the comments coming out of Turkey, we understand their position, they want to make sure that the Turkmen who live in that area are not subject to any types of abuses, we do understand that. And so right now we don't see any indicator that there is any situation like that developing. The government of Iraq understands that, they understand that the world is watching what happens as the popular mobilization forces move into position.

So this will be an opportunity to execute that operation, which is consistent with our plan and we'll see how it plays out.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to David Martin with CBS.

Q: Gentlemen, would you distinguish between the isolation and the liberation of Raqqah and specifically will the same forces that are involved in the isolation be involved in the liberation?

COL. DORRIAN: David, the isolation and the liberation probably have one thing in common. There will probably be some very tough fighting to do either. There will be tough fighting to do both. As far as who will actually move into the city, I think what we're going to see is that the isolation will occur first. There will be some ongoing dialogue between our partners and our allies and the coalition about who's actually going to go in.

I know that there's been discussion about that being a force that's primarily Arabs that are local and there's a good model for that, the Arab forces that still control Manbij. So we'll see how that plays out, I think there'll be some ongoing political dialogue many levels above me about who actually goes in, but I think we can probably get the isolation on Raqqah and sort of encircle it much more before and set conditions for the liberation while those diplomatic efforts and planning and coordination occur and training of additional forces occur for the liberation part.

Q: You said that the -- some of the Arab forces who would be involved have not yet had training. How long is the training going to take? Is there a specific one week, four week program that they go through?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, David I'm familiar with some of the training that's been conducted in the past. I've seen that we've had periods of instruction that are ballpark two weeks and these are two weeks of training for people that have already been involved in some fighting before so they're not just a bunch of rookies. So we'll let that play out and we'll see how long that takes and we'll see how many forces will be generated.

I know General Townsend, when he's discussed this, what he's said is that the forces that are on the ground there, the SDF, do have some experience in recruiting a good force and they have some plans to try to open the aperture and enlarge the Arab contingent of their force.

Q: Any estimates on how many more need to be trained?

COL. DORRIAN: I don't. I wouldn't hazard a guess. I think that'll be up to our partner force.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, we'll go to Richard Sisk with Military.com.

Q: Hi, colonel. There have been some reports that U.S. advisers moving with the counterterrorist service units on the outskirts of Mosul have been seen, spotted, possibly photographed wearing the black uniforms of the CTS.

Is that so? And what is the policy on that?

COL. DORRIAN: Yeah, I'm -- I'm not familiar with either of those reports or if you've seen an image. I've not seen that. I think we'll have to take that one for you and I'll look into it.

Q: Sir, what is the -- what is the policy? Are U.S. troops allowed to wear the -- wear the uniform, the garb of partner units that they're working with? There was the flap a few months ago about some special forces troops in Syria wearing the patches of the YPG.

So what is the policy for the troops now advising, partnering with the Iraqis around Mosul?

COL. DORRIAN: You know what, Richard, I'm just going to have to take that one. I'm not an expert on what the rules are for uniform wear. I had to get a good consult to make sure that I was wearing this one correctly. So I'll have to take that one. I'm sorry, but just not the expert. We'll have to make sure we get you an answer on that.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, to Gordon Lubold with Wall Street Journal.

Q: Hey, colonel. It's Gordon. Two questions on Mosul, and sorry if I missed it. Can you just characterize where exactly Iraqi forces are with regard to the city? Because I -- I'm not clear if they're kind of still on the doorstep, inside the outer parts of the city or where. You may have said it and I missed it.

But also, you know, there was a report about restoring cell service to residents inside Mosul, turning the switch back on. But part of the idea was to see what kind of intel could be gleamed from residents phoning in information. I just wonder if you could update us on that, and if you -- if the Iraqi forces and U.S. forces have gotten anything out of that.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, Gordon, I'm going to have to be a little bit careful for reasons of operational security with regard to talking about where specifically troops are. And then there's also just a kind of gooey matter of, you know, when do you reach Houston.

You know, the -- I think if you ask 10 people around Houston, they would tell you they're Houston residents; and there would be people that tell you some suburb, too. And so it's almost kind of a difficult one to firm up.

Now, the -- on the western -- or excuse me, the eastern access to the city, my understanding is they're right at, you know, the -- the entrance in sort of some industrial areas. I've seen those in open-source reports and I'm seeing the counter-terrorism service make those statements, but I really don't want to get into the business of sort of, a street by street discussion of where those forces are, it just wouldn't be appropriate for me to do that. It just wouldn't be appropriate, so I hope you understand.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay.

Q: He's still talking.

COL. DORRIAN: That one, with regard to the status of that effort, I'm not -- I'm not familiar with -- with that program. I know that there have been efforts to communicate with people inside the city, I can certainly acknowledge that piece. There have been radio broadcasts into the city to give instructions to people that live there. There have been substantial efforts to drop leaflets and give instructions, and let people know that they are going to be liberated. I also know it's a very dangerous situation for people that are in the city because Daesh -- I've seen plenty of reports of Daesh executing people that they think are collaborators, and I don't want to further endanger somebody that would be helping out with useful intelligence.

CAPT. DAVIS: Let him know (inaudible).

Q: (Off-mic.) Kurdistan 24.

My question for Colonel Dorrian, regarding Raqqah and the difficulties with Turkey and the YPG, are we to understand from what you've said that regarding the phase of the isolation of Raqqah, those difficulties have been worked -- have been cleared up enough so that you can proceed with the isolation of Raqqah. But there are still issues remaining, regarding the liberation of Raqqah?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I -- I -- I'm not in those conversations, and I'm not a part of the diplomatic effort. I know that, you know, the secretary of defense and General Townsend have both been clear that we're working with our partnered forces. They've proven that they can help with the isolation of Raqqah on a timeline that reduces the ability of the terrorists that are there, to conduct external operations, and that we need to go ahead and start that isolation effort. As far as what the diplomatic discussions are, I just don't have that level of fidelity to share.

CAPT. DAVIS: (Off-mic.)

Q: Hey, J.D.

Okay, I'm sorry, because I know we keep asking about this, but I just want to make sure I understand this Raqqah thing. So, when you were talking earlier to David's question, when you were talking about the isolation, you said that there's an ongoing dialog about who's going to be conducting that, right?

Were you talking about the dialog is ongoing about who's doing the isolation phase, or who's doing the liberation phase? And just to be clear, the liberation phase is what's also sometimes called assault, or the maneuver phase right? Like that's the -- like essentially what they're doing right now in Mosul, is the liberation phase?

COL. DORRIAN: You've got it exactly right, Courtney. So, the ongoing dialog is about who will liberate the city. So, there may be a role for a variety of forces there, all the options are on the table. Where we're at now is, that the isolation phase, then plan is to work with our partnered force. They've proven that they've been very effective, and they've proven that they can defeat Daesh, because they did that in Manbij. And they've done it, really all up throughout their area.

Q: -- need to be trained. Are they all for the liberation, or are there any that are -- for the isolation phase that still need to be trained?

COL. DORRIAN: There're adequate forces to do the isolation now.

Q: And how many forces is that?

COL. DORRIAN: Ballpark, somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000.

Q: And just to be clear, the isolation phase has not yet begun, right? You're still in the shaping phase. Is that right?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, you know, that's probably a little bit on the gooier side, Courtney. I would suggest to you that the operations that have been conducted up until now have isolated Raqqah somewhat.

What I think we're talking about is a higher level of isolation that greatly reduces the freedom of movement of Daesh to go into and come out of that city. So there's already been a significant amount of pressure put on them. You know, whether that, you know, -- whether you would characterize that as isolation, that's probably something that reasonable people could agree or disagree on.

I think the intent, though, is to intensify that effort, to move closer to the city, to envelop the city and then once everything is in place, to liberate it.

Q: What is the military spelling of the word "gooey," since you've used it twice now?

(Laughter.)

Just for quoting purposes. I'm just kidding.

CAPT. DAVIS: All right.

Q: Thank you.

CAPT. DAVIS: Laurent, I had you on the list next. Laurent with Agence France-Press.

Q: Hi, Colonel. Still about Raqqah. Do you think that the Syrian Democratic Forces will start to gain ground, to gain new ground in the next few weeks?

COL. DORRIAN: I would characterize it as soon, and I think that would be for them to announce when they're going to start. And I'd really like to leave it at that level because, you know, they're the ones that would be moving and they would be the ones that would be fighting. We'll be there to support them with our strikes, and then our advice and assistance, but I think that's an announcement for them to make. And as far as their timing, it'll be their timeline and not our timeline.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. And next to Kristina Wong with The Hill.

Q: Thank you. Hi, Colonel Dorrian. I wanted to follow up on Raqqah. About what percentage of the 10,000 force SAC is ready to liberate Raqqah?

COL. DORRIAN: I -- you sort of broke up there a little bit. Were you saying what percentage of the force is ready to liberate Raqqah?

Q: The Syrian-Arab Coalition, which I understand is about 10,000.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes. Yes, that's ball park correct. It's about a third of the SDF. I think that force is trained and ready to go. One of the things that we hope to do is to increase the training pipeline and create more local Arab forces. So that's one of the things that's being worked now. That doesn't stop you from moving into position and isolating the city.

Q: Are they ready to liberate Raqqah or just isolate?

COL. DORRIAN: Not -- not alone.

Q: And on -- on -- on another issue, do you -- do you anticipate an increase of air operations with the isolation of Raqqah?

And do you think -- does that increase the need to communicate with the Russians or are the Russians not really flying over Raqqah?

COL. DORRIAN: I think I would -- I would have to take that one in order to get you an answer with any depth. I will tell you though that we do continue our coordination channel, our -- in de-conflicting, our operations with the Russians.

We will continue to do that, certainly. As far as the number of operations that would be required to support partner forces in Syria, that sort of remains to be seen. We'll see what plan comes together you know, in the weeks ahead here.

And then we'll probably get more meat on the bone with regard to having some depth on what the requirements from the air would be.

Q: Real quick, where do things stand with the Russians now after the last near miss incident on October 17th? Have any steps been taken to further de-conflict the airspace over Syria?

COL. DORRIAN: We continue to use the de-confliction channel that -- that is in place. I think that it would be good for you to follow-up with the team at OSDPA after this, because my understanding is there were some senior level discussions.

But that is a newer thing that I'm really not privvy to any of the details on, so I think that's -- that's something that happened here in the last day or two.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, to Thomas Watkins with Agence France-Presse.

Q: Hi Colonel, I missed the very beginning of the briefing so I'm sorry if you already addressed this. But can you help me, I'm a bit confused with the timing of the Iraqi stuff.

So last week, Secretary Carter said it would begin the assault, I'm not talking about shaping or isolation of softening operations, he said the assault itself would begin within weeks.

What you just said about the Arab forces still needing training that would suggest that that, within weeks, the time table would be offset by at least I think you said two to four weeks.

So we're already in the month's arena. Can you -- could you just clarify when the -- when do you anticipate -- I'm not talking about the isolation stuff. When do you anticipate the actual assault beginning? Thank you.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, I don't know that I'm gonna be able to provide you a tremendous amount of clarity on that, just in the interest of operational security. General Townsend has said, soon and one of the things that I think might be at play here is that both the further isolation and the assault on Raqqah probably entail a significant amount of very tough fighting.

It could be that we're basically talking about the same thing here and it's more of a semantic discussion that's at play here. I think that might be where we're at.

Q: Do you think that the secretary misspoke when he said weeks?

COL. DORRIAN: No.

Q: And then, finally, how big of a constraining factor is this as yet undone training in terms of time limitations?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, I -- I -- well, that remains to be seen because the work has to start to recruit a force and then train it. The period of instruction is not really a very long period of instruction, but a lot of the fighters that get involved in this type of activity are not a bunch of rookies, they're people that have done some of this type of fighting before to protect their own villages and their own areas.

So, I don't think that I can give you a great detail on the timing but I do know there is an intent to enlarge the force. And in particular, the Arab contingent of the force because we do understand that Raqqa is primarily an Arab city. And just like we have, just like the Iraqis have done in Mosul, we do understand that there is a political dimension and a local acceptance dimension to this fight.

And we want to make sure that the right forces are going in there. And then we want to set diplomatic conditions so that they will be successful and be able to go in there and fight Daesh unconstrained.

STAFF: Next we'll go to Lucas Tomlinson with Fox News.

Q: Colonel, can you talk about the importance of U.S. and coalition air strikes in the Mosul operation?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, the -- the coalition air strikes have set conditions really where Daesh's command and control have been severely disrupted. And that's really been very impactful as far as the ability of the Iraqi Security Forces and the Peshmerga and the CTS to move forward.

They're very tough fighters. They plan for quite some time. But one of the things that we tried very much to do is to time our strikes so that they're out in front of these forces as they're moving forward. Not only does that disrupt the enemy, but it also gives a lot of confidence to forces that already had tremendous momentum as they, you know, moved into this fight.

So, for months before Mosul, we were disrupting Daesh's ability to make money from illicit oil sales, and that means that every fighter in that area gets a nice pay cut. We were going against Daesh leaders and took out a very significant number of them. We've talked about that a number of times over the past several weeks.

That disrupts their command and control and ability to respond as the Iraqi Security Forces advance toward them. They still have some ability to do that, but it's significantly disrupted. And timing is everything. That's one of the reasons why it was very important to the government of Iraq to move forward and capitalize on all the work that's been done from that disruption.

And then, since the campaign started, we dropped more than 3,000 munitions on Daesh targets. So, we're talking about a couple of hundred fighting positions. We're talking about, you know, hundreds of fighters. We're talking at about scores of vehicle-born improvised explosive devices. We're talking about scores of tunnels that Daesh used to create freedom of movement in localized areas. So all those obstacles have been reduced. They haven't all been taken away because it would be virtually impossible to do that with Daesh having been in this area for two years with chances to build these elaborate defenses.

But there's no question that it's very impactful and it makes a big difference. So we're very proud of that work.

Q: Do you -- some of the forward air controllers -- some of these U.S. forces that are forward with the Iraqi forces and Peshmerga, are they playing a big role in these air strikes as well?

COL. DORRIAN: The overwhelming preponderance of the forward air control activity is done from our strike cells far from the front. So really, forward air controllers are effective anywhere that you put them but the overwhelming preponderance of these strikes are coordinated through our strike cell. Now these are areas that are well away from the front. We have one here in Baghdad that's involved in a lot of the ongoing activity here.

So this is people using ISR platforms, they're getting pattern of life, they're examining these targets, they're coordinating with the Iraqis and then making decisions about what types of munitions should be used. So we recognize for example that when you're fighting in dense urban terrain, maybe smaller bombs are better. So we're trying to make those kinds of calculated decisions so that we advance the same goals as the government of Iraq, which is can we do this and do everything that we can to limit collateral damage and reduce the possibility of loss of life for the civilians that are affected by this.

Q: And lastly Colonel, have the popular mobilization forces succeeded in cutting off the road between Tal Afar and Mosul and how popular are these forces with the U.S. military and does it bother you that some of these forces are designated terrorists by the U.S. State Department?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, as far as how successful they've been in cutting off roads, I think I'd have to check that and I'm not even sure that I could get total fidelity on that. What I would say is some of the reporting on these popular mobilization forces doesn't have as much depth as we would like to see. We do understand that they've played a role in responding when Daesh was on the advance.

COL. DORRIAN: Not all of them are involved in human rights abuses. Some of them are working very closely with the government of Iraq and the Iraqi security forces and so we absolutely understand that these groups that have been involved in acts of terror and human rights abuses, we just -- obviously we're not going to help them. That's the law, for one, but a lot of these other groups are working hand in hand with the government of Iraq to execute the government of Iraq's plan.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Next we'll go to Jim Michaels with USA Today.

Q: Colonel, regarding Raqqah, does the SDF currently have a command hierarchy capable of planning and operation of the complexity of Raqqah? And also, then, the ability to command forces on the ground once the liberation phase begins? Or -- and is the coalition working to develop those capabilities within the SDF now?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, we advise and assist the SDF, our partner force. We do believe that they have the expertise. They -- they were very successful in developing a plan for the liberation of Manbij.

And we believe that certainly, with coalition help, they can do the same in Raqqah. So we do believe that they have the capability to do this and that's one of the reasons why General Townsend has said and the secretary has said that, you know, we will move forward soon with that force.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next to Luis Martinez with ABC News.

Q: Hey, John. Quick question about the offensive -- the Iraqi security force offensive out of Qayyarah. That seems directed to go up along the west bank of the Tigris toward Mosul. Why is that one progressing much slower than the eastward offenses on the other side of the Tigris?

COL. DORRIAN: You know what, Luis, I think I'd probably have to refer you to the government of Iraq as far as their progress. I would say that these types of operations have their own pace.

Sometimes, you know, when you -- when you're up against a tough enemy, it may be a variety of factors. It has to do with the aggressiveness of the advancing force. It has to do with the toughness and the amount of distance covered.

I think the -- the southern advance was a much further distance away from the city at the start. There are a variety of reasons and, you know, nobody ever said as we began this and as the Iraqis began this that everybody would show up at exactly the same time.

So the Iraqis have been very pleased with their progress. I've talked to them. They've made substantial progress on every axis so they're on plan.

CAPT. DAVIS: Jeff Seldin with Voice of America.

Q: Colonel, thank you very much. I'm wondering -- I know you said there's not a lot of movement to the west of Mosul with Islamic State fighters going in or out of the city.

But given all the area between Mosul and Raqqah, can you characterize in any way just how strong the Islamic State fighting force presence is in that area? Whether you have numbers or just a sense of how difficult the fight would be in those areas outside of the cities?

And also, even though there hasn't been as many civilians fleeing Mosul so far, as some of the aid groups have anticipated, is there any sense of within those that have, how many Islamic State fighters have tried to sneak out with them?

I know that at some of the IDP camps, they've been doing some of the screening already in that a number of people have been taken away. Do you have any -- any sense of how many of those are actually ISIS?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, first to the -- to the west of -- of Mosul, a lot of that area out there is just desert. So, you know, it would be very difficult for me to do an estimate of exactly how many are out there. It's sort of an unforgiving area. There's not -- not that much out there.

Now, there is a substantial Daesh presence in Tal Afar. And, you know, we expect to see some tough fighting there in the days and weeks ahead.

As far as, let's see -- the number of -- of IDPs that are coming out of Mosul, I think we're still very early in the campaign, very early. And so we don't want to, you know, get ahead of ourselves and suggest that there won't be a lot.

You know, I saw some numbers the other day that it was ballpark 21,000. That may be evolving, and we may see that grow much larger in the days ahead. The Iraqis have been planning for this for quite some time. And they do have procedures in place. And they do plan to make sure that its forces that are under the government's command and control that are doing the screening of the IDPs to make sure that, you know, that's done in an appropriate fashion.

Daesh has pretty much done everything that they can to make things more dangerous. And the Iraqis are going into that effort -- that screening effort understanding that they are almost certain to see Daesh fighters try to infiltrate the internally displaced persons.

So, they're going to be very careful about this and very deliberate about it. And really, everything about the campaign I think is going to move at a pace that allows the Iraqi security forces to try and protect civilian life and protect themselves from an enemy that has shown at every turn that they don't care about the civilians that are around them, and they're willing to do horrible, horrible things in order to inflict damage on civilians and certainly the Iraqi security forces.

So, a very dangerous situation. It's one that's very complicated for the Iraqis. But they are ready for this and they do know that -- they know what they're doing.

Q: Have any Islamic State fighters have been captured so far trying to sneak out with the IDPs?

COL. DORRIAN: I'm afraid I don't -- I don't know if that would be available. We'll take that question and see. I think that might be one that we just have to refer you to the Iraqis to see what they say.

CAPT. DAVIS: Kasim, I believe you had a follow-up?

Q: About this 30,000 to 40,000 number, colonel. You know, what other groups are also included in this number? Because we know that the number does not apply just to SDF.

COL. DORRIAN: That -- that includes the Syrian-Arab coalition, too.

Q: Syrian-Arab coalition is already under the umbrella of SDF, right? Am I correct?

COL. DORRIAN: That's right.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Yeah, we're about out of time, but go ahead fast.

Q: Also, you know, what is the incentive for a group to take part in isolation -- isolation of Raqqah city, but not allowed to get in or to hold territory out of it.

COL. DORRIAN: Well, that's an easy one. That -- what we're trying to do is facilitate the defeat of Daesh. And Daesh has driven millions of people from their homes, killed tens of thousands, some in the most horrible possible way. So, if you have an opportunity to contribute to their defeat and demise, I think that they're going to be people that are interested in doing that.

CAPT. DAVIS: And with that, J.D., thank you very much for your time. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

COL. DORRIAN: Thanks very much, Jeff.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/995832/

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Deputy Secretary General thanks Montenegro for hosting NATO civil emergency exercise

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

02 Nov. 2016 - 03 Nov. 2016

Last updated: 03 Nov. 2016 14:58

Visiting Montenegro on Thursday (3 November 2016), Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller congratulated the nations and teams that participated at the CRNA GORA 2016 civil emergency exercise organised by the Alliance's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response and Coordination Centre (EADRCC).

Speaking at the closing ceremony alongside President Filip Vujanovic, the Deputy Secretary General thanked Montenegro for hosting the exercise. "Exercises like the one just concluded help to ensure that lives will be saved through prompt and effective multinational coordination," she said. "Many nations working together to meet a common challenge  this is what NATO has been about for nearly 70 years. Working together  in areas related to defence and civil emergencies  we are greater than the sum of our individual countries acting alone."

Ms. Gottemoeller congratulated Montenegro on celebrating its tenth year of independence in 2016 and on its progress toward NATO membership. She underlined that the Alliance looks forward to welcoming Montenegro as NATO's 29th member in the near future.

During her visit, the Deputy Secretary General also met with President Filip Vujanovic, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, Deputy Prime Minister, Dusko Markovic, and Defence Minister, Dr. Milica Pejanovic Durisic.

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ARG/MEU Team Flexed Combat Power During Operation Odyssey Lightning

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161103-05

Release Date: 11/3/2016 10:57:00 AM

By Capt. Jean F. Durham, Wasp Amphibious Ready Group Public Affairs

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- Amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio (LPD 17) conducted precision air strikes with AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters during combat operations in support of Operation Odyssey Lightning.

These operations highlight the flexibility of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)/Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) team and the amphibious transport dock platform.

Quotes:

"This action shows the incredible flexibility and combat power that the MEU and Navy-Marine Corps team bring to the fight." - 22nd MEU Commanding Officer, Col. Todd Simmons

"This deployment and this operation has been a vivid illustration of the impressive capabilities of the ARG/MEU team. From the remarkable amount of ordnance expended from aircraft flown off Wasp's deck during the first 2 1/2 months of OOL to the groundbreaking airstrike efforts taking place from the deck of the San Antonio, the Wasp ARG has been very busy. As we've proven, this ARG/MEU team is a flexible and lethal force that will continue to operate effectively across both the 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation." - Commander, Amphibious Squadron 6, Capt. F. Byron Ogden

"Conducting strike operations in support of OOL highlights the versatility of the amphibious transport dock ship. San Antonio, being the first of her class, has been at the leading edge of the Navy's development of LPDs. Now we are making full use of this amazing ship with the 22nd MEU's Air Combat Element carrying out precision air strike operations off of our flight deck." - USS San Antonio Commanding Officer, Capt. Darren Nelson

Quick Facts:

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) elements, elements of which are embarked on San Antonio, are conducting precision strike operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Sirte, Libya. San Antonio's Sailors and Marines are maintaining all organic capabilities of the LPD-class ship, while simultaneously providing air support to the Government of National Accord (GNA)-aligned forces fighting to retake Sirte from the grasp of ISIL.

San Antonio completed a relief in place (RIP) with Wasp Oct. 23. Wasp had been conducting precision strikes in support of OOL since Aug. 1.

Approximately 2,500 Marines and Sailors with the 22nd MEU departed Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in June to deploy to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation with the Wasp ARG. The MEU serves as a sea-based, expeditionary crisis response force capable of conducting amphibious missions across the full range of military operations.

San Antonio is deployed as part of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group to the U.S. 6th 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 Wasp, San Antonio, and amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LPD 17).

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Amphibious Squadron 11 Completes Patrol

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161103-01

Release Date: 11/3/2016 7:50:00 AM

From Amphibious Squadron 11 Public Affairs

SASEBO, Japan (NNS) -- Ships of Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 11 completed their three-month, Indo-Asia-Pacific region patrol as part of the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG), Nov. 3.

The Bonhomme Richard ARG/Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) team consisted of amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay (LPD 20), amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42), and Marines from the 31st MEU.

Additional supporting commands included Naval Beach Unit 7 and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25.

"The Sailors and Marines of the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Readiness Group and PHIBRON 11 executed this deployment safely as a well-honed team," said Capt. Ed Thompson, commander, PHIBRON 11. "From conducting large-scale multilateral exercises like PHIBLEX (Amphibious Landing Exercise) to operating forward throughout the South China Sea, the members of this squadron remained focused on the mission and on taking care of one another like true professionals. I am extremely proud of each and everyone throughout the ARG/MEU team."

Since departing Sasebo, Japan, Aug. 4, the ships and crews of PHIBRON 11 participated in multiple exercises and events that honed their amphibious capabilities -- one of which was the U.S.-only, biennial field training exercise Valiant Shield 16, which focused on the integration of joint training in a blue-water environment among U.S. forces.

"Green Bay and the 31st MEU demonstrated a broad range of capabilities of the blue and green team during Valiant Shield 2016," said Capt. Nathan Moyer, commanding officer of Green Bay. "This lets us, as an expeditionary strike group, move into a larger picture; including operating with special forces and operating as a battle group. That allows us to strengthen our ability to project power wherever it is needed."

Another keynote event was PHIBLEX 33, an Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and U.S. military forces bilateral exercise that enhanced interoperability between amphibious forces of both nations -- including the ability to provide relief and assistance in the event of natural disasters and other crises which endanger public health and safety.

Additional training events included visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) training and several live-fire exercises, including a missile exercises that saw NATO Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles and Rolling Airframe Missiles successfully intercept remote-controlled drones.

Port visits during the patrol included Bonhomme Richard and Green Bay's joint visit to Hong Kong, Bonhomme Richard's visit to Singapore, Germantown's visit to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and Green Bay's visit to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Operations throughout the deployment enhanced regional partnerships and continued to maintain a forward presence of naval forces to allow rapid response to any potential real-world contingency in the region.

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Pentagon: US, Turkish Forces Liberated 50 Northern Syrian Villages From Daesh

Sputnik News

21:21 03.11.2016(updated 21:49 03.11.2016)

US and Turkish forces liberated approximately 50 villages to date, further isolating the areas in the north of Syria surrounding Raqqa, according to Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. John Dorrian.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The operation by the US-led coalition to force the Daesh out of the Syrian-Turkish border region has cleared 50 villages in northern Syria, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. John Dorrian said at a briefing Thursday.

"In Syria, Operation Noble Lance  the operation with Turkey and their partnered forces  has liberated approximately 50 villages to date, further isolating the areas in the north of Syria surrounding Raqqa," Dorrian told reporters.

Dorrian said the operation has further isolated the Daesh in pockets around Raqqa, the Syrian stronghold of the Daesh.

US special forces launched Operation Noble Lance with Turkish forces and their partners on September 17.

Dorrian said the US-led coalition has conducted more than 100 airstrikes against the group's supply routes to limit their ability to freely move in and out of Raqqa.

The city of Raqqa became the Islamic State's capital in Syria after it was captured by the group in 2014. In October, the Pentagon said the offensive to isolate the city would begin shortly.

 Sputnik

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Superior in Every Way: Why Vietnam Wants Russia's 'Dolphin' Rescue Ship

Sputnik News

16:47 03.11.2016(updated 16:58 03.11.2016)

Russia's 21300C "Dolphin" search and rescue ship has interested the Vietnamese military because it boasts a range of capabilities not found in its foreign counterparts, the ship's head constructor Alexander Forst told Sputnik.

Last week the Russian newspaper Izvestiya reported that Russia's 21300C Delfin (Dolphin) search and rescue ship has interested the Vietnamese Defense Ministry.

Early last month, the Vietnamese military asked Russian diplomats for information about the price of the rescue ship and its equipment; India has also expressed an interest.

The 21300C is constructed at the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau in St. Petersburg, which has so far provided one of the ships to the Russian Navy, named "Igor Belousov" in honor of the outstanding shipbuilding engineer.

Igor Belousov has a water displacement of 5,000 metric tons, and is 100 meters long and 17 meters wide. The ship's speed can reach 15 knots (28 km/h), it can travel up to 3,500 nautical miles without refueling, and carries a crew of 100 sailors.

The ship's primary purpose is search and rescue, and it boasts advanced equipment for finding ships and submarines in distress, as well as hydrographic equipment for studying the physical features of oceans and coastal areas.

The head constructor of the 21300C Dolphin, Alexander Forst, told Sputnik that years of experience enabled the Almaz shipyard to produce the sought-after ship.

"In the 1960s the Soviet search and rescue fleet was recognized as the best in the world. It is true that these traditions became a little lost, but the rich traditions accumulated over decades and sea rescue experiences are embodied in this ship," Forst said.

The ship can carry out a full range of rescue operations, and is fitted with radar, sonar and aerial technology, enabling it to find missing accident victims, navigational instruments and communications.

"Here Dolphin's capabilities are similar to analogous foreign models from Italy, Japan, Korea, Sweden and China. However, it also has some unique characteristics. Firstly, its deep-water apparatus gives it increased seaworthiness during operations. The second feature of Dolphin is the stationary decompression station, which provides a safe descent for divers and effective decompression for rescued submariners."

"The third distinguishing feature is the single power system. Two power plants (comprised of six diesel generators) are located in different compartments, but they work as one power plant, automatically providing complete reliability," Forst explained.

Two Katran fast rescue boats are also on board the 21300C, whose engines are powerful enough to tow life rafts from the emergency vessel. The Katran are fitted with special devices to pull stricken sailors out of the water, even if they have lost consciousness.

The 21300C is also equipped with the "Bester" standalone deepwater rescue apparatus, which is capable of diving to a depth of 720 meters and docking with a distressed submarine, even at an angle of 45 degrees. During one dive, the unit is capable of saving up to 22 people.

"This apparatus was designed by the Lazurit design bureau in Nizhniy Novgorod; Dolphin only releases it into the water and lifts it back up. The device is immersed, carries out a search for the stricken submarine, docks, and literally pulls itself to the rescue compartment. By unfolding the hatches, the Bester crew help the submariners climb into it."

"Then, the device floats to the surface. Incidentally, Dolphin also has all the necessary equipment to provide medical care, including surgery," Forst said.

A helipad, fire-fighting equipment, remote-control operated diving vehicle, special suits for divers and rescuers and the latest diving bell can all be provided on board the 21300C, too.

The Russian navy's Igor Belousov arrived in the port of Vladivostok on September 4. On the way, the ship called at ports in Europe, North Africa and Asia, including India and Vietnam, where its capabilities earned the admiration of the local navy.

As part of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, the ship has already taken part in navy drills which demonstrated its superiority over foreign search and rescue ships, Forst said.

"The results of the exercise confirmed the complete compliance of the ship' design characteristics with the requirements for the vessel. A training dive with the Bester apparatus was carried out, which brought some "injured" sailors to the surface, transferred them to a decompression station and imitated decompression. It was proven that according to a range of criteria, Dolphin is superior to all foreign analogues," Forst concluded.

 Sputnik

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African Union-UN mission in Darfur welcomes unilateral six-month truce by two armed groups

3 November 2016  Welcoming a six-month unilateral cessation of hostilities by the Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi and the Justice and Equality Movement-Gibril, the African Union (AU)-United Nations mission in Darfur today called on Abdul Wahid El Nur, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid to also make a similar declaration.

"Each other party to the conflict has made gestures to indicate willingness to engage in peace; now is the time for Mr. El Nur to make such a gesture," said Martin Uhomoibhi, the Joint Special Representative for Darfur and the Head of the AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in a news release issued by the Mission.

Also in the news release, the Mission welcomed an earlier announcement by President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan of a unilateral cessation of hostilities till the end of this year.

The announcements by Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi and the Justice and Equality Movement-Gibril entered into effect on 31 October.

While noting existing challenges, UNAMID expressed hoped that gestures, such as the cessation of hostilities, would encourage all parties to the conflict to commit to a negotiated solution, including through the signing of the cessation of hostilities document presented to the parties by the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and in line with the Roadmap Agreement.

Further in the statement, Mr. Uhomoibhi underscored that the mission would continue to work to protect civilians in Darfur and creating a conducive environment for sustainable peace in the region.

UNAMID was established by the UN Security Council in July 2007 and it took over from the African Union Mission in Sudan in December that year. The mission's mandate was extended until 30 June 2017 by the Council through its resolution 2296.

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UN Security Council 'strongly condemns' ceasefire violations in Mali

3 November 2016  Strongly condemning repeated violations of the ceasefire arrangements by the Plateforme and Coordination in and around northern Mali's restive Kidal town, the United Nations Security Council today warned that such acts threaten the viability of the peace agreement in the country and called on the armed groups to immediately cease hostilities and return to dialogue.

In a Presidential Statement issued by the Council after consultations, the 15-member body "urged the Government, and the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to fully and sincerely maintain their commitments under the Agreement [on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali]."

"The Security Council also recalled its readiness to consider targeted sanctions against those who take actions to obstruct the implementation of the Agreement as well as those who resume hostilities and violate the ceasefire, as expressed in its resolution 2295 (2016)," the Statement added.

The Security Council also urged the Government to engage with the UN Secretary-General, through his Special Representative for Mali, to establish "concrete benchmarks and timelines" to assess the progress toward the implementation of the Agreement as well as on members of the Comite de suivi de l'Accord and other relevant international partners to continue their support to the Agreement's implementation.

Expressing concern over the expansion of terrorist and other criminal activities across the country, and, in particular, into central and southern Mali, as well as the intensification of intercommunal violence in the centre of Mali, the Council emphasized that the national authorities have the primary obligation for the provision of stability and security throughout the country's territory.

Additionally, strongly condemning attacks, including terrorist attacks, against the Malian defense and security forces, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA) and the French forces that support it, the Council stressed the need to bring the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of such acts to justice.

Also in the statement, the Security Council further expressed serious concern over the insecurity that hinders humanitarian access, as well as attacks against aid workers, and emphasized the need for all parties to respect the principles of humanitarian assistance.

The Security Council also emphasized the need for all parties to ensure the safety and protection of civilians receiving assistance and the security of humanitarian personnel operating in Mali.

The Malian Government has been seeking to restore stability and rebuild following a series of setbacks since early 2012, including a military coup d'etat, renewed fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, and the seizure of its northern territory by radical extremists. The country has also been wracked by a series of humanitarian crises.

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30 Civilians, 2 US Soldiers Killed in Afghan Fighting

By Ayaz Gul November 03, 2016

Afghan authorities said Thursday that at least 30 civilians, including many children, were among those killed in pre-dawn clashes between U.S.-backed government forces and the Taliban in the northern Kunduz province.

The U.S. military confirmed two of its soldiers were also killed in the fighting, and another two were wounded.

The deadly fighting on the outskirts of the provincial capital erupted after Afghan forces with the help of American partners raided an insurgent compound.

"The service members came under fire during a train, advise and assist mission with our Afghan partners to clear a Taliban position and disrupt the group's operations in Kunduz district," said a U.S. statement.

A provincial government spokesman, Mehmood Danish, said that four members of the Afghan Commando forces were killed, and "unfortunately the fighting also left at least 30 civilians dead, including women and children." Many, many more wounded, he added. He said the joint operation also inflicted heavy casualties on Taliban insurgents, killing 26.

Earlier, residents carrying the bodies of about 20 people  including children  took to the streets of Kunduz to protest the killing of civilians.

Amnesty International has demanded a prompt, thorough and impartial inquiry into the airstrike blamed for civilian casualties.

"Previous violations of international humanitarian law by U.S./NATO troops still remain uninvestigated and unpunished. This cannot be another example of inaction in the face of such loss of life," said Champa Patel, South Asia Director for the London-based human rights defender.

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, described the loss of his troops as "heartbreaking" and offered his deepest condolences on behalf of his forces to the families and friends of the victims.

"Our wounded soldiers are receiving the best medical care possible and we are keeping them and their families in our thoughts today, as well," he said.

Despite the tragic event, the general said, U.S. forces are steadfast in their commitment to help Afghan partners defend their nation.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, says that three of its fighters were killed in the pre-dawn clashes, which erupted after the U.S. military raided an insurgent-held compound in Kunduz city.

In a statement sent to media, Mujahid gave a much higher death toll inflicted on U.S. forces and alleged that the deadly clashes prompted "occupying forces," a reference to the U.S.-led military coalition, to conduct airstrikes on civilian areas, causing many casualties.

Afghan officials say the Taliban often uses civilian localities as shields to conduct insurgent activities.

Kunduz has been under attack from the Taliban for weeks, and the insurgents came close to capturing the city early last month before Afghan forces pushed them back with the help of U.S. air power.

The provincial capital briefly fell to the Taliban about a year ago.

Despite the onset of Afghan winter, there has been no let-up in Taliban attacks, particularly in northern provinces.

Afghan security forces have been able to keep the insurgents from capturing any urban center only with the U.S. assistance, said the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

The U.S. government-monitoring agency in its quarterly report released earlier this week revealed that in the first eight months of 2016, Afghan forces suffered more than 5,500 deaths, while around 10,000 were wounded.

It said the Afghan government also suffered territorial loses during that period. The Taliban has stepped up battlefield attacks since August, inflicting more casualties on government forces.

According to the U.S. military assessment, Afghan forces suffered around 5,000 deaths, while 15,000 were wounded during the entire year of 2015.

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DRC: Kabila Critics Want Probe Into Ties Between Family-run Bank, Electoral Commission

By William Clowes November 03, 2016

New allegations about ties between the Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral commission and a bank linked to the president's family have sparked calls for an investigation. The allegations come amid heightened tensions about delayed elections in the country.

A Belgian newspaper published a report last week saying the Congolese electoral commission paid at least $2.4 million in fees to a bank with links to DRC President Joseph Kabila.

The paper also said the commission withdrew $7.5 million in cash from the bank, BGFI, for reasons that are unclear. The claims relate to a $25 million credit facility the bank extended to the electoral commission, known as the CENI.

DRC elections were supposed to be held this month, but have been postponed until at least April 2018. The government has claimed that CENI's lack of financial resources is one of the main reasons behind the delay.

Georges Kapiamba, president of the Congolese Association for Access to Justice, told VOA the revelations are even more serious because they concern the resources put at the disposal of the CENI and because the electoral commission pretended it was unable to organize elections in the constitutional timeframe on the grounds that it did not have the money.

Kapiamba has written to Congo's attorney general, asking him investigate. But he does not expect his request will be acted on.

Based on our past experience, Kapiamba said, we are not convinced the attorney general can do it with the independence we would like. Kapiamba claims those with the resources or who belong to the ruling political family can obtain protection whatever the gravity or degree of the acts they commit.

The government of Belgium has also called for a full investigation.

Denials of wrongdoing

Both CENI and BGFI have denied wrongdoing.

According to the bank, the fees are in no way unusual for a line of credit of this size, while the CENI's president has claimed that the cash withdrawals were made to pay salaries, rent vehicles and buy fuel in remote parts of the country which are unserved by banks.

The disclosures have attracted extra attention because an adoptive brother of Kabila is BGFI's CEO and one of the president's sisters was listed as the owner of 40 percent of the bank as of October 2014.

The allegations, the source of which is documents handed to the media by a former BGFI employee, also target Albert Yuma, president of Gecamines, the state mining company, and a close ally of Kabila.

The Belgian newspaper article says in 2013 the central bank deposited $43 million in a BGFI account held by a food processing company chaired by Yuma that was never repaid.

The same bank reportedly extended a loan of $30 million to Gecamines in September 2015 and deducted interested payments worth several million dollars on two separate occasions.

Yuma and the bank have denied any wrongdoing. They say the accusation about the central bank diverting public funds to Yuma's company is "false and without foundation," and that the second interest payment was taken from Gecamines due to a mistake that was rectified.

Kapiamba told VOA he is unconvinced by the explanations, but unfortunately, he added, the Congolese justice system does not allow the population to confirm or quash the allegations.

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Amid 'Separation,' US Sends New Envoy to Manila

By Steve Herman November 03, 2016

A soft-spoken veteran U.S. diplomat with considerable experience facing the North Koreans has been handed what may be his most challenging assignment: ambassador to the Philippines  a longtime defense treaty partner whose leader has announced a "separation" from the United States.

Sung Kim was sworn in Thursday at the State Department by Secretary of State John Kerry, who downplayed the rapidly deteriorating environment, saying he remains confident about the bilateral relationship "notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another."

The secretary of state also announced he would like to visit the Philippines again before he leaves his post.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has not only spurned Washington, but he launched obscenity-laced insults at President Barack Obama and departing ambassador Philip Goldberg, announced an end to joint military maneuvers with the U.S., and initiated a strategic pivot from Washington to Beijing.

The Chinese quickly rewarded Duterte with $9 billion worth of low-interest loans and pledged to allow Filipino fishermen back in contested waters.

Kim's experience

Kerry noted the career diplomat "has even done battle with radioactive nuclear material"  a reference to one of Kim's 12 trips to North Korea when his shoes were contaminated during an inspection of a nuclear facility there.

Cleansing the toxic relationship with the Philippines, however, will prove more complex than a replacement of footwear.

Kim, a former special envoy for denuclearization talks with North Korea and subsequently ambassador to his native South Korea, is regarded as brilliant and calm, as Kerry pointed out Thursday. While behind the scenes he is a firm negotiator and blunt in characterizing a situation, he comes off as shy and somewhat ill at ease in public speaking and interacting with the media.

One of Kim's strong points, according to Kerry, "is that he goes into difficult meeting after difficult meeting, looking as if he had just gotten out of the lotus position."

One of his predecessors as envoy to the Philippines during the tumultuous era of the dictatorial kleptocracy of President Ferdinand Marcos contends, "Sung Kim's personality might be quite nicely suited" to the job at this juncture.

Human rights

Michael Armacost, speaking to VOA News, also said the new American envoy to Manila should "be a little patient" and avoid criticizing Duterte's controversial war on drugs. Since taking office four months ago, 4,700 people have been gunned down by police and vigilantes in the Philippines.

"The killings, for which few details are known and no efforts are made at accountability, have been a profound setback for human rights and the rule of law in the Philippines," according to Human Rights Watch.

The State Department declines to confirm reports that the U.S. commercial sale of 26,000 assault rifles to Philippines law enforcement has been halted amid concerns about the killings.

U.S. officials in public also have downplayed Duterte's quick embrace of Beijing, saying the strategic and trade relationship should not be viewed as a zero-sum game. Armacost  who is the Shorenstein APARC Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University  and some other longtime Philippines watchers are optimistic about the course of the relationship.

The common interests between America and its former colony cannot quickly or easily be replaced with a Chinese embrace, they argue, notwithstanding a quarter of Filipinos able to trace some of their ancestry to China.

Strong ties

The deep connection with America for the average Filipino is quite current and lucrative: 4 million Filipinos live in the United States and 30,000 are on active duty in the U.S. military. Remittances from Filipinos in the United States total about $10 billion dollars annually  the largest single amount from any country and nearly a third of all such funds flowing into the Philippines from overseas.

"I felt a lot of love in Manila but not from everyone," said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, who recently held talks in Manila with government officials there. "An independent foreign policy is no more, no less what we expect from any partner. It doesn't mean we're at odds."

Russel declined to say whether he found a disconnect between Duterte's rhetoric and Philippines government officials.

"It's not for me to handicap the internal dynamics of the Philippines government," he told reporters. "We seek to get things done with the Philippines that are of value to them."

The freshly sworn-in Ambassador Kim, in keeping with protocol at Thursday's ceremony and characteristic of his subdued public persona, made no note of the tension between Manila and Washington in his remarks, saying nothing more direct than "I am eager to get started" and vowing "the U.S. and the Philippines are and will continue to be close friends, partners and allies."

Kim instantly received his first brush-back from Filipinos when he greeted those attending the ceremony by mispronouncing the traditional Tagalog greeting mabuhay as "mah-boo-hay."

The crowd corrected him, loudly replying in unison: "mah-boo-hai."

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Group Says Flimsy Evidence Used to Hold Afghans in Guantanamo for Years

By Ayaz Gul November 03, 2016

An Afghanistan-based independent research group says unsubstantiated evidence and "fantastical allegations" led to years of detention for eight Afghan men at the U.S.-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a report released Thursday based on publicly available U.S. military and court documents, the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) said it focused on examining the cases of the longest-serving Afghan detainees at the controversial prison, which was established 15-years ago following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

It says the detainees in question include three men that U.S. authorities freed and transferred to the United Arab Emirates in August, but whose movement is still restricted. They were part of a group of 16 prisoners released to authorities abroad, 13 of whom were never charged with a crime during their time in detention.

The report examined the men's case files and said the documents used the U.S. military numerous errors involving dates, geography and factions. It said the U.S. documents mix up groups that laid down their weapons long ago or never fought with jihadists.

'Full of mistakes'

The Afghan case files are "full of mistakes, bad translations and fanatical allegations, and evidence made up of hearsay, double hearsay, unsubstantiated intelligence reports and testimony from those who were tortured," asserted Kate Clark, the report author and a senior researcher at AAN.

When asked about the report, U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson said, "The Department of Defense is committed to treating all detainees humanely, and in accordance with all applicable domestic law and policy and international obligations, including Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions."

The Pentagon also cited its plan to eventually close the Guantanamo Bay facility, in part by transferring detainees who are not considered threats. "Of the nearly 800 detainees at one time held at Guantanamo Bay, more than 85 percent have been transferred," the document says.

A media adviser for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told VOA that the Afghan government is confident the eight men are not a threat.

"It has been 12 years and they haven't been put on trial yet; because there is not such a crime committed by them that American administration or judiciary system could investigate," Nabi Misdaq said.

U.S. officials have long argued that the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay were dangerous terrorists. However researchers found that none of the eight detainees they studied were captured on the battlefield. The group says U.S. documents show six of them were handed over to the U.S. military by Afghan forces or neighboring Pakistan and two were detained after tip-offs from unknown sources.

"Viewing the U.S. detention regime through the lens of the Afghan experience in Guantanamo raises broader questions about the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence and justice," the report lamented.

A former plastic flower seller, a private gatekeeper and grocer are among the detainees who were accused of links with the al-Qaida network or the Taliban, according to the AAN report.

Kafkaesque

It added that Afghan detainee Muhammad Rahim was accused of being a personal translator and aide to Osama Bin Laden, but the precise allegations against him remain secret.

"Looking into the files of these Afghans was like being in a Kafka novel," said Clark. "It's been a puzzling, disturbing experience. After years of holding these men in detention, the U.S. has yet to present a coherent case for holding any of them."

Despite his pledges to close the controversy-marred Guantanamo prison before leaving the White House, President Barack Obama has been unable to do so in the face of opposition from the U.S. Congress.

However, he has scaled down the facility by transferring to various countries detainees who are not considered a threat to U.S. interests.

Afghans make up a quarter of the population ever held at Guantanamo, the largest national grouping, according to the AAN report.

VOA"s Afghan service and National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report

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IS Showing No Signs of Panic as Leader Calls for 'Total War'

By Jeff Seldin November 03, 2016

Fewer than 5,000 Islamic State fighters trying to hold onto the Iraqi city of Mosul are being urged to fight to the death.

"Know that holding your ground with honor is a thousand times easier than retreating in shame," the terror group's leader and self-declared caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi exhorted in an audio recording released via social media late Tuesday.

"Do not retreat," he said. "This total war and the great jihad only increased our firm belief, God willing, and our conviction that this is all a prelude to victory."

The message from Baghdadi is the first since last December and comes nearly three weeks into the Iraqi and Kurdish campaign to retake Mosul, which has been under IS control for two years.

U.S. intelligence sources say there is no reason to doubt the audio's authenticity and agree, based on the content of the remarks, it was likely made recently.

No IS withdrawal

The more than 30-minute long speech included references to slain IS leaders Muhammad Abu al Adnani, the terror group's chief spokesman and external operations chief, and former minister of information Wail Adil Hassan Salman al Fayad, both killed in U.S. airstrikes.

There was also discussion of U.S.-backed operations to retake Mosul as well as what some analysts described as references to comments by former Iraqi officials, suggesting Baghdadi recorded his message within the last 10 days.

U.S. intelligence officials and analysts believe the message was clearly meant to rally IS fighters and also to likely dispel any notions or rumors the reclusive Baghdadi had been killed.

"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's statement is the fastest in tempo and strongest among his speeches," according to a tweet by Hassan Hassan, a resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy who has written extensively about IS.

"The new tone/message tells us clearly that ISIS wants the remaining strongholds to be a big show," Hassan added in another tweet. "It won't withdraw as it did before."

Choosing their fights

At least so far, all indications are that IS fighters are prepared to make such a stand in spite of overwhelming odds.

"They don't seem to be panicking," a U.S. official told VOA.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said despite the faster than expected advance of Iraqi and Kurdish forces, IS fighters in and around Mosul were showing no signs of abandoning their training or giving up their well-known tactics.

U.S. Defense officials also say it appears IS is picking its fights carefully.

"In some villages, they slice through them like butter, and there's very little resistance at all, and ISIL up and leaves," Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis said Wednesday when asked about the type of resistance Iraqi and Kurdish forces were encountering around Mosul.

"There are others that put up quite a fight," he added.

Even civilians who have been rescued from IS say there are few signs the terror group is ready to fall apart.

"I spoke to this large group of civilians who had been marched by ISIS north," said Human Rights Watch senior Iraq researcher Belkis Wille after visiting with civilians at Jeddah camp, near Qayyarah airfield south of Mosul.

"They made it sound fairly organized," she said. "ISIS came door to door, knocked on each door, told people they had to leave. They had vehicles kind of patrolling the group as they were walking."

How long?

The question is just how long the group will be able to maintain that type of coherence, with the toughest and bloodiest fighting still ahead.

And while in the past IS fighters have often fled in the face of overwhelming force, that may not be the case for those forces left in Mosul.

"If they're still in Mosul, given that they've known there's a massive buildup of troops in that area, that means they probably want to fight till the end," said former CIA analyst Aki Peritz, now with George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.

And with the number of likely escape routes shrinking, IS fighters may not have much of a choice.

"When you trap a rat in a cage, that rat might fight back," Peritz said.

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CZ-5 Space Launch Vehicle

The Long March-5 rocket will be the key for China's future space missions. China's second attempt to fire a heavy-duty heavy-rocket of the "Long March 5" ("LM-5") failed on 02 July 2017. Xinhua initially reported "China's launch of Long March-5 Y2 carrier rocket fails." It then reported: "Anomaly was detected during its flight and further investigation will be carried out." Analysis based on computer simulations and ground tests showed that a problem occurred in a turbine exhaust device in the engine of the first stage of the rocket, the China National Space Administration said.

The rocket flew to 346 seconds and suddenly failed. According to the analysis and simulation calculation and ground test results, the cause of the failure is that the core-stage liquid-hydrogen liquid-oxygen engine has an abnormality in the local structure, and the engine thrust is instantaneously dropped, causing the launch task to be defeated.

The Long March-5 made its maiden flight in November 2016 in Wenchang. It can carry a payload of 25 tonnes into low Earth orbit and 14 tonnes in geostationary orbit, over two times the capacity of previous Chinese carrier rockets. China had scheduled eight launches of Long March-5 in the coming years for the nation's lunar probe, manned space station and Mars probe missions.

China launched the Long March-5 Y2, the country's second heavy-lift carrier rocket, from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province on 02 July 2017. Propellant for the rocket, which was to send the Shijian-18 communication satellite into orbit, began to be pumped in on the afternoon of 01 July 2917. After arriving at the launch base in early May, the rocket had been assembled and tested there. The launch was to be the last drill for the Long March-5 series before it carried the Chang'e-5 lunar probe into space in the latter half of 2017.

China on 03 November 2016 launched its new heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province. The rocket, which looked much "fatter" than other rockets of Long March series, blasted off at 8:43 p.m. Beijing Time from the launch center. The payload was successfully sent into a preset orbit about 30 minutes later. The State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence later announced the complete success of the launch. It was the second launch from the coastal Wenchang center. On June 25, China's new generation medium-sized Long March-7 made its debut at the site.

The Long March-5 is a large, two-stage rocket with a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low-Earth orbit, the largest of China's carrier rockets. According to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the developer of Long March-5, the rocket uses two kinds of fuel, kerosene and liquid oxygen as well as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, rather than highly toxic propellant, making it more environmental friendly and less expensive.

Included in the same family of launch vehicles, which is named in honor of the long march of the army in the years 1934-1936. - operation of regrouping troops under the command of Mao Zedong. Is a new generation Chinese carrier rocket (also includes CZ-CZ-6 and 7) using a non-toxic liquid hydrogen, kerosene and liquid oxygen. Rockets of the previous series "Long March" used toxic heptyl.

China planned to send two new models of carrier rocket in the Long March series on their maiden space trips in 2016, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASC) said on 16 January 2016. The countrys most powerful carrier rocket, Long March-5 has a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low Earth orbit, or 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit. It is scheduled to carry the Change-5 lunar probe around 2017 to finish the last chapter in Chinas three-step (orbiting, landing and return) moon exploration program. According to a CASC statement, which did not specify either of the rockets missions, Long March-5 was being tested at a launch site in south Chinas Hainan Province.

The two carrier rockets maiden flights will significantly boost our countrys ability to enter space and help realize leapfrog development in our space transportation system, said the CASC. Both rockets were developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the CASC.

Long March 5, the nations next-generation heavy lift launch system, is nearly 57 meters high, with a diameter of 5 meters. With a liftoff weight of around 800 metric tons, it will have a maximum payload capacity of 25 metric tons in low Earth orbit and 14 tons in geosynchronous transfer orbit, roughly comparable to the capacity of the United States Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, such as the Delta IV and Atlas V.

The rocket will use liquid oxygen/kerosene and liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen as propellants for its engines, which means the craft will be more environmentally friendly than previous designs. The Long March 5 will be used to launch large lunar probes and the manned space station that China plans to send into orbit around 2020.

China will develop six configurations in its heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket family. The six designs will have different launch capacities. Engineers were initially focusing on the two types that will be used for the Chang'e-5 lunar probe and manned space station missions.

The version CZ-5 has two main stages, CZ-5B will have one. Liquid rocket engines basic steps used oxygen-hydrogen fuel. The first stage is further mounted four booster diameter of 3.35 m each, which run on a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen. The length (or height) of the rocket - 57 m or 53 m (CZ-5 and CZ-5B respectively), the diameter of the central unit - 5 m, the starting weight - about 870 m. The maximum capacity of the basic CZ-5 - 14 m version CZ-5B - 25 tons.

Preliminary work on the rocket CZ-5 began in 2002, the State Council officially approved the project in 2006. The developer was the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, CALT), which is included in the Chinese corporation Aerospace Science and Technology (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, CASC; Beijing). According to Premier Zhu Rongji's instruction in his Government Work Report at the Fourth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress, the Chinese Government should lay emphasis on the important high-tech projects including a new generation launch vehicle. Now the advanced development of the new generation launch vehicle started completely. A symposium on reviewing the advanced development of China's new generation launch vehicle sponsored by Commission of Space, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) was held in Beijing on 10 May 2001.

The technological way to develop a new generation of launch vehicles is as follows: "one emphasis, the development of two propulsion systems and three modules". The "One Emphasis" is to develop the heavy launch vehicle with a diameter of 5 meters. The "Two Systems" are two new propulsion systems: one uses the 500kN hydrogen and oxygen propellant engine and another uses the 1200kN liquid oxygen/kerosene engine. The diameters of the "Three Modules" are 5m, 3.35m and 2.25m respectively.

The new generation launch vehicle will use 120 ton liquid oxygen/kerosene rocket engine and 50 ton LH/LO engine as its propulsion system. Its payload capability into LEO will be 1.5-25 ton, and into GTO be 1.5- 14 ton. It will be characterized by large thrust, non-toxic and pollution free propellants, low cost and high reliability. It can meet the demands of the market at home and abroad within the next 10-30 years.

For the new generation of space launch vehicle China plans to develop one series, two kinds of engines and three modules. That means, China will take the LOX/kerosene and LOX/LH engines as propulsion systems and finally realize the generalization, seriation and modularization. This will require gradually developing the new generation of launch vehicles with 5m, 3.35m and 2.25m diameter modules respectively, among which the 5m diameter core stage will use 3.35m diameter module as its booster, 3.35m diameter core stage will use 2.25m diameter module as its booster. And the 3.35m and 2.25m modules also can be used independently.

China's new generation launch vehicle will be based on the basic version. With boosters added on it such launch vehicle can launch various payloads ranging from 10 tons to 25 tons and with the upper stage module it can launch GTO payloads ranging from 6 tons to 13 tons. After China's new generation launch vehicle is successfully developed, the LEO payload capability will surpass 20 tons, and can launch a 20 tonnage permanent man-tended space station, promoting the development of our space application industry. Because the new heavy launch vehicle has fewer engines that ignite on the ground, fewer stages (one and a half) and better manned environment, and use nontoxic propellants. The new launch vehicle can either launch a large space telescope to promote the development of our astronomy, or launch deep space probes, such as a large lunar probe and Martian probe to promote the development of deep space exploration science. As it can launch two 6-ton GTO satellites or one 12-ton very large GTO satellite, it can basically meet the needs of the launch of the geo-synchronous communications satellite within decades.

Once the Long March -5 booster has demonstrated a reasonable level high reliability it will be considered for manned flight operations according to Chinese officials.

In 2007, the Long March 5 was due to make its first flight in 2013. At the Global Space Development Summit held in Beijing on 23  25 April 2008, China announced that multiple hot-fire tests have been conducted on new oxygen/kerosene and oxygen/hydrogen rocket engine systems for the forthcoming Long March 5 booster line, and are being integrated with their airframes and tankage for initial launches as early as 2010.

In 2012, the target had slipped to 2014. The first prototype ground test, systems and dynamic test articles of the LM-5E booster was planned to be ready for testing in 2012 while the static test version of each stage were expected to be ready for static test firings demonstrations in 2013. The prototype LM-5E first flight test was tentatively planned for 2014. The LM-5E first stage clustered 120 metric ton [264,600 lbsf] thrust engine has already accumulated over 10,000 seconds burn time as of the summer of 2010 after many years of R&D.

On March 25, 2013 Bradley Perrett of Aviation Week & Space Technology reported that the Long March 5 wouldd not launch until 2015. "Our plan has encountered some difficulties," Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, told China Daily on March 04, 2013, referring to three failed experiments recently. The main difficulty lies in the rocket's structural elements, said Liang, who is also a member of the National Committee of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Though China's Long March rockets have recorded more than 100 successful launches, the Long March-5 is a new challenge due to its larger size - a diameter of 5 meters, instead of the 3.35 meters of all previous launch vehicles.

The larger design enables the Long March-5 to send heavy satellites and space station components into orbit, and it has six vehicle configurations planned for different missions. "But when an object is bigger, its technical risks and functional defects are also magnified," Liang said. The increased size has challenged the mechanical machining capabilities of Chinese manufacturers, who have never produced rocket parts as big before and lack the necessary equipment and technology, he added. "The Long March-5 project has reached the basic industry's ceiling," Liang said.

Also, the potential risks of a larger launch vehicle in space are unknown, and the designers must gauge these for six configurations of the craft instead of one, he said. Failure to solve the problem has prompted the academy to push manufacturers to improve their level of mechanical machining.

China plans to launch its heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March-5 Y3, in late 2018, after finding the cause of the failure of the Long March-5 Y2, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense 17 April 2018. China will launch the Long March-5B carrier rocket into space in 2019, according to a spokesperson for the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) on 05 March 2018. The rocket will help carry the core module and experiment modules to China's space station. The Long March-5B carrier rocket will undergo testing in March 2018 in preparation for the first launch mission. By April 2019 the improved core-stage liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen engine had completed multiple ground heat test tests to verify the effectiveness of the improvement measures.

China plans to launch its third Long March-5 large carrier rocket in July 2019, said Yang Baohua, vice president of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) on 29 January 2019.

He Xing, executive vice president of the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, informed attendees of the World Satellite Business Week in Paris, France, that the third launch of Chinas Long March, or Changzheng, 5 would probably come before the end of 2019. The exact cause of the failure has been pinpointed, the official said at the annual international conference on 10 September 2019, informing guests that Chinas forthcoming launch date will probably be in this year.

China conducted a successful launch of its delivery rocket, the Long March 5, carrying an experimental communications satellite, the Shijian 20, into orbit. The 57-meter-tall rocket, one of the biggest delivery rockets in China's fleet, was launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island in southern China. The move was being touted as a great leap forward in China's ambitious space exploration plans, which include unmanned return missions on Mars and collecting lunar samples.

With the third flight successful, the fourth Long March-5 carrier rocket will be tasked to send the Chang'e-5 lunar probe to the moon to bring lunar samples back to Earth. China's first Mars rover is scheduled for launch in mid-2020.

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China, Russia to invest up to $20bn in long-haul jet: Report

Iran Press TV

Thu Nov 3, 2016 9:41AM

China and Russia have agreed on a joint venture to build a long-haul wide-bodied jet, competing with Boeing and Airbus which wield total control over the jumbo jet industry.

Beijing and Moscow will invest "up to $20 billion" to jointly make a jumbo jet, media reports said on Thursday.

"Each side will contribute half," Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) president Yury Slyusar said, quoted by China's Global Times newspaper.

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) and UAC agreed to build the plane in June when Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing.

COMAC and UAC executives presented a mock-up of the jet for the first time in public at a ceremony during Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangzhou Province on Wednesday.

COMAC said the joint venture, to be set up in Shanghai this year, aims to build a 280-seat wide-body jet with a range of 12,000 kilometers to be on a par with Boeing's 787 and the Airbus A350.

According to the companies' websites, the price of a 290-seat Boeing 787 is $264.6 million and a 280-seat Airbus A350 is $272.4 million.

Slyusar said their plane will be approximately 10 percent cheaper than those of the rivals. "COMAC has outstanding technology and designs and we will not only cooperate in technology but also in intellectual property."

COMAC said their plane will make its first flight in seven years and customer delivery will begin three years later.

Building commercial aircraft requires advanced technology. COMAC developed its single-aisle jet, the C919, last year and said it had received 570 orders from 23 customers.

The firm's regional jet, the 90-seat ARJ21, flew its first commercial flight in June.

Russia, however, is more advanced in this field and UAC enjoys the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in its report card.

"A wide-body jet is an extremely complicated product, which will require a lot of skills (to develop) and require broad industrial knowledge," Guo told reporters. "China and Russia each have their own advantages."

Beijing is looking to build up its domestic aerospace industry, with the sector among those highlighted in its "Made in China 2025" plan.

China is expected to become the world's largest aviation market, with its travelers taking to the skies in ever-growing numbers.

Airbus estimates China will need nearly 6,000 new planes worth $945 billion in the next two decades, with Boeing's forecast even more optimistic at more than $1 trillion.

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New Russian-Chinese Jumbo Jet Will Take on the Big Boys from Boeing, Airbus

Sputnik News

16:27 03.11.2016(updated 16:34 03.11.2016)

Russian and Chinese aircraft builders have offered a much-anticipated glimpse of their joint project  a wide-body passenger jumbo jet, designed from scratch, and expected to take to the skies next decade. Russia's UAC and China's Comac hope to give global commercial aviation leaders Boeing and Airbus a run for their money with their new design.

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) provided aircraft enthusiasts a glimpse of the new aircraft in mock-up form at Airshow China-2016, taking place in Zhuhai, China this week.

Company representatives complemented the unveiling of the mockup by announcing that they have begun a search for suppliers. Officials did not specify funding details or technical characteristics of the joint project, but were able to confirm that the assembly of the new plane will take place in Shanghai. The unveiling was attended by Comac chairman Jin Zhuanglong, OAK director Yuri Slyusar and Russian Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov.

The new, as yet unnamed jetliner is expected to start flight testing in 2021, and to enter commercial production by 2025. The project was announced in 2014 during President Vladimir Putin's visit to China as part of a $13 billion deal on aviation cooperation, but few new details have been made available about its development since.

The wide-body aircraft is certainly an ambitious project, given that it hopes to compete with Airbus and Boeing's commercial sales leaders, the A330, the A350, the Boeing 777, and the Boeing 787.

According to Comac wide-body department manager Guo Bohzi, the joint venture in Shanghai, whose shares are divided equally between the two parties, will start its work this year. "A wide-body jet is an extremely complicated product, which will require a lot of modern technology, experience and skills," Guo said, speaking to reporters at the airshow. "China and Russia each have their own advantages," he added.

Up to three variants of the plane may be built. The aircraft will have two aisles, space for between 250-280 passengers, and a range of up to 12,000 km, making it perfect for long-haul flights.

Russia has been making a big impression at Airshow China-2016, with displays from OAK, Rosoboronexport, Almaz Antei, and Roscosmos, among other major companies. Earlier this week, Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that Russian companies' displays at the event are the largest-ever exposition of Russian aviation technology abroad. A broad array of military and civilian equipment is being displayed. On Tuesday, the Russian airborne acrobatics teams Knights and Swifts performed their trademark stunts in Su-SM and MiG-29 fighter jets.

 Sputnik

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Swedish Envoy: US Detainees in North Korea 'High on Agenda'

By Baik Sungwon November 03, 2016

With the denial of consular access to two U.S. citizens detained in North Korea continuing for months, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which acts on behalf of the United States, said it is making all-out efforts to accelerate their safe return home.

Torkel Stiernlof, Swedish ambassador to Pyongyang, told VOA this week the communist state's detention of American citizens is one of the embassy's primary concerns.

"We are constantly working almost on a daily basis with these cases," Stiernlof said. "It's really high on our agenda."

The detainees

Over the past year, North Korea locked up two American citizens for crimes against the state. One of the detainees is Kim Dong Chul, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen who was seized in the city of Rason on the northeast tip of North Korea in October 2015. The former Virginia resident was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in April on charges of espionage and stealing state secrets. Kim has reportedly not been allowed consular access since his arrest.

Kim's sentence came on the heels of a 15-year sentence given to Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student suspected of stealing a propaganda poster from a North Korean hotel. Just over a month after Warmbier's arrest in early January, the reclusive regime released a video of him apologizing for committing "the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel."

It is unknown whether the student was forced to speak. Warmbier met with a representative from the Swedish embassy in March, but since then he has not been granted consular access, according to a U.S. official who asked to remain anonymous.

Sweden represents US

Without diplomatic relations between the U.S. and North Korea, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang has been functioning as the "protecting power," representing U.S. interests in the North and assuming consular responsibility for American citizens there.

In late September, a private American delegation visited the North and pleaded for Warmbier's release. The visitors met with North Korean officials and the Swedish ambassador. The visit was organized by the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, a nonprofit group led by Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor and United Nations ambassador.

In response to North Korea's detention of American citizens, the U.S. State Department is urging U.S. citizens to avoid travel to the North. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been detained in the country in the past 10 years, according to the State Department.

Lee Jee-eun contributed to this report, which was produced in collaboration with VOA Korean Service.

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Hashd volunteers cut main Daesh supply route

Iran Press TV

Thu Nov 3, 2016 11:32AM

Iraqi forces were about to cut off the western supply route used by Daesh out of Mosul on Thursday, with the leader of the Takfiri group urging his terrorists to fight on.

Hadi al-Ameri, the commander of Iraq's largest volunteer forces, said his fighters were completing the first stage of their operations as army, security forces and Kurdish forces solidified their positions in the south, east and north.

"Today, God willing, is the completion of the first stage of the Hashd operations - that is cutting the supply route of the enemy between Tal Afar and the Muhalabiya district, reaching to Mosul," he said.

Ameri's Badr Organisation is the largest militia in the Hashd al-Shaab umbrella group of Iraqi volunteers, comprised of Shia and Sunni fighters.

Hashd forces joined the army's push to retake Mosul five days ago, launching their offensive towards Tal Afar on the second Iraqi city's western flank.

Tal Afar lies about 55 km west of Mosul, on the way to Daesh-controlled regions of neighboring Syria. Cutting off the western side of the city will leave the Takfiri group enclosed on four directions.

"This is the area Daesh entered Mosul from," Ameri said. "Severing this road means to completely cut off the enemy's supply lines and surround them."

Ibrahim al-Samarrai, who goes by his nom de guerre as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, urged his Daesh terrorists to fight on.

"Do not retreat  Holding your ground with honor is a thousand times easier than retreating in shame," he said in an unverified audio recording released on the Internet by his supporters.

The Daesh leader was reportedly hiding in Mosul, when the operations to liberate the city began last month, and is now trapped in the besieged city.

In the 30-minute message, Baghdadi also called for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Mosul fell in 2014 when the terror group launched a lightning attack caught troops by surprise and declared the city as its headquarters in Iraq.

Iraqi government forces entered the outskirts of Mosul on Tuesday for the first time in more than two years and began combing the streets for any remaining terrorists before they press on into the heart of the city.

New reports on Thursday said the Takfiri group had begun blowing up government buildings in Mosul.

Atheel Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, said that Daesh militants and their families were leaving the city in droves and heading to Syria.

Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, the commander of Iraq's counter-terrorism forces, called on the residents of Mosul to remain indoors.

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Baghdadi Calls On Islamic State Fighters Not To Retreat From Mosul

November 03, 2016

The leader of the Islamic State extremist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces enter the city of Mosul where he declared a "caliphate" two years ago.

"Do not retreat," said a voice presented as Baghdadi's in an audio message released on November 3 by IS's media outlet Al-Furqan.

"Holding your ground with honor is a thousand times easier than retreating in shame," Baghdadi said, in his first message in more than a year.

"To all the people of Nineveh, especially the fighters, beware of any weakness in facing your enemy," Baghdadi said, urging suicide fighters to "wreak havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers."

In June 2014, after IS took control of about one-third of Iraq, Baghdadi made a rare public appearance in Mosul and announced the creation of an Islamic "state" straddling Iraq and Syria.

Since that time, IS territory has shrunk sharply. Iraqi forces reached Mosul, the group's last major stronghold in Iraq, this week.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting IS estimates it has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters left inside the city -- a contingent outnumbered by the tens of thousands of Iraqi forces arrayed against them and backed by coalition warplanes.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/baghdadi-calls- on-islamic-state-fighters-not-to-retreat-from -mosul-assault/28092316.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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UN Condemns Use Of Human Shields In Iraq As Assault On Mosul Continues

RFE/RL November 03, 2016

The UN Security Council has condemned the use of human shields in Iraq by Islamic State (IS) militants as fighting for the city of Mosul continues.

The council said in a statement after a closed-door meeting on November 2 that all sides fighting for Mosul must avoid hurting civilians.

The meeting was held to hear UN human rights and humanitarian aid officials' reports on the situation in Mosul as Iraqi forces reached the city's eastern outskirts on November 1.

The head of the Security Council, Senegali Deputy UN Ambassador Georgui Ciss, said reports of IS fighters taking thousands of civilians from their homes to be used as human shields has alarmed council members.

Iraqi special forces who began their assault on Mosul some two weeks ago spent November 2 consolidating their gains in the eastern part of the city.

Iraqi officials said eight IS militants were killed in Mosul on November 2 and that hundreds of residents had fled the city to safe areas.

Many Mosul citizens were seen shaving the beards they were forced to grow while IS controlled the city.

Many shops were boarded up in Mosul's easternmost district of Gogjali, while others had been destroyed by artillery shells.

General Abdul-Ghani al-Asadi, commander of the counterterrorism forces, said a curfew had been ordered in the neighborhood.

South of Mosul, progress has lagged with Iraqi forces still 30 kilometers away from Mosul.

But Iraqi police forces said they had captured four villages in the Hamam al-Alil area from IS militants.

Mosul is the extremist group's last major stronghold in Iraq. It seized the city in 2014 and has imposed its harsh form of Islam on Mosul residents.

Many observers are concerned about the fate of civilians caught in the fighting in Mosul after reports that IS militants were rounding up thousands of people as human shields and killing those suspected of links to Iraqi security forces.

The Norwegian Refugee Council warned that more than 1 million civilians trapped in Mosul "are in grave danger" as Iraqi troops advance.

The aid group said about 18,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since the October 17 start of the Mosul operation.

Separately, Amnesty International said tribal Sunni fighters taking part in the Mosul fighting had killed men and boys in newly captured areas that they suspected of being IS militants.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/un-condemns- islamic-state-use-human-shields-iraq- mosul-assault/28092301.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Iraqi Gov't Unaware of Turkish Troops' Relocation From Bashiqa Camp

Sputnik News

19:34 03.11.2016

Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar Abadi's spokesman stated that he is informed about any recent withdrawal of Turkish troops from the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq.

Baghdad (Sputnik)  The Iraqi government has no knowledge of any recent withdrawal of Turkish troops from the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar Abadi's spokesman told Sputnik on Thursday.

"I have not been informed about such a measure or whether the Turkish troops have simply moved to relocate somewhere else, which would mean that Turkey will continue breaching Iraq's sovereignty and interfering in its affairs," Saad Hadithi said.

Hadithi's comments come in response to remarks made by Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus who said Wednesday that the Turkish troops were not withdrawing from the Basheqa camp as a result of anyone's recommendation, adding that the camp would be relocated somewhere else.

The bilateral tensions between the two countries have worsened after the Turkish parliament in October extended a mandate allowing Turkish troops to be deployed in Iraq and Syria to combat terrorists for an additional year.

Following this step, the Iraqi parliament adopted a resolution voicing protest against Turkish military presence in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, located about 19 miles northeast of Mosul. The lawmakers demand its government take the necessary legal and diplomatic measures, including a review of the economic relations between the two countries. Ankara has condemned the resolution.

On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of the operation to retake Mosul from the Daesh, which is outlawed in many countries worldwide, including Russia. The offensive is backed by airstrikes by the US-led international coalition.

 Sputnik

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Iraqi Troops Manage to Enter Al Intisar District in Mosul's Right Coast

Sputnik News

18:39 03.11.2016

Iraqi forces started storming into the al-Intisar district coming from the South-eastern axis, it is one of the first districts that Iraqi troops entered on the right bank of Mosul, according to spokesman for the Joint Military Command Yahya Rasool.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Iraqi troops succeeded in entering al-Intisar district located on Mosul's right bank, making it one of the first districts to be entered by Iraqi troops in the west part of Mosul since the launch of the Mosul offensive last month, Iraq's spokesman for the Joint Military Command Yahya Rasool told Sputnik on Thursday.

"Right now, our ninth armored division troops started storming into the al-Intisar district coming from the South-eastern axis, it is one of the first districts that our troops enter on the right bank of Mosul. Now we will wait for further results," Rasool said.

On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of the operation to retake Mosul from the IS, a jihadist group outlawed in Russia and a number of other states. More than 30,000 Iraqi and 4,000 Kurdish fighters are taking part in the offensive, backed by about 5,000 US troops and supported by coalition airstrikes.

 Sputnik

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Displaced amid Mosul offensive, close to 10,000 children in urgent need of aid, says UNICEF

3 November 2016  Some 20,700 people have been displaced since the operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from terrorists started on 17 October, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said today, estimating that 9,700 of them are children in urgent need of assistance.

"I met mothers and children who were so relieved to have come out alive; it was clear that they had gone through so much," said Pernille Ironside, UNICEF's Chief of Field Operations in Iraq, following a visit to Nargizlia screening site.

The Iraqi Government and its international partners are fighting to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) while the UN agencies and its partners are stepping up humanitarian assistance for the displaced.

Many of the new arrivals come in dusty, exhausted and uncertain about what is going to happen next. Some are even barefoot. UNICEF reaches out to the families, checking on the condition of their children and finding out if any of them are missing.

"As the situation continues to unfold, it is important that we remain nimble and that we adapt our response to best assist children and families who have been through so much over these past years," Ms. Ironside said.

Upon arrival, families receive clean drinking water and snacks that include a nutritional supplement for children. Children 6 months to 15 years old are immediately immunized against polio and measles  many of them for the first time in two years  by a UNICEF-supported local government team.

Families spend up to half a day in screening sites before being transferred to an emergency camp where they are assigned shelter.

There, UNICEF ensures that water, showers and clean latrines are available. Children are screened for malnutrition, and treated accordingly, and UNICEF-supported mobile teams provide psychological care for children.

UNICEF is also preparing temporary learning spaces and recreational activities for children in the camps.

While many people have fled and are staying in camps, others have chosen to remain in their newly retaken villages. UNICEF is adapting its response to reach all populations in need.

In October, UNICEF delivered bottled water and hygiene supplies for more than 1,500 families, and vaccinated children against polio in two newly retaken communities. Conditions for both displaced and local children and families in these communities are very poor, with families in desperate need of clean water and other essential supplies.

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Iraqi Troops Begin Risky Urban Operations in Mosul

By Jamie Dettmer November 03, 2016

Iraqi troops were moving cautiously Thursday in a neighborhood just inside the city limits of Mosul, going from house-to-house to ensure the safety of civilians. The soldiers had to be wary of booby-trap bombs as well as ambushes and sniper fire from Islamic State militants, who are being urged by their leader to remain and resist losing the last major city they hold in Iraq.

The breach into the city of Mosul, which IS seized more than two years ago, triggered the exodus of hundreds of families. They started to stream out of Mosul, some carrying white flags, others flashing victory signs at elite government troops with Iraq's U.S.-trained Golden Division, who spearheaded victories this year elsewhere in Iraq against the jihadists, including at Fallujah.

Fears of retaliation

While locals in the eastern district of Gogjali welcomed their liberation from the jihadists, fears are mounting that, as neighborhoods in the more pro-IS western parts of the city fall to government troops, a cycle of retaliation and revenge will be triggered, both by locals who suffered under the jihadists' two-year-reign over Mosul and by Sunni militiamen, who have already been accused of carrying out revenge attacks on men and boys in nearby villages suspected of having ties to IS.

Rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday it had received reports of alleged jihadist sympathizers being publicly humiliated, tortured and beaten as fighters with a militia called the Sabawi Tribal Mobilization swept through villages to the south of the city. Lynn Maalouf from Amnesty said there was a "dangerous culture of impunity in which perpetrators of such attacks feel they have free rein to commit crimes and go unpunished."

Retaliation wasn't visible Thursday as the elite Iraqi counter-terrorism forces wearing their trademark black combat fatigues sought to consolidate their hold on the Gogjali district and nudge into neighboring ones. Their commanders and a Kurdish peshmerga general overseeing a battle on the outskirts of the Mosul say they are only at the first stage in a prolonged and fierce urban battle, and they are ready for weeks of house-to-house fighting.

Weeks of fighting ahead

They suspect IS militants will blow the five bridges spanning the River Tigris that cuts through the city and will make a final stand in the west of Mosul.

"At best it will take a month  at worst two months," Peshmerga Gen. Nuraddin Tatarkhan told VOA. Booby-trap bombs triggered mainly by pressure pads are among the biggest danger for advancing forces, as well as sniper fire.

"They keep changing the designs of their bombs," he said.

A veteran of Saddam Hussein's army, Gen. Tatarkhan recognizes the military tacticians among the IS leadership as former Baathists and veterans like him of the Iran-Iraq and Gulf wars. Their tactics, he says, will be to drag out the resistance, copying what they did to attack U.S. forces after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. He also warns there are many foreign IS fighters in Mosul  among them battle-hardened and highly fanatical Chechens and Kazakhs who will fight to the bitter end.

The foreign fighters, he says, will likely heed the call by their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who on Wednesday broke a nearly yearlong silence with a 31-minute audio recording urging his forces to remain firm in the face of the offensive on Mosul.

"Know that the value of staying on your land with honor is a thousand times better than the price of retreating with shame," he said, adding: "This war is yours. Turn the dark night of the infidels into day, destroy their homes and make rivers of their blood."

For those IS fighters who do want to flee Mosul, their escape route has been made much harder. Shi'ite militiamen with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units working on the west of the city said Thursday they have control of a large portion of the Aleppo-Mosul Highway that runs to the terror group's main Syrian stronghold at Raqqa.

To escape west into Syria, IS militants will have to navigate much more difficult roads, which as the rains come will be much harder to move along to enter the Syria's eastern provinces of Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah.

Civilians flee

On Thursday, civilians could be seen leaving Mosul, heading for camps to the east of city, trudging along roads with toddlers and helping elderly family members. Many of the women wore niqabs covering their faces. Some men still wore the short trousers and long beards demanded by the jihadists, but others had quickly shaved, saying they were relieved to be able to do so. Some men relished smoking their first public cigarettes in two years.

Iraqi officials estimate that more than a million civilians remain in the city and fears are growing for their safety. The Norwegian Refugee Council aid agency has warned their lives are "in grave danger" due to the fighting. IS has tried to add to the city's population and as its fighters withdrew from outlying villages it forced some families to accompany them as human shields.

One family of nine  toddlers among them  now at the Khazir camp for displaced people told VOA they had had to run for 20 minutes to escape IS and that the militants shot at them as they fled.

"The children lost their shoes and we had to stop and hide and then start to run again," said Zainab.

They decided to flee because "IS were treating us very badly and shooting men who wouldn't join them. They captured my husband as we ran and they beat him and screamed he was a very bad man for letting his family go," she said.

Twenty-year-old Abbas said he was happy to be leaving Mosul. He said the four-day battle for control of the neighborhood had been terrifying and fierce. "Daesh fighters wouldn't leave  they were mainly Chechens, Turks and Tunisians," he told VOA.

As he spoke, flocks of sheep passed by. Many families refused to leave Gogjali without their prized livestock and they grouped together to herd sheep, mules and cows away and headed towards Kurdistan. Fearing mines, they avoided wasteland and the fields on the outskirts, clogging the main road into the neighborhood. Livestock and military vehicles competed for priority as they moved in opposite directions past wrecked shops, shattered masonry and over a carpet of broken glass and spent and live rounds, testimony to the ferocity of the conflict.

Civilians left Gogjali in a variety of vehicles, some with their windscreens blown out and with bullet holes peppering their sides. They used cars, tractors, trucks, SUVs, tractor-trailers and motorized tricycles, most sporting white flags. Some families had no choice but to trudge along on foot, carrying belongings and cradling babies in their arms. Others helped the hobbling elderly.

Many reporters as they left Mosul Thursday evening offered rides to families with young children or frail relatives, piling them in their pick-ups and SUVs. Many families said they hadn't wanted to leave their homes, fearing they would be pillaged.

Death, destruction and new life

A family of 14  part of an extended family of 40  hitched a ride on VOA's pick-up. The weight blew out a tire.

The head of the family, 45-year-old Tareq, said they had endured days of fighting. Their house is near Mosul's main TV tower, the scene this week of some of the most vicious combat. "We all stayed in one room for four days. There were heavy bombardments and lots of mortar exchanges. The most terrifying were the airstrikes and one hit the house next door, killing a woman. The children screamed and cried but we didn't dare go out. It was horrible, Thank God, we are all safe now," he says.

On the first day of battle, in the cramped room where his extended family were crowded, his niece gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Huriyah, or Virgin.

IS fighters withdrew Wednesday, he added. He said life under IS for the past two years had been "difficult," he said. "They killed many people, especially those who had been in the Iraqi army or were policemen or who refused to join IS," he explained.

By Thursday, 40,000 civilians fled Mosul and its outskirts, far fewer than had been expected and much less than the 800,000 who left when IS overran the city in 2014. But hundreds left Thursday from just one small outer district, suggesting that when the fight moves deeper into the city, thousands could be heading out when they get the opportunity.

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South Korean Court Issues Warrant to Arrest President's 'Shadow Adviser'

Sputnik News

18:25 03.11.2016(updated 18:33 03.11.2016)

A South Korean court on Thursday issued a warrant to arrest Choi Soon-sil, a friend and "shadow adviser" of country's President Park Geun-hye, local media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Choi Soon-sil is suspected of using her friendship with the president to influence state affairs as well as embezzling funds from non-profit organizations. On Wednesday, South Korean prosecutors asked a local court to issue an arrest warrant for Choi after placing her into detention earlier in the week.

According to The Korea Herald newspaper, the Seoul Central District Court issued the formal warrant to arrest the adviser after checking charges against her.

The newspaper added that after receiving the warrant the country's prosecutors would have 20 days to investigate Choi and to decide on her imprisonment.

On October 24, the JTBC television network reported that Choi allegedly received drafts of Park's speeches before they were publicly delivered, though she had never held a public post. The following day, Park officially admitted asking Choi for advice on speeches and public relations issues, and apologized for "causing public concern."

The scandal has already caused massive protests in the country. In order to calm the public discontent Park appointed new senior adviser for political affairs and a new chief of staff.

 Sputnik

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Seoul Could Launch Investigation Into S Korean President Over 'Shadow Adviser'

Sputnik News

11:38 03.11.2016

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Byong-joon has mentioned the possibility of investigating the country's President Park Geun-hye over her ties to the "shadow adviser" Choi Soon-sil, who is suspected of meddling in state affairs.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Choi is suspected of using her friendship with the president to influence state affairs as well as embezzling funds from non-profit organizations. On Wednesday, South Korean prosecutors asked a local court to issue an arrest warrant for Choi after placing her into detention earlier in the week.

"There are different interpretations of the Constitution. But I believe we can conduct an investigation into Park. As she is still the head of state, however, we should be prudent about the process and methods," Kim was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency during his first meeting with reporters.

Kim, an adviser of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, was appointed as prime minister on Wednesday amid revelations linked to Choi.

He added that he is prepared to perform broader duties as the president may be unable to execute business as usual in the face of public anger over the scandal as well as obstruction by opposition parties.

On October 24, the JTBC television network reported that Choi allegedly received drafts of Park's speeches before they were publicly delivered, though she had never held a public post. The following day, Park officially admitted asking Choi for advice on speeches and public relations issues, and apologized for "causing public concern."

The revelation has caused a massive anti-government protest in the country, with people calling on the president to step down. The scandal has also led to a cabinet reshuffle which was rejected by opposition parties.

 Sputnik

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Hardcore Russian Team: Kalibr-Armed Frigate to Join Naval Group Near Syria

Sputnik News

11:51 03.11.2016(updated 14:06 03.11.2016)

Russia is sending its advanced Frigate Admiral Grigorovich armed with Kalibr cruise missiles to reinforce the aircraft carrier group near Syrian shores.

SEVASTOPOL (Sputnik)  Russia's Frigate Admiral Grigorovich armed with Kalibr cruise missiles will leave the port of Sevastopol to join the aircraft carrier group in Syria on Thursday, a source in Crimea's uniformed services told RIA Novosti.

"The Black Sea Fleet's latest missile frigate Admiral Grigorovich leaves the base today and heads to the Mediterranean Sea, where it will join the group of Russian ships on the Syrian coast," the source said.

On October 15, Russia's Northern Fleet's press service said that a group of warships headed by the Admiral Kuznetsov accompanied by the Pyotr Veliky battle cruiser, the Severomorsk and Vice-Admiral Kulakov anti-submarine destroyer and support vessels had been sent to the Mediterranean to hold drills and strengthen capabilities.

In service since March 10, the Admiral Grigorovich is the first of six planned Project 11356 frigates, three of which are due to be delivered to the Defense Ministry by 2017. The frigate left the Baltic Fleet base in the western seaport town of Baltiysk in late April for Sevastopol.

The trials of the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates were successfully completed in the Barents Sea in late 2015. The frigates, displacing 3,850 tonnes, are designed for anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare as well as for air defense missions, operating both independently or as part of convoys and naval task forces.

Russia has been seeking to boost its naval presence in the Mediterranean. In October, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov disclosed plans to set up a permanent base in the Eastern Mediterranean seaport of Syrian Tartus.

Tartus hosted the Russian Navy maintenance and support facility since 1977. Currently, the Tartus facility is the Russian Navy's only support base in the Mediterranean Sea. It continues to perform its designated mission. The Tartus facility is currently manned exclusively by civilians.

 Sputnik

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Amnesty International: Moscow Authorities 'Stonewalling' Over Office Closure

By VOA News November 03, 2016

Amnesty International said Thursday attempts to resolve the issue of the closure of its Moscow office have been "stonewalled" by city authorities.

Staff of the international rights group office in the Russian capital arrived at work Wednesday morning to find the office's doors sealed and the locks changed.

The Moscow mayor's office said later Wednesday the group had failed to pay rent on time.

Amnesty called that claim "demonstrably false," adding in a statement on Thursday that it has documents proving the rent has been paid up to and including October of this year.

"If the authorities remain unwilling to solve this issue, it will soon start to look ominously like a deliberate move to obstruct our work to defend human rights in Russia," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Director. "It is becoming increasingly difficult not to see this incident through the prism of the wider crackdown on Russian civil society."

Later Thursday, the Moscow authorities denied Amnesty's claim that it had paid all of its rent, Russia's TASS state news agency reported.

Wednesday's closure of Amnesty International's Moscow office came a day after the group called on Russian authorities to investigate allegations made by Ildar Dadin, a jailed anti-Kremlin protester, that he had been beaten and tortured in prison. The group demanded that Dadin be immediately and unconditionally released.

Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement Wednesday a "commission of independent doctors" had physically examined Dadin at the northwestern Russian prison where he is incarcerated and found no evidence he had been beaten or "signs of previous injuries," TASS reported.

On Thursday, however, the French News Agency (AFP) quoted Dadin's wife Anastasia Zotova as saying that activists who visited Dadin in the prison the previous day reported they had seen him suffer something like an "epileptic fit."

Zotova said her husband's seizure occurred after he was beaten by prison staff and that he had never before suffered from fits. She said medics and experts had told her his seizure could have been caused by being "kicked in the head."

Federal Penitentiary Service Deputy Director Valery Maksimenko said Thursday Dadin fell off a chair while being examined by doctors the previous day and was being tested for epilepsy.

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The Price of Protesting Putin

By Charles Maynes November 03, 2016

The risks of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia came in full view this week, as two separate cases highlighted the country's troubling human rights climate.

On Wednesday, the Russian staff of Amnesty International's Moscow branch arrived to work only to find office locks changed and doors sealed without explanation or warning. According to comments later issued by the Moscow mayor's office, the group had failed to pay rent on time.

"All our computers, papers, personal effects  they're all still in there, behind the locked doors," said Amnesty Russia's Ivan Kondratenko in post published to Facebook.

Noting the group had rented the office from city authorities for 20 years without any incidents or not paying rent on time, Amnesty officials expressed hope the issue would be quickly resolved.

Yet voices from Russia's human rights community suggested the move was merely a sign of the times.

"The absolute lack of warning serves to reinforce the suspicion that this is not your ordinary landlord/tenant dispute," says Tanya Lokshina, the director of Human Rights Watch in Russia.

"It's rather about their Russia work as such, their staunch criticism of the deepening human rights crisis inside Russia," she tells VOA. "And given the political climate, one has strong grounds to suspect that the action was taken to put pressure on Amnesty International."

Foreign agents everywhere

Amnesty's troubles come as human rights groups and other NGOs working in Russia continue to grapple with a spate of recent laws that they say are aimed at stifling their work.

Domestic organizations that once received foreign funding must now register with authorities as "foreign agents" or face crippling fines. Other groups  including U.S. funded institutions like the National Democratic Institute -- have merely been labeled "undesirable" by the authorities and forced to close with little notice.

The government says the moves are designed to prevent outside meddling in Russia's political system. Human rights groups argue the Kremlin's larger goal is stifling dissent, no matter how small.

May I protest please

Take the story of Ildar Dadin.

"Ildar was a just a regular guy. He didn't care at all about politics," says Dadin's wife, Anastasiya Zotova. "But in 2012 that all changed," she tells VOA in an interview.

Dadin had volunteered as an election observer amid a contested election season that saw thousands of Russians take to streets to protest what many perceived as widespread vote rigging in favor of Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party.

When Dadin went to authorities with evidence of vote tampering amid the presidential race, he soon found himself detained by the authorities. The experience, says Zotova, turned her husband into a committed activist.

That political awakening brought repeated arrests for lone, peaceful, and  in theory, legal -- protests against the government in the ensuing years.

Tough prison sentence

Yet in December 2015, a Russian court sentenced Dadin to 3 years in prison (later reduced to 2.5 years upon appeal), as a repeat offender of a stricter anti-assembly restriction. Like the 'foreign agents' law, the measure had been introduced in the wake of the 2011-2012 protests.

Dadin's case gained attention again this week after he smuggled out a letter to his wife alleging repeated torture and abuse by authorities at the prison in northwest Russia where he's currently serving out his sentence.

Allegations of torture

"Over the course of a day, I was beaten a total four times, by 10-12 people at once. They would kick me repeatedly," he wrote.

Dadin went on to describe being handcuffed and hung from a ceiling as punishment for hunger striking in protest: "Then they took off my underwear and said they would bring another prisoner to rape me unless I stopped." Prison authorities, he writes, later threatened him with death, adding his was hardly an isolated case.

Russian authorities say they are investigating the claims and since dispatched doctors to verify Dadin's condition.

But it was Amnesty International Russia -- among a few other independent media and local human rights groups  who helped bring Dadin's letter to the public's attention.

"Ildar Dadin's allegations of beatings, humiliation and rape threats are shocking, but unfortunately they are just the latest in a string of credible reports indicating that torture and other ill treatment widely used in the Russian penal system with impunity, aimed at silencing any form of dissent" said Sergei Nikitin, the Director of Amnesty International Russia, in a statement issued Tuesday.

The next day, his office locks were changed.
12 killed, 200 wounded in militant attacks in Syria's Aleppo

Iran Press TV

Thu Nov 3, 2016 2:40PM

At least 12 civilians have lost their lives and over 200 others sustained injuries in a string of attacks launched by foreign-backed militants on several neighborhoods in the battered Syrian city of Aleppo.

Syria's official SANA news agency released the number of casualties caused by Thursday's assaults launched by terrorists positioned in the eastern part of Aleppo.

According to the report, Mohammd Joulaq, a photographer from Iran's Arabic-language Alalam television news network, was among those injured in the attacks, though his wounds were slight.

The report added that the militant rockets and gunfire hit the neighborhoods of Halab al-Jadideh, al-Mogambo, al-Masharqeh and al-Furqan, where shells struck the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. There was also a double car bomb attack.

A girl child was among those dead, an unnamed source at Aleppo Police Command said, adding that the attacks caused material damage to public and private properties.

An unidentified medical source at al-Jamiaa (University) Hospital also noted that the medical center received a person suffering suffocation due to an attack on the Minian district, where terrorists used poisonous gas.

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that militants have been engaged in fierce fighting with government forces in several districts of Aleppo's western outskirts.

The UK-based monitoring group said the "most intense fighting" was on the edges of the Halab al-Jadideh neighborhood.

Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, remains divided between government forces in the west and foreign-backed terrorists in the east, making it a frontline battleground.

Russian warship departs for Syrian coast

In another development on Thursday, Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich left the port of Sevastopol and headed to the Mediterranean Sea to bolster Russia's military presence there.

Equipped with artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and the advanced Kalibr missile system, the frigate is expected to join other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast.

"The Black Sea Fleet's latest missile frigate, Admiral Grigorovich, leaves the base today and heads to the Mediterranean Sea, where it will join the group of Russian ships on the Syrian coast," an unnamed source in Crimea's uniformed services told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by militancy it blames on some Western countries and their regional allies.

Russia has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh and other terrorist groups in the Arab country at the Damascus government's request for more than a year now.

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Infighting between Aleppo militants leave dozens dead, injured

Iran Press TV

Thu Nov 3, 2016 2:13AM

Infighting between two militant groups in Syria's divided city of Aleppo has left at least 25 terrorists from both sides dead and injured, says a UK-based monitoring group.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that the clashes erupted in the city's militant-held eastern region between the Fastaqim Union and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement terrorist groups.

The fighting broke out after al-Zenki militants attacked regions held by the rival terrorist group after it arrested the al-Zenki's commander.

Aleppo, once Syria's second largest city before the start of war in the country, has been a major frontline in the fight against different Takfiri militant groups. The city has been divided into two parts. Militants have occupied the city's eastern parts for four years.

Syrian army announces humanitarian pause

Meanwhile, the Syrian army's General Command announced that it would be complying with a humanitarian ceasefire announced earlier by Russia.

According to a statement released by the army, all previously-announced humanitarian corridors will be opened for the exit of militants and civilians from 9:00 to 19:00 local time on November 4.

It called on all militants operating in Aleppo to leave the city with their weapons via the Castillo road to the north and the Souq al-Khair-Masharqah route towards the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the 10-hour humanitarian pause in Aleppo scheduled for Friday and ordered that aid corridors would also be open on the day, along with two new exit routes for the militants.

So far militants from the Fastaqim Union militant group have rejected the ceasefire. "This is completely out of the question. We will not give up the city of Aleppo to the Russians and we won't surrender," they said.

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Spokesman: US-backed Syrian Forces Capable of Taking Raqqa

By Jeff Seldin November 03, 2016

The United States is doubling-down on its Syrian allies, insisting they are capable of planning and launching an assault to dislodge the Islamic State terror group from its self-styled capital of Raqqa.

For more than a week, officials have spoken of the urgent need to begin the assault on the IS stronghold despite concerns about the readiness of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the objections of allies, like Turkey.

But a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said Thursday the SDF is ready to at least start encircling the city while planning for its eventual liberation.

"We do believe that they have the expertise," Col. John Dorrian told Pentagon reporters during a briefing from Baghdad.

"They were very successful in developing a plan for the liberation of Manbij," he said. "And we believe that certainly, with coalition help, they can do the same in Raqqa."

Airstrikes take out roads

Already, the U.S. says it has conducted more than 100 airstrikes to take out roads used by IS to move both fighters and supplies in and out of Raqqa.

But now officials say they want to "tighten the noose," using 30,000 to 40,000 SDF troops to encircle and move towards the city to further reduce the ability of IS to maneuver.

Turkish opposition

The plan, though, has run into stiff opposition from Turkey, which has made it clear it wants the U.S. to wait.

"It would be better both militarily and strategically to conduct this operation after the Mosul operation and Turkey's Euphrates Shield operation are completed," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters in Ankara on Monday.

Turkey has also voiced objections due to the make-up of the SDF, almost two-thirds of which is Kurdish.

Some of the most capable and effective of those Kurdish forces are People's Protection Units, or YPG, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization.

More forces needed

Further complicating matters is that even the U.S. admits not all the forces needed to liberate Raqqa from IS hands are in place.

"There is an intent to enlarge the force, and in particular, the Arab contingent of the force because we do understand that Raqqa is primarily an Arab city," said Operation Inherent Resolve's Col. Dorian.

"We intend to train as many of them as we possibly can," he said, adding that once recruited, the new forces could be ready to fight within a couple of weeks.

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Erdogan Slams Germany for Granting Asylum to Gulen's Followers

Sputnik News

18:51 03.11.2016(updated 18:58 03.11.2016)

Germany has become an asylum for the followers of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, suspected by Ankara of masterminding the July coup attempt, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

ANKARA (Sputnik)  In late October, the German interior ministry confirmed that 35 Turkish nationals with diplomatic passports had applied for asylum in the country since the failed military coup attempt in Turkey.

" Germany tells us that, in accordance with our treaties, they may extradite only those people, who are being accused of grave crimes, but not political ones Germany has become an asylum for terrorists and preferred to defend members of the terrorist group I cannot understand, how the major EU state can support terrorists," Erdogan said in Ankara.

According to Erdogan, Turkey has transferred 4,000 documents to German Chancellor Angela Merkel proving the guilt of Gulen's supporters seeking asylum in Germany.

"If German leadership doubts that Gulen's supporters are terrorists, it should visit Ankara, the parliament and look at what happened here on July 15," Erdogan stressed.

On July 15, the military coup attempt took place in Turkey, killing more than 240 people and injuring over 2,000. The coup attempt was suppressed the next day. Ankara has accused dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers of playing a key role in the coup.

Following the coup, thousands of people, mostly officials, legal and educational workers, were detained or dismissed over alleged ties to Gulen's movement.

 Sputnik

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Wall-Building: Turkey to Fence Itself Off Syria in 2017

Sputnik News

13:48 03.11.2016(updated 13:49 03.11.2016)

Turkey hopes to complete the 911-kilometer-long concrete wall on the border with Syria next year.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Ankara is expected to complete the construction of a 911-kilometer-long (566-mile-long) concrete wall on the Turkish-Syrian border in the first half of 2017, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said.

"One of the other measures we took is to ensure emergency physical border security  in other words, build walls along the border as long as the geographical situation allows. We have built 268 kilometers of the wall as of now Within the first half of 2017, we wish to finalize all of the 911 kilometers of the Syrian border with physical border security," Isik said Wednesday, as quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News newspaper.

He added that the rest of the wall had already been or would be constructed in the near future, while 85 kilometers of the border were river passages, where other precautions had already been taken.

Turkey has been strengthening its border with the war-torn Syria for months. In order to ensure safety in the region, Ankara had allocated some 250 million Turkish liras ($80 million) to six border provinces.

 Sputnik

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Ankara Dismisses Over 1,200 Police Staff Due to Suspected Coup Links

Sputnik News

13:10 03.11.2016

419 mid-level officers, 604 junior officers, 158 sergeants, 28 privates and 9 civil servants of the Turkish gendarmerie were dismissed as part of ongoing investigations into the July coup attempt, according to the statement of the Turkey's Interior Ministry.

ANKARA (Sputnik)  Another 1,218 Turkish gendarmerie personnel have been dismissed as part of ongoing investigations into the July coup attempt, the country's Interior Ministry announced on Thursday.

According to the statement, 419 mid-level officers, 604 junior officers, 158 sergeants, 28 privates and 9 civil servants of the gendarmerie have been removed from their posts.

On July 15, a military coup attempt took place in Turkey. It was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed during the coup attempt and an estimated 2,000 were wounded. Ankara has accused Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers of playing a key role in the coup. Gulen has condemned the coup and denied the allegations.

According to the Turkish Justice Ministry, a total of 32,000 military officers, high-ranking civil servants, judges and teachers suspected of being Gulen supporters have been arrested. A further 110,000 have been fired or suspended from their positions in the aftermath of the attempted coup.

 Sputnik

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Parliamentary approval necessary for Brexit: UK High Court

Iran Press TV

Thu Nov 3, 2016 1:40PM

The UK High Court has banned the government from setting the Brexit process in motion before getting the Parliament's approval, a decision that is likely to further prolong the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU).

The court delivered the message to British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday, casting uncertainty over a decision by nearly 52 percent of Britons to end the UK's membership in the 28-nation bloc, during a referendum in June.

The ruling means May would not be able to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without parliamentary approval. She had planned to start the process by March 2017 and bring it to completion in two years.

May, who insists that a referendum needs no such approval according to the constitution, said she would appeal to the Supreme Court. A hearing would be held in December.

May's spokesman said the government was "determined to continue with our plans," and had "no intention of letting" the ruling "derail Article 50 or the timetable we have set out."

Investment manager Gina Miller, who brought the case to the High Court, said the premier should make the "wise decision of not appealing."

"The result today is about all of us. It's not about me or my team. It's about our United Kingdom and all our futures," she said.

May's ruling Conservative Party holds a slim majority of 329 seats in the 650-seat Parliament. Although, according to British law, the results of a referendum are not binding, overturning the decision would severely damage the government's public image.

Following the court's verdict, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who campaigned against leaving the EU, called on May's government to "bring its negotiating terms to Parliament without delay."

In the Leave camp, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage warned about a possible "betrayal" to the majority vote, and voiced concern at the prospect of a "half Brexit."

Aside from strong opposition in the Parliament, London's decision to push ahead with Brexit has also been met with resistance from the other three devolved nationsScotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU during the referendum, fearing that leaving the bloc would cut their access to the EU single market.

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Britain's High Court Deals Blow to Brexit

By Luis Ramirez November 03, 2016

Britain's high court dealt a blow to backers of Britain's exit from the European Union, or Brexit, by ruling Thursday the government must consult Parliament before starting the disengagement.

Proponents of the decision, made by voters in June, say they will appeal.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty in March to begin the process of disengagement and start negotiations to end Britain's membership in the European Union.

The decision is a disappointment for May, and there are now questions on whether the British leader will meet that deadline.

May to appeal decision

At Number 10 Downing Street, the reaction was swift. A spokesman for the prime minister said May still believes she can evoke Article 50 by the end of March. Her government plans to appeal the Supreme Court ruling in December.

"We have no intention of letting this derail our timetable," the spokesman said.

Opponents of Brexit claimed that May's intention to unilaterally invoke Article 50 was unconstitutional and the process should begin only after receiving input from Parliament.

In principle, the court agreed.

In announcing the ruling Thursday, the court said it did not accept the arguments presented by the government, and ruled there is nothing in the law that supports the government's right to change domestic law on its own, without Parliament's approval.

"The most fundamental rule of the UK's constitution is that parliament is sovereign," said Lord Chief Justice John Thomas.

Analysts say the court's decision is not about the principle of Brexit and whether Britain should leave the European Union, but about the specifics of the process by which the voters' decision will be carried out.

Boost for anti-Brexit politicians

Still, observers say the ruling is a boost for anti-Brexit politicians, who plan to use the court ruling in their arguments in Parliament. In a statement Thursday, Labour party leader Jeremy Corbin praised the ruling, which he said reaffirms there must be "transparency and accountability to Parliament on the terms of Brexit."

The June referendum was not binding and the British Parliament could, in theory, block Brexit's implementation. A majority of members of Parliament have voiced opposition to Brexit but analysts and polls indicate most would vote in favor of it, since not doing so would amount to political suicide because it would be perceived as going against the will of the people.

The shock vote in June drew 72 percent of Britain's eligible voters following a bitter campaign that centered on issues of immigration and sovereignty. Polls in the days leading up to the vote had shown a strong lead in favor of those who wanted to remain in the EU.

Proponents of Brexit are now waiting to see what the Supreme Court decides on May's appeal.

"We hope the government would honor the will of the British people to leave the European Union," said Rory Broomfield, director of Better Off Out, a campaign group.

Markets have experienced turbulence since the June vote and the pound has plunged to historic lows, but exports have jumped and economic growth from July through September exceeded forecasts.

The value of the British pound rose after news of Thursday's court ruling.

The months since the vote have been marked by protests among opponents of the decision.

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Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has updated the North Route of its subsea cable through Iraq, improving route diversification and enhancing the resilience of internet connectivity to and from the region.
No affinity for superheroes or familiarity with Marvel mythology is required to enjoy the visual spectacle that is "Doctor Strange." Being open to mysticism and the possibility of parallel dimensions might help, though.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the title character in this origin story, where plot is secondary to dazzling special effects that invert gravity, reverse time and twist buildings like blocks in a Rubik's Cube. It's worth it to watch the film in 3-D, and on an IMAX screen if possible (as this critic did), for an immersive, almost psychedelic experience. Two spectacular action sequences in the third act are enough to justify the ticket price.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) is a brilliant, arrogant neurosurgeon. He's a know-it-all about medicine and music; a materialist with an expansive apartment and a drawer full of designer watches. His commuter car is a Lamborghini, and he's speeding around curves in it when he's distracted by a text and flies off a cliff. He awakens from surgery to finds his hands shattered and held together with a series of metal pins.

Despondent because he can't work, Strange travels to Nepal, where he believes a healer may have cured someone from complete paralysis. He ends up at a palace where he meets the mysterious Mordor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), warriors who introduce him to magical powers and mystical realms. As a scientist, Strange dismisses their teachings ("I do not believe in fairytales about chakras"), but desperation  and a bizarre trip down a third-eye wormhole  make him a believer.

Meanwhile, one of the Ancient One's former students (Mads Mikkelsen, always an excellent villain) has gone rogue, using the mystical teachings to connect with dark forces. He and his minions believe they'll receive eternal life if they destroy the sanctums of the Ancient One's power, which are conveniently located in New York, London and Hong Kong  all dynamic settings for destruction and mind-bending magic.

Each of the city sequences look great, but the New York scenes are truly phenomenal. In the hands of director Scott Derrickson and the special-effects artists who worked on "Guardians of the Galaxy," the Big Apple becomes mesmerizingly Escher-esque: a disjointed, gravity-ignorant collection of streets and buildings.

While some of the magical elements may be far out (a levitating cape, for example), the Ancient One's messages are grounded in contemporary pop psychology and spirituality. She says things like, "We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them," and "Silence your ego and your power will rise." Coming from a bald Tilda Swinton, it sounds more insightful than preachy.

The film addresses such sweeping concepts as death and time, but only to define the characters' motives. Some of the messages may be worth contemplating, but "Doctor Strange" is not a message movie. It is a visual delight, where the spiritual notion that not all can be explained by science allows for an "Inception"-like unraveling of reality.

Be sure to stay through the credits for two delicious Marvel "Easter eggs." One involves a massive, self-refilling beer and the other teases a possible "Strange" future.
November 4, 2016 -- New Carolin Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "New Carolin") (TSXV: LAD / OTCBB: LADFF) is pleased to announce that it has arranged financing for proceeds of up to $1,100,000 (the "Offering") by way of the private placement of up to 13,750,000 flow-through common shares (the "FT Shares") in the capital stock of the Company at a price of $0.08 per FT Share. Each FT Share will be designated as a flow-through share pursuant to the Income Tax Act (Canada). Note that there is no Warrant attached to this financing.

The proceeds from this offering will be used to fund qualified Canadian Exploration Expenditures (CEE) work on the Company's Ladner Gold Project in southwestern British Columbia. The Company recently completed a Phase 1 exploration program and is now preparing for Phase 2, which will focus on an underground exploration and drilling program expected to commence before yearend. Assays from the Phase 1 drill program will be released along with details of the Phase 2 work program in the coming weeks.

Closing of a minimum $500,000 first tranche is expected to occur on or about November 8, 2016, with completion of the balance of the Offering to occur in a second tranche near the end of November, subject to the receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including that of the TSX Venture Exchange. Finder's fees may be paid on portions of the Offering in accordance with TSX Venture Exchange regulations. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

Mr. R. Bob Singh, P.Geo, Exploration Manager, is the qualified person responsible for the technical content of this news release.

About New Carolin Gold

New Carolin Gold Corp. is a Canadian-based brownfields development company focused on the exploration, evaluation and development of our 100% owned property consisting of 144 square kilometers of contiguous mineral claims and crown grants collectively known as the Ladner Gold Project. The Company is currently executing exploration programs on the property which is located 2 hours by freeway from Vancouver near Hope, British Columbia, in the prospective and under-explored Coquihalla Gold Belt. The Company has an existing mine permit, water licenses and tailings facility in place, as well as 10.5 kilometers of underground tunnels for exploration access. The Company's Ladner Gold Project is host to several historic gold producers, including the Carolin Mine, Emancipation Mine, Arum Mine, Ward Mine, and Pipestem Mine, in addition to numerous artisan workings and gold prospects that typically exploit high grade visible gold mineralization.

For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.newcarolingold.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Robert L. Thast"

President & Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 604.542.9458

Cell: 604.220.5031

E-mail: ceo@newcarolingold.com

Web site: www.newcarolingold.com

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.

Caution concerning forward-looking information

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Georgians have rejected Gov. Nathan Deal's plan to take over chronically failing schools amid concerns that the proposal was too vague and alienated local officials.The ballot measure, which would have led to a new state agency with its own state school superintendent appointed by the governor, failed by a 3-to-2 margin.The result was largely expected as polling showed public opinion moving against the idea in recent months.Lisa-Marie Haygood, president of the Georgia PTA, celebrated with other opponents of the measure on Tuesday night. Opponents also included teachers, school boards and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young.We did it, Young told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . We all wanted to stop a bad law from taking effect.The rejection comes as other states have launched or are considering their own takeover programs.Eight states -- Arkansas, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin -- are all trying to duplicate a pioneering effort in Tennessee. That program launched the Achievement School District (ASD) in 2012 and has the goal of lifting the states worst-performing 5 percent of schools to the top 25 percent in five years.Most of the ASDs 33 schools are in Memphis and have shown solid gains in math and science. But its unclear if the oldest schools in the program will meet the five-year goal and questions remain over how to return local control.In Georgia, nearly 130 schools have a failing score from the Georgia Department of Educations College and Career Ready Performance Index. In proposing the ballot initiative, Deal, a Republican, said some local school districts have failed children for too long.Deal's proposal called for his appointed superintendent to oversee the so-called Opportunity School District, which could have taken over up to 20 new schools per year and govern no more than 100 schools at any one time. To be eligible, schools would have had to earn an F on the states accountability system three years in a row.In addition to the state running the school, a takeover could have also lead to a school being shut down or turned into a charter. To exit, a school had to score above failing for three straight years. Schools could have operated in the Opportunity School District for up to 10 years.Thomas B. Fordham Institute President Mike Petrilli, who was supportive of Georgias plan, said Tennessees ASD model is attractive because it gets at the root of the problem.The school is just a symptom -- the disease is the district itself, he said.By way of explanation, Petrilli said that a district could give veteran teachers first dibs on new placements, leading to a situation where the better, more experienced teachers are migrating to the more affluent schools.The notion of plucking the schools out of that dysfunction, he said, is really powerful.But state takeovers have a spotty history. Michigans floundering efforts at school takeover provided great ammunition to opponents in Georgia.Petrilli called that effort ham-handed because it didnt allow for enough flexibility to make institutional changes and essentially just changed the districts reporting structure from local officials to a state commissioner. Of the 15 schools in the states Education Achievement Authority created in 2011, 13 of them are still listed as failing and one is listed as closed.
The death penalty is legal in 30 states, but a growing number have repealed it in the last decade. California and Nebraska, however, won't be adding their states to the list.While voters in those two states decided to keep capital punishment, voters in Oklahoma -- where botched executions have led to a temporary moratorium -- strengthened their state's ability to carry it out.The death penalty appeared on the ballot in three states this year at a time when many Americans are questioning whether execution is a just punishment or even an effective means for deterring future crime. Though a majority of adults still favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, support has steadily eroded over the last 20 years and the percent of Americans who favor the death penalty is at its lowest point since the 1970s.Opponents of capital punishment argue that it sometimes results in the death of innocent people, it doesn't deter crime and it disproportionately affects people of color and the poor. Advocates say it's the appropriate sentence for the most heinous murders and it provides solace to victims' families.Like the issue of capital punishment, this year's ballot measures on the topic were complicated.In Nebraska, the state legislature overrode their governor to repeal the death penalty in 2015, but the law never went into effect because opponents gathered enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot. If voters had ultimately upheld the law, it would have been the first state under GOP control to ban capital punishment since 1973.The ballot measure gave voters two options: "repeal" or "retain." People who chose "repeal" were voting to repeal the legislature's repeal of the death penalty, thus keeping the option of executions available. The repeal side won almost 61 percent of the vote.Nebraska GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts campaigned in favor of capital punishment and contributed about $400,000 to the effort. In his veto letter to state lawmakers last year, he said their vote on a death penalty ban tests the true meaning of representative government.In California, the ballot featured two conflicting propositions -- one that would have repealed the death penalty and another that sought to keep it and speed up the legal process before executions. The repeal measure failed with about 42 percent of the vote and the pro-death penalty measure passed with slightly less than 51 percent of the vote.And in Oklahoma, the legality of capital punishment wasn't on the ballot, but about two-thirds of voters decided to add a section to the state's constitution that affirms the states authority to carry out executions, regardless of which method is used.After several botched executions, the state halted any future ones until further notice. Oklahoma's ballot measureexempts the death penalty -- but not specific methods of execution -- from being invalidated by courts as cruel and unusual punishment."It takes away the debate on whether or not we should have capital punishment," said state Rep. John Paul Jordan in an interview with. "It allows us to direct our attention as a Legislature towards how we implement it and how we do it in the most humane way possible.Critics of the Oklahoma ballot question said the constitutional amendment is unnecessary, undermines the authority of the courts and could invite expensive lawsuits. Several civil rights experts raised concerns that the measure will strip citizens of their constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.Although voters in all three states upheld the death penalty, there was some evidence that the framing of the question made a major difference in how people responded. In Oklahoma, when likely voters were asked if they supported the death penalty, three-quarters said yes. But when given the option of eliminating the death penaltyreplacing it with a life sentence without parole, along with other financial penalties, a slight majority favored a ban on the death penalty.
Two recent polls show Phil Scott leading his race by 7 percentage points. The reason that's surprising is because Scott's the Republican nominee for governor of Vermont, one of the bluest states in the nation and the home of progressive hero Bernie Sanders. It's a state where Hillary Clinton has a lead of more than 25 points over Donald Trump in recent polling.Nonetheless, Scott's personal popularity and moderate image give him a strong chance to succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin."People like him," said Bert Johnson, a political scientist at Middlebury College. "Based on the WCAX poll , he seems to be more trusted to deal with issues involving the economy, which is the top issue among the voters."Next door in New Hampshire, the governor's race appears to be breaking more in the Democrats' favor, but no one is ruling out the GOP candidate. In fact, heading into the final days of the campaign, the two New England states represent the GOP's best chances to make gains this year at the gubernatorial level.As Democrats seek to lessen the large majority of governors that Republicans make up, Democratic candidates remain ahead or tied in several red states that appear certain to vote for Trump. That includes Indiana, Missouri, Montana and West Virginia.one of Clinton's strongest states, voters there have a history of splitting their tickets. The governorship has reliably changed hands between the parties every time the job has come open since 1968."I think the governor's race has been completely divorced from the presidential race in our state," said pollster Richard Clark. "Phil Scott rejected Trumpism early on."Scott, the sitting lieutenant governor, is just the sort of Republican who Vermont voters have shown they'll support -- conservative on fiscal issues but moderate on social issues. He's kept his message focused on the economy, promising to keep a lid on taxes and regulation.His Democratic opponent, former state Transportation Secretary Sue Minter, has sought to inject social issues into the race. A recent ad run by Planned Parenthood's political wing in the state describes Scott as a "typical Republican" when it comes to abortion rights.Conversely, Scott has criticized Minter for supporting a tax on carbon emissions. She said she'll only back such a plan if it's part of a regional effort to combat climate change, but Scott has characterized it as an example of the Democrats' tax-first mentality.His attacks may be gaining traction: Minter's favorability ratings have been trending down in recent weeks."Since the summer, he's done what one might expect a candidate who is well-known in the state to do, which is diminish her popularity," said Johnson. "That's something where she's vulnerable: lack of statewide campaign experience. People didn't have a well-formed view of her."Minter also faces the challenge of trying to succeed Shumlin, whose approval ratings are fairly weak and whose administration has suffered some embarrassing setbacks on issues such as health care and wind energy. She talks a lot about leading the state's recovery effort following Hurricane Irene but shies away from mentioning that she was part of Shumlin's administration.Nevertheless, Minter enjoys the support of most elected officials in the state since so many are Democrats. She's backed by Sanders, the independent senator who's the most popular politician in the state. And Democrats are better organized and will run a bigger turnout effort than the GOP."Minter has the advantage in organizational resources," said retired political scientist Eric Davis. "She has the disadvantage of trying to succeed an unpopular governor."Other blue states have elected moderate Republican governors in recent years, including Massachusetts and Maryland. But that was in 2014, Davis noted, a midterm election when turnout is lower. In a presidential year, Scott will have to convince a lot of Democrats to cross over and support him -- as many as 25 percent of Clinton supporters, by Davis' calculations."At this point, the people who will decide the governor's race are women who will be voting for Hillary Clinton but haven't decided yet for governor."the governor's race is starving for attention. With Clinton holding a much slimmer polling lead there, the presidential contest remains contentious. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate contest, in which Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan is trying to unseat Republican Kelly Ayotte, will see some $100 million in spending when all is said and done.By contrast, the two gubernatorial candidates, Republican Chris Sununu and Democrat Colin Van Ostern, remain comparatively little-known to voters.Sununu ended up having a tougher time in his primary than Van Ostern. That race was only decided in mid-September, giving Van Ostern the chance to turn his focus toward the general election a bit earlier."People have been surprised at the disparity of resources available to the two campaigns," said Tom Rath, a former GOP state attorney general. "Van Ostern has had more help from the DGA [Democratic Governors Association] and been on TV more."Rath said he believes "core Republicans" who have been reluctant to support Trump will come home in the end. Sununu has not distanced himself from Trump, unlike Scott and some other down-ballot Republicans. Sununu does have greater name recognition, but it's borrowed -- his father was governor and his brother served as a senator.New Hampshire may be more of a swing state than Vermont at the presidential level, but it's had a greater tendency recently to elect Democrats as governor. Since 1996, New Hampshire has voted Republican for governor only once, in the midterm election of 2002. (Both Vermont and New Hampshire have two-year terms for governors.)"It's not been a good state for Republicans to invest in for governor," said pollster Andrew Smith. "Republicans generally don't do well in the presidential years here."Smith's numbers show that 23 percent of voters remain undecided in the race. Even when asked which way they're leaning, 14 percent say they haven't made up their minds. Only a third of voters said they have definitely made up their minds one way or another."If you don't know who you're going to vote for and it's the week before the election, that tells you the candidates have not gotten much traction," said Smith.The Real Clear Politics average of polls in the race shows Van Ostern leading by a couple of percentage points. With voters' attention drawn more to the presidential and Senate campaigns, the outcome of the governor's race is likely to be decided by the momentum in those other contests."In terms of campaign mechanics, Van Ostern has the edge, certainly in terms of fundraising," said Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire. "But it's going to be difficult for either of them to get any sort of leverage that's independent of what's happening at the top of the ticket."
Gov. Wolf signed into law Wednesday a package of bills intended to curb the epidemic of opioid abuse in Pennsylvania.The new laws will restrict the prescribing of opioids to minors and emergency-room patients, and will increase education for physicians.Wolf told a crowd in the Capitol rotunda that while the new requirements are to be celebrated, work remains to be done, including requiring health insurers to provide access to versions of opioid drugs that are harder to abuse."This is really a historic day," said Rep. Doyle Heffley (R., Carbon), who sponsored a bill on abuse-deterrent opioids that has yet to reach the governor. "These bills are going to save lives."More than 3,000 Pennsylvania residents died from overdoses last year, with four out of five of those deaths involving heroin, prescription opioids, fentanyl, or a combination of those substances.The sister of Clark Roderick, who died at 31 of an overdose of heroin and Xanax, spoke about her family's loss. Roderick was "a true Pennsylvania boy" who grew up in Radnor, attended Valley Forge Military Academy and the University of Pittsburgh, and loved the Steelers, Liz Roderick said. He had a contagious chuckle and stood up for people who were bullied, she said.At 25, Roderick was in an accident that injured his back, and after being prescribed painkillers, he became addicted to heroin, his sister said. His parents sent him to rehab three times, she said. He died in December and was buried in a Steelers jersey in Latrobe, she said."If it can happen to Clark, it can happen to anyone," she said. "He got sick, and he lost his way, and we as a society ultimately failed him because so much is still left unknown about how to address these thousands and thousands of cases."No one is safe. We need to improve our policies, our laws, our systems, and what we've seen here today is such an incredible step in the right direction."Under the bills signed Wednesday, prescriptions of opioids to minors will be restricted, including a limit of the prescription to one week, with some exceptions. Opioid prescriptions in emergency rooms will be limited to one week, also with exceptions. Physicians will be required to check a database of patient drug histories each time they prescribe an opioid.One bill signed into law orders the establishment of medical-school curriculum on the safe prescribing of opioids. Another requires professional education in pain management and related topics.A final new requirement allows law enforcement agencies, hospitals, and other entities to serve as drop-off locations for unneeded or expired prescription or over-the-counter drugs.
The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the Department of Corrections to temporarily delay Thomas Arthur's execution as they review his pending appeals.Arthur's was set for 6 p.m. Bob Horton, an ADOC spokesman, said the higher court would have issued a temporary stay had ADOC declined to delay the execution. The DOC initially moved the execution to 8 p.m., but the hour came and went without any word from the nation's highest court.On Wednesday evening, a divided three-judge panel in U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Arthur's final appeal, which challenged the constitutionality of Alabama's death penalty protocol. Arthur's attorneys appealed to SCOTUS to review the 11th Circuit's decision. Horton said Supreme Court Justices requested the delay to allow review of Judge Charles Wilson's dissent in the Court's denial.Two hours before Arthur's scheduled execution, medical professionals and ethicists filed a brief in support of Arthur's argument with the U.S. Supreme Courts.In a separate appeal, the Alabama death row inmate also asked SCOTUS to issue a stay on grounds that the state's sentencing scheme is unconstitutional.Attorneys for Arthur, convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire scheme, cited the court's decision in Hurst v. Florida earlier this year, which struck down Florida's method of sentencing people to death. In that system, similar to Alabama's, the jury made recommendations on a sentence, but the judge ultimately weighed the factors on it. Alabama allows judges to override juries' recommendations on capital punishment.The Alabama Supreme Court in September, however, upheld the state's capital sentencing method."It is critical that that constitutionality of Alabama's capital sentencing statute . . . be clarified by this Court," the attorneys' brief to the court said. "Additionally, Mr. Arthur's case (and numerous other pending cases) raise the important question of whether Hurst applies retroactively to permit condemned inmates no longer on direct appeal to have their constitutional right to a jury trial vindicated."The office of the Attorney General has since filed a response asking SCOTUS not to issue a stay. In part, the state argues that Arthur's sentence was constitutional because Arthur specifically requested the jury to sentence him to death."Both the jury and judge obliged Arthur's request. Having asked for his current sentence, Arthur cannot now claim error," the State's brief reads.The appeal represents Arthur's last chance to avoid execution. Arthur, who had been sentenced to life in prison in 1977 after being convicted of murdering the sister of his common law wife, was later convicted of murdering Muscle Shoals engineer Troy Wicker. But it took three trials to reach that result: Arthur's first two convictions were overturned.Arthur maintains his innocence, and his attorneys have noted no physical evidence connected him with Wicker's murder and pressed for advanced DNA testing they said could exonerate him. Convicted a third time in December 1991, Arthur requested the death sentence, saying it would help with his appeals.The jury recommended death, but according to Arthur's attorneys, there was one dissenting vote on the jury panel, and the presiding judge ultimately found a single aggravating factor in Arthur's imprisonment, and a mitigating factor in the fact that those alleged to have helped Arthur were not prosecuted. The judge ultimately ruled the aggravating factor outweighed the mitigating one, and imposed the death sentence.Arthur's attorneys argue that allowing the judge the final authority in determining a sentence violates Hurst, and said the high court needed to determine if the decision applied retroactively.
The offices were filthy. Not enough phones; not enough computers. Just overwhelming caseloads, and not enough hours to handle them. As a result, some courtrooms, according to one attorney, became guilty-plea assembly lines.Al Flora Jr., then the chief public defender of Luzerne County, was at his wit's end. So in 2012 he filed a class-action suit against his own employer, joined by the ACLU, arguing that the county was violating the constitutional rights of poor defendants by failing to fund his office adequately.Flora lost his job, but the litigation survived and has resulted in a potentially huge victory for public defenders across Pennsylvania -- the only state in the nation that provides no public-defender funding, placing all the burden on the state's 67 economically disparate, and in some cases economically challenged, counties.In September, the state Supreme Court held that defendants and/or their advocates could sue counties on the ground that inadequate funding of public-defender offices violated constitutional rights."It's more likely there will be more lawsuits filed in other counties, and possibly the state," State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf (R., Montgomery), author of a bill calling for Pennsylvania to set up a central agency overseeing and facilitating indigent defense, as New Jersey has, said last week."Pennsylvania is the only state at this point that has absolutely no funding, no standards, no structure, no higher oversight at all for public defenders offices," said Mary Catherine Roper, the ACLU lead counsel. "That means depending on where you live, you could have a good public defender or you could have a public defender that doesn't have time to learn your name."Until September, Roper said, understaffed, overworked, and underfunded public defender offices had no recourse."There was no way to address any of these problems," Roper said. "And that's what this court decision gave us."Some counties struggle more than others to provide defense for the indigent, juggling mammoth caseloads on shoestring budgets. But, lacking money, they all have one obstacle in common in attracting and keeping legal talent: A public defender's job is not the fast track to wealth.Even in Philadelphia, where the nonprofit Public Defender Association provides the highest per-capita funding levels in the state, salaries for lawyers with several years of experience in the District Attorney's Office -- $70,000 to $75,000 -- are a third higher than those of public defenders.And the workload is overwhelming, said Keir Bradford-Grey, the city's chief public defender, with about 200 attorneys each handling roughly 400 misdemeanor cases annually, double the national average. An attorney might need to work up to 15 hours a day to complete it. That situation, she said, "creates a huge amount of burnout." It also creates attrition: Over a four-year period, the office loses 65 percent of its hires, which means more money to train the replacements.Douglas Roger, the chief public defender in Delaware County, which has the third-largest budget in the commonwealth, is asking the County Council for more money for salaries, saying it is key to recruiting and retaining lawyers.Ed Olexa, an alumnus of the Luzerne County office, knows something about life in the trenches. He had worked part-time in the Wilkes-Barre office, theoretically 19 hours a week, but he said he couldn't have managed all his cases if he worked 75 to 80 hours a week. So he left."I noted in my exit letter that I couldn't effectively provide quality representation," Olexa said. "I felt that the caseloads were excessive and there wasn't enough being done about it."At my private practice now, I'm trying to do all the things I wasn't able to as a public defender."Since the suit was filed, conditions at Luzerne have improved, said Stephen Greenwald, the current chief public defender. "I think the county has really stepped up and addressed some deficiencies," he said. Now Luzerne and other counties await the fallout from the Supreme Court decision."I think it's a positive step for public defense across the commonwealth," Greenwald said.Pennsylvania spends only $7.66 per capita on public defense, according to the Gideon at 50 Project from 2013, an accounting of the state of indigent defense 50 years after Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruling that states must provide counsel to poor defendants in criminal cases. Only Texas, Missouri, Maine, and South Carolina allocate less, but even in those four, the states provide some funds and oversight from a central system.New Jersey has a central statewide public defender office, and furnishes it completely from state coffers. According to the Gideon at 50 Project, the state spends $12.42 per capita on indigent defense.Jonathan Rapping, the president and founder of Gideon's Promise and a 2014 MacArthur fellow, said the criminal justice system often runs through the poor and accused if proper public defense isn't available to them.Poor defendants, he said, "enter a system that treats people like widgets. If you're poor, then your life just isn't worth much in our justice system."Misidentification, false confessions, and shoddy forensic science are some of the most widespread sources of wrongful convictions, according to Rapping."If you have the time, you can ferret out these problems," Rapping said. "If you're overwhelmed, all you can do is accept the evidence the state brings against you and try to mount the best defense."For now in Pennsylvania, said Roper, "funding of public defender offices has nothing to do with need."Counties can't affect how many people are arrested; they can't affect how many people the DA charges. They have no control over what the volume of cases in the criminal justice system is. But they're expected to fund the Public Defender's Office."It's just politics."
The ZH 2 shares several components with the production Colorado, including the cab, doors, and roof. The standard Colorado production cab was moved back 125mm to accommodate 37-inch off-road tires. (Photo courtesy of General Motors)

The ZH 2 , powered by GMs Hydrotec fuel cell technology, was unveiled October 3 at the fall meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) in Washington, D.C. It made its auto industry debut at the 2016 SEMA Show.

The Colorado ZH 2 is a demonstration vehicle that will be tested by the U.S. Army in 2017 to evaluate the effectiveness of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered off-road vehicle in mission settings.

In addition, Chevrolet recently developed new off-road test areas at General Motors Yuma, Ariz., Proving Ground.

The Yuma Proving Ground is located on 2,400 acres of land in southeastern Arizona and has 75 GM employees and 40 contractors. Opened in 2009, Yuma features a range of tracks, laboratories and courses.

The new courses feature a high-speed desert sand trails; low-speed, loose river rock crossings; and steep, technical hill climbs and descents. Yuma Proving Grounds new off-road course will play a key role in developing future Chevrolet off-road performance technologies and vehicles.

The ZH 2 integrates the strong foundation of the Colorado midsize pickup architecture with GMs advanced hydrogen fuel cell propulsion technology, said Jim Campbell, vice president, Chevrolet Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. It combines the lessons Chevrolet has learned during 3.1 million real-world miles of testing hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles. It also reflects our commitment to expanding Chevrolets performance envelope off-road.

The ZH 2 shares several components with the production Colorado, including the cab, doors, and roof. The standard Colorado production cab was moved back 125mm to accommodate 37-inch off-road tires.

At the front, the ZH 2 hood incorporates a power dome to accommodate a transversely mounted fuel cell stack. The front fascia is a dramatic departure from the production truck. Cooling was enhanced and moved to the rear to help regulate temperatures while exporting electric power in a stationary, hot environment.

The bold appearance of the Colorado ZH 2 was driven by the packaging requirements for the fuel cell system, stationary power generation and chassis hardware necessary for off-road performance.

At the rear, the ZH 2 features a clamshell cover that integrates air intakes feeding radiators honeycombed behind the rear doors. Moving the air intake near the roofline lessens the amount of dust and dirt ingested into the radiator during extreme conditions.

The clamshell also houses the Exportable Power Take-off (EPTO) electric power conditioning unit. This allows the operator to draw high-voltage D/C from the fuel cell and convert it to both high- and low-voltage A/C (240V or 120V). The EPTO unit delivers 25 kW continuously or up to 50 kW peak. The system can power a subdivision, tools at a work site, communications equipment, or a small field hospital for hours.

The hood, front fenders, rear fenders and bed hatch are fabricated from carbon fiber with Kevlar reinforcements for maximum strength and impact resistance. The ZH 2 also features a custom 30-inch LED light bar, custom turn signals, and 7-inch front headlights.

The chassis was designed and engineered for off-road use with 37-inch BF Goodrich tires mounted to 17-inch beadlock wheels. Power is transferred from the 93 kW fuel cell system to the 132-kW electric motor, which produces 236 lb.-ft. of instantaneous torque. That torque is then delivered to the transfer case and a 4-wheel drive system with front- and rear- electronic locking differentials.

Off-road performance is further enabled by proprietary damper technology that provides body control for trail running and expanded wheel travel for rock crawling. Technical details about the dampers will be released later.

Calibration testing and validation are currently underway, and the Colorado ZH 2 is expected to be a truly capable off-road vehicle featuring:

12 inches of ground clearance

48-degree approach angle and 39-degree departure angle

Top speed above 60 mph

Ability to ascend, descend and restart on 40 percent grade

20 percent side slope capability

Other ZH 2 specifications include:

6:1 gear ratio

6,038 lbs. curb weight (estimated)

7,338 lbs. GVWR (estimated)

133.5 in. wheelbase

67.4 in. track width

210.5 overall length

79.8 in. overall height

84.5 in. overall width (including mirrors)

80.3 in. overall width (tire-to-tire)

35 in. front overhang

42 in. rear overhang

25 ft. curb-to-curb turning radius

The Chevrolet Colorado ZH 2 is part of a multiyear cooperative partnership between GMs engineering team and the U.S. military, said Charlie Freese, executive director of GMs Global Fuel Cell Business. We are putting the ZH 2 to work on Army bases around the country, and it will be in the hands of real-world war fighters.

The evaluation process will begin in early 2017.
On Thursday, in the morning, at Parliament House, Brisbane, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC presided at a meeting of the Executive Council of Queensland.

In the evening, at Government House, the Governor and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted a reception in support of the Defence Reserves Support Council, Queensland, where His Excellency addressed guests and presented the 2016 Prince of Wales and Tasman Scheme Awards.

Also in the evening, at Brisbane Airport, the Governor was represented at the welcoming of Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands by Honorary Aide-de-Camp, Commander Peter Tedman DSM OAM RAN.
Description

GIS - 04 November, 2016: China has donated 70 solar lamps to improve the public infrastructure of public beaches of the island. A handing-over ceremony was held on 3 November 2016 at Pointe aux Sables Public Beach where the first five solar lamps have been installed.

Twelve other public beaches will also benefit from the solar lamps initiative. This alternative energy source is free and requires cheap maintenance cost and is in line with Government endeavour to tap in local sources of renewable energy which offers a unique potential for launching a green economy.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony, the Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Disaster & Beach Management , Mr Alain Wong, observed that this gesture attests to Chinas longstanding support that goes beyond material funding. This symbolic donation will again serve to consolidate the deep diplomatic ties that Mauritius and China share, since the countrys independence in 1968, he stressed.

Mr Wong underlined that China has over the years supported Mauritius in its development in the form of various financial and technical assistance. He mentioned key infrastructure projects such the SSR International airport, the Anjalay Stadium and the headquarters of the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation. Recent projects include the air corridor and the implantation of Bank of China in Mauritius

For his part, the Ambassador of China to Mauritius, Mr Li Li, expressed his interest to help Mauritius tackle the pollution problem in the pursuit of economic development and mainstreaming of sustainable development by sharing its expertise and technology .

Speaking about the rapid economic developments taking place globally, Mr Li Li highlighted that the environment problem is now a pressing issue. The fragile environment as a consequence of climate change should be safeguarded. Hence the need, he said, to adopt sustainable policies as regards to energy practices. He assured that China will assist Mauritius in undertaking this task.

Also present at the ceremony, the General Manager of the Beach Authority, Dr Dhuneeroy Bissessur, welcomed the assistance of China in enabling the Authority to carry forward its mission of creating 5 star beaches, which is to provide clean, secure and embellished beaches.
DENVER  Google it. Uber home. Airbnb-ing. Will government be the next noun to morph into a verb? Thats the hope and a driving force behind the Reverb conference, which brought government, tech startups and venture capitalists together Nov. 3 in Denver to discuss innovation in the public sector.These fundamental technologies have changed the actions so drastically that they have redefined the verb, because saying youre getting a ride isnt the same as getting an Uber, said Ashton Kutcher, who is well known for acting but also has been investing in tech startups for more than a decade.The essence of Reverb is really at the core of what these technologies do because when they're done right and they're done well and they're done efficiently, they change the verb, they reassign the verb, said Kutcher.The event, hosted by the Colorado Innovation Network and Sound Ventures (Kutcher is a co-founder), focused on collaboration, partnerships and the future of public-sector IT, while also providing a venue for government tech leaders to meet directly with startups.Housed within the states Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN) has traditionally worked to spur entrepreneurialism in the state, but this year used its annual conference to change the conversation to accelerating innovation in government.Reverb was a new pilot to see if we could deeply connect our public-sector leaders with early stage companies to drive real innovation value inside of the public sector, Erik Mitisek, the states chief innovation officer, toldThe one-day meeting was broken into keynote sessions and breakout tracks, while concurrently pairing startups with government representatives to discuss potential needs and opportunities. About 150 people were in attendance, with government, startups and network leaders, which included venture capitalists, equally represented.Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper identified a need for friendly friction between government and tech companies to move public-sector IT forward. In the state and, in many cases, counties and municipalities have this kind of old-fashioned approach to procurement  how do they really innovate that, how do they change that? he asked during the morning keynote. An event like this today can go a long way. COIN ... is all about bringing together the best and the brightest from different industries to harness that friendly friction, that innovation.Collaboration and partnerships could be a key pairing to move the needle forward on gov tech innovation  but its not a new idea."I would say that the state of Colorado has been at the forefront of working with startups, state CIO Suma Nallapati told. As an example, she referenced the 2013 flooding in the state and how there was an immediate need for a platform that would allow multiple entities to track incident response and recovery. My Google team worked very closely with a company called Simply Local out of Boulder, and we stood up that website in 48 hours, said Nallapati. We had to have user interface design happen very quickly so we worked closely with Galvanize [a tech co-working space].The site, Colorado United , is still used today, and Nallapati said its become a model for resilience and recovery.So what verb will innovation in government lead to? One wasnt specifically mentioned at the conference, but Colorados CIO agrees that its only a matter of time until one rises to the surface.We Google, we tweet, we Uber, we Airbnb, Nallapati said. We should come up with a great word for that, and it should be so modern and effective that people look forward to interacting with government. We are on the path toward it.
(TNS)  NORMAL, Ill.  With businesses and government increasingly concerned with hackers and internet protection, Illinois State University is developing a new major: cybersecurity.ISU already offers a concentrated sequence in information assurance and security within its bachelor's degree program in information systems.Glen Sagers, associate professor of information technology, said the cybersecurity major would allow more depth and breadth in the courses. Instead of the three courses that are part of special sequence, the major would have five required courses dealing with cybersecurity and an elective in secure software development, said Sagers.To the best of my knowledge, we're the first in Illinois to offer the cybersecurity major, he said.Overall, the program would require 80 credit hours in the major including 56 credit hours in information technology.The proposal was approved by the ISU board of trustees last week, but still needs approval from the Illinois Board of Higher Education.The program will prepare students to evaluate the security needs of computer and network systems and recommend safeguards, as well as implement and maintain security devices and systems, according to the proposal.Information security has been growing rather quickly in the last five years, said Sagers. The new major is projected to have 125 students when fully implemented.The demand for cybersecurity experts far exceeds the supply, he said. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that demand for information security specials will grow 18 percent from 2014 to 2024.The new major will allow ISU to produce better trained professionals to fill the gap the Bureau of Labor Statistics says there will be in cybersecurity, said Sagers.The department is already fielding questions from potential students about the new major and Sagers said he is very excited to see it moving forward.So are some current students in the information security sequence, even though they won't directly be able to take advantage of the new major.That's the future, when you think about it, said senior Brenna Dahmm of Morton, who is looking for a job as an information security analyst after graduation.Another senior, Ben Bradley of Woodstock, pointed to data breaches that seem to be in the news every day.It's always going to be relevant as we grow in technology, said Bradley, who wants to work in vulnerability management and ethical hacking  pretending to be a bad guy to expose and correct weak spots in computer security.In addition to course work, students get practice in cybersecurity-related topics through student organizations and events such as the Capture the Flag challenge that begins Friday.During the challenge, teams of students are presented with a series of hacker challenges by ISU's School of Information Technology and staff from the State Farm Insurance Cos. Systems Department.Bradley and senior Evan Rappe of Macon participated on a four-person team that finished fourth in last year's competition.You had to learn something on they fly, said Bradley. It exposed you to real-world scenarios you don't come across in classes.Added Rappe, It's getting inside their minds to get one step ahead of them (hackers) or at least try to be.
Technologys Role in Transparency

1. Increased Financial Accountability

2. Greater Citizen Trust

3. More Innovative Communities

Building a More Transparent Future

gov-erin-latham.jpg

Government transparency isnt a new concept; it concerned even our nations founders.John Adams, the second U.S. president, once wrote, Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right  and a desire to know.Citizens want to understand their governments, but without knowledge of what their officials are working on, how can they?Nontransparent governments are perceived as incompetent and ineffective, which breeds widespread apathy and distrust of public officials. Good citizenship requires constituents to understand their representatives decisions. Without that understanding, there isnt much incentive to get involved.Today, technology makes transparency easier than ever. Governments can post documents, records and announcements online, creating a public transparency portal.But even with government transparency, there comes a point where more isnt more. Lengthy PDFs and 1,000-row spreadsheets can be difficult for even government workers to navigate, so citizens shouldnt be expected to parse minutes from meetings or tedious financial documents. With 91 percent of Americans wanting comprehensible information from their officials, this approach to transparency wont suffice.The problem lies in how much information is shared and how its shared. Successful transparency portals dont just provide information; they share it in a way that educates and empowers citizens.One state making headway toward a solution is Texas. Earlier this year, the states comptroller of public accounts created Transparency Stars , an award program recognizing local governments for excellence in transparency efforts. The state evaluates transparency across five verticals: finances, contracts and procurement, economic development, public pensions and debt obligations.The program requires participating municipalities to share data with Texans in a user-friendly digital format. Raw documents are still accessible, but the platform also includes more open and meaningful visual information that citizens can understand. A complete list of local governments participating in the Transparency Stars program, sorted by city, county and school district, is available on the comptrollers website For Texas, this marks a huge step forward in transparency. Now Texans can better find and understand information about where their tax dollars are spent, which breaks down perceptions of corruption and inefficiency.The benefits dont stop there. Improvements like the Transparency Stars program bring even more advantages to both governments and constituents:When they post financial information online, government officials are held accountable by their citizens. Improved public oversight in spending and contracting activities encourages all government officials to adhere to local, state and federal laws concerning those expenditures. And when the public knows where funds are going, governments exercise restraint when spending tax monies, which brings checks and balances to the local tier.By providing information about governmental activities, public officials encourage citizens to participate in more events, hearings and elections. Shared information builds trust between a government and its citizens, showing constituents they have a place in their governments decisions and inviting them to get involved.Access to digestible information means people can make more informed decisions about  and have a greater impact on  their communities. Citizen involvement paves the way for initiatives like grass-roots-led ballot measures in Phoenix last November that expanded funding to 28 local school districts. The more citizens know, the more willing and able they are to contribute to their communities.Transparency is all about communication, and communication must be a two-way street. When citizens are informed and involved in their local governments, constituents feel empowered to share their needs with government officials.This creates a stronger partnership between a government and its citizens, one in which the people understand their officials decisions and their officials know the communitys needs. By working together, both parties can find better and more innovative solutions to the communitys problems.Government transparency is crucial for both officials and their constituents. No government wants to be seen as untrustworthy, and no citizen wants to be left in the dark about decisions that his or her representatives make. But when that information is inaccessible, without context, or difficult to navigate, citizens cant understand it. Thats not effective transparency.By communicating decisions in a way everyone can comprehend  through an accessible portal that contains up-to-date information on spending and initiatives  governments achieve a greater level of trust and understanding, both internally and externally. That facilitates stronger cooperation between officials and constituents, leading to more productive governments and more involved citizens. Thats transparency done right.
STANFORD, CALIF. -- It has been a year since Stanford University launched an effort to better understand the legal tug of war that exists around electronics, the data they contain and the governments right to access it. The undertaking is called the Crypto Policy Project.In recent years, we have seen the larger encryption debate play out in court and the popular media. When Apple fought the FBI over the agencys request to open a backdoor into iPhones following a mass shooting in San Bernardino in 2015, a conversation that had long been simmering on the back burner boiled over to the forefront of the privacy vs. security discourse.How can companies protect privacy without impeding law enforcements ability to investigate crimes?The idea that the debate is a new one is wholly false. Todays push and pull is just another iteration of the surveillance and encryption debate we saw in the 1970s, and again in the 1990s.For law enforcement, encryption in everyday devices poses a very real investigative barrier that must be balanced against the fear of unstifled access to any and every device.As with the San Bernardino shooters phone, authorities argued that encryption was the thorn in the side of the investigation that followed. After publicly arguing with technology companies, investigators would go on to work around the encrypted device by paying a hacker more than $1 million to break in.Jennifer Granick, director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, explained that separating the needs of law enforcement from the publics rights under the Constitution is not as simple as it might seem. She calls this policy battle the third crypto war.Particularly after the Snowden revelations, there was a really concerted effort to encrypt more information to keep it secure , she said. But this increased push for encryption has created a policy conflict, and the policy conflict is between the knowledge that encryption can secure information with the knowledge that encryption can interfere with legitimate law enforcement investigations.The discussion in the 1970s centered on the key length of encryption methods, and in the 1990s, it was about whether personal devices could, or should, have encryption built into them. After much back and forth, experts settled in favor of stronger encryption methods in both cases.The general reasoning was that a lack of strong cryptographic protections would, in effect, create a laundry list of other security problems. Though protecting information seems straightforward to many living in the digital age, Granick said it is not without far-reaching policy implications.Here in 2016, we are facing the third crypto war, which is this policy battle over what are we going to do about encryption, she said. The policy battle has initially focused on legislative backdoors, where it would be unlawful to deploy crypto systems where there is no wiretap ability, the provider cant provide plain text or the government doesnt have the ability to decrypt.As we heard argued in the Apple vs. FBI entanglement, backdoors bring their own concerns, like what happens when a foreign government decides to use the method to track the movement of journalists or civil rights leaders? And what damage would be done to public trust when people learned of the deception?What the experts said, pretty uniformly, is that backdoors pose security risks and that these security risks can be pretty serious, Granick said. This is something that might not be obvious to a magistrate judge, sitting on the bench, deciding these cases.From the legal perspective, Riana Pfefferkorn, a Stanford cryptography fellow, explained that efforts to gauge court transparency related to encrypted devices have not been without their own barriers. Though judges must review and approve digital hunting expeditions on the part of law enforcement, active cases are not part of the public record, and sealed cases may never see the light of day.Pfefferkorn said several Freedom of Information Act requests have been filed to not only learn more about what the government is up to, but also learn more about the context of the cases and how law enforcement agencies are going about the data retrieval process. Despite significant work to obtain this information, she said the process has been a slow one.The center is also litigating in San Francisco federal court to open sealed records. One area researchers are particularly interested in is whether companies are being compelled to work around their own cryptography, provide encryption keys or some other technical assistance to investigators. If so, how often is this the case?Because most of the incidents of interest to the Stanford team happen behind closed doors, are kept secret to protect investigations and are ultimately sealed, little is known about the scope of these requests and how third-party companies are cooperating, or not.Were trying to get any records where there isnt still some need for secrecy. Were trying to exclude ongoing investigations, she said.Both Granick and Pfefferkorn see the Internet of Things as an expanding area of interest to law enforcement. As it expands to encompass new devices, agencies will no doubt try to leverage all the tools at their disposal and leave courts charting more unfamiliar territory.Pfefferkorn pointed out that a device like a digital assistant or connected thermostat device could theoretically be used to gather information about the target of an investigation.So with everything from refrigerators to toothbrushes and feminine hygiene products getting the Internet of Things treatment, you can imagine the possibilities, she cautioned, but we shouldnt have to just imagine what is happening. We dont really know; we dont know a lot of the facts about what the courts have been doing
Charlie Whiting has a question to answer in the wake of last weekend's Mexican grand prix.

That is the view of F1 legend Alain Prost, referring to a controversy about drivers cutting corners at the Mexico City circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo in particular was furious, when Lewis Hamilton was not penalised despite getting a big advantage at the first corner by running through the grass.

Before Max Verstappen was penalised for the same infraction, Ricciardo said on the radio: "What about all these guys out-braking themselves? Lewis at the start and Max.

"Put a f------ wall there and they won't do it. F------ kindergarten stuff," the Australian fumed.

Four time world champion Prost thinks the biggest problem is the inconsistency, with Verstappen punished but race winner Hamilton not.

"I do not judge any of the drivers, it's just necessary to ask if there is a rule or not," he told the French broadcaster Canal Plus.

"At the start, Lewis made a mistake and got the advantage, but then there was the safety car so he lost that advantage.

"So it's necessary to ask the FIA and Charlie Whiting what would have happened with Hamilton if there was no safety car.

"Otherwise, everyone who starts from pole position but is afraid of losing their lead at the beginning of the race should just cut the first corner. It's a serious problem," added Prost.

(GMM)
PowerCell Sweden AB has received the first marine order for two PowerCell S3 prototype stacks, which Swiss Hydrogen will install on a ship powered by photovoltaics.

PowerCells partner Swiss Hydrogen is developing energy systems for a range of fuel cell applications. The current order placed by Swiss Hydrogen at PowerCell comprises two PowerCell S3 prototypes that will be part of a system that is developed and adjusted to the marine environment. The order is a result of the collaboration agreement, which PowerCell signed with Swiss Hydrogen in April 2016.

The ship will be supplied with a system that encompasses on-board production of hydrogen gas from solar electricity, storage of hydrogen gas and two fuel cells each one 30 kW, which amounts to 80 hp in total.

PowerCell has, in the past, had many requests concerning marine applications. However, this is the first time that the companys PowerCell S3 stacks will be tested together with a partner in a marine environment. The fuel cells will quadruple autonomy.

More countries are demanding fossil-free energy for marine fields of application. The Netherlands has decided to develop fossil-free ferries. Norway, that was an early user of battery operations, is far advanced in establishing fuel cell-powered ships. Over the next few years car ferries, passenger ferries and a fishing boat will be powered by fuel cell technology in Norway.
If a winter chill has your day-dreaming of something a little more tropical, then the new Solandge "super yacht" coming soon to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean may be the perfect remedy ...

... if you've got $1 million per week to spend.
GREENWICH  How about a little Billy Joel with your Salad Nicoise?

Diners at the LEscale restaurant on Greenwich Harbor were treated to an impromptu performance by the famed pianist and pop star Wednesday at lunchtime.

Joel sat down at the piano and played a short piece, which was shared with Greenwich Time. The reaction of the patrons at LEscale was said to be delirious.

No word on whether the Piano Man made any tips for the short performance.

The Long Island-based musician has been a frequent visitor to Greenwich. His retro-style yacht, the Vendetta, is a well-known sight on local waters. The 57-foot yacht, called a commuter in the trade, made a splash in the boating press when he had it made in 2007. Long and low, it was made in the style of 1920s era watercraft designed for pleasant commutes.

Why the name? According to Yachting magazine, Joel replied, Because living well is the best revenge. I live in a Gatsby-type house, now I have a Gatsby-type boat. I enjoy that lifestyle. Joel has been a longtime maritime enthusiast who told the magazine he supports the boating business in words and deeds.

A six-time Grammy Award winner who has sold 150 million records across the globe, he maintains a residence in Oyster Bay, L.I., a distance of 11 nautical miles from Greenwich.

Joel often takes the 57-footer from his home on Long Island to New York City, according to Yachting magazine. And if he feels like lunch along the way, theres a spot in Greenwich where he can feed his appetite and love of performance simultaneously.
GREENWICH  The owners of a longtime Greenwich music school have appealed to the town Planning and Zoning Commission to reject a chain music businesss plan to move in upstairs.

School of Rock, an international chain that teaches children to play popular music with an emphasis on performance, has asked the Commission to approve plans to move into 1200 East Putnam Ave.

The space is above the independently owned Greenwich Music, which has been offering lessons, instrument sales and repairs in the area since the 1960s.

Attorneys for both entities appeared at the Commission meeting on Tuesday.

I know School of Rock has sort of a daunting sound, said Chip Haslun, the attorney representing the business. It sounds like it might be the House of Blues or something, but its not.

The business focuses on guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals. There are currently four franchises in Connecticut: Fairfield, New Canaan, Madison and Ridgefield. There also are franchises throughout North and South America, the Asia Pacific and Africa, Haslun said.

The new music school proposed offering lessons between noon and 10 p.m. during the week, and some weekend lessons. It would have a maximum of seven teachers on site; evening classes could grow to as large as 20 students, he said.

Haslun said the previous occupant of the space was Partners Beauty Salon. He said a music school would have less of a traffic impact than another salon.

James Fulton, an attorney representing Greenwich Music, said putting another music school into this space would be abominable.

The old Partners Beauty Salon had made numerous changes to the space without receiving building permits or site plan approval from the Commission, Fulton said.

They believed that applying for permits is for chumps, and it is much easier to do what you want to do if you just do it, Fulton said. Why should the commission be persuaded to approve an application because it is less bad than a beauty salon which was operating unlawfully?

Fulton said he spoke to the proprietor of the School of Rock in New Canaan, who told him that the school had class sizes of close to 30, which would add to the amount of traffic that occurs outside the office park, which is next to the I-95 exit and the McDonalds in Riverside.

Joe Summa, owner of Greenwich Music since 2008, spoke about his difficulties with parking on the site and predicted that more traffic would undoubtedly endanger the hundreds of students that come out for lessons.

Several commissioners said they wanted more documentation about traffic flow and parking from School of Rocks Haslun.

We acknowledge that there is a lot of traffic on East Putnam Avenue, said Richard Maitland, chairman of the commission.

The item was left open for further discussion.

pfrissell@hearstmediact.com; @PeregrineFriss
Do you like HTC smartphones? How about getting one for free? That's exactly what the Taiwanese mobile device maker is proposing for people in the US. The company has started a campaign today which will run every Friday until the end of the year. And every single Friday, an HTC smartphone will be given away to one lucky winner.

The catch? There doesn't seem to be one. You obviously have to enter your details into a special website set up for this purpose, but that's it. Oh, and you'll most likely want to follow HTC on Twitter and Facebook since those are the places where the winners will be announced.

The first device to be given away is the HTC One M9, last year's flagship smartphone. If you're lucky, you can snag this one for free from HTC if you register at the aforementioned page by 11:59 PM Pacific Time. Do note that if you want to participate in the subsequent draws, you'll need to enter your details again and again, every Friday.

Source
The Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Porsche Design were announced yesterday - you can't have missed it. Products of the continued collaboration between Huawei and world-renowned optics specialists Leica in developing the camera subsystem, started with the Huawei P9, the new devices come with a pair of cameras - a 20MP monochrome sensor and a 12MP RGB sensor, each mated to an f/2.2 aperture lens.

After the keynote we had a sit-down with Huawei representatives, a host of Leica engineers and a few of our tech writer colleagues. We attempted to find out more about what's going on under the hood of the Mate 9 and behind the scenes with the collaboration between the two companies. Certainly, no actual secrets were revealed, we didn't really expect that, but the folks did shed some light on how the cameras on the Mates work.

One of the key points is the 'Leica look' of the images the Mates produce. Not a quantifiable metric, the Leica look is a product of a hundred years of photographic experience on the German company's part and is mostly a subjective interpretation based on their own taste for pictures. To put this in less ambiguous terms, oversharpening and oversaturation have been consciously avoided. Noise, on the other hand, they did try to reduce, but not remove it completely - instead, leave a natural beautiful noise, reminiscent of film photography.

As for detail, we specifically asked whether we should be pixel-peeping into the 20MP color images the phone can produce, or stick to 12MP the color sensor can capture natively. They didn't have a clear answer for that, but theoretically luminosity is where most of fine detail is contained (and that's basically what we're getting from the 20MP monochrome camera), so there's no reason why the Mate 9 shouldn't be able to output usable 20MP color images. We'll certainly be looking into that during the review process.

The Leica look conversation raised some hardware questions and no, the collaboration does not extend to the display. While it was in no way hinted that the display is inaccurate, the Leica look might be best observed on a calibrated screen - at least that's what we deduced.

Additionally, the dual camera setup is a staple of said look for a number of reasons. The two cameras are required for achieving the depth effects in portrait mode, delivering better low-light performance, and also for shooting real black and white photos, rather obviously.

The more skeptical among us were quick to point out that an f/2.2 aperture is no longer anything spectacular. To which the Leica engineers replied that a couple of f/2.2 cameras means twice the light, or effectively an f/1.6 aperture on a single camera. There's more to it than the math of dividing 2.2 by the square root of 2, though.

Now, we know from the P9 that the images from the color and the monochrome camera are fused together to produce better quality end results. Color information comes from the RGB sensor and is further enhanced with luminosity data from the black and white sensor.

Apparently, though, the Mate 9 also combines several exposures from each camera as well. The details are sketchy, but let's say that the Google Pixel's image stacking isn't entirely foreign to the Mate 9 either. Not given as much publicity as the Pixel's HDR+ Auto mode, the functionality works in a similar way, constantly analyzing the sensor output. Leica engineers refused to specify the number of stacked frames, instead saying the whole process is dependent on hand shake.

There were the usual questions as to what actually is Leica's part in the collaboration, and one of Leica's own summed it up nicely - 'whenever a photon enters this phone, then that's where we start collaborating'. On a more serious note - Leica does not manufacture the lenses, nor have they exclusively designed them - it was a back and forth process between the two companies' engineering teams.

More or less that's the takeaway from this meeting. We'll be sure to test how all of this translates into practice over the next days - our Huawei Mate 9 review is well underway now.
Motorola is still pushing MotoMods, which is both the name of some mobile accessories that are already out for the Moto Z line of smartphones, but also what the company is calling its initiative for bringing more of these to the market. Motorola has already launched the MotoMods Development Kit (MDK) so that eager hardware companies can design their own modular accessories that snap onto the Moto Z's back. Now though it's taking things one step further.

Essentially, the company wants you to dream up the next MotoMod. You have until January 31 to enter its MotoMods Developer contest with your idea. Finalists will be chosen by a "panel of industry leaders" assembled by Motorola. If you are among those, you'll then be offered the chance to finance the development of your MotoMod idea through Indiegogo. Furthermore, you'll receive a Moto Z and an MDK for free from Motorola, to make things easier in the process.

Last, but definitely not least, the winners will be flown to Chicago to meet the MotoMods executive development team at Motorola, and discuss how to best bring their ideas to life. The company is also holding a couple of hackathons, one in New York City in December, the other in San Francisco in January. Anyone who creates new MotoMods during these hackathons will be able to participate in the Indiegogo campaign too, and the hackathon winners will be pre-qualified to receive the aforementioned trip to Chicago.

Finally, Lenovo Capital will finance your MotoMod idea directly, if this "really impresses" Motorola. Lenovo Capital has set aside a cool $1 million for this purpose.

Source
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Over the past few weeks Samsung has done a lot to make sure every single Galaxy Note7 unit ever sold is returned, because of the well documented fire hazard they pose. However, the company still hasn't gotten all of the phones back, so now it's trying to force people to do this.

A software update that limits charge to 60% has already been sent out to Galaxy Note7 units sold in both South Korea and Europe, and now it's headed to the US. The first devices to get it will be those sold by T-Mobile. Starting tomorrow, the update (with build version N930TUVU2APK1) will be rolling out to all Note7s purchased from the magenta carrier.

After this is installed, your handset won't be able to charge past 60%, its battery indicator color will change to grey, and the dreaded recall pop-up notification will appear even more frequently than before. All of these things are designed to annoy you into turning your Note7 in. We'll have to see if this will actually make every single person who bought a Note7 take it back. Anyway, now that the floodgates are about to open, expect the other big US carriers to follow suit with similar updates in the near future.

Source | Via
The much-rumored and oft-leaked vivo X9 and X9 Plus are finally going to become official at an event in Beijing on November 16. The information comes straight from the Chinese company itself, posting the unveiling date through its official Weibo account. That's one day earlier than expected, though we can't say that's a problem.

The X9 and X9 Plus will come with a dual camera setup on the front, unlike most smartphones these days which choose to go with such an arrangement on the rear. Through past teasers, vivo has already revealed that one of those selfie units will have 20 MP resolution, while the other will settle for 8 MP. Today the company has released some new teasers for the X9 duo, which you can see below.



vivo X9 teasers

The metal construction from the X7 is here to stay, as you can see, but this time around the antenna bands have the ever more popular U-shaped design. On the front, the screen comes with extra narrow 1.59mm beels on the sides, and Gorilla Glass 5 is employed to protect said display.



Additional vivo X9 teasers

Despite the dual camera setup on the front, the back of the X9 houses just one shooter, paired with a LED flash. Past rumors spoke about the X9 sporting the Snapdragon 653 chipset from Qualcomm, with either 4 or 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The X9 Plus is said to have two cameras on the back too.

Source (in Chinese) | Via




Haiti - Health : Kuwait will fund a new hospital in the metropolitan area





This week, the Fund for Economic and Social Assistance (FAES), received a delegation from Kuwait (Mohammad Alhadidi and Mohammad I.A Alomani) came to assess the buildings financed by the Government of Kuwait (under the Government Lamothe) either: an Emergency Centre in the West, a high school in Petit-Trou-de-Nippes and two national schools, for a total amount of 9 million dollars https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-5488-haiti-reconstruction-signature-of-an-agreement-of-$9-million-with-kuwait.html



Wednesday, Lucien Francoeur, General Director of FAES, Daphnee B. Delsoin, the Minister of Public Health and the Kuwait Fund for Development representatives, Mohammad Alhadidi and Mohammad Alumni signed an agreement for the construction of a new hospital in the metropolitan area.



The Kuwaiti delegation left Haiti yesterday Thursday after completing their evaluations after the passage of Hurricane Matthew.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Social : Dozens of illegal Haitian discovered in St. Martin





Police officers of the French borders (PAF), who suspected trafficking of migrants in the bay of Marigot (French part of the island of Saint Martin), discovered during a control operation, with support of Customs and the gendarmerie, 52 illegal migrants, mostly of Haitian nationality (28 men, 17 women and 7 children), which were piled aboard a catamaran with a capacity of 12 people, which was anchored in the bay.



The three crew members, two Dutch, a man and a woman as well as a St. Lucian all 3 residents on the island, were arrested and confessed to participating in illegal activity of human trafficking for money. Accused of assistance to stay in organized gang and endangerment of others, they must appear this Friday, November 4 in immediate appearance in Basse-Terre for trial.



According to the testimony from illegal, gathered by the Deputy Prosecutor, the crew was to take them to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands and some had to stay in St. Martin. The tour price varied between 1,000 and 7,000 US dollars per person... The illegal migrants were asked to leave French territory, but no eviction proceedings were launched noted the Deputy Prosecutor.



PI/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





Relaunch of the Task Force of the Mining Sector

The Council of Economic and Social Development (CDES) in conjunction with the Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME), pursues a series of meetings, of exchanges of information and ideas with the various sectors of national life interested in issues related to development of the mining sector in Haiti. The objective of this initiative is to feed the reflection and forge a broad national consensus to promote sustainable development of the sector and maximizing the benefits for the country. More specifically, it is to reach a consensual roadmap with an action plan for the sector.



A presidential candidate withdraws from the race

The journalist Luckner "Louko" Desir, presidential candidate under the banner "Mobilisation Pour Haiti" (MPH), who gathered 591 votes (0.04% of the electorate) in the first round of the Presidential election of October 25, 2015, decided to withdraw from the electoral race of November 20 "I move on. I return to my professional activities, because definitely the elections this year, I no longer believe," adding "thank you to my supporters. Ki sam pral fe, ki sa lap ye, map fe nou konnen semaine prochaine. Kenbe la."



Recall that in June 2016, "Louko" declared "It is me who won the presidential elections !" convinced of being the only candidate not to have committed fraud and that the CEP had according to him, preferred to cancel the election than to declare him winner !



Incident of Les Cayes, Privert urges !

Thursday, the Presidency condemned in the strongest terms the incidents in the commune of Les Cayes Tuesday, November 1 where a teenagerwas shot dead during a food distribution operation. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19111-haiti-flash-an-aid-distribution-goes-wrong-in-les-cayes-1-dead.html . The de facto President Privert which considers that such incidents do not reflect the feeling of sharing and living together we know of the Haitian people urges that steps be taken immediately by the police and judicial authorities to identify and punish according to the law perpetrators of these reprehensible and wrongdoing acts.



Notice of the PNH for Internet users

The National Police of Haiti (PNH) invites Haitian Internet users not to publish or share on social networks shocking share that could disturb their friends. It means by shocking images as well as naked bodies than mutilated corpses...



Important meeting in Spain

The Ambassador a.i. of Haiti in Spain, Antonio Rodrigue met Alain A.A. Pierard the Delegate of the Governor of Rotary Club for Southern Spain, around the shipment to Haiti of a water purification machine PP4X4 capable of producing 40,000 liters of drinking water per day, intended to affected areas by the passage of Matthew.



Workshop on the preliminary draft law of CONATEL

This Friday, the National Council of Telecommunications (CONATEL) opened a workshop relating to the preliminary draft law on: electronic transactions, electronic evidence, interception of electronic communications and cybercrime. This workshop will allow stakeholders to reflect on the significance of these texts, which are designed to provide the telecommunications sector with a favorable legal framework for its development.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/11/03 | Source

Nam Ji-hyun was touched by Seo In-guk's actions.

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On the latest episode of the MBC drama "Shopping King Louis" on November 3rd, Bok-sil and Louis became business partners. Back in Seoul, Louis visited Bok-sil's office everyday before he went to work himself. He was jealous of Bok-sil and Joong-won being close but he went back to the way he was before and still begged her to buy him noodles.

Goo threatened Seon Goo (Kim Kyu-chul) and received 1 billion won in return for leaving the country. Seon Goo was nervous to hear that Louis's memory had come back.

Il-soon had a baby dream and invited Bok-sil over for dinner. Bok-sil was drinking juice before dinner when she gagged. It was probably the noodles that she had for lunch but Il-soon was happy thinking she was pregnant.

Louis asked Jeong-nan to catch the teens who ripped Bok-sil off of her money and Jeong-nan released her 'friends' to catch them. in the end, the teens were caught and Louis made them peel garlic to pay back what they took.

A few days later, Il-soon invited Bok-sil and In-seong's family for dinner and Louis plays the piano and sang for Bok-sil. Everyone was touched by that.

Louis sent Bok-sil home and gave her a ring. It was the ring that they saw on the streets before but didn't have any money to buy. Louis tried to kiss her but she avoided kissing him by saying something else. Louis made coffee for her and she was surprised he knew the drawer in which it was.

She realized that he was the one who came to her house to clean and made coffee for himself. He then watched her go to work and watched her sleep from afar. Bok-sil was overwhelmed and hugged him from the back and later they kissed.
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
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Bali is a relatively new hot spot for international travel. Its a great place to visit, both because of its rich culture and arts scene but also because of its amazing biodiversity. There are over 500 reef building coral species in the area. This is about 7 times as much coral as there is in the Caribbean. You can also get some great Bali hotel deals. The Alila Seminyak is a great spot to stay in while you visit.

Bali has lush landscapes made up of hills, mountains, and rugged coastlines with sandy beaches and gorgeous rice terraces. There are also barren volcanic hillsides all making this a great vacation spot for anyone looking for a new place to go. From surfing and diving to cultural, historical, and archaeologic attractions. There are also tons of accommodations of all types, one such hotel is the best western kuta beach. The Best Western is located in South Bali which is the most popular part of the island. There are some memorable hot spots including Kuta Beach, which has a sunset that should not be missed and is a wonderfully romantic beach. As well as Tenah Lot Temple, which is a temple which was built in the 15th century by Hindu priest Nirartha. The temple sits just off shore on an outcropping of stones and is a sight to behold. It is only accessible via a small foot path which is a sight to see at sunset as well.

On the way to the temple there are also many small ships set up to buy a wealth of souvenirs with something for everyone back home. There are many wonderful places to visit in Bali from gorgeous scenic beaches to wonderful cultural temples it is easy to see why Bali is a global hot spot to visit on vacation whether you are a globe trotting upper crust individual or a student finding their way as well as everyone in between. Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, 2013 APEC and Miss World 2013. Bali also contains the Subak Irrigation System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its a not a short flight, so make sure you prepare the kids for a long plane ride.
OHA Incumbents Cannot Run from Their Records - Keli`i Akina and Mililani Trask Offer New Leadership

From www.keliiAKINA.com

HONOLULU, HAWAII--November 3, 2016 -- In a recent flurry of newspaper commentaries, OHA trustees Robert Lindsey and Haunani Apoliona have attempted to distance themselves from facts that would suggest it`s time for new leadership at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Lindsey and Apoliona, both up for re-election, have failed to participate in any publicly hosted forums or television programs in which they would have faced their respective challengers Mililani Trask and Keli`i Akina. Only Trask and Akina responded positively to requests to appear before community and media groups such as PBS/Hawaii Public Television, the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce and the Waianae Coast Community Concerns organization. Now, in these final days of the election, the facts still confront incumbents Lindsey and Apoliona who have evaded them in their commentaries.

For example:

The incumbents have wasted over $33 million on federal recognition and governance schemes, including Na`i Aupuni. (Footnote 1)

The incumbents have ignored their own surveys that show Hawaiians do not want OHA to spend its funds on governance schemes, but on meeting real needs, such as housing, jobs, education, and health-care. (Footnote 2)

The incumbents have endangered the Hawaiian Beneficiaries Trust which, according to the 2015 PKF OHA Fiscal Report will run out of funds in 9-10 years! Even after the Report was issued , OHA trustees continued to squander funds on travel junkets, gifts for international conferences and questionable projects. (Footnote 3)

If OHA continues on its current path of reckless spending, it will fail in its mission to better the conditions of native Hawaiians. It will also expand a serious burden for all Hawaii tax-payers on whose shoulders now rests the costs of native Hawaiian welfare.

In the eyes of both Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians, the reputation of OHA is at an all-time low. A recent survey, which OHA commissioned a public relations firm to conduct, confirmed the widespread perceptions that OHA is ineffective, poorly managed, or corrupt and does not help or represent the Hawaiian people effectively. (Footnote 4)

Akina and Trask say, We offer a new course for OHA: Shut off the wasteful spending on political governance schemes; focus on meeting the real needs of Hawaiians; and, bring truth and transparency to the OHA board.

Akina and Trask add, The trustees seeking re-election may be unwilling to meet their challengers in open debate, but they cannot run from the facts or their own records.

In the words of Trustee Rowena Akana, who encourages the voting public to hold the OHA trustees accountable, "This election, seek change and elect new blood! Elect New People! Electing the same Trustees will not bring any meaningful change to OHA!" (Footnote 5)

SOURCES:

1. Civil Beat: "OHA Violates Trust Responsibility to Native Hawaiians," by Keli`i Akina, Aug. 2, 2016

2. Hawaii Free Press: "OHA Funds Voter Sentiment Survey to Help Incumbents," Aug. 17, 2016

3. OHA - PKF Pacific Hawaii Report in HFP: "PKF Report: OHA Will Run Out of Funds," Mar. 27, 2015

4. Civil Beat: "Can Spending Six Figures On PR Solve OHAs Image Problem?" by Chad Blair, Sept. 7, 2016

5. Rowena Akana, "Are You Satiisfied with the Status Quo?," Ka Wai Ola, August 2016

Keli`i Akina, Ph.D. is the President/CEO of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a leading public policy think tank. He is a candidate for Trustee-at-Large in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Mililani Trask is an attorney and advocate for the Hawaiian people and global human rights. She is a candidate for Big Island Resident Trustee in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Federal Grants for Container on Barge Services

by Michael Hansen, President Hawaii Shippers Council, November 3, 2016

The U.S. Federal Maritime Administration (MARAD) in a press release posted to their website on October 26, 2016 announced their award of $4.85 million in grants to six marine highway projects on the continuous United States (CONUS).

The purpose of five out of the six projects is to provide what are known as container-on-barge shuttle services along coastal and inland waterways to provide efficient and integrated multimodal transportation of freight around the country. Typically these container-on-barge services move container cargo arriving on international ocean shipping services at large ports of entry  or entrepots  to significantly smaller nearby secondary port destinations. This eliminates the need to transport the containers by truck between regional centers relieving traffic and congestion. The large containerships that characterize shipping today are typically to big for physical and financial reasons to call at the smaller ports.

MARAD has designated a number of what are known as Marine Highways with a numbering system that parallels the national highway system. For example, one of the projects awarded a grant operates on the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Chicago, which is designated as the Marine Highway 55 (M-55). That route parallels the Interstate 55 (I-55) which also runs South to North from New Orleans to Chicago.

The application for marine highways grants with MARAD must be made by a regional port authority or state or municipal transportation department in conjunction with private partners that will actually provide the service.

Several transportation and marine publications commented on the recent MARAD marine highway awards noting the inconsistent history of the container on barge services in the U.S. Container-on-barge services are popular in Europe and Asia but have a spottier record in the United States noted the Journal of Commerce (JOC) on October 27th. The JOC said further regarding three of the projects in the Mississippi basin, Though the Mississippi is the nations busiest waterway for bulk cargo, several container-on-barge services on the river since the 1970s have struggled with inconsistent demand, railroad price competition, and uncompetitive transit times.

The American Shipper Magazine wrote, MARAD awarded the first round of Marine Highway Grants six years ago as part of its effort to stimulate cargo diversion to coastal and inland waterways, especially barge services that haul containers. But the short-sea shipping mode, as some refer to it, has proven problematic to jumpstart without government subsidies because most shippers have been reluctant to sacrifice speedier transit times and the lack of dedicated port infrastructure for seamless transfer of containers from trucks to barges.

However, both publications noted that certain of the marine highway container-onbarge projects are achieving success including two of the recent awardees, the James River Express, from Norfolk to Richmond, Virginia, And the SEACOR shuttle service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A similar kind of container-on-barge shuttle service between the States Honolulu Harbor and Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor (KBPH) could eliminate much of the truck traffic on the H-1 employed hauling container cargo discharged from the ocean carriers calling at Honolulu Harbor to the warehousing and other receivers in the growing Kapolei area.

LINK: Maritime Administration Awards $4.85 Million in Grants for Marine Highway Projects  MARAD
Hawaii has the longest permit approval process in the country

by Aaron Lief, Grassroot Institute, Nov 2, 2016

Its no secret that Hawaii is drastically short on affordable housing. Its easy to blame Hawaiis zoning lawswhich restrict urban development to under 5% of Hawaiis total land mass; however, a study done by Dr. Ralph McLaughlin, an economist at Trulia, concluded that delays in the permitting process are the greatest factor for lack of affordable housing.

By looking at national data from the last 20 years, Dr. McLaughlin found that delays to permit approval have the greatest correlation with low elasticity. This isnt a good sign for Hawaii residents, given that Honolulu has the longest permit approval process in the country at 17 months. Other towns like Sandy Springs, GA, issue permits in only 5  20 business days.

Each delay met by developers increases the risk that their development will fail while simultaneously decreasing their profit. In an unstable environment such as Hawaii, there is little incentive for developers to take the risk of building new houses. This reduces the supply of houses in Hawaii, and increases housing prices.

The good news is that this study paves a path forward towards lower housing prices. Hawaiis current permitting process is so convoluted that Hawaii Business Magazine recommends hiring a third party agency to route the paperwork for you.

George Atta, Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting, admits that the system could use improvement, stating, We dont have a good enough supervisory system set up, so, whether out of intent or negligence, the permit gets held up. He also points to a significant increase in regulation over the last 60 years, which has added to the bureaucracy involved in the permitting process.

Could something as simple as streamlining Hawaiis permitting process lead to a decrease in housing costs? According to Dr. McLaughlins research, it could significantly impact Hawaiis housing prices, which could ultimately help thousands of island families pay for the price of paradise.

---30---
The elephant in the room - and in the country

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President Grassroot Institute

One of the interesting things about elections is that so little attention is paid to issues that have major, long-term consequences. Perhaps that's because such problems feel too big...or more likely because candidates don't see how they will attract votes. However, when all is said and done, there are some core issues that need to be addressed and can be deeply influenced by election results--if only the voters would consider them.

Chief among these is the problem of unfunded liabilities.

Hawaii isn't the only state facing substantial pension debt. In a new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council, researchers estimate that the state public pension plans are underfunded by about $5.6 trillion--a $900 billion increase from the 2014 estimate. If you were to combine the debt across all states, the price tag would be $17,427 for every man, woman, and child in America.

Sadly, that would be a good deal for Hawaii.

Hawaii wasn't the worst performer in the study, but that's about as comforting as it gets. The Aloha State placed 40th when ranking states by funded ratio--that is, the value of the plan's assets compared to its accrued liabilities. Hawaii's funded ratio is 29.2%, an indication that our efforts to relieve the burden of our state's unfunded liabilities haven't generated much success yet.

When it comes to calculating the per capita unfunded pension liabilities--which ALEC describes as the most alarming (and dramatic) way of viewing the real burden of the shared debt for taxpayers--Hawaii performs even more poorly. The state ranked 44th in unfunded liabilities per capita, saddling each taxpayer in the state with $24,544 worth of pension debt.

Of course, none of this is news. Hawaii's policymakers, from the Governor down, all recognize that it's an issue. On some level, they even acknowledge that the Hawaii's unfunded liabilities create problems for the state budget and threaten our economic future. But now, during an election when voters could make important decisions about which leaders they want handling the issue, we aren't hearing much.

This is a critical issue for our state, our economy, and, let's be honest, our wallets. If voters aren't asking their candidates what they would do to address the state's pension debt, they should start doing so before it's too late. Regardless of what some politicians may think, we can't keep trying to pass this problem off to a future generation.

---30---

ALEC: Hawaii Unfunded Pension debt $35.1B
In a recent ceremony held at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir, the Foundation of CCC&TI named 41 local seventh-grade students as this years Dream Scholars. The Dream Award ensures free tuition to attend CCC&TI upon graduation from high school. The program, offered through the Foundation, is in its 27th year and has presented 1,143 awards since its inception.

Dream Award recipients are selected from among sixth-grade students in Caldwell and Watauga counties. Those selected must be first-generation college students who have demonstrated academic achievement and civic involvement, and who have the potential to succeed.

CCC&TI President Dr. Mark Poarch opened the ceremony by welcoming scholars, their families and guests. Id like to be one of the first to congratulate you on receiving this great award. Each one of you is being awarded the promise of full tuition to Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, said Poarch. I would encourage you all to keep dreaming and make sure that college remains a priority going forward. Poarch also recognized members of CCC&TIs Board of Trustees who were in attendance for the event.

Peg Broyhill, Chairwoman of the CCC&TI Foundation, spoke to those gathered at the ceremony and congratulated this years scholars. Youre here because each of you has already stood out in someones eyes. You have gone above and beyond in demonstrating good character, leadership and achievement. You are a remarkable group of students, said Broyhill. We look forward to seeing you shine, and hearing of your successes.

Broyhill recognized the donors who have made the program possible. The communitys longtime support of this program is amazing, said Broyhill. She then asked Foundation donors and supporters, CCC&TI faculty and staff and students parents and family members to stand. Students. Look around this room, she said. We would like for you to think of us as your extended family. We are going to cheer you on and were going to help you reach your dreams.

Broyhill also recognized CCC&TI and Caldwell and Watauga county school administrators as well as various local organizations whose contributions help make the program possible. She gave special thanks for endowments and grants made possible by the Broyhill Family Foundation, the Coffey Foundation, the Granite Falls High School Class of 1963, the Hogan Family Foundation and the Jerry Church Family. Broyhill also thanked her fellow members of the Foundations Board of Directors.

Dena Holman, Vice President of Student Services at CCC&TI, spoke about the history and purpose of the program. College is now an expectation, she said. The Dream Program was started at CCC&TI in 1989 by Dr. Tony Deal. The purpose is to encourage students to identify career options, earn good grades, complete high school and attend college.

Holman then introduced speakers Crystal Isaacs and Jennifer Starnes, two Dream Scholars who have since completed their degrees at CCC&TI and are now employed in the community. Isaacs received the Dream Award in 1995 and is a graduate of CCC&TIs Nuclear Medicine Program and earned an Associate in General Education degree. She is now employed in the Nuclear Medicine Department at Mission Hospital in Asheville.

The Dream Award gave me a sense of hope and a chance to succeed in life, said Isaacs. My advice for you all is to never give up on your dreams. You must believe in yourself and have faith in yourself and anything is possible.

Jennifer Starnes received her Dream Award in 2005 while at Granite Falls Middle School. She is a 2012 graduate of CCC&TI and earned both an Associate in Art and Associate in Applied Science degree. From CCC&TI, Starnes went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Emergency Medical Care with a concentration in Health Care Management at Western Carolina University. She is now employed with Caldwell County Emergency Medical Services as a paramedic.

My advice to you would be to use this opportunity to follow your dreams. Believe in yourself and dont give up. You can achieve anything you set your mind to, said Starnes. Dream big. Congratulations.

The three student speakers were Emma Jakab from Hudson Middle, Melanie Parsons from Kings Creek Elementary and Joseph Penley from Hardin Park Elementary.

When I got the award, I was shocked and happy, said Jakab, who plans to enter the Education or technology field.

Receiving the Dream Award was a special moment for me, said Parsons, who hopes to become a nurse one day. I appreciate the confidence that the school, my family and the scholarship committee has in me. I look forward to giving back to my community through this scholarship.

Joseph Penley is a seventh-grader at Hardin Park Elementary School in Watauga County and says that the Dream Award is the best award hes ever received. With the scholarship, I will do great things in the future. Thank you to my teacher for nominating me and to CCC&TI for providing it, said Penley.

At the end of the evening, Dream Scholars introduced themselves one-by-one and shared their career goals for the future. A reception was held in their honor following the ceremony.

# # #

2016 Dream Award Recipients

Dakadea Barrett, Gamewell Middle School

Emma Beaver, Collettsville School

Kevin Isaiah Caldwell, Collettsville School

Amber Chiarolanzio, Parkway Elementary School

Annahi Cirilo-Gonzalez, William Lenoir Middle School

Katherine Clark, William Lenoir Middle School

Caleb Cox, Gamewell Middle School

Bethannie Day, Kings Creek School

Yesenia De La Sancha, Hudson Middle School

Benjamin Doughton, Valle Crucis School

Morgan Dula, Gamewell Middle School

Gaige Edmisten, Cove Creek Elementary School

Kayla Espinoza-Casillas, Blowing Rock Elementary School

Conner Flannery, Granite Falls Middle School

Zaley Fox, Granite Falls Middle School

Benjamin Gailfoil, Bethel School

Isaac Galvez, Valle Crucis School

Maggie Garcia-Castro, Hardin Park Elementary School

Optimist Club of Boone Dream Award Recipient

Ashley Hernandez, Hudson Middle School

Jeremy Hodges, Mabel Elementary School

Lucy Hodges, Parkway Elementary School

Optimist Club of Boone Dream Award Recipient

Cierra Hollifield, Collettsville School

Bryson Icard, Collettsville School

Emma Jakab, Hudson Middle School

Dr. Tony Deal Dream Award Recipient

Nyla Johnson, Mabel Elementary School

Autumn Lunsford, Green Valley Elementary School

Optimist Club of Boone Dream Award Recipient

Thalia Martinez, Happy Valley School

Abigail Minton, Gamewell Middle School

Madison Muniz, Oak Hill School

Dot and Jim Moore Dream Award Recipient

Elle Nichols, Blowing Rock Elementary School

Eric Nunez, Bethel School

Talia Osborne, Granite Falls Middle School

Maddie Parker, Cove Creek Elementary School

Melanie Parsons, Kings Creek School

Joseph Penley, Hardin Park Elementary School

Optimist Club of Boone Dream Award Recipient

Sara Pina, Granite Falls Middle School

Debbie Yount Dream Award Recipient

Madison Roark, Green Valley Elementary School

Chelsie Sheppard, Happy Valley School

Dwight and Rose Church Dream Award Recipient

Garrett Smargian, Kings Creek School

Landon Upchurch, William Lenoir Middle School

Kylie Williams, Hudson Middle School

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By Jesse Wood

Aside from an expected unimpressive shower or two tonight and into the a.m., the dry and sunny weather will continue for at least another week, according to RaysWeather.com.

This is not an optimal forecast considering the consistent lack of rain in Western North Carolina over the past two months, where only 3.5 inches of precipitation occurred in Boone since the beginning of September, according to the sites weather archives.

Authorities continue to warn about the risks of forest fires in Western North Carolina, and now farmers are beginning to feel the effects of the drought, which is more severe the further southwest you go in the mountains (see attached drought map).

As cited by State Climate Office of NC in its October summary, Cherokee Agriculture Extension Agent Keith Wood told USDA Crop Reports: Some farmers feeding hay now they need for winter. Wells and springs drying up. Driest I have seen it in 50 years.

In the High Country, Watauga County Cooperative Extension Director Jim Hamilton confirmed local cattlemen are doing the same because of stress to the pastures during the drought.

Hamilton noted that the local extension office has received calls regarding dry lawns and landscaping plants, which are showing signs of stress. In the past month and half, close to 1,000 pounds of ginseng seed have been planted; moisture, he said, is needed for the maturity and germination of the seed.

Christmas tree growers are undergoing steps to ensure post-harvest quality and needle retention, Hamilton said, by keeping their trees cool and moist as best as they can during this bone-dry time.

Its becoming worrisome, Hamilton said. We could have used a few more inches of rain that areas in the other part of the state would have been glad to give us.

Hamilton, of course, was referring to the fatal and costly Hurricane Matthew, which was a catalyst in turning October 2016 into the 26th wettest October in the past 122 years, according to the State Climate Office.

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Watauga High School Junior Kelsey Marlett  one of two student members of the Watauga County Board of Education  is determined to use her tenure on the school board to make an impact on her community, and in her first year with the panel, she has already begun in earnest.

Last week, Marlett embarked on a self-propagated mission to reach out to student councils and leadership classes at elementary schools across the county to better inform herself of the needs and concerns of Watauga County Schools younger students.

Marlett said she wants to bring the voices of all Watauga students to the school board.

From a broad perspective, my goal is to make a positive impact on the community by representing the needs of the students, Marlett said. I plan to do this by communicating with the students as much as possible, and relaying that information back to the school board.

Marlett started her elementary school tour with a visit to Holly Kleins seventh-grade leadership class at Valle Crucis Elementary School.

Kleins students, who are in the process of kick starting a student council program at the school, were invited to question Marlett about the role of student government, and to share their thoughts on the schools operation.

Marlett said the value in speaking with Watauga County Schools elementary students was in their unique perspective  one she said she was able to learn from herself.

Younger students see the world differently, Marlett said. I am constantly inspired by their fearlessness and excitement for the future. So far, my greatest takeaway is that the students take pride in their community.

She said other themes cropped up consistently in her discussions with elementary students as well.

Students connect with their teachers and feel safe in their schools  thats huge, Marlett said. Im learning from the students that in order to address larger issues, we should always start with the people  with the community. There are so many amazing people in Watauga County. Its exciting to think of what we can accomplish together.

Klein said her students were well-served by Marletts visit.

This was a great opportunity for my leadership class to see student representation in action, Klein said. Ms. Marletts visit allowed them to ask questions about school leadership and be advocates for their school. My students felt heard in a judgment free environment. She provided an excellent model and insight. Her visit was much appreciated.

Watauga County School Superintendent Dr. Scott Elliott praised Marletts effort.

Ms. Marletts initiative and dedication are unsurpassed, Elliott said. Ive had the opportunity to accompany her on two of her elementary school visits, and I am continually impressed with her poise and enthusiasm. I am very proud of her effort and look forward to working with her going forward.

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(HedgeCO.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a New York-based audit firm and a senior partner agreed to settle charges that they issued fraudulent audit reports in connection with municipal bond offerings by the town of Ramapo, N.Y., and its local development corporation.

The SECs order finds that PKF OConnor Davies and Domenick F. Consolo allowed Ramapo to record a $3.08 million receivable in its general fund for a property sale that Consolo knew had not occurred. Consolo also ignored red flags and relied upon what turned out to be false representations by Ramapo officials about certain other receivables, interfund transfers, and liabilities. PKF OConnor Davies failed to take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk of material misstatements even after senior management became aware that Ramapos financial statements were the subject of multiple law enforcement investigations and Consolo received complaints about possible fraud.

Ramapo, its local development corporation, and four town officials were charged with fraud earlier this year and accused of hiding a deteriorating financial situation from municipal bond investors.

When audit reports are used to sell municipal bonds, investors expect those reports to be accurate, said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SECs New York Regional Office. Consolo failed to exercise professional skepticism and PKF OConnor Davies issued false unmodified audit reports, and they left investors without an accurate picture of the towns finances and its ability to repay bondholders.

Consolo and PKF OConnor Davies consented to the SECs order without admitting or denying the findings. The firm agreed to forfeit approximately $380,000 in audit fees and interest and pay a $100,000 penalty. OConnor Davies also must engage an independent consultant. Consolo agreed to pay a $75,000 penalty and be suspended from practicing public company accounting. Hes also prohibited from acting as the engagement partner or engagement quality control reviewer on any municipal audit for five years.

The SECs order finds that Consolo violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 as well as Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and PKF OConnor Davies violated Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act.
The construction costs are estimated to amount to 130 million euros, according to a press release . The majority of the costs, a maximum of 80 million euros, would be covered by the City of Helsinki and the remaining 50 million euros by the Guggenheim Helsinki Supporting Foundation.

The City of Helsinki has unveiled a revised proposal for funding the construction of Guggenheim Helsinki, resurrecting the all but doomed project.

The Guggenheim Helsinki Supporting Foundation is to scrape together its share of the costs by raising 15 million euros from private investors and borrowing the remaining 35 million euros.

The city and the foundation would establish a joint real estate company for the construction project, with the former taking an 84 per cent and the latter a 16 per cent stake in the company. The company would borrow 35 million euros for the construction, while the loan repayments, fees and interests would be covered with leases paid to the real estate company by the Guggenheim Helsinki Supporting Foundation, the press release indicates.

A collateral security for the loan would be provided by the City of Helsinki, which would also be responsible for the maintenance and management costs of the property.

The Finnish Government decided not to participate in the project due to vehement opposition from the ranks of the Finns Party. It may, on the other hand, grant an annual subsidy of 1.3 million euros towards the operating costs of the museum.

Ari Lahti, the chairperson of the Guggenheim Helsinki Supporting Foundation, says the refusal of the central administration to cover its share of the construction costs is peculiar particularly in light of the fact that it stands to benefit the most from Guggenheim Helsinki. Calculations, he points out, suggest the museum would generate annual tax revenues of 4.9 million euros to the central and 1.3 million euros to the local government.

The City of Helsinki underscores in its press release that the museum must remain a public space open to citizens. Ritva Viljanen, the deputy mayor responsible for cultural affairs, reminds that the museum is bordered by an open public waterfront area on one side and that its courtyard has been designated as an open and free-to-use urban environment in the proposal.

The proposal will be considered by the City Board on Monday. If it receives the requisite support, the construction project could begin in 2019.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Jussi Nukari  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
McDonagh, of Focus Ireland, Stanhope Green, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to the theft of numerous items totalling 948.68. Stock picture

A thief with more than 250 convictions has been sentenced to six months in prison after she went on a shoplifting spree.

Heroin addict Margaret McDonagh (35) went into the 53 Degrees North store in the Blanchardstown Centre retail park with a pram.

She placed more than 500 worth of clothing in the pram before trying to walk out of the store without paying for the items, Blanchardstown District Court heard.

Security staff stopped McDonagh and subsequently searched the pram and found more than 400 worth of goods, which the defendant had stolen from other nearby stores.

McDonagh, of Focus Ireland, Stanhope Green, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to the theft of numerous items totalling 948.68 from Maxi Zoo, Homestore & More, Inspiring Ideas, Woodie's and 53 Degrees North in the Blanchardstown Centre last February 29.

She further pleaded guilty to the theft of groceries worth 118 from SuperValu, Rowlagh, Clondalkin, last Christmas Eve. She was detained by security staff after committing this off-ence and arrested by gardai. The goods were recovered, the court heard.

Apologies

It was discovered that McDonagh was on bail at the time of the February offences. She has a total of 251 convictions, of which 229 are for theft offences.

Defence solicitor Jennifer Jackson said McDonagh offers her "apologies" to the court and the stores she had stolen from.

Ms Jackson said the defendant, who is single, engaged in drug use after her father died several years ago.

"She is a heroin addict who hasn't been able to kick it," she said. "She seems to have fallen through the cracks and, despite having received numerous prison sentences, nothing seems to be making a difference."

She said McDonagh, who is currently serving a sentence, is now engaging with a drug counsellor and is on methadone.

"She is remorseful and is in the throes of a serious heroin addiction, which needs to be tackled," said Ms Jackson.

Judge Grainne O'Neill said she noted what Ms Jackson had said about McDonagh's drug addiction but said she appeared to be doing well in custody.

"She has an extraordinary level of previous convictions," the judge added, before senten- cing McDonagh to six months in prison.

"I wish her the best, but it is in her hands to avail of the services while in custody.
A Dublin man arrested in Spain over the murder of feud victim Gary Hutch (33) is expected to appear in court this weekend - or even as soon as today.

Ian Dixon, who is in his mid-20s and originally from Cushlawn Park in Tallaght, Dublin, was detained during a major operation by officers from Spain's Guardia Civil on Wednesday.

Sources close to the case confirmed he was arrested in the Costa del Sol resort of Estepona. Several properties were searched as part of the new operation to hunt down those involved in the 2015 killing.

Dixon is expected to appear in court either today or over the weekend, although Spanish police have 72 hours to hold him and can apply for an extension.

Any court appearance would take place in Fuengirola, the same town where fellow Hutch suspect James Quinn went before a judge in September after his arrest in Madrid. Quinn was remanded in custody.

Closed

The hearing - like Quinn's - would be closed to the press and the public.

It is not clear at this stage where Dixon, who has not been charged with any crime and wouldn't be formally accused until shortly before trial, is being held.

A secrecy order placed over the case by the investigating judge following the arrest was still in place yesterday, preventing public officials from making any comment.

Dixon has been living on the Costa del Sol for several years and is heavily involved in the Macklin Gym Marbella (MGM).

Dixon is also a close associate of Adam Bugler (26), who was shot during the Regency Hotel attack on February 5.

Recovery

Bugler spent a number of days in hospital as a result, but has since made a full recovery.

Murder victim Gary Hutch is a nephew of Gerry "The Monk" Hutch.

In September, Quinn (34) - a nephew of Martin "Viper" Foley - was arrested during Operation Geranium, a joint initiative between the Guardia Civil and An Garda Siochana.

Quinn was remanded to Alhaurin de la Torre jail near Malaga after his court appearance and continues to be probed over Hutch's fatal shooting outside his apartment in Miraflores, near Fuengirola, on September 24 last year.

Hutch's killer chased him round a residential estate popular with holidaymakers and expats before cornering him and shooting him in the head and chest.

The murder sparked a bloody feud between the Kinahan and Hutch families, which has claimed ten lives.

In August, innocent Irish holidaymaker Trevor O'Neill was the victim of mistaken identity and was killed in front of his family in a Majorcan holiday resort.
Desperate migrants are pulled from the sea off Libya

Ireland will accept up to 80 people a month from the Mediterranean who are fleeing violence in Iraq and Syria.

Refugee Applications Commissioner David Costello ack- nowledged that progress has been slow in getting people into Ireland from the camps set up in Italy and Greece following the migrant crisis.

The revelation came as 250 migrants died in shipwrecks off the Libyan coast yesterday.

Resettled

To date, 520 people have been resettled in Ireland from Greece and Italy, while nearly 240 more are expected to arrive next month.

"By next January or so we expect between 60 and 80 people a month from then on," said Mr Costello. "It has been very slow so far but we are making progress."

Ireland has agreed to relocate nearly 2,700 people from Greece and Italy, followed by 780 more.

Ireland's overall relocation and resettlement commitment - currently at around 4,000 - is expected to increase if the mig- ration crisis continues in the Mediterranean, with no sign of the Syrian civil war ending.

The revelation came as one of Europe's top refugee law experts, Prof Guy Goodwin-Gill of Oxford University, hailed Ireland as a model of how European countries should respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean.

"It is remarkable what has been achieved. I think Ireland should be rightly proud of the 12,500 people who have been rescued by the Naval Service since 2015. "I think that is a model in many respects and it would be nice to see other countries doing as much."

Prof Goodwin-Gill, who was speaking at the 2016 UCC Law Conference, urged other EU countries to follow the Irish example.

"They are not doing enough. They are not working together, which is what they should have been doing," he said.

"Let's take a very simple example - The Jungle in Calais was not just a French and British problem.

Appalling

"It is a European problem. It should be addressed in European terms."

Prof Goodwin-Gill said Eur-ope's response to the appalling voyage that desperate refugees are making across the eastern Mediterranean and into the Balkans was another example.

"The conditions for survival at that time were absolutely terrible, but did anybody rush in to help? No they didn't," he said.

"Not everyone was in an EU state, but they are our neighbours and they should have received assistance from us."
Firefighters inspect the damage to the SuperValu shop in the Fortunestown Shopping Centre

Terrified shopkeepers and shoppers thought a bomb had gone off after an explosion sparked a massive fire at a supermarket in west Dublin.

Jordan's SuperValu in the Fortunestown Shopping Centre in Tallaght suffered extensive damage after the blaze broke out at the supermarket at around 11am yesterday.

Evacuation

Six units of the Dublin Fire Brigade from Tallaght, Dolphin's Barn and Donnybrook attended to the fire, which crews brought under control within half-an-hour.

However, the blaze caused serious damage to the front of the store and forced the evacuation of around half-a-dozen shops for several hours.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. One line of inquiry is that firelighters may have been left on a desk with a heater underneath.

The store will remain closed for at least two or three days. A spokesman said it was too early to be precise, but they hoped to re-open as soon as possible.

Fiona Sweeney, who owns the Elysium Beauty Clinic next to the supermarket, said she and other staff heard a loud explosion.

"There was a huge bang," she said. "All of the SuperValu staff were running out of the store screaming.

"We thought maybe a bomb or an explosive had gone off in the post office at the front of the store."

The explosion and the ensuing fire also had staff frantically running out of the shop with gas cylinders, out of fear that they would ignite, said Ms Sweeney.

Shaken

Customers at the store were also badly shaken.

"People were running out screaming. No one was hurt, but a lot of people were very shaken," she said.

"People got such a fright. They just ran out."

Staff from neighbouring shops were immediately ordered to the back of the parking lot for several hours as a safety precaution.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  King University will host a Biblical Archaeology Conference Nov. 13-14. The conference, which is free and open to the public, will answer the question, Whats Going on with Biblical Archaeology in Israel.

This meeting is part of a once-a-year seminar series designed specifically for those interested in the Bible and a better understanding of its history through archaeological digs and research. This years conference is held in conjunction with Kings Department of Philosophy and Religion and the King Institute for Faith and Cultures 2016-17 Lecture Series, which contemplates faith engaging culture.

Sessions over two days will cover topics from the Old and New Testaments and the latest Biblical archaeological discoveries in Israel and Palestine. Regions of interest include Jerusalem, Judah, and Azekah which overlooks the Valley of Elah where David fought Goliath.

This unique international conference on the outstanding findings and discoveries from archaeological excavations that have taken place recently in Israel and Palestine will enable participants to better under-stand the ancient world of the land of the Bible, says Dr. Don Michael Hudson, conference moderator and chair of Kings Department of Philoso-phy and Religion. We are honored to have Drs. Manfred Oeming, Oded LIpschits and Yuval Gadot to share their firsthand experiences on active Biblical archaeological digs in Israel. This is a rare treat for our community. We invite our local churches and their congregations to at-tend.

This fall conference will take place at King Universitys main campus in Bristol, Tenn., and First Presbyterian Church of Bristol, which is adjacent to the campus. The conference will open at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13 at First Presbyterian with a panel discussion to include Oeming, Lipschits and Gadot. The scholars will address current Biblical archaeo-logical endeavors in Israel/Palestine and will be willing to take questions. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, lectures will be presented in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian.

For registration details, contact Hudson at dmhudson@king.edu or 423-652-4154.
COMMUNITY

SALVATION ARMY OF BRISTOL: Bristol, Tenn., 137 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Nov. 4, 9  11:30 a.m., 1  6 p.m.: Nov 5, 9 a.m.  1 p.m.: Angel Tree make-up day for applications, please bring proof of income and all expenses, 423-764-6156.

KINGSPORT CAROUSEL: Kingsport, Tenn., Wednesdays  Saturdays, 17 p.m.: $1. 423- 343-9834 or www.EngageKingsport.com

ALZHEIMER/DEMENTIA CAREGIVERS MEETING: Abingdon, Va., View United Methodist Church, 18416 Lee Highway. For more, call Sissy Frye or Brenda Jones at 276-783-8157 or 1-800-541-0933.Brenda Jones at 276-783-8157 or 1-800-541-0933.

PTERODACTYLS BMW MOTORCYCLE CLUB: Johnson City, Tenn., 2801 Boones Creek Road, 3rd Saturday, 9 a.m. Contact David Robertson, 423-323-2046 or drobertson@btes.tv.

BRISTOL BINGO: Bristol, Va., 516 Birthplace of Country Music Way, Bingo Saturdays and Sundays, 6 p.m. early bird and 6:30 p.m. regular, sponsored by VFW Post 6975. 276-669-2446.

WATAUGA VALLEY FIFE & DRUM CORPS: Elizabethton, Tenn., Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area, 1651 West Elk Avenue. Saturdays, 10 a.m. noon. The Fife & Drum Corps open to anyone ages 13 and up. Musical experience is welcome but not necessary. Meet volunteer coordinator John Large at the visitors center. Lessons are free; call and let us know youre coming. 423-543-5808.

WASHINGTON COUNTY JAM: Abingdon, Va., 25236 Hillman Hwy., Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center, after-school program, or youth (4th through 8th grade) in Washington County, who are interested in learning traditional, old-time musical instruments and Southern Appalachian culture. Classes will run through May 2016. 276-6676-6180 or programs@swva4hcenter.org.

CHEER WITH THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: Johnson City, Tenn., Oakland Ave., Princeton Arts Center, Learn cheers, jumps, splits, tumbling, dance routines, builds with National Champion Taylor Melons. Beginners cheer, ages 3-6, $25 per month; Competition Cheer, ages 7-12, $60 per month. 423-283-5800 or email tricitiestalent@hotmail.com.

MOUNT ROGERS REGIONAL ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM: Providing free GED classes at the following locations and times: Marion Baptist Church on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1-4 p.m., Marion Senior High Library on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4-7 p.m., Northwood High School - Room 105 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5- 8 p.m., Old Chilhowie High School on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12-3 p.m. Classes and materials are free to adults 18 and older. 1-800-322-7748 or www.mrraep.com.

JACKSON THEATRE PHOTOS NEEDED: Jonesborough, Tenn., The Town of Jonesborough and the Heritage Alliance are seeking old photos of the Jackson Theatre in Jonesborough. Photos are needed for the exterior of the building or interior, and they can be of any time period going back to when the building was a furniture store in the very early 1900s. 423-753-1031 or virginiac@jonesboroughtn.org.

SENIOR CENTER MEMORIAL PARK COMMUNITY CENTER: Johnson City, Tenn., 510 Bert Street. Join the Senior Chorale Thursdays 10 a.m. No audition required. (423) 434-5750.

VIRGINIA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION: Abingdon, Va., One Partnership Circle, Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, Oct. 5, Oct. 13, Oct. 19, and Oct. 27: Offering an opportunity to train as Master Food Volunteer, training includes, lunches, training material, apron, tote bags, and supplies. Application due Sept. 23, contact Sandy Yarber 276-619-4336.

HOLIDAYS

BEECH GROVE UMC: Bristol, Va., 7149 Gate City Highway. Nov. 12, 5  6:30 p.m.: Annual Turkey supper, traditional Thanksgiving dinner, carry outs available 4:30 p.m. Cost $7 for adults, $4 for children 12 and under, everyone welcome, 276-669-9390.

SALVATION ARMY OF BRISTOL: Bristol, Tenn. 137 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Nov. 24, will serve at 11:30 a. m. and 12:15 p.m.: Traditional Thanksgiving dinner, everyone welcome, volunteers needed, 423-764-6156.

ST. LUKE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Bristol, Va., 105 North Street. Nov. 24, 11 a.m.  2 p.m.: Thanksgiving Dinner, with all the fixing, everyone welcome.

FOOD PANTRY

THE TABLE: Bristol, Va., 1754 Kingmill Pike, Community Baptist Church, every fourth Friday 1  4 p. m.: Food pantry, donations are welcome, contact Pastor Todd Crusenberry, 423-646-8760.

PARKS

BREAKS PARK: Breaks, Va., Campground and Rhododendron Restaurant open. Boat dock closed. Front lobby at the lodge will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on week-ends. The administration office will be open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Park lodging is open year round. Conference Center is open with regular catering services available. New activities: lodging packages with whitewater rafting excursions and elk tours. 276-865-4413 ext. 3201 or www.BreaksPark.com.

SYCAMORE SHOALS STATE HISTORIC AREA: Elizabethton, Tenn., 1651 W. Elk Ave.: October Bird Walks, Oct. 15, 22, 29, 8 a .m., 90 minute walk led by Bryan Stevens, Bristol Herald Courier columnist. The park grounds open daily from dawn to dusk. Visitors Center: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays. Visitor Center open weekends 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 423-543-5808 or www.sycamoreshoalstn.org, www.tnstateparks.com/SycamoreShoals.

HOW TO SUBMIT INFORMATION

To submit calendar entries, email features@bristolnews.com (put Friday Calendar in the subject line) or fax: 276-669-3696. Deadline is noon on Monday. For information, call Dorothy Hurt, 276-645-2556 or email dhurt@bristolnews.com.
Who were the top Washington County football performers in Week 9?

Big plays and turnovers were plenty as the winners overwhelmed the losers in the final week of Washington County's regular season.
Hello, readers! We hope you all enjoyed time for reflection during the many October holidays and are greeting November with a sense of renewal and reinvigoration. Your JCRC certainly is!

We are gearing up for a big fall seminar, Nostra Aetate: Turning Points for Interfaith Dialogue, on Monday, Nov. 14. In partnership with the Interfaith Council of Central Florida, the Diocese of Orlando, the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center, and the Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College, we will explore Nostra Aetate, the Vaticans 1965 Declaration on Relations with Non-Christian Faiths. Nostra Aetate was particularly seminal in improving relations among Catholics and Jews. We will learn about this important document, its impact and how similar turning points for interfaith dialogue can provide a path forward for understanding, acceptance and partnership.

The seminar will feature a presentation by Dr. Ruth Langer, professor of Jewish Studies and associate director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College, as well as facilitated table discussions among attendees and leaders representing multiple faith traditions. The evening, which includes dinner, will run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the NorthView Building on the University of Central Florida Campus.

When we invited our partners from other faiths to serve as table leaders, it was heartening to see just how many were interestedand how willing they are to work, learn and grow with us. As we pursue our aim to be a valuable, trusted resource and ally in the Central Florida faith community, we are treating our partners from other faiths how we ourselves would like to be treated. We believe that all of usorganizations, institutions and individualscan benefit from learning about one anothers faiths from one another.

It is nearly impossible to fully understand the values, traditions and motives of any faith without hearing directly from its adherents. Lets say that a school board member reads a pamphlet on the High Holy Days to understand Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; the board member may learn about the traditions and history, but without hearing direct testimony from students or teachers (as at a recent Seminole County School Board meeting), the board member cannot know how it feels to have to miss a particular practice, make up a test or lose time on a project. The personal story adds a layer that truly connects and may change the board members sensitivity on calendar and scheduling issues.

Within our community, this personal approach has been used to great effect with our younger community members. We laud the Jewish Academy of Orlando for its multi-faith program with students from the Islamic Society and the Geneva School, and the various synagogue religious schools, for arranging similar programming. Likewise, we, as adults, strive to learn directly from our colleagues in the faith community by asking questions in one-on-one settings or by attending education sessions such as the Islamic Societys bi-monthly Open House, the Holocaust Centers Faith, Peace and Justice summer series or the Interfaith Councils monthly Interfaith Discussion. Once we understand what drives one another, we are better equipped to move forward to work in partnership on issues of common concern.

Though we may not agree with all faiths on all issues or causes, we believe in the power of interfaith relations. They are the genesis for how, in the words of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, people of good will, regardless of where they stand on the faith spectrum, can begin to move from fighting one another to tackling the common enemies of humanity that plague us all.

If you would like to attend Turning Points for Interfaith Dialogue on Nov. 14, you may register online at http://www.jfgo.org/TurningPoints, or by calling (407) 645-5933, ext. 233. The event, which includes dinner, is $36 per person ($20 for students).

We will see you here in this space again next month! As always, if you have any questions about this column or about JCRC in general, please contact Marli Porth at mporth@jfgo.org.
(JTA)-Five years ago, on a whim, Cindy, a 27-year-old Jewish woman, decided to pursue genetic testing through an online laboratory.

She wasn't expecting any surprises because she had no family history of cancer or increased risk factors. She was young and living a healthy lifestyle.

But Cindy's results indicated that she had tested positive for a BRCA mutation. She was worried and confused, and needed to understand what this meant for her and her family. Cindy's story is not an anomaly-women and men can be BRCA-positive, even without a family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

One in 40 Jewish women and men carries a BRCA gene mutation, as compared to approximately 1 in 400 in the general population, placing Jewish families at significantly increased risk for hereditary breast, ovarian and related cancers. This is an urgent concern for the Jewish community at-large.

During October, Sharsheret shared this critical information with thousands via social media, on college campuses and in local synagogues and JCCs across the country. Our mantra is "know your family history" because if you do have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, you are at increased risk and the BRCA gene mutation may be the culprit. There are steps you can take to catch cancer early, when it can be treated or even cured, or to prevent cancer through life-saving measures including increased surveillance, prophylactic surgery and chemoprevention (the use of pharmacologic or natural agents that inhibit the development of invasive cancer).

The 1 in 40 message isn't new, but what is new is that medical experts are discussing "population screening," genetic testing for all Ashkenazi Jews, because individuals without a strong history of breast or ovarian cancer-women like Cindy-may still be BRCA-positive. Knowledge is power and, simply put, genetic testing can save lives.

In July, Sharsheret was invited to participate in a think tank in Israel of American, European and Israeli cancer researchers. Sharsheret was the only advocacy organization present with the medical professionals, invited to represent the patient's voice. The esteemed group was convened by Dr. Larry Norton, medical director at the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City.

After much discussion, and a comprehensive review of local studies that focused on genetic testing among Jewish families, the experts' conclusion, according to Norton, was that "testing all Ashkenazi Jews... finds twice as many people with mutations as testing just those with family histories."

Norton went on to say, citing the conclusion: "This indicates that the rules for testing need to be changed. It also means that the psychological, medical and economic consequences of broader testing need to be evaluated.

"Knowing that one has a dangerous mutation could well be life-saving, since one can do things that minimize one's risks."

At Sharsheret, we couldn't agree more with the experts that issues associated with population screening are quite complex and require attention.

Genetic testing can be daunting, and its emotional toll cannot be underestimated. Prior to testing, men and women must have a clear understanding of how positive test results may affect them medically and emotionally. And this is information that also affects families-parents, siblings, children, cousins, aunts and uncles.

Once results are received, one needs to carefully consider how to communicate them to family and friends, and what to do in response.

Making decisions about medical courses of action to pursue after getting results is equally challenging. Careful consideration must be given to other factors such as fertility, breastfeeding and the early onset of menopause. Each one introduces new challenges.

Further, following the think tank, leading cancer researchers estimated that "half of those who could benefit from a life-saving cancer gene test are not eligible for the screening under the current rules." Women without a family history-women like Cindy-would not likely have these services covered by insurance. Out-of-pocket costs for genetic tests can range from $300 to $5,000.

There is so much to consider-this is just the beginning of the conversation. You are not alone. If you are considering genetic testing, call Sharsheret and speak privately with our genetic counselor and our team of social workers and clinical staff at no cost to you or your family. We will help you understand the genetic testing process; we will assist you in making informed decisions and in finding low-cost or free genetic testing. Cindy did reach out to Sharsheret, and we have been a supportive resource helping her navigate her decision-making processes.

Sharsheret is the only national nonprofit organization that supports Jewish women and families of all backgrounds facing breast and ovarian cancer at every stage-before, during and after diagnosis.

We can't change the odds of a genetic mutation or diagnosis, but with Sharsheret, no Jewish woman or man will face breast or ovarian cancer alone.

Peggy Cottrell, MS, CGC, is the genetics program coordinator at Sharsheret. Learn more at http://www.sharsheret.org; 866-*474-2774.
Daniel and Sherry Williams of Longwood, Fla., are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Lindsay Williams to Dr. Adam Siegel, son of Dr. Robert and Michele Siegel of Greenville, S.C.

The bride-elect is a writer, video producer, recovering travel addict, and proud graduate of the University of Florida (chomp, chomp!). She is a dedicated storyteller, who once lived in a van in the Australian Outback because she thought it would give her writing "street cred" (it didn't). Lindsay currently works as a content producer for a creative agency based in Miami, Fla.

The groom-elect is the comedic heir apparent to Larry David and a vision in white (coat). He earned his degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science in Chicago, Ill., and completed his residency program at Westside Regional Medical Center in Plantation, Fla. Adam currently works as a podiatric surgeon at a private practice in downtown Chicago.

The couple met through friends while living in Miami and now reside in Chicago. Brought together through a mutual interest in keeping Seinfeld quotes relevant, the pair also share a love of Blue Apron, Horatian satire, and long walks by the lake with their dog, Bovie. Most important, they intend to teach their children to be dutiful students of the Torah because, hey, if they had to go to Hebrew school, their kids have to go too!

The wedding will be held April 8, 2017, at Mission Inn Club & Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla., followed by a honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii. The Williamses and Siegels look forward to celebrating the joyous union with all of their family and friends.
With the recent passage by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of the controversial resolutions that deny Jewish and Christian ties to the Temple Mount, and the city of Jerusalem (calling it a Muslim city), it is extremely important that Central Floridian Jews and Christians show their unity for Israel.

Pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz of Encounter Global Church, with several other organizations, have organized The Bless Israel Summit for this purpose.

"The Bless Israel Summit is a call to honor Israel as a unique nation under God," Lorenz stated and emphasized that this is not an event to proselytize. "Its mission is to unite Central Florida in an expression of unity in support of Israel by both the Jewish and Christian communities. Its goal is to uplift and educate people concerning Israel of its people, its achievements, and its place among the nations of the earth."

The event will be held Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Rosen Plaza, 9700 International Parkway in Orlando, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The guest speakers are Mathew Staver, chairman of the Liberty Counsel, and Orthodox Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein.

One practical application of the Bless Israel Summit is to raise awareness of and support for the Koby Mandell Foundation, of which Rabbi Feldstein is vice president.

This ministry, established by Rabbi Seth Mandell and his wife Sherri to honor their 13-year-old son killed by Palestinian terrorists, helps heal victims of terror through lectures, articles, books and the arts.

"It provides individuals and families with tools to translate the pain and suffering of tragedy into positive personal growth, deeper interpersonal relationships, and active community leadership," Lorenz explained. "In light of our recent terror attack in Orlando, I believe we could bring the entire Central Florida community together to support Israel and to encourage this wonderful ministry in how they are giving life to so many that feel dead and hopeless. It might even spark a similar ministry in American for victims of terror."

In addition to his role with the Koby Mandell Foundation, Rabbi Feldstein has a three-decade career in nonprofit fundraising and marketing. Born and educated in the U.S., he immigrated to Israel in 2004. He has become a respected bridge between Jews and Christians, writing regularly on major Christian web sites about Israel and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. Feldstein is also a contributing writer for The Heritage Florida Jewish News.

Staver is an American lawyer and is the founding member and chairman of the Liberty Counsel law firm and Christians in Defense of Israel. Liberty Counsel's Christians In Defense of Israel consists of more than 200,000 Americans who stand in solidarity with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.

Staver authored nine books on religious freedom. He is a constitutional litigator, conducts hundreds of media interviews each year, and writes articles on current issues on Liberty Counsel Connect. In a recent article, dated Oct. 25, concerning the UNESCO resolution, he wrote:

Mathew Staver

"The Palestinians and Arab states are using the United Nations to advance an anti-Semitic movement that dismisses Israel's heritage and biblical history. Now, they're warning other member states to get on board-or face consequences. We are taking assertive action on behalf of Israel, its history, and its rights to the capital city of Jerusalem."

Organizations that will be represented at the event include: American Friends of Magen David Adom; Bridges for Peace; BLEM; Call of David Ministries; Cyrus Foundation; Encounter Bookstore; Ezra International; Gesher International; Koby Mandell Foundation; Liberty Councsel; Rosen Plaza Hotel; and Zionistas.

This event is open to the entire community and is free of charge. For anyone attending the event who would like to stay at the hotel, the rate is $119 a night as opposed to the $215 a night price. For more information about The Bless Israel Summit, contact Pastor Lorenz at blake@encounterfl.com.
On Nov. 12 Writer's Block Bookstore and Rollins College will host authors Ezra Glinter and Leah Kaminsky. The event will be a conversation between the two authors in addition to individual presentations regarding their latest works. Then on Nov. 15, from 7 p.m.- 9 p.m., Glinter will be promoting "Have I Got a Story for You," a collection of stories he curated from the Yiddish newspaper, The Forward. Kaminsky will be promoting her latest novel "The Waiting Room."

Glinter is The Forward's deputy culture editor. His writing has appeared in the New Republic, Paris Review Daily, Book forum, and The Walrus. His biography of the Lubavitcher Rebbe is forthcoming from Yale University Press.

"Have I Got a Story for You" is a collection of 42 stories from America's greatest Yiddish newspaper, The Forward, published in English for the first time. The Forward is the most renowned Yiddish newspaper in the world. It welcomed generations of immigrants to the United States, brought them news of Europe and the Middle East and provided them with everything from comic strips to noodle kugel recipes. Glinter and the Forward staff have combed through the archives to find the best stories published during the newspaper's 120-year history, from wartime novellas to avant-garde fiction to satirical sketches about immigrant life in New York.

Ezra Glinter

Kaminsky, a physician and award-winning author, is poetry editor at the Medical Journal of Australia. Her books include "We're All Going to Die," "Writer MD," and "Cracking the Code." She holds an MFA in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

"The Waiting Room" is the story of Dina, an Australian doctor born to Holocaust survivors who struggles to cope with life in Haifa during the ever-present threat of a terrorist attack. While dealing with difficult patients, a six-year-old son, and a marriage under strain, Dina is haunted by the dead mother she would rather forget.

This event will take place at Rollins College Galloway Room.

For those who are hoping to pre-order, "Have I Got a Story for You" and "The Waiting Room" can be directed to the following link:

http://www.writersblockbookstore.com/event/leah-kaminsky-ezra-glinter-rollins-college.
Celebrate Shabbat with the synagogue that feels like family. Shabbat evening service led by Rabbi Karen Allen is on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. The service will include special readings commemorating Veterans Day and Kristallnacht. An Oneg Shabbat will follow the service. The synagogue is located at 315 North 13th St. in Leesburg, with the entrance on Center Street.

The Rabbis Roundtable Discussion Group with Rabbi Karen Allen of Congregation Beth Sholom, will be held on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Sumter County Administration and Library Building (with the golden dome) at 7375 Powell Rd. (near Pinellas Plaza and 466A), Wildwood. The Rabbis Roundtable series explores Jewish spiritual belief and how it affects our thoughts, our actions and our personal experiences and aspirations. The roundtable provides a unique opportunity to talk with the rabbi as she leads an informal and interactive discussion focusing on topics of contemporary Jewish interest.

Saturday, Nov. 26: Shabbat Morning Thanksgiving Service led by Rabbi Karen Allen, at 10 a.m. The service will include special readings for Thanksgiving. A Kiddush will follow the service. The synagogue is located at 315 North 13th St. in Leesburg, with the entrance on Center Street.

More information is available on the synagogue website: http://bethsholomflorida.org/ or by calling the synagogue at 352-326-3692.
The third in the series of "My Jewish Roots" workshops hosted by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando will be held Thursday, Nov. 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at UCF Hillel. Shown here is Lynn Mendez as she mans the JGSGO booth, encouraging everyone to find their 'Jewish Roots' at last weekend's 'Sunday in the Park.'
Jewish Federations of North America and its predecessor organizations have had a longstanding policy of not officially traveling beyond Israels 1967 borders. In reality, however, representatives have already done so.

Top leaders of JFNA held a secretive meeting Wednesday to approve changing its policy of not traveling into Judea and Samaria to visit Jewish settlements or Palestinian communities.

The conference call was led by JFNA Chairman Richard Sandler, who is executive vice president of the Milken Family Foundation in Los Angeles. Participation in the call was limited only to voting JFNA trustees, according to a memo sent by JFNA CEO Jerry Silverman to those board members, because the issues under discussion are deemed privileged information.

JFNA is the umbrella of 151 U.S. and Canadian Jewish federations and 300 small Jewish communities that dont have Jewish federations. The powerhouse fundraising group raised $338 million last year, according to JFNAs 2015 U.S. tax filing. Part of the money is disbursed for overseas needs through the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and, in Israel, primarily through the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Wednesdays meeting was prompted by JFNAs relatively new management of the Israel Action Network, a pro-Israel organization that works to counter the boycott movement and other forms of anti-Israel activity. IAN was, until six months ago, run by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The IAN runs an occasional trip for groups of rabbis and Christian ministers to Israeli and Palestinian communities and sites in Israel and Judea and Samaria. The second such trip for IANs interfaith program Partners for Peace departed on Sunday, Oct. 30.

A part of the trustees phone call, according to Silvermans memo, was dedicated to authorizing the entry of JFNA missions, including federation community missions planned through JFNA, into Israeli-controlled territories beyond the Green Line (e.g., Ariel or Gush Etzion, etc.).

This had some worried. As the federation insider who tipped Haaretz off to the meeting said, Im worried about them normalizing the settlements.

JFNA and its predecessor organizations have had a longstanding policy of not officially traveling beyond Israels 1967 borders, known as the Green Line. In reality, said one JFNA trustee involved with the meeting, JFNAs practice has been to travel to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.

JFNA has taken missions over the Green line. I went on one which went to Gush Etzion, said the JFNA trustee. The idea of missions is fact finding and education. Everybody gets emotional about their political views on the territories. But weve done it before. Technically, if you go to the Kotel you just went over the Green Line.

Following Wednesdays meeting, the organization released a statement saying that Today the JFNA Board of Trustees approved a number of appropriate and necessary protocols to support the advocacy and education trips of the IAN. This vote ensures that IAN will continue to travel to Israel and the surrounding areas, not historically visited by JFNA staff. We are pleased the board reaffirmed the ability of IAN to continue this mission-critical work.

The trustee who spoke with Haaretz and who wished to remain anonymous said that Were now responsible for IANs trip and we want to make sure it complies with all the protections and protocols.

In the IAN program, ministersmainline Protestants and Evangelicals, including local pastors and leaders of seminariesare paired with rabbis. They commit to supporting two states for two peoples, and together they study and participate in social justice work around the issue in their local communities.

Its a way of healing the fractured conversation [about Israel] at the local level, IAN director Ethan Felson told Haaretz.

Some of the rabbi-minister pairs travel with IAN to Israel and Palestinian-controlled territory. The first such trip was in March 2015.

It took a lot of us by surprise that JFNA had a policy of not going into [Judea and Samaria]. It seemed anachronistic, said Felson. And, while Americans can hear Palestinians and Israelis speak in synagogues and churches around the U.S. from groups like the Parents Circle, which brings together people whose children have died as a consequence of the occupation, it is a totally different experience meeting them on their own land, he added.

A Jew living in [Judea an Samaria] will stand on a field and say this is the land where Abraham lived. And a Palestinian will say this land is my familys farm. It changes the dynamic to say this tent is where women from the Palestinian village and the Jewish settlement meet, he said. You have to touch it. Its the core of the conversation we want people to have if we want them to be peace builders.

The IAN trip will visit Ramallah, Rawabi and Bethlehem, and meet with Palestinian leaders, as well as Jewish leaders in Israeli communities, said Felson.

In 2002 JFNAs predecessor agency, called UJC, changed its policy to permit funding to Jewish communities in distress over the Green Line. The move was quite controversial.

Some are now concerned that the shift in policy means that JFNA-run or organized missions will begin visiting Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.

The change in policy is pretty shocking, because historically the Jewish organizations or federations themselves have so frequently had to defend their practice of not allocating resources beyond the Green Line and facing withering criticism whenever the Jewish National Fund or World Zionist Organization would expend funds to benefit the settlements, said Richard Wexler, the former chairman of a part of JFNAs predecessor organization.

Now a non-voting board member of JFNA, Wexler is known as a vocal critic of many JFNA endeavors. Speaking to Haaretz, Wexler said, I imagine the criticism from the significant liberal element within the Jewish community will be very strong. Many will think this is some tacit recognition of the settlements.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs is one of them. Jacobs, executive director of Truah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, recently ran a successful campaign compelling the JNF to disclose how much of the money it raises goes to fund projects over the Green Line.

If a JFNA group visits Ariel and doesnt also have the opportunity to visit Palestinians, thats very much a missed opportunity, Jacobs told Haaretz.

When you visit the settlements its important to say they are settlements, said Jacobs. It would be a problem to visit Ariel and not mention that it is in an area under military occupation, and the impact on Palestinians, how Ariels location is a major challenge for the two-state solution, and the differences in the way Israel provides infrastructure.

She offered to make sure that JFNA delegations see the whole picture when they visit over the Green Line.

Truah has a program to bring Jewish groups to Palestinian communities together with Breaking the Silence. I would be very happy to organize a trip like that for any JFNA group that wants to go to see the impact on Palestinians and also Israeli soldiers who risk their lives to defend the occupation.
The Roth Family JCC's annual Jewish Film Festival, presented in partnership with the Enzian Theater, is showing five films and one short Nov. 12 through Nov. 14. The first film, "Fanny's Journey," will be shown at the Orlando Science Center, 777 E. Princeton St., on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. The rest of the films will be shown at the Enzian, located at 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland.

This year, The Roth Family JCC is offering "Saturday Night Out" at a discounted price for parents who will be attending the film festival opening. Children ages 18 months to grade 5 can have fun at the J from 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. while parents enjoy the movie. When purchasing tickets to "Fanny's Journey" show receipt at the JCC's Registration Desk or forward it to register@orlandojcc.org for a rebate up to $23 for Saturday Night Out.

Tickets to shows can be purchased at the Enzian or on its website http://www.enzian.org For those who would like to see all five films, purchase a Mensch Pass with preferred seating for $75; Series Pass with second priority seating for $50; Individual tickets for $11 and group rates of 20 or more ($1 discount on individual tickets) available on Enzian's website or in person at The Roth Family JCC.

And now for the reviews!

"Fanny's Journey," Saturday, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m. at the Orlando Science Center.

Filmed in France and directed by Lola Doillon; In French with English subtitles.

The Holocaust was terrifying for adults. But what about children left to find their own way? This film, based on a true story, is hold-your-breath, cover-your-eyes suspense as nine children, led by 13-year-old Fanny, travel through France and Italy evading Nazis to get to the safe haven of Switzerland. May I remind you, these are children who play house, frolic in the water, and long for their mommies. And like any children traveling, they complain-"I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. My feet hurt. When will we get there?" "Fanny's Journey" is a truly inspirational movie.

"In Search of Israeli Cuisine," and the film short "Bagels in the Blood," Sunday, Nov. 13, 11 a.m., Enzian.

"In Search" was filmed in the U.S. and Israel, directed by Roger Sherman; English.

Food is the expression of the people and culture of a country. It is tradition handed down from generation to generation. So, just what is "Israeli cuisine"? Michael Solomonov, James Beard award-winning chef/owner of Zahav Restaurant in Philadelphia, talks with chefs of all backgrounds throughout Israel looking for that answer. The cuisine of Israel is as diverse as the people and the cultures: Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Palestinian, French, Turkish, Moroccan... and on and on. One Jewish chef in Ein Rafa, an Arab village, was asked what food was served in her restaurant. Her reply, "I don't know. Let's roll. This is me."

One thing all these different types of "Israeli cuisine" have in common: All the chefs use the produce of the land in the regions where they live, so that whatever culture the dish is from, it is pure Israeli.

Enjoy breath-taking views of the land and the food as you are reminded that food brings people together; it brings us home; it is a treasured tradition for everyone, and is ever-changing while staying the same. Anyone want some Tabbouleh?

Five minutes long, "Bagels in the Blood" was filmed in the U.S. and Canada and directed by Jonathan Keijser and Daniel Beres; in English.

Good title. It fits. This isn't a "how it started" documentary of a family-owned bagel bakery. It is a "why we make bagels" story told by Irwin Shlafman, the grandson of a Russian bagel baker who immigrated to Montreal, Canada, and opened the famous Fairmount Bagel shop. You can almost smell the freshly baked bagels.

"Moos," Sunday, Nov. 13, 1:45 p.m., Enzian.

Filmed in the Netherlands and directed by Job Gosschalk; in Dutch with English subtitles.

If this movie was called by another name, you would have known the ending at the beginning. But that is the joy of this refreshing, "Neil Simonish" film. It is about relationships-family relationships, friendship relationships, daughter and father relationships, romantic relationships, and did I say family? One thing that was interesting: In the midst of singing a song, which is in Hebrew, Moos is asked "what language is that?" and she answers, "Israeli." And remember, taking care of others and always being there does have its benefits.

"Aida's Secrets," Monday, Nov. 14, 4:30 p.m., Enzian.

Filmed in Canada, Germany, U.S. and Israel; directed by Alon Schwarz and Shaul Schwarz; in English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

'Bagels in the Blood'

Here are family relationships from a different angle-a tough one. Discovering your mom and dad aren't your mom and dad is hard enough. Then learning you have a brother, too, and it is 65 years later is almost heartbreaking. This is the story of Izak and his brother Shep and their reunion with their mother after 70 years.

"The Women's Balcony," Monday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Enzian.

Filmed in Israel, directed by Emil Ben Shimon; in Hebrew with English subtitles.

Never underestimate the power of a group of women! When the women's balcony collapses in an Orthodox synagogue an interloper tries to run the congregation and almost runs off all the women when he wants to use money the women have raised to repair the balcony for a new Bible scroll. Husbands and wives are pitted against one another, friendships are momentarily torn apart. It is a poignant portrait of a modern Orthodox community in Israel embroiled with all the stains of humanity.
(JNS.org)-Lawmakers from 17 countries signed a declaration last Thursday against the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution and called for international recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided and eternal capital of Israel.

The UNESCO resolution rejected any Jewish link to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

In the declaration, 19 MPs representing the 17 countries, said that "the U.N. resolution is disconnected from reality and is incorrect. We will work toward the international recognition of Jerusalem, as the undivided, eternal capital of the state of Israel."

The parliamentarians presented the declaration to Deputy Minister Michael Oren, who delivered it to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Oren called the UNESCO resolution "unacceptable." He said it "must be fought in every way possible. The signing of the declaration by MPs from all over the world against UNESCO is one of the steps we will take against this atrocious decision. We will continue to emphasize the eternal connection between the Jewish people and our eternal capital forever and ever, which nobody in the world, and certainly not UNESCO, can break."

The visiting lawmakers are from countries including the Netherlands, Finland, Latvia, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Malawi, South Africa, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Chile.

They were in Israel for the 5th Israel Allies Foundation Jerusalem Chairman's Conference, sponsored by the World Jewish Congress and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. The event was held at the Mamilla Hotel in Jerusalem.
Young professionals ages 22-29 are invited to participate in Taglit-Birthright Israels for young professionals this December. Originally, the trip was only for young professionals working at JCCs or other Jewish organizations, but is now open to all Jewish young adults who meet Birthrights qualifications.

Explore Israel as a young Jewish professional: network, learn, experience and enrich your Jewish identity as well as your connection to Israel. Meet with Israeli community professionals, collaborate with colleagues from North American-based organizations. This is an opportunity for professional development and growth.

The trip dates are Dec. 4 -14, 2016. The registration deadline is Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, so if you are interested contact Robby Etzkin, executive director of The Roth Family JCC by email at robbye@orlandojcc.org or phone, 407-621-4031 immediately. Etzkin said they only have nine spots left.
Danielle Berrin slams Ari Shavit for not apologizing for committing sexual assault

(JTA)Jewish-American reporter Danielle Berrin slammed prominent Israeli journalist Ari Shavit for not admitting and apologizing for allegedly sexually assaulting her.

As recounted in my article, he engaged in physically aggressive behaviorgrabbing the back of my head, lurching at me for a kiss, pulling and pawing at me, and pressuring me to enter his hotel room, she wrote in a response published Friday in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

She added: Throughout our interaction, he touched me in ways I did not want to be touched and he caused me to fear for my safety.

Shavit issued a statement Thursday in response to Berrins account last week confirming that the two met in 2014, but saying he had thought of their interaction as constituting courtship or flirtation but not sexual assault.

I apologize from the depths of my heart for this misunderstanding, he said.

Berrin slammed Shavits statement.

That Shavit would claim it was flirtation is not only misguided, it suggests I was participating in his scheme when, indeed, I was the victim; I was afraid hed further assault me if I did not escape, she wrote.

She continued: I am glad Ari Shavit has at least acknowledged an encounter took place... But Ari Shavit has yet to apologize for what he actually did; he did not apologize for committing sexual assault.

Berrin did not identify Shavit by name in her original account, but her descriptions of the person she accused of assaulting her as an accomplished journalist from Israel with dark hair and eyes who had recently published an influential book led to widespread speculation that it was about Shavit.

Rock star Roger Waters said to lose $4 million over anti-Israel activism

(JTA)Roger Waters anti-Israel activism has cost the British rock star millions of dollars and an American Express sponsorship, the New York Post reported.

The credit giant took off the table a $4 million sponsorship of Waters 2017 tour in North America following his partisan and anti-Israel rhetoric this month at a festival that American Express sponsored, according to the tabloids report Thursday.

Roger is putting on a huge show. The company was asked to sponsor his tour for $4 million, but pulled out because it did not want to be part of his anti-Israel rhetoric, an unnamed source from American Express was quoted as saying.

But an official spokesperson for the firm said it never formally offered to sponsor Waters 2017 tour.

When we were approached with the options, we passed on making a bid, the spokesperson said.

At the Oldchella festival, Waters used his time on stage to blast the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and to call for a boycott of Israel, according to the Post.

F*** Trump and his wall, Waters said at the event, calling the billionaire reality star arrogant, lying, racist, sexist. He then voiced his solidarity with students protesting for Palestinians. He also urged people to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

Waters did not reply to requests for a reaction by the Post.

Earlier this year, Waters said in an interview that celebrities are afraid to speak out against Israels policies, as he termed it, because of what he described as financial consequences attached to doing so.

Ive talked to a lot of them, and they are scared s***less. If they say something in public, they will no longer have a career. They will be destroyed, he said.

Waters, the 69-year-old co-founder of the classic rock group Pink Floyd, has been widely criticized for his anti-Israel activities and accused of espousing anti-Semitic symbols, though he has denied doing so.

In a 2013 concert in Brussels, Waters performed on a stage featuring a giant pig balloon emblazoned with a Star of David, among other symbols.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called Waters an open hater of Jews. And the Anti-Defamation Leagues then leader, Abraham Foxman, in an open letter to Waters earlier this month said his views on Israel are in fact colored by offensive and dangerous undercurrents of anti-Jewish sentiment.

Ivanka Trump says her father will move US embassy to Jerusalem 100 percent if elected

(JTA)Speaking at a synagogue in Florida, Ivanka Trump assured Jewish voters that her father would 100 percent move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem if he is elected president.

Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism in 2010 and is married to a Jewish man, called her father, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, an unbelievable champion for the State of Israel and for the Jewish people during a talk Thursday at The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, the Jewish Insider reported.

You wont be disappointed, she told the audience in a talk that was filmed in part.

In addition to saying Donald Trump will move the embassy to Jerusalem, which she called the eternal capital, Ivanka Trump also said her father supported her conversion to Judaism before she married Jared Kushner.

I so respect the fact that he supported me from day one, she said. There was no question, there was no argument. He was very supportive.

Asked how Judaism has inspired her to be what she is today, Ivanka Trump said, I feel like Judaism helps your moral compass. Judaism has been a great blessing in my life, she added.

Ivanka Trump and her sister Tiffany also made Florida campaign stops in Jupiter and Riviera Beach, according to the Trump campaign.

Jewish voters represent 3 to 6 percent of the electorate in the key battleground state of Florida. A recent poll showed Clinton leading Trump by 43 points among Jewish voters in the Sunshine State. Clinton is ahead by 1.6 percentage points overall there, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

Congress passed a law in 1995 mandating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, but allowed the president a waiver. Each president since then has routinely exercised the waiver, citing the national security interests of the United States.

In December, while speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition, Donald Trump refused to commit to recognizing Jerusalem as Israels undivided capital. But by January he said it was the eternal capital of Israel and that he was 100 percent for moving the embassy there.

Separately, the eminent American historian Robert Paxton, an expert on fascism and considered a world authority on the Vichy government, the Nazi puppet regime in France, said Trump is not a racist in the way that Southern rednecks are but shares commonalities with European 20th-century fascists.

Paxton, the recipient of Frances Legion of Honor award, noted in an interview about Trump published by Slate on Wednesday the case of the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who had a Jewish lover, was supported by many middle-class Jews and got along quite well with Jews. But political expediency led him to allow anti-Semitism and racism to take a more central role in public life, leading to the wholesale deportation and murder of approximately a fifth of Italys Jewish population in the Holocaust.

Trump, who has rejected persistent allegations of stoking hatred against Mexicans and failing to distance his campaign from anti-Semites, is playing in a disastrous way with a lot of rhetoric and a lot of prejudices that definitely belong to fascist rhetoric and fascist violence, Paxton said.

2nd Jewish-American journalist speaks of sexual misconduct by Israeli media personality

(JTA)Amid allegations from a Los Angeles reporter of sexual assault by an eminent Israeli journalist, a Jewish journalist from New York said she also was abused by another Israeli journalist.

Avital Chizhik, a contributor to Haaretz, The New York Times and Tablet magazine, revealed on Twitter that she had an almost identical experience to the one described by Danielle Berrin of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, who last week accused Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit of sexually assaulting her two years ago in California.

This almost-exact story happened to me years ago with another Israeli media personality, Chizhik, the daughter-in-law of Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, without naming the person in question. She added: Not okay.

Berrin did not name Shavit in her column, which was titled My sexual assault, and yours: Every womans storyHow the Trump video launched a collective soul-searching over sexual harassment and assault, but clues led other journalists to name him as the accused. Berrin said he tried to kiss her and invited her to come to his hotel room.

On Thursday, Hillel International, the Jewish campus group, announced it was suspending a speaking tour it arranged for Shavit in the United States in keeping with our strong position against sexual assault.

Shavit has apologized for the incident, calling it a misunderstanding and saying he did not realize Berrin experienced his behavior as sexual assault.

Following Chizhiks remark, Matthew Kalman, an editor at Bloomberg News covering Israel, wrote on Twitter: Its time for sexual predators to be expunged from Israeli public life.

Berrins reference to Trump was over lewd comments he made a decade ago about women that were published earlier this month by The Washington Post and contained in a video that was recently aired.

Separately, the head of a major group of West Bank settlements stepped down Friday following allegations that he sexually assaulted a Jerusalem woman and paid her off to keep quiet. Davidi Perl, chairman of the Etzion Bloc Regional Council, sent a letter to council residents on Friday morning announcing his decision to resign and maintaining that he had done nothing wrong.

British Jews call for action against violent anti-Israel protesters at London college

(JTA)The representative body of British Jews called on the University College London to sanction students who disrupted an event organized by supporters of Israel.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews issued its statement Friday about an event at UCL the previous night in which a hate-filled mob supporting the worst kind of extremism in the Middle East once again trampled on free speech at a leading UK campus, the boards vice president, Marie van der Zyl, wrote in a statement.

The police were called and the venue was changed several times as pro-Palestinian activists shouted slogans that prevented the event from starting, and then physically blocked the entrance to prevent the audience and organizers from leaving, according to the board.

We deplore the aggressive and intimidating protests, van der Zyl said of the incident, which Devora Khafi, campus director of StandWithUs UK, described as anti-Semitic.

Last night I and fellow students were barricaded in by violent extremists, Khafi wrote in a separate statement, detailing how she experienced the event. Students under threat, holed up in a room, facing abuse and violencejust because they are Jewish.

The event was organized by UCL Friends of Israel Society and Kings College Londons Israel Society with speaker Hen Mazzig, an Israeli peace activist. A few dozen students showed up for the event, as did a similar number of protesters.

We call on UCL to initiate a strong disciplinary process against the perpetrators, van der Zyl wrote. We will be raising this across Government today and in a meeting with the Home Secretary on Monday. This abuse must have no place on our campuses.

Last week, Universities UK, the umbrella group representing university heads, published a 114-page document on the steps that faculty should take to deal with hate crimes, including anti-Semitism, which affect students. British university bosses should work more closely with Jewish community leaders in order to better understand antisemitism, the report stated.
By Sean Savage

JNS.org

With only a few weeks remaining before the presidential election, and the start of early voting in most states, Jewish voters may still be weighing their decisions.

Over the last year, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump have actively courted the Jewish and pro-Israel vote, especially as they seek to firm up support in key battleground states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvaniaall home to large Jewish communities.

How each candidate would support and strengthen the special U.S.-Israel relationship has been discussed in numerous speeches and debates by Trump and Clinton, as well as played a large part in crafting the platforms of both political parties.

Both candidates have also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and addressed the premiere pro-Israel gathering, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference earlier this year.

JNS.org looks at the candidates positions and what theyve said over the past year on major issues that may be important to Jewish and pro-Israel voters.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Hillary Clinton:

She wrote in a September 2015 op-ed published by The Forward, that she is deeply committed to Israel as a democratic Jewish state... and just as convinced that the only way to guarantee that outcome is through diplomacy. And while no solution can be imposed from outside, I believe the United States has a responsibility to help bring Israelis and Palestinians to the table and to encourage the difficult but necessary decisions that will lead to peace.

Donald Trump:

He has drawn criticism from some within the pro-Israel community for saying he would remain neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Let me be sort of a neutral guy, Trump said in an MSNBC town hall in February. I have friends of mine that are tremendous businesspeople, that are really great negotiators, [and] they say its not doable.

After a meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September in New York, the Trump campaign said that peace will only come when the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish state.

U.S.-Israel Relationship

Trump:

In a speech at the AIPAC conference in March, Trump said he will work to prioritize the U.S.-Israel relationship.

When I become president, the days of treating Israel like a second-class citizen will end on Day One, Trump said, in reference to strained relations between President Barack Obama and Netanyahu. We will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel, he added.

Clinton:

In her address to AIPAC, Clinton said the U.S. will reaffirm that, we have a strong and enduring national interest in Israels security...We will never allow Israels adversaries to think a wedge can be driven between us.

In a statement following the landmark $38 billion defense deal between the U.S. and Israel in September, Clinton said the deal reaffirms the depth and strength of the U.S.-Israel relationshipwhich is based on common security interests, shared values, and deep historical tiesand sends a clear message to the region and the world that we will always stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.

Palestinian statehood and the disputed territories

Trump:

David Friedman, one of Trumps main advisers on Israel, said in June the Republican candidate would not support the recognition of a Palestinian state without the approval of the Israelis.

Trump has also said Israel should not cease construction in Judea and Samaria. No, I dont think there should be a pause...because I think Israel should havethey really have to keep going. They have to keep moving forward, Trump told theDailymail in May.

Clinton:

Clinton has called Israeli settlement expansion not helpful in the efforts to resume peace talks with the Palestinians. Administrationsboth Democrat and Republicanhave all adopted the same position that settlement expansion is not helpful, Clinton said in an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board in April. In the context of the continuing American interest in helping to bring the parties together to try to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict, I am in-line with prior Republicans and Democrats.

Jerusalem

Trump:

Following a resolution by the U.N.s cultural body, UNESCO, last week ignoring the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and its holy site, in a statement to JNS.org, Trump said he will recognize Jerusalem as the one true capital of Israel. Jerusalem is the enduring capital of the Jewish people, and the overwhelming majority of Congress has voted to recognize Jerusalem as just that.

Clinton:

On the matter, the Clinton campaign pointed to the 2016 Democratic Party Platforms language on Jerusalem that states, While Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

Clinton:

Earlier this year, Clinton came out strongly against the BDS movement during an argument within the Methodist Church, which Clinton has been a lifelong member, over whether or not to join the movement. I believe that BDS seeks to punish Israel and dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues of their conflict. This is not the path to peace, Clinton wrote in a May letter to the heads of the Jewish Federations of North America. The Methodist Church ultimately rejected a resolution to divest from Israel.

Trump:

While Trump hasnt made any direct statements on the BDS movement, his top Israel adviser, Jason Greenblatt, has strongly condemned it as the modern manifestation of anti-Semitism, plain and simple. BDS hurts Israelis, Palestinians and the hope for peace. The BDS movement is not interested in promoting peace and coexistence. It is not interested in forging a better future for Israelis and Palestinians, Greenblatt wrote in a Fox News op-ed in June.

Anti-Semitism

Trump:

Opponents have criticized the Republican nominee for alluding to anti-Semitism in social media posts and in speeches as well as among his supporters. In early July, Trump tweeted a graphic critical of Clinton featuring a six-pointed star, a pile of cash and the words most corrupt candidate ever. Critics contended the graphic invoked anti-Semitic imagery due to its similarly to the Jewish Star of David. The six-pointed star graphic was eventually replaced with a new image by the campaign.

More recently, critics condemned an Oct. 13 speech by the candidate in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he criticized alleged Clintons secret ties with international banks. 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 said.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), condemned Trumps remarks for its similarity to classic anti-Semitic tropes. @TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric and tropes that historically have been used against Jews and still spur #antisemitism, Greenblatt said in a tweet. Lets keep hate out of campaign.

Similarly, the Trump campaign has been criticized for not distancing itself enough from neo-Nazis and white supremacists such as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who expressed support for Trump during Dukes campaign for senator in Louisiana. However, the Trump campaign has disavowed and condemned any anti-Semitism being promoted by supporters on social media.

We have no knowledge of this activity and strongly condemn any commentary that is anti-Semitic, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement to The New York Times regarding an October report by the ADL detailing anti-Semitism among Trump supporters on Twitter. We totally disavow hateful rhetoric online or otherwise. Clinton:

In an op-ed first published by JNS.org in April, Clinton said that we must confront anti-Semitism and protect religious liberty. Today, there are new threats to religious liberty and an alarming rise in anti-Semitism. In many parts of Europe, weve seen synagogues vandalized and gravesites desecrated, Clinton wrote. We must confront these forces of intolerance. If Im fortunate enough to be elected president, I would ensure that America continues to call out and stand up to anti-Semitism.

Last summer, she was forced to distance itself from comments made by pro-Palestinian Jewish journalist Max Blumenthal, son of longtime Clinton confidante Sidney Blumenthal, regarding the late Elie Wiesel. Blumenthal said of Wiesel that he spent his last years inciting hatred, defense apartheid and palling around with fascists. Jake Sullivan, Clintons senior policy adviser, told The Jerusalem Post, Sec. Clinton emphatically rejects these offensive, hateful, and patently absurd statements about Elie Wiesel.

Iran nuclear deal

Trump:

When the nuclear accord between Iran and the P5+1 (U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany) world powers was announced in July 2015, Trump called the deal very dangerous. He said at the time, Iran developing a nuclear weapon, either through uranium or nuclear fuel, and defying the world is still a very real possibility. The inspections will not be followed, and Iran will no longer have any sanctions. Iran gets everything and loses nothing.

During his AIPAC speech, Trump vowed to dismantle the nuclear deal as president. My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran, he said. I have been in business a long time...this deal is catastrophic for Israel, for America, for the whole of the Middle East... We have rewarded the worlds leading state sponsor of terror with $ 150 billion, and we received absolutely nothing in return.

Clinton:

In September 2015, Clinton endorsed the nuclear agreement in a speech at the Brookings Institution, saying that, diplomacy is not the pursuit of perfection; it is the balancing of risk. However, Clinton went on to say the deal would work only as part of a larger strategy toward Iran and that distrust and verify would be her approach to handling Iran. She added, I will not hesitate to take military action if Iran still sought to develop a nuclear weapon despite the commitments.

In July, during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, she touted her early role as secretary of state in the nuclear agreement with Iran. Im proud that we put a lid on Irans nuclear program without firing a single shot, she said. Now we have to enforce it, and keep supporting Israels security.
Archaeologists have uncovered yet more evidence of the ancient Jewish connection to Jerusalemthe very same week that UNESCO and the Palestinian Authority (PA) were declaring that Jews have no ties to Jerusalem. Talk about irony.

The latest discovery of a site where the Roman army assaulted Jewish forces guarding the outer walls of Jerusalem, during the Second Temple period, explodes the lies of the U.N. and the PA.

Consider this. The Romans were attacking Jewish forces. No evidence was found of any Palestinian forces in the area. The assault took place during the Second Temple periodthe temple which the PA says never existed.

The newest findings confirm an account in the book The Wars of the Jews by the ancient historian Josephus Flavius in the first century C.E., which some historians previously doubted. Problem for the PA: Josephus never mentions Palestine or Palestinians.

Every time archaeologists dig in Israel, another piece of the Palestinian propaganda line crumbles. Earlier this year, scientists unearthed two ancient document seals in Jerusalem, dating to the late eighth century or early seventh century B.C.E. The script on the seals is Hebrew, not Arabic or any other language connected to Arabs or Muslims.

One of the seals bears the name of a man, Saadyahu ben Shebnayahu. The other is the name of a woman, Elihanah bat Goel (or Gael). Jewish names. Not Arab or Muslim or Palestinian. The archaeologists noted the construction of the names were in typical Judean fashion for this time period. Judean, not Palestinian. This is more vivid, indisputable evidence of a Jewish presence in the Land of Israelmore than 1,400 years before Mohammed founded Islam.

Another important archaeological discovery earlier this year found the worlds oldest glass kilns, alongside a railroad track at the foot of Mount Carmel, near Haifa. Professor Ian Freestone, of Londons University College, a specialist in the identification of the chemical composition of glass, noted the kilns prove that Israel constituted a production center on an international scale--hence its glassware was widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.

The kilns date from around the year 400 C.E., some 300 hundred years after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, killed an estimated 600,000 Jews, and destroyed more than 1,000 Jewish cities and towns.

Despite that devastation, the Jews were so attached to the Land of Israel that they rebuilt their society, to the point of serving as a glass-production center that exported its wares throughout the Roman Empire. One of the most famous discoveries in this field is an edict by the Roman emperor Diocletian, carved on a stone tablet, setting the prices for what he called Judean glass.

Not Palestinian glass, but Judean glass. Because everyone knew that Judea was the name of the region. Thats what the Bible called it. Thats what historians have called it for more than 2,000 years.

That is, until UNESCO and the Palestinian Arab propaganda machine came along.

Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
It is pointless to argue with those who happily pervert reality in the service of their profoundly held prejudices.

Is there no limit to the United Nations willingness to ignore every readily verifiable fact and provable source of historic truth in order to give expression to its obsessive and all-consuming hatred of Israel and the Jewish people?

The resolution passed by UNESCO last week replaces more than thousands of years of recorded history with a version of the story of Jerusalem and the site of the holy Temples of the Jews which is far more hysterical than historical. Using its majority of Arab members and joined by a cabal of countries ready to sell their conscience for the good graces of the Muslim world, UNESCO denied the deep and abiding connection between Jerusalem and the Jewish people and posited the absurd thesis that Jerusalems sanctity is primarily linked to its Palestinian heritage. The Temple Mount itself, according to UNESCO, may now only be referred to by its Muslim name as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuarya name that ignores not only its sacred history for Jews but its profound meaning for Christians as well.

Special United Nations envoy for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches Laurie Cardoza-Moore said, This resolution is worse than Holocaust denial, as it questions the very existence of the Jewish people. UNESCO has been overtaken by history revisionists and anti-Semites whose obvious hatred for Jews is so strong that they refuse to acknowledge the facts and the truth right in front of them. By refusing to recognize the Jewish peoples historic and biblical connection to the Temple Mount, UNESCO has denied the very foundation of our Judeo-Christian faith.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu put it well when he responded to the ludicrous UN-approved document, agreed to by ostensibly enlightened countries like France, Spain and Italy, with the analogy that To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple and the Western Wall is like saying that China is not connected to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids.

But what I think is a far more important lesson to be learned from the passage of this resolution is its relevance to the error of the Western mindset which continues to believe in the power of facts to shape the current of modern political reality and the strength of reason to moderate Islamic extremism.

Mohammed was born in the seventh century. Yet Palestinians see no logical inconsistency in proclaiming themselves as the original and sole sources of sanctity for a city chosen by David as capital of Israel a thousand years earlier, designated by Davids son Solomon as site for the first Jewish Temple, and rebuilt and renewed by their descendants when they returned from their exile in Babylon hundreds of years before the common era.

It is pointless to argue with those who happily pervert reality in the service of their profoundly held prejudices.

Just last week, the very same week when we were treated to UNESCOs rewriting of history, we were treated to but one more stupefying example of hysterical revisionism. Israel Radio reported that an Iranian cleric claims the irrefutable truth that Albert Einstein, the great 20th century scientist who developed the Theory of Relativity, was actually a Shiite Muslim.

In a video featuring Ayatolla Mahadavi Kani, identified as the head of the Assembly of Experts in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollah says that there are documents proving the Jewish scientist embraced Shiite Islam and was an avid follower of Jafar Al-Sadiq, an eighth-century Shii imam. In the video, Kani quotes Einstein as saying that when he heard about the ascension of the prophet Mohammed, a process which was faster than the speed of light, he realized this is the very same relativity movement that Einstein had understood. The ayatollah adds: Einstein said, when I heard about the narratives of the prophet Mohammed and that of the Ahle-Beit [prophets household] I realized they had understood these things way before us.

And so of course Jews really had nothing to do with the sanctity of Jerusalem as well as the genius of Albert Einsteina truly stunning theory of relativity.

All of which is why Im convinced we are wasting our time when we respond to these obvious falsifications with reasoned replies. Our efforts grant bizarre and irrational viewpoints a kind of legitimacy they do not deserveas if our response to disciples of the earth is flat notion requires respectful debate.

The UNESCO document is so outlandish in its conclusions that it ought simply to be branded for what it is without further discussionanother racist and anti-Semitic product of an organization so committed to irrational hatred of Israel and the Jewish people that it has lost any justification for its continued existence.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a frequent contributor to Aish, is a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, and lecturer. Author of 14 highly acclaimed books with combined sales of over a half million copies, his newest, The World From A Spiritual Perspective, is a collection of over 100 of his best Aish articles. See his website at rabbibenjaminblech.com.
Not much politics here. A long national holiday begins a few days before Rosh Hashanah and extends till two days after Succot. In Jewish tradition, there is a day after a holiday, perhaps to provide for recuperation.

All told, thats close to a month without politics.

When things get going again in a few days, we may hear how the greats and near greats are responding to the UNESCO decisions about the lack of a Jewish claim to the Temple Mount, and the expansion of a regional war with new atrocities from Nigeria, across Libya and Egypt, and on through Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Meanwhile, American politics are more exciting. And since the president is also as close to anyone as leader of the world, it will impact on everyone else, either by what she/he does, or chooses not to do.

As it looks from here, my recollection of Pogo is relevant. He could have written the script.

Weve met the enemy and they are us.

Some of the usually repressed, ugliest of American traits are front and center, and have a chance of carrying this election. Racism and its anti-ethnic equivalents, along with an outspoken disregard for women have been prominent in Trumps campaign, getting enthusiastic responses from his supporters.

The themes have been in U.S. culture forever. Abe Lincoln grew up with them, and freed the slaves as much out of a military tactic as any inbred sense of human rights.

The Know Nothings were a political party active before the Civil War in opposition to Catholics and other immigrants. Its appropriate to employ its label now, given what we know about Trump supporters.

Hillary is not the best candidate to deal with the threat.

The New York Times headlined an article, Issues in Hillary Clintons Past leave Her Muted in Furor Over Donald Trump. Its essence was that her old missteps and her husbands history have effectively paralyzed her during a moment of widespread outrage.

Its not only her weakness with respect to Trumps record on women. Her problem with email monkey business has traction, along with the wishy-washy response of the FBI and reports that Bill talked with the attorney general about the problem, and more recent news that a senior State Department official offered a quid pro quo to the FBI in exchange for a favorable ruling on Hillarys emails. Adding to the image of sleaze are reports about the Clinton Foundation, and the function of contributions to acquire access to the secretary of state.

Despite the negatives associated with Donald Trump, my mailbox has received several messages from well-educated American Jews who write in the mode of Anybody but Clinton.

One of the more informative polls appeared in the Washington Post. It came amidst the brouhaha about Trumps sexual comments and revelations from women claiming to have been groped, pawed, and otherwise molested by him. The poll showed an advantage for Hillary, but of only four percent, which could be easily overturned by another demonstration of her having to be carried by aides. The poll also showed that Americans choosing either Trump or Clinton were fixed in their support, and were intense in their opposition toward the other.

A poll published in the Jerusalem Post showed that Israelis tend to view Trump as more supportive of Israel or less likely to pressure Israel than Hillary, but that they tend to support Hillary nonetheless.

Makes one proud to be an Israeli. Not the Know Nothings for us.

One is hard pressed to find a good reason for supporting Hillary, other than her serving as the alternative to Trump. No less a Democratic establishmentarian than Tom Friedman said on Israel television that the best explanation for Hillarys nomination was that Democrats viewed it as her turn.

Many are looking for a third party alternative. However, voting for the Libertarian candidate, or the anti-Semitic Jewish Green Party candidate, might screw up the counts in key states and render their electoral votes a matter for a crapshoot.

A friend sent me an article from Politico Magazine headlined In a Time of Trump, Millennial Jews Awaken to Anti-Semitism. The articles phrase the tangled world of Jewish politics is my choice for insight of the week. However, the item is limited in seeing an increase in anti-Semitism as associated with the Trump campaign, and comments by some of his key aides, if not the candidate himself. What it lacks is coverage of the increase in anti-Semitism that preceded Trumps nomination by several years, and has been promoted by Jews in the tangle who see themselves as having a monopoly on whats proper. They are the supporters of BDS, some of whom affiliate with JStreet. They join with some misguided Jews of Israel in thinking that the actions of the Jewish state rank with the worlds atrocities worth condemning. They add their voices to something invented by Palestinians and supported by European and Americans, with some of them inclined to sacrifice Jews wherever they are along with Israel.

New among the worrying things about the Trump campaign are his repeated claims of a media conspiracy against him, and hints about vote fraud in what he calls a rigged election. Donalds latest is the statement that hell be sure to accept the election results, only if hes the winner.

It doesnt take more than that to ignite the anti-government paranoids among his supporters.

The environment is ripe, having been prepared by generations who dont trust government and inclined to hate people different from themselves. Its been made worse by the rusting of what had been major centers of American industry, and perhaps by a Black sitting in the Oval Office.

Should this sentiment carry on after the election, it would be -- at the least -- a repeat of the madness charging that the CIA was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The fanciful claims about Barack Obamas birth certificate, and somewhat more convincing claims that a politicized court gave Florida and the presidency to George W. Bush.

Analysts may be working for decades on the issue of how two so basically flawed candidates found themselves the last people standing in each partys competition for the nomination.

American society survived several presidential misfits, and is likely to survive the coming selection, unless Trump gets the call, with the power over the world inherent in the job.

Comments welcome. Irashark@gmail.com
Dear Editor:

It seems that the American Jewish community has been largely silent about the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this deal a historic mistake. The deal made it possible for Iran to have access to $150 billion in frozen assets. It did not end their nuclear weapons program. It did not require any nuclear facilities to be destroyed. It allows them to acquire nuclear weapons in about a decade, assuming they dont cheat on the deal.

In addition, the administration secretly authorized a $1.7 billion cash ransom payment in exchange for five American hostages held in Iran. This money will be used by Iran to fund their terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which seek to destroy Israel.

Simply put, American taxpayer money will be used to murder Jews, thanks to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and the Democratic Party.

This payment also created an incentive for Iran to take more hostages, and sure enough, since the ransom payment was made in January, additional Americans have been taken hostage and thrown into Iranian jails.

We also learn that this president has quietly dismantled a key part of the ballistic missile sanctions against Iran. The ballistic missile program, according to the administration, was not supposed to be a part of the Iran deal.

Earlier this year, Iran launched two missiles, with one of the missiles having a message in Hebrew that read Israel must be wiped out.

The president also provided sanctions relief to Iran that will allow foreign companies to do business with Iranian companies owned by senior figures in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who have been involved in crimes against humanity and various human rights violations.

He also agreed to remove sanctions on several Iranian banks involved in various illegal activities, and on Oct. 7, the president loosened restrictions on Irans ability to use American dollars in its business dealings, which will make it easier for Iran to transfer money for whatever purposes it chooses. This concession also was not required by the Iran nuclear deal, and days after this concession was announced, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fired missiles at the USS Mason, an American ship, off the coast of Yemen.

Let me be clear. This is madness. This is insanity. The president of the United States continues to make more and more concessions to the most anti-Semitic regime on the face of the earth. The Iran nuclear deal represents a serious threat to American national security and an existential threat to the nation of Israel. Any candidate or candidates, such as Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, that support these outrageous policies must be shunned, rejected, and condemned.

Why arent American Jews speaking out against these policies? Do they approve of these policies? Do they know about them? Do they care? I do. Thats why I am voting for Donald Trump. He and the entire Republican Party have been very critical of the deal, the ransom payment to Iran, and all of the secret side deals and concessions that the administration made to Iran, which Congress and the American people were never informed of. It is time to stop these dangerous policies. Vote for Donald Trump.

Dan Feinreich

Atlanta, Georgia
Brittany Nichole Hefner, 25, of Connelly Springs, will serve a six to eight year sentence in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.

Investigators discovered injuries on a three-month-old infant while they were investigating the death of the childs twin brother.

Burke County EMS responded to a 911 call on Jan. 31, 2016 regarding a child not breathing. The child received medical treatment in Winston-Salem but died from his injuries. Investigators deemed the cause of the injuries physical abuse, allegedly inflicted by the childs father, Nicholas Brandon Clark.

Charges are pending for murder and felony child abuse for Clark but he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Injuries to the surviving infant were consistent with being shaken and Hefner admitted to shaking the child days prior.

The Burke County Sheriffs Office investigated the case. Chris Back handled the prosecution for the District Attorneys Office.
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Many of us have grown up with the notion that army officers are more cultured and sophisticated than your average Joe. And indeed, many of them are the epitome of courtesy and civility. But there are always exceptions and the minister of state for external affairs, General VK Singh seems to be one of them. For a man who headed the mighty Indian Army, he seems singularly devoid of the sort of etiquette one normally associates with an army man of his stature.

First, he got into an unseemly squabble with the government of the day on the issue of his age. Later, luck smiled on him and he found himself in the exalted position of being one of Indias key interlocutors with the world. In the world of international diplomacy, words make a great difference. And it is here that the good general is found wanting. So, far, mercifully, he has not embarrassed his minister, the smooth as silk Sushma Swaraj, on the international stage.

Read | Centre must apologise to ex-servicemens family: Scindia

But when it comes to the workings of his government, his desire to be more loyal than the king has led to a number of gaffes that have bordered on the downright offensive. In the past, the general asked in exasperation whether if someone threw a stone at a dog, the government could be held responsible. A barrage of criticism ranging from him being casteist to communal ensued. The only people who did not pillory him were the animal rights activists though they were well within their right to do so.

Now, the general has been giving other political parties a lesson on how not to politicise issues in regard to the suicide of an army man over the one rank one pension controversy. Donning his psychiatrists hat, Singh first said that the poor victim could have had mental issues. Then in a deft and non-partisan manner he informed us that the dead man was a Congress sarpanch. Oh dear, general, your slip is showing.

Read | VK Singh comes under attack for his comment on deceased ex-serviceman

It is not that we are getting all hot and bothered about politicians making gaffes, indeed often most offensive ones. It is just that we perhaps had higher expectations of a general. But clearly politics is a great leveller and the general has been successful in conforming to the somewhat pathetic standards of political discourse.

But even so, to allude to a suicide victims political affiliations is stooping really low and we fail to see what point the general was trying to make.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been one to exhort his ministers to let their work speak for themselves. Clearly, the general was not listening or if he was, has chosen to ignore this.

@lalitapanicker

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Exactly a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated vigilance against a recurrence of the Emergency, this is exactly what his government is getting charged with  by NDTV India in a press release last night, and the Editors Guild of India. The Editors Guild of India represents both magazine and print editors. The government orders to shut down NDTV India for a day for allegedly airing strategically sensitive information comes on the back of an increase in attacks on the media.

Read | NDTV India ban: Not the first time a channel has been taken off air

Last year, according to a report on Free Speech in India by the media watch dog The Hoot, at least 21 cases of censorship were reported including in the broadcast and print media. Additionally 81 cases of defamation, 26 cases of sedition and eight cases of surveillance against journalists were reported against the creative community. The Hoot also reports that in the first four months of this year something like 22 cases of attacks against journalists were reported. The bulk of the cases are in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, where civil society activists, lawyers, intellectuals and journalists have been hauled up for allegedly siding with the Maoists. The Maoists, on the other hand, accuse them of being police informers. In the case of Tamil Nadu, at least 55 cases had been slapped on people who were found to be speculating about the health of chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Read | Editors Guild of India condemns govts order to block NDTV India for a day

Of all places, the worst remains the Kashmir valley, which has been on the boil for the last few months. Reporters mostly located in the Valley are hopelessly trapped by being forced to toe the nationalist line dictated from New Delhi or Mumbai. Recently, a TV journalist belonging to a leading Hindi news network resigned in disgust after his boss asked him to allegedly file a fake report of a relationship between Burhan Wani and his girlfriend. The worst part is that the Kashmiri media feels that outfits like the Editors Guild of India dont lend their heft to their very just cause, which often involves just reporting facts. The local media is critical to information dissemination given the fact that mobile and Internet is often shut down in the event of a local unrest.

Finally, in far flung areas like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand bureaus have been disbanded, and stringers are hired to collect information. As an Editors Guild report cited, Newspapers and other media houses are appointing journalists as stringers in remote areas without any formalities. So when the question of identity arises, the government conveniently denies that someone is a journalist attached to them. Media houses also disown them because they see them as a liability beyond a point.

Read | Police constable abducted by Maoists in Chhattisgarhs Sukma district

With the gradual deepening of digitalisation it is increasingly difficult to distinguish a journalist from a generalist. Everyone, with a sensational video clip, is capable of creating news. The news clip of flogging of Dalits in Gujarat by upper caste Hindus was not generated by a news organisation but by people in general.

Therefore, who are journalists and whether State action on them amounts to attack on journalists is a very difficult call to make. Are journalists only those who are with news organisations? What about the bloggers and opinion-makers who are not part of media institutions? According to this years report by the Reporters without Borders that has ranked India a lowly 133 out of 180 countries, journalists and bloggers are attacked and anathematised by various religious groups that are quick to take offence.

Sandeep Bhushan is a former journalist and a media commentator

The views expressed are personal
Jammu and Kashmir has been on the boil for the past four months. The Kashmir valley has been simmering post the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani by the security forces on July 8. The international border and the Line of Control (LoC) have flared up since Pakistan-based terrorists attacked the Uri Brigade headquarters on September 18 with the Indian response coming in the form of surgical strikes on militant camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir 10 days later.

The downward spiral continues with the Pakistan army and rangers resorting to heavy cross-border firing in Machchil and Uri sectors in Kashmir and the entire border south of Pir Panjal. The focus of the firing and mortar shelling has been some 125 villages along the border in Jammu, while the Pakistan army-backed terrorists with their so-called border action teams are waiting to ambush their Indian counterparts on patrol duties along the LoC in Kashmir. In short, Pakistan is leaving no stone unturned to alienate the masses from the Indian State, just as the latter is making efforts to integrate them.

Read | Pakistan-trained LeT militant surrenders in native north Kashmir

The results on this side of the border are not flattering for either the Narendra Modi government at the Centre nor the PDP-BJP state government with both civilians and security forces getting sucked into the mayhem and violence. The reality is that Islamisation is on the rise in the Valley with symbols of Arabian influence visible among the youth, who are increasingly getting attracted to radical preachers of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Ahl-Hadith.

Yet, the slogans are not religious, but demanding azaadi, clearly indicating that the radicalisation in the Valley is politically motivated. This is typical of predominantly Muslim societies where religious symbols are used to pursue political agendas. Even Sufi leaders in the Valley have joined hands with their religious adversaries and boarded the azaadi wagon.

Read | J-K board exams will be only for 50% syllabus

A normal Kashmiri youngster feels empowered by pelting stones as he believes that azaadi is around the corner for him with governance going to pieces in the Valley, particularly in south Kashmir. Rather than pushing her party legislators to engage with the Kashmiri youth and address their genuine grievances, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, like her predecessors, has taken the predictable route of seeking a dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad to ease tensions. The better option for Mehbooba Mufti would be to let the two armies tackle each other on the border while concentrating on governance which is missing in the Valley.

The annual shifting of durbar to Jammu on November 7 provides an opportunity for both the state and central government as the Valley prepares for the dark icy winter ahead.

Can the governments ensure that the Valley faces no shortages of food and fuel once the Banihal Pass gets snowed under and roads linking Kashmir to the rest of India are cut off? If the Mehbooba Mufti government can deliver on this and the ruling party legislators can get out of their houses without fear and engage the angry youth, then there is hope of a turnaround. The PDP must recapture its political space in south Kashmir and push for an aspirational agenda for the youth by ensuring that scholarships exist not only on paper but are also distributed in a just fashion. The exercise must be to wean away the youth, who were born in the mayhem and turmoil of 1990s, from the separatists, as the latter have no agenda for Kashmir beyond joining hands with Pakistan.

Read | Kashmir: Police identify 7 stone pelters for burning of schools, arrest 5

While New Delhi is getting agitated over more than 25 schools have been burnt down by militants in the Valley, the reasons may not be as binary as they seem. The burning of schools could be related to the state government forcing examinations on children despite a total lockdown for the past four months and the syllabus not being completed. Maybe a better option is to promote students to the next class barring those appearing for the final board exams. Another reason for this could be to deny security forces the use of schools as bases for counter-insurgency operations and law and order duties during the winter holidays in Kashmir. The attacks could also have happened because Islamists are opposed to secular education and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the pro-Pakistan separatist, has called for a school bandh.

While there is no denying that Pakistan has let loose the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen on the Valley, governance also seems to be seriously lacking in the state with the ruling coalition partners at cross-purposes. The police thana system has all but collapsed and the administration seems to have fled from south Kashmir in fear of the militants and their proxy stone-pelters.

Read | Pakistani forces deliberately targeting civilian areas: BSF

The ceding of space by the local civilian and police administration has forced the intervention from central security forces and the Indian Army, which is leading to further alienation of the Kashmiris. The media may get worked up seeing Islamic State flags in the Valley but these are only to annoy the Indian State. One must remember that there was no al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS) or Islamic State in the 1990s when the Valley erupted over the calls for azaadi. The only common factor was poor governance and alienation.

The coming four months or the time before the durbar returns to the Valley in April is a time for both the Centre and state to redeem themselves in the strife-torn state. The border firing is expected to cease or ease up once the succession of the next Pakistan army chief is decided by Islamabad by November 29  the date when the present boss General Raheel Sharif is to hang up his boots.

Infiltration will cease in the winter months resulting in lower levels of violence in the Valley. Now is the time to break the impasse.

shishir.gupta@hindustantimes.com

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Paranthas, ice creams, kebabs and more  yep, it is a feast and it is happening right here at Dilli Haat, Pitampura. The second edition of The Great Indian Food Festival is back at the venue with over 75 food stalls that will offer delectable options belonging to the various states of the nation.

There will be foods of all kinds from over 12 states  from paranthas to kebabs, halwas to ice creams, butter chicken to chaat. We started the food festival last year as we wanted to bring something new to our Dilli Haat, and Dilli waale foodies toh hain hi. So what better than food? says Rakesh Juneja, chief manager of Dilli Haat, Pitampura.

The food will be prepared solely by the vendors of Dilli  06. Juneja explains that the idea is to promote their business. This is a good platform for them to build a bigger base and promote their culinary skills. After the previous years edition, several of them were approached by people for catering to weddings, parties and other occasions, he adds.

The festival also offers cultural performances and fun activities such as live cookery shows and Sufi night.

Apart from food stalls, the festival will also include fun activities such as live cookery shows, Sufi night, cultural performances by school kids, golgappa-eating, food photography, etc.

People look forward to these events with great enthusiasm. Were hoping to organise more of these in the near future as they Delhiites really enjoy them, says Sudhir Sobti, chief manager (PR and publicity), Delhi Tourism.

Sagar Gupta, one of the organisers, adds, The footfall on an average day is 1,000 but it was over 14,000 last year. This year, were expecting it to shoot up to 40,000.

We had gone to the festival last year and well go again. The competitions are the best part! One gets to eat and have fun, says Shreya Vaid, a Rohini resident.

Catch It Live

What: Great Indian Food Festival

Where: Dilli Haat, Pitam Pura, Near TV Tower

When: November 5 and 6

Timings: 12pm to 10pm

Nearest metro Station: Netaji Subhash Place on Red Line

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Alleging that there were gaps in different versions about how eight fugitive SIMI operatives were gunned down, a Muslim organisation in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday demanded an independent probe into the incident according to the Supreme Court guidelines for investigating police encounters.

Masood Ahmed Khan, secretary the Madhya Pradesh Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims, said the top courts guidelines states that investigating of police encounters by should be conducted independently following prescribed procedures.

Agencies investigating an encounter should take into account the guidelines listed by the Supreme Court, he said.

Until now, it appears that there are many unconnected dots in the whole incident and to ensure a fair and transparent probe into the alleged shootout, we have decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court and want a sitting judge of the top court to investigate the incident.

Pervez Alam, lawyer of the gunned down SIMI operatives, said he was going through the Supreme Court guidelines to see if they were not been followed. I will file a petition in the high court soon demanding a fair probe by a sitting judge of the high court, he said.

We will look into the aspects of the case and come up with a detailed argument, which we will put before the court.

In the 6-point guidelines for investigating encounters by police, the top court states that an independent investigation has to be conducted by the criminal investigation department or a police team from another police station other than where the incident occurred and under the supervision of a senior officer.

The guidelines also say that a magisterial inquiry must be held in cases of death in police firing.
Rivalry is not a new word for Bollywood. Actors are known to walk out of films because of their equations with each other. However, there are some who consider it a healthy competition.

In an interview to Vogue, Deepika Padukone said that she doesnt have any problem with Priyanka Chopra. Both, Deepika and Priyanka are working hard to earn a name in Hollywood. While Priyanka is already a major TV star after Quantico, Deepika is soon going to be seen with Vin Diesel in xXx: Return Of Xander Cage.

Deepika said, We have had very different beginnings. I still remember I was in school when she won Miss World! Ive known her for many years and nothing has changed.

She added, What she wants from her career will be very different from what I want and that needs to be understood and respected.

Deepika also talked about her career. When asked about the feeling of being on top of her game, she said, Well, I wouldnt know. My focus has always been on the journey on doing good and challenging work and enjoying the process.

Priyanka Chopra is currently shooting for Baywatch with Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Actor Shahid Kapoor says his father and actor Pankaj Kapur is a bit hyper and over-protective, adding that he hopes he doesnt get these traits from him while bringing up his daughter.

The actor and his wife Mira Rajput welcomed their first daughter in August. Shahid talked about his father during an appearance on an episode of Vogue BFFs, which will air on Saturday on Colors Infinity, read a statement from the channel.

I think my dad is a great guy! I dont think a guy can be that good, to begin with. There are things about him that I think are amazing, there are things about him that I dont want to be like that with my child, Shahid said.

The Haider star added: He is an extremely nice person and he has always been a friend to me, those are the things that I would want. But hes a bit hyper and hes a bit over-protective. So, those are the two things that I hope I dont do to my child.

Shahid Kapoor with his baby daughter in Mumbai.

Asked about a piece of advice that his father had given him when he found out that he was going to become a father, Shahid said: Actually more than a piece of advice: what my dad told me was that Now, you will know all the complaints that I have always had against you.

Shahid Kapoor says his father is a great guy.

Because the one thing my dad keeps telling me is that I dont call him enough. And I pretty much call him almost every day! But he still always complains about the fact that we dont connect enough, we dont spend time enough and finally when obviously Misha happened, he told me, Now you will know what its like when you miss your child.

On the work front, Shahid will soon be seen in Vishal Bhardwajs Rangoon and Sanjay Leela Bhansalis upcoming magnum opus Padmavati.
Richa Chadha recently met Hollywood actor Demi Moore while wrapping up the shoot of her Indo-American film, directed by Tabrez Noorani, in Los Angeles, USA.

A source tells us, Richa has looked up to Demi right from her theatre days in Delhi and was finally able to meet her. She spent time with Demi, and discussed the issue of sex trafficking, besides talking about cinema.

Richa says, I met Demi on the sets of my film and was moved by her humility during our meeting. She was doing a scene with another actor and was immersed in it. Interestingly, Demi has a cameo in Richas movie, but unfortunately, the two will not be sharing screen space.

I admire that Demi is a world renowned personality and still makes time for THORN  her organisation that works to put an end to sex slavery and trafficking. I think we must aspire towards the same, says Richa, adding she loves all the work Demis done so far. She is most inspired by Ghost (1990) and Very Good Girls (2014).

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Central and state finance officials failed on Friday to resolve a deadlock on who would administer a new national sales tax that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to launch in April.

The long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) would transform Asias No 3 economy into a single market, could boost revenues through better compliance and make life simpler for businesses that now pay a host of federal and state levies.

A council of federal and regional authorities agreed on Thursday the tax rates to apply to goods, but are still struggling to forge a consensus on how to collect the tax that will have federal and state elements.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley doesnt favour dual agencies auditing and scrutinising each taxpayer. But states are reluctant to cede their turf.

One of the objectives is that each assessee will have to face only one assessing officer, Jaitley told reporters after meeting his state counterparts. Functionally, you cant have two competing assessing officers.

Jaitley said he will meet state finance ministers again informally on November 20 to try and resolve the issue.

Both federal and state governments now levy and collect taxes on goods. However, taxes on services come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.

The whole regime is set to undergo a change with the implementation of the GST, as both goods and service providers will be required to file returns with federal and state tax agencies.

This system of so-called dual control has raised worries among taxpayers that multiple authorities could end up acting at cross-purposes, creating confusion.

Jaitley remained hopeful of finding a solution before the next meeting of federal and state finance officials on Nov. 24 when it is expected to approve key bills that federal and state lawmakers must pass in this calendar year to ensure the GSTs rollout from April 1.

Indias parliament opens for a month-long winter session on November 16.
The probable list for the next head of the $103-billion Tata Group is getting thinner, especially since the search committee looking for the chairman just has four months to complete its task.

As the group hunts for a candidate with a blend of performance and Tata experience, a few names have come up, which fits the bill. They include Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO N Chandrasekaran, Jaguar and Land Rover chief Ralph Speth, Trent MD Noel Tata, Pepsico head Indra Nooyi and former Vodafone chief Arun Sarin. Veteran Tata hand S Ramadorais recent exit from governments skill development agencies has also triggered speculation about his appointment to the top post.

Chandrasekaran and Speth were elevated to the board positions at Tata Sons on October 25, a day after Mistry was ousted as group chairman.

Bombay House, the headquarter of the Tata Group, is now according top priority to the search, even as it counters charges from ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry. The urgency is underscored by concerns among stakeholders about the leadership confusion, especially since Mistry is still the chairman of group companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Indian Hotels. He is still a director on Tata Sons board.

Recent reports suggest that Ratan Tata has already asked for old hands to come back to Bombay House to form a new top management, entrusting veteran colleagues such as Prasad Menon to prepare so that the new chairman can hit the ground running.

Read more: Tata, Mistry may look at settlement options to avoid legal, financial wrangle

Tata Sons declined to comment on the story, saying that the company board has appointed a search panel to select the next chairman. The panel consists of TVS Group chairman Venu Srinivasan, Bain Capitals Amit Chandra, former ambassador to US Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya, apart from interim chairman Ratan Tata.

According to top sources at Bombay House and people who have assisted the group in various strategies as well as long-time business partners, TCS MD N Chandrasekaran, popularly called Chandra, is one of the strongest contenders. The 53-year-olds tenure at Indias largest software services company has seen its profits surge three fold to R24,375 crore in six years to September 30, 2016. Dividend from TCS contributed 77% to Tata Sons revenue in 2015-16. What works in his favour is also the fact that beside TCS stellar performance, Chandra is a Tata man, having joined TCS straight after college in 1987.

Chandras predecessor at TCS, S Ramadorai, also has a strong case. Beginning 1969, Ramadorai spent his entire working life in TCS, before stepping down as CEO in 2009. Between 1996 and 2009, he took TCS from less than half-a-billion-dollar company to one with a balancesheet of $6 billion. He continued as the vice-chairman of TCS till 2014, while holding the chairmans post in other group companies, including Air Asia, Tata Technologies and Tata Advanced Systems. Ramadorai is also an independent director in Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Piramal Enterprises, something that could augur well to manage group companies like Tata Beverages, Indian Hotels and Tata Motors. Theres a small hitch though. He has just four years to hit 75 -- the maximum age limit for a Tata chairman according to the companys internal rule book.

Among the others, Ralph Speth, 61, has been instrumental in turning around Jaguar Land Rover. Along with TCS, JLR is the other cash cow for the Tata Group.

One thing is very clear. The group would want to have someone from inside, who is familiar with their values, conduct and ways of doing business. But if weightage is to be given to business performance alone, then probably someone with global experience will be brought in, said Richard Rekhy, chief executive of KPMG India.

About 65% of Tata groups revenue comes from outside India.

Recently, Brickwork Ratings revised Tata Steels credit rating to BWR AA from BWR AA+ with a negative outlook due to the uncertainty consequent to the recent change in top management at holding company/group level which could slow down vital decisions such as cost cutting and deleveraging the balance sheet concerning the unprofitable UK operations and restructuring of the European business.
The exits in Twitters senior management who helped build the India business over years, signal the companys co-founder and new CEO, Jack Dorseys, inclination to make significant changes in the way the domestic business is handled.

On Thursday, Parminder Singh, managing director of West Asia and north Africa or MENA/Southeast Asia/India, put in his papers.His resignation came two days after the companys India head Rishi Jaitly quit.

The micro-blogging site has been struggling to generate ad revenues in India, unlike elsewhere in the world.

Some of the people who left wanted to make some changes to Twitter, which they thought would help in bringing in digital advertising revenue. That would have changed Twitters identity  something that the board didnt want, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

According to Greyhound Research, the digital advertising market in India is currently around R7,000 crore  75% of which is with Google and Facebook. Twitter, along with dozens of other digital advertising platforms such as InMobi, has struggled to get a share of the remaining 25% of the market. In fact, Twitters share of the ad wallet is in single-digits.

Though the breakup for ad revenue from social media in India was not available, digital ad agency Adlift estimates it to be around $250 million (R1,669 crore)  most of which is with Facebook.

Twitter has one product they go to the market with, which is not enough. Facebook has 10 different formats. It is difficult to promote rich media on Twitter, said Prashant Puri, CEO and co-founder of Adlift.

Twitter recently removed the 140-character limit for putting pictures, videos, quoted tweets and GIFs, in order to become more relevant for advertisers.

But the company is nowhere close to Facebook in targeted advertisement. Take gender, location and age  Facebook is the only platform, not even Google, to have that kind of data. In mobile app advertisement, location gets the highest price-per-click, Puri said.

Getting India right becomes more important for Twitter. According to data from San Francisco-based app intelligence firm App Annie, Twitters monthly active user base grew 35% in the country in September, compared to the previous month, while in the US it increased only 4%. Indians also spent 60% more time on the micro-blogging app in September.

Meanwhile, brands and advertisers have evolved.

A network can be judged on two parameters: quality and quantity. Quality can be defined by the stickiness of the network, and the information that its users share. Facebook is miles ahead with Instagram, FB and Whatsapp, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO of Greyhound Research.

A partner with a New York-based management consulting firm said: The digital world is a brutally Darwinian where the failure rate is huge... If you cant evolve the way local taste evolves, you are dead. Twitter has not found a way to engage with the user.
Journalists were assaulted during an altercation with the companys security guards outside the Tata Group headquarters in Mumbai on Friday.

The journalists had assembled outside Bombay House to report on the scheduled board meeting of Indian Hotels, a Tata Group company.

Several photographers, including Hindustan Timess staff photographer Arijit Sen, were injured in the assault by the Bombay House security staff.

At least one photographer was virtually pinned down by four-five security personnel, brutally punched, slapped and then pushed away from the building entrance in south Mumbais busy Fort area.

The camera and other equipment of at least two photographers was badly damaged or broken by the security personnel in the fracas.

Read | Chandrasekaran, Ramadorai lead race for next Tata Group chairman

Private security personnel of Tata Group assault photojournalists who had assembled at Bombay House for the Indian Hotels board meeting in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI)

Police arrived on the scene a short while later and were in the process of lodging complaints in the matter.

A Tata Sons spokesperson later apologised for the incident.

In the rush during the entry of certain directors, one of our security staff members fell down. The security staff then lost their cool, which they shouldnt have. We apologise for the incident, he said.

Later in a statement, Tata Sons said: We deeply regret the incident during the entry of certain board directors today.

We profusely apologize to the press corp and their families for this incident. We will ensure that such a situation does not recur.

The Tata Group has been seeing strong interest following the October 24 decision of the Tata Sons board to remove Cyrus Mistry as chairman. Company patriarch Ratan Tata was subsequently reinstated as interim chairman.

Mistry, however, continues to be chairman of some group companies, including that of Indian Hotels, and Fridays was its first board meeting after his ouster.

(With agency inputs)

Read | Tata, Mistry may look at settlement options to avoid legal, financial wrangle
The Tata Group, under the leadership of interim chairman Ratan Tata, is exploring options of an early resolution to the legal dispute with erstwhile telecom joint venture partner NTT DoCoMo, which could include a consent decree, according to people connected with the development.

The legal options are being considered after the group factored in consequences of approaching the government, which has in the past shown its reluctance to involve in private legal disputes.

Consent decrees are typically resorted to amicably resolve disputes between parties and has had precedences.

The International Court of Arbitration had directed the Tatas to pay $1.17 billion to DoCoMo for alleged violation of a contract where the Tatas had agreed to buy the Japanese companys equity stake, but could not. The Tatas have been unable to buy back the stake, which would involve $1.17 billion going out of the country as Indian laws do not permit share buyback at pre-fixed prices. The Reserve Bank of India has not approved the buyback either. The Tatas have already deposited the amount in an escrow account with the Delhi High Court.

The dispute has been a sore point and is also said to be one of the factors that eventually led to Mistry being voted out, said sources. Representatives of Tata Trust are keen on a resolution as it has dented the groups reputation. After his ouster, Mistry, in a letter to the directors of Tata Sons, had said that the board was informed about the groups decisions on the issue.

When contacted, a Tata Sons spokesperson said: The matter is subjudice. We have no comments to offer.

The RBI did not offer comments for the story

The consent decree has been adopted in the past where parties have consented together to get a matter disposed of in a court of law. Under the process the court is requested to pass the order so that regulatory impediment is removed. The Companies Act of 2013 allows options  financial instruments based on future prices and terms for closures  to be legally enforceable. In case of issues not retrospectively covered, court direction can be sought where the RBI is directed by the court to grant approval. In such cases reasons are offered, which in this case, will be the award from the International Court of Arbitration, London.

Under the Companies Act there have been instances of buyback of shares where the law says that companies cannot buy back in excess of 25% of its paid-up capital. Courts have given direction to buy back even 30% or 40% of the equity at a value agreed by both parties, said Suhas Tuljapurkar, managing partner of Legasis Partners and founder director of Legasis Services.

The government also cannot intervene in the issue since it is a dispute involving two private entities. It could also prompt the Japanese company to claim damages from the government on grounds of expropriation of its investments. That is something the government will want to avoid as it is already handling similar claims related to 2G licences, said another legal head who asked not to be named.

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The police arrested the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman, Rakesh K Paul, for alleged corruption and malpractices in recruitment for state government jobs, on Friday.

Police were led to Paul through Nabakanta Patir, an assistant engineer of eastern Assams Dibrugarh Development Authority, who was caught accepting a bribe from a private dental surgeon on October 28.

Police said the surgeon had paid Patir Rs 10 lakh for one of the 60 posts of dental surgeon under the 2016 APSC recruitment examination.

We arrested Paul on the basis of evidence collected over the past week, said Gautam Borah, Dibrugarh superintendent of police.

The 59-year-old, who is due for retirement in November 2019, was made a member of the APSC in 2008 before being elevated as chairman in December 2013.

A Right to Information application in June revealed that the former Tarun Gogoi government had tweaked the rules to elevate Paul as head of APSC. A case was filed in the Gauhati high court, which in October ordered the CBI to investigate the officials assets.

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Shashi Tharoor would like the British to apologise for 200 years of colonial rule. He believes that British Prime Minister Theresa May must visit Jallianwala Bagh and go down on her knees and express remorse for the colonial exploitation of India.

Tharoors demand for an apology and reparations, first made in the course of an Oxford Union debate a year ago, won him thunderous applause. A YouTube video went viral and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Congress MP on his return home.

Nobody disagrees with Tharoor; the British have much to be sorry for  from the economic ruin of indigenous weavers to the death of four million people in the Bengal famine. But, if we are to talk about apologies with any degree of honesty, then theres plenty to be remorseful about in post-Independent India. Its not a foreign colonial power, but our own governments that also owe us a range of apologies.

Read | Court did injustice to me, will approach HC: Zakia Jafri on Gulberg verdict

Nobody is owed an apology more than the Dalits and the women of this country. But who would issue this apology, when all of society has colluded  and still does  in their systemic deprivation?

So, leaving that #1 apology aside, what do our own governments have to be sorry about?

The first is every communal riot from Nellie to Mumbai and Gujarat to Delhi. It doesnt matter which government was in power where the riot occurred. If there was a breach in law and order, then it is incumbent upon the government in charge to beg for forgiveness from not only every family that lost a loved one, but every citizen who lived through it.

The second would be the Emergency. Has the Congress ever apologised? To my mind, the suspension of democracy, along with such human rights violations as forcible sterilisations, deserves a public mea culpa.

Photos | Tears and sorrow: Aftermath of Gulberg massacre sentencing

Every state government that mutely witnesses farmer suicide caused by agrarian distress needs to apologise for a failure of policy and vision that has allowed this tragedy to continue year after year.

Add to this list, fake encounters and disappearances that strike against democracy and the idea of the civilised world, innocent till proven guilty. It doesnt matter if these encounters by and large are bolstered by public support, any government that believes in rule of law must act against them.

Governments are appointed by us and are, as a consequence, accountable to us. The term public servant has gone out of vogue but its always useful to remember that the people elected by us are answerable to us; they are not the ruling class. If our governments should fail either through policy or through action then we as the citizens who put them in charge, are owed an apology.

Read | 1984 the darkest chapter, time for Punjab to move forward: Amarinder

An apology is also the crucial first step towards healing and reconciliation. You cannot move forward unless there is an expression of regret. In South Africa, FW de Klerk apologised for apartheid. Successive German heads of state have expressed remorse for the Holocaust. Perhaps the most moving was the sight of the then chancellor Willy Brandt falling, wordlessly, to his knees on a state visit to Poland in 1970.

In India, part of the problem with any discussion on communal riots is the inevitable follow up question: But what about. Whether it is Narendra Modi under whose watch the 2002 riots took place in Gujarat or the Gandhi-led Congress for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, there has never been a heart-felt expression of regret.

An apology for a wrong committed is simply the right thing to do. When Justin Trudeau apologised before his Parliament for the Komagatu Maru incident of 1914 when a ship carrying mostly Sikh passengers was denied entry into Canada and forced to return to British India where many met with a violent end, we in India applauded the gesture.

Read | SAD activists in Phagwara burn effigies of Cong leaders over anti-Sikh riots

People who are not responsible today for the wrongs done by their forbearers in the past era apologise nonetheless to people who are not the ones to whom wrong was done, Tharoor told the PTI. A good place to start would be at home.

namita.bhandare@gmail.com

Twitter:@namitabhandare

The views expressed are personal

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The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Friday approached the Delhi Police Commissioner asking him to provide security cover to the three JNU students who were involved in a fight with another student, Najeeb Ahmed, who has since gone missing.

We the ABVP-JNU demand from police that the three JNU students -- Vikrant, Sunil and Ankit, who are victims of the violence occurring the night of October 14, be provided with efficient security at the earliest, a memorandum submitted to the police commissioner read.

The RSS-affiliated ABVP said in the memo that the three students are being threatened by the JNU Students Union (JNUSU)-- composed of a Left party alliance -- and demanded that two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, be interrogated as they may be involved in Ahmeds disappearance.

Khalid and Bhattacharya are two of the 19 students against whom Jawaharlal Nehru University authorities (JNU) had taken action for indiscipline after the February 9 incident during which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. Both the students challenged the punishments, which included rustication and withdrawal of hostel facilities, in court.

The ABVP also asked the police to probe Ahmeds room-mate Mohd. Qasims role and said that he has been inconsistent in his depositions.

An eyewitness to the whole affair on the intervening night of October 14 and 15, Qasim maintained that it was not a brawl but a mob assault on Ahmed by the three ABVP students, including others. A letter which was purportedly written by Qasim -- requesting the Warden of Mahi-Mandvi hostel to evict Ahmed -- has since been denied by him.

The first letter was written by a student of the same hostel, who was Election Committee (EC) member during last months elections. He wrote the letter while I was trying to assuage the crowd inside the Wardens office that night. My only priority was the safety of Najeeb as the mob was baying for his blood, Qasim had earlier told IANS.

Another letter -- denouncing the previous one as a trickery played against him-- was then written by Qasim on October 18 which described Ahmed as a politically naive and humble person and said that he never felt any threat from him.

The ABVP has requested the police to thoroughly search the JNU campus also, saying that Ahmed might be taken hostage inside the campus itself by the radical organisations in the campus.

Ahmed, an M.Sc Biotechnology student, went missing on the night of October 14-15 after being beaten up by a mob of around 20 students alleged to be from the ABVP.

The memorandum was submitted to the police commissioner by ABVP, JNU, President Alok Kumar Singh along with other members.
With air quality in the Capital still in the severe zone, accompanied by the worst smog the city has witnessed in nearly two decades, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal admitted on Friday that pollution was a serious issue and identified three principal causes.

But he didnt offer any solution, like he did at last years Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

Experts said knowing a problem does not mean solving it.

Kejriwal told India Today TV that the main reasons for the poor air quality were crop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, road dust and vehicular pollution.

Crop burning has emerged as the primary reason. Dust pollution is another main factor, followed by vehicular emission, Kejriwal said.

But a slew of measures promised by the AAP government  ranging from simultaneous vacuum cleaning and water sprinkling of roads to installing outdoor air purifiers and mist machines at five busy junctions  have not been implemented, even though the government had months to prepare for winter pollution. None of these measures, in any case, are regarded as viable long-term options.

The Delhi government had a lead time of one year to prepare for winter pollution and carry forward the gains from last year when action on trucks, diesel cars, penalty on waste and construction, along with the odd-even scheme made a small dent to pull back peak pollution. But instead of building on the momentum, the government slowed down post-winter, Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (operations) at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) told Hindustan Times.

Read | Enforcement of rules on air pollution weak in NCR, says environment ministry

People are suffering. There has been a lot of talk. It is now time for action!

By 9pm on Friday, 10 of the 17 places in Delhi where air quality is measured by the Hindustan Times Air Quality Index monitor were in the dangerous deep-red zone, with the PM 2.5 particulate matter in Connaught Place more than 10 times the prescribed limit of 60 umg/m3.

Doctors said a spike in patients with respiratory disorders continues across the city.

There have been a large number of people in our pulmonary out-patient department with cough and breathlessness, without previous history of respiratory illness, said professor GC Khilnani of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Read | Terrible future awaits children: NGT slams Centre, Delhi govt over air pollution

The only AAP government measure that did take off  once in January and once in April  was the 15-day odd-even road rationing policy. However, once that did not make a big enough impact on pollution, the state government pulled back.

Measures promised by the Centre and its pollution control boards, have not taken off either. Stubble burning continues unabated and Delhi is still being used as a thoroughfare by trucks.

A review meeting of environment secretaries of NCR states on Friday offered nothing but tokenism, with Union environment secretary AN Jha asking states to implement measures to tackle pollution, including spread of fly ash from Delhis Badarpur plant and shutting down brick kilns.

The National Green Tribunal pulled up the Delhi government for not enforcing its earlier order to de-register diesel vehicles that are more than 10 years old.

Read | MCD schools to remain shut on Saturday as Delhi chokes on air pollution

With every winter, conditions in Delhi are getting worse. The need of the hour is that the agencies work together in tackling the problem, and get people to collaborate, before the situation becomes a health emergency. Plans on paper will not help, unless they are implemented, said Dr Padnabhan Gowda, principal researcher, health and environment policy, IIT-Delhi.

People are now left to deal with this situation on their own.

Check the air quality in your city using HTs air quality index
As part of the Centres flagship smart city programme, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plans to run mini- buses and battery-operated rickshaws to solve the issue of last-mile connectivity and traffic congestion.

These services will connect railway-metro stations and bus terminals with offices, commercial complexes and government residential colonies in and around New Delhi area.

The council will seek the road transport ministrys (MoRT) help to implement the project. If required, funds may be provided by the ministry, said a source.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had recently directed the Delhi government to introduce destination buses to improve air quality in the capital.

A senior official of the council said the proposal to operate buses and environment friendly electric rickshaws was under consideration.

The mini-buses and battery-operated rickshaws will be along the lines of metro feeder buses. However, the rickshaws will be different from e-rickshaws already running on city roads in terms of speed and safety features, he said. A feasibility report will be prepared and the council will identify routes, said the official.

Read: Decongesting Connaught Place and Khan Market is not a cakewalk

Apart from commercial hub Connaught Place, the NDMC area has government office complexes such as Central Secretariat, Shastri Bhawan, and Krishi Bhawan.

Pick-up and drop points will be created at New Delhi railway station, Shivaji Bridge, Tilak Bridge, and Sarojini Nagar station. The civic body plans to provide connectivity from parking lots to nearby markets.

The NDMC area, which houses bungalows of ministers, politicians and bureaucrats, was included in the first list of 20 urban centres to be developed under he smart city programme released in January.

The motive is just to control pollution and traffic on roads for which the council may rope in a concessionaire or it may run the services itself. The public-private-partnership model is being explored. But nothing has been finalised yet, said the spokesperson of the NDMC.

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More than 1,700 primary schools under three municipal corporations in Delhi have been ordered to shut down on Saturday as the national capital battles severe air pollution, an official said on Friday.

The order for closure is only for a day as of now. As per the situation, we may decide to close them later as well, Leader of Opposition in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Subhash Arya said.

About 10 lakh students are enrolled in the schools administered by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Nouth Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

The decision was taken today at a meeting held in the wake of severe pollution Delhiites are reeling under. And, since the smog is worse during the morning, it was decided to close the schools, said Arya, also the former mayor of south Delhi.

Read: Air pollution continues to be severe, Delhi gets no respite

Air quality in Delhi continued to be rated as severe by monitoring systems in most parts of the city on Friday.

Track pollution levels in your city with this real-time air quality map:

The latest pollution crisis began in the aftermath of the celebrations last Sunday night for Diwali when millions of firecrackers were set off, leaving Delhi blanketed in smog.

The reading for pollutants in the atmosphere breached the 1,000 microgram mark for the first time in one neighbourhood in south Delhi -- 10 times the World Health Organizations recommended level.

A new study by UNICEF says some 300 million children live with outdoor air so polluted it can cause serious physical damage, with the situation most acute in South Asia.

On Friday, the environment ministry called a meeting with officials of neighbouring states to discuss ways to combat pollution.

In Delhis satellite city of Gurgaon, some schools remained closed on Friday, while others cancelled physical education classes and outdoor activities.

With inputs from AFP
Air quality in Delhi continued to be rated as severe by monitoring systems in most parts of the city on Friday.

Ayanagar, Dhirpur and Delhi University stations recorded very poor on the air quality index (AQI), while the remaining showed severe, according to SAFAR monitoring.

Read | Delhis smog an indication that the worst is yet to come

Air quality is classified as very poor if the AQI ranges from 301 to 400 and severe if it is between 400 and 500. Overall, the average AQI in the Capital was over 400.

If it were in China, three consecutive days of severe air quality would result in a red alert, during which drastic measures such as shutting down of schools and offices, closing down industries and power plants and rationing of vehicles on roads are implemented.

Following a direction from the National Green Tribunal, the Delhi government will submit a roadmap for short- and long-term measures to check pollution on Friday.

Track pollution levels in your city with this real-time air quality map:

The Union environment ministry has also scheduled a meeting of environment secretaries of the northern states on the issue of crop residue burning, which has emerged as one of the major reasons for increasing pollution in Delhi, besides Punjab and Haryana.

Hindustan Timess real-time air quality monitoring also show severe AQI at Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar, RK Puram. All stations had the maximum AQI of 500 on Friday morning.

Read | Severe air prompts DM to look at shutting schools

AQI is an index to depict how clean or polluted the air is in an area. There are six AQI categories, namely Good, Satisfactory, Moderate, Poor, Very Poor and Severe, based on the concentration of eight pollutants  PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3 and Pb. Based on the measured ambient concentrations of these pollutants, a sub-index is calculated for each pollutant and the worst sub-index reflects the overall AQI.

Very poor air triggers a health alert and everyone may experience adverse health effects to some degree. In such a situation, it is advised to avoid outdoor activity and use protective masks. Poor air quality can cause health troubles to people with heart or lung problems, and senior citizens and children are advised to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

Read | Indias air quality among worlds worst over Diwali weekend: Report

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Ram Agarwal woke up on Thursday morning and drove all the way from Gurgaon to Khan Market to get hold of a high quality mask to breathe easy.

He was not alone at the Being Nirvana (Vogomask) outlet in Khan Market. The store manager, Manish, had to face an irate group of people because the store ran out of stock. About 100 masks were sold within 10 minutes at the outlet.

Delhi is experiencing its worst smog in 17 years due to which air purifiers and masks have seen an uptick in sales post Diwali. It is the same trend every year. People become aware during the post-Diwali period when air quality is at its worst, Manish said adding that sales of masks go up from about 20 to 300 per day post Diwali.

India has over 100 air product companies. Online retailer Snapdeal spokesperson said, Over the last two years, we have seen a rise in the sale of air purifiers and masks, with year on year increase on the quantities sold.

This year, even before the onset of Diwali, the concerns about winter pollution were reflected in the heavy purchase of air purifiers, with Delhi residents being among the top buyers. Between pre-Diwali and post-Diwali, we have already seen a seven-fold increase in the number of air purifiers and masks sold on Snapdeal, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the domestic e-commerce is witnessing a sharp rise in sale of PM 2.5 Micron masks. Just in the last month, this product has registered a 240% hike in sales. Sales of premium and stylised PM 0.3 micron masks are also on the rise on Snapdeal.

Jeff-Bezos-owned Amazons India division also said that they have witnessed a three-fold increase in unit sales of air purifiers in October 2016 as compared to the previous month and four-fold increase in unit sales of air purifiers against October 2015.

Read: Delhis smog an indication that the worst is yet to come

About 50% of our orders are coming from customers belonging to cities like Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore apart from other metros, a company spokesperson said.

However, companies and industry experts believe that air purifiers have still some way to go before the product, which comes under the category of preventive health care, goes mainstream.

The Indian air pollution combating consumer durables market, according to independent studies is worth about Rs 500 crore, and we are slowly seeing a rise, Jayati Singh Chakraborti, business head and director marketing of Air division of Philips Personal Health.

She also said that the Indian air purifier market can be divided into three categories  residential, industry and institutional with each having a share of 30%, 20% and 50% share in the category. She noted that prices remain a constraint for the industry.

Buying behaviour will change towards such products once they feel and see the effects of pollution, Singh said.

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The Madhya Pradesh education department has directed model schools across the state to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, in a move to provide security for students and teachers within the school, an official said on Tuesday.

The directive was issued a couple of days back and the process of installing CCTV cameras in the schools has already started, said Anurag Jaiswal, Indore district education officer.

It is a welcoming step taken to enhance security in model schools for both the students and teachers.

Cameras will be placed as per principals requirement in the schools, he told Hindustan Times.

Cameras will be placed in spots where there is constant movement of students such as outside classes and in corridors.

The control room for the cameras will be installed in the principals office, a circular uploaded on the departments website, said.

Constant monitoring will also instill a fear among students who bunk classes, said Jaiswal. Cameras will be placed in such a way that every activity of students will be recorded, forcing them to refrain from bunking.

Cameras will also help in the schools security at night.

Although the total number of cameras to be set up across the state is not known, Jaiswal said in Indore, cameras will be installed in four model schools.

Model schools are institutes of excellence run by the state government that have the best facilities and faculty.

Every block has a model school and Indore district has four such blocks  Indore, Mhow, Depalpur and Sanwer, Jaiswal said.

The expenditure for installing of cameras will be paid out of the model school grant provided by the state government.

Close-up views

Cameras will be placed in spots where there is constant movement of students  outside classes and on corridors

The control room for the cameras will be installed in the principals office

Constant monitoring will also instill a fear among students who bunk classes
The results of Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) Non-Technical Popular Category (NTPC) examination 2016 have been further delayed and efforts are being made to declare the results by end of November.

Talking to Hindustan Times, a railway ministry source said on Friday, Around 57 lakh candidates have taken the examination and so a large volume of data has to be processed. The process of scrutiny of results is on and best efforts are being made to declare the results by the end of this month.

The source further said that due diligence is being exercised in the scrutiny of results to avoid mistakes.

The board will conduct a second stage computer-based test (CBT) for various NTPC (graduate) category after the results are announced.

Only those candidates who have cleared the first stage of the exam, which were held between March and May, will be called for the second stage of the exam. The number of candidates called for the second stage will be 15 times the number of vacancies.

Read more: TSPSC Group-II services exam 2016 admit card released

The online written exams to fill 18,252 vacancies in various technical and non-technical posts of RRB were held across the country between March-May. About 92 lakh aspirants applied for the NTPC exam and about 57 lakh finally took the paper.

The advertisement (CEN 03/2015) regarding the exam, published in December 2015, sought to recruit people for various posts, including assistant station master, clerk, goods guard, typist, apprentice and junior accounts assistant.

Read more: SSC CGLE 2017: Notification regarding date for reckoning of age calculation

Note: Candidates should keep visiting RRBs official websites for the latest updates.

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Ace filmmaker Quentin Tarantino says he is planning to retire after his tenth feature film.

Tarantino, who has directed and written eight films, said he feels content with his career. He also described the trust he has with his own artistic process, stating that he finds pleasure in creating projects from scratch and watching them develop, reports variety.com.

There is this incredible satisfaction for me to think back, to what is usually only two years ago and to think that there was a moment in time where me and a pen were sitting at a table in front of a blank piece of paper. Its very gratifying for me, Tarantino said.

Towards the end of The Creativity Conference in San Diego on Thursday, Tarantino shared that he plans to retire after his tenth feature film.

Though the end of his filmmaking career is nigh, Tarantino hopes that he will leave a lasting impression in cinema for future generations.

At the end of the day, if youre going to get right down to it  the way I define success is when Im finished with the career, and Im considered one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. That would be successful. And going further, a great artist, not just filmmaker, the Kill Bill filmmaker said.

He has previously teased that his next film could be a 1930s gangster movie set in Australia. But hes also working on an undefined project revolving around his fascination with the year 1970.

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The first full trailer for offbeat musical La La Land brings with it an opportunity to sample the film that has had the festival circuit buzzing.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as an actress struggling to get into the movies and a jazz pianist with employment troubles.

Watch the trailer below:

The pair meet thanks to a succession of chance encounters and their romance and career trajectories both appear set to take off.

JK Simmons returns from director Damien Chazelles previous film, the award-winning Whiplash, and is joined among the supporting cast by Sonoya Mizuno, Finn Wittrock, Rosemarie DeWitt and musician John Legend.

Debuting at the Venice film festival in August 2016, La La Land is an early favourite for awards season success, having scored a host of positive reviews from its festival circuit tour and won accolades from Venice, Toronto, the Hamptons, and the Hollywood Film Awards.

A North American general release is set for December 16 with select territories receiving it before then -- Singapore, the Philippines and Belgium among them -- and a gradual international rollout following throughout January.

A teaser trailer had been released in August.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Eleven staff members of a boarding school for tribal children in Maharashtra were arrested Thursday night for allegedly raping a 10-year-old student amid suspicions that the accused might have sexually abused 10 other girls for weeks.

The headmaster of the school in the states Buldhana district is among those arrested under Indias anti-child sexual abuse law as it is alleged he didnt act after the victim complained to him.

Police said the alleged crime came to light after the tribal girl went home for Diwali and complained of stomach pain  which was confirmed as a pregnancy by the authorities.

The headmaster has been arrested as under the law, he should have reported the matter to the police after the victim informed him, Buldhana superintendent of police Sanjaykumar Baviskar told HT.

A sweeper in the school  who also speaks the local language of Pardhi and is a former student  is the main accused. Police have formed a special investigation team.

Police have taken the victim for a medical test. Once medical tests are done, a woman IPS officer will question girl to know what has actually happened, Baviskar added. The 11 arrested include a trustee.

The case is filed under section 376 of the Indian Penal code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The school  known locally as an ashramshala  is among 1,000 similar schools across the state, run either directly by the state government or by trusts supported financially by the government. Some 445,000 students are studying in these ashramshalas, around 200,000 of them are girls.

The case has already kicked off political row. The opposition Nationalist Congress Party has backed allegations that there are 10 other girls who were raped in the school.

After one girl who got pregnant raised her voice, other girls came forward. Initially, the police were unwilling to file a complaint but after political intervention, a case has been registered, said NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik.

He demanded the resignation of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on moral grounds and said all students, including boys and girls studying at ashramshalas across the state, must be taken for medical tests. With this, we will come to know how many students are facing such sexual assaults so that the culprits can be punished, Malik told reporters.

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Pakistan has violated ceasefire 99 times along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, after Indias surgical strike last month on terrorist launch pads.

Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir 99 times after the surgical strike by Indian Army troops on terror launch pads in PoK, a senior Army officer on Friday.

Of those, the November 1 shelling had the most casualties with eight civilians, including two children and four women, killed and 22 others injured along five sectors of J-K.

India responded by destroying 14 Pakistani posts. Two Pakistan troopers died during the operation.

In total 18 people, including 12 civilians, were killed and more than 83 suffered injuries in the shellings and firings in the ceasefire violations till now.

The J-K government had closed over 400 schools along the border, LoC in Jammu region in wake of the ongoing heavy cross-border firing.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had on Wednesday asked the army personnel posted along the Line of Control to remain alert and give a befitting response to any misadventure from across the border.

While complimenting their valour and fortitude, which Parrikar said was the entire nations pride, he also impressed upon the soldiers to remain in a very high state of alert to give a befitting response to any misadventure from across, the officer said.
In an unprecedented move, the Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to conduct board examinations for class 10 and 12 twice  giving students a choice to appear for the crucial exams either in November or March.

Following resistance from a section of students complaining about non-completion of the syllabus, the states Board of School Education (BOSE) announced on Friday that there will be an option to appear for the exams in March.

As per the current schedule, the board exams are due in less than two weeks in Kashmir.

Its an unprecedented situation, it needed an unprecedented solution, education minister Naeem Akhtar told Hindustan Times.

There were two opinions. Some students wanted to give exams in November, some wanted the exams to be postponed as they had not completed the syllabus, so now we have left the decision to the children to decide according to their interest, Akhtar said.

However, authorities made it clear that concessions offered to those appearing for the exams in November will not be offered to the March examinees.

Read | J-K board exams will be only for 50% syllabus

He added that candidates belonging to Gurez, Tandgar and Tehsil Keran and Machil divisions, both regular and private, shall not be eligible for the proposed March 2017 examinations.

The Valley has been caught in a disruptive limbo since July when protests erupted after the death of militant commander, Burhan Wani. The Hizbul Mujahideen commander, considered a hero among some locals, was killed in an encounter with security forces. As unrest grew, a curfew was imposed in Kashmir -- the longest continuous lockdown in the Valley -- and was coupled with a separatists called shutdown. Normal life has been out of gear for the past four months, during which more than 80 people have died and thousands have been injured. More than 25 schools were also burnt in the ensuing chaos.

Also read | Education in Kashmir faces another challenge: Almost 20 schools burnt in unrest

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Divided we fall, former chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy had warned three years ago when the state was set to be bifurcated.

The gentleman had warned that there would be massive flight of capital if the combined state of AP was divided, recalled Telangana Industries and Information Technology minister K T Rama Rao.

But we have proved him wrong, he claimed.

Both the Telugu states have jointly topped World Banks Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings, announced by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) two days back.

Read: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana top ease of doing business ranking, Gujarat slips

With 98.78% score, they pushed last years topper Gujarat (98.21%) to the third position.

According to Rao, Telangana received 2,550 investment proposals worth Rs 44,791 crore in the last two and a half years, providing direct employment to 1.61 lakh people and indirect employment to over five lakh.

He said 60% of these proposals have materialised and industries have commenced their operations.

Andhra Pradesh, too, has claimed to have got 11,000 investment proposals worth Rs 4.5 lakh crore, promising seven lakh jobs.

A top government official said that though AP had lost the advantage of industrially-developed Hyderabad to Telangana, efforts are being made to gain lost ground and hoped to attract more investments at the January 2017 CII summit.

The chief ministers of the two states have been touring various countries showcasing their advantages besides formulating new industrial policies decked with incentives.

Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao has visited Singapore while his son K T Rama Rao went to Malaysia, Taiwan and United States whereas AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu too toured Singapore, Malaysia, as well as Dubai, China, Turkey and Russia.

While the Telangana government came out with the TS-iPASS, an online portal for granting clearances based on self-certification by entrepreneurs, Andhra Pradesh established a single-desk portal.

Applicants who dont get clearance within a certain periodtwo weeks in Telangana and three weeks in APare deemed to have got the same after the set time.

However, both the states have their limitations as well as advantages.

With the second longest coastline in the country, Andhra Pradesh can attract investments in LNG terminals, petro-chemical complexes, fertiliser, steel and cement industries, an industry analyst said.

Besides, Rayalaseema region has huge iron ore reserves, he said, but noted that the climate was unfavourable for hardware industry.

Telangana can get investments in information technology and pharmaceuticals, besides cement industries in places like Nalgonda, which have high limestone reserves, he said.

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Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal admitted on Friday that air pollution in the city had spiked but appeared reluctant to clamp a ban on firecrackers seen as responsible for smog and haze blanketing the city.

Speaking to India Today, Kejriwal blamed stubble burning as the biggest reason for increasing pollution across the city and batted for technological solutions to dissuade farmers from carrying out the environmentally damaging exercise.

Read | Delhis smog an indication that the worst is yet to come

Delhi pollution cannot be seen in isolation. The government has to give subsidy for alternative technology to stubble burning, Kejriwal told India Today.

But the chief minister appeared reluctant to blame firecrackers for the smog engulfing Delhi that has been described as the worst in 17 years and triggered a health crisis across the city.

Diwali can affect one or two nights. If people want to voluntarily shun crackers, they can do it. This year, fireworks were 40% less, Kejriwal said.

Read | Paddy stubble burning: As polls near, Punjab govt goes easy on farmers

As he spoke on Friday morning, HTs air-quality index showed the maximum severe warning at 11 different spots in the city  a situation that holds out the risk of asthma, health disease, stroke and even cancer for Delhis 17 million residents.

Kejriwal identified three causes for the spiking pollution: Stubble burning, dust and vehicular exhaust. The government has already unveiled plans to install giant outdoor air purifiers at key intersections and regularly vacuum clean streets to improve the citys air, among the worst in the world.

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The police are on the lookout for two more accused in the alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl at a boarding school for tribal students in Buldhana area of northern Maharashtra, state director general of police Satish Mathur said on Friday.

So far, the police have arrested 11 people in the case where a sweeper who works in the school  locally called ashramshala  is the main accused. The police are verifying whether more students of the institution were sexually assaulted, the DGP told a media conference in Mumbai.

Suspicions that ten more students of the ashramshala were being raped for weeks have turned the case into a political row as well.

A Special Investigation Team under an SP-rank officer is investigating the case, which has been registered under the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Read | 10-year-old tribal girl pregnant after being raped for weeks in Maharashtra school

One accused, who lives in the school campus, has played an active role in the crime. The other accused were aware about the incident, but they did not inform the police, Mathur said.

The incident came to light this week after a local sarpanch informed the police. During subsequent police verification at the ashramshala, a student came forward, alleging sexual harassment.

Police said on Thursday that the victim went home for Diwali and complained of stomach pain, which authorities confirmed as pregnancy.

The Buldhana ashramshala is among 1,000 similar schools across the state, run either directly by the state government or by trusts supported it supports financially. Together, these institutions have 445,000 students, 200,000 of them girls.
Editors Guild of India said on Friday that the information and broadcasting ministrys decision to take off air news channel NDTV India for a day should be rescinded.

In statement issued in Delhi, the guild said the move by the government is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency.

On Thursday, the ministry had issued orders barring the channel from airing for a day on November 9. An inter ministerial committee found the channel guilty of violating the broadcast norms and relayed information that could affect national security.

The guild has however criticised the move and said there are legal provisions to deal with at irresponsible coverage.

The Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) has also asked NDTV to submit its report to it. BEAs NK Singh told HT that it would assess the content put out by the channel and other media organisations before coming to a conclusion.

Below is the full text of the statement
Slamming the Congress for playing politics over an ex-soldiers suicide, finance minister Arun Jaitley blamed on Friday administrative lapses on the part of bank for not remitting the entitled pension after he was granted OROP.

On minister of state for external affairs VK Singh branding the deceased as a Congress worker, he said all leaders must be sensitive to the suicide.

Taking Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi head-on, he said no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially by a party whose fortune is already sinking.

The previous UPA government, he said, had not taken any meaningful step towards implementing one-rank-one-pension (OROP) for defence personnel in its 10 years of rule as was evident from a meagre Rs 500 crore allocation it made for the purpose.

Read: HT Explains: What is OROP and why are veterans still unhappy

The government sympathises with the defence personnel who committed suicide, but there was not a lapse that OROP was not granted to him, he clarified.

It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted. It was not a lapse that there was some exception made in his favour. Obviously, communication with the bank, there seems to be some gap in that and therefore, he was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part of the service which he was legitimately entitled to, Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi.

Asked about comments by VK Singh, he said, Everybody has to be sensitive... we must appreciate the sensitivity of the person who under stress has committed suicide. I do sympathise with him and all our comments have to be sensitive on this issue.

Critical of Gandhi for playing politics over the suicide, he said, It is equally important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy of an individual into a political gain for a party whose fortunes are otherwise sinking.

He said further: It doesnt behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals. A more responsible behaviour is expected of them.

The government, he said, fully sympathises with the defence personnel and his family who committed suicide.

For 10 years, OROP was not implemented by the Congress, Jaitley said.

So the sympathy that has arisen today is politically motivated and the NDA is the first government which has not only accepted OROP demand, but implemented it, he said.

Read: OROP protests on: Leaders throng ex-soldiers village, Rahul detained again

Taking his point forward, the finance minister said Rs 1,000 crore has been budgeted for pension under OROP. He gave an assurance that the payments are already reaching the defence personnel.

It is a very sensitive case because the government has allocated all the money. Now obviously, (as for) the communication at the bank level, there seems to have been some problem in calculating his entire service, which was divided into two parts. This was a procedural problem which could have been resolved at the level of the bank or the department dealing with it, Jaitley said.

The finance minister made a reference to efforts to create meaningless conflict over OROP applicable on defence services.

This OROP has remained a demand of retired defence personnel for decades. And during 10 years of the UPA government from 2004 to 2014, there was this demand but it has not taken any meaningful step during these years, he said.

It was only during the Lok Sabha elections in April that they said a committee will be set up to work out the functional modalities of OROP, Jaitley added.

If in April 2014, you are setting up a committee, that shows its only for electoral benefits, he said further.

He questioned the seriousness of the leaders of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, wondering why they did not give even Re 1 for OROP for these 10 years.

He spoke of the NDA starting the discussions once it came to power. A Parliamentary Committee report, he said, had assessed around Rs 1,200 crore to be the cost to the exchequer, but on further examination, it turned out to be a few more thousand crores.

We had worked out a few options and at the end, the government accepted the demand of OROP and decided that the fitment of the pension amount will be reviewed after every five years (as against) 10 years in case of government employees, he disclosed.

Read: PM Modi is lying about OROP, its just enhanced pension: Rahul Gandhi

Referring to challenges in implementation of OROP in the last few moths, he said the pension is being transferred through State Bank of India and each retired defence personnel is getting pension based on this revised formulation.

The Justice Reddy Committee was set up to resolve issues faced by some people, Jaitley said, adding that the panel gave the report last week.

The government is examining it, and discrepancies will be resolved in the next two months, the finance minister promised.

According to Jaitley, the issues arose because there was change in address, some were not traceable or some have calculation error. He acknowledged calculation errors at the end of the bank in some cases.

When you have to pay in lakhs, it is natural that you will have such errors. Hence, a machinery is there to resolve this problem, he said, adding that the Congress leaders did not show any sympathy when they were in power.
Remember that energetic little boy who led his grandfather, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi -- revered as Mahatma Gandhi worldwide -- holding his stick on the beaches of Gujarats Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930?

That picture has been etched in public memory for over eight decades and even immortalised in memorials on the Salt Satyagraha at Mumbais Juhu Beach and several other parts of the country.

Today, that small boy -- Kanu Ramdas Gandhi -- is a ripe old 87, an ex-NASA scientist, and lies critical in a charitable hospital here, with little monetary resources and virtually nobody to care for him.

Ahmedabad-based Dhimant Badhia, an old friend and grandson of a close associate of Gandhi, is arranging for small monetary help for the ailing Kanu, and recently donated Rs 21,000 ($315) from his personal resources.

The Radhakrishna Temple is rendering great service. They got him admitted to the Shiv Jyoti Hospital nearby and are taking care of his 90-year old wife, Shivalaxmi Kanu Gandhi, who is practically deaf and suffers from other old age-related problems, Badhia told IANS.

The going has not been good for the elderly childless Gandhi couple since their return after a four-decade-long stay in the US in 2014, including Kanus career of over 25 years with NASA.

Handpicked by the then US Ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, for studies at the Massachusets Institute of Technology (in MIT), Kanu later worked with NASA and the US Defence Department on wing structures fighter aircraft, while Shivalaxmi was a professor and researcher at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.

Mahatma Gandhi with grandson Kanu on the beaches of Gujarats Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930. ( Vithalbhai Jhaveri/Dinodia Pho)

After returning to India, they kept moving from one place to another as they have no place of their own here. They lived for short spells in ashrams or inns, and at one point they were compelled to spend six months in New Delhis Guru Vishram Vruddha Ashram, Badhia said.

That experience was harrowing as the ashram, meant for mentally ill senior citizens, was located in an unsafe localilty, and the Gandhis had to hire private armed security guards against internal and external threats.

At that time, a Union minister got in touch with Kanu and made him speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The PM was most sympathetic and even assured help. But till date, we have not heard from either his office or the Gujarat government, rued Badhia, adding that no Gujarat leader or ministers have visited or enquired about Kanu.

The turning point came on his arrival at this famed diamond city of Surat in south Gujarat on October 22 when he suffered a cardiac arrest and a severe stroke which has left half his body paralysed.

Since that attack, he remains in coma and on life-support systems, with Shivalaxmi and an aide Rakesh, deployed by the temple authorities, beside him.

I cannot frequently travel from Ahmedabad to Surat due to old age. An ashram sevak, Rakesh, is deployed for round-the-clock services to look after Kanu, while the temple authorities care for Shivalaxmi, Badhia said.

Fortunately, Kanus very aged sister -- Usha Gokani from Mumbai -- regularly enquires after his health and another Bangalore-based sister, Sumitra Kulkarni, a former Rajya Sabha member, visited him recently.

They even offered to bear Kanus medical expenses but the temple authorities politely declined, saying they were repaying the debts of Mahatma Gandhis services to the nation, Badhia said.

Momentarily, he feels irked that the world-famous Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, which is splurging crores of rupees to prepare for its upcoming centenary next year; or scores of institutions set up by Mahatma Gandhi or named after him with huge funding from the government -- simply dont care for Gandhijis ideals or his descendents.

Badhia pointed out how the relief funds of the Prime Minister or Chief Minister are available for various purposes, but not for taking care of the descendents of the Father of Nation, especially those who are not affluent.

Incidentally, Badhia recalled how Kanu and Shivalaxmi always proudly referred to their marriage many decades ago which was arranged and solemnised in the US in the presence of the late Morarji Desai, later the Prime Minister of India.

On the immediate needs of the senior couple, Badhia said at this advanced age they need nothing but love, medical help and round-the-clock caring without having to bother about arranging finances.

Kanubhai is among the last few surviving links with Gandhijis famous stick and the epoch-making Salt Satyagraha. This is the least the nation and its leaders can do for him Badhia sighed.
India launched a scheme on Friday to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals.

The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)  popular referred to as I pledge for 9  was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat on June 9. It invites the private sector to provide free ante-natal services (ANC) on the 9th of every month on a voluntary basis to pregnant women, especially those living in under-served, semi-urban, poor and rural areas.

In his radio address, Modi appealed to doctors across India to contribute 12 days in a year to save Indias mothers and newborns.

We want this programme to turn into a movement. We have requested doctors in the private sector to visit public hospitals and provide free check up to pregnant women, said health minister JP Nadda.

In India, one pregnant woman dies every 12 minutes, with 45,000 dying each year. Of them, less than one in five (19.7%) undergo pre-natal health checks.

Read | Education is key to reducing child and maternal mortality rates

The aim of this scheme is to broaden the base of beneficiaries and providers. We dont just want to provide quantity healthcare, but also quality healthcare, said health secretary CK Mishra.

The response was positive. A text message sent by the federation of gynaecological and obstetrics societies of India (FOGSI) to all its members generated more than 15,000 volunteers.

Maternal and child deaths are very low in the private sector and we need to take this private force to the public sector. Our target is to provide at least five OBGYs in each of Indias 687 districts, said Dr Hrishikesh Pai, secretary general, FOGSI.

Women will be tested for anaemia, blood pressure, high blood sugar (gestational diabetes), hormonal disorders and other problems associated with pregnancy and provided free ultrasounds to track the health and development of the baby in the womb.

Read | Annual infant deaths in Mumbai decline, but more new mothers are dying

Under PMSMA, obstetricians-gynaecologists (OBGY) and physicians from the private sector and retired OBGY specialists are encouraged to provide voluntary services at designated public health facilities on the 9th of every month, said a health ministry official who did not want to be named. The objective is to provide specialist care to improve the health of pregnant women and their babies and lower Indias maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR).

The PMSMA guidelines have been shared with states/ UTs and most have started implementing this initiative with collaboration with organizations such as FOGSI, IMA Indian Medical Association), Rotary International and Lions Club, said the official. Doctors can volunteer services on the PMSMA portal.

Indias MMR of 167 (167 maternal deaths per 100,000 births) failed to meet its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of bringing down maternal deaths to under 140 by 2015.

Indias IMR stands at 40 deaths per 1,000 live births, against an MDG target of 29. Only 15 states and UTs  Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Manipur, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Punjab  have achieved an IMR of 29 and under.

Saving Indias mothers:

 Scheme applicable to women through their third to sixth month of pregnancy

 Women from semi urban, poor and rural areas will be given priority

 Free health check-up of all pregnant women on 9th of every month

 Free medical check-ups

 Tests at the government and private clinics and hospitals

 Women will be marked differently based on their health problems so that doctors can easily detect the problem.

Read | HT Special: Siblings Punjab and Haryana not in the pink of health

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A 24-year-old woman from Barcelona was evicted from her male friends apartment in an upscale society in Gurgaons Ardee city as they were both unmarried.

Carlota Burrel Mas, who was evicted, is interning with a human rights organisation in Delhi and wanted to stay with her friend for a few days before she found a place.

Burrel reached Gurgaon on October 8 and went to stay with her friend Mohit Agarwal, a consultant with an MNC, at Palm Grove Heights in Ardee city, sector 52.

The security guards did not allow Agarwal to take Burrel with him inside the gate.

The guards said society rules did not allow unmarried male and female to stay in the society. I asked them to show rules. They asked me to approach the security supervisor, Agarwal told HT.

Agarwal talked to estate manager Sanjay Chaudhary who invoked the same rules, reportedly framed by the Palm Grove Heights flat owners association.

Agarwal said the association representatives did not respond. Following heated arguments and several calls, Burrel was allowed on a written undertaking that she would be allowed to stay only for two days.

On October 10 evening, Burrel was forced to vacate the premises with her belongings, said Agarwal.

She is now staying at a guest house in Delhis Rama Krishna Ashram. This is my first visit to India. Eviction from my friends place was humiliating Burrel told HT.

Chaudhary said there were no terms disallowing stay of unmarried males and females together in the society. However, in an e-mail communication to Agarwals landlord, who requested to let Burrel stay, Chaudhary mentioned that as per rule of the society female guest (is) not permitted staying with unmarried boys. Please in future do not request this type (of) demand of your tenant.

Palm Grove Heights flat owners association president Amrik Singh Nambran, a retired IPS officer, refused to talk.

Another tenant Dimple Sukhwani, an HR recruiter, vacated her flat in the society on Thursday. She said her fiance was not allowed to meet her or stay with her in her flat. There is no such thing written in rent deeds or with the association. We were also harassed on electricity and other issues, Sukhwani alleged.

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The air force has launched an investigation into the circumstances under which an officer shot himself in the head after being allegedly ticked off by a three-star air marshal for poor shooting skills last week.

Wing Commander Rajesh Tiwari fared poorly during an impromptu test of firing skills conducted by Western Air Command chief Air Marshal SB Deo during an inspection visit to the Sirsa air force station, home to the air forces Sukhoi-30 fighters.

Officers and airmen had been randomly picked for the security drill on October 25, senior IAF officers said.

IAF sources said Tiwari was hurt and disturbed about being admonished in the presence of officers and airmen. He was found dead in his official vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head the next day.

A court of inquiry was instituted into the death, IAF sources said, even as the circumstances leading to Tiwaris alleged suicide, and whether Deos observations on his shooting skills triggered it, became the talking point in Indian Air Force (IAF) circles.

Deo, an accomplished fighter pilot, is known to be a hard task master but is regarded as impeccably professional, the officers HT spoke to said.

Speaking to HT, Deo said he hadnt done anything wrong and high shooting standards were the services requirement and not his own.

As a fighter pilot, I am supposed to be aggressive but there was no aggression that day, Deo said, adding the IAF probe would find out the truth.

But you are required to fire properly. I gave him tips on firing and asked him to practice with Garud commandos, he said, referring to the IAFs elite commando unit.

Security has been scaled up at air bases following a deadly militant attack on an air station in Pathankot in January, and such drills are now conducted frequently at different military bases.

Tiwaris father-in-law CS Mishra told HT the family could speak on the matter at a later stage if it saw it necessary.

We are still grieving and tied up with rituals. My daughter is not in a frame of mind to speak about it right now, he said.

Senior IAF officers said there were no major observations by Deo on the security drill. The officers said the overall performance of the team led by Tiwari was good but he needed to improve his standards and was told to do so.

They said there was no singling out of Tiwari and three officers were asked to improve practical firing, with one of them being Deos own staff officer.

Deo too stressed Tiwari wasnt admonished by any stretch of imagination and was only asked to pull up his socks.
India is looking at a special visa facilitation arrangement with the UK, that would help Indian students and businessmen among others, during the visit of Prime Minister Theresa May to India from November 6 to 8.

Though the UK has conveyed the visa-rule changes are not aimed at India, sources said within that caveat measures can be taken which would help Indian visa applicants who dont come under the immigration category.

Indian students in the UK have halved from about 40,000 to 20,000 in the last five years. Indian officials said various measures have led to this fall in numbers.

For example, as home secretary, May wound up the Tier 1 post-study visa scheme for students. This visa had enabled foreign students at British universities could work in the country for two years after the completion of their studies.

We have raised our concerns on the difficulties being faced by Indian students with the UK side. We expect mobility issues to be raised during the visit, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday.

The visa rules have also affected other categories. Chefs at curry houses are among them, and most of these chefs go from South Asian countries to work in the UK.This is Mays first outside European Union. May along with Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the India-UK Tech Summit on November 7.

A meeting of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) chaired by minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman and UK secretary of state for international trade Liam Fox will be held during the visit.

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India will seek a higher share in greenhouse gas-mitigating technologies and money for adapting to the vagaries of climate change at Marrakech in Morocco, where negotiations on rules to implement the Paris Agreement will begin on Monday.

The accord on climate change, which aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, came into force on Friday. Environment minister Anil Madhav Dave told Hindustan Times that India will be the voice of the developing world in Morocco, and it will ensure that climate justice  a concept propagated by PM Narendra Modi  is ingrained in the new rules.

All the countries had politically agreed to climate justice at Paris, but it did not find a place anywhere in the agreement except the preamble. Though an official admitted that the matter has remained unresolved operationally, he said developing a consensus for climate justice would be the mainstay for Indian negotiators at the conference.

The procedure for operationalising climate justice would be to have equitable compensation for global warming-induced calamities called Loss and Damage, which has to be finalised in Marrakech. Bolivarian and African countries are most ardent advocates of climate justice through Loss and Damage, and they were assured in Paris that the mechanism would be finalised at the Moroccan meet.

However, climate justice holds a different connotation for India. It implies fairness in burden sharing for fighting climate change to protect vulnerable nations, especially those in South Asia, and ensure that rich countries do enough to support the victims. This can happen only through easy finance and adequate technology transfer. A majority of the new climate-friendly technologies are expensive, and are patented by rich nations. Unless they agree to distribute them in an equitable manner, the fight against climate change will be restricted to mere lip service. We will raise issues related to finance under the Green Climate Fund and technology transfer at affordable prices to the developing world, Dave said.

However, TERI director general Ajay Mathur said India must keep a watch on transparency rules framed under the Paris Agreement to ensure they are not too intrusive.

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Fourteen-month-old Paris battle for life continued 48-hours after she was hit by shrapnel when her house in Ramgarh sectors Rangoor village came under attack during firing by Pakistan.

Four of her family members were killed in the attack.

However, her family members believe that she could have got better treatment if not for the red tape. Pari was shifted from Jammus Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) to Military Hospital in Satwari on Tuesday, where she was writhing in pain. But Paris agony was far from over; doctors at the Military Hospital referred her back to GMCH.

But it was only after a nightlong wait that the 14-month-old was operated upon by a team of surgeons on Wednesday morning.

Denying charges of slackness, deputy medical superintendent GMCH, Jammu Dr Davinder Singh said, There was no slackness from our side. However, the delay was caused by the decision of her family members as they took a call to shift the girl child to military hospital. We provided ambulance facility for shifting her. However, the doctors at the military hospital did not admit the child. This caused a delay but we started preparations for the surgery on Tuesday night itself and it was performed in the wee hours.

Meanwhile, senior surgeon, Dr Tariq Azad who along with his team performed a three-hour long surgery on Pari, said that, her condition has stable and has shown improvement. The next 2-3 days are crucial for Pari as the shrapnel caused perforation in her intestines. Though we have removed the shrapnel, healing will take some time, added Dr Azad.

Read | Thousands abandon homes in J-K as shelling from Pakistan escalates
A leopard, which killed an 8-year-old girl, was allegedly burnt alive by angry villagers after it was captured by forest officials in Surat district.

Gujarat Forest Department is probing the incident that occurred on Thursday at Vadi village in Umarpada tehsil.

The leopard was trapped on Wednesday night. The villagers set the animal on fire inside the cage the next day, said an official.

Investigation has revealed that some villagers who were angry over the death of a girl killed by the leopard threatened forest officials who were guarding the cage, asking them to leave. Then they set the leopard ablaze, said deputy conservator of forest J H Rathod.

The leopard killed Nikita Vasava on Wednesday morning when she when she stepped out to attend natures call and dragged her into the forest.

Her body was found in the village outskirts later.

Gujarat forest and tribal development minister Ganpat Vasava visited the village after the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for her family.

We have registered a case under section 9 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (with regard to leopards death). To investigate the matter further, an inquiry panel with some top forest officials has been formed. The panel has been asked to submit its report in 15 days. Further action will be taken as per the findings of the report, said Rathod.
A suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militant surrendered in his native north Kashmir village to where he returned from Pakistan after arms training this year, police said on Friday.

Umar Khaliq Mir alias Sameer dropped his arms and appeared before a police team that cornered him in a house not far from the 24-year-olds residence in Baramulla district on Thursday evening, superintendent of police Harmeet Singh said.

Mir, who lives in Tujjar area off Sopore town, had crossed the Line of Control over to Pakistan this May to get arms training, according to the police.

There was no case against him, the Sopore SSP said, prompting the police to give the militant a chance to surrender. We sent him a message through the house-owner, asking him to come out of hiding, he added. The mission failed.

Subsequently, the SSP called him on phone and said there will be no gunfight if he laid his arms inside and came out.

After this, the militant wanted his father, who lives in the same village, to be called. We brought the father and sent him in. Mir then came out with his father, Singh said.

Not every time do such efforts succeed for the police. There have been several instances where militants refused to surrender despite police suggesting it.

The SSP said it was with a group of foreign militants that Mir came back from Pakistan. We are interrogating him to get to his fellow militants, he added.

The officer requested all local militants to surrender. We will welcome them, he said.

Read | Lashkar-e-Taiba suffered maximum damage in surgical strikes: Report
The Madhya Pradesh government has requested the Union home ministry to let the National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigate the jailbreak of eight Islamic radicals and their subsequent death in police firing.

The ministry received the formal request on Friday, a day after the state appointed Justice (retd) SK Pandey to head a judicial inquiry into the controversial incident.

The move is viewed as an attempt by the BJP government to offset criticism that the undertrial prisoners of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) died in a staged, extra-judicial killing, or fake encounter, on Monday.

The ministry is likely to seek opinion of the NIA before issuing any order. It may decline to involve the NIA in the case as well, a senior official said in New Delhi.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promised to seek an investigation by the NIA, the anti-terrorism agency formed after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, after the eight men escaped from Bhopal central jail and were killed on the city outskirts hours later.

Authorities said the prisoners used duplicate keys to open cell locks, killed a jail guard with an improvised knife, dodged sentries and scaled a 30-foot wall of the high-security prison to produce a daring jailbreak. But this account is being contested.

Many videos, though unverified, emerged after the incident that put to question the authenticity of shootout. Purported footage from a CCTV camera inside the jail was aired on television on Friday, showing the SIMI roaming freely in the high-security prison.

The prisoners could not be identified in the video, but their swagger gave credence to allegations that they led an easy life with lax security in the jail.

The video surfaced after an unverified audio clip of walkie-talkie conversation between police officers directing the shooting at Khijradev village. Bilkul piche nahi hatna hai. Gherke poora kardo kaam tamaam (No retreat. Surround them and kill), an officer orders is heard saying.

The fugitives were killed within eight hours of their escape at Khijradev village, 10km from Bhopal city.

It is a matter of investigation. I cannot comment on that, Bhopal inspector general of police Yogesh Choudhary remarked on the authenticity of the clip.

(With inputs from Rajesh Ahuja in New Delhi)
India will support Nepal in its pursuit of peace, stability and development as the two sides focus on implementing bilateral development and connectivity projects, President Pranab Mukherjee said at the conclusion of his state visit on Friday.

Mukherjee described his three-day trip as a mission of friendship that reflected the priority India attaches to strengthening its unique relationship with Nepal.

In a statement issued as he wrapped up the first visit by an Indian president in 18 years, Mukherjee  who received rousing welcomes in Kathmandu, Janakpur and Pokhara  said: Our destinies are inter-linked and there is recognition on both sides of the need to advance common prosperity.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, who broke protocol to receive Mukherjee on his arrival, also saw him off at the Tribhuvan international airport, reflecting the importance attached to the visit.

The trip also signalled a further improvement in ties that were hit by a five-month economic blockade of border trade points with India during a protest against Nepals new Constitution.

Read: Involve all stakeholders in nation building: Pranab Mukherjee to Nepal

During his meetings with Bhandari, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and leaders of political parties, Mukherjee said India remains committed to enhancing its partnership with Nepal in all areas of priority.

As two sovereign nations, we wish to take forward our relationship on the basis of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit. I conveyed the good wishes of the people and government of India to the friendly people of Nepal in their national efforts to achieve peace, stability and development within a federal democratic polity, he said in the statement.

The warmth and affection with which I was received by the people and government of Nepal was truly overwhelming, said Mukherjee, who was awarded an honorary DLitt degree by Kathmandu University and feted at civic receptions in Kathmandu and Janakpur, which handed over the keys of the city to him.

While performing a special puja at the Pashupati Nath temple, Mukherjee announced that India will undertake two development projects to repair and renovate the ghats near the famous shrine on the banks of the Bagmati river.

After receiving the honorary doctorate at Kathmandu University, he said that the Indian Institutes of Technology will open their entrance examinations to Nepali students so that they can pursue graduate and postgraduate courses on a regular basis from 2017.

Additionally, 23 postgraduate scholarships have been offered for Nepali engineers and experts for courses in hydropower and water resources management at the IIT-Roorkee this year, he said.

At Janakpur, Mukherjee announced India will build two dharmashalas along the Parikrama Path to be used by pilgrims from both countries.

Mukherjee also visited Pokhara, where he interacted with former Gurkha soldiers of the Indian Army and their families.

I am convinced that my visit has provided new dynamism to our common cooperative endeavors, he said. I am confident that building on shared strength of geography, history and culture, India-Nepal relations are poised to ascend to new heights in the coming years...
The government ordering Hindi news channel NDTV India off the air for a day -- a move criticised by opposition parties and media organisations --may have outraged many, but the action is not without precedent. This is, however, the first time that the national security clause has been invoked.

Television channels were blacked out 28 times over the past decade for violating various broadcasting norms.

Most of the earlier cases pertain to airing adult content on television channels such as AXN and Fashion TV, which have been at the receiving end of government action.

Punitive action was taken against violators even during the UPA rule, said a ministry official, underlining that the decision to bar channels was not peculiar to the current BJP-led government.

Between 2005 and 2013, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power, as many as 20 channels were taken off air, mostly for flouting rules against showing adult content and nudity.

The action against NDTV is, however, the first time a channel was barred from broadcasting for breaching laws pertaining to national security. The order has drawn widespread condemnation, especially from fellow journalists and activists, who accuse the government of muzzling free speech.

Read | Editors Guild of India condemns govts order to block NDTV India for a day

The decision was taken following a recommendation by an inter-ministerial committee of the information and broadcasting ministry after it concluded NDTV India revealed strategically-sensitive details of the Pathankot airbase during a militant attack earlier this year.

In 2015, news channel Al Jazeera was barred from airing for five days for showing the wrong map of India.

Showcasing global trends in fashion, FTV has been taken off air three times between 2007 and 2010. The first time it was banned for two months after the channel aired a programme titled Midnight hot; showing visuals of topless women earned it a nine day ban in 2010 which was followed by a 10-day ban in 2013 for explicit visuals.

Sources in the I&B ministry said the punitive action against the TV channels was in line with the rules laid down in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, which bar showing nudity and adult content.

Programmes that denigrate women through the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman, her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals, are barred by the act. Consequently channels such as AXN, Cine world and FTV were taken off air for showing adult content.

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China on Friday said actions should not be taken by either side that may unilaterally change the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop the work of a canal.

I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC. Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here.

Read | India-China face-off over canal work in Ladakh? Army says no incursion

It was reported that Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work.

This issue is once again published by the Indian media outlets, Hua said while replying to a question over the stand off between Indian and China troops in Demchok.

Apparently referring to the canal work, Hua said, either side shall not take action that may unilaterally change the statues quo of LAC.

Referring to the talks between both the sides to resolve the issue, she said, currently the two countries have an effective communication through series of mechanisms. We believe that we can maintain peace and tranquility of the border area.

Read | India, China resolve to improve relations along LAC at border personnel meeting

Around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene in Demchok sector, located 250 km east of Leh, and halted the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel to rush to the spot and stop the high-handedness of Chinese troops at the site where the work for linking a village with Hot spring was being undertaken.

The LAC stretches up to 3,488-km long.

While China says the border dispute covers Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as Southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covered Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war.
National security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval had a high-level meeting with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Hyderabad on Friday to thrash out issues concerning bilateral ties.

The meeting took place at the historic Falaknuma Palace in the Old City, part of which has been developed into a five-star hotel  Taj Falaknuma. Doval and Yang were accompanied by officials from both the countries. The meeting which began at 10am went on till 5pm, amidst tight security arrangements. Doval and Yang had last met in China in April.

Though the exact agenda of the meeting and its outcome was not known, it is believed that the delegations had open discussions on bilateral relations that have been under strain for the last few months.

India has been expressing concern over Chinas resistance to its entry into the NSG and also stalling its efforts to get a UN ban on Masood Azhar, leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, who has been accused of masterminding the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The issue of confrontation between Chinese and Indian troops at Ladakh over construction of an irrigation canal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Mission (MNREGA) is also learnt to have come up during the discussions.

Retain LAC status quo

Meanwhile, China on Friday said actions should not be taken by either side that may unilaterally change the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh to stop the construction of a canal.

I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC. Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited, the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

(With agency inputs)

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Retired subedar Ram Kishan Grewal, whose suicide has triggered a political row over one-rank one-pension (OROP) issue with opposition parties coming in and declaring him a martyr, was cremated at a separate cremation ground meant for Dalits at his native village Bamla in Haryanas Bhiwani district.

Village sarpanch Tasveer Singh told HT that since Grewal belonged to a scheduled caste (SC), his body was cremated at the ground built for his community near the village pond.

In our village, Pandits, Dalits and Jats have different cremation grounds, he said.

Also read | Rahul, Kejriwal attend ex-serviceman Grewals funeral, slam Centre

Even as Grewals death brought his entire village together for his cremation, it could not end the caste difference that prevails in this part of Haryana.

What can we do? Our forefathers have been following this tradition and we never questioned it. We, too, are following it, said the sarpanch, when asked why there were separate cremation grounds for different communities.

The 70-year-old ex-soldier, who retired from Defence Security Corps in 2004 after his service of 30 years, was elected as sarpanch of the village in 2005 on his return.

However, HT has learnt that during those elections, the seat for the sarpanch in his village was reserved for a Dalit candidate. He had won with a large margin. Also, because his gotra is Grewal, which is also shared by many Jats who also voted for him, Tasveer said. In 2016, however, the seat of the sarpanch came under the general category and Tasveer won it.

While the Indian army never discriminates anyone on the basis of religion or caste, back home in the countrys interior villages, the harsh reality often comes to the fore at the most shocking times.

Ram Kishan not martyr: Haryana CM

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who had committed suicide, was not a martyr.

A martyr is one who lays down his life guarding the motherland on the border. Though Grewals death is unfortunate, it cannot be termed as martyrdom, Khattar said while interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Swarna Jayanti Sammelan here.Asked why did the ex-serviceman take the extreme step, Khattar said.

The matter is still being looked into, but according to initial reports, it was some error in his OROP (one-rank one pension) account in the bank against which he was protesting. Khattar also regretted that political parties were bent upon giving the tragic incident a political colour.

Kin slam Delhi Police, central govt for their detention, mishandling

The family of retired subedar Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide on Thursday, slammed the Centre and the Delhi Police for detaining and manhandling them at a police station on Wednesday.

They (Delhi Police) multiply the woes of harassed people, Grewals son Jaswant said. They detained us inside the police station for long and allowed us to go only at 1 am. What was the point of that drama? he added.

Ram Kishans son also slammed Union minister VK Singh for commenting on his fathers mental status. My father served 30 years in the army. He then served for five years as sarpanch in the village. After this, we get to hear the minister saying his mental condition was not OK! he said. Hailing Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, he said, He (Kejriwal) has done what the central government and the Haryana government has not done. While the Delhi government has declared him a martyr, the Centre and the state government failed to do so.

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The one-day ban on leading Hindi TV channel NDTV India over its coverage of the Pathankot attack drew sharp condemnation on Friday from the Opposition and the media, which called it shocking and authoritarian and reminiscent of Emergency days.

The leaders of the non-BJP parties and the media bodies demanded immediate withdrawal of the order imposing the blackout on November 9.

There was also a suggestion by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh that all newspapers and channels show courage and go off air and not publish on that day to register their protest.

I hope the whole media goes off air for a day in solidarity wid NDTV. Congratulations to Editors Guild for showing courage to stand up against Modi Govts dictatorship, Kejriwal tweeted.

Read | NDTV India ban: Theres a rise in number of cases where media is the target

The Editors Guild of India condemned the order as a direct violation of the freedom of the press, and similar sentiments were echoed by the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA).

The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded, the Guild said in a statement.

The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency.

The BEA expressed deep concern at the governments decision and said imposing the ban was a violation of freedom of expression.

NDTV, while terming the order as shocking, said it has been singled out and that it was examining all options in the matter.

Read | NDTV India ban: Not the first time a channel has been taken off air

Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a days work in Modijis India... NDTVBanned-shocking and unprecedented (sic), the Congress vice-president said on Twitter.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is also political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, said, (The) governments decision to ban NDTV India smacks of authoritarianism and intimidation.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah too lashed out at the Centre, asking if these were the promised achhe din (good days).

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the order of the inter-ministerial panel of the information and broadcasting ministry showed that an Emergency-like situation prevailed in the country while Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi slammed it as shocking and unprecedented.

NDTV ban is shocking. If the government had issues with its Pathankot coverage, there are provisions available. But a ban shows an Emergency-like attitude, Banerjee said in a statement in Kolkata.

Read | NDTV India ordered off air on Nov 9 over coverage of Pathankot attack
Pakistan and Indias tit-for-tat expulsion of officials have sparked fears that both countries could temporarily recall their high commissioners and scale down their presence in each others capitals.

Officials in Islamabad also hinted at a reduction in official exchanges and visits to India, but sources in New Delhi have downplayed the reports.

Pakistan has confirmed it will attend the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan in the Indian city of Amritsar in December, but almost all other engagements have been put on hold.

Reports in the Pakistani media suggested a fresh slide in ties caused by the expulsion and recall of diplomats and officials might lead to a scaling down of the strength of diplomatic staff by the two neighbours.

Read: India rejects Pakistans baseless allegations against its officials

However, Indian government sources said reports about the scaling down of the strength of the mission in Islamabad were fabricated. A government source said: We havent taken any such decision yet.

On Friday, junior minister for health services Saira Afzal Tarar said Pakistan will stay away from a global tobacco control conference in India next week. Its a very important meeting on tobacco, but our visit doesnt appear feasible due to ongoing tensions, she told Reuters.

Families of Pakistani diplomats stationed in New Delhi too may be evacuated soon, officials said. It is slowly moving towards a lockdown, said an official who did not wish to be named.

The last time New Delhi recalled its envoy to Islamabad was in December 2001 following an attack on its Parliament that was blamed on Pakistan-based terror groups.

Subsequently, India asked the Pakistani high commissioner to leave in May 2002. Full diplomatic ties were restored in 2003.

The latest row started after Mehmood Akhtar, a staffer of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi, was arrested and later expelled on charges of espionage. A video of Akhtars questioning showed him purportedly naming other officials who were part of an alleged spying ring.

Pakistan, which said Akhtars statement was extracted through coercive means, withdrew six officials who were named in media reports, jeopardising their security.

In a tit-for-tat move, a media leak accused eight officials of the Indian high commission in Islamabad of being involved in spying and subversive activities. Many newspapers and TV channels revealed the names and flashed photos of these officials.

India condemned the media leak and officials indicated the eight officials would have to be withdrawn because of security concerns.

At a weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria too contended the eight Indian officials belonged to intelligence agencies and alleged they were involved in coordinating terrorist and subversive activities.

Zakaria said India had violated diplomatic norms and the code of conduct for relations between two sovereign states.

(With inputs from Jayanth Jacob)
India launched a scheme on Friday to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals.

The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)  popularly known as I pledge for 9  was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Mann Ki Baat address on June 9. It invites the private sector to provide free ante-natal services (ANC) on the 9th of every month on a voluntary basis to pregnant women, especially those living in under-served, semi-urban, poor and rural areas.

We want this programme to turn into a movement. We have requested doctors in the private sector to visit public hospitals and provide free check-up to pregnant women, said health minister JP Nadda.

In India, one pregnant woman dies every 12 minutes, with 45,000 dying each year. Of them, less than one in five (19.7%) undergo pre-natal health checks.

The aim of this scheme is to broaden the base of beneficiaries and providers. We dont just want to provide quantity but quality healthcare, said health secretary CK Mishra.

The response was positive. A text message sent by the federation of gynaecological and obstetrics societies of India (FOGSI) to all its members generated more than 15,000 volunteers. Maternal and child deaths are very low in the private sector and we need to take this private force to the public sector, said Dr Hrishikesh Pai, secretary general, FOGSI.

As part of the scheme, women will be tested for anaemia, blood pressure, high blood sugar (gestational diabetes), and other problems associated with pregnancy and provided free ultrasounds to track the health and development of the baby in the womb.

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Indias aviation regulator has sought from Jet Airways details of the cancelled, delayed flights after the airline cancelled 50-odd flights on Tuesday and Wednesday due to shortage of flight crew.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also asked the airline to provide details of pilots who are habitually reporting sick.

We have asked Jet Airways to provide us details of the flights it cancelled on November 1 and November 2. It has been asked to provide the number of flights it cancelled as well as the number of pilots who reported sick, a senior DGCA official said on Friday.

The flights were cancelled after a section of its pilots chose not to turn up for work in protest against the airlines new crew rostering management system. The regulator has also asked the list of those pilots who refuse to turn up for work and keep passengers waiting inside the aircraft for reasons other than being sick.

Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan had last week hit out at the airline after his flight to Chennai from Mumbai was allegedly delayed due to non-availability of flight crew.

Flying to Chennai. Baggage, check. Board flight on time, check. Seat belt fastened, check. Only thing we need now are our pilots!!...Well done Jet Airways!!! Entire plane boarded without any pilots on board. Still waiting and hoping..., he had said in a series of tweets over the nearly one-and-a-half- hour delay.

The full service carrier is second largest airline in terms of number of domestic operations after no-frills IndiGo, operating more than 600 domestic and international flights every day.

The airline at present has around 1,200 pilots to operate its fleet of 117 aircraft comprising Boeing 777s, B737s, Airbus A330s and ATRs. Almost two-thirds of its fleet consist of B737s.

As part of the winter schedule, which became effective from late last month, Jet Airways would operate 3,010 flights per week while its subsidiary JetLite 507 flights per week.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying to the nation over the implementation of a pension scheme for the armed forces, ratcheting up his battle with the BJP government over the contentious issue.

Gandhi also sought an apology from the government for polices manhandling of the family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide on Wednesday over pension woes.

The Congress leaders remarks drew a strong reaction from the government with finance minister Arun Jaitley saying that a political party with sinking fortunes should not try to encash the personal tragedy of one person.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi interacted with a group of 60-70 ex-servicemen at the Congress headquarters in Delhi at 24, Akbar Road.

He wanted to understand the issue. We apprised him of the subject and our demands, said retired Maj Gen Satbir Singh of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, which is leading the fight for total implementation of the one rank-one pension (OROP).

Hope he raises our issue. It is the duty of every parliamentarian to raise the issue and help ex-servicemen get their rights.

Read: HT Explains: What is OROP and why are veterans still unhappy

At the forefront of the agitation on the issue following Grewals suicide, Gandhi had been detained thrice in two days by the Delhi Police during protests.

What (the) PM says is one rank-one pension is actually pension enhancement. The PM should stop lying on the issue, a combative Gandhi told reporters after his meeting with the retired military personnel. OROP is the right of armed forces personnel and government will have to give it.

OROP enables retired soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service get the same pension, irrespective of when they retired.

The Congress V-P also accused the government of waiving loans of a staggering Rs 1.10 lakh crore of 15 big industrialists.

The government has not given respect and the right which is due to soldiers. Had it done so, these ex-servicemen wont have been protesting at Jantar-Mantar for the last 509 days, he said.

The Congress has decided to take the issue to the streets and also raise it in Parliament during the winter session, beginning November 16.

On Friday, scores of Youth Congress workers tried to take out a march to the Prime Ministers Office but were stopped by police.

The incident has put the BJP on a mat after it appeared to have seized political advantage from the September 29 surgical strikes against terror launchpads across the Line of Control (LoC), the de-facto border with Pakistan.

OROP is likely to dominate the campaign in poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand where the armed forces enjoy mass appeal.

Read: OROP protests on: Leaders throng ex-soldiers village, Rahul detained again

However, Jaitley said the UPA government had done little to implement the one rank, one pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen during its 10-year term which was evident from a meagre allocation of Rs 550 crore for the scheme.

For the first time, the finance minister said, the NDA government accepted the OROP demand with the provision for reviewing the pension every five years.

Jaitley indicated administrative lapse on the part of the bank for not remitting the pension former soldier Grewal was entitled to.

It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted Obviously, there seems to be some (communication) gapHe was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part which he was legitimately entitled to, Jaitley said.

So the (Congress) sympathy that has arisen today is politically motivated and the NDA is the first government which has not only accepted OROP demand, but implemented it.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar indicated that some demands of the veterans could be met as the government was examining the report prepared by L Narasimha Reddy. The government had appointed the Reddy panel to look into the anomalies in OROP.

It submitted its report to the government on October 26. Parrikar said wherever feasible the panels recommendations could be implemented in the quickest possible time.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday sought Turkeys support on the Kashmir issue in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has in the past issued statements criticising India.

The minister presented Indias view to a Turkish delegation led by Minister of Development Lutfi Elvan here.

A Home Ministry statement said that Rajnath Singh sought Istanbuls support in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The 57-member OIC (formerly Organization of the Islamic Conference) had last month issued a statement criticising alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. India had dismissed the statement.

Terming terrorism as a major challenge for the global community, the Home Minister said both the countries should come on-board to fight terrorism.

On the Islamic State (IS), Singh said the ISIS does not have much wider dimension in India though it posed a major challenge to Turkey.

The Turkish Minister Elvan pushed for comprehensive trade partnership between the two countries.

The two countries should push forward the Comprehensive Trade Partnership Agreement and propose revival of sittings of the joint economic forum, Elvan said.

He also sought more investment opportunities for Turkish construction companies in Indias infrastructure sector and said Istanbul can be a favoured transit point for trans-Atlantic destinations.
The Supreme Court collegium that appoints judges in higher judiciary will seek the opinion of a senior judge on probable candidates, the HT has learnt, two months after he refused to attend the bodys meetings seeking transparency in its functioning.

Sources said the move was aimed at breaking the deadlock after justice Chelameswar wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur, demanding that the collegium meetings are recorded for bringing transparency to the system of judges appointment.

The high-powered panel comprising the top five SC judges recommends transfer of high court judges and approves names of chief justices and judges from states for appointment in the top court.

In a normal collegium meeting, the members sit together and decide on appointing the judges to the SC.

But in the circulation method, the files will be vetted first by the four members and then sent to justice Chelameswar who will give his views in writing.

The new procedure is expected to give justice Chelameswar a chance to record his dissent, which could block a particular recommendation cleared by the other four, the sources said.

The issue of judges appointment has become a point of friction between the government and the judiciary since the SC struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act last year.

Justice Chelameswar had given a dissenting verdict in the NJAC case. He has insisted on every member of the collegium put his or her views in writing and twice declined the CJIs request to participate in its meetings.

The top court is in desperate need for judges. Last month, two judges retired bringing the strength to 26 against 31 sanctioned posts.

This month, two more will demit office while justice Thakur will retire in January.

The stalemate had threatened to disrupt the court proceedings in the SC that is already bogged down with 70,000 cases.

At present his opinion is required for new appointments to the SC and transfer of HC judges. However, after the retirement of justice Thakur on January 4 he will become part of the panel that decides on the elevation of lawyers as HC judges.

By then, the composition of the collegium will change. Whether the new members will accept his stance is a big question? said an SC official.

There could be a fresh stalemate if a difference of opinion arises then. And that would impact the appointments to the 24 HCs that have total of 43% judicial vacancies. The approved strength of the HCs stands at 1,079, of which 464 posts are vacant.

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An audio clip allegedly featuring walkie-talkie conversations of police officials handling their encounter with SIMI operatives early this week has surfaced, fuelling further suspicion that cops were keen to kill  not capture alive  the eight men who jumped jail.

The tape doing the rounds on social media  its authenticity was yet to be confirmed  indicates the SIMI men were carrying arms.

The new clip comes after a few video visuals of the alleged Monday morning police encounter with the eight activists of the banned Islamic organisation went viral. The men, who were said to have jumped Bhopal Central Jail on Diwali night, were killed near Malikheda on the outskirts of the state capital.

Speaking to HT on the authenticity of the audio clip, IG Bhopal, Yogesh Choudhary said that the whole incident is under investigation.

It is a matter of investigation. CID is already probing the incident, I cannot comment on that, Choudhary said.

According to sources, the audio conversation involves a senior police official, the personnel at police control room (PCR) and the police officials present at the encounter site at Khijradev village under Gunga police station.

Read | Khandwa: The SIMI hotspot at the centre of MP prisoners encounter

The senior police official asks on the walkie-talkie whether all the five (of the eight) men were fleeing together. Kya paanchon saath me bhaag rahe hain, (Are all the five escaping together?) goes the question. To this, one of the police officials at the encounter site responds in the positive: Haan, paanhcon saath me bhaag rahe hain.(Yes, the five are together)

The senior police official then tells them not to back off and kill them after rounding them up: Bilkul piche nahi hatna hai. Gherke poora kardo kaam tamaam (Dont back off...Surround them and finish them).

One of the police officials then says the SIMI men were firing at them.

To this, the senior official commands to do retaliatory firing after taking a proper position. He further asks his colleagues not to spare the men if they have firedand further informs the cops that another police party was reaching the spot. Proper position lekar fire karo, jisse crossfire na ho, ( Take proper position and then fire to avoid crossfiring) he adds.

After a few seconds, a police official at the site says they have killed five of the SIMI men. The senior official congratulates the cops, and says that they were about to reach the location.

Read | SIMI encounter: 71 sentries supposed to guard prison, engaged in non-jail duties

One of the police officials at the site says that they have rounded the remaining ones at the top of the hillock where they were standing.

A police official at the PCR seeks confirmation on whether the five were dead. Yes, says a police official at the site.

The senior official again congratulates them: Shabash. Bache huye teeno ko bhi nahi chodna hai, maar dalo (Well done. Dont spare the other three, kill them).

A police official at the site then demands two or three ambulances at the site to which the police personnel at PCR say that they have already sent them.

The senior police official then again says that kill them all. Bas unhe maar daalo. Yadi ye ghayal hote hain to hume unka aspatal me dhyaan rakhna padega. Agar nahi mar rahe hai to maar daalo saalon ko. (Just kill them. If they only get injured, well have to take them to hospital and take care of them. If they arent dead, just kill the chaps.)

A police official at the site then says: Sir is saying kill all of them.

Paanch mar chuke hain, sabhi ko maar daalo (five are dead, kill all) says the senior police official.

One of the officials at the site then asks to leave one of the men alive, adding what will happen if they kill all of them.

Replies the senior official: Nahi nahi nahi, wo bhi fire kar rahe hain na. Hum keh sakte hain ki hume hathiyar mile hain (No no, they are firing too. We can say we got weapons (from them).

Then one of the officials at the site says they have killed all the eight men: Sir humne sabhi aathon ko maar daala.

All the police officers on the walkie-talkie rejoice. Sounds of cheers can be heard.

A police official at the spot says humne unhe gher lia hai, wo yahan beech me pade huye hain (we have rounded them up; they were lying in between). The reinforcements need not to come to the top of the hillock, he adds.

Jo baaki force pahunch rahi hai, unhe upar aane ki zarurat nahi hai, bata do kuch aur farzi operation karna pade to, (There is no need to send the force at the top of the hillock...tell them in case we need to do another fake encounter) says the same official at the site.

The senior official then says not to worry and they were coming: Hum pahuch rahe hain. Hum pahuch rahe hain. Chinta mat karo. (We are reaching there, dont worry)

He then asks the police officials at the site to stop shooting. At this, a police personnel at the PCR asks all the police officials on the hillock to stand in their positions and stop shooting ahead of verification of the dead SIMI men.

Read | Bhopal SIMI encounter: She came to meet son, found his body instead

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There was a band and a baraat but this wedding had a Swedish note. Niklas Aaronson and Tilda Henriksson wed Hindu style and with chanting of Vedic mantras in Varanasi on Thursday, celebrating their love for Indian culture and the temple city.

Clad in traditional Indian attire, Aaronson rode a horse during the Barat which started from a guesthouse in the Assi Ghat area and reached the Panchratna Shiva Temple at Assi Ghat. With mehendi applied on her hands, bride Henriksson clad in a Banarsi sari and jewellery looked beautiful.

Speaking to HT, he said, We got engaged this summer. Since both of us like Varanasi, its ghats and Indian culture, we decided to come here for our wedding. Getting into wedlock in this spiritual city on the banks of the holy Ganga is a memorable experience.

Aaronson is a teacher at upper secondary school in Sweden. Henriksson will soon join a school as teacher as soon as she finishes her teachers training course from Karlstad University.

He strongly believes that Hindu style of wedding will keep the couple together forever. Vedic mantras chanted in our marriage will make our nuptial bond everlasting, he hoped.

An equally elated Henriksson said Varanasi was a special place where she found peace and tranquillity. She likes sitting on ghats and boating as well. Marrying here is a special experience. I like Kashi and Indian culture too, she added. Priests at the temple including Acharya Vijay Kumar Mishra performed puja during which Aaronson and Henriksson exchanged garlands and took pheras.

Swedes Amanda Bronstad, Niklas Kinell and Maria Vestman, besides Keith Paulson from Denmark, attended the wedding. Bronstand, a friend of the bride, said, We studied together. She likes Indian culture very much therefore decided to have a Hindu style wedding.

The wedding party danced to the drumbeats during the barat. Some local guests also attended the wedding.

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Shailesh Sawant of Pune has fought his way up. The doctoral student slept on a mesh covering an open drain in the slum of Mumbais Dharavi before a friend secured an admission for him in one of the best colleges for mass communication.

But getting admission was the easier part, says Sawant, 26. What followed was more difficult for him to confront. In my first week in the classroom in Mumbai, a teacher walked in and asked how many of us were caste Hindus and how many were Muslims and Dalits. Your classmates keep telling you  You people have been getting in through reservation and will be doing that forever. Our future lies ruined, he adds.

Battling constant barbs and deep-rooted stereotypes is a part of life for the likes of Sawant, members of Maharashtras estimated 14.8 million Dalits. They are in the line of fire more now, as tens of thousands of Marathas march in cities across the state, agitated over their increasing marginalisation by reserved communities such as the Dalits.

Part I: Why are the countrys farming castes furious?

A CHANGED SOCIAL ORDER

From Sawants view point, the tables have turned. I have seen students from general categories beg SC and ST students to not apply in entrance exams under the open category and further cut into their chances. The Dalits no longer feel obliged to carry out the orders of Marathas and Brahmins, he says. In Maharashtra, the Dalits do not fear the Marathas anymore.

This, according to Partha Polke, a Dalit rights activist based in Satara, is the reason Marathas are marching in the streets. One section of Maharashtras Dalits has become dashing. And they are leading the rest of the community towards emancipation. This is the biggest threat to Maratha dominance in the state. Polke refers to Ambedkarite Buddhists who have been most active in Maharashtras Dalit movement. Young people like Sawant, with a sharp sense of their rights, are the face of this movement. For 25 years now, they have been using new opportunities in education and employment to carve their niche in the states fast expanding urban landscape. Their ranks are spread out across the state: in colleges, universities, corporations, and courts.

MAKING OF AN ACTIVIST

Prabhakar Sonwane has been a lawyer at a court in Pune for five years. It has been 12 years since he left his village in Latur. His parents tended the livestock of landowners in the village. It is not what he wanted to do when he grew up.

I used to walk 7km to the nearest school till I finished high school, he says. Then he moved to the city of Latur and enrolled himself in a college for a BA in Education. A bachelors degree was a big deal for someone in his position. But Sonwane was in for a longer game. He took a train to Pune with a bag on his shoulder and not a rupee in his pocket. For the first two weeks, I slept on Senapati Bapat Road.

Part II : The new wave of caste wars: Marathas feel their social order is under threat

Over the next five years, Sonawane worked his way up through citys working class ladder, from watchman to salesperson. He also added a degree in journalism and two in law to his CV. Over the years, he has coaxed at least 25 young men from his village to move out and move up. Not every young Dalit who moves to a city finds a job, as numbers show, but its a chance many are willing to take.

Now, Sonwane also volunteers legal support for Dalit Adivasi Adhikar Andolan group, where a bunch of young people like him fight for a higher rate of prosecution under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Maharashtra has among the highest incidence of atrocities reported against Dalits in the country and one of the lowest rates of prosecution.

A Dalits journey to the middle class begins with leaving the village, says Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit activist and entrepreneur. They move to cities and join the working class  as security guards, delivery men, truck drivers, cab drivers. Then they notice that a few members of their community are in senior positions, whether in public sector or private sector. Thats when they turn their attention to affirmative action, in colleges and in jobs.

THE RIPPLE EFFECT

The pain of reservation is not felt by caste Hindus in universities alone. It echoes through the network of rural governance, where Dalits and other minorities are increasingly hired and elected to posts in zila parishads, panchayat samitis and municipal corporations where Marathas once held a monopoly.

This caste conflict mainly plays out between Maratha youth and Dalit youth, says Prasad. The Marathas depend on the past for their strength  their victories, their bravery, their language. The Dalits on their present achievements  jobs, city life, English. The first camp boasts wide-ranging political support, most recently from the Hindutva brigade, according to observers. Polke says, The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) has appropriated the figure of Shivaji. Prasads observation on this point is, Their (Marathas) numbers help the RSS in its war cry against Dalits.

Polke says, The morchas are a show of strength. They seem to be saying: fear us because of our numbers. They are managing to scare some. Muslims are distributing biryani at their rallies. Not everyone. The more Marathas unite among themselves, the more others will consolidate against them. An undercurrent of solidarity is sweeping through the other side as well, he says. SCs, STs, OBCs are coming together to decide they will not vote for Marathas in elections. Have you seen the numbers at the rallies the Dalits and OBCs are taking out?

Watch | What are demands behind what the Marathas want?

RALLY VERSUS RALLY

On October 10, Dalit and OBC groups took out their first combined rally in Ahmednagar. They have followed up with four more rallies across the state. The numbers are estimated to be in the same range as those recorded in Maratha protests  between 10,000 and 100,000. One of their slogans is: The time calls for Dalits to be one.

No one knows who will win, but many fear it will end in a disaster for all.

Read | Answer to Maratha protests: Dalits hold a rally in Latur

I am really worried about the Maratha morchas, says Dalit writer Raosaheb Kasbe. Civil wars of this kind generally lead to anarchy and end up in fascism. On October 16, when Kasbe spoke to a young audience in Satara  the erstwhile seat of Maratha power  at a literary event meant to honour BR Ambedkar, he advised them to marry for love. I said choose your life partner yourself. Unless young people marry outside of caste, we cant dismantle the caste system. I asked them to read the book, The Art of Loving.

Inter-caste love is a point of tension between Marathas and Dalits. Its also the premise of Marathi cinemas most-watched film in many years. Released earlier this year, Sairat was written and directed by a Dalit, Nagaraj Manjule, and provoked protests by Maratha groups.

Incidentally, on the second day of the literary event in Satara, a mob of Maratha youth demanded its boycott. They complained Kasbe had insulted Shivaji in his speech the previous day. Kasbe says, I had only said what every Marathi historian has written about  the fact that Shivaji was in theory a shudra.

A thousand people joined a rally Polke took out the next day to protest the boycott. The rally moved through the town, weaving its way around the palace of Shivajis descendant, Udayanraje Bhosale, the member of parliament from the city. I told him you are king, remain within your palace. We used to be afraid of the king of Satara. We no longer are, says Polke.

Read | OBCs, Muslims look to counter Maratha push for quota

This is the concluding part of our series, Caste Chaos, which looks at the Maratha agitation.

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Doctor Strange

Director - Scott Derrickson

Cast - Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton

Rating - 3/5



At 13 films old  now 14 - the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the hoopla that usually surrounds going to a Marvel movie has become a lot like going to your favourite restaurant. Youve stopped being adventurous with the menu. You know what you like. Youll have more of that, thank you very much. There is probably a better analogy to make about the MCU, one that doesnt involve fast food but instead, mythical lore or Homer. But for now, fast food will have to do.

Because you see, as innovative as these films are, and as groundbreaking as they have been in setting the tone for modern blockbuster moviemaking (everyone and their grandmother is aping them at this point), it would be very surprising if more than two or three of these films are remembered in a few decades.

Doctor Strange arrives at a critical time for Marvel. The series is just entering its final act. And it is battling expectations, staleness, fatigue and a whole host of other problems  nothing that an Avengers film cant cure, of course  but Doctor Strange is uncharted territory, Marvels first step into the more mystical corners of their immense universe.

Leading the film is Benedict Cumberbatch, who, despite his near-unbelievable charm, is still untested as a leading man in a franchise picture. So it gives me great pleasure to inform you that he is one of the best things about Doctor Strange. His arc is the most fleshed out, and although he very nearly blows it early on in the film, he manages to pull off making a detestable central character someone we can get behind.

This image released by Disney shows a scene from Marvel's Doctor Strange. (AP)

Recently, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that their biggest challenge in this film was not the comparisons many were making to Christopher Nolans Inception and its city-toppling visuals, but the potential comparisons that could be made to fellow Marvel narcissist Tony Stark  which was a wise move, since that Inception battle is already lost, Im afraid.

Doctor Stephen Strange, at least for the opening 15-20 minutes, is not a likeable man - so unlikeable in fact, that when his expensive Lamborghini careened off a cliff with him in it, a small part of me gave a shrug. But the crash took from him his biggest power: His hands. Doctor Stephen Strange, once an arrogant, but respected surgeon, without his hands, became worthless.

After a series of events that call for giant leaps in logic (including getting directions to a mystical far-off land with very little persuasion), Strange travels to Nepal, where he meets a mysterious being known as The Ancient One. And this is when the film finally steps into gear. Strange gets his own training montage, but instead of Tony Stark faffing around in his basement or Ant Man screaming in a bathtub, he gets stranded on Mount Everest.

This image released by Disney shows Tilda Swinton, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch in a scene from Marvel's Doctor Strange. (AP)

But try as hard as it may, Doctor Strange never really escapes from under the shadow of its franchise - although it makes the wise decision of being mostly independent of it. But for all its exciting visual choices, unprecedented in a Marvel movie and for all the magic, the film falls into the same old traps that have got the better of so many Marvel films before it. The most glaring of these shortcomings is yet another lacklustre villain.

Once again we have a Marvel superhero film in which the primary villain is eventually revealed to be nothing more than a henchman to a bigger foe, who is probably being saved for a future sequel. What a waste of Mads Mikkelsen, a fantastic actor who gets little more to do than wear funny makeup, wave his hands about and run a lot. His character, Kaecillius, the leader of a group of rebel zealots who threaten to unleash terrible, otherworldly forces on Earth, is like a cross between an un-menacing Darth Vader and a less moody Kylo Ren from Star Wars.

This image released by Disney shows Mads Mikkelsen in a scene from Marvel's Doctor Strange. (AP)

And once again, we have a Marvel superhero movie that completely ignores the importance of having good theme music. The only films that gave the music the respect that it deserves  especially in a superhero movie - were Iron Man 3 and the first Avengers, but even they forgot all about it later on for some reason. In Doctor Strange, composer Michael Giacchino openly recycles his themes from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the Star Trek movies - just as this film does plot points from earlier, better superhero origin stories.

If only the care that was put into the staggering, MC Escher-esque visuals from the final act were put into the characters. If only the fantastic special effects and a strong central performance from Cumberbatch were put in service of a more cohesive script. Maybe then Doctor Strange couldve been the trippy, psychedelic adventure it always promised to be, and not a middling entry in a 14-film-old franchise.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

The author tweets @NaaharRohan

Watch the Doctor Strange trailer here

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Parents of as many as five girls from a tribal boarding school in Maharashtra on Friday said they suspected their daughters were sexually abused, sending shockwaves across the state after news surfaced that a 10-year-old student got pregnant at the institute.

Tribal development minister Vishnu Savara said authorities suspect all six girls were sexually harassed.

Eleven staff members, including the headmaster, of the boarding school in Buldhana district were arrested on Thursday night for allegedly raping the 10-year-old student for weeks. The main accused is a sweeper at the school. Two suspects are on run. The Maharashtra government has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident.

Police said the alleged crime came to light after the tribal girl went home for Diwali and complained of stomach pain  which was confirmed as a pregnancy by the authorities.

Savara said the boarding school run by a private trust will lose its licence, announcing 10 of the arrested staff members have been suspended.

We have decided to cancel registration of the tribal boarding school while accused employees will be suspended immediately. Students will be transferred to three other boarding schools in the adjoining districts, Savara told reporters. He said a chargesheet will be filed in a month.

Former revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who is from Jalgaon district, met the five girls with their parents. Khadse said the families are from Jalgaon.

The poor girls are scared and are not in a position to speak. However, their families suspect that their daughters were also the victims of sexual assault. To confirm this, we have given custody of the girls to the police on Friday. The police will now carry out medical tests and based on the outcome further action will be taken, Khadse told HT.

Sanjay Baviskar, superintendent of police (SP) Buldhana, confirmed the five girls are being questioned by police.

Senior IPS officer Aarti Singh and additional SP Shweta Khedkar, who is heading the SIT, are questioning the girls. We have not received any formal complaint from their families, Baviskar told HT.

The issue of tribal boarding school students being sexually harassed across the state had been brought to governor Vidyasagar Raos notice. The governor had last week requested chief minister Devendra Fadanvis to take note, but the government took action only after the 10-year-olds case surfaced, sources said.

It has come to my notice that incidents of sexual harassment of girl students and also come incidents of suicides had occurred at tribal boarding schools in the past few years. A team of senior lady officers may be constituted at state level, which can be supported by teams at district and block level..., the governor wrote in his letter to the CM on October 26.

These teams may conduct periodical visits to each and every tribal boarding school and may take all necessary steps in this regard, the governor wrote in the letter.

Fadnavis, who was in Delhi, said he had directed the social justice and women and child development department to create a group of women officers and conduct visits to boarding schools, both aided and government-run.

The group of women officers will talk to the girl students. The exercise will help us find out how many boarding schools are not following rules and the government will cancel their registration, he told the media.

Yashwant Solunke additional superintendent of police (ASP) said that they would be conducting medical tests on all the girl students studying at the boarding school. The school has 105 girl students.

We have decided to conduct medical tests on all the girl students and this will be done in batches because vacations have not ended yet, Solunke told HT.

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Parents of actress Pratyusha Banrjee, who was found dead in her house in April, are seeking a re-investigation of her death on the grounds that police overlooked several aspects of the case, their lawyer said.

The development comes after a purported transcript of Banerjees last telephonic conversation with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh surfaced on Friday.

Name of a third person has come up in the telephonic conversation where Pratyusha is saying he was giving her life threats. Who is this person and why is he giving threats to Pratyusha, why police ignored this fact?... As of now we dont have entire charge sheet. Once we get it, we will study the documents and file a fresh application on Monday, said Neeraj Gupta, who is represents Banerjees parents.

The police also didnt look properly into Pratyushas blood and viscera reports, Gupta added.

Pratyusha, who shot to fame as Anandi in the TV serial Balika Vadhu, was found dead at her house on April. Police registered a case of abatement of suicide against Singh, who secured an anticipatory bail.

Also read | Pratyushas parents demand CBI probe, to seek euthanasia if probe fails
Delhi is playing host to governments from across the Asia-Pacific at the seventh Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR).

The Delhi Declaration from the AMCDRR will be of particular significance for India and the South Asia region. With over 1.7 billion people, it is the most densely populated region in the world and home to some of the worst disasters within Asia.

Read | Encourage leadership of women in disaster risk management: PM Modi

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) data from the World Disasters Report 2016 indicates that 16.5 million people in India were affected by disasters in 2015. Of these, almost 14 million people were affected by floods in July and August  the second largest disaster worldwide in 2015 relative to the number of people affected.

Although the World Disasters Report recognizes Indias progress towards lowering the human toll of disasters, mainly attributed to improved early warning systems, increased connectivity and better local understanding on how to respond to warnings, much more remains to be done to build resilience at community level.

With disasters becoming more frequent, intense and unpredictable, partly due to climate change, this AMCDRR is also significant because it is the first after nations signed up to the global Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, in March last year. The Sendai Framework identifies targets and priority actions for governments to reduce loss of lives and assets from disasters.

Hosted by the Indian government, in collaboration with the UNISDR, the ongoing AMCDRR will set the direction for the implementation of the Sendai Framework within Asia-Pacific, a region that is the worlds most disaster-affected. Nearly 43% of the worlds natural hazards happen in this region, affecting 80% of all those impacted globally. This is also where 67% of all disaster-induced deaths occur.

India had also hosted the 2007 AMCDRR. This time, the AMCDRR will bring out a 15-year Asia regional operational plan for the Sendai Framework. The plan will be for governments and communities to work together to reduce disaster risk, from the local to the national levels, in keeping with the AMCDRR theme: Risk sensitive development for community resilience. The operational plan will also help the Asian continent achieve national commitments under two other global frameworks  the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Key Focus Areas

The regional operational plan will support national laws and national action. Asian countries have made concerted efforts to make strong disaster laws. However, implementation continues to be a challenge, especially at the local level. Local authorities require resources and capacities to implement legal provisions. Yet, they often remain understaffed and underfunded.

One of the four priority areas for action under the Sendai Framework is to strengthen disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk. Good disaster risk governance requires strong disaster laws and active involvement of the community. The AMCDRR recognises that risk reduction works best when communities are resilient. The IFRC Disaster Law Programme supports over 35 Asia-Pacific governments to review and improve disaster laws as well as work with communities to make them more resilient to disasters. The IFRC is the worlds largest humanitarian organisation comprising 190-member Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies set by an Act of Parliament in each of the countries.

Strong disaster laws ensure that communities are equipped with local knowledge and local capacities to reduce disaster risks. About 86% of the National Societies in this region are part of the local decision-making bodies. Strengthening these National Societies is one significant step towards effective implementation of disaster management laws in the region and achieve outcomes envisaged under the global frameworks.

The poorest and the socially marginalised people, especially women and girls, are most vulnerable to disasters and have least access to coping opportunities. Governments will be able to strengthen implementation of disaster laws by ensuring targeted data collection that maps geographical and human vulnerabilities, taking into account age, gender, ethnic background and class. Mapping intra-household data will better ensure that preparedness and benefits are accessible to the most vulnerable sections of society.

Disaster laws will also be better implemented with formulation of district-level multi-disaster management plans as well as mainstream risk reduction in every department by allocating financial resources to take care of these risks.

Lastly, factoring in climate variability, disaster risk reduction laws need to be integrated with legal provisions on climate change adaptation. This will ensure that people are not only able to cope with disaster risks but are also able to deal with uncertainties that are making disasters more unpredictable, intense and more frequent.

(Martin Faller is the deputy director for Asia Pacific, IFRC)
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday charged state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh with betraying the Sikh community by speaking in favour of Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and late HKL Bhagat, who are accused of involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Sewa Kendra inauguration here, Sukhbir said Capt had proved that he had no concern for families who suffered the horrendous carnage and that he could stoop to any level to please his political masters. Calling the Gandhi family sworn enemies of Sikhs, Sukhbir said they could never think about the well-being of either Punjab or Sikhs.

Also training his guns on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Sukhbir alleged: The AAP doesnt care about religious sentiments of people, and its members have desecrated holy scriptures and are embroiled in many cases of moral turpitude and corruption.

The deputy CM said only those people are joining the Arvind Kejriwal-led party who are not given importance anywhere else. Terming the Akali-BJP government the true representatives of the peoples aspirations in Punjab, Sukhbir listed out works on religious memorials and construction of heritage street near the Golden Temple as its achievements.
The police have claimed to have busted a gang of notorious gangsters on Thursday. The police arrested four persons and recovered weapons from their possession.

Addressing a press conference the police said that acting on a tip-off that some persons had gathered at Kangniwal village carrying deadly weapons to attack a rival group and loot a petrol pump.

A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) team led by in-charge CIA inspector Angrej Singh, conducted a raid at the village and arrested the gangsters, said the police.

The arrested have been identified as Harmandeep Singh alias Harman gang leader, Rajinder Singh alias Neki and Narinder Singh, all from Talhan village while Ajay Sehdev is from Patti Sanki village. Two gang members Amandeep Singh alias doctor, who is pursuing Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree and his brother Gagandeep Singh, a law student of Talhan village managed to flee from the spot.

Police have recovered one country made.315 pistol, two .315 bore Mauser automatic, eight live cartridges, sharp edge weapons and 75gm intoxicant powder during the search. Police also recovered a stolen car from their possession.

The accused are associated with the infamous Bhalu gang who have committed several crimes including robberies, theft, and fights for money, said Singh.

In the preliminary investigation, accused have confessed to their crimes, he said. Sehdev is facing seven criminal cases and has been declared a proclaimed offender, he said.

Similarly, Neki, Harman and Narinder have been facing cases under Section 307, 324, 341, 427 of IPC and under Arms Act, said the police official.
Two owners of a liquor shop and their three aides allegedly beat up a retired army man to death at Thathi Bhai village in Smalsar near here on Thursday night, reportedly after the victim objected to liquor being overpriced. Five people have been booked for murder.

The deceased, Beant Singh, 35, of Chida village in Smalsar town of Moga, who had retired as havildar from the army a year ago, had gone to the Thathi Bhai village to buy liquor from the vend owned by Sunny Gill and his partner Harjinder Singh. The liquor shop had been sealed by the excise department recently over non-renewal of licence, still the contractors had been doing brisk business, it is learnt. The contractors men were selling liquor at exorbitant rates from a vehicle parked outside the shop.

Smalsar police have booked contractors Sunny Gill, Harjinder Singh, and their aides Sant Ram, Jagdeep Singh alias Giani of Moga, Jeet Singh of Smalsar, for murder. Gill is said to be close to some Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders and he has liquor business interests in Moga, Ludhiana and Sangrur. He reportedly also has shares in the Fastway cable network company in Moga district.

Beant had insisted on paying the market rate for the liquor he wanted to buy, which the accused didnt agree, leading to a scuffle. At the behest of Harjinder and Sunny, their workers beat up Beant to death using sticks, said Jaswant Singh, a cousin of the victim.

Smalsar station house officer (SHO) Bhupinder Singh said all the accused were absconding and police teams were raiding their possible hideouts.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered under Sections 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A prime accused, Gurmeet Singh, in the case of beating up of a Dalit youth, Amritpal Singh, in Pakhoke village was arrested on Thursday, while eight other accused are still at large.

The 20-year-old victim was allegedly thrashed by members of upper caste, who exchanged heated arguments with him on Diwali night over fireworks. They allegedly thrashed him the next day.

Gurmeet Singh, his sons  Raja and Shera, along with six unidentified persons, were booked under charges of attempt to murder on Tuesday. As per the complaint, the accused also fired gunshots at him.

While speaking to station house officer (SHO) of city police station inspector Yadwinder Singh said search for rest of the accused is on.

Referring to complaint lodged by the victim, he ruled out the victim being paraded naked in the village. He also made it clear that the victim did not sustain any injury due to the firing.

PDP extends support to victim

Punjab Democratic Party (PDP) met the victim at civil hospital and assured their full support on Thursday. The attack was alleging politically motivated, as the PDP chief Gurkirpal Singh said it is surprising that no one from the SAD-BJP government, including Tarn Taran SAD MLA Harmeet Singh Sandhu, came to visit the Dalit victim. He lashed out at PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh for not enquiring about the health condition of the victim.
In what appears to be oversight or negligence on part of its officials, the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) is set to allot all 25 parking lots in the city to a firm whose contract the Ludhiana market committee had cancelled in February last year for overcharging.

The staff of the firm, LRY Labour Construction, was also accused of misbehaving with people. Moreover, several complaints of overcharging are still pending against the contractor with the Ludhiana municipal corporation.

Interestingly, the MC failed to verify the credentials of the contractor before it participated in the bidding process.

To make smart parking lots in the city, the local civic body had floated tenders for which and three companies came forward.

While the Ludhiana contractor gave the highest bid at Rs 2.16 crore, a Delhi-based firms bid was Rs 2.12 crore. A Chandigarh-based company, Kapsonss bid was disqualified as it did not have required experience.

In a week, the MC will be issuing notices to all paid parking contractors to vacate the lots. As many as 11 of the 25 parking lots are open for the past one year, resulting in a loss of nearly Rs 4 crore to the civic body.

MC joint commissioner Varinder Chaudhary said, The firm is the highest bidder. We have got some complaints of overcharging and rude behaviour by its employees in Ludhiana. We are still checking the veracity of the claims and also sending our team to Ludhiana before finalising the contract.

The MC wants to allot the contract before the code of conduct for civic body polls comes into effect from November 15. The MC polls are scheduled to be held in third week of December.

Under the smart parking system, smart rechargeable entry cards will be available at e-sampark centres. The parking lots will be have automatic boom barriers. There are also plans to launch a mobile app to provide

parking availability status in real time. For past several years, paid parking has become a contentious issue as the civic body has failed to streamline it, resulting in haphazard parking that causes inconvenience to residents.

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In an effort to clear air over the allegations that he had given a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler on latters role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh said no one from the victim families took the name of the Congress leader during his interaction with the survivors in camps. He, however, admitted that people did name five Congress leadersHKL Bhagat, Dharam Das Shastri, Lalit Maken, Sajjan Kumar and Arjan Dassthat they were involved in one way or the other with the riots.

Talking to the media, Amarinder said, My saying this is not a clean chit to Tytler. Let the court of law decide he is a guilty or not. Akali Dal is raking up the issue with an eye on the polls.

Bhagat, Shastri, Maken and Arjan Dass have since died and Sajjan Kumar and Tytler are facing trial.

They (Akalis) make noises on the riots issue before polls, but dont utter a word after the polls are over, he said, adding it was BJP leader late Madan Lal Khurana who first took name of Tytler six months after the riots. He said the Aam Aadmi Party too was raising the issue even as it has the government in Delhi. Capt said post-riots, he had resigned as a member of Parliament and quit the Congress.

On a query, Amarinder said Rahul Gandhi was capable to becoming the party president. On Navjot Sidhus joining the Congress, he said Sidhu would join, if he does, unconditionally.

SAD, AAP leaders join Cong

Meanwhile, SAD political affairs committee member and former Rajya Sabha member Varinder Singh Bajwa, SAD general secretary Ram Parkash, SAD working committee member Hardev Singh and SAD general secretary Harjinder Rehal joined the Congress in Amarinders presence. AAP leader from Shri Hargobindpur Harvinder Pal Singh and retired IAS officer TR Sarangal also joined the party. Punjab affairs in-charge of the Congress, Asha Kumari, was also present.

Statewide protests over OROP

Capt Amarinder said statewide protests will be held from Friday against the non-implementation of one rank, one pension scheme and suicide by Subedar Ram Kishen (retd). He held defence minister Manohar Parrikar responsible for the tragedy.

Party workers have been directed to hold dharnas in all the districts and I will lead a delegation to submit a memorandum to the governor on the issue of police misbehaving with the ex-soldiers family, said Amarinder.
Four gun-wielding men looted Rs 4.08 lakh from employees of Punjab National Bank branch at Mirzapur village near in the district on Thursday.

As per the bank officials, there was no security guard in the bank, which has six employees.

Four young men came on a bike with masked faces. They asked us to keep our hands up and threatened to shoot if anybody would move, branch manager OD Sharma told Hindustan times.

They went to the cash counter, put a gun on the head of cashier Rajinder Kumar and asked him to give them all the money. They took the cashier to the safe room and took `4.08 lakh from there, he said.

He added that when the sweeper of the bank, Amit, tried to hide in the store room, they hit him on the head.

The police registered a case of loot against unknown persons and started investigations. We have procured the CCTV footage from the bank and forensic experts have taken samples of fingerprints, a police spokesman said.
In accordance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) tradition, its chief -- deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal -- will select the next president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) from among the SGPC members belonging to the party here on Saturday.

Around 160 of the 170 elected members in the SGPC House of 190 members are aligned with the SAD. The ruling party also has the support of all 15 co-opted members.

During a closed-door meeting at Teja Singh Samundri Hall here on Friday, SGPC members belonging to the Akali Dal decided unanimously to give the party president the sole right of choosing the next SGPC president and other office-bearers (for a one-year term in accordance with the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925), said SAD general secretary and minister Daljit Singh Cheema. Around 130 members attended the meeting.

The SAD chief, who was present at the meeting, assured the members that he would name a person with a clean image, while keeping their aspirations in mind. He also had one-on-one meetings with some SGPC members to solicit their views, on the eve of the SGPC House meeting.

In the race

The names doing the rounds for the top SGPC post are those of current chief Avtar Singh Makkar, former chief Kirpal Singh Badungar, senior Akali leaders and former ministers Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Sucha Singh Langah, and Dirba MLA Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas.

Sukhbirs decision will remain suspense till the General House meets at 11am on Saturday. According to the tradition, a senior SGPC member is expected to open the sealed envelope containing the name of the next president.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed from reliable sources that Tarn Taran deputy commissioner (DC) Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal will assume additional charge of Amritsar -- from Varun Roojam -- and preside over the SGPC House meeting. As per convention, only a Sikh officer can preside over the first meeting of the new SGPC House.

HC allows jailed Dal Khalsa leader to attend meet

Hours after being denied conditional bail by a Jalandhar court, SGPC member Kulbir Singh Barapind, who is associated with the Sikh radical outfit Dal Khalsa, got special permission from the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday to attend the General House meeting of the apex gurdwara body on Saturday. Barapind, who is SGPC member from Phillaur, is facing murder charge and is presently lodged at the Kapurthala model jail.
Want the best deal for your hotel stay? Book it on a Sunday, suggests a new report on hotel trends.

Its one of several findings in a new report from Expedia, which highlights different hotel trends observed in the first half of 2016.

After mining the booking and search habits of Expedia users, analysts found that in general, booking a hotel on a Sunday yields the most savings.

That was found to be especially true for same-day bookings made on a Sunday, and stays that dont include a Saturday night.

Likewise, data showed that trips beginning on a Sunday were found to be less expensive than trips beginning on other days of the week.

Analysts also found that the cheapest months for hotel stays are November and January, while the most expensive months are predictably July, August and March, during spring break.

When it comes to lead times, the findings suggest that travellers book between three to four weeks ahead of their travel dates if theyre looking to score savings.

The report also looked at how Brexit has impacted the travel industry and found growing interest in international travel to the UK notably from Singapore, the US, and Europe, most likely due to the favourable exchange rate.

And finally, travellers needing to squeeze as much savings as they can from their hotel stays are advised to book rooms in alternate, fringe neighbourhoods.

More affordable neighbourhoods in London, for instance, include Canary Wharf, Shoreditch and Tower Hill, while Queens and the Financial District can offer savings for New York-bound travellers.

For Paris, that neighbourhood is La Defense.

Not only can travellers find the best savings when booking hotel stays on a Sunday, another Expedia report released earlier this year found that fliers are more likely to find the best flight deals when they buy tickets on the weekend.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.
Reality TV personality Kris Jenner wants to turn her daughter Kim Kardashians traumatic Paris robbery experience into a film.

She is looking to turn her daughters ordeal into yet another of her business ventures, reports Radaronline.com.

Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble attend the Off-white 2017 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show, on September 29, 2016 in Paris. (AFP)

Shes frantically assembling a movie concept to pitch to the studios. She sees it as a glamourous thriller to rival The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, said a source.

Kim was reportedly held up at gunpoint, tied up and locked in a bathroom of her Paris hotel room, and she was robbed of jewellery and other items.

Kim Kardashian West carries her daughter North West to an awaiting vehicle, Thursday, October 6, 2016, in New York. (AP)

Kris hopes to make millions from any potential film deal based on the crime.

She only wants to see A-list actors in starring roles. Kris is fantasising about Mila Kunis or Natalie Portman playing Kim.

But how likely is this to happen? According to the source, Kris is used to getting her own way.

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If the election ends badly for Republican nominee Donald Trump, he will find plenty of factors to blame, but one will stand out  his remarks disparaging Hispanics, an electorally powerful minority that is rooting for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

They have been turning out in numbers larger than ever during early voting, giving Clinton the edge in key battleground states such as Florida and Nevada and putting Arizona, which has historically been solidly Republican, in play. Clinton visited Arizona for the first time this election on Wednesday, accompanied by her running mate Tim Kaine who gave a speech completely in Spanish.

For the first time in a long time Arizona is competitive, Kaine said, calling on supporters to vote early immediately after the rally. The power of the Latino vote can make a big difference in many states, in a historic way. He went on to call Trump a payaso, Spanish for clown.

In the final push to the finish, with four days to polling, Clinton has been focussed on minorities, deploying powerful surrogates such as President Barack Obama to rally African Americans, who prefer her to Trump overwhelmingly, but have been much slower to turn out and vote than in 2008 and 2012 when the president was on the ballot. Obama was in North Carolina, which has a large black population, on Wednesday and back again on Friday to encourage it to cast its votes early.

Clinton leads Trump in polls  by 1.7 points in the RealClearPolitics average  but the Republican has caught up considerably in recent days, wiping out a deficit of over seven points from around the first debate. He has also improved his chance of winning significantly, going up from 12% in the FiveThirtyEight forecast in mid-October to nearly 40% on Friday.

Both candidates and their allies have been barnstorming battleground states  Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Ohio  in a bid to secure their respective paths to 270, the electoral college threshold for winning. Though Trump has been catching up as the race has tightened in recent days, Clinton retains the lead.

Her support among minorities will be key to her success. Hispanics, or Latinos as they are also known, comprise an estimated 12% of voters (nearly the same as African Americans, according to the Pew Research Center), and Clinton leads Trump by almost 50 points among them, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The Clinton campaign is hoping to wrap up key battleground states such as Florida, Nevada and now Arizona with their support. Robby Mook, her campaign manager, told donors on Thursday that the campaign expected to win Florida, Nevada and North Carolina in large part because of Hispanic turnout, according to reports.

Trump completely alienated Hispanics, who have not yet warmed up to the Republican party, through a string of disparaging remarks starting from the day he launched his campaign. He called them rapists and criminals and promised to build a wall along the border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration.

While the wall caught the imagination of his core Republican voters, his remarks about Hispanics being criminals burnt him completely with the community, which he compounded later by clashing with Alicia Machado, a former beauty queen.

A high-profile visit to Mexico for a meeting with the countrys president, Enrique Pena Nieto, collapsed amid claims and counterclaims about the promised wall and who will pay for it  Trump insisted Mexico will, while Nieto disagreed publicly.

The Trump candidacy and the climate its created has really heightened the importance and the personal nature of this election for Latinos, Yvanna Cancela, political director of Culinary Workers Union 226, which represents casino workers in Nevada, told The Washington Post.
Republican nominee Donald Trumps wife Melania returned to the campaign trail with a speech on Thursday in which she vowed to fight cyber- bullying as first lady if her husband won.

Melania pledged to help children who are mocked, bullied or attacked, but critics were quick to point out the irony in her promise as her husband tends to spend a lot of time doing all of that and more  only not to children.

It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked, Melania, who has a 10-year-old son, said in a rare speech. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other.

We must find better ways to honour and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media, she added. It will be one of the main focuses of my work, if I am privileged enough to become your first lady.

Melania, who is said to be a reluctant campaigner, had gone off the trail completely after her speech at the party convention in Cleveland was found to have lifted paragraphs from a speech delivered by Michelle Obama in 2008.
Donald Trump has shown more than 586 hours of television ads in the general election, and until now something has been missing: his voice.

There is no footage of him speaking, no archival recordings to build out his life story and no direct-to-camera appeals to voters. He doesnt utter a word other than the legally required recording, Im Donald Trump, and I approve this message, at the end of his commercials.

Thats about to change. In one of the final ads of the race, the Republican presidential nominee will take his case to the voters, his campaign says.

Americans have been subjected to more than $500 million in TV ads  $88 million and counting just this week  since the contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton began in June.

With the election days away, The Associated Press analysed Kantar Medias ad data to find out what the candidates have been telling voters about themselves. The review covered 22 Trump campaign ads and 68 by the Clinton campaign, which had aired more than 311,000 times by Monday on national networks, local broadcast channels and national cable stations.

AP found a lack of Trumps voice in his own commercials and an overabundance of his words in Clintons. Thats helped drive what is by far the most dominant message of general election advertising, that each candidate believes the other is unfit for the White House.

Trump has been silent in his ads because his campaign wanted them not be centered around him but the movement itself, said Jessica Ditto, a Trump spokeswoman.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Concord, North Carolina, on Thursday. (Reuters file)

A different view: The campaign may have concluded that voters like the idea of Trump more than the actual Trump, said Will Ritter, co-founder of the Republican ad firm Poolhouse and an outspoken Trump critic. They could worry that when he opens his mouth, people are reminded he is in no way prepared to be president.

Thats what Clintons campaign is hoping.

More than half of her ads hold Trump against himself, the AP found. They feature Trump appearing to mock a disabled reporter, using profanity at rallies, seeming to threaten to use nuclear weapons and making disparaging and predatory comments about women.

To hammer Clinton, Trumps ads talk about Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of state, her response to the terrorist attacks in Benghazi and her untrustworthiness.

Beneath the avalanche of attack ads are positive  sometimes even issues-focused  commercials. Clinton has an ad solely on the importance of clean energy, while Trump has one about the need to put coal miners back to work.

But neither candidate is focusing ads on issues he or she brings while campaigning, the AP found.

At his giant rallies, Trump frequently says hell redo trade deals. That topic gets few mentions in his advertising. When shes addressing supporters, Clinton vows to make wealthy people pay their fair share by increasing taxes. Shes barely talking about that in ads.

A man displays support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a get-out-the-vote rally in Las Vegas. (AFP)

CLINTON ISSUE ADS

Clintons chief advertising message is that she fights for children. Her ads dive into photo and video archives to showcase those parts of her resume, and actor Morgan Freeman describes Clinton in melodious cadence as a woman who spent her life helping children and families.

While only two less frequent Trump ads mention children, such ads dominate more than half of Clintons barrage of commercials.

Ive spent my life fighting for children, and Im not stopping now, Clinton says in an ad thats been broadcast more than any other during the general election. The spot does not go into specific policy or achievements, but shows Clinton over the decades talking about children.

The same message is delivered in a new, end-of-campaign spot that has rocketed to the top of her play list. This one shows parents marking off the heights of their kids as Clinton says a country is judged by what it does for its children.

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks to children at Overtown Youth Center in Miami, Florida. (Reuters file)

Clinton strategist Joel Benenson said such ads remind people of the work Clinton has done and tell voters something they may not know about her work for children, families and women. He also said it strikes a clear contrast with Trump.

Donald Trump has a lifetime of really stiffing average people and putting himself first all the time, he said.

TRUMP ISSUE ADS

Trumps top advertising message to voters is that he would shake up Washington. The commercials not so subtly suggest a brighter future by switching from washed-out tones when Clinton is mentioned to full colour when he is.

Trump is making more of a positive case for his presidency than Clinton does for herself in ads of the past few weeks, AP found. It takes a builder to rebuild the American dream, a narrator intones. And Donald Trump has the blueprint.

Viewers might not have expected that optimism; the Republican convention was far more downbeat than the Democrats.

Supporters hold up a Hillary Clinton sign at a Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaign event at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday. (Reuters)

However, in recent days Trump has released some of his most brutal Clinton ads.

Trumps most common commercial of the general election centres on the economy. In Donald Trumps America, working families get tax relief, millions of new jobs are created, wages go up, small businesses thrive, a narrator says.

One of Trumps newest ads, which he has deployed so heavily that its his second most common overall, seems to be a response to Clintons boast about her long record of public service.

Hillary Clinton wont change Washington; shes been there 30 years, the ad begins. Taxes went up, terrorism spread, jobs vanished, but special interests and Washington insiders thrived. The ad then says: Donald Trump will turn Washington upside down, Day One.
Donald Trump warned Thursday that a cloud of investigation would follow Hillary Clinton into the White House, evoking the bitter impeachment battle of the 1990s in a closing campaign argument meant to bring wayward Republicans home. Clinton and her allies, led by President Barack Obama, told voters to get serious about the dangers of Trump.

As polls show Trump closing in on Clinton in key battleground states, her campaign is rushing to shore up support in some long-standing Democratic strongholds. That includes the campaigns Michigan firewall, a remarkable situation for a candidate who looked to be cruising to an easy win just a week ago.

Clintons shrunken lead has given Trumps campaign a glimmer of hope, one hes trying to broaden into a breakthrough before time runs out. That means zeroing in on questions of Clintons trustworthiness and a new FBI review of an aides emails.

The attack is aimed at appealing to moderate Republicans and independents who have been the holdouts of his campaign, turned off by his behavior but equally repelled by the possible return of the Clintons.

Here we go again with the Clintons - you remember the impeachment and the problems. Trump said Thursday at a rally in Jacksonville. Thats not what we need in our country, folks. We need someone who is ready to go to work.

Clinton and allies, meanwhile, are seeking to keep the spotlight on Trump, charging that his temperament and his disparaging comments about women and minorities make him unfit for office.

He has spent this entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters, Clinton said, singling out Trumps endorsement from the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan and noting he has retweeted messages from white supremacists.

This has never happened to a nominee of a major party, Clinton said.

If Donald Trump were to win this election we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous, she said at Pitt Community College outside of Greenville, North Carolina.

Clinton campaigned later Thursday with former primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders and pop star Pharrell Williams in Raleigh, where she warned that Trumps election risked normalizing discrimination.

Also in battleground North Carolina, Trump delivered a defense-related speech at a nighttime rally and said he cant picture Clinton as commander in chief. And he saluted veterans, saying, they are so much more brave than me. Im brave in other ways. Im financially brave, big deal!

Trumps path to victory remains narrow. He must win Florida to win the White House, no easy feat. Still, his campaign has been buoyed by tightening polls there and in other key battlegrounds, as well as by signs that African-American turnout for Clinton may be lagging.

Clinton enlisted Obamas help urging those voters to the polls and lighting a fire under other Democrats, particularly young people, who share some of the wariness about Clinton. Speaking to students at Florida International University in Miami, Obama told voters now was the time to get serious about the choice.

This isnt a joke. This isnt Survivor. This isnt The Bachelorette. he said, taunting the former reality-TV star. This counts.

Relishing one of his last turns on the campaign stage as president, Obama repeatedly returned to his new campaign catchphrase capturing his disbelief in the unpredictable race to replace him.

Cmon, man, he said, to cheers.

Obama has been trying to bait Republican into veering off message - counting on Trump not to have the discipline or the ground game to capitalize on a late surge.

But the famously unconventional Trump has been hewing closer to convention, running some upbeat ads, bringing out his wife for a rare campaign appearance and even talking publicly about trying not to get distracted.

We dont want to blow it on Nov. 8, Trump said Thursday at the rally in Jacksonville, his fourth in Florida in two days.

Clintons weekend schedule underscored the Democrats fresh anxiety in the final stretch. She is due to campaign Friday in Detroit, where a large turnout of black voters has long been crucial to success, following up on a last-minute meeting by former President Bill Clinton with black ministers on Wednesday night.

Clinton and Obama, along with their spouses, will headline a final pre-election rally in Philadelphia next Monday evening.

Trump has had far fewer allies carrying his message. Sen. Ted Cruz, his GOP primary foe, did campaign with vice presidential candidate Mike Pence outside Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, but he never mentioned Trump by name in a 14-minute speech.

Trumps wife, Melania Trump, made her first appearance on the trail since the Republican convention in July. At a get-out-the-vote rally in the Philadelphia suburbs, the former model tried to counter the Clinton campaigns pounding attacks on her husband as setting a poor example for children.

She told the group that if she becomes first lady she will focus on combatting online bullying and working against a culture that has gotten too mean and too rough, she said.

Melania made no reference to her husbands regular name-calling on social media. On Twitter, Donald Trump has called Clinton crooked, pathetic, liar, a fraud and very dumb. Hes called Cruz a true lowlife pol and a complete and total liar.

Trumps daughter Ivanka was campaigning in New Hampshire.
China will feature as the focus country in the 22nd edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), organisers said on Thursday, emphasising cinemas reach beyond borders sans political affiliations.

An assemblage of 155 films from 65 countries will be showcased across 13 venues in the festival, which begins on November 11.

A delegation of at least eight persons from the Chinese government and film industry will attend the fest, organised by the West Bengal state government, which will screen as many as seven films from the neighbouring country.

Six government officials, one director and her assistant, one screenwriter, one actor from China will come to KIFF. One film will go for the international competition (women directors), said Chinas Consul Li Suyun.

Earlier this year, China held its first film fest in the city, which is home to Indias largest Chinese Indian community, numbering around 2,000.

Chinas ties with India have recently suffered over Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the country blocking Indias appeal to the United Nations to label Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a terrorist and the call to boycott Chinese goods.

However, organisers emphasised that the KIFF aims to screen world cinema and it does not have any political colour.

Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan will inaugurate the festival. (PTI )

The inaugural on November 10 will see megastar Amitabh Bachchan, his actor-wife Jaya and stars Kajol and Sanjay Dutt kick-off the fest, said festival director Yadab Mandal.

As many as 15 films from 13 countries have been selected for the international competition (Best Film by a Woman Director and Best Woman Director).

The regional focus is on Marathi films.

The fest will pay tribute to late American screen icon Gregory Peck and Kanan Debi, dubbed as the first superstar of Indian cinema, with the ongoing year marking her centenary.

Six films of Japanese film director and screenwriter Kenji Mizoguchi will be showcased in the Great Master segment.

Homage will be paid to Australian filmmaker Paul Cox and Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami (who passed away this year) and others.

The festival will also remember the 450th death anniversary of William Shakespeare by screening some of the major film adaptations of the bards works.

Among additions, debuting this year is the international competition in innovation in moving images with nine films from seven countries.

A segment on biopic documentary has been introduced in the 22nd edition.

Jago Hua Savera was removed from MAMI 2016.

The organisers cited distributorship issue for the absence of Pakistani films this year.

We couldnt get Jago Hua Savera, a 1959 Pakistani drama film. This is due to some distributor issue and not because of political reasons. They couldnt link it. Its restored version was screened at Cannes Film Festival, Mandal said.

Atri Bhattacharya, principal secretary of state information and culture department, said the state government has launched an initiative to restore old films.

A retrospective of films by Mrinal Sen has been dropped due to the lack of availability of restored versions, organisers said.

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Filmmaker Raam Reddys award-winning Kannada film Thithi on Thursday kickstarted the fifth edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) with a screening to a packed house in Dharamsala.

The opening of the four-day long film festival was attended by Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma, among other dignitaries.

Thithi, which earlier won various honours at 68th Locarno International Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, 19th Shanghai International Film Festival and 63rd National Film Awards, is a dramatic comedy about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest in their clan, a man named Century Gowda -- a locally renowned, highly cantankerous 101-year-old man.

Not only does the film give a perfect start to the cultural and independent film festival, but it also witnessed a packed house in the Tibetan Childrens Village here.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was supposed to attend the opening ceremony, but was forced to leave for Delhi due to bad health, said filmmaker Ritu Sarin, who curates the festival along with her husband Tenzing Sonam.

I welcome you all on behalf of the Chief Minister, who was scheduled to be here, but had to change his schedule at last minute for a meeting in Delhi, said Sharma who came instead.

Slowly and steadily this film festival is growing every year. I want to assure the organisers that the government of Himachal Pradesh is ready to help them in every way possible for this festival, he added.

The end of the movie was marked by a loud applause by the audience which included independent filmmakers, critics, local audience, tourists and movie aficionados.

Presented in collaboration with Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, the festival is also supported by the Himachal Pradesh government and the National Film Development Corporation of India.

Vetrimaaran's Visaaranai is based on a book called Lock Up by Coimbatore-based autorickshaw driver Chandra Kumar.

DIFF 2016 will feature 43 films in total from 21 countries including Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany, Bhutan among others.

The festival will come to an end with National Award-winning filmmaker Vetrimaarans critically acclaimed Tamil drama Visaaranai (Interrogation), which is Indias official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the upcoming 89th Academy Awards.

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Indias Alankrita Shrivastava won The Spirit Of Asia Award for her Lipstick Waale Sapne (Lipstick Under My Burkha) at the Tokyo International Film Festival that ended on Thursday evening. A movie tracing the struggles of four women, two Hindus and two Muslims, living in close proximity to one another in Bhopal, proved a hit with many Japanese who evinced a keen interest to watch the work. The catchy title may have done the trick to seduce people towards a film where a tube of lipstick acts as a liberator.

The festivals most important prizes went to movies from other parts of the world. The top honour, Tokyo Grand Prize, went to a German romantic comedy, The Bloom of Yesterday (directed by Chris Kraus), where two Holocaust researchers, a German guy (whose family had a Nazi past) and a French woman indulge in a battle of wits while falling in love.

German romantic comedy, The Bloom of Yesterday won the top honour -- Tokyo Grand Prize. (Tokyo International Film Festival)

The Special Jury Prize went to Amanda Kernells Sami Blood from Sweden, a disturbing study of a 14-year-old Sami girls racial victimisation. Kernell told the media that Sami people, an ethnic minority living in Sweden and neighbouring countries, had been subject to discrimination -- a kind of cruelty that could be seen even in todays migrant camps. So the film had a contemporary relevance.

A scene from Amanda Kernells Sami Blood from Sweden. (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Lene Cecillia Sparrok, who plays the Sami girl, with passionate intensity, was adjudged Best Actress.

The Best Actor prize went to Paolo Ballesteros -- who essays Trisha, a Filipino transgender woman in Die Beautiful who collapses while being crowned a beauty queen.

A scene from Die Beautiful... (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Die Beautiful, helmed by Jun Robles Lana, also won the Audience Award.

Croatias Hana Jusic walked away with the Best Director trophy for her Quit Staring At My Plate -- about a young womans quest to find freedom after her father is bed-ridden with a serious illness. And this search takes her towards seedy sex, which ultimately leaves her unhappy.

The Best Director trophy went to Hana Jusics Quit Staring At My Plate from Croatia. (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Chinas Mr No Problem by Mei Feng was termed the Best Artistic Contribution. The work, gorgeously shot, talks about corruption in a farm during 1943 - when Japan and China were at war.

Chinas Mr No Problem by Mei Feng won the Best Artistic Contribution award. (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Two Japanese titles in competition -- Snow Woman and Japanese Girls Never Die -- walked away empty handed.

(Gautaman Bhaskaran covered the Tokyo International Film Festival.)

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Tens of thousands of Muslim hardliners called for Jakartas Christian governor to be prosecuted for blasphemy in a massive demonstration in the Indonesian capital today, sparking fears of violence and putting authorities on alert.

A sea of protesters wearing white Islamic robes swarmed the citys largest mosque for Friday prayers before taking to the streets in a huge show of force against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is accused of insulting Islam.

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Purnama apologised for the remarks, but his opponents have built a groundswell of support calling for his arrest and incarceration under Indonesias tough blasphemy laws.

Its no wonder people arise. Why when it comes to Ahok is the law not upheld? deputy house speaker Fahri Hamzah, a prominent politician from an Islamic political party, told demonstrators today.

Anger at Purnama, Jakartas second Christian governor and the first from the countrys ethnic Chinese community, spread beyond the capital, with solidarity marches also held across Java and in cities as far away as Makassar in Indonesias east.

Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told AFP there were no reports of violence so far, declaring the rally peaceful.

But police took no chances in the lead up, deploying 18,000 officers amid fears that radical elements could infiltrate the march.
A roadside bomb has killed 11 people on their way to a wedding in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, officials said today, as civilian casualties rise in the war-torn country.

The blast occurred yesterday just as 30 Afghan civilians were killed in US air strikes in the neighbouring province of Kunduz, a hotbed of Taliban insurgency.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the Faryab blast, which also killed women and children, but officials blamed Taliban militants.

Eleven civilians were martyred and 12 others wounded when they struck a roadside bomb in Kosa Qala village in Faryab province, provincial spokesman Ahmad Jawed Bedar told AFP, adding that the victims were heading to a wedding.

A provincial police spokesman confirmed the same toll.

Roadside bombs are the favourite weapon of the Islamist militants fighting to oust the Western-backed Kabul government.

Insurgents frequently target Afghan police and military, but the surge in attacks has also taken a heavy toll on civilians.

The UN recently cited a 42 per cent rise in casualties caused by pro-government forces this year compared to 2015.

But Islamist militants were responsible for the majority - 61 per cent - of total casualties.
Britains next general election is scheduled for 2020, but Thursdays high court ruling that the Brexit process cannot be triggered without a vote from Parliament has sparked talk of a mid-term election, given the timetable for leaving the European Union.

Under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, exiting the EU is a two-year process. If it is invoked by the end of March 2017, as Prime Minister Theresa May has announced, the exit process is expected to be completed by 2019. But the high court ruling potentially changes the timeline.

The government will bring legislation in Parliament to authorise it to trigger Article 50, but lawmakers believe that given the many hoops such a legislation needs to pass through, it is unlikely the bill can be passed before Mays March 2017 deadline.

Invoking Article 50 later than March 2017 will bring the exit process nearer to the 2020 general election, and due to the continuing rows on the terms of Brexit and the foreseen and unforeseen events likely to unfold, many believe it may be preferable to hold a mid-term poll on Brexit to give people another say on leaving the EU.

The government has a slender majority in the House of Commons. The prime ministers office has said there are no plans for a mid-term election before 2020, but Westminster village continues to buzz with the likelihood of May calling one next year.

According to Labour MP Mike Gapes, a general election before Article 50 is triggered is now likely: "I predicted an early election. I think this court judgment makes it now very likely before Article 50 is triggered."

MP Dominic Raab of the ruling Conservative Party said: "I think there must be an increased chance that we will need to go to the country again.

A major factor in holding an early election is the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act of 2011, which mandated a period of five years between two general elections, but experts say if need be, this can be surmounted and the act itself allows for an early election on two grounds.

These grounds are: if a motion for an early general election is agreed either by at least two-thirds of the House or without division, or if a motion of no-confidence is passed and no alternative government is confirmed by the House of Commons within 14 days.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes slashed its odds on a general election next year to 2 to 1.

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Prime Minister Theresa May will tell European Union officials on Friday that a court ruling requiring a parliamentary vote will not derail her timetable for Britain to leave the bloc.

Mays aides say she will appeal the decision by the High Court, which said that the government must get parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50, the formal divorce announcement. They also say she will stick to her timetable to do it by the end of March.

Parliament is unlikely to defy the referendum vote by blocking Brexit, but if - as one aide said was the logical conclusion of the High Court ruling - she is forced to draft legislation for both houses to consider, her March deadline looks tight, several lawmakers said.

That could force her to call an early election, they said, a move her spokeswoman rejected on Thursday, saying 2020 was still the focus. Bookmakers odds on an election next year were cut after the court decision but 2020 was still the favourite date.

The government is focused on how do we deliver what the British people decided and how do we do that in the way that gets the best deal for Britain, Mays spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Weve been very clear in our position that we dont agree with the courts view and thats why we are appealing it.

The court ruling has spurred hope among investors and pro-EU lawmakers that parliament will now be able to put pressure on Mays government - which has three high profile eurosceptic ministers in key roles - to soften any plans for a hard Brexit, or a clean break with the EUs lucrative single market.

But it has enraged pro-Brexit campaigners and Britains eurosceptic newspapers, with the Daily Mail calling the three judges who handed down the ruling Enemies of the people and the best-selling Sun newspaper asking: Who do EU think you are? Loaded foreign elite defy will of Brit voters.

PASSIONS

The ruling is likely to stir passions in Britain just over four months after 52 percent of voters supported leaving the EU at a referendum which deepened splits in the country and gave voice to resentment - mirrored across Western Europe and the United States - with a ruling elite seen as out of touch.

Some lawmakers who had backed staying in the bloc were criticised on social media, accused of trying to stop Brexit.

Tolerance must win over hate and scaremongering. Im not alone in standing up for the 48 percent who also have the right to be heard and listened to, said Anna Soubry, a pro-EU lawmaker from Mays ruling Conservative Party.

May had wanted to move on Brexit as quickly as possible - keen to show that although she campaigned quietly for Britain to remain in the EU she would listen to the will of the people.

And there was clear frustration among her aides that the court had put a question mark over a schedule May has been outlining to EU leaders for weeks after some, especially French President Francois Hollande, called for Britain to move quickly.

May, a former interior minister described as intractable by a former government official, has repeatedly said she does not want to give her hand away before launching some of the most complicated talks Britain has waged since World War Two.

Some lawmakers said if she failed to overturn the decision in the Supreme Court in December, they will demand that May must disclose more of her negotiating stance before triggering Article 50.

Given the strict two year timetable of exiting the EU once Article 50 is triggered, it is critical that the government now lay out their negotiating (stance) to parliament before such a vote is held, said Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats.

So far Mays team have been all over the place when it comes to prioritising what is best for Britain, and its time they pull their socks up and start taking this seriously, he said in a statement.
Paris authorities on Friday cleared out some 3,850 migrants from Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries who had been living on city sidewalks in a makeshift camp that had mushroomed into a new embarrassment to France.

Carrying their meager belongings, the migrants boarded dozens of buses to temporary shelters around the Paris region, where they can apply for asylum and get medical care. The operation focusing on the canals of northeast Paris began before dawn Friday and went calmly under the stern watch of riot police.

In the past few weeks, the site had become the biggest migrant camp Paris had seen in years. It posed a new challenge just as the French government was shutting down a filthy migrant camp in the northern port city of Calais that had become a painful symbol of Europes migrant crisis.

Thousands of Calais migrants were transferred to temporary reception centers, but some had fled to Paris. Pitching tents on boulevards near the Stalingrad subway station, they joined migrants who had arrived here from elsewhere after dangerous sea crossings from the Mideast and Africa.

This is the biggest operation sheltering migrants we have had to face in the last 18 months, said Christine Gauthier of the Paris regions housing department.

The Paris regional administration said 3,852 people were taken to 78 temporary centers in Fridays operation. Among them, 339 migrants were identified as vulnerable, including women, children and the ailing, and they were given special care.

I dont know where we are going, said Odam Husein, a 23-year-old from southern Sudan, as he waited to board a bus with a small plastic bag of clothing and papers. Like many of the migrants around him, Husein said hes afraid of routine police raids, tired of sleeping on the street and confused about whether he has the right to asylum in France.

Two men sitting on a soggy mattress next to him said they had come from Calais hoping for more opportunity in Paris, but havent found any.

Employees at a nearby bakery, cafe and other businesses had complained that the migrant camps were scaring away customers, but other residents expressed concern about destitute people sleeping out in the cold rain amid the relative wealth of the French capital.

President Francois Hollande had vowed to clear out the Paris camp, saying France can no longer accept such migrant settlements. But its unclear whether the government can prevent new camps from surfacing, especially as Europes migrant crisis persists.

While the latest camp was the biggest yet, its hardly the first. Regional authorities have evacuated more than 21,000 migrants in 30 such operations since June 2015.

Paris is slated to open a new refugee center soon but aid groups say its capacity is far too small to meet the demand.
The top boss of the Islamic State  who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul  has himself fled, Britains Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was cruelly ironic because intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.

In an audio recording released on Thursday, al-Baghdadi said he was confident of victory in the de-facto capital Mosul and urged followers to continue fighting.

But Johnson, while responding to queries in the House of Commons, said: It is a cruel irony that some of the intelligence we have, you may know, suggests that the gentleman in question has actually vacated the scene himself and is nonetheless using internet media to encourage people to take part in violence.

He pledged that the IS would be repelled from the war-torn Iraqi city which has been controlled by it since June 2014, and told MPs: The house can be sure that Daesh (IS) will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraqs security forces have yet encountered.

In his first statement since the major offensive began, al-Baghdadi implored jihadis to attack the enemies of God in what is seen as an all-or-nothing battle for them.

The US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition and its warplanes, launched a massive offensive on Mosul on October 17.

More than 40,000 Iraqi and Kurd troops are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault.
Islamic State group militants killed seven members of Iraqs security forces today during a raid south of the jihadist bastion Mosul which pro-government troops are battling to recapture, officials said.

The attack comes in the third week of the massive operation to retake Iraqs second city from IS, which has already carried out diversionary attacks in other areas.

The militants crossed the Tigris River early in the morning and clashed with security personnel in the Sharqat area about 90 kilometres from Mosul, police officers said.

The militants killed four soldiers, two tribal militiamen and one policeman, according to the police officers, who said that clashes in the area were still ongoing.

One of the officers, a lieutenant colonel, said that the jihadists had planted bombs in the area.

Ali Dawdah, the local official responsible for the area, confirmed that seven security personnel were killed.

Iraq announced the recapture of Sharqat in September, but IS holds areas to its east, and generally is still able to move in smaller numbers within government-held territory.

The jihadists have launched a series of attacks aimed at diverting resources away from the Mosul operation, including one in the city of Kirkuk that sparked multiple days of fighting and left dozens dead.

Iraqi forces have said they foiled other attacks, while a series of bombings has also hit areas in and around Baghdad.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground, and Mosul is the countrys last city still held by the jihadists.
The green-eyed Afghan woman immortalised by a 1985 cover of National Geographic magazine is set to be deported to Afghanistan after she pleaded guilty on Friday to fraudulently obtaining Pakistani identity documents.

A court in the northwestern city of Peshawar ordered that Sharbat Gula, 46, should be deported after her detention expires, a prosecutor said. She was arrested 10 days ago on charges of having forged ID papers and staying in Pakistan illegally.

Sharbat Gulas case drew international attention and criticism of Pakistani authorities.

Judge Farah Jamsheed handed down the punishment after Sharbat Gula, wearing a burqa, was brought to the court and pleaded guilty to the charges against her. Prosecutor Mohsin Dawar said she faces deportation after five days, when her 15-day jail term will end. The court also fined her Rs 110,000 rupees (about $1,100).

Read | National Geographics Afghan Girl hospitalised in Pakistan

Earlier, Sharbat Gula denied the charges against her. On Wednesday, Sharbat Gula was refused bail by a court in Peshawar, prompting Afghan ambassador Omar Zakhilwal to urge Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to intervene in her case.

In a message on his official Facebook page on Friday, Zakhilwal said Sharbat Gula was free of her legal problems and would soon be sent home to Afghanistan.

With utmost delight, I announce that Sharbat Gula is now free from the legal troubles she endured over the past couple of weeks. She soon will also be free from an uncertain life of a refugee as she will be on her way back to her own country as soon as next Monday where she still is a beloved image and a national icon, he said.

President Ashraf Ghani will meet Sharbat Gula when she returns to welcome her back home and help her with her resettlement, he added.

After Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), her lawyer asked the Peshawar high court to free her as she has Hepatitis C. Zakhilwal earlier said her arrest had hurt the feelings of all Afghans.

In 1984, National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry took the haunting image of Sharbat Gula, then aged about 12, at Nasir Bagh refugee camp on the edge of Peshawar. The photo, which became the most famous cover image in the magazines history, was likened to Leonardo Da Vincis Mona Lisa.

After a 17-year search, McCurry tracked Sharbat Gula in 2002 to a remote Afghan village, where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daughters. National Geographic also made a documentary about her life that dubbed her the Mona Lisa of the Afghan war.

Read | Pakistani court refuses bail for Afghan girl of National Geographic fame

Afghans say Sharbat Gula belonged to eastern Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. She lost her parents at the age of six in an attack by fighter jets during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

She later migrated to Pakistan with her brother, three sisters and grandmother and married Rehmat Gul, a baker living near Peshawar, in 1990. The couple had three daughters.
President Pranab Mukherjee has urged leaders of Nepals political parties to focus on implementing the new Constitution to accommodate broader sections of society in the process of strengthening democracy.

Mukherjee, the first Indian head of state to visit Nepal in 18 years, met leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress, the main opposition CPN-UML and agitating Madhesi parties separately on Thursday evening and reiterated Indias message that it was keen to see peace, stability and progress in Nepal.

Madhesis, the inhabitants of the southern plains who share close ties with India, had launched a months-long agitation to press for greater political representation. They also alleged the Constitution adopted by Nepal in September last year discriminated against them.

Seven Madhesi parties, under the banner of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha, met Mukherjee and urged him to build pressure on the Nepal government and three major parties to amend the Constitution.

President Pranab Mukherjee delivers a speech at a banquet in Kathmandu on Wednesday. (PTI)

Mukherjee urged the Madhesi parties to wait till the the Nepal government takes steps to amend the new statute before going in for any new protest.

I have been assured by the Prime Minister (Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda) that the process of Constitution amendment has already begun. So I urge you to wait till that happens, Mukherjee said at the meeting with the Madhesi leaders.

The leaders, however, expressed doubts about the intention of the Prachanda government. If our demands are not met, we will resume our protest, warned Upendra Yadav, a prominent Madhesi leader.

The Madhesi leaders sought renewed support from India and urged Mukerjee to play a more proactive role in resolving their problems. They also expressed displeasure at New Delhis flip-flop on issues raised by Madhesi parties.

Sadbhawana Party chairman Rajendra Mahato said Mukherjee also enquired about political negotiations between the government and the Madhesi groups.

Mukherjee, according to Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel, was concerned about Nepals perennial political instability. He and other Nepali Congress leaders also discussed the status of India-funded projects.

He also requested ruling party leaders to use the $1 billion line of credit from India for development and another line of credit for $1 billion for rebuilding homes damaged in the 2015 earthquakes.
British Prime Minister Theresa May found herself facing new obstacles on Friday after her party MP Stephen Phillips resigned because of irreconcilable differences with her government over Brexit.

May, however, insisted there would be no change in the timetable to leave the European Union.

May told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over phone that she was disappointed with Thursdays high court ruling that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty could not be triggered without parliamentary approval.

However, a prime ministers spokesperson said May told the leaders there was no change in the March 2017 deadline she had set to invoke Article 50, which would set off a two-year process to leave the EU. The government hopes the Supreme Court will overturn the high courts verdict.

The Conservative Partys slender majority in the House of Commons was further reduced after Phillips announced his resignation. Another party MP, Zac Goldsmith, resigned last week over the governments decision to opt for a third runway at Heathrow.

Phillips, the MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham in Lincolnshire since 2010, supported leaving the EU but said he could not represent constituents due to disagreements with ministers about their approach since the June 23 referendum in which Britons voted to exit the EU.

In a statement, he said: "It has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me.

"This decision has been a difficult one and I hope that everyone will respect the fact that I have tried to act in the best interests of all of my constituents."

The spokesperson said May explained to Juncker and Merkel that while the government is disappointed by the judgment yesterday, we remain of the firm belief that we have strong legal arguments ahead of the case which will be moving to the Supreme Court next month.

The prime minister also confirmed that the planned timetable for notification of Article 50 remains the same, the spokesperson said.

Asked if May agreed with cabinet minister Sajid Javid that the judgment was unacceptable, the spokesperson said: The very fact that we are appealing that decision means very clearly that we dont accept that decision.

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A landmark global accord to combat climate change officially took effect on Friday, putting pressure on countries to take action to slash greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming.

The 2015 Paris Agreement won swift backing last December by almost 200 countries including China, the United States and the European Union and has been described as the most complex global treaty since the Marrakesh (trade) Agreement, signed in 1994.

The accord passed a threshold on Oct. 5 of 55 nations accounting for more than 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, allowing it to come into force 30 days later.

A previously anticipated timeframe was given as 2020 but ratification was swift compared to other international treaties, showing strong international support. However, around 100 countries have yet to agree and much work needs to be done on the fine detail of the pact to ensure it is not watered down.

This is a moment to celebrate. It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead, United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa said in a statement.

In a short time  and certainly in the next 15 years  we need to see unprecedented reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and unequalled efforts to build societies that can resist rising climate impacts, she said.

The Paris Agreement seeks to wean the world economy off fossil fuels in the second half of the century, limiting the rise in average world temperatures to well below 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.

It also notes an ambition to limiting temperature rise even further to 1.5 degrees.

The pact kicked off a rolling start in the Pacific region on Thursday, home to low-lying islands states which are in danger of rising sea levels.

On the same day, the annual report of U.N. Environment analysed countries current pledges for emission cuts and said they were not sufficient.

Even if emission-cutting pledges under the Paris agreement are fully implemented, predicted 2030 emissions could put the world on track for a temperature rise of 2.9 to 3.4 degrees Celsius this century, the report said.

The latest round of U.N. climate talks begin on Monday in Marrakesh, Morocco, where representatives from countries will try to find ways to implement the agreement.

The U.S. presidential election could also be a main focus of the talks in the first week if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins, as he has threatened to reject the accord.

Environmental campaign groups, as well as some businesses, investors and academics said the meeting in Marrakesh must keep up the spirit of international support for climate action.

As the world heads into (the meeting) in Marrakesh, we must regain the sense of urgency we felt a year ago, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said.

A global policy framework which favours low-carbon energy generation will also challenge traditional business models for power utilities and oil, gas and coal producers.

Hydrocarbon fuel consumption is in the firing line and energy sector impacts are being felt already, despite Paris Agreement targets not kicking in until the end of the decade, said Paul McConnell, research director for Global Trends at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
A flight from Nepalese capital Kathmandu to Janakpur, a southern city famous for its ancient Ram-Janaki temple, usually takes 25 minutes.

But when President Pranab Mukherjee visited Janakpur on Friday morning, his special aircraft took an additional 25 minutes to give him an aerial view of the majestic Himalayan peaks to the east and north of Kathmandu.

Mukherjee was in Nepal for a three-day visit to Nepal, the first by an Indian president in 18 years. Mukherjee flew in a Buddha Air ATR-42 aircraft, its picturesque route known as the mountain flight, along with top officials of the Indian delegation and the Nepal government.

He had a front-row seat on the left side of the plane to get the best view, an airline source said. Another ATR-42, carrying members of his delegation, including security personnel and journalists, flew directly to Janakpur.

After attending a function at Janakpur, Mukherjee returned to Kathmandu and then flew back to New Delhi.
South Africas Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday told state prosecutors and the defence to argue their case over the six-year sentence for murder handed to Paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius in open court.

Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison in July after being found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on appeal last December, in a case that has attracted worldwide interest.

Legal experts had expected the SCA to issue a ruling on whether prosecutors have the right to challenge the sentence but instead said both parties should first argue their case in court. The court did not set a date for the appeal hearing.

State prosecutors, led by advocate Gerrie Nel, say the sentence was too lenient as the jail term was less than half the 15-years they sought. In his arguments at the trial, Nel said Pistorius had shown no remorse for the 2013 shooting.

Lawyers for the gold medallist, known as the Blade Runner for his carbon-fibre prosthetics, say he did not deliberately kill model and law graduate Steenkamp.

The athlete originally received a five-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction, that was upgraded to murder on appeal.

Trial Judge Thokozile Masipa, who sent Pistorius to the six-year jail term, dismissed a request by Nel to appeal Pistorius sentence, saying she was not persuaded that there was a reasonable prospect of success at another court. [nL8N1B7229]

Nel then launched his case at the SCA, in Bloemfontein, 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia)
Among the people with serious financial problems who taught for Trump University is a case that crossed international borders, an Ontario couple who securities regulators sanctioned over a multimillion-dollar fraud, according to documents reviewed through a joint investigation by The Associated Press and The Canadian Press.

Records show a husband-and-wife team who called themselves Dave Ravindra and Rita Bahadur taught a course for Trumps program on Creative Financing in Canada in 2010, shortly before his namesake real-estate seminars folded amid mounting complaints from former students and inquiries from U.S. regulators.

The names match known aliases used by Ravindra Dave, 59, and Chandramattie Dave, 55, according to Canadian authorities.

The Ontario Securities Commission concluded last year that the Daves defrauded numerous Canadian investors between 2009 and 2012. Records also show that Dave Ravindra was stripped of his license to practice real estate in Ontario in 2008, two years before he went to work for Trump University.

The Daves, who immigrated to Canada from Guyana decades ago, have filed for personal bankruptcy at least four times since 2001  twice by him, and twice by her, records show. Government records list at least nine different names used by the couple, a mix of pseudonyms that include various combinations mixing the order of their first, middle and last names.

A copy of the settlement agreement from the Ontario Securities Commission from August 2015 that included Ravindra Dave, his wife and daughter, along with a company they owned, is photographed in Washington. (AP Photo)

Trump said he personally hand-picked only the best people to teach for Trump University, but the Daves are only the latest examples of those selected despite questionable credentials. AP reported last month that the roster of Trump University speakers and staff included at least four convicted felons, including a Florida cocaine trafficker and a former Army sergeant from Georgia court-martialed for sexually assaulting the 8-year-old daughter of a fellow soldier.

Half the 68 former Trump University staffers whose backgrounds the AP reviewed had personal bankruptcies, home foreclosures, credit card defaults, tax liens or other indicators of significant money troubles prior to teaching Trump University courses promoting wealth building.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued in 2013, alleging that Trump University was a fraud from beginning to end, geared toward pressuring cash-strapped students into buying ever more expensive seminars. In California, two federal class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of former students. One is headed to trial Nov. 28, three weeks after the presidential election.

Jill Martin, a Trump Organization lawyer defending Trump against the lawsuit, did not respond to calls and emails. Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks also did not respond.

Martin previously accused AP of cherry picking ex-staffers with criminal histories and said those individuals were not representative of the professional instruction staff engaged by Trump University.

Ravindra and Chandramattie Dave used various pseudonyms over the years to teach high-energy real-estate seminars, according to the settlement agreement with the stock-market regulator in Canadas most populous province. The couple held events in hotel and conference rooms around the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, where investors were invited to participate in different ventures.

She sometimes used Rita Bahadur, and he regularly presented himself as Dave Ravindra  the names listed as a Trump University speaker and staff member on some of the more than 21,000 pages of student surveys that Trump released as part of his defense against three ongoing lawsuits. Trump cited the surveys to back his claim that most seminar participants were satisfied.

The couple taught three-day retreats for Trump titled Creative Financing and Lease Option Real Estate in Toronto and Vancouver, according to student surveys giving them top ratings as subject matter experts.

According to an August 2015 settlement agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission, Ravindra Dave started two investment companies more than a decade ago that never properly registered with regulators and sold securities without permission. The couple organized real-estate seminars in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia where they urged people to invest with them, promising fixed annual returns of at least 10 percent.

At least 34 investors in Ontario purchased these unregistered securities for approximately $5.4 million, or about $4 million in U.S. currency.

Records show those investors wound up losing most of that money. About $1 million went to companies the couple controlled, $750,000 went to family members, $150,000 paid down credit-card bills, and $90,000 went to their mortgage payments, according to the 2015 settlement.

A former investor trying to recover some of her money from the Daves declined to discuss the case, citing ongoing litigation. Linda Stark, a retiree who lives in the same suburban Toronto neighborhood, would say only that the episode has taken a financial and emotional toll on her family.

The agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission laid out 29 different penalties against the couple  a $300,000 fine, $25,000 in administrative costs, $3.3 million to be disbursed to injured parties and a slew of restrictions on their trading activity.

Chandramattie Dave is permanently banned from trading securities, and Ravindra Dave is banned for 20 years in penalties that apply elsewhere in Canada. They cannot manage investment funds, nor can they serve as directors or officers for securities-issuing companies.

Efforts by the Canadian Press to reach the Daves for comment through their listed phone numbers, email addresses and social media pages were unsuccessful.

The familys four-bedroom, four-bath home in Mississauga was also seized, although municipal officials said the couples most recent bankruptcy filings forestalled a planned auction on the house.

A neighbor said the couple had recently packed up and moved a few doors down the same street into a home with their daughter. When a reporter visited that home Thursday night, the lights were out and no one answered the door.

Records show the Daves still owe more than $3.6 million in delinquent penalties and fines.
A car bomb attack in the largest city in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast region killed eight people Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish lawmakers for questioning in terror-related probes.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians died in the attack near a building used by the riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast but only seven of them remain in hospital, he said.

Yildirim also said one of the assailants was caught dead, but did not provide details.

The Diyarbakir governors office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

Rescue officials and people carry an injured man from the explosion site after a strong blast rocked the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. (AFP)

Read | Turkey coup trials to begin early 2017: Prosecutor

The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out. Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public fear, panic or chaos and images showing the explosion and its aftermath.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. A fragile cease-fire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, including the partys two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Prosecutors demanded that the two be formally arrested pending trial.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant. State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. A twelfth legislator was also detained later during the day. One of the 12 was released on condition that he regularly report to authorities.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern on Twitter over the politicians detentions. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

HDP lawmaker Adem Geveri described the detentions as a political genocide operation, telling The Associated Press that they officially put an end to the functioning of Parliament in an anti-democratic and unlawful way.

Now with the HDP removed from the political equation, they will go to an early election and establish an authoritarian Turkey without the HDP, without any democratic opposition, Geveri added.

Main opposition Republican Peoples Party Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions, If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise youll butcher democracy in Turkey.

Yildirim responded: If they are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account.

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

People walk near damaged buildings at the explosion site. (AFP)

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including disseminating terrorist propaganda and membership in an armed terrorist organization.

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. If they want our testimony theyll have to force us there, he said, according to Anadolu.

Meanwhile internet users nationwide have been complaining about restricted access to various social media and messaging apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype.

The TurkeyBlocks monitoring network confirmed the restricted access, saying its probes have identified throttling at the ISP level as the source of the slowdowns, with the majority of internet users affected at the time of measurement.

Rights activists say restricting access to the internet is aimed at preventing calls for demonstrations.

Prime Minister Yildirim said: Occasionally one might have to resort to such precautions for the sake of security. as a precaution. Once the danger is gone, everything will return to normal.

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of Diyarbakir, and co-mayor Firat Anli were arrested over alleged membership in the PKK.

In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

Read | Turkey blocks Twitter, WhatsApp after detaining 11 pro-Kurdish leaders


Thanksgiving

The first American Thanksgiving was held in Massachusetts Plymouth colony in 1621 to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. Fifty Pilgrims served codfish, sea bass and turkeys while their 90 Indian guests contributed venison to the feast. The next national Thanksgiving was declared by Congress after the American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in December 1777. For many years Thanksgiving celebrations were haphazard with Presidents Washington, Adams and Madison declaring occasional national festivities. In 1846 Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the influential Godeys Ladys Book, began a tireless campaign to establish a national Thanksgiving holiday in November. She was gratified when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first of our modern Thanksgivings in 1863. On November 26, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national Thanksgiving holiday.

Photo: Library of Congress
The "Legend of the Blue Sea" Korean series, which stars two most-sought after Korean celebrities Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun, has allegedly released leaked footage of the scenes in the drama. K-Pop fans believed that there are many exciting scenes in the upcoming drama that will surely propel Min Ho and Jun Ji-Hyun's career to the higher level.

So, what's the leaked footage all about?

Footages from the Legend of the Blue Sea SBS Official show a professional conman (Lee Min Ho) and a mermaid (Jun Ji- Hyun) whose lives were intertwined in the modern day. The two stars were pictured while filming in Spain, having Lee Min-ho and Jun Ji Hyun sitting at a restaurant there surrounded by several people dressed in casual.

The casts were spotted wearing a white suit and a red dress. They were allegedly filming a romantic scene. The fans are excited to see the much-awaited series of the "Boys Over Flower" actor together with his co-star in a romantic comedy drama series.

Legend of the Blue Sea first teaser

The Legend of the Blue Sea's first teaser has immediately gone viral upon its release to several websites. The teaser opened in beautiful view of the sea. The next scene was the meeting of the two characters in the modern world as Jun Ji Hyun swam while watching over Lee Min Ho. The drama also released a teaser that featured the scenes that happened in the past time frame.

The "Legend of the Blue Sea" is based on a famous Korean legend about a fisherman and a mermaid who met in the modern world. The storyline of the drama focuses on the present day where the mermaid has chosen to live in the busy city of Seoul as a human.

Based on the trailers released, the viewers especially the avid fans of the two actors are excited to watch the series and found out what could be the ending of the story. Will the mermaid (Jun Ji Hyun) remains as human or return to the sea and leave her mortal love interest forever?

@ 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
Visit expo > BMP Whole Blood Analyzer: GEM Premier ChemSTAT New Gold Supplier Nova Max Pro Creatinine/eGFR Meter New BRAHMS sFlt-1 KRYPTOR Pre-Eclampsia Screening Assay New Silver Supplier Diamond RealSeal Jerricans Plastic Jerricans

Elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol in hair can significantly predict the likelihood of pregnancy in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, according to a new study.Researchers at the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) conducted a study involving 135 women (mean age 34.5 years) recruited from a fertility clinic in Nottingham (United Kingdom) between December 2012 and April 2014; following IVF treatment, 60% of the women became pregnant. Salivary cortisol samples were collected over two days, on waking, 30 minutes after waking, and at 10 pm at night; 88 women also provided hair samples for the measurement of cortisol.After analyzing both types of cortisol data, the researchers found that short-term salivary cortisol measurements were not related to pregnancy results. In contrast, 27% of the variance in pregnancy outcome was accounted for by hair cortisol concentrations, after controlling for other known factors linked to IVF success such as age, body mass index (BMI), number of eggs retrieved, and number of eggs fertilized. The study was published on August 30, 2016, in Psychoneuroendocrinology.We know that many factors will influence the likelihood of IVF success and, at this stage, we do not fully understand all of the factors that influence whether treatment works or not. However, optimizing patients chances of IVF success is key, and this research suggests that reducing cortisol in the months prior to treatment may play an important part in conception, concluded lead author Adam Massey, MD. The good news for patients is that well known lifestyle changes may help to lower cortisol and therefore optimize the likelihood they will get pregnant.Researchers have been interested in the role that cortisol may play in determining reproductive outcomes for some time now, not least because cortisol is typically elevated in relation to stress, said senior author Kavita Vedhara, PhD, of the division of primary care. While these results do not specifically implicate stress, they do provide preliminary evidence that long term cortisol levels are associated with a reduced likelihood of conceiving. A range of factors is likely to account for that, stress being one possibility.Cortisol is a well-known stress hormone, and until recently could only be measured within a short time span. But by measuring levels in about 100 strands of hair clipped from the scalp, cortisol levels can be assessed as a retrospective biological indicator of stress over the past three months, indicating chronic or accumulated stress. Studies have also demonstrated interactions with factors associated with health disparities such as racial/ethnic identity, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES).
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The newly renovated Le Bristol Hotel Beirut has welcomed Franck Royer as its new general manager. Boasting over two decades of international hospitality experience, Royer has worked in the UK, France, the West-Indies, Canada, Oman, Lebanon, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and China. He is expected to bring a unique depth of experience to his new position.No stranger to the Lebanon, Royer has held a number of management positions in Beirut since 1999. He has great knowledge and understanding of the luxury hospitality industry, spanning business, boutique and resort hotels, F&B consultancy management and mass catering organisation. Passionate about the industry, Royer strongly believes that people are the most important assets to deliver the unique personalised service Le Bristol Hotel Beiruts guests expect, while attention to detail is also paramount.
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An environmental advocacy group released a report on Thursday that aimed to reinvigorate concerns that oil and gas production around West Texas' Balmorhea State Park could pollute the springs that feed the park's famous swimming pool.

The report by Earthworks, a Washington nonprofit, reviewed hydrological studies of the area and modeled water and oil flow based on the existing understanding of the aquifers. It concluded that Apache Corp.'s plan to develop oil and gas fields threatens the San Solomon Springs that supply water to the community, the park and local farmers.

While Earthworks did no testing and little original research, its findings signal that Apache is in for a fight as the Houston exploration and production company moves to exploit its discovery of oil and gas reserves in an area it calls Alpine High. Earthworks called for drilling moratorium "until a complete environmental impact analysis can be done."

Apache bristled at the adversarial tone of the report.

"It is disappointing that Earthworks and their allies continue to pursue tactics aimed at undermining the spirit of collaboration and transparency that Apache has emphasized from the beginning," spokeswoman Castlen Kennedy said. "Our company has a clear track record of working with organizations across the spectrum on environmental concerns, and we see the value in fostering an open dialogue."

Kennedy said Apache will review the report "for accuracy and content."

Apache announced the discovery in September and estimated it held at least 15 billion barrels of oil and gas. On Thursday, Apache CEO John Christmann called Alpine High the company's top priority next year.

The field will transform Apache, he said, and provide robust earnings by the end of 2018.

"Things will change significantly for us in the back half of '18," Christmann told analysts during a third-quarter earnings call. "It's going to be a different profile than we've probably had in our history."

Balmorhea residents and park visitors have worried about drilling in the high desert since Apache began leasing mineral rights and drilling test wells there about a year ago. Environmental organizations have recently begun monitoring the situation.

Earthworks has been the most active in the small city. Two weeks ago, the group said it had commissioned an analysis by hydrologist Tom Myers, who works frequently with the group.

Myers' report, released Thursday, isn't as much original research as a review of what's already been written about the geology and hydrology of the area. Based on the that review, Myers listed several possible risks to the springs:

Drilling fluids could migrate through underground pathways into the aquifer. Oil and gas could leak out of well holes. Above-ground wastewater in storage ponds could seep through topsoil and into waterways. Hydraulic fracturing, which pumps water into wells at high pressures to crack shale and release oil and gas, could move rock and block the aquifer. Groundwater pumping for fracturing could use up water and reduce the spring's flow.

"These risks are not quantifiable," Myers wrote in the report, "but the probability that contamination will occur is significant." He recommended an immediate water monitoring program.

Apache has already embarked on a groundwater monitoring study, announcing last month an "unprecedented" partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington. Apache is giving university scientists access to the company's proprietary drilling chemicals and $136,000 to fund the work. The researchers say they will publish their findings, good or bad.

Few of the findings in the Earthworks report are new, and Apache has responded to many of them in the past. For instance, the company is searching for other water sources for fracking, so it doesn't have to use spring water. And it says it can prevent leaks by carefully and fastidiously drilling and cementing wells.

Earthworks said it will distribute the report to residents at a town hall meeting in Balmorhea.

"There's too much at stake," said Sharon Wilson, Earthworks' Gulf region organizer.
The owner of three for-profit residential group homes sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for alleged overtime violations said it disagrees with the government's interpretation of wage rules for 24-hour shift workers and vowed to vigorously fight the government's lawsuit.

Last week, the Five Oaks Achievement Center in New Ulm, Whispering Hills Achievement Center in Flatonia and the North Fork Educational Center in Wylie were sued for $2.2 million by the Labor Department for allegedly improperly deducting sleep time from the wages of 68 employees who work 24-hour shifts. The three centers care for Texas' special-needs children through two contracts with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Under federal law, employes required to be on duty for 24 hours or more may agree with their employer to exclude "bona fide" regularly scheduled sleeping periods of not more than eight hours as long as adequate sleeping facilities are provided and employees can usually receive uninterrupted sleep, according to the Labor Department. No sleep time can be excluded from hours worked unless it's at least five hours.

In its lawsuit, the Labor Department accused the three centers of failing to provide adequate sleep facilities as well as not ensuring staff members received five hours of uninterrupted sleep nightly.

The centers, however, dispute the government's allegations, noting that they provided beds, linens, pillows and towels, according to a written statement. The centers added that when they asked the Labor Department to give them a definition of "adequate," they didn't get one.

The Department of Labor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the centers, direct-care employees are classified as 24-hour shift workers, working four days on and four days off. That works out to 96 hours of work per week, including 40 hours of regular time and 56 hours of overtime.

When the company changed its payroll schedule, it studied wage rules and discovered it could enter into an agreement with staff members that could exclude sleep time unless employees are called into duty. Employees immediately go back on the clock when children need assistance at night, according to the center's statement. Employees fill out incident reports to justify the hours added back on to their paychecks.

"The agreement, signed by every one of our direct-care staff, simply states that they acknowledge and agree that we provide 'adequate' sleeping facilities to get a 'reasonable' night's sleep," according to the statement, which accuses the government of trying to interfere with the private agreement. The hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. are designated as sleeping periods and if employees aren't called back in, eight hours are deducted from the total number of hours they worked during that 24 hour period, according to the statement.

Houston lawyer Rex Burch calls sleep time at work an oddity because it's one of those instances - much like employees who work from home - where a "private agreement" can have some teeth. But the arrangements also have to follow government regulations, he said.

Gregg Rosenberg, another Houston lawyer, said the situation appears similar to that of firefighters, who are paid to wait - or sleep -in case they're needed to fight a fire on a moment's notice.

"It could be the Ritz-Carlton," Rosenberg said, "but if they're required to be there, they have to be paid for it."
On Monday, a construction crew in Alabama triggered a massive explosion when a track-hoe struck the biggest fuel pipeline in the U.S. The blast killed one person, injured several, and sparked a wildfire that burned for nearly a day across 31 acres.

It also stopped the flow of millions of gallons of gasoline that move up the East Coast each day, from refineries in Houston to tanks in Linden, N.J., outside New York Harbor. The 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline delivers about half of the refined products used on the East Coast. It consists of two linesone that carries gasoline, the other that carries distillate fuels such as diesel and jet fuel. Think of it as the country's fuel aorta.

The consortium that owns Colonial includes private equity behemoth KKR, industrial conglomerate Koch Industries, and oil-and-gas supermajor Royal Dutch Shell. The fact that it's so little known, yet such a vital piece of infrastructure, is a testament to how well Colonial has been run over the years.

But this is its second outage in two months. In September, a spill leaked 250,000 gallons of gasoline and caused states of emergency to be declared in Georgia and Alabama as gasoline ran out in some areas. The Colonial was down for 12 days.

The U.S. has plenty of gasoline in storage. Tanks are brimming with near-record levels of supply. But that was true in September as well, when the outage caused all kinds of disruptions and price spikes.

"All that supply does you absolutely no good if you can't move it around," said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst with the Price Futures Group in Chicago.

By Tuesday morning, Colonial's Line 2, the distillate pipe, was up and running. By Tuesday afternoon, news broke that its main line, Line 1, would be back up by Saturday afternoon, an optimistic timetable, according to some traders, given the level of destruction at the site. Still, the news helped cool the initial spike in the price of gasoline futures, which had jumped the most since 2008, fueled by a record level of trading that day.

Traders in Houston working for big refineries have had to find a place to put all the excess barrels of gasoline and diesel they normally would send into the Colonial. That has set off a bidding war for the limited number of tankers and barges available to move products between U.S. ports. An obscure maritime law called the Jones Act requires that only U.S.-made, U.S.-flagged ships can deliver goods between ports. According to Bloomberg vessel-tracking data, about 27 Jones Act vessels were in service around the U.S. Gulf and the East Coast as of Thursday morning.

Ship owners have been able roughly to double the price they charge to lease their tankers and barges, said Court Smith, a research analyst at MJLF & Associates, a shipping brokerage in Connecticut. Depending on how long the outage lasts, the federal government could waive the Jones Act, as it did after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, to alleviate fuel shortages in the Northeast.

Traders who can't get their hands on Jones Act ships will have to find tanks on land. Floating storage has also become a thing, where people lease ships to store their product. Refiners along the Gulf can also start changing the slate of products they make. The worst option for them is to throttle back and produce less, which would eat into their profits.

If it's anything like the September outage, a fleet of vessels bringing imported gasoline will start heading to the U.S. East Coast, where they can probably fetch higher prices. During the second half of September, gasoline imports to the East Coast jumped from about 500,000 barrels a day to 800,000 barrels a day.

One vessel, the Flagship Violet, made its way from India eventually to New York harbor. It never unloaded and has been sitting outside New York harbor ever since, laden with 500,000 barrels of alkalyte, a distillate used to raise the octane in gasoline, according to data from ClipperData, a petroleum market research firm. On Nov. 1, the vessel changed its destination for the first time in a month, to a location within New York harbor.

The outage is good news for refineries on the East Coast that can take those imported barrels.

"The clear winners here are the Philadelphia-area refiners," said John Mayes, director of special studies at Turner Mason, an energy consulting firm in Dallas. Shares of PBF Energy, which owns a large refinery outside Wilmington, Del., spiked on Tuesday by 12 percent in early trading, though they have since come down.

Given the assurances from Colonial and what has so far been a more muted market response, some participants think the outage will be less severe than the one in September, when gas stations in Alabama and Georgia ran out of fuel. "We're not going to see pumps getting bagged," said Ernie Barsamian, a principal at the Tank Tiger, a tank-storage broker in New Jersey.

The September outage prompted a cannonball run as tanker trucks raced to deliver gasoline from the Midwest to the Southeast. "You saw trucks driving all night from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, down to Alabama and Georgia," said Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. Although the outage is supposed to be contained by Saturday, Kloza is expecting the impact to be similar to what happened in September.

No matter how long it lasts, the Colonial outage will probably lead to higher gasoline prices in the days leading up to the presidential election in states such as Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Normally, spiking prices at the pump as Americans go to the polls could spell trouble for the incumbent party. But the impact will likely be smaller, given how cheap gasoline has been over the past two years.

"I think gasoline prices on Election Day will be 15 to 20 higher than they were last year," Kloza said. "But let's remember, that's still $1.35 lower than they were in 2012."
CANNON BALL, N.D. - Hundreds of clergy of various faiths joined protests Thursday against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in southern North Dakota, singing hymns, marching and ceremonially burning a copy of a 600-year-old document.

The interfaith event was organized to draw attention to the concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux and push elected officials to call for a halt to construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline that's to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The tribe says the pipeline that will skirt its reservation threatens its drinking water and cultural sites.
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Karbach Brewing Co. came to life in a converted warehouse on an industrial stretch of northwest Houston with a renowned brewmaster who said he was "brought here to hit home runs." Over the next five years, such beers as Weisse Versa, Love Street and Bourbon Barrel-aged Hellfighter became staples in the hearts and refrigerators of a growing legion of craft beer lovers.

From the start, Karbach was passing production milestones at an impressive clip. A New Yorker magazine analysis in 2013 singled out Karbach as the nation's second-fastest-growing beer company. It opened a gleaming new brewery last year and soon had to add on. This year, it's on pace to make 80,000 barrels, most among Houston crafts.

On Thursday, its founders, Ken Goodman and Chuck Robertson, and its German-trained brewmaster, Eric Warner, announced they were ready to take the next step - one that infuriated many of the brewery's fans. Karbach agreed to be acquired by Anheuser-BuschInBev, the "evil empire" to craft brewing purists, for an undisclosed amount.

Karbach owners portrayed the sale as a opportunity to grow, a deal that would keep them largely independent but give them access to the resources of the world's largest beer conglomerate and allow them to increase Karbach's capacity to at least 150,000 barrels by 2019.

"We're fired up," Robertson said.

Local fans of the beer, however, took the news like a lover scorned.

"Oh karbach no :(," emojied one on Twitter. "Sellout," they charged on chron.com. Facebookers posted a few less printable epithets.

Retailers, too, expressed their disappointment.

"It's hard to be mad at someone for their success," said Jake Rainey, partner and chief operating officer of the craft beer bars Liberty Station, Cottonwood and La Grange. "But as a business owner, I get to choose who to support and why. Part of our values is to support local."

He predicted "pushback" from some bar and restaurant owners. He said he would not immediately drop Karbach products but would no longer give them special promotion.

'Trying to stop the bleeding'

Hay Merchant owner Kevin Floyd was less reserved. The bar immediately began a "fire sale" of Karbach products and will not sell them in the future, he said.

"We're going to sell everything and move on," he said.

Floyd, a frequent critic of AB-InBev, reiterated his belief that the company would prefer to simply put crafts out of business and return to the days when Budweiser and other American light lagers completely dominated the domestic beer scene. Consumer demand, he said, forced the big players' hands as they lost market share to the independents.

"These acquisitions are their way of trying to stop the bleeding," he said.

Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, trade group for the craft brewers, said the reaction is similar to that seen in other cities where one of the global giants takes over beloved local crafts. He said the backlash can last, but a company like AB-InBev is confident it can increase production and use its extensive distribution channels to offset any local dropoff in demand.

"All the independent beer bars in America are a drop in the bucket compared to Wal-Mart," he said.

Watson said the deal gives Karbach competitive advantages, such as exclusive access to major marketing or sponsorship deals. The corporate parent also can bundle its products, encouraging retailers to carry more of its brands. It potentially opens up the entire world, since this global enterprise now controls a worldwide market for 525 million barrels. By comparison, the U.S. market totals 200 million barrels.

That could make it difficult for small, independent breweries to compete, just as signs emerge that the years-long growth surge in craft brewing is starting to slow. (Texas craft beer has had a smaller share than elsewhere and growth here remains strong, Watson said.

Anhueser-Busch claims 45.8 percent share of the U.S. market.

'It was the resources'

Goodman denied money was the main reason for the decision to sell.

"The financial piece wasn't that important at the end of the day," Goodman said. "It was the resources."

The Karbach deal comes three months after MillerCoors said it would take over the Fort Worth area's Revolver Brewing. To date, more than a dozen deals have been announced involving smaller craft breweries and cider companies and the global players.

For AB-InBev, the Karbach acquisition could mark the end of its craft-beer buying spree, the president of its craft division said in an interview.

"Most of that effort, if not all of it, is behind us," division president Felipe Szpigel said.

After purchasing Chicago's Goose Island Brewery in 2011, AB-InBev acquired seven other U.S. crafts, including Breckenridge, Elysian and 10 Barrel. On Thursday, it said it was adding Karbach to its craft brewing, or "High End" unit, for an undisclosed purchase price. The group, focused on the U.S. market, includes Stella Artois, Shock Top, a cider company and a hard seltzer company.

Szpigel said the High End is now "99.99 percent focused" on organic growth within that portfolio and is not actively seeking more acquisitions.

He singled out Karbach's Love Street Kolsch as an example of a lower-alcohol, or "session," beer that will fill a niche in the AB-InBev brands.

He said he first visited the Karbach brewery during a site visit to Houston about 18 months ago. As he talked with the owners and brewers, he said, "I really fell in love with what they are doing."

Chance to innovate

Warner said he is excited about the sale and the opportunity for him and his team to collaborate with the other craft brewers in the business unit. That could include teaming up on special beers, sharing expertise and brainstorming ideas.

"The High End wants to see us innovate," he said.

Szpigel acknowledged that in previous acquisitions fans have had some anxiety at first, but that softens once they see the same product on the shelves and see that it tastes the same.

"People get over it," he said.

Warner, who made his reputation at the well-regarded craft breweries Tabernash and Flying Dog, pledged to work to maintain the standards that have made Karbach so popular in Houston and beyond.

"I look at this almost as a challenge," said Warner, the author of a respected book on making wheat beers. "We have to make our beer even better."

He also said he intends to remain part of the Karbach team.

"Like everybody else, I'm here for the long haul," he said.
Houston's most prestigious neighborhoods are hosting open house tours this weekend. Keep in mind, you'll likely need to show proof of funds to tour these pricey properties.

19 Lacewood in Memorial

Listed at $4.895 million, this 10,035-square-foot house was inspired by an English country manor near Bath, England. It has six bedrooms, including two master suites and a second-floor apartment with its own kitchen and living space. Set on more than half an acre of land, the Memorial estate was built in 2016.
As the director of Rice University's Houston Education Research Consortium, Ruth Lopez Turley seeks to close socioeconomic gaps in achievement in the Houston Independent School District, according to her university profile. The Laredo native and Harvard-educated professor works to strengthen the connection between education research and practice, and founded a network of research institutions and public school districts that have partnered in 13 cities nationwide.

Q: What problems exist between educators and researchers, and how are you trying to fix them?

A: Academic researchers are typically trained to do research in a certain way that's not conducive for decision-makers. We're trained to follow four steps: We generate our own research questions based on our expertise and literature; we choose a research site based on our questions; we are trained to collaborate with schools or districts on short-term projects; and then we are trained to focus on publishing research in academic journals. But those journals are often only read by other academics and are inaccessible to decision-makers I'm trying to reach. So I'm trying to promote a partnership-research model. We take those four steps and the idea is instead of just generating our own research questions apart from others, we're trying to work closely with potential users of our research from the very beginning. So before the research begins, we jointly produce a research agenda. That makes decision makers more invested because they played a role in deciding on the questions in the first place. We're aiming for long-term alliances that involve working on series of projects to address long-standing problems instead of one small problem or project at a time.

Q: What's an example of when this new research partnership showed real-world implications?

A: Houston ISD identified two years ago a problem in that they didn't have enough college advisers. They had counselors, but the counselor-to-student ratios tend to be terrible, which is not unique to HISD - it's a nationwide challenge. But it's especially problematic in districts like Houston, with high proportions of low socioeconomic students and students who may not get that information elsewhere if they're not getting it at school. In the summer of 2015, it used grant money to hire 28 college advisers districtwide across its high schools, and we were asked to track their impact. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We still have analysis to do. But in one academic year, preliminary data suggests the college application rates went up from about 59 percent to 79 percent of all high school. I can't definitively attribute it to the intervention yet, but those kinds of descriptive statistics are very powerful in terms of suggesting that it is what's making the difference. It's an example of when you can bring together research and efforts of the district.

Q: How could these educator-researcher partnerships shape the future?

A: Taking the last example of college application rates as illustration, imagine the long-term impact. What I described is what happened after one year. Imagine the kind of long-term impact this could have when those students are more likely to also enroll in college, hopefully, and are more likely to complete college. One of the strongest predictors of academic performance or educational attainment and achievement are your parents' education level. So if we are able to improve the educational attainment of this generation, even to just some small extent, that's having a very long-term impact because that impacts subsequent generations.

Text, edited and condensed, by Shelby Webb. Photos by Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle
District 22 U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, dedicated a U.S. Post Office in Sugar Land on Oct. 24 to fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Garrett Gamble.

Gamble was killed on March 11, 2010, while patrolling during combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was a 2008 graduate of Stephen F. Austin High in Sugar Land.

Several members of the Sugar Land community attended the post office renaming.

"America can never repay our debt to Garrett Gamble and all who have given their lives in defense of America, but we can say thank you for his selfless commitment on behalf of our liberty," Olson said. "Now when Sugar Land residents visit this post office, they will see his name and learn of his sacrifice. This gesture is one small way we can say thank you to Garrett's family for raising a strong, honorable Marine. Garrett Gamble is a true hero. On behalf of a grateful nation, we say 'thank you'."

The Olson bill, H.R. 4877 renames the U.S. Post Office at 3130 Grants Lake Blvd. in Sugar Land, as the "LCpl Garrett W. Gamble, USMC Post Office Building." Every member of the Texas congressional delegation was a cosponsor of the bill, which was signed into law by President Obama on July 29, 2016.
Friday marks the end of early votingthe last chance for Harris County residents to cast ballots at their selection of polling places countywide. On Tuesday, Election Day, voters must vote in their precinct.

In the last two presidential election, the final Friday saw the biggest turnout. Hector DeLeon a spokesman for the County Clerk said the election office expected that trend to continue.
Law enforcement officials said they are remaining vigilant in the wake of a report that Texas is a possible target for a pre-election terror attack, but would neither confirm nor deny reported warnings of an al-Qaeda plot to shed blood on U.S. soil.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his office was monitoring the situation and is in close coordination with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

"Texans should go about their daily lives as usual, but remain vigilant over the next several days and report any suspicious activity to state or local law enforcement," he said. "The state of Texas will continue to do everything it can to ensure the safety and security of its citizens."

The FBI said it was working on a daily basis to assess intelligence and disrupt any potential threats.

"The counter-terrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States," said FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, spokeswoman for the FBI's Houston Division.

CBS News reported Friday that sources had confirmed that U.S. intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces that al Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday, the day before Tuesday's election.

"It is believed that New York, Texas and Virginia are all possible targets, though no specific locations are mentioned," CBS notes.

Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle

Houston Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said anti-terror efforts are regularly ongoing.

"We don't confirm any specific threats, however we are always monitoring and assessing the environment and take actions accordingly," she said.

Fred Burton, a terrorism expert for Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm, said the latest buzz words are "overabundance of caution," meaning that until proven otherwise, it has to be assumed that groups are planning attacks.

"When isn't al-Qaeda trying to kill us?" said Burton, who previously worked in counter-terrorism for the State Department.

"I would argue that al-Qadea has never stopped planning attacks since 911," he said. "If you have an organization that certainly has the Untied States in its gun sights, this date is certainly one of those that counter terrorism officials have to take seriously."

No matter whether the plot is valid, Burton said it is all but impossible to prevent all types of attacks.

"I have no confirmation of the credibility of this information, but having said that, how difficult is it to pick up a machete or drive a truck into a crowd?" he said.

"I'm confident that the FBI has a good enough handle on the interdiction of any massive 911 type strike, but I don't think you can stop every potential lone wolf that decides to act under the name of al Qaeda," he said. "That is the problem."

A Houston man who pledged his allegiance to ISIS and plotted to detonate homemade bombs in local shopping malls pleaded guilty last month to to a terrorism-related charge.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, a 24-year-old father, stockpiled circuitry components, wireless remotes and other bomb-making implements in his west Houston apartment, according to court documents.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison at a January sentencing.

Authorities began investigating him in April 2014, looking at his communications with other suspected terrorists and monitoring his social media posts.

"I will make a widow of you," he told his wife in a call intercepted by authorities. "You will get a phone call with news of my death."

Burton, the Stratfor expert, said significant dates, such as the presidential election, always bring the potential for terrorism, but counter-terror agents face a double-edge sword.

"If you elevate your collection efforts for looking for these threats, you will find them," he said, "but whether or not on an operational level there is actually any tactical plan is a whole other kettle of fish."
AUSTIN -- Two experts appointed by a federal judge are expected to file a proposal Friday to reform Texas' unconstitutional foster care system that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

After a week's negotiations, three senators confirmed Thursday that a state Senate committee was close to approving $88 million in additional funds to give front-line Child Protective Services workers a hefty pay raise to curb skyrocketing turnover rates and to hire several hundred additional caseworkers and investigators. But that temporary fix is not close to the amount necessary to hire more than 800 new employees requested by the beleaguered Department of Family and Protective Services.

Details were not publicly announced, but the senators said an agreement was close -- even as state police and CPS workers scrambled to locate the remaining 70 of 511 top-priority children. They had been reported to be victims of abuse and neglect but had not been seen by child-protection caseworkers for up to two months because of chronic staffing shortages.

Under state law, those children are supposed to be seen within a day or so -- and angry members of the Senate Finance Committee had ordered state police to be dispatched a week ago to account for all the children. By Wednesday, 10 had been removed from their homes.

At the same time, senators had been working to find additional funding requested last week by DFPS Commissioner Henry "Hank" Whitman Jr. to immediately begin addressing the myriad of problems that have plagued the state's CPS program for well over a decade. By late Thursday, with the court report slated to be filed Friday, senators and state officials said they planned to await its details before moving ahead with the emergency funding.

"This work could be moot (Friday) if the court comes out with its own plan," said one senator, who said members of a special working group devising the $88 million plan had agreed not to publicly discuss details until a deal was cinched.

Two other senators confirmed the tentative details. They suggested that the state is likely to proceed with emergency funding once they see if it fits with the court recommendations.

Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack of Corpus Christi found Texas' foster-care system unconstitutional last December because of long-standing operational flaws that allowed children in state custody to be abused and neglected. Last spring, Jack named Kevin Ryan, a former New Jersey child-welfare administrator who has drawn up federal-court reform plans in three other states, and Francis McGovern, a Duke University law professor who is considered an expert in such reform plans, as special masters to come up with a reform plan.

Ryan and McGovern could not be reached on Thursday.

Once their recommendations are filed, officials on both sides of the case said they expect that Jack will move quickly to order Texas to start implementing sweeping changes. Beginning in the 1970s, federal courts took control of the Texas prison system for 20 years and, in separate cases, ordered sweeping reforms in mental health and mental retardation programs. Those changes cost Texas taxpayers more than $2 billion alone for new prisons.

In almost all of those cases, the reforms were ordered by judges relying on recommendations of special masters.

"I've been here before with federal court orders," said state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who has been in the Legislature since 1973. "The judge isn't going to ask us whether we have the money or not to make the changes. She's just going to order us to, and we're going to have to do it."

Under an order Jack issued in December 2015, the special masters are to recommend any changes necessary to make Texas' system legal again, after more than two decades of promised fixes that Jack said had repeatedly fallen short of their goal.

Included are manageable case loads for state workers to ensure that foster-care children are properly evaluated and supervised, changes to cut high turnover of workers, new supervision rules to prevent children from being abused and neglected while they are in state custody, tougher enforcement of violations by licensed facilities that house foster-care children, and additional staff training and agency reorganization to ensure that the state's child-protection programs are properly funded and operated.

"Texas' foster-care system is broken, and it has been for decades," Jack said in her decision. "It is broken for all stakeholders, including DFPS employees who are tasked with impossible workloads. More importantly, though it is broken for Texas children, who almost uniformly leave state custody more damaged than when they entered."

It was not like Texas officials had no warning of the problems, she continued: "The reality is that DFPS has ignored 20 years' of reports, outlining problems and recommending solutions. DFPS has also ignored professional standards. All the while, Texas' (permanent foster-care) children have been shuttled through a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm."

Texas' foster-care children, she concluded, have a constitutional right "to be free from unreasonable risk of harm caused by the state. Texas currently violates that right."

For their part, state officials reiterated Thursday that they are working as quickly as they can to fix what is broken. Neither they nor officials like Gov. Greg Abbott or Attorney General Ken Paxton would comment on the impending special master's report, or whether the state might appeal the court plan.

But they agreed on this: Once the reform plan is unveiled, the next move will be up to the Texas legislature, which next year must approve a budget that will cover the costs. In 2017, there will almost certainly be less money to spend as state revenues decline and additional funding needs mushroom.
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The prospect of a reform deal to fix Houston's 15-year pension crisis has cheered city officials and civic leaders, but even those applauding Mayor Sylvester Turner's landmark negotiations are wary that the proposed changes could cause a slew of police and firefighter retirements.

Three top Houston Police Department chiefs have filed retirement paperwork in the days since the police and fire pension boards agreed to Turner's reform terms. Fire department leaders worry they could lose young recruits in search of higher benefits in suburban departments and veterans who choose to hang up their gear and begin collecting pensions.

City leaders have been concerned that huge numbers of first responders are eligible to retire, as many were encouraged to stay on the job by the 2001 benefit increases Turner is now working to roll back. Fully, 37 percent of police officers and 25 percent of firefighters today are eligible to begin drawing pension checks.

Turner has acknowledged the risk of widespread retirements, but says his reform package strikes a delicate balance by cutting worker benefits enough to make the plans affordable for the city, but not so much that it risks a public safety crisis.

More Information 37% Percentage of police officers eligible to begin drawing pensions. 25% Percentage of firefighters eligible to begin drawing pensions. See More Collapse

The deal would eliminate Houston's nearly $8 billion pension under-funding in 30 years, assume more realistic investment returns, avoid $2.5 billion in future costs through benefit cuts, and narrow the funding gap still left after those cuts by issuing $1 billion in bonds.

The mayor on Thursday was on an official trip to South Africa and could not be reached for comment.

However, last month after a council meeting, Turner said: "We have designed a system so that there is no need to rush to retire. It is a very fair system.

"The changes that are being made are changes that have been worked out with their respective pension representatives; I didn't come in and just say, 'You're going to do this.' I said we wouldn't balance the books just on the backs of employees, and we're not doing that. There is no need for anyone to rush to the door," Turner added.

Neither public safety department has been buried in retirement filings in the days since the pension boards agreed to begin working with the city to draft legislation to take to the Legislature, which controls Houston's pensions. But police and fire leaders say they are concerned a wave will come, and the potential departure of top HPD personnel has rattled some members of that department.

Many of the department's senior chiefs face a fairly obvious decision to retire thanks to a provision approved as part of the police deal that essentially drops the salaries on which their pension payments would be calculated back to captain, the highest civil service rank and the level beyond which all promotions come via appointment.

'Financial suicide' for many

A senior HPD commander who is eligible to retire and who requested anonymity said the three senior chiefs who have filed retirement papers are only the beginning, given that the proposed reforms make it "financial suicide" for many commanders to stay on.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, there's a lot of instability, there's depression. Downtown, it's incredible. I've never seen anything like it," the commander said. "It's going to be a mass exodus of personnel, and it's happening already. When you have a lot of uncertainty and instability in the leadership of the organization, it trickles down and it's hard to maintain morale because it's a distraction."

The proposed benefit changes do not have the same effect on fire department brass, but fire pension chairman David Keller said he anticipates a spike in retirements.

"I don't think they're in a panic yet, but I'll tell you, it's a lid sitting on top of a boiling pot. They're hot right now," Keller said. "At some point the anger is just going to spill into, 'I've just had enough,' and they'll start leaving. But I don't know what's really going to start that."

Keller said his fund's financial counselors have been meeting nonstop with individual firefighters to explain the ramifications of Turner's reform plan.

Neither department is well positioned to lose scores of employees.

City officials and law enforcement experts agree the police department is understaffed, with fewer officers on the street today than it had to police a much smaller city as decade ago. HFD, for its part, is less than three years removed from pulling fire trucks from the streets after a staffing shortage led overtime costs to spike, creating a budget crisis.

Clete Snell, a University of Houston-Downtown criminologist, said a mass departure of top police commanders in particular is a "serious concern."

"It would be very impactful, especially if more people are to file their paperwork in the coming months. It can lead to a vacuum of leadership in the department," he said. "Officers have to go through a lot in order to be promoted to these command positions, and there's a good deal of training involved once they are promoted. It's not necessarily something you can just walk into."

Councilwoman Brenda Stardig, who chairs the City Council's public safety committee, said she hopes employees will wait to weigh retirement at least until the reform package is crafted into legislation.

"My concern would be to lose that much talent," Stardig of the risk of retirements among HPD commanders. "I would have to trust that there's still a process in place that needs to be worked through."

'No need to rush a decision'

HFD spokesman Capt. Ruy Lozano said the department closely tracks attrition to anticipate the need for future academy classes.

Kelly Dowe, who played a key role in the pension negotiations as the city's finance director, stressed that the changes would not take effect until July 1 at the earliest. Dowe said city negotiators were mindful of the potential impact on city services, and he said workers also should not assume the changes make it advantageous for them to retire without checking with their respective pension fund.

"It is a concern, which is why the mayor has already talked to a large group of municipal employees. We're going to be out there addressing it," Dowe said. "There's no need to rush a decision. We think it's a plan crafted well enough that when the majority of people weigh their options, the people who shouldn't be leaving - because it's better for them to stay on with the city - will do that."

Prior pension reforms in 2004 led to a jump in police retirements.

In Dallas, officials' discussions of pension benefit cuts in August have spurred retirements from that city's police and fire pension fund.

As of late September, the Dallas Police Department was 250 officers short of its historic high, and Dallas officers' lump-sum withdrawals of their deferred retirement payments had reached $370 million as of mid-October.

Driven in part by these withdrawals, the fund could face insolvency in little more than a decade.

St. John Barned-Smith contributed to this report.
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COLLEGE STATION - At the Starbucks inside Texas A&M University's Evans Library, students line up for their daily jolt of java.

Across campus, in a rather ordinary laboratory inside the horticulture building, Fabian Echeverria is trying to prevent a worldwide coffee shortage.

Echeverria, a researcher from Costa Rica, is studying why certain coffee plants have genes making them somewhat tolerant to coffee leaf rust, a voracious fungus that has devastated crops in Central America and Brazil. Called "La Roya," it is one of many serious threats now facing the coffee industry, which produces $170 billion in retail sales worldwide and employs more than 100 million people, many of them in economically depressed countries.

Climate change is intensifying many of those threats, including the coffee leaf rust. Compounding the problem is coffee's lack of genetic diversity, the key to saving any species let alone one that is threatened by a fast-evolving fungus.

"It's like David and Goliath," Echeverria said recently of leaf rust's genetic advantage over coffee plants. "It's a really unfair battle."

More Information History of coffee 850: Ethiopian goat herder discovers coffee after his goats eat the berry from a tree, then did not want to sleep at night. 1100: Coffee transported from Ethiopia to Yemen, and it quickly spreads across the Arabian peninsula. 1600's: Coffee comes to Europe via slave trade. 1607: Captain John Smith brings coffee to newly discovered Americas. 1670: Coffee transported to India. 1727: Coffee seeds smuggled into Brazil. 1817: Coffee cultivation introduced in Hawaii. 1860: JA Folger Coffee Co. created. 1889: New Zealander David Strang invents instant coffee. 1903: German importer discovers way to remove caffeine from coffee. 1966: Peet's Coffee, specialty coffee retailer, opens in Berkeley, Calif. 1971: First Starbucks coffee shop opens in Seattle. See More Collapse

Still, the battle to save coffee, the daily beverage choice of 130 million Americans, is one Texas A&M thinks it can help win.

The university is lending its considerable agricultural prowess to an international effort to make coffee a more sustainable, higher-yielding crop, mostly by improving its genetic diversity to make the plant more tolerant to pests, disease and warming temperatures.

In September, the A&M board of regents established the Center for Coffee Research and Education, to foster crucial genetic research, promote coffee education and assist the industry through the use of the college's sensory science evaluation lab, which recently began taste testing coffee. It is one of three university centers dedicated to coffee research in the United States. The University of California at Davis and Vanderbilt University operate the other two.

Leo Lombardini, the center's new executive director, said A&M is poised to make a significant scientific contribution to coffee research, which in the past has lagged work done on other globally important crops.

Adding to the sense of urgency, he said, is climate change. A 2015 study predicted 50 percent of the land used for production of Arabica coffee, the most valuable species of coffee plant, would be unsuitable by 2050.

"So what do we do?" Lombardini asked. "We cannot cool the planet. We cannot move the coffee farms. The alternative is to work on the actual coffee plant. We can make it more resistant to heat, and develop more varieties, more resistant varieties that can withstand stresses such as drought and heat."

At first blush, A&M might not seem a likely place to be the epicenter of coffee research. The university, however, has two powerful allies: A&M's world-renowned Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and the College Station-based World Coffee Research. That industry group is supported by coffee purveyors, including giants such as Peet's Coffee and Tea, Keurig Green Mountain and J.M. Smucker Co., the company that owns Folgers and Dunkin Donuts.

"Coffee has suffered from a lack of advanced research in areas like genetics and disease resistance," said Tim Schilling, World Coffee Research's executive director. "With the creation of the new center (at Texas A&M), one of the world's best agricultural research institutions is adding its might to the effort to solve key issues facing one of the world's most important crops."

Can science save coffee?

The best coffee varieties are no match for today's environmental problems, researchers say.

Here's the problem in a nutshell, or more precisely, a coffee bean: more than 98 percent of Arabica coffee plants are genetically the same, making them incredibly susceptible to pests, disease and drought.

Because of its narrow genetic diversity, there are only 36 varieties of coffee. By contrast, there are more than 2,000 varieties of watermelon.

Most of the coffee we drink today originates from a few plants bred in Ethiopia and transported long ago to Yemen.

While Arabica plants have been successfully bred in many regions of the world, coffee producers essentially have been cut off from the genetically pure plants in Ethiopia due to exploitation concerns. In the 1960s, however, a few wild seeds were collected from Ethiopia by scientists and used to establish two collections that serve as a bank for genetic coffee plant material. One is in Columbia and the other in Costa Rica.

A 2014 World Coffee Research study sampled 800 plants in the Costa Rican collection and discovered they are 98.8 percent genetically identical.

"It's a problem," Lombardini said. "We need to shake things up. We need to play with that 1.2 percent that allows us to bring back some of the genes. Ideally, we would go back to Ethiopia and get some of those and mix it together but we can't do that."

The A&M coffee research and education center is collaborating with a number of international scientists trying to identify the most genetically diverse set of coffee plants and breed them. Also, they are looking for Arabica and Robusta plants with highly desirable traits - drought and pest resistance being key - to breed those characteristics into a new plant.

"This kind of work, it's long overdue," Lombardini said. "Coffee is one of those orphan crops that have typically been grown in developing countries and processed in rich, wealthy countries. So there's always been that disconnect."

The Borlaug Institute wants to change that.

For decades, the institute has been working with farmers in developing countries. Before founding World Coffee Research in 2011, Schilling worked for Borlaug and helped Rwanda substantially increase its coffee production, which helped the African nation recover from a devastating war.

World Coffee Research split from Borlaug earlier this year, allowing the nonprofit to concentrate on field work in 25 countries while A&M's coffee research center focuses on laboratory science.The two continue to collaborate on a number of A&M projects such as Echeverria's coffee leaf rust research and the university's sensory lab coffee taste testing.

Climate change harmful

Hot coffee is good, but a hot planet is not good for coffee production.

Many coffee-growing countries already are experiencing the effects of climate change. Coffee leaf rust, for example, was once a problem only for warmer, lowland farms. But in recent years, it has affected farms at higher altitudes that are now experiencing hotter temperatures. Significant crop losses due to climate change are predicted for parts of India, Nicaragua and Brazil, all big coffee-producing countries.

"The trend the last 30 to 40 years show that temperatures are rising and with a crop that is so sensitive to temperature, even a temperature increase of one to two degrees Celsius can make a difference in growing Arabica (coffee) or not," Lombardini said.

Barbara Barbosa, a Brazilian native doing her postdoctoral work at A&M, is studying the gene expression of a variety of coffee known for being heat tolerant.

"Photosynthesis is food for them and respiration is how they burn their energy," she said. "With higher temperatures at night, their respiration rates goes up. So you're making energy, but you're expending more, too. The yields are going to go down because the plant doesn't have enough energy to produce flowers and fruits. It affects quality, too."

Protecting the quality of coffee is tantamount to coffee research. For example, researcher Echeverria is not only trying to identify genes associated with rust-tolerant plants, he's also trying to pinpoint which ones influence how coffee tastes.

"You want everybody happy," he said. "The farmer has to have a good plant so they will grow more coffee and that coffee has to taste good. It's a difficult combination."

A better cup of joe

Over the past few months, Blythe Beavers has tasted more coffee than most people will drink in years.

Beavers, a graduate student at A&M, was in charge of training a group of College Station-area residents who have become taste testers for the university's sensory lab. The lab's coffee tasters slurp samples from a spoon and spit it out in a cup.

"It's been a really interesting experience," Beavers said. "Before, coffee was just coffee. I added cream and sugar. But you don't realize how much variation can change flavor."

The lab's recent foray into coffee taste testing provides buyers and roasters valuable feedback on improving taste and smell. Its coffee testing was a direct result of the relationship between A&M and World Coffee Research.

The first step for the lab, which for years tested other foods, was the development of a dictionary of sorts to describe taste and smell of coffee. World Coffee Research commissioned food scientists at A&M and Kansas State University to develop the lexicon, which today consists of 110 words. Among them are: beany, pipe tobacco, olive oil, hay-like and peppery.

Typically, coffee tasters don't slurp more than seven samples during a two-hour session.

"They can still sleep at night," Lombardini said.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Ted Cruz hit the trail for presidential nominee Donald Trump for the first time on Thursday, an exclamation point on a series of campaign stops on behalf of Republicans in the final days before the election.

The Texas senator held joint events with Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, in Iowa and Michigan to affirm his unwavering support for a Trump presidency. Cruz, who has often sidestepped saying Trump's name while campaigning for other Republicans, sought to end, again, lingering rumors about his discontent with the GOP nominee.

'I voted for ... Trump'

"I'm here campaigning for Donald Trump, for Mike Pence. I'm getting ready to get on a gigantic airplane that has Donald Trump's name painted on the side," Cruz told reporters after the Iowa event. "On Monday of this week, I voted for Donald Trump. I voted for Mike Pence. And I'll tell you, we're just a few days away from Election Day, and I'm doing everything I can to defeat Hillary Clinton because Hillary Clinton would be an absolute disaster as president."

Cruz's appearance on the Trump trail comes after weeks of campaigning for vulnerable Republicans in several tight Senate races.

In Missouri on Wednesday, he urged voters to re-elect Sen. Roy Blunt, who is fighting for his political life in a battle with Democrat Jason Kander.

Pushing for GOP Senate

The fates of the U.S. Senate, the Supreme Court, of freedom, of safety, of economic prosperity and, indeed, conservative ideals, rest in the hands of voters in states such as Missouri, Cruz told the supporters who flocked to see him in Springfield and Joplin.

In both events, he also foreshadowed what his immediate political future holds: remaining a constitutional thorn in the next president's side, whether it's Trump or Hillary Clinton.

"We need to keep a Republican majority in the Senate because we need the Senate to check the executive branch," he said. "And even if the Republican nominee wins the presidency, we still need a Republican Senate because the Constitution obliges the Senate to check the president, Republican or Democrat."

Cruz, who saw his presidential dreams at least temporarily dashed by Trump, is working to remain the party's conservative in chief, one who through sheer force will try to shape its agenda.

Cruz took it on the chin over Trump this year in a bitter primary fight, and is still assuaging conservatives who questioned his party loyalty after his delayed endorsement of the presidential nominee.

To that end, he's extended his conservative political capital to vulnerable Republicans in recent weeks, especially as the party faces a threat to its Senate majority status.

Thirty-four Senate seats are up for grabs this year, with about two dozen held by Republicans. At stake are about a half-dozen toss-up races.
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Even as the electoral map shows new signs of volatility, a surge in early voting by Latinos is bolstering Hillary Clinton's prospects in battleground states including Arizona, Florida and Nevada in the closing days of a tightened race against Donald Trump.

Fresh election data suggest that the Democratic nominee appears to be benefiting from upticks in participation by Latinos, who historically vote in lower numbers than the electorate overall.

The trend, say advocates seeking to expand the Hispanic electorate, is largely motivated by distaste for Trump, who has proposed hardline immigration policies and stirred emotions from the outset of his campaign with a series of controversial statements about Mexicans and other Latinos.

Upticks in swing states

"The Trump candidacy and the climate it's created has really heightened the importance and the personal nature of this election for Latinos," said Yvanna Cancela, political director of Culinary Workers Union 226, which represents casino workers in Nevada.

According to the data firm Catalist, among the largest increases of early voting by Latinos is taking place in Arizona, a traditionally Republican state that Clinton visited for the first time during the general election on Wednesday. Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, delivered a speech there in Thursday entirely in Spanish.

Significant upticks are also taking place in Nevada and Florida, two other states where a burgeoning Hispanic vote could prove key in determining the outcome.

With Latinos accounting for about half of its 57,000 members, the culinary union in Nevada has launched an unprecedented door-knocking and phoning effort to urge members and their neighbors to cast their votes early.

In Florida, more Latinos had voted early as of Wednesday than did so during the entire early voting period in 2012, according to the Clinton campaign. Some of the biggest registration gains there have come along the Interstate 4 corridor, which has witnessed a big influx of Puerto Ricans in the wake of the island's economic difficulties.

More modest increases in Latino participation, meanwhile, are being seen in battleground states including Colorado and Virginia, where most polls show Clinton with a shrinking lead over Trump. Manassas Park, a suburb in the fast-growing Washington, D.C., region with the highest concentration of Latino voters in Virginia, has seen an uptick in absentee voting, as has surrounding Prince William County, according to the state elections board.

Black vote lagging

In Texas, a red state where Trump maintains a lead in polling, counties with the highest shares of Latino voters, all located along the Mexican border, have also seen surges in early voting, according to the office of the secretary of state.

Among Hispanics, Clinton maintained roughly a 50 percentage point lead in a new Washington Post-Univision News poll released Thursday, with Trump's deep unpopularity raising questions about how much his candidacy has hampered Republicans' long-term chances to win back support from the nation's largest minority-group voting bloc.

At the same time, early voting among African-Americans - another key part of the constituency Clinton is counting upon to prevail - until recent days had been lagging voter participation from four years ago.

Clinton sought to shore up support among black voters during a pair of appearances in North Carolina on Thursday in which she argued that Trump's vision for his presidency would leave them behind.

"He has spent this entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters," Clinton told a crowd of about 1,800 on the grounds of Pitt Community College.

"He retweets white supremacists and spreads racially tinged conspiracy theories."

Clinton noted that Trump has been repeatedly accused of housing discrimination at his real estate properties - and that he repeatedly proclaimed the guilt of five black and Hispanic men, known as the Central Park Five, on assault and rape accusations, even after DNA evidence exonerated them.

"Do any of us have a place in Trump's America?" Clinton asked.

Trending Trump?

Republicans pointed to some favorable trends in absentee and early voting numbers for their standard-bearer, including upticks in GOP participation in counties in Ohio that Mitt Romney, the party's 2012 nominee, carried. Ohio, which has a large white, working-class population, is among the swing states where Trump has shown the most appeal.

Trump eyes emails

As the race has tightened nationally, Trump has sought to put several Democratic-leaning states in play that share similar demographics, including Wisconsin and Michigan, which figure prominently in his schedule in the race's closing days.

His campaign has also been buoyed by tightening poll numbers in New Hampshire, a largely white state that Clinton until recently appeared to have locked down.

On Thursday, Trump also appeared in North Carolina, a state key to his political fortunes.

In Concord, N.C., Trump cast Clinton as a "candidate of yesterday" and complained that he is held to a different standard than his Democratic rival.

At his rally, Trump continued to draw attention to the FBI's renewed inquiry into Clinton's email practices while she was secretary of state, when she used a private server.

"Now she's got bigger problems. If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis that would cripple the operations of our government," Trump said.
An overwhelming majority of voters are disgusted by the state of American politics, and many harbor doubts that either major-party nominee can unite the country after a historically ugly presidential campaign, according to the final pre-election New York Times/CBS News Poll.

In a grim preview of the discontent that may cloud at least the outset of the next president's term, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are seen by a majority of voters as unlikely to bring the country back together after this bitter election season.

With more than 8 in 10 voters saying the campaign has left them repulsed rather than excited, the rising toxicity threatens the ultimate victor. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and Trump, the Republican nominee, are seen as dishonest and viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters.

While her advantage has narrowed since mid-October, Clinton still has an edge in the survey because of a commanding advantage among women and nonwhite voters. She has the support of 45 percent of likely voters while Trump has 42 percent. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee, has slipped to 5 percent, and Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, is at 4 percent.

If she wins, Clinton will enter the White House to face immediate governing challenges not only from the deep partisanship ruling Washington but also from a large number of Trump's supporters who say they are not prepared to accept the results.

More Information Trump expands leadin Texas, polls show Two polls released Thursday indicated that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has expanded his lead in Texas with just five days to go. A joint poll from NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and Marist College put Trump up over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton 49 percent to 40 percent among likely voters in Texas. Libertarian Gary Johnson garnered 6 percent in the poll, and 2 percent said they are voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Another count from Emerson College gave Trump a 14-point lead in Texas. That's up from a 6-point margin when Emerson last polled Texas in early September. Dallas Morning News See More Collapse

After weeks of Trump's accusations that the election is "rigged," a little more than 6 in 10 of his supporters say they will accept the results as legitimate if he loses. More than a quarter of Trump's supporters say they will probably not accept the outcome if Clinton is declared the winner, and nearly 40 percent of them say they have little or no confidence that Americans' votes will be counted properly.

Republican anger is directed not only at Clinton or the electoral process. About as many Republican voters say Trump's candidacy has been bad for the party as believe his campaign has been positive for Republicans, an extraordinary divide over their own standard-bearer on the eve of the election.

Republican schism

As Republicans face the possibility of their third consecutive presidential loss, their own voters overwhelmingly acknowledge the party is facing a schism: 85 percent of Republican voters said the party was divided, and only 14 percent said it was united.

But Republicans cannot even agree on who is to blame for the division, though they largely believe Trump has been the impetus for the breach, according to some follow-up interviews.

"I think Donald Trump has definitely divided the party," said Sheila Wagner, 79, a Republican from Redmond, Wash. She said she had already marked her ballot for Clinton, adding: "When he first declared he was going to run, I thought it was a joke. I just couldn't believe anyone would favor him."

Yet other Republicans point the finger at Republicans who have refused to support Trump.

"The old school, quote-unquote, the Bushes, the people who have been around a long time, aren't supporting Trump, and that's creating division," said Nora Reinhardt, 66, a farmer from Holt, Mo. "Some Republicans, because of comments Trump has made, which I grant are uncouth and certainly not politically correct, have found they can't support him, although I think some of those people are coming around at this point."

She said she was supporting Trump because she agreed with his policy positions.

Whatever their reasons, and despite how many of them think Trump has been detrimental to the party, more than 8 in 10 Republican voters are falling in line behind their nominee.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted with 1,333 registered voters from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 on cellphones and landlines. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for all voters.

More than 22 million Americans had already cast their ballots when the poll was taken, and roughly 1 in 5 likely voters who participated said they had already voted.

Trump's backers rebound

National polling averages showed a growing lead for Clinton in mid-October after the release of the "Access Hollywood" recording from 2005 in which Trump spoke crudely about women. As women from his past came out over the next weeks to accuse him of groping and forcibly kissing them, his poll numbers dipped.

Yet after a rough few weeks, enthusiasm among Trump's supporters has rebounded: 52 percent now say they are very enthusiastic about voting. Enthusiasm among Clinton's supporters has been flat since September: 47 percent say they are very enthusiastic to vote.

Last Friday, when the director of the FBI, James Comey, sent a letter to Congress about a renewed inquiry concerning Clinton's emails, Trump seized on the chance to shift campaign's tenor and focus on the controversy over her handling of emails when she was secretary of state.

The Times/CBS poll began hours after Comey's letter became public. Most voters who were contacted said they had heard about the development. More voters said they were aware of accusations that Trump had made unwanted sexual advances toward several women.

Yet about 6 in 10 voters overall said the eleventh-hour disclosures about each candidate would make no real difference in their votes. However, more people said the allegations about Trump were likely to negatively affect their votes than those who said the new email developments would discourage them from voting for Clinton.

Four in 10 likely voters said Trump's behavior toward women made them less likely to support him while fewer, one-third, said the newest development in the FBI investigation into Clinton's emails had that effect.

Obama boosts Clinton

Also bolstering Clinton, and the possibility of a third straight Democratic term in the White House, is President Barack Obama's popularity. Fifty-two percent of registered voters approve of the job Obama is doing, an increase from earlier this year.

While Obama's standing has risen, the campaign has taken a toll on Clinton's image. Only 32 percent of voters say she is trustworthy, and a quarter of Democrats and nearly 6 in 10 independents do not think she will be able to unite the country if she wins.

"The campaign has gotten uglier and uglier," said Michael Pappas, a real estate broker in Knoxville, Tenn., who is a Republican. "It's been about mudslinging and attacking personalities instead of talking about issues, talking about how we can help our country move forward and succeed."
BERWYN, Pa. - Melania Trump made a rare appearance on the campaign trail in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Thursday, seeking to soften her husband's coarse image by proclaiming to voters that Donald Trump respects all Americans and promising that as president he would promote values of compassion and charity across the country.

The deployment of Melania Trump comes as the Trump campaign is trying to extend a late burst of momentum before Election Day by swaying undecided voters and women who have been wary of the Republican nominee.

Tone down Twitter fix

Donald Trump needs the trove of wealthy and educated voters in the counties surrounding Philadelphia to succeed in turning the state red for the first time since 1988, but many of those former Republicans have been turned off by his comments about immigrants and women.

Melania Trump, who is trying to change that, spoke at a recreational center about 20 miles west of Philadelphia

Despite signs of overall tightening, a Quinnipiac University poll of likely Pennsylvania voters released this week showed the uphill fight that Donald Trump is facing among women in the state. Hillary Clinton leads him with that demographic by 20 percentage points, as many female voters have been turned off by Donald Trump's proclivity to make sexist comments.

The hope for the Trump campaign is that Melania Trump, a former Slovenian supermodel who says she wants to combat online bullying as first lady, can help smooth Donald Trump's rough edges. On occasion, she has even told him to tone down his habit of being on Twitter into the wee hours.

Although Melania Trump has tried to avoid the brutal combat of presidential politics, it has proved to be nearly impossible to escape. During the campaign, she has faced scrutiny of her immigration status, questions about her educational history and even accusations that she was once an escort. She has also had pictures of her posing nude strewn across the internet, and last month she had to publicly accept Donald Trump's apology for talking, in a 2005 "Access Hollywood" video, about inappropriately grabbing women.

'Exclusive' excerpts

Melania Trump has been mostly absent from the campaign trail, aside from a handful of television interviews, since an address at the Republican National Convention in July.

That ended in calamity after it was revealed that passages from Melania Trump's remarks were lifted from a speech delivered years ago by Michelle Obama. The episode became a surprising distraction at the convention, and Melania Trump has largely receded from the spotlight since.

In welcoming Melania Trump to the state, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party made light of the convention speech incident on Thursday, sending out an email that purportedly contained "exclusive" excerpts from Melania Trump's remarks.

The text, however, was of a speech that had been given by Michelle Obama.
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WASHINGTON - Driving a gas-powered car about 90 miles - the distance between The Woodlands and Galveston - melts about a square foot of Arctic sea ice in the critical month of September, according to a new study that directly links carbon pollution to the amount of ice that's thawing.

At current carbon emission levels, the Arctic will likely be free of sea ice in September around midcentury, which could make weather even more extreme, a study published Thursday in the journal Science finds.

The study calculates that for every ton of carbon dioxide put in the air, there's 29 square feet less of sea ice (for every metric ton, there's 3 square meters less) during the crucial month when the Arctic region is least frozen.

Using observations, statistics and 30 different computer models, the study authors show heat-trapping gases cause warming and the melting of sea ice in a way that can be translated into a simple formula.

There's "a very clear linear relationship" between carbon dioxide emissions and sea ice retreat in September, especially at the southern boundary edges, said study lead author Dirk Notz, a climate scientist at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany.

"It's very simple. Those emissions from our tailpipes and our coal-fired power plants are all going into the atmosphere," said study co-author Julienne Stroeve, a climate scientist at both the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., and University College, London.

"It just increases the warming at the surface. So the ice is going to respond to that. The only way it can do that is to move farther north."

Stroeve and Notz calculated that the average American each year is responsible for carbon emissions that lead to melting around 538 square feet (50 square meters) of September sea ice.

"I've stood on sea ice many times, and the idea that I'm responsible for 500 square feet of its destruction each year is devastating," University of Washington climate scientist Cecilia Bitz, who wasn't part of the study but also praised it, said in an email. "That is the size of my front yard!"
ISTANBUL - Turkey's Interior Ministry says authorities detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers, including both party co-chairs, as part of terror-related investigations.

The ministry released a statement early Friday listing People's Democratic Party, or HDP, co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and other senior party officials.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, an accusation the HDP rejects.

Earlier this week Diyarbakir mayor Gultan Kisanak was arrested on terror-related charges and replaced by an appointee.
Pacing between a voter ID poster and a patriotic red-white-and-blue table, election clerk Ruby Stevenson is on the lookout.

Greeting crowds of early voters as they enter the Sunnyside Multi-Service Center in south Houston, Stevenson is scanning for uncertain, typically younger voters.

Spotting her target, she hollers, "We've got a first-time voter in the house."

The normally tame auditorium erupts in celebratory applause from poll workers and experienced voters alike as attention turns to the newcomer.

"It's just to give some encouragement for what they're doing," said Stevenson, who has been an election volunteer for seven years.

She began the celebratory ritual five years ago.

Keeping it light

Fredrick Countee, 18, arrived at the Sunnyside voting location Thursday morning eager to cast his first-ever ballot but uncertain of the process. As the first "first-timer" of the day, he received energetic applause.

"It surprised me because I'm still waking up," Countee said.

Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, whose office oversees elections, said he supports the practice.

"As long as it's not disruptive to the voters, I think it's a great idea," Stanart said. "I think enthusiasm in the voting process should be applauded."

Breana Jiles, 21, a student at Texas Southern University, also voted for the first time Thursday. She relished the moment, saying the applause made her feel she accomplished something significant.

Her classmate, Ashley Daniels, 21, agreed, adding the welcoming strategy could encourage more of their friends to go to the polls.

"I feel like the more newcomers they applaud, the more people will go," Daniels said. "If we go out and say 'Oh yeah we went and they made us feel really good,' I feel like my other classmates in school will go, as well."

Though Stevenson and her colleagues typically home in on younger people, oftentimes first-time voters are much older and casting their first ballots for a variety of reasons.

Better late than never

Ricky Gasper, 40, said now that he is "out of trouble with the state," he can vote for the first time.

"I finally feel like I'm a resident." Gasper said of the applause. "I was very surprised. It's like a tingling sensation; my hair stood up on the back of my neck.

"I feel like a senior citizen for voting."

Reactions vary between embarrassment and jubilation, but Bonnie Park, the election judge for the south Houston location, said that, for some, the congratulations are a significant milestone.

"We did have one voter who had just naturalized. It was a little emotional," Park said. "When we recognized her, you could tell, this was a moving experience to have people say, 'We're glad you're part of the club.' "

A retired history teacher, Park said that although voting is important in general, first-time voting could be emphasized more.

"We have 'I Voted' stickers, but we really should have 'I voted for the first time' or 'I've joined the most important club in America' stickers," she said.
AUSTIN  The Texas Commission on Jail Standards unanimously approved Harris County's request Thursday to let nearly 200 inmates sleep on plastic cots on the floor, but not without a warning that the county needs to think ahead about how to reduce its inmate population before its overcrowded jail system worsens.

Harris County now houses 9,400 inmates, a population that is expected to swell to at least 10,300 inmates by 2020, said Brandon Wood, executive director of the commission.

"That creates problems that we then have to work with (Harris County) to resolve, and if that means they continue shipping inmates out much like they are now, that's an option," Wood said.

The commission gave the county the OK to use 192 portable beds until May 31, 2017. Commission members also approved the county's request to extend its existing variance for 580 bunk beds.

In addition to the extra beds, Harris County is paying $550,000 a month to house more than 400 inmates in other county jails in an attempt to keep its local facilities under maximum capacity, according to the sheriff's office. Records show nearly 80 percent of the county's inmates are awaiting trial.

The Commission on Jail Standards considers one or two requests for temporary beds every year, Wood said, but Harris County repeatedly has asked for additional bed space.

Requests for extra beds statewide have dropped off in recent years, he said, driven by commission directives that counties figure out their own ways to reduce their inmate populations, such as through alternative sentencing and diversion programs for low-level drug offenders and the mentally ill.

"That's what we will encourage them to do," Wood said. He said the sheriff's office has to be mindful that as Harris County continues to grow, and an increase in the number of inmates without other solutions may require the county to build additional jail space.

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said additional beds are needed because the jail population has ballooned from a daily population of 8,500 inmates to 9,400 last month and the county needs to perform preventative maintenance in some cellblocks.

The move to add the cot-like bunks to the county's jail has riled lawmakers and activists who say sheriff's office needs to do more to move non-violent offenders out of the prison before seeking state approval to roll in more beds.

"Variances are measures of last resort, not first options," said Satinder Singh, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. "Before asking for a variance, the Sheriff should examine his office's policies that have made the county's jails dangerously overcrowded. Instead of arresting people for low-level drug offenses, Hickman could require his officers to issue citations and keep them out of jail. He doesn't need anyone's permission to make that change."
Take a ride around Houston with Dr. Peter Hotez and you might see our city and our world in a whole different way.

Within a short drive of the Texas Medical Center where he studies tropical diseases, Hotez will point toward the piles of trash, the stacks of tires, the packs of stray dogs sadly commonplace around some of Houston's low-income neighborhoods. There, he'll tell you, is the evidence of an ominous threat to public health.

"Texas is really the epicenter of emerging and neglected tropical and infectious diseases," he warns.

With our city's pockets of poverty, our warm subtropical climate and our status as a hub of international trade and travel, Hotez believes Houston has all the vectors necessary for the spread of illnesses most of us have never heard about, like Chagas disease, murine typhus and leishmaniasis. These may sound like exotic maladies from faraway lands, but an article Hotez recently wrote for Foreign Policy magazine chillingly describes them as "the diseases next door."

They afflict mostly very poor people who live on less than $2 a day, so these conditions are generally associated with low-income countries. But Hotez cites new poverty statistics indicating that more than 1.5 million American families perfectly fit that profile, somehow surviving on less than $2 a day, with many of the poorest and most disease-prone Americans living in Texas and other parts of the Gulf Coast.

So it hits home when Hotez's research at the Baylor College of Medicine shows most of the worst cases of those so-called NTD's strike the lowest-income citizens in the large emerging market economies of the G-20, along with Nigeria. That includes the United States. And yes, that includes Texas.

Take, for example, Chagas disease. It's estimated 300,000 Americans are infected with this little-known affliction, but few of them know it. And when people suddenly die from its effects, the cause of death is often misdiagnosed as heart disease. It's actually a parasitic infection carried by what's known as the "kissing bug," which is common here in Texas.

Our state's lawmakers acknowledged this threat to public health last year when they established a program to screen for neglected diseases, the first such legislation in the country. Unfortunately, they didn't appropriate any money for it. And federal legislation has gone nowhere in gridlocked Washington, D.C. Still, we can take action to combat these disorders. First, public health authorities need to engage in pro-active surveillance, looking for cases of these NTD's in low-income communities. Hotez believes it's also important to develop cheap diagnostic tests, as well as drugs and vaccines to combat these little-publicized conditions.

That touches on another important point. Today, the U.S. and a few European countries conduct almost all of the world's public support for research and development involving NTD's. The other G-20 nations need to do their part. The State Department recently established an Office of Global Health Diplomacy, which should pressure other developing countries to combat these diseases and put this issue on the agenda for future G-20 summits.

Hotez has latched onto an inspirational name for the efforts to fight these NTD's. He calls it "blue marble health," a reference to a famous photograph of Earth that an astronaut snapped during the Apollo 17 flight to the moon.

Somehow, it's appropriate this movement is named after a picture of the world taken by an astronaut from Houston. If Hotez' expert assessment is correct, both our city and our world need to take action against an array of little-known but potentially deadly diseases.
Mario Salinas, 35, is a well-known activist in the Houston area with a decided stutter due to a condition he was born with known as cerebral palsy. Doctors warned his parents that he would never be able to walk or talk. But today, after years of intensive therapy, Salinas, a graduate of University of Houston-Downtown, addresses auditoriums full of students on the importance of voting, despite his speech impediment. He goes to the gym and jogs three times a week.

Early therapy not only helps children with cerebral palsy achieve their potential; it helps students with autism, Down syndrome, speech or hearing difficulties and is a highly effective tool to help improve the quality of living for children with all disabilities and developmental delays.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission operates an Early Childhood Intervention program designed to provide children under three with these services, but the program lags behind other states in enrollment ratios: Texas ECI served 2.05 percent of children under age three in 2014, well below the national average of 2.95 percent, as cited in a new report by the nonprofit Texans Care for Children.

Instead of expanding the state's program, which documented need clearly supports, for the past five years, the Legislature has been decreasing funding to this program and making it harder in other ways for deserving children to get services.

Texas' policies ignore brain research, lack common sense and are fiscally irresponsible. The Legislature should reverse course and set a goal to meet or exceed the national average of children under three enrolled in the state's program.

The contraction in funding has caused a significant drop in the number of children enrolled in ECI programs. "Thousands of Texas kids are missing out on therapies that could help them communicate with their families, walk on their own, or be ready for school," said Stephanie Rubin, CEO of Texans Care for Children. The state's policies have hurt all demographic groups, but they've affected minority children the hardest, according to the report.

Enrollment of black children fell by 27 percent from 2011-2014, and enrollment of Hispanic children fell by 14 percent despite increases in the population of young black and Hispanic children in the state. Enrollment of white children fell by 11 percent despite the population of young white children in Texas having declined by nearly 3 percent.

In addition to reducing funding, the Legislature recently implemented lower Medicaid reimbursement rates, which threaten to further limit access for children. Two-thirds of the children in ECI are enrolled in Medicaid. Providers of therapy services in Tyler, Wichita Falls and El Paso have notified the state that they need to withdraw from the program, leaving some families scrambling to find services for their children.

The state should halt these rate reductions so that the Legislature can take up the issue again in 2017; all eligible kids should be able to receive the full range of services they need.

Early intervention services reduce the need for costly special education. One national study that tracked children from other states' early intervention programs as they entered elementary school found that only 58 percent were receiving special educational services. Thirty-two percent of children were considered to no longer have a disability or developmental delay, while 10 percent had a disability or delay but did not receive special education services.

Enough is enough. The need is real, and undeniable. The Legislature must repair the damage done by thoughtless policy decisions and do what's necessary to rebuild the state's early intervention program. By investing in ECI, the Legislature can give more children the opportunity to start school ready to learn, translating into savings for taxpayers, and a better future for our children.
Dire predictions

Regarding "Voters face 2 bad choices on school financing" (Page B1, Oct. 31), Smart Money columnist Michael Taylor provides one of the better analyses of the predicament that Houston ISD is in that has appeared thus far.

Thanks to the confusion in the wording of the ballot initiative, and the op-eds and editorials on the subject that have appeared in the Chronicle, I predict that the voters of Houston will vote against sending $163 million to the state.

But I also predict that the state Legislature will not bail Houston out. To do so would also require bailing out the other school districts that have been making recapture payments for years.

Therefore, I also predict that there will be another vote next year sometime in which the recapture payment will be approved.

Larry Toenjes, Clear Lake Shores

Hand over cash

Regarding "Saving HISD" (Page A18, Oct. 26), I understand trying to save the cash. However, cash is replaceable.

But the transfer of the right to tax valuable property is a whole different subject. I do not trust the state government to give back a right to levy taxes to an asset-rich city.

Houston expects to continue to prosper along with other cities with school districts that are the target of a provision in Texas known as "Robin Hood" or "recapture." If the heroic outlaw in English folklore were alive today, he would be called a criminal. The police tell residents to give robbers the money in hopes of saving your life.

In the case of Proposition 1 it is probably best to vote "yes" to pay and live to levy taxes on what is rightly Houston's life blood - tax revenue.

William N. Thomas, Houston
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Leery of telemedicine

Regarding "Care from afar," (Page A15, Oct. 17), any real quality medicine requires a doctor to be able to touch and feel the body. Many diseases have been discovered, unexpectedly, with the hands and eyes of an experienced doctor. I do understand people live in remote areas, with no access to any kind of medical treatment.

But I believe the telemedicine idea is going to become the new corporate way of treatment. Medical schools need to do a better job in producing doctors and not just doctors who will go into high-paying specialities.

Noel Foreman, Houston

An assist to Moldovan

Regarding "Rep. Weber lands in Moldova election dispute" (Page A3, Oct. 28), in the interests of transparency, global standards and decency, we must be prepared to shine a light on the crimes that have defrauded the Moldovan people of $1 billion and will soon pollute the International Monetary Fund and America.

In your article great focus is put on me and others, questioning our intent to expose the corruption that has infected the government, repeating unfounded allegations.

But this story is more than any one person. A great injustice has been done to the Moldovan people and one which can only be overturned through criminal investigation and absolute transparency.

Congress has started to act. This matter of global importance, exposed by Congressman Randy Weber, is fundamental to the future of a strategically important country, but is also a matter that threatens the IMF and wider international relations in countries like America.

Mihail Gofman, Rockville, Md.

A perilous path

Regarding "Saudi student in U.S. dies after assault" (Page A9, Monday), this story appeared among the following other reports in the Chronicle in recent days: A prominent white nationalist who supports Donald Trump starts a smear campaign against an independent opponent by robocalling voters telling them that the opponent is a closet homosexual; the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan endorses Trump; a black church in Mississippi is burned with the words "Vote Trump" spray-painted on the side.

The Trump campaign points to surveys that indicate 70-plus percent of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. We are headed in the wrong direction, but it is precisely these kinds of actions and the message of Donald Trump that makes me feel we're headed in the wrong way.

Trump has encouraged his supporters to resort to violence against any who oppose him, and this is what we get.

R. Hellyer, Houston

Weary of election season

Regarding "Both campaigns covering much ground in spring to finish line" (Page A10, Thursday), the story reports that Donald Trump raised $100 million in the last 11 days and Hillary Clinton raised $11.3 million in 48 hours. I can't help but think isn't there a better use for this money?

There are so many diseases to cure, schools that need money, infrastructure that needs fixing, etc. The elections just go on way too long and spend too much money. I think everyone is tired and can't wait for Election Day.

Joanne Geller, Richmond

Public service basics

Regarding "Why can't Texans vote for 'none of the above'? (Page A19, Oct. 28), a Texas state representative asked "Why can't Texans vote for 'none of the above'?" I'm sorry, but that sounds like an exercise in futility and a waste of taxpayer money used to fund elections.

We all need to work toward encouraging good, trustworthy, honest and capable citizens to run for office.

Perhaps when we get back to honoring and following the rule of law established by our Constitution, we will once again find honorable people who truly love this nation enough to run for office from the top down.

La Juana Wehunt, Houston
Texas' chewing-gum-and-bailing-wire, property tax-based system of funding public education allows our tea party-led state Legislature to simultaneously cut taxes and bolster lawmakers' conservative credentials. In turn, they develop policies that pillage the treasuries of so-called "wealthy school districts" through the funding system known as "Robin Hood" to make up for revenue lost through those cuts.

In Midland County alone, Robin Hood is taking $53 million that we could use to address our booming student population. Reading the Houston Chronicle ("Saving HISD" Page A18, Oct. 26), I note Houston is in the same predicament and that voters will be asked on Tuesday whether they approve sending a $162 million first installment to the state, a sum that will increase annually and over four years approach $1 billion. What happens if voters say "No?" As with any shakedown, the victim loses body parts. In this case, the Texas Commissioner of Education takes action to "detach" Houston's most valuable commercial properties and assigns those taxable assets to property-poor districts.

How have we gotten to this point: a state government that has become irrelevant and worse, a burden that many of our school districts and communities can no longer carry? How can our leaders defund and underfund the best investment we can make - providing a quality education to the state's 5 million children who are enrolled in our public schools?

Lawmakers' policy decisions have deep economic consequences. In a recent Midland Reporter-Telegram article, economist Ray Perryman estimates the long-term return on education investment at nearly $50 to every $1. The best "bang for the buck?" Priority No. 1 should be funding preschool and early education, especially in areas where a large share of the children are impoverished, as underscored in a bipartisan study by two dozen state lawmakers who reviewed policies and practices of the world's top-performing school systems. Gov. Greg Abbott last year promised $1,500 per student to bolster high-quality pre-kindergarten programs, but has delivered far less.

I hear the phrase, "Well, you can't solve that problem by throwing money at it!" in discussions of our low-performing schools. There is a corollary to that: "Don't starve a cow and expect it to gain weight."

Texas' Legislature should appoint an objective, bipartisan, third-party commission to study the tax structure of other states that are doing a better job of funding public education, and should consider the panel's findings as a "scene-setter" for changing the way we fund schools. They're likely to find that an income tax is part of the solution. Texas is funding its schools based on a punitive and random redistribution of wealth. A roll back of property taxes, accompanied by an income tax or broad-based sales tax that includes professional services, will be fair and require all Texans to contribute.

Since 1996, Texas has dropped from a rank of 26 to 48 in per-student funding for education. Louisiana, New Mexico and Arkansas now spend more than Texas. The newest CNBC Ranking of Best States for Business ranks Texas No. 2. However, from 2015 to 2016, Texas' ranking in the education category dropped from 28 to 40.

That doesn't look good on Texas' resume. In the CNBC best-for-business ranking, four of the top five states (Utah, Colorado, Minnesota and North Carolina) levy an income tax.

We need to put our local governments in a more secure place to plan their budgets and deal with the booms and busts at their level. To our state officials: It is time to make clear Texas is a place of promise for our children. Fund education and stop "Robbin' our Hood!"

Blake, president of Navigator Oil & Minerals Inc., is a resident of Midland.
Throughout the third and final presidential debate last month, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and GOP candidate Donald Trump disagreed on nearly every issue, but they did agree on one thing: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not affordable. And that lack of affordability is a huge problem.

In the recent Texas Medical Center Nielsen survey, 96 percent of Texans said having health insurance was important, but still about 17 percent remain uninsured, which puts Texas' number of uninsured as highest in the nation. We found that respondents said cost was the major barrier to having health insurance, and 87 percent of uninsured who visited the health marketplace exchange could not afford insurance. For example, an individual making $22,000 per year (200 percent of the federal poverty level) could not afford to purchase a plan in the marketplace that required him or her to pay a $6,400 premium before insurance kicks in. That equals about 28 percent of that individual's income. Estimates of what is considered "affordable health care" vary from 2 percent to 8 percent of an individual's income, but surely not 28 percent!

So how do we attack the problem that individuals just don't have the money to pay for health insurance, i.e. without the help of a large employer footing most of the bill? There really is only one way to solve it: Decrease the cost of health care.

Step one should be dramatically decreasing the waste in health care. In the U.S., one-third of our health care dollars are wasted. Shocking, isn't it? When I first heard this number, I was skeptical that it's accurate, until I read how Dr. Donald Berwick, a highly respected health economics expert, analyzed the numbers. Of $3 trillion a year in health care expenditures in the U.S., about $910 billion, or 30 percent, is wasted. Of this, we waste $192 billion on overtreatment, i.e. performing procedures and tests that are medically unnecessary. In West Virginia, for example, a patient is seven times more likely to have a heart procedure than in San Francisco, but the patients in West Virginia are no sicker and do not have better results, implying that many in West Virginia did not need the procedure in the first place and were "overtreated." There are a number of possible reasons for this overtreatment, but a prominent one is that the doctors doing these procedures are paid per procedure - the so called "fee-for-service" model of health care.

The largest payer in the U.S., the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), recognizes this fact and has committed to paying physicians at least 50 percent using a value-based payment. This "value-based health care" model - by very definition not fee-for-service - will reimburse for quality of health care instead of quantity of procedures by the end of 2018. The most sensible way to deliver value-based care is to pay physicians a salary. In some of the best health care systems in the U.S. - Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser Permanente - physicians are paid a salary, in most cases with an additional bonus based on quality metrics such as patient satisfaction or positive outcomes such as reducing readmissions to the hospital.

The future of health care depends on getting all interested parties on board with a transition to value-based care. Some payers worry that when physicians are paid a salary, they will see fewer patients. The solution here is to pay a quality bonus based on standards set by physicians. The other side of the coin is that physicians worry their incomes will fall. On the contrary, salary can be quite high, even the same as what a physician earns now, in the value-based model. To ensure adequate and fair pay for physicians who are just ramping up their practice, we could develop a compensation system for those in their first years of practice to incrementally increase over five years until it reaches the current salary for that type of physician in the region. The savings reaped to the system from a reduction in unnecessary tests, procedures and hospitalizations far exceed what it will take to pay physicians higher salaries and quality bonuses.

What needs to happen to make affordable health care a reality?

1. The savings must be monitored and captured, which is no small feat. Paying physicians a salary could cut 10 percent to 15 percent of the nation's cost of health care. That annual savings of $300 million could be passed on to individuals in the form of reduced premiums, making the ACA more affordable.

2. The commercial payers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, over the next five years should require that health plans salary their physicians with an added quality bonus. This would cover the majority of physicians who practice medicine in the U.S. For independent physicians and small group practices, this method may be more difficult to implement and fee-for-service may continue long into the future.

Why does this matter to patients? The number of unnecessary tests, procedures and hospitalizations - each carrying some risk - will markedly decrease. And by focusing on delivering high quality care instead of high volume of care, physicians will have more time to see patients, and the in-and-out, eight-minute visit with your doctor will be a thing of the past.

Garson is director of the Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute. This commentary previously was published in Huffington Post.
The stars will be out in force Saturday, as California Chrome, Arrogate, Tepin, Lady Eli, Flintshire, Frosted and a host of Aidan OBrien horses, headed by iron filly Found, will be on display in what promises to be a memorable day of racing.

Lets cut right to the chase. Remember, Im looking for prices and potential overlays, so Im taking several chances on angles rather than simply who is the best horse and likeliest winner.

JUVENILE FILLIES  Like several of the Breeders Cup races this year, I have no strong feelings here, other than to say I made up mind who would be high on my list immediately after I watched Daddys Lil Darling close from the clouds with a sensational stretch run to finish second in the Alcibiades Stakes despite breaking from the disadvantageous 14 post and dropping to the back of the pack. The daughter of Scat Daddy has run big races in all four of her starts, including an impressive score in the Pocahontas Stakes in the mud and an eight-length romp in a maiden race at Ellis Park. She did not draw well again, but Ill take a chance shell be able to work out a decent trip.

I cant decide how good the local-based fillies or top Eastern fillies are, so I am going to also focus on two fillies who have a lot to prove, but have shown enough to suggest they could be stars in the making. They are Jamyson n Ginger, who many will feel ran lights out in her maiden victory because of the slop, and Mark Casses Keeneland brilliant maiden winner Valadorna.

Forget Jamyson n Gingers lofty 103 Beyer speed figure and forget that it was in the slop. This filly is bred to run all day and improved dramatically stretching out to a mile, demolishing her foes by 15 1/4 lengths at Belmont. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez is excellent with young fillies and who knows how good this daughter of Bernardini really is?

The same goes for Valadorna, who was very impressive breaking her maiden by six lengths stretching out to 1 1/16 miles following a terrific effort going a mile at Churchill Downs, in which she broke slowly, dropped back to last in the 10-horse field and closed fast to get the place, beaten one length. She followed up her maiden score with a bullet five-furlong breeze in :59 3/5, fastest of 24 works at the distance. The way this filly ran, opening up in the stretch the way she did, she could very well be something special.

So, just for the heck of it, Im going to hope these fillies are talented enough to step up in class and perform at this level.

Exacta and trifecta box -- I will box Daddys Lil Darling, Jamyson n Ginger, and Valadorna, and bet them to win if they are high enough, especially Daddys Lil Darling, who is 12-1 on the morning line. For a fourth horse in the box, I could throw in Chandelier winner Noted and Quoted off her last work, which I thought was very impressive.

FILLY AND MARE TURF  This is a tough one. Aidan OBriens dual Oaks winner Seventh Heaven, conqueror of Found in the Yorkshire Oaks will take a ton of money and no doubt is a very talented filly. But if youre trying to beat her, she has thrown in several clunkers and was beaten into fifth at 6-5 in the British Champions Filly and Mare Stakes at Ascot in her last start, although she didn't have the best of trips. Some also blame the ground, but it was listed as good and the final time of 2:28 2/5 for the 1 1/2 miles seems pretty solid. She may very well be the best filly in this race and should be in all the exotics, but this race has produced some wild upsets..

Three total unknowns in here are the Chilean-bred Kitcat, the Peruvian invader Ryans Charm, and the Japanese-trained Nuovo Record, all exceptional fillies in their home country. Kitcat made her U.S. debut in the Swingtime Stakes at a mile and finished a good second in fast time, so she should benefit from that effort. And she came back to work a sharp five furlongs in :59 3/5, while Ryans Charm, who has been here since the summer, has been working sharply as well. At odds of 30-1 on Ryans Charm and 20-1 on Kitcat, who knows? Nuovo Record drew post 13, which wont help, but she may be rounding into form after a productive year last year, finishing second in the Hong Kong Cup to arguably Japans best horse, A Shin Hikari. And the majority of her races have been against the boys. I loved the way she gets over the ground, even though she needs to change leads.

But Im going to stick with the American fillies, headed, of course, by the remarkable Lady Eli. Im also extremely high on her stablemate Sea Calisi. This ia a filly who last year finished third to the great Treve in France and was beaten two necks in the Yorkshire Oaks. All four of her starts in the U.S. have been superior efforts, including a come-from-the-clouds victory in the grade I Beverly D. In her last start, the Flower Bowl, she was coming off a two-month layoff and did not appreciate the slow pace and then having to outclose Lady Eli, who came home her last quarter in :22 4/5. She fell two lengths short in third, but should improve off that race over a firm course that she loves.

Im also going to include the E.P. Taylor winner Als Gal, who turned in perhaps the gutsiest effort Ive seen all year winning at Woodbine. She can stalk the pace or come from way out of it, as she did when beaten a half-length by Sea Calisi in the Beverly D., and is as consistent as they come and could pick up a piece of it.

Exacta and trifecta box  Lady Eli, Sea Calisi, Als Gal, and just for the heck of it Ill throw in Nuovo Record at a price. My win bet at 8-1 would be on Sea Calisi.

SPRINT  This race has been decimated with the loss of Lord Nelson and Joking, reducing the field to seven. Lord Nelson had been my selection all year, going all the way back to last year when he beat Texas Red in the San Vicente. To me, this race no longer is worth betting, as there will be no value. If Drefong, Masochistic, and Delta Bluesman manage to cook each other, it could sit up for A. P. Indian or if you want a price, Mind Your Biscuits, although hes been running against 3-year-olds.

Drefong and Masochistic are coming off seven-furlong races, while Delta Bluesman is coming off a five-furlong race, so perhaps he can outrun both of them.

If forced to make a bet, Id probably go with Drefong, because hes proven he can win from just off the pace and Masochistic probably will be the favorite. So how about a straight exacta box of Drefong and A.P. Indian and thats it.

TURF SPRINT  Pure confusion. Im not even going to analyze this one, as it is a pure crap shoot. The Aidan OBrien-trained Washington DC has a monster closing kick that could be ideal for this race, I love horses coming off a big effort in the Prix de lAbbaye, and hes dropping 13 pounds off that race, in which he was narrowly beaten in a 17-horse field and closing fastest of all.

I also believe this could set up for Undrafted, who can beat anyone on his best day, and his last, the Woodford Stakes, was much better than it looks on paper. This race normally is won by local horses used to coming down the hill, but he did close like a powerhouse in this race two years ago, finishing third by a half-length. He also gets John Velazquez back and will be coming fast at the end.

For the horses more likely to be racing in midpack, Im looking for a big effort from Om, dropping back in distance from mile races, and Ill throw in Obviously, even though this may be too short for him. But hes a tough old warrior, and what a story if he can win this race after four attempts at the Breeders Cup Mile.

There are several other talented Europeans, but Im not sure they are fast enough, not being familiar with coming down the hill.

Exacta and triefecta box  Washington DC, Undrafted, Om, and Obviously box. And I would bet Om, Undrafted, and Washington DC to win at decent prices.

JUVENILE  I devoted an entire column to this race earlier in the week. This race is so competitive and deep its difficult separating all the talent, which will be coming from all over. Based on that column I am going to take a shot that Syndergaard, breaking from post 2, can be the speed of the speed and outrun Gormley and Three Rules into the first turn. A one-turn mile at Belmont is more grueling on a horse than 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita, and if Syndergaard is as fast and game as he was in the Champagne, he just might love his first crack at two turns and be able to take this field wire to wire.

Beating Derby-type horses such as Not This Time (who looks like the wise guy horse, especially after his impressive work over the track), Classic Empire, Practical Joke, Theory, and Klimt, as well as the brilliant pace horses Three Rules and Gormley is no easy assignment, but I need some kind of angle and I just cant separate the others, and that includes Lookin At Lee getting blinkers.

This time Ill probably just bet Syndergaard to win or, depending on his price, wheel him on top with the others mentioned above. If you want to protect yourself you can box him in the exacta with those others instead. But Ill just go all in with him, and also put a saver on Practical Joke, because I believe he's going to be overlooked and is a much better horse than people think. If I bet another exotic it'll be a Practical Joke - Syndergaard exacta box, or the Champagne again both ways. I would also put a saver on Three Rules in case he is really as good as hes looked. He has all the makings of a class horse, Florida Stallion Series races or not.

If Syndergaard cant shake free from Gormley and Three Rules and gets inhaled by the others, then its simply time to start thinking Derby and theres nothing wrong with that. But for now, I'm looking at Syndergaard to take this field on a merry, but futile chase. And remember, Pletcher horses always break like a bullet, so he should get the jump on everyone out of the gate.

TURF  Is it possible that back-to-back Todd Pletcher horses can take their field wire to wire? There really is not much speed in this race other than Ectot, and many may feel his Turf Classic win was a fluke on softish ground in a four-horse field that compromised the chances of Flintshire.

Lets remember that Ectot is by an Arc de Triomphe and Irish Derby winner and was regarded highly enough to be sent off at 6-1 in the Arc last year after winning the Prix Niel. Before that he defeated Breeders Cup Mile winner Karakontie in the one-mile Prix de Fontainebleau. In his race before the Turf Classic, he was beaten a nose in a sharp 2:25 flat for the mile and a half, stretching out from 1 1/16 miles. Ectot is a big strapping handsome horse with a monster stride that is capable of running his opponents into the ground.

Its not going to be easy beating Flintshire on firm ground, and certainly not going to be easy beating stablemates Found and Highland Reel. But the two OBrien horses are coming off hard campaigns competing against the best horses in Europe, while Ectot is still a fresh horse. And on the European front, never dismiss Michael Stoute, and he has a horse in Ulysses who is getting good and had a terrific work over the Santa Anita course. And he is by super stud Galileo

The only horse seemingly capable of putting any kind of pressure on Ectot is Ashleyluvssugar, who is a hard-knocking, consistent horse coming off back-to-back grade II wins and Gary Stevens is not the type to let a horse steal a race on him. So well have to see how he plays it. Ectot is more than capable of slowing the pace down and is such a strong galloper, a little bit of pressure shouldnt bother him.

Like with Syndergaard Im just looking for an angle here rather than try separating Flintshire, Found, Highland Reel, and Da Big Hoss, and even Mondialiste and some of the others.

Exacta and trifecta  Ectot on top of those mentioned above in the exactas, and back end in an exacta with Flintshire, Found, Ulysses, and Highland Reel on top. You can also put him on top of those four in the trifecta. If Ectot goes off at or near his 8-1 morning line odds, you can simply play him to win and get good value. But watch out for Ulysses, who apparently loves this course and will be overlooked because of the powerful O'Brien pair.

FILLY AND MARE SPRINT  This is a totally wide-open affair with no standout and literally 10 to 12 horses who have a legitimate shot to win. The way Haveyougoneaway has been closing every race and the distance drop backs by top-class fillies Taras Tango and Carina Mia, you have three top choices, not to mention last years winner Wavell Avenue, who seems to have lost a step this year, but is coming off a good sharpener in the 6 1/2-furlong Gallant Bloom Handicap, won by the hard-knocking Paulassilverlining, whose stablemate By the Moon is coming off a narrow defeat to Haveyougoneaway in the grade I Ballerina Stakes. And you cant ignore TCA Stakes winner Irish Jasper or Test winner Paola Queen or LA Woman winner GloryzapperGot all that?

So with so many fast, classy fillies in this race, why am I looking at a 20-1 shot with only two starts this year and one start since April? Well it could be stupidity or the inability to separate the others, or simply looking for a bomb.

The horse in question is Gomo, a daughter of Uncle Mo from the Doug ONeill barn. Not only do you have the grass to dirt angle, with Gomo coming off a fast-closing fourth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in the 6 1/2-furlog Unzip Me Stakes at Santa Anita at 18-1, her first start in six months, she has run her best dirt races coming off grass races.

After romping in a one-mile maiden race on grass, she finished a solid second in the 6 1/2-furlong Sorrento Stakes at odds of 19-1. After finishing third in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, she shipped to Keeneland and won the grade I Alcibiades Stakes by almost three lengths. She apparently is over her physical issues from early this year and once again returns to the dirt off a sharp effort on grass. Hey, what do you want for 20-1?

Her last workout, six furlongs in 1:15, is nothing to rave about, but Im going to ignore it, partly out of ignorance and knowing that Doug ONeill horses often have strange workout times. I was impressed with this fillys performance in the Alcibiades, and even though it as last year, she still looked like a quality filly and Ill take a stab with her.

The other intriguing longshot with the grass to dirt angle is Finest City, coming off a head defeat in the grade II John C. Mabee Stakes and a close fourth in the grade II Yellow Ribbon Stakes. Prior to that she was third behind Beholder and Stellar Wind in the Vanity Mile, and in her last sprint, she captured grade II Great Lady M Stakes going away, and she gets the services of Mike Smith. Do not ignore this filly who is listed at 12-1.

Exacta and trifecta box -- Im going to save myself the anguish of separating all the main contenders and bet Gomo and Finest City to win and box each one in the exacta with Haveyougoneaway, Carina Mia, and Taras Tango. If youre daring enough you can also box them in the trifecta.

MILE  Again, there are too many horses to like, and I would love to see Tepin win, but this is a tougher race than last year. I was glad to hear trainer Mark Casse say he believes shes as good as ever, so well see.

To make this brief, I am going to make a trifecta box with Tepin, Ironicus, Alice Springs, Limato, and Spectre. Nothing earth shattering here. And even with that, there are several I like that I am not including. Of these I think Limato may be the big danger, but 7-2 is too low for me. I do know that Ironicus will be flying late, and Spectre could be worth a win bet at 20-1.

CLASSIC  Normally, I can single out one price horse I like to possibly upset the proverbial apple cart. But I really cant this time. And if I want to take a negative approach and explain why California Chrome might be vulnerable, I would say, by drawing post 4 with no speed inside him, a sharp and fresh Melatonin breaking in the middle and Arrogate having to bust out of there from the far outside, California Chrome could wind up where he does not like to be, stuck on the inside, with two of the main contenders keeping him pinned down.

But with such a long run to the first turn, anything can happen, so Im not going to dwell on the ways California Chrome might be compromised.

Two of the horses inside Chrome, Effinex on the rail and Frosted in post 2, are the type of horses who can be placed anywhere, and although they like to get a good position early, it is highly doubtful their riders are going to ask them for too much speed, so I look for them to suck back ever so slightly and tuck in behind California Chrome. Shaman Ghost likely will stay pretty much in touch from the outside.

The question is, will the riders of Chrome, Arrogate, and Melatonin try to slow the pace down or will they all be competitive enough to assure a fast pace? Will one try for the lead with the other two content to let him? This likely is where the scenario of the race will be decided. Will Chrome get clear of those two, will he be pinned down inside them, or will Espinoza take back and try to ease to the outside in a stalking position. Either way, it should be a pretty contentious pace; not necessarily fast, but contentious.

As we have no idea what Arrogate is going to do and how good he really is, youre just guessing and speculating with him. He could be a budding superstar or a one-hit wonder. He shows all the signs of being a powerhouse of a horse, with that humongous stride, but he still has to show it one more time.

If California Chrome is going be vulnerable enough to get beat, the logical one to pull off the dastardly deed is Frosted, if he can come close to duplicating his other-worldly performance in the Met Mile and even his impressive Whitney score.

I thought Keen Ice ran a very good race returning off his Dubai debacle, squeezing through a narrow opening on the rail and closing fast late, and was five in front about 50 yards past the wire in a mile race run in a snappy 1:33 1/5. Hoppertunity appears to be feeling good about himself after his confidence builder in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and you can see it in his training this past week. He will be closing and should once again pick up the pieces late. Can you imagine the ironic twist if Baffert wins the Classic, but does it with "Hopper." You can bet no one close to this likeable horse will be disappointed. Effinex is always capable of being right there, as is Shaman Ghost. So this is a pick em group.

With all that said, there is no way I can go against California Chrome, but do acknowledge the possibility of a compromising trip that he will have to overcome. I can also see Chrome and Arrogate separating themselves from the rest of the field, they are that much faster. If Arrogate, whose last two works have been sensational, comes close to repeating his Travers, there may not be a horse alive who can run with him. With that in mind, if you want to make a win bet that will return at least a decent profit, then Frosted as third choice would seem the logical way to go. He looks fantastic physically, probably was not at his very best in the Woodward, in which he ran 40 feet farther than the winner, and looks like he could be sitting on a peak performance. This is not a race for a major betting coup in my opinion. California Chrome is the man, Arrogate is still the mystery horse with unlimited upside, and Frosted is the logical win play to make some mone in case he runs back to his Met Mile.

This is just a race to watch and enjoy and hope California Chrome gets a good trip and is able to put in his best effort. A victory would be a magnificent end to a great Breeders Cup, and if he gets beat fair and square, then a well-earned congratulations to the winner.
Ernest Wheeler, 87, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, at Mountain View Health Care.

He was born Feb. 1, 1929, in Portageville, son of Foster and Ruth Sutton Wheeler. He and Alice Holden were married in 1973.

He served in the Army from December 1952 to December 1954 and with the Army reserves until December 1960.

He had many jobs and retired from the oil refineries as a boat operator.

He and his wife, Alice, moved back to the Holden family farm in Mountain View, where they resided until she passed away in 2004.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; two sisters, Lorine Wheeler and Betty Huffman; and two brothers, Francis M. Frank Wheeler and Charles Wheeler.

Survivors include a son, Drew Wheeler; two stepsons, Dan Vincent and Harold Gene Vincent; two grandchildren; a brother, Levi Wheeler; and a host of other family members.

Graveside services with military honors were Friday, Nov. 4, in Green Lawn Cemetery in Mountain View with the Rev. Steve Steelman officiating. Services were under the direction of Bradford Funeral Home.

Online condolences maybe be left at bradfordfuneralhome.net.
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About Webcast

In today's workplace, displaying the latest federal and state labor law postings may not be enough to ensure 100% protection against lawsuits and fines. And with fines for not displaying current posting having increased recently to over $30,000, it is more important than ever for companies regardless of size and industry to be sure they are in complete posting compliance. For instance, if companies have remote workers, non-English-speaking workers, operate in certain industries, have federal government contracts, or have employees in certain cities, they may have additional requirements. The goal of this webinar is to inform attendees of some recent legal developments and trends that might affect their companys posting obligations.



The topics to be covered include Foreign Language Posting Requirements, E-Verify, Electronic Postings, Solutions for Remote Workers, Telecommuters and Non-traditional Worksites, Applicant Area Posting Requirements, Industry-Specific and Federal Contractor Requirements, and City and Local Trends. Many companies are not aware that there are actually 22 states, plus Washington DC, that require businesses to display their posters in Spanish  regardless of your workforce demographics  even if there are not any Spanish-speaking employees on staff. Also, many companies have questions about employees who work from home or have non-traditional worksites, such as mall kiosks or even food trucks. This webinar will give concrete examples and solutions on how to handle such scenarios. No matter your company size or industry there is valuable information in this webinar to help your company in its goal to stay in compliance.



Don't miss out on this informative webinar!



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Two Bangladeshi nationals were killed at a Thomson-East Coast Line Mandai Depot construction siteyesterday after being run over by a reversing truck.



According to a report in The Straits Times, both men were said to have been taking a break and napping on the ground when the tragedy occurred.



Witnesses, who wished to remain anonymous, said the workers were not supposed to be there and the driver had not seen them when he was reversing.



Nevertheless, the driver has been taken into police custody and charged with causing death by a negligent act, while the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) promised to continue its investigation into the accident.



[This tragedy] highlights the need for employers and employees alike to adopt a safety first mindset always, said Julia Yeo, employment law specialist and legal director at Clyde&Co in a statement to HRD.



Employers need to ensure a safe worksite but employees too must play their part in complying strictly with safety measures and requirements.



Perhaps having sufficient designated rest areas on site and providing workers reasonable access to such rest areas may be one way to prevent such tragic deaths from happening again.



She also added that employers found to be in breach of their statutory obligations could be fined up to $1million for a repeat offence in reference to the fact that this is the second time this year that fatalities have been reported at the construction site.


e people were arrested yesterday after occupying the Auckland offices of recruitment firm Manpower, amid claims of exploitation and illegal contracts.The protesters, who are all members of Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP), stormed the Symonds Street location at around 12pm demanding an end to unfair recruitment practices.Earlier this week, Manpower was accused of signing up beneficiaries to legally questionable employment contracts. According to the Newshub investigation behind the allegations, contracts dont specific pay rate, hours, location or even the job description.These are mandatory requirements in terms of what has to be in every written individual employment agreement so to try to get around that I would say is not only irregular but unlawful, barrister Richard Upton told the news channel.Despite the dearth of information on what exactly theyll be doing, when and even where, beneficiaries risk having their benefit cut for up to 13 weeks if they turn down a job.The contracts are also reported to include a clause which gives the global recruitment firm the power to collect and pass on information about workers race, sexual preference, religious beliefs and political views."Asking intimate details enables an employer more power to discriminate who gets work and who does not," said Vanessa Cole, who was among the protestors arrested yesterday.Manpower managing director Richard Fischer strongly denied the claims of discrimination but said the allegations were being taken seriously."ManpowerGroup constantly reviews and adjusts its operations in order to fully comply with New Zealand legislation, as well as legislation in all the countries we operate in," he said in a statement."Furthermore, we always strive to ensure our candidates and associates are treated fairly and equitably. This is our practice and is in our culture."A police spokesperson confirmed nine people were arrested for trespassing.
Maryam Monsef says the "drama" surrounding her place of birth and citizenship has had an impact on her family.

"Right now, to be completely fair, because my family drama is out there for all sorts of people to see and comment on... Im actually more concerned about my moms well-being," said the democratic institutions minister. "Thats my number one priority."

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"I dont get to see her a lot these days. Ive been on tour [for electoral reform consultations] while this has all happened and we havent spent much time together. So, I fortunately get to go home and see her very, very soon."

Monsef made the remarks in response to questions from The Huffington Post Canada's Althia Raj during Make It Count, a digital town hall focused on electoral reform, on Thursday.

The controversy began in September after a Globe and Mail story revealed that Monsef was born in Iran  and not Afghanistan, as she's previously claimed.

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Monsef, who came to Peterborough, Ont. in 1996 with her family as a refugee, said her mother had always told her she was born in Afghanistan.

After the Globe story was published, the minister said in a statement that she asked her mother why she never told her children they were born in Iran.

Her mother thought it didn't matter, Monsef said, as the family members were still Afghan citizens, and were never given Iranian citizenship.

"Im actually more concerned about my moms well-being."

The revelation eventually led to a backlash that ranged from the Opposition calling for Monsef to step down until an investigation could be conducted, to users on social media demanding she be deported from the country.

When asked if she was worried about Canadians in similar situations to hers but getting treated differently, Monsef answered that her main concern is her mother's well-being.

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"I know that I have a responsibility as a legislator when it comes to this, and Im confident that Ive chosen a party thats welcoming to new Canadians," she said.

"This doesnt change who I am. It doesnt change anything, really. But, it has made a significant impact on my family, especially my mom. So, thats where my concern is right now," she said.

Click here to watch the full town hall with Monsef.

Monsef's case has put her in the potential scope of a law that allows for a person's citizenship to be revoked without a hearing.

Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman told The Canadian Press that if Monsef's birthplace was misrepresented on her citizenship application, that would be grounds for revocation of citizenship, regardless of whether it was an innocent mistake or the fault of her mother.

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The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers launched a constitutional challenge to the law, which they argue violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Liberals blasted the law when they were in opposition, but the BCCLA's executive director Josh Paterson said the law is still being used "aggressively" by the federal government to revoke citizenship from 40 to 60 Canadians every month  with some of them in situations similar to Monsef's.

Monsef told Raj that she has not received any notice of an investigation being opened into her citizenship application.

"For anybody whos concerned about my well-being or me being 'shipped out,' I promise you that if it ever comes to that, I will be the first one to let you know," she said.

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PM backs Monsef

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended Monsef on Thursday, saying her critics are playing political games.

"People are mixing very different situations for political reasons," he said.

Trudeau said that sometimes when people are fleeing war  as in Monsef's case  "there is not always perfect clarity on which side of the border one is born."

With files from The Canadian Press

Also on HuffPost
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For decades, the female orgasm has been somewhat complicated.

There has always been vaginal intercourse, but scientists later (and way later) discovered clitoral orgasms can be even more stimulating.

But is there anything else you can do?

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In a recent study from Montreal's Concordia University, it turns out there are multiple ways women can orgasm and it all starts with touch.

"Unlike men, women can have a remarkable variety of orgasmic experiences, which evolve throughout the lifespan," lead author Jim Pfaus said in a statement.

Of course, all women are different and figuring out what works the best takes time.

"Orgasms don't have to come from one site, nor from all sites. And they don't have to be the same for every woman, nor for every sexual experience even in the same woman, to be whole and valid."

Watch the video above to find out exactly how to reach the big O  and yes, like anything, practice makes perfect.

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Also on HuffPost
Blood. Greed. And beaver pelts? No, this isn't the making of a Beaverton headline but rather, the backdrop for "Frontier," Discovery Canada's first scripted series.

The show's set in colonial Canada at the height of the fur-trading industry and a time where relationships between European settlers and Canada's First Nations were tested.

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And while the show takes place in the 1700s, executive producer and star Alan Hawco, says the series would have become very different were it not for the Canadians' recent efforts to reconcile with indigenous communities.

"I do believe we've avoided it... twenty years ago it'd be a white person's show. It'd be the trials and tribulations of the Europeans," Hawco told the Huffington Post Canada.

Hawco plays Douglas Brown, a businessman with the Low River Company, a Montreal-based group organizarion up against The Hudson's Bay Company. He stars along side Jason Momoa's Declan Harp and Jessica Matten's Sokanon, two hunter and trappers with a competing fur-trading company.

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Hawco stresses "Frontier" is a dramatic historical fiction but acknowledges the show he stars in is based off a history of colonialism.

"There's a bigger issue here in terms of what we did as a settlers and as a people by essentially invading a land. That's the biggest part of it for me. Probably why weve stayed away from it because it's tricky material."

You can watch the full interview with him below:

"Frontier" premiers Sunday, Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery
The federal defence minister is beating back Conservative charges that Canadian troops set to be deployed on a peacekeeping mission in Africa could be led like lambs to slaughter.

Harjit Sajjan faced questions in the House of Commons Friday about his remarks at a town hall session with Ottawa high school students the day before. Sajjan said Canadas contribution to a United Nations mission cant just be about preventing violence but must also address the root causes of that fighting, including radicalization.

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Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan speaks in the House of Commons on Nov. 4, 2016. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was later asked at a news conference how Canadians can be expected to tackle the root causes of strife in African nations dealing with ethnic or tribal rivalries or corrupt governments.

Canada has an awful lot to offer other than just stopping people from shooting at each other, Trudeau said, adding that Canadians expect a layered approach that attempts to create long-term security.

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In question period Friday, Tory defence critic James Bezan demanded to know if Canadian troops will be able to defend themselves when radicalized terrorists start shooting at them.

Or are they expected just to talk to the jihadists about their feelings or the root causes of the conflict? he asked.

'Robust rules of engagement'

Sajjan assured the House that, wherever troops are deployed, they will have robust rules of engagement, as well as the right equipment and training.

But he said that every nation looking at global conflicts is also trying to get to the core of the problems.

We cannot just be sending our soldiers into harms way all the time, Sajjan said. We need to start preventing conflict.

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Tory associate defence critic Pierre Paul-Hus, who like Sajjan is a veteran, was more aggressive in his questioning.

"Will the government send our soldiers to this mission like lambs to the slaughter?"

Paul-Hus accused Liberals of wanting to send troops to Mali, which is considered perhaps the most dangerous of the possible destinations. Extremists in the West African nation have killed more than 100 peacekeepers in the last four years, including 32 this year.

Paul-Hus charged that Liberals will want soldiers to act like social workers in a place where terrorists have made it clear they will target blue helmets.

Will the government send our soldiers to this mission like lambs to the slaughter? he asked.

I actually resent that question, Sajjan fired back.

Sajjan heading to dangerous Mali

The defence minister reiterated that troops will be ready to defend themselves if need be, wherever they are deployed. But smart power, he said, is about trying to reduce conflict  something Canadian troops know how to do.

While theyre ready for the threat, they can also help reduce the threat as well, he said.

Sajjan is headed for a fact-finding mission in Mali and Senegal next week to learn more about the security challenges on the ground. Sajjans office told The Canadian Press that the visit should not be interpreted as a sign Canada is going to join the Mali mission.

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However, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau also visited Mali in September, as did a reconnaissance team of officials from National Defence, Global Affairs and the RCMP.

Details to be revealed in 'coming weeks': PM

Interim Tory Leader Rona Ambrose has accused Trudeau of using Canadian soldiers as pawns in his pursuit of a UN Security Council seat. Ambrose maintains there is no peace to keep in Africa.

Liberals have committed up to 600 soldiers, 150 police officers and $450 million for a peace operation in Africa. Trudeau said Thursday that Liberals will reveal their decision about a destination in the coming weeks.

With files from The Canadian Press

Also on HuffPost
As Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission continues to await potential solutions to issues at Childrens Lake, organizers of the Christmas by the Lake are moving ahead with modifications to the annual event in Boiling Springs.

South Middleton Township Supervisor Tom Faley said the event will be held at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 4, and while Santa will make the trip across the lake, the Christmas tree will not.

The tree usually is set atop a raft that floats in the middle of the lake, but Faley said the water in the lake is not high enough for that to be possible.

Commission spokesperson Eric Levis confirmed that the water level at the lake is 2 feet lower than normal.

The Christmas tree will instead be placed in the gazebo and lit during a ceremony. Faley said organizers from Boiling Springs Civic Association are still hopeful about the event, considering the tree will add an extra element to photographs for children who sit with Santa at the gazebo.

Faley noted that there are some concerns regarding potential vandalism of the tree, but there is a security camera already pointed in the direction of the gazebo and State Police at Carlisle are being notified of the trees new location.

The rest of the event will run much like it has in past years, with the Boiling Springs High School band playing music and Santa returning for a visit and photographs with children.

Area businesses have also again chipped in for the event. F&M Trust will provide cookies, Karns will donate candy canes and the fire department will offer hot chocolate.

They get such a wonderful turnout, Faley said. I fully expect this year to be the same.

As for the lake itself, it will be sometime before there is movement.

After a report of a sinkhole near the lake in August, Fish & Boat Commission crews brought in equipment to install a temporary fix that would prevent water from piping into the ground. During that work, however, a retaining wall collapsed, indicating that there may be more piping issues.

The commission settled on the fact that a permanent fix would likely be needed. It is awaiting a report from consultants with options and recommendations on how to move forward. Levis said that report is expected by the end of the month.

While the commission waits for the recommendations, work has been suspended. The water, which had been lowered for work on the temporary fix, was raised to only 2 feet below normal, and fencing was installed around the area the commission deemed unstable.
The democratic institutions minister says she doesnt like referenda  but would have a hard time saying no to one if the all-party committee recommending changes to Canadas electoral system deems it necessary.

Maryam Monsef took part in a digital town hall on electoral reform organized by The Huffington Post Canada, where young Canadians pressed her on the Liberal governments pledge that the 2015 election will be the last under the first-past-the-post system.

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Conservatives and some academics have said that a national referendum is necessary before any changes are made to the way Canadians vote, arguing that anything less will raise doubts about the legitimacy and fairness of the new system.

I dont like referenda, Monsef conceded. I dont think that they are the best way to engage Canadians in a discussion about really important and complex public policy issues like electoral reform.

(Click here to watch the full digital town hall.)

The minister said such votes have a tendency to divide communities.

That said, if the committee comes back  and this is how much respect I have for this committees work  if the committee comes back and says a referendum is the only way to legitimize this process, then I have to take that very seriously, she said.

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Monsef added that she would most likely say yes to a referendum if the three Tory MPs on the committee somehow convince the five remaining Liberals, two New Democrats, one Bloc Quebecois MP and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May that it is essential.

It will be really hard to say no, she said. I dont want to say yes, but it would have to be taken very seriously.

But if the past is any indication, a referendum could mean that electoral reform wont happen. Voters in British Columbia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island have all rejected proposed changes to their voting systems when given the chance to weigh in on the matter.

Monsef pressed on personal preference

The minister has just wrapped a cross-country tour where she held public consultations. At a town hall meeting in Victoria, B.C. last week, Monsef told the crowd that while Trudeau has a preference when it comes to a new voting system and that she was also arriving at a preference, Liberals would not ram through changes without broad support.

The remark has raised red flags among New Democrats who have long advocated for proportional representation, and fear Liberals are determined to usher in the ranked ballot system about which Trudeau has spoken positively in the past.

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Such a system lets voters rank their choices in order of preference. If no candidate wins a clear majority, the last-place candidate is eliminated and the second choices of his or her supporters are counted. The process continues until one candidate emerges with more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Centrist Liberals, the thinking goes, would be the natural second choice of many NDP voters on the left and of Conservatives to their right.

My preference is for a system that is in the best interests of Canadians.  Maryam Monsef

However, on Thursday, Monsef refused to disclose what system she is starting to fancy, despite repeated pressing by HuffPosts Ottawa bureau chief Althia Raj.

My preference is for a system that is in the best interests of Canadians, she said, later adding that citizens want to feel more connected to their representatives.

Monsef also rejected the suggestion that by not telling the public where she is leaning, she was allowing doubt to be cast on the process. The minister said it would be unfair and irresponsible to weigh in before the committee comes out with its report next month.

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But do you understand why your vagueness is making people concerned that the system is not fair, that its not being transparent, that the Liberals are cooking this up for their own political gains? Raj asked.

Monsef called that quite a bit of a stretch, and said Liberals arent cooking anything up.

This actually isnt about my personal opinion, Monsef said. It brings some weight, but I can promise you that at the end of this process, this isnt about me.

A little later, town hall participant Rudayna Bahubeshi was able to get Monsef to elaborate on the potential benefits of ranked ballots.

Bahubeshi said she read that Trudeau prefers the system and suggested it would benefit Grits more than other parties.

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Folks that vote Conservative, their second choice is going to be Liberal, and folks who vote NDP, their second choice is going to be Liberal, Bahubeshi said.

Maybe, Monsef replied. Maybe. 100 per cent?

Bahubeshi said that while there are exceptions to the rule, the Liberal partys place on the political spectrum could make a new ranked system convenient for the government.

Folks that vote Conservative, their second choice is going to be Liberal, and folks who vote NDP, their second choice is going to be Liberal.  Rudayna Bahubeshi

Monsef countered there is no data to support that ranked ballots will automatically benefit Liberals because no one can predict what is going to happen in the future and the circumstances behind each election are different.

A ranked ballot rewards those parties that are conciliatory, that are willing to work co-operatively and collaboratively and with civility, she said. Its not necessarily the Liberal party.

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Watch some of the exchange:

Monsef also responded to concerns from some HuffPost readers that Trudeau might be opening the door to backing away from electoral reform entirely. Trudeau raised eyebrows recently when he told La Presse newspaper that the motivation to change the electoral system is less compelling now that Canadians are happy with their government.

Raj asked: For those who are watching and who really care passionately about this issue, can you tell them whether or not 2019 will be held under a new voting system?

Thats what were working towards, Monsef replied, adding that the government remains committed to the task.

The committee, she said, is working hard and will to come to an agreement on a proposed change.

And 2019 will be the first election conducted under a new system, she said.

Expat voting rights

But the minister also suggested that Liberals will move to address two other thorny democratic issues  the voting rights of Canadian expats and the controversial Fair Elections Act left behind by the previous Tory government.

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Monsef was asked if Liberals will work to ensure Canadians who have lived outside of the country for more than five years can vote in the next election, a practice that is currently prohibited. Two Canadians living in the U.S. are challenging the ban at the Supreme Court in February.

Monsef said that, as a millennial, she recognizes many young Canadians want the right to live abroad and still participate in Canadian democracy.

Theres legislation were reviewing that may address needs of these highly-mobile Canadians, she said.

'Im working on it, man'

Liberals also pledged in last years campaign to repeal the anti-democratic elements in Stephen Harpers Fair Elections Act. The controversial law brought in stricter identification requirements for voting that many feared would disenfranchise indigenous Canadians on reserves and other Canadians, such as students, who might struggle to establish their addresses.

The law also restricts the ability of the chief electoral officer to encourage Canadians to cast a ballot.

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Monsef said Liberals will move on that pledge very, very soon and suggested a debate and vote in the House of Commons isnt far away.

Im working on it, man.

With files from The Canadian Press

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We are devastated about the recent cancer diagnosis of our oldest son Noah who is currently undergoing treatment in the US, Buble and his wife, Lusiana Lopilato, said in a statement to ET Canada.

We have always been very vocal about the importance of family and the love we have for our children. Luisana and I have put our careers on hold in order to devote all our time and attention to helping Noah get well. At this difficult time, we ask only for your prayers and respect for our privacy. We have a long journey in front of us and hope that with the support of family, friends and fans around the world, we will win this battle, God willing.
In not-so-surprising news, Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi announced he will seek re-election for a third term.

He shared the news in a video released early Friday morning.

His announcement comes almost a year in advance of Calgary's next municipal election, which will be held in October of 2017.

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In the video, he highlights some of his accomplishments during his first two terms.

"Weve made huge investments in social infrastructure like parks and rec centres and fire halls to make the city better to live in," he says.

But, he also points out that "times are tough" for many Calgarians.

"Far too many of our neighbours are feeling the pain of unemployment and the uncertainty of not knowing what the future holds."

He also notes "increased forces of hatred and of xenophobia" plaguing Calgary in recent months.

Nenshi was first elected mayor in 2010, with 40 per cent of the vote. His popularity soared during his first term and he was re-elected in 2013 with 74 per cent of the vote.

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Two years ago, Nenshi won the World Mayor Prize and was called an "urban visionary."

However, he's faced a share of criticism and conflict this term.

Earlier this year he was caught on camera calling Uber a bunch of "dicks." He was also wrapped up in a defamation lawsuit with a local builder that left him with nearly $100,000 in legal fees.

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Visa has found a unique way to retaliate against Walmart for the retailer's decision to stop accepting its credit cards in Manitoba.

The credit card company is offering $10 in credit to anyone who spends $50 on groceries in Manitoba at stores other than Walmart.

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Those who want to take advantage of the offer  which also excludes convenience stores  have to sign up online before Nov. 15, and will have 15 days to make a qualifying purchase.

Visas promotional offer doesnt mention Walmart by name, but as Walmart stopped accepting Visa cards at Manitoba stores last month, the move is clearly retaliatory.

We hope this eases the inconvenience for Visa cardholders in Manitoba who cannot use their card everywhere they may want to, a spokesperson said, as quoted at Global News.

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For Visa to respond (like this) likely means theyve already seen a dent in their sales, Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of management at Dalhouse University, told the Winnipeg Free Press.

"Visa is positioning itself as the savior of consumers and saying, 'Look, Walmart is complaining about our fee but here is what we're trying to do for you.' ... (It's) the battle of (who is) the protector of the grocery shopper."

The two companies have long been embroiled in battles over the fees Visa charges to retailers. Canada became a new frontline in that battle this summer, when Walmart stopped accepting Visa cards at three Thunder Bay locations. It then stopped accepting Visa at 16 Manitoba locations in October.

Walmart says Visas fees are excessive. Visa has accused Walmart of using its customers as pawns in their conflict.

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Walmart said in June it plans to stop accepting Visa cards across Canada "in the coming months."

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Kevin Dodge via Getty Images Hispanic doctor looking out window

Climate change has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the biggest health threat of the 21st century.

But what does it mean for Canada?

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Climate change is no longer a suspected diagnosis. It's a health emergency that is already causing systemic damage to the health and well-being of many around the world.

Consequences reach beyond borders: climate-related drought and crop failure has been implicated as an exacerbating factor in the conflict in Syria.

The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical journals, points out that based on current emissions trajectories, temperature rises over the next 85 years may bring such consequences in terms of sea-level rise, malnutrition, conflict and other destabilizing factors as to be "incompatible with an organised global community."

The flipside of crisis is opportunity. In fact, the central conclusion of The Lancet's 2015 Commission on Climate Change and Health is that tackling climate change may be the biggest health opportunity of our time. This report fused the knowledge of some of the world's most prominent economists, physicians, urban planners and other experts.

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Their assessment? "The single most powerful strategic instrument to inoculate human health against the risks of climate change would be for governments to introduce strong and sustained carbon pricing."

The Lancet likened carbon pricing to methods already used successfully by public health departments across the world, such as tobacco taxation. Citing the Lancet, in 2015 the Canadian Medical Association passed a motion committing it to promote the health benefits of a strong, predictable price on carbon emissions.

The prescription of a critical treatment is a step towards better health. Given that, we applaud the Federal Government's recent announcement of a minimum price on carbon.

In British Columbia, per capita consumption of fossil fuels covered by their carbon tax decreased by 16 percent between 2007 and 2013, and a review of studies on the tax showed an overall 5-15 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions compared with what would have occurred with no tax.

Decreasing fossil fuel use decreases local air pollution, which has immediate benefits for health. The WHO attributes one in every eight deaths worldwide to air pollution. In 2008, the CMA estimated that air pollution resulted in 11,000 hospital admissions and 21,000 deaths in Canada annually, at a cost to the health system of over eight billion dollars. As a carbon price drives society towards decreased fossil fuel use, air pollution is expected to decrease, resulting in immediate health benefits.

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Air pollution-related illness in Toronto has dropped in the years following the closure of Ontario's coal plants; what if all of Canada saw illness from air pollution decreasing? Any cost-benefit analyses of carbon pricing must include estimates of the impact of carbon pricing on rates and costs of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.

A formal health impact assessment at the provincial level at the time of consideration of individual policies would be helpful in order to ensure that new carbon pricing regimes are implemented in a way that does not penalize those with the least means, and which optimizes overall health.

Strategies to help with implementation include a predictable, reasonable rollout so that people can make progressively lower-carbon choices, tax rebates or a tax shift.

For example, the provincial government of British Columbia decreased personal and corporate income tax to compensate for their carbon pricing regime.

Other measures will be required to help us do our fair share and meet our international commitments, but a national minimum price on carbon is a significant step forward. There is much room for the provinces to each determine the best way to introduce carbon pricing and how to use the revenue generated for provincial coffers.

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The world is going low-carbon. Canada has agreed to a G7 pledge to completely decarbonize by 2100 and has now ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which will enter into force on November 4th.

If climate change is the biggest threat to human health, a robust response is our greatest opportunity to make positive change. The institution of a national carbon price is a key step in the treatment necessary to keep us -- and our children -- alive and thriving.

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PC

When Brad Wall rolled through the Calgary Petroleum Club's wood-paneled walls on June 8, he got the headlines he wanted.

"We're in the middle of a battle and frankly we haven't been winning too many battles," said Wall about the oil and gas industry in a quote that made the rounds.

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But the mainstream media didn't really clue in into as to why Wall was coming through Calgary. It was a fundraising pitch. And make no mistake -- Brad Wall is an incredibly successful out-of-province fundraiser.

Weak election finance laws can have a toxic effect on the political process.

Since 2006 the Saskatchewan Party has raised $3,091,356.85 from out-of-province sources. More than $2 million of that came from Alberta. And that doesn't include money raised for the 2016 Saskatchewan election, which won't be available to look at until 2017.

This is for a province with a population of just over a million people. And only Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island accept out-of-province political donations. While Alberta just recently got corporate and union money out of provincial politics, it figured out 39 years ago that accepting out-of-province donations probably wasn't the best idea.

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Tom Chambers was a Progressive Conservative MLA who rose in the Alberta legislature on May 13, 1977 to speak to Bill 24, the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act:

"It is our view that the people of Alberta feel quite strongly on the subject of outside influence in our province and on our political system. Surely a political party in this province should survive on its own merits and with the support of the people of Alberta."

Read 39 years later, that's quite a rebuke to Saskatchewan's lax election finance laws. Not only are out-of-province donations OK in Brad Wall's Saskatchewan, but so are corporate and union donations. There are no donation limits of any kind, and out-of-country corporate donations are allowed as long as that corporation has a Canadian presence.

It really is the Wild West out in Saskatchewan.

Weak election finance laws can have a toxic effect on the political process. The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development released a paper in April 2016 called Financing Democracy: Funding of Political Parties and the Risk of Policy Capture.

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"If the financing of political parties and election campaigns is not adequately regulated, money may be a means for powerful special interests to exercise undue influence, and 'capture' the policy process," says the report.

When you find some of Brad Wall's largest corporate donors, his public statements start to make a lot more sense.

Crescent Point: 126,923.67

Cenovus: 68,108.06

Encana: 50,556.52

PCL: 88,817.29

PennWest: 83,347.71

CAPP: 5,612.33

Canadian Energy Pipeline Association: 8,882.40

Out-of-province corporate donations make up roughly a quarter of corporate donations to the Saskatchewan Party, but it's not just out-of-province donations that are problematic.

In going through the database we found that the Saskatchewan Party regularly accepts donations from taxpayer-funded municipalities, postsecondary institutions and other government-funded organizations. Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party also accept donations from registered charities, other political parties and even the media that covers provincial politics.

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Cities and towns like Estevan, Lloydminister, Meadow Lake, Tisdale, Birch Hills, Big River and Regina have all donated to the Saskatchewan Party. Groups like the Saskatoon Community Youth Arts Program and the Regina Public Library are regular donors. The two universities in Saskatchewan have donated over $12,000. Saskatchewan Polytechnic has donated over $6,000 in the same time.

For some reason he needs donations from the Regina Public Library, the Make a Wish Foundation and Ronald McDonald House to defeat his political opponents.

Even straight-up government agencies like Sask Film, the Lloydminster Public School Division and the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region have sent money back to the Saskatchewan Party.

This has happened before. In the late stages of the Progressive Conservative regime in Alberta, the same stories broke. We learned that taxpayer dollars were being cycled from public organizations back to the ruling political party. While those donations were illegal according to Alberta law and eventually paid back, it's not clear if that's the case in Saskatchewan. Perhaps it's something Saskatchewan's auditor should look into.

Regardless, it is wrong and it needs to stop. While Brad Wall holds himself up as the great defender of Saskatchewan, for some reason he needs donations from the Regina Public Library, the Make a Wish Foundation and Ronald McDonald House to defeat his political opponents.

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You can check if an organization you belong to has donated to the Saskatchewan Party at BradWallTookMoneyFromWho.ca, and if you think it's not OK to have government-funded agencies funding partisan politics it's time to get organized and stop it.

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NOTE: This piece was originally published in Nov. 2016.

With the U.S. election less than a week away, the number of celebrities, public figures and everyday people threatening to migrate north should Donald Trump land in the White House are multiplying.

I guess we should feel flattered that our American neighbours consider us a suitable alternative. Like were the best friend who takes you in after a terrible fight with your boyfriend. Yet, I cant help but feel like a jilted lover reduced to sloppy seconds. Or like first runner-up in a Miss USA pageant. Second choice doesnt really sit well.

Netflix chat show host Chelsea Handler rattled off a roster of celebrities on her show this week who intend to move to Canada should Trump prevail.

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(Photo: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg via Getty) Donald Trump speaks during an event in Vancouver, B.C.

Im going to need to go to Canada if he [Trump] gets elected, she said. I dont know what the rules are to move there but a lot of us are feeling that way. A lot of us are going to want to leave the country.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Girls creator Lena Duhnam has set her sights on the West Coast. I know a lovely place in Vancouver, and I can get my work done from there, she said.

Actor Bryan Cranston has also said hell move to Canada if Trump is elected president. Absolutely. I would definitely move. Its not real to me that that would happen. I hope to God it wont, Cranston told the Bestseller Experiment podcast when asked if he would take an extended holiday to Vancouver if Trump is elected.

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It wouldnt be a vacation. Id be an expatriate, Cranston added.

Actress and fashion darling Chloe Sevigny says shes moving to Nova Scotia, which Im sure confused a lot of people who perhaps were not aware that its a Canadian province.

Even beloved American songtress Barbara Streisand told Australian journalist Michael Usher, Im either coming to your country, if youll let me in, or Canada.

While the thought of Babs donning a toque and sharing a plate of poutine with husband James Brolin is completely and utterly appealing, I have bad news for our famous friends. Immigrating to Canada isnt that simple. In fact, unless you marry a Canadian citizen, its damn near impossible.

Were busy opening our borders to refugees who really need it, not privileged people with a lousy Republican candidate.

Much like Canadians looking to immigrate south, there is no open door policy between our two nations. Swing by for up to six months on a visitor visa, sure. But during that time you are not permitted to work or have access to health care or any other social services. Youre simply a tourist.

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Im wondering if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should hold a press conference to reinforce our immigration policies to ensure there isnt any confusion come November 9. Perhaps another Vogue spread is in order to drive home the message?

More than anything, Americans need to know that living in Canada is not a consolation prize. Living in Canada is like hitting the cultural and geographical jackpot. A country rich in diversity, where natural resources abound and the scenery will take your breath away. A country whose musical contributions include Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Drake. While we sympathize with our American friends, were busy opening our borders to refugees who really need it, not privileged people with a lousy Republican candidate.

I have faith in my American friends. I have faith that theyll make the right decision on election day. And Im all about telling America its already great, because I live there and I see it for myself every day. But lets be clear  Canada isnt a second-rate alternative. Living in Canada is a privilege.

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Growing up in a small town outside of Hamilton, Ontario, I am not exaggerating when I say that I was related to every other Chinese family living in my town. At home, I had many strong, resourceful and intelligent Asian women to look up to and shape my upbringing: my grandmothers at the top of that list, followed by my venerable mom, two sisters and 13 female cousins, some of who lived with us at some points of my childhood.

Outside of the home, this was a different story. During the 80s, there were few memorable Asian female characters in the mainstream media and certainly any Asian male characters on TV were always reduced to the geeky nerd with the thick accent who made a fool of himself. The protagonists from the movies I saw were the opposite of Asian. TV heroes were almost always tall and blond white boys.

Sometimes I would pretend that the creators of Archie Comics meant for Veronica to be Asian all along because of her black hair. As someone who grew up in a small town, this lack of diversity in the mainstream media would push me away from connecting with my own cultural heritage. I felt ashamed of the many stereotypes I was being associated with as the token Asian in my class. It would be many years later until I even had Asian friends to call my own.

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Are we giving the next generation role models to look up to, to tell them that they can be anything they want to be no matter their race, gender, sexuality or place in society?

In 1994, I was just about to start high school and still grappling with my dual cultural and awkward social identity. This was the same year I watched Asian-Canadian director Mina Shum's Double Happiness. This was the first time I saw Sandra Oh in a movie and the first time I watched a movie featuring a female Asian character in a Canadian context. More importantly, I realized that there must be others who are dealing with the same cross cultural struggles as I was -- if Jade's parents don't understand why she wants to work in the arts and date a white boy, how do I expect my parents to do the same?

My favourite scene in the movie is when the family is eating a family-style Chinese dinner at the beginning and every time Jade's sister Pearl says "freakin", her father thinks she is dropping the f-bomb. It's hilarious and relatable and I could totally see that exact same conversation happening in my home. Without characters like Mina Shum's Jade and Pearl, I would have never seen faces on screen that looked like mine telling stories that could be my own. It was like having an inside joke that you realized the rest of the world also understood.

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Mina Shum speaks on stage at the 2016 TIFF Awards Ceremony at TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 18, 2016.

Now almost 20 years later, it's tough to say whether we have truly progressed. Are there more diverse voices, faces and stories being told? Are we giving the next generation role models to look up to, to tell them that they can be anything they want to be no matter their race, gender, sexuality or place in society?

In 2015, the creators of American sitcom series Fresh Off the Boat were applauded for finally bringing an Asian American family to the mainstream. Most recently, here in Toronto, two major Canadian stations launched TV sitcoms casting Asians in the lead role.

It's about time for heroes in the media look like the rest of us.

Our nation's CBC adapted Ins Choi's critically acclaimed fringe show Kim's Convenience for TV and cast the venerable talents of Paul Hyung-sun Lee, Jean Yoon, Andrea Bang and Simu Liu. Less than two weeks later, another show called Second Jen starring Amanda Joy and Samantha Wan, premiered on City TV. In early 2016, Ali Wong's Baby Cobra stand-up become the most talked about Asian American female comedian in my own and many others' Facebook feeds. My Asian female friends related to her, my sister thought she was hilarious.

I am proud to be a part of an organization that will supports diversity in the media presenting works like Double Happiness and Kim's Convenience. The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) is Canada's longest-running pan-Asian film festival. Reel Asian started 20 years ago, at a time was Asian American cinema was finally getting recognition outside of the U.S. Now, the festival boasts almost 80 titles from 12 international regions, with almost 50 per cent works by Asian Canadians and an outstanding 45 per cent works by Asian female directors.

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In a country where over 19 per cent of the population identify as a visible minority with that number expected to reach 30 per cent by 2031 (according to 2011 Statistics Canada Census data), we are hardly a minority anymore so why should the stories on the big screen not reflect the same cultural richness of Canada. It's about time for heroes in the media look like the rest of us.

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PITTSBURGH  A company with 11 skilled nursing homes in Pennsylvania doesnt have enough staff to provide basic patient care  and faked it when state Department of Health inspectors were around, the state attorney general said in a consumer protection lawsuit filed Friday.

Grane operates manages and operates Colonial Park Care Center.

One patient, for example, needed medical cream applied daily but records show it was skipped 19 times one month. The same resident didnt shower for 14 days that month and didnt have his hair washed for nearly a month, according to the Commonwealth Court lawsuit against Grane Healthcare.

Grane, based in OHara Township near Pittsburgh, issued a statement calling the allegations completely unfounded. The company said it believes they are driven in part by a law firm that has partnered with the state and stands to obtain significant monetary gain.

The lawsuit was filed in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg because that court deals with issues involving businesses regulated by the state.

The lawsuit contends Grane advertised high staff-to-patient ratios but had too few certified nursing assistants to ensure that patients were fed, clothed, bathed and otherwise cared for properly and as advertised. Granes patients are largely elderly or too disabled to care for themselves.

We believe there is ample evidence that these facilities fell far short when it came to providing essential services, Attorney General Bruce Beemer said in a statement.

Grane also deceived the Commonwealth regarding the true conditions and level of care they provided by increasing staffing levels on the floor whenever state Department of Health inspectors were on the premises, the lawsuit said. That included having office and administrative staff pitch in to provide patient care when the inspectors were present.

In reality, when DOH surveyors were not at the Grane facilities, staffing levels went back down to normal levels and office and administrative staff rarely or never provided direct care to residents, the lawsuit said.

Staff members of the facilities told investigators they felt rushed to provide basic services because of understaffing, the lawsuit said.

For example, some patients were awakened at 5 a.m. so the staff would have sufficient time to care for them, and employees reported rushing patients through meals so the staff could move onto other required tasks, or keeping patients in pajamas all day instead of dressing them.

The lawsuit also contends the staffing problems led to fraudulent billing because it kept patients from receiving the level of care that Grane advertised, which was paid for by their Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance programs, both public and private.

These alleged misrepresentations not only deceived the residents of these facilities, but Granes business practices also degraded residents and increased the risk of negative health consequences, Beemer said.

Among other things, staff would use mechanical lifting devices alone to move patients, which increased the likelihood that patients could fall or be dropped, or that the staff operating the lift could be injured, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks $1,000 per violation of the states consumer protection law, or $3,000 for each violation in which the victim is 60 or older.
Have stringent growth controls made housing affordability worse in Canada? George Carras, a real estate expert, believes so. The Prices (Places) to Grow Act in Ontario has caused housing to make more money than households, quipped Carras about the inflated housing prices and stagnant wages in the GTA.

As the Ontario government considers how the Greater Toronto Area should develop, two competing visions of urban growth present a choice. One calls for Smart Growth, representing high-density, mixed land use neighbourhoods. The other is the typical lower density suburban development of single-family homes.

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The province should favour land use and growth policies that embrace the positive virtues of Smart Growth while providing for the shelter needs of growing households with children.

The proponents of Smart Growth often cite many benefits, including walkable communities, less auto dependency and greater public transit use compared to the traditional suburbs. Our analysis of two neighbourhoods in Markham -- Cornell, an archetypical Smart Growth community, and Woodbine North, a typical suburb -- reveals that despite the differences in built form, the two neighbourhoods exhibit similar travel behaviour characteristics.

Monday marked the deadline for feedback on Ontario's coordinated Land Use Planning Review. It is pertinent that the province should base policy on evidence rather than conjecture. Further, planning for future growth should not be an either/or choice. Instead, the province should favour land use and growth policies that embrace the positive virtues of Smart Growth while providing for the shelter needs of growing households with children.

My colleagues and I compared four Smart Growth (new urbanist) neighbourhoods with comparable suburbs for CMHC. We studied two communities in Montreal, two in Markham and four in Calgary. We documented design characteristics of the neighbourhoods and, through surveys, collected information on demographics and travel behaviour of 2,043 families who lived there.

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While the findings, when averaged over the eight areas, reveal positive outcomes for Smart Growth neighbourhoods, the magnitude of differences in travel behaviour between the two built forms was negligible for the two communities in Ontario. Also, Cornell was home to smaller-sized families than those living in Woodbine North. The differences in household demographics at times matter more than the differences in design when comparing travel behaviour.

Our study revealed that the average daily vehicle kilometres travelled (VKTs) by each household were quite similar for the two neighbourhoods. Whereas Cornell residents reported on average 48 VKTs per weekday, those in Woodbine North reported 49. Similarly, both communities reported 85 per cent of the work trips made by car and 12 per cent of the work trips by public transit. Cornell residents were more engaged in walking than their counterparts and also considered their neighbourhood to be safe for walking, with retail and recreational amenities within walking distance. Furthermore, Cornell residents reported a slightly lower average trip time of 23 minutes than those in Woodbine North at 25 minutes.

Our analysis revealed that Cornell residents were more socially engaged with their neighbours than those living in Woodbine North. The indicators of social interaction included the frequency of greeting neighbours, in-person socialization and knowing neighbours by their name.

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Underlying the differences in behavioural outcomes are perhaps the demographic differences. Cornell families were a lot smaller in size than those in Woodbine North. Whereas 40 per cent of the families in Cornell comprised one or two persons, only 23 per cent of the Woodbine North residents were of the same size. The large-sized families in Woodbine North cited accessibility to work, and quality and size of housing to be the primary determinants of their neighbourhood choice. Cornell residents' choice was influenced by architectural style, affordability, and community spirit.

The smaller family sizes in Cornell were essentially an artefact of housing size. Almost 75 per cent of the homes in Cornell featured three bedrooms or less compared to only 34 per cent in Woodbine North. The differences in housing sizes thus create a self-selection bias where smaller-sized, youngish families preferred Cornell, where row/townhouses were the dominant house type compared to Woodbine North where single-family detached homes dominate.

The continuous erosion of housing affordability in the GTA and the lack of sufficient new housing construction highlight the need for an appropriate growth strategy. A balanced growth policy that respects and promotes sustainable development along with supplying more affordable shelter for families will help to ensure that the GTA grows while maintaining its competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

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Inter-racial dating can be hard. Both parties can declare their undying devotion in their "post-racial" love nest. But their friends, their family members, and their acquaintances may not like who's coming to dinner high tea.

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We all know that Prince William, literally born with a diamond studded spoon in his mouth, has all the riches a criminal empire can bring. But colonial wealth doesn't rime with cultural competency.

Among his entourage, no one stopped Harry from wearing swastika-laden Nazi uniform at a posh 2005 costume party. Not one of them thought to say to their clueless comrade, "Mate, you might want to choose a costume that doesn't remind millions of Jews of their attempted genocide," among other atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich. What's a poorly advised price to do?

#NYC@Gothamist 13-1-2005 Prince Harry attended party wearing a khaki uniform with an armband with a swastika, emblem pic.twitter.com/w3YQWTWLBG  NEWYORK est1624.5NYC (@DayStephan) May 18, 2014

Harry's royal cock-up made international news.

It wasn't the first time Prince Harry's actions made minorities mad. On camera, the prince called an officer from the Pakistani army, who was on a course with him, "our little Paki friend." Then Prince Harry exclaimed "Fuck me, you look like a raghead" at the sight of another officer cadet wearing a camouflage veil.

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The Equality and Human Rights Commission qualified the racist quips as "disturbing." Is that how a soldier addresses his allies? Or his commonwealth colleagues? What else does the prince say when the cameras are off?

In recent years, the NY Daily News mused that Prince Harry overcame his foolish flaps.

But there's nothing like a black girlfriend to cause racism to rear up its ugly head.

Clearly, Prince Harry is not fit for a Nubian Queen.

In the days since the news broke that the prince has been dating an African-American actress, the verdict has been swift. The British press attacked Prince Harry's girlfriend for being "Straight Outta Compton," an allusion to the successful movie about rap group NWA's rise from the low-income, black neighbhourhood in California. Brit journalists also poked at Markle's mother for being "visibly black, with dreadlocks." Another paragraph details the history of crime in Markle's hometown.

It isn't surprising that Brits would recoil at the hint of racial impurity infiltrating their blue bloodlines. Cultivating whiteness is, after all, their family business.

What's unforgivable is Prince Harry's silence. At Harry's disposal: an army of advisers and press people -- the same ones who wrote his apologies for swastikas and racist slang. Harry hasn't issued a statement to defend his girlfriend and her family as they are dragged out by the press. He hasn't said a word.

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And for this insolence, Meghan Markle should dump him and find a man who stands up to those who insult his lady friend and speaks out against racism. Clearly, Prince Harry is not fit for a Nubian Queen.

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Fabrice LEROUGE via Getty Images Woman holding a speech bubble

Learning a new language can be inspiring, frustrating, infuriating and sometimes downright embarrassing. But there are many good reasons to learn a new language.

The more languages we know, the more people we can communicate with. Knowing several languages enables us to have understanding and tolerance of different cultures, and can sometimes prevent feelings of isolation and loneliness. It adds depth to our creativity. Best of all, it helps build overall self-confidence.

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At least this has been my experience as I attempt, yet again, to learn French to expand my vocabulary beyond au revoir and vin rouge. Regrettably, I do not speak much French, even though I was raised in Canada. And I am not alone.

Growing up in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, which at the time was home to a large number of Ukrainians, the option for learning a second language in school was limited to French or Ukrainian. Considering my mother's side is Ukrainian-Canadian, I thought it would be cool to be able to speak to my maternal grandmother and great-grandmother in their native tongue. Besides, the Ukrainian language seemed exotic. So I chose Ukrainian.

My father, whose roots are primarily Scottish, challenged my decision because "where would it take me in life?" After all, he does not speak Ukrainian. My mother supported the idea, which was, wink wink, code for "we can talk in secret."

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.  Rita Mae Brown

I struggled learning a second language, either out boredom or lack of confidence, or both. But I learned enough to be able to communicate with my grandmothers in their native tongue (they could also speak English), and also appreciate my Eastern European roots. But years later, I would discover time and again that not being able to speak French would be career-limiting.

And so, after taking French classes in fits and starts over the years, I find myself back in the classroom out of a desire to learn more, and also stretch my brain and expand my opportunities in life.

The two most beautiful words in the English language are 'cheque enclosed.' ~ Dorothy Parker

It's never too late to learn a new language. Here are some ways you can fit it into your life and do it without losing your mind:

1. Listen to language lessons on audio recordings while at the gym, doing housework, cooking, walking, jogging or driving to work.

2. Watch YouTube videos or movies in your new language.

3. Begin your morning or end your day by memorizing a new phrase in the language you are learning.

4. Seek out social settings where you can use your new language, such as Meet-Up groups.

5. At work, take small breaks to practice on a colleague who is open and willing to help.

6. Sign-up for a night course at a local community college, cultural centre or on-line program.

7. Take a vacation in the country where the language is spoken. This way, you can rejuvenate your spirit and learn at the same time.

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8. Practice on your partner, friends, children or even pet. They can learn, too.

Are you learning a new language? What are you doing to stay motivated? I'd love to hear from you. Tweet to me at @Shannon_Skinner.

Shannon Skinner is a Toronto-based, award-winning television and radio talk show host, inspirational speaker, writer and author of "The Whispering Heart: Your Inner Guide to Creativity." For information on her speaking engagements and interviews, visit: ShannonSkinner.com and ExtrarodinaryWomenTV.com.

This article is, in part, an excerpt from Shannon's book 'The Whispering Heart' and also published at ShannonSkinner.com.

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Ascent Xmedia via Getty Images Detail of woman's eye, peering through door slat

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed in his first inaugural address that there was "nothing to fear but fear itself," it was intended to encourage people not to despair in the face of an unprecedented economic crisis, a.k.a. the "Great Depression."

Much has been argued over the true meaning of his words, not least because they don't make a lot of sense if taken out of context. Yet, they have lived on in the public discourse ever since, applicable as they seem in every generation.

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Indeed, we are experiencing a time of acute fear and anxiety right now. People around the world are worried for countless reasons. There is hardly a place left on earth where populations enjoy relatively tranquil lives -- not even in the remote Himalayan country of Bhutan, where achieving happiness for all is a declared goal of the government.

Many of us seem to be affected by an epidemic of worry. Oftentimes, it may start with something concrete, a situation or event one can point to, like the attacks of 9/11. But over time, a specific fear can turn into a state of growing uneasiness.

Worry is circular, it feeds on itself, gets out of hand, and eventually becomes almost uncontrollable, according to Francis O'Gorman, a professor of English literature at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and author of "Worrying, a Literary and Cultural History" (Bloomsbury 2015).

While today's world is a risky place and evokes many well-founded concerns, the experience of fear itself creates new risks that can affect a person's health and wellbeing, says David Ropeik, an expert on risk perception. In fact, the hazards of fretting over perceived threats may be more harmful than the actual risks themselves, he argues.

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The reason is that when a state of fear persists over extended periods of time, our bodies react to chronically elevated levels of stress. Once stress hormones flood the bloodstream without finding relief, they can literally become poisonous and lead to dire, even life-threatening consequences.

The human species could not have survived for long without the experience of fear. The ability to identify certain events and situations as dangerous and respond appropriately is essential for our existence. But these responses are meant to be rare and short-lived. If we cannot switch off this built-in alarm system of ours, it will quickly exhaust us, even turn against us.

In contrast to justified concerns -- which can be motivating to take action -- fear as a state of mind is paralyzing. It prevents clear thinking. It destroys hope and optimism. It can lead to destructive behavior and make us sick.

The fact that we are constantly bombarded with messages that contain potential threats, whether they occur nearby or halfway around the world, is not conducive to our psychological (and subsequently overall) wellbeing. We may live in an ever-more globalized environment, but we also must consider our limits as individuals who can only digest a finite amount of information.

No one should retort to a head-in-the-sand attitude. Our lives have become too complex and too intertwined to hide from reality. But if we keep getting overloaded with data that leave us feeling more helpless than empowered, we won't be useful in tackling the problems we could otherwise help solving. We just end up hunkering down in fear, anger and despair. Not a healthy prospect. Not for anyone of us, and not for the world.

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In the Syrian Arab Republic, going to school for many children is fraught with danger. Every day, children and teachers risk their lives to reach a classroom, as schools continue to come under attack. Yet despite these risks, they persist in doing everything they can to get an education that is rightfully theirs. Their stories are ones of determination and resilience.

One such story comes from a rural area in the northern Syrian governorate of Idleb. Almost all of the children who study at this school have fled violence in northern rural Hama over a year ago, and sought refuge in caves and tents that are spread along this rural area.

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The increasing number of students in the school stands as a testament to the children's determination to learn despite the terrible odds stacked against them.

Last year, some of the children living in rural Idleb had an opportunity to catch up on the education they have missed. Ahmad* and his wife, who were both teachers in Hama before they were displaced themselves, found a deserted cave which they cleaned up and turned into a school. "We started with children who live nearby, then we expanded and now we have almost 120 students," he says.

The increasing number of students in the school stands as a testament to the children's determination to learn despite the terrible odds stacked against them. "We have so many children coming now that we've had to divide the day into shifts according to children's age," Ahmad says. "The cave was too small to host all the children, so we have separate times for younger children to come and learn the alphabet, while the older ones who have already been to school learn other topics later."

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There are some drawbacks to running a school in a cave. "During last winter, the cave flooded and we considered stopping the whole project, but children insisted that we continue and we moved to a tent until the cave was dry again," says Ahmad. "The school is too primitive, but at least it protects the children from bombardment."

For many Syrian children, school is a distant memory as the conflict has cost them over five years of their education.

For the children who attend, it's a bittersweet experience. Muhammad, aged 9, left his town in Hama 10 months ago. "I couldn't go to school because of the bombardment and we were afraid of the planes. I miss my friends so much and I wish that we could go back to our old school. At least we had desks there. We have to sit on the floor here which hurts our feet and back," he says.

"I learn Arabic, English and mathematics, and I sometimes play with my friends." says Nadia, also 9. "This school doesn't have enough light but we are not scared here."

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Making education a reality

For many Syrian children, school is a distant memory as the conflict has cost them over five years of their education. For others, it is a word they hear, not knowing what it actually is, having never seen the inside of a classroom. For all of them, education remains an ambition.

In today's reality in the Syrian Arab Republic, one in three schools is not in use, and many of the schools that remain lack adequate teaching staff, water and hygiene facilities. Many children have been killed or injured in attacks. They live in constant fear as they don't know when the next attack will come.

Back in Idleb, Ahmad and his wife continue to work unofficially under terrible circumstances. "We face so many difficulties," Ahmad says. "There are so many things we need -- textbooks, notebooks, clothes, schoolbags and other education materials," he explains. "It is only the child who is losing because of this war," Ahmad says. "If we don't do anything for these children they will lose their education too."

*Name changed to protect identity

By UNICEF Syrian Arab Republic

UNICEF has just launched a back-to-learning campaign aiming to reach 2.5 million children including 200,000 living in 59 besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Aleppo, Hasakeh, Hama, Homs, Idleb, Raqqa and Rural Damascus. We will provide children with education material, school bags and stationery. The campaign includes social mobilization to encourage parents to send their children to school or benefit from alternative learning opportunities where schools are no longer functioning.

We are supporting more than 1,200 dedicated young volunteers to conduct a massive door-to-door campaign to map the numbers and situation of out-of-school children, identify why these children are out of school and reach out to parents and children with information about simplified school enrollment processes and the right to education.

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The five things you need to know on Friday, November 4

1) MEET THE BLOCKERS

Have you caught your breath yet? Theresa May is trying to get on the front foot over yesterdays historic High Court Article 50 ruling. No10 says shell ring Jean-Claude Juncker this morning to say her timetable of triggering it by the end of March remains unchanged. That, plus a stubborn message that she intends to hold a general election in 2020, not next year, are the main lines Downing Street wants out there: keep calm and carry on.

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Readers of yesterdays WaughZone wont have been totally surprised by the Article 50 verdict, given the previous clues in court. But the question is whether Mays timetable can still remain in place, and who is really prepared to delay it.

As Ive pointed out, Labours leader in the Lords Baroness Smith has said she wont block Brexit. She knows that would spark an even bigger constitutional crisis given the unelected nature of her House. Yet the Lords and Commons can of course delay legislation, and ministers made plain that legislation, rather than a mere motion, will be needed to give effect to the judgement. Meet the Delayers isnt as fun a headline as Meet the Blockers, but thats where the debate is. Tory peer and arch Remainiac Baroness Wheatcroft told Today: I think there could be a majority in favour of delaying Article 50.

What surprises me about all this is why May didnt grasp the bull by the horns as soon as she was made PM. She could have avoided all this court trouble if shed announced in July that she was herself going to publish a short bill giving Parliament the authority to allow her to trigger Article 50, while revealing she intended to do that by April 2017.

This would have been a break with the Cameron era, and a boost to constitutional Tories like DD, Peter Bone, Rees-Mogg et al, who believe the British Parliament is supremely important. As well as Brexit means Brexit, she could have said Parliamentary Sovereignty means Parliamentary Sovereignty. She could then have warned MPs not to defy the will of the people.

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Of course, what worries some in No10 most is that any such bill is amendable. But the arithmetic isn't as unfavourable as many assume. May has a working majority of 15. But on Brexit she technically has a working majority of 23, given the DUPs strong backing. And while there are around 20 ardent Tory Remainers, only around 10 may be really prepared to defy huge media pressure, not to say local deselection threats, to delay Article 50.

Crucially, however, there are at least 20 Labour MPs (maybe 40) who will never delay it - because they risk the wrath of their Labour Leave voters. John Spellar is on record as saying he wont defy his voters. When asked if hed vote for the trigger, even Hilary Benn yesterday said Yes. The ball really is in Labours court as to what red lines it would include in any amendments, and whether they would make sense - I suspect its done even less detailed policy on how to square the seemingly impossible circle of curbing freedom of movement while retaining full membership of the single market.

Its true that some soft Brexit Tory MPs are gearing up for guerilla warfare by bogging the bill down with hundreds of amendments. But how many will really be brave enough to do anything that delays the PMs March deadline? Will George Osborne - who is privately even more scathing about the Brexiteers than youd imagine - really insist on single market membership? Nick Clegg told Today "We will seek to amend the Bill in the Commons and the Lords' to get a 'soft Brexit' model". But if that mysterious model means no curbs on freedom of movement, it is guaranteed to fail.

Some Tories mischievously mutter they could bog the bill down in order to force May into an early general election, capitalising on Labours dire poll ratings. Others think an appeal to the Supreme Court is doomed and a bill should be produced rapidly to avoid further delay. Maybe May will grab that bull by the horns in the end, and defy MPs to do their worst.

2) JUDGE DREAD

The reaction of some of our newspapers to the Article 50 case has been to focus on the judges. The Mailonline yesterday got a huge kicking for a headline deriding one of the judges for being an openly gay ex-Olympic fencer. JK Rowling tweeted: If the worst they can say about you is you're an OPENLY GAY EX-OLYMPIC FENCER TOP JUDGE, you've basically won life. The Mail pulled the header, and the story, soon after.

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Undeterred, the paper itself splashes on a headline Enemies of The People. It also derides the judges as unelected, ignoring the point that our judiciary is normally seen as proudly independent of political interference. The Telegraphs header is The Judges versus The People. The Express intro is today this country faces as grave a crisis as anything since the dark days when Churchill vowed we would fight them on the beaches. I know Twitter is not Britain (far from it), but Gary Lineker had a point when he said the intro was quite possibly the biggest overreaction in newspaper history.

Its quite astonishing how few people understand the judges made a ruling about the law, as they are properly entitled to do, not about the merits or demerits of Brexit (as the opening of the judgement made plain).

There are real dangers too in going after the complainants who brought the court case. Yes, its legitimate to point out many of them are wealthy, but did The Sun really need to describe Gina Miller as foreign-born and Guyana-born? The Times points out (as do we) that she has received rape and death threats. One Facebook group says: Kill her! 2 behind the ear. Throw her in the garbage. Dustbin, whatever.. When Miller began her challenge there were two other claimants represented by Mishcon de Reya. By yesterday she was the only one left. The others couldnt handle the abuse and I dont blame them, she says. Ah, This England.

3) THE ZAC RACE

Zac Goldsmith was on LBC yesterday and didnt disappoint in terms of news lines. His most ear-catching quotes were on warnings of far-right violence if Parliament blocked Brexit: If we turned our backs or we ignore them I think wed see the emergence in this country the sort of far-right extreme movements that plague the continent. I think there would be something of a political revolution and it will be indescribably dangerous.

That kind of talk - very similar to Nigel Farages dark warnings yesterday - underlines something the Lib Dems have failed so far to make the key theme of their Richmond Park by-election campaign: Zac is an ardent Brexiteer. I live in the constituency (have I mentioned that?) and the leaflets from Farrons team have been laughably woeful - claiming a huge poll lead for Zac is good news, focusing on Heathrow rather than Brexit, citing defeated MP Susan Kramer. Goldsmiths leaflets by contrast are a model of simplicity: Keeping His Word.

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Yesterdays Article 50 case may give the Lib Dems the spur to finally turn this into a Brexit by-election, their best hope of slashing Zacs majority (Zacs so well-liked locally that Heathrow will turn into a score draw at best for them). He gave some added ammo on LBC by saying he may not stand in 2020, but he was not ruling anything out about standing as a Tory again.

The Greens at least are offering a helping hand to the yellows. The Richmond and Kingston Greens agreed last night they wont put up a candidate and urged their voters to back the Lib Dems instead.

BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

Watch this NHS worker tell Question Time: I want people who are leaving to one day unfortunately have a child who needs that treatment but its not there [because of Brexit] No, really.

4) THE WONG-A TROUSERED

Those tiny violins of sympathy for George Osborne in the wake of his sacking just got smaller. The latest register of MPs interests reveals that the Chancellor trousered a handsome 98k for delivering just three speeches in the United States in the past two months. The after-dinner speeches firm that hires him says on its website that Osborne is "a principled, modern and renowned global leader who was responsible for a "dramatic improvement" in the UK economy.

Nick Clegg didnt hang around on the wonga front either. He was paid an eye-popping 1,250-an-hour to host Have I Got News For You. Bit more than the minimum wage. Of course, now that hes got a Shadow Brexit spokesman post, this kind of thing will be trickier, wont it?

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The TUC meanwhile reports that thousands of people failing to take unfair dismissal or discrimination claims to an employment tribunal because of fees of up to 1,200. Maybe Osbo and Cleggy (no strangers to dismissal from Govt) could help crowdfund?

5) U-TURN CORNER

On some things Theresa May is doggedly stubborn. On others she shows political flexibility. This week one of the quieter U-turns has been on the fate of refugee children coming from Calais. In a written ministerial statement from Ed Timpson, the Government has pledged to set out a new safeguarding strategy to provide more funds, foster parents and housing for vulnerable migrant kids, as well as advoacy rights for the childrens commissioner on their behalf. Recognising the concessions, I reported last night that Alf Dubs is now set to pull his amendment due next Tuesday in the Lords - as the Government has gone even further than he suggested. Effective opposition in action.

The Indy has picked up a fine Inside Housing magazine story that the Goverment is to delay plans to extend Right to Buy for housing associations. DCLG civil servant Hilary Davies told a conference The Brexit vote has made us think about timing and is leading to a delay in the process we dont really know yet where the ministers are with regard to the details. Something may get a mention in the Autumn Statement.

As for the politics of housing, the Sun has a Liam Halligan column quoting ex No10 housing adviser Alex Morton: This housing crisis, and the related feeling of unfairness, is the one thing Labour under Jeremy Corbyn could use to claw itself back into power.

With uncanny timing, Labour will this weekend unveil a new video of John McDonnell going back to his Liverpool council house roots to urge a radical house-building programme. We have an exclusive sneak-peek - HERE - of his trip down memory lane (Adlington Street, L3 to be precise), talking about his move from the slums to a new state-built home.

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COMMONS PEOPLE

Our latest Commons People podcast is out - listen HERE. We chew the fat on that big Article 50 judgement, on how much Blairs war in Iraq is to blame for Brexit, and NHS funding (10bn or not 10bn that is the question). Oh, and a quiz about which words did and didnt make it into the Collins Dictionary this year. Amazingly, I had never heard of this phrase 'wake up, sheeple!' Apparently, it's a fave of conspiracy theorists in below-the-line comments on Mailonline. See, I may be thought of as internet-savvy but I'm really quite old...

If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer found in men in the UK.

Each year over 40,000 men are diagnosed with the illness. It also kills one man every hour. With that in mind, it's safe to say that we need to talk about it more.

And what better time to talk, than during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month?

John Hinde, my father, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013. It was a strange time in our family, which wasn't helped by the fact that there was this huge elephant in the room that nobody really wanted to discuss.

It's not because we don't talk as a family - we do. The reason why I didn't bring it up was because I didn't know if my dad would feel comfortable talking about it. I was also scared about what he'd say if we did.

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Meanwhile he didn't mention it much because he didn't feel the need to. We just carried on life as normal, but he had cancer.

During that time my head was filled with questions. Mainly "Is he going to die?" and "Why is it happening to my dad?" but also the more inquisitive: "What does cancer actually feel like?" "What on earth is a prostate?" "Oh, you have to have a finger up your bum?" etc., etc.

A year down the line and things have, thankfully, changed for the better. My dad had an operation to remove his prostate and I finally plucked up the courage to ask him the questions that, at the time, I didn't quite have the courage to say...

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How and when did you find out you had prostate cancer?

When my dad found out he had prostate cancer, his doctor told him that it was a hereditary disease and therefore can be passed from father to son. So, he asked me to go and get checked out. At this stage I didnt have any symptoms associated with prostate cancer and I didnt feel unwell. But I went anyway to give him peace of mind.

At the doctors they gave me a blood test and found that my PSA levels were high  theyd hit 5 ng/mL and were meant to be less than 4 ng/mL.

After that I was asked back for the prostate test that every man dreads. The doctor checked my prostate and found it was quite hard. I then had to go for a biopsy at New Cross Hospital.

After the test results had come back, I had a call from the hospital asking me to go in and see them. They then told me I had prostate cancer, which was a huge shock. I think this was because I didnt feel ill in myself, so it was hard news to digest.

It actually shocked Gina (my wife), more than it shocked me. She panicked, thinking hes going to die.

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Story continues below...

How To Spot The Symptoms Of Prostate Cancer See gallery

Was the second prostate cancer test as scary as everyone thinks it is?

Its not really that scary, its just a bit embarrassing. As a bloke it doesnt feel quite right to have a male doctor shove his finger up your bum. It didnt hurt though. Now I know what to expect, its not a problem.

How did you feel after finding out you had cancer?

I was very calm about it especially as I didnt feel ill in myself or have any of the symptoms. Ill be honest, I didnt really know what to expect.

I wasnt worried because it was early stage cancer and I felt relieved that Id done the right thing by having it checked out. I think I wouldve been more worried had I been older and it had been there a while.

What options were given to you for treatment? And which did you choose?

I was given three options:

1)Leave it and see what happens  although I didnt think this was a good idea.

2)Undergo radiotherapy  I didnt like the idea of this as my dad has had radiotherapy and its knocked him about quite a bit.

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3)Whip my prostate out with the Da Vinci robot  there were a few drawbacks to it such as erectile dysfunction and bladder problems but it seemed like the best option as the aim is to remove the cancer completely.

How did you feel about the treatment type youd chosen? Did you feel nervous?

I didnt feel nervous about it at all. In fact, I figured Id be out cold anyway so if I was to die  which was the worst-case scenario - then I wouldnt have known about it.

I just wanted to get rid of the tumour so that it was no longer a problem.

Explain the process of your treatment...

I was anaesthetised, there was a robot set up over my body and my doctor sat in a room with a computer which controlled the robot.

In theory, the robot did all of the messy stuff  making incisions, cutting muscle and removing my prostate. Dr Cooke operated it from behind a computer screen.

The operation itself was a very neat process. There were five small entry points on my body, which left no scars. I was literally in one day, had the operation, stayed overnight and was out the following day  it was a very quick process.

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What was the scariest part?

The worst thing about the whole experience was having the drain removed from my stomach the day after the operation and having a sore throat from where the oxygen tube had been when I was under anesthetic. I kept coughing afterwards and it hurt my stomach which, as you can imagine, was very tender.

Also when the male nurse came and told me he had to inject me in my stomach, and then proceeded to tell me that I had to inject this stuff into myself at home for the next 30 days during my recovery at home.

Funnily enough, my biggest worry pre-op was having the catheter pulled out. When the nurse came to take it out, I didnt even notice! Its funny that the thing I was most worried about wasnt even that bad in the end.

After your treatment, how did you feel?

I had issues with my bladder as Id lost one of my sphincter muscles. When they first took the catheter out I had to wear pads, especially when I first went back to work. Nobody knows youre wearing pads so that aspect is fine.

It took over eight weeks after having the catheter out for my bladder to get back to somewhere near normal. During that time it was a bit embarrassing as youre like a kid and have no control over your bladder and youre leaking everywhere.

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You think its never going to get better but as you do your pelvic floor exercises and time goes by, it heals up and things go back to normal.

Were you able to get an erection?

It took a while to get that working again, about two or three months. The hospital had to give me some Viagra to help it along but it soon came back. That side of things is now working fine.

*Note: John had previously undergone a vasectomy, so he couldn't produce sperm prior to his operation. Removing the prostate will disrupt sperm production. According to Live Science, the prostate gland's main function is to secrete prostate fluid - one of the components of semen. Without a prostate, you will not be able to have children.

What was the after-care process like?

I was out of hospital the day after my op. At home, there was a nurse who came to visit occasionally to change my dressings and then there was a nurse who came to take the catheter out at the end, but that was about it. I couldnt do much for six weeks so had to just sit around and watch TV.

I wasnt moving about much, so put on a bit of weight. This was also down to the fact that I was eating a lot of sh*t like cheese and chocolate. As you can expect, my cholesterol levels went up.

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Are you cancer-free now?

After the operation I had my PSA levels tested and theyd gone down. Now every six months I have to go for a blood test to check theyre still decreasing. In the summer they told me my PSA was as low as it could go which I was really pleased about.

When Dr Cooke tested the cancer after it was removed, they told me it was type five which is the most aggressive cancer you can get. So its a good job they removed it during the early stages.

Was it scary having cancer?

No because I didnt feel ill and couldnt feel anything so I didnt feel worried. Had I not have been for the test I wouldnt have even known I had it.

Gina worried about it but I guess its always like that. If it was somebody else in my shoes - like you or Gina - then Id worry, but because I had the cancer it was up to me to do something about it.

Would you recommend the treatment you had to other men?

Yes definitely. The reality is you can live without a prostate so having it removed is the best option, and it doesnt effect your performance, which is what most guys are probably worried about.

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The robotic treatment was incredible and regardless of the few downsides it has, in six months I was pretty much back to normal and cancer-free.

Why don't men discuss prostate cancer more?

I dont think its so much about the fact youve got prostate cancer but its the tests that go alongside it  the finger up your bum part is violating and men dont like the thought of being violated in that way. I think its a pride thing, the fact it makes you feel emasculated.

Generally speaking, men dont like talking about illness which all boils down to pride. We like to think were invincible and dont like to think we can get ill. Then, when you find out that youve got a major illness it makes you feel weak  like youve succumbed and its beaten you. We dont like being beaten.

My advice to any guy, regardless of how proud you are, would be that if theres a history of prostate cancer in your family then get your PSA levels checked.
Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Eighteen months ago I was ready to give up. Somehow my newly formed production company had managed to outbid two major studios for the film rights to an international bestseller. I had a cracking script developed, a Hollywood legend set to direct, and an Olivier Award winning actor signed up to play my lead.

But it clearly wasn't enough. Financiers just weren't biting. Close ones were rallying. They could see the year and a bit of putting together these elements of the adaptation were taking their toll. I was going for a lot of walks, searching out new fortitude on the streets.

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Then I got a phone call. A respected financier loved the script. Genuinely loved the script and the talent I was putting with it. They loved it so much, they invited me to Cannes to discuss a deal.

Obviously I was excited. Relieved. A little sceptical. Could I let myself actually believe this was happening?

It was my first Cannes and unusual, as I know now, in its focus. I had one meeting scheduled. I did try and get others but was largely ignored. I walked the beach front strip a lot, waiting, appreciating a change of scenery.

My meeting with the financier went well, but for them to fully commit, they needed me to approach some very specific partners, including a top tier sales agent and an experienced executive producer. Full disclosure: my one previous movie was a crowd sourced, self-penned/directed/produced romance, that cost all of 25k. The budget we were discussing here was $8m. I'll admit, it was a slight step up, and the incline was not going unnoticed.

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So I approached the sales agent. They loved the script. They came on board. Tick.

I approached the experienced executive producer. He liked the script and saw its potential. More importantly, I think he liked me and saw my potential. Something I'm very grateful for at a time when the stakes felt so high. Tick.

I went back to the financiers. They did some due diligence, confirmed my new partners, and then told me they were going to bankroll production based on pre-sales.

I had landed what I thought was my white whale. I was wrong. It was basically like moving from a Black Jack table to the roulette wheel. There were a few more white whales to snag before the cameras started to roll.

Pre-sales are a film being sold on its potential. Countries, or territories as they are known, decide if the creative 'package' is going to sell in their cinemas. This is what the top tier sales agent was brought in to do. Sell the movie, using the book numbers for leverage.

One of the reasons I had bid for the title was because the book numbers were so good. Astonishing, in fact, in the U.K and Germany.

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For pre-sales, the announcement of a film is massive. Announce that a film is being made at the right time, and it generates that thing of things - buzz. Announce a film at the wrong time, and it generates that opposite thing of things - nothing.

The team was now debating whether to announce the film at the Toronto Film Festival, which was only a few weeks away. I was quietly confident but couldn't afford to be restrained. Vastly experienced voices were urging caution. Toronto was too soon. We should wait and get more of our ducks in a row. Make sure we get it right.

I consulted the streets once more. They told me what I already knew - I was done waiting. For me, it was now or never. We had enough ducks in a straight enough line, and I made the decision to go all in. We announced...

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Germany, where the book was hugely popular, immediately bid and all but green lit production. I had to quickly come to terms with the fact that this film I had been wrestling with for nigh on two years was going to be made.

Since then, the shoot, the marketing, the release have spun and spiralled beyond what I thought possible. To help illustrate, I am attending the royal premiere this week, and saw a poster for the film go by on a London bus outside my apartment this morning.

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Insurance company Admiral planned to offer to first time car owners setting their premium based on the analysis of their Facebook data. The basic idea was to observe users' online behaviour in order to assess whether they are conscientious drivers or not. Data to be analysed should have included users' writing style, their likes, or the way they plan meetings. Facebook pulled out of the deal with the insurance company in the last second before the launch.

Risk is the insurance's commodity: Humans are looking for certainty in an uncertain world and insurance companies promise them means of managing risk. Insurance companies' capital accumulation model is that they seek for ways of minimising the number of actual insurance events in order to maximise their profits. They try to minimise their financial risk by managing and assessing their clients' risk factor. Traditionally car insurance companies have assessed this risk by experientially observing their clients' social world: If I cause a car incident, my premium will go up. If I am involved in no accident, it will over time go down - at least as long as the premium levels are not increased in general. In the world of big data capitalism, the situation is changing: Human decision-making is increasingly being automated. Algorithms take over and colonise the social world.

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The financial world of insurances, banks, financial funds, stocks, derivatives, etc. constitutes the capitalist economy's largest sector. Finance is a world of high-risk and high potential gains. The Admiral Group describes itself as "one of the UK's largest and most profitable car insurance providers, with over 11% market share and marketleading financial results". Its annual profit after tax increased in 2015 by 3.3% to 292.2 million. Its profits during 2016's first six month increased by 3.8% to 193 million in comparison to the first half year in 2015. So Admiral certainly is not facing an existential crisis. The example in contrast shows that the constant drive to increase profits tends to subject ever more aspects of our private life to corporate and administrative control, capture and enclosure.

An argument that is often heard about personal data control is that one should not worry because the schemes are voluntary and data collection and analysis are of a limited scope. The problem of this logic is that surveillance tends to be incremental and expansive. It is also shaped by power dynamics that make it difficult for vulnerable and weak groups to say "no". They often have no other option than to agree to and opt-in to data capture.

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The problem of big data analytics' use by corporations and state institutions is not just that it can involve the analysis and use of sensitive personal data such as ethnicity, religion, health status, sexuality, political affiliations and worldviews. Algorithms also tend to socially sort human subjects into statistical groups and to discriminate, i.e. to treat them in different ways. This can easily result in discriminatory practices such as racial profiling.

Algorithmic analysis of behaviour and personalities installs a regime of categorical suspicion, in which everyone is first and foremost seen as a potential offender, who may break the rules and be the cause of risk. Big data analytics negatively impacts the trust that is needed as cohesive force in social relations and society. Algorithmic de-humanisation is the consequence: In the world of algorithmic surveillance, we are not considered first and foremost as human being human, but as constituting potential sources of risk, crime, terrorism, trouble, costs, etc. Data mining can also easily intensify disadvantages and inequalities that structurally disadvantaged groups are facing.

Let's think the logic of big data analytics to the end and in the last instance you find a world of totalitarian control: Sensors reach into our thoughts, dreams and fantasies and police us based on predictions they make. You wake up one day and get the following message: "Based on a predictive analysis of your dreams, our algorithm has predicted that you are a potential threat to the political and economic security of the nation. Your employer has decided to terminate your contract. Your insurance has increased all your premiums to the high-risk status. Your credit score has massively dropped and therefore your bank has to cancel your mortgage and all your credit cards. You are from now one being considered as a potential criminal and terrorist. As a security measure, you will therefore be put into precautionary confinement with no pre-determined time limit". What may sound like a particularly scary episode of Black Mirror, is in reality just the dystopian totalitarian society that you get when you think the logic of big data analytics to the end and put it into practice.

Algorithms do not have feelings, morals, and ethics. They do not understand jokes, sarcasm, humour, love, care, and empathy. They try to make a complex world one-dimensional. The trouble of big data analytics is that it approaches and assesses a contradictory world with statistical and mathematical models that are blind for the complexity and dialectics of society and human behaviour. A complex world shaped by contradictions cannot be planned and predicted. Computational analytics are a techno-fetishism that promises easy technological fixes to society's problem. There are no technological solutions to society's key challenges. When algorithms displace human decisions, we end up in a highly instrumental world.

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I have since 2008 led a number of research projects that studied how users think about the world of social media and big data. The project Social Networking Sites in the Surveillance Society showed that users tend to be highly sceptical of online surveillance and desire a different online world. Users desire a world beyond big data capitalism.
As a culture we celebrate the ideal of youth. We create terms by which to classify it ('millennials' or 'Gen x/y/z'), and as employers we court it - using recruitment initiatives designed to vacuum up new talent.

And, perhaps most visibly, we celebrate it in popular culture and politics.

Of course I am not suggesting that young people aren't vital to businesses, society or the wider economy. Far from it. We need new talent, new ideas and fresh thinking if we are to continue to innovate.

But do these qualities reside solely with the young? Does our pursuit of youth run the risk of excluding older, more experienced individuals and overlooking the valuable insight they offer?

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We all have a vital role to play in closing the generational skills gap - the UK has one of the highest skilled workforces in the world, but a low level of employment among the over 50s. With the retirement age rising, and the 'gig economy' creating more and more portfolio careers, businesses need to do more to re-engage older generations in the world of work today. In ten years time, the number of people aged between 50 and the current state pension age will have swelled by an incredible 3.7 million.

This demographic bulge will force us as a society to look again at more experienced candidates for roles. But why should we wait to be forced to tap into these ready-made pools of talent? I believe that businesses need to do more to re-engage older generations in the world of work today. As employers we have a responsibility - as well as a clear commercial opportunity - to encourage older people to look again at new careers and make it easier for them to switch roles.

Some businesses are already tapping into this pool of talent and tailoring initiatives designed to help people transition to new opportunities more easily. Businesses like PwC have embraced 'reverse mentoring' strategies, which pair older workers with younger counterparts to upskill them in areas such as technology and encourage closer collaboration between generations. Others are encouraging older people to take on internships to sample different roles in new sectors.

Despite this good work, there is much more to be done if we are to connect different generations with new opportunities. In fact, LinkedIn research has shown that one in three parents has no idea what their child does at work - a worrying disconnect which prevents both parents and children from sharing their knowledge - even though they both confess to wanting more advice.

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So, although we may recognise the value of their knowledge, we are not seizing the opportunity to learn from one another, which is why LinkedIn launched Bring In Your Parents Day in 2013 - a day designed to break down career 'barriers' between parents and their children.

This initiative saw hundreds of businesses welcome their employees' parents into the workplace. Parents were given the opportunity to learn first hand about their child's job, professionals were able to say 'thank you' for the guidance and support they had been given, and both generations were shown the value of learning from each other.

I believe that we all have a vital role to play in closing the generational gap. The answer to solving the problem of the UK's ageing workforce is not as simple as shifting recruitment policy in favour of older candidates, but instead requires a more collaborative attitude, increased employee engagement and skill sharing.

Isn't it time that 'experience isn't wasted on the old' becomes a familiar refrain?
Maharashtra becomes first state to launch cyber police stations in all districts

Published: November 4, 2016

Maharashtra became the first state in the country to have a cyber-police station in each district to take on cyber criminals.

In this regard, state government is converting 42 state-of-the-art cybercrime labs into cyber police stations simultaneously.

Key Facts

These cyber police stations will also be set up at police commissionerate and Range IG offices.

Any offence related to cybercrime will be registered in these police stations at district level.

Besides, additional cyber police stations will also be set up in some cities.

Background

The cyber-crime wing of Maharashtra government had proposed to set up 51 cyber-crime labs across the state take on cyber criminals. These included 34 labs at the district level, 7 labs at Inspector Generals offices, 9 labs at Commissioner of Police offices and 1 lab at the state police headquarters. Earlier in August 2016, state government had inaugurated 34 well equipped cyber labs in all districts.

Why there is need to launch cyber police stations?

In last few years, cyber-crime in Maharashtra has risen by a whopping 142.1%. Even cybercrime cases in tier-II cities and also in rural areas also have increased in Maharashtra.

For the normal local police stations, tackling cyber-crimes is a daunting task owing to lack technical knowledge and of proper training.

However, the cyber labs have trained manpower and modern equipment to deal with the new age crimes in the cyber world.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016

Topics: Cyber-security  Maharashtra  National  States

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A few years back, we released The Imitation Game, a story about Alan Turing (wonderfully portrayed by the extraordinary Benedict Cumberbatch). Turing was a true genius in every sense of the word.

He was the grandfather of computer science, a code breaker, whose work has been credited with bringing an end to World War II by breaking the Nazi's Enigma code. Turing, whose work saved an estimated 14 million lives, was also a gay man.

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In the 1950s in Britain, as was the case in many other places throughout the world, being gay was a crime and men like Turing were arrested, jailed, and in some cases, like Turing's, underwent horrific medical torture. When we were working on the movie, Benedict said to me that he wanted to do right by all of the men who received similar treatment to Turing and were criminalised simply because of who they loved. So we recruited Stephen Fry and the film's producers, Teddy Schwarzman, Nora Grossman and Ido Ostrowsky, and we created a grassroots movement to lobby for change through Pardon49k.org. To date, more than 600,000 people have joined our fight and signed the petition to pardon these men. All looked good until this last month when Parliament blocked the vote through a filibuster to approve the pardons. I failed. We all failed, but our fight is not over because we're not finished.

Since my brother Bob and I started Miramax, we have always operated by a motto that now drives The Weinstein Company. It comes from Kurt Vonnegut: "There is no good reason good can't triumph over evil, if only angels will get organised along the lines of the mafia." For me, film-making has always been about telling stories that need to be told. Stories that move or excite people are at the root of all of our films. There's a long history in Hollywood of movies that have moved the dial socially - films like I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Fury, How Green was my Valley, Grapes of Wrath, Gentleman's Agreement, Pinky, Imitation of Life, The Defiant Ones, To Sir With Love, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Judgment at Nuremberg are just a few that come to mind. I firmly believe change comes from these movies. In some way, they've changed the dialogue and influenced the way we look at things for the better.

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I'm lucky that at Miramax and now at The Weinstein Company we've been able to shine a light on some true stories that are so extraordinary they transcend belief. Our first documentary at Miramax called The Thin Blue Line, chronicled the wrongful conviction of death row inmate Randall Adams and ultimately led to his exoneration and release from prison. Our film Bully chronicled the alarming presence of bullying among teenagers in our schools and the lasting impact it has on them not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too. I'll beat you to the punch and point out the irony of me producing a film titled Bully given my reputation, but I'll level with you, my age and five kids not only has given me perspective, but it has mellowed me. My kids mean everything to me. It's my job to make sure they are safe and happy. After seeing Bully, I knew immediately that we needed to help give a voice to all the kids who are victims of bullying and help put a stop to it once and for all. We not only started a national dialogue and raised tremendous awareness for a widespread and often overlooked issue, but also created tools for teachers, parents, and students, everyone really, to get involved in bullying prevention and creating safer school environments for our kids to learn and grow up.

The Imitation Game is another such story. It's no exaggeration to say that without Alan Turing, life today would be completely different. He single-handedly changed the course of history, and without him I dread to think what our world might be like today. His legacy is unending.

In 1952 Turing was prosecuted inhumanly for homosexual acts and in 2009, after 57 years, the then UK Prime Minister pardoned Turing. Now his name has been cleared and Turing's family has finally gotten some peace in that decision. Unjustly however, thousands of others have not received the same acknowledgment. We started a petition through Change.org in 2014, which we are now re-launching at Pardon49k.org, that ultimately got the backing and commitment of all three candidates running to be the UK's next Prime Minister - Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and David Cameron. Each adopted the position as part of their platform and ultimately when David Cameron was re-elected, he put forth a bill known as the Alan Turing Law to pardon the remaining 49,000 men.

Now, all the cynics out there might look and say, that was a neat idea to try to pardon 49,000 lives during Oscar season. There are years I've gone from cynic to optimist to sometimes ignoring all of the chatter, since everyone says the Oscars and awards are all I care about. And while I would be lying to say that the awards haven't made me proud, every once in a while, you get the opportunity to transcend all of that.

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A few weeks ago, the decision to officially pass the Turing Law, which would grant amnesty to the thousands of others, was blocked by a conservative Member of Parliament, but luckily will be reintroduced for a vote this coming December. We understand the concerns of those who stand against the bill that some of these men included in the 49,000 were in fact criminals. The truth, however, is the vast majority were not, and just as it shouldn't be a blanket pardon, it is also wrong to maintain the blanket criminalisation of thousands of innocent people. The bill includes a provision that would vet and exclude any man convicted of a crime still recognised today. The only thing most of these men were guilty of was simply being born during a time of ignorance. The world has become more educated and has evolved past those closed minded attitudes. The UK Parliament needs to do the same.

Academy season is a time when great conversations are going to surface and positive messages will be spread. Movies this year like Fences, Hidden Figures, Loving, Moonlight and others all have incredible things to say. Giving those movies a microphone and a platform is a rather good means of generating awareness and starting conversations. Even though we're now The Imitation Game is now in the rear view mirror and we are three years removed from it being an awards contender and we are all still fighting to make that change.

We've seen the injustices done to those 49,000 people and we cannot allow it to continue, not in 2016. We've enlisted civil rights lawyers David Boies and Ted Olson, who were responsible for overturning the California Proposition 8 law, to advise on the Turing Law. We intend to hire the same caliber of legal minds in the UK to help us in our efforts. We'll use the power of social media, we'll meet with the people who obstructed the bill originally, calling for justice in the face of such obscure and outdated decisions and we'll enjoy the tenacious work and eventually, celebrate the justice these men should have had long ago.
Mikhail Metzel via Getty Images

I am a friend of Kazakhstan: I have felt the warm embrace of its people visiting and living in the U.S., been enchanted by the beauty (and utter coolness!) of its culture, astonished by its history, and marveled at folks who have evolved from nomadic life to space competency in decades rather than centuries. Unlike so many other nations in the post-Soviet space, Kazakhstan's exit from 'third worldom' is assured, thanks in large measure to some excellent choices made by its leadership. There is one more vital choice on the horizon. It is a choice that can literally propel Kazakhstan into the first world in two generations: a clear path into the future.

It is no secret that America is uncomfortable with long-term leaders. Iran's Khamenei and Kazakhstan's neighbor Putin cause us heartburn every day. But there have been example's of other long-term leaders who did the right thing and assured their legacy by engineering a succession that would embrace global democratic standards. Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew comes to mind as one example, and even Generalissimo Francisco Franco--a pretty nasty guy--passed his power on to a young king who he knew would liberalize Spain's leadership.

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This month in Uzbekistan we are seeing the mess left over by a post-Soviet leader with no interest in democracy. As a result, Uzbekistan's economic and geopolitical mediocrity are guaranteed for decades to come. But Kazakhstan's friends know Nazarbayev's nation can do better--far better. We know a succession plan can prevent (1) any chance of the chaos that could result from an Islamist power grab by those returning from the Islamic State or (2) any future attempts to unite more Russians in another land-grabbing Novorossiya. We know a succession plan now can result in a flood of (otherwise nervous) foreign investment. We know a good succession plan can gild a great man's reputation with legacy gold.

So I appeal to President Nazarbayev: craft that succession, engineer a more glorious pathway to the future, make it transparent, give birth to that resilient Kazakhstan democracy and move this great nation into the ranks of first world economic and geopolitical success. Kazakhstan can surpass poor Bosnia and troubled Turkey as the world's premier Muslim-majority democracy--a shining light for all of Islam.

I look across the post-Soviet space and I see vanishingly few leaders who can pull this off, but Nursultan Nazarbayev can. And must. And soon. Assure the legacy by shining a light on an extraordinary succession.
The British Prime Minister sat down to thunderous applause. One by one the members of the European Parliament stood in acclamation to show their appreciation of the words they had just heard. Nicolas Sarkozy came over with outstretched hand whilst Angela Merkel leant over and patted the PM on the shoulder.

" .......and therefore I can announce that the United Kingdom will NOT be leaving the European Union." These had been the closing words of this fateful speech

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The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Secretary left the hall together after arranging to meet later for a quiet meal away from the crowd.

"Tim, Nick, this has been the most important fight of our lives, history will thank us for this" said the PM after arranging to meet at the evening press conference.

"I'll settle for thanks from the voters at the next election" Said Nick Clegg, a little ruefully.

"Don't worry," replied Tim Farron, "this time it will be different!"

It had been a long 18 months since the referendum of 23rd June 2016. 18 months of turmoil, hatred and a country divided, not just by politics but by social class, educational achievement and geography.

At first, there had been an entrenching of the Brexiteers, forcing the "Remainers", as they were termed, to retreat underground whilst the potential effects of Brexit began to emerge.

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The tide had begun to turn when motor manufacturers began to desert the UK. Nissan was the first to make clear that they didn't come to the UK for the good food and nice weather - but to access the European market. Land Rover/Jaguar were next but the final straw was BMW giving notice that they would be moving the Mini production line to Poland.

The Sunderland riots hammered home the point that the Leave voters had not voted for the export of their own jobs and the evening news had led with pictures of the burning of effigies of Boris Johnson.

Boris declined to go there to apologise whilst complaining bitterly that it was much easier to make an effigy of him than the other two Brexiteers.

"All the blighters have to do is stuff a suit and stick some straw on top, much easier than a Davies or a Fox. If I go up there to the Geordie masses they won't need the effigy and Boris will end up doing a Joan of Arc routine. No thanks!"

The banks were next. No big announcements, just the slow and remorseless drift of staff to Paris, Frankfurt and New York. The Tory Spring conference of 2017 was conspicuous by the absence of business sponsorship, with the sole exception of JCB whose logo appeared at every reception and on every fringe platform

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12.47pm on the 17th of May 2017 was the tipping point. That was when the Pound finally slipped below the Euro and the currency exchanges at airports were giving just 90 cents for every pound sterling. This, along with the 93p value of the US Dollar was the trigger for a full blown political crisis. The parliamentary debate on the moving of article 50 was forced on the government and the motion was lost by 7 votes.

Theresa May called a General Election, with the support of the other parties, and the rest is history.

Meanwhile Europe had been quietly reforming its open border policies, prompted by the close results in the French elections and forthcoming German elections of 2017. Free movement remained a central policy but there was now an emergency brake available to be used by countries under extreme pressure from immigration.

This greatly influenced Britains General Election and, crucially, let some of the reluctant Brexiteers off the hook, able to claim that the last 18 months had been worthwhile and had resulted in a Europe on a path to reform. The election had been without the presence of Nigel Farrage, now in his new post as President Trump's political adviser.

The Conservatives lost 70 seats, Labour gained 10, the SNP stayed level but the Liberal Democrats gained 62 seats with their pro Europe stance. The Lib Dems promise to build 1 million new council houses, bring fast broadband to every home and business, coupled with an expansion of solar and hydro energy had also appealed to voters.

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Two weeks of negotiations followed, with the Lib Dems being the key players. The SNP were never going to make a deal with the hated Tories which left the Lib Dems as the Kingmakers.

Tim Farron was asked to trim his manifesto and to back away from his parties bold promises.

His response was quick and crisp:

"There's another party over the road, and if you think I'm doing a Clegg then you can think again. It's our manifesto, or I walk"

The deal was done after a final request that Nick Clegg be Foreign Secretary. This was quickly granted on the basis that fences needed to be mended and Nick's European credentials actually made him best man for the job, irrespective of politics.

This left the problem of the 2016 referendum result versus the Parliamentary vote. Opinion polls pointed to another referendum which was quickly organised for the Autumn. The alternatives were carefully crafted.

"Stay in a reformed EU on the basis of a cap on immigration "

"Leave the EU and the single market"

This time, the political big beasts were all on the same side and a discredited UKIP played little part.

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The result was 56/44 in favour of remaining.
Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire

I am inescapably reminded of Sir Walter Scott: 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!' Yes, Brexiteers, I'm talking to you.

Take back control? By all means. Restore the sovereignty of the Westminster parliament? Please, go ahead. But do not then have the brass neck to whinge about the three High Court judges who on Thursday ruled that the government does not have the right to steamroller Brexit through without parliamentary approval. You wanted it? You got it. So stop moaning.

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Even if the judges' ruling is overturned by the Supreme Court, the cat is out of the bag. Theresa May has been trying to take the UK out of the EU on her terms, only her terms, and nothing but her terms.

She won't get away with it, and nor should she. She doesn't believe in it, she wasn't elected to do it, and most MPs don't believe in it either. Yes, the UK will leave the EU, but No, she can't ignore parliament.

The judges have not derailed Brexit. They have not tried to subvert the popular will. They have simply upheld the law, and the constitution of the land, under which parliament is sovereign. Remainers should put away their balloons; Thursday's ruling has not stopped Brexit in its tracks.

Even so, 'tangled web' doesn't begin to describe the mess we're in. MPs may now have to have to choose between either doing what they believe to be best for the country, or what the majority of their constituents voted for on 23 June. Are they representatives, or are they delegates? The only political answer that makes sense is that they must act as representatives who know what the consequences will be if they vote against the wishes of their constituents.

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We are also now plunging into deep and uncharted Euro-legal waters over whether or not an application to leave the EU by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty is irreversible. It isn't, according to the man who wrote it, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, who as Sir John Kerr was the UK's ambassador to the EU and then head of the diplomatic service.

He told the BBC: 'It is not irrevocable. You can change your mind while the process is going on. During that period, if a country were to decide actually we don't want to leave after all, everybody would be very cross about it being a waste of time. They might try to extract a political price but legally they couldn't insist that you leave.'

Mrs May says different. In the words of the High Court ruling: 'The process for withdrawal is governed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which states that once a Member State gives notice to withdraw there is a two-year period in which to negotiate a withdrawal agreement ... The Government accepts that a notice under Article 50 cannot be withdrawn once it has been given.'

We shall see. In the end, it'll be the politicians as well as the judges who will decide, and I have little doubt that if MPs are asked to approve the government's intention to invoke Article 50, they will do so, against their own convictions, but at a price. And that is where the web will become yet more tangled.

MPs will want to be able to scrutinise every dot and comma of the government's negotiating strategy. If Nissan - and presumably other foreign-owned car manufacturers - can be furnished with a blank cheque to persuade them to stay put, what about pharmaceutical companies, or aircraft manufacturers, or financial services? Every MP with a company in their constituency that depends on exporting to the EU will want special treatment. Tangle upon tangle upon tangle.

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And that's without even beginning to factor in the special interests of the 27 remaining members of the EU. If the Walloons can almost derail a painfully negotiated EU trade agreement with Canada, just think what they could do to any proposed deal with the UK. After all, everyone loves the Canadians, which is more than can be said for the wretched Brits.

Spare a thought, for example, for Ireland's mushroom growers. Five Irish mushroom farms have already gone out of business since the UK's Brexit referendum, because the collapse in the value of the pound has meant they can no longer be competitive while paying all their costs in euros. Eighty per cent of Ireland's mushrooms are exported to the UK, as are 84% of its poultry exports and 65% of its cheddar cheese exports. So we're not winning a lot of friends in Ireland, nor indeed in Spain, which is our biggest supplier of fruit and vegetables.

What Mrs May won't admit is that the future shape of the UK's relationship with the EU does not depend only on her, nor even on parliament. It takes two to strike a new trade deal, so if she needs help on learning how to tango, perhaps she should call on Ed Balls.
My emotions have been all over the place in the last week. It all started with a bug, our eight year old son complained of a sore tummy. This turned into sickness and diarrhoea that felt endless! My wife at this time was nine months pregnant and our focus was on getting our son better before his new little brother came along.

The bug went on and he got worse, we did all the usual parenting stuff, i.e. Calpol, phoning NHS 24 and eventually when we felt it had gone on too long we took him to A&E at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. I've lived in Edinburgh all my life, and never had reason to go into the Sick kids until our son's sickness. I knew it had a good reputation and was well loved by families who made use of it, but I had no idea what to expect.

It was 4pm on Monday afternoon when we arrived at A&E, it was busy but we were seen within minutes. It was amazing how quickly the conversation changed from thinking he might need to stay in for one night, to being given a consent form to sign for emergency surgery.

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An ultrasound and examination confirmed that his appendix had ruptured. We had to prepare ourselves (never mind our boy) for what this meant. In the space of three hours we were on our way to theatre. I remember holding the consent form, it felt heavy. The responsibility of signing such a thing and then handing our boy over was almost too much to contemplate. I remember wanting to ask the surgeons, consultants and doctors for their credentials, to ask if they had kids, did they get it?

Watching him go into theatre was one of the toughest things I've done. Then we waited, 90 long minutes. Surgery went well and he now needed time to recover, that meant just over a week in hospital. A week of tears, pain, frustration, boredom and a really itchy face from the morphine he was on. The most important thing was he recovered.

On the Friday evening of his week in hospital my wife went into labour whilst we were at the Sick Kids Hospital. We had to leave him and hot foot it to another hospital. Within one and an half hours of arriving at the labour ward our baby was born! My wife spent the entire time in the birth pool, and it was awe inspiring to be with her, our son was delivered into the pool and then came out displaying his awesome set of lungs. He was beautiful, and I was so proud of my wife for what she had gone through. I then felt a huge wave of relief. I think my tears had all been used up that week, and I was just so glad all my family were healthy and here.

Both our boys came home and whilst the big one continued to recover and thankfully eat us out of house and home we were launched straight into the cycle of feeding, cleaning, cuddling and loving our new boy. I remember before he was born wondering if I'd have enough love for two children, how did that work, how could you find more love that what you already have for your child, The truth is I don't know, but it does. Perhaps your heart grows and swells to encompass your family.

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I love our health service, it's fair to say I've been a critic of it in the past and feel there's areas such as in mental health provision that need more funding. However this recent experience has left me with nothing but admiration for the staff involved, they work tirelessly to look after us all. The stability and focus of the staff got us through this tough week. Our NHS Rocks.
"I think it raises questions and concerns and they should be looked into", said Hillary Clinton about the proposed merger of AT &T and Time Warner. She opined that it was "appropriate" for Congress to hold hearings on the matter and said, further, "So I'm going to follow it closely, and obviously if I am fortunate enough to be president, I will expect the government to conduct a very thorough analysis before making a decision." Clinton made those remarks more than four days after the merger was announced.

In the 1980s, fifty different companies together owned about 90% of US media, a fairly high level of concentration already. Today, through mergers and acquisitions that have, ostensibly, been "thoroughly analyzed" by government regulators, we've narrowed 90% of media ownership to just six enormous corporations. The $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner deal would make that even worse. I guess that's why Tim Kaine, Clinton's running mate weighed in to say, "Less concentration, I think, is generally helpful, especially in the media."

Donald Trump spoke out about the merger the same day it was announced, saying that it was a deal that "we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few." Wait, what?

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Trump, the billionaire blowhard, bully and egotist, said in less than 20 words what the top two people in the Democratic Party could not even come close to saying with three times the verbiage. Adding to an extraordinarily concentrated - and as a result, deeply flawed - media "raises serious concerns"? "Less concentration... is generally helpful"? Is it any wonder that Clinton and Trump are neck and neck? Or that Liberals have been losing working people, rural residents and countless middle class folks for more than a generation?

Of course it goes without saying that the long-term, heavily funded campaign of the extreme Right to denigrate the government and denude the public sphere has played a huge role in this shift. Not to mention the actual policies adopted by so-called liberal administrations and politicians, from NAFTA to Wall Street deregulation. But I'm talking here about another critically important factor in the rise of Trump (and before him, Sara Palin and others): Losing liberal language. Vague, conditional, non-committal language that leaves you wondering where they stand and what, exactly, they just said. It's the language of bureaucrats and Ivory Tower academics. Plenty of words, not much content. And for Heaven's sake, nothing clear and simple, because that's the way the less-educated talk.

Perhaps an even stronger example of this losing Liberal language was Hillary Clinton's "statement" regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline and the protests that have emerged around it. As with the AT&T deal, it took Clinton a long time to issue any statement at all. And when she did, it was so vacuous, so devoid of anything approaching a position that it prompted Bill McKibben to describe her words as "literally saying nothing". Hundreds of peaceful protestors arrested, scores of them pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets; a number of the women strip-searched by local police. With all of this unfolding as Native Americans reassert their rights to sacred lands, and scientists speak of the urgent need to move beyond fossil fuels to slow climate change, Secretary Clinton suggests that "all voices should be heard and all views considered... to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest." Right.

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I detest Donald Trump. I hate how Fox News and Rush Limbaugh have built empires largely based on lies, distortions and gross oversimplifications. It's been poisonous for our public debate and democracy. But they're not the only culprits. Liberal elites have driven millions of people into their hands, with bad policies to be sure, but just as much with their losing language, where "listening to all voices" really means embracing no one and nothing in particular. Until this changes, dramatically, winning back the hearts and minds of most Americans is a losing proposition.
October 22 was National Pantsuit Day. Yeah, I missed it too. The funny thing is, I was literally #withHER at an event that day and surprisingly, Hillary made no mention of the occasion.

While all the talk of pantsuits may seem silly, just the other day I heard a story about a high school-aged girl who doesn't want a president who wears pantsuits. Yet another sign of the lack of HERstorical knowledge many young people have about the struggle for women's equality.

To understand Hillary is to understand the modern-day pantsuit. It's practical, pragmatic, focused, fashionable and efficient. A woman in a pantsuit signals, "I mean business." We need to embrace the symbolism of a pantsuit as a way to give women a leg up!

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There's nothing new about pantsuits on the Beltway. Senator Barbara Mikulski helped lead the pantsuit rebellion in 1993 at a time when women were required to wear dresses on the Senate floor. Women of a certain age, myself included, have faced similar battles.

There are many historical reasons why pants became part of more masculine dressing. European and Asian men initially dressed in gowns, robes, tunics and togas. They began wearing trousers around 3,000 years ago to make it easier for riding horses. Horses were critical to civilization as part of warfare, hunting and commerce in general. Even if women had been permitted to participate in these activities they would have had a difficult time doing so since their mobility was limited by cumbersome skirts with multi-layers of crinoline and petticoats. Pantsuits were first introduced in the 1920s, but began to trend in the fashion world in the 1960s and '70s with the feminist revolution.

Personally, while I'm a major advocate for women in pants and for Hillary, I've never been a fan of pantsuits. Where's the creativity when there's nothing to mix and match? But my real problem with pantsuits is more deep-seated and involves an incident that happened to my grandmother when I was a child. In 1973, she was going on a chartered tour to Israel and my mother convinced her that wearing pants would be more comfortable while sitting on a bus for hours and exploring ancient ruins. At 70 years old, my grandmother had never worn pants and therefore needed a lot of convincing. She finally agreed and purchased a navy blue pantsuit. On the group's last day in Israel, they boarded the bus for Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox section of Jerusalem. After stepping off the bus, the women and children began throwing small rocks at my grandmother and calling out that she was a "sinner." The culprit? Her pantsuit. Ironically, my grandmother herself had grown up Orthodox. That's why she had never worn pants in the first place!

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To paraphrase the section of Deuteronomy in the Bible pertaining to this, it says a woman shouldn't dress in man's clothing. It doesn't actually describe what that clothing is and as noted earlier, men were wearing clothes more akin to dresses at that time. The message, though, is clear: women aren't supposed to be like men. And that's the crux of why both Hillary and pantsuits are continually maligned. It's interesting that when men wear suits, they're simply called suits, but when women wear them, they're referred to as (pant)suits. Could this be a result of a society that's still hung up on women wearing pants?
The Green News Report is also available via...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: President Obama suggests re-routing the controversial Dakota Access pipeline; Some major -- and some tricky -- environment-related ballot measures; China's top climate official warns Trump about climate science denial; PLUS: Corporate media covered Clinton emails 25 times more than climate change... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): World On Track For 3C Of Warming Under Current Pledges, Warns UNEP; Oil prices slide 3 percent on record U.S. crude stock build; Global carbon intensity falls, on declining coal use; Oil patch states may have seen the last boom; Is Coal's Political Heft Plunging? One State May Be Canary in Mine; Hurricane Matthew Took A Big Bite Out Of Southeastern States' Beaches... PLUS: Bad News for Honey as U.S. Seeks Handle on Glyphosate Residues in Food... and much, MUCH more! ...

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The United States has become a multi-trillion dollar presidential warfare state shattering our liberty-centered constitutional universe for which a steep was paid by the Founding Fathers.

Gratuitous presidential wars have spiraled the national debt past $20 trillion; spawned indiscriminate government spying on "not-yet-guilty" citizens in the name of foreign intelligence; and, subordinated civilian justice to spurious claims of military necessity, for instance, limitless presidential power to play prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to kill any American the President decrees is an imminent danger to national security based on secret, unsubstantiated evidence forever shielded from external review.

At present, the United States is fighting presidential wars in Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) everywhere on the planet without congressional declarations of war as required by Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution.

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Presidential wars are unconstitutional relics of King George III's monarchy. Alexander Hamilton elaborated in Federalist 69:

"The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally the same with that of the king of Great Britain, but in substance much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature."

Four decades ago, a President said, "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal." That scorn for the law provoked articles of impeachment and resignation. Today, when the President echoes that scorn, Congress yawns.

To restore constitutional governance and liberty as our glory, every Member of the United States House of Representatives or House candidate should be required to sign the pledge appended below:

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No Presidential Wars Pledge

Whereas war is too important to be left to a single individual or group;

Whereas James Wilson, during Pennsylvania's debates to ratify the United States Constitution, spoke for every participant in the drafting and ratification process in declaring: "This system will not hurry us into war; it is calculated to guard against it. It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress, for the important power of declaring war is vested in the legislature at large;--this declaration must be made with the concurrence of the House of Representatives; from this circumstance we may draw a certain conclusion, that nothing but our national interest can draw us into a war;"

Whereas the understanding of Mr. Wilson was enshrined in Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution, which provides that Congress shall have the power "To declare War."

Whereas during 227 years of national life, Congress has declared war on but five occasions, and only in cases of actual or perceived aggression against the United States;

Whereas presidents have commenced wars not in self-defense against scores of state or non-state actors without congressional declarations since World War II;

Whereas war impoverishes the people, endangers our soldiers, silences the law, risks blowback, awakens enemies, and diverts national genius from production to destruction;

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Whereas James Madison, father of the Constitution, wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ""The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the Legislature."

Whereas Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution provides that the "President...shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors;"

Whereas Alexander Hamilton elaborated in Federalist 65 that impeachable "offenses...proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself."

Whereas Article I, Section 2, clause 5 of the Constitution provides that the "House of Representatives...shall have the sole Power of Impeachment;" and,

Whereas Article VI of the Constitution provides that Representatives "shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution....;"

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Therefore, I pledge that as a Member of the United States House of Representatives, I will introduce and support an article of impeachment against any President who commences war against either a state or non-state actor without a declaration of war duly enacted by Congress. The impeachment article shall provide:
NOTE: The Hartman Memorandum and History are written by telecommunications experts for regulators and specifically submitted to the FCC to start to stop the cross subsidies.

When you pay your wireless bill, or when your company uses a business broadband service (sometimes called Special Access), or maybe you just have local phone service from Verizon or AT&T - should you be gouged?

These services are all related. For example, your wireless service is really a wired service with an invisible extension cord because when you call or download or send something, you connect through a cell site to - a wire, a special access wire. And business services, like ATM machines or broadband services, are now mostly delivered over a special access wire, now renamed "business data services" by the FCC. Even competitors, like Sprint, that offer wireless service usually have to rent these special access services from the incumbent phone companies.

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The FCC is about to make a decision about these special access networks, claiming that the Agency can create prices that are 'just and reasonable' for end users and the competitors.

The Hartman Memorandum proves that the FCC can never create just and reasonable pricing for special access services because the FCC's own cost allocation rules created massive financial cross subsidies between and among the state-based wired utilities, and the companies' other lines of business, such as special access, or the wireless service.

I'll come back to this chart in a moment, but if you want crazy, two items stand out:

75%-25% Rule -- 75% of most network expenses are paid by the Local Service phone networks (intraLATA) vs any 'interstate' services, such as Special Access, which pays only 25%. This rule was created in 1984 and has not been adjusted or replaced for 32 years.

-- 75% of most network expenses are paid by the Local Service phone networks (intraLATA) vs any 'interstate' services, such as Special Access, which pays only 25%. This rule was created in 1984 and has not been adjusted or replaced for 32 years. "Cost Allocation Rules" Were Set Based on the Year 2000 -- In 2001, the FCC created a series of rules pertaining to the allocation of expenses to match the year 2000--16 years ago. In 2001, Local Service was about 65% of revenues and it paid about 65% of costs. In 2015, Verizon New York's Local Service revenues were 25% but it still paid 61.2% of all 'corporate operations' expense. Access services, which represented 47% of revenues, only paid 28.6% of the corporate operations expenses.

And these rules are still in use today, regardless of the knee jerk reaction many have. They claim that the companies are under price caps and that these rules were 'forebeared', meaning not enforced by the FCC but are still on the books.

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Maybe you weren't aware that, say, Verizon New York or Verizon Pennsylvania are state utilities and that most of Verizon's wireless networks--the wires to the cell sites, were installed as part of the state utility. Or maybe you don't know that the special access wires or the FIOS wires or, well all of the fiber optic wires were cross subsidized, where the capital expenditures were paid for by the local phone customers as Verizon claimed these were just upgrades, are classified as "Title II", and are part of the utility.

And all of the affiliate companies have been 'vertically integrated', meaning that they all get benefits and perks from the ties to the state utility that no other competitor gets, or that allows them to control the pricing of not just wireline but wireless and other services, like special access.

And what we're about to expose is that the FCC's rules have run amok. Combined with a failure of the FCC and state commissions to actually provide oversight, the FCC's rules created a massive financial shell game--costing us all extra fees. The price of a 'gig' of wireless service has been inflated based on the special access profits and the cross subsidies with the wireless company. There have been rate increases on local service to pay for these cross subsidies, and the pricing of special access can't be set at 'just and reasonable' rates without examining actual costs and removing the subsidies.

In short, The Hartman Memorandum details why immediate investigations are necessary, and not some jiggled, made up pricing by the FCC that doesn't address the issues or fix the problems.

The Hartman Memorandum is part of the Fixing Telecom series and is accompanied by:

The History & Rules of Setting Phone Rates in America --The FCC's 'Big Freeze' & Cross Subsidies -- which supplies a history of the FCC and state rules and ratemaking process for the last 50+ years.

which supplies a history of the FCC and state rules and ratemaking process for the last 50+ years. Fixing Telecom, Fixing Broadband Data Services -- which supplies a road map on how to use the Memorandum to get cities upgraded and bring in robust competition to lower prices. (Release Date: TBA)

Backdrop

In 2002, the second version of AT&T (1984-2005), filed against the incumbent, wireline phone companies, which are now AT&T, Verizon and Centurylink.

A quote from the opening of the original AT&T Petition, October 2002:

"As detailed below, there is now indisputable proof that: (i) large LECs, and particularly the Bell Operating Companies ("Bells"), retain pervasive market power in the provision of these services, (ii) the large ILECs are abusing that market power with patently unjust and unreasonable rates that impose a multi-billion dollar annual overcharge or tax on American businesses and consumers and also severely harm both local and long distance competition, (iii) the Commission's existing rules are incapable of addressing this worsening crisis, and, indeed, only exacerbate the problem, and (iv) the Commission therefore has a clear legal obligation promptly to reform its regulation to protect the public interest and to put an end to these monopoly abuses."

NOTE: "LECs" or "ILECs" are the local exchange companies, the state-based utilities. In 2002, the "Bell Operating Companies" controlled the access wires. Today, this represents AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink.

And today, in 2016, any incumbent provider that controls these networks controls all of telecom, wired, wireless broadband, IP, and any future wireless services that will arrive called "5G".

In 2007, the FCC stopped collecting basic business and financial data on the incumbent phone companies, called "The Statistics of Common Carriers", which had started publication in 1939.

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In 2015, the FCC collected data on special access, renaming it 'Business Data Services". This collection was very limited, as it collected information from companies who spent over $5 million in billings annually.

Based on this data, the FCC found that special access was a $45 billion dollar market in 2013, and that 60%, the majority, was still copper-based services, $27 billion. (We believe this is the low case scenario.) The data is supposed to be used for finally dealing with AT&T's original special access petition and setting a new direction.

And there's a problem with the FCC's finding - Common wisdom says that there was a decline in copper-based access lines. Yet, from 2007-2015, Verizon New York's special access services increased 80%--and thus these lines have also increased. However, all of the fiber optic wires are also part of the state utility and Title II as well.

In 2015, special access revenue in just New York was $2 billion, and this means that the 'mostly copper' wire-based services were almost $30 billion nationwide. And the profit margins for these services appear to be obscene. In NY, the EBITDA, Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization was 66%. I.e., these are the profits of a mostly monopoly service.

In fact, in April, 2016, Consumer Federation of America (CFA) found massive overcharging of special access networks.

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"Taking on one of the most pressing issues facing the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) today released a study that estimates that large incumbent telephone companies have engaged in abusive pricing practices for high-speed broadband "special access" services, with overcharges totaling about $75 billion over just the past five years. As a result, CFA estimates that the indirect macroeconomic loss to American consumers doubles that damage to a total in excess of $150 billion since 2010."

And in 2016, the CFA and New Networks Institute (NNI) filed joint comments in the special access proceeding.

Also, in April 2016, INCOMPAS, the non-incumbent competitor association, known as 'CLECs', cut a deal with Verizon, proposing a decrease in rates, and some other points.

As of November 4th, 2016, the FCC has just floated a new proposed deal that cuts these competitors off at the knees. And, this will not fix the overcharging, and it is not based on actual financial reports but mathematical models, which hides the cross subsidies.

The Hartman Memorandum makes the case against the carriers and the FCC, detailing that the FCC's failure to fix the cost allocations rules to match reality created a regime of massive cross subsidies - in all states, as there is no indication that any state has undertaken any examination of the cross subsidies between and among affiliates and the state utilities.

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Many Harms Need Immediate Investigation

This Distortion of the Accounting has had Multiple, Direct and Harmful Impacts on All Services -- Special access had a 66% (EBITDA) -- because it paid only a fraction of expenses while Local Service paid the majority. In fact, all of the 'interstate' broadband networks, including the wires to the cell sites for Verizon Wireless or even FiOS TV, all paid fractions of the expenses and thus have very high profit margins.

Direct Harms to All Wired Services -- Unfortunately, special access cannot be examined without looking at all of the other lines of business, from Local Service to the implications of massive cross subsidies that were designed and helped to create harmful public policies.

At the same time, these expenses made the local phone networks artificially unprofitable, which has been used as an excuse to 'shut off the copper' or force customers onto 'more profitable' wireless services. This has also been an excuse for not building out FiOS broadband to many areas throughout the East Coast.

The FCC's Proposed Rules Do Not Address Cross Subsidies -- The proposal does not fix the excessive profit margins nor examine that the FCC's rule making doesn't include the fact that local phone customers have been overcharged, having paid the excess profits. Moreover, the agency has never addressed the fact that these wires are part of the state utility as they are classified as Title II, and that the expenses paid are mostly within the state and thus 'intrastate' where the FCC does not have jurisdiction, since its jurisdiction is 'interstate'.

The FCC's Plan Also Includes a Host of Proposed Actions that Will Cause Multiple Harms -- For example, the FCC's plans do not require the incumbents to share any new build-out of fiber optic special access services with high speeds with competitors, even though the majority of the expenses were paid for by local service under the FCC's own rules, or rate increases agreed to by the state commissions.

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Harm to Broadband and Internet Competition -- Much of the incumbent's retail business is in Internet access now, including DSL and FiOS and they are classified as interstate. In fact, anything that carries Internet services is interstate. Thus, all of the growth areas, including competitive ones, are in the interstate basket, which is not paying its fair share. This also makes it easier for the ILECs to undercut "broadband" competition.

Harms to Users and Municipalities -- As we discuss, the Consumer Federation of America found over $75 billion in special access customer overcharging in just the last five years. Moreover, these financial distortions diverted monies to the affiliate companies, such as Verizon Wireless, that should have gone to upgrade and maintain communities' network infrastructure for broadband and internet services.

The Cost Allocation Regulations have been Erased but Are Still In Use -- Worth mentioning again, there are those who will say that the rules have been 'forebeared' - i.e., while the rules are still on the books but are no longer required. Unfortunately, the Verizon New York annual reports and matching reports from Massachusetts prove that the rules are still in use. But it also exposes that the price caps, where the price is set but the profits aren't examined, did not work.

The History of the Cost Allocation Rules for Telecommunications

SEE: The History & Rules of Setting Phone Rates in America --The FCC's 'Big Freeze' & Cross Subsidies

The Communications Act of 1934 mandated that everyone in America was entitled to phone service, and this would be delivered to homes and offices, schools and libraries throughout America. Moreover, phone service would be delivered by a state-based utility that had a state-based (or city-based) franchise to offer phone service and the wires were based on copper wires.

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These wires, just like gas or electricity or even water, got benefits such as the use of the public 'rights-of-way', or guaranteed profits via rate increases. More importantly, the service rates were based on actual costs.

With telecommunications, there are different services using the exact same wires; these include 'Local Service' or companies using the 'special access' networks.

And the different services have 'classifications' and are controlled by different regulators. "Local Service" was 'intrastate', (calls and service within the state), and it is regulated by the state utility commissions. Other services, like long distance or later broadband and Internet, were declared 'interstate' and under the jurisdiction of the FCC.

Returning to the Opening Chart:

In order to make sure that the different lines of business paid their fair share to use the networks, a system was created so that both state and federal regulators were on the same page:

Uniform System of Accounts (USOA) (also called "Part 32") was created. It itemized the tens of thousands of expenses, revenues, taxes, and put them into a database/catalog with hundreds of separate categories.

was created. It itemized the tens of thousands of expenses, revenues, taxes, and put them into a database/catalog with hundreds of separate categories. Separations Manual (Part 36) was created to be able to allocate these expenses to the different lines of business.

So, local 'POTS' or plain old telephone service would be listed in specific revenue categories using the USOA and the expenses would be charged based on the Separations Manual. Originally, the expenses were based mostly on revenues (with caveats).

Also, around 1984 the FCC decided that the long distance 'interstate' portion would only pay 25% of expenses for various network costs--Local Service would pay 75% of these expenses for specific items, like cables and wires.

Then, in 2001, the FCC froze the 'Separations Manual' to allocate expenses based on the year 2000--that's right, the year 2000--and there it sits until 2017.

In 2007, the FCC stopped collecting and publishing data on the state utilities. Known as the "Statistics of Common Carriers", (which had been continually published since 1939), contained details about the revenues and expenses, while the FCC's ARMIS database supplied much of the info about expenses and revenues.

By 2008, the FCC 'forebeared' many of these rules, meaning they would stop requiring some, if not most of the regulations on cost allocations. This also meant that the price of service was no longer tied to the expense of offering the service.

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Unfortunately, the states did not stop applying the rules and it is clear that what's been going on is a massive cross-subsidy system to use local service as a cash cow to fund all of the other lines of business, while at the same time, pleading poverty.

Gaming the System: A Mockery of the Principles of a Utility and Public Obligations.

This diagram sums up what happened in virtually every state. Specific parts of the state networks would be deemed interstate and profitable as they aren't paying their fair share of the expenses, while the local networks would start to deteriorate.

The Hartman Memorandum shows the impacts of the FCC's rules and negligence using Verizon New York's 2015 financial report, as well as comparing it to the years 2000 and 2007. And it shows the impacts from the 'Big Freeze'.

According to Verizon NY's 2015 annual report, Local Service brought in $1.3 billion and had an EBITDA of -132%. This is in contrast to Special Access fees, which were $2.5 billion in revenue and had an EBITDA of 66%. (Special Access was $2 billion and represents 80%+ of the total.)





One would say that 'Local Service' was losing money until one examines the network costs ("Plant Specific and Non-Plant Specific") and notices that Local Service paid $1.47 billion, which is in contrast to Special Access services only paying $716 million, literally half of what Local Service paid. i.e., Local Service paid 117% of revenue while Special Access paid 29% of revenue.

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Local Service revenues are mostly from the copper-based "POTS", "Plain Old Telephone Service", lines. Verizon has stated it is no longer upgrading and maintaining these lines, the retail copper lines.

How can Local Service be paying the majority of network expenses? And how can Special Access services have a 66% EBITDA for mostly copper-based services while the same exact wires have massive losses?

Manipulating the Accounting of Lines



What happened to the state utility in general is - Local Service ended up having the majority of expenses being dumped in the accounting of the 'intrastate' side instead of the 'interstate' side paying its fair share of common costs due to the Big Freeze. In fact, some areas that the company wanted to be profitable, such as wireless or special access - were even removed from the basic accounting.

This can be seen best in the accounting of lines. 'Common wisdom' says that Verizon's is losing lines, but these are only the intrastate POTS copper based phone lines. They do not include the majority of lines in service.

DSL

Competitive copper based lines

Special access lines

FiOS Lines

Wireless and hot-spot back haul lines

See: How Many 'Special Access' Lines Are There in America? 'Zero' or 600 Million?

In our previous chart, all of these access lines would be part of the apple slices and separate from the 'core'.
PM Narendra Modi inaugurate Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

Published: November 3, 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in New Delhi.

The conference has been organised by Union Government in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Key Facts

2016 AMCDRR will pave the way for implementation of the Sendai framework in the Asian region and will also devise a mechanism for monitoring its progress.

About 2,000 foreign delegates, including ministers from 54 Asia Pacific countries will participate in the 2016 AMCDRR.

2016 AMCDRR will focus on consultation, collaboration and partnership with governments and stakeholders to mainstream Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the region.

It will adopt the Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework endorsed by the Asian countries.

Comment

2016 AMCDRR is the seventh edition of the conference after it was established in 2005 and the first major inter-governmental event after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) adopted at 3rd UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015. This is second time India hosting AMCDRR. For the first time India had also hosted the second AMCDRR in 2007 in New Delhi.

PM Narendra Modi after inaugurating 2016 AMCDRR outlined a ten-point agenda for renewing efforts towards disaster risk reduction. The 10-point agenda includes

All development sectors must imbibe the principles of disaster risk management.

Work towards risk coverage for all starting from poor households to SMEs to MNCs to nation states.

Encourage greater leadership and involvement of women in disaster risk management.

Invest in risk mapping globally. For mapping risks related to hazards like earthquakes we have accepted standards & parameters.

Leverage technology to enhance the efficiency of disaster risk management efforts.

Develop a network of universities to work on disaster issues.

Utilize the opportunities provided by mobile and social media technologies.

Build on local initiatives and capacity.

Opportunity to learn from a disaster must not be wasted. After every disaster there are papers on lessons that are rarely applied.

Bring greater cohesion in international response to disasters.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016

Topics: Asia-Pacific  Disaster Management  Events  Narendra Modi  National  Sendai Framework

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It's amazing to go from "World's Most Admired Woman" to "Lesser of Two Evils" in one year. How did that happen?

Of course, the reputational fall happened because of Donald Trump's vicious campaign against Clinton for the White House, in which this con artist regularly slimes her as "Crooked Hillary" and "Lying Hillary" and vows, if elected, to put her in jail. The Hillary hatred among Trump supporters, and even among some on the progressive left, is scary. Again, how'd it happen?

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I know, I know: the emails. Which was a major mistake on Clinton's part and for which she has apologized many times (something Trump never ever does, but should). And there was the too-cozy relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department when Hillary Clinton was Secretary. If she wins the White House, the Clinton Foundation will stop accepting foreign donations.

But, people, these several mistakes simply do not rise to the level of Trump's malfeasance -- the bankruptcies that destroyed others while allowing Trump to continue living like a billionaire, the fraudulent and now defunct Trump University, Trump's non-payment of taxes while ordinary Americans pay their fair share. If Trump wins, the killer issue will have been... Hillary's emails. Really?

Nor do Clinton's character flaws equate to anything like Trump's repugnant behavior -- the denigration of Muslims, Mexicans, the disabled, the women he has allegedly assaulted sexually.

Hmmm, denigration of women. Think that has anything with the Hillary hatred...?

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Again, this is the woman who 20 times --20 times-- was polled "World's Most Admired Woman," while the estimable Eleanor Roosevelt managed it only 13 times.

Tellingly, Hillary Clinton's 20-time record as world's most admired woman spans the 30 years of her public life that Trump now derides and points to as abject failure: her years as First Lady, then U.S. Senator, then Secretary of State. To quote the fear-mongering Trump himself, "Something's going on, folks."

Something is going on, folks. Trump has manipulated the general discontent of the public and out of it created a dangerous reactionary campaign -- against non-white Americans, against foreigners, against women.

Eleanor Roosevelt would weep. Wake up, America.

Note: Donald Trump in 2015 was polled by Gallup as the world's second most admired man, after Barack Obama and tying Pope Francis. The only other time Trump placed in the top 40 of this poll appears to be in 2011, with 1% of the vote.

Carla Seaquist's latest book is titled "Can America Save Itself from Decline?: Politics, Culture, Morality." An earlier book is titled "Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character." Also a playwright, she published "Two Plays of Life and Death" and is at work on a play titled "Prodigal."
A serial about two artists with incurable neurological disease sharing fear, frustration and friendship as they push to complete the most rewarding creative work of their careers.



Hadley and her daughter, Sarah

One morning while she was getting ready for school, 7-year-old Sarah told Hadley, "My dream catcher isn't working anymore." Dream catchers, small hoops decorated with beads, string and feathers, were originally crafted by Native Americans to protect their owners from bad dreams. Sarah had been intrigued with them ever since making one out of pipe cleaners in preschool. When she spotted one at an airport gift shop, Hadley bought it for her and she slept with it every night. Now, she explained to Hadley that she thought the dream catcher was too full to catch any more bad dreams. "I dreamed you're going to die on my birthday," she said.

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That winter of 2014, Hadley was working as hard as she could on the designs for Montana Women's Mural in her home studio. Sarah would often find her collapsed in exhaustion on the living room couch. She knew that her mother's Parkinson's made her tired and slow, but Hadley didn't think it made sense yet to tell her the diagnosis had been changed to multiple system atrophy. Now, Sarah needed her reassurance. Not wanting to make the promise that she wasn't going to die, Hadley simply told her, "We're going to have a wonderful, long time together." The fact was, Hadley didn't feel at all close to dying. She'd read that MSA can either progress really fast, or slowly for ten years and then fast; intuitively, she felt she was on the slow track.

Sarah is almost ten now. She has never known her mother as a totally healthy person. She's adjusted to changes, even welcoming Hadley's use of a wheelchair as it allows them to walk home from school together or go to the park on weekends without relying on others to drive them. Hadley wonders often how Sarah's feelings about her disease will shift as she moves into adolescence.

For those of us with children, one of the hardest aspects of having Parkinson's is contemplating how it will change our relationships with them. We want to be the strong, reliable person they count on for comfort and advice, building family bonds, moving them into their college dorms, celebrating the events of their lives. The last thing we want when we bring a child into the world is to imagine we will be a burden on them before they're even grown.

My diagnosis in 2009 came only a few months after our younger child, Tobias, left for his first year of college. Our daughter, Elena, was a college senior and both of them were 3000 miles away, in New England.

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Because they were home for Christmas vacation the day I was diagnosed, I told them about it right away, stopping by their rooms to give them each a short elevator speech about Parkinson's, explaining that it progressed slowly and was not life-threatening. They were quiet and had no questions for me, but I imagine as soon as I left the room their minds were busy -- if only for as long as they would let themselves think about it. They were 19 and 22 -- too old to not feel self-conscious about spontaneously revealing emotion and too young to feel, or at least express, concern for me.

In the 7 years since then, conversations about Parkinson's with Elena and Tobias have been initiated by me and have revolved around stories about my Parkie friends or PD events I've attended. I joke with them about my slow movements and clumsy walk. I've assumed they haven't asked about my PD because they've been taking their cues from me about how I'm doing. And the reality is I appear to be, and am, doing quite well. This doesn't mean I believe they're not affected by my Parkinson's. Walking on the beach with Elena in 2013, I was sharing Hadley's frustrating quest to get a diagnosis and I realized she was brushing away tears. Very empathetic by nature, she might have been feeling Hadley's pain. More likely, the news had struck at her fears about me.

I asked Elena recently how she's processed my Parkinson's over the years. She said she consciously avoided researching the disease because she knew it would scare her and that only a year or two ago, she finally looked it up on Wikipedia. This year, she decided to go into medicine and has become more curious about Parkinson's. She wrote to me:



I think the most interesting thing is that I remember feeling a little twinge of guilt around the time of my college graduation in 2010 that I had never considered going into medicine. So many people's story about wanting to go into medical school is that they had a family member who became sick, but I initially didn't feel that your diagnosis was affecting me in that way, and felt bad about it, especially given my interest in science. But I think the gears might have started turning a little, because all your stories about doctors made me realize what a difference thoughtful providers can make in the individual lives of people close to me. In addition to having my own physician friends whom I admire, I think this contributed to my shift in mindset about medicine as a field I would find challenging and rewarding. When people ask me why I want to go to medical school, I usually cite "being able to help family members and friends with their health care" as one of my strongest motivations, along with my general drive to serve others and to seek intellectual challenge.

We never stop being parents and our roles with our kids become more complex and essential in new ways when they're beginning their independent lives. Nevertheless, I was relieved that Elena and Tobias had been "launched" when I got my diagnosis, if for no other reason than they didn't have to be reminded every day of my Parkinson's. It also meant that my time was more my own and I had the freedom to take care of myself however I needed to.

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For my friend Karen Jaffe, getting a diagnosis at 49 in 2008 when her three daughters were teenagers still living at home was a very different story. Because Karen had a busy OB/GYN practice and worried that her PD diagnosis would affect her work as a surgeon, she kept it a secret from everyone but her husband, Marc. She felt that telling their kids and then asking them to keep it a secret it would be too big a burden on them. She also didn't want to shake up their lives just as the older girls, Alena and Jana, were getting ready to leave the nest.

Five months after Karen's diagnosis, she and her youngest, Sarah, 13, were alone in the house one afternoon. Bored, Sarah decided to look for the family journal in which Karen and Marc recorded funny things the girls had said over the years. In her parents' bedroom, she discovered Karen's own journal in a drawer. On the first page, Karen had written, "My name is Karen Jaffe. I am 49 years old and I have Parkinson's disease." When Sarah tells this story, she says she was stunned. She had no idea what Parkinson's was. Was her mother going to die? She flipped through the pages, reading words KAren had never said aloud: neurologist, diagnosis, tremor, medication, symptoms. She checked the date of the first journal entry: July. It was now December. In tears, she ran downstairs and confronted her dismayed mother, who hugged and comforted her. Later, Karen, Marc and Sarah sat down to talk. When Karen explained they'd planned not to tell the girls about the diagnosis until they'd all left for college -- in five more years -- Sarah realized the full significance of the secret and felt she'd done something very wrong by uncovering it. So, when Karen and Marc asked her for more time before they told her sisters, the rest of the family and the community, Sarah says she was understanding. But the secrecy would prove to be tough for her:

For those full three months, I dreamt every night of the day that I could look my two sisters in the eye and tell them what I had been keeping from them for so long. It was a fantasy of mine -- telling my two older sisters who thought I was this naive, immature little sister that I, in fact, was given both this responsibility and burden for the past several months. More importantly, I wanted to show them that I was trustworthy; that I never cracked under pressure by telling them, even when a stupid argument would prompt me to consider doing so. In my fantasy version, we would all be sitting down in the living room, and Mom, Dad, and I would say to Alena and Jana, "We have something to tell you." Then, after Alena and Jana processed everything and gathered their emotions, they would come over and hug me tightly and ask me a ton of questions about how I managed to carry the burden and how I possibly didn't spill the beans. And finally, after three months, I would feel a sense of solace.

Instead, one night in March after Sarah returned from a week away with a friend, the family was together at the dinner table and someone said the word "Parkinson's." Sarah was crushed to learn that while she was gone, her parents had told her sisters about Karen's diagnosis. She felt cheated out of the moment she'd anticipated for months, when her older sisters would show respect and empathy for all she'd been through. In retrospect, Sarah says she doesn't think her sisters understood the weight of the secret until it was passed on to them.

Jana, Karen's middle daughter, was 16 that March when she learned about her mother's Parkinson's, and she remembers feeling scared, angry and confused. Scared, she said, because she thought PD meant her mother was going to die, and confused about what the diagnosis meant for her mother and their family, and why it was so important to keep it a secret.



To help her daughters with their fear, Karen set up a meeting for them with her neurologist. Jana told me it was extremely valuable to be able to be able to ask questions about Parkinson's without her parents present. But she couldn't help feeling a little angry that Karen and Marc hadn't told them about the diagnosis sooner; her family had always been honest with each other about everything. She was somewhat resentful that she had to keep it a secret. Because Karen and Marc grew up in Cleveland and Karen was a well-known physician, Jana and Sarah frequently ran into family acquaintances who would ask how their mother was. It was painful to have to lie. Karen would gradually reveal her diagnosis to people throughout the next couple of years, but it was not completely out in the open until 2011.

Over the years, Sarah and Jana have felt frustrated by how they perceive Parkinson's has in some way taken over their mom. Early on, Karen got busy networking with members of the Parkinson's community; soon she would become a member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation Patient Council. Then came plans for annual PD fundraisers and co-founding InMotion, a non-profit Parkinson's wellness center. Karen's phone and laptop were lit up at all hours and she became a kind of one-woman PD nexus. Her daughters were missing her. Was it the Parkinson's itself, the medication she was taking, or had they just not noticed their mother's obsessive tendencies because, as a physician, she had been away from home so much?

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Sarah and Jana have openly discussed these concerns with Karen. Jana and Karen shared with me letters they exchanged two years ago, when Jana was 20. In her letter to Karen, Jana wrote:



When will be the next time that I spend with my mom that is free from all talk, mission, aims, goals, plans, accomplishments, setbacks and anything else PD-related? A conversation that if someone were listening in, they'd have no idea that you or anyone you know has PD? I know that you cannot escape this disease, but I can tell you that it is suffocating our relationship. I want to hear about all the good you're doing and about all the bad this disease is doing to you. But I want you to acknowledge that there is still a world outside of PD.

Jana entreated her mother to take a break from PD and make a list of all the things she used to enjoy before Parkinson's. Karen responded:

Dear Jana,

I wanted more than anything to write this note to you on a beautiful piece of stationary, hand written with a very fun stamp, but you would not have been able to read a single word so forgive me this one time.

Jana, your letter was sincere, truthful and honest and I bear you no grudge for that. In fact, it touched my heart so deeply that I have folded it up and have tucked it in my wallet where it will be close by...where I can read it again and again...and if I need to, again.

You are mature and brave beyond your years...just as your two sisters are. Your wisdom is kind and so powerfully expressed. I am so lucky that you are my daughter and that you knew that you could send this note to me without fear.

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So what I have to tell you...what I need to tell you is that I am sorry. You know what that means so I will not enumerate the laundry list of 'things I am sorry about'. I love you and your sisters so deeply that the thought that I have made these past 5 years harder on you than need be is very sad. But as you said in your own letter to me...."we still have reason to hope".

The other night while waiting for you to arrive home after the ballgame ...I found myself reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's introduction in the Annie Leibovitz book that Ellen had just given me, appropriately titled Pilgrimage. And I paused when I read the following.

..."Ironically, the catastrophe proved to be a liberating force. It opened up a new path for Eleanor. No longer tied to her old world in the same way, she became involved with ...(long list)...for organizing people and calling them to action. She found her voice and became one if the most influential women of her age."

And I decided that perhaps this notion of bravery...of facing adversity, requires balance and that is what I think your advice to me was...strive for a healthy BALANCE.

So thank you for every word so thoughtfully written on those 2 1/2 pieces of paper. I love you dearly and I heard every word you wrote. I am proud to be your mother. I am proud...and grateful that you have taken something that has been hard for all of us and with it found your way. I know that your compassion and kindness will serve you well. You will be a physician who is loved by her patients...and I, for one, cannot wait to see it be so.



I love you,

Mom

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When Karen and I discussed her correspondence with Jana, I wondered aloud whether talking about Parkinson's all the time in front of our kids might be kind of like a member of a SWAT team expounding to his family the details of his day at work -- scary stuff for one's offspring. At the very least, perhaps Jana had competed for her mother's attention with her medical practice, and now was frustrated to be faced with another "intrusion," PD. I thought, but did not say, that it was also possible the dopamine agonist Karen was taking might be creating her hyper-focused preoccupation with her disease and related social networking. Karen saw my points and concluded, "You know, at the end of the day, we are the ones with this disease; our family and friends cannot presume to know what it is to stand in our shoes, and it is our life to live the way we need to." I thought about this and re-read the quotation of Eleanor Roosevelt's that Karen had included in her letter to Jana. It's true that while we strive to protect our loved ones, it's very difficult to make a larger impact on the world if we're always wearing our parent or caretaker hat, worrying about how our feelings, our struggles, work and personal missions are going to affect those closest to us.

For Jana, Karen's diagnosis had a silver lining; she credits it for helping her find her calling in life, to be a neurologist. For a year, she had a job that allowed her to work with Parkinson's patients, and she has just begun medical school in Cleveland, where she grew up. She says that living in the same city as her mother means that she's more aware of Karen's disease progression. While she finds this disheartening in ways, she feels the regular exposure has helped "desensitize" her so her mother's physical changes don't seem quite as scary. Still, she finds herself worrying: How fast will the disease progress? What symptom will appear next? When will she not be able to take care of herself anymore?

Karen was very grateful to Jana for pressing her to think about the need for balance in her life. She has been working hard to find that balance while carrying on as one of the most effective activists the Parkinson's community could hope for. In the meantime, the challenging, heartfelt and honest conversations with her children that began with Sarah's discovery of her diagnosis continue to bring them all closer. In Sarah's words:

My mom is a remarkable woman: strong-willed, passionate, determined, and focused. After years of feeling like I had lost her to a Parkinson's junkie (as weird as that may sound), she's finally starting to feel like my mom again -- the mom I knew before our world was turned upside down. My family has grown stronger, both as individuals and as a whole, because of this disease.

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As a baby boomer who grew up in the Arkansas Delta during America's apartheid era, I never thought I'd live long enough to see a Black man elected President of the United States. I know I'm not alone. In my mind's eye, I could see my Mama and Papa and other deceased members of the Village who raised me, shouting with joy upon learning that Barack Obama was elected President not once, but twice. My father, a rural community organizer, would be filled with joy, smiling from ear to ear upon hearing the wondrous news about a Black man in the White House--even if he couldn't pronounce his name!

America has come a long way since Mama and Papa had to pay a "poll tax," specifically designed as a way to restrict voting rights for Blacks. That's why I refuse to denigrate their memory by not voting. Even if my preferred presidential candidate loses, I felt so compelled to cast my vote for her that I did so on the first day of early voting in my city. I simply refuse to insult the spirits of my ancestors by not voting. More importantly, too many people have paved the way and paid the price for me to vote for me to shirk my duty to vote.

Among those courageous men and women are names we know, such as James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, murdered in Mississippi in 1964 during the Freedom Summer, a volunteer campaign to register Black voters across the South. There is Viola Liuzzo, a Unitarian housewife and Michigan mother of five, shot dead by the KKK in 1965 as she drove back from the Montgomery, Alabama airport after dropping off fellow activists. There is Georgia Congressman John Lewis, who as the youngest chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was beaten until his skull was fractured after marching on Edmund Pettus Bridge, and who still bears those scars.

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Add to this roll call of courage the countless from all corners of our nation whose names have been lost to history, those who bravely withstood death threats, vicious harassment, and outright brutality simply because they wanted to exercise their right to vote, and wanted others to do so as well. They are all our ancestors in the battle for justice. We cannot forget their fearless spirits. We must honor them as we remember the sacrifices they made on our behalf.

The 2016 Presidential election is just a few days away, and WikiLeaks recently made another email dump that could completely undo the hard-fought campaign mounted by Hillary Rodham Clinton. More importantly, if WikiLeaks and the Russian government prevail, they will have successfully inserted themselves into the process and the potential outcome of America's Presidential election. In search of "Breaking News" and the almighty advertising dollar, it appears that the media, our free press, has become unwitting partners in an attack on democracy, by the mere act of reporting round-the-clock on the emails released by WikiLeaks.

Why give these self-serving and self-righteous cyber-criminals the recognition they seek by reporting minute by minute on what they said and did? Is there ever a time when such reporting helps our enemies and disadvantages American citizens? Such reporting seems to reinforce Donald Trump's assertion that the system is rigged, when there's no credible evidence that it is. If Putin and others can plant the seed of doubt in the authenticity of the American election, it makes it harder for whoever is elected to govern. In which case, the ultimate losers are the American people, and we will be forced to live with the grave repercussions long after Election Day.



This year, nearly one-in-three eligible voters on Election Day will be Black, Hispanic, Asian or another racial or ethnic minority, up from 29% in 2012. If there was ever any doubt about the influence of Black and Brown voters in determining the outcome of a presidential election, one need only look at the two-time election of Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, respectively. In these four most recent election cycles, Black and Brown people voted overwhelmingly for Democratic party candidates. According to Gallup, in the 2012 Presidential Election 82% of non-white voters including Hispanics, and 95% of Black voters, voted for President Obama.

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By pooling their voting prowess, theoretically, these two groups can determine who gets elected President in any election cycle. Up to this point, however, it seems that we have cast our votes for the Democratic party candidate without holding that person accountable for addressing our interests and needs. All Black and Brown, middle- and low-income voters appear to get during and after the election is a lot of feel good, applause-arousing rhetoric in the form of soundbites. Now is the time for our blind loyalty to end: our vote has value, and we must cash in on it the same way others do, such as bankers, physicians, insurance companies, automobile manufacturers, utility companies, chambers of commerce, and employee unions, among other groups.



No matter who is elected president, history will be made. If Hillary Rodman Clinton is elected, it will be the first time a woman is elected. If Donald Trump is elected, it'll be the first time a fear-monger has been elected. Let's be clear about one thing: neither candidate is flawless. You are the only one you may feel fits this category, and you are not (yet) on the ballot!

As a knowledgeable and democracy-loving citizen, I endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton and encourage you to do the same. Don't wake up on November 9th, depressed and delirious over your decision to sit out this election, or to cast a protest vote for a candidate who has nearly zero chances of winning the presidency. The better angels of our nature cannot prevail when good people do not vote.

No one is perfect. I am asking you to vote for the best prepared and least flawed of the two candidates. I am convinced that that candidate is Hillary Rodham Clinton. I'm not endorsing her just because she's less flawed than Donald Trump, but also because I believe she values diversity and inclusiveness; social and economic justice; gender, racial and ethnic equity and equality; and a commitment to serving the needs of children and aging members of the American electorate. I trust and respect her ability to represent our country at home and abroad.

If we care about the safety, security and economic well-being of ourselves, our families and Americans at large, there is only one choice in this year's Presidential election. That choice is Hillary Rodham Clinton. If you agree, then you must vote. "There is no noise as powerful as the sound of the marching feet of a determined people," wrote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now is the time for us to march together and make a powerful sound, one that surpasses the bellowing of divisiveness and greed. When we vote, we honor the living and the dead. We honor the ancestors who sacrificed so much for us, and for generations to come.
This Blog is co-authored by Jonathan D. Greenberg, Scholar in Residence, Daniel Martin Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, Stanford Law School

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On September 3, Donald Trump addressed congregants at an African American church in Detroit: "Becoming the nominee of the Party of Abraham Lincoln -- a lot of people don't realize that Abraham Lincoln, the great Abraham Lincoln was a Republican -- has been the greatest honor of my life," http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-detroit-transcript. He said "It is on his legacy that I hope to build the future of the Party but more important the future of the country and the community."

On October 22, Donald Trump came to Gettysburg, "hallowed ground where so many lives were given in service to freedom. Amazing place." If we as a nation elect him as President, Trump proclaimed, "we will once more have a government of, for and by the people."

Donald Trump likens himself to Abraham Lincoln. Is Jefferson Davis a better comparison?

In 1846, national war-fever followed President James Polk's claim that "the Mexicans invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil." In a dramatic speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, first-term Congressman Abraham Lincoln proved that Polk's claim was a lie. Lincoln opposed the Mexican invasion as a racist, immoral war initiated for the purpose of expanding slavery. To further this purpose, young Jefferson Davis led a volunteer brigade of Mississippians deep into the Mexican heartland, proudly "writing their valor... on the bodies of our enemies with lead and steel."

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U.S. soldiers and militias conquered land and people from Santa Fe to Matamoros, from Veracruz to Mexico City itself. Washington demanded roughly half of Mexico's territory, as "reparations" for war costs, if Mexico wished to end U.S. military occupation of its nation. Over subsequent decades, these Mexican lands would become incorporated into ten new U.S. states: Texas, California, Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico. Mexican citizens and indigenous peoples who lived in these conquered territories did not migrate across the U.S. border -- the U.S. border migrated across them, erasing their citizenship and property rights overnight.

Later, as a politician, Jefferson Davis loved speaking to crowds. "Happy am I to greet this vast multitude..." https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/Content."With us, and with us alone, the white man attains to his true dignity in the Government." https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/Content.aspx

As President of the Confederacy, Davis emphasized to his white constituents the core issue that fueled secession: "Will you be slaves? Will you consent to be robbed of your property?" https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/Content.aspx.

Davis denounced Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as "the most execrable measure recorded in the history of man." https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/03/reviews/001203.03byrdlt.html

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At the 1890 Harvard University commencement, African American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois discussed Davis, his character and legacy, twenty-five years after the Confederacy's defeat. "Jefferson Davis was a typical Teutonic hero," he said. "[T]he history of civilization during the last millennium has been the development of the idea of the Strong Man of which he was the embodiment."

Davis was Lincoln's nemesis. Poignantly, Du Bois did not attack the man - just the toxic racial culture in which he emerged a leader. As a human being, Du Bois observed, Davis had admirable qualities. "The Anglo-Saxon loves a soldier," he said, and "Jefferson Davis was a soldier." He was "[a] soldier and a lover, a statesman and a ruler; passionate, ambitious and indomitable; bold reckless guardian of a people's All."

To Du Bois, Davis was a heroic figure, even as he represented a decadent, inhuman society. "[J]udged by the whole standard of Teutonic civilization, there is something noble in the figure of Jefferson Davis," Du Bois insisted, even as that standard violates "every canon of human justice."

Like Martin Luther King, Jr., Du Bois understood that racism cripples and deforms its perpetrators no less than its victims. White supremacy is a social pathology, "a system of human culture whose principle is the rise of one race on the ruins of another." Such a system "is a farce and a lie." For Du Bois, "this is the type of civilization which Jefferson Davis represented," a civilization of "moral obtuseness and refined brutality."

Yet even a racist, evil system could produce a Jefferson Davis, "a naturally brave and generous man," a leader of "stalwart manhood and heroic character." However noble or courageous Davis might be, his life represents "the advance of a part of the world at the expense of the whole: the overweening sense of the I and the consequent forgetting of the Thou."

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Donald Trump shares with Jefferson Davis the moral obtuseness and refined brutality of white nationalism. More than any major figure in contemporary America, Trump projects "the overweening sense of the I and the consequent forgetting of the Thou."

So it is not surprising that millions of his followers see Trump in this historic light.

But Trump is not a soldier, nor a statesman. Nor he is a naturally brave and generous man. And there is not a trace of nobility about him.

In sum, Donald Trump is no Jefferson Davis.

But this doesn't seem to bother many of Trump's most ardent supporters.

In a national Economist/YouGov poll conducted in January 2016, 20 percent of Trump's supporters said that they disapproved of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the Confederate states (an additional 13 percent were "not sure"). (https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/bpdyys33xc/econTabReport_20160116_EO_X_REPNOM.)

Last summer, editor of the Neo-Nazi "Daily Stormer" (self-identified as "The World's #1 Alt-Right and Pro-Genocide Website") endorsed him: "I urge all readers of this site to do whatever they can to make Donald Trump President." Most if not all of the largest white supremacist organizations and websites have followed suit, and many of their adherents look to Trump

as a national savior.

On November 2, the Ku Klux Klan's official newspaper The Crusader ("The Political Voice of White Christian America! THE PREMIER VOICE OF WHITE RESISTANCE") added their enthusiastic endorsement: "Can America really be great again? That is what we will soon find out," the newspaper promised. "America was great not because of what our forefathers did - but because who our forefathers were. America was great because America was founded as a White Christian Republic. And as a White Christian Republic it became great."

(http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/donald-trump-2016-white-nationalists-alt-right-214388)

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Also on November 2, the New York Times reports that a historic African American church in Greenville Mississippi was badly burned "with the words 'Vote Trump' spray-painted on the side of the building, an episode that comes amid rising concerns over possible violence in the final days of a polarizing and racially charged presidential race." Greenville Mayor Errick D. Simmons "said that firefighters, responding to a call around 9:15 p.m., discovered the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church 'engulfed in flames.'" Fire Chief Ruben Brown "said investigators had concluded that the fire was 'definitely arson' after discovering 'some type of solvent or flammable substance' inside. According to the Times, "[t]he 200-member church has been a fixture for more than 110 years in Greenville, a Mississippi Delta city of about 32,000."

In the mid-20th century, as African-Americans struggled to integrate the Deep South, church bombings were among the ugliest acts of retaliation by recalcitrant white racists... The mayor said he visited church members Wednesday. "I talked to folks who were fearful," he said. "I talked to people who were intimidated. I talked to people who, quite frankly, were saddened and crying last night. This should not happen in 2016. It happened in the '50s. It happened in the '60s. But we're in 2016."

Also on Wednesday, about three dozen people gathered in a park along the Greenville waterfront to pray and speak about healing and the primacy of faith over politics. Joining a Methodist preacher, an Episcopal priest and a synagogue president in the cool of the night was Alice Washington, a member of Hopewell. "We had good church on Sunday," she said, saying it had been some time since she remembered such a good service. "We've been trying to figure out who would do something like this to our church," she said. "Whoever done it, may God bless them."
This nightmare will end soon. Barring those leaning towards Secretary Clinton turning out in only mid-term proportions, Hillary Clinton will be elected president. The nuclear codes will be safe and the sort of apocalyptic "day after" depicted in the much hyped 1980's television movie will return to being only the haunting possibility that could arise from international hostilities.



America will awake on November 9, however, to a different sort of "day after". One in which the election results will painfully illustrate a Balkanized America, divided, and deeply so.



In establishing the PAC, Republicansforher2016.com, I was among the first of the "GOP establishment" to support Secretary Clinton and - despite the recently offered, politically expedient, narrative of President Obama and Senator Warren (no doubt aimed at trying to help Hillary have a more blue Congress) and echoed by progressive polemicists like Rachel Maddow (who seem to think a one party state would be preferable) - Secretary Clinton will become President because of GOP voters.



Unlike McCain and Romney, who both received 93% of GOP voters, Trump will have received something closer to 80%, perhaps less, as this week's "exit poll" of Florida early voters strongly suggests, and that difference will provide at least a substantial part of the Clinton margin of victory.



Fortunately, Hillary Clinton did not herself adopt the narrative of the GOP being the "party of Trump", having created "the monster" and owning forevermore all of his clinically disturbed rantings as the one and only GOP brand. Wisely, she consistently cited GOP support and sought more, hopefully because of an authentic commitment to national unity, but at least because she knew she needed more than her enthusiastic supporters to win and would need more than them to govern.



Nonetheless, on the day after, Secretary Clinton will have made governing as a unifier - what the country most desperately needs - harder, by two things about her campaign.



First, of course, the "deplorables" comment, which played directly into the worldview of Trump's base, and second, not breaking with President Obama on anything meaningful, except TPP, and therefore leaving many millions, certainly most Republicans, with the sour taste of a third term they don't want.



Most especially, she didn't acknowledge the plain fact that the world has gotten more dangerous on his watch, with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, all emboldened to pursue expansionist and revanchist goals, and the chance of war between major powers being the greatest in decades.



So, what can President-elect Clinton do, starting the day after.



On the global stage, she can declare bold action to reaffirm America's fidelity to the world order America created and defended since 1945, an order Trump didn't understand and threatened to abandon, but which he was not wrong to describe as having been already questioned and weakened by President Obama.



She should meaningfully and materially expand and expedite the presence of US forces, including heavy armored forces, in the Baltics, to contain the would-be "Vladamir the Great", as both Truman and Kennedy backed down the Soviets in Berlin, and as Reagan did over intermediate range nuclear missiles. This would take guts and entail risks, but would ultimately have enormously positive effects the world over.



At home, she should announce the creation of a "National Commission on Rural Development and Economic Adjustment Assistance" - since the voting map, at the county level, will unquestionably show her having won only America's urban islands, surrounded by a vast "Red Sea" in the rest of the nation's counties. She could ask former Bill Clinton and Mike Pence to co-chair it.



Trump's support is very largely rural. There are many sources of rural rage against "the establishment", some just and reasonable, some "deplorable," but deflating these sails, filled with rage, fear, and despair over the future of America, is the new president's most essential domestic task, and it requires new policies, outside the traditional ideological boxes of both parties.



Both parties now can agree on the need to seriously address the economic impacts on those who have been burdened far more than benefited from international trade. Both can come together on also addressing those dislocated by technology, by lower skill immigration and by the inequality of wealth generated, at least in part, by the Fed's ultra loose monetary policy.



Martin Luther King said "a genuine leader is not a seeker for consensus but a molder of consensus".



Starting the day after, President-elect Clinton can seek to form a government of national unity, a Lincolnesque "team of rivals."



Appoint John McCain Secretary of State -- despite his campaign season lapses of judgement. (Secretary Clinton understands those kind of "misstatements.") Appoint Michael Bloomberg Secretary of the Treasury. Appoint Bernie Sanders Secretary of HHS and Elizabeth Warren Secretary of Labor.



America will need that sort of Presidential leadership -- a molder of consensus, or at least compromise -- on the new day after. It needs President Hillary Clinton to make us stronger, at home and in the world. It needs her to make us feel more, much more, together, as a diverse people, but knitted into one people, by shared values and objectives.



It needs her to lead the way to being, in fact, "stronger together."
One of the most commonly inquired about etiquette dilemmas (and frustrating aspects of entertaining) is the RSVP. Especially this time of year, our inboxes and mail are flooded with invitations for an array of holiday parties.

I'm sharing my thoughts on some frequently asked RSVP questions.



Q: How long do I have to respond to an invitation?



A: After receiving an invite to an event, you should respond within the first 24-48 hours. There are a few reasons why. The first is a practical one. Think about yourself and your history of responding to gatherings. If you immediately reply to your host, it can be marked down on your calendar. If you wait too long, it's highly likely you'll forget about it.

Another reason for prompt communication is to express your interest in attending. If there's a hesitation or delay, it could signal you're weighing your options, and not very enthused about their event. A hasty reply is a simple way to show your friend or colleague that you value their time and feelings. If you have other plans or don't want to go, simply decline. Your host will understand and appreciate your swift response.



Q: Is it better to ask for "Regrets Only" on party invites?



A: Your odds of getting timely responses are not any higher when using the "Regrets Only"option. Stick with the traditional RSVP for the most accurate head count.

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Q: Should I list multiple RSVP options?

A: Depending on the formality of the event, some people may prefer to make a phone call while others will find it easier to decline by email. Someone on-the-go may appreciate sending a quick text. As a host, the more formal the occasion, the less options you should provide.

Q: What is the best way to handle invitees who have not replied?



A: We've all been there, and waiting for RSVPs can be incredibly frustrating. It's especially tricky when you have food to plan for and order, or other rental items such as chairs and tables.



It is entirely polite and acceptable to follow up with invitees via phone, email, or through the platform you're using to send e-vites. Preparing for the gathering is difficult without an accurate headcount, so it's your prerogative to get in touch, sooner than later.



Q: Is there anything I can do to encourage my guests to RSVP?



A: Give guests enough time to plan, but not so much time that they feel like they're unsure of future scheduling. The recommended window for most events is 3 to 6 weeks. However, the holidays require less lead time.

Additionally, do your best to paint a clear picture of the party for your guests. Be specific about time and descriptive about what level of food and drinks you'll provide (i.e. cocktails and appetizers, dinner, cider party), as well as offer a clear dress code. Think fun and appealing when creating your invite, selecting a style that draws people in and creates excitement.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton has the compassion to feel, the courage to act, and the wisdom to listen. She reminds me of Gloria, beloved wife of 47 years. Hold that thought, please.

"Grampa," said Kate, age seven, "Do you do EVERYTHING Gramma tells you to do?" I was putting away dishes at the time. Kate and her brother Jason, twelve, were dubiously considering their homework on the kitchen table. Gloria was stirring something Italian on the stove.

"That reminds me of a story," I said. Kate and Jason looked at each other, and put down their pencils.

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It was about 1979, and I was working as a professional scuba diver at Marine World Africa USA, in Redwood City, California. Every day I would swim down into the giant aquarium tanks, and scrub the walls and windows, among the sharks, dolphins, eels, seals and killer whales of this man-made sea.

And one day Gloria asked me to do her a favor:

"I want you to take one college course," she said, "Just one, and I don't care what it is, you decide."

That made no sense to me.

But Gloria would not let it go.

"I'll buy your books," she said, "I'll fill out the forms, stand in line-- all you have to do is show up for class."

It became clear there would be no peace in the house until I said yes.

When I finished that class, Gloria signed me up for another.

This went on for years, until finally Marine World was about to shut down. A giant corporation had bought the land beneath the aquarium-zoo, and told us we would have to leave. There followed a huge political battle, which we (the employees) won, gaining time for the park to relocate, rather than go out of business.

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And Gloria said:

"This is when you become a teacher."

I explained to her I had no interest in such a career change.

"Let me put it another way," said Gloria, "This is when you become a teacher-- or I divorce you." (She says now she was joking...)

And so, for the next decade and a half, I explained to eighth grade English students how language gave them power over their lives.

Today, America is about to elect our first woman President. Hillary Rodham Clinton is overwhelmingly qualified, having essentially trained for it her entire life.

But some of us cannot accept that idea. Part of the problem, perhaps, is plain old gender politics: sexism.

Did you notice Donald Trump's attitude, in the debates with Hillary? It was not the same as when he argued with the males. He gave them silly nicknames, of course, and did his best to dominate. But with her, he seemed to feel insulted, that he had to explain himself-- to a woman? He interrupted constantly, shouting and wagging his finger at her.

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And how did Hillary react? Sometimes she mocked him with a smile, or studied him like something mildly distasteful. When he was particularly rude or nonsensical, she might shake her head, or curl up one side of her mouth. She got her points across, never allowing him to shut her up. But when it was his turn, mainly she just let him talk .

What an important ability: to listen, and not lose your cool.

Abraham Lincoln was once called a "damned fool" by Edwin Stanton. When informed of this, our greatest President said:

"Stanton is a wise man, who speaks his mind and is nearly always right... If he says I am a damned fool, I very likely am. I had better step over and see him."

Hillary also can listen and not let her feathers be ruffled: whereby she will get the best from her friends, and the better of her enemies.

When Hillary began her campaign, it was with what TIME Magazine called a "listening tour". She went from place to place across the country, asking questions, while people told her the problems they faced.

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But Donald appears to have little interest in listening. Even his advisers (he is on his third set now) are those who will "let Trump be Trump". If he will not stop talking, how will he understand the sufferings of those he is charged to protect?

Maybe that is why Trump mocks the disabled, while Hillary embraces them.

I love language, the power of words, life squeezed down into print. And in the word women, there are the letters "w" and "e", we, the power of cooperation. When Hillary speaks, I feel a sense of "Let's work together, and get the job done".

She embodies the characteristics we need, in the office of the Presidency.

And then it came to me, how to explain to Kate and Jason, why Gloria makes most of our day-to-day decisions, and why that is okay. We respect each other, of course, and major choices are made jointly. I do have my own territory, a cozy little study where I am writing this today. But Gloria, the person who knew I would be a good teacher, and who manipulated the situation until I became one?

"On practical stuff," I said, "Grandma is the brains of the outfit. It would be crazy for her not to be in charge."

"Ah," said Kate.

And that was that.

Don C. Reed is the author of "STEM CELL BATTLES: Proposition 71 and Beyond: How Ordinary People Can Fight Back Against the Crushing Burden of Chronic Disease", available now from Amazon.com.
Sheriff Kyle L. Kirchmeier issued a press release two days ago saying, "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested the Morton County Sheriff's Department to assist them in removing any trespassers who enter Corps land to the north of the main camp area."

This action resulted in a journalist Erin Schrode being shot with a rubber bullet and knocked to the ground. She accidentally filmed herself being shot while she was interviewing a water protector on the far side of the Cantapeta Creek. Schrode was nowhere near the protectors, who were standing in freezing water to protest the assembly of riot police on sacred lands; lands currently under protection by the Department of Justice from any further desecration.

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In a moving statement on her Facebook page, Schrode describes the experience.

I was shot by militarized police WHILE interviewing a peaceful man at Standing Rock live on camera. I woke up this morning with the thought that I may have that very footage - and broke down in reliving the 40-second horror before my own eyes. Warning: it's very very difficult to watch and sent me into quivers and tears, even without the compounding historic trauma that Native Americans face.

The land is located east of ND Highway1806 and the Backwater Bridge at the confluence of the Cannonball River. The Sheriff wanted to stop access to sacred lands currently under Federal jurisdiction.

In addition to the journalist being shot, water protectors were sprayed with an unknown irritating white substance that turned their skin red and was extremely painful.

But did the USACE actually request help from Morton County?

In another one of Sheriff Kirchmeier's obfuscating manipulations of the spoken and written word, this is blatantly untrue. At the bottom of the press release, the truth struggles to the surface.

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In an incomplete quote the Sheriff's office says this: "A statement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave Morton County law enforcement 'permission to go onto USACE land to prevent further campsites from developing and threatening public safety."'

Asking permission from the USACE is quite different than "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested the Morton County Sheriff's Department to assist them in removing any trespassers who enter Corps land to the north of the main camp area."

Watch this video:

The violent actions of Morton County were obviously not sanctioned by the USACE.

These photos are worth a thousand words.



Rob Wilson Photography

This attack on peaceful protestors happened a day after President Obama said that the USACE was looking into alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline and that the Sioux Nation should "just see how things play out."
Gun shots rang out around 6pm in Kruger National Park in South Africa.

Knowing it came from poachers, the park rangers tried to follow the sound, but in an area about 19,485 square kilometers (7,523 sq. mi) and extends 360 kilometers (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometers (40 mi) from east to west, tracking was difficult. The Rangers thought they had located the sound, but after losing track, the rangers called on Air Shepherd to launch drones to try and spot the poachers.

Air Shepherd was created out of a partnership with UAV&Drone Solutions and the Lindbergh Foundation.

"Using our drone and night vision technology, we found them and gave the rangers the GPS locations and bearing where they were running," said Otto Werdmuller Von Elgg, director of UAV&Drone

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Solutions

The poachers were not caught, but did run away, which is at least one successful piece of saving the elephants and rhinos from extinction, which so far has been a losing battle.

However, continuing to fight the ongoing battle of saving the animals, Air Shepherd has partnered with African Parks in Malawi and the Zimbabwe government in Zimbabwe. South Africa, and the Minister of Transport, Ms. Dipuo Peters, adopted new rules for the regulation of the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems or drones to deter poaching of African elephants and rhinoceros.

World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) is funding anti-poaching operations in Malawi and Zimbabwe with a grant from Google.org to research, develop, and implement a suite of technologies to stop wildlife crime.

Utilizing state-of-the-art technology to save 10 million-year-old creature

The drones are "night vision" capable enabling them to see poachers in the dark. Drone operators scan images from the drones and immediately alert park rangers of poachers for a successful intercept. Air Shepherd deploys about 25 drones to fight the threat of poaching, using its highly sophisticated technology that has been leveraged to fight the good fight.

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They are battery operated and can fly for about five hours. They are outfitted with sensors to record the weather and terrain and send the information back to the command center to evaluate the information.

The control systems are designed for seeking out poachers and are tailored for that mission. Each drone is outfitted with a video feed and the ability to communicate with rangers on the ground. Using a sensing device and thermal imaging allows operations at night, makes it one of the most successful programs to combat poaching so far. The drone pilots are trained to work day or night. Once a site has been identified, a mobile command center is set up to control the drone and record information coming back.

Inside job

A big part of the problem, unfortunately, is rooted within local government that instead of protecting the wildlife, the threat is within government ranks itself. Just this past July 2016, as reported in Africa Geographic, a Kruger National Park ranger and a veterinary technician with the Government Department of Agriculture and Forestry, within the Animal Health Directorate, were arrested in Skukuza in the Kruger National Park, South Africa for rhino poaching related offenses.

This is not an isolated incident, as it is known worldwide that many poachers are inside government and paid by private and "big-money enterprises" to kill rhinos for their horns and elephants for their tusks.

Trying to fight poachers as well as government officials who are supposed to protect the wildlife, make the fight that more difficult. However, if by example, all poachers can be thwarted with state-of-the-art technology such as drones, it matters not who is out to destroy the wildlife of Africa.

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"Rangers own the daylight. But by night, it's a different story," said Werdmuller Von Elgg. Most of the poaching of big animals is a nighttime activity and in particular full moons. Poachers will track their prey and then attack when it is dark.



The farmers fight

Not only poachers can be a danger to the elephant populations in India and Africa. Drone technology has contributed to reducing Human Elephant Conflict (HEN.) Farming is an economic issue for farmers trying to protect their crops. Elephants looking for fresh fruit, especially in mango season, will stomp through farms, knocking down fences especially throughout Malawi and Zimbabwe. To deter the elephants from marching through a farmer's fence, Air Shepherd has deployed smaller drones that sound like bees, which the elephants don't like.

It's a harmonious solution for the farmer and the elephant, thereby avoiding the HEN.



Ultimate "Wake-up" call

We have been hearing about animal extinction for years, but it is dangerously close today.

At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), in Botswana, the UN body dedicated to fighting the global poaching crisis, revealed that poaching in Botswana has not changed. Cites estimated that in 2013 and 2014, more than 20,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory tusks.

The ghastly media images of the bloody corpses of rhinoceros left behind have outraged the international conservation community. Just in South Africa, about 6,000 rhinoceros have been killed in the past decade. Approximately 1,300 were killed in 2015, but it does not appear anything has been done to stem the numbers killed.

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Hundreds of Americorps volunteers, volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and eighth-graders at Hamilton Middle School work together to construct a new quarter-mile walking trail around the school. Hayden Rastall, 13, center, pulled his arms into his shirt to keep warm and jumps up and down on the newly laid path to help tamp it down. While building the track, students and volunteers planted trees and flowers to improve the landscapes of Hamilton and neighboring Holm Elementary. Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post (Photo By Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

In the final days before the election, young voters should consider who is on their side.

Throughout this fall, I've spent many afternoons and evenings campaigning for Hillary Clinton on college campuses in swing states across the country. At each rally, the students present made clear their interest -- and love -- for public service. This passion is visible in the 40-year high of Peace Corps applications and Americorps receiving five times more applications than it has positions to fill.

At the same time, students have voiced their worries of finding a full-time, well-paying, and satisfying job upon graduation. And indeed, while overall unemployment numbers across the country has fallen to its lowest since the Great Recession, youth unemployment remains stubbornly high -- at 11.5 percent.

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Which is why I was proud to see Hillary Clinton roll out a plan earlier this fall to expand national service opportunities for young Americans. Hillary gets it. Her bold, new plan will more than triple the number of Americorps members and double the college scholarship funding each member receives. She's also set a goal of ensuring that 10 percent of Americorps positions are filled by people over the age of 55 because the opportunity to serve one's community shouldn't be limited by one's age. And she is committed to growing the Peace Corps and creating a new National Service Reserve.

During my campaign for president, I too saw this demand for national service opportunities and in turn introduced a platform on the issue. This is an idea upon which our country can invest in young Americans to not only foster their spirit of public service, but also provide them the opportunities to gain the skills and experience necessary to succeed in the workforce.

Contrast Hillary's plan with Donald Trump's. The closest resemblance he has of a job creation plan is to employ a massive deportation force.

Young Americans are the future of our country. By laying out this national service plan, Hillary makes it clear that she values the contributions of our young people and will fight for them as our president.
Union Government imposes anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China

Published: November 3, 2016

The Union Government has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap in-bound shipments.

In this regard, the Department of Revenue (DoR) has issued a notification mentioning that dumping duty has been imposed for six months.

What is the case?

The protectionist measures against cheap Chinese imports were taken based on the recommendation of Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).

DGAD in its investigation had found that steel wire rods were being exported by China below normal value and the domestic industry suffered material injury because of such cheap imports.

What are applications of steel wire rods?

Wire rod of alloy or non-alloy steel finds applications in many sectors such as automotive components, fasteners, welding electrodes, binding wires for construction industry and armoured cables.

What is anti-dumping duty?

Anti-dumping duty is an import duty imposed by government on imported products which have prices less than their normal values or domestic price. Thus, it is protectionist and counter import measure used by a country under the multilateral World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime to protect its domestic producers and market from below-cost/cheap imports. It varies from product to product and from country to country. In India, anti-dumping duty to be levied is recommended by the Union Ministry of Commerce (i.e. by DGAD), while the Union Finance Ministry imposes it. So far, India has initiated maximum anti-dumping cases against below-cost imports from China.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016

Topics: Anti Dumping  Business  Economy  India China  National  Trade

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When the polls opened early in DC, I already knew who I was voting for: Hillary Clinton.

I am not with her because she's the next best alternative. I'm with her because I believe in her ability to make substantive policy change in the White House. I live and breathe at the intersections of who I am every single day. And I am proud to stand behind Hillary Clinton as the next president of our country because I believe she will fight for the things I care about.

As a gay man, I would be lying if I said that the hateful speech and actions of some didn't get to me at times. I try to live my most authentic life, and that includes being proud of every part of my identity and encouraging others to do the same. I'm with her because Hillary has spent her life and career fighting for all of our equality. From standing up for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community rights in the workplace to fighting for equal pay for equal work, she has long stood up for marginalized communities.

As a Filipino American and the son of an immigrant, I applaud the inclusion of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and other immigrant voices throughout her tenure in public service and her campaign. Her dedication to the diverse voices and peoples she embraces makes me proud to rally behind her. Under a Clinton administration we can expect to see more people of color, women, LGBTQ folks and others who look like us and share our experiences at the decision making tables. And that means we will be able to develop policies that are functional and equitable on important issues like immigration, education, equal pay and so much more.

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As a person of color, I have dedicated my career to ending racial injustice. This issue has divided our country for way too long--especially in the last few years. Each time I proudly wear my "Black Lives Matter" button, I hope to remind others that too many of our institutions still systematically, systemically and disproportionately fail communities of color. I am looking forward to working with the new Clinton Administration to address the root causes of the racial inequality and economic injustice that are embedded at the core of many issues in our society. And I'm excited to hold her administration accountable for the actions that deeply impact our communities the most.

As an organizer, I admire Hillary Clinton's work ethic. She is a policy wonk: a geek. She tirelessly does the hard work and does not know how to stop until the job is through. Her thirty years of public service and commitment to working families are unparalleled. Hillary embodies the mantra that I live by: "Can't stop, won't stop." Because as long as there is injustice, real organizers will never stop fighting for it.

As a progressive, I don't agree with her stance on every issue or each decision she has made in the past. But Hillary is pragmatic. She has a proven record of reaching across the aisle to get things done. Through this election cycle, including the primary, she has shown a willingness to listen to those who disagree with her and work with people of all political stripes to ensure that we move forward with a progressive agenda.

As a citizen and eligible voter, I vote each election because it's my right and civic duty. This election, my vote for Hillary represents a promise to my friends and family who do not have the privilege to vote that I'll continue to stand and fight for the communities, the identities, and the people in the country I call home.

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Young people, women, people of color and the LGBTQ community lead the charge in electing the first Black president and hopefully making HERstory with our first women president. Together we made phone calls, knocked on doors, sent text messages, put up signs, donated and found other ways to engage voters and share our stories. But it can't stop and must not stop there. Even though we may all be ready for the end of the election cycle, we must continue to organize, build and assert our collective power. This will only be the beginning of our work to ensure the issues we care about are at the forefront of a Clinton Administration.
In the words of the lesbian poet and scholar Judy Grahn, Halloween is the great gay holiday.

And this weekend of lavish costumed theatricality will attract everyone, but especially lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer revelers.

Back in the day, Halloween, -- the night before All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) -- was linked to the ancient Celtic festival Samhain in the British Isles, meaning "summer's end." And because the celebration is associated with mystery, magic, superstition, witches, and ghosts, the festivity was limited in colonial New England because of its Puritanical belief system.

But today it's an LGBT extravaganza that rivals -- if not out-showcases -- Pride festivals.

Long before June officially became LGBT Pride Month, and October became LGBT History Month and included National Coming Out Day, Halloween was unofficially our yearly celebrated "holiday," dating as far back at the 1970s when it was a massive annual street party in San Francisco's Castro district.

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By the 1980s, gay enclaves like Key West, West Hollywood, and Greenwich Village were holding Halloween street parties. And the Halloween parades still attract tens of thousands of straight and gay spectators.

Gay cultural influence on Halloween has become such an unstoppable phenomenon here and abroad that anthropologist Jerry Kugelmass of the University of Florida published a book in 1994 on the new trend, titled Masked Culture, describing Halloween as an emerging gay "high holiday."

"The 'masked culture' first developed by the gays of San Francisco has reached across the lines of orientation -- and now jumped across the boundaries between nations and languages. It's not just a party. It's an ideal of personal emancipation, self-expression and self-fulfillment -- an ideal that loses none of its power when it takes the form of a sexy nurse's outfit," CNN contributor David Frum wrote last year in Halloween craze started in gay culture.

Nicholas Rogers, author of Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, points out that while Halloween is enjoyed by everyone, "it has been the Gay community that has most flamboyantly exploited Halloween's potential as a transgressive festival, as one that operates outside or on the margins of orthodox time, space, and hierarchy. Indeed, it is the Gay community that has been arguably most responsible for Halloween's adult rejuvenation."

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Halloween allows many LGBT Americans at least one night annually of safely being out and "unmasked," free to wear drag or play around with gender. The community revels the entire night like there is no tomorrow, and for many there isn't. Like its pagan roots, Halloween provided an outlet for us cross-dressing and LGBTQ outsiders who are ostracized by mainstream society.

As Halloween flourished as a gay cultural phenomenon, so too flourished a backlash by the fundamentalist Christians with their Hell Houses. And these Christians targeted our children. (Believing Hell Houses are no longer up and running in 2016, I'll speak of them in the past tense.)

Hell Houses were a contemporary form of both antigay bullying and witch-hunting. Created in the late 1970s by the late fundamentalist minister Jerry Falwell, Hell Houses were religious alternatives to traditional haunted houses. They were tours given by evangelical churches across the country designed to scare and bully people away from myriad sins. And one of those sins is homosexuality.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force put out a 2006 report titled Homophobia at 'Hell House': Literally Demonizing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, explaining how Hell Houses specifically targeted youth.

"Instead of spooking youth with ghosts and monsters, Hell House tour guides direct them through rooms where violent scenes of damnation for a variety of 'sins' are performed, including scenes where a teenage lesbian is brought to hell after committing suicide and a gay man dying of AIDS is taunted by a demon who screams that the man will be separated from God forever in hell," the NGLTF stated.

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A study published in The Journal of Psychology stated that a strong belief in Satan is directly related to intolerance of LGBT people. Religious leaders who supported Hell Houses believed that by scaring LGBT youth into heterosexual behavior, they were saving their souls. Their attempt to turn our most cherished holiday against us failed -- even though they're still trying -- and Halloween remains our second Pride.

Our influence on culture is being acknowledged and celebrated more as we come out. As Kwanzaa is a black holiday, and St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday, maybe someday soon Halloween will be officially acknowledged as a gay holiday.
At the recent National Citizen Leadership Conference in Washington DC, Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner brought down the house with her call for "citizen leaders of the 21st Century" to step up now and win the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution.

The 28th Amendment will overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which fabricated new "rights" for corporations, special interests and the super-wealthy to spend unlimited money to elect or defeat candidates.

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The newly-launched American Promise hosted the National Citizen Leadership Conference, which brought together hundreds of Americans from 40 states, members of Congress from both major parties, and 60 speakers of many backgrounds and viewpoints to connect, share, learn and strategize for winning the 28th Amendment to secure government of the people -- not of the money.

After the conference, Citizen Leaders returned to their communities across the country with renewed energy and commitment. They're starting up local American Promise Associations, educating and empowering their neighbors, using new tools for getting the word out, gathering petitions and mobilizing.

As Senator Turner described in her speech to the National Citizen Leadership Conference, American progress has been made because Citizen Leaders, ordinary Americans -- doing extraordinary things -- made it happen. And now the 28th Amendment is necessary if we are to stop concentrated money and global corporations from taking over our democracy.

Next week, voters in California and Washington State will consider 28th Amendment ballot measures. Both Yes on 59! in California and Yes on I-735 will help drive the campaign forward and pressure Congress to act.

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Senator Turner and I were just in Seattle to support the Yes on I-735 campaign, and once again found what the pundits and mainstream media have been missing: Americans everywhere are ready for big solutions to our big problems.

We're well on our way: polls and ballot measures show 80+ percent support among all Americans, more than 700 cities and towns, as well as 17 states, have passed resolutions calling for the 28th Amendment, which has helped drive support in Congress with over 200 co-sponsors of bills to pass the 28th Amendment.
Comey missed the Watergate standard of "heroism"--by far.

But he can still fix this.

Back in July, it came as a relief to many supporters of Hillary Clinton when FBI Director James Comey exonerated Clinton for any mishandling of her emails.

This writer had a different view, observing at the outset that Comey's own statements (tying together his July 5th press conference and his Congressional hearing two days later) confirmed that Secretary Clinton had violated neither any hard law, nor even softer policy rules, concerning the handling of emails -- this because (i) no classified email ever crossed her private server; (ii) FBI forensics showed no hacking of her private server--a server which was no less secure than the official State Department server; and (iii) Clinton routinely used a separate, encrypted and secure State Department server for genuinely classified and sensitive documents.

Given all of the above, a reasonable reader of that column may have wondered how Comey could possibly have concluded that Secretary Clinton and her colleagues were "extremely careless" in their handling of certain sensitive information.

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This writer has a theory about what Comey was up to. The notion that Hillary Clinton would be indicted based on what the FBI found in her handling of emails was always preposterous. But given this uber-partisan year, the posturing of vicious attack dogs in Congress, and the unfortunate tarmac incident in Phoenix, Comey felt he had to leaven his non-indictment decision with a tongue-lashing of Hillary Clinton and her colleagues. In so doing, he overplayed his handand, in overreaching, he also got many of his facts wrong. ... In the end, there was a political angle to Comey's behavior after all, but his tongue-lashing had a perhaps unexpected, and decidedly unhappy, effect. It opened the floodgates of mock hand-wringing, conspiracy theories, and faux mistrust, all directed by Congressional Republicans against one of their own and against that most honorable of non-partisan institutions which he leads.

Fast forward to today. It is no surprise that the politically-biased hand Comey played back in the summer came back to haunt him -- and all of us -- in late October. Only now, the stakes are so much higher.

Pilloried by Donald Trump and many Congressional Republicans for his "not prosecute" decision that was completely reasonable to anyone with a law degree, Comey seems now to have instinctively jumped at the chance to demonstrate his GOP bona fides, and to save himself from very unpleasant hearings (or worse) were he to have held back his empty revelation until after November 8, as Justice Department policy rules required.

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Trump reacts to all this by calling the Clinton email issue "worse than Watergate," and labels Comey a hero. Exactly the opposite is true. Compare Comey's actions with those of Republican Justice Department officials in the Watergate era who resigned their positions, rather than bow to Presidential pressure or violate the law. Those people were heroes, because they acted heroically.

Public servants like James Comey are sworn to uphold the law. Indeed, public service is a privilege, in return for which the office-holder accepts the risk of criticism for following the rules, no matter what that criticism may be. Yet, rather than face the post-election censure that may have accompanied his following of Justice Department rules and guidelines, Comey took the easy way out.

There is a simple word for his behavior: cowardice.

Much of the damage caused by Comey's Friday letter has already been done, but some of it can be repaired. Even if he cannot release clear information about the new emails, Comey can articulate three things about the vague letter he sent last Friday. Immediately he should:

(1) State whether it is possible to characterize those emails, with specificity--and the extent to which they relate, if at all, to the FBI's earlier investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails;

(2) If still unable to accurately describe those emails, state plainly that the FBI does not have enough information about their content to know whether they are, in fact, pertinent to the earlier investigation; and

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(3) Make a "juror-like" instruction to the American people that no one should presume anything about these new emails--and in particular, that they should not be seen as remotely incriminating of Hillary Clinton, or anyone else.

In the words of my old law school professor (of legal ethics!) Alan Dershowitz, Comey should say:

I felt obligated to tell Congress about this development, but because we are not yet aware of the content of the emails, it would be unfair for any candidate or voter to infer from my letter that there is anything in them relevant to the election. This is especially the case since it is unlikely that our investigation will be completed before the election.

Better yet, he should apologize for the letter he wrote, and for its timing.

If Comey doesn't do these things, then fictions, lies and innuendos will likely carry the day, and American democracy will be diminished due to the handling of this matter. The integrity of the FBI will be tarnished for a long time to come. The Republican Party will be further devalued. And Hillary Clinton, who deserves none of this, will have to spend precious time overcoming patent falsehoods.

As we approach Election Day, Hillary Clinton has better things to talk about. The fate of our country hangs in the balance.

Also see this column at The Hill: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/304139-comey-was-wrong-in-july-and-hes-wrong-now
Donald Trump's comments about nuclear weapons create unease in the majority of Americans. He suggested Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons, disregarding decades of bipartisan work to stop nuclear proliferation. He questioned why we make nukes if we can't use them. He refused to rule out a nuclear weapon strike against Europe.

But perhaps even more frightening than Trump's rhetoric is that our nuclear system is designed to give a President Trump launch authority over thousands of nuclear weapons. As Hillary Clinton explained in the last debate, "when the president gives the order [to launch nuclear weapons], it must be followed. There is about four minutes between the order being given and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so." Four minutes is an absurdly short amount of time for one person to jumpstart the end of human civilization. Once those weapons are fired, they cannot be recalled.



If there's a silver lining to Trump's candidacy, is that he's drawn unprecedented public attention to how easy it is for the president to launch nuclear weapons. As we head to the polls next week, voters should keep that top of mind. We must keep the quick-tempered, easily baited, and ill-informed bully that is Donald Trump away from the nuclear red button. That is our first and most urgent hurdle.

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Our second (and long-haul) hurdle: eliminate the button itself. The risk of nuclear weapon use is higher today than it was during the Cold War, according to former Secretary of Defense William Perry. The ease with which a president can press the proverbial red button and unleash nuclear devastation is unnecessary and undemocratic. No individual should ever have that power. We need our next president to take steps to drastically reduce the risk of nuclear use and eliminate the red button altogether.

Hillary Clinton is best positioned to take on the red button and has a track record that suggests she's up for the challenge. She helped initiate the negotiations that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, blocking each pathway Iran had to developing a nuclear weapon. She also worked to ensure New START -- the next step in US-Russia bilateral reductions, limiting each side to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each -- made it through Congress.

Clinton understands the nuclear risks of a Trump presidency and the dangers of our current nuclear system. Here's how she can deactivate the red button:

Adopt a nuclear no-first-use policy. Adopting a no-first-use policy -- stating the U.S. would never again be the first to use nuclear weapons -- would be the first fundamental change to U.S. nuclear strategy in 50 years. It would immediately reduce the risk that nuclear weapons would be used by taking the option off the table in a conventional conflict, reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security policy, and lay the foundation for a global nuclear no-first-use norm.

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Eliminate launch on warning and take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. The practice of launch on warning maintains the U.S. fire nuclear missiles upon notice of an incoming attack in attempt to use them before they are destroyed. It's an outdated Cold War posture that puts the U.S. at risk of nuclear weapon use due to false alarm, miscalculation, or madness. The risks of launch on warning today outweigh any perceived value, and it's time we eliminate it.

Eliminate first-strike nuclear weapons, specifically intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). First-strike nuclear weapons are destabilizing and unnecessary for a credible nuclear deterrent. Not only would eliminating ICBMs bring more strategic stability, it would save the U.S. $120 billion over 15 years. That's money we can use to build up our infrastructure, invest in education, or strengthen our cyber defenses.

Our nuclear launch system is unjust and undemocratic, marred by far-too-short decision time and accident-prone postures. By maintaining the status quo, we risk nuclear use whether by miscalculation, accident, or madness. It's not a question of if it will happen, it's when. We will forever be under the threat of nuclear disaster until we eliminate all nuclear weapons, everywhere.

But until then, it is up to us to demand our next president take real steps to drastically reduce the risk of nuclear weapon use and dismantle the "red button" system. Each of the actions put forward above reduces the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security, ensuring no one will ever have the ability to kill hundreds of thousands of people within minutes.

The American public is more awake to nuclear dangers than they have been in decades. After November 8, once we've (fingers crossed) cleared the first hurdle of keeping Donald Trump away from the red button, we must turn to the second. It's up to us to make sure these dangers don't become a footnote to a divisive election, and to mobilize to ensure Clinton works to eliminate the button once and for all.
It felt like a breath of fresh air and an injection of hope to hear President Obama's remarks in Miami, FL yesterday when he was on the campaign trail for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

No one is a better campaigner or speaker than our current president (unless you include his wife, Michelle.) Listening to him was a welcome contrast to the bluster and nastiness of the Republican nominee.

President Obama's style is so smooth that he delivered biting indictments that mocked the GOP candidate without ever sounding mean or vile. He brought up real things that this man whom he calls unfit for office actually has said that have been divisive and hateful. The President said that this is not "Survivor" or "The Bachelorette" but it's reality, not reality TV. He should know because he has honorably occupied the oval office for the last eight years.

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The POTUS also touted his economic accomplishments of rising wages, lower poverty rates, 20 million more on health care, 15 million new jobs, lower gas prices, energy independence, climate change initiatives and pacts, same-sex marriage and his foreign policy of getting bin Laden and having ISIS on the run.

He also sang the praises of his former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he has called the most qualified candidate to ever run for office. He observed that as a woman she does not always get the credit she deserves. He said she has made him a better president.

But the most impact this speech had on me was when he spoke about the GOP congress and how they purposely blocked almost everything he attempted to do for the country for the last eight years. He said he even introduced Republican plans but they said no because they came from him. Then he said, "Come on!"

He said even after the GOP got control of congress in 2014, they still couldn't pass their own bills. He said the gridlock in congress is not coming from both parties. It's coming from one: the party of no. I said "Hallelujah! Preach it, brother."

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I think what made this so inspiring to hear is that he spoke TRUTH, something sorely lacking from the GOP presidential candidate who lies 70% of the time.

President Obama also repeated a famous slogan of his 2008 campaign saying: "It is not Yes, I can. It is Yes, WE Can" referring to the Republican nominee's mantra of "I alone can fix it."
After the City of Beverly Hills issued a press release announcing a tentative development agreement between the City and the Wanda Group for its One Beverly Hills project which would provide revenue to the City of $820 million over 30 years, the Beverly Hills Courier hastily sent out an e-blast. The City's press release is solely about One Beverly Hills, but the Courier somehow decided it would bring the Hilton into the mix.

Now, the Courier's coverage of the Hilton Condominium Tower Initiative, Measure HH, has been anything but objective. In fact, it seems like the "HH," at least in reference to the Courier's coverage, stands for "Hysterically Hysterical," with the fact-challenged e-blast article serving as a perfect example. As if wanting to one-up the City's tentative agreement with One Beverly Hills, Courier reporter Victoria Talbot wrote: "By comparison, the Hilton will bring in $1 billion over 30 years." One would have to speculate whether the origin of this incorrect statement comes from a TED talk or, perhaps, Austin Powers, because not even the Hilton press wags are making such inflated and outrageous claims.

In a recent piece from its never-ending stream of propaganda, the Hilton's paid legion of spinmeisters do, however, brag, "Measure HH Generates $125 Million for Vital City Services - Without Costing Taxpayers One Cent." The glossy ad then goes on to proclaim that the amount is "$33 million more than the amount generated by the existing plan that will otherwise be built according to an independent report done by the city."

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It should be noted that the time frame for these purported benefits is over 30 years (whereas the Hilton is likely to burn through $8 million to $10 million on campaign propaganda in a matter of mere months) and the additional funds for the City result from a trickle-down effect from the greatly enhanced value of the condos, not from any additional benefits the Hilton is offering.

But $125 million, even over 30 years, sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn't it?

Here's the thing: it's not a good deal for the City. It's a ridiculously bad deal for the City, but an amazing deal for the developer who can avoid paying the City a fair share of the upside which would be created by the 375-foot skyscraper, which is absolutely unprecedented in our City (it is more than double the height of the current tallest building in town).

And since the Hilton's white-label version of Pravda decided to try to compare the revenue generated by Measure HH with the One Beverly Hills project, we can follow suit. All we need to do is to look at actual terms of the recently announced tentative development agreement the City negotiated for the adjacent One Beverly Hills project (full disclosure: the agreement was negotiated by a City ad hoc consisting of myself and Councilmember and former Mayor Lili Bosse, aided by the law firm of Greenberg Glusker). The project, including the development agreement, is now going to the full Council, where we will still have to make a set of findings.

As yesterday's article in the LA Times suggests, the terms of the deal with One Beverly Hills are "unprecedented." In a good way. For the City. The 30 year public benefit of the deal we negotiated is estimated at $820 million, up from $260 million, which is what the current project on the location is projected to generate.

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The figures pretty much speak for themselves and the math is pretty simple: it's more than additional half-billion dollars for the City to be able to provide services and, hopefully, to improve the residential quality of life.

Compare the additional $560 million the re-negotiated One Beverly Hills development agreement provides with the additional $33 million the Hilton is blustering about.

Compare the $10.2 million upfront payment the Hilton is paying the City for its project with the $60 million (up from $30 million) we negotiated for the City with the One Beverly Hills project.

Also compare the methods by which the two developers are attempting to get their projects passed. The One Beverly Hills project has done things by the book. They provided a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR), examining the implications of their project, which is over 2000 pages -- more voluminous than the original full EIR. The process involved with their project includes numerous public hearings with the opportunity for the public to comment and give input (something, in a seeming attempt to suppress potential competition, the Hilton is hypocritically taking advantage of with its cadre of paid lawyers and paid consultants raising objections to various aspects of the One Beverly Hills project).

There is no EIR or SEIR for the Hilton's skyscraper. There aren't and won't be any public hearings or opportunities for public input for the Hilton's skyscraper. There won't be the ability for city planners or the Planning Commission to improve the project. And there won't be a chance for the City Council to negotiate a deal which allows the City to get a fair share of the developer's upside. The Hilton consciously short-circuited and circumvented our process. To sum it up, while One Beverly Hills is doing things in a kosher fashion, what the Hilton is doing is distinctly treyf.

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If the Hilton hadn't circumvented our standard development process by using what the California Supreme Court calls "a loophole," we would be in a position to re-negotiate the Hilton's development agreement. We were able to increase the City's public benefit for the One Beverly Hills project by over half a billion dollars. Who knows just how much public money we would be leaving on the table by allowing the Hilton to build its 375-foot skyscraper without playing by our rules?

Of course, beyond the ability to stiff the City, the initiative loophole allows the Hilton developer to avoid the full review process and the public scrutiny which exists to protect our residents and to protect the Community as a whole. The loophole allows the Hilton to reduce its graywater use, meaning they would be increasing the use of potable water and making the project less environmentally friendly. Yes, they would be using more water at a time when the rest of us are being asked to cut back. The loophole also allows the Hilton to avoid discretionary architectural review

These are just a few reasons we should never support a developer's attempt to circumvent our development process, the same process we all have to go through when we want to build or remodel in Beverly Hills.

It may feel like we are powerless to do anything against the millions and millions of dollars the Hilton has been spending in their machine-like efforts to mislead the residents. It may feel like we are powerless to resist the continual barrage of glossy propaganda which has been clogging our post boxes for months. It may feel like we are powerless to stop the xenophobia and dog-whistle racism which has surfaced in some of the pro-skyscraper materials. It may feel like we are powerless to stop the unbridled greed which is driving all of this.

But if you live in Beverly Hills and are a registered voter, you can do something. You can protect the integrity of our system. You can force developers to play by our rules. You can make the false, slanderous and self-interested statements of local rags and millions upon millions of dollars of misleading propaganda irrelevant. And you can stop developers from stiffing the City out of perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.

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You can send a message. You can refuse to allow your intelligence to be insulted. You can say no to letting moneyed interests turn you into a sucker. You do have a choice.
Both former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski have spoken about middle of the night phone calls they received in response to purported incoming nuclear strikes. Though the alerts were quickly determined to be false alarms, what if they had happened during a time of crisis, like the Cuban Missile Crisis or Russia's invasion of Crimea? What if the President was forced to make a decision before the full situation could be assessed?

Imagine having minutes - perhaps as few as six by the time the issue is brought to the President's attention - to determine the fate of every living person on the planet. Military infrastructure is reporting that intercontinental ballistic missiles with trajectories directed at the United States have been launched. A nuclear strike seems imminent. Your advisers recommend a full-scale retaliatory attack immediately - before you are hit. What do you do? Give the go-ahead order even though it could be a false alarm? You know false alarms have happened before, but the clock is ticking. The world hangs in the balance and it is your move.

This may sound like a philosophical thought experiment, but under current policy, this scenario could happen to the President of the United States at any moment. In fact, there are approximately 450 silo-based nuclear weapons in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado that remain on high-alert status, a Cold-War relic that allows the President to fire nuclear weapons, each at least 20 times more powerful than Hiroshima, within minutes of a warning. Because the existing system mandates that these weapons are "launched-on-warning," the military chain of command has less than 30 minutes to assess a nuclear threat, brief the president for a decision, and if the order is given, launch the weapons in response to a pending nuclear attack.

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With a recorded history of false alarms and other mishaps, keeping our nuclear missiles on high-alert only serves to increase the risk of nuclear accident, miscalculation, or exchange. Removing this "launch-on-warning" status would remove one of the most dangerous remnants of a Cold War nuclear posture - without harming our deterrent whatsoever.

Our formidable nuclear deterrent is comprised of three separate legs, together known as the "nuclear triad." We have nuclear missiles beneath the ground in silos and onboard submarines roaming undetected beneath the oceans. We also maintain air-launched cruise missiles, and nuclear gravity bombs that can be delivered via stealthy aircraft.

Proponents of "launch-on-warning" proffer old shop-worn arguments based on far-fetched scenarios. They argue that on-alert land-based missiles are necessary because, without them, there would be fewer targets for a nuclear-capable opponent. Therefore, they posit, a reduced number of targets might tempt a nuclear power in a crisis to surprise attack our bombers and non-deployed submarines, betting that whatever command authority remains in the U.S. would not retaliate with the remaining weapons, particularly nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles on deployed submarines (whose whereabouts would be unknown to any adversary).

Such a specious assertion remains as implausible today as it was during the Cold War. It is a certainty that any adversary that attacked the United States would face devastating retaliation, both with nuclear weapons and our superior conventional forces, therefore deterring an attack in the first place. Even if siloed ICBMs were eliminated, the United States would retain a formidable deterrent with bombers and submarines containing many hundreds of strategic weapons capable of destroying any adversary.

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Ending a "launch-on-warning" policy, even if ICBMs were not eliminated, or were only partially eliminated, would add stability and set the appropriate example for the rest of the world at a time when we should be leading the way on a path toward more nuclear safety and eventual elimination.

Additionally, with a nuclear overhaul and maintenance plan set to cost $1 trillion over 30 years, the U.S. should not simply overhaul every existing nuclear missile and warhead already in place. Instead, it should be strategic in refurbishing only those components absolutely necessary for a safe and effective deterrent. Otherwise, such an expensive plan will come at the expense of our conventional forces (which remain the bulwark of our security) and our nation's economic viability (which the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledge is essential to our national security).

As Professor Dan Wirls (a Council for a Livable World Board Member) notes, the U.S. is heading down an immensely expensive and dangerous path of nuclear excess, mostly just because. Because nuclear policy is on autopilot. Because it has had a nuclear triad for more than half a century. Because all the forces with a material interest in its perpetuation are paying attention. Because nearly everyone else is not.

Without "launch-on-warning," and even without the ICBM leg of the triad, future presidents could be fully confident, with the world's most potent and secure submarine and bomber fleets, that no adversary would contemplate nuclear brinksmanship.

Given the particularly impoverished debates about national security during the presidential campaign, this kind of proposal is essential for the American public to consider, and it has been endorsed by, among others, former Secretary of Defense William Perry.

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Co-authored by Kelly Sampson

"The guys with the guns make the rules." - Wayne LaPierre

"The ballot is stronger than the bullet." - Abraham Lincoln

Much has been written about Election 2016's unprecedented aspects, but one menacing storyline that has emerged is the tension between "gun rights" and voting rights. Voting officials reportedly fear a clash between gun-wielding poll-watchers and voters on November 8th, or that some voters could actually stay away from the polls because of that danger. Although the right to vote is sacrosanct, the potential interplay between voting rights and gun rights will test the country's commitment to fostering democracy.

Take Ohio, which is an open-carry state, for example. The Boston Globe quoted one Ohioan describing his poll-watching operandi: "'I'll look for... well, it's called racial profiling. Mexicans. Syrians. People who can't speak American, I'm going to go right up behind them. I'll do everything legally. I want to see if they are accountable. I'm not going to do anything illegal. I'm going to make them a little bit nervous." While the man did not specify how, exactly, he intended to make fellow citizens "a little bit nervous," Ohio law gives him one ominous option.

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Ohio's open-carry law allows citizens to openly carry loaded firearms in public, with certain exceptions. Some of these exceptions apply to locations, such as courthouses and schools, which often double as polling places. But there is no exception for polling places themselves, which means it's possible that someone could openly carry a firearm to a voting site. Then there's the enforcement problem: over-worked poll workers focused on their primary duty of helping people vote have little time, or training, to deal with gun-wielding intruders. If voters get "nervous" when confronted by someone holding strongly expressed opposing views -- and a gun -- it is unclear what redress, if any, voters have.

Militias and anti-government groups have also vowed to make their presence noted on Election Day. There is a grave risk that they could influence the election through shows of force.

After all, gun rights advocates have long claimed that the Second Amendment provides some right to rebellion, to use guns for political ends. But does the Second Amendment effectively supersedes all other rights?

No. In reality, the Second Amendment is much narrower than rhetoric suggests. Even after the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment provides some right to firearms in District of Columbia v. Heller, Justice Scalia noted that, "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited," and recognized "that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."

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More broadly, as we explain in a forthcoming law review article, "The Right Not To Be Shot: Public Safety, Private Guns, and the Constellation of Constitutional Liberties", no Constitutional right can be allowed to run roughshod on public safety or other fundamental rights, and the Second Amendment, similarly, cannot infringe on other rights. The right to keep and bear arms certainly cannot be allowed to infringe on the right to vote. As President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, the "right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies." That's why federal law makes it unlawful for anyone to "intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose . . . ." 52 U.S.C.S.  10101.
With homelessness rising across Los Angeles, residents want to help but often feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. Prop HHH on the November ballot offers a critical piece of the solution.

The proposition -- "Housing and Hope to End Homelessness" -- would allow the city to finance 10,000 units of Permanent Supportive Housing needed to house all the city's chronically homeless residents, including women and children, veterans, seniors, foster youth, and individuals with disabilities.

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Permanent supportive housing has an extraordinary record. Focused on helping individuals who cycle in and out of a variety of crisis services -- including shelters, hospital emergency rooms, prisons and psychiatric centers -- permanent supportive housing is a proven, cost-effective solution to chronic homelessness. It builds safe housing with on-site supportive services -- like mental health and substance abuse counseling -- that break the cycle of homelessness.

Studies have shown that this strategy not only reduces homelessness, but it increases the health of the participants and decreases costs for publicly-funded services. Local success rates exceed 90 percent. Crucially, housing homeless men, women and children is 43 percent less expensive than abandoning them on the street -- and infinitely more humane.

Proposition HHH is the most significant effort ever undertaken to end chronic homelessness in Los Angeles. It would raise $1.2 billion dollars to finance the construction of permanent supportive housing over the next 10 years, and could expect to leverage three times its value from other sources of funds. Indeed, this proposal is built on the progress already made by a broad coalition including the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and more than 200 organizations.

Housing homeless men, women and children is 43 percent less expensive than abandoning them on the street -- and infinitely more humane.

Proposition HHH would triple the pace at which Los Angeles currently builds housing. In addition to permanent supportive housing, Prop. HHH provides funding to construct facilities that provide emergency relief for those experiencing homelessness and affordable housing for those at risk of becoming homeless. It will provide for new temporary shelters, storage and shower facilities.

Repaying the bond would add approximately $33 per year to the average Los Angeles property tax bill, or $9.64 per $100,000 assessed value. So, yes, there is a modest cost to the proposal -- but the return on taxpayer investment would be tremendous. This would dramatically reduce homelessness, address city public health and safety concerns, stabilize individuals, and increase badly needed affordable housing.
Making sense (and, sometimes, nonsense) out of Current News, Issues, Politics
Written with A. Crosser

Journalists have had a field day throughout the course of 2016. With the legendary election happening in the United States, Britain leaving the European Union, and the general celebrity news which floods our magazines and newspapers, it's no surprise many of us didn't hear about trailblazer Trudy Dickinson's recent passing or any of the numerous strides women made in STEM fields this year.

When you browse Facebook, do your networks post news articles about women pioneering new innovations and companies? Do you see many segments about successful women in Science, Tech, Engineering and Math on your mainstream media channels? It's not that women aren't making major waves in STEM fields, the problem is a lack of air coverage and mainstream visibility. The opportunity is to make more of these women household names like Einstein, Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Bill Nye. We need to tell HERstory much better. For example, did you know Ada Lovelace developed the first computer and Madame CJ Walker revolutionized the haircare industry for African American women?

Below, we are taking a look at 5 of the biggest stories about women in STEM this year (and if you did hear about 3:5, we send you a big high five!).

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#5: Three Women Doctoral Students from Johns Hopkins Named Siebel Scholars

Known for their innovations in disease treatment and surgery, three female students from Johns Hopkins University were accepted into the prestigious Siebel Scholars program. Five students from the university were selected, and three out of the five are women.

The $35,000 grant is awarded to the most promising students from the world's most renowned business and engineering schools. The grant is awarded to help these students further their research and pursue collaborative solutions to problems in science and technology.

The female Siebel Scholars from Johns Hopkins University this year include:

Adriana Blazeski, doctoral student in biomedical engineering.

Lindsay Clegg, doctoral student in biomedical engineering.

Shiva Razavi, doctoral student in biomedical engineering.

#4: Women Make Up 48.5% of Carnegie Mellon's 2016 Computer Science Class

In most Computer Science programs across the United States, about 5 out of 6 enrolled students are male. When Carnegie Mellon released the demographics for its 2016 Computer Science program, it came as quite a surprise to many that nearly half of the class are women.

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Four years ago, Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science program was made up of just 34.6% women - less than ideal, but still much higher than many other top universities. In 2016, the number reached 48.5% women - nearly half of Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science students.

In addition, 43.3% of Carnegie's 2016 College of Engineering enrollment are women, another notable stride for girls & women in STEM.

The United States conveys a very prominent gender gap in many of its STEM fields, but the Obama administration is taking major strides to reduce this gap.

In June of 2016, the very first United State of Women Summit took place in Washington, D.C. Michelle Obama and Oprah headlined the event, with appearances by President Obama and Vice President Biden throughout the summit.

The summit's greatest announcement? The United States will sponsor over $50 million in new efforts to encourage women and girls to pursue careers in STEM. In addition, seven foundations have come together to create the Young Women's Initiative, which aims to improve the lives of young women across the United States and encourage them to pursue the education and career of their dreams.

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#2: Women Are Twice as Likely Than Men to be Selected For Tenure-Track Jobs in STEM

According to Catalyst.org, women in STEM fields are now twice as likely to be selected for tenure-track jobs in their field than men. In addition, women selected for these positions are offered salaries equal to those of their male counterparts.

Women applying for these positions must be well-qualified, but women with the same qualifications as men are not discriminated against when applying for tenure-track jobs.

#1: Five Exemplary Women Recognized in 2017 L'Oreal-Unesco Women in Science Awards For Major Discoveries

We so often hear about women making it into STEM fields, but we don't always draw attention to their achievements throughout their careers.

The L'Oreal-Unesco Women in Science Awards highlights the achievements of several exemplary women each year. This year, the Awards honored women from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, the Arab States, and Latin America for their accomplishments in physics, chemistry, and engineering.

The women honored during the latest ceremony included:

Michelle Simmons of Australia, for her contributions to atomic and quantum electronics.

Maria Teresa Ruiz of Chile, for her discovery of the first brown dwarf star.

Niveen Khashab of Saudi Arabia, for her newly developed techniques designed to "monitor intracellular antioxidant activity."

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Zhenan Bao of the United States, for her "outstanding contribution to and mastery of the development of novel functional polymers for consumer electronics, energy storage and biomedical applications."

Nicola Spaldin of Switzerland, for her "groundbreaking multidisciplinary work predicting, describing and creating new materials that have switchable magnetic and ferroelectric properties".
What's one of the most insidious myths we've bought into, when it comes to climate change?

It has nothing to do with the science: it's the simple idea that we have to be a certain type of person to care about climate change.

If I'm a liberal, if I bike to work and call myself a "tree-hugger," then of course I care about climate change. But what if I'm conservative, I drive a car, or I worry about the economy--does agreeing with the science of climate change mean I have to change who I am?

When I moved to Texas 10 years ago, I didn't know what to expect. I study climate change, one of the most politicized issues in the entire United States. If we're serious about it, we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. That's not a popular message in a state best known for its oil and gas.

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But Texas surprised me. It surprised me by how many different kinds of people, from oilfield engineers to Christian college students, want to talk about why climate change matters - to us, and to everyone else on this planet. I've also been surprised by the questions I get - some about the science, sure; but even more about politics, faith, and other topics near and dear to our hearts.

To answer these questions, I teamed up with our local West Texas PBS station to produce a new PBS Digital Studios web series, "Global Weirding: Climate, Politics, and Religion." On Wednesdays, we'll be rolling out a new video and a new blog here exploring climate change and what it means to all of us.

Our first episode tackles the identity myth, head-on. Climate change is not some distant issue that only matters to the polar bears. It's affecting our lives right now, in the places that we live. And if we're a human living on planet Earth, then we already have every value we need to care about a changing climate.

We all depend on this planet for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the places we live. Unless we've signed up for the next trip to Mars, this planet is the only one we have. It just makes sense to take care of it: to ensure that it will continue to support us in the years to come. It's the sensible, fiscally responsible, and most conservative thing to do, in the truest sense of the word.

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There's more to it than pure self-interest, though. When I was nine years old, my family moved to Colombia - not British Columbia, but Colombia, South America. There, I learned an even more important life lesson: that there are plenty of people on this planet far less fortunate than I am, and many of those people cannot count on having clean water to drink, or safe places to live.

This hard truth has always stuck with me, and it's one of the main reasons I'm motivated to study climate science: because it affects all of us, but most of all the poor the world over - those who already lack sufficient food, who are already at risk for diseases that no one should be dying from in the twenty first century, and who - when disaster strikes - have no choice other than to leave behind their homes and flee.

Climate change isn't a niche issue that only matters to people who think or act or vote a certain way. Each of us, exactly who we are, with exactly the values we already have, already have every reason we need to care.

So what's our job, as people who care about climate? Our job is this: connect the dots between what some have called the longest distance in the world, from our heads to our hearts.

Tune in to our live chat every other Thursday at 8E/7C on Facebook and Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and if you like what you hear - please share!

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If it has hair like the posterior of a duck (turning the misogynist's denigrating description of beauty on himself), if it waddles like a duck (reflecting a misogynist's demeaning image-obsessed descriptions of women's bodies back on himself), and if quacks like a duck (repeated ignorant, dearth-of-knowledge declarations), it must be a duck.

At the conclusion of the third presidential debate, The Donald quacked, "I'll keep you in suspense" when question if he would accept the outcome of the election. The following day he waddled deeper into the muck as he doubled down on his challenge to the very foundation of our democracy, "I'll totally accept the results of this great and historic election -- if I win!"

The Donald doesn't just quack, he tweets as well. Among his litany of bird-brained declarations, Trump tweeted, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." The Donald's 2012 tweet calling climate change a Chinese "hoax" was the most re-tweeted during the first presidential debate. Global warming is not a concept. Global warming is an observable change to the Earth system. The Chinese are becoming major anthropogenic contributors to global warming and related changes to our climate. However, they didn't invent some sort of esoteric conspiracy.

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Unfortunately, "climate change" was not even mentioned in the second presidential debate and received barely a cursory mention in the third. Climate change is a civilization challenging global issue intimately connected to energy, economic, and social policy.

I laud the York Daily Record -- my home newspaper -- for its Editorial feature in this morning's paper (Oct. 27, 2016) highlighting "Climate change is the missing issue" in this presidential campaign. "Aside from the possibility that mankind will blow itself up, no issue is more important to the future of the planet than global warming." The Donald crows about his potential use of nuclear weapons. That alone should disqualify him for the presidency. Coupled with his off-handed dismissal of climate change, he clearly is not intellectually, emotionally, nor politically prepared to lead our nation. Climate change is a complex issue that requires a deep understanding of the science, a measured temperament to assess the challenges, and an ability to engage the global community, including the 195 nations who signed the Paris Agreement. Trump's Ostridge-like, head-in-the-sand approach to energy policy would cancel the Paris Agreement.

The Donald would be THE ONLY Head of State on the entire planet who denies climate change if he is elected President. The Sierra Club produced a video showing The Donald's head appropriately melting into a puddle (good for the duck) as he quacks, "It's a hoax" and a number of other climate change denials.

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Donald Trump's biggest voting bloc is white Christian men. Evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Jr. and James Dobson have endorsed him. The American Association of Evangelicals has written an open letter to Christians "who assist the anti-Christian Progressive political movement in America," calling them to repent and to return to "the true Gospel."

These Christian leaders affirm a close alliance between God and America; the true America, the healthy America, is Christian America. For them, Trump's promise to make America great again is a clarion call to return to a self-consciously Christian America (the America before progressives started progressively ruining it). Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again," is code for "Make Us Great Again," where "us" is majority white Christians. America will be restored to greatness, they argue, when Christians and Christian values are restored to power.

But God does not especially favor white, male Americans. God loves the world.

And wanting to be socio-politically great (powerful) is not the true Gospel.

We are witnessing a cultural shift in America from white, male Christians towards increasing diversity and justice. Historically, Christians have denied rights to Catholics, Jews, women, blacks (first keeping them as slaves and then denying them equal rights), Muslims and gays. Christians have generated and sustained laws that have harmed the oppressed and vehemently opposed the repeal of such laws. Contemporary Christianity has become culturally associated with anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-Muslim.

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As the US court has increasingly realized the extent of human freedom and the historical injustices perpetuated on entire classes of people--blacks, women, gays, and Jews--Christians, whose beliefs have sometimes supported such oppression, have felt increasingly disempowered and marginalized.

The court has also conceded the unfair privilege the US has historically allowed Christians and rejected its covert endorsement of Christianity by declaring unconstitutional such activities as school prayer and Christmas displays on government property; religious freedom should extend to every religion, without privileging any.

Trump appeals to increasingly marginalized and fearful Christians to fight back and reassert their power.

But the assertion of coercive power--of laws enforced by police and punishments--is not "the true Gospel."

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Whenever "Christians" have allied with coercive power, "Christianity" has been used to justify unjust wars, the oppression of non-Christians, and the harming of, for example, blacks and women.

Jesus, the teacher of the true Gospel, did not come to found, lead or instigate an empire built on coercive power. He came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God built on attractive power.

Christianity must always have a tenuous and fraught connection with political power. After all, Christians worship and follow an executed peasant not a conquering king. And while Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God, it was always an alternative to Empire. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.

The true Gospel, the good news of Jesus's kingdom, is not to seek the coercive power of a state, but to establish a transformed and transforming group of people who are the poor in spirit, who mourn, who are the meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are the merciful, who are the pure in heart, and who are peacemakers (Matthew 5:3-9). Members of Jesus's kingdom are commanded to love everyone and at all costs, even their enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

Jesus's followers do not coercively impose, in alliance with the State, their righteousness on others. Instead, they cultivate their own inner dispositions to compassion, justice and peace. Insodoing, they winsomely exert a sort of attractive power that entices outsiders (enemies even) into the kingdom. We often feel that sort of charismatic power when we are embraced by deeply humble, caring and non-judgmental people.

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Jesus's kingdom is radically inclusive and non-judgmental. Jesus threw the doors to his kingdom wide open to every oppressed minority and social outcast of his day -- women, Samaritans, the lame, lepers, tax collectors, the demon-possessed, enemies, Gentiles, and (the all-inclusive category) sinners. Of such, he tells his followers, "judge not" (Matthew 7).

As followers of Jesus, the true Gospel demands that we throw open the doors to the kingdom to the oppressed and outcast of our day. To name a few: Muslims, Mexican immigrants (even the illegal ones), Syrian refugees, gays and blacks (we do not live in a post-racial America and so must sympathetically hear the voices of our suffering and oppressed black brothers and sisters).

There is, of course, legitimate anger at our government system, which is so beholden to the rich that it has left the middle class destitute. To me, it's a tossup whether or not Trump or Clinton will be more effective in including the middle class in any future prosperity (though not a tossup about which will do more for the poor). And Christians are right to care for the life of the unborn (yet should beware that prior Republican Presidents cynically used a pro-life platform to secure the evangelical vote but did nothing to advance a pro-life cause; I put Trump in the "cynical and will do nothing" category).

So I concede that Trump taps into our very real fears. But, according to the true Gospel, perfect love casts out all fear (I John 4:18).

Whatever fears we have today of Mexicans, Arabs, Muslims and the government, pale in comparison to the fears of Jesus's earliest followers. Jesus was crucified on the cross. He, and his first disciples were all Jews, and the gospels were written when the Roman Army attacked Jerusalem, killing hundreds of thousands of Jews and enslaving many of the remainder. All of the disciples died violent deaths at the hands of the Romans. Some Jewish leaders, including the pre-conversion St. Paul, persecuted and even killed Christians. Many early Christians languished in jails and perished in the gladiatorial games.

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Yet, the true gospel flourished in times of persecution.

With great (attractive) power (grace), God's kingdom spread like wildfire (Acts 4).

Members of God's kingdom were "of one heart and soul." In God's radically inclusive and spontaneously compassionate kingdom, justice and mercy embraced: "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need." The kingdom's gracious power attracted thousands upon thousands of Jews and Gentiles alike. One local leader was so astonished, he exclaimed, "These people have been turning the world upside down" (Acts 17.6).

These graciously empowered people turned the world upside down with no coercive political power or influence--they lacked laws, police, an army, and the power to punish.

Entrance to God's kingdom is not for the great (those who aspire to coercive power and influence). Christians should pray, instead, for God to make them humble and meek, and to grant them the eagerness and opportunity to share their radical love with others (even enemies).

I write not because I am worried that Trump will be elected (though I am worried that non-Christians will think that the nearly exclusively Christian support for Trump shows the gospel to be nothing but the coercive power of Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia, racism and Christian privilege).

I write because I am concerned that the fears, divisions, and bigotry that has Trump exploited and exacerbated will continue long after the election is over.

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Manal Al-Sharif is a women's rights activist from Saudi Arabia who helped start a women's right to drive campaign in 2011.

In May 2011, Al-Sharif filmed herself driving a car in Saudi Arabia, where women are prohibited from driving. She posted the video on YouTube, called on women to participate in a Women2Drive campaign on June 17 of that year, the video received nearly 700,000 views in a single day. During a second turn at the wheel, she was imprisoned for nine days.

Al-Sharif was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World", and by Arabian Business as the most inspiring Arab woman. She was also awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at the Oslo Freedom Forum. Al-Sharif was the first Saudi female IT security consultant working for the oil company Saudi Aramco for 10 years. Lan Anh Vu sat down with Al-Sharif at Forum 2000 to hear more about her journey, how she launched the Women2Drive movement and the key lessons she has learned along the way.

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As told to Lan Anh Vu

Guardianship System in Saudi ArabiaUnder Saudi Arabia's rigid Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, women fall under the legal authority of a guardian. No matter what your social status, age, or education, if you are a woman, then you are always treated as a minor and in need of a legal guardian--a man--for your entire life. They say that this law is to protect women.

Women cannot study, travel, marry, or even receive medical treatment without the consent of their father, husband, or another man in their family. I was taught that as a woman, I am entirely 'awrah. If I walk down the street, then I have to cover up. Women cannot use their names. For example, if my mother calls to me on the street, then she has to call me by my brother's name. So, I have been faceless, voiceless, and nameless.

How I Launched the Women2Drive MovementIt was May 2011, I complained to a colleague about the harassment that I had to face in trying to find a driver to take me home, even though I have a car and an international driver's license. In 2009, when I was working in Boston, United States, I got my first driver's license at the age of 30. When I returned home, however, I could not drive in my own country. There is no official law that bans women from driving, it's just a societal norm.

For women in Saudi Arabia, if you want to work, then you need a guardian--a man--to grant you permission to work. But to go to work and return home, you also need a man to drive you. There is no public transport, there is no good taxi system, and the sidewalk isn't safe for women to walk on. It's a daily struggle for working women. The cost of hiring a private driver often deters women from entering the labor market. In families that cannot afford a private driver, children as young as 16 serve as drivers, and they are inexperienced. That's one of the reasons why Saudi Arabia has high traffic fatalities.

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In 2011, amid the explosive Arab Spring, activists used social media to call for action. I was inspired to create a video and called for women with international driving licences to go out and drive on June 17. I recorded a video of myself explaining what the campaign was about, and for the first time, I showed my face. Finally, I had come to light; I had a face, and I existed. I was there to speak up for myself.

When the video was posted on YouTube, it received nearly 700,000 views in a single day. I started receiving death and rape threats unless I stopped the campaign. The government stayed very quiet. I wanted to know how the authorities would respond on the actual day, June 17, when women went out and drove. So, I asked my brother to come with me, and I drove past a police car. I was arrested, sent to jail, and signed a pledge not to drive again. I didn't realize until after I was released how many people were inspired by my simple individual story about something that so many of us do every single day. The news embarrassed the government, which felt compelled to release me after Hillary Clinton and human rights organizations called for my release. It inspired so many people around the world and even created a rally that led to my release nine days later.

On June 17, about a hundred brave women drove despite all of the streets were packed with police cars at every corner. Not even one of those women was arrested. We broke the taboo that day.

For us, driving is not what we are looking for, but being in the driver's seat of our only destiny. That means ending guardianship in Saudi Arabia, which means recognizing women as full citizens. I always say that countries that keep women in the backseat will always end up on the wrong side of history.

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Lessons LearnedThere are always rumors when you speak up in countries like mine. So, you always have to be available. You have to be present on social media and not question the rumors, but simply be there. You have to talk about the things that you do, because unless you keep them busy with what you do, they will keep you busy with what you say. That is what my activism has taught me.

I found that when you come up with something new, you speak against the status quo, and people come out in three groups. Twenty percent are totally against you and will do everything to bring you down. Another twenty percent is supportive, but the other sixty percent are the silent majority. They are the people who you should go and talk to, because if you motivate those people, then you can create the critical mass that can create change.

You also need to have a support system. When you speak up, be prepared to pay the price, including losing your job or custody of your children. You could also face a lot of pressure from the family. My family has been totally against it, not because they don't want me to get rights, but because they are afraid that I would be harmed. But if you keep quiet, then nothing will change and you will always be in the silent majority.

Women Voting in Saudi ArabiaIn 2015, women in Saudi Arabia were allowed to vote and run in municipal elections for the first time. However, the election was for municipal council members who have few powers. All powerful government positions are appointed by the King. Shura Council members are also appointed, women make up a fifth of the Council and have advisory power on policy with limited legislative powers.

My Message to the WorldMy message to the world is to surrender your ego: try not to think that you are not as fortunate as some people or inferior or not as good as someone else. Everything is possible; we just need to be hopeful and think of the world from a human perspective. The world is so small compared to the universe, so we shouldn't fight for petty things.

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This interview has been condensed and edited.
Why aren't we talking about the fact that America is fighting six wars? Several journalists pose that question in recent columns, and it's a good one.

For the most part, we are letting our allies carry the burden of fighting in these conflicts while we provide intelligence, training, equipment and massive off-shore power. We have nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel engaged in Afghanistan, about half that many in Iraq, a few hundred in Syria and smaller but unspecified numbers in Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

While these wars have a lot to do with our fight against terrorism, no one is eager to acknowledge them, and the American public is not well-informed. Journalists don't write about them much. Politicians don't discuss them. They are not debated in election campaigns.

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This is a remarkable circumstance. Yet it follows a sort of pattern in which the U.S. has intervened in overseas conflicts with increasing frequency.

Since the Cold War ended 25 years ago, American forces have been engaged somewhere in the world roughly 75 percent of the time. Pundits have called this the "forever war," and it raises the question: Is this simply the way of the future, the new normal?

As a nation, we struggle to strike the right balance between always intervening and never getting involved. Given America's leadership role among nations and the pre-eminence of our military -- along with the turmoil and chaos in the world -- this dilemma is likely to continue.

Some say we intervene too often. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, the former national security adviser, says military force has become almost the first choice. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says we're too quick to "reach for the gun." But others accuse our leaders of being too timid.

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Military intervention is tempting, but its course is unpredictable and its consequences uncertain. Once begun, it tends to expand. Once we engage, it is hard to disengage. Nation building is more difficult than it appears and requires a sustained commitment. The cost is usually higher than we anticipate. The results of our involvement in small wars in faraway places have not always been encouraging. Each situation becomes complicated.

For those reasons, restraint must be a hallmark of our intervention policies.

These interventions are occurring at a time when the public lacks an appetite for an expanded U.S. role in the world. Many Americans want their government to focus on problems at home. They are ambivalent toward, if not downright opposed to, involvement in faraway wars.

Congress has abdicated its rightful role in overseeing the use of military force. It doesn't even debate these interventions. It certainly does not act to authorize them.

The authority that is typically cited is a resolution that Congress passed shortly after the 9/11 attacks, authorizing the use of military force in Iraq. But it is a flimsy basis for intervention, almost a fig leaf. ISIS, al-Shabab and other adversaries didn't yet exist in 2002.

The most serious question that governments face is when to send young men and women into battle, risking their lives and future. But rather than deliberate this question and approach it directly, we seem to slide into military involvement on multiple fronts.

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None of these conflicts appear to be on their way to a speedy resolution. President Barack Obama will turn over to his successor most if not all of them.

Going forward, we should embrace the fact that the United States is the world's most powerful nation, with a duty to help maintain peace and order. We should never stop trying to make the world better. We should take pride in what we have done to advance peace, prosperity and security.

But in our confidence that we can fix what's wrong, we have more than once displayed a touch of arrogance. Our aim should be to make America safer, stronger and more prosperous. That means we have to identify and prioritize our core interests as well as our most serious threats.

Many politicians -- and many pundits -- have a boundless vision of what we can do. They will suggest we should stabilize every threatened country, scale up our support wherever it is needed. But we cannot intervene everywhere. We have to make hard choices.

We should be much more sensitive to the cost of intervention -- in money and resources but especially in casualties. We need to consider whether we have vital national interests at stake and the political will to sustain involvement to a satisfactory conclusion.

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This absurd election cycle is finally coming to an end. Well, as long as Donald J. Trump is okay with the outcome. From the very start, Trump has claimed that his lagging poll performance had more to do with a rigged system than, you know, his actually losing. Trump credited President Barack Obama's 2012 victory to dead voters. The Iowa caucus was stolen from Trump by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). And now, the general election is rigged. In recent days, Trump's even doubled down on that terrifying thinking, adding that he will accept the results only if he wins or feels the results are fair. (Just what constitutes as fair to Mr. Trump is unpredictable at best.)

Trump is the boy who cried "voter fraud" and I think he's setting a dangerous precedent for our electoral process. There must be respect for voters' decisions, even if they aren't our personal desired outcome. Respecting voters may seem like a novel concept, but I still believe in a peaceful transition of power between administrations. Quite frankly, it's something I'm prepared to get nasty about. This kind of fear-mongering rhetoric threatens the very cornerstone of our democracy. It's also inherently false. Study after study shows widespread voter fraud does not exist. A comprehensive investigation of more than 1 billion ballots cast in elections from 2000 to 2014 found just 31 credible allegations of voter impersonation fraud at the polls. In fact, voter fraud is less likely than being struck by lightning. But a real, legitimate threat to the franchise does exist. Voters should be concerned about the suppression of their own and others' right to vote by none other than the state and local governments for which they're casting ballots.

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These attacks have an immense effect on some populations more than others, including students, the elderly, people of color, and low income Americans, as well as those living in rural communities. These are individuals who might not have driver's licenses or up to date photo identification, or a means of obtaining them. They're the folks who can't get to the polls on Election Day because of work schedules and lack of transportation. In many cases, women are also uniquely affected - we've changed our names in marriage but not our IDs, or have childcare responsibilities or work non-typical hours that prevent us from being able to get to the polls. These types of laws don't demonstrably protect against fraud. They do, however, have the potential to disenfranchise many voters.

While this election has seen its fair share of doom and gloom, the silver lining is that there are things you can do to help ensure that your right to vote - and everyone else's - is unabridged and uninterrupted. Be prepared on Election Day. Find your polling place ahead of time, plan how you'll get there, and know which forms of identification your state requires by visiting the Election Protection website. If something goes wrong or you feel your (or someone else's) voting rights are challenged, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report it. This hotline has been set up by the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

You can also show your support for unrestricted voting rights by contacting your members of Congress and urge them to cosponsor the Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the protections of the VRA and ensure equal access to the ballot box.
The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had hopes of ending a brutal 52-year war in their proposed peace deal. But in October, Colombians voted the deal down in a national referendum, with 50.22 percent of the population voting against and 49.78 percent voting for.

The peace accord--which would have allowed members of FARC to relinquish their weapons and reenter society as citizens with no reparations after one of the longest-running wars the planet has witnessed--was widely anticipated to be passed through. In fact, President Juan Manuel Santos had said there was no "Plan B" if the plan failed.

Kirk Semple and Nicholas Casey of the New York Times set out to piece together the answer on both readers' and Colombian government officials' minds alike: What happened? After citing low voter turnout due to a lack of outreach efforts on the part of the government as well as the flooding caused by Hurricane Matthew that kept many Colombians away from polls, they wrote,

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"But for many others, the reason the deal failed was an emotional one. The agreement had always been a tug of war between peace and justice, and in the end, the demand for justice won."

As Casey reported, "Jose Miguel Vivanco, the director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch, said that while he supported an end to the war, the deal had 'seriously undermined this opportunity for a sustainable and just peace,' referring to past pledges the two sides had made that serious crimes would be punished." For many Colombians, voting no meant voting for a better peace accord that would bring such war crimes to justice.

What are the takeaways of this failed deal for peace elsewhere, such as in Syria, following failed ceasefires despite negotiations with rebel factions, over which the United States has just suspended their own peace negotiations with Russia once more and the United Nations-moderated Geneva III talks remain dormant?

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The Balancing Act of Justice and Reconciliation

Human rights scholar Tristan Anne Borer points to the tricky balance between justice and reconciliation, which are often connotated with retribution and amnesty, respectively. In Colombia, the lack of retribution, or punishment in the name of justice was foregone in favor of reconciliation, by granting rank-and-file FARC members amnesty in their reintegration of society. However, as Borer also states, "True reconciliation will not occur unless the perpetrators are forced to give something to the victims in exchange for receiving an amnesty." She further points to the nature of the political transition at hand--prosecutions as a part of transitional justice efforts, for one, are far more likely to occur when a former regime has completely collapsed (and the new leaders do not have to work with the old). This factor will be critical for the futures of cases such as Syria.

There are numerous means through which this balance between justice and reconciliation can be worked toward. As international relations professor Debra L. DaLaet explains of the punitive model of transitional justice, the primary focus is on individual perpetrators (rather than victims) and the primary objective is to identify and punish them. By contrast, as laid out by law professor Jennifer J. Llewellyn, restorative justice is grounded in the belief that the "restoration of relationships is at the heart of justice." Truth commissions, public apologies, and memorials are common examples of such restorative measures. To be clear, though quite different, restorative measures can be executed in tandem with punitive measures successfully, as we have seen in cases such as South Africa.

Meaningful Representation, Active Participation of Affected Populations in Peace Negotiations and Truth Commissions

But in order to obtain justice and reconciliation, as researcher Desiree Nilson has written, the populations most affected by a peace treaty must feel represented by it in a meaningful and accurate way. This has held true for Syria in its peace negotiations thus far, and was displayed prominently by Colombia's referendum. If the treaty put forth is widely viewed to perpetuate gross injustices suffered during war, it will not and cannot succeed.

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Such meaningful representation points to the inclusion of all civil society groups in peace negotiation processes so as to best gauge reparations needed for victims of war and society to recover.

But this representation is not just about their formal inclusion, their visibility. It's about their active participation. As DeLaet argues, the exclusion of women, children, and victims of sexual violence epitomize how some of the most vulnerable wartime victims have been silenced even when included in peacebuilding efforts, largely due simply to the ignorance of gendered behaviors and identities in constructing such processes to begin with.

In their demands for adequate peace accords inclusive of transitional justice measures, Colombians and people worldwide should highlight and be weary of these nuances. Collective memory--a key tenet of restorative justice efforts, and one Colombia has struggled with--cannot be accurately shaped without the accounts of all those affected by war. Dalaet asserts of the United Nation's gender mainstreaming approach:

"In essence, the Security Council makes the mistake of assuming that the international community can simply 'add women and stir' in an effort to bring gender equity to post-conflict justice mechanisms."

Gender constructs are so deeply embedded in society and culture that stigma and shame of sexual victimization prevent both female and male victims from speaking in public truth commissions. But further, as Dalaet recalls from the South African truth commission, many women "who saw themselves as survivors and agents for their own recovery, were reluctant to publicly share their experiences with violence for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that their personal pain was too intimate to be shared with strangers and their resistance to having their stories exploited for political purposes." This issue is only further complicated when it comes to child soldiers (for whom the line between perpetrator and victim is often quite blurred), child victims of sexual violence, and children born from said wartime sexual violence. The tribunals that restorative justice advocates call for are age-inappropriate and run the risk of increased psychological damage for young children.

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The International Criminal Court has already called for special provisions taking into account the wellbeing of children in such scenarios, arranging for private testimony, among other things, but there is much more room for improvement with regards to sensitivity to the victims, as is the case with women involved.

The Road Forward

But such complications should not dissuade those seeking peace and reconciliation from justice through restorative means. Rather, they should illuminate the deep-seated psychological change that needs to occur in order for us to approach transitional justice efforts and peace processes differently, ranging from specific improvements such as gender-bias trainings for negotiators to grand-scale changes such as a shift in focus toward the victim in achieving true social repair.

It's not an easy task, particularly given the difficulty in even reaching the point in peace negotiations at which such measures of restorative justice are being discussed. But should such changes be achieved, the international community has every reason to believe we will live in a more peaceful society overall.

As for Colombia, President Santos has declared that the ceasefire--the extension of which was verified by the UN Security Council on October 31--will be upheld, and government negotiators returned to the drawing board in Cuba last month. He said, "I won't give up. I'll continue [to] search for peace until the last moment of my mandate." Shortly thereafter, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which has only fueled his determination to reach an agreement by Christmas.

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I wrote this in response to a friend, I think it's worth sharing:

I appreciate that, and I have met him too. He was, whatever-pompous-but-fine when I did and spent some time talking to him at a birthday party here in the Hamptons. Then again at an event. We have some mutual friends.

I also know the guy who my ex -- the Attorney General of New York -- had been suing on behalf of the people for scamming them out of hard earned money for Trump University, which was seemingly a complete fraud. He goes to court on that one on my birthday. I know the behind the scenes garbage and intimidation Trump was trying to pull when he got caught breaking the law and stealing and was charged.

This is also a man that, whether you want to believe that a woman would lie about rape, has now had multiple women come out, and if you still want to believe that the women are all full of crap and made it up, he is on camera saying "I just grab 'em by the pussy." That isn't locker room talk. I know plenty of men who say crude sexual things about women, but never like that. That's direct sexual predator speak, and suggests unwanted aggressive touching as being commonplace. It's forceful language, and yet, I don't understand how people can still think "Rape? Naaaah. These women all want attention."

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Trump has an actual court date for RAPING A CHILD... that is a fact. Not my political opinion.

God forbid some old creep grabbed your daughter by her vagina when she turns 13 because he thinks it's funny. I know what your husband would do.

I mean, did Hillary mishandle emails? Yeah. But what was in those? Everyone is going nuts over emails, that although it was a mistake -- I'd like to see the Bush administration's emails during the Iraq war (they "lost" 22 MILLION EMAILS) --but no one says anything about that.

The worst Wikileaks could come up with was that "Al Gore didn't like her." What. A. Bombshell.

Show me an email with her selling secrets to the Russians. Something I can dig my teeth into. Oh, I'm sorry... in this witch hunt you mean no one found anything of any incriminating substance that showed her blatantly breaking the law? Oh. I see.

This new "investigation"? The emails weren't written by her, they weren't even on her computer... and everyone again is going nuts.

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You would choose mishandling emails, over someone going to trial in a month for child rape who claims to grab women "by the pussy", is again going to trial on racketeering charges and fraud on November 28, has 75 pending lawsuits, made fun of John McCain -- a great war hero -- because he was a POW, and said, a direct quote: "He's not a war hero... he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

He then insulted a Gold Star Family whose son lost his life saving his platoon. He also said that servicemen and women who come home with PTSD or are suicidal are "weak," while having cowardly managed to draft dodge the war himself and never serve a day. Neither did either of his very physically capable yet useless sons. No one served.

Are they above it because they're rich? My little brother went to Iraq and took his chances at dying for our country, but I guess when you live on Park Avenue, you let the "other" people do that... then you don't pay their salaries and make fun of them. That's a man fit to run the military? He has zero respect for our military and he can talk all the "for our troops" bullshit he wants... the proof is in his actions.

Quite simply: If you are for our troops, you are against Donald Trump.

Hillary at least had a hand in murder alright -- y'all have got her there. The man she helped kill was Osama Bin Laden. Not someone I'm crying over exactly. If that's our murderer, I'll take it.

This is a man who refuses to release his taxes -- never been done before. Why? Because he doesn't pay any and calls himself "smart" for it. I'm sure your husband would like to keep the money that comes out of his check too, but he pays taxes. For things like roads we drive on, public schools, parks we play in with our kids, police officers, firefighters, and our military. Our taxes pay their salaries. Trump uses them. But wants you to pay.

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I could go on and on about the racism and misogyny: it's been done -- but by the way, here's what I'd like to know, since Evangelicals love him so: when did he become this terrific Christian?

He attacks Hillary for staying married, keeping her family together and keeping her vows even when things got tough... yet he's the "family guy"?

He cheated on his first wife while they had three little ones, divorced her for a bikini model, then divorced her, married Melania, and just a few weeks after they were married, he's on tape saying he just tried to "fuck" some woman. He was a newlywed. Are those the kind of "family values" you all hold so dearly?

And please, don't even start on Bill Clinton and his infidelity, last I checked he wasn't running for president, and girl... have you ever been cheated on? What would you think of someone who blamed you for it? How on earth does that even make sense to anyone? If anything, it shows her strength to decide to keep her marriage together and forgive him. Those are far more Christian values than multiple cheating and two divorces.

The sins of her husband are not hers to bear. So please, just stop.

I could go on and on about racism and misogyny, but it's all been said.

What I'd really like to know is what church has he been attending for the last ten years? Does he go every Sunday? Who is his lifelong pastor? Haven't seen one of those come out and say "here's a man who has been in our parish doing good deeds and a consistent Christian for over two decades." Nope. His wedding to Marla was at the Plaza Hotel, Melania was at Mar-a-Lago. Certainly not houses of worship.

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He was a Democrat who was pro-choice his whole life, until he decided that pro-life would poll better, and I suspect he became a "good Christian" when that would poll better too. It just goes on and on. There are records of these things.

And so, emails? Really? This isn't about emails. People hate Hillary because she rubs them the wrong way and she's a terrible candidate, who has run an awful campaign. But she has a lifetime of service under her belt, and a proven track record. Some mistakes were made, but she's been at this her entire life.

It's hard to fight against someone who has no record except as a failed businessman -- his property in Canada just went under today. He has never had to make a decision that would affect the world: Hillary has been faced with many. The only thing he's ever successfully done is host a reality game show... and that is why he's winning votes now. He's putting on a show and conning you all just the same.

One last thing: the Donald Trump I know had his office reach out to me while my little brother was deployed to Iraq. Would I come speak at a fundraiser for our troops with other military members and families? I said yes -- but it all sounded kind of vague. I went anyway, and when I got to the venue, they were asking us to sign releases at the door. It was for his reality show and I had been lied to. They weren't doing anything for the troops. I was sickened and left.

That's the opportunist I know. He isn't going to help you, or this country. You may know him sorta because your brother-in-law is famous, but he wouldn't let the average American shine his shoes... and we both know that's the truth.

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All politicians lie. All politicians make shady deals. It's gross. But not all politicians are being tried for rape and fraud in court. With no experience but running his mouth and running his businesses into the ground.

Make America great again? Why not start by making your crappy ties in America instead of China, dude?

How could he bring back jobs when he himself outsources everything he sells?

You all are being seriously conned, and the hope I have in my heart is that on election day, you take a good hard look at yourself before you vote for someone like that.
"We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and the last generation that can do something about it."Those were the words of President Barack Obama when he addressed the delegates at COP21 climate change conference in Paris in 2015.

On November 4, 2016 - a year after the historic negotiations and decisions in the French capital, the Paris Agreement has entered into force.

It is a major milestone for countries, cities and companies. The next question must be how to translate this agreement into an actionable timeline.

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At COP21 we saw overwhelming interest from the business sector. Thanks to the French government the role of business was clear: It is important for policy makers to see that climate leadership makes good business sense. What is good for the climate is good for business as well.

I want to take stock of the first year after COP21 from a business perspective. We can definitely say that the Paris Agreement raised the bar for businesses' ambitions to achieve a low-carbon future. All market players know that we need to transition. There is a sense of urgency. Our social and economic platform is burning. And all of a sudden, energy efficiency is not about tightening the belt anymore; energy efficiency is an opportunity for countries, cities, and companies.

Countries submitted national commitments just before the COP21, outlining their contributions to delivering on the Paris Agreement. For companies, the commitments should be interpreted as 161 potential business cases on a global scale. The majority of countries mentioned energy efficiency in their commitments, and many of them also deployment of district heating. This is a business opportunity to push future-proof technology that can help us to alleviate the carbon lock-in of today.

We need to steer into a low-carbon trajectory of tomorrow. To use an age-old business adage, it is time now to put our money where our mouth is. The International Energy Agency's Energy Efficiency Market Report 2016 states that it is becoming increasingly clear that energy efficiency needs to be central in energy policies around the world.

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Luckily, COP22 is the COP of Action. To seize the huge potential of energy efficiency, the key word here is policy action - on a global, national and regional scale and for cities, politicians and companies. To obtain smart, integrated energy systems we need to focus on actions on both the demand side and the supply side.

On the supply side, a fantastic solution is district energy. District energy can reduce primary energy by 40 to 80% compared to conventional heat and electricity generation. Yet district energy only accounts for 12-14% of the European heat demand.

Today, nearly 98% of all energy we use in the process of production is wasted, rather than being converted into useful services and products. Keeping this in mind, it is interesting to note that doubling energy productivity in the US alone over the next 13 years will save US$327 billion annually in energy costs, create 1.3 million jobs, and reducing CO2 emissions by 33%. These savings--and jobs--are real, tangible benefits that will boost the global economy while making significant strides in meeting our joint climate change goals.

At COP22, we look forward to a matchmaking of existing technology and solutions with country commitments. We will participate with Nordic businesses at the Nordic Business Pavilion in the green zone. Civil society and private sector will showcase what we have worked on with countries and cities over the past year. I invite you to join us at the Nordic Business Pavilion during COP22 to explore what we can do if we work together.

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Have you picked up a Christian magazine recently? There are some good ones about. But quite often it seems that these magazines are produced by people who ...

6 years ago
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listens as she is introduced at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder



U.S. soldiers coming home from Iraq in 2011. (AP Photo/The Republic, Andrew Laker)

BY: SOO RIN KIM

Active and retired members of the military have been showing far more support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton than for her Republican rival, at least as measured by the checks they've written to her campaign.

Individuals who listed their employers as the U.S. Department of Defense or major branches of the military, or who say they're retired from one of those, have contributed a total of $972,709 to both nominees so far this year. Clinton has claimed $771,471 of the contributions, or nearly 80 percent.

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All major branches of the armed forces - including the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard - have favored Clinton to a much greater degree than GOP nominee Donald Trump. Members of the Army have contributed more than other branches of the service this cycle, giving a total of $191,712 to the two presidential hopefuls, 72 percent of which went to Clinton.

Meanwhile, it's the Air Force that has given the largest portion of its contributions to Trump, though it still favors Clinton by a lot. Trump received 39 percent of the $110,711 given to the two candidates by people connected to the Air Force.

(Our analysis includes donors giving more than $200; candidates don't have to provide identifying information about smaller donors to the public.)

If this seems surprising, consider this: Up until the primaries were over, the military favorite was Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), who received $374,600. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came in a close third after Clinton.

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"People assume the military leans Republican, but I think that has fundamentally changed in the 21st century," retired Rear Adm. Jamie Barnett said.

Barnett, who has contributed $600 to Clinton campaign so far this cycle, also said that since a single person in the Oval Office can commit the country to war, those in uniform are certainly willing to put some money on the line to help elect a leader they believe has the right skill set. "The last thing we want to see is our men and women in uniform going into a war we don't need" due to ego, lack of judgment or some other personal flaw, Barnett added.

Retired members of the military seem particularly aghast at the thought of a Trump presidency, based on their contributions this cycle. Of the $135,392 that came from former service members so far, only 2 percent has gone to the brash businessman's campaign.

Of course, history has shown that campaign contributions don't necessarily reflect the results at the polls. Despite Obama's victory in contributions from the military, 2012 Gallup data showed that veterans preferred Romney by 24 points over Obama.

Ramapo College Professor Jeremy Teigen, who studies military and politics, warned that while Clinton -- and before her Obama -- may be more popular with members of the military who donate to candidates, "that does not mirror the partisan voting tendencies of the military overall. We know, for instance, that the officer ranks trend substantially toward the GOP while the enlisted ranks trend less so but still toward Republicans."

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That Republican leaning has become more pronounced since the draft ended in the 1970s, Teigen said. "Now that the military is entirely self-selected, mostly male, and somewhat more likely to come from conservative social contexts, the men in the armed forces vote for Republican candidates and identify with the Republican Party more than not," he said. (Teigen noted that less is known about the political leanings of women in the military.)

The New York Times reported on Thursday that veterans are turning to Trump, feeling abandoned by establishment politicians. Veterans featured in the story have called the nominee, "genuine," and "a breath of fresh air."

But University of Maryland Professor Emeritus David Segal said he's seen more veterans against Trump than for him.

"Honestly, there's not much enthusiasm for Clinton either, but veterans around me seem to have far less distaste for [Clinton] than Trump," Segal said. "Trump does not value veterans, and in fact, insults families of veterans who have died in combat," a reference to Trump's tirades against the Khan family, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in July.

Segal, who directs the Center for Research on Military Organization, said there are also concerns among military members that Trump is likely to get the U.S. into another war. He said Clinton, though somewhat hawkish herself, has a good understanding of working diplomacy, having served as secretary of state,

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Earlier this year, Trump showed strong support for the use of nuclear weapons during a television interview, saying, "Somebody hits us within ISIS, you wouldn't fight back with a nuke?" He continued, "Then why are we making them? Why do we make them?"

Early in the 2012 cycle, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, too, suffered from lack of support from military donors, raising only $45,738 by March, compared to the $333,134 for GOP primary rival Ron Paul and $184,505 for President Barack Obama. By the end of the cycle, though, Romney had managed to raise $753,691 from these donors, much closer to Obama's $947,338.

As different as the two candidates may seem, Trump and Clinton are actually fairly similar in the sense that both back strong defense spending. The GOP nominee has been vocal about spending extra dollars on the military, and according to Center for Strategic and International Studies' estimates, Trump's proposals would cost $640 billion per year, about $80 billion over President Obama administration's projection.

"Trump talks about increasing the defense budget, but he's not paying his taxes," Segal said. He said it's difficult for the Republican to win respect from military members when he's not paying his fair share of the cost of what he's proposing to spend.

The fate of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which severely restricts spending for various priorities including defense, will be key in determining whether Trump can actually implement his expensive proposals, but he hasn't made his position clear on the budget cap through 2021 yet. Clinton however, has implied support for repealing the budget restraint in her vague policy statement that supports "ending the sequester for both defense and non-defense spending in a balanced way."
Paula Stout, a high-tech executive with a long Democratic pedigree, has been dating lifelong Republican Kevin Kirkpatrick for more than four years, and they've been engaged since 2014.

Recently her fiance told her that if they didn't stop talking about the presidential election, they'd have to break up.

He wasn't kidding.

"I love Paula very, very much," Kevin says, "but--or I guess 'and'--I love my country even more."

Paula and Kevin's situation would sound extreme--if it weren't happening in relationships, romantic, familial, and otherwise, all over the country.

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Hundreds of articles have been written as to why 2016 is an especially volatile cocktail: whether it's the perfect storm of two of the most disliked candidates in history; rampant and overt sexism; or the climate of political divisiveness and economic disparity that's been brewing for decades.

On both sides of the aisle, this year emotions seem to be running hotter than ever before, taking a toll on a lot more than just polite political discourse. But how do we keep our personal relationships from being casualties on November 9, and beyond?

I asked a few friends struggling to maintain civil relations in their various relationships--including Paula and Kevin--for their advice (some names have been changed to avoid incinerating anyone's personal life):

Rick Banning is a talk-radio personality and political commentator in a conservative suburb of Florida who has grave reservations about Donald Trump's candidacy. "To me he represents a really scary dark vision of America that I think could lead to some pretty serious civil unrest." Yet his wife is voting for the Republican nominee.

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Olivia Okonek's father-in-law's impassioned support for Trump led Olivia--whose parents are Ukrainian immigrants--to put a ban on all further conversation about politics, telling him, "If we don't stop this conversation right now, our relationship is going to be damaged."

Sherry Friend's two sons seem to take delight in needling her with their support for Trump, despite her pointing out that the Republican candidate's sexist comments are a direct affront to her. "It pisses me off."

Elle Marsh and her mother became so heated in their political discussions that they now dance around talking about anything remotely related to the election, despite living down the street from each other. "The morning after the last debate, we were so desperate that we discussed the history of Great Britain's monarchy and the possibility that Princess Diana's death was not an accident," she relates dryly. "Like I said, we were desperate."

Jenifer Sarver is a lifelong conservative Republican who worked with the Bush administration, and has long found common ground with her close extended family, all of whom are also religious conservative voters. Yet when Sarver, unable to reconcile Trump's words and actions with her party and personal values, openly declared her support for Hillary Clinton, some members of her family began launching attacks on her social media. "I don't care what most people on earth think about me," she says, "but when people who are closest to me in the world question my faith and my integrity publicly, it's hurtful."

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1.The first line of defense may not be a good offense--but a cease-fire.

Like Paula and Kevin, or Elle and her mom, or Olivia and her father-in-law, a lot of people whose views strongly differ from loved ones' have simply chosen not to engage to avoid pyrotechnics and preserve the relationship.

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"It's a coping mechanism," Paula says. "I'm sure some expert will say it's not healthy, but it's been the way we cope. Nothing political should derail a relationship, whether it's family or love."

"I think you have to compartmentalize it. It's not worth ruining your relationship over politics," deejay Rick echoes, citing the apparently healthy, happy relationship of well-known politically opposed couple James Carville and Mary Matalin as an example.

2.Respect each other's right to their point of view.

Jenifer Sarver's Republican family questioned her religious faith--the most important element of her life--when she announced her support of Hillary. "I did not expect the negativity and hatred I sometimes feel from people that I'm related to," she says. "I don't feel that they respect me."

"You have to respect other people's opinions," Rick Banning says, despite his deep concerns about the "politics of meanness" he feels his wife's chosen candidate, Trump, has contributed to creating. "You may think they're insane or demented or drinking the Kool-Aid, but it's their Kool-Aid, not yours.... I don't think that a person who supports Trump is a bad person."

Right about here is where passionate NeverTrumpers' heads explode.

"If you are supporting someone who says Muslims are terrorists and Mexicans are rapists and women are pigs, I don't want to know you, I don't want to hang out with you," says Olivia Okonek. "But," she adds after a moment, "that's really tough when that person is actually a good person. I can't figure out how to separate it. How can I keep this person in my life without thinking this is a horrible person?"

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That's where this next step comes in. Take a deep breath, now...

3.Try to understand that point of view, or at least where it might be coming from.

Kevin, a strong supporter of Trump, explains his ultimatum to fiancee Paula as an outgrowth of feeling invalidated by her arguments against his candidate: "Sometimes I think it makes me out that she thinks I'm a fool for believing this way, and that bothers me. I really do get upset."

So it helps to try to put yourself into the mind of the person who's blowing yours. "I always try to look at things from different perspectives," says Olivia. "[If someone says] 'Mexicans are taking our jobs'...maybe they don't have a job, can't find a job, and they're trying to find someone to blame. This rhetoric is something they're clinging to [out of] fear of living in poverty, fear of the future."

Sherry Friend knows her sons are influenced by their Trump-supporting grandparents whom they deeply love, and are both stretching the wings of personal autonomy. "[My younger son's] subtext is, 'Is it okay if I have an opinion different from you, is that okay?'"

If you care about someone, then taking time to dig to find out what's really underneath their politics that make you stabby may awaken some compassion and empathy for their feelings in you, even if you can't understand their vote.



4.Put yourself in their shoes.

Both parties may feel that the other candidate offers a worst-case scenario, or at best an almost equally poor alternative. If you're a liberal Dem, imagine how you might feel if Donald Trump were running as your party's candidate (which could easily have happened, based on his past politics), and the alternative were, say, Ted Cruz? If you're an alt-right Republican, imagine Ronald Reagan running against Adolf Hitler, and you might get some inkling of how Clinton supporters may regard their candidate's battle against Trump.

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"I'm truly disappointed that the same woman who taught me to be a strong, independent woman is voting for a man who clearly has no respect for women," Elle Marsh says. But, she adds pragmatically: "I think you have to respect that people have their reasons for the choices the make--for instance, my mom wants a Republican in office and has decided to wear blinders and vote along party lines. I don't agree, but I'm at least comforted that she doesn't share any of Trump's disgusting rhetoric."

5.Engage (if you're brave or foolish enough) with civility and respect--and substance.

Jenifer Sarver's experience with her family has spurred her to engage more with those who make comments she may find offensive or disagree with. "I think there's a way to point out [racist, sexist comments], and question them, and show facts." Even if some of her listeners resist those facts, "I think that doesn't mean that I don't have a responsibility not to keep pointing them out."

When Olivia Okonek's mother--who legally immigrated to the U.S. from the Ukraine with Olivia's father--expressed support for Trump early in, Olivia chose a completely different tack from her shutdown of her father-in-law: "Look what he's saying," she told her mom. "He's against everything that you at least used to believe in.... Now she's all about Hillary--she hates Trump," Olivia relates proudly.

Of course, that kind of worldview shift is the unicorn of political arguments. Far more likely is the best-case outcome that both parties will agree to disagree, or just entrench more deeply in their own opinions.

But despite the tensions with her fiance, Paula takes a bright-side view of their future--and America's: "The politics of compassion, I believe, in a civilized society will always win out."

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appears at campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan U.S. October 31 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Are there any silver linings to the tumultuous, degrading, sordid presidential campaign of Donald Trump -- a failed gambling czar, corporate welfare king, and supreme hypocrite to his own accusations about others?

Yes. Here are seven:

1. "New York Times" star columnist James B. Stewart, may be right when he writes that bipartisan outrage over Donald Trump's not paying income tax for several decades may lead to stronger support for "a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's loophole-riddled revenue gathering system." The brazen Trumpeteer may be just the jolt that Congress needs. Maybe.



2. By raising the trade agreements issue (NAFTA, TPP, etc.), Trump startled many complacent Republicans into an awareness long dimmed by the empirically-starved, obsolete, 19th century "win-win" "free-trade" dogmas. Unknowingly, of course, Trump missed the deeper insidiousness beneath these corporate-managed trade agreements that are driving American industries to Asia and Mexico. I'm referring to the loss of our freedom to improve consumer, worker, and environmental protections in our country in favor of the self-imposed imperatives of corporate commercial international trade (see citizen.org/trade). In any event, when President Obama tries to push through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) giveaway in next month's lame duck session of Congress, Trump's blasts may add to the prospect of defeating the TPP.



3. On November 4th, the "New York Times" ran the headline: "Veterans, Feeling Abandoned, Stand by Donald Trump." This is a spreading disdain for both major Parties by veterans about more than how they have been neglected regarding consumer protection, jobs and health care. It is directed toward failed foreign policy initiatives which spur perpetual wars that grind on and on, and the representatives who lack any willingness to ask the questions veterans want asked about the futility of our soldiers being in these countries where the local people do not want us and insurgencies keep spreading.



4. Trump inadvertently has further revealed the consequences of our educational system's deliberate neglect of exposing students to critical thinking about power in all its forms. To those millions of fed-up Americans who, while disliking Trump's behavior and foul mouth, nevertheless support him because, "he tells it like it is": please pause for a moment to consider the facts. How does, "telling it like it is" equate to, "being willing and able to do something about it" and just what is "it"? Trump is inordinately vague here.

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These same Americans, so knowledgeable about their own daily occupations and their complex hobbies, somehow forsake any responsibility to face the facts by doing some political homework and demanding that they be participants in the electoral process, not mere spectators of an electoral circus and its chief carnival barker.

5. More openly, Trump has shown us how the mass media can degrade election coverage so long as the prospect of greater profits outshine the impetus to offer varied and well-informed reporting -- especially for mass TV and radio. Indeed, Trump's ability to attract the media's greed for profits continues to pull the mass media closer to the gutter. We can thank the president of CBS Leslie Moonves for confirming this observation when he told a business audience that Trump's campaign, "may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."

In addition, so addicted was the media to scouring speeches and Twitter feeds for the latest Trumpisms and provocations that it slammed the door on any participation by those civic groups that actually have been improving our country, know what they're talking about, and are able to inject broader topics into candidates' campaigns -- topics that are closer to the peoples' concerns, such as looted pensions, corporate crimes against consumers and workers, crony taxpayer bailouts, and bureaucratic waste.

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6. Further, Trump has cast some doubt on the invincibility of entrenched plutocracy and oligarchy over popular sovereignty. Consider this improbable dynamic hurtling toward November 8th. Supporting Hillary Clinton are those on Wall Street, the bulk of the military-industrial complex , Silicon Valley and, of course, the Democratic Party machinery. She is seen, after all, as predictable and not a wild card prone to displays of ignorance, inexperience and a lashing, bruisable ego.

Trump, by contrast, has largely been abandoned by his party's elite. He has a fifth of Hillary's television advertising budget, has little get-out-the-vote ground game to speak of and is being blasted by the mass media day after day. He has also raised far less money than his corporate cash-rich opponent.

Yet, In spite of all of this, he has made this a close race because enough voters are sweeping all these conventional variables aside in their fury. Go figure. We better do just that right after election day.

7. Lastly, Trump has raised the peril of what South Americans have called "the politics of personalismo." By making his ego, his persona, his personal boasts, his personal insults, his personal business the core of this year's campaign, he has forced the media to reap what they have sown with their cynical mantra for the local evening news: "if it bleeds, it leads," meaning not only street crime but other disasters that are graphic, violent or in otherwise poor taste. Trump's campaign is the embodiment of such misguided priorities.

Some 60 years ago, in an impoverished state in northeast Brazil, a gubernatorial candidate ran on the slogan "to my enemies the law, to my friends -- facilities." He won the election.

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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to a campaign rally accompanied by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. on October 27, 2016. To match Insight USA-ELECTION/NORTHCAROLINA REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

If I could still do a cartwheel, I would have done one that day. As I stood for hours in a long line with my friends and thousands of others in anticipation of seeing and hearing two of the most admirable women of our lifetimes, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, I saw two young girls doing cartwheels on a patch of green grass in the parking lot at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.

And I wanted to join them! I wanted to express--in a burst of youthful vitality--my joy, exuberance and enthusiasm at being there. I was invigorated and cheerful, and as I watched those two young girls, I recalled being that young and limber and uninhibited in just popping off a few cartwheels when I needed an outlet for my boundless energy. Decorum, plus the fear of real physical injury, kept me from joining them, though I was experiencing a flood of glee and youth and hopefulness that belied my 61 years.

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I was excited to think that those young girls were going to hear two of the most significant women in history promise a future that would protect their right to choose and their lifestyle choices. They would be encouraged to envision a future that would offer an affordable education, quality healthcare and the opportunity for equal pay for equal work.

A tender nostalgia crept over me, but it was rooted in more than just my desire to turn a cartwheel. I had lived with each and every one of those assurances during my college years and throughout my professional career, and I had built a stronger life as a result of believing in them. Looking at those girls, I realized I wanted them to have everything I'd had.

I was coming of age during the radicalization of the Feminist Movement, and I embraced women's new-found freedoms that were hard fought for and won by women like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. I graduated from high school in 1972, the same year that "I Am Woman," the feminist anthem, was #1 on the charts. 1972 was the year in which it finally became legal for a doctor to prescribe birth control pills to unmarried women. That was followed by the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling in 1973 that gave a woman the right to legally terminate a pregnancy. Unlike generations of women before me, I could make love with the young man I dated throughout college without the fear of an unintended pregnancy that might derail my getting a degree. I knew I could then forge ahead into a meaningful, well-paying career. I knew I had choices.

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I grew strong from the Feminist Movement because I was assured that I could do anything, be anything, and have anything I was capable of dreaming of and working for. It was about freedom of choice in so many areas of my life, and I took full advantage of those privileges and freedoms.

And now there I stood, 44 years later--a damn long time--excitedly waiting to hear the woman who will become the first woman president of the United States assure a crowd of 11,000 that rights so hard-won nearly half a century before, would be championed and strengthened under her presidency.

As inconceivable as it is that we are One Misogynistic Man away from losing freedoms, choices and hopes in 2016, it is a reality. The fiercest assault on Roe v. Wade since its inception is upon us with Trump and Pence. As Hillary said in the third debate, "We've come too far to have that turn back now."

Sure, it's discouraging that we're still fighting a battle that was seemingly long ago won. But the ghosts of those who would "make America great again" have never rested. They have continuously risen like goblins from a graveyard to haunt us. They try to scare us with their undertakings to subjugate women's rights, to escalate racism and to put white men back in the role of dominance and superiority that they found so comforting in the 1950s.

Standing between those ghouls who would steal our diverse souls is the woman whose time has come. A woman who, at a most pivotal time, will become president of a country that was conceived in freedom and equality, but that has been weighted down with chains of bigotry and chauvinism for decades.

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What I believe about the American Spirit is that it can only be pushed around, weighted down, trod upon and disrespected so long; but then, inevitably, that Spirit will emerge with a fierce roar, bellow "Enough!" and fight back with ferocity.

We are there now. We are ready for battle, and Hillary is our chosen leader, our collective strong voice. She, too, was in the thick of the Feminist Movement, and she used every advantage afforded women during that time to get a great education and use her formidable intellect and energy to make a better world for women and children.

Though she has been working tirelessly for decades, she is now coming into her ultimate power. She has, during this election cycle, led the mother-of-all-battles for strengthened rights and basic human dignity.

Some may say it's too late to regain our feminist foothold and build a future that is even brighter than our past. But from the looks of hope, the voices of excitement and the charged emotions that infused the crowd, it was evident that there is a huge power surge behind the belief that we can, and will, be stronger than ever.

But as both Hillary and Michelle strongly emphasized, it happens with our votes. Michelle said, "Now we need to do our job, and get her elected president of the United States." She reminded us that, "In this country, the Unites States of America, the voters decide our elections, they've always decided who wins and loses--period, end of story!"

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Please, take that to heart, and take action. Vote!
As election day fast approaches, all of a sudden it feels as if a deep lull has swept over the nation and halted us in our very steps. People are asking a simple question: Is this really happening to us? At times the presidential campaign has brought out the worst of America, and left us bereft. Sadly, no matter who wins, we can expect more ugliness.

What are we to do?

Over the past handful of months, I have crisscrossed the nation too many times to count -- from Yakima, Washington to Sarasota, Florida, from Hawaii to Mississippi, and from Denver to Kentucky and West Virginia, and assorted places along the way. My trips have been physically exhausting, and yet emotionally uplifting.

No doubt, at each stop, no matter where I have gone, and with whomever I've spoken, people have been dismayed by the toxic, corrosiveness of our national politics. They abhor the name-calling. They detest the shallowness. Embarrassment and disbelief prevail. I often hear people ask, "How can we ever get out of this mess?"

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What's clear is that our leaders in Washington, D.C., will not be leading the way. Don't hold your breath waiting for effective action to come from the nation's capital. Nor should you expect inspiring acts of leadership. Sadly, we are now witnesses to a woeful march of folly -- until it bottoms out. In time, it will.

But we needn't acquiesce to this path of the status quo. There is an alternate path in front of us; we must choose it. This is a path of possibility and hope. Such a path is not one of nice sentimentality, or blindly rooted in nostalgia, or based on hype and false promise. In our heart of hearts, we know better.

Instead, the path of possibility and hope is closer to you than you might think. It's more doable than what could seem possible. How? It comes from within us. And from among us.

Amid the rancor and silliness of our national politics resides a deep yearning within the American people to make community a common enterprise again. To build greater trust, forge deeper relationships and grow our civic confidence that we can come together to get things done.

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I hear people speak of this yearning as I travel the country, do on-the-ground work in communities, and lead rigorous research efforts to understand Americans' attitudes and beliefs. It exists. It is real.

All we must do to tap into this yearning is actively make the choice to turn outward toward one another and take small steps forward together. Such steps might be as simple as shifting our usual conversations from one of complaints to expressing the kind of community we want to help create. It could be finding places where you can take action with others -- in your place of worship, local school or running group -- and naming out loud with them why that action gives you a sense of progress and hope. Another step might be going the extra mile when seeking someone in need and helping them out -- acting as the Good Samaritan -- especially when you are more likely to turn away.

Of course, we need to do bigger things together, too. I have in mind everyday people in Spartanburg, South Carolina, who built and now run a medical equipment exchange that makes equipment available at no cost to residents and where people often donate something they found in their home when they return their loaned equipment. Or, the group of residents and police officers in Hartford, Connecticut, brought together by the local library, who are working to build stronger community-police relations.

Whether the actions or big or small, they all count, more now than ever. When we each of us steps forward, we reaffirm the goodness that exists within and among us -- especially when we see and hear those who look or sound or seem different from one another. Then, we can reclaim the potential for coming together. And then we can gain the confidence to take on even more systemic challenges.

Most of all, by tapping into this yearning, we restore the human element to our common lives.

Make no mistake: What emerges will not immediately change policy or discourse in Washington, D.C. Nor will it transform our national leaders anytime soon. Or end hunger or stop killings.

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A team of political scientists, writing in the Washington Post, concluded that "Trump supporters who are struggling economically perceive U.S. economic performance overall to be much worse than it actually is."

Those voters believe that the unemployment rate is three times higher than the official number, and these new figures aren't likely to change that.

"It is noteworthy," the researchers added, "that the impact of additional factual information about the national rate did not move their perceptions much."

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They may not know the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but they know their own economic reality and those of their peers and their communities. So do the African-Americans, women, manufacturing workers, and other workers who confront economic injustice on a daily basis.

These diverse groups of working people could become a new coalition for change. Where are the reports that speak to, and for, them?

By the Numbers

The latest employment report looks good at first glance. Hourly wages rose 2.8 percent year over year, slightly higher than recent gains and the largest increase since 2009. The jobless rate fell by a tenth of one percent to 4.9 percent. The "U-6" figure of jobless workers, people seeking work, and those working fewer hours than they'd like, is nearly double the official number. But it fell slightly too.

And yet, underneath these favorable numbers, a darker story is being told. The labor force participation rate - the number of Americans who are working or are actively looking for a job - slipped by a small fraction and remains near its lowest level in four decades. Many workers have simply been left out of the job economy.

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The centrifugal force of inequality is tearing our economy in two, creating a small aristocracy and a permanent underclass. As the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently noted, "Wage inequality has grown tremendously over the longer-term period from 1979 through 2015."

The 161,000 jobs added last month is lower than economists' modest projections and the latest three-month average of 176,000. Average job growth is actually down from recent years. The manufacturing sector lost 9,000 jobs as the overall trade deficit reached $36.4 billion in September.

Adjusting for the average number of hours worked, that hourly wage gain remains pretty much unchanged from previous gains. And it includes the highest-paid workers. "Private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees," a category that covers 80 percent of all workers, saw a lower wage increase of 2.1 percent, roughly half of the 4.0 percent annual increase for workers before the Wall Street the financial crisis of 2008.

African Americans

The African-American unemployment rate is 8.6 percent, twice the white rate of 4.3 percent.

Black workers are paid less than white workers, according to the EPI - and the gap is growing wider, not narrower. The gap is greatest among workers with the highest incomes, meaning that - at least where income is concerned - there still isn't "room at the top" for everyone.

Wage inequality is being made worse by the "productivity gap," where a greater and greater share of the nation's increasing wealth is siphoned off by the wealthiest among us, leaving less and less for the majority of working people. This gap is compounding the problem for African-American workers.

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"Closing the 26.2 percent racial wage gap alone would have raised hourly wages of the median black worker by $5.03 in 2015," the EPI found, while "Closing the racial wage gap and ensuring that median wages grew with productivity would have raised hourly wages of the median black worker by $12.33 in 2015 (from $14.14 to $26.47)."

The EPI adds:

"Addressing both class and racial inequality in this way would have also raised the hourly wages of the median white worker by $7.30 (from $19.17 to $26.47)--an increase of 38.1 percent."

Both white and black workers would benefit from a change in economic policy.

Women

The typical woman working full-time makes 80 cents for every dollar made by her male equivalent. "Women are paid less than similarly educated men at every level of education level," another EPI report observes, adding that "the wage gap tends to rise with education level. And while the gap would be offset somewhat if women chose different occupations, the report concludes that "these 'choices' stem from a lifetime of decisions shaped by economic and social forces."

The reports adds:

"Gender discrimination doesn't happen only in the pay-setting practices of employers ... It can happen at every stage of a woman's life, from steering her away from science and technology education to shouldering her with home responsibilities that impede her capacity to work the long hours of demanding professions."

"Women who work in male-dominated occupations are paid significantly less than similarly educated males in those occupations," the report adds. "So even recommending that women choose better-paying occupations does not solve the problem."

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When it comes to women in the workforce, the United States is falling behind other developed countries. OECD data shows that the employment rate for women is rising is virtually all other developed countries (the sole exception is Denmark, where it dropped slightly but is already extraordinarily high).

But, as the Center for Economic and Policy Research reports, that figure is falling in the United States. As the CEPR observes, factors behind that drop most likely include the high cost of childcare and the lack of guaranteed parental leave. These policies, too, would benefit a broad range of working people.

The White Working Class

Polls show that working-class whites, especially those without a college education, are fearful of the future. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 53 percent of white working class voters were "very dissatisfied" with the current economic situation, and 25 percent were "somewhat dissatisfied."

These white Americans were more dissatisfied than the country as a whole, and more dissatisfied than working-class African-American and Hispanics. They were also the subject of last year's much-discussed study on the so-called "deaths of despair": the rising incidence of death from suicide, alcoholism, and opioid overdose.

Why would these Americans be more pessimistic than other communities, like Latinos - especially when in many cases their economic situation remains better? Perhaps because the future looks dimmer than the past. That's a situation that breeds despair (and calls to "make America great again.")

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The American middle class was once a roaring success- but its rewards were granted disproportionately to the white working class. The American middle class is no longer the wealthiest in the world, and most of the developed world has a larger middle class than the United States does. The middle class is disappearing all across the country, according to the latest Pew Research data, and its remaining members are earning less than they once did.

We can rebuild the middle class by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and by addressing our trade deficit. This, too, would benefit workers in many different demographics.

The Experts

Those Trump voters may well be, as the political scientists wrote, "driven by emotional reactions and candidate attachments, rather than by pure information" - a statement that could arguably be made about most voters. And they may have proven reluctant to accept concrete numbers about the employment market. But that reluctance may also have stemmed from the fact that those numbers aren't emotionally true for them.
Closeup of Vote Pin

Are you a concerned US citizen, worried about the future of the country and the planet? Are you wishing there was something more you could do than just cast your own solitary ballot?

Good news - there is something more you can do! Find one other eligible voter who might not otherwise have had the motivation, mobility, or ability to vote, and bring them as your plus one to the polls.

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As a country, we're not doing so great at democracy. That's not a statement about the candidates; I'm talking about voter turnout. In 2012, somewhere between 53% and 58% of the voting-age population cast ballots, putting us about on par with Poland and well behind our neighbors Canada and Mexico (and most other developed countries). These stats are one of the many reasons why the "voter fraud" lie is so preposterous: nearly half the country isn't even motivated enough to vote once, much less to figure out how to commit a federal crime by voting multiple times or under false identities.

But if each of us in the franchise-exercising half of the population tried to find and bring a plus one from the non-voting (almost) half, then we can close this turnout gap. We could even beat Belgium at democracy. Imagine beating Belgium!

If all eligible voters actually voted, then the right candidate would win. That's not a partisan statement. That's true by definition. That is the fundamental premise of democracy.

What kind of person makes a good plus one at the polls? Maybe your cynical friend who thinks that her vote doesn't count, and it doesn't matter anyway because the system is just rigged, man. Talk her out of that nonsense, and bring her with you to the voting spot. Maybe it's your 89-year-old grandmother who can't drive, doesn't walk so easily anymore, and is anxious about potentially having to stand in a long line. You can reassure her about the lines, give her a ride to the polls, offer a steadying hand, and hang on to her purse for her while she votes. Maybe it's your co-worker - bring him with you on your lunch break. Maybe it's your absent-minded friend who's gonna forget if you don't remind them. Maybe it's your sister, brother, or auntie who needs you to watch the kids long enough for them to get to the polls and pull the lever. It could be anyone, so ask around and talk up the election - make sure the people around you have a plan, like Joe Biden does.

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Last month, Michelle Obama reminded us that all it took in 2008 was two votes in each precinct to swing North Carolina for her husband. Those two votes could be you and your friend.

I really felt what the First Lady was saying there in Charlotte, because in 2008 I spent the week before election day getting out the vote in in Durham, NC, knocking on doors all across town. That was a life-changing experience in more ways than one, and it left me with some memories that I'll never forget. The one that affected me most was an elderly African American man who had been a cab driver but was now disabled. The man's wife and kids had already voted, but the family didn't have a car and the man didn't have a way to get to the polling place. So I drove him there. On the way over, he talked about growing up in the segregated South, what it was like to drive a cab for 40 years, and all the different kinds of people he had met. He was chatty and cheerful. He cast his ballot, and I drove him back home. When we got there, his wife met us at the door, tears streaming down her face. She had been assuming that her husband wasn't going to have the chance to vote for what might be the first black president--something neither she nor he ever thought that they might live to see. They thanked me, said God bless me. I drove one block and parked the car on the side of the road and completely broke down. Even writing about it now is choking me up. That wasn't the only time I was moved to tears that week, but it was the most memorable.

And the President won North Carolina by 14,000-some votes. And that is what democracy looks like: neighbors helping neighbors.

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So make it your mission to find at least one fellow citizen who might not have voted if it hadn't been for you. Check in with the campaign of your preferred candidate and see if they need help getting eligible voters to the polls.

And if you live in an early-voting state, don't wait - now's the time.


Photo credit: Pixabay

In his book The Dynamics of Faith Paul Tillich famously defines one's object of faith as that for which one is willing to sacrifice everything. Some people sacrifice friends and family for money or fame. Others do so for a cause or idea. Others devote their lives to following God. Ultimately, however, a person can have only one god. When we rate other things as more important than God, or when we make God conveniently believe what we believe, we place our faith in false gods. That's Tillich's point.

Unfortunately, a number of gods seem to be making their appearance in the U.S. debate about climate change and about the environment in general. On the liberal side of the divide many environmentalists have been willing to displace people from their homes, whether in the Smokies or in Latin America, in order to establish parks that would protect endangered species and their ecosystems. They have espoused top-down, one-size-fits-all regulatory approaches that, while often improving water or air quality, also have often made it unnecessarily more difficult for businesses. All too often environmentalists have ignored the very real needs of the people living in the environment needing protection. While these attitudes and policies have improved greatly over time, particularly with the advent of sustainability thinking, the legacy of placing environmental quality above all else remains with us, particularly in its impact on many conservatives.

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US conservatives tend to discount the extent of environmental problems as well as the idea that the government should play a role in dealing with them. Yet, most other countries exhibit a fairly wide consensus on the need to deal with environmental issues. Why does the US stand out as the exception?

The Emergence of the Environmental Divide

In her book entitled Between God & green (Oxford University Press, 2012) Katharine Wilkinson, a Sewanee Rhodes Scholar, explores the cause of this anomaly. She finds that large US firms affected by environmental regulations engaged in efforts to link anti-environmental attitudes with anti-abortion thinking in the minds of conservative evangelicals, thereby capturing the energy of a large bloc of voters. Other scholars have reached similar conclusions. By sowing skepticism about environmental science, particularly climate science, they succeeded to no small degree in convincing this large group of people that environmental problems either don't exist or that government shouldn't get involved.

Other research reveals that Americans increasingly tend to listen only to those who share similar views and to discount the credibility of those with whom they disagree. In a recent article the Guardian reports that a team of researchers at Texas Tech University examined liberal and conservative views of Pope Francis' recent encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si. The team concluded,

In sum, while [the] pope's environmental call may have increased some individuals' concerns about climate change, it backfired with conservative Catholics and non-Catholics, who not only resisted the message but defended their pre-existing beliefs by devaluing the pope's credibility on climate change.

In this case it appears that conservative Catholics tend to believe conservative political sources more than the head of their own church.

Prophets and Idols

Jesus and the Jewish prophets who preceded him exhibited little patience for those who closed their minds to new possibilities. They continually confronted those who "knew what they knew" with disturbing new ways of seeing things and of behaving. Most of the time, as a result, the prophets either were persecuted, run out of town, or killed. Their listeners used their own gods -- their beliefs, social positions or power -- as the touchstones for determining the truth of what they heard.

In our day we, too, face the question: who is our god? the market? government? environmental preservation? -- or God? Are we willing to have our most precious beliefs about the environment and politics challenged? Are we open to prophetic words? Do we have "eyes that see and ears that hear?" Or, do we judge new ideas and information by what we already know? Do we sacrifice truth on the altar of convenience and comfort? Do we worship idols of our own making instead of taking the risk to seek truth at any cost?

Periodically God attempts to shake us out of our complacency and comfort by asking us to consider whether or not someone who makes us squirm might possibly be saying something we need to hear. God does this because the world is far more complex and nuanced than we possibly can comprehend. Faced with this reality God calls us to humility so that we might be ready to change when called to do so.

If we do try to seek God, however we understand who God is, we have to be willing to listen to others and to have our precious beliefs challenged. Otherwise we run the risk of refusing to listen to God speak, making him or her pass our test of orthodoxy. Making God in our image is a risky thing for anyone to do. It's even riskier when we do it as a society.
Outlandish as it seems to say now, the time may soon come when women will be grateful for the all-out misogynistic campaign that Donald J. Trump has run.

Feminism is gaining substantial ground because of the despicable positions enunciated by the worst masculinist ever to be the presidential candidate of a major American party. How fitting it is that such a man-child should be the one to carry the thousands-of-years-old banner of male dominance into the field against the first woman major party presidential nominee in American history.

The fact that the Republican nominee is an extreme--indeed, maniacal--misogynist has far more to do with the unprecedented deficit that Mr. Trump is suffering among women voters than that his opponent is a woman. Mr. Trump isn't running against a particular woman. He isn't even just running against a woman becoming president. He is running against women and the revolutionary idea that they are equal to men. The election of the first female president will be a major milestone in American history, but it is the defeat of a man who has based his campaign on sexual assault, in the broad meaning of an attack by one sex on the equality, dignity, and even humanity of the other, that may raise the 2016 Election to the level of world-historic significance.

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While Donald Trump has charged Hillary Clinton with "playing the Woman Card," what this momentous election has actually centered on is Mr. Trump playing the Anti-Woman card--or the "man" card--to arouse other males who, like Mr. Trump, are insecure in their manhood and feel threatened by the advances women have made in recent decades. When conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said of Hillary Clinton, "Something about her feels castrating," he was expressing an anxiety felt by millions of self-doubting men who prop themselves up with the crutch of putative male supremacy.

Trump's Essential Message:







"Prominent men on the edge of obsolescence have never acted so wounded, so angry, so desperate," Frank "Prominent men on the edge of obsolescence have never acted so wounded, so angry, so desperate." Frank Bruni pointed out in the New York Times earlier this week.

Mr. Trump couldn't stop himself from blurting out "such a nasty woman" in the third presidential debate because to him any woman who doesn't "know her place" as a subordinate is unacceptable. His rage at such women brings forth a similar uncontrollable wrath in his followers. When they scream "Kill the Bitch," they refer not so much to Hillary Clinton as to the archetypal Bitch--to all women who challenge the bastion of male authority. Though the vicious shouts at Trump rallies are expressed in the singular, their deeper meaning is plural: "Kill the Bitches!" When they scream "Lock Her Up!" they refer to all those "hers" who will not stay subordinated. They really mean "Lock them up!"--put them back in their cages.

The Republican nominee's boasts about his ability to force himself on women and sexually assault them are, far from a reflection of his "manhood," a cover for his masculine insecurity, which is, of course, also evident in his felt need to brag before millions of television viewers about the size of his male organ. It resonates with other men who fear the effects of the loss of male control and are attracted to Mr. Trump's assertion of privilege, power and control over women. Following the release of the Access Hollywood tape, a Trump backer held up a sign that succinctly summarized the underlying drive of the Trump movement: "Better to grab a P***y than to Be one!"

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The appropriate response to the above sign is obvious:

Vote HILLARY

Finally Someone WITH OVARIES!

As Charles M. Blow recently put it, Mr. Trump is "the logical extension of toxic masculinity and ambient misogyny. Trump is a natural, predictable endpoint." That toxic masculinity has existed throughout recorded history. Acute Masculine Insecurity Disorder is not listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but it should be. It has caused more harm throughout human history than has any other mental condition, and Donald Trump is a textbook case.

A likely response to the claim that the central feature of the Trump campaign is misogyny is that the Republican candidate is an equal opportunity degrader. He does not confine his contempt to women; he vilifies Latinos, African Americans, Muslims, immigrants, people with disabilities, prisoners of war, veterans, Gold Star mothers, people who work for him, his contractors, anyone with the temerity to say anything against him, and on and on. In short, he treats everyone he wants to demean the same way he treats women.

That is just the point. It is Mr. Trump's open treatment of everyone he disdainfully classifies as "losers" as women that potentially makes his campaign one of meta-historical significance. He is pulling back the curtain that has for so long obscured the fact that the axiomatic assumption of the superiority of male to female is the fundamental underlying motive force in human history and the model for the subjugation of all other groups and individuals labeled by those who assert dominance over them as inferior.

"Male supremacy is the oldest, most basic form of domination," Robin Morgan correctly wrote in the "Redstockings Manifesto" in 1970. "All other forms of exploitation and oppression . . . are extensions of male supremacy."

Donald Trump's seething hatred for women and his similar disdain for all "others" has taken us on a dive deep into the wreck of a human history based on the subordination of women of which Adrienne Rich wrote in 1972. He has made plain the truth of what Ms. Morgan wrote in "Goodbye to All That": the subjugation thousands of years ago of the female half of humanity "because it was 'different,' alien, the Other" made it "an easy enough step to extend the Other to someone of different skin shade, different height or weight or language--or strength to resist."

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By so blatantly denigrating all women and treating almost everyone else the way he treats women, Donald Trump has significantly advanced feminism. It is almost as if he has been working from a list of all the things he could say that would demean all women so they would fully perceive their common plight and unite. He attacked Megyn Kelly by saying she had "blood coming out of her wherever" and ridiculed Hillary Clinton for her "disgusting" taking of time to go to the bathroom. He has mocked former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and many other women for being overweight. He rates women by beauty and says that the age of 35 is "check-out time" for a woman. All women menstruate. All urinate. Most have worried about their weight, looks, and age. His boasting of his power to grope women brought forth in the minds of millions of women terrible, long-repressed memories of such incidents in their own lives. He has shown a substantial majority of women that they all suffer from similar mistreatment by such insecure men as Mr. Trump. He could hardly have made it plainer that he views all women as objects, but the same is the case with everyone else who gets in his way. That realization on the part of a large number of men who have been demeaned by insecure males who try to humiliate them by using language that classifies them as women should bring many more men to see the wisdom of the feminist refrains, "Free Our Sisters! Free Ourselves!" and "Women's Liberation is Human Liberation."

On behalf of feminists, women, men secure enough to embrace sexual equality, and for a revolution against millennia of male dominance:

Thank you, Donald Trump for doing so much to advance everything you so totally oppose.
This is an immigrants love song to his adopted country! Will we immigrants play a critical role in renewing American democracy? We must because every generation of immigrants to the United States has done so. Except this time the call is more urgent because the tenets of our social compact are under attack.

On the day I flew into New York to avoid imprisonment in my home country of South Africa, I was afraid the plane would flip over. It seemed everyone was trying to stand up to get a glimpse of Lady Liberty. People beamed and clapped and I felt goosebumps looking down on her and her torch of welcome.

We immigrants cherish the freedom, pluralism, separation of powers, journalistic independence, free markets and diversity of our adopted homeland. We've made a choice to flee or leave countries where those things are not cherished or enshrined in the fabric of society. We have chosen to become fellow citizens but we should not take what we treasure here for granted.

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Here is why I write this love song:

Immigration! The magnificence of the United States comes from the waves of immigrants who have shaped, formed and enriched this country. Each group has brought unique gifts to our culture, cuisine, ingenuity, the arts and more. Countless studies reveal that the net economic impact of immigrants is a positive contributor to the economy. Immigrants commit significantly fewer crimes than native-born citizens. Yet one candidate oozes disdain for immigrants and effectively denounces the American story of what has made us great - immigrants.

Voting! The right to vote freely and without intimidation is as American as apple pie - or so it should be. Since becoming a naturalized citizen in 1995 I have only missed voting in two elections. Perhaps because of where so many of us immigrated from voting is a sacred privilege. This election cycle sees renewed attempts to intentionally limit voting by American citizens. One candidate even threatens the possibility of voter intimidation at the polls. Surely we want to expand democratic participation?

Free and Fair Elections. Unlike the countries many immigrants come from, where elections are fraudulent and manipulated, multiple studies reveal that voter fraud in the US is so rare as to be statistically insignificant. We trust the integrity of the process and honor the peaceful transfer of power even when the Supreme Court decided the 2000 election. One candidate preys on his supporters to undermine the fairness of our elections and potentially subvert the peaceful transfer of power with veiled threats of violence. This is what tin pot dictators do. America's beacon of democracy is surely not assailable?

Free Exercise of Religion. The founding promise of the American experiment was the free exercise of religion. Many of us immigrants come from places where religion is a weapon. I've been privileged to build interfaith relationships and coalitions with Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindi's, Christians and many others. One candidate for President foments suspicion and hatred about one religion with words of violent disdain. Which religion might be next in attacking a fundamental tenet of our society?

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Armed Forces. The armed forces have been one of the great unifiers and melting pots of a diverse America. We honor service women and men with our words, gratitude and celebration of their service. I've worked with vets in the early years of the AIDS crisis when the VA offered scant services and I've worked with some of the far too many vets living on the streets or shelters of our country. One candidate mocks the family of a Gold Star veteran because of their faith. Surely our Commander in Chief must aspire to be the commander of all service men and women regardless of their religion?

Freedom of Expression. Freedom of expression - and especially that of the media - is a hallmark of American democracy. When Jewish journalists are harassed and threatened on social media by supporters of one candidate and when the same thing happens to a prominent gay journalist it is deeply disturbing. But when the candidate himself mocks a disabled reporter and suggests reporters might get beaten up by his supporters, it is reminiscent of the countries many of us fled. To trifle with freedom of expression is to subvert America itself.

My immigrant love song to my adopted is not about party affiliation. It is about the soul, dream and promise of the United States. Religious converts are often zealous people and I think it is fair to say that many of us immigrants are zealous about this country out of our love and gratitude for it.

I've had the good fortune to live in big and small cities as well as a rural area of this country. I've led community development corporations, congregations, a prominent institution and served on prestigious and unknown boards. I've ministered to people on the streets, in blue collar communuties and among the rich and powerful. Like most of you, I am a keen listener and observer of the America I cherish.

When we do not live up to the democratic ideals we proclaim to the world it is noticed. If we deny or impinge on the exercise of free speech, religion and voting and if we start immigrant deportation forces and use military service for partisan political gains every autocrat and dictator takes courage and comfort. Those possibilities diminish all of us.

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Each wave of immigrants has contributed to making our Union more perfect and holding our feet to the fire about the ideals that make the United States of America a beacon of hope.

For the soul and renewal of America, we immigrants need to vote. And if you remember your own immigrant roots join us in renewing the very things that make us unique.

Let's sing a love song to our country by showing up to vote and renew American democracy.
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SOCHI, RUSSIA - OCTOBER 27, 2016: Russia's President Vladimir Putin at a plenary session titled 'A Philosophy of International Development for the New World' as part of the 13th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. Mikhail Metzel/TASS (Photo by Mikhail Metzel\TASS via Getty Images)

On October 7, 2016, the United States government accused Russia of illegally attempting to influence the results of the US presidential election. The Obama administration's condemnation of Russia's interference in the US electoral process followed widespread speculation about Russian collusion with WikiLeaks and allegations of Kremlin involvement in the August hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC)'s servers.

Even though Donald Trump's non-committal attitude towards NATO and praise for Vladimir Putin's leadership qualities have heightened Russia's interest in the 2016 presidential election, Moscow's actions can not solely be explained by the dynamics of the current election cycle. Taking a more long-range perspective, Russian policymakers view their interference in the US electoral process as a form of retaliation against past US meddling in Russian presidential elections.

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The Clintons feature prominently in these past cases of US interference in Russian domestic politics. Under Bill Clinton's watch, the United States actively supported Boris Yeltsin's retention of power. Clinton's commitment to Yeltsin did not waver during the 1990s, despite widespread Russian public antipathy towards his economic policies and serious doubts about his competence to serve as president.

The negative memories of the 1990s transition period have caused Putin's allies to view US support for Yeltsin as an act of hostility towards Russia. As some of Putin's allies sympathized with the authoritarian ambitions of the 1991 coup plotters, allegations that US officials handed over secure codes used by coup plotting Soviet generals to Yeltsin have engendered particular animosity. The Russian state media has also described the active involvement of US political consultants in Yeltsin's come-from-behind presidential election triumph in 1996 as an egregious violation of Russia's sovereignty.

Since the colored revolutions of the mid-2000s, Kremlin policymakers have embraced the view that US involvement in the electoral processes of Russia and other CIS countries is motivated by a pernicious desire to prevent Russia's re-emergence as a great power. The 2011-12 Russian election protests consolidated this negative view of Washington's intentions.

During the 2011-12 mass protests, Putin's allies frequently accused the CIA of sabotaging Russia's elections. Representatives of Putin's United Russia Party argued that the United States was attempting to instigate an Orange Revolution-style turnover of power in Russia that would bring back "perestroika" and revolutionary chaos. Liberal nationalists like Alexey Navalny were publicly discredited as foreign agents. Putin's supporters also launched large-scale anti-Orange demonstrations in Moscow to protest against perceived US meddling in Russia's elections.

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The Euro-Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, and rising influence of hardline anti-American policymakers like Vladislav Surkov and FSB head Nikolai Patrushev, have made Putin even more reactive to perceived US involvement in Russian internal politics. Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul's decision to redirect $50 million towards civil society assistance to Russia in March 2012 has been cited as smoking gun evidence for pernicious US interference in Russian politics.

Despite these circumstantial claims and US financial assistance to liberal Russian organizations, the body of evidence demonstrates that the 2012 Russian election protests were not the product of US interference. Instead, Putin has effectively used popular anti-American conspiracy theories to deflect from the discontents expressed by liberal nationalists and middle class Russians frustrated by authoritarian backsliding and economic inequality. As Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State during the 2011-12 protests, Putin's anti-American approach has manifested itself in an attempt to sabotage the Clinton campaign.

Many US media outlets have regarded these anti-Clinton sentiments as face value proof for a Russian endorsement of Trump. Yet Russian elite opinion on Trump's campaign is a lot more circumspect than many commentators have argued. The hegemonic aspirations inherent in Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan and Trump's disdain for the United Nations (UN) conflict markedly with Putin's dream of a genuinely multipolar world order.

Putin demonstrated his potential discontent with Trump in emphatic fashion on October 27, claiming that rumors of Russian elite support for the Trump campaign were mere fictional US media concoctions. This suggests that Russian involvement in the US elections is largely a targeted revenge mission against Clinton for perceived past wrongs and not a full-fledged endorsement of Trump by Putin.

Russia's ability to interfere in the US election process also bolsters domestic perceptions of Russian great power status and can help rally Russian nationalists around Putin's rule. Even though Moscow has denied involvement in the US elections, Russia's ability to flagrantly violate America's sovereignty by releasing unfavorable documents about Clinton is rooted in its desire for symbolic parity with the United States.

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In the eyes of Kremlin policymakers, the ability to violate international law without consequence is a defining feature of a great power. By ironically employing the same double standards as the United States, Putin has been able to demonstrate to the Washington establishment that Russia will not roll over passively to US pressure.

Allegations from Moscow that the US government has banned Russian election observers from overseeing the presidential elections also entrench the notion that the US employs double standards in its foreign policy. Giving the United States a taste of its own medicine during a politically sensitive period like an election cycle resonates powerfully amongst anti-American nationalists within Putin's inner circle.

From a tactical standpoint, interfering in the US election process also expands Russian soft power by giving Russia a political support base in the United States that is amenable to Putin's authoritarian, socially conservative style of government. Right-wing nationalists in the United States drawn to Trump's candidacy have also been attracted to Putin's socially conservative agenda, anti-LGBT legislation in Russia, and Moscow's hardline approach to combatting Islamic extremism.

Russia's outreach to the alt-right in the United States closely resembles its cordial relationships with anti-EU, far-right political parties in Europe. Covertly crusading against Clinton's presidential campaign helps Moscow curry the favor of right-wing populists in the Republican Party, giving Putin a political base within the United States. This support base could eventually give Moscow a voice in the US media and government.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Nina Galicheva, Trump Tower Protest, October 19)

I'm 3 years older than Hillary. I grew up in the corporate world, at a time, when psychotic men were powerful, and powerful women were bitches.

The very specter of electing the first female president, is making men act out like prepubescent boys, leaving the rest of us 'nasty women' in a constant state of anxiety and rage.

Donald Trump, and now Anthony Weiner, have become the embodiment of every grope in a board room, obscene gesture implying oral sex, every lecherous stepfather rubbing up against a confused teenager.

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Every unwanted tongue thrust down our throat by the guy who signs our paycheck.

What's In A Word?

I've always hated the word, 'pussy', it's denigrating, pejorative and crass. Immature, jargon used by impotent men, insecure with their own sexual prowess.

When a transcript of The Donald's comments about women was printed in the New York Times, the word appeared above the fold.

And we, as a nation, normalized and sanctioned, sexual assault.

A silent scream resonated through the collective unconscious of every woman in this country.

So when a thousand of us, and a few 'decent men', showed up at Trump Tower for a spontaneous protest, chanting, 'Grab him by the ballot', 'Donald Trump go away, racist, sexist, anti-gay', and 'Free Melania', something amazing happened.

The 'charge' was gone, as if we had taken the word back - literally, and figuratively. And there was something exquisitely liberating about screaming it at him, or at least his building.

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Rising up in one beautiful, defiant voice, absent of shame, or culpability, that we had done something wrong.

It was thrilling, joyous, irreverent and galvanizing. This was the gift he gave us, he will have done more for the women's movement than anyone in history.

It was like 20 years of therapy, and reminded me of the day women went on strike on August 26, 1970. 50 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment when we got the vote, we marched out of our offices, linked arms down 5th Avenue, brandishing signs, 'Don't Iron While While the Strike Is Hot'.

'I Can't Believe We Still Have to Protest This Crap'

I was born in 1944, which makes me a War Baby. I come from a long line of nasty (working) women.

Mine was the first generation raised by women who worked. They had to, when our dads went to war. So that was our imprinting. I'm Saturday's Child, 'work for a living'.

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Trump doesn't believe wives should have careers, he thinks it's 'dangerous'. He thinks women who have abortions should have 'some form of punishment'.

My mother was an airbrush artist at Walt Disney Studios during the Golden Years, after the war she worked for Howard Hughes, and then owned her own ad agency in the 1950s. She was invariably, the only woman in the room, filled with men wearing white shirts and skinny black ties.

I too, was the only woman in the room. I began my career as a producer at Young & Rubicam, making $50 a week, in the late 60s, or the last season of Mad Men. Women were 'girls', breasts were ogled, 'asses' were grabbed, coffee was fetched. Men were confused. We wore mini skirts and hot pants to work.

The women's liberation movement was in its infancy, we burned our bras and spoke our minds. We marched and fought for women's rights, reproductive choice, and equality in the work place.

It was a time of the Playboy 'bunny dip', casting couches, Mile High Club, and the '500 mile limit', when wedding rings would fly off the minute you ordered your first Mimosa, on your, all expenses paid, trip to 'the coast' for a shoot.

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A Trump/Pence presidency, will blast women's rights back to the last century. The GOP platform has conversion therapy in it, that's electric shock to make gay people straight. Pence just passed a law where you have to have funerals for fetuses.

When I was a girl, abortion was illegal. I thought we dealt with this already. Planned Parenthood, marriage equality, Roe V Wade, gone girl gone - in the first 100 days.

A few years ago, I interviewed the courageous, Russian punk rock dissidents, Pussy Riot about Trump's pal, Putin and their fight for free speech under his dictatorship. They had come to Zuccotti Park to listen and learn about what we did at Occupy Wall Street.

These brave women come from a place where journalists are murdered, and they were jailed in the gulag for their activism, you can see where Trump gets his ideas.

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I have NYPD press credentials, which means I can get in anywhere, any Secret Service event. I've filmed Hillary, Bernie and every Trump protest in New York over the past year.

The only way you can get into one of his events, is to send an email confirmation from your outlet, so they can control who gets in. As an independent, I have no outlet, so I'm denied.

But I conned my way into the press conference where he introduced Mike Pence. It was one of the most terrifying hours I've ever spent, a rambling, incoherent, narcissistic rant, pandering to the evangelicals promising to put tax exempt status, and religion back in government 'where it belongs'.

Michael Moore In TrumpLand

Mike made a love letter to Hillary, and to America.

He made Trumpland in 2 weeks, finishing it the morning of the first surprise screening. It lays out the case for Trump voters and for Hillary, and the scenario by which Trump can win, 'the candidate with the most rabid supporters will win, because of the low turnout.'

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'There is nothing I could put on a piece of film that could show you how bad Donald Trump is. He is the best writer of satire, and the best argument against himself. No filmmaker could top, what he does on a daily basis.'

Watching the film, I was reminded, Hillary's journey was my journey. Her fights were my fights, our fights, for the rights of women's bodies, and our children and our jobs. Her battles against discrimination and equality, were my battles.

Although we never met, we fought side by side for 50 years. And by the end of the film, I was crying, as were we all. I fell in love with Hillary, and I fell in love with my country.

Trump and the GOP elephant in the room, are but a symptom of what must be healed in this country, and it is incumbent upon we women, to shut this whole thing down, and once we've rescued our Democracy, it's time to repair what is broken in the world, Tikkun Olam.

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They live in California, Nevada, and Ohio. They are mothers, doctors, waitresses, business owners, married, single, straight, gay, trans--but they all wanted to say the same thing. The song, "You Make Me Feel Like (A Natural Woman)" is sung by Louise Goffen, the daughter of Carole King, who donated the song for this ad.
Porchetta (pronounced "por-ketta") is a spectacular roulade of pork -- whole hog traditionally, or shoulder or loin -- rich with crisp belly fat, blasted with garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, and citrus zest. Ancient cookbooks housed in the Vatican library suggest porchetta, which was traditionally spit-roasted over juniper wood fires or roasted in pits, originated in the Roman town of Ariccia as early as the 13th century. Today, porchetta is a popular street food in the city, hawked from white vans and typically sliced and served on panino.

Porchetta came to North America via Italian immigrants in the early 1900s. In Philadelphia--a town that knows a thing or two about sandwiches--porchetta is simply known as "roast pork"; it is served on a crusty roll with melted provolone and sauteed broccoli rabe or spinach. (Order it at Reading Terminal Market.) Another North American porchetta hub (where it is spelled porketta) is Sudbury, Ontario. Brought to this remote region by Italian nickel miners, locals still play "Porketta Bingo" on Saturdays. The prize? A pound of sliced dill-inflected porketta. Count me in.

While porchetta does make amazing sandwiches, its highest calling (IMHO) comes when it's served whole. Your friends will gasp with admiration when you slice through the mahogany-colored crackling-crisp pork skin to reveal luscious layers of meat and pork fat, then shingle it on a large platter with grilled oranges and sprigs of fresh herbs. It's perfect for the holidays--relatively inexpensive, easy to slice, and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

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One good place to start if you're a porchetta virgin is with my recipe in Man Made Meals. Instead of a whole pig, my less intimidating version begins with a butterflied pork loin and exchanges pork belly for pancetta--Italian uncured bacon.

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Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson in Sweat

Photo: Joan Marcus

Lynn Nottage--author of the Pulitzer-winner Ruined and the Pulitzer-worthy Intimate Apparel--returns to town with her new play Sweat, which is every bit as powerful and accomplished. This time, Nottage is not exploring the Congolese jungle or the New York garment world of 1905. Sweat takes place in the recent past, the scenes jumping back and forth between 2000 and 2008. With a set of gripping characters, Nottage illuminates just how we the people got to where we are today.

Nottage has apparently been working on this play for several years, so her focus seems not to have been on the current election. Even so, the conversation centers on factory closings, NAFTA, weakened trade unions, and hatred of foreigners. This helps make Sweat, in spite of itself, pretty much an explanatory and illustrated primer of what we have been seeing in the battleground states these past months. And Nottage--being a dramatist and a MacArthur Foundation grant "genius"--knows how to write a compelling story. So while Sweat seems not to be intended as an overtly political play, it exposes nerves and offers audiences outside the Rust Belt an emotional link to the characters and the issues. (If the MacArthur money--$625,000 nowadays--provides the freedom and the resources to dig into an idea and come up with something like Sweat, then Nottage has been a worthy recipient.)



Reading, PA, is a factory town. Tracey (Johanna Day, well-remembered for her Tony-nominated performance as Mary-Louise Parker's sister in Proof) and Cynthia (Michelle Wilson) are the best of friends, on the line together at the steel tube factory from back before their twenty-year-old sons Jason (Will Pullen) and Chris (Khris Davis) were born; in this world, skin color is not nearly so important as the color of your union card. Until race inevitably bursts into the narrative and explodes, although it is mostly natives against "outsiders." In this case, the outsider--Oscar (Carlo Alban)--is Reading-born, but that doesn't mean much to America Firsters.

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Stan (James Colby) oversees the tavern where the characters congregate, with the regulars including Tracey and Cynthia's factory mate Jessie (Miriam Shor, from the original Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and Cynthia's junkie husband Brucie (John Earl Jelks, a Tony-nominated regular from the works of A. Wilson). The current day scenes feature parole officer Evan (Lance Coadie Williams, from Bootycandy).



John Earl Jelks, James Colby, Michelle Wilson,

Carlo Alban and Johanna Day in Sweat

Photo: Joan Marcus

Sweat is mostly a barroom play, in the tradition of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life and Charles Gordone's No Place to Be Somebody; both winners of the Pulitzer, the latter being Public Theater-born. It also is a family/community play, in the manner of the best of August Wilson. But Nottage is writing in a different manner in a different world, and in a different century. As for the barroom itself, it is steeped with character; you can almost smell the staleness of spilled beer. (Nottage comes up with an enormous laugh, as it happens, courtesy of the draft on tap). The set comes from the erstwhile John Lee Beatty, who has been giving us stunning and fitting scenery since 1974; Peter Kaczorowski has done the lights, Jennifer Moeller the costumes.

Kate Whoriskey, of Ruined and the recent Aubergine, is well in tune with Nottage; the play moves briskly and the actors are so directed that scene after scene impactfully lands. But it is the writing which gets us. Nottage spins her tale and her characters' lives, and wraps everything up superbly. After which she provides a final scene that grabs you by the heart and leaves you gasping at the curtain. Beautiful writing, and a beautiful play.

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Those of you who were fortunate enough to see Ruined at Manhattan Theatre Club and Intimate Apparel at the Roundabout well know that you will deeply regret it if you miss Sweat. If the earlier plays provided star-making roles for Condola Rashad (in the one) and Viola Davis (in the other), Sweat is more of an ensemble piece. That said, Ms. Day shows great strength as Tracey, especially when the character becomes unstable. She is in fine company with Wilson, Davis, Colby and the others. Let credit for Sweat be shared by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Arena Stage, which co-commissioned the play with the Public.
(Artist Natalia Fabia in her studio in front of "Knowingness," oil on panel. Image courtesy of the artist.)

Natalia Fabia is an artistic junkie. She's constantly jonesing for creativity; if you follow her on social media, you'll see posts filled with amusement, whimsy, and more often than not, over the top sparkles and pops of pink.

In person, the artist is unequivocally a full-on extrovert, one who engages and envelopes all that come into her path - she's sort of a cheerleader for the art set. Her work is very much the same way. Yet with her exhibition opening Saturday at Corey Helford Gallery and entitled "Rainbeau Samara," there is a quietness infused into this body of work - but at the same time, it is just as engrossing in its explosions of sentiment and color as Fabia is in real life.

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(Reflection, by Natalia Fabia. Oil on canvas.

Image courtesy of Corey Helford Gallery)

Here the artist weighs in on what this exhibition means to her as well as some of her influences of the past.

Why is this show called Rainbeau Samsara?

Natalia Fabia: "Rainbeau " is a play on my daughter's name (Peribeau) for her youthful and uninhibited innocence, and the rainbows than can be found in any environment if you take the time to look, [as well as] the colors and jewel tones of my paintings. Samsara is Sanskrit, and roughly translated means "sequential cycles of life." Inspired by recent personal events, I am exploring what's known as the seven year life cycles and the stages and emotions within those time frames, from birth to transition, and our shared connection universally by stardust, incorporated into my work with rainbow sparkle splatters and expressive marks.



(Stardust Conception, by Natalia Fabia. Oil on canvas.

Image courtesy Corey Helford Gallery)

There is a quietness and solitude in this work - a very meditative quality. It is definitely an evolution, but was there a trigger?

Fabia: The birth of my daughter, the death of my brother and falling into a painting funk. I wasn't really excited with my work, and the process was not enjoyable to me anymore. I was constantly avoiding, so after some meditation and self analysis, I had to tear it all down and rebuild.

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(Magic Scout, by Natalia Fabia. Oil on canvas.

Image courtesy of Corey Helford Gallery)

There are works that seem reminiscent of John Everertt Millais, and even hints of Matisse and Manet. Can you talk about who some of your influences are?

Fabia: I referenced a few artists preparing for this show: John William Waterhouse, Lisa Yuskavage and Lawrence Alma-Tadema. I also found myself enchanted by a score of 19th century European landscape and figurative artists, some suggested by artist friends in Poland and some randomly appearing during my searches for inspiration imagery.
"Fracking" (hydraulic fracturing) involves vertical and horizontal drilling a mile or more beneath the Earth's surface to capture oil and gas resources trapped beneath solid rock by first pulverizing that rock with an extremely high-pressure blast of a mixture of common water, specialized abrasive sands and toxic chemicals.

Certainly the Republican Party has plumbed unconventional depths with its nomination of Donald Trump as its presidential candidate: no person without military or elected or appointed governmental service has ever been elected to that office. And Mr. Trump's personal platform has also consisted of a highly specialized mixture of both ordinary political populist rhetoric combined with especially abrasive and highly toxic messages delivered in high-pressure settings and volumes.

In addition, most of these abrasive and highly toxic messages have been surging "underground" via right-wing talk radio and similarly focused print, online and cable media for the eight-plus years spanning President Obama's campaigns and two terms in office. Virtually the entirety of Trump's messages about undocumented immigrants, Muslims, U.S. military incompetence, "radical Islamic terrorists," trade deals, the Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, as well as Obama's supposed foreign birth, allegiance to Islam, linkages to ISIS, Iran, the "Arab Spring," the "gay agenda," infanticide, the "fraud" of climate change, and dictatorial and treasonable actions have circulated in such media well before Trump picked them up -- particularly from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and especially Trump's frequent radio interlocutor, Michael Savage, who has even virtually called for the president's assassination on his program ("Obama is a rabid dog that should be dealt with accordingly!" -- a statement personally heard by this writer).

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During Obama's terms, the Republican Party has, to some degree, kept an arm's length distance from Savage, Limbaugh and especially the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as well as journals like National Enquirer and Breitbart, as they promoted mere gossip as facts and conspiracy theories as evidence of the "underground" version of "truth" that the above-ground "liberal media" could not be trusted to tell. (Mark Levin even purports to broadcast from an "underground bunker.") Some of these talk-show folks and conspiracy theorists got their start during the Clinton Administration in the 1990s and simply picked up where they left off (with more contemporary "revelations") Bill Clinton's impeachment and survival when Obama came on the scene. They have now simply tripled-down on Hillary Clinton using the same techniques.

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That Party breakdown, however, pales in comparison to the GOP's current existential crisis, brought on by the inflammatory statements and conduct toward women of its presidential candidate. That has already cost Trump the active support of the current Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and the even more pronounced disdain of 25 percent of GOP state and federal office holders.

Lately, the GOP seems to be painfully learning -- if not yet acknowledging -- the Biblical lesson that you reap what you sow. Trump, by winning the GOP primaries "fair and square" with the largest vote in the Party's history, even with multiple highly-qualified and well-enough funded political opponents most of the way, has made it virtually impossible for the GOP to use the defense of "plausible deniability," given that Trump is only saying stuff that they quietly tolerated from the likes of Limbaugh (who has his own record of "locker-room" moments, as exemplified by his comments about "feminazis" and Sandra Fluke).

Unlike Louis in Casablanca, it is difficult for Republicans to claim to be "shocked, shocked" with a straight face by any of Trump's offensive, xenophobic, authoritarian, untruthful and narcissistic rhetoric -- not only because these traits were on full exhibit in Trump's campaign from its very first day, but also because the Party has been living off the same messaging via the right-wing talk radio and media for many years. Obama, even more than Bill Clinton before him, got so into the GOP's heads that they were all too susceptible to drink the ultra-right wing's conspiracy theory Kool-Aid.

Race-baiting and treason charges against Obama from Limbaugh, Savage, Levin, Hannity and O'Reilly, and birtherism by pre-candidate Trump and others, were tolerated and even subtly encouraged as a way to de-legitimatize the first black president. Party leadership became so irrationally unhinged that their governing political posture seemed to be: "If Obama is for it, we're against it, even if it's our own idea." (See, for example, ObamaCare's mandates, and the tax cuts in the 2009 stimulus package).

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But most Republican officeholders just want to win and, as noted, many seem willing to abandon Trump to do so. With Trump at the top of the ticket, GOP chances for retaining the small but controlling majority they now hold in the Senate and the larger, 30-seat majority in the House of Representatives are now at big-time -- but not yet decisive -- risk.

Trump's obsession with a former Miss Universe, his leaked sex-soaked bus-ride tape and confrontation with, at last count, a dozen additional women who have charged him with some form or other of unwanted sexual approaches or contact have coincided with the poll numbers showing Clinton with a four- to eight-or-more-point national lead, and smaller but significant margins now in most of the so-called "swing states." These poll results may be just as bad, if not worse, in the GOP's own private polling, given the Party-splitting actions by seasoned officials like John McCain and John Thune as well as multiple state governors.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (booed in his home state by Trump supporters after he had banned Trump from his rally) tried to thread the needle through both sides of the emerging Party splintering by asserting he would no longer campaign for or defend Trump, but would also maintain his endorsement and vote for him. The Republican National Committee held a national conference call to confirm (remarkably, at this late stage of the presidential campaign) that it remained behind its candidate (though exactly how close or far behind, they didn't quite say -- evidence on that will come when we see how it allocates campaign resources in the closing weeks). Both these moves, in effect, acknowledged the seriousness of the very same Party split they tried to cover up. As one leadership meeting observer put it: "It's every person for himself or herself." That's not a political party, it's political anarchy.

Trump, as might have been be expected, has responded in kind by asserting the "shackles" holding back further criticism of his GOP critics are off! He knows from the polls that his debate performance energized his "base" but apparently did not expand it. Do not Trump and even his GOP critics -- many of whom share Trump's animus toward the president but in less hysterical terms -- appreciate that no Democrat president, even the most popular or powerful like FDR, LBJ or JFK, has been able to trigger the fundamental destruction of the Republican Party such as we are now witnessing, but their nemesis Obama seems on the brink of doing so through virtually no action or intent of his own?

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As The Dallas Morning News has put it, "Who knows what it means to be a Republican now?" The Trump phenomenon has it roots in the visceral, take-no-prisoners opposition to Obama adopted by the GOP leadership immediately upon his inauguration, with the stated, overarching goal of making him "a one-term President."

Obama himself argues forcefully for the necessity of having two healthy contending political parties in the American democracy. But who would have guessed in 2009 that his second term could wind up being the last term of the Republican Party as we know it! And they continue to bring that fate upon themselves. Trump now portends a refusal to concede if defeated, and a few of his supporters now speak openly of riots, revolution and even rebellion and assassination if Trump should lose what they think is a rigged election (as Trump has charged).


We've come a long way since the agreement was formed in 2015. Stephane Mahe/Reuters

The Paris climate agreement, first struck in December 2015, enters into force today. The treaty commits countries worldwide to keep carbon emissions "well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C".

Countries will pursue self-determined emissions targets, agreed upon before the last round of climate talks, from 2020 onwards. The national targets will be reviewed and strengthened every five years.

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The agreement also commits richer countries to provide funding to poorer countries, which have done the least to contribute to climate change but will suffer its worst effects.

As the world embarks on its most dedicated effort yet to prevent catastrophic climate change, The Conversation asked a panel of international experts to give their view on the significance of the agreement coming into force.

Bill Hare: 'A historic turning point'

For better or worse, the entry into force of the Paris Agreement is a historic turning point, humanity's most organised response to date to the largest and most far-reaching challenge to the habitability of the planet and viability of its life: human-induced climate change.

To me, this agreement represents our last best chance to come together and take the essential steps to prevent the worst consequences of climate change.

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Over the next five to ten years, if we succeed in bending the present upward curve of emissions and ramping up climate action - meaning that by 2025 emissions are well and truly on a downward trajectory - then we will be able say the agreement is working.

In this timeframe CO emissions from coal would need to drop at least 25% below recent levels. We would also need to see a whole range actions towards a sustainable, fully renewable, zero-carbon future by 2050. Such an outcome is not beyond what can be imagined, as the necessary measures bring many benefits, and the technologies to get there are getting cheaper every month.

Make no mistake - we would still be confronting major climate challenges even if we limit global average warming to 1.5C. But without that action our challenges would be immeasurably worse.









Jacky Naegelen/Reuters





Should we not succeed, and emissions continue to increase, the Paris Agreement could come to symbolise all that is wrong with the world, and with the present world order. Such an outcome would be associated with other large-scale societal problems, such as rapidly increasing economic inequity, as well as access to political power and decision-making. Unchecked climate change would exacerbate many of these issues, including the increasing likelihood of climate-induced migration.

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Scientists and policy makers are mobilising now to help in the next great stage of implementing the Paris Agreement, which is to increase the level of ambition and action. An IPCC Special Report is being organised for 2018 to assess impact, mitigation, and sustainable development issues surrounding the 1.5C temperature limit.

This report will provide vital input to the 2018 facilitative dialogue, organised by the UN's climate change organisation, which is meant to examine how countries' global aggregate level of action stacks up against the required emission pathways in 2025 and 2030. The results of this dialogue will provide guidance to countries as they prepare to submit their updated, and hopefully upgraded, nationally determine contributions by 2020.

Julia Jones: 'Forest people cannot bear the costs'

The loss of tropical forests contributes as much as 10% to global emissions of greenhouse gases. For this reason (and because protecting rainforests has other potential benefits), a UN-negotiated mechanism on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, known as REDD+, is widely promoted as an important pillar in efforts to tackle climate change.

Since the idea that tropical forest nations should be funded to slow deforestation was initially proposed in 2005, many initiatives have sprung up to explore how REDD+ can work in practice. These pilot schemes show that while well-designed projects can deliver emissions reductions, conserve biodiversity and improve local livelihoods, positive outcomes are far from guaranteed. A number of groups advocating for the rights of people who live in forests strongly oppose REDD+, as they believe that it will result in evictions.









Stephane Mahe/Reuters





As of today, efforts to slow climate change by saving rainforests are enshrined in international law via the Paris Agreement. What will this actually mean for tropical forests and its people? Resources available for conservation will increase, which is certainly positive.

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However for millions of people, mostly very poor and politically marginalised, these forests are home and the source of their livelihoods. Their needs, views, and knowledge must be taken into account in any conservation actions. It cannot be fair that forest people bear the costs of mitigating climate change.

Luke Kemp: Watch out for Donald Trump

The Paris Agreement's entry into force is both impressive and troubling. It could be a sign of renewed international momentum. But its speed is more likely indicative of a lack of substance.

Ratification means few legal obligations for participating countries. Paris entering into force has more symbolic than legal strength.

What does entry into force mean for those nations that have not joined, such as Russia? Not a great deal for now. Arguably, they should be excluded from having a voice and a vote in initial negotiations over the finer details of the agreement's implementation.

In practice, diplomats are eager to ensure that Paris remains a truly global effort, and have created a technical workaround so that even countries that are yet to ratify can participate in discussions. The (perhaps naive) assumption is that eventually all parties will join.

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In the longer term a lack of ratification is likely to lead to exclusion from discussion under the Paris negotiations, as well as an inability to use elements such as market-based mechanisms under the agreement. Non-ratifying countries will probably also become international pariahs.

However aside from social pressure, the Paris Agreement is extremely weak against countries who choose not to join, or opt to withdraw. It contains no "non-party" measures to entice participation or punish non-ratifying countries. Such an arrangement looks fine for now, but it could become a fatal flaw if Donald Trump takes power in the US on November 8.









Carlo Allegri/Reuters





Paris was designed to be a universal agreement that appeals to the United States, trading away strong substance in favour of quick approval and universal participation. A rogue superpower could mark the end of the honeymoon.

Meraz Mostafa: 'New approach to climate policy'

With the activation of the Paris Agreement, the issue of loss and damage becomes a central tenet of international climate governance. The UN climate body is now committed to address the impacts of climate change that go beyond adaptation. These include everything from islands sinking in the Pacific Ocean to infrastructure damage during cyclones.

This is somewhat surprising given how contentious the issue of loss and damage has been at climate talks. Arguably, the first reference to the concept was proposed in 1991 by Vanuatu, whose negotiators unsuccessfully argued for an international risk insurance pool to deal with the adverse affects of climate change.

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NASA





But it took until 2014 for the UN climate body to establish a separate mechanism, called the Warsaw International Mechanism. This mechanism consists of nine action areas ranging from how best to finance loss and damage to how to deal with the impacts of climate change not easily valued in the market (the loss of home, tradition, culture and so on).

Even with this in place before the Paris negotiations last year, several developed countries, including the US, were uneasy about including loss and damage in the agreement. This is because they were worried this issue would quickly bring up the question of whether developed countries could be held liable and have to compensate for their share of greenhouse gas emissions. A comprise was reached in negotiations where a separate article in the agreement was dedicated to loss and damage, but the notion of compensation and liability were explicitly ruled out.

The article on loss and damage in the Paris Agreement mainly focuses on supporting the Warsaw mechanism. The next round of climate talks in Marrakesh will be important, because it is when the negotiators are expected to come to a decision on a five-year rolling working plan for the mechanism.

This plan is yet to be determined, based on the last meeting of the executive committee of the Warsaw mechanism (made up of an equal number of representatives from developed and developing countries). In particular, separate task-forces will be created to address issues such as migration and non-economic loss and damage. An information hub for comprehensive risk management (that is, microinsurance) will also be established.

The Paris Agreement is significant, because it establishes a new approach to climate policy, whereby climate change-related loss and damage will have to be addressed alongside mitigation and adaptation.

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Stefan Rahmstorf: Governments should be in emergency mode

The Paris Agreement is the best we could have expected at this point in history. It is a beacon of hope. Almost all nations on Earth have decided to move towards net zero emissions.

It was high time, and in some respects too late. Paris came almost exactly 50 years after the famous Revelle report from the US president's scientific advisory panel issued a stark warning of global warming, melting ice caps and rising seas due to our carbon dioxide emissions.

The long delay in confronting this threat is not least a result of a major, still ongoing obfuscation campaign by fossil fuel interests.

The goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2C, or better 1.5C, is necessary. Two degrees of global warming is very likely to spell the end of most coral reefs on Earth. Two degrees would mean a largely ice-free Arctic ocean in summer, right up to the North Pole.

Two degrees would be very likely to destabilise the West Antarctic ice sheet (evidence is mounting that this has already happened). Such an increase might even destabilise the Greenland ice sheet and parts of the East Antarctic ice sheet, locking in more than ten metres of sea-level rise and sealing the fate of coastal cities and island nations.

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Some major impacts of our fossil fuel burning cannot be prevented now, thanks to the fateful delays already mentioned. But every 0.1C of warming we avoid helps contain further massive risks to humanity, including major threats to food security.

Because of all the time that was lost, the remaining emissions budget is very tight: at current rate, we are eating up the budget to stay below 1.5C (with a 50:50 chance) in about ten years. The budget for 2C would allow us to keep emitting for about 30 years. If we ramp down emissions rapidly we can stretch these budgets out to last longer, but the key here is to turn the tide of emissions now or we can give up on staying well below 2C.

If we take the Paris Agreement seriously (and we should), governments around the world should be in emergency mode, taking rapid and decisive measures to get their emissions down.

Pep Canadell: Little time for celebration

By all accounts, the Paris Agreement is an astonishing achievement. However, we should spend little time in celebrating its coming into effect and move swiftly from the broader well-intended rhetoric to specific actions. The next round of climate negotiations, beginning in Marrakesh on November 7 will be the first real test to assess how committed countries are to the goals of the Paris Agreement.









Reuters





Each individual country needs to show how they will specifically implement the very vague National Determined Commitments, and equally important, how they are planning to go beyond those initial commitments, now that we know that the collective effort falls well short of what is required to stay below 2C.

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Harald Winkler: 'Implementation of adaptation and mitigation needed'

The Paris Agreement has entered into force. The global significance is the political momentum for climate action continues. From a southern African perspective, the implications for adaptation are at least as important as mitigation - and both will need support. The focus must shift to implementation at the local level.

For Africa, the Paris Agreement gives much greater political visibility to adaptation. Article 7 includes a global goal for adaptation. But also a review to ensure that the adaptation response is adequate. The adaptation goal links the temperature goal - to be held below 2C, and pursuing efforts to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - with adequacy.

The greater the increase, the worse any negative impact will be, particularly for African countries with low adaptive capacity. International practice on adaptation needs enhancement, this can build on existing methodological work, particularly on information for the adaptation component of Nationally Determined Contributions or other forms of communication.

To take effective adaptation action locally, the adaptation finance gap must be addressed.

Certainly all countries will have to do more on mitigation. The literature is clear that the sum of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions "still imply a median warming of 2.6-3.1 degrees Celsius by 2100". This is often simplified to mean more mitigation, but in many southern African countries, this will mean "avoided emissions". The challenge is to follow development pathways - to meet basic developmental needs - without going to high emissions in the first place. Avoiding a high-emissions development pathway is a big ask of African countries.

Support is essential to shift to both low carbon and climate-resilient development pathways.









Carlo Allegri/Reuters





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The strength of the Paris Agreement lies in its comprehensive scope that includes finance, technology and capacity building. The success of local action on adaptation and mitigation depends on implementing these provisions. For the first time in global climate governance, developed countries have agreed to communicate indicative support to developing countries every two years ex ante. Access to environmentally sound technology and capacity building will be important to achieve the necessary transitions. Continuous support for the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency is a crucial aspect of transparency; and transparency related capacity.

Finally, local action is needed - and, globally, a multi-lateral rules-based regime, which is what the world set out to achieve in Durban and agreed in Paris. Fully developing the Paris "rule book" is a key task at the international level. But we dare not wait - each country and all its people need to start to prepare for the impacts, avoid emissions and where emissions are high, reduce them very rapidly indeed.


Hillary Clinton, then US Secretary of State, with then-president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, in 2011. Reuters

This piece is part of The Conversation Global's 'The View From ...' series, explaining how governments and citizens in key countries worldwide view the US election. Today, Miguel Angel Latouche explains why Venezuela - immersed in its own political battles - isn't paying much attention to Clinton v Trump.

As they do on so many things in Venezuela today, citizens have conflicting opinions on the United States. For some, the US is a melting pot of freedom, a representation of everything good to which one could aspire. For others, it's a militaristic nation that for centuries has imposed an imperial vision on Latin America, aka "America's backyard".

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Both perspectives are, of course, exaggerated. In the end, we get closest to the truth when we examine our northern neighbour with a critical but non-ideological perspective, without our own Venezuelan dreams and fears getting tied up in it.

Living between love and hate

This mix of love and hate has become the default stance in this extremely polarised, ideological country. Venezuela is confronting a roiling social, political and economic conflict that touches every aspect of our lives, and the truth is many Venezuelans today are just fighting to survive.

In seeking to protect ourselves, to save our own lives, we have embraced corporatism - that is, the logic of constituting a political corpus that functions around private interests and reduced social good. We live between distrust and fear.

It's basically inevitable at this point that we view everything - from how we live our lives to what we hope for the future and how we assess political leadership - through a partisan lens.

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International politics take a back seat

In a context of domestic crisis, international news fades away. When you're worried there's no medicine at the pharmacy, it's harder to care about a hole in the ozone layer. When you must resort to the black market to buy canned corn, toothpaste, or soap, you can't worry about North Korea's nuclear testing or the fate of Tierra del Fuego's penguins. The same goes for the US presidential elections.

It's not that we're not talking about politics in Venezuela, because we are - a lot. It's just that the dire national situation monopolises the conversation. How are we doing as a country? What's the latest on the conflict between the National Assembly and the Executive? Is this an authoritarian regime?

Media coverage in the country is quite limited and subject to self-censorship. Restricted access to newsprint is killing off dailies, and air rights concessions are inequitably distributed. What news there is, then, centres on national issues, often presenting dichotomous views.

When the media does cover international affairs, it focuses on those that hold the most interest for Venezuela's government. So we see a lot of coverage of Colombia's peace process, for example, because Venezuela is acting as mediator. But we read much less about the US, from which we've politically distanced ourselves.

Without meaningful media coverage of the US election, we don't really know what Venezuelans think of the candidates. But based on conversation, my impression is that Hillary is perceived as a boring person, lacking character and the capacity to lead, while Trump is seen as a lout who isn't afraid to say what he thinks. People think he's a strongman type, capable of launching the postmodern rendition of Teddy Roosevelt's politica del garrote - Big Stick politics.

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A world power, weakened

These are liquid times, as the Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman tells us, and one can understand how true that statement is when a world power like the US has shifted from world domination to debates on the global governance on issues related to climate change, drug trafficking, and poverty.

Even from here, it's clear that the US has changed. The presidential debate in the United States seems to be swinging between two extremes, from the excesses of Hillary Clinton to those of Donald Trump. There's the mudslinging over the candidates' personal affairs, and how they're struggling to convey a message of hope in this complex moment for the world.

If anything about it is getting Venezuelan attention right now, it's just how sad the US electoral season has been.

We can tell this year is far removed from traditional campaign dynamics. For example, for the first time in the US, there is a candidate who's truly anti-party (though he is running under the banner of a party), who doesn't respond to the establishment. That's noteworthy, because Venezuelans are accustomed to American politicians who show commitment to the Washington way.

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We're also interested by the lack of ideas in this presidential race. Clinton and Trump are playing with emotions. This frivolisation of politics in one of the world's great powers indicates an important and symbolic weakening of democracy, both in the US and worldwide.

Echoes of a Latin American strongman

But the worst thing about this election, far more so than Clinton's email scandals, is - and I say this with a shudder - Trump's similarity to Hugo Chavez.

Trump's brazen, loudmouth way of arguing, and the garrulousness with which he attacks his opponents and criticises everyone else, is uncomfortably similar to the openly rabble-rousing populism of Hugo Chavez. It's the approach Chavez used to win election in the late 1990s.

The plethora of Trump-Chavez comparisons this season has elicited some backlash. To be clear, I am not saying that the two represent the same political perspective - but there's no doubt on the question of style.

Both Trump and Chavez have appealed to the aspirations and fears of their electorates, playing with ambitions, hopes and demands of vindication. Neither cared at all what other people say.

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Both also represent a manifestation of populism that emerges when a weakened political system has ceased to satisfy the reasonable demands of a country's poorest, most excluded citizens. When politics fails to adapt to accommodate them, old symbols lose meaning.

Chavez sought to change politics in order to break the existing political order, and now, in the post-Chavez world, Venezuela is living through a kind of horrible magical realism of political rupture and scarcity. The US is experiencing its own magical reality now, too - but in Trump's hands, it's one borne of excesses.
From L-R: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation Chelsea Clinton, discuss the Clinton Global Initiative University during the closing plenary session on the second day of the 2014 Meeting of Clinton Global Initiative University at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona March 22, 2014. REUTERS/Samantha Sais (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS EDUCATION)

Amid hyperpartisan discussions about the presidential candidates, critiques of their charitable endeavors have stood out.

The critiques of the Trump Foundation entail some clear-cut violations of longstanding rules and customs of private foundations.

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It is difficult to understand and critique the Clinton Foundation, because of its size, multi-organization network and variety of programs.

Some critics have made extreme claims that the organization exists solely to enrich its founders or that it's part of a vast criminal enterprise. Others touch on matters of governmental ethics, with accusations that Hillary Clinton engaged in pay-to-play schemes at the State Department, exchanging favorable treatment for donations.

Finally, there are those who make the oft-cited but incorrect claim that the Clinton Foundation spends less than 10 percent of its resources on charity (it spends close to 90 percent). Hidden among such partisan noise, however, are legitimate concerns that warrant a further examination.

And while Clinton no longer plays a role in running the foundation, she is intimately connected to the organization. And for better or worse, its achievements and ethical lapses -- as well as the efforts to correct those failings -- reflect on her and her candidacy.

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From our review of the organization and experience in researching nonprofits, we believe that the valid criticisms all point to a problem exhibited by many charities: lax governance. The problems are generally not legal ones. Rather, they set forth questions of ethics, management and messaging.









Andrew Harnik/AP





Who are the donors

All charities that rely on the general public for donations are entering into a de facto partnership with their donors.

Although some may think all donations are good donations, any charity that has found itself in this donor bind knows that it is important to ensure your donors do not send a message antithetical to your mission.

In the Clinton Foundation's case, relying on business partners, foreign donors and foreign governments brings the question to the fore. That some of the governments that are donors have policies that run counter to the foundation's mission raises the stakes. Although this is a major problem for politicians associated with charities, it is a matter that all must consider.

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While one cannot entirely eliminate these questions, proactively establishing and communicating a clear and consistent policy can ease concerns. Thus far, the Clinton Foundation has often been reactive, changing its policy toward foreign donations as circumstances change: first permitting donations from a variety of sources, then agreeing to limit foreign government donors, then reopening the door to them, then allowing donations from only specific countries, then agreeing to ban such gifts altogether.

It is this most recent decision, if adhered to strictly, that stands the best chance of assuaging public perception concerns.









Mark Lennihan/AP





Who has influence

A problem that plagues many nonprofits is that the board and leadership consist of friends, family members and business partners.

Such a circumstance, while natural at the start given the connections of those involved, creates an organization that is at risk of mixing charitable efforts with business and personal endeavors. To combat this possibility, it is critical to establish a culture and controls to ensure the organization is distinct from the individuals involved in it.

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A review of the officials at the Clinton Foundation and its affiliates over time reveals a group of long-time Clinton allies and partners. Some are accused of mixing charitable activities with personal connections. Such commingling concerns are particularly salient given a primary activity of the organization has been to convene an annual meeting of business and government leaders to pledge support for a variety of causes.

To her credit, Chelsea Clinton made strides to bring outsiders to leadership positions in the foundation and to conduct audits of internal operations to ensure separation between its activities and the interests of individuals within it.

The fact that some insiders bristled at such efforts should confirm their importance. Unless these efforts are given high priority, the organization and its founders are likely to continue to be dogged by similar accusations.

Conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest represent a broader concern that arises any time those making decisions for a charity may do so under other, outside pressures.

Those pressures could be from friends, business interests, political goals, etc. To avoid these problems, an organization should establish procedures to identify such potential conflicts and work to assure that even an appearance of one doesn't exist. This is certainly a high bar but one worth aspiring to.

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In the Clinton Foundation, the potential for conflicts is unavoidable. The political activities of its founders, the business and government influence of its donors and the matchmaking activities it conducts all open the door. This has led to accusations and speculation about pay-to-play arrangements in which donors to the foundation expect or are promised access or other favorable treatment from the Clintons.

While those remain unproven accusations, like many of the critiques of the Clinton Foundation, they do highlight how even the appearance of a conflict can create concern. Documented cases are the foundation's relationships with donors Frank Giustra and Laureate University, each of whom also had business interests that intersected with State Department decisions. Interestingly, most of the conflicts identified thus far do not implicate significant nonprofit legal issues but rather suggest governmental ethics instead.

Even if such decisions are not truly conflicted, the organization should do all it can to eliminate their appearance. Policies that segregate duties and decision-making power go a long way. For example, a nonprofit could ensure that those who decide on programming are distinct from those who interact with donors and that such a firewall is solidified as part of the culture. That way even if a donor seeks to pressure the organization or its representatives to take certain actions, such pressure doesn't find its way to those who make the decisions.

These issues gave rise to an ethics pact between the foundation and the Obama administration upon Clinton joining the State Department that placed strict limits on activities that could create appearances of a conflict. Lapses in ensuring that it was followed, however, highlight the critical nature of preventing future violations.









Frank Franklin II/AP





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Consequences of mission creep

Many organizations expand their mission over time. This can get an organization into a mess quickly if not done with significant forethought. When an organization faces public scrutiny, an expanded mission puts an organization's leaders at risk over their choices and their motivations.

With the Clinton Foundation, "mission creep" has been substantial. It started as an organization to raise funds for the Clinton Library and has over the years added HIV/AIDS, climate change, healthy children, economic development, Haiti earthquake relief and a variety of other initiatives to the mix. It has also employed a variety of approaches, from negotiating for lower drug prices to establishing for-profit/nonprofit hybrid investments to promote growth.

The proliferation of programs and tactics leaves the organization open for criticism of its motives. As an example, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), while innovative in its wide-ranging approach of bringing together influential donors with causes and organizations in need of funding, has also raised concerns of mixing business and charitable interests.

While these changes in mission do not implicate legal issues for the Clinton Foundation, they do muddle its purpose. And, if not crafted in a manner to be inclusive of all constituencies of the Foundation, put the organization's good will at risk.

These concerns have not gone unnoticed, as the organization announced the end of CGI in an effort to alleviate worries about its unintended consequences.

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The bottom line

Will the questions surrounding the Clinton Foundation have an ultimate impact on the presidential election?

That we don't know. But we can confidently say that the election and the questions it has raised will have a long-lasting impact on the foundation itself. The organization recently announced preliminary plans to reorganize and downsize in the event Clinton is elected president.

And, if a President Clinton emerges from the election on Tuesday, we suggest you look to how the foundation reorganizes as a signal of the seriousness she will place on effective governance and maintaining public trust.


All area veterans and their families are invited to a complimentary breakfast at the Ste. Marie du Lac Catholic Church in Ironton this Sunday at 10 a.m.

Beverly Blankenship, one of the principal organizers of the event, said the church has been hosting the event for about the last nine years. Organized by the Ladies Sodality, guests will be served biscuits and gravy, breakfast meats and side dishes, desserts, coffee and other drinks.

In addition to the meal, many guests bring memorabilia from their time in the military to share with others. There will also be a memorial on display of fallen veterans from the parish and another display honoring those who are still living.

If any of the guests want to say anything or share anything, we welcome them to do that, said Blankenship.

Attending this years breakfast will be two veterans who have been selected to take an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

Dr. Robert Dettmer and Jasper Dettmer, his brother, will be there and will probably both speak, Blankenship said. Jasper usually leads the Pledge of Allegiance for us.

The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created to honor Americas veterans for all their sacrifices by transporting them to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to senior veterans  World War II survivors and other veterans who may be terminally ill.

Blankenship said more than 100 military members and their families from around the area usually attend the breakfast.

Some of them were in Korea and Vietnam, some were in Iraq and with Desert Storm, she said. And there are a couple from World War II still living.

Ste. Marie du Lac Catholic Church is located at 350 S. Main St. in Ironton.
If you've seen Wolf of Wall Street, you probably remember the drugs and the women and the generally craziness that occurs throughout its three hour runtime. But the best scenes in the movie to me are the ones where Jordan Belfort (Dicaprio) gets up in front of his sea of stock brokers and spits out profanities until he's blue in the face.

I can already see the crazed look that most people have in their eye reading this right now.

Okay, Belfort was off the wall back then, but his character did say something in one scene that's incredibly true for those wanting to be successful. In an attempt to inspire his brokers to make more sales, he says "So you listen to me and you listen well. Are you behind on your credit card bills? Good! Pick up the phone and start dialing! Is your landlord ready to evict you? Good! Pick up the phone and start dialing! Does your girlfriend think you're a worthless loser? Good! Pick up the phone and start dialing!"

In fifteen seconds, Jordan Belfort turns weakness into strength, showing us that having our backs against the wall can actually be a good thing.

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This summer in San Francisco I got screwed out of a week's pay from a former employer. What made matters worse was that I really needed that money to function out there, since I had been traveling alone for months and didn't have much of it to spare.

I was honestly devastated for a few days. I lost sleep and became depressed and started to go off on my own to think. But then, after that sadness went away, I got angry. And I used that anger to fuel my work for the next week.

I had four days of absolutely nothing to do, so I began writing.

I wrote so much that I forgot about my situation, and my bank account. In Jordan Belfort's words, I picked up the phone and started dialing, except in my case it was a computer and I was typing, not dialing.

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I wrote at The Huffington Post back then, too, so I just started blasting out content as much as I could. My anger led to my first ever viral article--one about being introverted, of all things.

Then I wrote an article about my time working at Disney. That took off, and sent hundreds of people to my blog, which had barely been getting 20 visitors per day for the past few months. I also got fifty likes on my Facebook page, which only had about 37 likes from friends and family.

Then I started getting email subscribers and Twitter followers.

Then something incredible happened; I stopped feeling bad about getting screwed out of my money. In fact, I felt better than I had in months seeing fans roll in and enjoying something that I wrote.

The internet really is a wild place, I've learned. Something you write can go from word document to the front page of the Huffington Post in a matter of two hours.

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Here I was, having words I wrote read from what I can only estimate to be tens of thousands of people online. If you want me to be honest, I don't have a regular job because I actually enjoy doing that job. I have a day job because bills need to be paid. When I set out on my journey across the United States five months ago, the main goal was to build an audience for my blog so I could make income from that by the end of it.

It was a silly dream, really.

I started with 37 Facebook likes and I now have 219. I started with 198 Twitter followers and I now have 340. The truth is my follower count has increased drastically since going on the trip, but I was much too busy working and traveling to spend the right amount of time on my blog. I thought that I would be able to live just off of the income from my site by the end of the trip, but the truth is I now have a much more realistic view of how long it will take me to get there.

But that's not the moral of this story. The moral is that desperation is our friend. When our backs are up against the wall, we can either feel bad or get moving like someone just stuck a hot iron on our skin.

And most of the time, we do just that.

So let me ask you a few questions.

Are you behind on your credit card bills?

Is your landlord ready to evict you?

Good. Get to work.
Deceiving voters is a tricky business. And the recent declaration by a political operative in Florida that his side was carrying out "political jiu-jitsu" to choke out rooftop solar development in Florida was certainly eye-opening for voters.

But the real shame in the campaign to kill rooftop solar in Florida isn't so much the deceptive tactics -- though I hope that that will be the downfall of Amendment 1 -- it's the potential lost opportunity for jobs, economic advancement and lower bills across every Florida county.

Thanks in part to damage that's already been done by utilities, Florida, the Sunshine State, uses solar for less than one percent solar of its electric power. Florida places 18th this year behind less populated states such as Maryland, South Carolina and Utah in solar installed. This amendment could add to the state's solar woes by opening the door to new fees and other barriers to solar.

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A laundry list of national groups representing big energy and some of the in-state utilities have combined to spend more than $25 million to advance a ballot initiative purported to support solar. However, the "yes on solar" amendment effectively says to Florida residents, no you can't have solar.

Luckily, the race is tightening, and voters can still reverse the course of this malevolent amendment. In an act of panic, the utilities are dumping $3.5 million more dollars to keep the illusion alive that their amendment is good for solar. Must be nice to have that kind of money literally at your disposal. But Floridians now know better.

It took our industry 40 years to put up the first million solar installations across the U.S., but in only two years, we will hit 2 million. Solar jobs will double over the next four years to 420,000, solar share of the national electricity generation pie will triple and annual solar investment will eclipse $30 billion. It's a true bright spot in our economy. But not for Florida.

Today, there are dozens of companies ready to move into the state and create jobs and spur the economy. Amendment 1 would encourage these entrepreneurs to set up in Georgia, the Carolinas, or Alabama or Mississippi instead.

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Utilities argue that when one neighbor goes solar, it raises everyone else's bills. Not so. Study after study, from the Brookings Institution to Environment America, looking at states from Maine to Arizona, have found that when you add up the benefits and costs of rooftop solar, all consumers benefit. Put simply, solar allows consumers more freedom of choice and the ability to save money.

Rooftop solar, long the victim of tricky policy ploys by monopoly utilities, can come of age in the state if voters defeat Amendment 1 and state policymakers act on overwhelming public sentiment in favor of more solar. To deliver for Floridians, the state must also remove barriers to solar adoption, such as the unique policy that prevents leasing of panels, the dominant model of rooftop solar investment across much of America, but banned in Florida.

Benefits from solar abound. With more solar, the state can spend less on expensive new power plants. New rooftop solar reduces strain on the power grid and delivers cleaner air and water. New jobs, from installers and electricians to site developers and salespeople, will spring up across the state. And Florida, already home to some of the nation's greatest universities and the nationally-renowned Florida Solar Energy Center, can join leading states that are at the forefront of this high-tech movement.

It's time for Floridians to turn the tables on those out to trick them. It's easy enough to do with a single vote. Reject this damaging campaign. Reject the restraint on freedoms that leaves Floridians even more at the mercy of monopoly utilities. Reject utility executive dreams of keeping competition away and leaving tens of thousands of jobs at the border.
Crossposted from UN Women.

Raja Shahwan. Photo: UN Women/Ezz Zannoun

I insisted on completing my Bachelors degree while I was already married and had three children. When I started looking for a job, even my best friend said I should focus on caring for my children and husband. My cousin said. Why would someone choose you when many more are out there looking for a job, she said.

The biggest barrier to womens participation in Palestinian society and in politics is that women are not even aware of the rights that they have. Making them aware is the first step. Another barrier is the attitude of the society, of families and of men. They say women cannot take hard or rational decisions because of their soft hearts.

For four years now, I have been working as a health educator with the Islamic Relief Organization. I am also a member of the Women Local Committee in Gaza. I volunteer there two-three times a week, conducting awareness raising and training sessions for women to build their knowledge and leadership skills. We support them in resolving all kinds of problemsfrom recovering their inheritance to accessing services when they experience violence.

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My advice to womenyou cannot afford to wait for anyone to give you rights. Women have to take the initiative and claim their rights.

I plan to participate in the next municipal elections. I believe that I have the expertise, the willingness and also the strength to change our society for the better.

Raja Shahwan, 40, participated in the Spring Forward for Women regional programme funded by the European Union and UN Women to promote the access and effective participation of marginalized women in economic and public life. Today Ms. Shahwan is employed full-time and an active member of the Women Local Committees in Gaza, Palestine, which help women participate in local governance and community activities. Her work contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality and its target to ensure full and effective participation of women and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
The Paris Agreement, that comes into force today, represents a watershed moment in the fight against climate change. The unanimous agreement by 196 states, to clear targets and mechanisms to steer the global economy to zero emissions, is now law. Entry into force occurred at unprecedented speed. How will it go down in history? Could it be seen as the greatest example of multilateralism, ever?

The Paris Agreement is an instance of extraordinary participation between independent parties. Achieving such a degree of multilateralism is difficult, especially on complex, contentious issues like climate change. Even vastly influential treatises, like the First Council of Nicaea that defined early orthodox Christian belief, lacked compromise between widely differing stances. Constantine invited 1800 bishops, but only 318 attended. Furthermore, powerful voices like Alexander of Alexandria and Arius dominated discussions, drowning out others' views.

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COP21, which heard the sentiments of non-state actors, threatened island states, developing economies, and industrialized nations, is an example of truly broad and effective multilateralism. The Peace of Westphalia is an accurate comparison here. Negotiations included 179 plenipotentiaries representing 194 states. Delegates throughout Europe joined the peace-making process from 1643-1649 following the Thirty Years War, but that precisely is the difference. The Paris Agreement was created incorporating not just regional input, but global.

Nicaea and Westphalia were negotiated during a time when multilateralism didn't exist, where dominance bested compromise. In 325, religion was the most important aspect of social identity in Western Europe. Heretical Christian belief warranted death. It is admirable that Nicaea saw a civilized conference and respected decision making. Treaty-making accelerated after the 1850s and the creation of the United Nations made co-operation easier.

This is not to say that reaching the Paris Agreement was easy. The achievement in Paris had to include compromise: the geopolitics of energy complicated the position between developing economies and industrialized nations. The principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' was present through negotiations and Paris successfully mediated between the different responsibilities of these nations to achieve clear targets that were agreeable to all.

Climate change is a problem of wide scope, requiring a compromise between parties to best limit emissions while ensuring development. Those present at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 faced a similar scale of difficulty. The Napoleonic Wars had swept across Europe, obliterating conservative traditional institutions and advocating liberty, fraternity and equality. The four great powers and France met to solve not just issues of territory and reparations, but to establish a governing world order that would maintain peace.

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Both COP21 and Vienna required mediation between developing economies and industrialized nations. However, the difference is the range and scale of issues that require solving. Regional post-war settlements are challenging, but solving the global issue that is climate change is significantly broader in scope.

Different forms of multilateral treaties govern trade and finance. Breton Woods, established in 1944, created much of the machinery of the modern global financial system. Although the issues addressed were complex and important, they pale in scope to the breadth of issues on the table in Paris. The most pressing need is the orderly reduction in GHG emissions around the world, but adaptation, mitigation finance, loss and damage also have to be addressed simultaneously.

Tackling climate change must integrate all aspects of modern energy, food and urban economic sectors. Participation, era and scope help assess multilateral treaties, but legacy must be the most important. Nicaea settled an orthodox belief held by nearly all Christians even today. Westphalia empowered the concept of the nation state that dominates contemporary politics. Vienna's principle of power balance was the basis of future post-war settlements until WWII. Breton Woods established an international monetary system that helped rebuild destroyed economies and now exists as the World Bank and the IMF.

The Paris Agreement's goal is to curb dangerous global climate change and chart a new course in the global climate effort. With early entry into force set against such a challenging geopolitical backdrop, alongside its vast scope and the extraordinary breadth of participation and commitment from both states and non-state actors, Paris has the potential to go down in history as an exemplar of multilateralism.

If history judges it so depends on our next steps. Now that the Paris Agreement has entered into force, our task is to ensure that all actors raise their ambition and turn to the challenge of implementation.

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I'm writing to you not as a member of any organization but as a person concerned with the future of our country and our world. This is serious. The race for president is getting far too close for comfort, and nobody can afford to sit it out.

It's no secret that some progressives are less than enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton, but it's time to put those reservations aside and vote for her, for the good of the country and the good of the progressive movement.

For her critics on the left, voting for Hillary Clinton is like defensive driving -- it's not the most fun thing you'll ever do, but if you don't do it there could be a huge catastrophe. Think of it as "defensive voting."

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There are many reasons that some on the left are resistant to pulling the lever for Clinton (I'm showing my age here, as few voting methods involve actually pulling a lever anymore). She's too hawkish, they argue. Or too close to Wall Street. Or tied in their minds to her husband's crime bill. On November 8th, none of these issues matter compared to the urgent need to prevent a racist, narcissistic, sexist, unstable demagogue from becoming the leader of the most powerful country on earth.

The damage that Donald Trump could do in four years in office could take decades to repair. If we are going to have any hope of protecting a woman's right to choose, getting money out of politics, or putting even modest controls on the proliferation of guns in an already over-armed society, we can't give Donald Trump two or more nominees to the Supreme Court. We can't give a man with a 30-second attention span and no impulse control the power to launch a nuclear war. We can't treat immigrants as criminals, or allow an entire religion -- Islam -- to be denigrated and discriminated against. We can't put a man who is the candidate of choice of right wing nationalists and white supremacists in charge of enforcing our civil rights laws. We can't give the awesome power of the federal government to a man who openly calls reporters "scum" and doesn't understand or value the importance of a free press. We can't give a man who eggs on supporters to beat up opponents at his rallies control of the FBI and the national surveillance apparatus. And we can't put a man who doesn't believe in climate change in charge of environmental policies.

This isn't the time to vote Green, or Libertarian, or write in your uncle Bob for president. Voting for Hillary Clinton doesn't require agreeing with her on everything, or even most things. For progressives, it means living to fight another day. For serious activists, voting is just one tool among many for promoting social justice. So voting for Hillary Clinton isn't the end of the process, it's the beginning. You can vote for Hillary Clinton one day and turn around the next and oppose her positions on Wall Street regulation or bulking up the U.S. military presence in Syria. And you can support her on issues of agreement like gun control, reproductive freedom, and basic civility.

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One thing the Bernie Sanders campaign has established is that there truly is a progressive wing of the Democratic Party. If they stay active, the Sanders voters can have an impact on a Clinton administration. So can campaigners for social justice who don't see the two party system as the primary terrain for advancing their issues. Not so if the president is a xenophobic real estate mogul who can't be reasoned with.
As Secretary of State for President Obama, Clinton negotiated with Russia on nuclear arms reductions including the 2010 START treaty.



Clinton, earlier this year, told the disarmament group Global Zero, "I will continue to do much of what I did as Secretary of State working with President Obama [to make sure we're on a path toward eliminating nuclear weapons]. We worked hard to reduce the stockpiles of weapons between Russia and the United States. [...] One of my goals as president will be to get China involved." This will be crucial for helping stop North Korea's nuclear program.



Obama, like Reagan, called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. Some have labeled that idea unrealistic.



Reagan himself heard those doubters. After the historic Reykjavik summit Reagan said, "I can't help remembering being told just a few years ago that radical arms reduction was an impossible dream, but now it's on the agenda for both sides." Within a few years treaties were signed reducing American and Russian nuclear weapons, starting major progress toward their elimination.



But we still have far to go to rid the world of nukes.



There are still tens of thousands of nuclear weapons in the world today, most owned by the United States and Russia. China, India, and Pakistan are among the other nations with nuclear weapons stockpiles. North Korea has alarmed the entire world with its recent nuclear test explosions.



As long as these weapons exist, there is risk of terrorist theft or accidental launch. Estimates of the cost are frightening too.



Global Zero says the United States could spend up to 1 trillion dollars over the next 3 decades on the nuclear stockpile. That is money that would be better spent fighting hunger and disease, educating children, or creating jobs.



So where does Clinton start if elected president? She can cut the nuclear spending budget. She can pursue deeper nuclear reductions with Russia, down to at least 1,000 strategic nukes each. And we hope further.



But she must also work with the Senate to ratify an initiative started by President Dwight Eisenhower, ending nuclear weapons testing. Ike started the decades long road to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans all nuclear test explosions.



Hillary Clinton, who knows her history, is indeed an admirer of President Dwight Eisenhower. This bodes well for her potential administration, especially if she listens carefully to the lessons Ike can offer.



Eisenhower considered disarmament as essential for taking the burden off the backs of mankind of paying for expensive nukes.



Eisenhower told Walter Cronkite that not achieving disarmament, including a ban on nuclear weapons testing, would "have to be classed as the greatest disappointment of any administration -- of any decade -- of any time and of any party." Democrats and Republicans have to work together to achieve peace in the nuclear age.



It's vital for our national security that we follow through on ending nuke testing.



The alternative of returning to nuke testing would be extremely dangerous. If the United States were to resume test explosions Russia and China would do the same. Do we want to see a Cold War replay? An escalated, costly arms race would be next.



Clinton, while Secretary of State, warned "as long as we are confronted with the prospect of nuclear testing by others, we will face the potential threat of newer, more powerful, and more sophisticated weapons that could cause damage beyond our imagination."



Instead we must show leadership in ratifying the treaty and reject barbaric nuke explosions. The Senate unfortunately voted against the CTBT in 1999 during Bill Clinton's last term. There has not been a vote since because Republicans and Democrats have not been unified on the issue.



There are seven other nations (China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran, Israel, Egypt) who have also yet to ratify the treaty. If China were to approve the treaty, they might convince their neighbor and ally North Korea to do the same. Ending nuke testing will help lead to disarmament.
Young Poles want to create start-ups and drive innovation. The Polish government actively encourages them, realising that this is the best chance for the country to escape the trap of average growth. This is the reason behind the popularity of conferences about innovations, such as the World Communication Forum Davos in odz, dedicated to Human-Centered Design. When, if ever, will we see innovation on a global scale coming from Poland?

Dymitr Romanowski is one of the 30-year-olds who took up the challenge and decided that their future lies in designing innovative solutions. Together with his team at The Story he has already implemented his first ideas, but the ambitious CEO doesn't want to stop there. Yet he is aware that both he and his company still have a lot to learn, so they need to gain experience so that one day all that knowledge can be leveraged into even bigger success. Dymitr, born a Russian, started the company in Warsaw. He is proud to have founded a company in the capital of Poland and be able to do what has always been his dream for a long time. He knows the value of his work, but he keeps in mind that the market for such services is much smaller than, for example, in the USA.

Warsaw and Cracow pride themselves on the highest concentration of new technology companies in Poland. Both of these cities are robust cultural and academic centres, with great universities, especially technological ones. They are also the most important places of culture and politics. All of these factors mean that the new and the old capital both have the highest levels of activity of startup companies. According to the research made by Startup Poland, there are between 2,5 and 3 thousand businesses of this kind in Poland. Most of them (59%) are micro-enterprises, employing up to 3 people, which means their founders are people who decided to take matters into their own hands and make their own way. That decision comes easier to young people, so the demographic breakdown of Polish innovators should come as no surprise. Founders and CEOs of startups, just like Dymitr, are 20- to 30-year-olds, with higher education, willing to enhance their qualifications. And since youth doesn't care about risk, half of the surveyed startups are financed by personal funds. Other most often chosen funding options are EU subsidies (24%), venture capital funds (22%) and angel investors (17%). The fund created by the Polish government could become an important additional source of financing.

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'We created the largest public fund for startups in Central Europe, combining 3,5 bln PLN from public funding and 3,5 bln PLN from venture capital. I think it's a great platform, sought after by startups from the entire Central Europe, not just Poland,' says Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish minister for finance and development.

Poland has not only helped new innovators, but also managed to attract companies considered icons of innovation. Since 2015, Google Campus Warsaw helps Polish entrepreneurs. UBER, another American innovation, encouraged by the dynamic growth in Poland, has opened an Operations Center in Krakow in September, aiming to support passengers and drivers. The company's head office for Poland is located in Warsaw.

USA-oriented

The presence of such companies as Google or UBER (with IBM and Facebook having had their branches here for a long time), increase the motivation of the younger generation to create similar solutions. Polish people like to take their inspiration from the Silicon Valley and the American market to create and develop their own ideas. They also like to meet American innovators, motivators and opinion leaders during conferences in their country, so they can learn from them. Jenn Maer from the San Francisco-based IDEO, who has been invited by Dymitr and his company to Poland, has taken part in the World Communication Forum Davos in odz, a conference produced by The Story together with World Communication Forum in Davos. She praised the event and even before having left, she declared she'd be happy to come back.

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Jenn Maer from the San Francisco-based IDEO

Even though IDEO is not present on the Polish market, it's such an important brand that Wysokie Obcasy, one of the most popular Polish magazines, asked Jenn Maer for an interview. The December edition will feature an article about storytelling with Jenn Maer as an expert. She was not the only person to represent the Silicon Valley know-how during the conference. odz also hosted people who had previously worked for Apple. For many attendees the possibility of meeting people with the experience of working for the most acclaimed innovative business in the world was an unmissable opportunity.

Paving a way for innovation

World Communication Forum Davos in odz was one of many conferences about innovations that take place in Poland each year. It was, however, the first one to focus on Human-Centered Design. This idea is connected with a better known concept of design thinking. Dymitr explains why he decided this should be the main topic of his conference: 'It's true that many companies in Poland are looking for innovations. Although not many remember that what is most important in design is the so-called 'human factor'. Basic human need should be the starting point and the product should be created with the people that are the target audience for it. Only then does the innovation have a chance of actually providing a break-through for the consumer.' Example? Take the aforementioned UBER. They identified a need and created a service that people actually need. After all, people have always been giving each other lifts. What's more, the success of a service, and the entire business, depends on what the people, and not businesses, actually want, more than in any other industry, where the markets follow the decisions made by CEOs. Dymitr, infected with the idea of creating innovation, together with WCF Davos invited IDEO to Poland. The company is the icon of innovation design using the HCD method. Her presentation was hailed as one of the best. The conference was attended by representatives of many industries. Most of them belonged to the pharmaceutical sector, which is constantly driving innovation. Apart from UX designers, who were the most numerous group, there were also a lot of CEOs and founders of companies, even some international ones. This confirms the hypothesis that even the CEOs have grown to accept the idea of investing in innovative projects. Dymitr is already planning new conferences and has started preparations just a week after the first conference ended. As he himself admits, the bar has been set high, but he quickly adds that nothing motivates him more than an ambitious task.


By John Ruhlin

Corporate gift-giving is a delicate act. Whenever I see companies hand out low-quality (but personalized) engraved pens and paperweights, I think "OK, you've slapped someone's name on it, but do they actually like it?" You can engrave whatever you want, but if it misses the mark, it's useless.

Gifts are a great way to sustain event momentum, but they should be artifacts of the experience -- not cheap afterthoughts. My gift-giving company has had clients come to us and say, "We don't really have a budget. What can you do for 10 bucks?" We can't do anything meaningful for 10 bucks. If you want your gifts to make a splash, you need to budget for them at the start of each year and make them a meaningful part of the event planning.

A well-made, unique gift has a stronger impact than a tchotchke that collects dust on someone's desk or gets thrown in the trash. You spend thousands of dollars to fly people out to corporate events -- don't skimp on the post-conference remembrances. Use the following guidelines to give gifts that will wow your clients and attendees.

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1. Strive to be best in class.

I don't often recommend giving coffee mugs or other obvious gifts, but if you're going that route, go big. Give the $50 hand-crafted mug that says something meaningful instead of a $5 screen print your attendees can order from Etsy.

When I gave my wife a mug, I asked a potter to create an original piece that she would treasure. The mug cost $200 and is a work of art that depicts our family's story. Yes, it's a simple coffee mug, but the quality makes it remarkable. Whatever gift you choose, it should be exceptional and express how much you value the relationship.

2. Give the gift of practicality.

People detest clutter, which is no wonder why The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever by Marie Kondo sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.S. The last thing anyone wants is a gift that takes up space but doesn't enhance our lives. That's why vases, plaques and paperweights make terrible gifts, no matter how elegant the engraved calligraphy.

When you're sending gifts to conference attendees, think about who they are: They're ambitious and hardworking, with schedules packed from morning until night. What could you give them to make their lives easier? To take a page from Kondo's book, what would spark joy for them? Quality loses its impact when the gift isn't also useful.

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3. Personalize your gifts.

People give us clues about themselves all the time. A brief conversation with a business associate might reveal her passion for playing guitar or his interest in skydiving. Noting those details will help you knock gifts out of the park.

I scheduled a get-together once with a prospective client who loved Brooks Brothers. He mentioned that he'd meet me after he visited the store to buy a new suit, but travel delays changed his plans. Knowing he wouldn't make it to the shop, I took Brooks Brothers to him -- literally. He arrived at the hotel to find every piece from the new fall collection in his size -- $7,000 worth -- just waiting for him to try. Eight years later, the client still talks about it and even mentioned my company in dozens of interviews and in his own books when asked about the best customer experience he'd ever had.

4. Include people's spouses.

I always advise clients to appreciate people's partners, because there's no better advocate than a client's spouse. My company once worked on a four-day event attended by leaders from Apple, Google, Microsoft and Chevron. On the second day, we sent $250 gifts and handwritten notes to the executives' spouses back at home, thanking them for supporting their partners.

The attendees were floored. They were receiving texts and photos from their spouses showing off the gifts and encouraging them to attend the event the following year. Appreciating people's spouses is a great way to gain powerful allies from their inner worlds.

5. Surprise and delight.

A simple gift makes a big impression when timed correctly. A friend of mine has a painting and moving business, and his clients rave about him because of his penchant for surprises. He'll leave fresh flowers in the home after a job or bring clients their favorite Starbucks drinks the morning of the move. Small surprises like these can generate long-lasting goodwill.

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Seasoned conference attendees expect to receive the standard swag bag, so why not delight them with a pre-conference treat? We once worked on a real estate conference and sent invited VIPs a gift beforehand. In one case, the person was up for an award but hadn't planned to attend. When his wife saw the gift, which was personalized to both of them, she insisted that he go. "I travel a lot, so the last thing I thought she'd want me to do is travel again," he told us. The gift made all the difference.

Selecting gifts is challenging, and it can turn into a full-time job when you're buying for multiple clients and conferences. If you're stumped, you can hire an expert gifting company. But whether you hire external consultants or select gifts on your own, make sure you prioritize gifting in your budget and are strategic about what you invest and give.
By Tania F. Cohen

Peaceful political transition and acceptance of defeat are hallmarks of American democracy. As one of the world's oldest democracies and a global superpower, the United States has long strived to set an international example for good governance. Faith in the electoral process is crucial to setting this example and maintaining America's stature as an international leader. This is especially true considering the U.S. government's prioritization of promoting democracy in countries around the world. Whether one agrees with this tendency or not in light of America's successes and failures, our role in international politics has the potential to be far more impactful and successful if we uphold the ideals we promote to others at home first.

Since Donald Trump has begun questioning the integrity of the 2016 election, however, other countries have started questioning the strength of American values and democracy within the United States, as well as its ability to promote them abroad. Chinese media outlets are describing the election as a "race to the bottom" and saying that "forgetting serious issues" in presidential debates is "undermining the strength of Western democracy." These comments not only demonstrate how American elections impact international opinions of the United States and its domestic and foreign policy; they also bolster anti-Western democracy narratives perpetuated by other countries, as with China. Likewise, Russian media outlets are also using Trump's comments to stoke anti-democratic sentiments among the Russian populace.

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Furthermore, public opinion of democracy and respect for its rules is decreasing both within the United States and internationally. As noted in Foreign Policy: "If people believe that legal systems and public institutions work for them, rather than against them, it gives them a stake in the system and a greater willingness to tolerate the inevitable turbulence of a transition." Much of Trump's success, particularly during the primary elections, stemmed from his emotional appeals to voters' fears and feelings of disenfranchisement as American demographics change. Trump's rigged election claims may resonate with such voters because they provide an explanation for why the voters perceive the political system as working against them. In turn, this may translate into a decreased value placed on democracy. Domestic discontent with American democracy is not itself a reason for other countries to doubt its stability, but when a significant political figure uses his or her platform to claim an electoral result might be illegitimate in this context, there is little incentive to hold that democracy, or American efforts to promote it abroad, in high regard. The Chinese and Russian narratives based on Trump's comments exemplify this pattern.

The negative impact of Trump's "rigged election" narrative is also reflected in the number of election observers that international organizations are sending to polling locations across the United States on Election Day. As a member of the United Nations, Organization of American States (OAS), and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United States frequently observes elections in other countries, particularly those where democracy is new or threatened. Members from other countries also come to observe American elections, but the delegations are often small and focused more on learning from an example of successful free elections than monitoring for wrongdoing.

This year, however, is the first time ever that the OAS is sending observers to the United States, and the OSCE, which sent 44 observers during the 2012 election, hopes to send 500 this year. Although the delegations emphasize that these are learning missions, they also note a confluence of conditions, notably "a candidate actively encouraging people to go to polls to challenge voters," that make the 2016 election particularly ripe for potential mishaps. While no country that is truly committed to transparency and democracy would refuse election observers or view them as an insult, the drastic increase in the number of observers this year indicates unusual international concern about this election.

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It is important to note that international and domestic responses to Trump's comments should not necessarily raise fears that American democracy will collapse, as might be expected if similar comments were made by a leader in a new democracy; rather, the concerns emphasize the symbolic impact of such rhetoric. It is clear from the domestic and international concerns that have been voiced in response to Trump's claims that symbolism matters when cultivating America's image abroad, and the symbolism that Trump evokes has already done damage. These events remind us that, just as in other countries, our democracy and ability to promote democratic values are only as strong as the support provided by our own citizens and leaders.
Donald Trump is a highly inventive man with a robust sense of self worth and his own unique vocabulary. These wonderful features have led Trump to gain a lot of support around the United States. Support like Catholic churches telling voters they'll go to hell for voting democrat, or resident bug-eyed freak , Rudy Giuliani .

A breakdown of Trump's inventive vocabulary is the best way to help you comprehend his sloppy word salad. Lucky enough, someone here at the Outspeak office got a quick peek at Trump's "best words" journal, and we're stunned to see he has written his own definitions for his favorite expressions. Here they are unedited:
A retired office professional, Mary Jane Bryan had never had a book published until just this week  and she has four more novels scheduled for publication next year.

A writer of adult and young adult fiction, Bryan will be appearing at the Park Hills Public Library on Saturday  one day after the release of her first novel  for a book signing beginning at 9 a.m. until noon. Shell have on hand copies of her newly released book, No Small Deceit.

I always wanted to write, she said. I wrote a romance in the 70s that I dont know what happened to and another one in the 80s  a time-travel romance. I dont know what happened to it either.

Fast-forward to 2004 or 2005, Bryan had a collection of stories she had written throughout the previous years that were stored on computer files and began routinely sending her manuscripts to various publishing agencies. Despite her efforts, all she had to show for it was a collection of rejection letters.

She gave up for about four years, while she and her husband were living in Ecuador, then decided to give it another chance after returning to the U.S. and settling in Farmington.

After we came back here just last January, I said, OK, I think Im gonna start sending them out again, Bryan said.

And soon she had, not just one offer  from Black Opal Books  but multiple offers.

Bryan said, It started out with Black Opal Books accepting my romance thats coming out  its a contemporary romance  first, but then they accepted murder mysteries from me and a young adult novel and a middle-grade (story).

Her first novel, No Small Deceit, is about a man who accepts a challenge from his friends and ends up falling in love with a woman who is not what she appears to be.

Her second book, an adult murder mystery called Errant, is set for release on April 8, 2017.

As described on Bryans website, the story is about a detective who, while on what he thinks is a nostalgic trip to his hometown  saves a daughter he never knew and solves the mystery of why seven children have gone missing from a sleepy, rural Arkansas town.

The sequel to Errant, Spiral will be scheduled for release sometime in 2017. The novel is a bizarre tale of murder and revenge.

Another murder mystery, A Morning's Worth of Murder, will also be released sometime in 2017.

Two more novels  a young adult mystery and a middle-grade mystery  are also in the works for publication in 2017.

Bryan isnt done writing yet and seems to have turned on a faucet within her imagination.

With my newest one, she said, I just woke up one morning and the whole book was in my head; the title and everything. And in a months time, I sat down and typed it up.

Not just a writer, Bryans creativity extends to other genres within the arts as well. She paints and creates crocheted rugs.

My original large oil paintings hang in every room of my sons house, from a Scottish castle shrouded in mist to sailboats with brightly-colored sails bobbing in a harbor, Bryan wrote on her website. My own handmade crocheted rugs are scattered on the floors of my home, providing various places for our cat, Cookie, a large Maine Coon, to bask in a sunspot.

She also created her own line of puppets, called Janes Muppets, which she sewed together from her own original patterns.

But nothing has been more exciting and satisfied my creative urges as much as that of writing, she said. Creating characters, places, and stories fulfills a passion that comes from within me. Writing fulfills a passion to make these stories come to life.

Having her writing published is a dream come true.

Especially at my less-young age, she said smiling. The way I look at it is, Ive never thought about making money on any of the books. Its just been, God has granted me my hearts desire at this age. Kind of a life-long dream.

For more information, look for Bryan on Facebook or visit her website at maryjanenovels.wixsite.com/home.
Local officials discussed, rejected law enforcement consolidation in past

Voters are being asked to consider a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot that would enshrine the election of sheriffs into constitution .
There is one contested Madison County race in the Nov. 8 General Election.

Democrat Katy McCutcheon and Republican Jason Fitzwater are running for sheriff. Current Madison County Sheriff Robert "Bobby" Spain was defeated in the Republican Primary in August.

Katy McCutcheon

Katy McCutcheon, Democratic candidate for Madison County sheriff, graduated from Mineral Area College Law Enforcement Academy in 2001. In 2010, McCutcheon received a Bachelors Degree in General Studies with an emphasis on Criminal Justice from Southeast Missouri State University.

I have over 15 years of combined law enforcement experience with all of them being here in Madison County, she says. As a deputy sheriff, I know and understand the job and role as sheriff; including court/jail operations, answering calls of service, sex offender registration, conceal carry permit and criminal investigations.

McCutcheon began her law enforcement career working for the Fredericktown Police Department for more than four and half years and then was a Madison County deputy for more than eight years. She is currently director of the Madison County 911 Communications. McCutcheon is also currently the deputy coroner for the Madison County Coroners office and has been for the last five years.

As deputy coroner, I have experience and have assisted in a wide variety of death scene investigations including natural deaths, homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths, she said.

McCutcheon has been working at Follis & Sons Funeral Home in Fredericktown for the past five and half years. She obtained her Missouri Funeral Directors License in 2013 and graduated from Des Moines Area Community College with an Advanced Mortuary Degree.

She is in her ninth year with the Cherokee Pass Volunteer Fire Department. She volunteers for the Senior Centers Meals on Wheels program, and has been actively involved in the Madison/Iron County Relay For Life.

McCutcheon said she believes one of the main qualities of an effective sheriff is to know, understand and comply with state statutes dealing with the office of sheriff and with jails and jailers as well as be familiar with the county roads, local landmarks and the communities.

McCutcheon said her top priorities, if elected, will be to build a better working relationship among all law enforcement, medical, fire, and state agencies within the county; enhanced patrol on the county roads; and maintain accurate budget.

A sheriff should also be held to a higher standard and be of good moral character, she said. A good sheriff should also be available, open-minded, and be willing to work with everyone. I believe that my experience and training provides me with the qualities to be sheriff of Madison County.

Jason Fitzwater

Jason Fitzwater, the Republican candidate for Madison County sheriff, has been in law enforcement for the last 15 years.

Fitzwater grew up in Iron County and is a 1997 graduate of Arcadia Valley High School. He has lived in Fredericktown for the last four years. He began his law enforcement career in Florida. Since January of 2012, he has been employed with the Fredericktown Police Department. Currently he is a patrol sergeant and SWAT Team leader.

I am a man of family and God, Fitzwater said. I have been happily married for three years and have two amazing children. My passions are police work, travel and experiencing new things."

He said the protection and safety of Madison Countys children is his main priority.

Another issue within the county, according to Fitzwater, is the production, selling and use of illegal drugs.

I promise as sheriff that we will go after the drugs and the dealers not only in our county but all surrounding counties through task forces and resources, Fitzwater said.

He added the sheriff is responsible for serving papers and providing security for the judicial system of the county.

The ultimate responsibility of the sheriff is to serve and protect his community, to be a peacekeeper, Fitzwater said.

Fitzwater says he wants to restore the name and face of the Madison County Sheriffs Office and for our community to have a healthy relationship between citizens and law enforcement.

The sheriff is an elected official, a servant of the county, Fitzwater said. With everything that is happening in our country it is very important that a sheriff understand his or her duties and oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. As sheriff of Madison County I will fight to defend your Second Amendment rights and will follow the laws of the Constitution. I desire to be a person of the people and a man of the law, not a politician. I promise as sheriff of Madison County to protect your families and to keep the peace within our wonderful county.
Conspiracy Theories Run Rampant Following Copyright Office Executive Changes

In the wake of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden's "relocation" of Maria Pallante from her former job as Register of Copyrights has sparked a variety of theories, about both the relocation specifically as well as the world of copyright law in general.

______________________

Guest Post by Mike Masnick on Techdirt

Last week, we wrote about the big news in the copyright realm, where the new Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, removed the Register of Copyrights (the head of the Copyright Office), Maria Pallante, from her job. Technically, Hayden reassigned Pallante to a new job in the Library of Congress, but Pallante rejected that offer and resigned. While we  and some others  pointed out that this was a good opportunity to reshape the Copyright Office away from being a taxpayer-funded lobbying organization for Hollywood, some folks who support ever more draconian copyright immediately jumped on all sorts of conspiracy theories about how this was really Google somehow firing Pallante, including one site that directly had that as a headline.

To anyone who actually had knowledge of what was going on, this made no sense. Hayden is not connected to Google in any way. This is just out and out tinfoil hat conspiracy theory territory from people who see "Google" behind any policy they dislike. It seemed rather obvious that, like just about any new CEO of an organization, Hayden was clearing out some senior staff for a variety of reasons. And there was a pretty obvious big reason why Hayden would like to reassign Pallante: she has been directly and publicly advocating for Congress to move the Copyright Office outside of the Library of Congress. If you came in to run an organization and one of your direct reports was going over your head to try to transfer an entire division somewhere else, it's likely you'd fire that person too. It's kind of a management 101 thing.

Over the past week, in talking to a few people at the Library of Congress, or close to it, this is the basic story that came out. Hayden didn't feel comfortable with Pallante publicly advocating against the Library of Congress, and used her role as the boss to remove her from that position. Others seem to be discovering the same thing. A report at Publisher's Weekly notes that the conspiracy theories are bunk:

But multiple observers familiar with both the Copyright office and the librarys operations told PW that Pallantes ouster was not necessarily rooted in any specific disagreements over copyright policy. Rather, it most likely was a matter of Hayden getting the Librarys house in order. Pallante, the sources noted, has strongly urged lawmakers to remove the Copyright Office from under the purview of the Library of Congress and make it an independent agency, with the register becoming a Senate-confirmable presidential appointee. If Congress wants to remove the Copyright Office, it can do so, explained one source, who did not want to be identified. But, for now, it is part of the Library of Congress. The source added that Hayden couldnt be expected to lead the Copyright Office forward with a subordinate pushing Congress for the agency's independence at the same time. At press time, LoC officials had not yet commented Another close observer, who also did not want to be identified, agreed and said there was no shadowy Silicon Valley plot to remove Pallante and jam in a more tech industry-friendly Register, as some reports have suggested.

From what I can tell, the "tech" industry was just as surprised about this as anyone else. Even the Authors Guild, which initially rang the alarm bells is now slowly, calming down and realizing that it may have overreacted. In an update, it notes that Hayden doesn't appear to have been taking orders from the tech industry. She also told them that she believes that the Library of Congress shouldn't be taking a major role in policy making:

When we asked Dr. Hayden whether she intended to respect the traditional role of the Copyright Office setting policy without interference from the Library, she very clearly stated that she does not intend to weigh in on copyright law or policy. She said that policy and legislative efforts are the domain of Congress, not the Library. Her job, she explained, requires her to ensure that the Copyright Office has the technology and resources for the proper operations of the registration and recordation systems. She was sympathetic with our desire to see the Copyright Office receive the funding necessary to create a robust registration and recordation system that meets 21st-century needs.

Of course, what's not entirely clear from that statement is if it means that the Copyright Office should also go back to its more traditional role of focusing on registering copyrights and similarly not weighing in on copyright law or policy. If she says that's not the role for the Library of Congess, then doesn't that also apply to the Copyright Office since it is a part of the Library?

Either way, I know it's popular for some people to assume any conspiracy theory around "Google" must be true (and, just you watch, someone in the comments here will now try to rope this post and me into that conspiracy), but this one comes up empty once you actually look at the details. It won't stop the conspiracy theorists, but they can spin their wheels with their tinfoil hats, whiteboards and theories about sea creatures.

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Republican Missouri Senator Gary Romine will be facing Green Party candidate Edward Weissler on the Nov. 8 ballot for 3rd District state senator.

The district consists of Iron, Reynolds, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve and Washington counties, as well as part of Jefferson County.

Gary Romine

Sen. Gary Romine was elected to his first term as state senator in November 2012. In addition to his legislative duties, Romine serves as president and CEO of Show-Me-Rent-To-Own, a business he founded more than 25 years ago. He has served as chairman of the board for the Ste. Genevieve-based MRV Banks since its opening in 2007 and was president of the Mineral Area College Board of Trustees, as well as a member.

Romine served as the legislative liaison for the Missouri Rental Dealers Association and has been a member of the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations for 24 years. During his time with the latter organization, Romine has served as president, public relations chairman, and participated in Federal Trade Commission and Congressional hearings.

Prior to his election to the Missouri Senate, Romine served as former Sen. Bill Alters chief of staff for one year and former Sen. Kevin Englers chief of staff for two years. He was also a member of the Government Relations Committee for the Missouri Bankers Association.

Before starting his own business, Romine taught high school in the Branson and Farmington school districts.

After graduating from Poplar Bluff High School, Romine attended Three Rivers Community College and received his associates degree in business. In 1978, he earned his bachelors degree in marketing/education from Central Missouri State University.

Romine and his wife, Kathy, raised five children in the southeast Missouri area. They live in Farmington, where they enjoy spending time with their 10 grandchildren and are active members of their church and the community.

Romine's stand on the issues include:

 Pro-Life: "I have always been a consistent ally of the pro-life movement. I have had the privilege of serving on the Park Hills Pregnancy Resource Center board of directors for many years and I have been working hard to bring the same essential resource to the Ste. Genevieve area.

"I will work with my constituents to help enforce and advance legislation to recognize the right to life and provide leadership for, and promote the development of resources to ensure the right to life."

 Education: "As a former school teacher and trustee at Mineral Area College, I am committed to improving student achievement and I know firsthand how state government impacts our local school districts and higher education. I will work to ensure our schools are adequately funded and that our students receive the education needed to compete on any level. My classroom experience will be a vital tool in promoting legislation that will make a difference in our schools."

 2nd Amendment: "I firmly believe in the in the constitutional right to bear arms. Our 2nd Amendment is an important right that allows us to protect our families, our homes, and our own property. I will be a vocal advocate in supporting an individuals right to bear arms and will oppose any legislation that would burden the lawful purchase and possession of those firearms, ammunition, etc."

 Jobs and Economic Development: "We must enable small business owners to create quality jobs and get our economy back on a path to prosperity. As a small business owner for over 30 years, I know that very little can be achieved if you do not put forth the effort.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our states economy, providing outstanding goods and services while putting people back to work. I will work hard to ensure our legislature passes laws that allow small businesses to grow and succeed."

 Protecting First Responders: "Our communities depend on the commitment and bravery of our first responders. These officers are out on the front lines every day making sure that our communities are safe. I will make sure that our first responders are adequately funded and that they receive the resources and training they need to protect our families."

 Veterans: "The ability to live out our lives both freely and safely depends on the bravery, courage, and dedication of our armed forces. It is imperative that we support those brave men and women after they return home. I will work to promote and encourage legislation that meets both the physical and psychological needs of our heroic men and women."

Edward Weissler

Former De Soto businessman Edward Weissler spent 30 years in sales and, according to the candidate, spent the rest of his time taking care of his family including three children; his fellow parishioners; and neighbors. He retired a few years early to have more time to hunt and fish, as well as increase his commitment to public service.

"Follow the money," Weissler said. "Look up who the donors are. The Republicans and Democrats seem to have abandoned the working class. Only one party forbids its candidates from taking money from corporations  the Green Party."

According to Weissler, the Green Party platform offers "a real political solution."

"People are hurting here," he said. "They are hurting across our entire state."

Weissler's stand on the issues include:

 Healthcare: "Keep our county hospitals open.

 Medicare for Everyone: "We all need a break from profiteering insurance companies.

 Education: "Support our schools, not abandon them."

 Support Teachers and Parents: "Let them have a voice in public schools."

 Workers Pay: "Workers have a right to a decent income."

 Poverty: "Fix broken systems that hurt our neighbors and keep them in poverty."

 Environment: "Protect our land for generations to come.

 Marijuana: "Stop sending our kids to prison for years for the minor offense of trying marijuana."

 Campaign Contributions: "Get money out of politics. Return our politicians to public servants."
The School Committee was updated on the next steps with the building project on Thursday.

Clarksburg School To Hold Visioning Session On New Building

CLARKSBURG, Mass.  The elementary school will host a visioning session next week to gain input from teachers, administrators and parents to better inform the plans for a new school.

Principal Tara Barnes told the School Committee Thursday that an architect and education consultant will visit the school Nov. 9 to gather information about what teachers, administrators and parents want from the new building.

"It is going to be all day, and they are going to meet with a small group and then the entire staff at the end of the day," Barnes said. "It should be great."

She added that they will get teachers up to speed on what a new building can offer.

"They will also update them on 21st-century learning styles that connect to buildings and space and what do we want to see in the building 40 years from now," she said.

Also in regards to the school renovation project, Superintendent Jonathan Lev said the Massachusetts School Building Authority has approved the schools architect contract, which he should receive Monday.

"Even though it hasnt been signed sealed and delivered Margo Jones has been working right along," he said. "Things are beginning and moving right along."

In other business, Barnes unveiled the new school website that is easier to use and has more information.

"I didnt really like our old website. I suffered through it last year and knew that I wanted it to change so I have been thinking about it for a long time," she said. "We have to look a little more 21st century."

Barnes said there will be a school drop off lock down drill Nov. 16 so students can experience a lock down before the school day starts.

"A lot of these safety breaches happen during drop off and pick up and those arent really the times you have safety drills," she said. "So this a good time for use toe practice while kids are milling around in the hallways and coming in."
Gov. Charlie Baker signs the bill on Thursday while Rep. Smitty Pignatelli looks on.

Governor Signs Bill to Allow Lenox, Lee and Stockbridge to Share Administrator

BOSTON  Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday signed a bill that will allow the towns of Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge, if they so choose, to share a town administrator on a regional or joint basis.



The bill was sponsored by Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox.



Last December, Pignatelli was joined by Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito as 17 towns in Southern Berkshire County signed a Community Compact in which they committed to exploring future collaboration in education, public works, public safety and human services. Since then, several towns have jointly purchased equipment, Lee and Lenox have hired a joint building inspector, and Berkshire Hills and Shaker Mountain Schools have hired a shared superintendent. Stockbridge, Lee, and Lenox have been working with the Division Local Services (a branch of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue) over the last nine months to develop a blueprint of an intermunicipal agreement for a shared town administrator.



The bill, developed in consultation with the State Ethics Commission, creates a limited exemption to a portion of the Massachusetts conflict of interest law in order to allow any of these three towns to share a town administrator. Under existing state law, two or more towns may currently enter into intermunicipal agreements that allow for shared employees. However, according to a 2012 opinion by the State Ethics Commission, a specific exemption in the form of legislation is required in order for a municipality to share an administrator whose duties would potentially include discussing, recommending and implementing regional or joint solutions for delivery of municipal services.



"My number one priority this session has been to support our towns to move towards increased collaboration with the goal of streamlining and enhancing services and providing taxpayer relief, while maintaining the unique identity of each of these wonderful communities," Pignatelli said. "I am in awe of the multiple ways in which communities have stepped up to work towards these goals with me, and a shared town administrator would be boldest step yet. The decision of whether or not to take advantage of this opportunity is now up to town leaders in Lenox, Stockbridge and Lee."
DEAR ABBY: Our daughter, a young Thai adult, is socially immature. Her mother and I are American citizens, and we recently brought her to the U.S. on a tourist visa to expose her to Western culture. While she was there, a suitor -- who is nearly 40, divorced, with two small kids -- manipulated her. After she returned to Thailand, she continued communicating with him on Facebook.

The guy flew to Thailand, secretly married her and left the country. He is now in the process of acquiring a spousal immigration visa, and we are desperately afraid of losing our daughter. We're not convinced that she's in love with him. We think she's just trying to escape her Tiger Mom, who insists on Thai culture, respect and adherence to family values.

We are considering appealing to the government requesting denial of the visa request. Your take? -- CONCERNED DAD IN THAILAND

DEAR CONCERNED DAD: What this man did is reprehensible. Because you don't know him, one has to wonder if anything he told your daughter about himself is true -- including his age, marital status and whether he is a parent.

Since you didn't mention your daughter's age or if she is old enough to consent to marriage, consulting a lawyer to help you navigate through government channels would be a good place to start. You have my sympathy, and I wish you luck.

DEAR ABBY: I've been with "Derek" for two months. We're both 14, and had an on-and-off friendship before it started.

Derek has a history of mental illness (including depression and anxiety). Lately, he has started talking about things like college plans and even marriage. He flatters me nonstop and says repeatedly how "perfect" and "goddess-like" I am, completely degrading himself in the process. He says he is "weak, stupid and ugly" compared to me.

I'm afraid to dump him because Derek has attempted suicide several times in the past and has hinted at doing it again if I do. I can't say the words to him with that hanging over me.

His parents are unreachable, and he's already on medication. Derek has refused counseling in the past. I'm really afraid, but I can't stand staying in this relationship much longer. Thoughts? - AFRAID IN OREGON

DEAR AFRAID: If you haven't spoken to your parents about Derek and his emotional blackmail, do it immediately. You are not responsible for his welfare -- his family is. Derek appears to be in need of more professional help than he is receiving. Encourage him to think about positive things like college, but tell him you are too young for ANY kind of permanent exclusive relationship. Period. Once your parents know what's going on, I'm sure they will back you up 100 percent.

DEAR ABBY: What exactly should one be doing while being serenaded with the birthday song? -- LAUREN, THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

DEAR LAUREN: SMILE!

DEAR ABBY: I am dating a great guy I have known for 10 years. We dated on and off, but always remained friends. We were friends during my marriage, the birth of my daughter and my divorce.

We are now dating again. I would like things to work out because he is such a great friend and great person. My 9-year-old daughter adores him, too. The problem is, I'm still having a sexual relationship with my ex-husband. The sex is great and I don't want to stop, but I'm afraid it will come back to haunt me.

I have been involved one way or another with both of these men since 2005. I'd like to just date the guy I am with, but our sex life isn't nearly as good as it is with my ex. I know I'm being selfish. What should I do? -- DIVIDED IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR DIVIDED: You may be divorced, but you are not free as long as you're having sex with your ex. Be as good a friend to the "great guy" as he has been to you and let him go so he can find a lady who values what he has to offer. Right now what you are doing is extremely unfair to HIM.

DEAR ABBY: Im a 14-year-old girl with a problem. Because of my buzzed short hair, slim hips and flat chest, I frequently get mistaken for a boy. It really bothers me because, despite my haircut and body shape, I have a feminine face and I wear womens clothes and makeup. Im not too much of a tomboy. Sometimes when someone addresses me with a male pronoun or in some other way mistakes me for a male, Im too nervous to correct them. Is there a clever or witty way to correct the mistake?  NOT A BOY IN BROOKLYN, N.Y.

DEAR NOT A BOY: The person who made the mistake is the one who should be embarrassed, not you. If it happens again, all you need to do is smile and say, Im all girl.

DEAR ABBY: It has been a year since my mother passed away. The month of February was especially tough because it was the month of her birthday and also the month in which she died. Mothers Day will be here soon, and Im already feeling bitter, anticipating all of the commercials, advertising, brunches and everything. I dont want to be bitter about Mothers Day, but I am. How do people typically celebrate Mothers Day when they have lost their mother?  JODY IN KEARNEY, NEB.

DEAR JODY: Please accept my condolences for the loss of your mother. If you have siblings, you might find it comforting to talk with them about your feelings. If not, then spend the day quietly, being grateful for the precious time you had with your mother and the many lessons she taught you. I cant speak for others, but thats how I have coped with the loss of my mother, and Im sure others do it, too.

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, Glen, and I have been dating for two years. Over the past few months he has been pushing me to open a joint checking account with him. I have tried explaining that I dont feel like its a good idea until we are engaged. But every time I say no, he gets upset and angry. Am I wrong for not wanting to put our finances together, and how do I make him see my side?  CAREFUL IN THE MIDWEST

DEAR CAREFUL: You are absolutely NOT wrong, and you should not have to justify your discomfort with the idea of pooling your money with anyone to whom you are not married. In fact, Glen should be trying to explain why he is pushing you into making such a foolish decision. His anger and upset are either attempts to bully you into doing what he wants, or a sign of desperation to get access to your hard-earned money. If you are at all tempted to relent, I URGE you to first talk to a lawyer about what the ramifications could be if the relationship went sour.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069
The long-awaited and often delayed construction project to replace the St. Joe Drive bridge that spans the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Park Hills has been plagued by another delay.

City officials had expected the demolition phase of the project to begin this week but are still waiting for officials from Union Pacific Railroad to put the stamp of approval on the right-of-entry permit the contractor needs to be able to begin tearing down the bridge.

The demolition plan has been approved, said Park Hills Economic Developer Norm Lucas. Which means were only waiting for the right-of-entry for the contractor. They told us when the demolition plan was approved, it would be only 10 days until the right-of-entry (would be granted).

Its now been two weeks, however, since the demolition plan was approved.

Were still waiting, said Lucas. The contractor is ready and  the road district has secured the loan proceeds to pay for the bridge.

Lucas said the delay will continue until Union Pacific crews arrive to place derailment devices onto the tracks at specified distances on either side of the construction site.

What they do is surround your project with oddball devices clamped to the track, he said. So if some errant, empty (train) car somehow gains momentum going downhill towards your project, it would hit this derail device clamped to the track, which would cause it to overturn and not actually roll through your project.

Railroad officials have not said when the devices will be in place and, according to Lucas, they are not obligated to inform the city when they will be installed.

Drivers traveling across the bridge this week may have noticed the construction pylons lined up off the roadway on both sides of the bridge, which will be used to close the road once the project begins. Likewise, detour signs have been placed at designated locations along the temporary routes around the construction, although the signs will remain laid flat on the ground until the contractor is given the go-ahead.

As Lucas mentioned previously, the detours will be fairly extensive because of the bridges location and the lack of roads connecting with St. Joe Drive within the vicinity of the project. Along with signs leading drivers around the construction site, detour maps are also available at Park Hills City Hall.

Lucas said once the detour signs are in place, crews will first take measures to protect the railroad tracks from damage during the bridge demolition phase to follow.

The entire project is expected to be completed before the beginning of next spring.

The (contractor) has a schedule in which they have not overlapped certain parts of the work which could overlap, said Lucas. Meaning that, if the weather allows them to work, they may actually be able to work on two things at once and shorten up the timeframe theyve given us.

According to the timeframe provided by the contractor, the new bridge should be in place before the end of February 2017.

Planning for the project began in 2015 with the design stage completed back in January by BFA-Engineers, Surveyors & Consultants of Washington. The plans were then sent to Union Pacific corporate headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska for final approval.

For a while, the way things seemed to be progressing indicated there was a chance to get the project completed by the first day of school in August.

Certainly, as Lucas stated earlier this year, the best time for the construction phase of the project to take place would have been during the summer.

One of the major challenges of the project, simply because of the way the streets in Park Hills are laid out, is the lack of options when it comes to creating a practical detour during construction of the new bridge.

A summer construction project would have reduced disruption for school buses and motorists who routinely travel along St. Joe Drive and over the bridge.

But as often happens, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

According to Lucas, unexpected steps toward final approval for the project from Union Pacific temporarily stalled its progress around mid-summer.

The railroad just has these hurdles and you just have to go at em, Lucas said in July. There are no short cuts.

Working their way through the process, directors of the St. Francois County Special Road District #2, who are responsible for implementing the project, accepted a bid, as recommended by the BFA firms engineers, for a contractor to, as the next step, develop a bridge demolition plan. Followed, again, by up to a 30-day waiting period.

Union Pacific representatives told Park Hills officials to expect them to take the full 30 days and maybe even a little longer to approve the demolition plan.

And the real kicker is, said Lucas back in July, the contractor cant even apply for right-of-entry onto railroad right-of-way until after the demolition plan has been approved.

Fortunately, the right-of-entry permit is the last bit of red tape from the railroad company. Once it has been granted, the project can begin in earnest.

Lucas said the new bridge, once it is finally completed, will be concrete and will be wider than the existing span. Each lane will be widened by about two feet and one side of it will be outfitted with a walkway for pedestrians. Like the bridge in place now, the replacement structure will be two-lane.

Lucas and members of the St. Francois County Special Road District #2 Board of Directors have stated they wish to minimize as much as possible any inconvenience the detour will cause, but also believe the residents of Park Hills and all who regularly travel across the bridge will be satisfied once it has been completed.
With the entry into force of the historic Paris Agreement today, the world is finally committing to tackling climate change.

The agreement was ratified last month, less than a year after it was approved by 197 countries under the French Presidency at COP21 last December. The agreement marks an unprecedented milestone in the global effort to combat climate change.

Under the landmark agreement, nations have agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions and focus efforts and investments toward a low-carbon, resilient and sustainable future. The goal is to keep global average temperatures from rising well below 2C with the aim of working to limit it to 1.5C.

The question now turns to implementing the terms of the agreement, helping nations meet their goals and, more critically, ratchet them further. Next week, the world meets in Marrakesh, Morocco, during COP22 to do just that.

The International Energy Agency will soon release World Energy Outlook 2016, which will highlight the various pathways to reach these targets. The report this year looks at individual country pledges and examines how close  or far  nations are from reaching these goals. It outlines a course that would limit the rise in global temperature to below 2C and, for the first time, it also plots possible pathways for meeting the much more ambitious 1.5C goal.

Lets not underestimate the task ahead, said Dr Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA. Limiting carbon emissions and changing our energy systems is a monumental challenge. But the IEA is working with governments around the world to help identify solutions and show how it can be done.

The Paris Agreement will transform the global energy system for decades to come. WEO-2016 will examine how a post-Paris world redefines the idea of energy security, particularly in the power sector, the frontline in the fight against climate change.

WEO-2016 offers the most comprehensive analysis of what this transformation of the energy sector might look like, thanks to its energy projections to 2040. It reviews the key opportunities and challenges ahead for renewable energy, the central pillar of the low-carbon energy transition, as well as the critical role for energy efficiency.

WEO-2016 is released on 16 November.
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Scientists work to define threat from palm pest

San Diego, California - Southern California, which in recent times ejected the red palm weevil, has a new problem to ponder. Its the South American palm weevil, which has arrived in the San Diego area from Tijuana and likes to dine on palm treesboth the ornamental and the date-growing kind.

Insect specialists, farmers and others gathered in Bonita last week to discuss the problem.

One of the first things date palm growers should be doing is getting informed about the situation, said Mark Hoddle, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside. The second thing they could help with is just to be aware of the risks of how this weevil moves around.

Hoddle described the weevil as a strong flier.

But movement of live palm material, especially transplants that get moved from potentially infested areas into uninfested areas, could suddenly bring the palm weevil into close proximity to date-growing areas, where currently there are no known breeding weevil populations, he said.

The third thing, Hoddle said, is keeping an eye out for potentially infested palm trees and bringing those to the attention of agricultural officials for investigation. The UC Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research, which Hoddle directs, has a website where people can report palm trees that may be infested, at cisr.ucr.edu/palmarum_survey.html.

Albert Keck, who runs Hadley Date Farms in Thermal and chairs the California Date Commission, attended last weeks meeting and described date growers as very concerned.

We dont want the weevil to get a foothold in the United States and then leapfrog into one of these interior valleys and come into our growing district, Keck said. Were hopeful that its still a situation that can be contained.

A South American palm weevil wreaks havoc by laying eggs in a growing area of the palm tree, Hoddle said; on a Canary Island palm, that would be the apical meristem in the crown, where new fronds grow.

Thats a large, soft, juicy chunk of meat, Hoddle said. If youre a weevil, its the most delicious part of the palm you can get into, and its also the most nutritious.

Female weevilsadults are typically an inch to an inch and a quarter in lengthwill use their long snouts to drill holes for egg laying. The resulting larvae can grow to 2 inches long, and they feast on the crown. That kills the crown, which in turn kills the tree.

This could be devastating to the date-growing districts of the state, and its just a reminder of how vulnerable we are to these invasive issues, Keck said.

Dates represented nearly $41 million worth of crops in Riverside County alone last year, according to the county agricultural commissioners report.

Keck said that the response to such problems usually, and appropriately, takes an agricultural approach.

That makes it difficult when youre trying to reach the urban constituents and why its a concern to them, he said. Palms are extremely important to our urban, coastal California landscaping. Its very much an urban issue right now, and we dont want it to become an ag issue.

Nick Condos, who directs the Division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, talked about potential regulatory responses to the threat; besides trapping and pesticides, these could include quarantines, control methods, outreach and research.

We have put in a farm-bill request to do a trapping program for exotic palm pests, which would include South American palm weevil, Condos said.

Details still need to be worked out, he said, as its not yet known how far north or east the weevil has spread.

As for a quarantine, Condos said its not yet known exactly which varieties of palm are susceptible to weevil infestation. Any quarantine would likely take after a plan drawn in 2012 to combat the red palm weevil in Laguna Beach, though that plan was never activated. Quarantines can be expensive to enforce, Condos said, and can involve steps such as growing nursery stock in an enclosed structure for a year and safely transporting frond trimmings.

Nobody was rooting for a quarantine right now, he said. It was just an opportunity to get all these options out there, let people start thinking about them and what we need to do, to prioritize research to pursue some of these options.

Hoddle said drooping fronds and a tilted crown are signs a palm tree has weevils. Trouble is, by the time one sees these signs, the tree may be beyond help.

One of the holy grails for palm weevil research is early detection, Hoddle said. How do you know if your palm trees infected before you start seeing these very obvious visual symptoms? Right now, theres no really great early detection technology.

As if all that isnt enough, the weevil has a partner in crime: the red ring nematode. If this pest is in the tree, it will find its way into the weevils, which then spread it to other trees. But so far, Hoddle said, the nematode has not appeared in California.

The best chance of containing and eradicating the weevil is when the population is small and localized, he said. The most effective anti-weevil tactics involve using pheromone traps and pesticides simultaneously; traps wont stop the infestation but will help locate affected trees.

Then you want to apply the pesticide treatments to those infested palms, Hoddle said. That type of multi-pronged approach has been really effective at controlling date-infesting palm weevils in the Middle East, for example.

Condos said CDFA will encourage palm growers to participate in weevil detection.

Most of our successful pest responses over the past couple of years have a very large commodity presence, he said, citing efforts to combat pests threatening citrus crops and winegrapes.

We really wanted to make sure that (farmers) understood that this isnt government alone, Condos said. They have to be part of the process.
CyberSeek, An Interactive Resource for Cybersecurity Career Information

Washington, DC - The U.S. Commerce Departments National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today introduced CyberSeek, an interactive online tool designed to make it easier for cybersecurity job seekers to find openings and for employers to identify the skilled workers they need.

CyberSeek was announced at the 2016 NICE Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, by Rodney Petersen, director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), which funded development of the tool. The NIST-led NICE focuses on cybersecurity education, training and workforce development.

The nations rapidly growing cybersecurity jobs market has many more openings available than trained workers to fill them. For example, there are 128,000 positions for Information Security Analysts, but only 88,000 workers currently employed in those positionsa talent shortfall of 40,000 workers for cybersecuritys largest job, according to analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies. Jobs requesting cloud security skills remain open 96 days on averagelonger than any other IT skill.

This interactive tool will assist its usersstudents, employees, employers, policy makers, training providers and guidance counselorsto explore opportunities they may have never considered, said Petersen. It can also help us to meet NICEs goal of fostering a larger workforce to narrow the cybersecurity employment gap.

The CyberSeek tool fills in knowledge gaps so policy makers, employers, security professionals and others will have greater visibility into the demand for cybersecurity professionals around the country. It will allow them to see the skills and types of workers that employers are looking for, as well as the true supply of professionals to fill those positions.

CyberSeek looks somewhat like a weather map, but instead of showing relative temperatures across the country, varying shades of color reveal relative concentrations of cybersecurity job postings and worker supply. CyberSeek incorporates job demand data collected by Burning Glass and job supply data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the position Information Security Analyst and from cybersecurity certification bodies.

Within the interactive map, users can search by state or more than 300 metropolitan areas. When viewing the map in either mode, they can see total job openings, worker supply, supply/demand ratio, a quotient for geographic concentration of workers and an areas top cybersecurity jobs by title.

Using the Kansas City metro area as an example, CyberSeek reveals that in the past year there were 2,134 job openings and 6,829 employed workers. Those figures represent a higher-than-average cybersecurity workforce supply than the rest of the nation; and a lower concentration of cybersecurity job demand when compared with the national average. The Kansas City areas top three positions are cybersecurity analyst/specialist, cybersecurity engineer and auditor.

For employers seeking to move or expand operations, the CyberSeek map can help identify locations with a large base of cybersecurity employees. Job seekers can scout for openings by the size of a metropolitan area.

The interactive heat map is accompanied by the Career Pathway, which provides information on different types of positions to help students, job seekers and workforce trainers. Career Pathway features information on common job titles, salaries, online job openings, in-demand skills, education and certifications related to careers in cybersecurity.

The site also illustrates how an individual can advance in a cybersecurity career, starting with four different entry-level positions and showing typical paths to mid- and advanced-level jobs. The Career Pathway incorporates job categories from the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, which provides a common language to describe cybersecurity work.

CyberSeek was created by CompTIA, a nonprofit trade association for IT professionals and organizations, and its partner, labor market analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies. It is the product of the first year of a three-year grant awarded by NIST to CompTIA. The first-year grant was for $249,000. The company has received its second-year funding of $110,000 to refine and expand the tool.

NICE is a public-private partnership between government, academia and industry that promotes a robust network and integrated system of cybersecurity education, training and workforce development.

As a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. To learn more about NIST, visit www.nist.gov.
County of Imperial Awarded $3.4 Million Community Development Block Grant to Address Community Needs

Sacramento, California - The County of Imperial received an award notification from the California Department of Housing and Community Development that they have been awarded $3.4 million to address community needs through several projects that were included in the grant application. The grant, originating from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will go towards ten projects that will improve public safety, facilities, services and water treatment in several communities of Imperial County.

This is great news for our County and the ten projects that will be able to move forward with this financial support, said Imperial County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Terrazas, District 2 representative. I want to commend Mrs. Colio Warren and her staff for their success in securing this grant that will greatly benefit our community.

We greatly appreciate this grant award from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, said Imperial County Community and Economic Development Manager Esperanza Colio Warren. This was a highly competitive grant and to have been awarded this much is a testament of the Countys commitment to address the needs of our community. I especially wish to thank our Imperial County Board of Supervisors for their support of this grant opportunity."

The Winterhaven Public Safety Facility and improvements to the water and sewer facilities in the communities of Palo Verde, Poe Subdivision and Winterhaven are crucial projects that will bring essential services to remote communities in Imperial County. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs.

For more information about the projects that are being funded by the CDBG grant, contact the Imperial County Community and Economic Development office at (442) 265-1100 or visit their website.
Egypt: Liberalizing the Foreign Exchange System

Yuma, Arizona - The United States welcomes Egypts actions today to implement further important economic measures as part of the Government of Egypts overall economic reform program. The decision to liberalize the foreign exchange system and adopt a flexible exchange rate regime is a positive development to improve the functioning of Egypts foreign exchange markets and to advance Egypts economic recovery.

The United States supports the Egyptian governments commitment to taking the difficult but necessary economic reform measures to lay the foundations for a more prosperous future for the Egyptian people.
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Another day, another kids' toy adaptation absolutely no-one asked for (remember the Beyblade one?).

The Weinstein Company co-head Bob Weinstein announced at the American Film Market (via Variety) a live-action/CGI hybrid film based around Furbys this week - you know, those dolls that were very briefly popular a long time ago and no longer have any kind of cultural currency in the digital age.

Even Hasbro, the makers of the Furby, accepted that the move is kind of ridiculous, with executive Stephen Davis saying of their search for a director for the project: Were out to David Fincher.

He was joking, but thats actually not a bad idea.

They could make a Prozac-laced, colourful kids movie that will no doubt bomb, or they could create some kind of Black Mirror-esque unsettling thriller about the toys malfunctioning.

Furbys were actually used to this end once by American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis, who, in his mock memoir Lunar Park, is stalk by a nightmarish, possessed Terby doll belonging his fictional stepdaughter.

Anything more edifying than celebrity-voiced adventure garbage is unlikely from the Furby film, but Davis at least realises it must have some semblance of a narrative to work.

We think that this can resonate as a four-quadrant film, he added. It cant just be a 90-minute commercial.


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Earworms  songs which have a tendency to stick in your head even until they become annoying  tend to have a similar musical structure to nursery rhymes, according to a new study.

Researchers from the UK and Germany found a common feature of particularly catchy or sticky songs was the notes rise in pitch and then fall, like the first and second lines of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, in what is known as a melodic arch.

Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5, which was one of the top-named earworm tunes in the study, follows this pattern. Earworms also tended to be more upbeat and occasionally throw in a few musical surprises.

The academics also came up with a how to guide to get a tune out of your head based on interviews with about 3,000 people between 2010 and 2013.

One of the most popular methods was to sing or listen to a different song, with the national anthem, God Save the Queen, named as the most effective.

Dr Kelly Jakubowski, of Durham Universitys music department, who led the study, said: Our findings show that you can to some extent predict which songs are going to get stuck in peoples heads based on the songs melodic content.

This could help aspiring song-writers or advertisers write a jingle everyone will remember for days or months afterwards.

We already know that recent and frequent exposure to a song makes it more likely to get stuck in your head and people who sing and listen to music a lot tend to get earworms more often than others.

We now also know that, regardless of the chart success of a song, there are certain features of the melody that make it more prone to getting stuck in people's heads like some sort of private musical screensaver.

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Highest paid musicians of 2015 Show all 10 1 /10 Highest paid musicians of 2015 Highest paid musicians of 2015 Taylor Swift 1. Taylor Swift - $73.5million Getty Highest paid musicians of 2015 Kenny Chesney 2, Kenny Chesney - $39.8million 2015 Getty Images Highest paid musicians of 2015 The Rolling Stones 3. The Rolling Stones - $39.6million Getty Highest paid musicians of 2015 Billy Joel 4. Billy Joel - $31.7million Getty Highest paid musicians of 2015 One Direction 5. One Direction - $24.2million 2015 Getty Images Highest paid musicians of 2015 Grateful Dead Dead & Company 6. Grateful Dead - $23.8million 2015 Getty Images Highest paid musicians of 2015 Luke Bryan 7. Luke Bryan - $23.1million 2016 Getty Images Highest paid musicians of 2015 U2 8. U2 - $21.8million Getty Highest paid musicians of 2015 Adele 9. Adele - $20.5million Getty Highest paid musicians of 2015 Maroon 5 10. Maroon 5 - $19.2million 2015 Getty Images

Lady Gaga dominated a top nine of the most effective earworms with Bad Romance, Alejandro and Poker Face all on the list, according to the studys participants.

The others were Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue, Don't Stop Believing by Journey, Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye, Maroon 5s Moves Like Jagger, California Gurls by Katy Perry, and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

The study, published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, compared songs said to be earworms with other tunes that did equally well in the charts in order to find out what was different about them.

In addition to the use of the relatively simple musical arch, earworms tended to mix things up at times.

These musically sticky songs seem to have quite a fast tempo along with a common melodic shape and unusual intervals or repetitions like we can hear in the opening riff of Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple or in the chorus of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Dr Jakubowski said.

The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Show all 20 1 /20 The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Beyonce The Demands: 1 Large table for catering dressed with white tablecloths. Dressing room should be 78 degrees 4 Brand New White Towels in bathroom (2 face & 2 body) Hot Food: Juicy Baked Chicken: Legs, Wings & Breast only (Please season with fresh garlic, season salt, black pepper, and Cayenne pepper HEAVILY SEASONED!!) Steamed Garlic Broccoli Lightly Seasoned Green Beans Lightly Seasoned Steamed Spinach Beyonce can only have Pepsi products. 1 Case of Aquafina water (half cold, half room temperature) 1 Hot Tea Set up (Please have NEW Coffee Pot) Sliced Lemons Wedges Rose scented candles Lighter for candles CD player Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Adele The Demands: 12 Small bottles still (non-carbonated) spring water (at room temperature) 1 Electric kettle for BOILING water 6 Large mugs for tea. All mugs should be new, washed and dried. 6 metal teaspoons 2 Squeezy bottles clear honey (not organic) 1 Bottle very best quality red wine (Italian, French or Spanish) 1 Assortment of chewing gum 1 Pack Marlboro Light plus 1 disposable cigarette lighter 1 Small selection fresh fruit, to include bananas, apples, grapes, fresh berries NO CITRUS FRUIT! 1 Small plate of assorted freshly made, individually wrapped sandwiches, to include chicken salad. Sandwiches must NOT contain tomatoes, vinegar, chili or citrus fruit PA The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Kanye West The Demands: 1 Tub Plain Yogurt for dipping 4 small Yoplait Yogurt 1 Bowl of assorted nuts 1 Bowl of Sunkist Salted Pistachio Nuts (No Red Coloring) 2 Packs of Extra Chewing Gum 1 Bottle of Hot Sauce (Tabasco, Caribbean Type) 1 Box of Toothpicks 1 750 ml bottle of Hennessey Liquor 1 750 ml bottle of SKY or Absolut Vodka 1 Bottle of Patron Silver Tequila 4 Six Packs of Heineken Beer Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty, David Parsons/iStock The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Rihanna The Demands: 5 AC power outlets Adequate lighting for a relaxed atmosphere White drapes to cover lockers and/or brick 1 Humidifier 1 Large throw rug  plush and animal print (Cheetah, Leopard)  must be CLEAN, as she will walk on it barefoot. Pipe and Drape the room in Dark Blue or Black drapes with Icy Blue Chiffon draped nicely on top 6 Candles  Archipelago Black Forest (if you can't get these, please let me know ASAP as we have a 2nd choice of candle for Ri). 4 Small, clear, square vases with White Tulips, no foliage (2nd choice: White Casablanca Lilies no foliage, 3rd choice: White Freesia, no foliage) The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Katy Perry The Demands: Arrangement of pink fresh flowers. White and purple hydrangeas, pink & white roses and peonies. If not available, seasonal white flowers to include white orchidsABSOLUTELY NO CARNATIONS. A box of Huggies baby nature care wipes 6 Vitamin waters zero, assorted flavors Bowl of whole fresh organic grown fruit (apples, bananas, oranges and grapes) Plate of fresh-cut Crudites (to include cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snap peas, celery) w/ ranch dip Snyder's of Hanover Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Jar of Salsa Baked (blue corn if possible) Tortilla Chips Freeze dried strawberries 2 bottles of Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio Throat coat, Twinnings Chamomile PG tips and Mint medley tea. Fuze slenderize assorted flavors A jar of quality honey Plastic drinking straws AFP/Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Paul McCartney The Demands: All lamps must be halogen floor lamps with dimmer switch. Only animal free materials (cottons, denims, velour, etc.) Do not provide furniture made of any animal skin or print. Do not provide artificial versions of animal skin or print either. No leather seating is allowed in the black stretch limousine either. Arrange for a dry cleaner before arrival. 6 Full and leafy floor plants, but no trees. We want plants that are just as full on the bottom as the top such as palm, bamboo, peace lilies, etc. No tree trunks! $50.00 - One large arrangement of white Casablanca lilies with lots of foliage. $40.00 - One long stemmed arrangement of pale pink and white roses with lots of foliage. $35 One arrangement of freesia. It comes in various colors so please mix them up. Freesia is a favorite. 20 dozen clean towels outside of the production office AP The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Mariah Carey The Demands: Each room must be draped. Black drapes are fine. The entry door should open into the living room space, not the dressing room. Temperature should be about 75 degrees. 1 Three Seat Couch  Plain Color, no busy patterns; black, dark grey, cream, dark pink are fine 12 1 Liters of Fiji Water 3 Bottles Chardonnay  Chilled 12 Coke 12 Diet Coke 12 Vanilla Protein Drinks 6 Sparkling Water (Pellegrino) 12 Melon Flavor Gatorade 6 Red Wine Glasses 6 White Wine Glasses 4 Joe Malone Vanilla Candles 2 Vases White Roses Fried Chicken (warm) 12 Small Bottles water (room temperature) 3 Whole lemons and honey Sugarless gum Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Eminem The Demands: 25 pound dumbbells 24-Diet Coke 16oz plastic bottles 12 Diet Coke 12oz cans 6 Verner ginger ale soda (or Schweppes) 48 Daisani, Poland Spring 12oz bottles NO Evian 1 Loaf white bread 1 Loaf wheat bread 6 Lunchables snacks (3 turkeys & 3 ham with cheese) 6 Cans Red Bull 16 Cans Sugar-Free Red Bull Large fresh jumbo shrimps with cocktail sauce and plenty of lemons 1 Jar of banana pepper rings Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Grace Jones The Demands: 6 Bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne 3 Bottles of French Vintage red wine (e.g. St Emilion, Medoc, Bordeaux) 3 Bottles of French Vintage white wine (e.g. Sancerre, Pouilly Fuisse) 2 Dozen Findeclare or Colchester Oysters on ice (unopened)(Grace does her own shucking.) 2 Sashimi and Sushi platters for 8 people 6 Fresh lemons 1 Bottle of Tabasco sauce 1 Fresh fruit platter for 8 people 6 Bottles of Coca Cola 12 Bottles of still and sparkling water 12 Bottles of fresh fruit juices Wine glasses, champagne flutes, tumblers (all glass, no plastic) Cutlery and sharp knife 1 Oyster knife 1 Make up mirror (no neon strip lighting, only opaque white bulbs) Fresh towels, clothes hangers, clothes rail 3-4 Bunches of flowersprefer lilys and orchids Sofa and arm chairs Andy Sturmey The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Drake The Demands: Four dozen natural-scented incense sticks Dr. Bronners peppermint soap Pork-free food E-Z Wider rolling papers and a pack of Dutch Master President cigars Pinot Grigio Heineken Bottles of Jack Daniels Patron Silver tequila Nivea chapstick A bottle of Hennesey or Courvoisier Grey Goose Andis T-Outliner trimmers Extra sets of speakers champagnepapi/Instagram The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Jack White The Demands: 1 dozen chicken wings (buffalo, teryaki, suprise us) 1 bowl of FRESH HOME-MADE GUACAMOLE 8 champagne flutes (real glass) 8 wine glasses (real glass) 8 highball glasses (real glass) 1 hummus & pita chips iPod player with sufficient volume control NO fluorescent lighting PLEASE NOTE: This is a NO BANANA TOUR. (Seriously) Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Madonna The Demands: 200-person entourage 2o international phone lines Her backstage room must look exactly like her own home (that means she ships around her furniture) Special flower-scented fabric Actual flowers Personal chef who prepares only vegan foods Her own dry-cleaning service AP The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Alicia Keys Alicia Keys performs at the UEFA Champions League Final Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Jay Z The Demands: 7 sets of metal silverware 1 Lighter 3 Glade Candles (French Vanilla, Rain shower, Wild Berry, Tangerine Ginger) 3 Cans of Chunk White Tuna 10 Nutri-Grain Bars (Blueberry, Cherry, Apple, Strawberry) 6 Individual Packets of Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal (Brown Sugar and Apple Cinnamon) 1 Assorted Fruit Platter with strawberries, seedless red grapes, bananas, mango, blueberries, cantaloupe and raspberries 2 Cases of beer (one imported and one domestic; brands preferred: Amstel Light, Corona, Bud, Bud Light or local beer) 3 menus for local seafood and Italian restaurants to order meals for Alicia Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Mary J. Blige The Demands: 2 Humidifiers 10 medium prewashed bath sized towels NO DAIRY OR PORK OF ANY KIND!! 10 1.5 liter bottles of FIJI water (absolutely, positively must be FIJI) 6 cans of Diet Dr. Pepper 6 cans of Schweeps Ginger Ale 2 packs of Mentos  cinnamon fresh only 6 cans of Red Bull energy drink 6 bottles of Black Cherry Propells in sports bottle 8 sets of silverware 24 napkins 1 tub of clean ice Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Lady Gaga The Demands: 2 Bottles of white wine with wine opener  Kendall Jackson or Robert Mondavi preferred 1 Pack of Straws 1 Cushioned office style chair TV with cable and a DVD player 1 Rolling clothing rack 4 Unscented candles Cool-mist humidifier 3 fans Tea kettle, organic ginger and lemongrass tea and honey are very important. 1 4 pack of Red Bull Light (on ice) 2 Bottles of Green Tea 1 Container of Guacamole Hot dogs (Yves veggie dogs eaten with toothpicks) A smoothie station (with frozen berries, fuze and whey protein or non-fat Greek yogurt) Blender needed 1 Plate of cheese (non-smelly, non-sweaty on ice) with whole wheat/healthy crackers A mix of assorted fresh fruit (cut and must have edible skin OR edible seeds OR citrus) Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Cher The Demands: 1 Wig Room 1 Room for Dr. Stacey 1 bottle of fine red wine (No Kendall Jackson) 1 bottle of fine white wine (No Kendall Jackson) 4 Cokes 4 Diet Cokes 1 coffee table 1 end table for the phone to be placed on TV with VCR with a cable Hook up. Please make sure we can get the following channels: Turner Classic Movies or AMC The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Taylor Swift The Demands: If arriving before 11 a.m., the following from Starbucks: 1 Grande ICED Caramel Latte w/ 2 sweet-n-lows 1 Grande ICED Americano w/ 2 sweet-n-lows with soy milk 1 slice pumpkin loaf 1 Stick Butter 3 Boxes Kraft Macaroni/Cheese 2 Four Packs of Red Bull 1 12 Pack Corona Beer 1 12 Pack New Castle Beer 1 Bottle Welch's Grape Juice 1 Avocado 1 Bag of Twizzlers red licorice 1 Case of Smart Water 1 Pint Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream 1 Pint Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Brownie Frozen Yogurt The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Iggy Pop The Demands: A copy of USA Today that's got a story about morbidly obese people in it 6 bottles of Grolsch or decent local beer F loads of good red wines 6 large bottles of good quality sparkling water 3 cases x 12 oz bottles of still mineral water 6 bottles of alcohol free beer 1 case of big bottles of good, premium beer A bottle of vodka Cauliflower/broccoli, cut into individual florets and thrown immediately into the garbage. I f hate that Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Van Halen The Demands: Nuts Pretzels M&MS (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES) 1 large tube of KY jelly 3 packs of Marlboro cigarettes (box) Herring in sour cream 2 gallons non-carbonated, bottled spring water 3 fifths Jack Daniels Black Label bourbon 2 fifths Stolichnaya vodka 1 pint Southern Comfort 2 bottles Blue Nun white wine Getty Images

The instrumental riff in My Sharona by the Knack and In The Mood by Glen Miller also exhibit unusual interval structures.

It is thought studying how earworms affect the brain could help understand how it works as music is linked to emotions, memories and spontaneous thoughts.

About 90 per cent of people get a song stuck in their heads at least once a week, the researchers found. This usually happened when the brain was not overly active, such as while having a shower, doing chores or walking.

Other suggested ways of getting rid of an earworm included listening to the song all the way through or simply trying not to think about it.
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Up and comer Tom Prior was hailed as the "future of British indie" back in 2014 but has managed to avoid the hype, likely taking cues from one of his more famous fans, Alex Turner.

Not that I'm biased or anything (he's a fellow Enfieldian), but there's a proper authenticity in that north London sound he's got going on - a bit of grit - and nods to the grime he grew up listening to.

We're premiering the video for his new track 'Looks Like Rain', check it out below:

Q&A with Tom Prior

What are you listening to at the moment?

Urban Hymns by The Verve is still a go-to for me. It was a big influence on 'Looks Like Rain'. Richard Ashcroft has become one of my heroes over the last few years.

Also really looking forward to the Gorillaz coming back, have been listening to Demon Dayz in anticipation, I wanna meet Damon Albarn - if anyone can put us in touch you know where I am.

What are your plans for 2017?

I took a break from performing the last few months to finish The Sunday Scene EP, I definitely want to get back round the country and play some shows, starting with the Sebright Arms show at the end of this month. Writing never really stops for me though so just continuing to try new things and putting a new focus on releasing music in innovative ways.

What was the first gig you ever played and what's been the best so far?

The first show I ever played i think was in 2011 with a band I was in at the time. We played in some sort of school hall on a Friday night, I had Glandular Fever at the time but I didn't know, I watched some videos the other day and I literally sound like I'm singing through a trumpet.

There's been many highlights since though, playing Reading & Leeds in 2014 was a massive personal achievement for me and I look forward to doing it again some day.

I opened for Paloma Faith in Belfast and that was a pretty special night in front of something mad like 5,000 people - they were really good to us and I look back fondly. Festival season can't come back around sooner but lots of new music to come before then.

Tom Prior's new EP The Sunday Scene is out on 16 November. He plays a sold-out show at the Sebright Arms in London on 30 November
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The move from Sadiq Khan to "shape London's future as a 24-hour city" has seen him appoint broadcaster Amy Lame as its first Night Czar.

Following the job's announcement in August, the hunt has been on for somebody suitable to come in and upheave London's nightlife following the closure of a third of its clubs since 2007 - controversially including Fabric.

New Jersey-born Lame, who is best known for her work on BBC Radio, is an inspired choice considering she's run LGBT club night Duckie since the mid-90s.

The position will see Lame work closely with the Maor of London as well as with Transport for London, Metropolitan Police Services and local businesses in ensuring the city's club scene remains a thriving force.

Recommended Read more Judge rules Fabric undercover police must be named

Khan made the announcement at Soho's 100 Club on Friday morning (4 November), with Lame promising Londoners that she is "100% the Night Czar for all Londoners."

"Nightlife in London is my life," she assured the city's residents.

Lame beat out a high number of venue managers, DJs and journalists to score the role.

Popular nightclub Fabric had its license revoked in September which lead to a high-profile public outcry.
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The historic Paris Agreement on climate change became an international treaty on Friday, up to five years earlier than planned after countries ratified the document with lightning speed.

It comes just a few days before the start of the global climate summit in Marrakesh, Morocco, which has been dubbed the conference of action after the promises and arguably optimistic talk to limiting global warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius in France last year.

Experts said the swift adoption of the treaty showed the world was moving away from fossil fuels towards a low-carbon future.

While the European Union has ratified the treaty, the UK has not done so as an individual nation, although it has promised this will happen.

The accord became official after 55 nations accounting for more than 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions approved it and is now binding on the signatories.

Previously it was thought this process might take until 2020, but progress has been swift in a sign that more countries are taking the dangers posed by climate change seriously.

United Nations' climate chief Patricia Espinosa said in a statement: This is a moment to celebrate. It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead.

In a short time  and certainly in the next 15 years  we need to see unprecedented reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and unequalled efforts to build societies that can resist rising climate impacts.

The Earths average surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Celsius since the 1880s but a report by the UN Environment Programme this week calculated it is currently on course to increase by 3.4 degrees by 2100.

This would take the climate into dangerous territory where various tipping points, such as the release of vast amounts of methane currently frozen in the northern tundra, could create runaway warming conditions.

Li Shuo, global policy advisor at Greenpeace China, hailed the ratification of the Paris Agreement, but said it was now time for action.

"The lightning speed of the entry into force of the Paris Agreement is unprecedented and commendable, he said.

Marrakesh is when the rubber hits the road. This [summit] must turn the Paris vision into action.

Paris climate talks in pictures Show all 12 1 /12 Paris climate talks in pictures Paris climate talks in pictures A man is covered with a multi-coloured banner with the message, "Climate" as environmentalists attend a demonstration near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) that meets in Le Bourget, December 12, 2015 Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures French President Francois Hollande (C) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) applaud after a statement at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line today with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) speaks with China's Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua (R) and officials at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line today with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures Delegates and members of NGO's read and work on copies of 'The adoption of the Paris agreement' is pictured after the announcement of the final draft by French Foreign Affairs minister Laurent Fabius at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning Getty Paris climate talks in pictures UN climate chief Christiana Figueres (C) speaks with French President Francois Hollande (L), United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (2ndL) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) after a statement at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015. The years-long quest for a universal pact to avert catastrophic climate change neared the finish line today with conference host France announcing that the final draft had been completed in the early hours of the morning Getty Paris climate talks in pictures A Swiss Dominican priest poses with activists dressed as polar bears as activists gather for a demonstration to form a giant red line at the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris on December 12, 2015, as a proposed 195-nation accord to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system is to be presented at the United Nations conference on climate change COP21 in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures Activists hold up a giant banner reading 'Climate justice' by association 'ourpowercampaign' during a demonstration near the Arc de Triomphe at the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris on December 12, 2015, as a proposed 195-nation accord to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system is to be presented at the United Nations conference on climate change COP21 in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris. Getty Paris climate talks in pictures Representatives of indigenous peoples demonstrate in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015. Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures Environmentalists demonstrate near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015. Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures Environmentalists demonstrate near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015. Reuters Paris climate talks in pictures Activists form a giant red line during a demonstration on the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris on December 12, 2015, as a proposed 195-nation accord to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system is to be presented at the United Nations conference on climate change COP21 in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images Paris climate talks in pictures The slogan "No Plan B" is projected on the Eiffel Tower as part of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) in Paris, France, December 11, 2015. Reuters

And Anthony Hobley, chief executive of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, said fossil fuel companies and investors should take note of the significance of the shift in the political wind.

"Ratification of the Paris Accord in record time shows there is no stopping the energy transition underway and signals the worlds ambition to decarbonize the world economy in the second half of the century, he said.

"The writing is on the wall: National climate change commitments, rapid advances in clean technology, falling renewables costs and energy efficiency measures combine to significantly reduce demand for fossil fuels in next 20 years  a perfect storm for energy incumbents on the horizon.

"Despite this clear direction of travel stakeholders are still misreading the pace of change. Fossil fuel companies are ignoring the fundamental risk the carbon bubble poses and clinging to orthodox growth strategies.

Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA

Lord Adair Turner, a former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry and ex-chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, said: The Paris agreement confirms that most major economies are now taking steps towards low-carbon economies.

But the challenge facing all governments as they convene for the UN climate summit next week is that, despite increasing progress, emissions are not falling fast enough to fulfil the pledge made at Paris to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius.
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Liberia has lost access to the entire internet in apparent preparation for shutting down the entire internet.

Repeated attacks are flooding the country's network with requests and taking it down entirely. That has intermittently knocked the entire web offline, meaning that people can't access any websites or web services.

The attacks appear to be a way for hackers to test a variety of ways of attacking internet connections and taking offline. In that way they resemble the attacks launched recently, when hackers brought down many of the world's biggest websites.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

The two might even be related and experts said they came from the same groups. The hacks could be a way of testing some of the same networks used in those attacks and which could be used for even more disastrous ones  networks that might be made up of devices that are currently sitting apparently innocently in normal people's houses.

Recommended You might have been responsible for the internet outage last week

Those devices are brought together into a botnet, where one central hacker can commandeer devices and use them for various purposes. That might include forcing them all to send requests and web traffic to a particular place  usually overwhelming that piece of equipment and causing outages for the people  or entire countries  that rely on them.

The hackers behind the attack appear to be very sophisticated, according to cyber security experts. The complexity of the attack appears to suggest it could be used to take down an entire nation state's internet again.

The attacks in Liberia are intermittent and are being pointed at the undersea cable that Liberia shares with other West African nations. By overwhelming the companies that look after those cables with requests, they can force them to break down and stop working.
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Outright ownership of property in the UKs major cities could soon be a thing of the past according to new research, that suggests the number of freehold urban properties is dwindling fast.

Increasing property prices and a high population density make property development a profitable enterprise in these areas  which has led to an increase in the number of leaseholds as houses are split into flats and new apartment blocks are built.

More than half of homes in London and almost half of those in Manchester are leasehold with parts of Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle almost devoid of freehold homes. In fact, in Londons newly redeveloped Kings Cross area and a growing number of other postcodes, there are no freehold properties at all. (At the other end of the spectrum, buyers in Berwickshire and rural Wales rarely have the same problem.)

But this isnt simply a legal distinction. Not only are leasehold properties more expensive than their freehold cousins to buy, the leasehold market has long been the source of controversial calculations and questions over fairness that have caught the attention of the Office of Fair Trading among others. Leasehold homes also come with additional legal obligations.

Above all, thousands of buyers remain in the dark about the true nature of their contract  crucially that the property will be ultimately be handed back to the landlord. Leasehold owners may technically own the bricks and mortar, but not, as freehold owners do, the land it stands on or the rest of the building its located in.

The redevelopment of England and Wales towns and cities over the past 30 years means there are more leasehold properties on the market, as new-build apartment blocks are constructed and old warehouses are converted into flats, says Doug Crawford, chief executive of My Home Move, which analysed more than 20 million property transactions. Controversially, even some new-build houses in suburban and rural areas are now sold as leasehold properties. The investment has given the countries housing stock a welcome boost, but it also means that buyers are more likely to encounter a leasehold property than ever before.

While the high proportion of leaseholds in the centre of major cities will shock few developers and estate agents, would-be buyers looking to claim a little piece of the city as their own may be in for a surprise. Leaseholds make up almost all of the housing stock in some of our cities redeveloped districts, and the proportion of leaseholds could grow even more as additional new developments come onto the market.

Beginners guide to buying leasehold property

1. As the leaseholder you will be required by the lease to pay ground rent, service charges, management fees and buildings insurance to the landlord or their appointed managing agent, on top of any mortgage repayments, utility bills. Such charges may vary from year to year.

2. Be clear who the landlord is and whether they have a managing agent acting for them. In some cases there may also be a management company involved in running the site as a whole and you may need to make payments for different charges to different people. Where there is a management company it may also have its own managing agents and may make its own charges on you as the tenant, which will increase the overall costs that you have to pay while owning the property.

3. Before viewing any leasehold property always check the length of the lease remaining with the estate agent or the seller. Be aware; sometimes a leasehold property may seem cheap, but that is because the length of the lease is short. Most mortgage lenders wont lend on short leases which limits who the property can be sold to. If the seller can successfully sell a short lease they can avoid the additional costs involved in extending the length of the lease. Therefore, if you find that the property you are buying has a short lease you should request that the seller obtains an extension of the length of the lease at their expense and before you buy it. It is usually the responsibility of the seller to extend the lease with the landlord as the cost of doing so can be tens of thousands of pounds. You may have a lender who is willing to lend on a short lease, however bear in mind that when you sell your buyers may not be so lucky or you will be required to extend the term of the lease at your expense before you can sell. If the number of years left on a lease falls below 80 it is more expensive to extend it, as the landlord is then allowed to charge the tenant something called marriage value which can increase the cost of any extension dramatically.

4. When considering whether a lease extension is required there are two ways of obtaining this. First, the landlord can grant an extension at any time voluntarily. Second, a tenant who has lived in the property for at least two years can force a landlord to grant a lease extension. This is called a Section 42 Claim. To start such a claim the current tenant has to claim the right to extend the lease, then pass this on to the buyer to complete after they have purchased it (because otherwise the buyer wont have the right until they have owned the property for two years). This can be very complicated and costly and so ordinarily, it is far better to get the length of the lease extended by the seller at their expense and before you buy it.

5. In some instances it is possible to buy a share of the freehold of the property. This has two main advantages. First, as you and your fellow-freeholders own the freehold you are in effect your own landlord and can exercise greater control over the running of the building. While this may mean more work for you, it can mean lower charges for things like the repair and insurance of the building and you may decide to suspend the payment of any ground rent on an informal basis. Second. It should be easier extend the length of the lease to whatever number of years you choose, such as 999 years.

6. If you are not able to buy a share of the freehold with the leasehold property it is possible for you and your fellow leaseholders to force the landlord to sell you the freehold at a later date. However, this can be costly and complicated as it requires at least 50 per cent of the leaseholders within the building to want buy the freehold.

7. For further advice, and a rough guide to the cost of extending a lease, see the "Lease Extension Calculator" available on the Leasehold Advisory Service website: www.lease-advice.org

8. Always check the description and plans of the property within the lease carefully against the physical layout. If there are any discrepancies you must alert your chosen lawyer as soon as possible. Any discrepancies can have serious consequences and can be expensive and time-consuming to correct. Therefore it is vital to have any amendments made by the seller at their expense and before you buy it.

Source: My Home Move
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Britains 4bn curry industry, which campaigned for the UK to leave EU, says it has been betrayed by politicians over immigration, in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Curry house owners are worried about the post-referendum clampdown on immigration, as they are already struggling to hire chefs from abroad and are facing mass closures.

According to a recent survey, the number of licensed curry restaurants has declined by 13 per cent in the last 18 months, with over 1,000 restaurants closing their doors for good.

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The current regime requires curry house owners to pay nearly 30,000 a year to secure a visa for a chef from the subcontinent. Visa applications are often refused and the staff shortages are the main reason why restaurants are closing.

Oli Khan, chef and owner of three curry houses, said the industry is suffering a lot and feels betrayed.

He told The Independent: It is very disappointing that Brexit campaigners such as Priti Patel and Boris Johnson, who said the curry industry would be better off the EU, have not kept their promises.

 Amber Rudd launches immigration crackdown

Khan added he had to double the wages of some of his employee due to staff shortages and, pointing to the collapse in the value of the pound since the June referendum, he is expecting higher food prices.

Priti Patel, International Development Secretary, who was a leading Leave campaigner, said a Brexit vote would allow the curry industry to relax non-EU immigration rules and save British curry houses.

The industry was hoping that a new Australian points-style immigration system would allow them to hire more staff from countries such as India and Bangladesh.

However, one of Theresa Mays first announcements after becoming Prime Minister was to rule out such a system, which she thinks could increase immigration levels.

In addition, Home Seceratary Amber Rudd has pledged to bring down the overall number of migrants.

Enam Ali MBE, founder, restaurateur and editor of trade publication Spice Business, has been lobbying the Government to implement a major review as current legislation continues to impact the industry.

Staff shortages mean many of us are struggling to meet customer expectations, and it is almost impossible to expand as we would like to, he said.

Earlier this week, Pasha Khandaker, president of the Bangladesh Caterers Association, who campaigned for Brexit, told the Financial Times he was very disappointed by the Governments refusal to implement a points-based immigration system.

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 am very disappointed, when Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Priti Patel, prominent figures from the governing party, they were clearly saying that they would introduce a points-based system of immigraiton, Australia-style, he said.

My organisation supported Brexit for several reasons but the main reason was to bring people from abroad to help our industry to survive.

Chris Parsons, chair of the India practice at law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, said that it would be politically rather difficult for Theresa May and the rest of the Government to say were closing European immigration down but we want to encourage lots of Chinese and Indians to come in.
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J.K. Rowling has mocked the Mail Online for running an angry headline about one of the High Court judges who ruled that Theresa May must seek parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50 and the UK leaves the European Union being "openly gay".

A number of Brexit-backing newspapers reacted predictably to the ruling and Fridays front pages displayed headlines ranging from The Telegraphs The judges versus the people to The Suns: Who do EU think you are? and The Daily Express rallying cry: We must get out of the EU.

The Daily Mail dedicated its front page to attacking the three judges who are behind the ruling, branding them Enemies of the State.

JK Rowling in tweets Show all 5 1 /5 JK Rowling in tweets JK Rowling in tweets On Donald Trump: After Trump's comments about banning all Muslims from the US, Rowling took to Twitter to shut down growing comparisons between him and Voldemort: 'How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad'. PA JK Rowling in tweets On Rupert Murdoch: When Murdoch tweeted 'Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible' after the Paris terror attack, Rowling hit back: 'I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I'll auto-excommunicate.' Getty Images JK Rowling in tweets On gay rights: After a tweeter asked Rowling why she has described Dumbledore as gay because they didn't personally 'see him that way', Rowling replied: 'Maybe because gay people just look like... people?' Getty JK Rowling in tweets On Serena Williams After a Twitter user described Williams 'main success' as being 'built like a man', Rowling retorted: 'She is built like a man'. Yeah, my husband looks just like this in a dress. You're an idiot.' JK Rowling in tweets On Hermione Granger Rowling condemned criticism black actress Noma Dumezweni had been cast to play Hermione Granger: 'We found the best actress and she's black. Bye bye, now.' Reuters

The Mail Online also introduced the three men to its readers under the following headline: The judges who blocked Brexit: One founded a EUROPEAN law group, another charged the taxpayer millions for advice and the third is an openly gay ex-Olympic fencer.

But, as Rowling pointed out, if the fact that you are gay and a former Olympian is the worst they can say then you must be doing something right.

Others reacted furiously, questioning why the publication thought necessary to use the Master of the Rolls, and thus the second most senior judge in England and Wales, Sir Terence Ethertons sexuality as a slur.

Sir Terence qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow as part of the British Sabre team. The 65-year-old became the first gay man to be a senior judge when he was sworn in as Lord Justice of Appeal in 2008.

It is understood the outlet later changed their headline by removing the reference to Sir Terences sexuality.

 Landmark Brexit Ruling: What happened and what happens next?

Representatives from The Mail did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Wealthy officials from Qatar and Saudi Arabia who donated money to Hillary Clintons charitable foundation also provided financial support to Isis, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed.

In an extended interview at the Ecuadorian embassy in London with documentary maker John Pilger for RT, Mr Assange said the same Saudi and Qatari officials could be seen to be supporting both the Clinton Foundation  founded by Mrs Clintons husband Bill  and funding the activities of Isis.

Mr Pilger asked if Mr Assange believed that this notorious jihadist group, called Isil or Isis, is created largely with money from people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation

Yes, Mr Assange replied.

The WikiLeaks founder pointed to an email exchange between presidential hopeful Ms Clinton and her campaign manager John Podesta, leaked by his organisation last month, which he believes is the most significant email in the whole collection.

In the email sent on August 17 2014, Ms Clinton asked Mr Podesta, who at that time worked under president Barack Obama, to help put pressure on Qatar and Saudi Arabia regarding the countries alleged support for the terrorist group Isis.

We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to Isil and other radical Sunni groups in the region, Ms Clinton wrote.

Mr Assange noted the US government had never acknowledged governments of Middle East nations had financially supported Isis, instead arguing such support was isolated to some rogue princes using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, although the government disapproves, according to the WikiLeaks founder.

The portion of an email from 17 August, which Mr Assange believes is most significant (WikiLeaks)

According to the Clinton Foundation, the Saudi Arabian government has donated between $10m (8m) and $25million since the foundation was set up in 1997. Last month it was reported the government of Qatar offered to donate $1m to the foundation in celebration of Bill Clintons birthday.

Representatives from the Clinton Foundation have repeatedly denied accusations Ms Clinton has solicited funds and used donations to boost her campaign. There were no donations from Saudi Arabia while she was acting as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.

Mr Assange also used the interview to dismiss the prospect of a Donald Trump victory in next weeks election, which the polls show will be close.

Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Show all 15 1 /15 Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Who are famous people voting for in the US election? George Clooney HILLARY CLINTON Getty Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Leonardo DiCaprio HILLARY CLINTON Getty Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Mike Tyson DONALD TRUMP Getty Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Beyonce HILLARY CLINTON Rex Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Chloe Grace Moretz HILLARY CLINTON Vivien Killilea/Getty Images Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Sarah Jessica Parker HILLARY CLINTON Getty Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Jon Voight DONALD TRUMP Getty Images Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Katy Perry HILLARY CLINTON Getty Images Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Jennifer Lopez HILLARY CLINTON Angela Weiss/Getty Images Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Denis Rodman DONALD TRUMP TIMOTHY CLARY/AFP/Getty Images Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Salma Hayek HILLARY CLINTON Getty Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Le Bron James HILLARY CLINTON Justin Carissimo Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Hulk Hogan DONALD TRUMP Reuters Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Kid Rock DONALD TRUMP Theo Wargo/Getty Images Who are famous people voting for in the US election? Stacey Dash DONALD TRUMP Kevin Winter/Getty Images

My analysis is that Trump will not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment against him. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment.

Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.

In October, Ecuadors government confirmed it had temporarily restricted Mr Assange's internet access at its London embassy, to prevent him meddling in the election process in the US.
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Kanye West hasnt always been the most vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, but fans of Yeezy will know that the man has always been paying attention to the struggle. With subtle nods to the Ferguson-born hands up dont shoot chant in The Life of Pablos Feedback and his short, direct tweet to the movement in 2014, its clear that Mr West has been obeying his fathers wishes by doing his best to avoid another George Bush-level incident of perpetual backlash.

In July, when Alton Sterling was fatally shot at point-blank range by a police officer in Baton Rouge, footage of the incident went viral, Wests wife Kim Kardashian refused to stay silent, writing a heartfelt message admitting that she wants her children to grow up in a world where their lives are valued. On Wednesday, the Sterling familys lawyer shared an image on Twitter of Altons eldest son, Cameron, posing next to West and Kardashian backstage at his Saint Pablo Tour stop in Houston. The caption reads, Shoutout to [Kanye West] and [Kim Kardashian] for showing 16th [birthday] love last night to my client Cameron.

Read Kim Kardashians open letter calling for an end to police brutality and reread the story of the cop watching group who filmed candidate footage of Sterlings murder.
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Lindsay Lohan is already sick of the interest in her "fascinating" new accent.

On Tuesday, the actress delivered an interview in an accent that was a far cry from the New York tone fans have become accustomed since she burst onto screens at the age of 11 in The Parent Trap.

Lohan said she would leave it up to her fans to devise a name for this new, hybrid accent, described as a mix of European and American dialects.

People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.

But the actress is now growing tired of the speculation and on Thursday pleaded with her fans: I just want everyone to not focus on my accent and be happy and help each other and recognise whats happening.

(Screengrab/Snapchat (Screengrab/Snapchat)

The accent follows an unusual year for the newly established humanitarian. Lohan has hit the headlines several times for her engagement and subsequent acrimonious split with her former boyfriend, her praise for the controversial Turkish President Erdogan (she repeats his catchphrase, the world is bigger than five, in the accent video) and ripping her finger off in a boating accident.

Of course, there is always the possibility the accent is a ploy to make headlines in order to get her refugee message across. In which case, perhaps Lohan is simply just a PR genius.
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The civil rights icon John Lewis has vowed that Democrats will make history again by electing Hillary Clinton  despite reports of attempted voter suppression in places such as North Carolina.

With just days before election day, the southern state has emerged as one of the most crucial battlegrounds as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton seek to deliver a knock-out blow.

Polls give Ms Clinton a small but persistent lead of around two per cent in the in the state, which has 15 electoral votes, in recent weeks. For Democrats, it may be one of their best chances of winning one of the states carried by Mitt Romney in 2012.

Carrie Graves, 80, was in Washington in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe)

Mr Trump also knows just how important it is. Our path to victory is through Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa. And we believe 100 per cent that were winning all four of those. And once we do that, then we put ourselves in a position to win one of those other swing states, his deputy campaign manager David Bossie told CNN this week.

Reports from places such as Beaufort, Moore and Cumberland counties, say voters have complained that their registrations were cancelled because mailings sent by private individuals to their homes came back as undeliverable. They reported the information to county election officials.

John Lewis was among the protest leaders at Selma in 1965 (Getty)

The US Department of Justice filed a statement of interest late on Monday night supporting the North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples (NAACP) federal lawsuit, alleging that thousands of voters were being illegally removed from the polls.

The purge programme at issue here rested on a mass mailing and the silence of voters largely unaware of the potential injury to their voting rights, it said.

On Thursday, Mr Lewis, 76, a congressman who represents Georgias fifth district and a one-time contemporary of Martin Luther King, spoke at a rally in Charlotte where he urged voters to get out and vote.

The man who was one of the original Freedom Riders and who was injured when police turned violent on hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, urged people get to the polls.

Mr Lewis following a campaign event in Charlotte (Andrew Buncombe)

Do it for our children, and their children, so no one will be left out or left behind in this state or in America, he said.

After the rally, he and others Democrats marched to one of the polling stations that has seen large numbers of early voters. Large numbers of people turned out to cheer and wave and to shake his hand.

More than 22 million Americans have already voted (Andrew Buncombe)

Asked by The Independent to reflect that the battles he and others fought half-a-century ago were still being fought, he said: We will not give up, we will continue to press on.

Eight years ago, the Democrats made history by electing the countrys first African-American president. Asked if history could be made again, he said: We can make history. We can elect Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States.

Mr Lewis walked to the Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Centre in Charlotte, where people were arriving throughout the afternoon to cast their votes ahead of election day. Carrie Graves, 80, said she had been in Washington in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed.

I will be voting for Hillary Clinton. She has done so much  for children, for healthcare, she said.

Supporters of Hillary Clinton at Charlottes West Boulevard Library

Asked about the email controversy that has dogged the Democrat much of the campaign and which has been reopened by revelations that the FBI was looking at new emails, she said: I dont know anyone who in their life has not done wrong. They dont have wings on their backs.

At another polling station nearby, people were lining up outside the citys West Boulevard Library.

Jay Baucom said he had come early to end the stress of the campaign. He believed Ms Clinton would win and he was casting his vote for her. He was concerned, however, that whoever emerged as the president-elect, the country would not come together around them them. People are very divided, and people will not unite, he said.

Andrea McKnight had come with members of her family to vote. She said she knew things were tight in North Carolina and she wanted to make sure her vote counted. She too was supporting Ms Clinton.

I think Hillary Clinton is going to win. She is going to be the first lady president, and Donald Trump is a total jerk, she said. I saw him on The Apprentice.
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The Prince of Wales has warned human damage to the environment is leading towards a global mass extinction event.

Speaking ahead of a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) lecture at the Royal Society, Prince Charles said he was deeply worried "as a father and grandfather" about the challenges facing the environment, reports the Telegraph.

The WWF President and heir to the throne said: "As a father and grandfather I worry deeply about the world we are leaving behind for our successors. We are rapidly destroying our means of survival.

"Clearly we are not living within the environmental limits of our plants. Populations of vertebrate species have declined by more than half from 1970. We are on a deeply depressing trajectory to witness the sixth global mass extinction in our planet.

"We are ushering in a new era. It's alarming to realise that after 4.5 billion years that a change in epoch has been due to the activities of just a single species."

Global conservation groups have estimated by 2020, populations of vertebrae species could have fallen by 67 per cent over a five decade period - if nothing is done to reverse the damaging effects of human activity.

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough, a WWF ambassador himself, has said children born tomorrow will not have the opportunity to see the same variety of animals as he has.

 Decline in species threatens 'global mass extinction of wildlife'

Sir David was quoted by the global charity saying: "In my lifetime I have seen something of the marvellous range of wild species with which we share the planet.

But due to the changes which today afflict the world, no one born tomorrow will have the opportunity to see such variety.

"We must surely do all we can to protect what remains."
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The biggest earthworm ever found in Britain has been discovered and then immediately killed by scientists.

Dave was the size of a small snake  40cm long and weighing 26g. He was discovered crawling around in Cheshire and has now been killed so that he can be preserved.

The worm was found by Paul Rees from Widnes, who spotted the monster Lumbricus terrestris in his vegetable patch. It was named Dave by Mr Reess stepson, George.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary

Natural History Museum scientist Emma Sherlock, who chairs the Earthworm Society of Britain, said: "I was bowled over by the size of this worm when I opened the plastic box they sent it in. Not only is it really long, it is almost twice as heavy as any other wild earthworm ever seen, weighing the same as a small chocolate bar."

Its still a mystery as to how the worm got to be so long.

Recommended Scientists turn off ageing process in worms

"With worms this size Paul must have an incredibly fertile and well-drained veg plot with decaying matter quickly recycled back into the soil, said Ms Sherlock. Earthworms are incredibly important to keep soils healthy.

"I look forward to seeing if anyone can find an even bigger example by taking part in the Earthworm Watch survey this autumn.

Earthworm Watch is a countrywide survey of earthworms and soil quality that is run by the Natural History Museum and other groups.

The previous record holders were earthworms found on the Scottish island of Rum. They were found last year and measured 39.6cm, but were much lighter  the heaviest was just 12.6g.

Dave the earthworm (PA wire)

Their size is thought to have occurred because of a lack of predators and rich soil.
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The NHS would struggle to survive if there was a mass exodus of staff as a result of a hard Brexit deal, the UKs largest nursing union has warned.

Julie Williams, a member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said the health service was already being stretched by staff shortages and expressed doubts it could cope with such a large loss of its workforce.

The union backed the claims, telling The Independent there were a lot of EU nurses working in the UK and that they were vital to the services ability to provide safe care.

Ms Williams, who works as a nurse at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, where 76 per cent of the population voted to leave, told Sky News: There are 33,000 EU nurses currently working across the NHS in the UK, and there are 330-odd working in this particular organisation.

I don't think that any organisation could sustain such a large loss in one hit and cope with it.

Ms Williams said the trust that runs the hospital employed 339 people from the EU but, like much of the NHS, was still facing staff shortages, and was currently looking for more than 300 nurses and midwives.

She added that doctors were also being brought over from Europe due to a shortage of local GPs.

The RCN told The Independent it shared Ms Williams' concerns, reiterating its previous calls on the Government to secure the futures of EU nurses following the Brexit vote.

In July, the union warned of the potential damage continuing uncertainty over their future could have on the trust's ability to provide safe care, urging that it was vital that EU colleagues were supported to stay.

More than 17,000 nurses and health visitors in the UK are said to be from EU countries, accounting for 6 per cent of total staffing numbers.

The figure for doctors is even higher, with just under 10,000 hospital doctors coming from EU countries  about 9 per cent of the total.

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

Meanwhile, 36 per cent of staff in the health service were born overseas, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Prior to the Brexit vote a survey of hospital leaders revealed 80 per cent of NHS trust chief executives and chairs believed the service would face a staffing crisis if the UK were to leave the EU.

Following the EU referendum in June, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the NHS should slash numbers of foreign doctors and hire British ones in their place when the UK leaves the EU.
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Hundreds of mannequin limbs have been placed outside the entrance to the Russian embassy in protest against the killing of civilians in Aleppo by Russian forces.

The Syria Campaign and Syria Solidarity UK blockaded the front of the building in west London with 800 adult and child-sized limbs on Thursday, while two activists locked themselves to the entrance gates.

Campaigners said the fake body parts represented the horrific injuries afflicting civilians as a result of Moscows attacks on the besieged city.

Rebel fighters took control of eastern Aleppo in 2012 and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have been waging a major offensive to take it back.

A campaigner creates a structure made from white mannequin limbs outside the Russian Embassy (AFP)

East Aleppo is the last major urban stronghold of the official Syrian opposition. Retaking it would greatly shift the balance towards the regime - bolstering Mr Assads position.

Russias parliament voted to assist the Syrian regime militarily in September 2015. Since then, Moscow has deployed around 30 jets to its airbase near Latakia, as well as air-defence systems in a show of strength to Western powers.

The bombardment of eastern Aleppo has come at the expense of the civilians still living in the besieged city, with rising death tolls and allegations of attacks on hospitals. It is understood around 250,000 people are trapped in the rebel-held area desperate for food, fuel and medical supplies.

Mr Assad launched a renewed attack on the estimated 8,000 fighters left in east Aleppo in September. The unprecedented bombing, aided by Russian-manufactured illegal munitions such as cluster bombs, white phosphorous and bunker busters, has been some of the bloodiest of Syrias almost six-year-long conflict, leaving more than 500 people dead.

The recent renewed campaign on Aleppo has been condemned as a war crime by the UN and Western governments, many of whom have drawn parallels with Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, which was besieged by Russia between 1999 - 2000.

Campaigners set up the mannequin structure at 2pm, calling on Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to increase pressure on Russia, including announcing new sanctions against Russian financial interest in the UK.

Campaigners create a structure made from white mannequin limbs outside the Russian Embassy (AFP)

John Dunford from the Syria Campaign, who was one of the protestors locked on to the embassy gates, said: Were here because innocent children are being killed in their beds, while doctors are being bombed just for trying to save the lives of others. The Russian government and the Assad regime are committing these war crimes in Aleppo and things could be about to get even worse.

It shouldnt be up to activists like me to say this  the UK government should be doing far more to protect the innocent and stand up against this barbarity.

Amr Salahi from Syria Solidarity UK who was at the protest said: We have to stop the bombs. We have to stop the attacks on schools, on hospitals, on aid workers. We have to act now to stop Russia and the regime willfully killing children, mothers and fathers, the deliberate starving of the old, the deliberate targeting of doctors and nurses.

The Russian government claims to be fighting terror, but bombing aid trucks is not fighting terror. They are inflicting terror on Syria and on all of us, and we reject their propaganda.

The bombing of Aleppo is not just an attack on Syrians. It is an attack on humanitarian law. The Russian government and Assad are shredding international agreements and laws that exist for the protection of all of us. To save Syria is to save ourselves.

Police were called to the Russian embassy and the structure was dismantled and the campaigners unlocked from the gates by 3pm.

A structure made from white mannequin limbs is pictured outside the Russian Embassy (AFP)

Responding to the protest, the Russian embassy said in a statement: "The unwillingness of the British Government to ensure normal operation and security of the Russian diplomatic mission in London has caused deep concern with the Russian Embassy.

"Today, a protest action by a group of people interrupted the work of the Embassy as the entrance to the Consular Section was blocked up with a heap of mannequin body parts, while the protestors handcuffed themselves to the gate. As a result, the mission staff and visitors were unable to enter the premises of the Embassy. The security of the Russian diplomatic mission in the UK was compromised. Police officers remained indifferent in the face of the openly provocative and disorderly conduct of the demonstrators. Moreover, nuisance callers blocked the Embassy telephone line rendering it impossible to contact the mission for genuine callers.

"One is under the impression that this disruptive 'protest action' has been thoroughly planned, which is not surprising in the context of the recent official statement in Parliament by Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson encouraging to hold protests outside the Russian Embassy in London.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

"Its worth mentioning that todays manifestation near the Embassy has been accompanied by an ongoing anti-Russian campaign in the media inspired by some statements of the British officials. The Russian diplomatic mission has forwarded a Note of Protest to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."

The protest comes after reports on Tuesday suggested Russian and Syrian forces could launch a huge counterattack on rebels in east Aleppo to take the city for good as early as this week.

Russia dispatched its largest military surface deployment since the Cold War two weeks ago - which included eight warships and the countrys only aircraft carrier - which are due to arrive at the Syrian Mediterranean city of Latakia as soon as Wednesday.

Earlier this month he warned that east Aleppo could face total destruction by Christmas and thousands more could die if the current assault on the city is not stopped.

Additional reporting by Press Association
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Parliament is going through a period of storm and stress over Brexit, Boris Johnson has warned  as a third Tory MP steps down in two months.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin after meetings with his German counterpart the Foreign Secretary was asked about the resignation of Tory MP Stephen Phillips on Friday morning.

Mr Johnson urged the German press to ignore what he called the sturm und drang amongst MPs and the High Courts recent finding against the Government, arguing that it was of little consequence in the long-run.

I would really not read too much into the legal decision youve just seen today or indeed some of the sturm und drang thats going on in the Parliament at the moment, he said.

I think the direction is very clear: the will of the British people was expressed every clearly, and its the decision of the Government to get on and make that work.

Sturm und drang is a German idiom that refers to the free expression of emotion, usually in a literary context.

The Foreign Secretary, long known for his colourful turns of phrase, raised eyebrows earlier this week when he said Britain would make a titanic success of Brexit.

Though Mr Johnson had been referring to the Titans  fictional giants of classical literature  he was widely assumed to have referred to the Titanic, a supposedly unsinkable ship that struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage.

Mr Phillips stepped down as an MP this morning citing irreconcilable policy differences with Theresa May  as divisions in the Conservative party over the EU begin to strain.

Mr Phillips, a QC and the MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, said he could no longer represent his consituents because of Ms Mays policy direction since she came to office.

Though in favour of Brexit he has long advocated remaining in the single market.
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British newspapers have been widely condemned for coverage in the aftermath of a High Court ruling that is expected to see Brexit delayed.

Three senior judges ruled on Thursday that Theresa May cannot trigger Article 50, and the withdrawal from the European Union, without a vote in Parliament.

The trio said the government and Crown had no power to alter the law of the land by use of its prerogative powers.

Recommended Read more Theresa May dismisses talk of early general election

But a selection of media accused the judges of interfering with democracy, prompting a furious response from lawyers, politicians and journalists.

The Daily Mail came in for particular criticism, with many claiming it was inciting hatred with its front page story, which carried the headline 'Enemies of the people', alongside images of the three judges.

Schona Jolly, a human rights and equalities barrister from Cloisters Chambers, said anyone questioning "our powerfully democratic traditions" should "read the judgement".

"This hostile and abusive attack on the judges is an attack on the rule of law," she told The Independent.

Lead claimant Gina Miller, pictured leaving the High Court with her team, has already been subjected to online racist abuse Getty (Getty)

"In a time when the country is deeply divided, these headlines are deliberately stirring anxieties and tension.

"We should be proud to have an independent judiciary that is prepared to stand up for the rights of all citizens.

"Yesterday's decision was legally sound. The claimants arguments were far more powerful and persuasive than those made by the government. The court has upheld the centuries-old constitutional principle in this country that parliamentary sovereignty matters; That the Government of the day cannot remove people's rights without parliament authorising it to do so.

"The reaction of sections of the media is politically rather than democratically driven. If upholding the rule of law is 'elitist', those commentators need to question what sort of Brexit they are advocating."

Joshua Rozenberg QC, a British legal commentator and journalist, said: It does these papers no credit that they are attacking the judges rather than their judgement.

And it certainly does nothing for the governments prospects of successful appeal.

Fraud and regulatory lawyer Mukul Chawla QC said: Dont complain about unelected judges before reading that the government expressly accepted this was a proper matter for the courts.

Meanwhile, many suggested coverage of the ruling showed little had been learned following the murder of MP Jo Cox days before the EU referendum.

And Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams suggested the coverage was of the type more likely to be approved by leaders of oppresive regimes.

The Daily Express ran an editorial on its front page that used colourful rhetoric evoking images of Winston Churchills famous We shall fight them on the beaches wartime speech.

It reads: Today this country faces a crisis as grave as anything since the dark days when Churchill vowed we would fight them on the beaches ... Truly, November 3, 2016, was the day democracy died.

 Landmark Brexit Ruling: What happened and what happens next?

 High court rules Brexit needs Parliamentary approval

The Daily Telegraph also carried images of the three judges on its front page, but with a wash of blue, writing: The judges versus the people.

A comment piece from former Ukip leader Nigel Farage ran underneath.

The Sun's front page headline said: Who do EU think you are: Loaded foreign elite defy will of Brit voters.

 'If you think you voted for Brexit in possession of truth, honesty and fact then you're a banana'

On 23 June, 51.9%, equating to 17,410,742 people, voted in favour of leaving the European Union.

Pro-Brexit campaigners have highlighted how the High Court decision was based on unwritten constitutional law dating back more than 400 years.

The judgement referenced Jacobean case law, quoting The Case of Proclamations (1610): "The King by his proclamation or other ways cannot change any part of the common law, or statute law, or the customs of the realm".

The Daily Mail has been contacted for comment.
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Theresa May is confident she will get her way on Brexit in the Supreme Court, despite the Governments legal case being savaged by Britains top judges.

Downing Street insisted the case  to overturn the High Court and give the Prime Minister the right to trigger withdrawal under Article 50  would go ahead and would be won.

The confident tone came despite the shock resignation from Parliament of Conservative backbencher Stephen Phillips, after clashes with Ms May over Brexit, sparking another by-election.

Yesterdays High Court ruling was devastating for the Government  concluding its arguments had been contrary to fundamental constitutional principles of the sovereignty of Parliament.

The judges said: The court does not accept the argument put forward by the Government. There is nothing in the text of the 1972 Act [to join the EU] to support it."

Legal commentators suggested it was odds-on the Government will lose again in the Supreme Court  a case pencilled in for 7 December, with a judgment in January.

No 10 has refused to say whether different legal arguments would be put forward, to try to achieve a different result  or whether the under-fire Attorney General would oversee the case.

And the Scottish Government could yet join the legal challenge, after SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would actively consider becoming involved.

Asked if the Government would definitely go to the Supreme Court, the Prime Ministers spokesman insisted it would, saying: We are very confident we will win in the Supreme Court.

We remain of the firm belief that we have strong legal arguments ahead of the case which will be moving to the Supreme Court next month.

It is not clear, however, whether papers have yet been formally lodged for the challenge  something the spokesman was unable to confirm.

No 10 also declined to say whether legislation was already being drawn up for triggering Article 50, in case the Supreme Court upheld the ruling, stressing that it was focused on winning the case.

The High Court ruling was made by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd; the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton; and Lord Justice Sales, the Lord Justice of Appeal.

At the Supreme Court, the case will be scrutinised by a panel of 12 justices, headed by Lord David Neuberger of Abbotsbury, its president.

Today, Ms May spoke by telephone with Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the European Commission, and German chancellor Angela Merkel, conversations that were reasonably short, said her spokesman.

She is also expected to speak to other European leaders later in an effort to reassure them that her Brexit plans remain on track.

The High Court ruling was greeted by right-wing tabloid headlines attacking the judges, labelling them Enemies Of The People and the greatest threat to the country since Hitler.

However, asked if Ms May was concerned about newspapers attacking independent judges, the spokesman said: I don't think the British judiciary is being undermined.
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Parliament will amend and delay Brexit unless an acceptable withdrawal plan is put forward, Theresa May has been warned.

Both Nick Clegg and a Conservative peer seized on yesterdays High Court ruling to tell the Prime Minister she no longer had a free hand in the exit talks.

The former Liberal Democrat leader said the partys MPs and peers would demand a soft Brexit and  crucially  a second referendum on the deal that emerges.

Meanwhile, Tory peer Baroness Wheatcroft said the House of Lords was ready to stall the legislation now likely to be needed to trigger the Article 50 notice period, if necessary.

Recommended Read more Theresa May faces guerrilla war in Parliament over Brexit

The comments will infuriate hardline Brexit supporters, who have already accused the High Court judges of trying to block the referendum result.

Theresa Villiers, the former Conservative cabinet minister, said it would be a constitutional outrage if unelected Lib Dem peers stood in the way of Brexit.

And, last night, Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid said there was a moral issue at stake in the battle over EU withdrawal.

He turned on the people who brought the case that won in the High Court, saying: This is an attempt to frustrate the will of the British people and it is unacceptable.

Mr Clegg and Baroness Wheatcroft spoke out after the Prime Minister accepted that an act of Parliament will be necessary to win the right to trigger Article 50  unless the Supreme Court overturns the judgment.

That would open the door for Parliament to amend  and even delay  the Governments strategy for withdrawal, perhaps in lengthy Parliamentary battles.

 Landmark Brexit Ruling: What happened and what happens next?

It throws into doubt Ms Mays timetable for invoking Article 50 by the end of March  opening up speculation about a snap election to break through the impasse.

Mr Clegg told Radio 4s Today programme: We will seek, with other parties in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, to amend the legislation such that Parliament would say to the Government that it should pursue a soft Brexit and not a hard Brexit  and that there should be some means by which the British people can have a say on the final deal when the negotiations with the European Union are finally completed in the years ahead.

Mr Clegg said he believed there was a body of opinion across the various parties in Parliament to try to rein in Ms May in this way.

He added: If we were to be able to marshall opinion behind that approach then people will vote in favour of Article 50 triggered on that basis.

He warned the Government not to dig its heels in  by pursuing a hard Brexit and refusing a second referendum at the end of the negotiations.

Then of course, I think people will say, well hang on a minute, we are not sure if we are going to give you the consent to proceed on that basis, Mr Clegg said.

A soft Brexit is normally taken to mean continued membership of the EUs single market trading arrangements  rather than making curbs on immigration a red line.

Baroness Wheatcroft told the same programme that still trying to invoke Article 50 by the end of March was now an impossible target.

She said: I think its only right to delay triggering Article 50 until we have a clearer idea of what it actually entails

I think there will be others in the Lords who feel the same way.

How many, its hard to say, but I think there could be a majority whod be in favour or delaying Article 50 until we know a little more about what lies ahead.
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Theresa May should stuff Parliament full of Brexit supporters to bypass scrutiny of triggering Article 50 by the House of Lords, a Tory MP has said.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a supporter of Brexit, said Ms May should create 1,000 new peers in the Lords to make sure Brexit negotiations begin without delay.

Brexiteers fear that the Lords, which is thought to have a Remain majority, will reject any proposal to start EU negotiations, if Parliament is allowed to have a vote on the issue.

The High Court yesterday ruled that Parliament in fact should have a vote, despite protestations by the Prime Minister. The Government is to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court, with a decision due in December.

Mr Rees-Mogg also said he believed that MPs in the House of Commons would vote for Article 50. Howver, he said that if this was not the case a general election could be called.

I think most MPs accept the will of the people and will vote for Article 50, Mr Rees-Mogg told the Daily Mail.

If that turns out to be wrong, it's definitely a matter of confidence and there would have to be a general election.

If the Lords was obstructive we would just have to create 1,000 peers.

The House of Lords is not elected (Getty)

The warning follows a threat by an anonymous leading cabinet minister who said last month the Government might do a Lloyd George and stuff the upper house full of Brexiteers.

As a Liberal Chancellor in 1909, Mr George threatened to flood the Lords with new peers to pass his Peoples Budget , after the then Tory-dominated chamber refused.

The Lords was a constant thorn in the side of David Cameron, inflicting dozens of amendments or retreats on Government bills in recent years.

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

But senior peers have said they will not block Brexit. Labour Lords group leader Baroness Angela Smith pledged earlier this week: We will scrutinise. We will examine. But my Lords  we will not block. But neither will we be bullied into abdicating our responsibilities.

Ms May has refused to say what the specific aim of her negotiations are or what their opening terms will be, only stating that Brexit means Brexit.

Downing Street yesterday insisted that the High Court ruling would not delay the timetable for starting Brexit negotiations. Ms May has said Article 50 would take place in the first quarter of 2017, before the end of March.

Negotiations continue for two years, according to the provisions of the treaty, after which time the UK would leave the EU whether a deal had been negotiated or not. There are fears that an impasse could leave the UK trading on World Trade Organisation rules, a state of affairs that would likely lead to a significant economic shock.

After two years all EU nations must unanimously vote to prolong the negotiating period for a new settlement with the UK.
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Reforms intended to ban unpaid internships have been blocked after Tory backbenchers and the Government spoke at length against the proposals.

The draft legislation aimed to ensure people in workplace internships are paid the minimum wage rate applicable to their age.

Recommended How unpaid interns across Europe are fighting for fair pay

Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke, who sponsored the legislation, said not paying interns had become the acceptable face of unpaid labour in modern Britain" and the Government sent the message that "exploiting" young workers is acceptable with more than 20 MPs advertising unpaid roles.

He added that the "volunteer loophole" meant young people were not paid, despite performing tasks similar to part and full-time staff members.

But, the National Minimum Wage (Workplace Internships) Bill was blocked after the debate on Friday was forced to a close after the Government and Tory backbenchers spoke for 4.5 hours in speeches, with some speaking for more than one hour.

Business Minister Margot James talked out the proposals in a 25-minute speech, followed by Tory David Nuttall who spoke for 67 minutes and Tory Philip Davies who spoke for 66 minutes.

Ms James warned the reforms could have "unintended consequences", including putting financial pressure on firms, which could lead to a reduction of internship roles.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty 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

Replying for the Government she said: "While it's [the Bill] extremely well-intentioned, I do have concerns that it could have unintended consequences that might even undermine existing employment laws and protections.

"Legally the Bill is unnecessary because [...] interns are eligible for the national minimum wage if they meet the definition of 'worker'.

"It doesn't matter what the individual or employer calls the arrangement, or whether or not the individual agreed not to be paid, only the reality of the employment arrangement matters and if interns are workers they are entitled to be paid."

Bob Stewart, Tory MP for Beckenham, said: "It's clear to me that if an employer wishes to pay an intern they could and they should, if they have the money. But if they have to pay internships then that comes off the bottom line, it's a cost to the business, and undoubtedly there will be fewer internships."

Mr Davies, MP for Shipley, told the debate: "(Mr Shelbrooke) says he wants to even up the playing field to make sure that poorer people get the same opportunities that richer people get and take for granted.

"A laudable aim, nobody disagrees with that. My fear is that he will succeed in evening up the playing field but he'll even up the playing field by making sure nobody gets the chance to do work experience and to do an internship, and that's not my idea of success."

Ms James said the Government would ask for unpaid internships to be considered by Matthew Taylor, former policy chief to Tony Blair, as part of its previously announced review into employment practices.

Shadow business minister Gill Furniss said Labour supported the Bill, saying the internship system is "rigged in favour of those who can afford it," adding "or perhaps better said, whose parents can afford it."

She added that unpaid internships are "monopolised by the children of the wealthy" while poorer people are "shut out".

Ben Lyons, co-director of the Intern Aware campaign, said in a statement: "The Government flunked an opportunity to tackle the problem of long-term unpaid internships, which leads to good jobs going to those who can afford to work for free, rather than the brightest and most hard-working."

Mr Shelbrooke called for the debate to continue on 24 February, however it is unlikely to gain further parliamentary time.

Additional reporting by Press Association
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A Conservative MP has resigned with immedate effect, citing irreconcilable policy differences with Theresa May  as divisions in the Conservative party over Brexit begin to strain.

Stephen Phillips QC, the MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, said he could no longer represent his consituents because of Theresa Mays policy direction since she came to office.

Last month the MP wrote an article in which he said said he hoped that after Brexit Britain would remain in the single market to which the manifesto of every major political party at the last election committed us. The Government has however indicated that single market membership is unlikely to continue after Britain leaves the bloc.

Recommended Read more Government refuses to say if UK will remain in single market

It has been a great honour to serve the people of Sleaford and North Hykeham for the last six years, but it has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current Government mean I am unable to properly represent the people who elected me," he said in a statement issued on Friday morning.

"This decision has been a difficult one and I hope that everyone will respect the fact that I have tried to act in the best interests of all my consituents."

A Downing Street source said Mr Phillips had not spoken to the Prime Minister before he resigned.

Mr Phillips, a former member of Parliament's European Scrutiny Committee, voted in favour of leaving the European Union, though he later said he did not believe Leave had stood much of a chance.

He told his consituents before the 23 June referendum that he would have preferred Britain to stay in inside a reformed European Union focused on trade but that David Camerons reforms did not go far enough to secure this.

He has been MP for his consituency since 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.

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

Mr Phillipss seat will now be the subject of a by-election, with his own party the solid favourites to win again. He won 56 per cent of the vote in 2015, compared to 17.3 per cent for the Labour Party and 15.7 per cent for Ukip. The Liberal Democrats won 5.7 per cent of the vote.

The MP is the third Conservative MP to resign their seat in the past two months, following Zac Goldsmith and David Cameron. Asked about the resignation, the Prime Minister's official spokesperson said: That is a matter for my political colleagues.
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The Canadian army sent a squad to investigate a mysterious beeping sound reportedly emanating from the depths of the Arctic sea.

A remote hunting community in Nunavut, on the edges of the Arctic Circle, were baffled by a sound also described as a hum and a pinging throughout the summer.

The eerie whining has allegedly scared away animals from a popular fishing spot that is ordinarily a hive of mammal activity.

Thats one of the major hunting areas in the summer and winter because its a polynya, said Paul Quassa, a member of the Nunavut legislative assembly.

And this time around, this summer, there were hardly any. And this became a suspicious thing.

Various people called a radio station to report the noise, heard in the Fury and Hecla Strait, once returning to the nearest hamlet of Igloolik roughly 75 miles southeast.

Theories include suggestions an iron mining company could be conducting sonar surveys.

The Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation however told CBC News it had no equipment in the water.

Another theory speculated that Greenpeace was potentially generating the sound to terrify the wildlife away.

Mr Quassa said: Weve heard in the past of groups like Greenpeace putting in some kinds of sonars in the seabed to get the sea mammals out of the way so Inuit wont be able to hunt them.

[But] nobody has ever seen any type of ship or anything going through that area and putting something down.

Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast Show all 8 1 /8 Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast Two dead sperm whales are seen washed up on a beach near Skegness in northeast England. Four sperm whales believed to be from the same pod washed up on beaches in northeast England. Three whales were found on a beach near Skegness and one died on Hunstanton beach AFP Getty Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast 50ft sperm whale beached in Norfolk The dead 50ft (14.5m) young adult male sperm whale beached in Norfolk, which was was part of a group of six spotted in the Wash at Hunstanton, is believed to have been part of a pod that stranded and died in the Netherlands PA Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast 50ft sperm whale beached in Norfolk The dead 50ft (14.5m) young adult male sperm whale beached in Norfolk, which was was part of a group of six spotted in the Wash at Hunstanton, is believed to have been part of a pod that stranded and died in the Netherlands PA Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast 50ft sperm whale beached in Norfolk The dead 50ft (14.5m) young adult male sperm whale beached in Norfolk, which was was part of a group of six spotted in the Wash at Hunstanton, is believed to have been part of a pod that stranded and died in the Netherlands PA Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast 50ft sperm whale beached in Norfolk The dead 50ft (14.5m) young adult male sperm whale beached in Norfolk, which was was part of a group of six spotted in the Wash at Hunstanton, is believed to have been part of a pod that stranded and died in the Netherlands PA Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast 50ft sperm whale beached in Norfolk Two of three dead sperm whales that have washed up on a beach in Lincolnshire, just a day after another was beached in Norfolk PA Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast One of three dead sperm whales that have washed up on a beach in Lincolnshire, just a day after another was beached in Norfolk PA Dead whales beached on the North Sea coast Photo taken from the Twitter feed of the @RNLIskegness of one of three dead sperm whales that have washed up on a beach in Lincolnshire, just a day after another was beached in Norfolk PA

Greenpeace spokesman Farrah Khan vehemently denied the organisation having any involvement.

The strait however is a popular migration route for bowhead whales, bearded seals and ringed seals.

 Amazing aerial views capture bowhead whales in their natural habitat

In a statement, Department of National Defence spokesman Ashley Lemire said: The Canadian armed forces are aware of allegations of unusual sounds emanating from the seabed in the Fury and Hecla Strait in Nunavut.

The air crew performed various multi-sensor searches in the area, including an acoustic search for 1.5 hours, without detecting any acoustic anomalies.

The crew did not detect any surface or subsurface contacts.

The crew did observe two pods of whales and six walruses in the area of interest.

At this time the Department of National Defence does not intend to do any further investigations.
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Two former aides to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the chairman of Donald Trumps presidential transition team, have been found guilty of closing down lanes approaching the states George Washington Bridge, deliberately causing traffic chaos to punish a local mayor for his failure to endorse Mr Christie for re-election in 2013.

The jurors in the so-called Bridgegate trial at Newarks federal court arrived at the verdicts after almost six days of deliberations, finding Mr Christies former chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and Bill Baroni, whom the governor appointed to the states Port Authority, guilty on seven counts including misusing the Authority's resources.

Mr Christie himself has repeatedly denied knowledge of or involvement in the September 2013 plot to retaliate against Mark Sokolich, mayor of Fort Lee, who walked back his support for Mr Christie during that years gubernatorial election. Among the evidence presented at trial was an email, written by Ms Kelly, suggesting it was time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.

The Governments star witness was David Wildstein, a former high school classmate of Mr Christies who in 2013 was a senior official at the Port Authority, which operates the George Washington Bridge. Mr Wildstein told jurors he had concocted the idea of a lane closure, which caused commuter gridlock in Fort Lee for several days.

Mr Wildstein said he had come up with the cover story that the closures were part of a traffic study. He also testified that he and Mr Baroni had talked to Mr Christie about the lane closures while they were in place  and that Mr Christie had laughed. The Governor has never been charged in the case, but the Bridgegate trial has sent his approval ratings spiralling downward.

In her testimony, Ms Kelly described the bullying atmosphere in Mr Christies administration, recalling how the governor had thrown a water bottle at her during a foul-mouthed tirade. Asked by her lawyer whether she was afraid of Mr Christie, the single mother of four  who could now face up to 20 years in prison  replied: yes.

By the time of the lane closures in 2013, Mr Christie was already planning his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. After dropping out in February, he was one of the first major GOP figures to enthusiastically endorse Mr Trump.

As transition team chairman, he is now charged with staffing the Trump White House, should the property developer win the presidency. He is also considered a contender for the role of US Attorney General, the nations top law enforcement official.
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The Democratic National Committee has reportedly submitted evidence to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to suggest its headquarters were bugged.

As reported by Mother Jones, two anonymous DNC officials said that a sweep of its offices in Washington DC found a radio signal device near the chairmans office which could have been used to listen to phone calls.

"We were told that this was something that could pick up calls from cell phones," a DNC official told the publication.

Recommended Clinton says Russian intelligence services hacked DNC computers

"The guys who did the sweep said it was a strong indication."

No device or possible culprits were discovered, however.

The two sources said the DNC had sent this information to the FBI, which did not comment.

The sweep in late October was ordered by Donna Brazile shortly after undercover conservative reporter James OKeefe released a set of hidden cameraa videos to undermine the Democrats. The party became worried that Republicans or Russian intelligence agencies were trying to infiltrate their headquarters by posing as volunteers who operated phone banks and carried out other election activities.

 Trump 'accused of treason' after urging Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's email

Ms Brazile was recently dropped as political commentator for CNN after WikiLeaks emails showed that she funneled several debate questions to the Hillary Clinton campaign in advance.

A first sweep of the DNC offices in September, carried out after the DNC emails were hacked, found nothing unusual.

Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the DNC, told Mother Jones: "The DNC is not going to comment on stories about its security. In all security matters, we cooperate fully with the appropriate law enforcement agencies and take all necessary steps to protect the committee and the safety and security of our staff."

The DNC claims are similar to that of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, when two reporters at the Washington Post discovered that Republicans had broken in to the DNC offices. The controversy ultimately ended with the resignation of Mr Nixon.

In early October the US government officially accused Russia of hacking the campaign to interfere with the presidential election.

In June, the DNC publicly disclosed the intrusions into their systems, saying Russia was behind the hack.
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Donald Trump supporters have amped up the suggestion of violence against Hillary Clinton, shouting "execute her" at a rally, while Trump surrogates made lewd jokes about her personal life.

Speaking about the investigation around Ms Clintons emails at a rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire, former governor John Sununu was met with chants of "lock her up".

One man then shouted: "Execute her!"

The Trump surrogate waved his hand and replied: No, we dont want any of that.

Despite his protestations, Mr Trump and his allies have encouraged heated and even threatening rhetoric against Ms Clinton, her allies and anyone who has challenged their administration.

At the same event, Mr Sununu made a lewd joke when he asked the crowd whether Bill Clinton was referring to his wife when he said, "I did not have sex with that woman".

He was referencing the former president's statement about his intern, Monica Lewinksy, in 1988.

He laughed and blamed the previous speaker on the stage, former senator Bob Smith, who had imitated Mr Clinton's voice, asking voters to not vote for his wife.

Mr Trump and his supporters have claimed that Bill Clinton has an illigitimate son, and that he committed sexual assault while he was in office. The speculation has been used as a tool to attack his wife.

Mr Trumps top aide, Dan Scavino, was condemned for tweeting a sinister threat to Fox New anchor Megyn Kelly, who has consistently challenged Mr Trumps anti-women remarks.

He said she has made a "fool" out of herself and voters should "watch what happens to her once the election is over".
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Melania Trump has used a rare public appearance to condemn cyber bullying, as part of her plan to have prolific tweeter Donald Trump elected to president.

Mrs Trump described the perils of social media and her fears for how it can be used to attack people and mock them. It came as part of a speech where she promised that she would stand up for those who were bullied, alongside women and children, if her husband is elected.

"Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers," said Mrs Trump, delivering a get-out-the-vote speech in the Philadelphia suburbs with less than a week to go before Election Day. "It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked" in the school yard, she argued, but it is "absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet.

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

"We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other," she said.

Mrs Trump spoke about her relationship with Mr Trump and their marriage, as well as the young son that they have together. Her speech appeared pitched at the suburban women who could be key in helping Mr Trump win states like Pennsylvania.

Mr Trump has been aggressive in the use of his Twitter feed throughout the campaign as well as in advance of it, and the insults that he has sent through it have been credited partly with allowing to achieve his fame. He has said that he is not unproud of his tweets, because they allow him to reach an audience that he otherwise wouldnt be able to.

But Mrs Trump told the audience, "We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation."

In her remarks, Mrs Trump described her husband as a "fighter," beholden to no one, who "will never give up."

"He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn't he?" she joked.
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Much of the coverage of the US election so far has focussed on a battle of personalities: Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump.

More headlines have been made by the candidates respective scandals - Mr Trumps historic comments about women and Ms Clintons use of a private email server - than anything else.

But what do the Democrat and Republican candidates actually believe in? What would they do to change America if they were voted in to the White House?

Heres a breakdown of policy prescriptions, showing just what it is Ms Clinton actually stands for - and how Mr Trump compares.

Policy on drugs

Clinton's plan is focused on boosting access to treatment and recovery programs, for instance by subsidising child care for people in treatment.

She has set out a $10bn proposal that would boost evidence-based prevention programs in schools, giving more money to states to fund first responders, and promoting greater use of medically-assisted treatment.

Clinton says she will ask her attorney general to issue guidance telling states to prioritise treatment over incarceration for low-level offenders. She supports the drug court programs that many states have created, and says she'll also push states to consider such alternatives to incarceration.

Trump has not set out a specific spending program, or any specific policy on low-level or non-violent drug offenders. He is pledging, however, to "aggressively prosecute traffickers of illegal drugs. His statements have focussed on stopping the flow of drugs into the US, which he has partly blamed on China, and says the wall he plans to build on the country's southern border will halt the flow from Mexico.

Policy on economy

Clinton has said she would raise money by increasing taxes on the wealthy in several ways, while maintaining the current 35 per cent corporate tax rate.

Her measures would increase taxes in 2017 for the richest 1 percent by $117,760, and the richest 0.1 percent by $800,000, while having little impact on the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers.

Her economic plan focuses on boosting middle-class incomes, by giving tax breaks to SMEs, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and encouraging long-term investments.

She has also promised to invest in clean energy infrastructure, and to limit child care expenses to 10 percent of a family's income, making it easier for parents to balance work and family.

Trump would cut taxes for the top 1 percent by, on average, $214,690 in 2017, according to the Tax Policy Center. He would reduce the top tax bracket and give middle-income earners an average tax break of $1,010. He would also cut inheritance taxes on the largest estates.

Policy on immigration

Clinton supports establishing a route to citizenship for immigrants who have been living in the US illegally, in line with proposals supported by both sides of the Senate in 2013 but blocked by the House.

She says improved technology and investments in border patrol agencies are the best ways to secure the USs borders, and would scale back the use of immigration raids.

She would nonetheless continue Obama's policy of deporting violent criminals and others who break the law after entering the United States, and says those who are in the country illegally should never be allowed to receive state subsidies.

Trump has proposed building a huge wall across the vast majority of the 2,100-mile border with Mexico, and making Mexico pay for it. He opposes any pathway to legal status for immigrants in the US illegally, and would immediately terminate executive orders issued by Barack Obama to stop potentially millions of deportations, all involving people who came to the US as children.

Policy on Isis

Clinton has vowed to carry out more air strikes against Isis if she becomes president, as well as increasing support for local Arab and Kurdish forces on the ground in Syria and Iraq.

She says she will work towards a diplomatic strategy aimed at ending the conflicts in these two countries, which have fuelled the rise of Isis.

In terms of Isiss reach beyond its heartlands, she has said she will work with European intelligence services to tackle people smugglers, and work with tech companies to fight jihadist propaganda online.

Trump has been less specific about his goals, at some points suggesting he wants the US to take a less interventionist role in the world, at others saying he will carry out an extreme and vicious campaign against Isis. He has at times attributed his vagueness on the issue to not wanting [other countries and groups] to know what my real thinking is.

Policy on gun control

Clinton has been very clear that she believes in tighter restrictions on licensing for guns. In practice, this means making sure people on federal no-fly lists are also not allowed to buy firearms. She has said: As President, I'll take on the gun lobby and fight for common-sense reforms to keep guns away from terrorists, domestic abusers, and other violent criminalsincluding comprehensive background checks and closing loopholes that allow guns to fall into the wrong hands.

Trump has said he gives his unwavering support to the Second Amendment and accuses the Democrats of wanting to confiscate all guns. He has actually proposed extending gun ownership rights so concealed-carry licences can apply across all 50 states, and the elimination of bans on certain types of guns and ammunition.

Policy on abortion

Clinton says politicians have no business interfering with womens personal health decisions, and describes herself as a full supporter of the Planned Parenthood programme giving women access to critical health services, including safe, legal abortion.

She has been criticised in the past for her stance on late-term abortions, with Senator Mark Rubio once accusing her of supporting abortion on "the baby's due date. Clinton has said she accepts restrictions in the very end of the third trimester, but that every abortion decision should take into account the life and health of the mother.

Trump has promised to appoint anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court, saying he is opposed to abortion except for rape, incest and life of the mother.
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With just a handful of days before the US presidential election, a potential threat has reportedly emerged in the form of possible Al-Qaeda plot to target New York, Texas and Virginia.

Much of the run-up to polling day has until now been dominated by coverage about possible attempts to intimidate voters by white supremacists and reports of efforts to keep certain communities, particularly African Americans, from casting their vote.

But CBS News said it had learned of a potential threat that could be timed for 7 November, the day before millions of Americans cast their vote after what has been a bitter, ugly election battle.

FBI Director James Comey has made the headlines several this election cycle (AP)

The Independent is unable to confirm the veracity of the reported theat. The US network said that US intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces and warned that Al-Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday. It is believed New York, Texas and Virginia are all possible targets, though no specific locations are mentioned, the network said.

The sources reportedly stressed that the intelligence was still being assessed and its credibility had not been confirmed. But counterterrorism officials were alerted to the threat out of an abundance of caution.

A senior FBI official told CBS News: During holiday seasons and when big events are approaching, intelligence about potential threats always increases.The counterterrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States.

The FBI, working with our federal, state and local counterparts, shares and assesses intelligence on a daily basis and will continue to work closely with law enforcement and intelligence community partners to identify and disrupt any potential threat to public safety.

The network pointed out that during holiday seasons and when big events are approaching, be they sporting clashes or an election, intelligence about potential threats always increases.
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The US government is worried hackers from Russia and other places across the globe will hack and disrupt the upcoming presidential election so theyre coordinating unprecedented efforts to stop cyber-meddling come Election Day, current and former officials with the CIA and NSA told NBC News.

Russia has already been warned that any attempts at manipulating vote counts would result in serious breaches.

"The Russians are in an offensive mode and [the US is] working on strategies to respond to that, and at the highest levels," Michael McFaul, who served as US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, told the outlet.

US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Show all 12 1 /12 US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump shakes hands with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the conclusion of their first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Reuters US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures President Barack Obama embraces Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on stage at the party's convention in Philadelphia US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Donald Trump's wife Melania delivered a speech at the GOP convention in Cleveland that was later found to have been cribbed in part from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention address AP US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Hillary Clinton talks to reporters aboard her new campaign plane on Labour Day, 5 September, her first 'press conference' since 2015 (Getty Images) US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Donald Trump held a joint press conference with Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City in August, hours before reiterating his harsh immigration plans at a campaign rally in Arizona Reuters US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Bernie Sanders officially endorsed Hillary Clinton, saying his progressive vision for a transformed America would be best served by the defeat of Donald Trump Reuters US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Khizr and Gazala Khan appeared at the DNC to slam Trump for his stance on Muslim immigration, citing the case of their son Humayun Khan, who was killed in combat while serving as a Captain in the US Army in Iraq US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is doing better in polls than any third party candidate since Ross Perot, 20 years ago Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Green Party candidate Jill Stein (centre) marches with supporters in Colorado AP US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Hillary Clinton and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine at a rally in Kaine's home state in July, days before Ms Clinton tapped him to be her running mate Getty US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Trump on the campaign trail with his vice presidential pick, Indiana governor Mike Pence AP US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage appears at a Trump rally in Mississippi in August, where he told the crowd that he 'wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me'.

One senior official with the Obama administration said that the Russian government wants to sow as much confusion as possible and undermine our process in ways they've done elsewhere."

The official said the extra preparation is to make sure that we have all the tools at our disposal and that we're prepared to respond to whatever it is that they do.

Several officials told NBC that while it would be extremely difficult for hackers to affect voter count, they can cause massive confusion and misperception.

Multiple anonymous officials also consider the massive DDoS attack that shut down popular websites in the US a test run before election day hits.

Read the full report at NBC News and follow the rest of The Independents Election Day coverage here.
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The Afghan woman whose portrait became one of the most well-known photographs of all time is to be deported from Pakistan after admitting to using false identity documents.

Sharbat Gula, who became known as the 'Afghan girl' after she was pictured on the cover of National Geographic, was arrested by the Pakistani authorities in October on suspicion of using fraudulent identity papers.

She bought a false Computerised National Identity Card in Peshawar, northern Pakistan in 2014, according to local media reports.

While there were fears she could face 15 years in prison, a court sentenced her to 15 days imprisonment and a 110,000 Pakistani rupee (839) fine.

Ms Gula has already served 11 days in jail and the fine has already been paid.

Ms Gula suffers from Hepatitis C, and as a widow is the sole provider for her children, who have been cared for by Afghan consul officials. She told CNN she wants to return to her home town in Afghanistan, though she has not been in the country since 2003.

"We will take her to Afghanistan in an honourable way on Monday," Abdul Hameed Jalili, counsellor for refugees at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar, told AFP news agency.

The Pakistani measures reflect a tougher line on Afghan refugees in the country, of which there an estimated three million, some of whom have been present since the Soviet incursion into their home country in 1979.

In August, the government announced plans to repatriate all of them. More than 350,000 have returned since then, and the UN expects another 450,000 to do so by the end of the year.

War artists in Afghanistan Show all 6 1 /6 War artists in Afghanistan War artists in Afghanistan Work by Matthew Cook Matthew Cook War artists in Afghanistan War artists in Afghanistan Work by Jules George Jules George War artists in Afghanistan Embedded: Jules George War artists in Afghanistan Work by Jules George Jules George War artists in Afghanistan Trooping the colours: Jules George was inspired by his father and grandfather to witness and document war, if not to wage it Jules George

There were mixed reactions to the news that Ms Gula would be deported.

"For decades, she was known as the world's most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistan's status as a generous host," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.

"Now, by sending her back to a country she hasn't seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistan's cruel treatment of Afghan refugees."

However, Steve McCurry, the photographer who took the famous image of Ms Gula, reacted more positively to the news.

 Afghanistan: Fifteen years since US-led invasion

"With utmost delight, I announce that Sharbat Gula is now free from the legal troubles she endured over the past couple of weeks, he wrote on Instagram.

"She soon will also be free from an uncertain life of a refugee as she will be on her way back to her own country as soon as next Monday where she still is a beloved image and a national icon."

Mr McCurry said Ms Gula will be met by President Ashraf Ghani who will give her the keys to a new house and help her with resettlement.

The portrait of Ms Gula, taken when she was just 12, made her the face of Afghanistan's decades-long refugee crisis after it featured on the front cover of a 1985 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Following many attempts to find her, Ms Gula was tracked down by Mr McCurry to a remote Afghan village, 17 years after the original picture was taken.

She had never seen the photo which made her famous.
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The Chinese government has said it is very dissatisfied with South Korea after it emerged the Korean coast guard had fired at Chinese fishing trawlers with machine guns.

The coast guard confirmed it had halted two Chinese vessels that were fishing illegally in South Korean waters, prompting 30 other Chinese boats in the same group to swarm around and collide with the coast guard boat.

The fishing boats were attempting to flee when they were shot at several times, according to news agency Yonhap. Coast guard chief Kim Jung-shik said officers had sent warnings prior to opening fire but the fishing trawlers chose to ignore them.

I thought that if we tolerated their resistance further, the coast guard men would be in jeopardy. So we used the machine guns, Mr Kim said.

During a press conference, Chinese foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed no one had been hurt or killed during the incident, but condemned South Koreas actions towards fishing vessels.

China is very dissatisfied with the use of force by the Korean side in its law enforcement operation, she said. We have, more than once, made solemn representations with South Korea about its coast guard's use of force in law enforcement operations.

The use of destructive weapons against fishing boats in the rough sea will highly likely cause casualties or property losses.

China once again requires South Korea to exercise restraint, regulate their law enforcement activities, refrain from applying any extreme measures that may endanger the Chinese people and ensure their safety and lawful rights and interests.

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. 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We hope that South Korea can enhance communication and cooperation with us to properly deal with problems emerging in fishery cooperation between our two countries.

Tensions between China and South Korea over fishing have been high since three Chinese fishermen were killed in a fire when the Korean coastguard tried to apprehend them in September.

In October, South Korea said it would take a more aggressive stance against Chinese boats fishing illegally in its waters.

A coast guard boat sank after being rammed by several Chinese vessels, forcing the crew to jump overboard into the water. The Chinese ambassador Qiu Guohong was summoned to discuss the incident.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Police in the Chinese city of Shenzhen have reintroduced a creative but controversial punishment for drivers who misuse their headlights and dazzle other road-users.

In addition to a fine, dangerous drivers who dont dip their lights around other traffic will -- again -- be forced to stare into the fullbeam headlights of a police car for one minute.

The penalty was first dreamt up and announced on Sino Weibo, the country's closest equivalent to Twitter, by officers in 2014, it was quickly stopped amid accusations the force was "violating human rights". But, when officers said on Tuesday they were reintroducing the penalty, the announcement was met mainly with approval from the site's 261 million active users.

In a post from their popular social media account, Shenzen police warned drivers that anyone caught using their cars headlights on fullbeam inappropriately would have to stare into a police car's headlights for 60 seconds while sitting on a specially-designed chair. In addition they would be fined 300 yuan, about 35, lose points on their license and be made to recite regulations on the proper use of headlights.

This time around, the vast majority of Weibo users appeared supportive.

Traffic police comrades, I believe this kind of punishment is not right, its inhumane, they should have to look for 5 minutes, one person joked.

The whole country should implement this immediately, another said.

Located just north of Hong Kong and built up from scratch just a few decades ago, Shenzhen is seen as a modern city at the forefront of car engineering. It is known across China for making widespread use of electric taxis and buses.

Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade Show all 7 1 /7 Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440217.bin ZHANG YAXIN Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440218.bin WENG NAIQIANG Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440219.bin WANG SHILONG Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440220.bin XIAO ZHUANG Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440221.bin WENG NAIQIANG Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440223.bin WENG NAIQIANG Seeing red: Unseen images from China's lost decade 440224.bin JIANG SHAOWU

The Shenzhen police force are popular on Weibo, where they are famous for thinking up unusual and creative punishments. In the past these have included making jaywalkers wear green hats and vests while directing pedestrian traffic, mounting dummy traffic police on the highway and issuing sword-shaped batons to officers.

Several other local police forces gave the new penalty the thumbs-up on their social media accounts, and a poll on the mainstream Sina news portal found that 90 per cent of people supported the unusual punishment.

Those who did not approve cited the punishment as a violation of human rights, expressed concern about potential eye damage, and questioned on what grounds the officers could force drivers to stare into the bright lights, since the tactic is certainly not mentioned in the law.
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An Indonesian government minister has come under fire for suggesting the doors of university dormitories should be removed to prevent same sex and premarital relationships.

Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said she had seen the practice implemented in a very prestigious university and wanted it to be taken up more widely.

The minister considers free sex a disease.

There are no more worries about the possibility of contact between men and men, and women and women, Ms Parawansa said of the doorless dormitories. I have seen how effective this is, and I think it can be made a role model.

The name of the university was not disclosed.

But students have spoken out against the proposals, particularly because of privacy concerns.

Dian Najean Lestari, a student at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, also rejected the ministers proposal, saying it might encourage theft and bring about other security risks.

Rights groups have also objected to the ministers remarks and said it was not the place of the government to take such a position.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

Why does the state want to become a moral police operation and enter into private matters? said Bonar Tigor Naipospos of the Setara Institute, which works for human rights and religious freedom, to the Jakarta Post.

Mr Naipospos continued: It violates privacy and restricts the rights of people. Why is this country becoming more conservative?

He added that it was not the place of the government, but of religious leaders, to campaign against premarital sexual relationships.

Indonesia, a Muslim majority country, has seen a swing towards social and religious conservatism attitudes in recent times, with Ms Parawansa at the political forefront.

In addition to advocating celibacy, she has also said LGBT people can be cured using emotional and spiritual methods.

Human Rights Watch, an international monitor, has warned that LGBT people came under unprecedented attack in Indonesia in 2016.

Reuters contributed to this report
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Prosecution and defence lawyers used their closing arguments on Friday to try to convince a Hong Kong jury of the extent British banker Rurik Jutting was in control of his actions when he tortured, raped and killed two Indonesian women.

Jutting, 31, a former Bank of America Corp employee, has denied murder in the 2014 killings of Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The judge is expected to sum up the case on Monday and a verdict is expected on Tuesday.

The prosecution told the court that Jutting needed the "boost" of cocaine to commit the crimes in his luxury high-rise apartment in a case that has received widespread international attention.

The prosecution has stated the former Cambridge University graduate was able to form judgements and exercise self-control, describing when he cut Ningsih's neck as she knelt by the toilet bowl and later dragged her to the shower to finish sawing her neck.

"He needed the boost of cocaine to give him the courage to rape, torture and ultimately kill," prosecution lawyer John Reading said, explaining that despite Jutting's disorders his "mental responsibility was not substantially impaired".

Reading detailed Jutting's plan to torture Mujiasih, his buying of items including a hammer and pliers from a hardware store, and his hiding of two knives.

"Let's be clear about these, I am going to use these to torture someone in the most inhumane way possible," Reading said, citing one of Jutting's self-made videos.

The prosecution said on Wednesday Jutting acted rationally before and after the killings and had even telephoned his mother.

Jutting captured parts of his torture of Ningsih on his iPhone. He also shot hours of himself discussing the killings, cocaine binges and detailed his violent sexual fantasies.

The footage has been shown to the jury during the two-week trial while the court has been packed with reporters due Jutting's profile and the nature of the killings in a city where such crime is rare.

Sitting in a sectioned-off area in the court, Jutting, who has an IQ in the top 1 percent of the population according to the defence, watched the arguments with a blank expression. He has attended the trial every day, escorted by three policemen.

Jutting, the grandson of a British policeman in Hong Kong and an ethnic Chinese woman, was a former vice president and head of Structured Equity Finance and Trading (Asia) at Bank of America. The bank declined to comment.

The defence has argued that Jutting's recognised disorders from cocaine and alcohol abuse on top of other personality disorders of sexual sadism and narcissism impaired his ability to control his behaviour.

Defence lawyer Tim Owen said Jutting was not "asking for sympathy" and acknowledged he intended to kill both victims. However, he argued that manslaughter and diminished responsibility applied because he was not able to make rational decisions.

"Not all killings are the same," Owen told the jury. "I am asking you to do no more than ask you how his actions should be defined in legal terms ... This is a court of law, it not a court of morals."

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence, while manslaughter carries a maximum of life though a shorter sentence can be set.

Owen detailed Jutting's stressful working life describing the start of a negative spiral after a complex tax product in Luxembourg Jutting worked on in 2012 which flagged him as "representing serious risk" to Bank of America.

He explained how Jutting was involved in a "battle of wills" with the auditor and was asked by his boss to "calm down, have a quiet year and was pushed to a different part of the business" before being sent to Hong Kong in 2013.

"That kind of setback of his brilliance, of his destiny, is something he couldn't handle and was the start of what became a very, very serious and rapid decline."

Jutting drank a bottle of spirits every day and consumed increasing amounts of cocaine after arriving in Hong Kong, the court heard. He only worked for 10 to 15 days in the month before he was arrested and only worked a few hours per day.

Police have testified that they found Ningsih and Mujiasih's bodies in Jutting's apartment after he called them to report the killings. Ningsih's mutilated body was found in a suitcase on the balcony, while Mujiasih's was found inside the apartment with wounds to her neck and buttocks.

Reuters
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Thousands of hard-line Muslims have converged on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its governor for alleged blasphemy.

Fearing violence, police deployed 16,000 officers along with 2,000 soldiers and the same number of city public order officers to Jakarta's streets, where embassies and some shops closed, and normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.

The predominantly male demonstrators, most wearing white shirts and skull caps, massed at the Istiqlal Mosque for the protest following weekly Friday prayers and marched on the nearby presidential palace. Protests were also taking place in other cities including Medan on Sumatra, Makassar in Sulawesi and Malang in East Java.

The accusation of blasphemy against Jakarta Govenor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian who is an ally of the country's president, has galvanized his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million, and given a notorious group of hard-liners a national stage.

"We are here because we want to defend the verses of God that have been abused by Ahok," said Nasrullah Achmad, who came from Bekasi, a Jakarta satellite city, with dozens of others from his Islamic study group who raised clenched fists and shouted "God is Great."

"Only one thing can stop us: Ahok's arrest," said Achmad.

Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Indonesia and prosecutions have increased in the past decade though most people practice a moderate form of Islam. Amnesty International documented 106 convictions between 2004 and 2014 with some individuals imprisoned for up to five years.

Television showed the governor visiting a Jakarta neighborhood and talking to residents. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and other national figures have called for a peaceful demonstration amid fears Islamic State group supporters might try to cause chaos.

The simmering political climate has provided an opening for the Islamic Defenders Front, a vigilante group that wants to impose Shariah law, to burnish its credentials as protector of Indonesia's majority faith at the expense of mainstream Muslim groups.

The Front, the main organizer of the protest, is demanding Ahok's arrest for blasphemy after a video circulated online in which he joked to an audience about a passage in the Quran that could be interpreted as prohibiting Muslims from accepting non-Muslims as leaders. The governor has apologized for the comment and met with police.

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

Ahok, who is seeking a second term as Jakarta governor, is popular with the city's middle class. He is adored as a blunt speaker who doesn't tolerate corruption and articulates a vision to make the chaotic, dysfunctional city more like clean, orderly and efficient Singapore.

But the anti-corruption stance has made him enemies, and the evictions of thousands of the city's poorest people to make way for urban improvement has stoked anger and resentment and played to a stereotype of Chinese as exploiters of Indonesia's poor Muslim masses.

On the national stage, Ahok is ranged against former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose son is a candidate for Jakarta governor, a position that is a stepping stone to national leadership.
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Italian police officers used torture on some migrants while trying to process them, an Amnesty International report has claimed.

The rights watchdog also said it had received consistent accounts that arbitrary detention, intimidation and excessive physical force had been used to force migrants  survivors of the treacherous Mediterranean crossing  to give their fingerprints to the authorities for processing.

The Italian authorities have strongly denied the allegations.

Recommended Read more 2016 becomes deadliest ever year for refugees trying to reach Europe

Fingerprinting is used to identify where migrants first entered the EU and can be used prevent them from moving to different countries. Out of 170 migrants in Italy interviewed by Amnesty, most voluntarily gave their fingerprints and reported no problems, but 24 people alleged having been subjected to ill-treatment by police.

Several others said unnecessary or excessive force had been used to make them give their fingerprints, the group added.

A man named only as Adam, a 27-year-old from Darfur, Sudan, told Amnesty that policemen beat him and subjected him to electric shocks with a stun baton after he refused to provide his fingerprints.

Adam claimed the officers then made him take off his clothes and pulled on his genitals with a tool. They held me from shoulders and legs, took my testicles with the plier, and pulled twice, Adam said. I cant say how painful it was.

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

The report said such treatment amounted to torture within the definitions of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. It also said some people were detained arbitrarily, a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The assessment process for arrivals in the hotspots, aimed at selecting asylum seekers from those considered irregular migrants, was also criticised.

"People, often exhausted and traumatized from their journeys and without access to adequate information or advice on asylum procedures, have to answer questions with potentially profound implications for their futures," it said.

Senior Italian police officials were quick to reject the allegations of beatings, electric shocks and sexual humiliation.

"I categorically deny that violent methods are used on migrants both during identification and during repatriation," said Italian police chief Franco Gabrielli. He added that his officers, who work alongside EU officials and human rights groups in the migration centres, had shown enormous responsibility in dealing with the crisis.

Nearly half a million migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, have reached Italy by boat. Thousands have died attempting the journey in 2016 alone.

Reuters contributed to this report
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All crew to the main deck, all crew to the main deck, sounds an announcement on the Bourbon Argos rescue ship. An 11-strong Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) team of medics and aid workers launch from their beds, donning life jackets and helmets to rush into the darkness outside.

It is 3.40am  hours before dawn and the first watch of the day  but the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome has already received reports of two large rubber boats launched from the Libyan coast.

Left to journey into the Mediterranean Sea by smugglers in the pitch dark, every passing minute increases the risk of the flimsy dinghies taking on water or capsizing as two boats did just 48 hours before, killing at least 239 refugees.

The crew of MSFs Bourbon Argos have been preparing themselves for the worst after arriving at a rubber boat during their last deployment to find 29 people already dead inside.

Their new target slowly emerges from the pitch black, lit by only a torch held by German volunteers on a speedboat who have already started giving out life jackets.

The dinghy is packed with 136 men, women and children, all shouting and waving to rescuers after more than three hours at sea. MSF launches its rib and pushes the boat into the side of the Bourbon Argos, where sailors drop a rope ladder down to the refugees.

Luwam Bede, a MSF cultural mediator, is tasked with giving instructions to help the passengers  African migrants communicating in shared languages of French and English  board safely.

Attend, attend! she shouts as two men scrabble for the ladder. Dont climb! Ecoute moi!

Please dont rush, one of the refugees pleads while the boat lurches violently against the hull.

In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby being taken on to MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos all images by Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby among refugees on a boat carrying 185 people off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Migrants and refugees sleeping after being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos ship Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A crew from MSF's Bourbon Argos ship rescuing a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya, at sunrise Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A woman in a stretcher being lifted onto MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden

The panic calms as the migrants are helped off the boat one by one, to be welcomed on board the Bourbon Argos by smiling MSF workers and undergoing medical checks.

As the smugglers dinghy empties, leftfilled only with seawater and discarded clothes, elation spreads on the deck.

Friends and relatives embrace and share jubilant hugs, before the joy spills over into dancing and singing that eventually subsides as the exhausted passengers flop down on to the planks.

They know they are the lucky ones. With 2016 now the deadliest year ever for refugees, seeing more than 4,000 migrants killed trying to cross the Mediterranean, some passengers have taken precautions.

One man has written a phone number in permanent marker on his trousers, while another has inscribed his name and a prayer on his life jacket. Both would be used to identify bodies and contact loved ones.

A crew from MSF's Bourbon Argos ship rescuing a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya, at sunrise (Lizzie Dearden)

Soon, the new arrivals start to ask rescue workers about the other boat that left the Libyan city of Sabratha alongside them but has still not appeared.

Recommended On board the largest refugee rescue ship in the Mediterranean

Minutes later, the crew spot the vessel on radar but cannot approach. It is within Libyas territorial waters, a stretch too risky for the Bourbon Argos to enter after coming under attack by the national coast guard and being warned of threats made by Isis fighters on the countrys shores.

After an agonising wait, the dinghy passes into international waters and MSFs crew springs into action once more, bringing the overloaded boat alongside as the sun breaks over the horizon and taking its 130 passengers on board.

Among them are two babies  one in an oversized life jacket and the other bundled up in jumpers and cradled in her mothers arms. Rescue workers have to lower a basket down to collect the infants safely one by one, before they lift another young girl to safety.

On deck, the passengers reunite, with many joining celebratory singing while others fall to their knees and pray, kissing the Bourbon Argos deck.

Doctors and aid workers stop their work to watch. Its beautiful, one remarks, recalling drastically different scenes as the same team helped more than 100 traumatised survivors of the previous weeks tragedy.

A baby being taken on to MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees (Lizzie Dearden)

But the respite does not last long  there are two more boats, then three, then more as other humanitarian vessels patrolling the zone transfer refugees from their own rescues to be taken to Italy.

Among them are two more babies, several young children and seven pregnant women  one at nine months.

Disaster is narrowly averted when panic breaks out on the fifth rubber boat to be rescued as it deflates at the back, filling with water and sending a group of men overboard.

They cling to nets on the side of the ship as MSF staff launch floatation pillows into the sea and drag the men to safety. But one has inhaled too much water and needs emergency medical care after narrowly avoiding drowning.

Many of the refugees are too weak to climb the ladder to safety or even to stand, with one woman being winched up on a stretcher, as well as a hyperventilating man who doctors said was in acute distress after being tortured in Libya.

A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos (Lizzie Dearden) (all images by Lizzie Dearden)

Medics discover another man has a gunshot wound in his leg from attack just a week ago, leaving the bone fractured in two places from the bullet.

Recommended European leaders blamed for record high deaths in the Mediterranean

The injured are treated in the Bourbon Argos hospital  a converted shipping container  as more new arrivals join the vessel and receive water, food, dry clothes and blankets to ward off the November chill.

After more than 10 hours of near-constant rescues, at least 868 men, women and children are on board, filling the ships deck, bow and staircases as it starts the 330-mile journey back to Italy.

The passengers, from across Africa and the Middle East, have a long journey ahead after arriving in an increasingly hostile Europe, to be faced with borders, barriers and regulations many are unaware of when they set out.

But for MSF, their job is well done. Michele Telaro, the Bourbon Argos field coordinator, said he was proud of his crew and thanked the Iuventa and Minden ships for aiding rescue missions.

A baby among refugees on a boat carrying 185 people off the coast of Libya (Lizzie Dearden)

Im very happy about today, he added. It was nice but that doesnt mean there arent problems.

A lot of NGOs are leaving [the search and rescue zone]  some have already left and others are leaving soon...I'm very worried.

The Bourbon Argos departure to Italy to disembark refugees leaves only two humanitarian boats with the capacity to make the same journey in the Central Mediterranean.

Tens of thousands of migrants are believed to be waiting in Libya to depart for European shores, with smugglers expected to take advantage of a spell of good weather forecast for the following days, before winter closes in and the sea becomes even more treacherous.

At the end of the day there were 1,200 people [in the search and rescue zone], weve had days before where there were 6,000 people, Mr Telaro said. So what happens now if there is a day like that?
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Nizar Sabbagh Husseini knew that he would be fighting in Aleppo. What he did not expect was that it would be against fellow rebels. But, in the final days of preparation for a coming onslaught by the regime and its Russian backers, that is exactly what he found himself doing.

His group, the Fastaqim Union, part of the Free Syrian Army, were attacked by Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, and its allies, seeking to seize arms and territory. Even as they faced what is likely to be a bloody struggle for their very survival, the opposition fighters could not stop being drawn into the internecine strife which has been one of the fundamental reasons for their failures in this civil war.

The clash on Thursday lasted for about two hours before a truce was arranged by a third group, Nour al-Din al-Zinki, which had also become involved. Zinki are part of the Free Syrian Army and had received funding and weapons from the West. Now, however, it fights alongside al-Nusra, which recently rebranded itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. It is part of a shifting pattern of alliances between hardliners and supposed moderates which gives scope to the Russians and the regime to paint all the opposition as terrorists deserving to be bombed.

Nizar had returned to Aleppo after receiving medical treatment near the Turkish border for an arm injury received in a firefight at Romusah, in south Aleppo two months, ago. His adversaries, he is convinced, were Iranian militias sent to prop up Bashar al-Assad. The 24-year-old student says he does not know whether he will survive what is to come. The Russians and the regime have threatened to flatten what is left of rebel held east Aleppo after a ceasefire deadline expired last night.

Members of Jaish al-Fatah brigades on their to take part in a major assault on Syrian government forces near Aleppo last week (AFP)

But he feels that he has no choice but to be there. My family are here; they cannot get out. It is not a question of anyone stopping them or anyone else, but no one believes what Bashar and the Russians have are saying about this safe way out. Why should they believe those who have been trying to kill them with bombing from the air for such a long time, he said.

Nizars father died from cancer during the war, a brother was killed in an air strike. But he was adamant that it was not even worth considering the offer of safe passage from the regime.

My younger brothers are 15 and 17, they have had nothing to do with the fighting. But if they cross over, they are sure to be arrested. I have also got a young sister, they will take her away too. You know what they do to young women in prison. he said. My mother is not going to go, she is not going to leave the children and she is not going to leave her home. She says if she has to die, she wants to die at home.

A guarantee by the regime to the fighters that they will be able to leave unharmed was, as far as Nizar and his comrades were concerned, a trap. What they call these safe routes have Bashars men, Iranians waiting, there are Russian planes flying, you can see that in photographs. Are we going to just walk into their hands, to be shot or hanged later? No, we are here, and this is where we have to stay and fight, he said.

It was, perhaps, inevitable that the stormy tide of Syria uprising would bring Nizar to this place of killing at such a time. He left his studies when protests began against the regime in 2011, starting as an activist but turning, like many of his friends, to the gun as the Assad regime brutally suppressed demonstrations.

Along the way he and his comrades lost much of their idealism and some of their humanity. Anger grew against the West which had, they felt, betrayed them. Some went on to embrace extremist Islam. Nizar, however, insists that is not the case with him. We are against Daesh (Isis) we have fought them. We have lost lots of friends fighting Daesh, no one can doubt that, he said, before continuing some in the resistance the Europeans and the Americans choose to call terrorists depends when they think its convenient. We think some of the problems between resistance groups are manipulated by them and some powerful Arab countries.

Nizar did not want to discuss what kind of manipulation may have led to the fight between the rebels on Thursday. This may be because his group, Fastaqim, are now relatively weak and vulnerable, and may have to merge with another hardline group Ahrar al-Sham, for protection. It was not the time, he may have felt, to aggravate animosirties.

Nizar mentioned, however, that he and his men were in the Salheddine district when they came under mortar and automatic gunfire. He knew the area well; it was the frontline where he had spent months during the battle for Aleppo four years ago, when the rebels almost took the countrys prosperous commercial centre and largest city. The regime seemed to be tottering at the time, rebellion was spreading across the land, the road to Damascus, it was felt, would soon be open.

The rebels failed. They spoke with bitterness against the West for encouraging them to rise up and then failing to help. Assad must go had been the cry of David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, but this was not backed up by any great practical help when the backlash came from Assad. The regime, on the other hand, began to receive substantial backing from its allies  Russian arms, Iranian and Hezbollah fighters: a stalemate ensued in Aleppo.

I spent six weeks in Aleppo covering the fighting, a lot of it in Salheddine which had been emptied of people by the sheer scale of the violence, with smashed houses on street, after street covered in rubble and the sickly sweet smell from buried bodies hanging amid the smoke and dust.

We watched the arrival of a group of combatants who, unlike Nizar and his friends, were receiving generous outside support, mainly from the Qataris and wealthy sympathisers in the Gulf. Unlike the other fighters, these men were markedly unfriendly towards the few foreign journalists present, although this was yet to turn into the vicious hostility resulting in kidnappings and murders which came later.

But for all their talk of victorious jihad and storming Damascus, al-Nusra were the first to flee when regime tanks burst through Salheddine, abandoning their weapons and shiny four-wheel drives to the amusement of other fighters. I described the scene later to a friend, the photojournalist Jim Foley. He was keen to get shots of these jihadist, he was sorry he had missed the scene. Jim was to be abducted three months later by a group linked to al-Nusra and handed over to Isis who murdered him the following year.

Al-Nusra were not the only source of internal problems for the rebels at the time. The fighters from the surrounding towns of Al-Bab, Marea, Azaz, Tel Rifaat and Manbij found it difficult to coordinate operations. There was petty squabbling and accusations of looting. The large and powerful Berri tribal clan turned against the rebels when their head, Zeino al-Berri, was executed after being accused of collaborating with the regime.

Foreign fighters, Libyans, Chechens, Tunisians, some from Europe, started coming in, especially after al-Nusra merged with a little known group coming out of Iraq called Isis. They were to have a violent split later. Local fighters began to drift off. Nizar and many from his group, the Bakr Brigade, the biggest contingent in the battle, withdrew to their homes in the al-Bab area, around 20 miles from Aleppo.

Syrians carry their belongings as they leave Aleppo's southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad (AFP) (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty)

I had been staying in al-Bab, the first town to rise up against the regime while covering the fighting. A shisha shop became the centre of social activity after a day amid the bombs and bullets of Aleppo. The young owner, Mohammed, used to joke about opening a branch in London.

Al-Nusra, instead of focusing on Aleppo, turned on the hinterland. Al-Bab, The Gate in English, was a strategic point for Aleppo and became a prime target for the Islamists. The town fell, first to al-Nusra and then Isis. The harshest form of Islamic rule followed with whippings, amputations and hangings. The activists who would debate the shape of Syrias democratic future in Mohammeds cafe were imprisoned, as was Mohammed. Some were killed, others fled across the border to Turkey.

Nizars family took refuge with his mothers relations in Aleppo. Nizar was going to be a civil rights worker. Then came news that his girlfriend, who had been a student activist in Homs, had been arrested and had disappeared. He became a fighter.

Advances made by the rebels last year filled him with enthusiasm. But then the American and Russian bombing campaign began. Six weeks ago, at a meeting on the Syrian border with Turkey, he was gloomy, talking about lost opportunity of four years ago, accepting a friends view that Aleppo would be lost. Now he is back there, for what could well be the last violent rites; the end to the rebel presence in the city and a shattering blow to Syrias opposition.
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Irans supreme leader has accused the US of being a liar and backstabber, and effectively ruled out any future negotiations with the American government under his leadership.

Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, who proclaimed death to America in March last year, told a crowd of school pupils and teachers in Tehran that talks with Washington were now inconceivable.

"Negotiations with the US will not resolve our problems, because firstly, it is a liar, disloyal, a cheater and a backstabber, he said.

And secondly, the US itself is crisis-stricken  and how can a crisis-hit country resolve another country's problems?

The policy and essence of the arrogant US government is based on over-ambitiousness and for years it has applied the policy in different parts of the world, particularly in the western Asia region and pre-revolution Iran.

Now the Americans are in a situation that they have become desperate about the developments in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and North Africa. Isn't this situation a crisis?"

Ayatollah Khamenei also said the recent US presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton revealed "the collapse of humanitarian values" in America and showed his estimations were correct about the state of US politics.

"Their comments showed they are sufficient for the annihilation of the reputation of the United States," he said, according to CNN. "The US system is far away from values of humanity."

According to reports, Iran recently publicly streamed the US presidential debates as "anti-American propaganda".

Iran is marking the anniversary of the 1979 siege of the US embassy in Tehran, during which a group of Iranian students held 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for over 14 months amid a backlash against US influence in Iran.

Relations between Iran and the US have been notoriously difficult since the 1979 revolution, but appeared to improve following a historic deal struck by president Barack Obama in April last year, during which Iran agreed to reduce its nuclear capabilities in exchange for a loosening of economic sanctions.

New York protests against Iran nuclear deal Show all 10 1 /10 New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York A woman holds a poster as she takes part in a rally on Times Square in New York opposing the nuclear deal with Iran New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York An inflatable mushroom cloud stands among demonstrators during a rally apposing the nuclear deal with Iran New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York Protesters rally against the nuclear deal with Iran in Times Square New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York A member of the Neturei Karta Orthodox Jews sect is escorted away by New York City Police during a rally near Times Square to demand that Congress vote down the proposed US deal with Iran in New York New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York A woman shouts slogans during a rally against the nuclear deal with Iran in Times Square in New York New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York A protestor holds a placard during a demonstration and rally apposing the nuclear deal with Iran in Times Square New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York Some of several thousand protestors crowd into 7th Avenue at 42nd street as they demonstrate during a rally apposing the nuclear deal with Iran New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York A woman holds a placard as she joins several thousand other protestors to demonstrate during a rally apposing the nuclear deal with Iran New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York Protesters rallied against the Iran nuclear deal in New York's Times Square KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images New York protests against Iran nuclear deal New York Protestors shout slogans as they demonstrate during a rally apposing the nuclear deal with Iran

Before the agreement was struck, Ayatollah Khamenei told a crowd of supporters: Of course yes, death to America, because America is the original source of pressure.The politics of America is to create insecurity. They insist on putting pressure on our dear peoples economy.

He has been the supreme leader of Iran since 1989 and has repeatedly expressed his distrust of American policies over the years.
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Thousands of families are living in a smoke-filled hell in Iraq after Isis militants set oil wells ablaze as they retreated from towns and villages as Iraqi forces advance towards Mosul.

An aid worker on the ground has told The Independent childrens faces are black with soot and people are developing severe breathing problems as jihadis intentionally set fire to wellheads in areas they are being pushed out of - reportedly as a way of both protecting themselves from air assaults and further "terrorising" local people.

Several thousand people are currently said to be affected by the fires, which emit smoke that travels up to 20 kilometres.

In the town of Qayarrah, located 30 kilometres south of Mosul, more than 60 homes were completely destroyed at the end of August when jihadis reportedly rigged wellheads with improvised explosive devices (IED) before using snipers to shoot at them until they exploded, throwing oil out to the surrounding areas.

The raging fires that followed are still ablaze two months on and The Independent has heard how residents suffering the consequences of living in a blanket of smoke.

An Oxfam spokeswoman who has been working regularly in Qayarrah since August, said the smoke is now many people's "number one concern" as children's health deteriorates.

On some days in Qayyarah the air is so thick with black smoke that it completely blocks out the sun (Sam Cunningham/Oxfam)

She stold The Independent: The childrens faces are black with soot. They are coughing and wheezing. Many have developed rashes on their body from being constantly covered in the substance, which is extremely difficult to remove.

This is now peoples number one concern in a lot of these areas. Its difficult to breath, theyre having chest problems. A doctor told me patients are having bronchitis type symptoms  wheezing, coughing and struggling to breath.

"Isis are doing this as a way to cover themselves from air assaults  with the thick smoke that blocks the sun  as well as to further terrorise local people before they retreat from towns and villages.

People are already traumatised. Speaking to people its heartbreaking because they lived under Isis control for about two years in these places  some longer  and you can only imagine the kind of lives they had under Isis control, especially women.

Theyve been terrorised and theyve had a real lack of access to services, water, food and jobs. Then they've had to deal with the fighting that ensued when these places were captured. And now theyre having to deal with the smoke and its health effects.

Dr Majda Abdelaziz (whose name has been changed), a doctor in a cluster of villages just outside Qayarrah, said children were suffering from scabies and bronchitis as a result of the fires and that there was a severe shortage of medication to treat them.

Isis rigged 15 oil well heads with explosives and set them off by shooting at them from nearby buildings, causing wells to explode and sending gallons of oil into the air, landing in families' homes (Amy Christian/Oxfam)

Dr Abdelaziz said: Theres been no fuel here for two days now. Children here are suffering from scabies and bronchitis, which is caused by the air pollution from the burning oil fields and sulphur plant.

We have roughly twenty children of different ages coming to the clinic every day with these issues. They need steroid cream for their skin but we have a shortage of medicine. I arrived here eight days ago and there were no drugs.

Drinking polluted water is also causing the gastritis. The sulphur is making things much worse. Not just for the children but for the adults too.

The concern is heightened by the fact that Qayarrah and surrounding areas are expected to see an influx of more people in the coming weeks, with thousands of Iraqis likely to flee to from villages and towns closer to Mosul as jihadi forces retreat further towards the city and continue to set wellheads ablaze.

The Oxfam spokesperson expressed fears the substance would pollute the drinking water in affected areas, with the added fear that thousands of people living further north will soon arrive. There are concerns that the soot and the pollution in the air will transfer into the main water source, causing further health complications for people," she said.

In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Women and children celebrating after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A man cuts the beard of a civilian who was freed from Isis by the SDF in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Women carry newborn babies while running after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman freed from Isis hugs an SDF fighter in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman adding her veil to a pile of niqabs burning in Manbij, Syria, after being freed from Isis on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Children celebrating on top of a lorry after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A man and child freed from Isis by the SDF in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman carrying her children walks towards SDF fighters after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman and child freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij An SDF fighter kisses a crying man who was freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Hundreds of civilians freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters

In the next few weeks we imagine theres going to be a large number of people fleeing to that area and they are also going to have to deal with the air pollution and its effects."

Oxfam is calling on the Iraqi government to prioritise extinguishing the fires and to seek external support if necessary, and to explain to communities what is being done and when they can expect this to happen.

Andres Gonzalez, Oxfams country director in Iraq, said: Even after Isis has left, many of the people living amid its trail of destruction have told us that life remains unbearable.

Burning oil wells continue to spew out toxic fumes that burn peoples throats and turn their communities into a smoke-filled hell. The Iraqi government needs to tell citizens what is being done to put out these fires and to avoid a potentially bigger crisis in Mosul.
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Liliana Carmona misses the lush pine forest on the hills overlooking her village in western Mexico. She now stares at vast avocado orchards that feed a massive foreign appetite for the green fruit.

Growers have been cutting down swaths of forest to make room for more fruit trees in the state of Michoacan, the world's avocado capital.

Experts are now concerned that chemicals used in the orchards could be behind illnesses afflicting the local population.

The sneezing doesn't stop when they are fumigating, said Carmona, a stocky 36-year-old mother of two who works at a small grocery store in Jujucato, a village in the heart of avocado land.

In the 15 years that Salvador Sales has been teaching in Jujucato, he has seen his students come down with more and more breathing and stomach problems.

We believe this is caused by the products used to spray the avocado orchards, said Sales, who believes that the wind blows the chemical fumes into the homes of his students.

A farmer harvests avocados at an orchard in the municipality of Uruapan, Michoacan State, Mexico, on October 19, 2016. (AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt ) (AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt)

About 40 percent of the world's avocados are grown in Mexico, and most of those come from the area around Jujucato and Lake Zirahuen.

Avocados occupy some 137,000 hectares (340,000 acres) of land in Michoacan, according to state government figures.

Half of those orchards were planted in forests after the land was bought through dubious legal means, according to Jaime Navia, head of a rural technology NGO called Gira.

How to stone avocadoes

Deforestation is growing at a pace of 2.5 per cent per year, according to Gira.

Temperate weather in the region allows for year-round cultivation of avocado, a fruit that originated in Mexico and is loaded with vitamins, proteins and healthy fats.

While there is a strong local demand, production has soared along with the avocado's ever-growing international appeal, and forests have paid the price.

Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Show all 4 1 /4 Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Pictures reveal how the Mexican drug lord had been living since his escape Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout The inside of a house searched by marine special forces where Guzman was hiding Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Inside a house searched by marine special forces during the military operation to recapture Guzman Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout El Chapo's attempted escape A marine stands guard next to a manhole of the sewer system through which drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman tried to escape Getty

Experts warn that the chemicals used in mountain orchards may be spilling down into ground water, streams, rivers and lakes, and subsequently causing illnesses among the population.

Alberto Gomez Tagle, an expert on the environment in the Lake Zirahuen region, which includes Jujucato, said many communities that rely on the lake water may already be suffering from the effects of chemical runoff.

One lakeside village asked researchers for help when residents began to suffer from liver and kidney problems that did not exist until the avocado orchards expanded and all types of pesticides were used, Gomez Tagle said.

Officials and some producers are striving to halt the growth of orchards in forests.

Since August, authorities have recovered 100 hectares of land and detained dozens of people working in fields that had invaded forests.

A label is being created for avocados sold in stores so that consumers can identify those from orchards that don't harm the environment.

 Mexico missing students: Case unresolved two years on

Avocados had their first 'boom' in the 1970s, but production really took off in an uncontrolled way into the forests in 2000, said Navia of Gira.

Foreign demand for avocados have grown consistently in the past decade, especially from the United States - Mexico's biggest trade partner - and countries like Japan, according to federal government figures.

In 2003, avocado exports reached nearly $60million (48million), a figure that shot up to $1.5billion (1.2billion) by 2015. Avocado sales to Japan went from $40million (32million) to $106million (85million) in the same time period.

Michoacan has been known in recent years for bloody clashes between rival drug gangs, which have also moved into the avocado trade, officials said.

Some of the avocado farmers that invaded the forest are 'organised crime' members, a state government official told AFP, stressing that the authorities had recouped some of that land.

There are even avocados grown as high as 2,600 metres (8,500 feet) above sea level, even though they aren't that productive, said Navia.

One hectare of avocados generates on average around $5,400 (4,300) per year.

Mexican avocado packers recently went on strike for a few days to protest the low pay they were getting this season, which ranges from between $1.8 (1.45) and $2.6 (2.08) per kilo.

The brief strike resulted in a global avocado price hike.
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Health authorities are struggling to control the Zika virus. Locally transmitted cases have been reported in Florida, and there is now concern about a possible link with male sterility. Simon Calder, The Independent's Travel Correspondent, answers readers questions about the threat the infection poses to travellers

Is Zika like the Ebola outbreak?

No - except for the degree of panic it has created among some prospective travellers. There are very significant differences. Ebola fever is difficult to catch but often fatal; Zika virus is easy to catch but, for most people, harmless. Only about one in five people who are infected with Zika develop symptoms, which include a fever, a rash and aching joints.

But for a small proportion who contract the virus, there are serious effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) says: "Based on research to date, there is scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome."

Health officials believe that when the virus is caught by pregnant women, it may cause microcephaly: babies born with an unusually small head, a disability that causes life-long problems. That is why WHO deems Zika a public health emergency of international concern, as it did with Ebola.

There are also links with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. "When severe, the person is almost totally paralyzed," says the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders. "In these cases the disorder is life threatening."

UPDATE: What about the male sterility aspect?

Some evidence has emerged of a possible risk to male fertility. A study by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, published in Nature, looked at the effects of Zika on fertility in mice. When infected with a strain of the virus, some mice developed shrunken testicles, low testosterone levels and low sperm counts. The researchers believe the damage may be irreversible. They point out The extent to which these observations in mice translate to humans remains unclear. But right now the risk for men cannot be ruled out. The researchers say that "genito-urinary signs and symptoms" in people infected with Zika have been reported, including blood in the semen and pain when urinating.

Where are travellers at risk?

Zika is spread primarily by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is present in hot, humid locations. (It may also be spread by the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which has a wider range of habitats.) The virus has appeared in Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific, but the highest number of cases have appeared in recent months in Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the end of July 2016 the first cases were reported in Florida, in a small district in the Miami area. On 19 August, the authorities reported an outbreak in Miami Beach.

What precautions can travellers take?

There is no vaccination against Zika. The mosquito responsible bites during the day, and indoors. To avoid mosquito bites, wear long sleeves and long trousers tucked into socks, and use Deet-based insect repellant on exposed skin. At night, use insect screens and air conditioning if your bedroom has them. If you are backpacking then consider taking a mosquito net.

Can it be transmitted directly between people?

The mosquitoes which carry dengue usually proliferate in times of heavy rain with the illness affecting between 50 and 100 million (AFP/Getty)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned the infection may have been sexually transmitted in the US. Officials in Dallas believe a woman contracted Zika through sex with her husband, who had previously been infected abroad. Public Health England says: If a female partner is at risk of getting pregnant, or is already pregnant, condom use is advised for a male traveller for 28 days after his return from an active Zika transmission area. If symptoms suggest he has may have contracted Zika virus, the recommended duration is six months.

What are the options for people booked to fly to destinations afflicted with the disease?

The Zika virus presents an unprecedented situation for the travel industry: a rapidly spreading disease that is mildly inconvenient for the average holidaymaker, but extremely serious for pregnant women. So airlines and holiday firms have been devising policies as they go along, focusing on people booked to travel imminently. Where changes are allowed by travel firms, they apply equally to the pregnant womans travelling companions.

What are package-holiday firms saying?

Ana Beatriz is held by her father Alipio Martin during a medical appointment at the Altino Ventura Foundation in Recife, Brazil (EPA)

Thomson, which also includes First Choice, is the UKs biggest holiday company. It says pregnant customers due to travel to Florida, Mexico, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Cape Verde and a number of other affected locations can change destination without incurring an amendment fee. If the new holiday is cheaper the difference will be refunded; if its more expensive, you pay the extra. But anyone booked to travel by the end of October must take the alternative holiday by then.

Thomas Cook, the other big tour operator, says: All those due to travel who are planning on getting pregnant and are concerned about a future holiday booking should call us so that we can support them appropriately.

Can you claim from travel insurance?

The Association of British Insurers says if a doctor tells someone not to travel to a particular destination, then most travel insurance policies will cover cancellation costs that cannot be reclaimed elsewhere. Of course, this is provided that the trip and insurance were bought before the advice changed.

Will it spread elsewhere?

The mosquito is a weak flyer and cannot cover more than about a quarter-mile. But infected people who go to another country where the Aedes aegypti mosquito exists could inadvertently spread the virus. In addition, the mosquito could be transported by air or sea. Health officials fear it could spread to every other country in the Americas where the mosquito exists - which is all of them except continental Chile and Canada.

While the Aedes aegypti mosquito does not survive in cooler climates, the World Health Organization warns that a close relative, the Aedes albopictus mosquito, can also transmit the virus.

In May, WHO said there is high likelihood of local Zika virus transmission (ie by being bitten by a mosquito that has previously bitten a carrier of Zika) on the island of Madeira and the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea, where the Aedes mosquito is found. It also warned that there is a moderate risk in 18 countries in the region of local transmission of Zika, because the Aedes albopictus mosquito is present. In order of likelihood (highest to lowest), the nations of concern are France, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Israel, Spain, Monaco, San Marino, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Georgia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Should I cancel my trip to the Med?

No. At present there are no locally transmitted cases of Zika, and there may never be. WHO says: "These countries and areas should prepare well in order to protect their populations from the spread of Zika virus disease and its potential neurological complications, including microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome."

But at this stage, it would be premature to panic about travel to these destinations in and around the Mediterranean - and holiday companies and airlines are unlikely to be sympathetic to anyone who wants to cancel a trip.

This article was first published on 2 April 2016 and updated on 4 November 2016 to include an update about the potential effect of the virus on male fertility

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Judges dont know international treaties. Thats up to governments and politicians. David Cameron could have made the referendum in which only 37 per cent of the electorate voted to quit Europe mandatory and binding. He did not, and now judges have said the ball is back in the politicians court.

There was never much chance that the High Court judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, would seek to overthrow parliamentary sovereignty, which has been supreme since the Civil War and the Bill of Rights in the seventeenth century.

The plain fact is that the referendum divided the nation. Scotland and London voted for Europe. The North East, where there are just 19,000 East Europeans living and working, voted against Europe. Young people voted for a future in Europe. The old said No.

Everyone knows that the referendum was won on the basis of an Everest of lies. The economic news is dire. The 17 per cent devalutation of the pound reduces the net worth of Britain. The threat by the 1,000 Japanese firms that they may move to mainland Europe if they lose full, unfettered access to the single market has not gone away, despite the bribe Theresa May appears to have offered Nissan.

 International Trade Secretary Liam Fox says the government will appeal the Brexit judgment

75,000 City workers will have to relocate to Europe to keep passporting and other rights that allow them to make money.

According to the British Elections Study, about 7 per cent of the Leave vote would now change its mind. Mays aggressive tone at her party conference  which presented the divided vote as a united nation shaking its fist at Europe as in the summer of 1940  was ill-judged. She needs to reach out to the 48 per cent who said no to amputating the UK.

What experts have said about Brexit Show all 11 1 /11 What experts have said about Brexit What experts have said about Brexit Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit One of Britains great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the worlds leading international financial centre. Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Yanis Varoufakis Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Michael OLeary Ryanair boss says UK will be screwed by EU in Brexit trade deals: I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how the world will want to trade with us. The world will want to screw you  that's what happens in trade talks, he said. They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade Getty What experts have said about Brexit Tim Martin JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea" PA What experts have said about Brexit Mark Carney Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: I am absolutely serene about the  judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Christine Lagarde IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Inga Beale Lloyds chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe EPA What experts have said about Brexit Colm Kelleher President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London will suffer as result of the EU referendum: I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much What experts have said about Brexit Richard Branson Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and thats happening all over the country" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Barack Obama US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Kristin Forbes American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been less stormy than many expected following the shock referendum result: For nowthe economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up  and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction Getty

In other countries, referendums come and go. The Swiss government is considering a second referendum to overturn one in February 2014 where people voted to stop Europeans coming to work on Swiss building sites or mountain restaurants. A Ukip-style party won the first anti-EU referendum, but now Swiss MPs are so worried that losing access to the single market that they would like a revote.

Here in Britain, we have treated the referendum with a sacred reverence it does not deserve. As the Brexit minister David Davis says: A democracy that cannot change its mind is not a democracy. The decision by the judges does not change the mind of the nation, but it does mean MPs now have to accept their responsibilities.

In theory, there is a majority of Remainers among Tory, Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs. It is hard to see how the Government can keep stonewalling in its refusal to discuss fully and openly with MPs and through them with the public what its plans are.

May can probably count on her MPs being loyal, but there is now a major challenge for the divided and unhappy Labour Party to unite around a convincing policy. Some Labour MPs  unkindly dubbed Red Ukip  are backing work permits and quotas, the kind of managed migration that was a standard demand in every Ukip manifesto.

The rest of Europe has made clear that if Britain does start discriminating against EU citizens, as Ukip demands, then there is no possibility of full unfettered access to the single market. So can Labour find unity and leadership  and how will its MPs vote?

The Article 50 talks are not a new Treaty of Versailles or Congress of Vienna which drew up new rules for Europe in 1815 or 1920. They will be tediously technical about moving EU agencies out of London, who pays the pensions of Brits employed by the EU, and how many of the 45,000 bottles from the EU cellars are handed over for Whitehalls consumption.

The big questions about trade or access to the single market can only begin once the Article 50 negotiations are over. So many more years of uncertainty about the future shape and status of the UK economy lie ahead.

At some stage, Parliament would have to be involved. All the judges have said is that Parliament is supreme and should have its say.

Denis MacShane is the former Minister of Europe and author of Brexit: How Britain left Europe (IB Tauris)
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If the High Courts ruling on the need for Parliament to be involved in triggering Article 50 proves anything, it is that many of Brexits most ardent supporters do not understand irony. Two of their great cries during the referendum campaign concerned the need to stop European judges meddling in British affairs and a desire to restore the sovereignty of this countrys Parliament. Yet now they cry foul at a ruling by judges in London which does little more than to assert the primacy of Britains Parliament over the prerogative powers of the Government (in this case one headed by a Prime Minister whose leadership has never been put to the country). Its funny how things turn out.

Before he thought better of the whole adventure, David Cameron had indicated that he would  in the event of a vote to leave the EU  trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty immediately. With hindsight, it now seems remarkable that the question of how the Article 50 process could lawfully be initiated was not asked prior to the referendum. Perhaps it shows how strong was the misplaced confidence of the Remain camp. Equally, the High Courts ruling today exposes the similarly overconfident (perhaps even arrogant) approach of Theresa May during recent months. For, when examined in the cold light of day, the judgment appears eminently sound.

The Governments immediate reaction was to indicate an intention to appeal against the decision. That in itself will cause a certain amount of delay and might encourage the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to seek leave to have their views heard, which opens up even thornier constitutional questions. And if the Supreme Court were to decide to address the question of whether an Article 50 notification can subsequently be withdrawn (the High Court having worked on the assumption, accepted by both sides thus far, that it cannot), there could  heaven forfend  be further legal appeals to the European Court of Justice. Nigel Farage might at that stage explode. With the possibility of such further wrangling in mind, the Government may in due course decide to accept the High Courts verdict and bring the matter before Parliament.

This surely would be the sensible course. After all, at its heart the ruling does no more than underscore the point that by triggering Article 50 the Government would ultimately be depriving British citizens of rights they enjoy as a consequence of the European Communities Act 1972, the primary legislation by which EU statutes were given effect in UK law. Since this is self-evidently a matter which impinges on domestic law, the exercise of prerogative powers cannot outgun the will of Parliament as previously expressed. In short, the judgment is not about whether Brexit can or should proceed, but about the right of Parliament to have a say in the matter.

For the Government, this may be a less than palatable prospect. But even by a non-legal analysis, the attempt to exclude Parliament from debating the question of when to trigger Article 50 seemed a travesty. After all, Junes referendum only asked whether Britain should remain inside the EU  it did not seek voters views on what kind of future they envisaged in the event of withdrawal. There is little likelihood that MPs and peers would seek to block the will of the Brexit majority, however small it may have been. But it is entirely proper, if the Government indeed plans to govern on behalf of all the people in this country (not just the 52 per cent) that the peoples representatives should have some input as to what Brexit might look like.

Britain is presently a nation divided in too many respects. Attempts by the Government to fight the High Courts decision are more likely to expose those rifts further than to heal them. The sovereignty of Parliament has been upheld by the judges verdict  now all sides in both Houses must prove that the institution is founded on collegiality too. Failing that, an early  and bitter  general election may be closer at hand that anybody anticipated.
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With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, American voters are tasked with choosing between two of the most unpopular candidates ever chosen as major party presidential nominees. There are alternatives though, so what chance to third party candidates have on Election Day?

This year, there are three significant alternatives to the traditional Republican-Democratic two-party system.

The Libertarian Party is the country's third largest political party, but it has never elected a candidate to Congress, let alone the presidency. In fact, since it was founded in 1972, the Party's most successful presidential election was 1980, when they won 1.07 per cent of the vote. In 2012, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson led the party to their most successful election since 1980, when he won 1.03 per cent. This was more than double the Party's 2008 result.

On paper, the 2016 Libertarian ticket is an impressive one. Johnson is again the nominee, and his vice presidential running mate is former Massachusetts governor, William Weld.

 US election night: Everything you need to know

One might think that two former Republican governors would present a viable alternative to disenchanted Republicans and conservative Democrats, so why has their campaign not captured voters' attention?

Public polling has the Libertarian ticket reaching dizzying heights of 9 per cent, but for Johnson to improve on his near-record 2012 result, he would need to run a near-perfect campaign. It has been anything but.

Both men are hardly exciting or engaging, and when they have managed to capture media attention, it has been for the wrong reasons.

For example, in early September when Johnson was asked on live television how he would respond to the escalating crisis in Aleppo (Syria), he asked, "What is Aleppo?"

Despite what the polls say, it is hard to see the Libertarian Party exceeding their previous result. It is far more likely that their Election Day vote will shift closer to their party's average of 0.44 per cent.

The Green Party is even more lost in the political wilderness.

Considering how Bernie Sanders captured the attention and imagination of the left-wing of the Democratic party during the Democratic primary, one might have thought that disenchanted Democratic voters would look for an anti-Clinton, left alternative.

US Presidential front pages of The Independent Show all 12 1 /12 US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent US Presidential front pages of The Independent

Like the Libertarian Party, the Greens have again selected their 2012 nominee, Jill Stein, as their 2016 presidential standard-bearer.

Since the Greens first presidential election in 1996, their electoral high-water mark was Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign, where he won 2.74 per cent, and famously helped deny Al Gore a win in Florida, and thus the presidency.

2000 though was an anathema, and excluding that result, the Green Party averages 0.32 per cent of the presidential vote.

A further similarity to Johnson is that Stein has also failed to capture public attention - and the Sanders vote - and will not be a factor on Election Day, at all.

The only third-party candidate who looks likely to make an impact on Election Day is Republican-turned-independent Evan McMullin.

McMullin is polling well, very well, with polling averages in the mid-to-high 20s, and often ahead of Clinton, and narrowly behind Trump. But this polling is taking place in a single state, Utah, where McMullin has gone all-in. He has all-but limited his campaign to a single state, and is aiming to become the first third-party candidate to win a state since 1968.

Utah is consistently one of the most Republican states in the country, yet Trump has successfully angered the its conservative 'family-values' Mormon voters. Unlike the Libertarian and Green parties, McMullin appears to have captured the attention of Utah voters, and is in a competitive race to win the state.

With almost all of McMullin's support coming from disenchanted Republican voters, this decrease in Trump's vote has now brought Clinton into competitive consideration in the state. Despite this, it is difficult to imagine that Clinton could win Utah, so the contest appears to be between Trump and McMullin.

Despite the notion that voters this year appeared to want a change from traditional two-party politics, it is inconceivable that aside from Utah, third-parties will have any impact on Election Day.

Why then are third parties not polling as well as might otherwise be expected?

Politics in America is a rich mans game. To mount a viable presidential election, candidates will need upwards of half-a-billion dollars  at a minimum.

Even running for lesser office is incredibly expensive. In 2010, two billionaire Republicans, Meg Whitman and Linda McMahon, sought election to the US Senate from California and Connecticut, respectively. Both women self-funded their campaigns, with Whitman spending $144 million, and McMahon almost $50 million. Both lost.

The reason for this is to reach into the public consciousness, and develop a brand recognition. In an age when voters have information at our fingertips, many are more interested with what the Kardashians are up to, than looking at policy issues which will affect their lives.

Voters glean what little information they know about candidates from thirty-second television commercials, which are very expensive to run, which is a catch-22 situation for third parties. On one hand, before people will donate to a party, they need to be confident that the party is viable at the ballot box. On the other hand, the way to convince donors  and voters  of this viability, is to run expensive advertising campaigns, which cost money that the minor parties do not have.

Even so, much of Trumps success this year stems from supporters seeing him as a political outsider, which indicates that voters are in fact looking for an alternative. The problem is that these minor parties are relying on free-media to get their message across to voters. Free media is creating a story that is newsworthy enough to be carried by television networks across their evening news, at no cost. However, Trump is dominating the news because he is newsworthy, and any remaining time is then allocated to Clinton.

Many voters who may be looking for an alternative may not even be aware that there is one. And if they are, they may then feel that a vote for a third party would be a wasted vote.

Despite the ballyhoo about the rise of the political outsider, this author believes that third parties will receive fewer votes than the last presidential election in 2012.

Bryan Cranston is an online lecturer in politics, and PhD candidate at Swinburne University, Australia
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The UK is not a plebiscite democracy, it is not a social media like-cracy, it is not run by the will of the people. It is not America. For the past three and half centuries, the only legitimising authority after the Crown has been Parliament.

Candidates for becoming MPs are not chosen by the people; they are put forward by the parties. Party leaders are not chosen by the people; they are chosen by the parties. Prime Ministers are not chosen by the people; they are appointed by the Crown. The will of the people is not constituted in UK law: Parliament has been sovereign for a very long time.

When the UK had its previous EU referendum in 1975, it was simply a state-sponsored opinion poll, and was not then considered legally determining. Parliament had approved the European Communities Act of 1972 and every treaty since. Only by a further Act of Parliament can these be retracted, hence the Great Repeal Bill with Parliamentary scrutiny. None of this was or should be determined as solely dependent upon a referendum.

I suggest that the referendum was misrepresented as an official plebiscite from the start, that Government was negligent in allowing this to be misunderstood and that the supportive arguments for and against were grossly misrepresented. The result was as close to 50:50 as need matter. The British people spoke with a resounding (and typical) maybe/maybe not; areas of the UK spoke more forcefully.

Only Parliament can respond aye or nay as it has done so since the Restoration of the Monarchy.

Duncan Dwinell

Kent

Nearly 400 years ago Oliver Cromwell "took back control" by successfully transferring power from the Crown to to Parliament. That is all that Gina Millers High Court ruling has done, but this time by peaceful means. How perverse that those who are outraged by the ruling choose to overlook this. We are a parliamentary democracy.

"Get over it!", as the Brexiteers delight in repeatedly saying.

Patrick Cosgrove

Bucknell

Theres nothing wrong with choosing to wear a poppy

Robert Fisk, annually it seems in The Independent, rages against the wearing of poppies  in particular, the boys and girls and the TV chumps in media and politics and, by implication, anyone wearing one.

Leaving aside the personal insults to all who do it should be noted that Fisk is, to use his own terminology, elderly and has personal family reasons to rubbish the ritual of remembrance. To those aged between boys and girls and elderly poppy wearing goes beyond the Cenotaph parade and represents not the wars but all wars.

We should not rage against the causes of wars but remain focused on all those who died in them so that Fisk and letter writers can have their say.

Mike Dodds

London W11

Yes, newsreaders wear poppies because its the politically correct thing to do, but for me wearing a poppy is a very personal thing. I cant begin to think about what it might have been like for me,as a wife and mother, to have my family taken away from me to go to war not knowing when or if they would return. In the world wars these men had no choice.

The horror of 60,000 British men being killed in close combat on one day, as happened on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, is unimaginable to have to live through. Every one of those men was someones child, and if I had been born in another era it could have been my husband and/or son. They would have gone having no choice. That is what I am remembering and respecting.

The politics that got them there is not relevant to me.

Anna Taylor

Sunbury-on-Thames

This referendum is no different to those of the past

I am an ardent supporter of Brexit for the very reasons mentioned in your editorial: to restore the sovereignty of parliament and to promise a reinvigoration of Britain's independence from EU's bureaucracy and meddling in our internal affairs.

However, the UK has held three referendums over the past couple of years on serious issues pertinent to our national security: a referendum on the political status of the Falkland islands, on the sovereignty of the Gibraltar and on whether Scotland should remain an integral part of the UK. Not a single word was raised about the legitimacy of the outcomes.

Every sector of society promised to respect the will of the people. Why should this referendum be any different to its predecessors?

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London, NW2

People are swallowing propaganda yet again

I read today that Stephen Raven, joint deputy leader of the Ukip group on Boston Borough Council, has stated in relation to some of his constituents They have been saying to me: It sounds like Brexit is being overturned. They have been asking: Is this a stitch-up?

Unfortunately it would appear that once again misinformation is being peddled. Were these Ukip Brexiteers who reacted with fury to actually read what the ruling stated, then perhaps they would be better enlightened.

I dare say these were the same voters who eagerly swallowed the propaganda served up by the Leave Campaign in the run-up to the referendum?

John Schluter

Guildford
Radiohead fans were left furious after tickets for the band's first show in Ireland since 2008 were reported to have sold out within a minute.

The five-piece - who are also due to headline Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage in England next June - released tickets for new European shows, including one date in Dublin and two in Manchester, on Friday morning.

However some fans seeking tickets for the Dublin show in July 2017 claimed they were told the most-wanted tickets were unavailable before they even went on sale, and that the whole arena was sold out within a minute.

Twitter user K Winston wrote: "Tickets for #Radiohead in Dublin sold out at 9.01?"

Another, Shane Lyons, wrote on the social platform: "(What) is up with @radiohead tickets (for) Dublin being sold out at 9.00am?"

Fan Angie Kenny said she had queued at a Ticketmaster store in Dublin from 8am, and said she was told by staff 25 minutes before tickets went on sale that the "only seating available was in the highest tier".

She said four people were in the queue before 9am, but only one had managed to secure tickets. Ms Kenny said she had been forced to buy tickets for the show in Manchester instead.

Ticketmaster said it was unable to comment, noting that tour promoter SJM Concerts was ultimately responsible for the ticketing of the show.

SJM did not immediately respond to the Press Association's requests for comment.

To further anger Radiohead fans, tickets appeared to resurface online at several times the face value, despite the band attempting to stamp this out by forcing people to bring ID to shows.

Ticketmaster blocked tickets from availability on its resale sites Getmein and Seatwave.

However, an hour after the 9am sale window opened, reselling site StubHub was advertising tickets for the 3Arena gig at 750 each.

Stubhub said: "It is perfectly legal to resell tickets in the UK including on platforms such as StubHub.

Asked if fans who bought tickets would actually be able to attend if unable to match their name to that on the ticket, the company said it would "work on getting the ticket buyer into the venue, or provide them with a full refund".

StubHub was a sponsor of this week's Q Awards, at which a number of stars criticised secondary ticket sites.

Among them was James Bay, who said after winning the award for best solo act: "Apologies to my fans for ever having to deal with secondary ticketing sites.

"I hope we see the end of them. They definitely suck."
Growth in the Irish services sector fell to its lowest level in three-and-a-half years last month, a strong sign that pressure brought about by Brexit is hitting the economy.

The latest Investec Services PMI shows a reading of 54.6 in October, down from 56.2 in September. That represents the lowest reading since 2013. The index measures economic health on a scale where readings above 50 show growth and those under represent contraction. The data is derived from questionnaires sent to 450 Irish private sector service companies in areas ranging from hotels to banking.

Key metrics across the economy are now are their lowest levels for a number of years, indicating the challenge for Irish policy-makers of mitigating the effects of Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

The recent fall in sterling and uncertainty are emerging as the major challenges to Irish businesses.

Indigenous Irish firms are being hit worst, with retailers near the border coming under particular strain over the past couple of months. Irish shoppers have been flocking across the border since the rapid decline in the UK pound.

Ireland's tourism industry had been performing especially well in 2016, but the latest statistics indicate that clouds are on the horizon in that sector too. The index shows that activity in transport and leisure, the category in which tourism is measured, slowed for the first time in 51 months.

In addition, the scale of the contraction was the sharpest seen since January 2012 - a period when Ireland's economy was at a particularly low ebb.

One source familiar with the sector said: "Anecdotal evidence suggests that some areas have seen a double-digit drop-off in tourist numbers from the UK over the past couple of months, with the weak sterling likely to be the main factor behind this." Job cuts were also registered in the industry for the first time in nearly three years.

Overall, job creation continued in the economy. However the past two months have seen the slowest rates of expansion since September 2012. On a more positive note, job expansion has now been evident for 50 consecutive months.

A key component of Ireland's economy - the export sector - grew last month, but worryingly, the rise was at the slowest rate since 2012.

The Irish financial services sector was the only sector which recorded a decline in business from abroad.

The rate of expansion in new business for companies also slowed last month, the fifth straight month of decline.

Philip O'Sullivan, an economist at Investec Ireland, said: "A particular concern within the data is that the new business component has now slowed for five consecutive months, with October's reading indicating the softest rate of growth since May 2013.

"A number of panellists reported that the UK's decision to leave the EU had caused a fall in new orders. Given this, it is no surprise to see that the new export business component expanded at its slowest pace since May 2012 last month."

The data also shows costs rising for Irish businesses, including fuel, labour and insurance.

Business confidence recovered slightly last month having hit a three-year low in September. Despite the worrying trends, almost half (49pc) of the businesses surveyed still believe their business activity will be higher this time next year.
The Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed today led a delegation of Irish agri-food exporters on the first day of a trade mission to North Africa with events in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

Speaking from Rabat, Minister Creed said this is the first ever Ministerial led Irish agri-food trade mission to Morocco and my objective is to raise the profile of Ireland as a source for safe, secure and sustainably produced food.

While there is existing and growing trade in Irish products here, we know that the potential is there for this to significantly grow. This trade mission is an example of my ongoing focus on the diversification of markets for our Irish agri-food exports, particularly in response to Brexit.

Minister Creed commenced the visit with a high-level bilateral meeting with his Moroccan Counterpart, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Aziz Akhannouch.

These talks focused on the scope for deepening the collaboration in agriculture and food between both Countries.

The Minister said trade between Ireland and Morocco continues to grow across many different sectors of the economy, especially agri-food.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to reiterate our commitment to furthering this relationship today in my meeting with Minister Akhannouch.

It is clear that the sustainable intensification of our respective agri-food sectors is a national priority for both countries.

I also took the opportunity in these bilateral meetings to further our trade priorities, building on our growing exports here which to date in 2016 are almost double what they were for the whole year in 2014.

The Minister also met with the Director General of ONSSA which is the Moroccan body responsible for food safety. The meeting was an opportunity to engage with ONSSA on areas of mutual interest given the imperative which both countries place on the production of food of the highest safety standards.

The Minister also took the opportunity to acknowledge the cooperation of ONSSA in concluding recent negotiations in expanding the Irish products allowed access to Morocco and discussed outstanding Irish applications which it is hoped to progress. The Minister also took the opportunity in the meeting to formally commence Irelands application for sheepmeat to the Moroccan market.

Later the Minister, accompanied by members of the official delegation, met with the Director for the Agency for Agricultural Development (ADA) in Morocco. This meeting focused on the plans for modernisation of Moroccan agriculture and the cooperation which Ireland might offer in this regard.

At the conclusion of the political meetings the focus turned to commercial events starting with a visit to one of Moroccos largest importers of dairy products, Copralim.

This company is an existing importer of Irish dairy products from various Irish suppliers.

Irish dairy exports to Morocco, particularly butter, cheese and caseins were worth almost 13m last year and we expect this figure to grow by over 60% in 2016.

Increasing our share of emerging markets such as Morocco will be key in helping to meet the ambitious targets for the dairy sector in the Food Wise 2025 Strategy, Minster Creed said.
Under the provisions of the Farmers Charter agreed between farm organisations and the Department of Agriculture payments under the Young Farmers Scheme is due next month.

According to IFA Deputy President Richard Kennedy the Young Farmer Top-up to around 8,000 farmers is fully due on December 1.

The young Farmer Scheme payment is 25% of the national average payment per hectare multiplied by the number of entitlements activated by the applicant, subject to a maximum of 50.

Successful applicants will receive payment under the Young Farmer Scheme for a maximum of five years, dated from the year of setting up the holding.

Department Payments

Kennedy has said the progress by the Department of Agriculture on payments this year is helping to address the severe income crisis and cashflow difficulties on many farms.

The IFA Deputy President said 116,000 farmers have so far received 764m under the Basic Payment Scheme and 84,200 farmers have received 82m in ANC payments.

This is ahead of payment rates this time last year in terms of the number of farmers who have been paid and it is important that this level of progress continues ahead of the final 30% BPS pay-out on December 1st.

In relation to ANCs, the minimum stocking level is being achieved by more farmers and the numbers paid will progressively increase towards the end of the year as the criteria is met.

Ricard Kennedy said outstanding files held up over digitisation, over-claims or under-claims must be sorted out so that payments can be made to those farmers who are held up.
Google Ireland's latest accounts show that it paid 47m on sales of 22.6bn last year.

The search giant, which books all its European sales through its Irish office for tax reasons, declared a profit of just 294m on the 22.6bn in revenue.

The tech company's headcount at its Dublin office rose to 6,000, including almost 3,000 staff and 3,000 contractors.

Ronan Harris, Vice President and outgoing site sead in Ireland said that the continued global expansion of the companys products, its advertiser and user base, as well as an increase in the number of Google Network Members had contributed to the companys overall growth in Ireland.

Our operations in Dublin are contributing to our global success through our work with advertisers, publishers and users across EMEA. Dublin is recognised as a key driver of growth among our customers and we are constantly innovating to help them grow stronger and better businesses."
Irish Life added 36m to its Canadian parent's profits in the third quarter of the year, up by a third on the same period in 2015.

The insurer launched its new Irish Life Health business in September, shaking up the sector following its acquisitions of Aviva Health and the 51pc stake it did not already own in GloHealth.

Last night, Great-West Lifeco announced results for the three months ended September 30, 2016, and said its Irish Life unit had contributed 36m of profits in the period, an increase of 33pc compared to the same quarter last year.

The Canadian insurance group bought Irish Life in 2013 from the State, which had ended up in control of the business following the effective nationalisation of the former Irish Life and Permanent in the wake of the financial crash.

At Irish Life the third quarter of this year marked a number of important developments for the company, group chief executive David Harney said.

"In September we successfully launched Irish Life Health as a new force in the Irish health insurance market," Mr Harney said. "We are very pleased with the positive response including the decision of a number of corporate clients to transfer their company schemes to Irish Life Health.

"Also during the third quarter, the total investor assets in Irish Life's Multi-Asset Portfolio Strategies reached close to 6bn, including 2bn by 35,000 investors in Retail MAPS funds," he said.

Meanwhile, Europe's top court is due to rule this week on whether the Government breached European law when it took control of IL&P.

A group of shareholders, including a former non-executive director of the group, Piotr Skoczylas, had sought to prevent the 2011 recapitalisation.

They have argued that the Government did not have the power under emergency banking laws to freeze out existing shareholders when taxpayer funds were pumped in, diluting the stake held by the previous investors.

The Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, has said that decision to recapitalise IL&P was made to fulfil the Government's legal obligations, and that failure to recapitalise would probably have led to the collapse of the bank.

In 2014, the High Court judge hearing the case referred it to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). A decision is imminent.

The ECJ was asked to consider whether it was legal for an order to be made under the Credit Institutions Act to increase a company's capital without the consent of a general meeting, and allotting new shares without offering them on a pre-emptive basis to existing shareholders.

The ECJ was asked to determine if such moves were precluded under a relevant company law directive.
The rebranding and hotel transformation programme at Amaris Hospitality, that group operating the Jurys Inn hotel brand, will deliver significant uplift in profitability.

That is according to the chief executive of Amaris, John Brennan, who was commenting on new accounts showing that the Amaris group recorded losses of 152m (170m) last year.

The group, owned by equity fund Texas Lone Star, bought the Jury's Inn group in a 681m deal last year and the loss was largely attributable to finance costs of 121.69m largely connected with the group's expansion.

The loss also takes account of non-cash impairment costs of 72m and combined depreciation and amortisation costs of 27.5m.

The business recorded revenues of 392m in the 12 months to the end of last year. The biggest revenue generator was the Jurys Inn brand, creating 43pc of income.

Mr Brennan said in his report attached to the accounts that over 90pc, or 366m, of revenues were generated in the UK with the remaining 25m in Ireland. The Jurys Inn deal resulted in the group operating 13,500 rooms and employing 6,000 people.

Dublin-based Amaris Hospitality was incorporated in June 2015, bringing together a number of brands assembled by Lone Star in 2014 and 2015.

"Overall, the group has recorded a positive trading performance in early 2016 and the group continues to outperform its competitive set," Mr Brennan said.

"We anticipate that the completion of our rebranding and hotel transformation programme, coupled with the ongoing implementation of our wider strategy, will deliver significant uplift in performance and profitability."

He added: "Strong market conditions and impressive market outperformance in Ireland evident in 2015 are continuing in 2016. The excellent city centre locations and recent renovations in all our Irish hotels are a factor in their excellent performance.

"Despite current market challenges, the UK and Irish hospitality sectors remain robust, driven in part by the growth in the number of international tourists visiting the UK and Ireland. We believe that through our strategy we are well positioned to take advantage of future growth in these markets."

He said Amaris is implementing a 100m programme aimed at accelerating the growth and development of the hotel portfolio. The group obtained 250m in funding last March to finance its expansion.
Dublin has risen two places to be named as the 20th most reputable city in the world, new research has shown.

According to the City RepTrak 2016, which is compiled by the Reputations Agency and the Reputation Institute, Dublin has achieved its joint-highest ranking in the survey, which is based on the views of the general public in G8 countries.

The capital recorded a 'Pulse' score of 76.3. Pulse scores measure the strength of the emotional bond, or gut feeling, with the general public in the world's largest and most influential economies in each of the cities.

Sydney claimed the best reputation in the study for the second year running, followed by Vienna and then Zurich.

Cities are evaluated based on levels of trust, esteem, admiration and respect. The City RepTrak also measures cities across 16 metrics, including advanced economy, effective administration, and the business environment offered by the location.

Willingness to visit, work, live, and invest also come into account when evaluating a nation. This has become more important to Ireland following the Brexit vote.

Dublin is now ranked ahead of cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, and Brussells.

The study was conducted through an online questionnaire of 20,600 members of the general public in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US.

Those that are "somewhat" or "very" familiar with the cities are selected to rate them.

The worlds Top 20 Most Reputable Cities are:

Ranking City Score 1. Sydney 81.8 2. Vienna 81.7 3. Zurich 80.2 4. Toronto 79.5 5. Stockholm 79.5 6. Edinburgh 78.9 7. Montreal 78.7 8. Rome 78.6 9. Vancouver 78.5 10. Copenhagen 78.4 11. Helsinki 77.7 12. Venice 77.5 13. Melbourne 77.4 14. Barcelona 77.2 15. Madrid 76.9 16. Frankfurt 76.9 17. Amsterdam 76.9 18. San Francisco 76.5 19. Tokyo 76.5 20. Dublin 76.3

Head of corporate PR at The Reputations Agency, one of the firms behind the new survey, Niall Quinn said Ireland boost in the rankings was "encouraging".

"With a renewed focus on alternatives to London post Brexit, and given the link between a citys reputation and peoples willingness to visit, work, live and invest in that city, an enhanced reputation can only add to the attractiveness of Dublin as a possible location for businesses looking to relocate operations from the UK," he said.

IDA chief Martin Shanahan welcomed the increase, saying "rankings matter" to foreign direct investment (FDI).

"IDA Ireland continues to market Ireland as an attractive location for Foreign Direct Investment. We welcome the improvement registered by Dublin in this major global survey of the reputation of leading international cities.

"Securing investment for Ireland has, and continues to be, highly competitive as each country and major city seeks to highlight a business case for target investors."
Former Young Scientists winner Kate and Annie Madden, the co-founders of FenuHealth, with PMI Educational Foundation liaison officer Jackie Glynn, and Young Scientist competition head Mari Cahalane, at NovaUCD, the centre for new ventures and entrepreneurs

A partnership of the Project Management Institute and the BT Young Scientist of the Year competition has launched a new initiative to help teachers to develop young minds.

Under the partnership, 36,000 will be given to develop the project management skills of the teachers of Young Scientist finalists.

The plan is to better help young scientists and entrepreneurs to commercialise their ideas and turn innovations into reality.

The Ireland Chapter of PMI will provide the training on a voluntary basis to up to 90 teachers ahead of the competition in January.

"PMI's eighth Global Project Management Survey found that projects with a high priority on project management were 71pc more successful in reaching their goals and original intent," said PMI Educational Foundation liaison officer Jackie Glynn.

"This highlights the importance of project management in the workplace, therefore we strongly believe that it should be a key aspect of our second level education," Ms Glynn added.
Google last night formally rejected European Union competition authority charges of unfairly promoting its shopping service and blocking rivals in online search advertising, paving the way for regulators to rule next year on these issues and potentially impose hefty fines.

It comes six years after the European Commission opened an investigation prompted by complaints from rivals such as Microsoft and a host of European and US rivals.

The EU regulator followed up with an anti-competitive charge against the company in April last year and added more evidence in July this year. It also issued a separate charge sheet against its online search advertising product AdSense for Search at the same time.

Google is one of Ireland's biggest employers, and a massive player in the online search and advertising market globally. Its general counsel, Kent Walker, said in a blog that the accusations had no factual, legal or economic basis, and that the company's actions were driven by its users rather than any plan to squash rivals.

"We never compromised the quality or relevance of the information we displayed. On the contrary, we improved it. That isn't 'favouring' - that's listening to our customers," he said.

Mr Walker said the Commission had failed to take into account competition from Amazon, merchant platforms, social media sites, mobile web and online advertising by companies such as Facebook and Pinterest.

The EU executive said it had received Google's response.

"In each case, we will carefully consider Google's response before taking any decision on how to proceed and cannot at this stage prejudge the final outcome of the investigation," a spokesman said. Google said it rejected a Commission proposal that it charge rivals for displaying their services prominently.

In the advertising case, the company said it had scrapped provisions identified by the regulator as anti-competitive.

The Commission plans to hand down hefty fines to Google if found guilty of breaching EU rules, the charge sheet seen by Reuters showed. The penalty could reach $7.4bn (6.6bn) or 10pc of global turnover for each case. (Reuters)
Michael Buble and his wife have confirmed that their three-year-old son has been diagnosed with cancer.

The couple released a statement on Facebook today confirming the news, after an Argentinian newspaper, La Nacion, leaked reports about their son's illness on Thursday evening.

"We are devastated by the recent cancer diagnosis our oldest son Noah who is currently receiving treatment in the United States. We've always talked a lot about the importance of family and the love we have for our children," it read.

"Luisana and I will devote all our time and attention to help Noah to get better, for now suspending our professional activities. During this difficult time, we ask you to pray for him and please respect our privacy.

"We have a long road ahead and we hope that with the support of our family, friends, fans around the world and our faith in God, we can win this battle."

The type of cancer has not been confirmed.

Feliz cumple Noah !!! Que rapido estas creciendo! Gracias por llegar a nuestra vida y llenarla de razones para seguir adelante siempre! #3anos #weloveyou #familyfirst @michaelbuble A photo posted by Luisana Lopilato (@luisanalopilato) on Aug 27, 2016 at 7:24am PDT

According to La Nacion, Michael's wife Luisana flew to the US to visit doctors regarding serious concerns over their first-born son's health.

Luisana's representative, Javier Furgang, initially said that the actress travelled to the US because she had six days off from filming her new movie, Numb, alongside Hayden Christensen and Harvey Keitel.

Expand Close Luisana Lopilato wife of Michael Buble and her baby son Noah are seen after an exercise session in Barcelona. Photo: KDNPIX / Facebook

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Whatsapp Luisana Lopilato wife of Michael Buble and her baby son Noah are seen after an exercise session in Barcelona. Photo: KDNPIX

He said that the trip had been planned in advance so that Luisana and family could be reunited with Micheal who had just finished a promotional tour of Europe and the US.

However, it has since been revealed that the family are in the US to visit doctors.

The couple are also parents to 11-month-old son Elias.

In June 2015 Noah was rushed to hospital in Argentina with significant burns after he poured hot water over himself in the family's home in Buenos Aires.

Les dejo esta foto de cuando Elias aprendio a hacer #photobomp En mi Facebook puse mas fotos familieras! #buenviernes #LuSpirit A photo posted by Luisana Lopilato (@luisanalopilato) on Aug 26, 2016 at 2:13pm PDT

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Speaking of the ordeal, Luisana (29) said she often asked herself "why this happened".
A father-of-five died on a hospital trolley in a busy emergency department 10 hours after being admitted with severe chest pains.

James 'Jimmy' Holland (79) was being kept in the department at Cork University Hospital (CUH) overnight because there was no bed available in the specialist cardiology unit.

Mr Holland, of Glyntown, Glanmire, Co Cork, was on a cardiac monitor in the emergency department but its alarm never sounded because he had suffered a type of cardiac incident that cannot be detected by such equipment.

In CUH's emergency department, nursing staff are dependent on such audio alarms from cardiac monitors.

When nursing staff did a routine check on Mr Holland at 12.45am on April 11, he was unresponsive.

He had been fine when checked at 12.10am.

While he apparently still had a cardiac electrical read, his heart had stopped pumping blood around his body.

Despite efforts to revive Mr Holland, he was pronounced dead at 1.24am.

In the specialist cardiology unit, the feeds from all such monitors are constantly checked by a cardiology nurse.

CUH cardiologist Dr Ronan Curtin said Mr Holland had apparently suffered a Pulseless Electrical Activity (PEA) arrest.

"There is no technology that can monitor for a PEA arrest," he said. "This type of cardiac arrest won't be detected by a monitor of any description."

Pensioner Mr Holland had awoken at 1am on April 10 last with severe chest pain.

He went to a GP service and they referred him to CUH.

Mr Holland went to CUH's emergency department at 3.22pm and was placed on a trolley.

He was formally admitted to CUH at 8.30pm and placed in a cubicle in the emergency department because there was no bed available in the cardiology unit.

An angiogram was planned for the following day.

Priority

Doctors stressed that Mr Holland did not show any of the symptoms of requiring an emergency angiogram.

"He was a priority patient. He was awaiting a cardiology bed," Dr Heather Cronin said.

Another attending doctor, Dr Susan Harkin, said she cannot recall if CUH was busier than normal that night.

"The emergency department in CUH is generally very busy," she said.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster found that Mr Holland suffered a sudden cardiac death due to coronary heart disease and a thrombosis against a background of lung and renal problems.

Coroner Philip Comyn returned a verdict of death due to natural causes.
Former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick failed to disclose multi-million euro directors' loans used for property investments, a court has heard.

Sums ranging between 10m and 100m were borrowed by Mr FitzPatrick and people linked to him to invest in hotels, shopping centres and building developments.

The disclosure was made on the opening day of Mr FitzPatrick's trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges of making misleading, false or deceptive statements and furnishing false information to Anglo's auditors on various dates between 2002 and 2007.

The prosecution told jurors the case was not about the loans or what they were used for, but the failure of Mr FitzPatrick to disclose them as he was obliged to do under the Companies Act.

Mr FitzPatrick (68), of Whitshed Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to 27 charges he is facing.

The prosecution told a jury of five men and eight women there was a legal obligation on Anglo's directors to make an annual statement about loans they had from the bank.

He said the prosecution's case was that Mr FitzPatrick made "temporary arrangements" around the end of each financial year whereby the loans were refinanced using borrowings from Irish Nationwide Building Society. The prosecution said Mr FitzPatrick also used money from savings accounts to temporarily lower his borrowings from Anglo.

Usually these arrangements were put in place for a period of two weeks, at which point Irish Nationwide would be paid back and the full size of the loans would be reinstated on Anglo's books. But because of the temporary arrangements, the bank's financial statements did not take account of the money which had been transferred out.

The prosecution said the sums involved included borrowings by Mr FitzPatrick, as well as loans to him and his wife, family members, and partnerships he was involved in. The sums borrowed rose from around 10m in 2002 to in the region of 100m in 2007, the prosecution said.

"The purpose of the borrowings was for investment in hotels, shopping centres and building developments," the prosecution said. "But this case is not about the purpose of the loans. What we are dealing with here is an alleged failure by Mr FitzPatrick to disclose them."

He said the bank was required to supply its auditors Ernst & Young with a letter or representation, which was supposed to set out the amount of loans directors had.

Read More: Jury told FitzPatrick failed to disclose multi-million euro directors loans

The letter was also supposed to certify that what the auditors had been told was correct and that there was nothing of any significance which needed to be drawn to their attention.

Between 2002 and 2004 Mr FitzPatrick was one of two directors who were responsible for signing these letters.

The prosecution counsel said the main area of dispute in the case was likely to be whether it was sufficient for the letters of representation to be accurate on the date they were submitted.

"The prosecution contends it was not good enough to comply with the legislation," he said.

"If there was an artificial process where the amount of the loans were reduced and then reinstated again after the year end, then the letters of representation were false."

The prosecution told jurors they would hear evidence from two auditors at Ernst & Young, Kieran Kelly and Vincent Bergin, about what was disclosed to them when they audited the bank. The first witness is due to give evidence today.
A Dublin grandfather has been granted injunctions in the Circuit Civil Court against a terrifying neighbour who allegedly brutally attacked him and threatened to wipe out his family.

Safety officer Gerard Furlong claimed that last March he had been outside his home at 19 Arran Road, Drumcondra, when he was approached by neighbour Peter Lambe who said in an extremely aggressive manner that he wanted to talk.

Furlong alleged that he felt intimidated and unsafe and told Lambe, a man aged in his forties who lives at 28 Arran Road, Drumcondra, that he did not want to speak with him.

The court heard that Lambe then tried to head-butt Furlong and to grab his shirt. Furlong had fallen while trying to escape, and Lambe had repeatedly punched and kicked him in his head and face with his fists and elbow.

Barrister Matthew Jolley, for Furlong, told the court that the Gardai were called by a neighbour and his client, who was bleeding, was taken to the A&E Department of the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Mr Jolley said Mr Furlong suffered significant swelling and abrasion to the right side of his face, a broken tooth, numbness in his upper right lip and soft tissue injuries. He had been physically and emotionally distressed and upset.

Furlong claimed that he suffered severe anxiety after the alleged attack and felt unsafe when outside the front of his home. He alleged he suffers from depressive symptoms and needs to lock his car doors as he gets in.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane heard that, out of fear for his and his familys safety, Furlong had installed a CCTV recording camera outside his home and made a formal complaint to the Gardai.

He had then instructed Murray Flynn Maguire solicitors who issued civil proceedings against Lambe. The court heard that criminal proceedings are also being considered.

Mr Jolley said that about a month ago, Mr Furlong was walking with his two-year-old grandson when Lambe approached them and said in an intimidating manner to get the fucking camera off his house.

Counsel said that after Mr Furlong had told Lambe that the camera was not looking at his house, the neighbour had told his client that he should drop all this legal and court shit and that if anything was to happen, he would wipe out his family.

Mr Jolley told Judge Linnane that Mr Furlong had been in shock and in fear for his grandchilds safety and had called the Gardai. The court heard that on another occasion Lambe had also intimidated and falsely imprisoned Mr Furlongs wife, Noreen, who has issued separate proceedings.

Counsel said Mr Furlong had been terrified by the brutal attacks and the threats and, given the urgency of the matter, was now looking for injunctions against Lambe pending the hearing of the legal action.

Mr Jolley said Mr Lambe had been on notice of todays application but had been trying to avoid service of the court proceedings. He did not appear in court today.

Judge Linnane granted Furlong a temporary injunction restraining Lambe from intimidating, harassing, using or threatening violence against him and his family.

She also granted an order restraining Lambe from approaching within 10 feet of the Furlongs property, except to access his own property. Judge Linnane directed that, given the seriousness of the matter, Lambe be served personally with the court proceedings.
A 35-year-old Dublin man who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia has been found not (NOT) guilty by reason of insanity of unprovoked assaults on two women in Dublin city centre.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that at the time David Egan assaulted the two women he was suffering from delusions that he was being hypnotised at night and sexually assaulted.

Mr Egan believed that the women were laughing at him and taunting him about being raped.

Mr Egan, formerly of Longford Street Little but originally from Terenure, Dublin pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to assault causing harm to two women in separate assaults within an hour of each other in the city centre on April 14, 2015.

The court heard he had stopped taking his medication prior to these offences.

Mr Egan has spent most of his time since the assaults as an inpatient at the psychiatric unit in Beaumont Hospital. He is responding well to his current medication and environment.

Orla Crowe SC, defending, told the jury that Mr Egan admitted that the assaults took place but that due to his mental disorder he did not understand what he was doing at the time.

Both prosecution and defence asked the jury of one woman and eleven men to return the special verdict of not (NOT) guilty by reason of insanity available under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006.

This law allows that an accused person suffering from a mental disorder not to be held responsible for an alleged act if they meet certain criteria laid out in the legislation.

Consultant forensic psychiatrists for both sides agreed that Mr Egan fulfilled the criteria in that he did not know what he was doing was wrong and he was unable to stop himself from carrying out the assaults.

Judge Martin Nolan told the jury that the Oireachtas had passed a compassionate and good act which protects persons such as Mr Egan but also protects society. He told them Mr Egan would not walk free from the court if they returned the special verdict but that he would go to hospital to be assessed.

The jury took a matter of minutes to return its verdict.

Judge Nolan ordered that Mr Egan should be brought to the Central Mental Hospital where his treatment needs will be assessed. He adjourned the case to November 17 next.

Dr Brenda Wright, appearing for the defence, told Orla Crowe BL, defending, that Mr Egan had a considerable psychiatric history with numerous admissions to hospital from the age of 23.

She said he had been hearing voices from an early age and this became acute in his early twenties. He found the voices very distressing and was ultimately diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Dr Wright said on his account of the offences Mr Egan said the women had been laughing at him and saying he had been raped. He had stopped taking anti psychotic medication just before this incident.

She said he felt harassed and was so concerned that he was being raped in his sleep that he contacted the rape crisis centre and attended at garda stations. She said he believed at the time that the gardai would not assist him and he had to act in his own defence.

Dr Wright said that when Mr Egan was acutely unwell he heard very distressing auditory hallucinations and attributed the voices he heard to people in his environment.

She said his care had been complicated by a number of factors including poor compliance with his medication, not engaging with psychiatric services, a history of drug and alcohol use and homelessness. She said he had also become estranged from his family.

Dr Wright said that in her opinion at the time of the offence Mr Egan knew the nature and quality of what he was doing but did not know what he was doing was wrong as he held a psychotic moral justification for his actions.

She said she was also of the opinion he was unable to refrain from committing the offences and was overcome by frustration and anger.

Dr Wright agreed with Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that it was fair to say Mr Egan's illness was now under control. She said he was responding well to his current anti psychotic medication and residing in a controlled environment.

Earlier, Mr Foley told the jury in opening the case, that the first woman was walking along Aungier Street when she blacked out as she passed an off licence. She came around seconds later, still standing, with pain in her face, bleeding from her mouth and a tooth in her hand.

Mr Foley said she had been a victim of an assault by Mr Egan. She was assisted by a passer-by and taken to hospital when she later fainted. She had to be given a crown to replace a tooth.

He said that shortly afterwards a second woman was getting on her bicycle outside the Royal College of Surgeons when she was approached by Mr Egan who told her I will teach you to be looking at people before punching her in the face several times and running off.

Mr Egan was identified by gardai on CCTV. He was unfit to be interviewed until September when he made admissions in relation to the assaults and identified himself on the CCTV.

The court heard the two women had been deeply upset by the assaults but were relieved that they did not have to give evidence in the case.

Dr Fiona Toal, appearing for the prosecution, told Mr Foley that following assessment of Mr Egan she was of the opinion that his mental disorder was such that he did not know what he was doing was morally wrong and that he was unable to resist the impulse to strike both victims.

She said Mr Egan was suffering from delusions at the time and believed he was being hypnotised during the night and being forced to perform sex acts. He believed the women had spoken to him and taunted him about being raped.
The purchaser of an office unit in a newly built Co Wexford development has lost an appeal in which he claimed he was entitled to pull out of the deal because of an alleged strong smell of diesel from it.

Keith Cooke entered a contract to buy unit 12 in the Pugin Court development in Gorey for 330,000 in 2006.

The vendor was Wynn Clons Development Ltd which had built the modern three-storey structure comprising six retail and 12 office units.

The High Court and Court of Appeal found there was no scientific evidence of a smell.

Mr Cooke paid a 33,000 deposit but by September 2007 sought its return and mutual rescission of the contract because, it was claimed, the smell was very bad.

Wynn Clons disputed there was any smell and forfeited the deposit before issuing legal proceedings for specific performance of the contract.

In 2012, the High Court found it was impossible to find that there existed in unit 12 a noxious smell which rendered it unfit for human habitation or unsuitable on safety, health and welfare at work grounds for use as an office.

It ordered Mr Cooke to go through with the contract to purchase.

Mr Cooke appealed and on November 4, a three-judge Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision.

Mr Justice John Hedigan, on behalf of the court, said it was implicit in the High Court judge's conclusions that Mr Cooke had produced no scientific evidence of unfitness of the unit which was sufficient to free him from his obligation to complete the contract.

The judge said three of four experts who inspected the premises, an engineer, an architect, and indoor air assessment expert, all detected no smell.

Two purchasers of adjoining units also gave evidence they had never detected any smell in the building as did a number of other people who visited unit 12, he said.

Another engineer and an auctioneer acting for Mr Cooke said they did get a smell, the judge said.

The High Court finding was based on credible evidence and the appeal court cannot interfere with that finding of fact, he said.
A woman who suffered severe injuries in a road accident has been awarded some 518,000 damages by the High Court.

Adeola Ozoruchi (42), a care worker, native of Nigeria and naturalised Irish citizen since 2005, sued over the accident which happened on January 12, 2013 at Dromore West, Co Sligo, as she was driving from her then place of work, the Cheshire Home in Co Mayo, to her then home in Sligo.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said the injuries were suffered after a motor vehicle owned by Kilcawley Building and Civil Engineering (Sligo) Ltd and Kilcawley Building and Civil Engineering Ltd, and driven by Martin Tuffy, overtook a vehicle driven by Michael Crean, Camphill, Culleens, Dromore West, and collided into Ms Ozoruchi's car.

She was trapped in her car and had to be cut out following the severe impact.

While there was an issue between the defendants due to allegations Mr Crean's vehicle was towing a trailer which was not properly lit, the case, from Ms Ozoruchi's point of view, was now one for assesssment of damages only, he said.

Ms Ozoruchi, a mother of two, was treated in Sligo Hospital and later at Tallaght Hospital for injuries including fractures to her right hip and spine and lacerations to her liver.

She underwent two operations, was on heavy pain medication, dad a depressive reaction and suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which has improved, the judge said.

As a result of the accident, she was unable to resume her work in the Cheshire Home as that involved heavy and strenuous physical labour of lifting elderly patients. While she tried to resume that work in January 2014, she was unable to, he said

She is now living in Manchester as a result of following her then husband to the UK in August 2014 because he was unable to find work here.

She works part-time as a home care worker there which involves no heavy lifting.

The judge found her a truthful witness and hard worker who had not exaggerated her injuries but rather made light of them in some respects.

There was no doubt she suffered a severe injury and the case involved a "significant cocktail" of injuries including psychiatric injuries and severe scarring to her abdomen and thigh. She still has constant pain in her right hip, a metal plate in her hip socket and her scars are permanent.

He awarded total damages of 518,786, including 275,000 for loss of earnings to date and into the future.
Teachers from Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, (from left) Jennifer Kelly, Carol OLeary and Gemma McInerney protesting for pay equality for young teachers at Leinster House yesterday. Photo: Tom Burke

Widespread second-level school closures on Monday and beyond are now inevitable as talks in the dispute over the teachers' pay row drags on with no sign of progress.

Up to 250,000 students, and their parents, all over the county are facing massive disruption and uncertainty as the mid-term break comes to an end.

Hundreds of schools face indefinite closure if members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) go ahead with their plan to withdraw from supervision and substitution duties on Monday.

While the ASTI has told teachers to turn up for work on Monday, their lack of availability for supervision and substitution raises health and safety issues, forcing up to 500 schools to close indefinitely.

Some schools are set to open on a partial basis, such as mornings only or exam classes only.

Many schools that will manage to open on Monday will close on Tuesday for the second in a series of one-day strikes, also involving the ASTI.

The ASTI action will cripple the second-level education system, with about two in three schools expected to be hit by some form of closure from next week.

Discussions between senior officials of the Department of Education and ASTI leaders continued for a third consecutive day yesterday, without any breakthrough.

There is no arrangement for further talks today, as the ASTI has internal business, including a meeting of its governing body, its 23-member standing committee, which will be briefed on discussions to date.

Contacts between the sides are expected to resume this evening and talks are likely over the weekend.

Fianna Fail education spokesperson Thomas Byrne challenged Education Minister Richard Bruton in the Dail yesterday about the impasse and said there was "considerable confusion" among students and parents about what was going to happen next week.

He asked why the Government had not taken the opportunity last week to respond to a request from ASTI president Ed Byrne for a commitment to restore pay equality for young teachers.

"Who could be against equal pay scales? It can't be a negotiating tactic, surely," said Mr Byrne.

Mr Byrne said there was "considerable merit" in the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA) - which started the process of post-austerity pay restoration in the public service - the rejection of which by the ASTI is at the root of the dispute.

Mr Bruton said they were "working really hard" to try to find a resolution to the dispute and said he had tried hard to explain the benefits that were on the table for the ASTI.
THE states first ever garda strike was averted at the eleventh hour as rank and file gardai are set to consider a new pay deal.

The Central Executive Committee of the Garda Representatives Association received a recommendation from the Labour Court shortly before 9pm last night.

The GRA has said that the deal needs to be analysed in detail but is an improvement on previous offers.

General secretary Pat Ennis said the "need to identify the full strengths and weaknesses off it".

He said he could not pre-empt how members would feel about the strike being called off, as it would be down to each individual.

No decision has been made on strikes later in the month.

He said progress has been made after along road.

This comes after the AGSI's slightly earlier decision to cancel Thursday's strike action.

AGSI President Antoinette Cunningham said: "A fundamental and historic wrong has been put right tonight as a direct result of the sustained four-year AGSI campaign to gain access to the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

"This has always been a key part of our commitment to members and that commitment intensified in recent weeks.

Ms Cunningham said AGSI had gaained an uplift in the income of all our members.

"Finally we would like to express our thanks to the Chairman and members of the Labour Court for all their assistance in resolving this dispute, she said.

Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald welcomed the decision by AGSI to cancel their industrial action, saying she wanted to commend all who had been involved in complex discussions

The part played by the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court in seeking to resolve this dispute has been invaluable and I want to express my thanks to them.

Ms Fitzgerald reaffirmed the Governments commitment to introducing legislative change to give the Garda associations the right of access to the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Justice, Jim OCallaghan TD has said: I am very pleased that tomorrow's threatened Garda strike has been postponed and I commend tonight's decisions of the GRA and AGSI.

Hopefully, the recommendations of the Labour Court will now form the basis for a permanent settlement of this dispute.

The prospect of this Garda strike caused deep concern throughout our community. The Irish public should never again be put in a position where they are exposed to the risk of losing Garda protection.

The people of this country have a right to expect that the Gardai will always be available to guard them and the State, concluded OCallaghan.

More to follow.
Irish charity, The Haven Partnership, was given global recognition for its work in Haiti at an award ceremony in Cork on Friday night.

The Haven Partnership founders, Leslie and Carmel Buckley, were presented with The VoxPro Diplomat Global Achievement Award at a ceremony in their native Cork, attended by Ambassadors and Diplomatic representatives from more than 45 countries.

Haven is an Irish non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded by Leslie and Carmel in 2008. It works solely in Haiti and is strongly committed to empowering the people of Haiti to build strong and sustainable livelihoods.

Leslie Buckley said that the award was the ideal recognition for the amazing work their volunteers do.

He said: Carmel and I are deeply humbled to receive this award. We accept it as a tremendous and welcome recognition of the fantastically selfless work that Haven and its volunteers undertake on the ground in Haiti, work and efforts that are even more needed in the aftermath of the terrible destruction wrought by Hurricane Matthew.

The Award Founders, John X Miller and Michael Mulcahy, Honorary Consuls of Hungary and Poland respectively, said that The Haven Partnership founders were worthy winners of the award.

Expand Close Leslie and Carmel Buckley, founders of The Haven Partnership. Credit: Jean Curran / Facebook

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In a joint statement, they said: This Award is designed to recognise outstanding and significant global humanitarian contributions.

"Leslie and Carmel are extremely worthy recipients, and the VoxPro Diplomat Global Achievement Award recognises their compassion and foresight in seeking to assist Haitians affected by extreme poverty and the challenges of daily existence through the establishment of the Haven Partnership.

VoxPro Directors and Founders, Linda and Dan Kiely, echoed this sentiment.

They added: VoxPro is delighted to be associated with, and to sponsor this humanitarian focused award.

"We feel it is part of our companys social responsibility program and ethos, and we are delighted that the Award Founders have chosen such worthy recipients for the 2016 Award.
The funeral of the elderly Naas couple whose bodies were found at their home last Monday heard that they died just weeks after the birth of their third grandchild.

Maureen and Colm Bradleys bodies were found at their home in Ashfield Park, Naas on Monday morning, October 31 by Gardai after a concerned neighbour raised the alarm.

Postmortems have discovered that Maureen Bradley died of natural causes, and her husband died tragically soon after.

Their son-in-law Alan Doyle revealed that Maureen died of heart failure, and Colm of a broken heart.

Expand Close The house where Colm and Maureen Bradley were found dead in Ashfield Park, Naas, Co Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin / Facebook

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Their only child Caroline was the chief mourner at the funeral Mass yesterday morning at the Church of Our Lady and St. David in Naas, Co. Kildare.

She was joined by locals, relatives and friends of the couple from Castlemaine, Co. Kerry, and Longwood, Co. Meath, Maureen and Colms home towns respectively.

The couple died just weeks after the birth of Caroline and Alans third child - their first daughter - Isabella.

Maureen had been over to the UK, where the couple live, to see her grandchild six weeks ago.

Alan told the congregation that Isabellas first trip back to Ireland was due to take place this weekend to celebrate her grandfathers 75th birthday.

Instead she had to make her first trip over a little sooner.

Fr. Liam Morgan opened the funeral Mass saying that we are deeply conscious of the sadness and sorrow you carry, trying to cope with the unexpected, and the grief that is doubly difficult with the loss of your Mam and your Dad.

We come with a great sense of support and solidarity to be with, especially, Caroline and Alan, at this time, and to offer to them our support, comfort and our prayer.

And he urged them: I hope that you will hear anew those beautiful words of the gospel when Jesus said do not let your hearts be troubled.

Speaking on behalf of his wife, Mr Doyle said he wanted to speak to the congregation about love - the love of a parent for a child, and the love of a man for his wife.

He spoke about how the couple met 39 years ago, and eventually ended up in Kildare, where Caroline was born, something he said he was eternally grateful for. He outlined how Colms work as a vet brought him to Kerry where he met Maureen, the eldest of six children.

And even though the couple moved to Kildare, Maureen never forgot her Kerry roots.

Mr Doyle echoed earlier comments of Fr Morgan that the community of Naas had been of huge support to Caroline since the deaths of her parents, and how much it was appreciated.
Gardai at the sealed-off road leading to the Fitzgeralds home in Knockadoon, Co Mayo, yesterday Picture: Damien Eagers

Main: A hearse drives up a sealed-off road towards the Fitzgeralds home in Knockadoon, Co Mayo. Photo: Steve Humphreys; Insets: Tom Fitzgerald and his wife Kitty

A man who suffered severe head injuries when his parents died in a suspected murder- suicide is recovering after life-saving surgery.

Paul Fitzgerald (37) was rushed to hospital after he was found seriously injured at his family's home in Mayo on Tuesday afternoon.

His father Tom (75) and mother Kitty (72) died in a suspected murder-suicide in the rural area of Knockadoon, on the outskirts of the village of Irishtown.

Paul was transferred from hospital in Galway to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin that night owing to the severity of his head injuries.

He is understood to have undergone surgery on Wednesday afternoon and sources close to the family said the operation was a success.

It is suspected that Tom and Kitty died in a murder-suicide. Post-mortem examinations were carried out on their remains yesterday.

A close friend of the Fitzgerald family said they were still reeling from the tragedy.

The family are understood to be struggling to come to terms with Paul's injuries and the manner of Tom and Kitty's deaths.

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However, it is also understood that they are now attempting to focus much of their efforts on Paul and his well-being.

The bodies of both Tom and Kitty were removed from the rural property on Wednesday afternoon.

Their bodies were accompanied by family members as the hearse rolled down the laneway opposite the family's isolated home.

It is understood that Paul, who was adopted, wasn't living in the family home at the time and had accommodation in Galway.

State pathologist Marie Cassidy conducted post-mortem examinations of the bodies at Mayo University Hospital yesterday afternoon.

Gardai believe the results will provide them with a much clearer idea of when and how the couple died, and give more direction to their investigation.

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Garda forensics examined the scene extensively throughout Wednesday before the bodies were removed.

However, the technical bureau returned to the scene yesterday morning and completed their forensic investigation.

The road leading up to the Fitzgeralds' home remains sealed off by gardai and is expected to stay that way until tonight at the earliest.

The tragedy has left the whole area of Irishtown in a state of shock, given Tom and Kitty's prominence in community and parish events.

The Irishtown Community Development group, of which Tom was a director, are understood to have held a members meeting on Wednesday night in order to devise a plan for how the community can come together.

A local source said the family would be offered all possible help in the lead-up to funeral arrangements and beyond.

Difficult

Funeral plans have not yet been arranged however, with Carey's Funeral Homes in the nearby village of Ballindine understood to be waiting on the post-mortem results before it can fully liaise with the family over any specific dates or times.

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Local councillor Richard Finn, who lives nearby, said the whole situation had become very difficult for anyone to contemplate. However, he added that there was a lot of second guessing at the moment from locals without the full story being known.

"It's a tragic, tragic situation," he said. "Irishtown is a historic village, it's the home of the Land League and Michael Davitt.

"It's a vibrant little place and it wouldn't have seen anything like that, no more than most other places."
'Black Widow' Catherine Nevin has been told she has just months to live after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

The 65-year-old, who is serving a life sentence for organising the murder of her husband Tom at their Co Wicklow pub, is being treated at the Mater Hospital.

The Irish Sun is reporting that Nevin was taken to the facility after telling fellow inmates she was "stressed" and suffering severe headaches.

She later got the news that her growth is inoperable.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Catherine Nevin pictured in September. Picture: Ernie Leslie Catherine Nevin / Facebook

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A senior source confirmed to Independent.ie that there is nothing doctors can do for the convicted killer.

"She has been told she has only a few months to live. It will be sooner rather than later."

Ms Nevin is believed to be currently in the Mater Hospital but it is is expected that she will travel back and forth from the Dochas Women's Prison to the hospital over the coming months.

A prison officer will be stationed outside her room in the hospital as she is still classed as an inmate.

The Irish Prison Service said it "does not comment on individual prisoners".

A source told the Irish Sun: "Nevin is on her last legs and has a very serious brain tumour which the doctors can't do anything about.

"She is receiving the best treatment but she has already been told there's nothing anyone can do for her. She's so ill at the moment she can hardly move.

"She's classed as critically ill and, unfortunately for her, the tumour will only get bigger over the coming weeks and months.

"Nevin is a bit of celebrity in the hospital because of her background and notoriety and she has to undergo 24-hour care."

Nevin's husband, Tom, was shot dead in his pub, Jack White's Inn, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, in 1996.

In 2000, she was convicted on three charges of soliciting others to murder Tom, following one of the most high-profile trials in the history of the State.

Her illness comes after she launched an appeal in September against a High Court decision that stops her claiming murdered Tom's 1million estate.
Maurice Gaffney SC has died at the age of 100.

The barrister, who colleagues referred to as the Father of the Bar, has passed away following a short battle with illness.

Mr Gaffney only recently turned 100, and was still practicing as a barrister in the areas of probate, conveyancing and employment law.

He was called to the Irish Bar back in 1954 and was promoted to Senior Counsel in 1970.

Happy 100th Birthday to my colleague, the legendary Maurice Gaffney SC pic.twitter.com/PuTPcvOAli  Matthew Holmes (@MatthewHolmesBL) October 11, 2016

Born in Co Meath, his father, who was a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary, soon moved the family to Dublin the year after the Easter Rising.

Some of his most renowned cases include the 1996 case where Fianna Fail politician Des Hanafin unsuccessfully challenged the result of the divorce referendum.

In the early 1980s, he was involved in an important Supreme Court case, the DPP vs OShea, which considered whether a jurys verdict could be appealed.

Mr Gaffney argued that it could, and the law was later changed in response to the ruling.

So very sad to learn of the death of Maurice Gaffney SC. RIP. A wonderful & highly respected member of the Bar. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam.  Katie Dawson (@katiedawson23) November 4, 2016

RIP Maurice Gaffney SC. A huge loss to the Bar of Ireland as Father of the Bar. A lovely gentleman and fine adversary.  Emma PS (@emmaslah) November 4, 2016

So sad to hear of the passing of Maurice Gaffney SC who recently turned 100. A formidable barrister and inspiration to all. R.I.P.  Roger Cross (@rogdotjpg) November 4, 2016

Many of his colleagues have taken to social media to pay tribute to the well-liked barrister.

Paul McGarry SC, chairman of the Bar Council of Ireland, had these kind words to say about Maurice Gaffney.

Maurice was a brilliant constitutional and criminal lawyer who had many successes in important cases in the High and Supreme Courts in his 62 years of practice. Above all, Maurice was a wonderful colleague and a natural gentleman. His drive for excellence and determination, his can-do spirit and his commitment to the Bar will inspire and stay with us always. Maurice was universally loved as well as being universally admired. He was unfailingly kind to junior colleagues in the Law Library and was always available with advice and the benefit of his wisdom.

On behalf of The Bar of Ireland, I wish to express deepest sympathies to his wife Leonie and their family. We will miss him greatly, he concluded.

Removal mass will take place on Saturday, November 5 at 4.30pm in St Patrick's Church, Monkstown, Co. Dublin.

His funeral mass will take place at 10am on Monday, November 7.
Martin McGuinness has refused to rule out whether his party will reverse its abstentionist policy in order for its MPs to vote against Article 50 in Westminster, it has been reported.

Following yesterdays High Court ruling that MPs must approve plans to trigger Article 50 and instigate Brexit, the Sinn Fein politician reportedly refused to say if his party would oppose it. Despite having four MPs, the Irish republican party has a long-held policy of not taking up seats in Westminster, as it does not acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. Therefore, the party runs for Westminster seats, but does not does not sit in Parliament or vote on bills.

The Deputy First Minister Mr McGuinness declined to rule out the partys MPs attending Westminster to vote against it, telling a Stormont press conference: Who knows where all of this is going to end up? There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that all of us face immense challenges that lie ahead.

But one thing is for sure and that is I have no faith in the British Parliament supporting the democratically expressed wishes of the people of the north to remain in Europe.

That is our position and it is a very clear position. We will all obviously have to await the outcome of what happens in the time ahead and deal with that and thats precisely what we will do.

Asked whether his party would change its absentionism policy in order for its four MPs to vote, Mr Guinness reportedly said: "We are opposed to Brexit and we believe that any decision taken about the future of the people of this island and of course Brexit will have a massive impact on every one of Ireland's 32 counties."

Then approached a spokesperson for Mr McGuinness was not immediately available for comment.

A spokesperson for Sinn Fein denied the partys stance on Westminster had or would change, telling The Independent: Sinn Fein MPs will not be taking their seats at Westminster as they stood on an abstentionist platform and are therefore mandated not to attend. We have no intention of reviewing that position.

Sinn Fein was vehemently opposed to Brexit and called for a Remain vote. The party cited concerns about how Brexit could impact on relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. As the two regions share a land border, concerns have been raised about how they will be affected by EU withdrawal.

In particular, it is unknown if a physical border will have to be put in place between the north and south of the island, or whether Northern Ireland will lose EU funding for post-peace process projects between nationalist and unionist communities.

The SDLP has said its three MPs will vote against triggering Article 50, with party leader Colum Eastwood saying: The people of Northern Ireland have not consented to leaving the European Union and we will not betray them by standing idly by.

A spokesperson for the Ulster Unionist Party said that their two MPs will vote to trigger Article 50, if a bill comes to Parliament. The Democratic Unionist Party campaigned for a leave vote and its eight MPs are expected to vote in favour of triggering Article 50.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) have released a shocking advertisement showing injuries sustained by one of its members during a savage attack.

Helena Power was repeatedly kicked in the face and suffered a fractured eye socket when she was attacked at a Halloween bonfire in Clonmel, Tipperary.

Her attacker, then 24-year-old Andrew Freaney, was later sentenced to ten years in prison, with the last three suspended.

Mr Freaney also had a previous conviction for assaulting her during an incident on Christmas Eve in 2006.

Garda Power said she had lost all appetite for her job as a result of the attack.

Im not the person I used to be. I hate the person Ive become because of a vicious and unprovoked attack, she read in her victim impact statement.

Her eyeball needed 14 stitches while two operations were needed to correct eyesight problems after her socket was fractured in four places.

In the advert, the GRA state: Garda Power is just one of thousands of gardai who daily risk their personal safety to protect and serve the citizens of Ireland.

No worker should be forced to endure pay cuts, increased workload, and increased risk to personal safety without the opportunity to say stop. We now say stop. Our role is unique in all society, and we must be treated as such.

The Irish Government must now take care of our members, so they can continue to take care of you.
The double- edged sword that is Brexit has the potential both to kill existing Irish jobs in numbers, but also to bring in plenty of new ones.

On the negative side, numerous organisations have already warned how the fallout from the Brexit referendum in the UK is hitting employment prospects. This week, a survey of members of Engineers Ireland working in Ireland or Britain reveals that 40pc have had commercial deals deferred or adversely adjusted as a result of the referendum result.

A third of those members surveyed said they had already felt the "Brexit bite", with two thirds in Britain stating they'd be less likely to do business with the Republic as a result. Irish food businesses like the mushroom sector (which exports heavily to the UK) have also been hit hard, with the fall in sterling causing firms to close. It was recently estimated that up to 400 jobs are in the firing line at mushroom sites nationwide, with a number of prominent firms recently closing down.

The Food and Drink Industry Ireland group warned in September that 7,500 jobs were at risk if sterling weakened to the 0.90/euro mark. This week, sterling is hitting that floor.

So Irish jobs will go and this, in turn, will have a knock-on effect on the rental sector as those who cannot get new jobs, or are forced to take lower-paid positions, fall back on rental accommodation. A certain number of homes will be repossessed or sold on those who find difficulties getting new jobs renege on mortgage payments.

But there's also good news from Brexit, in particular from banking. London might not be the European capital of banking for much longer. Central Bank Governor Philip Lane recently stated in an interview with Bloomberg that banks have already begun exploring the possibility of moving activities from the UK to Dublin given that Brexit may neuter or damage London's right to sell financial services across Europe.

"There has to be some level of relocation depending on how the Brexit negotiations go," Mr Lane said in an interview with Bloomberg. As the last remaining English speaking EU member country, Ireland is seen as one of the favoured destinations for British-based financial firms that want to retain so-called 'passporting' rights, which allow them to do business within the EU.

The sentiment is being reflected in the Global Financial Centres Index, which ranks the world's financial centres on a range of measures. Recently, Dublin's strength rating has begun to climb.

A survey published this week also shows a hike in queries from the UK to estate agents here regarding business space.

The Q3 Ireland Commercial Property Monitor published by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says 29% of respondents report such enquiries.

British based firms relocating to Ireland, are likely to seek city locations and will want to to bring in large numbers of their own personnel. Again, this will put further pressure on a city rental sector which is already stressed almost to breaking point. So Brexit bites Irish jobs and lays more pressure on the private rental sector and Brexit is also likely to stress rentals further by bringing in execs in numbers.

Before we get enthusiastic about hundreds of British bankers landing in Dublin, we should ask ourselves where exactly are they going to live? Until recently, it was the rising cost of rental accommodation that most concerned foreign firms relocating here. Today, it's a matter of little being available at all - at any price.

A search on Daft.ie in the "any residential property" category for Central Dublin (all the single digit postcodes) shows just 27 rentals available for units letting at 1,200 per month or under. It gets worse when we restrict our Dublin City centre search to flats or self-contained accommodation only. The same search seeking units for 1,200 or under revealed just seven options. Seven - in a city of 1.35m people.

And while we might argue reasonably that London bankers and those based in other capital cities are used to paying out high rents, we should add that they are also used to getting quality for it. A perusal of what's available in Dublin at a bearable outlay for a middling banker salary, shows a miserable line-up of poky shoe boxes in equally miserable condition. In middling neighbourhoods, we see box rooms measuring six feet by eight feet seeking 550 per month as part of house share arrangements. This isn't kosher for incoming Brit bankers used to swank.

This week, in an update of his Rebuilding Ireland housing plan, Minister Simon Coveney listed an affordable rental scheme among the measures which are behind in implementation. In his recent interview, Central Bank governor Philip Lane said: "Institutions aren't in decision-making mode yet, they are essentially doing research." What they find out will make their hair stand on end.
A price-tag of 1.1m may appear a tad high for a new build in Stepaside, but the remaining home at Stepaside Lane is a fully furnished five-bed detached house, one of just three of a kind, is less than 100m from the centre of the village and commands views of the countryside from the rear.

The enclave was built by Jamie Moran of Jammel Developments, who set up his own building firm a year after competing in the 2010 series of The Apprentice on TV3. Moran launched another small high-end development last year, a scheme in Dundrum called Pirton.

Number 1 Stepaside Lane, the showhouse for Moran's latest development, and No2 have already gone sale agreed, leaving No3, the property closest to the village, on the market. Like its neighbours, No3 measures 2,700 sq ft and spans three floors.

The home has a classical design that marries the potential for smart home capabilities - the purchaser will have the option to add upgrades such as the Control4 automation system, which will enable them to use voice commands to perform tasks such as turning on a light or playing a song, locking the doors, adjusting the temperature from bed, and switching on the alarm.

A would-be buyer can also add electronic gates in front of the curved gravel driveway or design their own kitchen.

The double-fronted home is accessed by an extra-width front door made from solid timber. To the front of the house is a formal living room with a classic stone fireplace and there's a study across the hallway. Double doors from the hallway lead to an open-plan kitchen/living/dining room with sliding doors and a utility room with a clothes-drying press.

The first-floor accommodation comprises four bedrooms, including the master ensuite, and the main shower room. The second floor is home to an ensuite double bedroom and storage space.

An open viewing will be held at No3 tomorrow and Sunday, from 12pm-1pm.

Enquiries to: Jammel Developments (01) 5242358 or www.stepasidelane.com
Light affects the way we feel. Downcast weather makes you feel downcast, while a bright, sparkly day will make you feel bright and sparkly too. Interior lighting works in much the same way. Bright clear light will help you focus and get things done, while warm soft light is there to soothe. Natural or artificial, there's a direct relationship between light and mood.

Ikea Ireland has just released the results of a survey that looks at how light effects our mood in winter. Thirty-six percent of Irish people reported a well-lit room made them feel more energetic in the dark evenings, while 34pc said it made them feel more productive.

More than a third of Irish adults call the main light in a room "the big light" and six out of 10 claimed that they always switched it off when they left the room. Yeah, right.

Incidentally, there's not much of a market for mood lighting in Irish bedrooms. When it comes to romance, 36pc of men and 40pc of women prefer to do it in the dark. The upshot of the survey is that lighting does change the way that we feel, especially in the darker half of the year.

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"Lighting is hugely important to a design scheme," says the interior designer Gwen Kenny of Divine Design. "The main mistake people make is not thinking about it until it's too late."

In the average new-build or extension, lighting is often treated as an add-on. By the time people go out to choose their light fittings, the building is finished and all the wiring is already in place. That doesn't leave a lot of room to manoeuvre.

Instead, Kenny suggests you move lighting from the bottom of the list and give it top priority. "People tend to put the kitchen at the rear of an extension," she explains. "That's often the best-lit part of the house. I'd always suggest they use the rear as a living area, so they can live in the natural light and put the kitchen in the darkest part of the house."

The cheapest and easiest way to light a dark kitchen is to place LED tubes around the top of the units so the light bounces off the ceiling. "It's indirect light - you don't see where it's coming from - and it really works." The LED tubes can also be recessed into the coving, but this requires a bit more work and planning.

Lighting technology has advanced hugely in the last few years and Kenny's favourite development is the tuneable spotlight from Dlight in Tramore, Co Waterford. When LED bulbs first came on the market, their light was harsh and unforgiving. The design has improved a great deal over the past 10 years. LEDs now come in warm whites and can work on a dimmer switch, but she still found their light tended to be unflattering. "I went to Dlight with issues and they came back to me with a solution," she says.

The solution was a simple recessed spotlight called the Rovasi Dynamic White. Its distinction is that it's tuneable. While most spotlights have two settings - on and off - tuneable light is adjustable. Unlike an old fashioned dimmer switch, which simply reduces the brightness of the light, a tuneable light actually changes in colour. This creates much the same effect as natural light, which also changes throughout the day.

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"It's great for open-plan living spaces with multiple uses," Kenny explains. "The light goes from bright task lighting to soft relaxing amber. Somewhere in the middle, you'd have a setting for the kids doing their homework."

And yes, tuneable light does affect your mood. Shane Crowley of Dlight, who works with corporate lighting design as well as residential, describes how tuneable light can be used to modulate the energy of business meetings.

For some, the price may be a drawback. The Rovasi range is modular, so prices vary, but a single tuneable spotlight could cost upwards of 100. On the plus side, the lights can be installed on an existing system and operated via a standard dimmer switch.

"Tuneable lighting is the future," Crowley says. "It's changed downlighting drastically." Once associated with down-to-business task lighting only, downlights can now be subtle and seductive. If the price is off-putting, he suggests you invest in sexy light bulbs and economise on the fittings.

Gwen Kenny agrees. "Lampshades are a really inexpensive way of dressing up a basic light fitting and clustered pendants look better than single ones. You could buy three plain pendants for 50 each and hang them over a kitchen island. One central pendant isn't going to look as nice, even if you spend 500 on it."

She also suggests you economise on the bathroom lighting. "Don't go for cheap and nasty, but you don't have to spend a fortune - some bathroom lights are bananas money." Likewise in the bedroom, a pair of pendants over the bedside lockers will look simple and stylish, while providing adequate reading light.

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And if you have a few quid left over, splash out on a fancy light switch. The LeGrand Arteor range from Light Vault offers two different shapes (round and square) in a choice of 17 coverplate finishes, ranging from graphite to club leather. Again, the range is modular so the switches can vary throughout the house. Like the Rovasi tuneable lights, the LeGrand Arteor light switches are a bit of a luxury. The plates (that's the bit that surrounds the actual switch) range from 15 to 120 each. A bog standard white plastic light switch costs around a fiver.

"We'll always find a way to work within a budget," says Ciara McStay of Light Vault. "Lighting is what makes the design. It shouldn't be an afterthought - it should be your first thought!"

See divinedesign.ie, lightvault.ie, dlight.ie, ikea.ie.
Businesses that handle cash and those in isolated rural areas have most reason to be concerned at today's watershed moment in the policing of the State.

Tonight in Temple Bar in Dublin, and in other town centres where large numbers of people are intoxicated, could prove troublesome.

There would normally only be around 1,300 gardai on duty on a Friday night - or any night, for that matter. About a third would be on station duty prepared to respond to emergency calls or provide support for another third, who should be out on patrol in cars or on foot.

The other third would normally be pursuing existing investigations or, more likely, on administrative duty - filling out forms and the like - but they too would be available if an emergency arose.

The figure of around 1,300 gardai on duty comes from the Garda Inspectorate, which has laid out the foundations on which policing should be improved - and which has largely been ignored.

The 'blue line' is already thin, but today - and with the subsequent three Friday strikes planned for this month - the worth of even this stretched resource will be seen.

Around 1,500 emergency '999' calls are received each day and today the civilian call-handlers will be passing these calls on to stations where they will remain unanswered.

The most serious of these will concern calls from homes where an intruder/intruders are present, as well as shootings, rapes and serious assaults.

The very pressing problem for gardai and the Government is that tomorrow morning we might be facing a situation where someone has been killed, raped or critically injured due to the absence of policing. This scenario is what has prevented rank-and-file gardai from going on strike before.

The fact that gardai have crossed this Rubicon and are virtually unanimous in support of strike action is a reflection not just on poor wages in the lower ranks, but also on the sense of inadequacy and desperation that has crept into the force. Speaking to rank-and-file gardai about their work experiences is sometimes like embarking on a therapy session. Ask about what is wrong in An Garda Siochana and those who are prepared to talk will list off instances of almost baffling incompetence and a lack of resources which eats into the heart of even the most dedicated officers.

Many gardai have simply given up. The biggest scandal in An Garda Siochana, exposed in the Inspectorate's report on crime detection, has been that senior, careerist gardai have been fiddling the books over crime figures to 're-categorise' serious offences to lesser or non-offences.

Despite the evidence adduced by the Inspectorate of this despicable practice, no investigation - internal or otherwise - has been mounted into this criminal activity, perverting the course of justice. Well aware that some of their bosses have been cooking the books to enhance their career prospects, ordinary gardai can hardly be blamed for having a dim view of a rotten system of organised cover-ups.

At the same time, good gardai on the frontline who have tried their best almost inevitably have complaints lodged against them with the Garda Ombudsman. According to the Ombudsman, it received complaints about 2,000 gardai every year and most of these are directed against the members of the force who actually deal with emergencies. Once a complaint is made, the career of the garda concerned is immediately on hold. They cannot apply for promotion. Many face possible dismissal or, in the worst instances, criminal conviction. Workers in very few other industries face the kind of scrutiny gardai receive. Almost no one outside the force faces the prospect of having their personal calls and messages intercepted and scrutinised, as has happened in the cases of gardai under investigation internally or by the Ombudsman.

This is why there has been an unprecedented level of gardai taking early retirement as soon as they reach the 30 years of service and minimum age of 50 to collect their pensions, and a year-and-a-half untaxed pay-off, causing a huge brain drain and depriving the remaining force of unquantifiable levels of experience and expertise.

The fact is that An Garda Siochana is dysfunctional - and this has been allowed to happen by the Government and Oireachtas where, remarkably, in older gardai's eyes, Sinn Fein's Caoimhghin O Caolain is chair of the Dail Justice Committee. Year after year, successive ministers for justice congratulated An Garda Siochana on reductions in crime and increases in 'detection' rates based on statistics that were shown - again, by the Inspectorate - to be based on false data.

There is unlikely to be a more urgent problem facing the Dail in the coming years. TDs are elected to form governments on the basis that they will provide services in return for taxation. The primary service in return for high taxation is public safety. There is no point appealing to An Garda Siochana's better nature. The Government has reduced the lot of new gardai, the strong, fit, young ones who are expected to fight and arrest people to keep public order, to the basic minimum wage levels of supermarket workers and baristas.

We should be aiming at a police service like the Met in London, a mega city which has fewer gang-related firearm homicides than Dublin. Instead we are headed for a policing model more like Guatemala's.
Dad's Army star Ian Lavender is preparing to return to the frontline of EastEnders for a special festive plot.

The actor best known for playing Private Pike in the classic sitcom was last seen on Albert Square in 2005, but is set for another visit to Walford this Christmas where he will reprise his role as Derek Harkinson.

Fans of the BBC1 soap will remember that Derek was a friend of late soap star Wendy Richard's character Pauline Fowler, who made a move on him but was turned down when he revealed that he was gay.

Derek stuck around in the square and became something of a father figure to Pauline's son Martin, but eventually decided to move away to spend more time with his family.

The return to the soap will see him reunited with Martin, now played by James Bye, but producers are keeping details of his storyline secret, saying only that he "will be seen in a number of episodes over the festive season as part of a storyline involving a number of the residents".

Lavender said: "It was a lovely surprise to be back and I had a great time.

"It was brilliant to work with some old friends again, especially those who I only briefly got to work with before."

He will make his comeback on screen later this month, 15 years after his first appearance in the programme in November 2001.

EastEnders continues on BBC1 on Friday at 8pm.
Winnie Harlow (third from left) in Cycle 21 of America's Next Top Model. Picture: America's Next Top Model.

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 06: Winnie Harlow arrives for GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2016 at Tate Modern on September 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Her name has hit the headlines as rumours of a romance with Lewis Hamilton have circulated, but who is model Winnie Harlow?

1. She was a contestant in Americas Next Top Model

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Winnie came sixth in Cycle 21 of the modelling contest in 2014 as Chantelle Brown-Young, before changing her name. Since the show, Winnie has gone on to model at London Fashion Week and was announced as Desigual's brand ambassador.

2. She was discovered as a model on social media

voodo A photo posted by Winnie (@winnieharlow) on Sep 1, 2016 at 9:02am PDT

Winnies Instagram account was discovered by Americas Next Top Model host Tyra Banks at 19-years-old, resulting in her competing in the show.

3. She has the same skin condition as Michael Jackson

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Vitiligo is a rare skin condition whereby sections of the skin lose their pigment. The patches become white and the borders of the colour change are distinct. Winnie was diagnosed with the condition at four-years-old, and was bullied throughout her childhood a result.

4. She appears in the video for Beyonces Lemonade

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Winnie, from Canada, makes a cameo in Queen Beys visual album, as well as in this years remake of The Black Eyed Peas Where Is the Love.

5. Shes a powerful spokesperson

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The 21-year-old has given talks for TED and the Dove Self Esteem Project, but says she is not a vitiligo spokesperson. I have vitiligo, and I am confident. That doesnt make me the Spokesperson for Vitiligo, she said on Instagram.
Pippa OConnor, pictured at the launch of the Sona Future Proof Your Health campaign

Pippa OConnor, pictured at the launch of the Sona Future Proof Your Health campaign

She's gearing up to launch her debut jeans range - and model Pippa O'Connor has insisted she's not worried about getting flack for not catering to plus-size women.

The Kildare woman's line of jeans, Poco, will be available in sizes 6-16. With the average woman in Ireland being a size 12-14, there will be some out there whose size is not served by the new range.

However, Pippa insisted she's not concerned about criticism she may get when the line is available.

"No, I'm not worried. You have to start somewhere and that's where I am starting," she told the Herald.

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When asked if she may consider bringing out larger sizes in the future, Pippa admitted she's unsure if she will create other sizes.

"I haven't even thought that far ahead yet, I need to get it off the ground first," she said.

The mum-of-two promising a range of looks to suit every woman's sense of style.

"We are launching it on November 14 exclusively online. I can't wait.

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"I'm nervous about it because it's Brian and mine's own venture, we're not in collaboration with anyone else. There's a variation. We have five styles, different colours, different washes. We'll start with five and see how we go," she said.

"That's what the emphasis is on, the fit. They are not at all out there, there's no big embellishment. They're very pared back, that's what I wanted.

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"Jeans are my everyday uniform - it's what I wear all the time. It's something I'm very passionate about. I have gotten lots of messages from girls who are really excited to get them," she said.

Pippa led the judging panel for Centra's Ireland's Favourite Moments Showcased National Photo Competition. People shared images of their favourite moments of the day with the competition marking Centra's new brand position, Live Every Day, which encourages people to make the most of every day.
Police close a road leading to the headquarters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party in Ankara (AP)

The aftermath of an explosion in the south-eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir (AP)

A car bombing has killed nine people in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south east, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.

Prime minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians were among those killed in the attack in Diyarbakir, near a building used by riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast.

Mr Yildirim said one of the assailants was "caught dead" but did not provide details.

The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out.

Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public "fear, panic or chaos" and images showing the explosion and its aftermath.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organisation by Turkey and its allies. A fragile ceasefire collapsed last year and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Hours before the bombing, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairmen, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.

A 12th legislator was detained later during the day.

Anadolu said Mr Demirtas and Ms Yuksekdag were put under formal arrest by court order and will be held in custody pending trial. Three others- Nursel Aydogan, Leyla Birlik and Idris Baluken- were formally arrested earlier.

Three of the 12 detainees - Sirri Sureyya Onder, Imam Tascier and Ziya Pir - were released by the court on condition they regularly report to authorities.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with Mr Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant."

Anadolu said Ms Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern over the pro-Kurdish politicians' detentions on Twitter. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

Main opposition Republican People's Party chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions: "If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise you'll butcher democracy in Turkey."

Mr Yildirim responded: "If those who are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account."

Turkish police later clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in four cities in protest at the detentions.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya. Anadolu said 10 people were detained in Ankara, five in Antalya and seven in Istanbul.

Anadolu said the legislators were detained for not appearing in court to testify in terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish legislators on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting them from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP legislators following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organisation".

Mr Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu.

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership of the PKK.

In September, the government ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

AP
The doctor is alleged to have carried out the inseminations without the women's knowledge or consent (Stock photo)

A former fertility doctor in Canada has been accused of using his own sperm to impregnate at least two patients.

Dr Norman Barwin is alleged to have carried out the inseminations without the women's knowledge or consent, according to a statement of claim filed in an Ontario court on Tuesday.

The civil lawsuit is being brought by Daniel and Davina Dixon after discovering their 26-year-old daughter Rebecca was not Mr Dixon's biological daughter.

The Dixons, who are seeking punitive and other damages against the doctor, contacted Dr Barwin in 1989 to help them get pregnant.

Their daughter Rebecca was born the following year after what they thought was successful treatment.

"When I was younger, I was often asked if I was adopted. And we laughed about those situations," Ms Dixon told CBC News.

"I don't physically look a lot like my parents, but I look a little bit like my mother's mom ... I was never really concerned that there was any problem."

The family decided to get a test done in February this year after learning that it is unusual for two individuals with blue eyes to give birth to a child with brown eyes.

A blood test and DNA test confirmed Mr Dixon was definitely not Ms Dixon's father.

"I remember just this wave of shock going through my body," Ms Dixon said. "It's not something that you ever would imagine."

They began looking into the background of Dr Barwin, who was sanctioned in 2013 for inseminating three patients with the wrong sperm and resigned from the Order of Canada a year later.

They also noticed "Rebecca bore an uncanny physical resemblance to Dr. Barwin", the statement of claim says.

Last month, Ms Dixon's DNA was compared with that of Kathryn Palmer, a 25-year-old whose parents were also patients of Dr Barwin and who found out last year that the doctor was her biological father.

The test results "concluded that they were half-sisters by way of the same biological father," said the statement of claim.

None of the allegations against Dr Barwin have been proven in court. Karen Hamway, Dr Barwin's lawyer, refused to comment on the new allegations. She told CBC News that Dr Barwin's statement of defence would be filed "in due course".

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Displaced Iraqis gather outside the Khazer camp, east of Mosul, after heavy fighting erupted (AP)

Iraqi special forces vehicles move as an air strike hits an Islamic State militant position in the distance (AP)

Iraqi special forces have launched a two-pronged assault deeper into Mosul's urban centre, unleashing the most intense street battles against Islamic State militants since the offensive began nearly three weeks ago.

Smoke rose across eastern neighbourhoods of Iraq's second-largest city as heavy fighting continued after sundown, with explosions and machine gun fire echoing in the streets as mosques called for evening prayer.

More than 3,000 Iraqi troops took part in the assault under heavy US-led coalition air support, but the pace of the fight also slowed as Iraqi forces moved from fighting in more rural areas with few civilians to the tight, narrow streets of Mosul proper.

Sniper fire repeatedly stalled the advance, as commanders called in air strikes or artillery support after coming under fire.

As the operation got under way, columns of armoured vehicles wound through the desert, pushing through dirt berms and drawing heavy fire as they closed in on the middle-class Tahrir and Zahara districts. The area was once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Seven suicide attackers in explosives-laden vehicles barreled towards the troops, with two getting through and detonating their charges, Lieutenant Colonel Muhanad al-Timimi said.

The others were destroyed, including a bulldozer that was hit by an air strike from the US-led coalition supporting the offensive.

At least seven special forces troops were killed and an officer and three soldiers were wounded, said an Iraqi military officer.

"The operation is going well, but it's slow. These kinds of advances are always slow," said Iraqi special forces Captain Malik Hameed, as IS fighters could be seen running in the distance to reposition themselves.

"If we tried to go any faster we would take even more injuries."

An Iraqi television journalist travelling in a Humvee was wounded in one of the suicide car bomb attacks.

Earlier, at the eastern approach to the city's urban centre, militants holed up in a building fired a rocket at an Iraqi Abrams tank, disabling it and sending its crew fleeing from the smoking vehicle. The advance in that area then stalled.

The push began as dawn broke with artillery and mortar strikes on the Aden, Tahrir and Quds districts, just west of the special forces' footholds in the Gogjali and Karama neighbourhoods, Lt Col al-Timimi said.

On the heels of the special forces advances, the Iraqi army's ninth division moved into the eastern Intisar neighbourhood, said an officer from the unit.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered the city limits for the first time in more than two years, after a demoralised Iraqi army fled in the face of IS's 2014 blitz across large swathes of territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

The operation to retake Mosul is expected to take weeks if not months.

Moving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in house-to-house battles through dense warrens of booby trapped buildings is time-consuming and Iraq's military has repeatedly opted for slower operations in an effort to minimise casualties.

Some one million civilians still remain in the city, complicating the advance.

IS militants have driven thousands of residents deeper into the city's built-up areas to be used as human shields, while hundreds of others have fled towards government-controlled territory and thousands have fled west into Syria.

Just a few miles from Friday's operation, dozens of cars queued up on the road to camps for displaced Mosul residents.

"We suffered and there was bombing and heavy shelling. We didn't feel safe," said Mahmoud Mahdi, who was fleeing the now government-held Gogjali neighbourhood. "Everybody is displaced and walking around in this heat. It is exhausting."

Mosul is the last major IS stronghold in Iraq, and expelling the militant group from the city would be a major blow to the survival of its self-declared "caliphate" that stretches into Syria.

Iraqi forces have made uneven progress in closing in on the city since the operation began on October 17.

Advances have been slower from the south, with government troops still some 20 miles (35 kilometres) away.

Kurdish fighters and Iraqi army units are deployed to the north, while government-sanctioned Shiite militias are sweeping in from the west to try to cut off any IS escape route.

As the sun began to set on Friday, special forces troops fanned out across the city blocks retaken in the fighting.

Guided by intelligence from US-led coalition surveillance of the area, they knocked on the doors of homes where they believed civilians were living.

Moving from street to street, Capt Hameed and his men found four families and an elderly couple in the sector they were assigned to clear.

After sweeping the rooms for weapons, they questioned the male heads of household.

"Who were the IS fighters responsible for this neighbourhood?" special forces Major Ahmed al-Mamouri asked an elderly man.

"They were Arabs, but not Iraqi. Foreign," the man said, pointing to the houses where the fighters lived and worked.

As his children served the Iraqi soldiers tea, the man described where and when he saw the IS militants flee and the weapons they had.

Maj al-Mamouri pulled out satellite images of central Mosul and asked the man to identify checkpoints and buildings where he believed the fighters were making explosives.

"This is all to help with our operation moving forward," Maj al-Mamouri said.

"This is almost more important than the clashes."

AP
All over the Western world, electorates are angry at their self-satisfied, arrogant political classes; they want their views reflected, including, of course, on immigration, and feel that they have been ignored for too long. Manual workers and the lower middle classes are especially fed up, and feel under pressure financially as a result of the legacy of the Great Recession, automation and globalisation.

First the Leave campaign in Britain and now Donald Trump in America have sought to harness these populist rebellions. But I have news for Mr Trump: he may become the next US president but he never will be Mr Brexit. It's not even close. In all of the ways that really matter, the Brexiteer agenda is dramatically at odds with what passes for Trump's world view.

The Donald wants to walk away from America's free trade deals; Brexiteers are desperate to sign as many as possible as quickly as possible. Leavers in the UK would love to join Nafta; Trump wants to quit it. Almost all Brexiteers want to use Nato to help protect the West; Trump sees it as a drain on resources. The utter incompatibility of visions ought to be obvious.

Brexit is the politics of hope, of positive change, of radical reform; Trump is the politics of despair, of powerlessness, of retreat. Brexit was primarily about regaining Britain's self-government; it is a bold statement that liberal, independent, free-trading democracies are the best way for countries and their people to prosper in a modern, complex world. It is a denunciation of post-war technocracies, a rejection of top-down rule, and a commitment to an increase in democratic control.

In complete contrast, America self-evidently never relinquished its independence: this is just another election, albeit between two hopeless candidates. Brexit's massive repatriation of power to UK institutions will strengthen and rejuvenate the UK's ailing democracy; the election of either Trump or Clinton, by contrast, could make America almost ungovernable.

It is clear why Trump wants to bask in the Brexiteers' reflected glory: they triumphed spectacularly on an anti-establishment, David-versus-Goliath message, and in the face of the received wisdom. To get out his vote, Trump needs to convince his supporters he has a real chance - and pointing to the British referendum triumph and the explosive shock it caused to the elites they so despise is a great way of achieving this.

It is in the interest, too, of the liberal-Left intelligentsia in Britain to conflate Brexit - a pro-free trade, pro-democracy, pro-internationalist movement - with Trumpism - an anti-trade, almost autarchic agenda. If nothing else, they hope that the market chaos a Trump victory would cause might derail or delay Brexit indefinitely, or make it much harder for Theresa May to sign global trade deals.

Such folk are also keen to focus on the demographic similarities between the two groups of voters: those with more advanced academic qualifications are more likely to back Hillary Clinton or to vote Remain. The intent here is obvious: to portray Brexit as a plot by dumb, uneducated suburban voters who were led astray by a group of charismatic demagogues (such as Michael Gove or Boris Johnson), thus discrediting the movement to leave the EU.

It is undeniably true that many northern and coastal communities decided to vote Leave partly as a protest against social change, and that many midwestern states will do the same with Trump. But while his base is overwhelmingly white and male, and his campaign has further fanned the flames of America's horrendous racial divisions, the Leave vote was dramatically more diverse.

A majority of women (and men) voted to Leave: in fact, according to Lord Ashcroft's on-the-day poll, there was complete gender equality at 52pc for Brexit.

Trump has few votes in America's great cities. The Leave side's record too was far better. Even in London, Leave grabbed 40pc of the vote, hugely more than Trump will get in New York or Los Angeles. As for minority votes, take London's Newham, where under 17pc of the population are white British and 32pc are Muslim. Leave still grabbed 47.2pc of the vote. Harrow, a very different London borough with a white British share of 31pc and the UK's largest concentration of Hindus and Jains, voted 45pc for Leave, also well above the London average.

Plenty of Leave campaigners hailed from ethnic minorities, not least the excellent Priti Patel; and the majority of the Tories' 17 ethnic minority MPs backed Leave. A majority of ethnic minority voters still backed Remain. But the proportions are incomparable to the racially-divided US election, where an astonishing 91pc of the African-American vote is likely to go to Clinton, who also has a massive 50-point lead among Hispanics.

There was, tragically, a despicable spike in instances of abuse and even attacks on migrants in the immediate aftermath of the referendum vote, apparently directed primarily at Eastern European workers. This was a disgusting development and the government should have condemned it even more forcefully than it did, but it was a very different phenomenon to the extreme racial divisions that we are currently seeing in the US.

Most importantly of all, modern British Euroscepticism is a well-established doctrine. It dates back to Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech of 1988. Dozens of books have been written on the subject since then; it is a proper movement with its own historians, philosophers and economists, its activists and its supporters.

By contrast there is no real Trump ideology, no coherent thinking, no meaningful movement. He is a poujadiste, an operator in the mould of Ross Perot, the independent anti-free trade candidate who grabbed 18.9pc of the vote in 1992.

Trump will say anything to get elected, and then do whatever he is able to get away with.

So Mr Trump. Come up with better answers to the challenges facing America - and stop appropriating the UK's victory. ( Daily Telegraph London)
Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway speaks to the media after Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, delivered a speech at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

A Donald Trump supporter holds a modified campaign bumper sticker in favor of Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who spoke during an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Douglas Robinson, 20, wears a patriotic suit with Donald Trump pins while waiting in line outside before Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, holds an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up to audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump's claim that Hillary Clinton will end up on trial as president should she prevail on Tuesday is more than mere bluster, according to a report.

Sources with "intimate knowledge" of the two FBI investigations into Mrs Clinton's activities as Secretary of State said she was likely to be indicted if there was no "obstruction" from the Department of Justice, according to Fox News.

The sources said the FBI was highly confident that the private server Mrs Clinton used to conduct government business was hacked by as many as five foreign intelligence services.

In addition to the inquiry into emails, the FBI is investigating pay-for-play allegations relating to the Clinton Foundation.

The second inquiry has received far less attention, but according to leaks emanating from the FBI, it has reportedly been under way for more than a year and prompted a power struggle between the FBI and Department of Justice.

Agents have long believed they had sufficient evidence to pursue a full-fledged investigation into whether donors to the foundation received special treatment from Mrs Clinton's State Department, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Expand Close Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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That evidence includes recordings from a suspect in another case who discussed alleged deals made by the Clintons, the report claims. Prosecutors thought the evidence was too weak though, frustrating many within the FBI.

The new disclosures came a day after President Barack Obama criticised the agency for releasing "leaks" and "incomplete information" about the investigations into Mrs Clinton.

The announcement a week ago that the FBI was reopening the inquiry into Mrs Clinton's handling of classified information caused her lead in the polls to implode, but she has since begun to recover.

However, Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump's campaign manager, said: "We're pushing into blue states. If you try and apply conventional political wisdom to Donald Trump you'll lose every time."

Meanwhile, Mr Trump's wife Melania hit the campaign trail outside Philadelphia last night to call for more civility online, in an appeal to suburban women voters.

American "culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teachers," Mrs Trump said in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, lamenting cyber-bullying in particular.

Expand Close Melania Trump speaks at the Main Line Sports Center in Berwyn. Photo: AP / Facebook

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"Technology has changed our universe, but like anything that is powerful it can have a bad side," she said.

"Children and teenagers can be fragile. They are hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence.

"We need to teach our youth American values - kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, co-operation," she said, adding that this would be "one of the main focuses of my work if I'm privileged enough to become first lady". She would also advocate for women, she said.

An immigrant from Slovenia, Mrs Trump (46) described how she long saw the US as a land of freedom and opportunity and how she managed to become a citizen "after a 10-year process which included many visas and a green card".

She also sought to humanise her husband by discussing their son Barron (10) and citing Mr Trump's joy in working with three of his adult children at the Trump Organisation. "We talk a little bit about politics and a lot about life, homework and sports," she said of Barron.

"I want my little boy to know that he is blessed to have been born in this country."

The event was her first high-profile appearance on the campaign trail since the Republican national convention in July, when her message was overshadowed because it used lines that were traced back to remarks in a speech by first lady Michelle Obama.

Expand Close Douglas Robinson, 20, wears a patriotic suit with Donald Trump pins while waiting in line outside before Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, holds an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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Mrs Clinton is fighting hard to keep Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes in her column. Her campaign said yesterday that she, former President Bill Clinton, President Obama and the first lady would hold a joint rally in Philadelphia on Monday as she made her closing argument.

After Mr Trump's 2005 remarks about groping women surfaced in October, Mrs Clinton trounced him in a Bloomberg Politics poll of four suburban Philadelphia counties, 59pc to 31pc.

At the time Mrs Clinton was also winning the state by six percentage points in a four-way race, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

Mrs Clinton still led by an average of 3.4 points yesterday, according to the aggregator, despite the FBI's announcement that it had discovered more emails pertinent to its investigation of her email server.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump warned yesterday that a cloud of investigation would follow Mrs Clinton into the White House, evoking the bitter impeachment battle of the 1990s in a closing campaign argument meant to bring wayward Republicans home.

Mrs Clinton and her allies, led by President Obama, told voters to get serious about the dangers of Mr Trump.

Mrs Clinton's shrinking lead has given the Trump campaign a glimmer of hope, one he is trying to broaden into a breakthrough before time runs out.

That means courting the moderate Republicans and independents who have been the holdouts of his campaign, voters turned off by his controversies but equally repelled by the possible return of the Clintons.

Mr Trump directed his message at those voters at a rally in Jacksonville, where he zeroed in on questions of Mrs Clinton's trustworthiness and a new FBI review of an aide's emails.

"Here we go again with the Clintons - you remember the impeachment and the problems," he said.

"That's not what we need in our country, folks. We need someone who is ready to go to work."

Mr Obama and allies, meanwhile, are seeking to keep the spotlight on Mr Trump, charging that his disparaging comments about women and minorities, and his temperament make him unfit to occupy the White House. ( Daily Telegraph London)
President Barack Obama speaks at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Florida International University Arena on Thursday. Photo: AP

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up to audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign event at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway speaks to the media after Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, delivered a speech at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

A Donald Trump supporter holds a modified campaign bumper sticker in favor of Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who spoke during an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Douglas Robinson, 20, wears a patriotic suit with Donald Trump pins while waiting in line outside before Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, holds an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Supporters pray before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Pensacola, Florida. Photo: Reuters

President Barack Obama spoke with the urgency of a leader who knows that America's future rests in the hands of his audience.

"You have a chance to shape history, and that doesn't come often," Mr Obama told a cheering crowd at a Miami university.

"There is incredible power in your hands."

After almost 18 months of tireless campaigning, millions of dollars spent and countless sleepless nights, the election between Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, is fated to be decided by a few thousand votes.

With only four days to go until election day, the ultimate battleground state of Florida, with its prized 29 electoral votes, is expected to once again come down to the wire.

The latest polls show Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump in a statistical tie. The candidates have gone into overdrive, criss-crossing the state with three or four appearances a day, visiting each other's strongholds again and again in a bid to grab as many votes from each other as they can.

"This is a full press for every single person," said Juan Cuba, Democratic party executive director for Miami-Dade county, Mrs Clinton's firewall in Florida.

"This is about energising people to turn out. We can't afford to leave a single vote on the table."

In order to win Florida, Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton must appeal to one of the most divided and ethnically diverse electorates in the nation.

Mr Cuba remembers all too well the lesson of 2000, where the result of the election between George W Bush and Al Gore was delayed by a weeks-long bitter recount in the state.

Even Mr Obama's victory in 2012, considered a relatively comfortable win, came down to less than 1pc of the popular vote.

Mr Trump's support heartland is in the northern panhandle of the state, particularly in the suburban areas home to white working-class and middle-income voters.

Mrs Clinton's stronghold is in the urban centres of the south, including in Hispanic majority districts where Spanish is the primary language.

Mrs Clinton also needs to capture the hearts of millennial voters, swathes of whom have not registered a party affiliation and, her campaign fears, may not turn out for her.

And she will have to secure the support of African Americans, who, after voting in overwhelming numbers for Mr Obama, are showing signs of staying at home in this election.

Carey Guangzhou, an 18-year-old black biology student, was initially uninspired by this election.

"The way I see it you can say Donald did this and Hillary did this," she said, referring to the negative campaigning.

"But the question is, what are you going to do for our country?"

Ms Guangzhou eventually sided with Mrs Clinton for her softer immigration stance.

"I like that she is not trying to build a wall," she said. "How can you kick out the people that helped build this America?"

Early voting data suggests Mr Trump's harsh rhetoric against undocumented migrants may have hurt him. Close to a third of Florida's more than 13 million voters have already cast their ballots and there has been a high turnout in Latino counties, suggesting a surge of support for Mrs Clinton.

But the Republican candidate will be helped by older generations of Cubans who have traditionally voted conservative, fearing Democratic policies could drag America towards the communist system they fled.

Michael Barnett (39) heads the Republican Party of Florida's minority engagement committee. He is also a member of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, an organisation of some 60 advisers from minority backgrounds.

"The strategy has to be to convince some, to peel away support," he said.

"In such a tight race as Florida, which is split down the middle, we only have to give our nominee a few extra votes to push him over the edge."

At a rally in Fort Lauderdale last month, Erwin Nieto, a 42-year-old from Panama who carries pro-Trump signs along rush-hour roads, said he had voted for Mr Obama in 2012.

"But there are more homeless people in this country than before," he said.

"He turned this country into a dumpster." ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway speaks to the media after Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, delivered a speech at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

A Donald Trump supporter holds a modified campaign bumper sticker in favor of Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who spoke during an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Douglas Robinson, 20, wears a patriotic suit with Donald Trump pins while waiting in line outside before Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, holds an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up to audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

A former head of the British armed forces has rejected claims a Donald Trump presidency could make the world more dangerous and suggested the Republican candidate could "reinvigorate" relations with Russia.

David Richards said he was disappointed with the candidates running in the American presidential election next week, but said Mr Trump "might make the world, ironically, safer".

The UK's former chief of the defence staff also told 'The House' magazine that "there is a strong case" for allowing Bashar al-Assad's forces to retake the Syrian city of Aleppo to alleviate humanitarian suffering from the siege.

The crossbench peer said the biggest threats to Western security were from non-state groups like Isil in Iraq and Levant.

He said the world had been missing "big power politics".

He told the magazine: "In the Cold War era, states coalesced and they had this understanding and it worked - even though there was a massive amount at stake, communications and mutual understanding between Russia and America wasn't too bad.

"It's non-state actors like Isil that are the biggest threat to our security. If countries and states could coalesce better to deal with these people - and I think Trump's instinct is to go down that route - then I think there's the case for saying that the world certainly won't be any less safe.

"It's that lack of understanding and empathy with each other as big power players that is a risk to us all at the moment.

"Therefore I think he would reinvigorate big power relationships, which might make the world, ironically, safer."

He said he was "a bit sorry" that Mr Trump and Hillary Clinton were "the best candidates that can be put up in a country as great and as huge and powerful as America".

But he said he thought Mr Trump was "wise enough to get good people round him and probably knows that he's got to listen to them, and therefore I think we should not automatically think it will be less safe".

Mr Richards, who was chief of the defence staff from 2010 to 2013, spoke as the British foreign secretary condemned Russia for shielding Mr Assad.

Boris Johnson said the dictator's forces had repeatedly used poison gas and Britain was pressing for a UN resolution "to hold accountable those who use such horrific weapons in defiance of the rules of war".

He said: "If Russia chooses once again to protect Assad by casting its veto then it will be shielding someone whose forces have been found guilty over and over again by a UN investigation, which the Kremlin itself supported, of killing their own people with poison gas.

"I say that vetoing such a resolution would be unconscionable."

Mr Johnson said Russia could win "the acclaim of the world" by halting the bombing and bringing Mr Assad to the negotiating table.

But Mr Richards said if the West was interested mainly in the humanitarian plight of civilians, then "I believe there is a strong case for allowing Assad to get in there and take the city back".

"The opposition groups - many of whom are not friends of ours, they're extremists - are now intermingled with the original good opposition groups, are fighting from amongst the people," he said.

"The only quick way of solving it is to allow Assad to win. There's no way the opposition groups are going to win."

He said Hillary Clinton should not raise the prospect of no-fly zones over Syria to stop air strikes.

He said: "Unless she's prepared to do this properly and go to war with Russia, she shouldn't talk about no-fly zones and nor should we.

"We would have to shoot down Russian aircraft in order to impose it. Do we really want to go to a shooting war over Aleppo?

"We want the humanitarian horror of Aleppo to come to a rapid halt. The best and quickest way of doing that is to encourage the opposition groups to leave.

"The alternative is for the West to declare a no-fly zone and that means you've got to be prepared to go to war with Russia ultimately.

"I see no appetite for that and nor, frankly, do I see much sense in it. It sticks in my throat to say it because I have no love for Assad."
President Barack Obama speaks at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Florida International University Arena on Thursday. Photo: AP

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up to audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets audience members at a campaign rally at Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway speaks to the media after Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, delivered a speech at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

A Donald Trump supporter holds a modified campaign bumper sticker in favor of Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who spoke during an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Douglas Robinson, 20, wears a patriotic suit with Donald Trump pins while waiting in line outside before Melania Trump, wife to the Republican Presidential nominee, holds an event at Main Line Sports in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Photo: Reuters

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign event at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo: Reuters

Five days from the US presidential election, polls released yesterday showed the race narrowing, with Democrat Hillary Clinton holding on to a slim lead over Republican Donald Trump.

A 'New York Times'/CBS poll found Clinton ahead 45pc to 42pc among likely voters, tighter than her nine-point lead in the same poll in mid-October. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

A 'Washington Post'/ABC News tracking poll found Clinton ahead within the margin of error, 47pc to 45pc, having lost ground to Trump since last week.

The two surveys showing Clinton still holding a lead halted a seven-day slide in the S&P 500 Index and prompted a rebound for the Mexican peso, a currency that has weakened when Trump's outlook improves.

Among other new polls, Investor's Business Daily/TIPP said Trump and Clinton were tied at 44pc each, and Rasmussen found Trump ahead 45pc to 42pc.

State-by-state polling averages continue to give Clinton an edge in the race to 270 Electoral College votes. Her challenge will be to maximise turnout among the Democratic coalition that powered Barack Obama to two victories: millennials, non-white voters and unmarried women.

A Trump upset victory would likely require diminished turnout among Democrat voters and higher-than-expected turnout among Trump's key coalition, primarily white voters without a college degree.
Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop at the Jacksonville Equestrian Centre (AP)

US president Barack Obama and Melania Trump have both joined the campaign trail as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump try to drum up support with less than a week to go until Election Day.

Mr Trump warned that a cloud of investigation would follow Mrs Clinton into the White House, evoking the bitter impeachment battle of the 1990s in a closing campaign argument meant to bring wayward Republicans home.

Democrat Mrs Clinton and her allies, led by Mr Obama, told voters to get serious about the dangers of Mr Trump.

As polls show Mr Trump closing in on Mrs Clinton in key battleground states, her campaign is rushing to shore up support in some long-standing Democratic strongholds.

That includes the campaign's Michigan firewall, a remarkable situation for a candidate who looked to be cruising to an easy win just a week ago.

Mrs Clinton's narrowing lead has given Mr Trump's campaign a glimmer of hope, one he is trying to broaden into a breakthrough before time runs out.

That means zeroing in on questions of Mrs Clinton's trustworthiness and a new FBI review of an aide's emails.

The attack is aimed at appealing to moderate Republicans and independents who have been the holdouts of his campaign, turned off by his behaviour but equally repelled by the possible return of the Clintons.

"Here we go again with the Clintons - you remember the impeachment and the problems," Mr Trump said at a rally in Jacksonville.

"That's not what we need in our country, folks. We need someone who is ready to go to work."

Mrs Clinton and allies, meanwhile, are seeking to keep the spotlight on Mr Trump, claiming that his disparaging comments about women and minorities and his temperament make him unfit for office.

"He has spent this entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters," Mrs Clinton said, singling out Mr Trump's endorsement from the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan and noting that he has retweeted messages from white supremacists.

"This has never happened to a nominee of a major party," Mrs Clinton said.

"If Donald Trump were to win this election we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous," she said at Pitt Community College, outside of Greenville, North Carolina.

Mrs Clinton was due to campaign later with former primary opponent Senator Bernie Sanders and pop star Pharrell Williams in Raleigh.

Mr Trump's path to victory remains narrow.

He must win Florida to win the White House, which is no easy feat.

Still, his campaign has been buoyed by tightening polls there and in other key battlegrounds, as well as by signs that African-American turnout for Mrs Clinton may be lagging.

Mrs Clinton enlisted Mr Obama's help urging those voters to the polls and lighting a fire under other Democrats, particularly young people, who share some of the wariness about Mrs Clinton.

Speaking to students at Florida International University in Miami, Mr Obama told voters now was the time to get serious about the choice.

"This isn't a joke. This isn't Survivor. This isn't The Bachelorette," he said, taunting the former reality TV star. "This counts."

Relishing one of his last turns on the campaign stage as president, Mr Obama repeatedly returned to his new campaign catchphrase capturing his disbelief in the unpredictable race to replace him.

"C'mon, man," he said, to cheers.

Mr Obama has been trying to bait Republicans into veering off message - counting on Mr Trump not to have the discipline or the ground game to capitalise on a late surge.

But the famously unconventional Mr Trump has been sticking closer to convention, running some upbeat ads, bringing out his wife for a rare campaign appearance and even talking publicly about trying not to get distracted.

"We don't want to blow it on November 8," Mr Trump said at the rally in Jacksonville, his fourth in Florida in two days.

Mrs Clinton's weekend schedule underscored the Democrats' fresh anxiety in the final stretch.

She is due to campaign on Friday in Detroit, where a large turnout of black voters has long been crucial to success, following up on a last-minute meeting by former president Bill Clinton with black ministers on Wednesday night.

Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama, along with their spouses, will headline a final pre-election rally in Philadelphia next Monday evening.

Mr Trump has had far fewer allies carrying his message.

Senator Ted Cruz, his Republican primary foe, did campaign with vice presidential candidate Mike Pence outside Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, but he never mentioned Mr Trump by name in a 14-minute speech.

Mr Trump's wife Melania made her first appearance on the trail since the Republican convention in July.

At a get-out-the-vote rally in the Philadelphia suburbs, the former model tried to counter the Clinton campaign's pounding attacks on her husband as setting a poor example for children.

She told the group that if she becomes first lady she will focus on combating online bullying and working against a culture that has "gotten too mean and too rough" , she said.

Mrs Trump made no reference to her husband's regular name-calling on social media.

On Twitter, Mr Trump has called Mrs Clinton "crooked", ''pathetic", "liar", ''a fraud" and "very dumb".

He has called Mr Cruz a "true lowlife pol" and a "complete and total liar".

Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka was campaigning in New Hampshire.

AP
Jordan is a key US ally and member of the military coalition fighting the Islamic State group

Three US services personnel have been killed in a shooting outside a military base in southern Jordan, officials said.

A US official in Washington said one died at the scene and two died in hospital in Amman, the Jordanian capital.

Jordan is a key US ally and member of the US-led military coalition fighting Islamic State, which controls parts of neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

Shots were fired as a car carrying the Americans tried to enter the al-Jafr base near the town of Mann at about noon local time on Friday, military officials in the US and Jordan said.

An American official said the US government is working with Jordanian government figures to gather additional details.

In addition to the US casualties, a Jordanian officer was also wounded, Jordanian officials said.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

Jordan faces homegrown extremism, with hundreds of Jordanians fighting alongside IS militants in Iraq and Syria and several thousand more supporting the extremist group in the kingdom.

Last November, a Jordanian police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. The government subsequently portrayed the police captain as troubled.

The US has spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders. For the West, any sign of instability in Jordan would be of great concern.

AP
Bridget Anne Kelly with her lawyer Michael Critchley after she was found guilty on all counts (AP)

Two former aides to the governor of New Jersey have been convicted of creating an epic traffic jam on the US's busiest bridge for what prosecutors described as political revenge.

The convictions cap a trial that cast doubt on governor Chris Christie's claims that he knew nothing about the scheme on the George Washington Bridge.

Bridget Kelly, Mr Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them.

Kelly cried as the verdict was read, while Baroni showed no emotion. Both defendants announced plans to appeal.

Mr Christie said the verdicts affirmed his decision to sack Baroni and Kelly and that the jury held them responsible "for their own conduct".

He repeated his claims that he had no knowledge of the plot and said he would "set the record straight" soon about "the lies told by the media and in the courtroom".

"I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorising them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue."

Prosecutors said Kelly and Baroni plotted with Christie ally David Wildstein to close lanes at the foot of the bridge - a span that connects Fort Lee, New Jersey, to Washington Heights, New York City - and create gridlock in September 2013 to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Mr Christie for re-election.

Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all told the trial that Mr Christie was informed about the lane closures either before or while they were going on.

Baroni's lawyer Michael Baldassare called the case a disgrace and said the US attorney's office should be "ashamed" of how it decided who to charge.

"They should have had belief in their own case to charge powerful people and they did not," Mr Baldassare said.

The federal jury took five days to reach a verdict in the scandal that helped sink Mr Christie's Republican campaign for president. The verdict on charges including conspiracy, misapplying the property of the Port Authority, wire fraud and deprivation of civil rights came before the judge ruled on a request by defence lawyers to declare a mistrial.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 21, and t he most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison.

Wildstein, a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and was the prosecution's star witness. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but is expected to be sentenced to much less.

Kelly and Baroni said they believed the lane closures were part of a legitimate traffic study because that was what Wildstein told them.

The defence portrayed Wildstein as a liar and a trickster - "the Bernie Madoff of New Jersey politics" - and argued that Christie and his inner circle had made 44-year-old Kelly the scapegoat.

"They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards," Kelly lawyer Michael Critchley said in a thundering closing argument.

One of the most damning pieces of evidence was an email in which Kelly wrote: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

As the four days of gridlock unfolded and Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich complained about children being unable to get to school, she texted: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

Kelly told the jury she was referring to what she thought was a traffic study and expressing satisfaction that it was going well. Her lawyer said she deleted the messages because she was afraid she was about to be made the scapegoat.

Wildstein said Mr Christie was told about the traffic jam as it was happening and that he laughed and sarcastically joked that nothing political was going on when he learned of Mr Sokolich's distress over not getting his calls returned.

But it was not clear from Wildstein's evidence whether Mr Christie knew the bumper-to-bumper mess was manufactured for political reasons, and Kelly testified that she told him the closures were a traffic study when she informed him of the plans about a month ahead of time.

Siding with prosecutors, District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors they did not have to find that Kelly and Baroni, also 44, knowingly intended to punish Mr Sokolich to convict them of conspiracy.

The gridlock began on the first day of school and held up commuters, school buses and emergency vehicles. Mr Sokolich's pleas went unanswered for four days on orders from Wildstein, the defendants said.

At the time, Mr Christie was considered a leading Republican presidential contender and was trying to run up a big landslide re-election victory to demonstrate his crossover appeal as a White House candidate.

He ultimately dropped out of the presidential race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary and said recently that the scandal probably influenced Donald Trump's decision not to pick him as his running mate.

He is a now a top Trump adviser and has campaigned for him.

While the trial did not definitively pin the scheme on Mr Christie, it reinforced his reputation among critics as a bully, with accounts of profane tirades, threats of bodily harm and tough-guy posturing among the governor and his inner circle that seemed straight out of The Sopranos.

AP
SALISBURYSteve Chandler will be the keynote speaker at the Rowan Chambers Power in Partnership, or PIP, breakfast on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 a.m. at Trinity Oaks, 728 Klumac Road. The Salisbury-Rowan Convention & Visitors Bureau will be the sponsor, and the new Rowan Brand Story will be featured.

Chandler is the owner and brand strategist of ChandlerThinks, the firm working with the Salisbury-Rowan Convention & Visitors Bureau on the new Rowan County brand campaign. Chandler has more than two decades of experience in strategic planning and brand development for local, regional and national brands connected to the hospitality industry. ChandlerThinks is based in the Nashville, Tenn., area.

The dates for the 2016-17 series are: Dec. 15 (Rev. Richard Joyner, Inspirational Speaker); Jan. 19 (Economic Outlook); Feb. 16 (Arts Speaker); March 16 (Agri-business); April 20 (Health Care); and May 18 (Leadership Rowan Graduation).

The chambers breakfast series averaged more than 150 attendees each month during its last three seasons. The 2016-2017 series will bring top notch speakers to the community and provide high level networking opportunities. Sponsors will have the exclusive marketing rights to the banquet room and provide a five minute sponsor profile on their company. Partner agencies will share updates with the local business leaders and address issues of concern for the entire region.

The Leadership Rowan Class will start the day at the breakfast and then venture out for each days session focused on a different aspect of the community.

If interested in obtaining a Power Card, please make a reservation by Tuesday, Nov. 15. The Power Card is the Rowan Chambers frequent attender program. Those with a card receive a discounted price for the series and do not have to make a reservation each month. The cost is $74 for members, $175 for non-members.

For those who are not a Power Card holder, individual reservations are welcome; however, the reservation deadline is Tues., Nov. 15, by 5 p.m. The cost is $15 for members and $25 for non-members. The price includes the cost of breakfast and the program.

Contact the Chamber for information on reservations or sponsorship opportunities at 704-633-4221 or info@rowanchamber.com.
CONCORD- Police need help locating a suspect in three armed robberies.

The Concord Police Department is currently searching for a suspect involved in recent armed robberies of two pharmacies within the city. Both robberies occurred during the month of October.

The two incidents being investigated occurred at the Walgreens Pharmacy, 5230 Poplar Tent Road (October 14, 2016) and the Rite Aid Pharmacy, 3645 Concord Parkway South (October 28, 2016).

During both incidents, the suspect entered the store and proceeded to an aisle that was located near each store's pharmacy area. After several minutes, the subject would approach personnel at the pharmacy counter at which time he would lift his shirt exposing a handgun in his waistband and demand narcotics.

The suspect is described as a thin white male, approximately 59 tall with dirty blonde hair. During both Concord robberies, the suspect was wearing a toboggan or skull cap. Upon leaving the businesses, the suspect was seen in a gold or champagne colored Mercedes, possibly four-door.

On Monday, Oct. 31, the Walgreens located at 1310 S. Cannon Blvd in Kannapolis, North Carolina was robbed in the same manner by a suspect fitting the description as both robberies in Concord.

Concord Police continue to be in contact with other departments to determine if any other similar incidents have occurred within other jurisdictions.

Anyone with any information on the identity of the suspect in both Concord robberies and the Kannapolis robberies is asked to contact the Concord Police Department at 704-920-5000, the Kannapolis Police Department at 704-920-4000, or Cabarrus County Crime Stoppers at 704-93-CRIME (704-932-7469).
By Pritesh Samuel

In June, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) amended the Companies Act of 2013, introducing the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), and replacing the Company Law Board (CLB) after 14 years of deliberations.

The NCLT will be a single judicial forum to judge all disputes concerning the affairs of Indian companies. Both the NCLT and NCLAT were made effective from June 1; they should enable faster implementation of the bankruptcy code and also reduce the burden of hundreds of cases pending in the courts.

The Framework

The NCLT consolidates the corporate jurisdiction of the Company Law Board, Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, the Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction and Jurisdiction and powers related to the winding up, restructuring, and other provisions as vested with the High Courts. With the NCLT and NCLAT now in place, the Company Law Board formed under the Companies Act of 1956 has been made redundant.

While the new tribunals can deal with all company disputes, excluding criminal prosecution as under the Companies Act, their powers are currently limited. Issues relating to the investigation of a companys accounts, freezing of assets, class action suits, and conversion of a public company to a private one will be decided by the NCLT, while appeals will be looked at by the NCLAT rather than the High Courts. Issues related to compromise, amalgamation, and capital reduction will continue to be decided by the courts. The aim is to gradually allow other issues including reduction of share capital, merger, de-mergers, and settlement to be transferred to the NCLT.

For the NCLT, the government has appointed 11 Benches  two in Delhi and one each in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai to use its powers. The NCLT also has two classes of members  Judicial and Technical members. The NCLAT will have eleven members for hearing appeals. Selection of members is done by a selection committee headed by the Secretary of the MCA.

The Tribunals So Far

While the tribunals were made effective on June 1, they only started functioning from July 1, which left many lawyers confused as to which forum to approach. In addition, there was little clarity on the transfer of cases from the CLB to the NCLT. Nevertheless, recent reports show that around 4,000 cases were transferred to the NCLT after the CLB was dissolved. Lawyers have stated that at the moment the NCLT is hearing previous cases from the Company Law Board and high courts as well as some new cases but maintain that it is still early to comment. Changes will come about slowly given the multiple jurisdictions involved. Nevertheless, the infrastructure is now in place.

RELATED: Indian Government Set to Introduce Reforms to Labor Laws

Observations

The introduction of both these tribunals is a step in the right direction as the government looks to make India more business friendly. Once stipulations under the Companies Act and Bankruptcy Code are effective, the tribunals will provide necessary solutions for companies facing issues related to winding up, mismanagement, and insolvency of businesses. Being the only tribunals for arbitrating company disputes, they will eliminate the overlap of or occurrence of conflicting rulings and will minimize the delays in the resolution of disputes, which is a big relief for litigants.

The real challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modis government will be to deliver on its promise of the NCLT being a specialized tribunal handling corporate cases with expertise. The real competency of the tribunals will be decided by the technical strength of their membership and once the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code comes into implementation. Time will tell how things shape up, but for now companies can hope to get speedy justice.



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An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2016

Doing Business in India 2016 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.

Pre-Investment Due Diligence in India

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we examine issues related to pre-investment due diligence in India. We highlight the different regulatory, tax, and socio-economic issues that a company should be aware of before entering the Indian market. We also detail some of the topics related to entry structures while investing in the Indian market, as well as cultural and HR due diligence, which may differ from state to state.

Strategies for Repatriating Funds from India

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we look at issues related to repatriating funds from India. We highlight the unique regulations for sending funds back from India, examine the various strategies companies can make use of while repatriating, and look at remittance procedures for different types of Indian entities. Finally, we give some tips on how expats can remit their Indian money to their home countries.
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If we don't vote we'll be on the bottom of a two story out house!



If you want change  VOTE

How many of the Lakota Oyate realizes the significance of this election, locally and nationally?By Native Sun News Today Editorial Board

For too many years we Native Americans did not exercise our right to vote for several reasons. First of all we were the last of all Americans to be given the Constitutional right to vote. African Americans and women were given that right before us.

Second States like South Dakota did not push Indian voting rights equally. Gerrymandering was so prevalent that even in counties like the old Shannon County although with an Indian population of more than 90 percent could not elect an Indian to the State House or the Senate. It took a senate candidate from Pine Ridge named Tom Short Bull to challenge this blatant gerrymandering and get the reservation voting counties opened in a fair and equal manner.

Now all of that is behind us. We have stepped up because we realize the importance of electing official to office that have our best interests at heart. So many laws were passed over the years in Washington and Pierre that had adverse effects upon the Indian people and since we did not fully participate in the electoral process, we allowed these laws to be passed without our input.

Lets look at this election of 2016. The Republican candidate Donald Trump is an investor in the DAPL in North Dakota. He has also fought strongly against the Indian owned casinos in the Eastern United States. If elected you can bet that many of the things we have fought long and hard to attain will be pushed aside to save money. Money will take precedence of lives.

The Republicans have held such a fear of a woman, Hillary Clinton, winning the office of the president that they have been attempting to diminish her and destroy her for more than two years. She is a strong supporter of Indian rights and especially improving the Indian Healthcare system . The difference between the two candidates is the difference between going backwards and moving forward for Native Americans.

We also have a race for the senate seat of Republican Senator John Thune and House of Representatives candidate Kristi Noem. South Dakota is a deeply red state. Unseated an incumbent is nearly impossible. But we proved our vote was powerful when it was the Indian vote that moved Tim Johnson ahead of John Thune a few elections ago. It was a squeaker, but it was the final votes from the Pine Ridge Reservation that decided that senate seat then.

Locally we are not going to endorse any candidate. The Primary Election results have been challenged and we may not know the results of that challenge before we go to press. We only ask that the long suffering residents of Pine Ridge really study the candidates not only for the office of president and vice president, but also for all of the tribal council seats no on the line. We can only move forward with good, intelligent and honest leadership and we have been sorely lacking in that department for much too long. Alleged corruption on the reservation must be addressed. Where there is smoke there is fire and we have been reporting on the smoke over the past 4 weeks and have drawn the fire of the present administration and some of the residents mentioned in the articles.

We offer our pages to anyone who disagrees with our news stories to respond to them and prove the accusers of corruption on the reservation to be wrong. Dont kill the messenger. We only report on what we have been told, but we never publish anything controversial without written records to substantiate the accusations. If you respond bring us the documents refuting our reporting.

And never forget that what happens to you after the elections will be determined by those you vote into office. Your future, and the future of your children, is in their hands.

For more news and opinion visit the Native Sun News Today website: If you want change  VOTE

(Contact the Editorial Board at editor@nativesunnews.today)

Copyright permission Native Sun News

Join the Conversation
Television actress Pratyusha Banerjee, who shot to fame with her role as Anandi in Balika Vadhu, ended her life by hanging herself in her 1000-sq ft apartment in Goregaon on 1st April, 2016. Her boyfriend, Rahul Raj Singh, accused of abetting her suicide, is currently out on bail. After a series of accusations of constant turbulence between the couple by Pratyusha's family and friends, and Rahul's alleged physical abuse, here's another twist in the tale.

(Also read: Pratyusha Banerjee's Ex Boyfriend Rahul Slapped With Charges Of Assault And Intimidation)

Mumbai Mirror recently accessed a copy of the transcript of the last telephone call Pratyusha made to Rahul. In the nearly three-minute long conversation she had with Singh, Banerjee is heard saying,

B******d man.. I f**k so hard.. In my life i f**k so hard for everything I had not come here to sell myself I had come here to act to work. And where are you putting me today.. Rahul, you have no idea how bad I am feeling right now.

Neeraj Gupta, the advocate for Pratyusha's parents said,

This conversation happened between Rahul and Pratyusha just before her death. In this conversation, it is very clear that she was forced into prostitution by Rahul, as later on in the same phone call she has used the word prostitution."

Towards the second half of the transcript, Banerjee is heard telling Singh,

Colors

"You are selfish you are spoiling my name. People are talking about me my mom and dad are termed ghatiya. Rahul, its over. I am over. Mar gayi mein (I am dead).

When Rahul tries to console and calm her down by saying that he will be home in the following half an hour, Pratyusha tells him, Everything will be over in half an hour.

We have no words. None.
It is hard to believe how people blindly follow religion and can even go to the extent of almost taking the life of their own child. A husband in Kerala prevented his wife from breastfeeding their newborn baby for a day, citing a preachers instruction. The incident was reported from Mukkom in Kozhikode district. Abu Bakr has reportedly said that the newborn must be breastfed only after five prayer calls from the mosque  a span of 24 hours.

assets.babycenter.com

The couple was warned by the hospital authorities that the baby might suffer from diseases, including epilepsy, if not breastfed immediately after birth. The father on the other hand said that his eldest son was also breastfed after five prayers and nothing happened to him.

He did not yield to the doctors' request. The mother was asked to sign the paper stating that the hospital authorities will not be responsible if something happens to the baby.

independent.co.uk

According to official sources District Collector of Kozhikode had given directions to take action against the man. Officials of Social Welfare Department visited the couple's house today to inquire about the incident. Police said no case has been registered against Abu Bakr as neither his relatives or the hospital authorities have lodged any complaint.

Police is still inquiring about the incident and the father of the new born and the preacher who brain washed the parents to do this have been asked to be present for inquiries.
China has said actions should not be taken by either side that may "unilaterally change" the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop the work of a canal .

AFP/representational image

"I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC. Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work.

imgur/representational image

"This issue is once again published by the Indian media outlets," Hua said while replying to a question over the stand off between Indian and China troops in Demchok.

Apparently referring to the canal work, Hua said, "either side shall not take action that may unilaterally change the statues quo of LAC."

Referring to the talks between both the sides to resolve the issue, she said, "currently the two countries have an effective communication through series of mechanisms. We believe that we can maintain peace and tranquility of the border area".

Indian Military News/representational image

Around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene in Demchok sector, located 250km east of Leh, and halted the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel to rush to the spot and stop the high-handedness of Chinese troops at the site where the work for linking a village with 'Hot spring' was being undertaken.

The fresh tensions in Demchok also come in the wake of the Indian government's decision to allow the Dalai Lama to travel to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh despite China's strong reservations about the Buddhist leader. Tawang is also the site of a monastery that is of special significance to Tibetan Buddhists while China claims all of Arunachal as "South Tibet".
Even as ties with Pakistan remain tense, Indian and Chinese troops have been in a stand-off since Wednesday in Ladakh's Demchok area  a region bordering Tibet and site of previous Chinese incursions  over construction of an irrigation canal.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops are understood to have entered an area near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and stopped the construction work. Government sources say the local administration is constructing an irrigation canal under the rural employment guarantee scheme to link a village with a 'hot spring' in Demchok, 250km east of Leh.

A senior Army officer, however, said there was "no Chinese incursion across LAC. The issues relating to construction projects on both sides of LAC are being resolved in border personnel meetings and flag meetings".

The fresh tensions in Demchok also come in the wake of the Indian government's decision to allow the Dalai Lama to travel to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh despite China's strong reservations about the Buddhist leader.

Tawang is also the site of a monastery that is of special significance to Tibetan Buddhists while China claims all of Arunachal as "South Tibet".

indiatoday

Officials said around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene and called a halt to the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the Indian Army and the nearby Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel to rush to the spot and respond to the high-handedness of Chinese troops.

The Chinese troops took positions on the perceived LAC and demanded that work be stopped as both sides need to seek permission before undertaking any such activity. This claim was disputed by the Indian side which says that the terms of the agreement between the two countries state that information about construction needs to be shared only if meant for defence purposes.

AFP/ File

Both sides pulled out banners and have been stationed on the ground, sources said, adding the Army and ITBP were not allowing the Chinese to move ahead despite PLA claiming the area belongs to China.

The area had witnessed a similar incident in 2014 over a small irrigation canal at Nilung Nalla under the MNREGA scheme that had been a sore point with the Chinese.

There was a prolonged incursion by a Chinese platoon in April, 2013 as well that led to India and China agreeing on a protocol to improve communications between border troops.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has invited criticism from both the opposition and ex-servicemen for saying that Ram Kishan Grewal would not be seen as a martyr.

BCCL

"Shaheeds are only those who lay down their lives in battle at the border, not ex-servicemen who commit suicide," Khattar said on the sidelines of a function organized to celebrate the golden jubilee of Haryana's foundation at Panchkula.

The chief minister went on to say that Grewal had committed suicide because of per sonal reasons and that implementation of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) was an achievement of the BJP government.

Calling it an insult to the dead soldier and the country , Congress leaders said Khattar should withdraw his statement. "Khattar's mocking, distasteful remarks on Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal's death show that arrogance of power has blinded the truth," tweeted Randeep Singh Surjewala, in-charge, communications wing of All India Congress Committee.

BCCL

Brig Kiran Krishen (retd) said, "The chief minister is an educated person and a patriot but you don't have to be killed in action to be called a martyr.Even those who are committed to a people's cause and give their life for it are called martyrs.Grewal was committed to OROP and killed himself because he felt that the government was not keeping its word.There should be no doubt about his martyrdom."

Terming the politicization of the issue as unfortunate and condemnable, Khattar said, "A brave soldier never commits suicide. There may be some reasons at home leading to his suicide... We have to consider why he committed suicide."

"...the Congress had kept it (OROP) pending for years. Our Prime Minister implemented it soon after assuming the power. Around Rs 5,500 crore out of a budget of Rs 9,000 crore have been distributed. This way , there was an environment of stability for OROP . It has been said that there was a minor discrepancy in his (Grewal's) account because of a mistake by the bank," he added.

BCCL

State health minister Anil Vij said: "One sainik has committed suicide. His issue may be genuine but committing suicide cannot be termed appropriate... There are many more ways of agitating. Suicide se bhi koi shaheed ho jata hai. Ye bhi sochane aur vicharane ka issue hai (We need to ponder over whether martyrdom can be achieved by committing suicide)," Vij added.

However, Congress reacted sharply over the comments of chief minister and health minister. "Modiji has unleashed the full might of General V K Singh, M L Khattar, Anil Vij & Co to tarnish the memory of Subedar Ramkishan. Utterly deplorable," Surjewala tweeted.
A leopard was allegedly burnt to death in Surat's Vadi village by angry villagers, a day after after it attacked and killed a girl.

TOI

The 8-year-old girl, Nitika, was attacked by the leopard on November 1 while she had gone out of her home to relieve herself.

After the incident, the forest department trapped and caged the leopard. However, villagers, furious over the girl's killing, caught hold of the cage, threw petrol on it, and set it ablaze.

The incident was reported on November 2. The village where it occurred, is also the hometown of Gujarat Cabinet's minister for forest and environment, Ganpat Vasava. He has announced Rs 4 lakhs compensations for Nikita's kin.

( WARNING: Pictures of the burnt leopard may cause distress in some readers )

TOI

The department, has lodged a complaint against the miscreants and investigation is underway. The remains of the leopard have been sent for a forensic examination.
As the political fight over the suicide of an ex-serviceman continue to hunt the BJP, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has admitted that some of the veterans are facing problems and it will be resolved soon.

BCCL

"Only one lakh ex-servicemen (out of over 20 lakh) are not getting pension as per OROP scheme due to some technical difficulty or documentation problems. We will resolve these problems in coming two months," he said.

It is also reported that the government is planning its own mechanism to check and ratify pension revisions of military veterans to ensure there are no discrepancies or anomalies in the amounts disbursed to them by their banks.

This after many have complained about them not benefiting from the scheme just like Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide on Tuesday.

AP

Grewal, who had a service of 30 years and nine months was entitled to get a pension of Rs 28,000 per month, but due to the delay he was receiving around Rs 3,000 less every month.

Meanwhile social activist Anna Hazare, who himself is an ex-serviceman has warned an agitation against the central government for not keeping its promise on the one-rank-one-pension.

BCCL

"Though the government keeps extolling the Indian army all the time, it has not bothered to fulfil its OROP promise. Ex-servicemen are not begging, nor they are helpless. They are just asking for their rights," he said.

"There is nothing wrong if we start an agitation for the rights of our retired army men," Anna added. Last year, Hazare had joined the protests of ex-servicemen over the delay in implementing OROP.
A car mechanic allegedly inspecting and repairing a helicopter engine has landed the pilot of the chopper in serious trouble. The Directorate general of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday grounded the pilot of a private chopper owned by a Mumbai-based company after getting information that the same was allegedly inspected by a car mechanic - and not aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) - during a recent flight.

TOI

"On October 12, an Agusta Westland AW 109 chopper (VT-VCA) was on a flight from Goa to Pune via Kolhapur. Our Mumbai office got information and pictures that at the Kolhapur stopover, a car mechanic did 'something' with the helicopter's engine. He may have possibly inspected the engine to try rectify a snag," said a senior DGCA official.

helis.com

The chopper's pilot has been grounded and we are "interrogating him to find what the mechanic was doing with the chopper engine," the official added. Only qualified AMEs are supposed to inspect and repair aircraft or chopper engines. This is perhaps the first instance of a winged bird's engine being inspected by a car mechanic.
A man allegedly stabbed a 21-year-old MCA student with a broken bottle after she refused to reciprocate his 'proposal of love', at a bus stop near Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Kanagalakshmi, 21, was a first-year MCA student at Bharathiar University. One year ago, she received a friend request from A Vemburaj, 28, employed by a construction company in Chennai. Since then, they began chat ting on social media.

Vemburaj had told Kanagalakshmi that he had completed his BE (civil engineering) and was working as a civil engineer at L&T company in Chennai for the past seven years. He fell in love with her and professed his love for her through the chat.

She, however, told him she was not interested in a relationship. Her focus was on her studies.

They, however, continued chatting online. A few months ago, he got her mobile number and began chatting with her. She began avoiding him, changing her phone number. Upset over her behaviour, Vemburaj decided to confront her in their very first meet.

On Wednesday, he went to Bharathiar University to meet her. They agreed to meet at the bus stop near the university. Vemburaj threatened to `finish her off ' if she refused to marry him. Kanagalakshmi stood her ground.

Frustrated and angry, he took a broken bottle he found at the stop and slashed her neck. Other students at the bus stop informed Vadavalli police who rushed to the spot and took her to a private hospital. Vemburaj managed to flee but was later arrested from a bus stand in the evening.
It was 1966, a trying time for Mizoram. In February, insurgent-led Mizo National Front had decided to launch attacks on Indian Army soldiers and barracks, they had subsequently declared Independence from India. Indira-Gandhi lead central govt decided to take swift action and insurgents were chased into the jungles after bombings and machine gunfire.

It was in this climate that Joe Lalhmingliana, then a 21-year-old tribal boy from Mizoram created history by becoming IAF's first tribal pilot from the North East (he joined the IAF in October '66).

aeroprints.com

Joe Lalhmingliana received his President's Commission from the then Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh on October 29, 1966. He completed 50 years of service late last month.

Joe was just 21 when he was commissioned as an Air Force pilot.

Joe, a resident of the Kulikawn locality of southern Aizawl says he still can't forget the April of 1966. After completing his training with the Indian Air Force, he wanted to pursue his long-dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Like all 21-year-olds, he wanted to fly a supersonic jet. Like all parents of 21-year-olds, his parents didn't want him to come in harms way.

He wrote to his father about his dream, but that wasn't to be.

BCCL

As a result Joe had to turn his attention towards transport planes (India was flying AN 12Bs at that time), he was the only fully-trained jet fighter pilot in his class.

In the twenty years that followed, he never disobeyed his father. He remained true to his heart as well and worked diligently up his career as a reliable transport plane pilot. He went on to work with the Ministry of Home Affairs and was soon selected as one of the hand-picked pilots from across the country trusted to ferry dignitaries.

Retd. Wing Commander Joe Lalhmingliana was last based from the Tezpur base of the Indian Air Force.

But much more than anything else, Retd. Wing Commander Joe Lalhmingliana whether he likes it or not became a bridge between Indian forces and the people of Mizoram in a particularly trying time.
In a major success to the security forces, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police from Sopore in the early hours of Friday.

AFP/ Representative Image

Khaliq, a resident of Tujjar sector was arrested during a joint operation launched by the police and Rajputana Rifles. According to reports some arms and ammunition including AK rifles and grenades have been recovered from him.

The arrest comes amid a spike in skirmishes along the LoC and an increase in infiltration attempts by Pakistan based terrorists including those from the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
A Delhi court has issued a non-bailable warrant against liquor baron Vijay Mallya for allegedly evading summons in a case of FERA violation. Making strong observations against Mallya, the court said that "he has scant regard for the law of the land and has no intention to return to India."

"Mallya's claim that he wants to return to India but his passport has been revoked was malafide and abuse of process," the court said. Read more

1. Kashmiri Youth Leaves Militancy, Surrenders After Mother's Appeal

An emotional appeal of a mother bore fruit when a Kashmiri youth, who had joined Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT), was persuaded to surrender. This happened in an interior area of Sopore late on Thursday night after the Army with the help of other security agencies laid a siege of a locality after intelligence inputs indicated presence of a militant in a house.

A senior Army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the troops came to know the identity of the holed up militant as Umaq Khaliq Mir alias 'Sameer', a resident of Tujjar in North Kashmir. Read more

2. Pilot Grounded For Allegedly Letting Car Mechanic Inspect And Repair Chopper

A car mechanic allegedly inspecting and repairing a helicopter engine has landed the pilot of the chopper in serious trouble. The Directorate general of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday grounded the pilot of a private chopper owned by a Mumbai-based company after getting information that the same was allegedly inspected by a car mechanic - and not aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) - during a recent flight.

Only qualified AMEs are supposed to inspect and repair aircraft or chopper engines. Read more

3. UK's New Visa Restrictions On Non-EU Nationals To Hit Indian IT Professionals

In a crackdown to curb its soaring immigration figures, the UK government has announced changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals, which will affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals.

Under the new visa rules announced Thursday evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds. Read more

4. 80 Guards Were Deployed Elsewhere, Before SIMI Men Fled Bhopal Jail

Was it purely a coincidence or something fishy? It has been learnt that at the Bhopal Central Jail, where eight members of SIMI managed a jailbreak before gunned down hours later, around 80 guards are missing.

Instead of being on duty, these guards were posted elsewhere - at the offices or homes of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele, former Jail Ministers, jail officials, even the jail headquarters. But not in jail. Read more

5. After Ladakh Incursion China Says No 'Unilateral Action' To Change Status Quo Of Line Of Actual Control

China has said actions should not be taken by either side that may "unilaterally change" the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop the work of a canal.

Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work. Read more
The allegations leveled against Indian High Commission officials in Pakistan that they were fomenting terrorist activities in Balochistan and Sindh is absolutely baseless, the MEA has said.

AFP

India described the allegations as baseless and fanciful and said they were an afterthought after Pakistan high commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar was caught accepting sensitive documents from Indian collaborators near Delhi zoo last week.

Akhtar is understood to have named at least four senior high commission officials as involved in spying.

"It is especially regrettable that Pakistani authorities have chosen to level these allegations after deciding to recall, on their own, six officials of the Pakistan high commission, some of whom may have been named to Indian authorities by Akhtar who was caught red-handed while indulging in anti-India activities," said external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

The ministry of external affairs is looking to move the Indian officials from Pakistan as it believes the disclosure of their identities has compromised their safety and security. Four of the eight officials are diplomatic passport holders. The naming of eight Indian officials is unprecedented and the Pakistan foreign office has accused the Indian mission of funding terror.

BCCL

The MEA pointed out that it was Pakistan's support to terrorism that had jeopardised ties. "We also regret the fact that Pakistan's step adds to the risks to peace and security in the region emanating from Pakistan's support to cross border terrorism against its neighbours, its complete denial of the problem and deflection of its responsibility by resorting to fanciful accusations," MEA spokesperson, Vikas Swarup said.

Pakistan linked its actions to the arrest of a former Indian Navy officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, and claimed that Jadhav had revealed the actions of the Indian officials. India has been denied consular access to Jadhav.

Also Read:Deported Pakistan High Commission Staffer Named Four Officials, Ten Other Spies

While Pakistani officials blamed India for first naming its officials who had to be recalled by Islamabad, the manner in which names and photos of the eight Indian officials were published was a hostile and provocative act.

Pakistan accused the Indian officials of everything ranging from "espionage, subversion to handling factions of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and misleading the international community".

Also Read:Fearing Detention Pakistan May Recall Four Delhi High Commission Officials After Spy Racket Bust
Iran: Barbaric and medieval punishments

2 prisoners were executed at Salmas Prison (west Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) on drug related charges.





According to close sources, 1 of the prisoners, identified as Sami Mamadi, was hanged on Monday October 31.





According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the other prisoner, identified as Iraj Hamedi, was hanged on Tuesday November 1.





The human rights news agency, HRANA, has reported that at least 9 drug related prisoners, including one from Urmia Prison, were recently transferred to solitary confinement in Salmas Prison.





Iran Human Rights had recently reported on 2 other prisoners who were hanged at Salmas Prison on drug related charges: Bakhtiar Khaledi and Shoresh Mirzapour.



3 Prisoners Hanged on Drug Charges

14 Prisoners in Imminent Danger of Execution in Western Iran

According to close sources, there are a total of 47 prisoners who are currently on death row in Qorveh's central prison (Kurdistan province, western Iran) for murder or drug related charges.





Iran Human Rights has obtained the names of 14 of them who are in imminent danger of execution:





1. Reza Samadi (sentenced to death on murder charges)





2. Fayegh Rashidi (sentenced to death for producing crystal meth)





3. Mohammad Rasoul Heydari (sentenced to death on murder charges)





4. Sohrab Ramezani (sentenced to death on murder charges)





5. Hashem Gharaghezloo(sentenced to death on drug related charges)





6. Hassan Kazemloo (sentenced to death on drug related charges)





7. Babak Hassanzadeh (sentenced to death on drug related charges)





8. Iman Shokri (sentenced to death on murder charges)





9. Hossein Dervish Koochaki (sentenced to death on murder charges)





10. Saeed Zarei (sentenced to death on murder charges)





11. Reza Parvaneh (sentenced to death on drug related charges)





12. Faraj Amirighazaleh (sentenced to death on drug related charges)





13. Koroush Rezaiepour (sentenced to death on drug related charges)





14. Zeynab Shah-Hosseini (sentenced to death on drug related charges)





Iran Human Rights is aware that Koroush Rezaiepour and Zeynab Shah-Hosseini are a married couple who have been imprisoned since their arrests 5 years ago for alleged drug related offenses.





The couple were reportedly held at Hamadan Prison before their transfer to the central prison in Qorveh.





According to close sources, there are more than 600 prisoners who are currently detained at Qorveh's central prison, and approximately 45% of them are held on drug related charges.

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3 prisoners were reportedly executed at Darya, Urmia's central prison, on drug related charges.According to a report by the human rights news agency, HRANA, the prisoners were hanged on the morning of Wednesday August [sic] 2 in the West Azerbaijan province (northwestern Iran).HRANA identifies the prisoners as Farhad Mansouri, Shoaib Hatami, and Darvish Monzemi.These three prisoners were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement on Tuesday in preparation for their executions.Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the media, have been silent on these executions.Source: Iran Human Rights , November 2-3, 2016
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Happy birthday to this future president. pic.twitter.com/JT3HiBjYdj

 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 26, 2016

Who knew this innocent kid would grow into a monster? #TBT #Trump

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Aug 1, 2013 at 9:11am PDT

#TBT With my family growing up- I'm on the left.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Oct 30, 2014 at 2:57pm PDT

"I've thought a lot about my dad in the last weeks as I learn more about Donald Trump's business behavior. My dad was a small businessman. If his customers had done to him what Trump did to these companies, he wouldn't have made it, either. So this is personal for me. And it's personal for a lot of people." Hillary Learn more about Trump's history of ripping off small business owners at the link in our bio.

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Jul 7, 2016 at 2:54pm PDT

Our economy is always stronger with a Democrat in the White House. #TBT

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Jun 30, 2016 at 12:22pm PDT

One week to Election Day. RT this if it describes you. https://t.co/3TKJ4H68Kz pic.twitter.com/xrdugzH7cG

 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 1, 2016

#TBT As a young man when I proposed the Convention Center in New York City.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Apr 24, 2014 at 2:00pm PDT

#TBT A picture of my fantastic father and myself. Best teacher in the world! A great Fathers Day gifta stay at my 5 star hotel @TrumpNewYork along with items from my signature collection http://bit.ly/1nlhz8V

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Jun 5, 2014 at 8:34am PDT

I wish my mom were here tonight to share this moment. She was my rock from the day I was born until the day she left us. This past Saturday would have been her 97th birthdayshe was born the same day Congress passed the 19th Amendment to give women the right to vote. I wish she could have seen this team and your extraordinary convictionhow you never stopped fighting, no matter how tough this election got. How your voices lifted this campaign up in communities all across the country. How your investment in the values we share made this moment possible.

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Jun 7, 2016 at 10:04pm PDT

RT this if you think kids and families deserve a champion in the White House. https://t.co/3TKJ4H68Kz pic.twitter.com/Y3JMRytqJk

 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 3, 2016

#TBT My confirmation picture at First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, NY.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Dec 11, 2014 at 1:06pm PST

Happy Mother's Day to Charlotte's mom, and my wonderful daughter, Chelsea. -H

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on May 8, 2016 at 7:07am PDT

Happy Halloween!

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Oct 31, 2016 at 4:48pm PDT

I will be hosting @nbcsnl on November 7th. Looking forward to it!

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Oct 13, 2015 at 11:15am PDT

Fighting for women for decades, and proud of it. #TBT

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Apr 28, 2016 at 1:25pm PDT

#TBT Trump and Gekko

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Apr 16, 2015 at 10:14am PDT

@VogueMagazine in its first-ever presidential endorsement: "Her fierce intelligence and considerable experience are reflected in policies and positions that are clear, sound, and hopeful. She supports comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. She speaks up for racial justice, for reforming policing and sentencing laws. Her years as Secretary of State have shown that she understands how to strengthen alliances abroad, respond to global crises, and continue American leadership in the world. She is forceful in her support for LGBTQ rights, including an end to discrimination against transgender people. She knows the challenges working women face. Her tax proposals and commitment to infrastructure investment will be a boon to the middle class. She will continue the important work on health-care reform begun by President Obama. She is a sane voice on guns. Can Clinton unify a deeply divided America? Heal the wounds of this unbearably fraught political season? Our divisions are real, and it will take more than one intensely qualified leader to heal them. And yet two words give us hope: Madam President."

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Oct 22, 2016 at 11:39am PDT

#TBT With @britneyspears

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Feb 12, 2015 at 2:37pm PST

"Human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights." Hillary in Beijing, 21 years ago today

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Sep 5, 2016 at 5:07pm PDT

Happy Birthday President Reagan #FlashbackFriday

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Feb 6, 2015 at 2:06pm PST

Happy birthday, Bill!

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Aug 19, 2016 at 7:28am PDT

#TBT It is great being part of Home Alone 2, a holiday staple.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Dec 18, 2014 at 1:30pm PST

1979.

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Aug 11, 2016 at 11:37am PDT

#TBT With Tommy Lee Jones at Mar-a-Lago.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Jan 8, 2015 at 9:46am PST

Our first ever gold medal winning women's gymnastics team: the Magnificent Seven.

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Aug 5, 2016 at 8:29am PDT

#TBT With Barbara Walters on my helicopter going somewhere.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Dec 26, 2013 at 11:51am PST

Nelson Mandela and myself had a wonderful relationship--he was a special man and will be missed.

A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Dec 5, 2013 at 2:16pm PST

"She is still the best darn changemaker I have ever known. Bill Clinton

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Jul 27, 2016 at 10:20am PDT

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As we move forward to incorporate community knowledge in day to day planning, sharing, teachings and in law, many are recognizing the importance of aboriginal community traditional, spiritual and lands knowledge to future development.

Mineral companies, governments and society are accepting to embrace this knowledge and attempting to include these values into their policies, regulations and in laws. Community knowledge, youth and minerals and new technologies are being sought today to reconcile and move forward together.

The collaboration of community, industry and governments can yield benefits for all and provide for a rewarding future to Aboriginal communities, the minerals industry and governments to the benefit of all of society.

We invite you to be a part of us in making our 2016 Event a huge success!
"The prime minister's statement that any reinstatement of the death penalty in

Turkey cannot be retroactive is very important and correct."

A reinstatement of capital punishment appears to be in the pipeline in Turkey. Although it looks like Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli opened the door for it, it was actually President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who initially gave the signal that capital punishment would be included in the government's constitutional draft.





The inclusion of the death penalty into the draft would be useful both for obtaining MHP support and also during the rallies for the impending referendum on constitutional changes for a presidential system. Crowds would chant enthusiastically: "Hang them, hang them."





Who should we hang? Prime Minister Binali Yildirim answered this on Nov. 1: The death penalty could be reintroduced for a certain "limited" number of crimes and, most importantly, "it should be known that it cannot be retroactive," he said.





In other words, the death penalty will not be applicable for either the July 15 coup plotters or for the terrorist offenses of members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Until the law is ratified, the punishment for such offenses will continue to be an aggravated life sentence. Capital punishment will be applicable only for acts committed after the date of approval.





But is it not true that those chanting "death, death" in town squares actually want those guilty of past crimes to be hanged?





The prime minister's statement that any reinstatement cannot be retroactive is very important and correct. Bahceli should now express his view on this question.





It has been argued that "the people want the death penalty." But if that is the case, why don't we hold a referendum on the question of migrants? Or why did we criticize the holding of referendums in Europe on building minarets? How can we criticize the appeals to voters by populist politicians using Islamophobic and xenophobic rhetoric? Aren't they also saying, "this is what the people want"?





To avoid this kind of populism, which is today rising across the world, the political class must be very careful about the law and must carefully scrutinize how decisions made with today's mass psychology could affect the country and future generations. The motivation behind new laws should not be the short-term pursuit of votes, but the responsibility of tomorrow.





This is absolutely true for Turkey. Breaking away from European legal principles would cause huge damage to the economy and future generations. It's not just me saying that, it is also economists and members of the government like Ali Babacan and Mehmet Simsek. The MHP administration, meanwhile, could also ask former Central Bank governor Durmus Yilmaz how the economy would be affected by breaking away from European law.





Pointing out that the Turkish economy's per capita GNP has never been able to exceed the $10,000 threshold, stuck in the "middle-income trap," Babacan said back in 2014 that "the legal norms of the Council of Europe are references for us ... Our only remedy is to practice the rule of law in Turkey in the best way."





Simsek also said in 2015, when he was readying the government's economic program, that "Turkey will have 3 anchors in the coming term: Fiscal discipline will continue, the EU process will be invigorated, and structural reforms will be carried out."





Sure, let's reintroduce the non-retroactive death penalty; let's hang 3 or 4 terrorists. What would happen then? The Council of Europe would suspend our membership and our EU accession process would freeze. We would self-sabotage 1 of the 3 anchors we rely on in the economy, casting a shadow on our "only remedy" by ourselves.





Where would the economy go in this eventuality? At present, capital is starting to shrink in the world and foreign exchange rates are rapidly rising. At such a time, Turkey needs an inflow of foreign capital amounting to roughly $200 billion every year.





True, South Korea is a very successful economy without being an EU member. But in the most recent World Rule of Law Index, South Korea was in 11th place while Turkey was in 80th place.





That is why Babacan says "our sole remedy is EU Law." If we hamper our economy to this extent, will Turkey's fight against terrorism strengthen? Will terrorists drop their arms out of fear of execution? Was the PKK discouraged back when the death penalty was still in place in Turkey?





For the good of the country, do we not need science, intellect, debate, moderation, common sense, diplomacy and law more than ever?





Source: Hurriyet Daily News, November 3, 2016





 | 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




A roadside bomb has killed 11 people on their way to a wedding in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, officials said Friday, as civilian casualties rise in the war-torn country.

The blast occurred on Thursday just as 30 Afghan civilians were killed in US air strikes in the neighbouring province of Kunduz, a hotbed of Taliban insurgency.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the Faryab blast, which also killed women and children, but officials blamed Taliban militants.

Eleven civilians were martyred and 12 others wounded when they struck a roadside bomb in Kosa Qala village in Faryab province, provincial spokesman Ahmad Jawed Bedar told AFP, adding that the victims were heading to a wedding.

A provincial police spokesman confirmed the same toll.

Roadside bombs are the favourite weapon of the Islamist militants fighting to oust the Western-backed Kabul government.

Insurgents frequently target Afghan police and military, but the surge in attacks has also taken a heavy toll on civilians.

The UN recently cited a 42 per cent rise in casualties caused by pro-government forces this year compared to 2015.

But Islamist militants were responsible for the majority  61 percent  of total casualties.

Source: Punch
Former spokesman to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati, has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he does not have any money to refund to the government.

Mr. Abati has been in EFCC custody since turning himself in last week to explain what he knows about N50million payment he received from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

The money was part of $2.1 billion allocated to the office of the former NSA for purchase of arms for the fight against Boko Haram, the EFCC says.

Mr. Dasuki is currently standing trial for allegedly mismanagement of the money.

The former presidential spokesman had reportedly promised to refund the money to government coffers in a bid to stave off trial but sources within the agency said he has recanted.

According to a report by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Abati told interrogators that he had no immediate means of sourcing the amount for which he is being detained.

Apart from being unable to refund the money, he also allegedly told investigators that he could not provide documentary backing up his disbursement of the N50million.

The former presidential aide reportedly said he disbursed the money as cash and material gifts to journalists during presidential campaign for the 2015 elections.

Asked to mention names of media practitioners who benefited from the largess, Mr. Abati reportedly said he did not keep such records.

We thought he would be able to pay N5 million yesterday, but it turned out that he doesnt have any money, a source told the online newspaper.

The source also clarified that Mr. Abati had met his bail conditions since Friday, but the EFCC had refused to release him.

The commission had on October 26 granted him an administrative bail, and required as one of the conditions for his release, a surety of the level of director in the federal civil service.

Those conditions were met as at last week Friday but the EFCC failed to release him because of the stalemate over the N50 million.

The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached for comments.
Bauchi State Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, has pardoned 20 suspects currently being detained in Bauchi Prisons for allegedly pelting him at the Eid prayer ground during the 2016 Eid-el-Fitr celebration.

The governor made the announcement in Bauchi when officials of Amnesty International paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday.

He said that it was never his wish to arrest and detain the suspects in the first instance for what they did to him.

It is not my wish to arrest them, but I have to do that because there is the need for people to respect their leaders.

Even the Holy Quran teaches us to respect our leaders. So I dont see any reason why I will be stoned by my people just because I am conducting verification exercise of workers in my state.

I will communicate this decision to the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice for him to go to the prison and release those people to their families, Mr. Abubakar said.

The governor pleaded with the people to be patient with the government, especially over the current economic hardships.

He assured that the situation would soon be history as government was doing everything possible to make life better for Nigerians.

Suleiman Shuaibu, the leader of the delegation who is also head of the organisation in the northern states, had earlier pleaded with the governor to pardon the suspects.

Mr. Shuaibu said his team became aware of the situation while it was pursuing a case. He urged the governor to forgive the suspects.

He said the team also stumbled on the case of one Mahmud Tatimu who was arrested by the police for allegedly attempting to break Bauchi prisons with his accomplices.

When we investigated the case, we found out that it is not true as the suspect went to the prison to visit his brother who was standing trial in a case of terrorism.

The suspect had told his brother during the visit that by the grace of God the brother would be out of prison before the last Sallah celebration.

It is that statement that Tatimu made that led him to stay in prison for about 53 days; but we thank God he gained his freedom today through the intervention of Amnesty International, he said.

(NAN)
Bishop Feb Idahosa II is the President of Benson Idahosa University and the Bishop of Faith Arena, the headquarter church of Church of God Mission, founded by his late father, Archbishop Benson Idahosa.

The popular pastor is a true reflection of the saying; love knows no bounds. He has been Married to his American wife, Laurie Whetstone-Idahosa for 15 years now and the union has been blissfully blessed.

To mark their 15th wedding anniversary, his wife, Laurie shared her brief story and sacrifice she made for her friend, Feb Idahosa and how far they have come today.

Read below:

Our Dream Came true 15+ years ago, I gave up an all expense paid trip to Venice because my friend, Feb Idahosa was coming to visit me in Delaware. I was single at the time and I remember my Mother telling me specifically that giving up that one trip was going to be a small sacrifice next to what I would gain by spending time with Feb.

To cut a long story short, it was during his visit that we made a decision to marry one another. He promised me that he would take me to Venice after we were married. Of course, I thought it would be for our honeymoon, but, God had a different plan.

We have talked about Venice every year since that day. Life happened and various things came up that took our attention and finances, making the Venice trip seem more and more like a pipe dream.

Little did I know, that this week, our dream would become a reality! We were in Switzerland for a Conference last week and decided to stay a few extra days to commemorate my birthday and our Anniversary. On Sunday, we got on a train and we traveled 7 hours to Milan and Venice in Italy!!! These are two places we have dreamed of going to for 15 years!!!! God did it for us, our dream came true this week!

Over the next few days, I will post more pictures. Dont get jealous, get inspired! Whatever you are hoping for, though it tarry, wait for it. It will come. Habakkuk 2.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has berated the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for linking him with the judicial scandal against former governor of the state and current Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Two justices of the Supreme Court  Justice Sylvester Ngwuta and Justice Inyang Okoro  who were accused by the Department of State Services, DSS, of corruption in a sting operation last month, had accused Amaechi of attempting to bribe them to deliver justice in favour of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidates, especially in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

In a statement on Thursday, the Chairman of the APC in Rivers State, Chief Davies Ikanya, had accused Governor Wike of using the two Justices for political purpose to demean Amaechi.

But the governor has described the statement of his alleged involvement in the judicial scandal as scurrilous, noting that as governor, his predecessor left a shameful legacy in the state.

In a statement by the State Commissioner of Information and Communication, Dr Austin Tam-George, the governor denied the allegation by the APC, describing the act as a disgraceful plight.

The commissioner noted that Governor Wike had deliberately refrained from making public speech on the said subject, noting the state had been justified by the accusation from the two justices.

He said: The attention of the Rivers State Government has been drawn to yet another scurrilous statement by the Rivers State branch of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Wike has refrained from making public comments on this subject, because the people of Rivers State feel sadly vindicated by these latest scandals swirling around the Transportation Minister.

As governor of Rivers State, Mr. Amaechi left a shameful record of waste and dysfunction. His thoughtless policies and mismanagement of public funds literally broke the economic spine of Rivers State.

Amaechi has of course always protected his innocence. But even chieftains of his party, the APC, including serving governors, have publicly praised Mr. Amaechi for bankrolling the partys presidential campaigns in the 2015 general elections, and for sponsoring candidates in that election.

Tam-George, however, urged the APC to ask the minister to step down from office, in order to allow for a dispassionate inquiry into the serious allegations against him.
Prof. Musa Yakubu of the University of Ilorin has asserted that diarrhoea can cause erectile dysfunction in men.

Yakubu told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Friday that diarrhoea was a condition in which watery faeces was frequently discharged.

The biochemistry lecturer also revealed that the prevalence of diarrhoea in the country was as high as 18.8 per cent above the average of 16 per cent.

Yakubu, renowned for herbal remedies, said that plantain could be used to cure diarrhoea.

He also explained that ceratotheca sesamoides or false sesame had medicinal properties to cure the disease.

The biochemist said mangifera indica or mango was also an efficacious treatment for the disease.

Our finding shows that the plants and their sap contained relevant secondary anti-diarrhoeal bioactive agents that prolonged the onset time of diarrhoea.

It increased the inhibition of defecations and small intestine sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase, he said.

He said that the plants could be explored as alternatives in the management of diarrhoea.

Yakubu reiterated that people with diarrhoea would not think of any sexual activity let alone reproduction.

Source: Punch
The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has urged Nigerians not to politicise the $29.9 billion loan request forwarded to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari for approval.

The Senate on Tuesday rejected the loan request based on lack of detailed information.

The Senates action was greeted by suspicion in some quarters as a confirmation of the frosty relationship existing between the Legislative and Executive arms of government.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed had disclosed on Wednesday that the end of the request has not come as it will be re-presented with detailed information to the National Assembly.

Speaking with State House correspondents after observing Jumaat prayer and holding meeting with the president along with some lawmakers on Friday, the Senate president said that the loan request is a work-in-progress.

Asked to speak on the Senates relationship with the executive as far as the loan is concerned, Saraki said: We should not look at that as a reflection of the relationship. Dont let us politicize very important issues. As we said this is work in progress.

On the purpose of his visit to the Presidential Villa, he said: I came here to pray, I have finished praying and I just had a general felicitation with the President. It didnt go beyond that.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma on Thursday commended the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, for initiating a reform of the nations budgeting process.

He said the executive was fully in support of the move.

Udoma, according to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Sanni Onogu, disclosed this during the formal presentation of the report of the Technical Committee on the Budget Reform Process in Nigeria, inaugurated by Saraki on July 25, 2016.

This initiative of Your Excellency, the Senate President, is an initiative that has the full support of the executive, Udoma said. We believe that the budget and the budget process is something that we have to work on together closely and collaboratively.

Consequently, your initiative to look at the reform of the process is an initiative that we welcome and which was why the Director General of the Budget Office, with my authority, participated fully in the deliberations.

As the Senate Leader indicated, the success of any budget depends on very close collaboration between the executive and the legislature. I believe that this process that you have embarked on and the reforms will help to smoothen some of the issues that arise from time to time when we are considering the budget, he said.

In his remarks after receiving the report from the Chairman of the Technical Committee and Leader of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, the Senate President described the report as one of the most important exercises of the Senate so far, while commending the Committee for complying with the stipulated time frame for the exercise.

Saraki also commended Mr. Udoma for his participation in the processes that led to the report, saying, I think as a country, what we are doing today is long overdue for us to have reviewed the budget process. I think we are truly building a solid foundation for the years ahead.

I agree that the recommendations require the review of certain laws, but I think there are some of them that have to do with processes. I think we can immediately begin to implement those that have to do with processes.

As we all know, for many years, this has been an area of acrimony and disaffection between the two arms of government which is mainly due to ambiguities in some of the laws and processes, Saraki pointed out.

The Senate President specifically noted the recommendation in the report dealing with pre-budget participation of the public in the process as he said there is really very little participation of the public in the process.

We have public hearings on so many things but the most important law that we have to pass, has very little participation of the public. I am happy it was captured in this report that even when we do the review of the budget, the public should also participate, he stated.

Earlier, Senator Ndume noted that the low development indicators and lackluster performance of the economy in general are not unconnected with inefficient and ineffective public financial management and budgeting in particular.

He noted that the broad objective of the exercise is to address the pitfalls and challenges in the budget process and significantly improve formulation, enactment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation with a view to improving budget performance and development outcomes.
The immediate past Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), yesterday denied knowledge of an Escrow Account that was opened and $32.5 million fines from Halliburton Energy Services, paid into it.

Mr. Adoke said he was not briefed about the existent of any Escrow Account at any time by a member of the legal team of the Federal Government, Mr. Roland Ewubare, who was a former Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

He explained that the team was constituted to initiate criminal proceedings against the five companies involved in the Halliburton bribe scandal.

The five firms, which later settled for plea bargain, were: Julius Berger ($35m); Siemens (Euros 30m); Snamprogetti ($30m); Halliburton Energy Services ($32,500,000) and Japan Gasoline Corporation ($26, 500,000).

The ex-Minister was reacting to reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was looking into the roles played by two former National Security Advisers; Gen. Aliyu Gusau (retd.) and the late General Owoye Azazi, and two former AGFs on the facilitation of $200million Settlement Agreement with Halliburton and four others.

The past AGFs are Mr. Mike Aondoakaa (SAN) and Adoke (SAN).

Mr. Aondoakaa, who was recently interrogated by the EFCC, has denied benefitting from the agreement in any manner whatsoever.

Decrying the attempt by the anti-graft agency to rope him in by all means possible, Mr. Adoke said he did his best in service to the nation as AGF and Justice Minister.

In an exclusive telephone interview with The Nation on Thursday, the ex-minister said: On assumption of office in 2010, I was approached by then chairperson of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, that she has a request from some American lawyers to sue, on behalf of Nigeria, Halliburton and associated companies involved in the $180 million bribe scandal.

She came with the lawyers to see me and when I read the terms of their demand. I declined to engage them and rather opted to set up a team of lawyers to initiate criminal proceedings against the companies against the backdrop of our previous experience in the Pfizer case.

The lawyers introduced by the EFCC wanted to be entitled to 33 1\3 of whatever was recovered, which I felt was outrageous and also wanted us to cede the control of the case to them.

I asked the EFCC to nominate a lawyer into the team and Godwin Obla (SAN) was nominated while Emmanuel Akomoye, the then secretary of the commission was co-opted to assist the team.

In the course of the prosecution, there was a need to enter into plea bargain due to National Security concerns and Kayode Are, the Deputy NSA, was directed by the then NSA, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, to lead the negotiations.

After the negotiations and agreement were signed, the OAGF was requested to furnish the federal accounts in which the fines were to be paid. And that was the sequence all the other negotiations followed.

I was not aware of the opening of the Escrow Account in the USA nor was I informed and I didnt know of the existence of any such account before now. I, therefore, have no explanation to offer than I had previously offered on record.

The EFCC should, therefore, spare me the ordeal of trying at all cost to bring me down for I am beyond blemish in this or any other transaction while in office.

He challenged any lawyer that had ever given him bribe to come out and say so, adding that as AGF, he was very careful.
A Micro-Finance Bank Manager, Aliyu Suleiman, has been sentenced to 195 years imprisonment by the Kano State High Court for stealing N21 million.

Delivering the judgement on Friday, Justice Dije Abdu Aboki, also ordered the convict to refund N14,815,000 to Albasu community, owners of the micro-finance bank.

He is to serve two years on each of counts 1 to 44 and also pay a fine of N300,000 for each sentences.

Additionally, the judge ruled that where the convict defaults, he will serve additional six months imprisonment on each count.

From counts 45 to 74, the convict was fined N500,000 or 12 months imprisonment on each count while on counts 75 to 105, he is to pay a fine of N200,000 or 12 months imprisonment on each count with the exception of count 97 which appeared to be duplication.

The sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve a maximum of two years.

In his defence, the convict, Mr Suleiman, pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

Mr Suleiman, a former staff of Oceanic Bank before being engaged by the community to take charge of their micro-finance Bank was on September 30, 2014, arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 105-count charges.
Well, well, well.In her speech, Melania took care to praise Ronald Reagan (a true inspiration to me) and to studiously name the swing states.Every time my husband learned of a factory closing, in Ohio or North Carolina or here in Pennsylvania, I saw him get very upset, she said somberly.Then she got to the meat of her speech: online bullying.As adults many of us are able to handle mean words, even lies, she said. Children and teenagers can be fragile. They are hurt when they are made fun of, or made to feel less, in looks or intelligence. This makes their life hard and can force them to hide and retreat.Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers, she added.Melania Trump criticizing online bullying while her husband engages in it on a regular basis. Online bullying is terrible, they said, and Trump is going to be a great president.Trump has consistently bullied, insulted, demeaned, name-called....TWEET TWEET. But Melania (who can hardly speak English) wants everyone ELSE to play nice???So to summarize. Melania wants to SAVE US from her husband??
Four employees of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc have been quizzed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for their alleged involvement in a botched exportation of 144 kilogrammes of ephedrine to Maputo, Mozambique.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects are the Chief Security Supervisor of NAHCO, Audu Garba, two security officers, Nasiru Ibrahim and Haruna Abdullahi, as well as a driver, Adamu Dasura.

It was learnt that one Victor Ahenje, a Load Controller, who was said to be on the run, has been declared wanted.

The suspects were alleged to have aided drug traffickers to hide the drug inside noodles and cartons containing relaxers and cereals.

The drug, was however, intercepted by the NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, during the outward screening of shipment to be transported via an Ethiopian airline flight on Monday.

The NDLEA commander at the Abuja airport, Mr. Hamisu Lawan, said the NAHCO officials worked at the cargo section of the airport and were currently being quizzed by investigators.

We have commenced the interrogation of the workers of NAHCO in connection with the attempt to export 144kg of ephedrine to Maputo, Mozambique. Preliminary investigation suggests flagrant lapses on the part of NAHCO security. So far, they are cooperating with our team of investigators, Hamisu added.

The NDLEA Chairman, Col. Muhammad Abdallah (retd.) called for proper scrutiny of airport staff to prevent acts of sabotage and compromise capable of undermining national security.

He said, This is a suspected case of conspiracy involving workers within the airport community. The agency is investigating the level of involvement of the suspects under interrogation and anyone indicted shall be prosecuted.

Abdallah added that efforts were ongoing to arrest Ahenje, who hails from Benue State, and called on members of the public to avail the agency with useful information that could lead to his arrest.

When contacted a NAHCO official, who did not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak on the case, directed our correspondent to the Managing Director, Mr. Nobert Bielderman.

The MD had yet to reply to an email sent to him as of press time.

Source: Punch
Nigerian newspaper headlines November 4, 2016.

Guardian

The leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), northern Nigeria chapter yesterday met with President Muhammadu Buhari to seek his intervention in the reported abductions and forced marriages of underage Christian girls by some traditional rulers and emirs in the country.

Vanguard

Unidentified gunmen, on Thursday evening, kidnapped Dr Muslim Omoleke, the Administrative Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti State.

Punch

The Federal Government has called for better collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the rubber industry with a view to exploring the economic potential of the agricultural commodity for national development.

The Sun

A prosecution witness, Mr. Richard Kediwa, yesterday told an Abuja High Court that former National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisah Metuh, got N400 million and disbursed it as directed.

Thisday

The states executives of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-west loyal to the Ali Modu Sherrifs faction have filed an application at the Supreme Court to stop the newly constituted panel of the Court of Appeal from hearing appeals relating to the partys nomination of candidate for the Ondo State governorship election.

Leadership

The Sultan of Sokoto and president-general, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, yesterday in Sokoto criticized the nations leaders, accusing them of wasting funds on misplaced priorities.

Premium Times

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said he contemplated running away from office shortly after he was inaugurated as Nigerias president on May 29, 2015.

The Nation

The Federal Government yesterday filed a nine-count charge of funds diversion against the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Ahmed Saleh and two other officials of the court. It accused them of diverting, among others, about N2.2 billion belonging to the court.
Following weeks of uncertainty around Nigerias judiciary and the conduct of judges, The National Judicial Council has suspended seven judges accused of corruption.

Two Supreme Court justices, as well as Five high court judges, were arrested by the DSS in October amid claims that they had all received vast sums of money to influence judgments in several cases.

The NJC had initially risen to the defense of the judges but it has now said the judges have stepped aside voluntarily.

A statement released after the councils meeting on Thursday read Council also decided that Judicial Officers shall not be standing trial for alleged corruption related offences and be performing judicial functions at the same time, Council however decided that it will ensure that Judicial Officers who are being investigated for alleged

Council however decided that it will ensure that Judicial Officers who are being investigated for alleged high profile criminal offences do not perform judicial functions until their cases are concluded.

Despite their arrest and interrogation, they have not been arraigned.
A two-time former Governor of the defunct Midwest region and old Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, has lauded Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, saying he has done well in eight years.

Ogbemudia gave the commendation yesterday when he visited the outgoing Edo governor at Government House, Benin City.

According to the octogenarian, he could spend a full day if allowed, to talk about the good records of the outgoing governor.

I am here to thank His Excellency, Comrade Oshiomhole for taking care of me throughout his tenure. People have come to me to ask, what have I got to say about Comrade Oshiomhole and most importantly what have I got to say about his achievements, what he has done, and my answer is simple: If I spend the whole day narrating what he has done, there is no newspaper or television house that will have time for thathe has done everything that needed to be done by anybody occupying this position for eight years

Responding, Oshiomhole said he had many things to thank Ogbemudia for, So, if we have done anything, we had a living example in your person, and I can never thank you enough.

The elder statesman was accompanied on the visit by his wife, Yetunde and his son Samuel Ogbemudia II.

Gov. Oshiomhole will hand over to his successor, Godwin Obaseki on Saturday, November 12, 2016.
Parents in Spain are ready to go on strike for their kids to be given free time from homework during weekends.

The Spanish Confederation of Associations of Mothers and Fathers of Students (CEAPA) has called on parents whose children attend state schools to boycott weekend homework for the whole month of November.

Theres absolute certainty that homework is detrimental to children as it hampers their extra-curricular development, Jose Luis Pazos, president of CEAPA said.

Weve lost a bit of common sense in this country when it comes to talking about education and weve got a system in which boys and girls free time has disappeared, he added.

According to a 2012 report by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Spanish 15-year-olds have 6.5 hours of homework a week, putting the country in fifth place after Russia, Italy, Ireland and Poland.

Too much homework has turned the Spanish parents into second teachers, Pazos said, adding that such a situation was unacceptable.

The CEAPA leader said education in Spain was too traditional and mainly relies on memorising work.

Society has changed deeply, but the environment in the classroom hasnt, he said.

In the modern information society what we have to teach children, isnt to memorise everything, but how to manage information, to be critical, to select what is worth it and what isnt, he further stated.

CEAPA covers some 12,000 state schools across the country, and is providing the parents who would support the strike with three letters to be handed to their children schools.

Two of the letters are addressed to the headmaster and teachers, asking them to refrain from assigning homework for weekends.

The third explains that the student hasnt prepared his homework because of the constitutional right that families have to make what they consider to be the best decisions for family life, which is a private matter and one on which schools should not intrude.

However, concerning the protest, a spokesman for the education department of Madrid told The Guardian that it was for individual schools, and not regional governments, to decide whether to assign homework or not.

Theyre the ones who know best what the need is in each case, the spokesman said, adding that authorities still urge that schools try to make sure that different teachers and departments coordinate homework so that theyre not all giving a lot of homework at the same time.
The Nigeria Police has arrested a notorious kidnapper and serial killer alleged to have been terrorizing high profile citizens in the country.

The suspect is also alleged to be an armed robbery kingpin as well as a political thug responsible for series of deaths in the last general election in Kogi and some states in the South-West.

The notorious criminal, whose identity was revealed as Zakeri Yua Isiaka, was arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Polices Special Intelligence Response Team led by Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Abba Kyari, penultimate Sunday along the Okene-Akure highway.

The suspect and his gang were said to have disguised as military personnel during operations and were allegedly involved in the kidnap of high profile citizens, especially in Kogi State.

The 30-year-old criminal suspect, who hails from Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, was arrested with 15 automatic rifles including an AK47, suspected to have been snatched from policemen.

Also recovered were several AK 47 magazines and different calibres of ammunition.

A security personnel, who participated in the operation that led to his arrest, described Isiaka as the most powerful and dreaded political thug in Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Ogun and Lagos states.

The source also disclosed that he was trained by a factional leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) before he formed his own gang.

According to the police source, the suspect and his gang members had been involved in several major robberies, kidnappings and political-related killings in the country.

In his confessional statement, the suspect said he is a native of Odu-Ochelle village in Dekina LGA and is married to nine wives, who bore him 15 children.

His confessional statement reads in part: I went into farming after I left school. I farmed at Iseyin in Oyo State, for about eight years before I went to Port Harcourt, Rivers State where I joined the militant leaders.

When I got to Port Harcourt, I stayed with a boy from my village. Because I had no job. I started visiting an Indian hemp smoking joints in the area. I later discovered that those who visited the joints are mainly into oil bunkering. I told them that I wanted to join them and they started beating me. They thought I was an informant, I was beaten for one week before a guy took interest in me. He allowed me to join them, he noted.

Isiaka said it was during his association with the gang in Port Harcourt that he learnt how to handle fire arms and engaged in oil bunkering.

I was making close to N3million each trip, he said. After I made my money I came to Abuja and settled down. I built a house and then I went into sales of vehicle. I was buying and selling cars. I also came back with three guns and I kept them in the village.

The police said they have declared man hunt for other members of the gang and that the suspect would soon be charged to court.
A 44-year-old man, Iliasu Salami, on Thursday in Iseyin, Oyo State, lost his five-year-old marriage to irreconcilable political differences between him and his estranged wife, Rashidat.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Salami had approached the Iseyin Customary Court, seeking the dissolution of the marriage over allegations of disobedience.

He told the court that his wife had no regard for him, adding that his opinions did not count in their affairs.

He said his wife joined a different political party against his instruction and wish.

Salami, however, did not state his or ex-wifes party.

All efforts to resolve the issue by both families failed, Salami said, and pleaded with the court to terminate the marriage.

The President of the customary court, Chief Adelodun Oyegbenle, said, Rashidats refusal to show up in court after several summons and the evidences tendered by the husband on the political differences between them are enough to show that no love is lost between the couple.

It is unfortunate that the defendant (Rashidat) did not attend any of the court proceedings despite court summons. This court hereby dissolves the five-year-old union.

Oyegbenle ordered Salami to pay N10,000 monthly upkeep allowance for the two children of the failed marriage.

Source: Punch
Justice Centus Chima Nweze of the Supreme Court yesterday stepped down from a panel set up by the apex court to hear an appeal by the Lagos State Government against the acquittal of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

A Lagos High Court had found Al-Mustapha and an aide to late Chief MKO Abiola, Lateef Sofolahan, guilty of the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996 and sentenced them to death in January 2012.

Following an appeal, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal on July 12, 2013, discharged and acquitted them, a decision the Lagos State Government is challenging at the Supreme Court.

Justice Nweze announced his withdrawal yesterday when the appeal was called.

He reminded lawyers in the case that he had participated in the hearing of the appeal by Al-Mustapha at the Court of Appeal, Lagos division.

The judge, who said he actively participated in the hearing of the appeal at the lower court, added that he, at some point, presided over the hearing of the case at the appellate court before another panel of the same court took over.

Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, who presided over proceedings yesterday, ruled that, in view of the information by Justice Nweze, he would be excluded from the case forthwith.

He adjourned to January 12, 2017.
Ugandas High Court on Friday ordered the closure of a chain of low-cost private schools backed by Microsoft and Facebook founders Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

A judge ruled that the 63 Bridge International Academies provided unsanitary learning conditions and had not been properly licensed.

The ruling is a blow to Bridge International which has expanded rapidly since its inception in 2008, offering cheap, standardised, technology-driven education in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

Under the Bridge International model, teachers read scripted lessons word-for-word from a tablet computer that also records student attendance and assessments.

Gates and Zuckerbergs foundations are among the companys high-profile backers.

But Bridge International has courted controversy, with Liberian teachers threatening to strike earlier this year over government plans to outsource all primary education to the private US-owned company.

In Uganda, government inspectors said children were being taught in sub-standard facilities and unsanitary conditions.

Bridge International, which claims to have 12,000 students in Uganda, said it would challenge the High Court ruling.

We are extremely disappointed for our pupils and disagree with this ruling, said liaison officer, Godwin Matsiko.

Source: Punch
A Chinese woman spread out her hair on the stage in a Chinese park and had her hair measured.

The 60-year-old woman showed off her impressive hair which measured a staggering 11 feet on Sunday for spectators at a park in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, and revealed the results of the annual measuring of her hair length.

The woman said her hair has grown nearly 19 inches since it was measured last year.

She said she hasnt cut her hair in 18 years and she is hoping to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, which currently lists Chinas Xie Qiuping as the record-holder with hair measuring 18 feet and 5.54 inches long.

Ni Linmei reportedly spends two hours every day washing and drying her hair and normally winds it on top of her head to keep it out of the way.

In 2013, she had threatened to have her hair cut short as she said that her long locks were inconvenient.

There was an occasion when she got her hair trapped in an elevator.
FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA
A woman has filed a lawsuit to stop the US presidential election from holding this coming Tuesday.

Louise K. Nolley of Buffalo, New York contends that neither republican candidate Donald Trump nor his democrat counterpart Hillary Clinton is suitably qualified for the office.

She requests the election be postponed until such time as more worthy candidates can be drafted to run.

Neither of the candidates running for the Presidential seat shows that they can handle the position, her lawsuit states, adding that the character of both candidates falls far below the standards needed.

Nolley said she is hopeful that President Barack Obama can be persuaded to remain in office, possibly for a third full term. However, this would be a violation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution that limits presidents to only two terms.

Ive been writing on it and thinking about it and praying. I was just waiting for an OK from God, Nolley said.

The 62-year-old filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, and is said to be recovering from heroin addiction with a lengthy arrest and prison record. As a result, she has not been able to vote for president her entire adult life, until now.

This is the first time Ill ever get a chance to vote, and I just wanted it to mean something for me and other people who really need a leader, she said. So I really want to make a difference and do something different.

Nolley vowed not to vote for any presidential candidate if her lawsuit fails.
The Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State, says it will partner the Nigerian Navy to clear the waterways in Lagos and Ogun states.

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, who said this, added that the operation was to clear the waterways of shanties and bushes to pave the way for adequate patrol and smooth navigation on waterways.

Ali said the two security agencies would also partner riverine areas in the operation in order to curb the activities of the kidnappers who had been terrorising the two states.

He said, We urge the people of the concerned areas to support the police and the military in the operation that will checkmate the excesses of hoodlums and kidnappers within the zone, especially during the Yuletide.

I assure the public of safety and effective policing of the areas as we will leave no stone unturned to tackle kidnapping and other crimes within the zone.

The AIG said police teams including, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Zonal Intervention Squad and Zonal Anti-Kidnapping Team, would be deployed to partake in the clearing of the hideouts.

Abdulmajid also said the reports making the rounds that there were protests over police postings, as well as the insinuation that the Inspector-General had flooded strategic commands with his kinsmen, were distorted facts and misconceived issues.

He said the reports were a calculated attempt to rubbish the IGs effort to boost efficiency, adding that they were also meant to make him (Ali) look bad.

He urged Nigerians to support the police so that the Force could excel at the job of protecting lives and property.

Source: Punch
Google Fiber won a victory of sorts this week when the FCC refuted AT&Ts claims that utility pole reform was illegal. But why does that win feel more like a requiem?

The FCC slapped down AT&Ts argument that reforms passed by Louisville, Kentucky, conflicted with federal pole-attachment rules. The city had passed One Touch Make Ready rules in an attempt to cut through AT&Ts stalling tactics; it was taking as long as nine months for the incumbent ISP to prepare utility poles so that Google Fiber could attach new wires for its high-speed, 1-gigabit internet service.

Unwilling to accept the new rulesand a new competitor in townthe telecom sued Louisville to deny Google Fiber quick access to poles and obstruct its entry into the market. It filed a similar suit against Nashville after it passed OTMR reform. As Susan Crawford has said, This is not really about poles at all.... Pole shenanigans represent an exercise of raw, entrenched power.

Google has noted the massive backlog of pole work in places like Nashville. After months of waiting, only 33 utility poles out of the needed 44,000 had been made ready. These significant delays [arent] just about Google Fiber, but are a major hindrance to future innovation for anyone looking to build a new network, Google said.

The FCC has repeatedly denounced the lack of competition in the U.S. broadband market, while also acknowledging it does not have the resources or authority to do much about it.

Which is why so many were rooting for Google five years ago when the tech giant promised to shake up the broadband market with reasonably priced high-speed internet access and began laying fiber-optic cable in Kansas City.

But infrastructure is expensive, and bureaucratic nightmares have taken their toll. After sinking at least $6 billion into Fiber, Google announced last week that it was pausing its expansion in 10 cities and laying off staff.

Google believed it could revolutionize the laying of fiber. It didnt just think it could offer a kickass service; it thought it could deploy much cheaper and much faster than anybody else had ever done, Ars Technica says. [But] Google is finally admitting (in a roundabout way) that despite all the clever people it has on hand, the company hasnt revolutionized fiber deployment.

Veteran Google exec Jonathan Rosenberg has been tapped to help get Google Fiber back on course. While fiber rollouts will continue in San Antonio and Austin, and Google Fiber says it remains committed to bringing high-speed internet to Louisville and Nashville, bets are that the division will reevaluate its mission and presumably focus more on wireless, a less capital-intensive way to deliver high-speed internet service.

This strategy would be in line with Googles acquisition of broadband provider Webpass, whose technology eliminates the need to string wire from utility poles or deploy fiber inside buildings. WebPass targets multi-unit residences and businesses, using existing in-building wiring to connect units wirelessly from a rooftop antenna.

While this strategy might reduce capital expenses, dont believe the hype about residential fixed service being substituted by a wireless access solution any time soon, at least not in most urban geographies, Ars Technica warns.

Google Fiber will still be competing with the likes of AT&T and Verizon, both of which have pledged billions to build out their next-generation wireless networks. With pressure on Fiber to reduce its costs, its likely [it] will be beaten to market in a lot of major cities, The Motley Fool predicts.

In the long term, shaking up the internet service market could prove too much even for a company as big as Googleunless its prepared to go all-in and continue investing heavily. Broadband expert Benoit Felten says any hope of destabilizing the powerful incumbents rests on:

Target[ing] and quickly deploy[ing] in 30 markets with a Webpass-like solution with the promise that if the demand is there, Fiber may be installed down the line. This positions the wireless broadband solution as a quick-to-market acquisition tool. It also forces AT&T to respond everywhere at the same time, something which (I suspect) they are incapable of and unwilling to do.

It remains to be seen whether Google has the stomach for such shock-and-awe tactics.
Cloud computing has helped many enterprises transform themselves over the last five years, but experts agree that the market is entering something of a second wave, both for public cloud and private cloud services built and hosted in corporate datacenters. The cloud market will accelerate faster in 2017 as enterprises seek to gain efficiencies as they scale their compute resources to better serve customers, says Forrester Research in a new report.

"The No. 1 trend is here come the enterprises," says Forrester analyst Dave Bartoletti, primary author of the research. "Enterprises with big budgets, data centers and complex applications are now looking at cloud as a viable place to run core business applications." Forrester says the first wave of cloud computing was created by Amazon Web Services, which launched with a few simple compute and storage services in 2006. A decade later, AWS is operating at an $11 billion run rate.

Forrester found that 38 percent of 1,000-plus North American and European enterprise infrastructure technology decision-makers said that they are building private clouds, with 32 percent procuring public cloud services and the remainder planning to implement some form of cloud technology in the next 12 months. Also, 59 percent of respondents said they were adopting a hybrid cloud model.

Forrester offered the following cloud predictions for 2017:

Regional players complement megacloud providers

CIOs who initially elected to build private clouds may find themselves switching to public clouds as they realize how time-consuming and ow costly the work will prove. Capital One shuttered private cloud efforts in favor of Amazon Web Services a few years ago, says its CIO Rob Alexander. "We recognized that we were spending a lot of time, energy, effort, and management bandwidth to create infrastructure that already exists out there in a much better state and is evolving at a furious pace," Alexander says.

[ Related: AWS quietly launches cloud migration tool ]

The global public cloud market will top $146 billion in 2017, up from $87 billion in 2015 and growing at a 22 percent compound annual growth rate. The lion's share of this growth will come from Amazon.com, Microsoft, Google, and IBM, which have emerged as "mega-cloud providers," Bartoletti says. They are opening new data centers and making concessions, such as Microsoft's agreement to have T-Systems manage its cloud in Germany to meet data localization requirements. But the big players won't be able to service every unique request, which means smaller regional players will see an uptick in adoption in 2017. Bartoletti recommends: "Keep your options open and don't be afraid to use multiple providers."

Cloud cost containment

One popular theory is that CIOs will save money by investing in public cloud software, but that's not always the case. The fact that most CIOs leverage multiple cloud providers means enterprises are already waist-deep in complex cloud vendor management. Also, if companies leave public cloud instances running through the weekend when they don't need them, CIOs can actually spend more money than they did with on-premises solutions.

[ Related: Inside a hyperscale data center (how different is it?) ]

IT executives will get better at containing cloud costs in 2017 as their best practices mature. And it's already happening. Bartoletti says that a cloud architect for a large software company shaved $300,000 off of a $2.5 million cloud bill by monitoring his consumption. And cost management tools from the likes of AWS, Cloudability, and Cloudyn are available. "There's no reason in 2017 for your cloud costs to grow out of control," Bartoletti says.

Lift and shift those cloud apps

Forrester also recommends that companies refactor apps to run on public cloud systems, leveraging migration services, rather than simply dumping existing apps into a public cloud. The optimum option to move an application is to rewrite it to take advantage of cloud's elasticity, although this lift-and-shift migration can be costly. "In 2017, lift-and-shift migration tools will accelerate the rate of cloud migration, given their low cost for bulk application migrations," Bartoletti says.

Hyperconverge your private cloud

Bartoletti says that while more Forrester clients are citing security as a reason to shift to public cloud services not every CIO wants to accept risks associated with entrusting their customer and other sensitive data to a third-party vendor. Like their public cloud counterparts, private cloud services require advanced virtualization, standardization, automation, self-service access and resource monitoring. Stitching these capabilities together into a cohesive system is daunting and expensive.

HCI (Hyperconverged infrastructure) solutions promise to help, offering preintegrated compute and storage resources that help organizations get their cloud implementations running faster. Forrester recommends that organizations consider HCI as the foundation for their private cloud development, particularly for new workloads that demand rapid, automated scale-out. "HCI is quickly becoming the default infrastructure platform upon which to build the private portion of a hybrid cloud," Bartoletti says.

There's a container for that

Containers enable developers to manage software code, particularly software developed for cloud apps. Forrester says that Linux containers will be available in every major public and private cloud platform by early 2017. Developers will consume them directly and often build their own stacks to power microservices development. But the new paradigm means new challenges; companies will need to grapple with new security, monitoring, storage and networking issues that arise as containers are deployed broadly in production. "Your first step should be to evaluate the pros and cons of on-premises private PaaS versus a managed public cloud development platform; you might need both," Bartoletti says.

Enterprise apps come to public cloud

Several companies are hosting enterprise applications in AWS, suggesting that CIOs have become more comfortable hosting critical software in the public cloud. Dollar Shave Club runs Spark analytics software in AWS. Cardinal Health runs Splunk in AWS. Several others are running business apps, such as SAP, in AWS. Bartoletti says you can expect this trend to continue as CIOs rely more heavily on public cloud providers. "Enterprises are turning great ideas into software and insights faster and the cloud is the best place to get quick insights out of enterprise data," Bartoletti says.

This story, "6 trends that will shape cloud computing in 2017" was originally published by CIO .
Cotton Locked Up on Limit Gains Barchart - 1 hour ago Cotton futures are sitting at their limit 3 cent gains at midday. @GC*1 is off its highs so far, but is up $8/oz at midday. Crude oil is trading higher on 24% gains to 88.62/bbl. The USD is off its lows... CTZ22 : 75.00 (+4.17%) CTH23 : 74.64 (+4.19%) CTK23 : 74.85 (+4.18%)

Hogs Mixed on Firm Board Barchart - 1 hour ago Midday hog futures prices are within 30 cents of UNCH. The back months are slightly higher, led by the 30 cent gain in April. The nearby Dec and Feb contracts are 5 to 20 cents in the red so far. The USDA... HEZ22 : 85.250 (+0.38%) HEJ23 : 93.700 (+0.11%) KMZ22 : 95.375 (-0.10%)

Cattle Mixed at Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago December through April live cattle futures are trading red at midday. Dec is down the most with a 32 cent loss, while April is holding firm on a 7 cent giveback. The summer 23 contracts are up by 2... LEZ22 : 151.950 (-0.34%) LEG23 : 155.225 (-0.39%) LEJ23 : 158.900 (-0.11%) GFX22 : 176.975 (-0.37%) GFF23 : 178.175 (-0.71%)

Mixed Midday in Wheat Market Barchart - 1 hour ago Wheat futures on the Chicago board are up by 3 to 4 cents so far. KC wheat is in the red with midday weakness of as much as 4 cents. MPLS is also lower so far, giving back 2 3/4 to 4 1/4 cents. Weekly... ZWZ22 : 900-4 (+2.07%) ZWH23 : 917-0 (+1.97%) ZWPAES.CM : 8.3355 (+2.27%) KEZ22 : 986-6 (+0.82%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.4452 (+0.81%) MWZ22 : 987-2 (+0.61%)

Beans Extending Rally through Tuesday Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago Midday soybean prices are up another 15 3/4 to 25 3/4 cents in the front months  led by Nov. Meal futures are fading with prices mostly lower at midday within 1% of UNCH. Soy oil prices are up 20 to... KOF23 : 4,276 (+1.02%) ZSYAUS-BIW.CM : 52.96 (+0.11%) ZSX22 : 1436-2 (+2.08%) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.0349 (+2.31%) ZSF23 : 1448-2 (+2.03%) ZSH23 : 1454-6 (+1.91%)

Corn Futures Extending Rally through Tuesday Barchart - 1 hour ago Front month corn prices are working higher with midday gains of 3 1/2 to 4 cents. Barchart reduced their corn production forecast by 3mbu to 14.681 bbu on a 1/10th yield hit. Their cmdtyView Corn Yield... ZCYAUS-BIW.CM : 177.93 (-0.46%) ZCZ22 : 697-6 (+0.90%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.9251 (+1.47%) ZCH23 : 702-2 (+0.79%) ZCK23 : 701-4 (+0.83%)

Coffee Prices Slip on Dollar Strength Barchart - 1 hour ago December arabica coffee (KCZ22 ) this morning is down -2.65 (-1.49%), and Jan ICE Robusta coffee (RMF23 ) is down -10 (-0.54%). Coffee prices this morning are moderately lower, with robusta falling to... KCZ22 : 174.60s (-1.74%) RMF23 : 1,839s (-0.76%)
Alternative investors may be suffering  but you wouldnt know it from statistics tracking the hiring of professionals tasked with gathering assets for alternative managers.

According to a quarterly analysis of hiring activity in alternative investment marketing and investor relations released today by the executive search firm Context Jensen Partners, year-over-year recruitment activity for marketing professionals is up. Context Jensen Partners tracked a record 231 marketing moves in the third quarter of 2016, up from 188 in the second quarter. The third quarter of 2016 was the most active hiring quarter the executive search firm has seen in its almost three years of tracking this activity.

What Im seeing in the U.S. is a full market, says Sasha Jensen, founder and CEO of Context Jensen Partners. All the stats are up on last year in all sectors.

An increase in recruiting activity among private equity, credit, and long-duration type strategies is to be expected, given that fund flow trends and recent reports show considerable interest by investors in these spaces over the last 12 to 18 months. The same is true for quantitative trading strategies  in both equities and commodities  which in recent years have proven to be one of the few bright spots for hedge funds. More of a surprise, however, is that Context Jensen Partners data show robust hiring activity among event-driven managers.

According to data from hedge fund tracker HFRI, event-driven managers experienced net outflows of $15.5 billion in the third quarter of 2016, the most by far for any of HFRIs four hedge fund categories. (Equity hedge funds lost $9.4 billion, macro experienced modest inflows, and relative value lost $4.1 billion.) In total, HFRI data show that event-driven managers have seen a net asset decline of $26.4 billion through the first three quarters of the year.

However, Jensen recorded a record 17 marketer hires for the space, more than the first two quarters of 2016 combined.

The way Im reading it is that from a macro economic perspective there is a lot of opportunity in the market right now, says Jensen, referencing politics and the economy more broadly. Event-driven firms are well positioned to take advantage of those opportunities, she says.

Among the firms to have made significant marketing hires in recent months are Dan Loebs Third Point, which hired Anne Gresens from Morgan Stanleys cap intro team, and Passport Capital, which hired Emily Sheridan, previously of North Carolinabased hedge fund manager Silverback Asset Management.

This uptick of potential fundraising at event-driven firms is happening even as there have been some high-profile closures  as in the case of Richard Perrys Perry Capital  or significant underperformance, such as Bill Ackmans Pershing Square Capital Management.

This hiring activity also comes as a number of institutional investors, especially public pension plans, are significantly reducing, or completely eradicating, their hedge fund portfolios. In October the state of Rhode Island announced it would be eliminating the $1 billion hedge fund allocation for its public pension system.

Uncertainty does not always beget opportunity, of course. One market that has not seen much recruitment activity is the U.K. Jensen says managers in the U.K. are in a holding pattern while they await the fallout from Brexit, the June referendum vote in favor of withdrawing from the European Union.

The recent spat of redemptions and asset allocation changes could be a case of institutional investors selling at the bottom of the hedge fund market. Or hedge fund managers may be optimistically holding out for a customer base that is moving away from them. A report on U.S. asset management published this week by the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found growth in alternative investing continues to outstrip that of traditional asset management. But the authors identify a change in the types of alternatives investors want, saying that demand has been robust in the illiquid private market segments, as investors seek to capture liquidity premia and look for alpha generation in less efficient segments of the market. They report that fundraising in private markets is already back to pre-2008 levels. Among the investors McKinsey surveyed, 33 percent said hedge funds had fallen short of expectations and only 9 percent said their hedge fund investments had exceeded expectations in 2015, compared with 6 percent and 30 percent, respectively, in private equity.

For event-driven managers, at least, recent performance data may offer some reason for optimism. Through the end of September, the HFRI Event-Driven Index was up 4.48 percent, while the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index was up 2.92 percent and the S&P 500 was up 3.85 percent.

The data suggest event-driven funds, which were down on aggregate 3.55 percent last year, might have turned the corner. Then again, as 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain says, Its always darkest before its completely black.
Coopermans firm, although a minor player in the dustup, is one of several being sued over a complex boardroom coup.

Hedge fund manager Leon Coopermans battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued him in September over insider trading allegations, isnt the only legal headache he has these days.

Coopermans Omega Associates is one of several investment firms accused in Delaware Chancery Court of plotting to take over a company in a convoluted boardroom coup that has put the alleged targets financial health at risk. Carl Grimstad, co-founder of debit and credit card payment processing company iPayment Holdings, as well as a 20 percent shareholder and its CEO until his ouster in August, is suing Omega, along with certain members of iPayments board, credit and distressed debt hedge fund manager Chatham Asset Management, and asset manager AllianceBernstein, accusing them of stacking the board with their cronies, then derailing efforts to refinance the companys senior debt so they could take control. (IPayment declined to comment for this story.)

The investors own more than 50 percent of the companys second lien debt and 41 percent of its equity. They have until December 29 to convert the debt to equity to give themselves majority ownership and control and dilute the current shareholders stake, asserts the lawsuit. Thats because an unusual 2014 investor agreement that gives them the right to appoint four directors on the five-member board expires on that date.

The controlling noteholders aim is plain: to appropriate for themselves the economic value of the company, obtain for themselves the vast majority of the companys shares and secure permanent control of the company before their contractual control rights expire on Dec. 29  all at the expense of the noncontrolling stockholders, the complaint says.

Cooperman is a minor player. He owns 4 percent of the shares and an unknown amount of the debt through the Omega Charitable Partnership (which invests money for Coopermans various charities), according to the lawsuit.

I know nothing about it, says Cooperman, referring a reporter for Institutional Investor to Chatham and adding that this guy [Grimstad] will sue anything that moves.

Cooperman has a history of partnering with Chatham, which owns 25 percent of iPayments stock and 53 percent of its senior secured notes, according to the suit. Chatham is run by former Morgan Stanley junk bond trader Anthony Melchiorre.

IPayment, a small privately held company, had fallen into bankruptcy and gave the second lien noteholders exchange rights, along with the right to appoint four of five board seats, in 2014. (Grimstad holds the fifth seat.) The noteholders are now on their third set of directors; the first two sets had assented with Grimstads decision to try to refinance the companys senior debt.

The noteholders fired the first set of independent directors following the boards agreement in 2015 to refinance iPayments $368.5 million credit facility, which matures May 8, 2017. Then-CEO Grimstad considered it the companys most pressing financial need, and its auditors at Ernst & Young concurred, claims the lawsuit.

After the investors named four new directors, this summer the newly constituted board approved a plan to both refinance the credit facility and convert the noteholders debt into equity. But the plan was quickly opposed by J.P. Morgan, the companys financial adviser, and Latham & Watkins, its lawyers, on the grounds that it would be a breach of fiduciary duty. The board changed course and attempted to pursue the senior debt refinancing alone, hiring Jefferies to do the offering, which was slated for August 1. But before the offering could go forward, those board members were also fired and Grimstad was let go, according to the suit.

Four new independent directors were hired August 5; however, iPayments attorneys at Latham & Watkins said they were unlikely to pass the New York Stock Exchanges bright line test for independence because they were Chatham employees. That led to Latham & Watkinss firing, the suit alleges.

As a result, Ernst & Young, iPayments longtime auditor, has refused to certify the audited financial statements, putting the company at risk of defaulting on loan covenants. The noteholders activities have materially increased the risk of default, alleges the lawsuit, which was filed September 29.

Grimstad filed a related breach-of-employment lawsuit over his ouster in Manhattan Supreme Court, which is still ongoing.

Chatham denies the accusations. This is a desperate attempt by a disgruntled and underperforming former CEO who put iPayment at risk and whose prior attempts to reinstate himself were denied in another venue, it said in a statement to II. At all times, Chatham acted appropriately and recommended actions necessary to protect the value of their investments. Any allegation to the contrary is entirely baseless and without merit, and Chatham will defend itself vigorously. Chatham is confident that the new board and management team are strengthening iPayment and positioning the Company for future success.
In August the International Monetary Fund announced it had reached an agreement with the Egyptian government for a $12 billion bailout that would ideally kick-start some much-needed economic growth. The three-year lending program, aimed at easing the pain of the governments reform agenda, currently hangs in limbo as the IMFs executive board has yet to sign off on it. On Thursday the central bank devalued its currency by 48 percent to meet a key requirement for the loan, but Egypt must still raise up to $6 billion in bilateral financing.

With the implementation of the government reform program, together with the help of Egypts friends, the Egyptian economy will return to its full potential, Chris Jarvis, the IMFs mission chief for Egypt, said in an August statement announcing the loan agreement. This will help achieve inclusive job-rich growth and raise living standards for the Egyptian people.

Since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that put an end to Hosni Mubaraks 30-year reign, Egypts economy has been circling the drain. By the end of that year, the Egyptian EGX 30 Price Return Index had dropped over 36 percent and capital flight had slashed the central banks foreign reserves by two-thirds, to $12 billion.

In 2013, former Defense minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power from his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi, elected in 2012. This year, Sisi started down a path of tax hikes, currency devaluation, and subsidy cuts demanded by the IMF in exchange for the funding program.

While reserves have since bounced back above $19 billion  largely due to aid from Gulf monarchies  unemployment has topped 13 percent and a scarcity of dollars in the country, combined with a nosedive in the black-market value of the Egyptian pound, has led to a shortage of consumer staples. Before the president was elected we had enough sugar, coffee, and rice, an unnamed tuk-tuk driver said in an Al-Hayat television segment in October that quickly went viral with over 4 million views on Facebook. What happened?

Despite the potential for the IMF loan, investors are right to remain cautious. Boston-based Acadian Asset Management has shunned broad exposure to the Egyptian market in favor of an opportunistic approach, seeing attractive valuations in the consumer products and telecommunications sectors. I think the deval and the IMF package could be a material catalyst to growth, says Asha Mehta, Acadians lead portfolio manager for frontier markets. But that may take longer than some investors expect.
Under a new agreement signed this week in Ontario, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) will refer to one another fintech companies looking to enter the others market. Either regulator may offer support to these fintech companies before, during, and after authorization to help reduce regulatory uncertainty and time to market.The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) of Australia reported that the agreement also allows both regulators to share information on emerging trends in each others markets, and their potential impact on regulation.The agreement follows the inception of the Innovation Hub at ASIC in April 2015 and the OSC LaunchPad in October 2016. Both initiatives were created to guide start-up businesses with innovative ideas through financial/securities regulation.ASIC is committed to encouraging innovation that has the potential to benefit financial consumers and investors, said ASIC commissioner John Price in a statement.Since we launched our Innovation Hub last year we have seen a surge in requests by fintech start-ups seeking assistance about how to navigate the regulatory requirements. These have covered a wide range of issues, as you would expect of such a young and exciting sector, but include robo or digital advice, crowd-sourced equity funding, payments, marketplace lending and blockchain business models. Some of these business concepts are already looking to expand internationally, and these agreements with like-minded regulators will be a significant factor in paving the way.Last month, the Ontario Securities Commission unveiled OSC LaunchPad, added OSC chair and CEO Maureen Jensen. This is the first dedicated team by a securities regulator in Canada to help fintech businesses navigate securities law requirements and accelerate time-to-market. Todays agreement  another first for a Canadian securities regulator  reflects our commitment to improving the regulatory experience for emerging businesses that are offering innovative services, products and applications of benefit to investors.According to NIBA, fintech businesses will need to meet the criteria of their home regulator before they can receive support. Once a business has been referred by its home regulator, it will be granted access to dedicated staff that would help it understand the regulatory framework in the market it wishes to participate in, and how it applies to its operations.
Cyber cover will become a must buy for all businesses, one global head has said, with brokers set to play a huge role in the development of the product. Inga Beale , CEO of Lloyds, told Insurance Business that cyber insurance will become a must-have for all manner of businesses as the risk landscape continues to shift.I think cyber insurance is going to be one of those must-buys because there are only two types of businesses: businesses that know they have been hacked and businesses that dont know that they have been hacked, Beale said.The use of technology means that the risk of cyber attack is going to be one of the key risks that all businesses face and really they are going to be buying insurance to protect themselves against it like they do the other perils.I do believe cyber insurance is going to be a standard product offering before too long and I think the insurance industry, certainly from a Lloyds perspective, is keeping up.A joint Lloyds and Cambridge University study has found that Sydney's GDP ranks 12th in the world in terms of risk of cyber attacks, whilst cities across Australia could see a US$16bn economic hit. The Lloyds City Risk Index 2015-2025 found that global GDP at risk from cyber attack stands at US$294 billion.In Australia, Lloyds has seen the amount of cyber insurance being purchased increase 168-fold in the last two years, Beale said, as the risk becomes more of a concern for businesses.Beale stressed that mandatory breach legislation has been a key driver for the growth of cyber insurance in other parts of the world, and with all signs pointing to a similar outcome in Australia, the cyber insurance market is set to grow further.Businesses arent necessarily still being complacent but I dont think that it is necessarily at the right level in the boardroom yet, Beale continued.What we have seen elsewhere in the world is as soon as youve got some regulation out there, a requirement for businesses to report breaches when there is a loss of personal data, that is one of the key drivers for elevating the risk up to the boardroom.
The Baltimore school bus driver who died along with five others in a collision with a commuter bus was found at fault in three traffic-related cases in the last eight years, according to civil and criminal court records and an attorney interviewed by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Glenn R. Chappell, 67, lost a civil case over hitting a parked car in Baltimore in 2008. Nationwide Insurance said in its complaint that Chappells vehicle veered from the roadway and struck the car.

The complaint alleged he was negligent for failing to pay full time and attention to the roadway, operating at excessive speed, failing to maintain control of his vehicle, failing to avoid colliding with other vehicles.

The court ordered Chappell to pay about $2,400, which he did, according to Nationwides lawyer, Michael David Johnson.

Chappell was convicted in 2014 of failing to show a registration card during a traffic stop, and convicted again last November of driving a vehicle with suspended registration. Neither of these offenses involved a school bus.

The records also show that Chappell was convicted of violating three protective orders issued in 2012. He spent much of the fall of 2012 in jail, awaiting judgment in those cases. In December 2012, he was sentenced to seven days for a second-degree assault conviction.

Chappells employer, bus contractor AA Affordable Transportation, didnt immediately respond to calls and emails about Chappells history.

Baltimore City Public Schools spokeswoman Edie House declined to comment on the court records, saying school officials needed to review them first.

None of the 18 elementary school students served by Chappells bus was aboard when it hit a car and roadside pillar before crashing into an oncoming Maryland Transit Administration bus early Tuesday, killing both drivers and four mass transit riders.

On Wednesday, Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith released the names of five of the deceased, including Chappell and MTA bus driver Ebonee Baker, 33.

Federal records show that AA Affordable had no violations or other crashes reported during the two years ending this September. In 2012, an AA Affordable school bus was involved in a crash that injured at least 13 people, including students, when it collided with a minivan. Smith said the company was not at fault in that case, because another vehicle ran a red light.

The companys five-year contract with the school district ends in June 2018, according to online public records.

Investigators hope Chappells autopsy will reveal whether he suffered a medical emergency, which Smith described Tuesday as a working theory, since there were no skid marks indicating hard braking.

We dont know if the driver of the yellow bus suffered any type of medical condition, Smith said at a Wednesday news conference. I do not have any information on a previous medical history to discuss.

Police released Wednesday 911 calls about the crash. A man who gave his name as Cameron described the scene, saying: The school bus was going 90. The school bus tore off the street and kept on moving.

The only school bus passenger, an aide, survived with minor injuries, and police planned to interview her, Smith said.

Weve interviewed a number of people, but those are still ongoing, Smith said.

Investigators recovered recording equipment from the MTA bus, but the condition of the equipment after the crash was unclear, Smith said.

Police also identified three of the four deceased MTA bus passengers: Cherry Denise Yarborough, 51; Terance Lee Casey, 52; and Gerald Holloway, 51, all of Baltimore. Smith said police havent yet reached relatives of the other deceased passenger, a 46-year-old woman.

He said three of the 10 people injured remain hospitalized at the University of Maryland Medical Center, in fair, serious and critical condition.

Michelle Kennedy, a 32-year-old house keeper at Spring Grove Medical Center who was injured in the crash, urged anyone with knowledge of the accident to reach out to her attorney, Billy Murphy, who obtained a $6.4 million settlement for the family of Freddie Gray last year. Kennedy described losing consciousness after the accident.

I woke up with glass in my mouth, Kennedy said, recalling the moments before she was carried out by emergency personnel.

Bakers sister Deonne Perry said in a telephone interview that Baker, a married mother of four, worked an overnight shift. She said she last spoke with her sister by phone around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, about three hours before the crash.

She loved her husband, her kids, and everyone elses kids, Perry said.

Baker was friendly, funny and always wanted to shine, said the Rev. Donald Wright of the Greater Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, where she was a member.

When Minnie Yarborough didnt hear from her daughter, Cherry, on Tuesday morning like a mother knows, she could tell something was wrong. She saw reports of a bus wreck along her daughters daily route to work and began calling hospitals. Later, she learned that her 51-year-old daughter, who loved sports, movies and puzzles was among the passengers killed.

She was a loving daughter, Minnie Yarborough said by telephone. She was kind, considerate and she truly loved her job.

Yarborough was riding the bus to her office at Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville, Behavioral Health Administration Executive Director Dr. Barbara Bazron said in a statement. Yarborough, a secretary who always had a ready smile and a kind word for everyone had worked in various roles in the department for 30 years, she said.

Steve Gondol, executive director for Live Baltimore, which promotes city living, says Yarborough had been a fixture at its Buying in Baltimore events since 2008, greeting people at the registration table. Gondol says Yarborough saw life as an education. He says she enjoyed living in the city and wanted to make sure others benefited too.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. Lead investigator Jennifer Morrison said her team will likely remain in Baltimore through the week, gathering facts to determine the cause of the crash and make safety recommendations.

The public transit riders were on the No. 10 route from Dundalk, a largely blue-collar community southeast of Baltimore, to Catonsville, a western suburb.

Bus fatalities are rare, accounting for less than 1 percent of all highway fatalities in 2013, according to a chart on the NTSB website.

Associated Press writers Kasey Jones in Baltimore; Sarah Brumfield in Washington; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Maryland, contributed to this story.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Law Enforcement Personal Auto Education Maryland
The last of three New York men who set fire to a business belonging to one of the mens father has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Prosecutors say 51-year-old Christopher Gorman of Buffalo had been drinking with the others in June 2014 when one of the men, upset that his father was losing the contracting business he co-owned, asked the others if theyd help burn it.

The group used Molotov cocktails made with their empty beer bottles, gasoline and a T-shirt as a wick. The outside of the building sustained about $2,200 in damage.

Gorman was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 41 months in prison.

The two accomplices, Lowell Carey and Ryan Smolinski  whose father co-owned the business  were sentenced earlier.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics New York
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Boston, Mass., has ruled that the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund is authorized to recover certain amounts paid by the fund in workers compensation benefits on behalf of Berkshire Bank.

The lawsuit, Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund v. Berkshire Bank, was originally brought against Berkshire in 2014 by the fund, a nonprofit, unincorporated legal entity established in 1970 to provide a limited form of protection from insurer insolvencies.

The Fund stands in place of an insolvent insurer and is obligated to pay all covered claims against that insurer, in most instances up to a cap of $299,999 per claim, the court decision explains. There are certain types of insurance that are excluded from coverage by the Fund, but since 1988, workers compensation insurance claims have qualified for Fund coverage. Since 1993, there has been no cap on the Funds financial responsibility for these claims.

In its decision, the court cited a section of Massachusetts General Law that identifies Berkshire as a high net worth insured. Under section 17 of Massachusetts General Law chapter 175D, which deals with the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund, the fund has the right to recover from a high net worth insured amounts paid by the Fund to or on behalf of the insured.

Section 17 was added in 2006 to address the issue of high net worth insureds. It defines a high net worth insured as any insured whose net worth exceeds $25 million on December 31 of the year before the year in which the insurer becomes an insolvent insurer. An insureds net worth on that date includes the aggregated net worth of the insured and all of its subsidiaries and affiliates, excluding any federal, state or local government entities, the section states.

Section 17 contains no language carving out any exceptions for any particular types of insurance otherwise covered by the Fund, and Berkshire indisputably qualifies as a high net worth insured under the definition of the term, the court outlined in its ruling.

The 2014 lawsuit came after a series of incidents involving workers compensation benefits over the previous decade.

In May 2003, Donna Poli, an assistant branch manager for Woronoco Savings Bank of Westfield, Mass., injured her back while lifting coin-filled bags. Woronoco was then named the insured under a workers compensation/employers liability policy issued by New York-based Centennial Insurance Company, according to the court decision. Centennial began paying Poli weekly workers compensation benefits, providing total incapacity benefits for up to three years.

On June 16, 2005, Woronoco merged with Berkshire. Poli exhausted her entitlement to benefits in August 2006, and Centennial voluntarily began payments providing partial incapacity benefits for four years.

In August 2010, Poli exhausted her entitlement to those benefits, and Centennial ceased making any payments. Poli then sought permanent and total disability compensation, and in February 2011, the Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) denied her claim. Poli appealed this decision.

In April 2011, however, the New York Supreme Court placed Centennial into liquidation. The Fund assumed administration of Polis claim and entered into a lump sum agreement with her in which it agreed to pay $85,000 and to pay all future medical expenses arising from the injury. Berkshire was not consulted by the Fund about the agreement, which was approved by the DIA, according to the court decision.

In January 2012, the Fund sought to recoup the amounts paid to Poli from Berkshire on the grounds that Berkshire was a high net worth insured obligated to reimburse the Fund. Berkshire refused to pay the Fund, prompting it to bring the lawsuit against Berkshire in July 2014.

In the Funds amended complaint, it claims Berkshire committed a breach of statutory duty to reimburse and seeks a declaratory judgment that Berkshire is liable to reimburse the Fund for future payments and expenses associated with Polis workers compensation claim.

Berkshire argued that the Funds payments were not made on its behalf because under Commonwealth of Massachusetts workers compensation law, once the employer purchases workers compensation, the liability to pay compensation benefits is the insurers and the employer retains no further responsibility, according to the decision document.

In the courts ruling in favor of the Fund, it stated that employers are required by law to provide workers compensation benefits to employees.

Berkshire is correct that the insurer is directly liable for paying workers compensation benefits, the decision stated. Berkshire concedes, as it must, that employers are required to provide their employees with workers compensation benefits or face severe penalties and common-law tort liability. The employers obligation to provide coverage is a statutory one that exists independently of the insurer.

Topics Lawsuits Carriers Legislation Workers' Compensation Massachusetts
ZhongAn Online Property & Casualty Insurance Co. Ltd., Chinas first online insurance company, has launched a fintech innovation company.

The company, called Called ZhongAn Information and Technology Services Co. Ltd. (also known as ZhongAn Technology), will explore innovation for its parent company, ZhongAn, and its external partners.

ZhongAn Technology will focus on innovation in four main areas: artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and data driven.

Further, its services will be rolled out on a blockchain cloud platform.

Commenting on the new company, Xing Jiang, chief technology officer of ZhongAn and chairman of ZhongAn Technology, said: With the creation of ZhongAn Technology, we are developing a new fintech ecosystem, integrating technological research with financial innovation. We aim to be an accelerator for both [the] finance and healthcare sectors.

ZhongAn Technology describes itself as the technology connector between companies. It is an open innovation company which collaborates with other technologies and business partners to develop the market together, the company said in a statement.

As an internet-based company, we have launched over 300 insurance products to create an ecosystem and better meet the needs of our clients, while minimizing financial risks, said Jin Chen, chief executive officer of ZhongAn.

Not only will we develop technology, but our aim is to make technology become a commercial driving force, to put it at the core of our business ecosystem, added Chen.

About ZhongAn

ZhongAn Online Property & Casualty Insurance Co. Ltd. was founded in 2013 by Ant Financial, Tencent and Ping An, as the first online-only insurance company in China. Over the past three years, it has accumulated 460 million service users and issued over 5.8 billion insurance policies.

Topics Carriers InsurTech Tech China
A Tennessee man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for a series of cyberattacks on businesses, universities and governments.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago say 22-year-old Timothy Justen French of Morristown, Tennessee, was sentenced on Nov. 1. He pleaded guilty last year to one count of intentionally damaging a protected computer without authorization.

Prosecutors say he worked with a hacking group to steal confidential information, including encrypted personal information from thousands of people. Prosecutors say Frenchs actions exposed victims to financial fraud and identity theft.

Federal authorities say the hacking caused nearly $800,000 in damages. They say French participated in at least seven attacks with the hacking group from 2012 to 2014.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cyber Illinois Tennessee
American International Group Inc.s assurances of underwriting progress are drawing increased skepticism from Wall Street analysts after another disappointing quarter.

Results from international commercial coverage and the American consumer business were short of estimates, and this isnt the first time those two areas have shown difficulty, Michael Nannizzi of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Thursday on New York-based AIGs conference call discussing third-quarter results. What are you doing to get there, and how long is it going to take?

AIG dropped $2.83, or 4.7 percent, to $57.72 at 10:48 a.m. in New York, extending the drop this year to 6.9 percent. While Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock has been selling units, buying reinsurance and reshaping the investment portfolio to limit volatility, the company remains prone to surprises. He reported losses in three straight quarters through March 31, and announced results late Wednesday that missed analysts estimates.

In recent years, the company has faced higher-than-expected claims costs on commercial policies tied to workers compensation and environmental risks and suffered declines on hedge fund holdings. Third-quarter operating profit was $1 a share, missing by 20 cents the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, as costs swelled on contracts in which the insurer guarantees payments to accident victims.

Those deals, known as structured settlements, have been designated for a portfolio of businesses that AIG is seeking to exit or wind down. Hancock said hes working on selling more assets that arent central to his strategy of focusing on commercial coverage and retirement products in key markets.

Quickly, Effectively

I make no promises as to what we will be able to dispose of from the legacy portfolio, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday. But we intend to dispose of it as quickly and as effectively as possible.

There were again challenges in commercial insurance, where AIG has sought to improve margins this year by cutting claims costs to an adjusted level 62 cents per each premium dollar. The figure was closer to 65 cents in the third quarter, and would have been higher if not for an adjustment for natural disasters.

Rough Quarter

This was a rough quarter for AIG, Charles Sebaski, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note, adding that the decision that more funds were needed for reserves following a similar move at the end of last year. Further, we believe investors may question whether the increased catastrophe losses are truly unusual as the company continues to skew the book toward property exposure to improve underwriting results.

Hancock highlighted cost cuts and the reshaping of the business mix toward what he expects to be better returning lines of insurance, even if that means accepting lower revenue. He has faced pressure from activist investors Carl Icahn and John Paulson, who won board representation this year.

We really want to improve the quality and sustainability of our earnings rather than just the volume, Hancock said on the conference call. And I think that the team has done an excellent job at getting ahead of the curve on the expenses.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Amazon.com was sued by Illinois delivery drivers who say the company failed to pay them overtime for hauling its goods. Among the questions the judge will have to answer? Whether they actually worked for Amazon.

Amazon controls everything, without a shadow of a doubt, says Theron Bradley, a former employee of Amazon contractor Silverstar whos one of the named plaintiffs in the proposed class action. Silverstar pays me, but I definitely know I work for Amazon.

Bradleys lawsuit, filed this week in Chicago federal court, targets not just the contractor that signed his paychecks but the e-commerce behemoth itself. In the complaint, he contends Amazon was so involved in his day-to-day work as to be a joint employer and as such, liable for the alleged violations under both state and federal law. Drivers have also brought wage-and-hour lawsuits naming Amazon as an employer in Washington State and California.

Amazon sees its relationship with the drivers differently. The small and medium-sized businesses that partner with Amazon logistics have their own employees and are required to abide by applicable laws and Amazons Supplier Code of Conduct, the company said in an e-mailed statement. We investigate any claim that a provider isnt complying with these obligations. (An attorney for Silverstar said Wednesday it was still investigating the allegations.)

But labor advocates say when it comes to contracted workers like Bradley, Amazon is much more than a mere consumer of services. The trainings were done by Amazon personnel, the daily assignments were given out by Amazon personnel, Amazon personnel tracked the routes taken by the drivers, they wore Amazon logos, says the workers attorney, Chris Williams. If there was a problem with package delivery, they went to Amazon. They didnt go to Silverstar.

The Illinois lawsuit is among the latest in a series of efforts by activists, attorneys, and agencies to hold name-brand companies accountable for the conditions of workers they rely on but are ostensibly employed by someone elsebe it a supplier, a franchisee, or (if theyre classified as independent contractors) no one at all. In 2012, guest workers at a Louisiana seafood supplier went on strike over alleged forced labor and mounted simultaneous protests targeting Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the U.S. and Mexico. In 2014, California legislators passed a law increasing company liability for labor law violations by contractors. Last month, McDonalds Corp. agreed to a $3.75 million wage-and-hour settlement with workers at five franchisee-run restaurants that had sued the corporation as a joint employer.

More and more, businesses are varying organizational and staffing models, David Weil, chief of the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division, wrote last January in an Administrators Interpretation. He said that as a result, the traditional employment relationship of one employer employing one employee is less prevalent. Weil, who before joining the Obama administration wrote a book about how the fissuring of employment structures has hurt workplace standards, emphasized the breadth of who federal law deems to be an employer, and the need to expand enforcement beyond the company that signs a paycheck.

In the litigation context, being able to target the larger, deeper-pocketed defendant does increase the potential for a more lucrative outcome, for workers and their lawyers. But it may also lead to change for more employees.

Where joint employment exists, Weil wrote, one employer may also be larger and more established, with a greater ability to implement policy or systemic changes to ensure compliance.

Related:

How Employer Joint Liability Is Changing

Browning-Ferris Files Appeal of NLRBs Joint Employer Liability Ruling

U.S. Labor Department Issues Joint Employer Liability Rules

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Lawsuits USA Claims Commercial Lines Business Insurance Personal Auto Contractors Amazon
Somebody set the fire that heavily damaged an African-American church that was also spray-painted with the phrase Vote Trump, and an $11,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of whoever did it, a Mississippi fire chief said Wednesday.

The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation of the Tuesday night fire at the 200-member Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, and Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons called the fire and graffiti a hate crime.

Officials announced the reward and the investigators conclusion that the fire was arson at the church, Greenville Fire Chief Ruben Brown Sr. said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

The churchs beige brick walls still stand, but the pulpit and pews are burned black, and soot stains the brick above and next to some windows. Brown estimated that it was 80 percent destroyed.

It definitely will have to be reconstructed from front to back, he said.

Simmons called the arson a heinous, hateful, cowardly act.

We consider it a hate crime  because of the political message which we believe was intended to interfere with worship and intimidate voters, Simmons said. This act is a direct assault on peoples right to freely worship.

The mayor said the FBI and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are assisting the investigation in the Mississippi River city, where about 78 percent of the 32,100 residents are African-American.

Mississippis top elections official, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, said people shouldnt jump to the conclusion that the church was vandalized for political reasons. Initial reports suggest this is not of a political nature, he told WDAM-TV.

The culprits should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, he said.

State FBI spokesman Brett Car said the agency is working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to determine if any civil rights crimes were committed.

He did not comment on whether it was being investigated as a possible hate crime. At this point, it is too early in the investigation to determine what type of crime this could be, he said.

Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican who has been campaigning for his partys presidential nominee Donald Trump, said we expect a suspect will be identified and brought to justice.

First, anyone who burns a place of worship will answer to almighty God for this crime against people of faith. But they should also answer to mans law, Bryants statement said.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat whose district includes Greenville, said the fire and graffiti harkens back to a much darker day in Mississippi.

The political message of the vandalism is obviously an attempt to sway public opinion regarding the upcoming election, he wrote in an emailed statement. I encourage all citizens not to be deterred by this cowardly act and exercise your right to vote at the ballot box.

The Mississippi chapter of the NAACP released a statement Wednesday night saying the fire was reminiscent of a dark period in the states history.

During the historically black churchs 111-year history, Hopewell served as a meeting place for organizers during the civil rights movement, the statement said. It is important to remember this same violent action was taken to intimidate and impede African-Americans from voting in the 50s and 60s.

Brown said water from the hoses and heat from the fire also damaged the churchs kitchen and the pastors study. It was put out within 12 minutes, but it took an hour and a half to extinguish hot spots, he said.

Arson investigators also were at the scene Wednesday collecting evidence. Brown said the cause remains under investigation.

We dont have any suspect at time, but we are possibly talking to a person of interest, Police Chief Delando Wilson said.

The mayor said we will not rest until the culprit is found and fully prosecuted.

The congregation has existed for 111 years, and will rebuild on the same site, said pastor Carilyn Hudson.

The act that has happened has left our hearts broken but we are strong together, Hudson said. We are not angry, but our hearts are broken.

Bishop Clarence Green called the fire troubling. He said that in his 21 years as bishop, the church had never been vandalized.

The last time someone was at the church was Tuesday around 3, Green said.

Asked where the church members will meet this Sunday, Green said: Well have to work on that.

____

Fuller reported from New Orleans.

___

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Mississippi
Police union officials want Florida lawmakers to extend workers compensation to first responders with Zika.

Florida Fraternal Order of Police President Bobby Jenkins said Tuesday that emergency responders should be covered if they contract an infectious disease while working.

The union says Miami Beach refused workers compensation for a police sergeant and another first responder for Zika infections apparently acquired from mosquito bites in part of the city identified as an active transmission zone.

Earlier this month, Miami Beach spokeswoman Tonya Daniels said city employees were offered free Zika testing and mosquito repellent. Workers compensation requires proof of Zika exposure while working, but Daniels said the city would honor any changes legislators made to the law.

Jenkins said the testing does not mitigate the need for their coverage of the employees that they place at risk.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida Workers' Compensation Law Enforcement
Feb. 11, 1937  Oct. 29, 2016

Harold J. Frasure, 79, of Lebanon passed away on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Portland VA Medical Center.

Harold was born Feb. 11, 1937, in Newberry, Michigan, the son of James and Flossie (Ellrey) Frasure. He grew up in Michigan where he attended school. After high school, he served in the U.S. Army for two years. After his honorable discharge, he moved to Ohio where he began his career in construction. He moved to Lebanon in the mid-1970s where he resided since.

Harold enjoyed going fishing and telling stories to his family and friends.

He married Jean Sherman on Jan. 11, 1959, in Ohio.

He is survived by his wife, Jean of Lebanon; daughters Rhonda Aldrich, Vicky Brown and Brenda Fields, all of Lebanon; son Matthew Frasure of Lebanon; brother Bill Frasure of Lebanon; sisters Maxine Folk and Polly Shull, both of Ohio; 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, at Sandridge Cemetery near Lebanon.

Huston-Jost Funeral Home is in care of arrangements.
Beckerink assists businesses and individuals on a broad range of state tax planning and dispute resolution matters, including audit, litigation and appellate practice in matters such as state False Claims Act tax defence, state tax refund class action defence, individual residency, telecommunications, excise tax and sales and income tax.

He regularly advises multinational enterprises on multi-state tax planning and the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, and he has resolved complex state tax matters before administrative appeal boards, tax tribunals and state courts across the US.

Beckerink began his legal career at the US Tax Court as an attorney adviser to special trial judge Stanley Goldberg and served as an associate at Baker & McKenzie from 2006 to 2008. In his 10 years of practice, he has written several articles on tax law and has lent his talents to pro bono matters, including representing veterans before the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Lemergenza surriscaldamento globale non si arresta. Lo rivela la Nasa (Ente Nazionale per le attivita Spaziali e Aeronautiche) lagenzia governativa civile responsabile del programma spaziale degli Stati Uniti dAmerica e della ricerca aerospaziale.

Secondo lEnte statunitense, infatti, nel 2016 la temperatura globale si e attestata a 1,1 gradi centigradi in piu rispetto al XIX secolo, vale a dire rispetto ai livelli preindustriali (il periodo iniziato a partire dal Settecento in Gran Bretagna e diffusosi nell800 in buona parte del mondo). Nel 2015, evidenzia la Nasa, era gia stata raggiunta la soglia di 1 grado.

Un colpo pesante per la comunita internazionale che, alla conferenza Onu di Parigi sul clima svoltasi nel dicembre 2015, si era impegnata a mantenere laumento del termometro al di sotto dei 2 gradi centigradi, e possibilmente entro un grado e mezzo, entro la fine del secolo. Ma, a inizio secolo, siamo gia a oltre un grado.

Le brutte notizie non finiscono qui. Se dal globale passiamo al locale, di questo passo lItalia risentira (entro il 2100) di un aumento di temperatura ben al di sopra dei due gradi preventivati.

Lo rivela il Wwf (World Wide Fund for Nature), lorganizzazione internazionale non governativa di protezione ambientale piu nota al mondo. Secondo lOng, i cambiamenti climatici in Italia saranno a dir poco preoccupanti. Le migliori e piu avanzate elaborazioni dellautorevole Centro Euromediteraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (Cmcc), indicano  nello scenario ritenuto piu probabile  un incremento della temperatura media in Italia pari a circa 3 gradi per la fine del secolo per lintero territorio nazionale.

Se si considera lultimo trentennio del XXI secolo (2071-2100)  scrive in un comunicato la ong ambientalista  laumento di temperatura giunge anche a circa 4 gradi nel nord-ovest della penisola italiana nel periodo estivo. Nello scenario peggiore, inoltre, laumento della temperatura media in Italia sara invece di circa 6 gradi entro la fine del secolo. Lurgenza dellazione anche nel nostro Paese e ormai e un obbligo civile e morale, conclude il World Wide Fund for Nature.

Emergenza caldo evidenziata anche dalla Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti), la maggiore associazione di rappresentanza e assistenza dellagricoltura italiana. Il 2016  evidenzia la confederazione sorta nel 44  si e classificato al quarto posto tra gli anni piu caldi di sempre, con una temperatura di 1,24 gradi superiore alla media del periodo. Per il calcolo, la Coldiretti si e basata sui dati del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Cnr) che rilevano le temperature dal 1800. Nella classifica degli anni piu caldi dallinizio dellindustrializzazione  e percio dellinquinamento atmosferico su larga scala  ci sono, nellordine, 2015, 2014, 2003 e 2016. Seguono il triste elenco: il 2007, 2012, 2001, 1994, 2009, 2011 e, infine, il 2000.

Siamo di fronte agli effetti dei cambiamenti climatici  scrive Coldiretti  che si stanno manifestano con un pesante impatto sullagricoltura italiana, che negli ultimi dieci anni ha subito danni per 14 miliardi di euro. Si moltiplicano gli eventi estremi, sfasamenti stagionali e precipitazioni brevi, ma intense, e il repentino passaggio dal sereno al maltempo. Siccita e bombe dacqua con forti piogge a carattere alluvionale, ma anche gelate estreme e picchi di calore anomali si alternano lungo lanno e lungo tutta la Penisola. Anomalie che si evidenziano anche in questi giorni  conclude Coldiretti  con lItalia divisa in due, tra un nord dove e allarme incendi e siccita ed il centro sud che e seppellito dalla neve.
Oil is a huge part of modern life, and its uses extend far beyond driving a vehicle from point A to point B. Oil is a component of products from plastics to rubber to asphalt to jet fuel.

When the price of oil drops, many companies are affected for better or for worse. Those that produce oil and gas see a decline in revenue because their product sells for less. Those that produce goods made from oil get a revenue boost as their supplies are cheaper to acquire.

As an investor, any change in crude goods signals an opportunity to profit when the change reverses. But where should you start? Lets take a look at the top five stocks that you should buy as oil prices rebound. Keep in mind that this is speculative and not actual investment advice.

A Brief History of Crude

If you pay attention, you will notice that every time oil prices make a big move it makes the news.

Take a look at this chart showing oil prices over a period of 10 years. We can see that it tops out at about $144 per barrel back in June 2008 and then plummets rapidly during the Great Recession. Nearly as quickly as it plummeted, it regained ground. Between late 2009 and 2014 prices were consistently in the $90 range. But in 2014, oil plummeted again. It would sink well below $30 in early 2016 before beginning a long slow climb that continues at least into late 2018.

Source: Chart courtesy of Macrotrends

What does the price of a barrel of oil mean to a stock investor? Lets take a look at five stocks that roughly correlate with the price of oil.

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Exxon Mobil Corp. has been one of the largest corporations in the world for a long time. With revenues in the hundreds of billions of dollars, this company is a solid stock where you can put your money. But just because its big doesnt mean it isnt subject to price fluctuations.

Exxon (NYSE: XOM) has seen many profitable years. Before the oil price decline in 2008, Exxon stock was trading in the mid $80s to low $90s. When the price of oil dropped, the stock took a roller coaster ride downhill until the middle of 2010, bottoming out in the upper $50s. It rebounded until the end of 2014 when it peaked again at over $100 per share. Its 52-week range as of mid-October 2018 was about $72 to $89.

If you want a stock that follows the oil trends but has a somewhat lower risk, then Exxon Mobil is for you.

Chevron Corporation

Chevron has roots in the 19th century. This company has withstood the test of time and is consistently in the top 20 largest companies in the world based on revenue.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) follows a course similar to Exxon. In mid-2008, the company was trading at barely over $100 per share. By early 2009, that share price was nearly cut in half at $58 per share. The bottom didnt last long, and as the economy recovered so did the stock. By the middle of 2014, prices were about 230% off of its lowest point, peaking at above $133 per share. Those prices didnt last long, either, and the stock quickly sank to the mid-70s. Its 52-week range as of mid-October 2018 was about $108 to $134.

When oil prices rebound, we can expect Chevron to follow. This is a good stock for those who dont want a ton of risk.

Conoco Philips

Conoco Philips is another a household name. It provides oil and gas to millions across America.

Conoco (NYSE: COP), has had a slightly rougher ride than Exxon or Chevron over the last 10 years and has seen a correspondingly bigger boost in 2018.

The stock topped out in June 2008 at about $94 per share. Over the next nine months, it lost nearly two-thirds of its value, hitting bottom in March 2009 at around $35 per share.

Conocos slow road back up was marked by a series of setbacks. It was getting back to peak prices in 2014 when oil prices declined and pushed the stock back into the mid $30s. It has moved upwards fast more recently. In 2018 alone, it moved from $55.32 to $79.40 as of Oct. 10, 2018.

As oil prices rebound, Conoco is poised to see more gains.

Cooper Tire & Rubber

Breaking away from the oil industry to look at oil-based products, we see a very different story. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., a major player in the tire industry, profits from a low oil price in a couple of ways. The oil used to manufacture tires is cheaper. And people start driving more, meaning they buy more tires.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s (NYSE: CTB) stock took a different path. Back in 2007, when the economy was in its prime, the stock was trading around $27 per share. Like almost every other stock out there it took a big hit and lost over 80% of its value. In March 2009, it was valued at a mere $3.44 per share. The next few years saw great recovery, and when oil began declining in 2014, Cooper Tire stock gained.

So far, 2018 has not been kind to Cooper Tire. It started the year at $35.40 and was under $25 by mid-October 2018.

If oil prices continue to go higher, Cooper Tire may not prosper.

Petroleo Brasileiro

Petroleo Brasileiro, commonly known as Petrobras, is one for the risk takers. An oil stock with a market cap of $98 billion, it is about a quarter of the size of the other oil companies listed here and is majority-owned by the Brazilian government.

Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) has seen some great years and some that were not so great. In May 2008, the stock was valued at more than $70 per share. By the end of November of that year, it had plummeted to $17 per share. A quick rebound brought it back into the $50s, but it then declined steadily. In part, this was due to a Brazilian political corruption scandal known as Operation Car Wash that involved payments of kickbacks to government officials and Petrobras executives.

By mid-October 2018, Petrobras was back above $15.

An investor could profit immensely if oil rebounds. Otherwise, Petrobras could flounder for years to come.

The Bottom Line

Despite the big push toward renewable energy, oil is going to be a part of human life for many years to come. The price of oil will always fluctuate due to politics, supply and demand, war and a host of other reasons. The savvy investor can profit from that fluctuation.

Keep in mind that speculative investing (investing based on what might happen, rather than on strong financials) is risky. The potential for huge rewards is there, but you may lose all of your money.
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 EV Stock News - Investor Idea

Breaking EV Stock News: Overwhelmingly Positive Reactions Pour in From First Leg of Mullen Automotive's (NASDAQ: MULN) 'Strikingly Different' FIVE EV Crossover Tour

BREA, Calif. - October 31, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that the Mullen FIVE has received overwhelmingly positive reactions from members of the public, reservation holders and Mullen investors who were able to ride in the vehicle for the very first time on the "Strikingly Different" tour which kicked off last week in Pasadena, California.

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.

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Aug. 19, 1926  Oct. 31, 2016

Larry Swain, also known as Bud Jorgensen, was born in Albany to Nellis Claude and Mabel (Barnes) Swain. He grew up in the farming areas of Linn and Benton counties and attended mostly small country schools. His mother later married William Jorgensen, whose name he used growing up. The family moved to Sweet Home in 1941 where he attended Sweet Home High School.

During World War II, Larry joined the Navy and was sent to boot camp at Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho. He was then stationed aboard the USS Kwajalein CVE 98, part of the South Pacific fleet that saw many ships destroyed both in battles and devastating typhoons. In later years he and his wife, Faye, traveled to Navy ship reunions and was able to reunite with many of his former shipmates with whom he exchanged wartime experiences. Larry was very proud of his military service and was a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was always glad to share his experiences with fellow vets, family and friends.

In 1947 Larry married Faye Clapp. They lived in Sweet Home and Albany where their three daughters were born. Larry worked in the lumber industry most of his working life. In 1952 the family moved to Coos Bay where he was employed by Weyerhaeuser Company for nearly 38 years. While living in the Coos Bay area he was honored to serve as a volunteer fireman for the City of Empire Fire Department for 12 years. After retirement, Larry and Faye returned to live in Albany.

Larry was an excellent wood craftsman, working in his woodshop until his illness recently prevented him from doing so. He and his wife, Faye, built one of their Coos Bay homes themselves, and over the years he sold his wood crafts to various gift shops and made many gifts for family and friends. Larry also enjoyed bowling, hunting and as a pilot, flying his airplanes.

Larry is survived by his wife of 69 years, Faye; daughters Julie Rubenstein, Portland (Lee), Elyse Meyers, Portland (George) and Janice Swain, Green Valley, Arizona (Michael Ley); brother Robert Swain (Kathleen); sisters Claudia Swain and Georgia Rose (Gary); grandchildren Micah, Paul, Gregory, Melissa; and great-grandchildren Lauren, Colin, Charlotte, John JJ, Jane and Gracyn.

Larry was preceded in death by his half-brother Mark Swain.

Private family services will be held at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Larry's name can be made to the Samaritan Evergreen Hospice or Edward C. Allworth Oregon Veterans Home and sent in care of Fisher Funeral Home, 306 Washington St. S.W., Albany, OR 97321.

Condolences may be posted online at www.fisherfuneralhome.com.
We all have lifestyle needs and need money to fulfill them. However, we may not have cash on hand at all times. This is when 
US president Barack Obama and Melania Trump have both joined the campaign trail as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump try to drum up support with less than a week to go until Election Day.

Mr Trump warned that a cloud of investigation would follow Mrs Clinton into the White House, evoking the bitter impeachment battle of the 1990s in a closing campaign argument meant to bring wayward Republicans home.

Democrat Mrs Clinton and her allies, led by Mr Obama, told voters to get serious about the dangers of Mr Trump.

As polls show Mr Trump closing in on Mrs Clinton in key battleground states, her campaign is rushing to shore up support in some long-standing Democratic strongholds.

That includes the campaign's Michigan firewall, a remarkable situation for a candidate who looked to be cruising to an easy win just a week ago.

Mrs Clinton's narrowing lead has given Mr Trump's campaign a glimmer of hope, one he is trying to broaden into a breakthrough before time runs out.

That means zeroing in on questions of Mrs Clinton's trustworthiness and a new FBI review of an aide's emails.

The attack is aimed at appealing to moderate Republicans and independents who have been the holdouts of his campaign, turned off by his behaviour but equally repelled by the possible return of the Clintons.

"Here we go again with the Clintons - you remember the impeachment and the problems," Mr Trump said at a rally in Jacksonville.

"That's not what we need in our country, folks. We need someone who is ready to go to work."

Mrs Clinton and allies, meanwhile, are seeking to keep the spotlight on Mr Trump, claiming that his disparaging comments about women and minorities and his temperament make him unfit for office.

"He has spent this entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters," Mrs Clinton said, singling out Mr Trump's endorsement from the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan and noting that he has retweeted messages from white supremacists.

"This has never happened to a nominee of a major party," Mrs Clinton said.

"If Donald Trump were to win this election we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous," she said at Pitt Community College, outside of Greenville, North Carolina.

Mrs Clinton was due to campaign later with former primary opponent Senator Bernie Sanders and pop star Pharrell Williams in Raleigh.

Mr Trump's path to victory remains narrow.

He must win Florida to win the White House, which is no easy feat.

Still, his campaign has been buoyed by tightening polls there and in other key battlegrounds, as well as by signs that African-American turnout for Mrs Clinton may be lagging.

Mrs Clinton enlisted Mr Obama's help urging those voters to the polls and lighting a fire under other Democrats, particularly young people, who share some of the wariness about Mrs Clinton.

Speaking to students at Florida International University in Miami, Mr Obama told voters now was the time to get serious about the choice.

"This isn't a joke. This isn't Survivor. This isn't The Bachelorette," he said, taunting the former reality TV star. "This counts."

Relishing one of his last turns on the campaign stage as president, Mr Obama repeatedly returned to his new campaign catchphrase capturing his disbelief in the unpredictable race to replace him.

"C'mon, man," he said, to cheers.

Mr Obama has been trying to bait Republicans into veering off message - counting on Mr Trump not to have the discipline or the ground game to capitalise on a late surge.

But the famously unconventional Mr Trump has been sticking closer to convention, running some upbeat ads, bringing out his wife for a rare campaign appearance and even talking publicly about trying not to get distracted.

"We don't want to blow it on November 8," Mr Trump said at the rally in Jacksonville, his fourth in Florida in two days.

Mrs Clinton's weekend schedule underscored the Democrats' fresh anxiety in the final stretch.

She is due to campaign on Friday in Detroit, where a large turnout of black voters has long been crucial to success, following up on a last-minute meeting by former president Bill Clinton with black ministers on Wednesday night.

Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama, along with their spouses, will headline a final pre-election rally in Philadelphia next Monday evening.

Mr Trump has had far fewer allies carrying his message.

Sen. Coons: "It's striking to me" Melania Trump was talking about fighting cyber bullying, given her husband's words https://t.co/kvaHFn3wqu  CNN (@CNN) November 3, 2016

Senator Ted Cruz, his Republican primary foe, did campaign with vice presidential candidate Mike Pence outside Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, but he never mentioned Mr Trump by name in a 14-minute speech.

Mr Trump's wife Melania made her first appearance on the trail since the Republican convention in July.

At a get-out-the-vote rally in the Philadelphia suburbs, the former model tried to counter the Clinton campaign's pounding attacks on her husband as setting a poor example for children.

She told the group that if she becomes first lady she will focus on combating online bullying and working against a culture that has "gotten too mean and too rough", she said.

Mrs Trump made no reference to her husband's regular name-calling on social media.

On Twitter, Mr Trump has called Mrs Clinton "crooked", ''pathetic", "liar", ''a fraud" and "very dumb".

He has called Mr Cruz a "true lowlife pol" and a "complete and total liar".

Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka was campaigning in New Hampshire.
US presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could not be further apart politically, but they will spend the decisive night of their polarising campaign barely a New York minute away from one another.

Both candidates are holding election night parties in midtown Manhattan.
But Edgar Morgenroth, associate research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), and an adviser to the Government, warned the prospects for Ireland striking any sort of favourable deal with the British over Brexit are dimming rapidly.

He urged Dublin instead to bypass London and forge alliances with European countries to insulate the Irish economy from the hardline path being taken by London.

I do not think we have much influence with the British over the hardness of the Brexit [deal] but we can influence our European partners to help us, he told the Irish Examiner.

Theresa May may wish for a soft border but she also wants a hard Brexit. You cannot have both, he said.

Mr Morgenroth, who is completing a major company-by-company analysis on the Brexit fallout for the Irish economy, said that the food industry here, especially trade in meat, could be badly damaged simply if the British were to strike a unilateral or bilateral deal with a food producer such as Brazil, and have zero tariffs on its food imports.

Sterling jumped above $1.24 yesterday after Englands High Court ruled the government needs parliamentary approval to trigger Brexit.

It rose at one stage by 1.2% to 89.1p against the euro. Bank of England governor Mark Carney cited the ruling as an example of uncertainty that could affect the UK economy.

Sterling rose further to nearly $1.25 after the Bank of England announced it had scrapped its plan to cut interest rates, which it said could now move up or down.

Londons Ftse 100 index of 100 leading shares also fell on the court ruling. The Ftse 100 has high international exposure, with many firms earning dollars and reporting profits in sterling. That can cause shares to fall when the pound rises.

This decision has increased the uncertainty around the UKs decision to leave the EU... The Ftse 100 is lower, but this is largely a result of global equity weakness and the Ftses inverse correlation with the pound, Kathleen Brooks, head of research at City Index, said in a note.

For the UK, uncertainty is good, because the market has convinced itself that Brexit is bad news for the UKs future economic prospects, she said.

Mr Morgenroth said that any standoff between the UK parliament and Ms Mays cabinet over the terms of the Brexit talks with the EU could lead to a constitutional crisis in Britain.

The wisest thing is to assume Brexit will go ahead and plan on that basis, he said.

Though the court ruling could delay the triggering of Article 50 by Britain, he nonetheless believes that the divorce proceedings will be completed by 2019 because there is no will among EU states to extend the two-year deadline under the Lisbon Treaty for states wanting to quit the union.

I do not see why there would need to be an extension because the only thing that needs to be discussed is liabilities. The liabilities will potentially be quite acrimonious because the UK owes the EU money and I do not think they will be too happy to pay, he said.

The UK owes Brussels an estimated 20bn (22bn), he said.
IFA rural development chairman, Joe Brady, said that frustration is building up among farmers  some of whom joined the scheme in May 2015 but who still have not seen the value of it with a full-year payment.

Mr Brady welcomed the ministers announcement that the scheme would open next week. He added that farmers who are contemplating joining the scheme should sit down with their consultants to devise a plan that maximises their payment.
Investigative judges will have the final say in the matter after Frances financial prosecutor issued final recommendations in the case, said the source.

Prosecutors accused HSBC of aggravated laundering of proceeds of tax fraud and conspiring to illicitly solicit clients on French territory, the source said.
Sept. 10, 1921  Nov. 2, 2016

Marian Louise (Kester) Patterson was born Sept. 10, 1921 in Independence to Wesley W. and Francis Louise (Donaldson) Kester. She died Nov. 2, 2016 at the Evergreen Hospice House in Albany, at 95 years of age.

Marian grew up on a farm which included Coffin Butte and attended elementary school in Wells, both of which became part of Camp Adair. She attended Corvallis High School and was a member of the second graduating class in the new building on 11th Street in 1939. After the start of World War II, Marian moved to Vallejo, California, and worked as a civilian employee at Mare Island Naval Yard. While there she met and married E. E. "Pat" Patterson in April 1944. At the end of the war they relocated to Oregon and settled in the Philomath area, where they lived for many years and raised their family.

Marian drove a schoolbus for the Olson Bus Company for 11 years and worked for many years in food service/catering at Oregon State University and for a short time as a rural mail carrier and postal clerk in the Philomath Post Office. She and her sister, Emmalou, leased and operated what was CD&J Cafe for several years.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Pat; sister Emmalou; and parents, Wes and Francis. Marian is survived by daughter, Elona Bell (Monty) of Albany; and son, Wesley (Diane) Colton, Washington; three grandchildren, Jeffrey Bell (Chris), Curtis Bell (Emily), and Theresa Patterson; three great-grandchildren, Erin and Ian Bell and Trish Schneider; and beloved nieces, Patty Sather and Kitty Stott; and nephew, Ed Lossett.

Family and friends are invited to a graveside service at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Oak Lawn Memorial Park, 2245 S.W. Whiteside Drive, Corvallis. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Evergreen Hospice House in care of DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home. Please share your thoughts and memories for the family at www.demossdurdan.com.
Shortly after they dropped into the The Idle Hour Bar in Effin for a soft drink things turned sour.

The incident was recalled at Kilmallock District Court when Cornelius Hegarty snr, aged 79; his wife, Bridget, aged 78 and their son, Cornelius jnr, aged 57 sought damages from the pub owner, Sean Kenny, under the Equal Status Ac.

Mr Hegarty jnr, who runs an equestrian school in England told Judge Marian OLeary that accompanied by his parents, he went to The Idle Hour Bar in Effin, on the evening of September 1, 2015.

He said:  I hadnt been there for years. I was home in the country for a few days. My parents are old so I helped them sit down. I asked the lady behind the bar for two bottles of lemonade. She disappeared, I was waiting for 10 minutes. When she came back she said there was a private function in the pub.

I told my mum and dad that the lady is refusing to serve us and my mum said we better go home.

She gave us no reason and there was no sign of any function being held. I nearly went down through the ground. My mother and father dont bother with pubs, Mr Hegarty jnr said.

Bridget Hegarty said she nearly got a heart attack after her son told her what happened.

Cornelius Hegarty snr, asked how he felt, told the court: How do you think I felt? I was never inside in that pub in my life.

Brendan Gill, solicitor for the publican, said Sean Kenny only purchased the premises two months previously and it was essentially a misunderstanding.

Sean Kenny said he wasnt present on the night.

He said: It was the launch of Effin GAAs lottery draw. My instructions to the person working in the bar were to serve the people at the function. It is the first time Ive run a pub. I apologise if any embarrassment was caused.

Denis Linehan, solicitor for the Hegartys said; My clients are here to hear the apology and Im sure they graciously accept it. Their feelings have been hurt and they are entitled to some redress..

Judge OLeary said: The Hegartys are very upset people who have never drank in their lives and to be refused a drink. They should, of course, have been served.

She awarded 300 each to Cornelius Hegarty jnr, Cornelius Hegarty snr and Bridget Hegarty, and costs of 250 to Mr Hegarty jnr, who had travelled from the UK for the case
Campaigners were celebrating victory in the legal battle against Theresa Mays decision to use the royal prerogative in her Brexit strategy, with demands for her to now set out her negotiating strategy to MPs.

In one of the most important constitutional cases in generations, three senior judges ruled that the prime minister does not have power to use the prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to start the two-year process of negotiating Brexit without the prior authority of parliament.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has sanctioned a 10c increase on adult cash fares and a 5c increase on child cash fares on services in regional cities  Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford. A similar increase will apply in town services in Navan, Dundalk, Drogheda, and Balbriggan.

However, the NTA has turned down a request by Dublin Bus for average fare increases of around 1.5%.

Most single-journey fares  both cash and Leap  on Dublin Bus services will remain unchanged for 2017, although the price of some pre-paid tickets will increase.

For example, the cost of the 30-day Rambler ticket will go up by almost 3% or 4.50 to 157.50. There will also be slight increases to the fare cap  the maximum daily or weekly charge  for commuters who make frequent trips.

There will also be a 2c rise in the Leap child fare during school hours to 0.79.

Adult day return and ordinary return tickets on Bus Eireann commuter services in the greater Dublin area and those linking small towns and villages to the main regional cities will increase by between 1.3% and 4.9%. Single fares on such routes will remain unchanged.

However, Bus Eireann has agreed that there will be no increase for Leap card users on most services, while many student and child fares will be reduced to encourage greater use of public transport by such customers. Bus Eireann said its fares are designed so that passengers would save 27% by using a Leap card instead of paying cash. The NTA said many monthly and annual taxsaver fares will actually drop in price, while any increases will be less than 2%.

Passenger journeys on Bus Eireann services have been increasing since 2014 with growth of 2% last year. Bus Eireann has indicated that growth so far this year is slightly stronger at an estimated 4% with the biggest increase in passenger journeys in Cork city. The company has also predicted that passenger numbers will grow by a further 2% next year.

Transport Minister Shane Ross recently announced that the annual Government subsidy for Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes will be increased by 25m in 2017.

PSO routes include Bus Eireanns regional city services, commuter services in the greater Dublin area as well as town services in Navan, Dundalk, Drogheda, Balbriggan, Sligo, and Athlone and commuter services linking small towns and villages to the main gateway cities.

Despite increased passenger numbers and fare increases last year, the company still recorded a loss of around 200,000 on its PSO routes.

The NTA sad the company would need to continue to maintain a strong focus on cost control and examine further ways of reducing costs as future fare increases would be more moderate and in line with inflation.

Dublin Bus reported growth in passenger number of 3.1% last year, with expectations that they will rise by another 5% during 2016.

However, the company has predicted a slowdown in growth next year with estimates of a 2.7% increase in passenger journeys.

Dublin Bus said recent passenger traffic growth had put pressure on its operations and it would need up to 180 extra buses over the next five years along with replacing up to 100 vehicles.

It claimed recent pay awards to staff would place further pressure on its financial position.

In addition, it said the payments it received from the Department of Social Protection for carrying people with free travel passes had been unchanged for the past seven years which means that fare paying passengers are now partially subsidising those with travel passes.
Speaking in Belfast, Taoiseach Enda Kenny also encouraged members of both garda representative bodies not to take strike action.

However, Fianna Fails justice spokesman Jim OCallaghan accused the Government of managing the dispute incompetently.

He said: The Government has allowed the gulf between it and the Garda to get deeper and deeper. It has allowed a Mexican standoff to develop between it and the Garda associations.

During Leaders Questions in the Dail, he hit out at the Government for allowing the industrial dispute to spiral this far saying that members of the force do not want to go out on strike.

However, Ms Fitzgerald told the Dail all of the various mechanisms of industrial relations have been made available to An Garda Siochana.

She appealed to them to withdraw to allow time and space for the Labour Court to continue its work.

The GRA has also agreed that a ballot will take place. I maintain we should give time for that ballot and ensure we have the space and time for people to consider what will be on the table after the Labour Court makes its recommendation, she said.

GRA review Labour Court recommendations as AGSI call off strike https://t.co/wJ7nHOyF16 pic.twitter.com/9UW4LjqeRy  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 3, 2016

However, Mr OCallaghan attacked the Government for not keeping the public informed of contingency plans. The people of this country should not be put in a position where they might find themselves without the protection of An Garda Siochana.

He said that rather than keeping the general public informed the Government has been silent.

Ms Fitzgerald admitted that no contingency plan could replace 12,800 gardai: We are talking about essential services, keeping our airports and ports open, commerce continuing and responses being made to serious and urgent 999 calls and emergency situations.

Independent TD Noel Grealish said morale within the gardai is at an all time low and said this is due to the massive cuts experienced in the past 10 years. The recruitment ban, which has been in place for more than seven years, resulted in very few new recruits coming in to keep their numbers up. It has all led to the situation we have today where the amount of anger and frustration within the force is at a level we have never seen before.
Ian Murrihy, aged 26, of OCallaghan Avenue, Kileely, Limerick, has pleaded not guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to a charge of attempting to rob Brendan Beacom.

Mr Beacom recalled that following heart surgery he went out for evening walks.

After parking his car near St Michaels Boat Club at around 8pm on May 14, 2014, he commenced walking at Cleeves Bank.

Two men approached and one stopped him and demanded: Give me what you have, before pulling a knife.

He struck him over the eye with the knife, cutting his forehead.

Mr Beacom grappled with his attacker and they both fell to the ground.

When he stood up, both men ran off Mr Beacom got help and was taken to hospital.

Samantha Ryan said she was near St Michaels Rowing Club when meeting a man destroyed in blood.

He asked her if she had a phone and to call the gardai and an ambulance. The man was shaking and very distressed.

Aaron Bourke, a half brother of the accused, said they were walking on the Clare side of Shannon Bridge going towards the city. They met an old man and Mr Murrihy asked him for what he had. His brother then hit the old man, knocking him to the ground.

He told his brother come on and they left the area.

Garda Brian Jackman said he was off duty in a car travelling across Shannon Bridge at around 8.30pm when he saw two men jumping over a wooden fence on the Clare side of the bridge. They were highly agitated. One took off his jacket and threw it back in over the fence.

The two then walked quickly over Shannon Bridge in the direction of the city. He phoned Henry Street station and reported the two men he had seen.

The trialcontinues.
LEBANON  Eric Holloway of Albany isnt homeless, but he was finding the second annual Stand Down for Homeless Veterans extremely helpful Thursday morning at the River Center in Lebanon.

Holloway, 38, is a mechanic with the 224 Engineers of the Oregon National Guard. He was looking for items that could be used around the home for he and his fiancees three young children. He also was seeking resource information to help his father, a disabled veteran.

We could use some blankets and other things, Holloway said.

Pegge McGuire, Housing and Energy Services director for Community Services Consortium, which coordinated the event, said there was a large group of veterans waiting when the doors opened at 9 a.m.

By 10 a.m., McGuire said 35 veterans, some with family members, had visited a room filled with items donated by the Department of Defense. The items were being handed out by volunteers with Link Up Veterans, a group that helps veterans get into the outdoors through hiking, fishing and hunting.

Weve already given out a lot of items and people have been extremely grateful, McGuire said. We are already wiped out of shoes.

McGuire said she was seeing more female veterans this year as well.

Diedra Roach, 51, a new Corvallis resident, was one of them.

Roach moved to the mid-valley about 45 days ago to be closer to her daughter who is a student at Oregon State. Roach was a communications and administrative specialist in the Army from 1983 to 1989 and served in the United States and Germany.

I hope to get housing resources, she said. I recently transferred her from California.

Roach said she is familiar with Stand Downs and attended them in West L.A. and Santa Barbara.

Among the items donated by the Department of Defense were large backpacks, blankets, coats, tents, shoes, sleeping bags and more.

Linn County Commissioner Will Tucker called Thursdays event great.

A Navy veteran, Tucker was well pleased with the turnout and everyones willingness to help the veterans in any number of ways. There was a canteen filled with refreshments, from biscuits and gravy to donuts to pizza.

Pete Wall was staffing a Tools 4 Troops booth. He said the programs goal is to gather used tools of all kinds that are in good, workable condition and provide them to veterans. A table held everything from screwdrivers and wrenches to saws and tool boxes.

We partner with lot of groups such as Goodwill and Work Source Oregon, he said. For example, if a veteran gets a job through Work Source Oregon, thats great. But they might not have money to buy tools. We can provide basic tools for free to help them get on their feet.

For homeless veterans, the tools might make daily life a bit easier.

The veterans usually always just take what they need and leave something for their buddies, Wall said.

Homeless veteran Peter Braithwaite of Albany picked up a file for knife-sharpening. This was his second Stand Down and Braithwaite, who served in the Army from 1976 to 1979, said things are looking up.

Ive got a veterans representative who is trying to find me a place to live, he said. Im having a blast. Its like being a kid at Christmas.

He had already picked up a backpack, pants and socks.

At a nearby table, volunteers from SafeHaven Humane Society were handing out bags of cat and dog food.

Dean Gloude said businesses like Bi-Mart and Petco donated several items.

The purpose of a Stand Down for Homeless Veterans event is to connect veterans with everything from health screenings and Social Security benefits counseling to dental services  a mobile dental clinic was on-site.

There were dozens of assistance and information tables offering everything from haircuts to Linn and Benton county Public Health Services  including mental health  legal aid, Samaritan Health Services, Oregon National Guard, veterans affairs, employment services, and much more.

Dick Knowles of Linn County Mental Health said 11 veterans had stopped by in just one hour, and at least one had a one-on-one session with a health expert.

For more information or to donate to future events, contact Connie Barkdull at cbarkdull@communityservices.us, or 541-758-2761.
The review was ordered after the mother of a six-year-old girl with epilepsy began a walk from Cork to Dublin in a bid to get Health Minister Simon Harris to take action.

Vera Twomey, mother of Ava, claims an oil derived from the cannabis plant, and available in a hemp shop, is helping to ease the hundreds of seizures Ava suffers from with the rare drug-resistant Dravet syndrome.

Mr Harris met Ms Twomey in June before calling for the review by the Health Products Regulatory Authority. This is not a discussion about decriminalising cannabis in any way, shape, or form  it is about reviewing our current policy and seeking to inform ourselves of the latest medical and scientific evidence on the potential medical benefits of cannabis for some people with certain medical conditions, he said.

Ms Twomey, from Aghabullogue, Co Cork, launched an online petition to raise awareness about CBD oil which contains none or only trace levels of the THC ingredients traditionally associated with using cannabis to get high. She revealed she had called off her walk after speaking to the minister by phone and agreeing to meet him next Wednesday.

It is understood Ms Twomey has been using Charlottes Web oil but fears that her daughter will build a resistance to it leaving her with no remedy for repeated seizures.

Mr Harris said he understands the difficulty Ms Twomey is in. I know that many patients believe cannabis should be a treatment option for their medical condition.

However, cannabis is not currently an authorised medicine and has not gone through the normal regulatory procedures for medicines which are designed to protect patients and ensure treatments are supported by good evidence of their effectiveness.

The Oireachtas Health Committee is planning to discuss the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes later this month. People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny proposed legislation in the Dail to legalise it earlier this year.
The child was seen hanging out of the window from the second floor at the Mount Kennett apartment block, on the Dock Road, Limerick, around 11.30am yesterday.

Garda Brian Delee, from Tipperary, based at Limericks Henry Street Garda Station, raced to the scene with his colleague Ger Summerly, from Co Clare. Within seconds, the quick-thinking officers procured a ladder from a passing van driver before Garda Delee scaled 35 feet up to ensure the boy was safe.

Its believed the boy and his one-year-old sister were being looked after by a relative at the time.

Garda Delee said afterwards he had no training scaling ladders but that adrenaline took over. When you see a child, like that, you just go, he added.

FG Senator Kieran ODonnell who witnessed the terrifying incident unfold, described the two uniformed gardai as heroes.

It just shows you how important it is to have gardai on the ground.If the child had fallen at that distance I wouldnt like to think about it. Asked if he believed gardai should be paid more, Senator ODonnell replied: Clearly, yes.

Mr ODonnell, who lost his Dail seat in the last General Election added: I believe the gardai are a special case, and I certainly am aware of the financial pressures, in particular that young gardai, are under.

The fact that two members of the force were on the scene very quickly, and acted in such a swift fashion, ensured the safety of this young child.

City council employee Turlough McNamara, who also witnessed the incident, hailed the two gardai and the van driver as heroes.

I looked up and saw a baby boy hanging over the window. I started to panic, I shouted at him, go back, go back. He was hanging over the window with his stomach out over it.

Mr McNamara added: It was frightening. A few of us screamed at the child to get back in. There was enough of us there that, if, God forbid he had jumped, we would have caught him.
JARED Harris did not consider himself a natural candidate to play the King of England. The 55-year-old is the son of Richard Harris, the gadfly actor, proud Limerick man and avowed republican. Yet in Netflixs $100m new British royalty drama The Crown, Harris the younger delvers a deeply sympathetic portrayal of George VI, Britains wartime regent and father of Elizabeth II. Richard might have been left speechless.

My father was the opposite of all that, Harris tells me. He was nationalist, a republican, he believed in a unified Ireland and spoke very passionately about that.

The Crown has been billed as Netflixs foray into costume drama. With a script by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost v Nixon), and a pilot directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours), its credentials are indeed first rate. The record budget  lavish even by Netflix standards ensures, moreover, that it looks sumptuous too, every ruffled frock and tweed jacket tweaked for maximum authenticity.

Yet the series aspires to be more than merely Downtown Abbey 2.0. Across a mooted 10 seasons (the first two already green lit), The Crown will chronicle the life of Elizabeth II (Claire Foy), beginning in year one with her marriage to the caddish Philip Mountbatten (Dr Whos Tom Smith).

BREAKTHROUGH ROLE

As both reluctant king and Elizabeths doting dad, Harris is a revelation. His biggest role up to this point was as an archetypal Brit in Manhattan in Mad Men (he was the posh chap who spoiled one of Don Drapers boozy lunches by killing himself). With The Crown he finally, deep in middle age, has an opportunity to step beyond his fathers shadow.

His performance is all the more impressive considering George VI was brought to the screen in 2010 in The Kings Speech, with Colin Firth as the shy, stutter-afflicted royal who became a reluctant figurehead following the abdication of his older brother, King Edward.

Harris had seen the movie, which focused on Georges struggle to overcome his speech impediment and in which Elizabeth was a minor character. Was he required to unconsciously scrub from his memories all recollections of the earlier, Oscar-garlanded film?

I took great solace from the fact that Colin Firth looked nothing like him and that didnt upset people, says Harris. I look nothing like him either. The thing is, ours is a different story. The Kings Speech is about a man overcoming a personal millstone around his neck  this impediment which he feels makes him unfit to perform his functions. There is this idea that the monarch is supposed to be an idea of perfection. Every time he opens his mouth he destroyed that.

We are doing something different. There is something about his relationship to power in The Crown, yes. More than that, we are exploring George as a family man. There is a very tight bond between the family.

CHANGING WORLD

When Peter Morgan was writing season one of The Crown, Brexit was a smudge on the horizon. With Britain now set to depart the European Union, he feels the series has taken on a deeper resonance. It is the story of Elizabeth, but also of the UK during decades of upheaval.

This is the amazing thing, he says. You write a show... and then the world changes and suddenly what you are writing becomes something different. Now that we have made this inexplicable decision to cut ourselves off  or at least for some people explicable, lets not make a judgement call  we have made the decision 52 to 48 to go alone, and if we are going to go alone, isnt it a good moment to look at who we are and what we are?

Jared Harris, second from left, at Cork airport in 1965 with his father Richard, and the rest of his family.

He suspects that contemporary notions of Britishness take their cues from Elizabeth  and that this played a part in the Brexit vote. A nostalgia for the UK of yesteryear is bound up in the publics affection for their queen.

A lot of, especially elderly people, in his country feel more connected to the Commonwealth. When youve a head of state whose natural centre of gravity is the Commonwealth, it is hard for us to think that the centre of gravity is Europe. I do think that plays a role.

He initially feared the Brexit vote could damage The Crown. With the UK turning its back on the Continent, might viewers in Europe become hostile to this thoroughly British story?

I wondered would these people think, Well those Brits can go to hell, we dont want to see the show. It might work the other way. Now that we see how mad they are, or how eccentric their system is, maybe we understand better this island and the soul of the UK.

Morgan has written about the royals before. The Queen (2006), directed by Stephen Frears from Morgans script, imagined the interaction between Elizabeth and Tony Blair in the days following Dianas death. His 2013 play The Audience, meanwhile, looked at Elizabeths relationship with successive Prime Ministers.

A FEW SURPRISES

Nonetheless, delving into her early life for The Crown unearthed surprises. He was particularly struck by the young Philip, not at all the foot-in-mouth buffoon from The Queen.

Philip was the biggest shock. Elizabeth is partly the person we see in public. She was always very contained, very responsible, very durable. Philip is whole lot of things we dont see. 

He dismisses suggestions that The Crown is Netflixs tilt at Downton Abbey. Its a drama with costumes  not a costume drama.

People keep mentioning Downton Abbey. They are seeing great British actors in frocks. But the second season, which we are shooting now, ends in 1964. Were just a fraction away from [Prime Minister] Harold Wilson and then youre into a completely different vibe. By 1976 youve got the Silver Jubilee and the Sex Pistols. This is something that is always evolving. I dont think of it as a period show.
Political controversy has dogged commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian popular revolt against communist rule. Hungarys conservative prime minister, Viktor Orban, has used the occasion to condemn what he has called the Sovietisation of the European Union by Brussels bureaucrats.

According to Orbans rhetoric, in 1956, the Hungarian people rose against the Soviet empire; in 1989, they revolted again and opened their borders to refugees from communist East Germany, helping to collapse the Berlin Wall; and then, in 2015, Hungarys decision to close its frontiers against mass immigration from the Middle East saved European civilisation.

Orbans opponents in Hungary protest that in 1956, the insurgents looked for leadership from reform communists such as Imre Nagy, not from nationalist politicians. They also point out that other European nations did not turn their back on the 200,000 Hungarian refugees who fled the bloody Soviet suppression of the revolt.

Meanwhile, the traditional Soviet analysis of the Hungarian rising as being a violent counter-revolution continues to command support in contemporary Russia. The Russian media has compared 1956 to the violent events that took place in Kiev in 2014, and depicted the rising as an early example of a western-engineered regime change.

But the scholarly judgement of most historians is that the events of 1956 were not foreign-inspired or manipulated but arose as a spontaneous, home-grown insurgency that aimed to reform rather than overthrow the communist system. But the heavy-handed Soviet military action provoked a radicalisation of the protesters who subsequently became increasingly violent in response.

Thousands of citizens died as Budapest became a battleground that pitted relatively poorly-armed peoples militias against Soviet tanks rolling through the streets and well-trained, well-armed Red Army soldiers.





The Hungarian insurgency was part of a more general crisis that gripped the communist bloc in 1956. Hopes were high since in February the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had denounced Stalin in a secret speech to the 20th party congress, the contents of which quickly became public.

Khrushchevs speech was part of a process of deliberate destalinisation in the USSR that had begun after the Soviet dictators death in 1953. The expectation was there could be fundamental reform of the authoritarian communist system, not only in the USSR but in Central and Eastern Europe, too.

The mood supporting change was most evident in Poland and Hungary.

In Poznan, Poland, workers rioted and hundreds were shot dead by security police in June 1956. Rather than resort to further repression the communist authorities restored to power Wladyslaw Gomulka, a former party leader who had been purged in the late 1940s as a so-called national communist who put the interests of Poland before those of the Soviet Union.

Gomulkas aim was to draw the teeth of the popular revolt by introducing moderate reforms, such as replacing Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky as Polish defence minister. The part- Polish Rokossovsky gained fame as a skilful Soviet general during the Second World War and his control of the defence ministry guaranteed Polands fidelity to its military ally, the USSR.

Alarmed by the proposal to remove Rokossovsky, Khrushchev flew to Warsaw in October 1956 to negotiate with Gomulka. The Polish leader, in the face of threatened military intervention, managed to persuade Khrushchev that Poland would remain communist and within the Soviet bloc.

Gomulkas efforts to calm the situation were also supported by the Catholic Church which despite communist antipathy to religious observance, remained a strong and well-supported institution among sections of the population. In supporting its congregations, the church engaged in a balancing act of appearing independent of the countrys regime without threatening its rulers.

A more surprising ally was Radio Free Europe, the western propaganda station, whose Polish broadcasters urged moderation and pragmatism rather than outright revolt. Gomulkas regime was among the most liberal of the Soviet bloc and it was developments in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s that paved the way to the collapse of the communism in 1989.

But a quite different scenario unfolded in Hungary. Inspired by events in Poland, Hungarian protesters gathered in central Budapest on October 23, 1956, and a giant statute of Stalin was pulled down (only his boots remained), the central state radio station was attacked and shots were exchanged  although who fired first is not clear. Rumours about the authorities shooting demonstrators spread like wildfire and the city was soon in a state of insurgency.

Called upon to quell the revolt the following day, Soviet armed forces stationed in Hungary deployed 30,000 troops and 1,000 tanks to seize strategic locations in Budapest and sealed the Austrian-Hungarian border. On October 25, the Soviets clashed with protesters outside the Hungarian parliament and dozens of demonstrators were shot.

While insurgent groups had begun to arm themselves with commandeered weapons, there was little organised violence at this stage of the revolt. But adding fuel to the flames of revolt were an intransigent, anti-communist Catholic hierarchy and irresponsible propaganda from the Hungarian desk of Radio Free Europe urging people not to compromise with the communist regime.

The Hungarian communists recalled Imre Nagy to power. Nagy, a reforming prime minister in 1953-1955, had been forced out of office by party hardliners.

Unfortunately Nagy was no Gomulka. He failed to assert decisive leadership over the protest movement and allowed himself to become a prisoner of events, deepening Moscows grave concern about the situation in Hungary. The country had a history of pro-fascist sympathies and had fought on the Nazi German side during the Second World War. Soviet leaders feared that if communism fell in Hungary this would have a domino effect in the rest of the bloc. The very existence of the Warsaw Pact  established in 1955 as a counter to Nato  seemed to be at stake.

Anguished debates took place in Moscow about whether further military action was necessary. High-ranking emissaries were sent to Budapest to talk to Nagy and their reports convinced Khrushchev to give the new Hungarian leader a chance to stabilise the situation.

Soviet troops were evacuated from Budapest and on October 30, the Presidium  as the Politburo was then called  decided against an invasion of Hungary and adopted a resolution promising more equitable relations between the USSR and its East European allies.

In a dramatic reversal of its position the next day, the Presidium decided instead to send in the tanks. The about face was prompted in part by an attack on communist party offices in Budapest which resulted in the public lynching of a number party officials and security personnel. Photographs of the atrocity flashed across the globe, empowering hardliners in Budapest and Moscow who wanted urgent and decisive military action to crush the revolt.

Yet Khrushchev remained reluctant to intervene further militarily. He much preferred a Polish-style resolution of the crisis but had lost faith in Nagys ability to deliver such a solution. Then, on October 30, Nagy announced that multiparty elections would be held in Hungary and, in a private conversation with the Soviet ambassador, threatened neutrality and withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact.

As far as the Soviets were concerned, this signalled that Nagy had reneged on his agreement to take control of the situation and to slow down the pace of change.

The broader context for Khrushchevs decision to invade was the coincidence of the Hungarian crisis with the Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt following Nassers nationalisation of the Suez Canal.

Egypt at that time was a Soviet ally, and as Khrushchev told the Presidium on October 31: If we leave Hungary, it will encourage the American, British and French imperialists. They will see weakness on our part and go on the offensive. To Egypt they will then add Hungary.

Soviet leaders rattled their sabres at the British and French, even threatening rocket attacks if the invasion of Egypt continued but, in reality, there was little they could do to help their Arab allies. It was American pressure that eventually forced Britain and France to withdraw their forces from the Suez Canal.

Hungary, however, was a different matter. On November 4, the Soviets launched a massive military intervention in Budapest and throughout the state. A total of 17 invading divisions took part in combined tank, infantry and air operations against the by now well-armed insurgents.

There were no more than 15,000 to 20,000 active fighters but the battle was particularly fierce in Budapest, where the insurgents fought back with barricades, small arms, and Molotov cocktails. The Soviets suffered more than 2,000 casualties, including 700 dead.

An estimated 5,000 Hungarians were killed and another 20,000 wounded. Many of those who suffered were civilians caught in the crossfire.

While Soviet military operations lasted only a few days, strikes and demonstrations continued for several more weeks. Thousands of Hungarians were arrested and hundreds executed.

Imre Nagy was deposed from power and fled to the Yugoslav embassy but was subsequently captured and spirited to Romania. Tried in secret and executed in 1958, he was buried in a prison yard. In 1989, Nagy was rehabilitated and reburied, his grave becoming a sacred place in post-communist Hungary.

The Soviet invasion of Hungary had a devastating effect on the world communist movement. Tens of thousands of western communists tore up their party membership cards in protest. Particularly hard hit was the communist-led peace movements which had spent years cultivating the Soviet Unions image as a peace-loving state.

The Hungarian revolt was depicted by the Soviets as a fascist counter-revolution aided and abetted by imperialist subversion and covert action by western intelligence agencies. But apart from the broadcasts of Radio Free Europe, there is no evidence of significant foreign interference in Hungarys affairs. The Americans talked about rolling back Soviet power and liberating Eastern Europe from communism but did little about it. Hungary was in Moscows sphere and the US would not risk a war with the Soviet Union to aid the insurgents.

There were indeed fascist elements among the insurgents but most were disaffected rather than motivated by a desire to restore a reactionary regime in Hungary. Many were young, uneducated, unskilled workers who had fallen foul of the forces of law and order law before.

Students and intellectuals did play a part in the revolt but they were not the mainstays of the violent resistance to the Soviets.

Could the Hungarian revolt have succeeded? Yes, but only if the insurgents moderated their demands. Liberation from the Soviet bloc was geopolitically impossible but a more moderate form of communism along Polish or Yugoslav lines was entirely possible. Important to such an outcome would have been American assurances to the Soviets that they were not attempting to subvert Moscows bloc in Eastern Europe. Most important, the situation demanded a more effective leader than the romantic and idealistic Nagy.

Nagys successor as Hungarian leader was Janos Kadar, a reform-minded communist who on the eve of Soviet invasion threw his lot in with Moscow. Kadar suppressed national memory of the 1956 revolt but he was adept at maintaining a relative liberal regime in Hungary until his retirement in 1988. Kadars goulash communism was an important ingredient feeding into the radical reform of the Soviet system attempted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s.

The communist regime in Hungary could have been changed without resort to force, as it was in Poland. Arguably, there was a trend towards reform throughout the communist bloc in the mid-1950s that was curtailed by the violent events in Budapest. Not until 1968 in Czechoslovakia was there another important reform movement in the communist bloc.

As in Hungary and Poland in 1956, the movement was led by reform communists. Once again, changes were introduced that were too far-reaching for Moscows taste.

Like Khrushchev, the new Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, lost faith in the local communists and the tanks were sent into Czechoslovakia, this time supported by the USSRs Warsaw Pact allies, including, ironically, Hungary and Poland.

The Czechs and Slovaks resisted the invasion but peacefully and there was no large-scale loss of life.

It was Czechoslovakias Prague Spring not the violent Hungarian revolt that provided the template for Mikhail Gorbachevs attempted reform of the Soviet system and became the inspiration for the peaceful revolutions that overthrew communism in 1989.

Viktor Orbans commemoration speech was delivered on the steps of the Hungarian parliament. He did not mention Imre Nagy but his eyes might have strayed across Martyrs Square to Nagys memorial. A favourite for tourist selfies, Nagys statue stands relaxed on a bronze arch bridge wearing a raincoat and a trilby hat.

An all-too-human figure, Nagy lacked the political skills and determination that might have enabled him to avoid the violent denouement of the Hungarian Rising of 1956.

Geoffrey Roberts is professor of history and dean of graduate studies at UCC, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy
As Hillary Clinton made history this year by becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major US political party, an Irishwoman who helped set the event in motion decades earlier was overwhelmed with joy. The woman is Dublin-born librarian turned Washington political power broker Stella OLeary. And while O Leary is far too modest to claim a place in political history, the record attests to the role she played in Clintons journey that could now lead back to the White House  this time as commander-in-chief.

Clinton and OLeary have been close for decades and Ireland is the glue that has bound them together. Their friendship began during the presidency of Hillarys husband, Bill Clinton, who shifted the power of his administration behind the Irish peace process.

Inspired by this, OLeary founded the Irish American Democrats Political Action Committee (PAC) in 1996 to work for Clintons re-election so he could continue his efforts to forge an Irish peace agreement, which he ultimately helped to secure in 1998.

Two years later, OLeary had a new mission. This time she vigorously supported Hillary Clintons successful bid for a New York senate seat in 2000, which ignited her political career.

In 2004, when Clinton was contemplating a momentous bid for the US presidency, OLeary strongly recommended she should run. Others felt it was premature, but OLeary was enthusiastic, both about the candidate and the historical significance of such a presidential bid, promising to help her politically and financially.

The Irish in America have often voiced support for political candidates but OLeary knew this time it would be different because she would be able to put a powerful instrument at Clintons disposal  the Irish-American Democrats PAC.

OLeary also wanted to ensure that Americas involvement in Irish issues would endure long after Bill Clinton left office. Her PAC would play a central role in her plan. What had begun as a one-woman enterprise in 1996 had since helped to transform the political landscape in Washington, tilting it firmly towards constitutional solutions to the Troubles, underpinned by US financial support.

OLeary modelled the PAC on the powerful Jewish lobby groups that she saw in Washington winning support for Israel. It was unbelievable, says OLeary. There were 35 Jewish political action committees. I explored why the Irish had none, and the reason was interesting  the Irish never needed one. When they had a political question or needed a favour they simply got on the phone to senator Kennedy, or senator Leahy, or Chris Dodd.

But Irish friends like the Kennedys would soon leave the halls of power in Congress. I believed it was time to look to a new generation.

The PACs aim was simple, she says. We wanted to support Democratic candidates for national and state elections, who promote peace, justice and prosperity in Ireland.

It has since raised millions of dollars for congressional and presidential candidates and is made up of political heavy hitters from around the country.

Spurred on by OLeary, the PAC proceeded in the 2008 race to get out the votes and cash that helped Clinton come within reach of the Democratic nomination, though in the end Barack Obama surged to victory.

OLeary followed Clintons lead. She rowed in behind Obamas candidacy and bided her time  until this year. She has now blitzed across a dizzying number of states campaigning for Clinton, culminating in the opening of an Irish for Hillary campaign office in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ive been reaching into red (Republican) states with Irish populations and organising Hillary rallies in Georgia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, she said.

A highlight came in Atlanta, Georgia, when David Fitzgerald, a leading Irish-American member of the Republican party introduced her by declaring: I am a registered Republican and Im voting for Hillary Clinton because I consider her the most qualified candidate ever to run for the US presidency.

Like Clinton, OLeary describes herself as a feminist. Most of Hillarys support comes from women and Im proud to be an Irishwoman who has been working for Hillary for so many years.

Like Clinton, she is also resilient.

Stella Heneghan was one of four children, three girls and one boy, and was born and raised in Dublin. She graduated from UCD and moved to the US in the 1960s as a trained librarian to archive a collection of Irish manuscripts bequeathed to Catholic University.

She did not intend to remain in the US but fate intervened. She met and married Tom OLeary and the couple settled in Washington. Thirteen years after their marriage, her husband died and she was left to raise their four children alone. Over the years, her children moved into successful careers, with one daughter presenting a case before the US Supreme Court.

Today, Stella OLeary is a grandmother to three girls and two boys, and aunt to a host of nieces and nephews. Her brother lives in the US, one sister died a few years ago, and her other sister lives in Templeogue Dublin, and has six children, two of whom emigrated to America and one to London, while the others live and work in Dublin.

A number of years after her husbands death she met her partner, the late Tom Halton, a professor of Latin, Greek, and early Christian studies, at the Catholic University of America. Together they authored the seminal reference volume Classical Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography.

Stella OLeary can be best described as a modern Irish patriot, who relishes politics and is known on both sides of the Atlantic for her work in ensuring Americas continued engagement with peace and prosperity in Ireland. She has accompanied Clinton on most of her 10 visits here  five as first lady and five as senator or secretary of state.

In 2011, OLeary founded the Clinton International Summer School, housed at the University of Ulster Magee campus, which provides scholarships to students from former conflict zones to explore projects on economic development in their countries.

That same year, on the recommendation of then secretary of state Clinton, President Obama appointed OLeary as an observer to the International Fund for Ireland. Since 1986, America has invested $500m in the fund to further peace and reconciliation projects.

OLearys most recent accolade was being named among Irish America magazines 2016 Fifty Power Women.

But even as OLeary continues to chase votes for Clinton in the final days of this campaign, she doesnt exaggerate the power of the Irish-American vote. Its real power, she says, lies in the fact that Irish-Americans come out and vote  for both major parties. Almost 39m claim Irish heritage. At a certain point the Irish divided and they are now, as far as Congress goes, about 50% Republicans and about 50% Democrats.

The reason the Irish are so important to politicians is that theyre terrific voters.

She illustrates the point by citing the example of congressman Joe Crowley, who represents a district in the New York borough of Queens. Crowley has 18% Irish in his district. His vote at election time is 45% Irish and thats because the other ethnic groups are not voting as consistently. The Irish vote and so theyre very important to American politicians. That holds for both sides.

But this time shes hoping they will swing it for one particular side and help Hillary Clinton in her latest bid to make history. This time she will shatter the highest and hardest glass ceiling of all, predicts OLeary, and her presidency will benefit not only Ireland and Irish-Americans but all Americans as she works for peace and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.
Two weeks after Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination for president, I flew to Little Rock, Arkansas, to visit Gay White.

White is the widow of Frank White, a conservative Little Rock banker who in 1980 toured all 75 counties in Arkansas in a quixotic attempt to unseat the incumbent governor, Bill Clinton. Frank had no previous experience campaigning, but proved to be an enthusiastic retail politician. Gay, then 32, accompanied him on his statewide tour of cattle auctions, parking lots and chicken-processing plants.

Hi, Im Gay White, she would tell the people they met. My husbands running for governor, and Id sure appreciate your vote.

Though that year was a momentous one for the Whites, one detail had stuck with White 36 years later. I cannot tell you the number of times they would say to me, If your husband wins, are you going to keep his last name? she told me. I heard it over and over and over.

It had not occurred to the Whites or their campaign advisers that attitudes toward the governors wife, Hillary Rodham, might be what Gay White would later term an undercurrent in the 1980 election. They knew, of course, that Arkansas had seen no first lady like Rodham, a Wellesley graduate who wore bookworm spectacles and a hairdo that was not blown out in the Southern manner. At 32, she was a full partner at one of the nations oldest law firms. She had never changed her name, and Rodham was how her clients knew her.

While Gay dutifully barnstormed alongside her husband, Clintons wife had her own pursuits, as well as an infant daughter whom she was determined not to use as a political prop. Frank and I went to every festival in Arkansas. I had lots of people say, Hillarys never been here  and shes the first lady. I think the fact she did not go to these little county fairs and she was seen as not embracing that role caused people to resent her, right or wrong.

The White campaign focused on Bill Clintons tax hikes, his willingness to accept Cuban refugees and  as Whites former campaign chairman, Curtis Finch, told me  the perception among people older than he was that he was just young and arrogant and brought in all these people who had beards and long hair.

If Hillary Rodhams feminism was part of this picture, White didnt feel the need to campaign on it overtly. Still, he knew voters would get the joke when, after criticising Clinton for allowing married couples to hold state-government positions, he could not resist adding: How many husband-and-wife teams has he hired? Its hard to find out, because they dont have the same last names.

Hillary Rodham. Pic: Arkansas Democratic-Gazette, via AP

Six weeks before the election, Clinton enjoyed a 41-point lead over the challenger, who entered the race with only 2% of the public knowing who he was. But on November 4, Frank White beat Bill Clinton, 52% to 48%. A few weeks later, explaining the results, the governors wife observed somberly, Its more easy to enthuse people if they think theres going to be a change, instead of more of the same.

Rodham may not have been on the ballot, but Gay White remains convinced that how they perceived her was very much a factor.

Two years later, when Clinton ran again against White, he ran a television ad apologising for his mistakes. And, Gay remembers, Rodham changed everything: her whole appearance, her wardrobe. She started wearing makeup. She took Bills last name. They did the things they needed to do. Bill Clinton won the rematch in a landslide. The Clintons returned to the governors mansion in 1983. Neither has lost a general election since.

I get that some people just dont know what to make of me, Hillary Clinton said in her speech accepting the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. It was a rare acknowledgment by her of what has been the defining paradox of her career: She has been a presence in American public life for more than a third of a century, and yet for all her ubiquity, she remains a curiously unknown quantity to many voters.

Its possible to glimpse the origins of this paradox in the time between Bill Clintons 1980 loss and his 1982 victory. Upon facing the electoral judgment of her persona for the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton began what has gradually evolved into a precarious shadow game with the American public  a ritualised series of reveals, retreats, and resets, each iteration seemingly more freighted with recrimination and self-doubt than the one preceding it. It was the moment when Hillary became Hillary  a collaborative creation by herself and her political enemies, both a reflection and a source of the uncertainty and mistrust with which the public has so often regarded her.

In the early months of his 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton confidently told voters they would be getting two for the price of one with Hillary in the White House. Still, George Bushs campaign operation, like Whites, did not give much thought to attacking her.

Although the race was seen by many on both sides as a sort of generational referendum, the Bush campaign did not disseminate the photos it had gathered of her dressed in hippie attire or details of her 1971 clerkship for the left-wing lawyer Robert Treuhaft. In part, this simply reflected a political era that still observed certain unspoken rules. In those days, you didnt go after a candidates family, says David Tell, who ran Bushs opposition-research team. But it also reflected the feeling that, as the Bush campaign strategist Charlie Black recalls: We didnt need to talk about it. There already were certain people, especially older voters, who didnt like the idea of a co-presidency and a ball-busting first lady.

Arkansans had struggled with the same notion throughout Clintons tenure as governor. Hillary gave thought to running for governor herself in 1990, but her polling showed the public was disinclined to vote for her.

Still, Hillarys national debut in the 1992 election suggested the Clintons believed things would be different outside Arkansas. The Hillary that America came to know in the first months of the campaign was the woman who, confronted with Bills affair with Gennifer Flowers, was not some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette, who later said she could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas but became a high-powered lawyer instead.

After the second comment, however, angry calls flooded into the campaigns offices, along with packages of home-baked cookies. Alarmed, the Clinton brain trust directed pollster Celinda Lake to conduct focus groups on the candidates wife. A follow-up memorandum warned: In the focus groups, people think of her as being in the race for herself and as going for the power. She is not seen as particularly family oriented. More than Nancy Reagan, she is seen as running the show.

The campaign responded by relegating her to campuses and libraries and smaller markets. The Clintons showbiz friends Harry and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason assigned her three fashion consultants  one each for her makeup, hair, and wardrobe  and her headbands were consigned to the dustbin of history.

At that summers Republican National Convention, Patrick Buchanan derided Clintons radical feminism. Marilyn Quayle  a lawyer who gave up her career to support her husbands  presented herself and Dan Quayle as an alternative vision of the husband-wife partnership. Most women do not want to be liberated from their essential natures as women, she said. But the convention drew poor reviews; The New York Timess conservative columnist William Safire complained that the party displayed the basest of its base.

From then on, the Bush campaign team confined its direct attacks to Bill Clinton.

In 1992, as in 1980, the Clintons forced Americans to confront an unsettled landscape of shifting cultural boundaries; voters might have rejected Marilyn Quayles worldview, but they had not yet fully embraced Hillarys. It fell to Hillary to resolve a conflict that Americans had not yet really resolved for themselves, and her response was what we now recognise as the quintessential Clintonian defence: to offer up a cosmetically reassuring version of Hillary while resolving thereafter to reveal as little of Hillary as possible. A pattern had also emerged that would carry on throughout Clintons public life: Her protectors would overprotect; her attackers would overattack. And the American public would emerge from the episode with a welling distaste for all parties involved.

Clintons decision in 1999 to seek office herself  motivated, the longtime Clinton friend Paul Begala says, by a real desire for the legitimacy that comes from earning votes  meant that the first lady was now a legitimate target. Once again, however, the Republicans overplayed their hand. Rick Lazio, her opponent in the 2000 Senate race, pursued a campaign strategy that was foremost about driving up her negatives  in particular, the ghosts of Clinton controversies past. He devoted a speech to Whitewater and mocked the Clintons failed health-care initiative  which was criticised for the secrecy Hillary imposed on policy discussions  as an unmitigated disaster.

He released an ad attacking her untrustworthiness. At the heart of this campaign, Lazio said during their first debate, are two words: character and trust. It backfired.

In the polling data, it was clear people still remembered Hillarycare, and plenty of them didnt like her, recalls Lazios campaign manager, Bill Dal Col. But the biggest thing was the sympathy factor. The Lewinsky scandal clearly gave her another breath of life. Trustworthiness was the back end of the chain at that point. It was, Look at what this womans been through.

But in the Senate, Clinton found that once again, the act of making herself into the person voters seemed to want her to be made her an object of suspicion. She embraced the grind of the job, distancing herself from the accusations of dilettantism and entitlement that had been levelled in the 2000 race. In so doing, however, she acquired a new stigma: that of Washington insider. And the first rivals to exploit it were her fellow Democrats.

In late 2006, Barack Obama commissioned the pollster Larry Grisolano to conduct a series of focus groups in Iowa and New Hampshire to test themes that might support an insurgent candidacy by the first-term senator. What that research showed, Grisolano recalls, was that there was a market for a fresh truth-teller like Obama. And it worked well in contrast to somebody who was eagerly grabbing the mantle of the establishment.

But Clintons senior strategist, Mark Penn, argued that she should emphasise her gravitas over the history-making prospect of a female president. We opted for qualified and experienced over relatable, says her former campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, which I think was a mistake.

Clinton didnt need much convincing. She was proud of her hard-earned experience in Washington and affronted by Obamas lack of it, and she campaigned accordingly. The one thing everybody in America knew about her, says her former speechwriter Lissa Muscatine, was that she was tough and strong. What they didnt know was her 40 years of advocacy, the background she came from, how her faith motivated her. All of this history got swept away. Her campaign should have been a movement campaign like Obamas. And it never was.

At the Democratic National Convention in July, the retelling of Clintons story fell chiefly to her husband, who laboured over his speech for days, showing it to no one until a couple of hours before he delivered it on Tuesday night. (He did proudly share the opening line  In the spring of 1971, I met a girl  to at least one close adviser on the phone the night before.)

When it was the nominees own turn to speak, she devoted a scant three minutes to her drape-making father, her orphaned mother and her early work with the Childrens Defence Fund. Then she beat a retreat into the working-class stories of others she met on her long road to becoming the most famous unknowable person on the planet.

Even 20 years ago, Clinton was clearly exhausted by the project of untangling Hillary and Hillary. I dont think you can ever know anybody else, she told The Washington Post in 1995. And I certainly dont think you can know anybody else through the crude instruments available to us of exposing bits and pieces of somebodys life.

Gay White watched Clintons convention speech and her first debate against Donald Trump from her home in Little Rock. Being roughly the same age as Clinton, she was offended to hear Trump attack his opponents physical capabilities. Ive been in a little statewide campaign where we went to 75 counties, White said. Ive not been through a national campaign. Anyone who can do that has got to have stamina.

For the first time in her adult life, White does not know for whom she will vote. She has found little to admire in Trump, but she is a lifelong conservative, and her husband ran quite literally against Clintonian liberalism.

There is disapproval in her voice when she speaks of the Democratic nominee, if also a trace of respect, and she strains to recognise the independent young woman whose decision not to change her last name so alienated rural Arkansans back in 1980. What she sees instead, she says, is layer after layer of armour.

Still, White believes she knows the woman underneath it, and understands the choices Clinton made to recover from defeat 36 years ago. She really hasnt been able to be an authentic person, you know, she told me. And so she hasnt been. Not for some time.
A while back, the actor Charlton Heston addressed the then US presidential nominee, Al Gore, who was an advocate of gun control.

With classic Hollywood swagger Heston, since deceased, told Gore that his gun would be taken from my cold, dead hands.

Watching Enda Kenny at the All Ireland Brexit gathering at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham on Wednesday it was quite clear that Brexit would be wrestled from his grasp, politically at least, in the same way Heston would have relinquished his gun.

Brexit is potentially an utter disaster for us all. Just as we had repaired our historically fractured relationship with the Brits, youd now feel like banging their collective heads together over their utter stupidity and breath taking levels of self-obsession.

They havent even had the good grace in the four months that have passed since the vote to pull themselves together and form a proper plan.

As Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin told Wednesdays gathering, in the period since the referendum there has been little or no progress is defining what Brexit actually means.

Sure, he said, we can take reasonable scenarios and talk about what can be done.

Irish food giants weather Brexit fears https://t.co/Zp1WSvtvOD (GM) pic.twitter.com/Snj2OKgMvX  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 3, 2016

But we also have to talk about the crude and chaotic Brexit which some in the London cabinet appear to be advocating, he added.

But even Brexit has a silver lining and that cloud currently looms in the sky right over Mr Kennys political career.

There is merit in what Bertie Ahern advocates in the appointment of a Brexit minister whose full job it would be to try and get a handle on the entire mess.

But there is an equal, if not more compelling, case for it to be handled by a taoiseach of Mr Kennys experience, given the relationships he has forged with EU leaders over a number of years.

Those in favour of a change of leadership in Fine Gael argue that it doesnt matter so much who is taoiseach for the Brexit negotiations  there are changes around the EU leaders table on a rolling basis, they say.

But, on reflection, we are in such deep trouble with Brexit that every bit of help and experience is now vital.

Mr Kenny said last week that he would be the one to lead our response.

Surely there is a case for this man being the one to look deep into the eyes of his colleagues and remind them of our sacrifices during the austerity years, and how we did not burn the bondholders.

In this vein, Mr Kenny made sure to put his stamp on Wednesdays proceedings and stayed at the civic forum long after what a taoiseach might have been expected to, especially one who was facing a threatened Garda strike.

He even returned to the Royal Hospital to do a live appearance on Six One News, which was broadcast from there.

Yesterday, he travelled to the North on Brexit business.

All of this, it can be argued, is the expected behaviour of a political leader facing something of the magnitude of Brexit. He would be criticised for doing otherwise.

Enda Kenny: Politicians across Ireland need to establish Brexit priorities https://t.co/DOFx5RWyKh pic.twitter.com/JxRhmV2fh9  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 3, 2016

But it is also serendipity of the most marvellous kind. He told the gathering that British prime minister Theresa May could trigger Article 50 and begin Brexit talks as early as December, rather than in March.

Whether this was indeed a risk, or that it merely suited the Taoiseachs upping the Brexit ante, is a moot point after the high court in London ruled yesterday that the British government does not have the power to trigger article 50 without consulting parliament.

In unscripted remarks, he went on to warn that negotiations could get quite vicious and Europe could lose the plot if it becomes obsessed with what Britain might or might not get in the discussions.

It was certainly more subtle that running into a phonebox and coming out in a cape and tights with Captain Brexit emblazoned across his chest, but you get the drift. Young bucks Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar were also in attendance and there was a slight temptation afterwards to tap each of them on the shoulder and ask: How could you possibly do any better than this man with his wealth of experience?

Mr Kenny presided over a disastrous general election campaign. He should consider himself very lucky to have been returned as Taoiseach.

But even taking all of that into consideration, he may well be the person best placed to represent us at least in the early stages of these negotiations.

The Brexit forum, as Tom Arnold, who chaired the proceedings, pointed out, was really valuable for the range of diversity and voices that it brought together, especially with its All Ireland dimension. Unfortunately it was not attended by the two main unionist parties.

The day was not filled with doomsday Brexit predictions, and some contributors chose to highlight the opportunities, especially in education and science.

Some of the most interesting points were made by Ruth Taillon of the Centre for Cross Border Studies, in addressing the issue of free movement across the border.

She said at least 30,000 people cross the border for work, school, or college each day.

There are more than 100,000 people on this island who dont hold either UK or Irish citizenship, she said, including 40,000 who live in the North.

Several of them cross the border on a regular, if not daily, basis.

Post-Brexit, she said, raids on factories close to the border could not be ruled out and are certainly foreseeable for checks on passports and visas.

Paddy Malone of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce spoke of the major impact on his area.

There are 3,000 commuters who cross the border daily and they could be affected by new controls, as would the transport industry.

Tom Daly of Co-operation and Working Together, a body which operates in border areas, spoke about a 60m oncology and radiotherapy unit that is opening in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry  with 40m invested by the Northern Ireland Executive and 20m by the Government  with a service level agreement between both for 25 years to treat patients from all over the North-West.

British government 'determined to respect referendum result' after Brexit court defeat https://t.co/0E3PqnuQVM pic.twitter.com/nklhETJMdk  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 3, 2016

At the conclusion of the days proceedings, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said we had to be prepared for everything from the softest of soft Brexits, to the hardest of hard Brexits

From this vantage point, and with the behaviour of the British government, it is virtually impossible to see how it will be anything other than a chaotic Brexit, at least in the early stages.

We are in for a rough ride.

The best we can hope is that it will not be prolonged.

What we can say for certain is that Enda Kenny is ready and willing to serve.
In Person Dr San San Aye: We Want a Law to Prevent Gender-based Violence

Deputy director-general of the social welfare department Dr San San Aye. / Thuzar / The Irrawaddy

Deputy director-general of the social welfare department talked to The Irrawaddy reporter Thuzar about the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlements plans to help victims of gender violence and hold perpetrators accountable.

There is currently no dedicated legislation to punish sexual assaults on women and girls. What is the ministry doing to address this problem?

At present, we are trying to establish a law that can effectively prevent gender-based violence. The government, the parliament, and womens organizations are all helping.

We cant stand by and watch those cases happening while we are waiting for such a law, however. As social welfare department members we have basic legal knowledge and want to ensure offenders are given tough penalties. In the case of sexual abuse of a young girl we will sue the offender for rape charges and under the Child Law. If possible, we also sue the offender for trafficking, as we did with the Ava tailor shop case.

While a new law is pending, we try as far as possible to punish offenders under the existing laws.

The Ava tailor shop case was widely reported, which prompted authorities to take action. What about unreported cases?

I agree that the tailor shop case is just the tip of the iceberg and there are many abuse cases that go unreported. Our ministry has implemented a 100-day plan and, based on the results, we aim to improve our services. We are trying to expand our organizational structure. We have established helplines for round-the-clock assistance regarding social welfare problems (067-404666 and 067-404777).

We are also discussing assigning a staff member in each township to establish a comprehensive social welfare system.

What about domestic violence?

Most cases of domestic violence go unreported and it is difficult for us to handle this issue. We are planning a 16-day campaign to raise awareness of gender violence and launch a one-stop service for women at the Womens Vocational Training School on Natmauk Street in Rangoon.

Normally when women or girls file complaints of sexual assault they have to report the incident three timesto the police, to the social welfare department, and to doctors who perform medical checks.

No victim wants to talk about a painful experience three or four times. Therefore, we have organized a one-stop service where social welfare department personnel, police, health staff, and lawyers will all be present 24-hours a day. Eventually, we hope to expand this service throughout the country.

What sort of requests is the helpline currently receiving?

We receive reports of abuse from women and under-age girls as well as requests for help from elderly or disabled persons.
News Arakanese Activist Appeals Sedition, Defamation Case At Sittwe Court

Environmental activist and Arakan Liberation Party spokesperson Khaing Myo Htun. / EarthRights International

Arakanese environmental activist and ethnic armed group spokesperson Khaing Myo Htun has appealed charges of defamation and sedition brought against him by the military for a statement alleging Burma Army war crimes in Arakan State.

He has been in police custody since July 25 in the Arakan State capital of Sittwe, and his case is still undergoing trial.

Khaing Myo Htun and his legal team from the NGO EarthRights International requested at a court in Sittwe that the charges be dismissed for breaching both legal process and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

The chargesunder sections 505(b) and 505(c) of Burmas penal code, for sedition and incitement respectivelywere made after Lt-Col Tin Naing Tun of Sittwes Regional Operations Command filed a complaint on May 5 in response to a statement released by the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) in April. The statement accused the Burma Army of violating the Geneva Conventions by torturing civilians and forcing them to work as porters.

Khaing Myo Htun is deputy spokesperson for the information department of the ALP, which is one of eight ethnic armed groups in Burma that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord in Oct. 2015.

In May, the ALP threatened to pull out of the NCA because of the charges against Khaing Myo Htun, although it has not yet done so. The ALP had provided the Burma Army with 15 audio and video files, which they claimed corroborated the allegations.

An alumni of the EarthRights School for environmental and human rights activists in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Khaing Myo Htun worked for Arakan Oil Watch prior to co-founding the civil society group Natural Resources for the People and joining the board of the Arakan Natural Resources and Environmental Network

Ka Hsaw Wa, executive director of EarthRights, said in a press release on Thursday, it is easy to forget that we are no longer under a military regime when crimes like these [accusations of torture and forced portering] go uninvestigated and human rights defenders languish in prisons.

EarthRights said that although the statement released in April bore the clear imprint of the ALP, the military had chosen to go after Khaing Myo Htun personally, seemingly because of his human rights and environmental activism in Arakan State.

Ka Hsaw Wa called on the Burma Army to investigate its soldiers alleged involvement in human rights violations and drop the charges against Khaing Myo Htun immediately.

EarthRights noted that the defendant was made to wait for long periods between court hearings, with some being abruptly canceled after prosecution witnesses from the army were declared unavailable.

The organization also claimed that prosecuting the case through the law courts was in breach of the NCA. It noted that the NCA had mechanisms for resolving disputes between parties to the agreementin this case the Burma Army and the ALPand for investigating abuses of the kind alleged in the ALPs statement in April.

By deciding not to investigate the allegations and resorting to the courts, the army is ignoring its obligations under the NCA and further threatening the peace process, EarthRights said.
Burma Aid to Resume in Northern Arakan

Senior diplomats from the UN, United States, China, Britain, the European Union and India board a helicopter in Sittwe to visit the troubled Rohingya villages in the Maungdaw area in northern Arakan State on Nov. 2. / Wa Lone / Reuters

SITTWE  Burma has agreed to allow aid to resume to the troubled north of Arakan State and permit international observers to monitor whether help is reaching people displaced by violence, diplomats on a mission to the area told reporters on Thursday.

The diplomats, including the ambassadors of the United States and Britain and the top United Nations representative to the country, also called for an independent and credible investigation into attacks on security forces on Oct. 9 and the army operation launched in their aftermath.

The mission spent two days in northern Arakan, closed to aid workers and observers for more than three weeks, and visited several villages, but were not taken to the scene of some of the most serious allegations of abuses by troops against civilians.

There are four villages where people had apparently fled, US Ambassador Scot Marciel told reporters.

We talked to two groups of villagers who havent had any food for a while. So the government has agreed to restoring humanitarian assistance to them, which is a good step.

Troops have flooded northern Arakan, also known as Rakhine, since Oct. 9, when militants believed to be Rohingya Muslims attacked police border posts, killing nine officers. The government says five soldiers and at least 33 alleged insurgents have been killed in the military operation since then.

Residents and human rights advocates have accused security forces of summary executions, rapes and setting fire to homes.

The government has denied any abuses have taken place. During a visit to Japan, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was quoted as saying that Burma was responding to the delicate conflict based on the rule of law.

The State Counselor said on Friday that her country must have peace in order to have sustainable development.

We are still not at peace, there is still armed conflict between various armed groups in our country, the Nobel Peace Prize winner told Japanese business leaders. We must have peace in order that our development may be stable and sustainable.

Renata Lok-Dessallien, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burma, said the government assured the visiting diplomats that humanitarian support would be provided to up to 15,000 people believed to have been displaced since Oct. 9.

We asked that international observation of the provision of the assistance be agreed to and the government agreed to this. The government also agreed to allow the programs that were halted on the 9th of October to resume, she said, adding that the details of that resumption of aid were being worked out.

Marciel said the group was able to visit many villages it wanted to see, talk to the residents, and see how people lived. They had seen some burned-down homes, he said.

But the diplomats said the purpose of the missionwhich was not accompanied by humanitarian staff, technical experts or independent journalistswas to stress the importance of access and transparency, not investigate reported abuses.

Theres no way we have that capability, said Marciel. Thats why we said how important it is for Burma to have an independent, credible investigation that can look into these things more deeply.

That contrasted with the portrayal of the mission by the state-owned Global New Light of Burma daily, which on Thursday ran a front-page story on the trip headlined: False accusations on violating human rights exposed to the world.

A separate opinion piece in the newspaper criticized local and foreign media reporting of the allegations of abuses by the military for working hand-in-glove with the perpetrators of attacks on security forces and publishing fabricated news.

Some villagers on Wednesday crowded around the delegation and were able to independently talk to the members, handing over letters and electronic memory cards with testimonies, residents, monitors and delegation members told Reuters.

Following the meeting the crowd was detained temporarily by security forces, the residents said.

A local authority official said the diplomats had not been taken to U Shey Kya, a village where eight women have told Reuters they and dozens of others were raped or sexually assaulted by soldiers.

A resident of U Shey Kya contacted by telephone said the villagers had waited for the delegation on Wednesday, but it did not arrive. The account was corroborated by Chris Lewa from Arakan Project, a monitoring group with a network of Rohingya sources in the villages.

Underscoring the tense atmosphere of the trip, at least two Rohingya Muslims were briefly detained during one meeting on Wednesday in the village of Kyee Kan Pyin, which was attacked on Oct. 9, after authorities identified them as suspects, three witnesses said. The people were freed after US ambassador Marciel intervened, the witnesses said.
The FBI, foreign actors and Clinton hating. Deja vu all over again.





by digby

































































BATON ROUGE, La.(AllPolitics)  Hillary Clinton will be indicted on Whitewater charges but not convicted, according to a prediction by the first ladys preeminent press antagonist. New York Times columnist William Safire, who last January called the first lady a congenital liar, conjectured Thursday in a speech before the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry that Mrs. Clinton would face charges but that the president will not give her a pardon. Instead, he will let the wheels of justice turn and sit by her in the courtroom, holding her hand when appropriate.

I think hes [Donald Trump] got a surprise or two that youre going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, Im talking about some pretty big surprises. . . . Weve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.





Update: Jesus H. Christ:





Rudy Giuliani said Friday that he knew the FBI planned to review more emails tied to Hillary Clinton before a public announcement about the investigation last week, confirming that the agency leaked information to Donald Trumps presidential campaign.








Burma Arakan Delegation Reports Findings of Observation Trip

UN resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Renata Lok-Dessallien at a press conference in Rangoon on Friday morning. / Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON A 10-member international delegation encouraged Burmas government to resume humanitarian aid, conduct an independent and credible investigation, and ensure rule of law in Arakan States Maungdaw area after wrapping up a two-day observation trip to the vicinity.

At a press conference in Rangoon on Friday morning, members of the delegation which included nine ambassadors and the UNs Burma coordinator reported that the group had visited 10 villages and spoken to many residents in the area that has been under lockdown by security forces since October 9.

UN resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Renata Lok-Dessallien said the importance of the mission conducted on Wednesday and Thursday was that it was the first international access into the zone since Oct. 9.

I want to reiterate that we were not an investigation team. We were not capable of carrying out an investigation, she said.

The Irrawaddy asked if the delegates had seen evidence of significant human rights violations or villages burned down by authorities. US Ambassador Scot Marciel said that the group had seen some burned houses but not whole villages. He added that some villagers who had fled and returned had reported that there were additional destroyed homes, but the delegation did not have sufficient time for a comprehensive visit and was not taken to all areas that were the source of serious allegations.

Asked about accusations of rape against security forces, Renata Lok-Dessallien told reporters that during the delegations visit no one had reported sexual abuse to them.

It was not possible to verify whether these allegations were true or not. The conditions in which we talked to the villagers were not conducive to having the kind of conversations that we needed to have [to elicit such information], said Lok-Dessallien.

The delegation did not visit U Shey Kya villagewhich Reuters reported was the location of alleged rapes committed by military officialsdue to lack of time, ambassador Marciel said.

Lok-Dessallien said the delegation had spoken with the local government, which had agreed to allow humanitarian assistance into the area for villagers who had fled during the clashes.

The delegation left northern Arakan State on Thursday afternoon. At 6 pm on the same day one police officer died and one was injured when five men on three motorbikes launched a gun attack on a police post in Maungdaw Townships Nurula village, according to a Presidents Office statement.

Police seized one homemade bomb and four pistols along with the motorbikes.

Responding to news of the latest attack, Lok-Dessallien said, We dont know the details of this attack, but if its confirmed to be another attack against the border guard forces, we are deeply concerned.

The delegation strongly encouraged Burmas government to maintain rule of law in the area.

We want to stress our support for the government and make a strong public statement stressing that security operations must be done in accordance with the rule of law, Lok-Dessallien added.

EU ambassador Roland Kobia said, We should not forget that 15 members of the security forces have been killed Yesterdays attack and the attack on Oct. 9 show that there is a very serious situation on the ground. These problems need to be addressed for both immediate solutionsin regards to humanitarian assistanceand long term solutions, in terms of bridging these divides and stopping the conflict.
Burma NLD Member Appears in Court for Telecommunications Charges

U Myo Yan Naung Thein appears in court in Rangoon's Hlaing Township on Friday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  U Myo Yan Naung Thein, a prominent member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and founder of the Bayda Institute charged under Burmas Telecommunications Act for insulting the countrys army chief on social media, appeared in Rangoons Hlaing Township Court on Friday.

According to a police officer from the Hlaing Towship police station, the case was filed on Thursday when U Myo Yan Naung Thein was arrested.

Lt-Col Lin Tun of the Rangoon Division command filed the suit over a Facebook post that insulted the armys commander-in-chief, according to the officer.

Article 66(d) of Burmas Telecommunication Law states that whoever is found guilty of extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening any person by using any telecommunications network shall be punished with a maximum three years in prison, a fine, or both.

U Myo Yan Naung Thein told reporters when he appeared in court on Friday that such a law should be revoked if it goes against the countrys Constitution, which should protect the fundamental rights of its citizens.

Threatening a citizens [freedom of] expression is not in line with democratic standards, he said.

U Myo Yan Naung Thein made a statement on his Facebook page on Oct. 14 criticizing Burma Army commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in reference to the countrys civil war and a recent attack on Maungdaw Township border posts in Arakan State. But details behind the arrest were not disclosed by the Hlaing Township police station.

U Myo Htike Tan Thein, the brother of the accused, told The Irrawaddy on Friday, Such an action is questionable, especially when the country is moving forward on a democratic path.

The law is being used to suppress peoples opinions now, he said.

NLD senior party member U Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy that the party had arranged to defend U Myo Yan Naung Thein, but refused to comment further.

We still dont know the actual details behind the incident, he said. We will announce what we will do for him only when we know all of the details.

Such an arrest is not new in Burma. Multiple people were charged and imprisoned for defamation of either the Army chief, the President or State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi this year.
News Locals Campaign for Shutdown of Coal-Fired Power Plant

Members of civil society organizations campaign against the Tigyit coal-fired power plant. / Shan State Farmers and Farmland Workers Union

Civil society organizations and locals launched a campaign on Thursday calling for the complete shutdown of the Tigyit coal-fired power plant following a test-run of the plant after two years of closure.

The plant is located in Naung Ta Yar sub-township of Panglong Township in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone in southern Shan State.

Locals are not happy with the test-run of this power plant. There was no transparency in conducting the environmental impact assessment. We have suffered from a lot of health risks and environmental damage during the ten-year period when the plant was in operation, said U Win Shein Myat, chairman of Shan State Farmers and Farmland Workers Union.

Despite the grassroots opposition, the Shan State government allowed the test-run of the plant, prompting locals to take to the streets against the decision.

Members of the farmers union, the Pa-O Youth Organization, the Pa-O Womens Union and locals joined the protest, distributing stickers, pamphlets and video CDs highlighting the negative impacts of the coal-fired power plant.

Demonstrators alleged that the fumes and ash produced by the plant between 2004 and 2014 have contaminated water sources, damaged crops and soil, and caused air pollution.

In October 2015, former President Thein Seins government granted a 22-year lease to tender winner Chinese company Wuxi Huaguang Electric Power Engineering Co. Ltd. for operation of the power plant.

Locals demonstrations have coincided with the companys test-run of the power plant which began on October 21 this year.

Water scarcity has become worse year by year because of fumes and ash from the power plant. Now we can hardly find fish in the creeks. And it has also affected our health, besides our crops. We demand a complete shutdown of the plant, U Sein Pan, a local in San Ywa Village, Naung Ta Yar sub-township, told The Irrawaddy.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Electricity, there are two other coal-fired power plants in Burma which are smaller than Tigyit. One is in Tenasserim Divisions Kawthaung Township and another in Shan States Nawng Khio Township. Neither are connected to the national grid, but are under the management of concerned state and divisional governments, according to the ministry.

Several other proposed coal-fired power plants elsewhere in the country have also been suspended in the face of opposition from locals.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
News Police Investigate Explosion at Hpakant Jade Mining Company

Fire at the Yadanar Yaung Chi Mining Company / Kachinwaves / Facebook

RANGOON  The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rejected a jade mining companys allegation that its soldiers destroyed US$5 million worth of property in Kachin States Hpakant on Wednesday evening, when a large explosion sparked rumors of armed group involvement.

Residents who live near Yadanar Yaung Chi Mining Co. in Yumar village, one mile from Hpakant town, told The Irrawaddy that they heard seven blasts before company property caught fire.

The company lost over $5 million due to the explosion, according to the Kachin State police on Thursday. It was the second such incident in jade land this year. In May, two jade mining companies in Hmaw Si Sar village in Lone Khin township were attacked by arsons.

Citing company staff reports, a police officer from Hpakant said around 20 gunmen entered the compound at around 7 p.m., and ordered the employees to lie down, before setting fire on the tire warehouse, destroying the furniture and assaulting a member of staff.

Tun Lwin, a Hpakant police major, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the company had alleged that the gunmen were members of the KIA.

Several armed groups operate in jade-rich region in addition to the KIA, including local Kachin and Shanni militias working in the mines, as well as the Burma Army. But Tun Lwin alleged that the KIA was the only holder of arms in Hpakant.

When contacted by The Irrawaddy on Friday, Lt-Col Tang Seng of KIA Battalion No. 6 said he believes a handful of people are trying to undermine the image of KIA by placing blame on them for the fire.

We were not involved in the companys explosion. It could be other armed groupsor [a conflict] between the companies or by the hand-pickers, he said, referring to those who search through rubble for jade stones missed by the companies, often doing so at the risk of falling victim to landslides or armed attacks.

Lt-Col Tang Seng also added that the KIA would not engage in such a startling public incident, given the sensitive nature of the current political landscape in Burma.

A case has been filed with the Hpakant police station to investigate the destruction through the use of explosives, according to police major Tun Lwin.

Yadanar Yaung Chi Mining Co. is the partner company of Yandar Taung Tan mining company, which uncovered a 210-ton giant jade stone last month.

According to local sources, ethnic Wa businesspeople are among the companys major shareholders, as the United Wa State Army is reportedly financially backing many of the nearly 1,000 mining companies working in the region, as was reported by London-based NGO Global Witness in a 2015 report entitled Lords of Jade.

Such assaults on jade companies are not unprecedented in the jade rich region, where the Tatmadaw has been deploying additional troops and upgrading its brigades, said the locals in Hpakant.

We live in fear as there is no peace in our area. The more troops are deployed, the more concerns there are for the locals, said Dah Shi La Seng, a Kachin State lawmaker from the National League for Democracy.

We hope to have peace in Hpakant, he added.
Friday, November 4th, 2016 (7:38 am) - Score 6,710

Cable Internet and TV provider Virgin Media (Liberty Global) has published their latest quarterly results (calendar Q3 2016), which saw growth in their broadband base improve to total 4,867,900 customers (up by +59.9K vs +42.7K added in Q2). On top of that around 2 million premises will now benefit from ultrafast FTTP broadband.

So far Virgin Medias on-going 3bn Project Lighting network expansion, which aims to reach 17 million UK premises by 2019 (i.e. an extra 4 million premises  boosting UK coverage to around 60-65%), has already covered 250,000 premises in 2015. Since then theyve added 70,000 during Q1 2016, then 85,000 in Q2 and now 95,000 for Q3. The progress is good.

As a result of the above effort Virgin Medias Two-Way Homes Passed figure (i.e. homes on those sections of Virgins hybrid coaxial cable and fibre optic network that are technologically capable of providing two-way services, including video and Internet) has reached 13,139,100 (up from 13,057,000 in the previous quarter).

However the big news is that Virgin Media has raised their expectation for Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) coverage. Initially FTTP was only going to account for about 25% of Project Lightning (1 million+ premises), with the rest being done via their traditional EuroDOCSIS 3 based Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network. But happily pure fibre optic lines will now account for 50%!

Virgin Medias Revised FTTP Plan Project Lightning, our network extension programme, is transforming our customer and RGU growth profile in the U.K. During Q3, we passed 95,000 new premises with our superior fibre-rich network, taking the YTD Project Lightning build6 to 250,000 premises. We expect to build between 450,000 and 500,000 premises during 2016 across the U.K. and Ireland, as our build partners continue to scale up to meet higher quarterly build volumes. We have concluded that, in many cases, large scale builds deploying narrow trenching to build FTTP are more cost efficient than smaller infill opportunities. As a result, our targeted FTTP build has increased from 25% to 50% of our four million premises target, and the overall cost of the programme remains unchanged. Project Lightning was a key contributor to our record U.K. Q3 customer additions and our best U.K. Q3 RGU growth since 2009.

Elsewhere Virgin Media also found time in the quarter to acquire Arqivas UK network of WiFi hotspots (here). However its not all good news because the launch of Virgin Mobiles new EE based 4G plans have been delayed from October 2016, although its only a very short delay because the service should go live next week!

Speaking of Mobile, its worth pointing out that Virgin Media now has a total of 3,028,400 mobile customers on their EE based MVNO platform in the UK (up slightly from 3,021,400 last quarter) and 3,723,500 take their TV / video services.

Virgin Media Results Statement Demand for our ultrafast speeds and enhanced video services remains strong. Over 50% of our broadband base is now taking 100+Mbps, and subscriptions to our advanced next-generation TV platforms, in the U.K. and Ireland, now represent 81% of our enhanced video base.

Meanwhile Virgin Media has previously expressed concern that their network expansion may be hampered by the new business rates hike (here) and todays results confirm how hard it could hit. The changes are due to become effective on 1st April 2017 (no joke), although the annual amount payable is calculated by applying a percentage multiplier to the rateable value of assets and this figure has not yet been confirmed.

Never the less the operator states that the change would result in significant increases in our network infrastructure charge and they say that, depending upon how the multiplier and any transitional relief are set, the estimated aggregate amount of these increases will range between 25 million and 35 million during 2017 and will build to a maximum aggregate increase of up to 150 million in 2021. We believe that the proposed increases are excessive, and we will challenge the underlying methodology and assumptions, said Virgin Media.

Finally, the provider noted that their new SuperHub v3 cable router had now been supplied to 18% of their broadband base in the UK. However theres still no word on when we can expect the first customer trials of the latest DOCSIS 3.1 based cable broadband technology. On the financial front Virgin Media also delivered total quarterly UK revenue of 1,122.4m (up from 1,119.0m at the same time last year).
5 Ways CFOs Can Implement an Effective Cybersecurity Strategy

There is no shortage of discussion on the vast potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). Increasingly, this promise is being translated into reality.

What is unclear is whether the full potential will be reached, or if the intimidating complexities of establishing such a network (or network of networks) will bog the whole thing down. In this version of the future, the IoT will collapse into a series of unconnected or semi-connected islands with varying degrees of functionality and security. If that happens, it is possible to say that we would be better off if the concept was not introduced at all.

According to ComputerWorld, the linchpin of success or failure will be the protocols that, in essence, are sort of a technical Esperanto that enable disparate devices to exchange information and otherwise communicate even if the networks have little in common. For instance, an IoT network used by a shipping firm would need to communicate with a vendor of a product that wants to use it to move its wares overseas  even if there previously was no relationship between the two.

The Thread Group, which focuses on IoT protocols in the consumer sector, is making a move to have its approach become standardized in industrial and commercial networks. This branch of the IoT is often referred to as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Computerworld says that the new spec that Thread is working on will be ready by late next year or in early 2018. More broadly, the story says that here are signs that the fractious world of IoT protocols is sorting itself out:

For example, the AllSeen Alliance recently merged with the Open Connectivity Foundation, and the Thread Group has partnerships with OCF and others to make its networking protocol work with their upper-layer software.

The work of these engineers and designers is fascinating. Lynnette Reese at Embedded Computing takes a look at what Thread is. She also mentions its competitors, which include ZigBee, Z-Wave and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

Thread, she wrote, is structured around an existing standard, IEEE 802.15.4. It takes a multilayered approach: The ability to perform necessary functions is defined at each. There are six layers in Thread (the story includes a nice graphic). Security and commissioning is associated with three of them. The various approaches share elements in some cases and are unique in others.

Security, of course, is a huge element of any IoT protocol. A distributed denial of service (DDoS) comprised of compromised IoT-based devices brought the Internet to its knees last month. It may not be a one-time occurrence. The New York Times today described a paper in which researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) and Dalhousie University (Halifax) found flaws in a smart lightbulb from Philips. It suggests that malware could be spread like a pathogen among the devices by compromising just one of them. Unless, of course, the protocols connecting all these devices are strong enough to stop them.

The bottom line is rather simple: the internet has always been a dangerous place. The proliferation of millions and millions of inexpensive connected devices will make it orders of magnitude more threatening. One of the key ways to keep those fears from being realized is to have extraordinarily airtight protocols.

Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.

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HP's research division called HP Labs is aiming to mix the computing technology with the physical world in projects futuristic projects that sound a bit like sci-fi.

Silicon Valley Revolution

According to the company's official website, HP Labs is reinventing the future through transformative technologies that are expected to disrupt economies and industries around the world. For instance, the company has repurposed its inkjet printers in order to build structures from living cells. HP Labs is preparing the emergence of the third chapter in the book of Silicon Valley, according to CNET.

Innovation in Silicon Valley was about atoms during the first chapter, building electronic transistors on silicon wafers. These transistors have started the computing revolution. The second chapter in Silicon Valley's book was about the success of internet services like Google and Facebook.

In order to keep being competitive now, a company must combine both approaches. According to HP Chief Engineer, Chandrakant Patel, Silicon Valley will become a cyber-physical valley in the 21st century. HP is joining this technological revolution among other highly innovative companies. For instance, Google is testing self-piloting stratospheric balloons designing to provide internet access, while Tesla Motors is building driverless cars. Amazon is using drones to automate fast delivery for e-commerce.

HP Changes

HP and HP Labs went through massive changes in Patel's three decades with the high-tech company. Among these changes was the 1999 separation of the Agilent division that develops test and measurement products. HP split in two again around one year ago, when it was divided into Hewlett Packard Entreprise that sells IT products and services to businesses and the consumer-focused HP.

However, HP Labs founded 50 years ago did not change its fundamental goal. The HP research and development division is involved in everything from researching basic physics to developing prototypes that are near-market ready. Among its top projects are included developing new 3D printers and nanotechnology applications.
It's not the end, the indifference of late couple Brad Pitt and AngelinaJolie's divorce refuses to come to maturity and that it was Pitt's fierceness towards the kids that triggered Jolie to file for divorce. Now, reports are surfacing that points fingers right at her. Jolie is in hot water as she is facing abuse claims that says she is a threat to her husband's safety.

Brad Pitt Abusive Towards Maddox?

The reports of contrasts between the couple being the primary reason for their divorce has died with euthanasia revealing that ferocity and abuse were in fact the real causes that led to the divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, reports Inquisitr. In the early weeks of October, reportedly, Pitt had become violent towards his eldest son Maddox during a flight.

Sources gathered information's that the fight erupted during their flight and Pitt was drunk at that time. There was a verbal feud between Pitt and Maddox. However, there was no physical contact or violence whatsoever. A crew member said that there was a strain but Pitt did not harm his son.

Angelina Jolie Has Been Possessive With Family Says Couple's Former Security Advisor

The former security advisor of the ex-couple, Kris Herzog has also said that "Pitt could never harm his kids because if he did, Jolie would beat him to death." He made it crystalline that there was no indication of Pitt being offensive and the only time he saw the actor turning hostile was during a fight with Jolie when he disallowed to give up his partying ways. The report added that she has been possessive and vicious to the point that she falsifies everything in the family.

Recently, it has transpired that Jolie had issued utter threats against Pitt and this has led Department of Child and Family Services to include her in their analysis as well. However, it's not clear yet if she is being queried for being abusive or for outward abusive at the hands of her ex-husband.

Substantially, nobody knows who's at fault here, if it's Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt; since this will only be resolved once the divorce battle has been decided upon. Until then, we wait.

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Stephen William Hawking, is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. Recently, the noted physicist joked about a particularly controversial topic - Brexit.

Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the world's most celebrated scientists worldwide. As he received his Lifetime Achievement award from Prime Minister Theresa May at The Pride of Britain Awards, he has confessed that even he is not cut out to tackle Brexit.

The Pride of Britain Awards is one of the biggest awards ceremonies on the annual calendar. It was held at Grosvenor House in London last night, in celebration of the UK's unsung heroes. It was founded in 1999, Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards, in partnership with TSB, is the only awards show where the winners, who are decided by our panel of distinguished judges and not the celebrities, are the real stars.

In Stephen Hawking's acceptance speech at the award ceremony, he thanked Prime Minister Theresa May for the given award. And before quipping, "I deal with tough mathematical questions every day, but please don't ask me to help with Brexit."

Hawking's speech was met with laughter and applause from the audience, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could be seen clapping in the crowd. Prime Minister Theresa May, too, saw the funny side and have regarding this.

The 74-year-old, who wrote The Brief History of Time, was among winners who included children facing daunting adversity, inspirational campaigners, and people who displayed the awe-inspiring courage to save others. The ceremony will be broadcast on ITV tonight at 8pm.

According to the Independent, Hawking has previously argued the referendum verdict could have a damaging impact on the availability of funding and grants for imperative research such as the work he has carried out in the course of his career. Hawking has also drawn attention to the fact there is already some evidence of British scientists being frozen out of European projects.

Professor Hawking's life's work has been to explain the mysteries of the universe and Prime Minister Theresa May said he was "one of the most inspirational scientists in the history of our time. He's an amazing man. He is quite simply one of the most inspirational scientists in the history of our time. It's my great pleasure to present the lifetime achievement award to Professor Stephen Hawking."
Apple appears to be looking at 2017 with expectations, as it would be the year when the company will release its new incredible devices, including the iPad Pro 2. The device is expected to be an extraordinary tablet that will surprise any single person that buys it, not only for its specs and features, but also for Apple's characteristic way of turning any single device into an aesthetic piece of art.

However, even when the iPad Pro 2 promises to be an undeniable greatness in the tablet world, far from being an imminent success for the company, it will have to struggle a lot to achieve this. For one, it will have to overcome its predecessor, which also happens to be an incredible device, but ended up being a failure.

iPad Pro Only Accounted For Less Than 1/3 Of Apple's Tablet Sales

According to Mac Rumors Apples most incredible tablet so far didn't represent even the half of tablet sales, which represented a big surprise for everyone giving the fact that even when the companys philosophy is to maintain its business model in the high-margin territory, the standard scenario would have been the iPad Pro turning into the real deal in the market.

Many users believe that the main reason for this situation was that it prices it wasn't precisely cheap, and the features were great but not incredible enough for people to buy it without second thoughts. However, the biggest problem that this device has to face, and the iPad Pro 2 will have to fight as well, is the waning interest in tablets, since laptops and desktops are becoming way more attractive to users.

What Can Apple Do With The iPad Pro 2?

Given this fact, the iPad Pro 2 is not only facing a price issue but also a general tendency that could represent an incredible danger for Apple, considering that the new tablet could end up being an incredible failure. However, the company is still betting a lot on this new device and might overcome this situation in a different way.

First of all, the iPad Pro 2 will come with Apples name, which is attractive enough for encourage a significant number of people to buy the tablet without any problem. On other the hand, it has been known that the company will make some changes in order to make the product as mind-blowing as possible.

For example, it has been rumored that the iPad Pro 2 could have a better camera and battery life than its predecessor, which would make this tablet way more fun and interesting to users, since one of the main problems that this product has faced over the years is precisely these two features, considering that users demand better photos and more durability.

Another rumor has been that the company will make iPad Pro 2 water resistant just as the iPhone 7, which represent the unbeatable strategy of using in a new product some features of other that has been successful. In fact, comparing the new tablet with Apples latest phone could be extremely beneficial as long as is released before the iPhone 8. According to Mac World, this will be in March, while the new smartphone is expected to be released in September.

However, the most important strategy that Apple has to use in order to make iPad Pro 2 another successful product is to justify its price with specs, features and a design that turn the ordinary into something beautiful. This is precisely what the company is allegedly doing, by developing three different size models that comes in 9.7-inch, 10.5-inch, and 12.9-inch variations.

The price is estimated to be from $600 to $800, and it is possible that even when people are buying more desktops and laptops, the iPad Pro 2 could end up being one of the most incredible products that we see next year in the market. Lets just wait some months.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's affair is reaching a new scale. A source disclosed to ET Online that Prince Harry, 32, visited Meghan in Toronto. Prince Harry flew back to the U.K. after the visit. Us Weekly's Europe bureau chief, Omid Scobie, told Good Morning America that the visit was just as low key as their romance.

The couple met when Harry was in Toronto to boost the Invictus Games. Meghan is in Toronto for her current gig on "Suits." "Harry has been smart in how he's handled this, only telling certain people."

Markle Is Said To Be A Hit With Harry's Close Circle Of Friends

"It was definitely a cloak and dagger visit... Harry had been planning this for some time and made sure it was done totally undercover arriving at the airport with one security guard and going straight to her apartment."

Meghan was born to an African-American mom and Caucasian dad. Markle wrote a column for Elle magazine about battling with her ethnic singularity as a child.

"I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones... Leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn't book a job."

Markle also said it was strenuous finding roles in Hollywood. Through the ordeals, Scobie says Meghan is very proud of her birthright and modest context.

"Meghan is someone that wears her biracial badge with honor... she's very proud of her heritage and her humble background... She didn't come from money, she herself has said."

As reported on CNN, Prince Harry's rumored girlfriend grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in communications. Markle also runs a lifestyle blog called "The Tig" named after her favorite Italian wine, "Tignanello". On her blog, Meghan shares recipes and tips for fitness, health and travel.
With two weeks to go before the most-awaited "Gilmore Girls" Revival, more and more people talk about it, especially when it comes to Rory's love life. It has already been established in the trailers that Lorelai is with Luke but there hasn't been any information yet as to who Rory is involved with when the series returns.

Fans Of The "Gilmore Girls" Can't Stop Speculating Rory's Love Life In The Upcoming Revival

Many fans of the "Gilmore Girls" have been fighting over who Rory should end up with in the upcoming revival on Netflix. All of her love interests in the previous seasons are already confirmed to return but there has been no information yet whether or not she is involved with any of them. Actor Jared Padalecki as Dean, Rory's first love is most likely out of the options already. Due to his commitment with his current series, "Supernatural," he will only be appearing shortly in the revival. That leaves Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) and Logan (Matt Czuchry) in the list of people Rory might end up with.

"Gilmore Girls" Revival So Much More Than Rory's Romantic Life

When series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was asked about Rory's relationship status for the revival, she is wondering why people are so obsessed with Rory's love life when she has a lot going on in her life based on the teasers. She has her career, family, and self growth to worry about more than she should about her romantic life. Amy clarified that the show has always been about Rory and Lorelai's relationship as mother and daughter and has always wondered why the fans are more focused on their love stories than the bigger picture of the entire storyline.

Rory's love life is merely a small part of who she is, who she has become and who she has always wanted to be. There may have been instances when they become factors to her growth, but that is the extent of it. Amy exclaimed that it might be better for the fans to focus on the bigger picture of the upcoming "Gilmore Girls" revival than Rory's romantic life. Nevertheless, people can't stop talking about how Jess is the only one featured in the official trailer, with Dean and Logan out of the picture. Is this an indication that Rory could be ending up with Jess after all?

"Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" premieres in Netflix on November 25.
The third-brightest object in the sky is a manmade satellite that orbits more than 200 miles above Earth. International Space Station live location details are what intrigue people the most. Here are some major details about it.

NASA is well aware of people's curiosity about the International Space Station. It has released an interactive map to help everyone know the exact locations. The best sighting opportunities are given with every pinned location.

According to NASA, the best time to spot the station is at dawn and dusk. The curiosity about the International Space Station live location is extremely high. At least 300,000 people track the station as it circles Earth.

NASA has released the most popular locations in the USA that are most suitable for spotting the ISS. According to the September data, the top 10 popular locations in the United States are Houston (Texas), Austin (Texas), Columbus (Ohio), Phoenix (Arizona), Portland (Oregon), St. Louis (Missouri), Cincinnati (Ohio), Louisville (Kentucky), Cleveland (Ohio) and Seattle (Washington). One can spot the ISS in New York City at 6:11 a.m. this Friday. It will be visible for five minutes, according to Daily Mail.

The most popular international locations for sightings include many locations in the United Kingdom. Top UK locations are London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff and Exeter. There are three Australian locations that are among the most popular location for ISS sightings. Those are Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

While learning more about ISS sightings, it is important to know that the station orbits with an inclination of 51.6 degrees. Because of that, the ISS is never going to move directly over the head for people living in places north or south of 51.6 degrees. Such places include Alaska.

The ISS looks like an extremely bright star or an airplane moving across the sky. But, it does not have any flashlights. It does not change directions either.

It travels must faster than a usual airplane as well. While a typical airplane travels at 600 miles per hour, the station travels at 17,500 miles per hour. Visit the official site to learn more about International Space Station Live Location details.
Each year asteroids come close to the Earth. Many of them pose no threat as they are either quite small or else really still far enough to avoid collision. There are some though that are large enough that might pose a threat to life. NASA's new asteroid warning system aims to warn of such dangers. With the new system people want to know-can end of the world be avoided with it.

NASA has employed a new warning system that might be able to help people prepare in some way. The new system is called Scout. The new system is made to warn people about a coming asteroid. In its test, it has been successful enough to give people five days of warning before an actual asteroid strike would occur.

Scout works in tandem with other systems. A telescope in Hawaii called the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) would first see the approaching asteroid. This would then alert other telescope observation points about it. From there a calculation of its trajectory would be made. The size of the asteroid can also be known this way.

The new system is an improvement over previous other systems. The previous systems only give a day, or even hours, or advanced warning, according to AOL News. With the new system NASA has more time to work with other agencies such as FEMA.

Thousands of near Earth objects or NEOs have so far been found. These NEOs are constantly moving, and most of them are real threat to the Earth. Some though can come close, so there is need for a much better system such as Scout to warn people.

Along with Scout, another system called Sentry is also in place. Sentry's role is to warn of very large asteroids that are approaching, as Phys Org reports. These asteroids can have the potential to destroy as city. Such asteroids and other NEOs are about 140 meters or more in size. As of now 600 of such objects have been found, and scientists think more are out there.

Some asteroids still slip past the earlier systems. With Scout and Sentry working in tandem, the Earth would have more security against NEOs that might come close by. NASA's new asteroid warning system might be able to save more lives if ever it happens, and people won't have to wonder, can end of the world be avoided?
Asteroid mining is probably the future of commerce on Earth. The most important part of the business is that it can bring in so much money that it can change the life of each person on the planet. According to a recent estimate, each person on Earth can own $100 billion if the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter can be reached.

More than one million asteroids are there in the belt between the two planets. Among those, there are around 200 asteroids that are more than 60 miles in diameter. According to NASA, this asteroid belt is worth $700 quintillion. That much of an amount can get $100 billion for everyone on the Earth.

Asteroid mining companies are stretching limits to achieve beyond the usual heights. There are technical difficulties in getting hold of the said belt. NASA plans to get one sample from asteroid Bennu. The sample will weigh around 2kg, and the cost of the mission will be one billion.

Big money is involved in the business, simply because there are possibilities of unimaginable return of investment. Many a country wants to invest in Asteroid mining companies. Luxembourg is investing $27.6 million in a private mining company called Planetary Resources, a startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page.

The startup earlier managed to raise $21.1 million from venture capital funds and private investors like Page. With all the investments put together, the company should be able to launch its first commercial asteroid-prospecting mission. According to President Chris Lewicki, the first mission should take place in 2020.

NASA's missions to bring a sample would require spacecraft and robots among other technologies which do not exist at the moment. Moreover, if such a mission gets unsuccessful, it will risk a huge amount of investment. Meanwhile, near-Earth asteroids seem to be a more convenient option for asteroid mining companies, Business Insider reports.
Google has already responded to the European Commission's antitrust charges. The said complaints addressed by the tech company are regarding Google Shopping and AdSense. The Commission alleges that they were exploiting the popularity of their search engine to promote its own services. However, Google insisted that the cases against them lack evidence.

According to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for the Commission confirmed that they have received Google's responses.

Google's Response

The European Commission had granted Google a deadline extension. Google was given until Nov. 3 to respond on the AdSense complaint and until Nov. 7 on the Google Shopping complaint. The recent post by Google's Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker centered on their defense of their Shopping service. To even make their case clearer, Google titled the post "Improving Quality Is Not Anti-Competitive".

Walker explained that the improvements on the Google Shopping are not harming competition. In fact, Google pointed out that the display of more useful ads actually benefits their advertisers and users. It will be a lot easier for customers to shop for something with informative ads. They insisted that the quality or relevance of the information showed were never compromised.

They reiterated that the said claims against their services are wrong as a matter of fact, law and economics.

Google Cites Amazon

In building a good defense for its Shopping service, Google cited Amazon. Walker revealed that there was a rapid increase amount of traffic from their search pages to sites like Amazon and eBay. Apparently, this proved that they are not "favoring" their own ads as the Commission had said.

He also shared the results of a recent study on German online shoppers. Google mentioned that a third of online consumers first go to Amazon, only 14.3 percent to Google, and 6.7 percent to price comparison sites regardless of where they actually make their purchase.

Google also rebutted the Commission's claim that consumers don't go to Amazon to compare product features and prices.

The Change In Online Shopping

The competition among search engines, price comparison sites, merchant platforms and merchant makes online shopping a highly dynamic and growing market. Walker also said that consumers have a mind of their own. They can choose whatever site they want to shop in.

Furthermore, Google added that consumers have changed the way shop online. The use of mobiles and "dedicated apps" are some examples.
Google's android app store will get a revamp to unwraps new ways to subscribe and pay. The search giant is making changes to Google Play, its online marketplace, where you can download apps, games, and other stuff. Google said this news during a software developer event in San Francisco on Thursday. The company is also making a big push at hooking in users in emerging markets.

Google Store is an online hardware retailer operated by Google that sells Google Nexus devices, Chromecasts, Android Wear smartwatches, Nest Thermostat, and accessories such as keyboards, chargers and phone covers. It was introduced on March 11, 2015, and replaced the Devices section of Google Play as Google's hardware retailer.

According to Android Headlines, Googles team is currently looking into ways to infuse the Play Store with the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology. More specifically, the plan is to revamp the Play Store recommendations algorithms which would rely on AI solutions to learn more about users habits and preferences and make better recommendations than they currently do.

Aside from that, Google also wants to expand support to different payment methods on the Play Store. This doesnt only imply on the new payment options but could also mean the expansion of currently supported services to more areas.

"As the next billion users come online, many with little or no access to credit cards, we want to help deliver the best payments experience for both developers and consumers," said Sameer Samat, vice president of product management for Android & Google Play.

The app store revamp also comes after Apple, Google's biggest rival in the smartphone software business, made several changes to its App Store for iPhones earlier this year. Apple's updates included changes in subscriptions and trying to make sure apps get approved more quickly, according to CNET.

In the meantime, let us wait for the further announcement that Google will make. I am sure that all the revamping news will be positively taken by all the Android users. Note that this will be more on expansions, therefore, this will expand the experience of the consumers.
"House of Cards" season 5 latest updates confirmed the addition of veterans Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott in the upcoming installment. However, the roles they will play in the life of Frank Underwood still remain to be a mystery. Recent reports though have it that the new characters will be heavily featured in the upcoming season. Fans are speculating that the two will have something to do with Underwood's rumored death.

It was recently reported that Clarkson and Scott will be the new members of "House Of Cards" season 5. Official announcements are yet to be released about their roles, but leaks are fast to reveal that the two new characters will serve as additional pressures to Underwood's political reign. The two high-profile actors are then assumed to later fill lead character roles in the political drama series. With new casts coming to set, rumors are again swirling that Underwood will come to his unfortunate end in the upcoming season.

The alleged death of the president previously sparked two main theories on how the character is supposed to exit the story. The last three seasons showed Underwood battling against his health deterioration where he almost lost it in season 4. This then ignited the theory that he will die of fatal failure in season 5. This assumption became more solid when Deadline previously interviewed Michael Kelly (Doug Stamper), who hinted on losing characters in the upcoming season.

"You lose characters that you love. We almost lost Frank, and I always have faith in the writers that no matter what road we go down, we're going to come back to what the show is," Kelly said in the hope that Underwood will not be the one that has to go in the new season.

Another theory that came out was Claire Underwood will kill his husband when she finds herself thirsty of power. Rumors have it that Claire will be seen in the vice president seat in "House of Cards" season 5. From this, it is theorized that she will get rid of her husband so she can step up to become the most powerful person in the world. Following this, it is now speculated that Clarkson and Scott might play roles siding Claire, and will help her nab the presidential seat once and for all.

More concrete details are expected to be released as the production of "House of Cards" season 5 progresses. The show is expected to return sometime in 2017.


With the 2016 LA Auto Show just around the corner, car enthusiasts are getting excited to know what's in store for them at the event. Some of the biggest brands in the auto industry are expected to showcase their highly anticipated creations. Honda, Alfa Romeo and Mazda are among those that already confirmed their participation in the upcoming event.

Honda's Civic Si

Digital Trends reported that the next-generation Honda Civic Si is set to make its debut at the LA Auto Show a few days from now. A report from Autoblog stated that some people already have an idea about how the Honda Civic Si will look due in part to some of its images released online. However, meeting the new-generation model will still be an occasion that a lot of Honda enthusiasts will look forward to.

Alfa Romeo SUV

Alfa Romeo is also among the pioneers in the auto industry, known for producing some of the finest. However, Alfa Romeo has not been among those that have been successful in the aspect of SUV. Surely, a lot of its patrons have probably been yearning for one. This year, their dreams come true as Digital Trends confirmed that it will be rolling out its first production line of SUV. As reported, Alfa Romeo's first SUV will be called "Stelvio".

New Mazda CX-5

With the teaser image released a just a few days ago, a lot of people are already excited about it. The teaser image hinted some changes in the new Mazda CX-5 designs that auto enthusiasts can look forward when it debuts at the LA Auto Show a few days from now.

What About The Other Cars?

As for the other cars that will be present in the upcoming 2016 LA Auto Show, a report from AmericaJR confirmed that there are around 60 vehicles listed. The annual event has been a known venue where car-makers showcase their work and where lucky attendees can have their first impressions.
The 23-year-old pop star from Florida made it clear already that she is willing to settle down with Mac Miller and they are already planning on making some babies.

Ariana Grande is a controversial artist to say the least. She is very talented and can be compared to Pop stars such as Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry. The artist has a lot of issues linked to her but she was able to dodge them all. Ariana can be sometimes moody or as described by Ryan Seacrest during his show, sensitive'.

Ariana Grande Being Defensive About Mac Miller

Remember when Seacrest had Ariana in one of his shows and the pop star just burst out? The Keeping Up With The Kardashians producer started their interview smoothly. They were having a great time until Seacrest asked the question that everybody wants to know. Seacrest and the fans wanted to know about the real score between her and Mac Miller; and also why are they so intimate on the Instagram post.

With no warning or whatsoever, the pop princess turns volatile and uncooperative. Ariana tried to dodge all of those questions by not answering but since she was in a hot seat she just answered back with one liners and ultimately ending the interview. Ryan Seacrest then summarize the interview with Ariana Grande as one of the celebrities who is hard to work with. This is not the first time that Ariana acted like a kid.

Pop Star Finally Admits Her Relationship Status

Then after a few months, she did finally admit that she is madly in love with the rapper Mac Miller. She occasionally captures snapshot of them together in some rare moments. And as per report, she "envisions having children with Mac Miller and is convinced all that will happen." She feels Mac Miller is her soulmate and is willing to go to the aisle if the perfect time happens.
A supermoon happens when the moon becomes full on the same days as its perigee, which is the point in the moon's orbit when it is the closest distance to Earth.

The term "supermoon" is not astronomical but from astrology. The association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but the evidence of such a link is widely held to be unconvincing.

As NASA reported, this month's supermoon "becomes full within about two hours of perigee-arguably making it an extra-super moon." Supermoons generally appear to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons.While such moons occur around every 13 months, November's is a special one.

While this phenomenon is not uncommon, what distinguishes the Nov 14 supermoon is that it would be the closest to Earth since 1948, making it an "extra-supermoon", said the US space agency. It would appear bigger and brighter than usual.

In America, the November full moon is known as a "Beaver Moon," because it arrives at the time of year when fur trappers would hunt the dam-building animals. The Beaver Moon follows the full Hunter's Moon of October and the full Harvest Moon of September, as reported by Space.

According to EarthSky, the moon will turn precisely full on November 14 at 1:52 p.m. UTC, or 8:52 a.m. ET. For viewers in eastern North America and Europe, the best view will likely be on the night of November 13, or the following night.

Early risers on the US West Coast should be able to spot it near its fullest at 5:52 a.m. PST, as the sun does not rise in that region until 6:25 a.m. Moon spotters in Asia are perhaps the best placed to catch the moon at its absolute largest, with full moon occurring at 9:52 p.m. Hong Kong time, or 7:22 p.m. in India.

For sky gazers in Singapore, the supermoon can be seen if there is no cloud cover. You can view it from anywhere in Singapore that gives you a good view of the sky, Dr. Eileen Tan, deputy director of Physical Sciences at the Science Centre Singapore told Channel NewsAsia.

The Nov 14 supermoon is the second of three this year. The first was on Oct 16 and the other will be on Dec 14. And according to studies, we won't see it that big again until 25 November 2034.
WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange said that the Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton was funded by the same people funding ISIS, which represents for him the most important leaks from the transparency radical organization, just a few days before the U.S. presidential election.

Donald Trump Will Not Be Allowed To Win The Elections

Also, Assange told to Australian journalist John Pilger in an interview conducted within the Ecuadorian embassy, that the Republican Nominee Donald Trump will not be allowed to win the elections, due to a lack of support for any major establishment as the banks, the media foreign money or arm companies, since all of these have clearly shows its support for Hillary Clinton.

According to the Daily Mail, the WikiLeaks leader explained that one of the leaked emails released by the non-profit group in 2014 showed that that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia governments are the ones behind ISIS funding, but the U.S. has always discredit those facts, arguing that only a few "rogue" princes are the people who are making those moves with the terrorist organization.

Qatar And Saudi Arabias Role Behind ISIS And Clinton

"There's an early 2014 email, from very early on, so not so long after she left secretary of state to her campaign manager John Podesta. It states that ISIS is funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar - the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. I think this is the most significant email in the whole collection." Regarding this statement, Pilger asked whether this meant the same peole who funded ISIS were also funding Hillary Clinton, and Assange replied that it was exactly like that.

"All serious analysts know, and even the US government has agreed, that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIS and funding ISIS, but the dodge has always been that it is some "rogue" princes using their oil money to do whatever they like, but actually the government disapproves. But that email says that it is the government of Saudi Arabia, and the government of Qatar that have been funding ISIS," he added.

Although Assange claimed that he doesn't wanted to interfere with the U.S. elections, this information could be extremely harmful for Hillary Clintons image, just a few days before the American people decide who should be their new president for the next four years.
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.
It seems that blogging is going out of fashion faster than I produce posts. I've had to prune the list of friends below to account for inactivity. But hope dies last, and maybe there will be a day that another of my friends starts blogging. It would help staying up to date.

Back in Utah, Sean and I were fellow graduate students and roommates for a while. Plus, we spent a lot of time riding mountain bikes and breaking parts.

Deidra, a purely virtual acquaintance, has kept me up to date with life in NYC for many years now.
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Transcription

1 CLAIM NO. 72 OF 2008 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BELIZE A.D DIVORCE BETWEEN ARTHUR LINSFORD LOCKWOOD PETITIONER AND ADELAIDA CRUZITA LOCKWOOD RESPONDENT Mrs. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, for petitioner. Mrs. Robertha Magnus usher, for respondent. AWICH Chief Justice (Ag) JUDGMENT 1 Notes: Divorce and maintenance; divorce on counter petition; the traditional grounds for divorce and the recent ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage co exist in Belize; maintenance of wife and of child of the marriage; son over the age of 18 years but attending college court order for continuation of maintenance of child over 18 years upto the age of 21 years, and thereafter if the child is pursuing full time education or is disabled; the order not to be for more than 3 years at a time. 1

2 2. On , the petitioner, Arthur Linsford Lockwood, was married to Adelaida Cruzita Moya at St. Ignatius Church, Belize City. They cohabited in Belize. They had one child Arthur Lockwood Jr., born on At the time of hearing this petition for divorce, Lockwood Jr. was attending college at St. John s College Junior College, Belize City. 3. On , Mr. Lockwood Sr. petitioned this court for divorce. The ground he gave was that the marriage had, broken down irretrievably, and they had lived apart and separate for a continuous period of at least three years. His prayer was simply that the court may dissolve the marriage, although he included the usual prayer for such further relief as may be just. 4. The respondent, Mrs. Adelaida Lockwood, filed an answer contesting the petition for divorce on the ground that they had not stopped cohabiting three years before the petitioner filed the petition for divorce; they had sex last on She said that they lived separate lives after that. However, the respondent counter petitioned for divorce on the ground of cruelty. The details were that: the petitioner stopped communicating with the respondent and stopped consortium (after ); shouted at her and called her demeaning names; told her that after he would have done with the respondent no man would want her; flirted in public and in the presence of the respondent with a particular woman at the embarrassment of the respondent; physically 2

3 punched her and sprayed on her burning pepper spray; and drank too much and would not control his anger. 5. Determination In Belize the traditional grounds (matrimonial offences) for divorce still obtain, but the modern ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage has been added as a ground. Section 129 of the Supreme Court Act, Cap. 91 sets out the grounds as follows: 129. (1) A petition for divorce may be presented to the Court either by the husband or the wife on the ground that the respondent (a) has, since the celebration of the marriage, committed adultery; or (b) has deserted the petitioner without cause for a period of at least three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition; or (c) has, since the celebration of the marriage, treated the petitioner with cruelty; or 3

4 (d) is incurably of unsound mind and has been continuously under care and treatment for a period of at least five years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, and by the wife on the ground that her husband has, since the celebration of the marriage, been guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), a petition for divorce may be presented to the Court by either party to a marriage on the grounds that the marriage between them has broken down irretrievably, and that they have been living separately for at least three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition. 6. After the court heard the testimonies of the petitioner and of the respondent, the petitioner informed the court that he would not insist on the dissolution of the marriage being granted on his petition; and that he accepted that it be granted on the counter petition of the respondent. Each had testified about angry utterances and angry conducts of the other. They were the usual precursors of the end of an unhappy marriage. 4

5 7. On the concession by the petitioner, and on the ground given by the respondent and proved by evidence adduced, the court grants that the marriage solemnized on , in Belize City, between Arthur Linsford Lockwood and Adelaida Cruzita Moya may be dissolved. Decree Nisi of Divorce issues; and in the circumstances, may be made absolute after six (6) weeks. 8. Much evidence was adduced about the income and expenses of the wife and of the husband, and also of the needs of the wife and Arthur Lockwood Jr. The law, s:77(1) of Families and Children Act, Cap. 173, provides that: 77 (1) In all cases of divorce, separation or nullity, both parents shall continue to maintain and educate their child, subject to their personal circumstances and ability to pay. 9. By that provision the law imposes obligation on both parents to maintain their child. In this case the obligation is imposed on Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood individually, to maintain Lockwood Jr., now that they are living apart. The question is, what is the appropriate sum to order Mr. Lockwood Sr. to pay over to Mrs. Lockwood with whom Lockwood Jr. lives. That sum is decided based on the general maintenance and education needs or Lockwood Jr., and the personal circumstances and financial ability of Mr. Lockwood Sr. on the one hand, and of Mrs. Lockwood on the other. 5

6 10. The general rule is that a parent is obliged to maintain and educate their child. A child is a person below the age of eighteen years see s:2 of Families and Children Act. Lockwood Jr. was over eighteen years old when this petition was tried. He has just turned nineteen years. He is no longer a child, but he was attending college at St. John s College, Junior College, and was expected to continue at college in the next academic year beginning August/September The law recognises that a person over eighteen years old may still be a dependant of the parents if he continues to pursue education, or if he is disabled. That is in s:70 of the Act. For a better understanding I set out that section and s:71 here: 70. Subject to the provisions of sections 55 and 71, a maintenance order shall not, except for the purpose of recovering money previously due under the order, be of any validity after the child has attained the age of eighteen years or has died. 71(1) If, on the application of a parent or guardian of a child, it appears to the court that the child is or will be engaged in a course of education or training after attaining the age of eighteen years, or that the child is suffering from a mental or physical disability, and that it is therefore expedient for payments to be made under the order after the child attains that 6

7 age, then subject to subsection (2) below, the court may by order direct that payments be so made for such period not exceeding three years from the date of the order as may be specified in the order. (2) The period specified in an order made under subsection(1) may from time to time be extended by a subsequent order so made, but shall not in any case extend beyond the date when the child attained the age of twenty one years except in the case of a disabled child or a child pursuing full time education. 12. At the time of hearing the petition Mr. Lockwood Sr. was paying maintenance sum of $ per fortnight for the maintenance of Lockwood Jr., and $50.00 per week for the maintenance of Mrs. Lockwood. The sums were ordered on , on an application to the Family Court by Mrs. Lockwood. Mr. Lockwood Sr. was also paying school fees and other school expenses without a court order compelling him to do so. Mrs. Lockwood who lives with the son naturally paid for minor needs of the child. 13. Mr. Lockwood Sr. did not contest that he was obliged to maintain the son. He said that he would continue to pay all school fees and expenses. The only qualification he put to that was: I will pay until he completes school, I can t pay forever. That view is generous and is 7

8 consistent with the law, which provides for payment of maintenance of a child over eighteen years old if he is pursuing full time education. I encourage Mr. Lockwood s view to pay as long as his son is pursuing education. Most parents do that without a court order. 14. The question that remains to be decided is a fair sum taking into consideration the circumstances of Mr. Lockwood and the needs of Lockwood Jr. Given that Mr. Lockwood Sr. will pay all the school fees, and will pay for all school requirements; and taking into consideration his salary and his regular expenses, the sum of $ payable fortnightly for the general maintenance of Lockwood Jr., in addition to education expenses, is a reasonable sum. 15 Regarding maintenance to Mrs. Lockwood, Mr. Lockwood Sr. did not contest or accept that he was obliged to pay maintenance. But he had to say that he did not know how much Mrs. Lockwood was paid as salary. 16 The power of court to order alimony and or maintenance in divorce is given in s:152 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, Cap. 91 which states: 152. (1) The Court may, if it thinks fit, on any decree for divorce or nullity of marriage, order that the husband shall, to the satisfaction of the Court, secure to the wife such gross sum of 8

9 money or annual sum of money for any term, not exceeding her life, as having regard to her fortune, if any, to the ability of her husband and to the conduct of the parties, the Court may think to be reasonable, and the Court may for that purpose order that it shall be referred to the Registrar to settle and approve a proper deed or instrument, to be executed by all the necessary parties, and may, if it thinks fit, suspend the pronouncing of the decree until the deed or instrument has been duly executed. (2) In any such case as aforesaid the Court may, if it thinks fit, by order, either in addition to or instead of an order under subsection (1), direct the husband to pay to the wife during the joint lives of the husband and wife such monthly or weekly sum for her maintenance and support as the Court may think reasonable: Provided that (a) if the husband, after any such order has been made, becomes from any cause unable to make the payments, the Court may discharge or modify the order, or temporarily suspend the order as to the whole or any part of the money ordered to be paid, and subsequently revive it wholly or in part as the Court thinks fit; and 9

10 (b) where the Court has made any such order as is mentioned in this subsection and the Court is satisfied that the means of the husband have increased, the Court may, if it thinks fit, increase the amount payable under the order. 17. The law is clear that in deciding alimony or maintenance the court is required to consider the circumstances of the wife and of the husband. In this petition the most material circumstances are of the income and expenses of each party, and the fact that the son now lives with the mother in her house. 18. Although it is not material to this petition, it is worth noting that the law of alimony and maintenance as stated in s:152 is now outdated to the extent that alimony or maintenance may be ordered to be paid by the husband, and there is no provision to order the wife to pay. It is now common place that a wife may have better background or employment, and better income so that on separation or divorce it is the husband who will need alimony or maintenance. Section 148I introduced by an amendment Act, No. 8 of 2001, seems to recognize the anomaly brought about by changed and current circumstances. A more direct amendment is desireable to put the matter beyond doubt. Moreover, a provision authorising maintenance order based on sex may be inconsistent with s:16 of the Constitution. 10

11 19. Mr. Lockwood s income is currently a salary of $52, per annum (or $4, per month) plus some allowances such as travelling allowances, telephone allowances. His expenses are: Rent Maintenance to wife Maintenance to son Fuel $200 $400 Food Electricity His mother $ per month $ per month $ per month $ per month $ per month $20.00 per month $ per month Total $1, Mrs. Lockwood s income is $24, per annum (or $2, per month). Her expenses are: Electricity Water Food with son Telephone Medical bills Cable TV Loan $ per month $60.00 per month $ per month $ per month $45.00 per month $45.00 per month $ per month Total $1,

12 She also pays a mortgage loan of $ per month. Mr. Lockwood Sr. paid the loan for 13 years. The wife admitted. He did not claim any right to the house, so the house remains the wife s house. 21. In the circumstances, a fair sum of maintenance to be paid by Mr. Lockwood Sr. to Mrs. Lockwood is $ (four hundred) per month. In addition, he will pay $ per fortnight to Lockwood Jr., and college tuition fees and all college expenses, until three years from today, that is until , provided Lockwood Jr. continues to pursue full time education. The order may be extended if it will be necessary. Of course, Mr. Lockwood Sr. may continue to assist the son beyond the extent of the order, but that will be voluntary. 22. The sum of $ maintenance for the wife will be paid at the Family Court, Belize City, by instalments of $ by the first day and the sixteenth day of each month. The order will last until Adelaida Lockwood marries or finds a boyfriend. The payment is back dated to 26 th November 2010, when the hearing of this petition commenced. 23. Mr. Lockwood Sr. will pay one half costs of these proceedings because he withdrew opposition to the counter petition, and because he did not contest responsibility to pay maintenance to Mrs. Lockwood and to his son. 12

13 24. I conclude by mentioning another point which is not material in deciding this petition. There is need to consolidate matrimonial matters and causes in one Act. Currently there are: Marriage Act, Families and Children Act, and Part XI of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, all providing for different aspects of matrimonial matters. Probate and administration of deceased estates matters also need to be consolidated into one Act. 25. Delivered this Friday the first day of July 2011 At the Supreme Court Belize City SAM LUNGOLE AWICH Acting Chief Justice 13
In the newest, Fox's 24 Legacy spinoff terrorism isn't out of question, leading character Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins) will be leading an anti-terrorism campaign. Similarly, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) also had the similar role.

The edge of Carter's role over the prior will be will be focused on stopping a potentially largest terrorism group in America while maintaining a peaceful personal life. Unlike the previous character of Bauer, Eric Carter is a former war-veteran her, his military expertise and background will be his arsenal in fighting off his terrorists enemies, consequently the freshness of the spinoff will be offered by this.

Undoubtedly, the adventures of Bauer will be the foundation of Carter's role, the beginning of the shows will at the helm of the past 24 TV series. The key role of Bauer before was being a CTU agent, his job was about stopping major terrorist attacks and saving civilians as well as government leaders on the way.

Indeed, his personal life was at mercy of his job. His top priority was commitment to the country, in fact it can be shown through the progress of his family life in the show.

Kiefer Sutherland discussed on People his take of Jack Bauer's character in comparison to his newest movie character, "Their circumstances are very different and what they end up having to deal with is very different." He added, "But this idea of self-sacrifice for a larger good was something that is very much a common thread in both of those characters. "

In contrast, Eric Carter's offer to the viewers will be how he can be able to balance his personal life and his responsibility to his country.

Corey Hawkins revealed on Unreality TV, "He's a soldier and he's not used to dealing with... the rules of engagement are different. He struggles with that internally in terms of protecting his home and his family but also his responsibility to his country,"

All in all, Fox 24 Legacy TV series will feature on Eric Carter a different side of being a CTU agent. A government personal willing to risk his life for the country yet struggling to prioritize his personal life over it.
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Reversing our initial promise to Gorbachev not to advance NATO to the east, we now have Russia almost completely surrounded. What do they think we're planning to do? (Source)

Britain, U.S. sending planes, troops to deter Russia in the east



Britain said on Wednesday it will send fighter jets to Romania next year and the United States promised troops, tanks and artillery to Poland in NATO's biggest military build-up on Russia's borders since the Cold War.



Germany, Canada and other NATO allies also pledged forces at a defense ministers meeting in Brussels on the same day two Russian warships armed with cruise missiles entered the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Denmark, underscoring East-West tensions.

In Madrid, the foreign ministry said Russia had withdrawn a request to refuel three warships in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta after NATO allies said they could be used to target civilians in Syria.



The ships were part of an eight-ship carrier battle group - including Russia's sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov - that is expected to join around 10 other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast, diplomats said.

Counting Down to a Russian Invasion of the Baltics



Although Russia's economy is reeling and its military forces are increasingly engaged in Syria and Ukraine, NATO commanders, governments and analysts are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin's adventurism has not run its course. Most anxieties focus on the Baltic states as Russia's next potential military target.



Russia has many advantages in the Baltics. The situation of Russians there, particularly in Estonia and Latvia where many Russians remain non-citizens, provides Moscow with an issue with which to stoke tensions. ...



Furthermore, Russia's conventional and nuclear deployments cover the entire Baltic Sea area. From its fortified base at Kaliningrad, Russia can project power not only into the Baltic Sea but also to Poland and even Germany.



By all accounts, Russia enjoys a wide margin of conventional superiority over NATO. Indeed, NATO commanders publicly and privately profess that given the strength of Russia's capabilities on land, sea and air, NATO would suffer enormous casualties in any effort to defend the Baltic states from attack.



And given the publicly discussed defects in NATO and individual Western intelligence cited in Western media, it would be relatively easy for Moscow to launch an invasion during one of its vaunted "snap exercises" without the United States detecting it in time.

Before you read this piece, ask yourself, how likely is it that Russia would invade, with tanks and troops, the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Would that not be the start of World War III? Yet that's the fear that's being passed around as an excuse for what you're about to read. Reuters (emphasis mine throughout):One, the U.S. is much more a threat to bomb or invade another nation than Russia is. Two, why shouldn't armed Russian ships sail in international waters? Ours do all the time. Three, again, do you really think Russia would be crazy enough to invade a first-world (read, ethnically Caucasian) country on Europe's eastern doorstep? First-world countries only consider moves like this in third-world (read, ethnically darker) countries, like Syria, or Iraq, or ... you name it, there are plenty of examples.Speaking of Syria, this may be a reason for the latest threatening moves. From the same article:(Did you catch that? Russia has one aircraft carrier, just one. One in its whole navy. Some military threat.)This Baltic invasion stuff is nonsense. The article continues to announce even more Western military build-ups, including troops to be sent to Estonia  as "deterrence." The only thing I see being deterred is (a) Russian intervention in Syria, and (b) the sale of Russian natural gas to Europe, a market the U.S. wants to secure for U.S. companies.The context, or excuse, for all this was laid down after the Russians retaliated for U.S. interference in Ukraine (for more on that, see here and here ). And while we're on the subject of U.S. interference and Ukraine, watch for the name, the wife of neocon and Iraq War architect, as the next administration's appointees are announced. Nuland was deeply involved in our Ukrainian adventurism and is expected to get a high-level appointment in the next Democratic administration, perhaps as Secretary of State or National Security Adviser.Russia retaliated to Western interference in Ukraine by promoting a referendum in ethnically Russian Crimea that ended in Russian annexation. The West retaliated to Russian annexation of Crimea by ginning up fear of a Russian invasion in the Baltics.Not kidding. Fears of a Russian invasion in Europe were widely circulated and carried for months in Western journals and papers., for example, from January 2016 "Counting down"? It reads as if it were dictated from the State Department.This will not end well. The U.S. wants the Russians out of Syria, wants Western natural gas to flow to Europe, and is apparently willing to rattle many sabres to do it. Also cages. Some of those cages contain bears.This will not end well.GP

Labels: Baltic states, Crimea, Gaius Publius, Iraq War, Kagan, Neocons, Russia, Victoria Nuland, War
Opal Lee has taken the mantra Take a stand to a whole new level.

At 90 years old, while some are confined to wheelchairs or walkers, the spry Texas native is walking 1,400 miles from Fort Worth, Texas, to the White House to make sure her voice is heard.

Juneteenth has been my passion for a long, long time, she said. I think it ought to be a national holiday, so Im that little old lady walking all over the country to ask the president in person.

Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865, is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the U.S. after word arrived in Texas that slaves were now free.

Juneteenth is recognized by 45 states, but not as a national holiday.

Lee spoke at St. Philips African Moravian Church in Winston-Salem on Thursday night to a small crowd, who sat in the very pews where slaves received the news some 150 years ago that they were free.

The church, constructed in 1861, is the oldest standing African-American church in North Carolina.

As she took the stage  her wispy gray hair braided in corn rows and pearls strung around her neck  the crowd burst into song.

Juneteenth is not just a black thing, I want to dispel that notion, she said. People need to know the slaves didnt free themselves. There were abolitionists, Quakers, all kinds of people who fought for freedom, so it should be a unifying celebration.

As Lee walks, she is attempting to collect 100,000 signatures for an online petition to urge Congress to sign into law Juneteenth as a National Day of Observance like Flag Day before President Obama leaves office.

She began walking Sept. 1 from her home in Fort Worth and, if all goes as planned, she will arrive at the White House in December.

Lees original plan was to walk along the highways and take a direct route from her home to the White House, but decided against it for safety reasons, her cousin Marion Windbush said.

I pictured her zipping along the highways, cars zooming by, and we didnt think that was the right approach, said Windbush, a Winston-Salem resident. She has the courage to do what needs to be done. She wont give up.

Instead, Lee travels around the country, walking through big cities on her way to the White House.

She walks in 2.5-mile stints to represent the two and a half years it took for freedom from slavery to take hold after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, she said.

In the past two months, she has traversed Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Colorado, Alabama and Mississippi before landing in North Carolina. She still has a ways to go before she makes her way to the White House.

Its amazing how many people, even in the African-American community, dont know what Juneteenth is, what it stands for, what it signifies, said Wanda Allen-Abraha, director of human relations for the city. Were taken back by her spirit, her drive and her passion to make this cross-county journey.

Winston-Salem has been celebrating Juneteenth outwardly since at least the 1970s, Allen-Abraha said. They hope to continue to expand the citys awareness of the day through the citys annual Juneteenth festival, which began in 2004.

Awareness is an important component of change, Lee said. She carries a childrens Juneteenth book with her everywhere she goes in case she runs across someone who doesnt know about the days historical significance.

It wont be the first time Lee has ventured to the nations capital to make her voice heard.

During the Vietnam War, three of her sons were stationed abroad, so she marched off to Washington, D.C. and knocked on President Lyndon B. Johnsons door. Lee told Johnsons staff of her situation, and two of her sons were moved out of Vietnam.

Her dream is to one day see a Juneteenth theme park built in the U.S., commemorating the historic day, she said, but for now shell settle for an audience with the president.

Lee attended both of Obamas inaugurations and had met him twice before beginning her journey.

While in Durham on Wednesday, she met him a third time while he was campaigning for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on UNC-Chapel Hills campus.

She fought her way to the front of the stage, where she stood for 5 hours straight, hoping to hand the president a letter requesting a meeting with her to discuss the possibility of making Juneteenth a national holiday. After his speech, Lee had her opportunity.

I tried to stuff it in his shirt pocket, she said with a laugh. (President Obama) has had obstacle after obstacle to try to hold him down, but he hasnt given up. Why should we?

Lee is optimistic the president will read and respond to her letter, hopefully before she gets to Washington to save her the wear and tear on her shoes, she joked. When the time comes, she would like to deliver her petition to him personally.

I hope I hear from him, she said.If not, Ill keep walking.
Sandy Parsons, who broke his silence to investigators three years after they started looking for the missing girl, told Rowan County sheriffs Detective Lt. Chad Moose in August that Erica was long dead and her body could be found in rural South Carolina.

Moose said in the warrant that Parsons sought him out in August, more than a year after Parsons began an eight-year prison sentence for fraud in a federal prison in Butner.

Moose said in the warrant that hed learned of the harsh treatment of the girl, which included locking Erica in a closet, beating her with belt buckle, bending her fingers back and choking her. UNC School of Medicine Dr. Cynthia Brown characterized the treatment of Erica as child torture.

Moose said Parsons told him Ericas body was discarded Dec. 19, 2011. Erica would have been 13 at that time.

Led them to grave

Brandy Cook, Rowan County district attorney, got a Superior Court judge to issue an order of custody for Parsons. He led investigators to a mound of earth shaded by pines near a remote road.

He was back to prison while a team went to work that included investigators from Rowan County, the FBI, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division and the Chesterfield County Sheriffs Office.

For nearly 10 hours, they gathered clues and lifted Ericas skeleton from the soil.

Kevin Auten, the Rowan County sheriff, has said that no plea deal has been struck nor any promises made in exchange for the information provided by Parsons. No one has yet been charged in Ericas death. Her remains are still with the N.C. State Medical Examiner, and no cause of death has been released.

Parsons, 42, was convicted of cashing Ericas adoption support checks long after she disappeared from their home near Salisbury. His wife, Casey Parsons, 41, is serving 10 years for the same crime in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla.

Last seen in 2011

Erica Parsons was reported missing in July 2013 by James Parsons, her adoptive older brother, after he had a quarrel with his parents. He said late 2011 was the last time he saw Erica, who was developmentally disabled.

He testified in his parents sentencing hearing that the last night he saw her, the girl was standing in the corner, a frequent punishment, and appeared unwell. She looked like a zombie, he said.

She told my parents she did not feel good. She said she could not breathe too good.

His mother, Jamie Parsons said, told the child to shut the f-  up.

Her face went on billboards, posters and national TV after the search for her began. Casey and Sandy Parsons said they had given the girl to her maternal grandmother, a woman called Nan Goodman who they met through Facebook.

Authorities could find no such woman, and confirmed Ericas real maternal grandmother had died years earlier.

Federal agencies, including the FBI and IRS, became involved in the case. National databases were scoured to see whether Ericas Social Security numbers  she had two, not unusual in adoption cases  ever appeared in Medicaid or any other records.

No school system in the state had any record of her enrolling after her disappearance. Even Department of Motor Vehicle records were checked in all 50 states after she would have turned 16 to see if shed ever gotten a license or a ticket, but there was no trace.

Armed with search warrants, authorities went through the Parsons home on Miller Chapel Road. An FBI evidence team found a closet where the girl would be imprisoned for long stretches of time and found her DNA  either from saliva or urine  on the floor.

Break in case

This summer, Sandy Parsons told a relative he was trying to work out a deal with authorities.

He boasted that Ericas body would never be found without him. She was buried in a place where hikers, hunters and wandering children would be unlikely to find her.

Investigators checked old wells and looked for possible graves around China Grove, near the Parsons old house, and elsewhere in Rowan County. Nothing of note was found but a dialogue with Sandy Parsons continued.

In August, Parsons told Moose that Erica was indeed dead and buried near Pageland. Several trips were made by teams of FBI and Rowan investigators, but the grave was not pinpointed, leading to his temporary release from prison when he led them to the spot.
We sat in the cheerful Skippys dining room, several years ago, with the sizzle of the grill in the background, while I admired everything Mike Rothman had crammed into T.J.s hotdog bun  chili, cheese, slaw, sauerkraut, peppers  still somehow fitting the dog itself in there somewhere.

Is there anything thats not on there? I asked.

I figured youd like it, T.J. replied, being such a fan of big government and all.

I laughed at my friends lame joke. Then I bristled inside. As I ate my own hot dog (cheese, chili), I thought, I didnt know I liked big government. Am I supposed to like big government? Why? Big for the sake of being big?

Im not a joiner. Im more likely to echo PeeWee Herman  Im a loner, Dottie. A rebel  than attend a club or party meeting. I pride myself on being open-minded enough to at least acknowledge all nine sides of every issue.

But there I was wondering if I was supposed to believe something because it was identified with my political leanings.

Its embarrassing to admit. But Im certain Im not alone.

Neuroscientist and author Sam Harris spoke about this phenomenon recently on his podcast, saying, Im not the first person to notice that its pretty strange that knowing a persons position on [one issue] generally allows you to predict his position on the others.

This shouldnt happen. Some of these issues are totally unrelated. Why should a persons attitude toward guns be predictive of his views on climate change or immigration or abortion? And yet it almost certainly does in our society. Thats a sign that people are joining tribes and movements. Its not the sign of clear thinking.

Tribalism offers the reward of belonging, of being part of something larger than oneself. But it also carries risks; not only of accepting falsehoods with little thought, but of rejecting truths simply because they come from the wrong source. It carries the risk of hypocritically forgiving ones own side for the flaws that are unforgiveable in the other.

It also carries the risk of denying the rights and even the very humanity of those who dont share the groups views.

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich expressed the detriment of such views last month when he told the press, I get reactions like, well, youre a Republican, why are you supporting something that the president wants? We cannot get to the point in America that because a Democrat wants something that you happen to agree with, you cant agree with him.

Theres plenty of things that I disagree with President Obama on. But the idea that Im a Republican and, therefore, I cant work with Democrats  or youre a Democrat, and you cant work with Republicans  how does anybody think that the issues of debt, Social Security, Medicare, health care, any of these issues are going to be resolved when we spend all of our time fighting with one another?

Many viewers were surprised during the Oct. 9 presidential debate when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump responded to the suggestion that they each name one positive thing they respected about the other. It was refreshing to hear Clinton praise Trumps children, and Trump to acknowledge that Clinton is no quitter.

There. Was that so hard?

Maybe every political debate should begin with an acknowledgement of the opponents redeeming qualities. But politicians tend to go for the kill instead  simplistically portraying their own party and their every position as manna from the gods while everything their opponent believes comes from the fiery furnace of hell.

Why do they do that? Because it works; we respond to it.

But we dont have to.

Weve almost made it to Nov. 8. After the election, well hear the standard calls for national unity  calls that already ring hollow to many of us. Whichever way the presidential election goes, the date wont mark an end to the tribalism that divides us; things are likely to get worse.

But they dont have to. We dont have to let it. We can, instead, approach the changing of the guard, however disappointing, with grace and hope.

I hope, in the new year, to write about how to walk ourselves back from the rancorous, angry ledge weve approached  with the full understanding that the answer cant be give up your beliefs and adopt mine. Well never agree on everything. Well often disagree on much. But weve still got to find a way to work together, with some understanding of our common humanity and our common course through history. I invite your suggestions.
Consumers are spending more time shopping online, so are local firms missing a trick?

A wave of digital technology has swept across Vietnam in recent years, but many Vietnamese companies have refused to sign up for the revolution.

Tammy Phan, strategic partnership manager at Google, said that Vietnam currently has about 44-45 million internet users, and that figure is forecast to reach 82 million in 2020. These are good conditions for enterprises to apply digital technologies to expand their businesses, she was quoted by the Saigon Times as saying.

However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are still reluctant to join the online trading network.

Phan reportedly said only 20 percent of Vietnamese SMEs sell their products on the internet while the rest remain invisible as they do not have websites or digital marketing solutions to promote sales.

Some businesses explained they havent entered the online market due to fear of data breaches and additional costs. Others are more comfortable with traditional forms of advertising like distributing fliers and advertising in newspapers.

Matthew A. Heller, head of Googles Channel Sales in Asia Pacific, advised Vietnamese SMEs to join the digital trading environment to approach more consumers, which, in return, can help push up their revenues by four times.

Technology is changing peoples lifestyles. Consumers are spending more time shopping on the internet, from buying movie tickets to ordering food, the Saigon Times cited him as saying.

Data from Google revealed that 70 percent of Vietnamese consumers use a search engine to look for information before buying any item, and 75 percent will pick one to three local businesses before deciding where to make their purchases.

A third of the population will be buying goods and services over the internet by 2020, according to the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency.

The Vietnamese government has set a target that by 2020, 50 percent of local enterprises will have online stores and 80 percent will be doing business through e-commerce platforms.

Related news:

> A third of Vietnamese set to shop online by 2020

> South Korean retail giant Lotte targets 20 percent of Vietnams e-commerce market
Rallying the Republican faithful in Mooresville last weekend, Sen. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem confessed that he feels just like Donald Trump these days. The medias out to get him, and the woman hes up against, to hear Burr tell it, is being handled with kid gloves. Burr stopped short of whining that the election is rigged against him, but found plenty to complain about. Among his grievances: the photo of Hillary Clinton on a recent cover of American Rifleman didnt have a bulls eye on it.

When CNN released a recording of Burrs comments, raising the question of whether North Carolinas senior senator had in fact suggested violence against a political opponent, Burr immediately apologized. A spokesperson suggested that anyone concerned about the senators comments had misunderstood his joke. But Sen. Burrs record of extremism is no laughing matter. What Donald Trump has only declared in vague and general terms, Richard Burr has made a matter of practice.

In a speech that included the joke about putting Secretary Clinton in the crosshairs of Second Amendment enthusiasts, Burr also bragged that he is personally responsible for the longest judicial vacancy in U.S. history. When Jennifer Mae Parker was first nominated in 2013 as the first African-American to serve the U.S. Eastern District of North Carolina, Burr balked, refusing to issue the blue slip thats required from home-state senators for a judicial nominee to move forward.

Because the seat has remained vacant for over a decade, President Obama nominated another African-American woman, Patricia Timmons-Goodson, early this year. Having served as the first African-American woman on the North Carolina Supreme Court, Timmons-Goodson, who does not affiliate with any political party, deserves a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yet Sen. Burr, who has conspired to block President Obamas nominee for the Supreme Court, has single-handedly obstructed due process for Timmons-Goodson by refusing her a blue slip, also.

When President Obama nominated Durham native Loretta Lynch to be the first African-American woman to serve as Attorney General of the United States, Burr and his junior colleague, Thom Tillis, stood in lockstep, refusing to support a decorated Justice Department official from their own state even as fellow Republicans confirmed her. Like George Wallaces stand in the doorway of the University of Alabama, theirs was only a political song-and-dance. They knew they couldnt stop Lynchs confirmation. But they also hoped their stunt would play well in this campaign with the sort of crowd that appreciates a good joke about a candidate for president getting shot.

Many have noted how Donald Trumps campaign has exposed and embraced a public racism that American hasnt seen since the 1960s. (Endorsements from the KKK and Confederate flags at rallies are but two obvious signs of this phenomenon.) But we cannot take offense at Trumps rhetoric without looking seriously at the policies of politicians like Burr who already use public power to advance and defend discrimination. When it comes to politics, the racism we write into law is far more powerful than whatever people feel in their hearts.

When our Moral Movement began speaking out against extremism in Raleigh at the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, I tried to be clear that we were not there to oppose Republicans but, instead, the extremists who had taken leadership of the Republican Party. We did not oppose their policies because they were conservative, but because they were morally indefensible, constitutionally inconsistent and economically insane. Thom Tillis led the extremists in North Carolina in 2013 and then joined Burr in the Senate in 2014. Together, they have not only blocked judicial appointments, but also have worked together to obstruct anything proposed by our nations first African-American president.

As North Carolinians go to the polls this week and next Tuesday, we are grateful that the federal court restored voting rights to North Carolinians that had been taken away by extremists in 2013, calling out the laws almost surgical racial intent. Even still, we returned to federal court in Winston-Salem this week to ask for an injunction against continued voter-suppression efforts. This election is no joke.

Burr may apologize for his comments about Secretary Clinton, but he boasts of his consistent record of obstructing candidates who are African-American women. We who believe in freedom cannot laugh this election off. We must vote like never before to say that we will not accept extremism as a political inevitability. North Carolina is moving forward together, not one step back.
Vietnamese collectors have alerted authorities of the violation and called for official disapproval.

The Vietnam Stamp Club, a group of local collectors, has informed the government that China Posts new stamps violate Vietnams sovereignty over an island chain in the East Sea, the Vietnamese reference for the South China Sea.

In a document sent to the information ministry on Wednesday, the group said the Chinese State Post Bureau issued a set of five stamps named Chinese lighthouses, depicting lighthouses constructed on five reefs of Vietnams Spratly Islands, which were illegally occupied by China in 1988 and 1995.

Hoang Anh Thi, head of the club, said that the new stamps have violated Vietnams sovereignty. China uses the pretext of stamp issuance to deceive the public over its illegal actions, Thi added.

This is the third time China Post has released stamps violating Vietnam's sovereignty over the Spratlys and Paracels, another island chain in the East Sea.

Earlier, in 2004 it issued a stamp set featuring frontier scenes of China, one of which showed the image of Paracel Islands, which China has taken by force since 1974.

In 2013, China Post distributed another stamp set with one stamp featuring the islands. This time, the Vietnams Post Department demanded that China Post abolish stamps, envelops and postcards that violated Vietnams sovereignty and avoid similar acts.

China Post, however, apparently repeated the violation with the new stamps issued late last month.

The Vietnam Stamp Club proposed that the information ministry speak out against China Post's action and issue a set of its own stamps showing images of the Spratly and Paracel Islands to reaffirm Vietnams sovereignty.

Related news:

> Vietnam resort caught printing maps labeling sovereign waters the China Sea

> Da Nang seizes tourist leaflets advertising 'China Beach'
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By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) |  

To say that this is the election from hell is to insult hell.

Theres been nothing like this since Washington forded the Rubicon or Trump crossed the Delaware or delivered the Gettysburg Address (you know, the one that began Four score and eleven women ago)  or pick your own seminal moment in American history.

Billions of words, that face, those gestures, the endless insults, the abused women and the emails, the 24/7 spectacle of it all Whatever happens on Election Day, lets accept one reality: were in a new political era in this country. We just havent quite taken it in. Not really.

Forget Donald Trump.

Doh! Why did I write that? Who could possibly forget the first presidential candidate in our history preemptively unwilling to accept election results? (Even the South in 1860 accepted the election of Abraham Lincoln before trying to wave goodbye to the Union.) Who could forget the man who claimed that abortions could take place on the day of or the day before actual birth? Who could forget the man who claimed in front of an audience of nearly 72 million Americans that he had never met the women who accused him of sexual aggression and abuse, including the People magazine reporter who interviewed him? Who could forget the candidate who proudly cited his positive polling results at rallies and in tweets, month after month, before (when those same polls turned against him) discovering that they were all rigged?

Whatever you think of The Donald, who in the world  and I mean the whole wide world (including the Iranians)  could possibly forget him or the election hes stalked so ominously? When you think of him, however, dont make him the cause of American political dysfunction. Hes just the bizarre, disturbed, and disturbing symptom of the transformation of the American political system.

Admittedly, he is a one-of-a-kind politician, even among his associates in surging right-wing nationalist and anti-whatever movements globally. He makes Frances Marine Le Pen seem like the soul of rationality and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte look like a master tactician of our age. But what truly makes Donald Trump and this election season fascinating and confounding is that were not just talking about the presidency of a country, but of the country. The United States remains the great imperial state on Planet Earth in terms of the reach of its military and the power of its economy and culture to influence the workings of everything just about everywhere. And yet, based on the last strange year of election campaigning, its hard not to think that something  and not just The Donald  is unnervingly amiss on Planet America.

The World War II Generation in 2016

Sometimes, in my fantasies (as while watching the final presidential debate), I perform a private miracle and bring my parents back from the dead to observe our American world. With them in the room, I try to imagine the disbelief many from that World War II generation would surely express about our present moment. Of course, they lived through a devastating depression, light years beyond anything we experienced in the Great Recession of 2007-2008, as well as a global conflagration of a sort that had never been experienced and  short of nuclear war  is not likely to be again.

Despite this, I have no doubt that they would be boggled by our world and the particular version of chaos we now live with. To start at a global level, both my mother (who died in 1977) and my father (who died in 1983) spent decades in the nuclear age, the era of humanitys greatest  for want of a better word  achievement. After all, for the first time in history, we humans took the apocalypse out of the hands of God (or the gods), where it had resided for thousands of years, and placed it directly in our own. What they didnt live to experience, however, was historys second potential deal-breaker, climate change, already bringing upheaval to the planet, and threatening a slow-motion apocalypse of an unprecedented sort.

While nuclear weapons have not been used since August 9, 1945, even if they have spread to the arsenals of numerous countries, climate change should be seen as a snail-paced version of nuclear war  and keep in mind that humanity is still pumping near-record levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. I imagine my parents amazement that the most dangerous and confounding issue on the planet didnt get a single question, not to speak of an answer, in the three presidential debates of 2016, the four and a half hours of charges, insults, and interruptions just past. Neither a moderator, nor evidently an undecided voter (in the town hall second debate), nor either presidential candidate  each ready to change the subject on a moments notice from embarrassing questions about sexual aggression, emails, or anything else  thought it worth the slightest attention. It was, in short, a problem too large to discuss, one whose existence Donald Trump (like just about every other Republican) denies, or rather, in his case, labels a hoax that he uniquely blames on a Chinese plot to sink America.

So much for insanity (and inanity) when it comes to the largest question of all. On a somewhat more modest scale, my mom and dad wouldnt have recognized our political world as American, and not just because of Donald Trump. They would have been staggered by the money pouring into our political system  at least $6.6 billion in this election cycle according to the latest estimate, more than 10% of that from only 100 families. They would have been stunned by our 1% elections; by our new Gilded Age; by a billionaire TV celebrity running as a populist by riling up once Democratic working-class whites immiserated by the likes of him and his brand of casino capitalism, scam, and spectacle; by all those other billionaires pouring money into the Republican Party to create a gerrymandered Congress that will do their obstructionist bidding; and by just how much money can be invested in our political system in perfectly legal ways these days. And I havent even mentioned the Other Candidate, who spent all of August on the true campaign trail, hobnobbing not with ordinary Americans but with millionaires and billionaires (and assorted celebrities) to build up her phenomenal war chest.

I would have to take a deep breath and explain to my parents that, in twenty-first-century America, by Supreme Court decree, money has become the equivalent of speech, even if its anything but free. And lets not forget that other financial lodestone for an American election these days: the television news, not to speak of the rest of the media. How could I begin to lay out for my parents, for whom presidential elections were limited fall events, the bizarre nature of an election season that starts with media speculation about the next-in-line just as the previous season is ending, and continues more or less nonstop thereafter? Or the spectacle of talking heads discussing just about nothing but that election 24/7 on cable television for something like a full year, or the billions of ad dollars that have fueled this never-ending Super Bowl of campaigns, filling the coffers of the owners of cable and network news?

Weve grown strangely used to it all, but my mom and dad would undoubtedly think they were in another country  and that would be before they were even introduced to the American system as it now exists, the one for which Donald Trump is such a bizarre front man.

What Planet Is This Anyway?

I wish I still had my high school civics text. If youre of a certain age, youll remember it: the one in which a man from Mars lands on Main Street, USA, to be lectured on the glories of American democracy and our carefully constructed, checked-and-balanced tripartite form of governance. Im sure knowledge of that system changed life on Mars for the better, even if it was already something of a fantasy here on Earth in my parents time. After all, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower  my mom and dad voted for Democrat Adlai Stevenson  was the one who, in his farewell address in 1961, first brought the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power and the military-industrial complex to the attention of the American people.

Yes, all of that was already changing then, as a peacetime war state of unparalleled size developed in this country. Still, 30-odd years after my fathers death, surveying the American landscape, my parents might believe themselves on Mars. They would undoubtedly wonder what exactly had happened to the country they knew. After all, thanks to the Republican Partys scorched-earth tactics in these last years in bipolar Washington, Congress, that collection of putative representatives of the people (now a crew of well-paid, well-financed representatives of the countrys special interests in a capital overrun with corporate lobbyists), hardly functions anymore. Little of significance makes it through the porticos of the Capitol. Recently, for instance, John McCain (usually considered a relatively moderate Republican senator) suggested  before walking his comments part way back  that if Hillary Clinton were elected president, his fellow Republican senators might decide a priori not to confirm a single Supreme Court justice she nominated during her tenure in office. That, of course, would mean a court now down to what looks like a permanent crew of eight would shrink accordingly. And his comments, which once would have shocked Americans to the core, caused hardly a ripple of upset or protest.

On my tour of this new world, I might start by pointing out to my mom and dad that the U.S. is now in a state of permanent war, its military at the moment involved in conflicts in at least six countries in the Greater Middle East and Africa. These are all purely presidential conflicts, as Congress no longer has a real role in American war-making (other than ponying up the money for it and beating the drums to support it). The executive branch stands alone when it comes to the war powers once checked and balanced in the Constitution.

And I wouldnt want my parents to simply look abroad. The militarization of this country has proceeded apace and in ways that, I have not the slightest doubt, would shock them to their core. I could take my parents, for instance, to Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan, their hometown and still mine, and on any day of the week they would see the once-inconceivable: actual armed soldiers on guard in full camo. I could mention that, at my local subway stop, Ive several times noted a New York police department counterterror squad that could be mistaken for a military Special Ops team, assault rifles slung across their chests, and no one even stops and gawks anymore. I could point out that the police across the country increasingly have the look of military units and are supplied by the Pentagon with actual weaponry and equipment directly off distant U.S. battlefields, including armored vehicles of various sorts. I could mention that military surveillance drones, those precursors of future robotic warfare (and, for my parents, right out of the childhood sci-fi novels I used to read), are now regularly in American skies; that advanced surveillance equipment developed in far-off war zones is now being used by the police here at home; and that, though political assassination was officially banned in the post-Watergate 1970s, the president now commands a formidable CIA drone force that regularly carries out such assassinations across large swaths of the planet, even against U.S. citizens, and without the say-so of anyone outside the White House, including the courts. I could mention that the president who, in my parents time, commanded one modest-sized secret army, the CIAs paramilitaries, now essentially presides over a full-scale secret military, the Special Operations Command: 70,000 elite troops cocooned inside the larger U.S. military, including elite teams ready to be deployed on what are essentially executive missions across the planet.

I could point out that, in the twenty-first century, U.S. intelligence has set up a global surveillance state that would have shamed the totalitarian powers of the previous century and that American citizens, en masse, are included in it; that our emails (a new concept for my parents) have been collected by the millions and our phone records made available to the state; that privacy, in short, has essentially been declared un-American. I would also point out that, on the basis of one tragic day and what otherwise has been the most modest of threats to Americans, a single fear  of Islamic terrorism  has been the pretext for the building of the already existing national security state into an edifice of almost unbelievable proportions that has been given once unimaginable powers, funded in ways that should amaze anyone (not just visitors from the American past), and has become the unofficial fourth branch of the U.S. government without either discussion or a vote.

Little that it does  and it does a lot  is open to public scrutiny. For their own safety, the People are to know nothing of its workings (except what it wants them to know). Meanwhile, secrecy of a claustrophobic sort has spread across significant parts of the government. The government classified 92 million documents in 2011 and things seem not to have gotten much better since. In addition, the national security state has been elaborating a body of secret law  including classified rules, regulations, and interpretations of already existing law  kept from the public and, in some cases, even from congressional oversight committees.

Americans, in other words, know ever less about what their government does in their name at home and abroad.

I might suggest to my parents that they simply imagine the Constitution of the United States being rewritten and amended in secrecy and on the fly in these years without as much as a nod to We, the People. In this way, as our elections became elaborate spectacles, democracy was sucked dry and ditched in all but name  and that name is undoubtedly Donald J. Trump.

Consider that, then, a brief version of how I might describe our new American world to my amazed parents.

America as a National Security State

None of this is The Donalds responsibility. In the years in which a new American system was developing, he was firing people on TV. You could, of course, think of him as the poster boy for an America in which spectacle, celebrity, the gilded class of One Percenters, and the national security state have melded into a narcissistic, self-referential brew of remarkable toxicity.

Whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is elected president, one thing is obvious: the vast edifice that is the national security state, with its 17 intelligence agencies and enormous imperial military, will continue to elaborate itself and expand its power in our American world. Both candidates have sworn to pour yet more money into that military and the intelligence and Homeland Security apparatus that goes with it. None of this, of course, has much of anything to do with American democracy as it was once imagined.

Someday perhaps, like my parents, I will be called back from the dead by one of my children to view with awe or horror whatever world exists. Long after the America of an unimaginable Donald J. Trump presidency or a far-more-imaginable Hillary Clinton version of the same has been folded into some god-awful, half-forgotten chapter in our history, I wonder what will surprise or confound me then. What version of our country and planet will I face in 2045?

Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He is a fellow of the Nation Institute and runs TomDispatch.com. His latest book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.

Copyright 2016 Tom Engelhardt

Via Tomdispatch.com



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MIT: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump
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By David M. Faris | (Informed Comment) |  

The U.S. presidential election continues to grind agonizingly to its conclusion. Maybe you havent noticed, but America has turned into a kind of permanent Halloween for Nazis and white supremacists. This week former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke shared a Louisiana Senate debate stage. An African American church in Mississippi was torched after someone painted Vote Trump on it. The North Carolina GOP  the recipient of incredible Democratic generosity after an attack on a local headquarters last month  is busy restoring Jim Crow-era voting laws and bragging about it in open court. How is this even happening?

A few weeks ago, the presidential election appeared to be over. Donald Trump was thrice humiliated on national television by Hillary Clinton and her masterful strategy of allowing her clueless opponent to run directly into the knife she was holding out for him. Legions of victims were coming forward to confirm Trumps appalling statements about how he preys on women. But as he remained out of the spotlight in the two weeks since the last debate, the race tightened. Republican politicians who in early October said they couldnt look their daughters in the eye if they voted for this man have reversed course as the electoral headwind slackened. And then the director of the FBI, James Comey, broke with all precedent to insert the Bureau back into the campaign. Suddenly, the unthinkable  Donald Trump becoming the President of the United States  has become plausible.

Trump, a man who cannot be trusted to run your laundrymat, let alone your country, represents an unprecedented threat not just to American electoral democracy, but also to global stability. Those who believe the damage of his presidency could be contained by the checks and balances of our constitutional system have not been paying close enough attention to the way the Republican Party collapsed like a cheap folding chair before the Trump machine in 2016. Men and women of that party who should know better have put their own political interests above those of the country as a whole, even as they clearly expect a Trump defeat. The differences between this ignorant, mentally unstable demagogue and the Democratic nominee, former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are stark. Yet the race is now closer than anyone expected. While the odds are still against him, Donald Trump could win the White House. To allow this to happen would trigger a massive crisis, because Trumps Republican Party has been overrun by white ethno-nationalists bent on reversing decades of incremental social and economic progress. That this reactionary movement is on the brink of recapturing power at the same time that the United States may finally be facing some of its very worst demons  the ongoing predatory and discriminatory treatment of African Americans chief among them is no coincidence.

Trump himself is a man who knows nothing meaningful about government or public policy, and whose alleged business acumen, as has been widely reported, is based on a philosophy of ripping off contractors and investors and enriching himself at the expense of others. He cares for no one and nothing but his business empire, and even this network of capitalist vultures has been run poorly. For years he operated a worthless multi-level marketing scam called Trump University, bilking thousands of hardworking Americans of their wealth, and then openly bribing at least two state attorney generals to drop their investigations of his operation. He will be in court to answer for this elaborate scam this month.

His signature foreign policy proposal involves forcing our southern neighbor to build a wall around itself and suffocate and die inside like a character in an Edgar Allen Poe crypt story, and to pay for the privilege of doing so. His grotesque demagoguery against social movements like Black Lives Matter and his dark promise to bring law and order to America by unnamed means promises to worsen Americas already grave racial crisis. He cares nothing for my beloved Chicago, a place he sees only from the ostentatious luxury tower bearing his name, and uses a great city as nothing more than a prop in his incoherent ideological quest to blame Americas police violence problem on its victims. His vicious treatment of press organizations, as well as his thinly-veiled incitement against individual reporters like Katy Tur, proves his contempt for freedom of speech, and that he would avail himself of all of the means at his disposal as president to silence his critics.

Trump is also transparently unstable. He Tweets lewd insults against women in the middle of the night. He has a long history of aggressive and sexist conduct with women, who he obviously regards as objects to serve his sexual desires rather than as human beings. His first wife Ivana, in her memoir, described a scene that can only be described as rape. Last month a video surfaced of him bragging about sexually assaulting women. In his words, the essence of courtship is to grab them by the pussy. A dozen women have come forth in the ensuing month to confirm that this is precisely what he has done, repeatedly, no doubt to hundreds of women over the course of his overlong and sordid career. He has picked bizarre fights with people like comedian Rosie ODonnell, a feud that started when years ago he called ODonnell ugly, something hes still doing. He lies defensively like a child caught torturing a cat by a concerned parent. His speeches are rambling, incoherent messes, assembled seemingly at random like a word ceviche that has gone bad. He has a court date next month for allegations that he raped a 13-year-old child in the early 1990s, accusations that have inherent credibility by virtue of the fact that he has barged in on naked adolescents, ogled his own daughter, and joked about dating a 10-year old girl in the near future.

This man. He cannot be allowed to be the President of the United States.

Terrible men have held the office before  genocidaires like Andrew Jackson and thin-skinned crooks like Richard Nixon and incompetent men who have led the country into disaster, like Herbert Hoover. But no one in the history of American democracy has ever before featured this combination of hatefulness, aggression and ignorance. He is beneath us. Or he should be.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have put forward an experienced public servant, someone who brings a unique background of experience in both the legislative and executive branches of our democracy: Hillary Clinton. Clintons reputation has been tarnished in the past year  public polling suggests that she is the second-most unpopular nominee ever to run for president, behind only the loathed Donald Trump himself. This reputation is undeserved  the product of two decades of right-wing hyperventilation about the Clintons, as well as a bruising primary campaign against Bernie Sanders. Clinton should never have let the Democratic National Committee appear to side openly with her during the campaign. But none of this should detract from a very simple reality: Hillary Clinton is a tireless public servant, perhaps the brightest and most well informed person ever to seek the office. That many believe otherwise is chiefly the product of our inane media system, which has collectively devoted more hours of coverage to six-year-old emails than any of the public policy issues currently on the agenda.

That is a shame. A Clinton presidency would offer any number of tangible benefits. She supports, for instance, policies that would make college debt-free. Whether she will be able to get those proposals through Congress is less important than having an advocate for affordable higher education in the highest office in the land, rather than a con artist who doesnt know the difference between a mail-order scam and a university education. Of the two candidates, Clinton is the only one who recognizes that climate change is a real, man-made problem that begs for human solutions. Like most sensible policymakers, she knows we cannot simply move on from fossil fuels tomorrow morning without collapsing the networks of exchange and sustenance that 7 billion people rely upon to stay alive. She has important policy proposals to expand the social safety net, to require paid leave for new mothers, to address systemic racism and to grapple with the challenge of Americas aging Baby Boomers. On nearly every issue important to the left-liberal coalition, Clinton is rock solid. If she ever got a Democratic Congress to work with, the changes could be sweeping. Of course you wouldnt know this from the content-free press coverage of the past year, but it remains true nevertheless.

Even without Congress, though, Clinton can do much good. The most important impact of a Clinton presidency is likely to be in the federal judiciary. A little understood aspect of presidential power is the ability to remake the district and appellate courts by appointing justices whose ideology roughly matches that of the president. During Obamas 8 years, he has appointed not just two Supreme Court justices that have brought the Court to the precipice of its first liberal majority in a generation, but hundreds of federal judges who make key decisions, most of which never reach the Supreme Court at all. Under a Clinton presidency, Democrats have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ensure a lasting left-liberal court network, one that would make important decisions for years after Clinton leaves office. The reason is that neither the Democrats or the Republicans are often afforded the opportunity for three consecutive terms in office. Not since FDRs four terms have the Democrats won three consecutive presidential elections. For the first time in my conscious life, a liberal majority on the Supreme Court of the United States is finally, tantalizingly within reach. A liberal Supreme Court could deliver a bounty of changes that would remake American society  not just reversing the tidal wave of insanity foisted on us by the current Court  like the Citizens United catastrophe  but also long-held liberal dreams like declaring equal access to and funding of public education a constitutional right.

But more is at stake here than policy. Elections cannot be simply about the Supreme Court. The truth is that Trumps campaign has been a long, vicious and open attack on democratic rule itself. From his lurid and utterly unsubstantiated claims that the election will be rigged to his refusal to say that he will accept the results, Trump and his core supporters represent the very worst features of American society. But Trump is hardly some deus ex machina designed to destroy the Republican Party. He is, rather, the apotheosis of an extremely worrisome trend that has been endorsed by the partys leaders: the total delegitimization of any president from the Democratic Party. Congressional Republicans have been conducting an elaborate work-to-rule strike for the last six years, grinding all governance to a halt by refusing to compromise with President Obama, even when offered stunning concessions on things like Social Security. The results of this ugly parliamentary chicanery have been predictable  a series of terrifying budget standoffs, a government shutdown, brinksmanship over the debt ceiling, and plummeting levels of trust and respect for key democratic institutions. The Republican-led Senate escalated this nauseating partisan warfare this year by refusing to even consider the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, arguing that the next president should make that decision. And now, when it looks probable that the next president will be Hillary Clinton, Republicans are planning to continue the blockade by refusing to consider any Supreme Court justice forwarded by a President Clinton.

Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan  unapologetic radicals who are eager to completely gut the social welfare system and to stage a constitutional crisis every five minutesare not, as many are saying, the partys rational flank. The GOP no longer has a moderate wing. What has happened in 2016 is that the openly racist white ethnonationalists who for 50 years have been the key Republican electoral constituency have staged a bloodless coup. They forced GOP elites to pledge their fealty to their new authoritarian overlord, like an ISIS hostage reading a script, proving in the process that the institutional Republican Party is willing to burn democracy to the ground to hang onto power in Congress for a few more years. The most awful people in the country, ignored by and isolated from the sane during normal times, are rejoicing and posing for pictures in their Nazi uniforms for their Twitter profiles. The real story of this election is that a dying white supremacist majority properly senses that this is their last stand. Why do you think they named their Big Data campaign operation Project Alamo? They know that they have lost a long and brutal culture war and theyd rather torch the country and take the insurance money rather than let us have it. Its why the Republican-dominated FBI is leaking like a grocery store plastic bag 5 days before a national election and feeding hysteria directly to their henchmen at Fox News and the alt-right fever swamp. Its why I am all done with a discourse of empathy about people who want my Iranian-American family expelled from the country and whose aggregate sympathy for hardworking Latino immigrants amounts to absolutely nothing. Empathy is a two-way street, and white nationalist America is a series of one way cul-de-sacs leading directly to the demented fascist they have all lined up behind like willing executioners. Im sorry you dont like the women on our late night TV programs, or whatever the Excuse of the Week is for revanchist racism and sexism, but that doesnt give you the right to obliterate democracy.

The answer to this ugliness needs to be, must be, an overwhelming defeat. We cannot, must not, allow Donald Trump to be elected. What we must do instead is to rise above the bitterness and fear, and to pry a functioning multicultural democracy from the cold dead hands of the institutional Republican Party and its white supremacist core. We must elect Hillary Clinton. We must return a Democratic Congress to power. And then we must pursue the agonizing work of finally fulfilling this countrys promise as a vibrant, prosperous, tolerant society. If we, instead, allow this terrible man to become the President, there will be nothing much left of our common dreams to rebuild.

David Faris is chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago. His books Dissent and Revolution in a Digital Age: Social Media, Blogging and Activism in Egypt (2013) (Here) and Social Media in Iran: Politics and Society After 2009 (Here) (with Babak Rahimi) focus on the use of digital media by social movements.

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The EUs hotspot approach [backgrounder, PDF] to processing refugees is pressuring Italian authorities to use illegal procedures, according to an Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] report [text, PDF] released Thursday. The report was composed after conducting interviews with more than 170 migrants and refugees, and it exposed numerous accounts of unlawful expulsions and abuse that the group claims amount to torture in many cases [AI report]. AIs campaign against the abuses [AI report] taking place in Italy culminates in three major recommendations:

Ensure that refugees and migrants are not subjected to excessive use of force, torture or other ill-treatment, or arbitrary detention by law enforcement officers during fingerprinting and other related operations. No screening should take place immediately after asylum-seekers arrive; they should first be provided with the necessary assistance, information and advice on the process. Any expulsions should be based on fair and informed screening and individual assessments, and no-one should be sent back to countries where they are at risk of serious human rights violations.

According to AI, the hotspot approach was meant to relieve pressure on frontline states, but it has only caused increased pressure and pushed Italian authorities to use force for fingerprinting individuals, created flaws in the screening process, and led to violent enforcement.

The migrant crisis continues to have a huge impact in the international world. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) [official website] said Tuesday that the governments of France and the UK are failing in their obligation to protect refugee children [JURIST report] in the Calais Jungle refugee camp. A UN human rights expert on Monday called for new approaches [JURIST report] to prevent trafficking among increasing numbers of people fleeing conflict. In October the UNHCR called 2016 the worst year for refugees [JURIST report] crossing the Mediterranean Sea as the death toll reached its highest point. Also in October the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention [official website] called on the US government to abolish the mandatory detention [JURIST report] of migrants, especially asylum seekers, from all countries.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official report] rejected [opinion, PDF] a challenge Wednesday to an Arizona election law. The Ninth circuit, in a 2-1 opinion turned down [NYT report] a legal challenge regarding thrown out ballots cast by voters who go to the wrong precinct. A federal judge had initially denied the challenge stating that there is a state interest since different races are in different ballots in different precincts. The court of appeals ultimately found, that the precinct vote rule, as administered by Arizona, probably does not impermissibly burden minority voters by giving them less opportunity than non-minorities to participate in the political process. There are currently two other election day challenges [AP report] by the Arizona Democrat party. A federal judge in Phoenix is considering a challenge to the states decision not to extend voter registration and a separate challenge has been made to prevent poll-watchers from participating on election day.

The right to vote has become a contentious issue as the presidential election approaches. This week the Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] a vote counting appeal to block state election rules that they claimed could deiqualify certain absentee ballots. In October a New York law prohibiting a person from showing the contents of her prepared voting ballot was challenged as unconstitutional [JURIST report] by state voters for violating their First Amendment rights. The complaint alleges that the law infringes on voters freedom of speech and freedom of expression under the US Constitution as well as the New York state Constitution. Also in October a federal court denied an emergency motion [JURIST report] from North Carolina counties to extend the hours of early voting. In September a district court judge granted [JURIST report] a motion blocking Illinois from allowing voter registration on election day in the states most populated counties.
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] on Wednesday threw out [opinion, PDF] a challenge to Ohios execution secrecy law. Under HB 663 [text, PDF], the identity of individuals and entities that participate in the lethal injection process is treated as confidential and privileged. The court held that the prisoners who brought the challenge lacked standing because they could not show that they had been denied information to which they had a public record right. The lawsuit had previously been dismissed [JURIST report] by the lower court last year.

Capital punishment [JURIST op-ed] remains a controversial issue in the US and worldwide. In February the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] rejected [opinion, PDF] a Georgia death row inmates legal challenge [JURIST report] to the death penalty. In January Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood [official website] stated that he plans to ask lawmakers to approve the firing squad, electrocution or nitrogen gas as alternate methods of execution [press release] if the state prohibits lethal injection [JURIST reports]. The US Supreme Court in January ruled [JURIST report] in Kansas v. Carr [opinion, PDF] that a jury in a death penalty case does not need to be advised that mitigating factors, which can lessen the severity of a criminal act, do not need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt like aggravating factors.
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania [official website] on Thursday denied [opinion, PDF] the Pennsylvania Republican Partys effort to allow out-of-county poll watchers to monitor precincts on election day. Judge Gerald Pappert stated [AP report] that the request was not in the public interest and did not meet the standard for a last-minute intervention from the court. The judge was concerned [Morning Call report] that to allow the intervention would cause disruption, confusion or other unforeseen deleterious effects. Pennsylvania law currently allows poll watchers to monitor locations only within the county in which they are registered to vote. The Republican party sought to change this law to allow anyone within the state to monitor precincts. Pappert also rejected the challenges free speech component stating that poll watching cannot be characterized as political speech.

The right to vote has become a contentious issue as the presidential election approaches. This week the Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] a vote counting appeal to block state election rules that they claimed could deiqualify certain absentee ballots. In October a New York law prohibiting a person from showing the contents of her prepared voting ballot was challenged as unconstitutional [JURIST report] by state voters for violating their First Amendment rights. The complaint alleges that the law infringes on voters freedom of speech and freedom of expression under the US Constitution as well as the New York state Constitution. Also in October a federal court denied an emergency motion [JURIST report] from North Carolina counties to extend the hours of early voting. In September a district court judge granted [JURIST report] a motion blocking Illinois from allowing voter registration on election day in the states most populated counties.
For the first time in history, governments around the world have agreed to legally binding limits on global temperature rises as the Paris Agreement [text, PDF] on climate change became effective [Guardian report] on Friday. All governments that have ratified the accord are now legally obligated to cap global warming levels at 2C above pre-industrial levelsregarded as a limit of safety by scientists. But environmentalists and other groups have said the agreement may not be enough. According to Asad Rehman of Friends of the Earth [advocacy website]: The Paris agreement is a major step in the right direction, but it falls a long way short of the giant leap needed to tackle climate change. Far tougher action is needed to rapidly slash emissions. Greenpeace [advocacy website] also agreed that while the agreement is a major step forward, it needs stronger force. Andrew Norton, the director of the International Institute for Environment and Development [official website], further pointed out that governments would need to take measures to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable countries get adequate financing to tackle climate change problems. [IIED report] As of right now, 97 of the 197 countries of the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change [official website], including the US, India, China and the EU nations have ratified, and are thereby legally bound by, the agreement. Governments are expected to meet in Morocco next week under the auspices of the UN to discuss implementation strategies for the agreement. UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa and Morocco Minister of Foreign Affairs Salaheddine Mezouar issued a joint statement: Humanity will look back on 4 November 2016 as the day that countries of the world shut the door on inevitable climate disaster and set off with determination towards a sustainable future

According to many experts, climate change [JURIST backgrounder] as a result of global greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most pressing and controversial environmental issues facing the international community today. The Paris Agreement is the worlds first comprehensive pact seeking to reduce carbon emissions and halt climate change. The threshold of 55 parties, making up more than 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, triggering the entry into force of the agreement [official website] was reached exactly one month ago. [JURIST report]. In September US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping formally committed [JURIST report] their nations to the Paris Agreement. These two nations alone are responsible for roughly 40 percent of the worlds total carbon emissions. In May government signatories to the Paris Agreement discussed safeguards [JURIST report] against potential human rights violations which could arise in relation to the Agreement.
The 88-year-old Binh Tay Market will be closed soon.

Ho Chi Minh City will close its 88-year-old Binh Tay Market in Vietnams biggest Chinatown for a year for renovation.

Le Tan An, vice mayor of District 6 (where the market is based), said at a meeting on Thursday that it would close the wholesale market, the busiest in the city, from November 15 as it has been deteriorating after nearly a century in use.

An said the project will overhaul most parts of the market and add new toilets.

The repair work is expected to cost more than VND104 billion ($4.66 million). The city will fund the project with advance payments from tenants for the next 10 years.

More than 1,000 shops will be relocated to a temporary market right in front of the old one on Thap Muoi Street. The temporary booths will open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. every day.

An said the facelift project will preserve the original architecture.

Binh Tay Market was built in 1928 by a rice trader from China. The 25,000-square-meter market is appreciated for its bagua-shaped design. Bagua is a Chinese religious motif that incorporates eight trigrams such as the sky, fire and wind and the trigrams are arranged around a circle symbolizing yin and yang.

Binh Tay, also popular for its clock tower and a central courtyard, receives more than 120,000 foreign visitors every year.

Related news:

> Magnificent century-old Tax center to be torn down in Saigon

> Then and now photos of Saigon corners show how much the city has changed over time
The justice minister of South Africa on Thursday submitted a bill to parliament seeking withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. Tshililo Michael Masutha [official profile], the Minister of Justice of South Africa, presented the bill due to the governments claim [Reuters report] that it interferes with South Africas Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act (DIPA) [text, PDF]. A statement from parliament also criticized the ICC for not treating member countries equally. While the government has expressed their criticism of the ICC, this bill is met with opposition. The Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters [party websites] parties both oppose leaving the ICC. There has not been a date set for a final debate or vote on the bill.

South Africa officially announced [JURIST report] its intent to withdraw from the ICC in October. A few days after the announcement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] South Africa for the decision. It is not the only country to express a desire to withdraw from the ICC. Shortly after South Africas announcement, the Gambian government announced [JURIST report] that it will be leaving the ICC. Earlier in October Burundi voted to withdraw [JURIST report] from the ICC amid criticism the court only prosecutes African nationals. Also in October the ICC president stated [JURIST report] that such withdrawals represent[s] a setback in the fight against impunity and the efforts towards the objective of universality of the Statute.
The US Supreme Court [official website] issued an order [PDF] on Thursday granting a last-minute stay of execution just as state officials in Alabama were preparing to execute Thomas Douglas Arthur by lethal injection. The application for the stay was presented to Justice Clarence Thomas, subsequently referred to the court and now stands granted pending disposition of a writ of certiorari. If the writ is granted, the stay will continue up until the time the court reaches a judgment. On the other hand, if the writ is denied, the stay will terminate automatically. Five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, voted in favor of the stay while Justices Thomas and Samuel Alito stated that they would have denied the application. However, Roberts qualified his vote stating that:

I do not believe that this application meets our ordinary criteria for a stay. This case does not merit the Courts review: the claims set out in the application are purely fact specific, dependent on contested interpretations of state law, insulated from our review by alternative holdings below, or some combination of the three. Four Justices have, however, voted to grant a stay. To afford them the opportunity to more fully consider the suitability of this case for review, including these circumstances, I vote to grant the stay as a courtesy.

According to Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange [official website], this is the seventh time [WP report] that Arthur had faced an execution date that was called off. Strange criticized Robertss statement saying that there is no courtesy in voting to deny justice to the victims of a notorious and cold-blooded killer.

Capital punishment [JURIST op-ed] remains a controversial issue in the US and worldwide. Last week the Pakistan Supreme Court [official website] blocked the execution [JURIST report] of a murder convict who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2012. The order is pending reconsideration of an earlier ruling that held that Imdad Alis condition was not a permanent mental disorder and therefore not legally relevant. Last month the Florida Supreme Court [official website] held [JURIST report] that a trial court may not impose the death penalty unless the jurys recommended sentence of death is unanimous. Also last month the US Supreme Court vacated [JURIST report] the death sentence of an Oklahoma man convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two children in a case where the trial judge permitted family members to recommend the sentence to the jury. Last week a group of UN human rights experts spoke on the subject of the death penalty and terrorism, calling the death penalty ineffective [JURIST report], and often times illegal, in deterring to terrorism. In September, after a botched execution in 2014 and numerous drug mix-ups in 2015, Attorney General Scott Pruitt [official website] refused [JURIST report] to set execution dates until new protocols have been approved.
A group of UN human rights experts called on the authorities [press release] of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Thursday to revoke what they consider an unjustified ban on protests in Kinshasa, the DRC capital. The statement says the rights to protest are fundamental and that, [t]he rights to freedom of expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are fundamental rights guaranteed by international law. These rights can only be restricted in very specific and narrowly defined circumstances.

Last month a delegation from the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] traveled [JURIST report] to the DRC to initiate a five-day plan to discourage violent protests ignited by the nations postponed election. In September UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official website] warned [JURIST report] that conditions in the DRC will deteriorate unless there is accountability for the atrocities against civilians. Zeid and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] expressed concern [JURIST report] in April over reports coming out of the DRC regarding an apparent government security operation in an area of southern Brazzaville known as the Pool.
Nong Van Dai and Nguyen Ba Hanh were arrested on November 3, 2016 for allegedly attempting to smuggle methamphetamine from China. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Phong

The two men could face the death penalty for attempting to traffic the drugs in from China.

Border guards in the northern province of Quang Ninh have arrested two young Vietnamese men for trying to smuggle 5 kilograms of methamphetamine from China into Vietnam.

It is the second meth trafficking case busted in the country this week.

Nong Van Dai and Nguyen Ba Hanh, both 22 years old, were arrested with the drugs early Thursday morning in Quang Ninhs Mong Cai Town, which borders China.

Dai and Hanh said they were paid VND10 million ($441) to carry the drugs from China to Vietnam.

On Tuesday, border guards in the central province of Ha Tinh also arrested a Vietnamese man for attempting to smuggle 3,600 methamphetamine tablets from Laos.

Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.

Despite numerous executions, drug trafficking continues in border areas.

Related news:

> Alleged meth smuggler arrested in central Vietnam

> Meth-smuggling Cambodians arrested in Vietnam

> Three Vietnamese face death for trafficking meth
Muller plans to wind down production at a dairy plant in the UK as the German giant looks to invest in giving its milk and ingredients business in the country  much of it built through two acquisitions in four years  a sustainable and vibrant future.

The company is spending GBP100m (US$124.8m) across its two businesses in the UK  Muller Milk & Ingredients and Muller Yogurt & Desserts  over the next 18 months to improve operational, innovation and marketing capabilities.

Muller yesterday (3 November) confirmed plans to spend GBP60m on its milk and ingredients arm, investment that will be used to improve the performance of five of its sites.

However, the company is proposing to start a phased wind-down of its Chadwell Heath dairy in north-east London over an 18-month period. The move could lead to the loss of 389 permanent posts. Muller said its distribution network in the South East would be unaffected and will be maintained and developed to meet current and future customer requirements.

Muller will start a 45-day consultation on the wind-down proposals on 10 November and will work with affected employees and their representatives to look at all options including offering alternative roles within the business.

If a decision is taken to wind down processing operations at Chadwell Heath, Muller said it will work with dairy farmers who supply the site to review their options with the intention that wherever possible, they will not be disadvantaged.

The proposals follow the acquisition of Dairy Crests dairy operations, including the dairy at Chadwell Heath, in 2015. Muller said the move is part of its plan to put in place a modern, efficient fresh milk and ingredients processing and distribution business with national coverage, which meets the needs of its customers across the country.

Andrew McInnes, MD of Muller Milk & Ingredients, said: When we acquired Dairy Crests fresh milk dairy and distribution operations just under a year ago, we made it clear that change would be required to secure a better and more vibrant future for the dairy sector in Britain. We have taken time to assess the best way forward and to model and design a national processing and logistics network which fully meets the needs of our customers throughout the country now and in the future.

By improving operational efficiencies and capabilities at these sites, we can unlock new innovation to transform the milk and ingredients sector, benefitting our consumers, customers, colleagues and farmers. Regrettably, it is clear that the dairy at Chadwell Heath is no longer economically viable. It requires complete overhaul and modernisation and in an industry which has struggled for many years with excess and inefficient processing capacity, we cannot justify committing the level of investment which would be required to bring this site to an acceptable and sustainable level of performance.

Elsewhere, the GBP60m investment programme will see Muller upgrade capabilities and operational efficiencies at processing facilities at Severnside and Foston with further enhancements to dairies at Droitwich, Manchester and Bridgwater. Muller said the project will create up to 180 new jobs.

The investment is part of a total of more than GBP100m which will be spent by Muller in the UK across its Muller Milk & Ingredients and Muller Yogurt & Desserts businesses in the next 18 months to improve operational, innovation and marketing capabilities, the company said.

Muller has already confirmed a major investment at its dairy at Bellshill in Scotland and reversed the decision taken by Dairy Crest, prior to the sale of its dairies to Muller, to close a dairy at Hanworth in South West London, securing 170 jobs at the site, the company said.

Earlier this year, Muller confirmed it would push ahead with the closure of two dairy facilities in East Kilbride and Aberdeen in Scotland.

In 2012, Muller bought the then largest fresh milk processor in the UK, Robert Wiseman Dairies, a deal that gave the company facilities including those in Droitwich, Manchester, Bridgwater, as well as the two in East Kilbride and Aberdeen set to close.
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Boca Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer Outlines The Signs of Neglect to Look Out For

Boca Raton, FL, USA, 11/04/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/

You and your family chose a nursing home for your loved one that you thought you could trust. As it turned out the nursing home and its services were not what they were promised to be. If their employees neglected your family member and he or she was injured as a result, Boca nursing home neglect lawyer Joe Osborne may be able to help.

If a loved one is in a nursing home you should be aware of some of the signs of neglect. If its possible visit your loved one regularly at different times of the day and different days of the week.

Look for:

Poor hygiene

The person doesnt look well cared for

Sudden weight loss

Changes in mental alertness or personality

Pressure sores on the persons back, buttocks and lower back

Osbornes nursing home abuse law firm has had cases where clients are injured in accidents and have to go into a custodial care facility such as a hospital or a nursing home.

Because of their conditions, such quadriplegia, theyre unable to get up and move themselves.

Somebody needs to roll them over.

If someone is left in one position for too long they can get pressure sores, which can become ulcers and they can become deep, open wounds.

If your family member cant communicate well due to physical reasons like a stroke or isnt coherent because of dementia thats not a bar to bringing legal claims against a nursing home for neglect. There can be physical signs of neglect or abuse that can tell the persons story to a lawyer for nursing home abuse without he or she having to say a word.

If a patient is admitted to a nursing home and is malnourished because theyre not being fed often enough or properly youll see significant weight loss, which is an objective sign that something is wrong. If the person developed infected, open sores the nursing home may not be equipped to handle the situation properly and they may need to be transported to a hospital.

The firm recently looked into a case where someone was admitted to a nursing home and was seemingly not being treated adequately. She was transported to a local hospital and the intake at the local hospital really told the tale of what was truly going on. They documented open sores, bruises and a drop in weight of over twenty pounds in a short period of time.

That conflicted with the nursing homes records, which is always a telltale sign that theres a problem. If a residents condition is not being documented properly employees may be trying to cover up the facts that the resident is not getting proper care and is suffering as a result. In this case there was an outside source, the hospital personnel who told it like it was.

Many people think that its only nursing assistants or maybe nurses who neglect nursing home residents and look the other way when abuse or injuries occur. As much as we want to trust doctors they may also be playing a role in nursing home abuse.

Often doctors who work at nursing homes are employed by the nursing home, which is responsible for properly monitoring and supervising their employees. Theyre responsible for who they allow on the premises, who interacts with their patients and who they hire.

Nursing home residents rights to be free of neglect or abuse are different than medical malpractice committed by a doctor.

A doctor commits medical malpractice if the medical care provided he or she provides is below the standard of care that should be provided,

If a doctor doesnt properly treat a resident or is aware of health problems caused by the nursing home but fails to take action he or she may be committing medical malpractice.

Such a legal claim against the nursing home can be made in addition to allegations of neglect or abuse by other nursing home staff.

If you or a family member have any questions about nursing home neglect or abuse in the South Florida area, contact Boca Raton nursing home neglect lawyer Joe Osborne at (561) 800-4011 or fill out this online contact form. You can discuss your case, how the law may apply and your best legal options to protect your rights and obtain compensation for your loved ones injuries.

Press Contact:

Personal injury lawyer Joseph Osborne

561-800-4011

source: http://www.oa-lawfirm.com/boca-nursing-home-neglect-lawyer-outlines-signs-neglect-look/

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The day will consist of a series of 6 high-level conferences addressing issues relating to renewable energy and just transition.
Kenneth R. Anderson was born October 22, 1944 in Lewisburg, Kansas to Robert and Juanita Anderson passed away October 21, 2016 at Renown Hospital in Reno. He was the oldest of five children. Ken and his brothers and sister had the opportunity to grow up seeing many parts of the country as his father moved locations with the U.S. missile programs during the cold war era. After high school Ken entered the U.S. Air Force and served one tour as a medic. Once out of the Air Force, Ken traveled to visit his parents in Sparks, Nevada decided he liked the area, and became a forever resident of Northern Nevada. Ken used his Air Force training to pursue his career as first a hospital orderly, then for over 25 years as an EMT working for ambulance services in Reno, NV. After leaving that career, Ken worked Security for several years.

Ken met and married Laura and was very proud to have one son, Haydn. Ken and Laura were later divorced. In 1980, Ken and Pat were married and enjoyed 36 years together until Kens passing. Ken was preceded in death by his sister, Gail and his parents, Robert and Juanita.

Ken and Pat moved to Spring Creek, Nevada in 2001 when Pat joined the Great Basin College family, where Ken learned to be a graphic artist. Ken will be remembered by family and friends as a lifelong Kansas City Chief Fan, Hunter, Fisherman and Radio Control airplane flyer, enjoying many great years flying with the Elko RC Club. Ken is survived by his wife, Pat; brothers Rick (Marsha), Mike (Maxine) and Ron; son Haydn; granddaughters Sydney and Gabriel and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

A service in Kens memory will be held at Burns Funeral Home 895 Fairgrounds Rd, Elko at 2 PM Thursday November 10, 2016 followed by a gathering of friends and family at the Stockmens Hotel  Casino conference room. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Northeastern Nevada Museum or a charity of your choice.
ELKO  The fund to implement enhanced 911 in Elko County will grow another $30,000 once the county receives a donation from Kinross Gold Corp.

Bald Mountain General Manager Randy Burggraff told county commissioners about the soon to be donated funds during their Wednesday meeting.

Kinross operates under these four values, he said. The first being putting people first, and the fourth being corporate citizenship, so under the guise of those two values, we want to donate, were gonna donate $30,000 to the 911 upgrade.

Kinross recently purchased Bald Mountain, in White Pine County, and also owns Round Mountain in Nye County.

The company also has a matching fund the employees can donate to and will match whatever the employees give.

Well give that on top of the thirty-thousand, Burggraff said.

The county has estimated $200,000 was needed just for the initial setup of the enhanced 911 systems. The ongoing costs would be funded through a surcharge on phone bills that the commissioners approved in September. Residential and commercial telephones and cellphones will be charged 25 cents a month for each line, and each trunk line will be charged $2.50 a month. The estimated revenue would be $170,928 a year.

Before the surcharge can be collected, the county must appoint an advisory board to watch over the implementation of the new system. This board must develop a five-year plan.

The commissioners were scheduled to appoint the Enhanced 911 Advisory Board on Wednesday, but were unable.

Since the advisory board members must have certain credentials and technical knowledge, staff was going to recommend Elko Police Chief Ben Reed, Bill Hance, Ambulance Director Lee Cabaniss, Elko County Undersheriff Ron Supp and Frontier Communications Manager David Roberts as the advisory board members.

Legal counsel has advised me we did not do properly the 10-day notice of the potential board members that are going to be talked about, so were going to ask that you move this to the 14th, Assistant County Manager Cash Minor told commissioners.

The board tabled the motion, but before the vote, Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi had a few items to add.

I wanted to remind the commission that there are three PSAP (public-safety answering point) facilities in the county, one being in Elko, of course, which is the central dispatch and one being in Owyhee and one being in West Wendover, he said.

Andreozzi said West Wendover Mayor Emily Carter requested the West Wendover police chief be included on the board.

Minor had recommended Undersheriff Ron Supp to the board since he had helped with the West Wendover dispatch.

Andreozzi said he was aware of that, but Carter was insistent West Wendover have representation on the Enhanced 911 board.

He also suggested the County do a comprehensive implementation strategy to bring about enhanced 911.

The community support from this has been astronomical, Andreozzi said.

He said people are already asking how and how soon enhanced 911 can be installed. He suggested the board needs to find answers on how fast enhanced 911 can move on to the next phase so cellphones can be included in the system.

I did have a constituent pretty bluntly say that you guys dont need to go to E-911, you need to just go right to the most advanced system out there, Commissioner Glen Guttry said. My understanding was also that we need to get the base infrastructure in and set up before we can leap to these different levels.

Minor said that was his understanding, but those types of issues will be discussed by the advisory board and then presented to the commissioners. If the County increases the board size, it will have to add two members to keep the number odd.
ELKO  Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor John V. White will visit the Elko campus of Great Basin College on Monday to to discuss whether an acting or interim president of GBC should be appointed in 2017 following the retirement of President Mark Curtis.

White, along with Vice Chancellor Frank Woodbeck and Board of Regent Chair Rick Trachok, will meet with administration, faculty, staff and stakeholders. A meeting for the general public will be from 1:30- 2:20 p.m. in the Greenhaw Technical Arts building, room 130.

According to the agenda, the meetings will be for discussion only.

No names of potential candidates for either acting or interim president may be stated during the meetings. Specific names may be suggested by email to the chancellor after the meeting.

Curtis announced his retirement last month. He has been president of GBC since July 2012.
Is the new linking legislation going to break the internet? Traditional media are pressuring lawmakers to introduce link censorship laws in the EU.

Do you know who Britt Dekker is? If you dont binge-watch Dutch RTL 5, then you probably wont. She hosted dating show Take me out in 2009 and her career exploded two years later, when she took part in the reality-show Echte Meisjes in de Jungle (Real Girls in the Jungle). Dekker was real enough to win the show, 30 thousand euros and the status of Dutch celebrity. Playboy asked her to be their cover girl and the new RTL 5 starlet was happy to take her clothes off for Hugh Hefners magazine.

Unfortunately, I didnt manage to get my hands on a printed copy of this 2011 issue of Playboy. However, I did find the pictures online. Well, they look like some kind of collaboration between Playboy and the mineworkers unions. Half naked in pink stockings with waves of blonde hair and wallowing on a slagheap, Dekker would certainly have her place in many a Dutch coal miners locker (if the mines hadnt been closed since the 70s).

The Dutch TV hosts photo shoot was a hot topic in local showbiz for a while and a chance to earn some money. How do you use nude celebrity pics to feather your nest? You will need: an Internet blog with ads (like GeenStijl) and an external hosting website where scans of Playboy photos can be uploaded (Rapidshare will do). Then you just have to publish a post with a hyperlink to the photos and give it a nice click-bait title  something like: REAL GIRL FROM THE JUNGLE NAKED [HOT PHOTOS!!!]. And its done. Likes are popping up on Facebook, clicks are growing and ads revenues are skyrocketing.

GeenStijl publisher (GS Media) followed this exact path to make some money on a temporary surge of Britt Dekkers popularity, which Playboy publisher (Sanoma Media) wasnt very happy about. Playboy photographers had put blood, sweat and tears into that photo shoot on a slagheap and now someone had taken their photos outside of the paywall. Playboy magazine requested that GeenStijl delete the post hyperlinking to the photos.

Editors of the blog didnt care much about that and when the photos were deleted from Rapidshare servers they hurriedly found them elsewhere.

Playboy sued GS Media. The long story of the case began in the Dutch justice system. For a few years it travelled through a number of degrees of jurisdiction before reaching the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. It couldnt come up with a sentence, so the judges asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for help. Five years after the photo shoot on a slagheap, Britt Dekker is not only an RTL 5 starlet but also a protagonist of one of those cases that could redefine copyright law for decades.

The ruling

On Thursday 8th September 2016 the Court of Justice of the European Union passed their sentence, stating that GS Media violated copyright laws. GeenStijl actions were undertaken for financial gain and the blogs editors were fully aware that the content that they hyperlinked was uploaded illegally. Does this verdict mean that if someone posts a link to content taken outside the paywall without doing it for profit or being aware of the legal status of hyperlinked materials, they shouldnt be afraid of any legal consequences? Well, you can understand the CJEU sentence like that as well. But if you run a professional website then you are obliged to make sure that any hyperlinks you post do not refer to illegally published content.

The CJEUs ruling has outraged Internet users rights and freedoms advocates. The Pirate Party MEP Julia Redas statement read: This [the sentence] sets a dangerous precedent and establishes an onerous burden on anyone running a website in Europe. It lends new urgency to what I proposed in my copyright report last year: EU law should clarify that links are never copyright infringement.

So, now everyone who runs a website should break out in a cold sweat? All in all, GeenStijl posted links to the naked pics for no other reason than making money. This case wasnt about some kind of academic blog on porn studies, nor the group of internet Robin Hoods who steal porn from paid sites, to provide some masturbatory pleasure for those who cannot afford a monthly Playboy subscription.

The case in question regarded a commercial blog publisher in one corner and a commercial magazine publisher in the other. Both of them wanted to make some money on the photos. The difference is that the team of the magazine bore all the production costs for these photos and so didnt want the profit stream to flow in any direction other than their own. But is that really so scandalous?

I dont think it is. Same as the idea to prosecute copyright infringements in general. But the conclusions you can draw from the CJEU sentence are no good, replies Alek Tarkowski, chief of Centrum Cyfrowe (Digital Centre) NGO, when I share my doubts with him. Firstly, this category of financial gain seems very broad, and its hard to predict to whom it will refer to. Wikipedia, for example, accepts donations, regular fees, and they dont spend it right away. It begs a question: is it financial gain or not? I consulted that with a lawyer, and he believes it is perfectly legitimate question, Tarkowski points out.

What about the bloggers who dont run their sites for profit? I learned form Tarkowski that their situation is far from clear. If you have a blog on a commercial platform, like Blogger for instance, which profits from the ads published on your website, and even if you dont see a penny out of these profits, its still not so obvious that you dont take part in actions for financial gain.

Krzysztof Siewicz of the Nowoczesna Polska (Modern Poland) foundation pointed out another inexactness of the CJEU sentence. There is no clear-cut definition of hyperlinking, to begin with. There are different ways to refer to websites online and how these references will be processed by a particular software or other websites depends on various circumstances.

Alek Tarkowski remarks that this sentence could lead to the prosecution of not only those who publish copyrighted materials without the consent of the rights holder but even those referring to them. The chief of Centrum Cyfrowe stresses that posting a link is something different than uploading a file (e.g. with a copyrighted movie) to your own website.

Katarzyna Szymielewicz of the Panoptykon (Panopticon) foundation has similar views on this issue. The sentence seems to me as a favour to lobbyists pushing for strict enforcement of copyright law. Now the professional websites, whatever it supposed to mean, will be expected to possess the knowledge of the legal status of everything they refer to. Thus, they will be responsible for possible copyright infringements done by their users. Its a serious paradigm shift. In my opinion, its a simple way to surveillance of content and censoring what users publish in such empires as Google or Facebook.

The Outrage caused by the CJEU sentence was just a prelude to more the serious outburst of criticism that occurred a week later.

Save the link

Gunther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society delivered a speech on September 14th at the European Parliament. He presented the guidelines of the copyright law reform as the part of the State of The European Union.

The Pirate Partys MEP Julia Reda doesnt look set to become a fan of Oettinger after this speech. She claims that Oettinger tried to pass the link tax via the back door, regardless of the fact that the European Parliament has already rejected it. In fact, she soon started the #SaveTheLink campaign alongside three other deputies. They announced that they will defend the right to link at all costs. According to these four MEPs, Oettingers plan is dramatically wrong. Just take a look at their comments on the Commissions proposals.

Marietje Schaake of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) believes that the proposed reform would break the internet as we know itand Julia Reda commented on the proposal in following words: This retrograde proposal would spell disaster for freedom of expression on the internet and for European startups ability to compete. Dan Dalton of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) called the reform an attack on diversity and consumer choice, and Brando Benifei (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, S&D) clarified that European Parliament has already voted against a very similar proposal.

So, what is really going on? Is Oettinger conspiring to shut down the Internet? Has someone really lost their mind and is aiming to ban hyperlinking?

The answers to these questions are respectively: no, and not really. This is not the first time so called link tax pops up have been on the agenda of European politics. But what does it mean exactly to tax the links? It is a law designed to enable news publishers to charge websites for publishing their photos, headlines and snippets of the articles. Technically, its supposed to force Facebook, Google, and Twitter to pay the newspapers for referring to their pieces. Some publishers of journalistic content demand payment from the social media empires, because people allegedly dont visit their websites when they can read these scraps of news in their Facebook feed (thus, the sites dont generate clicks and ad revenues). Why do you need a whole piece, when you can just take a look at the headline, photo, and read half of the introductory sentence from time to time, right?

The Germans and Spaniards experimented with the link tax and the outcome was far from satisfactory. They backed off even faster than they established it. Google was not very eager to pay for links to the news articles in Germany, so the references to those newspapers that demanded it just vanished from the search results. The reaction to the link tax in Spain was even harsher; Google shut down the Google Reader service that was based on references to the news articles. Publishers didnt need much time to realize that its better to be in Google for free than not to be there at all.

How scared we should be?

Basically, we know that the link tax didnt work out in Germany and Spain. We also know that four MEPs have raised the alarm and called for action to defend the freedom of the Internet. But who do we have to defend? Ourselves? Publishers? Google and Facebook? The latter two especially dont need my help. I believe they can defend themselves on their own pretty well. And the very idea that Google and Facebook should pay those who produced the content that gives them profit makes sense to me.

The idea makes sense, but contrary to its implementation, comments Alek Tarkowski. Whats the problem with Oettingers reform, then? These regulations will favour big actors on the side of news aggregators that have enough capital to negotiate good conditions, and big actors on the side of publishers, with whom aggregators will come to agreement. Small aggregators that wont afford licences and small publishers ignored by big business will be on the losing side. As a result the online ecosystem will be impoverished. Its most important virtue is pluralism, and biggest threat to it, monopolization, Tarkowski explains.

More than a year ago, the European Commission received a clear message from the European Parliament. Commissioners ideas dont have support among the representatives of EU citizens. But when you listen to Oettingers speech, it doesnt sound like anyone has worked on improving the reform during the last year. There wasnt any discussion and the results of consultation process are still partly secret. Everyone knows that this solution is wrong, nevertheless it is pushed to be passed, underlines Tarkowski.

The head of Centrum Cyfrowe is not the only one who holds this opinion. Critical voices against the Commission proposal are raised by Mozilla, Wikimedia, Creative Commons, and many others. What Till Kreutzer from German foundation Initiative gegen ein Leistungsschutzrecht says seems to be a good example of experts attitude towards Goettingers proposed reform: Best thing we could gain is to stop this copyright reform in total. Then we start over again in ten years, when people have noticed the internet is important and users rights are as well.

Dawid Krawczyk is a journalist, editor and translator working for Opinion Daily. He studied philosophy and English studies at the University of Wrocaw. He is a member of the Political Critique Club in Wrocaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter at @DJKrawczyk.

The article was originally published on PoliticalCritique.org.
Nevada ranchers will be part of a new federal plan to restore sagebrush lands in the West for more greater sage-grouse habitat and fewer range and forest fires because the strategy lists targeted grazing as a study tool.

One of the steps listed in the science plan released by the U.S. Department of Interior this week is to evaluate the economic efficiencies of using targeted grazing as a short-term wildland fuel treatment. Another step would look at the rate, timing and frequency of grazing events necessary to maintain targeted fuel levels. Slashing away at the overgrowth of cheatgrass in the West is a key need outlined in the plan.

The Nevada Cattlemens Association is glad to see that the federal agencies recognize the detrimental effect of fire to sage-grouse habitat, the associations president, Dave Stix Jr. of Fernley, said Thursday. We also are glad to hear that good, sound science is being used to determine the right way to deal with this issue.

The Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy Actionable Science Plan proposes the investigation of sage-grouse movement patterns, habitat characteristics and more about the birds genetic structure, as well as studying how grazing affects the sage grouse and looking at seeding methods to create more habitat.

The plan calls for looking at grazing by wild horses and burros in addition to cattle.

The new strategy states that initial findings about the value of livestock grazing to manage fuels in sagebrush landscapes indicate that when cattle grazed at moderate levels in areas of relatively low sagebrush canopy cover flame height and the spread of fire was reduced compared with areas with no grazing.

Stix said the association believes there is good, sound science that proves clearly that cattle can help in controlling the widespread fires that can be harmful to sage-grouse habitat. The cattle industry stands willing and ready to help mitigate the issue of fire on our public ranges.

Stix said ranchers already can see that grazing helps, especially when we have fires on our allotments.

The 139-page plan looks at potential problems from grazing, as well, calling for assessment of the role livestock might play in spreading cheatgrass and whether grazing harms sage-grouse habitat.

They will be looking at both sides, said Erik Molvar of Laramie, Wyo., the new executive director of Western Watersheds Project.

Introducing cattle into an area overgrown with cheatgrass may reduce the cheatgrass one year but seeds from the cattle manure could boost cheatgrass the following year, he said.

Molvar said he would like to see a study of whether removing livestock grazing would show that native bunchgrasses would repopulate those areas not grazed. Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit environmental conservation group whose mission includes focusing on negative impacts of livestock grazing on public lands.

The new plan also states that there needs to be comparison with areas where there is no grazing so that grazing treatments can be compared to baseline conditions.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewel said in a news release Monday that it is critical to address the conservation of sagebrush habitat for the sage grouse and other species that depend on the habitat.

With so much at stake, both ecologically and economically, we are committed to the plans successful implementation and continued collaboration with states, scientists, resource managers, western communities, ranchers and farmers, she said.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release that balancing conservation with agricultural demands is no easy task. The decisions Western farmers and ranchers and other private landowners make every day about what to do on their land have a critical impact on sage grouse.

The Associated Press quoted John Freemuth, a public lands policy expert and professor at Boise State University, earlier this week as saying the new plan is a Moon shot for the sagebrush steppe ecosystem in terms of getting as much science done quickly enough to have an impact.

The plan is a collaborated effort of federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

U.S Fish and Wildlife state directors in Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Idaho issued a statement back in August that they were aware of many examples of ranchers grazing livestock in a manner that keeps the sagebrush ecosystem healthy for both wildlife and people. They also wrote careful, proactive, collaborative management will be the key to maintaining proper livestock grazing while protecting this arid and relatively fragile sagebrush landscape.

They said they issued their comments in answer to some public opinion that grazing may be incompatible with conserving the sagebrush ecosystem, specifically sage-grouse habitat.

The rangeland fire science plan identifies 37 priority needs that cover fire, invasive plants, restoration, sagebrush and the sage grouse and climate and weather, and is a step in implementing Jewells 2015 Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy. The new plan includes ideas for funding to carry out research efforts.

The fire management plan covering roughly 500,000 square miles of sagebrush territory is part of ongoing efforts to manage the sage grouse in light of Fish and Wildlifes 2015 decision that the chicken-sized birds wouldnt be put on the Endangered Species Act list. Western states went to great efforts to show they could conserve habitat for the sage grouse without the restrictive listing.

The cattle industry stands willing and ready to help mitigate the issue of fire on our public ranges.  David Stix Jr. Nevada Cattlemens Association
Editor:

As I have pondered my voting options over the last several weeks, there is one I don't have to second guess and that is my yes vote for Andrew Mierins.

I have seen him in action as I was granted permission to observe a court session he presided over during my time as a Criminal Justice student. He was firm and assertive when he had to be but also able to share in the accomplishments of those who had made positive changes in their lives.

He had also made time in the midst of his very busy schedule to attend one of my criminal justice classes in order to share his knowledge of the court system and help us to understand it better. That means a lot to me that someone as busy as him would take the time to do that.

I know that Andy possesses nothing but the highest of integrity which is an important quality that many in our society today are lacking. I know that he values our community which he serves and that he will continue to do that when/if he is chosen for the position of Justice of the Peace. He has not only the knowledge but the experience that is needed for the position, which are just two more reasons I feel he is the best choice and will be getting my vote this during this election season.

Toni Roloson

Ryndon
LINCOLN  The Nebraska Legislature has a new technology use policy, developed after Sen. Bill Kintners cybersex scandal and other incidents.

The Legislatures Executive Board on Thursday unanimously approved a policy that, among other things, prohibits senators and their staff from posting information on personal, campaign and commercial social media websites through the states secure network or state equipment.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, chairman of the Executive Board, said the incident involving Kintner was the latest to spur the need for technology guidelines, though there have been others.

They include the use of a state copy machine to print thousands of campaign-related materials, and the use of a senators official legislative website to advocate for a candidate for office, he said.

A cyber hacker linked to child pornography recently attempted to attack the Legislatures secure website, Krist said. The attack was caught by Legislative IT staff, and the State Patrol is investigating.

Krist said the policy is meant to protect citizens investment in state equipment.

There isnt a large corporation or small company in this country that isnt dealing with social media issues, and most of them have clear-cut guidelines that you can be fired for, on moments notice, he said, noting that he doesnt want a Big Brother system, though the Legislature needed to start someplace.

Kintner, of Papillion, engaged in cybersex on his state-issued computer with a woman while in Boston in July 2015. He and the woman conducted a sexually explicit conversation on Skype, which resulted in both engaging in masturbation.

Kintner reported the incident to the State Patrol after the woman tried to extort money from him. The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission in August fined him $1,000 for misusing public resources.

Kintner on Thursday declined to comment, saying he hasnt had a chance to review the policy. He has refused calls for his resignation, including from Gov. Pete Ricketts.

The State Patrol report on Kintners incident pointed out that senators have no password policy and are not required to change their passwords. Senators state-issued computers also dont require access with log-in credentials.

The new policy addresses those concerns by requiring users to take a technology training course and sign a statement acknowledging theyve taken the course and read the policy. And starting in January, user passwords will be required to be updated annually.

Senators and their staff still can use a senators official social media accounts to communicate with constituents about state business. For example, they could use a state-issued computer and the states secure network to post about policy to a senators public Facebook page.

Meanwhile, personal use of social media websites must be limited to a personal device and the Capitols public Internet network. Some minimal personal use of state equipment is permitted, including contacting family members about unexpected schedule changes.
I would encourage everyone to pause and think about our nations commitment to taking care of veterans. For the past 10 months I have been very fortunate to lead the Lincoln VA Regional Benefit Office. Taking care of Nebraska veterans the way they deserve cant be done with a one-size-fits-all solution. It will take working with other federal agencies, local government, and the private sector to address all the challenges veterans face. We will also need to come up with new and innovative ways to serve our current veteran population.

One way of accomplishing this mission is by hosting claims clinics throughout the state of Nebraska. Over the past year we have partnered with multiple stakeholders both public and private across Nebraska to host five different claims clinics. Claims clinic allow veterans to file claims for compensation, submit evidence, speak to a claims processor, and see a VA examiner. In some cases the veteran received their rating decision on the same day. During the last year the Lincoln Regional Office saw more than 100 Veterans at our claims clinics and paid out more than $155,000 in retroactive payment to veterans entitled by law.

We have also continued to grow our reach to veterans not located close to the Lincoln Regional Office. We now have benefit counselors working in the Omaha, Lincoln, and Grand Island VA Medical Centers. These counselors are helping veterans submit claims, check the status of pending claims, signing them up for eBenefits, and answering other benefit questions. This service has grown very popular with our veteran population.

We are now partnering with the Grand Island VA Medical Center to pilot a new service called Telebenefits. It is a program in which veterans are provided with benefits information and assistance through the use of Video Teleconferencing (VTEL) Equipment. Veterans are able to video chat with benefit counselors and get assistance with VA benefits related questions and services. Veterans are also able to submit claims and supporting documents during the telebenefits session. Telebenefits is now available to Grand Island area veterans on Thursday afternoon by appointment. The phone number to schedule an appointment is 308-382-3660 ext. 2213.

I am honored to be part of an organization that serves our Nebraska veterans every day, but there is still more work to be done. The employees here at the Lincoln Regional Office look forward to continuing to serve each and every Nebraska veteran with the same compassion, accuracy and timeliness we have for the last many years.

If you are a veteran and have not checked to see what benefits you are entitled to, I strongly encourage you to stop into one of our many offices in the state or visit your local county veterans service officers.

On behalf of the employees at the Lincoln Regional Office, I would like to thank all Veterans who have served and continue to serve our great nation.

Kerrie Witty, Lincoln
FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2007 file photo, political commentator Tucker Carlson arrives for the 60th anniversary celebration of NBC's Meet the Press at the Newseum in Washington. Fox News Channel says Tucker Carlson is claiming the weeknight host slot recently vacated by Greta Van Susteren. He will take over the 7 p.m. Eastern hour on Nov. 14, the network said (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

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Former Liberal organizer Jacques Corriveau waits to hear the judge's instructions to the jury before they begin deliberations in his trial on charges of influence peddling, money laundering and forgery, at the Montreal courthouse in an October 27, 2016, file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Time Line

1987 - Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce Picture: Wendy Knell, who was one of two women from Tunbridge Wells killed in 1987 In just April this year, the parents of Wendy Knell asked the public for help to establish the identity of their daughter's killer. Miss Knell (below) was 25 when she was murdered in her Tunbridge Wells flat on June 23, 1987. The man who killed her is still on the loose and he is believed to be a serial killer who five months later targeted another young woman in the town, Caroline Pierce. Both were raped, beaten and strangled in their bedsits  Miss Knell's in Guildford Road and Miss Pierce's in Grosvenor Park Road. Miss Knell's body was left in her bedsit by the murderer, whereas Miss Pierce's was dumped on Romney Marsh. And while the weapon used to beat Miss Knell to death was never found her parents Bill and Pam still hope the man responsible will be found and brought to justice. A full DNA profile, which police believe belongs to the killer, was created from crime scene evidence in 2008 but "a missing piece of the jigsaw has yet to be traced".

1989 - IRA bombing in Deal Two years later members of the Staff Band of the Royal Marines School of music were in their recreation room in Deal when a bomb went off. A total of 11 musicians were killed by the explosive device that had been planted in the North Barracks by the IRA. The detonation caused the building to collapse and a further 21 people were injured but the people responsible have never been found.

2000 - Alan Decabral Picture: A court sketch of Alan Decabral in the Old Bailey witness box In 2000 one of the witnesses at the trial of the M25 killer Kenneth Noye was shot dead. Alan Decabral told the Old Bailey how he was sitting at the traffic lights in his Rolls Royce on the A20 near the M25 interchange, Swanley, when he saw Noye and Stephen Cameron brawling by the van. Mr Decabral said he watched in horror as Noye plunged a knife into Mr Cameron's chest and then watched as Noye closed the blade and walked back to the Land Rover Discovery. But in October 2000, Mr Decabral was shot as he sat in a car parked near a supermarket in Ashford. It is alleged a man in his early 20s who was wearing a light green jacket was seen running away, but he was never traced.

2009 - David O'Leary Picture: From left to right: Simon O'Leary, Daniel O'Leary, Jason O'Leary and David O'Leary In 2009, a year after David O'Leary was gunned down, his family called for the police to run an appeal on Crimewatch. The 31-year-old scaffolder was shot in the neck and chest outside his home in Lydden after a night out in Margate with his girlfriend. At the time, DCI Maria Shepherd, who was then heading up the investigation, said: "There are many lines of inquiry we have been looking at over the past year during an investigation that is extremely complex. "What may be considered a small detail to an individual may be that missing piece."

2007 - Ashley Dighton The headless body of a teenager was discovered more than 10 years ago but no one has ever been charged with his murder. Ashley Dighton was last seen at Sainsbury's Bybrook in Simone Weil Avenue, Ashford on June 11, 2007. After a month of desperate searching, the 19-year-olds decapitated body was eventually discovered buried beneath branches in woodland adjoining the nearby Warren Retail Park. Despite numerous appeals for information and multiple arrests, police have never been able to make any significant progress, leaving his family desperate for answers. His dad Ambrose, 61, has also insisted that he will never stop hunting for his sons killer(s) but admits the only thing he has is hope. Mr Dighton said: "I have still got hope that it will be done and dusted one day and they will catch who did it."
King Felipe VI and the members of the new Cabinet. Angel Diaz (EFE)

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was sworn into office for a second term on Monday, has announced the names of the ministers who will make up his new Cabinet.

Rajoy, of the Popular Party (PP), has brought in six new faces and replaced the three most-criticized ministers during his first term in office: those from Interior, Foreign Affairs and Defense.

Soraya Saenz de Santamaria is still the deputy prime minister, but will not longer act as government spokesperson

But seven Cabinet members remain the same, including those who will deal with economic affairs, leading analysts to believe that there will be little significant change to the governments major policies.

After a 10-month political stalemate, Spain urgently needs to address the 2017 budget and figure out how to meet EU deficit targets, a goal that will likely require new spending cuts.

High unemployment, a pension system in crisis and an independence drive in Catalonia will be further matters of concern for the new government.

But unlike the 2011-2015 period, when Rajoy enjoyed an absolute majority in Congress, the conservative PM is now at the helm of a minority government that will have to seek deals with the opposition in order to get legislation passed.

The new foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, is valued for his experience with EU politics. Atlas

The Socialist Party (PSOE), which enabled Rajoys reinstatement by abstaining at a parliamentary vote last Saturday, has already said that its support cannot be automatically counted on in future.

The leftist Podemos and United Left are openly hostile to the new government, while the liberal Ciudadanos has pledged its support but only if Rajoy implements a list of reforms aimed at curbing corruption.

New faces, old faces

The new Cabinet has 13 members like last time, and is made up of five women and eight men. The average age of the new governing team is 52, compared with 55 during the first PP administration.

The oldest minister is Cristobal Montoro, 66, who continues to hold the finance portfolio despite being an unpopular figure. The youngest is Dolors Montserrat, 43, who is in charge of health and social services and also happens to be the only Catalan member of government.

Soraya Saenz de Santamaria continues to be the deputy prime minister, but she will not longer act as the government spokesperson, passing that critical role on to Inigo Mendez de Vigo, who will also hold the education and culture portfolio.

Rajoy is now at the helm of a minority government that will have to seek deals with the opposition

De Vigo, who has been at the helm of the Education Ministry since June 2015, is credited with managing a controversial portfolio with a diplomatic attitude, in contrast with his predecessor, the highly unpopular Jose Ignacio Wert.

Another government heavyweight, Dolores de Cospedal  who is the PPs secretary general  has become the new defense minister. Luis de Guindos remains in charge of the economy portfolio, suggesting continuity in Spains economic policies.

Fatima Banez will continue to head the Labor Ministry at a difficult time when Spain must address an overhaul of its Social Security system.

Gone from the new Cabinet are the controversial Jorge Fernandez Diaz, who will no longer head the Interior Ministry; Pedro Morenes, who was relieved from the defense portfolio; and Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, whose tenure at the helm of the Foreign Ministry has been questioned, among other things because of his position on the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.

Margallo is being replaced by Alfonso Dastis, a career diplomat who was the Spanish ambassador to the EU until now. It is hoped that his appointment will help Spain in its negotiations over the effects of Brexit.

English version by Susana Urra.
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Not long ago, one of my elderly patients (who gave me permission to tell this story) began requiring blood transfusions for a condition known as ischemic colitis. Usually, it occurs because there are blockages present in the arteries that supply blood to the colon and, starved of blood, the inner lining of the colon becomes inflamed. But her arteries, it turns out, are normal. So we term her ischemic colitis microscopic because we consider the blockages to be in the tiny arterioles. Unfortunately, in her, its entirely unclear why these tiny arterioles should be blocked at all. But at whatever level the blockage of blood flow occurs, the predominant symptom is the same: continuous bleeding from the colon.

If she were younger and healthier, we could surgically remove her colon (though, ironically, if she were younger and healthier, she wouldnt likely have ischemic colitis in the first place). Unfortunately, given her age and frailty, neither her family nor I believe she would survive such an operation. So, periodically, when she becomes severely anemic and feels poorly weve been transfusing her.

It turns out to be extremely difficult to arrange this, however. Not many centers are equipped to transfuse patients as outpatients, and those that are have long waiting lists. So Ive been sending her to a local ER. While this is arguably not the best use of medical resources, given that the only other option is to admit her to the hospital, its the strategy that makes the most sense. And its worked.

Until last time, that is. As is my habit, I called the ER before I sent her to alert the attending physician that she was coming. I explained why I was sending her and asked him if he could transfuse four units rather than the usual two. My rationale was simple: I wanted to prolong the interval between transfusions.

His response, while to some degree understandable, wasnt what Id hoped for: Well evaluate her when she arrives. He then hung up rather brusquely.

I communicated my misgivings about my interaction with the ER attending to the family, telling them that if there was any trouble they should call me and Id speak with the ER attending again. I didnt hear back from them, so I called the next day. They had indeed transfused her, my patients daughter told me, though she didnt know how many units.

But theyd also told her they wanted to do a colonoscopy and run a number of other tests. When my patients daughter asked them why they wanted to do these tests when theyd already been done, the results had already been discussed and a strategy had already been agreed upon with me, their answer was that they thought something might have changed.

Id already spent many hours in discussion with the patient and her family regarding how aggressive we should be with her medically. Given that she not only has microscopic ischemic colitis but also dementia, that we cant cure either condition and that both conditions have a dismal prognosis, the patient, her family and I have all agreed that our aim isnt to prolong her life but rather to keep her as functional and comfortable as possible.

For this reason, our posture has been to strictly limit the number of interventions we allow her to be exposed to. The reason is simple: everything we do in medicine carries risk, and its hard to justify taking any risk in a patient who isnt likely to gain significant benefit from almost any intervention we could think to offer, as is the case with my patient. Unfortunately, thinking through the nuances of risk and benefit carefully in a detailed manner takes time and isnt something many physicians do, especially when they dont know the patient well.

This explains, in my view, what happened to my patient. A gastroenterologist quickly decided she needed another colonoscopy without thinking through what the findings were likely to be, what interventions we could offer her, and what risks those interventions posed. He didnt call me, the patients primary care physician, to discuss it either. If he had, Id have told him what I told the family: Do nothing to her besides give her blood.

Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common in medicine today. Care is frequently fragmented because doctors dont communicate well with patients and their families or with other doctors. As a result, healthcare resource over-utilization continues to flourish. A colonoscopy would have added nothing to our understanding of my patients condition, wouldnt likely have shown anything new that we could or would treat, would have suggested no new options for the condition we already knew she had and would have put her at unnecessary risk for a complication.

The lesson to me as her primary care physician was clear: communicate, communicate, communicate. I must communicate with everyone involved in the care of my patients  not just with patients themselves and their families but also with every healthcare professional they encounter. Outcomes often hinge on the tiniest of details, and as a primary care physician, its my responsibility to know those details well enough to protect my patient from harm at the hands of the healthcare system itself. Not every patient has a daughter as savvy and as dedicated as my patient does, one who could (and did) throw herself in the path of a number of doctors who, though well intentioned, were sloppy in their thinking and their communication. What patients need besides a family member to act as a strong patient advocate is a good primary care physician: one with enough time to shepherd patients through the health care system with enough attention to ensure they receive care that hits the sweet spot  not too much, not too little. For as certain as too little care  that is, too little access to care  is harmful, in many circumstances, so is too much.

Alex Lickerman is an internal medicine physician who blogs at Happiness in this World. He is the author of The Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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In the last presidential debate, the conversation quickly turned to a subject that is divisive and controversial for many Americans: abortion. More specifically, the topic of late-term abortions. Considering both candidates got the facts on this very sensitive topic wrong, I thought clarifying a few key points might be helpful.

When discussing this topic, Donald Trump said the following: In the ninth month you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby  you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, on the final day.

Whew. Thankfully, thats not true  at all. Let me try and help you make sense of this (dramatic) declaration.

First, what is a late-term abortion? This term is used to describe an abortion that generally occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy. Other definitions state that a late-term abortion is past the point when a fetus would be viable, or survive if born at this time. This is at approximately 24 weeks of gestation.

Based on Trumps strong statements, he makes it seem that these procedures are happening in great numbers in the United States  but thankfully the opposite is true. In fact, 98.7 percent of all abortions are before the 21st week of pregnancy. That means only 1.3 percent of all abortions fall in this late-term category.

More importantly, the reality that Trump is presenting  that these abortions are happening on the final day of pregnancy  is ridiculous, and not true at all. As Dr. Aaron Caughey, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist is quoted in the New York Times as saying, It is, of course, such an absurd thing to say  Im unaware of anyone thats terminating a pregnancy a few days prior to delivery of a normal pregnancy.

This is the truth. Obstetricians are not ripping babies out of uteruses one day prior to a womans due date. And women arent waiting until this time to get an abortion because they woke up one morning thinking they actually werent down with having a baby.

Hilary Clinton also messed up one fact when she spoke of abortion, but it was of much less splash than Trumps untruths. She stated that late-term abortions may happen because of the risk to a mothers health. This usually isnt the case: It is more often because of birth defects that werent diagnosed until the usual routine anatomy ultrasound which is done around the 20th week of pregnancy. Its a minor point, but one worth mentioning (most of the medical issues affecting a womans health happen later in pregnancy, and the baby can usually be safely delivered to protect her health, rather than needing an abortion).

So what is the truth? Well, I think the first point is clear: Politicians are not doctors, and as a society, we should be sure we get our medical facts from people trained to understand and explain them accurately. Second, this is what is true of late-term abortions, in about the easiest to digest, least sensational way I can describe:

They are rare as was previously stated, accounting for only 1.3 percent of all abortions.

They are usually done because the fetus has anomalies or developmental issues that are incompatible with life.

These anomalies are often not diagnosed until 20 weeks or beyond, hence the late timing of the terminations.

If they are for elective reasons (that is, the womans choice and not because of another medical issue), this is only 0.3 percent of all abortions  an extremely small amount of the overall picture of abortion in America. And the most common reason that they happen this late is that the woman had trouble getting the funds to pay for the abortion or had difficulty accessing an abortion sooner (a common reality for many women who live in states where abortion providers are scarce, and this is becoming more normal as states continue to pass more restrictive abortion laws).

They are almost always done via a surgical procedure called a dilation and evacuation or an induction of labor.

A woman carrying a baby with a developmental problem that will cause it to eventually die may initially choose to wait until she gives birth naturally only to change her mind as her due date nears, and this may be due to a number of reasons  one might be that she just cant bear explaining to well-meaning strangers that her baby wont survive. She may choose at this point to induce labor. This is not an abortion, and if this is what Trump is referring to as ninth month abortions, he is wrong.

The most important fact is that this is never an easy choice for a woman or family to make. It often becomes what defines that woman for the rest of her life, and the complication that keeps her from being able to feel complete joy for a long time afterwards, and for some women, ever. I cant do these women justice with explaining what it means to make this sad choice, so I will instead refer you to this mothers story to understand what she went through. And how much it hurts to have to hear politicians hurl misinformed insults at the women who live this reality every day.

Jennifer Lincoln is an obstetrician-gynecologist. This article originally appeared in Bundoo.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Mexico is searching for an exterminating angel. He has no known face or age, yet everyone knows what he has done. At 6am on Monday, he got up from his seat on a passenger bus and deployed his wings of vengeance, killing four robbers who were holding up the vehicle.

A Mexican prosecutor reconstructing the crime. Procuradoria do Estado do Mexico

More information El misterio del justiciero del autobus tiene en vilo a Mexico

Sitting in the back, this individual waited for the thieves to take all the passengers possessions, then executed them one by one.

He then returned all the belongings, stepped off the bus, and disappeared into the night.

No witness has stepped up to report him, not even the bus driver. Everyone claims that it was too dark to see his features.

People feel helpless and tired of being a victim

Alejandro Hope, analyst

But this mysterious figure has triggered an unsettling debate in a country already ravaged by all possible forms of violence.

Many people here see this man as an avenger. Some openly applaud his actions, while others consider it proof of the authorities failure to enforce justice.

Whether an angel or a demon, his actions have left nobody indifferent.

A reconstruction of events using data from the prosecutors office and witness accounts shows that the killings took place between 5.30am and 6am on Monday, October 31.

The four bodies were found on the morning of October 31. EFE

The intercity bus was headed for Mexico City after departing from San Mateo Atenco. The route covered 62 kilometers along a good road. There were 53 passengers aboard the vehicle.

The robbers got on at the stop in San Pedro Tultepec, posing as regular passengers. Five kilometers later, near Ocoyoacac, they brought out their arms.

The gang leader pointed his weapon at the driver while his accomplices, knives in hand, began taking money and cellphones from the passengers. One man sitting in the back resisted, but was forcibly subdued. The booty was stashed inside two backpacks.

The vehicle began to slow down. The leader kept talking on his phone; the rest of the gang was waiting for them just 3,000 meters away, on a curve that bus drivers have learned to fear because of the numerous robberies that take place there.

As they were approaching the spot, the robbers walked to the door of the bus. At that moment, a man in the back stood up, drew a gun, pointed and pulled the trigger four times. Each bullet hit its mark. The bus kept moving.

The gang leader was the first to fall. The bullet went right through his left shoulder blade and burst his carotid artery. He bled to death.

Whether an angel or a demon, his actions leave nobody indifferent

His three colleagues, wounded and panicking, crowded together by the door. The exterminator came towards them. The bus swerved suddenly and the door opened. The leaders body rolled down and his accomplices jumped out in a futile attempt to flee. The avenger followed them and finished them off, one by one.

The mystery man then picked up the backpacks, returned everyones possessions, and asked that nobody reveal his identity. Then he turned around and disappeared into the depths of the natural park of La Marquesa.

The bus continued on its journey. Authorities would later find the bodies of Victor Martinez Gomez, Arturo Martinez Hernandez, Jorge Arturo Garcia Lopez and Gustavo Gil Garcia, cousins with a long criminal record of around 30 hold-ups.

Since then, eyewitnesses have remained silent and prosecutors have yet to offer any names. Security experts feel that the killer must be a policeman or member of the military. It would not be the first time. On August 17, a soldier in civilian clothes killed two robbers on a bus from Naucalpan to Juarez.

Security experts feel that the killer must be a policeman or member of the military  it would not be the first time

It could also have been a hitman, or just a regular citizen who was sick and tired of the rampant insecurity in the country. Last year, around 3,000 buses were held up, 2,732 damaged by vandals and a further 1,589 illegally seized.

In the Valley of Toluca alone, where this latest killing has taken place, around 600 buses have been victimized by organized crime. The avengers have started to multiply.

There is a radical abandonment by the government; necessary action is not being taken, and the states hide behind the excuse that this is a federal problem, says Alejandro Hope, an analyst and former official with Mexicos intelligence services. People feel helpless and tired of being a victim. In the absence of authority, this type of avenger generates sympathy, he is someone who defends them.

English version by Susana Urra.
Detailed radar and ultrasonic measurements were made from a mobile platform underneath the Laufenmuhle viaduct. (Photo: IONYS/KIT)

The Waldbahn railway line near Welzheim is one of the most beautiful railway lines in South Germany and listed as a monument. Its viaducts, however, require restoration. The 100-year-old Laufenmuhle viaduct, for instance, exhibits major damage, such as cracks in the reinforced concrete. If the viaduct was restored with standard state-of-the-art methods, the expenditure and costs would be enormous and the monument character would be endangered. The KIT Innovation Hub Prevention in Construction now succeeded in bringing together the right partners and in developing a customized approach to sustainable repair of the viaduct.

Construction of the Laufenmuhle viaduct 100 years ago was a technical masterpiece of civil engineers. Now, engineers also break new ground in the restoration of the damaged concrete pillars and arches, explains Professor Andreas Gerdes, Scientific Director of the KIT Innovation Hub. Based on todays regulations and building data collected, a support construction of 30 to 50 cm thick concrete arches had been envisaged underneath the viaduct. However, this would have changed the appearance of the bridge. The associated expenditure and costs would have been enormous, Gerdes points out. Instead, we used modern scientific methods to improve the database and to adapt the repair concept to the viaduct without damaging its basic structure. Use of modern scientific methods for historic constructions results in customized options for the preservation of monuments, in particular for early reinforced concrete constructions.

By ultrasonic and building radar measurements, every centimeter of the viaduct was examined down to a depth of 50 to 70 cm and documented. The damaged points were identified and assessed, Gerdes reports. Cooperation between IONYS AG, a spinoff of KIT, and the Patitz engineering office produced a detailed picture of the damage of the viaduct. With these data, the Rothenhofer engineering office carried out innovative computations and provided the static basis for repair. Such detailed recording and analysis of data facilitates sustainable planning for municipalities as the building owners. Resources can be used optimally and a customized repair concept can be implemented.

For the Laufenmuhle viaduct, this means that cement suspensions will be injected specifically into the damaged areas of the arched bridge. In this way, the original appearance of the Laufenmuhle viaduct will be preserved, Gerdes says. And, in addition, restoration costs are reduced considerably. Now, the city of Welzheim only has to afford an amount of EUR 2.2 million instead of 3.5 million for the originally planned restoration. At the same time, further operation of the railway line as a tourist attraction will be ensured. Parallel to operation, restoration is planned to be completed by summer 2017.

The historic Waldbahn railway line between Rudersberg and Welzheim consists of three viaducts, the Laufenmuhle viaduct, the Strumpfelbach viaduct, and the Igelsbach viaduct. The ensemble of nearly 23 km in length is listed as a monument. In particular, the Laufenmuhle viaduct is considered a major construction of early railway building and has become a landmark. Since 2010, the railway line has been operated as a tourist attraction and developed to a major infrastructure for the spa of Welzheim.

The restoration method was developed by the KIT Innovation Hub Prevention in Construction. The KIT Hub wants to bring together the actors of the complete innovation and value-added chain, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises. Competences are to be pooled and sustainable solutions are to be developed for the preservation of modern as well as historic technical infrastructure buildings. All these goals were met when planning the repair of the Laufenmuhle viaduct: Scientists of KIT, IONYS AG - a spinoff of KIT and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, and the engineering offices Rothenhofer and Patitz in Karlsruhe jointly developed a sustainable solution that is in the interest of all parties.

Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
In every country where a revolution has taken place (whether it be a soft revolution, or a violent overthrow), those who are part of the winning team make a point of glorifying the revolution and all the good that it has brought. For this reason, the inhabitants of most countries where a revolution has taken place at some point in their history, will believe that the revolution was positive. In countries where that revolution was opposed, the people will most likely regard the revolution as negative.

As an example, Frenchmen tend to praise their revolution of 1789, in which the aristocracy were overthrown. Since then, the emphasis has been on the little man. The little man would not only be treated equally to the aristocrat, he would receive preferential treatment. Not surprisingly, this devolved into the socialism that dominates France today. In spite of the dysfunctionality of the French system, most Frenchmen fondly praise the revolution and the freedom that it ostensibly created for them.

And then we have the Cuban revolution of 1959. Its stated purpose was to overthrow the aristocratic Batista Regime and a replace it with one that favoured the campesinos. The aristocracy was removed and ownership of most everything moved to the state. There is most certainly greater equality in Cuba today (albeit at a very low level), and yet were taught to regard the Cuban revolution as having been destructive, as it devolved into socialism. Although the current system is largely dysfunctional, the Cuban people, even today, speak of the freedom that the revolution created for them.

These two examples are similar, and yet Westerners are taught to regard the French Government as an enlightened body of men and women who spend their waking hours legislating for ever-increased goodness for the French people, yet were equally taught to regard the Cuban government as tyrannical rulers over an oppressed people.

The perception of the results of the respective revolutions would seem to have little to do with the reason for the revolution, its immediate outcome, or its eventual outcome and have more to do with whether the leadership of the country is on our side or not. Those countries where the leaders align themselves with our own country are good and enlightened, whilst the leaders who do not align themselves with our country are tyrannical dictators. The true level of freedom for the people is not really at issue.

Were Not Going to Take it Anymore

So, lets take a thumbnail view of revolutions. The premise behind the desire for revolution is always the same  a segment of the population feels that the government (and very possibly their cohorts) have become oppressive and should be overthrown. When the history is written by the victors, they will endeavour to create the impression that the entire population had risen up; however, this is never the case. A dissatisfied minority succeeded in taking over.

So, what, then, of the majority? Well, prior to the revolution, they sat along the sidelines and tolerated whatever perceived injustices the former government imposed upon them. During the revolution, they often sat on the sidelines, hoping to have as little involvement as possible and, after the revolution, they generally sat on the sidelines, hoping to benefit from the new regime, or at least avoid being victimised.

In Russia, in 1917, a relatively small number of people overthrew the aristocracy, and were then faced with the problem of taking over. They had no experience in this and didnt know where to begin. Enter Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin, who had little to do with the revolution itself but, through funding from London and New York banks, were able to pay the Russian military and police to establish order to a cursory degree. Once this was achieved, they used the military and police to establish order to a ruthless degree. (Not exactly saving the little man from the oppression of the aristocracy.) As Mister Lenin himself said,

One man with a gun can control one hundred without one.

In the aforementioned France, in 1789, the aristocracy was overthrown by a relatively small number of revolutionaries and, again, the victors had no real experience in running a country. Enter Maximilien Robespierre, a lawyer with a flair for control and a contempt for the hoi polloi. However, he was good at rhetoric, and the people cheered as he lopped off heads. This, in spite of the fact that he most certainly did not deliver freedom to the French people, only the illusion of it. As he himself stated,

The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.

Meet the New Boss  Same as the Old Boss

And so it has gone, in one revolution after another. Whether it be a soft revolution, or a violent one, its generally followed by a disorganised and often violent period, where commerce, social stability and freedom suffer, at the very least, for as long as it takes the new management to pull it all together, and, in most cases, long thereafter. From Juan Peron in Argentina, The Shah in Iran, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and countless others, revolution has meant diminished liberty and hard economic times.

Meet the New Boss  Worse Than the Old Boss

In some cases, such as Mao Zedong in China, Idi Amin Dada in Uganda and Pol Pot in Cambodia, conditions worsened considerably after the revolution had freed the people, sometimes for decades.

It should be said that there have been a few cases of both soft and violent revolutions in which the new leaders were truly visionary and ushered in an era of greater freedom, such as the American revolution of 1776, Corazon Aquino in the Philippines and Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Yet, even in these cases, the rot set in almost immediately through individuals within the new governments who sought to re-create authoritarian power within an otherwise positive takeover.

Be Careful What You Wish For

The American revolution notwithstanding, violent revolution almost never ends well. The odds are poor that youll get a more just leader or the greater freedoms that the revolutionaries have promised.

Today, were observing the deterioration of the worlds most prominent capitalistic countries, all at the same time. Each has devolved into a fascist state. Again, to quote Mister Lenin,

Fascism is capitalism in decline.

Quite so. And, like many Russians in the early days of the twentieth century, we see an increasing number of citizens of the former free world realising that the decline of their countries is baked in the cake; that things are not likely to improve in their lifetimes.

And so, many fantasise that a revolution of some sort will occur. They hope for a soft revolution (virtually no chance of that happening), or a violent one  possibly generated by the millions of gun-owners across the country. Unfortunately, no amount of handguns and assault weapons will equal their governments arsenal of tanks, drones, chemical weapons, etc. A revolt could occur and spontaneous nationwide guerrilla tactics could make it difficult to put down, but the likely outcome would be years of strife and bloodshed, followed by dramatically-increased authoritarian rule.

A third option might be to accept that, yes, the decline into fascism is a dead end, but then, so, in all likelihood, is revolution. That being the case, those who see two possible negative outcomes and no positive one, might take the simpler step of internationalising - moving to one of the many countries that are not presently on the ropes.

Jeff Thomas

International Man and Strategic Wealth Preservation

jeff.thomas1066@gmail.com
HONG KONG, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Germany's Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it does not see a level playing field for its companies in China and he has had no discussions with the Chinese government about the purchase of a German chip equipment maker.

Just days before he left for a trip to China, his ministry withdrew approval for Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) to buy chip equipment maker Aixtron , citing new security concerns.

"First of all we did not have a discussion on Aixtron," he told reporters when asked about his discussions with Chinese government officials on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On a trip to China earlier this week, he urged the Chinese government to reduce barriers to German firms wanting to do business there and establish a level playing field. He reiterated those points in Hong Kong on Friday.

"What we need is a level playing field," Gabriel said.

"What we asked our Chinese colleagues for is that we want to have the same conditions in China."

(Reporting by Gernot Heller; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Tanzania plans to further tighten controls on its mining sector to ensure that the country maximises the benefits from its wealth of natural resources, President John Magufuli said on Friday.

Africa's fourth-largest gold producer also has vast deposits of natural gas, coal, diamonds, uranium and gemstones. "Tanzania has a lot of minerals, but there have been a lot of funny deals ... we have to look carefully at our laws so that we move forward as a country," Magufuli told a news conference at State House in the country's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli said his government recently approved new mining regulations aimed at ensuring that the benefits of the mining sector are shared more equitably between multinational mining companies and the state.

Since coming to power in 2015, Magufuli has promised to root out tax evasion, corruption and mismanagement.

"Some of the gold mines even have airstrips - how do you monitor what those planes are carrying from the gold mines? ... our country should not continue to be robbed."

Gold exports alone earned Tanzania $1.27 billion in 2015, down from $1.32 billion the previous year, largely due to a fall in global commodity prices and output.

Major gold mining companies in Tanzania include Acacia Mining Plc (previously known as African Barrick Gold), which has three gold-producing mines, and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.

Magufuli said some mining companies export mineral sand for smelting abroad and said the country must build its own gold smelters to stop such exports.

Tanzania passed a mining law in 2010 that increased the royalty paid on minerals like gold from 3 percent to 4 percent and required the government to own a stake in future mining projects.

The Mining Act also requires mining firms to list on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) and in September the government approved regulations to enforce that law.

All mining firms operating in Tanzania now must list on the stock exchange not later than two years after the approval of the new regulations.

The new rules also require a holder of a special mining licence to have a minimum of 30 percent local ownership of all paid up shares.

(Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Elaine Hardcastle)
(Kitco News) - Wall Street and Main Street both look for gold to continue its recent climb next week, based on a pair of Kitco News weekly surveys.

Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VS Main Street Bullish Bearish Neutral

Traders and analysts who take part in the Wall Street survey look for gold to climb during the early part of the week on uncertainty about the U.S. presidential election, with some polls showing a difference of only a couple of percentage points between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. After the outcome, they say, golds direction may hinge on who wins.

Seventeen market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey. Eleven participants, or 65%, look for gold to be higher next week. Three, or 18%, voted lower, with the same result for sideways. (The total adds up to 101 percentage points due to the effect of rounding).

Meanwhile, 507 Main Street participants submitted votes in either an online or Twitter survey. A total of 363 respondents, or 72%, said they were bullish for the week ahead, while 102, or 20%, were bearish. The neutral votes totaled 42, or 8%.

For the trading week now winding down, 56% of Wall Street respondents and 44% of Main Street participants looked for gold to rise, the largest voting bloc for each. As of 11:47 a.m. EDT, Comex December gold was up by $28.90 for the week so far to $1,305.30 an ounce.

Going back to mid-May, the largest Wall Street voting camp forecast correctly 19 times and was wrong five times, a winning percentage of 79%. Main Street had a 16-8 mark during this period for 67%.

In recent weeks, gold has tended to fare better when it appears Trump gained momentum in the election, and vice-versa.

Peter Hug, global trading director for Kitco Metals, voted this way on golds direction next week: Hillary wins, down. Trump wins, up. I think Hillary wins.



Sean Lusk, director of commercial hedging with Walsh Trading, anticipates gold strength on election uncertainty, although he cautions that what happens after Tuesday likely will hinge on the results.

I look to trade higher at least until the election, he said. Now if Trump actually wins, I think were going a lot higher. If Hillary wins, well probably stay steady or fall back.At the beginning of the week, I think the market is going to stay bid until they know for sure.

Lusk and Charlie Nedoss, senior market strategist with LaSalle Futures Group, also cited technical factors. Gold is not only back above its 200-day moving average, but has regained its 50-day average, Nedoss pointed out. He also noted that the metal has put in a high and low for the week that were both above last weeks high and low.

I remain favorable on gold's upside potential with a target at $1,325 in the week ahead, said Ken Morrison, editor of the newsletter Morrison on the Markets. The combination of a weakening dollar and uncertainty over the outcome and aftermath of the U.S. election has provided a good backdrop for new longs coming back to the market, as evidenced by the 25,000-contract increase in open interest the past week on the $30 rally.

Colin Cieszynski, chief market analyst in Canada for CMC Markets, also described himself as bullish, pointing out that the Relative Strength Index reading indicates the market is not yet overbought despite recent gains.

Its likely going to be a really volatile week for gold around the U.S. election, he said in an e-mail. A Trump win (which I think) or a contested vote (maybe, its going to be really close) could cause another spike in gold. A Clinton win could deal gold a temporary setback and Trump speculation unwinds, but a new president coming in either way means increased policy uncertainty, which is supportive for gold in the medium term.

Bob Haberkorn, senior commodities broker with RJO Futures, looks for a sideways market for the week as a whole although with potential for upside early in the week until election results are out of the way.

After the election, well be back focusing on what the Fed will do, although the market has already factored in a Fed rate increase, he said. They seemed to be very committed at their meeting this past week.

I think into the election and a day or two after the election, well have more upside based on uncertainty of who gets elected. If Trump gets elected, there is the uncertainty about what he will do with the Fed. He is on record of saying he is going to get rid of [Fed Chair] Janet Yellen. If Hillary gets in, the situation will be fairly chaotic going forward because of the legal issues that look like are coming down the pipe for her.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Follow @KitcoNewsNOW
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William Ame Windsor is expected to be charged with first-degree murder today, in the ax slaying of his sister at the Bremerton apartment they shared.

By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

Port Orchard

When Daisy Nelson's eyes met the large, orange-uniformed man in shackles in a Kitsap County courtroom Thursday afternoon, he whispered two words to her.

"I'm sorry," the man, 32-year-old William Ame Windsor, said as he approached the bench in courtroom 212.

Nelson is the sister of Kimberly Ann Shine, 38, killed by an ax in Bremerton Wednesday morning, and to Windsor, soon to be charged in Kitsap County Superior Court with first-degree murder, according to county prosecutors.

Despite a history of fights and arguments that ultimately resulted in Shine's death at a 12th Street apartment near Olympic College, Nelson said the siblings "loved each other."

Superior Court Judge Russell Hartman kept Windsor's bail at $1 million after deputy prosecutor Kevin Cure argued that he'd been accused of committing an "unbelievably violent act."

Thursday was also Windsor's first opportunity to consult with his attorney, David Lacross of Port Orchard, inside Kitsap County jail.

According to Bremerton Police detectives, Windsor, who lived with Shine, called 911 at 6:20 a.m. to report a killing, and said that he "couldn't take it any more."

In the three-hour interview with detectives after his arrest, he described in chilling detail how the alleged ax murder occurred.

Windsor said the pair had been living together since September. He slept on a chair and she on a couch or single bed; both were in the living room. The siblings had hung a sheet as a partition, detectives said.

Windsor told detectives "he had not been sleeping well," because Shine was "blaming him and yelling at him for everything, including the cats in the home making noise and waking her up."

Windsor said he woke Shine up at 6 a.m. because she had an appointment with a local agency to get financial assistance with their electric bill. But she became upset with him "because he was wearing shorts to walk her to her appointment and he told her he did not have any clean pants," according to detectives.

Windsor said she "began throwing things around the apartment," but "did not throw anything at him." He began to cry, he told detectives, and Shine "mimicked him and made fun of the fact he was crying," detectives said.

He then went to his closet and retrieved a large long-handled ax. Drawing the sheet that separated the areas, he hit her "at least five times," before she fell to the floor, detectives said.

When asked how he felt about the alleged slaying by detectives, the 32-year-old is said to have replied, "What's done is done, I can't change it."

Detectives also asked if he'd considered killing her before Wednesday. Windsor said that they'd been in an argument a week earlier about having money for methamphetamine, and that "he'd thought about taking the axe out that day but decided not to."

He also told detectives that he wasn't under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and he had "not been diagnosed with a mental health issue."

The coroner's office conducted an autopsy today, ruling Shine's death was indeed a homicide from the force the ax delivered.

The victim and suspect's sister, Nelson, acknowledges the pair had their troubles. Shine had bipolar disorder, she said, and they lived in a "cramped studio apartment." She added that the last time they'd fought, he "hadn't gone for a walk."

The night before the alleged slaying, Nelson brought to Shine's home a small, stuffed penguin with a pink hat and pink scarf.

"She had a big heart," she said of her sister.

And though the only conversation that Nelson has had with her brother was the passing glance in the courtroom Thursday, she said she wants to tell him that, despite the slaying:

"You're my brother and I love you."
SHARE Christopher Mayo

By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun

PORT ORCHARD  Calling the allegations some of the worst he had seen in 30 years on the bench, a Kitsap District Court judge set bail Monday at $1 million for a 20-year-old man accused of critically injuring his infant daughter because he was frustrated with her crying.

Christopher Michael Mayo was charged with second-degree murder for the death of AnnaBelle, 3 months old, whom Mayo had been watching while the childs mother celebrated Halloween with friends.

Mayo told investigators he shook the child Friday for 60 to 90 seconds and head-butted her after she woke him up from a nap.

He is the second man in Kitsap to be charged with murder for shaking his baby daughter to death this year in Kitsap County.

AnnaBelle died Sunday at Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital in Tacoma, where she had been taken Friday night or early Saturday morning. Doctors there suspected the girls brain injuries were the result of an assault. A Kitsap County sheriffs deputy was contacted by a social worker Saturday morning at the hospital.

Mayo, the mother and the child were staying at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor as guests of a military dependent, but the man is not a member of the military.

When initially questioned, Mayo offered different accounts of what happened, according to documents. When confronted about inconsistencies, he told investigators he had panicked and then gave an account that was tape-recorded.

He had been watching the child while the mother went to Seattle for the evening and became frustrated with the girl for crying.

He said he placed the child in a car seat and went to sleep, according to charging documents. About 30 minutes later, the childs crying woke him. He held the child by the arms and shook her and hit her in the head with his forehead until she became unresponsive. He also told investigators the child fell to the ground very hard when he tripped while walking.

For 30 minutes following the alleged assault, Mayo said he listened to the childs labored breathing and attempted to clean up the residence before going to a neighbor for help, saying he tried to make it look like nothing happened, according to the statement. He told investigators he had not been drinking or using drugs but said he cleaned up liquor bottles before attempting to find help, according to documents.

Mayo told investigators he contacted a neighbor, who was outside walking his dog, and asked him whether he knew CPR and to call 911.

District Court Judge James Riehl noted that Mayo had no felony history but that the accusations were horrific.

After 30 years on the bench, I havent seen worse, Riehl said.

Mayos next court date is Monday.

In July, Hector Francisco Saavedra Ruiz, 21, of Kingston, was charged with second-degree murder for the death of his infant daughter, Natalie. Doctors suspected the child died from being shaken, and had a broken bone that was healing. Saavedra had taken the child to show her to co-workers and was said to have smoked meth before taking the baby. His trial is scheduled for Dec. 8.

Research into shaken baby syndrome found about 70 percent of those charged with shaking babies are male, and often the cases involve substance abuse, immaturity of parents and occur in households facing financial difficulties.

Marissa McPeck, information and research specialist for the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome in Utah, said infants often are shaken during the period of 2 weeks old to 5 months old, a time when they go through a phase called PURPLE crying. This way of looking at infant crying says that it is a normal part of development. Research found that during this period, crying increases and peaks at 2 months old, the bouts can come on unexpectedly, the child resists soothing and can appear to be in pain, the eruptions last for a long time and are most common in the evenings.

Most perpetrators are fathers and boyfriends of mothers, the next common perpetrators are day-care providers, McPeck said, who are typically women.

It seems to be people who are just not as bonded to the child, and you see that with child abuse across the board, she said.

Crying of this kind is irritating, McPeck said, but normal for babies.

They cant speak, McPeck said. Thats their way of communicating and getting their needs met.

Sometimes babies cry for no reason, she said, and can carry on for five hours or more.

Often in cases of shaken baby syndrome, doctors find healing bone fractures as evidence of other, unreported assaults.

Parents and caregivers of children continue the shaking because it seems to work to quiet the child, McPeck said, and perpetrators are unaware of the brain damage they are causing.

McPeck said her organization developed a prevention program that is at work in hospitals across the country. She also noted that more can be done to educate fathers.

As a mother myself, I know I received more information on child rearing at the hospital, and parent classes are more geared toward women, McPeck said.
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

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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

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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

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The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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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
The USS Nimitz on Thursday passes Bremerton's Bachmann Park as it heads for Naval Base Kitsap.

MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN

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By Kitsap Sun Staff

BREMERTON  The USS Nimitz returned midday Thursday to Naval Base Kitsap after conducting four weeks of drills off the shores of Southern California.

The nation's oldest active aircraft carrier departed for sea trials Oct. 5 after 20 months of maintenance, upgrades and training at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The sea trials helped ensure the $240 million makeover was performed properly.

The Nimitz joined its air wing and strike group for the first time since its January 2015 deployment. It will be conducting a series of inspections and multi-ship exercises as part of a work-up cycle in preparation for its 2017 deployment.
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By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON  A man suspected of using a machete in a robbery last month in Bremerton, whom police characterized as a "one-man violent crime wave," was arrested and booked Wednesday into the Pierce County Jail.

Kobie Abdul Hawley, 23, is suspected in an Oct. 13 robbery at the R&K Grocery in Manette, where he allegedly held a machete to a man's neck and demanded he return to the store and withdraw cash, according to reports.

After taking the money, the suspect fled and a Bremerton police sergeant in pursuit collided with an uninvolved car, and the suspect escaped.

On Oct. 21, Hawley is suspected of carjacking a vehicle at gunpoint in Tacoma, according to a statement from the Bremerton police. With police in pursuit, Hawley allegedly ditched the car, ran and jumped down a 40- to 50-foot wall onto a freeway in Tacoma, breaking bones in his right leg. After being treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, he was booked into the Pierce County Jail for investigation of first-degree robbery, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to elude a pursing police vehicle.

Bremerton police reported Hawley also is suspected of stealing a television from the Port Orchard Walmart the same day as the Manette robbery as well as a July theft and eluding pursuing police from the Silverdale Toys "R" Us.

Bremerton police interviewed Hawley at the Pierce County jail and reported he confessed to the robbery and the two Kitsap County thefts, according to the statement.

"This is a very concerning and violent crime, and our detectives worked diligently with other agencies to get the evidence to put a stop to this one-man violent crime wave," Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan said in the statement.
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Judith Mae Wright

Bremerton, WA

aUG. 26, 1937 TO ocT. 23, 2016

Judy Wright passed on October 23, 2016 and was born on August 26, 1937 in Denver, Colorado. Private graveside services will be held at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Washington on Nov. 4, 2016.

Please visit www.tuellmckeebremerton.com for full obituary and guestbook.

Ronald Bruce Snelling

Bremerton, WA

March 28, 1926

to Oct. 30, 2016

Veteran

Ronald Bruce Snelling, age 90, went home to the Lord on Oct. 30, 2016 at Marine Courte Retirement Community in Bremerton, Washington.

Ron was born to Buford Earl and Gertrude Josephine (Kenworthy) Snelling on March 28, 1926 in Yakima, Washington. He grew up helping on the family farm and working alongside his father helping to build Camp Ghormley, where he spent many hours working over the years.

Ron joined the Navy in 1944 and left for boot camp just days after graduating from high school. He was discharged in 1946 and married Pat Stewart one week later. They moved to Spokane, Washington, where he attended Whitworth College and then went on to San Anselmo, California for seminary. He served as a pastor in churches in Petersburg, Alaska; Terrace Heights, Washington; and Sumner, Washington. Using the carpentry skills he learned working with his father, he built church buildings in all three locations. Ron retired in 1991 but went on to serve as interim pastor at two more churches before retiring again at age 70.

Ron was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Geraldine; and wife, Pat. He is survived by five children: Jeanette (Nick) Krantz, Mark (Sue) Snelling, Colleen (Henry) Knapp, Rondi (Dave) Downs, Marybeth (Andy) Pettitt; 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service celebrating his life will be held on Friday, November 11th at 11 a.m. at Faith Covenant Church (1915 Washington Street, Sumner, Washington) In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to: Ghormley Meadow Christian Camp, 640 Lost Lake Road, Naches, WA 98937 http://www.ghormleymeadow.org.
Turkish Trace in exports from Armenia to Russia

According to official statistics, exports from Armenia to EAEU countries increased by 70 percentage points in the months of January to July of 2016. However, this growth did not bring to significant revival of Armenian economy. Let us discuss how, at the expense of which products and in which circumstances such a growth was registered. First of all, let us start from the circumstance that the mentioned 70% increase was registered at the backdrop of sharp decline of the previous year. In 2015, exports from Armenia to EAEU member countries decreased and reached 256.2 million USD compared to 324.6 million USD in 2014. Hence, the recorded growth can be partially qualified as a recovery growth against the backdrop of the decline in the previous year. This can be testified by the fact that in January-July of 2014, when the Eurasian Economic Union had not been launched yet, exports from Armenia to EAEU member countries formed 174.1 million USD compared to 205.4 million USD in 2016. This means that exports from Armenia to the EAEU have increased only by 18% since the day of the establishment of the structure. But even that 18% growth has some dark foundations. Hence, let us try to understand which products have really registered increase in exports and who the real exporter is. Obscure Figures According to data published by the Eurasian Economic Commission, growth in exports has been registered due to goods that Armenia itself imports and the production of which is not in a very satisfactory state in the country. In particular, compared to the comparable period of 2015, exports of tomato paste have increased by 2000% (20 times) in the first half of 2016, exports of cheese and cottage cheese have increased by 450%, and caviar and fish exports have registered more than 300% growth. In the same period, exports of vaccines have increased by more than 9.6 times, different vegetables  5.8 times, clay  8.3 times, and heating systems, air conditioner parts, remote controls and other equipment  by 3.6 times. This growth is utterly surprising because there has been no increase of production of these goods in Armenia, and some of them have never been produced here. An even more surprising circumstance is that the commodity structure of exports has seen the appearance of products which almost did not use to be exported to EAEU at all. The most outstanding example is the increase in exports of fabrics, textile, knitwear, mens and womens clothing (articles 61 and 62 of two-digit classification) by 21 million USD. Turkish Trace These data make it obvious that 70% increase in exports is not the result of strengthening of Armenias trade positions and development of Armenian production. Rather, it is the result of simple re-export of products imported from Turkey to Armenia. As we know, in the context of crisis in Russian-Turkish relations, Russia put an embargo on the import of Turkish goods. As a result, Turkish goods found their way to Russia via Armenia. In parallel, exports of products traditionally exported to Russia, such as apricots, peaches, fruit juice, beer, mineral water, some types of vegetables and other similar products, have noticeably decreased. Hence, we can conclude that the sharp increase in exports from Armenia to the EAEU has been largely due to the created geopolitical situation rather than Eurasian integration and development of Armenian economy. Andranik Manukyan Union of Informed Citizens
Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

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

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The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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
By Park Jae-hyuk





Ataur Rashid Safdar, Oxy RB Korea director

Oxy Reckitt Benckiser (RB) Korea recently posted the full list of ingredients in its products on its official website, but victims of the toxic Oxy RB humidifier sterilizer were unaware of the disclosure, as the company did not notify them directly.



Kang Chan-ho, a representative of the toxic humidifier disinfectant victims' families, said Friday he first heard the news during a phone call with The Korea Times.



"We never received any notice from the company," Kang said, "so it is hard to say this disclosure is trustworthy. I think the company is still trying to avoid responsibility."



Kang has a nine-year-old daughter suffering from lung problems due to the sterilizers.



"The embattled company seems to be taking some measures, but they are not enough to boast of," he said. "Further investigation on the measures is needed along with consumers and environmental organizations."



In a press release issued Thursday, Oxy RB said it would transparently disclose the full ingredients of its products to ensure consumer confidence in the safety and quality of its products.













The firm said it recognizes its responsibility should go above and beyond legislative compliance, and it has therefore committed to providing assurances for Korean consumers purchasing and using its products.



"Korean consumers have a right to know what is in the products they purchase and use. We owe Korean society a duty of care to select ingredients the consumer can trust and we commit to communicate with them in an open and transparent way," Ataur Rashid Safdar, representative director of Oxy RB Korea, stated in a press release.



"We will ensure that every product we put in the Korean market is assessed for safety, thus empowering the consumer to make good choices for their families. We will continue to do the right thing and are committed to working hard to gain back the confidence of the Korean consumer."



Kang said, "Rather than unilaterally disclosing ingredients and issuing a press release, the company should hold an information session to listen to consumers' opinions if it wants to gain public confidence."



An environmental civic group also pointed out that Oxy's recent measure is not enough to satisfy consumers.



"The company most responsible for the humidifier sterilizer scandal eventually took the first measure, after it avoided responsibility and concealed and fabricated the facts since 2011," said Choi Ye-yong, secretary general of the Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health.



The civic group had demanded Oxy and other firms disclose the chemical ingredients in their products for several years, which the firms have been reluctant to do.



Choi said the disclosure does not guarantee the safety of the products. He said, "As chemicals' degree of exposure could be different, a third organization unrelated to Oxy should test the overall harmfulness of each chemical."



However, he added Oxy's disclosure is a meaningful first step. Most Korean firms involved in the scandal are still reluctant to reveal their ingredients to the public, as the current law does not enforce them to do so.



According to government data, 189 people have been killed by the toxic sterilizers, 135 of which are attributed to Oxy products. The number may increase further as the government investigation is broadened. Estimates by the victims place the death toll at over 1,000.
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is expected to join the global 2M shipping alliance soon, giving the struggling shipping company, owned by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), a boost.



Maersk Line Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Clerc said during a recent interview with the U.S.-based Bloomberg News that it will soon conclude a formal deal to allow HMM to join the alliance.



He said HMM will contribute to Switzerland-based container line MSC's future operation by securing more containers to increase the volume of the alliance's freight traffic. MSC is Maersk Line's partner shipper under the 2M alliance.



"We will let our customers know what we will be up to by the end of the year," he said.



An HMM creditor group analyst said it is "favorable signs for HMM."



"Maersk Line and MSC are the world's two largest shippers," the analyst said. "The 2M alliance will help HMM's future operation to a great degree."



In July, HMM signed a memorandum of understanding with Maersk Line and MSC to join the 2M shipping alliance. HMM's move was considered to be aimed at reducing costs and strengthening its competitiveness. Joining a global shipping alliance was also one of creditors' conditions in the Seoul-based shipper's self-rescue process.



HMM said it would sign a formal agreement with Maersk Line by November after discussing its detailed operation under the alliance.



Clerc also said that Maersk Line is not interested in taking over the nation's debt-ridden Hanjin Shipping's containers because it has enough for its ships. Hanjin Shipping is under court receivership and is seeking to secure liquidity by selling assets.



Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou also said in an interview with Bloomberg News that the company is willing to lose in the short term to dominate the shipping market in the long term.



"The industry is consolidating and in such a situation you have to make sure you keep growing so you don't lose your market-leading advantage," he said.



He said Maersk Line had an 11 percent rise in shipping volume because of Hanjin Shipping's exit after court receivership.




Mercedes-Benz's all-new E300 sedan



By Jhoo Dong-chan

Mercedes-Benz Korea, the German automaker's affiliate here, sold more than 6,000 cars last month, a record high figure in its history. Another German luxury brand BMW also sold over 5,000 cars in Korea last month, nipping at the heels of Mercedes-Benz Korea.

The German premium automakers' performances are in stark contrast with other German players Audi and Volkswagen, which struggle to find their feet after reputation damage caused by the government's cancellation of their sales licenses earlier this year.

According to a Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), Mercedes-Benz Korea sold a total of 6,400 cars in Korea last month, to carve out a 31 percent of the market for imported automotives, a record monthly figure among the KAIDA members.

Mercedes-Benz Korea's spike is attributable to the success of the all-new E-Class sedan, fully redesigned after seven years with a distinct style, enhanced efficiency and technological innovation.

Since Mercedes-Benz started to market the all-new E300 and E220d here in July, both models have been the best sellers for three consecutive months.

Thanks to the E-Class models' surge, Mercedes-Benz topped a 30 percent market sales among imported automakers in August, and sold 5,087 cars in September for a 15 percent increase year-on-year.

The rival BMW also sold 5,415 cars last month, following Mercedes-Benz by an inch.

BMW Korea's results are even more remarkable considering it has not introduced the new 5-Series, the German automaker's popular sedan model, to Korea this year.

BMW's strong sales last month was led by the popular 520d. The mid-size sedan sold 1,732 cars last month.

The BMW 520d has been the best-selling imported car in Korea during the January-September period of 2016, a strong candidate for "the imported car of the year."

In the meantime, Volkswagen and its sister brand Audi have remained underachievers after the emission scandal.

Audi and Volkswagen sold 506 and 184 cars, respectively, in September. The figures further slipped to 475 and 30 cars apiece last month.

"If the poor sales trends continue, Audi and Volkswagen should consider pulling out of Korea. As you know, lots of people lost interest in the two brands after the worldwide emission scandal," said an industry insider who asked not to be named.

"Along with Audi and Volkswagen, other imported automakers' sales were not very good this year, but only Mercedes-Benz and BMW show strength. It will be interesting to see whether the two German automakers will be able to continue their momentum during the remainder of this year."
By Park Jae-hyuk





Seo Yoo-seok, new CEO of Mirae Asset Global Investments

Mirae Asset Global Investments has appointed as CEO Seo Yoo-seok, current head of its equity-traded fund business division, the asset management business said Friday.



Known as a marketing expert, Seo led the retirement pension division at Mirae Asset Securities and the equity-traded fund business division at Mirae Asset Global Investments.



After graduating Korea University, Seo started working at Daehan Investment Trust Securities in 1988, joining Mirae Asset Securities in 1999.



Mirae Asset Global Investments also appointed Vice Chairman Jeong Sang-kee as CEO of Energy Infra Co.



Joining as the largest shareholder, Jeong will run the new unit in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).



Jeong contributed to the growth of the alternative investments division while he worked at Mirae Asset MAPS Global Investments, the group's investment management unit.
Grisha Sargsyan: Armenia does not even have its own cat (video)

Grisha Sargsyan, Chairman of the Union of Militsiya Special Forces Veterans, today apologized for his continued support to the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). I was mistaken to believe their empty promises for many years. People live so badly that the poverty rates will soon exceed 40 percent. Over 10 billion was taken out of the country in the past several years, he said today. Grisha Sargsyan says individuals in Armenia are much richer than the state. In all countries, the state governs oligarchs, while in Armenia oligarch are in power. Armenia does not even have its own cat, he stressed. The aim of the changes in the new government is to ensure the reproduction of power. Speaking about the new PM, Mr. Sargsyan said he is a bold guy. When he [Karen Karapetyan became Mayor of Yerevan, everyone in the Republican Party of Armenia begged him to join their ranks but he refused. However, his government has 6 months to work and they are preparing for the 2017 parliamentary elections. Should the Prime Minister punish all those who looted the country, we would welcome his decision and the army will stand by his side, he said. Grisha Sargsyan says he travels quite often and sees the neglected state of our diplomatic structures. Ambassadors are engaged in business with local oligarchs, kin relationships have penetrated into embassies as well. Only 1-2 members of the embassy staff speak the language of the given country, he said. Then he spoke about Armenias Ambassador to the UK Armen who does not do serious work for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but only cares for his personal welfare. In the end, Grisha Sargsyan added that Russia does not pay Armenia money for having a military base in the country, but it pays to other countries. We keep and feed the Russian military base in our country.


Dear people, I sincerely apologize for having you indescribably disappointed and concerned in regards to the scandal with Choi Soon-sil.

Above all, I feel so sorry for breaking your hearts irreparably when you trusted in me to be responsible with state affairs.

I also apologize to government officials and incumbents who devoted themselves to working with me, as well as business people who assisted me with goodwill.

I feel terribly sorry for all the illegal acts done by Choi, as I have initially wished my decisions would ultimately benefit the nation's economy and people's welfare.

It's all due to my fault and negligence. I fully understand my irresponsibility.

Choi was arrested yesterday over allegations of allegedly influencing government affairs and amassing an illicit fortune by taking advantage of her close ties with me. Former presidential secretary Ahn Jong-beom is also being investigated by prosecutors of the special investigation headquarters.

Prosecutors should be able to handle the case clearly and impartially without being interrupted by any external influence.

I will also do my best to cooperate with the investigation and bring out the truth.

I've already told my secretaries to cooperate with the investigation.

If I have to be investigated, I am ready to accept it as well.

Dear people, ever since I entered Cheong Wa Dae I have been living a lonely life without contacting my family because I was worried that my ties with them might cause bad incidents.

Living by myself, I had no one around me who could look after my personal affairs. So I resorted to Choi, who has been my longtime friend.

I admit that I was not objective enough when it came to her, as she was the one who stayed with me through my hardest times.

Looking back, I realize that over-depending on Choi has blinded my sense of objectivity and made me negligent with my surroundings.

I can't even forgive myself, and the grief keeps me up at night.












Netizens said Choi's look differed from when she appeared at the prosecutors' office on Monday to when she was sent to Seoul Correction on Tuesday. / Screen captured from YouTube



By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo

Is the arrested Choi Soon-sil a "fake"? Rumors abound on the internet that the woman who was summoned to the prosecution early this week and taken into custody Thursday night was not Choi but her double.

Netizens said Choi's look differed from when she appeared at the prosecutors' office on Monday to when she was sent to Seoul Correction on Tuesday.

"Choi Soon-sil has severe hair loss on the right side of her head and her double eyelid has a lot of wrinkles," wrote a netizen, who suspected Choi was using a double. "However, the picture that was taken Tuesday shows the female officer pressing Choi's head to make it look like she has hair loss. Her double eyelid also is clearer and her wrinkles seem to have disappeared."

Others questioned the reason for concealing her face with a mask and glasses when the country knows what Choi looks like.

None of the rumors have been confirmed. But they reflect deep public distrust of the prosecution dealing with the growing scandal.

Unlike previous high-profile scandals, in which the prosecution took immediate custody of key suspects arriving from overseas, it "generously" gave Choi a 31-hour rest before questioning. Critics say this was long enough for her to destroy evidence or coordinate her story with others involved in the scandal. It was confirmed that during the free hours Choi met her lawyer at a luxury hotel in Seoul and discussed how to deal with the probe. She even withdrew money from her bank accounts.

Legal experts say netizens' imagination has gone too far. But they said such rumors provided a snapshot of law enforcement losing the people's confidence.
Protesters hold placards that read "Park Geun-hye resignation" at an anti-president rally near Cheonggye Plaza, central Seoul, Wednesday. A large protest will be staged at the same venue on Saturday. / Yonhap



By Hong Dam-young

A large rally calling for President Park Geun-hye's resignation will be staged in central Seoul on Saturday. The protest, led by progressive civic groups, will be in Gwanghwamun Square, in downtown Seoul, from 4 p.m. Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part.

An estimated 20,000 people participated in the first anti-Park rally last Saturday. Police expect the second rally will attract about 30,000 people, while organizers are forecasting a crowd of 100,000.

The protest comes a day after President Park's "disappointing" second apologetic speech on Friday that only fueled public anger. Opposition parties said the speech lacked "sincerity," and with progressive civic groups dismissed it as nothing more than an excuse, expressing a will to show their solidarity at the Saturday protest.

"We will take action to prevent possible violence (at the protest)," a police official said.

Organizers are planning another large anti-Park protest in Seoul on Nov. 12.

Meanwhile, President Park said Friday she is "responsible for the scandal." She vowed to accept a criminal investigation by the prosecution "if deemed necessary."

Park did not comment on forming a politically neutral Cabinet with a Prime Minister empowered to dominate policymaking while she takes a back seat. The ruling Saenuri Party and dovish lawmakers in opposition parties made the suggestion as part of efforts to normalize the government and save the President from the worst political scandal of the Park administration.

This has stirred speculation that Park has no intention of loosening her grip on power and sharing authority.
Security camera footage inside the restaurant at the time of the incident. / Yonhap



By Lee Han-soo

Police have arrested three Chinese students for allegedly assaulting a Jeju Island restaurant worker.

The incident happened about 4 a.m. Tuesday when the employee asked four students to leave so the worker could close the shop.

But they refused and asked for more alcohol.

When the employee refused, three of the students started threatening the worker, police said.

They also threw water bottles while saying in Korean "are you ignoring us because we're Chinese?"

Police said the students pushed the employee into a corner before assaulting the worker.

The employee asked the students to leave several times before the alleged assault.

"The students insisted that it was OK for them to drink due to the time gap between the two countries," said a restaurant employee who witnessed the alleged assault.

"They were angered from the beginning when we couldn't serve them the food they ordered because we were out of ingredients. They started to think they were being mistreated because they were Chinese and started behaving aggressively."

Two of the students were arrested on site.

The other student who participated in the alleged assault was sent to hospital after claiming being injured.

Police have also obtained security camera footage of the incident.
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of President Park Geun-hye's address, at Seoul Station, Friday.

/ AP-Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho

The emotional speech President Park Geun-hye delivered Friday in a last-ditch attempt to placate angry citizens across Korea appears to have been unsuccessful.

Many citizens, including those who claim to have been her loyal supporters in the past, said they are not convinced by her speech and do not want the disgraced President in the country's highest office anymore.

"The speech did nothing but fuel my anger," Kang Nam-kyu, 27, said. "The worst part was watching her trying to depict herself as a victim, not the root, of the corruption scandal."

"I did not vote for Park in the presidential election. But I never thought that she should step down in the middle of her term. Now I strongly believe she should."

Kang said he was one of the 20,000 citizens gathered at Cheonggye Plaza, last Saturday, to call for her to step down. And he will return there when the next big protest takes place on Nov. 12.

"Even police officers were nice to protesters when I was there. I could feel their frustration as citizens just like us," he said.












By Chung Hyun-chae





Choi Soon-sil gets off the bus as she arrives at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for questioning on Friday. Choi was arrested early that day on charges of abusing her authority. / Yonhap

The size of the special prosecutors' team investigating the influence-peddling scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil is expected to be the biggest ever, according to the prosecutors' office, Friday.



Prosecutors announced Friday that the number will be 32. Earlier Friday, General Kim Soo-nam pledged to mobilize as many investigators as possible for the case.

The announcement came immediately after President Park Geun-hye's apology in which she vowed to comply with the prosecution investigation.



"With Choi under detention, we believe we're ready to get to the bottom of all suspicions to reveal the truth," the prosecutor general Kim said.



Thirty-two is approximately one-sixth of the entire prosecution body in the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, and the team will be led by prosecutor Lee Young-ryeol, who leads the Seoul office.



Choi was arrested early Friday. She is accused of conspiring with An Chong-bum, former senior presidential secretary for policy coordination, to force conglomerates to pay 77.4 billion won ($64 million) for the establishment of Mir and K-Sports foundations. The foundations were allegedly founded for Choi's own benefit and were controlled by her.



Choi is also charged with attempted scamming as prosecutors suspected that she attempted to pocket 700 million won from the K-Sports Foundation in return for two research projects pursued by the Blue K, a paper company she controlled.



According to prosecutors, the company earned the project without any previous experience.



While denying major allegations, Choi said Friday, through her lawyer, that she accepted the court decision and will cooperate with the ongoing investigation.



Investigators said they're looking into other allegations, including that Choi had access to presidential documents and interfered in the state decision-making processes. Reading presidential documents is not a violation of law, because the law only limits punishment to civil servants who give out the documents.



Meanwhile, the prosecution is pondering how to proceed with the president, which will be the first president in Korea's history to be criminally investigated during her reign.



There are three options  a written interview, a visit by the prosecution to Cheong Wa Dae or her visit to the prosecutors' office  and the prosecution said it will move along through consultations with relevant offices.



An, who was sacked by Park, Oct. 30, and was detained Wednesday night, reportedly told prosecutors he only obeyed the President's instruction to force conglomerates to fund the establishment of the two foundations.



Meanwhile, visual arts director Cha Eun-taek, one of key figures in the corruption scandal, is also set to face questioning as early as this weekend. New reports have said Cha, who left for China about two months ago, is expected to return on the weekend.



New allegations surfaced on Thursday that Cha took kickbacks from subcontractors of his own company.



He's also suspected of exerting influence on Cheong Wa Dae to appoint his friends and family in key government positions related to culture.
Members of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy hold pickets, calling for a criminal investigation into President Park Geun-hye as they file a formal complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Ko Young-kwon



By Choi Ha-young

Citizens are vowing to hold a massive rally Saturday against President Park Geun-hye in central Seoul, mounting their calls for the President to step down over the influence-peddling scandal.

Park's latest apology on Friday has failed to quell the people's rage against the President who allowed her longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil to meddle in state affairs.

Civic groups, labor unions, students, religious groups and unionized government workers are joining hands to hold a large-scale rally in Gwanghwamun Plaza.

The number of protesters is expected to be far larger than that of last Saturday when more than 20,000 gathered in a peaceful rally. The protest organizer reported to the police that 40,000 citizens will gather for the rally. After a candlelight gathering with a performance at the plaza, people will march through the central Seoul area starting 5:30 p.m. The police, however, disapprove of the march.

"It's difficult to say how many people will come, but I expect more than 50,000 people," Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) spokesperson Nam Jeong-su told The Korea Times. "People will walk freely in four directions: toward Seodaemun, Jongno, City Hall and Cheong Wa Dae, unless the police install barricades," Nam said.

The police also struggle predicting the number of protestors because many individual participants may join like last weekend. Other than railroad workers on strike, many people across generations joined the protest with family and friends.

People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), the nation's largest activist group, filed a complaint with the prosecution against President Park and Choi Soon-sil, accusing them of abuse of power, embezzlement and violations of other laws.

"To reveal the truth behind the scandal, Park must be investigated," it said.

The civic group said Park's latest address to the nation lacked sincerity. "Park ignored the people's call to come clean about the scandal. She kept silent on her future position and unilateral Cabinet reshuffle," the PSPD said.

Park has ignored growing calls to step down, conducting a surprise Cabinet reshuffle without discussion with opposition parties. She abruptly nominated Kim Byong-joon, an aide to former President Roh Moo-hyun, as prime minister Wednesday.

"She has even disregarded calls for formation of a neutral Cabinet, let alone the mounting calls for resignation," the KCTU said in a statement, Friday. "If Park rejects it until the last moment, not the prosecutors but the people will knock on the door of her office."

Allegations against Park and her friend Choi have expanded, with former presidential secretary An Chong-bum indicating that he followed Park's direction for collecting money from conglomerates and funding two foundations: Mir and K-Sports.

Saturday's candlelit rally could turn out far larger than expected, especially given they will also hold a funeral ceremony at 2 p.m. in Gwanghwamun Plaza for Baek Nam-ki, the late farmer who died after months in a coma after being sprayed by a police water cannon.

Civic groups are organizing Baek's funeral about 40 days after his death, because police had been trying to conduct an autopsy until Oct. 28.

At 11:30 a.m., the funeral participants will pray for Baek in front of Le Meilleur Jongno Town east of the plaza, where he was hit by the police water cannon at a protest last November.

During the recent protest under the slogan of resignation, the police appeared to do their best not to provoke protesters considering the widespread distrust of Park, which was proven with an all-time low approval rating  5 percent as of Friday.

Since last Saturday, citizens have been organizing nonstop daily demonstrations at Cheonggye Plaza. Other than the main rally in downtown Seoul, protestors may gather in other places including commercial areas in Seoul, Busan, Daegu and Daejeon to facilitate citizens' participation. On the same day, Koreans in Washington, D.C. and Chicago will gather as well.
An advanced U.S. missile defense system will be deployed to South Korea in the next eight to 10 months to better counter growing threats from North Korea, the chief of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday.

Gen. Vincent K. Brooks made the remarks in a seminar hosted by the Association of the Republic of Korea Army in Seoul.

In July, South Korea and the U.S. announced a decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea to better defend against the North's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

As for the issue of rotational deployment of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula, Brooks said "that is under review" and it is a decision to be made by high-ranking policymakers.

But the four-star general made it clear that the idea of bringing nuclear weapons back to the peninsula will "complicate" the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

This year alone, Pyongyang has conducted two nuclear tests in January and September and launched a series of missiles as part its efforts to achieve the goal of developing a nuclear-tipped long-range ballistic missile that could hit parts of the U.S. mainland. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toured a special operation battalion, Pyongyang's state media said Friday, marking his first military-related inspection since September.

Kim visited the battalion unit under the Korean People's Army (KPA) Unit 525, praising the troops for displaying their readiness for action during drills, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The leader ordered military officials to feed soldiers well so they can complete their military exercises with more intensity, it said.

It marked his first field guidance to a military base in over a month. On the last visit, he watched a ground test of a new powerful rocket engine.

Among Kim's entourage was Army Col. Gen. Ri Yong-gil, the first vice chief of the KPA's general staff and director of the military's general operation bureau.

South Korea's spy agency said in February that Ri, a former chief of the KPA's general staff, was executed on corruption and other charges, and replaced by Ri Myong-su, a former minister of people's security.

But he was found on the list of alternate members of the party's political bureau at the country's rare party congress in May, silencing rumors of his purge.

The sudden disappearance of North Korean officials is usually viewed by outside analysts as being linked to a possible purge or punishment.

The KCNA said that KPA Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong-so, director of the military's general political bureau, and Ri Myong-su, head of the KPA's general staff, accompanied the leader on the latest inspection. (Yonhap)
By Oh Young-jin

For the magnitude of sin President Park Geun-hye has committed, stepping down would fall short of being enough. Resignation only brings a fast relief, a kind by the contraption invented by Dr. Guillotine to spare one from an agonizing pain.

Park's sin deserves the slow, painful process of justice like one for a death-row inmate, who is forced to wonder when the executioner will come: every second being stretched to three autumns in a Sisyphean regret  for her to start all over again when it is thought to be finished.

Park is forever indebted with a spiraling compound interest scheme.

One may ask what she has done so terribly wrong.

First, Park has defiled the office of presidency beyond repairs.

Presidency is the highest institution of national leadership. When the nation is in crisis, people look to the president for strength, solace and a cause to rally around. At times of celebration, the president should use this positive energy for growth and have the rest in reserve for the future. That contract with people is now broken.

At the heart of that broken contract is trust. It is an open question how many "good" future presidents it will take to restore that broken contract with people. Perhaps more pertinent is whether it can ever be restored.

If one asks what terrible wrong she is found to be guilty of in the court of law, that question is irrelevant.

The moment she has admitted having shared her powers with the lady in question, the seal for her office got torn apart and gone with it was the sacredness.

Now a mountain of allegations has emerged. True, those allegations include rumors, half truths, lies and speculation. But the weight of those allegations is heavy enough to deprive any leader of legitimacy. The court where her sin is dealt with is one of public opinion so doesn't offer, as the ordinary court of law, the privilege of "presumed innocent until proven guilty." In this special court, one is guilty as charged.

The power of her office derives not so much from the functions she perform  leader of the executive branch and commander in chief for military  as from people's trust endowed through the election.

It is beyond doubt that the popular trust is withdrawn as shown in her dismal approval rating  slightly above 10 percent and sliding. Simply put, whatever she may say, nobody would listen and one would suspect whether it is another lie. The result is that the nation becomes ungovernable under her watch.

To add insult to injury is the aura of mysticism hanging over Park's relationship with the trouble-making lady, the daughter of a cult leader who some claim that had Park under his evil spell since the 1970s. Some dub the situation as "shamanistic" but, all said and done, it would boil down to a simple influence-peddling case over a woman thrown into solitude, who happened to become president. People complain that Park singlehandedly reduced our nation to an undeveloped third-world country.

Park can say that she has been too lonely with few to turn to.

That was why she got "bewitched" by her friend, let her on state secrets and allowed her to run part of the government as if it were her private business. Park's top officials  presidential secretaries and ministers  were mobilized to extort from chaebol so as to enrich her and finance her daughter's horse-riding lessons in Germany.

Then, Ewha Womans University has been dragged into the cauldron of disgrace by a disclosure that the daughter gained illegal admissions into the school and professors acted subserviently to the 20-year-old. Just imagine frustration and anger by many aspiring collegians, who would be willing to give their right arms for their toe in that school.

The allegations should be proven true in the court of law because they  Park's lady friend, her daughter and her associates  are private citizens. But for Park, the holder of the institution, such a time-consuming process is a luxury.

Then, the breach of trust also is manifested by the people's feelings.

Park has made people feel confused that a president they had elected could be different from one that governed them. This confusion puts the nation into a collective case of schizophrenia that the friend of Park's is behind everything that goes wrong at every level. The angry public sentiment can be peeked at through an online fund-raising drive to pay for legal defenses for one who rammed heavy equipment into the Supreme Prosecutor's building Tuesday morning. The driver claimed that he wanted to kill Park's friend as she wished when she presented herself at the prosecution.

This helplessness is permeating into our national consciousness. That widens a gulf of alienation separating Park from people. That sense of alienation and hopelessness fuels the popular belief  much like that that led to Brexit and backs Donald Trump  that the society is rigged against them.

Even if she may not reverse this collective sense of despair, Park has to stay on as warning for those who are eager for power. The President is not just the job of glory but one of responsibility. The contenders should be aware they take the risk of repeating Park's fate.



Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com or foolsdie@gmail.com.
Health Minister asked abouthis 'eight' advisors

The newly appointed Minister of Health [Levon Altunyan] answered on Friday journalists questions concerning the activity of the agency he heads. According to the Ministrys website, Minister Altunyan has eight advisors. Journalists observed that the minister is speaking about inefficient expenditures and necessary cuts in the sector whereas he keeps eight advisors. I shall make calculations today, and we shall speak about it at the next meeting. The minister joked saying that there are 3 million advisors in Armenia and if he calculates and sees that he really has eight advisors he will turn to them for advice. Mr. Alyunyan added that he can keep two advisors by law and only two of them actually receive salaries. If there are eight of them, as you say, then the other six work on a voluntary basis, the minister said. When asked what he was going to do with the wife of the former Defense Minister, Ruzanna Khachatryan, who, the journalists said, does not to want to work with the new minister, Levon Altunyan said, I am sorry about it. In reply to the question whether he was going to sack her from her job, the minister said, I shall sign her resignation letter if she submits it. Details here
An organizing committee was launched this week to prepare for the centennial of Park Chung-hee (1917-1979), the late former president and father of the incumbent.



Headed by former Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, the committee had an opening ceremony on Nov. 2 with many politicians close to President Park Geun-hye, including her former chief of staff Kim Ki-choon. Several governors also took part in the event and former presidents and National Assembly speakers were named as advisers. During an opening address, Hong praised the "vision, passion for the nation and the frugal spirit" of the late Park.



The committee is not a government organization, but it is being led by one of Park Geun-hye's former prime ministers. Since it is engaging in commemorative activities for the incumbent President's father, President Park cannot be free from the outcry of criticisms that the committee is facing for seeking to idolize her father, particularly when the nation is reeling from a corruption scandal involving herself and her close friend.



The committee is planning to build a statue in honor of Park in Gwanghwamun Square, where statues of Admiral Yi Sun-sin (1545-1598) and King Sejong (1397-1450) are located. It is even planning to start fundraising activities for the statue although the Seoul city administration said it will not allow such a statue to be established in Gwanghwamun Square without proper procedures.



Many angry citizens are against the statue plan, saying the late Park does not have the national hero status that Admiral Yi and King Sejong have.



The presidency of the late Park is one of the most disputed in the country's modern history. During his almost-20-year rule, the nation made incredible economic leaps. But his presidency was also marred by grave human rights abuses and crackdowns on dissents. Many admire the late Park for his economic achievements, but still many criticize his harsh and undemocratic rule. Furthermore, it is not fair to other presidents, who also have their share of accomplishments, to erect a statue just for the former dictator in central Seoul. The committee should limit its centennial activities to academic forums and exhibitions and cancel the statue plan.



After Choi Soon-sil gate erupted, the nation is in no mood to celebrate the centennial of President Park's father. Establishing a Park Chung-hee statue without seeking public approval will aggravate the people's anger toward President Park, who is facing calls to resign over her role in the scandal.




President should seek Assembly's help for normalizing state affairs



President Park Geun-hye's second public apology for the Choi Soon-sil scandal was more sincere than the first one delivered Oct. 25. Instead of a cursory speech, this time she gave a more personal apology, shedding tears as she explained the background of her longtime friendship with Choi and vowed to live in solitude from now on. Choi was arrested and jailed Thursday over allegations of influence-peddling.



The second apology was also more responsible than the last one since she placed blame on herself for the scandal that has resulted in a nationwide call for her resignation. Most importantly, she finally responded to the rising calls for her to face questioning, saying that she will accept a prosecutorial investigation and even face questioning by an independent counsel. She also urged Cheong Wa Dae staff to cooperate with the prosecution's investigation.



Park's second apology cannot satisfy everyone, but at least it should be noted that she openly said that she was willing to be investigated, paving the way for the first sitting Korean head of state to face prosecutorial investigation. Park's public pledge to allow investigation of herself should be an occasion for the prosecution to do its utmost in uncovering the truth behind all the allegations involving the President and her friend of almost 40 years.



The President's national address is by no means enough to assuage the people's fury since it still lacked some crucial messages. First, she did not recognize the growing calls from citizens and opposition parties to step down. Instead she stressed a resumption of state affairs, urging the government to keep up with its duties. She didn't provide any explanation about her appointment of Prime Minister-nominee Kim Byong-joon, which is being contested by opposition parties. The worst part of the apology was when she defended her major policy slogans like "creative economy" and "cultural prosperity" despite snowballing allegations of Choi and her cronies' influence in relevant projects.



One survey showed that Park's job approval rating plummeted to 5 percent, which is the lowest for any South Korean president. It is even lower than the 6 percent of former President Kim Young-sam at the height of the financial crisis that hit the nation in the last phase of his presidency. With such a poor approval rating, Park has lost the credibility to govern.



The Park administration has been in a vegetative state since the outbreak of "Choi gate," but this cannot be allowed to continue, considering the grave situations of our economy and national security. The President said, "A presidency is limited by time but Korea must go on forever." It is time to start focusing more on how to get the country back on track. This is no time for the nation to be trapped by rage toward a weak and incompetent President. The country must move forward despite the failures and errors of the Park presidency.



The role of the National Assembly is crucial to normalizing state affairs. Cheong Wa Dae has proposed a meeting of the President and political leaders. The Democratic Party of Korea is calling for the withdrawal of the appointment of the prime minister nominee and a special prosecutorial investigation, and vows to push for the President's resignation if these conditions are not met.



All parties should put the people ahead of their own political interests and sit down with the embattled President to discuss how best to overcome this crisis. The President should more clearly explain how much authority she will give to the new prime minister and seek the parties' cooperation in getting the Assembly's approval for her nominee.




A draft U.N. General Assembly resolution on North Korea's human rights situation not only calls for referring the matter to the International Criminal Court, but also expresses serious concern about Pyongyang's labor exports for the first time, according to a text unveiled Thursday.



Passage of the resolution, which has been submitted to and disclosed by the Third Committee, would mark the third consecutive year for the General Assembly to call on the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the ICC after the landmark resolution in 2014.



In particular, this year's resolution expresses "very serious concern" at "the exploitation of workers sent abroad from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to work under conditions that reportedly amount to forced labor."



It is the first time a General Assembly resolution has mentioned the North's labor exports, which has become an increasingly important source of hard currency for Pyongyang amid concern that the funds could be used for its nuclear and missile programs.



About 50,000-60,000 North Koreans are believed to be toiling overseas, mainly in the mining, logging, textile and construction industries. The average wage was stated as $120 to $150 per month, but in most cases employing firms paid salaries directly to the North's government.



The North reportedly receives more than $100 million from this system per year.



As in the past, the new resolution also calls on the Security Council to "take appropriate action to ensure accountability, including through consideration of referral of the situation" to the ICC, and through "consideration of the further development of sanctions in order to target effectively those who appear to be most responsible for human rights violations."



It also encourages the council to continue discussions on the issue.



The 2014 General Assembly resolution is considered a watershed moment in international efforts to improve the North's human rights situation as it marked the first time for the Assembly to call for the North's referral to the ICC.



That resolution led to the U.N. Security Council holding consultations on the issue for the first time later that year. In addition, a similar resolution was adopted last year and the Security Council also held discussions on the North's human rights situation for the second time.



The consecutive adoption of such resolutions underscored the seriousness the international community attaches to the problem and is expected to increase pressure on Pyongyang.



North Korea has long been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.



But the North has bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime. (Yonhap)




Julianito G. Bucayan, former undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Transportation and Communications



By Lee Kyung-min



Korea's advanced public transportation system is worth benchmarking, said Julianito G. Bucayan, former undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Transportation and Communications.



"The public transportation system in Korea has achieved great success in a short period of time. Nothing short of amazing," he said during an interview at the Millennium Seoul Hilton in downtown Seoul, Tuesday.



"It has all admirable qualities including predictability, timeliness, efficiency, maintenance, integration of IT technology, and convenience. It's also very clean. I hope to see a similar system set up in my country soon."



Bucayan came to Korea to attend the 4th Asian Legislative Experts Symposium (ALES), co-hosted by the Ministry of Government Legislation and the Korea Legislation Research Institute.



The theme of the event, held at the hotel on Tuesday, was "Legislative Modification Strategies for Enhancing Efficiency of ASEAN Transportation Systems."



A number of Korean companies have helped the Philippines with major construction projects, establishing a more integrated public transportation system including air, highway, rail, and inland waterway networks.



Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction, Yooshin Engineering Corp., the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) and Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) are among the firms in the public-private partnership.



For example, in 2010, IIAC constructed the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. In 2012, the firm was involved in construction management for Puerto Princesa International Airport on Palawan Island.



Setting up advanced public transportation is crucial for enhancing connectivity which will pave the way for further regional integration, economic growth and sustainable development in the country, he said.



"I believe a country's level of quality public transportation reaches its goal, when leaders take public transportation for commuting. I hope that day will come soon in my country," he said.



The importance of legislation, he added, comes not only from the need to address challenges, but also to ensure continuity.



"Public transportation is among many issues that are crucial to the country's fundamental growth, which is why it shouldn't be easily disregarded by politics. Legislation, in this sense, is crucial, once it is put in place, because changing the law is difficult because it requires lawmakers' votes," he said.



ALES is held to enhance understanding of government legislation and to provide a forum for discussions on legislative solutions to various economic and social problems.



The objective is to share legislative experience and knowhow with other countries and to promote legislative exchanges and cooperation.
Shown above are LG Electronics' Black Stainless Steel built-in home appliances. The company said Friday that it has launched seven new built-in appliances in the United States. / Courtesy of LG Electronics



By Lee Min-hyung

LG Electronics is speeding up its expansion into the premium business-to-business (B2B) sector, launching a series of high-end built-in home appliances in the United States.

The company said Friday that it has launched seven new Black Stainless Steel Series there whose lineup includes a refrigerator, oven, microwave and dishwasher. The black-coated stainless design is fit for a luxurious home interior, giving a modern impression harmonized with other home appliances, according to the outfit.

The Seoul-based electronics giant has in recent years shifted its business portfolio into the unsaturated premium devices market, in its bid to tackle sluggish growth in the business-to-consumer (B2C) electronics industry and stand up to rivalry threats from Chinese manufacturers.

In 2013, the company started the built-in home appliance business in the U.S. by launching LG Studio brand, as part of its efforts to expand its presence into the B2B sector.

The company has since focused on combining premium features into its B2B lineups. This March, the company launched its much-hyped premium brand LG SIGNATURE. LG then unveiled its B2B version, the SIGNATURE KITCHEN SUITE, in July in Korea and the U.S. KITCHEN SUITE is a package of high-end consumer electronics for the built-in appliance market.

To compete more fiercely with U.S. rivals such as Whirlpool, the company has since expanded its distribution channels in the U.S. by signing contracts with local retail giants  such as Pacific Sales in Los Angeles.

LG expects the SIGNATURE KITCHEN SUITE to be sold at some 10 stores in the U.S. by the end of this year, with the LG Studio lineups are available at more than 1,000 shops.

"We are going to tap deeper into the premium home appliances market by continuing to launch more tailor-made devices," Cho Ju-wan, senior vice president at LG Electronics' US affiliate, said in a statement.

At this year's IFA exhibition in Germany, Jo Seong-jin, head of LG Electronics' home and appliance (H&A) division, said the company will aggressively realign its business structure into the stable B2B area to stand up to the growing market uncertainty in the volatile B2C consumer electronics market.

At that time, the company chief unveiled its plan to generate half of its sales from the B2B sector by investing more on not just components, but system business such as turnkey projects.
Sons will read their father's letter from prison (video)

On November 5, sons of several political prisoners in Armenia will hold a rally at Liberty Square in Yerevan, demanding the release of their fathers. The rally will be followed by a march in downtown Yerevan. The organisers will be wearing Guy Fawkes masks. The mask has become a well-known symbol for the online hacktivist group Anonymous, as well as anti-government protests around the world. Shahen Harutyunyan, the son of the chairman of the radical opposition Tseghakron party Shant Harutyunyan, has been organizing Anonymous marches in Yerevan for four years now, voicing his protest against the system and demanding the immediate release of his father. During the rally, Martun and Raffi Poghosyan, the sons of Alek Poghosyan who is serving a prison term with Shant Harutyunyan, will read out a letter sent from prison by their father. Talking to journalists in Yerevan, Martun said he wants to continue his fathers work as he wants to live in a free country. Our brothers and sisters will also join us when they grow up. We are proud to be the sons of Alek Poghosyan. Shahen Harutyunyan said there are over 70 political prisoners in Armenia. Their number does not matter. The most important is the fact that we have political prisoners in a country where freedom of speech and human rights are violated, where people are sent to prison for raising their voice of protest. Fourteen citizens became political prisoners with my father. Another goal of the rally is to restore peoples consciousness lost because of soap operas and low-quality music, he said. Though Shahen Harutyunyan says though their actions have not produced the desired results in four years, they are determined to continue the struggle. The more pressure the authorities exert on us, the more targeted and efficient our struggle will become, he stressed.
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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghess dedication and sacrifice to convert Sri Lanka into a democratic state which is dedicated to Good Governance is highly appreciated by the European Council, said President of the European Union Donald Tusk.

Meeting with the visiting Sri Lankan delegation led by PM Wickremesinghe on Monday (17th Oct.) at the EU headquarters in Brussels, he assured his fullest cooperation towards Sri Lanka as a special consideration to get GSP Plus back.

According to him, PM Wickremesinghe has stated about a unity government at several elections and today it has become an exemplary to the whole region.

Further commending on the honesty, determination, and the sacrifice made by Premier Wickremesinghe to establish political stability in Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena, he added that Sri Lanka is very near to GSP Plus relief with the current political, and social reforms, taking place in the country.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe expressing his gratitude to the European community for supporting Sri Lanka including GSP Plus relief, extended an invitation to Mr. Tusk from President Sirisena to visit Sri Lanka. Accepting the invitation, Mr. Tusk said that he would visit Sri Lanka next year.

He further requested the Premier to pay more attention towards illegal migrants from Sri Lanka to Europe. In his response to the President Tusk, PM Wickremesinghe assured that this issue will receive a solution when the development process is continued. A Task Force with the assistance of the Law and Order, Resettlement, and Justice Ministries, Department of Immigration and Emigration, and EU will also be established.

This would be the first time that a Sri Lankan political leader held discussions with a President of the European Union.

Courtesy: www.news.lk
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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Clover POS systems are a great solution if you want to streamline your internal services and want to replace an old kit like cash registers, payment terminals and other equipment. Clovers point of sale solution allows you to get rid of all that and replace it with a more integrated system with state of the
PRESS RELEASE

Greece Blocks EU Sanctions Against Iranian Bank

Nov. 3, 2015 (EIRNS)Greece vetoed an attempt to keep the Iranian Bank Saderat on a European Union sanctions list, raising a good many eyebrows and provoking rage among certain Anglo-American and French circles. Bank Sederat, the largest bank in Iran, was put on a sanctions list for allegedly financing terrorist organizations. The bank had taken the issue to the European Court of Justice on the grounds that the EU presented insufficient proof, and last April won its case. Nonetheless, both the British and French, and the United States in the background, pushed to keep sanctions on the bank until 2023 despite the court decision, in yet another lawless move by the European Union. In a vote that took place last month, Greece was the only country of the EUs 27 members to veto the proposal, despite pressure from the United States, the Unkted Kingdom, and France.

"There is an EU court decision and it should be respected," a senior Greek Foreign Ministry official told the Wall Street Journal.

"There were very firm instructions from Athens to block it," a second Greek official said.

The background to this is the Obama administrations double-talk on Iran sanctions despite Iran having come to full agreement over its nuclear program. While the administration has publicly encouraged European banks to start working again with Iranian firms, it still has not lifted its own sanctions that restrict American companies from dealing with Iran. It has also cooked up other reasons, including alleged terror finance, to put Iranian firms and banks like Bank Saderat on sanction lists. The action has served to scare many European companies away from dealing with Iran.

For Greece, the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made a very significant effort to promote economic relations with Iran as part of its policy to increase ties to the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and other members of the "survivors club." Last February Tsipras led a Greek delegation that included 50 representatives of some of Greeces top companies.

At the end of September, as a follow-up to Tspirass visit to Iran, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) chief Valiollah Seif led a delegation to Athens, where he held talks with Greek Vice President Yannis Dragasakis, who is overseeing the reconstruction of Greeces fragile banking system. High on the list of discussion was cooperation in the field of energy and banking and investments. Iran is an important energy supplier for Greece, while Greek shipping companies have also been large carriers of Iranian oil.
PRESS RELEASE

Why the Run on Italian Bonds

Nov. 3, 2016 (EIRNS)After having made it known it was not amused by the Italian government intention to spend money for earthquake reconstruction, the invisible hand of the European Union's European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB) shifted from word to deed and an attack against the Italian sovereign debt was launched.

The script is the usual one: a rating agency or similar enterprise issues a warning or a downgrading, unleashing a run on Italian bonds. Courtesy of the ECB, Italian bonds are allowed to fall on the market. Then the ultimatum is issued: if you want us to stop that, obey our orders.

This time it was not a rating agency, but a thing called Sentix, run by a behavioral economist, which published a poll Nov. 1 according to which one in every ten investors believes that Italy will leave the euro in 2017. (Sentix is not just a polling agency, but a Frankfurt-based wealth-management fund. Its manager recently wrote on his blog that a repetition of 1987a stock market crashis impossible.)

Eventually, a run on Italian bonds was unleashed, driving ten-year yields to a nine-month high of 1.73%. The rise is not dramatic in itself, but remember what happened in 2011, when they toppled Berlusconis government. Especially loud in warning about the threat are agencies such as the one named pigbonds.info. Nomen est omen.

Precondition for the attack to succeed is that, like in 2011, the ECB stops purchasing Italian bonds on the market, which is possibly what is going on now.

Will Renzi back down under a replay of the 2011 scenario? The ways of God are infinite, even if bets on Renzi are riskier than bets on Italian bonds.
PRESS RELEASE

Japanese and Chinese Companies To Strengthen Collaboration in Projects of Third Countries

Nov. 3, 2016 (EIRNS)In a meeting which indicates further moves by Japan to break out of the Obama confrontation with China, leaders from Japanese and Chinese companies met for two days in Beijing. A joint statement has been issued that says that they will further enhance collaboration on projects in third countries, including infrastructure development in Asia and the promotion of the One Belt, One Road policy, Japans JIJI news agency reported today. This meeting took place after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Xi Jinping had agreed in September that strong cooperation between the worlds second-and third-largest economies is vital not only for their prosperity but also for that of the rest of the world, The Japan Times noted.

At the conference, two major issues were addressed.The first was the necessity to improve China-Japan relations and the other objective was to push strong collaboration between the Japan-led Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in developing infrastructure of third countries. On Nov. 2, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and former Chinese Vice-Prime Minister Zeng Peiyan had addressed the assembled businessmen. On that occasion, Li said:

"Frankly speaking, the foundation of China-Japan relations is not solid enough, although exchanges and cooperation in a range of fields have been on the rise.... It is necessary for both sides to make more and more efforts,"

he added. Addressing the same issue, Zeng told the meeting that

"China-Japan relations are now in the middle of toiling up a mountain path. If not moving forward, they could come down, and they are at a crucial period,"

Japan Times reported.

The meeting, attended by some 60 corporate executives, was arranged by the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), Japans largest business lobby, and the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. Among those who attended the conference were Canon Inc., Nomura Holdings Inc., Dongfeng Motor Corp., and Bank of China Ltd. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was also there. The delegation from Tokyo was headed by Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Keidanren business lobby, The Japan Times report indicates.
PRESS RELEASE

Russia and China Are Working Out a Deterrence, Says Luzyanin

Nov. 3, 2016 (EIRNS)Russia and China have become factors of the worlds strategic stability, Director of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of Russias Academy of Sciences Sergey Luzyanin said at a news conference on Nov. 2 in Moscow. He was elaborating on the upcoming Nov. 7 21st Regular Meeting between Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers to be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in St. Petersburg.

Formally, the St. Petersburg conference is designed for the signing of agreements between the two countries to expand achievements in strategic areas such as energy, high-speed railways and civil aviation development.

Answering a TASS question, Luzyanin said:

"The theme is not being discussed much nowadays. However, Russia and China are factors of the worlds strategic stability today. No one says openly that Moscow and Beijing are carrying out deterrence. Nonetheless, everybody realizes it and realizes that the deterrence is carried out in the name of stability, development, and peace."

The expert said that at the talks with Russias leaders, Li Keqiang

"will raise the issues of the worlds stability along with development and strengthening of Russian-Chinese cooperation in defense technologies."

In addition, Luzyanin said:

"The Russian and Chinese prime ministers are expected to tackle cooperation in defense technologies at their detailed negotiations. Taking into regard the serious international situation and the Wests colossal pressure over the Ukraine and Syria crises, cooperation in defense technologies will be on the table at the talks,"

Luzyanin said, according to TASS.
Novels are about secrets, inherently so, as the author knows just how a story ends, what happens, who did what and where the bodies are buried. A reader, on the other hand, knows nothing really at all, save what happens in the current sentence and preceding paragraphs. Secrets remain closed until the final page; some stay secret even beyond. The novels of Javiar Marias are doubly secretive, as the narrators in Marias books also know all  not always the case in novels  while the reader does not; and Marias wrenches as much tension as possible from that unbalanced relationship. The narrator in his 1992 novel A Heart So White: The world is full of surprises and secrets. We think we know the people close to us but time brings with it more things that we dont know than things we do. Which is about as close to a description of a Marias novel as youll find in a Marias novel: We think we know the people in our lives. Alas, we dont even know ourselves.

Thus Bad Begins, his latest, is overtly a book of secrets. Yes, there are some fortunate people who never feel tempted to  put things right and confess, confesses Juan De Vere, its narrator. Im not one of them, alas, because I do have a secret that Ill never be able to tell a living soul, still less to those who have since died. And thank goodness. Otherwise we wouldnt have this erudite, strange, hypnotic and beautiful, frustrating book.

De Vere is 23-years-old at the time of the story, but more important, he is much older at the time of the telling  decades have passed since the storys happenings, a long time, and yet still less time than the average life, and how brief a life is once its over and can be summed up in a few sentences. But of course DeVeres sentence is ironic as he sums up only his brief time with a single family, the Muriels, mostly with its patriarch, and it takes 446 pages.

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To step back: DeVere works as the personal assistant to one Eduardo Muriel, a semi-successful film producer and husband to the beautiful and tortured Beatriz Muriel. DeVere practically lives with the Muriels and their children in Madrid and witnesses the sadistic ways in which Eduardo treats his melancholic wife. Their marriage is terrible one.

The novel takes place in 1980, while Spain is transitioning to democracy after years under Francos rule (the ghost of Franco and his former regime haunt the book), and when divorce is still illegal. Their marriage is like a prison for Eduardo, though apparently far less so for Beatriz. By all accounts Beatriz still deeply loves her husband, but she has also committed some unnamed and unforgivable crime against him in the long past and is daily punished for her actions.

Eduardo verbally abuses Beatriz and refuses any offer of love from his wife. According to DeVere, Eduardo wanted to make it clear to her what a curse and a burden it was to endure her presence; to mistreat and even abuse her, and certainly undermine her and make her feel insecure and even hopeless about her personality, her work, her body and he was doubtless successful. And yet it is Eduardo who so disapprovingly describes an old friend, one Doctor Van Vechten, to DeVere: according to what Ive been told, the Doctor behaved in an indecent manner towards a woman or possibly more than one. Call me old-fashioned or whatever you like, but that, to me, is unforgivable, the lowest of the low  Do you understand? Thats as low as one can go. This from the man who regularly calls his wife a fat cow, a pachyderm and a lump of lard, who declares, I might as well be touching a pillow, you might as well be an elephant, for all I care. A bag of flour, a bag of flesh.

Thus comes the plot of the novel. DeVere, whose job normally involves taking notes, running errands and doing script translations, is asked by Eduardo to follow Doctor Van Vechten, to spend time with him, infiltrate his circle and get to know the kind of man he truly is. DeVere does indeed follow and befriend Doctor Van Vechten and in doing so becomes obsessed with Eduardos wife, Beatriz, as well. What had happened to make Eduardo so indecent to his wife; what brought him so low? Will DeVere find out Beatrizs secret crime? And at what cost?

But then one doesnt really read Marias for plot. One reads him for the language, the elegant hypnotic voice, the philosophical digressions and observations, for his long and winding sentences.

Here is DeVere (and Marias) on hands:

I lit my cigarette and contrary to my usual habit  I always hold my cigarette in my left hand  I held it instead between the index and middle finger of my right hand and allowed my other hand, still holding my lighter, to fall on her thigh, which gleamed resplendent beneath the street lamps as they flashed past or beneath the intermittent moon. Not the palm, of course, that would have been cheeky, but the back of my hand. And not the whole of my hand either, but, initially, just the side or the edge, and then a little more as if my hand were giving in of its own accord or being jolted into position by the occasional bumps in the road or by the driver when he accelerated through a green light. It seems absurd, a hand is just a hand, but theres an enormous difference between the back and the palm of the hand, the palm is the part that feels and caresses and speaks, usually deliberately, while the back pretends and is silent.

The passage is prime Marias, close  bordering on obsessive observation of real physical movement that leads to a keen, and lovely, luminous poetic reveal. One reads Marias for his ability to make the smallest parts of the world come alive, and his penchant for philosophical narrative claims, ones that invite and require unpacking. Here is DeVere (and Marias) again on secrets: Thats the trouble with secrets, one can never ask forgiveness. Which of course makes secrets sinful. That DeVere certainly is we come to find out; and of course he is, hes a Marias narrator.

Marias, one of Europes favorite living writers, a perennial Nobel favorite and considered by many to be one of the greatest writers in the world, has according to some standards had trouble breaking through in the States. Others would say what nonsense.

Thus Bad Begins is a book for Marias lovers, a secretive novel, chock-full of fear and betrayal, but the stakes do only go so high. Classic Marias novels revolve around death, murder and violence, and perhaps its for that reason I found myself sometimes comparing it to his others. And perhaps its also for that reason I found myself most loving the book for its pages, brilliant observations, its musings and its suspenseful elegant voice, rather than the overarching story. And I could not put it down.

Cheshire is the author of the novel High as the Horses Bridles.

Thus Bad Begins

Javier Marias

Knopf: 464 pp., $27.95
NOV. 18: Negotiators for the Pacific Symphony and its musicians union have reached a tentative contract agreement that will give musicians guaranteed minimum compensation for the first time, moving the musicians toward the equivalent of full-time employment. The five-year contract, which is subject to ratification by the union members, increases pay for each rehearsal and performance in each of its final four years. It also guarantees a minimum number of performances and rehearsals, which are known as services, starting in the second year. Details of the tentative pact will be presented to the musicians later this month.

------------------

Subscribers to the Pacific Symphonys 12-concert classical series are marking their calendars for the next performance later this month, featuring the distinguished Spanish pianist Joaquin Achucarro in the Grieg Piano Concerto. They should mark it with an asterisk, because the orchestra is talking about going on strike.

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The groups 84 musicians (four more seats are currently vacant) have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, when their last four-year contract expired. They rejected managements last contract offer on Oct. 23. No talks are currently scheduled, and the players are getting anxious about what happened last time, when the negotiations stretched over a year and a half.

Time is of the essence, says Adam Neeley, a violist and head of the bargaining committee for the players, who are members of the American Federation of Musicians. We have a clear mandate from the members that were not going to keep playing and playing without any negotiations.

What were arguing for is not only in our best financial interest, but is in the artistic interest of the organization itself.  Adam Neeley, musicians representative at the Pacific Symphony

Labor unrest seems to be sweeping through the U.S. symphony corps, with a strike at the Pittsburgh Symphony entering its second month and a work stoppage at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra causing the cancellation of concerts through December. A two-day strike staged in September by musicians of the storied Philadelphia Orchestra  who hoped to recover some of the pay they lost during the orchestras 2011 bankruptcy  forced cancellation of its season-opening gala.

These tensions reflect the challenges generally facing performing arts groups in the U.S., including an aging audience and more tightfisted donors. Unlike employers such as manufacturing or service companies, these groups have few options to stem rising costs.

There are no opportunities for productivity gains in the performing arts, says Robert J. Flanagan, an emeritus labor expert at Stanford business school who analyzed the economics of 63 U.S. orchestras, including the Pacific Symphony, for his 2012 book, The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras. The size of the workforce is mandated by the demands of a performance piece: a first-class orchestra cant trim costs by having six violinists on stage when a symphony requires 12  at least not without sacrificing artistic standards.

Composers determine the labor costs of their works forever, Flanagan says. Technological changes arent going to help much.

On top of that, the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Symphony has challenges all its own. Its musicians are trying to force a fundamental change in its business model from part-time to full-time, salaried employment.

The musicians say theyre trying to get the organization to adapt to changing realities in the Southern California music business; its management responds that the old model has served it well, allowing for slow and steady expansion over the last three decades that sensibly matched our artistic offerings with our communitys demonstrated appetite for classical music, as its president, John E. Forsyte, told me in an email.

The Pacific may be overshadowed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, whose $117-million budget outstrips that of any other U.S. symphony by a sizable margin. But it shouldnt be overlooked. The Pacifics annual budget of $20 million ranks roughly 22nd in size among U.S. orchestras, just behind the Indianapolis and San Diego symphonies ($24 million each) and ahead of the Milwaukee and Oregon symphonies (about $16 million each).

Unlike those orchestras, however, its musicians are paid per-service, a catch-all term designating rehearsals and performances, rather than salaried.

Theyre the only orchestra that size with a per-service model, and theyre twice the size of any other per-service orchestras, says Drew McManus, a Chicago orchestra consultant who writes a daily blog about the business.

In a sense, the Pacific is a prisoner of its own history. Founded in 1978 at Cal State Fullerton, the orchestra became a favored artistic side gig for Southern Californias army of studio musicians, a relief valve from the film scores and commercial jingles from which they chiefly earned their livelihood. They were happy with its part-time nature because it allowed them maximum scope to pursue more lucrative studio gigs.

For a long time, at the negotiating table musicians tried to get more flexibility in scheduling, says Robert F. Sanders, a former Pacific musician who is president of the Orange County Musicians Assn. and participated in numerous bargaining sessions.

In that environment the Pacific Symphony thrived. Its ensemble comprised some of the finest musicians in the country, it attracted world-class virtuosi as soloists, and in 2006 it moved into the glittering Cesar Pelli-designed Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Its artistic reputation was strong. Several alumni have graduated to permanent jobs at major orchestras around the country; Neeley, a Northwestern-trained performer, recently auditioned for a chair at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and remains on-call as a member of its substitutes roster.

But film, TV and commercial work has been disappearing locally. Film scoring has moved to London and other overseas locations; TV commercial producers abandoned jingles and now rely more on licensed pop tracks. When I moved here, Neeley told me, part of the plan was to break in at the studios, with the orchestra giving me a somewhat livable base while I started a freelance career. Four years later, I havent played a single gig at a major studio. Thats because the work is not available.

Consequently, the orchestra has become the principal source of income for many members; the flexibility its musicians once craved now imposes an undesirable uncertainty on their annual income. Thats especially true because the symphony doesnt guarantee musicians a minimum number of services per year.

The musicians say the Pacific cant maintain its artistic quality under the old model, as its average pay will shrink in relation to competing orchestras. Its musicians can earn about $44,400 in the current season if they attend every available service, according to the musicians union, but the average member of the orchestra probably gets enough credits to earn $31,400.

By contrast, the rapidly-expanding San Diego Symphony, which has an annual budget of about $24 million, recently reached a five-year contract with its 82 salaried musicians that will pay an average of about $70,000 in its first year, rising to $80,000 in 2021.

What were arguing for is not only in our best financial interest, says Neeley, but is in the artistic interest of the organization itself. If we continue to offer compensation that doesnt begin to compete with our peers, were going to see people leave the orchestra, and fewer people auditioning for the orchestra.

The symphonys management has made some tentative steps to meet the unions concerns about the predictability of work and annual wages, Forsyte says, but the musicians consider these half-hearted. The symphony is willing to guarantee 185 services, according to the union, but with conditions that could erode that figure over a year.

The question confronting the Pacific boils down to whether its a $20-million orchestra that happens to employ part-time musicians, or a part-time employer that happens to have a $20-million budget. At the moment, its suspended between those two models.

What both sides agree on is that the symphony has made itself an indispensable part in Southern Californias artistic landscape. Its not the musicians fault, or managements, that the landscape has changed under its feet, but that makes the symphonys transformation into a full-time orchestra more necessary, even urgent.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.

UPDATES:

11:52 a.m.: This post has been updated to correct the length of the Pacific Symphonys concert series and clarify key dates in its labor negotiations.

8:15 p.m, Nov. 18: This post has been updated with a tentative contract settlement.
Three Democratic senators are questioning Wells Fargo & Co. about regulatory filings for employees fired for creating unauthorized accounts, saying the forms gave the bank ample information about the scope of fraudulent sales practices.

In addition, the senators raised concerns about the accuracy of the filings with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and suggested the bank might have filed inaccurate or incomplete information to retaliate against employees who blew the whistle regarding the creation of as many as 2 million unauthorized accounts.

If Wells Fargo submitted false or incomplete information about the fired employees in its mandatory disclosures to FINRA, the bank may have violated FINRA rules and misled regulators about the scope of the fraud, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote to Wells Fargo Chief Executive Timothy Sloan on Thursday.

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The bank agreed in September to pay $185 million to settle investigations by Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency into an aggressive sales culture that led employees to open as many as 2 million checking, savings and credit card accounts in customers names without their consent.

The practices were first uncovered by a Times investigation in 2013.

Wells Fargo has said it fired about 5,300 employees since 2011 for creating the accounts. About 600 of the fired retail banking employees also were licensed to refer customers to Wells Fargos brokerage business.

Those workers were required to be registered with FINRA, the securities industrys self-regulatory arm, according to data FINRA provided to the senators.

Of those licensed employees, 207 were specifically terminated for issues that fall within the scope of the practices outlined in the settlement, the senators said.

Within 30 days of the firing of those employees, Wells Fargo was required to file a Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration, known as a U5 form, with FINRA. The form must include details on the reasons for the firing.

The U5 forms that were filed for the 207 employees confirm that Wells Fargo had ample information about the scope of fraudulent sales practices long before the CFPB settlement, and they raise additional questions about Wells Fargos response to this illegal activity, the senators wrote.

Its unclear if forms were filed for the other 400 FINRA-registered employees or if they cited different reasons for termination, the senators said. A FINRA review is in its early stages, they said.

Former Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf, who resigned last month in the wake of the scandal, testified at a Senate hearing in September that he realized the problem of unauthorized accounts was becoming a bigger issue at the bank in the summer or fall of 2013.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Dunn said the bank has been working for years to stop wrongful sales practices and those efforts predated the regulatory settlements.

However, we acknowledge we could have acted sooner and more aggressively, she said.

The senators asked Sloan whether the bank routinely reviews or analyzes the U5 forms it files and asked for copies of the forms for the fired employees. The forms are required to provide specific reasons for firings and are not supposed to vaguely say that a person violated company policy, the senators said.

They also asked Sloan how many of the fired FINRA-registered employees had contacted managers, the banks ethics hotline or otherwise reported potential misconduct.

The senators cited a National Public Radio report last month that some Wells Fargo employees who reported concerns about the banks sales practices were fired and their U5 forms contained false or vague information that prevented them from getting other jobs in the industry.

FINRA allows the public to access information about registered brokers, including employment history, certifications, and licenses  as well as regulatory actions, violations or complaints, according to its BrokerCheck website.

Negative information on a U5 form can effectively kill a career in the securities industry by raising concerns for potential employers. Brokers can go to arbitration to try to have false or inaccurate information removed and financial firms, including Wells Fargo, have faced defamation suits for U5 filings.

These accounts raise questions about the accuracy of Wells Fargos form U5s for employees who were fired for engaging in illegal activity and for employees who appear to have been fired for blowing the whistle on illegal activity at Wells Fargo, the senators wrote.

Dunn said Wells Fargo has zero tolerance for retaliation against employees.

We are investigating claims regarding these matters and doing an end-to-end review of our EthicsLine process, she said.

The senators said Wells Fargo has had a history of compliance problems related to U5 forms. FINRA fined the banks Wells Fargo Advisors subsidiary $1 million in 2011 in part because of delays in reporting and updating the forms.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter

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UPDATES:

12:40 p.m.: This article was updated with additional detail on the effects of FINRA filings on securities industry employees.

This article originally was published at 10:15 a.m.
For todays art, does Edgar Degas matter?

Thats the question at the heart of a large and fascinating retrospective exhibition newly opened at the Museum of Fine Arts here. The unsurprising answer being offered is yes  unsurprising because who would mount a complex show to assert irrelevance? Yet, the ways in which his art is shown to be relevant for contemporary culture are unexpected.

Degas died 99 years ago at the age of 83. At the brink of his deaths centennial, his work is never far from the art museum limelight, given the continuing popularity of French Impressionism. Shows in recent decades have focused on a variety of facets  themes such as working women and horse racing, his experiments with monotype printing, a brief but intense flirtation with photography, the dynamic physicality of ballet (of course), nude bathers, the place of pastels and sculpture within his large body of work and more.

So it is something of a surprise to realize that there has not been a full Degas retrospective in more than a generation. Degas was prolific, and a 1988 retrospective went a long way toward untangling his very knotty chronology.

Curator Henri Loyrette, then at Paris Musee dOrsay, was part of that shows organizing team. He has returned almost 30 years later to organize Degas: A New Vision, which had its debut in June at Australias National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. (His 1988 co-curator, Gary Tinterow, is today director of the Houston museum, which is the only American stop on the shows tour.) All of the new scholarly fire power accumulated over the last three decades has been brought to bear.

One result is the most text-heavy exhibition Ive seen in recent memory. With few exceptions, each of about 200 works in the sprawling show is accompanied by an extended label. Far from the usual patronizing annoyance, these texts are unfailingly well-written and perceptive, a useful pleasure to read.

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Loyrette knows his subject well. So well that the premise of his exhibition is quite simple: Degas immersed himself in the rigorous demands of an ambitious artist in mid-19th century Paris  then, when he was almost 40, began to turn those rules upside-down. The show is a demonstration, step by step, laid out in 10 large chronological galleries.

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas was born a bankers son, one of five children, in 1834. He revered the Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whom he met while copying Old Masters in the Louvre, and he studied drawing at the citys Academy of Fine Arts, which was vigorously asserting itself as the sole avenue to artistic success. (Loyrette convincingly describes Degas as primarily a draftsman rather than a painter.) He traveled to Rome, as countless French artists before him did, and spent three years there studying antiquities and copying Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian.

Degas came into an establishment art world that prized most highly the grand picture  the carefully conceived, rigorously executed, historically informed image that, following proven guidelines, would fully and with erudition encapsulate a definitive idea. And he chucked it all for an art that was provisional, topical, perpetually unfinished and ripe for revision  open-ended, as Loyrette succinctly puts it in the exhibitions excellent catalog.

The preternatural precision of Degas drawing style is worthy of Ingres, although it gets steadily more casual in the figures poses and the touch of the artists hand as he gains control. And for Degas, control is a big deal  although not in the academic way.

Most obvious is the nature of his interest in light. Almost alone among the Impressionists, who painted outdoors in shifting sunshine, Degas worked in his studio rendering candlelight, fireplaces and gas lamps. In the studio, the environment was controlled.

Control is the powerful subject of the riveting ballet picture, Rehearsal hall at the Opera, rue Le Peletier. Nothing but empty space fills the center, an optical void yawning between the lyrical primary dancer at the left-hand foreground and the ballet master and his observant cohorts in the diagonal middle ground at the right. The ballet master, hand raised and eyes fixed, confidently directs the ethereal young woman across the room.

Ballet is less a dance of continuous bodily motion than of static, extreme physical poses linked by fluid movement. The ballet master is a kind of proxy for Degas as artist, while the dancer is his art.

There is also a sexual undercurrent to the scene.

Parisian gentlemen, like wealthy men hanging around beauty pageants today, could acquire backstage access to ballet rehearsals. Degas put himself among them.

The backstage power dynamic turns up again 20 years later. The 1890s saw extraordinary paintings and pastels of nude women in contorted positions as they enter a bathtub or comb their hair  women often presumed to be sex workers in brothels. An element of voyeurism courses through the work. Perhaps it descended from the common Old Master subject of Susanna at her bath, secretly being ogled by old men.

But these nudes are hardly classical figures, just as the awkward, rough-hewn waif who posed for the famous mixed-media sculpture of The little fourteen-year-old dancer is not one of mythological historys idealized Three Graces, fixed for all eternity. Such works are emblematic of Loyrettes contention that Degas is modern partly because his images are fragmentary, never fully resolved. Another angle is always available to explore.

''There must always be some mystery left,' Degas liked to say. Artistic process, in other words, is celebrated.

Degas made the process a subject in that gorgeous 1872 ballet rehearsal, and he pushed it to an unprecedented extreme in the late bathers. The lifelong bachelors manipulations of women certainly give one pause today, as surely as his notorious anti-Semitism in the Dreyfus affair, when he supported the state in its heinous persecution of a Jewish artillery captain in the French army. (Degas views cost him his friendship with Camille Pissarro.) It was a different time.

In art today, open-ended process is taken for granted the same way highly finished erudition was in the 19th century French academy. What could be more contemporary than art whose meaning evolves from the process of its making? Degas is a progenitor.

The Houston show, on view through Jan. 16, includes many breathtaking works  In a cafe (The Absinthe Drinker), in which a boozy, stoned woman floats as surely as the legless table tops on which her cocktails sit; Hortense Valpincon, the fidgety little girl in an apron painted on salvaged mattress ticking but posed as if she were the sleek Princesse de Broglie in Ingres grandiose portrait of a dignitary swathed in satin; the portrait of an anonymous Roman Beggar Woman whose tamped-down color, which Degas described in his notebook as faded, subtly conveys her aged penury with more power than the symbolic broken crockery and torn crust of bread beside her; and many others.

A few important things are unfortunately missing, such as Young Spartans Exercising, a classically themed study of youthful sexual bantering that the artist painted at 26 and kept in his studio for the next six decades (three studies for the painting are here); or The Bellelli Family, a large picture of a family in mourning whose domestic intimacy attains the gravity of a history painting by Velazquez or Anthony van Dyck.

But these are small omissions. The 1988 Degas retrospective showed his then poorly understood work to be indispensable. This one raises his standing further still.

christopher.knight@latimes.com

Twitter: @KnightLAT

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A flamboyant rock musical about a botched sex change operation is just what election-addled Los Angeles needs. Plus: A 16th century composition made new, gentrification tensions in Boyle Heights and an artists feminine take on monsters. Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the L.A. Times, and here are the most intriguing and bizarre arts stories of the week:

Addictively wonderful Hedwig

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the hit musical created by John Cameron Mitchell about a sex change operation (and a whole relationship) gone very wrong, is being re-staged at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre with Glees Darren Criss in the title role. Contributing reviewer Margaret Gray writes that he plays the dramatic, insecure Hedwig with aplomb  in a performance that is inexpressibly, addictively wonderful. Los Angeles Times

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And if you missed it, Jessica Gelts interview with Criss and Mitchell about the making of a millennial Hedwig is worth a read. Los Angeles Times

Lightness in nasty election

Times theater critic Charles McNulty writes that in the midst of our election slog-march, he was feeling weary about seeing Jon Robin Baitzs new play Vicuna, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, about a tailor who makes a transformative suit for a Trump-like candidate. But he says he was impressed by Baitzs impressive, honest to goodness comedy in which comedy and menace work together to make clear the stark reality thats dauntingly upon us. Los Angeles Times

McNulty also took in a surrealist pop-up production at a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles: John Sinners An Invasion of Decency. The imaginatively staged piece, he writes, is at once austere and flamboyant, campy and menacing, but the febrile design team sets up a theatrical promise that is never fulfilled. Los Angeles Times

16th century music that moves

Los Angeles Master Chorale performs the premiere of a work by Orlando di Lasso at Walt Disney Concert Hall. (Christina House / For The Times )

Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter), the composition by the late Renaissance composer Orlando di Lasso, has always presented a musical challenge: It is a musically merciless exploration of the disciple Peters betrayal of Jesus. But a production staged by artistic director Grant Gershon and conductor Peter Sellars with the Los Angeles Master Chorale has transformed it, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. Lagrime is a major accomplishment for the Master Chorale, which sang and acted brilliantly, writes Swed. It is also a major accomplishment for music history. Los Angeles Times

Swed also attended a concert by the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles conducted by Gustavo Dudamel in Oakland. The concert wasnt musically perfect (the musicians are still learning), he writes, but the show nonetheless provided an undeniable thrill. Los Angeles Times

Hate crimes against galleries?

Police investigate vandalism at the Nicodim Gallery in Boyle Heights in October. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times )

Three acts of vandalism against Boyle Heights galleries  including a graffiti tag about white art are being treated as a hate crime by the Los Angeles Police Department, reports The Times Brittny Mejia. Police have not identified a suspect and the activist group Defend Boyle Heights issued a statement that it was not involved  but the group didnt condemn it, stating that it is right to rebel! The incident speaks to the growing tensions over gentrification in the historically working class neighborhood. Los Angeles Times

Marnie Webers monsters

Artist Marnie Weber stands in her installation Chapel of the Moon at Gavlak gallery in Hollywood. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times )

L.A. artist Marnie Weber has transformed a Hollywood gallery into a surreal chapel that is screening her first feature film, The Day of Forevermore, about a young woman eager to break free from a witch mother and her coven of monsters. I thought it would be interesting for a woman to fully embrace monsters, she tells me. Monsters have a male energy  So for me its that idea of befriending what youre afraid of on a metaphorical level. The show closes Saturday evening with a special performance by the artist. Los Angeles Times

A more sustainable L.A.

A vision of an augmented Century City, transformed into a second downtown. (Shareefa Abdulsalam and Niketa Sondhi / Now Institute )

The population of Los Angeles is set to expand by 1.5 million people. But the city, in the midst of a housing crisis, isnt ready to absorb them. Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis presents one possible solution: Adding density to the Wilshire Boulevard corridor. The solutions to this issue, he writes, do not reside in anti-development measures. The realities of population growth and a warming climate, mean that preventing change is not an option, he writes. Instead, we need to learn how to adapt and thrive in its midst. Los Angeles Times

In related news: As the city prepares to vote on Measure M, a sales tax hike that would support public transport, Alissa Walker looks at attitudes towards public transport in L.A. Curbed

Legendary dancer returns

Carmen de Lavallade hugs 11th-grader Reyna Soriano, who performed a solo to welcome the dancer to Thomas Jefferson High. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times )

The renowned dancer Carmen de Lavallade returned to her native South Los Angeles school  Thomas Jefferson High School  to speak with students about her groundbreaking life in the arts. It was a tough crowd, reports The Times Jessica Gelt. But some students were moved to hear about the ways in which she broke racial boundaries in dance. Los Angeles Times

A party hearty at LACMA

Jaden Smith at the annual Art + Film gala at LACMA. (Jordan Strauss / Invision/Associated Press )

Nothing like a gala to bring out the fine frocks and the socialites with looking-at-art face. Times reporter Deborah Vankin soaked up the scene at LACMAs annual Art + Film gala, co-hosted by Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow, in honor of director Kathryn Bigelow and light and space master Robert Irwin. Writer Maxwell Williams also attended and got some valuable face-time with Jeff Koons over the important question of Cheerios. The whole shebang raised $3.6 million for the museum. Los Angeles Times, Artnet

Speaking of LACMA: The Times Jeffrey Fleishman reports on the low-key man who just gave LACMA a $25 milllion gift. Eric Smidt spent two years in an orphanage; he now oversees the successful power tools outfit Harbor Freight Tools and is among the worlds top art collectors. Los Angeles Times

Ashes at the opera

Police arrive at the Metropolitan Opera, which halted a performance after a man sprinkled a friends ashes into the orchestra pit. (Dylan Hayden / Associated Press )

An opera lover tossed a friends ashes into the orchestra pit at the Metropolitan Opera in New York last week  causing a terrorism scare. Roger Kaiser later wrote a heartfelt apology for his actions, saying that he simply wanted to express his devotion to the mentor who taught him about opera. It was a sweet gesture to a dying friend, he writes, that went completely and utterly wrong in ways that I could never have imagined. New York Times

IN OTHER NEWS

 Interesting fact: David Bowie was a fan of the chunky-colorful, totally 80s designs of the Memphis Group. Los Angeles Times

 The Obama White House, writes critic Nate Chinen, has been very hospitable to jazz. He looks at how jazz musicians have contended with the presidential election in their work. New York Times

 Christopher Marlowe will officially be credited as co-author of three Shakespeare plays by Oxford University Press. NPR

 Lin-Manuel Miranda made a Hamilton mix-tape. Boing Boing

 Hamilton, incidentally, has been sucking a lot of air out of the room with nonstop media coverage. The Times Steven Zeitchek rounds up some of the smaller Broadway productions worth exploring. Los Angeles Times

 Nominees for the 27th annual L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards have been announced. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts leads the nominations. Los Angeles Times

 A first-ever filmed look at the burial site in Jerusalems Church of the Holy Sepulchre said to contain Christs burial chamber. National Geographic

 The Finnish government has vetoed funds for a Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki. A group of supporters is trying to keep the project alive. New York Times

 L.A. artist Barbara Kruger, known for her bold, graphic work, has designed New York magazines latest cover, depicting Donald Trump with the word Loser. New York

 A team of researchers at the Getty Center are studying the properties of a batch of avant-garde South American paintings to learn how to better preserve them in the future. Los Angeles Times

 The designers who are shaping the look of the cannabis industry. KCRW Design and Architecture

 How a Boyle Heights art center and a Franciscan nun helped foster L.A.s early Dia de los Muertos celebrations. LA Weekly

And last but not least

The bizarre history of anti-suffrage cat memes. Thank you, Internet! Huffington Post

Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
With the presidential election just around the corner, the Marxist party is on the rise again. Karl? No! Try Zeppo, Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Gummo.

Im Scott Sandell, and welcome to another special edition of Classic Hollywood.



For the record: A previous version of this article misidentified the author of Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage. He is Robert S. Bader, not Badera.

Several projects this year have celebrated the zany comedy of the Marx Brothers. Among them: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection, a Blu-ray box set that restores the racy scenes and suggestive dialogue in Animal Crackers; Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage, an in-depth book by Robert S. Bader; and Ill Say She Is, an off-Broadway revival of the Marx Brothers first Broadway musical.

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Rob Zombie is even attached to direct a film adaptation of the book Raised Eyebrows, written by Steve Stoliar, who served as Grouchos personal secretary and archivist.

Donald Liebenson has the lowdown, along with some theories about the Marxian revival and how some of todays college students reacted when they were shown Duck Soup.

THE CHARMER

Warren Beatty is coming back to the silver screen with Rules Dont Apply as director, screenwriter, producer and actor, and Times staff writer Mark Olsen went to Beattys house off Mulholland Drive for a must-read interview with the star.

Academy Award-winning director, producer, writer and actor Warren Beatty. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Rules Dont Apply is framed around Howard Hughes, but whatever you do, dont call it a biopic. Beatty had a rather lengthy explanation for what the movie is and isnt about.

The actor, who was once said to be considering a presidential candidacy in the 2000 race, was much more succinct when asked if he was surprised by the ugliness of this years campaign: Youre calling it ugly. I would call it ridiculous.

YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS

Times columnist Patt Morrison spoke with Carl Reiner, who at 94 years old is publishing memoirs and childrens books and tweeting up a storm. (Youll recognize in an instant whom he backs in the presidential race.)

He described a memorable encounter with Hedy Lamarr when they were sitting on a panel show: I was talking to the host, and she reached into her pocketbook and took out a cigarette and I, being a gentleman, without looking at her, went like this [mimes a cigarette lighter] and I heard this voice say, Carl, vat are you going to do  light my lozenge? Shed taken out a lozenge, not a cigarette!

EMERITUS STATUS

The spooky 1958 drama Home Before Dark, starring Jean Simmons, was written by Eileen and Robert Bassing. Last week, Robert, now 91, got a letter from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The opening paragraph: As of today, your Academy membership will be changed to emeritus (non-voting) status.

Bassing has been a member of the academy since 1958 and, after having received a request for further credits to keep his membership active, supplied the titles of unproduced screenplays he says he wrote in the 1960s and 70s for major studios and the likes of Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen. As Glenn Whipps story on Bassing continues, most of his other produced credits came in television, though he did co-write the 1977 zombie movie Evil Town, directed by Curtis Hanson under a pseudonym.

Bassing is one of an estimated 60 to 70 members who have had their status changed as the film academy looks to diversify its membership. But Bassing says, I just dont understand why they thought it was necessary.

AROUND TOWN

The work of Joan Blondell doesnt get the attention it once did, but Times film critic Kenneth Turan happily notes that the late actress is getting a five-week UCLA Film & Television Archive career retrospective. It begins at 7:30 tonight with screenings of Blondie Johnson, Blonde Crazy and Big City Blues.

On Nov. 21, the film academy will host a 70th-anniversary screening of Its a Wonderful Life, with cast members Karolyn Grimes (Zuzu), Carol Coombs Mueller (Janie) and Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy), and Tom Capra, son of director Frank Capra.

Breakfast at Tiffanys marks its 55th anniversary with a Fathom Events screening at theaters nationwide on Nov. 27 and 30. It will include commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Tiffany Vasquez.

Mel Brooks will introduce a double feature of Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles on Nov. 12 at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

-- Mel Gibson goes from most hated man in Hollywood to receiving a standing ovation.

-- At 75, Wonder Woman was named an honorary U.N. ambassador. But not everyone is happy about that.

-- The African American Film Critics Assn. will honor Sidney Poitier with its first Icon award.

Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton star in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner. (Columbia Pictures / Getty Images )

-- Norman Brokaw, a talent agent who represented Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, has died at 89.

-- Speaking of the King, Priscilla Presley says there is no way Elvis would be on Twitter if he were alive today.

-- The latest iteration of The Odd Couple, on CBS, will pay tribute to the late Garry Marshall on Monday night.

-- Bob Dylan has been reached and says hell turn up for the Nobel Prize ceremony if its at all possible.

-- The Muppets will retake Manhattan for the 90th anniversary of the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 24.

For more vintage Hollywood, go to the Classic Hollywood Los Angeles Times Facebook page.
Steven Seagal is now a son of Russia: President Vladimir Putin has granted citizenship to the martial-arts action star.

Seagal, 64, is known for his warm feelings to our country, he never made a secret of it, and hes also a well-known actor, which gave grounds to make him a Russian citizen, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Putins decree was publicized on the Kremlin website, where Steven Seagal is rendered in Cyrillic as  . Seagals family has some Russian roots, and the movie star has praised Putin as a leader.

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Vlad and Steve have reportedly attended several martial-arts events together in Russia and visited an academy there in 2013. In May 2015, the actor attended the Victory Day parade held in Red Square to mark the 70th anniversary of Russias victory over Nazi Germany, and the bromance continued when the two connected at an economic forum in Vladivostok in September 2015.

And of course, where Putins name goes, Donald Trumps often follows  and so it has in Seagals Twitter feed, where the actor has regularly retweeted comments in support of the GOP nominee and has made statements of his own slamming Hillary Clinton.

You can rest assured that I will NOT be voting for Hillary. https://t.co/D8zk8JYNBr  Steven Seagal (@sseagalofficial) September 27, 2016

Seagal, who also got Serbian citizenship in January, joins expat French actor Gerard Depardieu as a Russian citizen. The Green Card actor, who took a stand against taxes and renounced his French citizenship in 2012, got his Russian passport in January 2013.

To commemorate that occasion, Gerard popped in for dinner with Vlad  at the presidential residence in Sochi. Good times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Christie DZurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.

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I should tell the people in L.A. that Im here, director Kenneth Lonergan said to a reporter in front of a downtown Manhattan restaurant on a recent Sunday morning. Because Im usually late and I think theyd feel better to hear it.

The comment, about his publicity team, was uttered with what might be called Lonergrithm  a legit sincerity laced with amused ennui, as if to say, I want to do right by the people trying to help but I cant help feeling this whole machine is a little nonsensical.

Such are the contradictions of the director, whose new movie Manchester By the Sea arrives Nov. 18. Lonergan is a wry wit who makes movies about the deadly serious, an important figure who has nonetheless been absent from the scene for long stretches.

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At 54, the filmmaker has helmed just three movies, splitting his time with his other job as a playwright. Yet on his resume is one of the most influential dramas of the 2000s (You Can Count On Me), one of the most troubled productions in cinema history (Margaret), and now one of the most heralded pictures of the year, a desperately needed shot of humanism in a film world thats forsaken it. Since Sundance, Manchester has been wowing tastemakers with its deep plunge into grief and guilt (and a little redemption).

Told with the help of intermittent (and powerful) flashbacks, the movie follows Lee (Casey Affleck), a Boston janitor living in a state of angry isolation after he played a part in a family tragedy. Lees life is far from happy, but it does have a kind of self-protective smallness. Then a new, intimately seismic event forces him to return to the coastal town of Manchester, Mass., and into a coexistence with his teenage nephew.

 Manchester By The Sea stars Kyle Chandler, Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

What seems like an easy indie-film trope  two hurt people, pushed together by circumstance, reluctantly come to heal each other  is subverted at every turn, thanks in large part to its humanism. Manchester contains scenes of such heartfelt devastation that during some moments, particularly a showstopper involving Lee and his ex-wife (Michelle Williams), early audiences could be heard gasping.

Lonergan shaped the coastal New England story from the point of view of a vigilant parent  he and his wife are raising a teenage daughter in New Yorks West Village  and despite the change in venue, brought to it the same elemental fears.

Ive always been interested in the idea of how do people go on when everything seems hopeless? Lonergan said, using that last word often and as a kind of parallax; competing views on hopelessness is the animating force of all his movies. I mean, hope doesnt always trump over adversity. A lot of the time adversity wins. But even when it does, people are still here. What do they do with that?

How a man like Lonergan has come to be a chronicler of separation and loss is a mystery even to him. The director suffered no great childhood trauma growing up in relative privilege on New Yorks Upper West Side. His parents did get divorced when he was young, he did watch a grandmother suffer from dementia (the subject of his play The Waverly Gallery) and he alludes to losing a friend at 40. But he mostly describes a supportive environment.

Which may explain his preoccupation.

I have no real religious beliefs; I dont even have a philosophical belief that I find helpful in times of trouble, he said. When people I love die theres no ameliorating way of looking at it. So for me it all comes down to the idea of people taking care of each other.

In his work, he seems uncommonly interested in granting dignity to even those he disagrees with. The standout moment in You Can Count On Me is a scene in which a priest and Mark Ruffalos agnostic character have a candid conversation about God; though Lonergan is an avowed atheist, he plays the priest himself. (The director has another eye-catching cameo in Manchester.)

Lonergan is sitting on an outdoor bench as he speaks. The restaurant was too loud so in a demonstration of either his willingness to improvise or his penchant for perfectionism, he suggested a conversation outside. There he took in the tableaux of downtown Manhattan on a fall Sunday morning  a mixture of the hung-over and the early riser, the dog-walker and the walk-of-shamer.

Lonergan grew up with his mother and stepfather in a large brood of half- and step-siblings, not to mention their friends, whom his parents would host for weeks at a clip. He also spent a lot of time around adults, particularly women. While still a teenager, he developed a friendship with his best friends mother despite a 40-year age difference; they remained close until she died a decade ago.

The answer to the under-indexing of black movies is to make more movies with black people, not to make fewer movies about white people.  Kenneth Lonergan

The directors low-key exterior hides a mischievous sense of humor. On stage at the New York Film Festival he began to introduce the Manchester cast with awkward politeness  Its in no particular order  then turned the tables with, "Its kind of in the order I like you. Williams calls Lonergan very exacting but also very patient and funny.

Its the first part of Williams description, Lonergans willfulness, that was an issue on his last film. The story of Margaret could fill a book. In a description far shorter, the epic battle involved a three-way fight between Lonergan, studio Fox Searchlight and producer Gary Gilbert over the length, the content and the deadlines, with no love lost between the three.

The film is a kind of post-9/11 meditation, starring Matt Damon (who also produced Manchester) and Anna Paquin, that centers on a fatal New York bus accident and the complexities of guilt and memory that followed. After years of intense wrangling and new cuts made with people as diverse as old Lonergan ally Martin Scorsese, Searchlight finally released a compressed (150-minute) cut in belated, minimal fashion in 2011. Gilbert wound up suing his director.

Lonergan acknowledges he can get overwhelmed with superficial detail, though he insists that that wasnt what felled Margaret.

It was never the creative difficulty of having too much material, he said about the film, of which he clearly remains proud  at least of a three-hour extended cut that has earned a devoted following among some critics. It was the arguments and the distractions and the fights  that grew out of that. And I didnt have the diplomatic skills. I should have been more diplomatic and [Searchlight] should have had a little more faith in me.

Damon, a friend of nearly 15 years, acknowledges Lonergans approach to writing and other parts of the filmmaking chain can be intense.

Kennys process is very pure, Damon said. All the dialogue is either fragments of things said to him or things hes said or thing hes imagined. Its an excruciating process. But I think thats what makes [the finished product] great. He doesnt just hack stuff together and put it out in the world.

Damon and John Krasinski had initially approached Lonergan to write the Manchester script  they had come up with the idea  for Damon to direct and star in. Lonergan toiled on it a long time  so long the pair went off and made a whole other movie, the fracking drama Promised Land, in the meantime. They were convinced Manchester would never happen. When Lonergan finally came back with a polished script, they realized they were sitting on a gold mine, and that Lonergan should probably be the one to mine it.

Not, it should be said, that financing was easy even then. Lonergans Margaret-enabled reputation as both an inveterate fiddler and a more-is-more edit-room figure was well-established, and many financiers either balked or demanded caps on the length. (That Affleck was replacing the more bankable Damon in the lead role gave some pause too.) Eventually the team, with Damon assurances of edit-room discipline, secured backing in the $8 million range from the first-time producer and financier Kimberly Steward, daughter of a wealthy St. Louis tech entrepreneur named David Steward.

At the NYFF premiere Lonergan both gave his investor a compliment and took an apparent dig at Margaret backers when he introduced Steward. Every person Ive ever worked for has guaranteed me creative control, he said. She actually provided it.

Steward, who is African American, is notable in her own right. If Manchester gets nominated for best picture, she would become only the second black woman ever to earn the honor. (Oprah Winfrey was the first.) Its ironic given that Manchester has, in this season of diversity, become a touchstone of sorts for what the website Vox called the sad white person movie.

Lonergan says that the article didnt bother him, but is troubled by a suggestion that any race should be off-limits. The answer to the under-indexing of black movies is to make more movies with black people, not to make fewer movies about white people, he said. There should be more movies about everyone.

He added that, though his movies do in fact tend to contain a lot of sad white people, he doesnt see the issue in race terms. Human struggle, after all, is universal.

The world can be cruel. Many human aspirations are not fulfilled and terrible things happen, he said. But its in the context of a gorgeous planet. Take a look around, he said, gesturing to the New York street corner. The people, the life, even the pigeons flapping around; theyre interesting.

He caught himself. I dont mean to sound like a pothead, he said with a small laugh. Sometimes I feel bleak about myself or whats going on in my world. But then I look at people helping each other every day, all over, even in difficult places like hospitals or wars. I suppose I do have a melancholic personality to some degree. But its not bleak, and its not hopeless. Things are only hopeless when youre dead.

On Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT
La La Land, a musical about two beautiful young people falling for each other in Los Angeles, was always meant to be a love letter to the city.

Its not Training Day, joked David Wasco, the films production designer, whos worked on grittier L.A. films Collateral and Pulp Fiction. Theres a sweetness to it  kind of a heightened, dreamy movie world thing.

The movie, directed by Whiplashs Damien Chazelle, does depict L.A. as an aspirational dreamland  a place imbued with the power to transform us into our best selves. Thats how the films two leads seem to view it, anyway. Theres Mia, played by Emma Stone, a small-town Nevada transplant who dreams of being a star despite an endless stream of mortifying auditions. Sebastian, meanwhile, played by Ryan Gosling, wants to open his own jazz club but cant seem to get anyone else in town interested in the old-school music.

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When the two cross paths and start to fall in love, they explore their new feelings while exploring L.A. together. The movie, which opens Dec. 9, shot at 48 locations in 42 days, showing off such city landmarks as the Watts Towers, Angels Flight and the Griffith Observatory. Howd they pull it off? We asked Wasco and supervising location scout, Robert Foulkes, to give us a tour of the movies dreamy landscape.

Griffith Observatory

To pay homage to Rebel Without a Cause  the 1955 James Dean film shot largely at the Observatory  Chazelle wanted his leads to spend a romantic evening inside the iconic building perched at the top of Griffith Park in Los Feliz.

The Griffith Observatory at night. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Los Angeles Times )

Though the characters frolic about exploring exhibits and taking in the view from the top of the hillside, filming wasnt allowed inside the Observatorys planetarium. So the production team built the planetarium as a set, even finding a vintage Minolta projector on EBay to give the scene an Art Deco vibe. It didnt work and it was, like, 12 feet high, but it helped heighten the charm of everything, explained Wasco.

110-105 interchange

Like it or not, living in L.A. means living with traffic. Which is why Chazelle decided to open his film with a musical number that takes place in the middle of a gnarly traffic jam. In his initial script, the director envisioned the scene taking place on a Hollywood freeway, but Foulkes knew the odds of shutting down the 101 between Sunset and Vine were slim. Instead, the location scout thought of an EZ Pass lane connecting the 110 and 105 freeways that had a beautiful view of the downtown skyline. Hed used it before in the movie Cake, starring Jennifer Aniston, during a harrowing scene when the actress stands on a freeway ledge contemplating suicide.

Once Chazelle signed off, Foulkes had to persuade Caltrans to shut down the freeway not once, but twice: First for a six-hour rehearsal, and then for a weekend in August to film the actual scene. He met with the state agency, using matchbox cars to outline how everything would be staged and requesting 10 California Highway Patrol officers to secure the area.

My biggest concern was safety, because it had a very low, knee-high parapet on both sides and a 100-foot drop below, recalled Wasco, adding that the scene required 100 dancers. But nobody was hurt. It was challenging, though. We filmed on some of the hottest days of the year. I think it was 108 degrees.

Warner Bros. backlot

Out-of-towners usually envision movie studios as glamorous, exclusive hubs of activity, where A-listers roam free and films shoot under the bright California sunshine. Thats why Mia, an aspiring actress, decides to take a job at a coffee shop on a lot  so she can be as close as possible to the Hollywood action.

In reality, studios all kind of look the same, populated by gargantuan sound stages and nondescript office buildings. But thats not what we see in La La Land. After surveying every studio backlot in town, the filmmakers decided to have Mia work at Warner Bros. because it had the most romantic-looking exteriors. Ive scouted several studios, and Warner Bros. is one of the best for the old Hollywood look, said Foulkes. The colors are great, and they havent put too many modern buildings everywhere you look.

Production did build a faux coffee shop for Mia to work in, plastering the walls with vintage photographs of actors like Lucille Ball and Spencer Tracy enjoying coffee and doughnuts. Across the street from the shop, however, was a real piece of Hollywood history: A window used in Casablanca. Chazelle was so jazzed when he found out about the historic window that he added a line into the script where Mia gushes over her love of the 1942 classic.

Lighthouse Cafe/Hermosa Pier

L.A. isnt exactly known for its jazz scene, so making a movie about an aspiring jazz musician presented challenges. Many of the locations where Sebastian is shown playing music are actually just generic restaurants or bars off-screen. Save for the Lighthouse Cafe, a Hermosa Beach bistro where locals have been enjoying jazz since the 1950s. Fortunately, the joint is right next to the Hermosa Pier, so it also provided an easy way to get the Pacific Ocean in the movie. We kept asking, How do we get the beach in the movie? said Foulkes. All we had to do was push our equipment down around the corner from the Lighthouse Cafe to the pier, and suddenly we had our water element. Its hard to have an L.A. movie without the beach.

 Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone star in La La Land.

Fern Dell Park

Just a few streetlights and a bench. That was all production needed to create one of the most visually stunning scenes in the film. Well, that and Gosling and Stone, who put in weeks of training preparing to film a dance number at sunset in Griffith Park. The scene is pivotal in the film: Mia and Sebastian are leaving a hillside party, looking for their cars. Soon, theyre singing and dancing, but its the backdrop that really adds to the magic of the moment. To capture the perfect light, the actors had about 20 minutes to film a nonstop take of the six-minute dance scene  meaning no mistakes allowed. Damien wanted to hearken back to old-school musicals, when things were beautiful and clean and romantic, explained Foulkes. And L.A. can be that. Sometimes tourists just miss it.

amy.kaufman@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @AmyKinLA
In August, in a nondescript warehouse in North Hollywood, two lions of Disney animation were debating an intricate shot in their new movie, Moana. With the studios quaint, hat-shaped Burbank building under construction, Moana directors Ron Clements and John Musker had relocated to this industrial space, where a sign on the wall indicated that animation on the film was 88% complete.

Like Anna and Elsa or Bambi and Thumper, Clements and Musker are a key duo in the lore of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Together they directed movies associated with the studios post-Walt, late 1980s and 1990s renaissance, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, and led a hand-drawn revival with 2009s The Princess and the Frog.

We disagree a lot, Clements said, explaining his relationship with his directing partner of 40 years. We bicker all the time.

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I dont think we bicker, Musker bickered. It ends when one of us gets tired of arguing, or we let [Disney chief creative officer] John Lasseter decide.

With Moana, which Disney will release Nov. 23, Clements and Musker have just made their first primarily computer-animated film, and theyve done it with a team of animators who largely grew up on their hand-drawn work.

 The trailer for Disneys Moana.

A Polynesian True Grit, Moana follows a teenage girl with a knack for navigation, voiced by newcomer Aulii Cravalho, who teams up with the boastful demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) on a journey in search of a fabled island. Set 2,000 years ago, the story is inspired by an era when many historians believe there was an unexplained, 1,000-year gap in exploration in the region. Like Clements and Muskers previous films, Moana comes with crowd-pleasing touches  it features heart-swelling songs co-written by Hamiltons Lin Manuel-Miranda, New Zealand songwriter Opetaia Foai and composer Mark Mancina, lush oceanic visuals and cute animal sidekicks.

An early conversation Clements and Musker had with an elder on the island of Moorea informed the directors approach, they said.

[The elder] said, For years, weve been swallowed by your culture. One time, could you be swallowed by our culture? We took that to heart and thats what weve tried to do, Musker said.

The filmmakers casting of Johnson, who is of Samoan heritage, and Cravalho, who is Hawaiian, reflects a commitment to tell the story with a level of authenticity, they said. They have also worked with a team of advisers from the region, including anthropologists, musicians, linguists, botanists, navigators and tattoo experts, and the film will be the first Disney movie ever translated and re-recorded in Tahitian.

Dwayne The Rock Johnson with Moana directors John Musker, left, and Ron Clements. (John Parra / Getty Images for Disney )

The filmmakers first pitched the idea of a Polynesian-set film to Lasseter in 2011. A research trip to the region, including conversations with artists in Samoa and Moorea, convinced the filmmakers that a mix of CG and hand-drawn techniques would suit their story best. While most of the movie relies on CG animation, there are flourishes of hand-drawn work, including an opening sequence modeled on the Polynesian design tradition of tapa cloth and a tattoo character on Mauis body animated by Eric Goldberg, the lead animator on the Genie character from Aladdin.

We talked to one artist in Samoa who said, We dont have a painting or drawing tradition, we have sculpting traditions, Musker said, explaining their use of CG animation, which is based on 3-D modeling. Everything is in-depth. The landscapes in Moorea; its graphic but its sculptural. The people have these planes in their faces that feel sculptural too. And then the ocean. If we had done that in hand-drawn, it wouldnt have looked as good.

Clements, 63, and Musker, 62, had to adapt to the new techniques, and to the different pace of production. On their hand-drawn films, they had two years two animate; on Moana, as on many CG-animated films, most of the animation took just six months to complete, earlier this year. (Big Hero 6 directors Don Hall and Chris Williams came aboard as co-directors on the film to help with the story.)

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

One thing that did come easily, however, is their own creative partnership. Clements and Musker both grew up altar boys in the Midwest: Clements in Sioux City, Iowa, and Musker in Chicago. Both were the editorial cartoonists at their school newspapers. And both arrived at Disney Animation in the 1970s, in an era when the men who had made classics like Snow White and Pinocchio still roamed the Burbank lot. They first worked together on 1986s The Great Mouse Detective.

Our sensibilities align, Musker said. John was more structure oriented and I was more dialogue oriented. Wed divvy up the songs. If youre gonna do Under the Sea then Im gonna do Kiss the Girl.

While they had once been young observers of Disneys Nine Old Men, Clements and Musker are now among the studios elder statesmen. On Moana, as the directors ran their dailies, many of the animators who came in to share their shots had been children when The Little Mermaid arrived in theaters.

The younger people were working with bring so much enthusiasm and energy, Musker said. Theres a little bit of handing off the torch.

Reflecting on the changes in animation since they began their careers, the directors said they see an industry thats in better shape today, as other animation studios like Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Blue Sky press the art form forward.

When we started, if you wanted to do the kind of animation that we do, Disney was the only place to do it, Musker said. I think its a better, healthier industry that theres competition.

rebecca.keegan@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter for more movie news: @thatrebecca
Warren Beatty is charming, this much goes without saying. What is perhaps less well known, less understood, is the variety of purposes to which Beatty can deploy that renowned, near-weaponized charm as part sword, part smokescreen, part invitation, part deflection.

The new Rules Dont Apply, finds Beatty returning to the screen as director, screenwriter, producer and actor in a story framed around eccentric industrialist Howard Hughes. It is the first film directed by Beatty since 1998s political satire Bulworth and his first time onscreen since 2001s ill-fated comedy Town & Country. The new film has its upcoming world premiere as the opening-night selection of the AFI Fest film festival, premiering at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, as did Hughes 1930 film Hells Angels, before opening later in the month.

Beattys phenomenal string of successes, as an actor in Splendor In the Grass, then a producer with Bonnie & Clyde, a writer with Shampoo and director with Heaven Can Wait, have given him the confidence, patience and ability not to rush. He is the only person to two times be nominated for Oscars for directing, writing, producing and starring in the same film. He won the directing Oscar for Reds in 1982 and was in 2000 was awarded the academys Irving G. Thalberg award.

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I was lucky. I didnt have to make movie after movie after movie. I could take my time. I also had a life. I got caught up in the urgencies of life, he said. You might say that I luxuriated in that thing that fame affords, which is access.

In the film, which unabashedly condenses and embroiders events from Hughes life, an aspiring actress from Virginia, Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins), arrives in Los Angeles under contract to Hughes (Beatty), who provides housing, schooling and a never-quite-fulfilled promise of movie stardom. Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich) is a Hughes-employed young man with ambitions beyond chauffeuring around would-be starlets. The obvious attraction between Marla and Frank is hindered by Hughes rule that the drivers not date the actresses, as well as Hughes intrusions into both their lives.

Beatty sat for a recent interview at the stately house off Mulholland Drive he shares with his wife, actress Annette Bening. The two married in 1992, having met making the movie Bugsy, and they have four children together. (Bening also has a small role in Rules as Marlas mother.) Their house features a panorama of the Valley on one side and an ocean vista from the other. This is the view from the top of Hollywood.

You might say that I luxuriated in that thing that fame affords, which is access.  Warren Beatty

In conversation, Beatty creates an almost conspiratorial sense of inclusive warmth, even as his responses can have an evasive circularity, with parentheticals inside parentheticals and more than a few disorientingly long pauses midthought. Sometimes he will allow his words to just trail off and then simply nod, signaling that he is no longer pausing, he is done.

He gives the impression that nothing is off limits, but Beatty will deploy that celebrated charm like a surgical tool to carve out exactly what he wants to say and nothing more about whatever topic arises: The legendary failure of Ishtar (Its a good movie), his brief appearance in Madonnas Truth or Dare documentary (I am still friends with her), the inner-workings of Hollywood today (I have a lot to say on the subject), and Benings performance in the upcoming 20th Century Women (I mean, whew, shes so good).

Of his legend as Hollywoods leading lothario and the recent biography that claimed he had slept with 12,775 women, Beatty said, That would not be, as Joan Didion once said to me, feasible. It would not be feasible. It could not happen.

Rules Dont Apply spotlights the unusual position occupied by Beatty, 79, as someone whose career straddles golden-age Hollywood, the new Hollywood of the 1960s and 70s and the more contemporary era. Though it can seem as if he has met nearly everyone else in his time, one person Beatty never met was Howard Hughes.

In introducing early screenings of the movie, Beatty has been carefully specifying that it is not a biopic of Hughes. So then, what is it?

I would say that its a comedy about the comical consequences, the comical and sometimes sad consequences of American sexual puritanism in the 1958 to 1964 period in a town that sold sex or tried to sell sex successfully, he said. No, Ill say it in a different way. That sold sex on the screen successfully. That sold sex on the screen with restrictions successfully.

He added, I felt that the movie all takes place because of Howard Hughes. These two kids are working for Howard Hughes and are being paid by Howard Hughes and have to follow the rules that Howard Hughes sets down. I would say in a sense that its about Howard Hughes and its about them. You know, there are plots and subplots. I didnt say its not about Howard Hughes. I said its not a biopic of Howard Hughes.

Beattys movies have long been in conversation with his public image, from the way Bonnie and Clyde and Dick Tracy subverted his status as a handsome leading man, to the explorations of the inner life of a ladies man in Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait, the know-it-all who accomplishes nothing in McCabe & Mrs. Miller to the political commitment of Reds and Bulworth.

In Rules Dont Apply, Hughes is seen as an enigmatic figure who is both there and not there, a string-puller from a distance who is deeply concerned with legacy, what he will leave behind once he is gone. So is Beattys Howard Hughes in fact a self-portrait? How much of Beatty himself is in his portrayal of Hughes?

None, Beatty responded before taking a pause. Theres one huge difference that my marriage and children are the biggest and best thing that has ever happened to me. Theres no 10 movies that would be as interesting to me as any one of my kids.

The film has an unusual tone, playing mostly in the key of breezy comedy, though boldly pivoting to raw, emotionally vivid moments, such as when Beatty has a near vaudeville style bit of banter with Matthew Broderick followed mere moments later by an earnest confession of inner torment to Ehrenreich.

Well, I dont think we knew we were making a comedy when we were making it, said Collins. Warren knew exactly what he wanted to get.

Ehrenreich noted that nothing that comes from Beatty is an accident.

Warren is really hands-on on a micro level about pretty much every aspect of the film, said Ehrenreich. It wasnt uncommon to spend over an hour talking about a line of dialogue. And I think thats his approach to absolutely everything. Its the way he orders food in a restaurant. Everything he does he does meticulously and deliberately and he has a real commitment to making sure everything is exactly the expression he wants it to be.

Beatty was somewhat reluctant to speak on the record about the current political season. Once nearly as famous for his politics as for his movies and even for a time tipped by many to himself run for elected office, he has more recently scaled back his public political activities.

Nevertheless, has he been surprised to see the recent presidential campaign turn so ugly?

Youre calling it ugly. I would call it ridiculous, he said, taking another long pause to think about what else he might like to formally say on the matter.

As his mind circumnavigated the possibilities of what to say next  working through a catalog of all the dinner-party anecdotes, intimate conversations, personal thoughts and public statements of a lifetime as an observer of fame and power  he alighted back where he started.

With a soft chuckle, as if Warren Beatty can charm even Warren Beatty, he added, Thats a good quote.

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Mark.Olsen@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus

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Of the many movies the civil rights era has inspired, few have placed a woman at their center. But it is a quietly powerful black Virginia wife and mother played by Irish Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga who takes the lead in changing history in writer-director Jeff Nichols new fact-based drama, Loving.

Loving stars Negga and Australian actor Joel Edgerton as Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple arrested for violating Virginias anti-miscegenation laws in 1958, whose marriage led to the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving vs. Virginia. Jailed while pregnant with their child and forced to live out of state, Mildred wrote a letter to Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, setting in motion the case that would affect the lives of generations of interracial and same-sex couples.

I was moved by the Lovings story because of my own background as a mixed-race person, said Negga, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father and Irish mother and moved to Limerick, Ireland, when she was 3. I was also drawn to this great love story that has never been told.

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Neggas nuanced performance in Loving, which premiered to strong reviews at the Cannes Film Festival last spring and which opens Nov. 4, has put her in the spotlight in a breakout year. This year the 34-year-old actress has also played a gun-toting vigilante in AMCs supernatural hit Preacher and a monarch in the big-budget film adaptation of the video game Warcraft.

 Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton star in the Focus Features film Loving.

Early on in his planning for the film, Nichols auditioned Negga at the urging of casting director Francine Maisler. In preparation, the actress, who was in Los Angeles to shoot a recurring role on Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, had been studying archival footage of the Lovings from the 2011 HBO documentary The Loving Story.

Ruth had the voice, she had the posture, the facial expressions, Nichols said. It wasnt until after we were done and I started to speak with her that I realized she had an Irish accent. By then the die was already cast. She was Mildred. When she left the room I turned to [producer] Sarah Green and Francine and said, Well, do we really have to see anyone else?

In an interview in Los Angeles in October, Negga, her high heels tossed on the floor beside her, elbows propped on her knees, carried herself with a casual tomboyishness.

Mildred would never sit like this, Negga said, gesturing at her open knees, before standing and demonstrating her characters more upright affect. The actress said she absorbed Mildreds more formal mannerisms from studying the documentary, and during production she fell asleep at night listening to audio of Mildreds voice.

In the documentary, Mildreds looking for shorts and shoes to put on her daughter, Negga said. And she bends over into the wardrobe from the top down, she just bends.

During preproduction, Negga met Peggy Loving, the only daughter and survivor of the Lovings three children. I spent most of that meeting just silently crying, Negga said. We both cried. And she said, You have a good spirit to play my mom.

Nichols shot on location, including a Virginia courthouse where the couple faced a judge and the jail where Mildred was confined while pregnant, for a scene she considers a turning point in her characters awakening.

Mildred was the spine of the couple, Negga said. She saw what maybe Richard didnt want to see, that they werent going to get out of this by running away or putting their heads in the sand. She was a very astute woman. After those five days in jail, she realized that the fairy tale was over.

Mildred didnt set out to make history, Negga said, but in penning the letter to Kennedy and speaking to journalists about her marriage, she engaged in a form of sober defiance.

Black women then had a lot of resilience, a lot of tenacity and a lot of fight in them, Negga said. Its not the fight of being loud or big, because that kind of fight could get you killed. Its the innate knowledge that something isnt right.

Much of Nichols movie focuses on the Lovings daily life  his work as a bricklayer, her trips to the market, a relaxed moment laughing together in front of the television set. Some of the scenes are re-creations of still photos taken by Life magazine photographer Grey Villet, played in the movie by Michael Shannon, and they paint a portrait of a couple that was happy, despite the outside world telling them they shouldnt be.

In the archive footage of this couple, there is this energy between them that is so beautiful and so alive, Negga said. Joel and I wanted to re-create that out of a respect for the pair, but also because it looked like fun, because they actually giggle and just look like such a really lovely relationship.

Neggas own parents had a different kind of relationship, she said. They met at an Addis Ababa hospital where he worked as a doctor, she as a nurse. When Neggas mother brought her daughter back to Ireland, Neggas father stayed behind in Ethiopia, dying in a car crash when his daughter was 7. Raised among her 20-odd Irish cousins in Limerick, with a detour to London, Negga developed a facility for accents, an ability to adapt her surroundings and a love of the weekend trip to the video store.

She studied acting at Trinity College in Dublin, moving on to perform in theater and television before being discovered by Irish director Neil Jordan, who cast her in a key part in his 2005 film Breakfast on Pluto. Though she worked steadily over the last decade, including in smaller roles in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and World War Z, and a performance in 12 Years a Slave that ended up on the cutting room floor, 2016 is the year of Neggas breakout as a lead in the United States.

That she is making that leap in such a personal and timely film suits the actress wholly.

Were living in a very tumultuous time, Negga said. People are looking for integrity somewhere, for a direction to take. The Lovings story isnt over.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

rebecca.keegan@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter for more movie news: @thatrebecca

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Kanye West has a cold.

Or at least a sore throat. My voice is so hoarse. I cant finish the show, the rapper told his thousands of fans just before ditching Thursdays sixth gig at the Forum in Inglewood early.

The rapper-producer-designer, who was performing his song Only One from atop a floating stage that hovered over the audience, informed the crowd that he couldnt continue. "Turn the lights up, he said. Shows over. I can't let yall have a show where I can't perform. I'm sorry." He then offered refunds.

His fans started chattering as West told his crew to return the stage to its base. Standing atop the platform as his baffled disciples looked on, he then floated silently and awkwardly back toward his exit point, a man alone on his perch.

https://twitter.com/tamaradhia/status/794420638865760256

Thursdays Forum show was scheduled to be Wests last in a run that was originally slated for four nights. But as the shows sold out, West added two more. As a result, the Grammy-winning artists touring schedule was loaded with concerts over the past month as he rolled through Canada and then down the West Coast.

Given Wests penchant for onstage oration, such a schedule can wreak havoc on vocal cords.

The tour has seen some drama. Last month in Paris, his wife, Kim Kardashian, was robbed by masked gunmen who tied her up and stole millions of dollars in jewelry from her hotel room. It occurred as West was performing at a festival in Queens, N.Y. For obvious reasons, he halted his set to tend to his wifes trauma. (Kardashian made one of her first post-robbery public appearances at an earlier Forum show.)

Whether fans will indeed receive a refund isnt yet known. Wests average set during the tour has included about 35 songs, and he was about two-thirds of the way through the Thursday gig. Promoter Live Nation and Wests publicity team have not yet responded to queries regarding refunds.

The good news for West fans waiting to see him later on the Saint Pablo tour? Thursdays Forum set was the last one before a two-week break, which will give him time to recuperate.

Theres a lot of terrible music out there. For tips on the stuff thats not, follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit

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The first season of the Netflix series The Crown, which premiered Friday, follows the early years of Queen Elizabeths reign. It also offers a retelling of something revolutionary for that time period that is taken for granted today with every blog post about Michelle Obamas latest hairstyle or tweet about Kate Middletons shoes.

That is, fashion plays a serious costar in this royal adventure.

Ultimately, the series can be viewed as a sartorial study of the United Kingdoms longest ruling monarch as the young, female ruler grows accustomed to a life in the public eye while being more comfortable behind closed doors and relaxing in 1950s housewife chic.

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The Crown was created by Peter Morgan, who has an Oscar nomination for writing the screenplay for the Helen Mirren film The Queen. The Netflix series is expected to follow her majestys life during a six-season run.

The introductory chapters star Claire Foy as a young princess just as she marries Prince Philip (Matt Smith) in 1947 and begins her life as a happy mother and navy wife who chastises the love choices of her sister Margaret (Vanessa Kirby) and is unprepared for the toll the demise of their beloved father, King George VI (Jared Harris), will have on her life.

Its funny, said Michele Clapton, The Crowns costume designer who is no stranger to the art of royal headwear. (Shes well-known for her Emmy-winning costume designs for HBOs Game of Thrones). Im British, yes, and Im aware of the royal family and I thought I knew a little bit about [Queen Elizabeth].

Clapton said she believes the death of King George VI created an upheaval that had a tremendous effect on the young queens marriage and family.

It made me much more sympathetic to her than I thought I would be, Clapton said. I think The Crown is a real observation on family and power and what it does. And also, on a more frivolous note, I really wanted to design in the 50s [styles].

Clapton explained that this meant taking Elizabeth from under her mothers thumb through a wardrobe shift of pastel pinks and bows and onto Elizabeths carefree days in Malta with sunglasses, cotton separates and a pretty plum party dress with large pink embroidered flowers.

Those costumes are a contrast from the look of a still-unsteady, inevitable queen dressed in a two-piece suit while speaking in public  or being so in denial of her fathers failing health that she doesnt own proper funeral clothes and is handed an ebony suit.

Clapton said 95% of the wardrobe for Foy and Kirby was made from scratch and we never wanted to copy, except when we were matching [documented events such as Elizabeths coronation in 1953]. They were always costumes inspired by [the time period].

As for the crown and other baubles, Clapton said, We used these to [convey] mood or to send messages. There was a pretty little brooch, a flower basket that I particularly liked. Her parents gave it to Elizabeth on the birth of Charles. She still wears it today. So obviously [its] a favorite. It seems to tell of her more emotional side.

But Queen Elizabeth isnt the only iconic figure of that era to receive the star treatment in The Crown.

John Lithgow plays Winston Churchill, a casting choice that may seem odd because, as Clapton said, hes not like Churchill in stature or nationality. A special bodysuit was made to turn the 6-foot-4 American actor into the 5-foot-6 British prime minister.

Not to be overlooked, Churchills dashing style also might be a wardrobe worth blogging about.

I thought he was a fantastically brilliant dresser, Churchill, Clapton said. I loved his suits and his big coats. I thought he was very inventive and creative.

image@latimes.com
Back around 2010, a dark mood began to press down on the hardback cookbook industry, something that Ten Speeds vice president and imprint publisher, Lorena Jones, called a prevailing sense of doom. The first-generation iPad had just hit the stores, igniting an industrywide belief that tablets and increasingly sophisticated mobile phones were going to make hardcover books extinct. As panic set in, publishers scrambled to take their paper-and-ink products digital, offering up apps and enhanced e-books awash in food photos and user friendly how-to videos.

An exact quote was, Nobody is going to be using cookbooks anymore, said Rux Martin, editorial director of Rux Martin Books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. To which I said, Really? No one I knew who is serious about food was going to use e-readers. I live in Vermont, so Im sure people dismissed me as one of those dinosaurs. Which I am. But guess who was right?

Statistics bear this out. This year, one of Martins most popular acquisitions, Michael Solomonovs Zahav cookbook, which retails at $35, sold more than 60,000 copies. Ten Speed will have published at least 30 books in the food and spirits category by the end of 2016; Phaidon will have released 20 titles. Culinary dynamo Ina Gartens latest Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook is currently holding the No. 8 spot in all categories on Amazon.

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While the flattening of e-books sales has inspired a lot of head-scratching analysis, when it comes to cookbooks, experts like Mark Rotella, a senior editor at Publishers Weekly, say the physical cookbook seems to be flourishing.

Its at least just as healthy, if not more of a market, said Rotella by phone from Manhattan. He did a quick eyeball estimation of his office. My shelves are full, said Rotella, who has long covered the cookbook industry and compares the publics affection for physical over digital cookbooks to the childrens book market, which actually gained ground in 2015. Theres just something about an illustrated book.

But why were predictions so off the mark? One reason the digital solution didnt fly was that so many new types of dedicated e-readers and smartphones rolled out that no one could crack the code of how to offer a consistent quality reader experience. Then there was the simple fact that splashing hot olive oil on a $300-plus gadget is appetite-spoiling. But from Jones perspective, the biggest misstep was not understanding that after a few years of being carpet-bombed by feature-rich apps, blogs, websites and recipe databases, cookbook fans would get user fatigue.

That great blossoming of so much content was wonderful  until it was totally oppressive and overwhelming and hard to get through. There was no filter; you became the filter, said Jones, who characterized the act of cozying up to a hardback collection of recipes as a sort of retreat from the world of digital noise of voice prompts, bleeping timers and helpful glossaries into a quiet room of focused satisfaction. It led to an incredible craving for something that was mind-calming, not illuminated. The consumer response was, Wow, I want a physical format to hold in my hand; I want to get off of my screen and silence all the disruptions.

Another thing that made recipe-seekers shy from apps, recipe databases and food blogs in favor of their favorite dog-eared print cookbooks, the ones with sauce-stained pages and notes scribbled in the margins? Emilia Terragni, publisher of Phaidon Books, says it has to do with the system of standards thats in place at every publishing house. To post an entry on a recipe aggregator, all thats required is a list of ingredients, a bit of how-to explanation and the ability to press send. A pricey cookbook goes through a laborious process in which recipes are written, copy edited, tested, retested and fact-checked.

The most important thing [with a cookbook] is the quality of the recipes, that they work well, that theyre well-explained, that you can follow them easily, said Terragni, adding that diving into a meticulously organized, thoughtfully written print cookbook can set a reader sailing on a tantalizing food adventure in a way that just doesnt happen online. The way in which books are put together, the selection of the recipes, the photographs, the idea of going back and forth when you turn the page. Its an experience that I think the digital format hasnt managed to reach in the same way.

These days, its still de rigueur for publishing houses to offer an e-version of every physical cookbook they release, even if the e-versions account for a small fraction of sales. (About 5%, estimates Martin.) But ask Ten Speeds Lorena Jones how her industrys voyage into the digital sea affected the production values of the modern cookbook and shell tick off a long list  for example, the books that go crazy with their photography budget and page count.

If were going to charge $35 or $40 for a cookbook, we feel like we have to put so much more material into it for that perceived value to be there, said Jones about cookbooks that clock in at 350 pages with 150 to 200 photographs.

Then theres the reaction to the coldness of digital, something that explains the trend of the past two years of jacketless cookbooks, deglossed paper and texturized surfaces  cookbooks that are fun to hold.

By the winter of 2014, e-books had completely plateaued and we realized that we had to make books deliver that tactile experience, says Jones. And it was at that moment that we all looked around and recognized, Wow, we held our ground.
Because I am a very lucky person (and the host of a long-running food-focused radio interview show, Good Food on KCRW), cookbooks get dropped off at my doorstep every day; the fall publishing season always results in a deluge. But this year, the abundance has had a particular and unexpected focus. Day after day, Ive gotten books on Persian food; books on the food of the greater Persian empire, including Central Asia and the Caucasus; a book on Turkish cuisine. One expects baking books this time of year, or coffee table books for the holidays, but this is different; this is an emphasis on a particular part of the world, one informed by wave after wave of invasions, where people of many different cultures and religions live side by side in sometimes challenging topography.

Why this? Why now? Im preparing for a UCLA class next spring on food of the Silk Road, so as the books began arriving, I started a stack: Taste of Persia by Naomi Duguid, Samarkand by Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford, The Saffron Tales by Yasmin Khan, Persepolis by Sally Butcher and Turkish Delights by John Gregory-Smith. All these books were released within weeks of one another; the first two were published in the U.S., the last three are U.S. versions of books first published in Britain.

The Silk Road was a collection of overland trade routes created by a chain of markets trading from China to Turkey. Asia was connected to the Mediterranean by crossing Central Asia, Persia, the Caucasus and a bit of India. The network was active from approximately 114 BC to the 1450s. It created literal and metaphorical paths for trade and cultural exchanges of many kinds, including food, of course. We in the West tend to see this region as one of past Soviet occupation, conflict, intermittent war and terror attacks  and now a problematic wave of migration. We rarely experience the positive, daily human side of people attached to these lands, melting pots of culture. Food is a bridge. Why writers longed to walk across this particular one now is an interesting question.

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When I asked Duguid what she thought of the current profusion of books on the Silk Road, she said she didnt think in such a context; rather, she was mapping a culinary region that happens to lie along those trade routes  and invasion routes. Id say trade is a kind of invasion. Duguid is a Canadian food writer and photographer who for years has been writing deep-dive books with a photographic National Geographic bent and recipes that work; Taste of Persia is her seventh book. Her photography and personal head notes reveal a cook-traveler who learns through relationships. She writes about being swept into the embrace of the dailyness of a Kurdish kitchen belonging to the mother of a journalist friend and watches an extraordinarily thin bread take shape. The exploration of Kurdish communities is particularly timely. Duguid captures dishes that reflect history and culture while being simply whats on the table.

The food of the area explored by these cookbooks is gutsy but not heavy. On one level, the simplicity of grain- or pulse-thickened soups and fire-cooked meats is elemental. But the region of Central Asia is also home to wild forests of fruits and nuts that are the ancestors to many of our domestic varieties. Walnuts, apples, plums, pistachios, cherries and almonds take the basic dishes and lift them up with jolts of sweet, sour and nutty. Throughout these cuisines, theres a recurrence of dried Turkish apricots  a fruit that originated in China, a perfect Silk Road story. Most of the food isnt technical, although some of it, like the more complex flatbreads, pulled noodles or stuffed vegetables, require surrender to a bit of time, practice and patience. There are simple grilled meats, rice pilafs and grain soups in abundance. Most of this food is exceptionally economical while being loaded with flavor.

All these books are great reads as well as cookbooks. They use to great effect photography of cultural treasures like textiles, tile and exquisite architectural detail with vibrant images of the foodstuffs themselves. Turquoise skies and the domes of mosques add a sense of place. Its all texture: the places, the foods and the imagined aromas as we read these books resulting in a welcome, deeper understanding of places that have received little of our attention.

Its fascinating to me that all these books were written by Canadian or British authors. I think it demonstrates that maybe American authors and publishers have been more seduced by France, Italy and the Middle East. Brits have been traveling more widely than Americans for longer; I think they have more of the get-lost-in-a-foreign culture gene than we do. Samarkand is the armchair travel book of the lot. Its author is clearly at home there; Eden leads tours to Samarkand and environs. Shes a journalist and travel writer based in London who contributes news and travel stories on the region to the Guardian and BBCs Radio 4. Her essay on the survival of the mountain Jews of Azerbaijan is an example of how deep her travel reaches. Edens co-writer, Ford, is a talented journalist known for making global food accessible for the home cook.

As for why now,  Eden said, one reason could be that, given not many of us are traveling to many countries in the Middle East once popular with tourists  Syria, Egypt and so on  safer Islamic countries are on the rise, like ones in Central Asia.

Iran acts as the bulls-eye for several of these books, with food from cultures of greater Persia radiating outward. Khans The Saffron Tales is the most focused on Iranian food and the most personal  the only one for which the author is of the culture she explores. The London-born and -based Khan spent summers on her grandparents rice farm near the Caspian Sea. This cookbook, funded through Kickstarter, explores the countrys cuisine with an emphasis on vegetarian eating. Her food is a sensitive balance of tradition with modern tweaks while being presented in a regional format, unusual for a Persian cookbook.

Not Persian herself but married to a man from Iran, Butcher runs Persepolis, a much beloved deli-shop and adjacent cafe in London. Butcher fell in love with the man, and the cuisine and the culture quickly followed. The shop in the Peckham area of London is considered an institution, its quirky curation a hallmark. That same colorful, often untraditional, style runs through the cookbook.: Think: Marmite hummus.

Love also caused the next author to fall for a cuisine. The lone male writer in this collection of books, Gregory-Smith, is also the only one writing solely about Turkish food. He is a London-based chef, food and travel writer and the founder of the Eat Travel Live website. His introduction to Turkey began with yearly vacations there with his father but his romance with a Turkish man, followed by commitment, familial connections and more travel, deepened his knowledge. Gregory-Smiths culinary passion is the regional home-cooked dishes that are simpler than much of the classic Turkish repertoire.

In these five books, the exploration of historic food cultures is given much texture by each authors connection to the region  and the stories they tell. Over the years, Ive read a few cookbooks that cover these cuisines individually. Darra Goldsteins The Georgian Feast comes to mind, as does Paula Wolferts The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, published in 1994, the first that made me pay attention to the region as a whole. Books covering Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are occasional and tend not to have strong distribution. There are many books on Persian cooking, the most influential being Najmieh Batmanglijs Food of Life.

But the five Ive explored here differ in their breadth and context of place, with lavish photography of people, places and food that pulls you in and humanizes a part of the world that we in the U.S. tend to marginalize. They were also written by authors who traveled through the countries very recently, which lends an immediacy and a relevance to the work. Taste of Persia and Samarkand, in particular, with their focus on the similarity and interconnectedness of cuisines that cross borders, are especially interesting at a time when the needs of vulnerable people are so politicized.

food@latimes.com
Nicolas Cage has three movies hitting theaters in the next two weeks  and if that seems surprising or odd to you, its probably just because you havent been paying close attention lately to Cages always surprising and not infrequently odd career.

The worst thing one can be with filmmaking is boring, Cage told the Los Angeles Times by phone last week, laying out what amounts to his personal artistic credo. The whole point of movies is theyve got to move.

A square peg in the round hole of Hollywood stardom, Cage, 52, has always been on the move. Over the years, he has done wild comedies, deadly serious dramas and everything in between. He has starred in hugely successful studio tentpoles like National Treasure, The Rock and Con Air and little-seen low-budget direct-to-video films (in recent years, truth be told, more of the latter than the former). He has earned Oscar glory  scoring the lead actor prize for 1995s Leaving Las Vegas and a second nomination for 2002s Adaptation  and been dismissed as a paycheck-chasing ham.

Say what you will about Cage  and people say plenty (a 2014 episode of TVs Community was largely devoted to exploring whether he is a good actor)  he has never been boring.

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Cages three new films offer a wide range of Cage-ian flavors. In Larry Charles comedy Army of One (in select theaters and Digital HD beginning Friday), Cage plays Gary Faulkner, a real-life Colorado handyman who was arrested in Pakistan in 2010 while trying to hunt Osama bin Laden with a pistol, a knife and a samurai sword. In Paul Schraders gritty crime drama Dog Eat Dog (opening in L.A. and New York on Friday and available on VOD and Digital HD Nov. 11), he portrays an ex-con embroiled in a kidnapping plot that goes horribly awry. And in the World War II drama USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (now on VOD and in select theaters Nov. 11), he plays the commanding officer of the ill-fated ship that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, the subject of Robert Shaws monologue in Jaws.

We spoke to Cage about his return to gonzo comedy in Army of One, what compels him to work so much, the rise of comic book movies (born Nicolas Coppola, Cage adopted the surname Cage partly in tribute to Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage) and why, unlike so many of his peers, he has resisted the siren song of TV.

What drew you to Army of One?

The fact that it was a true story and that Gary Faulkner actually went and did all that and he actually used a samurai sword  it just seemed like an opportunity to do something different than anything Ive ever done. I need to sink my teeth into characters that keep me interested and stimulate me or challenge me in some way. Gary certainly was that. I found him absolutely exhausting to play because it was just nonstop talking and manic energy.

For some of your fans, that sort of hyper-stylized, over-the-top, comic Nic Cage is their favorite Nic Cage. Is it fun for you to just let it rip like that?

Oh yeah, absolutely. But even though there are moments when Im choosing to be out of control, Im still very aware of it in a controlled way. Im aware that this is a segment of music and Im going to let myself really go for it but with the understanding that its being applied for a specific reason.

My other styles of film performance were really experiments in: What can you do with film performance? What can you do without just repeating oneself?

I was a big believer in something I called art synchronicity, which was that what you could do in one art form, you could do in another art form. Id experiment with the effects of painting, like Edvard Munchs The Scream. If you look at Ghost Rider, Im definitely trying to channel that expression during the transformation scene. Or these magnificent, iconic collages Andy Warhol would do with Elvis or James Dean  when I did Wild at Heart, I was trying that in a film performance.

The major studios have cut way back on making outside-the-box movies like Army of One and Dog Eat Dog. When you look back at some of the edgier films you made earlier in your career, whether its Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation or even Face/Off, do you think they would get made today?

Im not entirely sure they would be. Certainly Face/Off  that was a big-budget movie that was high-risk if you think about the story line. Its a brave movie  I mean, it really could have been laughable but I think it worked. With those dollars attached to it, it would not be made today.

The edgy kinds of story lines like Leaving Las Vegas  I think they probably would have to exist in the format that we have now, which is video-on-demand.

[Direct-to-video movies] are not really what I wanted but nevertheless theyve managed to give these kinds of more challenging plots a chance to be viewed. It gives them a place to exist in some way. I think its a good thing that at least these movies will be seen on some level and will not become completely extinct.

As someone who grew up loving comic books and who almost played Superman for Tim Burton in the 1990s, are you surprised at the extent to which comic-book movies have come to dominate the industry?

Im not surprised at all. In fact, as mystical and prescient as this sounds, when I was about 12 years old, when I was really reading comic books actively, I actually had a moment where I thought to myself that the comic book would one day overtake the film industry. I knew that when the technology got to the point that the stories could be seen in all their spectacular glory, it would captivate the world  and it did.

But its the kind of thing where now I keep being amazed at how many new stories make it to the screen. I didnt think they were going to be able to make Captain America work. When it did work and it was a success, it was like, Well, I guess theyre capable of achieving anything at this point.

A lot of film actors have been migrating to TV because thats where a lot of the more interesting, creatively risky, adult-oriented projects have gone. You havent done any TV. Is that something you think about?

You know, its a good point and Ive been invited many times to go on a show, one of which was on Neil Gaimans American Gods to play Mr. Wednesday, which was a great part, beautifully written. And I said no. And William Friedkin, weve been talking about doing different things.

It probably would be good for me globally as a career move to do television, and never say never  I probably will one day. But the idea of being stuck in one city for months on end playing a part  while that might be interesting, I could see where I might start to feel trapped.

Im just still a little bit of a snob. I mean, Im holding on. Again, Im never going to say never but Im, like, kicking and screaming that I just want to stay in movies.

You have three movies hitting theaters in the space of two weeks and five more movies currently slated to come out next year. Some people say you work too much and do too many movies that arent really worthy of an actor of your stature. What do you say to that?

Well, what I say to that is Im a working dog. Im at my best when Im working and when Im not working I can be a little self-destructive. I can be somebody that has a lack of focus. And I feel that by working, it keeps me on point. It keeps my instrument on point.

A while ago I made the decision that I was going to go more in terms of the golden-age actors in the old studio system, where they were making 150 movies by the time their career was up. Or even someone like Michael Caine.

But it is an interesting point because in any other line of work  medicine or banking or police work or any other work  hard work is something to behold. But for some reason with a film actor, working a lot is looked down upon.

I dont take it personally. Its just who I am. And Ive been happy to say that its worked well for me. I feel like Im at the top of my game right now.

josh.rottenberg@latimes.com

Twitter: @joshrottenberg
A group representing charter schools has sued the city of Huntington Park over its decision to impose a yearlong moratorium on new charters.

The suit, which was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks to invalidate the restrictions that the Huntington Park City Council approved last month by a 4-1 vote.

Charters are independently operated and exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. Controversy has accompanied their rapid growth, even though they have proved popular with parents. The L.A. Unified School District, which serves Huntington Park, has more charters than any other school system nationwide.

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The citys politically motivated and discriminatory prohibition of public charter schools, but no other educational institutions, for a full educational year conflicts with Californias policy of expanded educational choices, states the complaint filed by the California Charter Schools Assn. The moratorium therefore is void and unenforceable as a matter of law.

The suit also contends that the city failed to conduct a mandatory environmental review or to provide legally required evidence to justify halting charter growth.

City leaders approved the moratorium during a contentious meeting last month. Charter supporters pointed out local charters comparatively high test scores, cited individual success stories and criticized city leaders for standing in the way of a top-flight education for other families.

Charter critics argued that charters undermine traditional schools by attracting students who are easier and less expensive to educate.

The council expressed different concerns. City officials spoke of a high number of inquiries and requests for new charters and said the municipal code was inadequate for assessing and dealing with their effects.

A city report cited vehicle circulation, parking and noise in areas where charter schools had opened, and said they could potentially affect public health, safety, and welfare.

The moratorium also applies to existing charter schools that want to move and expand in new locations, according to City Manager Edgar Cisneros.

The charter association requested records of complaints, but the city has provided no documentation to date, said the associations general counsel, Ricardo Soto.

Association staffers have suggested political motivations. United Teachers Los Angeles, the local (and anti-charter) teachers union, donated $500 to the 2015 campaign of Councilman Jhonny Pineda, and the same union represents Mayor Graciela Ortiz in her day job as a school counselor.

City officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Both pro-charter groups and teachers unions are major political donors in California.

An influx of students could be an issue because, unlike most traditional public schools, charters can readily accept students from anywhere, a potential problem in the densely packed southeast L.A. County city.

A Times analysis, however, shows that the number of students in schools with a Huntington Park address has decreased by about 1,800, to about 18,000, since L.A. Unifieds peak enrollment in the 2003-04 school year. Over that same period, the number of schools tripled, from 9 to 27, including six new L.A. Unified campuses and 11 charters.

The impact on school-related traffic has been to disperse it across the city rather than concentrate it in a few places, which could raise objections in some areas, said Benjamin Feinberg, a math teacher at L.A. Unifieds Burbank Middle School in Highland Park. Feinberg, who used to teach at a charter in Huntington Park, analyzes local education-related data on his School Data Nerd blog.

Gary Painter, a professor in the Price School of Public Policy at USC, said its unusual for a city to adopt an emergency moratorium for whatever reasons against one type of land use, rather than relying on its regular process for managing development. He said he was not surprised by the lawsuit.

Times data analyst Sandra Poindexter and Times staff writer Sonali Kohli contributed to this report.

howard.blume@latimes.com

Twitter: @howardblume
In California, the guidelines for how to teach science are changing.

It should be hands-on, education officials now say, and its concepts should be connected to other subjects.

California is one of a number of states that in recent years adopted what are called Next Generation Science Standards  goals for each grade intended to make science more experiential, coherent and relevant.

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State education staffers then gathered groups of science teachers and over 3,000 public comments about how to translate those goals into lessons.

On Thursday, the state education board approved a science curriculum framework that came out of that field research. While the standards state key principles and what students should know by the end of each grade, the framework, officials say, is the how.

The document is supposed to guide publishers to develop new textbooks for use in the states public schools.

The aim is to prepare students graduating from high school to be critical consumers of information and capable problem-solvers, the framework states in its introduction.

It calls for students regularly to engage in hands-on science or investigations  and not simply memorize information to regurgitate.

In the old days, students were in the back, teachers sat in the front, said Bryan Boyd, a former science teacher who consults on science programming for the state education department. The students, he said, werent real scientists and couldnt apply what they learned.

Now, instead of teachers presenting diagrams or models, students should be led to come up with their own. One potential lesson guide asks kindergartners to brainstorm ways to save water or paper. The teacher can then tell them how their ideas relate to the key environmentalist concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle. Then students can draw the solutions they came up with and choose from those words to label them.

Teachers also should try to show students how science connects with other subjects, especially in elementary school, where one teacher oversees all areas.

To relate science to English/language arts, the framework suggests asking kindergartners to express ideas about plants and animals by using language such as I think and I agree with and then asking them to write down their thoughts.

In a discussion of how to teach science effectively, the framework suggests that connecting scientific concepts to art can spark creativity for teachers and students alike.

Over the course of a students schooling, the framework says, students understanding of science should grow in sophistication  from noticing visible phenomena in the early grades to understanding bigger systems later on in elementary school. In middle school, they should come to know the microscopic world. In high school, the subatomic.

Lessons build on one another. In kindergarten, students learn about what happens when objects are pushed or pulled. In third grade, they learn that these motions are forces and that they can interact in complex ways, as they can see on the playground when they kick balls, push swings or land after coming down slides.

After fifth grade, districts have different options for how they can order the science curriculum. They can maintain the separation of scientific disciplines or use an integrated model in which students learn about ideas from multiple disciplines at once. Long taught as clearly delineated separate courses, chemistry, earth science, biology and physics can be blended.

In an integrated middle school curriculum, sixth graders would learn about water, weather, climate change, cells, reproduction and heat. Seventh grade would cover rock cycles, plate tectonics, natural hazards, photosynthesis and atoms. In eighth grade, students would explore the universe, resource consumption, evolution, forces, energy and gravity.

This spring, the state will do a pilot run of new science tests connected to the standards. Next year, the tests will be administered officially, and students will receive their scores.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

You can reach Joy Resmovits on Twitter @Joy_Resmovits and by email at Joy.Resmovits@LATimes.com.
A 2-year-old boy has died this week after a makeshift wooden play structure collapsed and crushed him, authorities said.

The boy, who has not been identified, was playing on the wooden structure in his front yard Wednesday when it collapsed and pinned him, said Ray Pruitt, spokesman for the Kern County Sheriffs Office.

When it collapsed, people heard it because it was so loud, he said.

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The boys mother ran over to the boy and plucked him out from the wood pile, Pruitt said.

Deputies arrived at the home in the 7100 block of Athel Avenue in Inyokern and found paramedics performing CPR on the child.

He was taken to an area hospital and then airlifted to a trauma center, where he was pronounced dead.

Detectives were investigating to determine whether there were any signs of negligence or child endangerment, Pruitt said.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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A months-long review into allegations of sexual contact between East Bay law enforcement officers and the teenager at the center of a scandal that has roiled the Bay Area for months has yielded only one prosecutable case, Contra Costa County Dist. Atty. Mark Peterson said Friday.

Peterson said that officers had sexual contact with Jasmine Abuslin, now 19, in Contra Costa County but did not do so while she was underage, did not pay for sex and did not leak confidential police information to her in exchange.

Prosecutors reviewed allegations of sexual encounters between Abuslin and officers from the San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond police departments, as well as deputies from the Alameda County Sheriffs office, that took place in Contra Costa County, Peterson said. Investigators reviewed 14 hours of video recorded statements she gave to Alameda County investigators and conducted their own interviews with her, he said.

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According to her, all of those encounters were when she was over 18. According to her, all of those interactions were consensual. According to her, all of those interactions were not done for money, Peterson said at a news conference.

While he called the officers conduct reprehensible and criticized them for failing to offer Abuslin a way out of the illicit sex trade, Peterson said almost none of the incidents rose to the level of a crime.

Abuslin claimed she was paid to have sex with one retired Oakland police captain, Peterson said. The retired officer spoke to authorities and admitted he did pay Abuslin for sex, Peterson said, adding that he would be charged with soliciting a prostitute.

Peterson did not identify the retired officer because formal charges have yet to be filed.

Petersons announcement is the latest turn in a sex crimes scandal that has roiled the Bay Area law enforcement community for months. The situation gained national attention in June when Abuslin said in a televised news interview that she had sex with at least a dozen Oakland police officers, as well as law enforcement officers from several other East Bay law enforcement agencies.

Alameda County Dist. Atty. Nancy E. OMalley has said five Oakland police officers, a former Contra Costa County sheriffs deputy and an ex-Livermore police officer will face criminal charges in the scandal. The charges, announced in September, range from felony oral copulation with a minor to obstruction of justice. Six of those officers have been formally charged.

When she announced the charges, OMalley said her offices investigation also uncovered potential misconduct in the city of San Francisco, as well as San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties. The San Joaquin County district attorneys office has launched an investigation, according to an agency spokesman.

Calls to the San Francisco district attorneys office seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Four Oakland police officers have been fired and seven have been suspended as a result of the scandal. Several Richmond police officers were also fired after the department finished its own review of the scandal.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.

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Good morning. It is Friday, Nov. 4. Heres what is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Neighborhood fight

A boom in art galleries in Boyle Heights has sparked debate over whether it is a sign of gentrification that could push working-class families out of the mostly Latino neighborhood. Now it appears to have taken a serious turn. The Los Angeles Police Department is treating three acts of vandalism in the last month targeting art galleries in Boyle Heights, including graffiti at one gallery that attacked white art, as possible hate crimes. Los Angeles Times

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Border anxiety

At a time of heated rhetoric about immigration in the U.S. presidential election, attorneys gathered in Tijuana to help those desperate to enter U.S. legally. Here is how border anxiety has heightened for better or worse in the age of Trump. Los Angeles Times

Names and faces

As California decides whether to end the deal penalty, take a haunting look at all 728 men and 21 women currently on death row. Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

Carrying the torch: This next Rose Parade is going to have an Olympics theme. Daily News

Political allegiances: Southern Californias large Vietnamese population isnt as loyal to Republicans as they once were, and that has big implications. CALmatters

Guerrilla art: The fascinating backstory of the Pink Lady of Malibu Canyon and the woman responsible for the art installation (she turned out to be a paralegal from Northridge). LA Observed

In new hands: After years of litigation and negotiation, Ontario officials assumed ownership of LA/Ontario International Airport from Los Angeles on Tuesday. They say they hope to turn around the once fast-growing airport, which saw dramatic cuts in airline service and its annual passenger volume plunge. Los Angeles Times

Shut it down: A small mental health courthouse in Highland Park  dubbed the worst courthouse in California  has been shut down because of structural problems. Some say the building had no business being a courthouse to begin with. CBS Los Angeles

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

New rules: Thousands of people are in jail for marijuana-related offenses; a disproportionate number of them are people of color. Robin Abcarian writes that legalization will clear records and help restore lives damaged by the failed war on drugs. Los Angeles Times

Prison population: New Los Angeles Times polls show mixed results for several hot-button criminal justice measures on the California ballot: Gov. Jerry Browns effort to revise and ultimately loosen state prison parole rules is ahead Los Angeles Times

Death penalty:  But it appears both death penalty measures  including one to end executions in California  are headed for possible defeat. Los Angeles Times

Money back: California has changed its rebate program for buyers of all-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell cars. High-income earners are excluded from getting the rebates, and prospective buyers from lower-income households will get more money under the states Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. Los Angeles Times

Vote tallies: California could hand Hillary Clinton the popular vote on Tuesday, even if she loses the electoral college to Donald Trump. Sacramento Bee

CRIME AND COURTS

Stealing grapes? A noted Napa Valley winemaker is accused of serious wine fraud. New York Times

New role: How a lawman who grew up wanting to be a Miami Vice cop became a hero in Orange Countys Vietnamese community. Orange County Register

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

What now? For the onetime celebrity hangout of Borrego Springs, the California drought is about to get very personal. The town must cut water use by 70% or risk going dry. Curbed LA

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Just water for me: If you make sugary drinks hard to find, will people lose weight and be healthier? An unusual study at UC San Francisco might yield the answer. As part of the experiment, even fast-food chains on campus, like Panda Express and Subway, have stopped selling sugary drinks. New York Times

Status quo: Remember all the optimism a few months ago about building a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers? It doesnt look like that is going to happen. San Diego Union-Tribune

Only in L.A.: An art installation under the Viaduct in the Los Angeles State Historic Park is a shared work space. LAist

Landlord relations: San Francisco is turning over large amounts of public housing to private companies. Some dont think its a good idea. Wall Street Journal

Please send me an email: Is Silicon Valley drowning us in message apps? Mercury News

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

San Diego will be 75 and sunny. It will be 86 and mostly sunny in Riverside. It will be 82 and sunny in Los Angeles. It will be sunny and 72 in San Francisco. Sacramento will be mostly sunny with a high of 73.

AND FINALLY

Todays California Memory comes from GP Barton:

My parents bought a quarter of an acre of grapevines near Concord in 1950 and built their own little three-bedroom home complete with a septic system and city water (luxury!). There was so much room. Neighbors pastured their horse next door, and my first school was at a two-room wooden structure with an outhouse. The mail was delivered by an old gentleman in a Ford Model T. We were surrounded by walnut orchards. All gone today.

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.
A Los Angeles County vehicle mistakenly ran over a man who was in the sand at Venice Beach on Friday, officials said.

The man in his 50s was in the sand when he was run over by a county Beaches and Harbors vehicle about 8:43 a.m. in the 400 block of Ocean Front Walk, according to Los Angeles County and city fire officials.

The incident occurred near the boardwalk and Rose Tower at Venice Beach, fire officials said.

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He suffered traumatic injuries and was taken to UCLA Medical Center, said Carol Baker, spokeswoman for the Department of Beaches and Harbors.

The man was in serious condition, said Erik Scott, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

It is unclear whether the man was sunbathing or sleeping on the beach.

The driver, a beach maintenance worker, has been suspended from driving and other regular duties as county officials investigate the incident, Baker said.

Fridays beach incident isnt the first time an official vehicle has run over a sunbather along the coast.

An Oxnard police sport utility vehicle ran over Cindy Conolly, 49, as she was sunbathing in 2006.

Three people were run over in 2014 while lying on area beaches.

In February, a trash truck ran over and injured a man who was lying on a beach in Long Beach.

Then in May, a 49-year-old woman was hospitalized after a Los Angeles County maintenance vehicle ran over her as she sunbathed facedown at Venice Beach.

Months later, Lorae Bermudez, 25, was run over by a Los Angeles County lifeguard vehicle in September as she was sunbathing on Venice Beach. Bermudez, a Whittier resident, suffered bone fractures and cuts to her internal organs.

The driver reportedly didnt see her.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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New York real estate heir Robert Durst arrived in Los Angeles on Friday and will be arraigned next week on a murder charge in the 2000 slaying of his friend Susan Berman, the Los Angeles County district attorneys office said.

The arrival of Durst, who is scheduled to appear at the Airport Courthouse Monday afternoon, marks the latest chapter in a legal saga that was reinvigorated last year when the New York aristocrat was featured in the HBO documentary series The Jinx.

Durst, 73, had been due to be transferred to Southern California by Aug. 18 from a federal prison in Louisiana, where he had pleaded guilty to a weapons charge.

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Bob Durst didnt kill Susan Berman and he doesnt know who did, Dursts attorney, Dick DeGuerin, told The Times on Friday. Hes eager to get to trial to prove it.

DeGuerin said he expected a preliminary hearing in the case to take place in the spring and a trial later in 2017. Durst was booked into the Los Angeles Police Department jail at 1:20 p.m. Friday. His move from Louisiana was delayed this summer as federal prison authorities had at one point proposed moving him to an Indiana prison with more sophisticated medical facilities.

Durst has insisted he had nothing to do with Bermans fatal shooting.

The six-part HBO series explored the disappearance of Dursts first wife, Kathie, who went missing in New York in 1982, and the slaying of Berman, a writer who was found dead in her Benedict Canyon home in 2000. Police believe Durst killed Berman because she planned to speak to New York prosecutors about Kathies disappearance.

Among the evidence against Durst is a letter sent to Berman in 1999 that has handwriting strikingly similar to that on an anonymous note sent to Beverly Hills police at the time of Bermans killing, telling them that they would find a cadaver at Bermans house. In both samples, the writing is in all capital letters, and Beverly Hills is misspelled as Beverley Hills. In the final episode of the HBO documentary, Durst admitted he wrote the letter to Berman but denied writing the cadaver note.

In 2003, a Texas jury acquitted Durst even after he admitted killing his neighbor, Morris Black, chopping the body into pieces and then dumping the remains into Galveston Bay.

At the time, Durst was living in Galveston under an assumed identity as a mute woman in a threadbare apartment that rented for $300 a month. At the sensational trial, Dursts legal team, spearheaded by DeGuerin, laid out an elaborate argument of self-defense.

Morris Black died as a result of a life-and-death violent struggle over a gun that Morris Black had threatened Bob Durst with, DeGuerin told jurors.

Before the series finale of The Jinx, Durst disappeared from his Houston condo, prompting a manhunt that ended in New Orleans. Federal prosecutors filed a weapons case against him after FBI agents found a loaded revolver in his hotel room there.

Durst pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and was sentenced in April to seven years and one month in federal prison.

In a letter to a Times reporter, Durst wrote that he is eager to come to Los Angeles to defend himself.

Id rather be going to California on my own, but Im anxious to get to trial to prove I didnt kill Susan Berman, Durst wrote. You couldnt print what I think about The Jinx. I didnt kill Susan Berman, and I dont know who did.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Follow @lacrimes on Twitter

Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.

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UPDATES:

4:45 p.m.: The article was updated with additional details about Dursts transfer from a Louisiana prison, details about an HBO documentary and comments from Dursts attorney.

4 p.m.: This story was updated to reflect that Durst was booked into the LAPD jail at 1:20 p.m. Friday

This article was originally published at 3:45 p.m.
A huge blaze engulfed a pallet yard in San Bernardino and damaged a neighboring building as dozens of firefighters battled the flames early Friday, officials said.

The fire started just before 4 a.m. in the 1900 block of East River View Drive, triggering a three-alarm response and pulling in 70 firefighters and 19 engines to battle the blaze, said San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Jeff Allen. The fire was contained just before 7 a.m.

Video from the scene showed the predawn sky filled with black smoke illuminated by towering flames and lights from fire trucks. Firefighters even brought in a bulldozer to aid in the effort, the fire department tweeted.

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SAN BERNARDINO (update): IC advising knockdown on involved structures, Still defensive on pallet yard, making good progress pic.twitter.com/beDvOW4yWp  SB County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) November 4, 2016

SAN BERNARDINO (Update): Additional trucks assigned for a total of 5. 1 dozer, 1 hand crew, & 5 additional engines w/ overhead requested Krn pic.twitter.com/FgLTaTphEQ  SB County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) November 4, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope: San Bernardino- Pallet Yard Fire 2 https://t.co/tc7TpM1djc  564FIRE (@564FIREPhoto) November 4, 2016

SAN BERNARDINO (update): Multi-agency incident includes 14 engines, 2 truck companies, 5 chiefs. pic.twitter.com/RCxv6QNRsZ  SB County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) November 4, 2016

The fire spread to a neighboring strip mall but details on damage to businesses there werent immediately available, authorities said.

The blaze is challenging because pallet fires generally grow rapidly and have a lot of fuel to burn, Allen said. Fridays was further complicated because it likely wasnt immediately reported since it ignited before sunrise and a lot of people werent outside to notice it, he said.

Allen said it was too early to estimate when firefighters would have full control over the blaze but advised drivers to avoid the area during their morning commute.

Joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

ALSO

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UPDATES:

8:05 a.m.: This article was updated with firefighters containing the blaze.

6:45 a.m.: This article was updated with details on the fires growth.

This article was originally published at 6:05 a.m.
Investigators have identified a body found in a shallow grave on the Sonoma State University campus as a missing 18-year-old man who lived nearby and hasnt been seen for two weeks.

The body of Cotati resident Kirk Kimberly was unearthed by a university landscaper Wednesday afternoon in an undeveloped, wooded area about 200 yards west of parking lot M, Sonoma County sheriffs officials said on Facebook.

The pathologist was  able to determine the preliminary manner of death to be at the hands of another, therefore we are now considering this to be a homicide investigation, the department said.

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No details about the cause of death were released. Kimberly had been missing since Oct. 17, officials said. School officials said Kimberly was not a student.

This would be concerning to everybody  to staff and students alike  and we would encourage them to use caution, sheriffs spokesman Spencer Crum said. Take the precautions that are necessary.

On Thursday, after securing the crime scene overnight, investigators cordoned off a three-acre area around a parking lot at the university as they worked to unearth the body.

We dont know if someone dug [a] hole or simply threw dirt on the body, Crum told The Times in an email.

The area where the body was found is rugged and dense with trees and brush.

We want to make sure we collect all the evidence  every little fiber and hair that could possibly lead us to a potential suspect, he said.

No arrests have been made.

Joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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UPDATES:

8:40 a.m.: This article was updated with school officials saying Kimberly was not a student

This article was originally published at 7:55 a.m.
Authorities say a Central California woman shot by her boyfriend as she held their baby has died.

The Fresno Bee reported Thursday that Michelle Mosqueda, 39, had died the day before, three weeks after Larry Zamora, 37, shot her and their 14-month-old daughter.

The child died three days after the Oct. 13 incident at a home in Tulare. Zamora killed himself the same day during a 12-hour standoff with deputies.

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Zamora was a known gang member with a violent history, the Tulare County Sheriffs Office said.

After the shooting, Zamora went to a home several miles away and he barricaded himself inside.

During the standoff, Zamora fired from the home and hit a police officer who was saved by his helmet.

The standoff ended after deputies sent a robot inside the house. It showed them an image of Zamora lying dead in a pool of blood next to a high-powered rifle.
A Los Angeles County judge ruled Friday that prosecutors could continue to pursue voter fraud and perjury charges against former L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife but encouraged both sides to resolve the case, saying a misdemeanor conviction would be a fair outcome.

Superior Court Judge George Lomeli made the ruling months after an appeals court panel threw out felony convictions against the veteran San Fernando Valley politician and his wife.

If Alarcon is retried and convicted of a felony, he would be barred under state law from holding elected office. Just weeks after his conviction was overturned earlier this year, Alarcon announced he would run for Congress.

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Alarcon, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) in the 29th Congressional District but has not actively campaigned.

Alarcons attorney, Richard Lasting, noted in court on Friday that the original 2010 indictment was tossed out when another judge ruled that prosecutors had failed to properly present grand jurors with evidence favorable to the Alarcons. Prosecutors refiled the case, which then went through a lengthy preliminary hearing, than a trial heard by Lomeli, before a three-justice appellate panel overturned the conviction, concluding that Lomeli had issued improper jury instructions during the trial.

It is time for this to come to an end, Lasting told the judge.

Lomeli rejected Lastings arguments but suggested a resolution that would end the case and allow Alarcon to continue to seek office in the future.

This case lends itself to the disposition of a misdemeanor, he said.

Lomeli set a new hearing date of Jan. 27.

Prosecutors accused Alarcon and Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon of lying about where they lived so Alarcon could run for a seat on the L.A. City Council. Alarcon was a councilman until 2013, when he stepped down because of term limits.

California law requires that candidates live in the districts they seek to represent. The state Elections Code defines residence for voting purposes as a domicile, a home where one intends to remain and return to after an absence.

The Alarcons were accused of falsely claiming that they lived in Panorama City, in the district Alarcon ran to represent, while actually residing five miles away in Sun Valley, in a different council district.

During the monthlong trial, defense attorneys told the jury that the Alarcons were staying in Sun Valley while renovating the Panorama City home -- considering it their permanent residence -- and planned to return to it once the work was done.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Gilmer presented evidence suggesting that the Alarcons did not intend to return to the Panorama City home, including blueprints from 2007 for developing the home into a multiunit residential complex.

The jury also heard testimony from a police officer who said that Alarcon had been gone from his residence so long that a squatter moved in and changed the locks. Utility workers told the jury there was no gas used in the house between April 2007 and February 2009, making it impossible to cook, heat the home or take hot showers.

Two Democrats are on the ballot for Congress in this San Fernando Valley race  but only one is running 

After five days of deliberations, the jurors sided with the prosecution, saying they werent convinced the Alarcons really intended to live in Panorama City. One juror said at the time that it was clear Alarcon had sought political gain by saying he lived in that neighborhood.

Alarcon was convicted of three voter-fraud charges and one perjury charge, but acquitted on 12 other counts. Montes de Oca Alarcon was convicted of two voting charges and one perjury count but acquitted on two others.

Instead of serving a 120-day jail sentence, Alarcon served time under house arrest. His wife was sentenced to community service.

The Alarcons appealed the conviction, arguing that one line of instruction from the judge misled the jury.

Lomeli, the Superior Court judge, told the jury there is a rebuttable presumption that an officeholder must have lived in a residence sometime in the preceding year for it to be considered his or her domicile.

Alarcons attorneys argued that this instruction improperly led the jury to rule in the prosecutions favor.

The justices on Californias 2nd District Court of Appeal said in their decision that Lomeli should have advised the jury that not living in the home for a year is not necessarily proof that the defendants werent domiciled there.

Alarcon is one of several politicians to be targeted in recent years over the issue of residency.

Six months before Alarcon was convicted, a jury in a similar case found former state Sen. Roderick Wright guilty of felony perjury and voter fraud. Prosecutors also have secured convictions in residency cases in Vernon, Huntington Park, West Covina and other cities.

Times staff writers Soumya Karlamangla and David Zahniser contributed to this story.

richard.winton@latimes.com

For more Southern California news, follow me on Twitter: @lacrimes.
David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana, became the focal point of an ugly election debate Wednesday night. He insisted that the political system is rigged, that Black Lives Matter activists are destroying America, and that Hillary Clinton should be getting the electric chair.

A crowd of more than 50 activists, many of them students, protested the former KKK leaders presence at the debate at Dillard University, a historically black college in New Orleans. Police used pepper spray to contain the crowd, who chanted Let us in! as protesters tried to force their way into the auditorium.

The debate between six U.S. Senate candidates had barely started when Caroline Fayard, a New Orleans lawyer and Democratic candidate, referred to Duke as a bad man and expressed dismay that he was on the panel.

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This snake has slithered out of the swamp, probably because the career politicians on this stage havent done their jobs effectively enough, she said. On Nov. 8, voters of Louisiana are going to join with me and cut the head off his hatred once and for all.

When Duke announced in July that he was running for U.S. Senate  a day after Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination  critics voiced fear that Trumps rhetoric on immigration was emboldening right-wing extremists.

Many criticized Trump for not immediately distancing himself from Duke back in February when the former felon and Holocaust denier endorsed him for president. While Trump eventually disavowed Dukes support, Duke continues to try to align himself with the Republican presidential candidate, echoing his complaints of a political system dominated by elites, as well as his strident criticism of Clinton.

The lady should be getting the electric chair, being charged with treason, Duke said of Clinton during Wednesdays debate.

When quizzed by the moderator, John Snell, about a past reference to CNN Jews, Duke said America had a problem with a very strong, powerful tribal group that dominates our media and dominates our international banking.

He also railed against black protesters, including the ones demonstrating outside against his presence. The Black Lives Matter movement calls for the murder of police officers and says death to police and kill the police, he said. I defend our country from these radicals who are destroying America. It is time we stand up now. This is the tipping point. Were getting outnumbered and outvoted in our own nation.

Police keep protesters from pushing through a door before a U.S. Senate debate at Dillard University on Wednesday. (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press )

After the debate, many political analysts voiced skepticism about the decision to let Duke participate.

Did he have any right being on that stage? Absolutely not, said Joshua Stockley, associate professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, who called Duke a marginal figure. I think it was a tremendous mistake and he should never have received an invitation. By any reasonable criteria, one could have made a sound, defensible and logical argument to exclude him. His fundraising totals and polling numbers have been negligible. He has not gained any traction.

The 66-year-old white supremacist narrowly reached the 5% polling threshold for participating. Yet Pearson Cross, an associate professor of political science at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, noted that the poll was paid for by Raycom Media, the broadcasting company that co-sponsored the debate, and that Duke had scored far lower  with around 2% of the vote  in another independent poll in October.

Hes a disruptive element, Cross said. It really doesnt do anything, in my view, to expand the circle of conversation to bring an avowed racist to a historically black college.

As the debate got underway, moderator John Snell cautioned the panel about making Duke the focus of discussion. It would be an enormous disservice to the voters and to the candidates if this becomes a referendum on one candidate, he argued.

Yet almost everyone on the panel took pains to distance themselves from Duke. The front-runner, Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy, called Duke a convicted liar, adding that it must be terrible to wake up in the morning with that much hate in your heart. Foster Campbell, a Democrat, decried a rival candidates claim that he had links with Duke as a damn lie, saying he had nothing in common with Duke, other than were probably breathing.

After Kennedy brought up Dukes prison record  in 2002, the former KKK leader served a year in jail after he was convicted of tax evasion and mail fraud  Duke countered that he was targeted by the government. When the moderator interrupted him to clarify the facts, Duke repeatedly questioned his objectivity.

Let me rebut! Let me rebut! Duke screamed. See youre not a moderator. Youre a typical media hack! Are you going to silence me? Youre going to prevent me from answering this question because you want to make a point?

Dukes efforts to capitalize on Trumps claims that the 2016 elections are rigged were unlikely to resonate with Louisianans, Stockley said. Duke was a discredited figure, he argued, who had languished in the margins of political life in the years since he was elected in 1989 to the Louisiana House for one term.

I had a class this morning and everyone was talking about Game 7 of the World Series or the national presidential election, Stockley said. David Duke has long ceased to be a relevant player in Louisiana or anywhere else.
Its one of the greatest ironies of the 2016 presidential campaign: Hillary Clinton  long averse to public scrutiny  forced to deal with the theft and disclosure of thousands of private emails exchanged by her campaign aides and advisors.

The hacked emails of campaign chairman John Podesta, being released daily by WikiLeaks, have offered unprecedented insight into the way the Democratic nominee and her team grappled with unexpected developments and self-inflicted setbacks.

The Clinton campaign has refused to validate the emails, noting that U.S. intelligence agencies say they were stolen by Russian government hackers in an effort to affect the election.

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Heres a closer look at whats behind some of the more attention-grabbing emails.

1. Dump those emails

Shortly after the New York Times first reported on an investigation into the apparent use by Clinton of a private email server, Podesta emailed Cheryl Mills, a longtime Clinton aide who served as her chief of staff at the State Department.

We are going to have to dump all those emails so better to do so sooner than later, Podesta wrote.

To Clinton critics, it seemed a brazen order to purge the communications.

But her supporters call that a misunderstanding of Washington parlance. They say Podesta was clearly referring to a news dump, D.C.-speak for releasing a large amount of unflattering documents in an effort to put the issue to rest. Podesta likely was saying the team should quickly release all of the emails Clinton sent from her private account and leave reporters to make sense of them.

2. We need to clean this up

After the existence of the email server became public, President Obama was among those who was quickly asked about what he knew. After a press aide circulated Obamas statement in an interview that he learned of the server as the public did, through news reports, Mills expressed concern.

We need to clean this up  he has emails from her  they do not say state.gov, she wrote.

The White House has said even if the president observed that Clinton was using a non-government email address, he would not have known the details about how the account was set up or whether it relied on a private server.

3. New insight into the Clinton Foundation

Among the more intriguing revelations was the apparent rift that developed between Chelsea Clinton and Doug Band, a former senior aide to Bill Clinton.

As Chelsea Clinton took a more hands-on role in the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative, she appeared increasingly uncomfortable with Band and the manner in which he appeared to be intermingling the foundations charitable endeavors with his own fledgling business interests. In an email to Podesta, Band pushes back.

I dont deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect or at least a direct dialogue for me to explain these things. She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what shes doing because she, as she has said, hasnt found her way and has a lack of focus in her life. I realize she will be off of this soon but if it doesnt come soon enough.

He also notes his efforts in arranging $50 million in payments for the former president, an apparent example of the complicated mingling of business deals and charity work at the foundation.

4. A Morocco quid pro quo?

In what Clinton foes call an illustration of the pay-for-play culture of the Clinton Foundation, Clintons nascent presidential campaign team navigated the complications of an apparent agreement the foundation made for the former secretary of State to participate at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Morocco.

Huma Abedin, Clintons closest aide, lays out that Clintons attendance was the condition upon which the Moroccans agreed to host the meeting. This was HRCs idea, she said, using shorthand for the former secretary. Our office approached the Moroccans and they 100 percent believe they are doing this at her request. The King has personally committed approx $12 million both for the endowment and to support the meeting. It will break a lot of china to back out now when we had so many opportunities to do it in the past few months. She created this mess and she knows it.

Robby Mook, now Clintons campaign manager, appears to be concerned a month later that Clinton is still scheduled to attend. We really need to shut Morocco and these paid speeches down, he wrote. After the matter was released, Mook cited the fact that Clinton ultimately did not participate as proof the matter was resolved.

5. Concerns about a Joe Biden run

There were various moments of high concern within the campaign, particularly in the early stages of the primary and especially as Vice President Joe Biden considered joining the race.

Podesta was often on the receiving end of nervous questions, some from inside the campaign and more often from outside, about Bidens plans. Among those reaching out at one point: Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, a top Clinton donor. Want to discuss POTUS and Biden, he wrote in October.

Clintons team worried that Vice President Joe Biden would jump into the presidential race. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times )

Still cant figure out whether hell rally himself to do it, Podesta observed in August.

As Biden increased his public profile heading into the fall, concerns seemed to rise. Neera Tanden, a longtime Clinton supporter who worked with Podesta at the Center for American Progress, wrote to Podesta Sept. 1 sharing that she heard Biden was telling union leaders he was running. Lord, have mercy, Podesta responded.

Less than a week before Bidens announcement, Podesta was part of an email discussion with senior campaign officials and outside officials about a CNN report that indicated the vice president, if he ran, would have immediate access to the Obama campaigns highly valuable email list.

In the days before Bidens decision was made, Podesta himself inserted himself in the discussion by openly seeming to prod Biden to finally reveal his plans. He brushed off claims he was bullying Biden, to the delight of some in the Clinton orbit. This was one of many emails trafficked once the Biden news finally became public.

6. Scorn for Catholics?

One of the most-discussed individual emails was one that Clinton critics have cast as evidence of a bias toward Catholics on the part of Clintons campaign hierarchy. Trump even alluded to it at the Al Smith Dinner, an event hosted by the New York Catholic Archdiocese, as he claimed Clinton herself hated Catholics.

The context was a discussion about the Catholicism of Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch and NewsCorp CEO Robert Thomson.

I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable, politically conservative religion -- their rich friends wouldnt understand if they became evangelical, campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri wrote.

Asked about the email last month, Palmieri said she did not recognize it. She also noted that she, herself, was Catholic.

7. Eric Garcetti under fire

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was briefly a punching bag last year when he apparently flaked on a meeting in June 2015. John Podesta suggested he had little patience for Garcetti.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti frustrated Clintons team last year. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

Maybe he can hold out to be MOMs VP, he wrote, joking that the mayor could end up as the running mate to Martin OMalley, a long shot Democratic primary candidate.

In another email, Podesta said the campaign should add Garcetti to the BdB file, a reference to the New York City mayor who had also annoyed the Clinton team.

8. Questioning Clintons instincts

Even Clinton loyalists occasionally questioned her political instincts.

In particular, Clinton concerned some of her allies with her reluctance to apologize last year for using a private email server while serving as secretary of State.

Everyone wants her to apologize. And she should. Apologies are like her Achilles heel, wrote Tanden in an email to Podesta. Before that, Podesta expressed his own concerns about Clintons political radar.

Weve taken on a lot of water that wont be easy to pump out of the boat. Most of that has to do with terrible decisions made pre-campaign, but a lot has to do with her instincts, he wrote to Tanden.

9. Suspicion of David Brock

David Brock, who started his career as a Clinton antagonist but is now one her familys fiercest defenders, was the subject of particular derision.

Podesta and Tanden traded messages describing Brock as an unhinged narcissist and a menace.

Brock runs two super PACs supporting Clinton, but his tactics werent always welcome by her campaign, even though they work together under a lawyer-blessed arrangement. He particularly stoked aides ire in January when he called for Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clintons septuagenarian opponent in the Democratic primary, to release his medical records.

Maybe he actually is a republican plant, Tanden wrote to Podesta. Hard to think of anything more counter productive than demanding Bernies medical records.

10. Speech transcripts revealed

After leaving her post as the countrys top diplomat, Hillary Clinton made millions delivering high-priced speeches for banks and other organizations, and she refused to release the transcripts when she launched her presidential campaign.

But some of her remarks were exposed in the hacked emails released by WikiLeaks. During the primary, when Sen. Bernie Sanders was turning the issue into a cudgel against Clinton, her campaign team circulated excerpts that could prove controversial if they became public.

Many of Clintons comments were consistent with her eventual platform as a presidential candidate  she talked about spreading renewable energy, making the economy more fair and suggested the country should keep building on President Obamas healthcare law.

However, the speeches also displayed a chumminess with her Wall Street audiences that was at odds with her rhetoric on the campaign trail. At one point Clinton suggested that political calculations were the reason elected officials wanted to crack down on banks after the financial crisis.

Donald Trump and his allies have tried to turn some of Clintons other remarks into attack lines, pointing to her support for open trade and open borders.

Clinton has defended herself by saying her remark about borders was a specific reference to increasing access to energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it.

11. Donna Brazile and the debate question heads-up

Donna Brazile, who replaced Debbie Wasserman Schultz to become interim chair of the DNC after a separate leak of emails raised questions about the national partys impartiality in the Democratic primary, appears to have given the Clinton campaign a heads-up on planned debate question during the primary.

That prompted new questions about her own potential favoritism in the primary.

CNN ended its relationship with Democratic Party leader Donna Brazile over the WikiLeaks emails. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press )

An email came in March ahead of a candidate town hall that was set to be hosted by CNN and TV One. The subject line and the comment from Brazile indicated her concern about whether Clinton would be equipped to answer the question. Palmieri indicated it was a subject Clinton had been asked before but concedes, not everyone likes her answer.

In a statement after the email became public, Brazile denied having access to the questions forum hosts would be asking. She said she occasionally shared her thoughts with all campaigns.

I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did, Brazile said.

But just this week a new email surfaced showing it was not an isolated case, leading CNN sever its relationship with Brazile as an analyst.

michael.memoli@latimes.com and chris.megerian@latimes.com

For more 2016 campaign coverage, follow @mikememoli and @chrismegerian on Twitter

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A body has been found on a South Carolina property where a woman was chained and held captive for weeks, a prosecutor said.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette spoke Friday at a bond hearing for Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, 45, on a kidnapping charge.

Barnette indicated more charges were coming.

The woman and her boyfriend were missing for weeks before she was rescued alive but found chained up like a dog in a large storage container Thursday.

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The body found on the property hasnt been identified, but Barnette said the victim saw the suspect shoot and kill her boyfriend.

She told us this individual did kill him in her presence, he said.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said she told him the bodies of other women could be buried on Kohlhepps land.

Kohlhepp is a registered sex offender with a previous kidnapping conviction.

The womans boyfriend, 32-year-old Charles Carver, is still missing after the couple disappeared in late August.

This image taken from video shows the exterior of Todd Kohlhepps home in Moore, S.C., on Friday. (Alex Sanz / Associated Press )

Acting on a tip, deputies found the woman, who was heard banging inside the container in Woodruff, 80 miles northwest of the state capital of Columbia, the sheriff said.

The woman, who had worked for Kohlhepp, had a chain around her neck, Wright said. She told deputies she had been kept in the container for two months and had been fed regularly.

Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said his departments investigation into the couples disappearance led authorities to the property near Woodruff.

We got computer and cellphone records that ultimately led us to the area in Woodruff, Stewart said. We knew that was the last place that a cellphone tied to this case pinged.

Records indicate Kohlhepp is a licensed real estate agent and pilot. As a teenager, he was convicted and sentenced to prison in Arizona for kidnapping and dangerous crimes against children.

Referring to the possibility of other victims, the sheriff said: Were trying to make sure that we dont have a serial killer on our hands.

South Carolinas sex offender registry lists a 1986 kidnapping as the reason Kohlhepp is in the database of sex offenders. It indicates he was a juvenile offender.

Matching online prison records from Arizona show that Kohlhepp served about 14 years for the felony and was released in 2001.

The Arizona records show the kidnapping happened in November 1986 in the Phoenix area. He was convicted the following year.

The records do not elaborate on the crime, but do list some violations while Kohlhepp was in prison. The records say he destroyed property and fought with others while incarcerated in 1988 and 1991.

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UPDATES:

Noon: This article was updated with news that a body has been found on the property.

This article was originally published at 11:50 a.m.
Hillary Clintons big campaign concert finale? Beyonce (and backup dancers in pantsuits)

Beyonce takes the stage in Cleveland. First song: Formation. Outfit: pantsuit (of course) pic.twitter.com/bzEs3u93Aj  Monica Alba (@albamonica) November 5, 2016

Backed up by pantsuit-clad dancers, Beyonce sang Who run the world? Girls! and declared: Im with her.

Queen Beys performance followed her husband, Jay Z, and a collection of other top rappers at a get-out-the-vote concert here Friday that doubled as a high-wattage campaign event for Hillary Clinton.

Clinton quoted Jay Z, referring to him as Jay, in tracing the civil rights movement to President Obamas election.

We have unfinished business to do, more barriers to break, and with your help, a glass ceiling to crack once and for all, she said to the raucous crowd. So please take this energy out with you.

(Matt Rourke / AP)

Clintons stop in Cleveland came amid a furious final week of

campaigning with some of her biggest supporters from the political and entertainment worlds.

On Thursday she was joined by Bernie Sanders and Pharrell Williams in North Carolina. Shell return to Cleveland again Sunday for an event with LeBron James. And Monday she will close her campaign with her husband, daughter and the Obamas.

Friday nights event was originally advertised as featuring only Jay Z, but as Clinton headed for Cleveland after a pair of stops in Pennsylvania and Michigan, her campaign informed reporters that the rapper was bringing some special guests as well.

The series of performances, vulgar lyrics and all, were interspersed with pitches for Clinton.

Im here tonight because respect matters to me, Jay Z said.

It doesnt really matter who I am. Im here to celebrate our next and first woman president, Chance the Rapper said.

Beyonce, though, was the show-stopper, including a duet with her husband.

Beyonce recalled the pride she felt in seeing Obama, the nations first black president, elected eight years ago. Now, the nation was on the cusp of history again, she predicted.

But we have to vote, she said. "... We have to think about the future of our daughters, our sons, and vote for someone who believes in them as much as we do. And thats why Im with her.
There is no mystery about who walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., last summer and, after sitting through a prayer meeting, methodically shot nine people to death. The gunman was Dylann Roof, then a 21-year-old with a mushroom haircut and a heart filled with hate. He offered through his attorneys to plead guilty to the murders  which he reportedly confessed to committing in hopes of starting a race war  if the death penalty was taken off the table. But the Department of Justice refused, and so on Monday a federal trial will begin that is completely unnecessary.

What Roof did is reprehensible. The murders were premeditated, conceived within a worldview of racial hatred and white supremacy, and carried out with cold-blooded efficiency. Roof chillingly informed one member of the prayer group that he would let her live to tell the world what happened. Such emotionally charged, horrific acts feed a public demand for execution, as though yet another death would atone for Roofs brutal crimes.

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Yet the death penalty is the wrong punishment  not just for low-profile murderers, but also for notorious ones, such as Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose execution is pending, or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh  whose execution The Times initially agreed with but then, 11 years later, realized was wrong.

The death penalty is wrong for a range of reasons. It is applied inconsistently and disproportionately against minorities; the judicial system is too easily gamed by prosecutors eager to win at any cost; its impossible to ensure an innocent person wont be executed. But the overarching argument against capital punishment is that killing another person is morally wrong, whether done out of hatred or as an act of state-sanctioned vengeance. And that is why we urge California voters to support Proposition 62 to end the death penalty, and reject Proposition 66, which would speed up the process.

It is appalling crimes such as these that test the resolve of a moral claim. The killings in Charleston caused incalculable pain to the victims families, to the church community in which the victims prayed, to the city in which they lived, and to the nation we all share. But to execute the perpetrator of those horrific murders achieves neither justice nor public good. While some of the victims families supported seeking the death penalty, others, who have famously already forgiven Roof for the agony he has caused, opposed the move.

If Roof eventually is executed  he also faces state capital charges  it will be at the end of a needless and costly series of trials and appeals, which will freshen emotional wounds and, by extension, make killers of us all. Its hard to see that as justice.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
No resident of this city, regardless of where he or she lives, can claim to be unaware of the growing catastrophe of homelessness in Los Angeles.

Few of us have not stepped over a homeless person in recent months or brushed past a panhandler or given a wide berth to a mentally ill street person wrestling with unseen enemies in a public space.

It is impossible now to ignore the burgeoning tent cities and sprawling encampments. In subway cars and Metro stations, at freeway off-ramps and in shadowy underpasses, human misery and desperation are on continuous display. Figures wrapped in blankets dot the grass in public parks each night, except when it rains, when they take shelter in tunnels and doorways.

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It will not end homelessness once and for all, and what relief it will bring will not come overnight... But it is essential that the measure be passed.

There are 28,000 homeless people living in the city of Los Angeles, up 11% from 2015, which in turn was up 12% from 2013. More than 2,000 are children. Nearly 3,000 are over age 62. Thousands are mentally ill, substance abusers, disabled or domestic violence victims; hundreds are AIDS sufferers or transgender people. A recent report highlighted the extraordinarily high rate of sexual assault among the growing population of homeless women in skid row; a report two years ago ranked California as 48th out of 50 states in the risk and extent of child homelessness.

On Tuesday, voters will face an extremely long and complicated ballot, filled with important questions on issues from the death penalty to mass transportation to healthcare financing. But near the very bottom will be Measure HHH, which ought to be a top priority for every Angeleno. It is a proposal by the city of Los Angeles to raise $1.2 billion to create 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing and affordable housing for homeless people. It is not a panacea, it will not end homelessness once and for all, and what relief it will bring will not come overnight. Its success will be dependent in part on hopes and promises and a measure of experimentation  and on governments ability to provide the people it houses with the social services they need.

But it is essential that the measure be passed.

Theres nothing new about homelessness in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times wrote about vagrants in the city as early as 1883, two years after the newspaper was founded. In the years that followed, The Times ran stories, some callous and some compassionate, on homeless waifs and beggars and tramps and hobos and bums.

In the modern era, the homeless were often hidden in plain sight in parts of the city  especially downtowns skid row  that many Angelenos had no reason to visit. Sometimes the homeless were directed there by police or dumped there by hospitals, or they gravitated to the food, shelter and other services concentrated there. As long as they remained out of view, it was possible to pretend they didnt exist.

But these days, downtown is being gentrified, buildings are being rehabbed, farmers markets are flourishing  and the homeless are finding themselves squeezed out, dispersed.

Whats more, theyre now to be found beyond Venice and Hollywood and Northeast L.A. Driven by ever-higher rents and the dearth of affordable housing, the lack of needed services and the difficulty of re-entering the workforce after prison or jail, the homeless are now scattered through every part of the city.

As Mayor Eric Garcetti recently acknowledged to The Times editorial board, the city and county have spent too many years addressing the homelessness issue reactively, mostly in response to lawsuits. Policy, as a result, tended to focus on the short-term problems: May homeless people sleep on the streets at night or can they be moved along by the police? Can the authorities confiscate tents, shopping carts and other belongings if they are left unattended? May homeless people block doorways? Where should they go to the bathroom? Can they be arrested for aggressive panhandling?

But now  impelled in part by the visibility of the new encampments and data showing that homelessness is exploding beyond its traditional borders  the city and county have come together, overcoming years of non-cooperation, to try to address the longer-term issues. If Measure HHH is passed, the city will be authorized to sell $1.2 billion in bonds over 10 years to build the 10,000 new units; the county, in turn, is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the city to guarantee that social services will be provided for all the housing built.

The measure incorporates the best known solution to the problem of chronic homelessness: a policy of housing first (providing shelter immediately rather than waiting for homeless people to become drug-free or to be stabilized on their medications) in long-term units with intensive on-site services for residents, aided by caseworkers who match people with the help they need. For the average Los Angeles homeowner, the cost of Measure HHH would be $32.87 per year, according to city administrative officer Miguel Santana.

Of course, this will not solve the problem fully or permanently. Programs will still be necessary, for example, to help those who are not chronically homeless, but who have fallen on bad times and need transitional housing, rapid-rehousing and other assistance. It will be a long road and even at the end there will be more to be done.

But thats no excuse for complacency or inaction. Some day, the world will look back in horror on a period when the people of Los Angeles were stepping casually over the homeless on the streets, ignoring mothers with children begging in the subways and averting their eyes when streets were used as toilets. How is it possible to become inured to suffering on such a scale?

Lets not allow it to be said, when history looks back, that the people of this city were unwilling to spend $32.87 a year to address a human catastrophe of this magnitude.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To those not in his thrall, Donald Trumps language is puzzling. His speaking style strikes them as gibberish, word salad and Palinesque  Slates Katy Waldman compares it to what you dictate into your Notes app after youve downed two Nyquil. People run reading-level tests on his speeches and announce that he has the vocabulary of a 5th grader.

Yet it obviously works for him. It has helped him build a visceral connection with a group of voters with whom he has almost nothing in common, turning his campaign appearances into mass spectacles that evoke the populist rallies of a century ago, even if no one would mistake him for William Jennings Bryan.

Its just Trump being Trump. The style hes been using to forge that connection is the same one that made him who he is. Trump has lived his private life in public for more than 30 years, not as a political figure but as a personality. Weve always heard him in conversation with someone else  Howard Stern, David Letterman, an Apprentice contestant  speaking with an entertaining mix of braggadocio and calculated candor.

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He scatters his talk with conversational turn signals like I mean, OK? and Can you believe that?

And hes still conversing now, even while hes declaiming to a couple thousand listeners. He scatters his talk with conversational turn signals like I mean, OK? and Can you believe that?; he breaks off sentences so his audience can finish them; he abruptly changes the subject when he senses theyre getting restless.

His syntax is conversational, too. The repetitions, the digressions, the sentences that scurry hither and yon  it looks Delphic in print, but so does most conversation when you strip away the pauses, gestures and intonation. The main thing is that listeners hear it as spontaneous and genuine. So what if the line of argument is sometimes lost in the tangles. Non sequiturs arent troubling if you already get the point. Like most people who attend political rallies, Trumps audience came there to connect  they were already convinced.

True, Trumps vocabulary is restricted. Hes a man of few words, and he repeats them a lot  though not more than most of us when were just chewing the fat. But his words arent so much simplistic as a pointed departure from the ones were used to hearing in public life  especially his choice of insults.

Heres how Trump explained why he stopped using incompetent to describe our leaders: I know words, I have the best words  but theres no better word than stupid.  And stupid has become one of his signature put-downs, along with disgusting and sad. Throw in dummy, dopey and mental basket case and hes impugned the intellectual capacities of Democrats, Republicans, journalists, media organizations, the voters of the state of Iowa, and just about everybody else who has strayed into his field of fire.

He has stupid pretty much to himself. Other politicians talk about doing stupid stuff or say that someone was acting stupidly, but they rarely apply the word to their opponents or adversaries. They may call them mendacious, corrupt or subversive, but stupid is off limits.

Thats partly because, coming from a politician, the word sounds mean-spirited and childish. When Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley called President Obama stupid in a tweet a few years ago, Obamas then advisor David Axelrod suggested that Grassleys Twitter account must have been hijacked by a 6 year old. Grassley wound up having to walk the remark back.

Stupid does have its roots in childhood. Its the cruelest thing one child can say to another, much worse than youre bad or youre mean. It reduces its target to a nullity. The only response is, No, youre the stupid one. The critic Avital Ronell calls it the ur-curse; its the first word were forbidden to use, before we graduate to more vicious slurs, not to mention our first epithet  I dont want to go to your stupid party.

Most of us learn early on to temper our use of stupid. We reserve it for people who suffer from a blind certainty, too vain or too obtuse to see whats right in front of their noses. Thats what Trumps implying about the people he calls stupid; what they lack isnt intellect, but smarts. It confirms what a lot of Trumps supporters have always thought about the elites, whom they suspect, with some cause, of looking down on them  no, theyre the stupid ones.

Stupid suggests to Trumps fans that they share his intelligence and powers of discernment. Theyre stupid is something you say when you take it for granted that your listeners are oscillating at the same moral frequency that you are. That means a lot coming from someone whom the media have established as a figure of luminous acumen. True, he has his blemishes, but for Trump and his supporters, if being stupid is worse than being bad, then being smart is more important than being good.

Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist, is a professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

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To the editor: To answer the question Steve Malanga posed in his op-ed article about Initiative 732, one reason the Sierra Club Washington state chapter does not support it is because carbon taxes alone do not meaningfully reduce carbon emissions. (Why are environmental groups lining up against Washingtons carbon tax initiative? Oct. 31)

Making carbon more expensive alone doesnt produce the funding to build infrastructure to allow people to live their lives without burning fossil fuels. This is particularly true for low-income families and communities of color, who get higher costs but no new infrastructure to help get around without burning carbon.

Carbon emissions are not a market problem, they are an infrastructure problem. The Sierra Club supports proposals that fund investment in green jobs, energy efficiency, transit, housing and renewable energy  and that put the needs of communities of color first. Initiative 732 doesnt do that, so we do not support it.

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Robert Cruickshank, Seattle

The writer is an executive committee member of the Washington state Sierra Clubs Seattle group.

..

To the editor: Bipartisanship is the only route to solving climate change. Economist Yoram Baumans coalition-building success on Washington states carbon-tax initiative deserves praise and support.

Some activists are mistakenly turning Initiative 732 into a poor-versus-rich battle. In fact the measure would lay the groundwork for a national carbon tax that is 100% revenue neutral. Under such legislation, everyone gets an equal dividend, and when the dividend is equal, the poor and middle class benefit. This is because the poor and middle class dont burn much carbon.

Electricity, gasoline, heating and cooling account for about a third of what we emit. The rest is hidden in things we buy. The more we spend, the more carbon we burn. The rich feel a carbon tax, while the poor make out nicely.

Craig Preston, Costa Mesa

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
California Democrats ask Obama to pardon nearly 750,000 Dreamers, but White House says it wouldnt work

The members of Congress who persuaded President Obama to grant temporary legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought into the country illegally as children are now asking him to use a pardon to prevent those immigrants from being deported by President-elect Donald Trump.

The White House, however, promptly batted down the idea.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) sent a letter to Obama on Thursday asking him to use his pardon authority to forgive the past and future civil immigration offenses of the nearly 750,000 people granted deportation deferrals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

They believe that would keep those people from being deported, and even though it would leave them in legal limbo without work permits or visas, they could more easily apply for legal status from within the U.S. without immigration offenses on their records.

They wouldnt have a piece of paper, they wouldnt have work authorization, but they wouldnt have to be living in fear every moment of their lives about deportation, Lofgren said after a news conference Thursday.

Lofgren, a former immigration attorney, said the pardons would probably be applied to the civil offenses related to entering and remaining in the country without authorization.

But whether a pardon would actually be applicable in the so-called Dreamers situation is unclear. Lawyers disagree over whether the immigrants could be pardoned for civil crimes they havent been formally accused of, and whether such a pardon would actually prevent them from being deported while they seek legal status.

A White House official signaled late Thursday that the administration was not considering a pardon for those registered under DACA because it believes a pardon would not allow them legal status.

We note that the clemency power could not give legal status to any undocumented individual. As we have repeatedly said for years, only Congress can create legal status for undocumented individuals, an administration official said.

After immigration reform efforts stalled in Congress during Obamas first term, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus pressured Obama to act independently to protect from deportation certain immigrants brought into the country illegally when they were children. He then used an executive order to create the DACA program in 2012.

The Dreamers, one in three of whom are estimated to live in California, gave the Department of Homeland Security their fingerprints, home addresses and other information to undergo background checks that allowed them to defer deportation under DACA.

At the time, advocates and the administration emphasized that providing the information would protect the Dreamers and was worth the risk. But with Trump vowing to deport millions of people who are in the country illegally and many fearing he may let the DACA program expire, Dreamers are worried the information they provided will be used to deport them.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), whose husband is an immigration attorney, said at the news conference she has been getting a flood of messages from frightened Dreamers. On Tuesday she sent a letter to Obama asking him to keep their information from the Trump administration.

We promised these recipients security, and now they are facing a nightmare, she said.

Roybal-Allard said those who pushed Obama to create the program and persuaded people to come out of the shadows to register with the government have an obligation to protect them.

These are kids. We feel a sense of responsibility. We went out into our districts and we talked to the Dreamers, and they asked us, Is it really OK for us to do this? Roybal-Allard said. And we said, No, dont worry, you need to come forward. Now we are in a situation where all that we said, in fact, could possibly be reversed.

Although the presidents pardon power is normally used for individual cases, there is some precedent for the chief executive to pardon a large group of people.

President Jimmy Carter pardoned half a million Vietnam War draft evaders in 1977, and at least seven other presidents have issued broad pardons.

Congress and the Supreme Court cannot undo a presidential pardon, nor can a new president.

Lofgren said if Obama doesnt pardon the Dreamers, she hopes he responds with his own idea to help them.

These young people are not alone, they are not going to be abandoned by us, she said.

UPDATES

4:59 p.m. This post was updated with additional details throughout.

2:15 p.m. This post was updated with the White Houses response to the proposal.

This post was originally published at 11:30 a.m.
Tall and vegan-slender since his quadruple bypass, the former president steps off the stage and meanders down a rope line. His thick shock of silver hair disappears as he bends down to shake hands with a child, then reemerges, only to disappear again in a sea of people, sometimes three deep, reaching for him.

Bill Clinton is casually dressed in an open-collar shirt and jacket, his pace as languid as his familiar Southern drawl. He chats with his ardent fans at a megachurch on the outskirts of Cincinnati and poses for selfies.

He seems to be enjoying every moment, every speck of attention, as he campaigns in battleground states for his wife, Hillary, who is seeking the presidency. Over two days last week, he visited six cities and towns in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He popped into universities, union halls, churches and auditoriums.

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They send me to where her opponent is strong, he told a crowd of still-sleepy students one morning in Cleveland.

Onstage, sometimes he pauses, midsentence, and it seems like maybe hes lost his thread. That can happen at the dawn of your eighth decade. But hes just considering his next line, and he always finishes his thought.

He no longer fires up a crowd like the Obamas, undisputed rock stars of the Democratic campaign trail.

But he brings something to the race that the Obamas cannot: his white, working-class bona fides.

Clinton is not just the countrys most popular ex-president, he is also the Democrats best bridge to Donald Trumps base of blue-collar men who are angry about the way theyve been buffeted by a changing economy and the countrys relentless demographic changes.

I spent my life watching people play my working-class white family off African Americans, Clinton said in Cincinnati. No, you cant have a raise. But you can look down on these people over here.

During his administration, he reminds the crowd, the country experienced its longest economic expansion in history, and its lowest unemployment rates in 30 years. And this, ultimately, is what Clinton is selling. Vote for us  well, her  and it can happen again.

I lived well under Bill Clinton, says steelworker Michael Good, at a Bill Clinton rally for Hillary Clinton in Aliquippa, Pa. (Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times )

In Aliquippa, a western Pennsylvania steel town, Michael Good, a 47-year-old steelworker, waited to hear Clinton. Good is like many of the Rust Belt voters who have flocked to Trump. Over the years, he has faced layoffs and a seesawing income. But, he said, I lived well under Bill Clinton.

::

Its not a shock that the man who is the nations foremost symbol of political baggage, of truth-shading, of the tarnishing effect of the unrestrained libido, should preach the virtue of turning the other cheek.

He gets plenty of chances to do that in these last, pitched moments of the 2016 campaign. On a recent afternoon, one such opportunity presented itself, about five minutes into his speech in Duncansville, in central Pennsylvania.

Several hundred had gathered to see him in a union meeting hall. Clinton was mocking Trumps charge that Hillary Clinton has been in public service for three decades and failed to fix what ails the country.

She did have some influence when I was president, Clinton said in that familiar, hoarse voice. We tried to pass healthcare. We had the longest economic expansion in history; everyones income rose. Golly, I thought I did some of it. Turned out, she was in control the whole time.

In the back of the hall, a young man ripped off his Hillary T-shirt to reveal a second T-shirt with Bill Clintons face and the word Rape.

Youre a rapist! the man yelled. The crowd booed. Two officers hustled him out. Clinton never stopped talking.

Toward the end, he acknowledged the outburst: Im tired of all this acid being poured down peoples throat. In the end, we all gotta get up in the morning. I want you to think about this, and talk to people like that fellow who screamed at me. If somebody says something hateful to you, tell them, Unlike you, we actually want you to be part of our future.

This genteel style, a counterpoint to the rough tone of Trump rallies, extends to his rope-line conversations as well.

After his speech at the Cincinnati megachurch, Clinton spent an unusually long time with Mike Travanutti, 63, a retired financial manager. Until 2008, Travanutti was a lifelong Republican and Bill Clinton hater. Disgusted by the way Republicans turned on Colin Powell for supporting Obama, and dismayed by the viciousness of the attacks on the Clintons, he turned off conservative talk radio.

In Cincinnati, Mike Travanutti, 63, apologized to Bill Clinton for drinking the right-wing Kool-Aid. His son, Nick Barnett, 24, has always voted Democratic. (Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times )

He apologized to Clinton for drinking the right-wing Kool-Aid in the 90s. He told Clinton he voted against Al Gore in 2000 because of the presidents sexual misconduct with a White House intern. I told him, Everything I thought about you before was wrong.

Clinton held onto his hand.

He said, I forgive you, Travanutti said. I thought I was going to cry.

::

While every Bill Clinton speech is an encomium to the superior ideas of his wife, the glory days of his own tenure (though with never the slightest allusion to his impeachment), and the promise of a brighter future, it is also an unabashed critique of Trump.

The trick to going high when they go low, it seems, is to never say the other guys name.

Over two days in Pennsylvania and Ohio, Clinton never once publicly uttered the words Donald Trump. But he never stopped slamming Hillarys opponent, the man who has, with gusto, reopened the tawdriest political wounds of the 90s.

He never accused Trump of being a racist. He didnt have to.

I am a 70-year-old white Southerner, he told the college students in Cleveland. I know what Make America great again means. It means Ill give you the economy you had 50 years ago when you had a good, middle-class lifestyle and you felt good when you got up in the morning. And I will give you the society you had back then. I will move you up on the social totem pole and make other people slide back down. Thats a big part of this, and you know it.

In Aliquippa, he accused Trump of building two projects with illegal imported Chinese steel.

The steel was proved to be sold in America at a price lower than it cost the Chinese to make it in the first place, Clinton said. Thats like going into a country and firing a missile at a plant and taking peoples jobs away.

Lock him up! yelled a man in the crowd, echoing the anti-Hillary chant that has become a staple of Trump rallies.

No, Clinton replied, thats the kind of stuff they say. I want you to lock him out of the White House.

::

His loose approach on the trail can backfire. Last month in Michigan, his inartful description of rising Obamacare premiums was put to instant use in Republican ads.

But people who assumed the Big Dog would be muzzled  as he was in 2008 after calling Obamas Iraq war opposition the biggest fairy tale you ever saw  are wrong.

Until election day, he will keep up his frenzied schedule of three appearances a day, flying private jets between stops.

Holding a microphone in one hand, his other hand casually in his pocket, Clinton still exudes the qualities that have made him such a singular politician  the ability to convey deep empathy for Americans struggling with economic dislocation, combined with a mastery of policy and simple-sounding solutions to vexatious problems.

He spoke of small towns, rural areas losing manufacturing jobs and other jobs, and they dont bounce back in a hurry.... Its a terrible problem. And its fueling a lot of the road rage in her opponents campaign.

And I get it. The worst thing in the world is to get up every single morning and start the day by looking in the mirror and know that there is not one single, solitary thing you can do to make tomorrow better than today. The question is what would fix it? Shes the only person got a plan to do it.

Clinton also sprinkles in unexpected tidbits: Pennsylvania Dutch are actually German. Canada has one of the biggest Ukrainian populations outside of Ukraine. White working-class Americans are the only group whose life expectancy is going down. He owns a sculpture by newly minted Nobel laureate Bob Dylan, a gate made of old farm implements.

Hillary Clinton supporters may or may not have warm feelings about her, but they love him.

Hes still got it, said Joe Wagner, a 61-year-old construction worker who lives among Trump supporters in Batavia, a Cincinnati suburb. Hes just so good.

In Cincinnati, Joe Wagner and Linda Connell, both 61, said Bill Clinton had not lost his touch with a crowd. (Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times )

Whether his wife makes history or not, you get the sense that Bill Clinton will always be a welcome sight in these places. He embodies the 90s, and for most Americans, the 90s were pretty good.

As people started to file out of the Word Family Life Center megachurch, police officers blocked the doors. Dozens already outside were told to stay put. There was only one driveway into the churchs parking lot, and no one would be allowed to leave until Clintons motorcade departed.

Rolling past the crowd, Clinton lowered the window of his black SUV, smiled and waved. The crowd waved back.

robin.abcarian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AbcarianLAT

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Christina Rourke flashed a grin and folded the flier handed to her promoting a Nevada ballot question allowing legal marijuana sales.

Already voted for it, Rourke, 32, who works in real estate, said on a recent afternoon as she stood in a line wrapping around a Las Vegas-area high school where President Obama was to campaign for Hillary Clinton. Really, it was a big reason for me to even get out and vote.  Pot was big for me. Then came Hillary.

Public approval of legal marijuana is accelerating, similar to the countrys quick evolution in favor of same-sex marriage. Efforts to legalize pot for recreational use are on the ballot in five states this month, including two battlegrounds  Nevada and Arizona  that Clinton is targeting in the final days of the presidential race. And though its proponents are wooing some of the same constituencies she is, Clinton is keeping the issue at a distance from her campaign, frustrating backers of legal pot who want her endorsement and running the risk of leaving votes on the table.

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Pot is Clintons ally, whether her campaign wants to admit it or not  it just is, said Joe Brezny, a spokesman for the proponents of Question 2, Nevadas pot measure. We have the coalition she needs and theyre showing up to the polls to vote for marijuana reform.

Indeed, in early voting totals in Nevada, Democrats are far outpacing Republicans in turnout. Another ballot question, which would require background checks on gun sales, has also energized younger voters and progressives.

While Clinton, trailing Donald Trump by about 2 percentage points in an average of polls in Nevada, stands to benefit from the enthusiasm forged by legalized pot here  surveys have consistently shown Democrats are more likely to back legalization  she has not publicly endorsed it. Trump has said the issue should be left up to the states.

During a Democratic debate in Las Vegas last year, Clinton sidestepped a question about legalizing marijuana in Nevada, saying more research must be done from studying implementation in states where it is legal, such as Colorado and Oregon.

Clinton has instead dispatched her primary challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who supports the measure and now backs her, to campaign in Nevada in recent weeks. He has talked about pot during his appearances, and his political organization, Our Revolution, has sent emails urging supporters to vote for the measure.

But for some young voters, its not enough to have Sanders talk about marijuana reform. They want Clinton, who has said she never smoked pot and whose husband famously claimed he didnt inhale, to publicly take a position.

Ill already be there voting yes for pot legalization, but Im not completely sold on Clinton, Spenser Sullivan, 22, an international-business major and volunteer for the proponents of Question 2, said last week as he sat at at a concrete picnic table outside Lied Library, near the core of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus.

Ill already be there voting yes for pot legalization, but Im not completely sold on Clinton.  Spenser Sullivan, a student volunteer

Deuvall Dorsey, a graduate student at UNLV and the student coordinator for the pro pot effort, said if Clinton wants his vote, she needs to take a stance.

Its sad because marijuana reform is so widely supported, Dorsey, noting the millions in tax revenue that could come from legal sales in Nevada, said. Its what the people want.

Clintons campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Dorsey said hes considering voting for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson, who has said he smokes marijuana.

But man, hes not going to win. Im not really down for a symbolic vote, Dorsey said as he handed out postcard-sized fliers to students scurrying to class on the arid landscaped campus. For me though, its all about getting pot passed.

Clintons views in closed-door meetings appear to show shes more definitively opposed to legal marijuana than the wait-and-see approach she advocated at that debate. In transcripts of speeches she gave to Fortune 500 companies, obtained and posted by WikiLeaks, Clinton voiced disapproval for legal marijuana during a question-and-answer session with Xerox CEO Ursula Burns in March 2014.

Still, some pot proponents see Clintons public comments as a positive.

Spenser Sullivan, a student at UNLV, hands out fliers supporting Question 2 at a rally in Las Vegas where President Obama was speaking. (Kurtis Lee / Los Angeles Times )

Her rhetoric is non-intervening in what states are doing and thats all we need to keep the ball moving down the field and in the correct direction, said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group dedicated to ending cannabis prohibition.

Polls show Question 2 with an advantage among Nevadans, but opponents, bankrolled by $2 million last month from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, are making a late push. Theyre airing television ads highlighting dangers of edible marijuana.

Proponents have been on the air with television ads for months, spending about $800,000. Similar to measures on the ballot in other states, including California, they tout tax revenue from legal pot sales that would go toward, among other things, public education.

They are also blanketing college campuses, concert halls and happy hours, urging young people to vote in support of reform. Outside the high school where Obama spoke, Dorsey handed out fliers to those in line.

It only seems natural, with legalization happening so often now, that a future president would be in support of it, said Brandon Monson, 28, an education major at the College of Southern Nevada, as he took a flier.

Monson noted his own displeasure that Clinton has not come out in support of pot.

But maybe shell come around, he said.

For more political news follow @kurtisalee

kurtis.lee@latimes.com

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As Hillary Clintons presidential campaign was about to launch last year, its architects were desperate to dampen the impact of an upcoming book deeply critical of her familys financial dealings.

They turned to David Brock, who crusaded for the Clinton family during the days of impeachment and scandal in the 1990s.



For the record: An earlier version of this story used an incorrect name for the Federal Election Commission.

Clintons new inner circle privately called him a nut bar and soulless narcissist, a wild-eyed mercenary from the old Clinton wars who could be unpredictable. But Brocks skills in the political dark arts positioned him to hunt down a copy of the book, Clinton Cash, before it was on sale.

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Feels like what Brock is good at, John Podesta, now the campaign chairman, emailed Robby Mook, who would become the campaign manager. Great idea, Mook replied. Brocks team delivered.

As Clinton aims to move back into the White House, the cottage industry around her political aspirations has sprung up anew and created tensions along the way. Tapping a deep network of donors and their own appetites for bloody political combat, eccentric operatives earn handsome livings orbiting in Clintons universe and even work within the shadowy corners of her campaign, according to interviews, tax and campaign filings and hacked emails from Podestas inbox posted on WikiLeaks.

Chief among these operatives is Brock, the former right-wing antagonist who now commands a network of political groups that will raise about $65 million to elect Clinton and other Democrats this cycle. The groups have paid generous salaries to him and others, including millions of dollars in commissions to a fundraiser who has summered with Brock in the Hamptons.

Over the months of this long campaign, Brocks operation became an indispensable part of Clintons machinery  just as in the old days, leading the attacks against her enemies.

This time, though, he helped Clinton push the boundaries of finance rules by coordinating their efforts.

Soon after Clinton entered the race, Brock announced that Correct the Record, a super PAC he created in 2013, would work directly with her campaign. That wouldnt break campaign finance rules prohibiting coordination with a candidate, group representatives argued, because no money would be spent on ads; Correct the Record would instead concentrate on posting material for free. With that, the organization assumed key roles for Clinton, handling opposition research and the rapid response job of blasting out fiery attacks on her critics.

Campaign leaders came to rely on Brock, particularly for the dirty work.

When Clintons aides were upset about a quote in another negative book about her, they discussed how to fight back: Im sure Brock and team would love to go at him, wrote Christina Reynolds, then Clintons director of rapid response.

Brock boasted in an interview about pulling off maneuvers others still considered taboo, such as heeding the campaigns orders to quickly saturate the airwaves last week to spin the revelation that the FBI is looking at the emails of a Clinton aide.

That is the kind of thing we couldnt have done before, Brock said, pointing to federal rules that other super PACs still interpret to ban such conversations with a presidential campaign. This legal interpretation is breaking new ground.

Donors have taken notice. A Brock fundraiser alerted Podesta late last year that billionaire hedge fund manager James Simons was intrigued that Correct the Record was a coordinated PAC, as he mulled giving as much as $1 million. Simons did not write the mega-check, but one of his closest associates from his Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, Henry Laufer, gave half a million dollars, the groups biggest contribution.

Campaign finance reformers were appalled.

Hugely problematic and illegal is how Brendan Fischer, associate counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, described the arrangement Brock has brokered with Clintons campaign. The group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

A billionaire cant come in and say, Im going to pick up the salary of the campaign manager. Fischer said. If Clinton had kept her opposition research team in-house, a donor couldnt have said, Im going to pay for all the salaries of the researchers.

Even Clintons allies worried that the unprecedented setup has gone too far, the hacked emails show. This does seem shady, Clinton friend Neera Tanden wrote to Podesta. His response was brief: Brock $ machine!

Thats fine, Tanden wrote back. But skirting if not violating law doesnt help her.

The campaign declined to comment on the emails hacked from Podesta; it has not confirmed their authenticity.

Brock, 53, with owlish glasses and a shock of white hair, made his name trying to discredit Anita Hills sexual harassment allegations about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and publishing Arkansas state troopers allegations about Bill Clintons womanizing.

But as Clintons impeachment loomed, Brock refashioned himself as a devout defender of the Clintons, providing insider intelligence for their defense. He brought his story to the fundraising circuit, impressing many in Clintons circle of wealthy donors with his experience in the inner workings of the right. They gave generously.

Brock built a network of 10 nonprofits and political groups, all sharing an office in downtown Washington. They include Correct the Record, the $9.4-million super PAC; and Media Matters for America, devoted to pushing back against the right-wing media. Brock earns about $575,000 per year.

In the same suite of offices is the small firm belonging to Brocks friend and fundraiser, Mary Pat Bonner, which collects a 12.5% commission on money brought in. The arrangement could net Bonners company about $4 million this cycle, positioning her for earnings that dwarf those of chief fundraisers at much bigger and more sophisticated operations. Bonner did not respond to requests for comment and Brock could not say how much she earns.

Mary Pats take-home pay is her own business, not mine, Brock said. He praised her ability to find new donors and keep old ones happy and argued that other groups spend even more on fundraising. I dont think I would have been able to do it any other way, he said.

The Brock operation is also providing for the care and feeding of a select group of longtime Clinton warriors. Sidney Blumenthal, the former journalist and advisor in the Bill Clinton White House, earns $200,000 a year providing strategic advice  a payment made public only by mistake. Also earning $200,000 for the same type of gig, said Brock, is James Carville, the fervent surrogate who helped run Bill Clintons 1992 campaign.

The financing agreements are a source of tension among Democrats. Brock and Bonner alleged a conspiracy against them by fellow Democrats when news reports about Bonners impressive salary emerged just before Clinton entered the race. It moved Brock to briefly quit the board of Clintons biggest super PAC.

Welcome to whacko land, Podesta wrote in an email about the dust-up to Tina Flournoy, Bill Clintons chief of staff.

When a panicked Bonner pleaded with Podesta for advice on how to respond to the press nightmare the spat had become, Podesta curtly warned her that obsessing would only garner more media attention. Stop feeding the beast, he wrote.

Bonner regularly pestered Podesta to mollify big donors. When a senior Clinton policy advisor declined to offer a job to the granddaughter of Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, Bonner pushed Podesta to intervene. The woman was later hired.

It was not the only time Brock created heartburn at Clintons Brooklyn headquarters, where staffers might be able to turn to Brock for help but had no reins to pull him in.

Podesta became enraged during the Democratic primaries when he learned Brock was making an issue out of the health record of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. As Podesta fumed, Tanden hypothesized that the idea to demand Sanders medical records might have been hatched by Bill Clinton, reflecting what she suggested is the former presidents penchant for political skulduggery.

Podesta and Tanden, who runs the liberal Center for American Progress, pondered whether Brock could be a GOP plant, a real-life Manchurian candidate, or just an unhinged narcissist. Tanden, who called Brock a nut bar and a menace in the emails, asserted that the Clintons continued confidence in Brock reflected their own taste for conspiracy theories and dirty-tricks politics.

Brock laughed it off, saying he had been called worse in campaigns. He says Podesta has enthusiastically helped build and nourish his network since 2003, and a few snarky emails do not reflect their relationship. He interprets Podestas money machine note as a nod to his fundraising prowess, not an insult.

As for Tanden, Brock said she sent an apologetic note, explaining that she was trying for dark humor.

I told her I totally understood and I was sorry her privacy had been violated, Brock said. As far as Im concerned, were all on the same team.

Brock said angst inside the campaign about the legality of his role dissipated long ago, after Clintons own attorneys explained what he calls his novel arrangement that found a way around rules that prohibit campaigns from working directly with super PACs.

Clintons campaign, Brock said, would have severed ties with Correct the Record if it were doing anything risky. If they had doubts about the legal nature of our work, they wouldnt touch us with a 10-foot pole, he said.

Brock doesnt anticipate the partnership ending on election day, though he has no interest in joining the government payroll as a White House advisor. He says lawyers are looking at how Correct the Record could function as part of a Clinton presidency, battling new investigations already threatened by Republicans.

There will be plenty of work to do, Brock predicted.

evan.halper@latimes.com

joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

Twitter: @evanhalper, @jtanfani

The polls might seem wild right now, but this election is closing a lot like the last one did

In the closing week, Clinton is once again making the election a referendum on Trump

Trump proposed poll-monitoring in urban areas, so black voters are fighting back with monitoring of their own
For months, Donald Trump has whipped up supporters by directing them to go into cities with sizable minority populations to make sure the presidential election is fair.

So important that you watch other communities, because we dont want this election stolen, Trump said in Pennsylvania last month, encouraging people to watch voting in certain areas.



For the record: An earlier version of this article misidentified U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez as Thomas Vazquez.

Those statements put the Republican National Committee in an uncomfortable spot. The party has been bound by a federal court consent decree for three decades that bars efforts to police the polls on election day, on the grounds that they might intimidate minority voters. In courtrooms across the country, Democratic lawyers are pushing for orders to prevent what they fear will be widespread GOP efforts to confront or harass voters on Tuesday.

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On Friday, with Democrats seeking an injunction that finds the RNC violated the consent decree, an RNC lawyer told a federal judge in Newark, N.J., that the party cant be held accountable for what Trump says.

Is the [Democratic National Committee] really contending that the RNC has control of Donald Trump? said the attorney, Bobby Burchfield. That would be a news flash.

U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez did not immediately rule, but did indicate he was troubled by statements from Trump supporters.

Im not going to violate the law, but Im going to make them nervous, said Vazquez, quoting a typical statement. Thats like saying, Im not going to murder him, but Im going to shoot that guy.

Democrats won rulings in several other cases Friday. In Ohio, a federal judge barred Trumps campaign and Roger Stone, a longtime Trump supporter and lobbyist, from interrogating voters or taking photos around voting locations.

In Arizona, a federal appeals court suspended enforcement of a state law that prohibited political parties from picking up absentee ballots; Democrats claimed that unfairly raised hurdles for minorities.

And in North Carolina, U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs ordered election workers to restore voters purged from the rolls in a challenge process that she called insane. This sounds like something that was put together in 1901, she said in a hearing this week.

The case in federal court in Newark has a long history, dating to the 1981 New Jersey governors race, when off-duty police officers were hired to confront voters in black and Latino neighborhoods, holding signs warning, This area is being patrolled by the National Ballot Security Task Force.

Stone was involved in that race 35 years ago, working for Republican candidate Thomas Kean  who narrowly won the election  but he said he had nothing to do with the poll-monitoring operation.

Since then, the RNC has been operating under the consent decree, and Democratic lawyers regularly return to court to seek strict enforcement.

Every four years, huh? one lawyer on the Democratic side said Friday, shaking hands with a Republican colleague.

The RNC says it takes care to steer clear of poll-monitoring activities and says no one has produced evidence to the contrary.

The court order only covers the RNC, though, leaving state parties and others free to set up poll watching. This year, Stone runs StoptheSteal.org, which has recruited volunteers to be vote protectors on election day  to conduct exit polls, he says.

Top officials in both the Trump campaign and the RNC have said they are working hand in hand. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said at a Denver rally that the campaign is working with the RNC to ensure ballot integrity, exhorting supporters to volunteer to monitor polls on election day. Kellyanne Conway, Trumps campaign manager, and Reince Preibus, head of the RNC, also said the national committee was coordinating with the campaign.

When you take all of that evidence together, the RNC is at least in coordination with these other groups to violate the rules, said Joshua Kaul, a lawyer for the DNC.

Burchfield said Pence, Conway and Priebus all misspoke. He has been man enough to admit he made a mistake, he said of Pence.

Thats a lot of mistakes, the judge said: Every time they talk about the RNC acting with them, they say, Oops! Slip of the tongue.

joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

Twitter: @jtanfani

The Clintons old attack dogs have a profitable new role, and sometimes it makes the campaign nervous

In final days, Clinton is once again trying to make the election all about Trump

What the WikiLeaks emails tell us about Hillary Clintons campaign (and what they dont)

UPDATES:

4:10 p.m.: This story was updated with court action on voting cases around the country.

This story was originally published at 1:20 p.m.
Democrat Loretta Sanchezs wave of attacks against her rival and attempts to win over Republicans have failed to turn around her fading campaign for U.S. Senate, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.

Just 28% of likely California voters have a favorable impression of the Orange County congresswoman, a basement-level number she shares with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the survey found.

Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, the solid front-runner in Californias historic Democrat-versus-Democrat Senate contest, had favorability marks of 41%, brighter but not great. President Obamas approval here is 65% and Hillary Clintons is 56%.

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The survey found 48% of likely voters supported Harris, compared with 31% who backed Sanchez. The gap between the two Democrats has widened a smidgen since early September, when Sanchez began holding a series of news conferences attacking Harris record as attorney general.

I think the short story here is that Harris is comfortably ahead. Overall, she is just better-known and better-liked, said Anna Greenberg, the Democratic pollster whose firm forms half of the bipartisan team that conducts the survey for USC and The Times. Sanchez is just at a major disadvantage.

Harris, the highest-ranking black politician in California, is the strong favorite among white, black and Asian voters. Latino voters remain Sanchezs strongest base of support, but even there Harris has made inroads, the survey shows.

Hispanic voters are more likely to vote for Sanchez, but they are not hostile to Harris, Greenberg said.

The attorney general has been at the front of the pack in the Senate race since she first announcing in January 2015, and this and other polls indicate her lead has grown in the homestretch of the campaign despite two months of attacks.

Coverage of California races and ballot measures | Sign up for the newsletter

Since Labor Day, Sanchez has attempted to close the gap by yoking Harris to scandals surrounding Trump University, the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant and the nutritional company Herbalife. Sanchez also took shots at Harris role in the national mortgage settlement, which the attorney general holds up as one of her top accomplishments.

But as of Oct. 19, Sanchez has raised only $4.5 million throughout the campaign, nowhere near enough to pay for a sustained statewide television ad campaign, the most effective  albeit expensive  way to influence the electorate in the largest state in the union.

Harris raised more than three times as much. Her $14.5 million didnt set any Golden State records, but it was enough to buy air time during the World Series and for a statewide ad with Obama singing her praises.

Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez speaks at a news conference to criticize the 2012 mortgage settlement made by Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris outside the Ronald Reagan State Building in Los Angeles on Oct. 26, 2016. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times )

The race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is retiring after four terms in the Senate, is the highest-profile contest between two members of the same party since California adopted a top-two primary election system in 2012. And its the first open Senate seat since 1992.

It also has played out on a desolate side stage of an election season dominated by the combustible presidential race.

The lack of voter interest, combined with Sanchezs struggles to raise money for her campaign, has undercut the congresswomans effort to attract support from Republicans and independents who may feel disenfranchised by having two Democrats on the Senate ballot, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.

Republican and independent voters need to know youre more moderate, he said. If they dont they will simply ignore you.

One in four Republicans wont vote for either Democrat or remain undecided. Still, the survey found Sanchez leads Harris among likely Republican voters by a narrow margin of 32% to 27%.

Sanchez for months has been courting Republicans and moderates, emphasizing her expertise on national defense and global threats as a member of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, and at the same time has tried to paint Harris as a far-left liberal favored by the San Francisco Democratic establishment.

Along with support from Democratic colleagues in Congress, Sanchez has touted endorsements from well-known Southern California Republicans Richard Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, and former Rep. Howard Buck McKeon of Santa Clarita.

That helped tip the scale for Republican Richard Ogan of Oceanside. Ogan, a Trump supporter who took part in the survey, said he struggled to decide.

The ballot box guide to Californias propositions >>

Ive heard Sanchez before and I just like her better, said Ogan, 83, a retired electrical engineer who worked for the U.S. Navy.

Still, Sanchezs lead among Republicans might not pay great dividends, said pollster Randy Gutermuth of American Viewpoint, the Republican polling firm that jointly conducted the survey. He expects to see a massive drop off of GOP voters casting ballots in the Senate race after they check a box in the presidential race.

Democrats still rule the West, at least in California, with an 18% advantage over the GOP when it comes to registered voters. And likely Democratic voters favor Harris over Sanchez by more than a 2-1 margin, the poll showed.

Harneet Sawhney, a dentist from Irvine, said her decision to vote for Harris was influenced greatly by Obamas endorsement. Harris also has collected endorsements from most of Californias top Democratic leaders, including the governor, Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Sawhney, a U.S. citizen who was born in India, said Harris support of the Indian-American community also helped make her decision easier. She is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India.

Students pose for a photo with U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris after a campaign event at Cal State Northridge on Tuesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )

I think she would be a good fit  and I saw the president of America was supporting her, said Sawhney, 26.

Harris lead among both men and women, and among all age groups except voters between the ages of 18 and 39.

Sanchez has a slight edge among voters in the Central Valley and Californias central coast. But Harris dominates in Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area, which, combined, are home to more than 40% of Californias electorate.

Democratic political consultant Doug Herman said he doesnt see any path to victory for Sanchez, no matter what type of patchwork coalition of support she may stitch together. The most effective strategy to have in a statewide race in solidly blue California is to be the best Democrat, he said.

The survey of 1,500 registered voters was conducted for USC Dornsife and the Los Angeles Times by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and American Viewpoint. The survey was conducted by telephone in English and Spanish from Oct. 22-30. The results for the U.S. Senate race are based on responses from 697 likely voters and the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

phil.willon@latimes.com

Twitter: @philwillon

ALSO:

Detailed poll results

Riding high in the U.S. Senate race, Kamala Harris pushes to help down-ballot Democrats

Backed by Occupy activists, Loretta Sanchez criticizes Kamala Harris signature mortgage settlement

When running for U.S. Senate, its good to be the highly visible California attorney general

Loretta Sanchez has gone negative. Now shes risking fallout for a future in the Democratic Party

Live coverage of California campaigns and ballot measures
Heres one thing we know for certain: California will remain blue this year.

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump 54%-30% among likely voters in our new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of California voters; 58%-32% when we pressed those likely voters on where they would land if they had to choose only between the two major candidates.

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(Note this is our traditional telephone-based statewide survey, not to be confused with our panel-based Daybreak national tracking poll, which is conducted by different pollsters using a different methodology).

That top line result shouldnt come as a surprise, but underneath, the poll offers interesting insights into the election. Check back Sunday for Melanie Masons complete write-up of the results.

Good afternoon, Im David Lauter, Washington bureau chief. Welcome to the Friday edition of our Essential Politics newsletter, in which we look at the events of the week in the presidential campaign and highlight some particularly insightful stories.

2016 MAY RECAP 2012

That Clinton victory margin in California looks awfully familiar. In 2012, the final, official statewide results showed President Obama defeating Mitt Romney 60.2%-37.1%.

If you take into account that the poll sample  even the likely voters  includes a few percentage points worth of people who say they may not vote at all, Clinton seems poised to roughly match Obamas share of the actual votes cast.

Trump likely will come in a few points below Romney, reflecting his weakness among suburban voters, particularly women. Many of those suburban Republicans will not vote for Clinton  some will vote for a third party and others will stay home, a drop in turnout that could hurt Republicans down the ballot.

We put that Trump weakness in the suburbs in the spotlight this week when Seema Mehta wrote about the likelihood that Orange County may vote for Clinton. The county has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1936, the longest streak for one party of any county in the state.

The possibility that Orange County could flip, Mehta wrote, echoes whats happening in other big suburban regions around the country, from the collar counties outside Philadelphia to Gwinnett County outside Atlanta and on west to suburbs of Houston and Dallas.

But Trump at least partially offsets those suburban losses by picking up strength among blue-collar, white voters who have sided with Democrats in the past. Thats why, for all the turmoil of the 2016 campaign, the overall national polls and the state-by-state electoral maps show this race heading down a path that is similar to 2012, as I wrote this week.

I wont recap all that I wrote, but just highlight one key point: The polls bounce around a lot more than the race actually does.

Much of up and down in the polls that gets ballyhooed on television results from simple random variation in polling results coupled with what pollsters call response bias.

Thats a fancy label for the reality that people are more likely to respond to a poll about the election when they want to talk about it, which is to say when they think their candidate is doing well. When a headline blares that Trump has been caught on an Access Hollywood videotape bragging about being able to get away with assaulting women, his backers are less likely to respond to a survey, and his poll numbers drop. The same goes for Clinton backers after last weeks FBI announcement about newly found emails.

So, yes, the race has tightened  they typically do in the final weeks  and, yes, Trump has a chance of winning. But his chances are not as good as Romneys were, and the race remains more stable, and less volatile, than many people think.

Speaking of volatility, Don Lee took a look at what the financial world is betting on. Markets have pretty much priced in a Clinton win. If thats wrong, expect some turmoil.

HIDDEN VOTERS?

Theres been much talk about the possibility that Trump will do much better than the polls suggest because, the argument goes, there are Trump supporters who just wont admit that to a pollster.

Thats always a possibility, but through most of the Republican primaries, Trump never over-performed his polls. And this week, Morning Consult, the polling and media company, ran a test of the hidden voter hypothesis. Its conclusion: Some shy Trump voters exist, but very few, and not nearly enough to sway an election.

There should be at least as much concern in the other direction. Polls have much more difficulty contacting younger people, minorities and low-income Americans than they do in finding older, more affluent whites. A lot of variation in polls comes from efforts to adjust for that deficit.

In 2012, a lot of polls underestimated Obamas vote, largely because they didnt reach enough young and minority voters. With early vote data showing an upsurge of first-time Latino voters in several states, that could be the case again this year.

DONT FORGET THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Mark Barabak, Cathy Decker and I will do the final update of our interactive electoral map on Sunday. Check back then to see our predictions, and make your own.

Currently, the map shows Clinton leading in more than enough states to secure the White House. Will that hold up?

Winning requires 270 electoral votes. How to get there? The map allows you to play political strategist and try out as many scenarios as you would like.

Weve taken a lot of looks at swing states in the last several months. Barabak had one last look this week at an unlikely battleground  Texas, where Trump has Republicans worried about losing a congressional seat.

And Michael Finnegan went to Philadelphia, where Trumps talk of poll-monitoring in urban areas has black voters fighting back with monitoring of their own.

THE END GAME

As with most endeavors, closing the deal on the election involves lawyers. David Savage checked in on whats become a quadrennial exercise  both sides amassing campaign lawyers to prepare for trouble.

Its not just the lawyers who may be shouting after the votes are counted. Lisa Mascaro took a look at Trumps ardent supporters and asked: Will they keep fighting if he loses?

Many of those Trump supporters are holding out hope for more last-minute help from the FBI. But Del Wilber talked to experts familiar with the email case, who pointed out that it would take a bombshell for FBI to push charges.

And check out Mike Memoli and Chris Megerians explainer on what the WikiLeaks emails tell us about Hillary Clintons campaign (and what they dont).

Evan Halper and Joe Tanfani caught up with David Brock, the well-compensated mastermind of the Clinton opposition research and attack machine. Their piece explains how Brock has found new ways around the campaign finance laws, allowing him to run a super-PAC while still fully coordinating with Clintons campaign.

Finally, Robin Abcarian spent time on the campaign trail with Bill Clinton, the natural, as he sought votes in places that love Trump.

FOLLOW OUR TRACKING POLL

The USC Dornsife/LA Times tracking poll has been tracing Trumps and Clintons trajectories since early summer. The poll shows a better result for Trump than most other surveys. Why is it different? Here are several of the reasons.

QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP, CLINTON? WEVE GOT ANSWERS

Where they stand on issues, what theyve done in their lives, their successes, their failures, what their presidencies might look like: Weve been writing about Clinton and Trump for years, and weve pulled the best of that content together to make finding what you want to know easier. So check out All Things Trump and All Things Clinton.

LOGISTICS

If you like this newsletter, tell your friends to sign up.

That wraps up this week. My colleague Christina Bellantoni will be back Monday with the weekday edition of Essential Politics. Until then, keep track of all the developments in the 2016 campaign with our Trail Guide, at our Politics page and on Twitter @latimespolitics.

Send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
Climate change may sometimes seem so big and abstract that it can be difficult to grasp the scope of the problem. But now, scientists have found a way to bring the numbers down to Earth: For every metric ton of carbon dioxide released into the air, three square meters of Arctic sea ice disappear. If you do the math, this means the average American is melting roughly 50 square meters of those frozen reserves every year.

The findings, published in the journal Science, highlight the direct effect that individuals have on climate change  and what it means for the Arctics shrinking sea ice.

For us, this is really the first time that we do have an intuitive understanding of how our individual actions really contribute to global warming, said lead author Dirk Notz, a climate scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany. So far, when we talked about global warming, it was always these very big numbers, like billions of tons of carbon dioxide  or very small numbers, like 0.1 degree of temperature change or something. But now suddenly, with this three-square-meter loss per ton of CO2, it gives a very, very concrete and intuitive understanding of how we all cause Arctic sea ice to melt.

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Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas; it traps heat in the Earths atmosphere, forcing the global temperature higher and higher. (It also acidifies the worlds oceans, making it difficult for sea creatures to build their shells and corals to build reefs.) And human activity, thanks in large part to the fossil fuels we burn, is speeding up the release of carbon dioxide.

Scientists have already documented the myriad impacts that climate change, spurred on by greenhouse gas, has wrought on the environment. Weather events and droughts are becoming more extreme; diseases are spreading more easily; many species are going extinct as their habitats disappear. And of course, ice sheets in both the Arctic and Antarctic are melting, causing ocean levels to rise.

Sea ice, which is water that freezes out of the ocean, goes through an annual cycle: It grows in the winter and starts to melt as the weather warms. Eventually, if global warming continues, summer sea ice will melt entirely. This also accelerates rising global temperatures, said Cecilia Bitz, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the study. Thats because sea ice reflects sunlight, whereas the ocean absorbs it. With less sea ice protecting the Earths surface, the ocean will absorb more energy, and grow even warmer.

But estimates dont all agree about when exactly the Arctic will be ice-free  some models put it at the beginning of this current century, while others say it will still have ice well into the next.

Climate change has always had this fairly abstract notion. It was almost impossible ... to figure out how my own actions make a difference.  Dirk Notz, climate scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology

But Notz and study coauthor Julienne Stroeve of the the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., noticed something odd: Several decades of climate data has allowed scientists to quantify the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and temperature, and the relationship between temperature and the loss of sea ice. So why hadnt anyone used these two rates to find the link between carbon dioxide and sea ice loss?

Its one of those things that, in retrospect, sounds so obvious, Notz said.

The scientists calculated that about three square meters of Arctic sea ice was lost for every metric ton of carbon dioxide released. Since the average American produces roughly 16.39 metric tons per year (as of 2013), it means each individual is responsible for about 50 square meters of lost sea ice.

I have stood on sea ice, Bitz said. I imagine I occupy about a meter squared, and the thought of being responsible for the destruction of maybe 50 square meters a year is, well, depressing  and profound.

To put that in further perspective, Notz said, it means that driving about 2,500 miles in the average American car results in another three square meters of melted ice. A round-trip plane ride from New York to London costs another three square meters or so of Arctic sea ice.

See the most-read stories in Science this hour 

Even for me as a climate scientist, climate change has always had this fairly abstract notion, Notz said. And it was almost impossible, for myself, to figure out how my own actions make a difference. But now with these numbers ... it suddenly becomes very tangible.

The Paris agreement on climate change, which went into effect Thursday afternoon (at midnight in Europe), set a cap for carbon dioxide emissions at 1 trillion metric tons, in order to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius. But Notz calculated that 1 trillion metric tons of the greenhouse gas would melt Arctic summer sea ice for good.

We might be able to keep global warming below two degrees, but Arctic sea ice will be gone by that point, Notz said.

amina.khan@latimes.com

Follow @aminawrite on Twitter for more science news and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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UPDATES:

7:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from Cecilia Bitz and with additional details on the findings.

This story was originally published at 5:15 p.m.
Its 10 a.m. at Kings Seafood Distribution in industrial Santa Ana and its about to be purchasing manager Michael Kings favorite time of day: tortilla delivery.

I watch as a box truck backs into the loading dock at the 15,000-square-foot fish-filled warehouse in Santa Ana and unloads cases of just-pressed Dianas yellow corn tortillas. Workers help the driver place the tortillas next to more than a dozen pallets, each destined for one of Kings Seafood Co.'s 19 restaurants.

By tonight, the discs of fresh masa will be wrapped around fillets of beer-battered Atlantic cod at Water Grill in downtown L.A., crusted mahi mahi at Sunset Beachs Fish Camp or grilled swordfish at any of the 11 Kings Fish Houses. Each taco will be made with just-caught fish, which is currently being gutted, cut and prepped in the room next door.

I like to say its magic, King, who is also the son of the distributor and restaurant groups founder Sam King, tells me. At most restaurants you have to order your food from a bunch of different vendors, but with our system, the managers just put the order in by 9 a.m., and 12 hours later, it all shows up and its ready to go.

With a 32-year history of restaurant operation (555 Steakhouse in Long Beach, Lou & Mickeys in San Diego and Pier Burger in Santa Monica are also theirs), Kings Seafood Co. has cornered the West Coast seafood-concept market with everything from fast casual to fine dining options that offer the same quality product through a variety of experiences.

But seafood  the most seasonal protein on earth  is no easy meal to offer. Not only is it more expensive to procure, its an often inconsistent product that must be flown long distances and handled properly every step of the way. All this for a shelf life that can be measured in days, not weeks, making logistics for running a seafood restaurant of any price point a mammoth challenge.

After a meal at Costa Mesas newly opened Water Grill, I wondered not about the expertly trained chefs who create the high-end restaurants exquisite dishes, but about the ingredients. How do 18 different oysters end up on the raw bar menu every day? How did that giant Norwegian king crab come to be swimming in the live tank? And how do black bream from Greece, Dover sole from England and soft-shell crabs from Maryland all get onto the menu at the same place?

As I discovered on my recent tour of Kings Seafood Distribution, every single fin fish (15 to 20 species a day), oyster (at least 20 per day) and live crustacean (from Alaskan king crab to Santa Barbara spot prawns) that gets put on a table at a Kings restaurant started its journey in this warehouse.



The daily dance that goes on inside Kings Seafood Distribution is a sight to behold.

After the tortilla delivery, Michael King leads me into the production room, or as Kings Seafood Distribution Director Juan Vargas calls it, The Operation Room. Nearly 12,000 pounds of fish move through here each week.

----------

FOR THE RECORD

An earlier version of this article stated that more than 3,000 pounds of fish move through Kings Seafood Distribution each week. The correct figure is nearly 12,000 pounds.

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Its a cool 39 degrees inside, and a team of professional operators are already hunks of fish deep into fulfilling the days orders. On one end of the room are whole wild Pacific swordfish and massive wild Alaskan halibuts, plucked straight from the box of sliver ice theyve been sitting in since they were caught less than 48 hours ago. As the fish move down the production line, they get smaller and smaller, eventually ending up as perfectly portioned fillets.

If you have 18 different restaurants portioning halibut, youre going to get it done 18 different ways, King says. Here, were better and were faster.

Kings Seafood Distribution moved into this warehouse in 2008, after decades of building up a similar operation out of Santa Monica Seafoods facility. At the time, the company had 15 restaurants where more than than 90 percent of protein sold was seafood  including the highly acclaimed original Water Grill in L.A. (that raw bar!) and nearly a dozen mid-priced Kings Fish Houses. It was more than enough to consolidate purchase orders and justify investing in a fleet of custom delivery trucks.

To this day there are only a handful of restaurant groups that operate their own large-scale seafood distributorships as Kings does. None are on the West Coast.

Its definitely easier to work with beef or pork and thats why not a lot of people are doing this, King says. We like that, though. We like that challenge.

In the shellfish room  where all the clams, mussels and oysters are stored  I learn that the company purchases nearly 3 million oysters each year, buying them in bushels (about 120 per pack) and using their special reshipper certification to divide them into smaller orders for each restaurant.

Near the live tanks (which are maintained to mimic the environment where the product was caught), a tray displays spiny lobsters caught just offshore, a 60-year-old Maine lobster with massive claws and Dungeness crabs that prove their vitality by standing on their hind legs for a fight. King says his crew receive 2,000 pounds of live lobster at a time, which they weigh and individually tag before sending off.

In an adjacent minus-10-degree room thats by far the largest in the warehouse, all kinds of frozen goods -- including some seafood like shrimp and Chilean sea bass (theres only a few months a year when its fresh)  wait to be re-freshed (aka thawed) and sent off.

One of the things that makes us unique is that we dont just do frozen, we dont just do fresh, we dont just do shellfish. Its all of it, King says.

As my tour winds down, another delivery truck arrives, this one from the airport with a portion of the days fresh seafood intake. King and Vargas inspect the haul of translucent spot prawns from Santa Barbara, prehistoric looking Norwegian crabs from the Bering sea and live sea urchins from the California coast, thankful that at least so far today, there are no major fires to put out.

Because the most predictable part of working with seafood is that its unpredictable.

We plan for the worst, hope for the best. You have to with seafood because too much changes, King says. The weather is an impact, so is international politics sometimes. Anything that can go wrong will at some point. But thats what makes it so cool. This is the best the world has to offer at its peak. We just want to get it out there so our guests can enjoy it.

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SARAH BENNETT is a freelance journalist covering food, drink, music, culture and more. She is the former food editor at L.A. Weekly and a founding editor of Beer Paper L.A. Follow her on Twitter @thesarahbennett.
It happened about 15 years ago when Ava Park stood in a cramped, dark cave in Egypt, adjusting her eyes to the warrior goddess Sekhmet.

The only light in the very small chamber comes from a square hole in the ceiling. Outside is the vast temple complex of Karnak in Luxor on the east side of the Nile River, home to the second largest ancient religious site in the world.

Park remembers that the tourists were unrelenting, jostling and talking loudly, ignoring the solemnity. She just wanted a moment.

Suddenly, I was alone in the room, she said, amazed at the turn of events.

She then tried to explain what happened next as she gazed at the nearly 3,500-year-old, life-sized statue.

Its hard to describe with words a spiritual experience, she said.

But she did feel something that to her was undeniable and has helped guide her life ever since.

I saw the solar disk on her head change into a crown and something pushed me to my knees, she said. The message was, You have a lot of work to do, so get to it.

As quickly as it came, the experience left. The tourists ambled back and she got to her feet and walked out, feeling both startled and exhilarated.

When she returned to the United States, Park researched womens spirituality, trying to find a group of kindred souls. But she was left lacking, so she started her own, the Goddess Temple of Orange County in Irvine, goddesstempleoc.org.

Park, 61, is now a presiding priestess and a virtual compendium of goddess spirituality. In person, she is both forthright but receptive, acutely aware but not self-absorbed, confident but not arrogant. With warm hands and penetrating eyes, you can understand why the women  and some men  in her temple treat her as a respected spiritual adviser and confidant.

While she has extensive training in many kinds of religions, none spoke to her in the same way as what she felt in Egypt.

I realized that all of the organized churches were very male dominated, she said. They were very God the father. There was not much mention of females. Everything seemed very one-sided to me.

The modern goddess movement started growing in popularity in the 1970s. But it has a long, complicated history that is traced back to the start of civilization.

I think of there being a source of life, a principle in the universe that creates life and is alive and is conscious and is one being, and we are all that being, Park said. All is one. And because that principle is creative and constantly giving birth to new things, it makes sense to think of that  in human terms  as a great mother rather than a great father.

In these times, despite more than 40 years of feminism, there still is a polarized view of what constitutes male and female. Whether its transgender rights or presidential character debates, the current climate is not particularly enlightened.

In some ways, Park considers this as an opportunity because it fosters discussion and honesty.

The paradigm we have is that its men against women, and women against men, and that we have different interests. And if you take away power from one, it takes away power from the other, she said. That is a completely polarizing paradigm of duality that is very much of the patriarchal mindset.

If I uplift and empower myself, it takes nothing away from you. In fact, it makes all of us stronger and more happy and more whole.

Its not common, however, to talk this way, let alone becoming a priestess. Park knows this. If shes at a dinner party, for example, and someone asks her what she does, she doesnt normally lead with Im a goddess woman.

People dont know about it, she said. They dont know what it is. They dont even know what questions to ask. So you have to explain things very simply.

She tells them its a church for the empowerment of women. That its not some crazy notion. That, in fact, its one of the first belief structures ever practiced.

Most people dont know but for 250,000 years on this planet, everyone venerated a god that they thought of as a female, a great mother, she said.

Unfortunately, many years ago, men changed all that and history has never been the same. Despite this hidden history of humanity, Park said, she hopes people start to become more open to spiritual alternatives because for many women, they will never feel completely happy under a patriarchal system.

What I see all the time are women who feel vaguely dissatisfied  or sometimes strongly dissatisfied  with their current religion. They know they are deeply spiritual people and want spirituality in their lives, but they feel that their church is dried out  thats theres no juice in it.

Still, if a woman changes her life, there is often a consequence if she is in a relationship with a man, and it can be difficult to navigate, Park said.

In our culture, we only want women to be the playful, sexy maiden that we can have sex with, or the giving mother who cooks and cleans and takes care of people, she said. This is the situation with women today. They have the responsibility of making the home happy and running the home, but they dont have the authority in the public sphere of changing the laws so that life actually works for all of us.

There is another way to live, she said, but it takes inherent trust and equality.

The matriarchal mindset is shared power. Were all in this for the good of the tribe together. We have forgotten that theres another way to live on this planet.

Park is convinced the approach is correct, just and healthy.

I see how broken things are. I see how it doesnt have to be that way. And Im just committed to spending the rest of my life to helping uncover some deep and ancient truths for humanity that will help us all live more happily together, Park said.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.
While interviewing for business school four years ago, Eunice Cho found herself increasingly frustrated with the lack of suiting options available for younger women entering the working world.

Not one to ignore an opportunity, the La Habra native, who graduated from Sonora High School in 2003 and majored in painting as an undergraduate student at Yale University, enrolled in UCLAs Anderson School of Management  a program conveniently located near her familys textile business  and quickly began creating prototypes of office-appropriate essentials for her fledgling clothing line, Aella.

She started with a pair of pants, a silhouette widely regarded throughout the fashion industry as notoriously difficult to construct in a way that flatters the wearer. To me, that was the biggest opportunity, says Cho, 31. No ready-to-wear brand was focusing exclusively on pants, so it was a problem we could solve for people.

By fall 2014, shed earned her MBA and celebrated the online launch of Aellas first product rollout, a tightly edited collection of black pants in three styles  skinny, cigarette and flare  that combine the classic lines of tailored suiting with the comfort and machine washability of yoga wear.

All three styles incorporate fabrics from the same Italian and Turkish mills used by luxury brands such as La Perla, Lanvin and Ralph Lauren. Later additions to the Aella lineup, including hand-dyed tops, cropped blazers and convertible duster jackets, are made from custom-woven fabrics like Feather Skin, the brands trademarked T-shirt material built around a moisture-wicking inner layer. The functionality and practicality of the clothing is just as important as the style, Cho says.

Despite her aggressive commitment to sourcing high-quality fabrics and manufacturing her line domestically, Cho remains steadfast in her decision to market Aella as a midlevel brand at a matching price point.

The woman were designing for is a very ambitious and smart person who knows where she wants to spend her money, she explains. These days, consumers know theres a lot of markup when theyre buying something from a department store or traditional retailer. Personally, I think its too much if a basic pair of pants is priced more than $300. Even if people know a brand has great quality, theyll still find and buy the pieces at a discount.

To encourage new customer experimentation, Cho resolved to keep Aellas pricing approachable  a pair of the brands bestselling ankle-length skinny pants starts at $198  while shying away from traditional retail tactics like seasonal sales and loyalty discounts.

Her strategy caught the eye of a senior executive at Bloomingdales, who invited Cho to debut Aella pop-up shops this past summer at a handful of the department stores flagship locations, including South Coast Plaza.

When you grow up in Orange County, South Coast Plaza is one of the major places you go to shop, Cho says of the experience. Its an iconic mall. When youre selling online, youre in a vacuum because people come to you for a very specific purpose, but when youre in a larger retail setting, youre both competing and working in conjunction with all these other brands. It makes us think twice about what we offer there.

For now at least, many retail experts would agree with her decision to highlight Aellas elements of athleisure, a trend thats seen high-end workout clothing integrated into everyday wardrobes.

Athleisure is both a clothing phenomenon and an important growth category for South Coast Plaza, says Debra Gunn Downing, a spokeswoman for the Costa Mesa-based shopping center. South Coast Plaza initially took heed of athleisures surging popularity around seven years ago, she adds, and made a conscious decision to invest in athleisure-dedicated apparel and footwear brands.

Cho believes Aellas focus on movement is well suited to an Orange County audience. If I didnt have the part of me thats from Orange County, my design aesthetic probably wouldve turned out a lot more conservative and tailored, she says. I think I had a very typical Orange County childhood. Most of my time was spent going to the beach, and I had a lot of creative interests. I used to make my own clothes as a hobby, always painted and played piano.

Now living in Santa Monica, Cho spends much of her downtime cooking, an activity she likens to designing Aella because both pursuits involve doing one classic, simple thing very well.

Shes most inspired by other people who dress well, especially older women. Im not 22 years old anymore, so Im not looking at girls in crop tops and cut-offs for inspiration, she says. Im looking for something a lot more polished and age appropriate.

A five-person operation, Aella continues to grow out of an airy showroom in downtown Los Angeles. The brand recently moved into Bloomingdales in San Francisco, and Cho has hopes to conquer other domestic and international markets, particularly Asia, over the next few years.

Right now were only in New York, San Francisco and here, she adds. But our athleisure-inspired edge has so much potential for global appeal because interests in health and fitness are becoming worldwide phenomena.
After nearly 10 years in the third-floor penthouse of Costa Mesas South Coast Plaza, renowned French bistro Marche Moderne will open a bigger, oceanside location at the Crystal Cove Shopping Center in Newport Coast.

It will be the restaurants first major move, expected sometime in early spring. The South Coast Plaza location will close early in the new year.

Its a great transition. It kind of gives us a chance to relaunch and refresh, said head chef Florent Marneau. Its been a great 10 years, and weve truly loved being here. We cant wait for the next 10, 15, 20.

Marneau and his wife, Amelia, pastry chef (and the businesswoman behind the kitchen), had been in talks for about a year with the Irvine Co., which manages the Crystal Cove center.

We looked in different Orange County neighborhoods from when we first opened, Amelia Marneau said. Weve seen a lot of restaurants open up multiple locations, but we really wanted to do this one correctly and get the good, right formula, really focusing on our guests.

The couple  who met working at Aubergines in Newport Beach and later worked at Costa Mesas Pinot Provence (both now closed)  say they have always focused on consistency, execution and excellence in everything they do, from hospitality to the menu.

Were very much focused on our craft, Florent Marneau said. Opening a restaurant is hard, but keeping it open is a different story. If you change the menu, some people might get mad, but if you dont change, people dont come back.

Marche Moderne  French for modern market  opened in April 2007 and has become a popular fine-dining destination for locals and tourists.

The restaurant also has received attention and reviews from many food critics. Marche Moderne is one of the few Orange County restaurants to land a spot on Jonathan Golds 101 Best Restaurants in the Los Angeles Times.

With seasonal events, an ever-changing three-course prix fixe Spontane" menu and critically acclaimed dishes such as wild Spanish octopus and classic French coq au vin, Marche Moderne has entrees inspired by the places the Marneaus often travel to  restaurant-rich cities such as Paris, New York and San Francisco.

We get inspired from our travels to France and around the world, and constant creativity is the best part of it, Florent Marneau said. Sometimes well go back to a popular dish and try to make it better, changing the little details, while keeping the flavors fresh and consistent.

They describe their staff and patrons as family. Even their children, Mateo and Juliette, help out in the kitchen.

After Indian restaurant Tamarind of London closed at the Crystal Cove center last October, the Marneaus were excited to hear of a bigger coastal location closer to their home in Newport Beach.

The new restaurant, now in escrow, will revamp its open exhibition kitchen design, have a warm, earthy, inviting tone inspired by modern Europe, and include more indoor and patio seating.

Everyone is excited for the move, Amelia Marneau said. People are already trying to book reservations for the new location.

Its going to reflect us over the past 10 years, but its also going to be totally new, she added. Were already playing around with new dishes for the menu.

Easther Liu, chief marketing officer of Irvine Co. Retail Properties, said: Marche Moderne is the best in its class, from impeccable service to outstanding French cooking  where every meal is a special culinary experience. Were thrilled to bring a renowned restaurant of this caliber to Crystal Cove Shopping Center.

Debra Gunn Downing, spokeswoman for South Coast Plaza, also wished the Marneaus success.

She also said an unidentified restaurant will replace Marche Moderne in the penthouse space in 2017.

The Marneaus said they feel bittersweet but excited about moving on.

We always love the extremes, Florent Marneau said. Weve learned to trust what we do.

We have a great, committed Orange County loyalty. Theyre not looking for whats trendy, Amelia Marneau said. They ... stick with whats good and they come back. People will follow a great chef.
Newport Beach leaders took a step forward Tuesday with a plan that eventually could make it easier to renovate a home or business in town.

The City Council voted unanimously to approve the citys Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan, a regulatory document that the California Coastal Commission required all coastal cities to create to guide development in the states coastal zone. Roughly half of Newport Beach is in the coastal zone, which encompasses the citys entire shoreline and includes areas such as the Balboa Peninsula, Balboa Island, Corona del Mar and the neighborhoods surrounding the Back Bay.

The plan likely will go before the Coastal Commission for approval next year, according to city staff. The 12-member commission, which is responsible for enforcing the state Coastal Act, has long asked cities along the coast to prepare programs to cover rules for development and protection of coastal resources. The local coastal programs are intended to give cities more control over projects in their areas, which would lessen the state agencys workload.

This is really an effort of local control, Councilman Tony Petros said. This will return the discretion and authority back to where it belongs ... the citizens of Newport Beach and their elected representatives.

The citys local coastal program consists of a land-use plan, which was certified by the Coastal Commission in 2005 and most recently updated in 2009, and an implementation plan.

Newport Beach residents who live in the coastal zone and want to complete a home renovation currently have to obtain permits from the city and the Coastal Commission. The process can take up to 18 months, according to city staff.

However, if the commission approves the citys document as drafted, many homeowners who dont live directly by the water would only need a city permit and wouldnt have to wait for the state agencys permission.

We think we can do it much faster and much cheaper, and with our knowledge of the local area, complete it in a way thats responsive to our local concerns, said city Planning Manager Patrick Alford.

Owners of homes and businesses that are directly on public tidelands likely would still be required to go through the Coastal Commission as well as the city.

In all cases, permits issued by the city could still be appealed to the Coastal Commission, city staff says.

Newport Beach started crafting its document in the 1970s, and the Coastal Commission began pushing cities to finalize the plans in the early 2000s. Since then, the city has been paying fines of $12,000 annually because the commission has not yet approved its plan.
Amid the more publicized elections for local city councils and school boards, four races for state and federal seats have been relatively quiet.

At the federal level, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is seeking reelection Tuesday in the 48th Congressional District. Hes been in Congress since 1989. Challenging him for a second time is Suzanne Savary, a Newport Beach Democrat who is a retired professor and management consultant.

Savary, whose campaign has occasionally tied Rohrabacher to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trumps controversial remarks about women, faces an uphill battle. Her incumbent opponent garnered nearly twice as many votes as her in the June primary.

Rohrabacher, however, has not shied from his support for Trump. In October, Rohrabacher was critical of House Speaker Paul Ryan after Ryan and other Republicans backed away from supporting Trump.

The biggest surprise in June was that Democrat Karina Onofre, who has never held elected office, captured 3,760 more votes than incumbent Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach) in the 74th Assembly District primary.

The two face off again in next weeks general election.

Also up for election are the 37th District seat in the state Senate  with incumbent John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) facing Democratic challenger Ari Grayson  and the 72nd District seat in the state Assembly, with incumbent Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) facing Democratic challenger Lenore Albert-Sheridan.

Albert-Sheridan, a Huntington Beach-based lawyer, is facing possible professional discipline after the State Bar Court of California recommended a 30-day suspension for her. A judge last month found her culpable on three counts of misconduct for failing to cooperate with a disciplinary investigation and failing to obey a court order to pay $7,258 in sanctions. A three-day trial was held in July.

The state Supreme Court will determine whether to uphold the recommendation.

I was not found to have done anything criminal or that I had been dishonest or had bad character, Albert-Sheridan told the Daily Pilot this week. I think there were a lot of due-process violations in the proceedings, and I am not going to back down.

Here are the races, with the candidates listed in alphabetical order:

48TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Dana Rohrabacher

Age: 69

Occupation: U.S. representative

Education: Bachelors degree in history, masters degree in American studies

Time lived in district: I have lived in our district my entire time serving in Congress and before that growing up here in the 1960s.

Previous public service: Speechwriter and special assistant to President Ronald Reagan

Immediate family: Married, three children

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Refocus Americas space program on near-space projects that directly benefit humankind and increase our ability to protect our country.

2. Rally bipartisan support behind increasing employee ownership through restructuring of our tax system. My bill, Expanding Employee Ownership Act of 2016 (H.R. 4577), accomplishes this goal.

3. Use all of my experience and foreign contacts to defeat radical Islamic terrorism. My bill H.R. 4017 gives Christians who are targets of genocide priority for immigration and refugee status.

Suzanne Savary

Age: 69

Occupation: Retired associate professor of management communication at USC; former chief executive of a management consulting firm

Time lived in district: 18 years

Previous public service: Founder and president of the Newport Beach Womens Democratic Club; member of Newport Beach Charter Commission; service on several nonprofit boards and organizations

Immediate family: Widowed, two children

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Our 48th Congressional District deserves a leader who will work with others to solve problems and generate solutions, rather than choosing win-lose obstructionism.

2. Work tirelessly and bring the five Es to fruition: economic revitalization of the middle class and small business; empowering women and families to achieve their best lives; educational access to maintain our economic competitiveness; environmental responsibility for clean air, water and soil; and embracing the future and change by bringing responsible leadership back to D.C. and the O.C.

3. Reverse the anti-family, anti-women, anti-Social Security and -Medicare, anti-minority, anti-small business, anti-middle class, anti-student, anti-progress, anti-infrastructure and stunningly anti-environmental policies of my predecessor.

37TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT

Ari Grayson

Age: 56

Occupation: Architectural engineer, research scientist

Education: Doctor of philosophy in architecture; master of science in architecture; master of science in building design; graduate studies in architecture; bachelors degree, architectural engineering

Time lived in district: Five years

Previous public service: None

Immediate family: Married

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Economic stimulus by building infrastructure for transportation and water recapture, as well as economic analyses to indicate building the infrastructure we need.

2. Job growth by encouraging the development and use of high-tech and innovative technologies, particularly renewable and green technologies that help Californias environment and help the state become a global leader in this burgeoning market.

3. Ensure higher education is affordable and accessible to all individuals with the ability to succeed. Students should not be burdened with overwhelming debt in order to receive a college or university education.

John Moorlach

Age: 60

Occupation: State senator

Education: Bachelors degree, with an option in accounting; certified public accountant (inactive); certified financial planner (inactive)

Time lived in district: In Costa Mesa for 32 years, in Orange County since 1960

Previous public service: Orange County supervisor, 2nd District (2006-15); Orange County treasurer-tax collector (1995 to 2006); several related committees and industry organizations

Immediate family: Married, three children

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Focus on state budget to improve Californias balance sheet. California has the largest unrestricted net deficit of any state in the nation.

2. Focus on Californias unfunded liabilities. Work to address pension and retiree medical unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities, the largest of any state in the nation.

3. Focus on making California more business-friendly. California has been rated the worst state in which to do business by CEOs for the past 12 years in a row.

74TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Matthew Harper

Age: 42

Occupation: State assemblyman; real estate broker

Education: Bachelors degree in public policy and management

Time lived in district: 28 years

Previous public service: Huntington Beach mayor (2013-14), Huntington Beach City Council member (2010-14), Huntington Beach Union High School District trustee (1998 to 2010)

Immediate family: Married

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Continue to support education. For me, education is the top priority for the state of California, and we need to work together so our education systems are competitive, innovative, accountable and funded.

2. Continue to oppose tax increases and attacks on Proposition 13. The state government is downward pressure on our economy, and in addition to opposing tax increases, I will support regulatory relief, California Environmental Quality Act reform, litigation reform and labor law reform.

3. Instead of state-run high-speed rail, we need to focus on improving and expanding our transportation, energy and water infrastructure. Public and private infrastructure is aging, outdated and inadequate.

Karina Onofre

Age: 33

Occupation: Small-business owner

Education: Bachelors degrees in economics and political science

Time lived in district: Four years

Previous public service: Never been a politician

Immediate family: In a relationship

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Investing in strengthening our public education system by making sure all California kids are the leaders of this globalized world in every field, including engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, inventing, medicine and technology across the board. I also want to make sure our high school students are learning about how to balance a checkbook, how to have good credit, how to have a good social media image/reputation, best practices of social media health and safety, how to buy a car and how to become homeowners before they step out into the real world.

2. Making sure our public safety sector has all the resources at its disposal to best protect us, as we also bring more diversity into the system so that our mosaic of cultures are well-represented and we can build bridges to empower communities. To help promote more diversity in the law enforcement system, I would ... promote the idea of doing away with written exams only for college graduates, since the written exams have been proven to weed out a lot of people who may otherwise have other qualities, experience and assets that our police and fire departments could greatly benefit from.

3. As a small-business owner in the real estate and mortgages industry, I will fight to help other entrepreneurs succeed and thrive, because small businesses are the backbone of all great economies. I plan to emphasize tax cuts for small-business owners ... as I believe these tax cuts can pay for themselves by increasing government revenue generated from the new jobs, new companies and new prosperity for California.

72ND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Lenore Albert-Sheridan

Age: 50

Occupation: Consumer rights attorney

Education: Bachelors degree in economics; juris doctor

Time lived in district: More than 15 years

Previous public service: Not stated

Immediate family: Not stated

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Bring back a strong and thriving middle class.

2. Defend our environment  clean air, water and food.

3. Get money out of politics.

Travis Allen

Age: 43

Occupation: State assemblyman; small-business owner

Education: Bachelors degree in economics

Time lived in district: 20 years

Previous public service: Assemblyman since 2012

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Roll back burdensome, expensive and unnecessary regulations that are forcing businesses out of the state, taking jobs for hard-working Californians with them. Every year, California is ranked one of the worst states to do business and create jobs.

2. Protect Proposition 13 and fight to lower taxes to make it affordable to live in California again. California has the nations highest sales tax, gas tax and top income tax bracket.

3. Ensure that our taxpayer money stays in our schools and that parents and students are empowered to participate in the education process. California used to lead the country in educational outcomes for our students, yet is currently one of the lowest-ranked states.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint
Newport Beach City Council candidate Mike Glenn on Thursday decried a political action committee-sponsored mailer that brings up an expunged misdemeanor conviction from 2000.

The mailer, paid for by the Peninsula Small Business PAC, points to Glenns misdemeanor conviction for damaging a newspaper vending box in Florida when he was 19 years old.

Glenn, 36, has since had the crime expunged from his record, he said.

I was a stupid teenager, he said. I beat up a vending machine and mouthed off to the cop who caught me.

The mailer also said that Glenn was sued for failing to pay rent in Newport Beach and alleges that he does not pay taxes.

Glenn said he forgot to pay his taxes in 2008 and immediately paid them when the Franchise Tax Board notified him.

He also said the lawsuit was the result of a misunderstanding in which someone who was living in an residence in Newport stopped paying rent.

Glenn said he wasnt living there at the time, but his name was still on the lease, so he paid the back due rent and the landlords kicked out the tenant.

Nothing they wrote has anything to do with any of the stances Ive taken on issues, Glenn said. Theyre really doing residents a disservice trying to get them to focus on what I did as a teenager instead of what the issues are in Newport Beach.

*

Ameri, Greer face off on the radio

Newport Beach politics took another nasty turn on Sunday when discussions became heated between City Council candidates Phil Greer and Fred Ameri over campaign lawn signs during a KOCI radio show.

Greer, an attorney, and Ameri, a former planning commissioner and retired businesses executive, are running for the District 7 seat representing Newport Coast and Newport Ridge. Lawyer and Finance Committee member Will ONeill also is vying for the seat. He was not present at the KOCI broadcast.

During the program, hosted by former Daily Pilot publisher Tom Johnson, Ameri accused Greer of stealing his campaign signs. Greer denied the allegation and Ameri shouted at him, according to a video of the exchange posted on YouTube.

Johnson suggested that the group take a breath and go on commercial break.

Greer repeated to Ameri that he has never touched any of his signs. Ameri then made an obscene hand gesture at Greer and left.

Later in the program, Greer accused Ameri of removing Greers signs and replacing them with his own.

Johnson noted during the program that politics from local to national races is in disarray and campaigning, even in local elections like city council, have been reduced at times to mudslinging.

*

Council candidate amends disclosure form

A Costa Mesa City Council candidate has filed an amended economic interest disclosure form after his original document prompted a complaint to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Mesa Verde resident John Stephens, a partner with the Irvine-based law firm Stephens Friedland LLP, filed his updated Form 700 with the City Clerks office on Thursday.

That action came the same day an FPPC spokesman confirmed the state agency would review a complaint from city Planning Commissioner Tim Sesler that Stephens had failed to properly disclose information related to the income he receives from his law firm.

Sesler, who is backing candidates running against Stephens in the race, specifically objected to how, under the Form 700 section asking for the names of reportable sources of income of at least $10,000, Stephens wrote attorney-client privilege in his original filing.

In many cases, the names of such income sources have to be disclosed, Sesler wrote in his complaint.

Stephens, however, said he recently went through his law firms records and confirmed he had no sources of income that met the reporting threshold. He noted that on his new filing Thursday.

FPPC spokesman Jay Wierenga wrote in an email Thursday that he cant comment on open investigations but steps taken to correct, mitigate and cooperate are all factors in determining any outcome and/or any potential penalty.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter: @LukeMMoney
A Costa Mesa man who police say was beaten to death with a hammer-hatchet outside a condominium complex was identified Thursday.

Kyle Boyd Avila, 53, was found dead when police responded to a report of an assault at about 8:45 a.m. Wednesday in a parking area next to the Monticello complex in the 2300 block of Vanguard Way, across from Vanguard University, Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Beckman said.

An officer saw a man later identified as Ivan Chernev Dimov, 51, of Costa Mesa near the body, Beckman said.

According to police, Dimov tried to flee but the officer ran him down and used a Taser to subdue him.

Dimov was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into Orange County Jail with bail set at $1 million.

Beckman said Avila was in a Toyota Scion when he was beaten by a man standing outside the car. Officers found a weapon in the vehicle that might have been used in the assault, Beckman said.

Investigators have not determined a motive for the crime or found any links between Avila and Dimov, Beckman said Thursday. He said Avila had just moved to the area in the past few days.

Based on information investigators have gathered, the attack was probably random, Beckman said.

Nearby resident Christine Sta. Ana said Wednesday that she was at her window at home when she heard yelling coming from the parking area.

I saw a man swinging a tool into a car from outside of it, she said. I thought he was trying to break a window at first.

Sta. Ana said she called police when she saw the man removing what looked like a bloody body from the car.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
No one could have anticipated that a notorious homicide committed in Northern California 12 years ago would ultimately determine the fate of a U.S. Navy warship that operated out of Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station for many years and served in combat during the Vietnam War.

What took place that murderous day on tiny Bradford Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco, sounds as if it might have come from the plot of a paperback novel or television soap opera.

But the story is true.

The saga unfolded on Sept. 9, 2004, when Contra Costa County sheriffs deputies responded to the call of a deadly shooting on the island, which is connected to the mainland by a private ferry and is home to an eclectic mix of approximately two dozen wheat farmers, fishermen and local business executives and their families.

When deputies arrived at the waterfront residence of 49-year-old William Gardner, a scrap metals dealer, they found him lying dead on the living room floor. A pistol lay near his body. The telephone call to the sheriffs office had been made by Gardners next-door neighbor, David Hall, 56, a retired banker, but he refused to speak with officers when they questioned him at the killing scene.

Suspicion almost immediately pointed to Hall, who, according to neighbors, had been involved in a long-running, bitter feud with Gardner over a disputed strip of land separating their properties that Hall wanted to sell to the ex-husband of Gardners girlfriend.

A witness to the murder also came forth, telling detectives that he had seen Hall shoot Gardner, but that Hall fired in self-defense after the two men had engaged in a shouting match and Gardner had grabbed Halls beard and started smacking on his head, according to a story written by Demian Bulwa that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle the following day.

Hall was arrested, handcuffed and driven in a patrol car to the jail in Martinez, the Contra Costa County seat. He subsequently plead guilty before a Superior Court judge who, taking into account his plea of self-defense, sentenced him to only six years in state prison.

After Hall had been transported to the county lockup, investigators decided to inspect the deceased Gardners sprawling property, and what they discovered tied up to its pier was unexpected, to say the least.

Looming before them was the rusting and listing USS Lucid (MSO-458), a 172-foot Navy minesweeper that had received multiple Navy awards for its four extended deployments during the Vietnam War and had been based at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, where its crew off-loaded, on-loaded, assembled and stored mines and torpedoes at the bases Mine Depot and conducted training missions aboard the ship along the coasts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

While serving in Vietnam, the 775-ton Lucid, which had a crew of six officers and 65 enlisted men and was armed with two .50 caliber machine guns and two 40mm bow and aft guns, hunted and destroyed enemy surface and underwater mines off the South Vietnamese coast.

The Lucid was constructed of wood to reduce magnetic fields that could trigger mines, and its crew also performed patrol and reconnaissance of enemy shipping traffic, boarded 186 enemy junks, fishing boats and larger vessels and contributed to a reduction of enemy infiltration of men and supplies at sea, according to the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C.

In the late 1970s, the Lucid and the other 100 Aggressor class minesweepers were declared too old and obsolete by the Navy for further service, decommissioned and prepared for scrapping.

But the Lucid, which was built in 1953 at Higgins Boatyard in New Orleans, was spared, thanks to two San Francisco married couples who purchased her from the U.S. Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service for $40,250 and turned the ship into a luxurious yacht which they berthed at various times in San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond.

In 1986, the Lucids owners , tired of maintaining the old ship as a pristine yacht, sold it for an undisclosed price to William Gardner 18 years before his death, and he had it towed up the Sacramento River to his pier on Bradford Island, where he sold everything of value that was aboard and converted the former minesweeper into a massive warehouse after cutting a huge hole in the port side to serve as a door.

The USS Lucid sat forlorn, forsaken and full of junk following Gardners death in 2004, but it was ultimately discovered by a group of naval history buffs who persuaded Gardners relatives to donate the decrepit ship to a floating maritime museum they plan to build on the downtown Stockton waterfront.

Today the Lucid is docked at a Sacramento River pier adjacent to Stocktons Building Futures Academy, where academy students seeking vocational credentials in building trades such as carpentry, electoral and plumbing are working with local volunteers to restore the 63-year-old warship to its original, shipshape condition.

David Rajkovich, president of the Stockton Historical Maritime Museum Assn., took this writer on a tour of the Lucid, where rehabilitation and partial reconstruction are in high gear, as evidenced by the restoration of the ships wardroom, messing and berthing areas, captains cabin, deckhouse and chartroom.

We have a lot more to do, but were getting there, added Rajkovich, who said that workers in coming months will begin installing a fire sprinkler system, caulk, sand and paint the Lucids oak, pine and fir planking and, finally, paint the ship in its original Navy colors.

Weve already spent $200,000 on the project, and the total cost will be about $1 million. The Lucid has major connections to Orange County, and I hope some Orange County residents and former minesweeper crew members will help us out financially. If we reach our goal, I hope the Lucid can be completely restored in a year or so and will become the centerpiece of our new museum.

I invite anyone interested in the restoration of the Lucid to visit us as we complete our work. I can be reached at daveff@aol.com, (209) 993-8302 and (877) 285-8243. The ships website is stocktonhistoricalmaritimemuseum.org, he stated.

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DAVID C. HENLEY, a resident of Newport Beach, is a member of the Board of Trustees of Chapman University and a former foreign correspondent.
A new yoga center called Light On Yoga opened recently in Glendale.

The center is located at 3516 Ocean View Blvd. All classes are currently taught by Aida Amirkhanian, an instructor certified in the methods of the late B.K.S. Iyengar, a world-renowned yoga master.

Amirkhanian has over 25 years of experience, including trips to Pune, India, where she studied at the Iyengar Yoga Institute. She has also taken and continues to take training programs at the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Los Angeles.

The center offers daytime and evening classes. For more information, call (818) 453-5311. Pre-enrollment is required.

Office to offer job services

The Greater Avenues for Independence program, or GAIN, will hold an open house at its new facility in Glendale at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Part of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the new office is located at 143 S. Glendale Ave., Suite 300.

The program offers job services, short-term training programs, language-proficient job services as well as one-day orientation/motivation sessions.

For more information, call (818) 265-5003.

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Mark Kellam, mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAMarkKellam
With the outcome of Tuesdays presidential election looming, a couple of La Canada politicos whose names also appear on the November ballot are busily campaigning in an effort to win hearts and minds in their own counties and districts.

Former La Canada Flintridge mayor and assemblyman for Californias 44th District Anthony Portantino is running against Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich for a seat in the state Senate. The winner of that race replaces La Canada resident Carol Liu, who terms out this year.

June primary results showed Republican Antonovich captured nearly 38.5% of the vote, compared to Democrat Portantinos 27.5%. The close race has inspired a battle of campaign mailers in the weeks leading up to Tuesdays vote.

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But following news last week hed secured the endorsement of Gov. Jerry Brown, Portantino seemed confident about his chances at a win on election day.

Im honored Gov. Brown decided to endorse me, he said Monday. Hes done an excellent job righting Californias fiscal ship, and Im looking forward to going back and working with him for the next two years.

The La Canadan counted his bi-partisan endorsements from several current and former elected officials, including Liu herself, as a testament to his qualifications.

People understand what my priorities are and where my heart is, he said.

Meanwhile, La Canada resident and Los Angeles County Deputy District Atty. Debra Archuleta is running for a seat on the Superior Court bench after securing the top spot in this years June primary race over opponent Steven Schreiner.

Archuleta received 47.3% of the votes cast by nearly 1.51 million voters in June, just shy of an outright victory, compared to Schreiners 26.2%.

Having successfully weathered a legal challenge from her opponent about her chosen ballot designation title of violent crimes prosecutor, the La Canada mother of two  whos received endorsements from L.A. County District Atty. Jackie Lacey, Antonovich and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters  says she and her family have been hard at work campaigning across a county of more than 4.8 million voters.

The task, Archuleta said Monday, is a daunting one but important given the extent to which judges decisions affect the lives of the people they serve.

I think most voters may not notice, but judges can have such an impact on our daily lives, maybe even more so than some of our elected officials, she said, categorizing her mood as cautiously optimistic.

Im keeping my feet on the ground all the way to the end, Archuleta continued. Im determined to see this through to the end, and hopefully it will be a victorious ending.

LCF voter registration numbers

Locally, statistics provided by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorders Office show the total voter registration for La Canada Flintridge is at 15,052, an increase of 968 voters from similar statistics provided just before the 2008 presidential election.

The break-down in party preference among those voters seems to indicate another changing trend, as the number of La Canadans registered as Republicans decreased  from 6,936 in 2008 to 6,182 this year  while the number of registered Democrats jumped from 4,231 to 4,822 in the same time period.

County registrar figures also show the number of voters who declined to state a party preference has risen in the past two election cycles, from 2,486 in 2008 to 3,628 in the current election.

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
Most everyone has heard about the huge price hikes for EpiPens, the medication people must carry to circumvent a life-threatening allergic reaction to common exposures to peanuts, shellfish or bee stings.

In the past eight years, EpiPen prices soared 550% while the manufacturers CEO Heather Bresch received a pay hike of 671% from a company that created a one-time bonus plan for top executives that was worth millions of dollars if the stock price shot up, largely a product of the outlandish price increase.

EpiPens are Exhibit A for why California needs Proposition 61 to begin to lower the inflated prescription drug prices that the EpiPen scandal symbolizes.

Prop. 61 directs the state to pay no more for medications for people it covers than is paid for the same prescription drugs by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Prop. 61 would produce huge savings for California patients and the state budget.

Medicare does not have the same power to negotiate bulk discounts for drug purchases, the means by which other countries use their clout to keep drug prices affordable. This illustrates why Prop. 61 is needed.

Inflated drug prices affect every corner of our healthcare system, driving up hospital charges and insurance premiums.

Those stunning price increases produce massive profits for a corporate pharmaceutical industry that fund a lobbying machine. An example is the scare tactics the industry is spreading that the costs for our veterans would climb if Prop. 61 passes. What theyre not telling you is that federal law will bar such increases in veterans out-of-pocket costs for needed medications.

Who thinks the pharmaceutical firms, who have pushed through such high prices with abandon, will thank Californians if they win by lowering their charges?

Nurses have seen how these outrageous high prices hurt our patients, from unaffordable EpiPens to diabetic patients risking blindness or kidney failure because they cant afford the rapidly rising costs of insulin. We see parents who cant pay the continuing cost of leukemia treatment for their children. Its inhumane and must end. Please join nurses in voting Yes on Prop. 61.

Leasa Sugimura, R.N.

La Canada Flintridge

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Volunteerism made easier

I believe we live in a society which necessitates that anything and everything be done in a highly formalized process. Lets take the example of volunteering. I have enjoyed volunteering since a young age and would like to still believe that I do. However, gone are the days when you can simply drop by a place in need of volunteers, and say, Would you like some help with that? No, instead, in todays world, one must email someone days in advance to let them know that you plan on volunteering on a given day. Or you must fill out an application, submit it either in person or via email and then wait till you hear back.

Lets imagine the reverse scenario. A place opens in town and says, Drop by and help out whenever you feel like it. I would personally jump at that very idea. No waiting. No applications. Not even an interview?

That will be the day.

Krishna Rajagopalan

La Canada Flintridge

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Cherry Canyon memories

I am writing in response to your article on Cherry Canyon last week. I wanted to set the record straight on a few points.

Julia Gaskill and I were sitting in the audience at a City Council meeting when the council voted on and approved, by a vote of 4 to 1, a development in which 10 mansions were to be built along a ridge at the top of Cherry Canyon. This item was not on the agenda and when this was presented to the Council, they rescinded the vote, to be on the agenda for the next meeting.

The developers and owners of the land, which was a 30-acre doughnut hole in a larger piece of city-owned land, laughed at us that evening when we told them we were going to fight the development, which would have destroyed hiking and horse trails, habitat and a blue line stream area in Cherry Canyon. Their exact words were, You women think you can fight this? This is about economics and you have no chance.

Well, we women organized, formed a neighborhood organization, hired lawyers, dragged our menfolk into the fight, recruited everyone we knew to wear red T-shirts saying Save Cherry Canyon, donate to our cause and put their names as supporters on lists that appeared in the Valley Sun. Ultimately, the developer pulled out because of the publicity he was getting. No other developers came forward, and the city found a partner in Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to buy this land and keep it as a recreation space and preserve for our city.

Every time I read that the city of La Canada Flintridge saved Cherry Canyon, I remember that if we had not been sitting at that meeting that night for something else, the city would have allowed the development, and today we would be looking at 10 mansions on top of the hill.

Lisa Walker

President, Friends of Cherry Canyon

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A vote for Portantino

With the election less than a week away, many of us may still be undecided about our top-of-the-ticket choices. Thank goodness for our down-ballot races and the opportunity to elect our own Anthony Portantino to the state Senate. Anthony is a resident of La Canada, our former mayor and a La Canada Unified School District parent. Anthony and his wife, Ellen, are very active in our community in school and civic organizations.

From school funding issues to safe routes to school, Anthony has always been there for our community and our students. As our state assemblyman, he demonstrated an independent voting record that is rare in todays party political environment. While the national election has been dominated by divisiveness, conflict and confusion, electing Anthony to the state Senate gives us a proven leader in Sacramento, one who is familiar with our issues and who has made a positive difference for our community. Please join my family in supporting Anthony Portantino for state Senate.

Ellen Multari

LCUSD Board Member

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Farewell to the Rule of Law

The Rule of Law and how far weve come from it! The politicians and the politically connected, the rich, the corporations, the elite. The Rule of Law doesnt apply to them, just us.

Long ago I saved this quote from the film The Great Train Robbery, directed by Michael Crichton and based on his novel of the same title: It is the recognized truth of jurisprudence that laws are created by man and that civilized men in a tradition of more than two millennia agree to abide by these laws for the common good of society, for it is only by the rule of law that civilization holds itself above the promiscuous squalor of barbarism.

This we know from all the history of the human race, and this we pass on in our educational processes to all our citizens.

Not anymore. How far weve come!

Trent Sanders

La Canada Flintridge
Its goodbye, cats and hello, chicks thanks to a newly completed fence on Hawaii Island that was recently built to protect birds. Feral cats are big pests in Hawaii, where they often feast on the islands endangered Hawaiian petrel, or uau.

In Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the cute but troublesome cats have been preying on the shorebirds that nest once a year on the slopes of Mauna Loa, the worlds largest volcano.

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It took three years to build the five-mile fence in a remote part of the park. Working at elevations of up to 10,000 feet, crews drilled posts into the hardened lava on the slopes of the volcano before attaching a 6-foot-high fence. Its curved top is designed to keep cats from crawling over and leaping into the birds nesting grounds.

Only 75 pairs of Hawaiian petrels nest on Hawaii Island. The seafaring birds return to land briefly each April to prepare their nests and return in June to lay a single egg.

Male and female petrels take turns sitting on the nest and feeding the chicks after they hatch in August. Experts say the birds foraging takes them across the Pacific to as far away as Washington state.

The so-called cat-proof fence is expected to help boost and protect the petrel population, according to National Park Service biologist Kathleen Misajon.

Feral cats pose a huge risk to birds on others islands as well.

On Lanai, a colony of cats was faced with extermination after they were found preying on rare endemic birds. Thanks to the efforts of some local residents, hundreds of cats were captured and given a new home at the Lanai Cat Sanctuary. The nonprofit shelter is now a major tourist attraction and provides an effective way of keeping the cats away from birds.

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Tourists come to Las Vegas to get married, party, gamble  and sometimes all of the above. So how can a bunch of bones that are millions of years old compete? One Las Vegas museum hopes to bring the thrill factors to natural history with a new, hands-on laboratory.

Guests who witness Dr. Josh Bonde at work may not feel like theyve arrived in Jurassic Park, but the paleontologist hopes theyll be awed by a visit to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.

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The museums new learning lab, which opened in early October, doesnt just have a bunch of bones and fossils resting in glass cases. The relics are on workbenches, where guests can touch them and learn about studies being done by grad students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where Bonde is an assistant professor of geoscience.

[The lab] makes the museum an active participant in natural science, Bonde says. I dont think you can adequately tell the story of science unless youre doing it.

While previous finds unearthed in Nevada have mostly left the state for study elsewhere, the natural history museum is now the states official repository of ancient artifacts. Many of the remains from the Las Vegas area are real eye-openers.

We currently have a number of projects were working on, Bonde explains. Were working on 100-million-year-old dinosaurs from Valley of Fire State Park. Were working on 230-million-old giant salamander-like animals from Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. Were working on fossils from the new Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument.

Bonde said he and his students are making a serious effort to explain in lay terms what the museum is all about. He strives to be engaging, not boring.

Sadly, there is that stigma  that youre looking at a bunch of dioramas of taxidermy and things like that. But I think natural history museums in general are making steps to be more interactive, Bonde says.

The museum is located at 900 Las Vegas Blvd. North, Las Vegas, Nev. (702-384-3466). Its open daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission costs $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, and $5 for children 3-11.

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Turkish police arrested eight lawmakers from a pro-Kurdish political party in late-night raids that touched off angry demonstrations, prompted a stern rebuke from the European Union and heightened tensions between the government and an increasingly disaffected Kurdish minority.

The arrests also might have triggered violence. Early Friday morning, hours after the raids, a car bomb exploded at a police building in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, not far from where the lawmakers were being held, killing eight people  two police officers and six civilians  and injuring more than 100.

Automatic gunfire was heard afterward, and videos shared on social media showed residents fleeing for cover from the scene of the blast.

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The lawmakers belong to the Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, which Ankara has accused of being too close to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. In addition to the eight lawmakers arrested, three more were held for questioning.

In Istanbul and Ankara, hundreds of protesters gathered at HDP offices, as police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Across the country, social media services, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp, were disrupted or outright blocked for much of the night following the arrests.

The arrests drew sharp words from the European Union, which Turkey has long aspired to join. Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark summoned Turkish diplomats in their countries to explain the arrests.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said the arrests call into question the basis for the sustainable relationship between EU and Turkey. Turkeys foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, rejected the criticism, saying the EU had no right to give Turkey lessons concerning the superiority of the law and democracy.

Among those arrested were the HDPs co-chairs, Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas. Demirtas, who often serves as the partys charismatic spokesperson, placed third in the countrys first presidential elections in 2014 and has become an outspoken critic of the winner of that contest, current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Authorities are blaming the car bombing on the PKK, with whom the government declared a cease-fire in 2013 after mediation by several of the HDP lawmakers now under detention. The cease-fire collapsed in July 2015, and the resulting conflict has killed more than 2,272 people, including hundreds of civilians, and displaced around 400,000 residents from cities such as Diyarbakir, where the fighting between the PKK and Ankara has reduced much of the city center to rubble.

The conflict has played out repeatedly in parliament, with fistfights breaking out in the chamber. Lawmakers are granted immunity from prosecution, but in May, Erdogans ruling AK Party, with support from a nationalist opposition party, lifted immunity for more than 100 lawmakers, including all but one of HDPs 59 parliament members.

My nation does not want to see guilty lawmakers in this countrys parliament, Erdogan said at the time. Above all, it does not want to see those supported by the separatist terror group in parliament.

Prosecutors since have brought charges of terrorism against scores of HDP lawmakers, and those detained Thursday night had been asked to give statements to authorities concerning the charges against them.

The 11 lawmakers were obligated to provide statements to authorities, and when they failed to do so, the only means left is to summon them by force, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Friday.

In a statement by Demirtas and Yuksekdag put out by the HDP, the party refused to accept the lifting of immunity. We are, at present, a member of parliament who carries immunity.  We refuse to be tried by a system that rushes to button its button-less robes while reputation of justice is trampled underfoot.

This is a sword hanging over every deputys head, said Ertugrul Kurkcu, an HDP member facing 15 indictments, including terror charges, who is in Bulgaria observing elections as part of an official Turkish delegation. He added, In the governments paranoia, every opponent that voices support to the Kurdish people is potentially a terrorist. This is a way of thinking that belongs in the Middle Ages.

Demirtas is facing charges of support for the PKK over remarks he gave in December at a meeting of a leftist political group that praised the rightful resistance of Kurds against the Turkish state.

There will be the reality of Kurdistan in the next century. Perhaps Kurds will have their own independent state, the federal state, and cantons and autonomous regions as well, Demirtas said in that speech.

Among the lawmakers detained Thursday was Leyla Zana, who spent a decade in prison the last time a pro-Kurdish party was dismantled in Turkey, in 1994. This is the same thing that Turkey tried before, actually for decades, but never came to an end and never finished the problem, said Mustafa Akyol, a columnist for Al-Monitor and the Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Akyol said Turkey had tried to address the Kurdish conflict by political means when it agreed to the cease-fire in 2013, but now it has reverted back to the same old hawkishness we saw in the 1990s.

Farooq is a special correspondent.

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12:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from the European Union.

This article was originally published at 9:40 a.m.
Hundreds of French riot police wielding bulletproof shields surrounded the tents and cardboard shelters of Paris largest migrant camp Friday, clearing thousands of refugees and other migrants who had sought shelter in the French capital.

In recent weeks, scenes at the squalid makeshift camp under the arches of the Stalingrad subway station in north Paris have invited comparisons to a Third World slum.

The existence of shantytown settlements in the heart of the capital has sparked angst and anger across France, which is heading for presidential and legislative elections next year in which the far-right National Front is expected to make historic gains.

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Ian Brossat, a deputy mayor in Paris Socialist administration, said the Stalingrad camp brought shame on our country.

To see people in the streets in these makeshift camps in the sixth-biggest economic power in the world is clearly not acceptable, Brossat told journalists earlier this week.

The Pew Research Center, an American think tank, estimates more than a million people sought asylum in Europe between July 2015 and May 2016, many of them fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, but also from conflicts in the Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The International Organization for Migration estimates the current incoming refugee rate is 17% higher.

Many of the refugees arrive in France from Italy or Spain with the aim of passing through France to Britain. With the tightening of Britains borders, thousands have found themselves stuck around Frances western coastal towns and at major rail stations in Paris, particularly the Gare du Nord, where the Eurostar high-speed train departs for the U.K.

With the closure last week of the notorious Jungle camp near the coastal town of Calais, the number of migrants sleeping on the streets in the French capital has spiked, reaching more than 3,800 people  with winter approaching.

Anne Lescot, of the French philanthropic organization Fondation de France, who has worked with Paris migrants, accused the French government of being ill-prepared for Europes migration crisis and showing little coordinated planning in how to solve the problem.

The [French] state was warned there would be an influx of refugees, and it totally failed to anticipate for this or prepare to receive them, Lescot told the Los Angeles Times.

We are seeing camps in Paris because it is where the main European rail lines converge, so this is where people end up. If humanitarian organizations were capable of predicting their arrival, one would have thought the state could have been equally forewarned, but our politicians were simply not prepared.

Lescot warned that until the authorities provide proper shelter for refugees, many would return to makeshift camps where there was at least solidarity and safety in numbers.

I know of families who have been put in hotels way out of Paris that are so disgusting they are covered in flea bites. They have no money, nothing to eat and no support. Its little surprise if they prefer to sleep on the streets where there are humanitarian organizations supplying food and doctors and advice, and where there is at least some human warmth, she said.

In the past 18 months, French authorities have bulldozed the Paris camps on at least 30 occasions. Each time, the migrants have returned within days. Officials said the Stalingrad camp would be destroyed at the same time police finally razed the Jungle camp at Calais, which had been home to about 10,000 refugees.

Fridays evacuation, a joint operation between government and city authorities, took migrants to temporary shelter in reception centers, from which they are to be forwarded on to permanent accommodations. Women, minors and the most vulnerable were bused to centers in the Paris region, while lone men were dispersed throughout France.

Migrants had no idea where they were going, but these were buses few wanted to miss. By the time the police arrived, they already had packed their belongings into battered cases or plastic bags, abandoned their tents and sleeping bags and were lined up huddled under blankets to keep out the pre-dawn chill.

Each time a bus pulled up and opened its doors, there was a surge to board. Women and children first, shouted officials as toddlers and babies were pushed through the crowd or over it, to the front of the line.

Wahab, a 25-year-old from Sudan, waited in one of the lines. I couldnt really sleep. I was cold, and I was waiting to leave. I was afraid the bus would leave without me, he said. Like most of those interviewed, he feared reprisals if he gave his last name.

Wallad, 17, had come from Sudan via Egypt, Libya and Italy, and was in tears because he had been sleeping away from the Stalingrad camp and had missed the buses.

I have been in Paris for a month, and Im hopeful of getting to the U.K., he said. I dont like Paris. My cousin is in Scotland, and he says its good there, but the people smugglers are charging 5,000 pounds [roughly $6,250] to take people to the U.K. from Belgium, and I dont have the money.

Anne Hidalgo, Paris mayor, described the camp as a terrible humanitarian and health issue. She said finding accommodations for the migrants was essential and clearing the camp would allow city authorities to start with a clean slate to deal with the estimated 80 people who arrive in the capital every day in a humane and controlled way.

The aim is to give these people shelter. They should have a roof over their heads, Hidalgo said. When you have had no sleep or have slept on the street, and have not had food, how can you think about the future. How can you reflect on what you are going to do?

Willsher is a special correspondent
Three American military trainers were killed Friday in a shooting outside a Jordanian military base that could complicate relations with a country that has been a close ally to the United States in a turbulent region.

The Americans came under fire as their vehicles were entering the Prince Faisal air base, U.S. and Jordanian officials said. But it was not immediately clear whether the incident was the result of a deliberate attack or a misunderstanding.

Jordanian media initially reported that the U.S. service members were shot when their vehicle failed to stop at the facilitys gate in the Jafr area, south of Amman, the capital. But a later report by the state news agency Petra made no mention of the vehicle failing to stop and said only that there was an exchange of fire that also injured a Jordanian officer.

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One of the Americans died at the scene, and two others were taken to King Hussein Hospital in Amman, where they died of their injuries, said a U.S. defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the three service members were in Jordan on a training mission.

We are working closely with the government of Jordan to determine exactly what happened, he said.

Col. Ali Kharafshi, chief of police for the Maan governorate, where Jafr is located, said there was no indication that this was a terrorist incident but declined to provide further details. Jordanian military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jordan has been one of Washingtons most dependable allies in the Middle East and is a member of the coalition battling Islamic State in neighboring Syria. The U.S. has spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders and also ran a program with regional allies to train Syrian rebels on Jordanian territory.

But the country is home to many religious conservatives who are bitterly opposed to U.S. military intervention in the region, as well as Washingtons staunch support for Israel.

Hundreds of Jordanians are believed to have joined the ranks of Islamic State and Al Qaedas affiliate in Syria in recent years. Abu Musab Zarqawi, the slain militant who led Islamic States predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, also hailed from the kingdom.

Last November, a Jordanian police captain opened fire at a training facility in Amman, killing two Americans, a South African and two fellow Jordanians. The Jordanian government later described the assailant as a troubled man without ties to extremist groups, but there were reports that he supported Islamic State.

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

william.hennigan@latimes.com

Zavis reported from Los Angeles and Hennigan from Washington. Special correspondent Omar Medhat in Cairo contributed to this report.

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2:20 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting.

9:35 a.m.: This article was updated with news about a third death.

7:35 a.m.: This article was updated with more details about the shootout and background information.

This article was originally published at 6:45 a.m.
Ghazalan Koofi loves her mother but not the life her mother has been compelled to live.

The older woman, her face cloaked in a shawl, had an arranged marriage at age 11. She didnt go to school and spent her life raising seven children with little help from her husband.

Today, at 50, Shahgol Shah still obeys mahram, the Afghan custom that forbids women to leave home without a male relative. She wears a burka in public. Thats our tradition, Shah says.

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Koofi, 26, lives a life her mother could never have imagined. She leaves home unescorted every day, working at a government ministry and attending university classes at night. She speaks fluent English and has never worn a burka. She dresses stylishly but modestly, her wavy black hair peeking from a head scarf.

She chastises sexist male colleagues and demands their respect. She insisted on a seat at a recent tribal gathering dominated by white-bearded men in turbans. She treasures her love marriage with Shoaib Azizi, 27, a police department employee who calls his wife a very brave woman. He helps with housework and caring for their infant son, a radical act that some male friends consider weak and shameful.

Koofi came of age after the U.S.-led military invasion toppled the repressive Taliban government in 2001. She has benefited from 12 years of slow, fitful gains for Afghan women. But with U.S. combat troops leaving Afghanistan next year, Koofi and other Afghan women worry that their freedoms will begin to erode.

We are entering a very dangerous period for women, Koofi says. Im very worried that we will return to those terrible days when the only place for a woman was in the home, doing housework and serving the men.

Koofi and her mother play with her 11-month-old son, Ahmad, inside the familys tidy concrete home on a hillside overlooking smoggy west Kabul, two generations filled with equal parts hope and fear about the future of the next one.

**

Across Kabul, Shukriya Matin also belongs to that vulnerable generation of women who have become adults in a world of new freedoms  and fear a future without them.

Matin was in grade school when her family fled the Taliban in 1996; she was twice beaten on the street for not properly covering her hair. For six long years, she was a low-paid child carpet weaver in Pakistan after her family fled the Taliban.

She returned to Kabul after the U.S.-led invasion and earned a high school degree and a midwifes certificate. Now, at 28, she directs a private hospital program in Kabul that provides maternal care to illiterate villagers.

Inside the neat, sparsely decorated home she shares with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, Sitayesh, Matin describes her sense of dread about the future.

Only God knows what will happen to women after 2014, she says in lightly accented English as her daughter plays on the floor, watched over by her parents.

The arc of Afghanistans recent history can be traced through the three generations of Matins family.

Her mother, Zahra Matin, 52, was engaged at 9 and married at 13. She is illiterate; she spent her life working at home so that her children could attend school. Now she dreams of her granddaughter attending college.

The older woman dreads the departure of foreign troops and worries that the Taliban  They are criminals, she says harshly  will quash her dreams, and the dreams of her daughter.

But she also has faith that Afghanistan will continue to allow women to break free of the past. For myself, she says, Im still hoping to take literacy classes and finally become an educated woman.

Her daughter sits on the floor and cradles young Sitayesh. She plans to send the girl to school and ultimately to college, but she fears she may have to go abroad to do so.

Some people are saying the Taliban might come back, and wed all have to flee to Pakistan again, she says, stroking the girls hair. I dont want that life for my daughter.

**

The gains Afghan women have made since 2001 are under threat. A recent United Nations report said a landmark 2009 Afghan law on violence against women has been ignored or poorly enforced; a human rights commissioner appointed by President Hamid Karzai wants to repeal the law entirely. The report described fears and anxiety among Afghan women about a swift reversal of gains after 2014.

Heather Barr, a senior researcher in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, warned in December: Signs are everywhere that a rollback of womens rights has begun. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission reported in January that violent crimes against women reached record levels last year, rising 24% over 2012.

Afghanistan is still a deeply conservative Islamic country where some village girls as young as 9 or 10 are forced to marry older men, and some womens groups estimate that at least half of all marriages violate the Afghan legal marriage age of 16. Some women and girls who flee arranged marriages are hunted down by their fathers and brothers, beaten and sometimes killed. The practice of baad, or giving away a young woman as payment to settle debts or atone for family crimes, is illegal but still prevalent in rural areas.

Traditions still require burkas in public for millions of provincial women, but also in cities such as Kabul or Jalalabad. It is not uncommon, even in Kabul, to see women packed into the backs of station wagons or the open trunk of a car.

There are undisputed gains: Women now have the right to vote and some serve in parliament, the army and the national police force. There are 150 female judges. Yet the percentage of women in the government workforce has actually decreased by 4% since 2004.

Under the Taliban government, the only education for girls was in clandestine home schools. Today, 3 million girls attend school, but thats still only 40% of all school-age girls. Because of family or economic pressures forcing girls to work or marry, the dropout rate for girls remains much higher than for boys.

Taliban extremists in remote districts still throw acid in the faces of schoolgirls, burn down girls schools and attack female polio vaccination workers. In the last six months, four Afghan policewomen have been assassinated. Prominent female politicians are routinely threatened or slain by insurgents.

Last year, the acting head of womens affairs in eastern Afghanistan was killed by a bomb placed in her car. A few months later, her replacement was shot to death on her way to work.

The situation for women is very fragile, says Fawzia Koofi, an outspoken member of parliament who taught at an underground home school for girls during the Taliban era. The lawmaker, who is Koofis aunt, has been trailed by gunmen and threatened with death by the Taliban. Yet she intends to run for president in 2018.

In her spacious Kabul home, where two feminist books she has written are on display, she says, Our gains could easily be reversed, and wed have to start from scratch for the simple right to work outside the home or go to school.

**

Shukriya Matins father, police Col. Ismail Matin, 58, promises his daughter that hed die before hed allow the Taliban to return.

Were ready to shed our blood to defend the life we have now, the colonel says, dressed in a gray wool police uniform.

He spent his life savings to free his oldest son, Nayeem Matin, from Taliban custody (for not growing a beard) and send him to Australia on a rickety refugee boat. The son, now 31, is a warehouse manager in Melbourne who visits Kabul often because his Afghan-born wife, Hosnia, 26, is homesick.

Nayeem Matin, still clean-shaven, has seen remarkable advances for women since he fled Afghanistan 14 years ago. Still, hes not ready to bring his wife back to a country where he fears a Taliban resurgence or civil war after foreign troops leave.

His sister says she never imagined, when she was weaving carpets in Pakistan, that she would one day be an educated woman who operates an ultrasound machine. But Afghan custom still requires her to cook, do housework and care for her daughter after a long days work in rural clinics.

Even if youre a professor, a woman must do her job at home  cooking and cleaning, she says. If my husband asks me for money, I say, Ill give you money when you help at home.

She glances at her father, who is grinning. This is a joke, of course, she says.

**

Ghazalan Koofi has just returned from a days work at the Economy Ministry and is preparing for night literature classes at a local university. She is still smarting from her daily confrontations with male colleagues. They tell her that women dont belong in the workforce and should stay home. They make crude sexual comments about other women.

It hurts me a lot to hear this, she says.

It is all the more painful because the men are young and well-educated. Koofi is the only woman on a six-member team that evaluates nongovernmental programs, some designed to expand womens rights.

But Im not surprised, she says. This is Afghanistan. Its still a traditional country.

Most Afghan women dont push hard enough for their rights, she says. She often asks women who have worked for years in low-level government jobs why they dont apply for management positions.

They say they arent capable, Koofi says. I tell them they need to become capable. They need to believe in their own abilities.

Her sister Oranous, 16, says Afghan women still have a long way to go. She points to her own marginalized life: She wears trendy jeans but follows Afghan custom and covers her hair. She attends high school, but the classes are girls-only. She will not be required to enter an arranged marriage, but she and her sisters must follow tradition and marry in order of age.

Girls in Afghanistan still cannot live the life they want, Oranous says in English.

Ghazalans husband, Azizi, is concerned that the end of the U.S. combat mission will allow the Taliban to regain power.

If we go back to the way it was under the Taliban, he says, women will suffer the most.

Azizi is a short, slender man with a quiet demeanor. But he becomes agitated when discussing the Taliban claims that educating women is against Islam.

Our prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, says you should give freedom to women and they should be educated, he says. Thats what our prophet says, and thats what I believe.

It is not anti-Islamic for a man to help with housework and child care, he says. His father, a police commander, did it, and hell teach his son the same respect for equality.

We can never go back to the days when a woman could only be a homemaker and nothing more, he says.

His mother-in-law, Shahgol Shah, says her own husband is a traditional man and has never helped with housework or child care. But he did recently relent and allow her to take literacy classes and to teach a class in sewing for women.

She peers from beneath her head scarf and smiles. Life is changing, she says. My daughter has a much better life than I had, a more modern life. And I still dream that life for my granddaughter will be even better.

david.zucchino@latimes.com

she says. My daughter has a much better life than I had, a more modern life. And I still dream that life for my granddaughter will be even better.

david.zucchino@latimes.com
The Afghan woman who was the subject of an iconic magazine cover will be deported from Pakistan, where she has lived as a refugee for more than three decades, a judge ruled Friday.

Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed Afghan girl who stared out from the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1985, was also ordered to serve 15 days in jail and pay a fine of about $1,000 for possessing a forged Pakistani identity card.

Because Gula has already spent 11 days in detention, she will be sent back to Afghanistan on Monday, her lawyer, Mubashir Nazer, told reporters outside the courtroom in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan.

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But her story could yet have a happy ending. Afghanistans ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, said the government would help resettle Gula in her home country and that President Ashraf Ghani would meet her upon her arrival in Kabul.

With utmost delight, I announce that Sharbat Gula is now free from the legal troubles she endured over the past couple of weeks, Zakhilwal wrote on his Facebook page.

She soon will also be free from an uncertain life of a refugee as she will be on her way back to her own country as soon as next Monday where she still is a beloved image and a national icon.

Her $1,000 fine was paid by the Afghan consulate in Peshawar.

A heavy police contingent brought Gula, clad in a full-length burka that obscured her famous eyes, to the courthouse from a hospital where she was being treated for hepatitis C.

Gula, who is in her 40s, was jailed last week for possessing a forged Pakistani national identity card. She faced up to 14 years in prison.

Her arrest came as Pakistan cracks down on the millions of Afghan refugees living in the country, accusing them of being a security threat. Human rights groups say authorities have harassed and extorted refugees and raided their houses in an effort to force them to return to Afghanistan despite worsening violence there.

Thousands of Afghans  who began arriving in Pakistan following the 1979 Soviet invasion of their country  are believed to have obtained fake identity documents. Earlier this year, authorities arrested two officials who allegedly issued a Pakistani passport to Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the Afghan Taliban leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in May in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

After her arrest, Gula was transferred from the jail in Peshawar to the citys Lady Reading Hospital for treatment for hepatitis C, which claimed the lives of her husband and daughter.

Gulas blood was sent for testing and she remained under observation, said the hospital spokesman, Zulfiqar Babakhel, who added that the Pakistani government was paying for her treatment.

She is looking healthy and relaxed, Babakhel said before the court hearing.

Earlier this week, a special anti-corruption and immigration court had denied bail for Gula on the grounds that her lawyer acknowledged that she had acquired the identity card even though she was not Pakistani.

Gulas lawyer argued that she should have been granted bail on humanitarian grounds.

Gula became the face of Afghanistan in 1985 when she appeared on what became the bestselling edition ever of National Geographic magazine. She was about 12 years old when photographer Steve McCurry encountered her at a Pakistani refugee camp and captured the portrait.

Gulas identity was unknown until the magazine tracked her down in 2002 and her family allowed her to meet McCurry.

Despite having one of the most recognizable faces of the 20th century  at least for a noncelebrity  Gula continued to live in poverty as a Pakistani refugee. Her husband, Rahmat, a baker, died four years ago, and she is the sole breadwinner for her three surviving children.

The human rights group Amnesty International condemned Pakistans decision to deport Gula as a grave injustice.

For decades, she was known as the worlds most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistans status as a generous host, Champa Patel, the groups South Asia director, said in a statement.

Now, by sending her back to a country she hasnt seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistans cruel treatment of Afghan refugees.

Special correspondent Ali reported from Peshawar and staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia

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UPDATES:

9:13 a.m.: This article was updated with a statement from the Afghan ambassador.

5:48 a.m.: This article was updated to include reaction from Amnesty International.

This article was originally published at 4:30 a.m.
One protester died and several were injured after tens of thousands of Muslims flooded the streets of Jakarta to protest against the citys Christian and ethnic Chinese governor after allegations that he insulted Islam.

President Joko Widodo said after midnight that he was disappointed by the violence  demonstrations that raised fears that anti-Chinese sentiment, which erupted in deadly violence in 1998, could once again flare. Widodo urged the protesters to disperse, saying that the accusations against the governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, would be handled by the police.

The demonstration shows that this can easily be mobilized, especially among the poor in Jakarta, said Charlotte Setijadi, an expert on Chinese Indonesians at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. An estimated 2% to 3% of Indonesias 250 million people are of Chinese descent, and though prominent in business, they have historically been weak politically.

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Rumors spread Friday that the citys ethnic Chinese community could be targeted by angry mobs, with police struggling to curtail a group of protesters trying to break into the governors residence in the north of the city.

Protesters march in Jakarta, Indonesia, to demand the citys Christian governor be prosecuted for insulting Islam. (Oscar Siagian / Getty Images )

At sundown a group of demonstrators charged police barricades near the presidential palace while others threw stones and bottles. The Associated Press, quoting Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono, reported that one elderly man died during the protests, possibly from the effects of tear gas.

The protesters apparently were angered that Widodo, an ally of the governor widely known as Ahok, would not meet them in person to discuss their demand that he resign. Ahok, known for his outspoken manner, has apologized for remarks in which he allegedly said that his political opponents were misrepresenting the Koran by urging Muslims not to vote for him.

Ahoks contrition has not satisfied those who contend that the powerful governorship should be off limits to non-Muslims.

After the clashes near the presidential palace, several thousand protesters marched to Indonesias parliament building, six miles south.

On Friday evening, local TV showed images of police firing tear gas after protesters tried to charge barricades around the palace, a violent culmination to a demonstration that started peacefully after lunchtime prayers at the citys biggest mosque, where protesters congregated before marching to the presidential palace.

Earlier in the day, police officers had handed out candy to passing protesters, some of whom went around in pairs picking up trash and exhorting fellow protesters not to step on street-side flower banks or grassy knolls.

Muslim protesters are confronted by razor wire blocking a road leading to the presidential palace during a rally against Jakarta Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama on Friday. (Tatan Syuflana / Associated Press )

Some marchers blamed Fridays disturbances on a minority of demonstrators. Ilham Akbar, one of those who marched on parliament late Friday, said, We did not cause any trouble, we made a peaceful protest. Referring to the Indonesian name for the presidential palace, he added, We dont know what happened at the Istana.

But there were concerns in the days beforehand that hard-liners in the crowd could turn violent or that the demonstration could lure terrorists. Seven people were killed in January, including five attackers, when gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a busy Jakarta intersection in a sortie claimed by Islamic State.

Around 90% of Indonesias population is Muslim, the biggest Islamic population of any country, and the variant of Islam practiced across the countrys 17,000 islands is typically described as moderate. Political protests take place regularly across the scattered archipelago, which is regarded as the most stable democracy in Southeast Asia.

Some of the protesters said that they were not anti-Christian or anti-ethnic Chinese. We are not demonstrating against other religions, said Mohamad Sayed, another protester. If anyone says anything against any religion in our country, Hindu, Catholic, Christian, he should go to jail.

Ahok is standing for election early in 2017, hoping to retain the governorship he won after his predecessor, Widodo, was elected president in 2014.

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UPDATES:

3:10 p.m.: This article was updating throughout with details on the demonstrations and quotes from Charlotte Setijadi, Ilham Akbar and Mohamad Sayed.

7:45 a.m.: This article was updated with news about one death and other injuries.

This article was originally published at 7:15 a.m.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye took sole blame Friday for a heartbreaking scandal amid rising suspicion that she allowed a mysterious confidante to manipulate power from the shadows.

Park also vowed to accept a direct investigation into her actions, but the opposition, sensing weakness, immediately said that if she didnt accept a prime minster chosen by the parliament and withdraw from dealing with domestic affairs, it will push for her ouster.

I feel a huge responsibility [for the scandal] deep in my heart, Park said, her voice shaking during a high-stakes televised address to the nation. It is all my fault and mistake.

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Parks comments were rife with astonishing moments, and included a frank assessment of her relationship with the woman at the heart of the scandal, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a cult leader and a longtime friend of Parks.

I put too much faith in a personal relationship and didnt look carefully at what was happening, Park said. Sad thoughts trouble my sleep at night. I realize that whatever I do, it will be difficult to mend the hearts of the people, and then I feel a sense of shame and ask myself, Is this the reason I became president?

In another exceptional moment, Park denied media speculation that she had fallen into worshiping cult religions or that shamanistic rituals were held at the presidential Blue House.

Her comments come at what may well prove to be the crucial moment of her presidency. Park is attempting to show the contrition and sense of responsibility that South Koreans demand while re-establishing her tarnished credibility. She is in the fourth year of a single five-year term and faced criticism even before this scandal, particularly for the governments response to a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people.

I feel a sense of shame and ask myself, Is this the reason I became president?  President Park Geun-hye

One national poll had her approval rating at 5%, the lowest for any leader in South Koreas 68-year history.

Anyone found by the current investigation to have done something wrong must be held responsible for what they have done, and I am also ready to face any responsibility, Park said. If necessary, Im determined to let prosecutors investigate me and accept an investigation by an independent counsel too.

Last week, Park surprised many when she acknowledged that she had relied on Choi for help editing presidential speeches and other undefined public relations issues.

Anger exploded in the days since, with media reports claiming that the influence Choi had went much deeper. There are reports that Choi reviewed and made recommendations on government policy papers, helped choose presidential aides and even picked out Parks wardrobe.

Thousands have protested. Park has fired many of her senior aides and is replacing her prime minister.

Choi has been formally arrested, and the presidents nominee for prime minister, the countrys No. 2 job, has suggested that Park can be directly investigated, despite her immunity from prosecution.

Park said she couldnt talk about many specifics because of the investigation, but she was frank in her comments about her involvement with Choi, who has been the subject of widespread rage.

Choi was a person who stood with me during the hardest moment in my life, Park said in her speech, apparently referring to the assassinations of Parks mother and later her father, the dictator Park Chung-hee. Its true that I lowered my guard and my sense of wariness of Choi.

In addition to allegations that Choi influenced Park behind the scenes, reports allege Choi pushed businesses to donate millions of dollars to two foundations that she controlled.

On Wednesday night, prosecutors detained one of Parks former senior presidential secretaries after summoning him for alleged involvement in extracting $70 million in donations. Prosecutors have 48 hours to determine whether to request an arrest warrant for Ahn Jong-beom or release him.

Park has fired eight presidential aides and nominated three new top Cabinet officials, including the prime minister, in an effort to regain public confidence. Opposition parties have described Parks personnel reshuffles as a tactic to divert attention from the scandal.

Park may survive what has become the worst patch of an already rocky term. But if her choice for prime minister is rejected and she is forced to name someone chosen by the opposition, it will hamstring her authority and may end her ability to govern.

On Thursday, Parks choice for prime minister, Kim Byong-joon, said at a news conference that he thinks its possible to have Park investigated, though he said the procedures and methods of any probe of the head of state must be carefully handled.

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In February 2014, the Obama administration was embarrassed when a secretly recorded phone conversation between the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine and Victoria Nuland, a senior State Department official, was posted on YouTube.

The two officials could be heard privately picking who should be in the new government in Kiev, and at one point, Nuland used a four-letter word to dismiss slow-moving diplomats at the European Union.

The intercepted call, which U.S. officials traced to Russian intelligence, created friction between U.S. and EU envoys. But its real significance is only now clear  Russia was publicly willing to use the fruits of espionage to upend U.S. foreign policy.

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Instead of using their capability to write secret memos, they decided, Well, lets see what happens if we release it, said Stewart Baker, former general counsel to the National Security Agency.

Russias government, he added, has decided that getting fingered isnt all that bad.

That analysis helps explain Russias apparent efforts to influence the U.S. presidential campaign: Under Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet-era KGB officer, spying once done in secret is increasingly public.

U.S. intelligence officials dont believe Russian hackers can swing Tuesdays election by covertly changing returns or meddling with the counting. The countrys 9,000 voting districts are highly decentralized and have backup counting procedures.

But they dont rule out Russian-sponsored service denials or other disruptions that could undermine confidence in the official tallies, especially given Donald Trumps repeated claims that the election system is rigged.

Russias attempts to interfere with Hillary Clintons campaign is not in doubt, according to U.S. officials. It appears to be driven in part by a personal animus against the former secretary of State, officials say, as well as an effort to raise doubts about the validity of U.S. democracy and leadership around the globe.

On Oct. 7, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Intelligence Community  which comprises the nations 16 intelligence agencies  said they were confident that Russias government was responsible for stealing and leaking tens of thousands of emails from accounts used by Democratic National Committee staff and from the private account of John Podesta, chairman of Clintons campaign.

These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process, the joint statement declared. It didnt name Putin, but added, We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.

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The stolen emails, which were published by WikiLeaks and other websites, added fodder to allegations that Democratic Party officials worked with Clinton operatives to defeat rival Bernie Sanders during the primaries, and that the Clinton family benefited financially from the Clinton Foundation global charity.

Moscow denied any responsibility. Putins press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, called the U.S. claims nonsense, while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the public bickering with Russia was a smokescreen to divert attention from Americas domestic problems.

Its flattering, of course, to get this kind of attention  for a regional power, as President Obama called us some time ago, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on CNN. We have not seen a single fact, a single proof.

Intelligence agencies regularly try to infiltrate foreign political parties, steal data and influence elections. Analysts scrutinize stolen phone calls and emails from potential leaders and their aides for useful intelligence or potential weaknesses they can exploit.

Whether the Russian-backed hackers in this case were careless or defiant is not clear. Whats important, U.S. analysts say, is that Putins government got caught  and didnt stop.

There is no cost, said Michael Allen, former staff director for the House Intelligence Committee and a senior national security aide in the George W. Bush White House.

They are acting out because their risk tolerance is so high and the consequences are so low, Allen said. Right now there is no cyber deterrence There is no payback.

Although the White House has asked for retaliation options, U.S. intelligence agencies havent been ordered to launch a robust response to the leaks, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Possible responses include slapping new sanctions on Russias government or officials involved in the hacking, launching a U.S. cyberattack on Russian networks or expelling Russian diplomats and suspected intelligence operatives from the U.S.

Whatever the results on Tuesday, Putin stands to gain from the disorder of this campaign cycle, according to Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess grand master and Putin opponent who now heads the Human Rights Foundation in New York.

If Trump succeeds, the leaks will have helped a candidate who has repeatedly praised Putin and who has publicly dismissed a classified U.S. intelligence judgment about the Russian hacking.

If Clinton wins and Trump urges his supporters to challenge the results, Moscow has grist for propaganda that U.S. democracy is adrift and its elected leaders cant be trusted.

If Trump wins, it will be the biggest prize they can dream of, Kasparov said. If he loses, [doubt] will drag on for a long time, accusations about the election being rigged.

Putin has made no secret of his dislike of Clinton, according to Dmitry Gorenburg, a Russian expert at CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization in Arlington, Va.

Months of mass street protests broke out in Moscow after Putins party, United Russia, won disputed parliamentary elections in 2011. He blamed U.S.-funded pro-democracy organizations for fomenting the unrest.

Clinton, who was secretary of State at the time, called for a full investigation into Russias election irregularities, saying the U.S. government had serious concerns about the voting.

Putin also saw a U.S. hand when protests erupted in Ukraine in 2014, forcing the Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, to flee the country. Putin used the chaos to annex Crimea and has since backed rebels in eastern Ukraine against the U.S.-backed government in Kiev.

Relations with Washington have gone downhill ever since  including in cyberspace.

Its not so much they are more willing to take active measures, Gorenburg said, using a Soviet-era term for using disinformation, forgeries and front groups to influence political events. They were always doing active measures [against] their neighbors. Now they are also willing to target the U.S.

To be sure, Russian hacking of U.S. government computers is not new.

In 1998, technicians saw unusual activity in restricted computer networks at the Pentagon, NASA and the Department of Energy, as well as at research universities and defense contractors.

An FBI investigation, code-named Moonlight Maze, found the cyber attacks had originated in Russia and had lasted almost two years. Hackers had gotten access to thousands of unclassified but sensitive maps of military installations, military hardware designs and troop planning documents.

FBI investigators concluded the Russian government was behind the breaches in part because most of the intrusions occurred between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Moscow time and dropped off during Russian holidays.

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Follow me @ByBrianBennett on Twitter

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A group of civilians took up arms and joined the fight against Islamic State on Friday as Iraqi forces continued to close in on Iraqs second-largest city, defense officials said.

There is a demonstration from within Mosul, on the [east] side, said Brig. Gen. Tahsin Ibrahim, spokesman for Iraqs ministry of defense. Some of them have guns  they have AKs and pistols, he said.

A number of civilians have organized into a unit that is inside now fighting against ISIS, Ibrahim said, using an acronym for the militant group.

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We have contact with them and the news is very good, he said.

Iraqi forces have said civilian support will be crucial to retaking Islamic States stronghold in Iraq, but they cautioned that civilian combatants will face the same challenge Iraqi troops face: how to combat the group without risking the lives of innocents.

Since the beginning of the Mosul offensive Oct. 17, Iraqi forces and their allies have surrounded the city of 1.2 million without mass casualties. But they are struggling to cope with an elusive enemy that blends with civilians, takes them hostage and executes those who get in their way.

Iraqi soldiers and police detain suspects in the village of Salhiya, Iraq. The men were coming from the direction of Mosul. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

Iraqi counter-terrorism forces entered the eastern Mosul neighborhoods of Adl, Entisar, Karama, Nur and Qahira on Friday, Ibrahim said. They were heading for one of the five bridges that span the Tigris River, which bisects the city.

Our advance was so slow toward the Karama neighborhood. We had heavy clashes with ISIS and they were resisting fiercely, said Sgt. Maj. Hatab Bashir Rashid, who was fighting with the Najaf Battalion of Iraqi special forces. He said a coalition airstrike wasnt enough to allow them to capture the area.

U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said Friday that significant progress has been made.

Some Iraqi forces have reached Mosul and others continue advancing toward the city, making steady progress as [Islamic State] is forced to fall back, he said.

 Iraqi Soldiers and police questioned a group of men fleeing the Mosul offensive on Thursday in Salhiya, Iraq. Police concluded the men might be refugees. (Video by Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)

He said the coalition has launched more than 3,000 air, artillery and rocket strikes since the offensive began.

The advance of the Iraqi security forces on Mosul further complicates the enemys ability to command and control its fighters, he said.

Six young bearded men crossed the Tigris River on Friday to this newly freed village of Salhiya. As Iraqi troops watched their approach, it seemed they could have been Islamic State fighters, or fleeing civilians.

They didnt carry white flags. But they were unarmed.

Im from Hamam Ali, one of them said  naming a city across the river, about 20 miles south of Mosul, that Iraqi forces have been trying to wrestle from the militants.

Soldiers detained the men as suspects.

We know very well many ISIS [fighters] run away with the people, Maj. Gen. Najim Jabouri said as he watched the men being interrogated.

After the six men were stopped, soldiers and police marched them up the road for questioning outside a command post in an abandoned house. Each walked with his hands on the next mans shoulders. At the command post, officers sat the group in the dirt and questioned them, taking careful notes.

What are your names, they asked, and where did you come from?

The men hung their heads.

Yunis Ali Saleh, said one in a blue shirt, gray pants and sandals. From Nimrud.

Police concluded the men might be refugees, and relaxed a bit. They would have to run the list of names past locals to be sure.

On the outskirts of the village of Hud, Iraqi soldiers visit a site where locals say Islamic State executed four or five people. Another gravesite containing many more people was in the area but soldiers said it was too dangerous to visit due to mines. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

On their drive out to the post, officials had handcuffed and detained another suspect, an elderly man whom they would also investigate, Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar said. He said they have arrested more than 100 Islamic State suspects in the area.

The civilians always are coming to us with information, he said, although he allowed that sometimes informants are falsely fingering those against whom they have grudges.

The day before, Iraqi troops caught a group of eight bearded suspects in civilian clothes in the nearby village of Nah Nah. They relied on locals to identify the group. Six of the men were civilians, they said  but two, they concluded, were Islamic State fighters.

Earlier Friday, troops had paused on a hill overlooking the river to urge civilians to leave, broadcasting messages from the back of a pickup truck through a massive speaker provided by the U.S.-led coalition.

We are your Iraqi brothers, Bashars voice boomed. Civilians, we are calling on you to raise a white flag and go to Diwaniya.

On the other side of the river, in the direction of Hamam Ali, nothing stirred.

Militants have been instructing residents since the offensive started to hand over boys ages 9 and older to fight, Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency, said at a Friday briefing in Geneva.

Shamdasani said the U.N. continues to receive reports of mass killings by Islamic State, including 50 of its own militants killed Monday at Mosuls Ghazlani military base for alleged desertion.

Iraqi forces have surrounded the city, with help from U.S. and other coalition airstrikes. Once they conquer it, theres just one more village to capture before they reach the southern edge of Mosul, Brig. Gen. Tahsin Ibrahim said from a tent at Qayyarah Airfield West, where he and other Iraqi officials coordinate the offensive with U.S. coalition partners.

They believe at least 20,000 civilians are still in Hammam Ali, and they will be at risk should the troops press forward against Islamic State militants who are occupying the town.

We cant take it right now  were afraid about the civilians. If we go inside Hamam Ali right now, some children and families will be killed, Ibrahim said. This is our challenge.

A man flying a white flag with his rear window shattered, is stopped on the road from Salhyia to Qayarrah on Thursday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

Islamic State fighters have forced 8,000 families from surrounding villages into Mosul as human shields, he said, like a dam in front of us.

Our main concern is that we cant get the civilians out, he said. This is our crisis. We changed our rules of engagement to take care of civilians.

He said Islamic State is also using new strategies, blending into their surroundings like chameleons, outfitting black Iraqi Army-style Humvees as suicide cars. In one case, a Russian tank was hidden inside a house.

But the jihadis are losing support, Ibrahim insisted. He displayed a cellphone photo which he said showed a would-be suicide bomber with an armored car. The man, he said, had surrendered instead of detonating himself.

Their minds change. Their morale right now is down. Every day they lose more fighters, he said.

Ibrahim said Iraqi forces have lost fewer than 100 soldiers, less than they had expected at this point in the offensive.

They have taken 300 to 400 Islamic State prisoners, Jabouri said, including four detained late Thursday while trying to blend with civilians

But Iraqi troops have also received reports of civilians executed by Islamic State before soldiers could reach them.

Capt. Taha Diab Ramadan, 32, helped free his village of Hud to the south of Mosul two weeks ago, but not before Islamic State executed some of his neighbors.

Militants forced 16 people, including women and children, into a house and then blew it up, Ramadan said Friday as he drove through the village. He pointed out other bombed buildings, including his former home.

Ramadan said his family suffered reprisals because the jihadis knew he was in the army. They took his 39-year-old brother hostage, he said, plucking his beard out with pliers and forcing him into Hamam Ali.

On Friday, Ramadan drove his Humvee down a barren desert road to a series of crevasses. The first contained the body of a Kurdish soldier, the second five civilians  Christian and Yazidi religious minorities. All were executed by Islamic State, some in recent months, according to local residents who had gathered to examine the graves.

Ramadan said he wasnt just worried about his brother; he was worried about all of the civilians trapped by Islamic State as the offensive proceeds.

Im fighting for all of them, he said. They are all my brothers.

Special correspondent Wael Resol contributed to this report.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

@mollyhf

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Covering the military offensive to drive Islamic State out of the city of Mosul, I traveled Thursday and Friday with photographer Carolyn Cole to Qayyarah Airfield West (often called Q West and Key West).

The base opened after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and it has a complicated history: The U.S. Army transferred it to Iraqi control, only to see it seized by Islamic State two years ago. This summer, it was recaptured and rebuilt for joint use by the Iraqis and the U.S- led coalition that is helping in their fight.

The air base about 40 miles south of Mosul is home to fewer than 1,000 coalition troops. It still doesnt have a massive chow hall, PX or even a post office. But theres Rocket City, where soldiers described how they fire the HIMAR (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) capable of reaching Mosul.

We toured the U.S. side of the base with Maj. Chris Parker, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, meeting several members of the 101st Airborne (Black Hearts) Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., as well as service members from Fontana and Riverside in California.

We stopped at the coalitions joint operations center  where Iraqi and coalition commanders confer surrounded by computer screens and maps  just just in time for an airstrike.

Then we headed to the Iraqi side of the base to meet with their commanders. We stayed the night in a tent, which shook several times as artillery fired nearby.

On Friday, Maj. Gen. Najim Jabouri and Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar showed us around villages south of Mosul recently recaptured from Islamic State. We saw the graves of those killed by militants, spoke with soldiers whose relatives were kidnapped by them and saw men held and questioned for possible ties to Islamic State.

Heres our story of what we saw, and below, some scenes from our days there:

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

@mollyhf
An exit has opened for Aleppos trapped civilians to leave. But no one is using it Los Angeles Times special correspondent Nabih Bulos reports from Aleppo, Syria.
HBO has been mum about "Game of Thrones" season 8 spoilers since the end of the latest season. However, since filming started, several photos have surfaced that hinted on what the fans can expect for the upcoming and much-awaited mid-2017 premiere. Will Jon Snow team up with Daenerys Targaryen? What will the first episodes look like?

Since season seven, there had been a showing that an epic battle would happen now that Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clark) is on her way to Westeros to claim the crown. In fact, spoilers from the set of "Game of Thrones" season 8 suggested that she and Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) will join forces. Who will they be fighting against?

Last week, fans got a glimpse of the cast members in Bilbao, Northern Spain where the cast and crew of "Game of Thrones" season 8 would start filming. They were said to be filming a scene in Dragonstone, a setting in the franchise, where Daenerys and the rest of her army would make their way to Seville, reported TV Guide.

Nikolai Coster-Waldau, the actor who plays Jaime Lannister in the series, took the liberty of posting photos with fans in Seville which hinted Jaime's involvement in the upcoming war ahead. Speculations also pointed out that he may meet Daenerys in the upcoming season. Since it was revealed that King's Landing would be filmed at Dubrovnik, Croatia and the Seville set would be for Dragonpit in King's Landing, it was suggested that Jaime may be staying close to home for next season and may possibly meet Mother of Dragons while she would be on her way to Westeros.

In other news, Express reported that "Game of Thrones" season 8 may be the first of the franchise wherein the characters would team up to beat a common enemy or family members being reunited - not a usual occurrence in the show.

As per announcements and sightings, "Game of Thrones" season 8 was said to be participated by 17 major characters and, for the first time, they may be meeting each other simultaneously for the first time since season one. In fact, the said meeting was to happen in Dragonpit - the Seville set.

Although the Seville set has been considered as the possible first setting by the time the latest season would open, Clarke has not been reported to be present on site. However, "Game of Thrones" season 8 was deemed to be a reunion series where the Stark siblings may possibly see each other after how many years. Also, snaps of Daenerys and Jon Snow standing side-by-side with armors suggested that both will team up.
Alzheimer is a common disease in older folks, but a new study suggests that a subtle feeling of loneliness might be a warning of the upcoming disease. Researchers found that seniors with higher brain levels of amyloid, which is a type of protein fragment related to Alzheimer's disease are more likely to feel lonely rather than people with lower level of amyloid.

According to Dr. Nancy Donovan, director of the center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said that people with levels of amyloid are the ones truly at the high risk for Alzheimer. People who remained socially active are the less likely to develop dementia, CBS News has reported.

The result also works the other way around, people in the early stage of Alzheimer's might be socially detached or more inclined to feel lonely. Early social signs of cognitive change include not so well function of perceiving, responding or understanding to social interactions. Dr. Donovan suggests that if this is proven then the doctors can focus on patients' emotional health.

To test the relationship between Alzheimer's risk, Dr. Donovan, and her colleagues examined 36 men and 43 women in the average age of 76. They were all healthy and have no sign of dementia or Alzheimer's. The examination focused particularly on amyloid levels in the cerebral cortex, part of the brain that plays the role in attention, memory thought and perception, according to Health Day.

But the study doesn't prove a direct point cause-and-effect between a socially detached and isolated person for having Alzheimer's. According to Dr. Gisele Wolf-Klein, a director, of geriatric education for Northwest Health in Great Neck, N.Y, says that the finding is "very new" but the study was performed in a very small group of older folks from Boston. In order to validate the findings, the study should involve a larger group.

According to a director of Science Initiatives, medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association, Dean Heartley said that behavioral change may be a sign of mild cognitive dementia or impairment and doctors in the future should be trained to look for apathy, social impulsiveness, mood changes and loneliness, there are the early signs of Alzheimer's.

Results of the study were published Nov. 2, online in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Authorities in Haiti declared that they resolved to conduct manhunt after a riot that caused 174 inmates managed to escape from a jail in Haiti. The escapade happened when a guard was killed. The guard's unstaunched body laid at the prison and repudiated sandals scattered on the floor.

Checkpoints were set up on roads that led from the prison. Police detained some people without identity cards, said a Reuters' witness. However, the Arcahaie prison were not wearing uniforms, thus the 266 inmates found it easy to mingle with the people outside.

On Saturday, Inspector Garry Derosiers, national police spokesman confirmed that the prison outbreak transpired at a facility in Arcahaie, according to Reuters.

Derosiers said that out of more than 100 fugitives 12 of them have been seized back. According to a statement released from the Prime Minister's office, the commotion was headed by high-powered armed prisoners. Whether who the armed individuals were or how the prisoners broke out remained unanswered as of the process of investigation went through, CNN reported.

Camille Edouard Junior, Haiti's Minister of Justice, said one inmate died after he leaped off from a wall causing his head to bump during the escape from the Arcahaie prison. Furthermore, Edouard Junior added that aside from the guard who was killed, there were three prisoners wounded. One inmate was declared dead as a result of his severe wounds.

The nearby households were urged to be vigilant and keen enough of these loitering criminals. They were also encouraged to cooperate with the cops. SWAT teams and defense forces were on the search for the rest of prisoners who had flee.

Described as "violent prison break" the citizens were forewarned to avoid the area. The advisory came from the US Embassy in the capital. From Port-au-Prince, Arcahaie is about 30 miles north of the capital.
Despite all the months of rumors and speculation, Disney confirmed that "Indiana Jones 5" will happen and will be returning to the silver screen. But who will play the role of the adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones? Will Tom Hanks take over? Or will it still be Harrison Ford?

Harrison Ford portrayed as Indiana Jones in 4 previous sequels of the film and he is still going to portray Indiana Jones that is set to come back together with Steven Spielberg in his upcoming movie "Indiana Jones and the Reborn Empire". Harrison Ford, the "Star Wars" actor said in an interview that he always wanted to make another movie and he wouldn't do it without his best-loved friend and director Steven Spielberg, Movieweb has reported.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg joked about the tied number of movies that Tom Hanks and Ford has made with him. Tom Hanks is the star of "Catch Me If You Can," "Saving Private Ryan,'' "The Terminal," and his latest "Bridges of Spies." While Harrison Ford has done the four films of "Indiana Jone,"as reported by CinemaBlend.

Spielberg said he'll probably do an Indy 5 with Harrison and it'll be five movies for Harrison. So he has got to make another film with Tom so that'll be five for Harrison and five for Tom. Does this mean that fans should expect another movie from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg?

The 74-year-old actor, Harrison Ford, hasn't stopped and never restrained in his passion. There are rumors that Ford might reprise his role of Han Solo in "Star Wars" this December and return to "Blade Runner" sequel. The reason for this rumors is the reprising of Harrison Ford in the role at the movie "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Ahead of Sundays Premier League clash with West Bromwich Albion, Claudio Ranieri gave an update on the fitness of Kasper Schmeichel and Islam Slimani.

- Claudio Ranieri provided an update on the fitness of Kasper Schmeichel and Islam Slimani

- Schmeichel fractured his hand during the goalless draw with FC Copenhagen

- Slimani is in contention after missing Citys last two fixtures

Ahead of Sundays Premier League clash with West Bromwich Albion, Claudio Ranieri gave an update on the fitness of Kasper Schmeichel and Islam Slimani.

Schmeichel is set for a spell on the sidelines after fracturing his hand during the goalless draw with FC Copenhagen on Wednesday.

The City stopper underwent surgery on Thursday after returning from Denmark, but Ranieri is not putting a deadline on his return to fitness.

Its unlucky but thats it, said Ranieri. Im confident with [Ron-Robert] Zieler so its okay. Kasper [Schmeichel] was in very good condition but also Zieler gives me all the confidence.

I know yesterday (Thursday), last night, he had an operation. The surgeon said everything is okay. Now it depends how long.

Only on the night he felt something and thought what happened. Its unbelievable. Maybe the adrenaline or concentration meant he didnt feel anything.

Of course hes not so happy. Its normal and when youre in fantastic form you hope you dont get injured. He made a good save and punched the ball but its unbelievable he didnt feel anything.

I dont want to put a deadline (on Schmeichels return) because every man is different. Maybe two, three, five, six or maybe seven weeks  I dont know.

Meanwhile, Ranieri confirmed Slimani is in contention after missing the clashes with Tottenham Hotspur and FC Copenhagen due to a minor groin strain.

The City boss added: I think Slimani is okay. Yesterday we made a training session in Copenhagen and tomorrow I will check.

Just [Nampalys] Mendy is out but hes getting better. He has started to train and maybe after the international break he is ready.
Two people displaced after a car crashed into their Allentown apartment Wednesday remained in need of assistance Friday, the American Red Cross of Eastern Pennsylvania said.

The Red Cross chapter said Friday it was providing emergency aid and lodging to the family of two.

Allentown police were continuing to investigate the incident Friday, Capt. Bill Lake said.

The Allentown Fire Department initially evacuated three apartments at The Nestings, 625 N. Saint Lucas St., after a sedan breached the wall of the building about 6:30 p.m.

Residents of all but the unit damaged in the crash were allowed to return home Wednesday night, fire Capt. John Christopher had said.

No one was reported injured in the apartment or the car, he had said.

The landlord originally provided temporary lodging to those displaced, according to the fire department.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and on Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
At the meeting (Source: VNA)



At a reception in Hanoi on November 3rd for the EU official, PM Phuc also expressed his wish that the EU will offer technical assistance to Vietnam in implementing the planned FTA.

Vietnam is willing to create optimal conditions for EU investors to invest in agriculture and farm produce processing, he said.

The government leader affirmed Vietnams commitments to protecting forests and wildlife. He also agreed with the European Commissioners proposal to establish a working group to further promote bilateral trade and investment ties.

Hogan said the EU is accelerating the approval of the EU-Vietnam FTA so that the two sides could sign the deal in late 2017 or early 2018, adding that the EU will also provide technical and financial support for Vietnam to deal with natural disasters and climate change.

The guest noted the EU has great demands for coffee, cashew nuts and farm produce, and hailed Vietnam as an attractive market and a gateway for exports to regional countries.

Hogan told his host that a number of EU firms will pour more capital into Vietnam, particularly in agriculture and retail, in the foreseeable future.

EU businesses appreciate the Vietnamese market for its political stability and have confidence in cooperation opportunities once the two sides sign the FTA, he said./.
NEWARK -- Two former Christie administration insiders charged in a bizarre scheme of political retaliation against a mayor who refused to endorse the governor for re-election were found guilty Friday on all counts in the long-running Bridgegate saga.

In a seven-week trial that saw their own words used against them, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly were convicted of helping orchestrate massive traffic tie-ups at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013. The plot was hatched to send a pointed message to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, after he stepped back from his earlier public support of Gov. Chris Christie.

Baroni stared at the jury stoically as the verdicts were read.

Kelly cried and continued to sob as she heard the word guilty repeated time and again. Neither defendant stood as the verdicts were read.

Afterward, Kelly hugged her attorney and her mother. Baroni was embraced by his attorney and then went to his parents.

Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley, said his client would appeal and that he would continue to pursue a mistrial.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Critchley said. "My client is innocent. This was a unique theory of prosecution (and) obviously we're going to appeal."

Baroni held a brief news conference outside the courthouse, claiming his innocence. He thanked friends and family here and in Ireland for their support, including members of the gay community.

"I am innocent of these charges," Baroni said. "And I am very, very looking forward to an appeal."

Baroni's attorney, Michael Baldassare, said "it was a disgrace" that the U.S. Attorney's Office did not charge "powerful people.

A sentencing date was set for Feb. 21. Baroni and Kelly face a maximum of 20 years in prison, but are likely to serve far less under federal sentencing guidelines.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman praised the outcome and said he was "enormously proud" of his staff, members of the FBI and Office of Inspector General.

Pressed by reporters on why others, including Christie, were not charged, Fishman said he never says which cases he will or will not bring.

Christie's office released a statement less than an hour after the verdict.

"Like so many people in New Jersey, I'm saddened by this case and I'm saddened about the choices made by Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein," Christie said. "Today's verdict does not change this for me."

The governor's statement went on to reiterate that "I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments."

The jury passed a note to judge Friday morning, indicating it had reached a verdict. The decision came one day after U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton denied a defense motion to re-instruct the jury.

Attorneys started to filter back into the federal courthouse around 11 a.m. The jury began reading its findings just before 11:30 a.m. and delivered their guilty decision on the conspiracy to commit fraud count. Baroni and Kelly were charged on nine counts, and faced five of them together. The other four charges were split evenly, two each for the defendants.

The criminal case, built around a rarely used provision of a fraud statute that makes it a crime to "misapply" property of federal aid recipients, charged that Baroni and Kelly intentionally misapplied the property or money of the Port Authority.

The jury of seven women and five men heard from 35 witnesses, including both defendants who took the stand on their behalf. But the most damaging evidence might have been the now-infamous "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email sent by Kelly less than a month before several local access toll lanes at the world's busiest bridge were inexplicably closed for nearly a week in September 2013, leading to paralyzing gridlock on local streets.

The key witness against them was David Wildstein, a Republican operative who was on the stand for eight days. Wildstein acknowledged he was the one who came up with the lane closure idea as a point of leverage against Sokolich, and testified that both Baroni and Kelly helped him put it in play.

Baroni, 44, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, also 44, who served as a deputy chief of staff to the governor, were indicted more than a year ago after a 16-month federal investigation into the scandal that loomed large over Christie's failed presidential aspirations.

The two had little contact with each other until the trial.

Appointed by Christie to the Port Authority in 2010, Baroni served as the agency's highest ranking New Jersey executive. Kelly, a single mother of four, ran the governor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The middle man was Wildstein, who served as Kelly's day-to-day contact at the Port Authority after he was hired by Baroni to a $150,000 patronage job in a position created for him.

David Wildstein, the key prosecution witness and admitted mastermind of the Bridgegate scandal who pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate with the government in an effort to stay out of prison. (Julio Cortez | AP Photo)

In his testimony, Wildstein, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government in an effort to stay out of prison, called himself a "political junkie" whose sole mission was to advance the governor's agenda. He said he was the one who came up with the lane closure scheme as a possible pressure tactic against Sokolich as far back as 2011. But it was not triggered until 2013, say prosecutors, when Kelly determined that the Fort Lee mayor, a Democrat, was not going to endorse the governor for re-election.

Christie, then already planning to seek the Republican nomination for president, was looking to run up the number of Democrats endorsing him for the governor's race to show he had wide bi-partisan support and Sokolich was on a list of targeted Democrats.

In August 2013, Kelly sent Wildstein an email that said: "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." And on Sept. 9, 2013, Wildstein said he ordered Port Authority police to move the orange traffic cones setting aside two out of three toll lanes dedicated to Fort Lee traffic. With no warning to local officials or motorists, chaos ensued.

According to Wildstein, he created a cover story to disguise the true purpose of the lane closures, helping draft a Port Authority press release that claimed it was all part of a traffic study looking into ways to reduce congestion on the main approach to the George Washington Bridge toll plaza. Both Baroni and Kelly said they believed there actually was a traffic study, and became ensnared in a rouge political operation orchestrated by Wildstein.

Denying any knowledge of a plan of political retaliation, Kelly asserted during her four days on the witness stand that other higher-ups in the governor's office were told of the traffic study, long before it played out, and that no one seemed that concerned about it. "It just wasn't a big deal," she testified.

She struggled, however, to explain the language of her emails and texts, including one sent on the day of the lane closures as Wildstein boasted of the heavy traffic: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

Kelly also admitted deleting that and other incriminating messages as she came to believe that she was being set up as a scapegoat by administration officials who knew what Wildstein was up to.

Fort Lee Mayor, Mark Sokolich, the target of the Bridgegate plot. (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Baroni was repeatedly confronted during trial over his failure for a week to respond to a series of emails, texts and phone calls from Sokolich, as the mayor tried to find out from someone in charge at the Port Authority to tell him why the traffic pattern had been changed. When Baroni forwarded the messages to Wildstein, he was instructed with the words "radio silence." The former state senator told the jury that Wildstein convinced him that any communication with the mayor would negatively affect the study at the bridge.

"I've asked myself that question a thousand times," Baroni said when asked why he listened to Wildstein.

Defense attorneys told jurors that the heart of the case rested almost entirely on the credibility of an admitted liar.

"Every road in this case leads through David Wildstein. Every statement, every allegation, every piece of evidence. Every conversation. Every imagined conversation by him. Everything," declared attorney Michael Baldassare, who represents Baroni. "You cannot convict Bill Baroni or Ms. Kelly unless you believe David Wildstein beyond a reasonable doubt."

Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley, said Wildstein served as "Chris Christie's Rottweiler" at the Port Authority, who served as the governor's "enforcer" at the powerful bi-state agency.

"He's a manipulator," he said. "He plays games."

But assistant U.S. attorney Lee Cortes, in his summations to the jury, said Baroni, Kelly and Wildstein all saw themselves as the governor's "loyal lieutenants" who were free to use their public jobs to launch political attacks.

"They used their positions at the Port Authority and in the governor's office to execute a malicious scheme to punish a local mayor by needlessly leading innocent travelers, adults and children who were pawns in a political game into a paralyzing traffic jam that went on for days," he said. "They stopped people from moving freely about their community for no legitimate reason...just to mess with people, so they could send a clear and nasty political message. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes this a federal crime."

The U.S. Attorney's office, though, was faced from the start not only with a flawed witness, but the challenge of convincing a jury that a crime had been committed under circumstances where no money was taken and nobody was hurt, involving a conspiracy to create traffic at a place where traffic is the norm.

The government argued that the shutting down of traffic lanes to play hardball with a reluctant mayor was a misuse of federal funds, turning to a broadly written statue--Section 666 of Title 18 of the United States Code--intended to punish fraud, bribery, theft and embezzlement from agencies that receive federal funds. Prosecutors maintained that by co-opting the Port Authority's resources to execute a personal agenda at odds with the agency's public mission, they did not engage in "politics as usual."

The jury Friday voiced their say in the matter.

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.
See what brings Debra Messing and Ed Rendell to Easton

Actress Debra Messing and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell are scheduled to attend a get-out-the-vote rally for Democrats on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Easton, Mayor Sal Panto Jr. announced. (AP file photos | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and actress Debra Messing are scheduled to attend a get-out-the-vote rally for Democrats this weekend in Easton, Mayor Sal Panto Jr. announced.

It is scheduled for noon Saturday at 91 Larry Holmes Drive, and the public is invited to attend.

The event may move across to Scott Park if the crowd size warrants it, Panto said.

The Democratic mayor noted in a news release Thursday night about the event that he prepared it at home on a non-city computer.

Panto said Rendell, who was also mayor of Philadelphia, contacted him about helping to organize the rally.

"Our city has prospered because of the efforts of Gov. Rendell," Panto says in the release. "When he was governor his economic development assistance programs helped cities across the state and we are a better for his assistance. As a former mayor he knew first hand the challenges facing our core communities."

Messing, whose credits include starring in the television series "Will and Grace," is a staunch Democratic supporter who attended the Democratic National Convention in July in Philadelphia. She and Rendell are scheduled Friday in Philadelphia to appear during a "Gayborhood" bar crawl, alongside Katie McGinty, a Democrat challenging U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., in Tuesday's general election, and pop star Cyndi Lauper, The Associated Press reports.

"We are also happy to host Debra," Panto stated. "She has been leader of many efforts including the charities AmFAR, an organization that combats AIDS; the Gay Men's Health Crisis; and Best Friend's Animal Sanctuary and she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television."

Saturday also marks the start of Easton's two-day Pennsylvania Bacon Fest.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and on Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Tara Bealer got a break when she was put on probation for dealing heroin.

But the ex-college professor tested positive for an illicit substance four days after she was sentenced, and positive for alcohol on Oct. 19 and 21.

She admitted she consumed alcohol, marijuana and heroin in the 11 days after her sentencing until she was picked up and put in prison, according to probation officer Bernard Mikulski.

"Her statement to me was, 'I didn't realize it was that strict,'" Mikulski told Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta.

Baratta revoked her 23 months of probation and put her in county prison for six to 18 months, followed by a year of probation.

Bealer, 42, of Bethlehem Township, taught sociology at East Stroudsburg University and Northampton Community College before she was caught dealing heroin. Now she works as a waitress.

She admitted she sold heroin to her boyfriend last year at their home in Nazareth.

Bealer vowed to stay drug free when she was put on probation Oct. 14, but admitted she struggled.

"I was having a lot of nightmares, night terrors," she said. She blamed Mikulski for intimidating her rather than helping with her addictions.

Mikulski said she has herself to blame. He said she was late coming home from work or left her home without permission four of the 11 days she was on GPS monitoring.

He said she admitted she drank alcohol after work and drove home.

"Those are significant violations given her history," the judge said.

Mikulski had her picked up and taken to prison on Oct. 25. He said she lied about being pregnant and said she had to be released to get methadone for the sake of her fetus.

When Mikulski produced her intake questionnaire verifying his claim, Bealer said the prison employees are the ones who said she was pregnant after she took a urine test.

"I never told them I was pregnant," she said.

Mikulski said her "level of manipulation is unbelievable."

She said one day she was late because she stopped for gas at Wawa. She didn't know that wasn't allowed. Baratta said he could give her some leeway on coming home late but couldn't overlook the use of drugs and alcohol.

"House arrest is an alternative to prison," Baratta said. "It's not a free pass not to go to prison."

The judge denied a request for immediate work release.

"I gave her GPS and she was using. No way. There's no way," he said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
An independently owned and operated pet store was burglarized overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Seen here Feb. 7, 2015, in the Bethlehem Area Public Library, a bearded dragon is a type of pet available at Dart Frogs to Dogs in East Allen Township. The store was discovered burglarized Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

John Gaughran, owner of Dart Frogs to Dogs at 6007 W. Main Blvd. (Route 248) in East Allen Township outside Bath, said cash and a variety of top-quality dog treats were taken.

None of the animals were disturbed.

"I did lose a chunk of money and everything else, but I have stuff that's worth more than to me in here," Gaughran said Thursday.

Pennsylvania State Police responded and are investigating the crime, Gaughran said. A trooper did not immediately respond Thursday to a call for comment on the probe.

Gaughran noticed something awry when he opened for business Wednesday morning and noticed his display of dog treats looked different, with items missing. In his office, newspapers were strewn across the floor.

"That didn't really strike me yet," he said. "My big lizard could have gone in there and knocked the thing over."

Then he noticed a cage and box of dog pillows out of place in an aisle and Christmas toys out that he hadn't hung up for sale yet.

His tortoise, Georgia, was at the back door, scratching at it.

"And I see the daylight coming through the back door," Gaughran said.

Access was gained by cutting through the door with a power saw of some sort, he said.

The incident marked at least the second break-in in nine days in Northampton County involving the use of power tools. Santander Bank in Washington Township was discovered Oct. 24 to have burglarized by cutting a hole in the roof, police said.

In the cash register at Dart Frogs to Dogs, all the cash was gone.

"Even my quarters were taken," Gaughran said.

Gaughran posted about the crime on Facebook, asking his customers to let him know if anyone sees the stolen dog treats for sale. The brand names are Plato, Dogswell, True Chews and Nature's Logic.

Hello everyone. Unfortunately, this is not a happy animal post. Last night the store was robbed. Someone actually cut... Posted by Dart Frogs To Dogs on Wednesday, November 2, 2016

By Thursday, Gaughran's Facebook postings showed a sense of humor about the ordeal.

Wow. Thank you everyone! That's a lot of support and it is most appreciated. This could have been much worse. None of... Posted by Dart Frogs To Dogs on Thursday, November 3, 2016

Pennsylvania State Police at Bethlehem may be reached at 610-861-2026 if anyone has information on the burglary.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and on Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Lehigh Valley residents asked to reduce water use

Seen from Easton's Scott Park, the Delaware River runs low Sept. 14, 2016, at the confluence with the Lehigh River. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, declared a drought warning for Lehigh and Northampton counties. (Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Lehigh and Northampton are among four counties under a drought warning declared Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Residents of these Lehigh Valley counties, along with Monroe and Carbon counties, are asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 10 to 15 percent, the DEP said in a news release.

"We're asking residents and businesses, particularly in central and eastern counties, to use water wisely and follow simple water conservation tips to ease the demand for water," DEP Acting Secretary Patrick McDonnell says in the release. "We suggest that public water systems that implemented water restrictions this summer continue them to preserve their drinking water supplies."

State drought monitoring shows that dry conditions persisting in the middle of the state and lack of precipitation in the eastern part of the state have deepened precipitation deficits, according to the release.

That is resulting in extremely low stream flow and groundwater levels, particularly in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas in the Delaware River Basin, the DEP says.

The department on Thursday also expanded the region under a drought watch to 30 counties, meaning they are encouraged to reduce non-essential water use by 5 percent.

Under a drought watch are the following counties: Adams, Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Clinton, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Luzerne, Mifflin, Montgomery, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Union, Wayne and York.

Potter County was moved from warning status to normal, joining these other counties in normal status: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Blair, Bradford, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Columbia, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Somerset, Susquehanna, Tioga, Venango, Warren, Washington, Westmoreland and Wyoming.

No county is under a drought emergency, which requires a gubernatorial proclamation and calls for mandatory restrictions on nonessential water use to protect water supplies as well as public health and safety.

However, under a drought warning or watch, individual water suppliers or municipalities may ask for more stringent conservation measures, the DEP says. The department plans on notifying all water suppliers in affected areas of the need to monitor their supplies and update their drought contingency plans as necessary.

The DEP encourages all residents to take steps such as these to reduce water use:

Run water only when necessary. Avoid running the faucet while brushing your teeth or shaving, or letting the shower run for several minutes before use.

Check for household leaks. A leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water each day.

Run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads.

Replace older appliances with high-efficiency, front-loading models that use about 30 percent less water and 40 to 50 percent less energy.

Install low-flow plumbing fixtures and aerators on faucets.

Learn more at the DEP Drought Information Website.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and on Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
vet of the year harry brodhead.jpg

Harry R. Brodhead, of Brodheadsville, is the 2016 Veteran of the Year.

(Special to Lehighvalleylive.com)

Harry R. Brodhead was honored Saturday night as the Joint Veterans Council Forks of the Delaware's 2016 Veteran of the Year.

Brodhead, an independent truck driver from Brodheadsville in Monroe County, served honorably in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1968.

He is past commander of Brown & Lynch Post 9 American Legion in Palmer Township, a member of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 9, and Voiture Locals 697, 40 and 8.

He regularly attends Joint Veterans Council meetings as a delegate from American Legion Post 9 as well as the Northampton County American Legion District 30 meetings.

He was given the award Saturday night at the Joint Veterans Council's annual awards program at the Brown & Lynch post in Palmer.

As a member of the Post 9 honor guard and color guard, Brodhead participates in multiple parades, ceremonies and burial honors during the year including the Easton Memorial Day parade and ceremonies at Scott Park in Easton; the Easton Veterans Day program at Upper Hackett Park; and Wilson Borough's parade and ceremonies on Washington Boulevard.

He also decorates veterans' graves at Northampton Memorial Shrine Cemetery for Memorial Day and participates with the post's annual highway cleanup.

He attends Eagle Scout courts of honor representing Post 9 and the post's children's Christmas and Easter parties.

He also contributes regularly to various post activities, including personally sponsoring the Legion's Boys State attendees, an education program of government operations for high school students run by the American Legion. There is a $500 fee per student and Brodhead sponsors one or two from Post 9 annually.

As part of his efforts supporting the Valor Clinic, Brodhead solicited and obtained the donation of materials required for replacement of the roof at "Paul's House" for homeless veterans and recently obtained a donation of the drainage field material required for the Legion post's addition.

Friends describe Harry as "a true friend and veteran, serving others in need, his community and country," according to the veterans council.

Follow lehighvalleylive.com on Twitter at @lehighvalley. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton speaks in Harrisburg.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Support the troops? If you really want to do something meaningful to support the troops, elect Hillary Clinton president.

I found this in my archives from The Express-Times, Monday, June 27, 2005 (two years and three months after the March 20, 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.):

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday he is bracing for even more violence in Iraq ... Defeating the insurgency may take as long as 12 years, he said, with Iraqi Security Forces, not U.S. and foreign troops, taking the lead and finishing the job. The assessment comes on the heels of the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll showing ... more than half of all Americans saying that invading Iraq was a mistake."

Rumsfeld was absolutely wrong in promoting the invasion, but he was absolutely right that "Iraqi Security Forces, not U.S." must take the lead to defeat al-Qaida and ISIS insurgencies.

And that's exactly what President Obama is doing. Iraqi troops are on the ground fighting ISIS near Mosul, not American sons and daughters.

As of June 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense reported 4,424 American deaths and 31,952 wounded in action as a result of President George W. Bush's Iraq invasion in 2003.

So why elect Hillary president? She will continue Obama's strategy to train Iraqis, not Americans, to fight ISIS on the ground.

In a CBS interview, January 3, 2016, Donald Trump said he would not rule out using nuclear weapons against ISIS.

Nuclear weapons? Trump is a mad man.

To save us from madness, vote for Clinton.

Reggie Regrut

Phillipsburg
A Ford Ranger pickup truck crashed through a utility pole then hit a tree just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Harmony Brass Castle Road in Harmony Township.

A woman who was driving was treated at the scene, while a male passenger was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Phillipsburg.

The pickup appeared headed west near Castners Road when it lost control on a curve, went off the road, brought down the pole, crossed inside the guard rail for about 75 feet and then struck the tree.

The road was closed during the incident.

No power outages were reported by JCP&L in Warren County as of 6 a.m. Friday.

New Jersey State Police at Washington, who declined to provide details on the crash, were assisted by the township fire department, Franklin Township Rescue Squad, Oxford Rescue Squad and paramedics from Hunterdon Medical Center.

Freelance photographer Rich Maxwell provided information for this report.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Local politicians in Laois have backed the campaign for a bravery medal to be awarded to five gardai blown up by the IRA in 1976, near Portarlington.

County councillors at their recent meeting backed a motion from Cllr Noel Tuohy for the four survivors and one dead policemen to be awarded the Scott Medal for Bravery, four decades after the incident occured.

Jim Cannon, Tom Peters, Ben Thornton and Gerry Bohan survived, but Michael Clerkin was killed instantly in the attack at Garryhinch. The men were lured into a trap by the IRA who had sent a hoax threat that they were going to attack the late Laois Offaly TD, Oliver J. Flanagan.

We are merely seeking justice for those courageous men; seeking the respect and recognition they have earned, merit and deserve. They put everything on the line in the defence of our State, our safety and our community, said the motion from Cllr Tuohy.

All this year, 2016, we have rightly honoured those who showed bravery and courage in 1916. We should not forget or overlook those who came after them in the defence and protection of the Republic and the institutions of the State, when they came under fire and under threat in 1976, read the motion.

It added that it was inexplicable that the men had not yet been honoured with the Scott Medal. Garda Chief Superintendent John Scanlon told the recent 40th Anniversary Mass for Garda Clerkin that the award of the Scott Medal was being rexamined and he is preparing a report for the Garda Commissioner.

Photo: Three survivors of the Garryhinch Bomb in 1976, Ben Thornton, Jim Cannon and Gerry Bohan, Portarlington pictured at the 40th Anniversary Mass for Garda Michael Clerkin, at St Michael's Church ,Portarlington recently. Photo: Michael Scully.






With the number, China and Hong Kong have surpassed the EU to become Vietnams second largest tra fish market for the first time, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The strong export to China was recorded in the context that Vietnamese tra fish exporters are facing multiple difficulties in other markets like the US, the EU, ASEAN and Mexico.

Of note, Vietnams tra fish exports to the EU and Mexico contracted by 6.9 percent and 14.3 percent in the January-September period.

However, the rapid growth in China and Hong Kong has raised remarkable concerns as Chinas real demand is not too big. In fact, a large amount of tra fish is being stockpiled in the country.

According to VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hue, during the first months of this year, many Chinese traders ordered and purchased fish, each weighing over 1kg, with high prices, prompting many local farmers to raise their productivity and refuse to sell fish to factories in Mekong Delta.

As a result, after Chinese traders unexpectedly reduced their trading volumes in July, the prices of tra fish sharply dropped, causing losses for local farmers.

Therefore, many major Vietnamese tra fish exporters have not paid attention to the Chinese market despite its attractiveness.

Nguyen Van Ky, General Director of Agifish, said his company has turned its eyes towards other markets but not China which is unstable and has potential risks in the context of difficulties in the US market.

VASEP forecasted that tra fish exports to China will not experience such a hot rise in the time ahead, suggesting local firms to think twice before penetrating the market./.
All county council hedgecutting done around Laois is now contracted to a Kilkenny company.

The news was revealed to councillors for the Graiguecullen Portarlington Municipal District and it outraged Cllr Ben Brennan. He said Laois companies have lost the work.

Cllr Brenna said that councillors were assured at a meeting that local people would get some of the work to trim back roadside hedges.

I think its ludicrous that we hand this over to Total Highway Maintenance. It is costing three times as much, its crazy. Local contractors did excellent work, why fix something thats not broken? Local people know where all the roads are, and people will talk to them. To me so far its not a success, its out of order, he said.

Hedges are now being cut too low and wing mirrors getting broken, Cllr Padraig Fleming said, reporting that the contractor had to return twice to cut a verge higher.

I heard that school busses and lorries had mirrors being broken by big branches. One company lost three mirrors. Overhangs are bigger problems for higher vehicles. If they can only cut up to 1.2 metres, that is a very flawed contract, he said.

Council engineer Philip McVeigh agreed to check the terms of the contract.

Cllr Tom Mulhall also regretted the loss of local contractors.

There is a huge hedge nearly three foot out on a side road near Bishops road wood in Portarlington. If we could ring a local contractor it would be done quickly, he said.

He also wants the council to crack down on farmers not trimming verges.

95 percent of them do it, but the few that dont the council should get onto them big time, he said.
Catholics in one of the largest dioceses in the country are being encouraged and challenged to live their faith in a more practical and public way.

Churchgoers in Kildare and Leighlin are being given four dozen suggestions about how they can live their faith and share it with others. The proposals include ideas for peoples homes, parishes, workplaces and schools/colleges. All the suggestions are highlighted in a leaflet which is described as a practical guide to show people how to share their faith everyday.

Among the suggestions offered are that parishioners display religious symbols around their home, pray at meals and bedtime, discuss current affairs in the context of the gospels, and encourage children to think about the less fortunate.

People in the diocese  which covers Carlow and parts of Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Wicklow and Kilkenny  are also being encouraged to become more involved in parish activities. They are being encouraged to learn more about their faith by reading spiritual books and Catholic websites, and especially by joining fellow parishioners at Sunday Mass.

They are also being invited to commonly use phrases such as God bless you, God bless the work and God is good. People in the workplace and college are encouraged to wear a cross or symbol of their faith, not to be afraid to show their faith in front of others, and be ready to explain and talk about their faith. They are asked to respect other peoples religious beliefs and to be honest and fair at work.

On a personal level, Catholics are asked to become more aware of Gods presence in their life and to be joyful in their faith.

The leaflet, Sharing our Faith Everyday, is being distributed by the Taskforce for Education and Evangelisation in the diocese.

Taskforce chairman, Fr. John Cummins, said there had already been a great response to the initiative.

Bishop Denis Nulty said he hoped people of all ages and backgrounds would use the suggestions to deepen their own faith.
A 41-year-old woman has been sentenced to eight months in jail, for theft offences involving stolen items such as power tools and the wing mirrors of a car.

At last weeks sitting of the district court in Portlaoise, Mary McDonagh (41), currently residing at the Dochas Centre, Mountjoy Prison, was charged with thefts and handling stolen property.

Inspector Eamon Curley gave evidence that the accused was arrested in Monasterevin on May 1 this year, for stealing the wing mirrors off a vehicle.

She was further charged with offences on dates between March and April, which included stolen items such as power tools and a generator.

She had 67 previous convictions, including 16 thefts. She is currently serving a sentence at Dochas.

Judge Catherine Staines noted that some of the stolen property was machinery such as generators and asked was someone else with the accused at the time.

Insp Curley replied that there was a co-accused in the case.

Defence, Ms Louise Troy said her client, a mother of three with one child in foster care, had come from a very violent home and a very violent marriage, which had a huge effect on her.

Ms Troy said her client was now getting counselling for this.

What does that have to do with all these thefts? asked Judge Staines.

Ms Troy responded that McDonaghs difficult upbringing had led to her becoming addicted to alcohol and hooked on painkillers, saying that her very chaotic early life had given rise to this offending.

Defence concluded by saying that the accused was truly sorry and was keen to turn her life around.

Judge Staines imposed eight months in prison, to run concurrent to the sentence McDonagh was already serving.

Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal.
The ASTI's Laois understands that parents will be 'frustrated' by the looming industrial action that will close schools, possibly, indefinitely after the mid-term break but he says teachers will not work for nothing.

Mr Eamon Dennehy, a teacher in Heywood College, near Abbeyleix also hit out at the Government for being willing to pay 'far more' to temporary teachers to keep schools open during the strike than it wants to pay to teachers to do it full time.

Association of Secondary School Teachers in Ireland will not be at work next Monday, November 7 but if their dispute over supervision and substitution payments is not settled by then there will be no pupils in classrooms.

Schools in Portlaoise, St Mary's CBS and Scoil Chriost Ri, have already written to pupils saying they will not open but it is understood that others will or have followed suit. One school, Mountrath Community School, advertised independently for supervisors, but it is not clear if they recruited. Other schools that closed as a result of the one day strike in October were: Mountmellick Community School, Heywood College, Colaiste Iosagain Portarlington, Knockbeg College.

The schools cannot operate if teachers withdraw from supervision and substitution for which they claim they are not being properly paid.

ASTI representative Mr Eamon Dennehy said he was not sure what the various schools plan to do but he does not expect them to open.

"There are supposed to be talks but nothing has been done so far to stop it...Staff will show up for work at schools that have been closed by the various boards of managements," he said.

He said teachers were not being paid for supervision and this was directed by the Department of Education.

"It is a dispute and a trade union cannot tell its members to work for nothing," he said. He added that the Government is willing to pay "far more" to temporary supervisors in schools during the dispute than it will pay to teachers.

Mr Dennehy is a parent himself and could "absolutely see" that parents would be frustrated.

"We have to think about our students and be advocates for them but we also have to think about the future of our profession. There is all sorts of attacks on the profession," he said.

Apart from the impact of lack of supervision on Monday, schools will close on Tuesday, November 8 when pickets will be mounted at schools as part of a day of strike action.
A Minister of State at the Department of Health has insisted that the Government is not a 'bystander' in deciding the future of Portlaoise hospital.

Minister Marcella Corcoran Kennedy was responding to Laois Deputy Brian Stanley, Sinn Fein, who demanded a timeline for a publication of a HSE / Dublin Midlands Hospital Group plan for the future of the hospital.

"It is a stretch too far to suggest that the Government is acting as a bystander in this matter. That is especially the case when one acknowledges the improvements that have been prioritised in the hospital," said the Fine Gael Offaly TD.

Deputy Stanley rejected that progress had been made toward coming up with a plan.

"We have not moved one jot further forward. The plan was to be published in September 2015 but we have not seen it to date. A delay of one month or even three months is reasonable but the plan is 15 months late at this stage. Meanwhile, we hear the argument that we do not have the clinical staff required at the hospital. As I set out in my introductory comments, one needs to have the clinical staff in place, but there must be some certainty for the future of the hospital," he said.

The following is the full text of the debate in the Dail on Portlaoise hospital on Wednesday November 2 raised by Brian Stanley TD.

Deputy Brian Stanley: I welcome the opportunity to raise this very important issue. It is the most important issue in Laois the and surrounding counties. It is the issue of the hospital services. There has been a threat hanging over key services at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise for years. We have had leak after leak. One leak came out in early summer 2015 that indicated that the emergency services were to be removed. The Department of Health and the HSE then commissioned a report in response to the campaigning of local people under the tutelage of Dr. Susan O'Reilly. That report was to be published in September 2015. We are now in the month of November in the year of our Lord 2016 and heading for Christmas, yet we still have not seen that report.

In the interim, there have been more leaks and spin around the issue. One leak was regarding a recommendation that the emergency services be removed. It is time for the HSE, the Department and the Government to tell us what is planned for Portlaoise hospital. The emergency department is one of the busiest outside Dublin, busier than Mullingar and Tullamore. The absence of full consultant cover is often cited as a reason to downgrade the unit. The strategy of the Department and the HSE seems to be to keep the unit under constant threat of closure and consultants will not apply for the job as long as that is the case. In that way, the Department and the HSE get the outcome they want.

Resources are the issue in Portlaoise. That has always and ever been the case. A positive story from the point of view of the Government, the Department and the HSE has shown this in the last year. When the staff allocation was granted for the maternity unit, there were improvements. There has been a huge increase in the number of staff. They were operating with little over half the staff that was needed. We have seen the improvements in outcomes at the maternity unit. It can be held up as a good example. There were deficiencies there and the staff was operating under huge pressure. That has been improved. In a reply to a question of mine from 18 October, the Minister, Deputy Harris, acknowledged that there are far better outcomes now.

It is a busy but excellent service.

There is also a busy paediatric unit at the hospital. If any of the key services in Portlaoise is closed, there is nowhere to send people. I do not need to tell the Minister of State, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, that one cannot send accident and emergency patients or those requiring paediatric services to Tullamore. The maternity services for Offaly are based in Portlaoise. Has the Minister read the important set of proposals issued in the summer by GPs and senior medical and clinical staff at Portlaoise hospital? These highlight the interdependent nature of the main services at the hospital in Portlaoise and the fact that if the emergency department were removed, other services would go with it because they are dependent on having a functioning emergency department. I refer to maternity and paediatric services in particular and the concerned professionals who manage, operate, staff and look after primary care and hospital care services in the midlands. They acknowledge the benefits of networking with the larger Dublin hospitals. Staffing is one of the issues affecting the maternity unit. The fact that it is now networking with the Coombe hospital is another benefit. The staff say that approach should be used as a template for the other services at the hospital.

There are people in the Gallery from County Laois. Jackie Cuddihy is one of them. As she has said publicly, she would not be here today but for the fact that we have an accident and emergency unit at Portlaoise hospital. That is an indication of the importance of the service.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy): I thank Deputy Stanley for bringing this important matter to the attention of the Minister for Health, who sends his sincere apologies that he cannot be here and has asked me to respond on his behalf. This is a good opportunity to update the Deputy and the House on the future of services at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise. I acknowledge the presence in the Gallery of the people from the constituency to whom Deputy Stanley referred. Sadly, the constituency is no longer part of my constituency but I suppose what I have lost, others have gained and vice versa. The situation might revert at some point.

I assure the Deputy that the Minister, Deputy Harris, is committed to securing and further developing the role of Portlaoise hospital as a constituent hospital within the Dublin Midlands hospital group. The most important issue in relation to any changes at Portlaoise hospital is that patient safety and outcomes must come first.

As the Deputy acknowledged in his contribution, there have been a number of reports on the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise in recent years. The reports have pointed to the need for reconfiguration of some services to ensure that patients are treated in the most appropriate setting by specialist staff that can safely meet their needs. Since 2014, the focus has been on supporting the hospital to develop and enhance management capability, implementing changes required to address clinical service deficiencies, and incorporating the hospital into the governance structures within the Dublin Midlands hospital group. Significant work has been undertaken to strengthen and stabilise current arrangements for services at the hospital to ensure they are safety-assured and adequately resourced. Governance and management arrangements in Portlaoise hospital have been strengthened, additional clinical staff have been appointed, and staff training and communications have improved.

The Dublin Midlands hospital group recently produced a draft plan which sets out a proposed service design for a new model of clinical service delivery at Portlaoise hospital. The draft plan has been discussed with the Department of Health and is currently the subject of further work and consideration within the HSE in advance of further necessary consultations with stakeholders, including GPs and consultants. No decisions have been made in respect of Portlaoise hospital but any changes, once approved, will be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner and will take account of current use of services, demands in other hospitals, and the need to develop particular services at Portlaoise in the context of overall service reconfiguration in the Dublin Midlands hospital group.

I again assure the House and Deputy Stanley that this work is being done to strengthen services at Portlaoise from a patient safety and quality point of view. I am confident that the changes will improve services for patients at Portlaoise hospital. Patients are at the centre of everything we do in the Department of Health and within the Health Service Executive. Their needs must be prioritised, which is exactly the standpoint from which we are coming.

Deputy Brian Stanley: While it is acknowledged in the reply that there are significant concerns, we now have a draft plan but GPs locally say there has not been meaningful consultation with them. There has not been any consultation with local Deputies. When will we see the draft plan? With all due respect to the Minister of State, we are going around in circles. Today's response is the same as we received months ago. We have not moved one jot further forward. The plan was to be published in September 2015 but we have not seen it to date. A delay of one month or even three months is reasonable but the plan is 15 months late at this stage. Meanwhile, we hear the argument that we do not have the clinical staff required at the hospital. As I set out in my introductory comments, one needs to have the clinical staff in place, but there must be some certainty for the future of the hospital.

Senior HSE managers and bureaucrats will come and go but we must be able to see a clear way forward. Surely the people of Laois and the surrounding counties are entitled to that at this stage? HSE management might make decisions but the Government is not a bystander. The Minister of State in the Department of Health, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, is not a bystander. We need certainty on the matter. Is it Government policy not to have busy regional hospitals strategically located? One could not but argue that Portlaoise hospital is strategically located. Is it Government policy to act on a wing and a prayer and not to secure the future of such hospitals? The Minister needs to make a policy decision to resource and staff the hospital.

Despite the fact that Portlaoise hospital is busier than either of the hospitals in Mullingar or Tullamore, its funding is 30 million less than that which is provided for Tullamore hospital. I do not argue to reduce the funding for Tullamore hospital but I just highlight the fact. It is miraculous what the staff in Portlaoise hospital have done with little resources. They have performed great tasks. It is now up to the Government to clearly set out a plan to secure the future of Portlaoise hospital.

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy: It is a stretch too far to suggest that the Government is acting as a bystander in this matter. That is especially the case when one acknowledges the improvements that have been prioritised in the hospital. For example, additional consultant posts have been created in anaesthetics, surgery, emergency medicine, paediatrics and obstetrics in addition to physician and midwifery posts. An additional 76 posts have been created since 2014, and a further 38 were converted from agency posts. One must accept that is very positive. Nobody could argue that it is a negative action to have taken.

I understand Deputy Stanley's anxiety about having an input into the draft plan. The plan has been discussed with the Department and it is subject to further work and consideration by the Health Service Executive. When that process is finished, the parties concerned will consult with the GPs and consultants.

Deputy Brian Stanley: Is there a timeline?

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy: I cannot give it to Deputy Stanley but I will try to find out.

Deputy Brian Stanley: Will it be before Christmas?

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy: I am keen to see the plan as soon as possible, but it is important that adequate consultation is carried out and that those who wish to submit ideas will be given every opportunity to do so.

It might be helpful for Deputy Stanley to hear that a plan - The Future of Acute Services in the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise: The Local Stakeholder Perspective - was submitted to the HSE and the Department by Laois GPs and senior medical staff at Portlaoise hospital in September. That is another positive for the Deputy to take from today's discussion. I assure him that services at Portlaoise hospital are a priority for the Department, the Government and the Health Service Executive.
The Minister for Health Simon Harris could snub Laois County Councillors if they travel to Dublin to meet him over the possible downgrade of Portlaoise hospital.

In a reply to Fianna Fail TD Sean Fleming, Minister Harris said he would "be happy to meet the politicians" after a plan for the hospital is complete. He said the daft plan for the Midlands Regional Hospital is "subject to work and consideration with the HSE with a view to finalising for submission to the Department"

"No decisions have been made in relation to Portlaoise hospital at this stage, but once the work I have outlined is completed I would be happy to meet with the Laois Oireachtas members and members of Laois County Councillors in the context of the consultation process," said Minister Harris in his written reply to the Fianna Fail TD.

At their October meeting councillors in Laois agreed to travel to Dublin to meet the Minister in an effort to prevent downgrade such as the removal of A&E and other services.

"Our backs are to the wall. We should show solidarity," said Cllr Willie Aird proposing the move to meet the Minister in Dublin in early November.

In a statement Deputy Fleming said any meeting with politicians and meetings with Laois GPs and consultants should "take place before any decisions are made".

"Any attempt to finalise the process in advance of these meetings would render the process fundamentally flawed and would be clearly open to challenge," he said.
Nearly 1,000 girls will not be at school in Scoil Chriost Ri as a result of teachers dispute over pay for supervision

Scoil Chriost Ri secondary school for girls in Portlaoise will not open if the teachers dispute over supervision and substitution proceeds.

The Chairperson of the school's board of management has written to parents this week that it wishes to keep the school open during the ASTI withdrawal of supervision and substitution. Nearly 1,000 girls attend the school.

"While the board of management wishes to keep the school open (on Monday, November 7) it is not, regrettably, possible to re-open the school after the mid-term break until appropriate health and safety and child protection provisions can be established," writes Mr Herbie Wilkins in the letter which arrived to parents on Friday, November 4.

He writes that the impact of the directive is that ASTI members, including most principals, deputy principals, will not be available to carry out essential duties before school commences in the morning, at breaks, lunchtime and at the end of the day. He adds that ASTI will not be available to substitute for colleagues who are absent.

"Due to this action the Board of Management will not be in a position to ensure safety of the pupils in its care from that date. Health and Safety legislation, the loco parentis principle and insurance requirements place a duty of care on school management to ensure the safety, health and welfare of pupils," he outlines.

The letter says that the board believes that teachers are best placed to undertake supervision and substitution. While the school has engaged with the Department of Education on alternative arrangements and the teachers union as said it will not impede such alternatives, ASTI has not indicated that it will fully co-operate.

"Even if there were to be full co-operation by the ASTI with a contingency plan, the deadline of November 7 is unrealistic as it does not allow sufficient time to put supervisors in place," said the letter.

"While the board wishes to keep the school open it is not, regrettably, possible to re-open the school after mid-term break until appropriate health and safety and child protection provisions can be established," read the letter.

Mr Wilkins concluded that the board would keep the situation under review and keep parents notified of relevant developments.

Management of Scoil Chriost Ri's neighbour school St Mary's CBS for boys has already announced that it will not re-open if the dispute proceeds.

Nearly 2,000 pupils attend both schools. The Laois town's third school, Portlaoise College is not affected as its teachers are members of the Teachers Union of Ireland who are not in dispute.
Laois TD and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan has urged local organisations in Laois, who are working with victims of crime, to apply for the 2017 Victims of Crime Funding Scheme.

Minister Flanagan stated the Government announced the 2017 Victims of Crime Office funding scheme for organisations working with victims of crime.

The work that these organisations do, here in Laois and across the country, helps to reduce the trauma experienced by victims of crime and helps them to move on with their lives. I am proud to support their invaluable efforts.

"This funding increase will assist community and voluntary organisations here in Laois in meeting the additional demands for support services, such as the provision of information on the rights of victims and court accompaniment, he said.

Minister Flanagan said there is an additional 250,000 in funding for 2017 over and above the 2016 allocation, bringing the total funding available in 2017 to 1.712m.

Fine Gael is committed to using a strong economy to help make peoples lives better. Thanks to the careful economic management of recent years we now have the resources to target investments in key public services, that will make a real difference to peoples lives. Investment in supporting the victims of crime here in Laois is a crucial part of that, said the Minister
The Leaves Literary Festival takes place this week, celebrating the diverse rich talent in todays literary, film and music scene.

The festival was officially launched last week at County Hall by Minister Charlie Flanagan, who praised the diverse range of events taking place. He spoke of the importance of continued support to cultural and artistic events in the county and remarked on the importance of local authorities taking the lead in such events.

On Friday November 11, Roundwood House will host an intimate evening of music and spoken work, with writers Peter Fallon, Vona Groarke Eoin McNamee and music by Colm Mac Con Iomaire. It will take place in the surroundings of the newly opened library.

On Saturday November 12 all the events will take place in the Dunamaise Arts Centre. The morning will start with a poetry workshop hosted by Mary O Donnell.

The afternoon will have book launch by local writer Arthur Broomfields new collection of poetry entitled Cold Coffee at Emo Court, followed by an open mic competition.

Visitors from across the country will compete for the title of the most compelling performer. The award for this is a weeks residency in the Laois Arthouse.

The Saturday evening event in the Dunamaise Arts Centre is a crime fiction night, hosted by Radio 1 presenter of Arena, Sean Rocks. It features Louise Phillips, Niamh O Connor, Andrea Carter and visiting Norwegian writer Thomas Enger. Saxophonist Rachel Clancy will play music specially created for the event .

Childrens events include readings by Oisin McGann in the Dunamaise Arts Centre and Dave Rudden at the Portarlington and Montmellick Libraries.

The Dunamaise Arts Centre are programming a selection of Irish interest film and theatre, including In the Heart of the Sea and Minding Frankie, an adaptation for stage of a story by the late Maeve Binchy by Peter Sheridan.

The festival concludes with a classical concert hosted by Music Network in St Peters Church of Ireland featuring Anneleen Lenaerts on harp and Dionysis Grammenos on clarinet.

Tickets and information are available from the Dunamaise Arts Centre on 057 8663355 and from the Laois Arts Office on www.laois.ie and 057 8664033.
Chinese tourists were visiting Long Son pagoda in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province. (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

The China National Tourism Administration has revealed the list of the most favoured tourist attractions of Chinese holidaymakers in the second quarter of the year.

Accordingly, Thailand topped the list with nearly 2.4 million arrivals, and was followed by the Republic of Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau (China).

Meanwhile, if regarding Southeast Asia, Vietnam only followed Thailand on the list.

The Vietnam National Tourism Administration reported that in the first ten months of the year, the country greeted over 2.2 million Chinese arrivals, a year-on-year rise of 55%./.
I was in the room normally used for phone banking when I heard the speech drifting in from the TV screen next door.

This was the Virginia Democrats office and I was listening to Michelle Obama.

The First Lady was laying out a clear argument for putting her friend Hillary in the White House.

To some extent I knew arguments already. I had watched the TV debates, listened to the commentators, heard Hillary surrogates tear apart Trumps locker room banter nonsense and soaked up every detail of the policies a Clinton Presidency would pursue.

But this was different.

Something in Michelle Obamas message reminded me of why I got involved in politics in the first place.

Every word spoke to my convictions, my hopes, the dreams I fear my generation will fail to deliver for our children.

And I was not alone. I found myself drifting through to join my new American friends as they watched, wrapped in every syllable, every convocation, every image the First Lady evoked of the America she  and they  cherish, but feel may be ripped from their grasp by a Trump triumph.

This was a speech all politicians dream of making.

Soaring, inspirational rhetoric.

But while the political commentators took it as a prompt to speculate whether we might be seeing the birth of a new Obama career the activists had a different view.

Yes they love Michelle. Yes if they have the chance one day theyll vote for her.

But this, they told me, was only about Hillary. We need Hillary. America needs Hillary.

Leslie Arriaza, a Latino activist knocking doors in Manassas, Virginia told me the prospect of a Trump presidency was not one she relished.

As a woman she feared her rights would be undermined and that her community would suffer.

Trump supporters looking at you and me on their doorstep, would think youre the American, not me, she said. And I was born here.

For Chuck, a political lobbyist down for the hill, the question Why? was greeted with surprise.

Im from Arkansas he regarded as explanation enough but then proudly added: The Clintons have been there all my life. I know what they did for Arkansas and Bill did as President. I couldnt not work for Hillary.

The operation on the ground, with organisers, connect, walk maps, sign in sheets was exactly what I would expect in any Lib Dem campaign here.

And the same liberal convictions permeated everything I heard from those phone-banking, from the canvass teams and in a good natured discussion with a lady in a coffee shop who tried to argue against equal marriage.

But there was one aspect of this campaign we have, thankfully, been spared here. So far.

Michelle Obama had deserted the text of her planned campaign speech to address the latest sexist sleaze in a campaign which, at times, can only aspire to the gutter.

And Hillary is not immune. The shadow of those emails and that private server refuses to go away.

Except with those who are part of the vast Democrat GOTV.

Oh we dont listen to that, Melissa a young black student told me. We just get on with campaigning. We need Hillary to win.

* Christine Jardine is the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West
A COUNTY Limerick publican accepted a staff member discriminated against a man and his two elderly parents who dont drink.

Cornelius Hegarty Snr, Cornelius Hegarty Jnr and Bridget Hegarty took the case against Sean Kenny, proprietor of The Idle Hour bar in Effin, under the Equal Status Act.

Denis Linehan, solicitor for the applicants, asked Cornelius Hegarty Jnr what occurred on the evening of September 1, 2015.

I was travelling to a public house in Effin with my mother and father. I hadnt been there for years. I was home in the country for a few days. My parents are old so I helped them sit down. There was only one other person in the bar. He was making a roll-up and disappeared. I asked the lady behind the bar for two bottles of lemonade. She disappeared, I was waiting for 10 minutes. When she came back she said there was a private function in the pub.

I told my mum and dad that the lady is refusing to serve us and my mum said we better go home, said Mr Hegarty Jnr, who runs a riding school in England. His parents live in Effin.

Mr Linehan asked the 57-year-old why he thought she didnt want to serve him.

I dont know. She gave us no reason, said Mr Hegarty Jnr. The solicitor asked if he saw any signs indicating a private function. No, there was no balloons or anything, said Mr Hegarty Jnr.

Asked how he felt after service was refused, Mr Hegarty Jnr said: I nearly went down through the ground. My mother and father dont bother with pubs.

Brendan Gill, solicitor for Mr Kenny, said Mr Hegarty was given a reason.

She did say there was a private function, said Mr Gill.

Mr Hegarty agreed she did but there was nobody else in the premises at that time.

The next witness was 78-year-old Bridget Hegarty. She said she nearly got a heart attack after her son told her what happened.

Cornelius Hegarty Snr, aged 79, was asked how he felt? How do you think I felt? I was never inside in that pub in my life, said Mr Hegarty Snr.

Mr Linehan said his three clients felt embarrassed as any normal human being would and a private function was a fanciful reason to explain discrimination.

Mr Gill said Mr Kenny only purchased the premises two months previously and it was essentially a misunderstanding.

Mr Kenny said he wasnt present on the night in question as he was working.

It was the launch of Effin GAAs lottery draw. My instructions [to the person working in the bar] were to serve the people at the function, said Mr Kenny, who accepted the sign was not on the front door. It is the first time Ive run a pub. I apologise if any embarrassment was caused, said Mr Kenny.

Mr Linehan said his clients are here to hear the apology and Im sure they graciously accept it.

Their feelings have been hurt and they are entitled to some redress, said Mr Linehan, who added that in a similar case at a recent tribunal a Chinese Restaurant was ordered to pay 2,500.

Mr Gill said on the scale of discrimination it wasnt a flagrant breach.

It was a misunderstanding and he had only recently taken over the pub. It has been challenging times for rural pubs over the last few years, said Mr Gill.

Judge Marian OLeary said then why are they not accepting customers.

The Hegartys are very upset - people who have never drank in their lives and to be refused a drink said Judge OLeary. Mr Gill said: They should, of course, have been served.

Judge OLeary awarded 300 each to Cornelius Hegarty Jnr, Cornelius Hegary Snr and Bridget Hegarty and costs of 250 for Mr Hegarty Jnr travelling from the UK.
LIMERICK raised actress Ruth Negga has again made headlines, after taking to the red carpet in New York for the premiere of her Oscar-tipped film, Loving.

Wearing a dress by the American luxury label Rodarte, Negga was flanked by her Limerick cousin David Malone, who was also her companion of choice as she hit the red carpet at the Cannes film festival earlier this year.

Her latest appearance in New York has again been featured in the fashion bible Vogue, which recently featured a major photoshoot of Negga and her co-star, shot by renowned fashion photographer Mario Testino.

Rising star Negga has no trouble bringing an air of mystery and romance to her wardrobe, though, and was the picture of elegance at the premiere for her new film Loving in New York last night.

"Dressed in a glittering asymmetrical Rodarte look that was fashioned from honeycomb-like lace and tulle, the Ethiopian-Irish actress put a modern twist on the idea of the fail-safe little black dress, hailed Vogue.

The eagerly awaited film will come to Irish cinemas in February.
A MAN has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexually assaulting his former partner's two young daughters over a four year period.

When arraigned at Limerick Circuit Court, the 46-year-old, who has an address in Limerick city, admitted committing the offences at a house in a village in County Limerick on various dates between July 1, 2009 and February 28, 2013.

The man has pleaded guilty to ten sample charges of sexual assault  having initially appeared before the district court charged with 30.

The victims, who cannot be identified because of their age, were aged four and seven when the first of the offences took place.

During a brief hearing, the defendant also pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexually exploiting one of the girls at another house on the outskirts of the city on a date between September 30, 2009 and March 1, 2013.

John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, said the mans guilty pleas were acceptable to the State on the understanding that the full facts relating to all of the offences will be outlined during a sentencing hearing early next year.

After noting the defendants guilty pleas, Judge Tom ODonnell ordered that his name be placed on the register of sexual offenders.

The sentence he imposes will determine how long his name will remain on the register. The judge granted a request for a court-sanctioned psychological assessment of the defendant and the matter was adjourned to December when a sentencing date will be set.

The man was remanded on continuing bail pending his next court appearance.

As a condition of that bail, he must live at his home address and sign on daily at his local garda station.
LIMERICK City and County Council management are proposing to increase commercial rates by 5%, the Limerick Leader has learnt.

According to the local authoritys book of estimates which will be presented this Monday, it is understood council boss Conn Murray will seek approval to hike the rate, a multiplier charge paid by business owners based on the value of their property.

The news will come as a blow to business owners, who had to endure a 2% increase after last years budget was agreed.

Last year, Mr Murray proposed a 4.5% rise, with councillors reducing it down to 2.3% after two days of negotiation.

There was some solace for businesses with a rebate scheme of 4% for small and medium sized enterprises paying rates of up to 20,000.

It remains to be seen how councillors approach the issue of charges for business, with many mindful of a potential negative impact on the centre of a rise.

Members already voted to increase the Local Property Tax this year, a move which will net the council up to 1.5m. Elsewhere, the Leader understands that around 1m will be allocated to housing.

Of that sum, 200,000 will be dedicated to Traveller accommodation, while a survey is planned of houses between 30 and 40 years old to establish what needs to be done.

An extra 500,000 is being put in place for the maintenance of local and regional roads and traffic management systems.

Some 250,000 is being proposed for street cleaning  including the litter warden service.

And 150,000 is proposed for the maintenance of parklands.

Councillors will be briefed on the budget this Monday, and will meet again five days later to decide the comprehensive plan for 2017. Agreeing a budget is one of the roles for which the councillors ultimately have the final say.
FRIDAYS planned industrial action by gardai has been called off following last minute talks.

The two unions  The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI)  both attended Labour Court hearings late on Thursday, where they received recommendations to take back to members, leading them to defer the action.

The AGSI first indicated it was calling off the planned action, followed late this Thursday night by the AGSI, meaning the strike will not go ahead as planned this Friday.

Over 550 gardai in Limerick had been due to strike in what would have been an unprecedented action.

Both unions had earlier attended the Labour Court, where recommendations were made, which resulted in the unions agreeing to discuss them with members.

The GRA received its recommendation from the Labour Court after 9pm, meeting afterward to consider the pay deal. It has said it needs to look over the detail, but that it was an improvement on other offers.

The AGSI had earlier said a "fundamental and historic wrong has been put right as a direct result of the sustained four year AGSI campaign to gain access to the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court".

Proposals aimed at averting the strike had been rejected in previous days, with Commissioner Noirin OSullivan then writing to all garda members directing them to report for duty on Friday, directing that all leave and rest days were cancelled.

The industrial action would have seen gardai not report for duty on each of the Fridays in November (4, 11, 18 and 25th) following the rejection of pay proposals.
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A CRIMINAL figure is set to appeal his conviction for threatening to kill a Limerick-based detective as he does not accept the verdict of the jury, his lawyers have said.

Darren OHalloran, aged 31, who has an address Aurea Cottage at Dublin Road was convicted, last month, following a three-day trial at Limerick Circuit Court.

He had denied threatening to kill Detective Garda Pat Whelan in a phone call to Henry Street garda station on April 2, 2015.

He also denied threatening to cause damage to the detectives home, which is located outside of Limerick.

Detective Garda Whelan told the trial he was on duty at around 2pm when a phone call was received in the crime office at Henry Street garda station.

He said the caller identified himself as Darren Joey and that he immediately recognised the person on the phone as the accused man.

Im very familiar with this man, Ive spoken to him many times, he said adding he was absolutely 100% it was Darren OHalloran.

The detective told John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, that during the subsequent conversation Mr OHalloran suggested that he and his brother, Aaron, would do no more crime if gardai backed off.

The jury was told Aaron OHalloran was the subject of a High Court arrest warrant at the time and that gardai in several parts of the country were actively trying to locate him.

Detective Garda Whelan said when he indicated to the caller that gardai would not be backing down, the defendant became aggressive on the phone and threatened to finish him saying: Go get your V6 Mondeo, Ill ram you off the road at 160 miles an hour.

The jury was told the caller then described seeing the detective on a white horse at a named location outside Limerick some time earlier and that he also made reference to the location and colour of his home which he threatened to burn to the ground.

The witness confirmed he drives a Ford Mondeo car and he said he was concerned at the remarkable accuracy and detail of the comments which had been made.

The first thing I did was to take steps straight away to secure my home, he told the jury.

When interviewed the following, day the defendant told gardai he was shoeing a horse around the time the threats were allegedly made.

During a sentencing hearing, Insp Padraig Byrnes said OHalloran, who has 70 previous convictions, had effectively thrown down the gauntlet to gardai to back off and he confirmed patrols were put in place around his colleagues home as a result of the threats.

Anthony Sammon SC said he was not in a position to put forward expressions of regret or remorse as the father-of-four intends appealing the conviction.

Imposing sentence, Judge Tom ODonnell said the defendants criminal history was an aggravating factor, as was the fact he was on bail at the time.

While accepting the threats were made spontaneously and were not premeditated, he said the level of personal details was a concern.

He imposed a four year prison sentence, which is to be served consecutively to a three year sentence which was imposed last December for a separate robbery offence.
May 2, 2021, 3 PM

The entrance to the American Philatelic Center (left) leads to the American Philatelic Society headquarters and the newly renovated American Philatelic Research Library, one of the largest philatelic libraries in the world. The philatelic center is locate

APS and library board members and officers mingle with visitors and guests following the ceremony opening the library. The featured speakers included representatives from local and federal government, community groups, the United States Postal Service, an

APS Chief Operating Officer Ken Martin (left), who was deeply involved in the societys move from State College to Bellefonte, is all smiles following the Saturday ribbon-cutting. Former APS Executive Director Robert E. Lamb (right) spoke during the event

American Philatelic Society Executive Director Scott English, standing at the podium, served as master of ceremonies for the library opening. APS President Mick Zais and APRL board of trustees President Roger Brody used oversized scissors to cut through t

The American Philatelic Research Librarys extensive open shelving is on two floors, with a central staircase and a side elevator.

David Beech, the former head of philatelic collections for the British Library, was the featured speaker Oct. 28 during a celebration dinner at the American Philatelic Center.

Librarian Tara Murray, the director of information services for the APRL, in her office at the new location. Murray joined the library in 2010.

A plaque inside the library entrance commemorates the 2016 dedication of the facility. Though the library had been operating in its new location for several weeks, the doors officially opened to the public with ceremonies during the weekend of Oct. 29.

Study carrels in the upper level of the library provide a quiet area for research and study. The windows look out over Talleyrand Park, which adjoins the American Philatelic Center property.

Work areas for library visitors are positioned in several places around the facility, with easy access to the book and periodical stacks, and reference desks. The library also has computers with scanning capability for patrons use.

By Michael Baadke

The American Philatelic Research Library is a resource like no other for stamp collectors and postal historians

That spectacular facility  one of the largest philatelic libraries in the world recently moved from temporary quarters to its handsome new home within the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pa., the reconverted former match factory that also houses the headquarters of the American Philatelic Society.

The library opened officially on Oct. 29 with a celebratory dinner the night before and a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday morning.

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The events alone drew a few hundred visitors and dignitaries to the site, including David Beech, the former curator and head of philatelic collections at the British Library, and Ambassador Robert E. Lamb, who served as executive director of the APS during its headquarters move from State College, Pa., to its present home in Bellefonte, a transition that had its start in 2002.

Beech was the featured speaker at the Friday night dinner, addressing the subject of the digitization of library materials. He also reminisced about visiting the match factory complex with Lamb in 2001, when the property was in its most dismal state.

The very place where the library now exists and is opened, we could see it had all of the possibilities, all of the majesty, all of that space then in its primitive state, Beech said to the crowd.

Im absolutely delighted to be back here to congratulate you all on transforming that space from a mess, but a mess of possibilities, into a great philatelic library space. So I congratulate you all, APRL trustees, both current and past, the American Philatelic Society, the librarians across the years and current librarian Tara [Murray], and colleagues, helpers, volunteers, sponsors, and all who have contributed across the years.

The two-story library contains more than 23,000 book titles and 5,700 journal titles, now safely settled in a quiet and comfortable environment that includes brick structural elements of the carefully restored old factory mingling with the advanced research tools of the 21st century.

Researchers are welcome to visit and take advantage of the comfortable study desks, many with views of the natural beauty of Bellefontes delightful Talleyrand Park.

A scanning center makes it possible to copy and story information digitally, while books and periodicals extending from the 19th century to the newest releases are neatly stored for easy access.

Additional items are kept in closed stacks, but library staff are available to help locate these materials when needed. The library holdings can be searched online with public access computers on either floor, or visitors own devices.

The library fills 19,000 square feet in the American Philatelic Center, part of the former match factory complex in central Pennsylvania. The factory thrived during the first half of the 20th century, closing in 1947 as cigarette lighters and book matches diminished the need for the wooden matches manufactured there.

The structure was vacant and in disrepair when it was purchased by the library in 2002.

After several years of renovation, the American Philatelic Center covers approximately 100,000 square feet and includes rental space for 11 business tenants.

The new library uses 19,000 square feet of space for shelving the worlds largest collection of philatelic literature.

Open stacks beneath faux copper ceilings on two sides of the room hold the librarys books, government documents, exhibits, and show programs, the APRL noted in its announcement of the library opening.

At the back of the main floor, theres a cozy reading lounge, conference table for group study, and a childrens area, all with large windows. The loft-style second floor is reached by a wide center staircase or a side elevator. The open stacks house the librarys journals and airmail collections. The second floor includes two more reading lounges and a carrel room with storage lockers for visiting researchers. Windows overlook Talleyrand Park.

The facility also includes a shop on the main floor offering used and new books, gifts, and souvenirs.

The library is open to the public, though only APS members have borrowing privileges.

Our world-class collections and services now have a world-class home, said APRL Librarian Tara Murray. I cant wait to show it to our supporters and members.

For more information about the library, visit online, or write to American Philatelic Research Library, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823.
Nov 4, 2016, 3 PM

This 3-bolivar violet stamp portraying Venezuelan independence leader Antonio Jose de Sucre is one of the newly listed postal fiscal stamps in the 2017 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940.

By Donna Houseman

A shortage of stamps for postal use in Venezuela in the 1800s resulted in an official decree authorizing the use of revenue stamps for inland postal use.

We announce this week the publication and availability of the 2017 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940.

Among the almost 700 new number changes and additions in the latest edition of the Scott Classic Specialized catalog is a new section for postal fiscal stamps that has been added to the Venezuela listings.

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Postal fiscal stamps might cause collectors to scratch their heads and ask whether these stamps are postage stamps or revenue stamps. The answer is that they are revenue stamps used for finanacial purposes to collect taxes or for registration, but they also are authorized for postal use.

Linns columnist Janet Klug described similar stamps for New Zealand in her Stamps Down Under column in February.

Lets get fiscal with stamps doing double duty: postage and revenue: There are stamps that carry the mail, stamps that pay taxes and fees, and stamps that do both.

Postal fiscal stamps of Venezuela are complicated. For example, listed among the definitive (regular-issue) stamps are Scott 22-36. As the footnote for this set states, These stamps were made available for postage and revenue by official degree, and were the only stamps sold for postage in Venezuela from Mar. 1871 to Aug. 1873.

Again in 1879, the post offices supply of postage stamps was depleted, and stamps inscribed Escuelas (Scott 49-57) were used as both postage stamps for internal postage and as revenue stamps. Later issues inscribed Escuelas or Instruccion were similarly used.

An editors note in the Scott catalog explains, After July 1, 1895, stamps inscribed Escuelas or Instruccion were no longer used interchangeably as postage or revenue stamps, although they continued to be used provisionally when regular postal stocks were depleted. So the confusion continues.

In 1900, the Simon Bolivar stamps of 1899 (Scott 142-148) were overprinted for regular postage (Scott 150-155) and for fiscal, or revenue, use, and this is where the new listings for postal fiscal stamps begin in the 2017 Scott Classic Specialized catalog as Nos. AR1-AR26. The stamps bear the same overprints as the regular-issue stamps, Nos. 150-155 and 156-160, but the stamps that the overprints were applied to are Nos. 128-135, which were inscribed INSTRUCCION. The stamps used for the regular-issue overprints are Nos. 142-149, which are inscribed CORREOS DE VENEZUELA.

Beginning with the 1904 issue, Venezuelas postal fiscal stamps feature inscriptions that read INSTRUCCION or TIMBRE FISCAL.

The regular issues and postal fiscals of classic Venezuela offer many collecting opportunities. Collectors are cautioned that Scott catalog values for revenue stamps of the 1800s used as postage are for stamps with pen cancels. Be aware that stamps with pen cancels removed are sometimes offered as unused stamps. Fraudulent postal cancels also are known to exist.
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Updated on Nov. 7 at 9:12 a.m. ET.

The partial skeleton of a castaway found in the 1940s on the Pacific island Nikumaroro shows some similarities to Amelia Earhart, scientists say.

Though extensive searches have failed to turn up the bones, scientists have found a record of the bones' measurements taken by a British doctor in 1941, they said. And those measurements match up with Earhart's build, according to Richard Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which launched a project to piece together Earhart's disappearance in 1988.

"The match does not, of course, prove that the castaway was Amelia Earhart, but it is a significant new data point that tips the scales further in that direction," TIGHAR representatives said in a statement.

However, forensic anthropologist Ann Ross, who is not involved with the TIGHAR study, said the methodology used by TIGHAR is not reliable. What's more, Ross, who is director of the Forensic Sciences Institute at N.C. State University, questions the doctor's notes due to some of the language in the writing. [In Photos: Searching for Aviator Amelia Earhart]

Earhart's disappearance

The mystery of Earhart began in 1937, when she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, set off from Oakland, California, on their westbound attempt to circumnavigate the world. After a leg of the trip, her plane crashed on takeoff on a runway at Luke Field in Honolulu, on March 20 of that year, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. On June 1, after her airplane, the Electra, was repaired, the pair took off from Oakland, California, in an eastbound attempt to fly around the world via Miami, according to the museum. On June 29, they arrived in Papua New Guinea, only to depart again on July 2, headed for the uninhabited Howland Island, located just north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the Itasca, received voice transmissions from Earhart during that leg of the trip, saying, "We are on the line of position 156-137. Will repeat message. We will repeat this message on 6210 kilocycles. Wait. Listening on 6210 kilocycles. We are running north and south," according to the museum.

An astronaut image of Nikumaroro Island (once called Gardner Island) taken during the space shuttle's STS-41-B mission. Some scientists think Amelia Earhart may have crashed on the island's reef on her ill-fated flight to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. (Image credit: NASA)

Their flight should have lasted about 19 hours, but the plane never arrived at Howland, leaving Earhart's disappearance as one of history's biggest mysteries.

Since 1988, Gillespie has led TIGHAR researchers on 11 expeditions in an effort to piece together what Gillespie calls a "jigsaw puzzle" of clues to reveal the true story of what happened to Earhart. [10 Mysterious Deaths and Disappearances That Still Puzzle Historians]

They have been looking into the possibility that Earhart and Noonan might have made an emergency landing on Nikumaroro (now called Gardner Island), in the Republic of Kiribati, where they may have subsequently perished. (Earhart's plane has also remained missing, though in 2014, TIGHAR researchers found an "anomaly" on the seafloor off Nikumaroro that they said needed closer examination.)

Bone measurements

In the late 1990s, World War II historian Peter McQuarrie stumbled upon a file in the national archives in Kiribati titled "Discovery of Human Remains on Gardner Island," according to a TIGHAR report. The file contained correspondences between the British administrator of Nikumaroro and British officials from 1940 and 1941.

The documents note that a partial human skeleton, badly damaged by coconut crabs, had been discovered on the island in 1940, alongside the remains of birds, a turtle and a campfire. Artifacts found with the bones included the sole of a shoe thought to belong to a woman, a Benedictine liquor bottle and a box that held a nautical navigational device called a sextant. The box would have contained the same type of sextant that Noonan is said to have used as a backup navigational device, Gillespie told Live Science.

The documents also included the report by Dr. D. W. Hoodless, who examined the bones in Suva, Fiji, and declared that they belonged to a European male who was about 5 feet 6 inches, which would have been much shorter than Earhart, who stood 5 feet 9 inches, according to an NPR report from 1998.

In 1998, around the time the documents were found, forensic anthropologists Karen Burns and Richard Jantz suggested that "the morphology of the recovered bones, insofar as we can tell by applying contemporary forensic methods to measurements taken at the time, appears consistent with a female of Earhart's height and ethnic origin," according to the TIGHAR statement.

Now, a new analysis of the records and measurements using a photograph of Earhart suggest arm-bone similarities with the aviator.

Jeff Glickman, a forensic examiner who founded a forensic image-processing lab called Photek, looked specifically at the ratio of the radius (lower arm bone) to the humerus (upper arm bone). The document put the castaway's humerus at 32.4 centimeters (12.8 inches) long and the radius at 24.5 cm (9.6 inches). The resulting radius-to-humerus ratio would be 0.756 (or a so-called brachial index of 75.6).

That number was larger than would be statistically expected for an average woman born in the late 19th century, according to TIGHAR. Another possibility was that the castaway was a woman who had unusually long forearms for the time period. Jantz wondered if Earhart did have similarly longer-than-average forearms.

To find out, Glickman and Jantz found a bare-armed photograph of Earhart and then identified the correct points on the shoulder, elbow and wrist to give them the most accurate locations of the ends of her humerus and radius. The results suggest that Earhart's radius-to-humerus ratio would have been 0.76  a match with that of the castaway.

About 20 percent of American women might have had arms fitting that ratio, Jantz said. "So it would be uncommon, but not rare, for an American woman to have a brachial index of 75.6, what we found for the bones," Jantz told Live Science in an email. "Calculating the probability that it might be AE [Amelia Earhart] is a more difficult question, and would depend on what other possibilities have to be considered. All I would say at the moment is that it strengthens the circumstantial case."

Bone methods

But Ross said she sees several problems with the methods used to come up with the arm-bone ratio, as well as with the doctor's notes.

The lengths of the arm bones were more in line with the typical measurements for a male, Ross said. However, TIGHAR researchers said another possibility is that the bones could belong to a long-armed female like Earhart. "Amelia Earhart's height, 68 [inches] according to her pilot's license, or 67 [inches] according to Jeff Glickman's reconstruction, is also more typical of a male than a female," Jantz said. "So bone lengths more typical of a male are exactly what we would expect to see if the bones are actually those of Amelia Earhart."

The problem, Ross said, is that it's tricky, at best, to figure out arm-bone measurements solely by examining a photograph, even a photo of someone bare-armed. Indeed, Ross noted that if the researcher is off by even a tiny margin when determining certain points on the body, such as the shoulder socket, the entire result can be wrong. Glickman noted this was one of the study's limitations.

Part of the castaway's pubic bone was also found, according to the doctor's notes.

"We only know what the doctor said he did," Jantz said. "He used three criteria for sex, two of which are unreliable. The third (subpubic angle) is fairly reliable but not foolproof. Since the doctor was not an experienced forensic anthropologist, and we do not know what weight he assigned to the three criteria, there seems no reason to trust his sex estimate."

In addition, a review of TIGHAR's 1998 analysis also points to the bones belonging to a male. "Without access to the missing original bones, it is impossible to be definitive, but on balance, the most robust scientific analysis and conclusions are those of the original British finding indicating that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to a robust, middle-aged man, not Amelia Earhart," Pamela Cross, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford in the U.K., and Richard Wright, an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Sydney, wrote in September 2015 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Furthermore, the doctor's notes show some inconsistencies with the time period, Ross said.

In the handwritten notes, attributed to Hoodless, it says, "It could be that of a short, stocky, muscular European, or even a halfcaste, or a person of mixed European descent." Ross mentioned that anthropologists and others didn't refer to anyone in this language in 1941, and instead they would have said the bones belonged to a "Caucasoid, Negroid or Mongoloid," she told Live Science.

Jantz strongly disagrees with this interpretation. "As to the racial terms, Dr. Hoodless was not an anthropologist, so he may not even have been aware of them. He was a physician working in Fiji," Jantz told Live Science. "Dr. Hoodless, to his credit, did not try to force the bones into one of these three major categories, but used ordinary English to describe who he thought they could belong to."

Island remains

If the bones and doctor's notes are verified, whomever the bones belonged to does seem to have survived for some time on the island, Gillespie said, based on other artifacts found on the island. "She doesn't know where she is, and she has to survive the best she can. Looks like she did manage to survive  to catch rainwater and boil it for drinking water," Gillespie told Live Science in an interview, adding that this castaway also probably caught little fish and birds.

Gillespie thinks the evidence points strongly to the bones belonging to Earhart. For one, "Castaways are really rare in the Pacific, and female castaways even more so," he said. "This castaway had things with her that date from the early to mid-1930s, and we have good records."

For now, however, the celebrity aviator's last journey will remain a mystery.

Editor's Note: This article was updated to include comments from Richard Jantz on some of the claims made by Ann Ross; an error was also corrected  the article suggested Dr. Hoodless measured the subpubic bone and said it was male, though in reality there were no such measurements, and Dr. Hoodless likely used a visual analysis of the bone along with other variables in his conclusions.

Original article on Live Science.
The front and back of the 26-million-year-old shark tooth that helped paleontologists identify a new species. Notice the chip on the main tall cusp.

About 36 million years ago, a shark the length of two upright pianos chipped and lost its three-pronged tooth, possibly while crunching on a bony fish, a new study finds.

Based on that tooth, paleontologists have been able to name a previously unknown ancient species of megamouth shark, one that's related to the modern but rarely seen megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, the researchers said.

The newfound species, called Megachasma alisonae, is the oldest megamouth shark on record, and pushes back the existence of megamouth sharks by 13 million years, said the study's lead researcher Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiologist at DePaul University in Chicago. [In Photos: Seeing Sharks Up Close]

The distinct shape of the ancient tooth  which looks like a pitchfork with a prominent middle point and two side cusps  indicates that M. alisonae ate small fish, likely "by impaling them on the taller centrally placed crown," said study co-author David Ward, a retired research associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum in London, in the United Kingdom.

"It has been speculated that [the two side cusps] help shred the fish when the shark thrashes its head around, allowing the fish to be freed from the teeth and swallowed," Ward added.

The shape of the tooth suggests that M. alisonae had a different diet than the modern M. pelagios, a so-called filter feeder that gulps in water and feeds on plankton as it swims, and has teeth with one large main cusp and two tiny side cusps, Shimada said.

Single tooth

Ward and his colleagues discovered the tooth in 1988 after sieving through about 3,530 lbs. (1,600 kilograms) of sediment from the banks of eastern Denmark, along the North Sea. They found multiple shark teeth, but one stuck out.

"Most of the teeth that we got in the sample had shapes that were very similar to modern sharks and rays," Ward told Live Science. "This particular thing didn't fit into any of those categories."

Researchers found the shark tooth in a coastal area in Denmark. The newly identified species is named after Allison Ward (right). (Image credit: David Ward)

Ward never formally published a study on the tooth, but he connected with Shimada at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in 2015. Just the year before, Shimada and his colleagues had published a study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology identifying the newfound but extinct megamouth shark Megachasma applegatei, which lived about 23 million years ago.

If there was evidence of an earlier megamouth shark, he wanted to see it, Shimada said.

The two scientists began working together, and wrote a study describing the ancient tooth from Denmark. A reviewer, however, encouraged them to declare that the tooth belonged to a newfound species, and so they named it after Ward's wife, Alison, who helped find the specimen.

Ward worried that this honor might be taken the wrong way, so in the acknowledgements he wrote, "We should also clarify that Alison Ward, after whom the new species is named, has no bearing to the etymology of the genus name Megachasma ('big mouth')." [7 Unanswered Questions About Sharks]

Megamouth history

A newly identified ancient creature was related to the megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios (shown here). But unlike the modern shark, it had slightly longer, pointier teeth. (Image credit: NOAA)

The tooth of M. alisonae is small  just 0.15 inches tall by 0.17 inches wide (4 by 4.5 millimeters)  but it helped Shimada and Ward piece together clues about the shark. For instance, a toothy analysis revealed that the shark likely measured between 4.2 feet and 11.5 feet (1.3 and 3.5 meters) long, Shimada said.

Moreover, small chips in the tooth's enamel (called enameloid in sharks) on the main cusp, as well as the two side cups, suggests that M. alisonae ate large zooplankton and small fish with hard skeletal elements, Ward said.

The dental specimen's location also suggests that megamouth sharks may have originated near Europe, possibly in the North Sea or the Arctic Ocean, the researchers said.

However, it's unclear whether M. alisonae had the same behavior as the modern M. pelagios, which spends the daytime in waters at least 540 feet (165 m) deep, and then migrates up to shallow waters at night, following the plankton, Shimada said. Still, the location of the tooth suggests the ancient shark lived in relatively deep, open marine waters, the researchers said in the study.

In addition, M. alisonae was smaller than M. pelagios, which at 18 feet (5.5 m) is about the length of almost four upright pianos. The modern shark is also thought to have blue bioluminescent lips, which it likely uses to lure prey toward its mouth, Ward said.

A pre-print version of the study is available in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. The research was also presented on Oct. 27 at the 2016 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Salt Lake City.

Original article on Live Science.
Final price could be adjusted depending on Nor Lines' financial report for 2016

Iceland-basd Eimskip has inked a deal to purchase Norway's Nor Lines for 15m ($16.7m) in cash.

The final price however could be adjusted depending on Nor Line's financial report for 2016, Eimskip said.

Eimskip is looking to expand its operations in Norway with this acquisition and offer clients a wider range of services in the country.

Nor Lines has an estimated turnover of 110m and has 200 employees.

Eimskip intends to restructure the business operations of Nor Lines to improve its service offerings and financial standing.

Nor Lines has a fleet of seven cargo ships plying three different trade routes to and from Norway. Eimskip will take over five of the vessels, one owned and four chartered, to ramp up the combined service network between Norway, continental Europe and the Baltic Sea.

Eimskip will buy the aforementioned owned reefer vessel, 2006-built Nordkinn, for 8m.

The Norway-based firm also has a network of 60 land terminals along the coast to link trucking and sea operations.

Of the terminals, Nor Lines operates 14 of them, with agents handling the remainder. As a provider of warehousing operations and freight forwarding, Nor Lines' service network comprises 450 trucks handling 50 direct lines between the 14 terminals.

"Subject to the approval of the Norwegian Competition Authority it is anticipated that the transactions will close during the first quarter 2017," Eimskip said.

In October, the company acquired a 90% stake in Dutch firm Extraco Internationale Expeditie to boost its foothold in reefer logistics in the Netherlands.

The company said that it was the first in a series acquisitions it intends to make in its key markets in the months ahead to diversify the freight-forwarding business in the Netherlands.

First published on www.lloydslist.com
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The Irish Pilgrimage Trust is an organisation which takes young people with special needs on pilgrimage to Lourdes at Easter each year.

The pilgrimage is designed specifically with young people in mind and the liturgies during the week are adapted to appeal to the young people selected to travel.

The large contingent who travel are divided into small groups and all Carers travel as volunteers paying for themselves and fundraising to cover the cost of the young people.

Next Easter Group 108 will travel to Lourdes bringing 12 young people from Longford and Westmeath. It is a very special week and a wonderful experience for the young people from the region who travel.

Next weekend, November 5 and 6 the annual church gate collections for The Irish Pilgrimage Trust will be held in Co Longford to help cover the costs of those selected to travel.

Any donation which you can make will be very much appreciated.

Please support this very worthy cause.
Community groups across Longford have been given a much needed shot in the arm after the Government finally gave the green light to over 7.5m in Leader funding.

Minister for Rural Affairs Heather Humphreys' department formally approved the county's local development strategy last week.

The announcement brings an end to a near 18-month wait for funding approval to be given.

It also comes a week after the Leader carried an article which suggested a decision was close to being made.

Chairperson of Local Community Development Committee (LCDC), Cllr Colm Murray said the target was now focused on ensuring local groups benefited from the programme.

It's excellent news, he maintained.

There can be an awful lot of jumping through hoops and getting through red tape when it comes to EU funding of this sort.

A target date of January has been informally pencilled in as to when the first strands of Longford's 7.6m Leader fund will be rolled out.

Ahead of that, a funding agreement is expected to be signed between both the LCDC and Longford Community Resources (LCRL) before being returned to Ms Humphreys' desk for formal ratification.

There are still a few things to put in place but the good news is we have an awful lot of the heavy lifting now.

The target now is to put in place a robust process whereby groups can make their application, have their evalutaions made and have the relevant funding paid out in a timely and efficient manner.

Cllr Murray advised any groups that may be interested in tapping into the Leader fund, to make contact with LCRL as soon as possible.
Local News, Health & Wellness, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: November 04 2016

A.G. Schneiderman announced an agreement with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to extend a price cut for naloxone, a drug that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose.

New York, NY - November 3, 2016 - Attorney General Schneiderman announced today an agreement with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to extend a price cut for naloxone, a highly effective antidote that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose, for all agencies in New York State through January 2018. The deal comes as new data show that the price cut first negotiated by the A.G.s office last year has made it possible for more than 200 agencies across the state to obtain a total of 278,000 discounted syringes of naloxone, saving $1.6 million in costs since February 2015.

The agreement stipulates that Amphastar will cover a $6 rebate per dose, which will also automatically increase, dollar-for-dollar, to match future growth in the wholesale price. As part of the agreement, this rebate is available to all public entities, including but not limited to the State Department of Health, the City of New York, the governments of individual New York Counties, and the drug treatment centers and harm reduction programs they fund. The data released today on the cost savings and number of discounted syringes dispensed as part of this program refer to the period from February 2015 to July 2016 (see table below). Overall, the deal reduces the price of naloxone by nearly 20 percent.

We need every tool at our disposal to respond to the opioid addiction crisis, and that includes making sure that live-saving medication like naloxone is available to first responders who are on the front lines to treat victims of overdose, said Attorney General Schneiderman. The price cut negotiated by my office has made this antidote more affordable for hundreds of communities across the state, and we will continue to look for ways to empower communities in New York to respond to this crisis.

In the past year, a number of states across the country, including Ohio, Delaware, and Rhode Island, have reached deals with Amphastar patterned off the price cut that A.G. Schneiderman initially negotiated in 2015.

Naloxone has saved thousands of lives and needs to be in the hands of as many New Yorkers as possible, said Jeremy Saunders, co-executive director of VOCAL-NY. We appreciate Attorney General Schneiderman's continuing efforts to negotiate reduced prices, especially as overdose deaths are on the rise. Ultimately, price should never be a barrier to saving a life - we look forward to working together to ensure that Naloxone is always affordable for those who need it most.

The Attorney Generals office has adopted a comprehensive approach to addressing the opioid addiction crisis in New York State.

Last month, A.G. Schneiderman announced a national settlement with the global health insurer Cigna to end its policy of requiring prior authorization for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder, removing a significant barrier for those suffering from opioid addiction to access treatment.

In September, A.G. Schneiderman joined law enforcement authorities from across the country to announce the indictment of 25 people for their role in an alleged national heroin smuggling ring and the seizure of more than 33 kilos of heroin  one of the largest seizures ever in New York. In October, A.G. Schneiderman and the New York State Police announced the seizure of more than 20 kilos of heroin and cocaine and the indictment of 14 people as part of an alleged narcotics trafficking kingpin.

In June of 2011, Attorney General Schneiderman introduced state legislation for I-STOP, an online Prescription Monitoring Program or a PMP, that enables doctors and pharmacists to report and track controlled narcotics in real time. I-STOP became effective in August of 2013, making New York State one of the first states to establish such a PMP, and has reduced doctor-shopping by 75 percent.

The Attorney Generals office has also aggressively enforced laws that require parity in health plan coverage of mental health and addiction treatment, reaching agreements with six companies, including Cigna, MVP Healthcare, EmblemHealth, Excellus, Beacon Health Options, and HealthNow.

The Attorney Generals office has prosecuted many health care providers who illegally prescribed and diverted opioids. A.G. Schneiderman has also reached agreements with Purdue Pharma and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., to ensure that these opioid makers engage in responsible and legal marketing.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has contacts with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte in the issue of ratification of the Ukrainian-EU Association Agreement, Chief Spokesperson of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas has said.

The goal is to ratify the Agreement in 28 EU member states, he said. It is an especially important agreement for the EU, Ukraine and not only for them, he said at a briefing in Brussels on Thursday.

He said that Juncker is ready to work with Rutte and Dutch political parties to find a solution to prepare the issue by the December meeting of the Council of the European Union. Schinas also welcomed efforts of the Dutch government to look for the solution to ratify the Agreement.
Local News, Crime, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: November 04 2016

James Burke, the former Chief of Department for the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), was sentenced to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Central Islip, NY - November 2, 2016 - Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, James Burke, the former Chief of Department for the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), was sentenced to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release by United States District Judge Leonard D. Wexler. Previously, on February 26, 2016, Burke pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The civil rights violation related to Burkes assault of a Smithtown man who had been arrested for breaking into Burkes SCPD-issued vehicle and stealing his property on December 14, 2012. Following that assault, over almost three years, Burke and other Suffolk County law enforcement authorities took actions to obstruct the federal civil rights investigation into the assault. Burke was arrested and arraigned on December 9, 2015, and he has been in federal custody since that date.

The sentence was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI).

During his tenure as the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Suffolk County Police Department, James Burke considered himself untouchable. He abused his authority by brazenly assaulting a handcuffed prisoner, he pressured subordinates to lie to cover up his criminal acts, and he attempted to thwart the civil rights investigation into his conduct, stated United States Attorney Capers. With todays sentence, Burke learned that no one is above the law and that the consequences for such egregious behavior are severe.

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney stated, Burkes abuse of power and efforts to obstruct justice not only threatened to undermine the integrity of a federal investigation, but also the reputation of all the Suffolk County police officers who value the laws they are sworn to uphold. As evidenced by todays sentence, Burke, and others, are reminded that this type of behavior wont go unpunished.

On December 14, 2012, New York State Probation Department and SCPD officers arrested probationer Christopher Loeb at his mothers home in Smithtown, New York, for a variety of probation violations. During the arrest and search of the Loeb residence, officers discovered a cache of merchandise stolen from over a dozen vehicles, including an SCPD-issued SUV operated by Burke. Among the items taken from Burkes SUV were his gun belt, several magazines of ammunition, a box of cigars, a humidor, and a canvas bag that contained toiletries, clothing, and other items.

Burke was permitted to enter the Loeb residence and retrieve the canvas bag and several other articles, even as the search was underway. He then drove to the SCPDs Fourth Precinct in Smithtown where detectives had begun interrogating Loeb. Burke entered the interrogation room where Loeb was handcuffed and chained to an eyebolt fastened to the floor. Burke then punched and kicked Loeb in the head and body.

Subsequently, Burke and others pressured the detectives who witnessed the assault to conceal the event. Those efforts continued even after the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office opened an investigation of the assault in 2013. In one instance, Burke summoned detectives under his command to SCPD headquarters in Yaphank, New York, to persuade the detectives to agree to a false version of events that would conceal the assault. In October 2013, one of those detectives testified falsely under oath in a state pretrial hearing in the Loeb prosecution, denying that Loeb had been assaulted.

The governments case is being prosecuted by the Offices Long Island Criminal Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Lara Treinis Gatz and John J. Durham are in charge of the prosecution, assisted by EDNY Investigator William Hessle.

The Defendant:

James Burke

Age: 52

Smithtown, New York
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Columnists Press Releases
Vaccine producers not in hurry to bring vaccines to Ukraine due to fears of low demand

Vaccine producers are not in a hurry to bring them to Ukraine, having fears that the vaccines will be of low demand, acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun said in Kyiv on Thursday.

"Producers do not want to bring [flu vaccines] to Ukraine, as they are afraid that the vaccines will stay in pharmacies and no one will buy them. If producers and distributors see demand they will bring more to Ukraine," she said.

Suprun said that this season producers are ready to bring only 110,000 vaccines to Ukraine.

"Last year Ukraine used only 50,000 doses. We do not influence on the period when distributors and producers supply them and when they start the registration process. Private distributors and producers are responsible for supplies," she said.

Suprun said that flu vaccines are not bought under state-funded programs, and in some cases flu vaccines are bought by regions or cities.

She said that two flu vaccines were registered in Ukraine on October 12 and October 14. One of them has reached pharmacies, but in the restricted volume  5,000 doses. The batch has been bought out.

"The second vaccine is to pass the last inspection today or tomorrow and soon it will be on shelves," she said.

Suprun said that the Health Ministry is ready to appeal to vaccine producers to additionally supply flu vaccines.

She said that the State Expert Center, the State Service for Medicinal Products and Drugs Control and Health Ministry passed all required procedures for permitting sale of flu vaccines. A delay with the appearance of vaccines on the market is linked to activities of pharmaceutical companies.
Government approves draft agreement on joint freight transportation with Turkey

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement on joint freight transportation with the Turkish government.

According to government resolution No. 798 dated November 2, the government authorized Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan to sign the agreement.

The agreement would help to stir up and develop Ukrainian-Turkish interstate relations in the transport area.
Ukraine to hold WTO bilateral consultations with Russia on transit of goods on Nov

Bilateral consultations between Ukraine and Russia on transit of Ukrainian goods will be held on November 10 at a meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"We have WTO consultations retarding our initiated transit case on November 10," Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade  Ukraine's Trade Representative Natalia Mykolska said at the 16th International Economic Forum.

She said that Russia's position on transit of goods has not changed.

"The situation with our ferries has improved and goods started moving, according to the Infrastructure Ministry's information," she said.
Two weeks after the operation to liberate Mosul began, Iraqi security forces have reached the eastern outskirts of the city in Ninevah province with the help of US-led coalition airpower, as reported by journalists embedded with Iraqi forces. Meanwhile, Iraqi militias operating as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are advancing toward Tal Afar, 33 miles west of Mosul, from south of the city. The PMFs objective is to prevent the Islamic States escape to Syria.

The PMF claimed today that it severed the Islamic States route to its stronghold in Raqqa, according to the groups official Twitter account.

Hadi al Ameri, a PMF commander and head of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization, claimed to have captured the Mahalabia area (point 1 on map, below), which connects Tal Afar and Mosul. Ameri told Al Sumaria yesterday that this has been a primary access route for the Islamic State in Mosul, using it to enter the city in 2014 for operations in the area. Nevertheless, the group still controls the main highway to Tal Afar and the territory into Syria.

Ameri declared that that his forces will continue advancing north to capture the main highway between Mosul and Tal Afar, and then the town itself. PMF forces sources have also advanced into Maseed (2) and Ayn al Jahesh (3), clearing surrounding villages. The PMF announcements have been carried in state-affiliated Iranian media.

As soon as the PMF launched its operation for Tal Afar this past week, its spokesman declared the groups readiness to shift operations into Syria following the liberation of Mosul. A commander told the media on Nov. 2 that chasing the Islamic State into Syria was the PMFs right. The shift to Syria after Mosul has been planned for several months in coordination with Tehran. During a trip to Iran in September, Iranian-backed Harakat al Nujaba head Akram al-Kaabi spoke about the necessity of opening a front into the Islamic States territory into eastern Syria to defend Iraqs national security from further Islamic State incursions. About 5,000 Iraqi militiamen, most of whom belong to Harakat al Nujaba, are already in Aleppo fighting as part of an expeditionary force led by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria, according to militia leaders who spoke with The Wall Street Journal.

IRGC-backed Iraqi militias have been involved in Syria since 2012 primarily to preserve the government of Bashar al Assad. They were an effective fighting force there until most were recalled home in mid-2014 following the Islamic States incursion in Iraq. Driving that group from Mosul allowed them to once again redeploy to Syria. The PMF could use such lines of argument to push back against calls for dissolution, portray itself as a necessary security force post-Mosul, and argue that the original 2014 mandate to drive the Islamic State from Iraq is unfinished and needs guarantees to prevent the incursion of the Islamic State and successive groups.

The PMF is an umbrella organization of Shiite, Sunnis, Christian, and Yazidi militias formed following the fatwa of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in 2014 to drive the Islamic State from Iraq, is controlled and dominated by IRGC-backed proxies. In an effort to rein in these militias, Prime Minister Abadi has created a parallel military organization for the PMF as a security apparatus outside of the command structure. However, the PMF remains riddled with Iranian-supported militias, and its key leaders are beholden to IRGC-Qods Forces commander, Qassem Soleimani.

Approximately 15,000 Shiite militia fighters are participating in the battle for Mosul, according to the Hezbollah Brigade, though they have agreed to stay on its outskirts to avoid stoking sectarian tensions in the majority Sunni city, a spokesman told Al Jazeera. The IRGC-backed units include the Badr Organization, Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Hezbollah Brigades, Harakat al Nujaba, Imam Ali Brigades, Saraya Ashura, and Saraya Khorasani. Their presence has been reflected in photographs and announcements by the militias themselves. Senior PMF commander and Saraya Khorasani deputy Hamed Jazayeri told Irans IRGC-affiliated Tasnim that the Iraqi air force has launched strikes in areas ahead of the PMFs advance.

Three thousand Shiite Turkmen militiamen, who had lived in Tal Afar prior to its takeover by the Islamic State and have since been armed and trained by the PMF, will also participate in the fight to retake Tal Afar, according to an AAH spokesman. There are concerns, however, about the intentions of the returning Shiite Turkmen, who may want to exact retribution on Sunni Turkmen who they claim sympathize with the Islamic State, according to a senior Amnesty International official. Analysts have warned about the possibility of sectarian violence in Tal Afar.

Meanwhile, Turkey has been mobilizing tanks and artillery near the Turkish town of Silopi near the Iraqi border since Nov. 1, warning against PMF participation in Tal Afar and threatened to intervene if the PMF abused civilians. In response, Prime Minister Abadi cautioned Turkey that Iraqi forces do not want war with Turkey but would be ready if it happens. PMF commanders have also issued incendiary warnings against Turkish forces near Mosul for the past month. Turkeys posturing and statements have complicated the Mosul operation, increasing the risk that the situation can escalate into war.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan clearly wants to expand his influence his Iraq, as he has accelerated efforts to consolidate his control at home since the this summers failed coup detat. He has escalated the purging of his political opponents at home this past week, arresting pro-Kurdish party leaders and parliamentarians and shutting down social media access on Nov. 3, as reported in The Guardian.

Amir Toumaj is a independent analyst and contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.

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The deficit of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the finalized draft national budget for 2017 remained unchanged, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Rozenko has said.

"The amount of funds from the budget for the Pension Fund in the draft national budget for 2017, the government approved yesterday, remained unchanged at UAH 156 billion," he said at a press conference in Lviv.

Rozenko said the draft national budget for 2017 retains the rate of taxation for working pensioners, but the final decision will be made by Verkhovna Rada deputies.

In addition, he said the government has no plans to consider the issue of raising the retirement age next year.

"The government, as far as I know, holds a consolidated position - the retirement age won't be raised in 2017," he said.
Culture / Art Republik

Nov 05, 2016 | By Nadya Wang

A red-and-white cow stands in a bright yellow field with the suggestion of a green mountain under a cloudy azure blue sky far off in the horizon. The striking work, titled Pasture, stretching over four meters across, is one of two large-scale paper pulp paintings produced by Shinro Ohtake at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI) workshop during his residency in 2015. It is part of the Japanese artists solo exhibition, Paper  Sight, at the STPI Gallery until November 5, 2016.

Ohtake is probably best known for his assemblage works, though his artistic practice includes drawings, paintings, photography, music and video works. His Scrapbooks series, which he began in 1977 are collations of bits and pieces amassed from urban life and mass media in sculptural scrapbooks. Scrapbooks #1-66 were last seen all together at The Encyclopaedic Palace at the Venice Biennale in 2013.

Earlier in 2010, the artist had completed an architectural scrapbook of sorts with Naoshima Bath I, a fully functioning bathhouse with eclectic components put together, including Edo Period shunga erotic prints and a life-sized elephant sculpture. This was commissioned by Benesse Art Site Naoshima, on the island town that is considered mecca for contemporary art lovers. At his residency at the STPI Workshop, Ohtake continued his scrapbooking work with Book #1/Layered Memories, a 320-page sculptural scrapbook made up of 160 individual artworks filled with a colorful explosion of dizzying images and symbols weighing a hefty 130kg.

Ohtake was able to explore making paper art on an unprecedented scale with the help of the team and the equipment available at the STPI Workshop. I had been very curious about paper art for a long time and had studied it through books but did not know how to make it in reality, says Ohtake. The last time I had done anything related to printing, such as silkscreen printing and etchings, was back in art school many years ago.

For the first time, he used a ladle instead of a brush to create large-scale paper pulp paintings, including Pasture as well as Yellow Path 1. Tamae Iwasaki, senior education officer at STPI, explains the process. We begin by preparing a huge white paper base. We then prepare the colors by dying paper pulp, which is white, with different pigments of yellow, pink and so on, says Iwasaki. The paper pulp is quite physical, not like ink. Ohtake had to scoop up the dyed paper pulp to apply to the base.

Working at a brisk pace during his residency, Ohtake produced 140 works, both unique and editioned works, in just five weeks. What the artist enjoyed most was the speed at which his ideas could be realized, and he was eager to make the most of the unique situation. Usually, I make a plate, and I send it to the printers and I wait and they send back the print, so there is a kind of timeline, says Ohtake. But at STPI, there is no timeline. Here, I make a plate, and I can see the print the next morning. I think thats really exciting, and so it was easy to make many works.

The primarily fluorescent yellow works  even the frames are yellow  pack a visual punch as one walks through STPI Gallery. Works such as Yellow Sight 1, Square Landscape and Smell are the artists response to the March 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the strongest in Japans history that struck off Japans north-eastern shore, which triggered a tsunami that destroyed thousands of homes. These natural disasters caused damage to the reactors at Tokyo Power and Electric Companys Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing a third disaster, with radioactive materials leaking into the environment.

The color yellow is a reference to uranium, a radioactive metal, which is also called yellowcake, and the devastating impact that radioactive waste has had on the lives of the Japanese people. However, the artist does not belabor the link between uranium and yellow that motivated his use of the color in these works. Ohtake says, In this show, the yellow colour is connected to the radioactive problem we have in Japan. The fluorescent color is a radioactive color for me. Thats one reason for the works being yellow. The people can see what they would like to, of course. Sometimes dangerous things can be really beautiful too.

Following the devastating disasters, Ohtake felt at odds with the state of affairs, which led to works such as Light in the Forest 1 and Indigo Forest 10. These are composed of murky blue-greys that appear antithetical to the other works in the exhibition. The indigo forests are based on his memory of the forest he encountered in Kassel, Germany, when he was there to exhibit the work Mon Cheri: A Self-Portrait as a Scrapped Shed at Documenta 13 in 2012. It was an emotionally trying time for the artist. The forest works stem from my memory, and is not a particular place, but rather a forest in myself that I draw from my memory, says Ohtake. I think many Japanese artists lost their confidence after the accidents. It was at this time that I started to paint memory forests using oil paint, for no purpose really. So the memory forest, or the indigo forest, is really important to me.

Memories are key to the artists works. These can be personal memories, or the memories of others. A found object is a piece of memory belonging to someone. Finding it is an encounter with someones memory, says Ohtake. He recounts how he first had the idea to put together his scrapbooks. When I was 21, I was at a flea market in London and I met a guy selling matchboxes and a few books with matchboxes pasted in them. Im not sure if he had made these or if someone else had, Ohtake explains. When I went through these books and I looked through my own work, in which I had already been unwittingly gluing and pasting things, I found what I had to do. The serendipitous encounter was the beginning of the scrapbooks.

Some works at the exhibition, such as Black Wall, feature vinyl records collected in Singapore, which the artist considers vessels of memories as well. They are used as plates for printing and also as added components onto the final artwork. The vinyl record itself is also a memory of a sound in a past time, says Ohtake. Somebody recorded it. The common point is that we can neither see nor smell sound and radioactive matter, but they are there. The haunting works, with the vinyl records trapped in thick, pasty yellow seem to allude to the unspeakable consequences of the nuclear disaster that the artist has had to come to terms with.

The works in the exhibition, some in muted indigo and most others in shocking yellow, when viewed together, reveal the inner workings of the artists mind: at turns serene and conflicted. His oeuvre has displayed this duality for a long time. The artist says, I have been told this over 40 years. Much of my work, coming out, looks rather chaotic but I like simple spaces and things as well. People often ask me why I also make these rather minimalist works, and its impossible to explain. These opposites co-exist within me.

This article was published in Art Republik.
The position of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on the need for the financial sector reform is principal, according to an NBU press release, with reference to NBU Governor Valeriya Gontareva.

"The NBU's position as for the need to reform the financial sector is principal. We understand that not all support and approve it, but this is the sense of reforms - they are, by definition, cannot be easy and painless," Gontareva said at a meeting with the ex-head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), member of the supervisory council of Bank Credit Dnepr Dominique Strauss-Kahn in Kyiv.

According to her, in particular, due to the cleansing of the banking sector its transparency was increased, the level of lending to related persons was reduced, bank capitalization grew. However, Gontareva stressed, reforms need to be comprehensive, the economy without the drastic modernization of other areas cannot effectively function and develop.

"We see how it is difficult for our parliament to pass crucial and important financial bills or how courts operate, overturning central bank decisions on recognizing banks insolvent," she added.

According to Gontareva, without tough and effective anti-corruption measures at all levels and the elimination of political populism, the financial sector reform will not give that effect, which is expected by both Ukrainian citizens and the country's partners and donors abroad.
Germany will give Ukraine EUR 72 million in new aid for sustainable economic development, regional development, energy efficiency and internally displaced persons, Ukraine's Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister has said Maksym Nefyodov has said.

According to his statement on Facebook, Nefyodov signed relevant documents in Berlin on Friday on the results of two-day talks with the Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry of Germany.

The deputy minister specified that this aid will be also aimed at strengthening local government, support of the united territorial communities, assistance to small and medium-sized businesses and modernization of energy consumption.

Director of International Programs Coordination Department of Ukraine's Economy Ministry Olena Trehub, who participated in the talks, explained that at the moment the amount of funds provided by Germany as non-repayable assistance to Ukraine rose to EUR 325 million from EUR 20 million before the Revolution of Dignity.
Some 31 militant attacks on Ukrainian army positions were seen in Donbas over the past day, the army operation press service said on Facebook on Friday.

Activity was the highest in the Mariupol sector, where 17 shelling incidents occurred, it said.

"The hostiles were using small arms near Talakivka, and small arms, grenade launchers and machine guns were employed in Shyrokyne and Lybidinske. Shelling involving 82mm and 120mm mortars continued near Pavlopil, Vodiane and Krasnohorivka," the report said.

The Donetsk and Luhansk sectors saw seven attacks on Ukrainian army positions each.

Infantry combat vehicles attacked Luhanske, and mortars, grenade launchers, machineguns and small arms were fired in the vicinity of Avdiyivka in the Donetsk sector, the report said.

The militants fired small arms on Syze, 82mm mortars on Orikhove, and grenade launchers on the outskirts of Triokhizbenka, Stanytsia Luhanska, Novozvanivka and Novo-Oleksandrivka in the Luhansk sector, the press service said.
The Office of the President of the United States

Amidst the epic flood of political statements and media commentary that keeps on rolling in and on, theres something that doesnt seem to occur to most people, and it should. That is, the unfortunate but apparently inevitable discussion about all the unfortunate and/or illegal things that either candidate may or may not have done, must be seen in the light of the capacity in which -perceived- errors or even crimes are committed. It is essential to this issue.

What far too many people are far too eager to ignore is that everything Donald Trump may have done that may have been illegal or on the edge, he did as a private person, and most of what Hillary Clinton has done in that same category was as a representative of the American government and hence the American people. The demands and standards when it comes to behavior are much higher for people in representative government positions than they are for private citizens, and they are so for good reason.

One may try and argue that this is not fair, but thats a moot argument. One may also argue that everyday news strongly suggests that Washington is the very place where moral standards seem to count least, but that is also moot. What others do today, or have done in the past, can never be an excuse for eroding the standards to which government officials should be held. If anything, it should be reason to hold all of them to higher standards going forward.

This is the only way The Office of the President of the United States, and the US political system as a whole, can be expected to retain, or regain, the respect it badly needs to command, both domestically and on the international front. It is for this very reason that on the political scene, actors need to do the right thing, or draw the consequences, when the situation so demands. Respect for the office must always come before personal gain, or the whole edifice will crumble.

This also means that a president and his secretaries have much less room to move on their public statements on issues than civilians do. And in that regard President Obama, though he seemed to be doing well, is now moving onto dangerous ground. On Monday, Obama seemed to back FBI director Jim Comey, or at least he refused to join his party in attacking Comey.

Note that the president cant do anything even remotely perceived as attacking the head of the FBI. Not in public. And that would be true even if Comey were not his own appointment. The NY Post wrote:

While top Democrats are attacking James Comey, President Obamas spokesman on Monday described the FBI director as a man of integrity and good character and said he is not trying to tilt the election. Ill neither defend nor criticize Director Comey, said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. The president doesnt believe that Director Comey is intentionally trying to influence the outcome of an election. He doesnt believe hes secretly strategizing to benefit one candidate or one political party. He is in a tough spot.

Still, some sort of caveat was inserted by Press Secretary Earnest:

Earnest rebuked those who were assailing Comey for saying last Friday the FBI was reopening the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe just days before the Nov. 8 election. There are other people that have the luxury of being able to opine, writing op-eds or serving as anonymous sources for reporters to weigh in with their own view, but when I stand here representing the institution of the presidency, I dont have that luxury, he said.

But not long after, the president joined the Clinton campaign choir after all, in a move that smells not at all presidential. Mother Jones headlined: Obama Slams FBI Over New Hillary Clinton Emails . This is a risky move not worthy of a president, who represents not a party but an entire nation, and all Americans.

President Barack Obama harshly criticized the FBIs actions informing Congress about the discovery of new Hillary Clinton emails, suggesting to NowThisNews on Wednesday that the much-criticized letter was outside of law enforcement protocol. We dont operate on innuendo, Obama said in his first remarks since the FBIs announcement last Friday. We dont operate on incomplete information and we dont operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.

Obama acted presidential on Monday; he did not on Wednesday. And thats not all. On Monday, Obama had already made another questionable move. Not only did he seem to support Comey, he also lavished praise on Donna Brazile, the -interim- head of the Clinton campaign.

He did so mere hours (!) after Brazile had been fired by CNN, a network that drools Clinton 24/7. So when even CNN had had enough, Obama found it appropriate to say she is a person of high character. That does not add up. Heres from Adriana Cohen at the Boston Herald in one of the best pieces Ive read on the whole issue:

To put how serious this is into context, if Brazile traded stocks off inside information, the SEC would toss her in jail faster than you can say Martha Stewart. Yet, despite all of the above, the White House yesterday praised her integrity. You read that right. When asked about the hacked emails White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, No, the president believes she has done a fine job stepping in during a very difficult situation to lead the Democratic Party  she is a person of high character. She is a true professional who is a tenacious and effective advocate for Democrats.

Why was Brazile sacked? For feeding the Clintonians debate questions. As per The Hill:

In an email dated March 5, 2016  the day before a CNN debate in Flint, Mich.  Brazile sent Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and communications director Jennifer Palmieri an email with the subject line, One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash. Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint, she wrote.

Think about this for a second. Donna Brazile gets fired by CNN for -very illegally- letting the Clinton campaign in on a question that will be asked in a debate (with Bernie Sanders). Now, I think we can all agree that CNN does not have excessively high moral standards. And perhaps they dont have to. But the president of the United States does.

Ergo: while the network said they were completely uncomfortable with Braziles interactions with campaign, the same Donna Brazile was not only praised by the president, who is supposed to stand above all parties and divisions by the very nature of the Office he holds, she is also still the head of the Democratic campaign.

In other words, the sender of the messages containing debate questions (there were more than one) gets fired by one end of the transaction, but the receiving end has no problems with that exact same action, and then even sees that decision sanctioned by the nations president.

As if it wasnt not illegal for Hillary to have those questions before the debate. Theres a sender and a receiver, and both are equally to blame. And so is Hillary, because of course she knew the questions had to have been obtained illegally. But she keeps on Brazile, the sender, as head of her campaign, as well as Podesta and Palmieri, the receivers, despite all this.

What does that tell you? Regardless of legal implications, doesnt that scream out something in the vein of: When we go low, but do we go really low? What does it tell you when the Clintonians, and Obama, are fine with something even CNN wont stand for? It can only mean that a network like CNN, not exactly famous for its moral stances, has higher moral standards than the campaign for a candidate for the presidency of the United States, a position where moral standards are a high priority.

These are the things that drag down the entire American political system. Obamas statements on the FBI and Donna Brazile drag down the office of the president. And if Hillary would be elected on November 8, that office would be dragged down that much more.

And not only can we now foresee, and must we prepare for, serious domestic unrest no matter what the election result will be (I liked the notion I read somewhere of America between 9/11 and 11/9), the damage will also reverberate globally. Ive said it before, I dont see how Hillary and her people can still backtrack on all the innuendo they spread on Russia, but to be presidential, she will not have a choice.

Or she would risk getting stuck somewhere in the middle of all the untruths and outright lies about Putin, Assange and now James Comey, and that would mean a behemoth blemish on the presidency, something neither she nor the American political system can afford. You need more than just insinuations, you need at least kernels of truth if you want to be president.

When even the NY Times reports that the FBI Finds No Clear Link Between Trump and Russia, the Democratic campaign will have no choice but to step back or double down:

For much of the summer, the FBI pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead  which they ultimately came to doubt  about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank. Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. [..] Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, responded angrily on Sunday with a letter accusing the FBI of not being forthcoming about Mr. Trumps alleged ties with Moscow. It has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government  a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity, Mr. Reid wrote. The public has a right to know this information.

And maybe thats another reason for them to go after Comey, that the FBI would not support the claims that Russia is linked with Trump. Regardless, we now see the FBI biting back. On just about all fronts. What exactly Comeys role is in that is not 100% clear, but what is, is that Hillary would probably face two separate -criminal- investigations even before she could be inaugurated, if shes elected.

One for the Clinton Foundation (pay-for-play), and one for her email server issue. About which, incidentally, Bret Baier at Fox said yesterday:

.. we learned there is a confidence from these sources [with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations] that her server had been hacked. And that it was a 99% accuracy that it had been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that things had been taken from that

Its starting to feel like the nets are closing in on the Clintons. And they may hope that theres just enough time to get the election and win it, but that may well turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory. US law has many provisions that shield the president from persecution, but even if she would get elected, Hillary wouldnt be sworn in for another ten weeks or so.

If Hillary wins, it may feel like its open season on her, and theres no one to blame but herself. Shes incurred the wrath of so many parties, its hard to keep track. Donald Trump may be the least of her worries.

One last word, and this on the Huma Abedin related emails on Anthony Weiners laptop. I see a lot of suggestions that no FBI agent has seen any of the mails, but that makes no sense. Comey would have never sent his letter to Congress on Friday if that were true. It might have gotten him accused of partisanship.

In reality, one or more agents have seen one or more mails. And they had permission for that. Note also that they had had access to the laptop for weeks before Comeys letter. How much of the 650,000 theyve seen we dont know, but theyve seen some. They had permission to read the mails, but under a warrant that pertained to the Weiner investigation, not the Hillary one.

Under the Weiner warrant, they undoubtedly read enough of them to know theyre hot stuff, and at some point someone decided reading any further would -for one thing- put the option of using them against Hillary at -grave- risk. This may well be a contentious point right now: how the evidence was obtained.

Whether Comey himself read anything is less clear: if they really kept him out of the loop for weeks because they were pissed off at him -as has been suggested-, perhaps not. But others have. And as we are seeing more and more, they are an angry bunch. In their eyes -and many others- Comey made a mistake, alright, but he did not do that last Friday. His huge error came in July, when he decided not to file charges against Hillary.

The July decision was probably due to a large extent to an inner quarrel between the DOJ and FBI, and now thats out in the open, its the classic genie and the bottle tale. Itll be interesting to see how much of that genie is going to come out before Tuesday.

By Raul Ilargi Meijer

Website: http://theautomaticearth.com (provides unique analysis of economics, finance, politics and social dynamics in the context of Complexity Theory) 2016 Copyright Raul I Meijer - 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.

Raul Ilargi Meijer Archive

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MARTINSVILLE  City Council candidate Kathy Lawson believes she has the financial and analytical skills to help local officials deal with the approaching fiscal year, which is anticipated to be extremely tight.

Lawson was on the council from 2006 to 2010, serving as Martinsvilles first woman mayor during the latter two years. She feels those experiences have given her the ability to scrutinize financial information and help department heads determine spending needs and which ones should be handled first.

There always are more needs than there is money available to handle them, Lawson said.

Yet officials have said that revenue sources are growing little, if any, as city operating costs are increasing.

We know were facing challenges in the upcoming fiscal year that will start next July, Lawson said. Next years budget is not going to be an easy one to get through.

Not only will officials have to decide whether to cut any services, but they also will have to balance the budget without imposing tax and fee hikes, as well as without hurting residents quality of life, she said.

Lawson, 62, manages the personal lines department for insurance firm Burch-Hodges-Stone Inc. She is one of six candidates seeking three council seats up for grabs in Tuesdays election.

Having grown up in Martinsville, she was educated mostly in the city schools although she graduated from the former Laurel Park High School in Henry County. She has taken classes at Patrick Henry Community College and earned professional designations in the insurance profession.

She has spent more than 40 years doing community service work of various types, she pointed out.

Currently, she represents Martinsville on the West Piedmont Planning District Commission and is chairwoman of the Martinsville Electoral Board, a board member of Christmas Cheer and Gateway Streetscape Foundation, a life member of the Virginia Jaycees and a Jaycee International senator, a member of the Martinsville-Henry County Christmas Parade Association and a volunteer for the American Red Cross.

Through her service, she has developed an understanding of local needs and compassion for people with needs, she said.

Lawson said that if she is elected, her goals will include ensuring that Martinsvilles children receive a quality education and adults have access to jobs and can be trained to do them, especially technology-oriented careers available locally and that seem to be the wave of the future.

She also will strive to help improve relations between the city and Henry County, she said.

In 2010, Lawson lost her bid for a second four-year council term. She believes her defeat stemmed from the popularity of Kim Adkins, executive director of the local United Way and a former Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce president. After being elected to the council, Adkins was mayor for her entire term.

Lawson is optimistic that she will be re-elected now.

I dont have a hidden agenda, she emphasized.

Asked if she thinks any of the other candidates do, Lawson said some have made comments about things that past councils have done that irritated them.

Those people not being on the council when such decisions were made, and having not seen information on hand at the time to help make those decisions, you really dont know what you would have done, she said.

Mickey Powell reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at mickey.powell@martinsvillebulletin.com.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and President of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) Eugene Czolij at a meeting in Kyiv on Thursday discussed the support of foreign Ukrainians in the fight against Russian aggression and continuing cooperation in the implementation of humanitarian projects.

According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry, Klimkin expressed gratitude to the president of the Ukrainian World Congress and Ukrainians living abroad for attracting the international support and special attention in the dissemination of truthful information about the events taking place in the Ukrainian state, as well as in bringing all the Ukrainians together to counter Russian aggression.

"The parties discussed issues of continued cooperation on the implementation of a wide range of humanitarian projects in Ukraine, support of the draft resolution of the UN General Assembly on the status of human rights in Crimea and in Sevastopol (Ukraine) by the international community initiated by Ukraine, as well as the support of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU by the Ukrainians living abroad," the press service of the Foreign Ministry said.
This is a bad time to be in the coal industry.

While we dont have coal mining in Martinsville and Henry County, one does not have to drive too far to the west to enter coal country. There is a coal industry in the western portion of our state  and obviously in West Virginia  and it is struggling.

Why is it struggling? The most vocal proponents of coal will point to one reason and one reason alone: Regulation.

The federal government, they say  and particularly the Environmental Protection Agency, the most evil head on the federal hydra  is so caught up with all these environmental regulations that its making it impossible for coal mines and coal power plants to operate, and thats causing people to lose jobs.

I could make the argument that environmental regulations are important, and if you want to see evidence of just how important they are, look to Beijing, a city so polluted  partly due to coal burning  that the smog can literally be seen from outer space.

But instead, Im going to focus on a different part of the argument. The reason that the coal industry is in trouble isnt solely because of government regulations; its largely because the free market is turning away from coal.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently ran an interesting op-ed from David Schlissel of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The piece was titled Coal will not recover: Falling prices for other fuels, not regulation, is whats killing coal.

As recently as 10 years ago, Schlissel writes, coal-fired power plants provided half of Americas power needs. Today, the number is closer to 30 percent, and its falling rapidly.

Sure, there are federal regulations that require coal-fired power plants to undergo costly upgrades. But one would think that if coal has a bright future, as the industry so often claims, the owners of these plants would be willing to pay for these upgrades.

But instead, many plant owners are unwilling to upgrade because it just doesnt make financial sense for the future. Even in states like Texas, one of our nations biggest electricity markets, coal plants are on the verge of closure because they can no longer compete with alternative fuel sources, such as natural gas, wind and solar.

Regarding wind and solar, the conventional wisdom has long been that they are nice ideas, but theyre too expensive to be workable. However, thats changing rapidly. According to Schlissel, since 2009, wind prices have fallen from more than $60 per megawatt-hour to less than $30. That puts pressure on market prices, and it makes coal-fired electricity seem less and less financially viable, particularly when one considers that coal must be laboriously mined from the earth while the sun and wind come to us free of charge.

Obviously, coal isnt going to disappear tomorrow. But Schlissel argues that the end is inevitable, not avoidable, and its hard to argue with the evidence he presents in the full piece.

I understand why this is upsetting news. Ive been to West Virginia. I have seen the ruined towns left in the wake of closed mines, towns that look like they were transplanted from a third world country. I understand that there are families that have worked in the industry for generations, and it is deeply unfair that their largest local employers are shrinking and shutting down.

But at the risk of sounding glib, when the American free market turned away from whale oil, did politicians blame the governments overly strict whaling regulations?(In fairness, politicians in the late 19th century probably did just that, but it didnt save the whaling industry.)

If we view the coal industry as a sinking ship, then we are left with two options: We can continue bailing it out, or we can work to put the crew on a new ship. We can train coal miners for other occupations, even energy-related occupations, such as natural gas, wind and solar.

Our focus should be on making sure that people have jobs and that the U.S. has the energy it needs, rather than getting hung up on where that energy is coming from. Whether the power is generated by coal, hydro, solar, wind, or a hamster on a wheel, the result is the same when you flip on the light switch.

Ben Williams writes for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at benjamin.williams@martinsvillebulletin.com
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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Vice President of the U.S. Joe Biden in a telephone talk have discussed the situation in Donbas and the start of the electronic declaration of assets in Ukraine.

"Vice President Biden congratulated President Poroshenko on the successful completion of the first phase of e-declaration system and called it an important step in the fight against corruption in Ukraine," the press-service of the Ukrainian state said.

The two sides exchanged views on cooperation in the sphere of energy security.

In addition, the Ukrainian president and the vice president discussed the situation in Donbas. "Joe Biden stressed the importance of the continuation of sanctions against Russia for its failure to comply with Minsk Agreements," the presidential press service said.

In turn, the site of the White House informs about the outcome of the conversation. In particular, the U.S. vice president and the president of Ukraine reaffirmed their strong support for the Minsk Agreements as the only existing framework for resolving the conflict in Donbas and restoring of Ukrainian control in the east.

"The vice-president congratulated President Poroshenko with the successful implementation of an electronic assets declaration system in Ukraine, saying that this development represents an important step forward in the continuing fight against corruption in Ukraine," the report says.

The two leaders also expressed strong support for strengthening and providing the necessary resources for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and stressed the importance of increasing Europe's energy security.
The world waits with bated breath as the "leader of the free world" is selected. Election 2016 has been a rollercoaster for voters, pollsters, pundits, and candidates alike. The campaign has been like no other seen in the US for a century or more.

It seems to confirm the belief of many that the American people have finally gone off the deep end. Serious commentators and comedians alike are predicting the "end of the American experiment in republican democracy" no matter what the outcome. Voters are trying to make up their minds as to "which candidate they hate less."

As The New York Times put it, "With more than eight in 10 voters saying the campaign has left them repulsed rather than excited, the rising toxicity threatens the ultimate victor. Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, are seen as dishonest and viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters."

The Financial Times had this to say: "What is beyond doubt is that the markets are scared of a victory for Donald Trump." And according to the liberal think tank, the Brookings Institution, a Trump victory "would reduce the value of the S&P 500 and lead to a 25% decline in the Mexican peso, as well as pricing in future volatility."

As Citi's chief global political analyst put it, the US is passing through an "emerging markets moment," with volatility tied to the electoral outcome more appropriate for poorer countries without centuries of bourgeois-democratic rule. But does she think a Clinton victory would be much different?

"Not so fast. Investors should brace themselves for the new form of advanced economy, political risk, whatever the outcome of the US presidential election. First, any market relief from a victory for Mrs. Clinton over Donald Trump, her Republican opponent, will almost certainly be followed by the realization that a divided Congress will mean a return to gridlock and brinkmanship over the debt ceiling with little prospect for reform... Wave[s] of protests, coups and the rise of non-mainstream political parties has become a global phenomenon."

Photo: Public DomainAlthough the key decisions that affect our lives are taken in corporate board rooms, this doesn't mean that presidents don't have an impact and influence over the specifics of capitalist rule. In a world balanced on a knife's edge, even small differences can tip the economy, politics, and society as a whole out of control. The ruling class clearly prefers Clinton and think she is best suited to maintain the status quo. The problem is, the status quo of the last few decades is finished. The American Dream is overnot only for the workers but also for the capitalists. The postwar boom and the "dead cat" bounce following the collapse of the USSR were anomalies. We are now back to the capitalist norm. And as night follows day, the return to that norm will mean sharpening polarization and an intensification of the class struggle on a scale not seen in decades.

Anything can happen

After the final presidential debate, Clinton seemed to be pulling away from her rival. Only one of seventy-two newspapers in the country have endorsed the Republican nominee. Now, just days before the election, a Clinton victory is far from assured. With little positive coverage in the media and a minuscule on-the-ground campaign apparatus in comparison to the Democrats, Trump may very well win or at the very least make it uncomfortably close, opening the way for post-election chaos if he decides not to recognize the results.

All things being equal, Clinton should have been a shoo-in for the win. But all things are not equal. These are uncharted waters for capitalism, and the deepening crisis of the system is inevitably reflected in a profound crisis of bourgeois politics. Though each exacerbates the crisis in different ways, Trump and Clinton are not to blame as individuals for the instability revealed by the elections. They are like ships on a stormy ocean, tossed hither and thither by economic and social forces far beyond their control, desperate to get the rudder back in their hands. As the "American Dream" narrative and national identity disintegrates along with the economy, other, more heterogeneous forms of identity and polarization are taking its place.

This was always Clintons election to losethat is, after she and the DNC maneuvered undemocratically to deny Bernie Sanders the victory. After all, Obama is relatively popular, the economy has not yet dipped back into a slump, in the aftermath of Occupy and Black Lives Matter the general mood among the youth is clearly trending to the left, and Trump is a reactionary ignoramus and a buffoon. But there's a fly in the ointment: millions of Americans hate Hillary Clinton with a passion. They see her as a lying, dishonest cheater, bought and paid for by Wall Street. She is the epitome of a ladder-climbing insider, the embodiment of business-as-usual politics. After the Sanders experience, "at least I'm not Trump!" isn't motivation enough for millions to go to the polls.

As we've explained before, if Brexit can happen, Donald Trump can become the next President of the United States.

Left and Right

Hellary Trump - Photo: Leigh BlackallHow to make sense of the support for Trump? If he is actually in a position to win, it means millions of American workers will vote for him. His core base of support is clearly the "enraged petty bourgeoisie" numerically reduced and socially impotent as it may bebut he has also tapped into the deep-seated anger of millions of ordinary workers. To understand what is happening, we must abandon the mainstream-academic-bourgeois-liberal understanding of what constitutes "left" and "right." In short, we must analyze this process from a class perspective.

For Marxists, the "left" represents the living, historically progressive interests of the working class in its struggle for the revolutionary socialist transformation of society. The "right" are the defenders and beneficiaries of dying, decrepit capitalism, a retrogressive system based on exploitation and oppression that has survived long past its "sell by date" due to the betrayals of the labor leaders. The fundamental determinant is not this or that policy in the abstract, but class: are you a worker or do you live off the dead and living labor of workers?

To maintain the illusion of "majority rule" democracy, the workers, who vastly outnumber the capitalists, must be allowed to cast ballots (or at least those who have not been disqualified from voting for myriad spurious reasons). During normal periods, superficial differences in social, economic, or foreign policy are enough for voters to "make up their minds as to who they should vote for. But at times when the contradictions of the system stretch the existing parties to the breaking point, and no mass working class alternative emerges to take its place, other methods are required to keep things within safe limits.

Consciously or unconsciously, the function of both left and right populism is to rope workers into voting for parties that stand for class interests diametrically opposed to their own. By framing the world and politics as "us versus them" along various ideological and demographic lines, attention is deflected from the root problem: the organic crisis and impasse of the system. At the same time, however, stirring up these forces represents a potential threat to the established order, as the conjurers may not be able to keep them under control. The trick is to rile people up just enough to get them to the polls, but not so much that they actually believe they have a real say in how society is run. After the elections, everyone is supposed to go home and leave politics to the professionals. Heaven forbid they take to the streets, march on the capital, occupy factories, and organize mass strikes.

So let us be clear: the Democrats are not "left," and the Republicans are not "right." They are both right-wing parties. Both have always been and remain to this day parties, of, by, and for the ruling class. They are at best the "liberal-right" and "conservative-right" wings of the capitalist class. Though they evolved historically in ideological antagonism to one another, both liberalism and conservatism are variants of capitalist rule and will always band together against the interests of the workers. Both the Democrats and the Republicans lean demagogically on the working class, promising the sun and stars during elections, but ruling in the interests of the capitalists once the results are in.

In the absence of a mass workers party, the working class majority is forced to "choose" which one of these wings they see as the "lesser evil" every time an election comes around. For decades the Democrats could pose as more left due to the legacy of modest reforms under FDR and the New Deal, John F. Kennedys youthful dynamism, and Lyndon Johnsons Great Society. But the crisis of the system means there are no more crumbs to be had. The capitalists want to keep the entire pie, although it is the workers that do all the baking.

After nearly a decade of stagnation, neglect, un- and underemployment under Democratic Party rule, it's not so clear to workers which of these evils is "lesser. It is mainly older, white, male workers who support Trump, many of them union members. They were the main beneficiaries of the postwar boom and can now sense the walls closing in. Not yet aware that the cause of their declining standard of living is the capitalist system itself, and imbued by their labor leaders with the idea that workers are in "partnership with the bosses," they are desperate to conserve what little they have. They hope against hope that a "strong businessman" can do the job. When they see Hillary Clinton, they see the ideological companion of the man who devastated organized labor through NAFTA, welfare "reform," and a barrage of anti-worker laws. That the labor leadership is terrified they won't be able to hand Clinton a victory by keeping their members in line is a stark condemnation of their policy of class collaboration at the workplace and at the polls.

School of the Democrats

Celebration of Obama in 2008 - Beth JusinoFor millions of people, 2008 was a joyous celebration of the possible, of anticipated change and hope for a better future. None of it materialized. In fact, things are worse for the majority than they were under GW Bush. Only the 1% have benefitted from the tepid economic expansion of the last 7 years. It has nothing to do with whether or not Obama had good or bad intentions. Even if he thought he could pass some modest reforms without ruffling the system's feathers, his efforts were doomed from the start as he accepted and embraced the parameters of capitalism.

Two terms into the "School of the Democrats," a deep questioning is taking place, not only of Obama and his party, but of the entire system. This is what has led us to the current juncture. Lower than expected turnout among black Americans in early voting is just one indication of this, despite Obama's efforts to mobilize black voters behind Clinton in order to continue his legacy. But it is precisely his legacya legacy of capitalist crisisthat has left so many unenthusiastic about the election.

In the end, Sanders played by the rules and followed through on his promise to endorse Clinton. The disappointing "what could have been" of Bernie's promise and betrayal cast a pall over the final stretch of the election. Trump's outrageous words and actions obscured and distracted from the fundamental rottenness of Bill and Hillary's dynasty. After the mainstream media turned openly against Trump, there was a burst of half-hearted-lesser-evilism-without-illusions and she seemed on track for victory. But as we have seen, there is also a deep distrust of the establishmentwhich Hillary epitomizes. The reopening of the investigation into Clintons emails by the FBI was one scandal too many for many undecided voters, and the race narrowed yet again.

Trump has an independent base of supporthis own wealth, ego, brand, and the adoration of millions who see him as an outsider who can "get things done" (despite being a billionaire). He is out for himself, not the ruling class as a whole, and is, therefore, more reckless and harder to control. This is why the bosses heavily prefer Clinton. But the workers are correctly suspicious of Wall Street's high-paid speech-giver.

Instead of offering a sweeping vision for a better future, Clinton and her supporters have focused almost entirely on what a terrible individual Donald Trump is and the disaster his presidency would represent. His campaign is using virtually the same playbook. But fear mongering may not be enough to tip the balance to the Democrats this time around. Although they may disagree with his style and substance on many issues, Trump is seen by millions as the least unappetizing alternative. As incredible as this may seem to many both inside and outside the US, it is perfectly understandable if we look at what the working class has been through politically and economically over the last few electoral cycles. This is why the result is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Instability is inevitable

No matter who wins, the next occupant of the White House will preside over a powderkeg of crisis and instability. Cuts, austerity, and attacks on the working class are on the agenda no matter what the candidates promise. The workers will have no choice but to fight back at the workplace and in the streets. If Trump wins, not only will there be spontaneous mass protests, but the next economic crisis may well be triggered as a result. His supporters will learn in short order that they've been bamboozled. If Clinton wins, her honeymoon will almost certainly be short-lived, especially with what may be one hell of an economic meltdown looming on the horizon. The last crisis not only tapped out the treasury but also public willingness to bail out the 1%. Shock and paralysis will be replaced by outrage and mobilization.

Trump's repeated assertions that "the system is rigged" strike a chord on many levels and is calculated to keep distrust and instability high if he loses. Either "winner" will likely start with some of the lowest approval ratings in modern history. And if control over Congress remains divided, the deadlock in Washington will worsen, further undermining what little confidence may remain in the political system. And just as the Dreyfus Affair almost brought down the French Third Republic in the 1890s, any number of scandals could bring down either Clinton or Trump.

The labor leaders have failed us yet again by not putting forward independent candidates or a party. No matter the result, their policy of lesser evilism is on its last legs and their authority over the rank and file is waning. There are also those "on the left" who call for a vote for Clinton, or for a "safe state policy," whereby third-party candidates should only be supported if it would not "steal votes" from Clinton. But this does nothing to further class consciousness and confidence, and objectively means encouraging a vote for our class enemies. If Clinton wins, these people will be discredited along with her, and if she loses, they will be discredited for failing to defeat Trump with this "strategy."

And let's not forget about the Electoral College. For all the fuss about democracy and the will of the majority, not a single American will vote for president on November 8. The Electoral College is one of many safety valves built into the US Constitution to ensure the masses don't take democracy too literally. It is weighted towards the more conservative rural constituencies and means that voters actually cast ballots for unelected "electors" who are not legally bound to vote for the candidate most voted for by the electorate in their district. Remember: this is democracy for the bourgeoisie, not the working class.

Third party?

We should have no illusions in bourgeois democracy or the parties of the ruling class. The simple fact is there are are no viable options for the working class in these elections. The Libertarians may be superficially appealing but are deeply anti-working class in practice. And despite the earnestness of her supporters, Jill Stein and the Greens have for a variety of reasons been unable to tap into the energy behind Sanders in a serious way. Whether Sanders squandered a historic opportunity or merely played the role he intended along, he showed the colossal potential for a truly mass political expression of the working class. The rise of Sanders shows what a real mass movement looks likea mass movement of millions of young people and workers openly interested in socialism. But with no real alternative, millions of youth will sit out this year's election or cast a protest vote, despite the hysteria being whipped up around Trump.

The rise of a mass workers' party, whatever form it may initially take, will turn the situation upside down. Millions will abandon both the Democrats and Republicans in droves. Due to this country's peculiar history and political dynamics, there will be much confusion and many contradictory currents in such a party. But over time, the fundamental class questions will come to the fore and a revolutionary left wing and a reformist right wing will crystallize. The Marxists will be in the thick of it from the beginning, fighting for revolutionary socialism, for universal jobs, healthcare, education, and the nationalization of the Fortune 500 under democratic workers' control.

In the absence of such a party, we encourage our members and supporters to vote for whichever left-of-the-Democrats candidate they prefer, with the understanding that protests votes can only accomplish so much. While they can serve as an interesting barometer of the mood at any given moment, we are not interested in third-parties. The party of the working class majority deserves to be the first party, and that is what we are fighting for. Only a mass socialist party can defeat the parties of the bosses at the polls. Only a revolutionary socialist program can end their system once and for all.

In short, in these elections, as at all times, we stand with the working class. We are witnessing the system coming apart at the seams, but until there is an organized social and political force to replace it, the crisis can drag on for years and decades. There are no shortcuts, and the path to political and economic power will not be easy, but we are more confident than ever in the power of the workers.

The ruling class is divided and unsure how to rule in the face of the approaching economic blizzard. The latest revelations from the FBI indicate that the state apparatus itself, which is in theory supposed to stand impartially above politics and merely carry out and enforce policy, is also deeply divided, inserting itself in the electoral process in an unprecedented way.

Fight for a socialist future!

Far from merely letting off steam, the elections have destabilized the situation even further. Whether we are ready or not, mass movements on a scale not seen in our lifetimes are on the horizon. Life teaches and the events of the coming years will be an accelerated course in capitalist crisis at all levels. While following the twists and turns of the election, we cannot be distracted by the circus of bourgeois politics. There is no room for demoralization or routinism. On the contrary, we should be filled with a burning revolutionary optimism while keeping our eyes on the prize: the building of a cadre organization capable of training and educating the revolutionary battalions of the future.

One after another, the main pillars of bourgeois rule are being undermined. The system is teetering on the brink, but as of yet, there is no force in society strong enough to push it over the edge. According to German sociologist Wolfgang Streeck, "Capitalism will for the foreseeable future hang in limbo, dead or about to die from an overdose of itself but still very much around, as nobody will have the power to move its decaying body out of the way."

The IMT's historic task is to help the working class move capitalisms "decaying body out of the way." To do this we must grow in both quality and quantity. Join us and help humanity speed the day.
One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and two more suffered injuries in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

"One soldier of ours was killed and two more were injured in the hostilities over the past day. In addition, a serviceman injured earlier died at the hospital in Zaporizhia," Lysenko told at a Friday press briefing in Kyiv.

One of the servicemen was injured in the village of Semyhirya in the Bakhmutivka district of the Donetsk region, the other suffered injury and another one died in an attack on Avdiyivka, he said.

The militants opened fire in the Popasna and Stanytsia Luhanska districts, Orikhove and Triokhizbenka in the Luhansk sector, the ministry spokesman said. Seven shelling incidents, including one employing heavy weapons, were observed in that sector during the day, the spokesman said.

The militants fired 60 mortar shots on Ukrainian army positions in the Avdiyivka industrial zone in the Donetsk sector, he said, adding that every shelling incident lasted for 30 minutes. A 15-minute combat engagement was reported from Semyhirya near Svitlodarsk. In all, the Donetsk sector saw six shelling incidents, including five by use of heavy weapons, within the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

The militants used mortars and sniper rifles near Krasnohorivka and in the Pavlopil-Shyrokyne sector in the Mariupol region. According to Ukrainian Intelligence, the Ukrainian army had to return fire. In all, 17 shelling incidents, including four involving heavy weapons, occurred in that sector.
The SBU has revealed plans which had been prepared for the destabilization of the situation in some areas of the country, head of the SBU Vasyl Hrytsak has said.

"The plans and scenarios were written in details for destabilization of the situation in 10-15 Ukrainian regions in November of the current year. The plan foresees the following: ringleaders and destablization steps. A budget has been allocated for the plan," Hrytsak said at a briefing in Odesa on Friday.

He said that the investigation is ongoing, but he refused to divulge operational information.

"Russia has not abandoned its intentions to destabilize the situation in our country," Hrytsak said.
Former Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine Viktor Tatkov is undergoing medical treatment abroad and had left the country before the notification of suspicion against him was issued, Head of the Special Investigations Department of Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine Serhiy Horbatiuk has said.

"Viktor Tatkov is being treated abroad... He left the country before he was notified of the suspicion of committing a crime, so the notice was sent to his place of residence," Horbatiuk told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

At the same time, Head of the Special Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office has noted that Tatkov's defense lawyer spoke with investigators and provided documents showing that Former Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court is abroad for medical treatment.

As soon as Tatkov returns to Ukraine a court will decide on preventive measures for him, Horbatiuk said. If investigators receive evidence that the ex-judge is hiding from the investigation, appropriate actions will be taken.

As reported, on October 18, the Special Investigations Department of the Prosecutor General's Office issued notifications on suspicion of committing crimes for judges of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, Artur Yemelyanov and Viktor Tatkov, who in 2011-2014 illegally interfered with the judicial decision-making system.

"Investigators have evidence that these persons in 2011-2014 took under their personal control the system of judicial decision-making. About 7,000 cases of illegal intervention in the automated system of distribution of cases and applications, interference in the work of judges with a view of making them issue unjust rulings in economic courts of all levels are currently under investigation," Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko wrote earlier on his Facebook page.

According to Lutsenko, the said persons were notified that they are suspected of committing crimes under Part 2 of Article 376, part 2 of Article 376-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Spokesperson for the general prosecutor, Larysa Sarhan, on her Facebook page wrote that they are currently choosing pre-trial restriction measures for the suspects.
In the face of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we need a new radical humanism, says Tim Leberecht. For the self-described "business romantic," this means designing organizations and workplaces that celebrate authenticity instead of efficiency and questions instead of answers. Leberecht proposes four (admittedly subjective) principles for building beautiful organizations.

TED Video: http://ted.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=07487d1456302a286cf9c4ccc&id=2ac4c228af&e=d3135666a2
SBA 504 Loans offered statewide! Real estate and equipment, acquisitions, renovation, and new construction. Low, fixed-rates up to 25 years with as little as 10% down.
Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.
If the company is successful in pulling off their plan, it would become the countrys fourth largest grocery chain behind Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons. The impact of Amazons plans will be worth evaluating and following in urban markets across the country. The company is specifically targeting organic, ethnic and specialty shop markets. Is America ready?

Full Story: http://www.planetizen.com/node/89487/amazon-planning-open-2000-drive-thru-grocery-stores

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Winco Foods abandons plans for Bozeman store

City design requirements to blame, developer says

By Eric Dietrich Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/economy/winco-foods-abandons-plans-for-bozeman-store/article_f9e090ad-9274-54b4-9bdd-c252104a71fc.html
The Montana Department of Commerce works with statewide and local partners, private industry and small businesses to enhance and sustain economic prosperity in Montana. - Montana Is On The Move
In the course of the consultations held in Vilnius, Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Administration Kostiantyn Yeliseyev and chief advisor on foreign policy to the president of Lithuania Nerijus Aleksiunas and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius discussed topical issues of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, Kyiv's agreement with the EU and the situation in Donbas.

"The main topic of the consultations was the preparation for the next session of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania ... Lithuania has confirmed the willingness of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite to pay an official visit to Ukraine in this December," the statement published on Friday on the website of the Ukrainian president reads.

The sides also discussed the situation in Donbas and the next steps in the framework of the Minsk agreements in order to achieve progress in the conflict settlement.

Also they discussed topical issues of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union.
Giant panda twins Meilun and Meihuan will set off on Thursday and arrive in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan Province two days later, said Zoo Atlanta.

The zoo also has prepared 170 kilograms of bamboos for the three-year-old twins.

The 3-year-old giant panda twins, daughters of the first giant panda couple in the zoo Lunlun and Yangyang, are the first surviving giant panda twins in the US. Lunlun and Yangyang have been on loan from China.

Since their births, the twins have been the most popular animals in the zoo. Their names were selected through an online vote by locals.

According to an agreement reached by China and the US, panda cubs born in the US to parents on loan from China are to be returned to China before turning four years old. They are then taken to participate in breeding projects in China.

The National Zoological Park in Washington D.C. has also announced it will send their cub Baobao back to China next year.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday made a six-pronged proposal for the future development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), calling on its members to enhance cooperation in such fields as security, economic development and production capacity.

Li made the remarks at the 15th SCO prime ministers' meeting in Bishkek.

Noting that the SCO has been playing an indispensable role in boosting regional stability and prosperity in last 15 years, Li said it has also made active contribution in promoting world peace and development.

Only through joint cooperation can SCO members achieve common development and long-term peace as well as stability in the region, said Li, calling on all member states to make joint efforts in the following six fields.

On security cooperation, Li urged all members to observe a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, suggesting deepening information exchange and cooperation in law-enforcement so as to ensure the safety of peoples, institutions, enterprises and personnel of SCO members.

He also asked SCO members to further strengthen their cooperation and coordination on security and boost the construction of regional anti-terrorism institutions and mechanisms.

As for the alignment of development strategies, Li called for more efforts to promote the coordination and dovetailing of economic development policies of SCO members, citing the growing synergy between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) as an example.

The Belt and Road Initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and aspires to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes. The EEU groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

China stands ready to make joint efforts with other SCO members to boost regional trade and facilitate investment, said Li, suggesting that SCO members enhance cooperation in such fields as customs, inspection and quarantine, as well as certification and accreditation.

China is open to the initiative of establishing a SCO free trade zone and is willing to work with other parties to conduct relevant feasibility studies and actively explore a more comprehensive, closer and more efficient regional economic cooperation framework, said the premier.

As to enhancing production capacity cooperation, Li said China is ready to make joint efforts with other member states to make production capacity cooperation a pillar of regional trade cooperation. Major cooperation projects, including a power plant in Uzbekistan, an oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan, a cement plant in Tajikistan and a China-Uzbekistan industrial park are undergoing smoothly, Li said.

Concerning innovation cooperation, Li said China is willing to beef up the alignment as well as the exchanges of innovation policies with other members, so as to facilitate the e-commerce customs clearance, strengthen the capacity of logistics support, and propel cooperation in such fields as environmental technology innovation and green economy.

Regarding regional financing, the Chinese premier urged member states to take full advantage of regional financing platforms like the SCO Interbank Consortium, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund and the BRICS New Development Bank, among others.

China stands ready to further strengthen swaps and settlement of local currencies with all member states, he added.

About people-to-people exchanges, Li pledged to offer more scholarships for SCO members to enhance the foundation of people-to-people exchanges.

China is willing to sign agreements with other parties on establishing a SCO university and support its efforts to foster talents for SCO members, said the premier.

He added that China will continue to host summer camps for primary and secondary school students from SCO countries and hold a series of nongovernmental exchange activities.

Li arrived in Bishkek on Wednesday for an official visit to the Central Asian country and the SCO meeting.

Established in 2001, the SCO is a regional political, economic and security organization that groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members.

India and Pakistan signed the SCO's Memorandum of Obligations in June, kick-starting the process of their accession into the group, which also has a number of observers and dialogue partners.

Kyrgyzstan is the first leg of Li's ongoing eight-day four-country tour, which also takes him to Kazakhstan, Latvia and Russia.
(Xinhua) 09:17, November 04, 2016

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 3 -- A Chinese envoy on Thursday called on the international community to enhance cooperation and develop comprehensive solutions to address the issue of refugees.

Wu Haitao, China's deputy representative to the UN, made the appeal at a General Assembly debate on the issue of refugees.

Wu said the international community needs to accelerate the implementation of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, fully leverage the coordinating role of such organizations as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and develop and implement comprehensive solutions.

"The UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies need to strengthen coordination, rationalize resource allocation and utilization, enhance emergency response to the current refugee crisis, and lift the burden of the developing countries who host refugees for years," he added.

Wu noted that as a permanent member of the Security Council and the largest developing country, China has always been committed to maintaining world peace and promoting common development.

"We have actively advocated political settlement of hot-spot issues and contributed to addressing the refugee problem," said Wu. "China has provided large amounts of humanitarian assistance to Syriaand other countries in the Middle East."

"We stand ready to work with other countries to promote the international protection of refugees and strive for an early, comprehensive and durable solution to the global refugee problem," he said.
S. Korean president says to accept investigation over scandal if necessary

(Xinhua) 10:34, November 04, 2016

SEOUL, Nov. 4 -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president's longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs.

Park addressed the nation over the political scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, expressing her sincere apology once again after making her first public apology for it last week.

The embattled president said she will also accept a probe by an independent counsel into the case involving her close friend accused of peddling undue influence and meddling in government decisions behind the scenes.

If realized, Park would become the first South Korean leader who is investigated by prosecutors as incumbent president.

Under the country's constitution, a president is free from being criminally indicted by prosecutors during his or her presidency except for treason and insurrection charges.

Some legal experts, however, claimed that the president can face criminal investigation on condition that the criminal indictment is suspended until the end of presidency.

Park's acceptance of criminal investigation, though she added a precondition of "if necessary," came amid a snowballing public furor over Choi and former close advisors to President Park.

A Seoul court approved an arrest warrant last night for Choi on charges of fraud and abuse of power. The 60-year-old woman has been placed into emergency detention since Monday. She came back to Seoul on Sunday after staying abroad for about two months.

Prosecutors allegedly plan to seek an arrest warrant on Friday for Ahn Jong-beom, former senior presidential secretary on policy coordination suspected of helping Choi pressure conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars to two nonprofit foundations that Choi actually controls.

Chung Ho-seong, former presidential secretary, was urgently arrested by prosecutors on Thursday night as he is accused of having brought confidential documents for the president to Choi, including reports on defense, diplomatic and economic affairs.
BEIJING, Nov. 3 -- China's top political advisor Yu Zhengshengmet with Vazgen Manukyan, chairman of Armenia's Public Council on Thursday, calling for joint efforts on the Belt and Road Initiative.

Describing Armenia as China's good friend and important partner in the south Caucasus, Yu said both countries have a healthy and stable relationship based on equality, mutual benefit and respect.

"China and Armenia have understood and coordinated with each other on issues related to their core interests and major concerns," said Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

"China is willing to work with Armenia to consolidate the political and public opinion foundations for bilateral relations, and jointly push forward the Belt and Road Initiative and practical cooperation," he said.

Yu said the CPPCC National Committee is ready to strengthen exchanges with Armenia's Public Council in state governance.

Manukyan said Armenia is along the ancient Silk Road and has great interest in China's Belt and Road Initiative, welcoming more cooperation with China in all fields.

Du Qinglin, vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, held talks with Manukyan later Thursday.
by Beatriz Mallory , Columnist, November 2, 2016

Last week, an object lesson in health care marketing and branding nearly escaped notice outside of HIV/AIDS circles.

Those of us building brands in this therapeutic area now know that the so-called Patient Zero was not the source of the AIDS epidemic that has so far killed 500,000 people in the United States. Nor was he supposed to be labeled zero. A circular symbol on an epidemiology chart  an O for outside of California misread as a zero  gave us a human villain with a media-ready moniker.

In the panic of the early days of the epidemic and the scramble to decipher its origins, it was somehow comforting to shift the blame for the carnage from the arcane-sounding acquired immune deficiency syndrome to a malevolent, promiscuous Patient Zero. The reality is that the virus was infecting men in New York in 1971, three years before Patient Zero arrived in the city and began frequenting its then- carefree nightlife.

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The former Air Canada flight attendant had a name, Gaetan Dugas. And like all purported villains, there was more to his story. But he died in 1984, and any nuance went with him. What remain are a sordid tale and a powerful brand to envelop it.

Hearing of the posthumous recognition that Dugas was not the source of the river of horror that engulfed New York, San Francisco  and eventually the nation  surely shakes up many like me. I arrived in New York in the early 80s, finding myself dancing with friends one week and burying them scant months later. My list of the lost is too painful to revisit, but time and objectivity keep sentiment at bay.

Yet last weeks news brought to my marketers mind the searing power the Patient Zero brand had on grief-stricken communities after reading Randy Shiltss seminal book And The Band Played On. The disease now had a face beyond that of their gaunt brother, sister, or lover. And the Patient Zero brand itself has grown to represent the fount of calamity for other epidemics.

In 2009, the term was used to describe 5-year-old Edgar Hernandez in Mexico, the likely first case of swine flu. According to an account at the time, his mother Maria del Carmen Hernandez lamented, I feel terrible about all of this, because the people are thinking that this was all my son's fault. I don't think this is anyone's fault. But the smiling countenance of a recovering child didnt match the brand image of a Patient Zero, as did the tragic figure of Gaetan Dugas.

The hope of AIDS researchers like Dr. Robert M. Grant from the University of California, San Francisco, is that this news will help humanize Dugas, and thus help in the continuing fight against the disease. No one wants to be the Patient Zero of their village, he said in the New York Times article. But this may be helpful because it says, Just because you are the first to be diagnosed doesnt mean you started the epidemic.

As health care marketers, we work hard to build powerful brands that evoke positive emotions like confidence, sophistication, social justice and playfulness. They take us to earlier, happier times or project a brilliant future. It is too late for the exculpation of Mr. Dugas. But the brand he unwittingly inspired, Patient Zero, has only grown, and whenever used, will continue to stoke the darkest fears of a traumatized public.

In the narrow purview of epidemiologists, its argued that naming a living Patient Zero can protect public health. But marketers have a different responsibility  it is incumbent upon us as communicators to tread carefully in using this brand, and similar language the inevitable next time a new disease enters our consciousness. If we are truly committed to the health of our villages, we should refrain from dehumanizing any member with an unfortunate brand they may not outlive.
by Sara Guaglione , November 4, 2016

Mobile Web growth is the biggest indicator of overall magazine audience growth, according to the latest Magazine Media 360 Brand Audience Report, released this week from The Association of Magazine Media.

The report revealed that magazine brands growth on mobile Web resulted in overall audience growth. Of the 89 brands that experienced total audience growth in the report, 83% of those brands saw an increase in their average mobile web audiences in September.

Conversely, of the 43 brands whose total audience declined over the same period, 60% reported declines in mobile Web audiences as well.

The report shows that total magazine audience is up 6.7% over a year ago.

As for print, which includes digital editions, total audience grew by 1.2%.

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The Association of Magazine Medias Social Media Report for the third quarter revealed Facebook growth slowed to 3.8% from 5.5% last quarter, but continued to dominate other social-media platforms, with more than twice the audience of Twitter.

Facebook has 450 million Likes across magazine media brands, while Twitter has 218 million Followers.

The top five magazine brands with the most total audience  across print, Web, mobile Web and video  for September 2016 were ESPN The Magazine, People, Forbes, WebMD Magazine and Allrecipes.

The top five magazine brands with the most percentage growth in total audience for September 2016 compared to a year ago were Domino, The New Yorker, W, Marie Claire and Country Living.

The top five brands with the largest social-media followings were National Geographic Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, National Geographic, Vogue and The Economist.
In its PlayStore, Google is planning to give app developers the option of offering short-term promotional prices.

Coming soon, youll be able to create an introductory price for new subscribers for a set period of time," Larissa Fontaine, director, global head of apps business development at Google Play, notes in a new blog post.

For example, app makers can offer a subscription for $1 per month for the first three months before the normal subscription price takes effect.

Along with local/custom pricing and free trials already offered, introductory pricing will help you acquire more subscribers and grow your subscription business, according to Fontaine.

For Google, the change is part of a broader effort to please developers, which means helping them increase their subscriber and financial figures.

Subscriptions are the fastest-growing business model on the PlayStore, Fontaine noted on Thursday. Indeed, consumer spending in subscription apps increased about tenfold over the last three years. Yet not every decision Google makes works directly in developers favor.

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Earlier this year, for example, Google Play began to note more clearly if a particular app Contains Ads -- right alongside the note about whether or not apps offer in-app purchases.

Notably, Apple's App Store does not include any such warning. In 2014, the Google rival did begin to identify which apps and games included in-app purchases, but that's as far as it went.

Overall, Google appears to be more concerned with quality control within its Google Play ecosystem.

Last year, for example, it began assigning content ratings and family star badges to kid-appropriate apps and games, as well as vetting apps through a manual review process.

Earlier this year, meanwhile, the search giant began experimenting with app awards to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In the U.S. alone, advertisers will spend $28.72 billion to reach their targets on mobile devices, this year, eMarketer estimates.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, November 4, 2016

As disreputable as American tabloids are, you can at least say this in their favor: They dont actively foment civil disorder.

By contrast, their cousins in the UK arent afraid to whip up the very worst emotions in their readers, even if it means someone may get slightly, how shall I say, mmmm, ah, murdered.

British tabloids are really letting themselves go in response to a high courts ruling that the new government formed by Prime Minister Theresa May must  gasp!  ask Parliament for approval before initiating Article 50. That's the provision of the European Union treaty which must be invoked to trigger the United Kingdoms exit from the EU, colloquially known as Brexit.

A majority of Brits voted in favor of Brexit in a referendum held in June, prompting former Prime Minister David Cameron to resign. May, his successor, had planned to invoke Article 50 and begin negotiations with the EU over Brexit in March.

The ruling by a panel consisting of Britains Lord Chief Justice and two colleagues threatens to throw a wrench into the whole process, since a majority of current members of Parliament oppose Brexit.

How it will all pan out is anyones guess, and even serious newspapers have warned of a constitutional crisis in Britain, as the peoples will, as expressed in the referendum, differs from that of their elected representatives. Conversely, theres still a possibility of the ruling being overturned by Britains Supreme Court.

So what do Britains execrable tabloids think about all this? Dont worry, theyre happy to scream it in your face in classic spittle-flecked fashion!

The Daily Mail is easily the worst, running a photo of the three high-court justices on its front page over the shrieking headline, Enemies of the People. The article goes on to declare the judges enemies of democracy.

The language is so inflammatory, its not unreasonable to fear for their safety, especially following the assassination of a pro-Remain member of Parliament, Jo Cox, by a pro-Brexit gunman a week before the referendum.

Among the damning accusations leveled by The Daily Mail: A group of pro-Remain Tory and Labour MPs met to plot how the ruling could be used to force Mrs May to reveal more about her broad negotiating aims. Treason, I say!

The Daily Telegraph struck a similar note, running pictures of the three judges under the headline: The judges versus the people. As with The Daily Mail headline, this formulation is rather odd, considering the judgment merely reiterated the sovereign power of Parliament, which is also a democratically elected body representing the people.

Then theres The Sun, which played to readers xenophobia with this misleading summary of events: Loaded foreign elite defy will of Brit voters. This is apparently a reference to Gina Miller, a foreign-born British citizen who brought the original lawsuit along with a Brazilian hairdresser and a British expat, among others.

The only factual problem with this headline is that its, well, wrong. Miller is a British citizen, and in any event, it isnt the plaintiffs who issue decisions and defy the will of the voters, but the judges. All are British citizens born in Britain, and therefore not foreign by any stretch of the imagination.

In conclusion: Its starting to look a lot like Weimar!
Sunway TaihuLight, current fastest supercomputer in the world. File photo.

Since beginning operation on June 20, Chinas Sunway TaihuLight, the worlds fastest supercomputer, has made more than 100 key achievements in 19 fields covering climate, marine life, aerospace, biology, materials science, particle physics, medicine and more.

The supercomputer has worked on important national projects such as predicting the falling trajectory of China's first space station module Tiangong-I, which is set to fall back to Earth in 2017. It has also offered commercial services, processing data for Envision Energy, a Shanghai-based energy technology services provider. The powerful computer calculated China's wind resources from 2014 to 2015 in only 12 days, while simultaneously processing other jobs.

For reference, other supercomputers would need approximately 45 days to achieve the same feat. Sunway TaihuLight has been working more than 60 percent of the time since its deployment, while maintaining a low failure rate of 0.6 percent.

Researchers at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, where the supercomputer is housed, said they have invited scientists from a number of laboratories to work with computing experts at the center to design new software. Fluid mechanics and medical experts have already started to cooperate at the center.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, November 4, 2016

Trump rode the earned-media wave throughout the primary cycle and landed the Republican nomination with no apparent digital operation.

This completely changed as the general election developed, with the Trump campaign quietly building a robust team of data scientists and analysts that rivals any modern-day political digital operation.

Based in San Antonio, the Trump team built an appropriately if not bluntly named database: The Alamo.

When we won the nomination, we decided we were going to do digital fundraising and really ramp this thing up to the next level, a senior advisor in the Trump campaign told Bloomberg Businessweek. The official added that Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law, reached out to some Silicon Valley people who are kind of covert Trump fans and experts in digital marketing. They taught us about scaling.

Theres really not that much of a difference between politics and regular marketing.

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What they built adds up to a 100+ person team of contractors and employees, including data scientists from Cambridge Analytica, the firm hired by Ted Cruzs primary campaign. Red, White & Blog spoke with Alexander Nix, CEO of Cambridge Analytica back in February about the digital operation they were running for Cruz.

This is really the ground zero of the Trump campaign. Its not the few dozen folks at Trump Tower, Joshua Green of Bloomberg Businessweek told Jacob Weisberg on Slates Trumpcast. A traditional get-out-the-vote (GOTV) still doesnt really exist; Project Alamo is the core of the campaigns marketing and advertising operation.

Green said the curious thing about the Trump campaigns approach is that it is not engaging in traditional political behavior.

It is not running the large-dollar fundraisers weve seen with Clinton or Romney. The GOTV operation is outsourced to the RNC; the campaign hasnt been pushing big TV ad buys until recently.

What Trump has been extremely successful in doing, however, is cultivating a base of small donors who are hard-core Trump supporters. When Kushner went out to Silicon Valley, he found that Facebook ads and spammy-type ads are the quickest, cheapest ways to build a universe of small Trump donors, explained Green.

Green, who visited the Trump San Antonio operation with a colleague, told Weisberg the Trump campaign had compiled around 12 million emails and gained 2.5 million small donors. Together, they donated around $235 million for the Trump campaign since June.

The approach is probably a good bet for the Trump camp.

The only way Trump can win on November 8 is by intensely driving their core supporters to the polls. Winning over minority voters or college-educated women with a digital operation seems impossible, in light of ads the Clinton campaign is running.

Further, if he doesnt win, that 12 million person roster is not too shabby an audience to launch TrumpTV.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, November 4, 2016

Consumers who are suing Vizio over its alleged data-sharing practices are slamming the company's stance that federal video privacy law doesn't apply to device manufacturers like itself.

Vizio's argument "has a catch-me-if-you-can quality," the consumers say in papers filed Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge Josephine Staton in Santa Ana, California. "The law, it insists, is outmoded and can do nothing to stop the trap Vizio has laid for consumers."

The consumers' argument comes in response to Vizio's request to dismiss a class-action complaint accusing the company of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits video providers from disclosing "personally identifiable information" about people's video-viewing history.

The lawsuit alleges that Vizio, which recently agreed to be acquired for $2 billion by Chinese tech company LeEco, tracks TV viewers by default, and then shares data with companies that send targeted ads to people's phones, tablets and other devices. The first video privacy lawsuit against the company was filed last November, less than one week after ProPublica published a report about the company. Since then, other consumers brought similar lawsuits; all of the cases have been consolidated in front of Staton. Some of the earlier versions of the lawsuits included allegations against ad agencies and ad tech companies, including the WPP Group, Interpublic, Tapad, Inc. Xaxis, TubeMogul, Visible World and others. But those companies aren't named as defendants in the complaint currently pending in front of Staton.

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"Vizios sharp practices are an outlier in the industry," the consumers say in their new court papers. "Vizios major competitors impose an opt-in requirement to invasive data tracking, whereas Vizio impose a buried and misleading opt-out default option."

The federal law at the center of the lawsuit, the Video Privacy Protection Act, was passed in 1988, after s newspaper in Washington, D.C. obtained and printed the video rental records of Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork. The law's restrictions apply to providers of videotapes or "similar audiovisual material."

Two months ago, Vizio asked Staton to dismiss the lawsuit. Among other reasons, Vizio argued that the 1988 law doesn't cover consumer electronics manufacturers. The company says it isn't "akin to the video rental store that Congress targeted," but is instead "like a building that leases space to several video rental stores."

But the consumers say Vizio is interpreting the law too narrowly. "Vizio is not merely a television manufacturer, it also provides them a service: the delivery of streaming video," they consumers say. "Indeed, plaintiffs purchased these Smart TVs in part because Vizios technology brings the video rental store into the home, allowing plaintiffs to access video on demand through Vizios proprietary interface."

Vizio also argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out on the grounds that the type of data it allegedly disclosed isn't "personally identifiable information." The complaint alleges that Vizio disclosed material like IP addresses, MAC (media access control) addresses, zip codes, computer names, and product serial numbers.

But the consumers counter that this type of information is "unique" and should be considered personally identifiable. "MAC addresses are unique to plaintiffs smart TVs and other electronic devices and serves as a wireless beacon that regularly broadcasts the devices precise location," they say in their new motion papers.

Judges throughout the country have split on the question.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year that Gannett potentially violated the law by allegedly transmitting users' device identifiers, GPS data and video- viewing history to Adobe.

But other courts have dismissed lawsuits against video distributors that allegedly transmitted "anonymous" information to outside companies. In one recent dispute, a judge in Seattle dismissed a lawsuit by Roku user Chad Eichenberger, who accused ESPN of sending his Roku's serial number, combined with data about videos watched, to Adobe. Eichenberger has appealed that matter to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case is pending.
by Philip Rosenstein , November 4, 2016

Politico on Thursday named Paul Volpe as its new executive editor and has elevated Peter Canellos to editor-at-large.

Volpe arrives at Politico from The New York Times, where he was deputy politics editor and deputy Washington bureau chief for digital. Peter Canellos previously served as Politicos executive editor.

We will invest in powerful journalism while finding new and innovative ways to reach and expand our audience, Politico says of the publications recent moves.

Canellos, the former executive editor, was instrumental in helping Politico reach a record of 34 million unique visitors and over 234 million page views in October. Moving away from day-to-day political coverage after the 2016 election, Canellos will be tasked with developing an investigative-oriented team of political journalists.

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Canellos has edited two Pulitzer Prize-winner series, as well as a number of finalists.

Prior to The New York Times, Volpe had stints at the Washington Post and Congressional Quarterly. Volpe was also involved in launching TBD, a local news startup funded by Robert Allbritton.
by Gord Hotchkiss , Featured Contributor, November 4, 2016

The following post was first published in an earlier edition of MediaPost's Online Spin.

Since Siri first stepped into our lives in 2011, were being introduced to more and more digital assistants. Weve met Amazons Alexa, Microsofts Cortana and Googles Google Now. We know them, but do we love them?

Apparently, its important that we bond with said digital assistant, and snappy comebacks appear to be the surest path to our hearts. So, if you ask Siri if she has a boyfriend, she might respond with, Why? So we can get ice cream together, and listen to music, and travel across galaxies, only to have it end in slammed doors, heartbreak and loneliness? Sure, where do I sign up? She seems to know a smart-assed digital assistant is to love her -- but just be prepared for that love to be unrequited.

Not to be outdone, Google is also brushing up on its witty repartee for its new digital assistant, thanks to some recruits from The Onion and Pixar. According to a recent Mediapost article, Google has assembled a team of writers from those two sources, tapping the Onion for caustic sarcasm and Pixar for a gentler, more human touch.

But can we really be friends with a machine, even if it is funny?

Microsoft thinks so. It has unveiled a new chatbot in China called Xiaoice (pronounced Shao-ice). Xiaoice takes on the persona of a 17-year-old girl who responds to questions like How would you like others to comment on you when you die one day? with the plaintive The world would not be much different without me. Perhaps this isnt as clever as Siris comebacks, but theres an important difference: Siris responses were specifically scripted to respond to anticipated question, while Xiaoice actually talks with you by using true artificial intelligence and linguistic processing.

In a public test on WeChat, Xiaoice received 1.5 million chat group invitations in just 72 hours. As of earlier this year, she had had more than 10 billion conversations. In a blog post, Xiaoices father, Yongdong Wang, head of the Microsoft Application and Services Group East Asia, said, Many see Xiaoice as a partner and friend, and are willing to confide in her just as they do with their human friends. Xiaoice is teaching us what makes a relationship feel human, and hinting at a new goal for artificial intelligence: not just analyzing databases and driving cars, but making people happier.

When we think of digital assistants, we naturally think of the advantages that machines have over humans: unlimited memory, access to the entire Web, vastly superior number-crunching skills and much faster processing speeds. This has led to cognitive offloading: humans transferring certain mental processing tasks to machines.

We now trust Google more than our own memory for retrieving information, just as we trust calculators more than our own limited mathematical abilities. But there should be some things that humans are just better at: being human, for instance. We should be more empathetic -- better able to connect with other people. A machine shouldnt get us better than our spouse or best friend.

For now, thats probably still true. But what if you dont have a spouse, or even a best friend? Is having a virtual friend better than nothing at all? Recent studies have shown that robotic pets seem to ease loneliness with isolated seniors. More research is needed, but its not really surprising to learn that a warm, affectionate robot is better than nothing at all. What was surprising was that in one study, seniors preferred a robotic dog to the real thing.

The question remains, however: Can we truly have a relationship with a machine? Can we feel friendship -- or even love -- when we know that the machine cant do the same? This goes beyond the high-tech flirtation of discovering Siris or Googles  Easter egg responses to something more fundamental. Its touching on what appears to be happening in China, where millions are making a chatbot their personal confidant. I suspect there are more than a few lonely Chinese who would consider Xiaoice their best friend.

On many levels, that scares the hell out of me.
by Barbara Lippert , Featured Columnist, November 4, 2016

Lets face it: The year hasnt been great for men or women, in politics or advertising. Throughout this election period, weve seen the return of time-worn gender stereotypes and divides as we attempt to lift the lid on old bro-dom, which is a stubborn institution. It awakens fury on both sides.

Changing behaviors is painful, but it seems that lately, the fact that a concept like unconscious bias has been trickling into the discourse is progress.

Yet it appears some Republican voters are pulling for Trump more out of sheer Hillary-hate than real Donald-love. And sadly, Saatchis now-retired chief Kevin Roberts statement that women dont have vertical ambition is still ringing in my ears, along with recent harassment suit scandals and the leave-taking of several very senior women in the ad and media industries.

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So at the fifth annual 3% Conference, held in New York City this week, it was inspiring to hear Susan Credle, global chief creative officer at FCB, tell the packed crowd at the Manhattan Center: Its a great time for women, and the world wants you.

The audience exhaled, and sat up straighter in their stiff seats for a minute. Credles positivity had lightened the mood enough so that that she was able to joke: Even your chairs can be biased. And that unearthed another funny detail about little issues that we take for granted. In this case, the chairs on stage that Credle and Jeff Goodby, her partner in the Legends presentation, were occupying. (Full disclosure: I have worked for Jeff at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.)

The stage was black, and minimally furnished with a large screen and two replica Barcelona chairs in white leather. They gave off an art-directed, sophisticated vibe, and maybe the choice of white was supposed to be feminizing.

Still, the classic design is low-slung and backward-vaulting, which makes it very difficult for any leg-crossing, skirt-wearing women to sit comfortably while talking on an elevated stage.

Or as Credle put it to Goodby: I bet you havent thought about your underwear once.

The discussion touched on many such awkward, rarely mentioned realities in agency life, with both Credle and Goodby reassessing their own pasts and digging deeply for the truth.

What incentivizes women and men can be very different, Credle said. Men get more excited than I do about awards, and she went on to explain she just wasnt that jazzed to jump on stage with a team of men and collect hardware, or keep wondering, How many did I get?

Goodby gave it some thought, and agreed that there is a difference  there is some inherent maleness in the whole system of awards. He joked: "Having served on many juries, I can say that you shouldn't be as thrilled to win them  or as disappointed not to."

Then Credle said what excited her was not more money or a higher title, but putting work into the world that she was proud of and made a difference. And setting an example for other women.

She said that for young employees, just being recognized by one of the higher-ups is confidence-building. She said Phil Dusenberry did this for her at BBDO, where she started as a substitute receptionist.

This gave Goodby an opportunity to talk about his mentor, Hal Riney, a real Hemingway-esque mans man, who unapologetically ran a boys club and was the opposite of nurturing, as one anecdote made clear.

He had forgotten he hired me, Goodby said. When I ran into him, I said, Hows it going? And he answered, Whats it? Goodby responded, Its just a thing people say. And Riney retorted, What people?

On the male side, Goodby admitted he saw advertising as a kind of vandalism, like smashing pumpkins.

The duo also covered an otherwise untouchable subject for women: Female staffers behaving as warrior ants. That means if one woman succeeds, she pulls up the ladder behind her.

Credle was refreshingly candid in admitting that just such a mini-Susan came along at one point in her career at BBDO, and she was threatened. You go back to survival instinct, she said. I thought, Im gonna take her out!

Then she admitted that she did take her out  to lunch and dinner. And learned that theres tons of room for everybody.

Conferences get rid of warring ant behaviors, she said. We see each other and acknowledge each other. 

Credle also broke another taboo by admitting she was a crier. She said that at one point she told her male partner, You have to know something about me. I cry. You get very forceful when youre impassioned. I cry.

Credle added, Crying isnt acceptable in the workplace, but its no different than having a loud voice. (She even mentioned women getting surgery on their tear ducts.)

In the end, she added: Being a woman gave me the energy to succeed. I dont think I would have been as successful as a man.

Amen. I cant wait until we are no longer fighting about politics or gender, and can move on to other things, like the Starbucks holiday cup. Its green, and includes a single line drawing teeming with people. I love it. Silver bells can go shove it.
Anxiety is a serious health concern affecting a large part of the American population. Now, new research indicates that health anxiety might increase the risk of heart disease. Share on Pinterest Health anxiety might increase the risk of heart disease, research finds. In the United States, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness, affecting 40 million adults, or 18 percent of the population. Anxiety is a known risk factor for heart disease. Previous research indicates a connection between depression and anxiety and the risk of coronary heart disease. A meta-analysis found that anxious people have a 48 percent higher risk of dying from a heart problem. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), killing 365,000 people in 2014. New research suggests that the consequences of health anxiety are also serious and the condition should be treated properly. Health anxiety describes a patients excessive worrying over having a serious illness, and seeking medical advice in the absence of a physical disease. Patients with health anxiety misread physical symptoms as serious illnesses, and they often seek repeated medical help for the same issues. In its most intense form, health anxiety becomes hypochondria.

Health anxiety and heart disease Researchers led by Line Iden Berge, from the Helse Bergen hospital in Bergen, Norway, examined the link between health anxiety and heart disease. The results were published in the online journal BMJ Open. Berge and team worked with participants in the Norwegian Hordaland Health Study (HUSK). This long-term study followed participants over a period of 12 years, and it was a collaboration between the National Health Screening Service, the University of Bergen, and local health services. The 7,052 participants were born between 1953-1957. For the study, they had to answer questions about their health, lifestyle, and educational achievement. Between 1997-1999, they underwent blood tests, weight, height, and blood pressure measurements. Participants were also asked to report their anxiety levels using the Whiteley Index. Scores above 90 percent were considered to be anxiety cases. Over the entire study period, 234 participants, or 3.2 percent of the entire cohort, had an ischemic incident  either a heart attack or acute angina.

Health anxiety raised heart disease risk by 73 percent During follow-up, twice as many participants with health anxiety developed heart disease, compared with those who did not report any anxiety. Around 6.1 percent of health anxiety cases developed ischemic heart disease (IHD), compared with 3 percent of non-cases. Because participants had been enrolled in a nationwide research project monitoring heart disease, their heart health was monitored extensively. The national program, entitled Cardiovascular diseases in Norway, was carried out between 1994-2009, so the study could track participants using national hospital data and death certificates up to 2009. After adjustments for established cardiovascular risk factors, researchers found a 73 percent increased risk of developing IHD among cases with health anxiety. Even considering established risk factors for IHD, such as smoking, high cholesterol, and education, health anxiety was a high risk factor for IHD. The risk of IHD also increased proportionally with the level of reported anxiety; the stronger the symptoms of health anxiety, the higher the risk of IHD. Regarding gender, a very slight increase in IHD risk was noticed in women with health anxiety over their male counterparts.
Shift work is becoming an increasing part of the working patterns of Americans, but some people deal with these irregular schedules better than others. Now, a new study suggests the ability to cope with shift work may be down to genetics.

Share on Pinterest Researchers identified a gene variant that is more common among shift workers with job-related exhaustion.

In the United States, around 15 percent of full-time employees work shifts  that is, they work outside of the standard 9-5 schedule.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, around 37 percent of shift workers fail to get enough sleep as a result of their work schedule, and around 10 percent of night and rotating shift workers experience sleep disorders  such as insomnia or daytime fatigue.

These disorders are thought to arise from the disruption shift work causes to the bodys circadian rhythm  the approximate 24-hour cycle of physical, mental, and behavioral changes that mainly respond to light and darkness.

However, precisely why some people develop sleep disorders and job exhaustion as a result of shift work while others do not has been unclear.

Prof. Tiina Paunio, of the University of Helsinki in Finland, and her team sought to determine whether there might be a genetic explanation for this discrepancy.
Scientists at The University of Manchester have shown for the first time that if the brain is 'tuned-in' to a particular frequency, pain can be alleviated.

Chronic pain - pain which lasts for more than six months - is a real problem for many people, with 20-50 % of the general population estimated to suffer from it (comprising 20% of consultations in general practice).

It is a much greater problem in the elderly with 62% of the UK population over 75 year's old suffering from it. Chronic pain is often a mixture of recurrent acute pains and chronic persistent pain. Unfortunately there are very few treatments available that are completely safe, particularly in the elderly.

Nerve cells on the surface of the brain are co-ordinated with each other at a particular frequency depending on the state of the brain. Alpha waves which are tuned at 9-12 cycles per second have been recently associated with enabling parts of the brain concerned with higher control to influence other parts of the brain.

For instance researchers at the Human Pain Research Group at The University of Manchester found that alpha waves from the front of the brain, the forebrain, are associated with placebo analgesia and may be influencing how other parts of the brain process pain.

This led to the idea that if we can 'tune' the brain to express more alpha waves, perhaps we can reduce pain experienced by people with certain conditions.

Dr Kathy Ecsy and her colleagues in The University of Manchester's Human Pain Research Group have shown that this can be done by providing volunteers with goggles that flash light in the alpha range or by sound stimulation in both ears phased to provide the same stimulus frequency. They found that both visual and auditory stimulation significantly reduced the intensity of pain induced by laser-heat repeatedly shone on the back of the arm.

Professor Anthony Jones is the director of the Manchester Pain Consortium which is focussed on improving the understanding and treatment of chronic pain. He said: "This is very exciting because it provides a potentially new, simple and safe therapy that can now be trialled in patients. At recent public engagements events we have had a lot of enthusiasm from patients for this kind of neuro-therapeutic approach."

Further studies are required to test the effectiveness in patients with different pain conditions but the simplicity and low cost of the technology should facilitate such clinical studies.

Dr Chris Brown, who is a Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Liverpool, who was involved in the research while working in Manchester, said: "It is interesting that similar results were obtained with visual and auditory stimulation, which will provide some flexibility when taking this technology into patient studies. For instance this might be particularly useful for patients having difficulty sleeping because of recurrent pain at night."

A video interview with Professor Jones is available here: https://youtu.be/vFf_jJHYr6g
Researchers at VIB, KU Leuven and the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) reveal an innovative strategy to fight against bacterial biofilms. Professor Francoise Van Bambeke's teams from the Louvain Drug Research Institute of UCL and Professor Patrick Van Dijck's teams from VIB and KU Leuven are opening up a new path in treating serious infections which affect patients in hospital. The results of the study are published in the scientific journal, Nature Communications.

In this study, scientists demonstrate how medication used today against fungal infections (caspofungin) make a form of antibiotics (fluoroquinolones) very effective against Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the biggest menaces in a hospital environment. In fact, it causes ongoing infections, by forming biofilms on medical devices (catheters, prostheses) and tissue. Biofilms are bacteria communities which surround themselves with an adhesive and protective matrix, making them resistant to the action of antibiotics and immune defenses. Biofilms are consequently very difficult to get rid of. As they frequently release living bacteria, it is thought that they are responsible for the recurrent nature of Staphylococcus aureus infections.

Scientists from UCL, VIB and KU Leuven have researched innovative treatments that are likely to destroy the biofilm matrix in order to restore antibiotic activity. They have been able to highlight such an effect for caspofungin, an antifungal medication, today used in clinical treatment against severe fungal infections, such as Candida or Aspergillus. Although totally inactive on Staphylococcus aureus cultured in a broth (a form known as "planktonic"), caspofungin considerably enhances the anti-biofilm activity of certain antibiotics, like fluoroquinolones. The synergy of action between the two medications has been able to be demonstrated, in vitro and in vivo, on the biofilms formed on catheters and implanted in mice.

These encouraging results open up new paths in the fight against serious infections affecting patients in hospital, in particular, patients who carry catheters (to administer medication intravenously, for example) or implanted medical devices (prostheses, pacemakers, etc.). These results have enabled a new therapeutic target and an initial effective medication to be identified, which could form the subject of a clinical evaluation. Future laboratory research based on this discovery will aim to identify molecules which recognize the bacterial enzyme better than fungi, in order to make further improvements to how targeted the action of the proposed treatment is.

The work has been carried out thanks to the financial support of Innoviris (the Prospective Research for Brussels program), the Interuniversity Attraction Poles program initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office and the Swiss National Science Foundation (FNRS).
Wild animal protection employees confirmed that a wild macaque was seen for the first time in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province on Oct. 27. The primate was spotted by a senior villager as it was enjoying food on the roof of the villager's house.

The wild macaque seemed to feel intimidated as curious residents crowded around it. The animal protection employees failed to return it to protective captivity, as it quickly disappeared into the woods. They guessed that the wild macaque was either forced into exile after losing a battle against a rival, or else that it escaped from Poyang Lake, which is currently in its low-water season.
OTTAWA

Nov. 4, 2016

Canada

May 2016

Canada

Canada

Menthol masks the irritating effect of tobacco smoke by making it easier to inhale, which facilitates experimentation by youth.

According to the most recent Canadian student survey, almost half of students who reported smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days reported smoking menthol cigarettes.

Research has shown that an important way to curb lifetime smoking is to prevent youth from starting to smoke in the first place. Despite success in reducing smoking rates among youth to a record low, recent data has shown that a significant number of youth smoke menthol cigarettes.

Restricting the use of menthol flavouring is only one part of the Government of Canada's overall tobacco control strategy. The Government of Canada continues to advance work to implement its commitment to introduce plain packaging for all tobacco products, as well as to table new legislation to regulate vaping products.

overall tobacco control strategy. The Government of continues to advance work to implement its commitment to introduce plain packaging for all tobacco products, as well as to table new legislation to regulate vaping products. As part of the Government of Canada's efforts to develop a new and innovative Federal Tobacco Control Strategy, Minister Philpott will host a national forum in early 2017 to discuss the future of tobacco control and hear from a wide range of stakeholders and Canadians, including First Nations and Inuit people.

Jane Philpott

Canada

/CNW/ - Staying healthy is about more than just visiting a doctor. It is the result of the positive choices we make every day. The Government ofcontinues to take action in helping Canadians make healthy choices for themselves and their families.As part of this commitment, and under the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy, Health Canada announced today a proposed Order that would amend theto ban the use of menthol in cigarettes, blunt wraps and most cigars sold on the Canadian market.In, Health Canada concluded a 30-day consultation period with stakeholders and the general public on the path forward for the restriction of menthol flavouring in these tobacco products. The vast majority of comments received from the public were supportive.The proposed amendments would build on changes that came into force in 2009 and 2015, which banned the use of certain additives, including flavours like chocolate and bubble gum, in all cigarettes, blunt wraps and most cigars (including little cigars), to make them less attractive to youth.The changes proposed today would expand on these restrictions by prohibiting menthol, an additive used by tobacco manufacturers to improve the palatability of their products and increase their appeal, resulting in 95% of the entire tobacco market being subject to a federal flavour ban.The Government ofencourages Canadians to review the proposed Order, which is being published in thePart I for a 75-day public comment period, and to submit feedback they may have to Health Canada.The Federal Tobacco Control Strategy is a component of the vision for a healthy, which focuses on healthy eating, healthy living and a healthy mind."Every year, tens of thousands of Canadians die from preventable diseases that can be directly linked to smoking. Research shows that the best way to prevent these deaths is to stop people from smoking in the first place, especially when they're young. By moving forward on this proposed ban on menthol, alongside the existing flavours ban for tobacco products, we are taking another important step in the fight against youth smoking."Proposed Order to amend the Schedule to the Tobacco ActCanadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (2014-2015) Backgrounder on the Vision for a Healthy CanadaHealthnews releases are available on the Internet at: www.healthcanada.gc.ca/mediaSOURCE Health Canada
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The brain is built from progenitor cells that replicate many times, each time making a copy of their genome. "Our brains are a mix of cells with copies of copies, and copies of copies of copies, and so on, of the genome. Imagine you were building a house and every brick was made by copying the previous brick rather than making all the bricks from the same original mold. That is, in a sense, the challenge of building a brain where each cell must have a relatively faithful copy of the genome," Evrony states. "Inevitably, mistakes in DNA replication and other mutational forces accumulate and create imperfect copies."Further, Evrony and colleagues were able to use the mutations they found as markers to trace how progenitor cells migrate across the brain as it is formed. This revealed interesting patterns showing that every brain is a remarkable patchwork of mosaic mutations. These technologies can now be used to study unexplained neuropsychiatric diseases, such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia, to determine whether somatic mutations may be involved. "As a physician-scientist, I wanted to pursue research that could help patients with diseases whose causes are not known. I hope our findings inspire more research to bring light to unsolved neurologic diseases," Evrony said.The Eppendorf and Science Prize in Neurobiology recognize outstanding international neurobiological research based on current methods and advances in the field of molecular and cell biology by a young, early-career scientist, as described in a 1,000-word essay based on experiments performed within the last three years. The grand prize winner receives $25,000 from Eppendorf.In his award-winning essay, "One brain, many genomes," which will be published in the 4 November issue of, Evrony describes how single-cell sequencing was used to study the first brain-specific somatic mutations causing a rare congenital brain malformation known as hemimegalencephaly. The discovery provided an initial glimpse into the unexplored landscape of somatic mutations and subsequent brain dysfunction, which had been overlooked as most genetic analyses only examine the sequence of blood DNA. Because neurons and their genomes must keep working for an entire person's lifetime, this same technology could also measure how many mutations might creep into our brains as they age.The patchwork patterns of somatic mutations that Evrony and colleagues are uncovered could mean that rare, as-yet unrecognized brain disorders may exist. In these instances, a somatic mutation may subtly affect only one small part of the brain (that is involved with the ability to speak, for example), while sparing the rest of the brain. "We might be especially prone to such mutations because of the high number of cell divisions that it takes to build a large human brain," Evrony, the 15th winner of the prize suggests.He believes these findings will ultimately paint a clearer picture of the brain's inner workings, noting, "Our work is part of the broader effort in the neuroscience community to develop new tools to study the brain. The brain is incredibly complex, and I believe that our progress in understanding it largely depends on the development of new technologies." Evrony and the following finalists will be recognized at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on Sunday, 13 November 2016, in San Diego, California.2016 Grand Prize Winner Gilad Evrony, for his essay "One brain, many genomes." Evrony received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served in the Intelligence Division of the Israel Defense Forces and completed an M.D. and Ph.D. at Harvard Medical School, with graduate research in Dr. Christopher Walsh's laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Evrony is currently pursuing clinical training in pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital and continuing his research developing new technologies for studying the brain and neuropsychiatric diseases.Finalists Anna Beyeler, for her essay "Parsing reward from aversion." Beyeler received her undergraduate degree from the University of Bordeaux, in southern France, where she then completed her Ph.D. degree requirements. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has been exploring the neural circuit mechanisms underlying rewarding and aversive memories. Dr. Beyeler is currently establishing an independent research program aimed at identifying neural substrates of anxiety disorders.Arjun Krishnaswamy, for his essay "Building connections." Krishnaswamy received undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from McGill University. As a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, he has been using molecular, electrophysiological, and genetic approaches to learn how developing neurons in the mouse retina choose synaptic targets and establish wiring patterns important for retinal function.Source: Medindia


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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: ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi Responds To Military Campaign To Retake Mosul, Urges ISIS Soldiers To Remain Strong, Calls For Attacks On ISIS's Enemies

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

On November 2, 2016, the Islamic State's (ISIS) Al-Furqan Media released an audio message by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The message comes in response to the ongoing military campaign to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS control. Al-Baghdadi denounces the military campaign while stressing that Allah promised ISIS victory over its enemies. He also appeals to ISIS soldiers everywhere, asking them to remain united and strong in the face of the various attacks against them and their state. Al-Baghdadi also warns Sunnis of a regional conspiracy against them, which is led by ISIS's enemies, while urging them to support the Islamic State and to attack its enemies, including in Saudi Arabia and in Turkey.

EXCLUSIVE: Jihadis Actively Monitor, Discuss U.S. Presidential Election Despite Shunning Participation In Democratic Process

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

In the months leading up to the U.S. presidential election, jihadis and jihad enthusiasts have been keeping a close eye on developments in the race, and have offered their opinions on the leading candidates. While all jihadis oppose any Muslim participation in the democratic process, they still frequently voice their opinions on certain candidates. In particular, GOP candidate Donald Trump has led many to take to their social media accounts to express their ire regarding his comments about Muslims and other minorities, as well as his reported behavior towards women. On the other hand, some jihadi supporters argued that Clinton's gender should be a disqualifying factor, one of whom quoted a hadith from Sahih Al-Bukhari to underscore his point: "Never will such a nation succeed that makes a woman their ruler."

EXCLUSIVE: French ISIS Supporter Posts Snapchat Of Herself In Paris Train Station And On TGV Train Listening To ISIS Song 'My Vengeance'

On October 28, 2016, a French Snapchat user posted a video of herself in the bathroom of a TGV train departing the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris.

EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Video Features U.S. Generals, Claims It 'Dragged' U.S. And U.S. Allies Into Wars In Syria, Iraq, Libya

On November 1, 2016, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Al-Furat province released a video featuring photos of U.S. Armed Forces generals, including former CENTCOM commander Gen. Lloyd James Austin and current commander Gen. Joseph Leonard Votel, as well as Maj.-Gen. Michael Nagata and Brig.-Gen. Christopher Burns.

EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Issues Death Threat To Former Jihadis Who Joined French Government's Deradicalization Program

On October 26, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) media group publishing in French, An-Nur Media, distributed a poster denouncing Farid Benyettou, a French jihadi who is now involved in government de-radicalization programs. Benyettou is known for his connection to the Kouachi brothers, who carried out the January 2015 attack on the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly.

EXCLUSIVE: In Interview, Head Of ISIS 'Hijra Authority' Explains Why Organization Forbids Residents To Leave

In an interview in a recent issue of ISIS's weekly newsletter Al-Naba, the head of the organization's "Hijra [migration] Authority" explained the functions of his authority and the religious basis for activity.

EXCLUSIVE: On Instagram, Ontario Man Alleges That He Fought With ISIS In Syria

On November 3, 2016, a Burlington, Ontario man of Pakistani origin claimed in an Instagram conversation that he fought with ISIS in Syria for just under a year.

ISIS Claims A Stabbing Attack In Hamburg, Perpetrator Is At Large

On October 29, 2016, The Islamic State (ISIS) published a communique via its A'maq news agency claiming responsibility for a stabbing attack in Hamburg, Germany.

ISIS Claims The Assassination Of A High Ranking Police Officer In Constantine, Algeria

On October 29, 2016, the Isalamic State (ISIS) news agency A'maq claimed responsibility for the assassination of a high ranking police officer in Constantine, Algeria.

ISIS Claims Stabbing Attack Outside U.S. Embassy In Nairobi

In a message released by its official news agency A'maq on October 29, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed that the stabbing of a guard at the U.S. embassy last Thursday (October 27) had been carried out by "a soldier of the Islamic State."

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Assassinating Police Officer In Peshawar, Pakistan

On November 2, 2016 ISIS' A'maq Agency reported that a police officer had been assassinated last night in Peshawar in Northern Pakistan.

Pro-ISIS Telegram Channel Calls on ISIS Supporters Everywhere To Use Cars, Knives, Rocks To Kill Infidels In The West

On October 30, 2016, the pro-ISIS Telegram channel published a post urging ISIS supporters and soldiers everywhere to emulate terrorist attacks that took place in different parts of the world including cities in the U.S, Europe, Asia and Africa, and to use cars, knives and rocks to kill the infidels.

A'maq Releases Video Of Mali-Based Jihad Group Al-Murabitoun Joining ISIS

A'maq, the official news agency of the Islamic State (ISIS), has released a 2-minute video in which 'Adnan Abu Al-Walid Al-Sahrawi, the leader of the Mali-based jihad group Al-Murabitoun (also known as Katibat Al-Murabiteen), pledges allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, thereby officially joining the organization.

ISIS Supporters Boast About Opening 5,994 Accounts On Twitter, Facebook, And Telegram During Month Of October

Islamic State (ISIS) supporters are circulating a poster that shows the number of accounts they managed to open on Twitter, Facebook and Telegram during the month of October, despite efforts by those platforms to shut down ISIS accounts.

Pro-ISIS Hacking Group Attacks Telegram Channel Of Raqqa-Based Activist Group, Leaks Saudi Email Addresses

On November 2, 2016, the United Cyber Caliphate (UCC) hacking group announced on its Telegram channel that it had launched two cyber-attacks. One attack targeted the Telegram channel of Raqqa-based activist group "Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently" (RIBSS), which reports on crimes perpetrated by both the Assad Regime and ISIS.

Anti-ISIS Facebook Pages Targeted Daily By ISIS Supporters, Attacks Orchestrated On Telegram

A pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel named "Social Media Operations" orchestrates attacks on the Facebook pages of ISIS critics.

ISIS Video Shows Destruction Of Russian Military Helicopter Near Palmyra, Syria

The Islamic State news agency A'maq has posted a brief video showing the targeting and subsequent destruction of a Russian military helicopter near Palmyra, Syria.

Jabhat Fath Al-Sham Publishes Rare Photos Of Its Leader Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani

On October 30, 2016, Jabhat Fath Al-Sham (formerly Al-Qaeida-affiliated Jabhat Al-Nusra) published rare photos of its leader, Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani.

Jaysh Al-Fath Issues Communique Declaring Launch Of Operation To Break Aleppo Siege

On October 29, 2016, the general military command of the Jaysh Al-Fath coalition published a communique announcing a new campaign to break the siege on Aleppo, called "The Martyr Abu Omar Saraqib Raid." (Saraqib is a leader of Jabhat Fath Al-Sham - formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra - who was recently killed in an airstrike).

AQAP Media Arm Al-Malahem Features Group's Leader Qasim Al-Rimi In Its 'Concepts' Series

On October 26, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a new video featuring the group's commander Qasim Al-Rimi delivering a short speech about the concept of brotherhood. The video is part 16 of the "concepts" video series. The video is 4:52 long and dated August 2016.

AQIM Release Video Of Plea From Romanian Hostage To His Government

On November 1, 2016, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a minute-long video of the Romanian hostage Iulian Ghergut who was kidnapped in April 2015 in North Burkina Faso, near the Malian and Niger border. This is the second video of the hostage publicly released since his abduction.

French-Language ISIS Media Outlet Posts Animated Tutorials On Securely Navigating And Communicating On The Internet

On October 6, 2016, the An-Nur Media Center, an official French-language Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet, distributed four animated video tutorials on secure internet communication.

Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Videos Documents Group's Role In Battle For Aleppo's '1070 Apartments' Neighborhood

Several days ago, rebel factions fighting to liberate Aleppo announced the launch of a new military campaign named after the late Jabhat Fath Al-Sham (formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra) commander Abu Omar Saraqib, who was killed recently in an airstrike. The campaign has so far focused on liberating the city's 1070 Apartments neighborhood from Syrian regime and pro-Syrian regime forces.

Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Video Features Turkish Fighter's Last Will And Testament, Martyrdom Operation

On November 1, 2016, Sawt Al-Islam, the media arm of the Syrian branch of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), released a YouTube video featuring the last will and testament and the martyrdom operation of one of its Turkish fighters named Abd Al-Aziz Al-Turki, who targeted a neighborhood known as the 1070 Apartments Project.

Ansar Dine Denies Initiating Unilateral Ceasefire With Mali Government, Calls Upon Youth To Join Jihad

In recent months, the Mali-based jihad group Ansar Dine has increased its activity across the Malian Sahel and northern Mali, targeting Malian security forces as well as UN and French forces deployed in the area.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Launches English Radio Broadcast, Promotes It On Facebook, Telegram

On October 30, 2016, Umar Media, the media wing of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), announced the launching of and English-language radio broadcast.

The English-language broadcast joins TTP's Urdu-language broadcast, which the group regularly posts on its Facebook page.
China's internet giant Baidu has finalized an agreement with communications titan China Unicom on Nov. 2 to cooperate on mobile Internet, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and communication. The two parties will jointly pave a path of innovation through resources exchange and technology-sharing.

China Unicom will establish online services for its hundreds of thousands of franchised outlets with the support of Baidu's AI technology. In return, China Unicom will provide Baidu with services including an Internet data center and information and communications technology.

The president and CEO of Baidu, Robin Li, believes that the company's AI technology will boost the industries as well the user experience of China Unicom's customer base. Wang Xiaochu, president of China Unicom, also expressed optimism about the potential of the collaboration.

With the application of cutting-edge technologies such as speech recognition, face recognition, voice assistant and natural language-processing, Baidu will improve the service quality and efficiency of China Unicom's offline outlets, promoting intelligent service, logistics and cash flow.
Introduction

In the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, it appears that the Egyptian regime under President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi prefers Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton as the next president of the U.S. After Al-Sisi met with both presidential candidates in September 2016, his spokesman, 'Alaa Youssef, said that Egypt regarded both of them equally and that "the [last] word in the U.S. presidential election will be said by the American voters, and we have nothing to do with it."[1] However, despite this statement, there are clear indications that the Egyptian administration favors Trump over Clinton, especially in light of what is perceived in Egypt as the latter's support for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and her disapproval of Al-Sisi's ouster of the Muhammad Mursi regime on June 30, 2013. This preference of the Egyptian regime is reflected in statements by Al-Sisi and his associates, as well as in reports and op-eds published in the Egyptian government press.

During his visit to the U.S. to attend the September 20, 2016 UN General Assembly, Al-Sisi met with both Hillary and Trump. However, the mood in his meeting with Clinton seemed formal and restrained; moreover, the Egyptians limited the media's access to it (reporters were allowed to attend for only a few minutes and were forbidden to take pictures). Conversely, the mood of Al-Sisi's meeting with Trump seemed open and friendly.

Reports on the meetings in the Egyptian and the global media stressed Trump's positive stance towards the Egyptian regime versus Clinton's more critical stance. For example, they emphasized that, during the brief part of the meeting attended by the media, Clinton had praised Egypt, but also implicitly criticized the state of human rights there, and said that she looked forward to talking about "the path we are taking in order to build up a new civil society, a new modern country that upholds the rule of law, that respects human rights and liberties." Trump, on the other hand, did not bring up these issues in his meeting with the Egyptian president, but lavished praise on Egypt for its tough stance against terror and promised that, under a Trump administration, the U.S. would be "a loyal friend to Egypt," not simply an ally.[2] Trump's foreign policy advisor Walid Phares described the meeting between Al-Sisi and Trump as "historic" and noted that Trump was committed to "restoring the warmth to U.S.-Egypt relations, which are presently in a very difficult phase." [3] Phares also claimed that in the meeting Trump had promised Al-Sisi to promote legislation in the U.S. to designate the MB a terrorist organization.[4]

Indications of Al-Sisi's preference for Trump can be seen in his September 22, 2016 interview with CNN. In the interview, he said that Trump would no doubt make a strong leader, but when asked whether Clinton would make a good president, he replied evasively that "political parties in the United States would not allow candidates to reach that level unless they are qualified to lead a country the size of the United States of America."[5]

As stated, the Egyptian regimes' support for Trump and reservations about Clinton were also reflected in many op-eds published in the Egyptian press. The majority of articles in the government press expressed distaste for Clinton and warned that, in the case of a Clinton victory, Egypt and the entire region would face years of chaos and mounting terror. Some even predicted that a Clinton win would herald further deterioration in Egypt-U.S. relations, due to her insistence on interfering in Egypt's affairs, such as human rights issues. These articles cited her support for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and what they described as her positive stance towards the MB. It should be mentioned that, as early as 18 months ago, reports and op-eds in the government daily Al-Ahram have been claiming that Clinton's personal aide, Huma Abedin, is a member of the MB and serves as Clinton's liaison with the organization.[6] Conversely, only a minority of articles in the Egyptian press spoke negatively of Trump and/or expressed support for Clinton. Most of the ones that did were penned by senior MB official Gamal Heshmat and by journalists in the independent daily Al-Shurouq, which occasionally criticizes the regime.

This report will review the media discourse in Egypt for and against Trump and Clinton as president.

Pro-Regime Journalists: Clinton Is Bad For Egypt, Trump Is Better

In the days following Al-Sisi's meetings with the two presidential candidates, the Egyptian government press published many articles and views by opinion-leaders and politicians expressing distaste for Clinton and hope for a Trump victory. For example, MP 'Imad Gad, deputy-director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that Clinton had performed poorly as secretary of state and had caused problems for Egypt, and even called her a liar. Conversely, about Trump he said that "if elected president, he will uproot the MB spirit from the White House and purge the [U.S.] state department of it... Trump will never support the MB. A Trump victory will be best for the interest of the Middle East and of Egypt as a civil state."[7] Pro-regime journalist Wael Al-Abrashi said on his show on Dream TV that Egyptians tend to support Trump as the next U.S. president despite his racism, because they hate his rival Clinton, who, he said, is known for her support for the MB.[8] On his show on Sada Al-Balad TV, Journalist Ahmed Moussa, likewise a regime supporter, complained that the U.S. media supports Clinton and ignores "that poor guy" Trump, and accused Clinton and U.S. President Obama of "rigging the election."

After Al-Sisi returned from his U.S. visit, the editor of the government daily Al-Ahram, Muhammad 'Abd Al-Hadi 'Allam, published a detailed article about the president's meetings with world leaders and the messages he had delivered at the UN General Assembly. Addressing Al-Sisi's meetings with Trump, whom he described as "a strong candidate who has proved his eligibility to [be president] throughout the campaign," he stressed the importance of the meeting and devoted two paragraphs to enumerating the terrorism-related issues on which the two men had agreed. He also claimed that Trump had told Al-Sisi that "the June 30 revolution [i.e., Al-Sisi's ouster of Mursi] had saved not only Egypt but the entire world." As for Al-Sisi's meeting with Clinton, 'Allam mentioned it but did not describe its content or say anything positive about the Democratic candidate.[9]

Editor for Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' Daily: A Clinton Victory Will Be A Catastrophe For The Region And The World

Op-eds in the Egyptian media leveled harsh criticism at Hillary Clinton. Karim 'Abd Al-Salam, the acting editor of the daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi', wrote in a September 21, 2016 article that if Clinton won she would continue the policy of the Obama administration, whose relations with Egypt have been marked by tension and disagreements, whereas Al-Sisi's meeting with Trump indicated that the latter would focus on cooperation with Egypt in combating terror and extremism. He wrote: "President Al-Sisi met with the two U.S. presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. At first glance, and judging from news agency and press reports, the meeting with Hillary was restrained... Hillary Clinton made no clear statement regarding what her policy [towards Egypt] would be were she to be elected U.S. president. During the meeting, she settled for underlining the importance of strengthening bilateral relations... and other such diplomatic statements made for the record, which conceal more than they reveal.

"The president's meeting with Republican candidate Trump was totally different. During the meeting, Trump largely agreed with the president's plan for combating terrorism and for economic growth, and at its conclusion he issued statements of explicit future support for Egypt and its president. The Republican candidate stated that he would be a powerful friend and ally of Egypt in all areas, while reiterating his full support for Egypt's efforts to combat terrorism and for economic and military cooperation...

"Trump focused on the one topic that unites Cairo and Washington: the struggle against the shared enemy of extremism and terrorism. [Trump] explicitly committed to work together with the Egyptian leadership in order to overcome this danger, while Clinton did not address [this issue at all], even though terrorist attacks have reached New York.

"What does this mean? It means that Clinton's election as president would entail a continuation of the confusion, disagreement, and chaos of the Obama years. Her administration will also focus on the issue of creative chaos, and on the forging of new societies in the Middle East, and will work pressure Egypt by raising the issues of human, minority, and gay rights. [A Clinton administration will also strive] to prevent Cairo from protecting its regional surroundings and security depth in Libya, Sudan, and Syria - not to mention the support that her administration will provide to violent and extremist organizations, chiefly the Muslim Brotherhood and Jabhat Al-Nusra [sic, now Jabhat Fath Al-Sham].

"Therefore, we must be well prepared for the possibility that Hillary Clinton will take the reins of power, despite my personal assessment that Trump will win the presidency, because a Clinton victory would bring four more catastrophic years for the Arab region, Europe, and the U.S. as well!"[10]



Al-Sisi's meeting with Trump in New York (image: Al-Ahram, Egypt, September 21, 2016)

Al-Ahram Editor: Clinton's Interference In Egypt's Affairs Is A Red Line

In a September 25, 2016 article in Al-Ahram, Muhammad Sabreen, a columnist for the daily and a member of its editorial board, reviewed the two candidates' positions on Egypt, claiming that Trump focuses on the common ground with Egypt - namely the war on terror - whereas Clinton interferes in Egypt's internal affairs, which Egyptians regard as a "red line". He wrote: "I believe that Hillary Clinton and her Democratic camp are trying to bring back warmer [relations with Egypt] than existed under Obama, while attempting to blackmail [the Egyptian regime] into bringing the political Islam organizations into Egypt's political arena. On the other hand, Trump and his campaign are making grand promises about the importance and necessity of [U.S.] cooperation with Egypt. In an important and meticulously planned message, he says that under his presidency, the U.S. would be a friend on which Egypt could rely...

"Trump [seeks] to develop relations to the point of partnership, and later alliance, with Egypt, and the question is why. The answer was provided by Dr. Walid Phares, Trump's foreign policy advisor, who explained that 'the challenge of terrorism and ideological extremism is common to both countries'... Phares goes even further and says that Trump would work to place the Muslim Brotherhood on the list of designated terrorist organizations, and furthermore that Trump and his people see 'Egypt as the first line of defense against terrorism.' Conversely, Clinton has reverted to talking about her aspiration 'to build up a new civil society, a new modern country that upholds the rule of law, that respects human rights and liberties.'

"I believe that most Egyptians agree in principle with [the values of] 'a modern and democratic civil state,' but strongly oppose Washington's interference in Egypt's internal affairs, or [Washington's] linking [U.S. military] aid or partnership [between the two countries] to any 'engineering' of Egypt's domestic political arena [by the U.S.]. This is and has always been a red line for the Egyptians..."[11]

Al-Ahram Columnist: A Clinton Victory Will Strengthen MB, ISIS

Rania Hefny devoted her October 7 column in Al-Ahram to a diatribe against Clinton, whom she believes is likely to win the election, saying that her victory would strengthen the MB and ISIS. She wrote under the title "The Implications of a Clinton Presidential Victory": "The foreign policy of the candidate with the highest chance of winning the presidential election, Hillary Clinton, will be far more inflexible than Obama's. She believes that the world's problems will be solved more quickly if the U.S. is involved in the solution. [If she is elected,] Libya and Iraq are expected to return to square one. Clinton's leadership of the American political arena will arouse the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization and the statelet Qatar, as well as ISIS - in whose creation she participated - and the focus will be on exporting the conflict to many kingdoms such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Morocco. Beware, beware, beware...

"You would do well to remember that Hillary Clinton supported the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and pushed for the ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq. She helped plan the attack on Libya, and encouraged Obama to bomb Syria without obtaining the support of the [UN] Security Council... It is known that every American president sees to Israel's interest, and she has already stated that Israel's security is non-negotiable. Do not be overly optimistic. Beware."[12]

Al-Watan Columnist: Clinton Is Concerned About Human Rights Situation In Egypt While Ignoring Assad's Crimes

In a September 28 column, Al-Watan columnist 'Imad Al-Din Adib accused Clinton of employing a double standard because she demanded the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak but took a feeble stance vis-a-vis Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, whose actions against his people are far worse than Mubarak's were. He wrote: "The position of Ms. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for U.S. president, on Egypt's domestic affairs is suspect and odd. Without getting into the dissemination of the well-known conspiracy theory regarding the 'perpetual American wish to topple any national regime' in Egypt, let us discuss our actual experience between January 25 and February 11, 2011.

"During the January 2011 revolution [against the Mubarak regime], Ms. Clinton was U.S. secretary of state, and it was she who advised the White House to pressure president Hosni Mubarak to immediately relinquish power, [saying] that it was unavoidable... Thus pressure was applied to president Mubarak... This sent a reassuring message to the rebels, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the military that Washington is withdrawing support for its old friend Hosni Mubarak and his regime... The astonishing thing is that the Americans did all this with Mubarak, yet since March 2011, that is, since the start of the popular rebellion in Syrian Deraa, they have not stated unequivocally that 'Assad must leave now, and now means today!!!'

"They have not demanded [this] of Assad, who has murdered nearly 400,000 of his own people, wounded two million civilians, and expelled 11 million openly, in broad daylight! Washington has not demanded that Bashar Al-Assad of the barrel bombs, who uses missiles against civilians and chemical weapons against women, children, and the elderly, leave at once. The most it demanded in this matter was expressed in Obama's recent UN statement, that it is unthinkable that Assad will play any role during the transitional period. Mubarak was warned to leave - but Bashar Al-Assad never was!

"What sort of standards is Washington adopting, and what [sort of standards] were implemented by Ms. Hillary when she was secretary of state? Washington bemoans the human rights situation in Egypt, but not the crushing human destruction in Syria! What standards does Ms. Hillary have?!"[13]



Al-Sisi's meeting with Clinton in New York (image: Al-Yawm Al-Sabi', Egypt, September 20, 2016)

MB Official, Independent Journalists: Clinton Is Better Than The Racist Trump

Conversely, an MB official, as well as journalists for the independent daily Al-Shurouq, which tends to be critical of the regime, expressed distaste for Trump and support for Clinton.

In response to the claim by Trump's advisor that, if elected, he would promote legislation in the U.S. to designate the MB a terrorist organization, MB official Gamal Heshmat said that there was a great deal of similarity between Trump and Al-Sisi, because both of them "rely... on spreading fear among their people in order to justify the actions of violence, exclusion and takeover in which they believe and which they employ with [great] confidence under the pretext of fighting terror and promoting stability!"[14]

Dr. Osama Rushdi, an official in the Construction and Development party, the political branch of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya, said that "it will be a great disaster if Trump becomes the U.S. president," adding that he is "a racist and fascist" and threatens all Muslims, whereas Clinton is more rational. [15]

Al-Shurouq Editor: Trump Is An Enemy Of Mankind; Clinton Is A True Head of State

The independent daily Al-Shurouq published two articles against supporting Trump. The daily's editor, 'Imad Al-Din Hussein, wrote in a September 26 article that Trump was an "extremist and racist" and even "an enemy of most of mankind," and that Clinton was the better candidate due to her experience. He wrote: "Which of the two would be better for Egypt as U.S. president, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?... Among many in Egypt, there is a widespread belief that a Trump victory would be better for us, since he promised to include the Muslim Brotherhood on the list of designated terrorist [organizations], while the Democratic Clinton opposes the June 30 revolution [i.e., Mursi's ouster]. This impression might be partially true, but people forget that Trump is also an enemy of most of mankind, as he is an extremist and a racist, and repeatedly says that if elected, he would expel the Arabs and Muslims from the U.S. [These] extremist statements have not stopped since the beginning of his election campaign. Likewise, his victory would be the greatest of gifts for ISIS and for all the extremists in the region and in the world, because it would give them the best excuse of all for their extremism.

"It is true that Clinton was not enthusiastic about the June 30 revolution, but she is a true head of state. She is not a demagogue or a racist, and carefully weighs every word she says, as she spent eight years in the White House alongside her husband, president Bill Clinton, and for years was secretary of state during Obama's first term. Conversely, Trump is rash, a radical extremist, and lacks any political experience.

"So which of the two is better for Egypt, Trump or Clinton? If Trump wins, we will temporarily gain a few nice slogans, but in the long run we will lose much, as Arabs and Muslims, if he implements his slogans. If Clinton wins, she may be somewhat reserved towards us, but not as much as Obama, and our relationship might stabilize in the long term...

"Therefore, those who think a Trump victory means a total reversal [of the U.S. position on Egypt] are deluding themselves. We must remember, for example, that every presidential candidate courts the Jewish lobby and promises to transfer their country's embassy to Jerusalem, but that [when the time comes] they don't, because of their interests vis-a-vis the Arab world."[16]

Former Egyptian MP: Trump "Will Contribute To The World Becoming A Hell"; Hillary Is The Lesser Evil

The second Al-Shurouq article, also published on September 29, was by former Egyptian MP Mustafa Al-Naggar. He contended that Trump was no less dangerous for the world than Nazism and fascism, and condemned those who express support for him in Egypt, calling them extremist right-wing elements that pose a danger to Egypt itself. He wrote: "Under the influence of Ikhwanophobia [fear of the Muslim Brotherhood], the U.S. elections have become a new arena of schism in Egypt, for accusations of treason, and for classification by position on the candidates.

"It is no exaggeration to say that in recent days, and especially after the first televised debate, there is a sense [among Egyptians] that this election is not about the U.S., but about Egypt. There has been a resurgence of the tumultuous debate that is characterized by illogic, to the point where Hillary Clinton is described as a member and supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. One of the lies [going around] is that Clinton is grooming an American woman who is of Pakistani descent and a Pakistani Muslim Brotherhood member [referring to Huma Abedin] to become secretary of state!...

"In general, it is odd that some in Egypt support Trump, the man who undoubtedly represents the worst of modern American extremism. He repeatedly spews racism in its ugliest form, and most of his positions clash with humanism and the values of tolerance and coexistence with which the world has come very far and from which there is no retreat...

"It is therefore foolish to argue that this despicable racist will combat extremism and terrorism. On the contrary, he will greatly contribute to the world becoming a hell. Therefore, his existence will justify the rise of terrorism, deepen the concept of the clash of civilizations, and inflame religious animosity among the peoples...

"Trump threatens not only the U.S., but the entire world. The rise of Trumpism on the global level effectively recreates messages of hate and the rise of the extreme right, evoking the era of Nazism and Fascism in Germany and Italy that led the world to bloody wars that claimed millions of lives. Who wants that again?

"In effect, the U.S. is not run by a single person, but by enormous institutions of decision-makers. However, the election of an extremist and racist president, who will appoint an administration that shares his mentality, will cause many problems for America and for the world.

"This does not mean that Hillary Clinton is an angel who will do good for the world and Arab countries. But a choice between two bad things does not mean choosing the better one, but choosing the lesser evil. We have no voice in the U.S. presidential race. But we hope that the Americans will throw out the preachers of hatred and the racists, and send a message to the world that they oppose the insane campaign on which Trump and his ilk are leading them...

"[In order to cure] the delusions of the Trump supporters in Egypt, there is first a need for psychological treatment, and [only] then rational and ideological refutation. This group of extremists in Egypt that reflects the rise of a secular right wing is no less dangerous than the religious right. We must deal with it by disproving and dismantling the terminology of this message, and by making the public aware of its risks and consequences for Egypt..."[17]

Other Articles: Trump And Clinton Are Equally Bad

Also published in the Egyptian press were some articles claiming that Trump and Clinton would be equally bad for Egypt. Tarek Fahmy, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, told the Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' daily that America is choosing between bad and worse and that there was essentially no difference between the two candidates in terms of foreign policy.[18]

Mursi 'Atallah, the former board chairman of the Al-Ahram Foundation, wrote on September 21 that the debate about which is better, Clinton or Trump, was boring since both of them hate Arabs more or less to the same degree. He wrote: "As happens every four years, the Arab analysts and intellectuals are preoccupied with finding an answer to the traditional question: Which is better, an American president from the Democratic party or from the Republican party? The public has wearied of the recurring scenes of this boring play that repeats every four years. Even if the protagonists of this play are different, nothing in the discourse is, not even one single line.

"There is no difference between Reagan and Carter or Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Republicans and the Democrats are two sides of the same coin.

"If the Republican candidate Donald Trump presents himself as an openly hostile enemy of the Arabs and Muslims, there are those who forget that Hillary Clinton harbors no less hostility and hatred [towards them] than Trump, but only softens it outwardly..."[19]

* Y. Graff is a research fellow at MEMRI; H. Varulkar is Director of Research at MEMRI.
With the anticipated uprooting of the Islamic State (ISIS) from Mosul, and the subsequent collapse of its stronghold in Raqqa, thanks to American guidance and military involvement, President Barack Obama will have successfully completed the historic process begun by President George W. Bush with the uprooting of the murderous dictator Saddam Hussein and his regime. The most militant sect within Shi'ite Islam, Iran's Rule of the Jurisprudent (Velayat-e Faqih), will be granted an historic victory over Sunni Islam. Iran will then become the regional hegemonic power from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, threatening both Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Putting An End To A Millennium Of Sunni Domination In Iraq

Indeed, the Bush administration, while granting the Shi'ite majority in Iraq the advantage it deserved as per democratic principles, tried hard to secure for the Sunnis their relative share in government. But this attempt was eroded by the Shi'ite politicians, who were aided - and controlled - by Iran. Not only did the U.S. fail to protect the Sunnis' share of power - even though the Sunni tribes had helped it fight the Al-Qaeda insurgency in Iraq - but it actually delivered them into the hands of Iran's Shi'ite protege-turned-Iraqi-prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, who stripped them of all power, and during whose tenure they were persecuted. The more established Sunni leadership, in shock from its rapid transformation, within a few short years, from its perceived status as rightful and divinely empowered ruler to downtrodden minority under the boot of its erstwhile subjects, was impotent in the face of the U.S.'s consistent support of the Iraqi-Iranian upsurge.

ISIS - A Violent Embodiment Of The Sunnis' Reaction To Their Loss Of Power

Even though most Sunnis abhor ISIS's murderous ways, the organization's emergence was a violent embodiment of the Sunni reaction to this total loss of power to the Shi'ites, as facilitated by the U.S. But the Islamic State began long before Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the Caliphate in June 2014. It started with Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, who in 2004-6 focused on targeting both the Shi'ites, whom he viewed as usurpers of the Sunnis' rightful rule of Iraq, and the Americans, whom he saw as responsible for the Iraqi Sunnis' demise. In 2006, Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi declared the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). At its inception, ISIS comprised a melange of Sunnis: Islamists, non-Islamists, and Ba'athists. Also, unlike Al-Qaeda which prioritizes fighting the West, ISIS originally prized territorial integrity and the principle of hijra (immigration to it) over jihad against the West, which for religious, ideological, and strategic reasons was at the bottom of its priorities. For ISIS, Iraqi Shi'ites and Iran were far more important targets than the West; that, however, has shifted as the West has become increasingly engaged in fighting it, as reflected by all ISIS's messages to its supporters in the West.[1]

Can The American Upset Of An Historic Millennium-Long Order Endure?

Will the Sunnis, who comprise 90% of the Islamic world, acquiesce to their defeat in Iraq and accept the newly empowered geostrategic hegemony of Iran from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean?

Iran's leaders always stress that they have never attacked another country. However true, the reason for this is that they have always recognized their weakness in a direct confrontation with the Sunni majority. Fully aware of the real balance of power, beyond their own self-serving propaganda, they have always refrained from direct conflict with the Sunni world, and whenever they had to face down Sunni elements, they have done so only by means of Arab proxies.

Two countries apparently will not accept the emerging Iranian threat to their national security: Turkey, whose president Erdogan's neo-Ottoman ultranationalism does not presage acquiescence to the new Shi'ite-dominated reality, and Saudi Arabia, which already feels threatened - not only geostrategically, by the Iran-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen to its south, but also religiously, by Iran's increasing dispute of the Saudi role as Custodian of the Holy Places. Moreover, ISIS may yet prove resurgent in Iraq's Sunni-majority areas, where it can expect support from many in the Sunni world. In addition, the uprooting of ISIS from its Syria-Iraq territorial base means that its hardened foreign fighters from Western countries will be returning home - and will exact vengeance. These fighters' primary targets will be the U.S. and other coalition member countries, and Shi'ites wherever they can be found.

The U.S. has gotten itself into a situation in which Iraqi Sunnis, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others in the Sunni world perceive it as the great betrayer that sides with the Shi'ites in Iraq and with Iran. What the Sunnis see is that the U.S., whether Democratic or Republican, not only ended the millennium of Sunni domination in what is today Iraq, but also that instead of punishing Iran for its attempts to obtain nuclear weapons, it negotiated with it and ended up recognizing it as a nuclear power and lifting the sanctions on it - even though Iran is continuing to develop ballistic missiles, to sponsor terrorism, and to violate human rights.[2]

How Did This Happen?

How did it happen that a country which since President Franklin Roosevelt was the creator and guarantor of world order has catalyzed regional disorder, which will spill over into the West? Around the time of the invasion of Iraq in April 2003, experts and political leaders alike publicly discussed the many aspects of such a move: the assessment, that turned out to be mistaken, that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction; his human rights violations, including the use of chemical weapons and other methods of mass murder against his own people; the problematics of contending with Iraq as a rogue state that attacks its neighbors; the erosion of the sanctions regime against it: and, primarily, the issue of instituting democracy in the country. The one issue that was not discussed, however, was the historic act of shifting the rule from Sunni to Shi'ite. In the case of uprooting ISIS from Mosul, too, what is discussed today is the risk that Shi'ite forces, both governmental and militias, will make the battle over Mosul into a vengeance-fest against the city's Sunni population, and not the long-term ramifications of what will happen after the operation is successfully concluded.

It is not that the Bush administration did not think in terms of historic change. It did. But the change it aimed for was instituting democracy in Iraq - while the change that went almost ignored was that the removal of Saddam and the establishment of a representative ruling council would terminate a millennium of Sunni-dominated stability in the region.

There are always compelling and worthy reasons, some strategic and some moral, for uprooting evil - and they obscure the one consideration that always eludes us at the decisive moment. That consideration is that the new reality may prove worse, which is what happened, and which may worsen still further in the near future.

In Praise Of Hindsight

This article was written in hindsight. The authors make no claim to having had such insight at the time. Some critics, most of them European, did view the invasion as illegitimate, because it would change the country's nature and structure. Like others, we thought this argument overly legalistic, and believed not only that an invasion was legitimate, but that it was morally incumbent upon the U.S. to intervene on behalf of those facing mass murder.

Since nearly everyone failed to foresee the consequences of the historic change brought about by the Bush-Obama policy, whether aimed at instituting democracy (Bush) or at establishing a new regional equilibrium (Obama), the question arises: How can leaders avoid repeats of this debacle, which we see again and again, not only in this case but also in others? It would appear that the golden rule for leaders to follow in determining a course of action is: Do not introduce historic change.

The obvious challenge is what to do in the face of evil. Every minority in danger of mass murder understandably prays that the U.S. will feel morally bound to fight evil. However, this moral imperative should be implemented without introducing structural changes. George Bush senior struck this balance in Operation Desert Storm. Namely, he pushed Saddam out of Kuwait back to his own borders, severely damaged his military forces, and imposed sanctions - but did not oust Saddam in order to introduce democracy.

The world's democracies can and should help peoples under the yoke of dictatorship. But the onus of structural change rests upon the peoples involved. Also, when supporting anti-dictatorial forces, great care must be taken to properly and accurately identify which of them are democratic and progressive, and deserving of support - and not, as President Obama did, help elements like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which are neither democratic nor progressive. This was not the only mistake made by Obama; in Iran's 2009 civil uprising, he stood by the regime of the Islamic Republic as it violently repressed the democratic Green Movement.

Indeed, experts can help apply this rule of refraining from introducing structural change in each individual case. But the ultimate responsibility for upholding this rule rests solely upon the leaders.

*Yigal Carmon is President and Founder of MEMRI. Anna Mahjar-Barducci is Director of the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project.

Endnotes:
The recent tragic suicide of two university students in Anhui province has triggered increased concern over the mental health of young people. A police investigation showed that the two young victims made a suicide pact via QQ, a popular instant messaging platform. At the same time, a recent survey revealed that there are many such social media groups in which young people communicate about suicide.

Youth suicides have been in the headlines frequently over the past several years, and these two university students are only the latest case. To avoid more such tragedies, police say society should pay more attention to the mental health of young people, and that online groups promoting suicide should be investigated and punished.

Lawyers pointed out that there is currently no clear rule defining suicide as a crime. Therefore, instigating suicides does not constitute a crime either. Nevertheless, any person who guides a minor and/or mental patient to commit suicide may be identified a murder suspect.
Third force in Parliament triggers controversy

By Messenger Staff

The third party in Georgias 150-seat legislative body, the Alliance of Patriots  which has only six seats in Parliament  has already triggered controversy.Georgias Embassy to Azerbaijan told Azerbaijani local media that one of the leaders of the party, David Tarkhan-Mouravi - who is prominent for his ultra-nationalist and sometimes anti-Western statements - said the mildness of the current Government of Georgia could trigger a split of the county.The Azerbaijani Trend.az media outlet quoted Georgias Embassy as saying that Tarkhan-Mouravi said Azerbaijan could claim that Georgias ethnic-Azerbaijani populated Marneuli region to be under Azerbaijani rule.Georgia and Azerbaijan are friendly nations, and this has been proved through centuries of cooperation and partnership, Georgias Embassy to Azerbaijani told local Trend.az online media.Our people have friendly relations; they follow the principles of religious and ethnic tolerance. Consequently such statements have no public support in Georgia; they are nothing but populist statements, the Embassy added, Trend.az reported.Meanwhile, Tarkhan-Mouravi says he did not make the statement and demanded that Georgias Embassy to Azerbaijan should provide video or audio evidence proving their allegations .Tarkhan-Mouravi also criticized the Embassy for never lobbying Georgian interests when it was required.The Alliance of Patriots could hardly overcome the minimum 5% threshold to appear in Parliament.If they provide proof that Tarkhan-Mouravi really made such a statement, it would be a signal that the party is not aware of what such statements may cause, especially when the party is in Parliament.Statements that refer to religious or ethnic minorities living in the territory of any country must be always very cautiously treated.Georgia has always been proud for its tolerance and friendship to religious and ethnic minority groups, and this should not be put at risk by the remarks of an insignificant minority politicians.
[File photo]

The Shanghai governments decision to grant permanent residence to a teacher has been denounced after Internet users discovered an unsavory incident in the teacher's past.

According to an official announcement released by the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau in October, the teacher, surnamed Miu, is eligible for a Shanghai hukou (household registration), along with 621 other candidates. However, Miu, who works as a Chinese teacher in a local middle school, reportedly attacked a doctor in 2015, breaking the doctor's nose.

Mius possible access to a Shanghai hukou has irritated many people, with some condemning her violent behavior and demanding that moral standards be set for getting a hukou in Shanghai. In an online poll conducted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League on Sina Weibo, over 97 percent of the 4,700 voters said she should be punished, and that she should not receive a Shanghai hukou.

[The woman] cannot even control her temper, and she beat a doctor senseless. How can such a person guide students? If violent behavior is not punished, then the order of our society will be disrupted, wrote Liu Liu, a well-known Chinese writer, on her Sina Weibo. The comment has garnered 10,000 likes as of press time.

In response to the outpouring, the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said on Nov. 2 that they would reexamine the womans qualifications. An official from the bureau told Beijing News on Nov. 3 that applicants for Shanghai hukou cannot have a criminal record.

Its possible that the teacher has no criminal record, as her conflict with the doctor may not have been filed by the police due to the minor nature of the incident, explained Dong Xiaojing, a Beijing-based lawyer. Dong added that the government should grant Miu a Shanghai hukou if she is eligible according to local policies.

Lu Jiehua, a professor of population studies at Beijing University, suggested that the hukou application system should take candidates' morality into consideration, while punishments should be handed down to dishonest and violent applicants.

Under Chinas current population policies, a Shanghai hukou greatly benefits its holder in the realms of social welfare and job opportunities, which are otherwise extremely hard to obtain.
The number of wealthy Chinese people buying ranches in Australia is increasing. The friendly land prices and rich agricultural resources make Australian ranches a good investment. However, due to policy differences, high labor costs and language barriers among other things, many of these Chinese nationals have become snarled in management difficulties and been forced to sell their properties within two or three years.

One Beijing couples story is a testimony to how unpreparedness can lead to trouble. Lei Qing, 52, sold a spacious 110-square-meter apartment in Beijing in order to purchase an AU$800,000, 323-hectare ranch in central Queensland. Leis expenses rose to nearly AU$1 million after paying taxes, hiring a manager and more. He made the purchase because he planned to spend an idyllic retirement in Australia.

Unfortunately, despite various plans Lei made for the ranch, fortunes seemed set against him. He had planned to transport powerful fertilizer from China, but Australian law bans the use of fertilizer. He had planned to raise cows to make money selling milk, but the nearest milk-processing facility was located 200 kilometers away. Hiring a driver and workers to transport the milk would cost him AU$1.3 AUD per liter sold. A lack of facilities also forced him to abandon his idea to plant grapes for wine.

Whats more, Lei didnt anticipate that the local agricultural association would tightly limit the number of cattle he could raise in order to protect the land. He also never imagined that the cost of labor in Australia would be three times that of China.

Forced to find a way to make money, Leis wife took on the farm plow herself. She now trims fruit trees, eradicates wild grass, sprays pesticide and covers fruit with plastic to protect it from pests. In her words, she has endless work, and no choice but to stick with her tiring routine. The labor exhausts her so much that she uses herbal medicine to relax her muscles at night.

Another disappointment for Lei is the lonely lifestyle.

The nearest neighbor is 50 kilometers away. That scene of barbequing with friends on a ranch only happens in movies, remarked Lei. Indeed, Candy, a professional realtor specializing in ranches, said many of her Chinese clients have given up their ranches thanks to unsatisfactory dividends and the isolated lifestyle.
[File photo]

A self-driving vehicle service will be commercially viable in China by 2018, while the mass production of self-driving cars will be realized within five years, Chinas Internet giant Baidu announced on Nov. 3. Currently, 18 car and Internet companies have revealed similar plans, among which Baidu is the leading enterprise.

The remark was made by Wang Jin, senior vice president of Baidu, at the Global Innovator Conference in Beijing. Wang stated that the company is going to test its self-driving cars during the third World Internet Conference, which will be held in Zhejiang province from Nov. 16 to 18.

We are not going showcase our self-driving cars as models. Instead, they will run on real roads, and we will invite passengers to try our self-driving vehicle service, Wang told the media, adding that the companys self-driving cars have already passed one driving test out of five.

Baidu has made significant achievements this year in self-driving technology. The company's self-driving cars now boast accuracy of 90.13 percent when it comes to the recognition of objects, slightly higher than last years 89.6 percent. For the recognition of passengers and traffic lights, the vehicles score 95 percent and 99.9 percent respectively, Thepaper.cn reported.

Though our camera recognition technologies are the best in the world, we still believe that camera recognition is not enough for self-driving cars, Wang said, adding that the company has been working on laser radar technologies to improve the accuracy of their self-driving vehicles.
Yum China has completed its separation from Yum! Brands, and been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Nov. 1, the firm said.

The newly minted business, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, East Drawing and Little Sheep hot pot in China, will open 20,000 new restaurants in the next 10 to 20 years, expanding nationwide, according to Yum China chief executive officer Micky Pant. Yum China will hand 3 percent of its net sales over to Yum! Brands as a franchise licensing fee.

For the next phase of its expansion, Yum China will place emphasis on Little Sheep and Taco Bell. By the year's end, Taco Bell is expected to open its first restaurant in Shanghai, and Little Sheep will open 40 new stores.

Pant said that Yum China will focus on building its own stores rather than additional franchise partners in order to maximize returns.
Malaysia admitted to buying four coastal patrolling vessels from China, marking the first significant defense business deal between the two countries.

On Oct. 31, Najib Razak began his third visit to China since becoming prime minister. Mainstream Malaysian media outlets emphasized not only the militarily agreement, but also the unique role of Malaysia in the Belt and Road Initiative.

On Nov. 2, the BBC reported that Malaysia is willing to solve the South China Sea dispute peacefully, through bilateral conversations. The BBC also examined how the U.S. has come across new obstacles in its competition with China for regional influence. Bloomberg News called the purchase a milestone.

Meanwhile, Japans Nihon Keizai Shimbun described how Malaysias purchase of the vessels is an extension of the improving diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines. Manila Bulletin reported that Najibs visit indicates that Malaysia is also pivoting toward China.
Nanning police officially released China's first electronic ID on Nov. 3. Cooperating with Internet giant Tencent, Nanning police also plan to facilitate the incorporation of IDs into citizens' mobile phones.

The Nanning Public Security Bureau entered an agreement with Tencent to promote electronic IDs citywide. Taking advantage of Tencent's face recognition technology, citizens in Nanning are now able to "carry" their ID cards on WeChat. By creating profiles on public WeChat accounts or via the official Nanning police app, citizens can easily generate an electronic ID after inputting personal information and uploading a photo.

Citizens are always required to carry their ID cards, driver's licenses and passports. Therefore, electronic IDs are a convenient invention for modern society, in which people are accustomed to handling daily matters via their mobile phones and other Internet-connected devices.

Nanning Public Security Bureau said it will continue to cooperate with Tencent in the future on innovative services, including online fire reporting, online exit and entry services, and online residential administration.
A farmer named Tan Yongli from Changchun, Jilin province currently runs a private museum exhibiting the culture of local farming and the Manchu people, a Chinese ethnic minority. A total of more than 10,000 items collected over 20 years are on display at the museum.

The museum was established in a three-story building. The yard outside the building is stuffed with nostalgic items such as millstones and hitching posts.

Tan divided the museum into 16 exhibition halls covering 10 categories, including coins, cooking, painting, pottery, bed-stoves and textiles. Established in early 2016, the museum is free of charge and open to the public. Tan hopes that, through his museum, more people can learn about the colorful culture of northern China.

"Folk culture is a mirror that reflects the changes of history," Tan said, adding that he hopes to build a miniature folk customs development in rural northeastern China.
BAD AXE  On Oct. 21, Bad Axe High School students in Michelle McIntyres Art III and IV classes traveled to Bird Creek Farms for a lunch and learn experience with artist David Tyndall.

The program was in conjuction with the Greater Port Austin Art and Placemaking Fund.
UPPER THUMB  ASSE International Students Exchange Program (ASSE) is seeking representatives to work with volunteer host families and international exchange students in your community. ASSE provides academic year and semester exchange programs in the United States for high school students from around the world. Students are 15 to 18 years of age, have passed a series of academic and character requirements and are awaiting an opportunity to embark on their American adventure. Local representatives also have the opportunity to support American high school students in their journey abroad.

Area representatives recruit and screen prospective host families, supervise the exchange students in their community throughout the year, and interview American students who wish to live and learn abroad. Area representatives are compensated based on the number of students they are supervising.

ASSE's primary goal is to contribute to international understanding by enabling students to learn about other languages and cultures through active participation in family, school and community life. Through sharing their home, host families and communities also gain new knowledge and appreciation of other cultures and languages. ASSE's area representatives are the cornerstone of the organization, making all of this possible.

For more information about ASSE or becoming and an area representative, call the Eastern Region Office at 1-800-677-2773, email asseusaeast@asse.com or visit host.asse.com.
Penumbra, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices in the United States and internationally. The company offers aspiration based thrombectomy systems and accessory devices, including revascularization device for mechanical thrombectomy, such as Penumbra System under the Penumbra RED, JET, ACE, 3D Revascularization Device, and Penumbra ENGINE brands, as well as components and accessories; neurovascular embolization coiling systems to treat patients with various sizes of aneurysms and other neurovascular lesions under the Penumbra Coil 400, POD400, PAC400, and Penumbra SMART Coil brand names; and neurovascular access systems designed to provide intracranial access for use in a range of neurovascular therapies under the Neuron, Neuron MAX, Select, BENCHMARK, BMX96, DDC, and PX SLIM brands. It also provides neurosurgical aspiration tools for the removal of tissue and fluids under the Artemis Neuro Evacuation Device brand; aspiration-based thrombectomy systems for vascular applications under the Indigo System brand; and detachable embolic coil systems for peripheral embolization under the Ruby Coil and Ruby LP brand names. In addition, the company offers microcatheter for the delivery of detachable coils and occlusion devices under the LANTERN brand; and detachable, microcatheter-deliverable occlusion devices designed primarily to occlude peripheral vessels under the POD (Penumbra Occlusion Device) brand, as well as immersive computer-based technologies and immersive therapeutics to promote health, motor function, and cognition under the Real Immersive System brand; and a complementary device for use with Ruby Coil and POD for vessel occlusion under the Packing Coil and Packing Coil LP brands. The company sells its products through direct sales organizations and distributors. Penumbra, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Alameda, California.
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 4 -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, currently in China for a week-long visit, on Friday hailed closer ties between the two countries, saying the many agreements signed with China will have deep and lasting benefits for Malaysia.

Summarizing the results of his visit, Najib said in a statement that he is delighted Malaysia and China "have never been closer," as seen in enhanced friendship in many key areas, including trade, defense, security, culture and people-to-people connectivity.

He noted that the business-to-business memorandums of understanding (MoU) and agreements, together with MoUs between the two governments, are "a huge vote of confidence in each other's economies, and the good will and trust that has been built up between China and Malaysia."

The agreements will result in ever stronger economic ties between China and Malaysia, and bring tangible benefits to our people for decades to come, Najib said, adding that benefits include "not just new jobs and improved transport, but also more sustainable power sources and greater security along our coastline."

Najib expressed his gratitude to Chinese leaders who hosted him.

He also noted the need for Malaysia to learn from Chinese entrepreneurs, noting that they will follow up by cooperating with China's biggest digital industry leaders.
American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the US rental industry. The company is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand. The company is known for high-quality rental homes, providing good value and tenant satisfaction while generating profits for investors. The primary investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation.

The company plans to achieve its objective through the disciplined acquisition of new properties, by expanding its own construction and neighborhood building efforts, growing its geographically diverse portfolio, efficient property management, building a strong brand, and maintaining a sound capital structure.

The company was founded in 2011 by David Singelyn and his partner. Mr. Singelyn has served as a Trustee and CEO since 2012. The company began by acquiring homes in underserved areas and remodeling them to modern standards. The firm has since expanded its operations to construction and now builds planned communities tailored to different lifestyles as well. The company went public in 2013 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

American Homes 4 Rent is an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. The company operates through a network of offices and the website AH4R.com. The company owns more than 55,000 properties across 22 states featuring move-in-ready and pet-friendly homes for individuals and families of all sizes.

All previously used properties have been renovated to a high Certified Property standard that brings them to a like-new condition. Interested parties can view listings by area on the website and even use the site to fill out applications and sign leases. Properties are located in communities that fit a variety of lifestyle needs including fences, marble countertops, and even attached 2 and 3-car garages. The communities are located in hand-picked neighborhoods with features including access to commerce, schools, and amenities like lawn care, pools, trails, and fitness centers.

Tenants are afforded many benefits by renting through American Homes 4 Rent. The first and most obvious is the freedom and flexibility of a mortgage-free lifestyle. On top of that, tenants can pay rent or schedule maintenance on their homes through the website, and dedicated service representatives are available 24/7.
The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Credit Management LLC, AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe Holdings S.a.r.l, AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Operations Inc., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund II GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund III GP LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund IV GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American International Group UK Limited, American International Realty LLC, American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A. en Liquidacion S.A., Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., C.A. de Seguros American International, Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Glatfelter Underwriting Services Inc., Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Illinois National Insurance Co., Inversiones Segucasai C.A., Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, Lexington Specialty Insurance Agency Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PCG 2019 Corporate Member Limited, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SAFG Capital LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., and Western World Insurance Company.

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Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Canada, the United States, and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Manufacturing, U.S. Manufacturing, and Retail segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen and heavy oil in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. This segments Foster Creek, Christina Lake, Sunrise, and Tucker oil sands projects, as well as Lloydminster thermal and conventional heavy oil assets The Conventional segment holds assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, Clearwater, and Rainbow Lake operating in Alberta and British Columbia, as well as interests in various natural gas processing facilities. The offshore segment engages in the exploration and development activities. The Canadian Manufacturing segment includes the owned and operated Lloydminster upgrading and asphalt refining complex, which upgrades heavy oil and bitumen into synthetic crude oil, diesel fuel, asphalt, and other ancillary products, as well as owns and operates the Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal and two ethanol plants. The U.S. Manufacturing segment comprises the refining of crude oil to produce diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, asphalt, and other products. The Retail segment consists of marketing of its own and third-party refined petroleum products through retail, commercial, and bulk petroleum outlets, as well as wholesale channels. Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
QINGDAO, Nov. 4 -- Customs authorities in eastern China's port city of Qingdao announced on Friday that they had busted a gasoline trafficking ring.

Qingdao customs received a tip-off about smuggling practices in August. They joined hands with provincial marine police to launch raids on August 26, on sea and in Weihai City. More than 270 police officers and six vessels were used in the operation.

Twenty-seven suspects and four vessels, carrying 700 tonnes of gasoline were seized, customs authorities said.

The suspects drove their own vessels and rented others to purchase gasoline from smugglers on the open sea, according to customs authorities.

Since the end of 2015, about 40,000 tonnes of gasoline have been smuggled through several coastal cities in Shandong Province, worth a total over 200 million yuan (about 30 million U.S. dollars), customs authorities said.
EPAM Systems, Inc. provides digital platform engineering and software development services worldwide. The company offers engineering services, including requirements analysis and platform selection, customization, cross-platform migration, implementation, and integration; infrastructure management services, such as software development, testing, and maintenance with private, public, and mobile infrastructures for application, database, network, server, storage, and systems operations management, as well as monitoring, incident notification, and resolution services; and maintenance and support services. It also provides operation solutions comprising integrated engineering practices and smart automation; and optimization solutions that include software application testing, test management, automation, and consulting services to enable customers enhance their existing software testing and quality assurance practices, as well as other testing services that identify threats and close loopholes to protect its customers' business systems from information loss. In addition, the company offers business, experience, technology, data, and technical advisory consulting services; and digital and service design solutions, which comprise strategy, design, creative, and program management services, as well as physical product development, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and virtual reality. It serves the financial services, travel and consumer, software and hi-tech, business information and media, life sciences and healthcare, and other industries. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
MarineMax, Inc. operates as a recreational boat and yacht retailer and superyacht services company in the United States. It operates through two segments, Retail Operations and Product Manufacturing. The company sells new and used recreational boats, including pleasure and fishing boats, mega-yachts, yachts, sport cruisers, motor yachts, pontoon boats, ski boats, jet boats, and other recreational boats. It also offers marine parts and accessories comprising marine electronics; dock and anchoring products that include boat fenders, lines, and anchors; boat covers; trailer parts; water sport accessories, which comprise tubes, lines, wakeboards, and skis; engine parts; oils; lubricants; steering and control systems; corrosion control products and service products; high-performance accessories, including propellers and instruments; and a line of boating accessories, such as life jackets, inflatables, and water sports equipment. In addition, the company provides novelty items, such as shirts, caps, and license plates; marine engines and equipment; maintenance, repair, and slip and storage accommodation services; and boat or yacht brokerage services, as well as charters yachts and power catamarans. Further, it offers new or used boat finance services; arranges insurance coverage, including boat property, disability, undercoating, gel sealant, fabric protection, and casualty insurance coverage; and manufactures and sells sport yachts and yachts. Additionally, the company operates vacations in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. It also markets and sells its products through offsite locations and print catalog. The company has 79 retail locations in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. MarineMax, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Clearwater, Florida.
Newell Brands Inc. designs, manufactures, sources, and distributes consumer and commercial products worldwide. It operates in five segments: Commercial Solutions, Home Appliances, Home Solutions, Learning and Development, and Outdoor and Recreation. The Commercial Solutions segment provides commercial cleaning and maintenance solutions; closet and garage organization products; hygiene systems and material handling solutions; and home and security, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms products under the BRK, First Alert, Mapa, Quickie, Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, and Spontex brands. The Home Appliances segment offers kitchen appliances under the Crock-Pot, Mr. Coffee, Oster, and Sunbeam brands. The Home Solutions segment provides food and home storage; fresh preserving; vacuum sealing; and gourmet cookware, bakeware, cutlery, and home fragrance products under the Ball, Calphalon, Chesapeake Bay Candle, FoodSaver, Rubbermaid, Sistema, WoodWick, and Yankee Candle brands. The Learning and Development segment offers writing instruments, including markers and highlighters, pens, and pencils; art products; activity-based adhesive and cutting products; labeling solutions; and baby gear and infant care products under the Aprica, Baby Jogger, Graco, NUK, Tigex, Dymo, Elmer's, EXPO, Graco, Mr. Sketch, NUK, Paper Mate, Parker, Prismacolor, Sharpie, Waterman, and X-Acto brands. The Outdoor and Recreation segment provides outdoor and outdoor-related products under the Campingaz, Coleman, Contigo, ExOfficio, and Marmot brands. It serves warehouse clubs, department and drug/grocery stores, mass merchants, home centers, office superstores and supply stores, contract stationers, and distributors, e-commerce, sporting goods, specialty, and travel retailers. The company was formerly known as Newell Rubbermaid Inc. and changed its name to Newell Brands Inc. in April 2016. Newell Brands Inc. was founded in 1903 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Devon Energy Corporation is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company was incorporated in 1971 by John Nichols and his son J. Larry Nichols and later went public in August 2000. The company has since grown to be included in the S&P 500 and is one of the first energy companies to introduce resolutions requiring the company to monitor its impact on global warming. One time a major player in the global oil market, Devon has since sold off its offshore holdings in an effort to focus on US production and its transition to a lower-carbon future.

Devon Energy merged with WPX in early 2021 in an all-stock merger of equals. The new company is primarily engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the US midwest. The company operates more than 5,100 wells in Oklahomas Delaware Basis, Eagle Ford Group, and the two locations in the Rocky Mountains. As of late 2022, the company laid claim to 1.625 million barrels of reserves including 44% petroleum, 27% natural gas liquids, and 29% natural gas. Daily production was running in the range of 300,000 BPD in petroleum liquids, 125,000 BPD in natural gas liquids, and 920 million cubic feet of natural gas.

Rick Muncrief, formally CEO of WPX, is now the head of Devon Energy. Mr. Muncrief comes to the table with more than 40 years of experience including 27 years with one of the US Big Three Oil Companies. WPX Energy (Williams Production and Exploration) brought properties in the Williston and Permian Basins to the combined company. Its proven reserves were roughly 527 million barrels of oil and equivalents. The company also owns and operates a midstream network of pipelines and storage facilities it uses to market and deliver its products.

Devon Energy Corporation has pledged to reduce its GHG impact to net zero by 2050. This will be done by a variety of methods that include improving efficiency and leakage, a reduction in flaring, and the electrification of its operations. Near-term goals include a 50% reduction in GHG by 2030 including a 65% reduction in methane release and a 100% reduction in flaring. The company is also focused on reducing its environmental impact by relying on recycled water wherever possible and plans to reduce freshwater usage by 90% in the most active areas. Total greenhouse gas emissions have been in decline since 2018 and fell 17% between 2018 and 2020 alone.
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. operates bookstores for college and university campuses, and K-12 institutions in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Digital Student Solutions. The company sells and rents new and used print textbooks, digital textbooks, and publisher hosted digital courseware through physical and virtual bookstores, as well as directly to students through Textbooks.com. It also offers First Day and First Day Complete access programs; BNC OER+, a turnkey solution for colleges and universities, that offers digital content, such as videos, activities, and auto-graded practice assessments; and general merchandise, including collegiate and athletic apparel, school spirit products, lifestyle products, technology products, supplies, graduation products, and convenience items. In addition, the company sources, sells, and distributes new and used textbooks; and sells hardware and a software suite of applications that provides inventory management and point-of-sale solutions to approximately 350 college bookstores. Further, it offers direct-to-student subscription-based writing services; and bartleby, a direct-to-student subscription-based offering that includes textbook solutions, expert questions and answers, and writing and tutoring services. The company operates 805 physical college and university bookstores; 622 virtual bookstores; 8 True Spirit e-commerce websites; pop-up retail locations; 73 customized cafes and 11 stand-alone convenience stores; and a media channel for brands targeting the college demographic. Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Eleven-year-old Li Zhibo's last words to his mother were: "Sorry Mama, I forgot your birthday. But I'll make it up to you." (CNS/Li Shuanghong)

Eleven-year-old Li Zhibo's last words to his mother were: "Sorry Mama, I forgot your birthday. But I'll make it up to you." Unfortunately, the boy was unable to make good on his promise.

Li, from Zhumadian, Henan province, lost his battle with cancer on Nov. 1. However, thanks to the empathetic child's fervent wish - to be of true use to society - parts of him will live on in the bodies of three strangers.

According to Li's family, he was a healthy and sensitive child for most of his too-short life. Sadly, his life was seized suddenly and cruelly by disease. In order to make Li's dream of helping others come true, his parents decided to donate his organs. The organs were removed on Wednesday; now they will help to save the lives of three more patients in need.

File photo of Li Zhibo. (CNS/Li Shuanghong)

Doctors pay tribute to Li Zhibo before organ donation surgery. (CNS/Li Zhibo)
Three U.S. military personnel were killed in Jordan on Thursday when they came under fire as they were entering a military facility, Pentagon officials said.

"We are saddened to report that three U.S. service members were killed today in a shooting incident at a Jordanian military base," Mark Wright, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a Nov. 4 press statement.

The three service members were in Jordan on a training mission, and the initial report is that they came under fire as they were entering the facility in vehicles, Wright said.

The Agence France-Presse News agency quoted a U.S. defense official as saying it was a "green on blue" incident, meaning friendly forces attacked U.S. personnel, according to the BBC.

The BBC also reported that the U.S. personnel failed to stop when approaching the gate at Al-Jafr Air Base and were fired upon by security forces.

"We are working closely with the government of Jordan to determine exactly what happened," Wright said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of these service members. We will provide more information as appropriate."

Initial reports said one person was killed and two other service members were wounded. The two were taken to the hospital, where they later died, the BBC reported.

Under DoD policy, the victims' identities "will be released 24 hours after next of kin notification," Christopher Sherwood, another DoD spokesman, told Military.com when asked about the victims' military branch of service.

Jordan is a key U.S. ally and member of a U.S.-led military coalition fighting the extremist Islamic State group, which controls parts of neighboring Iraq and Syria.

In addition to the U.S. casualties, a Jordanian officer was also wounded, Jordanian officials said.

Jordan faces homegrown extremism, with hundreds of Jordanians fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, and several thousand more supporting the extremist group in the kingdom.

Last November, a Jordanian police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. The government subsequently portrayed the police captain as troubled.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-- Military.com reporter Amy Bushatz contributed to this report.

-- 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.
ABOARD THE USS AMERICA --The surf was high where the amphibious assault ship America sailed off the coast of San Diego -- high enough to make the flight deck pitch and roll and set the conditions for a few minutes of crisis when an unfortunate sailor fell overboard and had to be rescued by helicopter.

But with sea states between three and four, indicating swells from three to eight feet, the chop was still too subdued to be ideal for this last, rigorous round of testing for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.

Over the next three weeks, the F-35B will be pushed to its operational limits in this, the third and last round of shipboard testing for the aircraft. It comes just two months before the first operational squadron of Marine Corps F-35s, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, is set to depart for Japan to prepare for a first shipboard deployment in the Pacific that officials now say will take place in early 2018.

And unlike the two previous at-sea developmental test phases that took place aboard the 27-year-old amphibious assault ship Wasp in 2011 and 2013, this round will marry the fifth-generation aircraft with a new class of amphib specially designed to hold it, and the MV-22B Osprey, with a reinforced flight deck and no well deck, allowing additional space for aviation equipment and support.

The Marines' version of the Joint Strike Fighter is the only one equipped with a powerful lift fan for short takeoff and vertical landing -- enabling the aircraft to land on and operate from amphibs, which have a smaller flight deck than carriers and are not equipped with the arrested landing and catapult system that carriers use to compensate for the lack of runway.

The ultra-hot pillar of thrust created by those lift fans can create its own problems, though.

"When they brought [the F-35B] out on Wasp, within three passes, it had almost obliterated the standard non-skid. It just made it smooth," Lt. Cmdr. Matt Miller, the outgoing assistant air department head for the America, told Military.com. "Not only is that non-effective; there's a lot of risk of [foreign objects and debris] and everything else."

During a nine-month post-shakedown availability maintenance period, the America received a coating of the non-skid solution 28E ARCTEC in a handful of spots where the F-35B was expected to land. The Wasp now uses thermion coating, which can stand up to the heat of a landing F-35, but includes the ingredient chromium, requiring additional environmental and exposure precautions when applied.

There were other external fixes, too, that had to take place to accommodate the F-35. Fixed nets near the bow had to be reinforced. Side lifelines, typically made out of nylon cord, were redesigned in stainless steel. And the ship's commercial broadband satellite program (CBSP) antenna, a large, white dome-like device, had to be moved some 30 to 40 feet from its original location toward the stern of the ship after construction.

"Unfortunately, it was in the direct approach path of the F-35, and it was going to basically melt," Miller said.

Related Video:

Marine Corps Gets Rough With F-35B

Testing for Weaknesses

This final shipboard testing phase will give F-35 test pilots the chance to push the platform to operational extremes to ensure it will perform as expected under pressure. That means carrying a full internal weapons load-out, including later this month the GAU-22 gun pod, designed specifically for the F-35B and F-35C Marine Corps and Navy variants, that can rain down fire at the rate of 3,300 rounds per minute.

The aircraft also will practice flying with an asymmetric load-out, taking off from the ship mounted with concrete "blue bombs" standing in for real thousand-pound ordnance, and jettisoning part of the load at a designated point over the water before returning.

"We'll take off with the full external load-out on the front of the ship, and we're going to go out and drop half of it, so the aircraft is maximum asymmetrically loaded," said Marine Maj. Rob Guyette, a test pilot from the F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force based in Patuxent River, Maryland. "So it's the hardest problem for the flight control system, and then we land it that way in crosswinds."

The pilots will take off and land at night on choppy seas and in uncertain weather conditions, highlighting the aircraft's precision landing technology.

This will also give pilots the chance to return to areas of concern and weaknesses revealed in previous tests. In the 2013 test aboard the Wasp, one aircraft experienced an "uncommanded sink" -- a frightening event in which the plane loses altitude despite the pilot's maneuvering, said Andrew Maack, chief test engineer for the F-35 integrated test force.

The event, he said, was likely caused by hot gas ingestion from the plane's interaction with the island, the structure in the center of the deck housing the ship's bridge and other command features.

The America has a differently shaped island, one of the features being tested for the ship class during the evolution.

But the goal, Maack said, is to look for ways to operate within these previously identified danger zones, rather than planning to avoid them.

"We will now intentionally be looking for it," he said. "We've got an airplane we've got a lot of confidence in, that we can safely operate to and further expand that envelope that we previously avoided. We'll say, 'Yep, it's safe to operate here. You could experience this, but you'll recover and you'll be OK.' "

Three days into testing, the pilots had completed required takeoff and landing qualifications on the ship and had begun night operations as part of the testing cycle.

Hoping for Choppy Seas

Planners hope the choppy waves will reach Sea State 5, with swells between 8 and 13 feet, to test the full operational envelope for the ship. But in pitch darkness with sprinkling rain and a rolling deck on the first night, there was plenty to challenge pilots landing on the relatively small deck of an amphib.

"When I initially qualified on an aircraft carrier on an F/A-18 [Hornet], in the daytime, it was challenging. At nighttime, it was an emotional experience," Guyette said. "... Last night was dark, real dark. One percent illumination, overcast, no moon, raining. It was my first time landing on a ship at night, and it was fun."

The difference is the built-in technology that allows pilots to note a few variables and then let the aircraft adjust for the slope of descent, the position of the ship, and other factors that require nerve-wracking precision when they must be managed by a human pilot.

"The idea is to take that major element, to get off the ship and get back on the ship, and quit making that the major item that has to be," Maack said. "So these guys can spend their time with tactics training instead of takeoff and land training."

Though the tests have gone without incident so far, there is little room for error or correction. After the Marine Corps deploys its first squadron of F-35Bs to the Pacific aboard the Wasp in early 2018, it will send another squadron out aboard the amphibious assault ship Essex only months later. That deployment may well find the ship in the Middle East, with opportunities for the F-35 to conduct real-world combat operations for the very first time.

Deployments aboard the America, which entered service in 2014, and future amphibs in its class, are still years away.

"Our first deployment is ... coming at us like a freight train," said Lt. Col. Richard Rusnok, the officer in charge of the F-35B detachment of Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 1. "We're looking at all the opportunities to increase the level of experience with all of the folks that are going to touch the airplane, operate the aircraft, and then we're going to explore some interoperability issues across the whole spectrum with the Navy and with other type, model, series of aircraft out here so that we're as prepared as possible the first time we actually see a regular rotation."

Despite the impending deadline, there were indicators on the ship that others saw the "fun" aspect of the testing that Guyette mentioned.

As reporters prepared to depart the ship in an MV-22B Osprey, an F-35B executed a vertical landing on the rolling flight deck, churning up sea spray as it hovered. The Osprey crew chief threw the pilot a "hang loose" hand signal as the tiltrotor aircraft lifted off.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck.
Sharon, a recently retired Army veteran, tells this story about transition wardrobe:

When I left the Army, I had casual clothes and my uniform. As part of my job search, I knew I needed a professional wardrobe. I went to a local woman's clothing store and told the salesperson to set me up with a professional work wardrobe. That day, I left the store with several packages! I thought I was set.

I went on job interviews wearing those beautiful clothes. But they didn't feel like me. I dressed in the outfits exactly as the salesperson at the store had matched them up. Then, I secured a job and didn't feel confident wearing my outfits at the company. I felt like they were more of a costume rather than a wardrobe that felt like me.

Before my first day on the job, I went to another woman's store and picked out my own wardrobe: I chose four skirts (all black), two blazers (one black, one light gray), and four short sleeve dress blouses (two white, two ivory).

I felt more comfortable starting my new job in my new outfits. Things went well for a few weeks until one of my co-workers asked, "Are your black/gray/white suits your new uniform?" In a way, I'd reverted back to what I was most comfortable in  a wardrobe that required very little consideration and effort in the morning as I got dressed. With that in mind, I still wear my black and gray suits but now I add a necklace, scarf or pin to express some style. I'm a simple person, so the colors and lack of creativity suit me. But I don't want to be seen as "plain" or "boring" so I add some color to show my approachability.

I wish I'd had more guidance about what to wear when taking off my Army uniform and joining the civilian workforce.

What Sharon discovered upon leaving the military, is that in the civilian workforce there are options galore when it comes to wardrobe. Some women prefer pants, some dresses, others wear skirts and blouses, and other women aren't seen without a blazer on. While the choices are invigorating and exciting, the lack of uniform or consistency in wardrobe is a struggle for veterans, men and women alike.

Some guidelines for female veterans to consider when choosing your first post-military wardrobe:

Invest in quality. Choose fabrics and styles that are classic and will give you years of wear. Trendy clothing, or items made from lower-quality materials will show their wear sooner, and can impact your credibility. Buy foundational pieces first. Sharon was correct in investing in basic colors first. Black, navy, tan, and white are great colors to build off of. Add color to make a statement about your brand and personality. Adding red, turquoise, yellow, orange, and even dark pink jewelry, scarves, or bracelets can bring interest and highlight your colorful personality, while the overall look remains professional. Consider the work environment. Some industries are traditionally more conservative while others are more creative and colorful. Know the company and work culture before investing in your wardrobe. Fit in, but stay authentic. Sharon would never be comfortable wearing a bright pink dress, but if she worked for a company that was more creative (think advertising or technology) she might add colorful accent pieces to brighten up her outfits. It is important that you don't try to change who you are to fit in. In her first shopping experience, Sharon tried to be the person the salesperson thought she was. She wasn't being authentic. Consider the work you'll be doing. If your job entails sitting all day, walking through a construction site, or meeting clients, consider how your wardrobe needs to adapt. While you'll want to be professional and appropriate, you also need to be comfortable. Walking through a construction site in high heels is never advisable.

Finding that first wardrobe after the military can be confusing. If you can enlist the support or help of a knowledgeable salesperson, great! Give them background on who you are, the career you're pursuing, what you're comfortable spending, and what you need to feel good in the clothes. For every suggestion or outfit the salesperson presents to you, ask yourself: Does this feel like me? Does this feel appropriate to the work I want to do? Can I build on this outfit over time?
Zambia on Wednesday signed a deal for the construction of a new railway project with China's state-run firm that will enhance transportation in the southern African nation.

The 388-kilometer railway, to run from the eastern town of Chipata to the central town of Serenje via another eastern town of Petauke, will be constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), at a cost of 2.3 billion U.S. dollars within a four-year period.

"This project aims at enhancing regional trade and transport competitiveness by providing an alternative trade route to the East Coast of Africa via the Port of Nacala in Mozambique." Minister of Transport and Communications Brian Mushimba said at a signing ceremony in Lusaka, the country's capital.

The project will provide the much-needed link between the Zambian main railway line network with the Malawian railway line network through the existing Chipata-Mchinji railway line which forms part of the Nacala Corridor, Mushimba said.

The project will enable the government to save funds used on rehabilitation of damaged roads due to haulage of bulk and heavy cargo.

The project, he added, is meant to enhance regional and international trade through the Nacala Development Corridor which involves Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

According to him, the project is one of the strategic infrastructure projects the government intends to implement through the China-Africa Cooperation framework announced by the Chinese government during the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in South Africa where 60 billion dollars fund was pledged.

He further expressed confidence in the Chinese firm's ability to construct the railway within the stipulated period because it has wealth of experience in undertaking railway construction projects.

On his part, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said the signing and implementation of the project will further promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The railway line, Yang said, will promote Zambia's trade, investment, employment and sustainable development and open another route to the sea for the landlocked southern African nation.

"I believe it will be an important part of the integrated southern African transportation system which connects Zambia with Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Mozambique," he added.
A high-speed crash involving a Tesla vehicle killed two people in Indianapolis on Thursday, Nov. 3.

Update: A Tesla spokesperson sent MLive this statement Thursday evening: "We are deeply saddened to hear that this accident involved fatalities and have been working with authorities to offer our full cooperation. Due to the damaged caused by the collision, the car was physically incapable of transmitting log data to our servers. However, had Autopilot been engaged it would have limited the vehicle's speed to less than 35 mph on this street, which is inconsistent with witness statements and the damage sustained."

DETROIT -- Police are reportedly investigating whether Tesla's Autopilot semi-autonomous driving feature played a role in a fiery crash that killed two people in Indianapolis Thursday morning.

The Associated Press reported that investigators are looking into whether the feature was engaged when the electric car was travelling at a high speed at about 1 a.m. before it hit a tree, crashed into a building and caught fire.

An Indianapolis police public information officer told MLive Thursday evening he could not immediately confirm the investigation into an Autopilot link. Officer Jim Gillespie said investigators expect to have a report on the incident within 10 days.

The California electric vehicle maker's Autopilot feature came under scrutiny by the media and federal regulators after a fatal crash in May.

Josh Brown, a 40-year-old Tesla enthusiast, had Autopilot engaged in his 2015 Tesla Model S on a highway in Florida when a tractor-trailer made a left turn ahead of him at an intersection of a divided highway with no traffic light.

Tesla said in a statement that in bright sunlight, neither the Autopilot sensor, nor the driver noticed the white side of the trailer, which was perpendicular to the Model S, and neither applied the brakes. Brown died at the scene.

The May 7 crash has prompted separate probes from the NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Tesla's Autopilot

Tesla recently updated Autopilot to prevent it from engaging when a vehicle is going faster than 5 miles per hour above a posted a speed limit on a non-divided road, among many other upgrades.

Both Tesla and company CEO Elon Musk have defended the system as an advanced safety feature, and noted that its Autopilot system had been driven 130 million miles without a fatality.

Musk has been critical of the media's coverage of Autopilot.

"I mean one of the things I should mention that frankly has been quite disturbing to me is the degree of media coverage of Autopilot crashes, which are basically almost none, relative to the porosity of media coverage of the 1.2 million people that die every year in manual crashes," he said at a press conference last month.

In the Indianapolis crash, debris was scattered for more than 150 yards, and multiple fires made it difficult to extricate the two passengers, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department.

Small batteries and magnesium strewn about the road, the department said in a release emailed to MLive.

The car's battery-powered elements typically do not pose a fire risk. "But for first responders, impact such as this and subsequent extrication, where the battery components are exposed, require firefighters to utilize different methods of approach and extinguishment," the department said.

Firefighters used a combination of dry powder and water to put out multiple little fires, then extricated the passengers.
WYOMING - A local ice and water rescue team is receiving almost $4,500 in new equipment funded through a state grant.

The team, comprised of personnel from the Wyoming, Kentwood and Grandville fire departments, is purchasing flotation devices, megaphones, rope bags, strobe lights, a boat spotlight, carabiners and knives for $4,490. The money is coming from the Michigan Competitive Grant Assistance Program.

Wyoming Deputy Director of Fire Services Frank Verburg, along with Grandville Fire Chief Mike May and Kentwood Fire Chief Brent Looman, applied for the $97,955 grant two years ago to create the combined ice and water rescue team.

The grant previously funded the training for 15 members from each of the three departments along with a rescue boat and trailer and other equipment such as life jackets, helmets, rescue suits, ice rescue sleds, rescue poles and radios.

Verburg said the team has been training for water and ice rescue emergencies and found the need for the additional equipment. He said the new equipment can still be funded through the grant because not all the money has been utilized.

He said the $4,490 in equipment purchases is the final portion of the grant funds.

The team responds to rescue emergencies in all three cities.
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Christmas trees decorated by Eastern Floral stand at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015. (Neil Blake | MLive.com)

(Neil Blake)

You may still be working your way through your children's Halloween candy or planning your Thanksgiving menu, but radio stations in Detroit and Grand Rapids are looking ahead to the next big holiday with around-the-clock programming.

In Grand Rapids,

Star 105.7

flipped the switch to 24-hour Christmas music programming on Thursday morning.

In Detroit, WNIC, long known for its early embrace of Christmas music, kicked off the holiday season on Thursday's morning show with Jay Towers. New morning show co-host Allyson Martinek flipped the Christmas lever for the station and flooded the airwaves with Andy Williams' 1963 hit "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year."

Not in the Grand Rapids or Detroit listening areas? Both stations can be streamed online. Listen to Star 105.7 here, or 100.3 WNIC here.

The reaction on social media has been mixed:

I'm so serious when I say I cannot marry someone who refuses to listen to christmas music before thanksgiving  kaitlin (@kaitdigi) November 3, 2016

It's Nov. 4 & above 50 degrees! I need Thanksgiving. Then snow. THEN Christmas music. Otherwise I'm tired of it by December.  Taylor Horen (@taylorhoren) November 4, 2016

why do people get salty that we listen to Christmas music so early? What thanksgiving music are you listening to??? Shut up  whatever (@babysaymyNAME) November 3, 2016

JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT CHRISTMAS MUSIC STARTS TODAY ON 100.3!!!! HALLELUJAH PRAISE JESUS DECK THE HALLS   Haley Francuch (@hayfrann) November 3, 2016

How do you feel? Is Christmas music just what we need to escape from the madness of the 2016 election season? Or is this just too soon?
starbucksmain.jpg

(John Hiner)

Maybe someone at Starbucks hadn't had their morning cup o' joe yet when they designed this new travel mug.

The mug is part of the coffee chain's "Local Collection," highlighting cities and states across the U.S. The Michigan design, which features colorful cars, is apropos except for one major mistake: The "Est. 1897" printed on it is off by 60 years.

Michigan became a state on January 26, 1837.

The

on Starbucks' website describes the cup as "a double-walled mug that celebrates Michigan, the historic center and heart of America's automotive industry." It retails for $22.95.

At least the designers remembered to include both peninsulas in the Michigan silhouette on the mug. (Remember that one time a map on the White House website forgot about the U.P.?)

Starbucks did not have immediate comment on the matter.
ANN ARBOR, MI - There's a steady stream of voters casting absentee ballots down at the Ann Arbor city clerk's office right now.

People are requesting ballots and voting on the spot at stations set up on the second floor of city hall, 301 E. Huron St.

And across all of Washtenaw County, the number of absentee ballots issued so far is quickly approaching 50,000, a sign that many people are looking to get their vote in the 2016 presidential election over and done.

"It was very nasty, and I hope we never have to go through this again. The election is stressful," said Denise Crockett, a 62-year-old home care worker who turned in her absentee ballot at Ann Arbor's city hall on Friday, Nov. 4.

"It's much easier to do this rather than stand in line on election day. I know it's done, it's out of the way, so I have no excuses not putting my vote in."

Crockett, a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton, said she's ready for this election to be over. She said she felt forced to pick the lesser of two evils with Clinton and Donald Trump as the two major-party candidates.

"So that's actually what I did. That's the honest answer," she said. "I was watching TV and Oprah said, 'You don't have to like her. She's not coming to your house for dinner. Just vote for her.' And it made a lot of sense, because if she's for a lot of the things that you're for, you know, you don't have to like her."

Elizabeth Roper, a 26-year-old emergency room nurse at the University of Michigan Hospital, also wasn't thrilled with the choices this election.

Roper turned in her absentee ballot inside Ann Arbor's city hall on Friday afternoon. She said she's going out of town for a wedding and she wanted to make sure especially in this election that her vote counted.

"I went for Hillary Clinton. I'm not thrilled with either option, but Hillary was what ended up being my choice," she said. "To be honest, Donald Trump is a little scary as far as his temperament. It makes me a little nervous."

Roper added, "I just encourage everyone else to get out there and vote. Every vote counts."

Edward Golembiewski, the county's elections director, said as of Thursday, Nov. 3, there were 48,789 absentee ballots issued countywide.

"We expect to see that rise to a little over 50,000 and for absentee ballots to account for approximately a quarter of all ballots cast this election," he said.

In the 2012 presidential election, 181,181 total ballots were cast in Washtenaw County, which was about 65 percent of registered voters.

However, the voter registration rolls include many inactive voters, meaning people who haven't voted in several years and likely no longer live here, so the real turnout figures are slightly higher than what's officially reported.

Golembiewski said he ran the numbers on Friday and there are 288,188 registered voters in Washtenaw County, including active and inactive voters. He's predicting relatively high turnout for this election.

"This is a hard election to predict if you try to weigh all the unique variables that have come with it, but in my opinion the safest bet is to base the expectation on previous results," Golembiewski said. "I predict turnout will be around 70 percent countywide. Excluding inactive voters, close to 80 percent."

Ann Arbor City Clerk Jackie Beaudry said her office has issued about 14,300 absentee ballots and about 12,200 had been returned as of Friday morning.

At this point, she said, that's not quite as high as 2008 when 14,222 absentee ballots were returned, though it likely will exceed the 12,817 returned in 2012.

"Interest has been high, although we have not had the long lines for absentee ballots that we saw in 2008," she said.

City and township clerks' offices across Michigan will be open Saturday, Nov. 5, to allow for absentee voting. People can request ballots and vote on the spot or take the ballots home and return them later.

Clerks' offices are required by law to open Saturday at their normal start times and remain open until 2 p.m.

In Ann Arbor, the clerk's office will be open until 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, for voters to pick up or turn in absentee ballots. Ballots also can be placed in a locked drop box in the lobby of city hall.

As a registered voter in Michigan, you can obtain an absentee ballot if you are:

60 years old or older

unable to vote without assistance at the polls

expecting to be out of town on election day

in jail awaiting arraignment or trial

unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons

appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence

Absentee ballot applications can be submitted in person until 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7. An absentee ballot must be returned to the city or township clerk that issued it by the time polls close at 8 p.m. election day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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Clockwise from upper left: Kyle M. Beckwith, Hans W. Cornelius, Brianna L. Donaldson, and Janelle M. Cornelius

( )

BAY CITY, MI -- For the second time in three months, two Bay City ex-cons are charged with felonies for allegedly trying to retaliate against someone they claimed raped a woman. This time, two women are charged alongside them.

At about 4 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27, police responded to a reported fight in the 700 block of North Grant Street in Bay City. Officers arrived to find Hans W. Cornelius, his 24-year-old cousin Janelle M. Cornelius, and Brianna L. Donaldson, 17, standing outside. They were yelling that Janelle Cornelius had been sexually assaulted by someone in the building a couple of weeks prior, court records show.

Officers spoke with witnesses, who told them four people had entered an apartment building and were trying to break into an upstairs unit.

"I came out into the hallway and there were four people at the door of the apartment upstairs," said a 41-year-old male resident, according to court files. "They were trying to get in. I told them to get the (expletive) out. One of them stated that he (unknown person they believed was in the apartment) raped her. They also said they were going to kill that (expletive) (racial slur). When they got outside, I shut the door and they started banging on that door."

Police soon located Kyle M. Beckwith in the basement of a different building on the same block, court records show.

A 29-year-old woman inside the apartment said the quartet was reportedly trying to enter. She said she was asleep, when she awoke to a dog barking. She said someone was smashing at the door and trying to get in, court records show.

She added she doesn't live in the unit, but was house-sitting for her sister.

Police arrested Beckwith, Donaldson, and the Corneliuses. Beckwith appeared to police to be intoxicated. Janelle Cornelius said she had been drinking as she is an alcoholic. Court records indicate she was wanted on 14 outstanding warrants.

Court records indicate Janelle Cornelius two months prior had made a complaint that she had been the victim of sexual assault, though the files did not go into further detail.

The quartet on Thursday afternoon appeared in Bay County District Court, where each member was arraigned on one count of attempted first-degree home invasion. The charge is a five-year felony.

Beckwith, Donaldson, and the Corneliuses are to appear for a preliminary examination before District Judge Timothy J. Kelly at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

In August, Beckwith, 25, and Hans Cornelius, 29, were each charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. Those charges were filed as a result of a 30-year-old man claiming the pair accosted him with a knife and a tire iron, while accusing him of having sexually assaulted a teenage girl.

Those charges were dismissed in September.

A Bay County judge in December 2011 sentenced Hans Cornelius to two to 15 years in prison on a conviction of second-degree home invasion. The Michigan Department of Corrections discharged him on Sept. 4, 2015.

A Bay County judge on Dec. 14 sentenced Beckwith to three years of probation on a conviction of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police. Beckwith previously served more than three years of probation on convictions of larceny from a person and larceny in a building. Those two charges stemmed from the April 2011 holdup of a Bay City gas station, at which time Beckwith was 19.
(Details added, first version posted on 11:57)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Anakhanum Hidayatova  Trend:

France invites foreign investors, including those from Azerbaijan, to invest in the country, the Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan Aurelia Bouchez told reporters in Baku.

France is a country attractive for investors. Investing in France would be good experience for Azerbaijan, Bouchez said Nov. 4.

Azerbaijan is important for France, said the ambassador.

The two counties developed close relations, and high-level mutual visits are frequently paid, the diplomat added.

Investing in Frances economy will let Azerbaijan diversify its economy and gain new experience. This would be mutually beneficial, the ambassador added.

Bouchez said that investments in France will help enter not only the French market, but also the markets of the EU.

Moreover, investors will get the opportunity to make use of the potential of Frances infrastructure, she explained.

"A number of French investors operate in Azerbaijan, the most active spheres are transport, agriculture, space sector, the ambassador said. We want to continue expanding our activities in Azerbaijan."

Over 40 French companies operate in Azerbaijan, according to Bouchez.

According to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and France amounted to $547.67 million as of January-September 2016, compared to $737.93 million in the same period of 2015.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 18 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Nov. 4.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in the Bala Jafarli village of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located on nameless heights of the Ijevan district of Armenia.

Meanwhile, positions of the Azerbaijani army located in the Munjuglu and Kokhanabi villages of Azerbaijans Tovuz district were also shelled from the Armenian army positions located in the Aygedzor and Chinari villages of Armenias Berd district.

The Azerbaijani army positions also underwent fire from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Chilaburt village of Azerbaijans Tartar district, Garagashli village of the Aghdam district, Horadiz, Gorgan, Garakhanbayli villages 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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

Trend:

Large-scale military exercises, which are to be held on Nov. 12 by Azerbaijans Armed Forces, are a serious signal for Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans regime, Azerbaijani expert Emil Huseynli told Trend Nov. 4.

Azerbaijans Armed Forces will hold large-scale exercises from Nov. 12 through Nov. 18. More than 60,000 members of military personnel, over 50 planes and helicopters, over 150 tanks and armored vehicles will be involved in the exercises, according to the ministry.

The exercises will be held in line with the plan approved by Azerbaijans President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev in order to inspect the system of control over troops and weapons.

Huseynli noted that the amount of military equipment and personnel involved in the exercises gives a clear notion about the level of potential threat for Armenia.

The amount of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces members involved in the exercises actually exceeds the amount of Armenians living today in Nagorno-Karabakh, he said. The dictatorial regime of Armenia must understand that war is not over for Azerbaijan, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not frozen.

The expert added that success, achieved by the Azerbaijani army during the April events, showed that Azerbaijani Armed Forces can liberate the occupied territories from separatists at any time.

Azerbaijan has the right to restore its territorial integrity that fully complies with principles of international law, said Huseynli. It is well known both by Armenia and countries protecting it, and it is not a secret for them that if the status quo doesnt change, war will be inevitable.

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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Pakistan have enacted a plan of bilateral military cooperation, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said in a message.

The plan was signed as part of the 7th Azerbaijan-Pakistan working group meeting. The document was signed by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense and the Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The current state and the prospects of the bilateral military cooperation have also been discussed at the meeting.

The meeting of the working group with the participation of senior officers from Azerbaijan and Pakistan is held annually.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Hungary intends to strengthen a political dialogue and contribute to the improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation, Imre Laszloczki, Hungarian ambassador to Azerbaijan, said in an interview with Trend November 3.

"The Hungarian embassy in Baku will operate as a NATO Liaison Office for two years - from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018," he said. "Our embassy will take over these responsibilities from the Romanian embassy in Baku, which carried out this task in the last few years."

"The responsibilities will be officially transferred in the Hungarian embassy in Baku in late 2016 with the participation of representatives of Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania and many other organizations involved in this work," he said.

The diplomat outlined the objectives and activity of the Hungarian embassy in Baku as a NATO Liaison Office.

"The objectives are to strengthen a political dialogue and contribute to the improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation; inform the NATO on the current processes in Azerbaijan in relation to NATO and thus enlighten the NATO members about Azerbaijan; shape a public opinion in Azerbaijan regarding the NATO policy, values and standards," he said.

The diplomat added that the main responsibility and tasks are to ensure comprehensive support in organizing mutual visits of officials arriving in Azerbaijan from the NATO International Staff and visits of officials from Azerbaijan to NATO headquarters; organize events with the participation of NATO officials, as well as with the participation of the ambassadors of NATO member-states for the mutual exchange of information and opinions on such topics as the internal situation in Azerbaijan, regional development, Azerbaijan-NATO relations, etc.

The missions promising activity also includes the work in the scientific field and cooperation with civil society organizations.

In particular, it is planned to hold public events and international meetings with cooperation of NATO and Azerbaijani organizations, representing civil society, on the topics of common interest; establish mutually beneficial cooperation with Azerbaijani universities to clarify the information on NATO for students and departments; facilitate making visits to NATO headquarters for MPs, government representatives, non-governmental organizations and journalists.

The mission also plans to maintain close relations with the media.

Azerbaijan and NATO cooperate within the Partnership for Peace program. Earlier, the NATO adopted a document of the fourth stage of the Individual Action Plan within the partnership for 2015-2016.

The meetings are held in Baku and Brussels to analyze the fulfillment of the objectives of the partnership as part of this plan and the Planning and Review Process (PARP) together with the NATO International Staff.

Around 27 of 41 tasks of the partnership adopted by Azerbaijan within PARP refer to the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. Some adopted objectives of the partnership have been fulfilled. The work is underway to fulfill other long-term objectives of the partnership.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Anakhanum Hidayatova  Trend:

The mandate to start negotiations on the new agreement on strategic modernized partnership between the EU and Azerbaijan may be issued until end of 2016, Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Azerbaijans deputy foreign minister, told Trend Nov. 4.

Azerbaijan doesnt interfere in internal discussions of the EU, and Europe itself considers all issues, said Mammad-Guliyev. I dont think that there is any negativity from the EU about the new agreement. Europe can always propose to make changes.

He noted that earlier the parties held several joint consultations and video conferencing on the new agreement.

A number of visits to Azerbaijan from the EU are expected in the near future, but these visits arent related to the mandate, noted the deputy foreign minister.

He added that in November, there will be a number of visits, including in the field of transportation.

Relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are developing in a positive way and the parties continue to negotiate within the framework of the existing cooperation mechanism, he said.

Once the mandate is issued, bilateral relations will further deepen. A meeting of subcommittees has been held recently and suggestions have been made that we will consider, noted the deputy foreign minister. The next meeting of the subcommittee on energy, ecology and transport will be held in December and subcommittees will end their work with it.

He added that relations between the sides parliaments are also developing dynamically and these relations will further develop.

If we sign the agreement, our cooperation will be much stronger, said Mammad-Guliyev.

Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of an agreement on partnership and cooperation that was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999.

The new agreement envisages the compliance of Azerbaijans legislation and procedures with the EUs most important international and trade norms and standards, which should lead to the improvement of Azerbaijani goods access to the EU markets.

Currently, the EU is Azerbaijans major trade partner.

The share of European countries in Azerbaijans foreign trade was 37.12 percent in January-September 2016, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. Currently, European countries account for 27.89 and 45.87 percent of Azerbaijani import and export, respectively. European countries mainly deliver vehicles and transportation equipments to Azerbaijan and import oil products.

Azerbaijan initiated to sign an agreement on strategic modernized partnership with the EU instead of the agreement about association. This is not a legal document, but rather a program, a plan of action aimed at the expansion of cooperation with the EU beyond energy. The new agreement will define new directions of partnership such as education and other spheres.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum




NEW YORK ? Programmatic video had a big year, but the next stop will see it take a mobile-first focus said an executive from Google in a panel hosted by The Drum.





NEW YORK ? A panel of experts in artificial intelligence discussed the technology?s future and if the current hot commodity has lasting power in the long term.





NEW YORK ? A panel at ad:tech New York 2016 consisting of five executives representing influential companies in the Internet of things discussed the state and future of a technology that is marketing's most nascent development.
Still reeling from the fiasco of its exploding Galaxy Note phones, Samsung has had to play damage control with the smartphone side of its business. It now must face a potential backlash of consumer mistrust and rebuild the image of its brand as a capable hardware developer, both in communications and other markets.

This setback, however damaging it may appear and continue to be, has not hindered the companys plans to invest billions into its production of systems chips at several facilities in Austin, Texas. In a recent announcement, Samsung said it would place more than $1 billion into such production by June 2017 and that, of its $24 billion in annual capital expenditure, nearly half of that spent in 2016 went to semiconductor-related operations.

A report on the matter at Reuters noted that Samsung takes in a majority of its global profits through the sale of systems chips. It sits only behind Intel as a premier chip manufacturer with regard to volume, and its presence clearly extends to a large part of the globe. The single collection of Texas facilities shows that Samsung also has a strong interest in manufacturing products in North America to help support sales of its products to many other regions.

The companys profits, though somewhat damaged from the fallout of the Galaxy Note, which has been permanently recalled, may also receive a boost from its continuing partnerships with large players such as Qualcomm, a microprocessor developer, and Nvidia, which is known for its graphics cards. Samsung has the opportunity to extend the sales of its own Exynos mobile microprocessor and gain expertise in fields related to the chip manufacture for which it has become well known.

No matter the type of market into which it reaches, Samsung will have an uphill battle from here. Like TMC has noted, a global recall of any product leaves brands in an unfavorable light, especially when the recall includes devices that could have caused serious physical harm to consumers. Samsung will have to rebuild its trust as a reliable manufacturer of every product its name touches. Its investment in system chips may take it far with other businesses. As consumers, though, readers of these pages will primarily look to Samsungs face as a mobile device maker, and that could tell a far different story than the business-to-business background may show behind the scenes.

Edited by Alicia Young
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Anakhanum Hidayatova  Trend:

France invites foreign investors, including those from Azerbaijan, to invest in the country, the Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan Aurelia Bouchez told reporters in Baku.

France is a country attractive for investors. Investing in France would be good experience for Azerbaijan, Bouchez said Nov. 4.

Azerbaijan is important for France, said the ambassador.

The two counties developed close relations, and high-level mutual visits are frequently paid, the diplomat added.

Investing in Frances economy will let Azerbaijan diversify its economy and gain new experience. This would be mutually beneficial, the ambassador added.

Bouchez said that investments in France will help enter not only the French market, but also the markets of the EU.

Moreover, investors will get the opportunity to make use of the potential of Frances infrastructure, she explained.

"A number of French investors operate in Azerbaijan, the most active spheres are transport, agriculture, space sector, the ambassador said. We want to continue expanding our activities in Azerbaijan."

Over 40 French companies operate in Azerbaijan, according to Bouchez.

According to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and France amounted to $547.67 million as of January-September 2016, compared to $737.93 million in the same period of 2015.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
you are here:
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

A new chapter will start in the world history on Nov. 9 when the US announces its new president. What kind of chapter that will be? We can only guesstimate. So, instead of predicting on how the new processes in the US can influence the global developments, it would be proper to focus on a more specific question: what will the results of the US presidential run mean for Azerbaijan?

No matter who wins the election, Republicans or Democrats, it is obvious that the US will continue pushing forward its national interests, and use all the tools to influence the situation in the South Caucasus, just like it was during Barack Obamas presidency.

Some points and aims of the Republicans and Democrats domestic policies may differ a bit from each other, but both parties seem to hold similar positions regarding the foreign policy. Washington has for many years reacted to any movement of Baku away from the direction that Americans deem right. It is very unlikely that anything will change here, and it seems the double standards against Azerbaijan, and many other countries, are going to stay.

But one thing is clear  the new US president, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, will pay great attention to Azerbaijan, even more than the previous administration did.

Firstly, because of the April escalation that revealed the biggest problem of the South Caucasus  the simmering Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is threatening the security of the entire region.

Secondly, year after year, Azerbaijan acquires more significant role for the West, both in terms of security cooperation and confronting the terrorist threat, and in terms of energy security of Europe, which is important for the US.

In the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Clinton can be very helpful for Azerbaijan as the former Secretary of State is well informed about the situation in the South Caucasus and has paid visits both to Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Moreover, Clinton, as Obama, doesnt use the word genocide while assessing the 1915 events in the Ottoman Empire, because none of them wants to spoil relations with Turkey, which is also important for Azerbaijan.

On the other hand, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict doesnt seem to be a priority for Trump. But, as an entrepreneur, he may be interested in new areas of cooperation with Azerbaijan, which is a promising country, open to investments.

Moreover, he already has experience in cooperation with Azerbaijan  Trump has invested in construction of a business center in Baku.

In general, the victory of any candidate in the US elections will be beneficial for Azerbaijan, since the new authorities are likely to pay more attention to the region than the previous ones did.

Only the nature of this attention will differ  if it is Clinton, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will get into the limelight, and if it is Trump, the US will focus on doing business with Azerbaijan.
Education Adviser of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Azerbaijan in Baku Abdulgafur Boyukfirat and his deputy Faig Bayramov visited Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) and met with BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov.

Welcoming the guests, Elmar Gasimov dwelled on the history of the Higher Oil School, BHOS activities and achievements attained within a short period of time. The rector also provided detailed information about the teaching process at BHOS, conditions created for the students and international relations of the School.

Education Adviser of the Turkish Embassy in Baku Abdulgafur Boyukfirat expressed his gratitude for the meeting and told about prospects of the development of cooperation between BHOS and Turkish universities. Issues of enhancing BHOS relations with the Council of Higher Education of Turkey were also discussed at the meeting.
The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijan received 22,000 tourists in the nine months of 2016, sector head in planning and development division of Azerbaijans Culture and Tourism Ministry, Mahir Gahramanov said.

He made the remarks during the discussion of the draft Law on Tourism in Azerbaijani Parliaments Labor and Social Policy Committee.

Gahramanov added that simplification of visa regime for a number of countries helped increase the tourist flow into Azerbaijan.

For comparison, he noted, 750 tourists from Dubai traveled to Azerbaijan in 2015, whereas their number exceeded 9,500 in the six months of 2016, and the number of tourists who visited Azerbaijan in the nine months of 2016 amounted to 22,000.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree June 1 on simplification of e-visa issuance and creation of the ASAN Visa system. Foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan can obtain e-visas through the ASAN Visa, according to the decree. The period of stay with a single-entry visa is up to 30 days.

Visas are issued through a single online portal in three days without applying to state organizations.
November 04, 2016 Open Thread 2016-37 News & views NOT related to the U.S. election ... (For election comments please use the previous thread.) Posted by b on November 4, 2016 at 18:58 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
With less than a week to go until the Nov. 8 election, two candidates for Morgan Hill offices disclosed more campaign contributions in accordance with the California Fair Political Practices guidelines.

The FPPC rules require candidates to disclose all individual campaign contributions of $1,000 or more that they receive within 90 days of an election, according to Morgan Hill City Clerk Irma Torrez.

Mayor Steve Tate and Councilman Larry Carr reported such contributions at the end of October. Both are running to retain their respective seats on the five-member city governing body.

Scott Murray, a Realtor with Intero Realty in Morgan Hill, contributed $1,000 to both Tate and Carrs campaigns before the end of October, according to both candidates latest disclosures.

South Valley Internet, based in San Martin, gave $1,000 to Tates campaign Oct. 29.

Tate is running against Kirk Bertolet and Joseph Carrillo in the Nov. 8 election.

Carr is running against Mario Banuelos, Armando Benavides, incumbent Marilyn Librers and Rene Spring.
A Morganton man will serve at least five years in prison after failing to report a new address as a sex offender.

McGarrett Eugene McManus, 33, was sentenced Thursday to five to seven years in N.C. Department of Corrections by Superior Court Judge Daniel Kuehnert in Burke County Superior Court, according to a press release from the District Attorney's office.

McManus' term was enhanced by his habitual felon status which includes prior felony convictions for larceny of a motor vehicle in Catawba County (2001), breaking and entering a motor vehicle in Catawba County (2003), and indecent liberties with a child in Lincoln County (2015), the release said.

McManus was required to register as a sex offender after his conviction in 2015 for indecent liberties with a child in Lincoln County. After a routine check, an officer discovered McManus residence unoccupied. When the officer contacted the property owner, it was discovered that McManus had not been living there for about a week. It was revealed that he had fled to California whereupon he was later arrested, the release said.

Detective Isaac Propst of the Burke County Sheriff's Office investigated the case, and Assistant district attorneys Frank Webster and Michelle Lippert prosecuted the case.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Switzerlands State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) is ready to start implementing new projects of technical assistance in order to help Azerbaijan solve the most difficult issues, SECO Deputy Regional Director for South Caucasus Simone Haeberli said.

She made the remarks Nov. 4 in Baku at an event dedicated to the Capital Markets Modernization Project, jointly implemented with the World Bank (WB).

Haeberli said Azerbaijan and Switzerland have been cooperating effectively for already 25 years, including the cooperation within the SECO, which covers the microeconomic policy and ensuring financial stability.

Earlier, Azerbaijan's Financial Markets Supervision Chamber invited the SECO to take part in preparation of a medium-term financial sector strategy and its analysis.

Modern and transparent capital markets are now more important for Azerbaijan than at the time when the SECO started implementation of the project [in 2011], Haeberli said, adding it is clear that the work is far from over, but this project has laid a great foundation for development of the capital markets.

The SECO allocated $1.6 million for implementation of the Capital Markets Modernization Project in Azerbaijan.

The total project cost is $15.8 million. In March 2011, the WB allocated a loan of $12 million to Azerbaijan for this project. Also, some $2.2 million were allocated by the Azerbaijani government.

The objective of the Capital Markets Modernization Project for Azerbaijan is to increase the use of equity and corporate debt as financing and/or investment instruments through the adoption of an effective capital markets regulatory framework and infrastructure.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Hungary may help Azerbaijani business to enter the European Union (EU) market, namely, to provide an opportunity for creating enterprises, investment opportunities, as well as the market for sale of traditional Azerbaijani goods, Imre Laszloczki, Hungarian ambassador to Azerbaijan, told Trend in an interview.

Main directions of economic cooperation and the most promising sectors were identified during the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Baku in March 2016, said Laszloczki, adding that these directions are the development of infrastructure, agriculture, energy, cooperation in water industry and IT spheres.

He noted that several agreements were signed between the sides during the visit, such as the agreement on the protection technology of various facilities, an agreement on the creation of an electronic parking system and other payment systems, as well as agreements in the field of agriculture and food industry.

During Orbans visit, the sides agreed that on the basis of excellent political relations and previously achieved results, it is necessary to bring economic cooperation to a qualitatively new level, as well as change the structure of the Hungarian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation considering the new requirements of the global economy, said the ambassador.

The diplomat added that the highest level of Hungarys trade turnover in the South Caucasus region accounts for Azerbaijan, more precisely, the trade turnover with Azerbaijan accounts for more than half of Hungarian trade turnover with the regions countries.

A steady growth of trade has been observed since 2013, said Laszloczki. Well-known pharmaceuticals, electrical machines and equipment, cars, food, cattle dominate among goods delivered from Hungary, he added.

"Of course, apart from the increase in trade turnover our primary goal is the promotion of mutual investments and project cooperation," said the ambassador.

The import volume of Azerbaijani non-oil products to Hungary was $79,000 in 2015, he added.

The envoy thinks that Hungarian positions on the Azerbaijani market became stronger over the last year.

In 2016, Hungarian exports to Azerbaijan are expected to decrease due to the decline in exchange rate of Azerbaijani manat, however, Azerbaijani exports to Hungary can increase, which means that the overall level of trade turnover between the two countries can stay at the level of the previous years in 2016.

The diplomat called trade in services as the main component of bilateral economic relations. Its volume was $8.57 million in 2015, $4.21 million of which accounted for the Hungarian exports, and $4.36 million  for imports from Azerbaijan, he added.

The Hungarian Export-Import Bank Plc. (Eximbank) has a preferential framework credit line of $201.77 million to finance joint Hungarian-Azerbaijani projects, he noted adding that Eximbank is also ready to finance export deals on the Hungarian goods export to Azerbaijan.

The diplomat added that there are also obvious opportunities for cooperation in the energy field.

Hungary, along with other members of the EU considers Azerbaijan as a significant alternative supplier of hydrocarbons, said Laszloczki adding that the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project is the diversification of energy sources for Hungary too.

Hungarys national oil and gas company MOL sees Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR as one of the most important partners, he noted.

Currently, Azerbaijan is already a strategic partner of the EU, and the country will play an important role in ensuring Europes energy security in the future, said the ambassador.

Laszloczki added that Hungary in every way supports the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU, including the issue of early conclusion of a strategic agreement.
QE is not the only thing disrupting markets at present. Outside of monetary stimulus, investors are feeling the impact of increasing political strain. The two most important political developments left for 2016 will be the U.S. elections next week and the Italian constitutional referendum on December 4.

Regardless of the U.S. election winner between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the real determinant of political stability in the U.S. will be the composition of Congress. With government debt hitting $20 trillion and due to breach the debt ceiling once again in early 2017, expected negotiations are for February 2017 as the government is projected to run out of funds in mid-March, it doesnt give much breathing room for a potentially divided Congress to agree on a new ceiling level. At the current time, the most likely election outcome appears to be a Hillary Clinton win with the Republicans retaining their power in Congress, which could easily create a stalemate and instability akin to Obamas last six years in office.

Italian Referendum Makes Waves

Closer to home, we are also watching as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzis career is on the line. He insists the problems in Italy are constitutional, and has procured a decisive referendum within Italy to give more power to the Government by reducing the powers of the Senate and amending regional competence.

Renzis threat to resign if the referendum does not go his way gives this vote take an extra layer of importance. If the polls are anything to go by, the issue is not so much Renzi, as most people appear to be backing his proposed reforms whilst he is in power. The concern is the populist faction led by the five-star movement party. As it currently stands, if Renzi gets his way  a yes vote  Italy could see a period of short-term stability but be open to greater instability in the future as the constitutional changes to the Senate would create a more powerful government for his successor. If Renzi fails, his resignation could mean the five-star movement party would find its way into power sooner than thought possible. Italy is facing its fifth Prime Minister in six years under a no vote, and the threat to leave the European Union under a five-star movement government makes the stakes undeniably high.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The Azerbaijani government works on narrowing of assets of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), Rufat Aslanli, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber, told reporters Nov. 4 in Baku.

We have a close contact with the government as part of the banks recovery. Currently, the process of reducing is underway, and the IBA assets are being gradually transferred to other market participants, noted Aslanli. This work must continue in 2017 and I am confident that the bank's recovery process will be completed the next year.

As a regulator, the Chamber wants only private banks to remain on the market, Aslanli added.

The International Bank of Azerbaijan was established in January 1992. Azerbaijans Finance Ministry, which is the IBA shareholder on behalf of the government, plans to increase its share in the banks capital up to 95 percent until the end of 2016.

The ministry has a 51-percent share of the banks assets as of late 2014, while the share already reached 85 percent by the end of 2015. After the completion of capital injection until the end of 2016, the government share in the IBAs assets will be brought to 95 percent.

It is expected that the government will allocate additional $500 million Azerbaijani manats for recapitalization of the IBA. Moreover, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) allocated a subordinated debt worth one billion manats for the IBA. Meanwhile, the CBA raised a deposit worth three billion manats with five percent interest per annum from the bank in order to ensure the IBA with fixed income.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the preliminary joint audit of the CBA and Ministry of Finance showed that the volume of bad assets in the IBA reached seven billion manats (70 percent of all assets). The IBA gave its bad assets worth 2.5 billion manats to Aqrarkredit in late 2015, and transferred the remaining 4.6 billion manats in 2016.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakh National Oil and Gas Company KazMunaiGas (KMG) plans to liquidate some of its subsidiaries and take its functions, Sputnik Kazakhstan quoted KMG chairman Sauat Mynbayev as saying.

"KazMunaiGas - Refinig and Marketing" will be liquidated probably until the yearend, "KazTransGas" in will be liquidated in the first half of 2017," Mynbayev said at a roundtable.

He noted that subsidiaries of KazTransGas - InterGaz Central Asia and KazTransGas Aimak, which pump gas in Kazakhstan, will fall under direct control of KazMunaiGas after liquidation of KazTransGas.

The change will allow to reduce the administrative and managerial staff by 20 percent.

Meanwhile Mynbayev said that KazMunaiGas would not close another huge subsidiary KazTransOil and it will continue to pump oil. But some its functions, such as control of its subsidiaries and development of its strategy will be transferred to KazMunaiGas.

KazMunaiGas is Kazakhstan's national operator for exploration, extraction, refining and transportation of hydrocarbons.

Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova
In Torontos overheated and overvalued metropolitan housing market, joint purchases and ownership of residential properties have seen increased popularity recently, highlighting consumers determination to get around the increasingly prohibitive costs of owning a home in Canada.Co-ownership is increasing, Toronto Real Estate Board president Larry Cerqua told NOW Toronto Magazine.It makes sense for people to pool money and buy together so its not just the very affluent who have the privilege of owning in the city centre, local real estate agent Danyelle Boily agreed, but quickly added that this route is rife with its own drawbacks.People have a hard time finding someone whos ready to (buy) at the same time they are, who has the same financial equity, compatible values and mutual trust.Boily encouraged would-be co-buyers to draft a legally binding agreement, including a clause that outlines the minimum number of years they should hold the home together and the penalties for the partner who reneges on mortgage payments.[An agreement] has to be very, very carefully laid out at the beginning, according to real estate agent Pat Simmonds. Everybody has to protect their own interests.Long-time co-owner Jennifer Danch, who has shared a two-and-a-half-storey home with 3 other adults for 11 years now, said that those who are contemplating this arrangement should understand that majority of the space is communal, and thus one should be prepared to work at not only the shared-costs aspect but interpersonal affairs as well.Ive gained lifelong close relationships with my housemates and a bigger, broader community, Danch stated. I love coming home and there being someone here.Related Stories:
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

China is main investor in Kazakhstan, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at the meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Astana on Nov 3, Kazakh presidential press-service reported.

During the meeting Nursultan Nazarbayev and Li Keqiang discussed issues of implementation of agreements reached between Kazakhstan and China during Nazarbayevs visit to China in September 2016.

Nazarbayev noted that China is Kazakhstans important strategic partner and bilateral relations between two countries could be an example for other states.

Li Keqiang in turn noted that the relations between two countries are strategic and friendly.

We intend to continue maintaining high-level contacts, which will promote mutual cooperation, Li Keqiang said.

Among successful joint projects Li Keqiang mentioned car assembly plant in Kazakh city of Kostanai.

Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova
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...
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 4

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistans economy has grown considerably throughout many years, turning it into an upper middle income country, Cyril Muller, World Bank vice president for Europe and Central Asia, said in a letter to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

Muller in his letter expressed commitment of the WB Group to supporting Turkmenistan in becoming a high income country with a modern and diversified economy.

In Mullers view, the policy of permanent neutrality carried out by Turkmenistan is a valuable and guiding principle for achieving social and economic growth, as well as improving well-being of the countrys citizens.

Turkmenistan joined the WB Group in September 1992. In October 2016, the Turkmen Finance Ministry and the WB signed an agreement on paid consulting services in the financial sector and macroeconomics.

Turkmenistan's GDP growth in the next three years (2016-2018) is forecast at 5 percent, according to the WB June 2016 Global Economic Prospects.

Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market of the Caspian region. The country produces around 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Ashgabat pursues the policy of economic diversification. The country devalued its national currency, manat, in January 2015, reduced the investment spending and subsidies and strengthened the regulation and supervision over the banking sector.
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The environmental activist nonprofit Earthworks released a report on Thursday reinvigorating concerns that oil and gas production around West Texas Balmorhea State Park could pollute the springs that feed the parks famous swimming pool.

Balmorhea residents and park visitors have worried about drilling in the high desert since Apache Corp. began leasing mineral rights and drilling test wells there over the past year. Environmental organizations have recently begun monitoring the situation.

Earthworks has been the most active in the small town. Two weeks ago, the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit announced it had commissioned an analysis by hydrologist Tom Myers, who works frequently with the group.

Myers report, released Thursday, listed several possible risks to the springs: Drilling fluids could migrate through underground pathways into the aquifer. Oil and gas could leak out of well holes. Above-ground waste water storage ponds could seep through topsoil and into waterways. Hydraulic fracturing, which pumps water into wells at high pressures to crack shale and release oil and gas, could move rock and block the aquifer. Groundwater pumping for hydraulic fracturing could use up water and reduce the springs flow.

These risks are not quantifiable, Myers wrote in the report, but the probability that contamination will occur is significant.

Myers suggested an immediate water monitoring program. Earthworks called for a moratorium on drilling permits in the area until a complete environmental impact analysis can be done.

Theres too much at stake, said Sharon Wilson, the groups gulf region organizer.

Apache said Thursday afternoon that it will review the report for accuracy and content. But the company also bristled some at the tone of the release.

It is disappointing that Earthworks and their allies continue to pursue tactics aimed at undermining the spirit of collaboration and transparency that Apache has emphasized from the beginning, Apache spokeswoman Castlen Kennedy said in an email. Our company has a clear track record of working with organizations across the spectrum on environmental concerns, and we see the value in fostering an open dialogue.

Few of the reports findings are new, and Apache has responded to many of them in the past. It is searching for other water sources for fracturing, so it doesnt have to use spring water. It can prevent leaks by carefully and fastidiously drilling and cementing wells, the company has said.

And Apache has already embarked on a groundwater monitoring study, announcing last month an unprecedented partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington.

Earthworks and a group of concerned Balmorhea residents have called a meeting for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Balmorhea Community Center to discuss the developments and hear from four speakers, including Earthworks representatives and University of Texas hydrogeologist Jack Sharp.
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The Midland County Child Welfare Board will celebrate National Adoption Day today as area foster children will be adopted into their forever families. The board will present each adopted child with a memory box, handmade blanket and other mementos of the day in a ceremony that begins at 10 a.m. at the Midland County Courthouse.

We wish these children the best as they join their forever families, board president Shelly Worrell said. Child abuse and neglect is an unfortunate reality in our community, so days like today provide hope and inspiration. We wish each of these children best of luck in the future.

Centers plans grand opening

Centers for Children and Families has moved into its new building at 3701 Andrews Highway and is planning a celebration for 4 p.m. Wednesday. The event will begin with a ribbon cutting and presentation and include tours of the building.

The mental health wellness center provides affordable therapies, education and support services to area individuals, children and families.

Cossackin for Christmas Toy Run

The Cossack National Chapters third annual toy run is Nov. 19 in Odessa. It will begin noon at the Lost Coyote, 6108 Andrews Highway and end at 6 p.m. at Moose Lodge No. 1701, 2711 N. Dixie Road.

After the ride, the lodge will host a spaghetti dinner for a $10 donation along with raffles and karaoke and dancing. New toy and monetary donations will be accepted at the dinner.

Fast Eddies in Odessa will also accept new toy donations on Nov. 11-12. For more information, call 432-312-3225 or 432-381-9778.

Cecila Abbott addresses Texas Faith Leader Summit

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services hosted the Texas Faith Leader Summit in Austin on Wednesday with guest speaker Cecila Abbott, wife of Gov. Greg Abbott. The summit was to develop ways the faith community can assist the children and families the department serves. There are currently 28,000 Texas children living in substitute care.

I want to enlist you to help establish a statewide faith-based network of nurture  a network of individuals and families willing to open their hands, their hearts, or their homes to these beautiful children, Abbott told attendees. A strong statewide faith-based network will serve as a framework to make sure these families are getting the resources and support they need. Your congregations are likely already full of members eager to help this vulnerable population of children, so I encourage you to challenge them to answer this call. Today can be a turning point toward a brighter future for another Texas child. Every child deserves the chance to succeed  and there are thousands of Texas children waiting for that chance.

Midland Need to Read wins literacy award

Midland Need to Read adult literacy program has been selected as the first recipient of the Texas Center for the Book Literacy Award, which honors nonprofit organizations that have made outstanding contributions to increasing literacy in Texas, according to a press release from the local agency.

MN2R will receive $1,000 to assist in its efforts to promote reading and combat illiteracy. The award was presented Thursday at the Texas Authors Summit at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin. Jessica Smith, resource development director, accepted the award on behalf of Midland Need to Read.

The nonprofit provides one-one-one tutoring for illiterate adults, according to its website. Other services include English as a Second Language classes, GED preparation and citizenship classes.

For more information, visit midlandneedtoread.org or call 682-9693.
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Debi Moore often searches for different way to bring her employees together at Sport Environmental Services. With a slower marketplace, this also was an ideal time for her and her team to step out of the box, or office in this case, to work on both giving to the community and strengthen their relationships. And so the staff of 15 (minus some out for training) signed up to build a house with Habitat for Humanity.

We were figuring out a way to come up with an exercise where someone else would benefit from the time that we spent on it, she said.

For Moore, working with Habitat was the ideal situation -- her first degree was in building construction and she loves being outdoors.

But the experience turned into something deeper for the team.

Environmental draftsman Mark Bassham connected the company to the nonprofit for the volunteer opportunity.

We all know Debis compassionate and giving, but it was different to see it as an employee, he said. Anyone can write a check, but for me, it was dramatic to see her in that manner.

Without the interoffice departments, the staff quite literally worked together on this one project -- and came out of it with a feel-good experience. Moore saw that her staff was both excited and even a bit rowdy coming back from the two-day project.

We had a great time and we were highly productive, she said. When I saw the secretary pick up that nail gun, I knew we were hooked.

She was even glad to see the skill set her team brought that she hadnt seen in an office setting.

Her commitment to the project and her staff is reflective of the culture of the company. The staff could be considered family rather than colleagues or employees. For Sport Environmental Services, there is high value placed on both reflection to make the company better and helping out in the community.

In a downturn, we try to make ourselves better than what we were before. As a general rule, I dont let anyone go during a downturn, she said. But with that, it freed us up for some opportunities like this.

They also opted to build a house rather than work on the interior of one. There was an added satisfaction in seeing their work come together.

We wanted to have the big job of framing the house and have that instant gratification. They did a great job to make sure someone is going to get a home, Moore said.

Sport Environmental Services is going on 12 years of business in Midland. Their clientele are companies inundated with environmental regulations and enforcement but without the staff to handle that. SES steps in as interoffice component to take care of a companys environmental compliance needs. In short, she said they help companies provide for a cleaner and healthier planet.

Closing her business for two days could have had serious ramifications. Although still reachable by phone, she and her team were insistent on fulfilling their obligation.

Bassham was emotionally overcome by what her dedication meant to the company.

From an employees perspective, it was powerful to see her stand behind us and do something that directly hurt her business by being out of the office and run the risk of people being hurt, he said. That grows loyalty. She was willing to invest in us first and not after.

Not only did it reflect her commitment, but also reinforced the staff to lean on each other with more confidence.

Well definitely do this again. I like to think I have the best staff, she said, wiping away tears.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3

By Dalga Khatinoglu  Trend:

Iran has capacity for generation of 60 gigawatts (GW) electricity from renewables, Vice Chairman of Environment Committee in Tehran Chamber of commerce, Industries, mines and agriculture, Hamid reza Salehi told Trend.

"Iran could supply domestic needs and also export if this capacity become operational," he said.

Currently Irans nominal and actual power generation capacity stand at 76 GW and 59 GW.

Iran plans to add 26 GW to power generation capacity by 2021, of which 5 GW would be renewables.

Currently, renewables share 0.32 percent of Irans electricity generation capacity. Iran plans to generate 7-10 GW renewable power by 2025.

Salehi said that Ministry of Energy planned and announced power purchase prices and guaranteed purchase pattern of electricity is also intended for foreign investments.

Below is Irans proposed tariffs for foreign companies: (Currently $1 equals 36,000 rials in open markets)

According to him in years to come with population growth and rise in economic activity in Iran, the electricity consumption will rise automatically. "So consumption of gas as a form of clean energy will rise also. In this situation renewables 5 percent share in energy basket is very small".

He said that realization of generating 60 GW renewables depend on foreign investments.

However, Iran ranks first and forth in term of gas and oil reserves in the world. Currently, about 85 percent of Irans total power generation is thermal and this figure would remain unchanged in next five years.

On the other hand, the cost of renewable power generation is higher than thermal electricity.

Iran needs 600 to 700 thousand euro finance to generate one megawatt electricity in a Combined-Cycle Plant, the spokesman of parliaments energy commission Asadollah Gharekhani told Trend, adding that the volume for renewables may exceed one billion euro.

Iran plans to invest $30 billion in power sector, including generation and grid by 2021.

Dalga Khatinoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Iran news service, follow him on Twitter:@dalgakhatinoglu
We were disappointed that Midland ISDs academic issues have landed the district on a list with others from around the state that need special training regarding academic performance.

The Texas Education Agency sent letters to 11 districts across the state about required training sessions involving board members and the superintendent. The expectation is that those sessions can help districts fix their failing schools.

Midland ISD has nine campuses that will carry the IR, or improvement required, designation this year -- including four that were deemed longer-term designees. The academic performance of the entire district puts MISD on a list that includes academic underachievers such as Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hearne, Houston, Lubbock, Nacogdoches, Tyler and Waco.

In our view, this was expected. Academic performance data has showed how this district has struggled for the better part of a decade. It wasnt a matter of if TEA would single out Midland ISD in such a fashion, but when. We are not sure if the announcement this week was another sign that we are closer to reaching bottom or if we have turned the corner and are working our way out of a pretty deep hole.

We hold out hope for the latter.

A conversation with Board President Rick Davis this week gives us reason to be optimistic that this and future boards will not just tolerate reform efforts but embrace them. Davis told the Reporter-Telegram the groundwork for the training session, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 28-29, was set not because of the TEAs letter, but because of a comment he made to TEA officials during a visit to Midland earlier this school year. Davis told the official that the board, especially new board members, could use training when it comes to analysis of academic data. The TEA responded.

Davis said he had an eye on life after Novembers election and the possibility of as many as four new board members (including Robert Marquez, who recently took over in District 2). He said there have been training opportunities for board members when it comes to financial issues but not performance data -- certainly not the deep dive into the performance analysis new board members need and a board directed by Interim Superintendent Rod Schroder should require.

The new board members -- and there will be at least three -- will get a lot out of it, Davis said. I am hoping us veterans get something out of it as well.

They had better. We said here previously that accountability measures should be put on the next board to change a collective mindset that appears to have been created by at least two superintendents. That mindset kept board members in the dark when it came to academic performance. It provided them excuses, not solutions. It kept them reactive, when proactive leadership was absolutely necessary.

Davis comments indicate hes up for the challenge that is in front of board members. Our community will find out if other current board members share similar enthusiasm.

Our district and its students require all seven trustees realize the urgency of the situation.
Kantar Media to Deliver Dutch Internet Currency

Netherlands online publisher group VINEX has awarded Kantar Media a contract to deliver a new 5,000-strong panel for Internet audience measurement, replacing a previous service operated by GfK.



The panel is known as Project NOBO (Netherlands Online Bereik Onderzoek) and supplements Kantar Media's own methods with technology from comScore, to measure use of browsers and apps across tablets, smartphones and PCs. VINEX teamed up with TV and video ratings body SKO last year to develop the approach.



Initially the panel will track all Internet traffic and page content from participating publishers, with other sites added in early 2017 including Facebook, Google, Netflix and YouTube.



Richard Asquith, Global CEO of Audience Intelligence at Kantar Media, comments: 'The Dutch media industry demands a new standard for measurement of all media consumed on the Internet. Our unrivalled experience in designing and operating hybrid measurement services is manifested in this latest milestone'.



NOBO and SKO Managing Director Bas de Vos (pictured) says the announcements heralds a new standard for Internet ratings, adding: 'The alliance between these two bodies, realised through the NOBO project, will enable agencies, brands and media owners to manage media investment across TV and Internet properties'.



Details of the new currency are available at www.vinex.nl/resultaten/archief , while the WPP firm's site is at www.kantarmedia.com .




By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.4

Iran has exported $103 million worth of pharmaceutical products and medical equipment since the beginning of current fiscal year, started on March 21, Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mojtaba Khosrotaj said Nov.4.

He added that the value indicate a 50% growth year-on-year.

Iran itself imports $1 billion worth of drugs a year. Irans drugs market value is estimated to be around $2.3-2.5 billion annually.
By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.4

Iran says it has stooped power export to Turkey due to long delayed debts of the Turkish side.

The deputy of Irans Energy Ministry Houshang Falahatian told Mehr Nov.4 that the Turkish company which was importing electricity has about $200 million worth of debts to Iran.

According to the latest statistics, released by Turkey Energy Market Regulatory, the country has stopped power import from Iran since the beginning of June.

During January-May, Turkey imported about 543.134 million kilowatts hours (kWh) of Iranian electricity.

However, according to Irans Energy Ministrys official statistics, the country exported about 10,239 million kWh during last fiscal year, of which Turkeys share was 17.6% (or 1,802 million kWh).

Falahatian said Nov.4 that Turkey would clear it debts to Iran in the coming 4-5 months.

Before, he told Mehr on Nov.2 that Iraq has $1 billion worth of debts to Iran due to power imports. Iraq imported about 69 percent of Irans total power exports during the last fiscal year.

Irans total electricity exports decreased by 26 percent during the seven months of current fiscal year to around 4,610 million kWh, according to the latest weekly statistics of Energy Ministry.
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Japan will provide aid worth 800 billion yen ($7.73 billion) to Myanmar over five years to support its peace-building and development efforts, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday.



About 40 billion yen of the aid planned by the government and private sector will be directed towards supporting ethnic minorities in the Southeast Asian nation.



"We hope this aid will help spread the fruit of peace building to various regions in Myanmar, and drive it forward," Abe told a joint news conference at the Akasaka Palace state guesthouse in Tokyo with Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



The rest of the aid would be spent on areas such as airports and electricity projects, Japanese officials said.



Japanese officials have described Myanmar as the "final frontier within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," citing its potential given its natural resources.



Suu Kyi arrived Tuesday on a five-day visit to Japan, her first visit to Asia's second-largest economy since the pro-democracy party she leads took power in March following a landmark election.



"I expect this will contribute to the country's development," Suu Kyi said at the joint press conference.



At an event with members of Japan's Myanmar community earlier in the day, Suu Kyi said Myanmar's economy "needs to be developed in every sector," with a slowdown in global growth adding to the country's economic difficulties.



"We need a lot of investment and many economic experts with fresh ideas," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said.



For the full story, please click HERE



Related reports:
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy held a meeting with King Felipe VI on Thursday to announce the composition of the new government at Zarzuela Palace, Sputnik reported.

According to La Vanguardia news outlet, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo y Marfil and Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz will not be a part of the new Spanish Cabinet.

Rajoy arrived at the Palace at around 6 p.m. local time (17:00 GMT), the media reported.

On Saturday, Spains lower house of parliament known as the Congress of Deputies approved the appointing Rajoy, who sought reelection as the country's prime minister.

Rajoys candidacy was upheld by 170 votes, 68 lawmakers abstained from voting and 111 voted against. The second round of voting required a simple majority to grant Rajoy his second term in office.
New members inducted into Institute of ...
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4

Trend:

The EU-funded regional civil protection Flagship Initiative PPRD East 2 held a Workshop on Cooperation with journalists in Kyiv on 1st and 2nd November with representatives from Eastern Partner Countries.

The workshop was aimed at finding answers to questions on how to effectively involve journalists in national efforts to raise awareness about disasters, how to streamline collaboration between journalists and national civil protection authorities before, during and after disasters.

Raising awareness about disasters and proper communication about disaster risks to the public are crucial elements of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk management (DRM). The PPRD East 2 Programme supports Eastern Partner Countries in raising their capacity to inform populations in timely, adequate and trustworthy manners.

The EU-funded Programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD East 2) is to contribute to the peace, stability, security and prosperity of the Eastern Partner Countries. It is also aimed to protect the environment, population, cultural heritage, resources and infrastructures of the region by strengthening the countries resilience, preparedness and response to man-made disasters and disasters caused by natural hazards.

The PPRD East 2 Programme facilitates the strengthening of disaster risk management capacities at the national level in Eastern Partner Countries, to strengthen regional cooperation among the Partner Countries, and brings Partner Countries progressively closer to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The Programme will last for 4 years with a budget of 5.5 million.
Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs, were detained as part of an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation, Turkish security sources said early Friday, Anadolu reported.

Yuksekdag was taken into custody at her residence in Ankara, for failing to appear in response to a summons asking for her testimony in the probe conducted by Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutors Office.

As part of the investigation, Demirtas was detained at his Diyarbakir residence on the same grounds.

The two politicians vowed in June they would not cooperate with officials on the probe and would refuse to testify.

Yuksekdag and Demirtas face prosecution under anti-terrorism laws after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year, along with other lawmakers from Turkeys main political parties.

The two detentions are part of a broader operation against HDP lawmakers by prosecutors in Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Van, Sirnak and Bingol provinces, located in the southeastern and eastern regions, security sources tell Anadolu Agency.

They were the only parliamentary group who refused to testify in investigations against them after their immunity was lifted.
Turkey's outlook was revised up to 'stable' from 'negative', global ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said Friday, Anadolu reported.

The upgrade reflects the Turkish economy's resilience against regional and domestic risks, as the agency said it believes Turkish policymakers would continue to implement reforms for economic stability.

"Government policy is gradually refocusing on measures to reduce external vulnerabilities, albeit in the presence of weaker growth and moribund private investment, S&P said in a statement.

The countrys internal environment was also considered in the decision to revise the rating. "State of emergency following the coup attempt in July 2016 is likely to remain in place until at least January 2017," it said.

We factor our expectation of ongoing domestic political volatility -- related to the constitutional reform process, the ending of the Kurdish peace process in mid-2015, and heightened instability along Turkey's southeastern border with Syria -- into our ratings at the current level.

Public and private consumption in Turkey have been the major driver of GDP growth so far this year, according to S&P, and it also pointed to the government's Private Pension System (PPS) that tries to lower the economys dependence on foreign financing.

"The government projects the regulation will create 6.7 million contributors to the PPS and 90 billion Turkish lira (4 percent of 2016 GDP; about 26 billion) of savings in 10 years," it noted.

Turkey's foreign and local currency credit ratings. meanwhile, remained unchanged at 'BB' and 'BB+', respectively.
Samsung Electronics has announced it would recall about 2.8 million of its top-load washing machines following reports of injuries.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the top of the washing machines can unexpectedly detach from the chassis during use.

The recall includes 34 models of top-load machines made between March 2011 and November 2016. The washing machines were sold at Best Buy, the Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears and other appliance stores nationwide. For a list of the affected models, click here.

Customers are can receive a free in-home repair and a free one-year extension of the manufacturers warranty; a rebate toward the purchase of a new Samsung or other brand washing machine; or a refund for consumers who purchased their washing machine within 30 days of the recall. Samsung has received 733 reports of the machines experiencing excessive vibration or detaching. So far, there have been nine related reports of injuries, including a broken jaw and an injured shoulder.

The company is still reeling from the global recall of its Note 7 smartphones, following reports that the devices can explode.

Samsung Note 7 smartphones have been banned on major airlines because of the issue.
The Jin Xing Show (Photo : SMG Shanghai TV Official/YouTube)

Chinese talk show host Jin Xing is considered the Oprah Winfrey of China. At times she is also referred to as the Simon Cowell and Caitlyn Jenner of China.



If the comparisons cover a wide range of strong celebrities, its because Jin Xing  before her gender reassignment surgery in 1995 - was a former male ballet star and army colonel. Although the feminine aspect of his personality was obvious by gaining admission to a prestigious dance troupe within the Peoples Army, he then was not your typical effeminate gay although he admits to sensing a different sexuality as early as four years old, according to Hollywood Reporter.



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After his admission to the army at nine, over the next 10 years, Jin Xing rose through the ranks both as a ballet dance and soldier. He was an expert in the use of machine guns and placing bombs under bridges.



At 19, Jin Xing left China for the U.S. where he won awards at prestigious dance festivals and he was described by The New York Times as a virtuoso. During the sex reassignment surgery in 1996, she almost lost her leg because of lack of oxygen. She met her husband, German businessman Heinz-Gerd Oidtmann during a flight from Paris in 2004.



Ten years after her sex reassignment surgery, which the government did not object to, she married ad adopted three children.



As judge at Chinas version of So You Think You Can Dance, the transgender talk show host earned the nickname Poison Tongue on social media for her sharp words, often compared to Cowell. The popularity translated into the Chinese talk show host given her own program  The Jin Xing Show. It has 100 million viewers a week, making 49-year-old Jin Xing the most popular TV hostess in China.



While Caitlyns reality show was cancelled after two years due to poor ratings, its peak viewership of 2.73 million is only a fraction of Jin Xings shows viewers, PinkNews noted.






A Chinese relative of a missing passenger on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries at a protest outside the Malaysia Embassy on March 8, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images/Kevin Frayer)

There have been numerous efforts to analyze the final moments of ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and a latest report hinted that no one was controlling the aircraft when it plunged into the ocean. The new technical report was released on Nov. 2, Wednesday, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which has been leading the search for the doomed aircraft.



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Apparently, the new report from ATSB supports the theory that many investigators have been endorsing for long. It stated that no one was controlling the Boeing 777 when it exhausted fuel and quickly lunged with 239 people on board in some remote region of the Indian Ocean off the western shore of Australia on March 8, 2014.



A section of critics have been advocating an alternate theory that the aircraft was being controlled by someone till the end of its flight. If this theory was correct, it is likely that the plane may have sashayed further away. In turn, this would have increased the potential crash area three-fold resulting in more complications in efforts of the investigators to locate the damned MH 370, AP reported.



On the contrary, the latest technical report illustrates the most recent satellite data analysis is in line with the theory that the aircraft descended at a very high and increasing rate during its final moments. The report further stated that an examination of one of the plane's wing flap, which as washed to the Tanzanian shores, suggests that it was possibly not set up when it separated from the aircraft. Usually, a pilot deployed the flaps when there is a controlled ditching.



Earlier, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau director, who is in-charge of MH 370 search operations, Peter Foley had the pilots not deploy the flap; it would suggest that the plane did not plunge into the water in a controlled ditch. This, in turn, would corroborate that the investigators were undertaking searches in the appropriate place to locate the wreckage of the plane.



However, one can never be completely certain and they were very disinclined to state that they are absolutely convinced, the news agency quoted Foley as saying while addressing a news conference in Canberra on Wednesday. Darren Chester, Australian transport minister, told media persons on the occasion, "To have not found the aircraft at this stage is frustrating for everyone involved and particularly for the families of the passengers and crew."



Watch the report on MH 370 special investigation below:






A car rear-ended a Muni bus Thursday afternoon in San Franciscos Mission District, causing six minor injuries, authorities said.

The vehicle hit the back of the occupied bus shortly before 4:30 p.m. at the intersection of 16th and Folsom streets, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the San Francisco Fire Department.

Though six people initially reported minor injuries, none was taken to the hospital, Baxter said. One person was treated at the scene and released, said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

The bus, traveling on Munis 22 line, did not sustain disabling damage, Rose said.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley
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A new report from the environmental group Earthworks details concerns about a Chihuahuan Desert oasis and the oil and gas field beneath it in West Texas.

The analysis asserts that oil and gas activity could pollute or disrupt the springs near the the desert oasis of Balmorhea State Park, the same area where Houstons Apache Corp. in September announced the discovery of Alpine High.
A former Oakland police officer was charged Thursday with five counts of illegally using a criminal database and sharing the information with a sexually exploited teenager in connection with a sprawling misconduct investigation that for months has embroiled law enforcement agencies around the Bay Area.

Terryl James Smith, 30, who resigned May 17, is one of the last on a seven-name roster to be criminally charged in Alameda County Superior Court in connection with the case. Another implicated Oakland police officer, Warit Uttapa, has yet to be charged.

The 19-year-old Richmond woman at the center of the misconduct scandal  the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher whose attorneys asked to be referred to by only her first name, Jasmine  told The Chronicle that she had sex with nearly 30 police officers and sheriffs deputies in the last two years. Some of the interactions allegedly happened when she was 17, too young to legally give consent.

A few of the officers paid her, Jasmine said, while others tipped her off about antiprostitution stings or ran the names of people she knew through databases, as Smith is accused of doing.

Twice in January and again in February, March and April, Smith logged onto the county crime database and looked up the names of Jasmine and another woman for no apparent lawful purpose, Jim Taranto, an inspector with the district attorneys office, said in an affidavit. Smith then gave the information to Jasmine, Taranto said.

Smith, like all but one of the other accused Oakland officers, was relatively new to the department, beginning his employment in September 2013.

The scandal prompted an audit of the Oakland police forces hiring and recruitment practices as well as the resignation of Police Chief Sean Whent in June. The city is still searching for its next top cop.

The charges Thursday come nearly two months after Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley said that Smith  along with six others  would be prosecuted. Deputy District Attorney Sabrina Farrell said she had been waiting on further investigative documents from the Oakland Police Department before filing the charges against Smith, though she didnt go into details.

Before all of the men could be arraigned, another Oakland police officer was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and engaging in prostitution. That officer, Ryan Walterhouse, allegedly slept with a sex worker and warned her on two occasions about antiprostitution stings.

When she announced the impending charges in early September, OMalley cautioned that some of the illicit behavior investigators in her office and the police department uncovered fell outside their jurisdictions  although Farrell did file charges against former Livermore police officer Daniel Black and former Contra Costa County sheriffs deputy Ricardo Perez.

On Friday, Contra Costa County prosecutors are set to announce the results of their own weekslong investigation, where they will likely reveal whether any Richmond police officers will be charged. Though Richmond officials said none of the 11 officers internally investigated committed any crimes, the city has moved to discipline the group, including this weeks decision to begin the process of firing four of them.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Bill Hutchinson / The Chronicle

A double shooting in San Jose left one man dead, another wounded and authorities working to identify a suspect, officials said.

Police found two men who had been shot in the area of Bambi Lane and Peter Pan Avenue around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to Officer Albert Morales, a spokesman for the San Jose Police Department.
A 21-year-old volunteer with the Alameda County Sheriffs Office missing since Wednesday was found dead at an East Oakland park, her body bludgeoned, stabbed and burned almost beyond recognition, authorities said Friday.

Karla Ramirez-Segoviano vanished Wednesday evening in San Leandro. Her body  which police said was burned so badly the coroner had trouble lifting a fingerprint  was discovered around noon Thursday at Arroyo Viejo Park.

A woman  believed to have been friends with Ramirez-Segoviano  and a man were taken into custody on suspicion of committing the disturbing slaying, said Lt. Roland Holmgren of the Oakland Police Departments homicide division.

The names of the suspects, both from Oakland, were not immediately released.

This is something that nobody should deserve to see, Holmgren said of the crime.

The body had multiple stab wounds and signs of major blunt force trauma, plus burns all over her upper body. The Alameda County Coroners Bureau identified her Friday afternoon.

Investigators are handing over evidence to the Alameda County district attorneys office to review for charges, which could include murder, torture and mayhem, among other serious crimes, police said.

Ramirez-Segoviano was a volunteer member of the Alameda County Sheriffs Offices Explorer Program for about four years. She was last seen dropping off an acquaintance in San Leandro Wednesday night, police said.

Her parents, with whom she lived in San Leandro, reported her missing when she didnt come home Wednesday night, which was unusual for the young volunteer.

Her family members had some concerns about letting her daughter out late at night, so you can imagine, Holmgren said.

The brutal killing wasnt believed to be directly connected to her volunteer work with the Sheriffs Office, Holmgren said  just days after the point-blank ambush killings of two police officers in Iowa renewed fears across the nation of officers being targeted for their work.

Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriffs Office, said the volunteer program Ramirez-Segoviano was involved in can serve as a step into law enforcement for some, but it wasnt clear whether she harbored those aspirations.

Our worst fears were realized when the coroner identified the body, Nelson said.

Ramirez-Segovianos family is a very tight-knit group, Holmgren said, adding that he could only imagine what type of person she was by the interactions weve had with her family. She was a very sweet person.

And that made the violent crime all the more troubling, he said.

Whenever you decide to inflict harm on somebody with something as personal as stabbing them, coming into that persons close, personal space, actually having to utilize a knife and push it through a persons skin, that is a very personal type of crime, and it takes a certain type of anger, Holmgren said.

Michael Bodley and Kimberly Veklerov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michael_bodley, @KVeklerov
A Saratoga man who crafted and sold illegal artwork made out of ivory was sentenced to three months in prison, followed by three months of home confinement, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Shahram Ron Roohparvar, 61, pleaded guilty in July to his role in an international trafficking scheme that also traded other wildlife protected under United States and international law.

The trade of African elephant ivory has been banned in the United States since 1976. Roohparvar also bought and sold other protected wildlife artifacts  including rare leopard, helmeted hornbill and red coral items  under a website he maintained dedicated to the illicit trade, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of California, along with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, investigated the case, which led to Roohparvars guilty plea.

Under the plea agreement, the Saratoga resident admitted to falsifying documents to sneak his wares past customs officials, among other crimes.

In January 2012, he posted an ivory carving on Ebay, asking $1,950, then shipped it to a New Zealand buyer, purporting the package to contain a decorative Japanese statue worth $59.

Illegally wildlife trafficking presents a significant challenge for threatened and endangered wildlife like the African elephant, helmeted hornbill and coral, said Brian Stretch, the U.S. district attorney for the district. This office will vigorously investigate and prosecute those people whose illegal activities threaten to drive these precious resources into extinction.

Roohparvar was originally charged with three counts of wildlife trafficking, the latest case in a long-running illicit, international trade that some African countries still support for the money it brings to their struggling economies.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley
Jiraiya - Naruto Shippuden (Photo : Youtube)

Naruto Shippuden continues its prelude to much-anticipated Hinata-Naruto wedding and the upcoming 'Naruto Hidden' series with an episode dedicated to Gaara and Shikamaru's childhood.



Episode 482 Recap:



Growing up without a mother, a young Gaara had a rough childhood in the Village of the Hidden Sand. While his siblings Temari and Kankuro took every bit of chance to bond with him, Gaara's father vehemently objected it since he's too dangerous in the first place. Angry villagers tried to assassinate him once and awhile, adding more pain to his already wounded heart.



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All he had during that time of struggles was his uncle Yashamura, who answered his questions about life and everything about it.



Shikamaru picked up a fight with Choji while Naruto was sleeping during class. As punishment, Iruka sent all three young shinobi to the hallway. From there, Naruto argued over defending Hinata from the bullies and then teased Ino after watching her rejected by Sasuke.



Before the trio closed out the day, Naruto had one last thing up in his sleeves. After watching Iruka flirting with some Konoha women, Naruto pulled off the Sexy Jutso on his sensei, causing him to bleed profusely and collapse.



Show Review:



Once again Episode 482 is another slow-paced stories about the early years of the pivotal characters in the series. Gaara/Shikamura all in all isn't that bad, but there's also nothing special about it. It's just purely filler episode for hardcore Naruto fanatics out there. Something to get everybody tune in before the Naruto-Hinata wedding episode and the start of a much more intriguing arc - the Hidden series.



Grade/ Rating: The episode is good for a C+



Episode 483 Preview:



-Next Thursday's episode is titled Jiraiya/ Kakashi, and it's another two-part pre-Naruto Hidden show that focuses on Jiraiya's time with his fellow Sannin and Kakashi's ninja academy years.






A man convicted of checking out of a San Francisco halfway house and making his way to a Cupertino bank he went on to rob was sentenced to 16 years in prison, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

San Francisco resident Daniel Asa Hitesman, was sentenced following his conviction for attempted bank robbery in a San Jose courtroom Wednesday, prosecutors said.

The U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of California prosecuted the case, which stemmed from a July 23, 2013 robbery investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hitesman was convicted July 26 this year following a three-day jury trial.

In the robbery, Hitesman donned a hat and sunglasses to cover his face before entering a bank on Stevens Creek Boulevard in West San Jose shortly after checking out of the halfway house in San Francisco, said Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hitesman stood in line at the bank, waiting his turn for the teller, toting a large bag. He told the teller he had a bag full of guns, prosecutors said, before demanding money and threatening to start shooting if he did not receive it.

The teller refused Hitesmans demands and triggered the banks alarm, causing him to flee the scene.

Though Hitesman covered his face during the robbery, the FBI  which is often called in by local authorities to investigate bank robberies  circulated surveillance footage of the attempted robbery after the incident.

Employees at the halfway house in San Francisco that Hitesman left identified him from the footage, leading to his arrest. The FBI and the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office investigated the original attempted heist.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley
San Antonios college crowd heated up their Thursday night with dancing, drinks and country music at Wild West for the dancehalls weekly Ladies Night.

Instead of waiting for Friday to kick off a fun weekend, the country-clad partiers ditched last weekends Halloween costumes and donned denim, boots and cowboys hats to two-step with friends all night.
LATHAM -- State Police charged a 22-year-old Hudson man with rape nearly two weeks after a Siena College student reported the alleged crime.

Christopher T. Johnson was arrested Wednesday and charged with rape and criminal sex act, both felonies.

Johnson is not a student at Siena, but was visiting a friend on campus when the assault occurred, police said. The victim reported she was forcibly sexually assaulted on campus by a man she only knew by first name.

Johnson was identified as the alleged perpetrator following an investigation by State Police and the Siena College Department of Public Safety, police said.

He was arrested in the Hudson area and taken to State Police Troop G in Latham, arraigned at the Town of Colonie Court and taken to Albany County Jail without bail.

Siena officials said Friday they will continue to work with state police on the case, but declined to provide further details on the investigation, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

"Siena's priority is the safety and well-being of our students," the college said in a statement that outlined prevention, training and support resources offered on campus.

"Students are encouraged to reach out to campus officials and/or local law enforcement officials to report any incidents and receive full support from administration in doing so," officials said.
ANSONIA  City residents have some questions about the reconstruction of Wakelee Avenue.

There was little room to move Wednesday night during a meeting about the project at the ARMS building. The project to rejuvenate the road which leads to Griffin Hospital and connects Ansonia to Derby and Shelton was once estimated to cost $3.5 million and now has a price tag of $4.8 million. The city of Ansonia is responsible for $450,000 of the total cost.

Ansonia has secured an additional $1.2 million with help from the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee to cover the cost of draining, lighting, and using granite curbing instead of concrete.

Concrete erodes and decays through time. Granite lasts forever, plus with the historical nature of the area, granite is the way to go, Mayor David Cassetti said.

Joan Radin, an alderwoman and the owner of Lears Pharmacy, a 100-year-old business on Wakelee Avenue, said the granite sidewalk in front of her business is fine and looked as it does now 54 years ago.

I have curbing that isnt chipped, Radin said. I replaced the curbing four times and never took the granite out.

However, she said she does feel lighting is very important.

Its very dark and we have a lot of trees; in the summer its practically pitch black, Radin said. There are so many things that need to be readdressed. I need to know when theres going to be another meeting, and if it will address the questions we asked.

When Cassetti and Bill Anderson, the project manager, said the sidewalks along Wakelee Avenue would be a 5 feet wide with grass behind them, some said this could cause the street to become more narrow and effect some of their front yards, were they have hedges.

Cassetti and Anderson said that would not be the case, because engineers intended to follow the existing curb line.

We will shift the road just enough to still maintain 12-foot-wide lanes, Anderson said.

Other residents asked why part of their driveways had been torn up by the Feeney Brothers, the Massachusetts-based contractors hired by utility company Eversource, in the first stages of construction, which included laying new plastic gas pipeline.

Some at the meeting said they had been unable to reach the company, although Feeny Brothers placed notices with contact information on the doors of many of the homes along Wakelee Avenue.

Cassetti said residents should be able to communicate with the people who are working on their street, and that he asked Eversource to use a Connecticut contractor. But, according to Cassetti, the utility company said the Massachusetts won the job based on competitive bidding.

Ansonia Superintendent of Public Works Mike DAlessio said he would make Eversource aware of residents complaints.

This is why we have these meetings, to hear from the people, good or bad, Anderson said. It informs us to go back and take a look at it.
Next year will mark the 200th anniversary of the groundbreaking for the Erie Canal. On the Fourth of July in 1817, a battalion of laborers armed with picks and shovels, directed by amateur engineers, began the most consequential public works project in American history. The idea of digging a ditch from Albany to Buffalo across 360 miles of forested wilderness was described by Thomas Jefferson as "little short of madness."

The gamble paid off. The canal pushed back the frontier and drew thousands of settlers, many from New England, to the fertile lands of western New York. Syracuse flourished as a salt producer, Rochester as a flour milling city. The flow of resources from the interior enriched Albany and Troy. The combination of frontier enthusiasm and newfound freedom from Puritan strictures set off an unprecedented period of religious ferment. Camp meetings that broke out in the newly settled areas were criticized as fanatical, but they introduced new energy into Christian worship. Itinerant evangelicals preached idiosyncratic versions of salvation.
CHELLE JENKINS

Background: Born in Oregon, she grew up in San Jose, Calif. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Design and has a master's degree in architectural preservation from Columbia University. She works in Troy for the architectural firm of John G. Waite Associates, Architects, and lives in Loudonville where she's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Your religious roots run deep.

I grew up in a Mormon household. My parents were very active in our church. Three of my grandparents were descended from pioneer stock, and there were lots of pioneer stories in my family. My mother's family emigrated from Wales and England, while Dad's great-grandfather lived in one of the early Mormon settlements in Nauvoo, Illinois. In 1846, he joined the Mormon Battalion, a volunteer unit of the army who walked 2,000 miles (from Council Bluffs Iowa to San Diego) to serve in the Mexican-American War. Later, he led a group of Welsh converts across the plains to Salt Lake in one of the handcart companies formed to help immigrants without the money for wagons to make their way to Utah. He got his company, walking and pulling their carts, across in record time to avoid the winter snow. The two companies that left after him were caught in the cold and snow and suffered greatly. Our family always joked that he's why we never took bathroom breaks on road trips.

What brought you here?

Jack Waite came to Columbia to talk about the work his firm was doing at the University of Virginia. I saw the presentation and knew that's where I wanted to work. I've been with the firm, in its various iterations, since 1988. We focus on historic preservation. I'm responsible for the preliminary reports that are a specialty of the firm. I've worked on great projects, including the Statue of Liberty, an 18th century Chinese house in Salem, Massachusetts and the Jefferson buildings at the University of Virginia (most recently, the Rotunda at UVA. We've also worked on a number of religious buildings.

A new Mormon temple is about to open in Connecticut. What's the Capital Region connection?

The new temple will be dedicated Nov. 20 in Farmington, outside of Hartford. It will serve members of the LDS church as far south as Yorktown and north to Glens Falls. When I moved here in 1988, the nearest temple was in Washington, D.C. In 2000 the Boston and Palmyra temples opened.

Temples are special. Our most sacred ordinances are performed there. Plus, they are quiet places to get away from distraction and become closer to God; places to go for additional inspiration. When I have a question, I seek revelation, or direction, from God. It can come from reading scriptures, daily prayer, talking to other people, or simply while driving the car. At the temple, I can focus on communicating with God, and even if I don't receive the answer, sometimes I'll get glimpses of the way I should go  guidance on what I may be able to do to be active in practicing my faith and being closer to God.Once a temple is dedicated, only members in good standing may go inside. You have to be interviewed by your bishop your local leader  and be approved to go. You actually get a card that's good for two years. Our meetinghouses, on the other hand, are open to anyone who wants to attend. I go to the church in Loudonville on Route 9, which was built in the '70s. In this area, we also have congregations and meetinghouses in downtown Albany, Schenectady, Hudson, Greenville, Greenwich, Glenville, Glens Falls, Gloversville, Schoharie and Bennington. All church offices are held by volunteers. A temple is taken care of by a volunteer staff. We don't have paid clergy. Even the bishop is a volunteer in that role for five to seven years.

Are there special temple rituals?

Yes. Marriages, for example. A man and woman kneel across an altar and are married, or "sealed," for this life and for all of eternity. In the temple, we make covenants to live moral lives and grow closer to God. We believe these ordinances, along with baptism, are essential to our salvation, to living with God some day. When we have ancestors who haven't had the opportunity to make these covenants, we can go through the temple on their behalf.

We are baptized in our meetinghouses. To be baptized on behalf of an ancestor, we need to go to the temple. This work on behalf of our family is part of the reason why Mormons are so involved in family history.

Inside the temple, everyone dresses in white, which symbolizes purity and unity. We wear white dresses, men wear shirts and slacks. No one has better clothes than anyone else. It's kind of nice to have it that way.

How have you volunteered?

Since ours is a volunteer-run church, I've had lots of opportunities to serve. I'm currently in the presidency of the Relief Society, the women's auxiliary, which was founded in Nauvoo, Illinois, by the women of the church and Joseph Smith. Each auxiliary of the church has a president and two counselors at the ward, or local congregation, level and at a more regional level. I'm at the regional level, helping with training of presidencies and working with teachers. It's a new assignment, so I have a lot to learn. For the last year, I've been working with the 18-month to 3-year-olds at church. There are two hours that includes playtime, snack time and simple lessons about their relationship with their family and with God.

My other assignment is to work with "seminary" teachers in our area. LDS high school students are encouraged to attend seminary, a four-year course that covers the Bible, the Book of Mormon and church history. Most of the students in the Albany area attend early morning classes, usually around 6 a.m., every day they are in school, in meetinghouses or homes. This year they are studying the New Testament. In the last couple of years the church has introduced an online program for students who aren't able to participate in the early morning classes.

This year, to get credit, you have to show up 70 percent of the time, pass two assessments, and read the New Testament. It's a sacrifice for the students and for the teachers. I taught for five years; now I help train and care for the teachers. They are just amazing people; and the students are great  when they're awake.

I've had ample opportunity to have a lot of leadership roles. Women in my church are very involved in administration and planning. That we aren't bishops is not a thorn in my side. I don't need any additional responsibility! There is a minority of women in the church who struggle with not having the priesthood. But I feel completely equal in what I do in the church.

Besides temples, what's unique about your religion?

The Book of Mormon is near the top of that list. It is an ancient religious record of people from the American continent. It complements the Bible, providing additional insight into Christ and into his Atonement. My favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon tells us that He not only took upon himself our sins, but also our pains, illnesses, and sadness. Anything that we've experienced, He understands and can comfort us.

 Rob Brill
Albany

Joseph Felix Strevell, a former New York deputy secretary of state, is scheduled to plead guilty to federal criminal charges on Friday, admitting that he concealed his financial assets for years to avoid paying restitution for a 2007 conviction.

Strevell, 54, was indicted in April on charges of hiding income in multiple bank accounts, including his daughter's, to avoid paying more than $111,000 he admitted stealing from a state-sponsored nonprofit agency, the former Institute for Entrepreneurship. Strevell's trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 15 in U.S. District Court in Albany.

His scheduled guilty plea will take place three days after federal prosecutors outlined their case in a trial brief filed that said Strevell "intentionally and repeatedly deceived U.S. Probation Officers and the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office about his earnings, assets, expenditures, and sources of funds." They said Strevell also lied under oath about his assets when he was deposed two years ago.

The government's brief said Strevell systematically concealed income that he and his brother, Chauncey, received from running a Rensselaer used-car dealership, Joe's Garage, that has since closed. The Strevell brothers and their companies were paid roughly $7.6 million from a North Carolina auto dealership that purchased more than 800 cars from the pair between July 2012 and May 2014, prosecutors said. The brothers resold the company cars they bought at auctions, and the funds were wired into the bank accounts of two companies they controlled, Berkshire Properties and Burkshire Properties.

The federal investigation of Strevell's assets began three years ago after the Times Union published a story about Strevell's residency and interest in a sprawling Rensselaer County horse farm. At the time, Strevell took apparent steps to hide his residency at the property, where he lived with his daughter. When confronted by federal authorities, Strevell allegedly lied about where he got $75,000 that he used as a down payment for the lease-purchase agreement on the $865,000 horse farm.

But Strevell's efforts to purchase the 138-acre farm, which includes a network of barns on a breathtaking property straddling the borders of Nassau and Chatham, was not seamless. Federal authorities said Strevell wrote a $42,250 check from Burkshire Properties for a downpayment to Cornell University, which inherited the property and was looking to sell it, but the check bounced. Strevell made excuses for the insufficient funds including that he was traveling, couldn't get to the bank and that his mother had undergone surgery, according to the government's trial brief.

By April 2013, two months after Strevell had signed the lease-purchase agreement with Cornell, he still had not paid the $75,000 down payment. "He told a representative of Cornell that his accountant had stolen all of his money, and that he would get the money out of his business account," prosecutors said. "Strevell ultimately made the down payments in three installments after receiving multiple eviction notices. He did so with three teller checks from Pioneer Bank."

The government's case against Strevell, as outlined in their trial brief, cast the fallen state government insider as a shifty businessman who fought with his brother over finances, repeatedly lied to federal probation officials about his assets and income  often tangling his relatives in the misstatements  and used the bank account of his daughter to hide money that he used for living expenses.

For instance, Strevell told federal authorities that the $75,000 downpayment for the horse farm came from money that his mother and aunt gave him from state pensions, which was false, according to the charges.

Strevell also told federal officials that he gave his daughter only "a couple thousand dollars" for her wedding, which was held at the scenic horse farm, even though bank records showed he had given her nearly $70,000, with much of the money used for the May 2014 event.

It's unclear what charges Strevell is scheduled to plead guilty to on Friday. The indictment charges him with five felony counts of perjury and one misdemeanor count of defaulting on his restitution obligation. If convicted, Strevell faces a maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The Rensselaer County farm was donated to Cornell University in 2011 as a gift from Joseph and Jeanette Czapluk. Cornell University previously declined comment on its real estate dealings with Strevell.

Strevell was a once-politically connected barber and low-level Senate worker who rose through the ranks and was appointed a deputy secretary of state for New York from 1997 to 1999. His political connections then helped him land a $263,000-a-year job as head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, which became scandal-plagued during Strevell's tenure. A federal criminal investigation showed Strevell fleeced the state-sponsored agency that was intended to be a small-business incubator for the State University of New York, including arranging questionable jobs for his friends and relatives. Federal prosecutors at the time of his conviction said the actual losses from Strevell's misdeeds topped $200,000.

For years following his 2009 sentencing, when Strevell was sentenced to home confinement and ordered to pay restitution, he made sporadic and often minimal monthly payments to repay the court-ordered restitution, according to court officials. But federal authorities said their examination of Strevell's banking records indicated he could have paid the $111,000 restitution order in full at any point in recent years.

According to court records, Strevell used the institute's money to buy items for his farm, trips for him and his family and a recreational motor home without disclosing it was his. He gave himself a $95,000 raise, falsely claiming it had been approved.

Chauncey Strevell was paid $70,000 a year as chief operating officer of the institute his brother headed from 1998 to 2001, when both left as multiple investigations of the organization were launched. The state later shut down the organization.

In recent years, Strevell has also had multiple scrapes with police while on federal probation.

In August, he was arrested by Rensselaer police for allegedly driving a vehicle without a license.

A couple weeks later, State Police charged Strevell with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, for allegedly selling a 2001 Ford Focus with faulty brakes to a 20-year-old woman. Strevell sold the vehicle through the website Craigslist for $1,500 and allegedly "knew the vehicle was unsafe to operate." State Police said the vehicle had an inspection sticker but "was not roadworthy and should not have passed inspection." Law enforcement authorities said it's unclear how the vehicle passed a motor vehicle inspection.

In 2010, criminal impersonation charges against Strevell were adjourned in contemplation of dismissal in Colonie Town Court in a case that Albany County prosecutors admitted they mishandled. He was charged by State Police with impersonating a state official to get out of a speeding ticket along the Northway and accepted a plea deal approved by an assistant district attorney that resulted in the case being permanently sealed.

Last year, Strevell was ticketed for leaving the scene of a property-damage crash after police said he backed into a parked car outside an East Greenbush store and allegedly left the scene despite causing extensive damage to the other vehicle. Strevell told police he left his contact information on the other vehicle. But a witness to the incident told officers he saw Strevell get out and survey the damage and then get back in his pickup truck, which was pulling a utility trailer, and drive away.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
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BRIDGEPORT  What if Joe Ganim hosted an anniversary party, and no one came?

The returned mayor admitted the thought had crossed his mind earlier this week.

Im afraid were not going to fill the room, Ganim recalled confiding to Democratic Town Committee Chairman Mario Testa.

But Testas banquet facility in the North End was packed Thursday night with around 250 of Ganims fellow Democrats.

The event was billed as a fundraiser for the town committee ahead of Tuesdays presidential, congressional and legislative elections. But it was simultaneously a celebration of Ganims re-election last November, after his last administration ended in 2003 with a corruption conviction and imprisonment.

Its actually one year ago today, on Election Day, on this date, that we were allowed or given the honor or swept, if you will, back into office, Ganim told the crowd.

Swept is about right. After defeating incumbent Mayor Bill Finch in the primary, Ganim won a clear general election mandate against several contenders. One of those was businesswoman Mary-Jane Foster, a petition candidate whom the defeated Finch endorsed in a last-minute attempt to stop Ganim.

As a candidate  as an individual  we had to overcome a lot, Ganim said.

There were several Finch and Foster allies in the audience Thursday. State Sen. Ed Gomes had backed Foster.

Ive never really had a personal beef with Joe, Gomes said. I represent the people. He does something right for the people, I support him. He doesnt, Ill deal with that, too.

Gaining supporters

City Councilwoman M. Evette Brantley had supported Finch. But on Thursday, she added her signature to Ganims anniversary card  a banner that read, Bridgeport Welcomes You Back, Mayor Ganim.

I respect him and admire him, Brantley said. Were working together.

Were working together might not be the best anniversary message for your significant other, but it is enough in political relationships.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, Attorney General George Jepsen, Comptroller Kevin Lembo and state Democratic Chairman Nick Balletto all made the commute to Bridgeport and to Testas restaurant Thursday to make it clear that they, too, were working with Ganim, Testa and the citys Democrats.

Youre critical to making Connecticut the blue state it is, Jepsen said.

Ganims candidacy had not been welcomed by state Democrats, some of whom were hoping for Foster to win after Finchs defeat. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in a television interview last year, said were he a Bridgeport resident, he probably would not vote for Ganim.

The statement still rankles Testa. But, he added Thursday, Right now the Governor, mayor and even myself, we have a good relationship.

Over the past year, Malloy has appeared with Ganim and advocated for Bridgeport. The governor had been expected to attend Thursdays event, but ended up canceling appearances in New Haven and Bridgeport.

Moving ahead

A year ago it was Balletto who  arriving in that same ballroom after the votes were counted to offer the state partys congratulations to Ganim  was booed by the mayor-elects supporters when he mentioned Malloys name. But Balletto was welcomed Thursday.

Joes been a great friend for a very long, long time, Balletto told the room. Thank you for coming back, Mr. Mayor.

Ganim reciprocated.

We have a good friend in the state party chair. ... Thank you for your leadership, he said.

Really, its an honor for the town committee and city to have all these dignitaries, Testa said afterward.

Also among the crowd was Armando Perez, promoted earlier this year by Ganim from police captain to chief. Perez was Ganims driver during the returned mayors first administration. And last year Perez was constantly by Ganims side on the campaign trail.

Hes a good man; hes doing a great job, Perez said of Ganim in an interview. This citys just about to take off.

Ganim has three years remaining in his term. Much of this first year was spent grappling with a budget deficit and making changes within the police department, including promoting Perez and moving ahead with hiring 100 new cops.

There are a lot of things on the table now that, next year by this time, are going to be awesome, Perez said.
GREENWICH  Democratic state House candidate Dita Bhargava, who is of Indian descent, received an anonymous letter at her home this week telling her to Go back where you came from.

Bhargava was born and raised in Canada and has been in the United States since 1995. Her mother is an Indian immigrant.

The note came attached to a campaign mailer Bhargava had sent to Greenwich voters, marked up with a mustache drawn on her face and an X through her on the other side.

The anonymous, typed letter also makes reference to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, saying: God help America if that crooked b...h wins.

Bhargava condemned the letter Friday.

This piercing racist attack personally turned the clock back over three decades for me, Bhargava said. As a child, growing up in a community lacking in cultural diversity, these unfortunate words were often spoken to me. To hear them today, after all the progress we have made, and in a town that is filled with decent, warm and accepting people of high moral standards, is extremely upsetting.

The writer blasts Bhargava for sending campaign mailers to Greenwich voters.

I am a Republican, the letter, which was postmarked Nov. 1, begins. How dare you to send your democrat junk mail to my home. I wont give you my name because Im fearful that Hillary might due to me what she has done to so many who were going to testify against her. Know what I mean???

The letter writer also comments on his or her defacement of Bhargavas mailer, before making the overtly bigoted statement:

Sorry about the mustache but I really couldnt help it. Go back to where you came from. Greenwich doesnt need another crooked democrat in our town.

Bhargavas opponent, Republican state Rep. Fred Camillo, who is running for a fifth term, criticized the letter Friday.

I was made aware of this note this morning and can't stress enough that people should be passionate without letting it get to a point where anger gets the better of you, Camillo said. As someone who has been on the receiving end of a few very ugly notes years ago, all having to do with politics, I know that we are better than that.

The letter did not include a mailer that caused controversy in the campaign last week, in which Bhargava sought to tie Camillo to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The mailer included with the letter does not mention Trump.

But the letter writer does mention both Republicans, stating,I pray to God that Fred and Donald both win on the 8th.

Bhargava and Camillo have clashed multiple times during the campaign over Trump, with Bhargava attempting to link Camillo to Trumps controversial statements about women and minorities. Attempts to bring up Trump during their League of Women Voters debate in October resulted in loud boos and heckling from Republicans in the audience.

Bhargavas mailer about Trump asked, Is Donald Trumps behavior the example we want for our children? If Fred gets his way, imagine what our children will hear and see then.

The ad quoted Camillo as saying, Trump is spot on from an August story in Greenwich Time. Camillo blasted the mailer, saying it took his quote out of context, giving the impression he supports Trump in all things.

Camillos full quote in the newspaper was regarding remarks Trump recently had made about Second Amendment supporters and Clinton.

In todays world, candidates have to think hard before speaking, Camillo said in the article. I am not speaking about being politically correct, which I think Trump is spot on about, but am referring to using common sense that the standard bearer for a major political party should possess and exhibit when speaking.

Camillo supported other Republican candidates throughout the primary process, but once Trump won the nomination, he said he would vote for Trump over Clinton, though he condemned some of Trumps statements and behavior.

Bhargava defended the ad, saying it was not a distortion because Camillo did say he agreed with Trump about political correctness. She said Trumps attitude in that regard is a direct link to his comments about women, minorities, the disabled, veterans and Muslims.

Camillo again criticized Bhargavas campaign Friday, saying her mailers have been examples of dirty politics.

I have heard from people in my travels, both Democrats and Republicans, that my opponents mailings, which have featured unflattering pictures, the epitome of dirty campaigning, and a complete distortion of quotes made by me, have appalled them, Camillo said. Historically, we are known as a town that has civil debates on the issues, so I hope that we never see the likes of a campaign waged like this again.

Bhargava in a recent opinion piece for Greenwich Time, said a Trump presidency would be a risk to the progress we have made in this country towards tolerance, inclusion, common decency and mutual respect and that elected leaders should be held accountable for supporting Trump. She said those who arent implicitly condone Trumps ugly rhethoric and give cover to others to engage in it too.

On Friday she said that was what happened with the anonymous letter writer who attacked her.

No matter what the outcome of this election, we must rise above this ugly rhetoric, she said. We must come together as Americans and Greenwich residents to continue to create a world for our children and future generations that embraces tolerance and unity and not hate and divisiveness.

kborsuk@scni.com
Ellen Pompeo, Caterina Scorsone, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens, Jr., Camilla Luddington, Sarah Drew, Jerrika Hinton and Kelly McCreary attend the People's Choice Awards 2016. (Photo : Getty Images/Frazer Harrison)

"Grey's Anatomy" Season 13, episode 7 will introduce a new character named Leah (Tessa Ferrer).



In "Why Try To Change Me Now," Leah, who works as an education consultant, will arrive at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to assess the programs they are offering. The staff at the hospital will be terrorized by her arrival because they have heard so many things about her. In fact, everyone is also aware that Leah didn't have a good relationship with her colleagues in her previous hospital.



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Meanwhile, Alex (Justin Chambers) will blame himself for Leah's visit at the hospital. After all, he was recently involved in an altercation with a fellow doctor. Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) was therefore forced to downgrade his services from being a surgeon to a clinic nurse.



In the sneak peek released by ABC for episode 7, Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.) will confront Dr. Bailey about Leah's arrival at the hospital. Their conversation will prove how both doctors have very opposing opinions on certain things. In the end, Dr. Webber will question why Dr. Bailey is so eager to work with Leah. He asks her if she has any plans to have him replaced by the newbie.



In other news, "Why Try to Chance Me Now" will also see Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) fighting over their personal issues. However, since the couple is working at the same institution, they wouldn't be able to set their problems aside at the workplace. This will result in conflict with the other doctors as well.



Elsewhere, April's (Sarah Drew) relationship with Jackson (Jesse Williams) is improving week in and week out. However, April also wants to explore some unchartered territories. Her decision to do so may impact his relationship with the father of her child.



"Grey's Anatomy" Season 13, episode 7 will air on ABC on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. ET.






On this date in ...

1916: Henry Maletesta, the Italian tailor accused of killing his wife, Stella, by slitting her throat in their lower Church Street home in Albany the previous August, was finally about to stand trial for the crime. It was also announced that he would be defended by well-known and successful local defense attorney, John H. Dugan.

1966: The University at Albany had taken the first step toward permitting students to use alcholic beverages on campus, and apparently was setting a precedent for the entire 58-campus State University system. But it could be months before the end of prohibition on the state campus. Union College had been the first area college to relax rules against students keeping beer and liquor in their rooms. Siena College and RPI permitted students to have beer at some campus functions but not in their rooms.

1991: Despite a continuing state budget deficit, the state Board of Regents said that local school districts deserved to receive nearly a half billion dollars more from the state next year  and maybe more. The Regents, discussing state aid to education at a special meeting, said they would recommend an aid increase ranging between $483 million and $700 million, said spokeswoman Patricia Keegan. The board would settle on a number at an Albany meeting next week. State Education Commissioner Thomas Sobol said that if the state was serious about improving education, it couldn't keep cutting school budgets.

Want to read more about the Capital Region's past? Have any memories or thoughts about how our history relates to today's events? See http://blog.timesunion.com/history/
BRIDGEPORTA man accused of selling the heroin traced to a deadly overdose had been convicted of selling fake drugs in the past.

On Oct. 27, a 37-year-old man suffered a deadly heroin overdose in a Milford home, according to a statement from the office of Connecticut District Attorney Deirdre M. Daly.

Authorities say that text messages on the victims iPhone pointed them straight to Darryck Norris, 23, who was arrested Wednesday after DEA and Milford Police officers allegedly bought heroin from him in Bridgeport.

The heroin bags purchased were stamped with the same stamp that was found on the bags seized from the overdose victims residence, according to the statement.

Norris has two previous criminal convictions, a DOJ spokesman confirmed. According to State of Connecticut Judicial Branch records, Norris most recent arrest before the heroin sting was by Stratford Police on Sept. 10, 2016.

In that case, he pleaded guilty of second-degree breach of peace, a misdemeanor. He received a suspended sentence, according to court records.

In 2014, Norris was arrested on a felony charge of misrepresenting a controlled substance, that is, trying to flip a legal substance as an illegal drug. He pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence and three years of probation in 2015, according to court records.

Norris was the target of a statewide effort to target drug dealers linked to opioid overdoses (including heroin and fentanyl), according to the statement. If found guilty of selling those real drugs, Norris could be looking at actual prison time. All told, the charges  including distribution, and possession with intent to distribute heroin  carry a maximum of 20 years in jail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas P. Morabito is prosecuting the case.
Rome

When the earth shook and the walls came tumbling down in Norcia, the monks who live there survived without a scratch, but their basilica and monastery, built above the birthplace of St. Benedict, collapsed after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck the medieval town in central Italy 100 miles north of Rome on Oct. 30.

Now the town's 16 Benedictine monks, including 12 Americans, have launched a fundraising campaign to rebuild the 14th-century basilica and monastery. They had already planned to raise $7.5 million for repairs and restorations after a powerful quake on Aug. 24.

Norcia is known around the world for its black truffles, wild boar sausages and layers of history dating to the Roman Empire.

Its most famous native son remains St. Benedict. The son of a Roman noble, he was born around the year 480 and establish monasteries and become known as the founder of Western monasticism.

Norcia's own Benedictine monastery was active from the 10th century until the congregation was suppressed under Napoleon 200 years ago. The monks returned in 1998 and built a brewing business exporting beer to the U.S.

Norcia is a virtual ghost town. The earthquakes that shook the region in the past two months have left 22,000 people homeless. For the monks the loss of the basilica that lasted over 1,000 years was devastating.

Many people had already been evacuated from the area after a string of earthquakes, including the 6.2 quake on Aug. 24 that killed nearly 300.

"It feels like the end of an age," said the Rev. Benedict Nivakoff, the community's subprior who is from Connecticut.

The Benedictine monks devote themselves to a life of simplicity, prayer and Gregorian chants. In 2015 their Gregorian chant CD debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard classical music chart, and their brewing business has also attracted international attention.

The monks have moved to another monastery, which they are restoring outside Norcia, and their beer production has been suspended as they try to work out what comes next.
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Glenville

The second man badly burned in an asphalt plant explosion last month has died, a lawyer for the company that owns the plant said Friday.

Al Crowter, 42, died on Thursday, a little more than three weeks after he was gravely injured in the Oct. 17 blast at Mohawk Asphalt Emulsions.

Frank O'Connor, a lawyer for the company's parent firm, the Gorman Group of Albany, confirmed Crowter's death and said he had worked at Mohawk Asphalt Emulsions for two years.

"All of us extend our deepest sympathy to family and friends," O'Connor said in a written statement

Crowter is the second man to died from injuries in the blast.

Joe Nichols, 56, of Amsterdam, a supervisor at the plant, died Oct. 19.

Both men were flown to the burn unit at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.

A third man was injured but survived.

The explosion is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Six years ago, OSHA fined the Gorman Group for a safety violation on a paving project.

OSHA officials arrived at the 6 Freemans Bridge Road plant hours after the blast and are continuing what is expected to be a six-month investigation.

On Friday, Ted Fitzgerald, an OSHA spokesman, said in an email that there was no new information to report because the agency's inspection is ongoing. He said it is too early to estimate when it might be complete.

Workers using a blow torch to heat a holding tank valve ignited the vapors of liquid asphalt, causing the explosion and fire, Thomas Corners Fire Chief Gregg Petricca said last month.

Gorman Group operates the largest deep-water asphalt terminal on the East Coast, a rail facility terminal, asphalt emulsion-manufacturing plants, transportation facilities and engineering services, according to its website.

The company was cited for a "serious safety violation" in 2010 after a planned inspection focused on construction injury, amputation and fatality prevention.

OSHA fined the company $1,500 for failing to properly signal a paving project in Vermont.

Garvey said OSHA has no history with the Glenville plant, so this would be its first inspection.
Following a near-death experience, Mark Bertolini, the CEO of Aetna, raised eyebrows by offering free yoga and meditation classes to employees. As The New York Times wrote, these moves have transformed a stodgy insurance company into one of the most progressive actors in corporate America.

Bertolini has said, we offer free mindfulness-based wellness programs to our employees. Because if we can make it easier for our employees to act thoughtfully instead of reacting to stress, we believe it will have a positive impact on their work, their health and the rest of their lives.''

Aetna isnt the only company to find mindfulness an assist in the workplace. Adobe, Google, Target, General Mills, Ford, Apple, Nike, and McKinsey & Co. have all promoted mindfulness. Why? Because it can help employees thrive, which ultimately benefits the bottom line.

In fact, here are six of the most powerful reason why you should embrace mindfulness if you want to thrive at work.

What is mindfulness?

Before we get into the reasons why mindfulness should be embraced, lets quickly explain what it is.

Psychology Today defines mindfulness as a state of active, open attention on the present. The publication goes on to state that, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Additionally, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience, as opposed to letting life pass you by.

It is derived from Buddhist tradition and it concerns a self-regulation of awareness towards present mental states and processes, and involves a non-evaluative openness and acceptance towards those moment-to-moment experiences.

There are many mindfulness practices of to which people can achieve, such as individuals who mediate or participate in yoga practice. However, many consider that mindfulness is essentially doing nothing so that you can concentrate and calm down, which is actually the reason so many beginners fall asleep. But mindfulness is a very active process -- in ones head -- which means that mindfulness can be done anywhere, like at your desk or on the subway platform, and at any time.

Now that you know a little more about mindfulness, here are those benefits I promised earlier.

1. Keeps you mentally, emotionally and physically happy.

Large population-based research studies have indicated that the idea of mindfulness is correlated with well-being and perceived health, says Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University who has been dubbed the mother of mindfulness. Langer adds, "Studies have shown that rumination and worry contribute to mental illness and that mindfulness-based interventions are effective in the reduction of worry.

Furthermore, since the 1970s, mindfulness has helped individuals deal with chronic pain, eating disorder, addictions, and has helped many sleep more soundly. These individuals have also reported that that have made fewer visits to healthcare professionals and have had fewer negative feelings, like tension, anger and depression.

As if that werent enough, mindfulness can improve working memory, executive function, and focus.

2. Helps reduce stress.

Mindfulness can literally rewire your brain. And, thats a good thing. Researchers at Harvard found that the hippocampus region of the brain showed significant increases in grey matter density among people who had enrolled in an 8-week mindfulness program. This increase in grey matter is what helps us manage stress.

Work is one of the main causes of stress. And when were chronically stressed, not only does our performance suffer, but were also putting our health in jeopardy. Learning how to deal with stress isnt just good for your work performance, it may even save your life.

Related: 22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader

3. Develops emotional intelligence.

Mindfulness can help you cultivate and develop emotional intelligence. Thats a big deal since people with a high emotional intelligence are generally more successful because theyre not worried about being a perfectionist, they know how to balance life and work, embrace change, dont get easily distracted, are empathetic, are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, are self-motivated, dont live in the past, and focus on the positive.

Also, EI doesnt just make you a more productive member of the team, it also helps you strengthen your communication skills and avoid many workplace confrontations.

Related: The 8 Morning Secrets of Successful People (Infographic)

4. Increases focus, concentration, creativity and productivity.

There have been several studies that have found that mindfulness can help us focus and concentrate. One study conducted by the University of Washington tested the effect of mindfulness-based meditation on the multitasking behavior of knowledge workers.

We found that only those trained in meditation stayed on tasks longer and made fewer task switches, as well as reporting less negative emotion after task performance, as compared with the other two groups. In addition, both the meditation and the relaxation groups showed improved memory for the tasks they performed.

David Gelles, author of Mindful Work: How Meditation Is Changing Business from the Inside Out, adds that, We regain control of our attention. We come back to our breath over and over again even when our minds wander -- and theyre always wandering. Simple attention training can yield big benefits in the long run.

Also, when were able to reduce stress, and improve our focus and concentration, were able to boost our productivity and get those creative juices flowing.

5. Helps deal with criticism.

No one likes to be criticized. However, constructive criticism can be useful in helping us grow in the workplace. But, what about that negative feedback that just makes you want to snap? Its not pleasant, but its going to happen from time-to-time.

Thankfully, mindfulness can help you ground yourself and respond professionally by taking a deep breath, slowing down, listening, observing your response, and processing the information.

Related: 10 Bad Habits You Must Eliminate From Your Daily Routine

6. Builds leadership.

After measuring the self-perception of leadership skills among a sample of senior managers A.D. Amar and colleagues at the University of Westminster put them through a secularized Vipassana meditation-training program for 12-weeks.

Their results, which were published in the Academy of Management Proceedings, discovered that the meditation training increased their overall self-confidence, along with other leadership skills like inspiring a shared vision and demonstrating moral intelligence.

Whether youre a manager or employee, you can take the following steps in getting started in becoming more mindful;

Make a pledge to start each day afresh.

Listen and acknowledge your innermost thoughts.

Pay attention to your feelings throughout the day.

Breathe!

Related:

6 Ways Embracing Mindfulness Helps You Thrive at Work

8 Things Successful People Do With Their Downtime

How Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Actor Stephen Amell attends the 'Arrow' Special Video Presentation and Q&A during Comic-Con International 2016 at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2016 in San Diego, California (Photo : Getty Images/Matt Winkelmeyer)

"Arrow" Season 5, episode 6 will introduce a new character named Konstantin Kovar (Dolph Lundgren).



According to TV Line, Konstantin is a Russian native who Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) previously met. The lead character and his partner Taiana agreed that they will take him down.



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Meanwhile, "So It Begins" will see Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and Curtis (Echo Kellum) realizing that Promethues' victims have ties to Oliver's past. The two characters will remain protective of their leader and friend especially since Felicity and Oliver just had their talk in episode 5.



In the teaser released by The CW for episode 6, Rag Man (Joe Dinicol) could be seen telling Oliver that Prometheus believes the lead character is the real serial killer. This will encourage Oliver to take down Prometheus as quickly as possible and with the help of his newly-formed team.



Elsewhere, Thea (Willa Holland) will develop a close friendship with Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), who is still a mess following his daughter Laurel's (Katie Cassidy) death. In the previous episodes, Oliver assigned Quentin to become his deputy mayor so that he can look out for the residents of the Star City when Oliver is busy working as the Green Arrow.



In other news, Felicity will contemplate on telling Malone (Tyler Ritter) the truth about her work. Since Felicity and Malone have already started dating, the former knows that being truthful is the only way for their relationship to flourish. However, Felicity doesn't have any idea of Oliver will be supportive of her idea to tell Malone the truth about working with the Green Arrow.



Previously, Malone already crossed paths with Oliver as the Green Arrow when he lied about having an emergency and called him for help.



"Arrow" Season 5, episode 6 will air on The CW on Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. ET.






Pumpkin spice lattes are flowing and leaves are changing color, which can mean only one thing: This years holiday season is right around the corner. For small business owners who already juggle more than their fair share of responsibilities, it also means theyll need to manage some unique situations that only arise in November and December.

The holiday season brings with it a unique set of stressors that can test even the most seasoned small business leader. Coping with requests for additional time off, payroll challenges of holiday compensation and the question of how to thank your staff during a peak season can be overwhelming.

Here are a few suggestions on how to conquer some of the most common holiday challenges:

1. Navigating holiday pay.

Private employers generally are not legally required to provide paid holidays to non-exempt employees. However, if you close for a holiday, exempt employees must receive their full salary as long as they work any part of the workweek. In some states, like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, certain employers may be required to provide premium pay to non-exempt employees who work on a holiday. Some things to keep in mind when considering how to treat holiday pay are applicable laws, your company's resources, business needs and practices in previous years.

Related: To Host the Best Holiday Party Hand Out Bonuses and Go Home

2. Determining holiday bonuses.

Holiday bonuses are a great way for employers to recognize and reward employee accomplishments. There are generally two types of bonuses: Discretionary and nondiscretionary. Most employers provide nondiscretionary bonuses, which are generally announced to employees in advance to encourage them to work more efficiently and/or to remain with the company. With this type of bonus, employees expect that if they meet certain criteria (such as attendance or productivity), they will get a bonus. By contrast, a discretionary bonus is not announced in advance and is not tied to meeting certain criteria. Remember that most bonuses must be factored into an employee's regular rate of pay when determining overtime.

3. Creating time-off policies.

The holiday season is a popular time for employees to request vacation, so provide employees with instructions for requesting time off and clearly communicate how vacations will be granted (based on scheduling needs, seniority, first-come first-served or a combination of these factors). Some employers see a rise in unscheduled absences before and after a company holiday. To help address this, consider encouraging non-exempt employees to work the day before and after a holiday to receive holiday pay (unless the time off was scheduled in advance). Also, consider incentives to help limit unscheduled absences, such as an extra vacation day to employees who work during less desirable times or who meet certain attendance and punctuality benchmarks.

Related: Turn Holiday Parties Into Networking Goldmines With These 10 Tips

4. Planning a holiday party.

A holiday party can be a simple way to recognize employees efforts and boost morale going into the new year. If you plan to host a holiday party, there are some important things to keep in mind:

Pay: If you plan to host the party during work hours, employees will likely be entitled to pay for time spent at the party. And if attendance is mandatory, regardless of where and when the party takes place, such time may also be considered hours worked.

If you plan to host the party during work hours, employees will likely be entitled to pay for time spent at the party. And if attendance is mandatory, regardless of where and when the party takes place, such time may also be considered hours worked. Liability: Before the party, consider consulting legal counsel regarding the potential liability for serving alcohol at company events. If alcoholic beverages will be served, limit intake and ensure there is plenty of food as well as non-alcoholic beverages available. Its always good to check with your insurance provider to determine what your coverage and liabilities may be during the party.

Before the party, consider consulting legal counsel regarding the potential liability for serving alcohol at company events. If alcoholic beverages will be served, limit intake and ensure there is plenty of food as well as non-alcoholic beverages available. Its always good to check with your insurance provider to determine what your coverage and liabilities may be during the party. Conduct: Remind employees that you will enforce workplace rules, such as dress codes and anti-harassment policies, regardless of whether the party is held during work hours or on company premises.

5. Setting gift-giving standards.

During the holidays, vendors may give employees gifts, or employees may want to give clients gifts. Because gifts can raise concerns about conflicts of interest, consider establishing written guidelines around giving and receiving gifts. Many employers limit gifts to a nominal value and require employees to report gifts to the company.

Related: 9 Ways to Be Certain You Won't Embarrass Yourself at the Holiday Party

Even if all of these challenges arise at the same time, sound preparation can see you through the busy season. Planning and communicating your expectations early will get your employees on the same page and set a standard that can pre-empt many problems. While the holiday season can be stressful, it also provides a great opportunity to acknowledge the hard work employees have done in the past year and to boost employee morale. So kick back. Enjoy that pumpkin latte.

Related:

Bonuses, Parties and Gifts: How Small Business Owners Can Navigate the Holiday Season

Americans Are Expected to Break Halloween Spending Record This Year

See How These 10 Companies Celebrate Halloween



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
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Registration for winter programs at Lapham Community Center will be starting soon and will continue until all classes are filled. Registration for most classes can be accomplished in person, by mail, by phone or online at at laphamcenter.org. All are free and open to the public; reservations are requested at 203-594-3620.

Medicare help: Medicare counselors are now helping recipients review their prescription drug plans, known as Medicare Part D. The annual Open Enrollment period, which runs until Dec. 7, is the only time Part D plans can be changed. Prescription drug companies often take this opportunity to make changes to their rules, formularies and pricing. The only way for Medicare recipients to know that the plan that was best for them in 2016 will also be the best one in 2017 is to use the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder located at Medicare.gov.
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Sacred Heart University has named Carmelo Cicero-Santalena director of capital projects. He will manage the expansion of SHUs campus into the Jewish Home property and oversee construction of the new Center for Healthcare Education.

He comes to SHU from Colliers International, where he was a senior project manager for four years. Cicero-Santalena, who lives in Wethersfield, graduated from the University of Hartford with a bachelors degree in architectural engineering and construction.

BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank, promoted Chief Client Officer Andrew Crawford, of Fairfield, to managing director. He will continue in his current role in addition to his new position.

Crawford was formerly senior vice president of client services and operation at Higher One. Crawford has a masters degree from the University of Michigans Stephen M. Ross School of Business and a bachelors degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

The Maritime Aquarium has named Fairfield resident Tina Tison director of marketing.

Tison was a managing director for Propeller Media, an affiliate of Water Cooler Group. She also worked at Norwalk-based ad agency Media Storm, working on campaigns for FX, Food Network and ABC Family. Earlier in her career, Tison worked at Grey Worldwide and Young & Rubicam in New York. She is a graduate of Washington and Lee University.

Get your cookies!

Girl Scouts in Connecticut will be hosting statewide cookie booths at a variety of locations starting on Nov. 5 until Nov. 13, with special booths set up for Election Day on Nov. 8.

Fairfield Woods Middle School, 1115 Fairfield Woods Road, 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Stratfield Elementary School, 1407 Melville Ave., 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Dwight Elementary School, 1600 Redding Road, 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Ave., 6 a.m. - 8 p.m.

At the Election Day Booth Sales, cookies include favorites such as Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Trefoils and Savannah Smiles. sale dates and times are subject to change. Go to gsofct.org and click on the Looking for Cookies button for updated booth information.

Many of the booths will offer customers the opportunity to support Girl Scouts of Connecticut's Cookies for Heroes Gift of Caring program. Cookies are a wonderful way to thank our service women and men who serve overseas and at home.

Book drive for Bridgeport

The National English Honors Society at Fairfield Ludlowe High School is holding the First Annual BOOK BOX DRIVE in support of pediatric trauma victims at Bridgeport Hospital.

Caroline Wolstenholme initiated the drive after personally experiencing pediatric trauma followed by a lengthy wait in the emergency department while awaiting treatment from a specific surgeon who was en route. In an effort to alleviate mounting fear and anxiety for children facing the same, the senior hopes to provide each and every pediatric trauma patient at Bridgeport Hospital with a story book distraction that they can later bring home.

The drive ends Nov. 12. The community is encouraged to donate new or gently used books for children in need.

Drop box locations include:

The Fairfield YMCA, 841 Old Post Road;

The Fairfield Recreation Center, 75 Mill Plain Road.

The NEHS would like to thank their supporters: Spic and Span Market, Trinity Church Preschool and the Southport Congregational Church and greatly appreciates all donations and support.
Brock Lesnar enters the ring for his match at WWE SummerSlam 2015. (Photo : Getty Images/ JP Yim)

Brock Lesnar is scheduled to face Bill Goldberg at Survivor Series on November 20 but he is expected to win that match and move forward to a new feud. The latest rumors have revealed one possible superstar that will be facing The Beast in the near future.



In a recent announcement by the WWE via Wrestling Inc, it was revealed that Rusev will be facing Lesnar at the WWE Live Event in Mexico City on December 3. The match is already official but the card is always subject to change.



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"Joined by his advocate, the always-outspoken Paul Heyman, this Live Event marks The Beast Incarnate's first in Mexico with WWE. And it won't be an easy night for Lesnar, since his opponent that evening will be none other than The Bulgarian Brute, Rusev," the announcement said.



According to The Inquisitr, Rusev facing Lesnar is a way for the WWE testing the waters for a possible face turn for The Bulgarian Brute. He currently has no program after ending the feud with Roman Reigns at Hell in a Cell.



Rusev recently took a beating from Goldberg last Monday on Raw wherein he was hit with The Jackhammer. Many fans disapproved the way Rusev was used since he does not need anymore beatdown from a 49-year-old guy after losing his feud with Reigns.



The news backstage is that the WWE wants Lesnar to work as a heel against Goldberg but it did not get to a great start. Lesnar was cheered and Goldberg was booed last week at Minneapolis and the WWE has to change some plans.



However, the company is still hoping that The Beast will be booed by the crowd. As for Rusev, he survived the massive heat he got last year and he revitalized his career. However, it does not look good that he will be fed to part-timers and old legends.



The Bulgarian Brute has the potential to be a star either as a babyface or a heel. He is very capable of being a great heel since he is an anti-American character. But as a babyface, he has shown that he has the personality to pull it off.



Fans on the internet know how much personality Rusev has by just following his entertaining Twitter account. Nevertheless, these are just rumors at the moment and should be taken with a grain of salt.



There is a big chance that Rusev will remain in the midcard and put over legends but his potential is too much to waste. Check out the video below to see Rusev take a beating from Goldberg last Monday on Raw.




NORWALK  The Norwalk Department of Public Works is turning to outside help to navigate through more stringent state and federal guidelines for stormwater management.

While Norwalk Director of Public Works Bruce J. Chimento estimates that compliance with the new rules could cost Norwalk $500,000 annually, he and other officials want to get a better handle on that number and what will be required of the city.

On Tuesday evening, the Common Councils Public Works Committee recommended hiring Environmental Partners Group, Inc. of Quincy, Mass., to provide engineering services related to the MS4 Permit Gap Analysis and Mock Audit.

Its to retain a consultant to do an audit in review of all of our (storm-water) systems, Norwalk Director of Public Works Bruce J. Chimento said Thursday. We just want to see if we meet all the requirement of the MS4 from the feds and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The council will consider the contract Tuesday evening.

The new MS4 permit and regulations take effect July 1, 2017.

Mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and first issued in 2004, the MS4 General Permit requires municipalities to take steps to ensure that stormwater entering sewer systems is clean before moving into water bodies such as Long Island Sound.

The new permit requires municipalities to follow six best management practices: public education and outreach; public participation; illicit discharge detection and elimination; construction storm-water management; post-construction storm-water management; and pollution prevention and good housekeeping.

That means, among other things, instituting regular street sweeping, cleaning catch basin on a regular basis, and controlling rainwater runoff from buildings.

Chimento said his department tries to sweep Norwalk streets at least once a year  downtown streets are swept on a regular basis  and cleans catch basins with its vacuum truck.

We have a program where we do all these things but we dont get to all of them each year, Chimento said. We need more men and equipment.

Pointing to the magnitude of the work, the public works director said Norwalk has roughly 15,000 catch basins.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which lobbies on behalf of 162 towns and cities statewide, challenged the new regulations as they were being developed and negotiated with the DEEP to have them altered.

While CCM is encouraged that DEEP appears to be moving away from portions of the onerous and costly unfunded administrative mandate, many serious and extremely costly issues remain, CCM Director of Public Policy and Advocacy Ron Thomas wrote in January 2014. CCM estimates the cost of the current proposal to be $100 million statewide.

CCM asked for, among other changes, a reduction in the street sweeping and catch basin maintenance requirements and allowing additional time to comply with the new regulations.

While there are remaining municipal concerns, this federally required permit will have to be adopted in some capacity, CCM wrote in its November 2015 news bulletin. CCMs focus has been to ensure that the most unrealistic and burdensome requirements be eliminated or modified. Overall, the final permit is demonstrably better and less burdensome than previous versions.

DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said the final permit requirements resulted from discussions with CCM and its member municipalities.

There were changes from what we originally proposed in an effort to make the permit requirements more manageable for cities and towns while at the same time still achieving important environmental gains, Schain said.
Sound Physicians, a healthcare organization focused on improving quality and lowering cost throughout the acute episode of care, recently began providing hospitalist services in partnership with Covenant Hospital in Plainview.

The new hospitalist service at Covenant Health Plainview complements and augments the excellent patient care already provided by its physicians.

Today, the hospitalist team includes around-the-clock physician availability and efficiency of care for patients as well as support for the medical students and residents in training from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

The entire care team at Covenant Health Plainview looks forward to working collaboratively and seamlessly with the Sound Physicians hospitalist team with a common goal of driving patient-centered care, said Bob Copeland, chief operations officer at Covenants Plainview Hospital.

Robert Bessler, M.D., chief executive officer for Sound Physicians, added, We are proud to partner with Covenant Health Plainview. By integrating our experience, know-how and leadership we can ensure the hospital further improves its quality, efficiency and the patient experience of care outcomes.

Sound Physicians manages the team of physicians at Covenant Hospital Plainview. Working with the hospitals administrative team, Sound Physicians introduced its workflow and communication platform, SoundConnect and its new Brio mobile app to CHP Providers. The SoundConnect and Brio platforms were designed by hospitalist physicians to optimize their workflow and communications.

Founded in 2001, Sound Physicians is a leading healthcare organization with a proven track record of improving quality, satisfaction, and financial performance for hospitals and post-acute facilities nationwide. Their patient-centered approach, web-based workflow platform, experienced leadership team, and more than 2,000 hospitalist, intensivist, emergency medicine and transitional care providers drive breakthrough results throughout the acute episode of care for nearly 300 hospitals and post-acute facilities in 33 states across the nation.

Covenant Health Plainview is dedicated to providing West Texas with world class health care, close to home. Their 68-bed facility is home to excellent medical professionals whose mission is to give patients the best possible care at each and every visit.

Covenant Health is a member of St. Joseph Health, one of the most successful not-for-profit health systems in the United States. It was originally founded in West Texas in 1998 through the merger of two of Lubbock's most venerable heath care facilities, St. Mary of the Plains Hospital and Lubbock Methodist Hospital System.
The complexities surrounding Medicare coverage are so immense that it can confound even the sharpest minds.

Thats why the Norwalk Library is hosting its Medicare Seminar, presented by Connecticare Health Insurance Co., to help demystify the intricacies underlying Medicare.

A representative from Connecticare will talk to seniors about the different Medicare Advantage Plans that Connecticare offers on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. After the lecture, there will be a question and answer session for the seniors.

For more information, visit connecticare.com.

WEST NORWALK

Veterans Day is one of the few times in a given year where society truly takes a moment to acknowledge the tremendous sacrifices that men and women of the armed services have made to protect the country.

In honor of these men and women, Norwalk Community College is set to honor the service of local veterans on Nov. 8, starting at 1:30 p.m., in the East Campus atrium.

NCC President David Levinson, NCC Dean of Students Calvin McFadden and keynote speaker Eunice Ramirez, a veteran and NCC alumna, will each speak on the importance of Veterans Day.

The program also will include a special recognition of veterans, as well as a vocal performance by Staff Sergeant Joe Colavito of the Connecticut Army National Guard 102nd Army Band.

A reception will immediately follow in room E212.

Free coffee and doughnuts will be available at 9 a.m. in the NCC Veterans Lounge in West Campus room W120. The public is invited to attend.

For more information, contact NCC Director of Counseling Cathy Miller at cmiller@norwalk.edu.

EAST NORWALK

The Norwalk Historical Society invites members of the public to their museum, located at 141 East Avenue, for a Sip and Shop event on Wednesday, Nov. 9.

The event, which will run from 6-8 p.m., will include a complimentary wine and cheese reception and a discussion with a local artist.

After the opening wine and cheese reception, local artist and designer Karen Ponelli will discuss how her contemporary art techniques have weaved their way into her scarves and accessories. Ponelli will offer attendees a chance to purchase the unique silk and textured scarves from her new line of contemporary artwork.

The historical society is also asking attendees to support their womens Suit Drive to benefit Dress for Success - Mid-Fairfield County.

During the event, organizers will be accepting donations of suits, jackets/blazers, footwear and other interview-appropriate clothing (no more than 3 years old), which will go to disadvantaged women around the Fairfield County.

The historical society recommends that those interested in attending the Sip and Shop social should RSVP for the event by emailing them at info@norwalkhistoricalsociety.org.

THE GREEN

No matter where you land on the political spectrum, one constant that connects most citizens is a deep concern for the country, its government, its leaders, and its elections.

In recognition of this shared concern, St. Pauls on the Green is proud to announce that its door will be flung open to all who wish to pray throughout the day on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The church invites all residents to spend a portion of their Election Day in prayer, either formally during one of their three brief services or informally whenever your schedule will permit it that day.

A morning service will be held at 9 a.m., a noon service will be held at 12 p.m. and one final service will be held at 5 p.m.

For more information, check out St. Pauls website at stpaulsnorwalk.org.

Share your neighborhood news

To share your community and neighborhood news with The Hour, contact staff writer Pat Tomlinson at 203-354-1046, or at ptomlinson@thehour.com.
Actor Daniel Wu attends AMC and CAPE Celebrate 'Into The Badlands' at the Japanese American National Museum on November 5, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo : Getty Images for AMC/Jesse Grant)

Daniel Wu, who works as an executive producer in AMC's "Into the Badlands," said had no idea that he would end up as the lead star. In the show, he plays Sunny, the regent to the Badlands' most powerful Baron, Quinn (Marton Csokas).







In a recent interview with BT.com, the 42-year-old Hong Kong-American actor detailed how he landed the lead role. He stated AMC always wanted the role to be played by an Asian and also wanted the actor to be an experienced martial artist.



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Wu added they got a lot of auditions back then. Some are good martial artists who had never acted professionally before, while others are talented actors but had no martial arts experience.



"It came down to about five people in the end," said Wu. "The show editor and the other executive producer were like, 'You know you were made for this role, Daniel. Would you consider doing it?'"



Out of all the martial arts films he had done in the past, Wu revealed "Into the Badlands" is one of the most demanding projects he worked on. He added that doing martial arts for a television series is the biggest challenge.



"It's very challenging to try and do that level of action on a television schedule because we pretty much have to shoot one episode within eight days," said Wu. "So, you have to do these incredible fights within that eight-day time frame."



"The Man with the Iron Fists" actor also gave a light on what Sunny is like and what does the tattoo marks on his back speaks to. He stated Sunny's 404 tattoo marks on his back represents the total number of individuals he successfully killed.



However, Sunny's world will start to change when Veil (Madeleine Mantock) becomes pregnant. Since they are not allowed to have families in the Badlands, the pair needs to get away from the ruthless region in order to survive.



Premiered on Nov. 15, 2015, "Into the Badlands" Season 1 delivered the third highest-rated show in American cable TV history, Deadline reported. It averaged 5.6 million viewers per episode, including 3.4 million adults from ages 18 to 49 in Live+7 ratings.



In light of its success, AMC renewed "Into the Badlands" for a 10-episode second season. The new season is expected to premiere in 2017.



Stay tuned for more updates as they arrive. While waiting, check out "Into the Badlands" Season 1 here:






NEW CANAAN  In a foreshadowing of who Americans would elect as president, New Canaan High School students selected Republican Donald Trump as part of VOTES, a mock election project done with high school students across the country.

According to the election results announced on Nov. 4 on NCTV, Trump got 46.8 percent of the vote with 492 students casting ballots for him. Democrat Hillary Clinton came in second with 36.3 percent and 381 votes, followed by Libertarian Gary Johnson who got 10.6 percent of the vote with 111 ballots. Only 67 students voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, securing her 6.4 percent of the vote.

Michael Joshi and and Kristine Goldenhawk, history teachers at NCHS, normally hold mock elections for their civics classes but were excited to have the election become school wide. The students from their civics classes worked as poll workers for the election, which had an 83 percent turnout.

One of the big things we try to emphasize is we call it civics [class] over U.S. Government [because] of civic responsibility, Goldhawk said. You have a duty to interact within your community on lots of different levels.

One thing I love most about New Canaan is the fact our students dont do all these activities because they look good, but because theyre raised to believe theyre supposed to give back. This is just another layer of that.

Though the majority of students are under the age of 18, the teachers encouraged those that could to register for the actual presidential election on Nov. 8. The class of 2016 in particular was encouraged to register to vote, helping contribute to a voter registration increase in the town by 500 voters.

Joshi said he was not surprised by the schools election results, but more pleased by the fact that students voted based on the issues, rather than media perception.

We werent going to be surprised either way with results, Joshi said. We were more encouraged that 83 percent of students voted. That was a number we were really happy with. Students have been bombarded with media attention on two candidates, so it wasnt shocking to see spread on one side or the other.

Over 1,000 students participated in the mock election by voting on iPads in the school on Oct. 31. NCHS was one of three high schools in Connecticut to participate in VOTES this year.

ekayata@hearstmediact.com; @erin_kayata
Nov. 6, 1946: Republicans won control of both the House and Senate in the 80th Congress today in a strong landslide vote that has overturned Democratic rule for the first time in 15 years.

--The Musical Arts Club studied operas in a meeting in the home of Mrs. Charles H. Dean.

--Haynes Motor Co. of Plainview now serves as distributor for General Motors diesel engines for 57 counties in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains.

Nov. 6, 1966: President Lyndon Johnson finally made his way to the polls in Johnson County, casting his ballot just 35 minutes before the election was over.

--M.K. Fisher Jr., a first lieutenant in the Texas Army National Guard, has been named commander of the National Guard Unit in Plainview.

--Gibsons Discount Center has moved into its new home at 3200 Olton Road.

Samuel Nafzger, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Nafzger, has returned home after 13 months in Europe. The young theology student traveled to 28 countries in Asia and Europe during that time.

Nov. 6, 1976: Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby will be featured speaker at the bi-monthly Chamber Membership Breakfast.

--Hale County Commissioners will discuss their future role with the major crimes and narcotics unit during their next regular session.

--Jasper Sams, one of the few remaining shoeshine men in Plainview, was subject of a front-page feature. He has a shine chair at Mills Barber Shop in the 800 block of Broadway.

Nov. 6, 1996: Decision 96 saw Bill Clinton elected U.S. president, Phil Gramm elected U.S. senator from Texas and Peter Laney as state representative.

--The Plainview Symphony Guild will host Autumn Potpourri on Monday as a fall fundraiser.

--Breast cancer studies encourage the use of Tamoxifen following surgery.
Japan Green Fireball (Photo : Buzzer/YouTube)

After Austrians, it was the turn of Japanese on Monday to witness strange green fireball flying across the sky. NHK, a major Japanese broadcaster, captured the celestial phenomenon near Niigata City at around 5:30 am.



Since it was the early hours of Halloween, the sight was enough to spook Japanese which led to speculation what was the thing they witnessed. The National Astronomical Observatory said it could be a comet, piece of asteroid which entered the Earths atmosphere or falling rocket debris, The Sun reported.



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The observatory noted the green fireball was also seen in other parts of Japan such as Kanagawa, Chiba, Akita and Iwate. Hidehiko Agata, an associate professor, and from the observatory, said that it was an extremely bright example if it were a fireball. He said it possibly was breaking apart while sparking in the sky, making it an extremely rare phenomenon.



An expert believes it was caused by space debris after a fragment from a satellite that burnt up re-entered Earths atmosphere, Daily Mail reported.



Not unexpectedly, Scott Waring of UFO Sightings Daily said it was extraterrestrial. He claimed on his website that the UFO disguised itself as a green glowing meteor, but it made amateurish mistakes.



Waring explained, First its glowing a colour most meteors dont glow. Second its performing horizontal mambo and meteorites do not fly horizontally while that low to the planet. Gravity would have pulled it down. He added that when the alien spacecraft turned off its glow for a very short period of time, a silver disk came out.



However, since there was no debris found, some Japanese thought the UFO was an alien spacecraft.






Miles Teller (Photo : Twitter/Miles Teller)

The release of "Ascendant," the fourth installment in the "Divergent" series, is rumored to have been cancelled for the big screen.



"Insurgent" cast member Miles Teller recently told E! News that he doesn't have any idea what will happen to the film. After all, he and his co-stars haven't filmed for more than a year now. "I have not talked to anyone. We haven't filmed in like a year and a half. My phone's not ringing for it," he said.



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Meanwhile, Teller also spoke with The Hollywood Reporter to share his thoughts on the reports that "Ascendant" will only be released on television. "It caught us all by surprise," he said. The actor added that he still hopes the fourth installment will be picked up for the big screen because he and his co-stars already signed on for it.



"Things do chance anytime their messing with something that was not the original intention. We all signed on for it in hopes that it'd be released in theaters, and we all had every intention of finishing the franchise," he said.



Despite the low ratings and revenue, Teller still spoke very highly of the entire franchise. In fact, he said, "I'm not kidding when I say that you won't find a single actor who worked in that franchise who would have anything bad to say about that experience. It's all good. I've got nothing but love for everybody I've worked with on that franchise," he said.



In other news, "Divergent" lead star Shailene Woodley debunked rumors that she will be playing the role of Tris in the TV adaptation. While talking to Screen Rant, the actress said, "I didn't sign up to be in a television show. Out of respect to the studio and everyone involved, they may have changed their mind and may be doing something different, but I'm not necessarily interested in doing a television show," she said.


Days Of Our Lives Book Signing - Tattered Cover - Aspen Grove (Photo : Getty Images/Will Powers)

With Adrienne (Judi Evans) determined to buy the Spectator and Hope's secret disclosed, the conflict is again up for the inhabitants of Salem.



Adrienne plans on buying the Spectator and run the business with Jennifer (Melissa Reeves). It seems that Jen is the most suitable person for the job since she had been running the business for a number of years with his late husband Jack. It can be remembered that Jen and Jack met at the newspaper, which is why fans will not be surprised if Jen accepts Adrienne's proposal.



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However, someone in town seems to be equally determined to prevent Adrienne from buying the Spectator-Justin (Wally Kurth). According to speculations, Justin is against the idea as he knows that the two will be endangered once they start to run the business and unraveled many secrets in Salem. He knows that everyone in Salem has a skeleton in the closet that they would never want to be exposed.



Talking about secrets, the first expose is related to Jen's cousin, Hope. According to reports, the fact that Hope killed Stefan, the most notorious villain in Salem, will soon be revealed. This revelation turns Hope's nightmares into reality as she thought that her secret will forever be kept along with Aiden's departure from Salem. However she is proven wrong because it turned out that Andre also have a copy of Hope's confession about killing Stefan.



Despite this revelation, many believe that Stefan's son, Chad, will not personally avenge his father's death even after knowing his murderer. According to many, Chad will not act recklessly and behave the way he normally does. However, there are those who believe that he will still come after Hope and he will not just wait for the law to punish her.



Another revelation is the paternity of Chloe's baby. Accordingly, Nicole will have a confusion as to the truth about her best friend's baby. Chloe previously confessed that the father of her child is none other than Deimos (Vincent Irizarry).



However, Philip (John-Paul Lavoisier) will try to shake the truth that she knows. Meanwhile, Deimos seems to be interested in knowing more about Chloe from Nancy (Patrika Darbo) because he wants Chloe and her son to be in his custody.


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Teacher Michelle Tran walked between a dozen pre-K students seated at tables on Thursday morning, quietly speaking to them in a mix of English and Vietnamese, her native tongue.

Tran, who has worked as a bilingual teacher at Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Port Arthur for the past decade, said she can relate to her students. Like them, she grew up in Port Arthur with Vietnamese-speaking parents and did not learn English until she started school.

"I kind of struggled at first," she said. "I only received English at school, and then I went home and my parents couldn't help me."

In the past decade, Port Arthur and Beaumont school districts have experienced an influx of foreign language students, which has left both districts struggling to find enough teachers to accommodate the growth.

The Texas Education Agency requires that any district with more than 20 students in one grade who speak the same foreign language be instructed by a bilingual teacher.

Both districts have filed for exemptions from the state from this rule, saying they are unable to find enough qualified teachers.

Beaumont ISD considers bilingual teachers one of its "critical shortage areas" and advertises hiring incentives of up to $8,250.

Bilingual teachers at Port Arthur ISD get a $3,000 bonus each year.

Both districts have nearly doubled the number of students enrolled in bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) programs since 2006.

Beaumont ISD, which numbers around 19,200 students, has 1,523 ESL or bilingual students this year. Of Port Arthur ISD's roughly 9,000 students, 1,736 are enrolled in ESL or bilingual programs.

Representatives from both districts said the greatest challenge has been finding teachers who are bilingual-certified, which is different from being ESL-certified.

Bilingual teachers instruct a class of students who all speak the same language - which in most cases here is Spanish - using both English and the students' native tongue. An ESL teacher is not required to speak a foreign language and instructs students only in English.

In order to get certified as bilingual, teachers are required to take additional classes and tests at the university level. To be certified for ESL, teachers can take a two-day training session and must pass a state exam.

Tatiana Morales, head of the bilingual/ESL department at Port Arthur ISD, said the district is constantly searching for bilingual teachers who are fluent in Spanish. She said the district has recruited and hired teachers from as far as Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, sponsoring their work visas and bilingual certification.

Morales said the district has 33 bilingual teachers and four open positions. She expects to need three more teachers on top of that by next fall.

Melissa Oliva, supervisor for bilingual and ESL education at Beaumont ISD, said this year the district expanded its bilingual program to a third elementary school, Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary, adding three full-time bilingual teaching positions at the campus.

The school, which has 43 students in the bilingual program, has been able to fill only one of those positions, said Pietzsch-MacArthur Principal Anita Frank.

Both districts said they don't have as difficult a time finding ESL-certified teachers. That's because both districts have started asking all teachers to get ESL-certified.

Oliva said about 60 teachers at Beaumont ISD have volunteered to go through the two days of intensive training and take the exam.

More than 50 teachers at Port Arthur ISD are ESL-certified, Morales said. But the district's goal is to get all of its teachers certified, she said.

Josue Baltierrez, 18, said when he started kindergarten at Fletcher Elementary in Beaumont, he spoke only Spanish.

Baltierrez, who is now an engineering student at Texas A&M University, said the school's bilingual program helped him learn English.

"They made me read books (in English) and they would test me every once in a while to see how much I improved," said Baltierrez, who graduated as valedictorian from Central Medical Magnet High School last year.

While Baltierrez is a success story, he said he saw other students struggle to learn English, especially in high school when they started working jobs outside of school.

For the 2012-2013 school year, the state dropout rate for English language learners was 10.6 percent, compared to 2.6 percent for all students, according to the most recent data available from TEA.

Alba Portillo, who has been a fifth grade bilingual teacher at Fletcher for two years, said she decided to become a teacher when she learned of the district's shortage.

Portillo said her students are all Spanish-speaking but come from a variety of countries and all have different levels of English proficiency.

"That's the struggle," she said. "They're all at different levels."

Portillo said she shares her own personal experience of growing up speaking Spanish in Chicago and learning English in school and tries to get students to take pride in being bilingual.

"Some kids are ashamed to speak Spanish," she said. "I try to take that out of them. I let them know it's good to be different."

NKrebs@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/natalie_krebs
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South Texas authorities arrested six people last month on a slew of sex crime charges as part of an undercover sting, officials said.

Kayla Totson, Ebony Williamson, Sir Alex Myers Randolph, Horace Hamby and Sonni Lynn Poteet were arrested throughout October on various charges including prostitution, promotion of prostitution, and the online solicitation of a minor, records obtained by mySA.com show.

Totson, Williamson, Randolph and Hamby are from the San Antonio area, officials said.

Totson, Poteet, Williamson and Randolph are believed to have sex-trafficked minors in a Floresville motel and police arrested them Oct. 13. They are being held in the Wilson County Jail.

RELATED: 15 women arrested, 8 brothels shut down in Dallas prostitution sting

Hamby, 45, was arrested in Floresville Oct. 27, for the online solicitation of a minor. He was taken to Wilson County Jail. Police believe Hamby traveled to Floresville that day to meet with a 15-year-old girl for sex.

RELATED: Police: Backpage.com ads lead to arrest of 19 in undercover prostitution sting in Central Texas

The sex sting was the result of a human trafficking initiative led by 81st District Attorney Rene Pena, according to a news release.

RELATED: Sex sting nabs 64 men in Houston

Protecting our children is paramount Pena said. I am proud of the initiative I created. Not only is it addressing those child victims who are being sex trafficked, it is also addressing other chidl victims who are being sexually preyed on by adults.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
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The 21-year-old Texas State senior accused of killing a man and his unborn child while driving drunk after a river trip in August was indicted in Hays County last week, records show.

An indictment against Shana Elliott was filed Oct. 26, county records show. She was formally charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, a second-degree felony, and intoxication assault with a vehicle, a third-degree felony, county records show.

If convicted of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, Elliott faces up to 20 years in jail and a $10,000 fine for each count. If convicted of intoxication assault, Elliott faces 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Monday, according to county records.

RELATED: Driver accused in San Marcos crash still jailed, mother who lost husband, child planning funeral

Elliott was driving home after floating the river in San Marcos Aug. 2 when her car veered across the center line on Highway 21 and collided with Kristian Guerrero, 24, and her husband Fabian Guerrero-Morenos vehicle, according to an affidavit obtained by mySA.com. Police said she admitted to drinking when they pulled her over.

Guerrero-Moreno was killed in the crash and his wife was hospitalized with a brain bleed. Two days later, doctors induced Guerrero and she gave birth to her 19-week-old fetus Aug. 5, who she named Fabian James after his father.

RELATED: Family shares photos, heartbreaking details about young couple in fatal San Marcos wreck

A joint funeral for Guerrero-Moreno and his son was held Aug. 12 in Bryan.

County records show Elliott has been arrested twice before, once in March and again in May, on felony drug charges. On March 22, she was arrested for the possession of controlled substances and marijuana. On May 2, she was arrested for the of possession of controlled substances, according to county records.

RELATED: Mother who lost child, husband in drunk driving accident shares heartbreaking photo from hospital

Guerrero did not immediately respond for comment. Elliott's attorney was not listed.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
The San Antonio Fire Department has placed on paid administrative leave the head of the agencys training academy, city and department officials said.

We can confirm that Assistant Chief Joe Jones has been placed on leave, said city spokesman Jeff Coyle. But its an ongoing personnel matter so we will have no further comment. This is all about fairness and due process.
Actors Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison attend a special screening of Fox's 'Sleepy Hollow' at Hollywood Forever on June 2, 2014 in Hollywood, California. ( (Photo : Getty Images/ Alberto E. Rodriguez)

With Abbie Mills and Betsy Ross gone in the series, new faces will appear in the character roster of "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4.



Deadline reported that Kamar de los Reyes, popularly known for the movie "Salt," is confirmed to be part of "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4 as Jobe. He will portray the role of a bodyguard for Malcolm Dreyfuss (Jeremy Davies), the ultimate villain in the story. Prior to de los Reyes, the series has already added a new female protagonist and a number of new allies for Ichabod.



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According to rumors, Jobe will have a major storyline in "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4. As a bodyguard, Jobe will be tasked to clean the way for the big boss. Ichabod and Jobe's paths are destined to cross when the former tries to stop Dreyfuss from accomplishing his evil plans in "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4.



Aside from Kamar de los Reyes, Rachel Melvin is also casted as Alex Norwood and Jerry MacKinnon as Jake Wells in "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4. It is said that the latter will be cataloguing supernatural events in the next season run of the series.



Meanwhile, "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4 will also show the most anticipated return of some of the characters from the previous seasons such as Lyndie Greenwood as Jenny Mills and John Noble, who is known to be Ichabod's son with Katrina, Parrish.



With Ichabod's search for the new Witness and partner, the setting for the upcoming season will be in Washington, D.C. and not in New York. Ichabod will have to get along with his new partner, Diana, who is a secret service agent.



According to TVLine, many were disappointed that Ichabod's former partner died because the two have great chemistry, although many are also excited to see what the Ichabod-Diana tandem has to offer in "Sleepy Hollow" Season 4.



"Sleepy Hollow" is set to premiere at the Fox in 2017 although the specific date is yet to be announced. The cast of the new season is currently filming in Atlanta until 2017.


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Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn responded to reports Friday that al-Qaida would be targeting Texas before Election Day.

CBS News reported early Friday morning that al-Qaida could be planning attacks in Texas, New York and Virginia the day before the election. Abbott said his office was working with law enforcement officials and the states department of public safety to monitor the potentially dangerous situation, although the CBS report does not specify what the threat is or why Texas, New York and Virginia are being targeted.

RELATED: FBI, NYPD assess possible al-Qaida threat on US election eve

Texans should go about their daily lives as usual, but remain vigilant over the next several days and report any suspicious activity to state or local law enforcement, Abbott said in a statement. The State of Texas will continue to do everything it can to ensure the safety and security of its citizens.

A source told CBS News that the Federal Bureau of Investigations is taking the threat seriously and has alerted joint terrorism task forces on the matter.

It wasn't immediately clear how the intelligence came to investigators' attention. An NYPD spokesman says in a statement the information "lacks specificity."

RELATED: Record set in Bexar early voting

In a statement, the FBI said it was working closely with law enforcement agencies and sharing intelligence reports.

Officials say they regularly assess all possible security threats ahead of major events.

As Election Day nears, federal law enforcement is planning for several worst-case scenarios, the CBS report stated.

Cornyn urged vigilance in the wake of the threat of election-eve terror attacks, saying people should follow the "see something-say something" rule.

"It's obviously cause for vigilance, and the fact of the matter is the FBI director has said there are open homegrown terrorist investigations in every FBI field office in America. The terrorists obviously starting with al-Qaida have now morphed into the Islamic state, Isis or Isil but what they're doing now is effectively using social media and the internet to inspire people here in America to take up arms and to kill innocent civilians. So I'm confident that they are doing the best they can, but the threat is proliferating and obviously the ability they might have to disrupt the election and make a big impact, they're going to take advantage of that," Cornyn said, answering questions from reporters after a speech Friday.

Asked what he'd tell concerned Texans, Cornyn said, "I guess at the airport now they say 'If you see something, say something,' and really the eyes and ears of the regular citizens like all of us are the best anti-terrorist weapon that the law enforcement agencies have. Because if you do see something irregular, something that causes some concern, just report it to local law enforcement. They have the organization in place to deal with it,to investigate it, to see if it's a serious problem or not," Cornyn said. "It really ... falls to all of us to do our part, not just have law enforcement handle it by themselves

RELATED: Texas' Abbott says go about daily life while threat assessed

The Texas Department of Public Safety released a statement shortly after the governor's saying the agency was "constantly in touch with fellow law enforcement and intelligence officials" regarding the terror threat.

"DPS is continually monitoring events involving potential public safety impacts across the state and nation. We can also assure Texans that we adjust our level of vigilance to meet any potential or emerging threats, and will also adjust our security measures as threats warrant," the statement read.

Staff writer Peggy Fikac and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
A Fort Hood soldier missing for more than three weeks was found dead near his truck Thursday in an apparent rollover, according to Fort Hood officials.

Soldiers on a training mission discovered the remains of Army Pvt. Dakota Lee Stump, 19, next to a flipped-over vehicle at Fort Hood on Thursday around noon, according to a release.

His mother, Patrice Wise, said she was told Thursday night that her son died in a serious car crash.

Stump had been missing since Oct. 10.

A Ford Mustang, registered to Stump rested 100 yards from the roadway, hidden from the road by terrain and heavy vegetation, Army officials said.

Based on the extensive damage to the car and surrounding trees and foliage, early indications are the vehicle left the road, entered the wooded area and rolled over multiple times, according to law enforcement officials.

Stump had wanted to join the Army since he was 7 years old, in Indiana, Wise said.

Stump enjoyed tae kwon do and playing the guitar, and wanted to protect his country by fighting ISIS, Wise said.

He had become my hero, she said.

Stump, whose home of record is listed as Avon, Indiana, entered active-duty service in March as an indirect-fire infantryman.

He was assigned to 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, since July.

Stump's awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon.

The incident is under investigation and an autopsy will be performed at Dover Air Base, Fort Hood public affairs said.
Carolyn Kaster/AP

President Obama commuted the prison sentence of another Midland man Friday, according to the White House.

Gregory Scott Taylor was sentenced in 2002 to 240 months imprisonment and then 10 years supervised release. It was announced by the White House that his prison sentence is commuted to expire on Nov. 4, 2018, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment.
When Renee Paschall stood up at the Oct. 20 Judson School Board meeting, she held chunks of rock in each hand. The rock, she said, had crumbled from the exterior of Copperfield Elementary School, which opened two years ago.

The board had opened discussion of ranking architects on a yet-to-be-constructed elementary school, deemed the Escondido North Elementary, when Paschall asked who is to blame when there are construction issues at a school.

When she was told by school administrators that construction issues are usually not the fault of the architects, she stood up and said she wanted to know who is responsible for these chunks of rock that had fallen from the facade of Copperfield Elementary.

The blame, according to fellow school board Trustee Steve Salyer, rests with the soil the schools sit on. Many of the schools in the district are built on shifting Houston black soil, which is essentially a moving clay base.

Soil in Bexar County is rough because it moves. It shifts, and you have to deal with that whenever you build, said Salyer, Judson ISD board president. In nearly any building youll find foundation cracks, and thats what the architect will take you. Its the soil.

Salyer said the parts of Copperfield that Paschall displayed may have flaked from the schools cosmetic exterior, rather than from its structural facade.

What I saw was cosmetic stuff off the school. Again, thats because of the soil we have, he said. If it is or was a structural issue, then wed have a problem on our hands.

A question of construction timelines arose as well. Copperfield opened in August 2014, as part of the May 2013 school bond issue that also built Veterans Memorial High School. Copperfield construction started in early September 2013.

Some administrators questioned whether the district was rushing completion of schools, with tightened deadlines. Salyer said thats not the case.

Its not how fast you build a school. The question is, can the contractor get it done in the time frame given? I would say the process works, he said. Its not how fast you build it. Its that you make sure its built right.

Copperfield was built in the same design as Rolling Meadows Elementary School, featuring grade-level pods that group similar classes to encourage team teaching and open exchanges among teachers.

We have Rolling Meadows (Elementary School) designed in that module and teachers love it because of the teaching model with the pods. They can team teach, they can move around, and it works, Salyer said. And its worked at Copperfield. I have never heard any complaints about the layout of the elementary schools.

The discussion began as the district discussed qualities by which it trims its roster of potential architects on jobs. Salyer said the districts current process is a productive and cost-saving venture.

Both the 2013 (bond issue) schools (Copperfield and Veterans Memorial) were built on time, under budget, and everything works. Were saving $1.2 million on the architect alone with the elementary, by using the existing prototype, he said. To (seek a new architect), just to do it, is nonsense.

The district also informed the board of roof damage from Aprils hail storm. Insurance reviews throughout the district show that 22 schools suffered roof damage that will likely exceed $20 million.

jflinn@express-news.net
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A second suspect police believe is involved with a cell phone sale turned fatal shooting in a restaurant parking lot in Dallas was arrested Thursday.

Javan Jamal Bush, 25, was arrested Thursday and booked into Dallas County Jail on one charge of capital murder, according to county records. He is being held there on a $500,000 bond, according to county records.

Bush is accused of accompanying Lonzell Hunter, 22, to a cell phone sale that left a 42-year-old woman dead.

RELATED: Dallas woman killed in front of her daughter after meeting man to sell phone

On Oct. 30, Martha Teran arranged to meet with Hunter via an app to sell her daughters cell phone in the parking lot of a Medieval Times restaurant near downtown Dallas, in the 2000 block of North Stemmons Freeway, a police report shows.

Police said in the report that after Teran handed Hunter the cell phone, he shot her and fled from the parking lot in a car. A witness told police they saw Bush flee from the parking lot in a white Infiniti.

Hunter was arrested Wednesday on one charge of capital murder. He is being held on a $500,000 bond, county records show.

RELATED: Report: Deceased mother who chased after tow truck parked at nearby apartment complex

According to an affidavit, Bush accompanied Hunter to the cell phone sale with another unknown black male.

Police found the vehicle outside a home where Bush was and brought him in for questioning.

Bush told police at the departments headquarters he was in South Oak Cliff waiting to get his car back at the time Teran was shot, the affidavit states. However, text messages between Hunter and Bush obtained by the police after police show the two were together during the incident, the affidavit states.

In a separate interview, Bush told police he loaned his car to Hunter so he could go buy the cell phone from Teran, the affidavit states.

RELATED: SAPD officers find man's body surrounded by bricks, knife on SW Side

Police found messages that said Bush was unhappy with the amount of money he was allotted for the cell phone purchase and wanted more, the affidavit states. Police said, in the affidavit, that Bush lied about his phone number and his location at the time Teran was shot.

Terans daughter was at the scene and witnessed her mothers shooting, police said.

Teran succumbed to her injuries at Parkland Hospital in Dallas the same day, police said.

A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for Teran's funeral. So far, $6,524 has been raised.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
A car bomb exploded in Cairo on Friday unsuccessfully targeting a judge who is trying a case against supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, a security source told Ahram Online.

The incident took place in the district of Nasr City and was aimed at judge Ahmed El-Fotouh, according to the source.



Another security source told Ahram's Arabic website that there were no casualties.

Explosives experts were dispatched to the scene to investigate the incident.

The prosecutor-general has ordered the opening of an investigation into the incident, and a team from the prosecution is on the scene to examine evidence.

In late September, a car bomb targeting one of the top prosecutor's assistants exploded in a suburb of Cairo, but failed to harm the senior judge.

In May last year three bombs exploded outside the Cairo home of another judge known for presiding over trials of Islamists, injuring four bystanders.

In June 2015, prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat was killed when a bomb hit his car convoy, also in Cairo.

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Its become a familiar formula with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

Again and again, Miller, or a staffer on his behalf, does something stupid, offensive or ethically challenged. It blows up in his face, prompting harsh rebukes from all corners of the political world. Miller initially obfuscates and later apologizes, but it comes across as empty because its just a matter of time until the cycle repeats itself.

Cue Millers recent tweet describing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with an extremely vulgar, offensive word. Miller deleted the tweet, but these things tend to stick around.

At first, Miller and his lackeys said his Twitter account had been hacked. No, it wasnt.

Then he blamed a staffer for copying and pasting the tweet from another Twitter account and not reading the text closely. Maybe. Its worth noting that Miller has bragged, as recently as last week, that he tweets for himself (what a man!).

There is no excuse for such vulgar language in any setting. Not in a locker room. Not at the dinner table. Not in the cesspool known as Twitter. Not anywhere or any time.

Miller has had quite a high-profile run as Texas agriculture commissioner. Hes been on a crusade to bring junk food into schools. He has referred to Syrian refugees on Facebook as rattlesnakes; he also posted to Facebook a picture suggesting we nuke the entire Muslim world. He traveled to Oklahoma, initially at taxpayer expense, to get a Jesus shot to alleviate chronic pain.

Miller has said he doesnt want his good name associated with a vulgarity like the word he used. Well, we wish his name werent associated with Texas. Hopefully, voters will agree next election.
GREENWICH  Three laptops computers reported missing from Sacred Heart Greenwich this summer led to an arrest this week, and two felony charges were filed against an Uber driver implicated in the theft.

Curtiss Baldwin, 34, of Deerfield Court, East Hartford, surrendered to Greenwich police on an arrest warrant earlier this week, and he was charged with larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny.

According to court papers, police were contacted when an employee at the school on King Street discovered that three Apple MacBooks Pro laptops had gone missing from a storage area in the basement. The theft was reported Aug. 26. The computers were used by teachers there.

Internet technology staff and security at the school ran a scan on the missing laptops, and determined that one had been in use in East Hartford, Conn., according to the police documents. An inquiry using IP addresses revealed that Baldwin had logged onto the computer in question, the arrest-warrant request states.

Police went to East Hartford to pursue the investigation, which revealed that Baldwin worked as an Uber driver in Greenwich, authorities said. He drove down from the Hartford area regularly, to take advantage of a good customer base in Greenwich. He told detectives he had been to Sacred Heart on one occasion.

Two of the missing laptops have been recovered by authorities.

Based on the evidence compiled by investigators, an arrest warrant was issued for Baldwin. He was later released on a $35,000 bond, and he was assigned a court date of Nov. 14. The investigation is continuing.

Robert.Marchant@scni.com
-- TODAY: Experts expected to file foster care reform plan, by the Chronicles Mike Ward

After a week's negotiations, three senators confirmed Thursday that a state Senate committee was close to approving $88 million in additional funds to give front-line Child Protective Services workers a hefty pay raise to curb skyrocketing turnover rates and to hire several hundred additional caseworkers and investigators. But that temporary fix is not close to the amount necessary to hire more than 800 new employees requested by the beleaguered Department of Family and Protective Services.

Details were not publicly announced, but the senators said an agreement was close -- even as state police and CPS workers scrambled to locate the remaining 70 of 511 top-priority children. They had been reported to be victims of abuse and neglect but had not been seen by child-protection caseworkers for up to two months because of chronic staffing shortages.

They suggested that the state is likely to proceed with emergency funding once they see if it fits with the court recommendations.

-- NEW Texas Take: The Podcast, with the Chrons Mike Ward and Quorum Report editor Scott Braddock   In this tumultuous political year, when the F-word, the B-word and even the P-word have been bandied about, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller added the C-word. LISTEN

-- MUST READ THIS MORNING: Texas House GOPers in potential swing districts scramble in final push, by Quorum Reports James Russell ($)

 Even as they face Democrats in the general, some in the GOP are taking fire from groups allied with Tim Dunn; Speaker Straus is stepping up to help GOP members while Texas Right to Life is running radio ads against Rep. Sarah Davis and Harris County DA Devon Anderson

Rep. Jason Villalba first had to fend off an Empower Texans-backed candidate named Dan Morenoff in March. Morenoff also had the support of Dallas Republican Sen. Don Huffines, whose twin brother Phillip Huffines is now running the Dallas County GOP. After a decisive victory, Villalba now only faces a general election, which he is expected to win against Jim Burke. But Villalba still must deal with some intraparty difficulties.

But like the Republicans who oppose Trump, theres a contingent of others  some of whom are aligned with Tim Dunns Empower Texans  who refuse to vote for Villalba even in a general election when he is up against a member of the opposition party. Those groups claim Villalba is too moderate.

-- Party leaders rhetoric leaves Texas Republican women reeling, by The Texas Tribunes Abby Livingston: For many female Texans working in Republican politics, last month's release of a video showing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about groping women was bad enough. They have since watched in astonishment as male elected officials from their own state have engaged in coarse rhetoric of their own.

-- Cruz campaigns for Trump against absolute disaster of Clinton presidency, by The Dallas Morning News Katie Leslie: The Texas senator held joint events with Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, in Iowa and Michigan to affirm his unwavering support for a Trump presidency. Cruz, who has often sidestepped saying Trump's name while campaigning for other Republicans, sought to end, again, lingering rumors about his discontent with the GOP nominee.

-- Heres your fun Friday read as early voting wraps up  First-time voters get more than a sticker at this poll, by the Chrons Blake Paterson

Pacing between a voter ID poster and a patriotic red-white-and-blue table, election clerk Ruby Stevenson is on the lookout. Greeting crowds of early voters as they enter the Sunnyside Multi-Service Center in south Houston, Stevenson is scanning for uncertain, typically younger voters.

Spotting her target, she hollers, We've got a first-time voter in the house. The normally tame auditorium erupts in celebratory applause from poll workers and experienced voters alike as attention turns to the newcomer.

>> Paxton asks court to revive Mississippi religious freedom law, Statesman

>> Michael McCaul: Clinton committed treason, Statesman

>> Tomlinson: Keep your thanks, what vets really need are good jobs, Houston Chronicle

CAPITOL DAYBOOK - No meetings

SPEED READ

Grimes: What Wendy Davis can teach Texas about Hillary Clinton, The Texas Observer

Majority in poll sick of politics, The New York Times

Jail commission Oks county request for temporary beds, Houston Chronicle

Pension proposal could prompt police, fire retirements, drawing safety fears, Houston Chronicle

Clergy join Dakota Access pipeline protesters for ceremony, AP

Jefferson could be on Clintons SCOTUS radar, San Antonio Express-News

Report: Number of immigrants working illegally in US flattens to 8M, Houston Chronicle

Austin leaders OK deal with Dallas Co. to reduce rape kit backlog, Austin-American Statesman

Retail gasoline prices drop by 2 cents across Texas, Houston Chronicle

The Texas woman who is blowing up the GOP, Texas Tribune

Cornyn: 'Premature' to talk about Hillary Clinton impeachment, CNN

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

>> As Election Day nears, Texas millennials gravitate toward Clinton, Austin-American Statesman

-- Records of Mr. Trumps tax appeals and other documents indicate that actual income from some of his businesses may be nowhere near what he has reported on financial disclosures. (NYT)

-- After November 8: U.S. intelligence agencies do not see Russia as capable of using cyberespionage to alter the outcome of Tuesdays presidential election, but they have warned that Moscow may continue meddling after the voting has ended to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the result, U.S. officials said.

The assessment reflects widespread concern among U.S. spy agencies that a months-long campaign by Russia to rattle the mechanisms of American democracy will probably continue after polls close on one of the most polarizing races in recent history, extending and amplifying the political turbulence. (WashPost)

>> How tensions at the FBI will persist after the election, WashPost

>> Early voting by Latinos may help Clinton in several states, WashPost
According to KRQE, a man faces drunk driving charges after wrecking his vehicle into a fire truck and medical transport helicopter on Highway 566 early Sunday morning.

Details of Drunk Driving Wreck

Police say Glenn Livingston, 26, of Gallup caused the highway collision that left the fire truck and helicopter inoperable.

Livingston approached the scene of the previous wreck and the landing zone for the helicopter but did not stop. According to KRQE, Livingston drove around the barricade set up on Highway 566 and crashed into the fire truck and helicopter.

Nobody sustained injuries in the multiple-vehicle wreck, reports KRQE. Livingston is facing aggravated DWI and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer among other charges.

Impaired Driving Statistics

The following information is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In 2014, 9,967 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States.

Alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities decreased by 1.4 percent from 2013 to 2014.

Alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities have accounted for 30 to 32 percent of all crash fatalities since 1995.

Over 1.1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in 2014 (CDC

Contact an Experienced Auto Accident Attorney

Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys is a personal injury law firm with offices in Corpus Christi, Texas, San Antonio, Texas and Houston, Texas representing accident victims nationwide. Our attorneys are available to respond to auto accidents at any hour, day or night. Our lawyers understand that the immediate acquisition, or acquiring, of evidence is paramount to understanding how the accident occurred. Remember, your choice does matter. Contact our offices - we are available 24/7, nights and weekends.

Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, a jury in Douglas County, Nebraska, awarded a couple $11.5 million after a medical malpractice suit claimed hospital staff caused severe brain damage to the couples child during birth.

Hospital Claimed no Wrongdoing or Failure by Staff

The malpractice lawsuit argued that the hospital staff grossly mismanaged the delivery of the child. The familys attorney says breathing problems occurred and were not addressed, causing significant damage to the babys brain. In addition, the lawsuit alleges improper use of forceps that caused permanent brain damage, leaving the child disabled.

The family attorney says the fact that the childs electronic records were tampered with also played a key role in the jurys decision.

Attorneys for the hospital argued that the child suffered a stroke unrelated to the actions of the hospital staff and that they met the proper standard of care. Medical Malpractice Information

According to the American Medical Association, medical malpractice leads to 225,000 deaths every year. It also leads to countless injuries, which can leave survivors with debilitating, life-altering conditions. Medical malpractice claims can help injured victims and their families recover damages for past and future medical expenses, loss of wages, and even pain and suffering.

Childbirth Injuries

Negligent prenatal care most often includes failure to diagnose medical conditions of

the mother, birth defects, or diseases that trasnfer from mother to fetus. Negligence during childbirth can also cause childbirth injuries. Negligence can include failure to respond to fetal distress, incompetent use of forceps or vacuum extractors, and failure to anticipate or act on birthing complications.

Contact an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney

Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys are leaders in the area of medical malpractice litigation. We have extensive knowledge and resources in order to represent our clients efficiently and aggressively. We represent clients/victims all over the country.

If you or a loved one have been injured due to medical malpractice, contact Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys immediately. We are available 24/7, nights and weekends.

Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
1 Syria war: Syrian rebels launched a fresh wave of attacks on government-controlled western Aleppo on Thursday, killing 12 civilians and wounding 200 according to state media, one day before a 10-hour humanitarian pause unilaterally declared by Moscow was set to take effect. Meanwhile, an air strike on a rebel-held village south of the contested city killed at least nine civilians, opposition activists said. Aleppo and its surrounding environs have become one of the main theaters of the Syrian war. It is the countrys largest city and its former commercial capital, and it represents a major prize for any side that can claim control over it after more than five years of war.

2 Christs tomb: The tomb believed to be Jesus Christs was opened as part of a complex renovation of the shrine that was built around it long after his death in what is known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, perhaps Christianitys holiest site. Scholars hope to study what they found to determine more about the event that spawned one of the worlds great religions. For centuries, no one looked inside  until last week, when a crew of specialists opened the simple tomb in Jerusalems Old City. Rainwater had deteriorated much of the mortar over the centuries. Iron support bars that were fully corroded will be removed and replaced by titanium.
1 Presidential apology: In an extraordinary display of abject apology during a moment of supreme crisis, South Korean President Park Geun-hye took sole blame Friday for a heartbreaking scandal amid rising suspicion that she allowed a mysterious confidante to manipulate power from the shadows. Park also vowed to accept a direct investigation into her actions, but the opposition, sensing weakness, immediately threatened to push for her ouster if she doesnt distance herself from domestic affairs and accept a prime minster chosen by the Parliament.

2 China space program: Chinas plans for a permanent space station remain firmly on track with the successful launch of its new heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket that will enable ambitious future missions, including a planned trip to Mars. The towering rocket that blasted off Thursday night from the Wenchang launch center will be used to launch components for the Tiangong 2 space station and other massive payloads. China launched the Tiangong 2 precursor facility in September and sent up two astronauts in mid-October to live aboard it for 30 days. The stations 20-ton core module will be launched in 2018, and the completed 60-ton station is set to come into full service in 2022 and last at least a decade.
The ministry said that the Muslim Brotherhood is forming new 'terrorist entities' to take the blame for its attacks

Egyptian police arrested a number of people who confessed to plotting terrorist attacks against security forces and government figures, most notably the assassination attempt on the top prosecutor's assistant in late September, the interior ministry announced on Friday.

The ministry said that some of those arrested claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt against Egypt's former leading Muslim cleric Ali Gomaa in August.

In a statement on its official Facebook page, the ministry said that its intelligence work has revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood is forming new terrorist entities such as Haraket Thowar Misr, Hasm and Lowaa El-Thawra, and uses these groups as a media front to take the blame for the Brotherhoods violent attacks.

The statement also said that evidence showed that a Muslim Brotherhood member was part of those responsible for the assassination of the country's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat in June 2015.

The interior minister previously accused the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in exile in Turkey and the group's Palestinian offshoot Hamas as being behind the assassination of Barakat.

"Security forces have also seized arms and explosives and located hiding places used for militant training, storing supplies and manufacturing explosive devices," the statement said.

Egypts then-top prosecutor Barakat died in a Cairo bomb attack in June 2015; the only successful assassination attempt against a state official since an upswing in militant violence following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

One of the little-known new militant groups, Hasm, had previously claimed responsibly for the aforementioned attacks.

The Muslim Brotherhood was officially designated a terrorist organisation by the government in December 2013 following several deadly attacks on security personnel.

Attacks against Egypt's security forces have become common in recent years but are mostly concentrated in North Sinai, where Egypt's army and police are battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency.

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An Egyptian army brigadier general was shot dead Friday afternoon in El-Arish in North Sinai, a military spokesman said.

In a statement Friday evening, the army spokesman said that three militants opened fire on Hesham Mahmoud after Friday prayers in front of his house.

Last Saturday, the army said that over the weekend six militants and four armed forces personnel were killed in North Sinai amid ongoing security operations against militants in El-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuwaid.

Egypts army launched a new security campaign two weeks ago against Islamist militants in North Sinai, killing over 50 in response to a militant attack three weeks ago that killed 12 soldiers and injured six others.

Last month, Adel Rajaei, an Egyptian military brigadier general who had previously served in North Sinai, was shot dead in front of his house on the outskirts of Cairo.

In mid-October, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi extended a state of emergency in designated areas of the North Sinai governorate for three months, starting 31 October.

A state of emergency was originally declared in certain areas of the restive province in August 2013, and has been consecutively renewed ever since.

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LOS ANGELES  Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey will resume his previous position as the only CEO of the high-end grocer, Reuters reports. Whole Foods has been facing more competition from a variety of retailers, with sales falling the past five quarters at established locations. Current co-CEO Walter Robb will step down at the end of the year, but stay on the board of directors and segue into being a senior advisor to Whole Foods.

Mackey will focus on turning the company around. I like our positioning, but Im not going to sugarcoat it ... Weve got to up our game and thats what we are intending to do, Mackey said, but he didnt elaborate on what those plans were.

Whether Mackey can reinvigorate the chain is left to be seen, but Roger Davidson, retail consultant at Oakton Advisory Group, applauded the change. You need the vision and direction coming from one leader, Davidson said. They need to make some hard decisions and go with them.

Mackey presented a general session on conscious capitalism at the 2015 NACS Show in Las Vegas. For a recap of the 2016 NACS Show, look for the November issue of NACS Magazine next week or visit NACS Magazine online. The 2017 NACS Show will be October 17-20 in Chicago.
MASON CITY, Iowa.  Convenience store chain Yesway has opened six stores in Mason City, Iowa. Featuring new and upgraded store facilities both inside and out, Yesway now offers an enhanced shopping experience, neighborly customer service and competitively priced gas.

The company is holding a grand opening celebration at the South Federal Avenue location, with local radio station Star 106.1 KLSS-FM broadcasting live today, and 93.9 KIA-FM broadcasting live tomorrow. The event will also mark the kick-off of a month-long fundraiser benefiting The North Iowa CERT and Teen CERT Teams, an organization that strives to help and assist first responders in the event of a disaster or community crisis. Throughout the fundraiser, a nickel from every cup of coffee purchased at Yesways Mason City stores will be donated directly to the organization.

We see this as the beginning of a very strong partnership with the citizens of Mason City. Our goal is to provide everyone with a terrific shopping experience, said Brian Trout, Yesway's senior vice president of operations, in a press release.

Customers at the grand opening celebration will enjoy free coffee and food, Yesway giveaways and freebies, special deals, and have a chance to win exciting prizes this Friday and Saturday. We strive to play a vital role in the communities we serveone that goes beyond bringing you that great cup of coffee or ensuring our shelves are always stocked, said Thomas Nicholas Trkla, Yesways chairman and CEO. Thats why at Yesway, we recognize and actively support local charities, civic organizations, first responders and those who serve or have served in the military, and those folks who make a difference in the lives of others; those organizations and individuals who spend their free time striving to help their fellow citizens and communities, who go above and beyond, while asking nothing in return.
By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. Originally published at at Down With Tyranny. GP article archive here. Originally published at DownWithTyranny

President Obama and all of his corporatist buddies, including some, but not all, in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), are hell-bent on passing the TPP in the lame duck session of Congress just after the election but prior to Obamas leaving office. Its reasonable to speculate why, and we did so here:

As to the timing, the choice is obvious. First, theres the unusual composition of a lame duck Congress. As Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, wrote recently in The Hill (my emphasis):

So [TPP] is looking like a very close vote. (For procedural and political reasons, Obama will not bring it to a vote unless he is sure he has the necessary votes). Now lets look at one special group of Representatives who can swing this vote: the actual lame-ducks, i.e., those who will be in office only until Jan. 3. It depends partly on how many lose their election on Nov. 8, but the average number of representatives who left after the last three elections was about 80. Most of these people will be looking for a job, preferably one that can pay them more than $1 million a year. From the dataprovided by OpenSecrets.org, we can estimate that about a quarter of these people will become lobbyists. (An additional number will work for firms that are clients of lobbyists). So there you have it: It is all about corruption, and this is about as unadulterated as corruption gets in our hallowed democracy, other than literal cash under a literal table. These are the people whom Obama needs to pass this agreement, and the window between Nov. 9 and Jan. 3 is the only time that they are available to sell their votes to future employers without any personal political consequences whatsoever. The only time that the electorate can be rendered so completely irrelevant, if Obama can pull this off.

The lame duck session, in other words, is the only time when Obama and the corporatists in both parties can appeal to House members and senators who are still in office, yet completely untethered from any responsibility to anything but their personal ambition and future paychecks  completely untethered, since they will likely never face voters again in another election.

Theres second reason as well. If Obama pulls this off, getting the TPP passed, its Obamas trade deal, not the next presidents (though that president, should she or he be opposed, could immediately execute the Withdrawal clause and renegotiate).

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008 each promising to use the threat of unilateral withdrawal to force renegotiation of NAFTA.

Remember, it only took 28 Democrats (or Democrats) in the House to pass Fast Track when it came up for a final vote, and only 13 Democratic senators.

Democratic Pro-Fast Track Votes in the House

Heres the House list, in order by state. Ive highlighted a few of the names:

Terri Sewell (AL-07)

Susan Davis (CA-53)

Sam Farr (CA-20)

Jim Costa (CA-16)

Ami Bera (CA-07)

Scott Peters (CA-52)

Jared Polis (CO-02)

James Himes (CT-04)

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)

Mike Quigley (IL-05)

John Delaney (MD-06)

Brad Ashford (NE-02)

Gregory Meeks (NY-05)

Kathleen Rice (NY-04)

Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)

Kurt Schrader (OR-05)

Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)

Jim Cooper (TN-05)

Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)

Eddie Johnson (TX-30)

Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

Beto ORourke (TX-16)

Gerald Connolly (VA-11)

Donald Beyer (VA-08)

Rick Larsen (WA-02)

Suzan DelBene (WA-01)

Derek Kilmer (WA-06)

Ron Kind (WI-03)

These 28 Democratic Yes votes were needed because 50 Republicans voted No. The bolded names  Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Suzan DelBene  claim to be progressives when they campaign back home. The bold-italicized representatives  Terri Sewell, Gregory Meeks, and Eddie Bernice Johnson  are CBC members.

Democratic Pro-Fast Track Votes in the Senate

On the Senate side, 13 Democrats voted to make sure TPP would get a Fast Track vote by voting to close debate (voting for cloture):

Michael Bennet, Colorado

Maria Cantwell, Washington

Tom Carper, Delaware

Chris Coons, Delaware

Dianne Feinstein, California

Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota

Tim Kaine, Virginia

Claire McCaskill, Missouri

Patty Murray, Washington

Bill Nelson, Florida

Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire

Mark Warner, Virginia

Ron Wyden, Oregon

In both houses of Congress, these were the barest of margins  218 Yes votes in the House and 60 Yes votes in the Senate, in each case exactly the minimum required for passage. Another indication of how toxic this trade bill is. No Democrat dared touch it who didnt want to or have to.

Black Lives Matter and the TPP

And now the TPP has become even more toxic, since the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social-justice movement has endorsed the anti-TPP position. Politico Pro has this (sub. required; my emphasis):

Obamas latest TPP foe: Black Lives Matter

By Andrew Hanna

Monday, Oct. 31, 2016 The Obama administration will face an unexpected adversaryas it gears up for what could be a blockbuster lame-duck fight over the Trans-Pacific Partnership: the Black Lives Matter movement. The group  best known best for its protests of police shootings of African-Americans  has joined the fray over the Asian Pacific trade deal as part of its growing focus on economic issues, contending the pact would lead to greater racial injustice. It ties past trade deals to the closures of factories that have hurt black workers disproportionately and increased black poverty. Its involvement could influence the votes of a handful of wavering Democrats, should Congress tackle TPP during the lame duck. There are groups that are going to pay a lot of close attention to what they say, especially the Congressional Black Caucus, said Bill Reinsch, a fellow at the Stimson Center and close trade-vote watcher. Only a small band of 28 House Democrats voted to give the president fast track authority to complete TPP, including three members of the Congressional Black Caucus: Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.). A fourth black caucus member, Republican Mia Love of Utah, also voted for fast-track authority. With anti-trade fervor whipped into a fever pitch by the presidential election campaign, their votes are considered key to passage of the pact  and all are under increasing pressure to abandon the president should the pact come to a ratification vote.

The pretend reason, of course, for TPP support is support for a major legacy want by the first black president. The pro-Clinton members of the Democratic Platform Committee, for example, resisted to the end any explicit language about TPP on the grounds that the Party must support its president.

Democrats Prioritize Party Unity Over Including Stand Against TPP In Platform Members of the Democratic National Convention Platform Committee shot down an attempt to include specific opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal in the platform, despite the fact that both Democratic presidential candidates have taken positions against the TPP. The attempt failed because members appointed by Hillary Clinton and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed it was improper to oppose the TPP when President Barack Obama fervently believes in the agreement. However, by putting party unity before taking a firm stand against the trade agreement, the door was left open for Clinton to go back to supporting the TPP, which was the case when she was secretary of state. It is hard for me to understand why Secretary Clintons delegates wont stand behind Secretary Clintons positions in the partys platform, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said. Even platform committee chair, Representative E.J. Cummings [normally progressive on trade issues], chose to vote against the resolution. He, too, bragged about not voting for trade agreements. I dont want to do anything as he ends his term to undercut the president of the United States. Im just not going to do it. And thats where I stand, Cummings proclaimed.

Thats the pretend reason  supporting the first black president  for most of them anyway. The real reason is different and not unexpected  money and everything money can buy. The Democratic Party as its currently configured exists to enable the fire hose flow of corporate and big-wealth dollars into its coffers. Opposing that flow gets you the Sanders treatment, but Im not spilling any new beans in saying that.

This move by Black Lives Matter takes away the pretend reason and thus puts some careers at risk. BLM has high visibility at the moment. It will be worth watching the result, the actual TPP vote, as this plays out later.

What to Watch For in the Lame Duck

Once the Democrats figure out how many Republicans will defect from their leadership in each house of Congress (there were 50 House Republican defections last time plus six not voting, and five Senate defections plus two not voting), theyll know how many Democrats will have to take one for the team  vote Yes on TPP so others with reputations to protect (like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi) dont have to.

The numbers needed to pass TPP in the Senate have changed this time. Only 51 votes are needed there now (thats part of what fast track means). Finding 50 No votes in the Senate is not an impossible task, but its a very high bar  depending on the way Republicans vote, as few as four Democrats like Ron Wyden could guarantee passage.

So the greatest vulnerability for TPP is in the House. Can Democrats again muster something like 28 pro-corporate votes? Which Democrats will chose to take the fall a second time? Corporatists like Ron Kind will eagerly comply. But will Earl Blumenauer (bow-tie bicycle guy)? Will CBC members Sewell and Johnson, with BLM lobbying hard against them? Or will other House Democrats be needed (and willing) to take the fall so Pelosi can move TPP across the line?

Again, Fast Track passed the House with zero votes to spare. What if the Republican opposition  including the opposition to Speaker Ryan in the wake of the Trump debacle  swells to more than 50? This could be a very close vote.

TPP, Obamas Legacy and A Glide Path to His Life as an Ex-President

The Politico article quoted above helpfully notes this about Obamas legacy:

If successfully pushed through Congress, ratification of the trade accord would be the last major piece of legislation of the Obama presidency. The prospect that black lawmakers and activists could help to hand him a defeat is complicated by Obamas position as the first black president. This is part of President Obamas legacy, said [CBC member Gregory] Meeks.

Will Barack Obama get his legacy wish, along with his legacy library and foundation? The New York Times a few weeks ago told us this about Obamas future plans and needs:

Publicly, Mr. Obama betrays little urgency about his future. Privately, he is preparing for his postpresidency with the same fierce discipline and fund-raising ambition that characterized the 2008 campaign that got him to the White House. The long-running dinner this past February is part of a methodical effort taking place inside and outside the White House as the president, first lady and a cadre of top aides map out a postpresidential infrastructure and endowment they estimate could cost as much as $1 billion. The presidents aides did not ask any of the guests for library contributions after the dinner, but a number of those at the table could be donors in the future. So far, Mr. Obama has raised just over $5.4 million from 12 donors, with gifts ranging from $100,000 to $1 million. Michael J. Sacks, a Chicago businessman, gave $666,666. Fred Eychaner, the founder of Chicago-based Newsweb Corp., which owns community newspapers and radio stations, donated $1 million. Mark T. Gallogly, a private equity executive, and James H. Simons, a technology entrepreneur, each contributed $340,000 to a foundation set up to oversee development of the library. The real push for donations, foundation officials said, will come after Mr. Obama leaves the White House. Shailagh Murray, a senior adviser, oversees an effort inside the White House to keep attention on Mr. Obamas future and to ensure that his final 17 months in office, barring crises, serve as a glide path to his life as an ex-president.

A glide path to his life as an ex-president. I guess you could call him, after his 2008 trademark, ever hopeful and looking for change Interesting times indeed.
Peace in Yemen receded further into a distant horizon this week amid rejections of a UN-sponsored peace initiative and Houthi-launched missile that the Saudis claim targeted Mecca

Prospects of a settlement to the Yemeni crisis have once again receded as both sides rejected the initiative proposed by UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

At the same time the conflict, inclusive of its regional dimensions, has taken a very ominous turn as fighting escalates once again. Saudi-led coalition spokesman General Ahmed Asiri has accused the Houthis of firing a ballistic missile from the northern Yemeni province of Saada in the direction of the holy city of Mecca.

Houthi officials deny this, countering that the target was King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah.

Saudi air defences downed the missile at a distance of 65 kilometres from Mecca. But the unresolved controversy over its direction and destination has exploded in the face of Tehran.

Although Irans name was not explicitly mentioned during the last Saudi cabinet meeting, Riyadh has strongly hinted that it was the agent behind the missile attack.

The international community and most regional powers condemned the missile attack.

Al-Azhar in Egypt denounced the attempt to target Mecca as an insidious crime that could never be undertaken by anyone with a grain of faith in their heart.

In a statement issued Friday after the incident, the renowned religious establishment said, Al-Azhar, backed by all Muslim people, declares its opposition to this dangerous transgression that targeted the Muslims heart, the direction toward which they orient their prayers and the first home that God made for the people.

France feared the repercussions of the incident on the settlement process.

In its statement condemning the strike, Paris said that targeting Saudi Arabia would undermine the trust needed to resume the political process.

The US, through its ambassador in Riyadh, denounced the Houthi missile fire as an unacceptable provocation, reiterating that his country stands beside Saudi Arabia and is ready to work with it to deter and counter any outside threat to its territory.

The intercepted Houthi missile that was fired deep into Saudi territory was a Burkan-1.

An Iranian-modified Russian Scud missile, it weighs eight tons, can carry a 700 kilogram warhead and has a range of up to 800 kilometres, making it a midrange missile.



The existence of this type of missile in Yemen was first discovered in September 2016, a week after the Kerry plan was launched in Riyadh.



One of the points of that plan called on the Houthis to hand over their heavy weapons to a third party.



That first Burkan was fired against the city of Taif, which is also in the direction of Mecca. Sources contacted by Al-Ahram Weekly have suggested that the target at the time was King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz Airport, which the Houthis believed was hosting an American military contingent.

The cities of Taif, Jeddah and Mecca all lie in the same line from northern Yemen and all can be reached by a midrange missile of that sort, which means that its actual destination is open to speculation. Nevertheless, in the opinion of a source close to the office of Yemeni President Hadi in Riyadh, Iran wants to portray Saudi Arabia as incapable of defending the Holy sites.

The Saudi-led coalition has resumed its aerial attacks against rebel targets in Yemen, in the course of which it struck Al-Zeidiya Prison in Al-Hodeida killing dozens inside. The coalition has intensified bombardments elsewhere in the country.

These developments were reflected politically in international efforts to reach a settlement.

Following the Houthi escalation against Saudi Arabia, the initiative that UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed had tried to promote evaporated along with the truce process that he had hoped would offer an opportunity to create a climate conducive to resuming talks in Oman in the near future.



On the other hand, it is surprising that the UN envoy would propose an initiative that would be rejected by both sides to the Yemeni conflict.



In a Security Council meeting on Monday, 31 October, Ould Cheikh Ahmed maintained that his proposal was based on UN Security Council Resolution 2226.



However, the government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi disagrees. In an official statement it held that the initiative flagrantly departed from, circumvented and undermined all frames-of-reference for a settlement, namely Resolution 2226, the Gulf Initiative and the outputs of the Yemeni national dialogue.

In interview with the Weekly, Abdel Aziz Al-Majidi, a Yemeni political affairs expert, held that the Ould Cheikh Ahmed initiative failed because it was primarily based on the very antithesis of the provisions of international legitimacy. It also appears to be another of episode in the drive to terminate the Yemeni revolution that erupted in February 2011.

According to Al-Majidi, that drive began when the West rushed to Yemen  and sadly the Gulf countries at the time shared the Western view  to convince Yemen to sign a deal with [former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah] Saleh, which they called the Gulf Initiative. They said that they wanted to keep Yemen from sliding into a civil war.

Sadly, they succeeded in deceiving the leaders of the political parties who, in turn, worked to subdue the people.

As a result, the revolution was circumvented by a settlement that not only granted immunity to the man who killed Yemen for more than three decades but also granted him a half partnership in government, although he actually controlled all authorities.

As for the UN and the countries supervising the political process, Al-Majidi continued, they persuaded the Yemenis to sit at the dialogue table for about a year while the militias were gnawing away at the country piece by piece.

Meanwhile, the international community continued to play the circus game in Yemen. It tried to convince the Yemenis that they should furnish a model for the region, but they seemed happy when that model was gobbled up by the militias.

In fact, what we had was an ideal model for how to put an end to a popular revolution and how to lead an internationally sponsored counterrevolution.

Ultimately, they drove the country to the civil war they had warned us about.

In the opinion of Ahmed Rafiq, a Yemeni politician, the Ould Cheikh Ahmed proposal, although the first written initiative (which is significant), incorporated the view of only one side in its details and arrangements.

In addition, it failed to incorporate essential prerequisites for a solution, foremost among which are the need to bring a complete, comprehensive and lasting halt to hostilities on land, sea and air, and to lift the naval and aerial blockade against Yemen.

Instead of addressing these, the proposal confined itself to the context of promoting negotiations, in which regard it urged commitment to the truce agreement of May and called for certain Yemeni-Saudi border measures to be implemented and committed to by one side only.

Furthermore, Rafiq added in interview with the Weekly, the UN envoys proposal ignored the humanitarian and economic dimensions.

In his opinion, a settlement was still possible, but the necessary political will was not yet available. He therefore expects further rounds of warfare.

Ali Al-Bukhaiti, a former member of the Houthi movements political bureau, believes that the Saudi regimes enemies inside Saudi Arabia, in the region and elsewhere in the world are benefitting from that countrys predicament in Yemen.

The Ould Cheikh Ahmed initiative offered a way out for the kingdom, but opportunists reject it, he said.

The UN special envoys roadmap, details of which were leaked last week, calls for transferring the powers of President Hadi to a new vice-president agreed upon by both sides, the dismissal of current Vice President Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, and the formation of a new government to oversee the political transition process.

It also calls for the creation of military committees to oversee the withdrawal of militia forces and the end to all manifestations of warfare.

*This story was first published at Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
Clonmel Folk Club's series of concerts continues next Tuesday night, November 8th when Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill (pictured above) will perform at the Town Hall.

Martin Hayes is an Irish fiddle virtuoso. Dennis Cahill is an American master guitarist.

When they come together people discover just why they have garnered international renown for taking traditional music to the very edge of the genre, holding listeners spellbound with their slow-building, fiery performances.

Martin Hayes is regarded as one of the most extraordinary talents to emerge in the world of Irish traditional music. His unique sound, his mastery of the fiddle and his acknowledgement of the past and his shaping of the future of the music combine to create an astonishing and formidable artistic intelligence.

He has drawn musical inspiration from sources as diverse as the Estonian composer Arvo Part, the Spanish viola da gamba master, Jordi Savall and the jazz genius John Coltrane.

But he also remains grounded in the music he grew up with in his own locality, in Feakle, County Clare, where the music which he learned from his late father, P. Joe Hayes, the legendary leader of the Tulla Ceili Band, profoundly influenced his musical accent and ideas forever.

One of his most recent performing projects was with The Gloaming, a band that burst onto the music scene with a rare combination of Irish tunes, ancient sean-nos song, brave explorations and exhilarating and explosive medleys with a distinctive new sound.

Dennis Cahill is a master guitarist, a native of Chicago born to parents from the Dingle Peninsula. He studied at the citys prestigious Music College before becoming an active member of the local music scene.

Cahills spare, essential accompaniment to Hayes fiddle is acknowledged as a major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition.

In addition to his work with Martin, Dennis has performed with such renowned fiddlers as Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers and Kevin Burke, as well as many Irish musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a sought-after producer for musical artists whom he records in his own Chicago studio and is also an accomplished photographer.

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill met in Chicago in the 1980s. They formed the jazz/rock/fusion band, Midnight Court, which allowed them to experiment with a variety of new music styles. When Martin reclaimed his traditional roots, reinvigorated, and after recording two solo albums, he began a new musical relationship with Cahill, beginning with the lyrical music of East Clare.

They played long, sometimes thirty-minute, multi-tune sets in their concerts, starting from the simplest of melodies, building in intensity, but never abandoning musicality and ideas.

Tickets for the Clonmel gig at 20 each are now available from Premier Music in O'Connell Street, Clonmel; the Clonmel Tourist Office at the Main Guard or online at www.clonmelfolkclub.com.

The doors open at 7pm and the show begins at 8pm.
Essent Group reported higher net income on a 25% year-over-year increase in insurance-in-force, while Genworth Financial posted a larger net loss from a year ago as its life insurance division took a hit.

Essent's net income for the third quarter rose 46% from the same period in 2015 to $59.7 million. Earnings per share were 65 cents.

The increase in net income largely stemmed from an uptick in insurance-in-force to $77.6 billion from $62.1 billion last year. New insurance written was $10.3 billion, compared with $7.6 billion in 2015.

Essent also reported 32% growth year over year in net premiums earned to $110.8 million during the third quarter.

Expenses rose 18% from 2015 to $37.8 million, reflecting an increase in underwriting and operating costs and a higher provision for losses.

Meanwhile, Genworth reported a third-quarter net loss of $380 million and losses per share of 76 cents. Last year, the Virginia-based insurer reported a $284 million net loss.

Much of the company's net loss reflects the results of its U.S. life insurance division, which reported a $207 million net operating loss this year versus net operating income of $40 million in 2015. The company's corporate and other divisions also extended to a $327 million net loss from a $68 million net loss a year ago.

Additionally, Genworth's Canadian and Australian mortgage segments reported lower net operating income in the third quarter of 2016 when compared with a year ago.

The company's U.S. mortgage insurance division remained a standout, however. This division's net operating income rose 81% from the third quarter of 2015 to $67 million. Primary flow insurance written was $12.8 billion versus $9.3 billion a year ago, and the loss ratio dropped to 21% from 43%.

Additionally, United Guaranty Corp. had pretax operating income of $130 million in the third quarter, down from $133 million one year earlier, American International Group reported. During the quarter, AIG agreed to sell UG to Arch Capital Group for $3.4 billion.

UG slipped to second among mortgage insurers in terms of new insurance written with $15 billion for the period, up from $14.7 billion in the third quarter of 2015.
NATOs Military Committee visited the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force (NAEW&C) Headquarters in Geilenkirchen, Germany on 3 November 2016 to gain further insights on NAEW E-3A current operations, programs and support capabilities.

The NATO Military Committee, led by Chairman Petr Pavel, visited Geilenkirchen in order to become better acquainted with the restructured NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force (NAEW&C), and gain a deeper understanding of the NAEW E-3A Components operations, programmes, and newly enhanced support capabilities.

The E-3A Component is one of two operational elements of the NAEW&C. It is NATO's first integrated, multi-national operational flying unit, making it unique in military history. The Components mission is to provide aircraft and trained aircrews to deliver a surveillance and/or control platform and it is an essential part of NATOs Integrated Air and Missile Defence System.

The NAEW E-3A aircraft are NATO's flagship fleet, composed of 16 Airborne Warning And Control System surveillance aircraft (AWACS). They are currently the only military equipment that NATO owns itself as an Alliance. Derived from the Boeing 707, AWACS can provide air surveillance, command and control, battle space management and communications. NATOs AWACS are based at the NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen in Germany, with forward operating airfields in Greece, Italy, Turkey and Norway.

The E-3A AWACS have played an important role in NATO activities for over three decades, including over Afghanistan, Libya and the Balkans. AWACS aircraft from Geilenkirchen have also supported Operation Active Endeavour, NATOs maritime counter-terrorism operation in the Mediterranean. Most recently, NATO AWACS have conducted reconnaissance flights over Eastern Europe and begun to support Counter-ISIL Coalition by providing air surveillance and situational awareness.

While in Geilenkirchen, the Military Committee had the opportunity to further increase its knowledge of NAEW E-3As operations, capabilities, and new capability enhancements. While touring the flight line, the Military Committee were invited to visit an E-3A aircraft, where they saw unique mission upgrades. After visiting the aircrafts, the Aircrew Training Squadron provided the Military Committee with a demonstration of a glass cockpit desktop trainer and new mission training systems. The on-site Mission Systems Engineering Centre (MSEC) also demonstrated some of the capacities of the aircraft on-board mission system, the mission sensor systems and E-3A ground support systems to the Military Committee.

Concluding the visit, General Petr Pavel stated that NATOs Airborne Early Warning and Control Force continues to prove itself instrumental not only to monitoring our airspace, but also as an important part of NATOs command and control capabilities.
wrote:



It's getting out.



*David E. Kendall*

*Williams & Connolly LLP*

725 Twelfth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20005

(P) 202-434-5145 | (F) 202-434-5029

[email protected] | www.wc.com/dkendall



*From:* Tucker, Eric [mailto:[email protected]]

*Sent:* Tuesday, August 11, 2015 6:00 PM

*To:* Kendall, David

*Subject:* Hi again from AP (inquiry about thumb drive)



Hi David,



We have been told, and we are preparing to report, that the FBI has taken possession of the thumb drive that was once in your possession. This is what we have been informed, and we wanted to see whether there was any sort of comment that could be provided. If you wanted to steer us away and say that we are misinformed, then I would gladly accept that as well. But we have solid reason to believe this. We'd welcome any comment you can offer. Thanks very much.



Eric

Associated Press reporter says he knows it's true, but will gladly print that it's false

How many other Associated Presstitutes have deliberately LIED to cover up Clinton crimes?

(NaturalNews) In case you had any doubt whatsoever about the total dishonesty of the Associated Press -- which also pushes pro-pharma vaccine propaganda and Monsanto's quack science talking points -- check out this email involving AP reporter Eric Tucker and Clinton operatives David Kendall and Cheryl Mills (source: Wikileaks ).The authenticity of this email is already confirmed via Google.com DKIM key (an email authentication code). (Bolding added below.)What's truly astonishing in this email is how AP reporter Eric Tucker says. In plain English, he explains that he has "solid reason" to believe the report about the thumb drive, but he will gladly publish a false narrative via the Associated Press , and he even suggests what that false narrative should be: "If you wanted to steer us away and say that we are misinformed, then I would gladly accept that as well."In other words, he's not just corrupt, dishonest and fraudulent as a journalist, he's alsoThis is the exact same way the AP talks to the CDC about vaccines and measles, by the way. Essentially, the Associated Press reporters say, "We are total media whores, we will bend over and grab our ankles while you shove your fake story down the throats of our readers who foolishly think we're a credible news organization."You gotta love Eric Tucker for this. The guy takes the prize for finally spelling out in black and white what we've known for years:. Note carefully that the AP won't even fire Tucker for this admission. He'll probably get a prize of some sort.It all brings to mind the obvious question: How many other Associated Presstitutes deliberately lied to cover up Clinton crimes?Just what percentage of AP stories about the Clinton scandals are actually FAKE NEWS pretending to be credible journalism? (Answer: Probably about 99%.)It's not just AP, either. It's the same story at every other mainstream news organization across America: They're all liars and crooks, and they're all working for Hillary Clinton, the serial killer and rape excuser.SOURCE: Wikileaks Podesta email #45507 Keep 'em coming, Wikileaks. The world needs you now more than ever.
(NaturalNews) Is modern life making people sick? While many people have theorized that the way we lead our lives today is nothing short of unnatural, recent research indicates that we may indeed be making ourselves sicker and more prone to disease as time marches on. Experts are even warning of an upcoming cancer epidemic.In the United Kingdom, studies show childhood cancer rates have increased by 40 percent in just a mere 16 years, and modern lifestyles are likely to blame. The researchers at the charity, Children with Cancer UK, analyzed government statistics to better understand the effect modern life is having on cancer incidence. It's been reported that nowadays, UK children spend more time indoors than US prison inmates; they're choosing to stay inside and play video games or toy with their smart phones and other such devices, rather than play outside.The Professor of Human Radiation Effects at Bristol University, and the scientific adviser for Children with Cancer UK, Dr. Denis Henshaw, commented, "When you look at cancers such as childhood leukemia there is no doubt that environmental factors are playing a big role. We were shocked to see the figures, and it's modern lifestyle I'm afraid."Over 4,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year across the United Kingdom. In children between ages 1 and 14, cancer has become the leading cause of death.While experts say that population growth can be attributed to the 40 percent increase in total childhood cancers, there are other grim statistics that cannot be ignored. For instance, cancer incidence per 100,000 children has still increased by 30 percent in the same time period. So while population increases can increase the number of people with a disease, the per 100,000 rate shows that something else must also be at play because disease frequency is also increasing.Dr. Henshaw believes that air pollution could be one of the primary instigators leading the rise in childhood cancers, but that other aspects of modern life likely also play a role. It's estimated that air pollution accounts for 40 percent of the increase. Thereports that many other elements could be increasing childhood cancer incidence, such as obesity, pesticides, other solvents, radiation, bright light at night disrupting circadian rhythm, smoking during and after pregnancy, magnetic fields from power lines, gadgets and possibly also the radiation from cell phones."What's worrying is it is very hard to avoid a lot of these things. How can you avoid air pollution? It sometimes feels like we are fighting a losing battle," said Dr. Henshaw. He also commented that many of things are known to be toxic and recognized as being carcinogenic. However, their presence in society has yet to decrease.According to the, colon cancer diagnoses among children and young people have risen by 200 percent since 1998, and thyroid cancer incidence has doubled. Cases of ovarian and cervical cancers have also become more common; their frequency has increased by 70 percent and 50 percent respectively. Children with Cancer UK estimates that the rise in childhood cancer costs the NHS an additional 130 million yearly.Scientists are urging parents-to-be to avoid oil-based paints in baby rooms and other areas where the child will spend time, and for pregnant women to avoid them as well. Expecting mothers are also advised to stay away from processed meats, pesticides and other potentially harmful solvents . Avoiding excess blue light and nightshift work during pregnancy is also suggested.Prevention is truly the most important aspect of childhood cancer. As Kate Lee, chief executive of children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent notes, even though about 80 percent of childhood cancer survivors are now surviving for at least 5 years, "[T]he aggressive treatments they have as children can have a major impact on their future health, even if they survive."
Dozen lawmakers from Turkey's opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has Kurdish roots, were detained on Friday because they refused to give testimony in criminal proceedings, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Democratically elected officials normally can only be forced from office in another election, but those officials who mix with and encourage "terrorism" must face legal proceedings, Yildirim told reporters in comments broadcast live.

Prosecutors began investigating more than 50 of the HDP's 59 parliamentarians after the legislature voted to scrap immunity in certain cases. HDP lawmakers decided not to testify in their cases out of protest.

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Is marijuana legalization to blame?

The need for real data and useful strategies vs. "knee-jerk, fear-based policies"

Although U.S. traffic fatalities have decreased overall during the past couple of decades, there has recently been a "disquieting" upward trend which may be at least partly due to an increase in drugged driving.In fact, the percentage of fatal car crashes in which at least one driver tested drug-positive has nearly doubled over the past ten years, raising concerns among state and federal regulators.FromThere is an inclination among some to blame marijuana legalization for the problem says the increase "corresponds" with the legalization movement, and quotes a Colorado highway safety official who says that the state's recreational marijuana laws "very probably" have led to an increase in fatal traffic accidents.But other than guesses and weak logical correlations there doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence that marijuana use is causing any significant increase in car crash deaths.It would be just as logical to say that the increase corresponds to the quadrupling of opioid painkiller prescriptions since 1999. Not to mention the fact that there's been a quadrupling of deaths from opioid prescription drugs in the same period, but maybe that's all a coincidence, right?Speaking of coincidences, the number ofhas remained constant throughout the same period  the number remains at zero.Butwas quick to trot out a compellingly horrific example of a marijuana-addled driver run amok:Not to diminish the seriousness of this tragic event, but most people would not consider this as typical behavior of a marijuana user  the common perception of stoned drivers is that they tend to be too cautious behind the wheel.The truth is that it is difficult to get a clear statistical breakdown of fatal car accidents involving drugged drivers, in terms of marijuana use compared to other drugs, although in Colorado, for example, there seems to have been a slight rise in traffic fatalities involving marijuana-impaired drivers since recreational cannabis was legalized in the state. Marijuana legalization proponents warn against jumping to conclusions, however. Jolene Forman, staff attorney at the Drug Policy Alliance, said:More research is needed on several fronts  including further study of the effects of marijuana on driving  but to ignore the likely impact of spiralingon traffic safety and instead focusing primarily on the supposed dangers posed by drivers high on marijuana would be a mistake.The viralof an Ohio couple found in a car after having overdosed on opioids -- with a 4-year-old child in the back seat-- speaks louder than all the marijuana horror stories combined.It would seem rather obvious that the opioid epidemic is as likely an explanation for the increase in drug-related traffic fatalities as marijuana, and until there is clear evidence proving otherwise, there is simply no excuse for trying to pin the blame on cannabis users.
(NaturalNews) Monsanto is finally being held liable for genetically engineered wheat that was found growing illegally on an Oregon farm in 2013. The "Roundup Ready" wheat genetically modified to withstand applications of glyphosate has been tested in 16 states, including Oregon, from 1998 to 2005, but has never been approved, for reasons that remain unclear.A farmer discovered the GM wheat when he found it growing like a weed where it wasn't expected. He sprayed the plant with Roundup and noticed that some of it survived, reports . He then sent samples of the wheat to a laboratory that later confirmed the wheat's GMO status.While the biotech giant downplayed incident, others didn't react so calmly. Anti-GMO countries including Japan, South Korea and those of the European Union (EU) temporarily suspended all U.S. wheat orders, fearing that the supply might be contaminated with GMOs.On Wednesday, November 12, Monsanto reached a settlement with U.S wheat farmers who sued the seed company over "market disruption" following discovery of the unapproved GMO wheat growing in Oregon, reports confirm.Monsanto, who said they stopped testing the GM wheat at least a decade ago, reportedly destroyed or "stored away" all of the experimental grain.The settlement included the biotech company being ordered to pay $250,000 to wheat growers' associations, including $100,000 to the National Wheat Foundation and $50,000 each to the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, the Oregon Wheat Growers' League and the Idaho Grain Producers' Association.While Monsanto says it does not admit liability, the company wished to avoid a long, drawn-out legal battle, therefore agreeing to pay up.The seed company was also ordered to pay $2.125 million into a settlement fund for farmers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho who sold soft white wheat between May 30, 2013, and November 30, 2013. Plaintiffs will be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket legal fees as well."At least three class action lawsuits will be dismissed as part of the settlement, but the company said it does not resolve pending claims by growers of wheat other than the soft white variety," reportsA statement on Monsanto's website tried to offer assurance by stating that an annual average of 58 million acres of GM wheat have been planted over the last decade; however, there's only been one report of Roundup Ready wheat growing illegally.Well, that statement was issued in 2013,GM wheat was, yet again, discovered growing illegally, but this time in Montana.The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for regulating GMOs, found GM wheat growing at Montana State University's Southern Agricultural Research Center in Huntley, Montana, in July 2014.The facility was granted permits by APHIS to test GM wheat between 2000 and 2003; however, the testing was not permitted at the time that it was discovered.The ongoing investigation by APHIS noted that the GM wheat found growing in Montana was "significantly different" from the GM wheat discovered in Oregon the previous year; however, the specific differences were not made known in the agency's report.Investigators say their focus is to figure out why GM wheat was found growing at the research facility. APHIS said they will also take "several additional steps" to ensure that GM wheat is not growing in other U.S. locations where field trials were previously approved."APHIS will inspect field trials planted this year and then conduct inspections after harvest," reports
DOJ corrupt officials are stupid... FBI agents are smart... guess how this turns out?

The FBI can restore its reputation as the protector of a democratic society rooted in real justice

(NaturalNews) To all the men and women of the FBI who are now working diligently to bring down the corrupt DOJ and the criminal Clinton cartel,Agents in the FBI are right now seeking to topple the criminal corruption at the DOJ by targeting all the following individuals who may soon be wearing prison stripes:* Attorney General Loretta Lynch* Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates* Assistant Attorney General Peter Kaznick* Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin* Assistant Attorney General Leslie CaldwellAccording to a former U.S. Justice attorney Joe DiGenova, disgruntled FBI agents are "digging tunnels under the Justice Department. They are going to sink that place," reports Daily Caller As an investigative journalist, the thing that really strikes me about all that we're witnessing today is just how incredibly stupid the Clinton co-conspirators are. It's obvious that none of them have any idea how technology works. They don't understand real-time online backups, email originating server authentication or the fundamentals of digital security.They're arrogant, lazy and stupid, and(and may eventually find themselves going to jail).Remember: Nobody in the corrupt Obama or Clinton regime attained their positions of authority based on merit. Most of them justor blackmailed somebody in the Clinton cartel to achieve power (because that's the way corrupt democrats do things, you see).The FBI, on the other hand, tends to recruit intelligent people based on merit, not on how politically connected somebody's daddy is in Washington. As a result, the FBI's culture is one of more independent thinking, hard work and merit-based professional advancement. No wonder the FBI's agents are seething at the corruption and criminality of the Clinton mafia... it's a cesspool offrom a cabal ofwho are too obnoxious and arrogant to believe anything can ever bring them down.That's why the scrappy, hard working men and women of the FBI are finding so much joy in toppling the Clinton criminal cartel: It's sheer happiness to pull the plug out from under such a massive cesspool of criminal filth parading around as political "leadership" and watch the bewildered heads roll down the steps of Capitol Hill... thunk, thunk, thunk... SPLAT.In fact, it's a joy for all informed Americans to even imagine such an outcome. That's why I wanted to let the FBI know that. If the FBI brings down the DOJ, there will be victory parades in the streets!The FBI's reputation among patriots took a huge hit with the Oregon rancher fiasco last year, but I'm willing to bet that right about now,: The corrupt U.S. government really is a threat to us all. Thanks to the Clintons, the FBI sees that the same way the Oregon ranchers did. And just as the ranchers hoped to end BLM corruption across America's western lands, the FBI is now working to end DOJ corruption in D.C. In both cases, you've got hard working cowboys fighting for a free nation by ridding this country of the corrupt criminal class running the show in Washington.If FBI agents have now awakened to all this, the awakening is likely to keep spreading through the halls of D.C., including the Pentagon itself, where awould be extremely popular among police officers, federal agents, patriots and ordinary Americans.That's where this will likely wind up if the FBI fails to bring down the regime. In fact, my analysis of the THREE waves of revolution that will assault a Clinton regime looks like this: (and if Trump wins, then the problem is already solved)The FBI and other intelligence insiders (this process is already under way and may prove sufficient to end Hillary's chances before Election Day).The U.S. military (an armed military occupation of Washington, the elimination of the criminal Clinton cartel, and the restoration of fair and free elections).A citizens' revolt (armed American patriots storming Washington and taking their country back from the criminals who stole it from them).Only if all three of these waves fail will the Clintons remain in power, and even then, most of America will refuse to recognize any legitimacy of a Clinton presidency, DOJ or even the U.S. Supreme Court under a Clinton administration. In essence, America will erode into a divided nation haunted by a screaming criminal tyrant named HELLary Clinton who will, sooner or later, go down in history as the most corrupt President to ever (briefly) occupy the Oval Office before being led off in handcuffs to face criminal prosecution for literallyStay tuned for more stunning history as it unfolds in real time...NOTE TO THE FBI: Don't fail America now, or there won't be anything left to fight for... for any of us!
There's much to consider when you're trying to choose the university and programme for your science PhD. But the main reason for your selection must be that it suits you  not that you don't know what else to do, not the institution's or department's reputation, not that a star researcher in your field is a faculty member there. Getting a PhD is hard enough, says Bruce Horazdovsky, associate dean for the Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, Minnesota. You don't want to make it harder by being miserable while you're doing it, he says. You have to be engaged and like what you are doing. The best programme in the country is the one that best fits you.

How do you find that best fit? Prospective doctoral students will need to consider several factors and compare programmes and schools. Deciding which universities to apply to means identifying programmes that match your research interests and personality. You will need to evaluate how the school approaches career and professional development for its graduate students, and how its alumni fare after achieving their PhDs. Ultimately, the school you select will be the launch pad for your scientific career. Credit: Partick George/Getty

Before you look at schools, you should have a clear idea of your chosen subfield of study. Even at this stage, students ought to be thinking about what sort of specialization they want to do, says David Bogle, pro-vice-provost of the doctoral school at University College London. He notes that a physics programme, for instance, could be great for astrophysics and string-theory research but offer nothing on materials science.

Although it's not necessary to narrow down fields too specifically, it is imperative to find a programme that has at least several faculty members who are doing research that excites you, says Bogle, who chairs the League of European Research Universities' doctoral studies community in Leuven, Belgium. He advises students to look, not for a single high-profile researcher, but rather for a strong research environment with several professors working in similar areas.

To get started, applicants can generally find descriptions of a school's research programmes and faculty members on the institution's website. Sometimes, more information is available: the European School of Molecular Medicine (SEMM), a graduate programme shared between two universities and three research centres in Milan and Naples, Italy, publishes an annual list of faculty members who are taking new students in the coming year. Other institutions may publish similar material.

Group websites can also give applicants a feel for the size and culture of a laboratory. Look for photos of lab outings or celebrations, for announcements of student achievements and publications, and for other evidence that graduate students drive much of the research in the group. Applicants should also look up a lab group's latest research publications to get an idea of its members' current interests and to see how well and how often students in the lab are publishing papers. If the publications coming out of a lab are numerous and high quality, you can be pretty sure that you will get published by the end of your PhD  which is essential for success after graduation, says Francesca Fiore, coordinator of the SEMM graduate office in Milan.

Applicants should also seek advice and guidance from their undergraduate or master's advisers to generate a shortlist of potential programmes. Come talk to me, says Andreas Berlind, an astrophysicist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Let me help you make that initial list  it will save you a lot of time. Advisers, he says, have enough deep knowledge of their field and its subfields to know which programmes tie in with the subjects a student is passionate about; they should also know where other researchers in that subfield are doing good work. For extra connections with the research world, applicants should try to attend large scientific conferences in their subfield; these often have travel fellowships so that undergraduates can attend.

Students should also check online resources such as the US National Research Mentoring Network (nrmnet.net) and Facebook sites such as Equity Einstein, a group dedicated to making physics and astronomy more inclusive. Such resources will help students to connect with established researchers who can offer advice on training. They should also contact current graduate students in their subfield to learn about programmes' reputations. Applicants should not be shy about doing this, says Berlind, who is also Vanderbilt's director of graduate studies in astrophysics. It is the best way to get honest answers about the culture and atmosphere in a programme, he adds (see 'The value of hindsight'). Fiore also encourages correspondence with current students, especially for applicants who are pondering studying abroad. Find someone from your home country, if possible, she says, so that you can discuss their experience in your native language.

Prospective students should never pin their hopes on working with one particular professor, because that person may not be taking students, may move away or might be a terrible fit as a mentor. If several faculty members are working in a similar area, the student has a better chance of landing a spot in one of those labs. Identify and contact at least two researchers, and ideally more, whom you'd like to do a PhD with, counsels Pamela McLean, director of neurobiology at Mayo Graduate School in Jacksonville, Florida. When you e-mail them, you can let them know of your interest in their work and find out whether they are taking on doctoral students in the next year. A lot of times it will also strengthen your application, she says. Those names are often forwarded to admissions directors, and someone who has taken the initiative gets bonus points.

Show me the data

More programmes are publishing data on their websites about their graduate students, including the average time taken to achieve a PhD. Students should pay particular attention to this: anything much more than five years for US programmes or three for UK programmes can indicate that students are languishing in labs as labourers. Some institutions provide data on their graduates' career choices  the University of California, San Francisco, posts outcome data for most of its graduate-division programmes. It's unusual for these data to be long-term enough to give a realistic picture of what all PhD holders are doing ten years after earning their degree, but it is still useful to scan such listings to see if doctoral graduates are ending up in careers that applicants consider desirable. If they're not there, that's a bad sign that the department doesn't see it as a priority to advertise how well students are doing, says Berlind.

Applicants should also determine whether they want to work on fundamental questions or do applied research. Students interested in the latter should seek programmes with strong ties to high-tech companies, the aerospace industry or hospitals, if their passion lies in those areas. For example, the Mayo Graduate School is spread across three large medical campuses in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona.

Students should also give some thought to the overall structure and organization of graduate programmes; these can be small and based in single departments or wide-ranging and interdisciplinary. Umbrella programmes (sometimes called structured programmes in the United Kingdom) pull in faculty members across several departments or campuses. These are in contrast to more conventional, single-department programmes, and in many cases they offer numerous labs and more options for cross-disciplinary studies. But what they make up for in quantity, they may lose in the quality of training or mentoring. Departmental programmes often produce more close-knit communities, with seminars, journal clubs or other events geared specifically to their graduate students.

Another structure is the bridge programme, which offers US students the chance to apply to a master's programme that filters directly into a PhD programme on the same or a nearby campus. (The master's-to-PhD route is common in the United Kingdom.) Such programmes are often a sound choice for those who feel that they need more preparation for doctoral studies. LaNell Williams, a second-year biophysics student, found that the FiskVanderbilt Bridge Program run by Fisk and Vanderbilt universities in Nashville, Tennessee, let her meet up with other students who were from groups that are under-represented in science. In contrast to her experience as the only woman of colour in her undergraduate physics studies, Williams says that after a year in the FiskVanderbilt programme, she feels comfortable and has formed a community with fellow students. I have been able to thrive, she says, and see myself as a physicist. The FiskVanderbilt Bridge Program links up students and mentors. Credit: Fisk Univ.

The doctoral application process is not too early to think about ultimate career goals, says Horazdovsky. Those can change, he says. However, you need to make sure you will have tools or experiences to achieve your goal by the end of graduate school. For example, students who think they want to work at a mainly undergraduate institution will want significant teaching experience. Students who aim for industry will need exposure to business, companies and the jobs that PhD holders occupy. Students should also find out whether their programme of choice hosts, or at least encourages students to attend, conferences and workshops that help them to build teaching, networking and communications skills.

Many programmes include career-development components that give students real-world exposure to career tracks. These can be extremely helpful for students who are not aiming for an academic research position and can include university internships, external internships and other options.

True grit

Students at the application stage need to stand out from the crowd to get accepted by their school of choice. David Charbonneau, director of graduate admissions for Harvard University's department of astronomy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, looks for students who have persevered in the face of obstacles. Most of what we do in science leads to dead ends, he says. He seeks students who are passionate and hard-working, and who have demonstrated new ways of tackling problems  for example, by working through solutions to an ambitious research problem for several years. These attributes should come across through concrete examples in their letters of recommendation, he says. McLean says applicants should personalize their application statements by including a paragraph explaining which faculty members within a programme they would like to work with, and why.

If prospective PhD students are unsure whether graduate school is the right decision, they should take a year or two to work as a research assistant in an academic or industry lab before making the hefty commitment to doctoral studies. Taking that time is no longer viewed as a negative, says McLean, but instead shows that applicants have realistic expectations and are aware of what's ahead. Allatah Mekile was uncertain of her next steps after finishing college at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, so she moved home and took an entry-level position as a research associate at a supplier of nutritional products. There, she worked for two years on a metabolic-engineering project before applying to graduate programmes; she is now a second-year doctoral student in biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She says that her experience in industry also helped her to explain in her application letter why and how certain programmes aligned with her career goals.

By eschewing the conventional path of going immediately into a doctoral programme after earning a bachelor's degree, and gambling that she'd be better prepared, Mekile showed that she was ready for graduate studies, says Bogle. The whole point of going to graduate school is to take a bit of a risk. If you want to play it safe all the way through, then maybe graduate school  or research  isn't for you.
Are we a step closer to finally finding the mysterious dark matter? A German-Hungarian team of researchers led by Professor Zoltan Fodor of the University of Wuppertal, Eotvos University in Budapest and Forschungszentrum Julich predicted the mass of the so called axions --- theoretical particles that make up dark matter --- to work out the mystery behind the invisible matter.

It has long been thought that more than half of the universe's mass consists of dark matter. This hypothetical substance makes the universe balanced. Despite this however, proving its existence remains a challenge. The answer to the question, what is dark matter made of remains an enigmatic challenge.



"Dark matter is an invisible form of matter which until now has only revealed itself through its gravitational effects. What it consists of remains a complete mystery," explains co-author Dr Andreas Ringwald, who is based at DESY and who proposed the current research, in a press release.



According to IB Times, there are currently two main theories about the composition of dark matter: It is made of a few but very heavy particles, or lots of extremely light ones.



Space.com notes that scientists have been looking to find ways to prove the first theory, but so far they have come up with nothing. Thus, now, they are testing the second theory.

The team believes that the search for axions (very light particles) could lead them closer to pinning down the elusive dark matter.

"... to find this kind of evidence it would be extremely helpful to know what kind of mass we are looking for," emphasises theoretical physicist Ringwald. "Otherwise the search could take decades, because one would have to scan far too large a range."

Using a supercomputer named JUQUEEN (BlueGene/Q), the team were able to determine the mass of axions. Results show that axions have a mass between 50 and 1,500 micro electronvolts, which is about 10 billion times lighter than an electron, Inverse noted.



The number obtained makes these hypothetical particles far heavier than previously thought which could be bad news for experiments trying to hunt for axions in light.

Meanwhile, if the estimates of the researchers are correct, scientists should be able to figure out whether axions actually exist within the next few years.

The results of the study were published in Nature.
NASA's Curiosity rover just came across a bizarre looking object in the Red Planet. According to Inverse, the strange object is a small metallic meteorite that scientists are referring to as the "Egg Rock."



Curiosity's ChemCam's Remote Micro-Imager took the photo on Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons), the site that helped scientists discover the presence of liquid water on the surface of Mars.

Below are some facts about the alien object:

According to the scientists at Arizona State University who analyzed the images, the meteorite consists of nickel-iron.

CNET notes that it is estimated to be no larger than 1.6 inches (40 millimeters) wide, very miniscule when compared to the Gancedo meteorite, a 68,000-pound meteorite extracted from a field in Argentina in September.



"Egg Rock" is not the first meteorite found by Curiosity. It probably came from the core of a structure in the asteroid belt. In 2014, Curiosity has discovered its first meteorite on the Red Planet. It was tagged as "Lebanon," an iron-made meteorite that is nearly 7 feet (2 meters) wide and made of iron.



Unlike most meteorites, "Egg Rock" has several deep grooves and a fine and smooth surface, as if someone has buffed it. Science Alert said this only suggests that it became molten as it entered Mars' atmosphere and hardened further as it reached the planet's surface.

Gizmodo notes that meteorites can pass through Mars' atmosphere easily, since it is only about 1% as dense as Earth's. It can exist up to millions of years on the Red Planet, because it is free from the oxidizing and weathering effects of moisture and oxygen.



The discovery of the "Egg Rock" gives scientists the opportunity to study and explore materials that cannot be found in our Earth. Such would lead to better understanding the planet formation, composition of the solar system and perhaps the entire universe.
Experts from the UK have developed a scavenger robot with a "mouth" and a "stomach" that can "eat" and eventually digest organisms to provide its energy requirements.

Robotics experts from the University of Bristol have innovatively created a soft robot that can consume living organisms. Their paper was published in the Journal of Soft Robotics, where corresponding author Philamore Hemma from the Department of Engineering and Mathematics and his colleagues showed an autonomous robot design that is self-sustaining. They created a soft mouth and a gut by employing polymer membranes and a microbial fuel cell (MFC) stomach.

Read here: Toward Energetically Autonomous Foraging Soft Robots

Based on the model, the self-sustenance of the robot relies on the capability of its MFC stomach. By ingesting microorganisms, it breaks down the organic matter into electrical energy through bacterial respiration. This concept originated from the characteristics of salps, which are transparent tube-like marine creatures that filter water for their survival.

Through this technology, UK is investing on other projects that can help in developing high-end robots for a spectrum of purposes. Prof. Ioannis Ieropoulous, head of a Bristol Robotics Laboratory project, shared his insights on the soft robotics innovation in an interview with MailOnline.

"By deploying these robots in remote environments and building in telemetry, we can also be collecting valuable information from that environment, such as temperature, pH, relative humidity, pollutants concentration, depending on the sensor technology that may be incorporated," he said. "Longer term, these would be the agents that could hopefully be deployed in search and rescue missions, where energy management -- such as battery recharging or replacement -- is extremely challenging."

Experts claim that this breakthrough can soon be an important tool in resolving algal blooms in the aquatic ecosystems. Since it feeds on microorganisms such as algae, robotics experts are also hoping that someday, developing this robo-scavenger can help in the eutrophication cleanups and similar water contamination problems.
A new study revealed that the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could result to an ice-free Arctic ocean during the summer months.

The study, published in the journal Science, showed a direct correlation between every metric ton of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere and the amount of sea ice being lost. Based in this linear relationship between average monthly sea ice abundance and cumulative carbon dioxide emission, the researchers predicted that the Arctic would experience ice-free summer in 30 years.

"Our study now provides individuals with the sense that their own individual actions make a difference," said lead author Dirk Notz, of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany, in a report from Christian Science Monitor. "If I decide to drive my car a little less or to buy a car that uses less fuel, for example, all these little actions will make a difference for sea ice."

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature and cumulative carbon dioxide emissions for a roughly 30-year period. Their analysis revealed that every metric ton of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere, three meters squared, or 32 square feet, of sea ice in the Arctic is lost. The researchers noted that a metric ton of carbon dioxide is equivalent of one round-trip flight from New York to Europe, or a 2,500 mile car ride.

At present, the researchers estimate that an average America emits about 20 tons of carbon of carbon dioxide every year, which translates into about 600 square feet of sea ice melting in the Arctic in the summer. The sea ice in the Arctic can recover every winter. However, recent studies showed that the oldest and thickest sea ice has either melted or thinned away due to warming summers.

With their findings, researchers encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible. Furthermore, the enforcement of the Paris Agreement that binds countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent the temperature from rising will make a lot of difference in the Arctic.


NASA is using its fleet of satellites and equipment to monitor weather activities on Earth including the rate of melting ice in the Antarctica. The agency released a dramatic set of images showing the rapid melting of ice sheets that are alarming experts worldwide.

The South Pole is losing a lot of ice sheets and NASA has captured the alarming rate that the ice is melting. Operation Icebridge is a program run by NASA for the last eight years to monitor the South Pole and the changes in the condition of polar ice sheets.

NASA IceBridge has been providing vital data in the monitoring of climate change for the past several years. In 2014, it had revealed that the loss of ice in the South Pole had already reached an alarming and 'irreversible' level. IceBridge is devoted to monitoring the changing polar environment and to record the changes that occurred throughout the years.

To further investigate the damage and to continue its observation in the region, NASA IceBridge conducted a 12-hour flight in West Antarctic that started on Oct. 19. NASA IceBrige will monitor the Antarctic during the melting season. After the flyby, NASA released the images taken from the mission. Just looking at the photographs gives experts an easy way to assess the loss and damages.

Due to extreme warming of the planet Earth, the Antarctic is estimated to be losing about 83 gigatons (91.5 billion US tons) of ice every year. "This year, we'll mostly repeat our usual flight lines for sea ice, which have been proven to give us good coverage of the sea ice cover in the Weddell and Bellingshausen seas," Nathan Kurtz, IceBridge's project scientist and also a sea ice researcher at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre said in a statement.

This year's flyby is more comprehensive since the mission used its DC-8 flying space laboratory capable of carrying its full scientific suite compared to smaller planes that have been used in previous missions.

To conduct the observation, IceBridge used its main tool, the laser altimeter to record changes when it comes to the height of the ice sheets and comparing it with data from previous years.

Meanwhile, another study by the University of California coincides with IceBridge's findings saying that the West Antarctic is facing the 'fastest glacier retreat' ever recorded.
Hundreds of French police began dismantling a huge migrant camp in northeast Paris on Friday in a fresh sign of the government's determination to take refugees off the streets and into shelters.

The clearance of the camp in the Stalingrad area of the city, home to up to three thousand migrants, came less than two weeks after the demolition of the notorious "Jungle" camp in northern Calais.

Starting at dawn, police arrived to wake up people sleeping in tents or on mattresses out in the open under an overhead metro line, 15 minutes' walk from the Gare du Nord railway station.

The evacuation started calmly and in orderly fashion, with many migrants confused about where they would be taken on government-chartered buses but there were no signs of resistance or violence.

"Where are they taking people? Somewhere in Paris or outside?" worried Abderrahmane, a 19-year-old from Guinea.

The area around Stalingrad, a gritty multi-ethnic area of the capital, is a magnet for migrants arriving in Paris and has been repeatedly cleared by police, only to spring back into life days later.

But six months before elections, Socialist President Francois Hollande has said he is determined to take refugees off the streets and has said France needs to show them a better welcome.

While activists have welcomed this fresh political will to tackle a long-standing problem, they stress that France has been slow to react to a crisis that has grown in intensity over the last two years.

It has lagged other countries, Germany in particular, in providing appropriate lodgings for refugees to seek safety.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced the city's first government refugee camp, which will have an initial capacity for 400 men. It is set to open this month in a disused railway yard in the north of the capital.

The arrival of the first bus, before dawn, on Friday was greeted with cheers from a crowd of hundreds of Afghans who had gathered, bags packed, to take it.

"I don't know where we are going," said Khalid, a 28-year-old Afghan. "The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, it's good to leave."

Most of the people in the Stalingrad camp are from war-wracked Afghanistan and Sudan or the repressive African state of Eritrea.

The operation comes after authorities began clearing the "Jungle" camp in Calais on October 24.

The squalid settlement, home to up to 10,000 at its height, had served for years as a jumping-off point for migrants attempting to stow away on trucks and trains bound across the Channel for Britain.

The last shelters and shacks were torn down last week, which coincided with an increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the capital.

French authorities deny any link between the destruction of the "Jungle" and the growth in the Stalingrad camp amid growing anger from nearby residents and Paris mayor Hidalgo.

She complained in a letter to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve of the "dramatic humanitarian and sanitary situation" in the city's northeast.

Also of concern for the government is the need to find enough places in shelters around France for asylum seekers to sleep in.

Plans to disperse the "Jungle" migrants around France in public buildings, many in rural areas, has created unease and resistance from some local mayors.

Many migrants, particularly those bussed to far-flung locations, have simply left and returned to the capital or gone back to the north coast to resume their efforts to slip into Britain, activists say.

Europe has faced its biggest migrant crisis since World War II in the last few years with more than 1.5 million people crossing the Mediterranean since 2014 to escape wars or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

France has welcomed a fraction of the number of asylum seekers who have headed to its neighbour Germany, which registered 890,000 refugees last year.

France had 73,500 new requests in 2015, up 24 percent, according to interior ministry figures.

Authorities have forecast 100,000 new requests this year.

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NASA's fleet of advanced space observation tools will be upgraded with the launch of the world's largest space telescope, the James Webb Telescope. It took experts two decades to build and it will be capable of peeking through neighboring star systems and planets within the Solar System. However, the only downside is that the telescope will be placed too far away from Earth that repair and rescue missions might just be impossible if anything goes wrong.

This excludes failure in the vocabulary of the team behind the telescope. This means that they will have to get everything right the first time to avoid complications that they might not be able to deal with.

But this should not hinder the mission, in fact, this serves as an inspiration to the engineering team building the telescope to make a powerful and near perfect equipment that is expected to provide unprecedented data scientists have never seen before.

The James Webb Telescope is the successor of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble has had its share of glitches but astronauts and engineers managed to repair the spacecraft while deployed in space. Such technology will not be available for the new telescope.

"The feeling we had was that NASA's credibility was at stake with the Hubble repair mission," Lee Feinberg, optical telescope manager for the James Webb Telescope said in a statement. "We knew that failure was not an option. We worked incredibly hard to get it right," Feinberg added.

This is due to the location of the telescope that will be placed at the L2 point where no rescue mission is possible. L2 is millions of miles away from the planet. This is the situation that James Webb developers and NASA Goddard station are facing right now.

The $8.7 billion telescope is expected to launch in 2018. NASA believes that despite the pressure the team is facing, the James Webb Telescope will open the new era of space explorations.

"Today, we're celebrating the fact that our telescope is finished, and we're about to prove that it works," John Mather, astrophysicist and senior project scientist for the James Webb telescope said in an interview. "We've done two decades of innovation and hard work, and this is the result - we're opening up a whole new territory of astronomy."
China has just launched the first set of its amazingly terrifying inventions by far. A war machine in the making, CH-5 is an impressive unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) expected to outperform any existing drones in the world. Built to last longer than other drones, it has been reported to fly and simultaneously bomb targets without refueling for up to two days.

Experts noted that the CH-5, with a flight endurance of 40 hours and flight range of 6,500 kilometers, has better fuel span than the remarkable U.S. Predator B, which only has 20-hour endurance and 1,852-kilometer range. This drone could be used for electronic warfare, ground attack, surveillance, and early warning signals. It was also designed to be lightweight to improve its missile-carrying capacity.

This newly developed plane was presented at the International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition on November 2. Just a day prior, China also unveiled the J-20 Stealth fighter, a new 67-foot high-tech superspy plane expected to reach speeds of Mach 2, or a whopping 1,305 miles per hour. International media thought that this is all that China could offer, but they were in for a surprise. Maiden flights of the CH-5 have been set last September, and improvements of the plane since then has exceeded experts' expectations. The plane is so impressive that a number of reports show that this new addition to the world's best-known UAVs is on its way to be recognized as the "most powerful unmanned aircraft in the world" before it is even massively manufactured.

According to chief designer Shi Wen, all new aircraft and war jets presented by China in the exhibition were given permits for export. Furthermore, reports said that the Chinese government is in continuous negotiations with a number of foreign nations that wish to purchase the CH-5.
After the viral giant spider video that drags its rat prey, now what sells the creeps is the photo of a gigantic spider that seem to be a hoax -- but no, it's real, it's big, it's alive, and it's not Photoshopped.

Say hello to Charlotte, a gargantuan huntsman spider with each of its legs estimated to measure bigger than six inches each caught on cam in Australia. This seemingly fantasy horror icon has been causing hundreds and thousands of social network users to hyperventilate with its unusual size, but on the contrary, the photos were shared to increase awareness on spider conservation.

"Yes, she is very real and very large and not Photoshopped!" This is the strong statement from Barnyard Betty's Rescue page, which emphasized that the photos, and the size, are real, and nothing was edited out. The photos were taken last year but only went viral this week.

See the photos on Barnyard Betty's Rescue's Facebook page

Charlotte is yet to be exactly identified since it was immediately released after getting rescued in Queensland. But based on the photos, the spider belongs to the family Sparassidae, which is known to be one of the big crawlers on earth. So far, the record holder for the largest spider is also a huntsman spider found in Laos back in 2001. Its legs were recorded to be 12 inches long, which will probably make Charlotte their petite version.

Read here: Know more about huntsman spiders

These spiders are typically living their names by actually hunting down their prey instead of creating webs. They usually consume insects such as cockroaches or even small vertebrates such as lizards and rats. Even though huntsman spiders are big and scary, experts claim that you should not be totally scared of their stings because they are mostly non-fatal. Bites of huntsman spider on human may be painful but not deadly.

"She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders, she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace," the rescue group clarified on their Facebook page. "She didn't or doesn't need to be killed! Poor spiders are so misunderstood!"
According to NTSB data compiled and analyzed by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit, unapproved aviation parts played a role in nearly two dozen crashes that killed seven and injured 18 others since 2010.

The Federal Aviation Administration logged at least 135 different instances of unapproved parts found in airplanes, including commercial passenger jets, in the last five years.

The fatal crash statistics do not include the fatal crash of San Francisco Dr. Ken Gottlieb back in August 2009. National Transportation Safety Board investigators officially ruled that pilot confusion caused the accident in a Napa vineyard shortly after takeoff from Napa County Airport.

Nine months after Gottliebs Cessna 182 crashed, NTSB investigators officially ruled that loss of situational awareness caused the accident.

Click here to read the NTSB reports: Factual, Brief

The NTSB report also showed no evidence of a pre-mishap mechanical malfunction or failure.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

But Gottliebs widow and the rest of his family didnt believe the evidence added up to pilot error. They knew the 67-year-old was an experienced cross country pilot with more than 1,000 hours of flying. Gottlieb also completed training in situational awareness issues shortly before the crash.

He loved the flying, Gottliebs wife Gale Gottlieb told NBC Bay Area. The feeling of being up there, the adventure of the sky and just moving through space. But also the tremendous knowledge about the technology of the plane and the backup systems, that things would work.

Thats why the family hired aviation safety attorney Mike Danko, of Redwood Shores, to dig further.

Dankos forensic research uncovered that it wasnt pilot error that caused the crash but rather an unsafe, unapproved airplane part. Danko found the seat track release for the pilots seat was recently installed by a local mechanic. However, the part had no accompanying FAA documentation or certification. Danko suspects the faulty seat track release failed, causing the pilot seat to move out of control.

In an airplane, what happens is when you take off, the nose points up. So if that seat slips back youve got a big problem because you cant reach the controls, Danko said.

In February 2015, a San Mateo civil jury agreed with Dankos findings, ruling that the mechanic who installed the unapproved seat part should pay Gottliebs family $13.36 million.

Click here to read the civil complaint, defense answer and jury verdict

UNAPPROVED PARTS IN THE AVIATION INDUSTRY

In the aviation industry, every piece of an aircraft is critical. Thats why the FAA heavily regulates aircraft parts to ensure they can withstand the stressful conditions while flying thousands of feet above ground.

But the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit learned, bogus parts can still slip through the cracks, creating a serious safety risk for the flying public.

FAA records obtained by NBC Bay Area through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show 135 cases of unapproved parts since 2011 in both general aviation and commercial aircrafts. The records come from FAAs National Tracking and Reporting System.

The FAA says very few of its unapproved parts investigations result in an unsafe condition.

Retired FAA inspector Ken Gardner knows the seriousness of unapproved parts as well as anyone in the industry. Gardner helped run the FAAs suspected unapproved parts (SUP) program beginning in the 1990s and continues to serve as a consultant on criminal investigations involving unapproved parts. Hes an expert on SUP, working for JDA Aviation Technology Solutions, based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Click here to learn more about JDA Aviation Technology Solutions

Simply put, Gardner says unapproved parts are cheaper. Thats why Gardner believes theres a financial incentive for some repair shops and aviation mechanics to purchase cheap parts and manufacturers to create unapproved counterfeit parts. Certified and approved parts must go through rigorous testing and inspection to make sure they dont fail, which can drive up costs.

Unapproved parts dont go through that. You have no idea when theyre going to fail, Gardner said. If they fail, it could be critical.

PARTS PIPELINE

So how do dangerous or unapproved parts find their way onboard planes?

NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit purchased airplane parts for sale over the internet from online parts dealers. The team bought everything from O rings to an engine piston pin, to an electronic decoder panel that previously failed in a commercial DC-10 aircraft, according to a yellow tag ticket that was provided with the part. History records for the part also show another person subsequently signed off on the part, saying he couldnt find a problem, and it could be put back into a DC-10.

Gardner disputes that. I would not put that in my aircraft, he said. I would not put that thing out there for sale. Somebodys life could depend on that.

Some of the parts we purchased claimed to be FAA approved and provided an FAA form 8130-3 documenting the part is safe and airworthy. While other parts, including an engine piston, did not provide any documentation at all.

In a statement, FAA officials told NBC Bay Area, The absence of an FAA Form 8130-3 does not necessarily indicate a part is unapproved. FAA Form 8130-3 is not required by U.S. regulations for domestic use.

Gardner says he would be concerned putting these parts in any plane without verification they are safe.

It could fail while youre flying over the Atlantic, Gardner said.

Gardner estimated that the electronic decoder panel can sell new for more than a $1,000. We purchased it online for $60.

That really needs to be investigated, Gardner said.

FAA AND AVIATION SAFETY

Gale Gottlieb says she is now speaking out about this issue to make sure everyone knows what can happen when an unapproved part, even a seemingly insignificant one, is put into an airplane.

How can I make sure this doesn't happen again is the main thing that constantly goes through your mind. And when I look at his pictures, all I can think about is this didn't have to happen," she said.

The airplane mechanic who worked on Ken Gottliebs pilot seat still works in the area and still has his license. He could not be reached via email, through a website or by telephone for comment.

In its statement, the FAA acknowledged unapproved parts create a safety problem but says these parts only represent a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions of aviation products. A spokesman said they will charge someone criminally if they can prove they intentionally put an unapproved part in an airplane. Mechanics or companies caught putting an unapproved part in an airplane can also face a fine of up to $32,140 per violation.

Click here for full FAA statement/Q&A

If you have a tip Investigative Unit, give us a call at 1-888-996-8477, or you can reach us via email at TheUnit@nbcbayarea.com . You can also email Investigative Reporter Stephen Stock directly at Stephen.Stock@nbcuni.com
It was a strange feeling in the pit of Giants fans' stomachs Wednesday night as they watched the Chicago Cubs hoist the World Series trophy in an even year.

But regardless of the outcome of the 2016 season, it is safe to say the Giants are better prepared for an odd year than they have been since 2010.

While it is easy to say the Giants have a lot of areas that need to be addressed this offseason, some might say they were a closer away from winning Game 4 of the Division Series against the Cubs. And who knows what would have happened after that?

A closer. It's a problem that plagued the team the entire 2016 campaign. The Giants desperately need someone who can take the ball each night with the lead; the so-called closer by committee did not work.

The Giants recently indicated interest in former Royals closer Greg Holland, who is coming off of Tommy John surgery. They also may look at free agents Mark Melancon, Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen.

Obtaining a closer is the obvious big need for the Giants this winter, but there are other areas that need to be addressed.

Left field. Giants fans have said the age-old tale of "The Giants havent had a solid left fielder since Barry Bonds" for years now and the same problem sits in the hands of general manager Bobby Evans.

The most intriguing solution would be trying to get Yoenis Cespedes, who recently opted out of his contract with the New York Mets. Cespedes would provided the power the Giants lineup has been missing and is a valuable asset defensively.

Others to keep an eye on are Jose Bautista, whose contract has ended for the time being with Toronto, and Mark Trumbo, who had a breakout season for Baltimore. Trumbo may be a long shot for the Giants, who know that his power surge came in the American League and may not translate well at AT&T Park.

Third base. While Eduardo Nunez did provide a spark at times for the Giants down the stretch, it remains to be seen whether or not he can sustain the offensive output the team expects from that position every day. Despite being a hero most of way in the Giants short postseason, Conor Gillaspie likely is not a long-term option at the hot corner.

It will be interesting to see what the Giants decide to do at third, whether they keep Nunez or eventually bring up Christian Arroyo, who Giants fans have been eager to get a look at.

An area for Giants fans to be excited about is the new rotation San Francisco will feature in 2017. With ace Madison Bumgarner at the front, followed by Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Matt Moore and (potentially) Ty Blach, there is a lot of firepower on the mound each night.
Prime Minister Theresa May told European Union leaders on Friday she is confident a court ruling that could delay Britain's departure from the bloc will be overturned, and that she can stick to her Brexit timetable.

A spokesman said May had told German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker she believed her case that the government, not parliament, should be responsible for triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and start the divorce would win in the country's highest court.

May is determined to carry out what she calls "the will of the people" and deliver Brexit, but a High Court ruling on Thursday that parliament must approve the process raised doubts over whether she can trigger Article 50 by the end of March as planned. It also prompted suggestions of an early election.

Her focus on ensuring government has the right to invoke Article 50 has incensed some lawmakers, and on Friday, a member of her ruling Conservative Party said he had resigned over "irreconcilable policy differences" with May.

"The focus of the government is on the Supreme Court case, winning that case and proceeding with article 50," May's spokesman told reporters.

"Clearly we are disappointed by yesterday's decision, we'd rather not be in this position but we are, so ... the key is our commitment to triggering Article 50 no later. The end of March remains the target for the government."

The spokesman declined to comment on whether the government was now drafting contingency plans for a possible failure in the Supreme Court, a move that would allow parliament to delay any move to start the divorce process.

"What is important here is that we had a referendum, there was an overwhelming result in favour of leaving the European Union and that is what the government must do," he said.

Parliament is unlikely to defy the referendum vote by blocking Brexit, but if - as one aide said was the logical conclusion of the court ruling - she is forced to draft legislation for both houses to consider, her March deadline looks tight, several lawmakers said.

That could force her to call an early election, they said, a move her aides have repeatedly rejected. Bookmakers odds on an election next year were cut after the court decision but 2020 was still the favourite date.

"ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE"

The court ruling has spurred hope among investors and pro-EU lawmakers that parliament will now be able to put pressure on May's government - which has three high profile eurosceptic ministers in key roles - to soften any plans for a "hard Brexit", or a clean break with the EU's lucrative single market.

But it has enraged pro-Brexit campaigners and Britain's eurosceptic newspapers, with the Daily Mail calling the three judges who handed down the ruling "Enemies of the people".

The ruling is stirring passions in Britain just over four months after 52 percent of voters supported leaving the EU at a referendum which deepened splits in the country and gave voice to resentment - mirrored across Western Europe and the United States - with a ruling elite seen as out of touch.

Some lawmakers who had backed staying in the bloc were criticised on social media, accused of trying to stop Brexit.

"Tolerance must win over hate and scaremongering. I'm not alone in standing up for the 48 percent who also have the right to be heard and listened to," said Anna Soubry, a pro-EU lawmaker from May's ruling Conservative Party.

May had wanted to move on Brexit as quickly as possible - keen to show that although she campaigned quietly for Britain to remain in the EU she would "deliver" on the referendum.

There was clear frustration among her aides that the court had put a question mark over a schedule May has been outlining to EU leaders for weeks after some, especially French President Francois Hollande, called for Britain to move quickly.

She was due to "update" Hollande and European Council President Donald Tusk later on Friday, the spokesman said.

May, a former interior minister described as "intractable" by a former government official, has repeatedly said she does not want to give her hand away before launching some of the most complicated talks Britain has waged since World War Two.

Her tough stance seemed behind a decision by Conservative lawmaker Stephen Phillips, who backed Britain leaving the EU but wants parliament to have a say, to quit her party.

"It has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me," he said in a statement.

"This decision has been a difficult one."

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A group of protesters took to the streets of Mountain View on Thursday to oppose the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

The activists first took up their position outside a Citibank office on San Antonio Road and then walked to Wells Fargo, a few blocks away.

The pipeline has got to go, demonstrators chanted, carrying signs.

The group is asking banks to stop financing the North Dakota pipeline, which Sioux leaders believe will destroy their sacred lands and pollute the Mississippi River, the source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux.

On Monday, demonstrators chained themselves to the Citibank building in San Francisco. Police arrested some of the protesters to get them off the property.
Gabriel Zamora stumbled upon his love for makeup by accident.

The then high school student enjoyed acting, but found that his small eyes and thin, sparse eyebrows didnt translate well on camera.

A Google search for How to make your eyes bigger revealed a cache of YouTube videos, replete with demonstrations and suggestions.

Instantly, the Los Angeles native was hooked.

Im not a trained makeup artist, I never worked at a makeup counter, Zamora said. I learned everything from YouTube. So Im a product of my environment, in a sense, because now Im working on YouTube videos with makeup.

Zamora will join other makeup mavens, including Michelle Phan, Desi Perkins, LustreLux and Christen Dominique, on Nov. 5 and 6 at Ipsys Generation Beauty at San Francisco's Pier 27. This is the first time the sold-out event has come to the Bay Area.

The journey that started with one product when he was 17 years old  white eyeliner to help his eyes stand out  led Zamora two months ago to the Los Angeles-based beauty-box subscription service. Every month, Ipsy members pay $10 for a Glam Bag that includes samples of a slew of trending beauty products, which they have the option of buying in full size.

And what makes this breakthrough even more special?

Im the first boy, Zamora crowed of his newly minted position as an Ipsy stylist.

The 25-year-old and a handful of other male makeup stylists  think Patrick Starrr, Manny Mua and Jeffree Star  are pioneers in an otherwise female-dominated field.

Makeup has no rules, makeup has no boundaries, and now  makeup has no gender, said Zamora, who will also be the only male makeup artist at Generation Beauty. I think its really fun that we can normalize makeup on an everyday basis.

It wasnt always smooth sailing, though.

Zamora admits to struggling with self-doubt and anxiety because posting videos online meant he was vulnerable. It wasnt until February that he was able to move past the crippling fear and post his work on YouTube.

It takes a lot of talking to yourself [and] realizing that this industry is going to be a little harsh, Zamora said. I get great comments, but I also get those negative comments. Theres a lot of people who say, Men shouldnt wear makeup or Why are you wearing this? or other derogatory comments. And you have to get a tough skin.

It took time, Zamora acknowledges, but he is finally in a place where he feels comfortable filming himself on YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat and not focusing on the naysayers. Instead, he interacts with his supporters  and moves on.

Thats what success looks like to Zamora, as well as the feeling of being truly happy with what he does.

Makeup is art at the end of the day and you cant really put art in a box. Art is free  art is sometimes emotion; art should just be an expression of yourself and on yourself, sometimes, he said.

By way of advice for other makeup stylists, Zamora suggested using social media to follow others in the field and study their craft. To makeup lovers, who want to try their hand at styling, but are instead stuck on the sidelines, Zamora said: Just do it.

Gabriel Zamoras obsessions

Favorite social media platform: Snapchat

Favorite video editing software: iMovie

Wont leave home without: Sunscreen

Loving that look: No-makeup makeup

Dying to get my hands on: tarteist PRO Amazonian clay palette

Foundation: L'Oreal Paris Infallible Pro Matte Foundation

Concealer: Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Concealer

Bronzer: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Give Me Sun!

Highlighting powder: Bronze Glow by Bobbi Brown

Blush: Cheeky by Tarte Cosmetics

Lipstick: Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Gemini

Eyeshadow: Morphes 35O  35 Color Nature Glow Eyeshadow Palette

Brows: All Benefit Cosmetics all day

False lashes: Lilly Lashes

Makeup brushes: Morphe

Editors note: Gabriel Zamoras beauty tips have been edited for brevity.
Theres a reason why Donald Trumps stumping in New Hampshire Monday while Hillary Clinton holds a family affair in Philadelphia. Their many visits to Florida, North Carolina and Ohio are no coincidence, either.

Battleground states are going to determine who wins the 2016 election. As the voting returns come in on Tuesday, here are states to watch.

Arizona | Electoral College votes: 11

How its looking:

Arizona is fairly new to the swing-state club. The state hasnt gone for a Democrat since 1996, and that was an anomaly. But because of its large immigrant and Latino populations, Clintons chances are looking better than usual; shes galvanized more support from the Hispanic population than Obama, and it shows. As college-educated young people move to the south, the voter demography is getting more liberal, and NBC News' battleground map has the state in the tossup category. Still, it will be an upset if Clinton wins Arizona, according to elections forecasts by FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times.

Counties to watch:

Maricopa is the fourth most populous county in the United States. Its gone Republican since 1948.

Colorado | Electoral College votes: 9

How its looking:

The NBC News battleground map has Colorado leaning Democratic, bolstered by the suburban and Latino vote. The New York Times and FiveThirtyEight each predict a win for Clinton by several points.

Counties to watch:

While Jefferson County went with Obama in 2008 and 2012, it also gave Bush victories in 2000 and 2004. Arapahoe County, a traditionally Republican area, is turning purple following an influx of immigrants.

Florida | Electoral College votes: 29

How its looking:

Florida, of course, is pretty much the premier big state thats a swing state, said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida professor who specializes in Sunshine State politics.

Tied with New York for the third most electoral college votes in the union, Florida is a prized battleground during the general election. A Republican hasnt won the state since 1992, and, on paper, MacManus says Hillary should nab the victory. But, she continued, This is hardly an on-paper election.

NBC News' battleground map has Florida listed as a tossup. FiveThirtyEight shows Trump has a bit of an edge, while The New York Times' forecast gives Clinton a small edge.

The last three elections, including the 2012 presidential, the victor has only won Florida by 1 percent or so, MacManus said. When you have 1-percent elections, it makes micro-targeting very important and essential, because if you ignore one group and they feel that, you could lose.

Trump finds support among Floridians who still feel as if theyre suffering from a bad economy and who are concerned for their familys safety in relation to perceived terror threats. Meanwhile, Clinton is trying to mobilize the Latino and millennial demographics. The Cuban community in Florida has a reputation for conservatism, but as the younger generations reach voting age, theyre showing a more liberal tendency.

Even if Floridas retirees are being replaced by millennials, that doesnt mean theyll make it to the voting booths.

The younger voters really arent that keen on the two-party system, MacManus said. Who knows whether theyre going to vote or not.

Counties to watch:

Hillsborough County, with its seat in Tampa, has correctly chosen the president in every election since 1960, except in 1992. Barack Obama won 53 percent to Mitt Romneys 46 percent in 2012.

Orange County in the Orlando area tended red until recent years, and Polk and Pasco are also contentious. Volusia, which used to be a Democratic stronghold, has shown some Republican tendencies lately.

Georgia | Electoral college votes: 16

How its looking:

NBC News moved Georgia from leaning GOP to tossup in its final battleground map, though FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times both predict a Trump win. Its significant that the state is in contention, which signals a demographic shift. Forty-three percent of the electorate is now college educated, and like North Carolina, liberal white voters have officially made Georgia a battleground.

Counties to watch:

Gwinnett County typically goes Republican, but the wealthy suburb northeast of Atlanta may not go Trump's way, NBC News reported. Clayton is an African American nucleus, and Clinton needs high turnout there to even have the potential of a victory in Georgia.

Iowa | Electoral college votes: 6

How its looking:

Iowa has gone blue in six out of the last seven elections. So why do The New York Times and FiveThirtyEight have it going red and NBC News leaning GOP this year?

According to Dennis Goldford, professor of political science at Drake University in Des Moines, there are three reasons. One is that the Clintons never really established themselves here in Iowa. Another is that, while some Republicans have distanced themselves from this presidential election, Iowas state leadership has been openly supportive of the Trump-Pence ticket. The last is the appeal of Trumps Make America Great Again mantra for rural Iowa.

In some ways this election is a growing fight between the expanding, prospering urban segment of America and the declining rural segment, Goldford said.

The Hawkeye State also has a large white, working-class population, especially among the 45-and-up demographic.

You have an older electorate in Iowa, and theyre less likely to have a college education, which means they would be more likely to incline toward Donald Trump, Goldford said.

As a manufacturing state, Iowa was hard hit by the great recession.

If the country as a whole got a cold, manufacturing caught pneumonia, Goldford said. That could mean Trump is getting support from his perceived economic prowess and vow to bolster the American manufacturing industry.

Counties to watch:

Polk, Linn, Cedar, Scott, and Black Hawk are more urban counties. To win statewide, a Democrat needs to roll up big majorities, Goldford said. In 2012, Obama won both Scott and Polk counties by 56 percent.

Michigan | Electoral College votes: 16

How its looking:

Republicans like to call Michigan a battleground state because it can sometimes go red during off years, but a Republican presidential candidate hasnt won the state since 1988. NBC News reports that Michigan is leaning Democratic and, according to FiveThirtyEight's forecast, Clinton has a big advantage.

There really hasnt been a point in this campaign where shes been trailing, said Susan J. Demas, publisher and editor at Inside Michigan Politics.

While the Flint water crisis factored heavily in the Democratic primary, it has really gotten buried on the priority list for both candidates since July, Demas said.

Counties to watch:

Kalamazoo County tends to be a bellwether. Macomb County is fertile ground for Trump, while Clinton seems to be making headway in Oakland and western Michigan. According to Demas, if Clinton wins Oakland  a wealthy Republican county  by double digits, she will send shockwaves through the state.

Nevada | Electoral College votes: 6

How its looking:

Were a bellwether, said David F. Damore, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Every time since 76, weve gone with the winner.

In Nevada, neither party has a stronghold. The Democratic organization is almost entirely devoted to longtime Sen. Harry Reid, Damore said, while the Republican base is weak. The state is also 20 percent immigrant and has the smallest native-born population in the United States. Most citizens originate from other states. NBC News' battleground map shows Nevada leaning Democratic. FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times have Clinton and Trump in a tight race, with the edge to Clinton.

We have demography that provides both parties with a likelihood of winning, Damore said.

Working-class whites make up the conservative support in Nevada. Thats kind of who the Republican party is here, Damore said. Trump has played the media well, but hes done nothing in terms of ground game at all, according to Damore.

Meanwhile, Clinton is targeting white suburban women alongside U.S. Rep. Dina Titus.

Counties to watch:

More than 70 perent of the state's population lives in Clark County. Its the most concentrated population in a state of this size, Damore said. Democrats will try to build a firewall around the urban area, which includes Las Vegas. However, Clark historically undervotes, while Nevadas rural Republican communities tend to comprise more of the vote than their percentage of the population. If things seem tight, Washoe, with its county seat in Reno, is where to look. The county has a slightly higher Republican registration, but it went for Barack Obama in 2012 and could go either way this year.

New Hampshire | Electoral College votes: 4

How its looking:

With only four electoral college votes, New Hampshire is seemingly inconsequential. But theres a reason why candidates have spent so much time and money there: if Al Gore had won the state, he would have been president in 2000. During tight elections, New Hampshire can determine who takes it all.

NBC News has it in the tossups, where it belongs, according to Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Its neither red nor blue, said Levesque. Its a tossup. And when we do have a definitive race, its usually not that definitive.

Clinton has a higher chance of winning the state than Trump, according to FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times. On Monday, President Obama will play surrogate for Clinton in New Hampshire, while Trump will make a personal appearance.

Counties to watch:

Londonderry and Hillsborough tend to be bellwethers. Hillsborough is typically a close call. In 2012, Obama won the county by a 2-point margin.

Ohio | Electoral College votes: 18

How its looking:

Despite the cast of The West Wing campaigning for Clinton in Ohio, Trump has a better chance of winning here than Clinton in FiveThirtyEight's forecast. The New York Times sees a closer race and NBC News has Ohio marked as a tossup.

Counties to watch:

Stark County might split down the middle. In 2012, 49 percent of the vote went to each major candidate. Also look to Hamilton County. The Cincinnati area was a GOP stronghold that broke for Obama in the last two cycles, so Clinton will need to do well there, according to NBC News.

Pennsylvania | Electoral College votes: 20

How its looking:

After the Republican National Convention, Trumps campaign said it would focus on four battleground states: Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Were the most Democratic of the four targeted states, said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College.

Clinton had a nice lead in Pennsylvania, said Madonna, until the FBI probe went live two weeks ago. NBC's battleground map has the state leaning Democrat and The New York Times has her a strong favorite. But FiveThirtyEight shows the margin tightening. Recently, Trumps gained popularity in the suburbs, while Clintons target demographics are less than mobilized, Madonna said.

Democrats in Pennsylvania have focused efforts on the African American population, 50 percent of which comes from Philadelphia. When Obama was a candidate, 92 to 94 percent of the black vote went to the Democrats, but without his name on the ticket, party leaders are afraid that black voters wont turn out.

Millennials also make up 18 to 19 percent of Pennsylvanias voters, but theyre the least politically engaged age group. Clinton surrogates have been campaigning at universities around the state because theyre aware of the lack of enthusiasm, Madonna said.

Trumps voters are more enthusiastic in our state, he added.

Counties to watch:

Forty percent of votes in Pennsylvania come from six counties: Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, Philadelphia and Allegheny. The first four are suburbs of Philadelphia populated by primarily middle class, college educated whites. Many of them will vote either party depending on the cycle, depending on the candidates, depending on the issues, Madonna said. In 2009, Obama won Bucks by 1 percent; Romney claimed Chester by the same margin.

Utah | Electoral College votes: 6

How its looking:

Utah and Arizona are clearly new battlegrounds, ones that we dont usually include in that list, said Larry Sabato, editor-in-chief of the Crystal Ball website, which is run by the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Utah tends to vote Republican. In 2012, all six electoral college votes went to Romney. But because of the states Mormon faction, this election cycle is proving a different beast.

Utah I would call a special case, said Will Jordan, elections editor at YouGov. The Mormon population were very reluctant to support Trump in the primary, and thats followed through to the general election.

Clinton has a single digit possibility of winning Utahs electoral college votes, according to FiveThirtyEight's forecast, but Trump is finding unlikely competition from independent candidate Evan McMullin, a conservative Mormon.

NBC News moved Utah from tossup to lean Republican in its final battleground map.

Counties to watch:

Summit County is the only one that went blue in 2008. Romney swept Utah in 2012.

Virginia | Electoral College votes: 13

How its looking:

Virginias one of the less competitive battlegrounds this year, Sabato said of the state that NBC News reports "Leans Democrat."

According to FiveThirtyEights state predictions, Clinton has a comfortable advantage. Some of her popularity in Old Dominion can be attributed to her running mate, Tim Kaine, who is one of Virginias incumbent senators and served as governor from 2006 to 2010.

Counties to watch:

While northern Virginia is traditionally more liberal than the rest of the state, Prince William County, the second most populous in Virginia, may sway Republican because of its suburban base. Virginia Beach could also prove dicey for Democrats.

Wisconsin | Electoral College votes: 10

How its looking:

Despite a working class electorate, FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times forecast a Clinton victory, and NBC News has Wisconsin leaning Democratic.

Counties to watch:

Waukesha County, a suburb west of Milwaukee, is very white, and very Republican. As a liberal base, Dane County should help Clinton along, but careful: third party candidates could eat into her lead, according to NBC News.
Baby monitors, thermostats, home surveillance cameras -- these gadgets are not what comes to mind when picturing an evil army, but cybersecurity experts warn that malicious hackers are using common household smart devices to cause chaos and panic on the Internet.

How could a baby monitor become an evil device for a hacker? said Darren Guccione, chief executive officer of Keeper Security, Inc. We are in a cyberwar. There is no doubt we are in a cyberwar right now.

Guccione said hackers are placing malicious software on vulnerable smart devices  those with weak usernames and passwords  to control them and attack third party businesses.

The result? Websites of some of the biggest corporations, such as Twitter, Netflix, Amazon, PayPal, crashed and were inaccessible for hours.

(Hackers) are getting really sophisticated about how they do this, and thats the dangerous thing, said Guccione.

The unprecedented breach is called a Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attack. On October 21, malicious hackers directed hijacked home devices to send millions of bogus requests to a company called Dyn, which serves as an Internet switchboard. Dyns system became overwhelmed.

With billions more smart home gadgets coming online, Guccione said security of these devices is a top concern.

There is no mandate that says to a device manufacturer: before you send out this product or it enters the domain, it must have these ten security protocols, said Guccione. It is a complete free-for-all.

One Chinese manufacturer is recalling thousands of its products sold in the U.S. in the aftermath of last months DDoS attack. Hangzhou Xiongmai Techonolgy acknowledged to tech industry publications that weak default passwords in its products left them vulnerable. Xiongmai told publications it fixed flaws with some older models and are encouraging customers to strengthen passwords.

There is an effort amongst industry experts to shore up security functions on Internet-connected devices.

The Industrial Internet Consortium is a non-profit group made up of 250 member companies that range from big multi-national corporations to start-ups. Sven Schrecker, co-chair for IICs Security Working Group, said none of its member manufacturers were involved in the DDoS breach.

It is up to each manufacturer to take a close look at their protocol, said Schrecker. One thing weve been highlighting for several years now is that security needs to be an atomic component of all devices, especially Internet-connected smart devices.

Security experts also advise to use different passwords for all devices because once hackers crack the password, personal security is wide open for the taking.

Can you imagine coming in and saying my bank account got hacked through my refrigerator? Think about how weird that is, said Guccione. If a hacker is able to breach a refrigerator that connects to the Internetif they get their log-in credentials off that refrigerator and you typically use the same log-in credentials for your bank account, your social media accounttheyre going to replicate that set of log-in credentials across all the applications.

The hackers behind last months DDoS attack and their motive are still largely unknown. But there is widespread concern a similar attack is forthcoming, leading some to question if malicious hackers are attempting to shut down the internet.

It may have been a test for something much larger added Guccione. Some do it because they were hired by a company B to shut down company A, they may have political reasons for doing it, they may be sick, they may just want to do it for fun.

Cyber experts say the hacking business is lucrative and criminals may try to blackmail online retailers with threats of massive Internet outages ahead of the online holiday shopping season.

Youre going to see this happen a lot more, said Guccione.
NOTE: NBC Chicago will offer a live stream of the river dying at 7:15 a.m. CT and complete parade coverage beginning at 9 a.m. Friday.

Just hours before the Chicago Cubs' World Series parade takes over downtown Chicago Friday, the Chicago River was dyed blue, city officials announced.

The river took on the Cubs' hue just after 7 a.m. CT.

Street closures, parking restrictions and transportation reroutes were all in effect as preparations begin for the massive Cubbie celebration.

Fans are being asked to watch the parade along Addison Street from Sheffield Avenue to Pine Grove Avenue, along North Michigan Avenue from Oak Street to Ohio Street and on Columbus Drive from Monroe Street to Balbo Avenue.

The parade route will start about 11 a.m.

The parade will leave Wrigley Field about 10 a.m., the mayor's office said in a news release, with the official parade route starting about 11 a.m. traveling along Michigan Avenue between Oak Street and Ohio Street. It will then continue along Columbus Drive between Monroe Street and Balbo Avenue.

A celebration rally will take place at Lower Hutchinson Field in Grant Park at approximately noon, when the motorcade arrives in Grant Park.
Chicago Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler was a critical piece for a team that broke a century-long World Series drought, and it looks like hell be looking to cash in on that reputation as hell opt out of his contract and test free agency.

Fowler, who batted lead-off for the Cubs throughout the postseason and hit a lead-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series, will receive a $5 million buyout from the Cubs after opting out of the second year of a two-year deal that he signed with the team in February.

Im definitely going to be a free agent, but hopefully it happens a little bit quicker than last year, Fowler told ESPNs Sportscenter. You cant control what goes on, but I loved my time in Chicago and Im definitely not counting them out, but well see what God has planned for us now.

Plenty of teams could use a solid-fielding and hitting center fielder, but the Cubs do have some back-up options if they decide not to bring Fowler back next season. One option would be to simply move Jason Heyward from right field to center field, but with how good Heyward is in the corner outfield spot, there are other options worth considering as well.

The primary option aside from Heyward in center field would be to have Albert Almora Jr play there, as the defensive specialist could be looked upon to improve upon his rookie year offensive numbers at the position.

The Cubs could also test the free agent waters, but with a relatively thin class, they may instead opt for in-house options.

As for Fowler, there are numerous teams he could land with, and one could be right across town. The Chicago White Sox really liked what they saw from Adam Eaton in right field this season, and adding Fowler to the mix could not only give them another top-of-the-order hitter but would also drastically improve their outfield defense in the process.
With a strong lead in the polls and a substantial fundraising edge, Rep. Tammy Duckworth is hoping to take her unique military experience to the Senate.

Duckworth, an Army veteran who lost both legs piloting a Black Hawk helicopter over Iraq in 2004, has made military spending and veterans issues cornerstones of her congressional career.

Having served, it allows me to stand up and criticize some of these wastes and fraud that happens in the [Department of Defense] without being seen as someone whos weak on defense, Duckworth told NBC Chicago in an exclusive interview.

However, Duckworth explained that she isn't concerned with being viewed as a war hawk. Instead, her main goal is, doing right by the troops who have to carry out the mission.

I do see that gets to be my role because of my military service and I look forward to taking on that role in the Senate, she said.

Following her service, Duckworth was appointed director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs in 2006 by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. She ultimately moved on to become assistant secretary of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in 2009.

Throughout much of the campaign, Duckworth was embroiled in a workplace retaliation lawsuit filed by two former employees at the Anna Veterans Home in southern Illinois. The suit was settled in late June, just over a month before it was scheduled to go to trial in mid-August, though the settlement has not been finalized.

Sen. Kirk has used the lawsuit as his main line of attack against Duckworth throughout the campaign, even sending out save the date mailers with her trial date.

The senator has also hammered Duckworth on allegations that she was largely unresponsive to evidence related to veteran mistreatment and inadequate investigations conducted by the VAs inspector general at Illinois Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital.

Duckworth claimed shes unfazed by the attacks because theyre not true.

"I know its a political strategy to go after your opponents strengths, she said. Im proud of the work I did in Illinois."

The Democrat said shes been driven to serve veterans because she thinks she owes it to the buddies who saved her from the wreckage of her 2004 helicopter crash.

Everyday, I do the work I do for veterans to try to pay back because I can never pay it back, Duckworth said. My bond with veterans is beyond anything that a political opponent can dent because theyre superfluous to the work."

If shes elected to the Senate, Duckworth looks to continue her legislative legacy by improving veterans mental health services and cutting wasteful military spending. The congresswoman has already introduced legislation to change the way the military buys camouflage uniforms, a program she claims will save taxpayers approximately $4.3 billion over its first 5 years.

I saw a lot of waste when i was serving, Duckworth said. I saw a lot of waste at the same time that i saw a lot of unmet needs."
NOTE: NBC Chicago will offer a live stream with complete parade coverage beginning at 9 a.m. Friday right here.

Chicago is about to turn Cubbie blue.

A flood of Cubs fans is set to fill downtown Chicago to congratulate the historic team's return to the Windy City Friday morning.

From a river dyeing to a massive rally in Grant Park, the city will honor the Cubs like never before.

Here's what you need to know.

WHAT IS HAPPENING

The celebration will start at 7:15 a.m. as city officials are expected to dye the Chicago River Cubbie blue.

After that, busses are slated to leave Wrigley Field at 10 a.m. with the parade beginning at 11 a.m. in downtown Chicago.

The parade route will culminate with a rally in Grant Park's Lower Hutchinson Field. This is expected to begin around noon.

THE FULL PARADE ROUTE AND WHERE YOU CAN WATCH

Fans are being asked to watch the parade along Addison Street from Sheffield Avenue to Pine Grove Avenue, along North Michigan Avenue from Oak Street to Ohio Street and on Columbus Drive from Monroe Street to Balbo Avenue.

The parade will leave Wrigley Field about 10 a.m., the mayor's office said a in a news release, with the official parade route starting about 11 a.m. traveling along Michigan Avenue between Oak Street and Ohio Street. It will then continue along Columbus Drive between Monroe Street and Balbo Avenue.

A celebration rally will take place at Lower Hutchinson Field in Grant Park at approximately noon, when the motorcade arrives in Grant Park.

The gates at Lower Hutchinson Field open at 8 a.m. for the rally. Attendees can enter Grant Park at Jackson and Michigan or Michigan and Congress.

Attendees with disabilities can enter Grant Park at Balbo and Michigan. City officials will be on hand to provide ADA accommodations for any attendee who needs them.

NBC Chicago will also offer a live stream with complete parade coverage beginning at 9 a.m. Friday right here.

TRANSPORTATION

Commuters traveling to the Loop will want to allow extra time to travel and officials are encouraging fans to use public transportation.

The Chicago Transit Authority will provide extra service along all rail lines following the morning rush into the afternoon. Multiple CTA bus routes will be detoured in the downtown area for set-up, take-down and the entire parade and rally.

A full list of street closures has not yet been announced.

Bikes will not be allowed on CTA trains from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and all stroller and carts must be folded before boarding buses and trains.

Metra is also providing extra train service to accomodate Cubs fans, but trains are expected to reach capacity on all lines.

Metra will offer a one-day $5 unlimited ride ticket for the celebration and is encouraging riders to purchase their tickets in advance.

Metra will use every locomotive and railcar we have on hand to try to manage the huge number of fans travelling downtown, but I want to be clear  trains will be crowded and operating off-schedule, Metra CEO Don Orseno said in a statement. If you plan to take Metra tomorrow, we advise that you listen closely to platform announcements for the latest train information.

Bikes and alcohol will not be allowed on any trains Friday and quiet car rules will be suspended.

Metra said nearly 85,000 tickets were sold for the Chicago Blackhawks victory rallies in 2013 and 2015, with about 170,000 rides taken.

Tomorrow is expected to be the busiest day in Metras history, Orseno added. We ask all of our regular customers and the new customers we expect to see tomorrow to be patient and, most importantly, be safe.

Residents, motorists and fans should expect traffic delays throughout the Loop due to the parade. Additional traffic is expected downtown in areas between 31st and Division, and from Halsted to Lake Shore Drive; and in Wrigleyville from Irving to Belmont, and Southport to Lake Shore.

STREET CLOSURES

Street closures around Wrigley: Closures will be implemented as public safety needs warrant. It should be anticipated that closures may be in effect as early as 5am; streets are anticipated to be re-open by noon

Clark Street from Grace to Newport Avenue

Addison Street from Racine to Lake Shore Drive

Street closures around procession to Grant Park:

Residents should anticipate parking restrictions and street closures to be implemented on Michigan Avenue, between Lake Shore Drive and Wacker. Closures will be implemented as public safety needs warrant. It should be anticipated that closures may be in effect as early at 10 a.m. Streets are anticipated to re-open by 1 p.m., or as soon as it is safe to do so.

Additional street closures may be implemented as necessary due to crowd size to ensure the public safety of pedestrians and parade attendees.

If your car is towed or relocated, call 311.

PROHIBITED ITEMS

Any bag, case or purse other than clear bags; balloons and beach balls; cameras with lenses longer than 6" when fully extended; cans, bottles or other beverage containers; clothing or signage with offensive or vulgar language; confetti coolers; fireworks, smoke bombs; ice chests; illegal drugs; laser pens and pointers; noise-making devices (i.e., horns, whistles, etc.); poles to display banners or flags; seat cushions with zippered covers, pockets or flaps; strollers; umbrellas; video or movie cameras; weapons; any other items deemed to be dangerous or inappropriate; outside food and beverage not sealed in its original package.
A Bridgeport man who was expected to appear in court for a manslaughter trial never showed up, police said.

Cesar David Martinez is wanted by Connecticut State Police after failing to appear in court in Fairfield County on Nov. 1.

A re-arrest warrant for Martinez said he is wanted for first-degree manslaughter and unlawful restraint with a $750,000 bond.

Martinez is described as 5'5", 140 pounds with a vertical scr from his left scalp to his jawline. He was last operating a 1993 Acura Integra bearing CT registration 889ZGH.

Any agencies with information are asked to contact Connecticut State Police Troop G at (203) 696-2538 or anonymously text TIP711 + the info you have to 274637.
The missing car belonging to a man who was found dead and decomposing in an apartment in Meriden Wednesday night has been found in Hartford, according to Meriden Police.

Police said Thursday that they were searching for a 2014 four-door Nissan Sentra with Connecticut license plate 642-YVE that was missing from the homicide victim's home. On Friday morning, police said on Facebnook that the car they were looking for was found in Hartford overnight. It was not occupied and police will be processing it today.

Police were looking for it in connection with the homicide investigation.

Authorities have not released the name of the victim, but said they believe he was dead for a few weeks when officers responded to an apartment at 657 East Main St. at 6:30 p.m. after tenants began to smell the body and reported a foul odor seeping through an apartment door and filling the hallway.

It's not clear whether the man lived in the home where his body was found.

"Whatever happened did not happen recently from the state of the body," Detective Lt. Mark Walerysiak, of Meriden Police, said.

Police found the Nissan Sentra on Clark Street, near Jusdon, and residents said the car had been in the same spot for around a month and they never saw any use it.

Police do not know how the man died and they are waiting on an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Police will release the man's name after the medical examiner confirms who he is and authorities notify his family.
Hundreds of French police cleared a huge migrant camp in northeast Paris on Friday in a fresh sign of the government's determination to take refugees off the streets and into shelters.

The evacuation of 3,800 people from the Stalingrad area of the city came less than two weeks after the demolition of the notorious "Jungle" camp in the northern port city of Calais.

Starting at dawn, police arrived to wake people sleeping in tents or on mattresses under an overhead metro line, 15 minutes' walk from Gare du Nord railway station.

The area around Stalingrad, a gritty multi-ethnic part of the capital, is a magnet for migrants and police have repeatedly cleared camps there, only for them to spring back up days later.

But six months before elections, Socialist President Francois Hollande has said he is determined to take refugees off the streets and that France needs to offer a better welcome.

"We've got to grips with this issue. Their conditions were disgraceful, unbearable," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters on Friday.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said there was now "no humanitarian problem in Calais and there isn't one either in Paris."

While some activists welcome the fresh political will to tackle a long-standing problem, they stress that France has been slow to react to a crisis that has grown in intensity over the last two years.

It has lagged behind other countries, Germany in particular, in providing appropriate lodgings for refugees to seek safety.

"Our worry is always the same: that the facilities in the shelters are absolutely not the same standard," local activist Valerie Osouf told AFP, criticising the dirty and costly hotel rooms being used in some cases.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced the creation of the city's first refugee transit camp, which will have initial capacity for 400 men. It is set to open this month in a disused railway yard in the north of the capital.

In Stalingrad, the arrival of the first bus before dawn on Friday was greeted with cheers from a crowd of hundreds of Afghans who had gathered, bags packed, to take it.

"I don't know where we are going," said 28-year-old Khalid. "The important thing for me is to have my papers. I have been here in a tent for a month, it's good to leave."

Most of the people in the camp, which included hundreds of women and children, were from war-wracked Afghanistan and Sudan or the repressive African state of Eritrea.

The clearance, which finished around lunchtime when the last bus left, came after authorities dismantled Calais' Jungle camp and dispersed its 7,000 inhabitants around the country.

The squalid settlement, home to up to 10,000 at its height, had served for years as a jumping-off point for migrants attempting to stow away on trucks and trains crossing the Channel to Britain.

The last shelters and shacks were torn down last week, which coincided with an increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the capital.

Plans to house migrants in public buildings across the country, including in rural areas, has created unease and resistance from some local mayors.

Many migrants, particularly those bussed to far-flung locations, have simply left and returned to Paris or gone back to the north coast to resume their efforts to slip into Britain, activists say.

Europe is facing its biggest migrant crisis since World War II. More than 1.5 million people have crossed the Mediterranean since 2014 to escape wars or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

France has welcomed a fraction of the number of asylum seekers who have headed to Germany, which registered 890,000 refugees last year.

France received 73,500 new requests in 2015, up 24 percent, according to interior ministry figures.

Authorities have forecast 100,000 new requests this year.

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A 43-year-old East Hartford man was under the influence and violated the move-over law when he hit a construction vehicle and landed on top of a police cruiser in a construction zone on Route 3 at the Wethersfield-Glastonbury line on Thursday night, according to state police.

Police said Michael Gauvin, 43, of East Hartford, sideswiped a crash truck with his Jeep Wrangler on Route 3 South, right before the onramp to Interstate 91 North at 11:15 p.m., hit a barrier in the median, rolled over and landed on top of a police cruiser.

The trooper had minor injuries and was brought to Hartford Hospital. He is expected to be OK. The driver of the crash truck, which is designed to take the impact in the event of a crash, was treated at the scene.

Gauvin was also brought to Hartford Hospital to be treated for minor injuries. He has been charged with driving under the influence and failure to maintain a proper lane.
A duty-free shop is opening up at Bradley International Airport.

Passengers flying to Dublin, Ireland as well as to Toronto and Montreal in Canada or Cancun, Mexico will be able to buy items while exempt from customs duties and consumption, liquor and tobacco taxes.

The addition of this duty free shop to our menu of services is an important milestone in our continuous terminal transformation process. Were pleased to now offer our international passengers an opportunity to shop and save on premium items and to expand the shopping options for our domestic passengers, Kevin A. Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, said in a statement.

International Shoppes is a specialty retailer with duty free shop operations at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Bostons Logan International Airport, among others, will manage the new shop.

We are excited to expand our operations to Hartfords Bradley Airport and look forward to providing excellent customer service to its passengers. Customers can expect a full assortment of duty free liquor and tobacco products as well as duty paid fragrances, skin care sets and confection that can be sold to all customers, Matthew Greenbaum, vice president of the International Shoppes, said.

The 500-square-foot duty free shop is located near Gate 8 and will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and on Sundays, from noon until 6 p.m.

Passengers who are traveling to destinations within the U.S. can purchase certain items at the store but will not be exempt from the local sales tax.
A South Windsor woman has turned to NBC Connecticut Responds after waiting months for a new freezer door.

Brenda Koboski said she had good experiences with PC Richard & Son in the past, so she went back in May when she needed a new refrigerator.

A few weeks after it was installed, she noticed brown spots on the freezer door. She worried it was rust and contacted the company.

"They sent a technician out who confirmed that it was not normal," Koboski said. "He took pictures and sent it back to the home office, I guess."

A spokesman for PC Richard & Son tells NBC Connecticut rust isn't covered under the manufacturer's warranty. The company offered to replace the door at its own expense, nearly $700, because Koboski hadn't owned the refrigerator for very long.

According to Koboski, PC Richard & Son told her the order would take several weeks. When she called for an update, the salesperson said she could not find the order in the system. Koboski said she was assured a new door would be ordered right away.

And this kept going on for months where they would say it was on order and then they would check a little while later and it never made it to customer service or whoever, she said.

The company admitted there was a lapse and said a new door was ordered on September 13th. Delivery was scheduled for October 20th. Koboski said she asked the technicians to call her cell phone when they were on their way so she could leave work.

A spokesman for PC Richard & Son told NBC Connecticut the company sent Koboski an email at 2:52 p.m. alerting her that the technicians were en route and even included a link to track their progress. But, Koboski said her husband received a call three minutes later that the technicians were already at the house.

Koboski said she rushed home from work, only to find the technicians were gone by the time she arrived. The freezer door was left on the back porch.

Unsure what else to do, Koboski said she reached out to NBC Connecticut Responds.

After contacting the company and explaining Koboski's frustrations, she said she received a phone call and a promise that they would make things right.

"They came a couple of days later," she said. "Somebody called 30 minutes ahead of time and they showed up with a door."

The company said they were unaware the previous technician had left the door on the porch.

Koboski said in addition to the new door, she also received an apology for the inconvenience .
A UConn senior who is accused of grabbing a woman's buttocks on the UConn campus in Storrs Thursday afternoon has been charged with fourth-degree sexual assault.

Police arrested 21-year-old Samuel Manzolillo, of New York, New York, who is accused of "aggressively" grabbing the victim's buttocks with both hands at 1:55 p.m. outside of the Commissary Warehouse.

A police report says the incident was caught on camera.

After sending out a campuswide alert with a photo of the incident, police received information that Manzolillo was the person in the photo and went to his apartment, where they found clothing matching what he was wearing in the video.

Manzolillo, an engineering student, was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree breach of peace.

Bond was set at $10,000.
What to Know Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni were found guilty of all charges in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case

The most serious charge, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, carries a possible 20-year sentence

Sentencing is set for Feb. 21

One of Gov. Chris Christies top aides and one of his appointees at the Port Authority were both found guilty of all charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case.

Bridget Kelly, the New Jersey governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former Port Authority executive, both face up to 20 years behind bars. They were convicted Friday in a nine-count indictment handed up in connection with the politically motivated lane closings at the nations busiest bridge in September 2013.

They were also found guilty of other conspiracy, fraud and civil-rights deprivation charges. Kelly cried as the verdict was being read, while Baroni showed no emotion.



The jury deliberated for five days after hearing more than six weeks of testimony. The verdict came before the judge ruled on a heavily redacted request by defense attorneys to declare a mistrial in the case.



Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley, and Baroni's attorney, Michael Baldassare, both vowed to appeal, citing issues including disputed jury instructions.



Critchley draped an arm around his tearful client outside court after the verdict. "How would you think anyone would hold up under the circumstances? Her first concern is the impact this will have on her children," he said.

Vowing to appeal the verdict, lawyer Michael Critchley draped an arm around his tearful client outside court after the verdict. How would you think anyone would hold up under the circumstances? Her first concern is the impact this will have on her children, he said.

Baroni maintained his innocence.



"I am very very looking forward to this appeal," Baroni said.



Baldassare called the trial a disgrace and accused prosecutors of arbitrarily drawing the line on whom to charge in the case.



"This will be reversed," he said outside court. "The basis for the appeal are too numerous to mention."

Bill Baroni maintained his innocence outside court following the guilty verdict in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case Friday. His attorney, who vowed to appeal, called the prosecution a disgrace.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Friday that he only charged people where prosecutors had "evidence beyond a reasonable doubt'' to convict.



"We believe evidence in this case proved that two defendants were guilty; that for us is a just results," Fishman said. He added, "Do I think we're going to end political corruption in Jersey with one particular verdict? No."

THE TRIAL: POLITICAL REVENGE OR TRAFFIC STUDY?



Prosecutors had argued the lane closings were implemented as political retribution against Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, for failing to endorse Christie's 2013 re-election bid. Defense attorneys said their clients believed the lane closures to be part of a traffic study.

A key point of contention at trial was U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton's decision to tell jurors they didn't have to find that Kelly and Baroni knowingly intended to punish Sokolich in order to convict them of conspiracy.

Defense attorneys had objected vehemently to that ruling. Critchley said Friday, "I was very concerned at the time it was given and I'm still concerned."

In a statement Friday, Sokolich said Kelly and Baroni showed "complete disregard" for thousands of people put in harm's way.



"This can never happen again," Sokolich said. " This trial shed a very bright light on a sad set of circumstances in NJ. If reform does not come from this, we should all be ashamed.

The pair will be sentenced Feb. 21. Fishman said recommendations for sentencing would be a bit higher than the 20 to 27 months for Wildstein.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman discusses the George Washington Bridge verdict.

'TIME FOR SOME TRAFFIC PROBLEMS IN FORT LEE'



David Wildstein, the admitted architect of the plan and then a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty last year and had been working with the prosecution. He testified that Kelly and Baroni were aware of the plot against Sokolich.

Kelly and Baroni testified they believed the lane closings were part of a legitimate traffic study because, they said, that was what Wildstein told them.

The defense portrayed Wildstein as a liar and a dirty trickster  "the Bernie Madoff of New Jersey politics"  and argued that Christie and his inner circle had thrown the 44-year-old Kelly under the bus.

"They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards," Critchley said in a thundering closing argument.

Questions over what Republican Gov. Chris Christie knew about the George Washington Bridge lane closings were raised again Monday as a former ally testified she told him a Democratic mayor had expressed concern the resulting traffic jams in his city were political retribution. Brian Thompson reports.

One of the most damning pieces of evidence was an email in which Kelly wrote: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Then, as the four days of gridlock unfolded and Sokolich complained about children unable to get to school, she texted: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

Prosecutors grilled a former top aide to Governor Christie during cross examination in the so-called Bridgegate trial. Bridget Kelly is still standing by her claim that she thought it was part of a traffic study. Brian Thompson reports.

On the stand, Kelly explained that she was referring to what she thought was a traffic study and expressing satisfaction that it was going well. As for why Kelly deleted the messages, her lawyer suggested she was afraid she was about to be made the scapegoat.

WHAT DID CHRISTIE KNOW?



Much of the testimony in the case implied that Christie and others on his staff may have known about the lane realignments well before they were put into effect. Christie hasn't been charged in the case. He has repeatedly said he found out about the closures weeks after they happened and only learned months later that members of his staff were involved.



After the verdict Friday, Christie reiterated he had "no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments and had no role in authorizing them. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue."



"As a former federal prosecutor, I have respected these proceedings and refused to comment on the daily testimony from the trial," Christie added. "I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom."

Top Tri-State News Photos

At trial, Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all testified that Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on.

Wildstein, for example, said that Christie was told about the traffic jam as it was happening and that he laughed and sarcastically joked that nothing political was going on when he learned of Sokolich's distress over not getting his calls returned.

But it was not clear from Wildstein's testimony whether Christie knew the bumper-to-bumper mess was manufactured for political reasons. And Kelly testified that she told Christie the lane-closings were a traffic study when she informed him of the plans about a month ahead of time.

While the trial did not definitively pin the scheme on Christie, it reinforced his reputation among his critics as a bully, with accounts of profane tirades, threats of bodily harm and tough-guy posturing among the governor and his inner circle that seemed straight out of "The Sopranos."

Christie once threw a water bottle at Kelly in anger, she testified. And Wildstein told the jury that Christie called him "Mr. Wolf," after the character in the movie "Pulp Fiction" who is called in to clean up dead bodies.

According to testimony, Christie's office also used the Port Authority to punish or reward local politicians. Among the goodies the agency dispensed were pieces of steel from the original World Trade Center, destroyed on 9/11.

"These convictions will be an essential defining feature of Christie's legacy in office, and will forever taint how his administration is perceived and will be remembered," Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Callahan said. "He is damaged by the narcissistic way in which he was portrayed during the trial, a narrative that was accepted by the jury."

Last month, a judge allowed a citizen criminal complaint against Christie alleging official misconduct in connection with the lane closures to proceed. The Bergen County prosecutor will determine if there is sufficient evidence to present it to a grand jury.
Twice in less than one week, several Hartford public school students became trapped in the same elevator.

School district officials said the elevator at the Alfred E. Burr school is now back up and running and the students are fine, but parents are still concerned and wondering why notification wasn't made.

The first incident happened last Thursday when seven students between sixth and eighth grade, as well as a school security officer, were trapped for 45 minutes before Hartford firefighters freed them. One child was on crutches.

The same elevator stopped working again on Tuesday and five eighth-grade students got stuck with no adults present, school district officials said. One of those students was on crutches as well.

Hartford firefighters said they cleared the second incident within 12 minutes of arriving by shutting the elevator down to interrupt service. It restarted after that.

However, Hartford school officials refused to tell the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters how long the students were trapped during the second elevator incident.

"It's terrible. Its terrible. Nobody told me about this," said Mary Cespedes, the mother of a kindergartener.

Her sons classroom is in the basement, so he sometimes takes the elevator, Cespedes told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters.

"It concerns me a lot because I gotta be worrying about the child's well-being and making sure they're OK and if it's happened more than once, it's a kind of a caution thing for me," Jaquan Jackson, the father of Jaiden Ryans, told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters.

Jaiden Ryans, a fourth grader, said he wasn't aware of what happened and there was no announcement at school.

"I would've screamed and pressed an emergency button," said the 10-year-old, who has a cell phone but did not bring it to school in the day NBC Connecticut spoke with him.

"He'd freak out. I don't think he'd enjoy it at all," Jackson said.

NBC Connecticut reached out to the district spokesman, Pedro Zaras, who said by email, "the elevator is open, functional and has been checked by Kone for safety."

Kone is the elevator company, which is based out of Illinois.

Parents told NBC Connecticut they still want to know why they weren't told.

"That's a big concern because everyone should be notified if something like that happened, because I wouldn't know if it was him or not," Jaquan Jackson said.

Mary Cespedes added, "Somebody got to explain to me, because I didn't know that."

NBC Connecticut did reach out to Kone and we have yet to hear back.
Tarrant County reported its 25th case of Zika virus on Thursday. All of those people were infected somewhere else and brought the illness back to North Texas. This latest patient traveled to Puerto Rico, officials say.

But should you be allowed to know what ZIP code these patients call home? NBC 5 has been pressing for that information since this summer and the requests are now leading to a lawsuit against the state attorney general.

NBC 5 Investigates requested Zika cases broken down by ZIP code, the way West Nile cases are, to look for any clusters of cases in Tarrant and Dallas same counties that the public should know about.

Both county health departments initially refused to release the information, saying it would violate patient privacy.

Each department then took it to the state attorney general to make a decision, who ruled against them, saying the information NBC 5 requested was only statistical and would not identify anyone.

Within days, the Dallas County Health Department handed over its data broken down by ZIP codes.

But Tarrant County is still refusing and now, in a rare move, is suing the attorney general's office to keep from releasing the information.

Tarrant County Health says because Zika requires localized spraying around an infected person's home, pairing that with public ZIP code data could identify patients.

An expert in infectious diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center tells NBC 5 Zika virus is entirely different from West Nile and that since all cases of Zika in our area have so far been travel related, theres not as much urgency to track them by exact location.

"It is possible that a mosquito could bite a person who just came back from El Salvador or Mexico or somewhere and transmit to somebody, that's possible. It's just it's so unlikely that it's just not happening," said Dr. Robert Haley, Chief of Epidemiology at UT Southwestern.

Haley also says that finding clusters of cases in one ZIP code wouldn't be surprising, because theyve all been contracted overseas.

"People who take luxurious vacations, they tend to live in the same areas, and people who go down to Mexico or El Salvador to visit family, they tend to live in similar areas and so you would expect clustering, neighborhood clustering, Haley said.

This case is now back in the hands of the state attorney general to determine whether Tarrant County needs to release its Zika data by ZIP code. NBC 5 will continue to track this story.

See the chart below where the cases of Zika have been reported in Dallas County:
Dallas police said they arrested another man in connection with the murder of a 42-year-old woman in a restaurant parking lot Sunday.

Originally police arrested Lonzell Hunter, 22, on charges of fatally shooting Martha Teran. Hunter is in jail on a $500,000 bond for capital murder.

On Thursday evening police arrested accomplice Javan Jamal Bush, 25, on capital murder charges. He is also in jail on a $500,000 bond.

Teran was murdered in the parking lot of Medieval Times in Dallas. Police said she posted on a website that her phone was for sale.

Police said Teran and Hunter decided on meeting in the parking lot of Medieval Times, which is located at 2021 North Stemmons Freeway.

Police said once the suspect arrived, he grabbed her phone and then pulled out a handgun and shot Teran. She was transported to Parkland Hospital where she died from the gunshot wound, police said.

Police didnt specify what Bushs role in the murder was, but both men are being held at the Dallas County Jail.

This story will be updated when more information is available.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says people should stay vigilant but go about their daily lives as usual while officials assess the credibility of information about a possible al-Qaida threat on the eve of Election Day.

Abbott on Friday responded to officials saying that counterterrorism investigators were reviewing information that mentioned Texas, New York and Virginia as potential targets.

An NYPD spokesman said the information "lacks specificity" and the FBI said it was working closely with law enforcement agencies.

A counter-terrorism official told NBC News' Pete Williams that "we get stuff like this all the time" and that the information is of an "unknown veracity."

Abbott said in a statement his office was monitoring the situation in coordination with the Texas Department of Public Safety. He said people should report suspicious activity to law enforcement.

The Texas DPS issued the following statement Friday morning:

While we do not typically discuss security issues, we can say that DPS is constantly in touch with fellow law enforcement and intelligence officials, including our Joint Terrorism Task Force partners. DPS is continually monitoring events involving potential public safety impacts across the state and nation. We can also assure Texans that we adjust our level of vigilance to meet any potential or emerging threats, and will also adjust our security measures as threats warrant. As always, every citizen has an important role to play in helping to thwart illicit activity, and we encourage Texans to remain vigilant. If anyone observes any suspicious activity, they are urged to contact their local authorities or report it through Texas iWatch program at www.iwatchtx.org or by calling 1-844-643-2251.

Election Day is Tuesday.
Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu is drawing criticism for a remark he made about Hillary Clinton while warming up a New Hampshire crowd for Donald Trump on Friday.

"Do you think Bill was referring to Hillary when he said, 'I did not have sex with that woman?" Sununu said, a reference to Bill Clinton's 1998 denial that he engaged in sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The line drew laughs from many of those at the Atkinson Country Club, and came on the heels of another joke about how men always leave the toilet seat up. He then chuckled and said, "Bob Smith made me do it," a reference to the former U.S. Senator who preceded him at the podium. Smith had just spent several minutes doing a Bill Clinton impersonation.

Sununu, 77, served as governor from 1983 to 1989, and as chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991. His son John E. Sununu served as a U.S. Senator from 2003 to 2009, and his other son, Chris Sununu, is currently running for New Hampshire governor.

Less than an hour after Trump's event concluded, Chris Sununu's opponent in the governor's race issued a statement saying he should apologize for his father's "crude and anti-women jokes about Hillary Clinton's sex life."

"This is beneath the office of Governor of New Hampshire, and Chris Sununu should put common decency ahead of his own political interests by condemning these comments and tell Governor Sununu to apologize immediately," said Matt Trojan, communications director for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern.

Van Ostern's campaign also held a conference call Friday to demand that Chris Sununu apologize and disavow his father's comments. On that call, former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan called John H. Sununu's comments "sexist and chauvinist" and said they have "no place in the Granite State."
The Ardennes is screened in the Emerging Directors segment of the ongoing Panorama of the European Film, 2-12 November

The name of director Robin Pront film for non French speakers can trick them into imagining a gang film of two brothers whose last names is Ardennes. Fortunately it is not.

Two brothers plan and execute the robbery. Kenny (Kevin Janssens) takes the fall for it, and spends years in jail, while , Dave (Jeroen Perceval) makes a run for it, begins a fresh start, and falls in love with his brothers ex-girlfriend Sylvie (Veerle Baetens). The camera forwards four years later, sober and clean, Dave and Sylive are having a child, while vowing to live a 9-5 dull life, away from their past.

On the other hand is Kenny, who is grumpy yet, an interesting vision of the Godfathers Sonny Corleone. Actor Kevin Janssens brilliantly gave a performance of violent ex-con coming from a brutal prison, after years of getting harassed by fellow Moroccan inmates, and forced to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr.



Fresh from prison, he gets out to light, eats pizza, drinks beer, sees his mom, plays video games, masturbates to porn, and looks for Sylive.

The fight for Sylives love and the clash between the two worlds of Kenny and Dave gives way for a biblical tragedy. The collision between a recreation of the past and the sustaining of the present rips apart the brotherly bond.

The plot almost reaches a peak every time Dave and Sylives love is going to be declared, but postponed to give room more subplots and more reaction from our lost, yet dreamy, protagonists.

Although most of the film takes place in a dusty working class area of Belgium, director Pronts ambitious debut The Ardennes was accompanied by seriously hard hitting house and techno music, leading way and building anticipation to showdown of a failed homecoming party.

The neighborhood where the family lives in is surrounded by factories and muddy roads, while and residential blocs of Soviet style, with dinners and houses serving French fries. Another environment which we slightly see or hear about is nightclubs and modernized shopping blocks.

Jealousy and rage drives Kenny into a crime. And who is he going to call for help? His brother and a former freakish cellmate Stef (Jan Bijvoet), a chest naked owner of an abandoned garage in the frosty Ardennes hills.

The film moves then moves from a not yet fully exposed family drama to a sudden dog eat dog set in the dark forests. This quick change was not developed in the script, giving the film to shake of the dust and reveal some truth.

Alongside the troubling and cold soundtrack, the cinematography in The Ardennes is a straight shot translation to the state of anarchy, revealing how bad this party turned to be. The contradiction between Dave and Kenney, in how to approach women, argue, drink, and kiss their mother, is well stressed.

The close-ups on Sylives facing in her group therapy sessions, as she remembers and tries to smash the burdens of the past, are met by other compositions of Kenny remembering how he was bullied in prison and how he remained faithful.

The Ardennes will be screened again on the following days:



- Wednesday 9 November at 6.30pm, at cinema Karim, Cairo

- Friday 11 November at 9.30pm, at cinema Zawya, Cairo

- Daturday 12 November at 6.45pm at Americana Plaza, Sheikh Zayed, Cairo

Check the complete programme of the Panorama, for Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Ismailia here

This review was originally written for the daily news letter published by the Panorama of the European Film during the festival days.

Ahram Online is the media sponsor of The Panorama of the European Film and of Zawya.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Fliers inserted into a Catholic church's newsletter in San Diego implied that Hillary Clinton was satanic and warned that voting for Democrats would result in parishioners descending into Hell.

One leaflet, stuffed in a bulletin handed to churchgoers at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town on Oct. 16, states: How to vote like a Catholic  it is a mortal sin to vote Democrat!

The handout goes on to outline several political issues, including abortion, and notes the churchs stance on the topic. Based on the above, it is mortal sin to vote Democrat, adding that sin, if not confessed, means eternal damnation, the leaflet cautioned.

Two weeks later, parishioners received a second bulletin titled Voting Catholic, that again discussed social issues and implored them to take a "Catholic view."

The devil does this through the tactics outlined by Saul Alinsky with the outcome as Hillary Clinton has stated, And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be change,' to draw us away from Gods teachings regarding the sanctity of life to those of the world and its prince, the leaflet said.

Alinsky was a Chicago-based community organizer and author who wrote the 1971 book "Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals." Conservatives like former GOP presidential nominee Dr. Ben Carson have labeled Alinsky a dangerous radical and a "diabolical" influence on both President Barack Obama and Clinton.

Clinton's quote was pulled from an April 2015 speech at the Women in the World Summit in which she addressed abortion.

Reached for comment on Thursday, Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, said he doesn't know how the first insert got into church bulletins.

He called the second bulletin unusual, noting the tone was different than how the church normally addresses parishioners.

Robert McElroy, the Roman Catholic bishop of San Diego, issued this statement:

"Let me stress again that while we have a moral role to play in explaining how Catholic teaching relates to certain public policy issues, we must not and will not endorse specific candidates, use parish media or bulletins to favor candidates or parties through veiled language about selectively chosen issues, or engage in partisan political activity of any kind."

Several people who attend the church told NBC 7 they felt the handouts were out of line.

To refer to a candidate as a devil or ungodly is a disgrace and its a shame for our religion or our priests to indulge in that nonsense, said Michael Alcaraz, who frequents Immaculate Conception.

"Clearly in my mind when a church spells out a presidential candidates name with any sort of opinions thats a violation as far as I can tell, said church visitor Daryl Johnson.

As a result of the incident, the diocese says it plans to send out a reminder to churches to refrain from making statements about specific candidates.
A former Marine who confessed to strangling a 19-year-old woman and tossing her body into a Southern California desert mine shaft has been convicted of first-degree murder.

Twenty-seven-year-old Christopher Brandon Lee was convicted Thursday in San Bernardino. He's facing life in prison without chance of parole.

Lee pleaded not guilty to killing Erin Corwin, the wife of another Marine, in June of 2014.

But a few days ago at trial, Lee shocked the courtroom during his trial and admitted to strangling Corwin in a fit of anger and throwing the body down a 140-foot-deep abandoned mineshaft near Joshua Tree National Park.

"I'm no longer scared to tell the truth. People have to know what I did," Lee testified in San Bernardino County Superior Court.

Lee had pleaded not guilty to killing 19-year-old Corwin, with whom Lee's suspected of having an affair.

Friends told investigators that Corwin believed she was pregnant and Lee might be the father. Authorities say Lee wanted to hide the affair.

When prosecutor Sean Daugherty asked Lee if he's the one who strangled Corwin, he replied, "Yes, I am."

Lee testified that he decided to kill Corwin because he said she had molested one of his family members -- the first time that accusation has come to light.

Lee said he approached Corwin from behind and strangled her for at least five minutes with a garrote made up of two pieces of rebar and a cord. He said he then dragged Corwin's body to the mine shaft and pushed her in head first.

Corwin, 20, was last seen June 28, 2014. Her husband, a Marine corporal, reported her missing the next day when she did not return home from a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Corwin was reportedly three months pregnant.

The search for Corwin spanned 300 square miles of the Mojave Desert. Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers searched in helicopters and on the ground, often in sweltering heat. Dive teams searched bodies of water in the area.

Forensic exams of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices led detectives to a mine shaft outside Joshua Tree National Park.

Lee's attorney, David Kaloyanides, questioned his client only briefly, trying to emphasize that the Lee had not planned the killing.

Kaloyanides did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Police Department is considering stepping up patrols in a Boyle Heights neighborhood following three acts of vandalism last month.

Taggers spray painted several businesses, including the Nicodim Gallery on Anderson Street. The suggestion is that rich, white people are expanding into Boyle Heights and forcing out working class residents of the mostly Latino neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles.

The words "White Art" were spray painted on one business. The LAPD is investigating the vandalism as a possible hate crime amid growing tension between locals and gallery owners.

There have been numerous protests by locals who stand outside gallery openings and picket and shout at visitors. Gallery owners say the anger is misplaced, since some of the galleries are owned by minorities, many of the artists are minorities and the galleries hire people from the community.

"I think the message got lost," said Mihai Nicodim, owner of Nicodim Gallery. "They should take it to City Hall not the galleries."

A group called Defend Boyle Heights said on Facebook they do not know who vandalized the galleries, but they "certainly don't condemn it."

The post says they're glad to see the community rise up to resist displacement and they believe gentrification is the hate crime here.

The LAPD has not named any suspects in the vandalism case.
After a man was fatally shot outside of a fast food restaurant early Friday morning in Whittier, detectives were working to identify his killer.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department found a man shot outside in the parking lot at a Jack in the Box at around 11:59 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Duchess Drive and Washington Boulevard, according to the Pico Rivera Sheriff's Station.

Crews gave the man CPR before he was taken to the hospital, where he later died.

The 35-year-old man was homeless, according to detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Division. He spent time and got drunk at the restaurant and parking lot often, according to one of the man's friends.

Detectives said the gunman drove into the parking lot and passed the victim sitting on the curb before he turned around and parked in front of him. Seconds later, he got out of his car and shot the victim multiple times

The shooter got in a dark colored sedan and left, according to the LASD Homicide detectives.

What led to the shooting was unclear, but detectives are calling it a targeted murder.

His friends said the man was peaceful aside from the occasional episode of excessive drinking.

Yet they added that the victim knew someone was after him Thursday night, had even asked one friend, Alfred Duran, for something to protect himself with.

Duran said he was sleeping nearby when he heard gunshots.

"He didn't deserve to die like an animal," Duran said.

The shooter was believed to be in his late teens or early 20s, but no further description of the man was immediately available.

It was not immediately clear if anyone else was in the car, said Mike Rosson of the Los Angeles County Sheriffi's Department's Homicide Division.

LASD Homicide Division planned to release surveillance video Friday.

Rick Montanez contributed to this report.
A woman who was seriously injured when she was ejected from a Los Angeles police patrol car in Koreatown in 2013 while handcuffed has tentatively settled her lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

Attorney David Crochetiere, who represents 31-year-old plaintiff Kim Nguyen, said the settlement of his client's Los Angeles Superior Court complaint is subject to approval by the City Council. No terms were divulged.

Officers David Shin and Jin Oh arrested Nguyen for public intoxication after they saw her run across the street about 3 a.m. March 17, 2013, police said. Nguyen was cuffed and put in the back seat of a squad car off 6th Street between Oxford and Serrano avenues, police said.

As the officers traveled east on Olympic Boulevard, Nguyen fell out of the back of the squad car, her lawsuit stated. The complaint alleged Nguyen was not properly secured.

At the time, Nguyen was a graduate student in her last semester at Loyola Marymount's MBA program, according to her attorneys' court papers. When the plaintiff was taken into custody, the officers chose not to arrest a male companion who also was drunk, Nguyen's attorneys' court papers state.

"No female officer was called ... to pat her down for possible dangerous weapons," Nguyen's attorneys' court papers state. "She was not seatbelted into the car and the manual door lock was not engaged."

Nguyen's lawyers also stated in their court papers that one of the officers got into the back seat with their client and inappropriately touched her. Nguyen huddled against one of the patrol car doors to protect herself and minutes later fell out of the car, the plaintiff's lawyers' court papers state.

A building security camera captured the aftermath of the incident after Nguyen was ejected, according to her attorneys' court papers. One of the officers was "nonchalantly standing over plaintiff who lies bloodied, with her face swollen, in the middle of the street," her attorneys' court papers stated.

Nguyen was hospitalized for 17 days and underwent "extensive and painful surgeries," her court papers state. She sued in July 2013.

Defense attorneys maintained Nguyen was trying to escape, but she maintained she could not have done so because her hands were restrained.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump visited New Hampshire Friday, saying he's confident that he'll carry the state on Election Day.

"This is where it all began, New Hampshire - first victory," he said in a speech at the Atkinson Country Club. "In four days we are going to win the state of New Hampshire, and we are going to win back the White House... We're on the cusp of historic change."

Just a few weeks ago, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had a big lead in New Hampshire. But three new polls released Thursday now show the two candidates in a virtual dead heat.

Clinton will be in New Hampshire on Sunday, and President Barack Obama will attend a rally for Clinton at the University of New Hampshire in Durham on Monday.

Trump and running mate Mike Pence will also be in the critical swing state on Monday night for a rally at Southern New Hampshire University.

Trump mostly stuck to his usual talking points on Friday, hitting Clinton over the FBI's investigation of her emails, saying Obamacare needs to be recalled immediately and promising that, if elected, he will build "a great wall" to keep out illegal immigrants.

"How can Hillary manage this country when she can't even manage her emails?" Trump asked. "What a mess!

"Wait till you see what they find" in the latest round of emails," he added. "It won't be pretty."

Trump also said he would suspend the Syrian refugee program, "and we will keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. We have no choice."

He also claimed a new jobs report shows the U.S. economy is in bad shape.

His rally came hours after the government reported that employers added 161,000 jobs to the workforce in October. The report also showed that workers received their best pay raises in seven years.

Trump called the numbers "an absolute disaster," and said: "nobody believes the numbers they're reporting anyway."

He also spoke specifically to his New Hampshire audience, saying he'll work to end the state's opioid problem and to protect the environment, including the White Mountains and Great Bay.
Surveillance video showing armed suspects using a rifle and sledgehammers to break open display cases during a heist at a Miami-Dade jewelry store was released Thursday.

The armed robbery happened back on October 23 at Gold R Us at the USA Flea Market at 3015 Northwest 79th Street, Miami-Dade Police said.

Officials said five armed men accosted staff at the jewelry booth. One of them pointed a rifle at the victims and told them to get on the ground while the other robbers used the sledgehammers to break open the display cases.

One of the thieves also fired his weapon at a display case. The suspect fled with an undetermined amount of cash and jewelry.

Authorities are asking anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

Surveillance video showing armed suspects using a rifle and sledgehammers to break open display cases during a heist at a Miami-Dade jewelry store was released Thursday.

The armed robbery happened back on October 23 at Gold R Us at the USA Flea Market at 3015 Northwest 79th Street, Miami-Dade Police said.

Officials said five armed men accosted staff at the jewelry booth. One of them pointed a rifle at the victims and told them to get on the ground while the other robbers used the sledgehammers to break open the display cases.

One of the thieves also fired his weapon at a display case. The suspect fled with an undetermined amount of cash and jewelry.

Authorities are asking anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
As the hours tick down toward Election Day, both major party candidates and their running mates will be in the Sunshine State this weekend looking to make a final push for votes.

Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton  who spent time earlier this week at events in Broward County  announced she will return to South Florida on Saturday, though her campaign has not released her exact location. Clintons Vice Presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine, will be at a rally on Friday in Melbourne for supporters.

On the Republican side, nominee Donald Trump  who was in Miami earlier this week for an event at Bayfront Park  will be in Tampa on Saturday. His running mate, Gov. Mike Pence, will attend an event in West Miami on Friday evening.

Both candidates remain locked in a tight battle for the 29 electoral votes Florida holds  which could ultimately decide who the 45th President of the United States will be.

Nearly 5.3 million Floridians have voted early in the Sunshine State, or nearly 41 percent of all active registered voters.

Numbers released by the state Division of Elections Friday show the number of voters casting ballots early during this year's presidential election is higher than in 2012. That year nearly 4.8 million Floridians either voted by mail or cast a ballot during early voting.

The voting between Republicans and Democrats is just about even with a gap of less than 2,000 votes separating the two parties. Nearly 1 million voters registered with no party affiliation have also voted.

Nearly 5.3 million Floridians have voted early in the Sunshine State, or nearly 41 percent of all active registered voters. Numbers released by the state Division of Elections Friday show the number of voters casting ballots early during this year's presidential election is higher than in 2012. That year nearly 4.8 million Floridians either voted by mail or cast a ballot during early voting.

The voting between Republicans and Democrats is just about even with a gap of less than 2,000 votes separating the two parties. Nearly 1 million voters registered with no party affiliation have also voted.
A suspect in two separate bank robberies in Hollywood was taken into custody Friday evening, FBI officials said.

Tarrife Zane Chaplin, 28, was arrested after robbing the SunTrust Bank at 2001 Hollywood Boulevard around 5:30 p.m., officials said.

Chaplin, of Miami Gardens, was taken into custody shortly after exiting the bank, officials said.

Officials said they believe it was the second Hollywood bank Chaplin robbed on Friday.

The first robbery happened just after 9:30 a.m. at the Well Fargo at 1807 Young Circle, not too far from the SunTrust officials said.

Officials said the robber, who was dressed in black and carrying a large backpack, entered the bank and demanded money from an employee. Customers were in the bank at the time but no injuries were reported.

Chaplin is expected to make his first appearance in federal court on Monday. It's unknown if he's hired an attorney.
The interim director of the Miami-Dade Corrections Department is under fire after documents obtained by NBC 6 detail a disturbing domestic violence incident involving his now ex-wife in 2004.

Daniel Junior, who has spent over 20 years with the agency and was appointed by Mayor Carlos Gimenez, was arrested for the incident in December of that year in which the victim called 911 detailing an assault at their home.

The woman told dispatchers she was being beaten by her husband following an incident inside their home  reportedly following a confrontation over different phone numbers in his cell phone after he arrived home from a night out of drinking.

In a police report from December 2005, the victim says Junior called her derogatory names before punching her on the side of the face, choking her and throwing her against the wall. She said that she did bite Junior in the stomach and tried to grab scissors to stab him to stop the fight before escaping and calling 911 from the guard gate of their complex.

She was treated by Fire Rescue crews at the scene and did not go to the hospital. The couple filed for divorce shortly after.

Junior entered a Pre Trial Diversion program that included attending classes on domestic violence and substance abuse.

NBC 6 reached out to Mike Hernandez, director of communications for both Mayor Gimenezs office and the Miami-Dade Corrections Department for comment.

Hernandez said Junior was forthcoming with the allegations made against him and was cleared of the matter by internal affairs after an investigation.

Hernandez also said it was curious that the matter was on the books for so long and is just coming out four days before the Miami-Dade mayoral election.

"We're four days prior to a mayoral election, it's not coincidental these issues are being raised now," Hernandez said.

The mayor's office said they think it's politically motivated.

Hernandez added that they're conducting a second nationwide search to fill the position but Junior is welcome to apply for the job on a full-time basis.

Its the second time that Junior had been punished for a domestic violence incident. He was given a verbal reprimand for a 1997 case where he pushed a womans head into a wall following an argument.

Corporal Corey Barney, the President of the Minority Corrections Officers Association, condemned Juniors actions while criticizing Gimenez for his decision to promote Junior.

"Daniel Junior as multiple domestic violence offenses on his record. The Mayor stated Donald Trump should step down for his comments and actions, yet in the same voice condones Daniel Juniors actions, Barney told NBC 6.

Barney went after Junior for his handling of a case in which a woman says she was assaulted by over a dozen men inside the Miami-Dade corrections facility in December of 2013.

No one called the police, no one called for a rape test. Junior called police on a peaceful protest (organized by Barney). How can Mayor Gimenez have him as interim director?" Barney said.
Four artefacts from Tutankhamun's treasured collection make up the November piece of the month

The Egyptian Museum is marking the 94th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by selecting four artefacts associated with the boy king to be, collectively, the museum's piece of the month for November.

The items will be on display on Friday at the entrance to the museum, to mark the discovery of the tomb on 4 November 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter.

Sabah Abdel Razak, the director-general of the museum, told Ahram Online that November piece of the month was not selected this month through voting on Facebook as usual but instead were selected directly from the collection.

She said the items selected included a statue of the king on the throne as a child, wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt and carrying a flail and a heqa sceptre.

Another item is a wooden chest inlaid with ivory inscribed with Tutankhamun's name and titles on its lid, as well as with gilded glass carved in faience.

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Four students were arrested at Norland High School in Miami after a loaded gun was found on the campus Friday.

The school at 1193 Northwest 193rd Street was temporarily placed on lockdown while officials search the school for any other possible weapons. In total, five students - two males and three females - were brought in for questioning.

There were reports that each of the students had possession of the firearm at one point, officials said.

Students said the gun was in a book bag that was passed around in a classroom during first period.

"I was just in class and they called a code red and we were in first period all day long, like for five hours," junior Kadeja Johnson said.

Miami-Dade Schools Police said they received an anonymous tip that there was a weapon on campus.

"This boy had a gun in his book bag, the police came and took him, he gave the bag to another boy and they started checking people's book bags," freshman Sabrina Placide said.

Placide said the boys asked her to pass the backpack from one to the other but she didn't know there was a gun inside. She said she was taken to the office as part of the investigation.

The other four students were later arrested and charged with possession of a firearm on school property. Three of the students are 15 and the fourth is 16.

Several parents came to pick up their kids early when they heard about the weapon.

"Being a parent, it's nerve-wracking, the first thing I did when I heard was call the school to make sure everything was ok, and by then the lock was lifted," parent Brenda Johnson said.
Every year, more and more kids are affected by gun violence and the alarming statistics are worrying parents and authorities in South Florida who are hoping to stop the gunfire.

At one South Florida daycare there's a reminder that Jada Page came there often to help out her grandmother, who owns the place. Jada's younger sister, 3-year-old Jazz, is one of the many who come to the daycare each day.

A cell phone video is how they remember Jada, who was often dancing in the front entrance of the daycare, feet from the billboard where now there's a poster on the 8-year-old's unsolved murder.

Police say she was killed by a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting. Jazz was standing right beside her when it hit.

Police statistics show seven children murdered by gunfire in Miami-Dade with two months before the end of the year. The number will either exceed or remain the same as the number of children killed by gunfire last year.

So far in 2016 there have been 24 shootings involving children. Last year there were 40, up from 30 the year before and 16 the year before that.

It's a major problem for Miami-Dade Public Schools. When 6-year-old King Carter died after a stray bullet hit him back in February, grief counselors sat with his classmates.

The district has a crisis management team in place to deal with those issues.

"Many of these children have witnessed the aftermath of homicide, they have seen bodies in the street, they certainly hear gun shots on a regular basis," said Frank Zenere, Chairperson of the District Crisis Management Program.

Jada and King died in the North West, an area that's problematic for Miami-Dade Police, where they say kids are shooting kids. Three teens are facing murder charges in King's case, even though the child was clearly not their intended target.

Breaking the cycle is one of many messages behind the protests in communities where the violence exists.

The fight for change is the fuel behind growing partnerships between police, county leaders, educators and the public to prevent a new generation of violence before its too late.
When Florida voters head to the polls next week, they will be asked to help decide the future of medical marijuana in our state. As Election Day approaches, several clients and viewers have approached me with a thought provoking question: Could expanding the definition of legal medicinal marijuana lead to marijuana-based medicine for Floridas pets?

Its a great question! And like most great questions, the answer is somewhat complicated. So lets dig in.

As of this writing, marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 substance with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Should Amendment 2 become the law of the land in Florida, it will not change the fact that the federal government defines marijuana, and all other Schedule 1 substances as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

In the world of human medicine, physicians practicing in states where medical marijuana is legal can recommend or prescribe medicinal marijuana without fear of legal consequences. Those protections, however, do NOT apply to veterinarians. Even if restrictions on medical marijuana are relaxed on November 8th, it will remain a license-losing offense for veterinarians to prescribe it, or even recommend its use. Because of marijuanas continued listing as a Schedule 1 substance, this restriction even applies to vets who practice in states where both medicinal and recreational marijuana is legal. Thats problem number one.

Problem number two is that the same DEA classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance makes it very difficult to collect meaningful, scientific data on any possible benefits to pets. Many pet owners are surprised to learn the the American Veterinary Medical Association has no official position on the use of medical marijuana in pets.

Yet why should they? When push comes to shove, veterinarians are scientists. The so-called scheduling conflict surrounding medical marijuana means translational research, dosage protocols, and all of the benefits that arise as the result of well thought-out, controlled clinical trials remain out of reach to the veterinary profession. The evidence isnt there due to the fact that merely collecting data comes with career-ending consequences for veterinary researchers. As a result, we simply do not have the science to support the use of medicinal marijuana for pets.

What we DO have, however, is a vast body of anecdotal evidence provided by medical marijuana users who have shared legally obtained products with their pets. These pet owners insist their prescriptions have helped pets cope with a gamut of ailments including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, seizures, inflammatory bowel disease, and even cancer. Whether the veterinary community wants to believe it or not, the fact remains that many pet owners are not willing to wait for legislation or science to lead the way. This has caused our profession to have no choice but to pay attention.

The Pot Predicament

Marijuana occupies a strange set of honors in the halls of veterinary medicine. On the one hand, many veterinarians are desperate to study it. Reports from pet owners who have used it on their pets, combined with research being done in human medicine, relentlessly pique our curiosity. On the other hand, it holds the dubious honor of being one of the top reasons pets are rushed to emergency clinics! In fact, a 2012 study showed that over a five-year period in which marijuana restrictions loosened in Colorado, the number of marijuana toxicity cases increased fourfold throughout that state.

While we know dogs and cats have cannabinoid receptors, the lack of research means we do not know how the drug will affect our pets or how much is too much. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest dogs and cats require less marijuana to be affected by it than humans do. And the lack of regulation of marijuana itself means owners cannot be certain what their pets are receiving. For this reason, the one bit of advice veterinarians ARE allowed to dispense regarding marijuana is that in certain doses (which by the way, we dont know!), it is toxic to pets, and can be fatal. In other words, please dont dope your pets. This includes the sharing of special baked goods, which often contain yet another problematic substance - chocolate.

That said, should your pets get into your stash, please be honest with the veterinarian who sees you. Nearly every veterinarian I know, myself included, has a handful of horror stories about mystery cases that are eventually linked to marijuana consumption. While many people find such stories amusing, they are no laughing matter for clients who spend hundreds of dollars on unnecessary diagnostics before another party sheepishly admits to letting Fluffy partake. If theres pot in the picture, speak up. It is not our job to prosecute or judge you, and frankly your medical matters or recreational activities are none of our darn business. All we want to do is help your pet, and we prefer to do so without breaking the bank. To do that, we need your help, and we need full disclosure.

Marijuana vs. hemp

While marijuana remains tightly controlled, the regulations on industrial hemp have begun to loosen. Unlike marijuana, commercially grown hemp contains less than 0.3% of the psychoactive ingredient THC, and high doses of CBD, the compounds believed to have the most therapeutic and medicinal benefits. While hemp products are not restricted by a Schedule 1 listing, they are considered nutraceuticals or supplements.

While the anecdotal evidence surrounding these products is wildly exciting, they are not regulated by the FDA. Indeed, some companies have already been warned about the validity of claims made about their products. So once again, the profession must temper consumer enthusiasm with the lack of scientific study and concrete evidence.

One thing is certain - regardless of the outcome of Tuesdays vote, the changing social attitudes regarding marijuana have created a demand for knowledge and access that vets can no longer afford to ignore. We can only hope that science and research will soon win the day, and provide the answers our profession and our clients are seeking.

Dr. Kupkee is the lead practitioner at Sabal Chase Animal Clinic

Do you have a question for Dr. Kupkee? Send him an email by clicking here.

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Family and friends are preparing to say their final goodbyes to a City of Miami Police motorcycle officer who was killed in a crash earlier this week.

A funeral service will be held Friday for Officer Jorge Sanchez, who was killed in Tuesday's crash in southwest Miami-Dade. the 53-year-old was on his way to work when he was rear-ended by an SUV.

The memorial service will be held at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Seating will begin at 9 a.m. and the service will begin at 10 a.m.

Following the service, a procession will travel to Woodlawn Cemetery North for the burial.

Some road closures will be in effect and include:

Northwest 37th Avenue from Northwest 7th Street south to West Flagler Street, a hard closure from 8:30 a.m.- 9:45 a.m.

West Flagler Street from Northwest 27th to Northwest 37th Avenue, a hard closure from 8:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m.

Southwest 8th Street from Southwest 32-33rd Avenue, a hard closure from 10 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Southwest 32nd Avenue from West Flagler Street to Southwest 8th Street, a hard closure from 12 p.m.- 1 p.m.

A viewing was held Thursday night for Sanchez, as hundreds of law enforcement officials, family, and friends filled Vior funeral home in northwest Miami-Dade to remember the veteran cop.

"A spectacular individual. There's few people that I've ever met that you never hear anybody say anything say bad about and Jorge Sanchez was one of those individuals," West Miami Police Chief Nelson Andreu said.

"He was always very soft spoken. Serious, funny at times, hard worker," former Miami Police Chief Manuel Oroso said.

Sanchez first served as a patrol officer, then moved onto criminal investigations, and for the last seven years he was part of the traffic enforcement unit as a motorcycle officer.

Former coworkers say the 21-year veteran with the Miami Police Department planned to retire in about a year.

"It's unbelievable. You're planning on retirement and now the family is planning on moving ahead without him. It's such a tragic situation," Oroso said.
A South Florida man is accused of biting off a piece of a woman's chin when she refused to have sex with him, police say.

Nicardo Nicholas Satahoo, 32, faces charges of aggravated battery and violating a restraining order.

Boca Raton Police say the incident occurred at the home of the home of the 29-year-old woman on Sept. 26. A restraining order against Satahoo has been in effect since January, but the woman told police they were in process of getting back together after breaking up. She has three children with Satahoo.

According to the police report, Satahoo twice asked the woman to engage in sexual intercourse. When the woman refused to have sex, he attacked her- biting her once in the arm and then the chin.

The woman suffered small cuts to her hands, arm, and had dime-sized chunk of her chin missing as a result of the bite, police say.

The victim drove herself to Boca Raton Regional Hospital, where the medical staff told her she may need plastic surgery to avoid permanent disfigurement.

Satahoo has previously been arrested four times since either aggravated assault and aggravated battery, records show.
A woman convicted of killing her Miami Police officer boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison Friday.

Tiniko Thompson, 48, was convicted in August of second-degree murder of her boyfriend, former Miami Police officer Carl Patrick, in 2014.

"It's the considered judgment of the court that the defendant will be remanded to the custody of the department of corrections for her natural life," Judge Jeffrey Cohen said at Friday's sentencing hearing.

After the judge's decision, family and friends of the late Miami Police officer embraced while his mother was brought to tears.

"He was to me a good son. My Lord has given justice today because my son was good to that lady and he loved her so much, he couldn't see the ugly in her," mother Lucile Patrick said.

Prosecutors say she shot Patrick inside their Pembroke Pines home and left him to die. After her arrest, Thompson claimed Patrick had been abusing her  including a story that the fight that day caused her to have a miscarriage.

In a previous "Stand Your Ground" hearing, Thompson had confessed to the shooting but claimed it was self-defense.

At Friday's hearing, Thompson's attorney asked for 25 years for his client.

"I'm sorry, I defended myself which I felt I had all right to me. But I didn't mean for Carl to die," Thompson said at Friday's sentencing.
With the presidential election just a few days away, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are making their final appeals with multiple stops in key swing states.

In our experience, we have found that facts are stretched more than usual in the final, desperate days of a close presidential campaign. And that is certainly the case this year. In stump speeches this week, the messaging was clear. Clinton stuck to the theme that Trump is unqualified and unfit to be president, while Trump hammered at the theme that Clinton is corrupt.

In this story, we will look at a sampling of the misleading claims made by Clinton during speeches this week.

In a separate story, we have a sampling of misleading statements by Trump (which you can read here). Some academics argue that politically motivated reasoning may lead you to only read one of these stories. Prove them wrong.

Clintons Final Push

In speeches this week, Clinton laid out the case for her contention that Trump is unqualified and unfit to be president. But in many cases, Clinton twisted Trumps words to make her point.

On nuclear weapons:

I am running against a man who says he doesnt understand why we cant use nuclear weapons. He actually said, then why are we making them?  Oct. 31 in Kent, Ohio.



As we wrote after the last debate, thats according to MSNBCs Joe Scarborough and based on an anonymous source, not a verified quote from Trump. Scarborough said in early August that an anonymous source, a foreign policy expert who went to advise Donald Trump several months earlier, had said that Trump three times asked if we had them why cant we use them. The Trump campaign denied that account.

But even the prospect of an actual nuclear war doesnt seem to bother Donald Trump. Good luck, enjoy yourselves, folks, was what he had to say about a potential nuclear conflict in Asia. I wonder if he knows that a single nuclear warhead can kill millions of people. These are weapons today far more powerful than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. To talk so casually, so cavalierly about mass annihilation is truly appalling.  Oct. 31 in Kent, Ohio.



Thats twisting Trumps words a bit, as we also explained in our fact-check of the last debate.

Heres what Trump said on April 2: Were protecting Japan from North Korea.  I would say to Japan you gotta help us out.  And I would rather have them not arm. But Im not going to continue to lose this tremendous amount of money. And frankly, the case could be made, that let them protect themselves against North Korea. Theyd probably wipe them out pretty quick. And if they fight, you know what, that would be a terrible thing, terrible. Good luck folks, enjoy yourself. If they fight, that would be terrible, right? But if they do, they do.

On multiple occasions, Trump did say perhaps Japan and South Korea should have nuclear weapons to protect themselves. But it isnt clear  as Clinton suggests  that Trump was talking about a nuclear war between Japan and North Korea when he said, Good luck folks, enjoy yourself. In that instance, Trump was focusing on his argument that Japan should pay the U.S. more for providing protection for that country.

On 9/11:

After the world watched with horror as the twin towers fell, he called in to a New York TV station, and even on that horrible day when thousands of people lost their lives, he couldnt stop himself from pointing out that now, because the towers had fallen, a building he owned was the tallest in lower Manhattan. What kind of person brags at a moment like that?  Oct. 31 in Kent, Ohio



Trump did say that, though well leave it to readers to decide if he was bragging, as Clinton put it. It seems to us a more plausible interpretation, given the fuller context of the interview, that Trump was lamenting the dramatic change to an iconic New York City skyline.

Trumps comments came in a nearly 10-minute interview with WWOR-TV in New York after he was asked first about whether he had increased security at Trump Tower, and then whether his landmark building at 40 Wall Street had been damaged.

Trump responded, Forty Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was, actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest. And then when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest, and now its the tallest.

He then went on to describe how debris  brick, mortar and steel  was piled 2 feet high outside the building, even though it is several blocks from the World Trade Center.

I think one of the very sad things is going to be when you look at the skyline of New York, which has become so emblazoned in your memory, and you are looking at the skyline of New York and you see  these two buildings, whether you loved them or you dont love them, they were a great part of the skyline, Trump said Its hard to believe.

You can listen to the entire interview via Politico, which included a quote from Alan Marcus, who was working that day for WWOR, commenting that even on 9/11 Trump couldnt get away from being the brand manager of Trump. But as we said, it is equally plausible that Trump was putting into perspective the dramatic change to the New York skyline.

On praising China:

He even praised the Chinese government for massacring protesters in Tiananmen Square.  Oct. 31 in Kent, Ohio.



This is another example of Clinton and Trump disagreeing over the interpretation of what Trump said. In a 1990 interview with Playboy, Trump said, When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it, then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.

During a Republican debate in March, CNNs Jake Tapper asked Trump about those comments.

That doesnt mean I was endorsing that, Trump explained. I was not endorsing it. I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength. And then they kept down the riot. It was a horrible thing. It doesnt mean at all I was endorsing it.

On Russian influence:

The U.S. intelligence community has now confirmed that the Russian government, which means Putin, is directing cyberattacks against targets in the United States to influence the outcome of our election. So ask yourself, why would Putin be trying to get Donald Trump elected president? Could it be because of all the nice things Donald has said about him or the fact that he has promised to adopt pro- Kremlin policies? Or maybe because of the extensive business dealings with Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin?  Oct. 31 in Kent, Ohio.



Clinton is right that U.S. intelligence officials have pointed a finger at Russia for recent cyberattacks affecting the Democratic Party. The Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security issued a joint statement on Oct. 7 saying they were confident that recent hacks into the email systems of the Democratic Party were directed by the Russian government. And, they wrote, These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process.

But Clinton, so far, has no proof that the Russians are trying to get Donald Trump elected president.

According to a New York Times story published on Oct. 31, after Clinton made her remarks, And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.

Twisting Trumps words:

You see I dont think I have all the answers. I dont think anybody has all the answers. When Donald Trump, at his convention, said he alone could fix everything in America.  Nov. 2 in Tempe, Arizona.



As we have written before, Clinton is misrepresenting remarks Trump made during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Trump never said hed be the only one to fix absolutely everything. He said that as a political outsider, only he can fix a rigged system. And, in fact, he talked about working with others in that same speech.

He doesnt believe in equal pay.  Nov. 1 in Dade City, Florida.



As weve written, Trump doesnt support equal pay legislation, but he has said that he believes in paying people based on performance, not gender.

And you know Donald Trumps strategys pretty simple. He says he wants to suppress young people from voting, women from voting, people of color from voting. I mean thats a lot of people.  Nov. 1 in Dade City, Florida.



The Clinton campaign pointed us to articles in Bloomberg Businessweek, New York magazine and the Wall Street Journal  all of which cite anonymous Trump campaign officials talking about efforts to depress Democratic voter turnout.

For example, the Bloomberg story quotes a senior official saying, We have three major voter suppression operations under way, including efforts to lower voting among Clinton strongholds: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans.

None of the stories quotes Trump directly. We cant independently verify the accuracy of accounts given by anonymous Trump campaign officials. But even in these press accounts, Trump himself did not say those things, meaning that  at best  Clinton goes too far when she claims, He [Trump] says 

On Muslims:

He [Trump] wants to ban every Muslim in the world from coming to the United States.  Nov. 3 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

That was Trumps initial proposal in December. At the time, he called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what is going on. By July, in his convention speech, he dropped the reference to religion and said, we must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time as proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place.

On NBCs Meet the Press after the convention, Trump explained why he was no longer targeting Muslims: Im looking now at territories. People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. Oh, you cant use the word Muslim. Remember this. And Im okay with that, because Im talking territory instead of Muslim. 

During the second presidential debate, Trump said, The Muslim ban is something that in some form has morphed into a extreme vetting from certain areas of the world. Asked to explain whether or not the Muslim ban still stands, Trump responded, Its called extreme vetting. He then went on to discuss the vetting of refugees.

Many questions remain about the details of how Trump would implement his plan, which countries would be included among those that would be subject to extreme vetting, and how that would apply to visitors to the U.S. Nonetheless, Trump has clearly changed his initial call for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

FactCheck.org is a non-partisan non-profit organization that will hold candidates and key figures accountable during the 2016 presidential campaign. FactCheck.org will check facts of speeches, advertisements and more for NBC.
What to Know Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, civil rights violations and misusing the bridge to get back at mayor

They face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on wire fraud conspiracy, the top charge against them

Christie has not been charged in the criminal case and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing

Deliberations were set to enter a fifth day Friday after a federal jury went home Thursday without reaching a verdict in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial of two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

Four days into deliberations, the jury left the courthouse without sending any questions to the judge. That was in contrast to Tuesday's session when they raised several questions about the counts in the indictment against Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni.

Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, his top appointee to the bridge authority, are charged with scheming to use traffic jams to punish a Democratic mayor who didn't endorse Christie in 2013.

Defense attorneys were busy for a second day filing motions with U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton. The most intriguing was a motion for a mistrial that was almost entirely blacked out. Attorneys would give no details on what the motion contained, and Wigenton allowed the prosecution to file its response to the motion under seal, away from public view.

While Wigenton had yet to rule on the mistrial motion Thursday, she denied a motion filed Wednesday in which defense attorneys asked her to give a different answer to jurors' questions about the top conspiracy count in the indictment.

The defense wanted to have jurors determine the defendants' guilt or innocence based on whether the government proved there was a plot to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

Under conspiracy law, however, the motive or intent behind a conspiracy doesn't always have to be proved; only the agreement to break the law does. In this case, the primary crime alleged was misusing the property of an organization receiving federal benefits  the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge.

In a related motion filed Thursday, defense attorneys sought to have Wigenton instruct jurors to ignore evidence the government presented that purportedly showed the defendants also tried to retaliate against Democratic Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop for not endorsing Christie.

Prosecutors grilled a former top aide to Governor Christie during cross examination in the so-called Bridgegate trial. Bridget Kelly is still standing by her claim that she thought it was part of a traffic study. Brian Thompson reports.

In the motion, they wrote the evidence was presented to support the prosecution's theory of punishment as a motive and noted that Wigenton has ruled jurors don't have to conclude the defendants had that motive to find them guilty of conspiracy.

Top Tri-State News Photos

Christie has denied any knowledge of the plot and wasn't charged. But Kelly, Baroni and another Port Authority official all testified Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on.

The most serious charges against Kelly and Baroni carry the possibility of 20 years in prison.
What to Know Police say a Long Island man killed his wife and took off when his 12-year-old son called police

The man allegedly led police on a 30-mile chase across Long Island and Brooklyn before getting into a fiery crash at a gas station

Police say the man charged officers at the gas station; three officers were injured trying to subdue him

A Long Island man stabbed his wife to death and then led police on a 30-mile chase that ended in a fiery crash in Brooklyn, authorities said.

Authorities say the man stabbed his 41-year-old wife to death at their home on Seitz Drive early Friday while the couple's children were in the house. Their 16-year-old daughter suffered defensive wounds to her arms, hands and legs, police said. Their 12-year-old son, who was not harmed, called police.

Officers responded around 12:40 a.m. and eventually tracked down the man on the Southern State Parkway. As officers approached him, the man took off down the parkway, according to police.

The cross-county pursuit covered 30 miles and took police onto the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, authorities said.

The man got off the Belt Parkway at Pennsylvania Avenue, where he crashed at a Flatlands Avenue gas station in East New York, according to police. His vehicle hit a gas pump and another car and then burst into flames, sending plumes of smoke floating over surrounding streets.

Ben Williams witnessed the chase and the crash. He says the police were trying to perform some sort of PIT maneuver before the suspect hit a gas pump.

"The guy lost control of the car, went up into the gas station. As soon as he hit the pump on the right side, the car exploded," Williams said.

The man then allegedly got out of his car and charged at officers. Four officers were eventually able to subdue him.

Three officers suffered injuries during the skirmish. They were all taken to an area hospital to be treated for a head injury, arm injury and smoke inhalation, respectively.

The suspect was taken into custody and transported to Brookdale Hospital, where he was undergoing surgery for self-inflicted stab wounds to his neck and wrist.

There was a heavy police presence at the Bethpage home and at the scene of the suspect's charred car in Brooklyn on Friday morning.

Police said that they were called to the home this past March because of a fight between the man and his son. It's unclear if it was the 12-year-old son who called police or another son.
What to Know The U.S. government is taking steps to prepare for potentially devastating cyber attacks on Election Day

Lawmakers investigating the deadly NJ Transit train crash may get a chance to question agency officials on Friday

A man allegedly killed his wife before leading police on a 30-mile chase across Long Island and Brooklyn early Friday, police said

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here.

*We'll be off Monday, Nov.8 and will return Tuesday, Nov. 8.

U.S. Prepares for Cyber Mayhem

The U.S. government believes hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to undermine next week's presidential election and is mounting an unprecedented effort to counter their meddling, American officials told NBC News. Officials say steps are being taken to prepare for worst-case scenarios, including a cyber-attack that shuts down part of the power grid or the internet.

Candidates Focus on Blue-Collar States

Hillary Clinton is rushing to secure Michigan and bolster the Democrats' vaunted blue wall of upper Midwestern states that have backed the party's presidential nominee for two decades, sending in reinforcements as Donald Trump aims to blow up the former secretary of state's path to 270 electoral votes. If Trump manages to win blue-collar states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, it opens more pathways for him to overtake Clinton. Trailing in several battleground states, Trump's fortunes have improved since FBI Director James Comey's stunning announcement that the bureau was looking into emails that may be related to the investigation into Clinton's use of a private server. Despite the announcement, early voting suggests an edge for Clinton with the election less than a week away.

Historic Speech in Spanish

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine made history Thursday as he delivered what was called the first speech completely in Spanish by a candidate at an organized campaign rally during a presidential election, NBC News reported. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's wife, Melania, made a rare public appearance Thursday, delivering a get-out-the vote speech in the Philadelphia suburbs. The speech focused on her husband's vision for American women, children and families. She said she would be commited to fighting cyber bullying.

NJ Transit Officials Face Lawmakers

Lawmakers investigating September's deadly New Jersey Transit train crash could finally get a chance to question the top agency officials who skipped out on an oversight hearing last month. NJ Transit says new executive director Steve Santoro and other key leaders will testify before the legislative committee on Friday. They likely will face questioning about NJ Transit's poor safety record and high breakdown rate. One woman died and more than 100 people were injured when a packed NJ Transit train going twice the 10 mph speed limit slammed into a bumping post at Hoboken Terminal on Sept. 29.

Long Island Police Chase

A Long Island man stabbed his wife to death and then led police on a 30-mile chase that ended in a fiery crash in Brooklyn, authorities said. The mans son called police after his dad allegedly stabbed his mother and attacked his sister, sparking the cross-county chase that ended when the man crashed into a gas station pump in East New York, according to officials.

Santa Endorses Pot

A man named Santa Claus has thrown his support behind marijuana after the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, voted to ban the sale of pot. Alaska legalized the sale of marijuana last year but communities are allowed to opt out. "I think they are not in this particular instance are not embracing the sprit of love," Claus said. "I think what they're doing is engendering hate, which comes from fear."
Police released new video of a man they say set two NYPD police cars ablaze on Staten Island this week.

The arsonist started two fires at the 120th precinct on Richmond Terrace on Wednesday morning, according to police. The fires damaged two unoccupied NYPD vehicles at the precinct.

The suspect took off north down Richmond Terrace then west on Hamilton Avenue after setting the fires.

The NYPD asks anyone with information to call 1-800-577-TIPS.
Most Americans will cast their votes without any problems on Election Day, but some may be challenged on their voting eligibility, experience or witness voter intimidation, or have trouble finding the right polling place.

There have been reports of several voting issues across the U.S. during early voting: A Texas judge ordered local election officials in San Antonio to stop incorrectly telling voters that photo ID is required to cast a ballot; an Iowa woman was charged with voter fraud after she allegedly voted for Donald Trump a second time; and civil rights advocates in North Carolina said voters were illegally dropped from registration lists after their eligibility was challenged.

The nations largest nonpartisan coalition of more than 100 organizations, led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has been fielding voters complaints from across the country since the primaries. The coalition will ramp up its efforts on Election Day, bringing 4,500 legal volunteers and 2,500 grassroots volunteers to help answer questions from voters calling into their Election Protection hotline.

[NATL] Highlights From the 2016 Campaign Trail

They can be reached at 866-OUR-VOTE (English only), 888-VE-Y-VOTA (English/Spanish) and 888-API-VOTE (English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Tagalog).

Were bracing for a higher volume of calls on Elections Day and remain vigilant, said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director at the Lawyers Committee. We want to ensure that voters are able to cast their ballot free from discrimination and harassment.

Heres what you should know before heading to the polls:

Am I ready to vote?:

Among the most frequently asked questions from people calling the Election Protection hotline over the years are: Am I registered? Where do I vote? What do I need to bring with me?

Voting laws vary from state to state and before casting a ballot voters should verify that they are registered to vote at their current address, find out where their polling place is and ensure they have the proper form of identification required by state law  if ID is even required. People who moved recently and did not change their address for voting purposes may face additional obstacles in getting to the right voting place or will have to cast a provisional ballot, instead. Contact your local board of elections to ensure youre registered to vote and check out this vote prep plan. Google has also made it easy to find out where your polling place is.

Still confused? Call the hotline.

Were on the phones, but were also sitting in front of the computer and we can help people in real time by finding their voter information, said Adam Laughton, an associate at Seyfarth Shaw law firm who will serve as a call center captain in Houston, Texas.

He added that local election board websites often get overwhelmed on Election Day, so calling the hotline can be the quickest way to access voter registration information. Election Protection volunteers can also be found at many polling places and there are lawn signs in front of polling sites advertising the hotline.

Voter ID Laws:

Voter ID laws vary from state to state and a recent national survey found that Americans are confused about voter ID laws. According to the survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, some voters live in states that do not require identification to vote but think it is needed. Others live in states that require IDs but mistakenly believe they do not need one to vote, the survey found.

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Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have no identification requirement, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty-two states request identification but provide conditions that permit voters without it to cast a ballot without requirements to confirm identity. That means voters can cast a provisional ballot or sign an affidavit of identity in order to vote. Ten remaining states have strict identification requirements. Check your state's requirements before heading to the polls as there have been changes to some states voter ID laws.

In the summer of 2013 the Supreme Court eliminated a vital provision of the Voting Rights Act, triggering more than a dozen state legislatures to pass restrictive voter ID laws. Federal courts across the U.S. have overturned, challenged or blocked some of those laws.

With millions of votes already cast in the U.S. presidential election pointing to an advantage for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in critical battleground states, as well as signs of strength in traditionally Republican territory, both candidates were pushing get-out-the-vote efforts Thursday in the key swing states of Ohio and North Carolina.

One such example is the Texas voter identification law. A federal appeals court loosened ID rules in July, allowing voters to present alternative documentation such as a voter registration certificate or a utility bill and sign a document affirming a reasonable difficulty in obtaining a photo ID. Despite the ruling, voting rights groups say not all polling locations are relaying that message.

Laughton said incorrect printed instructions about the voter ID law were posted in polling places in San Antonio and the hotline has been fielding calls from confused voters and poll workers across the state.

"Poll workers just dont have the grasp on the final points of the law and how its changed or the workaround the court put in place," he said.

Voters Being Challenged:

A voters eligibility can be questioned before they complete and cast a ballot by voter challengers at polling sites, according to the Lawyers Committee. The voting challengers might be appointed by political parties or other organizations, depending on state law. These voter challenges are often fraught with discriminatory practices and can intimidate qualified voters from voting, the Lawyers Committee said.

As Hillary Clinton traverses battleground states across the country in the final stretch of the presidential election, Donald Trump took a detour from the campaign trail for the ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday of his Washington, D.C. hotel  but his remarks made clear the race to the White House was not far from mind. Trump claims the hotel is a...

Generally speaking, your identity your citizenship, whether youve already voted, those are all reasons someone can properly challenge a voter, said Adam Humann, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis law firm in New York which is running one of the Election Protection call centers. Things like race, ethnicity, gender  those are not proper basis to challenge a voter.

Each state has a different procedure for how to overcome a challenge. The Lawyers Committee recommends that if someone is challenged at a polling site they should contact the hotline so an attorney could walk them through the process.

The first thing is to remain calm and recognize that in every state theres a legitimate basis for people to challenge voters and thats done to protect the integrity of the system, Humann said. There should be election officials on site who can assist if there are voter challenge issues and heres a lot of resources if youre worried that people are making improper challenges or acting improperly.

Voter Intimidation:

Theres a history of voter intimidation in past U.S. elections and this year may not be any different. According to Clarke, voters have been calling the Election Protection hotline with complaints that they felt intimidated when showing up to vote early. In Texas, Laughton said, there have been instances of unofficial poll workers and campaign volunteers telling voters at a polling places to go to a non-existent polling site.

Footage shows towering flames in San Francisco as crews battle a fire caused by a gas explosion.

We encourage people to call our hotline even if it doesnt personally affect them but they see something wrong at the polling place, if its intimidating signs, presence, or poll workers acting inappropriately, Laughton said. He added that volunteers can contact a county attorneys office which may direct deputies to go to a polling place if theres a disruptive situation.

The Lawyers Committee suggests the following steps when met with voter intimidation: First, do not engage. Second, continue inside and make sure you vote. Then notify a poll worker or official. Third, call the Election Protection hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). From there, concerned voters can pass along info and local polling officials will be notified and take the proper next steps.

In addition to answering the hotlines, the coalition has representatives on the ground at polling places in 28 states. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which supports state and county election officials, will be monitoring for voter fraud and disruptive election behavior.

Provisional Ballots:

If a voter is not able to cast a regular ballot because their name is not appearing on the registration list at the polling place, the voter does not have a required form of voter identification, or an election official challenges the voters eligibility, they should cast a provisional ballot.

After a voter has cast a provisional ballot, election officials determine whether or not to count the provisional ballot by verifying the voters eligibility. Depending on the state, a voter might have to take additional steps to verify eligibility in order for the provisional ballot to count.

According to the Lawyers Committee, many poll workers are improperly trained to handle provisional ballots, and may fail to inform voters of their right to it. They can also mistakenly misinform an eligible voter entitled to cast a regular ballot that the voter must instead cast provisional ballot.

A provisional ballot is the last resort, said Laughton. They will be counted several days after the election.

There are no clear and uniform standards for counting provisional ballots, according to the Lawyers Committee and many states do not count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct, while others do. Provisional ballots can also be rejected if the voter is not registered to vote, the voter did not complete or sign the provisional ballot or the voter did not provide sufficient identification.

Problems With Voting Machines:

There are various types of new and old voting machines being used across the U.S. and if you see a machines malfunctioning, alert a poll worker or call the Election Protection hotline.

Anyone using an electronic voting machine, kind of like an ATM, make sure it has registered your vote for the candidate you intended to vote for before you press that last button to submit your vote, said Marjorie Lindblom, a retired partner at Kirkland & Ellis and the former national co-chair of the Lawyers' Committee. Just always check to make sure your vote is going to count correctly.

When Kevin Leighty went to get the paper Friday morning, he noticed something was off with the Donald Trump sign he and his wife had put in the front yard of their Platteville, Wisconsin, home. The frame holding it was there, but there was no sign. They reviewed surveillance video from cameras they have on their house, and found a...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised suspicions in late October about the voting machines in Texas despite producing no evidence of an actual problem.

"A lot of call-ins about vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas. People are not happy. BIG lines. What is going on?" Trump said in a tweet.

But Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos, a Republican, said that there was no evidence of vote-flipping, a term that's used to describe a correctable technical glitch on older electronic voting machines.

Loughton said if a voter notices a lot of machines down, the line getting long, and poll workers not acting to resolve it, report the problem to the Election Protection hotline. Long lines can mean theres a high turnout or that a county has done a poor job planning and didnt get enough machines and poll workers, he said.

Another issue that's come up in early voting this year are voter selfies. Nineteen states prohibit posting photos of ballots and voting laws for ballot selfies are unclear in a dozen states, according to reports.

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Your credit and debit card information could have been put at risk if you shopped at a popular clothing store in two Montgomery County Malls.

Primark US Corp. is warning customers to check their credit and debit card statements after discovering card skimmers at several of their locations, including the King of Prussia and Willow Grove Park malls.

In a post on the clothing companys website, officials announced that the skimmers were discovered on Oct. 17 at five locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey (Raceway Mall in Freehold), Massachusetts and Connecticut. The skimmers were immediately removed and law enforcement notified.

Skimmers are devices that steal data from the magnetic strip of payment cards. Criminals can then use the data to make fake cards or to charge purchases online.

The devices are usually smaller than a deck of cards and the average user may not notice them.

The company believes that some, but not all, transactions from July 29 through the discovery of the devices in October may be impacted.

The company says it contacted local law enforcement and that the devices were removed immediately after being discovered. Upper Merion Township Police Lt. Michael Martin told NBC10 his agency removed the device at the King of Prussia Mall and have spoken with other agencies in various states about the investigation.

Primark encouraged customers to check credit and debit card statements and their credit report. The company said it is working with authorities to identify the suspects involved in placing the skimmers. [[238904721, C]]

As of Friday, Upper Merion police hadn't heard from any victims, said Martin.

The company stressed that it does not store customer card data on any of its systems and that there was no attempt to access Primark systems.

"We sincerely regret that this happened and will continue to put the right measures in place to maintain the security of your information," Primark posted.

For more information, visit the Primark website or contact them at 1-866-611-5796.
A 21-year-old man and a 21-month-old boy were killed in a Thursday night shooting in New Jersey, prosecutors said.

The toddler and his uncle, Morlens Millice, were both pronounced dead after authorities were called to the scene on Cleveland Street in Orange at about 3:40 p.m., according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

The toddler's father, 20-year-old Richie Millien, was shot in the leg and feet. He is currently in the hospital being treated for his injuries. Family members told NBC 4 New York that Millice was released from jail just last week.

A 16-year-old who survived the shooting said he and his family were outdoors when a masked gunman opened fire, and that he followed them upstairs as they ran inside the house.

About a mile from the shooting scene, authorities were spotted dousing a blazing car that matched the description of one reportedly seen in the area around the time of the shooting. It's not yet clear if the burning car is linked to the shooting.

"We lost two lives today in Orange, due to senseless violence which is all too common across our nation," Mayor Dwayne Warren said. "My heart goes out to the families of the victims involved in this tragedy."

Warren said the city is working to equip residents with tools, like the new Orange TipLine, that help law enforcement keep the community safe.

Family members arrived at the victims' home on Cleveland Street Thursday evening, angry and grieving.

"They better find them before I find them," one relative said of the gunman. "They better find them, know that."

The shooting happened down the street from a school, right around dismissal time. One neighbor who didn't want to be named described the chaos.

"We heard 15 gunshots and everyone had to get down and run and look for cover, we didn't know where the bullets were coming from," he said.

An Orange resident who lives near where the burning car with Delaware plates was found said he heard what sounded like firecrackers.

"As we walked by, a car sped down the street," said Patrick Cassidy. "Within five minutes, fire trucks came and there was a torched car."
With only days until the presidential election both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton set their sights on winning Pennsylvanias critical 20 electoral votes by campaigning in the Keystone State Friday.



Clinton spoke to supporters at a Pittsburgh Organizing Event at The Great Hall at Heinz Field around 12:45 p.m. Business mogul Mark Cuban introduced Clinton and took some swipes at Trump in his hometown.

Clinton also planned to campaign in neighboring Ohio Friday.



Trump planned to also campaign in Ohio as well as New Hampshire Friday before heading to Hershey, Pennsylvania for a 7 p.m. rally at the Giant Center arena.



You can watch both Clinton's and Trump's remarks LIVE on this page.



Recent polling has Clinton maintaining a lead in the battleground state. Despite that lead, Clinton plans to return to Philadelphia, the sight of the Democratic National Convention over the summer -- to hold an election eve rally with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. [[338107532, C]]
The Philadelphia Courts announced on their website that all citizens scheduled to report to jury duty are expected to attend, despite the inconveniences of the SEPTA Strike.

To help with transportation, the city supplied jurors with limited shuttle service serving North Broad, South Broad, West Market and Frankford loops. For access to the bus, jurors must show ID and juror summons or postcard.

The morning shuttle begins at 6 and picks up riders every 45-60 minutes. The last morning shuttle will leave at 9 a.m. The city published maps of the stops along each loop on the courts website.

During the evening rush, a shuttle will pick jurors up in front of the Municipal Services Building starting at 3 and continue until 7 p.m.

Each bus holds up to 50 seated passengers and stops will be marked by temporary signs, said the city.
SEPTA released a Survival Guide for customers during the strike. CLICK HERE to read it.

Commuters are hitting clogged roads, jumping on bikes and organizing carpools as the Philadelphia's transit strike enters Day 4.

Transit workers hit the picket lines again Friday morning as no contract agreement was reached overnight. [[399982521, C]]

On Thursday, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority asked for assurances from the city's striking transit union that it will suspend its walkout on Election Day if no contract agreement is reached by then. [[399426941, C]]

SEPTA strike latest:

1. Congressman Brady helping with negotiations.

2. Union rejects SEPTA offer.

3. Negotiations to resume this morning.  Matt DeLucia (@MattDeLucia) November 2, 2016

The agency says it will go to court to try to force transit employees to work on Nov. 8.

The head of the Transport Workers Union local says SEPTA should focus instead on reaching a settlement. [[399953961, C]]

The union's 4,700 workers walked off the job after midnight Monday, shutting down transit service that provides about 900,000 rides a day.

SEPTA SERVICES THAT ARE STILL RUNNING DURING STRIKE

Regional Rail

Norristown High Speed Line

Suburban Bus, Trolley Routes 101 & 102

LUCY (Loop through University City), Route 310 (Horsham Breeze), Routes 204, 205 and Cornwells Heights Parking Shuttle

CCT Connect: Regular Service will operate for registered ADA and Shared Ride customers. There may be some delays due to increased demand and local street traffic.

SEPTA SERVICES THAT ARE NOT RUNNING DURING STRIKE

City Bus Routes (Including Route 78, Cornwells Heights to Center City Express)

Market Frankford Line

Broad Street & Broad Ridge Spur Lines

Trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, and 36

CLICK HERE to read SEPTA's complete survival guide

NON-SEPTA SERVICES FOR STUDENTS AND VISITORS

Temple University student Victor Lourng created a map of bus routes that will run and provide services for students, hotel guests and some workers during the strike.

Here's my updated map of all the special student & visitor bus routes operating during the #SEPTAstrike: https://t.co/yOzXh8vGiY pic.twitter.com/QLbZAa0Obz  melody @ #promptconf2019  (@pixelyunicorn) November 7, 2016

UPENN'S SEPTA STRIKE CONTINGENCY PLAN

The University of Pennsylvania partnered with Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to provide complimentary transit services to all employees of these institutions and organizations at Penn. CLICK HERE for more information.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY'S SEPTA STRIKE CONTINGENCY PLAN

Temple University released contingency plans to help members of the university community during the strike. CLICK HERE to learn more.

UBER EXPANDS UBERPOOL COVERAGE

Uber announced they would expand its uberPOOL coverage throughout the greater Philadelphia area during the strike. CLICK HERE to learn more.

LYFT SERVICES



Lyft announced prices will remain low for passengers during the strike. CLICK HERE to learn more.

ZIPCAR DISCOUNTS

Zipcar announced they would discount its cars in Philadelphia with $5 hourly reservations available on more than 100 zipcars near SEPTA stops for those who are without transportation. CLICK HERE to learn more.

BIKESHARE

Indego increased the amount of bikes available at some key pickup and drop-off stations to deal with more bikers. CLICK HERE to learn more.

PPA DISCOUNTS, RELAXED ENFORCEMENT

The Philadelphia Parking Authority discounted parking prices at some garages and relaxed residential and meter parking rules to deal with more drivers in Philadelphia. CLICK HERE to learn more.
Its that time of year again. Theres just something about San Diego -- maybe it has to do with the weather; maybe it has to do with our city's sunny disposition; but maybe, just maybe, it has everything to do with music.

Now in its 10th year, Nov. 11-12 marks the return of the annual San Diego Music Thing with a parade of bands and industry-related conference panels. However, this years Thing is a little different: In the past, the SDMT routinely spanned three days (with Thursdays serving mostly as a day of panels and a kickoff party) and incorporated upward of 10-15 venues and more than 100 artists, 2016s iteration is quite a bit leaner in scope. Focusing on smaller neighborhood venues, the event is now two days long (Friday and Saturday), features half the number of bands, and panels will take place at the recently opened ChuckAlek Biergarten in North Park, instead of inside the generic, beige-toned conference rooms of a Mission Valley hotel (that's a good call right there).

While a far cry from the Things of years past, sometimes less is more. In SDMTs case, trimming the fat and making it more focused might actually benefit the long-running music fest. A few prior Things were so massive, it was hard to navigate the literal sprawl. The San Diego Music Foundation, which organizes the yearly event (and recently scrapped this year's San Diego Music Awards), has concentrated its efforts in North Park for these festivities -- tapping Bar Pink, the Office, U31, the Irenic, the Merrow (full disclosure, the club I book), the Casbah and Music Box as venues.

More importantly, marquee acts set to touch down on this year's fest include Touche Amore, Geographer, Kim & the Created, The Dead Ships, Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, Carseat Headrest, White Fang, Har Mar Superstar, and Health (among others).

Of course, thats only a few of the more than 45 performing bands. As they do every year, organizers have filled out the various shows with locals galore. San Diegans tapped to play include Little Hurricane, Rob Crow's Gloomy Place, Wild Wild Wets (SoundDiego Halloween faves), SoundDiego Record Club inductees Hexa and Glass Spells, Bit Maps, the Bassics, Bang Pow (who partied with us recently), the criminally unsigned Taken by Canadians, and more.

The conference panels -- which run from 3-6 p.m. on Nov. 11 and from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Nov. 12 -- span music industry topics such as Social Media/PR, Labels, Booking, Touring, Recording, and Local Media so if youre a musician looking to further your career, theyll provide invaluable information and are great Q&A sessions (and networking opportunities) with individuals who know what they're talking about. If youre strictly a music fan though and dont exactly dream of rocking stages across the world, the panels are still fascinating -- offering a glimpse inside the inner workings of an always-changing industry.

Either way, San Diegans now have a myriad of reasons to head out n' about for live music on Nov. 11-12. Single-show tickets and all-day wristbands are available and prices range from $10 to $50.

Heads up for ticket buyers: According to the SDMT website, Tickets must be redeemed for event wristband at SDMT registration 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Nov. 10-12 at Art Produce Gallery (3139 University Ave.). Note that single event tickets do not need to be redeemed for wristbands, only the multi-day passes (which admit entrance to every SDMT event). Visit the site for more information and tickets.

Dustin Lothspeich is a SoundDiego Associate Editor, books The Merrow, plays in Diamond Lakes, and runs the music-equipment-worshipping blog Gear and Loathing in San Diego. Follow his updates on Twitter or contact him directly.
It was a week of ups and downs in San Diegos food and drink scene. Eater San Diego shares the top stories of the week, including the sad news of Carnitas' Snack Shack shuttering in Del Mar and the scoop on a new brewery tapping into North Park.

Carnitas' Snack Shack Will Shutter in North County

The popular pork-centric concept, which has bustling locations in North Park and the Embarcadero, plans to pull the plug on its location in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center on Dec. 31. The North County location first opened in 2014.

[G] Dual Poke and Tiki Spot to Debut in Pacific Beach

First Brewery Launches in New North Park Beer Hub

The Brewery Igniter project, which helps to kickstart budding craft breweries, has seen the first of its resident breweries launch in its new North Park beer hub. J & I Eppig Brewing has beer roots that date back to the 19th century; the modern brewery, manned by two Ballast Point alums, is making everything from German-style beers to San Diego signatures.

[G] Dual Poke and Tiki Spot to Debut in Pacific Beach

Pacific Beach's Tiki Bar & Poke Shop Combo Reveals Menus

The team behind Kettner Exchange will unveil their newest projects Monday: a dual-concept poke-meets-tiki spot in Pacific Beach. Good Time Poke, a casual daytime eatery, will front a hidden tiki bar, The Grass Skirt; sneak a peek at the food and drink menus before they open.

The 8th annual San Diego Beer Week goes down Nov. 4 through Nov. 13, with approximately 500 brew-focused events around the county over the course of those 10 days. NBC 7s Monica Garske speaks with Jill Davidson, president of the San Diego Brewers Guild, about whats on tap for Beer Week and beyond.

Downtown's Saltbox Switching to Mexican Street Food Concept

Saltbox Dining & Drinking in the Hotel Palomar will close beginning next week for an overhaul and renovation. Reopening in its place in early 2017 will be Curadero, where the menu will focus on soulful Mexican street food, from tacos to ceviche and braised meats, with a bar featuring agave spirits, Mexican beer and wine.

Grilled Cheese Concept Expanding to Del Mar

Grater Grilled Cheese, a food truck turned brick-and-mortar storefront with eateries in La Jolla and Mission Valley, has announced plans to open a third location in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center complex, due to debut in early 2017.

Candice Woo is the founding editor of Eater San Diego, a leading source for news about San Diegos restaurant and bar scene. Keep up with the latest Eater San Diego content via Facebook or Twitter, and sign up for Eater San Diegos newsletter here.


A man who admitted to stabbing a father-of-two to death in Encanto said there were at least two months of threats and hostile texts leading up to the fatal stabbing last month.

Miguel Ramos, 20, told NBC 7 San Diego he has nothing to hide, and he wants to set the record straight and tell his side of the story. Ramos said the fatal stabbing was in self defense.

"It's not the, I'm not able to do something like that, but when somebody comes and invades your home with your family in there, and kids, I mean, what man wouldn't do anything to protect their family," he said.

The killing happened early on Sunday, Oct. 9, when Ramos fatally stabbed 44-year-old Robert Acevedo in front of his girlfriend, Sarah. The victim was a Lemon Grove resident and father-of-two.

Sarah was married to Acevedo and had an 8-year-old son with him. She began dating Ramos while the two were separated.

Ramos claimed the victim had been taunting him for months leading up to the incident and sent him threatening texts. In those texts, Acevedo said he would hurt Ramos and his wife.

Ramos' attorney said Acevedo sent threatening texts to Sarah the night of the incident.

One of them reads, "Tonight is not going to be good for him. Everybody has a routine, I watch, I learn, I know."

The night of the stabbing, Ramos said, Acevedo and at least one other man had gone to his home with the intent to harm him. NBC 7 contacted the family of Robert Acevedo and they declined to comment or talk to NBC 7 for the story.

According to Ramos, Acevedo came to his home and tried to fight him. Fearing for his life, Ramos ran inside, grabbed a fishing knife, and fatally stabbed him in the front yard.

"When I left I couldn't even drive because I was still shooken up about the situation. I was driving around and I sat in the car and I just was thinking to myself," Ramos said. "I'm in disbelief. It's so surreal. I didn't know what to do. I was scared."

Ramos says he still feels like his life is being threatened by people who knew Acevedo, and he wants it to stop.

The 20-year-old suspect turned himself in to authorities the following day, San Diego Police said. However, the DA declined to file criminal charges against him. They agreed it was a case of self defense.

Ramos said he is still haunted by the killing and what happened that night.

"It just seems so surreal, I've never experienced something like that in my life, so just the fact that it happened. After it happened I was stuck, I didn't move from where I was, I was shaking, I was...I'm not ever able to do something like that," he said.

Ramos' attorney, Vikas Bajaj, told NBC 7 there was not enough for the DA's office to charge Ramos with murder. The San Diego Police Department's Homicide Unit said there were no other suspects involved in the murder.
Qualcomm in San Diego is working on developing a new technology that could push the speeds of cell phones to 5Gspeeds for most smart phones are currently 3G or 4G.

The technology is designed to make phones work faster and bring several new devices to the playing field, including virtual reality goggles, according to Qualcomm.

The awesome factor really comes down to, imagine connectivity that's almost unlimited, said Matt Branda, from Qualcomm.

He added that Qualcomm is working on developing a technology to embed sensors that could help fight wildfires.

Imagine a fleet of drones that you can utilize to address that fire without having a person physically there, he said.

Sherif Hanna, from Qualcomm, also told NBC 7 that at the center of the technology are new, tiny antennas that will increase internet speeds and connect your devices to the online world.

They're going to be peppered throughout a building, in a campus like here, in a university, in a shopping mall or an airport and everywhere you're walking, Hanna said. These tiny little antennas are pushing super fast internet connectivity to your phone. Completely different from the way we do wireless technology today.

The company has already promoting its 5-G technology through several promotional videostouting remote health care, autonomous cars and drones.

Lets say you want to download five movies before getting on an airplane for a transcontinental flight. You'd be able to do that in a few seconds as opposed to hours and hours, said Hanna.

Branda added that the new technology will create a layer of connectivity between infrastructures, vehicles as well as our health care systems.

We're also talking about billions of sensors that will be embedded in cities, farms, in health care devices that are going to allow us, allow new industries to benefit from this ubiquitous connectivity that we get with mobile networks, he told NBC 7.

Qualcomm expects 5G networks to go live in the first half of 2018, with broader availability in 2019. Once it arrives, the cost of any device using 5G technology will depend on the service provider for your cell phone.
A Ramona man who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and causing a fiery, head-on crash on State Route 67 that killed a recent college graduate will spend the next several years in prison.

Roy Dunkin, 51, pleaded guilty two months ago to gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence in the Aug. 20 crash that claimed the life of Lucas Riley, 24.

On Friday, in a courtroom packed with Riley's loved ones, a judge handed down the maximum sentence to Dunkin in his case: 11 years and 8 months behind bars.

Lucas Riley was a fixture in the San Diego community and spent his time helping others with a ministry group. NBC 7s Artie Ojeda has more on his tragic death.

Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright said Dunkin will serve 5 years and 10 months of that sentence, per the way the law is set up. He has 76 days of credit from his time in jail.

Bright said the San Diego District Attorney's Office working to get DUI legislation changed, making it a top priority.

"It shocks me. Gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is considered a serious felony, but not a violent felony; whereas DUI causing injury is considered both serious and violent," Bright said. "So what does that mean? That means that if you kill someone under the influence, youll actually spend less time in prison than if you injure them."

Riley Family Photo

On Aug. 20, as Dunkin drove his large GMC truck on SR-67, he had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .16 to .18 in his system, about two times the legal limit, Bright said.

Dunkin had been celebrating at his granddaughter's first birthday earlier in the day, where he had several beers. At Friday's sentencing hearing, Bright also revealed that 170 full beers were found in Dunkin's truck.

As he drove, Dunkin ran through a stop light but kept going. He hit another car, injuring three people, and continued to drive on SR-67.

Then, Dunkin veered across the road and plowed head-on into Rileys Mini Cooper, trapping Riley inside the vehicle. The impact from the collision set the Mini Cooper on fire.

"[Riley] literally had no chance," said Bright.

The young man died at the scene.

On Friday, Riley's family told reporters Riley was in Ramona that day checking out a part for his car that he found in an ad on Craigslist. Typically, they said Riley was never really in that part of town.

Riley was a recent graduate of San Diegos Point Loma Nazarene University  a talented art major whose work is on display at the Cedar Street Parking Garage in Little Italy.

He was also engaged to be married. After his tragic death, his fiancee told NBC 7 Riley was a loving, caring man. She begged the public: Please dont drink and drive, please.

Riley Family Photo

Bright, who has handled deadly DUI cases in San Diego for the past 10 years, said this case was one of the hardest ones she's ever worked on.

Bright said there were 260 pages of victim impact statements turned in by the Riley's family and friends -- about twice the volume she typically sees for high-profile cases like this.

"The letters and statements in court by the family were so heartwrenching, and so heartfelt -- their devastation so pure," said Bright.

Roy Dunkin pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter and other related charges. NBC 7s Matt Rascon has more.

Riley's father, Mark Riley, said his family wants to see serious changes made to the law when it comes to deadly DUI crashes like the one that took his son's life.

"We have a cultural problem, so what has to happen, is the law has to be put in perspective with what is happening," Mark told NBC 7. "These are murders. These are not accidents. These are willful incidents. Unfortunately, they keep happening."

Mark said Dunkin "had a loaded gun" when he drove drunk that day, and by having 170 beers in his truck.

He said the Riley family, who lives in Hawaii, will work to help other families impacted by deadly DUI crashes.

"We will certainly take an opportunity to punctuate what our son's murder means and how it will hopefully help with legislation," the grief-stricken father added. "You can't replace a life, you can't replace what this means by any sort of penalty or consequence."

Riley's mother, Tami, and his older brother, Cory, were also in San Diego Friday for Dunkin's sentencing hearing.

Tami told NBC 7 Riley was the youngest of her three children, and leaves behind Cory and a sister.

"He was well-loved in our family  he was the baby," said Tami. "His life touched so many people. He was loved by so many."

"Lucas was sort of innately kind," Cory added. "I would tell him things that I did wrong, or we would get in a fight, and he was bizarrely forgiving. That is one of the biggest attributes of my brother. And his acceptance of all people."

Last month, on Oct. 15, Tami came to San Diego from Hawaii to unite with other mothers for the Walk Like MADD 5K. At that time, Tami told NBC 7 she had to come out to join the fight against drunk driving.

Its still very emotional, Tami told NBC 7, fighting back tears. Weve all been devastated by this crash. Its necessary to make it public knowledge. As a family, we want to help the problem [of drunk driving] down here.

On the same day as the Walk Like MADD 5K in San Diego, DUI suspect Richard Sepolio, a 24-year-old active duty U.S. Navy sailor stationed in Coronado, drove his car off the Coronado Bridge ramp, plunging into a large crowd attending festival in Chicano Park, which sits below the bridge in Barrio Logan. The suspected DUI crash killed four people.

That night, as San Diego mourned the victims of the Chicano Park crash at a memorial, Tami was there. She told NBC 7 she had to be there to show support for the victims and their families and demand an end to the vicious cycle of deadly DUI crashes.

Dunkin did not address the court at his sentencing hearing but his daughter, Nicole Dunkin, and a family friend spoke on his behalf. Nicole said her father had been having a very difficult time in his personal life after the suicide of his son two years ago, which led him to use alcohol.
The family of Fallen San Diego Police (SDPD) Officer Jonathan "J.D." De Guzman and injured SDPD Officer Wade Irwin received a standing ovation during a ceremony honoring them.

De Guzman, 43, was killed in the line of duty on July 28 when he was shot multiple times point-blank during a traffic stop by a man now charged in his death. De Guzman's partner, Officer Irwin, was also shot point-blank during the attack, but survived.

A SDPD ceremony Thursday, held at MCAS Miramar's Bob Hope Theater, recognized the officers for their actions during a special recognition ceremony.

De Guzman's family accepted the Police Cross in honor of their loved one, an award given to officers who make the ultimate sacrifice.

"He is commended for his bravery and for his dedication to duty, which are in the finest tradition of the San Diego Police Department and the law enforcement profession," the speaker said as they handed out the award to his family.

Officer Irwin received the Medal of Valor and The Purple Heart for his actions that day as he stood with his family, including his young daughter.

The speaker described Irwin's heroic actions the night of the shooting.

"Officer Irwin was lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from the gunshot wound to his neck," he said. "Courageously, he pulled out his handgun and returned fire, successfully striking the suspect."

San Diego Police Department officials gave the families and recipients a standing ovation at the emotional ceremony.

During the ceremony, officials also recognized promotions and awardees within the department.
San Diego voters looking to avoid possible long lines on Election Day can head to the polls this weekend to cast their ballot.

The San Diego Registrar of Voters office will be open Saturday and Sunday for residents who would like to vote early.

NBC 7s Rory Devine heard from early voters at the Registrar of Voters Office who say they dont trust polling places or the U.S. Postal Service.

Long lines may be an issue on Election Day as voters fill out the longer, two-card ballot, said San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu in a statement. Weekend voting gives voters yet another option to cast their ballots or drop off their mail ballots before Election Day.

This is the first year San Diegans will fill out a two-card ballot, because of the large number of contests on the Nov. 8 election. On the ballot this year, there are over 180 decisions to make when voting.

Jerry Bob and Patty Beasley are warning others after one of their mail-in ballots came as one piece instead of two. NBC 7s Rory Devine is here to fill you in.

County officials are urging residents to plan ahead, do research and mark up a sample ballot before coming in to vote.

The office is located at 5600 Overland Avenue, San Diego, 92123 on the County Operations Center campus.

On both Saturday and Sunday, the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you have a mail-in ballot, you can drop it off at a number of locations across the county, including outside the registrar's office this weekend, on Monday or on Election Day.

Election officials are preparing to send out a record-number of mail-in ballots, including to voters in San Diego County. NBC 7S Chris Chan reports.

NBC 7s Chris Chan reports from the San Diego Registrar of Voters where staffers expect to send out 960,000 ballots this week.
Election got you stressed out? All over D.C., bars and restaurants are hosting election night watch parties for those who need to unwind -- but still want to keep up with the news.

Check out these spots to take advantage of themed drinks, menus and cocktail "polls" as you wait to see who'll be moving into the White House next.

Barcode (1101 17th St. NW)



DT Nation, an event management company in D.C., and Party Politics will host Judgment Day, an all-night event to wait out the results of the election. The night will be broken up into three parts: happy hour from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., election results from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., and the after-party starting after 11 p.m. and until 2 a.m. Enjoy drinks and music from DJs such as DJ Jahsonic, DJ Kerim, Malik the Drummer and Harry Hotter.

BlackFinn (1620 I St. NW)

If you are one of the first 75 people who arrive (and you have RSVPd on Facebook), youll get a free drink on the house. Didnt make it in time? There will still be $3 beers, $4 cocktails and $5 shots from 4 p.m. to to close.

Busboys and Poets (Various locations)

Each Busboys and Poets location will host an Election Day Watch Party 2016. In addition to screening the election results, there will be drink specials and "more surprises" in store. Check their event page for more details.

Democracy Prep Congress Heights (3100 Martin Luther King Jr Ave. SE)

Democracy Prep Congress Heights is hosting a election night watch party for the community with free admission, pizza and activities for children. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Kingbird (2650 Virginia Ave. NW)



Located in the Watergate Hotel, Kingbird -- the hotel's restaurant offering American cuisine with a French twist -- has an entire election night-themed menu planned for Tuesday. Grab a date and order dishes such as Hillary Clinton's Pickwick's Oliveburger or Trump's Battered Toast Crispy Fishwhich, and split the Winner Take All for dessert. The bar will serve cocktails named for things that happened along the campaign trail.

Maryland Live! Casino (7002 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover, Maryland)



The Rams Head Center Stage at Maryland Live! Casino will host an election night watch party with prize drawings every hour starting at 7 p.m. Attendees can win VIP DC tourist days, a tour of Philadelphia, a trip to Canada or Free Slot Play. At the casino, any Live! Rewards members who earn 500 points on Tuesday can swipe their card at any promotional kiosk to reveal Free Play of up to $5,000.

Penn Social (801 E St. NW)

Make sure you can see the election result with Penn Socials 22-foot screen. The night also includes special happy hour specials which run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in addition to $4 Samuel Adams beers all night.

Quarter + Glory (2017 14th St. NW)

Cast your ballot during Quarter and Glory's election week happy hour by choosing your favorite election-themed cocktail at this 14th & U spot. Your vote for The Undecided punch, Do the Donkey, Elephants Never Forget, You Be Hillin' or Get Trumped enters you in their election day raffle for a private cocktail class or a bottle of Macallan 12-year-old whiskey.

Quill (1200 16th St. NW)



Make sure to don your "I Voted" sticker if you plan on spending election night at Quill, The Jefferson's upscale cocktail bar in Logan Circle. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on election night, anyone wearing the sticker will receive half off their themed drinks. Hillary Clinton supporters can order any mixed drink with Rock Town Vodka, made in Arkansas where Hillary became first lady of the state when Bill Clinton became governor in 1979. Donald Trump supporters can indulge in the Holy Grail Mocktail, an allusion to the candidate's sobriety.

Shaws Tavern (520 Florida Ave. NW)

Dont want to miss any election results? Join Shaws Tavern at 5 p.m. to enjoy results on the bars 11 televisions with sound. The watch party also includes half-priced burgers and pizzas as well as drink specials.

Teddy and the Bully Bar (1200 19th St. NW)



Enjoy Trump steak bites or Clinton barbecue sliders at this south-of-Dupont bar that pays homage to 26th president Theodore Roosevelt. In addition to themed food, you'll find contests, special guests and giveaways. If you've been playing along with the bar's Cocktail Voter Poll, stop by to see whether the Trump Tower or the Clinton Email Box has been the more popular drink during the election cycle. Keep in mind there is a $50 minimum per person during Election Night. RSVP to reserve your spot.

Town Danceboutique (2009 8th St. NW)



The Human Rights Campaign, along with Victory Fund, which works to elect LBGT leaders to public office, will host an election night watch party at Shaw's Town Danceboutique. There will be food, dancing, drinking and big screens to watch the action. Doors open at 6 p.m., but make sure to RSVP -- seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Entrance is free, but there's a $10 suggested donation to pay for an annual Human Rights Campaign membership, which also comes with a thank you gift.

Did we miss your favorite spot? Tell us @dcscene!

ALSO SEE: After Casting Your Vote, Cash on These Election Day Deals, Freebies
A man who was at the center of a violent trafficking ring that sold women and girls for sex throughout Virginia has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Michael Maynes Jr., of Spring Lake, North Carolina, led a sex trafficking organization known as "Horse Block Pimpin."

Maynes prostituted 55 women and girls in Alexandria, Richmond and Charlottsville, according to prosecutors.

He convinced women to work for him by telling them he wanted a relationship with them or that they could keep some of the profits. Maynes also recruited women who were homeless or addicted to drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said Maynes and his accomplices used force, coercion and drugs to keep the women prostituting.

One victim said she was told if she wanted to see her baby again she had to continue to prostitute and send the proceeds to Maynes. She made as much as $1,000 a day.

"Her baby was being held for ransom," prosecutors said.

Maynes became emotional in court Friday saying, "I've never in my life been violent toward women. What they blame me for, I did not do."

However, Judge Liam O'Grady said Maynes had total control over every victim and he destroyed their lives.

Maynes' defense lawyer said the 35-year sentence is excessive.

"He was devastated....He knew the sentencing guidelines were very high. He was hopeful and he will definitely proceed with an appeal," said attorney Thomas Walsh.

Maynes' girlfriend and mother of his two children, Brittany Walker, was also charged with sex trafficking. According to court documents, Maynes recruited Walker to post advertisements, collect money and take the women to various hotels.

She testified against him after receiving a plea deal and has been sentenced to 27 months.
A stand-up comedian, a retired postal worker and a suburban property manager who wanted Bernie Sanders as a running mate are among the 52 people who have officially registered as write-in candidates for U.S. president in Maryland.

Maryland State Board of Elections records show a 60 percent spike in registered presidential write-in candidates in the 2016 election. The candidates include citizens from several states and a handful from the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Maryland.

Though the quantity of write-in candidates is highly unlikely to impact the outcome of the presidential race in Maryland, the increase is significant and creating extra work for employees of the State Board of Elections.

Several of the candidates told News4 they were inspired to run for the White House because of dissatisfaction with the federal government or the other candidates on the ballot.

Research scientist Dr. JJ Vogel-Walcutt, an officially registered write-in candidate from Orlando, Florida, said education is a top issue in her platform.

I am like a trainer you might use in the gym but for your brain, she said.

Her husband, Chris, is listed as her vice-presidential running mate. Her campaign website offers sales of coffee mugs reading I love America and high-heels colored with an image of the American flag.

Chris Jackson, a comic from Mitchellville, Maryland, who refers to herself as Sistah Soldjah, is also officially registered as a presidential candidate. When asked for her top campaign issue, Jackson responded common sense. She said her running mate would be someone named Missy Thang, because she doesn't miss a thing.

Other official candidates include Martin Carlisle, a college professor from Pennsylvania who said he is running for president to restore civility to government. Carlisle told News4 hes chosen a math professor from the University of North Texas as a running mate.

Retired U.S. Postal Service employee Richard Duncan of Ohio said his platform includes 10-year term limits for members of Congress to prevent government officials from being beholden to the wealthy.

Michael Puskar, a property manager from Gaithersburg, Maryland, said he officially registered as a write-in candidate because he wants a working class citizen to serve as president.

As for a veep, I would have liked Bernie Sanders simply for a political edge," Puskar said. All the write-ins he would have had, plus my filing in other states, and the simple fact of his popularity, might have given (us) a shear victory and history in the making.

Michael Maturen, a sales professional from northern Michigan, has chosen a running mate from Texas. Maturen said his platform includes creating local economies.

Laurence Kotlikoff, an economics professor from Boston, said growing debt and the threat of ISIS are his primary campaign issues.

House painter Joe Schriner said he is running as a concerned Midwestern parent "who doesn't want his kids, or anyone's kids, inheriting a world of abortion, climate change chaos, the nexus of unending terrorism and war, abject poverty, an astronomical national debt."

Ending abortion is his primary issue.

"With 60 million abortions to date in America, we are living in a modern-day Holocaust unparalleled in the history of mankind, and as president, I would regularly stand in solidarity with people protesting abortion on the streets in order to create a climate similar to what was created in the South to end segregation," he said. "It was those kinds of protests that finally drove the legislation to stop segregation, and it would be the same with abortion."

Flight attendant Mary Thomas first had the idea to run as a write-in candidate in 2012 before she was old enough to run when she saw Santa Claus as a write-in candidate.

"And naturally, my next thought was, well, if Santa Claus can get his name on the ballot, then why can't I?" she said.

She said her goal now is to reach voters dissatisfied with the major party candidates.

In 2012, Maryland had only 32 write-in candidates. They included former Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), TV star Roseanne Barr and a person listed officially as Santa Claus.

The deadline for registering as a write-in candidate for office in Maryland was 5 p.m. Tuesday. Filing fees were not required, but state law mandated all official candidates file a certificate of candidacy with the Maryland board of elections.

Vogul-Walcutt has posted instructions on how to cast a write-in vote on her campaign website, including guidance on how to spell her name.

In August, Maryland State Board of Elections Assistant Administrator Donna Duncan said the electronic voting systems used in prior elections made it easier for election officials to collect the names of write-in candidates. With the return of the paper ballots, the states records would include a spreadsheet in which images of cast ballots are stored, Duncan said. Those images will include the handwritten names of write-in choices.

According to records posted by the state board of elections, local vote canvassers will officially tally all votes received by officially registered write-in candidates.
Two employees of a school in Virginia are under fire after they dressed for Halloween as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton -- with "Clinton" wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.

A photo that was posted to the website of Robert E. Lee High School in Staunton, Virginia, showed a man dressed as Trump, complete with the blond wig, a Make America Great Again Hat and a Trump pin. He stood alongside a woman dressed in an orange jumpsuit, with a chain around her waist and a nametage that said "Hillary Clinton."

The photo, which was later removed from the site, showed school principal Mark Rowicki and secretary Stephanie Corbett, The Staunton News Leader reported.

Staunton VA principal "sorry if he offended anyone" with Trump, HRC-in-prison get-up. Obviously they teach non-apologies in school! @CBS6 pic.twitter.com/OrAlQs9AG2  Bill Fitzgerald (@BillFitzCBS6) November 3, 2016

Staunton City Schools superintendent Dr. Linda Reviea called the costumes "in poor judgment."

It is a longstanding tradition of Staunton City Schools  and of many school divisions across the United Statesto allow students and staff to engage in festive activities and dress in costume for Halloween. That said, the particular costumes worn by two employees at R.E. Lee High School were in poor judgment, especially so given the current political climate and the extraordinarily strong sentiments for the 2016 presidential candidates, she said in a statement published on the school's website.

Parents and community members took to social media to discuss the photo.

How unprofessional and inappropriate of your principal and secretary to dress like this. What an awful example you are setting for your students, one person wrote on the high school's Facebook page.

Other commenters called for action to be taken against Rowicki and Corbett and argued that they should not present their personal views at the school.

There are students of voting age at Lee, and it is your duty as educators to be impartial and to raise the level of discourse about our Democracy, another Facebook commenter wrote, saying she was the parent of a graduate of the school.

The district did not say whether the principal or secretary would be punished.

We are handling the situation as a personnel matter and addressing the issue with relevant staff, Reviea said.
The man accused of chaining a woman in a storage container for weeks had a violent past and was "preoccupied with sexual content" from a young age, according to details emerging as investigators search his rural property for bodies.

Teams digging on the property found one body Friday and feared there could be more.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette said the woman saw her captor shoot and kill her boyfriend, who went with her for a cleaning job on the suspect's property. The body discovered Friday was not immediately identified.

"This is a very, very dangerous individual," the prosecutor said.

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, a 45-year-old registered sex offender with a previous kidnapping conviction in Arizona, appeared Friday at a bond hearing in Spartanburg on a kidnapping charge. More charges are expected.

The judge did not set bond and instead referred the matter to circuit court. The suspect didn't appear to have an attorney.

Barnette said that in the Arizona case, Kohlhepp kidnapped a 14-year-old girl, bound her and raped her in 1986. Online prison records show he served about 14 years for the felony. He was released in 2001.

Records from the Arizona case obtained by WHNS-TV in South Carolina show that a judge decided in 1987 to transfer the case to adult court partly because of Kohlhepp's aggressive nature.

"At less than the age of 9 this juvenile was impulsive, explosive and preoccupied with sexual content. He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school," the judge wrote.

In the South Carolina case, the couple disappeared about Aug. 31 when they went to do the work on the suspect's nearly 100-acre property near Woodruff, said Daniel Herren, a friend who sat with the woman in her hospital room after she was rescued Thursday.

"They were going to do some work, help cleaning up the property. And he pulled out a gun and took them hostage," Herren said, adding that the abduction happened quickly.

The Associated Press is not naming the woman because the suspect is a sex offender, though authorities have not said whether she was sexually assaulted. Her boyfriend was identified as 32-year-old Charles Carver.

Herren said he did not ask the woman if she was sexually assaulted.

But she did describe to him the details of her captivity, telling him she was in the container nearly the entire time except for when she was taken out for occasional walks.

"He never took the chain off of her, but he was taking her around, let her get, not so much exercise, but let her walk around some," Herren said. "It didn't sound like it was every day. It was kind of sporadic."

She left the hospital late Thursday and is staying with family, Herren said.

The property includes grassy areas, some covered in waist-high weeds, as well as stands of trees. Most or all of it is surrounded by a chain-link fence 6 to 7 feet tall.

In the middle was the cargo container, which measured about 30 feet by 15 feet. It was next to a two-car garage that had a living space on top, Barnette said.

Guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized from Kohlhepp, the prosecutor said.

"It's unbelievable how much he had," he said, adding that Kohlhepp frequently took target practice in an area near the storage container.

Records show Kohlhepp received his South Carolina real-estate license in 2006 before a state law went into effect requiring background checks.

A real estate agent who worked at the firm run by Kohlhepp said she had known him for 10 years after they met at a university in the Spartanburg area and were study partners. She said she was in disbelief.

"He's not the kind of person to do something like this," Cherry Laurens said by phone. "Working with him he was an excellent boss. He stood up for us whenever we needed him."

She said it was widely known that he was registered as a sex offender, but he told people that it was based on trumped-up charges after he "had gone joyriding with a girl" and upset her father.

Kohlhepp made frequent online posts about moving around rocks and trimming trees at the rural property, according to the Facebook page that Laurens confirmed was his.

About two weeks after the couple disappeared, he wrote a post about news reports on missing people: "reading the news.. this person missing, that person missing, another person missing.. oh wait.. that person just went to beach with friend, other person found with her parole violation boyfriend... in the event I become missing, please note no one would take me. I eat too much and I am crabby..."
Hundreds gathered on Thursday at the University of Wisconsin-Stout to pay their last respects to classmate Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, NBC News reported.

The 24-year-old Saudi student was assaulted and left bloodied outside a pizzeria on a crowded street Sunday morning. He later died from the assault. Authorities are not dismissing the possibility that the attack was a hate crime. It is likely that many also witnessed the beating on Sunday, though there is only one viable witness.

More than 20 of Alnahdis closes friends shared their memories of him Thursday while holding candles. He was described as a man who bridged the gap between the Saudi and local community.
This campaign season has been rough -- don't let your election day end up that way, too! Check out our guide to voting etiquette and rules to make sure your Tuesday is a breeze.

Photo Identification

Washington, D.C.: The District doesn't require ID from voters who are already registered and have voted before -- but some polling places in D.C. do require ID to enter the facility. If you haven't registered to vote yet or you've only recently registered, you should bring a form of photo ID and proof of residence with you. (Note: D.C. is the only jurisdiction in the Metro area with same-day voter registration.)

Maryland: First-time voters in Maryland will be asked to show ID before voting. Make sure to bring a valid photo ID or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement or government document that shows your name and address. It must be dated within three months of the election.

Virginia: If you're voting in Virginia, you must bring photo ID with you to the polls! Bring a valid driver's license or identification card with you -- check out Virginia's Department of Elections for more forms of valid ID.

Electronics

Washington, D.C.: Although electronic devices such as cellphones can be used at polling places, taking pictures is discouraged in order to protect the integrity of the process and not disturb fellow voters, said Tamara L. Robinson, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Board of Elections. However, voters are permitted to use cellphones to consult notes for their ballot choices.

Maryland: In Maryland, it's illegal to use phones, cameras or other electronics at a polling place or early voting center. Keep them in your bag or pocket.

Virginia: Under Virginia law, you can use electronic devices inside the polling place so as long as you're not a representative of either candidate or political party. However, if you're disrupting the voting process in any way with an electronic device, then an election officer may ask you to leave. Even if you are asked to leave because of your cell phone or video camera, you'll be able to cast your ballot before doing so.

Ballot Selfies

Washington, D.C.: There isn't a ban on taking selfies with your ballot in D.C., although election officials discourage the behavior.

Maryland: It's not a good idea to take a selfie with your ballot in Maryland at the polling place, since it's illegal to have electronic devices at the polling place. (The only exception to the rule is members of the media, but they are not allowed to take a photo of you casting your ballot.) Otherwise, save the "I voted!" selfies until after you leave the polling place. Photos of mailed ballots are OK, though.

Virginia: Snap away if you want; ballot selfies are legal in Virginia. Nothing in Virginia law prohibits voters from taking pictures of themselves, fellow voters or their ballot within the polling place, Attorney General Mark Herring has said.

Clothing, Buttons or Stickers With Political Messages

Washington, D.C.: You will be asked to remove any political hats, buttons, T-shirts or other items, or cover them up before entering the polling place.

Maryland: Maryland allows voters at their polling places to wear clothing, buttons or stickers with political messages written on them; however, they will need to leave immediately after casting their votes.

Virginia: Virginia prohibits wearing campaign apparel within 40 feet of any entrance of a polling place.

Campaigning For/Against a Candidate or Ballot Issue

Also called electioneering, this practice includes handing out fliers, holding signs and encouraging voters to support or oppose a candidate or ballot question.

Washington, D.C.: It is illegal to display campaign materials within 50 feet of any polling location. It is also advised to remove any campaign buttons, Tshirts or similar items before arriving.

Maryland: Any electioneering must stay outside of designated boundaries, which can be up to 100 feet from the polling place entrance used by most voters. There should be signs reading "No Electioneering Beyond this Point" to mark the border.

Virginia: Electioneering is not allowed within the polling place the "prohibited area" 40 feet from any entrance to a building which houses a polling place. No one is allowed to wear campaign apparel, hand out campaign literature or encourage election or defeat of any candidate or issue on the ballot.

Bringing Children

Some students may not be going to school on Election Day, which means that you might be bringing your kids with you to the polls if you can't find a babysitter -- or if you want to making the voting process a teaching moment.

Washington, D.C.: Minors are allowed to go with voters to polling places in D.C. as long as they don't disrupt the voting experience of others, Robinson said.

Maryland: In Maryland, you can bring one or two children under the age of 18 years old with you to vote. Under Maryland law, so as long as they're not disrupting the voting procedures, they're allowed with you.

Virginia: In Virginia, you can bring a child age 15 or younger into the voting booth with you.
On Election Day, voters in Vermont's largest city will weigh in on a redevelopment proposal that could transform the core of downtown Burlington.

"This is a great opportunity for the city of Burlington," said Mayor Miro Weinberger of Burlington. "It's going to be a huge step forward for the city."

Weinberger and a coalition of project supporters spoke Thursday in favor of a "yes" vote on two special city ballot questions, numbers three and four.

Question three centers on a zoning change to allow a 1970s mall, the Burlington Town Center, to be converted for a mix of uses.

The mall, which has been plagued by vacancies in recent years, would be reborn as a center for offices, new retail, parking, and housing, including units for lower-income residents.

The redevelopment would be a roughly $250 million job from a private developer.

"It has an opportunity to really add new economic vitality downtown that has been lacking for a period of time," said Kelly Devine of the Burlington Business Association as she voiced support for the project Thursday.

Question four on the ballot tackles whether the city should take on public infrastructure improvements and new traffic flows around the property, including reclaiming portions of Pine Street and St. Paul Street that were blocked by the mall's construction during a period of "urban renewal" decades ago.

Under that tax increment financing, or TIF, mechanism, the promise of eventual tax revenues from the redeveloped mall property will pay back the debt from the more than $20 million in proposed street upgrades.

"Vote for progress and vote to make Burlington a more affordable city," said Kurt Wright, who represents Burlington's New North End on the City Council.

Wright said he believes expanding Burlington's tax base by adding property in the heart of the downtown will result in more revenue for the city, and eventually, tax relief for homeowners across the city.

The project's proposed height has been divisive.

The peaks of the redeveloped mall property would be about four stories higher than anything else on Burlington's skyline.

"We feel this is being forced upon us," Genese Grill of the Coalition for a Livable City told necn affiliate NBC5 Thursday. "We don't want big, corporate high-end retail stores, we don't want high-end-luxury apartments, we dont want above-ground parking garages, and we certainly dont want 14-story buildings in the center of our town."

Grill urged voters to say "no" to Tuesday's ballot questions. She said she has helped distribute signs to residents across the city to help them voice their opposition to the project.

However, advocates pledged to continue working through the weekend to convince city voters that now is the time to chart a fresh future.
After nearly being killed during a brutal attack, a Massachusetts woman is using her pain to encourage other women to be prepared.

Sarah Turner wants more women to take up martial arts, and she is leading by example, learning Krav Maga.

The self defense technique is focused on brutal counter attacks and real world situations.

"If they're there to hurt you, you have to be able to hurt them back," Turner said.

She doesn't ever want to be victimized again.

"It's still hard to believe it happened to me, and I have no idea why," she said.

Back in July, Turner was nearly killed inside her Salem home and is now blind in one eye. Peter Turco is charged in the attack and awaiting trial.

From 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, there will be a self defense fundraiser at Dragon Within Martial Arts at 11 Franklin St. in Salem to help with Turner's recovery.
Stabbed 24 times and left for dead in the thick underbrush of these woods off Route 3A in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

That was the testimony about the brutal July 2001 murder of 69-year-old Philip McCloskey that jurors heard Friday in the Gary Lee Sampson sentencing retrial.

Jurors then got a glimpse of Sampson from before he was a murderer on the run.

These surveillance photos show him from five separate bank robberies in North Carolina from May through July 2001.

The bank tellers took the stand, describing in detail Sampsons similar MO: coming in overdressed for the steamy North Carolina weather, wearing a hoodie, bandanna or ball cap and sunglasses.

"He produced a bag that he put on the counter ... just a plastic grocery bag ... he came in demanding 'no alarms, give me your money,' he didnt have any hesitation," bank manager Angela Yountz testified.

Bank teller Kimberly Rollins said Sampson "became a little agitated ... getting anxious with the fact I wasnt moving fast enough."

Head bank teller Amanda Laws, who was certain she was robbed by the same man twice, exactly two weeks apart, testified, "He stuck the gun out and to my chest ... very loudly he said 'no funny business and nobody gets hurt ... dont put the dye bomb in the bag or Ill blow your [expletive] head off, Ill be waiting for you.'"

The prosecution will continue presenting its evidence on Monday.
Police have arrested a suspect in the armed robbery of a bakery in Brookline, Massachusetts.

The suspect threatened employees at Athans Bakery on the corner of Washington and Beacon Streets, according to police.

No weapon was shown during the robbery, but the suspect did make off with some cash. Police were able to track the suspect nearby and make the arrest.

No injuries were reported.
Jurors in the sentencing retrial of a man facing the death penalty for carjacking and killing two Massachusetts men have listened to an audio recording of part of the man's confession.

Prosecutors played the audio Wednesday during the trial of Gary Sampson.

Sampson pleaded guilty and was given the death penalty in 2003, but a judge later granted him a new sentencing trial.

In the recording, Sampson said he returned to his hometown of Abington, Massachusetts, in July 2001, with the intention of killing the town's police chief. When he couldn't find him, he started walking, then hitchhiking. He said that's when he got a ride from his first victim, 69-year-old Philip McCloskey.

The families of Sampson's victims sat quietly listening to gruesome details about the killings.

Testimony is set to resume Thursday.
Three left turns that used to be legal in Inman Square are now banned as city leaders push to improve safety at one of the most dangerous intersections in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The signs went up Thursday, alerting drivers they would no longer be able to make left turns from Hampshire Street to Cambridge street in either direction. Left turns are also off limits from Cambridge Street to Antrim Street.

What some say is an inconvenience, others are calling a solution for the area prone to crashes.

There were more than 250 crashes involving cyclists near Inman Square last year. Amanda Phillips was killed while riding her bike at the intersection this year.

"It was just really tragic that something happened before they had a chance to act," Cambridge city councilor Jan Devereux said. "But this has given us new urgency and new momentum."

The momentum comes after a push from advocates including the Boston Cyclists Union. It has led to improvements that include clearer bike lanes and more signage, not just in Iman Square but also in Porter Square where Bernard Lavins was killed last month.

"Theres going to be a longer term change because its not enough," Cambridge city councilor Nadeem Mazen said. "It's got to be fully safe. It's got to be better designed in order to be safe for all modes of transportation."

City leaders hope to reconfigure the entire intersection, but that would not begin until September 2017 at the earliest after gathering public feedback. In the meantime, those caught making illegal left turns will be ticketed.
The allegations in the Boston Police report are startling - that drug team officers were aware that numerous employees of Atlantic Drain Service are chronic drug users saying they had witnessed employees purchasing illegal narcotics in the past. And they had received intel that an employee .was selling and using illegal narcotics out of the Atlantic Drain yard and an Atlantic Drain dump truck.

Boston Police arrested that employee  Dominick Revell  in September and when we dug deeper we found he has a lengthy criminal record littered with drug convictions and four OUIs  several of the arrests made when he was driving Atlantic Drain trucks.

According to court documents, his jobs at Atlantic Drain have ranged from back hoe operator to foreman  though the 45-year-old Franklin man does not have a commercial drivers license and his regular license has been suspended or revoked nearly two dozen times.

We asked Atlantic Drain owner Kevin Otto if he was turning a blind eye.

We asked him, Can you tell us why you let Dominick Revell keep driving your vehicles even after the OUIs and drug charges?

On the day of his arrest, Revelle was driving an Atlantic Drain dump truck and his brother Joseph was the passenger. According to the report, Joseph had three bags of crack in his sock telling officers he had purchased the crack cocaine earlier in the day from someone in the Atlantic Drain yard.

Police have been called to Atlantic Drain for drug-related issues multiple times in recent years, according to police reports obtained by necn Investigates.

Last summer, a recently-fired employee and a female companion were found after allegedly overdosing on heroin, "unresponsive, lips purple, barely breathing." Less than 12 hours later a different person was found dead inside the company  no cause of death was released, but police did not investigate further.

Asked what he thought of the drug allegations, Martin Hewitt said of the companys owner, He doesn't care. He just doesn't care. He goes home at night and he sleeps knowing that that's the type of people he has working for them.

Hewitt is the uncle of Robbie Higgins, who was killed along with fellow Atlantic Drain employee Kelvin Mattocks, in last months horrifying trench collapse. Hearing about the drug abuse allegations, Hewitt worries safety is not the companys top priority.

This wouldn't of happened, he said. Robbie would be here today. Because they would've taken more care.

What happened in the trench collapse is under investigation, but the accident revealed Atlantic Drain's history of what OSHA called serious and willful safety violations. And a disjointed process of city permitting  leaving many unanswered questions as to who  if anyone -- is responsible to investigate the safety records of private companies.

Some lawmakers have pushed to have drain companies licensed and regulated by the state - just like electricians or hair stylists.

necn Investigates put the issue to Governor Charlie Baker.

Baker said, That's exactly what I'm hoping comes out of the investigation, which is recommendations on what we can do to deal with this issue and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Hewitt was more impassioned.

Make an example out of him, he said. That says this is what happens in the state of Massachusetts when you don't follow the rules.

We reached out to Atlantic Drain through the companys attorney. He told us he is focused on the trench accident and would send us a statement from Otto, the company's owner.

necn will post the statement when we receive it.

As for Dominick and Joseph Revell, Dominick is behind bars awaiting trial for his fourth OUI charge. Joseph will be summonsed to court on the drug charges.
Two officers were hospitalized for drug exposure after a suspect allegedly threw heroin in their faces Friday morning at the police station in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

The department says the officers are incredibly fortunate not to have overdosed after 38-year-old Russell Pena of Falmouth struggled with them.

"Heroin is something like baby powder, and it just exploded," said Falmouth Police Chief Edward Dunne. "It exploded all over the officers, the room and the suspect."

All three were taken to Falmouth Hospital for treatment.

According to police, Pena and 48-year-old Michael Lopes of Mashpee were arrested early Friday morning in a parking lot by Falmouth Harbor on suspicion of dealing drugs. Police said they discovered marijuana, cocaine and $1,450 in cash in their car.

At the booking room at the station, police say Pena turned violent. He allegedly grabbed a hidden bag of heroin from his pants, ripped it open and threw it at police, landing the dusty drug on the officers' faces and clothes.

Police have not released the names of the officers involved, but Dunne said one is a sergeant and the other is a patrol officer. The two officers and the suspect were all rushed to the hospital for being exposed to narcotics and released hours later.

"[It's] extremely dangerous because with what's in heroin today, with the fentanyl, we don't know what's in that product," said Dunne.

Police arrested Pena on charges including two counts of attempted murder, but prosecutors failed to bring up that charge in court Friday afternoon.

There is video of the altercation happening in the booking room, but police said they still had to review it and would not release it to the public without first talking with the district attorney.

Pena is being held on $5,000 cash bail.
A pedestrian was fatally struck by a train in Claremont, New Hampshire on Friday afternoon.

Claremont Police recieved report of a man who was hit after he appeared to deliberately walk in front of a south bound Amtrak train near the railroad tracks between Claremont Junction and Grissom Lane.

The incident is currently under investigation.

The identity of the victim is not being released at this time.

Contact Claremont Police with any information on the incident.
Maine State Police say a fugitive who escaped police through a hole in his home in September has been arrested after a SWAT team standoff in Waldoboro.

Brian Bennett was taken into custody at about 7:30 a.m. Friday. Police closed nearby Waldoboro Elementary School as a precaution.

Police tell WCSH-TV they fired tear gas canisters at about 5 a.m., but fired no shots. No one was hurt.

On Sept. 20, police went to Bennett's home to arrest him on a warrant out of Belfast District Court. They said he locked himself inside and escaped through a hole in the floor of his home.
Sangeeta Jaggi has owned Lee's 2 Market on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Allston neighborhood for almost 13 years. Some of her obvious top sellers are lottery tickets and scratchers. But that may soon change.

Treasurer Deborah Goldberg filed a bill on Wednesday that would allow the lottery commission to offer games and sell products online and on mobile apps in Massachusetts.

"We've seen a real flattening in our profits and our sales and at a time it's tough finding resources for our communities, we feel it's our responsibility to make sure every community gets the funds they need," explained Goldberg.

Under the bill, the Lottery would have to verify online players are in Massachusetts and are over 18. It requires gamblers to set spending limits and doesn't allow players to pay with credit cards.

"You would need to go into a store to purchase a type of card that you would then be able to use at home," Goldberg added.

Many convenience store owners worry that if the bill passes, they would lose lottery commission. Jaggi is hopeful her business wouldn't be affected.

"Whoever wants to play the lottery, I think they'll want to play physically, so I think they will still come," said Jaggi.

Les Bernal with Stop Predatory Gambling worries the bill is not only damaging to gambling addicts. He believes it will affect everyone.

"You're paying for worse budget problems. It means higher taxes for less services as the state government continues to promote these more extreme forms of predatory gambling," Bernal told necn.

Lawmakers did not approve the idea in the last session. They are expected to take up Goldbergs bill in January.

"Whatever comes in the future, we don't know. So many things are going to change," said Jaggi.
In Halifax, Massachusetts, the stink is all about the smell.

"We have some people who don't believe this is actual a real thing," Charlie Seelig, Halifax's Town Administrator, said.

Seelig says a few weeks ago several town employees told him they were having trouble breathing because of coworkers cologne, perfume and other scents.

"Some people say they should wear gas masks," Seelig said.

Seelig requested town employees refrain from wearing strong scents to work. Last week, the town decide to expand that request to those visiting town hall as well.

"We are asking visitors on a voluntary basis to not wear strong scents and smells into the building," he said. "If you are overdosed in cologne or aftershave or something like that, think about it before you come to Town Hall."

Seelig says there have been a few grumblings but no major issues since the request went public.

"We are asking people to think about how they interact with each other and what they do will affect other people," Seelig said.

There have been some learning moments though.

"We have had to deal with bathroom issues in the sense that they have strong smells int bathrooms obviously, so how do you deodorize a bathroom without these people having problems with the deodorizer," he said.

"That is a little ridiculous," Sal Cradle said with a laugh. "That's special."

"Fine with me," Jim Sanford said. "I don't see any real need for any of that anyway."

Seelig says there are a few other cities in the United States with similar requests on the books. Seelig didn't know of any other town in Massachusetts.

"We are not going to have a police officer, or the equivalent of the smell police at the town hall checking everyone who comes in. It is voluntary, we are just asking for consideration."
The company at the center of last month's fatal trench collapse in Boston has been on the radar of Boston Police for months.

According to documents obtained by necn Investigates, officers knew of numerous Atlantic Drain Service employees allegedly using drugs on company property.

Kevin Otto, the owner of Atlantic Drain, was not interested in answering our questions. necn Investigates wanted to ask him about allegations that some of his employees were using the Roslindale company - and its trucks - to use and sell illegal drugs.

"I'm all set. You have to talk to the lawyer," Otto said.

According to Boston Police, a drug unit doing surveillance around the corner from Atlantic Drain in September spotted an Atlantic dump truck parked illegally in front of the home of a suspected drug dealer.

In the report, the officers noted they were "...aware that numerous employees of Atlantic Drain Service are chronic drug users," saying they had witnessed employees purchasing "...illegal narcotics in the past." They had received information that an employee named Dominick Revell "...was selling and using illegal narcotics out of the Atlantic Drain yard and an Atlantic Drain dump truck."

In court documents, the 45-year-old Revell is listed as a foreman at Atlantic Drain. According to Boston Police, he was at the wheel when they pulled over the dump truck in September. His passenger was his brother - Joseph Revell -also an Atlantic Drain employee at the time.

Police said the 54-year-old Joseph Revell admitted that he had drugs on him and pulled three bags of crack out of his sock. According to the report, he told the officers he had "...purchased the crack cocaine earlier in the day from someone in the Atlantic Drain yard."

When officers searched the dump truck, they allegedly found five crack filters inside Dominick Revells lunch cooler with "heavy crack cocaine residue." They also found he was operating the dump truck illegally. He didn't have a valid license and he doesn't have a CDL. In fact, his license has been suspended or revoked at least two dozen times in the last 15 years.

Martin Hewitt is the uncle of Robbie Higgins - one of two Atlantic Drain employees killed in last month's horrifying trench collapse in Boston's South End. What happened that day remains unclear and is under investigation, but the accident revealed Atlantic Drain's history of what OSHA calls serious and willful safety violations.

"He doesn't care. He just doesn't care," Hewitt said of Otto, the owner. "He goes home at night and he sleeps knowing that that's the type of people he has working for them."

Dominick Revell - who was in police custody at the time of the trench collapse - has been in and out of trouble for more than a decade for charges like operating under the influence of alcohol, drug convictions, prison time and pending charges in a police pursuit, all while listing his employer as Atlantic Drain, his position varying from back hoe operator to foreman. Of his four drunken driving charges, at least two were in Atlantic Drain vehicles.

While Revells troubles were brewing, Boston Police and EMS were called to Atlantic Drain last summer for two people overdosing on heroin. According to the report, an employee said he found a recently fired employee and a woman "unresponsive, lips purple, barely breathing."

The victims were given Narcan and transported to a hospital, but less than 12 hours later, police and EMS were called back - this time for another victim with ties to Otto, found dead inside Atlantic Drain. The cause of death was not released.

Revell is now behind bars awaiting trial for operating under the influence. He has two other pending cases.

We could not reach him or his brother, Joseph, for comment.

No charges have been filed against Atlantic Drain in connection with the trench collapse. State and federal investigations are ongoing. Camille Sarrouf, the attorney for Atlantic Drain, says he has been focused on the trench collapse and is unaware of the details of the drug allegations.
The Waterbury daycare where a 3-year-old's arm was broken by an employee has submitted to voluntarily surrender its license, according to the Office of Early Childhood.

On Thursday, police arrested a daycare worker at Kids Town in Waterbury who is accused of dragging a 3-year-old child in her care and breaking the childs arm.

According to police, the incident was recorded on videotape and the daycare worker was charged with cruelty and assault.

Adnelly Moipard was arrested on Monday and has been charged with third-degree assault, risk of injury to a child and intentional cruelty to a child, according to the online docket.

Court documents say Moipard grabbed the child after the little girl shook a bookcase a couple of times and threw books around the room and at other children.

She is accused of pulling the girl by her right arm, near her wrist and forearm. When the child dropped to her knees, Moipard pulled her off the floor by the right arm and dragged her to a chair, according to the arrest warrant application.

The child was then seen wiping her eyes with her left sleeve and did not use her right arm for the rest of the day, according to police paperwork.

Moipard denied grabbing the child by her arm.

Officials from the Office of Early Childhood said they are investigating Kids Town LLL, at 835 Wolcott St. in Waterbury, after an employee was charged with child cruelty.
On Election Day, voters in nine Vermont communities will be asked to weigh in on the future of their drinking water supply.

The Champlain Water District is made up of Colchester, Essex, Essex Junction, Jericho Village, Milton, Shelburne, South Burlington, Williston and Winooski.

The roughly 75,000 Vermonters in those communities account for about 12 percent of the state's population.

"There's a lot of different components that need to line up perfectly to have people get safe water 24/7/365," said Jim Fay, the general manager of the Champlain Water District.

CWD pumps water from Lake Champlain, filters and treats it, then provides the clean water wholesale to the municipalities.

On ballots, special questions will ask voters to authorize CWD's publicly-elected commissioners to borrow up to $6,250,000 for three different upgrades.

One project is a new, 600,000 gallon storage tank to replace one in Williston that is old and smaller than the communitys need.

The second is to construct a new filtration system and chlorine contact tank at CWDs South Burlington headquarters to back up an aging unit whose foundation is showing cracks.

The third part of the proposal is to improve a major transmission line that pumps much of the district's 9.5 million gallons of water a day.

The work can be completed, CWD said, at no impact on wholesale water rates charged to cities and towns, because the new jobs have been timed to start just when old loans will be paid off.

"I have enough debt retiring that we can add over $6 million worth of new debt with no impact at all on rates to the customers," Fay said.

"It's very important," Williston Town Manager Rick McGuire said of the proposed upgrade to the water storage tank in town. "We need the additional capacity to adequately serve the community."

McGuire noted that he has heard of some voters being confused about the nature of the bond request, and that they have thought this may drive up property taxes.

"It has no impact whatsoever on property taxes," McGuire said, aiming to clear up that apparent confusion.

In a presidential election year that's seen voters bombarded with new information from campaigns, and even suffering from fatigue from ever-changing revelations, the local water issue has gotten comparatively very little attention.

"I hope the negativity in voting for many elected offices doesn't go to the end of the ballot and there's negativity toward investing in your drinking water supply," Fay said.

Fay indicated the work will need to be done eventually, and said waiting longer could mean prices would rise even higher.

Voters will have the final say, when they cast their ballots Tuesday.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered two surgeons and an anaesthetist of Fortis Hospital, Seshadripuram, to pay `23.54 lakh as compensation to the husband and children of a 45-year-old school principal.

The patient, K Vidya Prasad, died on February 11, 2010, allegedly due to negligence of the doctors after a surgery at the hospital. The judgment was passed on September 23.

H N M Prasad, a High Court advocate, and his children are the complainants in the case. In his complaint, Prasad alleged that Vidya was healthy when she was taken to the hospital, but died due to medical negligence. He further alleged that though preliminary tests revealed that Vidya had a cardiac problem, she wasnt referred to any cardiologist.

They alleged the hospital did not have a cardiac care centre and that within a month after Vidyas death, Fortis launched a heartcare centre. Another allegation was that when Vidyas blood pressure fell, there was no blood available in the hospital. In other words, the doctors who attended on the patient did not keep the blood ready for emergency.

The commission ordered that the defendants in the case should deposit the said amount within eight weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the order.

In September 2011, the licence of Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta Road was cancelled by the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare due to negligence by the doctors which caused the death of a retired Army Majors wife. A detailed investigation had found negligence to be the cause of her death.

The probe confirmed that though the hospital had no licence to perform transplantations, it went ahead with it.

The retired Major had appealed to the Lokayukta just three months after the alleged negligence had claimed Vidyas life. Repeated calls and email from Express to Fortis Hospitals corporate communication team went unanswered.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered two surgeons and an anaesthetist of Fortis Hospital, Seshadripuram, to pay `23.54 lakh as compensation to the husband and children of a 45-year-old school principal. The patient, K Vidya Prasad, died on February 11, 2010, allegedly due to negligence of the doctors after a surgery at the hospital. The judgment was passed on September 23. H N M Prasad, a High Court advocate, and his children are the complainants in the case. In his complaint, Prasad alleged that Vidya was healthy when she was taken to the hospital, but died due to medical negligence. He further alleged that though preliminary tests revealed that Vidya had a cardiac problem, she wasnt referred to any cardiologist. They alleged the hospital did not have a cardiac care centre and that within a month after Vidyas death, Fortis launched a heartcare centre. Another allegation was that when Vidyas blood pressure fell, there was no blood available in the hospital. In other words, the doctors who attended on the patient did not keep the blood ready for emergency. The commission ordered that the defendants in the case should deposit the said amount within eight weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the order. In September 2011, the licence of Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta Road was cancelled by the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare due to negligence by the doctors which caused the death of a retired Army Majors wife. A detailed investigation had found negligence to be the cause of her death. The probe confirmed that though the hospital had no licence to perform transplantations, it went ahead with it. The retired Major had appealed to the Lokayukta just three months after the alleged negligence had claimed Vidyas life. Repeated calls and email from Express to Fortis Hospitals corporate communication team went unanswered.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Soon, there would be round-the-clock surveillance around the heritage structures such as Charminar, Golconda Fort, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Salarjung Museum and Chowmohalla Palace.

High resolution cameras would be installed at all these heritage monuments to further increase the observation around their surroundings. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (NMDC) will install CCTV cameras near the heritage structures.

NMDC donated `1.5 crore to the Hyderabad City Police on Thursday to this purpose. e-surveillance in Hyderabad would work as an armour for the Hyderabad public and help police to prevent untoward incidents, opined Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahender Reddy, after signing an MoU with NMDC.

Mahender Reddy said after formation of Telangana, police had wanted to install one lakh CCTV cameras in the city. With the help from many people, as many as 17,000 cameras had been installed. These cameras will help in preventing and detecting crimes, he said.

With the NMDCs contribution, we will now install cameras in the surroundings of heritage structures like Charminar, Golconda fort, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Salarjung Museum, Chowmohalla Palace, Paigah Tombs, and also at the historic monuments where public footfall is high, he said.

The network of CCTV cameras would also be shared with the GHMC to monitor the areas and resolve any civic issues, he said.

HYDERABAD: Soon, there would be round-the-clock surveillance around the heritage structures such as Charminar, Golconda Fort, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Salarjung Museum and Chowmohalla Palace. High resolution cameras would be installed at all these heritage monuments to further increase the observation around their surroundings. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (NMDC) will install CCTV cameras near the heritage structures. NMDC donated `1.5 crore to the Hyderabad City Police on Thursday to this purpose. e-surveillance in Hyderabad would work as an armour for the Hyderabad public and help police to prevent untoward incidents, opined Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahender Reddy, after signing an MoU with NMDC. Mahender Reddy said after formation of Telangana, police had wanted to install one lakh CCTV cameras in the city. With the help from many people, as many as 17,000 cameras had been installed. These cameras will help in preventing and detecting crimes, he said. With the NMDCs contribution, we will now install cameras in the surroundings of heritage structures like Charminar, Golconda fort, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Salarjung Museum, Chowmohalla Palace, Paigah Tombs, and also at the historic monuments where public footfall is high, he said. The network of CCTV cameras would also be shared with the GHMC to monitor the areas and resolve any civic issues, he said.
By Express News Service

KOLKATA: Chennai shows the path to Kolkata. For the first time in Kolkata's and West Bengal's history, a green corridor was provided for 12 km for transplantation of kidneys, liver and cornea of a brain dead Class XII student in the wee hours of Friday morning. Swarnendu Roy, 18, was declared brain dead in a private hospital here on Thursday afternoon.

He sustained seriously injuries to the head after colliding with a motorbike while returning home from private tuition in Basirhat near the Bangladesh border on Sunday evening. He was first admitted to Basirhat government hospital and later shifted to Kolkata. Soon after declaration of his son's brain death, Swarnendu's father Chandrasekhar Roy requested that his son's organs be donated and requested for green corridor, or all signals kept green for passage of ambulance, for transplantation.

The hospital authorities contacted the Health department who contacted Kolkata Police and soon permission was secured from the Chief Minister herself, who was in a tour of Jangalmahal in western West Bengal. "I did not do any great 'social work'. I just wanted my son to live in other bodies," Chandrasekhar Roy said. "He was talented.

His talent would have benefited humanity. I never imagined that he would benefit people like this at such a tender age," said a sobbing Chandrasekhar. The transportation of the kidneys to a government hospital was completed by 1 am and liver to the same hospital by 2.30 am. A police pilot car led the convoy of the ambulance that witnessed green signals in the already thin traffic through Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Chingrihata, Ma flyover to Park Circus and finally to AJC Bose Road and into SSKM government hospital within 14 minutes.

The kidneys were transplanted to Rubi Sardar of Uttarpara and Niloufer Aara of Kamarhati and liver transplanted to Sanjukta Mondal of Salkia in Howrah district, who has been suffering from liver cirrhosis since 2009. The three separate transplantations were done by Friday afternoon. Condition of the three recipients is stable.

Eyes of Swarnendu have been sent to an eye hospital. Green corridor was invented by Chennai Police in 2008 during transplantation of Kancheepuram resident Hithendra Subramani to Chennai. He lives among five people. A 2016 Bollywood flick 'Traffic' was loosely based on one of the green corridor transplantations in Tamil Nadu.

KOLKATA: Chennai shows the path to Kolkata. For the first time in Kolkata's and West Bengal's history, a green corridor was provided for 12 km for transplantation of kidneys, liver and cornea of a brain dead Class XII student in the wee hours of Friday morning. Swarnendu Roy, 18, was declared brain dead in a private hospital here on Thursday afternoon. He sustained seriously injuries to the head after colliding with a motorbike while returning home from private tuition in Basirhat near the Bangladesh border on Sunday evening. He was first admitted to Basirhat government hospital and later shifted to Kolkata. Soon after declaration of his son's brain death, Swarnendu's father Chandrasekhar Roy requested that his son's organs be donated and requested for green corridor, or all signals kept green for passage of ambulance, for transplantation. The hospital authorities contacted the Health department who contacted Kolkata Police and soon permission was secured from the Chief Minister herself, who was in a tour of Jangalmahal in western West Bengal. "I did not do any great 'social work'. I just wanted my son to live in other bodies," Chandrasekhar Roy said. "He was talented. His talent would have benefited humanity. I never imagined that he would benefit people like this at such a tender age," said a sobbing Chandrasekhar. The transportation of the kidneys to a government hospital was completed by 1 am and liver to the same hospital by 2.30 am. A police pilot car led the convoy of the ambulance that witnessed green signals in the already thin traffic through Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Chingrihata, Ma flyover to Park Circus and finally to AJC Bose Road and into SSKM government hospital within 14 minutes. The kidneys were transplanted to Rubi Sardar of Uttarpara and Niloufer Aara of Kamarhati and liver transplanted to Sanjukta Mondal of Salkia in Howrah district, who has been suffering from liver cirrhosis since 2009. The three separate transplantations were done by Friday afternoon. Condition of the three recipients is stable. Eyes of Swarnendu have been sent to an eye hospital. Green corridor was invented by Chennai Police in 2008 during transplantation of Kancheepuram resident Hithendra Subramani to Chennai. He lives among five people. A 2016 Bollywood flick 'Traffic' was loosely based on one of the green corridor transplantations in Tamil Nadu.
Daniel Thimmayya By

Express News Service

In the long standing tradition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange too is endowed with the traditional super-attributes that make Marvel's films, well, lots of fun. There's plenty of action, there's a killer origin story and there's a hero whose ego is as big as Tony Stark's. If ever the question were to be asked - who could ever get as snarky as Stark - we'd finally have an answer. And at some point in the future, when the twain (or fifteen odd Avengers and assorted superheroes) do meet, I suspect it will be even more fun. Even without the Iron Man suit.

In fact, the more I think about it, Doctor Strange isn't as impressive for the newish world it draws us into - one where mysticism, multiples universes, magic and a strap bodies are regular fare. It's impressive primarily because of the man who stands at the centre of this cosmic adventure. Doctor Steven Strange, or Benedict Cumberbatch. As we're introduced to him, it's uncanny how much like his permanent alter ego Sherlock (from the BBC series) he is. Except this time he's not British. He's American. A brilliant neurosurgeon, who's as arrogant as any role he's ever essayed.

A high octane road accident causes him to lose the use of his magic fingers, and the medicine that he thrived on, washed its hands off him as fast as it takes a surgeon to scrub in before entering the OR. Searching for a cure, the frazzled, almost broke Doctor Strange heads to Kathmandu hoping for a hail Mary. Of the mystic kind.

It's here that he goes from being Richard Dawkins' favourite disciple to a spell casting, inter dimensional time traveller who studies in the monastery at the feet of a bald woman called The Ancient One. I assure you, it looks reasonably more credible than it sounds. From there to becoming the last line of hope from Earth being consumed by the dark dimension that some rebel sorts are gunning for is about half a movie and plenty of wisecracks away.

Most people will rave about the special effects. But for me that's a given in a Marvel film. It's the characters - and there are a whole lot of good ones woven in - that make the difference and I was left with a feeling that most of them didn't quite get their time or space. Perhaps they've left it for the inevitable sequel(s). For now, enjoy the Strange ride that this film offers you.

Movie: Doctor Strange

Director: Scott Derrickson

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel Mcadams, Benedict Cumberbatch

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant. Period. The rest of the movies sort of hangs on around him and unfurls in bits



In the long standing tradition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange too is endowed with the traditional super-attributes that make Marvel's films, well, lots of fun. There's plenty of action, there's a killer origin story and there's a hero whose ego is as big as Tony Stark's. If ever the question were to be asked - who could ever get as snarky as Stark - we'd finally have an answer. And at some point in the future, when the twain (or fifteen odd Avengers and assorted superheroes) do meet, I suspect it will be even more fun. Even without the Iron Man suit. In fact, the more I think about it, Doctor Strange isn't as impressive for the newish world it draws us into - one where mysticism, multiples universes, magic and a strap bodies are regular fare. It's impressive primarily because of the man who stands at the centre of this cosmic adventure. Doctor Steven Strange, or Benedict Cumberbatch. As we're introduced to him, it's uncanny how much like his permanent alter ego Sherlock (from the BBC series) he is. Except this time he's not British. He's American. A brilliant neurosurgeon, who's as arrogant as any role he's ever essayed. A high octane road accident causes him to lose the use of his magic fingers, and the medicine that he thrived on, washed its hands off him as fast as it takes a surgeon to scrub in before entering the OR. Searching for a cure, the frazzled, almost broke Doctor Strange heads to Kathmandu hoping for a hail Mary. Of the mystic kind. It's here that he goes from being Richard Dawkins' favourite disciple to a spell casting, inter dimensional time traveller who studies in the monastery at the feet of a bald woman called The Ancient One. I assure you, it looks reasonably more credible than it sounds. From there to becoming the last line of hope from Earth being consumed by the dark dimension that some rebel sorts are gunning for is about half a movie and plenty of wisecracks away. Most people will rave about the special effects. But for me that's a given in a Marvel film. It's the characters - and there are a whole lot of good ones woven in - that make the difference and I was left with a feeling that most of them didn't quite get their time or space. Perhaps they've left it for the inevitable sequel(s). For now, enjoy the Strange ride that this film offers you. Movie: Doctor Strange Director: Scott Derrickson Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel Mcadams, Benedict Cumberbatch Rating: 4/5 Verdict: Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant. Period. The rest of the movies sort of hangs on around him and unfurls in bits
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Taking serious cognizance of the rapes of girl students at Ashram-Shala in Buldhana, the Maharashtra government on Friday revoked the licence of the institute to run the residential school, set up a probe panel headed by a woman IPS officer and ordered an inspection of all such schools across the State. What has happened is shocking and we have taken serious cognizance of the matter. We have ordered inspection into all such private residential schools and shall not spare anybody, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio. Tribal minister Vishnu Savara said the licence of the institute at Buldhana to run the school has been revoked.

Thirteen people have been identified, of whom 11 have been arrested and a search for the other two is on, DGP Satish Mathur said. Maharashtra has around 525 tribal boarding schools meant for 2.10 lakh students from more than 10 districts. Some of these are run by the government while some are aided.

A case has been registered against main accused Itusing Pawar under IPC 376 (rape) and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) while others have been charged under POCSO. Pawar was a distant relative of one of the girls who have lodged complaints in the case. He was a marketing employee for the school and used to urge parents to send their wards to the school. It was one of the reasons why he was illegally allowed to stay on the premises.

MUMBAI: Taking serious cognizance of the rapes of girl students at Ashram-Shala in Buldhana, the Maharashtra government on Friday revoked the licence of the institute to run the residential school, set up a probe panel headed by a woman IPS officer and ordered an inspection of all such schools across the State. What has happened is shocking and we have taken serious cognizance of the matter. We have ordered inspection into all such private residential schools and shall not spare anybody, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio. Tribal minister Vishnu Savara said the licence of the institute at Buldhana to run the school has been revoked. Thirteen people have been identified, of whom 11 have been arrested and a search for the other two is on, DGP Satish Mathur said. Maharashtra has around 525 tribal boarding schools meant for 2.10 lakh students from more than 10 districts. Some of these are run by the government while some are aided. A case has been registered against main accused Itusing Pawar under IPC 376 (rape) and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) while others have been charged under POCSO. Pawar was a distant relative of one of the girls who have lodged complaints in the case. He was a marketing employee for the school and used to urge parents to send their wards to the school. It was one of the reasons why he was illegally allowed to stay on the premises.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul was arrested here on Friday evening on corruption charges.

The police said Paul was arrested under various Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC

Sections 120b and 420.

A special team of Dibrugarh police had been camping in Guwahati after the arrest of Naba Kumar Patir.

Today (Friday), the police team grilled Paul for five hours and arrested him as we have got substantial

evidence to prove his involvement in irregularities, said Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police, Gautam

Borah.

Earlier, the Gauhati High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of corruption against Paul.

It directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations of corruption and accusations of

his amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Last month, the police had arrested Patir, who is an assistant engineer in the department of town and

country planning in Dibrugarh.

He was caught red-handed accepting bribes of Rs.10 lakh from a lady

dentist. He had approached her and promised her a government job through APSC and demanded the money.

She had then tipped off the police leading to his arrest. Based on his confession, a PSO of an APSC

member was subsequently arrested.

During interrogation of the duo, it emerged that they were working as conduits in the sale of the plum

jobs through APSC.



GUWAHATI: Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul was arrested here on Friday evening on corruption charges. The police said Paul was arrested under various Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC Sections 120b and 420. A special team of Dibrugarh police had been camping in Guwahati after the arrest of Naba Kumar Patir. Today (Friday), the police team grilled Paul for five hours and arrested him as we have got substantial evidence to prove his involvement in irregularities, said Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police, Gautam Borah. Earlier, the Gauhati High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of corruption against Paul. It directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations of corruption and accusations of his amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Last month, the police had arrested Patir, who is an assistant engineer in the department of town and country planning in Dibrugarh. He was caught red-handed accepting bribes of Rs.10 lakh from a lady dentist. He had approached her and promised her a government job through APSC and demanded the money. She had then tipped off the police leading to his arrest. Based on his confession, a PSO of an APSC member was subsequently arrested. During interrogation of the duo, it emerged that they were working as conduits in the sale of the plum jobs through APSC.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Slamming the Congress for playing politics over an ex-soldier's suicide, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today blamed administrative lapse on the part of bank for not remitting the entitled pension after he was granted OROP.



On Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh branding the deceased as a Congress worker, he said all leaders must be "sensitive" to the suicide.



Taking Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi head-on, he said no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially by a party whose fortune is already sinking.



The UPA government, he said, had not taken any meaningful step towards implementing one-rank-one-pension (OROP) for defence personnel in its 10 years of rule as was evident from a meagre Rs 500 crore allocation it made for the purpose.



The government sympathises with the defence personnel who committed suicide, but there was not a lapse that OROP was not granted to him, he clarified.



"It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted. It was not a lapse that there was some exception made in his favour. Obviously, communication with the bank, there seems to be some gap in that and therefore, he was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part of the service which he was legitimately entitled to," Jaitley told reporters here.



Asked about comments by V K Singh, he said, "Everybody has to be sensitive... we must appreciate the sensitivity of the person who under stress has committed suicide. I do sympathise with him and all our comments have to be sensitive on this issue."



Critical of Gandhi for playing politics over the suicide, he said, "It is equally important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy of an individual into a political gain for a party whose fortunes are otherwise sinking."



He said further: "It doesn't behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals. A more responsible behaviour is expected of them."



The government, he said, fully sympathises with the defence personnel and his family who committed suicide.

For 10 years, OROP was not implemented by the Congress, Jaitley said.



"So the sympathy that has arisen today is politically motivated and the NDA is the first government which has not only accepted OROP demand, but implemented it," he said.



Taking his point forward, the finance minister said Rs 1,000 crore has been budgeted for pension under OROP. He gave an assurance that the payments are already reaching the defence personnel.



"It is a very sensitive case because the government has allocated all the money. Now obviously, (as for) the communication at the bank level, there seems to have been some problem in calculating his entire service, which was divided into two parts. This was a procedural problem which could have been resolved at the level of the bank or the department dealing with it," Jaitley said.



The finance minister made a reference to efforts to create "meaningless conflict" over OROP applicable on defence services.



"This OROP has remained a demand of retired defence personnel for decades. And during 10 years of the UPA government from 2004 to 2014, there was this demand but it has not taken any meaningful step during these years," he said.



It was only during the Lok Sabha elections in April that they said a committee will be set up to work out the functional modalities of OROP, Jaitley added.



"If in April 2014, you are setting up a committee, that shows it's only for electoral benefits," he said further.



He questioned the seriousness of the leaders of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, wondering why they did not give even Re 1 for OROP for these 10 years.



He spoke of the NDA starting the discussions once it came to power. A Parliamentary Committee report, he said, had assessed around Rs 1,200 crore to be the cost to the exchequer, but on further examination, it turned out to be a few more thousand crores.



"We had worked out a few options and at the end, the government accepted the demand of OROP and decided that the fitment of the pension amount will be reviewed after every five years (as against) 10 years in case of government employees," he disclosed.



Referring to challenges in implementation of OROP in the last few moths, he said the pension is being transferred through State Bank of India and each retired defence personnel is getting pension based on this revised formulation.



The Justice Reddy Committee was set up to resolve issues faced by some people, Jaitley said, adding that the panel gave the report last week.



The government is examining it, and discrepancies will be resolved in the next two months, the finance minister promised.



According to Jaitley, the issues arose because there was change in address, some were not traceable or some have calculation error. He acknowledged calculation errors at the end of the bank in some cases.



"When you have to pay in lakhs, it is natural that you will have such errors. Hence, a machinery is there to resolve this problem," he said, adding that the Congress leaders did not show any sympathy when they were in power.

NEW DELHI: Slamming the Congress for playing politics over an ex-soldier's suicide, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today blamed administrative lapse on the part of bank for not remitting the entitled pension after he was granted OROP. On Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh branding the deceased as a Congress worker, he said all leaders must be "sensitive" to the suicide. Taking Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi head-on, he said no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially by a party whose fortune is already sinking. The UPA government, he said, had not taken any meaningful step towards implementing one-rank-one-pension (OROP) for defence personnel in its 10 years of rule as was evident from a meagre Rs 500 crore allocation it made for the purpose. The government sympathises with the defence personnel who committed suicide, but there was not a lapse that OROP was not granted to him, he clarified. "It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted. It was not a lapse that there was some exception made in his favour. Obviously, communication with the bank, there seems to be some gap in that and therefore, he was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part of the service which he was legitimately entitled to," Jaitley told reporters here. Asked about comments by V K Singh, he said, "Everybody has to be sensitive... we must appreciate the sensitivity of the person who under stress has committed suicide. I do sympathise with him and all our comments have to be sensitive on this issue." Critical of Gandhi for playing politics over the suicide, he said, "It is equally important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy of an individual into a political gain for a party whose fortunes are otherwise sinking." He said further: "It doesn't behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals. A more responsible behaviour is expected of them." The government, he said, fully sympathises with the defence personnel and his family who committed suicide. For 10 years, OROP was not implemented by the Congress, Jaitley said. "So the sympathy that has arisen today is politically motivated and the NDA is the first government which has not only accepted OROP demand, but implemented it," he said. Taking his point forward, the finance minister said Rs 1,000 crore has been budgeted for pension under OROP. He gave an assurance that the payments are already reaching the defence personnel. "It is a very sensitive case because the government has allocated all the money. Now obviously, (as for) the communication at the bank level, there seems to have been some problem in calculating his entire service, which was divided into two parts. This was a procedural problem which could have been resolved at the level of the bank or the department dealing with it," Jaitley said. The finance minister made a reference to efforts to create "meaningless conflict" over OROP applicable on defence services. "This OROP has remained a demand of retired defence personnel for decades. And during 10 years of the UPA government from 2004 to 2014, there was this demand but it has not taken any meaningful step during these years," he said. It was only during the Lok Sabha elections in April that they said a committee will be set up to work out the functional modalities of OROP, Jaitley added. "If in April 2014, you are setting up a committee, that shows it's only for electoral benefits," he said further. He questioned the seriousness of the leaders of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, wondering why they did not give even Re 1 for OROP for these 10 years. He spoke of the NDA starting the discussions once it came to power. A Parliamentary Committee report, he said, had assessed around Rs 1,200 crore to be the cost to the exchequer, but on further examination, it turned out to be a few more thousand crores. "We had worked out a few options and at the end, the government accepted the demand of OROP and decided that the fitment of the pension amount will be reviewed after every five years (as against) 10 years in case of government employees," he disclosed. Referring to challenges in implementation of OROP in the last few moths, he said the pension is being transferred through State Bank of India and each retired defence personnel is getting pension based on this revised formulation. The Justice Reddy Committee was set up to resolve issues faced by some people, Jaitley said, adding that the panel gave the report last week. The government is examining it, and discrepancies will be resolved in the next two months, the finance minister promised. According to Jaitley, the issues arose because there was change in address, some were not traceable or some have calculation error. He acknowledged calculation errors at the end of the bank in some cases. "When you have to pay in lakhs, it is natural that you will have such errors. Hence, a machinery is there to resolve this problem," he said, adding that the Congress leaders did not show any sympathy when they were in power.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Government action on the Hindi news channel has received criticism from various quarters. While editors guild condemned the governments decision, political parties also criticised and expressed surprise on the ban.

Strongly condemning the decision, the Editors guild of India termed it a "direct violation" of the freedom of the press. The editor's body demanded that the order be "immediately rescinded".

"The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded," the Guild said in a statement.

"Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order," it added.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with the Hindi news channel NDTV India. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the ban on NDTV India was "shocking" and shows an "Emergency-like attitude". Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India. NDTV banned -shocking & unprecedented.

The inter-ministerial panel constituted by the I and B ministry had concluded that the channel 'NDTV India' had revealed crucial and "strategically sensitive" information when the terror attack on Pathankot IAF base was being carried out in January, according to official sources.

The I and B ministry while invoking the powers under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act said it "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November,2016 till 00:01 hrs of 10th November, 2016".

NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was "sober" and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain, it said.

NEW DELHI: Government action on the Hindi news channel has received criticism from various quarters. While editors guild condemned the governments decision, political parties also criticised and expressed surprise on the ban. Strongly condemning the decision, the Editors guild of India termed it a "direct violation" of the freedom of the press. The editor's body demanded that the order be "immediately rescinded". "The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded," the Guild said in a statement. "Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order," it added. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with the Hindi news channel NDTV India. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the ban on NDTV India was "shocking" and shows an "Emergency-like attitude". Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India. NDTV banned -shocking & unprecedented. The inter-ministerial panel constituted by the I and B ministry had concluded that the channel 'NDTV India' had revealed crucial and "strategically sensitive" information when the terror attack on Pathankot IAF base was being carried out in January, according to official sources. The I and B ministry while invoking the powers under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act said it "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November,2016 till 00:01 hrs of 10th November, 2016". NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was "sober" and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain, it said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India and Sri Lanka will hold Ministerial level talks on Saturday to sort out the long standing issues pertaining to fishermen as the talks between the fishermen associations of the two countries failed to yield any results.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samarweera will be holding talks with Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj here, sources said. The issue was discussed during the visit of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month.

The talks on Wednesday took place between a 15-member delegation of fishermen association from Tamil Nadu and 10-member delegation from northern Sri Lanka. The talks held in the Ministry of External Affairs after a gap of one and a half years were inconclusive. The talks were also attended by government officials of both sides.

The bone of contention between the two sides is the Palk bay, the 137 kilometers long and its breadth varies between 64 to 137 kilometers. An International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) separates five Indian (262,562 fishermen) and three Sri Lankan districts (119,000 fishermen). Fishing is the economic mainstay of northern Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan fishermen has been demanding their Indian counterparts to stop bottom-trawling that they content has been damaging the marine ecosystem. Since 2014 Sri Lanka Navy has seized more than 100 fishing trawlers; while they have released the Indian fishermen, they refuse to release the trawlers.

During the inconclusive talks among the fishermen representatives, the Indian fishermen have reportedly asked a three years phase out period for them. The Indian fishermen demanded that they should be allowed fishing for 83 days annually for next three years and then the fishermen will be withdrawn completely. The demand was rejected by the Sri Lankan fishermen who sought compensation for the losses incurred owing to the fishing by Tamil Nadu fishermen in their waters.

NEW DELHI: India and Sri Lanka will hold Ministerial level talks on Saturday to sort out the long standing issues pertaining to fishermen as the talks between the fishermen associations of the two countries failed to yield any results. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samarweera will be holding talks with Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj here, sources said. The issue was discussed during the visit of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month. The talks on Wednesday took place between a 15-member delegation of fishermen association from Tamil Nadu and 10-member delegation from northern Sri Lanka. The talks held in the Ministry of External Affairs after a gap of one and a half years were inconclusive. The talks were also attended by government officials of both sides. The bone of contention between the two sides is the Palk bay, the 137 kilometers long and its breadth varies between 64 to 137 kilometers. An International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) separates five Indian (262,562 fishermen) and three Sri Lankan districts (119,000 fishermen). Fishing is the economic mainstay of northern Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan fishermen has been demanding their Indian counterparts to stop bottom-trawling that they content has been damaging the marine ecosystem. Since 2014 Sri Lanka Navy has seized more than 100 fishing trawlers; while they have released the Indian fishermen, they refuse to release the trawlers. During the inconclusive talks among the fishermen representatives, the Indian fishermen have reportedly asked a three years phase out period for them. The Indian fishermen demanded that they should be allowed fishing for 83 days annually for next three years and then the fishermen will be withdrawn completely. The demand was rejected by the Sri Lankan fishermen who sought compensation for the losses incurred owing to the fishing by Tamil Nadu fishermen in their waters.
Vikram Sharma By

Express News Service

For more than a month now, there has been a lull in drug smuggling from Pakistan into India via Punjab. The reason, officials say, is this: After the surgical strikes carried out by India across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29, smugglers and couriers on both sides have stayed away from indulging in any sort of misadventure along the 553-km international border.

Ever since the surgical strikes, we have not come across smuggling of large consignments across the border. That is because of the large-scale deployment of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Army and heightened vigil by Punjab Police, said zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Dr Kaustabh Sharma.

Even smugglers like peace on the border, it seems. At peacetime, heroin is pushed in at multiple points on the border, through plastic pipes inserted into the fencing on both sides. Sometimes the smugglers simply throw consignments over the fence. They are collected by couriers who bury them underground for a few days and dig it out at a convenient time later. Communication between Indian and Pakistani smugglers is constant  mostly using Pakistani SIM cards, the signals of which spill over to the Indian side.

A visit to border villages at Attari gives a clear picture of the increased vigil being maintained along the border in recent weeks. Earlier, we used to be frisked and checked a couple of times and then they (BSF) would allow us into our fields. But now the BSF has increased frisking and checking, and they are with us throughout the day while we work, said Jagtiar Singh, a resident of Rodanwalla Khurd.

In fact, BSF patrolling of the border has been doubled and more personnel have been posted at various points. We cannot say how long this lull will last. Smugglers from Pakistan are in constant touch with their couriers here in Punjab, a BSF official posted at the Attari border disclosed to New Indian Express, on condition of anonymity.

Amandeep Bawa (R), a resident of Naushera Dhallan in

Attari , where drug consignments are thrown over the border

fence from Pakistan | Vikram sharma

While the border with Pakistan is very porous, it is the involvement of local people that makes the task of the BSF more difficult in tackling heroin smuggling. Here is a scenario where our own people, especially those living along the border, mostly farmers, are hand-in-glove with Pakistanis, says the BSF official.

Explaining the smugglers modus operandi, Sharma says Pakistani smugglers insert 8-10 ft pipes into the border fence and push heroin consignments over to the Indian side. Couriers on the Indian side wait for the right time to retrieve them. Smaller consignments of one or two kg are thrown over the fence in the dead of night. On the Indian side, the packets are picked up by the couriers. They normally get paid anything between `4,000 and `6,000 per small consignment.

Sharma says that one kg of heroin sells for about `3.5 lakh normally, and up to `5 lakh. Heroin, which originates from Afghanistan reaches Pakistan, then India and from here it is transported to North America and Europe. Drug addicts normally need two or three doses of heroin per day. Most addicts in Punjab feel that heroin boosts their libido, which is a myth, says Sharma.

Asked about the availability of Pakistani SIM cards with couriers in Punjab, the zonal director of NCB says the mobile phone signals from Pakistani telecom service providers spill over to the Indian side.

In some places, we saw Pakistani networks reaching the Ferozepur district jail. Since they communicate on Pakistan SIM cards, they rarely come on the radar. SIM cards are given to the couriers along with the consignments, he says, adding that many border residents have made crores of rupees through drug smuggling. They were merely couriers earlier but subsequently got into smuggling full time.

According to sources, while there are several points along the border from where smaller drug consignments are thrown across the fencing, one such village is Naushera Dhallan, which lies just metres from the fence.

Pointing his finger at the fencing from the window of his house, Amandeep Bawa says the entire village is aware of drug being smuggled over the fencing.

It doesnt take much effort to throw small consignments over the fencing. Since Pakistani forces allow it, smugglers come close to the fencing and just throw it over. The person here collects it and walks away, he says. This has been happening for decades. We dont bother about it as we cannot do anything. Its the job of the BSF to stop smuggling,

he adds.

For more than a month now, there has been a lull in drug smuggling from Pakistan into India via Punjab. The reason, officials say, is this: After the surgical strikes carried out by India across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29, smugglers and couriers on both sides have stayed away from indulging in any sort of misadventure along the 553-km international border. Ever since the surgical strikes, we have not come across smuggling of large consignments across the border. That is because of the large-scale deployment of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Army and heightened vigil by Punjab Police, said zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Dr Kaustabh Sharma. Even smugglers like peace on the border, it seems. At peacetime, heroin is pushed in at multiple points on the border, through plastic pipes inserted into the fencing on both sides. Sometimes the smugglers simply throw consignments over the fence. They are collected by couriers who bury them underground for a few days and dig it out at a convenient time later. Communication between Indian and Pakistani smugglers is constant  mostly using Pakistani SIM cards, the signals of which spill over to the Indian side. A visit to border villages at Attari gives a clear picture of the increased vigil being maintained along the border in recent weeks. Earlier, we used to be frisked and checked a couple of times and then they (BSF) would allow us into our fields. But now the BSF has increased frisking and checking, and they are with us throughout the day while we work, said Jagtiar Singh, a resident of Rodanwalla Khurd. In fact, BSF patrolling of the border has been doubled and more personnel have been posted at various points. We cannot say how long this lull will last. Smugglers from Pakistan are in constant touch with their couriers here in Punjab, a BSF official posted at the Attari border disclosed to New Indian Express, on condition of anonymity. Amandeep Bawa (R), a resident of Naushera Dhallan inAttari, where drug consignments are thrown over the border fence from Pakistan | Vikram sharmaWhile the border with Pakistan is very porous, it is the involvement of local people that makes the task of the BSF more difficult in tackling heroin smuggling. Here is a scenario where our own people, especially those living along the border, mostly farmers, are hand-in-glove with Pakistanis, says the BSF official. Explaining the smugglers modus operandi, Sharma says Pakistani smugglers insert 8-10 ft pipes into the border fence and push heroin consignments over to the Indian side. Couriers on the Indian side wait for the right time to retrieve them. Smaller consignments of one or two kg are thrown over the fence in the dead of night. On the Indian side, the packets are picked up by the couriers. They normally get paid anything between `4,000 and `6,000 per small consignment. Sharma says that one kg of heroin sells for about `3.5 lakh normally, and up to `5 lakh. Heroin, which originates from Afghanistan reaches Pakistan, then India and from here it is transported to North America and Europe. Drug addicts normally need two or three doses of heroin per day. Most addicts in Punjab feel that heroin boosts their libido, which is a myth, says Sharma. Asked about the availability of Pakistani SIM cards with couriers in Punjab, the zonal director of NCB says the mobile phone signals from Pakistani telecom service providers spill over to the Indian side. In some places, we saw Pakistani networks reaching the Ferozepur district jail. Since they communicate on Pakistan SIM cards, they rarely come on the radar. SIM cards are given to the couriers along with the consignments, he says, adding that many border residents have made crores of rupees through drug smuggling. They were merely couriers earlier but subsequently got into smuggling full time. According to sources, while there are several points along the border from where smaller drug consignments are thrown across the fencing, one such village is Naushera Dhallan, which lies just metres from the fence. Pointing his finger at the fencing from the window of his house, Amandeep Bawa says the entire village is aware of drug being smuggled over the fencing. It doesnt take much effort to throw small consignments over the fencing. Since Pakistani forces allow it, smugglers come close to the fencing and just throw it over. The person here collects it and walks away, he says. This has been happening for decades. We dont bother about it as we cannot do anything. Its the job of the BSF to stop smuggling, he adds.
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Around a dozen girls at a tribal residential school at Pala village of Khamgaon in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, have allegedly been raped by teachers and support staff. Police have arrested 10 people and are still registering complaints, sources said.



The issue came to light when one of the girls, who had visited her parents to celebrate Diwali, started complaining of stomach pain and on medical examination was found to be pregnant. After persistent inquiry by her parents, the girl told them about the ordeal she and some of her other friends had underwent. Her parents then rushed to ex-revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who in turn asked agriculture minister Pandurang Phundkar to intervene. Phundkar visited the school  Nanabhau Kokre Ashramshala  and spoke to officials, leading to police action.

Though the school has more girl students, a woman superintendent was not appointed there. It is serious. The government needs to conduct medical examination of all such girl students from Ashram Shalas across the State, said NCP leader Nawab Malik.

MUMBAI: Around a dozen girls at a tribal residential school at Pala village of Khamgaon in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, have allegedly been raped by teachers and support staff. Police have arrested 10 people and are still registering complaints, sources said. The issue came to light when one of the girls, who had visited her parents to celebrate Diwali, started complaining of stomach pain and on medical examination was found to be pregnant. After persistent inquiry by her parents, the girl told them about the ordeal she and some of her other friends had underwent. Her parents then rushed to ex-revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who in turn asked agriculture minister Pandurang Phundkar to intervene. Phundkar visited the school  Nanabhau Kokre Ashramshala  and spoke to officials, leading to police action. Though the school has more girl students, a woman superintendent was not appointed there. It is serious. The government needs to conduct medical examination of all such girl students from Ashram Shalas across the State, said NCP leader Nawab Malik.
Rakesh Singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry is all set to issue a fresh advisory on prison and prisoners security in the wake of Bhopal jail break in which eight SIMI operatives escaped and were subsequently gunned down in an encounter.

The advisory will seek from the States fortification of the jail security by taking technological aids and conduct regular security audit to minimise any possible gaps in security.

The advisory which is being prepared will caution the States that both prison and prisoners security is the responsibility of the States. Any laxity on that count can invite judicial intervention, an official involved with the framing of the missive said.

The official said issues of prison and prisoners security besides law and order falls under the States List of the Constitution and the States are duty bound to secure them.

The Centre will also advise the States that technological devices such as CCTVs and sensors are a must for high-security prisons and topmost priority should be accorded to deploy them at the earliest.

The MHA Advisory will also mandate upon the States to carry out regular audit of the security systems in place in prisons and plug any loopholes in the shortest possible time.

The Centre will also emphasise on the need of segregating the hardened criminals and terrorists from ordinary prisoners so as to ensure better security ring around them and protect the undertrials or those undergoing judicial custody from getting influenced or radicalised from those convicted or facing trials for serious offences.



The move comes at a time when a huge controversy is raging over the genuineness of the Bhopal encounter in which the eight fleeing SIMI operatives were killed by the police.

This besides, the Centre will separately alert the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau units across the States to keep tabs on the activities of radical outfits whose cadres are lodged in high-security prisons so that Intelligence failure of the kind witnessed in Bhopal is not repeated. The IBs efforts to this end will also help in checking the radicalisation bids by inimical outfits, officials added.



NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry is all set to issue a fresh advisory on prison and prisoners security in the wake of Bhopal jail break in which eight SIMI operatives escaped and were subsequently gunned down in an encounter. The advisory will seek from the States fortification of the jail security by taking technological aids and conduct regular security audit to minimise any possible gaps in security. The advisory which is being prepared will caution the States that both prison and prisoners security is the responsibility of the States. Any laxity on that count can invite judicial intervention, an official involved with the framing of the missive said. The official said issues of prison and prisoners security besides law and order falls under the States List of the Constitution and the States are duty bound to secure them. The Centre will also advise the States that technological devices such as CCTVs and sensors are a must for high-security prisons and topmost priority should be accorded to deploy them at the earliest. The MHA Advisory will also mandate upon the States to carry out regular audit of the security systems in place in prisons and plug any loopholes in the shortest possible time. The Centre will also emphasise on the need of segregating the hardened criminals and terrorists from ordinary prisoners so as to ensure better security ring around them and protect the undertrials or those undergoing judicial custody from getting influenced or radicalised from those convicted or facing trials for serious offences. The move comes at a time when a huge controversy is raging over the genuineness of the Bhopal encounter in which the eight fleeing SIMI operatives were killed by the police. This besides, the Centre will separately alert the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau units across the States to keep tabs on the activities of radical outfits whose cadres are lodged in high-security prisons so that Intelligence failure of the kind witnessed in Bhopal is not repeated. The IBs efforts to this end will also help in checking the radicalisation bids by inimical outfits, officials added.
By ANI

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Government has ordered a judicial probe into the encounter of eight SIMI operatives, which escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail, in Bhopal.

Retired justice SK Pande will head the inquiry commission. The panel will probe the circumstances under which SIMI operatives escaped and the encounter in which they were killed by police.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the state government yesterday seeking a detailed report on the encounter.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier announced a NIA probe into the incident.

On the other hand, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had said that there is no need of any probe into the encounter.

Eight SIMI operatives had escaped on Sunday night from Bhopal central jail after killing security guard Ramashankar Yadav.

They were gunned down later. Social activists and political parties have raised several questions regarding the incident.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Government has ordered a judicial probe into the encounter of eight SIMI operatives, which escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail, in Bhopal. Retired justice SK Pande will head the inquiry commission. The panel will probe the circumstances under which SIMI operatives escaped and the encounter in which they were killed by police. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the state government yesterday seeking a detailed report on the encounter. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier announced a NIA probe into the incident. On the other hand, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had said that there is no need of any probe into the encounter. Eight SIMI operatives had escaped on Sunday night from Bhopal central jail after killing security guard Ramashankar Yadav. They were gunned down later. Social activists and political parties have raised several questions regarding the incident.
By Express News Service

SRINAGAR: There has been no let up in school burning incidents in Kashmir and at least four more schools were set ablaze in last 24 hours by unknown persons across the Valley while attempt was also made to torch a prestigious college in Srinagar.

Fire erupted in Government primary school building at Dugpora, Gadoora in central Kashmirs Ganderbal district last evening.

After noticing the fire, the locals rushed to the spot and informed fire services. The fire fighters reached the spot and extinguished the fire.

The building suffered partial damage in the fire incident.

Police have registered a case and have taken up the investigation.

Another school was set ablaze in North Kashmirs Bandipora district.

A police official said miscreants set on fire the Boys Middle School Asthan Mohallah, Naid Khai in Bandipora district last night.

He said firefighters and police men reached the spot to extinguish the fire. They brought the fire under control at the initial stage.

Minor damage was caused to the school building and records of the school. Police have registered an FIR and launched manhunt to identify the miscreants involved in this incident, the official said.

According to police, miscreants also attempted to torch two schools in downtown Srinagar last evening.

Miscreants attempted to set on fire Government High School Dugpora, Anchar in Soura and Government Primary School Goripora in Safa Kadal area of downtown Srinagar, a police official said.

He said the fire tenders immediately reached both the places after the fire was noticed in the school buildings. The firefighters extinguished the fire. However, minor damage was caused to both the school buildings.

The official said unknown persons had also attempted to set on fire the prestigious S P College in Srinagar on night intervening Wednesday/Thursday.

The watchman of the college doused the fire after notching fire in window of the building. The window was damaged, he said adding police have registered a case and launched investigations.

At least 32 schools have been set on fire by unknown persons in Valley after the eruption of unrest following killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. At least 92 people including two policemen have been killed, over 13000 civilians injured and more than 9000 people arrested by police in last 119 days of unrest in the Valley.

Police have launched a manhunt across the Valley to identify and arrest the culprits.

In South Kashmir, which is epicenter of ongoing unrest and where 15 schools have been torched, police have arrested more than 20 people for their involvement in burning of the schools.

In North Kashmir, police arrested five persons for setting a fire a school.

Jammu and Kashmir High Court recently took suo motto cognizance of burning of schools in the Valley and directed government to take all necessary measures for safety of the schools.

The torching of schools has outraged people from all sections of the society. The burning of schools has been condemned by mainstream, religious, civil society members and separatist groups.

The government has blamed separatists for burning of the schools.

SRINAGAR: There has been no let up in school burning incidents in Kashmir and at least four more schools were set ablaze in last 24 hours by unknown persons across the Valley while attempt was also made to torch a prestigious college in Srinagar. Fire erupted in Government primary school building at Dugpora, Gadoora in central Kashmirs Ganderbal district last evening. After noticing the fire, the locals rushed to the spot and informed fire services. The fire fighters reached the spot and extinguished the fire. The building suffered partial damage in the fire incident. Police have registered a case and have taken up the investigation. Another school was set ablaze in North Kashmirs Bandipora district. A police official said miscreants set on fire the Boys Middle School Asthan Mohallah, Naid Khai in Bandipora district last night. He said firefighters and police men reached the spot to extinguish the fire. They brought the fire under control at the initial stage. Minor damage was caused to the school building and records of the school. Police have registered an FIR and launched manhunt to identify the miscreants involved in this incident, the official said. According to police, miscreants also attempted to torch two schools in downtown Srinagar last evening. Miscreants attempted to set on fire Government High School Dugpora, Anchar in Soura and Government Primary School Goripora in Safa Kadal area of downtown Srinagar, a police official said. He said the fire tenders immediately reached both the places after the fire was noticed in the school buildings. The firefighters extinguished the fire. However, minor damage was caused to both the school buildings. The official said unknown persons had also attempted to set on fire the prestigious S P College in Srinagar on night intervening Wednesday/Thursday. The watchman of the college doused the fire after notching fire in window of the building. The window was damaged, he said adding police have registered a case and launched investigations. At least 32 schools have been set on fire by unknown persons in Valley after the eruption of unrest following killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. At least 92 people including two policemen have been killed, over 13000 civilians injured and more than 9000 people arrested by police in last 119 days of unrest in the Valley. Police have launched a manhunt across the Valley to identify and arrest the culprits. In South Kashmir, which is epicenter of ongoing unrest and where 15 schools have been torched, police have arrested more than 20 people for their involvement in burning of the schools. In North Kashmir, police arrested five persons for setting a fire a school. Jammu and Kashmir High Court recently took suo motto cognizance of burning of schools in the Valley and directed government to take all necessary measures for safety of the schools. The torching of schools has outraged people from all sections of the society. The burning of schools has been condemned by mainstream, religious, civil society members and separatist groups. The government has blamed separatists for burning of the schools.
By Online Desk

LUCKNOW: The ruling Samajwadi Party is all Geared up for the party's mega silver jubilee celebrations tomorrow with JD(U), RJD, RLD leaders set to share the stage with Uttar Pradesh's first family.

"The preparations for the historic event have been made. Samajwadi and Lohiawadi leaders will be sharing the stage with 'Netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav)", SP state president Shivpal Yadav said. "With the event, SP will be formally launching its election campaign from tomorrow," Shivpal said, adding that its main objective was not to let BJP form government in Uttar Pradesh.

The entire route from SP headquarter to Janeshwar Mishra park, the venue for the silver jubilee celebrations, is dotted with hoardings and banners welcoming workers for the event. Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, RLD chief Ajit Singh, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala, KC Tyagi (JD-U) and noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani are some of the prominent names to attend the event. "After forming majority government in UP in 2017, all secular forces will unite to uproot the BJP government at the Centre," he added. "We are expecting a huge crowd tomorrow.

The workers have already started coming to the state capital. We are expecting over 5 lakh people. The event will also pass a strong message for BJP and rival parties," convenor of the event and Cabinet minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati said. In a bid to portray a united front ahead of the 2017 state Assembly elections, the feuding first family had come together to flag off chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's 'rath yatra' here on Thursday.

Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal, with whom the chief minister was locked in a bitter power struggle, extended him "best wishes". Elaborate security arrangements have been made by police to ensure security of VVIP guests and party workers. "Besides a DIG level officer, there would be five Superintendents of Police (SP), 24 ASPs, 39 Circle Officers and a considerable number of PAC personnel as part of the security cover for the event," Inspector General, Lucknow Zone, A Satish Ganesh said.

LUCKNOW: The ruling Samajwadi Party is all Geared up for the party's mega silver jubilee celebrations tomorrow with JD(U), RJD, RLD leaders set to share the stage with Uttar Pradesh's first family. "The preparations for the historic event have been made. Samajwadi and Lohiawadi leaders will be sharing the stage with 'Netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav)", SP state president Shivpal Yadav said. "With the event, SP will be formally launching its election campaign from tomorrow," Shivpal said, adding that its main objective was not to let BJP form government in Uttar Pradesh. The entire route from SP headquarter to Janeshwar Mishra park, the venue for the silver jubilee celebrations, is dotted with hoardings and banners welcoming workers for the event. Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, RLD chief Ajit Singh, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala, KC Tyagi (JD-U) and noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani are some of the prominent names to attend the event. "After forming majority government in UP in 2017, all secular forces will unite to uproot the BJP government at the Centre," he added. "We are expecting a huge crowd tomorrow. The workers have already started coming to the state capital. We are expecting over 5 lakh people. The event will also pass a strong message for BJP and rival parties," convenor of the event and Cabinet minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati said. In a bid to portray a united front ahead of the 2017 state Assembly elections, the feuding first family had come together to flag off chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's 'rath yatra' here on Thursday. Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal, with whom the chief minister was locked in a bitter power struggle, extended him "best wishes". Elaborate security arrangements have been made by police to ensure security of VVIP guests and party workers. "Besides a DIG level officer, there would be five Superintendents of Police (SP), 24 ASPs, 39 Circle Officers and a considerable number of PAC personnel as part of the security cover for the event," Inspector General, Lucknow Zone, A Satish Ganesh said.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind order, the Centre has ordered leading Hindi news channel NDTV India to go off for a day for revealing sensitive details during its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack in January. The action was recommended by the inter-ministerial panel constituted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.



The ministry has recommended that NDTV India should go off air for a day on November 9. A senior official said that this would be the first order against a broadcaster over its coverage of terrorist attacks. The committee felt that such crucial information could have been readily picked by terrorist handlers and had the potential to cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel.



Official sources said that as the content appeared to be in violation of the programming norms, a show cause notice was issued to the channel. In its reply, the channel replied that it was a case of subjective interpretation and the most of the information they had put out was already in public domain in print, electronic and social media. The committee, in its order, however, observed that the channel appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity when they telecast it in real time.



That a rule in this regard had been introduced in June 2015 and this was the first such case, the panel decided against giving a harsh penalty.

NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind order, the Centre has ordered leading Hindi news channel NDTV India to go off for a day for revealing sensitive details during its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack in January. The action was recommended by the inter-ministerial panel constituted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The ministry has recommended that NDTV India should go off air for a day on November 9. A senior official said that this would be the first order against a broadcaster over its coverage of terrorist attacks. The committee felt that such crucial information could have been readily picked by terrorist handlers and had the potential to cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel. Official sources said that as the content appeared to be in violation of the programming norms, a show cause notice was issued to the channel. In its reply, the channel replied that it was a case of subjective interpretation and the most of the information they had put out was already in public domain in print, electronic and social media. The committee, in its order, however, observed that the channel appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity when they telecast it in real time. That a rule in this regard had been introduced in June 2015 and this was the first such case, the panel decided against giving a harsh penalty.
Dr A K Verma By

As the seventeenth assembly polls approach Uttar Pradesh in a couple of months, political parties are sharpening their electoral strategies. Though all major parties are claiming to be front runners, they suffer from one or the other drawbacks. The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) is in shambles; it faces a virtual split between governmental and organisational wings, the former led by CM Akhilesh Yadav and the latter by his uncle and president of the state unit Shivpal Yadav with Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP supremo, overtly backing him.

The BSP is facing exodus with Swami Prasad Maurya (backward caste leader), R K Chaudhury (Dalit leader) and Brajesh Pathak (Brahmin leader) leaving Mayawati who is a bit nervous about her social engineering. The BJP has chosen to remain faceless for the elections by not projecting its chief ministerial candidate.

SAAI

That is in spite of the fact that it knows well that after losing two faceless assembly elections in Delhi and Bihar, it banged Assam by putting a local candidate in Sarbanand Sonowal. The Congress  after initial tempo built by party strategist Prashant Kishore  had been declining, recently suffering a psychological jolt when its senior leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi joined BJP. But, to focus on disadvantages of major parties is not to put them on common platter in respect of electoral contestation. That is because UP is heading towards a new democratic upsurge.

Eminent political scientist Yogendra Yadav talked about two democratic upsurges in India. The first was in late 1960s that laid foundation for the end of Congress-system (in which Congress dominated during 1952-1967) and began an era where Congress retained position of natural party of governance but anti-congressism allowed opposition parties to challenge it in states (1971- 1989).

That happened due to active involvement of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in electoral process. The second happened during 1990s that saw higher voter turnout, greater political mobilisation of marginalised and availability of new political choices before voters. That too happened as sequel to release of high OBC energy in electoral process owing to implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations.

Both the democratic upsurges centred round OBCs. UP appears to be heading towards third democratic upsurge in run up to the 2017 assembly polls that centres round the marginalised, especially OBCs. There is turnaround among Dalits, OBCs and Muslims indicative of new upsurge. These communities feel that the promised fruits of second upsurge were denied to them. They got identity, not empowerment.

So, they feel attracted to parties that offer them political and economic empowerment. The first sign of discontentment was discernible soon after Mayawatis successful social engineering in 2007. The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) data suggests Dalits, OBCs and Muslims started leaving parties they traditionally voted, moving to non-caste parties mainly BJP and Congress. Mayawati could placate Brahmins and Muslims in her social engineering only at the cost of Dalits who accelerated their movement from BSP.

Consequently, in 2009 LS polls, 9 per cent mostbackwards and 1 per cent Jatavs (Chamars) deserted BSP and 16 per cent Muslims and 1 per cent Kurmis left SP and moved to Congress and BJP. This trend continued in 2012 assembly elections and culminated in 2014 Lok Sabha polls that saw a heavy shift of marginalised to BJP enabling it to win 71 out of 80 seats. In UP, marginalised caste groups are not only greatly mobilised and participate in political process, but appear to exercise their right to choose among several parties, a new trend.

During the second democratic upsurge, the marginalised were moving towards caste parties in search of identity; today, they are moving away from them for empowerment. If Dalits and OBCs move out of their caste parties, who is going to benefit? Obviously, they will go to a party that offers them prosperity and psychological security. PM Narendra Modi has made paradigm shift in Dalit-OBC-Muslim discourse with inclusive development, controlling corruption and initiating social security schemes. His own humble OBC caste has made marginalised, especially OBCs, feel a little better under BJP dispensation.

To politically encash that, BJP has gone all out to rope in OBCs, especially more-backwards and most-backwards. The party appointed Anupriya Patel from more-backwards to the Modi Cabinet and Keshav Prasad Maurya, from mostbackwards, as president of state BJP. In addition, they inducted Swami Prasad Maurya, most-backward leader, expelled from BSP.

The focus of BJP on OBC caste-groups becomes clear when we see that they constitute 41 per cent of electorate; and more-backwards and most-backwards are 80 per cent amongst OBCs. These caste groups had fragmented loyalty; but they voted heavily for BJP in 2014. If they choose to back a party, it could be a game changer in state politics.

Recent CSDS studies indicate that SP and BJP are in stiff competition over OBC votes: 32 per cent support BJP and 34 per cent SP. They say that while SP was clear winner of Yadav (upper OBCs) votes (67 per cent), BJP led in morebackward (30 per cent) and most-backward (41 per cent) segments. Thus, BJP is dislodging SP as the sole representative of OBCs.

Muslims solidly stand behind SP with 62 per cent support and Dalit-Muslim coalition was not visible on the ground. The big story in UP is the shift in OBCs political orientation; more-backward and most-backward are clearly swinging towards BJP. If this happens during polls, then OBC driven democratic upsurge has the potential to change electoral face of UP.

As the seventeenth assembly polls approach Uttar Pradesh in a couple of months, political parties are sharpening their electoral strategies. Though all major parties are claiming to be front runners, they suffer from one or the other drawbacks. The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) is in shambles; it faces a virtual split between governmental and organisational wings, the former led by CM Akhilesh Yadav and the latter by his uncle and president of the state unit Shivpal Yadav with Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP supremo, overtly backing him. The BSP is facing exodus with Swami Prasad Maurya (backward caste leader), R K Chaudhury (Dalit leader) and Brajesh Pathak (Brahmin leader) leaving Mayawati who is a bit nervous about her social engineering. The BJP has chosen to remain faceless for the elections by not projecting its chief ministerial candidate. SAAIThat is in spite of the fact that it knows well that after losing two faceless assembly elections in Delhi and Bihar, it banged Assam by putting a local candidate in Sarbanand Sonowal. The Congress  after initial tempo built by party strategist Prashant Kishore  had been declining, recently suffering a psychological jolt when its senior leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi joined BJP. But, to focus on disadvantages of major parties is not to put them on common platter in respect of electoral contestation. That is because UP is heading towards a new democratic upsurge. Eminent political scientist Yogendra Yadav talked about two democratic upsurges in India. The first was in late 1960s that laid foundation for the end of Congress-system (in which Congress dominated during 1952-1967) and began an era where Congress retained position of natural party of governance but anti-congressism allowed opposition parties to challenge it in states (1971- 1989). That happened due to active involvement of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in electoral process. The second happened during 1990s that saw higher voter turnout, greater political mobilisation of marginalised and availability of new political choices before voters. That too happened as sequel to release of high OBC energy in electoral process owing to implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations. Both the democratic upsurges centred round OBCs. UP appears to be heading towards third democratic upsurge in run up to the 2017 assembly polls that centres round the marginalised, especially OBCs. There is turnaround among Dalits, OBCs and Muslims indicative of new upsurge. These communities feel that the promised fruits of second upsurge were denied to them. They got identity, not empowerment. So, they feel attracted to parties that offer them political and economic empowerment. The first sign of discontentment was discernible soon after Mayawatis successful social engineering in 2007. The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) data suggests Dalits, OBCs and Muslims started leaving parties they traditionally voted, moving to non-caste parties mainly BJP and Congress. Mayawati could placate Brahmins and Muslims in her social engineering only at the cost of Dalits who accelerated their movement from BSP. Consequently, in 2009 LS polls, 9 per cent mostbackwards and 1 per cent Jatavs (Chamars) deserted BSP and 16 per cent Muslims and 1 per cent Kurmis left SP and moved to Congress and BJP. This trend continued in 2012 assembly elections and culminated in 2014 Lok Sabha polls that saw a heavy shift of marginalised to BJP enabling it to win 71 out of 80 seats. In UP, marginalised caste groups are not only greatly mobilised and participate in political process, but appear to exercise their right to choose among several parties, a new trend. During the second democratic upsurge, the marginalised were moving towards caste parties in search of identity; today, they are moving away from them for empowerment. If Dalits and OBCs move out of their caste parties, who is going to benefit? Obviously, they will go to a party that offers them prosperity and psychological security. PM Narendra Modi has made paradigm shift in Dalit-OBC-Muslim discourse with inclusive development, controlling corruption and initiating social security schemes. His own humble OBC caste has made marginalised, especially OBCs, feel a little better under BJP dispensation. To politically encash that, BJP has gone all out to rope in OBCs, especially more-backwards and most-backwards. The party appointed Anupriya Patel from more-backwards to the Modi Cabinet and Keshav Prasad Maurya, from mostbackwards, as president of state BJP. In addition, they inducted Swami Prasad Maurya, most-backward leader, expelled from BSP. The focus of BJP on OBC caste-groups becomes clear when we see that they constitute 41 per cent of electorate; and more-backwards and most-backwards are 80 per cent amongst OBCs. These caste groups had fragmented loyalty; but they voted heavily for BJP in 2014. If they choose to back a party, it could be a game changer in state politics. Recent CSDS studies indicate that SP and BJP are in stiff competition over OBC votes: 32 per cent support BJP and 34 per cent SP. They say that while SP was clear winner of Yadav (upper OBCs) votes (67 per cent), BJP led in morebackward (30 per cent) and most-backward (41 per cent) segments. Thus, BJP is dislodging SP as the sole representative of OBCs. Muslims solidly stand behind SP with 62 per cent support and Dalit-Muslim coalition was not visible on the ground. The big story in UP is the shift in OBCs political orientation; more-backward and most-backward are clearly swinging towards BJP. If this happens during polls, then OBC driven democratic upsurge has the potential to change electoral face of UP.
By Express News Service

BELAGAVI: Mayor Sarita Patil and her Deputy Sanjay Shinde who participated in the Black Day protest organised by pro-Maharashtrians on November 1 have reportedly gone missing.

The first and the second citizens of the border city have left behind their official vehicles on the corporation premises, told the commissioner that they were going out of town and asked the officials and the drivers not to contact them at any cost.

Sources told Express that the duo have left for Maharashtra, mostly to Kolhapur, fearing backlash from Kannada organisations. Sources added they are in touch with the leaders of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti.

The participation of the duo in the Black Day parade was considered as an anti-state activity and there was a possibility of Kannada organisations filing criminal cases against them. The state government has taken serious exception to the mayor and deputy mayor participating in the protest rally against Karnataka

Rajyotsava and the CM sought a report from the DC in this regard. As pro-Kannada outfits have planned to blacken faces of Patil and Shinde, they have left the town in fear, sources said. However, sources added the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor are expected to come back to Belagavi in two or three days.

A Kannada activist had filed a criminal case against former mayor Manda Balekundri with Market police for participating in the Black Day protest in the past.

Meanwhile, the district administration which was told to submit a report on the Black Day protest, is discussing it with legal experts to find out whether the duo have violated any Constitutional norms as they are elected representatives.

BELAGAVI: Mayor Sarita Patil and her Deputy Sanjay Shinde who participated in the Black Day protest organised by pro-Maharashtrians on November 1 have reportedly gone missing. The first and the second citizens of the border city have left behind their official vehicles on the corporation premises, told the commissioner that they were going out of town and asked the officials and the drivers not to contact them at any cost. Sources told Express that the duo have left for Maharashtra, mostly to Kolhapur, fearing backlash from Kannada organisations. Sources added they are in touch with the leaders of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti. The participation of the duo in the Black Day parade was considered as an anti-state activity and there was a possibility of Kannada organisations filing criminal cases against them. The state government has taken serious exception to the mayor and deputy mayor participating in the protest rally against Karnataka Rajyotsava and the CM sought a report from the DC in this regard. As pro-Kannada outfits have planned to blacken faces of Patil and Shinde, they have left the town in fear, sources said. However, sources added the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor are expected to come back to Belagavi in two or three days. A Kannada activist had filed a criminal case against former mayor Manda Balekundri with Market police for participating in the Black Day protest in the past. Meanwhile, the district administration which was told to submit a report on the Black Day protest, is discussing it with legal experts to find out whether the duo have violated any Constitutional norms as they are elected representatives.
Bagalavan Perier B By

Express News Service

VILLUPURAM: Tamil Nadu Rural development department has initiated an inquiry against an executive engineer after allegations of corruption surfaced against him.

The executive engineer at the district rural development centre, Varadarajan Perumal, who was relieved of his duty two months ago had allegedly taken commissions to the tune of a whopping `500 crore.

He was relieved of his duty and was transferred to Kallakuruchi division when the centre was bifurcated.

Some contractors complained to the collector, director of the rural development department and Chief Ministers special cell, alleging Varadarajan had taken nearly `500 crore during his tenure as the executive engineer in the Villupuram and Kallakuruchi divisions.

In the complaint, the contractors said, the engineer used to demand commission, apparently 16 per cent of the tender amount, to approve the bills. Giving an example, the sources pointed to some documents submitted in 2014 pertaining to a well constructed in Moongilthuraipattu village.

While the document reportedly stated the cost of the work as `7.5 lakh, sources alleged that no such well existed. Sources further said, there were many documents sanctioning bills for constructions  like new roads  that existed only on papers.

Based on the complaints, a team, led by rural development department additional director Rajam, initiated an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation.

They are expected to submit a report to the director of the department in Chennai. But when contacted, the team under Rajam, refuted to divulge any details regarding their findings. They simply said, action would be initiated after the director gets the report.

Meanwhile, sources alleged that the official had the support of a top politician, who was then an elected representative.

While Varadarajan regularly shared the bribe with his peers and officials under him, the top politician failed to do so, attracting the ire of his peers, said the sources.

Sources also added that some officials, who had been receiving money from Varadarajan, had met in a hotel on Wednesday night, to discuss what they could do in favour of the executive engineer during the investigation.

VILLUPURAM: Tamil Nadu Rural development department has initiated an inquiry against an executive engineer after allegations of corruption surfaced against him. The executive engineer at the district rural development centre, Varadarajan Perumal, who was relieved of his duty two months ago had allegedly taken commissions to the tune of a whopping `500 crore. He was relieved of his duty and was transferred to Kallakuruchi division when the centre was bifurcated. Some contractors complained to the collector, director of the rural development department and Chief Ministers special cell, alleging Varadarajan had taken nearly `500 crore during his tenure as the executive engineer in the Villupuram and Kallakuruchi divisions. In the complaint, the contractors said, the engineer used to demand commission, apparently 16 per cent of the tender amount, to approve the bills. Giving an example, the sources pointed to some documents submitted in 2014 pertaining to a well constructed in Moongilthuraipattu village. While the document reportedly stated the cost of the work as `7.5 lakh, sources alleged that no such well existed. Sources further said, there were many documents sanctioning bills for constructions  like new roads  that existed only on papers. Based on the complaints, a team, led by rural development department additional director Rajam, initiated an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation. They are expected to submit a report to the director of the department in Chennai. But when contacted, the team under Rajam, refuted to divulge any details regarding their findings. They simply said, action would be initiated after the director gets the report. Meanwhile, sources alleged that the official had the support of a top politician, who was then an elected representative. While Varadarajan regularly shared the bribe with his peers and officials under him, the top politician failed to do so, attracting the ire of his peers, said the sources. Sources also added that some officials, who had been receiving money from Varadarajan, had met in a hotel on Wednesday night, to discuss what they could do in favour of the executive engineer during the investigation.
By Associated Press

ANKARA: A car bomb attack in the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region killed eight people Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish lawmakers for questioning in terror-related probes.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians died in the attack near a building used by the riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast but only seven of them remain in hospital, he said.

Yildirim also said one of the assailants was "caught dead," but did not provide details.

The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.

The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out. Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public "fear, panic or chaos" and images showing the explosion and its aftermath.

Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists.

The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. A fragile cease-fire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Prosecutors demanded that the two be formally arrested pending trial.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant." State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. A twelfth legislator was also detained later during the day. One of the 12 was released on condition that he regularly report to authorities.

An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern on Twitter over the politicians' detentions. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.

HDP lawmaker Adem Geveri described the detentions as a "political genocide operation," telling The Associated Press that they "officially put an end to the functioning of Parliament in an anti-democratic and unlawful way."

"Now with the HDP removed from the political equation, they will go to an early election and establish an authoritarian Turkey without the HDP, without any democratic opposition," Geveri added.

Main opposition Republican People's Party Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions, "If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise you'll butcher democracy in Turkey."

Yildirim responded: "If they are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account."

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organization."

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu.

Meanwhile internet users nationwide have been complaining about restricted access to various social media and messaging apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype.

The TurkeyBlocks monitoring network confirmed the restricted access, saying its probes have identified "throttling at the ISP level as the source of the slowdowns, with the majority of internet users affected at the time of measurement."

Rights activists say restricting access to the internet is aimed at preventing calls for demonstrations.

Prime Minister Yildirim said: "Occasionally one might have to resort to such precautions for the sake of security. as a precaution. Once the danger is gone, everything will return to normal."

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of Diyarbakir, and co-mayor Firat Anli were arrested over alleged membership in the PKK.

In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.

ANKARA: A car bomb attack in the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region killed eight people Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish lawmakers for questioning in terror-related probes. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians died in the attack near a building used by the riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast but only seven of them remain in hospital, he said. Yildirim also said one of the assailants was "caught dead," but did not provide details. The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives. The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out. Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public "fear, panic or chaos" and images showing the explosion and its aftermath. Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists. The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. A fragile cease-fire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu. Hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Prosecutors demanded that the two be formally arrested pending trial. The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant." State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. A twelfth legislator was also detained later during the day. One of the 12 was released on condition that he regularly report to authorities. An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern on Twitter over the politicians' detentions. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara. HDP lawmaker Adem Geveri described the detentions as a "political genocide operation," telling The Associated Press that they "officially put an end to the functioning of Parliament in an anti-democratic and unlawful way." "Now with the HDP removed from the political equation, they will go to an early election and establish an authoritarian Turkey without the HDP, without any democratic opposition," Geveri added. Main opposition Republican People's Party Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions, "If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise you'll butcher democracy in Turkey." Yildirim responded: "If they are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account." Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations. The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May. Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organization." Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu. Meanwhile internet users nationwide have been complaining about restricted access to various social media and messaging apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype. The TurkeyBlocks monitoring network confirmed the restricted access, saying its probes have identified "throttling at the ISP level as the source of the slowdowns, with the majority of internet users affected at the time of measurement." Rights activists say restricting access to the internet is aimed at preventing calls for demonstrations. Prime Minister Yildirim said: "Occasionally one might have to resort to such precautions for the sake of security. as a precaution. Once the danger is gone, everything will return to normal." Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of Diyarbakir, and co-mayor Firat Anli were arrested over alleged membership in the PKK. In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.
COLOMBO: Representatives of the Sri Lanka Jamaithul Ulema, Muslim intellectuals and members of the government-appointed committee on Muslim personal law reform, are to meet for two days beginning Friday, to discuss reform of the controversial Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act of 1951.

The initiator of the move, Asad Sally, who heads of the Desiya Aikya Munnani (DAM) told Express that since the issue involves aspects of the inviolable Sharia law, it has to be considered very carefully by the best minds in the Muslim community.

Reform of the MMDA, especially in respect of the age of marriage and appointment of female Quazis has been under discussion from 2009 onwards, when the then Justice Minister, Milinda Moragoda, set up a committee under retired Justice Saleem Marsoof to go into the question and suggest remedies. But the Marsoof panel is yet to submit its report.

"Justice Marsoof has promised to circulate the report among the members of the committee formed by DAM so that they can come to an informed decision," Sally said.

Urgency in the matter arose after the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government announced that the MMDA has to be in line with international human rights covenants so that Sri Lanka is able to get the European Unions trade concessions under the GSP-Plus scheme for developing countries.

Among the most sensitive issues to be resolved is the permission given by the MMDA for 12 year old girls to be married off. While Muslim womens organizations are seeking abolition of this and want the age of marriage fixed at the national level of 18, Muslim clerics and politicians either insist that the Sharia law is inviolable or any decision to raise the age of marriage should be taken only by the Muslim community.

We will not allow the law to be changed only to please the EU to get trade concessions. Further, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Police Minister Sagala Ratnayake were wrong when they claimed reform of MMDA is necessary for getting the EU concessions. The EUs 15 conditions to get the concessions does not include reform of MMDA. The EUs inspection team headed by Jean Lambert did not mention it as a condition, Sally said.

At any rate, Western democracies have no right to ask for raising the age of marriage when in the US, four states allow marriage of girls as young as 12, Sally added.

A report in The Independent of UK dated Mar 9, 2016, says that law makers in America are battling to overturn state laws which stipulate that children as young as 12 can be married.

In Virginia, it is officially still legal for girls as young as 12 or 13 to be brought to a courthouse with evidence of a pregnancy and wed, the paper said.

In Maryland and New York, 3,853 minors were married between 2000 and 2010, according to State Health Department data published in the New York Times. In Virginia itself, according to state health statistics, more than 4,500 minors were married between 2000 and 2013, including about 220 who were 15 or younger, the paper further said.

In the context of internal and external pressures from changers and no changers, the committees working on sensitive Sharia issues like the age of marriage, will have a tough time arriving at a compromise between the conservatives 12 years rule, to the modernists 18 years rule.

Sally said that the clerics might agree to 16 years as the cut off age, although how to do this without violating the Sharia remains a challenge.

The liberals however point out that many Muslim countries have raised the age of marriage to be on par with modern ideas and these models could be adopted.

For example, the MMDA does not allow Triple Talaq because it was copied from the progressive Indonesia law, a liberal Muslim pointed out.

COLOMBO: Representatives of the Sri Lanka Jamaithul Ulema, Muslim intellectuals and members of the government-appointed committee on Muslim personal law reform, are to meet for two days beginning Friday, to discuss reform of the controversial Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act of 1951. The initiator of the move, Asad Sally, who heads of the Desiya Aikya Munnani (DAM) told Express that since the issue involves aspects of the inviolable Sharia law, it has to be considered very carefully by the best minds in the Muslim community. Reform of the MMDA, especially in respect of the age of marriage and appointment of female Quazis has been under discussion from 2009 onwards, when the then Justice Minister, Milinda Moragoda, set up a committee under retired Justice Saleem Marsoof to go into the question and suggest remedies. But the Marsoof panel is yet to submit its report. "Justice Marsoof has promised to circulate the report among the members of the committee formed by DAM so that they can come to an informed decision," Sally said. Urgency in the matter arose after the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government announced that the MMDA has to be in line with international human rights covenants so that Sri Lanka is able to get the European Unions trade concessions under the GSP-Plus scheme for developing countries. Among the most sensitive issues to be resolved is the permission given by the MMDA for 12 year old girls to be married off. While Muslim womens organizations are seeking abolition of this and want the age of marriage fixed at the national level of 18, Muslim clerics and politicians either insist that the Sharia law is inviolable or any decision to raise the age of marriage should be taken only by the Muslim community. We will not allow the law to be changed only to please the EU to get trade concessions. Further, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Police Minister Sagala Ratnayake were wrong when they claimed reform of MMDA is necessary for getting the EU concessions. The EUs 15 conditions to get the concessions does not include reform of MMDA. The EUs inspection team headed by Jean Lambert did not mention it as a condition, Sally said. At any rate, Western democracies have no right to ask for raising the age of marriage when in the US, four states allow marriage of girls as young as 12, Sally added. A report in The Independent of UK dated Mar 9, 2016, says that law makers in America are battling to overturn state laws which stipulate that children as young as 12 can be married. In Virginia, it is officially still legal for girls as young as 12 or 13 to be brought to a courthouse with evidence of a pregnancy and wed, the paper said. In Maryland and New York, 3,853 minors were married between 2000 and 2010, according to State Health Department data published in the New York Times. In Virginia itself, according to state health statistics, more than 4,500 minors were married between 2000 and 2013, including about 220 who were 15 or younger, the paper further said. In the context of internal and external pressures from changers and no changers, the committees working on sensitive Sharia issues like the age of marriage, will have a tough time arriving at a compromise between the conservatives 12 years rule, to the modernists 18 years rule. Sally said that the clerics might agree to 16 years as the cut off age, although how to do this without violating the Sharia remains a challenge. The liberals however point out that many Muslim countries have raised the age of marriage to be on par with modern ideas and these models could be adopted. For example, the MMDA does not allow Triple Talaq because it was copied from the progressive Indonesia law, a liberal Muslim pointed out.
By Associated Press

JAKARTA: Thousands of hard-line Muslims are converging Friday on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its governor for alleged blasphemy.

Fearing violence, police have deployed 16,000 officers along with 2,000 soldiers and the same number of city public order officers to Jakarta's streets, where embassies closed, some shops shuttered and normally traffic-clogged streets are nearly empty of cars.

Demonstrators gathered at and near the Istiqlal Mosque for the protest that is expected to begin in the early afternoon following Friday prayers.

The accusation of blasphemy against Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian who is an ally of the country's president, has galvanized his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million, and given a notorious group of hard-liners a national stage.

"We are here because we want to defend the verses of God that have been abused by Ahok," said Nasrullah Achmad, who came from Bekasi, a Jakarta satellite city, with dozens of others from his Islamic study group who raised clenched fists and shouted "God is Great."

"Only one thing can stop us: Ahok's arrest," said Achmad.

Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Indonesia and prosecutions have increased in the past decade though most people practice a moderate form of Islam. Amnesty International documented 106 convictions between 2004 and 2014 with some individuals imprisoned for up to five years.

Television showed the governor visiting a Jakarta neighborhood and talking to residents. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and other national figures have called for a peaceful demonstration amid fears Islamic State group supporters might try to cause chaos.

The simmering political climate has provided an opening for the Islamic Defenders Front, a vigilante group that wants to impose Shariah law, to burnish its credentials as protector of Indonesia's majority faith at the expense of mainstream Muslim groups.

The Front, the main organizer of the protest, is demanding Ahok's arrest for blasphemy after a video circulated online in which he joked to an audience about a passage in the Quran that could be interpreted as prohibiting Muslims from accepting non-Muslims as leaders. The governor has apologized for the comment and met with police.

Ahok, who is seeking a second term as Jakarta governor, is popular with the city's middle class. He is adored as a blunt speaker who doesn't tolerate corruption and articulates a vision to make the chaotic, dysfunctional city more like clean, orderly and efficient Singapore.

But the anti-corruption stance has made him enemies, and the evictions of thousands of the city's poorest people to make way for urban improvement has stoked anger and resentment and played to a stereotype of Chinese as exploiters of Indonesia's poor Muslim masses.

On the national stage, Ahok is ranged against former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose son is a candidate for Jakarta governor, a position that is a stepping stone to national leadership.

JAKARTA: Thousands of hard-line Muslims are converging Friday on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its governor for alleged blasphemy. Fearing violence, police have deployed 16,000 officers along with 2,000 soldiers and the same number of city public order officers to Jakarta's streets, where embassies closed, some shops shuttered and normally traffic-clogged streets are nearly empty of cars. Demonstrators gathered at and near the Istiqlal Mosque for the protest that is expected to begin in the early afternoon following Friday prayers. The accusation of blasphemy against Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian who is an ally of the country's president, has galvanized his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million, and given a notorious group of hard-liners a national stage. "We are here because we want to defend the verses of God that have been abused by Ahok," said Nasrullah Achmad, who came from Bekasi, a Jakarta satellite city, with dozens of others from his Islamic study group who raised clenched fists and shouted "God is Great." "Only one thing can stop us: Ahok's arrest," said Achmad. Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Indonesia and prosecutions have increased in the past decade though most people practice a moderate form of Islam. Amnesty International documented 106 convictions between 2004 and 2014 with some individuals imprisoned for up to five years. Television showed the governor visiting a Jakarta neighborhood and talking to residents. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and other national figures have called for a peaceful demonstration amid fears Islamic State group supporters might try to cause chaos. The simmering political climate has provided an opening for the Islamic Defenders Front, a vigilante group that wants to impose Shariah law, to burnish its credentials as protector of Indonesia's majority faith at the expense of mainstream Muslim groups. The Front, the main organizer of the protest, is demanding Ahok's arrest for blasphemy after a video circulated online in which he joked to an audience about a passage in the Quran that could be interpreted as prohibiting Muslims from accepting non-Muslims as leaders. The governor has apologized for the comment and met with police. Ahok, who is seeking a second term as Jakarta governor, is popular with the city's middle class. He is adored as a blunt speaker who doesn't tolerate corruption and articulates a vision to make the chaotic, dysfunctional city more like clean, orderly and efficient Singapore. But the anti-corruption stance has made him enemies, and the evictions of thousands of the city's poorest people to make way for urban improvement has stoked anger and resentment and played to a stereotype of Chinese as exploiters of Indonesia's poor Muslim masses. On the national stage, Ahok is ranged against former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose son is a candidate for Jakarta governor, a position that is a stepping stone to national leadership.
By Associated Press

MANILA: Terrorist groups are planning kidnappings on central Philippine islands that are popular with tourists, the US embassy has warned, fuelling concerns Islamic militants infamous for hostage taking are roaming wider.

A travel advisory from the US embassy in Manila on Thursday warned Americans to avoid the southern regions of Cebu island, one of the nation's most popular tourist sites because of its idyllic beaches, spectacular diving and whale watching.

"The U.S. Embassy alerts U.S. citizens that terrorist groups are planning to conduct kidnappings in areas frequented by foreigners on the southern portion of Cebu Island," the advisory said.

The embassy identified three locations -- Dalaguete and Santander on Cebu, and nearby Sumilon island. Those areas are a short boat ride to tourist hotspots Bohol and Dumaguete.

The warning came after a surge in kidnappings by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines, which included the first attack on a cargo ship in the high seas and the murders of foreigners after ransoms were not paid.

President Rodrigo Duterte's office released a statement on Friday confirming police had reported an unspecified kidnapping plan in southern Cebu and that security had been increased in the area.

The US embassy did not name who was planning the attacks, but the strife-torn south of the mainly Catholic Philippines is home to various militants groups that have in recent years sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.

The most notorious is the Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

The Abu Sayyaf is based on islands about 500 kilometres (300 miles) southwest of Cebu, and most often kidnap people from coastal regions and vessels close to their strongholds of Jolo and Basilan islands.

However the militants kidnapped two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina from Samal, a tourist island about 500 kilometres to the east of Jolo last year. The Canadians were beheaded and the other two were released after ransoms were reportedly paid.

The Abu Sayyaf has also been blamed for the abductions of dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors in smaller vessels in the area.

Last month the captain of a South Korean cargo ship was abducted in waters off the southern Philippines, in the first such attack on a large merchant vessel.

Duterte has launched a military offensive to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf.

Another extremist group, the Maute gang, was blamed for a bombing in Duterte's home town in the southern city of Davao that left 15 people dead in September.

MANILA: Terrorist groups are planning kidnappings on central Philippine islands that are popular with tourists, the US embassy has warned, fuelling concerns Islamic militants infamous for hostage taking are roaming wider. A travel advisory from the US embassy in Manila on Thursday warned Americans to avoid the southern regions of Cebu island, one of the nation's most popular tourist sites because of its idyllic beaches, spectacular diving and whale watching. "The U.S. Embassy alerts U.S. citizens that terrorist groups are planning to conduct kidnappings in areas frequented by foreigners on the southern portion of Cebu Island," the advisory said. The embassy identified three locations -- Dalaguete and Santander on Cebu, and nearby Sumilon island. Those areas are a short boat ride to tourist hotspots Bohol and Dumaguete. The warning came after a surge in kidnappings by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines, which included the first attack on a cargo ship in the high seas and the murders of foreigners after ransoms were not paid. President Rodrigo Duterte's office released a statement on Friday confirming police had reported an unspecified kidnapping plan in southern Cebu and that security had been increased in the area. The US embassy did not name who was planning the attacks, but the strife-torn south of the mainly Catholic Philippines is home to various militants groups that have in recent years sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group. The most notorious is the Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom. The Abu Sayyaf is based on islands about 500 kilometres (300 miles) southwest of Cebu, and most often kidnap people from coastal regions and vessels close to their strongholds of Jolo and Basilan islands. However the militants kidnapped two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina from Samal, a tourist island about 500 kilometres to the east of Jolo last year. The Canadians were beheaded and the other two were released after ransoms were reportedly paid. The Abu Sayyaf has also been blamed for the abductions of dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors in smaller vessels in the area. Last month the captain of a South Korean cargo ship was abducted in waters off the southern Philippines, in the first such attack on a large merchant vessel. Duterte has launched a military offensive to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf. Another extremist group, the Maute gang, was blamed for a bombing in Duterte's home town in the southern city of Davao that left 15 people dead in September.
A new tie-up between China Unicom Ltd. and leading online search company Baidu is aimed at technology sharing and less focused on the wireless carrier's plans to seek private investment under a pilot plan to make big state-run companies more dynamic, a Unicom executive said.

Unicom and Baidu announced their agreement earlier this week, saying they will work together to develop telecom services for Unicom's network using artificial intelligence (AI), big data and e-commerce know-how from Baidu.

Unicom is a state-run company that operates in the highly protected telecom services space that is mostly off-limits to private investment. By comparison, Baidu is one of China's largest and most innovative private companies.

Announcement of the pairing came just weeks after Unicom said it was selected to participate in Beijing's 2-year-old pilot program to bring more private investment into big state-run firms, leading some to speculate the new tie-up could include direct investment by Baidu into Unicom.

But Unicom Senior Vice President Jiang Zhengxin indicated the Baidu partnership is just a strategic tie-up, and the carrier is still exploring different options on how to bring private investment into the company.

"Introducing private money isn't a simple matter," Jiang said in response to a question by a Caixin reporter. "The bigger question is finding a good complementary fit and that helps to boost Unicom's overall competitiveness."

He added that Unicom is still in the process of studying options for accepting private investment, and will need to get Beijing's approval once it finalizes a plan.

China's other top two Internet companies, Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., have also drawn speculation that they could become Unicom investors after top executives from the pair attended an event hosted by the carrier this week. Tencent is already an investor in Sinopec, one of the first companies selected for the pilot program, after being selected as one of 25 companies to buy a stake in the oil refiner's gas stations and convenience stores two years ago.

Many of China's older industries, like telecom services, energy and banking, are dominated by big state-run companies that are often bogged down by bureaucracy and make decisions based on both commercial and political considerations. The pilot program is designed to make those companies more market-oriented and innovative by introducing investment from China's dynamic private sector, which is concentrated in emerging industries like Internet-based products and services.

Contact reporter Doug Young (dougyoung@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)
Dozens of boats are berthed at Chiang Saen port in Thailand on Oct. 19. Many boats had to wait at least a month for goods as trade was slow. Photos: Yang Lu

In late October, the weather is still scorching-hot in northern Thailand's Chiang Saen Port. The chief engineer on a Chinese cargo vessel and his crew wait out the heat with a game of mahjong. The ship plies its trade ferrying goods along the Mekong, but it has been over three months since the engineer last revved up the engine on his ship. Until he can fill his vessel with enough goods, he and his crew remain stranded.

"In the past, we waited at most a week," he said. "Now we've already waited for over three months and we still don't know when we will be able to leave."

China's latest action blockbuster, Operation Mekong, has captivated audiences with its portrayal of a booming aquatic trade route plagued by pirates and drug smuggling. Released last month, it chronicles the true story of the massacre of 13 Chinese cargo ship crew members in Myanmarese waters in 2011.

But today, the real picture of Mekong trade is anything but action-packed. An alternative land route, Chinese efforts to curb the upstream smuggling of frozen-meat products, and government restrictions on the export of wood and stone in Myanmar and Laos have brought the river's shipping trade to a screeching halt.

The once-bustling Mekong

Originating in China's Qinghai province, the Mekong runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. In the 1990s, the 260-km stretch of river linking Yunnan province's Xishuangbanna to Chiang Saen Port became one of the main trade routes connecting the booming Chinese and Thai economies.

Beginning in 1992, Yunnan's state-owned shipping companies began recruiting sailors to develop trade along the new route. Besides geological challenges like treacherous beaches and a long dry season, the river also snakes through the notorious opium-producing Golden Triangle area, where the mountains of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar converge. The waters teemed with illicit drug trafficking, and no official trade procedures existed to regulate the growing shipping business.

But in April 2000, China, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos signed an agreement designating the stretch of river from Simao Port in China to Luang Prabang in Laos as international open waters, legitimizing the already booming shipping industry.

Workers move a truckload of goods onto a boat berthed at Guanlei port in Chinas Yunnan province on Oct. 14. Many boats waited days for goods to come before setting out along the Mekong.

And in 2004, China invested in developing the trade route even further, launching the Mekong waterway regulation project. Completed in 2008, it allowed the river to accommodate ships with a capacity of up to 350 tons.

In the years that followed, the river bustled with activity. The freight volume passing through Xishuangbanna nearly doubled in five years, from less than 100,000 tons in 2004 to 190,000 in 2008. In 2009 it reached 200,000 tons, according to Xishuangbanna's port statistics.

But as trade boomed, the security situation on the river was still fraught with peril. On Oct. 5, 2011, gunmen deployed by Myanmarese drug lord Naw Kham stormed two Chinese cargo vessels, slaughtering all 13 crew members. Following the massacre, on which Operation Mekong is based, China ordered its nationals to cease all trade operations on the Mekong. Two months later, the four countries trading along the river launched a joint law enforcement patrol.

Security was largely restored and trade resumed. No hijackings have occurred since Naw Kham's arrest and the collapse of his drug trafficking ring in 2012. In 2014, Xishuangbanna's freight volume showed signs of recovering, increasing to 156,000 tons from a low of 110,000 in 2012.

Tang Yue, son of the captain of Jiahe 8, takes a break as the boat leaves Chinas Guanlei port for a trip along the Mekong on Oct. 14.

Idle ships left waiting

But any illusions of a recovery were shattered beginning in 2015, when Xishuangbanna's freight volume plummeted to 71,000 tons, less than half of what it was a year earlier. During the first 10 months of this year, only 65,000 tons have passed through the city. The sudden sharp decline of goods transported along the route has left many ships stuck waiting in foreign ports.

Twenty-four Chinese ships with 130 crew members were stuck waiting for cargo when Caixin visited Chiang Saen Port. Some had been there for over five months.

Not long ago, two ships left Yunnan's port city every day, according to Captain Dong, who has been sailing the Mekong for 22 years. Now, only one ship per week sets sail downstream.

The drastic decline of trade along the Mekong can be traced to a bridge connecting its Thai and Laotian shores. In December 2013, construction on the bridge connecting the two countries was completed. It represented the last section of a direct motorway linking Yunnan's Kunming to Bangkok.

Shorter transit timesit takes around a day and a half for trucks to travel between China and Thailandand a lower risk of damaged goods have made the land route an attractive alternative to the Mekong.

Since 2014, nearly all fruits and vegetables traded between China and Thailand have traveled by land. The total volume of goods passing through the motorway's Mohan port in Yunnan more than doubled from just over 1 million items in 2013 to more than 2.5 million in 2015.

It hasn't helped that the trade of less-perishable goods has been increasingly restricted. In 2012, Yunnan customs began cracking down on the underground trade of frozen meat products. Upstream trade from Thailand to China essentially disappeared, a trader surnamed Li told Caixin.

Recent restrictions on the export of wood and stone by Myanmarese and Laotian governments in response to a dwindling supply of natural resources have reduced trade even further.

And more alternative trade routes are coming. Construction on a railway connecting Thailand and China kicked off in December 2015 and is expected to be completed in the next two years. The Chinese cargo ship engineer, who has been sailing the Mekong for 15 years, sees the railway as the final nail in the coffin of trade on the Mekong.

Workers load a boat at a port in Thailand on Oct. 19.

A new beginning?

But Xishuangbanna is making one last-ditch effort to save its dying port. The local government is in the process of building a sprawling meat inspection facility just 500 meters north of the city's port. It is expected to begin operating in January.

Yunnan is trying to legalize the black-market meat imports that have been the subject of anti-smuggling crackdowns. The province will allow 2 million tons of frozen meat products to pass through the city each year, a local customs official told Caixin.

Once the facility is operational, the only way to import frozen meat products legally from downstream countries into Yunnan will be via the Mekongproducts traveling by land will not be able to get the official import certification the facility will offer.

Since the crackdown on illegal meat imports dealt a heavy blow to shipping on the river, the local government hopes legalizing the imports will help revive the port's shipping business.

In the beginning, it is unlikely the city will be able to process the allocated 2 million tons of meat due to the limited capacity of its existing port. But another port is already in the pipeline. While it is unclear when this project will be completed, the expanded capacity may allow them to reach their 2-million-ton target in the future.

The city will have to wait until next year to see if the facility will attract enough revenue to revitalize the Mekong's stagnant shipping industry. But the same customs official who told Caixin about the facility is optimistic. The seal of approval from Chinese customs officials is likely to convince exporters to choose shipping on the Mekong over road or rail routes.

"When the previously illegal imports are legalized, the shipping on the Mekong will once again be spectacular," he said.

The two Chinese boats involved in a 2011 fatal attack on the Mekong remain berthed at Thailands northern port of Chiang Saen on Oct. 18. Thirteen Chinese crewmen were killed in the incident.

Contact editor Kerry Nelson (kerry@caixin.com)
(Beijing)  Global PC leader Lenovo Group Ltd. has changed three of its top managers, in a major reshuffle aimed at reversing declining sales for its core computer business and lackluster performance for its newer smartphone unit.

Gina Qiao, senior vice president of human resources, was appointed to lead the companys smartphone business in China, Chairman Yang Yuanqing said on a conference call for analysts after Lenovo released its latest quarterly results on Thursday.

Kirk Skaugen, a former veteran of Intel Corp., joined as president of Lenovos data center group, and former Microsoft executive Rui Yong was named chief technology officer.

The changes come as Lenovo continued to suffer shrinking demand for its core PC business and has failed in attempts to diversify into emerging areas.

The company reported a $152 million profit for its latest fiscal quarter through September, reversing a $717 million loss from a year earlier. Smartphone sales, considered an important new growth source to replace its aging PC business, declined 28% in the first half of the fiscal year.

Lenovos mobile unit has seen major changes over the last year as Yang tried to revive its smartphone business.

Liu Jun, who headed the global mobile business department, stepped down in June 2015, and was replaced by Chen Xudong. Chens role was later reduced to head of the smartphone unit for China, and the latest reshuffle will see him transferred to Lenovos centralized services group.

The reshuffle may require some time to revive Lenovos smartphone business in China because the company now lags behind competitors in marketing, distribution channels and design, said Wang Yanhui, secretary general of the Mobile China Alliance.

The core problem is its newest Moto phone is not necessarily suitable for the Chinese market, said Wang, referring to the brand Lenovo acquired with its purchase of Motorola Mobility two years ago.

Yang said he hopes that Skaugen can use his network developed during his time at Intel to help Lenovo expand into foreign markets.

Rui, who led Microsofts research efforts in multimedia search, knowledge mining, and social computing, will help Lenovo to develop its next generation of smart devices and improve its competitiveness in artificial intelligence, Yang said.

Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Doug Young (dougyoung@caixin.com)
Portsmouth boy bullied for long hair has plan to donate it

It makes me feel so proud of him, his generous spirit. He cares about others more than he cares about himself sometimes."
Reporter

Noelle McGee is a Danville-based reporter at The News-Gazette. Her email is nmcgee@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@n_mcgee).
Photo editor John Dixon spent Wednesday night and early Thursday morning with Cubs fans  in a rowdy campus bar and on Green Street where chaos ruled  documenting the Cubs' historic win over the Indians.
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Digital health specialist Inhealthcare has launched a new mobile app to help NHS patients track, monitor and manage long-term conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.

The app, My Inhealthcare, allows people to send health readings to their doctor or nurse and receive dosing instructions.

This means patients can stay on top of their health without the hassle of inconvenient and time-consuming hospital or clinic appointments.

The technology is available to patients registered on existing NHS services provided by Inhealthcare in Berkshire, Durham, Lancashire, Norfolk, Yorkshire and the Isle of Wight.

My Inhealthcare tracks INR and blood glucose levels, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels and weight.

As well as using the app to send and receive information, patients can set reminders to take their medication and health readings.

The app also allows users to keep a daily diary as they track, monitor and manage conditions.

Bryn Sage, chief executive of Inhealthcare, said:

My Inhealthcare is a powerful tool which helps people with long-term conditions to lead more independent lives. Instead of attending regular appointments at hospital or clinic just to provide basic indicators and receive simple information, patients can now harness the power of technology to do this remotely using their smartphones. They can use the apps calendar to manage their lifestyle and have reminders to take their readings and medication. We believe that empowering people to take more control over their own health can have a transformative effect on their wellbeing. If adopted widely, My Inhealthcare could also have a transformative effect on the NHS by vastly reducing the number of routine or mundane appointments.

My Inhealthcare can be used for a range of conditions including atrial fibrillation, thrombosis, diabetes, obesity and tracking of vital signs including blood pressure, heart rate and Sp0 2.

Patients need a registration code to connect to their surgery. This will be provided by a GP or nurse. The app is available now at Google Play and next month at Apples App Store.

Patient data is fed directly into patient records using Inhealthcares national digital health platform. If readings fall outside of set parameters, clinicians are alerted for follow-up.

The companys multi-million pound platform supports the remote tracking, monitoring and management of long-term health conditions for the entire UK population.
It was always thought that olfactory receptors' sole bodily function was to smell, and could only be found inside a nose. But now a new study, published in Frontiers in Physiology, has found two olfactory receptors in human lung tissue.

And when the researchers from Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany activated these receptors, they found that they regulated the way in which the airways smooth muscle cells contracted.

Contraction of smooth muscle changes the size of our airways, suggesting that this research may open new avenues for treating chronic breathing disorders -- such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis -- that constrict and obstruct the airways.

No one had previously suspected that olfactory receptors would be present in airways past the nasal cavity. But working with human smooth muscle cells isolated and grown from the healthy parts of airway tissue surrounding excised tumors, Benjamin Kalbe and his colleagues applied a large number of odor molecules and watched two of them activate the muscle cells.

Because it is well established which odors activate which receptors, Kalbe and team were able to probe tissue biopsies look for two specific receptors - OR1D2 and OR2AG1, finding found both of them lying along the bronchi - the tubes that branch off from the trachea into the lungs.

Kalbe and co-workers then determined how activating the receptors with the odor molecules affected the isolated smooth muscle cells. First, they investigated the biochemical pathways triggered. There were no surprises here; what they saw echoed what happens in odor-sensing nasal cells when the receptors are activated, and the two different receptors seemed to act in an identical fashion.

Then, however, they did the key experiments. The primary function of a smooth muscle cell is to contract and relax. Yet, it's difficult to know exactly how this process will be affected by a drug.

"We had no predictions when we looked at contractility;" says Kalbe. "At the beginning of the experiment we did not expect that the olfactory receptors would have completely different effects."

But that's what happened. Activating OR1D2 made the muscle cells contract, whereas activating OR2AG1 with a compound called amyl butyrate did not. Amyl butyrate wasn't, though, simply inactive.

It's well known that histamine makes airway smooth muscle cells contract. But when amyl butyrate was given before histamine, the muscle cells did nothing.

Extrapolating to intact airways, these results suggest OR1D2 activation would constrict the bronchi, whereas stimulating OR2AG1 might help prevent airways from closing in response to pathological triggers.

In addition, OR1D2 activation caused pro-inflammatory chemicals to be released from the muscle cells, whereas OR2AG1 did not.

Kalbe suspects that unravelling why the receptors have different end-results on smooth muscle contraction will be difficult. But he is excited about potential therapeutic applications. He says, "The best way would be to use a substance like amyl butyrate to support therapeutic intervention for patients with common airway diseases. Amyl butyrate [...] might be a relaxing substance."

To further explore the therapeutic potential of these receptors, Kalbe says his team are planning to obtain tissue from people with chronic airway diseases to compare them to healthy tissue, to observe if the receptors change in abundance or function in disease states.

Another mystery is what normally triggers the activation of these receptors - whether they usually respond to molecules that arrive in inhaled air or if the body itself makes signaling molecules that regulate smooth muscle via these receptors.

Regardless, sniffing out this unexpected function of an olfactory receptor may inspire exciting new medical developments.
A research team at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center has described the steps, in both written and video format, that allow cancer investigators to track, in real time, cancer cell invasion and metastasis in transparent zebrafish embryos. Using these fish models, researchers can find answers to cancer questions in one to three days instead of months for the typical mouse model.

Because of this rapidity and the ability to image cancer movement in blood, investigators say the use of zebrafish embryos represent a significant advance in the understanding of cancer biology and experimental drug testing, and may, one day, lead to tumor assessment and treatment evaluation in patients.

The method and its implications, published online Nov. 3 in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), "will be of a lot of interest to cancer researchers because it provides a hands-on, detailed description of a unique model system to study cancer cell vascular invasion," says the study's co-senior investigator, Anton Wellstein, MD, PhD, a Georgetown professor of oncology & pharmacology, and deputy director of the Georgetown Center for Cell Reprogramming.

"Invasion of the blood system is a significant step towards the metastatic spread of cancer cells, which is a significant threat to patients with cancer," he says. "This method uses human cancer cells in zebrafish and can reveal distinct invasive properties of cancer cells, help identify genes that drive vascular invasion as well as allow to test drugs that inhibit it."

Zebrafish  a tropical freshwater minnow commonly used in aquariums  has been widely used as a model organism in scientific research, but has only recently been adapted for use in studying cancer, says co-author Eric Berens, a PhD student in Wellstein's laboratory.

"It's being increasingly used in oncology research, but the technique, which has a lot of moving parts, hadn't been written up. We felt listing and filming the steps would encourage more scientists to use this wonderful tool to advance their investigations," he says.

Wellstein, Berens, and co-author Ghada Sharif, PhD, also a member of the Wellstein lab, worked with Eric Glasgow, PhD, who directs Georgetown's zebrafish laboratory, to articulate the method's steps. (Glasgow is co-senior investigator on the JoVE study.)

The video shows how fluorescent human cancer cells can be injected into developing embryos, and how 24-96 hours later, the ability of the cells to invade the blood and spread can be seen using fluorescence microscopy. The team tested seven different breast cancer cell lines to determine which invaded the blood system, and how aggressively.

"We can use these beautiful fluorescent images to see how invasive various human cancers are and whether they respond to drug treatment," Berens says.

Using the zebrafish model to uncover drivers of tumor aggression, the team has published two major studies in Oncogene. Wellstein was the corresponding author for both studies.

One study, led by Sharif and published in 2015, demonstrated that the ability of cancer cells to invade is influenced by the density at which those cells are grown. Another 2016 article, led by Berens, used a screening approach to identify unstudied genes that control cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Researchers found that keratin-associated protein 5-5 (Krtap5-5) is important for cancer cell invasion out of blood vessels.

"One could envision using this model system in the future to test how aggressive an individual person's cancer is, and what treatments might work best against it," Berens says.
When it comes to lying, our brains are much more likely to give us away than sweaty palms or spikes in heart rate, new evidence from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, found that scanning people's brains with fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, was significantly more effective at spotting lies than a traditional polygraph test.

It has been demonstrated that when someone is lying, areas of the brain linked to decision-making are activated, which lights up on an fMRI scan for experts to see. While laboratory studies showed fMRI's ability to detect deception with up to 90 percent accuracy, estimates of polygraphs' accuracy ranged wildly, between chance and 100 percent, depending on the study. The Penn study was the first to compare the two modalities in the same individuals in a blinded and prospective fashion. The approach adds scientific data to the long-standing debate about this technology and builds the case for more studies investigating its potential real-life applications, such as evidence in the criminal legal proceedings.

Researchers from Penn's departments of Psychiatry and Biostatistics and Epidemiology found that neuroscience experts without prior experience in lie detection, using fMRI data, were 24 percent more likely to detect deception than professional polygraph examiners reviewing polygraph recordings. In both fMRI and polygraph, participants took a standardized "concealed information" test.

Polygraph, the only physiological lie detector in worldwide use since it was introduced in its present form more than 50 years ago, monitors individuals' electrical skin conductivity, heart rate, and respiration during a series of questions. Polygraph is based on the assumption that incidents of lying are marked by upward or downward spikes in these measurements. Despite having been deemed inadmissible as legal evidence in most jurisdictions in the United States or for pre-employment screening in the private sector for almost 30 years, polygraph is widely used for government background checks and security clearances.

"Polygraph measures reflect complex activity of the peripheral nervous system that is reduced to only a few parameters, while fMRI is looking at thousands of brain clusters with higher resolution in both space and time. While neither type of activity is unique to lying, we expected brain activity to be a more specific marker, and this is what I believe we found," said the study's lead author, Daniel D. Langleben, MD, a professor of Psychiatry.

To compare the two technologies, 28 participants were given the so-called "Concealed Information Test" (CIT). CIT is designed to determine whether a person has specific knowledge by asking carefully constructed questions, some of which have known answers, and looking for responses that are accompanied by spikes in physiological activity. Sometimes referred to as the Guilty Knowledge Test, CIT has been developed and used by polygraph examiners to demonstrate the effectiveness of their methods to subjects prior to the actual polygraph examination.

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In the Penn study, a polygraph examiner asked participants to secretly write down a number between three and eight. Next, each person was administered the CIT while either hooked to a polygraph or lying inside an MRI scanner. Each of the participants had both tests, in a different order, a few hours apart. During both sessions, they were instructed to answer "no" to questions about all the numbers, making one of the six answers a lie. The results were then evaluated by three polygraph and three neuroimaging experts separately and then compared to determine which technology was better at detecting the fib.

In one example in the paper, fMRI clearly shows increased brain activity when a participant, who picked the number seven, is asked if that is their number. Experts who studied the polygraph counterpart incorrectly identified the number six as the lie. The polygraph associated with the number six shows high peaks after the participant is asked the same questions several times in a row, suggesting that answer was a lie. The scenario was reversed in another example, as neither fMRI nor polygraph experts were perfect, which is demonstrated in the paper. However, overall, fMRI experts were 24 percent more likely to detect the lie in any given participant.

Beyond the accuracy comparison, authors made another important observation. In the 17 cases when polygraph and fMRI agreed on what the concealed number was, they were 100 percent correct. Such high precision of positive determinations could be especially important in the United States and British criminal proceedings, where avoiding false convictions takes absolute precedence over catching the guilty, the authors said. They cautioned that while this does suggest that the two modalities may be complementary if used in sequence, their study was not designed to test combined use of both modalities and their unexpected observation needs to be confirmed experimentally before any practical conclusions could be made.

"While the jury remains out on whether fMRI will ever become a forensic tool, these data certainly justify further investigation of its potential," Langleben said.
In Miami, health care providers spent about $14,423 per Medicare patient in 2010. But in Minneapolis, average spending on Medicare enrollees that year was $7,819, just over half as much. In fact, the U.S. is filled with regional disparities in medical spending. Why is this?

One explanation focuses on providers: In some regions, they may be more likely to use expensive tests or procedures. Another account focuses on patients: If the underlying health or the care preferences of regional populations varies enough, that may cause differences in spending. In recent years, public discussion of this issue has largely highlighted providers, with the implication that reducing apparently excessive treatments could trim overall health care costs.

But now a unique study co-authored by MIT economists provides a new answer to the medical cost mystery: By scrutinizing millions of Medicare patients who have moved from one place to another, the researchers have found that patients and providers account for virtually equal shares of the differences in regional spending.

"We find it is about 50/50, half due to patients and half due to places," says Heidi Williams, the Class of 1957 Career Development Associate Professor in MIT's Department of Economics, and a co-author of a new paper detailing the study's findings.

Specifically, the study finds that nearly 50 percent of the spending differences across geographic areas stems from the characteristics of patients, meaning both their basic health and their varying preferences concerning the intensiveness of medical care. The rest of the spending differences derive from place-specific factors, potentially due to disparities in provider practices and incentives. The finding could help analysts and policymakers better understand the components of medical costs, and could add nuance to the debate about possible inefficiencies in health care spending.

After all, says co-author Amy Finkelstein, the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT, the study provides "evidence that there are real, place-specific differences in how health care is practiced. On the other hand ... rather than just saying [that] place matters, we're quantifying how important it is, and showing that a lot of the geographic variation is due to differences across patients."

The paper, "Sources of Geographic Variation in Health Care: Evidence from Patient Migration," appears in the November issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. The co-authors are Finkelstein, Williams, and Matthew Gentzkow, an economist at Stanford University.

Millions of Medicare enrollees

To conduct the study, the scholars analyzed a sample of 2.5 million Medicare patients, and examined their health care usage from 1998 through 2008. The study focused on a subgroup of enrollees who did not move during this time, as well as 500,000 Medicare enrollees who moved from one market, or "Hospital Referral Region" (HRR), to another. The HRR concept was first developed by the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, a research project housed at Dartmouth College.

Essentially, by examining the health care usage patterns of the same people as they lived in different places, Finkelstein, Williams, and Gentzkow were able to develop a natural experiment to address the providers-or-patients issue.

Beyond their bottom-line result, the researchers unearthed several more specific findings. For instance, when it comes to emergency care, a relatively larger share of the regional spending discrepancy -- 71 percent -- was attributable to patients, who likely make more of the decisions about whether or not to seek care in those situations.

However, patients accounted for only 9 percent of the regional discrepancy for diagnostic tests and 14 percent of the discrepancy for imaging tests; in those cases, the variation by geographic region seems due to differing provider practices, with health care institutions in some places consistently spending more money on testing than other providers do elsewhere.

The researchers also found that when a Medicare enrollee moves and receives a different level of health care spending, most of that change occurs in the first year after the move.

Even given these more detailed findings, the researchers note that it is still difficult to assess which of the higher-spending or lower-spending regions have more "efficient" medical practices. In Williams' view, an overly simplistic reading of the paper's results would be that variation on the provider side reflects inefficiency, in the sense of some institutions providing suboptimal levels of care. She stresses that there may also be efficient geographic variation if providers in some areas are relatively more skilled at certain intensive procedures and provide more of those procedures.

"Just because there's geographic variation on the provider side doesn't mean that is necessarily inefficient," Williams observes.

The scholars, who initiated the study in 2010, tried to account for potential complications concerning costs. For instance: Could more people with already-existing health problems be moving to warm, sunny, higher-spending places such as Miami, while leaving colder, lower-spending places like Minneapolis? That sort of migration could push Miami's per-capita Medicare spending to a higher level.

But as the researchers discovered, such a pattern does not seem to exist. People moving to Arizona, California, and Florida accounted for 24 percent of all moves in the study; but the results are robust even when excluding those states from the tabulations.

State of the debate

Regional variation in health care spending has become a prominent issue over the last decade thanks in large part to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care.

"We are very much standing on the shoulders of giants," Finkelstein says. "The people at Dartmouth, our colleagues in the economics department and the medical school there, have done an enormous amount of work and a huge service documenting and establishing the facts that have rightly gotten a lot of attention, of large differences [in health care spending] across a lot of geographic areas of the country."

Some of the better-known Dartmouth findings have suggested that variations in regional spending were not leading to better or worse patient outcomes -- although some studies in health care economics over the last decade have also found that more spending correlates with improved results for patients.

In the view of the MIT researchers, because some of the subsequent public discussion has emphasized questions about the practices of providers, they hope the new paper's data about the role of patient characteristics can help inform the ongoing debate.

"The current consensus [has been] that almost all this variation was about providers, and that patient-specific health or preferences were unlikely to be important in explaining geographic variation in spending," Williams says. "I think our paper shifts the weight of the evidence."
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global public health problem. Treatment often takes many months and till this day there is no effective vaccine. Various TB bacterial strains exist globally, with different geographical spread. Only the so-called Lineage 4 occurs on all continents. It is responsible for the majority of the 10 million new infections and 2 million deaths annually.

Under the lead of Sebastien Gagneux at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss (TPH), and DZIF scientist Stefan Niemann, Research Center Borstel, a team of 75 scientists at 56 institutions analyzed the genetic make-up of TB bacteria from several thousand patients. Surprisingly, it was found that Lineage 4 can be genetically further subdivided into several sublineages. Some of these sublineages occur all over the world, others are geographically highly restricted. According to the study in the journal Nature Genetics, TB bacteria can be divided into generalists with worldwide distribution and specialists that have focused on localized ecological niche. While ecologists have been differentiating between generalists and specialists, especially in plants, for a pathogen that transmits exclusively from human to human, such a subdivision is new.

Generalists are immunologically more versatile than specialists

TB bacteria have a unique property: they hardly vary their antigens, and are thus efficiently recognized by the human immune system. As a result, a fierce immune reaction occurs, which affects the lungs in particular, and promotes coughing. Thanks to this strategy, TB bacteria is transmitted very efficiently from human to human.

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The researchers show that the generalists pursue an additional strategy. They show a slightly increased diversity of their antigens compared to the specialists. "Generalists are thus able to react more specifically to the immune system of different human populations," says Stefan Niemann, who coordinates the research field "Tuberculosis" at DZIF. They have adapted their molecular strategy and are able to push through and spread much more globally.

Implications for vaccine development

These new findings have implications for the development of new TB vaccines. The more TB bacteria can adapt their antigens, the more difficult it will be to design a vaccine that is equally effective in all human populations across the world. Hence, the development of a broadly active TB vaccine might be delayed even further.

The international cooperation has made these results possible; for the German Center for Infection Research scientists from the sites Hamburg-Lubeck-Borstel, Munich and Tubingen have contributed to it as well as scientists from the African Partner Institutions. "National and international networks are the basis for the global fight against infectious diseases as HIV and TB", says DZIF Prof Michael Hoelscher, Director of the Tropical Institute in Munich, LMU. "This has been the concept for the successful work of DZIF in the research field "Tuberculosis".
Dealing effectively with the burden of cancer on healthcare systems demands an integrated approach to care, with medical technology occupying a pivotal role. In its session at the World Cancer Congress, DITTA, the Global Diagnostic Imaging, Healthcare IT and Radiation Therapy Trade Association explained how fragmentation within healthcare systems makes it difficult for them to effectively manage complex conditions such as cancer where the various dimensions of care - prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and palliation  are inseparable.

DITTA urges development of integrated care approaches that fully leverage advances in medical technology, in particular medical imaging and radiotherapy. Medical imaging can enhance the entire care pathway, delivering earlier and more accurate diagnoses, more precise monitoring of treatment and improved follow-up and monitoring post intervention. Meanwhile, advances in radiotherapy now deliver levels of precision that allow cancers to be treated that were previously considered only suitable for palliation.

Keynote speaker Professor Vincenzo Valentini, Chairman of the Oncology and Haematology Department, Policlinico Universitario A.Gemelli, Universita Cattolica S.Cuore in Rome, said:

A knowledge-based approach in oncology delivers the correct clinical decisions leading to optimal outcomes. Medical imaging provides clinicians and patients with this knowledge at every stage of the treatment journey; it is essential for truly integrated cancer care.

Nicole Denjoy, DITTA Vice-Chair, said:

Currently, healthcare systems are not ideally configured to deal with the burden of cancer. Preventing and managing this disease demands an integrated care approach. Medical technology can play a pivotal role; its capacity to deliver personalised, targeted therapies makes interventions more effective with fewer side effects.

Medical technology offers the potential to transform healthcare systems. It can help them adapt to the challenge of increasing numbers of cancer patients, improving outcomes, preventing premature deaths and driving efficiencies that will permit sustainable healthcare systems.
Pakistan's government has said that French carmaker Renault is planning to invest in a local assembly plant with production due to start by 2018.



Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met with Renault executives in France in September as a part of wider efforts to attract more foreign players to its automobile sector, a statement from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said.



"As a result of the Finance Minister's efforts and persuasion, Renault has decided to invest in Pakistan," the statement said.



"They will start assembling cars in Pakistan by 2018."



A Renault spokesman in Paris confirmed the plans, saying the company "has entered into exclusive negotiations with Ghandhara and Al Futtaim Groups to develop the Renault brand in Pakistan, including a manufacturing plant on the Ghandara site in Karachi".



Neither side gave a figure for the planned investment.



Pakistan has been seeking to attract several foreign car makers with generous offers on import duties but has faced challenges given fears about the country's long-term political stability and security given attacks by the Taliban and other militants.



Aside from Renault, Dar and other Pakistani officials have met with executives from Volkswagen, PSA Peugeot, Fiat and Nissan.



The country wants to shake up its Japanese-dominated car market and loosen the grip of Toyota, Honda and Suzuki, whose locally assembled cars are sold at relatively high prices but lag behind imported vehicles in terms of quality and specifications.



Pakistan has a potential market of nearly 200 million people, but just 180,000 cars were sold in the 2014/2015 fiscal year. That compares with more than 2 million passenger vehicles a year in neighbouring India.



Officials have been touting a new car industry policy, skewed in favour of new entrants, that includes offering foreign car manufacturers lower duties as an incentive to set up plants in Pakistan or re-open old sites.



The incentives have angered existing market players, some of whom have said publicly they should get similar terms.
Volvo S90 from the back. (Photo Courtesy: Volvo)

Volvo India has an all-new flagship in its stable in the form of the S90, which replaces the S80 sedan, and has been introduced in India at a starting price of Rs 53.5 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).This is their second product launch in India ever since the company was acquired by Chinese automaker Geely. The company had recently launched the XC90 T8 Excellence Hybrid The S90 joins the company's current lineup in the country, which includes the S60, V40, S60 Cross Country, V40 Cross Country, XC60 and the XC90.The S90 is based on based on the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) technology and is powered by the 'D4' 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that develops 190PS of power and 400Nm of torque. Transmission duties are handled by an 8-speed automatic gearbox that directs all the power to the front wheels. The car comes with three driving modes  Eco, Dynamic and Comfort  which alter the behaviour of the car based on driver requirement.In terms of looks, the star attraction has to be the 'Thor's Hammer' headlamps with Daytime-Running Lights (DRLs) which are accentuated by a chrome-finished concave front grille, giving the car a strong visual presence. When you look at it from the side, you realise juts how long the car is. Interestingly, the S90 is longer than the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5-Series and the Audi A6 in length. The rear end gets the c-shaped tail lamps which make the car stand out of the crowd.Inside the car, the chrome strip which runs across the dash will certainly catch your eye and there is a large 9-inch infotainment screen placed in the middle, that has been taken out of the XC90.Being a Volvo, it gets loads of safety features like side and curtain airbags, ABS, emergency brake assist, ISOFIX, park-assist and lane-keep assist.The pricing of the Volvo S90 puts it right against the big three German automakers' offerings  BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, along with the British Jaguar XF.
I'm Indian. My bff @SarahMunir1 is Pakistani. Who can help get her a visa for my wedding in India in Dec? #humanbonds Cc @SushmaSwaraj  Purvi Thacker (@purvi21) October 31, 2016

Counting on @SushmaSwaraj to untangle the red tape. Some1 who has visited India twice already can't be a risk.All the best for your wedding! https://t.co/2idOZDH2xu  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 2, 2016

The India-Pakistan standoff has left a bride-to-be dejected as her best friend's visa application to New Delhi has been "rejected", prompting her to knock External Affairs Sushma Swaraj's doors.Purvi Thacker, a journalist, vented her ire on social media and tagged Swaraj's official Twitter handle, hoping for a response.However, Swaraj, who is popular for her prompt interventions in such cases, is yet to respond."Counting on @SushmaSwaraj to untangle the red tape. Some1 who has visited India twice already can't be a risk.All the best for your wedding!," senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted."For all those who know mine and Sarah Munir's friendship, you will understand how heartbroken we are that her visa application to India for my wedding in December was denied. That my best friend cannot be there for what will be my biggest day is something that I cannot come to terms with. Forget the hustling, the paperwork, the months of coordination and prayers- we didn't know that it would end with a rejection," Thacker's Facebook post read.Thakcer said borders should not come in the way of human relationships, while acknowledging the fractious history of the two neighbours. "Being friends and being there for each other should not be this hard just because we were born on different sides of the borders. We understand that our countries shared history has huge economic and political implications, but it also takes a toll on normal mundane things like human relationships and connections. Nobody thinks about that," she wrote.
Aaradhya-fan of mahi chasing dhoni in her scooty till the airport to click a selfie! pic.twitter.com/oW1QQmHWU0  Bhavya Bhayani (@bhavya_bhayani) November 3, 2016

For every single die hard fan, there is no moment more precious than the unprecedented one of meeting their idol in person.This moment became a reality for Aaradhya, a young girl from Ranchi's women's college, when she decided to chase captain cool MS Dhoni on her tiny scooty, reported Daily Bhaskar.It was on October 26 when Dhoni had left for the Ranchi airport in his luxurious Hummer after the conclusion of the fourth India-New Zealand ODI match in Jharkhand's capital that the girl followed him on her little scooty to catch up with the celebrity she admires.Aaradhya, who was chasing Dhoni's super fast Hummer did not give up mid way. She rode all the way till the airport and finally met the limited overs captain at the terminal after she yelled out his name in fear of losing sight of him.Upon seeing the girl, Dhoni obliged her to click a selfie with him.Dhoni had been in news lately for rendering the Kiwis gobsmacked when he left for home from the Ranchi airport on October 24 in his super luxurious Hummer.
A letter, written by Bhopal Jail Superintendent, has surfaced four days after eight SIMI operatives escaped the premises and were shot dead in an encounter led by the Madhya Pradesh police.Reportedly, the letter accessed by CNN-News18, demanding special armed forces (SAF), was written 24 days before the jailbreak incident.In the letter, it was mentioned that the situation at the jail is very sensitive but shockingly, Director General Prisons did not pay any heed to it.The letter also stated that each lock up has around 3,100 to 3,200 inmates which includes Naxals, SIMI operatives and other dreaded prisoners who have come to the jail after being transferred.It was also mentioned in the letter that a high alert has been sounded in Madhya Pradesh and it is extremely essential to provide special security to Bhopal jail.However, the state government did not pay any attention to the letter and did not increase the security.Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Minister of Jails, Kusum Mehdele has refuted the charges.Attacking the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led MP government, the Congress claimed that the jail guards only protect Netas.Recently, as the issue of Bhopal jailbreak encounter heated up, the Madhya Pradesh government ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
: Andhra Pradesh police is jacking up the security cover for chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son N Lokesh after Maoists sent a letter to a Telugu daily warning "suicide attacks" against the CM and his son to avenge the encounter killing of 30 Maoist leaders including women in the states border with Odisha last month.Naidu's son Nara Lokesh told News18 that Maoists wont be able to scare off his family and described the threat as an "occupational hazard.""I am general secretary of the TDP and party to its decisions. We have to establish peace and harmony in our state. The Maoist issue is a serious one. We are always open to a debate and want a long lasting solution through talks in a democratic manner. We don't believe in violence or encounters. But sometimes, the police are forced to take tough decisions in the larger interest of the public," he said.Lokesh also rubbished allegations that the slain Naxals had been drugged and later killed in cold blood.The threats to Naidu and family were issued via a signed letter sent on behalf of CPI (Maoist) AP state committee spokesman Shyam.CM Naidu already has Z-Plus security cover but the AP police have further increased his security cover after the latest threat."We will review the security systems currently in place for the Chief Minister and increase the security accordingly, said Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A B Venkateswara Rao.However, not everyone is convinced of the latest Maoist threats.Revolutionary Writers Association leader Kalyana Rao described the letter as fake purportedly written by government agencies to give legitimacy to encounters and generate sympathy for the government."Naxals never do such things. They believe in an ideological war" he said.Instead, Rao sought to turn the tables on cops by questioning the veracity of the encounter.Top police officers who were a part of the operation told News18 that allegations like AP police pushing dead bodies into Odisha were "laughable"."We always maintained that AP police killed them in an encounter. It was a joint operation on the border. When we admit to killing Naxals, where is the necessity to push bodies into another state? Did we say that we did not do the encounter? No," a top state police officer told News18 on condition of anonymity.Encounter killing of deaths is nothing new for the state that has long had a Maoist presence. When the state was unified (before Telangana was carved out of AP in mid-2014) almost every government  be it a Congress government or a TDP government  had ordered such operations against the Naxals from time to time.Former AP home minister and a senior TDP leader MV Mysura Reddy defended such encounters saying that the only way to fight guerrillas is encounter. Speaking to News18 over telephone from Hyderabad, Reddy who was AP home minister during the peak of Naxal movement in the early 1990s, said the Naxals are heavily armed like the law enforcing agencies."They dont believe in Constitution and democracy. They understand only one thing that is fear. You cant talk logic and reasoning with them. When they fire, police will also fire in self defence. I dont agree with the people who question such encounters. We cant treat Naxals like civilians," he said.According to AP intelligence reports Naxals are regrouping in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram area close to Orissa border and coming days are expected to witness more clashes between police and the rebels.The encounter that took place on October last week in Jantra in the Malkangiri district of Odisha where 24 including seven female Maoist cadres were killed had raised widespread suspicion with human rights organisations crying foul.According to the official version, it was a joint operation by the Andhra and Odisha police, and the raiding party recovered four AK-47 rifles, three self-loading rifles (SLR), and country-made guns from the spot.A press release sent to the media and signed by CPI (Maoist) A.P. State committee official spokesman Shyam immediately after the encounter alleged that the encounter was staged.He alleged that police used covert operatives to lace the food served to the Maoists with sedatives, and gunned down the leaders after they fell unconscious. In the five-page release, the Maoists said they would also eliminate former Naxalites who joined hands with the police.The letter also warned about "suicide attacks" which was hitherto unheard of in any Maoist communications.
Maharashtra: 11 persons have been arrested from Buldhana area of Maharashtra on late Thursday night in connection with the rape of a tribal minor student of Ninadhi Ashram school.



Shockingly, out of those arrested seven are said to be teachers and the remaining four are the staffers of the school.



Sources also claim that three out of the total 12 girls, who are believed to be in the age group of 12-14 years, are suspected to be pregnant.



The girls informed their families about the assault on returning home for Diwali holidays.



A special investigation team has been formed under senior IPS officer to probe the matter.



The police have told CNN-News18 that so far only one complainant has come forward, though locals have alleged that there are at least a dozen victims of sexual abuse in the school.



The police said, "A cleaning staff in the school is the alleged perpetrator and the remaining have been arrested for not reporting the crime despite knowing about it."



A case has been registered against the main accused under IPC 376 (rape) and POCSO (Protection of children from sexual offences act) whereas, remaining ones have been charged under sections of POCSO.



To take the probe further, the victim has been sent for a medical examination.



Meanwhile, Buldhana police said that it is yet to be medically verified if the victim is pregnant or not.



Earlier, the police was accused of trying to suppress the issue and a case was registered only after pressure was build up on the officials.



However, till now, the state has not interfered or reacted to the matter.



A victim, in her statement, has claimed that there are many other girls who have been raped.




New Delhi: The Centre has called a meeting with Delhi's neighbouring states on Friday to discuss the national capital's deteriorating air quality.



The Secretary of Union Ministry of Environment, A.N. Jha, will be meeting the Secretaries of neighbouring states -- Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab -- of the national capital, the government said on Thursday in a statement.



The air quality of the national capital has sharply deteriorated, while smog situation on Wednesday was worse in last 17 years.



Paddy burning in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and slow wind speed are few of the reasons attributed to the situation.
As Delhi suffers its worst smog in 17 years, there is much gloom among officials working to curb crop burning in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh.The window to bring down one of the biggest pollutants in the region  smoke from the burnt stubble  is lost for this season too, those working with the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) told News18. Delhi will have to suffer the toxic blanket engulfing it till either wind speed picks up or it rains.Weve run into a generational gap among the farmers we talk to, said Dr. Bhure Lal, chairman of the EPCA, speaking mainly of Punjab and Haryana.The young, he said, understood the hazardous fallout of the farming practice and were ready to change their ways, but the older generation, still the heads of the families and the fields, were not.On Friday, after meeting secretaries from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan (together the NCR states), Union environment secretary Ajay Narayan Jha told the press that except in Punjab, crop burning had been controlled. He added that Punjab had assured the Union ministry it would make efforts to check the practice and that the Central Pollution Control Board would meet state secretaries every month to monitor the situation.This seemed contradictory to the resignation seen behind closed doors.In a meeting with the EPCA on October 7, Chandigarh, government representatives from Punjab and Haryana threw up their hands in despair at trying to change this deeply ingrained practice, according to those present.EPCA officials, who have been visiting farmers across districts, trying to persuade them to adopt newer methods and technologies since 2014, too, see no hope of immediate change, till at least the young takes over the farming.Farmers have been burning stubble for almost 25 to 30 years, estimates Lal, since Haryana and Punjab switched over to paddy. But the damage was never so acute, as seen in the past few years.Haryana now produces 12 to 15 million tonnes of paddy straw and Punjab some 20 million tonnes.On October 30, a Centre for Science and Environment report notes, Crop burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh became more aggressive, as seen in the images of NASAs fire mapper.Apart from the smoke that billows monstrously towards Delhi, burning paddy straw causes harm to friendly insects in the soil, it lowers soil fertility and leads to carbon deposits in the soil. The young understand this, discovered Lal in his interactions.He recalls the innovative tools created in in areas such as Ludhiana  a machine called bhaiya that turns off the irrigation pumps on time, saving water and electricity, named after the ubiquitous bhaiyas who once did all such odd jobs.However, Lal and his team also understand why, year after year, farmers resort to this quick fix method of clearing their fields.If you plant wheat late after November 30, he explained, the yield of wheat goes down one quintal per hectare per week.All the methods that the EPCA and other environmentalists have been suggesting are time consuming. It takes two to three days to use tools such as the rotavator, then the happy seeder and then the chopper to clear the field, irrigate the land and chop the paddy straw into small enough pieces that it can mix in the ground and convert to fertiliser. The farmer also has to invest in more water and diesel to operate his tractors, to go through this process, not to mention about Rs 600 per acre. The conversion of paddy straw to fertiliser also takes 45 days, too long to benefit the rabi crop that comes next. The window period between kharif and rabi, Lal says, is only two days.EPCA has tried to persuade farmers in Punjab to give the straw to power plants that use it to produce electricity. There are seven operational in the state, producing 6.25 megawatts, the target being a total of 600 megawatts.The government has also subsidised expensive tools such as rotavator and happy seeder, which costs one lakh each. Lal has recommended farmers be organised into cooperatives that buy these machines, so that each one doesnt has to bear a mammoth cost.However, he pointed out, there is a need to change agricultural patterns from the dependency on high paying paddy and wheat. Before paddy became popular as a cash crop, more area was used to cultivate maize, jowar bajra. More crops, such as dal and mustard, need to be covered by the governments minimum support price, to wean farmers away from paddy.Till then, as evidenced, neither fines and prosecutions in Haryana, nor ongoing awareness campaigns have made much of a dent.
Srinagar: An emotional appeal of a mother persuaded a Kashmiri youth, who had joined Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT), to surrender in an interior area of Sopore late on Thursday night after the army with the help of other security agencies laid a siege of a locality after intelligence inputs indicated presence of a militant in a house.



A senior army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the troops came to know the identity of the holed up militant as Umaq Khaliq Mir alias 'Sameer', a resident of Tujjar in North Kashmir. When attempts to draw out the youth proved futile it was decided to request his parents, whose home was five km away, to come and persuade him to surrender, the official said.



His mother agreed readily and came to the place and pleaded with his son as the army had assured her that they would take a lenient view in case her son surrendered.



"It was an anxious moment for us as we were risking life of a civilian along with some of my boys, who had provided human shield to the woman," the official said.



The mother was allowed to go inside the house and request her son to come out and surrender which he eventually did. After lot of persuasion, Mir emerged from the house and handed over one AK rifle, three magazines, three grenades and a radio set.



Mir, a 26 year-old boy of Tujjar, had been missing from May this year and had joined the LeT.



"We make all out efforts to preserve human life and this is one such example. I am glad that my decision was right because at the end, motherhood prevailed over a boy who had been brainwashed to carry out innocent killings in the state," the official added.



After his surrender, he was handed over to the local police which arrested him.



The army's Northern Command later tweeted: "#JKOps. Back to mainstream. One Local Terrorist of LeT tanzeem (outfit) surrenders (sic)."



"Mir surrendered to the Army troops after being motivated for several hours through all channels including the parents.The life of a Kashmiri youth has been saved," a senior Army officer told PTI.



Giving details about his surrender, the Army officer said that "after cordoning off the area, we asked him to surrender".



"We asked his mother to plead him to surrender so that his life is saved. We do not want loss of life. His father Khalid Mir was not at home and we brought him from another place and asked him to plead with his son to surrender," he said.



"After two hours of the hectic parlays, he came out with parents and surrendered. This was our biggest success in ensuring surrender," he said.



The incident comes days after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti urged police to try to bring back to their homes the "local boys" who have joined militancy instead of killing them in encounters.



"I request the police to try to bring them back to their homes, instead of them being killed in encounters," she had said on October 21, amid unrest triggered by the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in a gun-battle with forces in July.



"Such youth (who have taken to the gun) need hand-holding... If it is possible to bring them back, make them a part of the mainstream. Give them bats, balls and good education, instead of guns. We do not want loss of life," she said.



(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: JNU student Najeeb Ahmads disappearance and cops continuous failures to find him have led to a massive hunt by Delhi Police.



SIT chief Manish Chandra and joint commissioner of police RP Upadhyay were also summoned by LG Najeeb Jung to get the update on the missing student.



Police said they have done psychoanalytic profiling of Najeeb after consultation with his doctors.



He was very close to his mother and would not have taken any big step without her permission, doctors said.



This profiling was done to judge his moves, a senior police officer said.



Police sources told News18 that Najeeb Ahmads email and cell phone conversations were also examined and investigation so far shows Najeeb was under depression because most of his batchmates were younger than him. He had been preparing for various competitive exams for the past four years.



Najeeb Ahmads teachers and batchmates from Kota and Kanpur, where he prepared for CPMT and PMT exams have also been quizzed about his mysterious disappearance.



Police have put up 20000 posters in and outside Delhi and close to 450 personnel are working round-the-clock to trace the whereabouts of Ahmad. Search for Najeeb Ahmad has become the biggest ever operation conducted by Delhi police, a senior officer said.



Adding to that, 13 teams consisting of 55 personnel have visited almost every private and government hospital and verified every single known or unknown admitted patient. As many as 450 police personnel are said to be working on the case and are stationed at important locations.



On the other hand, the LG office has increased the reward money to Rs 2 lakh to anyone with information leading to Najeeb.



One of the professors at JNU had seen Ahmad on the day he left the campus in an auto rickshaw. However, the police maintain that CCTV camera installed at JNU gate doesnt have a high-resolution footage and it is difficult to identify auto by its number. The SIT has reportedly verified over 300 auto rickshaws plying in the area.



Two teams each in the districts of Ajmer, Kota, Bareilly, Roorkee, Faizabad, Azamgarh and Badaun and other cities have been deployed and CCTV footage has been scanned at all important locations.






Kolkata: China on Friday sought to dispel the view that it was against India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).



"The notion that China is against India's entry into NSG is not right. India and China are working together in this regard," Consul General of China in Kolkata, Zhanwu Ma said.



"Entry of any country into the Nuclear Suppliers Group needs certain procedures which are to be followed. It is not that simple," Ma told reporters here.



Asked about China's stand on Indo-Pak relations, he said his country was neutral.



"China is very friendly towards India. Some people do not seem to believe so. Of course, we have differences. But the shared interests outweigh the differences," the Chinese Consul General said, adding the business relations between the two countries were mutually beneficial.



"So far India's relation with Pakistan is concerned, China's position is neutral. India and Pakistan should settle the impasse via negotiations only," he added.


Police arrested Gulla, 46, last week at her residence in the city of Peshawar on charges of fraudulently obtaining Pakistani national identity cards for her herself and her two sons.

The National Geographic's iconic "Afghan Girl," Sharbat Gulla, has been hospitalized for unspecified medical treatment as she remains in police custody in Pakistan, officials said Thursday.

Gulla's arrest has outraged human rights and civil society activists in Pakistan, while authorities in Afghanistan criticized it as part of an alleged ongoing harassment campaign trying to force Afghan refugees to leave the country, but the Pakistani government defended their decision and maintains she broke the law.

"Ms. Gula has been receiving adequate hospital treatment," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Thursday. "Let me reiterate that there has been no cruel action taken against her. The rightful legal course has been pursued in this case, and you will see the outcome shortly."

People caught with possessing illegal Pakistani nationality cards could face up to 14 years in prison and a financial penalty of up to $5,000 if convicted.
Varanasi: Renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could "feel the pain" of Dalits but was "unable to hear the outcry" of Muslims.



"Our Prime Minister can see as well as feel the pain of Dalits. But he is unable to hear and feel the outcry of Muslims, who are living in extreme and pitiable condition," he said.



The poet through his 'shayaris' (couplets), yesterday, at the All India Mushayare here urged for amicable relationships between India and Pakistan.



"There should be cultural exchanges. We must allow Pakistani artistes to at least perform in India. Let us keep our hopes alive for amicable relationship between the two countries," he said indicating at the tensions on the Indo-Pak border.



"The Indian Army should be kept separate from politics.



The Army should not be used for political gains," he demanded.



Expressing his views on police encounters, he said, "Most are fake, only in rare cases these encounters are genuine."



"Earlier the police charged innocent people with possessing illegal weapons, possessing narcotics or intoxicants. Now they are being framed for spreading terrorism," he alleged in the backdrop of the recent encounter of eight SIMI activists in Bhopal.



Rana said he still stood-by his words on not accepting any "awards or recognition from the government".



"Returning awards over rising intolerance in the country was the right decision by Indian writers, poets and academicians," he said.


The controversial encounter of eight SIMI men in Bhopal seems to be an operation done in hurry, former Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) D Sivanandan tells CNN-News18s Smitha Nair in an exclusive interview.



Mr Sivanandan, it was in your tenure as Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) that the back of the underworld was broken. Over 200 dreaded criminals and gangsters were killed in encounters. Are there certain circumstances that warrant, mandate extra-judicial killings?



Criminals shooting at police and police retaliating has been happening since the 80s. The first encounter happened in 1982. Criminals were getting emboldened, they were using AK-47s.



In the late 90s, there was a freeze in such that Mumbai Police werent taking any action against extortionists who were using the telephone as a weapon to extort money. It was then that these gangsters went on an overdrive and shot so many business people. In 1998, they shot 101 people in 93 incidents, which means every third day they were shooting business people. Business had come to a halt. That does not mean that the encounters were to happen. No. Because the police were frozen, these people got emboldened and they were shooting at police when they went to arrest these people, because of which, using the right of private defence and following the law in its letter and spirit, Mumbai Police carried out operations where detentions were done. For example, 1,500 people were detained in three years. As many as 1,500 weapons were recovered, arrests and convictions happened and also, incidentally, wherever the police were shot, there was retaliatory fire under Section 100 of the IPC, which gives you right of private defence.



They were so emboldened to bring 2,000 AK-47s, 4,000 kg RDX,12,000 hand grenades. I am talking about March 12, 1993. If that is the kind of boldness that brought into play then the police had to defend themselves to defend the citizens. Please remember 101 business people were shot dead in 1998.



How do you view the controversial killing of eight SIMI men in Bhopal?



As a policeman, I want to say that these SIMI men belonged to a banned organisation. Second, they had already committed serious heinous crimes, like bank robbery and other things. They did scale that wall.



When I was in the police, I handled LTTE men escaping from Vellore Jail and hiding themselves in Chembur and Matunga. I had helped Tamil Nadu police arrest six of those dreaded people. Last week, in a Nashik remand home, four children scaled a wall of over 12 feet. A couple of years ago in Nagpur, criminals had similarly escaped by scaling a wall of this height.



It is quite easy for them to climb one up on the other and then use a bedsheet to scale the wall. Many questions are being asked about how they scaled 25-feet wall by using bedsheets. Its very easy for eight people to stand one on top of the other and use bedsheets to scale the wall.



And before doing that they had killed a head constable equivalent of a jail guard using some weapon. It again goes to show they were desperate.



I am unclear on whether they had weapons or not. I have seen various statements on television. What I can believe though is that these desperados having killed people earlier and having killed one that night could go to any lengths. The police in their innocence had allowed all the villagers (at the encounter site) to surround them, help them and allowed them to shoot videos, which we are now seeing on TV. If the police were that bad, they wouldve taken the villagers off the site. I believe that what the police have done is genuinely an operation in a hurry. They had got information from the villagers. They went there and surrounded these people and whatever happened, happened. Now what kind of weapons they had etc will come out in the NIA investigation or some other agency will carry out the investigation. As and when those details become clear, we will be able to comment.



How have the courts viewed the matter of encounter killings?



Justice Ranjana Desai of the Bombay High Court, in a petition filed in an encounter case in Mumbai, had clearly laid out six steps that need to be followed in case of an encounter. So that should act as a guideline for the police. These are the legal provisions.



What in your opinion is role of public opinion and that of the political executive in encounter killings?



I want to put it very clearly that there is no court of public opinion. There is a law, there is Constitution, there is IPC and there is CrPC. Political executive cannot decide who can be shot and who cannot be shot. Very clearly, it is Section 100 of the IPC which empowers you to defend yourself. In every case, you cant just go and kill somebody and say you are exercising your right to private defence. There are complicated set of illustrations given and this right of private defence extends to ordinary citizens, not just the police.



I want to make it clear: No political executive can get this done. No police should fall into this trap. Secondly, no circumstances should drive anybody to do such a thing.



It is each case on merit. The merit is described in Section 100 of the Indian Penal Code. No police should get overwhelmed by any environment and do such things. It will boomerang. Police should go by the law and Constitution.


Raam Reddy, filmmaker

A still from the film Thithi

Filmmaker Raam Reddys Thithi is probably one of the most sought-after films post the number of screenings it has had and the number of accolades it has won. Reddy, who can easily be regarded as one of Kannada film industrys rising stars attended the ongoing Dharamshala International Festival 2016 and News18.com caught up with him for a quick candid chat.When my 3 passions  writing, visual and music came into one, it became a default choice after which I never looked back, recalls Reddy while talking about his first brush with filmmaking during his college days.The pride that one would accept to accompany the director, whose debut film is a recipient of the National Award and also the second Kannada film to win the Locaroe Award only after Pattabhirama Reddys Samsakara -is nowhere to be seen as he self-effacingly sits to answer our questions.When asked about his future plans, he quips, it's something to do with magic realism."Stating that it is just baby steps towards his next global project, he says, Itll probably have professional actors this time. Im taking it as a challenge because earlier I worked without any actors and now Im doing this. Hoping to position it more as a global film  so itll be a film from India that hopefully will not be pigeonholed into any of the sub-categories.Despite the fact that Thithi did not feature any of the professional actors per say, he still received rave reviews and a huge support from Bollywood celebrities. Aamir Khan took to Twitter, not just once, but four times to call it a must-watch while Anurag Kashyap shared that hes jealous of his success and talent. He feels elated over this beautiful and the unexpected gesture shown by Bollywood in embracing an independent Kannada film that is outside any of the typical structures.He says, They didnt embrace it as an art film or a commercial film or a regional film  but just as an Indian film that they saw. There was an unconditional support from Bollywood. Its one of those times where your faith is reaffirmed that if you do your work, youll be appreciated.So is he planning for Bollywood? I dont have plans to step into any industry  an industry comes with a lot of structure that I tend to rebel against. I want to make films that are dictated by content and intentions and bridge what we think is entertaining. Thithi did exactly that.With the words of appreciation being showered on his regional language film, one might expect for its Hindi remake but despite the offers, hes not even considering a remake. We have had a lot of offers but I felt that Thithi was such a culturally rooted film that it I didnt feel it right to remake it. Theres a character named Gaddappa  the film was kind of written for him. It is not fair to the soul of the character to replace it with someone and make it another way.Thithi  a dramatic comedy  more of a sattire is about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest, a man named Century Gowda, in their clan. Thithi, which can otherwise have various meanings, refers to death or funeral in this film.
Mumbai: Did Tabu -- who turns 45 on Friday -- shoot her career in the foot by playing mom to stars like Shahid Kapoor in Haider and Katrina Kaif in Fitoor? Not really, feels her illustrious aunt Shabana Azmi, who says Tabu's career is impervious to dips and curves.



In a gender-biased film industry like Bollywood, while leading men may continue playing lover boys until they die (and Dev Anand is an embodiment of the patriarchal proclivities that eternally govern the casting rules of Bollywood), a leading lady seemingly loses her sheen once she gets married or hits 40, whichever happens first.



Where does Tabu's career go next?



In the past few years, there has been a gradual shift in her positioning from leading lady to 'character' actress. In the Salman Khan starrer Jai Ho, she played Salman's sister. Leading ladies in Bollywood don't do that unless it's a film like Josh where Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan played twins, but were anything but sibling-like in their conduct.



Tabu, a National Award winning talent, also played mother to Shahid and Katrina in Haider and Fitoor respectively. In Drishyam, her only other release during the last two years, she was cast opposite Rajat Kapoor and not the film's leading man Ajay Devgn.



But these choices will have no bearing on her career, says Shabana.



"Hits and flops will make no difference to Tabu's career. She is a class apart and will always be the first choice for strong roles of characters her age. She is beautiful in a unique way. She doesn't look like a manufactured product and she is a versatile actor," Shabana said.



She added: "People think of Tabu as a dramatic actor, but she also has a keen comic timing and a terrific mimic like her mother. More power to her on her birthday."



A director who has worked with Tabu and cares deeply for her career, said "she has made brave choices as an actress, but these choices have one after another shut the door on her career as a leading lady".



Writer-editor-director Apurva Asrani is dazzled by Tabu's rare appearances on screen.



"I was so relieved to see Tabu in Haider. She was given one opportunity after ages, and she simply stole the show. It is rare to find writer/directors who create strong female characters," Asrani said.



He added: "Our industry is known for being sexist since decades. Heroines' careers used to end when they were 30 and the men played heroes till 55 at least. Clearly, this has been no country for women.



"But having said that, we had Bimal Roy, who created really powerful female characters. We have Vishal Bhardwaj, who has given Tabu some of her meatiest roles. We have Shoojit Sircar who gave Deepika (Padukone) Piku and Ram Madhvani who gave Sonam Kapoor Neerja.



"Don't forget that Kangana Ranaut has been acting in films where she has the author-backed role. I just had the good fortune of writing her an exciting character in Hansal Mehta's Simran. Today, the scene is much better for actresses. Sridevi has made a solid comeback with 'English Vinglish' and now readies up for Mom. I am hopeful that more writers and directors will write parts that do justice to a phenomenal talent like Tabu."



Film critic Raja Sen said: "That the magnificent Tabu finds such rare occasions to dazzle on screen is one of Hindi cinema's most profound tragedies. Her legacy is assured. As the beholders, the loss is entirely ours."






No one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain esp. a party whose fortune is already sinking : FM Arun Jaitley #OROP pic.twitter.com/uNzpgkU6ud

 ANI (@ANI_news) November 4, 2016

No one should try to exploit a personal tragedy for political gain, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday, two days after the suicide of an ex-serviceman triggered a political storm with the detention of senior opposition leaders who had tried to meet his family.It wasnt a lapse. Its not that OROP wasnt granted. There seems to be some communication gap with the banks, Jaitley said, reiterating that the NDA government had fulfilled its promise of implementing the one-rank, one-pension scheme for the armed forces.Ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal consumed poison on Tuesday evening, reportedly upset over the delay in receiving monetary benefits of the new scheme for uniformed pensions.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were detained the next day for several hours by the Delhi Police, who prevented the opposition leaders from meeting the family of the deceased veteran.On Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh branding the deceased as a Congress worker, he said all leaders must be "sensitive" to the suicide.Taking Rahul Gandhi head-on, he said no one should try to change a personal tragedy into political gain, especially by a party whose fortune is already sinking.The UPA government, he said, had not taken any meaningful step towards implementing one-rank-one-pension (OROP) for defence personnel in its 10 years of rule as was evident from a meagre Rs 500 crore allocation it made for the purpose.The government sympathises with the defence personnel who committed suicide, but there was not a lapse that OROP was not granted to him, he clarified."It obviously seems to be an administrative lapse. It is not a lapse where the OROP was not granted. It was not a lapse that there was some exception made in his favour. Obviously, communication with the bank, there seems to be some gap in that and therefore, he was given pension for one part of the service and not for other part of the service which he was legitimately entitled to," Jaitley told reporters here.Asked about comments by VK Singh, he said, "Everybody has to be sensitive... we must appreciate the sensitivity of the person who under stress has committed suicide. I do sympathise with him and all our comments have to be sensitive on this issue."Critical of Gandhi for playing politics over the suicide, he said, "It is equally important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy of an individual into a political gain for a party whose fortunes are otherwise sinking."He said further: "It doesn't behove senior national leaders to exploit a tragedy of this kind, particularly in intensive care units of the hospitals. A more responsible behaviour is expected of them."The government, he said, fully sympathises with the defence personnel and his family who committed suicide.(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: As a controversy raged over the suicide of an ex-serviceman, Union Minister V K Singh on Friday attacked Congress and AAP, alleging that they were "doing politics over dead bodies".



Singh alleged that the two parties were left with no issues and knew nothing about the 'one rank, one pension' matter.



"They have nothing else (no issue) to do politics on. That is why they do politics over dead bodies. Go and ask them whether they have attended funeral of any other soldier.



"So many soldiers have been martyred, did Aam Aadmi Party leaders and Congress leaders went to pay homage to them. They are talking senseless," the Minister of State for External Affairs told reporters on the sidelines of an energy efficiency conference.



Asked about criticism from other parties on his remarks, Singh said, "There is no point discussing with those who don't know anything about it (one rank one pension)."



Earlier on Wednesday, Singh had raised questions about the "mental state" of Ram Kishan Grewal, an army veteran whose suicide, allegedly over OROP, had sparked a political row.



He had also rejected reports about Grewal being a prominent face of the 'One Rank-One Pension' agitation.



"He (Grewal) was a Congress worker. He became sarpanch on Congress' ticket. However, he was our soldier. I feel sad over his death," Singh had said on Thursday.



Meanwhile, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi demanded resignation of General (retd.) Singh for his remarks on the suicide by ex-serviceman Grewal.



"I demand V K Singh's immediate resignation. I feel sorry that a person of such mindset became the army chief. He has insulted a jawan. There are still shortcomings in the OROP implementation even after 6th and 7th Pay Commissions' recommendations. The government should address them," he said.


Patna: Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar on Friday said the Samajwadi Party's foundation day celebrations on Saturday should not be seen as a "prelude to alliance" for the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.



"The SP programme is for the celebration of its 25th foundation day. It should not be seen as a prelude to any alliance (for the UP Assembly election)," he told reporters.



Kumar said he had received a phone call from SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav last night inviting him to the function and thanked him for it.



"Had it not been for Chhath festival, I would have thought about going to Lucknow for the programme. It is courtesy to invite people who share similar ideological and emotional affinity to any function," he said after inspecting the preparations for Chhath festival at different ghats on the banks of Ganga.



Commenting on the feud in Uttar Pradeshs first family, the JD(U) supremo said, "We will be happy if there is no dispute within Samajwadi Party. I have full faith that veteran leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will be able to solve any problem within that party."



Kumar said JD(U) was going for the 2017 UP polls with full preparation.



Party worker meetings have been held in five divisions of that state, he said.



Kumar said talks for alliance and cooperation have been held with many parties, while also referring to the unsuccessful bid by six parties of old Janata Parivar to merge into one.



However, it does not mean that no such efforts would be made in future and that it would not succeed, he had said earlier.



The presence of leaders of prominent parties of socialist and secular leaning in the SP foundation day function is seen as a step towards forging a strong grouping for the crucial UP polls.



With Kumar expressing inability to go to Lucknow due to Chhath, JD(U) has decided to send its senior leaders Sharad Yadav and K C Tyagi to the foundation day function on Saturday.
Lucknow: The ruling Samajwadi Party is all geared up for the party's mega silver jubilee celebrations on Saturday with JD(U), RJD, RLD leaders set to share the stage with Uttar Pradesh's first family.



"The preparations for the historic event have been made. Samajwadi and Lohiawadi leaders will be sharing the stage with 'netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav)", SP state president Shivpal Yadav told reporters at party office on Friday.



Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, RLD Cheif Ajit Singh, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala, KC Tyagi (JD-U) and noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani are some of the prominent names to attend the event.



"With the event, SP will be formally launching its election campaign from tomorrow (Saturday)," Shivpal said, adding that its main objective was not to let BJP form government in Uttar Pradesh.



In a press conference on THursday, the SP state unit chief had said, "After forming majority government in UP in 2017, all secular forces will unite to uproot the BJP government at the Centre."



In a bid to portray a united front ahead of the 2017 state Assembly elections, the feuding first family had come together to flag off Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's 'rath yatra' on Thursday. Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal, with whom the Chief Minister was locked in a bitter power struggle, extended him "best wishes".



Meanwhile, Shivpal said that the entire route from SP headquarter to Janeshwar Mishra park, the venue for the silver jubilee celebrations, is dotted with hoardings and banners welcoming workers for the event.



"We are expecting a huge crowd tomorrow (Saturday). The workers have already started coming to the state capital. We are expecting over 5 lakh people. The event will also pass a strong message for BJP and rival parties," convenor of the event and Cabinet minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati said.



Elaborate security arrangements have been made by police to ensure security of VVIP guests and party workers.



"Besides a DIG level officer, there would be five Superintendents of Police (SP), 24 ASPs, 39 Circle Officers and a considerable number of PAC personnel as part of the security cover for the event," IG, Lucknow Zone, A Satish Ganesh said.



The SP state chief said that he also met with party supremo Mulayam Singh at his residence for the success of the event.



Shivpal has also asked the district administration and police to ensure that expelled party leaders are not allowed inside the venue of the event.



The SP leader was reportedly peeved by the presence of expelled leaders including MLCs Santosh Yadav Sunny, Sunil Yadav Sajan, Anand Bhadauria and others at Akhilesh's rath yatra on Thursday.



Though there is no official word from the party or administration on the matter, party sources said that Shivpal was strongly batting for restricting the expelled leaders at Saturday's event.
Chinese electronics firm Huawei on Thursday unveiled its latest Mate 9 smartphone in Munich, designed to challenge global market leaders Apple and Samsung with features including a high-quality camera and higher-capacity battery.As Korea's Samsung struggles with negative publicity following the high-profile recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in response to reports of it catching fire and exploding, Huawei has scented an opportunity.Standing in front of a graphic comparing how hot the new phone gets while charging compared with a Samsung handset, Huawei consumer electronics chief Richard Yu jokingly promised "no explosions!" when charging the Mate 9 -- to a burst of laughter from the crowd gathered at a hotel in the German city.Huawei has set itself the ambitious target of becoming the largest smartphone maker by market share within three to four years.According to market research firm IDC, Huawei held 9.3 percent of the global market in the second quarter of 2016, placing it third behind Samsung with 22.8 percent and Apple with 11.7 percent.But Huawei holds the number one spot in its home market China and says it is making inroads into European markets such as Spain and Italy, where consumers often buy phones and SIM cards separately rather than bundled from their network operator.Partnerships with high-end German firms, including Leica for camera lenses and a luxury Porsche Design version of the Mate 9, are aimed at moving perceptions of the Chinese firm beyond its lower-end origins.But Yu highlighted a slew of hardware and software features developed in-house by Huawei, which he said allowed for improved processing and gaming performance, longer battery life and faster charging."The most important part of this phone is speed," he told the blue-lit conference hall.He claimed that the phone would launch popular apps like WhatsApp and Twitter around 50 percent faster than competing models from Apple and Samsung.Software built into the phone also aims to prevent performance slowing down over time as users install more apps and fill the phone with data.
Huawei has unveiled its new smartphone the Huawei Mate 9 at an event in Germany. The smartphone will be available in the US in the near future but whether it will come to India or not is still unclear.At the launch standing in front of a graphic comparing how hot the new phone gets while charging compaed with a Samsung handset, Huawei consumer electronics chief Richard Yu jokingly promised "no explosions!" when charging the Mate 9 -- to a burst of laughter from the crowd gathered at a hotel in the German city.The Huawei Mate 9 features a large 5.9-inch FHD display and Android 7.0 operating system. The device is powered by a Kirin 960 octa-core processor and backed by 4GB RAM. There is 64GB of built-in storage which can be expandable with the help of a microSD card.Just like the Huawei P9 and Huawei's sub-brand phone Honor 8 , the Mate 9 will feature dual rear-facing cameras with a Monochrome and an RGB sensor. The Monochrome sensor is at 20-megapixels whereas the RGB sensor is at 12-megapixels with F2.2 and Optical Image Stabilisation. The camera on the Mate 9 are Leica-branded.The Mate 9 will sport a 4,000mAh battery and will have EMUI 5.0. on top of Android Nougat. The phone will be available in China and Europe first at 699 (approx Rs 51,731).
U.S. President Barack Obama is proving to be one of Democrat Hillary Clinton's most vocal surrogates, as he mocked Republican Donald Trump on Thursday as "uniquely unqualified to be president."

"You laugh. I'm not joking, he is temperamentally unfit to be commander-in-chief," Obama told cheering Clinton supporters in Florida. It is one of two Atlantic coastal states, along with North Carolina, that both Clinton and Trump see as crucial to winning Tuesday's national presidential election.

"If we win Florida, we will win this election," Obama said in Miami, a sunny tourist mecca and home to thousands of Hispanic voters who support Clinton and are opposed to Trump's tough anti-immigration plans.

Later, Obama headed to Florida's biggest city, Jacksonville, in the northern part of the state, where Trump also campaigned Thursday.

Trump accused Clinton of "engaging in a criminal enterprise" for her handling of national security material in her e-mails during her four-year tenure as secretary of state. "She's likely to be under investigation for many, many years," Trump said.

In the last dash for votes, the Republican candidate also planned rallies in the eastern state of Pennsylvania and two more in North Carolina. Trump's wife, Melania, made her first campaign appearance for her husband since the Republican National Convention in July, speaking to supporters in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's biggest city.

Melania Trump said if she is the country's first lady, she would be an advocate for women and children and attempt to curb bullying on social media. "Our culture has gotten too rough and too mean," she said. "We have to find a better way to talk to each other."

Meanwhile, Clinton is also focused on North Carolina, where she is staging two campaign events.
The race for the Oval Office tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Republican Donald Trump must win shifted from favouring Democrat Hillary Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project.



The two presidential candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clintons lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Pennsylvania is now tilting to Clinton.



While Clinton remains the odds-on favourite to win Tuesday's election, Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election.



Still, Trump must win both Florida and North Carolina to have a good chance of winning the White House. Clinton could lose both states and still win.



The States of the Nation project estimates Clintons odds of winning the needed 270 Electoral College votes at about 90 percent, down from 95 percent last week. If the election had been held on Wednesday, the project estimates, she would have had 256 solid electoral votes and an estimated final tally of about 302 votes, to 236 for Trump.



Last week, she had 278 solid votes and a final tally of 320 votes, to 218 for Trump. By any measure, however, Trump has had a good run in the past week. He has seen his support grow in 24 states while losing ground in 11.



Conversely, Clintons support grew in 13 states while shrinking in 22. Trumps gains came in a period in which he had few new controversies to fend off, while Clinton faced renewed scrutiny of her email practices.



Most respondents to the latest survey were asked about their support for the candidates after FBI Director James Comey announced last Friday the agency was examining newly discovered emails that might pertain to Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.



Comey had concluded in July at the end of a year-long FBI probe of the email issue that there were no grounds to bring any charges against Clinton. His brief letter to Congress last week said the new trove of emails might or might not be significant.



Trump and other Republicans seized on the news to question Clinton's credibility, while Democrats complained it could unfairly influence voters so close to the election.



The States of the Nation project is a survey of about 15,000 people every week in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. State by state results are available by visiting here



EARLY VOTING INDICATORS



It is unclear if the FBI inquiry upset the balance in the race. But many national polls have found the race tightening in recent days. Polling averages last week showed Clinton with a lead of between 4 and 7 points.



Those averages now show her lead at just 2 to 3 points. Last week, the project had her leading 47 percent to 40 percent. This week, it dropped to 45 percent to 42 percent.



In the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, Clinton led Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters, the same margin as before the FBI announcement.



There are other reasons for the Clinton campaign to worry. Among voters who have cast early ballots, she leads Trump by about 8 points. At the same point in the 2012 race, President Barack Obama had a lead of 11 points among early voters over Republican rival Mitt Romney.



Obamas gap narrowed, however, to 6 points just before Election Day, according to the States of the Nation project and separate Reuters/Ipsos polling.



In Florida, where the candidates are tied at 47 percent, Clinton leads by 8 points among early voters. In 2012, Obama led by about 15 points. In Ohio, where the race also is tied, she leads by about 20 points among early voters. At this point in 2012, Obama led by about 30 points.
Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has sought to mobilise African-American voters in North Carolina state by stressing the potential dangers of a victory by Republican rival Donald Trump.



"He has spent this entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. He re-tweets white supremacists and spreads racially tinged conspiracy theories," she said on Thursday in a speech at Pitt Community College in Winterville, where a third of residents are black.



The former Secretary of State pointed out that Trump was lavishly praised by a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) -- white supremacist organisation -- newspaper, though the Republican's campaign repudiated what many saw as an endorsement from the KKK, Efe news reported.



Participation in early voting among African Americans in North Carolina is down significantly from the level of 2008, when high black turnout helped Barack Obama carry the Tar Heel state on the way to becoming the first US President of African descent.



Clinton reminded the audience of repeated accusations that Trump discriminated against minorities in his real estate enterprises



"What would your life be like if he were in the White House?" she asked rhetorically. "And the truth is we really don't have to guess. We just have to look at everything he has said and done in his career and this campaign, it's a good preview of what would likely happen."



"If you add up all of the people and all the groups of people he has insulted and demeaned, it makes way more than half of America," Clinton said.



Trump and Clinton are currently tied in North Carolina, each with support from 46.4 per cent of likely voters, according to the average of polls tracked by the Web site RealClearPolitics.



North Carolina, with 15 electoral votes, is seen as vital to Trump's hopes of winning the White House.



Both candidates campaigned in the state on Thursday.
London: The top boss of the Islamic State -- who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul -- has himself fled, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.



The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call for militants not to retreat when faced with Iraqi forces was "cruelly ironic" because intelligence suggested he had fled the city, the Daily Mail reported.



In an audio recording released on Thursday, al-Baghdadi said he was confident of victory in the de-facto capital Mosul and urged followers to continue fighting.



But Johnson, while responding to queries in the House of Commons, said: "It is a cruel irony that some of the intelligence we have, you may know, suggests that the gentleman in question has actually vacated the scene himself and is nonetheless using internet media to encourage people to take part in violence."



He pledged that the IS would be repelled from the war-torn Iraqi city which has been controlled by the IS since June 2014, and told MPs: "The house can be sure that Daesh will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraq's security forces have yet encountered."



In his first statement since the major offensive began, al-Baghdadi implored jihadis to attack the "enemies of God" in what is seen as an all or nothing battle for them.



"Turn the nights of the unbelievers into days, to wreck havoc in their land and make their blood flow as rivers," he said in an audio release, the first since the major Iraqi offensive began.



The leader said he was "confident of victory" and called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised to enter the city, declared a "caliphate" when it was overrun by the group two years ago.



In his latest message, which is undated but makes references to events that are at most a few weeks old, Al-Baghdadi calls for attacks against Saudi Arabia and Turkey.



Ankara has troops stationed at a base just outside Mosul and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's escalating rhetoric has raised fears of a unilateral Turkish intervention in Iraq.



The US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt.



Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition and its warplanes, launched a massive offensive on Mosul on October 17.



More than 40,000 Iraqi and Kurd troops are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault.
BEDFORD  Grace House Community Church will be allowed to continue to offer shelter services to those in need without a conditional use permit.

The Bedford Planning Commission voted 6-0 Thursday night to not require a permit because the shelter service is part of the churchs programming. The issue came to a vote after Bedford Town Council voted in August unanimously to amend the towns zoning ordinance and define emergency homeless shelter as a conditional use. That forced the planning commission to take up the matter.

When the shelter opened in November last year, the zoning ordinance did not require a special-use permit for homeless shelters. The town had labeled Grace House Community Churchs emergency shelter as a hotel because homeless shelter was not a use specifically defined by the towns land development regulations.

Our concern is that people are OK, commissioner Bruce Johannessen said Thursday. Thats what were trying to make sure. Not trying to cut you down. Homeless shelters are necessary. We are not against you. We want to make sure you guys are safe and nothing else goes on and know the whole thing is right.

The commissioners said they were confused whether the organization is a church or a shelter.

We need to abide by the health and safety laws; that is our concern, commissioner Steve Rush said, adding he has seen people come and eat, sleep and then leave. Just because youre a church, you need to make sure your people are safe.

Kay Brown, who currently lives at the shelter, said during public comments the church is a place she calls home and a place to learn and grow.

You help yourself, she said. This is not just a place to hang our hat. The recovery classes alone prepare us for getting out into the world again.

Grace House Community Church Pastor Josh Ball said, We function as a church, we offer services but we found a need for the community, which is an extension of the church.

Part of our mission is to preach the gospel and to reach the community, and thats what we do every day. Theres nothing else like this in Bedford other than the domestic violence center, he said.

He told the commission unless they come down to the shelter, they have no idea what goes on.

If Grace House is not a church, then no other church in Bedford is, he said.

Brad Turner, a developer working to purchase land to add in more mobile homes, said during public comments Bedford has a need for affordable housing. Turner works to create more affordable housing within the town and county.

There are more and more people who cant afford what the rent is now, he said. Getting people back on their feet is huge.

Lonne Bailey, chair of the commission, said she is considering Grace House a church until someone says otherwise.

With the decision, Grace House can continue doing what they are doing running the church and the shelter.
Two suspects still are at large after two men were critically injured in a shooting early Thursday near a city park, police said.

According to a Lynchburg Police Department news release, officers responded to the 1400 block of Tenbury Drive by Peaks View Park at about 1:05 a.m. Thursday for a report of shots fired.

Two men, ages 20 and 21, were found on the ground in front of a townhouse with gunshot wounds, according to the release. Both men were hospitalized and are in critical condition, according to the release.

The suspects ran, possibly toward Ashbourne Drive, according to the release.

Both suspects are described as black men with thin builds, 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet tall. One wore a red hood, and the other wore a gray hoodie. Both wore jeans.

There was still a heavy police presence on Tenbury Drive Thursday afternoon. Yellow crime scene tape roped off the porch of one residence as the crime scene unit walked in and out of the townhome.

Resident Matthew Green, who lives adjacent to the crime scene, said he had just finished watching the World Series when the incident occurred.

I heard five to six shots, Green said. I came downstairs and opened the door. There was this woman on the phone, and she looked upset.

Green said he then saw two men lying on the ground. Shortly afterward, officers showed up.

Green said hes lived in the complex since August 2015 and said hes never had any problems there.

Ive heard people having arguments when I come home from school, he said. But I never thought someone would get gunned down.

Further up the hill in the Woodbine Village complex, resident C.J. Frazier said he didnt know about the shooting until officers knocked on his door with a flier.

Its a tight-knit community, at least in this [complex], Frazier said.

He said hes surprised something like this happened in the neighborhood. Frazier said he walks his dog around the area every night.

More than 15 members of the Lynchburg Police Departments Community Action Team and Faith Leadership Partnership visited the Tenbury Drive area Thursday afternoon, knocking on doors and reassuring residents.

Lynchburg Police Sgt. Jeff Rater said this marks the second incident of this nature that has brought follow up by the Community Action Team. The first was a shots-fired call in the neighborhood of White Rock Hill last week. Rater said he believes extra patrols will be in the area as police continue to investigate.

Pastor James Camm, of Living Word Ministries, said the Faith Leadership Partnership had its monthly meeting Thursday morning and decided it wanted to do something more proactive.

He said residents were open to talking to them and officers.

People want to live in a safe community, he said. [They] want to raise families in harmony. To them, this is devastating.

Lynchburg City Councilman Sterling Wilder also walked with the group. Wilder said he heard about the shooting when he came to the faith group meeting Thursday morning. He decided to take part so residents know City Council is aware of whats going on.

 Their concern is safety, Wilder said about the residents he spoke with. They ask if there will be more patrols. That would be on my mind if I was a resident. We want to make sure they feel comforted.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective D.W. Clarke at (434) 455-6174 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900.
Lynchburg police will seek charges against a Heritage High School student related to carrying a weapon on school property after an unloaded handgun was found in the student's possession.

Lynchburg City Schools spokeswoman Cindy Babb provided The News & Advance with a copy of a written statement sent to parents Friday:

At approximately 9:30 a.m. this morning, it was reported to Heritage High school administration that a student was in possession of an unloaded hand gun. Administration addressed the situation immediately and it was promptly resolved. The Lynchburg Police Department is now handling the investigation. At no time were students in any danger. I would like to assure you that the Heritage High School administration and staff will continue to make the safety and well-being of our students our highest priority at all times."

Babb previously told The News & Advance there had been no incidents of students bringing a firearm to school in recent years.

In a statement on social media, the Lynchburg Police Department stated there was not believed to be any danger to faculty or students, and school resource officers are continuing their investigation.

"Thus far, the investigation has revealed that when the handgun was located, it was not being displayed, brandished, or otherwise used in a manner that was threatening to others and it was not brought openly to school."

It later updated a Facebook post to reflect the charges being sought.

On Friday LPD Public Information Officer David Gearhart said he could not release the name of the male student who possessed the handgun since the student was younger than the age of 18.

Were not going to release any information about the specific charges because its a juvenile, Gearhart said.

LPD also declined to release information on the type of handgun involved in the incident.

Guns were in the spotlight recently as Heritage and E.C. Glass high schools, Fort Hill Community School and the Empowerment Academy students signed a pledge condemning gun violence.

The pledge was part of a local effort led by U.S. Attorney John Fishwick Jr. from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As part of a national initiative led by the Justice Department, more than 10 million students have made the pledge since 1996, with another 13,000 students from Virginia added in October.
The White House on Wednesday batted away questions about the unfolding crony scandal in Korea that is threatening to bring down President Park Geun-hye.

Asked in a press briefing whether U.S. President Barack Obama is aware of the scandal, White House press secretary Josh Earnest only said that the alliance between the two countries remains "strong and durable."

Earnest said he learned of the scandal from news reports but has not spoken to Obama about it.

"That's an issue for the [Korean] people to discuss and debate, something I wouldn't weigh in on from here," he added. "And the president has had the opportunity to work closely with President Park. He met with her earlier this fall in Laos to talk about the shared security concerns that we have in that region of the world."


Writers weigh their choices

Goodlatte needed in the House

Our health care system is completely broken. Obamacare is, once again, making the price of health insurance skyrocket and is costing families thousands of dollars they didnt have to pay a few years ago.

The news has said health care costs are going to increase by 25 percent again this year. This is crazy talk! Soon, people wont be able to afford to go to the doctor at all.

We need someone in Congress to stop these liberal policies, not rubber-stamp them. Rep. Bob Goodlatte has fought against Obamacare every step of the way, voting against it and voting for its repeal and replacement dozens of times. I am voting for him again this election because he was right to fight it then, and I know he will keep fighting for me and my family.

Wake up, America!

DORIS SMITH

Lynchburg

Mask sales and the election

Since 1980, the winner of presidential candidates Halloween mask sales has won the presidential election.

As of Oct. 21, Donald Trump Halloween masks have outsold those of Hillary Clinton by 30 percent.

Also, Costumeish.Coms founder Johnathon Weeks reported the site is already sold out of Liar, Liar, Pantsuit on Fire Clinton outfits.

RAY WINGFIELD

Appomattox

Garrett will stand up for us

This year, Democrat Jane Dittmar has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Sen. Tom Garrett, her opponent for the Fifth District seat in the House of Representatives, for accepting donations and yet, her attacks are being underwritten by special interest groups from across the country. While Garretts campaign has been funded by 50 percent large contributions, Dittmars campaign has been funded by 78 percent large donations!

In fact, while Garretts PAC and large contributions are less than $150,000, Dittmars large and PAC contributions exceed $450,000! In reality, her campaign has been kept afloat on a current of abortion dollars, lobbyist money, communications interests (that she has argued should receive government bids), health care activists and, yes, left-leaning energy companies. It is not surprising to learn that while Garretts campaign has received $9,900 from energy companies, Dittmar has taken $10,450.

It is time for Dittmar to be honest about who has sold out in this campaign. Garrett voted his conscience in Richmond and will vote his conscience in Congress.

TIM GRIFFIN

Lynchburg

An evangelical #NeverTrumper

Presidential polls indicate that a large majority of evangelical Christians support Donald Trump, and a number of prominent members of this community have helped to generate that support. Many people have wondered how Christians can be so blase about his behavior and lifestyle, so incompatible with their values. I will offer some thoughts that could shed light on this question, although it will be debated for years to come.

I belong to a minority of evangelicals who oppose Trump. We may be less visible, but I am confident that God hears our prayers, too. Having worshipped and served in evangelical churches for many years, what I have to say makes me sad.

I believe that the evangelical community in the United States has been hijacked by radical, right-wing ideologues. Evangelicals have been manipulated, bullied and deceived into believing that zeal for the things of God requires them to accept right-wing positions on gun control, immigration, climate change, medical care, government regulation and many other issues.

Conservatives have valid ideas to share in the debate over these issues, and their voices should be heard. But it is dishonest to claim that conservative positions are the only ones consistent with Biblical principles, that a right-wing ideology is some kind of Christian worldview.

Evangelicals have also been subjected to propaganda from end-time prophets, conspiracy theorists and others who demonize everyone who disagrees with them. This tactic has played into the hands of Republicans, whose strategy for winning elections is based on the premise: You have to vote for us because the other side is so much worse. If we really want to make America great again, we should start by demanding more from all our politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike.

Several years ago, when the Republicans sought to take control of the House of Representatives, they painted Speaker Nancy Pelosi as public enemy number one. They used the same tactic in their unsuccessful attempt to block the re-election of Barack Obama. Obamas approval ratings have improved significantly since the GOP turned their focus on generating hatred and fear of Hillary Clinton. She is far from perfect, but they have exaggerated her mistakes and failings completely out of proportion to reality.

It is sad that so many evangelicals have been taken in  and even contributed to  this demagoguery. Fear and hatred of Clinton have blinded many to the fact that Trump is not only an offensive person, that he is also dangerously ignorant and unfit to lead this country. And if he is elected, they will learn that he is no friend of Christians, even in the matter of abortions.

It is also sad to see the hypocrisy of certain evangelical personages in their defense of Donald Trump. They tell us that we are duty-bound to forgive him (even though he doesnt care whether we do or not). But they dont urge us to forgive Bill Clinton; instead, they continue to remind us of his misbehavior. And they certainly arent suggesting that we forgive Hillary for her emails!

There is an old saying: When the Devil goes to church, he sits in the choir. This joke is actually a metaphor for the fact that the Church is not always the bastion of righteousness that we think. Consider the following: Who benefits most by making acceptance of a right-wing ideology (appear to be) a condition for salvation?

GERALD I. KERLEY

Appomattox

Trump and the pro-life vote

It appears that many evangelicals will vote for Donald Trump in spite of his manifest character failings. The given reason for this position is that they are pro-life, as Trump claims to be. They expect Trump to appoint judges, especially to the Supreme Court, who are also pro-life.

Well, lets look at the record. The Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973. In the time since then, pro-life has become the base position of Republican politicians as they have sought the evangelical vote. Also, in that same period, there have been five Republican presidents who, between them, have appointed eight justices to the court. The three Democratic presidents have appointed a total of only four.

That this overwhelming majority of conservative appointments has not led to a substantial decline in a womans right to choose may reflect how we feel on this issue as a nation. For the last 20 years, Gallup polling has shown that an average of 30 percent of Americans think abortion should be legal in all circumstances while 50 percent think it should be legal in certain circumstances and only 20 percent think it should be illegal in all circumstances.

Perhaps if evangelicals, considering a vote for Trump, focus on who might do more for women struggling in our globalized economy so that the choice to carry a child to term can be easier, their votes might lead to the decline in abortions they so urgently seek. A president who actually respects women is more likely to introduce family-friendly policies that really work.

AL WEED

Lovingston

Trump backers, please reconsider

About 40 percent of the citizens of this country, and presumably also in Virginia, are apparently committed to voting for Donald Trump. Perhaps some like his politically incorrect tone. It may be appealing that he says things no one else would ever say in a political campaign, as unusual as they may have been. You may have found it attractive, perhaps even intoxicating, to have someone threaten whatever the establishment is. You may have found that he was speaking to you and understood your situation even if his life and experience bears virtually no resemblance to ours. Maybe some thought it was interesting that, as much as we all dislike taxes, he is a man of significant wealth who brags about paying no taxes. Perhaps some see validity in a person who claims that he can make this country great, that only he can do it, and that without him, somehow, the whole nation will go to hell in a hand basket. Perhaps Trump even seems like, to some, a most unlikely and bizarre messianic-type figure.

But, sometimes, as you listen to the widespread public insults focused on virtually any and all groups, as you consider the virtual absence of reasoned policy beyond platitudes, as you flinch at the language he uses regularly and the threats he makes toward others, as you shrug off his ability to virtually ignore the factual basis for the claims and charges he makes, and as you ponder the dark world he describes, is there not a time when you think, really, this has been different, perhaps oddly in a sick kind of way intriguing  but could this really be the future president of our country?

Even if you may have spoken positively about Trump, publicly endorsed his candidacy, maybe put up a yard sign, and so forth  nevertheless there still is time to re-think it. Please do. You still have the opportunity to go into the voting booth and once again ask yourself is this really a person that I want as the president of our country? It will be a private moment, and it will be a great opportunity for all of us to vote otherwise.

ED POLLOWAY

Lynchburg

Millennials have no choice

Recurring through the presidential campaigns is one theme thats stood out to millennials: The major parties want us badly. Candidates have tried frantically to address issues that are distinctly millennial including LGBTQ rights, equal pay for equal work, the environment etc. What has become obvious is that they are only saying what they think we want to hear. We view both parties as broken.

In Secretary Hillary Clinton, we see an insider. A politician who has made enormous amounts of money in questionable ways and seems increasingly distant. Most millennials are more than ready to have a candidate address LGBTQ issues, but Clinton preaches this while accepting money from countries that ban or even murder gay people. We find that appalling.

In Donald Trump, we see an extreme example of bigotry and elitism. He has less appeal than his opponent in manner and has proven again and again that his promises mean nothing. His words have been offensive to the point of disbelief and his actions equally so. If his campaign were created to build walls through America itself, well done.

The disconnect between generational thought is incredible. Many older people see an obvious choice: their choice. We dont. Why should we? Trump represents corruption and bigotry and Secretary Clinton represents everything else that my generation hates about the system. Were not only disenfranchised, were disappointed. So, in the next week please dont act like we have a simple choice. We dont, because we werent given one.

NATHANAEL WHITE

Lynchburg

Stark choice on Election Day

We have a clear and easy choice on Election Day: life or death.

One candidate is more pro-abortion than the current law allows; she believes a mother can have her baby killed up until the day of its natural birth.

Is that who we are as a nation? Is that what you believe as a voter?

You can call it choice, if you want to, but I call it death.

The Declaration of Independence gives every American Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. And, I believe that at the time it was written that that meant the unborn as well.

Will you vote for life on Election Day?

JANET STASULLI

Forest

Honor God with your vote

Its decision time, America! Who will we elect to hold one of the most important offices for the next four years? We see the chaos between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump on the news, but we do not see much of Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, Darrell Castle, Thomas Hoefling or Evan McMullin.

We bought the lie that we must support a Republican or Democrat, regardless of what that candidate believes, says or gets away with. Republicans say that voting third party is a vote for Hillary. Democrats say voting third party is a vote for Trump. So, which is it?

I submit to you that we throw off the two-party oligarchy and vote for someone who actually will fight for Liberty under God instead of blindly following party allegiance.

And Jesus spoke a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? (Luke 6:39)

Abraham Kuyper said, The question is not if the candidates heart is favorable to Christianity, but if he has Christ as his starting point even for politics, and will speak out His Name.

Theologian Pierre Viret said, For prince and magistrate must be subject to the laws of the land and conform their rule to them. For they are not rulers of the law but servants thereof, as they are servants of God from Whom all good Laws proceed.

If parties or nominees are leading the country off the cliff, we have a duty to not vote for them. Vote for people who fear God; people who love true justice, mercy, equity and liberty. Honor God with your vote.

FRED BASTIAT JR.

Appomattox

The choice Christians face

Sometimes, it is very difficult to make a decision. There are times when we might not have adequate information or enough time to make a thorough decision, but one thing is for certain and that is that we have to make a choice. To not make a decision is to choose not doing anything at all.

In the upcoming election, it may seem to some that there is no choice because you may not like either candidate and I understand their position but I would rather have the choice of choosing the lesser of the two evils than allowing others to make the decision for me. We may not always like the choices that lay before us but we do have to decide or the decision will be made for us. I would rather have a choice as to how I am to live than to allow someone else to make that decision for me.

Voting for our leaders is not just a privilege as American citizens, but it is a duty to God and Country. We, as Christians, have to make a stand and a choice. In Revelations 3:14-21, our Lord is talking to the Laodiceans because they have not made a decision for Christ. Their faith, as Christ explains, is lukewarm. They are neither for or against Christ for they have not made a choice, but to chose not to make a decision is the same thing as saying I am not for you. You are either committed to your beliefs or you are still searching, undecided and lost.

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, Jesus speaks to people who are uncommitted to following him, they are sitting on a fence, staying neutral, or so they think. I have often heard there is a lot of gray matter in the Bible, but this is just not so. You either have a firm and solid footing upon the rock of Christ, or you are on shifting sand, like a wave of the ocean ebbing to and fro, never certain of anything. There is no middle ground; you are either for or against. We may fool ourselves into thinking that we dont have to make a decision, but by not taking a stand, making a choice, or casting a vote we have made a statement, a commitment to doing nothing.

ROBERT POLASKI

Monroe

Double-Down Donnie

I would not usually use a diminutive for a politician or a pseudo-politician. However, Donald Trump deserves no less of a label than he has ascribed to his Republican opponents in the primaries or to Hillary Clinton in his run for the presidency.

My nickname of choice for him would either be Donnie or Trumpie because he puckers his lips to talk. Is he blowing his own horn? To me, it really looks like he is blowing through a horn or puckering up for a kiss as he inflates his own worth or denigrates that of his opponent. For someone who claims to be smart because he has avoided paying taxes for years and years is beyond me. The money that was lost by his companies that he claims as a pass through loss on taxes was not Donnies. It belonged to investors and banks. He may have followed the letter of the law but not the ethical intent. I suppose because ethics cannot be monetized but the thirty-nine million dollars he made can. He made money off his bankruptcies. He did not lose.

Truth is also a word not in Trumpies vocabulary. When he talks about policy, e.g. immigration, he changes his mind at least once a day. He says the new wall he wishes to build on the Mexican border will keep all of them out. It will not. Yet a small boat will allow all of them to sail around to a different coast. So is he telling the truth or lying. Next, he will probably wish to build a wall between Canada and the United States. It, of course, will keep out the various Muslims that have settled in Canada and maybe some of German extraction. It would be just as easy to circumvent as the one on the Mexican/U.S. border.

Marriage is also not a convention that Donnie pursues. He has been married three times, as have his advisors Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. If fidelity is in Trumpies vocabulary, for a smart man he does not know or cling to the meaning of the word. I assume his advisors agree. By my count he has groped or assaulted at least 12 women. Someone said more power to him but most have called him a predator. One or two women accusing him of sexual dalliance I might be able to dismiss, but 12? To believe Donnie when he says that they are all telling lies stretches the word credulity. In essence, he is part of the muck that needs to be drained out of Washington.

This year, 2016, has been a terrible year in politics. Clinton has her flaws, but Trumpie is the personification of the word flaw. If Donnie should become elected, he would get zero done in Washington. He, like the current Congress, is incapable of compromise. One rapper called Trumpie arrogant and ignorant. Another sociologist called him narcissistic; he loves himself and works only for himself.

All citizens should vote before or on Election Day. If you want someone who is anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-black, anti-women, anti-LBGT, anti-free trade and his great grandfather was of German extraction and ran a bordello in Canada, then you should vote for Donnie Trumpie or Double-Down Donnie. If you want someone who will give each person an equal chance, then you should vote for Hillary Clinton. Both candidates have flaws, but Donnies are too egregious to enumerate.

Remember, the presidency is not a reality television show.

ELMER NELSON

Lynchburg

My reasons for backing Trump

Donald or Hillary? What a choice! Both seem to have a problem with honesty. Both seem to have problems with women. Both seem to have a problem with immigrants. Again, what a choice.

But the two things that sway me to Donald Trump are foreign trade Hillary Clintons long list of mysterious deaths of friends and colleagues. Just Google people murdered by Clintons. Depending on the website, you will find at least 47 people (Vince Foster, Ron Brown, Benghazi, etc.) and up to 100. The same search on Trump shows up with nothing. Think about it!

JOHN CHAPMAN

Madison Heights
North Korea imported record amounts of rice from China in September, apparently to stabilize prices amid rapid hikes, Voice of America reported on Thursday.

The North imported 16,000 tons of rice worth US$9.9 million, from China in September, VOA reported quoting analysis of customs data by Kwon Tae-jin of the GS&J Institute in Seoul.

Over the whole first eight months the North imported only 14,000 tons of rice. The North's imports of wheat flour increased 15 times and its imports of starch more than doubled on-month in September.

Meanwhile, the North also imported 772 tons of fertilizer from China in September, up 73 percent on-year.


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South Korean and U.S. marines are for the first time practicing how to marshal a big influx of North Korean refugees in an emergency. The drill takes place until Sunday in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

Military authorities said the drill aims to prepare for an all-out war, but some suspect that it also envisages regime collapse or other instability in the North.

Over 130 U.S. military experts who were involved in helping refugees in Afghanistan are taking part in the drill.
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(Newser)  Scott Greene, the man suspected of killing two Iowa police officers Wednesday, had been ordered to move out of his mother's basement and was having serious money troubles, CBS News reports. In mid-October, 66-year-old Patricia Greene was jailed for allegedly hitting her 46-year-old son in the face during an argument. While she was incarcerated, a friend of hers says Scott Greene promised "he would move and not bother" his mom if his mom gave him $20,000. Patricia Greene filed for a restraining order, and on Tuesdayjust hours before officers were killeda judge found Scott Greene guilty of elder abuse for "physically hitting and financially exploiting" his mother. The judge ordered him to move out of her basement by Nov. 6 and return $10,000 to her.

An unemployed Scott Greene seemed "pretty desperate" for a job when he was hired by a construction business last month, claiming he had to provide for his teen daughter. But he quit three days later after being sent home "because he was not taking directions and wasn't working." Those who knew Greene say he wasn't dealing well with his recent divorce and the death of his father, the Huffington Post reports. He also has a history of run-ins with police. Still, authorities have given no motive in the killings of the two officers. Greene was charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder and faces life in prison without parole. According to NBC News, police believe they found the rifle used to kill the officers hidden "very well in a brushy rural area" Thursday. (Read more murder stories.)
(Newser)  Sex is important to most middle-aged women, a fact established by a new study in the journal Menopause, which found that 75% of 1,390 middle-aged women reported sexual functioning to be moderately to extremely important. But roughly 20 months before menopause hit, these women reported a "notable decline in sexual function"; that decline continued for a full year after their final period and then persisted at a more gradual rate over the next five years, reports Psych Central. The same turned out to be true for women following (but not leading up to) a hysterectomy. "There has been much debate" on the topic of decline due to menopause and aging, the study's lead author says. "Our findings support that menopause has a negative effect."

It's worth noting that the study relies on self-reporting, but the researchers say they found that race/ethnicity appears to play a role. Compared to white women, African-American women noted a significantly smaller decline, while women of Japanese descent noted a much greater decline. "This study highlights the need for health-care providers to have open conversations with their patients about their sexual issues, because there are many options for women to help maintain or improve their sexual lives as they transition to and beyond menopause," one expert tells HealthDay. Common issues known to accompany menopause, such as vaginal dryness, depression, and anxiety, didn't explain the impact on drive, the researchers say. (Is menopause reversible?)
(Newser)  Two 13-year-old best friends in Utah died within 48 hours of each other in September, and now police know why: Toxicology results show that Ryan Ainsworth and Grant Seaver overdosed on a synthetic opioid nicknamed "pink," reports KSL. Authorities say they bought the drug, formally called U-47700, online from China with the help of friends. Each boy died at home of "acute drug intoxication," say police in the resort town of Park City. Authorities say the boys enlisted the help of a 15-year-old to order the drug, and he was due in court Friday on charges of felony distribution of a controlled or counterfeit substance and misdemeanor reckless endangerment, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

Court documents say a teenage girl also helped by having the drug mailed to her home because the teens figured her parents wouldn't be suspicious. She has not been charged. Pink, or pinkie, is part of a wave of potent synthetic opioids hitting US streets after being churned out in overseas labs, reports the AP. Decades ago, U-47700 was once seen as an alternative to morphine, but it languished until the recent popularity of synthetic opioids. In fact, police found it at the estate of Prince after his fatal overdose. The DEA moved to make U-47700 a banned "Schedule 1" drug in Septembermeaning it has no medical value but a high abuse potentialbut the AP notes that the order has not yet taken effect. (This synthetic drug is rampaging through LA's Skid Row.)
(Newser)  There was no hesitation or ambiguity from Eric Trump Thursday when 630 KHOW Denver host Ross Kaminsky asked him about Senate candidate and former Klansman David Duke: Trump's second son said the "disgusting" Duke "deserves a bullet." Trump agreed when Kaminsky suggested the Louisiana candidate "desperately deserves a bullet in the head," USA Today reports. "If I said exactly what you said, I'd get killed for it, but I think I'll say it anyway," Trump said. "The guy does deserve a bullet. I mean, these aren't good people. These are horrible people."

"My father's the first Republican who's gone out and said, 'Listen, what's happened to the African-American community is horrible and I'm going to take care of it,'" said Eric Trump, accusing Democrats of trying to tie Duke to his father to make him seem like a "bigot, a racist, xenophobic, this and that." When reached by CNN for comment, Dukewho endorsed Trump for president earlier this yearsaid, "That's a good one," adding "I have to think about it." Earlier this week, the Trump campaign rejected the endorsement of the KKK's Crusader newspaper and condemned the burning of a Mississippi church by somebody who spray-painted "Vote Trump" on the building. (Duke's godson has rejected the white nationalist movement.)
(Newser)  Sharbat Gula, better known as National Geographic's "Afghan Girl," has pleaded guilty to falsifying documents and illegally staying in Pakistan and will be deported once she has finished up a short jail sentence, reports CNN. Her lawyer says a Pakistani court considered Gula's health in sentencing her to 15 days in jail (the 11 days she has spent in custody will count as time served) and issuing a $1,100 fine. A day after she was denied bail on Wednesday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Gula, 46, had to be hospitalized in Peshawar, though details of her illness weren't provided, Voice of America reports. "We respect the rule of law and we have paid the fine," says the Afghan consul general in Peshawar. "We will take her with great respect to Afghanistan on Monday."

A relative tells CBS News that Gula planned to return to her father's village in Afghanistan this past summer, but she then learned village residents had fled from ISIS. "Her Pakistan ID was already blocked one year back  She thought the case had been closed. She is a simple, illiterate lady," the man says. Human Rights Watch says Pakistan has repatriated 370,000 Afghans, including 220,000 registered refugees, since July 1 in an apparent crackdown on those who escaped into Pakistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion. "They are joining more than 1 million internally displaced Afghans who are struggling to survive in a country still wracked by conflict and crushing poverty," the group says. Read more on Afghanistan's deepening refugee crisis. (Read more Pakistan stories.)
(Newser)  In 2012, Illinois' Jack Daniel McCullough was convicted of the 1957 murder of his Sycamore neighbor Maria Ridulph, 7, appearing to wrap up the country's oldest cold case ever to go to trial. Four years later on March 24, a prosecutor announced McCullough had been wrongly convicted as he was actually 40 miles away from Sycamore at the time of the crime, reports the Daily Chronicle. A new lead happened to arrive in the mail that same day. A typed, unsigned letter sent to Illinois state's attorney Richard Schmack gave the name of a potential suspect, now the focus of an active investigation, reports CNN. Illinois State Police say they've "conducted an investigative workup" and are trying to locate the individual.

The revelation comes via a police affidavit in response to a public-records lawsuit from McCullough's son-in-law, who's asking for the case files to be released. What has been revealed about the case: A man who identified himself as "Johnny" approached Ridulph and a friend as they were playing outside on Dec. 3, 1957, offered to give them piggyback rides, then disappeared with Ridulph as her friend ran home to get mittens. Ridulph's body was found five months later near the Iowa border. The suit specifically asks for any late 2010 files related to that friend, Kathy Chapman, "in association with the investigation" of McCullough. The affidavit states that releasing those 23 pages "could impair [the] current investigation into the March 24th anonymous tip" as they contain information that only Chapman and the killer know. (This 1993 cold case still baffles officers.)
(Newser)  Something appears to be making a mysterious "pinging" noise on the sea floor of the Canadian Arctic. Inuit hunters in a remote community in Nunavut first reported the soundalso described as a "hum" or "beep"complaining that it was scaring away marine animals in an area usually flush with them, reports the CBC. Local lawmakers took up the case as callers to a radio talk show reported hearing it, too. The Canadian military sought to solve the mystery on Tuesday when it sent an aircraft to investigate, per the Guardian. But "the air crew performed various multi-sensor searches in the area, including an acoustic search for 1.5 hours, without detecting any acoustic anomalies," a rep says. The military plans no further investigation.

While "we don't have a single clue" about the source of the noise, "we're still working on it," a member of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly said this week. He added that the noise is "emanating from the sea floor." One of the more plausible theories is that mining companies are performing sonar surveys of the sea floor. However, a company that has performed surveys in the area says it has no equipment in the water; officials add that no permits have been issued for construction, blasting, or hydrography work. Greenpeace, meanwhile, has denied claims that it's purposefully broadcasting the noise to keep animals away from hunters. (Maybe it's the Alaska Ice Monster?)
(Newser)  If you live in San Diego and plan on voting for Hillary, it's best you don't read two recent newsletters from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. In the Oct. 16 bulletin for the Old Town church, which is used as an election polling site, a flier was inserted. Along with criticism of five political hot topics (including abortion and euthanasia) came a warning for voters, the San Diego Union-Tribune notes. "It is a mortal sin to vote Democrat  immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell," the flier read, adding GOPers don't violate any of the mentioned policies, while Dems violate them all. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego says the flier wasn't OKed by the parish and that it doesn't know how it emerged.

In its Oct. 30 edition, the bulletin specifically named Clinton in a section called "Voting Catholic," reading at one point, "We are called by politicians such as Hillary Clinton, deplorables." (It's unclear who wrote or OKed the passage.) The diocese of San Diego's response has been unequivocal: "It's not a mortal sin to vote for Democrats, number one," a rep tells the Union-Tribune. "And number two, the church doesn't take positions on this." On Thursday, Bishop Robert McElroy warned 100 parishes that "while we have a moral role to play in explaining how Catholic teaching relates to certain public policy issues, we must not and will not endorse specific candidates," per the Union-Tribune. Attorneys point out IRS rules stop tax-exempt groups like churches from maligning or supporting political candidates. (Read more Hillary Clinton stories.)
(Newser)  Intelligence officials are worried about a possible al-Qaeda attack Monday in the US, reports CBS News. The story, based on anonymous sources, says intel officials have warned terrorism task forces to be on particular alert the day before the election. The story notes that such warnings often surface before big events in the US, with the sources saying the warning was passed along out of extreme caution. CBS reports no specific targets were identified, but says "it is believed" that New York, Texas, and Virginia could possibly be in the crosshairs.

Last month, the Times of London reported that al-Qaeda has been regrouping and poses a genuine threat to the West. It's "been quietly rebuilding itself," the story quotes an intelligence source as saying. "They watched ISIS become the big kid on the block. Al-Qaeda is biding its time. It will still be there when ISIS is done." (Read more terror threat stories.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump has long pooh-poohed any ties between his campaign and the Kremlin that might be working to undermine the presidential election. But according to officials from two of America's European allies, some of the US' NATO partners have become "alarmed" at Trump's dismissive attitude toward Moscow, particularly regarding Russia's likely role in recent email hackings, per a long read by Kurt Eichenwald for Newsweek. These officials say that Trump's comments (which a British official calls "quite disturbing") have caused consternation for a variety of reasons, including that they have caused these European partners to fear Trump maybe doesn't understand the information he's getting in intelligence briefings, doesn't believe that info, chooses not to prioritize itor, more ominously, because he may be "misleading the American public for unknown reasons," Eichenwald writes.

Also raising eyebrows, among others, are former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort (who had murky ties with Ukraine) and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, once thought to be in the running for Trump's VP slot, who keeps making appearances with the RT Russian news agency. These concerns, exacerbated by Trump's own "glowing statements about Putin," have made some of these overseas nations afraid that under a President Trump, the US would no longer stand with them against Moscow. "For perhaps the first time since WWII, countries in Western Europe fear that the American election, should Trump win, could trigger events that imperil their national security and do potentially irreparable harm to the alliances that have kept the continent safe for decades," Eichenwald writes. (Read his piece in full for more on how Russian propaganda has been used, a behind-the-scenes look at Russia's hacking efforts, and the "astonishing" extent of cyberattacks here.)
(Newser)  A federal jury found Rolling Stone magazine, its publisher, and a reporter defamed a University of Virginia administrator in a discredited story about gang rape at a fraternity house, multiple news outlets including the Washington Post report. University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo claimed the 2014 article portrayed her as a villain who discouraged the woman identified only as Jackie from reporting the incident to police. A police investigation found no evidence to back up Jackie's claims. Rolling Stone's attorneys said there was no evidence that the reporter knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or had serious doubts about whether it was true. Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday after listening to more than two weeks' worth of evidence, the AP reports.

The story about Jackie's rape set off a firestorm at the university and in schools nationwide. Eramo received hundreds of angry letters and emails calling her the "dean of rape," among other things, and faced protesters outside her office. The story crumbled after other news outlets began asking questions and police found no evidence to back it up. The article was officially retracted in April 2015. Among the statements in the article that Eramo claimed were defamatory was one in which she is quotedthrough Jackieas saying that the university doesn't publish all of its statistics about sexual assault because "nobody wants to send their daughter to the rape school." Eramo says that was fabricated by Jackie. (Read more University of Virginia stories.)
The gravity to bring back the dominance of Samsung into the mobile world continues to soar. However, with the fallout of the tech giant due to the recall, its road to the top is easier said than done. There are also claims that HTC, Apple's iPhone 7 and Sony Xperia segments are not backing down in the competition against Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

It appears that the race for dominance has just become fiercer for all mobile makers. While some smart phone makers have dropped out of the main race, Samsung aims on getting back its lost pedestal. Even though the rumors have surfaced, there are no indicators that the rumors are proven and authentic.

However, it is real that the race to bagged the glory and fame of being at the top is real for all mobile makers and it is irrefutable that HTC, Apple's iPhone 7 and Sony Xperia would not make it easier for Samsung at all. As for Samsung, the stunning specs and features of the epic Samsung Galaxy Note 8 remains unknown and unverified.

In a former report from BGR, it showcased the pros and cons of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. According to the report, there is a high possibility that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could outshine the specs and features of Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus despite being the industry leaders.

As noted by the same post, Samsung already confirmed the acquisition of Viv. It is a company founded by the same developers that crafted Siri.If that is case, the race for dominance has just become an even ground for Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

Additional reports by CNET relayed that Samsung Galaxy Note 8 would be dominated entirely by screens. However, despite the claims, Samsung has not given any formal confirmations regarding the specs and features of their new flagship device.
It was reported that last month Google found a bug in Windows and the firm disclosed the information public after 10 days. It has created a war of words between Microsoft and Google and now it is reported that Microsoft is getting ready with a security patch to address the issue. It is expected to release next month. The Windows flaw is creating storms in U.S. presidential election as well, concerning security issues.

The windows flaw is a zero-day vulnerability, which can create adverse impacts on networks, data, and computer programs, per reports. These types of flaws are not being reported or made public before it becomes active and the developer of the software or OS won't get time to prepare patches immediately. It should be noted that there are reports confirming the hackers are exploiting the Windows flaw.

The Windows flaw is reportedly affecting Windows Kernel which can be said affecting supervisor mode, the most important part of an Operating System. The Windows flaw would help the hackers to skip the tools that are created to protect against malicious programs; it also bypasses security sandboxes. But, Google stated that its Chrome browser can prevent such attacks by blocking specific system calls in Windows 10.

Now, Microsoft has come-up with an update on Windows flaw and said that it will issue a security patch on Nov. 8 to address the concern. Also, it stated that customers who are using Microsoft Edge with Windows 10 Anniversary Update are protected from the threat. The firm requested the customers to upgrade their OS to Windows 10, referring it is the most secure OS it built.

Windows flaw is now taking a political turn in the country. Microsoft confirmed that the hacker group who exploited the Windows flaw is a Russian group with Russian government links, who was behind many political hacks before. Even U.S. government has criticized Russia for hacking campaigns and disrupting presidential election. It was previously concluded that Russia was behind hacking Democratic Party database and emails, but it is not sure whether the recent Windows flaw did affect the campaigns.

There is an alarming number of cyber-attacks in the recent past including severe DDoS attack. Tech giants should take extreme care while developing software, corresponding hardware etc., as there are specific attacks targeting businesses, organizations and government departments. Windows flaw should be a lesson for tech companies to work together to address such concerns as public brawl would just be helping the hackers ultimately.
For the last 30 years, the United States has never been alarmed of an infestation that has affected livestock. Screwworm outbreak has come back, and more than a hundred animals have been affected.

Scientists in Florida are already making the necessary steps to stop the outbreak in their area. They have to release sterile flies to halt the population upsurge of the infesting insects as stated by BBC. Further, people are given much awareness on what to do and what to prepare in the coming days.

During the 1960s, the screw worm was already eradicated by the US. The previous infestations have caused the economy hundreds of dollars' worth of agricultural damages.

Documented report in 2016 includes that the endangered Key Deer are among those that are being attacked by the parasites. The blowfly in its larva stage lives and feed on animal flesh, eating livestock alive.

There is a rare occasion where humans are distressed by flies, but no reports have been made yet on the present case. On related news by CNN, the US Department of Agriculture has released over 3 million sterile flies to eradicate the problem.

Cochliomyia hominivorax is the scientific name of this parasite. Because of the previous experience the US had 30 years ago, they also have the necessary treatment aside from the eradication of the spread.

Federal authorities said on Newsweek that they have declared this an emergency throughout the State. Any symptoms or sighting of infestation in the area needs proper reporting.

Adam Putnam from the Commission of Agriculture said that screwworm is once again making devastation in the United States in particular in the State of Florida. Veterinarian Phil Kaufman said in an interview that these kinds of flies are not after the dead tissue but the living tissue.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 7F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 0F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
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.
Mumbai:

Digging in his heels after being ousted as Chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry plans to continue as Chairman of all Tata group firms, including Tata Steel, TCS and Tata Motors.



According to sources close to Mistry, he has no plans to quit as Chairman of these firms.



Instead, the reports suggest that, Mistry is set to chair the board meeting of Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), a Tata Group firm, at Bombay House, the corporate headquarters of the group, on Friday.



According to media reports, the meeting may be crucial given that the board members include Cyrus Mistry as chairman, his elder brother Shapoor Mistry, Industry veteran and HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and Godrej Industries Managing Director Nadir Godrej.



The other members may include Keki Bomi Dadiseth, Ireena Vittal, Vibha Paul Rishi, Gautam Banerjee, Rakesh Sarna, Managing Director and CEO and Mehernosh S Kapadia, Executive Director  Corporate Affairs.



The Tata group has been hoping that Mistry will step down from the positions he occupies in the group firms after being replaced as Chairman on October 24.



At present, he is the Chairman of Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Indian Hotels Co Ltd (IHCL), Tata Power Company, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals, Tata Industries and Tata Teleservices.



Mistry is also slated to chair the upcoming board meeting of Tata Chemicals on November 10 to approve quarterly results.In a surprise move, Tata Sons board had ousted Mistry as Chairman of the company and replaced him with Ratan Tata as interim Chairman. The group has said it would find a successor within four months.



A day after Mistry wrote a letter to the board members of Tata Sons levelling a series of allegations against Ratan Tata and contended that he was pushed in to a position of lame duck chairman and changes in decision making process created alternate power centres in Tata group.



Since then there has been a continuing war of words between Mistry and the Tatas.



On Monday, in a letter to group employees, Tata had termed the decision to replace Mistry as a well-considered but difficult and a serious one which was absolutely necessary for the future success of the Tata Group.
Jacksonville (Florida):

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds a slim lead of three percentage points over her Republican rival Donald Trump, a latest national poll said today amidst strong indication that the race to the White House is entering the arena of dead heat.



Five days ahead of the November 8 general elections, a latest poll conducted jointly by The New York Times and CBS news said that Clinton (45 per cent) has a slim lead of three percentage points over Trump (42 per cent), which is within the margin of error.



In RealClearPolitics, which keeps track of almost all major national polls, Clintons average lead over Trump now has dropped down to 1.7 per cent.



Five days before Election Day, the margin between the candidates is narrow, with 45 per cent of likely voters supporting Clinton, the Democratic candidate, to 42 per cent for Trump, the Republican nominee.



The difference is within the poll margin of sampling error, The New York Times wrote.



However, the daily said Clinton has 86 per cent chances of winning the presidential elections.



The New York Times has endorsed Clinton for presidency.According to the polls, Clinton holds a 14 point advantage over her opponent among women while Trump leads among men by 11 points.



In another poll released by Reuters/Ipsos, Trump (39 per cent) is trailing Clinton (45 per cent) by six points, which remains unchanged for the past one week.

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Bhopal:

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the jailbreak incident. Retired judge of high court SK Pandey will lead the probe.

There were questions raised on the jailbreak incidents that leads to the killing of the suspected eight SIMI militants in Bhopal.

The eight undertrials were killed by Bhopal police in an alleged encounter after the militants escaped from Bhopal Central Jail after murdering a security guard.

Madhya Pradesh government is under constant pressure to order NIA investigations into the encounter incident. But, experts say NIA has no jurisdiction to probe the two incidents as they are not scheduled offences on their own and it can be ordered only after if the MP Police find evidence that the suspected SIMI militants were being helped by any terror group. However, to ease the mounting pressure, the MP CM has ordered a judicial probe into the matter.

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New Delhi:

Addressing a seminar titled Nepal and India: Exploring New Vistas organised by India Foundation and Neeti Anusandhan Pratishthan Nepal, the President, who is on a three-day State visit, said India and Nepal have enjoyed a long tradition of academic and student exchanges.

So, students from Nepal will be able to write entrance examinations of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from next year to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses, President Pranab Mukherjee announced on Thursday.

India is happy to help Nepal with its human resource development. Our commitment is reflected in the grant of around 3,000 scholarships to Nepalese students every year, providing opportunities to study in Nepal and in India. We offer more than 250 scholarships annually for Government and non-Government employees of Nepal for training in technical institutes in India, he said.

Mukherjee also said that India recognizes the importance of water resources in the accelerated development in Nepal for which post-graduate scholarships for courses in hydel power and water resources management at IIT, Roorkee have been offered to Nepali engineers and experts this year.

I am also very happy to announce that from 2017 onwards, Nepali students will have the opportunity to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses in Indian Institutes of Technology on a regular basis. For this, our Institutes of Technology will open their entrance examinations to Nepali students. Aspirants would have the option to write these examinations in Kathmandu, he said.

The President said the region is blessed with the young people known for their strong spirit of enterprise, dynamism and entrepreneurship.

To channelize this energy in the right direction, we must invest in health, education, technology and employment generation. We cannot remain hostage to the political baggage of history and prejudice, nor can we continue to follow policies that have failed to lift our people out of poverty, he said.

Highlighting the age-old relations between the two countries, Mukherjee said in a partnership so rich and diverse in its scope and content, there are bound to be, occasionally, some differences in perceptions.

This is absolutely normal. With enlightened leadership in both countries, regular consultations, open dialogue, mutual trust and goodwill, we have managed to overcome such eventualities. I would underscore that it would be crucial, in our common interest, to stay focused on our shared objective of peace, stability and development for our peoples and our region, he said.

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London:

Campaigners in London sent a rallying cry to Americans on Thursday to get out and vote in the forthcoming presidential election and avoid getting "Brexited".

Dressed in hard hats and high-visibility vests to symbolise danger, activists gathered outside the British parliament to issue a warning to US citizens: "vote or regret it", drawing parallels with Britain's referendum on leaving the European Union.

"We really want to make sure that Americans don't wake up on November 9 with election regrets having not turned out to vote," said Bert Wander, a campaign director for the Avaaz activist group.

Campaigners insisted they were not telling Americans how to vote, though many were vocal in their opposition to Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Saskia McCulloch, a New Zealand citizen living in London, said she could not register in time to vote in the EU referendum -- residents from Commonwealth countries had the right to vote -- and "felt distraught" at the result.

"Brexit came down to a million votes. If I had known it would be that tight I would have done everything I possibly could to be registered and voting," she said.

Meredith Alexander, a joint US-British citizen living in London, and a campaign director for Avaaz, said: "If you look at the fear and hatred that Donald Trump trades on, a lot of those same messages were used here in the UK" during the Brexit campaign.

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New Delhi:

Commissioner of the Police, Delhi Alok Kumar Verma, has written a letter to the Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, expressing concerns over Kejriwal's allegations to have 'overheard' judges talking about their phones being 'trapped, at the 50th anniversary function of the Delhi High Court.

"Phone tapping is an extremely serious matter and is not allowed without due authorization after the following strict procedure mandated under law. Therefore, your alluding to the matter raises serious concern,'' the Delhi Commissioner wrote in his letter.

The letter further seeks for any incidents or case of phone tapping or ''source'' where Kejriwal's allegations are based on so that action should be initiated in the regard.

Also read: There is widespread fear that phones of judges a being tapped, Arvind Kejriwal alleges, Centre denies charges

#PhoneTapping : Delhi Commissioner writes to Kejriwal seeking 'source' of allegations of snooping on Judges pic.twitter.com/3rKU9Ri1IA  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) November 4, 2016

Arvind Kejriwal at the 50th anniversary function of Delhi High Court, that took place recently, and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, has created a sensation when he claimed there is a "widespread fear" about phones of judges being tapped.

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New Delhi:

Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has so far given over 17,000 interconnection points, sufficient to serve 75 million customers, to Reliance Jio well ahead of the timeframe, but the newcomer contested the claims and charged the market leader of violating licence norms by providing only one-way ports.

Airtel in a statement said it has provided over 7,000 additional points of interconnect to Reliance Jio, taking the total number of PoIs provided till date to over 17,000. This capacity is sufficient to serve over 75 million customers, based on the forecast provided by Jio to Airtel.

The move from Airtel comes within days of the telecom regulator Trai suggesting a Rs 1,050 crore penalty on it for purportedly denying network connectivity to the new operator Reliance Jio.

This is well ahead of the timeframe, since there are currently only 25 million customers making calls to the Airtel network from Jio. Our regulatory obligations permit us to provide interconnect in a period of 90 days, Airtel said.

Reliance Jio, however, slammed Bharti Airtel for providing only one-way points of interconnects for completing calls rather than both-way nodes in violation of licence agreement.

RJio hoped the situation will improve now that Airtel has consented to offering additional POIs.

However, Airtel has continued to violate the Interconnection Agreement by offering one-way E1s as against both-way E1s as provided for in the Agreement, which would have resulted in much more efficient utilisation of interconnection resources, RJio said in a statement released hours after Airtels comments.

Asking RJio to ensure additional PoIs that are promptly made available are operationalised with same alacrity, Airtel said this will help identify any network-related issues which Jio may have in their network should any problems persist.

In addition, Jio has already provided us their future requirements for capacities at 100 million customers. As and when they ramp up their current subscriber base, we will further augment capacities ahead of time, as we have always done, it said.

In the same breath, it asked Trai to examine the incredible asymmetry of calls terminating on the Airtel network from Jio due to the latters free services. This continued asymmetry will degrade the customer experience for Airtel customers over time and meltdown networks, Airtel said.

Jio said that Airtel has provided interconnection points consequent to the meetings of the Minister of Communication (Manoj Sinha) and TRAI Chairman (RS Sharma) with the CEOs of Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and RJIL earlier this week on the subject of breach of quality of service(QoS)parameters.

More than 280 crore calls have failed between RJIL and Airtel over the last three and a half months because of absolute shortage of POI (points of interconnection) capacity, Jio said
Mumbai:

Ten activists of Sambhaji Brigade were arrested on Friday for holding protest against Bollywood film "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM)", featuring a Pakistani artist Fawad Khan, in front of a theatre in suburban Borivli, police said.

Around 10-members of the organisation raised slogans against release of the Karan Johar movie near Maxus Cinema in Gorai. They have been booked for rioting, trespassing and obstructing public servant from doing duty, a police official said.

"Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) hit the theatres last Friday following an understanding between the producers and Raj Thackeray-led MNS which had threatened to stall its release for featuring Fawad Khan against the backdrop of tensions with Pakistan on border.

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Kashmir:

Jammu and Kashmir police has arrested Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant Omar Khaliq from Sopore district of J&K on Thursday.

Omar Khaliq belongs from Tujjar sector,and he has allegedly been trained in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The polive have recovered huge cache of arms and ammunitions from him.

According to media reports, he was arrested during a joint operation carried out by the police and the 22nd regiment of the Rajputhana Rifles.

Kashmir is boiling since July over the killing of Hizbul Majahideen militant Burhan Wani. Last week, four people, including two militants, were arrested in north Kashmirs Sopore for creating unrest in Kashmir.

According to a senior police officer two militants  Gowhar Ahmed Bhat and Hilal Ahmed Gojri  residents of Baramulla and members of the organisation Tehreek-i-Jehad-i-Islami (TJI) based in Pakistan were arrested and that incriminating documents were found in their possession.

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New Delhi:

Because of the ban on Pakistani actor controversy, Raees starring Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira, has already gained a lot of attention. No doubt, audience is waiting for the movie to release. The director of Raees, Rahul Dholakia, has revealed something about Sharukh's character in the movie.

Dholakia reveals that the audience will be surprised to see SRK in a role with grey shades.

There are a lot of grey shades to his [SRKs] character. He is playing an interesting character. He has done a great job. He is brilliant in the film people will be amazed to see him like this, Dholakia said.

Its a big film for me. One needs to do his best and I have given my best, he added.

Dholakia has for the first time teamed up with SRK and is all praise for the actor, He is very nice, sweet, humble and a loving person. There is a reason why he is up there, its not because of the actor that he is but it is also to do with the person he is.

Raees is set in the background of 1980s Gujarat. It tells the story of a bootlegger Raees Khan. Raees khan's role is played by Shah Rukh. A police officer, whole role is enacted by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, eventually impedes Raees' business.

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New Delhi:

Factory worker Satish was killed after he was crushed under the wall of the factory lift while he was taking raw material from the ground floor to the fourth floor through the lift that collapsed in outer Delhis Bawana area.

Factory workers told police that the lift was over loaded when the incident took place.

Police said the workers told them that there was a single lift that they used to carry materials.

Satishs cries were heard by his friend Amar, who informed the factory owner, Sanjay Bansal, police said.

Bansal called up the police and informed them about the incident. PCR vans and fire brigade personnel reached the spot on receiving information about the incident, police said.

Satish was taken out and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead, police said.

A case has been registered against the building owner and further investigation is underway.

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Mumbai:

Sambhaji Brigade 10 activists were arrested on Friday for holding protest against Bollywood film 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', featuring a Pakistani artist, in front of a theatre in suburban Borivli on the same day, police said.

Around 10-members of the organisation raised slogans against release of the Karan Johar movie near Maxus Cinema in Gorai.

They have been booked for rioting, trespassing and obstructing public servant from doing duty, a police official said.

'Ae Dil...' hit the theatres only last Friday on October 28 following an understanding between the producers and Raj Thackeray-led MNS which had threatened to stall its release for featuring Fawad Khan against the backdrop of tensions with Pakistan on border.

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New Delhi:

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday addressed the media in New Delhi on Ram Kishan Grewal suicide case. Rahul Gandhi was detained twice on Wednesday when he tried to meet the diseased family. He was again detained on Thursday during a protest march against the death of Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over OROP earlier this week.

Here is what all Rahul Gandhi said:

#60-80 experienced people (ex-servicemen) were there; they said that what Modiji is calling OROP only pension enhancement

#Narendra Modi Ji you should stop lying and work to implement OROP



#The family members of the late ex-serviceman were beaten & dragged, this is not right. The govt must apologise

#Ex-servicemen Jantar Mantar pe 509 din se kyu khade hain? Kyuki Hindustan ki sarkar ne #OROP nahi lagu kia hai

ALSO READ | OROP suicide row: Rahul Gandhi detained for third time in two days, slams Modi govt

#Cant understand what's happening in the country, no respect for farmers and no respect for our ex-servicemen

#Ex-servicemen said if government tells them that they can't do anything, nobody will have an issue

#They said it's not a money matter, it's about respect & justice

#Just met ex-servicemen; they said its not about money, it is all about justice

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New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court sought the governments response on Friday regarding a Public interest litigation (PIL) asking for inclusion of people suffering from HIV and AIDS in life and health insurance policies with all consequential benefits.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notices to the Ministry of Health, public sector insurance companies and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) seeking their reply by January 17 next year to the PIL, which also alleges discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHAs).

The court tagged the matter with another similar petition listed for hearing on the same date. The petition by Rajeev Sharma alleges that there was no "effective progress and implementation of any insurance policies for the benefit of PLHAs".

He has contended that the Centre had in 2013 said that by April 1, 2014, insurance cover would be available to all PLHAs, but nothing has happened till date.

Sharma also said the IRDA had issued an exposure draft in 2012 instructing insurance companies to include PLHAs under medical insurance cover.

In October 2013, IRDA had asked all insurance companies "to put in place, by April 1, 2014, Board approved underwriting policy to include all PLHAs with regard to life and health insurance," the petition stated.

It claimed that 100 lives were lost each day to the diseases due to "unaffordable medical care" and alleged that PLHAs were "being neglected and discriminated against" as not even simple accident benefit cover is provided to them.

It alleged that various government health schemes for the underprivileged and disadvantaged groups of society "make no mention of coverage to PLHAs".

Sharma has contended in his plea that the task to include PLHAs in insurance schemes was not impossible as one private insurance firm provides them such cover.

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New Delhi:

Amid reports of atrocities against minority communities in Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), celebrated Diwali by offering prayers at a temple in Karachi.A

On the eve of #Diwali: Chairman #PPP @BBhuttoZardari visits Shiv Mandir Karachi and takes part in Diwali celebration with Hindu community. pic.twitter.com/UidXzM3y1H a PPP (@MediaCellPPP) October 31, 2016

Bilawal, along with party vice-president Sherry Rehman, ministers of Sindh province and other party leaders visited the Shiva temple at Clifton Road in Karachi on the eve of Diwali celebrations.A

The PPP chairman attended Diwali rituals and performed other religious rites at the temple.A

While interacting with the Hindu community, Bilawal said his party always respect and promotes the interfaith harmony adding that the minority Hindu community has been given full freedom in the country.

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New Delhi:

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) council meet called to to decide on tax rate, including the levy of cess and sort out the vexed issue of jurisdiction over assessees remained inconclusive on Friday over the issue of dual control of service tax assessees.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that state finance minister will meet on November 20 to sort out the pending issues.

Interacting with journalists after the meet, Jaitley said that the ministry is trying to pass the supporting GST legislations in the winter session of Parliament.A

"So far about 10 important issues have been resolved and decision have been taken in the GST council meet," Jaitley said.

"Further, we will have informal meet of ministers on November 20th. After this informal meet, we'll have a council meet on Nov 24th and 25th," Jaitley said.

#GST Council meeting remains inconclusive on dual control issue; state FMs to meet on Nov 20 to sort out pending issues. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/0Vj2W2hsKw a Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 4, 2016

Here are the highlights of what Jaitley said:A

# Tax exemption limit under GST will be Rs 20 lakhs, further 4 drafts will be prepared for discussion

# Once software based tax assessment will be in place it will be of great help to the taxpayers and the industry

#Canat have two competing assessing authorities for same assessee. We need clear guidelines on the complex and contentious issues

# One suggestion is to divide the base of assessees horizontally, between centre and states, with threshold of Rs 1.5crore turnover, the other suggestion is to divide base of assessees vertically without a threshold

# Drafts will be provided to all states and they will be given time to review them. On 24 & 25 Nov, drafts will come back to council

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Jakarta:

Tens of thousands of Muslim hardliners called for Jakarta's Christian governor to be prosecuted for blasphemy in a massive demonstration in the Indonesian capital on Friday, sparking fears of violence and putting authorities on alert.

A sea of protesters wearing white Islamic robes swarmed the city's largest mosque for Friday prayers before taking to the streets in a huge show of force against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is accused of insulting Islam.

The protest was triggered by accusations that Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted Islam by criticising opponents who used Koranic references to attack him ahead of an election in February.

Purnama apologised for the remarks, but his opponents have built a groundswell of support calling for his arrest and incarceration under Indonesia's tough blasphemy laws.

"It's no wonder people arise. Why when it comes to Ahok is the law not upheld?" deputy house speaker Fahri Hamzah, a prominent politician from an Islamic political party, told demonstrators.

Anger at Purnama, Jakarta's second Christian governor and the first from the country's ethnic Chinese community, spread beyond the capital, with solidarity marches also held across Java and in cities as far away as Makassar in Indonesia's east.

Police spokesperson Boy Rafli Amar told AFP there were no reports of violence so far, declaring the rally "peaceful". But police took no chances in the lead up, deploying 18,000 officers amid fears that radical elements could infiltrate the march.

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New Delhi:

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was pulled up by the Delhi high court making allegations of bias against a judge and seeking transfer of a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, saying it was "a frontal attack intended to humiliate the judge" and warned of invoking contempt proceedings.

A bench of justice Gita Mittal and justice PS Teji rejected pleas by Kumar and two convicts alleging bias by one member of the division bench which is hearing the case and said it was an "attempt to prevent hearings in these cases".

However, the bench decided not to initiate contempt proceedings or slapping penalties on Kumar and two others, saying it would only delay the proceedings in the case relating to incidents which happened 32 years ago.

In strongly worded observations, the bench said "the attempt to single out a judge and address judges constituting a bench by name and making personal allegations not supported by record against them are really a frontal attack intended to humiliate the judge concerned in public spaces and browbeat them giving in to illegally and improperly made demands and deserves to be condemned in highest tone."

While warning Kumar and convicts -- ex-MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokkar of contempt, the bench however said "we exercise restraint and desist from invoking our jurisdiction under the Contempt of Courts Act and also in not initiating penal action against the applicants as commended in above set out judicial precedents, only for the reason these cases brook no further delay.

"No digression, distraction or diversion by any other proceedings which could result in protraction of the hearings in the main appeals would be in the interests of justice. "Though strongly inclined to impose costs for dilatory tactics adopted by way of these applications, we refrain from doing only in the larger interests of justice which would be met by expeditious disposal of the cases."

The bench said the applications were "baseless and the apprehensions misconceived and malafide only intended to delay the hearings in these cases as well as connected appeals.

I find no merit in these applications which are hereby dismissed." It said "specific allegations are made against a judge conducting a case to embarrass him and compel him to recuse himself from hearing the case or transfer the case to another bench.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly mandated courts that such attacks should be seriously dealt with." The court also observed that failure to punish for "mass crimes" like the anti-Sikh riots created wounds which "fester" and "incurably infect society".

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Peshawar:

A Pakistani court ordered the deportation of Sharbat Gula, National Geographic's famous green-eyed 'Afghan Girl' on Friday due to charges of living in Peshawar with fake ID cards.

Gula, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was immortalised in a 1985 haunting picture on the cover of National Geographic.

A special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar ordered Gula's deportation to Afghanistan after serving a 15-day jail sentence besides slapping a fine of 1,10,000 rupees (USD 1,100).

Gula, who was dubbed as 'Mona Lisa of Afghan war', was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on October 26 from Peshawar for alleged forgery of a Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).

The court issued the verdict after the accused pleaded guilty to the charges, Gula's lawyer Mubashir Khan said. "She has served about nine days in jail already and will remain imprisoned for six more to complete her sentence," he said.

The fine was also paid so she will be deported from Pakistan at the end of her sentence, he added. The court was informed during the hearing that Gula was a widow and the sole bread winner of her family. Further, she was also suffering from Hepatitis C.

The United Nations High Commissioner distanced itself from Sharbat Gula, claiming that she was not a registered refugee.According to interim charge sheet submitted on November 1, the prosecutor said that she accepted the main charge of faking her identity to get the CNIC.

Gula said that her late husband, Rehmat Gul, had earlier made a manual national identity card in 1988, which was used to get the CNIC with the help of an agent who was bribed.

The FIA also registered an FIR on October 20 against three former government employees for fraudulently issuing Pakistani CNICs to Afghan nationals, including Gula.

Gula became famously known as the 'Afghan Girl' when National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry took her photograph at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp situated on the edge of Peshawar in 1984.

Her photo, with hauntingly sea-green eyes, appeared on the cover of June 1985 issue of the National Geographic magazine and went to become one of the magazine's most famous covers.

The photo, which was taken by Steve McCurry in a refugee camp in Pakistan in 1984 when Gula was about 12 years old, was compared to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, with National Geographic also making a short documentary on her.

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New Delhi:

The Indian Army had used artillery guns to destroy four Pakistani posts in a massive assault across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district last month, government sources said on Friday.

This is the first time the government sources have confirmed that artillary fire was indeed used by the army to launch a massive assault against Pakistan, something which was always suspected.

It is the first case of artillery fire at the LoC since the 2003 ceasefire agreement was signed between the two countries.

They said artillery guns were stealthy moved up and used in straight fire position to raze four positions of Pakistan army to avenge the mutilation of an Indian Army jawan's body by some suspected militants few days ago.

Violating ceasefire, Pakistan had been firing 120mm heavy mortars to target civilian areas, to which India had responded strongly.

Defence sources said while ceasefire violations by Pakistan was a regular feature "the intensity had never been so hard in the recent past."

Meanwhile, on the One Rank One Pension issue, sources said that 95% of the cases have been "satisfactorily" resolved. Documents of around 96,000 ex-servicemen were missing, due to which the payment for some has been delayed, they said, adding remaining cases would be resolved in two months time.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Kolkata:

China on Friday sought to dispel the view that it was against Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).



The notion that China is against Indias entry into NSG is not right. India and China are working together in this regard, Consul General of China in Kolkata, Zhanwu Ma said.



Entry of any country into the Nuclear Suppliers Group needs certain procedures which are to be followed. It is not that simple, Ma told reporters here.



Asked about Chinas stand on Indo-Pak relations, he said his country was neutral.



China is very friendly towards India. Some people do not seem to believe so. Of course, we have differences. But the shared interests outweigh the differences, the Chinese Consul General said, adding the business relations between the two countries were mutually beneficial.



So far Indias relation with Pakistan is concerned, Chinas position is neutral. India and Pakistan should settle the impasse via negotiations only, he added.



Turkey remains non-committal on backing India's NSG bid



Turkey on Friday remained non-committal about backing Indias bid for NSG membership, saying New Delhi should first build consensus in its favour in the 48-nation bloc.



Turkey was one of the countries which, at the last NSG plenary in Seoul in June, had insisted on no exception to be made for India, a non-signatory to the NPT, while examining its bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group that regulates trade in atomic material.



Despite strong US support, China had blocked Indias bid on the ground that it was a not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).



In terms of the nuclear disarmament issue, we are going to concur with the NSG and I think Indian government needs to convince the other countries (in the bloc). So, we are for a nuclear disarmed world.



I believe India needs to work on this issue in order to convince the other countries. We are ready to join the consensus if it is reached, Turkeys Minister for Development Lutfi Elvan told a press conference here.



On free trade pact with India, the Minister said a working group has been set up to address the issue and it has drafted a report but India it yet to ratify it.



Once the Indian Government signs the report the process will be accelerated. We want the free trade agreement because Turkey is a part of the customs union and the free trade agreement will contribute to the economies of both countries, Elvan said.



The Minister said Turkey can act as a gateway for India to countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.



He said the two countries need to converge their economic potential to boost bilateral trade volume.



Right now the trade volume between the two countries amounts to USD 6 billion which is quite low considering the true potential of the countries, he said.



It is not only the trade volume which we are aiming to realize between the two countries, but also I advise the businesses that they need to set up companies to be able to trade with and export to third countries, Elvan said.



Outlining areas for successful mutual cooperation, he said India could draw from Turkeys experience in construction sector.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal criticised the city police for failing to trace a JNU student, missing since October 15, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday asked the force to speed up their efforts.

The Lt Governor today held a meeting with top cops, including Special Commissioner (law and order), Joint CP (South-East Range), Head of SIT and took stock of the investigation in the case, LG office said in a statement.

He also increased the reward money from Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh for giving information about the whereabouts of the missing student.

27-year-old Najeeb Ahmed, a student of School of Biotechnology and a native of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, went missing on October 15 following an on-campus scuffle allegedly with the members of ABVP the night before. Jung directed the police that no effort be spared to trace the student.

ALSO READ: (BJP leaders not loyal even to their fathers: Kejriwal over missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmad)

In the meeting, police told the LG that all out efforts were being made to trace Najeeb. They said that over 20,000 posters have been pasted in Delhi and outside.

The force also apprised the Lt Governor that the entire incident has been repeatedly re-examined and that areas in and around Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) searched comprehensively several times.

SIT probing the case has verified over 300 autorickshaws plying in the area. It has so far deployed about 150 police personnel, including two teams per district, the statement said.

It also stated that teams have been sent to Ajmer, Kota, Bareilley, Roorkee, Faizabad, Azamgarh, Badaun and other neighbouring cities.

Many of Najeebs former teachers, friends and relatives have been contacted, including the schools and other educational institutions which he attended. CCTV cameras at various locations including metro, ISBT, railway stations and tolls are being scanned, it said.

While participating in a solidarity meeting at JNU yesterday, Kejriwal had said that Najeeb would come back only when Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be made to realise that he was losing votes over the issue.

ALSO READ: (We have no faith in JNU admin, says missing Najeebs family)

Kejriwal, who has had frequent run-ins with the Delhi Police, said the force would not dare to pursue any investigation in this regard as RSS students wing ABVP was involved in the brawl following which Najeeb went missing.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and former General Secretary of CPI(M) Prakash Karat had also called for immediate steps to trace the student.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Is a ban on antibiotics for livestock growth possible in the United States future?

Some considered antibiotics to be the 20th centurys greatest medical advancement, but these days, after years of being misused and over-prescribed, that class of medications may be in danger of being removed altogether from the United States.

Heres the story.

Some years ago, in the 1940s, scientists discovered that introducing subtherapeutic amounts of antibiotics into animals improved their feed-to-weight ratio, and within a decade the Food and Drug Administration approved penicillin, chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline as additives to livestock feed.

But just 18 years later the British government released a study indicating that the only antimicrobials that should be permitted as growth promotants in animals were those that were not depended on for therapy in humans or whose use was not likely to lead to resistance to antimicrobials that were important for treating humans.

Not long after the release of that study, called the Swann Report, a lobbying effort began to get antibiotics out of animal feed altogether. In 1976 the FDA formed a pair of subcommittees to look into such concerns. What they found aligned with the findings in the Swann Report.

So the following year then-FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy proposed banning the use of tetracycline and penicillin in animal feed. Science and health professionals approved of the ban, while farmers and drug makers did not.

Congressional powers that be got involved, and lawmakers with ties to the aforementioned special interests pulled strings and made threats about pulling funding. But by the 21st century, the federal government finally started acting. In 2011, the FDA was sued by environmental and consumer groups for finding that use of antibiotics in livestock feed could lead to bacterial resistance, yet did not act on the information. The FDA responded by implementing a voluntary plan to phase out use of certain antibiotics.

European nations did not wait for definitive proof. Sweden, in 1986, blocked use of antibiotics for growth promotion in livestock, becoming the first nation to do so, according to NYC Food Policy. Since then, Denmark has banned their use in poultry and swine. And the European Union, following Denmarks example, banned use of antibiotics for growth promotion in all livestock in 2006. Whats more, there has been no appreciable rise in disease rates for livestock or the cost of production, which means there has been minimal price increases at the market  unlike what opponents of the ban predicted.

There has been some progress in the U.S., though virtually none on the federal level due to far too many competing interests. In 2015, California passed legislation banning use of antibiotics in livestock for growth.

NYC Food Policy notes further that if the effort to curb antibiotics resistance in humans is to hit its stride, it will have to happen in the form of state action or through pressure on the private sector  food manufactures and merchants to end antibiotic use.

Sources:

NYCFoodPolicy.org

Legislature.ca.gov

NaturalNews.com

Submit a correction >>
Their first-born son came into the world in December 2011, just a month after the Syrian Army began its attack on their hometown of Homs. Now, more than five years later, fighting continues in Syria - a bloody Civil War that has cost some 500,000 lives.

That first year of life was not easy for the baby, or his parents. Every day brought a new reason to fear - the growing insurgency and President Assads counterstrikes only got worse.

Like so many ordinary people in nations at war, they tried their best to go about life as usual - his work as a taxi driver, hers as a young stay-at-home mom. Finally, just after their sons first birthday, their familys home and their car (his livelihood) were destroyed by bombs. Her father and one brother were killed. It was time for the young family to leave. They became three more of some 4.8 million people who have sought safety outside Syria, half of them children.

This young couple - she expecting a second baby, he carrying their toddler - walked for more than 200 miles from Homs, Syria, to Amman, Jordan. After less than two weeks in a refugee camp, the resourceful father found work as a day laborer and a tiny apartment for his young family. Not long after that, their first daughter was born, and 18 months after that, another.

But as soon as they got across the Jordanian border, they had made application with the U.S. State Department for relocation as refugees. Thus began three years of paperwork, background checks, extensive vetting, and waiting that ended this past June, with their arrival in New Haven, for resettlement in the Danbury area through IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services).

Our church welcomed them to the Brookfield community on June 1, just as Ramadan was beginning - a very sacred season for them, as our new Muslim brothers and sisters. We had been actively preparing for their arrival for a full nine months - allocating funding, getting volunteer leaders into place, preparing housing, recruiting and training volunteers from the Congregational Church of Brookfield and our partner in this ministry, Valley Presbyterian Church.

As we approach our celebration of the birth of Jesus, one of the holiest seasons for Christians, this Syrian familys very real-life struggle for survival reminds me of the story of the infant Jesus in The Gospel According to Matthew. The Holy Family also was under threat from a tyrannical despot, King Herod, who was planning to murder the baby.

That is when the angel appears to Joseph in a dream and warns him to Rise and take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you. (Matthew 2:13) And so they flee - much farther to Egypt than to Jordan - but a desperate refugee journey nonetheless.

When people ask, Why do you do this ministry? I think of that story of Joseph and Mary on the run, desperate to save their sons life. If find myself wondering who were the people who offered hospitality to Jesus and his parents along the way? Were they Jews, or more likely, were they from nearby Arab tribes? Those whom the Hebrew Scriptures describe (in not a very positive tone) as the nations were desert dwellers of another faith - yet it is likely they were practicing the very love of neighbor that Christians are called to follow today.

Our great Commandment to love your neighbor as yourself did not originate with Jesus. It is Leviticus 19:18 - a text sacred to Jews (Torah), Christians (Old Testament), and Muslims (Tawrat). As war continues to consume the Middle East, I believe we need more than ever to obey Gods law of love - and claim our original blessing as one human family.

I also am reminded of the admonition to Christians in the letter to the Hebrews, Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so, some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:1-2) I give thanks for angels that have passed through our church - seven families since this ministry began. Among them were Christians, Muslims, and Bahai - but all came to us as angels of hope.

In a recent worship service, the father of our Syrian family stood up to say thank you to us in his beginners English. When asked to name the best thing about the United States, his eyes glazed with tears and he answered, My children are safe.

His children are safe because our church values putting the words of our faith into action. To stand with the life lessons and teachings of Jesus, we do not stand with hate, fear, or bigotry.

The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia is senior pastor of the Congregational Church of Brookfield.
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BROOKFIELD  The community is trying help a neighbor whose Stony Hill Road home was left in shambles following a long-standing dispute with a contractor.

In 2007, Carol Degan hired Robert Janeski, the owner of Town and Country Carpentry in Danbury, to renovate her bathroom and kitchen  a job he estimated would take two months and cost about $39,000.

But the work Janeski said was needed  and the cost  quickly ballooned. Now, nearly 10 years later, the house is gutted and all but uninhabitable.

It just snowballed, Degan said. Did he intentionally look to do this, to swindle someone? I dont think so. I would like to think he didnt.

After several months of living in a motel while work was being done on her home, Degan eventually moved into a New Milford apartment owned by the family-run Holland Foundation, a nonprofit based in Bridgewater that provides transitional housing to families in need.

She and her two children have lived there ever since. In the meantime, with the help of the Hollands, they have tried, without success, to reach a resolution with Janeski.

In 2015, Degan successfully sued Janeski, arguing the $116,000 she paid him far exceeded the scope of the original contract. In March, a judge ordered Janeski to pay Degan more than $470,000 in damages and legal fees, but the contractor said Friday he cant afford to pay.

Janeski said once he began working on the house, he determined renovating the kitchen and bathroom would require replacing floors and walls that were caving in. He said he told Degan about the extra work and she agreed orally  a claim she does not contest. Eventually, Janeski said he could not finish the job and stopped work on the house, leaving it gutted and the Degans homeless.

I felt bad about it, Janeski said. I knew I had gone too far, but I thought I could have saved it. If I hit the lotto, Id go up and build her a new house. Thats how bad I feel about the whole thing.

But others, including Pat Holland, whose family helped Degan negotiate with Janeski and eventually paid for her attorney, say Janeski took advantage of her.

I think Carol just fell vulnerable to the situation, Holland said. She didnt know what to do. He kept asking for money and she thought she would get a new house.

For years, Degan remained silent about her situation, only confiding to the Hollands and her sister, with whom she owns Waggin Train, a local dog-grooming business.

She decided to speak out in hopes others wont find themselves in a similar predicament, as well as to thank the Hollands, who she said have gone above and beyond in helping her for the past eight years.

Its an unbelievable situation weve been in, Degan said. Who does this happen to? This is crazy. This story of my life should be on a fiction shelf in the library.

Following a report on the matter by WFSB television earlier this week, several town residents began organizing to help Degan.

Among them are Rick McCarty, who set up a GoFundMe page; Eve Sturdevant, who is working with the Holland Foundation to develop a plan for replacing her home; and First Selectman Steve Dunn, who has reached out to local contractors for help.

Sturdevant, who said she has known the Degan and Holland families for years, said a group of volunteers plans to meet next week to discuss what that project might entail and how much money needs to be raised. As of Friday, more than $2,700 had been donated to the GoFundMe page.

We want to have a brand-new home for this family that costs them zero dollars so they have a life again that they havent had for eight years, Sturdevant said. We will need more construction type of services. We need people to donate furniture, groceries, lamps, all these types of stuff. These people have zero.

Dunn said he was shocked to hear about Degans predicament, adding his dogs have been groomed at Waggin Train for years. He described Degan as kind and a salt-of-the-earth type of person, and hopes the community will be able to help.

You dont often see people being taken advantage of to this level, Dunn said. Id love to see the community come together and help this resident.

Degan said the response has been overwhelming.

Its humbling, she said. I felt odd because going public with your life is a strange feeling. You dont expect to be opening yourself to something thats private. Its touching to realize so many people that are willing to help resolve this and Im thankful for that.

Donations can be made by visiting www.gofund me.com/help-the-deagan -family (the Degan name is misspelled in the URL), or sending a check written to In care of the Holland Family Foundation to 137 New Milford Road East, Bridgewater, CT 06752, with Degan in the memo line.

A Facebook page for interested volunteers has been set up and can be found by searching Community to help the Holland Family Foundation rebuild the Degan home.
Democrat Greg Cava is a strong contender to unseat four-term incumbent state Sen. Rob Kane in the mostly rural 10-town 32nd District.

Cava, 58, of Roxbury, has the pulse on education as chairman of the Region 12 school district. He sees the challenges faced by towns with dwindling enrollment.

He would work to ensure business needs for skilled workers are met through partnerships with universities and vocational programs and would promote programs to help graduates stay in the area. He maintains that our economy is changing and Connecticut needs to change with it, but we do not agree with his support for looking at border tolls for revenue.

Kane, 49, a Watertown businessman, has had successes in representing the district. Most notably, he led the effort to create the Waterbury-Oxford Development Zone and had enough clout and persuasion to convince colleagues to overturn the governors veto of legislation related to the zone. He helped craft legislation to create the Connecticut Antiques Trail in his district, which is a good idea to promote existing businesses and encourage new ones in that niche.

Kane wants state government to focus on four main areas, public health, public safety, education and transportation, and to collaborate on private agencies for the remainder. This is similar to the governors assertion that the state must focus on vital services when looking at the budget. Kane rightfully opposes tolls as an additional burden on taxpayers.

We like Cavas levelheadedness and commitment. But Kane, a ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, has done a respectful job and this is not the time to overturn the district.
In his four terms representing the 24th District  Danbury, Bethel, New Fairfield and Sherman  in the state Senate, Republican Michael McLachlan has rarely missed a vote. His record is 99.9 percent, an indication of his industriousness and commitment.

He digs into the details of legislation before committees. As the ranking member of the Government, Administration and Elections committee, he is known to keep asking questions until he gets adequate answers. McLachlan has been a strong advocate for transparency in government and was a leader fighting for the University of Connecticuts Foundation records public under Freedom of Information.
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STAMFORD  Donald Trumps branded buildings  once synonymous with opulence  can now evoke scorn for some amid a divisive U.S. presidential race between the real estate mogul and Hillary Clinton.

But Trump Parc resident Joe Hennessy said his building in downtown Stamford has avoided the controversy.

After all, it wasnt Trumps name that sold Hennessy, an executive who worked at Purdue Pharma, on his 22nd-floor penthouse.

When I bought that condo it was all about the location. I also didnt want to have a house or to take care of a lawn or anything, he said. I wanted to see what it would be like to have everything controlled and taken care of.

Hennessy, 55, has lived with his 27-year-old daughter, Alice, in their two-bedroom penthouse at 1 Broad St. for four years. He recently started a new job in Phoenix, Ariz., and has listed his 1,530-square-foot penthouse for sale with an asking price of $699,000.

The southern-facing unit  with floor-to-ceiling windows and a balcony  is one of just a few in Trump Parc facing Long Island Sound and where, on clear days, Manhattan can be seen.

The first time my daughter and I saw the views, we were taking photos and sending them to our family in the Midwest, said Hennessy, a native of St. Louis. That was an exciting moment when we were just showing our family where we were going to be.

But last month, as ever-nastier tensions mounted between the Clinton and Trump campaigns, some 300 disgruntled Trump Place tenants and workers in New York City signed a petition called Dump the TRUMP name.

And earlier this year, members of Fairfield Countys Muslim community asked Stamford developer Thomas Rich to remove the GOP candidates name from the top of Trump Parc. Rich said he no longer controls the building, and that it was up to the condo owners to dump the Trump brand.

However, no such tenant backlash has surfaced at Trump Parc, Hennessy said.

I havent heard anything about getting rid of the name. It doesnt really matter to me either way, Hennessy said.

The condos listing agent, Joann Fiore of New Bridge Realty, said the name on the building is one of the most valuable aspects of a Trump Parc residence.

Upcharge

I think the residents might revolt if they took the Trump name off this building. They paid the upcharge for a Trump-branded building, she said.

One of the best things about living at Trump Parc, Hennessy said, is the 24-hour access to amenities like the gym, pool and rooftop deck.

I made a lot of use of the gym and the rooftop. All of the amenities and the concierge service was really nice, he said.

Hennessy said its bittersweet to be leaving Stamford after only four years, and said he never expected his stay to be so short.

My job dictated the move, so I had to go, said Hennessy, who splits his time between here and Phoenix while he waits for his condo to sell. Stamford is a great city. Theres always something going on.

nora.naughton@scni.com; twitter.com/noranaughton
Democracy, equality under threat in Latin America: Dilma Rousseff

Uruguay,Politics, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Montevideo, Nov 5 (IANS) Former President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff said here on Friday that she fears the current effort in Brazil to roll back social programmes is part of a region-wide trend threatening the progress made by left governments in diminishing inequality.

During the last 15 years, Latin America has experienced rising incomes for workers and the poor, contrary to the tendency in advanced economies, EFE news quoted Rousseff as saying to participants in a march organised by Uruguay's PIT-CNT labor federation.

Brazil's first woman President was removed from office at the end of August by a hostile Congress that accused her of budget irregularities.

She was succeeded by her erstwhile Vice President, Michel Temer, who is pushing an agenda of privatisations and increasing austerity at odds with the views of the 54 million voters who gave Rousseff a second term in October 2014.

"We have seen people's governments frontally attacked from south to north in our hemisphere. And we see, in Brazil, an attempt to regress, to return to the past, when the immense inequality that still plagues our peoples was even greater," Rousseff said in Montevideo.

It was opposition to the government's commitment to reduce poverty and expand access to health care and education that led to her ouster in a legislative coup, Rousseff said.

"The tree of democracy is being attacked by funguses and parasites that infiltrate institutions and diminish the rights of populations. I'm talking about exceptional measures within democracy that corrode the fundamental rights won in our continent," EFE news quoted the Brazilian as saying.

She argued in favour of further integration in Latin America as a way to safeguard democracy in the individual countries.

"Joint action, the shared regional space and the expanded regional economy make up the most important elements for the construction of autonomy and sovereignty," Rousseff said in Montevideo.

--IANS

lok/
Paris migrant camp evacuated

France,Defence/Security,Immigration/Law/Rights, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Paris, Nov 4 (IANS) French police on Friday evacuated a makeshift migrant camp located between two metro stations in the northeast of Paris.

The operation to shift the camp's population of between 2,000 and 3,000 people to reception centres across the capital began at 6 a.m., Efe news reported.

Some 600 police officers and 250 volunteers from various humanitarian organisations were involved in evacuating the camp, which was made up of tents and other temporary structures.

Following the dismantling of the "Jungle" migrant camp in the northern port city of Calais last week, French authorities had warned that this camp, between the Stalingrad and Jaures metro stations, would also be dismantled.

The camp at Stalingrad has been cleared on other occasions -- the last time being on September 16 -- but it has been building up again in recent weeks.

On Monday, the authorities conducted an operation to identify the camp's occupants, discovering that the majority were from the Horn of Africa region -- Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia -- and from the Asian countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

--IANS

ksk/dg
Indian Navy ship reaches Sydney

Delhi,National,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) An Indian Navy ship reached Sydney on Friday where it will participate in the ongoing 'Festival of India' celebrations, the government said.

INS Sumitra, an offshore patrol vessel under the command of K.P. Shreeshan, is on port call to Sydney in pursuance of India's Act East policy and outreach to friendly countries.

The ship will be berthed in Sydney from November 4 to 7 and take part in various activities like official calls, reception on board and professional interaction between personnel of the Indian and Australian navies.

The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and maritime security cooperation. The ship will be open to visitors.

India is organising 'Confluence' festival in Australia from August to November. It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Australia in November 2014.

In 2015, India and Australia inaugurated the biennial maritime exercise 'AUSINDEX' and its inaugural edition was held in the Bay of Bengal.

Last year, INS Sumitra participated in 'Operation Rahat', which entailed evacuation of personnel of various nationalities from war-torn Yemen.

INS Sumitra, on departure, will undertake a 'Passage Exercise' (PASSEX) with Royal Australian Navy.

PASSEX is conducted between the two navies to ensure they are capable of communicating with each other in times of war and humanitarian relief.

--IANS

rs/tsb/mr
Paris Climate Agreement enters into force, green bodies welcome move

Delhi,National,Diplomacy,Environment/Wildlife, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) As the Paris Climate Agreement entered into force on Friday, India and other participating countries marked the occasion with displaying an illuminated 'Smiley' emoticon with the slogan "We Did It" on important buildings. Green organisations like TERI and CSE lauded the move.

India ratified the Paris Agreement on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

On October 5, the threshold for entry into force of the Paris Agreement was achieved with total 55 parties (countries or unions) that contribute to at least 55 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, ratifying the agreement.

So far 97 of total 193 signatory parties of the convention, accounting for 66 per cent of global emissions, have ratified the agreement.

The 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) was held in November-December 2015 in Paris, where 192 parties, including India, adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal, out of the total 197 parties to the convention.

The agreement was earlier supposed to enter into force in 2020.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) welcomed the enforcement of the Paris Agreement.

Director General, TERI, Ajay Mathur said the swift coming into force of the Paris Agreement reflects the changed sensibilities across the world in addressing climate change, and the wide appreciation of the need to act expeditiously.

"The Agreement is inclusive, recognizing the development imperatives of nations like India and the developing world," Mathur said in a statement.

"It is just, upholding and operationalizing the principles of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities. The Agreement demonstrates that development and protecting the climate are not competing goals," he added.

Climate Change expert from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Chandra Bhushan, also welcomed the enforcement of the Paris Agreement and termed it an important step.

"Since Paris Agreement has come to force, now the hard work on dealing with the issues of climate change will start. Important negotiations have to take place on making the procedure outcome based," Chandra Bhushan said.

He also stressed on the involvement of citizens in climate change awareness.

The first session of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) will take place in Morocco at COP22 and CMP 12 (Parties to the Kyoto Protocol).

The COP22 will be held from November 7 to 18 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The Smiley Image has the globe as the background. Along with the image, "Paris agreement - We did it - #SmileforthePlanet" will be displayed on one side of the Ministry's building in the evening on Friday, to celebrate the Paris Agreement.

Indira Paryavaran Bhawan will be displaying the symbol in India.

The Paris Agreement's central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

--IANS

am-kd/rn
5 IS-linked suspects arrested in Morocco

Malta,Terrorism, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Rabat, Nov 4 (IANS) Morocco busted an Islamic State (IS)-linked cell composed of five people on Friday in the city of Tetouan, the Interior ministry said in a statement.

A preliminary investigation confirmed that the members of this terror cell planned to join IS camps on the Syrian-Iraqi territory or its branch in Libya, said the ministry in a statement.

"The investigation also revealed the full support of members of this cell for the destruction agenda of IS and their willingness to carry out major terrorist operations in Morocco, after leading monitoring and tracking operations of sensitive targets in Tetouan," Xinhua news agency cited the statement.

The same source said that the individuals were conducting paramilitary training in nearby forests in order to increase their fighting ability, adding that the suspects will be brought to justice after the completion of the investigation, conducted under the competent public prosecutor's office.

Morocco is facing a growing threat from terrorist groups. Authorities said over 160 terrorist cells have been busted since 2002, including over 40 in the past three years with ties to extremists groups in both Iraq and Syria.

--IANS

vgu/
President Mukherjee leaves for Janakpur, Pokhara

Nepal,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Religion,Diaspora,Diplomacy, Fri, 04 Nov 2016 IANS

Kathmandu, Nov 4 (IANS) Visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday left for Janakpur, a city in south Nepal, where he will visit the revered Ram-Janaki temple and offer prayers.

According to the itinerary, he will take a mountain flight of Buddha Air to Janakpur. Besides offering worship in the Ram-Janaki temple, he will attend a civic reception by the Janakpur Municipality.

A special aircraft of Buddha Air will take Mukherjee across the Himalaya -- popularly known as mountain flight. Two ATR-42 twin-turboprop, short-haul aircraft will carry the Indian delegation and senior Nepal government officials to Janakpur and Pokhara.

After the Janakpur function, the President will leave for Pokhara, another famous tourist city of Nepal, also known as City of Lake. Here Mukherjee will address over 10,000 Indian ex-Gurkhas at the Pension Paying Office and interact with them.

He is then scheduled to return to Kathmandu on Friday afternoon and leave for New Delhi straight from the airport.

Nepal's President Bidhya Devi Bhandari will see off her Indian guest at Tribhuvan International Airport.

All national and international flights landing and taking off in Kathmandu will be affected during Mukherjee's departure by a special Indian Air Force aircraft.

--IANS

giri/in/vt
TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Boyuan Construction Group, Inc., (TSX: BOY, BOY.DB.A), a growing construction company in China of commercial, residential and municipal infrastructure projects, announced today that it will hold a conference call to discuss its fiscal 2017 first quarter financial results on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 9:30 A.M. (ET). Mr. Paul Law, Boyuan's Chief Financial Officer, will host the call. The Company expects to report its first quarter results on Monday, November 14, 2016 after markets close.

All interested parties can join the conference call by dialing 1-888-231-8191 or 647-427-7450. Please connect approximately 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the call to ensure participation. The conference call will be archived for replay until Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at midnight. To access the archived conference call, dial 1-855-859-2056 or 416-849-0833 and enter the reservation number 14693561#.

About Boyuan Construction Group, Inc.

Based in Jiaxing City, China, Boyuan Construction Group, Inc. is in the business of commercial building and residential construction, municipal infrastructure and engineering projects. In its last three fiscal years ending June 30, 2016, Boyuan completed 41 projects for a number of private and public sector clients. Boyuan's current project backlog includes residential, commercial, industrial and mixed-use developments. From its operating bases in Zhejiang Province and in Hainan Province, Boyuan focuses on construction projects in China's fast-growing regions of the Yangtze River Delta and Hainan Province. For more information visit www.boyuangroup.com.

SOURCE Boyuan Construction Group, Inc.

For further information: Boyuan Construction Group, Inc., Mr. Paul Law, CFO, +(852) 9329 5088, [email protected]; NATIONAL Equicom, Mr. Keith Richards, (416) 848-1599, [email protected]
$26.51-million investment will create jobs, expand research and foster innovation

ST. CATHARINES, ON, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW/ - 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 $26.51-million investment at Brock University and Niagara College will do just that by fostering the training needed for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow.

The funding was announced by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the Honourable Deb Matthews, Ontario's Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development.

Canada's Innovation Agenda aims to make this country a global centre for innovationone that creates jobs, drives growth across all industries and improves the lives of all Canadians. This investment exemplifies that vision in action.

Brock University is receiving funding for two projects: the District Energy Efficiency Project and the Schmon Tower Innovation Atrium. These projects will improve energy efficiency on campus, which translates into long-term savings for the university, lower carbon emissions and healthier communities.

A $7.78-million investment in the District Energy Efficiency Project will enable Brock to replace equipment and piping in the District Energy Facilitya reliable cogeneration facility for electricity, heating and cooling in the university's research facilities. This project will significantly improve the facility's energy efficiency and reduce the university's greenhouse gas emissions. Of this funding, $5.19 million is being provided by the Government of Canada and $2.59 million by the Province of Ontario. Brock University is contributing an additional $2.59 million to the project.

The university will also receive an investment of $8.47 million from the Government of Canada for the Schmon Tower Innovation Atrium, an important part of the new Brock LINC innovation and commercialization space. Brock LINC is a new 30,000 square-foot research facility that will support entrepreneurs looking to turn their ideas into products and services for the marketplace. Brock University is providing an additional $10.62 million for the project.

Niagara College will receive an investment of $10.26 million for a project at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus to support the agri-food sector in the region. With this funding, Niagara College will build research and innovation labs, specialized training facilities for student entrepreneurship and incubation space for agri-food businesses. Of this funding, $8.7 million is being provided by the Government of Canada and $1.56 million by the Province of Ontario. Niagara College is contributing an additional $24.33 million.

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 forand inventthe 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 historyabout $160 billion over 12 yearswhich 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."

 The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

"One of my favourite parts of being a member of Parliament is seeing our promises come to fruition. This investment in both Brock University and Niagara College is proof positive of our government's commitment to invest in our post-secondary institutions and provide a renewed culture of innovation for the next generation of Canadian researchers and students. These investments at Brock and Niagara College are indicative of the important work each institution is doing to focus on the needs of the community and the student population. I am proud of our commitment to both of these world-class institutions, and I look forward to seeing them continue to grow and prosper in the coming years."

 Chris Bittle, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines

"This support for both Brock University and Niagara College continues to demonstrate the federal government's commitment to, and passion for, supporting families and businesses in Niagara in finding new opportunities through education. This investment will help keep our region at the forefront of innovation, helping to create new businesses and new jobs in an ever-changing global economy."

 Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre

"An investment in Ontario's students is an investment in our future. Our government's support of new state-of-the-art facilities at Brock University and Niagara College will help equip the young people of the region with the skills they'll need to lead new industry and build up their economy."

 The Honourable Deb Matthews, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development

"The government's support of these projects is a huge investment in Canada's future. Brock University is now much more able to help innovators make Canada a world leader on intellectual and economic fronts. As well, this funding also lets Brock be part of the national effort to help make Canada a global example in lowering the carbon emissions that are damaging the earth's environment."

 Dr. Tom Traves, Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, Brock University

"Niagara College welcomes and thanks the federal and provincial governments for this investment in the agri-food sector. Colleges help train tomorrow's workforce, and this unique project will help economic development in our region by supporting specialized training at Niagara College for student engagement and entrepreneurship and providing incubation space."

 Dr. Dan Patterson, President, Niagara College

Quick facts

The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are providing more than $950 million for research infrastructure at institutions across Ontario . Brock University has been awarded $13.66 million by the Government of Canada for two projects, and Niagara College has been awarded $8.7 million for one project.

and the Government of are providing more than for research infrastructure at institutions across . has been awarded by the Government of for two projects, and Niagara College has been awarded for one project. The 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.

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.

and help 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

Follow Minister Bains on social media.

Twitter: @MinisterISED

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

For further information: 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, [email protected]; 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, [email protected]
LAKEWOOD, CO, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE MKT:UUUU; TSX:EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company"), today reported its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2016. The Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and may be viewed on the Electronic Document Gathering and Retrieval System ("EDGAR") at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml, on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com, and on the Company's website at www.energyfuels.com. Unless noted otherwise, all dollar amounts are in US dollars.

Financial and Operational Highlights:

$8.7 million of total revenue was realized by the Company.

of total revenue was realized by the Company. Gross Profit of $3.0 million from mining and milling operations was realized by the Company, resulting in a 34% Gross Profit margin.

from mining and milling operations was realized by the Company, resulting in a 34% Gross Profit margin. 150,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 sales were completed by the Company pursuant to a long-term contract at an average realized price of $58.00 per pound.

O sales were completed by the Company pursuant to a long-term contract at an average realized price of per pound. The Company recovered a total of 350,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 , during the quarter including 90,000 pounds from Nichols Ranch and 260,000 pounds from conventional sources.

O , during the quarter including 90,000 pounds from Nichols Ranch and 260,000 pounds from conventional sources. At September 30, 2016 , the Company had $30.6 million of working capital, including cash and cash equivalents of $17.5 million and approximately 570,000 pounds of uranium concentrate inventory.

, the Company had of working capital, including cash and cash equivalents of and approximately 570,000 pounds of uranium concentrate inventory. A net loss of $8.2 million was realized by the Company, including a $1.4 million impairment of inventory and $6.3 million of development, permitting, and land holding costs primarily related to wellfield construction at the Nichols Ranch ISR Project and continued shaft-sinking and evaluation at the Canyon Project.

was realized by the Company, including a impairment of inventory and of development, permitting, and land holding costs primarily related to wellfield construction at the Nichols Ranch ISR Project and continued shaft-sinking and evaluation at the Canyon Project. On August 2, 2016 , the Company announced a significant maiden resource estimate for its Alta Mesa ISR Project ("Alta Mesa") in South Texas , in a technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). According to the technical report, Alta Mesa contains 1.6 million tons of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.111% eU 3 O 8 containing 3.6 million pounds of uranium, along with 7.0 million tons of Inferred Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.121% eU 3 O 8 containing 16.8 million pounds of uranium. Alta Mesa includes a fully-licensed and constructed ISR processing facility which is currently on care and maintenance.

, the Company announced a significant maiden resource estimate for its Alta Mesa ISR Project ("Alta Mesa") in , in a technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). According to the technical report, Alta Mesa contains 1.6 million tons of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.111% eU O containing 3.6 million pounds of uranium, along with 7.0 million tons of Inferred Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.121% eU O containing 16.8 million pounds of uranium. Alta Mesa includes a fully-licensed and constructed ISR processing facility which is currently on care and maintenance. The Company has moved 300,000 pounds of contract deliveries previously scheduled for 2017 to November 15 , 2016. As a result, the Company is now expected to complete 850,000 pounds of contract deliveries during FY-2016 and 320,000 pounds of long term contract deliveries during FY-2017. In consideration for moving these contract deliveries, the Company provided the customer with a small discount, which will be satisfied by the Company delivering additional uranium to this customer priced at the published October 2016 month-end spot uranium price.

, 2016. As a result, the Company is now expected to complete 850,000 pounds of contract deliveries during FY-2016 and 320,000 pounds of long term contract deliveries during FY-2017. In consideration for moving these contract deliveries, the Company provided the customer with a small discount, which will be satisfied by the Company delivering additional uranium to this customer priced at the published month-end spot uranium price. The Company is also under contract to sell 200,000 pounds of uranium on December 1 , 2016. The pricing for this sale will be based on a weekly average of the published spot uranium prices for the 5 weeks prior to the delivery.

, 2016. The pricing for this sale will be based on a weekly average of the published spot uranium prices for the 5 weeks prior to the delivery. The Company is continuing to pursue significant cost cutting initiatives, including a reduction in scope of certain development initiatives, the sale or abandonment of certain non-core properties and the sale of excess mining equipment and other assets. In addition, at its meeting on November 3, 2016 , the Board of Directors decided to reduce their total compensation by 20% and receive one-third of their compensation in cash and two-thirds in restricted share units, thereby resulting in a 33% total reduction in cash compensation.

Project Development Highlights:

Shaft-sinking and evaluation activities continue at the Canyon Project. The shaft, which is expected to be constructed to a total depth of 1,470 feet, is currently at a depth of approximately 1,250 feet. The underground core and percussion drilling program to further evaluate the Canyon deposit continues.

On August 18, 2016 , the Company reported that it had intercepted several large and high-grade areas of uranium mineralization within the Company's Canyon Mine, including 8.5-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 6.88% eU 3 O 8 , 48.0-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.02% eU 3 O 8 , and 35-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.39% eU 3 O 8 .

, the Company reported that it had intercepted several large and high-grade areas of uranium mineralization within the Company's Canyon Mine, including 8.5-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 6.88% eU O , 48.0-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.02% eU O , and 35-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.39% eU O . On October 27, 2016 , the Company reported that it had discovered an extensive system of high-grade copper mineralization within the Company's Canyon Mine, with exploration results to date, based on five core holes representing 313 feet of total interception length, averaging 8.75% Cu and one intercept hitting five-feet of 31.69% Cu. As a result, the Company has expanded the current evaluation of the Canyon Mine to include copper and other minerals. The Company expects to complete a new resource estimate for the Canyon Mine in Q1-2017.

, the Company reported that it had discovered an extensive system of high-grade copper mineralization within the Company's Canyon Mine, with exploration results to date, based on five core holes representing 313 feet of total interception length, averaging 8.75% Cu and one intercept hitting five-feet of 31.69% Cu. As a result, the Company has expanded the current evaluation of the Canyon Mine to include copper and other minerals. The Company expects to complete a new resource estimate for the Canyon Mine in Q1-2017. On August 15, 2016 , the Company reported that it has intercepted several large and high-grade areas of mineralization within the Company's Nichols Ranch ISR Project, including one hole with 5-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 2.4% eU 3 O 8 .

Financings & Liquidity Highlights:

On September 20, 2016 , the Company announced the completion of a $15.0 million (gross) bought-deal offering (the "Offering"), including full exercise of the over-allotment option. Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued 8,337,500 common shares, along with 4,168,750 warrants with an exercise price of $2.45 per share.

, the Company announced the completion of a (gross) bought-deal offering (the "Offering"), including full exercise of the over-allotment option. Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued 8,337,500 common shares, along with 4,168,750 warrants with an exercise price of per share. On August 4, 2016 , the Company reported that the holders of its floating-rate convertible unsecured subordinated debentures (the "Debentures") approved amendments to the Debentures at a special meeting of the Debentures held on August 4 , 2016. The amendments extended the maturity of the Debentures from June 30, 2017 to December 31, 2020 , reduced the conversion price from Cdn$15.00 to Cdn$4.15 per common share of the Company, and certain other amendments as described in the press release dated August 4, 2016 .

Stephen P. Antony, Energy Fuels' President and CEO stated: "During the last quarter, Energy Fuels continued to execute its business plan in a difficult uranium market. We are particularly pleased with the actions we took during the third quarter, where we strengthened our balance sheet through a $15 million financing and extended the term of our convertible debentures, expanded the high-grade uranium resources at our Nichols Ranch ISR Project in Wyoming, and made some very exciting discoveries at our Canyon Mine in Arizona, including large areas of very high-grade uranium and copper mineralization.

"Our uranium recovery activities are also showing excellent results, as we extracted 90,000 pounds of uranium from eight header-houses at the Nichols Ranch ISR Project and packaged 260,000 pounds from conventional sources. As a result, we are increasing our previous uranium recovery guidance for 2016 from 950,000 pounds to 1,035,000 pounds and increasing our contract sales guidance from 750,000 pounds to 1,050,000 pounds. Although spot uranium prices are now down 45% for the year, the long-term fundamentals for the space remain positive. We don't know when uranium prices will recover, but we believe they will at some point in the future. And when the uranium recovery occurs, we believe it has the potential to happen quickly. In the meantime, Energy Fuels is fortunate to have some protection from persistent low uranium prices, including fixed-price uranium sales contracts for a portion of our production, the potential of copper recovery at our Canyon Mine, and processing revenues at our White Mesa Mill, and we are taking the necessary steps that we believe will allow our shareholders to benefit from future uranium market improvement."

Selected Summary Financial Information:







$000, except per share data Three months ended

September 30, 2016 Nine months ended

September 30, 2016 Results of Operations:





Total revenues $ 8,702 $ 33,704

Gross profit 2,982 10,123

Net loss (8,245) (27,551)

Basic and diluted loss per share (0.14) (0.51)





$000's As at September 30,

2016 As at December 31,

2015 Financial Position:





Working capital $ 30,641 $ 35,131

Property, plant and equipment 38,859 29,069

Mineral properties 92,625 91,031

Total assets 206,332 192,280

Total long-term liabilities 43,518 38,937

Overview

The Company has recovered approximately 630,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and expects to recover approximately 405,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 for the final three months of the year, as further described below. Additionally, the Company expects to produce 800,000 pounds in the year ending December 31, 2017.

ISR Uranium Segment

We have extracted and recovered approximately 265,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 from our Nichols Ranch Project for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and expect to extract and recover approximately 70,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 from our ISR segment for the final three months of the year. Additionally, the Company expects to produce 350,000 pounds in the year ending December 31, 2017 from Nichols Ranch.

At September 30, 2016, the Nichols Ranch wellfields had eight header houses extracting uranium. The Company plans to complete a ninth header house by the end of 2016. However, until such time that improvement in uranium market conditions is observed or suitable sales contracts can be entered into, the Company intends to defer development of the tenth header house at its Nichols Ranch project and to keep the Alta Mesa Project on care and maintenance.

Permitting of the Jane Dough Property, which is adjacent to Nichols Ranch, is continuing and is expected to be completed in advance of our need to begin wellfield construction. Also, the Hank Project is fully permitted to be constructed as a satellite facility to the Nichols Ranch Plant.

Conventional Uranium Segment

The White Mesa Mill has recovered approximately 365,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 primarily from alternate feed materials and milling of previously mined ore from the Pinenut Mine. The Company expects to complete milling the previously mined ore from the Pinenut Mine and certain alternate feed sources during the final three months of the year, producing an additional 335,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 by year-end.

The Company expects to recover approximately 450,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 during the year ending December 31, 2017 at the White Mesa Mill, including approximately 300,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 from dissolved uranium not recovered from previous processing in the mill tailings management system ("Pond Return") and approximately 150,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 from alternate feed sources. In addition, during 2017, the Company expects to earn a fee for processing additional quantities of alternate feed material at the White Mesa Mill, returning all finished uranium product to the generator of the feed material. The processing fee earned by the Company is expected to cover the Company's processing cost and provide the Company with a reasonable margin.

Once the recovery activities discussed above are concluded (expected to be in the second half of 2017), the Company expects to place uranium recovery activities at the White Mesa Mill on standby until additional mill feed becomes available. The Mill will continue to dry and package material from the Nichols Ranch Plant and continue to receive and stockpile alternate feed materials for future milling campaigns. Each future milling campaign will be subject to receipt of sufficient mill feed that would allow the Company to operate the Mill on a profitable basis and/or recover a portion of its standby costs.

Evaluation, Permitting and Standby Activities

The Company is continuing shaft sinking activities at the Canyon Project, along with underground drilling to further evaluate the deposit. Through evaluation activities completed to date, the Company has identified zones of high-grade uranium and copper mineralization within the deposit. The best uranium intercepts include 8.5-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 6.88% eU 3 O 8 , 48.0-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.02% eU 3 O 8 , and 35-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.39% eU 3 O 8 . Five core holes with a total intercept length of 313-feet have averaged 8.75% Cu and one intercept hitting 5-feet of 31.69% Cu. In addition, analytical results demonstrate the existence of silver, zinc, and other minerals in the deposit. The Company is evaluating the potential for recovering copper and other minerals at its White Mesa Mill as value-added byproducts along with the recovery of uranium. The timing of the Company's plans to extract and process mineralized materials from this project will be based on the results of this additional evaluation work, along with market conditions and available financing.

The Company is selectively advancing certain permits at other of the Company's major conventional uranium projects. The Company plans to continue the licensing and permitting of the Roca Honda Project, a large, high-grade conventional project in New Mexico, maintain required permits at the Company's conventional standby projects including the La Sal Project, and the Daneros Project and complete certain other well-advanced permits on the Sheep Mountain Project in Wyoming, the Daneros Project expansion, and the La Sal Project expansion. All of these projects serve as important pipeline assets for the Company's future conventional production capabilities, as market conditions warrant. The Company will also continue to evaluate the Bullfrog Property at its Henry Mountains Project.

Sales

During the nine months ended September 30, 2016, the Company has completed sales under its existing contracts of 550,000 pounds of U 3 O 8. The Company also sold 50,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 to a utility based on spot prices at the time of the contract.

The Company is expecting to complete additional sale of 550,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 during the three months ending December 31, 2016. We had previously forecasted total sales for the year ending December 31, 2016 of 800,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 . The additional 350,000 pounds of sales are expected to result from moving 300,000 pounds of deliveries under one of our contracts from the year ending December 31, 2017 to the three months ending December 31, 2016 (representing the final delivery under this contract). In consideration for moving these contract deliveries, the Company provided the customer with a small discount, which will be satisfied by the Company delivering additional uranium to this customer priced at the published October 2016 month-end spot uranium price. The Company also contracted to sell 200,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 on December 1, 2016 and 200,000 pounds in each of the years ending December 31, 2017 and 2018, with each delivery being priced at the average spot price per pound of uranium for the five weeks prior to the date of delivery with a small discount. The Company expects to complete these sales from U 3 O 8 already in inventory or expected to be recovered from its planned activities discussed above.

The Company is currently monitoring market conditions for additional sales opportunities. Selective additional spot sales may be made as necessary to generate cash for operations and development activities.

In 2017, the Company expects to complete deliveries of 520,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 under four contracts, including 320,000 pounds under three long-term contracts and 200,000 pounds under the spot contract discussed above. Of these deliveries, 120,000 pounds represent the final deliveries under one of these contracts. The 2017 deliveries under our contracts are 100,000 pounds lower than previous guidance, as we accelerated the delivery of 300,000 pounds from 2017 to the three months ending December 31, 2016 and added 200,000 pounds of sales under the spot contract, all as discussed above. Selective additional spot sales may be made as necessary to generate cash for operations and development activities.

The Company also continues to pursue new sources of revenue, including expansion of its alternate feed business.

About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading integrated US-based uranium mining company, supplying U 3 O 8 to major nuclear utilities. Energy Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers, the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch Processing Facility in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa Project in Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today and has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Nichols Ranch Processing Facility is an ISR production center with a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. Alta Mesa is an ISR production center currently on care and maintenance. Energy Fuels also has the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolio in the U.S. among producers, and uranium mining projects located in a number of Western U.S. states, including one producing ISR project, mines on standby, and mineral properties in various stages of permitting and development. The Company's common shares are listed on the NYSE MKT under the trading symbol "UUUU", and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR". The Company's Debentures are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR.DB."

Conversion from IFRS to U.S. GAAP: As previously announced, effective January 1, 2016, the Company became a 'U.S. domestic issuer' for SEC reporting purposes and is therefore required to prepare its financial statements in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("U.S. GAAP"). All prior financial statements and selected financial data have been converted from International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") into U.S. GAAP for all periods required to be presented in the financial statements and selected financial data.

Additional Non-US GAAP Financial Performance Measures: The Company has included the additional non-US GAAP measure "Gross Profit" in the financial statements and in this news release. Management noted that "Gross Profit" provides useful information to investors as an indication of the Company's principal business activities before consideration of how those activities are financed, sustaining capital expenditures, corporate and exploration and evaluation expenses, finance income and costs, and taxation.

Stephen P. Antony, P.E., President & CEO of Energy Fuels, is a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying such disclosure

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains certain "Forward Looking Information" and "Forward Looking Statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: the Company being a leading integrated uranium mining company supplying U 3 O 8 to major nuclear utilities; any expectations regarding copper or uranium exploration results, quantities or grades at its Canyon Mine or Nichols Ranch Project; the expectation to complete a new resource estimate for the Canyon Mine; the Company's resource estimates and exploration targets, including expected tons and grade, at Alta Mesa; the ability of the Company to successfully perform its alternate feed contracts, including the ability to meet its expected processing costs and margins; production and sales forecasts; the Company's expectations as to longer term fundamentals in the market and price projections; the Company's ability to be able to restart or increase production as market conditions warrant, or otherwise benefit from any future market improvements; expected timelines for the permitting and development of projects; the ability of the Company to recover copper and other minerals at its White Mesa Mill as value-added byproducts; the success of the Company in pursuing new sources of revenue, including expansion of its alternate feed business; the Company's expectations as to expenditures and cost reductions; the Company's ability to preserve its cash resources and maintain its resource base; and any other statements regarding Energy Fuels' future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" "does not expect", "is expected", "is likely", "budget" "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "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", "be achieved" or "have the potential to". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, herein are considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements express or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include risks associated with: the Company being a leading integrated uranium mining company supplying U 3 O 8 to major nuclear utilities; any expectations regarding copper or uranium exploration results, quantities or grades at its Canyon Mine or Nichols Ranch Project; the expectation to complete a new resource estimate for the Canyon Mine; the Company's resource estimates and exploration targets, including expected tons and grade, at Alta Mesa; the ability of the Company to successfully perform its alternate feed contracts, including the ability to meet its expected processing costs and margins; production and sales forecasts; the Company's expectations as to longer term fundamentals in the market and price projections; the Company's ability to be able to restart or increase production as market conditions warrant, or otherwise benefit from any future market improvements; expected timelines for the permitting and development of projects; the ability of the Company to recover copper and other minerals at its White Mesa Mill as value-added byproducts; the success of the Company in pursuing new sources of revenue, including expansion of its alternate feed business; the Company's expectations as to expenditures and cost reductions; the Company's ability to preserve its cash resources and maintain its resource base; and the other factors described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K dated March 15, 2016, which is available for review on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the Company's website at www.energyfuels.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. 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, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law.

Cautionary note to United States investors concerning estimates of measured, indicated and inferred resources. This news release contains certain disclosure that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all reserve and resource estimates included in this news release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") classification system. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of U.S. securities laws, and reserve and resource information contained in this news release may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by companies reporting only under U.S. standards. In particular, the term "resource" does not equate to the term "reserve" under SEC Industry Guide 7. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any of Measured or Indicated Mineral Resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an "Inferred Mineral Resource" exists or is economically or legally minable. Energy Fuels does not hold any Reserves as that term is defined by SEC Industry Guide 7. Please refer to the section entitled "Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Disclosure of Mineral Resources" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K dated March 15, 2016 for further details.

SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.

For further information: INVESTOR INQUIRIES: Energy Fuels Inc., Curtis Moore, VP - Marketing and Corporate Development, (303) 974-2140 or Toll free: (888) 864-2125, [email protected], www.energyfuels.com
TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - GreenSpace Brands Inc. ("GreenSpace") (TSXV: JTR) is pleased to announce that their Central Roast brand will be available at Starbucks locations across Canada starting this January. Central Roast is focused on creating functional, whole-food based nutrition for Canadians on the go; perfectly suited to the Starbucks customer. Starbucks Canada will initially launch 2 items, "Breakfast" and "Energy" - aimed at a morning and afternoon crowd looking to grab a quick, healthy snack while on the move. This new listing will give Starbucks customers access to portioned snacks with simple ingredients. This offering fits with recent research suggesting that consumers are planning fewer meals and increasing their mini-meal occasion while on-the-go (Ipsos Snacking Nation 2016).

"The North American appetite for handy, individually wrapped snacks has been rising for years," said Matthew von Teichman, President & Chief Executive Officer, Greenspace Brands Inc. "People want to eat cleaner foods while on the go. In our fast paced lifestyle, we often don't have time to do that, but it is something we're trying to find a solution for everyday at GreenSpace Brands. These new Central Roast offerings in Starbucks will give consumers one more option to eat something real while on the go."

Additional Central Roast items can be found in leading grocery, health food and gas/convenience stores across Canada.

Key Facts:

Available at Starbucks Canada Locations

2 Blends: Breakfast & Energy

Made with whole foods and no fillers

No added flavours or colours

About Greenspace Brands

In 2016, Central Roast proudly became part of the Greenspace Brands family, a Canadian based business that markets and sells premium natural food products to consumers across Canada. For more information please visit www.centralroastbrands.com and www.greenspacebrands.com

GreenSpace is a Canadian-based brand ideation team that develops, markets and sells premium natural food products to consumers across Canada. GreenSpace owns Rolling Meadow Dairy, Canada's first grass fed dairy product line that has built upon the founding values of GreenSpace's original brand, Life Choices. Life Choices features premium convenience meat products made with grass fed and pasture raised meats without the use of added hormones and antibiotics. GreenSpace owns Holistic Choice, a premium natural pet food line and Nudge, a line of family favorite foods made better. GreenSpace also owns Love Child (Brands) Inc., a producer of 100% organic food for infants and toddlers made with the purest, natural and most nutritionally-rich ingredients and recently acquired Central Roast Inc., a clean snacking brand that has been one of the leading Natural food brands in Canada over the last several years. All brands, except Central Roast, are wholly owned and retail in a variety of natural and mass retail grocery locations across Canada.

Forward Looking Information

Certain statements in the documents referred to in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning (i) the Offering; (ii) the use of the proceeds of the Offering; (iii) results of the completion of the Offering; and (vi) the Corporation's financial position in the future. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "outlook", "objective", "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "plans" or "continue", or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, the risks that: (1) GreenSpace may not achieve the results currently anticipated; and (2) GreenSpace may not be able to obtain financing in the future. Although GreenSpace believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because GreenSpace can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition to other factors and assumptions which may be identified in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding and are implicit in, among other things, the timely receipt of required regulatory approvals. Details of the risk factors relating to GreenSpace and its business are discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the final prospectus of GreenSpace filed on February 22, 2016 and "Risks and Uncertainties Related to the Business" in GreenSpace's annual information form dated November 9, 2015, a copy of which is available on GreenSpace's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which have been used. Forward-looking information is 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 GreenSpace and described in the forward looking information. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and GreenSpace undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

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 GreenSpace Brands Inc.

Image with caption: "GreenSpace Brands Inc. (CNW Group/GreenSpace Brands Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161104_C5305_PHOTO_EN_811922.jpg

Image with caption: "Central Roast (CNW Group/GreenSpace Brands Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161104_C5305_PHOTO_EN_811930.jpg

For further information: Matthew von Teichman, Chief Executive Officer, GreenSpace Brands Inc., (416) 934-5034 x 200, [email protected]; Mathew Walsh, Chief Financial Officer, GreenSpace Brands Inc., (416) 934-5034 x 201, [email protected]
MONTREAL, Nov. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - HNZ Group Inc. (TSX: HNZ) (the "Corporation") will release its results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016 on Sunday, November 13, 2016, after market close. The results will be posted on the HNZ Group Inc. website at HNZ.com on November 13, 2016 and will be posted on SEDAR on November 14, 2016.

The HNZ Group Inc. conference call will take place Monday November 14, 2016 at 11:00am (ET) to review the financial results. To participate in this conference call, please dial one of the following numbers approximately five minutes prior to commencement.

Local number: 514-807-9895 (Montreal) Toll free number: 1-888-231-8191

Please state that you are participating in the HNZ Group Inc. call. Should you be unable to participate, an instant replay will be available until November 21, 2016 by dialing:

Local number: 416-849-0833 (Toronto) or 514-807-9274 (Montreal) Toll free number: 1-855-859-2056 Access code: 4687225

ABOUT HNZ GROUP INC.

The Corporation is an international provider of helicopter transportation and related support services with operations in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Southeast Asia and Antarctica. The Corporation operates in excess of 115 helicopters to support offshore and onshore charter activities under a number of different brands. Offshore operations are provided under the Norsk brand in Norway and HNZ elsewhere in the world, while onshore charter operations are under the Canadian Helicopters brand in Canada, Acasta in Northern Canada and the HNZ brand in Asia-Pacific and Antarctica. Clients consist of multinational companies and government agencies including offshore and onshore oil and gas, mineral exploration, military support, hydro and utilities, forest management, construction, air ambulance and search and rescue. In addition to charter services, it provides ancillary services which include third-party repair and maintenance services and flight training including the internationally recognized HNZ Topflight advanced training center in Penticton, British Columbia. The Corporation is headquartered near Montreal, Canada and employs approximately 600 personnel from 38 locations around the world. Revenue from offshore and ancillary operations is mostly earned evenly throughout the year while onshore operations follow a seasonal pattern with the highest revenue occurring from May to October.

SOURCE HNZ Group Inc.

For further information: HNZ Group Inc., Matthew Wright, Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, Tel: 780-429-6903
DOUGLAS, ON, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW/ - The Honourable Kent Hehr, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, and Cheryl Gallant, Member of Parliament, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, and John Yakabuski, Member of Provincial Parliament, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, will lay wreaths in honour of Canada's Ottawa Valley Veterans in Douglas, Ontario.

Media are invited to speak with Minister Hehr prior to the ceremony:

Where: Douglas Cenotaph  located outside of St. Michael's Church

Douglas, Ontario, K0J 1S0 When: November 4, at 10 am. (Ceremony will follow at 10:30 am.)

Minister Hehr will also be delivering remarks during the annual remembrance ceremony (open to media):

Where: St. Michael's Catholic School, 5346 Highway 60

Douglas, Ontario K0J 1S0 When: November 4, at 11 am.

Further, Minister Hehr will be participating in various activities (closed to media) such as:

Reception hosted by Royal Canadian Legion Branch 550, 43 A Main Street, Cobden, Ontario K0J 1K0 (12 noon)

K0J 1K0 (12 noon) Speaking to students (grades 9-12) at Valour JK-12 School, 19 Leeder Lane, Petawawa, ON ( 1:45 pm )

( ) Visiting Veterans Affairs Canada front-line employees at their Pembroke Area Office, 1100 Pembroke St. E., Suite 201, Pembroke, Ontario ( 3 pm )

There are countless ways to express your gratitude and appreciation for Canada's brave men and women in uniform. To learn more about the service and sacrifices of Canada's fallen, Veterans and Canadian Armed Forces personnel, visit canada.ca/rememberthem.

SOURCE Veterans Affairs Canada

For further information: Media inquiries: Media Relations, Veterans Affairs Canada, 613-992-7468, [email protected]; Sarah McMaster, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs, 613-996-4649
Conference Call at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time)

MONTREAL, Nov. 4, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Yellow Pages Limited (TSX: Y) announces that it will issue its 2016 third quarter results, for the period covering July 1 to September 30, 2016, on November 10, 2016. A conference call will be held on the same day at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss the results.

The call will also be broadcast live at: https://corporate.yp.ca/en/yellow-pages-news/events/release-q3-2016-financial-and-operational-results/

To participate in the conference call:

Toronto and overseas, dial 416-340-2218

and overseas, dial 416-340-2218 North America , dial 1-866-225-0198

To access the replay facility (between November 10 and December 11, 2016):

Toronto and overseas, dial 905-694-9451

and overseas, dial 905-694-9451 North America , dial 1-800-408-3053

Enter access code 4654766.

The replay of the conference call will also be available in the Investors section of the Company's website at https://corporate.yp.ca/en/investors/financial-events-presentations/

About Yellow Pages Limited

Yellow Pages Limited (TSX: Y) is a Canadian digital media and marketing solutions company that supports local economies by helping neighbourhood businesses reach new customers and foster stronger relationships with existing clients through its various media and products. Yellow Pages holds some of Canada's leading local online search properties including YP.ca, the ComFree/DuProprio network, RedFlagDeals.com, Canada411.ca, 411.ca, Bookenda.com, dine.TO and YP NextHome. The Company also holds the YP, YP Shopwise, YP Dine, RedFlagDeals, Canada411, 411, Bookenda and YP NextHome mobile applications and Yellow Pages print directories. Through Mediative, Yellow Pages is a leader in national advertising through its various channels and services devoted to North American businesses. The Company also owns JUICE Mobile, a mobile advertising technology company whose proprietary programmatic platforms facilitate the automatic buying and selling of mobile advertising between brands and publishers. For more information visit www.corporate.yp.ca.

SOURCE Yellow Pages Limited

For further information: Media : Fiona Story, Director, Public Relations and Corporate Communications, Tel.: (514) 934-2672, [email protected]; Investor Relations : Kevin Chan, Senior Analyst, Corporate Planning & Investor Relations, Tel.: 514-938-6727, [email protected]
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW/ - NYX Gaming Group Limited (TSXV:NYX) ), a market leading content and technology supplier to lotteries, casinos and gaming operators across the globe, has been granted unconditional registration as a Class B Supplier from the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) in British Columbia.

The registration permits NYX to deploy its market-leading content in British Columbia for the first time. The NYX sportsbook technology business, OpenBet, was certified in Canada in 2012, where they have longstanding partnerships with BCLC, Loto-Quebec and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

In 2016, British Columbia Lottery Corporation's (BCLC) combined net win grew to CAD$2.36bn with much of the growth attributed to the expansion of online gaming, which delivered 24% year-on-year growth.

Matt Davey, Group CEO NYX Gaming Group, commented:

"Bringing NYX Gaming Group content to market in a growing and highly regulated jurisdiction like British Columbia is evidence of the synergies we are driving through our integration work with OpenBet.

"NYX is committed to strict compliance and strong growth in regulated markets, so we are delighted to announce that we have been granted an unconditional registration in British Columbia."

Regulatory standards in British Columbia are widely respected as among the most comprehensive within the gaming industry.

The GPEB regulates all gaming in British Columbia, ensures the integrity of gaming industry companies, people and equipment, and ensures compliance with policies established under B.C.'s Gaming Control Act. This includes regulatory oversight of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), B.C.'s horse racing industry, and licensed gaming events.

Note to Editors:

GPEB also approved William Hill as an associate of NYX under the BC Gaming Control Act.

About NYX Gaming Group Limited

NYX Gaming Group Limited is a leading digital gaming provider headquartered in Las Vegas, USA with a staff of more than 1,000 employees based in over a dozen countries across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. The Company provides one of the world's largest portfolios of leading content and technology to some of the foremost gaming operators, lotteries and casinos across the globe. NYX also has one of the broadest distribution bases in the industry with over 200 unique customers and the widest portfolio of content available from their own global studios and broad partner network. The diversified game catalogue delivers content across web and mobile formats, focusing on Bingo, Casino, Lottery and Sportsbook verticals.

NYX Gaming Group Limited is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol (TSXV: NYX).

http://www.NYXGamingGroup.com

SOURCE NYX Gaming Group Limited

Image with caption: "NYX Gaming Group has been approved by the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) in British Columbia. NYX is now able to deploy its market-leading content in British Columbia for the first time. (CNW Group/NYX Gaming Group Limited)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161103_C8397_PHOTO_EN_811074.jpg

For further information: Olivia Gillibrand, Head of Marketing, OpenBet, +44 (0)7701 037513, [email protected]; Matt Stafford, General Counsel, NYX Gaming Group, +1-702-586-3984, [email protected]
MONTREAL, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Tonight, over 400 guests attended the Soiree SUBLIME de Leucan, presented by RBC Royal Bank, which raised $402,150 for cancer-stricken children. To help Leucan transform cancer into something sublime, guests took part in a spellbinding event where gastronomy and circus arts blended with visual art projects from artist-painter Carol Bernier who rendered the terrible disease of cancer into works of art instilling a sense of hope.

Emmanuel Bilodeau was our brilliant master of ceremonies for this highly emotional evening. Guests gathered around the table to savour a gastronomic menu created by Chef Laurent Godbout from Chez L'epicier. Artists from Cirque Eloize dazzled guests while the works of artist-painter Carole Bernier, sold in support of Leucan, caught everyone's eye!

Leucan's annual benefit evening would not have been such a success without the support of Honorary President Martin Thibodeau, President, Quebec Headquarters, RBC Royal Bank. Leucan also wants to underscore the generous involvement of the Chair of the Ambassadors Committee, Luc Bisaillon, Managing Director, National Client Group  Quebec, RBC Royal Bank, and all the ambassadors: Marie-Line Beauchamp (Imvescor Restaurant Group Inc.), Alain Belcourt (RBC Royal Bank), Germain Bureau (RBC Royal Bank), Rosie Caputo (RBC Royal Bank), Alain Champagne (Optime International), Celine Charron (Illico Hodes), Josee Comtois (RBC Wealth Management, Private Banking), Angelo D'Amico (D'Amico Family Wealth Management Group RBC Dominion Securities Inc.), Alexandre Lafond (Premium Human Resources), Xavier Paillat (Keurig Canada, Van Houtte coffee services) Rheaume Perreault, CIRC, Adm. A. (Fasken Martineau), Catherine Prive (Alia Consulting), Enzo Reda (Viau Food Products Inc.), Sandra Silva da Costa (Arbonne), Manon Theoret (RBC Royal Bank).

Further, Leucan would like to thank artist-painter Carol Bernier for her generous collaboration with Leucan, as well as all partners, sponsors, and donors, including RBC Royal Bank, Arbonne, and SAQ.

For more than 35 years, Leucan has been supporting cancer-stricken children and their families from the day of diagnosis through every stage of the disease. As a loyal ally of hundreds of families and thousands of members across Quebec, the Association provides specific and personalized services delivered by a qualified team with a cutting edge expertise. Leucan also funds clinical research and the Leucan Information Centre. With its many offices, Leucan is present throughout Quebec.

SOURCE Leucan

For further information: Guillaume Rivest, Communications and Social Media Adviser, Leucan, 514 731-3696, ext. 203, [email protected]
CALGARY, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW/  Stuart Olson Inc. (TSX: SOX, SOX.DB.A) ("Stuart Olson" or the "Company") today announced financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2016, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per common share.

The Company's results improved from the second quarter of 2016, but continue to reflect the realities of a uniquely challenging year. A prolonged period of lower oil prices, together with the lingering impacts of the Northern Alberta wildfires, continue to suppress activity in the oil and gas sector, most significantly impacting the Industrial Group. The slow rollout at both the provincial and federal level of new infrastructure project opportunities has also delayed activity for the Buildings Group and Commercial Systems Group.

"In response to market conditions, we have moved decisively to optimize our cost structure by focusing on efficiencies and delivering sustainable operational savings," said David LeMay, President and CEO. "Our actions have contributed to administrative cost savings, without impacting our capacity to deliver on future growth. We anticipate additional long-term savings as other restructuring initiatives take effect," he added.

"Executing on our strategy, we continue to build our portfolio of stable maintenance, repair and operations ("MRO") contracts and diversify our business geographically. We announced over $315 million of new contracts in recent months, including $130 million in MRO contracts related to new oil and gas facilities transitioning from project phase to operations. We were also awarded a large new mining contract in Ontario. In our Buildings Group, the recent awards of new infrastructure contracts signal that anticipated infrastructure spending is starting to move forward."

"While market conditions will remain challenging through the balance of 2016, we are well positioned with a significant and diverse backlog, a pipeline of future opportunities, and a strategy that focuses on growth and organizational efficiency," said Mr. LeMay.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS



Three months ended Nine months ended

September 30 September 30 $millions, except percentages and per share amounts 2016 2015 2016 2015 Contract revenue 220.7 281.7 690.8 868.3 Contract income 23.6 34.4 68.6 91.0

Contract income margin 10.7% 12.2% 9.9% 10.5% Adjusted EBITDA 8.6 15.8 22.1 39.2

Adjusted EBITDA margin 3.9% 5.6% 3.2% 4.5% Net earnings (loss) 1.4 6.4 (3.0) 9.1









Earnings (loss) per share









Basic earnings (loss) per share 0.05 0.24 (0.11) 0.35

Diluted earnings (loss) per share 0.05 0.18 (0.11) 0.30









Dividends declared per share 0.12 0.12 0.36 0.36









Adjusted free cash flow 3.2 12.1 (4.8) 22.4

Adjusted free cash flow per share 0.12 0.46 (0.18) 0.85



















$millions



Sep. 30, 2016 Dec. 31, 2015 Backlog



2,050.9 1,960.9 Working capital



54.1 64.4 Long-term debt (excluding current portion)



42.9 46.6 Convertible debentures (excluding equity portion)



73.8 72.5 Total assets



623.9 646.8

These financial results are presented in conformance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. Certain financial and operational measures referred to in this press release, including "contract income margin", "adjusted EBITDA", "adjusted EBITDA margin", "backlog", "working capital", "adjusted free cash flow" and "adjusted free cash flow per share", are not prescribed measures under IFRS. For a description of these measures, see the "Non-IFRS Measures" section in Stuart Olson's September 30, 2016 Management's Discussion & Analysis.

Third Quarter (Q3) 2016 Overview

As at September 30, 2016 , Stuart Olson's backlog was a strong $2.1 billion and included a diverse mix of public, private and industrial projects from Ontario to British Columbia . The backlog is predominantly made up of low-risk contract arrangements. During the third quarter, the Company announced $185.0 million of awards for the Industrial and Buildings Groups. These include a major mining project for the Industrial Group in Ontario , as well as several infrastructure projects for the Buildings Group. Subsequent to the quarter end, on November 3, 2016 , Stuart Olson announced $130 million in long-term industrial MRO contracts related to new oil and gas facilities transitioning from project phase to operations.

, backlog was a strong and included a diverse mix of public, private and industrial projects from to . The backlog is predominantly made up of low-risk contract arrangements. Revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2016 was $220.7 million , compared to $281.7 million in Q3 2015. Third quarter revenue from the Industrial Group was $68.2 million , compared to $107.6 million last year. A reduction in new construction activity in the Alberta oil sands as a result of low oil prices, together with the carryover impacts from the Northern Alberta wildfires, were key factors in the year-over-year change. These impacts were partially offset by the Industrial Group's increased activity on power generation and transmission projects in Manitoba and Ontario . Industrial Group contract income margin increased to 15.2% from 13.7% last year, reflecting the one-time release of contingencies on two projects during the period, partially offset by an increased proportion of lower-risk cost reimbursable work in the current project mix. Buildings Group revenue of $108.6 million declined 17.2% year-over-year due to the planned wind-down of the group's industrial project activity, the completion of projects in Manitoba and Alberta that provided significant revenue last year, delays in the awarding of new infrastructure opportunities, and delays in the commencement of new projects currently in pre-construction. These impacts were partially offset by the increased activity levels in the Ontario and British Columbia markets. Contract income margin on the Buildings Group revenue increased to 8.9% in Q3 2016, from 8.1% last year. Third quarter Commercial Systems Group revenue declined by 4.5% to $50.8 million , reflecting year-over-year changes in project stage of completion and the wrap up of a number of projects in British Columbia and Manitoba that contributed significant revenue to Q3 2015 results. Contract income margin declined to 9.3% from 14.5% last year, primarily reflecting customer-driven productivity challenges on a large project that was substantially completed during the third quarter, as well as changes in project mix and stage of completion, together with competitive pricing pressure.

was , compared to in Q3 2015. Contract income margin for the third quarter was 10.7% on a consolidated basis, compared to 12.2% last year. Contract income declined to $23.6 million , from $34.4 million . The reduction in contract income reflects the lower revenue combined with a lower contract income margin. Prior-year third quarter contract income also included the benefit of $1.3 million in positive intersegment eliminations, while Q3 2016 results included a reversal of intersegment profit of $1.3 million .

, from . The reduction in contract income reflects the lower revenue combined with a lower contract income margin. Prior-year third quarter contract income also included the benefit of in positive intersegment eliminations, while Q3 2016 results included a reversal of intersegment profit of . In response to challenging market conditions, the Company continues to assess its cost structure with a focus on reducing overhead. Restructuring and cost cutting initiatives undertaken year-to-date, together with additional measures implemented in the third quarter, contributed to a year-over-year reduction in third quarter administrative costs, partially mitigated the year-over-year decline in contract income and are expected to deliver additional permanent expense reductions going forward. Restructuring costs of $0.4 million related to these initiatives were recognized during the quarter.

related to these initiatives were recognized during the quarter. The Company generated third quarter adjusted EBITDA of $8.6 million (adjusted EBITDA margin of 3.9%), compared to $15.8 million (adjusted EBITDA margin of 5.6%) in Q3 2015. These results reflect the lower contract income, partially offset by the reduction in administrative costs achieved through cost-containment initiatives.

(adjusted EBITDA margin of 3.9%), compared to (adjusted EBITDA margin of 5.6%) in Q3 2015. These results reflect the lower contract income, partially offset by the reduction in administrative costs achieved through cost-containment initiatives. Third quarter net earnings for the three months ended September 30, 2016 were $1.4 million (diluted earnings per share of $0.05 ), compared to net earnings of $6.4 million (diluted earnings per share of $0.18 ) in Q3 2015. The decrease in net earnings reflects the lower adjusted EBITDA and a Q3 2015 recovery related to marking-to-market of an earn-out liability recognized as part of an acquisition, partially offset by lower depreciation expense and a one-time impairment charge incurred in Q3 2015 that did not repeat.

were (diluted earnings per share of ), compared to net earnings of (diluted earnings per share of ) in Q3 2015. The decrease in net earnings reflects the lower adjusted EBITDA and a Q3 2015 recovery related to marking-to-market of an earn-out liability recognized as part of an acquisition, partially offset by lower depreciation expense and a one-time impairment charge incurred in Q3 2015 that did not repeat. The Company ended the third quarter with a cash balance of $28.3 million and additional borrowing capacity of approximately $55.9 million at September 30, 2016 .

and additional borrowing capacity of approximately at . On July 13, 2016 , Stuart Olson successfully amended its revolving credit facility, extending the maturity date by one year to 2021 and negotiating improved terms. This amendment maintains the Company's maximum borrowing capacity at $175.0 million .

, successfully amended its revolving credit facility, extending the maturity date by one year to 2021 and negotiating improved terms. This amendment maintains the Company's maximum borrowing capacity at . On November 3, 2016 , the Board of Directors declared a quarterly common share dividend of $0.12 per share. The dividend is designated as an eligible dividend under the Income Tax Act ( Canada ) and is payable January 17, 2017 to shareholders of record on December 31, 2016 .

OUTLOOK

Based on year-to-date results and expectations for the balance of the year, Stuart Olson anticipates that 2016 consolidated revenue will be substantially lower than the level achieved in 2015. This revenue outlook reflects the negative impact of the Northern Alberta wildfires on Industrial Group activity in the oil sands, the continuation of challenging market conditions in Alberta related to the "lower-for-longer" oil price environment, and the slow rollout of new infrastructure project opportunities. On a longer-term basis, Stuart Olson's significant $2.1 billion backlog provides line of sight to activity levels for 2017 and into 2018, and reflects the Company's access to many different segments and geographic markets within the Canadian construction market. Both the Buildings Group and the Commercial Systems Group are executing backlogs dominated by public sector projects across multiple provinces. The Industrial Group also continues to successfully pursue new business opportunities both within and outside of Alberta, as evidenced by the major new contracts announced in recent months.

Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are expected to be lower in 2016, reflecting the direct and indirect impact of the wildfires on the Industrial Group's operations, the continuation of challenging economic conditions in the Alberta market as a whole, and an increased proportion of lower-risk and correspondingly lower-margin MRO projects within the Industrial Group. Adjusted EBITDA results for 2016 are also expected to include the reversal of intersegment eliminations that favourably impacted 2015 results.

Stuart Olson's outlook for its three business groups is as follows:

Industrial Group 2016 revenue is expected to be materially below 2015 levels as a result of the uniquely challenging conditions faced by oil sands customers this year. These impacts will be partially offset by the execution of large industrial projects outside of Alberta , including initial work on a large power distribution project in Manitoba and the completion in 2016 of a mining project in the Northwest Territories . Industrial Group adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are expected to be significantly lower than in 2015 as a result of the productivity challenges and additional costs incurred during the wildfire crisis. Competitive market pressures in Alberta and an increased proportion of revenue coming from lower-risk cost-reimbursable MRO projects are also expected to negatively impact results from the group.

, including initial work on a large power distribution project in and the completion in 2016 of a mining project in the . Industrial Group adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are expected to be significantly lower than in 2015 as a result of the productivity challenges and additional costs incurred during the wildfire crisis. Competitive market pressures in and an increased proportion of revenue coming from lower-risk cost-reimbursable MRO projects are also expected to negatively impact results from the group. The Buildings Group anticipates moderately higher adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin in 2016 on lower revenue compared to 2015. This outlook reflects the strategic shift undertaken in 2015 by the Buildings Group to discontinue industrial sector projects and to re-focus efforts on the group's core strengths in the public and private construction markets. Revenue expectations also reflect delays in the award of new infrastructure projects, as well as delays in the commencement of new projects currently in pre-construction. Buildings Group revenue as a whole continues to be supported by predominantly public projects in multiple provinces, including the group's growing activity in Ontario . The higher adjusted EBITDA expectations primarily reflect the favourable shift in project mix, and to a lesser extent, a change in project stage of completion with several larger public projects scheduled to reach completion in 2016.

. The higher adjusted EBITDA expectations primarily reflect the favourable shift in project mix, and to a lesser extent, a change in project stage of completion with several larger public projects scheduled to reach completion in 2016. Commercial Systems Group 2016 revenue is expected to be lower than in 2015, reflecting the completion in 2015 of a number of significant projects and a slower-than-expected rollout of new projects in 2016. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to be materially lower than in 2015, reflecting the competitive market environment in Alberta and customer-driven productivity challenges on a large project that reached substantial completion during the third quarter.

Stuart Olson will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss third quarter 2016 results on Friday, November 4, 2016 at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time (9:30 a.m. Eastern). The webcast will be broadcast live and will also be available for replay in the Presentations & Events subsection under Investor Relations on the Company's website at www.stuartolson.com. For those unable to listen during the live webcast, a replay will be available on the website shortly after the conclusion of the conference call for a period of 90 days. Financial analysts and institutional investors who wish to ask questions during the conference call are invited to call 1-888-390-0546 (Canada and USA) or 1-587-880-2171 (outside Canada and USA). For those unable to participate on the live call, a replay will be made available until Friday, November 18, 2016, by dialing 1-888-390-0541 (Canada and USA) or 1-416-764-8677 (outside Canada and USA), pin 432093. The public is invited to listen to the live conference call, webcast or the replay.

About Stuart Olson Inc.

Stuart Olson Inc. provides general contracting and electrical building systems contracting in the public and private construction markets as well as electrical, mechanical and specialty trades, such as insulation, cladding and asbestos abatement, in the industrial construction and services market. The Company operates office locations throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. Stuart Olson's common shares and convertible debentures are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "SOX" and "SOX.DB.A", respectively. www.stuartolson.com

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This forward-looking information includes, without limitation, the statements relating to:

(a) further restructuring initiatives in the last half of the year, and the expectation that these initiatives will reduce Stuart Olson's cost structure; and (b) made under the section entitled "Outlook" including, without limitation, those relating to:

(i) 2016 revenue visibility;

(ii) Stuart Olson's backlog and the implication that such backlog provides line of sight to activity levels in 2017 and into 2018;

(iii) 2016 EBITDA and EBITDA margin projections;

(iv) economic conditions; and

(v) the outlook for each of Stuart Olson's business groups.

Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of such words as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "outlook", "forecast", "should", "anticipate" and other similar terminology, including statements concerning possible or assumed future results. Forward-looking information is based on management's reasonable assumptions, analysis and estimates in respect of its experience and perception of trends, current economic conditions, government policies and expected developments, as well as other material factors that it considers to be relevant at the time of making such statements.

The forward-looking information in this press release is included solely for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's financial position and the results of its operations as at the date hereof. By its nature, forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that management's assumptions, analysis and estimates will be incorrect and that the Company's anticipated results will not be achieved. Although the Company believes that the statements with respect to forward-looking information are reasonable and current, such statements should not be interpreted as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be an accurate indication of whether or not such results will be achieved. Forward-looking information is necessarily subject to a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those results implied by the expectations suggested by such information. Those factors include, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties described in the Company's Annual Information Form filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are encouraged to consider the foregoing risks and other factors carefully when evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon such information when making investment decisions.

The forward-looking information in this press release is current to the date hereof, and is subject to change following such date. While the Company may elect to do so, unless required by applicable law, it undertakes no obligation to update this information to reflect new information or circumstances at any particular time.

SOURCE Stuart Olson Inc.

For further information: David LeMay, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Olson Inc., (403) 685-7777, Email: [email protected]; Daryl Sands, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Stuart Olson Inc., (403) 685-7777, Email: [email protected]
Chinas Air Force chief said development of the J-20 fighter jet would be sped up, in an apparent bid to quell speculation the domestic aircraft was falling behind its production schedule.

Of course Im satisfied, General Ma Xiaotian said when asked about the performance of the J-20 after its brief public debut at the opening of Airshow China in Zhuhai in Guangdong on Tuesday.

We are not considering putting [the J-20] on the global market, he said.

A military insider said Mas comments could be a way to pressure the manufacturer, Chengdu Aerospace Corporation, to deliver sooner. Japan already has F-35s built by Lockheed Martin, while South Korea expects to deploy its first batch of F-35s in 2018.

At the previous Zhuhai air show in 2014, Beijing unveiled the Shenyang J-31, another stealth fighter under development, but with the intention of attracting foreign buyers.

State-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China released the J-31s specifications last year, hoping to compete with the F-35 in the global weapons market.

The J-20 and J-31 belong to Chinas fourth generation of aircraft and should meet at least four requirements  including stealth technology, supersonic cruising speed, highly integrated avionics, and electronic fire-control systems.

Justin Bronk, a Research Fellow specializing in combat airpower at the Royal United Services Institute, said the display left many questions unanswered.

On paper, the J-20 represents a big leap forward in terms of the capabilities of the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) have on scene, said Bronk.

Compared to the USs current fifth-generation fighter jets, the F-22 and the F-35, the J-20 has longer range, more internal fuel capacity, and larger internal weapons capability, said Bronk.

This combination of factors presents a real risk to US forces in the Pacific. Long range, capable strike fighters like the J-20 put US AWACS [airborne warning and control system], refuelling tankers, and forward bases at risk much more than current Types if flying in relatively large

numbers should any kind of kinetic conflict flare up in the Pacific, said Bronk.

However, US Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein told Breaking Defense he was not overly troubled by the new Chinese jet.

When I hear about F-35 vs. J-20, its almost an irrelevant comparison, Goldfein said in August.

One-on-one fighting scenarios or feature-for-feature comparisons do not capture the real threat of the J-20.

Long range stealth fighters, if fielded in large numbers along with older Chinese aircraft, surface-to-air missile batteries, radar outposts, missiles, and electronic warfare units present another wrinkle in an already complicated and fraught operating envelope for US and allied forces in The Pacific.

So while Chinas new impressive low-observable heavy strike fighters could change the balance of power in the Pacific, whether or not they can field the planes in significantly large numbers at any time in the near future remains an open question.

China and Russia both lag behind the USA in jet engine technology. China is behind the Russians in jet engines. China is buying some SU35 gen 4.5 fighters so that can copy and catch up to the latest Russian jet engine technology. Successfully copying the Russian jet engines and using the learnings to improve advanced engine programs




By GMM 4 November 2016 - 12:09





Charlie Whiting has a question to answer in the wake of last weekends Mexican grand prix.

That is the view of F1 legend Alain Prost, referring to a controversy about drivers cutting corners at the Mexico City circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo in particular was furious, when Lewis Hamilton was not penalised despite getting a big advantage at the first corner by running through the grass.

Before Max Verstappen was penalised for the same infraction, Ricciardo said on the radio: "What about all these guys out-braking themselves? Lewis at the start and Max.

"Put a f------ wall there and they wont do it. F------ kindergarten stuff," the Australian fumed.

Four time world champion Prost thinks the biggest problem is the inconsistency, with Verstappen punished but race winner Hamilton not.

"I do not judge any of the drivers, its just necessary to ask if there is a rule or not," he told the French broadcaster Canal Plus.

"At the start, Lewis made a mistake and got the advantage, but then there was the safety car so he lost that advantage.

"So its necessary to ask the FIA and Charlie Whiting what would have happened with Hamilton if there was no safety car.

"Otherwise, everyone who starts from pole position but is afraid of losing their lead at the beginning of the race should just cut the first corner. Its a serious problem," added Prost.
Reno Omokri, former special assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on new media, has yet again called to question the anti-graft war ...

Reuben Abati allegedly got 50 million from Dasuki and goes to jail. Rotimi Amaechi admittedly spent $500k on Soyinka & becomes a minister!

Reno Omokri, former special assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on new media, has yet again called to question the anti-graft war of the current administration.Reacting to the detention of Reuben Abati, Jonathan spokesman, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Omokri wondered why Amaechi was appointed a minister despite allegations levelled against him.Omokri took to social media to express his displeasure.Reuben Abati allegedly got 50 million from Dasuki and goes to jail. Rotimi Amaechi admittedly spends $500k (235 million at todays rate) on a one-day dinner for Soyinka and becomes a minister! Welcome to the new Nigeria! he wrote. Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) November 3, 2016
Name your dog Buhari and you will be diligently prosecuted in todays Nigeria but kill a harmless wife of an evangelist preaching the Gosp...

Name your dog Buhari and you will be diligently prosecuted in todays Nigeria but kill a harmless wife of an evangelist preaching the Gospel of Jesus and you will be acquitted! Welcome to the new improved Nigeria!This may sound surreal but it is the present day reality we live in in Nigeria.The injustices in todays Nigeria are just too glaring. For instance, Reuben Abati ALLEGEDLY got 50 million from Dasuki and goes to jail.Rotimi Amaechi ADMITTEDLY spends $500k (235 million at todays rate) on a one day dinner for Soyinka and becomes a minister! Yet we say we are fighting corruption.In the midst of these social injustices we have a President who continues to complain to anyone who cares to listen that he met an empty treasury. Said the President I felt like absconding from the country due to the economic challenges..We inherited a badly managed economy. The above statement by President Muhammadu Buhari is most dishonest and in terms of lying it is only bested by his Independence Day lie when he said Investors from all over the world are falling over themselves to come and do business in Nigeria.Nigerias economy is being badly managed now. It was not badly managed under President Goodluck Jonathan. I will now list several actions of the Buhari administration that brought our economy to the state it now is in-a recession.The first is the rushed implementation o the Treasury Single Account instead of the gradual implementation planned by the Jonathan administration which conceived of the concept of the TSA. The second is failing to appoint ministers on time and when he finally appointed ministers the President appointed a woman whose highest degree is a Bachelors in Economics from a second class British University (The University of East London) to succeed a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former Managing Director of the World Bank as minister of finance.Not done with putting round pegs into square holes, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed a man who studied French to replace a man who has a PhD in agricultural economics from Purdue University and who had worked at the highest levels of the Rockefeller Foundation as minister for agriculture.The third reason is the Presidents interference with the independence of the Central Bank of Nigeria and his public comments of what he would do with the Naira. This led to foreign exchange restrictions that saw 270 companies fold up (according to the Nigerian Labour Congress), 7 foreign airlines leaving Nigeria, 10 foreign shipping firms divesting from our economy and over $3 billion capital flight from Nigeria.The fourth and most avoidable reason was the constant negative comments that the President made whenever he left the country on state visits. President Buhari de-marketed Nigerians by calling us criminals to the Telegraph of London in February of this year. He went to India and declared that Nigerias institutions were massively corrupt and then he went to the US to say the same. Yet he expected foreign investors to flock to Nigeria? I do not think so.Before Mr. President puts the blame for our present economic malaise on former President Jonathan, he should remember that during the previous administration Nigeria was projected by CNN Money to be the third fastest growing economy in the world and by both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as the largest economy in Africa. Moreover, when he was speaking to the Conservative Party, former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said of Nigeria under Jonathan as follows Yes, weve been hearing about China and India for years but its hard to believe whats happening in Brazil, in Indonesia, in Nigeria too!And when the President complains that Jonathan did not save he must assume that we all love reading cartoons like him instead of the history books! President Buhari must think that we have forgotten how the Jonathan administration met about $6.5 billion in the Excess Crude Account, ECA, and increased it to almost $9 billion by 2012 only for the Nigerian Governors Forum led by his Supreme Court justice visiting minister for transport to use their influence at the House of Representatives to get them to declare the Excess Crude Account illegal in 2012.Not done, Rotimi Amaechi and his cronies at the NGF approached the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the Excess Crude Account and Jonathans decision to transfer $1 billion from that account to the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Still not satisfied, Amaechi and his co travelers caused the then minority APC members of the House of Representatives to approach a Federal High Court, on the 7th of February, 2014, for a perpetual injunction restraining the Jonathan administration from operating the ECA and to pay all the proceeds of that account into the Federation Account for sharing amongst the three tiers of government.The effect of that action was that the Jonathan administration was forced to share the funds in those accounts amongst the three tiers of government.And what did the Senate, controlled by the Presidents party say when they rejected his proposal on the $29.9 billion loan that your administration sought permission to take? The Senate rejected the loan request because of the incompetence of presidential aides tasked with preparing the proposal.Yet this is a President accusing the administration under whom Nigeria enjoyed her most consistent and fastest GDP growth of badly managing the economy.Go look in the mirror sir! Mr. President, if this is the change you promised us, then please permit me to redefine change. CHANGE is defined as elders borrowing $29.9 billion to spend on their wants while CHAIN is defined as youths who would have to pay back (with interest) the $29.6 billion that was not spent on them.If your father goes to the bank to borrow money to buy clothes for himself and puts your name as surety to repay the loan, you will be a fool to be excited that you will one day inherit second hand clothes. I have said it before-a President who could not generate wealth for himself in his private business cannot generate wealth for you through government business.A president who had to take bank loan to buy his nomination form would definitely have to take another bank loan to fulfill his campaign promises! Omokri is the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California, author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept and the host of Transformation with Reno Omokri
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday met behind closed doors with the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday met behind closed doors with the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.He also met with a former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.Buhari met with the two senators separately in his office shortly after they joined him for Jumat prayers at the mosque inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.Saraki was accompanied to the Presidents office by Senator Danjuma Goje.The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Muhammed, also attended the Friday prayers but left immediately after the prayers ended.Saraki later told State House correspondents that Buharis external borrowing request that was rejected by the Senate was a work in progress.While warning against the reading of politics into the issue, he also said the development should not be viewed as a reflection of the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature.Saraki said,I came here to pray. I have finished praying and I just had a general felicitation with the President. It did not go beyond that.We should not look at the loan request as a reflection of the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature. Dont let us politicise very important issues. As we said, this is work in progress.The Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, had, on Tuesday, said Buharis request for $29.9bn foreign loan was rejected due to technical issues.Briefing newsmen shortly after the plenary, Ndume, who said that he was shocked that the request suffered such a setback, expressed optimism that the issues would be resolved and that the request would be presented afresh.He said, The problem came on a technical ground; it is supposed to go to the committee level and the committee is supposed to take a look at it.I am going to appeal to my colleagues to take a look at it again and see how we are going to bring it back.One of the technical things that were missing is that in the letter, if you read it, says: attached is a draft but there was no attachment.So, these are some of the lapses that we will look at in bringing it back.We were thinking that there was going to be details but there was no detail of the borrowing plan. I believe that those will be included in the next one.
The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has accused the federal government of witch-hunting Biafrans ...

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has accused the federal government of witch-hunting Biafrans agitators, while the country is collapsing.The group said this in reaction to President Muhammadu Buharis statement, telling anyone who wants to leave the country to do so if they have another one to go to.The federal government is busy, chasing, witch-hunting and killing Biafrans and agitators, while the country is collapsing, and will soon go into extinction because of clueless and directionless leadership, MASSOB said in a statement by Uchenna Madu, its leader.Madu said Buhari will face consequences for mocking Biafrans.We reiterate our earlier position that those who wish to play pharaoh against the people of Biafra, will certainly experience the consequences of the Egyptian Pharaoh, he said.President Buharis statement that anyone, who cherished another country can leave Nigeria is not something to be cheerful about, celebrated and in any way heartwarming.MASSOB views it as part of Pharaohs subtle way of mocking the Hebrews-Biafra. The people of Biafra should not celebrate or rejoice over that cunning and mocking assertion.The time of Gods calamitous earthquake that will delete the name of the country from the world map, government and other functions is very fast approaching. Madu said all pro-Biafran groups will remain non-violent, and continue to uphold the values of the late Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.MASSOB and other pro-Biafran groups will continue to remain non-violent and focused, he said.We will continue to be loyal to Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwus principles, vision and legacies; and continue to revive and refresh the consciousness of Ojukwuism in the minds of every Biafran.
Obanikoro had earlier dared the anti-graft agency who declared him wanted on allegations that he used a company, Sylvan Mac Namara, owned ...

Obanikoro had earlier dared the anti-graft agency who declared him wanted on allegations that he used a company, Sylvan Mac Namara, owned by his sons, to siphon N4.68 billion from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), under retired Col. Sambo Dasuki.Investigators allegedly discovered that from the amount, Obanikoro conveyed N1,219,490,000 to Akure, Ondo State, for the sole purpose of facilitating the election of Mr. Ayodele Fayose as governor of Ekiti State while he also ferried N1.3 billion to Senator Iyiola Omisore for his governorship bid in Osun State.Obanikoro flew into the country on October 17, 2016, and went straight to the EFFC office where he has since been with investigators.There, he admitted that the balance of the money from the ONSA was used to check Boko Haram incursion into Lagos and the South West.Confronted with documentary evidence, Obanikoro reportedly agreed to refund the money allegedly used to campaign against the Boko Haram incursion to Lagos, from the North East.A source, however, confirmed that his offer to return N100 million did not go down well with the anti-graft agency as it asked for down-payment of N600 million.The source said acting Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu reportedly demanded that the former minister should sign an undertaking to pay back N600 million within a stipulated time, a demand Obanikoro reportedly rejected, saying he had no means to raise the amount.
The Federal Government on Thursday charged the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Ahmed Saleh, and two other employees of the apex ...

The Federal Government on Thursday charged the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Ahmed Saleh, and two other employees of the apex court with nine counts, including diversion of N2.2bn belonging to the court.Saleh is among those shortlisted for final consideration by the National Judicial Council to succeed the outgoing Secretary of the council, Mr. Danladi Halilu.Saleh, alongside Muhammed Sharif and Rilwanu Lawal, are also accused of receiving gratifications totalling N74.4m from private contractors providing services to the Supreme Court between 2009 and 2016.When the date of their arraignment is fixed, the accused persons will be facing nine counts of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by allegedly diverting N2.2bn belonging to the apex court and receiving gratification as public officers.The office of the Attorney General of the Federation filed the charges marked FCT/HC/CR/13/2016 before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama on Thursday.The allegations leading to the filing of the charges on Thursday is believed to have been unearthed by the recent raid by the operatives of the Department of State Services on the homes of some judges, including two of them belonging to the Supreme Court bench, and some offices at the apex court complex.Our correspondent also learnt that following the Thursdays development, the Federal Government will soon approach the court to file charges against some of the arrested judges.The Supreme Court employees allegedly diverted the sum of N2.2bn belonging to the apex court and received the N74.4m gratification between 2009 and 2016.The contractors from whom they allegedly received the gratification are Willysdave Ltd., Welcon Nig. Ltd., Dean Musa Nig. Ltd., Ababia Ventures Ltd. and MBR Computers Ltd.The three Supreme Court employees named in the first charge are accused of conspiracy criminal breach of trust contrary to section 315 of the Penal Code Act and punishable under the same section, by diverting the sum of N2.2bn belonging to the Supreme Court.The accused persons allegedly deposited same into personal account 2027642863 domiciled in United Bank for Africa Plc.They allegedly conspired among themselves contrary to Section 96 of the Penal Code Act 2004 and punishable under Section 97 of the same Act to commit the illegal act of diverting the N2.2bn belonging to the apex court.The prosecution alleged in counts three to nine that the accused, between 2009 and 2016, received gratification of N10m from Willysdave Ltd., N8m (in two tranches of N6m and N2.4m) from Welcon Nig. Ltd., N2.4m; N16m from Dean Musa Nig. Ltd.; N19m from Ababia Ventures Ltd. and N21m from MBR Computers.The offences of taking gratification by public officers are said to be contrary to Section 10 (a) (i) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission Act 2000.They are said to be punishable under the same section of the Act.
The Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Media, Laolu Akande, on Friday disclosed that the Federal Government has...

The Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Media, Laolu Akande, on Friday disclosed that the Federal Government has employed 200, 000 graduates to work as teachers and agricultural extension workers in the country. Speaking at the second Presidential economic communication workshop in Abuja, the Vice Presidents aide said those employed will earn N30,000 monthly.Disclosing that the new employees would work in their states of residence, the VPs media aide said their local governments would be in charge of their supervision.Akande said the selection process was completed a couple of weeks back, but BVN screening for the candidates delayed the exercise.According to Akande, We have selected 200,000 graduates out of 500,000. This is the first batch.One hundred and fifty thousand will work as teachers while 50, 000 will work as extension workers.Their pay which is 30, 000 per month, will go directly into their account.This is coming at a time when a cross section of Nigerians berated the Federal Government for not living up to its promise of engaging 200,000 unemployed graduates under the N-power jobs programme before the end of October.
The Federal Government has paid 81 months pension arrears which were incurred from 33 per cent pension increment, but left 87 months outst...

The Federal Government has paid 81 months pension arrears which were incurred from 33 per cent pension increment, but left 87 months outstanding.The money was paid to Police, Customs, Immigration, Prisons and civil service pensioners.A detailed breakdown of paid pension arrears and outstanding months were made available to journalists in Abuja, when the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, chaired by Senator Emmanuel Paulker, visited the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate for its oversight functions.According to the documents, three months of 33 per cent increment were paid to Police Pension Department, leaving outstanding of 39 months to Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department which had all its 42 months arrears paid off.The Parastatals Pension Department had its 12 months arrears paid leaving 30 months outstanding.The Civil Service Pension Department was paid 24 months leaving 18 months outstanding.Similarly, the 33 percent pension payment came as a fall out of the upward review of the minimum wage to N18,000 in 2010.
An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Orji Chukwuma, claimed on Friday that a former Director-General of th...

An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Orji Chukwuma, claimed on Friday that a former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and others diverted a sum of N496m belonging to the agency.Chukwuma claimed that the money was approved in July 2014 by a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), for the implementation of Voluntary International Maritime Organisation Member State Audit Scheme in NIMASA.Chukwuma stated this on Friday at the resumed trial of Akpobolokemi and six others for an alleged theft of N754.7m belonging to NIMASA.The defendants were arraigned on January 25, 2016 on 13 counts before Justice Raliat Adebiyi.Those standing trial alongside Akpobolokemi are Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan, Vincent Udoye, Adegboyega Olopoenia and Gama Marine Nigeria Limited.Led in evidence on Friday by the EFCC prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, Chukwuma, who appeared as prosecution witness, said, The first defendant (Akpobolokemi) raised a memo to the office of the NSA.The memo requested the sum of N496m and attached to the memo was a detailed table describing how the money was to be spent.After the money was disbursed, the first defendant made a request that the said sum be transferred to a private Zenith Bank account with number 1013961926.Chukwuma told the court that investigations by the EFCC revealed that the defendants laundered the money through award of fictitious contracts to some companies, while the awards were never executed.Two of those companies were Arowald Consulting and Kofa Fada Nigeria Limited. We spent two days searching for the location and addresses of these companies.Investigations revealed that N11m was transferred to one Nkechi Aneke, who was a relative of a lady captain working in NIMASA.We invited her to the EFCC where, during interrogation, she claimed she had no idea how the money got into her account. She eventually refunded the money to the Commission, the witness said.Chukwuma further told the court that the third defendant illegally made eight different withdrawals of N3m from the NIMASA account on the instruction of the second defendant.Justice Adebiyi adjourned further proceedings in the case till November 30.
Israel has pledged to assist Nigeria in tackling cyber crime and internal insecurity through the use of modern technology.

Israel has pledged to assist Nigeria in tackling cyber crime and internal insecurity through the use of modern technology.Guy Feldman, the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria, gave this pledge in Abuja at a conference tagged: Homeland and Cyber Security.The envoy, who decried the menace of cyber crime across the world, said there was need for all hands to be on deck to address the ugly trend in Nigeria.He said Israel is a small country but it has a vast experience in cyber security, due to its technology and human capital development.Feldman described Nigeria as the Lion of Africa which deserves all the support from the international community to evolve a virile and prosperous nation.Israel, as a country, has suffered from cyber attacks; it is not a problem for us but a challenge. This is because we have the technology and human resources to deal with the challenge, he said.He emphasised the need to deploy hi-tech technology, surveillance cameras and security gadgets to strategic sectors of the nation such as the financial and oil sectors.The ambassador said that both countries were already discussing how to strengthen ties and enhance business/security relations.Abdulrahman Dambazau, the minister of interior, emphasised the need for cyber security to safeguard the nation.Represented by Saleh Bala, one of his aides, Dambazzau said Nigeria would continue to collaborate with Israel and other foreign countries to develop the nation.Aviad Marco, an Israeli security expert, who delivered a lecture on the efforts at tackling cyber crime, described the phenomenon as a new form of terrorism.Marco said that the activities of hackers, especially on sensitive database, could bring a country down if not checkmated.
That my circumstances will not, one day, change to erode or compromise either my Principle, Integrity or Belief.

Bae spoke to me about a scheme a few months back, and without listening for too long, I got the gist and swiftly killed her presentation.I know those schemes  PONZI. But this one is called, MMMWithout realizing how much fire this movement had caught on, I got to the office today and heard many testimonies. But the two most striking ones1) This is the most TRANSPARENT PONZI Scheme ever  (How PONZI and Transparent happen to find its way into the same sentence is very confusing.)As a matter of fact, it is disingenuous. For, the transparency outlook makes the scheme appear reliable and accommodating2) Someone they know somewhere just bought a car after his Provide Help/Get Help click click matured  MMM Web App terminologies. An encouraging testimony.Apparently, my office has been a MMM branch office for a while now. Testimonies only just started coming out. One need to see the motivated presentation and pep talk I was given, just to gain my buy-in.I confess, it was convincing.You do not need to be a marketer to give a good sales pitch. People do know how to sell a product or any type of service, most especially when given the right motivation. My office team, were not any different. They were animated, trying to sell me MMM.I was impressed. Attention to details; full product (MMM) knowledge; live presentation and question and answer.Should I still be in doubt  case studies were highlighted, plus personal testimonies  clients, families and friends. The list was extensive.So how does MMM work?Sincerely speaking, understanding MMMs business module is very vague on detail. But I will try  You see, you have a spare N100,000 you dont mind throwing away (MMM clearly warns you on its website, not to use money you cannot lose  disingenuous, yes?).You register your personal details on the MMM website and click on provide help to start investment. You then should wait for about 2 weeks to be paired with someone who needs a N100,000. All the while, the N100,000 you have committed to MMM still resides in your own personal account, so you have this safe feeling that your money is still with you and not lost. In addition, while this committed money is in your possession, you can log in to MMM website to see your virtual N100,000 accruing interest at 1% per day  remember about 14 days have gone, so you should expect to see something like N114,000 in your virtual MMM accountSoon as you are paired, you transfer the N100, 000 directly to the person you are paired with. Both of you, by now, have direct contact with each other and can relate on phone or any preferred means of communication. MMM is not involved in anyway.Then you wait out the remaining days of the 30 days, to cash out. While waiting, you can always log into your MMM account to watch your interest continue to grow daily! At the end, you will be credit N130, 000 by someone (probably another maga) you are paired with.Simple!On the surface, this is how MMM works. No interaction with MMM providers. No service charge, aside penalties, if you default on your commitment.Pastors now advertise MMM in churches  I think you should avoid these kinds of Pastors and Churches.Workplaces now turned to MMM recruitment agencies. Businessmen and women now invest in MMM since the ROI is 30% in a month (why do I need to bother with buying goods from China, when theres no guarantee I will have my goods shipped and cleared through customs in 30 days).MMM promises me N300k for my N1 million in ONE MONTH!I would be a fool not to partake after the whole impromptu session, which lasted less than an hour!But you know. .. it is still a PONZI scheme!ConspiracyWhy and what exactly is money exchanging hands for, in this scheme?It is not a stock neither does it possess its characteristics, nor it has no physical material or composition.How does Sergie Madrovi , or the MMM franchize in Nigeria make money?I cannot claim to know the answers to these questions, but basic common sense would tell us, there is nothing free in Freetown.MMM could be your ultimate Trojan! All its operation is on a website. Through the website, you enter all your personal details including bank information. Opening the website on your private PC could also install rogue bots that will capture every other data you have on your PC outside just visiting the MMMs website, and that includes your key strokes! This is very insidious.Data mining is the future. And you may just be providing MMM every single information you possess without signing a contract. This is besides intending this, for Googles ad sense and general advertising purpose.RED LIGHT!My Advice Just be aware MMM is a PONZI scheme. This kind of scheme, always wearing a new look and new name each time, often show up when a nation is in misery or in recession. Guess which countries its featuring on in Africa at the moment Zimbabwe & Nigeria It has a lifespan. Probably 1 year, if really good and the machinery is well perfected by its organizers. I see this one dead, by mid next year. If this helps, do note that it has gone bad in South Africa & Russia However, if you are going to go for a risky venture (remember, risk is neither good nor bad), GO BIG & ONCE. Do not attempt to be cautious or claim smartness about this, saying:Ill do N20k, if it comes back, Ill increase to N50k, then N100k.Trust me, you would have played yourself by the time you want to invest the N100k. That is what these schemes aim for  PROGRESSIVE GREED! .What you do if, and when, convinced is, take a reasonable sum (say N100k or N200k), close your eyes and JUST DO IT!If you win  Cash out and say bye byeIf you lose  Your badLike I have communicated earlier, Do Not Be Greedy!But you can always make an attempt to take an advantage of a scheme that is scheming to scheme youOne thing for sure, MMM, even though having a dangerous curve, is lifting the mood of Nigerians off the gloomy cloud of recession  for nowThis is my opinion on MMM. And please, do not forget to read on the founder  Sergei Mavrodi
A technical team to see the possibility of refining crude oil in Niger Republic by the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC...

A technical team to see the possibility of refining crude oil in Niger Republic by the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) may be underway by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it was learnt yesterday.NNPCs Group Managing Director Dr. Maikanti Baru stated this after a bilateral discussion with Republic of Nigers Minister of Energy and Oil Foumakoye Gado in Abuja.A statement by the corporation quoted the NNPC helmsman as saying: We plan to set up the technical team to review the possibilities of how crude oil will be supplied to the Kaduna Refinery. Being bilateral, there are going to be two teams as discussed by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources and the Minister of Energy and Oil of Niger.There will be steering committee comprising some Ministers and a technical committee which will involve the NNPC and the Nigerien Ministry of Energy and Oil and their operators.According to the statement, Nigeria is to collaborate with its Republic of Niger neighbour in the area of sharing of geological data to further boost the ongoing exploratory activities in the Chad Basin and Benue Trough.He noted that there is an understanding between the NNPC and the Republic of Niger to share data on the exploratory activities in the Chad Basin and the Benue Trough and to tap into that countrys experience.The NNPC chief has described the Amnesty Programme as critical towards a lasting peace in the Niger Delta region.Baru made this known while hosting the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh in his office at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, yesterday.The GMD told Boroh: The Amnesty Programme is key in restoring peace to the Niger Delta.He restated the Corporations commitment to collaboration with relevant stakeholders towards developing the Niger Delta region.Baru, who observed that insecurity has affected NNPCs operations especially in the region, stressed further that with relative peace now coming back to the region, the NNPC will ramp up its oil and gas production to be able to deliver on its mandate to the nation.Responding, the Nigerien Energy Minister said his mission in Nigeria was to discuss issues of interest especially in the area of the oil sector with the NNPC, adding that the procurement of crude oil for Kaduna refinery and its practicability is being worked out.Gado said: One of the aims of this visit is to share geological information for us to draw the best profit out of the exploratory efforts.Speaking earlier, Boroh said they were in NNPC to share some of the success stories of the programme especially in terms of human capital development of the various beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme.According to Boroh, the Programme has trained over fifteen thousand ex-agitators in various skills and trades, adding that about 14 of them graduated with First Class from various universities both in Nigeria and abroad.
The founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, Prophet T.B. Joshua, has reacted to claims he had gone to Ghana to help rig the...

The founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, Prophet T.B. Joshua, has reacted to claims he had gone to Ghana to help rig the December 7th presidential election for President John Dramani Mahama.A popular Ghanaian pastor, Rev. Isaac Owusu-Bempah, had claimed that T.B Joshua had plans to help president Mahama win the elections in December.The founder of Glorious Word Power Ministry International, made his claim known during an interview with Ghanaian online TV program.Rev. Bempah said, There is a man of God from Nigeria in town, hes here for nothing.The power he came with is too small, nothing he plans on doing here will work.If Ghanaians make mistake and allow John Mahama to win this years election, the calamity that will befall the country will be unheard of.Mark it on the wall. God is angry with Mahama, he has blood on his hands.The presenter then asked him, What man of God, is it TB Joshua?Rev. Bempah replied saying Yes.But dismissing the allegation, the popular Nigerian prophet, on His Facebook account  TB Joshua Ministries, said he is currently in Nigeria and not in Ghana as claimed.In a statement, TB Joshua said, This is an official announcement from the SCOAN: There are rumors on the internet stating that T.B. Joshua is in Ghana to offer spiritual guidance to political parties.Please know that these rumors are 100% false..B. Joshua is not in Ghana, he is in Nigeria. Do not listen to the father of lies.Such reports are false and should be disregarded.
Representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria from 19 northern states and Abuja on Thursday met with President Muhammadu Buhari...

Representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria from 19 northern states and Abuja on Thursday met with President Muhammadu Buhari and pleaded with him to wade into some of the challenges facing them.The chairman of the organisation, Rev. Yakubu Pam, told State House correspondents that some of the issues they raised with the President included the difficulties they were facing in practising their faith, the herdsmen and farmers incessant clashes as well as children abduction and forced marriages.On the herdsmens attacks, Pam said they asked Buhari to move fast and protect Nigerians who had returned to the farm as part of the Federal Governments diversification programme.The clergyman said they also called the attention of the President to the ugly development in the North where traditional rulers would abduct and forcibly marry underage girls.He said, We also talked on the issue of girl child abduction in the North. In some northern states, some young girls and children are being abducted at the age of 12 years and the parents will just hear that the girls have been married to traditional rulers and emirs.This is gathering a cloud of crisis already and if that is not taken care of, it will lead to a serious crisis. These are the issues we told the President.Pam said the delegation also commended the present administrations fight against corruption and insurgency as well as the recent release of some of the girls abducted in their school in Chibok in 2014.He described the Presidents response to their requests as positive, saying he promised to look into them.In a statement later issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President was quoted as promising the CAN delegation that he would keep faith with the oath of office he swore and treat all Nigerians equally.He was also said to have promised to restore peace to all parts of the country.Restoring peace is top priority. We will enable the law enforcement agencies to combat all forms of violent crimes, and ensure that our people live in peace, he said.The President urged the clerics to promote religious harmony, by enhancing understanding among different faith.He also disclosed that the government would maintain the priority it had placed on agriculture and mines and steel development to revive the economy.Adesina also quoted Pam as saying that it was not a mistake that God chose Buhari to lead the country at these challenging times.We are ready to support your administration to deliver good governance. You have good intentions for Nigeria, judging from the programmes that have been outlined, he quoted Pam as saying.He said the clergyman also highlighted ethno-religious challenges in the country, freedom of worship, and herdsmen/farmers clashes in his discussion with the President.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he has spoken to Yaya Toure about his apology, but insists nothing has changed in the aftermath.Guardiola had said earlier this season that Toure would not feature in his plans until he makes a public apology for comments made in the press by his agent, Dimitri Seluk.Toure finally posted that apology to Guardiola via his Facebook page on Friday morning, just hours before the City boss was due to give his weekly pre-match press conference.It was expected that Guardiola would clear up the situation and shed light on whether the Ivorian would now be in contention for matches, but the Catalan gave a vague response.I spoke with Yaya this morning, so of course its a private conversation, he said, somewhat sheepishly. I know what he says and it is so important for Manchester City. Thats the most important thing, and for Yaya as well. Its good.When asked specifically about whether Toure will be in contention for Saturdays game against Middlesbrough, Guardiola replied: Yaya is in our training sessions, is in our meetings. You knew the situation, nothing changed.Another attempt was made to discuss the Toure situation, but Guardiola was keen to move on.I answered about Yaya, I do not say any more. Now lets focus on Middlesbrough, you know the situation.Despite Toure's earlier apology, however, Seluk spoke to TalkSport to insist that he had no intention of saying sorry, and that his client should had no reason to extend an olive branch.
Ex-Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has signed an undertaking to return N480m to the Federal Government.

Ex-Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has signed an undertaking to return N480m to the Federal Government.Obanikoro has also submitted his United States of America and Nigerian passports to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.In addition, the ex-minister has provided two sureties who are directors in the Federal Civil Service.Impeccable sources reevaled that these were part of the conditions given to the ex-minister for his release.A source said, The EFCC asked Obanikoro to submit his passports. He was only willing to drop his Nigerian passport but he has finally submitted the American one. He was asked to produce two directors, who must also present a three-month salary pay slip.He has returned N100m and has pledged to return N480m. The actual balance is meant to be N685m, but he was able to provide receipts for some transactions. He paid N85m to someone and that person has been traced.He also bought some bulletproof vehicles when he was minister and they will be handed over to the EFCC. The cost of the vehicles will be deducted from the amount that should be returned. Having met the conditions, he should be released any time from now.Obanikoro, who left the country around June 2015, was detained by the EFCC on October 17, 2016, after returning and surrendering himself to the commission in Abuja.He was detained for his alleged role in the diversion of N4.7bn from the imprest account of the Office of the National Security Adviser.The money was said to have been paid into the bank account of Sylvan McNamara, a company in which his two sons, Babajide and Gbolahan, were directors at the time.Obanikoro reportedly told detectives that out of the N4.7bn, he paid N3.880bn to Ayodele Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore in July 2014, when they were the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidates of Ekiti and Osun states respectively.However, detectives challenged Obanikoro with evidence that he also received N785m from the money and asked him to return it.A source at the EFCC said, Obanikoro claimed that he used part of his own share to do an anti-Boko Haram campaign in Lagos in 2014. However, we found out that he wasnt telling the whole truth because some of the money was spent on his governorship campaign when he was contesting against Jimi Agbaje during the PDP primary.So, we asked him to return his own share of the money and he has promised to do so.Part of the money allegedly given to Fayose was converted to $5.377m and handed to him at Spotless Hotel, Ado Ekiti, in the presence of the then Ekiti State PDP Secretary, Tope Aluko, and other party stalwarts.Abuja bizman loses filling station, complex to commissionMeanwhile, the EFCC has seized a filling station and a shopping complex from a man who described himself as a building engineer, Abdullahi Rilwan, for failing to explain where he got the money to buy the properties.The EFCC Act Section 71 (b) gives the commission the power to commence investigations into the property of any person if it appears to the EFCC that the persons lifestyle and extent of properties are not justified by law.The EFCC said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Thursday, that Rilwan was also arrested for offences bordering on operating a land racketeering syndicate, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of classified documents, obtaining by false pretences and money laundering.According to the commission, the suspect was first accosted in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja during a separate investigation into the $2.1bn arms procurement fraud.Detectives were said to have visited the area to verify the ownership of several properties suspected to be proceeds of money laundering.In the course of investigating the ownership of a filling station and a shopping complex both still under construction, located along Pegi Road in the Kuje Area Council, operatives gathered that Rilwan was in charge of the construction work.The statement added, Rilwan, who was subsequently engaged, denied ownership of the station but confirmed he was the engineer in charge of the construction work. He admitted to being the owner of the shopping complex. He also told operatives that he was the owner of two companies, Kaibo Oil and Gas and Kaibo Properties, but could not account for his source of wealth.A visit to his office, however, revealed that he was involved in several shady and suspicious business deals.It was learnt that the revelation made EFCC operatives to beam its searchlight on Rilwans business activities.Subsequently, on October 31, a search and arrest warrant was executed at his Kuje residence.The statement added, The search unearthed several implicating documents in his custody, many of which he uses to sell plots of land. Properties recovered from his residence in Kuje included letter-heads in the name of Kuje Area Council, allocating plots of land, an Irrevocable Power of Attorney in favour of Air Commodore Bassey Inyang, a Right of Occupancy document granted to Henryville Farms, Abuja, among other implicating documents.The filling station and the complex are currently under investigation and he would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
Hisbah, the Sharia law enforcement agency in Jigawa, on Friday said it had destroyed 238 confiscated bottles of assorted beer in Kazaure L...

Hisbah, the Sharia law enforcement agency in Jigawa, on Friday said it had destroyed 238 confiscated bottles of assorted beer in Kazaure Local Government Area of the state.Malam Saidu Aliyu, the State Commandant of Hisbah, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse.He explained that consumption of beer was prohibited in all parts of the state.The commandant added that Hisbah would continue to fight against immoral acts, including consumption of alcohol across the state.He advised residents to desist from engaging in vices and other immoral acts capable of destroying the society.NAN recalls that the command recently confiscated 111 cartons of assorted beer in Birnin Kudu Local Government Area of the state suspected to be smuggled from the neighbouring Bauchi State.
There was tension at the Nigerian Army Shopping Arena, Bolade, in the Oshodi area of Lagos State on Thursday as some officers of the Niger...

There was tension at the Nigerian Army Shopping Arena, Bolade, in the Oshodi area of Lagos State on Thursday as some officers of the Nigeria Customs Service clashed with soldiers in the market.It was gathered that trouble started when the customs officers traced six missing containers, suspected to have carried contraband, to the market and moved to impound them.It was also learnt that soldiers at the market prevented the customs officers from impounding the containers, which were driven into the shopping arena, commonly called Arena Market.A resident, who identified himself only as Michael, said the soldiers insisted that the customs officers did not have the right to impound anything in the military market.He said, The clash happened around 9am. The customs men had wanted to impound some containers; but some soldiers resisted the move, which led to a clash between the two security agencies.Nobody died or sustained injury, but there was tension in the market. Business activities were disrupted. It took the intervention of the Commanding Officer, 9 Brigade, to quell the fracas, as he gave an order that his men should allow customs officers to do their job.The spokesperson for the 81 division of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Samuel Kingsley, said the customs men initially did not follow due procedures, adding that they were allowed to take the containers away when due process was followed.The Public Relations Officer, NCS, Federal Operations Unit, Ikeja, Lagos State, Jerry Attah, confirmed that the customs seized six containers from the market, adding that the military men assisted in the arrest, and there was no clash.
Only 548 electors will vote for Democratic Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump in the presidential election. The U.S. election i...

Only 548 electors will vote for Democratic Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump in the presidential election. The U.S. election is decided by the Electoral College made up of 548 persons and not a popular vote as it is obtained in most countries. To be elected a president, therefore, a candidate must score 270 Electoral College vote, representing 50 per cent plus one vote or a simple majority vote.Patrick Butler, the Vice President, Programmes at the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), described the American electoral system as a confusing system and even most Americans dont understand it.Its a very complicated system but in general, what happens is that each of the 50 states awards all of its votes to the candidate who wins a majority in that state. So lets take California for example: if one candidate wins 80 per cent of the votes in that state, they get all of that states electoral vote.If they win 51 per cent of the votes in that state, they still get all of that states electoral vote. So what matters in this country is not necessarily the popular vote, which is who won the most votes in the entire country but who won the big states. It is who wins the Electoral College basically, which means that they won the most votes in states that add up to 270 electoral votes. It is a very confusing system basically and even most Americans dont understand it.Butler on U.S. Electoral CollegeA Professor of Political Science at the Christopher Newport University, Quentin Kidd, told newsmen correspondent in the U.S. that electorates vote for the Electoral College, not the candidates. Kidd said each state has winner takes all system, adding that whoever wins popular votes takes all the votes; whoever wins popular votes wins the electors. Americans will not be voting for the president directly in the election; it is the electors that will vote for the president at the Electoral College. Technically, by Nov. 9, we all wake up and we know who the president is. That will be accepted, that will be spoken of as the incoming president. But technically speaking, because the Electoral College doesnt vote until December, the outcome of the election is not formalised, he said. NAN
The All Progressives Congress, APC has accused Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike, Delta state Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, Akwa Ibom State ...

The All Progressives Congress, APC has accused Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike, Delta state Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel and the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom state and current Senate Leader, Godswill Akpabio (all PDP leaders) of being responsible for bribery allegations by the Supreme Court Justices, Inyang Okoro and Justice Sylvester Ngwuta against the Transport Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.In a statement made available to newsmen by the partys Chairman, Rivers state chapter, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, on Thursday, the party, however, said that the PDP bigwigs instead induced and bribed the Supreme court justices to accuse the Transport minister of bribery, a ploy it said is to divert the attention of the media and the anti-graft agency away from investigating them on their own corruption allegations. It also said it has uncovered secrets of how the aforementioned PDP leaders engaged in the bribery act.The allegations against Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi by Justice Inyang Okoro and Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court have been linked to several top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders. The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, the governor of Delta State Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Akwa Ibom State Udom Emmanuel and the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom state whos now the Senate Leader, Godswill Akpabio (all PDP leaders) have been linked to the Supreme Court Justices allegations against Amaechi.These big Four PDP politicians are said to be the biggest spenders who allegedly induced and bribed the Supreme Court Justices with hefty sums of money to get favorable judgements. They are said to be the major sources of the money, wealth and properties that has been traced by the DSS to Justices Okoro and Ngwuta. These PDP bigwigs are said to have advised the Justices to drag Amaechi into their arrest and investigation by the DSS.They believe doing so would muddle the waters, divert the media and public attention from the corruption allegations against them and make the whole arrest and investigations look like a political vendetta against the Justices. Our findings indicate that they told the Justices that the Buhari government is after them, wants to bring them down, and that they must drag Amaechi down as well.They deceived the Justices to think and believe that Amaechi is the one behind their travails because of some State governorship electoral matters the apex court handled, that the All Progressives Congress(APC) lost. Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta governorship election appeals were cited to hoodwink Justices Okoro and Ngwuta into believing that Amaechi orchestrated their arrest and investigation.It would be recalled that in the recent past, a few media outlets had written articles on the scandal and the link between Justices Okoro and Ngwuta of the apex court and these four PDP leaders.The media outlets (Not Vanguard) had specifically written about how huge sums of money in different currencies, were channeled by these PDP leaders to induce the Supreme Court Justices to influence Supreme Court rulings and get favourable judgements in the governorship election appeals of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta States.And Amaechi was targeted because the four of them  Wike, Akpabio, Udom and Okowa  see Amaechi as a big threat to their political ambitions and calculations ahead of 2019 elections. All four are from the South-South region, just like Amaechi. They are scared of Amaechi, his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari and they are afraid that Amaechi continual towering presence in the Buhari administration would truncate their plans and calculations for 2019. They want to damage Amaechi irreparably and destroy him politically.The ultimate target is President Buhari, and to get to the President, the conspiracy is to take out Amaechi, first. Furthermore, our investigations reveal that all four PDP leaders hold one grudge or another against Amaechi. They desperately seek to destroy him. But they will fail.Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/11/wike-akpabio-others-responsible-for-bribery-allegations-against-amaechi-apc
The Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, and Godswill Akpab...

The Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, and Godswill Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom, are behind the recent bribery allegations against Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation.The party also claimed that Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom, are also in the know of the plot.Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta, both justices of the supreme court, who were among the judicial officials arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) had accused Amaechi of attempting to bribe them.In separate statements, they said the minister threatened to deal with them for not influencing the court rulings of election cases in some south-south states, an allegation Amaechi denied.However, Davies Ikanya, chairman of the APC in Rivers, said through investigations, those behind the plot to nail have been unraveled.The allegations against minister of transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi by Justice Inyang Okoro and Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court have been linked to several top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, he said in a statement.The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, the governor of Delta State Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Akwa Ibom State Udom Emmanuel and the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom state whos now the Senate Leader, Godswill Akpabio (all PDP leaders) have been linked to the Supreme Court Justices allegations against Amaechi.Ikanaya accused these big four PDP politicians of being the ones who actually influenced the justices to deliver judgement in their favour.He said President Muhammadu Buhari was the main target of the opposition politicians, but that they want to start with Amaechi.These big four PDP politicians are said to be the biggest spenders who allegedly induced and bribed the Supreme Court justices with hefty sums of money to get favorable judgements. They are said to be the major sources of the money, wealth and properties that has been traced by the DSS to Justices Okoro and Ngwuta, Ikanya said.These PDP bigwigs are said to have advised the Justices to drag Amaechi into their arrest and investigation by the DSS. They believe doing so would muddle the waters, divert the media and public attention from the corruption allegations against them and make the whole arrest and investigations look like a political vendetta against the Justices.Our findings indicate that they told the Justices that the Buhari government is after them, wants to bring them down, and that they must drag Amaechi down as well. They deceived the Justices to think and believe that Amaechi is the one behind their travails because of some State governorship electoral matters the apex court handled, that the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost. Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta governorship election appeals were cited to hoodwink Justices Okoro and Ngwuta into believing that Amaechi orchestrated their arrest and investigation.And Amaechi was targeted because the four of them  Wike, Akpabio, Udom and Okowa  see Amaechi as a big threat to their political ambitions and calculations ahead of 2019 elections. All four are from the South-South region, just like Amaechi. They are scared of Amaechi, his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari and they are afraid that Amaechi continual towering presence in the Buhari administration would truncate their plans and calculations for 2019.They want to damage Amaechi irreparably and destroy him politically. The ultimate target is President Buhari, and to get to the President, the conspiracy is to take out Amaechi, first. Furthermore, our investigations reveal that all four PDP leaders hold one grudge or another against Amaechi. They desperately seek to destroy him. But they will fail.
The lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye, has reacted to the recent comment by President Muhammadu Buhari that his wife be...

The lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye, has reacted to the recent comment by President Muhammadu Buhari that his wife belongs in his kitchen.The Senator said that Nigerian women are special, endowed and they should belong in the presidency and not only in the kitchen.Recall that President Buhari had reacted to an explosive interview his wife granted the BBC, where she said she may not back her husband at the next election unless he reshuffles his cabinet.In his response, the president, who was in Germany on a three-day visit to discuss issues relating to security and economy, laughed and replied, she belongs to my kitchen and living room.But speaking with youths at the Nasarawa state University, Keffi on Thursday, Melaye said, Our women must stand and always do the right thing.The women of this country are very special and well endowed, and I do not agree that your place is only in the kitchen.Your place is even in the presidency. And I want to assure you that with the support of everyone, you will get to your landmark.Speaking further, Melaye addressed the issue of leadership in Nigeria.According to him, the leaders of the country including himself, have failed their generation, the youths and the Nigerian people.He said, Democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people; we should never allow it to become greediocracy. Greediocracy is government of the greedy, by the greedy and for the greedy.
The Battle of the Billboards has plunged the war for the 5th Congressional district into a hostile new place -- the skies above Route 17 in Bergen County, in a medium that falls outside the bounds of regulation.

That's because the Federal Election Commission doesn't regulate the content or the accuracy in political billboard ads, and the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission doesn't regulate the ads for federal races, spokespersons said.

So Republican incumbent Scott Garrett and his Democratic challenger Josh Gottheimer, and political action committees, are free to bend the truth to their political will on billboards seen by thousands of drivers every day.

One such ad, paid for by House Majority PAC and on display in numerous spots along Route 17, bears a picture of a large Confederate Flag, a sight not typically seen in Bergen County. It accuses Garrett of supporting the flying of the flag in military cemeteries.

In May, Garrett voted against a ban on flying Confederate flags in the cemeteries.

Another accuses Gottheimer of assaulting a woman in a Washington, D.C., condo, a claim that stems from a 2007 lawsuit in which the woman sued a number of people, including Gottheimer, who was on the condo's board, of mistreatment.

Richard F. Silber, a lawyer who defended another client in the suit, said the case was quickly dismissed and called the matter "the hallmark of a frivolous lawsuit."

On Tuesday, drivers crawling down Route 17 in Rochelle Park were struck by billboards on both sides of the road. One even rotated between Garrett and Gottheimer attack ads.

First, the assault claim ad appeared. It was quickly followed by an ad featuring a March editorial from the Star-Ledger in which the paper's editorial board termed Garrett "not only a shameless bigot, but also an unskilled liar" over statements the Congressman made saying he would not financial support gay Republican candidates, and his subsequent backtracking.

"As the Star-Ledger said itself, after reviewing the record, Garrett's claims are a 'jaw-dropper' of a lie ... 'born of desperation,'" Gottheimer campaign manager Alexandra Ball said in an emailed statement.

On Wednesday, Garrett's ad accusing Gottheimer of assault disappeared. And a new one appeared from Gottheimer appeared that said, "BREAKING Scott Garrett has been charged with bribery and corruption."

He has not.

The accusation has its basis in a request made last year by a watchdog group, which asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate if Garrett accepted improper campaign donations from the payday lending industry.

"They're outrageous charges," Garrett said Wednesday night.

The Office of Congressional Ethics' policy is to not disclose if an investigation is occurring. The process becomes public only if a case is given to the House Committee on Ethics for further review.

It's rare for a political advertisement to be taken to court for libel, said Ellen Goodman, a law professor at Rutgers.

A person would have to prove that the statement was false, that the party knew the statement was false when they used it, and that it was used with malice, Goodman said.

"There's a lot of leeway for rough and tumble in political campaigns," Goodman said.

The House Majority PAC has spent more than $2 million in advertising on the 5th district race in its attempt to unseat Garrett.

"This is a top pick-up opportunity for Democrats, but even more so North Jersey voters deserve far better than a shameless bigot for their Congressman," said the PAC's spokesman, Jeb Fain.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.
TRENTON-- An Irvington man who belonged to a ring that carjacked or stole high-end luxury vehicles and sold them overseas was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Attorney General Christopher Porrino said.

Rahsawn Gartrell, 37, was one of nearly two dozen suspects indicted in April as part of "Operation 17 Corridor," an investigation involving several law enforcement agencies, including the State Police, the state Division of Criminal Justice and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police. Most of the suspects had been arrested in October 2015.

Rashawn Gartrell (Attorney General's Office)

Garrell pleaded guilty in September to money-laundering, admitting he helped move the stolen vehicles, worth more than $500,000, as part of the vehicle-trafficking ring. He is the fourth defendant to plead guilty and the third to be sentenced so far.

"We made our communities safer through Operation 17 Corridor by arresting carjackers and completely dismantling a criminal organization that was providing a lucrative market for luxury stolen vehicles," said Porrino. "We are sending these ring members to prison, where they can no longer threaten residents with this dangerous type of street-level crime."

Authorities recovered more than 90 vehicles, including nearly two dozen at Port Newark, Port Elizabeth and other regional seaports. The vehicles had been taken from an area stretching from Rockland County, N.Y. through much of north and central New Jersey.

The ring sought out Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes, Maseratis, Jaguars and other pricey vehicles, some taken through carjacking and others using the vehicles' electronic keys or key fobs. The vehicles then ended up in shipping containers bound for West Africa.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- A married Bayonne man who killed a friend in Jersey City with a shotgun last summer was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for aggravated manslaughter.

"You painted the street red with my brother's blood...," said Manuel Castro, the brother of Orlando Flores, 34, who was shot by Peter Ruiz, 38, of Avenue A, on Fleet Street early on July 6, 2015.

The fatal shooting stemmed from a love triangle involving a woman Flores was seeing at the time.

Castro, who is also currently jailed and was handcuffed at the hearing, added: "Apologizing isn't going to give my brother back, gonna give him back to his mother, his father, ain't going to put together the pieces of a broken heart. I can't believe you got so tender over a woman.'"

Flores' cousin spoke at the hearing saying he hoped Ruiz will understand what he took from the family.

"You killed him over a girl who willingly gave herself to him. He didn't rape her. You killed him for a girl who had no loyalty for you... She was a girl you were cheating on your wife with... Not only are you an arrogant man, but you are a petty coward. May what you did haunt you."

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Zuppa told the judge that one would think that the killing over a young lady could have been settled with words or even hands. He noted that Flores had wounds to his back and the back of a leg and said "I suggest to you that Mr. Ruiz is a coward... This defendant deserves to serve every one of those 15 years."

When given an opportunity to speak, Ruiz said nothing.

Hudson County Superior Court Judge Sheila Venable said she could find no reason not to sentence to the full 15 years agreed upon in a plea deal.

"I know that even if I go above and beyond the agreement, above and beyond what the court is even allowed to do, it would still not be enough for the family," Venable said, addressing the half dozen members of Flores' family in court.

"The bottom line is you took one of the most precious things in life and that is life and that is the burden you will have to carry," the judge said. "And one of the most important things in life is freedom, and you don't have it."

After sentencing Ruiz, Venable asked Castro to stand and told him she knew what he would do right now if he could. She cautioned him, saying that when he gets out of jail he should not do something that would make his family despair for himself as well.

Ruiz was originally charged with murder and could have face 30 years to life had he been convicted at trial.
BAYONNE -- Aside from casting their votes for president, city residents will be tasked on Nov. 8 with choosing four candidates to represent them on their local school board.

The field is crowded, featuring a dozen candidates ranging in age from 34 to 85 with diverse backgrounds in real estate, sales, education, nursing and law enforcement.

Among the dozen, nine candidates are vying for three open three-year terms and three are competing for one unexpired two-year term.

The shorter term went up for grabs when the trustee originally elected to the spot -- Christopher Piechocki -- resigned in February. Barry Kushnir took his place but then also resigned in September.

The past year for the nine-member board -- the first board to have elected trustees after over 35 years of having its members appointed by the mayor -- has been tumultuous.

Four trustees resigned from the board within a seven-month span, setting off multiple vacancy-filling processes in fits and starts.

In the spring, the budget for the 2016-2017 school year was introduced but then unexpectedly failed to pass before being reluctantly approved a week later.

Meanwhile, pressing issues remain, including the need for more state funding; continued unrest from teachers who have not had a new contract since July 2015; and uncertainty about who will take the reins as superintendent of schools next year.

FAMILIAR FACES

Most of the candidates have previously thrown their hats in the ring, whether in the last election or in applications to fill board vacancies.

Nearly all of them recently told The Jersey Journal they would make settling the teachers' contract and finding an extremely well-qualified superintendent their top priorities.

Among the nine candidates vying for three-year terms, most are running solo, including incumbents Carol Cruden, Mary Jane Desmond and current board Vice President Denis Wilbeck.

Asked about their accomplishments while on the board, each incumbent mentioned helping to settle contracts with administrators and custodians.

Both Wilbeck, a former Bayonne High School vice principal, and Desmond, a former city councilwoman, also highlighted how the board has become more transparent.

Desmond cited the board's efforts to post agendas days in advance of board meetings and to document more carefully any interlocal agreements made with the city.

Meanwhile, former trustee hopefuls Gina Irizarry, Sharma L. Montgomery and John Milan Sebik are running together under the slogan "Vision, Action, Results" and are advocating for "inclusivity for all students," "open lines of communication" and "an expansion of the curriculum."

Among other things, Irizarry, a teacher, would seek to re-evaluate the district's policies on hiring, transferring staff titles and reviewing contracts. Sebik, a claims representative with the Social Security Administration, wants to step up the district's outreach to the community using text messaging and email.

Montgomery, a sales director, said she'd like to see new online tools that would give parents more insight into their child's school day, and a tool that would allow parents to pay for school lunches online.

Also seeking three-year terms are George J. Vinc Jr. and former candidates Michael Alonso and Leonard R. Kantor.

Vinc, a realtor, has said he would aim to settle the teachers' contract without raising taxes by eliminating redundancies in administrative positions and using "every potential non-tax revenue resource" available.

Meanwhile, Alonso -- a real estate agent who has run for elected office many times -- criticized some of the current board members' conflicts of interest. He said he would fight for senior citizen tax relief so seniors do not have to pay school tax.

Kantor, a retired Bayonne police officer and security guard, has said he would strive to improve the school district's safety.

In the race for an unexpired two-year term, former trustee hopeful and real estate agent John Cupo said his business experience will help him reduce the budget by 5 to 10 percent.



Retired Bayonne Deputy Police Chief Charles Ryan highlighted steps that could be taken to help the board hold the superintendent accountable, such as starting an online forum for residents to ask questions.

Maria Valado, a teacher, advocated for the board posting its agendas on Facebook and said all stakeholders should be encouraged to participate in board meetings.

EARLY PRIZE

While the winners of the race for three-year terms will take elected office in January, the winner of the one unexpired two-year term is slated to get a seat on the board the day after the election.

That's because the board still has to fill a vacancy left by former trustee Kushnir for the two months left in the year.

The board timed the vacancy filling to occur the day after the Nov. 8 election, so they can choose whomever the people decide, rather than fill it with someone who would only have a two-month term.

After the appointee's appointed term ends on Dec. 31, he or she will continue onto a two-year elected term at the beginning of the new year.

NO UNION OR MAYORAL ENDORSEMENTS

In a stark change from last year, the local teachers union and Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis have decided not to endorse anyone in the race.

In 2015, the Bayonne Teachers Association endorsed four candidates, three of whom won seats on the board. Davis endorsed four other candidates, two of whom took the remaining open seats.

Asked why the union isn't endorsing anyone this year, union president Al D'Angelo said last year's endorsements had the unforeseen consequence of preventing those who were elected from taking part in contract negotiations with the union.

Meanwhile, Davis said he decided after last year's election that it is better not to endorse anyone.

"I really believe deep down in my heart that it's up to the people to decide who they want," the mayor said.

Some candidates criticized Davis last year for what they said was his attempt to influence the election. Davis' chief of staff contested that, saying an "endorsement" and "influence or control" shouldn't be assumed to be the same thing.

The act of a mayor endorsing school board candidates is nothing new. Both Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer have endorsed candidates.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
Female ex-convict gets 10 months behind bars for trading ice on CBD street

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-11-04 00:46

A woman caught trafficking 1.68 grams of methamphetamine, or ice, on the busy Huaihai Road, was sentenced to ten months behind the bars today by Huangpu District Peoples Court.

The woman surnamed Zhou, 39, sold the drugs to a drug taker surnamed Chen at the price of 400 yuan (US$59) at 6:30pm on February 6, 2015. Patrolling police noticed the trade and took the two to police station, court said.

Investigation found Zhou, a less-educated and jobless native of Shanghai, had been detained for five months in Hongkou District for drug offenses before. Also, she had been jailed for larceny and extortion.
Sky Net fugitives facing justice

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-11-04 01:47

SHANGHAI prosecutors have captured or concluded investigations into 16 suspects wanted in the Sky Net anti-graft campaign, started in April 2015, to repatriate fugitive officials, according to Shanghai Peoples Procuratorate yesterday.

Prosecutors said the cases involved more than 15 million yuan (US$2.2 million). The Sky Net operation was launched by the Chinese government.

Half of the suspects sought by Shanghai had fled abroad  three of them to the United States, and one each to Canada, Australia, Thailand, Japan and Singapore, prosecutors said.

Three of the 16 had been at large for more than 10 years.

The suspect who had escaped for the longest period was Wang Guoqiang, prosecutors said. He was accused of stealing 3.2 million yuan during 1996, while employed as an assistant to a department director at a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Songjiang District.

He is also reported to have fled to south Chinas Guangdong Province where he lived until being detained by police in July last year.

Prosecutors said another of the 16 suspects, Gu Zhenfang, had been tagged with an Interpol red notice that named 100 people from China wanted for their involvement in serious corruption-related cases, all of whom had fled overseas.

Gu is alleged to have fled to Thailand in 2000 after stealing 920,000 yuan when she was a teller of the Wujing Branch of Shanghai Maritime Bureau. She died in 2006.

Another suspect on the red notice list is being investigated for corruption by prosecutors of Huangpu District.

There are further 21 fugitive officials who have fled overseas wanted by Shanghai prosecutors. The US, Canada and Australia were the favored destinations for this group, prosecutors said.

So far, China has netted 35 on the 100 red notice list.

More than half of them have lived overseas for five years, most of them fleeing to developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to Chinas top anti-graft body.
A map shows the approximate locations of petrochemical incidents reported to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center and through call lines for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's iWitness Pollution Map project from Oct. 7 to Oct. 20, 2014. (Image courtesy Louisiana Bucket Brigade/DisasterMap.net)
If Republicans can't win without suppressing black votes, they should find other work
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
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Widow of slain officer thought killer would die in prison, but a new sentence changes things

LEXINGTON, Neb.  Shortly before a teenage Eric McCain did the unthinkable, he had an ominous conversation with his mother.

Jeanne McCain and her husband knew their 17-year-old son had been drinking when he got home past curfew one night in the summer of 1990, but he said nothing about being ticketed earlier that night by Gothenburg police for vandalizing cars at a local auto dealership.

His mother followed the teen into his bedroom, where he broke down and apologized for everything hed done wrong.

And as she turned to leave the room, he said, Goodbye.

Dont you mean good night? she asked.

Yes, McCain replied. I love you, Mom.

What she didnt know was that before coming home, McCain had made a dark pledge to two of his younger friends, according to a statement he gave decades ago to a probation officer. It was something hed actually been talking about for months.

I told them to wait and listen to the sirens and to tell everybody goodbye because I was going to kill a cop, McCain said.

McCain backed up his words on July 2, 1990, when he gunned down Sgt. Glenn Haas in the lobby of the Gothenburg Police Department. At the time, the law required automatic life in prison for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder.

On Thursday, McCain asked a judge to consider that, at 17, he could not fully comprehend the consequences of his actions. Under recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, McCain qualified for a second sentencing hearing so he could show that he has matured, accepted responsibility and reformed his life.

Wearing handcuffs, shackles and the chiseled face of a 43-year-old man, McCain asked the judge for his freedom. He said he planned to move to Omaha, where he would live with his brother and devote the rest of his life to helping kids learn from his mistakes.

The day before he made his request, two police officers were shot to death in ambush killings in Des Moines and one of its suburbs.

Those police slayings were on the minds of the 20 law enforcement officers who attended the court hearing in the central Nebraska community of Lexington. They came to show solidarity with a fallen officer and hear how District Judge Donald Rowlands would decide a second sentence for McCain.

The judge had to account for a 2012 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that forbids automatic life terms for those who commit murder before turning 18. The decision, which must be applied retroactively to such cases, is based on research showing that a persons brain is not fully mature until his or her mid-20s.

In response to the court decision, the Nebraska Legislature ended automatic life terms for juvenile killers two years ago, allowing instead a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of life. A judge can still lock up a young killer for life but must consider whether the youth can be rehabilitated for eventual release.

Among those in quiet attendance Thursday was the police sergeants widow, Janet Haas, and their two children, now adults with children of their own.

Before the hearing, Janet Haas struggled to talk about that terrible time more than two dozen years ago, preferring to describe what she has missed in the years since.

Her late husbands smile. The way he struck up conversations with strangers. The twinkle in his eye when he spiked the supper of a fellow officer with hot peppers.

His desire to wear a badge not for power or prestige but because it allowed him to help those in need.

And she said she misses his laugh, telling a story of how they once attended a movie so corny that only he thought it was funny. She soon realized that her husbands guffaws had infected others in the theater, who were now laughing at the films horrible dialogue.

He just made people feel good, she said.

Glenn Haas was a native of Watertown, New York, who quit high school to enlist in the Marines. He served in combat in Vietnam, where he was wounded at least three times.

He discovered Nebraska when he was invited on a trip by a military buddy who hailed from the state. He loved the open spaces, the friendly people and, of course, Janet.

He got a job with the Cozad Police Department, where he worked for eight years. He joined the Gothenburg department in 1978.

His daughter, Jennifer, was 15 when he was killed; his son, John, was 13. Janet Haas now has five grandchildren, ranging in age from 21 to 4.

He was extremely well-liked in the community, said Gothenburg Police Chief Randy Olson, who served alongside Haas. They all knew they could count on Glenn, and he certainly loved Gothenburg.

A review of long-ago police records shows that the department had made no fewer than 14 contacts with McCain in roughly two years before the shooting. Most involved fairly minor infractions, nothing violent. Haas handled only three of them.

Yet McCain would say after his arrest that he felt persecuted by police and by Haas in particular.

As he drove from his familys farm back into Gothenburg 26 years ago, McCain deliberated about whether to carry out his plan. He feared that his friends would laugh at him if he turned back.

McCain walked into the tiny lobby of the Police Department with his high-powered hunting rifle at his side. Over the desk that separated the lobby from the offices, the dispatcher couldnt see the rifle as McCain asked to speak to an officer.

I wanted to go back, but I couldnt, a young McCain would tell a probation officer. I felt I had to do it now. I shot the gun. I wasnt aiming and I hit him.

Haas, 42, died hours later at the hospital in Kearney from a single gunshot wound to the midsection.

McCain fled and a massive manhunt ensued. A few hours later, his car was spotted. After a high-speed chase, McCain jumped out of the car and ran into a cornfield, where he was captured.

He left the rifle in the car.

Janet Haas said that if not for having to raise two children, she would never have survived the pain and depression. She also credited support from the community and, especially, members of her Lutheran church.

She held down her job as an insurance agent. For a time, she read various books, trying to understand what motivated random violence. But she never found her answers, she said through tears.

Its just senseless, senseless, senseless, she said of the killing of police. These guys are just trying to protect you.

Once, her pastor brought her a letter from McCain, which hed sent not long after arriving in prison. She refused to open it.

But she said she feels sadness for his parents, who also attend her church.

They lost a son, she said. But hes still living. They can go see him. I have to go to a graveyard to talk to my husband.

During Thursdays hearing, McCains lawyer summarized the progress McCain has made during 26 years of incarceration.

Jeff Pickens of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy discussed how psychologists determined that McCain had reached full maturity about the age of 28, which was demonstrated by a sharp drop in behavioral problems in prison. Although he has amassed 72 misconduct reports during the years, no serious incidents have been reported since 2001.

The psychologists also said a teenage McCain refused to respect authority. He struggled to make friends, was picked on at school and fell in with the wrong crowd. The approval of his peers mattered more than anything.

The fact that McCain cared more about losing face with his friends than taking a life is a hallmark of his immaturity in 1990, Pickens said.

McCain is a Christian, Pickens said, referring to testimony from a minister who has met with McCain for years. While locked up, McCain obtained a college degree in religious education, which took him four years to complete. He earned a 3.93 grade-point average.

In addition, McCain is a skilled woodworker who trains other inmates at Cornhusker State Industries.

Mr. McCain is not irreparably corrupt, his lawyer said. He does not qualify for a life without parole sentence. In arguing for a life term, Dawson County Attorney Elizabeth Waterman said McCains friends told investigators that he frequently talked about killing police officers and being killed by them.

That is a hallmark of premeditation, not the sudden impulse of an emotional teenage boy.

And she pointed out that had McCain been just a few months older, past the age of 18, he would have qualified for the death penalty for killing a police officer. In a sense, his age has already provided him a lighter sentence, she argued.

McCain came from an excellent family, with no history of abuse or neglect. That points to somebody who is self-centered, without empathy, bad to the core, the prosecutor said.

She also implored the judge to consider the unprovoked slayings of law enforcement officers in places like Dallas, Baton Rouge and Des Moines.

It is incomprehensible that the men and women who are sworn to protect their communities are being hunted like deer, for no reason other than the fact that they are the police, she said. The way to stop this trend is to hold these offenders accountable by imposing the harshest sentence available.

Give McCain the harshest sentence available, she said.

Then, after taking a few deep breaths, McCain addressed the judge and those in the courtroom, including the fallen officers family. He said he has come to understand the devastation he caused.

I have wished throughout my life that I could take back my actions and restore the peace that once was, he said, struggling to contain his emotions.

It haunts me to know that I have inflicted so much pain in so many lives.

Finally, it was Judge Rowlands turn to speak.

He mentioned the numerous letters he received, both from McCains supporters and from those who think he should die in prison. He mentioned the officers military service and his public service.

Then he pointed to recent U.S. Supreme Court actions in other states that have vacated the harsh sentencing of other defendants, like McCain, who killed when they were juveniles. Giving McCain another life term would be reversed on appeal, the judge said.

He sentenced McCain to 80 to 99 years, giving him credit for 26 years served.

With good time credit, which roughly cuts the sentence in half, McCain would be eligible for parole when he is 57 and would obtain his mandatory release about 10 years later.

When McCain was sentenced 26 years ago, Janet Haas never thought he would get out.

Hes where hes supposed to be, in my opinion, she said.
NEW YORK  Wells Fargo has confirmed the existence of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its sales practices, and the bank revealed that it has almost doubled funds set aside to deal with its ongoing legal problems.

The bank said in a regulatory filing Thursday that the SEC has joined other federal state and local government agencies and states attorneys general, prosecutors offices and congressional committees, performing formal or informal inquiries, investigations or examinations.

The San Francisco bank has been under fire since it was discovered that employees, to meet extremely lofty sales goals, opened as many as 2 million bank and credit card accounts without customer authorization. The company has since fired more than 5,000 employees, the vast majority of them lower-level workers.

Due to its mounting legal woes, Wells Fargo is also boosting litigation reserves from $1 billion, to $1.7 billion.

The ultimate resolution of any of these pending legal proceedings or government investigations, depending on the sanctions and remedy sought and granted, could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition, the bank said in a filing with the SEC. We may also incur additional costs and expenses in order to address and defend these pending legal proceedings and government investigations, and we may have increased compliance and other costs related to these matters.

Wells Fargo is enveloped in the biggest scandal in its 164-year history, which forced the abrupt retirement last month of its CEO, John Stumpf. Tim Sloan was named as its new CEO.

While acknowledging the decline in branch traffic, Mary Mack, the new head of consumer banking at Wells, told investors Thursday that It is still too early to gauge the longer term impact on these business trends.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.  A federal jury found Rolling Stone magazine, its publisher and a reporter defamed a University of Virginia administrator in a discredited story about gang rape at a fraternity house, news media reported Friday

The 10-member jury found journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely was responsible for libel, with actual malice. Jurors also said Rolling Stone and its publisher were responsible for defaming University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo.

Word of the jury decision came Friday afternoon in multiple news outlets.

Eramo claimed the 2014 article portrayed her as a villain who discouraged the woman identified only as Jackie from reporting the incident to police. A police investigation found no evidence to back up Jackie's claims.

Rolling Stone's attorneys said there was no evidence that the reporter knew what she was writing about Eramo was false or had serious doubts about whether it was true.

Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday after listening to more than two weeks' worth of evidence.

The story about Jackie's rape set off a firestorm at the university and in schools nationwide. Eramo received hundreds of angry letters and emails calling her the "dean of rape," among other things, and faced protesters outside her office. The story crumbled after other news outlets began asking questions and police found no evidence to back it up. The article was officially retracted in April 2015.

Over the course of the more than two-week trial, the jury of eight women and two men watched 11 hours of video testimony, heard from a dozen live witnesses and examined nearly 300 exhibits.

At issue were three statements made about Eramo in the article and several comments Erdely made about the "university" and "administration" in media interviews before the article was retracted.

Among the statements in the article that Eramo claimed were defamatory was one in which she is quoted  through Jackie  as saying that the university doesn't publish all of its statistics about sexual assault because "nobody wants to send their daughter to the rape school." Eramo says that was fabricated by Jackie.

The judge earlier this week dismissed Eramo's claim that the story, when taken as a whole, implied that Eramo was a "false friend" to Jackie. Rolling Stone had called that a "critical element" of her case.

Because the judge determined that Eramo was a public figure, she had to prove that Rolling Stone made statements with "actual malice," meaning it knew that what it was writing about her was false or entertained serious doubts as to whether it might be true.

Eramo's attorneys argued that Erdely came into the story with a preconceived storyline about institutional indifference to sexual assault and intentionally disregarded statements and facts about Eramo that didn't fit that narrative.

They claimed Erdely also ignored red flags about Jackie's credibility, including the changing account of Jackie's rape and her refusal to let Erdely talk to people who could corroborate her story.

Attorneys for Rolling Stone acknowledged that Erdely and her editors made serious reporting mistakes, but argued that there was no evidence they acted with actual malice.

The magazine's attorneys said that Erdely and her editors had full faith in Jackie until they realized she was no longer credible in early December after the story was published. Rolling Stone has agreed to pay all of Erdely's legal costs and any penalties that may be levied against her
VALPARAISO  A 37-year-old Liberty Township man admitted to police he had a momentary lapse in judgment when he placed his hand up an underage girls shirt on Sept. 17.

Joseph Sullivan Jr. is charged with one felony count of child molesting.

The girl said she was visiting the area when Sullivan entered the room where she was sleeping and fondled her, according to charging information.

The girl said she sent a text message to her mother about what happened and attempted to barricade herself in the room to keep Sullivan from returning, police said. When her mother called Sullivan to distract him, the girl said she locked herself in the bathroom of the house.

Sullivan, who had been drinking alcohol on the night in question, denied the accusation at first when interviewed by police. But he later confirmed he did something stupid that isnt like him, but that it did happen and it wasnt an accident, police said.

A mugshot of Sullivan was not available Friday morning.
A Hammond man was convicted Thursday on federal charges alleging he assumed the identity of a psychiatrist to see and prescribe medications to more than 40 people at a clinic in Chicago, prosecutors said.

Scott C. Redman, 37, was found guilty after a four-day trial in federal court in Chicago, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Redman assumed an Illinois physician's name to prescribe medications from September 2015 to February 2016, prosecutors said. The real physician is employed by a different Illinois medical facility.

Among the supposed patients was a 9-year-old child, for whom Redman prescribed a 30-day supply of Vyvanse, a medication that treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Redman maintained office hours at a clinic on the city's Near North Side to treat his supposed patients, prosecutors said. A purported profile of Redman on the clinics website contained the name of the real physician, alongside a photograph of Redman and fraudulent biographical and educational information. In addition to the Vyvanse, Redman prescribed other controlled substances, including Adderall, Clonazepam and Xanax.

Redman was convicted of three counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of furnishing false information to the Drug Enforcement Administration and five counts of distributing a controlled substance.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan set sentencing for Feb. 8.
CROWN POINT  The city on Wednesday dedicated its first roundabout and adjacent trailhead at 93rd Avenue and Chase Street.

The $2 million-plus project includes a roundabout with three legs, one for each road and one that connects to the trailhead shelter for the Erie Lackawana Trail that runs west of the intersection.

Mayor David Uran said because the roundabout doesnt have the typical four legs it will act as a training wheel to the community about what a roundabout is.

Its very easy to get around, he said.

The city collaborated on the project with the Lake County Board of Commissioners and the town of Merrillville, of which the roundabout is on the boundary.

The project includes a pathway along 93rd Avenue to Main Street. It was along that stretch in 2012 where Britney Meux, a Lake County Sheriffs correctional officer, was killed when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver who seriously injured three other officers while they were jogging as part of a training exercise outside of the Lake County Jail.

The new trailhead and roundabout was dedicated to Meux, with Lake County Sheriffs Deputy Chief Dan Murchek calling her a dedicated officer who always had a smile on her.

If you were having a bad day and met Britney, she would always make your day better, he said. Well always have a place for her here.

Jackie Meux, Britney Meuxs mother, who joined other family members at the dedication, said the new trailhead, pathway and roundabout will make the area safe for everybody else.

It means a whole lot, she said.

Mitch Barloga, nonmotorized transportation and greenways planner for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, one of the funding agents for the project, said the new pathway along 93rd Avenue will also provide safe and easy access to residents who live east of Main Street and want to use the trail.

Its a great vision for the city, he said.
EAST CHICAGO  A gap in the number of children tested for lead appears to be narrowing, but theres more work to be done, officials say.

About 300 children age 7 and younger have had their blood tested since last summer, when East Chicagos mayor notified residents of the West Calumet Housing Complex they should move because of high levels of lead and arsenic in the soil.

The complex is part of zone 1, the first of three cleanup zones in an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site that encompasses the entire Calumet neighborhood.

Of the approximately 680 kids who lived at the complex before the relocation order was issued, 284 were younger than 7, said Matt Scotten, spokesman for the Indiana State Department of Health.

As of Thursday, 1,313 people have their blood tested for lead, including slightly more than 273 children under age 7, Scotten said. Not all of the 273 kids were from the complex, he said.

Of the children under age 7 from the complex, about 70 percent have had their blood tested for lead, according to Mark Johnson, regional director for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Johnson offered that update to the City Council at last weeks meeting.

As of Thursday, confirmatory tests showed 16 children younger than 7 had elevated blood levels, he said. For adults, results above CDCs threshold for action  5 micrograms per deciliter  are not tracked because lead does not pose to same risks for adults, as per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, according to the state health department.

The Calumet neighborhood and former USS Lead facility to the south were added to the Superfund list in April 2009. Industrial operations at several sites in the area tied to the pollution began nearly a century ago.

ATSDR, which works with EPA to prepare public health evaluations, previously prepared two public health evaluations for the site. A 1998 report found a limited number of children in the area had elevated blood lead levels and recommended further study. Another report in 2011 has been widely criticized for relying on incomplete data and wrongly concluding the toxins in the soil no longer presented public health threats.

From 2005 to 2015, preliminary tests showed more than 20 percent of children tested in the census tract that includes the West Calumet Housing Complex had elevated blood lead levels, according to data provided by the Indiana State Department of Health. Approximately 10 percent of children in the census tract encompassing two cleanup zones to the east of the complex had elevated blood lead levels during the same time period.

Officials have said its important for parents to get their children tested  and return to get confirmatory tests  to ensure the children receive all of the services available to them.

Children younger than 7 are particularly at risk of lead poisoning, because their growing bodies more readily absorb the heavy metal. Pregnant woman also should take precautions. Even low levels of lead in the blood can lead to lower IQ, impair a childs ability to pay attention and cause lower academic achievement, according to the CDC.

North Township Trustee Frank J. Mrvan said about 11,000 informational postcards went out to East Chicago households last week. His office also conducted 20,000 robocalls to households in the city.

Our overall objective is to get 100 percent of children in East Chicago tested, Mrvan said. Its free and the test can begin the medical process of reversing lead exposure.

In cases where children have confirmed elevated blood lead levels, the CDC can offer families referrals to specialty doctors for treatment and other resources, he said.

With this man-made disaster, we want to make sure people get tested and make sure kids are safe, he said.

The state and local health departments are prioritizing families and children who live in the Superfund site, but any city resident can get tested, he said. Former residents of the Superfund site should consider talking to a physician or going to the Lake County Health Department, he said.

Several one-stop shop events are planned this month in East Chicago. In addition to blood testing, residents can obtain birth certificates, vouchers for ID cards and drivers licenses, immunizations and help navigating the health insurance market.

Blood samples collected at the clinics will be analyzed at no cost by state health department laboratories.

The one-stop shop schedule is:

1 to 6 p.m. at Riley Park, 1005 E. Chicago Ave.

9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at West Calumet Housing Complex recreation center, 4925 Gladiola St.

1 to 6 p.m. Nov. 18 at West Calumet Housing Complex recreation center.

9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 19 at Riley Park.
EAST CHICAGO  Residents and community leaders say they are baffled by the citys recent appeal to the federal government for emergency cash to demolish the still-occupied West Calumet Housing Complex.

Its a slap in the face, said Akeesha Daniels, 29, who is among the 1,000-plus struggling to relocate from the lead- and arsenic-contaminated site.

The city applied to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for up to $8 million on Oct. 27  about a week after residents and clergy leaders met with city officials. There, clergy asked the city to appeal to FEMA to declare the EPAs Superfund site an emergency disaster area as federal officials did for lead-tainted Flint, Michigan.

Our concern is there seems to be tremendous movement around the demolition, but there are still 300 families that dont have housing yet, said Cheryl Rivera, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Federation.

Rivera is a member of a community-led strategy group comprised of clergy, health care advocates, environmental activists and residents living in the Superfund site. She said she attended the Oct. 19 meeting with the city.

Carla Morgan, city attorney for East Chicago, said this week city officials continue to appeal to state and federal officials for additional resources but havent been successful. She added, however, state and federal officials have already assisted in a number of ways, and the city has urged children to get tested for lead at the local health department free of charge.

We have been able to respond to this crisis without that official declaration, Morgan said. Were getting the resources we need.

HUD this summer gave the East Chicago Housing Authority about $1.9 million to help permanently relocate residents. The state has kicked in $100,000 to help with moving expenses for the most vulnerable and another $100,000 to help fund a public health nurse and public health educator.

After a housing discrimination complaint was filed, the ECHA set aside about $1 million to assist residents with moving costs, security deposits and application fees.

Rivera said residents still report a number of barriers with relocation, including having little moving assistance beyond a 50-mile radius. Actual moving and transportation costs can be covered up to a 50-mile radius, but beyond that, residents have been offered a lump sum and are expected to cover the rest.

Residents have been asked to find new housing before winter hits  yet landlords are reportedly turning people away with poor credit, Rivera added.

Declaring the site an emergency disaster area would secure more resources for residents in West Calumet, but also for homeowners living in the middle and eastern portion of the Superfund site, Rivera said.

The city does not have the resources to handle this crisis. This continual Band-Aid approach isnt working, Rivera said. We need a solution.

Sherry Hunter, a community activist who has been advocating on behalf of West Calumet and the middle section of the Calumet neighborhood, questioned the citys priorities. She also questioned the sudden urgency to demolish the complex, which was built in the early 1970s on the footprint of a former lead smelter.

Unbelievable. So demolition comes before lives. Before women and children, Hunter said.
CROWN POINT  The alleged accomplice of murder defendant Isaiah Barker was recorded on security footage while he bought a tote that eventually contained victim Cynthia Funches body, investigators testified Thursday in Lake County Superior Court.

Barker is charged with murder and feticide in the deaths of Funches and the 20-week old fetus she was carrying. His alleged accomplice, Octavius Barlow, also faces charges in the incident. Barlow was not in the courtroom Wednesday. Both Barlow and Barker were recorded on surveillance tape at Halsted True Value Hardware in Chicago buying items that included a Fortress lock. That same lock was found on the door of the garage where Funches body was found.

It was a full day of forensic testimony and video evidence as various law enforcement officers took the stand to describe the initial days of investigation during which police came to regard Barker as their suspect. The tote in which Funches body was found was traced back to the Walmart in Schererville, where it was purchased at 10:03 p.m. on June 21, 2011, the day before Funches body was found. Detective Doug Shaginaw identified Barlow as the man on surveillance tape making the purchase.

Shaginaw and other officers also obtained several items from the Ford Taurus Barker had been driving. One of the items was the Fortress lock; the owner of the garage found it when he returned to the structure. He had not locked the garage prior to leaving it. He noticed the tote inside and upon opening it found Funches body, Shaginaw said.

Chief of Detectives Patrick Cicero, of the La Porte Sheriffs Department, had already testified throughout the morning on blood evidence found at the crime scene. The spatter, size and shape of bloodstains can help investigators deduce what occurred, he told the jury. Blood was found in the hallway, bedroom and bathroom of Funches one-bedroom apartment. The bathroom had a copious amount of blood droplets in the shower and on the ceiling, he said. There also was evidence that someone aspirated blood in the bathroom.

During questioning by defense attorney Angela Trapp Cicero said that tests could not tell him whose blood was in the victims apartment, and that evidence had been sent on for further testing. However, he said that the victim had spent considerable time on the bedroom floor, since blood had time to pool and soak through the carpeting to the concrete floor.

Cicero said he had seen photos of the victim and reviewed the autopsy report. Funches injuries, including head lacerations and stab wound, were consistent with the blood evidence he found in her apartment. The direction of blood spatter on the walls led him to conclude it came from a series of blows, but that he could not determine if a weapon had been used to make them.

The autopsy, conducted by the Cook County coroners office, found that Funches died of multiple blunt trauma due to an assault.

Barker was charged with her murder in 2012 and apprehended during a traffic stop in Georgia in 2013.
CROWN POINT  With nine fatal overdoses in eight days, including six linked to heroin, Lake County is about to break its record tally from 2015  much to the dismay of the coroner.

Each day, when a call would come in, I grew concerned, Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey said this week. We usually average about seven per month.

As of Monday, her office has logged 72 overdose deaths, including 43 linked to heroin, Frey said. Frey is awaiting toxicology reports on 14 additional fatal overdoses, pushing her offices running total to 86, she said.

And we have two more months to go, Frey said.

In 2015 alone, Lake County investigated 80 drug overdose deaths, up from 68 in 2014 and 65 and in 2013.

Frey said the exact cause behind the spike wont be known until pending toxicology reports come back.

Oftentimes, loved ones families report heroin or other drug use in the days leading up to the persons death, or investigators find evidence at the scene pointing to a suspected overdose, she said.

In some cases, families report loved ones who were trying to stay clean but accidentally overdosed after relapsing  their bodies unable to handle such a shock to the system, she said.

So far this year, nine people in Lake County already have lost their lives to fentanyl, heroins more lethal, synthetic cousin thats at least 50 times stronger, she said. The other culprit is prescription pills, Frey said.

She urged people facing drug addiction to seek help at local mental health facilities or treatment centers.

She said those who suffer from opiate addiction should seek out medication used to curb withdrawal symptoms or deter use which are available at clinics.

All patrol officers at the Lake County Sheriffs Department carry naloxone  known to reverse the effects of an opiate overdose. Nearly all other officers at the department carry the antidote.

When that initial call comes in, they may or may not have EMS there at that time, so its important that police throughout the county are able to respond, Frey said.

Mark Back, spokesman for the sheriffs department, said it has responded to 53 overdose calls so far this year.

A 19-year-old man was found unconscious Sunday due to a heroin overdose in a bathroom by his mother in St. John Township, Back said. The man woke up after EMS officials administered naloxone and he was transported to the hospital, Back said.

As recent as Tuesday night, Hammond fire officials aided in saving an overdosing 48-year-old womans life, according to officials.

Firefighters arrived on the scene in the 7900 Block of New Jersey Avenue and gave her the nasal spray form of naloxone prior to a medics arrival, Hammond Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Margraf said.

Once paramedics arrived, they injected the woman with naxolone intravenously. The woman eventually came to and thanked everyone in the ambulance, he said.

I keep Narcan in my glove box just in case because you never know, Margraf said.
Live vote counts sometimes go up or down on election night. But elections officials, research firms and media outlets have safeguards in place
After a dramatic seven-week trial, two former close aides of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were convicted on all counts in a scandal and federal case that came to be known as Bridgegate. Zack Fink filed the following report.

NEWARK, N.J. - It started with a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge more than three years ago. It ended Friday with the convictions of Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, who were both found guilty of engaging in political payback against the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey.

When she worked for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Kelly wrote a now-infamous email, saying it was "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Prosecutors say the lanes were closed on the bridge because the city's mayor refused to endorse the governor's re-election bid.

During their trial, both Baroni and Kelly insisted they were acting at Christie's behest.

Kelly's lawyer, Michael Critchley, was asked if he was surprised by Friday's verdict.

"Absolutely," Critchley said. "Surprised to the extent that my client was innocent walking in there. I thought we presented the case to display her innocence, and I'm obviously surprsied and disappinted at the verdict that was returned."

Kelly acted along with Baroni, who was Christie's appointee at the bi-state Port Authority, which oversees the George Washington Bridge

"I am innocent of these charges, and I am very, very looking forward to this appeal," Baroni said.

A third person, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty to conspiring to shut down access lanes to the bridge and cooperated with prosecutors.

Christie wasn't charged in the case. At times, it certainly felt like he was on trial in Newark.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman was asked repeatedly why Christie was never charged.

"At the time, we indicted only the people we believed we had evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, which, as you know, is the constitutional standard, evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict in this courthouse," Fishman said.

In a statement Friday, Christie said, "I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact."

Christie, who has been campaigning hard for Donald Trump, added that he will be addressing the matter in more detail soon.
Movies & Film Series

Build Up Your Fluency With a Terse Filmic Language

Bresson on Cinema at BAM Rose Cinemas

Robert Bresson (1901-99) is one of only a few directors who could legitimately claim to have invented their own cinematic language. His clipped editing rarely shows more than is needed; his use of sound is so precise that it attunes the viewer to every footstep. His Spartan approach perfectly suits his studies of physical or spiritual isolation, including Pickpocket (Friday through Sunday), A Man Escaped (Nov. 12) and Diary of a Country Priest (Nov. 13). But if Bressons austere style sets him apart, this Brooklyn Academy of Music series aims to show that he was also engaged in a dialogue with other filmmakers; it puts Bressons own films alongside some of his personal favorites by other directors, and additional movies that might be seen as having influenced his theories. BEN KENIGSBERG
Mr. Nagle said that his work ethic never flagged  which his co-worker Ms. Alvarez affirmed  though he conceded he became more terse with managers as they largely ignored workers pleas to address the increasingly difficult work environment.

Mr. Nagles managers seemed to view him as one of the keys to his colleagues morale. You have a lot of influence over the mood of the store, a manager told him during a review. Work to create a more fun and energetic experience for both our customers and your fellow crew.

Trader Joes began in Pasadena, Calif., in 1967 as a convenience store that sold a variety of provisions, including deeply discounted wine. It later added health and gourmet food.

As the chain expanded to more than 150 stores across the country by the early 2000s, the founder Joseph H. Coulombe and his successor as chief executive, Mr. Shields, were adamant about preserving its quirky neighborhood vibe.

But with more than 400 stores generating over $10 billion in sales, according to estimates, the company culture appears to have evolved from an aspiration that could be nurtured organically to a tool that can be used to enforce discipline and stifle criticism.

The environment in this job is toxic, but theyre trying to create this whole false idea that everything is cheery and bubbly, Ms. Alvarez said. I think they want us to be not real people.
E. Lee Hennessee, a pioneering woman in the male-dominated hedge fund industry and the creator of one of the first indexes to track its secretive transactions, was found dead on Oct. 29 at her home in West Palm Beach, Fla. She was 64.

The cause was apparently a stroke, said Chase Scott, a spokesman for the family.

Ms. Hennessee was a frequent presence at industry conferences and was an early supporter of the industry association 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

Ms. Hennessee started her hedge fund index, tracking which strategies were making or losing money across the industry, in 1987.

That same year, while working for E. F. Hutton, she founded the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group, a division of Hutton. The firm conducted research and advised clients about investments in hedge funds, an industry that at the time was growing quickly but was even more tight-lipped about strategies or returns than it is today.
Wells Fargo has run into trouble before with its U5 filings.

In 2011, it paid a $1 million fine to Finra for failing to submit some of the forms on time. The same year, Finra ordered the bank to pay a former broker, Maxim Minevich, $500,000 for defaming him in a U5 filing. (Wells Fargo filed a petition to vacate the award. The case and other legal matters related to it were settled this year; Wells Fargo agreed to alter the information in Mr. Minevichs U5.)

Some former workers say that Wells Fargo used the filings as a blunt instrument, with little regard for the damage that inaccurate or imprecise allegations could inflict on peoples careers.

Ivan Jerskey, who was fired by Wells Fargo in September, is fighting the bank about its filing on his departure.

Mr. Jerskey was a financial adviser in Marin County, Calif., for high-net-worth clients. He was fired, he said, for errors related to the creation of a new account for an older client whose two daughters had trustee powers over his finances.

Mr. Jerskey opened the account after obtaining only the primary clients signature, in violation of a bank policy  one that employees were actively told to overlook, he said  requiring the signatures of all three trustees. Mr. Jerskey also checked off a box on an account form saying that he had met all three trustees face to face, even though he had not.

It never occurred to me that I was doing this incorrectly, he said. It was completely common practice, not just with me but with everybody at the branch. Thats how we were told to do it by several managers and departments.
NEW DELHI  In a stifling office on the second floor of an anonymous building along a dusty lane in Lado Sarai  the new hub for young artists in a corner of the southwestern part of this capital city  a 38-year-old mens wear designer Vogue.com has called a global fashion superstar in the making sat in semidarkness.

The power had gone out. Somehow the power is always going out in 21st-century India, a nation with 1.25 billion people, thousands of years of recorded history and the capacity to deploy nuclear weaponry.

India is a paradoxical country. And Suket Dhir is a paradoxical guy. Born in Banga, India, he is an unshorn and unshaven Punjabi Hindu who styles himself a wannabe Sikh; a self-described former slacker now blissfully married to a Russian-Indian woman, Svetlana Dhir, who manages the business; a creative talent eager to compete on the global stage, and yet one who shares his small studio office with his elderly father.

He is also an expert craftsman whose subtle tailoring was recognized last January with one of the most prestigious honors in fashion, the International Woolmark Prize, an award that has also gone to Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.
Miriam Weinstein, the mother of the filmmakers Harvey and Bob Weinstein and an inspiration for the name of their first film company, Miramax, died on Wednesday at her home in Westport, Conn. She was 90.

Her death was confirmed by a spokesman for the Weinstein Company.

I remember when they called from Buffalo and told me they had named the company Miramax  meaning Miriam and Max, referring to her husband, Ms. Weinstein told The New York Times in 1997. It was the ultimate compliment for a mother and dad. Sometimes I slip into a film, all by myself, here in the city, like Shall We Dance?, and look at the logo as the movie starts, and seeing our names joined like that  She never quite finished the sentence.

Ms. Weinstein was a part of her sons business from the beginning. After Miramax was founded in 1979, originally just to distribute independent films, she was the receptionist at the companys first headquarters, at Madison Avenue and 48th Street, and often brought pastries to the office.

Ms. Weinstein had no plans to stop contributing (advice or pastries), even after Miramax became a division of the Walt Disney Company in a $60 million sale, and even after Miramax films had won Oscars in best picture for The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love and Chicago.
Two very different businesses, one national, one local, are vying for a slice of this market in Manhattan. In the homegrown corner is Baby Bubbles, a mom-and-pop shop tucked into a quiet side street on the Upper East Side. The store is painted light blue and white, with a row of tiny white baby clothes hanging from a clothesline in the window. The vibe is meant to be part spa, part New England farmhouse, and to emphasize that the store cleans baby clothes, too.

The owner, Seth Mittman, 39, opened the store about 18 months ago, after becoming a father and noticing that each stroller parked outside the pediatricians office was dirtier than the next. This cannot happen, he said he remembers telling his wife. Mr. Mittman started cleaning friends strollers in the bathtub of his Upper East Side apartment, and when he realized he had a viable business idea, he quit his job in advertising sales and went all the way. (The family has since moved to Wayne, N.J.)

Baby Bubbles is small, so all the scrubbing these days is done in the store basement by an employee, Jose Nunez, 29, a father of two from the Bronx who brings his own baby gear to clean on the weekends. His key tools are a scrub brush, All Free and Clear detergent, and a $3,500 dry vapor steam cleaner usually used for car detailing.

When Mr. Nunez got a hold of a Joolz stroller last week  a $1,200 Australian import  he took apart the fabric seat and started vacuuming the bottom bin. A funky smell rose from its depths, with notes of old cheese, fish and perhaps the nasty puddle that the owner, Tali Roth, said had driven her to seek professional help.
Q. What actually happened?

A. Workers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey shut down two of three access lanes from Fort Lee, N.J., to the toll plaza of the George Washington Bridge for several days starting on Sept. 9, 2013. They did so on orders from high-ranking officials on the New Jersey side of the agency, which is run jointly by officials from the two states. The backup of cars clogged the streets of Fort Lee, which is on the banks of the Hudson, blocking emergency vehicles as well as commuters and school buses.

Lower-level officials at the authority had warned against it. (This will not end well, one later recalled telling superiors.) They were instructed not to tell Fort Lee police officers or public officials. The closings were described as a traffic study, but it was unusual not to give notice, and to do a study with so little advance planning. And it was not the week most people would pick to tinker with traffic on the worlds busiest bridge: It included the first day of school, Yom Kippur and the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a somber occasion for the region and especially the Port Authority.

Confronted by the tie-ups, Mark Sokolich, the mayor of Fort Lee, called, texted and emailed the authority and the Christie administration to complain, saying that it was a public safety risk and that he believed he was being punished. They ignored his calls.

Q. How did it come to light that the lane closings were politically motivated?

A. Irate commuters whose half-hour commutes became four hours  a report by the authority calculated that there were 2,800 vehicle hours of delay on the Fort Lee lanes each day  contacted a columnist at The Record, a newspaper in northern New Jersey, who writes about roads and traffic. He called the Port Authority. The executive director of the authority, Patrick J. Foye, who had not been informed about the closings and is on the New York side of the agency, read about the inquiry in a nightly roundup of media calls and ordered the lanes reopened. (They were closed for four days. Initial plans had been to close the lanes for a month.) A copy of his email leaked, and soon after that, so did the news that the closings had been ordered by David Wildstein, a former political blogger in New Jersey (and a high school acquaintance of Gov. Chris Christie) whose job at the agency was to keep a firm hand on New Jerseys interests.
For the past 26 years, when children have raced through the doors of the carousel at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Lucio Schiavone has gently called out, Tickets, tickets please. Once they have all settled, he rings a brass bell, presses his palm against a big red button and then perches himself on a tall stool to watch.

But in the coming weeks, after finding a careers worth of joy in childrens smiles  and the funny faces they make at him  Mr. Schiavone will retire. He plans to leave at the start of December, when the carousel season ends.

Hes interacted with every kid in Brooklyn for at least two decades. Who else can say that? said Sam Chase, who was visiting the carousel on a recent fall afternoon with his wife, Tara Chase, and their two sons.

Mr. Schiavone, 75, has soft white hair, is slightly stooped and whistles almost constantly. Its in me; its in my body, he said. I gotta whistle.
We were ultimately paying for a lot of stuff that was ineffective and was not usable in this particular area, he said, singling out campaign mail pushed by consultants as one expense that was not worth the cost.

The Putnam County Democratic Committee has taken in just $500 so far this year, compared with the $663,050  $100,000 of it from Mr. Lodde  it received in the weeks just before and after the 2014 election. Virtually all the money donated two years ago was quickly transferred to the campaigns of Mr. Gipson and Justin Wagner, who ran in another Senate district that included part of the county.

The biggest contribution the Ulster County Democratic Committee received this year was for $135. In 2014, the committee got three contributions of more than $100,000, two from unions and one from a private corporation.

The Monroe County Democratic Committee has seen more activity. The largest contribution it has reported so far was for $10,000 in May from a teachers union political action committee  nowhere near the two donations of $100,000 each that the county committee received in October 2014, from the United Federation of Teachers and the Communications Workers of America.

Then there is Mr. Lodde, a founder and owner of a company based in Dallas, MV Transportation, that owns a school bus company operating in New York City. Mr. Loddes $100,000 donation to the Putnam County committee was the first political contribution he had ever made in New York State, according to the state Board of Elections.

That donation came less than eight weeks after the New York City Council passed a bill, pushed by Mr. de Blasio, that allocated public money to augment the wages of workers at school bus companies, benefiting Mr. Loddes employees. It also came as the de Blasio administration and companies like Mr. Loddes were pressing for state legislation regarding school bus contracts  and as Mr. de Blasio was telling donors that Democratic control of the Senate was essential to passing an array of legislation favored by the city.

Mr. Loddes donation this year, to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, came four weeks after word broke that federal and state investigators were examining the 2014 Senate contributions.
We can say with absolute certainty that the Chicago Cubs ended a 108-year spell of futility and won the World Series. The Curse of the Billy Goat is dead. We also know with absolute certainty that on the dawn following the last out, the sun rose over Chicago, my dads hometown, at 7:26 a.m.

But with nearly everything else, we choose to believe what we want. Segregation lives. Reality no longer bites  it sorts. This coming Election Day, separate theaters for red and blue voters will open so that viewers can get their political news inside the comfort of their own fact bubbles.

Of all the concerns facing a Madam President, governing in a post-truth environment may be the biggest challenge. Perhaps a third of American adults now believe a few Big Lies. And those Big Lies may be nearly impossible to dislodge, because in the course of this awful election, even fact-checking became suspect.

Take it from Rush Limbaugh, long divorced from reality, as well as from three wives. Earlier this year, he told his listeners not to fall for the independent, nonpartisan outlets that try to referee the statements of politicians. There is no fact-checking, he said, just vehicles to do partisan journalism.
Havent we just been through a lot with the Clintons? Mr. Trump asked. The work of government would grind to a halt if she were ever elected.

The tactic is a rejection of the nations need of a functioning government and a tacit concession that Mr. Trump may be losing and that he can be saved only by more scare tactics. Other Republican candidates in tight races have picked up this theme. The G.O.P. phrase du jour is constitutional crisis, depicting a hog-tied executive and a Republican Congress obsessed with perpetuating their demonization of Mrs. Clinton. Senator Richard Burr, campaigning for re-election in North Carolina, took the Trump fantasy one step further, telling supporters: Could she pardon herself? And the answer is yes.

Rudy Giuliani, one of Mr. Trumps most zealous acolytes, echoed this cry to carry the battle forward into a Clinton administration. I guarantee you in one year shell be impeached and indicted, Mr. Giuliani promised Iowa voters this week. Its just going to happen. Were going to sort of vote for a Watergate.

As nonsensical as this strategy appears, these threats could cause real damage by encouraging Republicans in the next Congress to effectively take the government hostage, exacting revenge by making sure that nothing Mrs. Clinton proposes ever comes to pass. President Obama put it well in underlining the dangers. Right now, because a lot of them think that Trump will lose, theyre already promising even more unprecedented dysfunction in Washington, he told North Carolina voters this week. How does our democracy function like that?

That is not a question remotely of interest to Mr. Trump, in his kamikaze politicking. Yet in recalling the tumultuous impeachment of President Bill Clinton, Mr. Trump neglects to note that he was opposed to it, writing in 2000 that he got a chuckle out of all the moralists in Congress and in the media. Mr. Giuliani, before his servile devotion to Mr. Trump, also opposed Mr. Clintons impeachment.
Someday the British court ruling on Brexit may be studied as a milestone in parliamentary democracy. For now, though, it throws Britains fateful move to part ways with the European Union into considerable disarray.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the High Court unanimously ruled that since Parliament voted in 1972 to join the predecessor of the E.U., the government cannot withdraw from the union without Parliaments approval, even though 51.9 percent of voters backed a departure in a June 23 referendum.

The case was brought by private citizens who argued that the government could not unilaterally strip away rights granted with membership in the bloc. Prime Minister Theresa May and her cabinet, aware that a majority of the members of Parliament had been against leaving, argued that the government did have authority, and she pledged last month to trigger the formal, irreversible two-year process for withdrawal by the end of March without a vote by Parliament.

If Britains Supreme Court  which may hear the governments appeal in early December  upholds the ruling, the exit process could be seriously complicated and delayed, or even blocked. It is hard to imagine that with the public having voted, members of Parliament will not feel bound to follow its wishes, even though the referendum was not legally binding. But political calculations could change, and short of blocking an exit from the E.U., the legislators could demand greater control over how the withdrawal is negotiated. An early national election cannot be ruled out.
A few weeks ago I met a guy in Idaho who was absolutely certain that Donald Trump would win this election. He was wearing tattered, soiled overalls, missing a bunch of teeth and was unnaturally skinny. He was probably about 50, but his haggard face looked 70. He was getting by aimlessly as a handyman.

I pointed to the polls and tried to persuade him that Hillary Clinton might win, but it was like telling him a sea gull could play billiards. Everybody he knows is voting Trump so his entire lived experience points to a Trump landslide. He was a funny, kind guy, but you got the impression his opportunities had been narrowed by forces outside his control.

One of the mandates for the next president is to help improve the life stories of people like that.

Trump speaks to this mans situation and makes him feel heard. But when you think practically about which candidate could improve his life, its clear that Clinton is the bigger change agent.

Lets start with what change actually means. In our system, change means legislation. It starts with the ability to gather a team of policy experts who can craft complex bills. These days, bills often run to thousands of pages, and every bad rookie decision can lead things astray.
As far as anyone can tell, Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House  and the leader of whats left of the Republican establishment  isnt racist or authoritarian. He is, however, doing all he can to make a racist authoritarian the most powerful man in the world. Why? Because then he could privatize Medicare and slash taxes on the wealthy.

And that, in brief, tells you what has happened to the Republican Party, and to America.

This has been an election in which almost every week sees some longstanding norm in U.S. political life get broken. We now have a major-party candidate who refuses to release his tax returns, despite huge questions about his business dealings. He constantly repeats claims that are totally false, like his assertion that crime is at record highs (its actually just a bit off historic lows). He stands condemned by his own words as a sexual predator. And theres much, much more.

Any one of these things would in the past have been considered disqualifying in a presidential candidate. But leading Republicans just shrug. And they celebrated when James Comey, the director of the F.B.I., broke with policy to lay a heavy thumb on the election scales; if Hillary Clinton wins nonetheless, they have made it clear that they will try to block any Supreme Court nomination, and theres already talk of impeachment hearings. About what? Theyll find something.

So how did all our political norms get destroyed? Hint: It started long before Donald Trump.

On one side, Republicans decided long ago that anything went in the effort to delegitimize and destroy Democrats. Those of us old enough to remember the 1990s also remember the endless series of accusations hurled against the Clintons.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Wednesday about a crackdown on corruption in China that ensnared the drug maker GlaxoSmithKline referred incompletely to charges faced by the mining company Rio Tinto seven years ago, when China took a softer approach to enforcement. They were downgraded to bribery and theft of commercial secrets, not bribery alone.

INTERNATIONAL

The What in the World article on Oct. 6, about birds known as pithis that people buy in Senegal for a few cents and release to get rid of sins and anxiety, referred incompletely to the birds. They include red-billed fire finches but also other species. A picture with the article was published in error. It showed a red-billed quelea, not a red-billed fire finch.

BUSINESS DAY

An article by The Associated Press on Wednesday about Tuesdays stock market performance described incorrectly an action by the F.B.I. that may have affected the presidential race and intensified investors concerns. The bureau discovered and is reviewing new emails possibly relevant to a closed inquiry involving Hillary Clintons private email server. It did not open a new investigation into the use of that server.



An article on Tuesday about criticism of Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of the yogurt maker Chobani, because of his hiring of refugees misstated the timing of a round-table discussion Mr. Ulukaya participated in with President Obama and business leaders. It was in September, not last month.
In Lynn Nottages scorching play Sweat, the bonds among a group of working-class friends and family are frayed to the breaking point by the pressure of an eroding economic future. Keenly observed and often surprisingly funny  but ultimately heartbreaking  the work traces the roots of a tragedy with both forensic psychological detail and embracing compassion. Ms. Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize winner for Ruined, is writing at the peak of her powers, and the superb cast and the director, Kate Whoriskey, rise to the occasion.

With the decline of manufacturing jobs in the rust belt having become a significant issue in this turbulent election year, the arrival of the play in New York, where it opened on Thursday at the Public Theater after originating at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, could hardly be more timely. But the issues it explores have been making headlines for years.

Much of the play takes place in 2000, with a prologue and other scenes that are set eight years later. In the prologue, we meet two men, still young, in encounters with their parole officer. One is the truculent, uncooperative Jason (Will Pullen), whos white and doesnt seem interested in resuming a fruitful life; the other, the black Chris (Khris Davis), is doing his best to get back on track. Both Jason and Chris, we gather, were convicted of the same crime, although its details remain unmentioned, stoking suspense.
WASHINGTON  A week ago, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, jolted the presidential race by sending a letter to Congress saying the bureau had discovered new emails that might be relevant to Hillary Clintons use of a private server. The disclosure set off widespread criticism of Mr. Comey and unleashed a hurricane of news about Mrs. Clintons family foundation, Russia and F.B.I. infighting. Lets sort it all out.

What exactly is the F.B.I. investigating?

The F.B.I. obtained a search warrant this weekend to begin analyzing emails from one of Mrs. Clintons closest aides, Huma Abedin. Agents seized a laptop belonging to Ms. Abedins estranged husband, Anthony D. Weiner, on Oct. 3 as part of an investigation into whether he exchanged illicit text messages with a 15-year-old girl. Investigators want to know if Ms. Abedins emails will change the conclusion Mr. Comey announced in July: No one in Mrs. Clintons inner circle should be prosecuted for mishandling classified information.

Agents and analysts have loaded Ms. Abedins emails into a computer program that allows them to identify those they have already read and whether any they have not seen before might contain sensitive national security information.
A South Carolina woman who was reported missing with her boyfriend in August was found alive on Thursday in a metal storage container on a remote 100-acre property and a registered sex offender was arrested in connection with her disappearance, according to officials and news media accounts.

The woman, Kala V. Brown, was in good condition and spirits after having been chained up like a dog for two months, the sheriff for Spartanburg County, S.C., Chuck Wright, said at a news conference.

He said there was no sign of her boyfriend, Charles D. Carver.

Deputies were searching the property when they heard Ms. Brown banging from inside the container, which was 30 feet long, 15 wide and 10 to 12 feet high, television station WYFF reported.
Held at arms length by many Republican leaders, Mr. Trump also has few high-profile surrogates to help him deliver his closing message. He has relied mainly on members of his family, including his wife, Melania, who campaigned in the crucial Philadelphia suburbs on Thursday in her first public speech since the Republican convention in July.

Mrs. Clinton has flexed her organizational power on the ground and on the air: Seizing on what Democrats believe is a spike in Hispanic turnout in some states, she has adjusted her television advertising, nearly doubling her spending in conservative-leaning Arizona, another heavy early-voting state, in an attempt to snatch it away from Mr. Trump.

And in North Carolina, Mrs. Clintons campaign has focused heavily on college communities and areas with a high concentration of black voters. Mrs. Clinton rallied black voters near Greenville on Thursday afternoon, before an appearance alongside Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Raleigh area. Her campaign has paid for ads in student newspapers and on vans that can take students to the polls, and has swarmed campuses with volunteers.

The Clinton campaign has also begun making supporters pick up tickets for large-scale rallies and concerts in person, rather than taking R.S.V.P.s online. The reason: It can draw them close to early voting centers and then nudge them to cast their ballots.

Should Mrs. Clinton run up a sufficient lead over Mr. Trump in early voting, it could become impossible for him to win North Carolina. Mrs. Clinton or another high-profile surrogate has stumped in the state every day this week, before the last day of early voting on Saturday. Bill Clinton was there on Sunday; Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, her running mate, on Monday; Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tuesday; and Mr. Obama on Wednesday, and he was due back on Friday.

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.

Outside Greenville on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton assailed Mr. Trump as a threat to black America: She branded him as a practitioner of racial discrimination who thinks the lives of black people are all crime and poverty and despair.
Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump have been in the public eye for decades. But journalists for The New York Times were still able to uncover much about the candidates, often altering the course of the campaign.

Heres a look back at some of our best investigative work.
Reno, Nevada - 25 August 2016 SOUNDBITE (English) Hillary Clinton, (D) Presidential Nominee: Everywhere I go, people tell me how concerned they are by the divisive rhetoric coming from my opponent in this election and I understand that concern because its like nothing weve heard before from a nominee for president of the United States, from one of our two major parties. From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He is taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over the Republican party. // Now Trumps lack of knowledge or experience or solutions would be bad enough but what hes doing here is more sinister. Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. Its a distributing preview of what kind of president hed be. // This is not conservatism as we have known it. This is not Republicanism as we have known it. These are racist ideas, race bating ideas, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-women, all key tenants making up the emerging racist ideology known as that alt-right. // The names may have changed, racists now call themselves racialists, white supremacists now call themselves white nationalists, the paranoid fringe now calls itself alt-right. But the hate burns just as bright., And now Trump is trying to re brand himself as well but dont be fooled. Theres an old Mexican proverb that says tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are. Well we know who Trump is. A few words on a teleprompter wont change that. He says he wants to make America great again but more and more it seems as though his real message seems to be make America hate again.
But if Mrs. Clinton prevails and Republicans hold the Senate, they are likely to come under immense pressure from conservative groups to do whatever is necessary to prevent her from filling seats on the court, considered by many Republicans as their last defense against the advance of liberal social and governmental policy.

The idea of denying Mrs. Clinton a court pick has been quietly simmering in conservative circles as Republicans held firm in their refusal to take up the presidents nomination of Merrick B. Garland before the election. It burst into the open in recent weeks after Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who formerly tried to defuse judicial clashes, said that Republicans would stand united against any nominee chosen by Mrs. Clinton. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas followed that up with comments pointing to a precedent for extended vacancies on the court.

This week, Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, who is in a tough re-election fight, was heard on a recording obtained by CNN promising to do everything I can do to make sure four years from now, we still got an opening on the Supreme Court.

The comments were a significant departure from the Republican Partys public position that the court seat was being held open only to give voters a say in the choice through the election of a new president. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has said repeatedly that filling the court vacancy should be left to the next president, not Mr. Obama.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has met with Judge Garland and believes the party should have taken up his nomination, said pre-election tension could be playing a role in prompting the explosive comments.
For more than a year, journalists covering the presidential campaign for The New York Times have been delving into the lives of Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Heres what weve learned about the candidates pasts and what drives them, going back to long before they ran for president.
San Franciscos city attorney, Dennis Herrera, announced on Thursday that he was filing a lawsuit against the developer of the building for failing to inform buyers that it was sinking much faster than expected. The developer, Mission Street Development, reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in sales from the more than 400 units in the building, which was completed in 2008.

They went ahead and sold condominiums for a handsome profit without telling the buyers about the situation, Mr. Herrera said. This is every homeowners worst nightmare.

The dispute over the Millennium Tower, with its irate wealthy apartment owners and questions about earthquake worthiness in an active seismic zone, has captivated San Francisco. The city has been transformed by the wealth of the technology boom, including a panorama of new skyscrapers, and the Millennium Tower has come to represent the extreme wealth and the potentially Icarus-like pitfalls of the rush to build.

Engineers have questioned the wisdom of building skyscrapers with foundations in mud and clay. A skyscraper being constructed next door has made it clear that its foundation, unlike the Millennium Tower, reaches down to bedrock.

P. J. Johnston, a spokesman for the developer, said the allegations by the city attorney had no merit.
CHARLESTON, S.C.  The judge faced the jury on Thursday morning and spoke solemnly about what many have called the greatest justice system ever created. Then the murder trial of a member of the most visible arm of the justice system  a police officer  began in earnest.

To the chief prosecutor, the officer, Michael T. Slager, was an aberration of American policing, a malevolent lawman who let his sense of authority get the better of him when he shot and killed Walter L. Scott in April 2015. To Mr. Slagers lawyer, the death of Mr. Scott, who was black, was an awful but lawful killing by a white officer who patrolled a troubled neighborhood in North Charleston and believed he was in danger.

Both sides portrayed Mr. Scott as an imperfect figure whose own behavior contributed to his killing, which was recorded on video by a bystander and emerged as one of the most wrenching symbols of the national debate over policing and race. For the jury of 11 white people and a black man, the questions that have swirled around Mr. Slager for nearly 19 months, including whether he planted evidence or misled investigators, have effectively been reduced to one: whether he opened fire with malice aforethought.

Provocation is not the same as justification, said Scarlett A. Wilson, the solicitor for Charleston County, who repeatedly used her 25-minute opening statement to accuse Mr. Slager of dishonesty.
SEOUL, South Korea  President Park Geun-hye said Friday that she was willing to submit to questioning by prosecutors investigating a scandal that has engulfed her administration, saying she would sever ties with an old friend accused of using their relationship to extort money from businesses.

Ms. Parks nationally televised speech came as a poll by Gallup Korea indicated that she has become South Koreas least popular president since the country moved to democracy in the 1980s.

Ms. Park, who at times seemed to be nearly overcome by emotion, said she had been unable to sleep because of the humiliation and despair she had experienced since the scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-sil erupted, and that at times she regretted having become president. She said she had told her staff to cooperate fully with prosecutors investigating Ms. Choi and her connections to the administration.

I again deeply apologize for causing an immeasurable disappointment and worry, Ms. Park said. All this is my fault, caused by my negligence.
ISTANBUL  The Turkish police detained the two co-leaders of Turkeys main Kurdish opposition party and several of its lawmakers on Friday during early-morning raids as part of a counterterrorism investigation, the state news media reported.

The leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag of the Peoples Democratic Party, were detained after police officers in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and the capital, Ankara, raided their homes, according to officials from the party, known as the H.D.P.

Simultaneous raids were carried out at the partys headquarters in Ankara, where at least nine of its members of Parliament were detained.

Mr. Demirtas, whose coolness under pressure and rhetorical skills have prompted comparisons to President Obama, had until recently been considered a bright star on Turkeys political scene. He had widened the H.D.P.s appeal by attracting liberal and secular voters before the government intensified its efforts to undermine him and his party.
LONDON  The New Jersey-born broadcaster, writer and comedian Amy Lame has been appointed here to the splendid-sounding title of Night Czar. The position was created by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who has promised to make the nighttime economy a priority.

In creating the Night Czar position, Mr. Khan follows cities including San Francisco, Amsterdam and Berlin, which have hired night mayors to look after the night life of their cities.

Yup, Ms. Lame wrote on Twitter soon after the appointment was announced on Friday. Its me.

Ms. Lame, 45, was chosen out of some 200 applicants. She has lived in London since 1992 and is a naturalized British citizen who is well known as a radio and television presenter, and was the mayoress of the borough of Camden from 2010-2011. In 1995, Ms. Lame was a founder of the performance club and collective Duckie, which performs at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a well-known L.G.B.T. spot she campaigned vigorously to save during recent threats to its future as a theater.

In a statement about her new position, Ms. Lame said: I cant wait to hit the streets and have loads of ideas of what I can do for revelers, nighttime workers, businesses and stakeholders. For too long, the capitals nighttime industry has been under pressure  music venues and nightclubs in particular are closing at an alarming rate.
They just keep coming. Wells Fargo, already reeling from a scandal over fake accounts and a settlement over home appraisal overcharges, has been hit with yet more accusations.

The latest? Former employees say the bank used termination notices to retaliate against attempts to blow the whistle on its fraudulent activities.

These forms, which must be filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority when the broker or financial adviser leaves, can leave a black mark on that persons career.

Three Democratic senators have asked for data on these filings. They said the responses showed that the bank had ample information about the scope of fraudulent sales practices long before it reached a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The last time the unemployment rate was running this low was in early 2008. But by Election Day that year, the economy was in sad shape and getting worse by every measure. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were vanishing, housing prices were plunging, paychecks were shrinking and credit was tight.

On Friday, in the last economic snapshot before voters go to the polls, the government reported that the jobless rate fell to 4.9 percent in October, matching the level in February 2008. Today, though, most economic bellwethers are showing improvement. Particularly encouraging was the fact that hourly wages rose 2.8 percent compared with a year ago, the best gain in more than seven years.

The economys escalator may be slower and narrower than Americans expect, but it is now going up instead of down.

The economy set three postrecession records this month, said Jed Kolko, chief economist at the online jobs website Indeed, citing solid wage growth, a drop in the number of discouraged and underemployed workers, and a return of prime-age men and women to the labor force. These are all signs that the labor market continues to strengthen and is at its strongest point since the crisis, he said.
Rolling Stone magazine paid the legal price on Friday for its journalistic failings in a 2014 article about a supposed gang rape at the University of Virginia that it had already retracted in the face of widespread criticism.

A federal jury in Charlottesville, Va., found that the magazine; its parent company, Wenner Media; and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of the article, are all liable in a defamation suit filed by Nicole P. Eramo, a former associate dean of students at the university, who said the article depicted her as the chief villain of the story.

With gruesome details and its portrayal of an indifferent university administration, the 9,000-word article, A Rape on Campus, intensified a national conversation about college sexual assaults. But the article, published in November 2014, was soon called into question for its reliance on a single source, identified only as Jackie, in describing what she said was her brutal rape by multiple men at a fraternity party. In March 2015, police in Charlottesville said that they had found no substantive basis to conclude that the incident described in the article had occurred.

Rolling Stone commissioned a review of the article by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and the schools report, issued in April 2015, found that the magazine had failed to engage in basic, even routine journalistic practice to verify details from Jackie. Rolling Stone retracted its story and removed it from its website.
The police found the suspect just a few blocks from the Bronx apartment he had stormed into on Friday, armed with a gun and looking for his estranged wife.

One sergeant approached the red Jeep that dispatchers had told the officers to look for. He was shot in the face. Another sergeant was shot in the leg.

Officer down! Officer down! a police officer on the scene radioed to the dispatcher.

The sergeant who was shot in the face, Paul Tuozzolo, died at Jacobi Medical Center within hours of the shooting. The other sergeant, Emmanuel Kwo, was in stable condition at the same hospital.

Image Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo Credit... New York City Police Department

The suspect, identified as Manuel Rosales, 35, of Long Island, was killed during the exchange of gunfire, which unfolded in the middle of the afternoon, not far from the southern edge of the Bronx Zoo.
New York agencies will be prohibited from asking applicants about previous salaries under an executive order that Mayor Bill de Blasio signed on Friday, an effort to close the wage gap for women and minorities who work for the city.

The order, which will take effect in 30 days, will prevent city managers from questioning applicants or searching public records for information about their previous salaries or benefits packages.

These questions about past compensation  often posed to applicants on job forms and in interviews  are believed to contribute to pay disparities between female and minority workers and their male and white counterparts. Many companies set workers salaries based in part on their past wages, potentially locking in an unequal pay rate in perpetuity.

Salary history based on unequal treatment then becomes the basis for the next salary, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said at a news conference. We have to break that cycle.
Ms. Kelly testified that she discussed the shutdown with the governor before and while it was happening. And the governors chief political strategist acknowledged on the stand that Mr. Christie had lied at a December 2013 news conference when he said that senior members of his staff and his campaign chief had assured him they were not involved.

Facing about 50 reporters and television cameras outside the federal courthouse here on Friday, the United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, said that his office brought charges against only the people it believed a jury would find guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There was substantial documentary evidence, he said, to corroborate Mr. Wildsteins testimony about Ms. Kelly and Mr. Baroni, once Mr. Christies top staff appointee at the Port Authority.

We dont say we have sort of enough, lets throw it against the wall and see what the jury does, Mr. Fishman said. Thats not our job.

Mr. Christie issued a statement shortly after the verdicts were delivered, again denying any role in the lane closings. Let me be clear once again, he said. I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact.

Mr. Fishman, who succeeded Mr. Christie as the United States attorney for New Jersey, declined to specifically address the governors comments but pointedly expressed confidence in Mr. Wildsteins testimony that the governor had been told about the plot.

When we put witnesses on the stand, we put witnesses on the stand who are corroborated by other evidence, he said. And we dont ask people to testify about things when we think they might not be true.
To the Editor:

Re North Carolinas Noxious Pig Farms (editorial, Oct. 25), about hog farms affected by Hurricane Matthew:

Our farms withstood the historic floods remarkably well. More than 99 percent of the states hog lagoons remained above water, while 14 lagoons were inundated. Water-quality experts say the environmental impact from the flooding is minimal; the vast majority of waste remains in the lagoon when floodwaters recede.

North Carolina hog farmers and state regulators took proactive steps after Hurricane Floyd in 1999 to significantly reduce the effect of flooding. Farms in the 100-year floodplain were bought out, and more than 100 hog lagoons shut down. Another 231 inactive lagoons were permanently closed. A result: 75 percent fewer hog lagoons were severely affected by this storm.

The notion that we should get rid of hog lagoons altogether simply isnt feasible. North Carolina State University experts have estimated the cost at more than $5 billion.

A greater environmental concern: municipal wastewater systems that spilled more than 62 million gallons of human sewage into the states waterways after Hurricane Matthew.
On Sunday, Mr. Ortega is seeking his second consecutive re-election, with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as the vice-presidential candidate. There will be voting, but election doesnt quite describe the result. Under a system controlled by Mr. Ortegas party, the Sandinista Front, the voting will take place without any independent observers and with the Ortega ticket uncontested. An opposition coalition was effectively barred from participating. So now, as the 27 did during the Somoza regime, citizen groups are protesting, proclaiming there is no reason, nor anyone to vote for. Other parties have been given places on the ballot, as in 1974, but voters know they are collaborating with the government and call them bloodsuckers. The result is an election that resembles more closely a ritual of one-party rule.

The only real question in this election is the percentage of voters who will take part purely to protest, by simply not marking their ballots or deliberately spoiling them  the only courses left open to challenge the regime. But in an electoral system without any transparency, even the scale of this protest will be impossible to know for sure. The latest survey by C.I.D. Gallup, a polling organization based in Costa Rica, found Mr. Ortega favored by 52 percent of the potential voters, while 42 percent planned to leave their ballots blank. Nevertheless, the president of the Supreme Electoral Council has predicted that this election will have a historic level of voters participation  well above 75 percent.

Ironically, when the Sandinista revolutions leaders were voted out of power in 1990 (allowing my mother, Violeta Chamorro, to become Nicaraguas president for seven years), it was Mr. Ortega himself who contributed to the establishment of an electoral democracy by conceding defeat, thereby setting the country on course to transfer power peacefully among political parties. However, Mr. Ortega and the next president, Arnoldo Aleman, who later was accused of corruption, arrived at a political compact in 1999 that weakened the trend toward pluralistic democracy by setting up bipartisan control of the electoral system. In 2007, that, too, collapsed when Mr. Ortega, now back in office, took sole control.

In 2008, well-documented fraud marred municipal elections. And in 2011, Mr. Ortega, defying term limits law, was re-elected in balloting that was denounced as unconstitutional. He has used the time since to consolidate an institutional dictatorship that concentrates absolute power and that derives political support from an alliance with private business interests and from citizens who benefit from government policies that aid the poor.
To give Trump his due, he recognized a moment when a lot of Americans under pressure, feeling menaced by modernity, were ready to reconnect with their inner reptile: theres nothing new about mass popular delusions or the madness of crowds. He has reminded us, at a time of shifting global power, that the world is a dangerous place. Underused assets bother Trump; thats troubling when it comes to nukes. He has put truth in its place, elevating the lie to the center of political discourse, no small feat.

So lets make America great again with the greatest temperament that anyones ever had! Lets imagine Trumps face in all our embassies and on all our TV screens in a moment of national tragedy. My fellow Americans. 

No, lets not. I mean, seriously.

But this column is not in fact about Trump. Its about Bernie Sanders. When I thought about what to say in this last pre-election column, I kept being reminded of Sanderss honorable campaign and  although I have admired Hillary Clintons discipline and lucidity and, yes, temperament under pressure, and believe it is important for the United States to have a woman as president at last, especially after Trumps relentless misogyny  I think we all owe Sanders a doff of the hat.

Sanders homed in on the core issue of growing inequality in American society. He nudged Clinton on the minimum wage, bringing her into the nationwide Fight for $15. He identified post-2008 impunity on Wall Street as an important element in the sense many Americans have that the system is rigged, and pushed Clinton toward stronger language and positions on taxing the super-rich, on more equitable taxation in general, on gross abuses by pharmaceuticals companies, and on ensuring that democracy delivers not only for the most powerful but also for the most needy.
To the Editor:

I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton. I walked snowy streets in Nevada for her and made thousands of phone calls. I maxed out on campaign contributions. I stood in line to see her and I told her to her face that she needed to win for our grandchildren, and she replied that I needed to do my part. I did my part, and I am not sure she did hers.

This election, given the opposition, should be an easy win, but she has turned it into a close race with controversies about her emails, her staff and the Clinton Foundation. Even if the controversies are exaggerated, she should be better in control.

I want her to win desperately, but I wish she had done a better job at controlling her campaign.

JANICE BERTOZZI

Reno, Nev.

To the Editor:

Polls, pundits and predictions aside, it would be wrong to underestimate the strength of Donald Trump in the presidential race. From my vantage point as a former New Yorker who moved to a small city in eastern North Carolina some 10 years ago, I see a lot of signs that point to a very possible win for Mr. Trump.
Data dumps by WikiLeaks have outed rape victims and gay people in Saudi Arabia, private citizens emails and personal information in Turkey, and the voice mail messages of Democratic National Committee staff members. Dissent requires the right to privacy: to be let alone in our vulnerabilities and the ability to form our thoughts and share them when we choose. These hacks undermine that crucial right.

Mass data releases, like the Podesta emails, conflate things that the public has a right to know with things we have no business knowing, with a lot of material in the middle about things we may be curious about and may be of some historical interest, but should not be released in this manner.

All campaigns need to have internal discussions. Taking one campaign managers email account and releasing it with zero curation in the last month of an election needs to be treated as what it is: political sabotage, not whistle-blowing.

These hacks also function as a form of censorship. Once, censorship worked by blocking crucial pieces of information. In this era of information overload, censorship works by drowning us in too much undifferentiated information, crippling our ability to focus. These dumps, combined with the news medias obsession with campaign trivia and gossip, have resulted in whistle-drowning, rather than whistle-blowing: In a sea of so many whistles blowing so loud, we cannot hear a single one.

What is the right response, then, to living in a world where we will see more mass hacks of information, and more titillating and occasionally newsworthy private communication made public?

The answer is not simply to tell people to stop writing things down. Dont discuss things over email if you dont want to see them on CNN is the new dont wear a miniskirt if you dont want to get assaulted. That would take us back to the pre-internet world where only the powerful could communicate with ease. People with resources will create their own online gated communities  buying more expensive, secure devices, hiring specialists and flying around more to meet in person  while dissident groups with fewer resources will be left behind.

Since these hackers wont stop, we need to build resilience by emphasizing curation, context and ethics, and by no longer acting as if something that has been hacked and dumped is all up for grabs.
Engineers investigating the explosion of one of SpaceXs rockets in September have figured out what went wrong, and launches could resume in mid-December, Elon Musk, the companys chief executive, said on Friday.

I think weve gotten to the bottom of the problem, Mr. Musk said during an interview on CNBCs Squawk Box program. Really surprising problem thats never been encountered before in the history of rocketry.

Mr. Musk described it as the toughest puzzle solved that the company has ever had to solve.

The cascade of explosions on Sept. 1 that destroyed the Falcon 9 rocket as well as a $200 million satellite was perplexing because it occurred before the ignition of the engines for a planned test. The actual launch was scheduled for two days later.

The accident has complicated NASAs operations with the International Space Station. SpaceX is one of two companies ferrying cargo to the space mission. SpaceXs next flight had been scheduled to launch this month but is postponed indefinitely.
Samsung discontinued its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which was prone to catching fire, last month. But the companys safety problems have not ended: The manufacturer and a product safety regulator on Friday announced a recall for 2.8 million washing machines in the United States.

The number of washing machines recalled, which includes 34 models of Samsungs top-loading washers, exceeds the 1.9 million Galaxy Note smartphones that Samsung and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled last month.

The safety commission said the affected Samsung laundry machines were prone to detaching from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact. Samsung, which is based in South Korea, said this could occur when consumers used a high-speed spin cycle for washing water-resistant clothing or bulky items, including bedding.

Our priority is to reduce any safety risks in the home and to provide our customers with easy and simple choices in response to the recall, John Herrington, a general manager of home appliances for Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement.
These weekend warriors form the obdurate bedrock of Trump Nation: white, rural and working class. They vote, and they are heavily armed, right down to the .22-caliber derringer fired by Nadine Wheeler, 63, a retiree who calls her tiny gun the best in feminine protection.

During two days of conversations, grievances poured forth from the group as effortlessly as bullets from a gun barrel. On armed excursions through sun-dappled forests, they spoke of a vague but looming tyranny  an amalgam of sinister forces to be held at bay only with a firearm and the willingness to use it.

They are machinists and retirees, roofers and factory line workers, all steeped in the culture of the rural South. They say Mr. Trump, a Manhattan billionaire and real estate tycoon, speaks for them.

Within the extreme right, many of Trumps most passionate backers come from the militia movement, said Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League. The militia movement is overwhelmingly behind Trumps candidacy.

For militias, Mr. Trumps anti-establishment views play right into their paranoid style of politics, said Ryan Lenz, editor of the Hatewatch blog at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Georgia Security Force is noteworthy among militias for its acute Islamophobia, Mr. Pitcavage said. Its members are so-called 3 percenters, who believe that only 3 percent of colonists fought in the Revolutionary War. That is a historical myth, said Mr. Pitcavage, a historian, but useful for those who believe a few people with guns can defeat tyranny.
Investigators on Friday discovered a body buried on an isolated rural property near Woodruff, S.C., after a woman was rescued there a day earlier from a storage container in which she had been chained up and held captive, according to officials.

Late on Saturday, the Spartanburg County sheriff, Chuck Wright, said that the body found in a shallow grave was that of Charles D. Carver, 32, the boyfriend of the rescued woman, according to The Associated Press. He died of gunshot wounds, according to Sheriff Wright.

Investigators had been sweeping the 100-acre woods and fields with cadaver dogs in a search for other victims after finding the woman, Kala V. Brown, inside the storage container on the property about 20 miles east of Greenville, S.C.
WASHINGTON  Chelsea Manning tried to commit suicide last month as she was starting a week of solitary confinement at the prison barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., her punishment for a previous attempt to end her life in July.

Ms. Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking archives of secret documents to WikiLeaks, disclosed the attempted suicide, which took place Oct. 4, in a statement she dictated over the phone to a member of her volunteer support network. She asked that it be sent this week to The New York Times, according to members of the network who want to keep their identities private.

Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing Ms. Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, confirmed the attempt, which raised new questions about the militarys handling of the troubled soldier, dating to when she was permitted to deploy to Iraq and kept at her post in a secure facility despite signs of erratic behavior.

During Ms. Mannings trial in 2013, testimony showed that she had been deteriorating, mentally and emotionally, during the period when she downloaded the documents and sent them to WikiLeaks. Then known as Pfc. Bradley Manning, she was struggling with gender dysphoria under conditions of extraordinary stress and isolation while deployed to the Iraq war zone. At that time, military rules made being openly gay a ground for discharge without the college tuition benefits that were her prime motive for enlistment.
HERNDON, Va.  During the 10 hours a day that Bianca spends stretching and massaging patients at the chiropractic clinic where she works, she allows her mind to rest. But around 8 p.m., as she drives home to her husband and three children, her fear comes rushing back:

When a new president steps into office, will she be sent back to Honduras?

A rapt 11-year-old when she first entered the United States illegally, Bianca, 27, was nearly deported this year after making herself known to the American government by applying for asylum. When a judge explained that he did not have sufficient evidence to let her stay, a government lawyer offered to pause the proceedings rather than deport her immediately  something the Department of Homeland Security has done with increasing frequency under President Obama.

As a result of the agreement she made, known as administrative closure, Bianca is not legally allowed to live in the United States, but she is not forced to go, either.

You cant have a normal life, she said in barely accented English, We just dont know whats going to happen.

Bianca, who asked to be identified only by her first name because she could be called back into court at any time, is one of about 24,000 immigrants this year who have accepted the governments offer to put their deportation cases on hold. Government figures show nearly 80,000 immigrants have done so since 2012, hoping that a route to legal status will materialize while they wait.
Hillary Clinton campaigned Friday in the company of friends and celebrities, first flanked by the billionaire businessman Mark Cuban in Pittsburgh and Detroit, and then at a concert in Cleveland with Jay Z and Beyonce. High-wattage political leaders fanned out for her around the country: Her husband, Bill, stumped in Colorado, as President Obama rallied voters in North Carolina.

By comparison, Donald J. Trump was a lonely figure.

In the final days of the presidential race, Mr. Trumps political isolation has made for an unusual spectacle on the campaign trail  and perhaps a limiting factor in his dogged comeback bid.

When it comes to bolstering Mr. Trump, the Republican Party is not sending its best: As party leaders have disavowed him or declined to back his candidacy, Mr. Trump has been left instead with an eclectic group of backup players to aid him in his last dash for votes. Though polls show Mr. Trump drawing closer to Mrs. Clinton, the most prominent Republicans in key swing states still fear that his unpopularity may taint them by association.

Mr. Trump acknowledged the relative bareness of his events at a rally on Friday night: In defiant language, Mr. Trump hailed the size of the crowd packed into an arena in Hershey, Pa.
American elections have always been at least a little dirty.

What would a political campaign be without unseemly actors stirring trouble, duping voters and raising the specter of violence? Political mischief is as old as politics itself, and the United States has countless examples.

If you were a voter choosing between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1800, you might have been told, falsely, that you couldnt vote for Jefferson because he had died, according to Joseph Cummins, the author of Anything for a Vote, a book about tricks in presidential politics.

In 1928, you might have heard that Al Smith  the New York governor and the first Catholic to run for president  had access to a tunnel that went all the way to the Vatican, Mr. Cummins said.

And in 1964, people working for Lyndon Johnson wrote hundreds of letters to Dear Abby and Ann Landers, the advice columnists, claiming to be ordinary citizens terrified by the thought of a Barry Goldwater administration, Mr. Cummins said.
SCRIPT LOCK HER UP! - I think the genie is out of the bottle. it\u2019s too late. you aren\u2019t going to put it back in, even if trump doesn\u2019t win, we are all still here. ARRIVAL - TITLE CARD? 00:03:15:29 president trump! God Bless Trump! 00:03:37:13 Trump! we love you! 00:07:57:28 man chanting trump 00;25;53;14 it\u2019s pretty electric here. // to see so many people // gathered to see the one person they feel is going to help them. 00;23;59;14 it gives you goosebumps to see 00:04:57:18 I don\u2019t know about you, but I am feeling pretty deplorable right now. [[Tampa rally selects]] (Florida Republican) 00;25;15;25 //he fulfills his promise and puts her in prison\u2026 if she wins? they are still a ble to prosecute her and put her where she belongs. 00;07;59;03 she really deserves to be hung for what she has done 00;09;05;26 I will support the person who won, but i will be the first person sending messages to congress: have her impeached for leaking classified information 00;01;04;29 i support the will of the people, but i\u2019ll actively challenge her legislatively which is the american process, the democracy process 00;17;26;20 But I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to lose. it\u2019s going to be hillary who is going to be dead. i mean, lshe\u2019s gonna lose.a EAGLE 00;10;13;15 if thats not a good sign, i don\u2019t know what is! (a bald eagle! whistle! he knows who the true americans are!) it\u2019s a glorious bald eagle flying overhead. and if that\u2019s not a good sign, if that\u2019s not a good omen, i don\u2019t know what is. 00:01:10:00 eagle sign SOMETHING ABOUT HOW HE CANT LOSE 00;05;51;06 look at the lines, it\u2019s a mile long\u2026people are angry, deception and lies\u2026 we\u2019re on to you 00:05:58:03 Just about the biggest part of the crooked establishment are these people right here. SHOW THE CROWD! 00:04:13:29 booing the media 00;04;48;11 prob the most powerful thing he has done so far is declare war against PC propaganda the media has been propogating. this is the first election that more people are tuned into social media\u2026i am hoping he will stab his own media network NAT MOMENT: 00;19;34;08 anyone would like to sign up to be a volunteer? we wave signs and make calls 00;06;39;09 he\u2019s not afraid to mobilize the people that also want whats right for this country. 00;11;32;10 this not a violent civil war, but definitely a civil war\u2026none of us are going to accept if hillary is stealing the election, and actually gets away with it. there will be another level of turmoil. we\u2019re going to turn the country upside down but we will do it non violently. this is a whole other diff ball game. 00;22;39;18 this is stopping, this is ending. this is my generation. i don\u2019t know what my father, forefathers decided to do about this, been going on for generations.l- if she becomes president, she will be forced out one way or another 00;23;28;14 if she wins, what will you do? \u2014I\u2019m not gonna say\u2026take back my country 00:07:14:11these people up here, they are the worst. you know what its called, voter suppression \u201cwe on\u2019t give up!!\u201d FIN 00;26;54;17 i hope that more candidates like him will show up in the future, voice of the people not the establishment CHANTING? HILLARY ON BIG SCREEN? 00;13;08;08 if hillary were elected president, then the populist mov\u2019t of whom trump is a speaker for, would embark on continued activism, but channel its energy in different directions. 00;10;08;22serious revolution, worldwide heart attack\u2026national boycott of the media\u2026 00;13;58;01 there will be some basic education which will be coming forth regarding democracy and the well regulated public militia. which is what the 2nd amendment is actually about. 00;14;48;06 whether or not he is elected :: TNN, social media has overtaken establishment media, the TNN is going to play a major role. 00;15;19;06 given the trend of more and more people using their discernment skills and making up their own minds\u2026.what we are seeing right now is the very beginning of america;s second revolution\u2026.we\u2019re seeing the beginning of great changes\u2026there are great changes coming irrespective of this election. but if trump wins it will be much easier/quicker 00;08;37;02 there is fraud in this election. no doubt about it. We\u2019re on to you MEDIA 00:04:38:16 the media isn\u2019t just against me, they\u2019re against all of you\u2026like HRC they look down on hard working people Andy White: confident in Florida, but not places without voter ID 00;08;01;02 its horrible, and she has gotten this far\u2026i agree with him. she shouldn\u2019t even be allowed to run for president. KEEP GOING AFTER HILLARY IF YOU WAKE UP ON NOV 9 00;18;10;22 a revolution is possible. if we can\u2019t have a peaceful revolution with winning,,,especially if there are problems with us not being able to not have cheating etc\u2026there will be a revolution. i\u2019d be part of it. 00;17;26;20 [[[[[[[[and if not?] we wake up in the morning and continue to make america great. we form a new party. we get rid of the republicans and we make the american party. and trump will make sure he is in charge of it\u2026thats not going to be the end,]]]]]] 00:06:38:22 TRUMP We\u2019ve got to show them on november 8 that we\u2019re not stupid
Ms. Cegavske said the ballot language she used fairly reflected text submitted to her office by those advocating the measure.

There was no input from the gun industry in the writing of the ballot question, Gail J. Anderson, the deputy secretary for Southern Nevada, said in a statement.

After a minimum-wage campaign accelerated last year in Ohio, emails show, Jon A. Husted, the secretary of state, communicated with an Ohio Chamber of Commerce affiliate as the business group discussed plans with the restaurant industry to meet and strategize about its opposition effort.

A spokesman for Mr. Husted said that the amendment and referendum processes can be cumbersome and that the secretary is often asked to come explain precisely how it works.

Minimum-wage advocates chastised Washingtons secretary of state, Kim Wyman, who is in the midst of a re-election campaign. She has benefited from a blitz of radio advertisements paid for by the Republican group that sponsored the May meetings with industry representatives. Ms. Wyman declined requests to comment.

At the three-day hunt  where corporate donors and secretaries of state from Kansas, Mississippi, Georgia and Arkansas shared a one-story, wood-frame hunting lodge, with stuffed deer and elk antlers mounted on the walls  there was little discussion of formal election matters.

Instead, it was an opportunity for the corporate executives to cement personal connections. Together, they set loose Labrador retrievers on acres of prime high-grass hunting grounds, flushing pheasants and quail from their hiding spots.
Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump are waging an all-out effort to get supporters to the polls in swing states like North Carolina and Nevada. But there is one place where voters seem to need no encouragement: Minnesota.

For the last nine presidential elections the state has been No. 1 in voter turnout, according to statistics compiled by Michael McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida. In the last three elections, Minnesota was the only state in which more than 76 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

It might even be gaining ground. By the beginning of this week, it had already almost exceeded its number of early votes cast in all of 2012, according to Paul Gronke, a political scientist at Reed College in Oregon and head of the Early Voting Information Center.

So what accounts for the stubborn success of this Midwestern state in getting people to the polls? The answer is complex  including policies that encourage participation, a politics of ideological inclusion, and a relatively well-off population.
SAMARKHEL, Afghanistan  There is one country in the world that is now taking in more Afghan migrants than all the countries in Europe and South Asia put together this year.

That would be Afghanistan itself.

By the end of the year, aid officials here expect some 1.5 million migrants to return to Afghanistan  many of them forcibly, and including some officially registered as refugees.

Some will come from Europe, which has recently signed a deal with Afghanistan to return tens of thousands of migrants who were not granted asylum. A far larger number are being forced back by Iran and, particularly, Pakistan, where the United Nations says there are 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees and an additional 700,000 undocumented Afghans.

Many Afghans report that concerted harassment and discrimination by the Pakistani authorities have become too much to bear. And Pakistan has flatly given Afghans a Nov. 15 deadline to obtain legal documents like passports and visas  a near impossibility for most  or they will face arrest and deportation, which could lead to even greater numbers leaving Pakistan in the coming weeks.
HONG KONG  The Chinese government plans to intervene in a legal dispute in Hong Kong over two politicians who have been prevented from taking seats in the local legislature, officials said on Friday, raising fears that the territorys independent judiciary is under threat. A decision may come on Monday.

What is this case about?

Two politicians who advocate independence for Hong Kong  Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Sixtus Leung, 30  were elected to the citys Legislative Council in September.

On Oct. 12, as they were being sworn in, they deviated from the oath of office by saying Chee-na instead of China. Many consider the term a derogatory slur against Chinese people because it was used by the Japanese in World War II. Ms. Yau also added a crude epithet.

The clerk ruled their oaths invalid, preventing them from taking office, and the president of the Legislative Council scheduled another session for the pair to be sworn in.
The 70-page report also shows how, despite the condemnation Beijing received internationally and in Hong Kong, its actions may have had the intended effect: The most prolific publisher of thinly sourced books about political intrigue and the sex lives of Chinas leaders is out of business. Other book publishers, including those that sell well-sourced, authoritative volumes about Chinese politics, are finding it increasingly difficult to continue operating.

The lack of information about the disappearances, and what one returning bookseller said were forced confessions, have sowed fear in Hong Kongs once-thriving publishing community. Chinas government has never given an explanation as to why it took such extraordinary measures against only one of many publishers. Was it, the report asks, to prevent the publication of a particular book? Or was the aim to coerce the publishers into revealing their sources? Perhaps it was to obtain lists of customers? Or maybe it was to shut down the biggest publisher of such books?

This constellation of theories, none mutually exclusive and none confirmed, has created an atmosphere of uncertainty, the report said. It is impossible for independent publishers who produce books critical of Chinas rulers to know how not to cross the line and become the next targets because it is unclear where that line is drawn. The only sure response is to take no steps at all.

Several shops that sold the so-called banned political books, which were popular among visiting mainland Chinese, have since closed their doors. At Hong Kong International Airport, said to be the biggest market for these titles, many of the shops that until last year sold these books have closed, and some have been replaced by bookshops indirectly owned by the Chinese government.

The report says many Hong Kong-based publishers of China-focused political books are finding it harder to find printers. One, Bao Pu, who runs New Century Press, was told by his printer that it would not print any more of his books, regardless of content.
It was the road in front of the army headquarters  a building which also served as a British military installation  where Ms. Yaus transformation began two years ago, on Sept. 28, 2014. It was there and then that she first experienced the political life: joining thousands of people in a standoff against the police.

As remarkable as Ms. Yaus rise from office worker to radical lawmaker may seem, her personal transformation is far from unique here. She is just one of hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers whose lives were altered by the pro-democracy protests that swept the city two years ago.

A generation of young people forged their political identities as they rallied  ultimately unsuccessfully  against Chinas decision to put strict controls on planned elections for the citys chief executive. To them, it was a betrayal of the promises made more than a generation ago that led to Britain transferring sovereignty to China, with the promise that Hong Kong would enjoy a high degree of autonomy until at least 2047.

All of us had the same mission, that we had to stop the government and try to get our democracy, Ms. Yau said in an interview.

After a few days, she became disillusioned with the main body of protesters who had set up camp on the thoroughfares around the Legislative Council building and the main government offices. The atmosphere was like a festival, she said.

When I came out from my home I thought I had to fight, to have a war with the government, Ms. Yau said.

When the protests ended after 79 days in December 2014, most participants resumed their daily routines. But not Ms. Yau. She volunteered for the newly formed Youngspiration party and ran for a seat in a local district council in 2015. She lost, but was spurred to run for the legislature after violent clashes broke out in February.
ATHENS  The Greek police raided a site near downtown Athens on Friday that would be the capitals first state-sponsored mosque, arresting 15 members of nationalist groups that had been occupying the premises in protest.

Athens is the only European Union capital without an official place of worship for Muslims, and although plans for the mosque predate the arrival of a huge of influx of migrants, many of whom are from Syria and Iraq, its construction has been caught up in the polarizing debate over how to handle the recent arrivals.

Nationalist groups have complained that the increase in Muslims threatens traditional Greek values, while the leftist-led government and Mayor Giorgos Kaminis, of Athens, have insisted that the creation of the mosque is an obligation for Greece as a European Union member state.

The protesters, who will face charges of disturbing the peace and have described themselves as patriots, moved to the plot of land in July to oppose the plans to construct the mosque, which was formally approved by Parliament in the summer after years of delays caused by protests and legal appeals. The project, budgeted at 887 million euros, or about $985 million, will be paid for by the Greek state.
The British musician Sting has announced that he will perform at the Nov. 12 reopening of the Bataclan, almost a year to the day after a terrorist attack at the Paris concert hall killed 90 people.

Islamic State militants wearing suicide vests opened fire during an Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan on Nov. 13, 2015, an attack that was part of a series in and around the city that night.

In reopening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile, Sting said in a statement on his website. First, to remember and honor those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second, to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theater represents. In doing so, we hope to respect the memory as well as the life-affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them.

Proceeds from the concert will be donated to Life for Paris and 13onze15, organizations that provide support to victims of the attacks and their families.
And then there is the vexed, complicated problem of Britain and its exit after more than 40 years, which few European countries either expected or wanted. Like the guest at a party who overstays his welcome, Britain and its internal psychodrama are getting on the nerves of its European partners, who fear further economic and political uncertainty to add to the already unhappy mix.

The British government and the ruling Conservative Party are deeply divided about what kind of relationship they want with the European Union, apparently having forgotten that the other 27 nations must unanimously agree to any new deal, and what Britain wants is not entirely the point.

The frustration for Brussels is that it cannot force Britain to act. It has to wait for the government to trigger Article 50, which begins a two-year negotiating period for exit. While many European leaders had wanted Article 50 to be invoked immediately after Britons voted to leave on June 23, they agreed to the March timetable.

That remains Mrs. Mays stated goal. But the High Court decision  which the government is appealing to the Supreme Court  has created the potential for months more delay, as well as the prospect that Parliament might lay down negotiating parameters that could make the talks even more difficult.

Mrs. Mays few public statements imply that she is leaning toward a hard Brexit, emphasizing control over immigration and Britains borders, even if that forces the country to leave Europes single market and hurts the economy. But the pro-European forces who make up a majority in Parliament, emboldened by the court ruling, may now have the means to soften her stance enough to keep Britain in the single market.

That would mean compromising on immigration, which is anathema to hard-line supporters of Brexit in her party and right-wing nationalists. The haggling could go on for some time.
Three terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba were also arrested during the operation.
MOSCOW  With President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia relying on resurgent nationalism as the bedrock of his government, on Friday he inaugurated what many consider to be a symbol of that policy: a colossal, much-debated statue of St. Vladimir, the patron saint of the Russian Orthodox Church who, of course, shares the presidents name.



Supporters hailed the statue as embodying Russias core identity as a robust state built around Christian values and under a resolute father figure.

Critics disparaged the work, which rises nearly 60 feet at a main crossroads here about 100 yards from the Kremlin walls, calling it an eyesore and a thinly disguised monument to the other Vladimir.

Whatever observers might think about the monument, there is no doubt that Russia has gone slightly statue mad. St. Vladimir is only the latest, most potent salvo in what might be called the Statue Wars, a battle over whether the proliferating figures across the country are being erected to represent something other than themselves or even than their historical periods.
JERUSALEM  Three American military trainers assigned to help upgrade Jordans armed forces were shot to death on Friday at a Jordanian Air Force base, an alarming confrontation that raised questions about the relationship between two longtime allies.

The Jordanian military said the trainers failed to stop as they approached a gate at the air base in the southern part of the country, and the Pentagon said it was examining the circumstances of the episode. It came a year almost to the day after a Jordanian police captain killed two American contractors in a rampage at a training facility.

A Jordanian military official, who declined to be identified discussing a matter that is now under investigation, said the trainers had tried to enter the base in a vehicle without heeding the orders of guards at the gate to stop.
What kind of plan will be easiest to set up and cost my employer the least?

Probably a 401(k). While 403(b) plans have been the traditional choice for nonprofits (and may be necessary for public school employees and religious leaders, because of various laws and regulations), there are no rules that keep nonprofits from adopting 401(k)s instead. Our colleague Stacy Cowley wrote last year about a number of services that can set up a cheap, simple plan. Ron also featured some of the providers in a 2011 column, and Tara wrote about Betterment and others last year.

The truly determined can just start their own plan. Jeremy Hockenstein, the husband of a rabbi, and Rabbi Van Lanckton did this in 2012. Their Rabbis and Cantors Retirement Plan serves two purposes: It is a model for those who are unhappy with the fees and investment choices in their current plan, and it allows others to get a plan where they previously had none.

Mr. Hockenstein said the process probably took a few hundred hours over several years, but the pair have not had to spend much money on their nonprofit operation.

Ive already got a plan, and Im worried that its bad. How can I sort it out?

Start with the company that runs it. If its an insurance company, your plan may include annuities. Annuities have their place. But it is a rare one, inside a retirement plan that is both low cost and offers a payout that would beat a basket of simple index mutual funds over long periods of time.

Gather any documents you can. If a representative is available, start asking questions.

Here are some good ones: Can you please tell me every single fee Im paying, regularly or irregularly? What are each mutual funds expenses? Are they higher than what I would pay in a normal brokerage account? If so, why? Is there a wrap fee or any other account management fee on top of the fund fees? Any mortality charges? Surrender charges? Sales charges? Loads? Distribution fees? 12-b1 fees? Shareholder service fees? What about any other fees that go to intermediaries?

If you pay a total of more than about 1 percent annually in fees  so that a $50,000 balance costs you more than $500  then you probably could be doing better.
And in 2016, the scandalmonger doesnt even need candid video and secret recordings; all it takes to stir folks into a political frenzy is a screenshot of an email and an online highlighter tool. With an assist by WikiLeaks  which has published the Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas illegally hacked campaign correspondence in an easy-to-search database  amateur muckrakers can easily rifle through the files and isolate any tidbit that seems a little juicy. The highlighter flourish screams scandal even if the content is stultifyingly mundane, or just plain wrong. One Trump supporter highlighted and tweeted an email from the WikiLeaks dump and claimed it proved that John Podesta says Islam is a threat to our future. Except the email wasnt even written by Mr. Podesta. It was sent to him. Whatever: The original tweet spread further than another exposing it as a lie.

Now that one of the most simple and accessible document forms  an email  has been recast as a blueprint for scandal, we can expect only more hacks, leaks and sinister highlighting down the road. The hackers who exposed the emails of Mr. Podesta and the Democratic National Committee have been rewarded for their risk. And the scandalmongers job is a lot easier when all they need to find is an email, no matter what it says.

Debates, Font of a Million Memes

One image from the 2008 election provides a glimmer of what future elections would have in store. Barack Obama and John McCain are walking across the stage during their third debate. Out front is Mr. Obama, walking normally. Behind him is Mr. McCain. He is caught mid-lurch, his hands reaching stiffly out in front of him, his tongue wagging. A meme was born. Its name: Zombie McCain.
John Simpson, whose memoir, The Word Detective, is reviewed this week, was 22 years old and a freshly minted master of medieval studies when he was hired by the Oxford English Dictionary, in 1976. Even though he didnt know it at the time, he would soon learn that the O.E.D.  a historical dictionary, to distinguish it from its merely lexicographic brethren  hired a lot of medievalists, he said in a phone interview. If you know the early stuff, you can look forward to what happens later. What wont get you hired by the O.E.D. are moony declarations of how much you love words. Such ardor, after all, might come at the expense of being able to treat words as objects for analysis. In The Word Detective, Simpson recalls he was also wary of inveterate typers (We normally asked for handwritten letters), poor spellers (of course) and those who claim to enjoy crossword puzzles. He reserved particular opprobrium for cover letters that included the job-application cliche hone (I honed my lexicographic skills through a passionate love of words and my enjoyment of crossword puzzles).

Were there any specific words he abhorred, outside the job-application process? Simpson, who eventually became the O.E.D.s chief editor before retiring in 2013, insisted that he and his fellow editors had to regard all words neutrally, as scientists, though he did divulge one word he avoids. I never really wanted to use the word hassle,  he said. (According to the O.E.D., the first recorded usage of hassle was in an American jazz magazine, in 1945.) I asked him if he ever encounters a word that he has to look up. It does happen, but he cant remember the last one: Its so obscure Ive forgotten it already.

Quotable

Reggae meant that voices coming out of my mouth could be the voice of protest, can be the voice of art, can be the voice of talking about whats going in the world.  Marlon James, in an interview with the Public
Seven new paperbacks to check out this week.

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES: Unmarried Women and the Rise ofan Independent Nation, by Rebecca Traister. (Simon & Schuster, $17.) For millions of American women, marriage is no longer a defining life event: In 2009, for the first time, single women outnumbered those who were married. Traister delves into the history of unmarried women, including their power as voters and agents of social change, and traces cultural shifts as more women forge independent lives.

BEATLEBONE, by Kevin Barry. (Anchor, $16.) Built around an imagined conversation between John Lennon and an Irish driver-for-hire, this novel follows Lennon as he seeks solitude on an island he owned off Irelands coast. Our reviewer, Steve Earle, praised Barrys ambitious prose and the novels conceit. Books like this come along once in a generation, he wrote here.

THE ONLY STREET IN PARIS: Life on the Rue Des Martyrs, by Elaine Sciolino. (Norton, $16.95.) A street spanning the Ninth and 18th Arrondissements was once a haunt of Cezanne and Van Gogh, but Sciolino, a former Paris bureau chief for The New York Times, brings to life the neighborhoods local residents, past and present: a beloved fishmonger who was forced to shutter his store; a 19th-century medium who roused ghosts; and an unofficial local historian.

SHE LOVES ME NOT: New and Selected Stories, by Ron Hansen. (Scribner, $16.) Hansens stories examine a wide range of subjects, but their particular focus is on Nebraskan life. Omaha especially is both rendered and reappropriated, registered and riffed on through a range of tonalities, our reviewer, Sven Birkerts, wrote. This edition also includes an excerpt from Hansens new novel, The Kid, which was published in October.
ALL TRUE NOT A LIE IN IT

By Alix Hawley

372 pp. Ecco/HarperCollins, paper, $15.99.

The title of this fictional portrait of Daniel Boone is decidedly tongue-in-cheek, given that any attempt to portray the life of the famous frontiersman must contend with his outsize legend. Still, Hawley vies for accuracy in rendering Boones tumultuous Quaker youth, his forays into the wilderness, the death of his son and his daughters kidnapping during clashes with the Shawnee Indians. For Boone, the path through nature is the way to heaven, and he imagines himself a Gulliver of the colonies  an image Hawley contrasts with those created by William Hill, a writer who exploits his friends celebrity.

The novel centers on two lengthy episodes: a perilous expedition to chart the unsettled Kentucky territory and Boones capture by Chief Black Fish, who adopts him as a son and hopes to turn him against the encroaching whites. Questions of honor, ownership and conquest are posed with a sensitivity that departs strikingly from the rugged posturing often associated with Boones story. Throughout, Hawley is careful not to allow contemporary mores to color this often surprisingly tranquil and original portrait of an individual who loomed large in our nations rapacious westward expansion.

RICH AND PRETTY

By Rumaan Alam

295 pp. Ecco/HarperCollins, $25.99.

Sarah Thomas and Lauren Brooks have nothing in common but each other. Sarah is the expensively educated daughter of a divisive political pundit, while Lauren is a diffident associate editor at a press that publishes cookbooks by celebrity chefs. Yet their friendship, begun at a private school in Manhattan, has continued well into their 30s. Only now, with Sarahs impending marriage, is that bond truly tested: by Laurens halfhearted romance with an office temp and her impatience with her maid-of-honor obligations, by the disapproval of Sarahs well-to-do friends and by the revelation that Sarah is pregnant.

It would be easy, at first glance, to mistake Rich and Pretty for a breezy social comedy, but Sarah and Lauren arent written as broad types; theyre merely reacting to whats expected of them. Each gives the other access to a different perspective, not to mention an unselfish empathy. The terrain of Alams novel may seem familiar, but superficiality is its subject, not its method. The life he breathes into these two characters allows them to emerge as three-dimensional women caught in an oppressive, materialistic world.
This interview with Deirdre Quinn, chief executive of Lafayette 148 New York, a womens fashion company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Q. Tell me about your early years.

A. I grew up in a small town called Cresskill, N.J. I was an average student, but I had a lot of energy. I worked 12 different jobs before I graduated high school. I was pretty independent, and I didnt want to have to ask my parents for money. Id just figure out how to get it myself. I was always like that. I didnt want anything from anybody, and Ive never been afraid of working hard.

I come from a huge Irish family. Ive got 60 first cousins, and I know every one of them. Family has always been a really wonderful part of my life, and I feel like the company today is just an extension of my family.

Im also the second born of my brothers and sisters. I watched my older sister argue with my father about what she wanted. When youre the oldest, I guess its a little harder to blaze a trail. For me, I could crack a joke and get what I wanted, because my father had a good sense of humor. I used to say to my sister, Just watch  I can get it for you. Then Id get him in a good mood and just go for it.
Nov. 13 is the one-year anniversary of the death of Nohemi Gonzalez, the only American among 130 killed in the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Nohemi was on a semester abroad, trading in 15 weeks at California State University, Long Beach, for an experience at Strate School of Design in Sevres, outside of Paris. She was the first in her family to attend college  a Mexican-American industrial design student on her way to becoming one of just over 15 percent of young Hispanics who hold a bachelors degree.

On the night she was killed, she was enjoying the City of Light like a Parisienne, in a lively bistro on Rue de Charonne, perhaps toasting her Cal State design team, which, she had just learned, placed second in a competition for efficient packaging of snack food. The packaging would decompose, leaving no trace behind.

It is hard to truly know this student from public comments. The language of grief exalts and reduces the dead with larger-than-life words. She is described by friends as always happy, beautiful and a bright spirit. Her own Facebook posts give a sense of a more particular Nohemi: Learning a 3D modeling computer program in a language I dont know is up there in the top three hardest things Ive ever had to do. (The reader cant help but wonder what the other two hard things were.)
Its sad, said Sera Hwang of Apex, N.C., a pharmaceutical services company founder. It was a good option for weddings because its convenient and its a brand you already know. When looking for bridesmaids dresses for her brothers wedding in August 2014 at the Rockleigh, an event site in New Jersey, Ms. Hwang, 35, recalled shopping at a J. Crew store in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.

I liked how you could get different styles and how you could shop for your bridesmaid dress, but also just shop in general, she said. She ended up spending $300 for a coral pink number with pockets in the skirt. If you wanted to, it was well-made enough that you could wear it again, she said.

Along with BHLDN, the wedding collection of Anthropologie, J. Crew shook up the industry with an indie approach to the stiff bridal market.
This is different, he added.Were trying to create a national network and learn from it.

Regardless of Mr. Cohens timing or his motivation, his approach to veterans' issues follows a path taken by other hedge fund managers: Get involved with Robin Hood, start a family foundation and then find an issue that hedge fund money and connections might fix.

Hedge fund pioneers like George Soros and Paul Tudor Jones gave substantially to organizations of their creation aimed at big problems  Mr. Soros to the Open Society Foundation, which promotes democracy, and Mr. Jones in founding Robin Hood.

Among Mr. Cohens contemporaries, Stanley Druckenmiller has focused on medical research and education  earning the title Americas Most Charitable Man in 2009 from The Chronicle of Philanthropy  and Louis Bacon has put his philanthropic energy behind environmental causes.

With veterans, Mr. Cohen makes clear that this is his project alone, separate from the charitable work his family foundation has done under the oversight of his wife, Alexandra. (Their family foundation, which gives away about $50 million a year, has focused on causes like childrens health and Lyme disease.)

While Mr. Cohen insisted during recent interviews at his office that he is not following anyone elses model in giving to veterans' charities, he learned through Robin Hood, having spent a decade on its board before stepping down in 2014.

In 2011, when Robin Hood formed a committee to give $13 million to help veterans in New York City, Mr. Cohen was part of the effort, which is how he met Admiral Mullen. That experience gave Mr. Cohen the idea to focus on veterans' mental health and take it nationwide.

Hedge fund managers like Mr. Cohen bring a lot to a cause, starting with the millions and billions of dollars they have made managing other peoples money. And nonprofit organizations would not exist without big donations.
WASHINGTON  When Howard Schultz, the chairman and chief executive of Starbucks, and his wife decided three years ago that they wanted to give millions of dollars to veterans causes, they had one basic requirement: The organizations had to have track records of quickly helping veterans and their families overcome their most pressing issues.

The Schultzes decided to get involved in giving money to military causes shortly after Robert Gates, the defense secretary from 2006 to 2011, joined the Starbucks board in 2012. Mr. Gates made the family aware of the types of challenges service members were facing as they returned to civilian life.

To us, this isnt about sympathy or charity for those who have served, Mr. Schultz said in a statement, its about doing whats best for our country, by providing them an opportunity to employ their leadership and problem-solving skills, and their values and discipline, on the home front.

But finding such groups in a crowded field of veterans charities was not easy. The Schultz Family Foundation spent several months working with a consulting firm to survey the roughly 40,000 charitable organizations in the country dedicated to helping veterans and their families.
Agora for Good, Ms. Campbell says, is targeting donors who seek a more tech-savvy, effective way of interacting with their philanthropy  many of whom are millennials  without middlemen like philanthropic advisers. There is a payment processing fee associated with the service of 1 percent to 5 percent; it is retained by Agora.

There are also transaction fees such as 25 cents for donations from a bank account, and up to 3.25 percent for donations made via credit card.

The digital platform makes giving easier and more focused on progress, said Ms. Campbell, who, before joining Agora, had advised donors on investing more than $300 million in global development projects. She plans to enhance Agora for Good to make it friendlier for mobile devices and provide push notifications on the charitys achievements to remind you to make regular donations.

Despite the technological advances, though, how do users discern which nonprofit is going to best serve their specific charitable interests? Which is the most effective group trying to end the malarial scourge, for example? What are the strongest groups in the environmental or social justice arena?

There is no lack of online information to rate charities based on their spending, mission and transparency. Some online services even group charities by their objective  such as environmental, international development and religious missions. But its easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of charities and rankings available.

Charity Navigator uses an unbiased, objective, numbers-based rating system to assess over 8,000 of Americas best-known and some lesser-known, but worthy, charities, according to its website. The Better Business Bureau, through its Wise Giving Alliance, produces a list of accredited charities.

GuideStar has a database of more than 2.5 million nonprofits and partners, which collectively have more than 200 other charity donation websites. GiveWell does in-depth analysis on a small group of international charities to find outstanding giving opportunities, and produce a shortlist of recommended groups, according to its website.
RE: THE PLAYBORHOOD

Melanie Thernstrom wrote about a Silicon Valley father who turned his yard into a playground where children can take physical risks without supervision.

Hooray for Mike Lanza and the other parents in America who understand the need for children to have the freedom to develop their social and physical skills without the constraints of hovering adults.

Of course, talking with children about bullying and safety concerns before and after these free-play experiences goes hand in hand with giving them the freedom to engage in such wondrous activities. I think the Lanzas have given us all a lot to consider in the raising of our children (and grandchildren). As an educator of young children in public schools for 40 years and the parent of three wonderful adult children, I feel as though I can say this with some authority. Stephen Dixon, Newcastle, Me.
When the director Mike Mills was growing up in Santa Barbara, Calif., in the late 1970s, he and his mom would check the stock reports in the newspaper in the morning at the kitchen table. It was an odd but sacred ritual for the essentially single mother and her son, and its a scene that is replayed in Mr. Millss richly autobiographical new film, 20th Century Women.

Like his 2011 movie, Beginners, Mr. Mills uses his upbringing as a jumping-off point, but 20th Century (set for a Dec. 25 release) is not so much a boys coming-of-age tale  about the travails of a punk-obsessed teenager  as it is the feminism-inflected story of his mother, Dorothea, and the constellation of women who help raise him.

Those three women  Dorothea (Annette Bening, in a performance that has been generating Oscar talk); her 20-something boarder, Abbie (Greta Gerwig); and the boys high school friend, Julie (Elle Fanning)  are all loosely based on real figures in Mr. Millss life. The characters also come to represent different stages in a womans life and the experiences of women through different periods in the countrys history, too. With all the talk of Hollywood needing to tell more stories of women onscreen, here comes a male filmmaker with a movie that tells of womens lives in a way that has women nodding with recognition.
Casey Affleck is having a Hollywood moment. Again. To his own slight dismay.

This happened before, in 2007, when two ballyhooed performances  and a subsequent Oscar nomination  seemed destined to lift him out from the long shadow cast by his older brother, Ben. But the meaty roles did not come, and Mr. Affleck went on to crash and burn with his spectacularly ill-received 2010 mockumentary, Im Still Here. Diagnostic articles followed, including Casey Affleck Should Be More Famous, in The New York Times Magazine, yet Mr. Affleck remained in the demimonde of demifame.

Now, Mr. Affleck is on the precipice of wider glory once more, with his much praised lead performance as a grief-stricken janitor in Kenneth Lonergans new film, Manchester by the Sea (set to open Nov. 18). The movie, and Mr. Afflecks turn, drew gasps at this years big film festivals, along with awards chatter; the accolades heaped on Mr. Affleck included the performance of his career.

All of which makes him squirm, or so he says.

The idea of someone not liking me or not liking my movie was always easier to deal with than someone really liking it, Mr. Affleck, 41, said in an interview last month in Manhattan. I dont know why.

He met to chat in the cafe of the Carlyle Hotel, an unlikely haunt for his slightly ragamuffin, plaid-shirt-wearing self, which seems to belong in the 1990s-era Lower East Side. But Mr. Affleck loves the Carlyles rarefied throwback allure. The halls smell like my grandmother, he said.
When Bob Weinstein first received the script for Bad Santa, he felt that a gift had been dropped in his lap. Universal had set the project aside, and Mr. Weinstein snapped it up for his company at the time, Miramax: I asked a Universal executive, Whyd you guys pass on it? And he said, It was the most foul, disgusting, misogynistic, anti-Christmas, anti-children thing we could imagine. Mr. Weinstein recalled. Thats exactly why I bought it.

Bad Santa turned out to be a gift that keeps on giving. The 2003 comedy, about Willie (Billy Bob Thornton), an alcoholic department-store Kris Kringle who teams with the foulmouthed elf Marcus (Tony Cox) to rip off a shopping-mall safe and becomes an unlikely father figure to a bullied youngster, Thurman (Brett Kelly), was a smash with audiences and critics. Now many of the stars have reunited for Bad Santa 2, due in theaters Nov. 23.

The story of the original films production may have turned out well, but there was bad blood as it was being made. Now the major players tell the tale in their own words.

JOHN REQUA (writer) The Coen brothers said: We have this idea for a movie we want you to write. Its about a bad Santa. He drinks beer and stuff.
Mr. Chazelle explained how he and his crew used a freeway right alongside daily commuters, how they got a railway reopened and why he wanted to make real locations look as fake as possible.

Fugue for Traffic Horns

For the opening musical number set in traffic, Mr. Chazelle also wanted to give a sense of how vast the city is. He shot the film in CinemaScope to take it all in. The scene starts with music on the radio and the idea that people stuck in traffic are stars of their own personal musicals. That leads to synchronized singing, dancing and leaping.

The number was shot on a ramp connecting the 105 and 110 freeways. What I like about it is that you see downtown, Mr. Chazelle said. When you go wide and reveal the skyline, it feels kind of Wizard of Oz to me, the yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City. While he joked that his sequence was as fake as movies get, he also noted that the road wasnt blocked off, so in the lower left part of the image, civilian cars are seen driving by as they would on any day. Weve established the tension of the movie right away, between really heightened musical fantasia and real, urban modern city.
At the typical corporate holiday affair, co-workers might let their hair down a little, quaff some good cheer, perhaps exchange Secret Santa gifts. Most of the time things go smoothly, and Monday morning its back to the grind.

The shindig in Office Christmas Party is not that kind of get-together. Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, this new comedy (due Dec. 9) revolves around a raunchy all-nighter organized by the employees of a family-owned computer company in danger of being downsized by a Scrooge of an heir (Jennifer Aniston). To save the day, her brother, Clay (T. J. Miller of Silicon Valley), hopes to land the account of a tech magnate (Courtney B. Vance) who has reservations about the firms chilly culture. So Clay and his surrogate family of workers (including Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, Randall Park and Kate McKinnon) must unfasten ties and collars and host a bash.

Its an educational film more than anything else, Mr. Miller said by phone. Were trying to loosen up America.

But since this is a holiday movie, it comes with sweetness and even a message (people over profit). It has to have heart, Mr. Miller said. Around Christmas, human beings think in terms of love and family. I found it hilarious that we did a movie where theres that, but theres also cocaine in the snow blower.
On a recent Sunday in Astoria, Queens, Sal DePaola looked out the windows of Sorriso Italian Salumeria, a box of a store with its walls nearly bursting with Italian foodstuffs. Gesturing toward the street, he lamented that some of the areas residents seem set in their daily routines, too focused to even notice the humble storefront.

Its as though the store needs one of those, you know, Vegas signs, said Mr. DePaola, 27, whose father, Frank DePaola, owns Sorriso. Flashing lights and colors. A reason for people to stop.

But those who do stop, like Mindy Tam, 28, find bliss. Sorriso means smile in Italian, after all.

Everyone here is really friendly, and they all make an effort to say, Hi, and see how youre doing, said Ms. Tam, who lives a few blocks away. They introduce themselves, and ask you what your name is, so it kind of has a family feel.

Ms. Tam praised the charcuterie selection and offered up a slice of her newly purchased peppered salami to prove her point.
She was the first female kung fu star  name above title, said J. Hoberman, a longtime movie critic who now writes about video for The New York Times. He has fond memories of seeing Ms. Maos movies on triple bills at Times Square grindhouse theaters in the 1970s. She basically had one act, which was going from an obedient character to a machine-like avenger, he added. A lot of people saw her films as feminist statements the same way as Pam Grier films.

Ms. Maos career coincided with the over-the-top, often impolitic exploitation era in film. The narrator for an American trailer of her 1972 film Hapkido declares: Watch out for the pigtail that whips you up and wipes you out.  Lady Kung Fu: the unbreakable China Doll who gives you the licking of your life.

She was born Mao Ching Ying in 1950 and grew up in Taiwan, the third of eight children, to a family of entertainers for the Peking Opera House. Like her siblings, she started training for the opera at a young age, taking voice lessons when she was 5. She also studied martial arts, specifically hapkido, rising to the level of black belt  a prowess that later distinguished her from other action stars, who merely choreographed their fight scenes.

In her 20s, she moved to Hong Kong, where a thriving film industry was based, but she was hardly romantic about it. To be honest, the money was just better in movies, she said. I had to support my family. Most of the money I made I gave to them. This is the Chinese tradition.

Image Ms. Mao appeared in the 1973 classic Enter the Dragon. Credit... Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images

Leading female roles were rare in Hong Kong at the time. Mr. Meyers, the fan who met with Ms. Mao at Lincoln Center, is the author of Films of Fury, a comprehensive history of the kung fu movie genre. Ms. Mao, he said, was the first woman to star in her own action films without having to defer to a male star.

Men ran things, he explained. Hong Kong had lots of machismo then. Women were considered jade vases. They didnt speak on screen. They were considered decoration.
The election is almost over, so let the healing begin. Ill go first. To my brother, whom I will identify here only as Martin Wadler, I forgive you for posting those uninformed and inaccurate anti-Clinton screeds on Facebook, often on the page of my best friend, Herb, occasionally on mine. I should not have blocked you so frequently, though I would like to point out that you can only block someone frequently if you unblock them frequently, which I always did. Eventually.

I must also voice my regret for trying to influence the vote of our mother who shares your political views. A woman who thinks a presidential candidate will come to her nursing home and help her find her lost cat should not be enticed into debate, particularly as she does not have a cat.

It was also wrong of me to make a $20 bet with her that her man Trump was not merely going to lose big, but would concede by 10 p.m. I also might have said, Get the money from Martin.

Goodness, I feel so much better now.

In fact, I would like to take a moment to brag on my brother who will be spending election night at my mothers nursing home so she has someone with whom to share the excitement. He will actually be sleeping there, on a pullout couch. Is he a great son or what?
Even though Donald J. Trump took a brief break from stumping the other day to open a new Trump hotel, in Washington, D.C., he has rarely paused in nearly 18 months of political campaigning in selling the American electorate hard on his latest, most ambitious, mega-development: the Wall. As if lifted from a real estate brochure, the adjectives, stitched together, soothe and seduce: An impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern  the southern rather innocuously tucked in, like a house advertising southern exposure  border wall.

No one really knows what the Wall is  neither its physical manifestation nor, more important, the policies needed to undergird its construction  but that hardly matters. For whether there ever will be an actual wall or not, it already exists as an idea, a piece of political theater, as a metaphor. Perhaps Mr. Trump has taken inspiration from the Kim dynasty of North Korea, which makes much propaganda value from the 26-foot-high concrete border wall built by the fascist clique of South Korea  a wall that does not exist.

Reality exists, writes the linguist George Lakoff and the philosopher Mark Johnson in Metaphors We Live By, but so does the unconscious system of metaphorical thought that we use without awareness to comprehend reality.

And what metaphor could be more substantial than a wall? The word border, with its vague associations with neighboring, seems vaporous, but a wall conveys protection, an unyielding solidity. Mr. Trump, arguing that a wall is better than fencing, of which there is already a more than 600-mile structure along the United States-Mexico border, added: Its more secure. Its taller.
And in Greenwich Village, two fashion designers picked up new digs. Cynthia Rowley bought a townhouse with ground-floor retail space, while Tamara Mellon, who was a founder of the Jimmy Choo brand, bought a new condominium.

The most expensive closed sale last month, meanwhile, according to city records, was at 10 Madison Square West, the Witkoff Groups condominium conversion of a century-old showroom building at the International Toy Center, at Broadway and West 24th Street.

Image 10 Madison Square West sold for $36.57 million and was most expensive closed sale last month. Credit... Edward Caruso for The New York Times

A 6,700-square-foot penthouse there  with 2,000 square feet of outdoor space, 12-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows  closed at $36,573,875. It was sold as a white box, without interior walls or finishes, to a buyer using the limited liability company 10 MSWC. Kirk Rundhaug, Holly Parker, Trisha Riedel and Darren Sukenik of Douglas Elliman Real Estate represented both sides of this transaction. Monthly carrying charges total $20,035.

THE MADOFF RESIDENCE, unit No. 5A, near York Avenue, has around 3,200 square feet with five bedrooms and five and a half baths. The loft-like layout offers floor-to-ceiling windows, wide-plank oak floors and a decorative fireplace. The master suite features a 20-foot balcony, a dressing room, a double-windowed limestone bathroom and a connected office with its own marble bath.
Her IT House  a glass-enclosed, solar-powered, prefabricated structure in Pioneertown, Calif., near Joshua Tree National Park  was an experiment in using nontraditional construction methods, built with her then-husband and business partner, Alan Koch, 10 years ago as a second home for themselves. Ms. Taalman and Mr. Koch have since divorced and no longer work together; Ms. Taalman now owns the house and rents it out on Airbnb for $380 a night.

Guests enamored of the house have left glowing reviews on the website, as well as bottles of champagne for their host, and even a pair of socks (those particular visitors owned a sock company). A few have been so impressed that theyve commissioned Ms. Taalman to design other homes like it.

Image Inside the Frank Lloyd Wright house Credit... Andrew Pielage

The Blue Jay Tipi, in the Catskills town of Bovina, N.Y., is experimental in a different way: The owners, Chris Langford, 34, and Lisa Candela, 45, are using it to test-drive their idea for a boutique resort.

The couple met in South Dakota, Mr. Langfords home state, when Ms. Candela, a photographer, was hired to take pictures at a wedding held on a wild horse sanctuary. She and Mr. Langford, a financial planner who was one of the wedding guests, both admired the tepees on the reserve. As they got to know each other, they realized they shared dreams that, if not similar, were at least distantly related  he to live off the land and she to create a destination resort in a bucolic setting.

After they became engaged they found a way to combine those dreams, living in a small house in Bovina, on land that flows down to a meandering creek, and erecting a tepee in a clearing nearby, furnishing it with rustic-romantic furnishings in the vein of a Ralph Lauren photo spread. In April, they listed the tepee on Airbnb for $135 a night and immediately started to get bookings.
She will always wear or carry something red, because red is her signature. When she started an H.I.V./AIDS awareness organization in 2009 that runs workshops around the country about its impact on women, she called it the Red Pump project because shoes are my love language, and women love shoes. More to the point, she said, H.I.V. is a critical issue to women of color.

She started the project when she met someone who had 20 cousins living with their grandmother because their parents had died of AIDS-related causes.

If I have a contribution to make, its to get people to think hard truths, even when its difficult, Ms. Ajayi said. Not that she disparages the importance of online activism, but you have to understand that activism needs to go offline, too. You can be tweeting strangers and saying, Dont say that, but are you saying that to your friends? How about your mom? Your boyfriend at the dinner table who says something homophobic? If youre not saying the same things in person that youre saying online, then what are your tweets doing?

Ms. Ajayi does not talk in detail about her life offline. Asked about a partner, she laughs and says, I can neither confirm nor deny, though she does show her supreme intelligence by noting she would never date a writer. Right now, she is focused on her book tour, which she has also branded. She handed out a Judgy Pop, the red lollipop on the cover of her book, to remember her by.

Ms. Ajayi was raised in a well-to-do family in Nigeria and moved to Chicago in 1994 with her mother and siblings. One of her most eye-opening chapters is about what she considers Americas distorted and monolithic view of Africa, a continent with more languages and cultures than I can count, as one large bastion of poverty and pestilence where children are covered in dust and the flies buzzing around their heads are the mascots. And, she points out, those Nigerian princes who need your bank account information? That image of Nigeria is sort of like deciding you know everything there is about Italians from watching The Godfather.
A lot of whats been done in the E.R. can safely and effectively be done in the home, said Karen Abrashkin, an internist with the House Calls program and Mrs. Vitales primary care physician. For frail, older people with many health problems, Dr. Abrashkin noted, the hospital is not always the safest or best place to be.

Geriatricians have warned for years about the ways in which hospitalization can accelerate older patients decline, even when physicians succeed in fixing the medical problem at hand.

Emergency rooms often serve as gateways to longer stays, and the time spent in bed leads quickly to deconditioning. Older people who walked in on their own often cannot walk out, and need rehab and physical therapy to try to regain their mobility.

Theyre also vulnerable to hospital-acquired infections, including the rampant C. difficile, that can prove difficult to eradicate. Newly prescribed medications can interact badly with those they already take.

Delirium strikes as many as half of hospitalized older patients, studies have shown; its especially common among the cognitively impaired.

Mrs. Vitale perceived nonexistent threats, for example. Shed be telling me there was a dog under her bed or someone trying to get into her room, Mr. Vitale said.

For all these reasons, plus the sky-high costs of emergency medicine and hospitalization, community paramedic practices are multiplying across the country.
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John Ashbery is one of Americas most lauded poets, yet his work defies traditional expectations for what poems should do. At times likened to montage, at others to abstraction in painting, his poems take many different forms but could be said to be more like assemblages of language that capture and enact an elusive, shifting feeling. This poem seems have a single speaker, and it offers a kind of funny, offhand redefinition of the word (originally a military term) that is its title. Poem selected by Matthew Zapruder.

Credit Illustration by R. O. Blechman

Beleaguered

Lacking a better term for it your boyfriends boyfriend opens out to a large plastic bag northbound, with northern nuances, disturbed and impressed by one still kept in conversations, though fled beyond advantage. You might want to do it again. Theres a lot you dont know, hey hum.
Eugene Richard Nyland May 10, 1929 - October 22, 2016 Eugene Nyland, 87, former Vice President of Operations for Ampex Recording Media Corportion in Opelika has passed away on October 22, 2016. A native of Chicago, Nyland worked in the operation division of Ampex in Chicago for 18 years before moving to Opelika as operations manager. The company later promoted him to Vice-President of Operations. Nyland attended Northwestern University. He was on the Board of Directors of First National Bank of Opelika, a director for Junior Achievement, on the board for the Achievement Center and on the board for the United Way of Lee County. He also served as United Way Industrial chairman for Opelika. Nyland also served on the Board of Directors for the Opelika Chamber of Commerce. The Nyland family belongs to St. Mary's Parish. He also served in the Navy aboard the USS Missouri. Nyland is preceded in death by his wife, Joan Nyland, and son, Jeffery Nyland. He is survived by his daughters, Cathy Nyland of Opelika, Carol Ann Joyce (Kevin) of Seattle, Washington; two grandchildren, Haley Rose and Kyle Joyce also of Seattle; brother, Robert Nyland of Wisconsin; and numerous nieces and nephews. A Mass of the Resurrection for Mr. Nyland will be 11:00 a.m., Friday, November 4, 2016, at St. Mary's Catholic Church. A reception will follow at 12:30 p.m. at the Saugahatchee Country Club following the mass. Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home is directing. www.jeffcoattrant.com
LOS ANGELES  A former Los Angeles city councilman is facing retrial on charges of voter fraud and perjury.

City News Service says a judge refused Friday to dismiss the case against Richard Alarcon and his wife, Flora, but also urged both sides to resolve the case.

Prosecutors say Alarcon falsely claimed to live in Panorama City so he could run in that City Council district while living outside of it.

The Alarcons were convicted in 2014 but an appeals court overturned the decision in January, ruling the jury received improper instructions. Prosecutors have said theyll retry the couple.

Alarcon currently is running for Congress against incumbent Tony Cardenas, a Los Angeles Democrat.
As she tells it, Jill Brenner, a musician working for Irvine High School, was sitting at that piano that takes up her whole office the way a car takes up a garage, when she saw Henry Xu strolling down the hall past her door. She knew him, but she didnt really know him. She invited him in. She learned hes from China, hes been here for about three years, and hes still learning English so he doesnt say much.

Tell me about your national anthem, Brenner said.

A big smile brightened Xus face. Ill sing it for you, he said.

When Xu finished, he became emotional. I havent sung that since I moved here, he said.

Brenners interaction with Xu brought the realization that there was a wealth of diversity ready to be celebrated among the 200 kids in the schools choral program. As a result, though Xu didnt know it at the time, he would be singing the anthem again about three weeks later during Irvine Highs choral music departments fall performance, called Homeland: A Musical Celebration of Diversity.

The Oct. 27 performance featured 10 national anthems from various countries, including Egypt, the Philippines and the Netherlands, all sung by students with the respective heritages. A collection of traditional spirituals and folk songs from several countries, including the United States, Macedonia and Peru, was also sung.

Alia Yehia, a senior second soprano and a Muslim with a big laugh and big voice, sang Bilady, the Egyptian national anthem.

Bilady means my country, and its just talking about how everyone should be gracious for the Nile and how Egypt is the mother of all ancient lands, Yehia said before the concert. Im singing it with Marly (Latif), whos in treble chorus, and I think it really brings out the diversity because Im Muslim and shes Christian, so its like everyones trying to come together.

Yehia, who was born in Egypt, moved to the United States with her family when she was 6. Cultural outreach among the choral program members goes beyond this performance, she said.

Everyones opinion matters in here, said Yehia. You cant be outside the group; everyone matters.

Deciding on the setlist had its challenges. The nine students singing the Vietnamese national anthem chose to perform the anthem of the Republic of Vietnam rather than that of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam because they believed it to be more respectful to the older generations attending the show. Also, some students had to learn to sing in another language while still maintaining the delicate balance between melody and enunciation.

Sophia Arellano, a first-generation Filipino student who performed Lupang Hinirang (Land of the Morning), the Philippine national anthem, learned to sing in Tagalog

Its hard. Its so hard. I dont even know it, Arellano said of speaking Tagalog. I know like certain phrases because thats what my parents tell me all the time, but I cant speak it, and it doesnt come to me as easily as other people.

I was born (in the Philippines) and I moved here when I was 4 because my parents were struggling over there, she said. Since then Ive only gone back there once and I feel really disconnected from my heritage and my culture. Every now and then I get like little snippets through family events or cultural festivals, but I feel like doing the national anthem now really brings me back.
It is a cool April day in the mountains above Julian, and Medal of Honor recipient John Baca climbs in his tiny, beat-up red truck, reaches over and opens the passenger door for me because, well, the handle is long gone.

We pull away from his small rustic cabin and rattle and bounce down a dirt road as Baca distributes mail to shut-ins, gives out apple pies and makes sure that folks without know that someone cares.

Its a typical day for an extraordinary Vietnam veteran, a man who threw himself on a grenade in 1970 so that his Army buddies could live. Miraculously, Baca survived, and while still suffering from injuries, he pays it forward by giving away just about everything.

Heck, Baca even gave away his house in Huntington Beach. It was near the park named after him.

But in a unique moment last weekend before hundreds of fellow veterans, the Medal of Honor recipient finally allowed that sometimes accepting a gift means more than giving a gift.

Bacas eyes grew wide when he saw his present. Civilians, as well as men who once faced battle as their brothers bled, brushed away tears.

And this man awarded the nations highest medal for valor in combat found some healing.

AN ANGEL FOR TROOPS

Buying a car is easy. Getting a vehicle for a man who gives away everything is tough.

Enter Annie Nelson. She graduated from Mission Viejo High School and Cal State Long Beach, then modeled and became a flight attendant.

Life was good  until she suffered a work-related back injury. Sidelined, she found her calling after 9/11: helping men and women in uniform.

She formed American Soldier Network, began writing letters to troops in Iraq and wound up pen pals with three Marines. Just before Christmas 2004, a suicide bomber hit a convoy. One pen pal was killed and another was badly injured.

She found herself mourning. But how do you mourn people when youve never met them?

You struggle.

A month later, the phone rang. It was Cpl. Jesse Schertzs mother. Now being treated in Texas, the young Marine wanted to see his pen pal. Her support made a difference.

Today, Schertz is a single-leg amputee, married and has three children.

But six years ago, Nelson was diagnosed with brain tumors. Despite a series of operations, she continues her mission.

In the past decade, American Soldier Network has handed out 5,000 holiday bags at the Naval Medical Center San Diego and at Camp Pendleton. Over the past nine years, the nonprofit has sponsored a free dinner dance for veterans and their spouses, hosting 75 couples every Valentines.

For the past three years, the charity has collected a total of 30,000 pounds of shoes and $12,000 to help impoverished people. Last year, the network launched a food drive, with 1,300 cans donated.

Nelsons current effort focuses on preventing suicide among veterans. In July, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that there are close to two dozen deaths a day. Nelson says the number is higher.

In recent years, she also has taken on a new mission: making sure Baca has decent transportation.

JOJO TO THE RESCUE

Giving someone a vehicle is complicated. Not only do you need to get the vehicle, you also need gas, insurance and gift tax. And, if you are smart and thoughtful, you also need a supply of dog food.

Yep, dog food.

Bacas most important companion, caregiver and adviser is a big black poodle named JoJo.

For months, Nelson networked with people such as retired Toyota executive and veteran Donald Esmond and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer to help get decent wheels for Baca. She also worked to get supplies for JoJo.

Companies such as Purina donated food for JoJo. An outfit called the Nice Guys of San Diego shelled out more than $6,000 for the gift tax. That left the big present  a truck.

Nelson and company didnt want it to be just any truck. In honor of Bacas beater, they wanted it to be a red truck.

Without fanfare, news releases or commercials, Toyota and its dealerships quietly stepped up.

BIG BURLY BIKERS

The brotherhood of battle includes a brotherhood of bikers.

It is Saturday, Oct. 29, and a parking lot in Oceanside is covered with motorcycles. Nearly all the riders are veterans or active duty. There are Bikers for Christ, Rough Riders, Forgotten Sons, Infidels, Deadlocks, Iron Wolves, Violators, Pacific Savagezs.

Most are big, burly scary-looking dudes, and it aint because its close to Halloween.

Still, these men are here to serve, just as they served their country. Moreover, they are here to support their brother and Medal of Honor recipient.

Each biker chips in $20 for grub that should cost far less, shells out cash during two auctions and pays $30 for a fun ride to help Nelsons American Soldier Network.

Even as all this goes on, Baca does what he always does when hes being honored. He hangs in the back, quietly talking to struggling veterans or young men and women on active duty.

Eventually, Baca has no choice but to face that hes the guest of honor. He stands with retired Marine Maj. William Monsoon Mimiaga, retired Army Sgt. Greg Young, Esmond and Nelson. The crowd starts to part. Theres a big flash of red.

Suddenly, in front of Baca theres a giant Toyota Tundra with a huge red ribbon.

For a moment, Baca stares down. He looks up, eyes welling. He gathers himself.

This is powerful, the Medal of Honor man says. This has never happened to me before.

Baca speaks of times in his life that stand out. One was facing the enemy on Christmas Day in Vietnam and choosing to try to take a man prisoner rather than shooting him. He captured the man and found photographs that reminded Baca of his own family.

Another time was in 1990, when Baca helped build a Red Cross Friendship Clinic near Hanoi and thought he spotted the man hed captured.

Baca looks at Nelson, team Toyota and his brothers and sisters in arms. Ill always remember this moment, he says. Ive made new friends. Thank you so very, very much.

The Medal of Honor recipient climbs into the black drivers seat, puts his hands on the steering wheel and looks ahead. JoJo jumps up fuzzy doggie stairs and into the back seat.

Their road is wide open.

Contact the writer: dwhiting@scng.com
BALTIMORE  The driver of a Baltimore school bus involved in a deadly crash with a commuter bus this week should not have been at the wheel because his commercial drivers license was suspended two months earlier, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration said Thursday.

Glenn R. Chappells one-year Medical Examiners Certificate expired Aug. 31, and the agency did not receive an updated one, as required by federal law for holders of commercial drivers licenses, spokesman Chuck Brown said in a statement.

These licenses are required for school bus drivers in Maryland.

Brown provided copies of two warning letters the agency sent Chappell. One, dated July 17, reminded him that his certificate would soon expire. The other, dated Sept. 8, told Chappell, You are no longer authorized to operate a commercial motor vehicle.

He was told to either submit updated information or have his permit downgraded to a noncommercial drivers license.

Chappell also could have been kept from driving for another reason: He pleaded guilty in 2012 to second-degree assault.

A State Board of Education regulation says a school system may not permit someone convicted of a violent crime to operate a school vehicle.

Neither Chappells employer, AA Affordable Transportation, nor Baltimore City Public Schools answered questions posed by The Associated Press in calls and emails about the crash and Chappells fitness.

A statement from AA Affordable Thursday evening, obtained by WJZ-TV, offered condolences to the victims families and said the company is cooperating fully with investigators and cannot comment during the investigation.

Brown said that to renew a certification, drivers must say whether they have experienced a brain injury, seizure, high blood pressure or dizziness, and submit to measurements of other standard health indicators.

The resulting certificate doesnt contain this information, however, so the Motor Vehicle Administration doesnt know about any medical conditions a driver might have.

Brown said the agency sends warning letters only to commercial drivers license holders, not their employers.

However, federal regulations require employers to maintain the certificates, which includes the date of expiration, for all of their drivers with commercial licenses, Brown said.

Chappell, 67, was killed Tuesday, along with a Maryland Transit Administration bus driver and four mass transit passengers, when his school bus crossed the center line and smashed into the commuter bus after hitting a car and a roadside pillar in southwest Baltimore. No children were aboard.
SANTA ANA  In a courtroom, the women addressed their former pastor  a man they once trusted who sexually assaulted them.

Im not going to paint every detail of the pain youve inflicted on myself and those around me, because you know exactly how much damage youve caused, one victim said.

We are not here today because of some story weve spun; were here because of the truth of what you did.  God have mercy on your soul. 

On Friday, a former Lake Forest youth pastor, Sean Patrick Aday, 39, pleaded guilty to two felonies and two misdemeanors of sexual battery  each count tied to a different victim.

After the plea deal was officially accepted in a courtroom filled with current and former parishioners, three victims and several of their family members addressed Aday while many in the audience cried and wiped away tears.

They described how he used his position of trust to groom and manipulate his victims.

l lost friends, one victim said. I lost my job. I lost my faith. I lost more than words can describe.

I hope no other church falls prey to your lies and manipulation, she said.

Said a victims mother, I knew when I met you there was something off about you  you cant even look me in the eye now.

When he returns to court Dec. 9, Aday is expected to get two years in prison and be required to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender.

A former youth pastor at Grace Community Church in Lake Forest, he was accused of sexually assaulting the four women while they were members of his youth group or volunteers at the church.

Parishioners who attended Fridays court hearing said the case devastated their small, close-knit church.

Hes a monster, said Greg Woodard, an Irvine attorney who left the church several years ago because of concerns over Adays behavior with the youths.

From 2008 to 2015, prosecutors said, Aday sexually assaulted women either on church property or during church-sponsored trips to Costa Rica, Moldova or South Africa.

He originally was charged with 10 felony counts, including forcible rape, sodomy by force, sexual penetration by a foreign object and force and sexual battery. He faced up to 29 years in prison.

The investigation began last year when a woman told police that he sexually assaulted her, then others followed.

Sitting next to his defense attorney, John Barnett, Aday stared straight ahead as people addressed him.

It is the Registers policy to not publish the names of sexual assault victims, but one victim wanted her name used with the hope that her story would help others.

Sara Fuentes, a 27-year-old teacher, spoke in court and then to a reporter. She had been a member of the church since the third grade, meeting Aday when she was a high school freshman.

She said that Aday, throughout her high school years, acted as a father figure. When Fuentes graduated, she stayed on with the churchs youth group as a volunteer.

At age 19, Fuentes was invited to go on a church trip to Costa Rica, where she said the sexual abuse began, then continued for more than two years until she left the church. Fuentes said she didnt say anything at the time because she was scared and confused.

I was so fearful, and I didnt want things to change because the church was my life, she said. The best way I can say it is I felt brainwashed. I felt like I had no power.

Years later, Fuentes got a call from detectives after an 18-year-old victim came forward.

It was like the call you knew was coming that you never wanted, she said.

Fuentes now attends a different church.

I want to fight for my kids and advocate for those who cant advocate for themselves because you see what evil can be in this world, she said.

Things like this can happen in churches and schools everywhere. We need to be vigilant of whos around our kids.

Contact the writer: kpuente@scng.com
Donald Trump promised to Make America Great Again, but, come next January, it may very well be Hillary Clinton who restores a belief in American exceptionalism to the White House.

It seems like Clinton has been running almost as much against Obamas foreign policy views as Trumps. In stark contrast to Barack Obama, who has aggravated Republican and Democratic leaders alike with his cautious approach to foreign policy, Hillary Clinton has left no doubt that she believes only the United States can provide the leadership the world needs today. If Obamas foreign policy mantra was Dont do stupid sh*t, Clintons mantra is likely to be Better to do something than to do nothing.

Based on her own memoir and other reports, Clinton clearly prefers action to passivity. She supported the 2003 war in Iraq when Obama opposed it. Clinton supported sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan, and sending arms to Syrian rebels, long before Obama came around to each idea. And, as Obama later noted, it was Clintons championing of intervention that tipped the debate over Libya  a decision that Obama later called his worst mistake.

Clinton has supported each of the past seven U.S. military interventions, and two others that didnt happen. During the presidential campaign, she has repeatedly called for an intensification of the military effort against the Islamic State. Clinton has repeated her intention to impose a no-fly zone in Syria, despite increasing pushback from experts, who point out that a no-fly zone would create a dangerous risk of confrontation with Russian aircraft, and would have little impact on the position of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Even more telling, Clinton promotes this policy despite her private admission, during a speech at Goldman Sachs in 2013, that a no-fly zone would require the United States to kill a lot of Syrians. Though she claims she is not interested in sending thousands of troops back to the Middle East, Clintons preference for action, tolerance for risk and comfort with military options suggest that an expanded U.S. military presence in Syria, Iraq and even Afghanistan is very likely.

Finally, Clinton is very likely to expand the war on terror both at home and abroad. Following the Orlando night club attack, Clinton proposed an intelligence surge, and reiterated support for a no fly, no buy policy to prevent people on terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns. In a November 2015 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton made it clear that her call for an intensified campaign against the Islamic State is just part of her expanded vision of the war on terror. This runs counter to 15 years of evidence that American leadership  and especially military intervention  is counterproductive. But from everything she has said, it is a safe bet that Clinton will find ways to expand the fight.

In short, where Obamas foreign policy has been shaped by his recognition of the limits of American power and a hesitation to use it, Clintons foreign policy will be guided by her unshakeable faith in American leadership and the worlds need for it. This portends not only a more activist foreign policy over the next four years, but also the inevitable higher costs that come with it. Beyond expanding defense budgets and rising costs for intervention, the United States will put more American lives at risk and continue stirring resentment in the Muslim world. Ready or not, the U.S. is once again the indispensable nation.

Trevor Thrall is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
FRESNO  Three different agencies are investigating the accidental shooting death of a Fresno County Sheriffs sergeant by a fellow deputy earlier this week.

The Fresno Bee reports Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp says that her office is reviewing everything related to the death of Sgt. Rod Lucas. Smittcamp declined to comment on the nature of the investigation or how long the review may take. The sheriffs office is also investigating.

Lucas was in a room with three other people and having a conversation with a detective about how to carry their backup weapons when the shot was fired on Monday. The incident occurred at a sheriffs office near the Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

Because the case is an occupational workplace death, the incident is also under investigation by CalOSHA, the occupational safety division of the states Department of Industrial Relations.
The film Hacksaw Ridge opens this weekend and portrays the heroics of a conscientious objector who was awarded the Medal of Honor.

View full page here

CONSCIENTIOUS COOPERATOR

Before the U.S. entered World War II, the military had begun drafting citizens for service. By the time the U.S. entered the war, about 30 percent of the forces were drafted while the rest volunteered. Desmond Doss of Virginia joined in April 1942 as a non-combatant, which was changed to conscientious objector. Doss held strong Seventh-day Adventist beliefs and would not carry so much as a knife in the war. Doss was ridiculed for his stance at first, but once he entered combat, that changed. He preferred the term conscientious cooperator and was awarded two Bronze Stars for his lifesaving efforts during battles on Guam and Leyte in 1944. For his actions during the fighting on the island of Okinawa, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Marines landing on Okinawa on March 31, 1945. The battle for the island lasted 82 days and resulted in 82,000 casualties. Excerpts from Dosss 1945 Medal of Honor citation: April 29-May 1 As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machine gun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands.

May 2 He exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and two days later he treated four men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within eight yards of enemy forces in a caves mouth, where he dressed his comrades wounds before making four separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety.

May 5 He unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire.

May 21 In a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory  giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers return, he was again struck by a sniper bullet while being carried off the field by a comrade, this time suffering a compound fracture of one arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station.

I wasnt trying to be a hero, I was thinking about it from this standpoint  in a house on fire and a mother has a child in that house, what prompts her to go in and get that child? Love. I loved my men, and they loved me. I dont consider myself a hero. I just couldnt give them up, just like a mother couldnt give up the child.

-Desmond Doss

1987 interview with The Associated Press

HONORED MEDICS

Medics have been awarded the Medal of Honor 52 times, including two who were conscientious objectors in Vietnam. Both were U.S. Army medics killed in action.

Thomas William Bennett

The second conscientious objector to recieve the Medal of Honor died at age 21 while rescuing wounded soldiers.

Joseph Guy LaPointe Jr.

Died at age 20 while shielding wounded soldiers from fire and administering firstaid.

SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM

Inductions by year from World War I through the end of the draft in 1973

Sources: Selective Service System, U.S. Army, The Washington Post, Congressional Medal of Honor Society
ISTANBUL  Authorities in Turkey detained 11 pro-Kurdish lawmakers early Friday as part of ongoing terror-related investigations, including both party co-chairs and other senior officials, the Interior Ministry said.

Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag as well as other prominent figures such as Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken were among those detained, according to the ministrys statement.

The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant. State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara.

The ministry says the detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors of the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol.

Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify for ongoing terrorism-related investigations.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought an armed insurgency against the state for over three decades. The HDP rejects the accusation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.

Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including disseminating terrorist propaganda to membership in an armed terrorist organization.

Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. If they want our testimony theyll have to force us there, he said, according to Anadolu.

Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was arrested over alleged membership in the PKK. The government appointed a local Ankara district administrator to take over Kisanaks duties.

In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place.
SAN CLEMENTE  Its been four years since Lyn Hiner suffered serious burns after rocks her daughters had picked up at the beach ignited in the pocket of her shorts.

The freak accident near Trestles beach in May 2012 left her with second- and third-degree burns, and she endured multiple skin grafts. She was in and out of a burn unit at then-Western Medical Center Santa Ana and did physical therapy for more than a year.

Recovery was intense  emotionally and physically. Hiner went through dark moments but never lost hope.

There were points when it got pretty dark emotionally, the 47-year-old San Clemente resident said. When youre in that journey, youre not the same and your body isnt the same. I asked God, What do you want me to do with this experience? You dont go through this without a purpose.

Hiner found her purpose in creating beauty and joy through art. Today she unveils her exhibit, Beauty From Ashes, at the Art San Diego Contemporary Art Show. She is among about 100 national and international artists at the juried art show.

Hiner uses layers of color and texture in her abstract paintings of flowers and nature. She covers her canvases with layers of dark, muted tones followed with color. The finished pieces reveal delicate details under heavily knifed strokes creating depth and emotion.

In my journey through a landscape of pain, there were moments of joy and laughter, Hiner said. I want to show that amid bad things happening in the world and our lives, there is beauty and light.

Experts determined that the two odd-shaped rocks from the beach were covered with phosphorous. No similar incidents have been reported since.

Hiner said a strong Christian faith, support from family and friends, and a push from therapists at the burn unit at what is now the Orange County Global Medical Center helped her recover. A finger on her right hand  scarred and anchored at a 90-degree angle  is almost straight now.

The accident

Hiners life changed on May 12, 2012. She, her two daughters and her husband were at Upper Trestles on San Onofre State Beach. Her daughters ran to her with two smooth, brown and green rocks and asked her to keep them. She put them in her pocket.

Later, at home, she felt a prick on her right thigh. She swatted at it. Within seconds her shorts burst into flames.

Her husband, Rob, tried to pull her shorts off, leaving him with second-degree burns. The rocks fell and burned the wood floor. The house filled with smoke. Paramedics treated Hiner for severe burns on her right thigh down to her knee and on her right arm.

Experts speculated that the phosphorous may have come from military ordnance that on occasion has washed up on San Clemente and San Onofre beaches.

Trestles, where the rocks were collected, is next to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the Camp Pendleton Marine base.

San Clemente Island, 60 miles off Trestles Beach, is owned and operated by various naval commands. The island has at least a dozen ranges.

The case was investigated by Orange and San Diego county health agencies and Camp Pendleton. An independent state lab later confirmed that phosphorous was the source of the ignition. No further investigation was done, Hiner said.

Ashes to beauty

Two years after the accident, Hiner, who studied art in college, got back into teaching private art classes.

But she felt there was more to her purpose. She prayed for direction. A week later, in September 2014, she had her answer.

I felt, straight out, God was calling me to paint, she said.

Within weeks, she had her first commission. A woman wanted a series of five paintings to commemorate her uncle who had died on 9/11 in the Twin Towers.

As Hiner finished those pieces, she had already sketched out 30 more.

But it was a painting class at Saddleback Church a year later that gave Hiner a final push. The experience helped her identify her style  she went from painting small and detailed to large and layered.

Flowers are Gods most beautiful creation, but they fade in days, Hiner said. I think as a culture were inclined to look at beauty that is fleeting  whether its personal or whats around us.

Even if its the smile of a stranger, we have to look for beauty. Thats what my mission is.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or on Twitter:@lagunaini
CAMPAIGN CATCHPHRASE

Every politician tries to boil down their hundreds of promises and long speeches into one succinct slogan. Heres a quiz to see how much you know about political mottos.

View full page

SLOGAN QUIZ

One of the first campaigns to make good use of slogans on bumper stickers was I like Ike for the 1952 election of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The stickers began to appear around the country before the five-star general left the miliary, joined a party and announced his run for president. Eisenhowers landslide victory ended the 20-year run of Democrats in the White House. Which of the following three slogans was not used by Democrat opponent Adlai Stevenson in the race?

A) All the Way with Adlai

B) Peace and Prosperity

C) Go Forward with Stevenson-Sparkman

Answer: B, Peace and Prosperity was Eisenhowers slogan in the next election, which he also won against Stevenson.

AGAIN AND AGAIN One of several of Ronald Reagans 1980 campaign slogans was Lets make America Great Again, which is similar to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps slogan in 2016. Reagan won the election in a landslide victory. What was incumbent President Jimmy Carters slogan? A) A peanut in every pot

B) Re-elect Carter-Mondale , A Tested and Trustworthy Team

C) For the Future

D) Hes making us proud again Answer: B.

The other slogans are from (C) Richard Nixon in 1960 and (D) Gerald Ford in 1976.

FEELING IT

Feel the Bern was not an official slogan for Bernie Sanders campaign, but his supporters chanted it at rallies and put it on stickers and buttons. Which of the slogans below did Sanders use?

A) We must do right and risk the consequences

B) A political revolution is coming

C) People over politics

D) Leadership you can trust

Answer: B, the other slogans are from other candidates running in 2016. A) Rick Perry

C) George Pataki D) Jim Webb

MATCH THAT SLOGAN

Match the candidate to the campaign slogan:

A) Real plans for real people

B) Prosperity and progress

C) Let America be America Again

D) The better man for a better America

E) Believe in America

Answers:

Bob Dole, D  1996

John Kerry, C  2004

George W. Bush, A  2000

Al Gore, B  2000

Mitt Romney, E- 2012

IN A WORD

President Obamas 2008 campaign boiled down his slogan into one word: hope. Has any other campaign had a one-word slogan?

Answer: Yes, in 2012 Obama used the word Forward for his slogan.

Score:

More than three correct answers: front-runner Three or fewer correct answers: lame duck

POPULAR WORDS

Eric Swartz, President and founder of Tagline Guru, a company that tracks brand influence, analyzed more than 200 U.S. presidential campaign slogans. Swartz posted the list on his site. Here are some of the results.

Most common words

From presidential slogans from 1828 to the present

1. America(n)

2. Leader/leadership

3. Change

4. Prosperity

5. Experience

6. Believe

7. Hope

8. Future/forward/tomorrow

9. Better

10. Win

The analysis also showed trends by different parties (tracked since 1960) for particular words:

Most common for Democrats

1. America(n)

2. Change

3. Prosperity

4. Leader/leadership

5. Hope

6. Future/tomorrow

Most common for Republicans

1. America(n)

2. Leader/leadership

3. Experience

4. Change/reform

5. Win

6. Peace

BUMPER STICKER CASE

Presidential candidates try to keep their slogans clean and positive, but if youve been offended by what their supporters may have on their car, theres not a lot you can do about it.

For those citizens without wealth or power, a bumper sticker may be one of the few means available to convey a message to a public audience.

 Judge Myron H. Thompson in Baker v. Glover, a case in Alabama where a truck driver was cited for having a sticker with language that violated the states obscenity law.

Sources: PresidentsUSA.net, First Amendment Center, The Byline Group, taglineguru.com, Presidential Campaigns & Elections Reference
HANOI, VIETNAM (AP)  Vietnamese authorities have seized 981 pounds of ivory illegally shipped from Nigeria after finding 3.5 tons at the same port last month, an official said Wednesday.

The ivory seized Tuesday had been hidden in timber in a container at Cat Lai port in the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City, Customs official Le Dinh Loi said.

Authorities seized 3.5 tons of ivory in three shipments smuggled from Africa at the same port last month.

State media say 1 ton of ivory costs $1.8 million on the black market.

Vietnam will host an international conference on illegal wildlife trade in Hanoi later this month that is expected to be attended by Britains Prince William, a vocal critic of the trade.

Elephant ivory is used as jewelry and home decorations in Vietnam, which bans hunting of its own dwindling population of elephants.
AMMAN, Jordan  At least three U.S. military trainers in Jordan were fatally shot by security forces Friday when their vehicle failed to stop at the gate of a military base, Jordanian and U.S. officials said.

The U.S. military service members came under fire as they approached a Jordanian training facility, said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook. Few other details about the incident were given. Cook said U.S. and Jordanian authorities were investigating the cause.

Earlier, Jordans military said there was an exchange of gunfire after the vehicles driver ignored demands to stop outside an air base in southern Jordan. A Jordanian officer was injured, the statement said.

Other details of the incident at the King Faisal Air Base were not immediately clear. Investigators were trying to piece together the events, including whether a possible miscommunication was to blame.

The U.S. official said two of the service members died later in Jordans capital, Amman, where they were airlifted for treatment.

Jordan is a close ally of the United States, and military training by U.S. personnel is common. Jordan is also part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in neighboring Syria.

The U.S. Embassy in Amman said in a statement it was in contact with the appropriate Jordanian authorities, who have offered their full support.

A U.S. diplomat in Amman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said American and Jordanian officials do not believe the incident was terrorism-related, but he offered no further details.

The King Faisal base, about 150 miles southeast of Amman and near the border with Saudi Arabia, has long been used for joint exercises between Jordan and its various allies, including the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia. The base is also part of the network in Jordan to train Western-backed Syrian rebels.

According to U.S. diplomats and Jordanian officials, there are more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel based in Jordan, the majority serving as advisers to Jordans armed forces and Syrian rebel factions.

Jordans military has been on high alert since June, when a suicide attacker driving a bomb-rigged truck barreled through Syrias border with Jordan, setting off a blast outside a Syrian refugee camp that killed seven Jordanian troops. It was the deadliest attack along the tense border, which hundreds of thousands of Syrians have crossed during the more than five-year conflict in their homeland.

In November 2015, a Jordanian police officer opened fire at a police training academy south of Amman, killing two U.S. contractors.
Though his fate will hang in the balance on Election Day, Corvain Cooper wont get to cast a ballot.

The 37-year-old will be in a cell in central Californias Atwater federal prison, where hes serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for convictions involving marijuana.

I was placed in a federal prison at its highest level, with felons who all committed acts of violence, the Los Angeles native said in a series of monitored emails sent from prison.

Yet they all have release dates.

Soon, Cooper could too.

Though most of the attention surrounding Proposition 64 centers on how the measure would make it legal for adults to consume recreational marijuana, the law would do something else: potentially reduce prison sentences and clear old criminal records related to marijuana.

Cooper is one of more than 6,000 people serving time who could potentially have their time behind bars shortened or even go free if Prop. 64 passes on Tuesday, according to an estimate by the Drug Policy Alliance, which is funding the measure.

Another 1 million people convicted of marijuana-related misdemeanors and felonies could petition to have their records changed or cleared, the nonprofit organization estimates. That would give them wider access to jobs, housing and other services that are currently out of reach.

The criminal code changes are so profound that, even if I didnt like other things in the initiative, I would vote for it just for that, said Chris Conrad, a longtime marijuana activist whos backing Prop. 64 even as many friends in the medical cannabis community remain divided over the measure.

CRIMINAL ASPECT OF POT?

Opponents of Prop. 64 have many objections to the measure, including the provision that could allow convicted drug dealers whove served out their sentences to enter the newly legal pot market.

But Andrew Acosta, spokesman for the No on 64 campaign, said the measures criminal justice reforms havent been a big point of contention. Thats because many people say they view pot as essentially legal in California today.

Medical marijuana was decriminalized in 1996, allowing residents to buy it or grow it at home with an easy-to-get doctors recommendation.

And in 2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made carrying small amounts of marijuana an infraction. That triggered an 86 percent drop in misdemeanor arrests for pot over the past five years.

I dont have people in jail for possession of marijuana unless its a lot of marijuana packaged for sales, said Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, who is opposing Prop. 64.

But a Drug Policy Alliance report shows California still has an average of 11,000 felony arrests for marijuana-related crimes each year, with more than half of those resulting in time behind bars. And data show minorities are more likely than whites to be arrested or jailed.

A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE?

Though black, Latino and white people consume and sell pot at similar rates, the Drug Policy Alliance report shows Latinos were 26 percent more likely than white people to be arrested for a marijuana felony in 2015, while blacks were five times as likely.

Its almost always white people who say that law enforcement leaves us alone when it comes to drugs  and especially when it comes to marijuana, said Lynne Lyman, California director for the Drug Policy Alliance.

When white people are caught with more than an ounce of weed, Lyman said, they commonly get charged with possession, which is a misdemeanor that might carry just a $500 fine.

But minorities caught with the same amount are often charged with intent to sell, the data show, which is a felony that could get them up to three years in prison.

Such racial disparities are the reason Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker has given more than $7 million to support Prop. 64, according to campaign spokesman Jason Kinney. And theyre the main reason rapper Jay Z, actor Danny Glover and a number of other stars cite for backing Prop. 64.

Opponents of the measure point out studies that show uneven enforcement hasnt improved even in states that have legalized marijuana.

While marijuana arrests dropped by 60 percent in Colorado and 90 percent in Washington state from 2008 to 2014, after these states legalized pot, a Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice study found that blacks were still two times more likely to be arrested for related crimes than whites.

It shows that once again legalization advocates are only paying lip service to racial justice questions to advance the agenda of the marijuana industry, said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which is funding opposition to Prop. 64.

Sabet and other opponents argue that legal marijuana actually harms minority communities, with a concentration of pot shops and farms popping up in poor Colorado neighborhoods.

Theres evidence of that trend already playing out in California, with low-income cities such as Adelanto and Desert Hot Springs among the first to permit commercial marijuana cultivation in hopes of balancing their budgets with pot tax revenues.

While legalizing marijuana doesnt even the playing field, Lyman said it does reduce the number of blacks and Latinos arrested.

Lyman also points out that up to $50 million generated by Prop. 64 taxes would go toward grants for job training and other services in communities such as Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Riverside, which have historically high drug incarceration rates.

CHANGING THE SYSTEM

If Prop. 64 has a clear victory Tuesday, a sweeping overhaul to Californias criminal code would kick in Wednesday.

Other than selling to minors and home butane extraction, which is using volatile materials to make marijuana concentrates, Lyman said, Prop. 64 reduces or eliminates every marijuana criminal penalty currently on the books.

Right now, anyone without a medical marijuana card who gets caught with an ounce of weed faces a $100 ticket, while non-patients growing a few plants at home can get a felony. Under Prop. 64, both of those activities would be legal for anyone 21 and older.

Prop. 64 is the nations first legalization measure that would eliminate all pot-related criminal penalties for people under 18, with jail time and fines swapped out for community service and drug education courses. And at age 18, related criminal records would be sealed so convictions couldnt stop them from getting financial aid for college or other services.

The measure would increase one fine: A ticket for smoking pot where tobacco is banned would go up by $150.

But law enforcement could no longer use the smell of marijuana, or the presence of paraphernalia, as a basis for broader searches.

Conrad, who has served as an expert witness in some 2,500 marijuana-related cases, said removing weed as probable cause will eliminate a common point of contact with police that often escalates into something more serious.

Out of all the court cases I have been involved with, probably 50 percent start off with cops saying they smell marijuana, he said.

Mike Ramos, district attorney for San Bernardino County, and other law enforcement leaders take issue with Prop. 64 allowing people with prior drug convictions to work in the newly legal pot market.

Its one thing to have a conversation about formerly incarcerated drug offenders working in a dispensary, said Ken Corney, president of the California Police Chiefs Association. This is an inflexible mandate imposed by the drafters of Proposition 64 to allow drug traffickers to own and operate marijuana cultivation sites and dispensaries.

Lyman argues it would be a harm upon harm for industry pioneers whove paid for their crimes to be denied licenses once cannabis becomes a legitimate career.

CLEARING THE RECORD

Since Prop. 64 would reduce penalties retroactively, anyone whos been convicted of a marijuana-related misdemeanor or felony in California could petition to have their sentences reduced or their records expunged.

And some people with pending marijuana charges could see them automatically dropped or downgraded.

That could remove thousands of barriers now facing people who have criminal records for pot, according to Eunisses Hernandez with Drug Policy Alliance, with felony convictions affecting everything from their ability to own a gun to adopting a child.

Ingrid Archie knows about those obstacles all too well.

She grew up in foster care after her alcoholic mother attacked her older sister with a knife.

When she was 18, Archie was living with someone who was involved in gangs and drugs. Their L.A. home was raided, and officers seized a large amount of marijuana. Archie spent three years in state prison.

After she got out, Archie tried to get her life on track. Shed been working at Verizon for a couple of years in 2009 when the company instituted a stricter policy regarding employees with felonies. She was immediately laid off, which triggered several more rough years.

Today, Archie has regained full custody of her two daughters and is working at a nonprofit in Los Angeles that helps families impacted by incarceration. Still, she has that felony drug possession conviction on her record.

LIVES IN LIMBO

With polls showing Prop. 64 likely to pass, Drug Policy Alliance is planning free legal clinics to help people petition to have their sentences or records changed.

Archie will be at the nonprofits Election Night party in Los Angeles. If the measure is approved, aides will assist her in filling out paperwork on the spot to ask for that 2004 felony charge to be cleared from her record.

Just north of Merced, at Atwater federal prison, Cooper will be waiting to hear the news.

In 2011, he was caught with half a pound of marijuana and served nearly a year in jail.

He said he learned his lesson, focusing after his release on his fiancee, two daughters and a clothing store he opened in his old neighborhood.

Then in 2013, federal agents swarmed his driveway. Soon, he was being extradited to North Carolina, where a childhood friend got a reduced sentence by fingering Cooper as being involved in a decade-old conspiracy to traffic pot.

The conviction should have given Cooper perhaps 10 years behind bars, but prosecutors used his prior offenses to enhance his sentence. The judge had no choice but to give him life in prison without parole.

The crime didnt fit the time, argued Coopers mother, Barbara Tillis, who now lives in Rialto.

Cooper appealed the sentence and lost. Then Long Beach activist Cheri Sicard told him about Prop. 64, and he felt a surge of hope.

Under the measure, his 2011 marijuana felony could become a misdemeanor. He could then petition for his sentence to be reduced to the original 10 years.

With credit for time served and good behavior, Cooper could potentially be out of prison within a couple of years if Prop. 64 becomes law.
The ability for one political party to unleash mega-tax increases hangs in the balance. In the past legislative session alone, I have helped stop $29 billion in tax increases imposed on Californians. But the effort to raise taxes continues.

There have been rumblings and rumors since earlier this year that the Legislature would convene a last-minute special session for the sole purpose of raising taxes for transportation needs. This, despite the fact that our state government has refused to prioritize transportation over other pet projects. Transportation receives the fewest dollars out of all the major budget items. We dont need to take more money from taxpayers trying to make a living; we need to get our budget priorities straight.

You may or may not know that, in Sacramento, tax increases require the support of two-thirds  known as a supermajority  of the Legislature. This has long been the case in order to protect people from a barrage of tax schemes that raid our bank accounts. I have dedicated much of my time in the Legislature to putting a stop to this needless money-grubbing.

This year, I worked to actually cut taxes in a very modest way by eliminating sales taxes on critical health products for women. While the proposal earned some traction, it ultimately did not become law due to concerns that it would take money out of the hands of state bureaucrats. The appetite for money to spend is so voracious that even eliminating health cost burdens on women is an uphill battle in Sacramento.

Thats why Im running to represent you in the state Senate. A single vote in the Senate could be a major hurdle separating the people of California from higher taxes. By winning this important race, I will be able to continue my fight on behalf of taxpayers and keep Californias economy open to innovation. Otherwise, Californians will only look forward to top-down economics, where Sacramento dictates our lives and decides how to spend our hard-earned money.

I want to foster an organic and open economy where people, not politicians, are moving our economy forward.

Ling Ling Chang

Diamond Bar

Assemblywoman, District 55 and candidate for state Senate, District 29
President Barack Obama has endorsed Fullerton resident Josh Newman in his Democratic bid for Californias 29th state Senate District, which spans Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, according to Newmans campaign.

It is rare for a sitting president to endorse candidates in state races, but Obama has in the past week come out in support of four politicians running for the California Legislature  all in Republican-held districts where a Democrat win could help that party reclaim a two-thirds Statehouse supermajority. That would allow Democrats to raise taxes without GOP support.

Newman is a U.S. Army veteran who founded a nonprofit to help young veterans find employment and hasnt worked in politics for two decades. He is running against first-term GOP Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, who is attempting to make the move to the state Senate. The 29th was once a GOP stronghold, but Democrats now hold a 1 percentage point lead among the districts registered voters.

The races high stakes and narrow margins have drawn high spending and high-profile endorsements from both parties. Newmans campaign has $2.4 million in support including $1.9 million from Democratic Party committees, and Changs campaign has $5.5 million in backing, including $1.7 million from Republican Party committees.

Newman called Obamas endorsement a huge honor and said he thinks the president views this race as an opportunity to support a candidate whos not a politics-as-usual, us-versus-them politician.

Obama plans to endorse nearly 150 state Senate and Assembly candidates in 20 states this election, according to a Politico report, which called the presidents support Obamas biggest investment in state races ever by far.

Chang declined to respond to Obamas endorsement of Newman. She has received endorsements from longtime U.S. Rep. Ed Royce and numerous other Orange County Republicans.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7960 or jgraham@scng.com
Fueled by concerns of voter fraud and voter intimidation, poll watchers from across the political spectrum are expected in unprecedented numbers at Orange County polling places Tuesday.

County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley has tried to put voter fraud concerns to rest, saying he has seen no instances of deliberate illegal voting in his 12 years in the office.

He also has pointed to a Justice Department investigation under the George W. Bush administration that found only scattered evidence of voter fraud nationwide.

But he said he welcomes observers at the countys 1,093 polling places  so long as those observers follow the rules and dont disrupt the voting process.

It provides additional confidence in the system, he said. If somebody reads something online (about voting irregularities) and is concerned, they can come see whats going on.

Kelley said hes prepared to address possible voter intimidation, including that by poll watchers. For the first time, he has a formal arrangement with the District Attorneys Special Prosecutions Unit, which will have 10 investigators throughout the county ready to respond to any possible criminal violations.

I cant emphasize how much (poll watchers) need to understand the rules, Kelley said. He said that since hes been on the job, there have been only one or two arrests.

Among the rules:

 Observers must check in with poll officials.

 Observers cannot display any election material, campaign buttons or other campaign paraphernalia.

 Observers cannot be in the area between the official worktables and the voting booths, cannot touch any voting materials or equipment, and cannot sit at the worktables.

 Observers within 100 feet of a polling place cannot talk with voters about the casting of a vote or about the voters qualifications to vote.

 Observers can take notes but cannot take photographs, video or audio recordings or talk on cellphones in the polling place.

 Observers cannot disrupt the voting process or poll workers.

 Observers with complaints, questions or challenges  and voters with complaints about observers  can share their concerns with the polling place inspector or by calling the county elections office at 714-567-7600. Please alert the Register as well, at 714-796-7985.

 Lists of registered voters in the precinct and notes of who has voted are posted near the door of each polling place.

For guidelines on observing the vote-counting process and other aspects of the election, visit ocvote.com or call 714-567-7600.

Among those whove said theyll have poll watchers on hand are the countys Republican and Democratic parties, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trumps campaign, Common Cause, the Election Integrity Project, and the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance.

Julian Babbitt, executive director of the county GOP, said he expects to have 100 poll watchers on hand, including those from the Trump campaign. Thats about twice the number as in 2012, he said.

GOP poll observers will make sure that poll workers require voters to say their name, so voters cant just sign in under any name in the log, Babbitt said. Theyll also track the number of provisional ballots cast in polling places, he said.

Provisional ballots are available to those who arent on the rolls of the polling place where they show up. Those voters may be registered to vote in a different precinct. Babbitt said polls with large numbers of provisional ballots may deserve extra scrutiny when the voters identification information is later verified at Kelleys office.

There are certain hot spots throughout the county, Babbitt said, adding that Santa Ana and Stanton were such areas in the primary, with large numbers of provisional ballots cast.

Kelley said more heavily populated areas in the central part of the county, where voters are less likely than others in the county to cast mail ballots, typically get more provisional ballots.

When I talk to voters in high-population areas, theyre rushing to vote after work or during a lunch break and often go to polling places that arent where theyre registered, he said. They see a sign identifying a polling place and go in.

Kelley said about three-quarters of provisional ballots are found to be valid. The rest typically appear to be legitimate mistakes, with the biggest portion cast by people who thought they were registered to vote but arent.

Henry Vandermeir, chairman of the county Democratic Party, said hell have about 50 observers at the polls  more than usual  to help ensure there is no interference with voters. That concern is also prompting Common Cause to send out more observers than usual.

Considering the troubling rhetoric that we have witnessed over the course of this election, its imperative that we make sure voters are able to exercise their right to cast a ballot unimpeded, said Sylvia Moore, Southern California organizer for the good-government group.

One of the things the countys Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance will be looking for in the polls is that foreign language instructions are posted and that bilingual poll workers have name tags identifying the languages they speak.

Kelley said more than a third of the 8,500 poll workers speak more than one language and should be wearing identifying name tags. He said all polling places in the state will have materials in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Mandarin. Four more languages will be available in areas with concentrations of people whove requested materials in those languages.

He said one of the most common conflicts in the polling places is between observers on different political sides.

When you talk to them, they usually calm down, he said.

But mostly, there is little of interest to the observers, Kelley said.

In 2012, they were fired up early in the morning, he said. But many of them left by noon.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com
ARCADIA  Seldom has a 6-5 morning-line favorite sparked so much debate heading into a Breeders Cup. Is Songbird a contender or the great pretender in Fridays $2 million Distaff at Santa Anita?

The 3-year-old fillys spotless record in 11 career starts, including seven Grade 1s, suggest shes not only a contender but a worthy favorite based on the fact shes won her races by a combined 60 1/2 lengths. Shes never won by fewer than 3 3/4 lengths.

But her skeptics argue shes been beating an ordinary crop of sophomore fillies. They point to the different speed numbers that dont stack up to her two biggest rivals in the Distaff, Beholder and Stellar Wind. When she drew the rail Monday, some of her supporters jumped off the bandwagon.

Songbirds trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer, doesnt like to brag too much on his horses. Hes too busy collecting stakes victories and finishing among the top five trainers each meet at Santa Anita and Del Mar. But he wasnt too busy to comment on his fillys critics.

I think when the numbers come out after the race that shell have risen to the occasion, Hollendorfer said.

Her jockey, Mike Smith, has ridden the daughter of Medaglia dOro in all 11 of her races. Hes also ridden other female stars such as Zenyatta and Azeri. He didnt blink when Songbird drew the rail, much like his reaction when apprised of her detractors.

I dont think too much about all that, he said. Just about every time Ive ridden her Ive had her geared down at the sixteenth or the eighth pole. If shes not the favorite, she certainly should be one of em.

He has no doubt she deserves to be compared to the best fillies hes ridden.

Ive been very blessed to have ridden so many great horses during my career, said the all-time winningest Breeders Cup rider with 22 victories. No question, Songbird is such a special filly. So was Zenyatta  but I can say that for a horse at her age, Songbird has the fastest cruising speed of any of them.

If Songbird is to extend her unbeaten record, shell have to topple her two elders  the 4-year-old Stellar Wind, who will be trying to give trainer John Sadler his first Breeders Cup victory, and the 6-year-old Beholder, who has won two Eclipse Awards and will most likely be running her final race.

Beholders jockey, Gary Stevens, says the daughter of Henny Hughes is the best horse hes ever ridden, male or female. Shell be going for her second victory in the Distaff after her win in 2013.

Stevens, who has won 10 Breeders Cup races, including the Distaff three times, is impressed by the quality of this years eight-horse lineup.

On paper, this is the best Distaff Ive ridden in, he said. But I can go back to 1988 with a great filly and a great mare in Winning Colors and Personal Ensign. Ive been in some good Distaffs before. I dont want to take anything away from years past.

Stellar Wind has beaten Beholder in two of their three meetings, by a half-length in the Clement L. Hirsch on July 30 at Del Mar and by a neck in the Zenyatta at Santa Anita on Oct. 1. Shes raced only three times this year. Sadler said the Curlin fillys connections hope to keep her racing at least one more year and possibly until shes 6 like Beholder.

Three other Breeders Cup races will be run Friday  the Juvenile Turf, the Dirt Mile and the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Dortmund is the 6-5 morning line favorite in the Dirt Mile as he tries for his first victory in four attempts this year. He has won eight of 13 lifetime and will be ridden by Martin Garcia.

The only races hes ever lost were to either American Pharoah or California Chrome, trainer Bob Baffert said. Hes training really well and looks good.
Santa Ana police have identified a man suspected of stealing a purse from a 73-year-old woman and have issued a warrant for his arrest.

Authorities announced Thursday that they issued a $100,000 arrest warrant for the arrest for Matthew Vinnie Vuyna Salazar, 21, of Moreno Valley in connection with an August 10 robbery in Santa Ana.

Shortly after the crime, investigators released photos and video of a suspect stealing a purse from a 73-year-old woman he encountered outside a CVS Pharmacy on Bristol Street.

The footage showed the suspect grabbing the womans purse as she walked away and knocking her to the ground before driving off in his white Chrysler sedan. Multiple tipsters and Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department officials, identified the suspect as Salazar to police when they released the footage.

Salazar used the victims credit cards at multiple locations, including a Kohls department store in Yorba Linda.

Detectives believe Salazar may have victimized more people in Riverside and Los Angeles counties. Authorities also think Salazar may know police are looking for him.

Anyone with information on Salazar or the Chrysler sedan are asked to call Santa Ana Police Robbery Unit Det. Cpl. A. Silva at 714-245-8545, Det. Garcia at 714-245-8408 or OC Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@scng.com
Your job is to save lives, right?

It was spring of 1971 and then lifeguard Jim Stauffer was patrolling the sand in Newport Beach when a cute girl approached him and pleaded for his help.

There was a harbor seal washed up on shore, and it looked sick.

Stauffer didnt really know what to do with the marine mammal, but he sure wanted to impress the girl. And he knew what would happen if they called the police. The animal would end up with a shot to its head. Thats how they took care of sickly sea creatures in those days.

So he wrapped the seal in a blanket and put it in the front seat of his lifeguard truck  until it waddled over his feet, slipped out of the truck and headed back to the ocean.

I tried, sorry, he told the cute girl.

Later that night, he thought hed check whether the seal was still stranded on shore, and perhaps, the girl would still be there.

She was not. But the seal was.

Again, he grabbed the critter and put it in his car, this time with a surfboard wedged between him and the mammal so it couldnt escape. He headed to his home in Costa Mesa, dismantled his bed, laid down a shower curtain, surrounded it with pillows and filled the makeshift pool with water.

Stauffer didnt get too attached to his new friend, because he knew hed soon have to send him back to the sea. But what he did not know was his path as a seal and sea lion savior had started, and hed be the catalyst for thousands and thousands of marine mammals lives saved in the decades to come.

A SAFE HAVEN

The seal had pneumonia, and probably had worms.

The vet Stauffer knew from the off-road motorcycle circuit had never treated this kind of animal, but gave Stauffer meds, antibiotics and a few syringes.

For 10 days, Stauffer cared for the seal, feeding him live fish gathered from fisherman the end of the Newport Pier. When the critter was healthy again, he took it to Seal Rock in Laguna Beach  not knowing that it was actually where sea lions lived  and set it free.

A few months later, a woman was relentlessly calling the Newport lifeguard headquarters about a sickly sea lion that needed help. The chief knew just who to call.

Get this lady off my back, the chief told Stauffer.

Then, more of them washed to shore. He bought kiddie pools, filled them with water and placed them around his backyard, creating a safe haven for the sea lions, a place they could rest and regain strength. He found a wholesaler at the end of the pier who sold him frozen fish. The vet, whom he remembers only as Doc LaShall, sold him meds at cost.

When Stauffer applied for a full-time position at the Laguna Beach Marine Safety Department in 1972, the chief knew of his unique sea lion skill set and gave him a job. Before long, Stauffer created cages to move the mammals more efficiently.

He moved to Laguna Beach and, with the help of a handful of lifeguards, dug a hole in his backyard, poured concrete into it and made a pool. He found a vet in Laguna Beach, Rose Ekeberg, who also offered meds at cost and took a keen interest in his new hobby, as he calls it.

After a neighbor complained about the constant barking in his backyard, Stauffer started keeping the sea lions and seals at Ekebergs kennel, again using kiddie pools. She had an old freezer, where they stuffed 350 pounds of frozen fish  food bought with donations from fellow lifeguards who wanted to do their part to help.

One fellow Laguna lifeguard, John Cunningham, was also a teacher during the offseason. He was intrigued with the sea lions and started helping out the operation, also drafting students to help.

Stauffer sold his house next to the annoyed neighbors and bought another one, again building a pool in the back to make it easier to care for them.

My (new) neighbors, they were all deaf. It was perfect. God put deaf people next to my sea lions, he said with a chuckle.

FRIENDSHIPS FORM

Stauffer needed help. He needed a group.

He knew of the Friends of the Sea Otter and called the founder to make sure he could knock off the name, with his group dubbed the Friends of the Sea Lion.

The three  Stauffer, Ekeberg and Cunningham  put out word about the first meeting in local newspapers. About 50 people showed up and volunteered taking turns going to Stauffers house to help feed and medicate the animals.

It was so much fun, sort of like a constant party, he said.

By 1976, the city of Laguna Beach named him the head of Animal Services, a role he took on while also a Laguna Beach lifeguard captain.

He knew of an abandoned barn on city land along Laguna Canyon Road and thought it would be the perfect place for his operation. Cunningham had his high school students spruce up the land, and lifeguards showed up to help. A fellow city worker brought out a backhoe and started digging the new pool.

The Friends of the Sea Lion created membership cards and sold T-shirts to raise money. Stauffer held meetings with lifeguards along the coast to teach them how to usher sea lions into cages, and lifeguards called the group whenever they had a pickup.

The first big donation came from a woman whose dog got stuck on a cliff. Stauffer repelled down the cliff at Three Arch Bay on a chilly night to rescue the 80-pound pooch. The dog returned the favor by peeing all over him.

The woman  who said she wanted to remain anonymous  wrote him a check for $10,000 after learning about the sea lion saving. That was their startup fund.

A few years later, the county was bidding for lifeguard services. When Stauffer won the contract and became lifeguard chief with the county, it created tension toward him by other nearby agencies that wanted the contract, and he felt uncomfortable doing his work on Laguna Beach city property with the sea lions.

So he handed the reins over to Cunningham, who took over operations full time. Later, with his blessing, the Friends of the Sea Lion was renamed Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

He said the center has had its controversy, mostly among fishermen who think the creatures should be left alone and that it should be survival of the fittest out at sea.

Half of the sea lions that come up are probably there because of what humans have done to the ocean, what theyve done around it, he said. What are you doing to do, leave them on the beach to die? That wouldnt be good.

Then theres the learning aspect, with the schoolchildren and visitors who tour the area for free and volunteers who donate their time to help the hundreds of mammals rescued each year.

The three PMMC pioneers selfless act of saving sea lions and seals through the years will be honored this weekend.

Stauffer will travel to Laguna Beach from his home in Northern California for an unveiling of a mural this Sunday created by artist and longtime friend Randy Morgan.

The bronze-coated mural will live at the Art Hotel in Laguna Beach, not far from Seal Rock, where Stauffer released his first rescued seal back in 1971.

I felt the story should be told; were not not getting any younger, said Morgan, who would occasionally find sea lions in his Laguna Beach yard in the 70s when Stauffer needed a quick place to store the critters.

It was such a cool thing this guy did, basically in his back yard.  Thats the way all of the ecological things started back then  guys just doing it because of a need to do it, and the love.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@scng.com
Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, was Tuesday, but many cities are holding their celebrations this weekend. For more things to do this weekend, see our list.

In Santa Ana, families, community organizations, artists and businesses are invited to build an altar in memory of a deceased loved one or to bring awareness to a social issue at Noche de Altares, or Night of Altars. There are expected to be 120 altars representing the 32 Mexican states and honoring loved ones and community causes. There will be cultural performances and live music, face-painting for children, free art workshops, vendors and food for sale. Attendees will have photo opportunities with La Catrina, the modern-day icon of Dia de los Muertos created by Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada.

When: Noon to 10 p.m. Saturday

Where: Fourth and Birch streets, Santa Ana

Information: nochedealtares.org.

The Huntington Beach Art Center wraps up its Memento Mori: Skulls & Bones in Art exhibition with a Dance for the Dead party. The event will include music, food and Dia de los Muertos face painting. Cost: $65.

When: 7-10 p.m. Saturday

Where: Huntington Beach Art Center, 538 Main St.

Information: 714-374-1650.

The Anaheim High Performing Arts Conservatory is holding its first Dia De Los Muertos event from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the school. There will be performances, art installations and decorated altars. Tickets are $10; age 11 and younger are $5. The event supports the schools Performing Arts Department.

When: 2-6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Anaheim High Performing Arts Conservatory, 811 W. Lincoln Ave.

Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is hosting its event from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Key Courtyard. Honor our departed loved ones by leaving a note of love on the ofrenda (memorial offering) for that person or pet that is missed. Then, celebrate life with music, dance and art with the popular Mariachi Kids, Las Estrellas Folklorico of the Orange County School of the Arts, Xipe Totec Danza Azteca, classical guitarist Joel Aceves and Estudiatina del Sol. Decorate sugar skulls, calavera masks and create other art projects while enjoying hot Mexican chocolate and pan de muerto.

When: 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Bowers Museum, 1802 N. Main St.

Information: bowers.org.

La Habra Childrens Museum is having a free Day of the Dead celebration, from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the museum. Children will decorate sugar skulls, get their face painted and learn about Dia de los Muertos.

When: 1-5 p.m. Sunday

Where: La Habra childrens Museum, 301 S. Euclid St.

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton is holding its Day of the Dead Festival from noon to 4 p.m. Free to attend, the event includes arts and crafts, art workshops, food vendors and live music. Grammy-nominated music group Trio Ellas is scheduled to perform.

When: Noon-4 p.m. Sunday

Where: Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton

Information: 714-738-6595.
A Roman Catholic fraternal group will be distributing free wheelchairs on Saturday to local military veterans who have a disability that impedes their mobility.

The Knights of Columbus Southern California Chapters has 200 new lightweight wheelchairs to give away beginning at 1 p.m. at Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest.

The wheelchairs, in four different sizes, were purchased with $45,000 in donations from business owners and parishioners to benefit the Knights of Columbus Wheelchair Drive.

The distribution is part of an effort that targets veterans waiting for a VA-issued wheelchair, a process that could take months or years, or for whatever reasons have not sought help from their local VA medical center.

Knights of Columbus obtains the wheelchairs for $150 apiece; 100 were donated to VA locations in Riverside and San Diego counties. Any veteran in need will be given one on Saturday, for as long as there are wheelchairs available, said John Blaney of Knights of Columbus Council No. 9487.

Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church is at 21682 Lake Forest Drive, Lake Forest. For more information, contact Blaney at 714-863-4125 or jcblaney@att.net.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7793 or twalker@ocregister.com
Jon Gingerich

Clinton Emails Linked to Political Pedophile Sex Ring.Trump Voters Expose Hard Evidence Proving Their Votes Are Being Tossed Out.WikiLeaks Just Released the ISIS Donor List, Hillary is at the Top.Reports Suggest Clinton Will Step Down This Week.Identity of Hillarys Secret Lesbian Lover Leaks.

These are just several of the hyperbolic headlines Ive stumbled across in the last week, each belonging to one of the many fake news outlets that have gained massive popularity online. An outbreak of clickbait and share-bait sites, hoax stories, conspiracy resources and partisan propaganda outfits whose reportage reads like a political campaigns house organ has exploded on the web in recent years, deceiving readers and fomenting mass paranoia in the process.

These sites wouldve been delegated novelties a decade ago, basement blogs achieving perhaps a few hundred hits a month, but thanks to the advent of social media, specious content thats now widely recirculated throughout the ether like a virus of nonsense has become a cottage industry. In an October 25 New York Times editorial titled Your Facts or Mine? contributing writer Emma Roller posited that social medias circulatory power has lent these bogus outlets an air of credibility, despite the fact that, unlike other media, they have no responsibility to separate truth from fiction.



If share-baiting Facebook posts are the junk food of the political Internet, Roller wrote, then fact-check journalism is steamed spinach.

The paradox is fascinating if you think about it: even though we have access to more information than any other time in human history, were collectively becoming less aware. As it turns out, wed rather live with our own fictions of the world than whats actually happening; well gravitate not toward content that challenges our worldviews but content that confirm them. The information were most likely to share is increasingly becoming information thats least likely to inform. We can have not just our own opinions, but also our own truths. We live in a post-fact era, where the content that gets the most eyeballs wins. If a lie is repeated enough times, well, it must be true.

The rise of fact-challenged news is alarming in its own right. But consider that were also engaged in one of the most divisive, populist-themed presidential elections in history, with a beleaguered electorate that harbors a long-standing distrust of mainstream media, and we might understand that a proliferation of feral outlets that exploit readers rage and confirm their delusions of persecution in exchange for some profitable clicks can actually make for a dangerous environment as well.

In an October segment dedicated to the growing fake news phenomenon, CNNs senior media correspondent Brian Stelter said these outlets can be separated into three categories: deliberate hoaxes; hyper-partisan sites intended to mislead audiences; and stories that take one true claim and stir in a lot of falsehood. Admittedly, some of the disinformation out there is more innocent than others. Several months ago, thousands of Facebook users were gullible enough to recirculate a photo purporting to document the Standing Rock protests taking place in North Dakota, even though it was actually a photo taken at the Woodstock music festival in 1969. Other times, the deception borders on hilarious: News Corp owned site Heat Street in early October inadvertently paid homage to late fictional tabloid the Weekly World News in its reportage on Hurricane Matthew, when it claimed that storm is heading straight for Mar-a-Lago, and President Obama isnt doing anything to stop it.

This isnt a phenomenon limited to the political right. OccupyDemocrats on October 29 ran a headline titled FBI Director Just Admitted His New Hillary Probe Is a Smear to Help Trump. The same day, liberal site PoliticusUSA offered an article titled The Religious Right Warns Witchcraft Could Decide This Election.

To combat the spread of these fringe sites, Stelter recommends viewers triple check information before sharing it with others. Its sound advice, and a practice whose application could start among mainstream outlets. Fox News host Sean Hannity on November 1 apologized for circulating a false report from right wing political blog The Gateway Pundit that claimed Michelle Obama had deleted Clinton-related tweets from her Twitter timeline. By the time Hannitys bunk announcement was recirculated among the social networks, our virtual game of telephone morphed that report into claims that President Obama and Elizabeth Warren had deleted Clintons tweets too. Apparently the countrys political leaders have the emotional comportment of irate 12-year-olds.

Facebook in August apologized when its Trending Topics news feature falsely reported that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had been fired from the network. Trending Topics, which stirred controversy earlier this year when contractors claimed theyd routinely suppressed conservative news items, was subject to a recent retooling that involved slashing news staff and replacing them with news hunting algorhythms. Facebooks newfangled automation apparently didnt sniff out the dubious claims made in the linked Kelly article, however, which originally appeared on a partisan site titled End The Fed and reported that Kelly had been terminated for being a closet liberal who actually wants Hillary to win.

What's perhaps most troubling, however, is when an otherwise legitimate news service appropriates behavior that's now been normalized by these spurious sites. Popular culture and current affairs mainstay Slate on October 31 released a bombshell 4,000-word report detailing how computer scientists had discovered that a server allegedly registered to the Trump Organization was engaging in regular communication with a server belonging to Alfa Bank, the largest private commercial bank in Russia. As it turns out, lobbyist Richard Burt, who has advised Trump, sits on Alfa Banks senior advisory board. Moreover, Alfa president Pyotr Aven allegedly has tenuous ties to Vladimir Putin going back to when the Russian president held government positions in Saint Petersburg.

Tracking the servers communications patterns, computer scientists claimed activity appeared to correspond with election happenings in the U.S. While admitting that what the scientists discovered wasnt a smoking gun, the article concludes that this evidence arrives in the broader context of the campaign and everything else that has come to light  it deserves further explanation. In other words, what the Slate article hints at, what it conveniently leaves off the page  but never adequately explains  is resoundingly clear: Trump is covertly colluding with the Russian government.

Though the articles implied conclusion is bolstered entirely by conjecture, the faux-news outlets of the web ran with Slate's story anyway, and within hours, social media was rife with headlines armed with a grossly unearned narrative: Trump is now involved in a server scandal of his own. This, of course, stoked only more mass paranoia, and fingers on social media have been aflutter ever since with questions regarding why FBI Director James Comey wont turn his attention from the Clinton email scandal and do something to stop Trumps obvious Benedict Arnold for Mother Russia.

Embarrassingly, the New York Times issued a report on the same day that directly contradicted Slates supposition, revealing the FBI, over the course of a months-long investigation into any role Russia may have had in meddling with the 2016 presidential campaign  including possible communication between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank  could find no conclusive link so far between Trump and the Russian government.

Thats the difference between reportage and rumor. Unfortunately, the latter is usually far more popular than the former.
04/11/2016 - The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes held its annual meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia on November 2-4, bringing together 220 delegates from 84 jurisdictions and 12 International organisations to further their shared goal of improving tax transparency and achieving a level playing field.

The meeting marked the completion of the first round of the Forums peer review process, with the release of 17 new reports assessing the level of compliance with the international standard for exchange of information on request (EOIR). Click here to read the details of the reports.

Many jurisdictions which received less than satisfactory ratings announced that they had already taken or were taking steps to address recommendations made in the review process. Marshall Islands agreed to its report but highlighted recent progress made. Panama reminded the group of recent significant action taken, both in terms of amending legislation, reorganising its competent authority and signing the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on 27 October 2016. Trinidad and Tobago also informed the members of their intention to address outstanding issues at the earliest.

A special fast-track review procedure was agreed at the meeting to enable Global Forum to recognise, by mid-2017, progress made and to assess changes being made in various jurisdictions.

A second round of peer reviews now underway will include an assessment of the availability of and access by tax authorities to beneficial ownwership information of all legal entities and arrangements.

Global Forum members took stock of the tremendous progress being made in the implementation of the standard for automatic exchange of information (AEOI), with 97% of jurisdictions committed to exchanging information in 2017 ready for these exchanges. They noted progress and some challenges for jurisdictions committed to launching exchanges in 2018, and agreed to implement tighter monitoring of the delivery of key milestones as well as providing support for implementation. Governance arrangements for a Common Transmission System for exchanging data were also agreed.

Against a backdrop of calls for preparation of lists of non-cooperative jurisdictions, a constructive discussion was held to ensure that all converge around the Global Forums transparency standards in their respective transparency initiatives.

The Global Forum strongly reaffirmed its commitment to help its developing country members to meet the international standards and benefit from improvements in international tax transparency. It encouraged them to move towards implementing the AEOI Standard as soon as practicable.

In the margins of the Global Forum meeting, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay took an important step towards implementing automatic exchange of financial account information in 2018 by signing the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement.

For additional information on the Global Forum:

9 th Global Forum meeting Statement of outcomes

Global Forum meeting Statement of outcomes Global Forum peer review process, and to read all reports to date: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/global-forum-on-transparency-and-exchange-of-information-for-tax-purposes-peer-reviews_2219469x.

Website of the Global Forum: www.oecd.org/tax/transparency

Exchange of Information Portal: www.eoi-tax.org  Follow the latest news on exchange of information networks.

For further information, journalists should contact Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, (+33 6 2630 4923), Monica Bhatia, Head of the Global Forum Secretariat (+ 33 1 4524 9746), or the OECD Media Office (+33 1 4524 9700).

ANNEX : Peer Review Reports

4 November 2016

PHASE 1 REPORT

Peru: Perus Phase 1 review demonstrates the countrys high level of commitment to the international standard for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes, with all elements found to be in place. Peru has a solid legal and regulatory framework ensuring that ownership and accounting information ownership is available for all relevant entities. Peru has sufficient access powers and the right balance has been struck between rights and safeguards and accessing information. Nevertheless, Peru should clarify the scope of attorney-client privilege, to ensure that it is in line with the international standard. Perus network of information exchange mechanisms extends to 11 jurisdictions, including all relevant partners. Peru should ensure the expeditious ratification of all EOI agreements. Perus response to the recommendations in this report, as well as the application of the legal framework to the practices of its competent authority, will be considered in detail in the next review of Peru, which is scheduled for the second half of 2018. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Peru and to read the full report click here.

PHASE 2 REPORTS

Azerbaijan: Phase 2 review rates Azerbaijan as overall largely compliant with the international standard. Azerbaijans legal framework generally ensures that ownership, accounting and banking information are available and can be obtained in line with the standard. However, the Phase 1 review of Azerbaijan in 2015 identified a need for improvement in certain aspects of legal and regulatory framework, including availability of ownership information on legacy bearer shares, minor gaps in the requirement for maintaining accounting information, certain obstacles and lack of clarity on access powers of tax authorities. In practice, the regulatory and administrative mechanism of Azerbaijan ensures that all relevant entities and arrangements in Azerbaijan maintain and report ownership and accounting information as required by the standard. The report notes that Azerbaijan has a well-established Exchange of Information system, processes and procedures to manage the exchange of information requests. During the review period, Azerbaijan has provided information to all its treaty partners within the prescribed timelines. Nevertheless, the gaps in the legal framework have not been addressed by Azerbaijan. Therefore, the Phase 2 report retains the Phase 1 review recommendations. Further, the Phase-2 review recommends monitoring effective implementation of newly introduced legal obligations on nominees and on joint stock companies. Azerbaijan welcomed the review and expressed its strong commitment to acting on the recommendations made in the report. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Azerbaijan and to read the full report click here.

Brunei Darussalam: The Phase 2 review rates Brunei Darussalam overall as largely compliant with the international standard. Brunei Darussalams legal framework ensures that ownership information, accounting and banking information is available and can be obtained in line with the standard, although some deficiencies have been identified in relation to oversight of obligations to maintain information in practice. It is recommended that Brunei Darussalam ensure that the monitoring and enforcement of ownership and accounting information is strengthened. Brunei Darussalam has taken action to address key recommendations made in its Phase 1 peer review regarding allowing its authorities the power to obtain and provide information in accordance with the standard. However, Brunei Darussalam should ensure that its domestic law provisions regarding confidentiality or secrecy duties, in particular regarding access to information on international trusts, do not prevent effective exchange of information for tax purposes. In practice, Brunei Darussalam had made efforts to bring its EOI agreements into force expeditiously. Brunei Darussalam should continue to respond to all requests to negotiate EOI agreements (regardless of their form) in a timely manner. Finally, Brunei Darussalam has created a dedicated unit and a detailed process to manage exchange of information requests, however this has not been tested in practice. For further information on Brunei Darussalams legal and regulatory framework in the field of transparency and exchange of information and its implementation in practice, access the full report here.

Burkina Faso: The Phase 2 review rates Burkina Faso as overall largely compliant with the international standard. The legal and regulatory framework in Burkina Faso ensures that ownership, accounting and bank information is available in line with the standard. The lack of clarity on the practical arrangements to ensure that the new dematerialisation process is effective for all shares - including eventually existing bearer shares - has led to a recommendation for improvement. The report notes that Burkina Faso has all the requisite access powers to obtain information and was able to access the information for the exchange of information (EOI) requests sent during the review period. Burkina Faso has recently put in place a new organisation for processing EOI requests, including a new exchange of information unit. As this new organisation remains untested, its operation should be monitored by the Burkina Faso authorities. For further information on Burkina Fasos legal and regulatory framework in the field of transparency and exchange of information and its implementation in practice, access the full report here.

Dominica: The Phase 2 review of Dominica resulted in a rating of Partially Compliant with the international standard. Although Dominicas legal framework ensures the availability of ownership and identity information with respect to most domestic and foreign entities and arrangements, Dominica is lacking in supervision and enforcement of such obligations. The report also identified significant deficiencies with respect to the availability of accounting information. Dominica is thus recommended to ensure that all entities and arrangements are required to retain accounting records, including underlying documentation, for at least five years and are subject to adequate oversight. The Phase 2 report further noted potential issues with the protection of confidential information exchanged under Dominicas agreements. Dominica is recommended to ensure that EOI staff are sufficiently aware of exchange procedures and all legal provisions in place to protect sensitive information. For further information on Dominicas legal and regulatory framework in the field of transparency and exchange of information and its implementation in practice, access the full report here.

Dominican Republic: The Phase 2 review rates the Dominican Republic as overall Partially Compliant with the international standard. Whilst there are legal obligations for most entities to maintain ownership information, the report notes that compliance with ownership obligations was not sufficiently monitored by the authorities over the review period. There are also insufficient mechanisms in place to ensure that ownership information will be available in respect of bearer shares in all cases. Due to certain ambiguities with the procedure for accessing banking information, there were delays in accessing banking information over the review period in some cases and as exchange of information is still relatively new in the Dominican Republic there were certain organisational issues in practice. Nevertheless, it is noted that the Dominican Republic has taken steps to comply with the standard and in June 2016, it joined the multilateral Convention on mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters expending its treaty network to over 100 treaty partners. For further information on the exchange of information practice of the Dominican Republic and to read the full report, click here.

Lesotho: The Phase 2 review rates Lesotho as overall Largely Compliant with the international standard. Lesothos legal and regulatory framework overall requires availability, access and exchange of all tax relevant information in accordance with the international standard. Nevertheless, information of all holders of share warrants and accounting records for trusts, mainly those that are not carrying business or subject to tax in Lesotho, might not always be available in Lesotho. In addition, the Phase 2 report identifies room for improvement concerning the enforcement of the legal obligations to ensure the availability of ownership and identity information, accounting records and underlying documentation and banking information for all account holders. Since exchange of information remains relatively new in Lesotho, Lesotho should continue to monitor the practical implementation of the organisational processes of its exchange of information unit. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Lesotho and to read the full report, click here.

Marshall Islands: The Phase 2 review rates the Marshall Islands as overall non-compliant with the international standard. The Phase 2 review shows that the Marshall Islands experienced difficulties in obtaining and exchanging information for tax purposes during the three-year review period from 1 July 2012  30 June 2015. Although the Marshall Islands legal framework requires that ownership information, accounting and banking information is available for most relevant entities, there is a lack of effective monitoring and enforcement programmes in place to ensure that all relevant entities, in particular non-resident domestic entities, maintain and provide ownership and accounting information. In addition, bearer shares may be issued by non-resident domestic corporations in the Marshall Islands and there are no mechanisms in place to identify owners of such shares. The Phase 2 report also identifies deficiencies in the use of the Marshall Islands powers to obtain and collect information. This resulted in the Marshall Islands Competent Authority not always obtaining and exchanging all information requested by its treaty partners. It was also recommended that since the Marshall Islands put in place a new process for responding to EOI requests after the review period, the Marshall Islands should monitor the practical implementation of the organisational processes of its exchange of information unit. The Marshall Islands has indicated that it is moving quickly to address the recommendations made and that it will soon sign the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, greatly extending its exchange of information network. For further information on the Marshall Islands exchange of information practices and to read the full report click here.

Morocco: Moroccos legal and regulatory framework overall requires availability, access and exchange of all tax relevant information and is rated largely compliant with the international standard. Nevertheless, room for improvement was identified in areas concerning availability of information on bearer shares holder and regarding retention period for accounting records. Morocco is also recommended to accelerate its ratification process and to improve its exchange of information processes. Moroccos response to the recommendations, as well as the application of its legal framework and exchange of information in practice will be considered in the next round of peer review of Morocco which is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2020. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Morocco and to read the full report, click here.

Panama: The Phase 2 review rates Panama as overall non-compliant with the international standard. The Phase 2 review shows that Panama experienced serious difficulties in obtaining and exchanging information for tax purposes during the three-year review period from 1 July 2012  30 June 2015. The Report identifies a variety of reasons for this, including issues related to a disproportionate number of deemed inactive companies in Panama, the absence of requirements for entities operating outside Panama to keep accounting records, as well as deficiencies in the use of Panamas powers to obtain and collect information. This resulted in the Panamanian Competent Authority not always obtaining and exchanging all information requested by its treaty partners. Since the review was completed, Panama has taken a number of important steps to address the recommendations made, including amending its domestic legislation to enhance the strike-off of deemed inactive companies, introduce requirements to keep accounting information for all relevant entities and enhance its access powers and enforcement provisions. A reorganisation of the Panamas Competent Authority office, processes and procedures has also taken place since the end of the review period, with substantial new resources now allocated. In addition, Panama signed the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on 27 October 2016, greatly extending its exchange of information network. For further information on Panamas exchange of information practices and to read the full report, click here.

Romania: The Phase 2 review rates Romania as overall largely compliant with the international standard. Romanias legal and regulatory framework generally ensures that ownership, accounting and banking information is available in accordance with the standard. However, deficiencies were identified in respect of availability of information on bearer shares, availability of information on foreign companies with sufficient nexus with Romania and lack of enforcement measures regarding shareholder registers maintenance requirements for certain companies. Romania has in place appropriate organisational processes to ensure provision of responses generally in a satisfactory manner as was demonstrated over the last three years. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Romania and to read the full report, click here.

COMBINED PHASE 1 + PHASE 2 REPORT

Bulgaria: The Combined review assessed Bulgarias legal framework as well as its implementation in practice. The report concludes that Bulgaria is overall Largely Compliant with the international standard on transparency and exchange of information. Nevertheless, the need for improvement was identified in respect of availability of ownership information on companies which can issue bearer shares and a certain gap remains in respect of foreign companies and partnerships conducting business in Bulgaria and foreign trusts. The relevant laws and regulations are properly implemented in practice. However, supervisory and enforcement measures taken by the registration authority should be further strengthened. Bulgaria has in place processes and resources to ensure timely provision of the requested information in the majority of cases and it is considered by its peers an important and reliable EOI partner. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Bulgaria and to read the full report, click here.

SUPPLEMENTARY PHASE 1 REPORTS

Lebanon: The Supplementary Phase 1 review of Lebanon finds that the progress made by Lebanon in addressing the gaps identified in its 2012 Report in respect to its legal and regulatory framework is promising, particularly in light of the challenges that Lebanon is facing regarding the current political situation. Considering the actions undertaken to address the recommendations made in the 2012 Report, Lebanon is in a position to move to the next round of peer review, which is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2018, in accordance with the schedule of reviews for the next round. However, it is recommended that Lebanon quickly amend its legislation on access to information, to remove any uncertainty and restrictive conditions, so that (i) it is ensured the authorities have the power to obtain and provide information, including banking information that is the subject of a request under an EOI agreement in accordance with the international standard and (ii) Lebanon is then able to fully comply with and give effect to its EOI agreements. In addition, other recommendations were made in respect of bearer shares, attorney-client privilege and availability of accounting information for foreign trusts. A follow-up report on the measures taken by Lebanon to respond to the recommendations made in the present report will be provided to the Peer Review Group in June 2017. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Lebanon and to read the full report, click here.

Nauru: Naurus legal and regulatory framework requires availability, access and exchange of all tax relevant information in accordance with the international standard. Nevertheless, room for improvement was identified in areas concerning availability of information on foreign trusts administered in Nauru and the availability of accounting records and underlying documentation of certain entities. The report notes that Nauru joined the multilateral Convention on mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in June 2016, expanding its treaty network to over 100 treaty partners. Naurus response to the recommendations, as well as the application of its legal framework and exchange of information practice will be considered in the next round of peer review of Nauru, which is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2018. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Nauru and to read the full report, click here.

Vanuatu: Vanuatus Supplementary Report assessed improvements made to the legal framework and exchange of tax information mechanisms since the adoption of a Phase 1 Report in 2011. In light of actions undertaken to address the recommendations made in 2011, Vanuatu is in a position to move to the next round of peer reviews, which is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2018. For further information on the exchange of information practice of Vanuatu and to read the full report, click here.

SUPPLEMENTARY PHASE 2 REPORTS

Barbados: The Phase 2 supplementary review of Barbados resulted in a rating of Largely Compliant with the international standard. Barbados legal framework ensures the availability of ownership and identity information with respect to all relevant entities. However, the report found a need for improvement in the supervision and enforcement of such obligations. The report also identified a gap in the availability of accounting information with respect to non-taxable trusts. Further, Barbados is recommended to ensure adequate oversight of filing obligations of international business companies. The report noted steps taken by Barbados to improve its EOI practice, although additional work remains to be done. For further information on Barbados legal and regulatory framework in the field of transparency and exchange of information and its implementation in practice, access the full report here.

Israel: Israels regulatory framework and its implementation in practice are now rated Largely Compliant with the international standard for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. Since the Phase 2 review, Israel has implemented several legal as well as practical measures to improve transparency and access to the relevant information. These measures include abolition of bearer shares, amendment of the tax authoritys access powers, so that information, including banking information, can be obtained regardless of domestic tax interest, and becoming a signatory of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. As these changes were introduced only recently, Israel is recommended to monitor their practical implementation. There are a few areas where improvement remains to be done. These are mainly related to availability and access to certain information concerning new immigrants and veteran returning residents, and to exchange of information processes and resources to ensure that relevant information can be provided in time and in the requested quality in all cases. For further information on Israels legal and regulatory framework in the field of transparency and exchange of information and its implementation in practice, access the full report here.
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One of the chief criticisms of the Marvel Studios movies  and its a fair one  is that theyre getting a little samey: in look, feel, story, even in the music.

The franchise might have cracked the code for the crowd-pleasing blockbuster, but for some time now Marvels clockwork approach has teetered on the brink of becoming a template  a good template, but still ... a template. The universe (the whole genre, really) needed some freshening up.

Enter Doctor Strange.

The 14th film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has the same old strengths of the preceding 13: memorable characters, likable performances, great jokes. But it also brings a little something else to the table.

Its different. For one, its really weird. The previous Marvel movies have been trafficking in science, but Doctor Strange brings the magic, allowing its hero, Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), to tap into the source code that shapes reality  manipulating the space-time continuum, traveling to infinite alternate dimensions, summoning the assistance of a charismatic red cloak that looks like a lost prop from a Harry Potter movie.

The strangeness of the premise allows the film to veer from Marvels visual house style. Scott Derrickson (usually a horror director) makes the color palette a little darker than usual, the violence a little more macabre. Best of all, the special effects are, well, actually special. With its army of digital wizards, the film repeatedly shatters the illusions of reality, and in increasingly imaginative ways. No blockbuster this year offers such ingenious, playful spectacle.

The story is not so spectacular. Its fine. Its well above average even. But as Shakespeare once never said: Origin stories gotta origin story, bro.

Our origin-ing hero this time round is a prickly and arrogant neurosurgeon  for whom Cumberbatch was perfectly cast. Strange is Tony Stark-ish in both his brilliance and disregard for other peoples rules, opinions, feelings. When his comeuppance comes, it feels inevitable.

Strange gets into a car accident, crushing his precious hands, spoiling his career. He looks for ways to heal the nerve damage, but all medical means fail. He grows desperate and despondent, despite the best efforts of his fellow physician/sorta girlfriend Christine (Rachel McAdams  who is wonderful, obviously).

Strange eventually goes seeking a cure that is literally magic and finds a group of mystical warriors who protect Earth from all the bad mojo out there. This team of magicians includes the stalwart Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the surly librarian Wong (Benedict Wong) and, most important, the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton, bald and loving it), the all-powerful master of magic. Together they teach Strange the tricks of the trade.

The mystical arts are a whole lot of hooey, just terrifically fun nonsense. The Ancient Ones first lesson sends an astral projection of Stranges body hurtling through all of space and time in a psychedelic sequence that recalls the Star Gate sequence of 2001  but, like, 20 percent more wackadoo.

Strange also learns about sling rings and mirror dimensions, how to fly with the Cloak of Levitation and how to bend time with the Eye of Agamotto.

While Strange is learning to become a better magician, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen)  an evil wizard partial to ponytails and eye glitter  is attempting to summon a giant immortal alien god from the dark dimension because ... reasons.

More than any other Marvel movie, Doctor Strange leans into its silliness; like every Marvel movie, it pokes fun at itself all the while. Marvels greatest strength is casting just the right actors in just the right roles, and Doctor Strange is no exception. Cumberbatch is a supremely magnetic actor, and he makes Strange appealing, even when hes at his most selfish and prickly.

Surrounding him are a dream team of acclaimed and accoladed thespians  McAdams, Wong, Mikkelsen and Ejiofor delivering tremendous support. Its Swinton, though, as the oddly cheerful master, who captures all attention.

Swintons casting has been a controversial case of whitewashing: The character was originally a Tibetan man. And, yes, that swap of races is troubling, though it doesnt detract from Swintons performance. Her androgynous and otherworldly presence is just perfect for the character on screen, and the movie would have been all the worse without her  plus she just looks really cool fighting with magic.

Especially when she and Strange are being cast into other realms of reality. Marvel movies have had a continual problem of sticking the landing, of third acts petering out. Not the case here. Strange has two of the most satisfying action finales in the whole franchise:

The first is a topsy-turvy chase sequence that shoots New York City through the eye of a kaleidoscope, streets and buildings rearranging into an M.C. Escher nightmare. The second finale is an ingenious Hong Kong street fight that takes place both backward and forward in time.

Then this movie, this cheeky little devil of a movie, halts the action for a hilariously goofy climax that hinges on Strange outsmarting a colossal evil alien god from another dimension.

In the end, Doctor Strange might still be operating on the Marvel template. But its taken that template and twisted it, tested its boundaries, given it a hit of LSD.

Its an encouraging new direction for the Marvel brand: Stranger things ahead.

DOCTOR STRANGE

Grade: B+

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen

Director: Scott Derrickson

Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence

Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Theaters: Aksarben, Alamo, Bluffs 17, Majestic, Midtown, Oakview, Regal, Twin Creek, Village Pointe, Westroads
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A man killed in a shooting early Tuesday morning was the father of a 3-month-old and a 2-year-old, both girls, one of his sisters said.

We just feel like a piece of our puzzle is gone, Monickie Strong said of her brother, Lamond Strong. It will never be the same without Lamond. Never.

Monickie Strong spoke about her brother following a First Responders Prayer Walk Thursday evening near the site of her brothers killing at the Southside Terrace public housing complex.

Lamond Strong, 23, was found shot outside near 30th and W Streets about 4:40 a.m.

We just want you to know you are not alone, the Rev. Bruce Williams, one of the prayer walk leaders, told mourners as the gathering began.

The prayer walk took place next to a grassy area where a group of elementary-school-aged boys threw a football with two Omaha Police bike officers.

As the prayers continued, several of the boys came over and stood silently.

Monickie Strong, 27, said she did not know why her brother had been killed.

Just seeing the support from the community helps us, she said.

Callers to Douglas County 911 said he had been shot in a leg and in his back.

Strongs funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Nov. 16, at Faith Temple Church of God in Christ at 2801 Emmet St., his sister said.

The shooting was the third homicide in the neighborhood this year. Edward S. Reed III was killed Aug. 19 a couple of blocks away at 3030 Y St. Terrance Gunn was killed at the complex on May 15.
Womens health care is the focus of the latest salvos in Nebraskas 2nd District campaign ad war.

Democrats have taken issue with Republican Don Bacons support for repealing the Affordable Care Act and defunding Planned Parenthood, saying both moves would hurt womens access to preventive health care.

Donald Bacon would cut cancer screenings, putting lives at risk, warns one Nebraska Democratic Party flier.

Bacon bristled at that line of attack and said it hits particularly close to home given his own familys tragedy.

I find it a very vile ad, Bacon said Thursday. Our family has had serious repercussions and consequences from breast cancer. I lost my sister when she was 39 years old, and I know that screening and earlier treatment could have saved her life.

His comments came during a press conference with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., who were in town to help rally support for Bacon.

They praised Bacon, a retired brigadier general, for his military service and leadership skills. And they pushed back on the health care attacks.

The Nebraska Democrats flier says that Planned Parenthood helps more than 5,000 Nebraska women a year receive cancer screenings and that Bacons position would reverse decades of progress on womens health care.

Bacon said his position is not about whether to provide health care but rather how. He suggested the same care being provided at Planned Parenthood locations could be delivered through community health care centers that do not also provide abortion services. He also criticized the health care law, saying it is causing insurance premiums to rise.

Prominent Nebraska Republican women also have criticized the anti-Bacon ads and fliers.

They said one flier indicated that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms when in fact it simply provides referrals for mammograms.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said in a statement that the suggestion Bacon doesnt support cancer screenings is untrue and a new low for Democrats.

Don will be a champion for Nebraska families and will fight for women in Congress, she said.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chairman Vince Powers stood by the suggestion that Bacons position would ultimately cut cancer screenings.

If you gut the Affordable Care Act, isnt that what happens? Powers said.

He said that Planned Parenthood provides important services to women and that the health care law, while it has problems, cant simply be tossed away.

It should not be scrapped as Don Bacon wants to do, but it needs to be fixed, Powers said.
A recent radio interview by Lincoln Bishop James Conley has caused another stir in the death penalty debate.

The Lincoln Diocese on Thursday called on Nebraskans for the Death Penalty to remove social media advertisements drawn from the interview. In a press release, the diocese said the social media post uses a quote taken out of context and distorts the position of the states bishops on the death penalty.

An official with Nebraskans for the Death Penalty said it had no plans to remove the post from its Facebook page, noting that the page also includes a 2-minute audio clip with more of Conleys interview.

Conley discussed the death penalty referendum during a 12-minute interview last week with Lincoln radio station KLIN, and part of the interview focused on the decision that Catholics will make in Tuesdays election.

Conley emphasized the Catholic Churchs opposition to the death penalty and the reasons why, and said through our penal system and through our prisons we can protect the common good, protect people, without resorting to the death penalty.

Asked whether he gets questions from Catholics about the death penalty, Conley said a lot of people have been forced to think deeply about it.

He said: It is not one of those teachings a Catholic has to accept, like, for example, abortion. Abortion has clearly been defined by the church as a moral evil, which is never accepted under any circumstances or any justification.

He then said that there doesnt seem to be a situation that would justify the death penalty. ... If theyve thought it through and prayed about it, they can still be a Catholic in good standing and not go along with the bishops on this (death penalty) issue.

Conley declined to comment about the interview Thursday. But in a press release, the dioceses spokesman, JD Flynn, elaborated on Conleys comments: Catholics have to follow their consciences on this issue. But we also have to form our consciences according to the Churchs teaching. Nebraskas bishops, Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis all conclude that we dont need to execute people in order to be safe. Catholics who disagree with those judgments need to make sure they have a very strong reason to do so.

The release also said that Conley explained in the radio interview that the Catholic Church allows the death penalty in principle, but in contemporary times the circumstances where it would be an option are practically non-existent.

In an interview, Flynn said Conley strongly opposes the death penalty and urges voters to retain the Legislatures repeal of the death penalty.

All three of Nebraskas Catholic bishops have spoken out against the death penalty, and a statewide education campaign opposing it was launched by the Nebraska Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops on policy issues.
A 74-year-old Valley-area woman who was critically injured in a dog attack last month is slowly improving.

Her menagerie of animals, however, soon will be placed in new homes.

On the evening of Oct. 19, Sharon Robino suffered numerous puncture wounds to her head and arms in an attack by her 3-year-old English Shepherd, the Douglas County Sheriffs Office said. Robino suffered serious injuries and was taken to Nebraska Medical Center.

She was listed in good condition Friday at the med center.

The 45-pound dog was impounded by the Nebraska Humane Society and euthanized, along with another dog that had been impounded, said Mark Langan, vice president of field operations for the Humane Society.

Robino signed over ownership of her animals to the Humane Society, he said, so she was not ticketed in the case.

Humane Society officials, who worked with the Sheriffs Office in the case, took control of a couple of additional dogs, a chicken, birds, two horses and three ponies, Langan said.

The animals conditions and the surroundings at Robinos acreage, which is near 252nd Street and Rainwood Road, were not good, Langan said. Some of the animals needed medical care, he said.

When the pets are healthy, Langan said, they will be placed in good homes. It may take a while before the horses and ponies are put up for adoption, he said, due to their poor conditions.

In July 2006, Robino was ticketed on suspicion of cruelty to animals and failure to have animals vaccinated for rabies. The Humane Society took 32 animals from her property.
LINCOLN  Nebraskas prison system houses an alarming number of inmates in solitary confinement, according to a national think tank.

The Vera Institute of Justice, based in New York City, said the state uses solitary confinement at more than twice the national rate and nearly half of all inmates spend at least one day in the hole.

But, in a report released Thursday, the institute praised recently launched reforms and offered several recommendations for doing more to reduce the use of solitary.

It is Veras hope that these recommendations will provide helpful guidance for (the Department of Correctional Services) to successfully build upon the promising steps it has already taken, the report said.

The report follows a yearlong study of how and when Nebraska prisons use what is called restrictive housing.

Department Director Scott Frakes sought the institutes help after working with them in his previous position in the state of Washington.

He said that work led to significant changes in Washington and he expects it will help Nebraska develop alternatives to restrictive housing.

The best reform of restrictive housing is reducing the need for restrictive housing by improving the quality of life within prisons and reducing idleness, which is a priority for this agency, Frakes said.

Doug Koebernick, Nebraskas inspector general of corrections, said the report reinforced previous recommendations for change, such as addressing staff shortages, increasing programming and improving mental health care.

I think it gives the department a lot of ideas, he said. Now well see what they do with it.

The use of solitary confinement, particularly its long-term use, has been a concern in Nebraska in the wake of the Nikko Jenkins case. Jenkins, a mentally troubled inmate, killed four people in Omaha shortly after his 2013 release from prison, where he had spent years in segregation.

The Vera Institute report noted that his case led to public and legislative scrutiny of the prison system and to efforts at reform.

Among the more recent changes was a 2015 law aimed at limiting the use of solitary confinement.

It was followed by new agency regulations that eliminated the use of restrictive housing as a disciplinary sanction and required that restrictive housing be used only when all other options have been exhausted. The regulations took effect in July.

Frakes, at a legislative hearing last month, said the number of inmates in solitary confinement has not changed since July, but only because of a string of prison assaults and disturbances that have sent more inmates to segregation.

As of Oct. 12, there were 324 inmates confined in restrictive housing, many for assaults but also many (42 percent) as a precaution because prison officials perceive they are a threat to staff or other inmates.

The Vera Institute study looked at the use of various types of restrictive housing during the two-year period ending June 30, 2015, before the recent reforms.

The different types of restrictive housing varied in their purpose, but all involved living in isolated cells with little out-of-cell time or access to social interaction, recreation or constructive activities.

Among the reports findings:

 The daily population in any type of restrictive housing averaged 13.9 percent of the prison population, more than twice the estimated national average of 5 percent to 6 percent.

 African-American, Latino and Native American inmates were disproportionately likely to be in restrictive housing. Men were more likely than women and younger men more likely than older ones to be in such housing.

 Inmates averaged 44-day stays in disciplinary segregation, but 311 days in protective custody, a type of restrictive housing used to protect inmates from the general population.

 Low-level rule violations accounted for 91 percent of all sanctions that led to disciplinary confinement. The most common sanction was for disobeying an order.

 Rates of hospital or nursing home admissions were significantly higher for inmates living in restrictive housing compared to other inmates. Studies show that solitary confinement has harmful effects on physical health, as well as mental health.

The new report made recommendations in several areas specific to restrictive housing. One called for staff to get training, support and alternative tools to manage inmates without disciplinary segregation as a sanction.

Another suggested policies to bar vulnerable groups including youth, pregnant women and people with developmental disabilities or severe mental illnesses from restrictive housing.

Others called for creation of a program to help inmates transition out of segregation into the general prison population, expansion of mental health care services and steps to minimize the harmful isolation of inmates in restrictive housing.

On a broader level, the report called for Nebraskas prison system to look for ways to address staff vacancies, turnover and burnout and to expand programs and activities for all inmates.
ABP News-CICERO snap poll: Akhilesh top choice as CM; BJP, BSP major gainers in SP feud

News

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

New Delhi Nov 4: The bitter power struggle within the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has not at all affected the popularity of the young Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The snap poll conducted by ABP News suggests that 31 percent respondents wanted Akhilesh Yadav as the next chief minister of UP. The second popular leader for the top post in the state was BSP supremo Mayawati while BJP's Yogi Adityanath was the third choice. Mayawati got a nod from 27 percent respondents and Adityanath got a yes from 24 percent respondents.

Congress as per the poll doesn't seem to have made the right choice for the chief ministerial candidate by naming Shiela Dikshit. The former Delhi chief minister was the choice of only two percent respondents. Mulayam Singh and Keshav Prasad Maurya also got support of only two percent respondents.

Other interesting result from the poll is that 30 percent respondents believe that image of Mulayam Singh Yadav has suffered duo to the family feud. 16 percent of those who voted for the poll believed that Akhilesh's image has also suffered as he sacked his uncle and minister Shivpal Singh Yadav. Of all who voted 43 percent people believed that the family drama had dented the public image of both Mulayam and Akhilesh.

Around 39 percent voters said that BJP will benefit from the family drama while 29 percent believed that the infighting in SP has given BSP a golden chance to make a comeback in UP after five years. Only three percent respondents believed that the SP infighting will help Congress Party in the state.

When the respondents were asked their opinion on whether Akhilesh should break away from Samajwadi Party or not, 55 percent voters said he should not break away from SP. Only 19 percent voters were of the opinion that Akhilesh should start his new party.

66 percent of those who took part in the poll also were of the opinion that Mulayam Singh Yadav still is the SP supremo. Of all the voters 14 percent wanted Amar Singh to stay in the party while nine percent wanted him to lead SP.

When the voters were asked who was causing the problem in SP, 43 percent said that it was Shivpal Singh Yadav who was behind the fight. 15 percent believed that Akhilesh's view that Amar Singh is the reason behind the issue was the reason for the conflict within SP. Only three percent believed that Ram Gopal Yadav was the causing the problem in the party.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 15:39 [IST]
40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley

Army ropes in mother to convince son who joined Lashkar to surrender

India

oi-Vicky

Srinagar, Nov 4: It was an appeal by his mother that led him to surrender himself before the army.

Umat Khaliq who had joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba surrendered before the army after his mother pleaded with him to do so.

Following a report from the intelligence bureau, the army tracked down the location at which Khaliq was hiding. His location was tracked to an interior area in Sopore. The army persuaded him to surrender himself, but he refused to do so.

This is when the army decided to take the help of his mother who was living five kilometres away from the spot at which her son was hiding.

The mother did not need convincing. She agreed to help the army provided that they dealt with her son in a lenient manner. On reaching the spot, she pleaded with her son to come out of hiding and surrender to the police. He did require some more coaxing and this is when the army also decided to bring in his father.

The entire exercise went on for at least two hours before Khaliq finally agreed to surrender. The area had been cordoned off to ensure that nothing untoward took place.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 16:21 [IST]
Gods on the runway: Kerala airport halts flights every year to make way for temple procession

I will break your legs: SFI issues threat to principal in presence of cops in Kerala

Breastfeeding against my religion says man from Kerala

India

oi-Vicky

Kozhikode, Nov 4: Citing religious reasons a man from Kerala prevented his wife from breastfeeding her new born baby.

It may sound hard to believe that this person from Kozhikode in Kerala defied pleas from doctors and said he had prevented his wife from breastfeeding their first born and nothing happened.

Aboobacker argued with doctors at the hospital that a preacher had told him to give the child some honey and water from Mecca.

The hospital authorities pleaded, coaxed and even tried threatening him. But the man refused to budge. After a heated argument, he forcefully sought a discharge and left the hospital.

The man argued that a cord from the belly button of the child will provide the required nutrition.

The hospital authorities were however not impressed and after he left the hospital authorities at the EMS Cooperative Hospital at Kozhikode decided to file a police complaint.

The hospital authorities say that he denied a baby of its right. We repeatedly asked him to allow the baby to be breastfed, but he refused to budge.

We did everything possible to convince him, but he was adamant, a nurse from the hospital said. The father cited what his preacher had told him.

He was told by his preacher that the baby should not be breastfed until the completion of five prayers.

OneIndia News
Did orders to kill RSS worker Rudresh come from Kerala?

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

A day after the police arrested PFI's Bengaluru District President in connection with RSS member Rudresh's murder, a new lead is taking the authorities to Kerala.

[Also Read: Rudresh murder - PFI cries foul over district president's arrest]

Sources from the police department tell OneIndia that investigators have a reason to believe that the orders to carry out this execution may have come from Kerala. Call records of the accused show that many calls were made to persons in the neighbouring state around the time of Rudresh's murder.

Sources claim that the investigation has also revealed that the accused persons had visited Kerala before Rudresh's murder. Members of the investigation team are likely to visit Kerala to probe the possibility.

[Also Read: Bengaluru RSS worker's murder- There were two motives]

The city police have arrested 5 people so far in connection to Rudresh's murder. The latest being Asim Shariff, the Bengaluru District Unit president of PFI. His arrest had rattled the PFI that staunchly backed him calling his arrest politically motivated.

OneIndia News
Assam doc seeks faith healers' help to ensure zero deaths due to snake bites

BJP leader booked for threatening doc at gun point in UP

Doctor detained for making indecent clips of patient

India

oi-PTI

Varanasi, Nov 4: A local doctor has been detained for allegedly making indecent clips of a woman with a hidden camera at his clinic here, police said today.

The woman went to see the doctor in a clinic in Bajardiha area with her husband to get treated for stomach ache. The doctor gave her an ointment and asked her to go inside a separate room in the clinic to rub the ointment on her stomach, the police said.

The patient while applying the medicine spotted a mobile hidden in the ceiling with its video recording on, it said.

She took out the mobile from there and lodged a complaint against the doctor.

The doctor has been detained for questioning, Rajesh Srivastava, Circle Officer of Bhelupur, said.

The mobile chip is being examined to confirm the authenticity of its contents, he said, adding that further action would be taken after its report is received.

PTI
ECI likely to reject display time of the VVPAT but might accept auditing of 30% machines

EC reaches out to overseas Indians to encourage voting

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Nov 4: Out of nearly 11.4 million non-resident Indians across the globe, only 16,000 are registered as 'overseas Indian voters' in the country.

Seeking to attract more eligible overseas Indians to register themselves as voters in the country, the Election Commission has now started to reach out to them.

As part of its outreach programme, the poll panel has launched an online survey for overseas Indians to assess their level of awareness about the registration and voting process and to also gather opinion about their preferred method of voting.

The survey, the Commission feels, will help it in not only identifying information gaps but also enable it to understand the preferred methods of voting which can be shared with the government and Parliament. An online competition is also a part of the initiative to engage with the target population.

While the survey will run through November and December, the online competition will conclude at the end of the month.

Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said the poll panel wants to systematically address challenges that overseas citizens might face for which it is conducting the online survey so that interventions can be designed accordingly. "Let your voice be heard. Express your creativity, share your dreams with fellow citizens," he said.

The provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 were amended in February, 2011 to make special provisions for citizens of India residing outside the country to get enrolled as an elector in the constituency in which his/her place of residence in India, as mentioned in the passport, is located. But many find it difficult to come to India to cast their vote.

While the government had only last month allowed personnel of armed forces and central police organisations to receive their postal ballot through electronic means, it is yet to make the provision for overseas voters.

This will cut short the time as postal ballot will reach them within seconds. They now will have to take a printout, mark their preference and send it by post to their respective returning officer.

Another option being worked out for overseas voters is to allow them proxy voting -- a facility presently available only to armed forces personnel.

PTI
Hollow Maoists ideology forced these naxals to surrender

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 4: Fed up with hollow Maoist ideology is what a statement issued by nine naxalites read after they surrendered.

Nine Maoists had surrendered at Bijapur in Chattisgarh dealing a major blow to the naxal movement which is observing a bandh to protest the encounter along the Andhra-Odisha border conducted recently.

The naxals turned themselves in stating that the ideology being followed by the Maoists is hollo. For the security forces involved in counter insurgency operations against the naxals this has come as a blessing.

Not only does the surrender of the nine top naxalites affect the movement but terming the ideology as hollow would act as a deterrent to many trying to join the movement.

10 Naxals including area commander held in major crackdown

Officials say that such statements must be used in awareness drives. There is a great deal of misunderstanding among many persons and they feel that the Maoists are following the right ideology. By terming the ideology as hollow, the movement of these naxalites stands exposed, the officer also says.

When the nine naxalites turned themselves in, they also said that the forest life was harsh. Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg said that the naxalites have also disclosed crucial details regarding the outfits. Further he also added that an encouragement amount of Rs 10,000 was given to each of the Maoists who surrendered.

Oneindia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 11:46 [IST]
Media Gag on Pathankot coverage: Shocked NDTV issues statement, examines options

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Nov 4: Hours after the government asked NDTV India to go off air for a day over its Pathankot coverage, the private news channel has issued a statement on Thursday.

NDTV India, the Hindi news channel, is a part of the NDTV group, an Indian television media company, founded by veteran journalist Prannoy Roy and and his wife Radhika in 1988.

The channel, in its statement, has expressed "shock" over the gag. The statement adds that its coverage was "balanced".

Below is the full statement issued by NDTV against the ban:

The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTV's coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter.

Earlier on Thursday, the Information and Broadcasting ministry's inter-ministerial committee has recommended that news channel NDTV India be taken off air for 24 hours for allegedly revealing "strategically-sensitive information" during the course of its coverage of the anti-terror operations at the Pathankot airbase earlier this year.

The first-of-its-kind order has imposed a blackout prohibiting "the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November to 00:01 hrs of 10th November".

In fact, several senior journalists have condemned the government's action against the TV channel on social media.

This is what senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai had tweeted:

One of India's most sober and responsible channels NDTV India to be banned for a day by I and B ministry. NDTV today, who tomorrow?  Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) November 3, 2016

OneIndia News
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#NDTVBanned: Mamata Banerjee calls ban shocking, emergency-like attitude

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Nov 4: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly condemned the day-long ban on NDTV India imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting over its coverage on Pathankot terror attack on Thursday.

NDTV India, the Hindi news channel, is a part of the NDTV group, an Indian television media company, founded by veteran journalist Prannoy Roy and and his wife Radhika in 1988.

This is what the chief minister said on her official Twitter account:

NDTV ban is shocking. If Govt had issues with Pathankot coverage,there are provisions available. But ban shows an Emergency-like attitude  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 4, 2016

Earlier, the Editors Guild, showing solidarity with NDTV India, criticised the government's move.

"The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency," said the statement issued by the guild.

NDTV had also issued a statement on the ban imposed on its Hindi channel.

"The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTV's coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter," reads the statement.

Earlier on Thursday, the Information and Broadcasting ministry's inter-ministerial committee has recommended that news channel NDTV India be taken off air for 24 hours for allegedly revealing "strategically-sensitive information" during the course of its coverage of the anti-terror operations at the Pathankot airbase earlier this year.

The first-of-its-kind order has imposed a blackout prohibiting "the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November to 00:01 hrs of 10th November".

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 13:19 [IST]
NDTV blackout- It is like emergency says Editors' Guild

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

A day after government decided to impose a blackout on NDTV India for a day, the Editors' Guild has come out in strong support of NDTV India. In a release, the guild has deemed this censorship a violation of freedom of media, "This amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the givernment reminiscent of the Emergency", said the body.

Quoting NDTV's statement on the government's decision, The Editors Guild said that the channel didn't carry any information that hadn't been covered by the rest of the media. Calling this an attempt by the Central government to entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media, the guild felt the government was taking arbitrary punitive action as and when it didn't agree with the coverage.

The Editors' guild has also slammed the government for banning a channel instead of seeking legal intervention, "Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice".

The guild demands that the ban order be rescinded immediately.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 12:12 [IST]
Delhi nurses' body threatens to go on strike over long-standing demands

Petrol pumps may observe nationwide strike on Nov 15

India

oi-PTI

Hyderabad, Nov 4: Country's petroleum dealers, who are on a two-day no-purchase strike since yesterday, have threatened to go on a full-fledged strike on November 15 to press for their demand to increase commission.

[Also Read: Petrol bunks to observe two-day no purchase strike from today]

Besides, petrol pumps will be selling fuel for limited hours from tomorrow and will not operate on Sundays or any other government holidays, the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD) said.

According to CIPD joint secretary Rajiv Amaram, all the 54,000 petrol pumps across the country will observe one-day strike on November 15 if the oil companies do not heed to their demand.

He said that in Telangana alone, over 1,400 truckloads of petrol and diesel was not lifted yesterday and today by petroleum dealers in the state.

"We have stopped purchasing petroleum products yesterday and today. From tomorrow, we will sell petrol or diesel or any other product according to government office timings like 9 AM to 6 PM. We will also not sell on Sundays or any other government holidays. If the government does not listen to us then we will call for a strike on November 15," Amaram told PTI.

He said petrol pumps will save considerable amounts on electricity bills if they stick to limited hours selling.

The CIPD has demanded implementation of the recommendations made by the Apoorva Chandra Committee in 2011.

The committee recommended commissions of over Rs 4 for petrol and about Rs 3 for diesel per litre.

The then UPA government hiked the commission on petrol to Rs 2.15 and diesel to Rs 1.28 from Rs 1 and Rs 0.70, respectively.

Amaram said the dealers are supposed to get the arrears also from 2011.

PTI
As the countdown clock struck zero, rocket of Aakash BYJUS took off from Bandra Bandstand

Petroleum dealers associations withdraw protest

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

Bengaluru, Nov 4: The Oil companies' decision to revise the commission rates has led to Petroleum dealers calling off strike across the county. In a meeting held in Mumbai on Friday, oil companies decided to hike dealers' commission on petrol to 13.8 paise per litre and diesel to 10 paise per litre.

It was also decided that rate of commission will be revised every six months now on. These decisions have been taken following a two-day token protest by dealers across the country with all of them boycotting buying of fuel from oil companies.

The association had decided to work in single shifts in bunks starting Saturday and to keep bunks closed on Sundays and all general holidays if their demands weren't met.

The dealers had also decided to go on a complete shut down and strike on November 15. All these decisions have been dropped following the oil companies' decision to address their concerns.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 20:18 [IST]
Probe ordered into 'which rapist gave more pleasure' comment by Kerala police

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 4: The Kerala police has ordered a probe into the alleged insensitive behaviour by the police while dealing with a rape victim. The Director General of Police ordered that a probe be held into the allegations made by the victim who accused the police of humiliating her and insensitive behaviour.

The victim had alleged that when she filed a complaint, the police had asked her which of her rapists gave her most pleasure. The humiliation faced by the victim forced her to withdraw her complaint against her rapists who incidentally were her husband's friends.

It was the humiliation by the police and their threats which was far more unbearable, the 32 year old woman said at Tiruvananthapuram. She and her husband addressed the media with their faces covered.

Kerala police shocker to rape victim - Who gave you most pleasure

It was a Facebook post shared by dubbing artists, Bhagya Lakshmi which went viral. Lakshmi was told about the incident by the victim herself. Lakshmi also writes in her post that it is fortunate that Jisha and Soumya died or else they would have to face repeated humiliation. The Chief Minister and Kerala police chief are expected to meet the woman today.

The victim said that when her husband was away, four of his friends came to their house in Thrissur and claimed that he was in hospital. They however are alleged to have driven her elsewhere. The men took turns and raped her, she further alleged.

Two years after the incident the woman confided in her husband who urged her to file a complaint. The police she alleges made her sit in the police station for long hours and humiliated her, she also alleged.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 12:21 [IST]
Rahul Gandhi to meet ex-servicemen over OROP issue

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Nov 4 Rahul Gandhi will meet several ex-servicemen today keeping up his campaign on the cause of 'one rank, one pension' which is back in limelight after the suicide by a former army man.

Yesterday, the Congress Vice-President was detained by Delhi Police to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide by ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of OROP.

"Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will meet several ex-servicemen today afternoon over the OROP issue," party sources said.

Gandhi had yesterday met Grewal's family in their native village in Bamla in Haryana where the former subedar was cremated.

On Wednesday, he was detained here when he went to meet the family of Grewal. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, yesterday, had said that Modi government may see politics when Rahul Gandhi and others raise issues involving soldiers over OROP issue, but the party would not remain a mute spectator on it.

Government had in November last year issued a notification on OROP to meet the long pending demand but a section veterans had expressed their dissatisfaction with it.

PTI
'This may give sleepless nights to some': Eknath Shinde on sharing dais with Sharad Pawar

Time will decide Pawar's political heir: Supriya Sule

India

pti-PTI

Pune, Nov 3 NCP MP Supriya Sule today caused a flutter saying that time will decide who will be the political heir of her father and party supremo Sharad Pawar.

"For Yashwantrao Chavan (first Chief Minister of Maharashtra), Pawarsaheb was his 'manasputra' (political heir). However, time will decide who will be his (Pawar's) political heir in future," Supriya said in a lighter vein while replying to a query on who will be the political successor of the Maratha strongman.

Supriya addressed a press conference here to announce state-level essay competition at school and college levels, organised by 'Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan' to celebrate Pawar's 50 years in political sphere.

"When ambitions clash, conflict arises... However, in our family there are no clashes as our ambitions are different, our personalities are different and Pawar saheb has allowed these personalities to blossom," she said while underlining that unlike other political families, there are no differences in their family.

While some politicians expect former deputy chief minister and Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar to take the mantle from his uncle, some view Supriya as the natural successor to the veteran politician.

The speculations that senior Pawar was trying to promote Supriya were rife when she was made the president of NCP's women wing in 2012. On completion of two years in power by the BJP-led government, she said the government has "failed" to give fixed rate for the agriculture produce.

"See the condition of farmers in the state. The rates have plummeted for onion, tomato, soyabean and custard apple.. This government has failed completely," the NCP leader said.

Supriya said the issue of malnutrition is big, which the government has "failed" to address. "There were some good schemes initiated by our government earlier. However, those schemes have been replaced," she said.

Supriya expressed displeasure over the manner in which Tata Sons removed Cyrus Mistry from the post of chairman.
On new Bihar government, poll strategist Prashant Kishor seeks feedback on Twitter

What JD(U) leader said on Prashant Kishor-Nitish Kumar meet: 'No offer...'

Nitish Kumar has been affected by his age: Prashant Kishor

Uttar Pradesh Pari war: Prashant Kishor to part ways with Congress, says report

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Nov 4: Last month, we witnessed the mega family feud involving the top leaders of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

Now, it seems Congress leaders in the state, slated for assembly elections in early 2017, are getting ready to wash their dirty linen in public.

According to a report published by The India Express, election strategist Prashant Kishor is likely to part ways with the Congress over poll campaign management in Uttar Pradesh.

In fact, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has been divided into two groups--pro-Kishore and anti-Kishor.

Kishor shares close relationship with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, however, other top party leaders are not very happy with their election strategist.

The main difference between the party leaders and Kishor is over involving Priyanka Gandhi in the upcoming election campaign.

Kishore wants Priyanka to be the main face of Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh. However, others disagree with him.

Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh is also not happy with Kishor's way of functioning, says report.

Assembly elections are scheduled in Punjab early next year.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 9:54 [IST]
Why NIA cannot probe the Bhopal jail break case

News

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 4: The jail break case from Madhya Pradesh has witnessed several twists and turns. Amidst demands that the National Investigation Agency must probe the case, the fact is as per the law, the premier agency cannot probe into the matter. As per the NIA charter, the agency can only probe into scheduled offences.

In this case there is no evidence as yet that the operatives of the SIMI who escaped from jail were being helped by a terror group from outside. If the FIR filed by the Madhya Pradesh police mentions an outside hand, then the charter of the NIA would allow the agency to probe into the case.

It may be recalled that earlier this week, 8 operatives of the Students Islamic Movement of India had escaped from a jail in Bhopal before killing a constable. All the 8 were in a matter of hours killed in an encounter. The encounter has raised several questions. In an audio clip that has surfaced, one police personnel is heard saying, " surround them and finish them off."

A home ministry official informed OneIndia that for now no request has been received from the Madhya Pradesh government to probe into the case. Once we get a request, we will examine the official also informed.

Meanwhile the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the matter. The future course of action on this case would be taken following the recommendations made by the judicial panel.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 8:40 [IST]
China says no 'unilateral action' to change status quo of LAC

International

oi-PTI

Beijing, Nov 4: China today said actions should not be taken by either side that may "unilaterally change" the status quo of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as it refuted reports that its troops crossed over to the Indian side in Demchok area in Ladakh region to stop the work of a canal.

"I can tell you that the Chinese border troops have been operating on the Chinese side of the LAC.

Although the China-India boundary is yet to be delimited the two countries have reached many consensus and agreements on safeguarding peace and stability of the border area," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here.

It was reported that Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel entered an area where an irrigation canal was being built under the MNREGA scheme and stopped the civilian work.

"This issue is once again published by the Indian media outlets," Hua said while replying to a question over the stand off between Indian and China troops in Demchok.

Apparently referring to the canal work, Hua said, "either side shall not take action that may unilaterally change the statues quo of LAC."

Referring to the talks between both the sides to resolve the issue, she said, "currently the two countries have an effective communication through series of mechanisms.

We believe that we can maintain peace and tranquility of the border area". Around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene in Demchok sector, located 250 km east of Leh, and halted the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel to rush to the spot and stop the high-handedness of Chinese troops at the site where the work for linking a village with 'Hot spring' was being undertaken.

The LAC stretches up to 3,488-km long. While China says the border dispute covers Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as Southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covered Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war.

PTI
Ending cyber-bullying will be focus as First Lady: Melania Trump

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Philadelphia, Nov 4 Melania Trump, the wife of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, said on Thursday she would work to improve a social media culture that "has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers" if she becomes First Lady.

Trump, who was born in Slovenia and became an American citizen in 2006, said that becoming a United States citizen was "the greatest privilege in the world".

"I'm an immigrant, and no one values the freedoms and opportunities of America more than me," CNN quoted her as saying.

In a rare appearance on the campaign trail she discussed her vision for her role in the White House for the first time in suburban Philadelphia.

"It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other," Melania Trump said.

"We must find better ways to honour and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media," she said. "It will be one of the main focuses of my work, if I am privileged enough to become your First Lady."

However, she made no allusion to her husband's long history of bullying political foes, journalists and entertainers on Twitter.

In September, after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton cited Trump's reference to 1996 Miss Universe Alicia Machado as "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeper" during their first presidential debate, Trump said in a 3 a.m. Twitter rant that Machado is "disgusting" and a "con" and directed followers to check out a non-existent Machado sex tape.

It was Melania Trump's first speech since her appearance at the Republican National Convention, where her remarks triggered controversy because one section plagiarised Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Committee speech. A speechwriter later apologised.

She cast her husband as someone who's in touch with America's working class.

"Every time my husband learned of a factory closing in Ohio or North Carolina or Pennsylvania, I could see him get very upset," CNN quoted her as saying as she made the case that the Republican candidate can fix the nation's economic woes.

Her speech on Thursday was the first of what Donald Trump said in an interview with ABC would be two or three major speeches before the November 8 election.

The speech took place in Berwyn, Pennsylvania -- in the suburbs of Philadelphia -- and was designed to help Trump win over the middle-class women in the region who could tip the balance of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes for Trump or Clinton.

IANS
Former US state secy John Kerry trying to save Iran deal by himself: Report

Trump thumps Kerry once again over Iran Deal activism, this time on Twitter

John Kerry: Confident about US-Philippines ties despite differences

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, Nov 4 US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday expressed confidence about the future of the US-Philippines relationship, which has soured following Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's tirades against the US.

"I am confident about the future of our bilateral relationship, notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another," Xinhua news agency quoted Kerry as saying at the State Department as he swore in Sung Kim as the new US ambassador to the Philippines.

"The United States continues to place a high value on the close ties that exist between our countries," Kerry said. "We continue to recognise our ironclad commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and security of the Philippines."

Kerry also expressed the hope to visit the Southeast Asian country before the end of his term as Secretary of State.

In recent months, Duterte repeatedly lashed out at the US, throwing the alliance between the two countries into disarray, after Washington raised concern on the reported extrajudicial killings of drug suspects amid Manila's war on illegal drugs.

The Philippine President also threatened to "break up" with Washington. He hit out at the United States, the European Union and the United Nations for using human rights to criticise his campaign to curb the illicit drug menace in the Philippines.

"I will be re-configuring my foreign policy," Duterte said in a speech before the Jewish Association of the Philippines in Makati City on October 4.

"Eventually I might in my time break up with America. I would rather go to Russia and to China," said Duterte.

IANS
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

Shehbaz Sharif arrives in China on maiden visit to felicitate President Xi Jinping on his record win

Pakistan to skip anti-tobacco meet in India due to tension

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Nov 4: Pakistan on Friday announced that it will skip an international anti-tobacco conference in India next week amidst "ongoing tensions" between the two nations.

Delegates from about 180 countries are expected to attend the biennial conference of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in India from November 7 to 12.

Pakistan's State Minister of Health Sciences Regulation and Coordination, Saira Afzal Tarar, said that Pakistan cannot attend the conference.

"It is an important meeting on tobacco. As far as Pakistan's participation is concerned, it is not feasible due to ongoing tensions," she said.

Friday's development came following a spat between the two countries after a staff member of Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi was detained by police for questioning over espionage charges.

The tension intensified after tit-for-tat naming of diplomatic staff for alleged spy work by both sides. The latest incident further increased the tension that started with a militant attack on an Indian army camp in Uri in September.

PTI
Court holds writ by Hindu petitioners in Gyanvapi case maintainable: What does this mean

On camera: Varanasi folks in panic as 'ghost in white' goes for a walk on rooftops

Pranab Mukherjee describes his Nepal visit as Pilgrimage

International

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Kathmandu, Nov 4: Describing his visit to Nepal as a "pilgrimage", President Pranab Mukherjee highlighted the age-old cultural relations between India and Nepal underlining the importance of Pashupatinath temple, Varanasi and Rameshwaram for solace seekers of both the countries.

Mukherjee, who was accorded a civic reception and handed over the key to the city of Kathmandu by Chief of its Municipal Corporation Rudrasingh Tamang, wrote in the visitor's book that Kathmandu is not only the political capital of Nepal, but also a spiritual center for the people in the region.

Kathmandu Municipal City hosted a civic reception in honour of #PresidentMukherjee in Kathmandu, Nepal yesterday pic.twitter.com/Akt7N2DoG4  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) November 4, 2016

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 10:40 [IST]
US intel warns of attacks by al Qaeda ahead of Presidential elections

International

oi-Sandra Marina Fernandes

New York, Nov 4: With the US Presidential elections just four days away, US intelligence officials have warned of possible attacks in New York, Texas and Virginia.

Officials, citing unnamed sources, said that al Qaeda could carry out attacks a day before the US Presidential elections in important locations like New York, Texas and Virginia.

FBI, on the other hand, has said that security agencies are vigilant. "The counter terrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States," it said in a statement on Friday.

Although no specific locations were mentioned, all security agencies are on high alert ahead of the anticipated elections. The credibility of threat is yet to be confirmed.

Earlier this week, local police officials were warned on lone wolf style attacks in polling places.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, November 4, 2016, 22:27 [IST]
Lawyer without brief is like Tendulkar without his bat on cricket ground: SC

Young Indian lawyer elected to UN's top body of legal experts

International

oi-PTI

United Nations, Nov 4: In a significant victory, a young Indian lawyer won a hotly-contested election in the UN General Assembly for membership to the world body's top body of legal experts, garnering the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group.

Aniruddha Rajput, 33, is among the 34 individuals elected by the General Assembly as members of the International Law Commission, the UN organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification. The newly elected members will serve five-year terms of office with the Geneva-based body beginning January 2017.

The members have been elected from five geographical groupings of African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean and Western European states. Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia Pacific group in voting that was held by way of secret ballot yesterday.

Amongst the youngest to be elected to the nearly 70-year old body, Rajput is India's first time candidate to the Commission, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told PTI.

A practicising lawyer of India's Supreme Court, Rajput is also the first Indian nominee chosen from outside a close circle of lawyers of the Ministry of External Affairs.

An alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Rajput was member of an expert group appointed by the Law Commission of India to study and comment upon the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty 2015 of India, according to his profile submitted to the UN.

He has written several books, chapters, articles, conference papers on diverse legal subjects and his areas of expertise in international laws include Sources of International Law, International Arbitration, Law of the Sea, Use of Force, UN Law & Practice and International Trade Law (WTO Law).

In response to a congratulatory tweet by Singapores Ambassador to the United Nations Burhan Gafoor on Rajputs election, Akbaruddin replied, "We are deeply appreciative of support extended by many, many friends of India to ensure Dr Rajput's election by a huge margin."

Japan's Shinya Murase got the second highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group at 148, followed by Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Huikang Huang of China with 146 votes each, Korea's Ki Gab Park with 136 votes, Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri of Qatar with 128 votes and Hong Thao Nguyen of Viet Nam with 120 votes.

PTI
The central district of Turkey rocked after an powerful explosion took place in Diyarbakir. The blast took place near a police station where 11 lawmakers have been apprehended over a terrorism investigation.
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"Rob Kall's book, Bottom-Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution has really caused me to relook and reframe many of my thoughts on where our connectedness using social media tools like LinkedIn is headed, and not just for career trajectory but for life. If you are looking for a new perspective on our sometimes zany digital world we live in, this book will keep you reading and may ultimately revise but for sure challenge your current paradigm."



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As the dam breaks on the latest Hillary Clinton scandals (emails & The Clinton Foundation), four U.S. presidents could get caught up in the deluge: Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush.

It appears that Obama lied when he said that he only learned about Hillary Clinton's secret server when the news broke to the general public. Apparently, Obama also sent and received Clinton unsecured emails himself, which was against the law. Perhaps that is why he is working so hard to get Hillary elected -- as protection from prosecution. Or perhaps after he leaves office, Obama wants to get in on the easy money that has so enriched previous presidents and prime ministers around the world, as they peddle their influence at the public's expense through organizations, such as the Bush family's Carlyle Group and the Clinton Foundation. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/31/september11.usa4

And that is why the Clinton-Bush connection (or cartel) screams out for attention now. In the wake of the ongoing FBI investigation, what has not been widely discussed in the corporate media is the decades-long relationship between the Clinton and the Bush families. It has a long and sordid history. Reports dating back to the Iran-Contra days in the 1980's, describe the corrupt relationship between the Clintons and then Vice-President George H.W. Bush (and former CIA Director), as drugs were being trafficked into the U.S. by the CIA through Mena, Arkansas. https://ajmacdonaldjr.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/george-h-w-bush-and-bill-clinton-corruption-cocaine-and-murder

In recent decades, former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, have partnered with the Clinton Foundation and its Global Initiative on many natural disasters, including: The Tsunami in India (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the Haiti earthquake disaster (2010), Hurricane Sandy (2012), and Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines (2013) are some, but perhaps not all of their shared enterprises.

And now, it appears that these Clinton-Bush charitable projects did much more to enrich themselves, than to serve the public. http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/clinton-foundation-fraud-began-with-exploiting-earthquake

Add to that, the Bush family's indications that they will be voting for Hillary Clinton for President, and that pretty much cements their uncomfortably close relationship. Although the Clintons and the Bushes often share the same stage and speaking engagements, it appears that in preparation for Hillary's run for the White House, the Clintons took some pains to hide their connection. Bill Clinton's speaking fees to the Bushes Carlyle Group appear to be missing from his 2012 federal financial disclosure filing http://peureport.blogspot.com/2014/06/bill-clintons-undecleared-carlyle-group.html.

Maybe that was an accidental omission. What was no accident is that Billy Bush (nephew of President George H.W. Bush and first cousin of President George W. Bush), provided the tape that almost torpedoed Donald Trump's election hopes. For anyone who thinks that it was just a coincidence, the Bush family is full of strange coincidences at tragic moments in our nation's history. Such as Marvin P. Bush, George W. Bush's younger brother, who was a principal in a company called Securacom that provided security for the World Trade Center on 9/11 in 2001. Or the son of then Vice President George H. W. Bush, Neil Bush, who invited Scott Hinckley to have dinner on the same day in 1981 that Scott's brother, John W. Hinckley Jr., shot President Ronald Reagan. Or George H.W. Bush, for whom there is compelling evidence, was a CIA agent and involved in JFK's assassination in 1963. http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/did-george-h-w-bush-witness-jfk-assassination/.

Both the Bushes and the Clintons have been implicated in a decades-long trail of scandals. They are considered by many to be crime families whose tentacles reach far and wide. However, they could not have gotten away with so much without a lot of help from powerful insiders and an army of complicit agents. One high profile example is James Comey, who has been in charge of two controversial investigations (if not cover-ups) of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Besides Hillary's 2015 email investigation, that Comey badly mishandled, he also led the DOJ's 2002 flawed investigation into Bill Clinton's last minute pardon of Marc Rich. Another coincidence?

As much as the FBI should be applauded for their efforts to uncover this most recent Clinton scandal, they should also be aware of those within their own ranks who have protected the Bushes and the Clintons for many decades. And take care. The Bush-Clinton Cartel appears to be capable of anything.

Lynn Landes

www.LynnLandes.com
Hillary Clinton's fears concerning her rival candidate appear to be justified. At present she seems to be the most likely future president, and there is good reason for asking the question -- Is Mrs. Clinton throwing stones in a glass house when she viciously attacks Donald Trump? Her efforts as Secretary of State are among the most warmongering in America's modern history. Should she become president, it seems highly unlikely that we would ever see the dawn of world peace.

Should Hillary Clinton become the next U.S. president, the possibility of continuing wars in the world appears to be dangerously realistic. We must closely examine the candidates' willingness and ability to create a better world. Under which one of the two candidates does world peace seem to be the most likely outcome?

Last year, political analyst, Diana Johnstone, published her book "Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton". The purpose of the book was to warn the world of the consequences if Clinton were to be elected president.

Four months ago (June, 2016) Hillary Clinton gave an important speech on U.S. national security. In this speech, she warned us of Donald Trump as being -- "the most dangerous candidate for US presidency ever seen". She portrayed Trump as a liar with bizarre and dangerous ideas, a person who very easily (by mistake?) could start a nuclear war. Electing Trump for president would, according to Hillary Clinton, be like "playing roulette" with our future.

Hillary Clinton's fears appear to be justified. As in the current situation she seems to be the most likely presidential candidate, the following question must be asked: Is Clinton throwing stones in a glass house when she attacks Donald Trump as a warmonger? Judge for yourselves.

Her deals and efforts as Secretary of State of the US government have been among the most militaristic in U.S. modern history. During her term in office when Hillary Clinton was politically active, there was hardly a single war in which she was not eager to participate. During the past two decades she has actively supported all the U.S. war adventures -- e.g. her husband's bombing of Yugoslavia and Kosovo in the late 1990s, the illegal war against Iraq (2003) and supporting Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006.

During the 2008 presidential election, Hillary Clinton threatened Iran (80 million people) with a "total obliteration" should Iran attack Israel.

During Obama's presidency, she unreservedly supported the U.S. bombing of seven mostly Muslim countries -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Iraq and Syria.

Mrs. Clinton managed to convince President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to enter into war with Libya -- a war that ultimately led to the devastation of that country, including the cruel execution of Muammar Gaddafi after brutal torture. Hillary Clinton commented on this occasion with a laugh -- "We came, we saw, he died!"

Clinton fully supported the coup in Honduras (2009); she further supported Israel during the Gaza wars of 2009 and 2014 and the illegal coup in Ukraine in 2014.

Violation of the US Constitution:

Hillary Clinton always unreservedly supported Obama in the U.S. drone warfare.

Hillary Clinton has supported Obama's policy of impunity for torturers during GW Bush's presidency.

Hillary Clinton has used her own private emailer in her correspondence with foreign politicians and military and in exchange for services.

Hillary Clinton has used the family's private foundation (the Clinton Foundation) for the Pay for Play scheme that rendered political favors to highly dubious dictators and business dealers in exchange for huge sums of money to the Clinton Foundation.

Hillary Clinton supports U.S. emergency legislation -- such as "The Patriot Act", which was rushed into law in the wake of 9/11. It allows widespread indiscriminate eavesdropping and the support of military tribunals and indefinite detention of "terrorist" suspects, even for life.

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's Bottom Up is a revaluation of values, not the empty mouthing of the word 'democracy' that is so common, but the application of belief in popular wisdom to every aspect of life. Actually believing that the views of more people is better, means a new way of thinking about the world that is democratic, feminist, localist, populist, and radically richer than the elitist perspectives that are more common even in the parts of the world that shout the word 'democracy' the most. Here we come to understand both the power of small groups and the upsides to internet crowd sourcing, the potential of nonviolent movements and ways in which the past has not been what we supposed. Don't just read this book; get lots of people to read and talk about it."



David Swanson, host, Talk Nation Radio, author of War No More: The Case for Abolition.


One of expandd Israeli Goals

(Image by Ahavat Israel) Details DMCA



The movements of gathering Jews back to Israel can be found in the Old Testament examples of the return from Babylon and Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt. The current era of such movements date from at least the 12th century. The modern movement was motivated by the Zionist movement started in 1897. Contemporaneously with the start of that movement was the publication of the Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897, compiled by M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., that described Theocracy as "the belief in government by divine guidance." It went on to state that Theocracy was:

"... a word first used by Josephus to denote that the Jews were under the direct government of God himself. The nation was in all things subject to the will of their invisible King. All the people were the servants of Jehovah, who ruled over their public and private affairs, communicating to them his will through the medium of the prophets. They were the subjects of a heavenly, not of an earthly, king. They were Jehovah's own subjects, ruled directly by him (Compare 1 Samuel 8:6-9 )."



This is not quite what the British had in mind when the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, made his landmark Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, publicly expressing the government's view in favor of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", and specifically noting that its establishment must not "prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."





Why do we, the Jews celebrating Pesach (Passover) in Jerusalem, still say: "Next year in Jerusalem!" Aren't we already here?



The rebuilt Jerusalem we pray for is not this modern city, and the redeemed Eretz Israel is not the political state of the Jews we see today. As the influence of the Torah extends, so will the boundaries of Eretz Israel expand accordingly.





Can it get more religious? On 30 June 2014, according to the Yesha Council, 382,031 Jewish settlers lived in the 121 officially recognized settlements in the West Bank, over 300,000 Israelis lived in settlements in East Jerusalem, and over 20,000 lived in settlements in the Golan Heights. In January 2015 the Israeli Interior Ministry gave figures of 389,250 Israelis living in the West Bank and a further 375,000 Israelis living in East Jerusalem. These settlers are protected by their guns, private security and by the IDF, the Israel Defense Force.



The international community considers the settlements in occupied territory to be illegal, and the United Nations has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel's construction of settlements constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israeli neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and communities in the Golan Heights, the latter of which has been annexed by Israel, are also considered settlements by the international community, which does not recognize Israel's annexations of these territories. The International Court of Justice also says these settlements are illegal in a 2004 advisory opinion. In April 2012, UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, in response to moves by Israel to legalize Israeli outposts, reiterated that all settlement activity is illegal, and "runs contrary to Israel's obligations under the Road Map and repeated Quartet calls for the parties to refrain from provocations."



The numbers of these settlers are constantly augmented by benefiting from the law of the Right to Return, available worldwide to all Jews, but not to any displaced Arabs, whatever their religion if not Sephardi Jews. To be continued.
From Alon Ben-Meir Website

I am skeptical of what Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman says as I have judged him only by his actions. For the Palestinians, however, to immediately dismiss what he said in an interview with the Palestinian daily al-Quds -- that he supports a two-state solution and would lift Israel's blockade of Gaza if Hamas relinquishes its military stance -- is shortsighted and self-destructive at best.

And by rejecting Lieberman's offer, Hamas is doing nothing but further worsening the plight of the Palestinians living under its rule, forfeiting yet another opportunity to end a conflict that they cannot ever win on their terms. The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, who perhaps for good reason do not trust Lieberman, should at a minimum call his bluff, if he is indeed bluffing.

Instead of putting Lieberman to the test, the Palestinian Authority chose to denounce what he is offering as if it were a forgone conclusion that Lieberman and his government are simply engaged in public posturing. But even if this was the case, why reject off-hand any offer which only plays into the hands of the extreme right-of-center political parties in Israel? As they see it, the Palestinians are simply unwilling to accept Israel's right to exist, and anything else they publicly state to the contrary is only for international consumption.

Given that both sides have been engaged for decades in public acrimony against one another, they have created an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and distrust. As a result, they have systematically alienated successive Israeli and Palestinian governments and the general public from one another, thus dooming any overture by either side, however well-intentioned and sincere it may be.

In response to Lieberman's statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused him of spreading lies, stating "Lieberman declares himself to be in favor of a two-state solution, while taking pride in being a settler and legitimizing the continued building of settlements and the Judaization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry further blames Lieberman for trying to create a schism between the Palestinian people (i.e. Hamas vs. PA), when in fact no outsider can rival the Palestinians' propensity to create and perpetuate their own internal schisms.

Whereas I take what Lieberman stated with a large grain of salt, I believe that the Palestinian Authority should challenge him to offer some practical steps to demonstrate his true intentions. Instead, they opted to attack the newspaper al-Quds for publishing the interview, determined to stifle any public discussion on such critical issues, even when there is a desperate need to change the acrimonious public narrative.

Lieberman, like most Israelis, has long since concluded that the status quo is not sustainable. When he talks about a two-state solution, he is not promoting that for the sake of the Palestinians, but for the preservation of Israel as a secure Jewish state.

Yes, the Palestinians have every right to disagree with his vision about the final contours of a future Palestinian state and its demographic composition, as he (like Prime Minister Netanyahu) envisions that any future Palestinian state will end up with a significant Jewish minority.

But whether or not the Palestinians accept such an eventuality, any peace proposal put on the table should be entertained if for no other reason than to prevent the appearance of being rejectionist and uncompromising.

Thus, any effort made by either side to change the public narrative and promote a process of reconciliation between the two sides that could foster trust and mitigate the prevailing sense of insecurity must not be rejected -- especially since both sides claim to seek a peace agreement based on a two-state solution.

In connection with Gaza, Lieberman's offer must be taken at face value. Anyone who understands Israel's position regarding Gaza knows that it has no interest in engaging in another futile war against Hamas, or reoccupying the territory and assuming the burden of caring for nearly two million Palestinians.

This is precisely why late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to unilaterally withdraw Israeli forces from the Strip, as well as evacuate the settlers. As the newly-appointed Defense Minister, Lieberman studied carefully the pitfalls of another war against Hamas and decided to take a different approach from a position of strength.

The lessons that Lieberman has learned from the last three wars between Hamas and Israel were instructive enough to tell him that even if he decapitates Hamas' leadership, there will be no end to Palestinian resistance emanating from Gaza, and that the blockade is not and will never provide the answer.

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Sheriff Kyle L. Kirchmeier issued a press release two days ago saying, "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested the Morton County Sheriff's Department to assist them in removing any trespassers who enter Corps land to the north of the main camp area."

This action resulted in a journalist Erin Schrode being shot with a rubber bullet and knocked to the ground. She accidentally filmed herself being shot while she was interviewing a water protector on the far side of the Cantapeta Creek. Schrode was no where near the protectors, who were standing in freezing water to protest the assembly of riot police on sacred lands; lands currently under protection by the Department of Justice from any further desecration.

In a moving statement of her Facebook page, Schrode describes the experience.

I was shot by militarized police WHILE interviewing a peaceful man at Standing Rock live on camera. I woke up this morning with the thought that I may have that very footage - and broke down in reliving the 40-second horror before my own eyes. Warning: it's very very difficult to watch and sent me into quivers and tears, even without the compounding historic trauma that Native Americans face.

The land is located east of ND Highway1806 and the Backwater Bridge at the confluence of the Cannonball River. The Sheriff wanted to stop access to sacred lands currently under Federal jurisdiction.

In addition to the journalist being shot, water protectors were sprayed with an unknown irritating white substance that turned their skin red and was extremely painful.

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From Consortium News

If Ukraine becomes a flashpoint for World War III with Russia, the American people might rue the day that their government pressed for the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine's allegedly corrupt (though elected) president in favor of a coup regime led by Ukrainian lawmakers who now report amassing, on average, more than $1 million each, much of it as cash.

The New York Times, which served as virtually a press agent for the coup in February 2014, took note of this apparent corruption among the U.S.-favored post-coup officials, albeit deep inside a story that itself was deep inside the newspaper (page A8). The lead angle was a bemused observation that Ukraine's officialdom lacked faith in the country's own banks (thus explaining why so much cash).

Yet, Ukraine is a country beset by widespread poverty, made worse by the post-coup neoliberal "reforms" slashing pensions, making old people work longer and reducing heating subsidies for common citizens. The average Ukrainian salary is only $214 a month.

So, an inquiring mind might wonder how -- in the face of all that hardship -- the post-coup officials did so well for themselves, but Times' correspondent Andrew E. Kramer treads lightly on the possibility that these officials were at least as corrupt, if not more so, than the elected government that the U.S. helped overthrow. Elected President Viktor Yanukovych had been excoriated for a lavish lifestyle because he had a sauna in his residence.

Kramer's article on Wednesday tried to explain the bundles of cash as a sign that "many of the lawmakers and officials responsible for inspiring public trust in Ukraine's economic and banking institutions have little faith that their own wealth would be safe in the country's banks, according to recently mandated financial disclosures. ...

"Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, for example, declared over one million dollars in savings in cash -- $870,000 and 460,000 euros -- apparently shunning Ukraine's ever-wobbly banking system. The top official in charge of the country's banks, Valeriya Gontareva, who is responsible for stabilizing the national currency, the hryvnia, maintains most of her money in American dollars -- $1.8 million.

"A tally of the declarations filed by most of Parliament's 450 members compiled by one analyst, Andriy Gerus, found that the lawmakers collectively held $482 million in 'monetary assets,' of which $36 million was kept as cold, hard cash. ...

"Some politicians seem to have approached the declaration as a sort of amnesty, revealing everything they have earned from decades of crooked dealings, in an effort to come clean. " One minister reported a wine collection with bottles worth thousands of dollars each. Another official declared ownership of a church. Yet another claimed a ticket to outer space with Virgin Galactic. ...

"Another theory making the rounds in Kiev -- where people generally acknowledge the inventive, venal genius of their politicians -- suggests that the public servants are padding their declarations," so they can hide future bribes within their reported cash holdings and thus offer plausible excuses for luxury cars and expensive jewelry.

Accessing More Money

Ironically, passage of the law requiring the disclosures of what appears to be widespread corruption among Kiev's officials unlocked millions of euros in new aid money from the European Union that then flowed to the same apparently corrupt officials.

However, because the Ukraine "regime change" in 2014 was partly orchestrated by U.S. and E.U. officials around the propaganda theme that elected President Yanukovych was corrupt -- he had that sauna, after all -- the continued corruption in the post-coup regime has been a rarely acknowledged, inconvenient truth. Indeed, some business people operating in Ukraine have complained that the corruption has grown worse since Yanukovych was overthrown.

Yet, only occasionally has that reality been allowed to peek through in the mainstream U.S. media, which prefers to deny that any "coup" occurred, to blame Russia for all of Ukraine's problems, and to praise the post-coup "reforms" which targeted pensions, heating subsidies and other social programs for average citizens.

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by Walter Brasch

Pennsylvania, which had been a no-contest state in presidential primaries because of its late balloting, is a now a swing state with less than a week until the election. Just about every voter by now has received dozens of robocalls, e-mails, letters, postcards, and exposure to almost-uncountable radio, TV, digital, satellite, and social media ads. Most are attack ads, with similar messages.

The ads focus upon homeland security, taxes, immigration, pro-life/pro-choice, and bringing jobs back to America. The conservatives have thrown in the phrase "liberal extremists" in many of their ads in an effort to shock all America to believe that liberals are somehow tied to Muslim extremists. The liberals are pushing an agenda that defines the conservatives as greedy plutocrats who have little thought for the middle class. This election, from local offices to the presidency may be the dirtiest since 1800 when Thomas Jefferson challenged John Adams.

Donald Trump, who has outsourced much of his clothing line and construction materials, now says if president he will bring jobs back to America, stop illegal immigration, defeat Isis, repeal Obamacare, lower taxes for families while miraculously raising the budget for defense, and perform myriad miracle acts that are not part of a president's constitutional responsibility.

On his march to the presidency, Trump has focused upon Hillary Clinton's e-mails, a scandal that isn't one. Congressional hearings and the FBI have cleared her; innumerable times, Trump has continued to attack her. Clinton has already apologized for using a personal e-mail server during her four years as secretary of state. What turned up among more than 30,000 e-mails is about 55 e-mails that received a "confidential" tag, the lowest of three classifications, with another 55 receiving "secret" or "top secret" classification. As a cabinet officer, and fourth in line of succession, she had the right to classify any message. A few of the messages came from other agencies. About 2,100 messages were classified retroactively.

Clinton, still ahead in numerous polls, has attacked Trump for his crude behavior. One of her TV ads, which penetrates

almost every TV show, is a fast-paced collage of his many comments; among them, Trump mocks a disabled reporter, uses obscene language, and treats women as chattel.

Both candidates call each other unfit to be president, with Clinton asking voters if they really want Trump to be the person in charge of unleashing the nuclear arsenal, and Trump asking voters if they want a corrupt liar in the White House. Trump has also played upon Clinton's 30 years of public service, linking her as an insider and him as an outsider to Washington, D.C. politics. The "outsider" label has been resonating with voters at all levels of the election campaigns as voters believe they are outsiders, alienated to government, and are willing to be led by insiders who claim to be outsiders.

The cost of airing ads by both candidates for the presidency and members of Congress is more than $4 billion, and that doesn't include the cost of producing them. More than $600 million, spread among all major Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidency, has been spent on broadcast TV ads, according to Borrell Associates. During the past 21 weeks, Clinton has spent about $211 million on broadcast TV ads; Trump has spent about $74 million, according to data compiled by BloombergPolitics. However, Trump has used both Twitter and free TV time, due to outrageous statements, to equal Clinton's campaign. During the final week prior to the election, Trump will spend $25 million in broadcast TV ads. Clinton and Trump have each secured $5 million in ad time for Pennsylvania TV stations during the final week. The Trump totals don't include a $3 million TV ad buy from the NRA, which stokes the fire of fear that Clinton, if elected president, will violate the Second Amendment and take guns away from civilians.

By Tuesday's election, it will be doubtful that either Clinton or Trump will know how many ads were placed by their campaigns or by SuperPACs on their behalf that aired on broadcast television.

In the race for senate from Pennsylvania, Sen. Pat Toomey and Katie McGinty have each attacked the other for being millionaires.

With McGinty it's a case of benefitting from going from business to government, where she was the Department of Environment Protection administrator, back to the energy business, back to government where she was Gov. Tom Wolf's chief of staff, and then to membership on the boards of energy firms she had previously regulated. Toomey also attacked her for tossing about $2.8 million of state funds to two non-profit organizations that her husband is an advisor.

With Toomey, the attacks are because he was a stock broker who went into politics, favors Wall Street, and owned a bank that foreclosed on numerous customers. McGinty's ads stress her blue-collar family of 12, emphasizing that her mother was a restaurant hostess and her father was a police officer.

The two candidates' campaign committees and their SuperPACs have spent more than $55 million to be elected to the Senate, according to the Center for Responsive Politics; it's a job that pays $174,000 a year.

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The overwhelming response to my recent OpEdNews article about Standing Rock shows that this nation must have a reasonable solution soon, and will not tolerate more brutality and violence on the part of the repressive North Dakota police.

This article was like taking the pulse of our nation, despite the lackadaisical mainstream media coverage and the indifference of both presidential candidates.

I am both honored and gratified to inform OpEdNews readers, thanks to the Standing Rock Defenders, to you the reader, and to Facebook Bernie Sanders groups, that my recent article on the North Dakota protests against DAPL (with the embedded video from Unicorn Riot and Red Lightning at Standing Rock) now with 180,695 page views, thus becoming the #1 page views in articles since OEN started in 2004!



[This is the article: NYC Council "STANDS UNITED" WITH N.DAKOTA PROTESTERS, 2 new videos of police using pepper spray and rubber bullets

located here: click here ]

New video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0XMgGuVHQ0

I want to thank above all others the folks at Unicorn Riot for their gripping footage filmed right in the middle of that horrible conflagration last week, shared on Facebook last Friday, written about by me in a state of shock, shame, and horror at what I was seeing, and then published that evening in a lightning quick response by Rob Kall, publisher of OpEdNews.

I later added an very powerful video update from Red Lightning Video of police on the shore of the river shooting rubber bullets and pepper spraying defenseless Natives entirely in the water, to show their defense of the water that gives us live, who point out that 17 million people (at least!) get their water from this river.

I also added the Proclamation by the New York City Council standing with the Standing Rock Defenders, an astonishing hgh level governmental affirmation of the Defenders and a total repudiation of the Governor of North Dakota and his state police.

I am reminded of Colorado Governor Evans ordering the Sand Creek Massacre of innocent tribal members in November 1864, solely in order to test out some new weapons, the Hotchkiss cannons, which led to him having to step down.

Maybe, in time, that is precisely what the Governor of North Dakota will have to do, especially if the Police response becomes more violent at his request, or if he cannot control their excessive response.

All of these defenders are facing an overwhelming, well-equipped, and very costly military/police presence, heavily armed with batons, 50 caliber machine guns, huge pepper spray containers the size of fire extinguishers, rubber bullets, intrusive cell phone monitoring devices, powerful sonic devices, snipers, shooting of horses, and some new weapons we can't describe because they are as yet unidentified.

While watching the videos coming out of North Dakota, I was also reminded of what the South African Police did during Apartheid.

Others have mentioned that this makes them think of the Nazis' oppression of the Jews, especially when the ND Police wrote numbers on the forearms of those arrested and put them in dog kennels as a temporary jail.

Further, a very wise 89 year old friend of mine here in Santa Fe, Maurice Webster (who has also published here at OpEdNews, an article analyzing Donald's Demagoguery) said that he recalled his earliest disturbing memories of news coverage of Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, when modern weapons and modern well-equipped armies faced down humble people armed only with spears.

There is another important article (one that is clearly more thought out and deeper than my own) here at OEN by Georgianne Neinaber, which should be forwarded, please, to the White House and to US Senators and Congressman by you, the reader!

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Jane Doe v Trump and Epstein

(Image by US District Court) Details DMCA



Donald Trump's post election experience may be as bad or worse than the nightmare he hopes to visit on Hillary Clinton; perhaps worse.

Jane Doe (proceeding under a pseudonym) filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and convicted sex offender, Jeremy Epstein, for multiple acts of sexual and physical abuse, which occurred when the defendant was 13 years old. Specifically, the plaintiff charged the defendants with:

"Rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional, and reckless inflection of emotional distress, duress, false imprisonment, and defamation." Jane Doe v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein.

Judge Ronnie Abrams scheduled a December 16, 2016, pretrial conference to set a timeline for the case in the U.S District Court, Southern District in Manhattan.

The complaint argues for the use of Jane Doe rather than the plaintiff's actual name: "This litigation involves matters that are highly sensitive and of a personal nature, and identification of Plaintiff would pose a risk of retaliatory physical harm to her and to others."

The heart of Jane Doe's complaint is summarized below:

"Plaintiff was enticed by promises of money and a modeling career to attend a series of parties, with other similarly situated minor females, held at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Jeffrey Epstein. "Defendant Trump initiated sexual contact with Plaintiff at four different parties. On the fourth and final sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied Plaintiff to a bed, exposed himself to Plaintiff, and then proceeded to forcibly rape Plaintiff. During the course of this savage sexual attack, Plaintiff loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but with no effect. Defendant Trump responded to Plaintiff's pleas by violently striking Plaintiff in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted. Exhs. A and B." Jane Doe v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein.

The complaint against Epstein describes behavior similar to that of Trump.

Epstein -- a convicted sex offender

Palm Beach, Florida, investigators produced a probable-cause affidavit in 2006 that documented Jeffrey Epstein's "unlawful sexual activity with" 4 minors and "lewd and lascivious molestation." The crimes took place at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion where he entertained lavishly.

Epstein hired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershhowitz and former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr as his defense team. Even though FBI and other investigations accumulated a victim list of 40 underage girls in Florida, the case was settled in 2008 when Epstein pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting prostitution from underage girls. He was sentenced to 18 months, served 13, and had to register as a risk level 3-sex offender in New York (the highest level).

Trump -- brags about close friendship with Epstein

Before Epstein's legal problems, Trump did a 2002 interview in New York Magazine in which he described a long-term relationship with Epstein.

"I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it -- Jeffrey enjoys his social life." New York Magazine

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From Wallwritings

To make any sense of the presidential election which concludes Tuesday, we must acknowledge that Donald J. Trump seized upon the fears and anger of voters and exploited them like the television con-man he is.

Trump voters, not Trump himself, have understandable fears and angers. Trump preys upon those emotions by promising to be their savior.

Trump is no savior. He is a documented narcissistic abuser of women, minorities, and, lets face it, all of us within the sound of his voice and the vision of his hand-clapping cheer leader.

In an August 2014 issue in Psychology Today, Carrie Barron, a medical doctor, wrote an essay entitled If You Are the Target of Narcissistic Abuse. Troubled about Trump two years later, that title caught my attention.

We are all targets of Donald Trump's "narcissistic abuse." He and his gang of enablers, those Trump-backing Republican politicos and media conservatives who are even now counting their pieces of silver from a future Trump administrations.

This democracy and all its inhabitants are targets of Trump's abuse.

Dr. Barron's thoughts are pertinent to understanding what we are experiencing. She writes:

"Mental Health professionals used to harbor the notion that narcissists were insecure and frail deep down. Their trumped up attitude was viewed as off-putting and the job was to help them tone it down so others would like them more. And life would be easier for them. Strangely, narcissists were frequently people who at first glance, did not convey the compelling qualities that might explain extreme self-love. "Things have changed. Current thought challenges the notion that narcissists secretly suffer from low self-esteem or insecurity. Or that they suffer as much as we thought in the ways that we thought. Recent findings indicate they take pleasure in successful manipulations. "Putting down unsuspecting, soft-hearted souls in their midst is a sport. They truly believe in their superiority even if objective evidence does not back it up. One psychiatry professor of mine did say, 'They make everyone around them feel badly but they don't feel badly themselves.'"

We now have Trump and his enablers dangerously close to the nuclear button and the naming of Supreme Court justices.

We are having to accept the gift of Trump from a Tea-Party-weakened Republican Party and a main stream media which first laughed at him as a usurper.

Out of the glare of the media madness and shallow campaigns, we have experienced leaders like Richard Falk, one of the wisest among us, who continues to call for thoughtful public understanding of global problems.

Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, Falk says in a short film, Re-imagining the Future, "[T]he unregulated way the world economy has been operating has contributed to global inequality of a dangerous sort...creating a lack of confidence in the fairness of the way in which politics are organized."

Trump's racist credentials have been well-established since he stepped from that escalator and announced he was running for president.

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Here's the thing:

Every morning right after I wake up I take my dog Duff for a long walk. This is always my time to think, to clear my head, to reconnect not only to myself, but to the Earth.

It's cloudy and raining today, but unseasonably warm. Because of the overcast there was no striking sunrise today, but even through the clouds and the rain I could feel the Earth warming as the sun came up.

A breeze was blowing gently from the northwest so today I could hardly smell the odor of the water-treatment facility just a few blocks from where I live. It's an aggressive sort of smell, a combination of unknowable chemicals that hangs in the air, somehow sweet, like artificial fruit. It's now owned by American Water--PA. Council borough sold our water to them about three years ago. We don't own our water; it was bought and now it's sold back to us.

Again this week the water from my tap smells funky, like mildew on oily rags. Sometimes when I drink it, there is a moment when I have to tell myself to swallow because my mouth tells me to spit it out. But the scent and odor are usually very faint and you get used to it. This morning when I boil the water for my coffee I can smell the odor in the kitchen, but boiling seems to get rid of the taste.

I live in northeastern Pennsylvania, just a few miles from Dimock, PA, ground zero for Josh Fox's documentary "Gasland." I know people whose farmland has been destroyed by fracking, whose water is flammable. I know neighbors who don't talk to each other anymore, and families that have been pulled apart due to resentment that one or the other made a much better deal with the oil companies. Some people only got a couple of thousand dollars and others made hundreds of thousands.

There are no fracking pads that I pass on my morning walks, but a short drive in almost any direction will take you past at least one.

I think about what I've learned recently, too late to be of much help, that as of 2015 there were an estimated 1.5 million fracking wells in place in the continental United States, and that each well used an average of 2.8 million gallons of water that was mixed with sand and up to 1,000 different chemicals, about 240 of which are known to be poisonous or toxic. It was then pumped under high pressure into the bedrock, into the aquifer. I walk past a big puddle that forms in the alley behind my house whenever it rains. I stand there this morning, as I have many times before, and watch the puddles percolate from the gas seeping up through the Earth. If you listen closely, they pop with a happy sort of sound.

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From Smirking Chimp

Hillary Clinton, they say, is the most qualified person ever to have run for the presidency. They are, of course, mistaken. But one week away from an election that, for once, really may prove to be the most important of our lives, what boggles the mind of those of us who are paying attention is just how terrible a candidate Hillary Clinton has proven to be.

It feels like years ago, but remember the primaries? Polls notwithstanding, Hillary's supporters -- the editorial board of The New York Times and the CNN talking head who slipped her debate questions so she could cheat against Bernie -- argued that her awesome resume put her in a better position to take on Donald Trump in the fall.

Yet here we are with national tracking polls in a dead heat or within the statistical margin of error, with Ohio firmly in the Trump column, Florida probably leaning the same way, and the whole thing probably coming down to a slim margin in Pennsylvania. And those polls don't take the brand-new FBI Email-gate investigation into account. (At this writing, there's one -- and it shows Trump ahead.)

The Very Serious Democrats owe Bernie Sanders an apology.

Objectively speaking, Hillary ought to be wiping the floor with Trump. The man is a maniac. His campaign is a disaster. He doesn't even have an organization. Why isn't this race 65% to 35% in her favor?

To be fair, Trump isn't totally stupid. Whether by scheming or luck, Trump has proven that free social media is much more effective than television advertising. He packaged crassness as authenticity. And he's a master of crisis management, as seen when he nuked the open-mic "p*ssy grabbing" video by inviting Bill Clinton's female accusers to attend the debate hours beforehand.

But those tricks ought not to be nearly enough to give Hillary a run for her money.

With the benefit of hindsight -- and in the case of writers like yours truly, foresight -- that Hillary Clinton would under-perform was foreseeable well before she announced her run for president.

"Hillary is out of touch," I wrote in May 2015. "She hasn't been behind the wheel of an automobile for nearly 20 years, is a multi-multi-millionaire who nevertheless considered herself 'dead broke' and still believes that she and her husband are not among 'the truly well off.'... For a Democrat under heavy fire from her party's progressive base -- with Elizabeth Warren, Bill de Blasio and Bernie Sanders leading the charge -- this stuff could be politically fatal."

Right now, it really could.

We're screwed.

Even if she wins next Tuesday, a second Clinton Administration will begin with zero mandate other than to be Not Trump. And there's a serious risk Republicans will begin impeachment proceedings within her first year. And she could easily lose -- which would put American democracy in grave peril. Heckuva job, Hillary!

When the political equivalent of the National Transportation Safety Board examines the train wreck of Hillary's campaign -- even if she wins, they'll find that alienation from the electorate is but one of many unforced errors. Here's my pre-mortality autopsy report:

Main Cause of Death: Failure to unify the Democratic Party. ClintonWorld snubbed Bernie Sanders and his supporters. This ain't the 1990s, when Bill Clinton courted the corporate right because he knew he could take the liberal-progressive base for granted. Courting Republicans even before the convention was a major screw-up. Failing to seriously consider Bernie for veep, or even a cabinet appointment, doubled down on that mistake. Clinton operatives wouldn't even let former Sanders workers volunteer for her campaign. Now the lefties are so pissed that not even Bernie himself can get them back. Many will stay home, leave the president box unticked or even vote for Trump next week.

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Hydraulic Mining Market - Technological breakthroughs, Value chain and stakeholder analysis by 2020.

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Growing energy demand coupled with increasing urbanization and industrialization is expected to boost the demand for hydraulic mining in the future. Hydraulic mining also referred to as hydraulicking was developed in California at around 1850 for excavating soft underground deposits. In Hydraulic mining a high pressure jet of water is used to excavate and wash the gravel. Gold is then recovered by cleaning the bedrock. Hydraulic mining is efficiently used to mine placer deposits of gold. Hydraulic mining is applicable in nearly all types of placer deposits, having various physical characteristics such as clayey or cemented deposits. However, water supply is a key parameter in determining the application of hydraulic mining and size of operation.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:In hydraulic mining, a high pressure stream of water is directed against an alluvial bank caving. This stream then undercuts the bank, forming slurry with water; the slurry is further washed into a sluice. This process is gravity driven and separates gold from gravel. The overall market for hydraulic mining can be segmented on the basis of mining methods, equipments and geography to portray the overall market scenario. On the basis of mining methods, the global hydraulic mining market can be segmented as bottom up mining and top-down herring bone mining. On the basis of hydraulic equipment, the hydraulic mining market can be segmented as stackers, shovels, level luffing cranes, electronic overhead travel (EOT) cranes and drilling machines.Top-down herring bone hydraulic mining method allows safe access around monitors, safe cutting angles and other equipment operating on safe examined areas. On the other hand bottom-up hydraulic mining methods can be used during mining of beach sands or coarse tailing. An application of hydraulic mining includes underground hydraulic mining for mining of coal. In the above process, the high-pressure water jets are used to break up the coal seam and wash the remaining coal slurry to the collection point.The global hydraulic mining market is rising and is estimated to register low to moderate growth rates in the future. The markets growth is primarily driven by the increased application of hydraulic mining in the mining of gold. However, the market players are required to follow a proposed hydraulic operation and fulfill three necessary conditions. These conditions are to ensure adequate water supply, facilitate sufficient dump space to dispose of the tailing from the sluice and to lay sluice with proper grade to carry gravel and water efficiently. Growing wealth in numerous emerging markets worldwide coupled with increasing industrial applications of hydraulic mining are expected to be the key growth drivers of this market. Hydraulic mining is a low-cost method and yields larger production per man-shift compared to any other method except dredging. Hydraulic mining methods are more economical for small and medium size deposits. Moreover, requirement of low initial investment is also likely to propel growth in the global hydraulic mining market. Compared to other competitive methods such as dredging, hydraulic mining is a fairly productive method of mining gold. It requires low capital and mining costs as well as limited labor. The aforementioned benefits are likely to further accelerate the growth in global hydraulic mining.Some of the key players in the global hydraulic mining market include Caterpillar, Penny Hydraulics Limited, and Trident Mining & Marine Services Pty. Ltd.This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldAbout UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700Albany NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453E-mail: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Surface and Fire Protection Coatings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019

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Surface and fire protection coatings are particularly industrial coatings which include a wide range of substrate solutions for the purpose of protection from fire or corrosion. Materials such as moisture-cure-urethane, epoxy and polyurethane are some of the commonly used polymers utilized in manufacturing these coatings. Surface and fire protection coatings offer several coating solutions such as powder coatings, solvent based coatings, and water based coatings among others. These products are used in various applications such as marine, automotive, steel, construction, and household.Factors such as climate change and environmental influence have been major drivers for the growth of the market. In addition, growth of the automotive industry has also contributed to the development of the market. However, growing environmental concerns from the use of these industrial coatings is expected to slow down the growth of the market. Disruptive technologies and advancements such as nanotechnology and information technology are creating new methods and applications for more efficient surface and fire protection coatings avoiding loss of life and property. This factor is anticipated to provide new opportunities for the growth of the market.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:Asia Pacific currently dominates the global market for surface and fire protection coatings, with emerging economies such as China and India leading the market in this region. It was followed by North America where demand for these coatings has been witnessing a noticeable increase with the rising death tolls of fire accidents in the region. Future market growth is expected to be from Asia Pacific as well owing to several new renovation and construction projects in South Asia, specifically in China thereby boosting the demand for surface and fire protection coatings.BASF SE, DuPont, Kansai Paints, RPM International, Asian Paints, Diamond Vogel, Hempel, Carpoly, Masco, Chugoku Marine Paints, and Sherwin Williams are some of the major manufacturers of surface and fire protection coatings dominating the market.This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsThis report is a complete study of current trends in the market, industry growth drivers, and restraints. It provides market projections for the coming years. It includes analysis of recent developments in technology, Porters five force model analysis and detailed profiles of top industry players. The report also includes a review of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700Albany NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453E-mail: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Smart Factory Market to Record an Impressive Growth Rate During the Forecast 2021

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Smart factories are affordable and offer fully integrated automation solutions for manufacturing facilities to streamline the flow of materials during the manufacturing process. Smart factories are characterized by increasing the use of technology and field devices to offer complete automation in manufacturing process. By incorporating cyber physical system into the forefront of manufacturing flow, smart factories are able to connect every process and component across the value chain. This interconnection of information and production has revolutionized the automation industry and thereby, facilitated manufacturing units to perform at an optimum level. Moreover, manufacturing companies are able to achieve shortest time to market and zero waste production through smart factories. Automation in smart factories makes the use of various control devices such as sensors, motors, drives, switches and relays and networks technologies such as wired, wireless and radio frequency identification (RFID). Integrated systems such as Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Information Technology (IT) system, Programmable Logic Control (PLC), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) are designed to meet the specific requirements of a manufacturing unit. These industrial control systems manage the process and streamline the flow of materials across the manufacturing line. Smart factories also make use of industrial robots such as articulated robots, SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm or Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm) robots, Cartesian robots, cylindrical and other robots for various manufacturing processes such as painting, welding, conveyance, heavy lifting etc.Request to view Sample Report @One of the major factors driving the growth of smart factory market is the increasing need for improving efficiency and energy saving in the manufacturing process. Automation has enabled manufacturing units to utilize every second of production time through efficient streamlining of the manufacturing process. Technological advancements such as machine to machine communication enable smart factories to eliminate wastage of time caused due to the delay in the process change. Moreover, with rise of Internet of Things (IoT) and services, integration of manufacturing and engineering processes has experienced a tremendous leap forward. However, the growth of smart factory market faces a few restraints due to lack of standardization and interoperability issues. These factors raise concerns in designing integrated solutions using components provided by several automation solution providers. The shortage of trained workers and increasing skill gap further restrains the growth of smart factory market. Other crucial factors such as cyber security threats and associated costs limit the growth of this smart factory market in industries such nuclear, weapons and armaments.With its immense applications in industries such as automotive and transportation, packaging, mining of minerals and metals, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and process industries such as oil and gas, the smart factory market is expected to experience immense growth in coming years. Thereby, companies have invested heavily to explore untapped opportunities in the applications of industrial robots and control devices.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major players in smart factory market include Intel Corporation, General Dynamics Corporation, CMC Associates, Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Johnson Controls Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Rockwell Automation Inc., Siemens AG, Schneider Electric SA, General Electric Co., Apriso Corporation, Emerson Electric Co., Invensys Plc., Teledyne Technologies Inc., ABB Ltd., Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and National Instruments 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.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Snack Pellets Market: Impact of Existing and Emerging Market 2016 - 2024

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Snack pellets are intermediate non-expanded products. These non-expanded semi-finished products are generally processed such as frying and hot air baking to convert them into finished and expanded snacks. The snack pellets are available in various textures, shapes, colors and tastes. The increasing awareness about the health and intake of nutritional ingredients through ready to eat food is responsible for the research and development activities and penetration of new variety product in the snack market. The snack pellets market is one of the fastest growing markets and has witnessed the strong growth trend over the last decade.Increasing demand of the ready to eat snacks due to busier lifestyle among the consumers with the improved taste, ingredients, flavor is the leading driver of the global snack pellets market. The global market for the snack pellets is growing rapidly due to great diversity of products in terms of shapes, textures, colors and flavors. The snack pellets own properties such as long shelf life, high-density features as well as simplifying storage process, leads to the growth of the global snack pellets market. The increasing health awareness and consumption of the nutrients, minerals, proteins, energy, saturated fats and salts through snacks are also enhanced the demand for the snack pellets.View Sample Report @However, the prices of the raw material used to manufacture the snack pellets are high in the developing and non-developed countries which may hamper the growth of the global snack pellets market.The global snack pellets market is segmented on the basis of the type of processing, the form of snack pellets, the source of raw material, and geographical region.On the basis of type of processing snack pellets, the global snack pellets market has segmented into:FryingHot air bakingOn the basis of form of the snack pellets, the global snack pellets market has segmented into:Laminated pelletsTridimensional pelletsDie face pelletsGelatinized pelletsPunched pelletsDie distance pelletsOn the basis of the source of raw material, the global snack pellets market has segmented into:PotatoCornMultigrainRiceTapiocaOthersRequest TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:In terms of geography, the global snack pellets market has been divided into five key regions, including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The global snack pellets market has expected to register moderate growth over the forecast period. Europe has contributed the leading share to the global snack pellets market due to the rapidly growing demand for snack pellets as the substitute for the processed food. Asia Pacific region has also contributed the significant shares to the global snack pellets market due to increasing trend and demand for the snack pellets from the countries such as India, China. North America is also growing at a decent growth and expected to register the healthy CAGR over the forecast period. Latin America and MEA regions are at a nascent stage and anticipated to register the moderate growth over the forecast period.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
Pneumatic Tyres Market to Register a Strong Growth By 2020

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In the past, rubber tyres were solid not pneumatic. In the recent scenario, majority of tyres are pneumatic inflatable structures and comprising a doughnut-shaped body of cords and wires encased in rubber and usually filled with compressed air to form an inflatable cushion. Pneumatic tyres production needs various raw materials such as synthetic rubber, natural rubber, fabric and wire, along with other chemicals. Different types of rubber are used for production of pneumatic tyres, the most common being styrene-butadiene copolymer. Pneumatic tyres consist of a tread and a body. The tread provides traction while the body provides containment for a quantity of compressed air. Pneumatic tyres provide grip to the vehicle, resist abrasion and carry and transport loads. Thus pneumatic tyres provide safety and performance to the vehicle. On the basis of vehicle type pneumatic tyres market can be classified as bicycle, bus and lorry, car, motorcycle and aircraft. The use of tyres are not limited in new vehicles only, it can also be used in old vehicles due to wear and tear and for replacement purpose, which is also a major market for tyres. Airplane tyres are a niche market, but is a high revenue contributor to the pneumatic tyres market.Request to view Sample Report @North America is the largest market for pneumatic tyres, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market. China and India hold the key for future market trends in pneumatic tyres market owing to large population, rising disposable income and high growth rate of automotive industry in these regions. Germany, France and Italy are hub for some of the major automobile manufacturers in Europe where as the U.S. is the largest market in North America.The market of pneumatic tyres is expected to witness a double digit growth rate in the coming years. Some of the major drivers contributing the overall market growth of pneumatic tyres include increased in the production of vehicles globally, rising disposable income and ever-increasing population. Increasing price of raw materials and rise in fuel prices can act as restraints for pneumatic tyres market.Request to view Table of content @The major companies operating in the pneumatic tyres market include Dunlop, Michelin, Bridgestone Corporation, MRF, Goodyear and Maxxis International.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.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Automotive Adhesives Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2021

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Adhesives and sealants are the most versatile bonding agents available today and are used by automakers to make cars lighter and tougher. Adhesives are made from precise blends of synthetic rubber elastomers, resins and agents or additives used to enhance certain characteristics, depending on the end use. Automakers today use aluminum and composites that cannot be welded together but have to be glued to hold the body parts together even at top speed and high pressure. Adhesives do not lose strength and hence are used for these applications. Adhesives bonding renders the vehicles quieter, more durable and safer and are replacing conventional joining techniques such as welding, riveting and bolting.Request for Sample Copy@Adhesives find numerous applications in the automobile industry and have revolutionized the way automobiles have been designed and built. Adhesives are used to assemble rubber, metal, glass, plastics and numerous other materials during the manufacture of automobiles. Adhesives help prevent the ingress of salt, dirt and water in the car body shell. Adhesives help in improving body stiffness and durability and provide improved crash performance. Every stage of production of an automobile, whether for non-load-bearing body components or structural parts, uses adhesives in one form or other. Adhesives are used in manufacture of engines, body components, gear boxes and mounted parts such as wing mirrors, seats and steering wheels. Interior applications include tray systems, safety systems, seating systems, as well as sub assembly and acoustical material assembly. In addition, adhesives are used for direct glazing, where they contribute to an increased rigidity of the car body.Adhesives can be applied with high speed on the production line, which results in cost reduction and savings. Hence, adhesive consumption per vehicle is expected to increase, as automotive designers continue to exploit the cost saving potential of adhesives. In addition, adhesives help to cut down on noise, vibration and harshness characteristics. Adhesives improve fuel efficiency of automobiles and provide enhanced performance which is a key driving factor behind the advancement of adhesives in the automotive industry.Consistent growth and presence of wide range of suppliers, distributors and manufacturers are the some of the characteristics of the adhesives market. Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America hold potential for growth. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for the adhesives industry due to growing demand for adhesives in South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Australia and India.North America and Europe are saturated markets and will grow with a low compound annual growth rate in the near future. The adhesive market in the U.S. has lost ground to China due to migration of manufacturing facilities to China but the country continues to play a significant role in the adhesives market.Request for Table of Content@The industry remains fragmented, with numerous medium-sized companies with a high level of customization, particularly in the highest-value adhesive segments. The cost of producing adhesives is attributable to the cost of the raw materials along with the requisite service component of training customers and helping them resolve manufacturing issues. Some of the key players in this market are Sika AG (Switzerland), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Bayer (Germany), Henkel (Germany), BASF (Germany), 3M Company (U.S.), Ashland Specialty Chemical Company (U.S.), H.B. Fuller Company(U.S.), Hindustan Adhesives Limited (India), ExxonMobil Chemical Company (U.S) , Dynea International Oy (Finland) , Forbo Adhesives Switzerland (Switzerland), Hexion Specialty Chemicals (U.S) and Covalence Adhesives (U.S.) among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Plastic and Competitive Pipe Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2020

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Plastic and competitive pipe is used for the conveyance of potable water, wastewater, heating and cooling fluids, foodstuffs, chemicals, gases, compressed air and vacuum system applications. Use of plastic and competitive pipe offers a broad range of advantages such as moderate cost, corrosion resistance, ease of handling and installation and long service life. These advantages further helps in the growth of plastics and competitive market. PVC, HDPE, fiberglass, ABS and CPVC are types of plastic pipe. Other pipe materials include steel, copper, concrete, aluminum, ductile iron and clay. PVC contributes the largest market share in plastics pipe.Request to view Sample Report @The application of plastics and competitive pipes are used in building and construction industry, electrical and electronics industry, chemical and petroleum industry. The growing expenditure on building construction further increases the demand of plastics and competitive pipe. Increasing construction of residential market, increasing housing completions and growing construction of kitchen and bathroom leads to boost the demand for drain, waste, and vent pipe. To conduct proper electrical and telecommunication wiring, use of plastics pipe is growing in non-residential building. Building and construction industry contributed the largest share in global market of plastics and competitive pipe.Due to its low cost, high durability and compression the use of steel pipe is growing in oil and gas industry. Activities such as drilling and distribution of gas pipeline further increase the demand of steel pipes. Among all material, steel pipes accounted the largest share in global competitive pipe market. Various government projects regarding investment on gas pipeline distribution further boost the market of plastics and competitive pipe.In North America, plastics and competitive pipe market is growing due to various government investment over gas exploration and municipal infrastructure in wastewater pipeline distribution. The huge investment on residential and commercial building construction in developing countries of Asia Pacific further boosts the plastics and competitive pipe market.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major companies operating in global plastic and competitive pipe market are McWane, Inc, Advanced Drainage Systems Incorporated, Alcoa Incorporated, American Cast Iron Pipe Company, AMSTED Industries Incorporated, Can Clay Corporation, CONTECH Engineered Solutions LLC, Cretex Companies Incorporated, Atkore International Holdings Incorporated, Pipelife Jet Stream and United States Pipe and Foundry Company LLC.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.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Energy Management Systems (EMS) Market: Recent Industry Trends, Analysis and Forecast 2026

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Energy Management Systems (EMS) is a solution including software and associated hardware and communication systems for energy efficiency improvement. EMS have wide applications areas spread across different verticals such as telecom and IT, power and energy, commercial and office buildings, manufacturing, and hospital, municipal, school and university Systems. The Energy Management Systems (EMS) market is highly fragmented with various offerings extending from simple to complex energy monitoring dashboards and software including analytics of high degree.Request for Sample Report:The adoption of energy management systems depend mainly upon rigorous government regulations regarding conservation and energy efficiency coupled with market awareness of end-users regarding the importance of energy conservation and improving profits. However, there are multiple factors hindering the growth of the market such as during economic slowdowns energy management automatically takes the back seat and because of financial limitations application of EMS gets converted into a secondary goal. The organization focuses more on production than on energy efficiency in the business setups. Creating awareness among end users about energy management can be challenging as end users and the enterprises are more concern about initial cost than on long term benefits.The market can be segmented by software types into industrial EMS, utility EMS, residential EMS, enterprise energy and carbon management, and others. The market is by devices into load control (LC) switches, in-home displays (IHDs), smart plugs and smart thermostats. Furthermore by applications the market is segmented into home energy management systems (HEMS) and building energy management systems (BEMS); utility billing, Customer Information System (CIS) and solutions: demand response (DR).In addition the market is segmented by business vertical on the basis of implementation into energy and power, commercial and office buildings; Municipal, University, School and Hospital Systems (MUSH); IT and telecom and manufacturing.Request for Table of content:The major players in this market are GE Corporation, Siemens AG, Schneider Electric, Honeywell International Inc., 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:
Aminopolycarboxylic Acid (APCA) Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2021

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Aminopolycarboxylic acid (complexone) is a compound containing one or more nitrogen atoms connected through carbon atoms to two or more carboxyl groups. It is a chelating agent which has molecules with the ability to provide more than one bond to a metal ion, thereby augmenting the stability of the ion complex. The chelating properties of aminopolycarboxylates can be engineered by varying the groups linking the nitrogen atoms so as to increase selectivity for a particular metal ion. Chelation represents a particular way of binding ions and molecules with metal ions. It involves the formation of multiple separate coordinate bonds between a polydentate ligand and single central atom. Usually, these ligands are organic compounds and are referred as sequestering agents, chelating agents, chelators or chelants. Aminocarboxylic acid is used in numerous technical and industrial applications.Request for Sample Copy@Aminopolycarboxylic acid (APCA) is one of the most widely consumed chelating agents and is used in a broad range of applications such as water treatment, pulp & paper, agriculture, and household & industrial cleaning. APCA compounds such as EDTA has been of massive worldwide use within the industrial and household applications. EDTA is one of the anthropogenic compounds with highest concentration in the inland waters of Europe. EDTA is a chelate ligand with a high affinity constant to form metal-EDTA complexes, which are extensively used to sequester metal ions. In addition, its widespread use in the medical industry is another major factor for its huge demand on a global scale. It is used in the chelation therapy for treating lead poisoning and mercury. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) have approved the use of EDTA for curing lead poisoning.The global water treatment chemicals industry has been growing significantly due to factors such as rapid industrialization, stringent government policies and demand for clean and fresh water for various household & industrial cleaning applications. Demand for clean water by agricultural and industrial sectors is increasing rapidly. In order to meet these requirements, APCA is widely used as water softeners to treat water hardness and remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium ions. Thus, the growing demand for aminopolycarboxylic acid for water treatment applications is expected to boost the market over the next few years. In addition, the increasing demand for APCA from cleaning and detergents industries is anticipated to augment the aminopolycarboxylic acid market in the near future. However, potential health and environmental hazards associated with the use of non-biodegradable chelating agents such as EDTA, DTPA and NTA have led to several environmental concerns regarding its consumption. Due to these factors, the demand for EDTA is expected to increase noticeably over the next few years.Asia Pacific was the largest market for aminopolycarboxylic acid owing to the presence of a significant number of chelating agent manufacturers in Asia Pacific, particularly in China. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth over the next few years on account of increasing usage of aminopolycarboxylic acid in the existing large-scale textile and pulp & paper industries, particularly in China and India. Asia Pacific is followed by Europe as aminopolycarboxylic acid is being increasingly used in healthcare and pharmaceutical applications in this region.Request for Table of Content@Key players in the aminocarboxylic acid market are AkzoNobel N.V, BASF SE, Cargill Incorporated, Kemira Oyj, Lanxess AG, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Tate & Lyle PLC and The Dow Chemical Company among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Skin Toner Market : Key Growth Factor, Industry Analysis 2020

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Skin toners remove the grease, dirt, oil and makeup collected in the pores of the skin by interacting with the moisture barrier in the skins surface and altering the skins pH levels. It also helps in skin refreshments, preparation and conditioning, reduction in irritation and inflammation, hydration, controlling access oil and anti aging nourishment. It can be applied on face as a cream, cleanser, or as part of a lotion. Toner usually comes in liquid form, even though some toners are formulated as gels or mists also. A toner can be applied on its own or as a part of skin care routine as a step in between washing the face and applying facial moisturizers.Request to view Sample Report @Normal healthy skin preserves a little acidic pH. Restoring the skin to its standard pH reduces stress and raises its ability to receive nourishment from moisturizers and skin healing products. In the pH stability skin toners, the bi-phase technology (bi-phase technology is combination of two dissimilar states of material collectively, such as a liquid and a powder) suspends oil gripping mineral powders to give an instant lusterless finish. pH balancing skin toners are alcohol free and uses ingredients such as witch hazel and strawberry extract to tone and refine the skin. The other uses of pH labeler skin toner include post shaving treatment, sun burn treatment and treatment in case of bug-bytes. Other benefit associated with some of the other skin toners having vitamins and antioxidants include refreshment of skin and removal of flakes of dead skin. Constituent in a skin toner such as aloe and witch hazel also squeeze the skin to improve overall look.Some of the Major ingredient in skin toner includes water, butylene glycol, sophora angustifolia root extract, alcohol denat, betaine, hydrogenated castor oil, caprylyl glycol, mentha piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract, symphytum officinale leaf extract, sodium oleth-8 Phosphate, Poncirus trifoliata fruit extract, triethanolamine, polysorbate 80, disodium EDTA and fragrance.Asia Pacific is largest skin toner market followed by North America and Europe. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) is the fasted growing region for skin toner with double digit growth expected to increase further in the coming years. The vast population of young consumer in countries such as India and China is expected to increase the Asia Pacific market share. According to United Nation, China and India together accounts for 37% of global population out of which 704 million people of India and 497 million population of china are below the age of 35. With such high concentration of young population and their rising income overall facial care market is grooming in these countries.The major drivers for the skin toner market includes growing aspiration to look young and beautiful, rising income levels in the developing countries and evolution of alcohol free skin toners. Major challenge for skin toner industry is the potential side effect of the chemical ingredients used in skin toners.The brand loyalty among consumers is very high in this industry and this is helping big players to retain majority of market share with help of their establish brands identity. Over the past few years, with evolution of herbal skin toner some herbal product based companies such as Himalaya Drug Co. have entered the market.Request to view Table of content @Major companies operating in skin toner market include L'Oreal S.A., Kose Corporation, Kao Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shiseido Co. Ltd., The Procter & Gamble Company, The Unilever Plc., Lotus Herbals Ltd., Burts & Bees, LUMENE, Sea Breeze, Himalaya Drug Co., Herbaline, Zymo Cosmetics, Debon Herbal private Limited, and Ban Labs Limited.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.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Low Voltage Motor Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2021

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The low voltage motors are extensively being used in several industries such as mining, food & beverages, oil & gas, automotive, packaging etc., driven by the profuse growth in industrialization and steadily rising demand for energy across the globe. These are the motors that run at voltages less than 1000 V and generate maximum power that aid to improve productivity, quality and save the energy.Request for Sample Copy@Various motor efficiency legislations which have been enacted all over the world, are likely to drive the global low voltage motor market during the forecast period. According to these legislations, more expensive and more energy efficient motors are mandated to manufacturers.The global low voltage market is forecasted to grow with a single digit CAGR during the forecast period and is anticipated to hold a strong potential in coming 4-5 years. Most of the manufacturers are now focusing towards advanced technology and quality low voltage motors to enhance their production process which in turn had led to the increase in demand for the advanced low voltage motors.With rise in technological advancement, increasing demand for machineries across the world and advantages offered by low voltage motors due to its efficient nature, the global low voltage motor market is anticipated to show the robust growth during the forecast period. The growing consumption of low voltage motors by end user industries will continue to drive the growth in low voltage market over the forecast period.In addition, stringent motor efficiency legislation and retrofits due to aging equipment are expected to impact the global low voltage motor market in a positive way.Depending on geographic regions, global low voltage motor market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. As of 2014, Asia pacific dominated the global low voltage motor market owing to the growing consumption of low voltage motors by automotive and electronics industry, in this region. In addition, China is the largest country market for low voltage motor in Asia Pacific and is poised to show strong opportunities for low voltage motors in near future. After Asia Pacific North America is projected to show the vigorous growth in global low voltage motor market, especially due to the increasing demand of low voltage motors in countries like US and Canada, during the forecast period.Request for Table of Content@Some of the major players operating in global low voltage motor market are ABB, TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company, Siemens, Hyosung Power and Industrial Systems Performance Group, Anhui Wannan Electric Machine, ATB Group, Leroy Somer, LEZ Ruselprom, Luan JiangHuai, NIDEC, Regal Beloit, Shandong Huali Electric Motor Group, GE Industrial, Toshiba International, WEG, VEM Group, etc.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 Automotive Cabin AC Filter Market Estimated to be Valued is expected to Reach US$ 3,738.2 Mn by the End of 2024

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A new Persistence Market Research report titled Automotive Cabin AC Filter Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 20162024 presents market projections for the global automotive cabin AC filter market over an eight-year forecast period (20162024). The global automotive cabin AC filter market is estimated to be valued at US$ 2,198.4 Mn by the end of 2016 and is expected to reach US$ 3,738.2 Mn by the end of 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period. Global consumption of automotive cabin AC filters is estimated to be pegged at 366,547 thousand units by the end of 2016 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period.Request to view Sample Report @Market dynamicsDemand for automotive cabin AC filters is expected to increase at a significant rate due to steady rise in vehicle production around the globe. Rising adoption of automotive cabin AC filters to filter pollutants and dust particles and a rising demand for efficient HVAC systems are major factors expected to drive the demand for automotive cabin AC filters worldwide. Cabin AC filters are an integral part of the HVAC system in vehicles. However, many vehicle owners are not aware that this system exists in a vehicle, and hence they are unaware about the replacement cycle of the cabin AC filter. This factor is expected to marginally restrain the growth of the automotive cabin AC filter market over the forecast period.Market highlightsThe global automotive cabin AC filter market is segmented on the basis of filter type (electrostatic, particulate, charcoal), vehicle type (passenger cars, LCV, HCV), and sales channel (OEM, aftermarket). Persistence Market Research projections indicate that the particulate filter type segment is likely to expand at a significant CAGR of 6.2% in terms of value over the forecast period. The electrostatic filter type segment is expected to register a volume CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period. The electrostatic segment is likely to exhibit steady growth in the near future due to the rising adoption of cabin AC air filters in the OEM and aftermarket categories in countries such as China, India, Brazil, and countries of MEA. --- Analyst, Persistence Market Research.The passenger car vehicle type segment is estimated to account for the largest market share of 76.3% by the end of 2016. This segment estimated to be valued at US$ 1,677.0 Mn by 2016 end and is expected to reach US$ 2,913.6 Mn by the end of 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period. The segment is expected to grow 1.7X in terms of value between 2016 and 2024.The OEM sales channel segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% over the forecast period while the aftermarket sales channel segment is expected to be the most attractive segment in terms of CAGR and market share index throughout the forecast period.Among regions, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness a relatively high CAGR of 10.5% in terms of value over the forecast period. North America and Europe are expected to contribute significant value share to the global automotive cabin AC filter market throughout the forecast period. The market for cabin AC filters is mature in Europe and North America as almost all the passenger cars are equipped with cabin AC filters.Request to view Table of content @The report profiles some of the leading market players in the global automotive cabin AC filter market  Mann+Hummel GmbH, Sogefi SpA, Donaldson Company, Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, Denso Corporation, Ahlstrom Corporation, MAHLE GmbH, Freudenberg & Co. KG, Hengst SE & Co. KG, ALCO Filters Ltd., K&N Engineering, Inc., EuroGIELLE S.r.l, ACDelco, and Airmatic Filterbau GmbH.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 Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite:media@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Automated Fare Collection (AFC) System Market: In-Depth Market Research Report 2016  2026

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Automated fare collection (AFC) system is the automated version of manual fare collection. It allows public transportation authoritys such as metro, rail, and buses to implement fast and efficient ticketing system. The automated fare collection system allows tracing and managing the funds generated through sales and by use of transport fare media, thereby helping to thrust revenue of the companies. Contactless technology, smart card, and electronic payment reduce the cost associated with handling cash transaction. Smart cards technology is extensively used fare collection systems because it offers benefits such as reduced maintenance & operating cost, improve efficiency, and reduced frauds.Request for Sample Report:The automated fare collection system market is segmented on the basis of technology, components and geography. Based on technology, the automatic fare collection system market can be categorized into smart cards, magnetic strips, near field communication (NFC), and optical character recognition (OCR). The adoption of NFC technology is expected to remain high owing to its benefits such as fault tolerance and high speed contactless transaction. These technologies reduce the cost associated with handling cash transactions and save time of travelers by eliminating the queue for obtaining tickets. On the basis of components, the automated fare collection system market can be segmented as hardware components and software components. Hardware components include vending machine, hand held terminals, and fare gates. Furthermore, on the basis of geography the automated fare collection system market can be categorized into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. North America and Europe are anticipated to be the dominant regions over the forecast period owing to the increased government spending for improving transport infrastructure. Asia Pacific automatic fare collection systems market is also expected to witness significant growth owing to the development in countries such as India and China. China and India are focusing on building better commutation facilities such as high speed train, metro train and mono rail.Governments of various countries such as India, China, and U.S., among others are focusing on enhancing the transportation infrastructure and security systems, which in turn is fueling the growth of automated fare collection system market. New payment gateways such as account based payment systems using credit; debit and bank cards are driving the demand of automated fare collection systems.Development of monorail and metro in metropolitan cities is furthermore expected to stimulate the growth of automated fare collection system market, globally. Increasing adoption of NFC based mobile phones is anticipated to furthermore spur the demand of automated fare collection systems. NFC enabled devices allows travelers to perform safe transactions by holding it close to the electronic terminal. Rising need to enhance business process in an organization for increasing profit margins is one of the key factors triggering the demand for automated fare collection systems across the globe. Transit agencies are collaborating with the financial institution, payment gateway providers, and system integrators to reduce the overall cost and providing cost effective shared infrastructure.Request for Table of content:Some of the key players in the automated fare collection system include Advanced Card Systems Ltd., Atos SE, Cubic Transportation Systems, Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH, NXP Semiconductors, Omron Corporation, ST Electronics, Thales Group, Trapeze Group and Vix Technology 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:
Research Report and Overview on Automotive Seat Heater Market, 2016-2026

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Increasing disposable income combined with consumer changing lifestyle is what drives development in the automotive industry. Currently, advancements in automotive industry is characterized by many factors namely speed, mileage, interior and exterior design elegance and others. Among them one of the most prominent factors that adds value to the customers is comfort. Thus in order to improve comfort for the rider while travelling long distance, automotive seat heater is one of the preferred device by major OEMs in four-wheel vehicles. Automotive seat heater is made from carbon fiber technology which easily fits at the bottom or back of the seat and can be easily integrated with cloth or leather covered seats.Global Automotive Seat Heater Market: DynamicsIncreasing demand for comfort and energy efficiency in passenger cars and commercial vehicles is primarily driving the growth of global automotive seat heater market. The customer base having high net worth usually prefers cars with high comfort features which makes premium car manufacturers to target such customers with advanced comfort features.Integration of seat heaters with conventional glued fabric seat are some of the major challenges being faced by the aftermarket providers. Moreover, rising no of fire incidents in the seat due to seat heater coil is primarily decreasing consumer confidence towards adoption of automotive seat heaters. However, development in seat heater power supply and product material is expected to mitigate such effects in the near future. Technological advancements such as seat heater with short duration warming time usually (16-20 seconds) are also increasing the demands for seat heater in premium model vehicles. Moreover, declining cost combined with low penetration of automotive heat heaters in majority of vehicles is expected to create significant opportunity for new entrants in the global automotive seat heater market.Request for sample report:Global Automotive Seat Heater Market: SegmentationThe global automotive seat heater market can be segmented on the basis of sales channel, vehicle type, and region.On the basis of sales channel, the global automotive seat heater market can be categorized asOEMAftermarketOn the basis of vehicle type, the market can be segmented asPassenger carsCompact and mid-sized carsExecutive carsPremium carsCommercial vehiclesHeavy trucks and busesThe aftermarket segment hold the largest market installation share primarily due to self-installation feature, declining cost and availability of product for different models.Global Automotive Seat Heater Market: Regional OutlookNorth America, Western Europe, and Japan are the prominent market for automotive seat heater market. Due to low temperate conditions in most parts of the western countries the demand for automotive seat heater systems is increasing. Changing lifestyle along with increasing urbanization and purchasing power is anticipated to drive the Asia Pacific automotive seat heater market during the forecast period.Request for TOC:Global Automotive Seat Heater Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified across the value chain in the global automotive seat heater market are: II-VI Marlow, Inc. , Gentherm , Panasonic Corporation, Changchun SET Electronics Co., Ltd., Kongsberg Automotive, Guangzhou Tachibana Electronic Co., Ltd., I.G. Bauerhin GmbH, Seat Comfort Systems, Activline, Champion Seat Systems (Automotive concepts), Langfang Golden Time Technology Development Co., Ltd. and Roadwire LLC.The companies are emphasizing on research and development and new product development in order to maintain the competitive advantage in global automotive seat heater market during the forecast period. In order to meet the increasing demand for automotive seat heater, companies all over the world are looking to expand the product portfolio and increase the sales strategies. The companies are also focusing on different strategies in order to maintain the market share in the global automotive seat heater 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 us:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Secure Digital (SD) Memory Card Market to Record an Impressive Growth Rate US$ 8,952.9 Mn by 2022

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According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Secure Digital (SD) Memory Card: Micro SD Card to be the Largest Segment by 2022, The Global SD Memory Card Market was valued at USD 7,705.2 million in 2014 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 1.5% from 2015 to 2022, to reach USD 8,952.9 million by 2022Request to view Sample Report @The global SD memory card market is classified on the basis of card type, storage capacity, application and region. These classifications are further broken down into segments to get a better understanding of the global SD memory card market in detail.On the basis of application, the market has been segmented into mobile phones, digital cameras, tablets, game devices and others. The mobile phones segment dominated the SD memory card market, accounting for 68.5% in 2014 and is estimated to remain dominant, accounting for 71.6% by 2022. The tablets segment accounted for 5.2% share in the global SD memory card market in 2014, and is projected to grow to 11.6% by 2022, witnessing an increase of 636 Basis Point Share and registering a double-digit CAGR of 10.9%.On the basis of card type, the market has been segmented into SD card, micro SD card and mini SD card. The micro SD card segment dominated the global SD memory card market, accounting for over 90.0% share in 2014 and is anticipated to remain dominant during the forecast period.On the basis of storage capacity, the market has been segmented into 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB,128GB, 256GB and 512GB &Above.In terms of CAGR, 512GB &Above is estimated to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period, followed by the 256GB segment.Global SD memory card market share of the 32GB segment was 15.5% in 2014 and is anticipated to grow to 22.0% by 2022, witnessing an increase of 648 Basis Point Share and registering a CAGR of 5.4%.Growth of the global SD memory card market is mainly driven by advancements in imaging technology, seasonal sales of mobile devices and wide availability of rich multimedia content. Other trends driving the growth of the SD memory card market include introduction of SD memory cards with high transfer and write speeds, transition to 3D NAND technology, inclusion of wireless technologies and increasing storage capacity of memory cards.Asia Pacific dominated the SD memory card market, accounting for over 35% market share in 2014 and is anticipated to remain dominant through the forecast period.The markets in Europe and North America collectively accounted for over 35% share in the globalSD memory card market in 2014. Among regions, MEA is anticipated to register the highest CAGR between 2015 and 2022, followed by Latin America, due to the high availability of rich multimedia content and seasonal sales of the mobile devices in these region.Key players in the global SD memory card market are SanDisk Corporation, Transcend Information Inc., ADATA Technologies Co. Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Kingston Technology Corporation, Micron Technology, Inc., Sony Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corporation, and PNY Technologies, Inc.Major participants such as ADATA Technologies Co. Ltd.,Request to view Table of content @Transcend Information Inc. focuses on expanding their global presence through partnerships with local and international distributors. For example, in 2012, Transcend Information Inc. partnered with Eros Group  a Dubai-based distributor of consumer electronics  to distribute the formers memory and storage devices through exclusive channels within the UAE.Moreover, these key players also focus on research and development activities to introduce innovative features in their memory card products in order to attain a sustainable advantage over the competition.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 Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite:media@persistencemarketresearch.com
Digital Rights Management Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2024

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Digital right management (DRM) is a chronicle approach to protecting digital copyrights. The main purpose of digital right management is to restrict redistribution of digital media which can be in the forms of text, images, and videogames. It includes various technologies that work to confine the usages of proprietary hardware, software, and content.Request for Sample Copy@The primary driver of DRM market is increase in the numbers of hackers who intrude into corporate and government networks to access and steal critical information for financial and business gains. Furthermore, corporations are seeking instantaneous access to business data along with transmitting and storage of data across smart phones devices, cloud, Universal Serial Bus (USBs), and disks. Apart from these, the substantial adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend among enterprises has given rise to the mobile technology to open new ways for real-time access to business information along with facilitating flexible work culture.In todays era, with the ever changing world of technologies, computing devices generally do not support each platform in a content transaction. Hence, lack of trustworthy computing devices is hampering the growth of this particular market.The increasing use of smart phone devices generates huge amount of confidential data containing precious information. Thus, leading to various data security issues. Digital right management (DRM) solutions secures mobile content from cyber-attacks.Digital Right Management (DRM) is used vastly in encoding videos in video on demand (VOD) services. It protect the content of videos and ensures smooth delivery and playback. It also restricts these videos to be played on portable media players.Generally, mobile games are downloaded from the app stores. Digital Right Management solutions help companies which develops games by protecting the free transfer of their games to other devices.eBook To protect the mass copying of content of a particular eBook, digital right management (DRM) solutions are leveraged. This solution help eBook providers to protect its eBook from having an access to an unauthorized reader.Request for Table of Content@The U.S., European Union, and Israel are few of the regions which introduced some copyright directives. The U.S. passed the digital millennium copyright act on 14th May 1998, which criminalizes the production and distribution of a particular technology that allows users to copy the content.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
Southeast Asia Pet Care Market to Grow at a CAGR of 6.8% by 2020

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Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers incisive insights into emerging regions in its latest report titled, Southeast Asia Pet Care Market Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2014 - 2020. The report states that the SEA pet care market is mainly driven by the burgeoning trends of pet humanization and increasing adoption of private label brands in countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.FMI analyst P.S. Neha sheds light on why the SEA pet care market will become one of the major markets in the region in the near future: Growth of the pet care market across Southeast Asia is driven by increasing adoption and humanization of pets. Pet owners are now more inclined towards more nutritious, healthy and organic foods for their pets.By type, the overall SEA pet care market is segmented into dog food, cat food, pet products and others. Dog food is the major segment in this region, accounting for a 51.6% share of the market in 2014; however, this is expected to decrease by 30 BPS by 2020.Request Free Report Sample@This report also covers the pet care market by category and by channel. On the basis of channel, the market is segmented into supermarket, pet shop, veterinary clinic and others. The supermarket segment is the leading distribution channel in the SEA pet care market. However, veterinary clinics are anticipated to exhibit the fastest CAGR at 7.1%, followed by supermarket at a 6.8% CAGR during the forecast period. This growth is attributed to a shift in consumer buying habits and an increasing inclination of pet owners to purchase health and wellness products from reliable sources such as veterinary clinics.Furthermore, by category, the market includes economy-priced, mid-priced and premium-priced products.Improving consumer lifestyles and increasing disposable income in Southeast Asian countries has resulted in a growing acceptance for pets, not only among the high-income group, but also the middle-income group. In 2014, Thailand was the dominant country in the overall Southeast Asia pet care market with a 43.62% share, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia, accounting for 21.74% and 15.47% respectively.Send An Enquiry@The pet care market in the Philippines is expected to register a significant CAGR of 8.4%. This is expected to be followed by Vietnam at a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period.Innovation remains the key to gaining a competitive edge in the SEA pet care market, especially in the pet food category. Companies such as Nestle Purina, Zoetis, Mars, Inc. and Merck & Co., account for over 50% of the overall market share and constantly focus on mergers and acquisitions to expand their geographical presence and customer base.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:
MEMS Pressure Sensor Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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MEMS or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems is a technology in which tiny integrated devices or systems are created that combines mechanical and electrical components. They are fabricated on the micro scale, yet, generate effects on macro scale. A pressure sensor is an instrument to measure pressure, particularly of liquids or gases. A pressure sensor acts as a transducer (convert one form energy into another), and generate electrical signals when pressure is applied. The MEMS pressure sensors are used in monitoring and controlling systems used in various industries such as industrial, automotive, medical, consumer electronics, and high-end devices, among others.Significant increase in automation and miniaturization of electrical devices are the major drivers for the growth in MEMS Pressure Sensor Market. Increasing use of pressure sensors in consumer electronics and high-end devices is the major driver for the growth of the industry. Pressure sensors also find their application in automotive industry. The growing demand of vehicles, worldwide, has added to the rising demand of pressure sensors. However, due to the factors such as Eurozone crisis and high cost of labor and raw materials, the growth of overall MEMS pressure sensor market is getting affected. Furthermore, high supply cost is adding on to the manufacturing cost, thereby hindering the growth of the industry.PDF Sample For Full Details with Technological breakthroughs is @Automotive and medical equipment is projected to be the major contributors in the escalation of the overall MEMS pressure sensor market. Advancement in technology such as Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) and portable healthcare monitoring products is expected to add to the growth of the industry. Asia Pacific is estimated to hold more than half of the global share of MEMS pressure sensor market.The MEMS pressure sensor market can be segmented on the basis of technology, application, and region. The industry can be divided based on technology into capacitive, resonant solid state, piezoresistive, electromagnetic, and optical. The piezoresistive sensors are low-cost and highly efficient; hence, the growth in this segment is very evident. However, the capacitive technology segment is expected to show highest growth rate in MEMS pressure sensor market due to its wide application such as touch sensing, position sensing, and motion sensing.As per application the global MEMS pressure sensor market has been divided into consumer electronics, automotive, industrial, oil & gas, medical, and aeronautics, among others. Among the applications of MEMS pressure sensor, the automotive segment is expected grow at a steady rate owing to advancement in technology, demand of concept cars, and automation, among others. The automotive industry is followed by the consumer electronics segment for the overall growth of the MEMS pressure sensor market.Geographically, the MEMS pressure sensor market can be subdivided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific has been the largest market for MEMS pressure sensor, followed by North America. Brooding automotive sector and consumer electronics industry in countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea has propelled the growth in the Asia Pacific region. In North America, the growth in the MEMS pressure sensor industry is fueled by major semiconductor and pressure sensor manufacturing companies, especially in the U.S. and Canada. In the Rest of the World region, the demand for MEMS pressure sensors is expected to be driven by Brazil due to development in the manufacturing industry.Globally, the companies are focusing on innovation and expansion strategies such as mergers and acquisitions. The key players in the MEMS pressure sensor market are Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), General Electric (U.S.), Denso Corporation (Japan), Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (U.S.) and Sensata Technologies (U.S). Other major players include Honeywell International, Inc. (U.S.), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), Measurement Specialties, Inc. (U.S.), The Emerson Electric Company (U.S.), STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), and OMRON Corporation (Japan), among othersMarket Insight can be Viewed @Transparency 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:
Healthcare Supplies Market Driven By Increasing Need For Better Healthcare Services & Growing Population

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The global demand for healthcare supplies is expected to increase in the near future due to the growing population and the increasing need for better healthcare services. There is a rising demand for home healthcare facilities, which is a prominent reason for the growth of this market. Product innovation is also expected to contribute effectively and have an influence on the healthcare supplies industry. The increasing volume of patient care activity encouraged by an aging population and the rising incidences of diseases and disorders is promoting the growth of the healthcare supplies market. Cost effectiveness is another important factor driving the growth of this market. Many hospitals and healthcare organizations are becoming cost sensitive in purchasing healthcare products as public and private health insurance are tightening restrictions on fees paid for medical procedures.Market SegmentationSegmentation Based on Product Cardiovascular Devices Orthopedic Devices Anesthesia and Respiratory Devices Patient Monitoring Devices Ophthalmic Devices Hospital Supplies Dental Devices Diagnostic Imaging Devices Endoscopy Laparoscopy and Enteral Feed Devices Vitro DiagnosticsFor Any Queries Get Solutions With A PDF Sample :This research report analyzes this market based on its segments and major geographies. It includes a complete analysis of the current market trends, market growth drivers, restraints, market structure, and market projections for the near future. It also includes an analysis of the recent technological developments in this market, Porters five force analysis, and detailed profiles of top industry players. The report provides a review of the micro and macro factors that are important from the point of view of the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.The major geographies investigated under this report study are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World.The major players dominating the market are Bayer AG, Invacare Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Covidien Plc, C. R. Bard Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Abbott Laboratories, Air Liquide SA, Apria Healthcare Group Inc., Baxter International Inc., B. Braun Melsungen Ag, Carefusion Corporation, Coloplast A/S, Convatec Inc., Fresenius Se & Co Kgaa, Ge Healthcare, Gentiva Health Services Inc., Philips Healthcare, Lincare Holdings Inc., Medtronics Inc., Novo Nordisk, Omron Healthcare Inc., Amedisys Inc., American Homepatient Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, Roche Diagnostics Limited, Rotech Healthcare Inc., Siemens Healthcare, Sunrise Medical Inc., Teleflex Incorporated, Terumo Corporation, and others.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.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
The US Cancer Testing Market is Expected to grow at a CAGR of over 9% during Forecast 2015-2019

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Albany, NY, Nov 04: The cancer diagnostics market in the US to grow at a steady rate, posting a CAGR of over 9% during the forecast period. Market size and forecast of the cancer testing market in the US and segmentation by technique, including genetic testing and conventional testing. The report discusses the major drivers influencing market growth and the challenges faced by the vendors and the market as a whole. The top vendors evaluated in the report are Abbott Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies, Beckman Coulter, and Roche Diagnostics.Market outlook of the cancer testing market in the US -The market in the US is experiencing a lot of transformation in healthcare coverage, which have led to increased accessibility to healthcare, and thereby facilitating early diagnosis, preventive medicine, and personalized medicine. The increase in genetic testing for cancer by end-user segments such as hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and academics and research institutes are expected to propel the growth of the market.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Changes in healthcare system is one of the major drivers influencing the market growth. The number of the US citizens covered under healthcare insurance has increased tremendously and today about 19 million citizens in the US have insurance coverage. Also, big companies provide healthcare insurance policies to their employees, which will support the growth of the market.Segmentation of the cancer testing market in the US by technique- Genetic testing- Conventional testingThe year 2014 saw the dominance of conventional testing segment, accounting for a market share of more than 76% and this segment is predicted to remain at the top through 2019.Both genetic testing and conventional testing techniques are used for testing various types of cancer, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and others.Competitive landscape and key vendors -The cancer testing market in the US marks the existence of many small and medium sized vendors offering a diversified product portfolio. Large corporations are acquiring small and medium-sized manufacturers to enhance their product portfolio, which is adding to the competition.Top vendors in this market are -- Abbott Diagnostics- Agilent Technologies- Beckman Coulter- Roche DiagnosticsOther prominent vendors included in this report are Affymetrix, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Cardinal Health, Cytyc, Fujirebio Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson, Pathway Genomics, QIAGEN, Quest Diagnostics, Quidel, and Rosetta Genomics.Growth drivers, challenges, and upcoming trends: Cancer testing -Technavios market research analysts highlight the use of mass spectrometer, an extremely sophisticated instrumentation technology, which provide accurate results with infinitesimal amounts of material and does not even require specially purified samples.This report provides a number of factors contributing to the adoption, limitations, and opportunities of the cancer testing market in the US. It also offers an analysis of each factor and an estimation of the extent to which the factors are likely to impact the overall market growth.Enquiry at:Key questions answered in the report include:-- What will the market size and the growth rate be in 2019- What are the key factors driving the cancer testing market in the US- What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the cancer testing market in the US- What are the challenges to market growth- Who are the key vendors in the cancer testing market in the US- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the cancer testing market in the US- What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the cancer testing market in the USResearchMoz 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.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
VOIP Services Market Analysis and Value Forecast Snapshot by End-use Industry 2015-2025

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Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is a methodology, which uses various data and voice transfer technologies such as IP telephony, voice over broadband and Internet telephony to provide communication services over a packet-switched network. VoIP services require conversion of voice signals into digital signals, which are then carried over the IP-based network. Calls can be made from regular telephones, VoIP phones, computersand mobile phones. VoIP services are implemented using various protocols such as H.323, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Inter Asterisk eXchange (IAX), Real Time Protocol (RTP) and Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP).The global VOIP services market is driven by industry participants focusing intensely on pushing VoIP solutions across corporate and individual consumer sectors. This has led to multi-pronged developments, especially in network infrastructure and cloud-based models.Proprietary and open-source platforms are constantly witnessing the addition of newer technologies;hence consumers are demanding innovative solutions to reduce costs for availing communication services.Future Market Insights (FMI) has studied the VoIP services market and provides a detailed analysis,offering an understanding ofthe driving forces behind the popularity of these services in the global communication industry. The report also provides analysis of the major sub-segments of the global VoIPservices market for the next six years, includingdetails of the industry drivers, restraints, market trends and market structure.Request Free Report Sample@Growth of the global VOIP services market is driven by technological advancements, leading to roll out of advanced networks and increased usage of these service over various networks. Business customers adopting cloud-based VoIP services due to cost efficiency and packaged service offerings is another factor driving growth. The market is further being driven by telecommunication players constantly diversifying to offer customers VoIP services.In 2012, the corporate consumer segment registered 98.9 billion subscribers, accounting for US$ 43.27 Bn of the global VOIP services market in terms of revenue. FMI forecasts that the number if subscribers in the corporate consumer segment will increase to around 204.8 billion by 2020, accounting for US$ 86.20 Bn in terms of revenue.The computer to computer segment of the VoIP servicesmarket registered revenue at US$ 20.74 Bn with 57.4 Mn subscribers in 2012. By 2019 however, this segment is expected to account for US$ 24.74Bn with72.2 Mn subscribers.Phone to phone segment accounted for US$ 15.88 Bn with 35.9 Mn subscribersin 2012, and is expected to increase to US$ 44.78 Bn with 116.5 Mn subscribers by 2019. The computer to phone segment accounted for US$ 27.35 Bnwith 58.3 Mn subscribers, and is projected to increase to US$ 56.56 Bn witha 128.3 Mn-strong subscriber base by 2019.Visit For TOC@The individual consumer segmenthad a 52.7 Mn-strong subscriber base in 2012, and contributed US$ 20.70 Bnin terms of revenue. Of all, phone-to-phone VOIP services is the fastest growing segment, expected to increaserapidly in terms of subscriber base and revenue between 2014and 2019.This robust growth is attributed toservice providers transitioning from circuit-switched networks to packet-switched networks. Hence the market has been witnessing a shift from traditional telephony using CDMA or GSM technology, to VoIP services using cellular networks such as 3G and 4G.Some of the market restraints include low public acceptance of VoIP services in the residential consumer segment. However, with need to make international or long-distance calls growing constantly due to a moving working force or migrating population, the impact of low public acceptance is expected to decline to low over the forecast period. In addition, certain regulations or policies implemented by regional governments in emerging economies to protect or safeguard local telecom industry is hampering growth of the global VOIP services market to a large extent. The impact of this however, is expected to decline from high to medium and then to low by the end of the forecast period.Speak To Analyst@Presence of multiple players in the market causes price competitiveness, forcing companies to offer bundled services to differentiate their offerings. The key players in the global VOIP services market include Vonage Holdings Corp., RingCentral, Inc., 88, Inc., Nextiva, Inc. and InPhonex LLC.These companies focus on offering domestic as well as international calling plans with additional services such as emergency number (911) calling, speed dialing, call transfer, call blocking, conference calling and fax support. In 2013, AT&T, Inc. led the market, accounting for 7.5% of the global VoIP services market revenue.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.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Fusion Machine Market 2016 Growth, Trends and Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2022

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MRS Research Group added new research report on Global Fusion Machine Market 2016-2022 includes Market Size, Share, Trends, Growth, Demand, Supply, Application, Segmentation, Opportunity, Market Development, production, capacity utilization, supply, Analysis and Forecast by 2022MRS research reports offers you variety of reports based on different categories such as, chemical, IT, telecom, Healthcare, travel, manufacturing & construction, metal, food & beverages, FMCG products and many more. Its teamwork of intelligent associates accompanied with MRS Fusion Machine market research such as researchers, experts, analyst who work hard to reach your goal. These reports gather data worldwide and evaluate statistics on wide range of products, services and market trend.Read Complete Report with TOC :The global market research reports are comprehensive data analysis and well designed. We maintain high quality and easy to understand information composed in the global market research report. These reports are eye catching and well designed. Majorly we work on in-depth analysis of the report and financial statistics. MRS research generates report on the weekly and monthly basis as per requirement of the client. We spotlight over recent developments and R&D that drives the global Fusion Machine market in the coming years.The global market research report comprises of company profiles, market size, supply & demand, competitive landscape and market share. The study also compounds number standard analysis such as market forecast & tends, product development, merger & acquisition and R&D. The concept of mergers and acquisition is to get outstanding talent without wasting much time. The global market research report discovers micro and macro economic factors which lead to raise market share global Fusion Machine .The global Fusion Machine market research report encircles growth factors, opportunities, restraints responsible for the growth in the market.We bound tobestow reports on timely basis with complete transparency in the market report. We use methods gather data to reach to client requirement. We make sure to keep client completely satisfies with our research. Out reports is an elite combination of quantitative analysis and forecast that explore client decision for market decision.Get Free Sample Report :Porters five forces model will be assist you to realize efficiency of buyers & suppliers entered into the market. The report will be covering the segment like products, application, technology, market attractiveness with market share and value chain analysis. The global Fusion Machine market research report accompanied with graphs, tables and diagrams to clear picture of the market. Furthermore, it covers some major factors and reasons behind potential growth of the market.MRS Research group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.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
Global Shaded Pole Motor Market 2016 - SPG, EBM-PAPST, FIME, Hunan Keli Motor

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This report provides detailed analysis of worldwide markets for Shaded Pole Motor from 2011-2016, and provides extensive market forecasts (2016-2021) by region/country and subsectors. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Shaded Pole Motor market and further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Shaded Pole Motor, and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies.Request for sample report atShaded-pole motors are the original type of AC single-phase induction motor. A shaded-pole motor is basically a small squirrel-cage motor in which the auxiliary winding is composed of a copper ring or bar surrounding a portion of each pole. This auxiliary single-turn winding is called a shading coil. Currents induced in this coil by the magnetic field create a second electrical phase by delaying the phase of magnetic flux change for that pole (a shaded pole) enough to provide a 2-phase rotating magnetic field. The direction of rotation is from the unshaded side to the shaded (ring) side of the pole. Since the phase angle between the shaded and unshaded sections is small.Global Shaded Pole Motor Market Outlook 2016-2021, has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the global Shaded Pole Motor market collected from specialized sources. The report covers key technological developments in the recent times and profiles leading players in the market and analyzes their key strategies.Access full report atThe competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. The major players in the global Shaded Pole Motor market areSPG (Korea), EBM-PAPST (Germany), FIME (Italy), Hunan Keli Motor (China).The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Rest of World. In this sector, global competitive landscape and supply/demand pattern of Shaded Pole Motor industry has been provided.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.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) market to reach US$299.05 bn by 2020,at a CAGR of 3.40% By 2020

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Global Liquid Petroleum Gas Market: OverviewThe rising consumption of autogas across the world is reflecting significantly on the usage of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) across the world. As per Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global market for LPG presented an opportunity worth US$233.8 bn in 2013. Expanding at a CAGR of 3.40% during the period from 2014 to 2023, it is likely to increase to US$299.05 bn by the end of the forecast period.This research study attempts to provide a better understanding of the present as well as the future status of the global market for LPG to players and other stakeholders in order to help them in making crucial strategies for the further development of their businesses.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights :Global Liquid Petroleum Gas Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe increasing usage of LPG as primary cooking fuel in a number of economies in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Africa, on account of the cost benefits it offers, is the key driving factor behind the growth of the global LPG market across the world. Researchers expect the demand for LPG to remain escalating substantially over the next few years. However, the volatility in crude oil prices may limit this otherwise increasing demand to some extent in the near future.LPG extracted from a non-associated source has been witnessing a robust demand across the world. Analysts project the trend to remain so over the forthcoming years. Among end users, the residential/commercial sector have led the demand for LPG in 2013 with a share of more than 60% in the overall market and is anticipated to retain its dominance over the forecast period.Global Liquid Petroleum Gas Market: Geographical AnalysisBased on the geography, the global market for LPG is classified into Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, North America, and South and Central America. In terms of production volume, the Middle East has emerged as the market leader; however, on the basis of consumption, Asia Pacific has grabbed the lions share in the overall market. The scenario is likely to remain more or less same over the next few years.Browse Report with Full TOC at :China and India account for a considerable portion of the overall LPG consumption in Asia Pacific and are expected to experience an increase in the demand for LPG in the near future. Economies in Latin America and Africa are also expected to exhibit a similar scenario in the years to come due to the escalating demand from the domestic and the commercial sectors. Besides, North America is likely to witness a significant rise in the production of LPG over the forecast period.Companies mentioned in the research reportThe global market for LPG demonstrates a fragmented and competitive landscape. Some of the leading players in this market are SHV Energy N.V., Repsol S.A., Copagaz Distribuidora De Gas S.A., China Gas Holdings Ltd., Kleenheat Gas Pty Ltd., Origin Energy, UGI Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., and British Petroleum Plc.Key Segments of Global Liquefied Petroleum Gas MarketBy SourceRefineryAssociated GasNon-Associated GasBy End UserResidential/CommercialPetrochemical and RefineryIndustrialTransportationOthersContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: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.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207
IT Robotic Automation Market: Rising Demand across Emerging Economies to Help Market Exhibit a Staggering 47.1% CAGR 2016-2024

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Transparency Market Research states that the global IT robotic automation market will reach a value of US$16,884.0 mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 47.1% during the period from 2016 to 2024. In terms of solutions, the segment of IT robotic automation services dominated the global market, accounting for a share of over 68% in 2015. Geographically, the North America IT robotic automation held a lions share of the global market, accounting for over 44.3% in 2015.PDF Sample for Emerging Trends in IT Robotic Automation:Cost Benefits and Improved Efficiency Granted by Robotic Automation to Fuel MarketIn the past few years, adoption of robotic automation across a number of crucial processes and operations in the IT industry has proved to be significantly beneficial in terms of cost reduction, improvement in efficiency, scalability, and flexibility of processes, and enhanced productivity. This has compelled an increasing number of IT firms to adopt robotic automation across applications such as BPO management and infrastructure management. Prospects of improving productivity with the use of robotic automation, as human resources are freed from performing mundane repetitive tasks and left with more time to undertake skilful and innovative tasks, have also encouraged IT companies to adopt the course of robotic automation.The market for IT robotic automation is also driven by the rising adoption of robotic automation across the finance and accounting sectors across the globe. Robotic automation has helped achieve improvements in several finance and accounting activities such as invoicing, payment processing, task allocation, query handling, compliance, and data integration. Moreover, the move from manual management of processes and operations to automated processes and operations has helped IT companies achieve increased efficiency and accuracy, reduced costs, partner satisfaction, and greater visibility.Concerns Regarding Misuse of Provision of Increased Access to Core Processes a DeterrentOne of the key challenges faced by the global IT robotic automation market is the concern regarding the misuse of the authority given to an individual end user or a single programmer to exercise control over many organizational processes using robotic automation. Another key challenge that could hamper the adoption of IT robotic automation on a wider scale is the issue of existing outsourcing contracts in BPO sector and the complexities involving long contract durations.Nevertheless, the market could gain significant traction owing to the increased use of robotic automation across the application and infrastructure management sectors. Robotic automation can play a vital role in improving infrastructure management processes since tasks such as server maintenance can be taken care of by robotic software. It has also been found that the adoption of robotic automation can help companies accomplish tasks such as maintenance, management, and troubleshooting of IT infrastructure without any or much manual intervention. Owing to this, infrastructure headcount can be reduced by more than half.View Report:The highly competitive IT robotic automation market, a vast number of companies are operating in the fields of IT robotic automation tools and IT robotic automation services, coming up with advanced solutions to gain a larger piece of the pie, observes a recent report by Transparency Market Research. As the need for more interactive and user-friendly eLearning solutions increases with time, the market is likely to witness wider changes and a further rise in competition. So as to exploit the vast growth opportunities in developing regions with a high concentration of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), where companies mostly have tight training and development budgets, introduction of cost-effective solutions will be the most recommended move.Some of the key providers of IT robotic automation solutions across the globe are Blue Prism, Be Informed B.V., Appian, IPSoft, Inc., Tata Consultancy Services Limited., Infosys Limited, Sutherland Global Services, Inc., and UiPath Srl.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 Tequila Market Size, Shares, Demands, Trends, Growth, Opportunities and Forecast 2015-2019

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Albany, NY, Nov 04: Tequila is made from the blue agave plant found in Mexico. According to Mexicans, agave can be grown only in the following regions: Jalisco, Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Michoacn, and Guanajuato. However, blue agave used in the preparation of 100% tequila is grown only in the state of Jalisco in Mexico.The global tequila market to grow at a CAGR of 3.55% and 3.01% in terms of revenue and volume, respectively, over the period 2014-2019. This report covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global tequila market for 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the retail sales of tequila and liters of tequila consumed.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:The market size is calculated in two ways:- By revenue (it includes all the taxes and duties imposed by governments)- By volume (it includes on-trade and off-trade sales)The market is further divided on the basis of following product categories:- Value- Premium- High-end premium- Super premium (it also includes ultra-premium)The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the four major vendors in the market. In addition, it discusses the major drivers that influence the growth of the market and the challenges faced by vendors and the market at large. It also outlines the key trends that will contribute to the growth of the global tequila market during the forecast period.Key vendors- Beam- Brown Forman- Cuervo International- Patron SpiritsOther prominent vendors- Aha Yeto- Camino Real distillery- Cia Tequilera Los Valores- Hacienda La Capilla- Juarez Tequila- Pernod Ricard- Proximo Spirits- Sierra Tequila- Tequila Cazadores- Tequila Corralejo- Tequila Quiote- The Blue Nectar- World Food And Bev GroupEnquiry at:Key questions answered in the report include:-- What will the market size be in 2019 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?About ResearchMozResearchMoz 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.Contact Us:Mr. NachiketAlbany, NY, Nov 04: Tequila is made from the blue agave plant found in Mexico. According to Mexicans, agave can be grown only in the following regions: Jalisco, Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Michoacn, and Guanajuato. However, blue agave used in the preparation of 100% tequila is grown only in the state of Jalisco in Mexico.The global tequila market to grow at a CAGR of 3.55% and 3.01% in terms of revenue and volume, respectively, over the period 2014-2019. This report covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global tequila market for 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the retail sales of tequila and liters of tequila consumed.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:The market size is calculated in two ways:- By revenue (it includes all the taxes and duties imposed by governments)- By volume (it includes on-trade and off-trade sales)The market is further divided on the basis of following product categories:- Value- Premium- High-end premium- Super premium (it also includes ultra-premium)The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the four major vendors in the market. In addition, it discusses the major drivers that influence the growth of the market and the challenges faced by vendors and the market at large. It also outlines the key trends that will contribute to the growth of the global tequila market during the forecast period.Key vendors- Beam- Brown Forman- Cuervo International- Patron SpiritsOther prominent vendors- Aha Yeto- Camino Real distillery- Cia Tequilera Los Valores- Hacienda La Capilla- Juarez Tequila- Pernod Ricard- Proximo Spirits- Sierra Tequila- Tequila Cazadores- Tequila Corralejo- Tequila Quiote- The Blue Nectar- World Food And Bev GroupEnquiry at:Key questions answered in the report include:-- What will the market size be in 2019 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?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.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
Global Semiconductor Assembly and Testing Services Market is Expected to be Valued at US$ 39,050.7 Mn by 2021 : PMR Report

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According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research, titled Global Market Study on Semiconductor Assembly & Testing Services (SATS): To be Driven by Increasing Demand for High-End Packaging Solutions, the semiconductor assembly & testing services market is estimated to be valued at US$ 29,585.9 Mn by the end of 2015 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2015 to 2021, to account for US$ 39,050.7 Mn by 2021.Request to view Sample Report @Semiconductor Assembly and Testing Services (SATS) market are witnessing increased demand for outsourced SATS services. Presently, around half of the market is exploiting the Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) services, and the trend is expected to continue in the long run. With increasing competition from the leading and regional players, the market is witnessing consolidation. This helps market participants in utilizing resources of other players to meet increasing technological demands.Currently, the semiconductor assembly & testing services market across the world is mainly driven by factors such as increasing demand for mobility and connectivity in the consumer electronic products. An increasing demand for connected devices worldwide including smartphones and tablets having connectivity and multimedia capabilities are fuelling the demand for higher packaging technologies, setting up potential revenue opportunity for the SATS market. Additional features offered by SATS providers over in-house testing and packaging capabilities is also one of the primary reasons for the market growth. Additionally, SATS providers facilitate a more efficient supply chain and in-turn reduces time-to-market for a product, therefore SATS providers are becoming the primary choice of integrated design manufacturers.Increased use of safety systems in the automobile industry is also one of the factors contributing to the growth of the SATS market. . However, factors such as the high capital requirement for offering higher end packaging solutions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and volatility in the market are expected to constrain the growth of the SATS market.On the basis of services, the semiconductor assembly & testing services market has been segmented into assembly & packaging services and testing services. The assembly & packaging services segment is expected to account for 79.4% share of the global Semiconductor assembly & testing services market by 2015 end and is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 4.9%, during the forecast period (20152021).The Assembly and Packaging services segment is further classified on the basis of packaging solutions (interconnecting technologies) which includes copper and gold wire bonding, copper clip, flip chip, wafer level packaging, and TSV. Copper and gold wire bonding accounted for the 55.5%share of the assembly and packaging services segment in 2014. The wafer level packaging (interconnecting technology) segment in the global SATS market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period.On the basis of application, the semiconductor assembly & testing services market is segmented into communications, computing & networking, consumer electronics, industrial and automotive electronics. Among these, communication segment dominated the market in 2014 and is expected to account for 49.4% share of the global semiconductor assembly & testing services market by 2015 end. This segment is expected to expand at CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period.Increasing adoption of tablets and wearable devices globally, is expected to drive the market growth of consumer electronics segment during the forecast period. Consumer electronics segment is analyzed to increase at a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period.The report provides detailed information about various trends driving each segment and offers analysis and insights about the potential of the semiconductor assembly & testing services market in specific regions. On the basis of region, the semiconductor assembly & testing services market is segmented into six regions; among these, Taiwan is expected to dominate the market representing 46.5% share by the end of 2015. The market in the region is analyzed to represent largest market share by 2021 expanding at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast.Request to view Table of content @Key players in global semiconductor assembly & testing services market include ASE Group, Amkor Technologies Inc., STATS ChipPAC Ltd. (JCET), Silicon Precision Industries Co. Ltd., Powertech Technology Inc., CORWIL Technology corporation, Psi Technologies Inc. (IMI), GlobalFoundries and Chipbond Technology Corporation.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 Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite:media@persistencemarketresearch.com
Stethoscopes Market : Growing Income Of People, Increasing Living Standards, And Aging Population Are Expected To Fuel The Growth Of Stethoscope Industry

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Development of electronic stethoscope is gaining an edge over traditional stethoscopes mainly due to enhanced digital sound transmission capabilities of digital stethoscopes and their increasing use in telemedicine. Despite of invention of advanced technologies like handheld ultrasound systems, stethoscopes are mostly preferred by healthcare professionals for physical examination. Global stethoscope market is estimated to grow and reach $342 million over the year 2017 as a result of increasing demand for electronic stethoscope and fetal heart rate detectors. This market is also expected to undergo constant growth in upcoming years due to the demand from developing healthcare markets of Latin America and Asia Pacific.Digital stethoscopes have advanced features like their ability to record sound, amplify this recorded sound up to 24 times the original sound, and remove other disruptive sounds for improved prognosis. These digital stethoscopes are also equipped with software that allows physicians to extrapolate the readings to chart for monitoring the heart rate of patient. Most stethoscope manufacturers are focusing on developing the devices with enhanced acoustics, better performance, and innovative designs. Fetal heart rate detector is another important segment driving the growth of this industry. These types of detectors are expected to drive the healthcare industry because of its growing focus on reducing infant mortality rates.For Any Queries Get Solutions With A PDF Sample :Growing income of people, increasing living standards, and aging population are expected to fuel the growth of stethoscope industry. Electronic stethoscopes, due to their advanced features, offer strongest growth potential in stethoscope industry.Market SegmentationBased on Product Manual & Mechanical Stethoscopes Electronic Stethoscopes Esophageal Stethoscopes Fetal Stethoscopes Fetal Heart Rate DetectorsThis research report analyzes this market based on its market segments and major geographies. Report provides complete analysis of major market forces driving market growth, factors responsible for restricting this growth, industry structure, and projections for upcoming years. Major geographies analyzed under this research report include North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldThis report also includes analysis of technological developments in this market, Porters five force model analysis, and complete company profiles of top industry players. It provides review of micro and macro factors significant with respect to existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.Major PlayersSome of the major players dominating this market are 3M, A&D Medical, American Diagnostic Corporation, Rudolf Riester GmbH & Co. KG, Escalon Medical Corporation, GF Health Products Inc., Medi-Stim ASA, Medline Industries Inc., Tytan Medical Corp., Welch Allyn Inc, and others.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.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Oilseed Market: Key drivers of market are the increased household consumption in emerging countries and growing foodservice industry, 2015 - 2021

Oilseed Market, Oilseed

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The global oil seed market is segmented on the basis of types as Rapeseed, cottonseed, groundnuts, sunflower seed, Palm kernels and copra among others. Oilseed market can also be segmented on the basis of end-use application as household consumption, food-service, bio-fuels and others. In terms of regions, the market is segmented into four regions as North America, APAC, Europe and Rest of the world (RoW).Request for TOC @Oil seeds are generally used to extract edible oil for households and food industry. However over last two decades, usage of vegetable oil has been increased in the field of bio-fuel, due to shortage of non-renewable resources for various purposes. Oil seeds are pressed or crushed manually or mechanically to obtain edible oil. Few oilseeds such as Soybean and Peanuts are directly consumed as food besides extracting oil from them. In addition, poppy seed and hazelnuts, which are rich in oils are consumed directly, moreover these oil seeds are used as food ingredients in daily cooking.The key drivers of this market are the increased household consumption in emerging countries and growing foodservice industry. Growth in retail and modern oilseed processing technologies has further triggered the availability of product in the market. Another major factor that is expected to drive the market is demand for bio-fuels in developed and developing countries. Compulsory usage of bio-fuels in vehicles and other machinery would fuel the demand of oilseeds in the global market. Changing lifestyles followed by changing food preferences and experimenting with number of new food varieties; is driving the demand for oilseed market globally.Some of the restraining factors over next six years period could be the gap in demand and supply worldwide. Increasing government regulations on manufacturing, exporting and marketing of oil could be a potential restraint to this market. Fluctuating weather conditions in various regions of the world could destroy the proper product availability in the market. Price fluctuations and loopholes in distribution channel could also act as potential barriers to the market growth.The oilseed market is expected to grow with a double digit CAGR from 2015 to 2021. Soybean dominates the global oil seed market, and it is the fastest growing segment in the oil seed as far as edible oil is concerned. Latin America is the largest producer of soybean. Good weather conditions in South Africa and set-up for various crushing facilities would see an increased production of oilseed in this region. Oilseed includes herbicide resistance, insecticide resistance; other includes abiotic stress tolerance and disease resistance among others.The U.S is the largest oilseed producer in the world followed by China, Brazil, Argentina, India and the EU. The distribution channel includes hypermarkets/ supermarket, departmental stores and convenience stores among others for household and foodservice industry. Bio-fuels manufacturers follow a different supply chain altogether. They operate through distributors and other exclusive outlets for selling their products.Request for Sample Report @The key market players producing vegetable oil for household/ foodservice industry are Burrus Seed farm, Gansu Dunhuang Seed Co Ltd, Hefei Fengle Seed Co Ltd and Land OLakes Inc among others. Companies engaged in producing bio-fuels from oilseeds are ADM Olmuhle Hamburg (Archer Daniels Midland), Diester Industrie (Bunge Limited), Green BioFuels Corporation among others.Key geographies evaluated in this report are: North Americao U.So Canada Europeo France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKo Eastern Europeo CIS APACo Chinao Indiao Japano Australiao Others Latin Americao Argentinao Brazilo OthersKey features of this report Drivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Oilseed market dynamics Latest innovations and key events in the industry Analysis of business strategies of the top players Oilseed market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)About 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:
Costume Jewelry Market : Recent Industry Trends, Analysis and Forecast 2020

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Costume jewelry (also known as fashion jewellery, trinkets, junk jewelry, fake jewelry and fallalery) is a jewelry made of less valuable materials as compared with valuable materials such as gold, diamond, platinum and other precious metals and gem. The raw material used for these jewelleries include base metals, glass, plastic, synthetic stones, semi-precious stones, beads, ivory, lac, leather, terracotta, pearl and metals such as silver, aluminum and brass. On the basis of products, the costume jewelry industry is broadly categorized as bracelets, brooch, earrings, necklaces, chokers, bangles, finger rings, toe rings, anklets and pendants.Request to view Sample Report @The costume Jewelry industry operates as a true global industry as the raw materials are mostly sourced from Australia, Africa, Russia and Canada, manufacturing takes place in China, India, Italy and Turkey whereas the largest markets is North America, followed by Europe.The developing economies such as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are the fasted growing market with double digit growth rates. Asia Pacific is the largest producer of costume jewelry and expected to take over North America in terms of consumption in the coming years. High growth rate in Asia Pacific region is attributed to the rising income of the consumers in these countries. Further, with the massive urbanization and westernization taking place, the consumers are now becoming more fashionable and trendy. Moreover large population of young consumers (average age is 29 year and 37 year respectively for India and China) are also a key contributor in overall growth of costume jewelry in these countries.The key drivers for the costume jewelry include increasing prices for gold and other precious gems and pearls, internationalization of brands and increasing demand of men costume jewelry. Some of the key challenges for the costume jewelry industry include rising raw material cost and fad sensitive market of fashion jewelry. The unorganized supply chain of the raw materials in costume jewelry industry also act as a major restraint for the industry as it sometimes lead to steep hike in the prices of raw materials. Online channels, which are still new trend, offer new opportunity for the market.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major player in operating in the industry includes, Buckley Jewellery Limited, The Colibri Group, Avon Products Inc, Swank Inc, H. Stern Com. & Ind. S.A., Cartier SA, Channel S.A., Louis Vuitton North America, Inc., Stuller, Inc., Yurman Design, Inc., Billig Jewelers, Inc. and Gianni Versace S.p.A.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.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Research Details Developments In Global Bio Pharma Logistics Industry 2016 Market Overview,Equipments Supplier And Price Analysis

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Qyresearchreports include new market research reportGlobal Bio Pharma Logistics Sales Market Report 2016 to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Bio Pharma Logistics is the key subject of analysis of a new market intelligence study. The report offers detailed information regarding the primary factors that are driving and hampering the overall growth of the global Bio Pharma Logistics market. The research report provides an in-depth overview of the regulatory framework of the market and furnishes details concerning the different plans, rules, regulations, and policies, giving a clear understanding of the key factors that may have an effect on a number of decisions in the Bio Pharma Logistics market across the globe.Furthermore, a detailed overview of the current trends in the global Bio Pharma Logistics market has been provided in the scope of the research report in order to explain the shift in consumer preference in recent years. The data for the research study has been collected with the help of primary and secondary research techniques, vital inputs from industry experts, and recent news in the market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The research study throws light on primary elements of the global Bio Pharma Logistics market, such as key growth opportunities, projected future insights, primary information, and feasibility analysis of new projects in the market. The definitions, applications, manufacturing process cost structure, product portfolio, and product classifications of the global Bio Pharma Logistics market have been highlighted in the research report to help the stakeholders and decision-makers accurately study the potential opportunities in the global Bio Pharma Logistics market.Furthermore, the research study analyzes the key players engaged in the global Bio Pharma Logistics market and offers an in-depth vendor analysis for the same. The financial overview, product portfolio, recent developments, and SWOT analysis of the key market players have been discussed in the research report. The key strategies adopted by the prominent players have also been included in the study to guide the existing as well as new players in the market.Table of ContentsChapter One Bio Pharma Logistics Industry Overview1.1 Bio Pharma Logistics Definition1.1.1 Bio Pharma Logistics Product Pictures & Product Specifications1.2 Bio Pharma Logistics Classification & ApplicationBrowse Complete Report with TOC @Chapter Two Bio Pharma Logistics Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Bio Pharma Logistics Raw Material & Equipments Supplier and Price Analysis2.2 Bio Pharma Logistics Labor & Other Cost Analysis2.3 Bio Pharma Logistics Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.4 Bio Pharma Logistics Manufacturing Process AnalysisChapter Three Bio Pharma Logistics Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Bio Pharma Logistics Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Bio Pharma Logistics Manufacturing Plants Distribution3.3 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Bio Pharma Logistics R&D Status and Technology Sources3.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Bio Pharma Logistics Raw Materials Sources AnalysisChapter Four Bio Pharma Logistics Production by Regions, Technology and Applications4.1 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Production by Regions(such as US, EU, China and Japan etc)4.2 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Production by Product Type & Application4.3 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Price by key Manufacturers4.4 2010-2016 US & China Bio Pharma Logistics Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value Analysis4.5 2010-2016 Europe and Japan Bio Pharma Logistics Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value Analysis4.6 2010-2016 US and China Bio Pharma Logistics Supply Import Export Consumption4.7 2010-2016 Europe and Japan Bio Pharma Logistics Supply Import Export ConsumptionChapter Five Bio Pharma Logistics Sales and Sales Revenue by Regions5.1 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Sales by Regions (such as US, EU, China & Japan etc)5.2 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Sales Revenue by Regions (such as US EU China Japan etc)5.3 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Sales Price by Regions (such as US EU China Japan etc)5.4 2010-2016 Bio Pharma Logistics Demand by ApplicationsRead More @About Us :QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
High Resolution Dispensing Systems Market: Integration of Automation across End-use Industries Contributing to Growth

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According to Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global high resolutions dispensing systems and equipment market is expected to be worth US$3.09 bn by the end of 2024 from US$1.8 bn in 2015. The global market is anticipated to surge at a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period of 2016 and 2024. The global market is likely to be led by the automatic sector in the coming years at a CAGR of 3.4%. The demand for automatic dispensing systems will remain high due their advantages such as improved productivity and reduction in failure. In terms of regions, North America is expected to hold a dominant share in the global market. The opportunity in this regional market is likely to be worth US$864.0 mn by the end of 2024.Get a PDF Brochure for Market Analysis atRising Demand across Electronic Industry to Drive MarketThe global high resolution dispensing systems and equipment market is primarily driven by factors such as the increasing usage of these equipment in the electronic industry and the increasing demand for accuracy and precision in production processes across a host of industries. High-resolution dispensing systems and equipment find extensive usage in electronic applications such as gasketing, electronic assembly, shielding, and plastic bonding, chiefly owing to their high level of accuracy and precision.The integration of automation across several industries such as automotive, oil and gas, aerospace, and defense is also expected to significantly contribute to the growth of the high resolution dispensing systems and equipment across the globe in the coming years. These industries require dispensing system for improving their production quality. Automatic high resolution dispensing systems help prevent material dispensing in the wrong location, thereby increasing the overall productivity, lessening costs, and lowering the chances of part failure of high-end machines.The need for control, accuracy, and customization across these end-use industries call for such advanced high resolution dispensing systems and equipment. These factors are expected to exert a huge positive influence on the future growth prospects of the market in the near future.Design and Cost Constraints of High Resolution Dispensing Systems and Equipment to Hamper GrowthHigh resolution dispensing systems and equipment are mostly more expensive than conventional dispensing systems and equipment as they feature the latest advancements in the processing technology. The high costs incurred by companies for undertaking research and development of advanced product varieties add to the base cost of these systems and equipment. In addition to the high base costs of high resolution dispensing systems and equipment, their highly complex nature demands timely maintenance, which again adds to the overall cost of their operation.These factors significantly limit the markets growth prospects, with mostly the developed economies capable of affording them. This scenario hinders the markets prospects of expansion across the high growth potential but cost-sensitive industrial sector in developing economies across Asia Pacific and Latin America.View Report:Nevertheless, the market has significant growth opportunities across industries such as medical devices and solar power generation. The manufacturing of medical devices requires automated and semi-automated dispensing systems capable of offering highly repeatable and accurate dispensing of adhesives, for which, high resolution systems could prove to be ideal. In solar applications, high resolution dispensing systems and equipment could help improve the longevity and quality of energy producing systems.The global market for high resolution dispensing systems and equipment is largely fragmented, with the top five companies accounting for a collective share of nearly 50% of the overall market in 2015, observes a recent report by Transparency Market Research. These companies, including Nordson Corporation, Illinois Tools Works, Inc., Besi, are more focused on product innovation and advancement in technology to strengthen their positions in the highly competitive market.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:
Household Cleaners Market: Global Brands to be Challenged by Cheaper Local Product Offerings

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Transparency Market Research states that the global household cleaners market was valued at US$27,468.6 mn in 2015, and will rise to US$39,400.9 mn by 2024, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.1% from 2016 to 2024. In terms of product types, the segment of specialty cleaners held the dominant share in the global market in terms of revenue in 2015, accounting for over 60% of the market. Geographically, North America held the dominant 31% share in the global market in 2015 but is likely to lose prominence to Asia Pacific over the forecast period.Get a PDF Brochure for Market Analysis atEnhanced Sanitation Standards Key to Increased Global DemandThe adoption of healthier lifestyle coupled with the increasing concern for infectious diseases has been one of the chief drivers of the global household cleaners market in the past few years. The impact of this driver has been the most significant across regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America, which feature some of the worlds most promising emerging economies. The high pace of urbanization and an evident shift in lifestyle, chiefly owing to rising disposable incomes, and an increased preference to improved sanitation standards will be highly conducive to the overall consumption of homecare and hygiene products. This will add to the demand for a variety of household cleaners in these regions in the next few years.In addition to this, the increased commercial use of household cleaners such as fabric refreshers and surface deodorizers is also expected to fuel the future growth prospects of the global household cleaners market. The hotel industry is one of the major users of fabric refreshers and surface deodorizers. Flourishing growth of the industry in North America and Asia Pacific is likely to add to the overall demand for a variety of household cleaners in these regions.Prominence of Domestic Players in Emerging Economies Poses Challenge for Global BrandsIn cost-sensitive markets such as some emerging economies across Asia Pacific and Latin America, the easy availability of cheaper substitutes as compared to products manufactured by global brands is one of the key challenges to the growth of the household cleaners market. Domestic players command prominent positions in these regional markets and have a good hold on supply chains. The competitive costs of household cleaners produced by domestic players, thus, are a big threat to the overall competitiveness of many global brands and are likely to restrain growth of the global players in such regional pockets.Moreover, the market for household cleaners also bears the brunt of the common conception that several cleaning agents have toxic compositions and could lead to several skin disorders. The impact of this aspect can be gauged from the continuously declining sales of cleaning agents such as bleaches and disinfectants, which do need special care while handling owing to their high content of toxic chemicals. As such, the usage of some types of bleaches and specialty cleaners in the composition of products has been restricted across the globe.View Report:The global household products market features a largely consolidated competitive landscape, with the top three companies accounting for over 49% of the markets overall valuation in 2015. These three vendors, namely S.C. Johnson & Son Inc, Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, and Procter & Gamble Co., have strengthened their positions in the market by virtue of vast global presence, extensive product portfolios, and continuous introduction of innovative products.Geographic expansion is one of the key strategies adopted by key companies. An instance is the May 2015 agreement between Henkel Company AG & KGaA and Colgate-Palmolive Group Company. Under this contract, Henkel has acquired Colgate-Palmolives total range of laundry detergents and pre-wash brands in Australia and New Zealand.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 Oncology Biosimilars Market to be Driven by Rise in Number of Patent Expiries

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The global oncology biosimilars market will witness substantial growth over the forecast period and is expected to grow at very impressive CAGR during the forecast period. The increasing need for cost-effective treatment methodologies will aid in the stable growth of this market during the forecast period. The high cost of branded biologic oncological drugs will force patients to shift toward biosimilars as they are highly cost-effective. Since biosimilars cost 10%-30% lesser than their parent counterparts, there is the presence of unmet medical needs for such products. This allows domestic manufacturers to market generic versions of the biologic compounds at a lower price, which in turn results in market growth.Download Exclusive Sample of this Report:Cancer represents a massive burden on healthcare systems worldwide due to the high cost of treatment therapeutics. The patent expiry of several cancer therapeutics has allowed the entry of biosimilars, which are being incorporated into oncology treatment practices. Biosimilars are synthesized with the use of biologic components such as monoclonal antibodies, proteins, hormones, nucleic acids, colony stimulating factors, interleukins, and enzymes. The market offers huge growth opportunities for vendors because of the growing incidence of cancer. The clinical pipeline for cancer biosimilars is vast, featuring candidates in different stages of development. Around 30% of all the biosimilars that are awaiting the US FDAs approval are monoclonal antibodies, including biosimilars of Avastin, MabThera, and Herceptin.Factors like the arrival of new biosimilars to drive market growth during the forecast period. Unlike generic drugs, which have APIs that are identical to original drugs, biosimilars are similar to their originator biologic compounds. Biosimilars developed by different manufacturers differ from the original product as well as from each other. Since they are less expensive than biologics, patients will be able to afford and access biosimilars more easily than biologics. Rise in number of patent expiries, increase in prevalence of cancer, growing aging population, promising drug pipeline, need for cost-effective treatment, favorable government regulations are some of the key drivers promoting the growth of oncology biosimilars market.The oncology biosimilars market can be segmented by end-user, by application, and by geography. In terms of application, the oncology biosimilars market is classified into cancer treatment drugs, and supportive care drugs. In the terms of end-user, the oncology biosimilars market is classified into hospitals and retail pharmacies. Retail pharmacies occupy the largest share of 52% in the oncology biosimilars market. Retail pharmacies provide a large customer base for biosimilar drugs. Individuals with cancer require biosimilar drugs for maintenance therapy, which helps to successfully treat and prevent relapse of the disease. These drugs can also be obtained from retail pharmacies for use in hospital settings.Geographically, oncology biosimilars market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. Middle East & Africa was the highest revenue contributing region in the global oncology biosimilars market. Similarly, Asia Pacific expected to witness higher growth in oncology biosimilars market due to increasing cancer prevalence in the countries like India and China. The market will typically witness a higher growth rate in countries such as the Germany, UK, Spain, Italy and France.The biosimilars market in the UK is developed and well-established, and is comparatively easy to enter, making the generic drugs market in the country stronger than in any other EU countries. The growth of this market in the region is attributed to well-defined regulatory guidelines and expiries of biologics that are anticipated to go off-patent during the forecast period.Browse Research Report:The Major players reported in the market include Biocon, Amgen, Celltrion, Hospira, Biogen, Mylan, Pfizer, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Merck, Sanofi and Sandoz.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:
Oil and Gas Automation Market Global Market Opportunity Assessment Study 2024.

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Oil and Gas Automation Market: OverviewAutomation in the oil and gas industry refers to the completion of tasks by the use of control systems, with minimal human intervention. Automation in the oil and gas industry helps in improving the safety and enhancing the efficiency of various operations. Work-related fatalities in the oil and gas industry is increasing every year and thus, automation in the industry helps in avoiding accidents and ensuring safety for the workforce. Automation in the oil and gas industry has applications such as retailing and distribution of petroleum products, start-up, commissioning, and processing and production of plants.Download exclusive Sample of this report :The market study offers an in-depth analysis of the global oil and gas automation industry, studying it by segmenting the market based on various key criteria. It provides an executive-level blueprint of the global oil and gas automation market using Porters five forces, market attractiveness analysis, and value chain analysis. It discusses the degree of competition, bargaining power of buyer and supplier, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes. In addition to this, the report discusses the company market share and market attractiveness analysis. The report assesses industry policies that influence the global oil and gas automation market.The global oil and gas automation market can be segmented on the basis of technology, sector, petroleum derivative products, and by geography. On the basis of technology, the market can be segmented into distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controller (PLC), human machine interface (HMI), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and real-time optimization and simulation (RTOS). By derivative products, the market can be segmented into liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, and diesel.Oil and Gas Automation Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe key factors driving the global oil and gas automation market include effective and easy maintenance made possible by automation, enhanced safety and security, and effective exploration from aging reservoirs. In order to satisfy the increasing demand of oil and gas by both domestic and international consumers, there is a need for a delivery system that is both efficient and accurate. Thus, different products such as DCS, PLC, HMI, and SCADA can be used to ensure adequate safety. The oil and gas companies are chiefly aiming at automation systems so as to achieve a higher level of transparency which subsequently leads to profits by complying with stringent regulations regarding carbon emissions. This is expected to continue to drive the market in the coming years.Complete Report with TOC :Technological advancements and innovations in automation of both software and hardware are aiding the growth of the oil and gas automation market. On the other hand, factors impacting the growth of the global oil and gas automation market negatively include high initial investments and challenges regarding system upgrades. In short, configuration and consistency are among key concerns for players in the market.Oil and Gas Automation Market: Region-wise OutlookThe report segments the global oil and gas automation market on the basis of geography, into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. Owing to the availability of coal and oil reserves, the oil and gas automation market is expected to be concentrated in South East Asia. In addition to this, North America is expected to be a lucrative regional segment in the coming years.Key Players Mentioned in the ReportThe report profiles key players operating in the global oil and gas automation market. They are ABB, Mitsubishi Electric, Siemens, Emersion, Honeywell, and Rockwell Automation. The recent developments and growth strategies adopted by each of the players have been included in the report. The report also provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the companies profiled. The opportunities and challenges that these companies face are also elaborated upon.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: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.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207
Global Jetted Bath Industry 2016 Market Analysis by Lifestyle Trends, Key Bath Appliances, Specifications & Demands to 2021

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Companies across the world can face several obstacles in gathering in-depth market intelligence, often owing to the unavailability of personnel trained for the purpose. While detailed data about the market may be easily available, analyzing the same and drawing useful conclusions requires the services of experienced market experts. This report offers a solution to this problem by presenting a detailed analysis of the diverse components of the global Jetted Bath market. The report examines the important factors playing a determinant role in the growth of the Jetted Bath market and examines the present value as well as the expected valuation of the market in the near future.The report presents voluble information about the development of the global Jetted Bath market by including reliable primary and secondary research. The detailed case studies included in the study make the report a must-have accessory for new as well as established players in the Jetted Bath market. The profiles of key players in the market have been included in the report as well.The global Jetted Bath market has been studied on the basis of multiple relevant criteria in the report, which helps provide a granular view of the market. The demand patterns for each of the product types have been analyzed and the historical growth and projected growth trajectory of each of the service segments have been studied in the report.To Order a Sample Copy of this Report visit @The supply chain of the global Jetted Bath industry has been examined in the report, with analysis of crucial upstream and downstream components. The existing demand and supply trends in the market and recent developments regarding the same have also been mentioned in order to offer a complete overview of the market.The report provides detailed information about the key Jetted Bath market players, including their product catalog, revenue channels, and recent developments. By analyzing the competitive landscape of the global Jetted Bath market, the report will help readers formulate well-informed and astute market strategies.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 Jetted Bath industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Check out Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsChapter One Jetted Bath Industry Overview1.1 Jetted Bath Definition1.1.1 Jetted Bath Product Pictures & Product Specifications1.2 Jetted Bath Classification & ApplicationChapter Two Jetted Bath Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Jetted Bath Raw Material & Equipments Supplier and Price Analysis2.2 Jetted Bath Labor & Other Cost Analysis2.3 Jetted Bath Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.4 Jetted Bath Manufacturing Process AnalysisChapter Three Jetted Bath Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Jetted Bath Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Jetted Bath Manufacturing Plants Distribution3.3 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Jetted Bath R&D Status and Technology Sources3.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Jetted Bath Raw Materials Sources AnalysisBrowse through Top Reports @QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Women's Oxford Industry 2016 Explore the Current Market Reviews, Trends, Pricing, Ladies Products, High Sales & Popularity

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Every company needs to transform itself and diversify its perceptions in order to stay relevant to its loyal consumer base. To embrace change, the ones heralding operations have to re-strategize and rework plans to adapt to the ever-changing needs and evolve with them. In order to do so, understanding the market is exceptionally important. For the same purpose, the global Womens Oxford market research report provides its readers a chance to evaluate the global Womens Oxford market and understand the various trend and dynamics that are likely to impact it, in the coming years.Investments are an integral part of a markets growth. They play a defining role in its success and its trajectory. To understand their impact in the global Womens Oxford market, the researchers have studied the flow investments in this market and estimated growth they are likely to create. Furthermore, the research report also segments the global Womens Oxford market on the basis of technology, geography, application, and end users to understand the elements that are supporting the segments and sub-segments as well as the ones hampering their growth.Browse Complete Report along with TOC @For understanding the segments in greater depth, the researchers have used a SWOT analysis that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats shaping the future of these segments of the global Womens Oxford market.The industry experts have also provided a fair analysis of the competitive landscape of the global Womens Oxford market. To elucidate this point, the researchers have profiled the key players operating in the overall market and sheds light on details such as their financial overview, research and development activities, investment outlook, business and marketing strategies, and expansion plans for the near future. This thoroughly research document promises to be instrumental to making ground-breaking business strategies for its readers who envision brighter futures.To Get a Sample Copy of this Report visit @Table of ContentsChapter One Womens Oxford Industry Overview1.1 Womens Oxford Definition1.1.1 Womens Oxford Product Pictures & Product Specifications1.2 Womens Oxford Classification & ApplicationChapter Two Womens Oxford Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Womens Oxford Raw Material & Equipments Supplier and Price Analysis2.2 Womens Oxford Labor & Other Cost Analysis2.3 Womens Oxford Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.4 Womens Oxford Manufacturing Process AnalysisChapter Three Womens Oxford Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Womens Oxford Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Womens Oxford Manufacturing Plants DistributionDiscover More Market Reports @QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Spare Parts Logistics Market 2016 Industry Analysis by Technical Applications, Leading Manufacturers, Pricing, Productions & SWOT Analysis

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This recent research publication studying the global Spare Parts Logistics market serves as a comprehensive blueprint for all the players in the Spare Parts Logistics market, be it established vendors or new entrants. The report examines the various factors influencing the global Spare Parts Logistics market in depth, delivering a thorough database and actionable insights for vendors upon which to base their expansion strategies in the future.The information collated in the detailed research study has been gathered with the help of primary and secondary research and market intelligence methods that have helped gain accurate and authentic data on the various macro and micro trends prevalent in the global Spare Parts Logistics market. The hierarchy of the leading players in the Spare Parts Logistics market can also be established from 2016 to 2021 with the help of the findings of the report.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The regional and product type segmentation of the worldwide Spare Parts Logistics market has been elaborated upon in the report and information pertaining to each of the segments have been provided. This gives readers an in-depth outlook of the Spare Parts Logistics market around the world, substantiated by a qualitative as well as quantitative assessment of historical, current, and projected market trends. The development of each segment and sub-segment of the Spare Parts Logistics market over the years has been carefully mapped in the report. Forecasts based on these findings have been made based on the impact of those trends on the Spare Parts Logistics market. A cross-referential study of the various product and technology segments in relation to the various regional markets has also been included in the study.The data about the Spare Parts Logistics market has been examined in much detail with the help of several analytical tools such as the Porters Five Forces analysis model, SWOT analysis, and market attractiveness review.To Get Sample Copy of this Report for more Professional and Technical insights visit @QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Prefilled Syringes Market: Urgent Need to Address Concerns over Needle Stick Injuries a Key Growth Booster

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Becton Dickinson and Company Group plc., Baxter International Inc., Terumo Medical Corporation, and Medtronic are the top four players that dominate over half the prefilled syringes market. Transparency Market Research has noted that the global prefilled syringes market is highly dynamic and competitive and while the nature of the market is consolidated in developed regions owing to the presence of large players, it remains fragmented in most of the emerging markets with many small regional players.Download Exclusive Sample of this Report:The global sales of prefilled syringes amounted to US$3.5 bn in 2015 and is projected to reach US$7.9 bn, expanding at a CAGR of 9.3% over the period of 2016 to 2024. In terms of prefilled syringes consumption, the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period.Ambulatory Surgical Centers to Show Promising Growth over Forecast PeriodBy application, the vaccines segment dominated the global prefilled syringes market, accounting for a collective share of 34.3% in 2015. The segment is also projected to exhibit a strong growth rate from 2016 to 2024. In terms of percentage share contribution, the polymer-based prefilled syringes segment is expected to continue its lead in the global market through 2024. It will also register the highest growth in the coming years. By distribution channel, the hospitals segment is projected to account for the major share by the end of the forecast period. On the other hand, ambulatory surgical centers are likely to register a high growth rate by 2024.North America dominates the global market, while Asia Pacific is expected to witness strong growth. The U.S. is the largest market for prefilled syringes, accounting for around 35.5% share of the global marketImproving Safety Standards Driving Innovation among Product ManufacturersThe incidence of needle stick injuries has been a cause for concern over the years. According to the World Health Organization, almost two million healthcare professionals suffer from infectious diseases resulting from needle stick injuries each year.Various needle safety devices  such as passive needle guarding caps with a polymer shield and a retractable needle system  as well as advanced technologies  such as advanced barrel technology and multi-chamber syringes  are being developed to cope with this problem, the author of the study finds. Therefore, improving safety standards and technological advancements have been primarily driving the global prefilled syringes market.High Costs Associated with Prefilled Syringes Inhibiting widespread AdoptionThere are several factors that pose a severe challenge to the growth of the global prefilled syringes market, the primary one being the high costs associated with temperature controlled packaging required for temperature-sensitive drugs. In order to maintain specified temperatures and conditions throughout the shelf life of a drug, drug manufacturing companies require several complex machineries that need to be maintained regularly, the TMR analyst states. This is a costly affair and as a result, restricts companies from manufacturing prefilled syringes.Browse Research Report:Other factors inhibiting the market include product recalls due to breakages and leachables, the potential risk of interaction between prefilled syringes and drugs, and the availability of alternative drug delivery methods.This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled Prefilled Syringes Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2016 - 2024.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:
Asia Pacific Methyl Tertiary-butyl Ether (MTBE) Market: Massive Methanol Production in China Most Promising Driving Factor, finds TMR

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The methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) market in Asia Pacific is presently dominated by key players in China. These include Sinopec Corporation, PetroChina Company Limited, Shandong Yuhuang Chemical (Group) Co., Ltd., Zibo Qixiang Petrochemical Group Ltd., and Heilongjiang Anruijia Petrochemical Co., Ltd.Transparency Market Research has noted that China, one of the largest producers as well as consumers of MTBE in the world, has been primarily focused on business and production expansions in order to retain its lead in the APAC market. For instance, Wanhua Chemical Group Co. Ltd.s MTBE plant in Shangdong and Huntsman Corp. and Sinopec Jinlings plant in Nanjing are two promising ventures to look forward to in 2016.Other leading companies in the APAC methyl tertiary-butyl ether market include Evonik Industries AG, PETRONAS, LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V., and Reliance Industries Limited.The MTBE market in Asia Pacific was valued at US$6.7 bn in 2015 and is anticipated to reach US$10.9 bn by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% therein.Download And Get Sample PDF File Of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Market :Chinas 81.9% Share in APAC MTBE Market a Key Growth BoosterThe gasoline additive segment of the MTBE market accounted for a whopping 93.11% share in the APAC market in 2015, emerging as the clear leader. An increase in the demand for gasoline additives in ASEAN countries and China is expected to propel the demand for methyl tertiary-butyl ether in this segment. Gasoline additives is also projected to register significant growth over the course of the forecast period, exhibiting a CAGR of over 4.0% in terms of both revenue and volume.Accounting for an 81.9% share in the APAC MTBE market in 2015, China is forecast to continue its dominance through 2024, presenting lucrative investment opportunities to market players. Registering a 4.7% CAGR during the forecast period, China is also projected to exhibit the fastest growth in the methyl tertiary-butyl ether in Asia Pacific.The ASEAN sub-region is also likely to present a rather lucrative scenario, owing to a rise in the demand for gasoline additives.ASEAN Automotive Sector Driving Demand for Gasoline AdditivesA key factor driving gasoline blending across the Asia Pacific region, and therefore the MTBE market, is the declining prices of raw material as well as final products. This can be primarily attributed to China.China is one of the major methanol producers in the world and the country is likely to account for nearly 50% of the global methanol production in the next few years, the author of the study finds. The total methanol production in China is estimated to reach nearly 51 million tons in 2016, a trend that will potentially check the prices of downstream products, including MTBE, in the near future.Another factor boosting the market for methyl tertiary-butyl ether is a rise in the demand for gasoline additives, particularly in ASEAN.The automotive industry in the ASEAN sub-region has been witnessing an upward trend in the last few years, with the number of total vehicles in major countries rising from around 130 million in 2015 to 200 million by 2025, the lead analyst states. The significant growth of the automotive sector is likely to propel the demand for gasoline additives, thereby supporting the MTBE market during the forecast period.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :In contrast, the availability of a wide range of petroleum-based and non-petroleum-based substitutes and the hazardous environmental effects of methyl tertiary-butyl ether pose significant challenges to the MTBE market in Asia Pacific.This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Market - Asia Pacific Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2026.This report segments the MTBE market in Asia Pacific as follows:MTBE Market  Application AnalysisGasolineIsobuteneSolvent & ExtractantOthers (MMA, etc.)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Land Based Air and Missile Defense Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast upto 2024

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Land based air and missile defense is considered as a weapon system. It finds its legitimacy or relevance in a nations basic need for homeland and sovereignty defense. In North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), air defense comprises both air defense fighters and ground based air defense. In addition, land based air and missile defense are mostly used for homeland security and military application. S-band and X-band are widely used for ground-based air and missile defense application. These are used for target detection and surveillance such as long range artilleries and ballistic 7 stealth missile among others. These systems are also used for countering smuggling, illicit fishing, piracy and terrorism among others. Ground-based air and missile defense are used to get real-time information in warfare situation. Ongoing war against conflicts in the Crimean Peninsula, Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria are boosting the demand for land based air and military defense market during the forecast period of 2016  2024.Download PDF Brochure:Based on types, the land based air and missile defense market is segmented into air policing, air surveillance, the home guard, radar, coast guard and others. In 2015, the home guard segment anticipated to be the key market for land based air and missile defense and expected to be the same during the estimate period of 2016 - 2024. Land based air and missile defense can stay on high readiness over a longer period of time. In addition, the land based air defense system only needs refueling once a day.Based on the various range, the land based air and missile defense market is segmented into long range & strategic system, medium range and short range. In 2015, the long range & strategic system segment anticipated to be the foremost market. There are several major factors boosting the land based air and missile defense market such as use of long range & strategic system in ballistic missile and conventional targets. In addition, increasing demand for ballistic missile defense system is the other factor boosting the market for land based air and missile defense market during the forecast period. For example, the combined efforts of South Korean and the U.S. government to develop the land based missile and air defense in South Korea is anticipated to help increase the demand of land based air and missile defense system. Likewise, China and Indias efforts towards the expansion of missile defense system are expected to drive the land based air and missile defense market in the region. Moreover, clashes between countries in Middle East and Asia Pacific are anticipated to boost the market for short rang segment during the estimate period.Based on the regions, the land based air and missile defense market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa. North America holds the major market share followed by Europe. In addition, Asia Pacific have third largest share in land based air and missile defense market. Border problems among countries such as India, China and India and Pakistan among others are making countries to build up their defense system, which in turn boosting the demand of land based air and missile defense market. One of the other factor fueling the market for land based air and missile defense market is Brazilian Army which is investing massive amounts over command & control systems and sensors and remote sensing for defense during the forecast period of 2016  2024.View Report:Some of the important players in the land based air and missile defense market includes are Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Thales Group (France), Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.), SAAB Group (Sweden) and Raytheon Company (U.S.). These top players are aiming to penetrate increasing economies and are adopting various methods to drive their market share. Some of the others players are Airbus Group (Netherlands), BAE Systems (United Kingdom), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.(Israel), General Dynamics (United States), Almaz-Antey (Russia), Finmeccanica SPA(Italy), and Reutech Radar Systems (South Africa) 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. 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 2-methylpropene Market: Rapid and Large-scale Growth in Automotive and Aviation Sectors Resulting in Increased Consumption, finds TMR

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The global market for 2-methylpropene is led by established players such as BASF SE, Evonik Industries AG, Lyondell Basell Industries N.V., and TPC Group. Transparency Market Research notes that these players have, over the years, benefited from technical expertise and strong capabilities of producing 2-methylpropene and related products.Despite being a highly capital-intensive market, the threat of new entrants is projected to rise from a low to medium level during the course of the forecast period, increasing the degree of competition among the players. Establishing a strong distribution and sales network in order to expand their reach has proven to be a successful strategy for players in the 2-methylpropene market.The global 2-methylpropene market is slated to exhibit a steady CAGR of 7.07% during the forecast period in terms of revenue. In view of this, the opportunity presented by this market is projected to rise from US$26.99 bn in 2015 to US$49.91 bn by 2024. In terms of volume, the 2-methylpropene market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.21% from 2016 to 2024.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical insights :Fuels and Lubricants Form Most Attractive Application SegmentBy product, isooctane held the leading share of 37.07% in 2015 in terms of value. Isooctane will continue to remain a highly attractive product segment throughout the forecast period, closely followed by MTBE. In terms of value, the butyl rubber is anticipated to exhibit a high CAGR of 8.12% from 2016 to 2024. This can be attributed to the increased utilization of butyl rubber for the manufacture of tubes and tires in the automotive industry.Fuels and lubricants formed the most attractive application segment of the 2-methylpropene market and this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. The rubber manufacturing segment, on the other hand, is expected to witness strong growth by 2024 driven by the increased application of rubber in the thriving automotive sector.In terms of value, North America constituted the dominant share of 34.16% in 2015 and will continue being the key revenue generator in the global 2-methylpropene market. However, the declining demand for MTBE owing to various environmental and health hazards is anticipated to pose some challenges to this regional market. Registering an impressive CAGR of 8.46% from 2016 to 2024, Asia Pacific excluding Japan is anticipated to emerge as the most rapidly expanding regional segment of the 2-methylpropene market.APAC Presents Untapped Opportunities in 2-methylpropene MarketThere has been significant growth in the global automotive as well as aviation sectors over the years and this has resulted in the increased consumption of lubricant additives, gasoline, and rubber products. This in turn has had a positive impact on the demand for 2-methylpropene.This trend is particularly true for the Asia Pacific region, wherein the consumption of 2-methylpropene is high in the pharmaceutical and automotive industries in India, China, and several ASEAN countries, the author of the study says.Another key trend driving the global 2-methylpropene market is the surging demand for renewable sources of energy. Bio-based 2-methylpropene products are the ideal substitute for petroleum-based variants and the various benefits of bio-based products will continue to support the growth of this market, the TMR analyst reports.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :In contrast, the volatility in crude oil prices is anticipated to hamper the global demand for 2-methylpropene-based products, particularly MTBE. In addition to this, the harmful properties of MTBE will also pose a challenge to the growth of this market.This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled 2-Methylpropene Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024.2-Methylpropene Market: By ProductButyl RubberPolyisobutyleneMMA MonomerIsooctaneMTBEOthers(Plastics, ETBE)2-Methylpropene Market: By ApplicationRubber ManufacturingPharmaceuticalsFuel & LubricantsAdhesives & SealantsAntioxidantsAgrochemicalsOthers(Plastic Explosives, Neopentaoic Acid, and Methallyl Chloride)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Anti-Lock Braking System Market - Global Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Forecast, up to 2024

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Anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a safety system for automobiles which is intended to keep the wheel rotating and to prevent the skidding of the vehicle. Mechanical anti-lock systems were developed originally in the late 1920s for use in aircrafts. This mechanical systems witness was used at limited instances in vehicles at that time, but never found widespread usage, owing to its unreliability and high price tag. However, anti-lock braking systems are now a standard feature in most of the vehicles and it offers expanded functions as well. Anti-lock braking systems are already mandatory in the developed regions of North America and Europe, while the stringent legislations and safety norms in the developing countries are set to rapidly generate demand for these systems, thereby creating high growth opportunities for the anti-lock braking systems market.Request a PDF Brochure for Market Analysis atThe expanding number of deaths brought on because of street mishapshas constrained the administration in numerous regions to actualize stringent guidelines and regulations, and deploy ABS in all vehicles, and this is steadily boosting the growth of the global market. For instance, the Road Transport Ministry of India reported in September 2015 that every one of the models of bikes should be fitted with combined braking system (CBS) and anti-lock braking system by 2018. Other than allowing the driver to maintain the directional stability of the vehicle and control over steering during braking there are other importance of ABS which adds to its features. It helps the car to take sharp corners more quickly and safely. ABS acts as traction control and the classic case is that of the modern Range Rover which uses the in-built ABS to gently brake a slipping wheel to help restore traction and grip.Further, anti-lock braking systems function efficiently to make a vehicle come to halt quickly. Anti-lock braking systems help to absorb the turbulence shock waves and also modulates the pulses, therebyallowing the wheel to continually turn under maximum braking pressure. Thus, the usage of anti-lock braking systems in self-breaking systems is rising significantly. However, inconsistent stop times and high cost associated with these systems are posing to be a restraint to the growth of the global market.The global automotiveanti-lock braking systemmarket can be segmented, by components into speed sensors, hydraulic motor, pressure release valves,brake calipers and control module.On the basis of types of the global market can be classified into Four-Channel, Four-Sensor; Three-Channel, Three-Sensor and One-Channel, One-Sensor. In addition, the market can be geographically divided broadly into five regions, namely: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa.The anti-lock braking system market in North America and Europe has a high penetration rate and is already well-established. The deployment of these systems is also witnessing significant growth in the emerging regions of Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa, owing to the introduction of stringent legislation and policy framework mandating the installation of safety equipment in automobiles, coupled with the consumers preference for better safety measures and their rapidly increasing in purchasing power. The developing countries such as Brazil, India, UAE and Russia are expected to record a significant growth in the demand for automotive anti-lock braking systems during the forecast period. However, the largest share of the global market is expected to be held by the major automotive producing countriesof U.K., Germany and China from 2016  2024.View Report:The key players in the global automotive anti-lock braking system market include Robert Bosch GMBH (Germany), Hyundai Mobis (South Korea), Continental AG (Germany), Denso Corp. (Japan), TRW Automotive (United States), Autoliv Inc. (Sweden), Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. (Japan), Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.(Japan),Delphi Automotive PLC (United Kingdom), and Haldex Corp. (Sweden) 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. 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:
Battery Materials Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016  2024

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A battery operates by converting chemical potential energy into electrical energy. All batteries have same components  battery cell (metals), two electrodes (cathode and anode), electrolyte solution (liquid or paste) that surrounds the electrodes and packaging. The chemical reaction that occurs in the battery is at one of the electrodes.The type of battery depends upon the chemicals, especially metals, used to make up that battery. The materials that are used to produce the battery depends upon batterys application requirement. The most common types of batteries are alkaline, Li-ion, Li-PO, NiMH and Lead-acid. The working principle of battery is same, regardless of which metals are used in their make-up, as long as the reaction is occurring between the two metals.Download And Get Sample PDF File Of Battery Materials Industry :Batteries are used in some of the major industries such as automotive (car batteries, electric vehicles etc.), electronics (laptops, cell phones etc.), power tools (drilling machine), medical equipment, backup power systems (energy storage, emergency lighting), etc.Battery materials Market: Market Dynamics and TrendsThe market for battery materials depends on the scope of power output requirement. Li-ion batteries are used in cell phones and laptops whose demand is increasing day-by-day. This is a major driver in the market of Li-ion battery materials. The electronics industry being main consumer of lithium batteries is vastly growing, which is major cause for lithium battery materials being dominant in the market. Demand of cathode and anode materials depends upon their cost, performance and safety in handling. Lead-acid batteries are primarily used in back up power systems which is an irreplaceable requirement in this age. Thus, lead-acid battery materials market is expected to continue its presence. NiMH batteries are used in small electronics and electric plug-in vehicles. Electric vehicles are slowly but surely growing, which will promote use of NiMH batteries and their material market is expected to see rise in the future.Battery materials Market: Market SegmentationBased on raw materials required, the market can be segmented into type of battery cell, packaging, electrolyte solution, binder & separator, and cathode & anode materials.Based on type of battery cell used, the market can be segmented into alkaline battery, lead-acid battery, zinc-carbon battery, nickel-cadmium battery, nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery, lithium-ion battery and lithium polymer (Li-PO) battery.Based on applications in end-use industry, the market can be segmented into electronics, automotive, power tools, medical equipment and backup power systems.Battery Materials Market: Region-wise OutlookAt global level, battery materials have great demand and Asia Pacific region is dominant in terms of manufacturing base. The major players that produce battery materials in Asia Pacific region are situated in Japan and China. In Europe, countries such as Germany and U.K. host major market players. Batteries are such product which is required in from household instruments to large industry equipment. As new technologies are being developed, requirement of batteries will increase and it is expected that the battery materials market will expand in future, especially in developed countries.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :Battery Materials Market: Key PlayersSome of the players in battery materials market include Huzhou chuangya power battery materials Co. Ltd., Jiangxi Zichen Technology Co. Ltd., ZETO, Shenzhen Sinuo Industrial Development Co. Ltd., BTR New Energy Materials Co., Ltd., Shaneshan Technology, Hunan Shinzoom Technology Co. Ltd., Duracell Inc., Eveready Industries India Ltd., Energizer Holdings, Inc., Uniross Batteries, Panasonic Corporation, Hitachi Maxell Ltd., Shantou Jinguang Hi-tech Co., Ltd., Beijing Institute of Chemical Reagent, Capchem, GP Batteries.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisAbout 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 :
High Speed Rail Coating Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016  2024

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High speed rail is one of the safest and fastest modes of transport, which runs at a speed of over 200 km per hour. Coatings applied on the surface of high speed rails for interior and exterior protection from weather are called high speed rail coatings. These coatings also impart additional properties such as high yield strength for functional as well as aesthetic appeal. The global high speed rail coating market can be segmented on the basis of type into 1-K, 2-K, water-borne, and solvent-borne. They are used for various applications such as steel component coating, exterior protection, aesthetic finishes, interior aluminum coatings, and underframe coatings. High speed rail coatings are manufactured from a wide range of resins such as acrylics, epoxy, fluoropolymers, plastisols, polyester, and polyurethanes.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical insights :Global rise in demand for mass transportation can be attributed to the surge in investments in the expansion of railway networks across both developing and developed economies. High speed rails have the ability to cover long distances in very short time. Government initiatives to develop strong high-speed rail networks in various countries and make mass transits faster, safer, and efficient have opened up opportunities for the global high speed coatings market. However, a major restraining factor of the high speed rail coatings market are the growing environmental concerns pertaining to the volatile organic compounds content in coatings. Nevertheless, development of water borne type of coatings have aided the market significantly, as they emit very limited or no volatile organic compounds. Another challenge faced by the high speed rail coating market for the production of coatings is the volatile prices of raw material.In terms of geography, the global high speed coating market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The significant development of trade and rapidly growing economies have contributed to the expansion of mass transportation. High speed rails have the ability to cover long distances in shorter time; hence, they are majorly being used for mass transportation, thus enhancing the high speed rail coating market. High speed rail coating market is expected to rise with the increasing high speed rail needs in developing countries like China and India for mass transportation and public transportation. Asia Pacific is expected to lead the market growth followed by Europe because of the rapid growth in mass trading operations. This high consumption is driven by rapid growth in infrastructure development and need for faster transportation at relatively cheaper rates. Developed nations like the U.S are in the process of expanding their high-speed rail networks, due to the increasing demand for mass transportation. Hence the high speed rail coating market is expected to grow in North America. Many countries have developed high speed rail to connect between countries such as Austria, Germany, Spain, and France, thus augmenting the high speed rail coating market. China has 19,000 km of high speed rail as of December 2015, accounting for two-thirds of the world's total and hence being the worlds largest consumer of high speed rail coating.Some of the key players in the high speed rail coating market include Akzo Nobel N.V, BASF SE, PPG Industries, Inc., The Valspar Corporation, Axalta Coating Systems, LLC, PSG Limited, GLS Coatings Ltd, Zytexx, The Sherwin-Williams Company, Fosroc, Henkel, Hollysys, and Siemens.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisAbout 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 :
The Oregon Health Authority has issued two health alerts for marijuana flowers tainted with pesticides in the past two weeks. They're essentially recalls for marijuana products, but why are you seeing them now and what do they mean?

We talked with Chris Westfall, the compliance unit manager for the Oregon Health Authority's medical marijuana program, who laid out the new testing process and how these tainted products end up on store shelves.

New rules kicked in Oct. 1 that requires every batch of marijuana to be tested for pesticides before it hits store shelves. There are limits for pesticide residue in a marijuana products. For instance, an insecticide called spinosad is allowed up to 0.2 parts per million. When a sample of Dutch Treat registered as 0.9 parts per million recently, the harvest it came from was supposed to be destroyed.

Growers have the option to retest the same sample at the same lab before destroying it. If it passes that time, then another sample from the same harvest must be tested at a second lab. If it passes again, then it's OK to sell. If it fails either of those retests, it must be destroyed.

So, with the cost and time it takes to test, most growers are choosing to just destroy the harvest after the first test.

That's where the health alerts come in.

The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Liquor Control Commission-certified laboratories doing the testing are required to notify both the grower and the Oregon Health Authority when a batch of marijuana fails.

Westfall said his staff tries to call growers the same day or within 24 hours of being notified by a lab.

The staff member will discuss what the grower's options are for retesting and destroying the harvest.

But twice now, the grower was unaware the marijuana failed its test.

Initial lab reports were hard for the growers to read, Westfall said. They didn't highlight which batch had failed, but listed which pesticides and solvents were covered in the tests, the limits for each and the results for each sample. It was inscrutable for some growers.

"It appears to have been a matter of not understanding what these test results show," Westfall said.

When the staff member informed the growers and asked if any of the failed batches had been sold or given to a dispensary, the growers admitted they had.

That's when the recalls happened.

One other alert came from a dispensary that checked the batch number printed on each product and contacted the health authority proactively because it found the discrepancy.

The batch number references all the samples from a single harvest that were submitted at the same time for testing. The samples can be from marijuana flowers, edibles, oils, soil, swabs from equipment or anything else in the chain from growing to the end consumer.

Westfall said the alerts are signs that the new rules are working. Previously, the state wasn't notified of failed testing.

"So that's been the big change here," Westfall said. "That's the reason we are seeing these now."

The compliance unit also audits every dispensary in the state once a year to make sure they are in line with the state's rules, including proper labeling with the product's batch number and whether that batch passed its pesticide tests. Products that failed results could also be found at that point.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger
Portland won't have to turn over records it collected in its role as regulator of Uber and Lyft after a judge determined the data are trade secrets.

The Oregonian/OregonLive sought city records on the number of drivers affiliated with each company, as well as the number of rides they've provided and detailed data on how well the companies serve wheelchair users.

But Judge Judith H. Matarazzo drew a distinction between records created by the city in its role as regulator and records turned over by private companies that the companies consider confidential. The city had nondisclosure agreements with both Uber and Lyft.

"This is just a different type of animal from an agency or government refusing to turn over information they created," she said from the bench.

She also determined that there is sometimes public interest in secrecy when it comes to private companies.

Attorneys for Uber and Lyft had argued that making data turned over to governments public would deter companies from sharing data in the first place. The companies each argued that turning over the ridership and driver numbers would give the other a competitive advantage.

The news organization's attorneys argued that the public interest in disclosure overrode exemptions for trade secrets in Oregon Public Records Law, a position backed by the Multnomah County district attorney's office, which had ordered the city to turn over the records. (Uber and Lyft obtained a temporary restraining order to block disclosure while the case was argued.)

But Uber and Lyft countered that under a 2012 Oregon Court of Appeals decision, Pfizer Inc. v. Oregon Department of Justice, the court doesn't have to weigh public interest against the public records law for trade secrets.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation, which had initially denied the record requests, took no position during Friday's hearing. In a statement after the ruling, the bureau said it supports transparency.

"Today, we got a clear ruling from the State Circuit Court saying that the number of vehicles and rides provided by transportation network companies are confidential trade secrets," bureau spokesman Dylan Rivera said in an email. "We will comply with the law and follow the court's order."

Previously disclosed numbers show Uber and Lyft together have seized the majority of the Portland market for rides since 2015, when they were allowed to start operations.

Their drivers have also more frequently run afoul of city rules than traditional taxicabs, according to a database of violations that was disclosed in response to the records request. It's not clear whether the difference is proportional to Uber and Lyft's fleet size, which remains undisclosed.

Portland's independent and elected auditor recently found the city should be more closely analyzing the data it has collected on Uber, Lyft and taxis in order to determine whether its regulation scheme is working.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus
Roving food cart crooks hit three more pods this week, ransacking carts and snatching iPads across Northeast and Southeast Portland, cart owners and the Portland Police Bureau said.

The latest pods -- a collection of food carts -- struck this week include NE 42nd Avenue Carts on Northeast 42nd Avenue, Tidbit Food Farm on Southeast Division Street and, just last night, the Piedmont Station Food Carts on Northeast Killingsworth Street.

As with previous break-ins, the thieves snatched iPhones, iPads and other devises used for mobile payments while damaging doors and windows. At Piedmont Station, they also broke into an ATM. In just two weeks, the pod marauders have hit Cartlandia on Southeast 82nd Avenue and Portland Mercado and Carts on Foster, both on Southeast Foster Road.

Police recommend cart owners consider installing a safe or loud alarm and removing all valuables, including iPads, when they leave for the night.

-- Michael Russell
The Oregon Ducks snapped their five-game losing streak and picked up their first Pac-12 Conference win on Saturday, defeating the Arizona State Sun Devils 54-35 at Autzen Stadium.

The Ducks (3-5) will look to extend the winning streak on Saturday as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the USC Trojans at Memorial Coliseum. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

The Trojans (5-3) are currently riding a four-game win streak, despite dropping three of their first four games.

In the video above, Oregon defensive coordinator Brady Hoke talks about the Ducks depth at linebacker after the suspension of Eddie Heard.

--Jen Beyrle

jbeyrle@oregonian.com

@JenBeyrle
BX003_3320_9.JPG

Parent Kim Sordyl shown at a Portland Public School meeting about lead in the drinking water on Tuesday, May 31, 2016. Sordyl, known for requesting public records, is herself the target of a massive request.

(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

The most notorious requester of Portland Public Schools records isn't behind the district's most cumbersome pending public records request. She's the target.

Jason Wright, an attorney with Folawn Alterman & Richardson, filed a request July 28 for all of parent Kim Sordyl's emails and text messages with school board members. The request also asked for all communication between board members and district staff about Sordyl, including text messages.

The district plans to pay an outside contractor $975 per phone to obtain texts, according to an email sent to board members. Additionally, the request seeks all emails between Sordyl and any district email account, going back to January 2012.

In a phone interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday, Wright said he made the request as a "concerned citizen" before adding he didn't want to comment on the request.

"It wasn't my firm it was me," Wright said. "I have no client. I don't have a lawsuit."

Wright's request was written on his law firm's letterhead.

The firm has also paid the district with two checks totaling $1,000 so far, according to copies obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Asked to clarify in an email Wednesday, Wright wrote back, "I have no comment at this time."

The district hasn't done a full cost estimate on the request, spokeswoman Courtney Westling said. The final cost could be significantly higher. Attorney review time alone can cost $100 an hour, according to past cost estimates given to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Sordyl, an attorney, has long been a vocal critic of Portland Public Schools' handling of public records, accusing officials of sluggish responses.

Her unsparing comments on social media have made her well-known among district observers. She also frequently submits records requests and files formal complaints, sometimes on behalf of other parents.

Her work has also earned her a reputation within the district. In November 2015, Portland Public Schools' top lawyer sent Sordyl a letter threatening to take action if she continued "to engage in personal attacks and defamatory statements."

Sordyl questioned why a private citizen would be willing to pay so much for her records.

"I have no connection to that firm and I don't even know how to find out who their client is. I'm sure they have a client who is doing this," she said. " What it is going to show is how many things I've put them on notice about that they've ignored or tried to cover up over the years."

Asked again if he or his firm is working on behalf of a client, Wright declined to comment.

One of Wright's partners in the firm, Dean Alterman donated $500 to school board member Amy Kohnstamm's campaign in 2015. Court records also list a lawyer from the firm among attorneys who represented the district in a 2014 case.



Kohnstamm said all she knew about the request was that board members were asked to turn over information related to it.



"As far as I know, we don't know who the firm is representing, or doing it on behalf of," she said.

Although $1,000 has already gone toward the request, Wright has asked the district to waive the cost by arguing releasing Sordyl's records serves the public interest.

"The citizens and taxpayers of Oregon need to be able to understand how elected board members are acting and/or interacting with the public," Wright wrote in an email seeking the cost waiver, "and how those interactions may be affecting the school district that their children are a part of."

Most recently, Sordyl's efforts helped pressure Portland Public Schools into taking steps to better comply with public records requests that the district says have spiked since a lead scandal this summer.

On Oct. 24, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill ruled on four appeals complaining the district was unreasonably delaying records requests.

Two of those appeals were from Sordyl. The legal opinion acknowledged the school district is short staffed in the wake of the lead crisis and the departure of former Superintendent Carole Smith. But it ordered Portland Public Schools to do better.

The district is now looking to hire someone to help with records requests.

But Sordyl has argued the district sometimes makes responding to requests more difficult than necessary.

After Sordyl sought resumes from five employees September 8, the district said it didn't have any on file and would have to pull information from electronic applications instead. The time involved meant Sordyl would have to pay $145, the district told her.

Sordyl appealed to the district attorney, saying that wasn't what she asked for, and won.

The district handed over four of the five resumes two days later, finding it was only one resume that didn't exist.

-- Bethany Barnes
University of Oregon Law School

A University of Oregon professor is being investigated for wearing blackface to a Halloween party.

Nancy Shurtz, a University of Oregon law professor, said in a statement Friday that she intended to "provoke a thoughtful discussion on racism in our society, in our educational institutions and in our professions" when she wore a costume that included blackface at a Halloween party this week.

"In retrospect, my decision to wear black make up was wrong," Shurtz said in a statement. "It provoked a discussion of racism, but not as I intended," she continued. "I am sorry for the resultant hurt and anger inspired by this event."

Shurtz, 68, hosted a Halloween party Monday at her Eugene home. She dressed in a white doctor's coat with a stethoscope around her neck and black makeup on her face. The law professor, who has taught at UO since 1982, said in her statement she wore the costume because of a book by Dr. Damon Tweedy called "Black Man in a White Coat."

The memoir talks about the black doctor's experiences in medical school.

"It is cruelly ironic that this regrettable episode began with my admiration for a book that explores important aspects of race relations in our society, but ended up creating toxic feelings within our community," Shurtz said. "I intended to create a conversation about inequity, racism and our white blindness to them. Regrettably, I became an example of it. This has been a remarkable learning experience for me."

UO President Michael Schill issued a strict condemnation of the professor's costume this week, as did School of Law Dean Michael Moffitt. Twenty-three of her colleagues asked for her resignation this week.

UO law professor Nancy Shurtz

Moffitt placed Shurtz on paid administrative leave, and the school is investigating the situation through the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity.

"I hope that all who are hurt or angered by my costume will accept my apology. I meant no harm to them or others," Shurtz said.

She added that she doesn't plan to make any additional comments until the school's investigation is finished.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
The European Commission has suspended its review of the proposed merger of The Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. for a second time.

The commission says it needs additional information from the companies that has not been provided. A similar pause in the review process took place in September.
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Conducting a trench rescue is a lot more than just pulling someone out of a hole in the ground  and training this week with the Midland Fire Department proved that point.

The departments technical rescue team, tasked with conducting trench, confined space and high angle rescue, invited fellow departments to the training. It included classroom instruction and workshops at the City of Midland Landfill.

Its not just training, its a team of people working together, said Mark Laux, Midland Fire Department technical rescue team teader. The team included firefighters from Bay, Gladwin and Saginaw counties, Dow Corning and Ontario, as well as MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland EMS paramedics who also volunteer with Midland County township fire departments. Trainers came from the Michigan Urban Search and Rescue Training Foundation and Michigan Task Force One, and are known around the country, Laux said.

Tuesday, the group conducted three workshops in a back corner of the city landfill  one shallow trench where an entry team practiced using air bags to lift a pipe off a trapped worker, and two deeper trenches requiring teams to use panels to shore the crumbling walls and make a safe environment for entry teams.

The pipes were 10-feet-long hunks of 2-foot diameter concrete pipe, lying at angles in the bottom of the ground water filled trenches. Chunks of heavy soil and clay made splashes in the watery trench bottoms, near the exposed body parts of rescue dummies buried in the muck.

The training was 2  years in the making, Laux said, pointing out the department has made most of its own gear with information gleaned from training manuals. The gear continues to undergo improvements, with tips from the trainers. For example, during training in the summer of 2015, firefighters placed plywood sheets on the ground surface near the trench edges to provide stability. Tuesday, the ground near the trench edges was covered with sheets of plywood, and resting atop of those were beams spanning the gap across the trench with platforms placed atop of those.

Laux explained the platforms provide even more safety, in the form of a stable work surface that wont disintegrate underfoot.

This is as real as it is, he said, before another section of trench wall next to the area shored area slid down. So were ready to come in and make it safe for us to work in.

Only one other area fire department in a region of 13 counties has trench rescue gear, so the training in how to use it and working together is that much more important, considering all the chances for something to go wrong.

The team could be called for help during various construction projects, such as the summer 2015 work on Eastman Avenue, when contractors dug holes daily. Other examples of when the team might be needed include contractors, sewer businesses and even residents who dig holes for work and repairs, the confined space work conducted daily by city employees, and window washing that requires the use of platforms.

Trench rescue also encompasses other areas of training on a firefighters resume: confined space rescue, medical training, rope rescue and hazardous materials knowledge.

Were the full time department, Laux said. Were expected to know how to do it.
To the editor:

The real issue in this election is revolution. The American people are fed up and revolting against the corruption in Washington, D.C., which has made this country operate like a Banana Republic. We are using our vote for ammunition against the corrupt, political bureaucrats and the oligarchies of career and generational politicians who have sold us out for their own personal gain and pay offs.

This is the only reason Donald Trump has gone this far. Certainly he has made some bombacious remarks but we know where this man stands. Donald Trump is akin to Thomas Jefferson, a wealthy landowner who reluctantly became involved in politics to help straighten things out, then went back to his businesses. Trump is for us  not those who control the Clintons outside of this country and who want World War III.

The Benghazi disaster was tied to the State Department. Our dead ambassador was in a safe house whose location was only known to the State Department (and somebody told the terrorists). About 600 calls to Hillary Clinton for help and assistance were ignored by the head of the State Department, Hillary Clinton. It has been reported that an admiral (Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette) and a general went in to assist the ambassador against orders from the White House to do so. These two heroes were immediately relieved of command by puppet President Obama (stripes.com, http://newsmilitary.com/sites/stripes.com).

On Oct. 27, 2012, President Obama stood up in front of the citizens of the U.S. and said he never knew Hillary had a private email. However, Wikileaks showed that President Obama sent emails to Hillary Clintons private server. So what was Benghazi really about? Why did Hillary do a cover up beyond the scope of Watergate? What were they really trying to hide? Who knows? Maybe it was something as insidious as arms being transferred to ISIS from the State Department? Who knows? We do know pirates always said, Dead men tell no tales.

There is a reason our military supports Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is a traitor to this country and to our people. Hillary Clinton should be tried for treason, racketeering and more. Instead, she is running for president of this country with the majority of her financial support coming from who really controls her abroad. We now have a president, State Department, a Justice Department (Loretta Lynch is covering for the president) and the FBI (lets hope they do the right thing) all involved in the biggest cover up this country has ever experienced. If Hillary Clinton can install this much corruption in our government as just head of the State Department, think what she would do as president!

We have elected Republicans who are not supporting the partys candidate! That is a dangerous career decision unless they are too fearful of an upcoming investigation under Donald Trump and what it might reveal. Who knows?

Finally, in the last eight years we have seen an increase in racist tension, thanks to Obama, and increase in poverty thanks to Obama, and an increase in medical care costs with a decrease in covered medical procedures, all thanks to Obama. All of this will continue with Hillary Clinton except our right to bear arms. Her emails have already revealed she has a step by step plan to eliminate the right to bear arms.

This campaign has been besieged with slander and low frequency vibration. Hillary Clinton is trying to get the female vote by calling Donald Trump a sexual predator. Please read Transformation of America (if you can still get it) by Cathy OBrien. You will see who the true sexual predator is and it is not Donald Trump. (Sometimes youre not proud to be an American.)

I always taught my children that apathy is one of the greatest crimes in our country. Each and every one of us has an opportunity with our vote to do the right thing  not the easy thing, but what is ultimately in the best interest of the United States of America. If corruption does not bother you  if its business as usual and everybody does it  then ultimately what does that say about your personal value system and who you really are? Many people do not realize that historically only 2 percent of our candidates actually opposed the government oppression of the British and out of that 2 percent only 1 percent fought  yet we won.

Please get out of your warm homes and vote. Vote as if your lives depend on it because they do. Vote to break up the corruption in Washington, D.C., which is strangling this country and taking us away from the Contstitution.

Please use your search engines and Google Clinton Cash. If youve done your homework, it will be clear that the only real choice we have is Donald Trump and in God we trust.

DEBRA WARNER MILLER

Midland
To the editor:

In 2014, voters in Bay and Midland counties entrusted me to represent them in the state House of Representatives. I hope youll judge that my performance has earned and validated your trust.

 All three bills I introduced that came up for a House vote won overwhelming bipartisan support, winning over 100 of the 110 votes in the House  one protecting private property rights by reforming Civil Asset Forfeiture, another protecting taxpayers from increased liability for job retention tax credits claimed by major employers, and another removing barriers to Korean War veterans ability to receive earned benefits. Two have become law.

 Knowing electricity is the biggest single cost of doing business for Dow Chemical and other major employers, Speaker Kevin Cotter granted my request to serve as vice chairman of the House Energy Policy Committee. Ive worked hard to justify that trust.

Cheaper energy is the next step Michigan must take to be more attractive to new business and industries that will create higher-paying jobs. Ive championed the free market principles of competition and consumer choice to bring electricity costs down.

New jobs arent the only benefit. The Michigan Schools Energy Cooperative presented an award recognizing my work to hold down electricity costs for schools, so more money goes to the classroom.

 Citing my leadership on energy, state Capitol reporters selected me from 55 first-term state representatives and senators as Freshman Legislator of the Year, the most effective first-term legislator in Lansing. Editor Kyle Melinn said he found very compelling how much time and energy Gary spent boning up on the issue. I mean he really is reading and studying and working hard to understand the legislation, that I think is pretty impressive. And any time youre vice chairman of something as important as the Energy Policy Committee, it says a lot about you.

Its also an issue on which Ive worked closely with Democratic lawmakers who favor electricity choice.

Former Democratic Rep. Dan Scripps said: (Rep. Glenns) ability to get up to speed on a very complicated energy discussion, in a matter of weeks as its going full steam ahead, has been remarkable. Anybody whos sat in the House Energy Committee and listened to the quality of questions and really gotten a sense of just how familiar he is, I think can appreciate his dedication to getting up to speed and the intellect behind it.

WLNS-TV, Lansing, reported: Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, says hes working quite well with Glenn on energy policy.

The Detroit News reported: Glenn and six other Republicans are allied with Rep. Rose Mary Robinson, D-Detroit, and two other Democrats on a bill ... that would entitle groups of customers to partner in solar arrays or wind turbines and be reimbursed for excess power they generate and feed into the system.

 Energy isnt the only issue on which Ive worked across the aisle. Lawmakers have put together a series of bills to allow citizens and journalists to file open records requests with the governors office and the legislature, the Daily News reported. A group of nine Republicans and Democrats sponsor bills in the package. ... Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, is a cosponsor.

Along with Republican support, Im proud to have the support of two Democratic elected officials in our district: township trustees George Augustyniak and Paul Niemiec.

Another Democratic candidate for local office praised my accessibility, writing in the Daily News: Gary is the only state or national lawmaker in Midland who has faithfully delivered on his promise to meet with constituents on a regular monthly basis.

The bipartisan record Ive compiled did not require compromising my principles. The American Conservative Union recognized me for having the most conservative voting record in the state House on fiscal, social and veterans issues.

I also serve on the Commerce and Trade, Military and Veterans Affairs and Tax Policy committees, plus have focused on education reforms:

 I won passage of language authored by the director of the Bay City Dyslexia Center, which she says could eliminate dyslexia as a cause of reading deficiency in Michigan.

 I won the Appropriations K-12 Subcommittees approval of the principle that funding for at risk students should follow the child, not be based on what percentage of a districts students meet that definition. In the budget we approve next spring, I believe Midland schools will for the first time finally receive such funding.

 I remain committed to repealing the wasteful price-fixing law that forces taxpayers to pay higher than market wages and benefits when building schools, inflating the price so much that over the last decade, Michigan could have built 300 elementary schools with the hundreds of millions wed save by simply putting school construction out to bid.

My focus on creating jobs and improving education has won these campaign endorsements: Associated Builders and Contractors, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Corn Growers, Farm Bureau, Small Business Association, National Federation of Independent Business, Michigan Manufacturers, Milk Producers, Home Builders, Realtors, Retailers, Restaurant Owners, Theater Owners, Right to Life of Michigan, National Rifle Association, National Association for Gun Rights, Campaign for Michigan Families and Citizens for Traditional Values.

Two groups that didnt support my 2014 election have endorsed me in 2016: Dow Chemical Employees PAC and Great Lakes Education Project. In 2014, GLEP spent $40,000 urging my defeat. This year, they said: We have found Rep. Glenn to be very thoughtful and measured in his approach to education legislation and are very pleased to endorse him this time. Gary Glenn is an outstanding public servant, a leader in the Legislature, and deserves to be re-elected.

Hopefully, my performance has changed the minds of many others who may not have voted for me in 2014.

Finally, Ive maintained a perfect attendance record, never missing a committee meeting or vote on the House floor, including while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for cancer, now in remission.

Thank you for your prayers during that challenge. Tuesday, I hope I can count on your vote as well.

REP. GARY GLENN

R-Midland
Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. David L. Goldfein, spent time with Kunsan airmen to discuss his focus areas as Air Force Chief of Staff, future expectations and the long-term strategy throughout the Pacific region.



For 66 years the U.S. Air Force has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Republic of Korea and its allies, helping sustain not just regional but global peace and stability.



The nations long term strategic goals in Korea begin with assuring our allies here on the peninsula, said Goldfein. A big part of assuring them is actually being here and engaging with them every day. The commitment weve made to the Pacific is really unrelenting when it comes to the whole of our governments approach.



According to Goldfein, the partnership between U.S. and Republic of Korea forces should have no gap as our alliance continues to play a major role in supplementing the regions ability to confront and curb North Korean aggression.



With that said, managing resources has become imperative to help revitalize areas in need of improvement in order to maintain the fight tonight posture and readiness.



What I dont have is a big bag of money to throw at this, said Goldfein. This is very much going to be an internal dialogue within the current resources, and I believe if we get the squadron piece right, well get a lot of things right in the Air Force.



Identifying areas for improvement and taking action to fix those areas have become a hallmark in Goldfeins tenure as Chief of Staff of the Air Force so far.



Since becoming the 21st CSAF, he has adamantly expressed his vision for revitalizing squadrons and has already taken strides to modify the additional duty program, shifting focus back to the core mission.



This is really the first wave [of changes], he said. Were not declaring victory on this. Its the first hack at the tree trunk and the SECAF and I are going to continue swinging away at this until we think we have it right. Its not an insignificant first step, as I think its gotten us to a better place but Im not satisfied that were even close to done.



Goldfeins emphasis on revitalizing squadrons has been at the forefront of his agenda and as a result he has begun to utilize all resources to work on the issue.



Establishing a solid foundation at the squadron and unit level will create long-term and lasting effects throughout the Air Force, according to Goldfein.



"If youre going to achieve lasting change, then you have to move what I call these big rocks in the right direction; you actually have to slow down to speed up, he said. From the beginning I wanted to get everyones minds thinking of the broader Air Force and why we need to look at these particular areas. The squadron is where airmen thrive, where families thrive, where we build readiness and where innovation occurs. Its the level of command where you actually set the culture of the unit, at a level thats lasting.
PACAF commander rewards Osan Airmen for excellence

U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence OShaughnessy, middle, Pacific Air Forces commander, speaks with Staff Sgt. Alvaro Perez Leblanc, left, and Airman 1st Class Joseph Clark, right, 36th Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew chiefs, before flying in an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Nov. 4, 2016. After his flight, OShaughnessy rewarded the crew chiefs with his coin for their contributions and excellence to the 51st Fighter Wing mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Dillian Bamman)
If You Want to Know What Trump's America Might Look Like for Journalists, Look To Putin's Russia

By Alexander Joenks | Politics | November 4, 2016 |

So America, lets talk a little bit about Vladimir Putin, since Trump hasnt been able to contain his affection for the man and his style of governance. And nearly half of American voters think that this country needs run more like Putin runs things. He appeals to them: the ruthlessness, the directness, the aggression, the refusal to compromise, the constantly espoused dedication to making Russia great again.

Putins got that quiet sort of charisma that derives from shocking you by doing exactly what he wants and not giving a damn what anyone else thinks. So when he walks off with Bob Krafts Super Bowl ring, or names his dog after Condoleeza Rice, or shows up an hour late to a meeting with the Pope, that resonates in our brain as the way that the coolest people walk their own path with no regard for social convention.

Rebellion is in defiance of authority, but when its authority itself acting, its just a raw exercise of power. A rebel flaunts convention despite the consequences, a tyrant doing it merely demonstrates that no consequences apply. It tricks our brains, you see, and we mistake the callous indifference of power as a kind of punk rebelliousness.

Back around 2008, the small suburb of Khimki outside of Moscow gained some measure of fame when small local protests began over plans to clearcut the ancient Khimki forest in order to put up condos and a new highway to St. Petersburg. Khimki is not the first place youd think of on the subject of grassroots mobilization. Its relatively well-to-do. Moscows international airport is there. It hosts Russias only Ikea. It is the opposite of every cliched image of students crowding into the vast squares of the capital. Until 2008, it was best known simply for being the highwater mark of the Wehrmachts advance.

Yevgenia Chirikova, an electrical engineer and the local resident who found the xs marking endless swathes of the forest, started organizing. There were petitions. There were protests. She ran for mayor of Khimki. Bono talked up the cause at a benefit concert. There was a glimmer of hope there for a moment, that under the right conditions, at exactly the right time, real change could happen in Russia. That truth really could be spoken to power.

But you know thats not how this story ends. Not in a country where in moments of honesty and privacy, professors will tell you democracy was a myth sold to us by the West.

When protesters lay down in front of the harvesters ripping out the forest, they were savagely beaten, not by the police or anything so mundanely authoritarian. No, its other Russian citizens who beat them, descending upon them day by day. And when they called for ambulances, they are mysteriously delayed by hours, despite almost being within sight of the hospitals.

Chirikova ran for mayor of Khimki and lost badly. Afterwards, child protective services audited her, threatening to take her children away. She repeatedly received death threats. Because she tried to prevent trees from being cut down.

Articles in nationalist newspapers declared that journalist traitors must be punished and published pictures of journalists covering Khimki or corruption with the words will be punished written across their faces.

Remember how we were told to not overreact when conservative newspapers put crosshairs over the faces of Democratic politicians? Or that we were grossly misinterpreting a statement of constitutionalism when Trump said that Hillary could be solved with the Second Amendment? Or that the stories of reporters being threatened at Trump rallies were fabrications and liberal exaggerations?

Mikhail Beketov was the editor for Khimki Pravda, the tiny paper with a circulation of less than a thousand, serving the town. He was beaten in the yard of his house, to the point of amputation and brain damage. And while in a coma, he was convicted in absentia of slandering the mayor and ordered to pay damages.

Oleg Kashin, a journalist with Kommersant Moscow also wrote about Khimki and was beaten nearly to death.

Sergei Protazanov wrote for a tiny paper in Moscow called Grazhdanskoye Soglasiyez, circulation of only about a thousand. He was beaten in the street, and then poisoned after being sent home from hospital. His editor in chief was stabbed 10 times outside his home in February 2008.

Beating just doesnt do justice to the brutality of the violence involved. It makes you think of getting punched a few times, ending up with ice packs on black eyes or bruised ribs. But let me walk you through what it really means, what really happened to these people. There are even grainy tapes of some of these attacks online, captured from ATM cameras across the street in the middle of the night, if youre so inclined to die a little inside. It only takes a few seconds with a crowbar, almost in passing as you walk by someone on the street. One swing breaks a knee, the back swing the other knee. Then each elbow, a steel-toed boot stomp to each hand breaks all the fingers, and then a final swing to shatter the jaw. The victim tries to run, tries to stagger back to his feet, to get away from the thug already strolling away without looking back, but with no bones or joints left its like a puppet with tangled strings dancing only to collapse. A life annihilated in six seconds.

And thats just the handful of journalists that dared say anything about Khimki in particular. Should we consider others?

Anna Politkovskya died alone in the elevator of her apartment complex, shot four times, once in the head. On Putins birthday.

Natalia Estemirova wrote about extrajudicial executions in Chechnya. Her car was stopped, her body was found after having been shot several times at point-blank range.

Abdulmalik Akhmedilov covered Dagestan. He criticized the federal government for suppressing dissent under the guise of fighting extremism. He was executed by a group of armed men as he left his apartment for work.

Olga Kotovskaya, director of the Kaskad independent TV and radio company, was thrown out of a 14th story window.

Konstantin Popov, was beaten to death by a police officer after leaving a bar.

Shamil Aliyev, founder of the Priboi and Vatan radio stations and director of the Makhachkala television network, was machine-gunned along with several others in his car in broad daylight.

North Caucasus correspondent Malika Betiyeva, was killed in a car crash in Chechnya, that no one believes was actually an accident due to the lack of investigation and repeated death threats. Her husband and both their children also died in the crash.

Dmitry Okkert, editor of news on Expert TV was stabbed to death in his locked apartment several days before being found. There was no sign of struggle, no robbery. The only thing missing was his laptop that contained all of his work.

The list goes on and on.

Over 200 journalists have been murdered in Russia in the last twenty years. The number of cases that even went to trial can be counted on one hand, and of those only half even managed convictions. The only two places in the world more dangerous to be a journalist than Russia are Algeria and Iraq.

We dont need to strain our imaginations to understand exactly the sort of place Trumps America would be. He and his followers have already told us, repeatedly, with their words and their actions. With every act of violence, verbal or physical, with every threatened journalist and promise of retribution.

Dictatorship is rarely something imposed only from above. Its always a collaboration, between the thugs in power and those on the streets. Between those who do official violence by filling out forms, and those who will listen to the winks and nods and take it upon themselves to burn out the witches and traitors.

Vote on Tuesday.

Dr. Steven Lloyd Wilson is a hopeless romantic and the last scion of Norse warriors and the forbidden elder gods. His novel, ramblings, and assorted fictions coalesce at www.burningviolin.com. You can email him here.




Q: I swear my arthritis pain gets worse on cold, wet days. My husband is skeptical. Is it possible that the weather could affect my symptoms?

A: I hear from my patients all the time that the weather affects their arthritis symptoms. But is it true? If so, how does that work? And is there any scientific evidence to explain it?

I spoke to my colleague, Dr. Robert Shmerling. He is clinical chief of rheumatology at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He noted that people have been asking these questions for many years without finding good answers. Here's what we do know:

There are many potential weather factors that could affect arthritis symptoms, including humidity, temperature, precipitation and barometric pressure. Studies have examined the effects of these weather factors, but the results have been inconclusive. In some cases they were contradictory.

Two recent studies have shed more light on this question. Both found that the weather does indeed have an impact on arthritis symptoms.

In the first study, Dutch researchers enrolled 222 people with osteoarthritis of the hip. They compared their reported symptoms with a variety of weather variables. They found that over a two-year period, pain and stiffness were slightly worse when barometric (air) pressure and humidity were higher.

The second study included more than 800 adults with osteoarthritis of the hip, knee or hands. In this study, changes in weather did not affect symptoms, but higher humidity was linked with increasing pain and stiffness. This was especially true in colder weather.

Now what? In other words, how is it helpful to know if specific characteristics of the weather have a clear impact on arthritis pain and stiffness? After all, it's not as if all patients can pick up and move to a more arthritis-friendly climate.

Information is useful even if it doesn't immediately lead to a new treatment or prevention strategy. For example, identifying a link between a particular type of weather and joint symptoms might help us understand the causes and mechanisms of arthritis symptoms. And that might lead to better treatments or strategies.

It might also help to understand why some people feel worse in certain circumstances while others notice no change (or even feel better) in those same environments. Those results could help us understand subtle differences between types of arthritis or the ways individuals respond to them.

Even if the studies I mentioned did not find that the weather affected the arthritis pain of the average patient, I'd believe a person -- like you -- who swears that the weather affects her arthritis pain. No one can know your pain like you can, and no doctor should dismiss it.
Imagine a less spry and agile Indiana Jones and you have Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a Harvard professor of religious iconography and symbology (not a real academic discipline).

Hes riddled his way from the page to the screen in the wildly popular The DaVinci Code, and Angels & Demons, adapted from Dan Browns series of quasi-religious, art history-inspired mystery novels most likely to be found on the shelf of an Airbnb rental.

In Inferno, Langdon wakes up in a Florence hospital bed with one heck of a hangover. Hes beset by horrible visions of wrecked bodies with backwards heads covered in skin pustules, men in beaked masks, a mysterious woman on a fiery street.

Hes got a head wound, no idea where he is, and the worst migraine of all time. Director Ron Howard, who also helmed the previous two installments, takes the head trauma as an opportunity to experiment with an edgier form and style. The screeching noises, flashing lights, rapid editing and queasy camera movements will make you too feel like youre experiencing head trauma.

Amnesiac Langdon is rapidly whisked out of the hospital by an attentive doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), who happens to be a fan of his work. Hes got a Faraday pointer secreted in his clothing (essentially a laser that projects an image of Dantes Inferno).

They decipher the coded image and link it to an eccentric billionaire bioengineer, Betrand Zobrist (Ben Foster), who has conveniently laid out in a YouTube lecture his radical theories about global overpopulation and thinning the herd with a weaponized virus, for the good of the planet.

So off run Robert and Sienna, jogging around Italy, pursued by SWAT teams of the World Health Organization, as they go on a scavenger hunt from precious antiquity to precious antiquity, looking for clues as to how Robert got this Faraday doo-hickey and where Zobrists deadly, apocalyptic virus might be deployed at midnight.

The twists in the story keep on coming, at the expense of the plots structural integrity. There are a few moments where youll want to puzzle something out, but the story is relentless and doesnt pause for a minute  suddenly Hanks is wrestling a Turkish thug in a pool of water in the sunken baths in Istanbul, so theres not one second to consider the plot holes.

The best thing going for Inferno is Hanks, who plays his befuddled professor Langdon with the right modicum of bafflement and brilliance. He cant believe hes in this situation but also cant turn his brain off. Jones makes a fine counterpart as a prim English child prodigy, an heir to his throne if only she can find the right motivation.

The cast is stocked with international talent, including French actor Omar Sy as a questionable WHO agent and Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen as Langdons old friend and possible love interest.

But its Bollywood star Irrfan Kahn who slyly steals the show as a private security operative. He brings possibly the only humor in the film, playing an exasperated corporate type fed up with his client. Its a levity thats much-needed in the cacophonous chaos of Inferno.
BLOOMINGTON  A suspicious package found during routine screening at the Central Illinois Regional Airport put into motion a series of procedures that led to the evacuation of the airport for 2 1/2 hours on Thursday.

It was a case of being precautionary and making sure, said CIRA spokeswoman Fran Strebing. Something looked suspicious, but it was not.

The package was found at an X-ray machine at 10:40 a.m. as passengers were preparing to board a scheduled 11:40 a.m. Delta flight to Atlanta. Officials called in McLean County law enforcement to assist with the investigation. The Bloomington Police Department blocked entrances to the airport, informing visitors the airport was temporarily closed.

Passengers arriving were allowed to leave, but if they were being picked up, they had to walk to Empire Street to meet their rides. The airports shuttle service offered rides to restaurants along Empire.

During the evacuation, passengers who were inside the terminal and employees stood outside.

They have to be safe and I understand that, but it seems like there could be a better way than to cut off all access to the airport, said Gene Ragsdale of Macon, Ga., who was traveling to Bloomington-Normal to meet with family. Id probably be much more upset if it were the dead of winter, so its not so bad.

The suspicious package was investigated by the Secretary of State's bomb disposal unit that deemed that no threat existed.

The airport was re-opened to the public about 1:10 p.m.

The outbound flight to Atlanta eventually left around 2 p.m. and was the only flight affected by the evacuation. All other arrivals and departures Thursday were on time.

We had an emergency drill this summer, but that involved an airliner incident, Strebing said. Still, it was good to see that the precautions we have in place are effective. Everything went exactly as planned for this situation. We just always want to be on the safe side and take every precautionary measure possible.
Home Sweet Home plans turkey meal

BLOOMINGTON  Home Sweet Home Ministries plans to distribute 2,000 meal baskets with turkeys, 600 home-delivered meals and serve 150 in-house meals on Thanksgiving Day.

The public is encouraged to donate turkeys by purchasing turkey cards at Hy-Vee, any Bloomington-Normal Jewel store or Vale Church, Bloomington.

A sit-down meal will be served at 12:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at Home Sweet Homes Billy Shelper Center, 303 E. Oakland Ave., Bloomington.

If an elderly or disabled person in Bloomington or Normal would like to have a Thanksgiving Day meal delivered to their home, they can leave a message at 309-828-7356 by Nov. 17. Calls will be returned to confirm meal requests.

Visit www.hshministries.org for more information.

Registration extended for humanity summit

BLOOMINGTON  Registration has been extended until 5 p.m. Friday for the Humanity Summit hosted by YWCA McLean County set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Memorial Center, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington.

The summit will create a space for the community to grapple with important questions of cultural and systemic oppression and challenge participants to grow as allies in the struggle for justice.

The cost, including lunch, is $8 for students, $30 for the public and $60 for anyone wishing to obtain CEUs. A Pay-What-You-Can option is available for those who are unable to pay the full registration price.

Register at www.ywcamclean.org/humanity; call 309-662-0461, Ext. 298; or email ywdevelopment@ywcamclean.org.
If one's perception is, effectively, one's reality, then we can expect life to get better soon. That's because despite the media  and a certain presidential candidate  battering us with negativity about demographic change, racial strife and political polarization, America's 55 million Latinos are feeling sunny about the future.

In a new National Council of La Raza poll of Latino registered voters' views on the economy and health care, 51 percent of respondents said that the economy is getting better. Forty-eight percent said that a year from now they expect to be doing better financially, with 63 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds saying so compared with 36 percent of respondents 36 and older.

A full 66 percent said they expect that their financial future and opportunities will be better than their parents'.

Though the individuals polled expressed fears about Social Security not being around when they retire, about debt loads and about potential job losses, majorities (61 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds and 55 percent of those 36 and older) still said that they believe that their hard work will pay off and they will be able to get ahead.

To give you an idea of just how radically positive these young Latinos are compared with other groups, let's look at the Harvard Institute of Politics' most recent national poll of America's 18- to 29-year-olds.

When asked whether they are "hopeful" or "fearful" about the future of America, 51 percent of all respondents indicated that they are fearful. However, of the whites, blacks and Hispanics who were polled, no group was more fearful about America's future than white men and women.

Sixty percent of white women and 54 percent of white men are scared about the future  about 10 percentage points more than Hispanic women and men. And only 36 percent of white males and 32 percent of white females believe they will be better off financially than their parents, compared with 45 percent of Hispanic males and 52 percent of Hispanic females.

I blame this on a decade's worth of alarmist news headlines about minorities displacing white people as the new majority. Without a doubt, 10 years or so of pitting minorities against white people in a high-stakes game of demography-is-destiny has been the impetus for our current presidential contest in which making America "great again" is code for making it white again.

There are upsides to the population shift that  because they are boring compared with screechy articles about imminent white extinction  don't get enough play.

The demographer William H. Frey says that the "diversity explosion" that is driving our population growth is a legitimate reason for optimism. (He's been saying this for many years, but it's like he's been shouting it into the wind.)

Put bluntly, Americans are aging  and a young generation of Hispanics, Asians and multiracial Americans are coming of age just as the largely white, older U.S. population needs people to care for them and to pay in to Social Security.

"The U.S. labor-force-age population is projected to grow more than 5 percent between 2010 and 2030," wrote Frey in a blog post for the Brookings Institution. "Yet were it not for new minorities, the country's labor force would decline by 8 percent."

Frey is extremely optimistic that if policies align to adequately support this next generation, the impact will be a net positive. "Some may look at these projections (of the labor force) and worry about the increased division in our country. But I think that we're going to change in the future and be open to racial diversity precisely because of this sharp demographic transformation that we're undergoing."

In many ways, the economy is a measure of trust that the future will be better than the present. As Hispanics constitute a bigger portion of the economy, their ironclad faith in the American Dream and their ardent hope to pass a more prosperous life onto their children will be a boon to the nation as a whole  and in the midst of the most anti-Hispanic climate of my lifetime.

Imagine the progress and prosperity that could be unleashed through the hopefulness and energy of a young Latino population if the country started seeing them as a benefit, an opportunity and a means for making America better, rather than as an invading force that needs to be guarded against.
SPRINGFIELD  A conservative group with ties to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his allies is accusing the Illinois attorney generals office and local officials in Rock Island County of trying to interfere with its vote-by-mail campaign.

The Illinois Opportunity Project, founded by radio host Dan Proft and Pat Hughes, has sent out about 150,000 applications for mail-in ballots to voters in a half-dozen counties, including Rock Island, that are home to some of Tuesdays most hotly contested races for the Illinois General Assembly.

Third-party organizations are allowed to collect applications for mail-in ballots under state law. Groups must turn in the applications to local election authorities, who then mail ballots to voters.

Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigans office began asking questions about the Illinois Opportunity Projects program last week after receiving complaints that raised specific concerns about that organizations vote-by-mail efforts, spokeswoman Maura Possley said in written statement.

Specifically, we have received complaints regarding voter confusion, Possley said. Because the Illinois Opportunity Projects mailings do not identify that organization and, instead, are sent from (Name of County) County Vote By Mail Center, they have led to voter confusion regarding whether they are official documents from the counties.

There also were concerns that applications werent being picked up and delivered to local election authorities in a timely manner, according to the attorney generals office.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Springfield sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Lorreta Lynch on Thursday requesting that the Department of Justice look into the situation "in light of the troubling nature of this incident."

"Voting is, as the Supreme Court has said, a right 'preservative of all rights,' " Durbin wrote. "Efforts to suppress this fundamental right should be promptly investigated, remedied, and, if appropriate, prosecuted."

Hughes, meanwhile, accused the Illinois attorney general's office of trying to suppress voters by interfering with his group's vote-by-mail effort.

The Illinois Opportunity Project's applications went out to voters Oct. 11 and 12, he said, and they were temporarily held up at the post office once returned because the group had to pay for prepaid postage.

When the group was notified Oct. 21, a representative went in the next day and paid the outstanding balance, he said, adding that it took a few days for the check to clear so that the mail could be released.

The whole purpose of our program is to get the people that were targeting to vote, Hughes said. Thats the whole purpose of it, so of course were going to pick up those applications.

He said the group uses proprietary metrics to determine who should receive its vote-by-mail solicitations but declined to give additional details.

After receiving complaints, the attorney generals office contacted the Illinois Opportunity Project last week seeking more information about where the applications were being distributed, the dates they were sent out, the post offices boxes to which they were supposed to be returned, the voters who received them, and other details.

Hughes said the attorney generals office has refused to identify any laws it believes his group has violated.

This is harassment by the Democrat attorney general, the Democratic county clerk, the Democrat states attorney against who they perceive to be a political opponent to upset and distract a vote-by-mail program that they believe is targeting voters that dont benefit them, Hughes said.

Democratic Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said its no such thing.

This has nothing to do with being a Democrat or a Republican, Kinney said. I am trying to get my hands on the absentee applications for all voters, Democrat and Republican, and I would appreciate it if they would turn those over to me.

Hughes said that his group has been checking its post office box daily and delivering any applications it receives to Kinneys office, but Kinney said the group hasnt delivered any since last week, when about 1,500 were dropped off. Thursday was the deadline for local election authorities to receive applications.

Election officials in Macon and Jackson counties and the city of Bloomington said they havent had any issues similar to whats happening in Rock Island County.

Cathie Haab, assistant executive director of the Bloomington Election Commission, said the commission has only received routine inquiries from voters about the status of mail-in ballot applications.

We havent had any mass complaints, Jackson County Clerk Larry Reinhardt said, adding that his office has had to reissue a few ballots that were lost in the mail.

Macon County Clerk Stephen Bean said the only issue his office has experienced is voter frustration with the delays involved when outside groups, including the Democratic and Republican parties, have applications sent to out-of-county addresses rather than directly to the clerks office.
Kruger's No. 10 Paper Machine Rebuilt Project On Budget and On Time at Trois-Rivieres Mill Nov. 3, 2016 (Press Release) - The No. 10 Paper Machine (PM10) rebuild project is proceeding on time and on budget, as revealed by Kruger Inc. during a press briefing held this Thursday, November 3, 2016, at the Trois-Rivieres Mill. The company offered a behind-the-scenes look at the construction site of this the large-scale project that represents 500,000 person-hours of work over 20 months. Once the project is completed in May 2017, the mill will start manufacturing 100% recycled lightweight and high-strength linerboard for which demand is increasing in North America and around the world. Announced jointly by Kruger and the Government of Quebec in September 2015, the project is already generating major benefits for the Mauricie region and for Quebec, as it involves no less than 80 local businesses. Approximately $135 million of the overall $250-million budget has been committed to date, including $40 million for Trois-Rivieres suppliers and $60 million for suppliers elsewhere in Quebec. Some 200 workers are currently completing the pulp mill, which will supply the new production line with recycled fibre, while the company makes the most of each PM10 maintenance shutdown to work on the paper machine. During the project's final phase, from February 26 to May 7, 2017, PM10 will cease all newsprint production and more than 350 workers will work in rotating shifts for 20 hours a day to complete the rebuild. We are very satisfied with the progress of work. Not only is the project on time and on budget, but it also boasts a very positive health and safety record, which is a testimony to the know-how and professionalism of everyone involved: employees, suppliers and partners alike, said Daniel Archambault, Executive Vice President, Kruger. Kruger has invested $250 million in the project to ensure optimal results, as PM10 will be completely rebuilt and as efficient as a new machine. Well before work got under way, Kruger's engineers toured numerous manufacturing plants in North America and Europe to find the best technology for manufacturing 100% recycled lightweight and high-strength linerboard of the best possible quality. Commercialized as XTR, the new linerboard grades to be manufactured at the Trois-Rivieres Mill will meet increasing demand for ultra-light packaging without compromising strength, performance or the environmental footprint. PM10's annual production will total 360,000 metric tonnes of XTR linerboard, an exclusive product that Kruger Inc. will be the first to manufacture in North America. A portion of the production will be used by Kruger's packaging plants in LaSalle, Quebec, and Brampton, Ontario, while the remainder will be sold to packaging manufacturers across Canada and the United States. Founded in 1904, Kruger Inc. is a major producer of publication papers, tissue products, containerboard and packaging made from recycled fibres, renewable energy, cellulosic biomaterials, and wines and spirits. To learn more, please visit www.kruger.com. SOURCE: Kruger See related story:

 Kruger to Convert No. 10 Newsprint Machine to Produce Lightweight Linerboard - Sept. 16, 2015.
Sappi Europe to Increase Graphic Paper Prices in the UK

Nov. 4, 2016 - Sappi Europe said that it will increase prices for all Graphic Papers grades, reels and sheets, in the UK market by 10% effective December 1 for all new and non-contracted business.

For existing contracts, new pricing will apply from January 2, 2017 at the latest.

Marco Eikelenboom, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Sappi Europe, said, The circumstances for Sappi's UK business have changed drastically in recent months, and we are no longer able to absorb the full impact of the lower returns. Our representatives will be in contact with our customers to discuss details.

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Sappi Europe SA is the leading European producer of coated fine paper used in premium magazines, catalogues, books and high-end print advertising. To learn more about the company, please visit: www.sappi.com.

SOURCE: Sappi Europe
UPM Paper ENA to Reduce 305,000 Tonnes of Graphic Paper Capacity in Europe Nov. 4, 2016 - UPM on Nov. 3 announced plans to permanently reduce its graphic paper capacity in Europe by 305,000 tonnes. The capacity reductions are planned to take place in Austria and Germany. UPM plans to permanently close two paper machines: SC paper machine 3 at UPM Steyrermuhl, Austria

SC paper machine 2 at UPM Augsburg, Germany Number of persons affected by the plan is estimated 150 for UPM Augsburg and 125 for UPM Steyrermuhl. The employee consultation processes will start in the course of November in line with the local legislation. The machines are planned to be closed after the consultation processes have been finalized. The plan would result in annual cost savings of about EUR 30 million. UPM would book charges of approximately EUR 75 million as an item affecting comparability in Q4 2016. Of the total, approximately EUR 45 million would be cash costs. According to the plan both mills would continue paper production on the remaining cost-competitive paper machines at the mill sites. "The demand for SC papers, in line with other graphic papers, has been declining during the last years and the decline is expected to continue," said Winfried Schaur, Executive Vice President, UPM Paper ENA. "Even under challenging market conditions our employees have always given their best and we regret the impact of the planned closures on the personnel. However, we have to adjust our operations to match with long-term customer demand." Anu Ahola, Senior Vice President, News & Retail, UPM Paper ENA, explained, "Due to the adverse market conditions we have conducted a thorough analysis on the cost competitiveness of our graphic paper machines. Because of their scale, technical age and limited further savings potential PM3 in Steyrermuhl and PM2 in Augsburg are the least competitive SC PMs in UPM's machine park. The planned closures would ensure an efficient use of our remaining five SC paper machines." Earlier this year UPM sold its Schwedt mill. The annual production of 282,000 tonnes of newsprint will be ceased in the end of Q3 2017. The new owner will convert the mill into liner production. Through the renewing of the bio and forest industries, UPM is building a sustainable future across six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Paper ENA and UPM Plywood. To learn more, please visit: www.upm.com SOURCE: UPM
Women who have lost a baby due to a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy are at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Experts from the Imperial College London conducted a study that determined such a result. They highlighted the importance of psychological support as one of the best course of treatments after miscarriage.

The study, which has been published in the journal BMJ Open, involved 113 women respondents who have had miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. They were asked to answer questionnaires, which expounded on their feelings about the loss of a baby.

Most of the women identified pain and bleeding while having a miscarriage, while a fifth of the respondents had ectopic pregnancy. Of these, 45 percent of the women who miscarried and 18 percent of the women who had ectopic pregnancy presented PTSD symptoms. These include flashbacks, nightmares, having unwanted thoughts or anxiety, which ranged from moderate to severe, BBC reports. Further, 40 percent of the women respondents expressed that their struggles eventually affected relationships or work performance.

The experts note that for women who suffered miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy, a routine follow-up with a doctor is non-existent and there lies the big problem. "We have checks in place for postnatal depression, but we don't have anything in place for the trauma and depression following pregnancy loss," lead study author Dr. Jessica Farren said, per Express.

Huffington Post notes that women who've lost a baby through miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy usually seek answers, yet find that they can't always talk about their ordeal. Thus, psychological support or therapies can be a big help in the healing process, which is also used in other PTSD cases.

"However we need to investigate how this treatment should be tailored to women who have suffered an early pregnancy loss," the experts advised further. The team is also looking into the risk factors of women who have PTSD after a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy as some women don't actually experience this.
Marvel's newest superhero movie, "Doctor Strange," which stars Benedict Cumberbatch is set to open in U.S. theaters on Friday, Nov. 4. Its theme is unlike other Marvel stories that have been adapted from comic books to film.

"Doctor Strange" touches on sorcery and dark mystery, which some might view as too heavy for kids to watch. Yet its teasers present visual fare that could ignite a child's interest. Would it be appropriate for parents to let their tweens watch "Doctor Strange?"

Parents whose kids have expressed wanting to watch "Doctor Strange" should know that the movie has been rated PG-13 for "kaleidoscopic galactic intensity and other dimensional psychotropic violence," Comic Book reports. Violence is expected in all superhero movies, as well as blood and gore, which takes place in many scenes in "Doctor Strange" because Benedict Cumberbatch's character is a surgeon.

The lead character in "Doctor Strange" is also depicted as man with an arrogant streak and cruelty about him. He doesn't hesitate to use foul language, which might be an issue for some parents.

Due to its theme, a Christian film critic warns parents that "Doctor Strange" could introduce kids to occult practices, Geek Tyrant reports. If parents are not comfortable with all these observations about the film, then it might would be better to skip the movie altogether.

In contrast, Cinema Blend cites that if parents have allowed their kids to watch other Marvel movies such as "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Ant Man," then watching "Doctor Strange" should not be an issue. The parental guide on IMDb cites that kids above 10 years old can watch this movie with the rest of the family.

Ultimately, it is a matter of preference and the parents' understanding of their children's level of maturity. Parents should also know that it is not against the law to bring a 10-year-old kid to a PG-13 movie. The rating is only there to serve as guide for moms and dads about the depiction of sensitive materials, which might require a discussion with the kids. For a healthier movie experience, parents should actually talk to their children after watching "Doctor Strange."
A new synthetic opioid called "pink" took the lives of two Utah teenagers. Park City Police confirmed on Thursday that the two teens died due to acute drug intoxication.

"Pink" is also referred to as U-47700. The Utah teenagers were identified as Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth. Both of them are 13 years old. Seaver died on September 11 while Ainsworth died on September 13.

Seaver and Ainsworth both went to Treasure Mountain Junior High School and lived in the Park City area. The two were found dead in their respective homes, Gephardt Daily reported. The drug reportedly got to Park City and was made available to the local teenagers after they ordered it from China.

One of the local teens was charged with distribution of a controlled substance as well as reckless endangerment. A group of teens continues to be investigated.

Investigators also reportedly found conversations about the U-47700 drug on the Facebook conversations of the teens killed. FOX News reported that the drug was also found at the estate of musical legend Prince, who died earlier this year.

"Pink" is among the new generation of opioid drugs that is being manufactured in labs overseas. These drugs are too new classified under recreational drug so they are not being listed as illegal yet.

"Pink" is said to be easily purchased online for as low as $40. The effects of "Pink" is said to lead to fatal results. A small amount could kill a person especially if it is taken with another drug.

Moreover, "Pink" is nearly eight times stronger than morphine. It is believed that 50 deaths are connected to the U-47700 drug all over the United States.

Police officials released a statement regarding the drug. They noted that parents or other individuals should know that despite U-47700 being called as "Pink," it is a white powder and is not colored pink. It also comes in liquid form and could pass as a medicine that is in a dropper bottle or a nasal inhaler. Parents and other individuals should also check the packages being sent to their homes especially those from Asian countries.
A drive-by shooting was reported in Orange, New Jersey and the casualties included a two-year-old boy and a man in his 20s. At least three suspects reportedly fled the scene and are still on the run.

CBS reported that the shooting took place at the 300 block of Cleveland St. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office confirmed that two people were shot and killed in the drive-by shooting. It was not confirmed what is the relation of the two-year-old boy to the man in his 20s.

It also was not confirmed if there are no other injuries or deaths but conflicting reports have surfaced saying that one more adult was struck with the bullet from the drive-by shooting. The police was treating the incident as a homicide.

The New Jersey drive-by shooting reportedly took place at around 3:40 p.m. Both the victims were pronounced dead at the scene but investigators have yet to determine if the victims were shot inside or outside the home. Police officials remained at the scene at around p.m. on Thursday and a couple of blocks remained closed.

Around a mile from where the shooting took place, authorities said that fire officials were dousing a blazing car. It is believed that the vehicle is connected to the drive-by shooting as the description of the car is the same with the description given regarding the vehicle that was seen in the area at the time of the shooting, NBC Philadelphia reported.

The investigation is ongoing and no named persons of interest have been confirmed yet. None of the friends or relatives of those who died have come forward with any statement. More details will be provided once available.

Meanwhile, anyone who has information with the shooting is urged to call Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide or Major Crimes Task Force tips lines at (877) TIPS-4EC or (877) 847-7432. As for more news update, check out the Parent Herald website.
A Washington, D.C. woman, who is now 24 years old, was indicted earlier this week over a crime that she allegedly committed in 2013. Accordingly, the woman strangled, dismembered and tried to dispose her newborn baby boy's body by flushing his body parts down the toilet.

The woman was identified as Lillian Alvarado. She reportedly delivered her son in the bathtub of the apartment of her family on Nov. 28, 2013. The death of the baby was discovered after police got a call from a resident saying that blood and water were leaking from the ceiling of their apartment, People reported.

Officials said that they arrived at around 11 a.m. that day at the third-floor apartment of Alvarado and her family. The boy's body was found in the bathtub while the legs of the baby were found inside the toilet. Scissors with a three-inch blade were also recovered from the scene.

The charges that Alvarado is facing are first-degree premeditated murder, armed, first-degree felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children. Initially, the defense team of Alvarado claimed that she is not mentally competent to undergo trial. However, psychiatrics run tests on her and found that she is competent to stand trial, NBC Washington reported.

Family members said that they were not aware that Alvarado was pregnant and were concerned because during the day that she gave birth, she would not leave the bathroom. Alvarado told officials that she took a shower and had plans to go to the hospital when she gave birth in the bath tub. She then cut the umbilical cord and claimed that she hit her head on the sink when she tried to get out of the bath tub. She also remembered flushing the toilet but everything went dark after.

Alvarado was arrested only in January 2014. D.C.'s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also released a statement later that the newborn baby died from asphyxiation and dismemberment. Alvarado faces the possibility of life in prison.

Also this year, a New Mexico mother admitted that she watched her daughter be raped and dismembered by her boyfriend and his cousin. Watch the details below:
Two Pennsylvania teenagers were found dead in a car discovered just one day after they posted photos of them smiling and embracing to social media. It has shocked the school, family and friends because of unclear motives for the suspected double suicide.

Police officers will not release the teens' names but friends and classmates identified them as Annika Monique and Brenden Shipman. The former is a senior and the latter is a junior.

Officers discovered the bodies in a parked car about 4 p.m. Tuesday near a boat ramp at Rose Valley Lake. Both teens left school early that day, as reported by PennLive.com.

A friend of Brenden posted an inquiry regarding the whereabouts of the couple on Facebook on Tuesday, saying that he badly needed an answer for it is an emergency. Investigators were still studying if Brenden's friend knew about any plans in connection to the incident.

The parents of the teens were reporting their children missing when the bodies were found. It was very devastating on the part of both families.

Old Lycoming Township Police Department Detective Sgt. Christopher Kriner told reporters that after the couple left the school early, they drove to the boy's home and picked up a family-owned pistol and left.

The couple were pronounced dead at the scene, where the said gun was reportedly found. There were indications that these deaths were self-inflicted, says Deputy County Coroner Jerold Ross in an interview with Williamsport Sun-Gazette. The couple started being together April of this year.

Prior to the alleged suicide, the teen couple were seemed happy as they posted smiling pictures on Facebook on Monday. They even shared selfies embracing and smiling. One of the photos even have Brenden kissing Monique's cheek.

Devastated loved ones wrote on Facebook and a GoFundMe page for the funeral expenses of Brenden. Williamsport Area High School also expressed their grief for the loss.
Earlier today we posted a report about how Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics Kwon Oh-hyeon tried to pump up his troops for the coming year by saying that "We need to be more innovative in order to strengthen technical leadership and differentiated competitive edge that are basis of business. We need to enhance our technical leadership and continuously create differentiated products and services that add more values to daily lives through creative and outstanding ideas." The US is a very important market for Samsung and their Note7 crisis couldn't have come at worse time in their history heading into 2017. In Worldwide shipments in Q3 2016, Samsung was able to hold onto a 20% market share lead, with Apple in second place with 12.5% and Huawei racing to number three with 9.3%. Yet as Samsung enters 2017, Google's Pixel phone will begin gaining more ground against Samsung, and more importantly, Huawei and likely Xiaomi will be entering the US market for the first time and that will certainly lead to further erosion of Samsung's US market position. Samsung's crisis is likely to continue for some time to come.





Huawei will begin their entry into the US market sometime in January 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal, starting with only an online presence. Huawei enjoyed a gain of 23% in Q3 while Samsung suffered a 13.5% year-over-year decline. With Huawei flying into Q4 against Samsung who is deeply wounded without their Note7 to assist their sales, Huawei is likely to make further gains against Samsung. Huawei could even challenge Apple for second spot worldwide by the end of 2017 as they go full tilt in the US. Though with Apple it's not about volume alone. Statistics published today show that Apple sucked all of the industry's smartphone profits in Q3 as most lost money.



Huawei will enter the US with their new flagship smartphone the Mate 9 that is likely to start at US$750. Huawei's smartphone comes with its own interface software which uses artificial intelligence to automatically keep applications, photos and videos organized. The smartphone also provides users with their second generation dual lens camera with hybrid zoom, and perhaps more importantly, provides user with SuperCharge, a feature that could fully recharge their Mate 9 in just 20 minutes for all-day battery life. And if you're a phablet fan, the Mate 9 offers a giant 5.9" display. You could see more of the phone's features and specifications here.

Yesterday we posted a report titled "Xiaomi's New 'Mi Mix' Premium Smartphone is out to steal the Industrial Design Spotlight away from Apple." While Xiaomi may be aiming to enter the premium smartphone segment of the market beyond their bargain basement brands, it will be Samsung that will be taking the brunt of such a new smartphone attack, not Apple.

While Samsung has a fierce fan base in the US and around the world, there's no doubt that more quality choices for Androiders in general next year will without a doubt hurt Samsung's US market share and dwindle their worldwide figures as well.

Samsung will be introducing their new Galaxy S8 at the Mobile World Congress event in late February and you know that they have to be praying that all goes smoothly. They're under pressure like never before and 2017 is going to be the beginning of a massive war to retain their US business just at time when Apple is planning to release their most advanced smartphone to date. I can't see Samsung coming out of 2017 any better than they're leaving 2016: Badly wounded.

If any of Samsung's many next generation smartphone form factors are close to being ready to launch, they better get it out and wave it around at their next big show to shake things up because new competition is coming to town next year and they're going to be gunning for the Android Sheriff in America, Samsung.

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Back in September Patently Apple posted a report titled "India Demands that Apple Devices be Embedded with New Government Biometric Security System." At that time it was reported that India's relationship with the global tech industry had become increasingly fraught. This year alone, the government has banned Facebook's free web service and declined to exempt Apple from local sourcing rules and open its own stores. Now India could force companies to use technology cooked up in a government-funded lab. India's new biometric system is called "Aadhaar' and is being rammed down the throats of all tech companies. If they don't comply, they won't have access to the Indian market. Today India's law enforcement is moving quickly ahead of 'Aadhaar" going into effect and announcing that they'll be purchasing technology from Israeli security firm Cellebrite that will assist them in cracking difficult smartphone security measures and encryption.





The Economic Times of India reports today that "The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), the country's premier forensic institute located in Gandhinagar, will be buying the technology from Cellebrite" that the FBI used to unlock a terrorist's iPhone in San Bernadino California.

The report quoted a senior FSL official stating that "We are likely to have the technology within a month or so. India will become a global hub for cases where law enforcement is unable to break into phones." The official went on to say that the technology from Cellebrite is the only technology that crack iPhones beyond iOS 8.

India has worked with Cellebrite on several key cases with success and because of that they decided to acquire the tools for their own forensic's lab. With gained experience, they're planning to offer their new capabilities of cracking smartphones to other law enforcement agencies from around the world for a fee.

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For years Samsung ads mocked Apple's iSheep for lining up for old technology but now we're seeing Samsung Zombies who won't even listen to Samsung's heir apparent plead with their customers to return the defective and dangerous Note7 smartphones. In a report last month I noted that "One Android fan commented by saying "What's somewhat disturbing is how some of those consumers who bought the Galaxy Note 7 said they are still going to keep using them and they don't care if they put others at risk on airplanes and other public transportation where they've been asked not to use them." Shortly after the U.S. Department of Transport announced that after October 15, Note7 users could be fined or risk prosecution if they use their smartphones on any U.S. flight. But Samsung Zombies are still not listening which is forcing one country to officially cut off Note 7 user's access to the net this month in order to force them to stop using their phones.

Today New Zealand's Telecommunications Industry officially announced today that "For safety reasons the New Zealand Telecommunications industry, in coordination with Samsung, is blacklisting any Samsung Note 7 mobile phones still held by customers, from 18 November.

This means that Samsung Note 7's will not be able to be used across any of New Zealand's mobile networks, after 18 November.

New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (TCF) CEO Geoff Thorn stated that this is a further safety measure by the carriers to ensure everything is being done to assist with the recall process.

"Numerous attempts by all providers have been made to contact owners and ask them to bring the phones in for replacement or refund, this action should further aid the return of the remaining handsets."

The TCF provides a free public service which allows consumers to easily check whether a mobile phone has been blacklisted. Each mobile phone has a unique identifying number called an IMEI number and if this number is blacklisted the phone will not operate on any mobile network in New Zealand.

Samsung has issued a worldwide product safety notice in relation to the Samsung Note 7, prompting the recall of all the devices in circulation.

"Anyone who is still in possession of a Samsung Note 7, please return it to your service provider as soon as possible" says Thorn.

Yesterday we reported on Samsung being confused as to the course of action that they'll take over the Note 7 returns, though they noted that they wouldn't be burned as other Samsung phones were in 1995 during a similar crisis.

Samsung shareholders late last month were furious about how Samsung handled the crisis. Samsung Electronics' Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong openly admitted that the company had failed to conduct sufficient investigation on the safety of the product after the first recall, choosing instead to hastily launch replacement devices.

The question now is, will the U.S., Canada, and other countries around the world make similar commitments to banning Note 7 users on their networks? They should because Samsung's mindless Zombies are refusing to be reasonable.





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The title of Priest or Priestess is a somewhat contentious one within the Pagan and related communities. When someone calls themselves a Priest/ess, we cant be entirely sure what they mean exactly. When we add our Christianised worldview into the mix, we often end up making assumptions about the person and what they mean by the title. For the most part, however, the title isnt used in the same way it is used in Christianity and so our assumptions are often, though not always, way off base.

Reasons People Take the Title

Because

Well, it is one reason! They use the title because they want to. Some people are of the opinion that if they are devoted to a specific deity above the others, then this means they should take on the title of Priest/ess. This is especially true for people who are basically the only member of their specific religion. I mean, if you basically create your own tradition, you technically would be the Priest/ess within that religion.

The problem people have with this, is that it doesnt always work that way. Being devoted to a deity and being the authority of your own religion and technically the priest/ess of your religion, doesnt actually make one a priest/ess of a deity. And it certainly doesnt give the person any authority over other people who worship that deity outside of that persons very specific individual tradition.

Deity Said So

Many of those who take on the priestly title do so because a deity has said they are. Sometimes it is told to them or to someone else, usually via divination or similar.

Sadly, this is one that many have trouble believing as well. I say sadly because its sad that so many have so little trust in the ability of the Gods to communicate with us. But it is a fact that its not exactly something that we can prove easily. One an perform their own divination asking a deity if the person is truly a priest/ess, but if it isnt our business, we arent actually too likely to get a proper answer.

Ordained

Now some people may be ordained by their group or organisation to be the Priest/ess of not only the group but the deity if the group. So lets say the (made up) Temple of Hephaistos names some of its members as Priest/ess of the Temple and of Hephaistos. What does this mean?

It means these people are indeed of the Priesthood of the Temple and of Hephaistos within the Temple. But outside of the Temple this title may be completely meaningless to other people, because they are not bound by the Temple itself. Some outsiders will accept the designation, some will not.

What a Priest/ess Does

Private Devotion

As outlined above, one of the reasons people take on the title just because, so it follows that the majority of things such people do is personal, relating to their own personal devotions and perhaps things involving their family. But other than those devotions, they dont really do anything and generally dont expect anything from anyone.

Service to Others to the Gods

This is the most commonly accepted form of priesthood. In this, a Priest/ess is someone who is in service to the deity and to the people. They are someone who serves the deity by serving the people for the deity. So they will lead and perform rituals for other people, they will make offerings and sacrifices for people, they might teach people about their deity and they may even bring people to worship of that deity (hopefully in a non-door-knocking way).

It should be pointed out though that service in this manner is about doing things for the deity and for the people at the same time. So, feeding the poor in your deities name is a nice act, but it isnt necessarily a priestly one. It does nothing, really, for the deity. It doesnt bring people closer to the deity, it doesnt help people know the deity, it doesnt show people the power of the deity. So that sort of thing is far more a devotional act than it is a priestly one.

Temporary Service

This is similar to above, as it requires service, but it is actually even closer to traditional priestly roles  in Hellenism anyway.

You dont just see this in modern Hellenism or Polytheistic traditions though  you see it in many different Pagan traditions, especially the witchy ones. This is where someone is called upon to take on the role of priest/ess for a specific period of time, or for a specific service and then they let go of the title immediately after.

This may be for a specific number of years, months, weeks or days. It might be for a single ritual, leading the group ritual for this one time and someone will do it next time  putting them in the priestly role. And for some groups the person is only a priest/ess when the group gathers for religious purposes, but if they just meet up for a casual friendly dinner, there is not priest/ess present. Just people.

Its Just a Job

Historically, in ancient Greece at least, the role of a priest/ess might not mean anything more than the above outlined services provided. The priest/ess didnt have to be devoted to the deity in any special way, they just had to perform their duties. Indeed, in some cases people would become a priest/ess for a year or so just so they could get paid!

Thus it is that sometimes, even in modern times, the priestly role isnt as special as some may think it is. It isnt a position of high authority  in fact sometimes the priest/ess is far more a servant than a master. They arent necessarily any more knowledgeable than anyone else, they arent always more devoted than anyone else. They are just doing a job as has been asked of them or as they felt the need to do.

Conclusion

Each religion has its own history, its own rules, its own version of priesthood. The rules that apply to one will not necessarily apply to another. We can get ideas from history and I suggest looking up the history of your own religion or the specific deity.

Most of our Pagan religions are different from the monotheistic religions. When thinking about the word Priest or Priestess try not to apply a Christian bias to it. Meaning, dont assume that a Pagan or Polytheist Priest is anything like a Christian Priest. They arent necessarily saying they speak for the Gods to you, they arent necessarily saying they have authority over you with the Gods. Their priestly title may have nothing to do with you at all.

Of course, we cant deny there are people out there who take the title for the wrong reasons and try to use it as a weapon, a way to place themselves above everyone else. But these are less frequent than some Pagans assume. So dont be too quick to assume their title is wrong.
The connection between King Arthur and Paganism is simultaneously tenuous and deep.

Current scholarship suggests that Arthur is most likely based on one of the last Roman commanders in Britain, who managed to win a few battles against the invading Saxons and then rule parts of Britain in peace for a short time. He was almost certainly Christian, though Christians wishing to claim Arthur for themselves should remember Ronald Huttons observation that Christianity in Dark Ages Britain was as varied as its Paganism had been. The 2004 film King Arthur with Clive Owen and Keira Knightly is probably the closest to this version of Arthurs story, although it is still highly speculative.

On the other hand, the Arthurian Legend is part of the heritage of Britain and of the English speaking world. It includes characters and tales both newer and older than the historical Arthur (assuming there actually was a historical Arthur). Arthur and the myths associated with him are part of the Western Mystery Tradition, which inspired many of our contemporary magical and Pagan traditions, especially Wicca. Marion Zimmer Bradleys 1983 novel The Mists of Avalon worked so well in large part because the source material was full of Pagan concepts that just needed to be reframed and reinterpreted for a modern audience.

Over on the Patheos Evangelical channel, John Mark Reynolds has an excellent post on King Arthur titled The Matter of Britain: Cheer Up, We are Doomed. Hes very right when he says the story is better than any of the books and hes very wrong when he says the 1981 film Excalibur is nearly (but not quite!) unwatchable (Excalibur is one of my favorite movies of all time, though it is far from perfect). The post is worth reading in its entirety  Reynolds is proof that Evangelical need not mean fundamentalist.

Here are a couple of key quotes:

At heart, the story of Arthur is about the last chance of civilization and how that chance failed  This moment of peace fails and a British dark age begins  Roman Britain was falling to barbarians, Arthur came and won a great victory, but hope was lost in the end.

and

This is very Christian and only Christians can tell this truth, because the good news of Jesus makes the truth bearable. Arthur must fail, but Jesus will not fail. The Once and Future King is Jesus and any image of Jesus in this life must die in order to live. We are always losing, goodness fails, beauty is marred, and truth is twisted, but His Kingdom was, is, and is coming. We are losing, but not lost.

This is a Christian reading of Arthurs story, but it is a reading that is not grounded in the teachings of Jesus or in the Kingdom of God that is in your midst or even within you. It is a reading based in the hopes of a rapture that always disappoints and in an apocalypse that never comes.

But there is a Pagan reading of Arthurs story that provides real hope.

Yes, Arthur is the Once and Future King. Yes, Damh the Bard is right: Arthur sleeps now, ready to return. But Arthur is not returning at some future time to rule in a perfect Camelot forever and ever amen. Arthur will return  and has returned  when he is needed. Arthur returns to inspire great leaders and ordinary people. He adds his power to ours to tip the scales in generationally critical battles. Then he returns to Avalon to do whatever it is that heroes do in the Otherworld, lest we become dependent on him and stop learning and growing ourselves.

In this regard, Arthur is similar to something often associated with him: the holy grail. The grail is a mystery, not an object but the essence of what it does and what it provides: healing and the postponement of death. The holy grail appears to those who need it and who are worthy to receive it. The requirement of worthiness ties it to another element of the Arthurian legend. The young Arthur did not become king because he pulled the sword from the stone. He was able to pull the sword from the stone because he was the rightful king.

The holy grail is in turn a manifestation of one of the earlier Four Hallows of the Tuatha De Danann. They are the Lia Fail (the Stone of Destiny) which represents sovereignty and the Goddess of Sovereignty. It gives the right to rule, and it expects rulers to rule rightly. The Spear of Lugh represents the strategy and discipline of the warrior. The Sword of Nuada represents the power of the King and the sacrifice of leadership. And the Cauldron of the Dagda represents hospitality and our obligation to care for our families and our guests.

The Four Hallows do not stay in this world forever. They present themselves in times of need and they pour out their blessings. They may present themselves to you. If you are fortunate enough to experience them, say yes, give thanks, and then figure out what youre supposed to do with them. But never think they are yours to keep. Sooner or later they will return to the Otherworld, which is their home. This is true whether we are talking about a stone, a spear, a sword, a cauldron or a king.

King Arthur stands as a constant reminder that while a savior isnt coming, we arent in this alone. Our Gods are with us, ready to inspire and assist us when we embody and promote Their virtues and values in our lives. Our ancestors are with us, doing what they can to help their line survive and succeed. Even the land itself will rise to fight when threatened, though we must take care to insure that we are on the side of the land and not simply another exploiter.

The comparison of late Roman Britain with contemporary America is closer than I wish it was. Tower Time and the Long Descent are upon us, and while I do not believe there will be a new Dark Age, the era of perpetual progress is over. As Pagans  and as rational people who know a bit of history  we have no false hopes that a king or a messiah (or a president) will show up and fix all our problems. The old world is crumbling and we will have to build a new world in its place.

The good news is that we can do it. Humans are remarkably resilient creatures. Weve survived ice ages, wars, famines, and plagues, and well survive Tower Time. We will preserve what is most meaningful and helpful, and we will discard ways of living that are harmful and unsustainable  because we must, and because adapting is what we do.

We will not do it alone. We have each other. We our Gods and ancestors. We have the spirits of the land.

And though we will not have him forever, we have a Once and Future King.
Though canonized just in 1962 by Pope John XXIII three centuries after his death, devotion to San Martin de Porres has been present in the hearts of generations of Peruvians. From the moment of his death on November 3rd, 1639, the citizens of Lima have remembered his love and devotion to the poorest of the city.

Born in Lima in 1579 in the house pictured above, Saint Martin grew up close to the Dominican Convent of the city. He entered that same convent in 1594 as an aspirant, knowing already that due to his social condition as an illegitimate child and the color of his skin, he would never be an ordained priest.

A friar wrote that Martin exercised charity day and night, healing the sick, giving alms to Spaniards, Indians, and Blacks. He took care of and healed all with great love. The same friar quoted Saint Martin saying, there is no greater joy than to give to the poor.

Working in the infirmary of the convent, he not only took care of sick friars, but also cared for every needy person who came to the convents porter office seeking assistance.

The house where this great saint was born still stands in downtown Lima. Since 1959, The Dominican Order has operated an institution in the house which assists the neediest of the city, offering them the most basic needs such as food, clothes and health services. The primary focus is on the elderly and adults at risk. They strive to help all those who come to the door with dignity and respect.

It is appropriate that the house where Saint Martin was born functions now as a house where the neediest find affirmation and assistance. The work of Saint Martin, which is the work of Christ himself, continues in Lima just a few blocks away from the Convent where he lived.

A small chapel accessed from the internal courtyard of the house marks the room where Saint Martin was born. Ornate tiles decorate the small room, and a beautiful statue of the Saint reminds the visitor of the historic event that happened there. A recently opened small museum on the second floor tells the story of Saint Martin, ensuring that future generations will know the story of the saint.

Located just across the street from the Sanctuary of Saint Rose of Lima, which marks the birthplace of Saint Rose, the House of Saint Martin is worth a quick visit. Even if you do not visit the museum, you will be warmly welcomed and shown the chapel. If you visit at lunch time, you will see a large crowd, mostly elderly men and women, who gather for lunch. Address: Jr. Callao 535
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Unpacking some Untruths about Iran

11/04/16

By Peter Jenkins (source: LobeLog)









On October 21, 2016 the Congressional Research Service (CRS) published a substantive assessment of Iran's foreign and defense policies.

For the most part this research meets the high standards of accuracy and objectivity that we have come to expect of the CRS. In two respects, however-concerning Iran's development of ballistic missiles and its possession of a capability to produce chemical warfare agents-the report is misleading. This matters if members of Congress look to the CRS for accurate assessments when debating policy proposals.

The report correctly notes that UN Security Council Resolution 2231 of July 20, 2015 "calls upon" Iran not to develop or test ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering a nuclear weapon for up to eight years. The report goes on to say that this wording "is interpreted by Security Council members as a ban on Iran's development of ballistic missiles."

We cannot be sure how each and every member of the Security Council interprets the missile-related provision in Annex B of Resolution 2231. But I would be very surprised if Russia or China or members of the Non-Aligned Movement interpret it as a ban on development and testing. After all, they know that there is a world of difference between the Security Council "deciding" under Chapter VII of the UN Charter that a state will or will not act in a certain way, and the Council "calling upon" a state to act in a certain way. The former wording creates a binding obligation, the latter does not.

Ironically the CRS recognizes this distinction elsewhere in the report. For instance, it describes an earlier Resolution on Iran, 1737, as follows: "It called for but did not require countries to cease selling arms..."

No one contests that in Resolution 1929 of June 9, 2010 the Security Council prohibited Iranian development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The Council did so, however, by "deciding [under Chapter VII] that Iran shall not undertake" any activity related to ballistic missiles capable etc. And that prohibition was repealed by Resolution 2231.

Professor Daniel Joyner, whose recent publication I reviewed on this site has this to say about the distinction:

The substitution of the legal phrase "calls upon" in the text of Resolution 2231 has legal significance. The change to this invitational yet legally nonbinding phrase means that, as of January 16 2016, Iran is no longer under a legal prohibition regarding its ballistic missile activities from the Security Council.

Nor, I should add, is Iran under a prohibition regarding ballistic missiles from any other internationally recognized legal source. There is no international legal instrument governing the development and possession of ballistic missiles. In this domain there is no equivalent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, or the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention.

The United States therefore has no basis in international law for claiming that Iranian ballistic missile tests violate a binding obligation (as Ambassador Samantha Power implied, according to the CRS, last March). Instead the United States and allies must resort to diplomacy, negotiation, and persuasion (not meant as a euphemism for coercion) if they want influence over Iranian ballistic missile activities.

This is not a message that Congress wants to hear. Diplomacy and negotiation imply recognition, acceptance, respect for the rights of others, courtesy, and restraint. Many senators and representatives deem Iran undeserving of such courtly treatment. But that is no excuse for their being misled into thinking that there is a prohibition in force-still less into inferring violations of that prohibition to justify sanctions.

Chemical Warfare

Another misleading assertion in the CRS report concerns chemical weapons:

US reports indicate that Iran has the capability to produce Chemical Warfare agents.....This raises questions about Iran's compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention...

This passage implies that possession of a capability to produce CW agents is or has potential to be a violation of the CW Convention (CWC).

Yet, the CWC does not prohibit the possession of such a capability. Dozens of parties to the CWC have such a capability. And many parties not only have a capability but also produce agents for accepted, peaceful purposes-for instance, phosgene for use in metallurgical processes. The CWC even permits the production of nerve agents for certain medical and other purposes.

Iran had an unsophisticated CW program that ceased before Iran became a party to the CWC on November 3, 1997 (not June 8, 1997, as the CRS imagines). Iran has been subject to a rigorous Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspection regime since becoming a CWC party. The OPCW has found no evidence of CWC non-compliance.

State Sponsorship of Terrorism

The CRS report also lists "major Iran or Iran-related terrorist acts or plots." Sixteen entries span the years from 1979 to 2015. Whether ultimate responsibility for each and every one of them is rightly ascribed to Iran could be debated. For instance, al-Qaeda, not an Iranian-sponsored Saudi group, could have been responsible for the Khobar Towers bombing in June 1996. But that's not the most important point.

More interesting is that since the 1996 bombing there have been only three "major terrorist acts or plots" in which the CRS sees evidence of Iranian involvement. These are:

October 2011: an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, DC.

February 2012: the wounding of the wife of an Israeli diplomat by Lebanese Hezbollah in Delhi.

July 2012: a bombing in Bulgaria, ascribed to Lebanese Hezbollah, that resulted in the death of five Israeli tourists.

Do three acts/plots in the course of 20 years justify the State Department's continued description of Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terror? Would it not be more accurate to say that Iran used to be the leading state sponsor of terror but that since 1996 it commissioned just two terrorist acts, in which five people died and one person was injured?

Those deaths must have caused great pain to the families concerned, and are inexcusable. But a sense of proportion is in order, given that Iran's enemies in Congress, and elsewhere, rely on the "terrorist label," among other tactics, to seek to prevent the US government from adopting rational and proportionate policies towards Iran. In reality, although Iran is not a model member of the international community-far from it-it's not the source of all evil.

Congress should be helped to understand that. Good research makes for good policy-and misleading research makes bad policy more likely.



About the Author: Peter Jenkins was a British career diplomat for 33 years, following studies at the Universities of Cambridge and Harvard. He served in Vienna (twice), Washington, Paris, Brasilia and Geneva. He specialized in global economic and security issues. His last assignment (2001-06) was that of UK Ambassador to the IAEA and UN (Vienna). Since 2006 he has represented the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, advised the Director of IIASA and set up a partnership, The Ambassador Partnership llp, with former diplomatic colleagues, to offer the corporate sector dispute resolution and solutions to cross-border problems. He was an associate fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy from 2010 to 2012. He writes and speaks on nuclear and trade policy issues..
President Obama extends national emergency against Iran

11/04/16

Source: Press TV

US President Barack Obama has extended the country's national emergency with respect to Iran despite last year's nuclear agreement with Tehran and the P5+1 to lift sanctions.





President Obama signing Iran Sanction Act

(July 2010 file photo)





In a letter sent to Congress on Thursday, Obama told lawmakers that US relations with Iran have not returned to normal, and that it's necessary to maintain the status quo.



"Our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated Jan. 19, 1981, is still under way," Obama wrote in the letter. "For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency ... with respect to Iran."



"The national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared in Executive Order 12170 of November 14, 1979, is to continue in effect beyond November 14, 2016," he wrote.



The executive order means non-nuclear US sanctions against Iran will remain in effect for at least another year.



A state of emergency gives a US president extraordinary powers, including the ability to seize property, summon the National Guard and hire and fire military officers at will.



The state of emergency also forms the basis for most US sanctions against other countries.



Former US President Jimmy Carter signed two orders in 1979 and 1981, declaring a state of emergency with respect to Iran.



Tehran signed a nuclear deal with the P-5+1 group of countries that included the US in July 2015. The agreement stipulates that Washington end its nuclear-related anti-Iran sanctions.



However, months after the lifting of anti-Iran bans on paper, major foreign banks are wary of doing business with Iran, fearing they would violate restrictions on US banks and face penalties.
Iranian-Americans on the Ballot this Novemeber

11/04/16

Source: Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA)

WASHINGTON - With the November 8th election fast approaching, PAAIA wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the campaigns of several Iranian Americans who will be on the ballot on Election Day. As an organization that represents the community before U.S. policymakers and the American public at large, PAAIA encourages the active participation of Iranian Americans in the American civic process and public service.







Fred Ameri (fredameri.com/), a successful businessman with an exceptional record on civic involvement, Ameri is a candidate for the City Council of Newport Beach, California. A registered Republican, he will be facing Newport Beach Finance Commissioner William O'Neill in the November 2016 election. The seat in question is being vacated by term limited council member Keith Curry. He has been endorsed by a number of community and business leaders throughout the city and county. Ameri is the former Vice Chairman of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (Santa Ana Region) and has served on the Newport Beach Planning Commission and Newport Bay Watershed Executive Committee.







Mani Farhadi (www.facebook.com/mani4lgboard/), a third generation Iranian American with 28 years of experience in architecture firm, is a candidate for Los Gatos Union School District Board of Trustees. Farhadi is running as an appointed incumbent of the school board. Her term is up in 2016 and she is one of three candidates running for two seats on the Los Gatos Union School District board of trustees. Her campaign has been endorsed by numerous public officials, organizations, and community leaders, including the Vice Mayor of the Los Gatos Town Council, several former and current members of the Board of Trustees, and the Los Gatos Elementary Teachers' Association (LGETA). Prior to being appointed to the school board she served on two Bond Oversight Committees for the Los Gatos Union School District.





Shiva Farivar (www.shivafarivar.com/index.htm), a longtime Irvine resident and community leader, is running for a seat on the Irvine City Council, California. She is one of ten candidates vying for two city council seats. Her campaign has been endorsed by Councilmember and former Mayor Beth Krom, and former Mayor Sukhee Kang. She has also received endorsements from Women in Leadership, National Women's Political Caucus, Unite Here Local 11, Evolve, UA Local 582, Orange County League of Conservation Voters, and NMFT. Farivar's long history of Community involvement includes serving as an Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Irvine and then as a Community Services Commission for almost eight years, five years of those years as Chair. She also chaired Irvine's Advisory Committee for Children, Youth and Families.







State Senator Cyrus Habib (cyrushabib.com/), the highest ranking Iranian American in elected office, is a candidate for Washington State Lieutenant Governor. Habib was the victor in the crowded August primary election and will face Republican Marty McClendon in the general election. He is considered a strong front-runner in the race. His campaign has been endorsed by a number of Federal, State, and local elected officials including President Barack Obama. Habib, who lost his eyesight to a rare form of cancer at the age of eight, is the first American of Iranian heritage to serve in a state legislature. In 2014, he was named one of the "40 Under 40 Political Rising Stars" by the Washington Post. Habib was also named one of "12 State Legislators to Watch" by Governing Magazine. He recently served on the 2016 Democratic National Convention Platform Committee.





Sean Panahi (www.panahiforassembly.com/sean-panahi/), an attorney, is the Democratic nominee for California's 68th State Assembly district. He is an independent candidate running for State Superintendent and has been endorsed by numerous current and former elected officials, Party Committees, and organizations. Elections for the California State Assembly take place in November of 2016. On June 7, 2016, Panahi received the most votes in a crowded field of seven candidates on primary day. He now faces the Mayor of Irvine, California and Republican Steven S. Choi in the general election. A proponent of public and community service, Panahi serves on the Board of Directors of a Non-Profit organization providing mental health needs and social services to Southern California's elder and under-privileged population.





Marjan Philhour (www.votemarjan.com/), an accomplished small-business owner and working mom with two decades of experience in public service, is a candidate for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 1. Philhour is one of ten candidates vying for the district 1 seat and considered as the moderate front-runner in the race. Her campaign has been endorsed by several current members of the Board of Supervisors, state elected officials, and other local officials, including Betty Yee, California State Controller and London Breed, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Philhour spent four years in the U.S. House of Representatives serving as a legislative aide to Members of Congress. After returning home to California, Philhour served as senior advisor to Governor Gray Davis' chief of staff. Over the past ten years, she has led her own San Francisco-based consulting firm, working with nonprofits and local, state, and federal candidates.





Ahsha Safai (www.ahshaforsupervisor.com/), first generation Iranian American, is running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 11. He is one of five candidates vying for the district 11 seat and considered as the moderate front-runner in the race. Safai's campaign has been endorsed by numerous federal, state, and local elected officials, including Senator Dianne Feinstein and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsome. He served as the Deputy Director for Mayor's Office of Community Development and in the San Francisco Department of Public Works. Safai's many accomplishments include spearheading a project to build a community youth center, championing legislation to help immigrant families remain in public housing, and directing over $25 million in federal grants towards low-to moderate-income communities and overall neighborhood revitalization.





Daniel E. Sabzehzar (www.sabzehzar4council.com/), is a candidate Merced City Council District 5. Sabzehzar is an aspiring physician, a biochemistry and public-health student at the University of California, Merced, a collegiate and international athlete, the owner of a digital and social media agency, and the incoming Vice President of the United Way of Merced County. He will face Merced County deputy district attorney Matthew Serratto in the November election. His campaign has been endorsed by Communities for a New California, a civil and human rights organization committed to achieving public policy that is socially, economically, and environmentally just for California's families, and various community leaders.





Melody Shekari (www.melodyshekari.com/), a 28-year-old lawyer and first generation Iranian American, is the Democratic nominee for the 3rd U.S. Congressional District of Tennessee. Winning by a landslide in the Democratic primary, Shekari will face Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) in the general election. Her campaign has been endorsed byThe Chattanooga Times, stating that "...she has the policy know-how and solutions maturity that our current congressman sorely lacks." After receiving her undergraduate, Masters in Public Administration, and law degrees, Shekari returned home to serve her community. She has held positions in business, government and the non-profit sector. Before running for Congress, she served as a policy fellow for the Mayor of Chattanooga.





Ron Varasteh (www.ronvarasteh.com/), a scientist, engineer, and small business owner, is a Democratic candidate for the 45th U.S. Congressional District of California. Varasteh came in second in California's open primary system and will face incumbent Congresswoman Mimi Walters (R-CA) in the general election. His campaign has been endorsed by the California Democratic Party (CADEM), Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC), Orange County Young Democrats (OCYD), and Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). A 35 year resident of Orange County, Varasteh is a long-time activist for causes pertaining to improved quality of life for all citizens.
Intel began promoting its first commercial drone in the U.S. this week, as it seeks to carve out a place for itself in the fast-expanding market.

The Falcon 8+ drone, which was announced two weeks ago, was on show at the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas that opened on Tuesday. Intel has been building its drone expertise throughout the year with a series of acquisitions, and the Falcon 8+ has grown out of its January purchase of Germanys Ascend Technologies.

The drone has eight rotors arranged in a distinctive V-shape, designed that way so the rotors at the front dont get in the way of a payload, said Natalie Cheung, a drone marketing manager at Intel.

Weve really thought about what are some of the issues commercial customers face today and when they want to get that crisp, hi-res image, you dont want any of the rotors in the image, she said.
Weve all heard of amphibious cars, but what about amphibious drones? Researchers at Rutgers University took on the challenge of building an unmanned vehicle that can soar through the air and seamlessly transition to swim through the water. They call it the Naviator.

Amphibious aircraft arent a new concept. In fact, inventors have been playing with the idea since the 1930s, when Boris Ushakov, a student engineer at a Soviet military academy, proposed a three-engine floatplane that could flood its fuselage to sink beneath the water and torpedo its enemies when they got close. The project was scrapped before it was ever built.

Other attempts followed, including a flying submarine concept masterminded by Donald Reid in 1962. Like Ushakovs aircraft, Reids vehicle was a floatplane built using parts from other planes. Reids flying submarine proved capable of diving approximately 3.5 meters but was unable to sustain long flights because of its enormous weight. Which leads us to the Naviator.

The real challenge was building a craft that can function equally well in water and in the air and was able to transition repeatedly between the two, said Michael Benyo, whos in the engineering department at Rutgers University.

What we did was we decided we had two sets of propellers, the propellers above and the propellers below, he said. There is a sensor that detects when the drone is in the water. It shuts off the upper propeller, and the lower propeller pulls it into the water seamlessly and smoothly.

Rutgers University The Naviator amphibious drone uses two sets of propellers to help it transition from air to water.

Once the drone is underwater, both sets of propellers kick back in but at a much slower speed. This allows the Naviator to run for as long as 24 hours in the water, compared to one hour of flight time. The drone is operated using radio waves and a regular drone controller, though this method of navigation becomes problematic as soon as it hits the water.

You really cant communicate [with the drone] under water, Benyo said. Radio signals just die, within a few meters. So you really cant use normal radio communications. The normal controls just wont work.

There are limited ways to communicate under water using ultrasound, and were in the process of refining that, he added. But basically, you got to program it, set it free, and have it come back to you.

Rutgers University Researchers must currently use a cable to communicate with the drone while its submerged, as radio waves break down in water.

So far, most of the funding for the Naviator has come from the U.S. Navy, which hopes to use the technology for search-and-rescue operations, locating underwater mines, and conducting at-sea fleet inspections.

But the Naviator team also sees commercial applications, such as bridge inspections, data collection, and mapping. The team is currently working on a new design that will have a seven-foot wingspan and be able to carry payloads more than three pounds. Benyo predicts the Naviator will hit the commercial market less than a year.
The man who died early Tuesday, Nov. 1, shortly after being arrested by Riverside police likely succumbed to a heart attack, according to a summary of the incident prepared by the Police Department for the Community Police Review Commission.

Edward Thomas Hayes, 52, had several blocked arteries in his heart, Capt. Larry Gonzalez wrote in the summary, citing the Riverside County Coroners Office. An official cause of death has not been determined.

About 10:20 p.m. Oct. 31, someone reported a man stealing wood pallets from the 8100 block of Mar Vista Court. The man fled into the orange groves near St. Lawrence Street and Victoria Avenue before surrendering. Police noticed that Hayes appeared disoriented, Gonzalez wrote, and called for medics.

Hayes was pronounced dead at 12:54 a.m. at Parkview Community Hospital.

The CPRC reviews all officer-involved deaths in the city and makes non-binding recommendations on policy. Commissioners are scheduled to discuss the incident at their meeting at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 9 in City Council chambers.
Temecula-area congressman Duncan Hunter announced Thursday, Nov. 3 he is paying back his campaign account almost $49,000 for expenses deemed to be personal in nature or erroneously charged to his campaign.

The reimbursement by Hunter, R-Alpine, stems from ongoing scrutiny of his campaign spending. Published reports in recent months show campaign cash going to online video games, a Hawaiian resort, expenses tied to a trip to Italy, fast food and groceries, oral/facial surgery and a private school attended by Hunters children, among other expenses that raise questions.

Federal rules forbid candidates from using campaign money for personal expenses. The spending in question led Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to file an ethics complaint against Hunter, the son of retired longtime congressman Duncan L. Hunter.

Hunter and his spokesman attributed the expenses to misunderstandings or honest mistakes. Earlier this year, Hunter said he had reimbursed his campaign $12,000 and that an outside audit of his campaign was underway, and the latest reimbursement is apparently in response to that review.

In an emailed statement, Hunter, a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, said he ordered a thorough independent financial review of my campaign when questions about his campaign expenses came up.

The financial review has revealed additional unauthorized expenditures that I will be reimbursing to the campaign today. And I decided, out of an abundance of caution, to treat any expense without adequate support as necessary for reimbursement.

While the charges were primarily authorized by the campaign, the buck stops with me and I take full responsibility  including the responsibility to determine and implement other structural changes to ensure errors are not repeated. In taking these steps, I am fully confident that the right oversight and controls are now in place.

An early and vocal supporter of Donald Trump with his own reputation for outspokenness, Hunter, 39, is running for re-election on Tuesday against Democrat Patrick Malloy in the 50th Congressional District, which is mostly in San Diego County. Hunter wont fix anything by reimbursing his campaign, Malloy said.

Duncan Hunters reputation will never be repaired, Malloy said. Where theres smoke theres fire  This is not simply sloppy bookkeeping. Its corruption.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com
A Long Beach man is behind bars after he was allegedly found in a car with a gun, ammunition and a cache of credit card information, according to Rancho Cucamonga sheriffs station officials.

Gregory Calhoun, 30, who was previously convicted of a felony, was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a San Bernardino County sheriffs news release.

Around 2:30 a.m., Sgt. Paul Jacome spotted a suspicious vehicle parked near the intersection of Archibald Avenue and San Bernardino Road, officials said.

While speaking with the four occupants of the vehicle, Jacome allegedly observed a 5-foot pry-bar behind the rear seat.

During the investigation, deputies located additional pry-bars, various saws and electric grinders, gloves and a piece of paper with several handwritten credit card numbers and access codes, according to the release. Deputies also located a handgun, two 33-round high capacity magazines and two 15-round magazines.

Authorities believe the handgun, magazines and various tools belonged to the driver Calhoun.

Calhoun was arrested and booked into the West Valley Detention Center in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Erin Corwin had shared a secret with a friend: She was pregnant, and court documents show the man with whom Corwin was having an affair was worried that his wife would discover the pregnancy and divorce him.

Nevertheless, Twentynine Palms resident Corwin and Christopher Brandon Lee, the man investigators say she was having an affair with, planned a day trip together June 28 to Joshua Tree National Park to celebrate the pregnancy, those documents said.

That was the last anyone reported seeing Corwin until 4:30 p.m. Saturday, when her decomposed body was found 140 feet down an abandoned mine shaft in the Mojave Desert, San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department officials said Monday.

The body of Corwin, who was 19 when husband Jonathan reported her missing, was recovered Sunday about 6:30 p.m. and identified through dental records by 9:30 p.m. A half hour later, Sheriff John McMahon said, Lee, 24, was arrested by authorities in Anchorage, Alaska, after the Sheriffs Department obtained an arrest warrant.

Corwins family set up a Facebook page titled Locate Erin during the investigation. Monday, the family thanked the searchers.

Though we were praying for a different outcome, we are relieved to have this part of the investigation behind us and to be able to begin mourning the loss of our sweet girl, the posting said in part.

Corwin had told her husband, a Marine stationed at Twentynine Palms, that she was going to Joshua Tree National Park on June 28 to scout hiking trails for an impending visit by her mother. Jonathan called the Sheriffs Department when she did not return the next day.

Lee was identified as a suspect after Corwins friends and neighbors told investigators that she was having an affair with him, yet Lee had initially said Corwin was only an acquaintance, according to an affidavit written to obtain a search warrant.

Lee would later acknowledge that he had kissed Corwin but said they had not had sex. The affidavit also said that tire tracks on Lees Jeep Cherokee were consistent with tracks found next to Corwins Toyota Corolla that had been abandoned near her home.

We did forensic examination of some computer technology, some cellphones and many other electronic devices, and through those forensic examinations, we were able to determine a potential location for Erin Corwins body, homicide Sgt. Trevis Newport said.

Investigators lowered a camera into the mine shaft and discovered the body.

Officials would describe the location of the mine shaft  one of more than 100 seen during an aerial search  only as being several miles southeast of Twentynine Palms on federal Bureau of Land Management property.

The depth of the mine shaft and the poor air quality caused sheriffs officials to delay the recovery overnight and summon an eight-person San Bernardino County Fire Department urban search and rescue team. One firefighter was lowered in to retrieve unspecified evidence, and a second brought out Corwins body, Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said. The second firefighter suffered cardiac distress and was injured when a rock fell on him, Hartwig said.

.

Lee was still in Alaska on Monday. District Attorney Mike Ramos said he believes the extradition process could take as long as a month. Ramos said he expects to file charges by Wednesday. The affidavit written to obtain the arrest warrant was sealed.

Lees immediate family lives in Anchorage. His only tie to California was his service in the Marines, officials said. Lee is no longer in the military.

Lees wife, Nicole, who court documents show had told a friend that detectives would never find the body, is a person of interest in the case, officials said.
A 28-year-old state prisoner walked away from a Moreno Valley group home, California prison officials say.

Michael Diaz was reported missing at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, after tampering with his ankle monitor, investigators said in a written statement that does not list the location of the group home.

Under Californias alternative custody program, eligible prisoners may serve up to the last 12 months of their sentences in a private home, transitional care facility, a residential drug facility or other treatment program.

Diaz was sent to prison in June 2015 from Riverside County with a two-year sentence for drug possession and possession of a firearm by a felon or drug addict.

Anyone with additional information should call 911.
A new 5k run inspired by Jennys warning cry to her childhood friend  Run Forrest Run!  will kick off Murrietas Field of Honor festivities, a week-long series of events that culminates in the citys annual Veterans Day parade on Nov. 11 and the Patriots Ball on Nov. 12.

Money raised by the Run Forrest Run 5k, which could end up totaling around $5,000, will be donated to Forrest Gump star Gary Sinises charitable foundation, which builds homes for veterans, like his Lt. Dan character, who who have lost limbs during their service.

The race was organized by Jim Yanoschik, a dentist and runner who has served as president of the local Rotary Club, to help boost turnout for the Field of Honors opening ceremony, which starts at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.

My direction was to get people to the field, he said Thursday.

About 200 people have already signed up to run and Yanoschik said hes expecting maybe 20 or 30 will sign up on race day.

The 9 a.m. race will start near the senior center in downtown Murrieta. The route sends runners south on Adams Avenue to Guava Street, where theyll turn around, and brings them back to the finish line in Town Square Park.

Registration  $25 or $20 for military members and their families  opens at 7:30 a.m.

Yanoschik has picked up dog tag medals for participants and hes stuffed around 250 goodie bags, which hes hoping will be enough.

I was having a nightmare where I threw a 5k and nobody showed, he said. Now the nightmare is Im being zombie attacked and all these people are coming in.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Juan Dominguez, a Temecula resident who was given a home that was built with the help of Sinises foundation, is scheduled to appear to talk about the foundations efforts and hand out the awards.

Yanoschik said runners are encouraged to wear red, white and blue kits or Forrest Gump costumes and there will be special awards given out for festive attire.

Another new wrinkle for this years Field  which is presented by the Rotary Club, the city of Murrieta and a host of sponsors that includes the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians  is a Military Resource and Services Expo.

The expo, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, will feature around 40 different organizations and companies that offer services or programs for veterans.

Its pretty exciting, said Dee Fether, president of the Womens Council of Realtors, Southwest Riverside County, which is organizing the expo. Everyone is exited to see how this turns out; hopefully it brings out the community.

Some of the expo tables will be set up in a huge tent that will be erected on Town Square Park. Others will be located nearby, including vendors serving up free hot dogs, popcorn and chips.

About 30 stylists from the Paul Mitchell school in Temecula will be at the expo to stage a charitable cut-a-thon featuring $5 and $10 haircuts.

The Field of Honor, which is entering its eighth year, typically attracts large crowds who pay homage to fallen loved ones or make it a part of their Veterans Day remembrance.

The field features more than 2,000 flags that are sponsored by families to mark a departed veteran or honor someones service.

On Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. there will be a Patriots Chalk Walk painting event behind City Hall, said Jann Gentry, one of the organizers.

Fifteen or so artists are scheduled to participate and their work is always inspiring, she said.

The field becomes a physical teaching aid during the week when thousands of students from area schools visit during field trips

Docents and teachers will lead them on tours with stops at the war memorials, the Medal of Honor recipients section, the historic flags section, Local Heroes section and the fifty state flags section, which is new this year.

On Wednesday, there is a candlelight choral concert by local middle school students in the big tent that starts at 6 p.m.

Gentry said the show will include a reading of letters from soldiers who served in various wars.

One of the more emotional events is scheduled for Thursday evening at 5 p.m., Gentry said. Thats when local Boy Scouts conduct a retirement ceremony for hundreds of flags.

The parade on Friday, Nov. 11, starts at 10 a.m. and runs down Washington Avenue in downtown Murrieta. The ball will be held in the evening on Saturday, Nov. 12.

The event wraps on Sunday when the flags will be available for pick up by sponsors.
A Victorville man was arrested for allegedly threatening an employee of his apartment complex with a gun earlier this week, sheriffs officials said Thursday.

Christian Vasquez-Lopez, 25, is accused of pulling a gun on the complex employee and threatening to kill him Monday afternoon at an apartment in the 15200 block of Seneca Road, according to a news release.

Vasquez-Lopez and the victim had been involved in a argument earlier that day, according to the San Bernardino County sheriffs Victorville station release. According to investigators, Vasquez-Lopez challenged the victim to a fight, but left.

About 30 minutes later, the 25-year-old allegedly confronted the victim with a handgun and told the victim he was going to kill him. Again, officials say Vasquez-Lopez left.

Deputies were called and found Vasquez-Lopez near the office. According to officials, the handgun used in the incident was recovered from Vasquez-Lopezs apartment.

He was booked at the High Desert Detention Center on suspicion of assault with a firearm and threatening crime with the intent to terrorize.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the Victorville Station at 760-241-2911. Callers wishing to remain anonymous are urged to call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78CRIME (27463) or leave information on the We-Tip website at www.wetip.com.
Pianist Bruce Jones, 69, had a piece of history at his fingertips.

In the summer, Jones was visiting the Riverside Main Library with his grandsons when he encountered a vintage Steinway piano sitting untouched in the auditorium.

I saw it, and tears came to my eyes, recalled Jones, an Apple Valley resident. I knew it was a vintage as soon as I played it.  It felt like warm coffee running through your body on a cold day.

Wanting to learn more about the pianos history, as well as have the instrument played more regularly for the community, Jones sought to put on a series of concerts at the library. He eventually would be granted his wish.

I wanted this to be something that families can come to and enjoy, Jones said of the vintage piano he nicknamed The Lady. I want The Lady to be heard by the city of Riverside, everywhere.

After spotting the piano, Jones began investigating its history.

His son found the serial number underneath the keyboard cover, and Jones discovered it was a 1936 vintage Model B that had been donated to the city library by its late owner, Anne Taylor.

Aside from Jones concerts, the Steinway is occasionally used for recitals and lessons from local teachers and UC Riverside students.

Head associate librarian Erin Christmas also had played the piano herself as a child in a local recital, Jones said; the piano at the time was where it sits today: in the library auditorium.

Its different from any other piano  something that happens with age, said Jones, who plays under the moniker Onepianoman. I wanted to show off that vintage bass voice.

The piano typically would sell for $75,000 to as much as $120,000.

MUSIC IS JUST WHAT I DO

Originally from Idaho, Jones grew up playing the piano along with his siblings at local churches and eventually went on to play shows in Las Vegas, where he went to high school. After moving to Southern California and getting his music degree at Cal State Long Beach, he took a job teaching English and piano at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, Pomona College, Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona.

I started lessons as a kid in the fourth grade, initially because I had nothing else to do, Jones recalled. I had too much energy and a hard time sitting still. I didnt know what I was doing, but then I started getting paid for it.  Now music is just what I do.

Locally, Jones has performed at his Apple Valley home, at senior citizen centers and retirement homes in the High Desert, as well as local church and school concerts throughout Riverside and Jurupa Valley. He has been an organist for the First United Methodist Church in Riverside, has played for chorale groups and was part of a barbershop quartet, and raised all of his children with his wife, Lorri, in the area.

Riverside has a big place in my life, said Jones, who previously had lived there. Ive been doing this for 55 years. Its a nice way to spend my retirement doing what I love and giving back to the community.

FROM CHOPIN TO LADY GAGA

After spying the vintage piano, Jones felt the need to play it. So he simply asked the library whether he could perform a concert on the Steinway; the library said yes.

The Ladys first concert at the Main Library on Mission Inn Avenue on Oct. 13 had a successful turnout of local kids and seniors interested in hearing the vintage piano sounds.

Based on the success of the performance, the library will allow Onepianoman  and possibly his musical friends  to perform a couple of shows in December and early 2017. So far, only one show has been scheduled: Dec. 22.

Jones describes his showy musical style and song choices as a mash-up of Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Lady Gaga, with a mix of Chopin and Beethoven. His influences include jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and new age group Mannheim Steamroller.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
He went after Donald Trumps star, now hes going after the candidate.

James Lambert Otis, who was arrested last week for taking a pick-axe to the Republican presidential nominees star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, says he plans to file a lawsuit against Trump and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to have the star removed.

I dont mind suing Mr. Trump. I dont mind suing his organization. It just needs to be removed, Otis said by telephone Thursday evening. Its (the star) a symbol for Trumps fame, his history and his life. Hes lived a life of abuse towards women.

Otis, who has admitted to vandalizing the star, said hell be visiting it with his attorney at 1 p.m. Friday at 6801 Hollywood Blvd., to make a public call for the stars removal.

Otis, a West Hollywood resident who flips houses for a living, insists the star has become a distraction.

Its painful to watch, he said about the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the star, with near-daily protests, scuffles breaking out at the location and people scrawling profanity on it.

Its costing the city money, he said about the efforts to remove profanity, swastikas and stickers that people continue to put on the star.

On the morning of Oct. 26, the 53-year-old Otis was recorded on video destroying the star. He removed Trumps gold-colored name and the television logo symbolizing the billionaires success as a TV producer from the sidewalk.

The next day Otis was taken into custody by Los Angeles police on suspicion of felony vandalism.

He was released after posting $20,000 bail and is due in court Nov. 18.

The star has since been repaired. It is covered with cardboard and surrounded by barricades.

Since the incident, several protests have been held at the star and a homeless woman who said she was protecting it was knocked to the ground by angry passersby.

In addition to Otis news conference Friday, Trump supporters from Los Angeles and Orange counties plan to hold a Trump Street Party at the star from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. According to a press release from the group, they will celebrate Mr. Trumps candidacy and the promotion of his extraordinary accomplishments at the location.
Menifee Mayor Scott Mann will face his re-election bid Tuesday, Nov. 8, with the burden of a formal reprimand from council colleagues over the recent disclosure of his campaign finance law violations.

Council members Matt Liesemeyer, Lesa Sobek and Greg August voted in Wednesday nights regular meeting to issue a resolution of censure in part to send a message to the public that they disapprove of Manns misconduct and to disassociate themselves from him.

He violated our trust. He violated our code of ethics, Liesemeyer said in leading up to the vote.

Councilman John Denver abstained because he believed the gesture was premature.

When the censure issue came up, Mann left the meeting after recusing himself based on the city attorneys advice that his participation would be a conflict of interest. The resolution included removing Mann from his committee and board appointments, including the Riverside County Transportation Commission from which he receives a stipend.

The councils action stems from a Fair Political Practices Commission announcement Oct. 14 that it was fining Mann $60,000 for using nearly $45,000 in campaign contributions for personal expenses several years ago as well as campaign reporting transgressions. The commission is not scheduled to formalize its sanctions until Dec. 15. Mann is required to pay back the money by Dec. 1.

A council attempt to censure Mann five days after the commissions announcement failed when Denver and August voted against it. On Wednesday, August said further reflection led him to reconsider.

Five members of the public appeared before the council to voice disdain for Manns conduct and to urge the council to act.

Residents George Mills and Kevin Roebke call for Mann to relinquish his post. Since the citys voters in 2014 chose Mann as mayor, the council has no power to force him out.

This way we can restore good governance to the city of Menifee, Mills said.

Mann, who has apologized publicly, did not return a phone request for comment Thursday. In a previous statement, he said he would have no further comment until the commissions Dec. 15 action.

Manns only challenger in the upcoming election, retired businessman Neil Winter, said in an interview Thursday that he didnt know what effect the councils resolution of censure would have on the mayors race, but he believes it was appropriate.

I thought it was the right thing to do, he said. Now maybe we can begin to heal as a city.

He as well as council members have expressed concern that the cloud cast over the city by the mayors offenses could endanger the passage Tuesday of Measure DD. It would enact a 1 percent sales tax increase enabling the city to bolster public safety and other services hamstrung by a budget deficit. City officials say the deficit stems from a 2011 state budget maneuver costing Menifee several million dollars annually.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@scng.com
Days after he confessed on the witness stand, a man accused of killing the pregnant wife of a fellow Twentynine Palms Marine has been found guilty of first-degree murder.

The unanimous verdict was read aloud during court proceedings at the San Bernardino Justice Center on Thursday afternoon in San Bernardino. Christopher Brandon Lee, who mustered out of the Marines as a corporal, appeared unfazed as jurors were polled individually by the court as to their verdicts.

His sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 29.

Lee, 27, was convicted of one felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement of lying in wait.

Erin Corwin, 19, of Twentynine Palms vanished June 28, 2014. Her husband reported her missing the next day.

An intense, seven-week search for Corwin covered more than 300 square miles including areas of Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Palms, Amboy and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, and Bureau of Land Management land.

Investigators learned of an affair between Corwin and Lee.

Homicide detectives said they were able to trace the affair as far back as February of 2014.

Her body was found Aug. 16, 2014, in an abandoned, 140-foot mine shaft in a remote area of the desert outside Twentynine Palms.

Lee was arrested the next day in Anchorage, Alaska, and extradited back to San Bernardino County to face charges.

Corwins mother, Lore Heavilin, spoke to members of the media after the conviction and praised the work done in her daughters case by law enforcement, volunteer search teams and the prosecutors.

I feel like justice was done for my daughter, she said. But I dont know if there will ever be closure. Heavilin wears a golden charm around her neck  Corwins signature.

On Tuesday, under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Sean Daugherty, Lee said he was no longer scared to tell the truth. People have to know what I did.

Friends told investigators that Corwin believed she was pregnant and Lee might be the father.

The Desert Sun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lee was convicted in the 1st degree murder of #ErinCorwin pic.twitter.com/IyeoI4Jbbb  Doug Saunders (@crimeshutterbug) November 3, 2016

RELATED:
Riverside County sheriffs deputies arrested a 24-year-old Desert Hot Springs man who they believe was trafficking a 17-year-old girl throughout Southern California while trying to recruit other victims, according to officials.

Cerious Mark Anthony Griffin was arrested Thursday, Nov. 3, on suspicion of false imprisonment, pimping, procuring a person for prostitution and receiving stolen property, according to online jail records.

Griffin was booked into the Indio Larsen Justice Center, where he remained Friday with no bail set, records show.

Griffins arrest follows a nearly three-month investigation by the Riverside County Sheriffs Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.

Investigators say they believe he had the girl prostitute between July and August in such locations as Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Compton, Palmdale and Lancaster.

Griffin may have been trying to recruit other victims under the Facebook name Ceejay Forever-foreign.

The Riverside County Sheriffs Department is urging anyone who might have additional information, or who might have been contacted by Griffin on social media, to call investigators from the Riverside County District Attorneys Office at 951-955-1700.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9693, agroves@scng.com or @AlexDGroves on Twitter.
Prop. 57 on the Nov. 8 ballot would make some California prisoners eligible for parole sooner, and would allow some to shave time off their sentences by participating in programs that would ready them for life outside the walls.

Its a measure that is pitting proponents of rehabilitation against those wary of releasing criminals from custody earlier.

For Riverside County Chief Probation Officer Mark Hake, the argument made by the Chief Probation Officers of California in favor of Prop. 57 is simple: Too many prisoners leave lacking basic job and life skills, he said.

Eligible inmates will come out better equipped and better prepared to transition back into our communities if theyre given incentives to participate in programs that might help them write a resume and interview for a job, he said.

But for Lolita Harper, a former San Bernardino County sheriffs detective and spokeswoman for the Sheriffs Employees Benefit Association, Prop. 57 is another well-intentioned public-safety legislation that she predicts will turn out badly because prisoners will be returned too soon to the communities they violated.

When the laws are continually rewritten to favor criminals rather than good, law-abiding people, law enforcement loses its ability to keep their communities safe. And its frustrating, she said.

Gov. Jerry Brown, under a federal court order to reduce Californias prison population, authored the proposition after a jump in crime in 2015 and major shifts in state policy in the past five years that have reduced incarceration rates in some places.

Under Prop. 57, prisoners would be eligible for parole after completing the prison term for their primary offense, but before they serve any additional time connected to other crimes or enhancements, such as using a gun or committing a crime to benefit a gang. A parole board would have to approve their release.

Prisoners also could cut their sentences by completing educational and rehabilitation programs that the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation certifies as increasing public safety.

These provisions would apply only to prisoners who have not been convicted of any of the 23 crimes that state law defines as violent, such as murder and kidnapping.

A third provision of Prop. 57 would give judges, instead of prosecutors, the authority to decide whether minors should be prosecuted as adults. The theory is that judges would be more likely to emphasize rehabilitation over incarceration.

OPPORTUNITY FOR REHABILITATION

The California Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in California, favors the initiative.

The Diocese of San Bernardino has a ministry of restorative justice that reaches out to crime victims, family members and the perpetrators, and Prop. 57 fits right in to what we are doing, said John Andrews, a spokesman for the diocese that serves all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The opportunity that human beings have to redeem themselves from past sins and transgressions is central to the Christian faith, Andrews said. In the eyes of the church in California, we see Prop. 57 as providing a greater avenue for rehabilitation and redemption for people who have committed crimes while still managing to have safeguards that protect the public.

But San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos said programs that would prepare inmates to re-enter society already exist and are ineffective.

I believe in rehabilitation.  If our prison system could actually do that rehabilitation and prepare them to transition back into society, wed be a much better place to live. But for a majority of prisons, that is not happening, Ramos said.

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, at a September news conference on the measure, noted that the 23 crimes California classifies as violent dont include offenses such as raping an unconscious person, human trafficking involving sex acts with minors, taking a hostage and domestic violence involving trauma.

The public needs to be aware that these quote unquote non-violent offenses are actually very serious and many times violent crimes, Hestrin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: brokos@scng.com or 951-368-9569
A decision on whether two warehouses totaling about 1.4 million square feet can be built next to homes in the Sycamore Canyon area wont come until December.

Riversides planning commission on Thursday, Nov. 3, voted to delay a hearing on the project until Dec. 15 so planners can respond to comments from residents, the Southern California Air Quality Management District and others with questions or concerns.

Because the city got many comments, including some about technical aspects of the projects environmental report, officials wanted to make sure planning commissioners had a chance to read the responses before the hearing, City Planner Ted White said.

Officials at first planned to delay the session until Dec. 22 but decided it was too close to Christmas.

RELATED: Read the environmental report on proposed Riverside warehouse project

Hillwood Enterprises wants to build the warehouses at the north end of the Sycamore Canyon Business Park, an industrial park between the 215 and the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park.

Mark Ostoich, an attorney representing Hillwood, told the commission he agreed with the delay because of the communitys interest in the project. He could not be reached after Thursdays meeting.

Residents in the nearby Sycamore Highlands neighborhood say the project would create too much traffic, noise and air pollution. Existing warehouses already disturb neighbors with truck engines and horns, backup beepers and pallets crashing to the ground, said Alec Gerry of the Sycamore Highlands Community Action Group.

He questioned how the city calculated whether residents face a health risk from truck exhaust, and noted that the environmental report says theres no way to eliminate its effects.

This is something that, if they approve the warehouse, the community simply has to deal with the fact that were being polluted, Gerry said.

The developer changed the plans to move the building 100 feet from the nearest homes, Gerry said, but that alone wont address residents concerns.

The council will wrestle with questions such as how far warehouses should be from homes in coming months. The planning commissions decision on Hillwoods project will then go to the council for consideration. Another warehouse planned for the Northside has raised opposition from residents there.

The council will face tough decisions as it tries to balance property owners plans to build with homeowners concerns, White said. The Sycamore Canyon Business Park was zoned for warehouses long before nearby homes were built, he said, but We didnt necessarily have distribution centers the way that we do now.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 orarobinson@scng.comTwitter: @arobinson_pe
Justin Turner, Corey Seager, Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill have been named finalists for 2016 Players Choice Awards.

Turner is a finalist along with Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson and Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year award given to a player who inspires others through his on-field performance and contributations to his community.

Among Turners off-field contributions cited is his involvement with the Los Angeles Dream Center which distributes school supplies to 2,000 youth in need through its annual Back to School Bash.

Seager is a finalist for the National Leagues Outstanding Rookie award along with Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz and Nationals outfielder Trea Turner. Seager is the overwhelming favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year award in two weeks.

Kershaw is a finalist for the NLs Outstanding Pitcher award despite missing 10 weeks with a herniated disc in his back. Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer and Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks are the other finalists.

And Hill is a finalist for the NLs Comeback Player of the Year award along with Marlins right-hander Jose Fernandez and Diamondbacks second baseman Jean Segura.

The winners will be announced on MLB Network Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT.
African governments have been advised to overcome their economic challenges and work towards becoming the next manufacturing hub after China and East Asia in this 21st Century.



Lyeo Woon-Ki, Korean Ambassador to Ghana, who gave the advice recently, was speaking at the 2nd Business Entrepreneurs Breakfast Summit hosted by KRIF Ghana, Action Chapel and Energy Bank in Accra.



According to Mr Lyeo, the dependence of African economies on foreign nations has to be tackled.



We cannot refuse the history of colonialism done by European imperialism in the past which has dominated and regulated the way of life and thinking of people in African continent for several hundreds of years. Even after their independence, most of the economies have been closely and structurally connected to their formal colonial masters.



This kind of legacy in the past is still hanging around todaymaking them live on foreign assistance.



Low intra-country trade



The Korean ambassador said intra-trade and exchange of visits on the African continent were respectively lower than inter-continental trade and visits made with Europe.



Most of the flights are connected through European capitals to reach African capitals. Some limited intra-continent flights are there, but very unstable and unpredictable. Needless to talk about the poor results. More of the financial transactions are done through European capitals to bring this process and mechanisms. To bring this situation under control, African countries have to pay the price unnecessary. However this structural problem cannot be changed in the short period because there are many different elements involved.



The ambassador said African countries could resolve such problems readily by diversifying cooperation partners and increasing the interaction and trade with East Asia which has experience to overcome such challenges.



Lack of infrastructure



Secondly, I want to talk about the lack of infrastructure. Everyone knows that there are lots of constructions ongoing around us  roads, ports, airports, power plants, etc. But still we dont have enough infrastructure to support private enterprises and economic activities. Governments of Africa have to continue to invest in various infrastructure projects.



Thirdly, Africa does not have enough skills and labour force which are essential to boost manufacturing industry. This is one of the important reasons why foreign companies are hesitant to come to the African countries even though they can employ the low wage volumes.



African governments need to invest more resources in training and educating young people in skills and technology.



Corruption and bureaucracy



I will like to suggest that the fight against corruption and bureaucracy of government officials. In the developing countries where the private sector is so weak, the role of governments and government officials is critical to national development as a whole.



Good governance can only be possible through good government officials harnessed with responsibility and dedication to the public and nation. For this, they should recruit and supervise them strictly and also train them properly, he stated, adding that African governments were too much politicized.



Africa is still unknown and strange environment to Korean private sector. Although there are already some Korean businesses operating successfully in Ghana, many Korean businesses are not confident to take Ghanaian partners.

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.

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Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region will today host this years National Farmers Day celebration.



The event, which is normally held on the first Friday of every December to honour farmers and fisher-for their hard work, is being celebrated today due to the December 7 polls.



This years Farmers Day, which is the 32nd edition, is being celebrated on the theme: Agriculture: A Business Response to Economic Growth.



Over 88 individuals and institutions will be rewarded for their contributions to agriculture in this years celebration.



The overall national best farmer is expected to go home with $100,000 and a three-bedroom house.



In an interview with Today, Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Cyril Quist, said preparations were far-advanced to host the programme.



We are expecting a nice programme, the awardees are very happy, and we believe that they (awardees) will be motivated by the awards, he said.



Early this week all the winners for this years event attended the 7th National Farmers Forum in Sunyani ahead of todays event.



Present at the forum were some ministers of state, Members of Parliaments (MPs), and directors of agriculture.





Source: Today









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Prosecutors in Switzerland have seized luxury cars belonging to the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, who they are investigating for corruption.



Teodorin Obiang Nguema, the son of the country's president, is accused of money laundering. He has not commented.



Swiss authorities have seized 11 cars in total.



Among them was reportedly a Porsche valued at more than $830,000 (667,000) and a Bugatti Veyron which sells for $2m (1.7m).



The accused is due in court next year in France on similar charges, which he denies.



Prosecutors in Geneva say he has plundered his country's oil wealth to buy luxuries, including a private jet and Michael Jackson memorabilia.



Equatorial Guinea, a small country on the west coast of Africa, struck oil in 1995.



Its president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, is Africa's longest serving leader. He has been described by rights organisations as one of Africa's most repressive leaders.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A man has been arrested in Nigeria over claims he took a herbal potion to boost the size of his manhood before having sex with his partner - who then bled to death.



Street cleaner Fatai Busari has been accused of causing the death of his lover Sadiat Adejuwon in the south western city of Ibadan.



Prosecutors say the 50-year-old took a herbal aphrodisiac to boost the size of his manhood before having vigorous sex with fellow street cleaner Sadia Adejuwon, 48. But his partner then started bleeding and died 'on the spot', a court was told. He could face the death penalty if found guilty, according to the Nigerian website Punch.It quotes Prosecutor, Cpl. Salewa Hammed as telling the court that Busari 'unlawfully caused the death' of Adejumon at his home on October 10, at about 3pm.



He said: 'Busari and the deceased woman worked as casual workers cleaning the street and they were dating.'On the fateful day, Busari drank herbal concoction to boost his manhood before sleeping with her.



'It was afterwards that he realised that something was amiss when he noticed blood flowing out of her private part. She later died at the spot and he raised alarm.'



Busari is being held at Agodi prison ahead of another court appearance on November 30.

Source: dailymail.co.uk









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Accra High Court has ordered the Electoral Commission to allow the flagberarer of the All Peoples Party (APC), Hassan Ayariga to correct the errors made on his presidential nominations form.



Hassan Ayariga was on October 10th 2016 part of thirteen (13) disqualified presidential aspirants the Electoral commission disqualified.



Speaking to the media after the ruling Mr. Ayariga said: Ghanaians today have witnessed a very successful event which demonstrates to the whole world that our laws are working. No matter who you are, when you have any issue, you can always go to court for redress. I am very proud that democracy is really working in this country. I am very proud that rule of law in Ghana is working. We thank the Almighty God. Today we must all believe in God. We have prayed and prayed that the court will give us justice.



When asked when he would visit the EC to have his form amended, Mr. Ayariga said: we have given the EC the corrected form but they rejected it. We did the correction immediately they told us that we were disqualified; we gave them two subscribers to substitute the two so we dont have to go to the Electoral Commission.

Source: Elizabeth Semiheva/Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Melania Trump has made a rare appearance on the campaign trail claim her priority as First Lady would be to address widespread bullying on social media, forgetting that her husband is responsible for about 50% of it.

Addressing a rally of Trump supporters in Pennsylvania, she said:

Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers. It is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when it happens on the playground, and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet. We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other. We must find better ways to honour and support the basic goodness of our children, especially in social media. It will be one of the main focuses of my work, if I am privileged enough to become your First Lady.

It goes literally without saying that cyber bullying is bad. Thats not the point anyones arguing here. Nor was it a bad speech, and if (god forbid) Donald Trump does end up in the White House I hope that Melania does set her sights to battling a culture of online bullying and shaming.

Its just that shell be most effective in tackling cyber bullying if she convinces her husband to own up to his own.

Trumps habit of using his Twitter account to bully, harass, intimidate, mock and shame both men and women (though mostly women) who criticise him is well-documented. Like, its right out there in the effing open.

Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016

.@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man- he made a good decision.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2012

While @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2012

Lyin Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016

And yet, curiously enough, there was no mention of Donalds Twitter account in Melanias speech.

The insane hypocrisy of her statement was not lost on anyone.

I cant stop laughing Melania Trump wants to stop the bullying especially on social media Hello!

Its 3 AM do you know where your husband is  DelightfulDiva (@Kalaax008) November 4, 2016

Melania Trump can cut cyber  bullying by 70% if shell just change her husbands password.  Brad Voss (@TheBradVoss) November 4, 2016

Melania Trump has pledged to take on cyber bullying as a top priority as First Lady. I suggest she begin with her husband.  George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 4, 2016

Melania Trump: When Im First Lady, I will eliminate cyber bullying, like when people make my husband seem like a monster by quoting him.  Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) November 4, 2016

If Melania Trump really wants to tackle cyber bullying she should start off by deleting her husbands twitter account  Tugbeck (@tugbeck) November 4, 2016

Has Melania Trump even met her husband?  JAY VERSACE (@tharealversace) November 3, 2016

Melania Trump is going to reduce cyber bullying 70% on day one by changing her husbands Twitter password.  Marc Ensign (@MarcEnsign) November 3, 2016

Shes not wrong that social media has gotten too mean and too tough. Shes just aiming in the wrong direction.

Photo: Getty / Leigh Vogel.
Its been a few months since James Mathison took aim at Tony Abbott during the Federal Election, but a brand spankin new vid reveals the fella isnt done with skewering right-wing pollies juuust yet.

In a clip thats half vlog and half talk show segment, Mathison takes aim at none other than Donald Trump, the American Republican presidential candidate whose wackadoo policies Abbott himself has praised as reasonable enough.



The bits focus on Trumps gut-churning pussy-grabbing comments makes it appears Mathison has either been sitting on this car-seat segment up for a while, or hes been ruminating on Trumps grossness for about month.

Look, the views presented within aint exactly groundbreaking, but when a man who was on-stage when Australian democracy died reckons an election is cooked, its best you take notice:

Source: James Mathison / YouTube.
A journalist reporting on the ongoing protests at North Dakotas Standing Rock Sioux Reservation managed to film the moment she was shot with a rubber bullet by riot police.

Erin Schrode was interviewing a protester when a law enforcement officer shot her. Video footage of the incident shows her doubling over in severe pain, as onlookers rush to her aid:

I was shot by militarized police WHILE interviewing a man on camera at #StandingRockand heres the footage. #NoDAPL https://t.co/FfWiSCbiKf pic.twitter.com/4DRwNPkfZ9  Erin Schrode (@ErinSchrode) November 3, 2016

In a follow-up Facebook post, Schrode confimed she sustained no lasting physical injuries from the point blank shooting, but said I am hurting, I am incensed, I am weeping, I am scared.

Schrode still praised the efforts of protesters on-site, whove been campaigning to halt the development of a massive Dakota Access Pipeline they claim could fundamentally disturb local water supplies and sacred sites.

Peaceful, prayerful, unarmed, nonviolent people on one side of a river; militarized police with armed vehicles and assault weapons occupying treaty land on the other, where sacred burial grounds have already been destroyed. What is happening here in North Dakota is like nothing I have ever seen in my life, anywhere in the world.

She also confirmed shell stay on-site, saying I am here  and will remain here  to cover and amplify truth and bravery on the ground.

Morton County Sheriffs Department said the use of rubber bullets came after a protester allegedly hurled a bottle at police, and they also confirmed the use of tear gas and pepper spray to deter protesters from getting too close.

FWIW, those claims of violence on behalf of the protesters have been rubbished by people on the ground.

The protest against the oil pipelines development is expected to continue, despite an obviously aggressive police force standing on-site.

Thank you for your prayers. I will heal from this rubber bullet shotthough many/earth will not. Intense pain, trauma, horror. #StandingRock  Erin Schrode (@ErinSchrode) November 4, 2016



Source: Fusion / NBC.

Photo: Erin Schrode / Twitter.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have reportedly let go of longtime bodyguard and beloved friend Pascal Duvier, following Kims traumatic robbery in Paris this past October.

Duvier has been working with Kimmy since 2013 and with Kanye since 2012, but following reports that French police believe the robbery to have been an inside job, it appears the celebs can no longer take the risk.

Pascal, along with a couple other security members of their team, were recently let go by Kim and Kanye, one source told ET. Its a pretty tough situation overall and they love Pascal, but they couldnt take any more chances.



A source close to Duvier also confirmed the news.

Hes moving on, the source told ET. He will be working with Fergie [with whom hes worked with for years] for her upcoming shows when her album drops.



Duvier was in Paris when armed robbers broke into Kims hotel room and stole $11 million worth of jewellery, but, as was custom once she was safe in her residence, was escorting Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner to a club across town.

He returned immediately to the hotel once hed been informed of the robbery. According to the hotel concierge, it was a phone call from Duvier that ended the whole thing abruptly.

When [Kims] phone rang, I take it and saw Pascal  the name of the bodyguard  and I told the guy, You know who is calling now? He is her bodyguard, and if she didnt answer him now, he will come with police, he told ET.

Just last week, Duvier slammed an article by Piers Morgan that called for Kim to fire him before Kanye does something worse.

He has yet to comment publicly about getting the boot.

Photo: Instagram / Kim Kardashian.
Its no secret sexism is rampant in Hollywood, and Mila Kunis is the latest actor to call it the fuck out.

In a powerful open letter posted to husband Ashton Kutchers blog, the 33-year-old  who has been acting since the age of nine  wrote about being threatened with her career if she didnt get nude for a lads mag to promote one of her films. She refused, and was told in no uncertain terms shed never again work in Tinseltown.

Kunis also took a leaf out of Jennifer Lawrences book to slam the pay gap, as well her major objections to being reduced to nothing more than Kutchers fiance (now-wife) in professional emails to executives at a major TV network.

Its making a *lot* of waves, and is definitely worth a read in its entirety.

Take it away, gurl:

Youll never work in this town again.

A cliche to be sure, but also what a producer threatened when I refused to pose semi-naked on the cover of a mens magazine to promote our film.

I was no longer willing to subject myself to a naive compromise that I had previously been willing to. I will never work in this town again? I was livid, I felt objectified, and for the first time in my career I said no. And guess what? The world didnt end. The film made a lot of money and I did work in this town again, and again, and again.

What this producer may never realize is that he spoke aloud the exact fear every woman feels when confronted with gender bias in the workplace.



Its what we are conditioned to believe  that if we speak up, our livelihoods will be threatened; that standing our ground will lead to our demise. We dont want to be kicked out of the sandbox for being a bitch. So we compromise our integrity for the sake of maintaining the status quo and hope that change is coming.

But change is not coming fast enough to help my friends, my peers, or even our children.

In fact, a recent study by the American Association of University Women shows that the pay gap is closing at such a slow rate that it will be 136 years before women are paid equally to men. 136 years. And the pay gap is but one clear quantification of the acute undervaluing of the contributions of women in the workplace.



Throughout my career, there have been moments when I have been insulted, sidelined, paid less, creatively ignored, and otherwise diminished based on my gender. And always, I tried to give people the benefit of the doubt; maybe they knew more, maybe they had more experience, maybe there was something I was missing. I taught myself that to succeed as a woman in this industry I had to play by the rules of the boys club.

But the older I got and the longer I worked in this industry, the more I realized that its bullshit! And, worse, that I was complicit in allowing it to happen.



So, I started my own club. I formed a production company with three amazing women. We have been hustling to develop quality television shows with unique voices and perspectives. Since our inception, we have been lucky enough to partner with incredible producers, male and female, who have treated us as true equals and partners. Recently, we signed on to partner with an influential male producer on a project that would shine a light on an important social issue  ironically  inclusivity and our shared human experience.

In the process of pitching this show to a major network, the typical follow-up emails were sent to executives at this network. In this email chain, this producer chose to email the following:



And Mila is a mega star. One of biggest actors in Hollywood and soon to be Ashtons wife and baby momma!!!

This is the entirety of his email. Factual inaccuracies aside, he reduced my value to nothing more than my relationship to a successful man and my ability to bear children. It ignored my (and my teams) significant creative and logistical contributions.

We withdrew our involvement in the project.

Yes, it is only one small comment. But its these very comments that women deal with day in and day out in offices, on calls, and in emails  microaggressions that devalue the contributions and worth of hard-working women.

Subtle gender bias is oftentimes nearly imperceptible, and even wholly undetectable to those who share the bias. It became clear in later emails from this producer that he was totally unaware of why his words were so appalling. What he characterized as a lighthearted comment was actually deeply undermining to my contributions and ability to be taken seriously as a creative partner.



I have no interest in vilifying this man. Blind gender biases are embedded in every facet of our life. They are reinforced by our educational institutions: men dominate the figures we study in history, the luminaries of math and science and technology about whom we learn, and the authors of political discourse we are taught to revere. We are inundated with tales of male superiority that blind us to the architecture of our own relationships. The very word blind informs us of everything. No one gets upset when a blind person bumps into a wall, but the wall does not cease to yield force.

Im done compromising; even more so, Im done with being compromised. So from this point forward, when I am confronted with one of these comments, subtle or overt, I will address them head on; I will stop in the moment and do my best to educate. I cannot guarantee that my objections will be taken to heart, but at least now I am part of creating an environment where there is the opportunity for growth. And if my comments fall on deaf ears, I will choose to walk away.



If this is happening to me, it is happening more aggressively to women everywhere. I am fortunate that I have reached a place that I can stop compromising and stand my ground, without fearing how I will put food on my table. I am also fortunate that I have the platform to talk about this experience in the hope of bringing one more voice to the conversation so that women in the workplace feel a little less alone and more able to push back for themselves.

I will work in this town again, but I will not work with you.
Dont fuck with Cara Delevingne. Just Seriously. Dont do it.

We can say this with some authority, cause the 24-year-old model / actress / absolute gun has posted an almighty kiss-off to an article that turned out to be absolute BS.

After The Sun (who else, really) recently claimed Delevingne was nixed from Londons Victorias Secret Fashion Show casting process due to her being bloated, she took it upon herself to share a very open letter from VS marketing officer Edward Razek debunking the whole thing.

Its almost ruthless in its positivity:

Contrary to The Suns claims, which they never bothered to fact check with me, Victorias Secret made every effort to have you in the London Show. I know, because I was the one making the effort. As a matter of fact, you were the first one invited, months ahead of anyone else. The alleged casting, where supposedly disparaging comments were made, never happened. There was NO casting. You had already been enthusiastically confirmed.

Somehow, the letter gets even more damning from there. After pointing out Delevingne wasnt included due to her, you know, not being on the same continent at the time, Razek claims you would have made the show better, as you do anything and extended her an invitation to participate in the Paris show at the end of this month.

Delevingnes caption to the piece kinda seals the deal: a sunny face, two flipped birds, and the claim its shameless to discuss womens bodies just to sell papers #bloated.

?????? ????its shameless to discuss womens bodies just to sell papers #bloated ?? @victoriassecret A photo posted by Cara Delevingne (@caradelevingne) on Nov 4, 2016 at 4:16am PDT

FWIW, The Sun has already pulled the article. Like we said: dont fuck with Cara.



Source: Cara Delevingne / Instagram.

Photo: Anthony Harvey / Getty.
Attorney General Bruce Beemer said Friday that his office and state police are investigating a pattern of voter registration irregularities in Pennsylvania.

"It is premature to reach any conclusion," Beemer said in a statement. "At this stage of the investigation there is no evidence of voter fraud. The investigation is ongoing."

Beemer's statement follows a recent raid by state police on a Delaware County office occupied by Fieldworks, a national organization that collects petition signatures and does other campaign work.

In a statement issued to the Philadelphia Inquirer this week, the company said it had "zero tolerance for fraud."

"FieldWorks is now working with county officials to provide them with information on our program and applications they are investigating," spokesman, Matt Dorf, told the Inquirer. "In keeping with our regular practice, we will work aggressively with authorities to seek the prosecution of anyone involved in wrongdoing."
Women's Resource Center adapts to meet rising domestic abuse concerns

With many victims unable to reach out during the pandemic, the Women's Resource Center had to find new ways to connect.
Still images of Mars often give us a false impression that Mars is a dead planet, with nothing going on other than the occasional dust storm. Do a quick image search for Mars and most of the results are mosaics designed to show Martian geography, not meteorology. But these images dont tell the planets full story. Martian weather is dynamic, with water ice cloud streets forming around the polar areas, cold fronts pushing through the midlatitudes and raising dust storms, and thin hazes forming as air flows around topographic obstacles like volcanoes and crater rims.

No space agency has deployed a dedicated weather satellite to Mars, so we cant watch these systems form and move across the surface like we can with the spectacular images of Earth returned by satellites like Himawari-8. In fact, the only instrument dedicated to monitoring Martian weather, the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, can only image a location on the Martian surface once per day (with the exception of some areas near the poles).

Fortunately for Martian weather enthusiasts, there is a way to get a glimpse of weather in action at the Martian surface. The High Resolution Stereo Colour Imager (HRSC) instrument onboard Mars Express was designed to produce stereographic color maps of Mars. To do this, HRSC uses a set of 9 pushbroom sensors. Four of these sensors image the surface in color at blue, green, red, and near-IR wavelengths. The other five collect stereo and photometric data using broadband filters that cover the same roughly the same spectral range. The sensors are mounted at different angles, looking between 20 degrees ahead and behind the spacecraft. Parallax from the five different viewing angles allows mission scientists to create DEMs of the surface with 10 to 15 meter vertical resolution.

Thats the intended purpose, anyway. The offset viewing angles for the sensors onboard the spacecraft allow for something else: time-lapse images. The imaging setup means that the first imaging channel sees the surface about 70 seconds before the last. If the wind is blowing at the surface, the time between sequential images is just long enough that the motion of dust clouds is visible. If clouds are at higher altitude, then the parallax also shows up as motion. The color data can then be overlain to colorize the scene.

Here are a few examples I put together from Mars Express HRSC data sets acquired in June 2011. They image several different areas in the northern hemisphere during the height of the dust storm season. Although these storms remained relatively local, storms like these are often the precursors of much larger global dust storms that can enshroud the entire planet.

For example, here is dust being lifted by a cold front dropping southeastward across Tempe Terra on June 17, 2011. This zone of activity grew into a major regional storm that then propagated 5,500 km southward over the next two days before dying out over the Argyre Basin region. The streamers are at ground level, so their motion is almost entirely to the movement of wind. The puffy clouds of dust are at higher altitude, and their apparent motion in the opposite direction of wind movement is almost entirely due to parallax from Mars Express orbital motion.
Urbandale, IA, woman gives bottled water to an Urbandale officer. Both the officer and the woman teared up as they talked. (Photo: KCCI TV screen shot)

Des Moines, IA-area citizens are showing their support for law enforcement one day after the ambush murders of Urbandale Officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Sergeant Anthony Beminio.

In Urbandale, a woman brought water and food to an officer, and offered him a hug in an emotional moment.

A memorial has been set up in front of the Urbandale Police Station. Flowers are already starting to pile up at the memorial.

Hurts Donut Company in Iowa City/Coralville is selling blue line donuts for fallen officers. 100% of the proceeds will be donated.

Hy-Vee, Inc. Chairman, CEO and President Randy Edeker announced Wednesday that all Des Moines-area Hy-Vee stores will collect customers donations to benefit the fallen officers families. To supplement customers donations, Hy-Vee will give $25,000 to each officers family.

Des Moines police said donations for the officers should come to one source, KCCI TV reports.

"It has been brought to our attention that there are GoFundMe accounts set up, purporting to be established by the friends and family of Sergeant Beminio and Officer Martin. There are no GoFundMe accounts being managed, or authorized by the friends or family of the officers.

Below is a link to the official memorial funds established for Sergeant Tony Beminio and Officer Justin Martin. These accounts have been established at the Des Moines Police Officers' Credit Union."

https://squareup.com/store/des-moines-police-officers-credit-union
A YouTube video was posted of the attack. (Photo: YouTube)

A jury has convicted a man of beating and severely injuring an off-duty NYPD sergeant in Queens, officials said Thursday.

Hayden Holder, 32, is facing 25 years in prison for the assault on Sgt. Mohamed Deen  even though the suspect claimed the cop started the November 17, 2013, fight.

Holder, an auto mechanic, decked Deen with one punch outside a gyro joint on Liberty Ave. in Ozone Park, Queens. Then Holder pounced on the cop, hitting him 11 more times, officials said.

(Holder) punched, kicked and banged the victims head against the cement pavement  even after hed lost consciousness, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement Thursday.

Deen, 42, suffered bleeding on the brain and needed surgery to repair broken bones in his face. Doctors put him in a medically induced coma for several days.

He suffered headaches and double vision for months after the beating, officials said. It was four months before he was able to return to work at the 32nd Precinct in Washington Heights. He retired from the NYPD about a year after the attack, the New York Daily News reports.
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*

Since rogue police officers began gunning down unarmed African-American males because they are African American males, many Americans have lost even a semblance of trust in the law enforcement community. Its not fair, necessarily, but that is what happens when the communitys trust in law enforcement is squandered by trigger-happy racists. At least most Americans could look to the federal law enforcement community with confidence it was trustworthy and focused on catching criminals to turn over to the Justice Department for prosecution; that is until recently. Sadly, any sense of trust in the nations top law enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is gone because its director apparently decided to try his hand at influencing a presidential election.

It took a while, but President Obama finally commented on his F.B.I. Directors decision to publicize that the Bureau found emails on serial sexter Anthony Weiners computer, one he shared with his not-estranged wife, that Comey thought were related to the Hillary Clinton server case. The President had sharp criticism in an interview and implied that Comeys actions violated investigative guidelines and trafficked in innuendo. The President said,

We dont operate on incomplete information. We dont operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.

Comeys decision to publicize the Bureaus discovery can hardly be disputed as anything other than purely political and here is why. This past summer Comey decided against releasing any information on Donald Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, or his connections and business dealings with the Vladimir Putin-supported candidate running a campaign to lead Ukraine.

At the time, along with urging from the Justice Department, Mr. Comey concluded that the F.B.I. would not issue subpoenas or take other steps that would make the case public so close to the election. Fast forward to last Friday when F.B.I. director James B. Comey ignored Justice Department warnings and sent a letter to Congress about a new inquiry into Hillary Clintons emails discovered on a computer she had no control over and emails that did not originate with her. As the President, former and current top law enforcement and Justice Department officials have noted, Comeys partisan actions were not just a departure from longstanding policy; it purposely inserted the F.B.I. and the Justice Department directly into the election.

It was exactly the situation the Department of Justice officials were trying desperately to avoid; Mr. Comey had other ideas. And, it is worth repeating that it is the sole reason Mr. Comey claimed was why the Bureau didnt release any information to the public or Congress about its investigation(s) into Trumps campaign and its connection to the Russians.

Comeys letter was sent over stern objections of the Justice Department and it unleashed a torrent of news that laid bare the governments internal deliberations. It also exposed infighting and occasional mistrust between rank-and-file F.B.I. agents and senior department officials.

As the extremely conservative Wall Street Journal noted, Mr. Comey lent credence to Donald Trumps toxic accusation that the system is rigged by twice using his federal law enforcement connections and authority to interfere with an election. As many, many news outlets and political observers have noted, Mr. Comey used politics to insert himself and the F.B.I. into the election when he went to the press in July to talk about whether a reasonable prosecutor would bring charges against Hillary Clinton. If he werent afflicted with conservative hubris, Comey would have known that kind of a decision belongs to the Justice Department. And now he blatantly flouted long-standing Justice Department protocols, and a strong warning, that prohibits anyone, even F.B.I. Director James Comey, from using his official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election. Interfering in or affecting an election is precisely the lame excuse Comey gave for not holding a press conference to talk about Trumps connection with the Russians or his former campaign managers relationship with the Putin regime.

Americans can no longer trust their law enforcement officials at any level if the top agency in the land is perceived as corrupted by political partisanship. As the conservative WSJ editorial said, Comey has lost all the trust of his political masters, his congressional overseers and the people. Americans demand that law enforcement is above politics or favoritism; not deliberately interfering and attempting to influence an election.

If Comey had not held back publicity about the Bureaus investigations into Trump out of concern for an election, it would be questionable whether his July press conference or recent letter to Congress were political. That question has been answered and it is impossible to conclude Comey did not have a partisan intent to influence the election to aid Republicans up and down the ticket.

As other commenters have noted, President Obama can hardly fire Comey politically, so this author concurs with the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and NBCs Pete Williams in calling for Comey to do the right thing and resign. Go home, get the Hell out of Dodge, and allow the nations top investigative and enforcement arm of the federal justice system to heal and help federal law enforcement officials to gain the trust of the people. The nations top police agency has no credibility with a partisan hack running the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a shadowy Republican campaign operation.
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At a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, Donald Trump reiterated his belief that his business record is comparable to serving in the military.

In a moment when he apparently veered off the teleprompter, the Republican nominee pointed out that, like the admirals and generals seated behind him, he too has been brave.

Video:

Trump talking about veterans on stage with him says that he is brave in other ways, financially brave.  Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) November 4, 2016

Once again, Trump seems to be incapable of praising anyone without quickly drawing attention back to himself. After all, there is no moment too inappropriate for this man to talk about his supposed greatness  even in the case of those who have served their country in ways that Trump will never comprehend.

Of course, this isnt the first time the Republican nominee has drawn a comparison between himself and those who choose to actually serve their country.

Over the summer, when he was feuding with the patriotic parents of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan, Trump claimed that he has made a lot of sacrifices, citing his business acumen.

In August, when an Iraq war veteran gifted Trump a Purple Heart he bravely earned, the draft-dodging Republican nominee said, I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.

It seems that the Republican nominee for president  a guy who calls himself a champion of the people  is only truly good at championing one person: himself. Everybody else  veterans and members of the military included  comes second.
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The last time Melania Trump gave a major speech, it was at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. In that speech, she stole several passages from Michelle Obamas 2008 convention speech.

Today, in her first major speech since the RNC, Melania Trump apparently has doubled down on plagiarism  this time, though, she stole words from Donald Trumps ex-wife, Marla Maples.

Tweet via Yair Rosenberg of Tablet Magazine:

Melania just plagiarized Trumps second wife Marla Maples. Heres the only Google results for if you could dream it, you could become it: pic.twitter.com/ALeHuSZqEm  (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 3, 2016

A simple Google search of the line shows that aside from the Trump speech today in Pennsylvania, the only other result comes from an interview with Donald Trumps ex-wife.

According to Rosenberg, Melania Trump didnt just deliver some throwaway line commonly used in political speeches. Instead, she went full Michelle Obama for the second time in two big speeches.

It's not just the one cliched line, it's that the entire section about parents/opportunities is a ripoff, just like it was by Michelle Obama https://t.co/IK15IXH7As  (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 3, 2016

Of course, this is hardly the fault of Melania Trump alone. Certainly, she didnt ask to be thrust into a presidential campaign, especially not one like her husbands.

Instead, it is the fault of a campaign that apparently cant figure out how to write original speeches for a major figure in all presidential elections  the candidates spouse.

Once again, Melania Trumps attempt make her husband more appealing to suburban women voters seems to have come up short. Instead, she and the Trump campaign are facing criticism for the second plagiarism episode of this election cycle  a perfect two-for-two record  and the fact that she spent much of the speech decrying cyberbullying, a hobby her husband engages in quite often.
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There is an anti-Clinton faction in an FBI office that is suspected of releasing and leaking information in an attempt to get Donald Trump elected president.

Reuters reported:

The new emails turned up as FBI investigators were examining electronic devices used by former Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner in connection with an alleged sexting scandal. Weiners estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is a Clinton confidante.

Two law enforcement sources familiar with the FBIs New York Field Office, which initially discovered the emails, said a faction of investigators based in the office is known to be hostile to Hillary Clinton. A spokeswoman for the FBIs New York office said she had no knowledge about this.

Democratic Party sources said such a faction was likely responsible for a recent surge in media leaks on alleged details of an ongoing FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation.

The lasting scandal to come out of the 2016 election might be the FBI, not Hillary Clintons emails. It is clear that there is something amiss in the bureau. If Democrats win control of the Senate on Tuesday, it is almost certain that they will launch an investigation into the FBIs investigation of Clinton.

FBI agents could be violating the law in an attempt to use their public sector jobs to interfere in a presidential election. What the anti-Clinton faction of the FBI is engaging in is a threat to US democracy.

A group of FBI agents who are hostile to Hillary Clinton are trying to undermine a presidential election. That sentence reads like the plot to a Hollywood blockbuster, but that is what appears to be happening in real life in the final days of a presidential campaign.

Should Hillary Clinton win the presidency, she may end up doing so by overcoming more obstacles than any other presidential candidate in US history.

Democrats now have all the motivation that they will ever need to get out and vote.
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A bad day for Chris Christie has gotten even worse as the New Jersey Governor has been reported to the Department of Justice for violations of the Voting Rights Act.

The Democratic Coalition Against Trump announced the filing with the DoJ via a statement:

The Democratic Coalition Against Trump reported New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to the Department of Justices Civil Rights Division for violating the Voting Rights Act on Friday morning. In August of this year, Governor Christie vetoed a bill that would have automated the voter registration system in the state of New Jersey. The bill had widespread bipartisan support in the legislature and received only one no vote according to The Brennan Center.

Chris Christie is playing it fast and loose with his use of power, and has been for some time now, said Scott Dworkin, Senior Advisor to the Democratic Coalition. Just today, two of his aides were found guilty of all charges brought against them for Bridgegate. We shouldnt be surprised that Christie was also trying to suppress voter turnout for his good buddy Donald Trump, it fits his M.O. perfectly.

Christie vetoed the bill in spite of the fact that only one person voted against it in the entire New Jersey state legislature. Chris Christie alone decided that New Jersey voters didnt need an easier way to register to vote. The report alleges that Gov. Christie abused his executive powers, and violated the Voting Rights Act when he vetoed the bill.

Chris Christie is the head of Donald Trumps transition team and has been gunning for a job in a potential Trump administration since the moment that he quit the Republican presidential race. Christie is under investigation for abuse of power related to the Bridgegate scandal. If Gov. Christie were to be charged and convicted of an abuse of power charge, he could face a ten-year prison term under New Jersey state law.

Christie has a lot of problems, and he may have made them even worse by trying to help his pal, Donald Trump.
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*

Early in the laborious and disgustingly long 2016 election season, Republican presidential candidate and bigoted fascist Donald J. Trump strongly insinuated that his supporters are not the best and brightest America has to offer. It is true he only said they are uneducated, but he really meant they are painfully stupid by nature because he makes ridiculously outlandish statements that he knows only make sense to conservative imbeciles. Early this week he was at it again and his supporters embraced a comment that no sane or semi-intelligent human being would begin to believe, but not many accuse Trump supporters of being sane or semi-intelligent.

This column has, over the years, pointed out the endemic stupidity plaguing Republican voters and it is never pleasant to acknowledge that roughly half the American population is functioning cognitively at about a 2nd grade level. It is fairly safe to say Mr. Trump never reads this column, but it is also safe to say he is acutely aware that his staunchest supporters have no grasp on facts and are easily frightened, impressed, and incited to rage by big numbers; even if those numbers are complete fabrications.

This week Trump threw out an incredibly big number to frighten the life out of his supporters and claimed that Hillary Clinton would be importing about 650 million immigrants a week if she is elected president. Now, any American with nominal cognitive abilities would comprehend that Trump just pulled that 650 million figure out of the ether, or whatever orifice he finds blatant lies to frighten his base.

Trump was warning his bigoted supporters that his opponent had a so-called open borders and amnesty policy and that Hillary Clintons immigration plan would nearly triple the current United States population, in a week. The sexual predator said:

You know, it would be much easier working for Obama or working for Hillary because, frankly, when youre working for Hillary, she wants to let people just pour in. You could have 650 million people pour in and we do nothing about it. Think of it, thats what could happen. You triple the size of our country in one week. Once you lose control of your borders you have no country.

So, there are a couple of real numbers to cite that every American should be aware of if they arent illiterate, arent Trump supporters or arent typical Republican voters. First, according to the latest official census bureau report, there are about 324,916,938 people in America as of Thursday, November 3, 2016. Trump wants his nativist acolytes to believe that Hillary Clinton will bring in twice the current population in immigrants each week to take America away from Trumps devotees.

The issue with Trumps assertion is that Clinton never proposed open borders or amnesty: only Republican demigod Ronald Reagan believed in and granted amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants. What Hillary Clinton has said she supports is something Republicans like George W. Bush, John McCain, and many others have advocated for; comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for currently undocumented immigrants.

In fact, Clintons proposal is not unlike that of George W. Bushs that allows currently undocumented immigrants to pay back fines, and back taxes, just to earn a chance of becoming American citizens one day in the future; not amnesty. She has also said she would not strip away a temporary executive action that grants temporary work authorization and deportation deferrals to certain undocumented immigrants in demand because there are too many stupid conservatives to fill jobs that require a semblance of intelligence and technological prowess borne from valuing education.

Some other important numbers that Trump knows his moronic base will never grasp are that at most, America can only issue work visas for foreign workers in specialty occupations like scientists, engineers, and of course Donald Trumps wifes former occupation as a fashion model. The quota for those specialty occupations is capped by federal law at 85,000 annually. Temporary workers in the agricultural industry are subjected to quotas set at 66,000 visas per fiscal year.

Although it is a mystery why any foreign tourist would ever want to visit a hateful bigoted country like America, the Department of State statistics puts the number of visitors who likely cant wait to get out of crazy-land at about 65 million annually. Totaling up the temporary and specialty worker quotas, tourism, and alleged 11 million undocumented immigrants does not come close to Trumps 650 million figure in a year, much less every week as he claims; but no doubt his idiot supporters believe him.

Its obvious that his fabrication by Trump is not the most outrageous lie he has told during the campaign, but it is about all the proof any voter should need that Donald Trump really does think his supporters are stupider than dirt. Add to their endemic stupidity their deep-seated racism, xenophobia, and hatred of anything non-white, non-Christian, and non-nasty conservative and it is little wonder Mr. Trump would pull a number out of his ass to frighten Republicans into voting for him.

There is no reason for about half the population to be as stupid as they are, or to consistently vote contrary to their own best interests. Americas education system is exceptional, and even if it wasnt the simple fact that the other half of America not supporting Trump was educated in the same system, the stupidity plaguing Republican voters is a trait that really has nothing to do with education and everything to do with the fear and hate that drives stupid people Trump has little trouble conning with big numbers that have no connection to reality or intelligent thought.
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In a flyer inserted into the newsletter of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town on Oct. 16, parishioners found this gem: How to vote like a Catholic  it is a mortal sin to vote Democrat! The diocese said the insert was not authorized by the parish, but it found its way there nonetheless.

More damagingly, because this time a candidate was mentioned in clear violation of the Churchs tax-exempt status, on October 30, they learned via an actual article in the bulletin titled Voting Catholic, that Hillary Clinton is working for Satan:

The devil does this through the tactics outlined by Saul Alinsky with the outcome as Hillary Clinton has stated, And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be change, to draw us away from Gods teachings regarding the sanctity of life to those of the world and its prince.

The insert cites the catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1035 to warn parishioners that It is a mortal sin to vote Democrat  immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell.

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, eternal fire. The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

Watch courtesy of NBC 7:

NBC 7 reports that Reached for comment on Thursday, Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, said he doesnt know how the first insert got into church bulletins. It is no surprise, however, that they did, given what is being preached at the church.

The October 16 newsletter reviewed the Democratic and Republican positions on the five so-called non-negotiables: homosexual marriage and abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia, topics the churchs pastor, Rev. Richard Perozich, brought up in a sermon just a few weeks before:

In the church, we have what we call the five non-negotiables, things that are most important, and theyre around life issues. Theres life, from conception to natural death. Theres marriage and sexuality, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia. When we vote, we dont vote for candidates who support these things, even if they support other things that we really like.

Perozich is unavailable for comment, but according to his boss, Robert McElroy, the Roman Catholic bishop of San Diego,

Let me stress again that while we have a moral role to play in explaining how Catholic teaching relates to certain public policy issues, we must not and will not endorse specific candidates, use parish media or bulletins to favor candidates or parties through veiled language about selectively chosen issues, or engage in partisan political activity of any kind.

In an article posted Tuesday on the diocese website, McElroy explains,

It is sometimes said that this tradition of neutrality in partisan elections springs from the tax status of the Church, or from a desire to avoid divisiveness within Catholic communities. But in reality its foundation is far deeper.



It is a core teaching of Catholic ecclesiology that the sanctification of the world falls primarily to lay women and men. And it is a core teaching of Catholic moral theology that it is deeply within the conscience of the individual believer that key moral decisions must be made. The foundational assertion of democracy is that the average citizen is best equipped to guide society through electoral choice. The corollary within Catholic teaching which supports the democratic impulse is the proposition that in discerning which candidate will best advance the common good, the prudential decision of each citizen remains paramount. Thus while bishops must teach on principles of moral judgment, and outline key elements of the common good which are at stake in a particular historical moment, they should refrain from favoring particular candidates.

We have frequently seen Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama before her, compared to Satan or the antichrist. Donald Trump himself referred to Clinton as the devil in August, saying Bernie Sanders wouldve been a hero, but he made a deal with the devil. Shes the devil. He made a deal with the devil.

Around the same time in response to a new video, Charisma News was asking, Is Hillary Clinton the Antichrist or an Illuminati Witch? The answer by the author of the piece was no, but she said many people actually believe it.

Such is the state of religion in the United States today. Such is the state of American conservatism. The know they cant win on issues, so they use the cloak of religion to sanctify their hate instead.

Meanwhile, diocese spokesman Kevin Eckery reminds Catholics, Its not a mortal sin to vote for Democrats, number one. And number two, the church doesnt take positions on this, and were not going to.

Photo: Twitter NBC7 San Diego
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Chris Christies political career was just delivered a fatal blow.

Republican Governor Chris Christies (R-NJ) former aides Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly were charged with 7 counts of conspiracy and fraud, and found guilty on all counts in the Bridgegate trial.

Bridegate refers to the Christie administrations closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge as an alleged act of political retribution.

The guilt of Christies ex-deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly and his former Port Authority official Bill Baroni will reflect poorly on Christie, whom witnesses accused of knowing about the plot to close the bridge as political retribution.

Christie is in charge of staffing the possible Trump administration transition team and will be campaigning for Donald Trump in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania tomorrow, a further taint of corruption Trump could do without  and the Republican Party should want to bury.

The convictions will accelerate the movement of potential criminal charges against Gov. Christie. A summons was already issued as a judge found probable cause for a complaint of official misconduct against Christie. The complaint is currently being investigated by the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. The prosecutors office will determine whether or not Chris Christie gets indicted.

Christie is finished. The only question left to be answered is whether or not Bridgegate will land the New Jersey Governor in prison. So its fitting that Christie is campaigning for Donald Trump under his law and order banner.
An example of a surgical light made in 2007 in North Charleston at Berchtold, now part of Stryker Corp., which is closing the Hanahan Road plant.
Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz's two-day sentencing hearing began Tuesday with the families of the 17 people he murdered getting their first chance to speak to him directly. "We hope that you, the monster who did this to our son, endure a painful existence in your remaining days. Whatever pain you experience in prison unfortunately will be a fraction of what Ben endured," said Eric Wikander, the father of student Ben Wikander, who has undergone seven surgeries. Read more'A monster': Families, wounded confront Parkland shooter
Electric vehicles arent a panacea. They dont reduce traffic congestion or the need to spend billions of dollars repairing and expanding our highways, the way mass transit, ride sharing and more walkable and bicycleable communities can. To the contrary, they make it more difficult to pay for the necessary upgrades, because despite some modest steps, politicians here and elsewhere have been unwilling to change our tax laws to ensure that vehicles using little or no gasoline pay their fair share for those improvements. Read moreEditorial: SC electric vehicle expansion helps state in multiple ways
Andrew Knapp is editor of the Quick Response Team, which covers crime, courts and breaking news. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor at Florida Today, Newsday and Bangor (Maine) Daily News. He enjoys golf, weather and fatherhood.
Reports of long lines for early voting persuaded Darlene Hollywood  she's giving her 13 employees at Hollywood Public Relations the morning of Election Day off.

"I don't want people to feel they have to make a choice of, 'I need to get to the office' or 'I can participate in my civic duty,'" says Hollywood, whose firm is based in Plymouth, Mass.

Small business owners who want to make it easy for their staffers to vote are giving them flex time, balloting breaks, or, similar to Hollywood, opening late. Some, joining a list of companies of all sizes that includes giants such as General Motors and Ford, will be closed for the whole day. Owners say they want to encourage everyone to vote  some saying the intense emotions in the presidential race this year make it particularly significant and others that they feel it's important to be involved in what happens in their country, state and city.

Many states have laws requiring employers to give workers time off to vote, and some of those states require employees be paid if they have to vote during working hours. There is no federal law granting workers the right to voting time off. But many owners aren't motivated strictly by the law.

On past Election Days, Brenda Jones Barwick saw employees hurrying to get their work done at the end of the day and hoping they'd still have time to vote.

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"People were rushing out of here at 6:30 trying to get in line before the polls closed at 7," says Barwick, owner of Jones Public Relations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.

This year, she's decided neither her 20 staffers nor the company itself needs a chaotic day. So she won't open the office until 10 a.m. Election Day. Jones plans to email clients to let them know and hopes the idea spreads: "I'm encouraging other companies to do the same."

After giving staffers time during the day to vote in past elections, Dan Golden decided this year to close his Chicago-based internet advertising firm, Be Found Online. He wants to be sure none of his 50 employees has any excuse not to vote, including those who are sounding disaffected in this emotionally charged election year.

"I'm hoping to influence the number of employees who weren't going to bother," says Golden, the company's president.

Golden, who wants other companies to give workers voting time off, is campaigning via a website, www.employersforvto.org . He'd also like to see Election Day made a national holiday.

"The best we can do is empower our employees to do what's right and make it easier for them, so work isn't an excuse," he says.

Some bosses are letting employees decide when to take time off to vote, even if it's in the middle of the day.

"Regardless of what you are doing, feel free to get up and go vote  it's your right," Chris Pontine has told the two employees of his Fort Gratiot, Mich.-based company, Creating a Website Today. He calls his policy, which he's had since he started his company in 2012, a simple approach.

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With early voting underway in Idaho, Jessica Flynn has told her 12 staffers they can take the time to vote on any day, not just Nov. 8.

"They can do it this afternoon or on Election Day," says Flynn, CEO of Red Sky, a communications strategy firm based in Boise. "Whenever they need to, whenever they want to."

She wants them to be involved, concerned voters.

"I see it as part of our company's mission to help grow and support engaged, curious and knowledgeable citizens of the world," she says.

Joe Laskowski, managing partner at Higher Ed Growth in Tempe, Ariz., recalls past voting that had people in line for hours waiting to cast their ballots. He doesn't want employees at the firm, which helps colleges form their marketing strategies, to feel under pressure.

"We don't care if you're late or take a long lunch," Laskowski says, "just get it done to have a voice."
This classic Answer Man was first published in November 2016.

Dear Answer Man, I heard a rumor that the largest employer in Rochester has told employees that they cannot vote during working hours. Doesn't this go contrary to our laws here in Minnesota and to federal laws?

Fascinating question. Yes, it's true that according to statute, "Every employee who is eligible to vote in an election has the right to be absent from work for the time necessary to appear at the employee's polling place, cast a ballot, and return to work on the day of that election, without penalty or deduction from salary or wages because of the absence. An employer or other person may not directly or indirectly refuse, abridge, or interfere with this right or any other election right of an employee."

This applies to most but not all elections. The law covers "a regularly scheduled election, an election to fill a vacancy in the office of United States senator or United States representative, an election to fill a vacancy in nomination for a constitutional office, an election to fill a vacancy in the office of state senator or state representative, or a presidential nomination primary."

So yes, your employer needs to work with you if you choose to vote during the work day.

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The question above obviously refers to Mayo Clinic, and spokeswoman Kelly Reller told one of my Answer Man I-Team members about Election Day policies at the World Famous:

"Mayo Clinic employees are encouraged to exercise their right to vote, and Mayo will support employee requests for reasonable time away from work to vote.

"In most situations, employees will be able to visit the polls outside work hours. If this is not possible, reasonable time will be given to allow the employee to be absent from work to cast their ballot. The amount of time and other details will depend on the state law of the state where the employee votes."

That line about "most situations" seems to be a shot across the bow, that "employees will be able to visit the polls outside of work." In Minnesota, it's simply a right to be absent from work to vote -- you don't need an explanation or excuse, and the employee can't "directly or indirectly" deny, abridge or interfere with that right.

Mayo workers in Florida aren't so lucky, though. Florida has no law requiring employers to allow time off to vote. Mayo employees in Arizona have more legal options. Apparently you have to apply to your employer for up to three hours at the beginning or end of your shift for voting.

For the record, Wisconsin allows workers up to three hours off, but you have to request it before Election Day and they don't have to pay you for it. In Iowa, if you don't have three consecutive hours off during polling hours, you're entitled to take paid time off to vote, though you have to apply in advance.

Look at the variation among just these five states. Does this make sense to you, that voters have more obstacles to voting in one state than another, and legislators in all 50 states have the power to affect federal elections? It doesn't make sense to me, either.
We all know the drill: A social issue arises. The community gathers to address it. Everyone agrees it's a good first step. They adjourn with promises to "do something."

It ends there, and nothing changes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But Thursday night, community members who attended a listening session six months ago were rewarded with change; they can feel confident that more is coming.

In April, members of the Equal Justice Committee of the Third Judicial District  the 11 counties in Southeast Minnesota, including Olmsted  held what they called a community listening session in conjunction with the Diversity Council of Rochester.

The goal: To hear concerns about the judicial system, especially as it relates to racial and ethnic fairness.

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About 60 people attended that night, many of them members of the black community. They shared with representatives of the court, including several judges, the things that most worry them.

Making headway

There were 10 court-related issues that came to the fore; the people who gathered Thursday learned that significant progress has been made on at least three of them.

 Lack of people of color on juries: In April, Third Judicial District Chief Justice Jeffrey Thompson explained that the names for jury selection come from voter registration lists, driver's license lists and lists of state identification card holders.

"Of those groups, about 9 percent are people of color," he said. "And about 9 percent of our jury pools are people of color."

Not quite true locally, said Angie Hutchins, who compiled juror demographics for 2015 in Olmsted County.

Of all eligible jurors in Olmsted County who meet the state requirements, 3.9 percent identified as black or African American, but only 1.84 percent of 2015's actual jurors identified as black. Though 88.3 percent of the eligible voters identified as white, the actual number of seated jurors was nearly 92 percent.

"You can see we're pulling more than the representative population," Hutchins said of the white jurors.

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Overall, people of color  including black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, two or more races, and "other"  comprised 6.83 percent of the jurors in Olmsted County, significantly less than the 11.7 eligible.

The concern about misrepresentation is valid, Hutchins said. "The numbers we're seeing are truly less when compared to the overall representation of the community."

 Transport of juveniles: Young people being transported from the detention center and appearing in court in handcuffs and shackles "creates echoes of slavery," and has the potential for psychological harm. The issue "isn't totally resolved," said John Cajacob, a Third Judicial District judge chambered in Rice County and a member of the state's Committee for Equality and Justice.

"Most counties (in the Third Judicial District) do (use handcuffs and shackles), but they do it for all juveniles, regardless of skin color," he said. Juveniles are under the control of the county sheriff during transport, Cajacob said, "but in the courtroom, it's the judge."

Security is always a concern, he said, "so we have to work it out, but we're taking it seriously."

 Update on drug court: Olmsted County's drug court has been in operation since the end of July, said Judge Kathy Wallace, with six people accepted so far. The program received a three-year, $350,000 grant that will allow for up to 25 more participants than planned.

The 18-month drug court program targets the county's highest-risk and highest-need people who have criminal histories with substance abuse.

 Addressing the disparity in the number of ethnic minorities working in the judicial system: "Everyone talks about wanting to diversify the pool of judges and lawyers, but we don't see results," one attendee wrote in April.

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Enter Nikki Niles, who spoke Thursday about her childhood in Flint, Mich., where her interest in government began, thanks to her mother, a social worker. Though she received a scholarship to an engineering college, "it didn't feel right," Niles said. Her major changed from engineering to biology to criminal justice, leading to a job as a police officer.

A move to Minnesota for her husband's job led to her current position as an adult probation officer for Dodge/Fillmore/Olmsted County Community Corrections.

"My aspiration is to help those who want a career" in law enforcement or the justice system, Niles told the crowd.

Remaining issues

The other concerns from April were also addressed; some  plea bargaining vs. trial, sentencing guidelines, and public defenders vs. private attorneys  just required an explanation of law.

The issue of implicit/unconscious bias within the system is handled in a couple of ways, including quarterly culture bias training for judicial staff members and an Implicit Bias Bench Card that sits before every judge in the state.

Racial disparity in sentencing is real, people at the April event said: Children of color are treated more harshly for their mistakes than white children.

"We couldn't get all of the data (from the state judicial system) back" in time for Thursday's event, said Vangie Castro, youth and adult education program manager for the Diversity Council. "We wanted to cover all of the concerns in the community," but the information wasn't readily available.

The work continues

The attendees were asked to break into small groups and answer three questions:

The potential juror process  people with a valid driver's license, valid state ID or are a registered voter  is governed by court rule. We could recommend to the state additional sources for drawing a list of jurors. Do you have suggestions for other sources we should submit for consideration?

How can you as a community member become more engaged in helping to create equity in the court system?

After seeing the report (from April) and being updated on the actions we're taking, what do you think are the next steps?

The answers will be compiled and forwarded to the Committee for Equality and Justice of the Minnesota Judicial Branch.

"We're definitely asking for buy-in, to make sure the community knows steps are being taken to ensure (the sessions) are effective, and to help implement some of the changes," said Torres Hodges, director of community engagement for the Diversity Council.

"Their input leads to action, and actions leads to overall change."
AUSTIN  An Albert Lea man accused of trying to take a police officer's gun  and actually grabbing one of the pistol magazines  pleaded not guilty Monday in Mower County District Court.

Dwight Devine Harper, also known as George Jones, 35, was charged after the incident with two counts of fifth-degree assault and one count of attempting to disarm a peace officer, both felonies, as well as two counts of fourth-degree assault of a peace officer and one count of obstructing the legal process, both gross misdemeanors.

He remains in custody in lieu of $35,000 conditional bail and is due back in court Jan. 20.

The case began about 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15, when employees at an Austin business asked police to remove Harper, who was trying to fight with customers as they entered the store, the complaint says. He complied and left the area.

About an hour later, the same officer responded to the south side of the Mower County Law Enforcement Center for a report of two men yelling and trying to start a fight. One of them was Harper, who the other man said was threatening to beat him up.

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A woman outside the building told the officer she saw Harper about a block away, yelling and "acting very strange," court documents say. Harper then ran toward her, so she called 911.

The three people who encountered Harper all said he appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The officer found Harper nearby; he denied trying to fight anyone, but was told he was under arrest for disorderly conduct. Harper allegedly refused to comply with the officer, who believed Harper intended to "fight or run." The officer sprayed a chemical irritant in Harper's face and was able to take him into custody.

As officers attempted to put Harper into the back of a squad car, he began resisting, reportedly using his legs to push officers into a nearby squad, then slamming an officer into the side of a third squad car.

When Harper continued fighting, he was again sprayed with a chemical irritant and taken to the ground, where he continued to struggle with the officers, the complaint says.

That's when Harper grabbed one of the officers, tried to get control of his pistol, then grabbed one of the pistol's magazines from his duty belt, court documents say.

He was eventually placed in leg restraints and put in the back of a police car, but continued to resist until he got to the jail.

A review of Harper's criminal history reflects a 2014 conviction for terroristic threats and a 2016 conviction for domestic assault.
A Rochester man made his first appearance Tuesday in Olmsted County District Court. He's accused of firing a gun late last month in a Southeast Rochester neighborhood.

Lorenzo Eugene Heard, 36, faces one count each of reckless discharge of a dangerous weapon within a municipality and possession of a firearm after a conviction for a crime of violence. Both are felonies.

Heard remains in custody in lieu of $20,000 and is due back in court Nov. 15.

The incident began about 11:30 a.m. Oct. 21, when police were sent to the area of Fourth Street and Fourth Avenue Southeast for a report of two people arguing, followed by gunshots.

Two people saw Heard fire a handgun into the air while seated inside his vehicle, a brownish-gold SUV, the complaint says. Three other people saw a man they knew as "Low" drive away in a brownish-gold SUV, the reports say, and later identified Heard from a photo lineup.

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Several of them said Heard's girlfriend and her two small children were also in the vehicle when the shots were fired, court documents say. He was reportedly angry about money that was owed to him; the man he was angry with  who was standing near the SUV  didn't want to report the shooting because he had a warrant for his arrest, the complaint says.

Three days later, an investigator went to the scene with a metal detector; he found a .40-caliber shell casing near where the SUV had been stopped.

A review of Heard's criminal history reflects convictions for third-degree assault in 2000 and for second-degree controlled substance crime in 2011, prohibiting him from possessing firearms or ammunition.
Students at Riverside Central Elementary were handed two drum sticks and a five-gallon bucket Thursday afternoon. Ten minutes later, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins walked in and conducted a lesson on the unconventional drum sets.

Hawkins has traveled the world and played sold-out shows, but that's not how he got his start, he told the audience of 10 students. He found his rhythm by drumming on pillows as a kid.

"Anything can kind of be a drum set, really," Hawkins told the students. "Listen to music you love and tap along to it, because that's how you get started."

While drum beats filled the school on Thursday, they were just setting the stage for what's to come, said Riverside Principal Matt Ruzek. Soon, the halls will be filled art.

That's because because Riverside was selected as a recipient of a national grant through the "Turnaround Arts" program. Hawkins' visit was the program's kickoff  he'll serve as the school's mentor for the duration of the two-year grant.

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Every subject will be infused with arts education in an effort to boost engagement in learning and improve school climate. Classes will be taught with song, dance and arts projects, to show students the arts are "essential to a well-balanced education."

The program's focus is on "high-need, low-performing" schools, providing them with arts resources in an effort to "address broad school challenges and turn around struggling schools." RPS is hoping music and the arts will help reach those students who don't feel engaged with a more traditional curriculum.

"It helps these kids engage in school from a different lens," said Heather Nessler, the district's director of communications.

This new approach will be driven by "visual thinking strategies" that focus on teaching students thinking skills, such as how to effectively question, Ruzek said. Teachers will select different areas where students show interest, and then bring that into the curriculum.

The arts lessons will all funnel into math, reading, science and social studies curriculum.

"Even though this is fun and there's a lot of people and passion because we have a celebrity, our day-to-day changes dramatically in our instruction," Ruzek said. "But all of it will be driven by student voice."

At Riverside, math, science and reading proficiency scores are far below the state average, and well below the district average. The pilot program showed positive results for turning those around.

Seventy-three percent of Riverside's students qualify for free or reduced priced lunch, a measure the state uses to estimate poverty in the schools . By comparison, statewide, about 38 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

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Thirty-eight percent of Riverside's children are English learners, 19 percent are special education students and 5 percent were identified as homeless, according to 2016 Minnesota Department of Education data.

During the first year, Riverside will focus on driving student achievement and engagement, and engagement with families and the community. The school also hopes school climate will improve and behavioral referrals will be reduced.

Schools involved in the Turnaround Arts pilot saw an average 12 percent improvement in reading proficiency, a 22 percent improvement in math proficiency, increases in attendance and significant decreases in suspensions, according to a news release from the program.

Riverside is one of 68 "Turnaround Arts" schools in the country, and one of eight in Minnesota that are focusing on the link between arts and education. As Hawkins spoke to students Thursday, he focused on just that.

"It's led me a lot of places  music. I think it's really important  arts, period  it's so important," he said, encouraging students. "I'm so proud that I get to keep in touch with you guys and represent you."
Election Day is still several days away, but Sarah Grota is already sporting an "I voted" sticker.

The Rochester voter waited about 30 minutes on Thursday to cast her no-excuse absentee ballot at the 1421 Third Ave. SE building. She said she wasn't surprised by the long lines. For her, it was a chance to get her vote in before leaving town.

"I'm going to be away at a conference next week, so I wanted to get it over with, and I'm off work today," she said.

Spike in absentee voting

Plenty of other Minnesotans are choosing to vote early, too. The number of absentee and mail ballots accepted statewide as of Thursday was 415,986, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office . That's nearly three times the number accepted two years ago. Roughly 13 percent of registered voters in the state have already voted.

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In Olmsted County, election officials said they are amazed by the turnout. Mandy Ness oversees the county's absentee voting. So far, the county has transmitted 15,033 absentee ballots  a jump of 65 percent compared to the same time during the 2012 presidential election.

"We expected it was going to be busy, but we weren't expecting quite so big a turnout. This has far surpassed our expectations," Ness said.

On Thursday afternoon, people waited in long lines that snaked down hallways in the Olmsted County elections center. County workers could be seen helping direct voters and making sure they had properly filled out all the paperwork. A yellow sign on the building's front door has a warning for voters: "Wait times may be 30 to 45 minutes."

Getting out supporters

Both political parties have been urging supporters to take advantage of no-excuse absentee voting  something that wasn't available during the 2012 election. Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin said the party gets frequent updates from the Minnesota Secretary of State's office with the names of people who have already voted. Based on that information, the party estimates that 65 percent of the absentee ballots cast have been by Democrats.

"It's a great sign. We're highly encouraged by the early vote numbers, which suggests there's great enthusiasm among Democrats to get out and vote," he said.

Still, Martin said Democrats aren't taking anything for granted and know the bulk of votes will come in on Nov. 8.

Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey disputes Martin's assertion that 65 percent of votes cast so far have been by Democrats. He said he believes the percentage is lower than that, although Democrats still likely have the lead in early voting statewide because of big turnout in the metro area. But Downey said Republicans are focusing their energy in encouraging voters in battleground congressional and legislative districts to vote, and those are all outside of the Twin Cities metro.

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"On the Republican side, our effort has been almost entirely focused on our battleground districts where we feel we are doing very well," Downey said.

'Better safe than sorry'

Mark Krupski, director of Olmsted County Property Records and Licensing, predicts that 20 percent of the votes cast in the county this election will be via absentee.

"Our volume has picked up tremendously. We are going to do at least double the absentee voting that we've ever done in the past, and that's putting a lot of demand on staff," Krupski said.

Safra Mohamed, of Rochester, has been helping translate election material for Somali voters. She said that in some cases, it has been taking 45 minutes for people to vote absentee in Olmsted County. But she said the voters are eager to get their ballots in before Nov. 8 in case a sudden conflict comes up.

She added, "They are saying, 'It's better to be safe than sorry and get it done now when they have the time.'"
Vandals deface Muslim Students Association sign

MINNEAPOLIS  Vandals defaced a sign promoting the University of Minnesota's Muslim Students Association.

Someone scrawled "ISIS" over a hand-painted mural on a bridge connecting the east and west banks of the Twin Cities campus. The acronym is a reference to the Islamic State group.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for a hate crime investigation. Executive Director Jaylani Hussein says the vandalism is among a number of recent actions targeting Minnesota Muslims.

The Muslim Student Association also condemned the graffiti and demanded action from the university.

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University President Eric Kaler's office issued a statement calling the graffiti an abhorrent action "that will not be tolerated on our campus."

Judge denies appeal of deceased serial killer

MINNEAPOLIS  A Hennepin County judge has ruled that convicted serial killer Billy Glaze's appeal for innocence died with him.

Glaze was convicted of killing three women in Minneapolis in the 1980s. He died in prison last year.

Glaze long maintained his innocence. At the time of his death from lung cancer at age 72, attorneys with the Minnesota Innocence Project were trying to free him based on new DNA evidence allegedly pointing to another man.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss the appeal, saying it was moot. Innocence Project attorneys argued that not only was Glaze's reputation at stake, but there was public interest in learning whether the justice system worked fairly.

Judge Toddrick Barnette has sided with prosecutors, saying there's no "live controversy" to be resolved.

Charges: High school student raped in locker room

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SHAKOPEE  A Shakopee High School student has been charged with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly luring a girl out of class and raping her in the boy's locker room.

Eighteen-year-old Angel Torres Jr. was charged Thursday.

According to a criminal complaint, a 17-year-old girl told authorities that she had considered Torres a friend. He asked her to leave class and go to a water fountain on Tuesday, but then grabbed her and led her into the locker room. The girl said he took her into a handicapped stall, locked the door and raped her for 15 to 20 minutes.

She immediately reported the assault. The complaint says she was examined at a hospital and found to have injuries consistent with rape.

Torres' attorney did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Cost, access concerns prompt MNsure enrollment surge

ST. PAUL  The state's health insurance exchange says they've signed up 10,000 residents for coverage in the first two days of open enrollment.

MNsure is handling record levels of traffic this year. It's driven by concern about massive premium increases and plan availability for 2017 coverage.

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Chief Executive Allison O'Toole said Thursday that more than 10,000 plans had been selected by the morning. That's more enrollments than in the entire first month of open enrollment last year.

State officials are still investigating a suspicious surge of nearly 50,000 calls on Tuesday morning that jammed phone lines as enrollment first opened. Those calls and a home page outage that affected 70 state websites frustrated shoppers searching for a plan.

Open enrollment lasts through the end of January.
MINNEAPOLIS  All Minneapolis police patrol officers have been equipped with body cameras as of the beginning of this month, and some city officials are offering anecdotes to show some immediate benefits.

City Attorney Susan Segal said video recorded by officers was played for jurors during a recent domestic assault trial, which resulted in a conviction. Segal said the cameras helped the officers investigating the incident get better evidence.

"Before body cams, a victim may say, 'Then he did this and then he did that,'" Segal said. "Well now we've got video where the victims can demonstrate, and in this case, did demonstrate what happened to her."

It's also possible that footage from cases like this one will be used to train officers on how to investigate future domestic abuse incidents, Segal said.

Police chief Janee Harteau said 548 officers wear cameras every day during every shift. And so far, Harteau said, the rollout has gone well since it started in July.

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"The officers are absolutely using their cameras," said Harteau. "Because we have 55,000 videos which have been recorded and retained. The average video length is 7 minutes. And there is more than 6,500 hours of video that has been recorded."

Officer Justin Churchill, who works in the 3rd Precinct in south Minneapolis, said one of the biggest benefits of the cameras is using the footage to write more accurate incident reports. Sometimes, he said, an officer will miss part of a witness's answer to a question.

"The great thing about these is we can go back and actually review that and see what details we missed," said Churchill.

According to the department's policy, officers are encouraged to review video and audio to ensure the accuracy of their reports. Churchill said the way the cameras are set up, he cannot erase or alter the footage he records.

Officers who fail to turn on cameras, misuse the equipment or deliberately damage or alter the equipment or footage "will be subject to discipline, up to and including termination," reads the policy.

There are more than a dozen situations in which officers are required to activate their cameras, including all traffic stops, suspicious person and vehicle stops, vehicle chases, and any public contact that involves verbal or physical confrontation.

Churchill said he rolls video frequently during calls. He recalled an encounter with a man on the street who was irate and yelling at police officers. When Churchill told the man he was being recorded on video, Churchill said the man calmed down.
MEDPAC proudly endorses Sen. Carla Nelson for re-election. She is a thoughtful, influential advocate for physicians and the patients we serve. From public health efforts such as tobacco control and vaccines to health-care financing issues like the repeal of the provider tax, Sen. Nelson has been a strong supporter of medicine at the state capitol.

MEDPAC, the political arm of the Minnesota Medical Association, is pleased to offer our strong support for Sen. Carla Nelson.

Marie Olseth

MEDPAC chairwoman

Minneapolis
At dawn, after driving from Pakistan the previous day, a family of Afghans wakes up and boils tea after a night sleeping on top of the trucks that carried them, outside a UNHCR center on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Andrew Quilty for The Washington Post
Dr. B Speaks!

It always seems impossible until it's done. That is the way Nelson Mandela put it. His quote motivates mission-driven people to accomplish d Read moreTeacher assistants help support teachers and students to learn
It now appears that the FBI has been investigating the Bill and Hillary Clinton Foundation for more than a year. This casts the informal meeting last summer on an airplane between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch in an even worse light than before. As one reader puts it:

It would seem rather inappropriate [for Attorney General Lynch] to be meeting with someone without staff if the person is not just the husband of a subject of an FBI investigation, but actually a subject (or head of a subject) under FBI investigation.

Indeed.

Keep in mind too that, according to multiple reports, the Justice Department has been pushing back hard against the FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation. For example, when agents on the Foundation case sought emails contained on non-government laptops that had been searched as part of the Clinton email case, prosecutors in the Eastern District rejected the request.

As Andy McCarthy has pointed out, the Eastern District of New York was headed by Loretta Lynch until she became Attorney General less than two years ago. The prosecutors who said no to the FBI were Lynchs people.

When Lynch met with Bill Clinton, she would have known that the email investigation was just about over, but that the Clinton Foundation investigation was ongoing. If they discussed DOJ activities on the Clinton front, as Bill surely desired to, its likely that both investigations came up.

In any event, the existence of the Foundation investigation makes the appearance of impropriety even more glaring.

Just after news of the airplane meeting broke, Lynch said that she would defer to James Comeys determination on whether to prosecute in the email case. She should now bow out of any role in determining the course or outcome of the Clinton Foundation investigation.
The Tunisian government sacked its minister of religious affairs on Friday, a day after he made controversial statements on Saudis Wahhabism, a statement by the Tunisian government said.

It said that Abdeljelil Salem was dismissed from his duties after he disrespected the principles of public office as well as making comments that do not conform to Tunisian diplomacy.

In a speech before the rights and freedoms committee in parliament on Thursday, Mr. Salem held Wahhabism responsible for the spread of terrorism and extremism.

He called on Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia to take steps towards religious reform.

I said to the Saudi ambassador and the secretary general of the Arab interior ministers, who happened to be Saudi: reform your school as, historically, terrorism graduated from it, he said.

Wahhabism, adopted mainly in Saudi Arabia, is known for its strict, ultraconservative interpretation of Islam.

Shortly after Mr. Salems comments, the Ministry of Religious Affairs confirmed in a statement that its relations with Saudi Arabia are marked by harmony and cooperation, and are strong enough not to be influenced by any factors.

The ministry affirms its respect for all Islamic doctrines while being keen on clinging to our countrys doctrine and culture, the ministry said.

The minister for justice has taken over Mr. Salems duties until a new minister is named.

This is the first dismissal from the new government that took office in August. (dpa/NAN)
Workers of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have vowed to go on an indefinite strike unless the government reviews their salaries and appoints a substantive director general for the agency.

The workers ended a two-week warning strike on Wednesday but said they were prepared to shut down the agency again until their grievances are addressed.

The workers held a brief protest on Thursday morning at the headquarters of the Agency in Wuse, Abuja.

Led by the vice chairman of the agencys branch of Medical and Health Workers Union, Idzi Isua, the protesters chanted and waved placards in front of the complex.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Isua said the workers had resolved to begin an indefinite strike soon if the authorities of the agency did not accede to their request.

It is either they answer us or we go on an indefinite strike until our demands are met, he said.

Mr. Idzi said the workers were aggrieved over the process of promotion of staff in the agency and other issues.

We gave a warning strike of two weeks and resumed yesterday (Wednesday), still nothing has been done about the issues. We are giving them a few days to respond.

We are also calling on the government to appoint a substantive Director General for the Commission and revisit the recent recruitment of staff into the agency. Due process was not followed in the recruitment, he said.

The spokesperson of the agency, Abubakar Jimoh, did not pick several calls to his phone or respond to a text message for the reaction of the Management of the agency to the issues raised by the workers.

A source who asked not to be named because he was not cleared to speak, however said the management had decided on a policy of No work no pay over the threat of workers strike.
The Nigerian government on Thursday brought forgery charges against three Supreme Court officials.

The officials, including the courts Chief Registrar, are accused of N2.2 billion fraud.

The charges, filed on October 3 at a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory by the Attorney General of the Federation, also contain allegations of bribe amounting to tens of millions of naira.

According to the charge, the defendants, Ahmed Saleh, Muhammed Sharif, and Rilwanu Lawal diverted N2. 2 billion belonging to the Supreme Court to their personal bank account at the United Bank for Africa, with account number: 2027642863.

Mr. Saleh is the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court.

He had been pencilled down as the next Secretary of the National Judicial Council, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Mr. Saleh, who is from Hadejia, in Jigawa State, graduated from both Bayero University in Kano and Usmanu Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.

He and the other two suspects were also accused of collecting tens of millions of naira as gratification contrary to the provisions of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act.

Count one deals with allegations of conspiracy.

In the charge, the defendants were said to have recieved N2. 2 billion, and transfered same to their UBA account, between 2009 to 2016.

Count two contains allegations of a breach of trust.

Count three says the defendants received N10 million from a company, Willsdave Limited, a private contractor to the Supreme Court.

In count four, the officers are also accused collecting N6 million as bribe.

The defendants were also accused of collecting N16 million from a company, Dean Musa Nigeria Limited, as gratification in 2015.

Count Eight says the officials received N19 million from Ababia venture limited, between 2009 to 2016.

Count Nine says they took also N21 million bribe money from MBR computers limited, between 2009 to 2016.

Some of the charges suggest the bribes could have been received to influence the award of contracts at the top court.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is investigating a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, for alleged financial crimes in excess of N1.6 trillion, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

Sources within the agency told this newspaper that Mr. Mohammed, who served from April 2010 until May 2015, was allegedly involved in extensive land racketeering as a minister.

Prices of lands in Abuja are amongst the highest in Africa. A 1,400 sqm piece of land could go for as high as N250 million.

Plots can sell in upscale areas of Asokoro, Maitama and Wuse 2 for over a billion naira.

After computation of the land deals that he struck, we discovered that more than N1.6 trillion could not be accounted for, a source said.

Mr. Mohammed, a former senator from Bauchi State, was arrested on October 24 by EFCC operatives. He has not been released since then.

Sources said the EFCC had procured a court order to remand him for a longer period.

The former minister could not be reached for comments.

Mr. Mohammed was the first senator who publicly declared his support for the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to be made president, in the dying days of the Yaradua administration between late 2009 and early 2010.

He later led a group of Senators to successfully press for the activation of the so-called doctrine of necessity that made Mr. Jonathan acting president.

The House of Representatives flank of that push was led by a former member, Seriake Dickson.

While Mr. Dickson later became governor with the support of the former president, Mr. Mohammed got the FCT post for all of Mr. Jonathans six years in power.

The FCT ministerial position is seen by Nigerian politicians as one of the most lucrative cabinet portfolios.
Troops have foiled two suicide bomb attempts targeted at a military location in Yamtakei in Gwoza Local Government Area in Borno on Thursday and killed five terrorists involved in the attempts.

One soldier also died in the failed attempts.

According to a statement by the army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, issued in Abuja on Friday, a suspected female suicide bomber at about 9.45 p.m. attempted to enter the military location in Yamtakei, but a vigilant sentry gunned her down and she died instantly.

Mr. Usman said that the failed attack was followed up with another attempt by terrorists, but was decisively dealt with by troops.

The troops killed all the four attackers, including two suicide bombers and recovered two AK-47, three magazines, 109 rounds of 7.62mm (Special), one torchlight, one water bottle, three magazine carriers, one illuminator pyrotecnic and some quantity of drugs.

Unfortunately, we lost a soldier in the process, Mr. Usman said. (NAN)
A former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has been released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, his lawyer confirmed on Friday.

Mr. Obanikoros associate, Demola Olarewaju, also confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES, saying he has been released and now resting in Abuja.

The Punch newspaper reported that Mr. Obanikoro was released at about 5p.m. Friday. He immediately left for his residence, the paper said.

Mr. Obanikoro was detained on October 17 after returning from the United States to submit himself to the EFCC on fraud allegations.

EFCC sources told PREMIUM TIMES Mr. Obanikoro paid N100 million to the commission out of the over N800 million of public funds he was accused of spending.

The source said the former ministers passports were confiscated.

But his lawyer, Mr. Onoja told PREMIUM TIMES that the passports would be returned to his client anytime he requests for them.

Well, we have presented all the guarantors and perfected his bail conditions, so the passports seizure shouldnt be a big deal, Mr. Onoja said. If he intends to travel, he will apply for it and they will return them back to him.

Mr. Obanikoro was joined in the custody by other officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, is still being detained at the headquarters of the anti-graft office, as well as former presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, and a former FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed.

They face various allegations of financial wrongdoing.
Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested four suspected drug traffickers smuggling narcotics weighing a total of 8.745 kilogrammes to China, Indonesia, and Qatar.

In a statement on Friday, the agency said the suspects were arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, with the drugs comprising cannabis 5.200kg, cocaine 1.415kg, and methamphetamine 2.130kg.

Two of the suspects were going to China, one to Indonesia and another to Qatar, destinations where drug trafficking is punishable by death, the NDLEA said.

Peter Aniebue, who sells clothes at Aswani market in Lagos, allegedly inserted eleven wraps of cocaine weighing 460 grammes into his anus while Sokpe Zubbye, 37, a freight forwarder from Anambra State, allegedly ingested 955 grammes of cocaine. Both suspects were going to China.

Hyacinth Ugwuezumba, 38, who deals in musical instrument at Alaba market, Lagos, was also caught with 2.130kg of methamphetamine. Mr. Ugwuezumba allegedly ingested 36 wraps weighing 570 grammes and packed 1.560kg in his luggage on his way to Indonesia.

The other suspect, James Obinna, 30, an Aluminium fabricator in Umuahia whose destination is Doha, Qatar, was found in possession of 5.2kg of cannabis.

All four suspects are under investigation and would be charged to court soon, said Ahmadu Garba, NDLEA Commander at the Lagos airport.

The NDLEA quoted Mr. Zubbye, who was caught with a Ghanaian passport and whose real name is Nzube Chukwudi, as saying he was promised N1 million to smuggle the drugs.

I work in China as a freight forwarder and I am married with two children, Mr. Zubbye said.

Due to the recession, I am having difficulty in settling my bills and I was lured into drug trafficking while seeking for assistance.

Since I live in China, I felt it will be easy for me to go through security checks but unfortunately I was caught.

Mr. Aniebue, 50, blamed his involvement on financial predicament, according to the NDLEA.

I was afraid of swallowing the drug so I inserted eleven wraps of cocaine weighing 460 grammes into my anus, he said.

I sell clothes at Aswani market but poor patronage and family problems have turned me into a pauper. I regret everything.

Mr. Ugwuezumba said he collected the drugs along Badagry expressway according to the plan.

I ingested 570 grammes while 1.560kg was packed in a luggage. They promised me $3,000 and I agreed to smuggle the drug to Indonesia because I have no money.

I am very sad because I married only few months ago.

Mr. Obinna told investigators he made a mistake getting involved in drug trafficking.

My friend gave me a bag to deliver at Doha but in the process of search, NDLEA discovered cannabis inside it, he said.

I made a mistake and I find it difficult to forgive myself because my wife is pregnant.

Muhammad Abdallah, the NDLEA Chairman, described the action of the suspects as unfortunate and shameful, adding that drug trafficking is a criminal offence that had sent many to early graves.

Drug couriers must see beyond the transient monetary gains of narcotic trafficking and appreciate the fact that they are actually endorsing their death warrant, Mr. Abdallah, a retired colonel, said.

It is sad that the execution of those caught with drugs in these countries has not deterred them.

Many have died prematurely while others are daily counting down to their execution. This development has left their family members and friends in pains.
A Kano State High Court has sentenced a man to 88 years imprisonment for stealing N21 million from a microfinance bank.

The man, Aliyu Suleiman, was also fined N33.5 million

The convict was arraigned on a 105-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on September 30, 2014 for allegedly stealing from Albasu Microfinance Bank.

He had pleaded not guilty to all the counts in the charge against him.

In her judgment on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, Justice Dije Aboki found him guilty on all the counts.

In addition to the sentence, the court said Mr. Suleiman must refund almost N15 million to the community that engaged him to run the bank, or serve another term of five years in jail.

She sentenced him to two years and a fine of N300,000 for each of counts 1 to 44.

The court ruled that where the convict defaults to pay the fine, he will serve additional six months imprisonment on each of the 44 counts.

For counts 45 to 74, the convict was sentenced to a fine of N500, 000 or 12 months imprisonment on each the counts; while on counts 75 to 105, he is to pay a fine of N200, 000 or face 12 months imprisonment on each count, with the exception of count 97 which the judge said appeared to be duplication.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

Mr. Suleiman was also ordered to reimburse the Albasu community the sum of N14.8 million or spend five more years in prison.

The convict was a former staff of Oceanic Bank who was engaged and entrusted by the members of Albasu community to take charge of their microfinance bank but was alleged to have duped them.

While working as manager of the Microfinance bank, the convict violated that trust and siphoned over N21, 000,000 (Twenty Million Naira) by forging the signatures of the other signatories to the funds.
Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers has said the decision of the National Judicial Council (NJC) directing judges under investigation to step aside portends great danger to the nations democracy.

Mr. Wike made the assertion when the executive members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Port Harcourt branch paid him a courtesy visit on Friday.

The NJC announced the decision on Wednesday, following calls for the suspension of the judges who are accused of corruption.

According to him, the u-turn by the NJC will encourage politicians to write petitions against any judge whose judgment is likely to go against such politician.

This move to ask judges to step aside is in favour of politicians because no judge will deliver judgment against government or a ruling party.

The implication is that politicians can now write as many petitions alleging that they saw a judge taking brown envelope  which will warrant the judge to be asked to step aside.

For us, politicians, we are happy with this development because if I notice that I will lose a case, then I will tell my lawyer to write a petition which will result to the judge stepping aside.

So, in other not to be alleged to have done anything wrong, judges will not give judgment against government or the ruling party.

This is because, if judge deliver judgment against government or the ruling party, then agencies of government will come after them, he said.

Mr. Wike said the development portends grave danger to the judiciary arm of government and to the common man.

He said the move was a clear manipulation and attempt to silence the opposition, especially as the nation was heading toward 2019 general elections.

The governor said that example to the manipulations was INECs quick reaction to announce federal and state legislative rerun elections shortly after the National Assembly ordered it to do so.

Simply because the Senate said it must conduct election within five weeks; the next day, INEC came up with a time table for the election.

This is the same INEC that cited insecurity as reason why it could not conduct elections in Rivers, and now within one day after Senates position, the same INEC released a time table.

The question is when did INEC meet security agencies to now take a position that there is no longer security problem in Rivers State, hence the decision to conduct the rerun elections.

All these boil down to manipulations which not only endanger our democracy but threatens us as a people, he said. (NAN)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to emulate the judiciary by asking ministers accused of corruption to step aside for proper investigation.

The party made the call in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dayo Adeyeye, on Friday in Abuja.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) had on Thursday announced its decision to suspend justices facing corruption charges.

The justices are Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro of the Supreme Court, Mohammed Tsamiya, Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division and Kabiru Auta of Kano State High Court.

Others are Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Justice I. A. Umezulike, former Chief Judge of Enugu state and Muazu Pindiga of Federal High Court, Gombe.

Mr. Adeyeye said that Justices Ngwuta and Okoro had alleged that they were the targets of a witch-hunt because they refused offers of inducement and bribes from two ministers.

They had named them as Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and his Science and Technology counterpart, Ogbonnaya Onu.

He said the ministers allegedly tried to offer bribe to the judges to subvert the course of justice in appeals against the decisions of lower courts in election petitions in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti and Rivers.

In order to allow for a fair and independent investigation, it is incumbent on President Muhammadu Buhari to ask these ministers to step aside pending the conclusion of investigation into the allegations.

The judiciary has set a very good example in its quest to fight corruption, Mr. Adeyeye said.

It has proven that it is ready to reform itself and we commend the NJC for taking this bold step.

Likewise, we call on the administration of the president to emulate the NJC, he said, adding that anything less would confirm the belief that the administration considered itself as above the law.

Mr. Adeyeye added that it would be a wrong signal if the ministers were retained in the face of the serious allegations against them.

According to him, if such action is not taken, it will imply that the entire judicial corruption saga was a deliberate attempt to blackmail that arm of government. (NAN)
Almost 50 years after the commencement of the hostilities of the Nigerian-Biafran civil war in 1967, Chudi Offodile, a former member of the House of Representatives, launched his book dealing with that significant moment of Nigerian history,

The Politics of Biafra and the Future of Nigeria was formally presented to the public on September 29 at the Shehu YarAdua Centre, Abuja.

The book, which offers a re-examination of the tragic incidents of that dark historical episode in a manner showing the deficiencies of the popular narratives of the period, was well attended by a cross-section of the Nigerian intellectual, business and political elite.

These included personalities like Alex Ekwueme, a former vice president; Matthew Hassan Kukah, the catholic bishop of Sokoto; Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, and Chukwuma Charles Soludo, a professor of economics and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, among other notable personalities in the country. Mr. Soludo was the reviewer of the book at that event.

At the event, Mr. Ekwueme noted that, Its important for us not to forget our history. We should not pretend that Biafra never happened.

Mr. Kukah pointed out that, It is possible to have an office without power. And it is possible to have power without office. This is what I think the extraordinarily endowed Igbos should be contesting

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghaali Naaba, stated at the event that it is Time for the Igbos to trust themselves and organise themselves.

The reviewer of the book, Mr. Soludo, declared, This is a must read book because it does not only challenge mainstream orthodoxies and narratives about Nigeria, but offers very refreshing perspectives on what actually holds Nigeria down and must be done
Hisbah, the Sharia law enforcement agency in Jigawa, on Friday said it had destroyed 238 confiscated bottles of assorted beer in Kazaure Local Government Area of the state.

Saidu Aliyu, the State Commandant of Hisbah, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse.

He said the consumption of beer was prohibited in all parts of the state.

The commandant said that Hisbah would continue to fight against immoral acts, including consumption of alcohol across the state.

He advised residents to desist from engaging in vices and other immoral acts capable of destroying the society.

NAN recalls that the command recently confiscated 111 cartons of assorted beer in Birnin Kudu Local Government Area of the state suspected to be smuggled from the neighbouring Bauchi State. (NAN)
A young university graduate, Wilson Ekeledirichukwu, who set up a fufu processing plant valued at N75,000, at Ihiagwa, near Owerri, said he established the outfit in order to be self-employed and also create jobs.

Mr. Ekeledirichukwu, a graduate of animal science from the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Friday in Owerri.

Fufu is a local delicacy made from fermented cassava, and is popularly eaten by many Nigerians, especially people from the Southern and North-Central Nigeria

As an undergraduate, I resolved that I will be among Nigerians to create jobs and not those looking for jobs that are not easily available in this country now.

After my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Oyo State between 2014 and 2015, I first ventured into paint production but discovered that the project required much capital, he said.

Mr. Ekeledirichukwu said he finally settled for the processing of fufu. He said the equipment for the fufu processing cost him about N75, 000.

He said the uniqueness of our fufu is that it has no odour, adding that rather than the local method of pounding fufu, his outfit uses turning method and gas cooker to process the product.

According to him, he has been supplying fufu to restaurants in his alma mater, Federal University of Technology, Owerri,(FUTO), Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri and a growing number of customers.

Mr. Ekeledirichukwu put the staff strength of the outfit at three, with N15,000 each monthly salary.

He said his intention was to establish a food processing firm with capacity to engage over 100 workers.

If I sustain the income margin I am making now, I hope to establish my dream business before long.

I feel that there are vast opportunities to tap by the young and energetic Nigerians, all that is needed is for people to have entrepreneurial spirit to drive their vision.

(NAN)
Security was on Friday beefed up at the Anambra office of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) following the confusion over its chairmanship, the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The confusion came off a meeting attended by 17 of the 28-member State Working Committee (SWC) of the party which suspended the chairman, Nobert Obi.

The committee also announced the Deputy Chairman of the party in Anambra Central, Tony Omeligwe-Elee, as the acting chairman.

The members referred Mr. Obi to a disciplinary committee set up in line with the constitution of the party for determination of his alleged offences and immediate action.

NAN reports, however, that Mr. Obi later stormed the secretariat.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Sam Okaula, said the police were there to forestall the breakdown of law and order.

Mr. Okaula said the police were not at the premises to enforce any order but to ensure that everyone was protected and safe.

We got a report that there were issues and a likely breakdown of public peace so we have to go and ensure that the place is safe.

There is no order being enforced; we are not there to protect anybody but to give a sense of security to everyone, he said.

NAN reports that no fewer than 12 Hilux loads of policemen were deployed to the premises.

Meanwhile, the embattled chairman, Mr. Obi, told journalists at the secretariat that he remained the chairman of the party.

He said he had not breached any law of the party and urged its members to remain calm.

Similarly, the Vice Chairman of the Anambra South zone of the party, Titus Anigbogu, said the meeting where the suspension was carried out was illegal as only the state chairman had the right to convene meetings.

Mr. Anigbogu said Obi remained the chairman of the party as his tenure had not elapsed, adding that the in-house disagreement would be resolved as a family. (NAN)
The Lagos Division of the Lagos State High Court Friday adjourned the trial of four men who allegedly kidnapped Goriola Oseni, the traditional ruler of Iba Kingdom, to November 11.

Duba Furejo, Ododomo Isaiah, Reuben Anthony, and Yerin Fresh are standing trial before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo on an eight count charge of conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, armed robbery and kidnapping.

The judge adjourned proceedings following a mild drama that ensued after two defence lawyers bickered over the representation of the fourth defendant, Mr. Fresh.

A lawyer, Seliowei Baidu, had announced appearance for the first, second, and fourth defendants.

But no sooner had he finished than another lawyer, Anthony Onwueze, informed the court that Mr. Freshs family had approached him to take over his case.

Mr. Baidu, who represented the fourth defendant on the day of arraignment last month, opposed the move saying he had not been duly informed by Mr. Onwueze to properly hand over the brief to him.

Elizabeth Alakija, the Director of Public Prosecution in Lagos State, pleaded with the court to adjourn the matter to enable the lawyers resolve their differences.

Mrs. Taiwo adjourned for commencement of trial, and asked the two defence counsels to resolve their differences using existing legal rules of professional ethics.

The defendants allegedly kidnapped the 74-year-old monarch in his palace on July 16th at about 8.00p.m.

On July 20, they demanded a ransom of N500 million.

According to Adeniji Kazeem, the Attorney-General of Lagos State and Commissioner for Justice, the accused conspired with others at large to kidnap the traditional ruler.

Mr. Kazeem, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the accused murdered two people during their operation  Sunday Okanlawon, a palace guard, and Joseph Okeke, a commercial motorcyclist.

He also alleged that the defendants, armed with guns, attempted to murder Abosede Oseni, the monarchs wife, and made away with her cell phone.

He said the offences contravened Sections 223, 230, 297, 299, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Gunmen on Friday kidnapped an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Muslim Omoleke, while on his way to Ife, in Osun State.

Mr. Omoleke was reportedly kidnapped at Iwaraja, a town near Ilesa in Osun State, along with his son and driver.

A source informed PREMIUM TIMES that the kidnappers had released his son and driver with his car and took him to an unknown destination.

It was also gathered that the kidnappers had made contact with the family of Omoleke, demanding a ransom of N20 million.

They later released his child and the driver along with the vehicle and took him away. We have not heard anything since then, the source said.

INEC Spokesman in Ekiti, Taiwo Gbadegesin, confirmed the incident and said security agencies in Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states had been contacted.

There was however an initial confusion over the identity of the victim, as it was rumoured that he was a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University.

However, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Olanrewaju Abiodun said he was not a staff of the institution, but a relative of an employee of the university.

He was kidnapped at gunpoint and he is an INEC official from Ekiti state, Mr. Abiondun confirmed.

Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Police Command, Alberto Adeyemi, said the command and other police formations had put the machinery in place to rescue Mr. Omoleke.

We are trailing them and we will get them, Mr. Adeyemi said.
A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has described the late Olaniwun Ajayi as a true Awoist who taught many of the younger generations of politicians including himself the doctrines of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

In a statement on Friday by his Media Office, Mr. Tinubu said the late Afenifere leader left behind his enduring legacies.

He was one of the very few we had left to guide our path with wisdom, said Mr. Tinubu, who noted that the news of Mr. Ajayis passing left him distraught.

Mr. Ajayi, a prominent chieftain of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, died in the early hours of Friday aged 91.

The former Lagos State governor also described Mr. Ajayis commitment to the unity of the Yoruba people as unparalleled.

Chief Olaniwun Ajayi was part of the entire leadership of Afenifere who honoured me with a visit recently in Lagos, where they renewed their call for unity and understanding among the Yoruba race and the entrenchment of progressive ideology in the country, Mr. Tinubu said.

During that visit, we joked about Sir Olaniwun Ajayi aging gracefully and he and Papa Fasoranti said they would not want to die without continuing to push for unity and progress of Nigeria based on true federalism. They enjoined us to continue to work for the attainment of the two ideals.

Rauf Aregbesola, the Osun State governor, said Mr. Ajayis death was the loss of a giant.

He was a politician of high repute and immense clout, Mr. Aregbesola said in a statement issued by his Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Semiu Okanlawon.

All his life, he defined his politics and pitted his tent early in life with the progressive school. Even after the demise of the late sage and when others abandoned the Awoist camp for other political philosophy, Pa Olaniwun Ajayi remained steadily on the Awo progressive track.

He was, till he breathed his last, very consummate about the progress and development of Nigeria as well as that of the Yoruba race.

Another governor, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, said the deceased was a consistent advocate for the struggle to see Nigeria achieve the dreams of her founding fathers.

He was very passionate about the progress of Nigeria, he was an intellectual genius who had an enthusiasm for the development of his immediate community and the country at large, Mr. Ambode said through his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna.

I recall my last meeting with him just about three months ago at the residence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It was like a premonition. He had admonished all of us to give him a long lasting legacy and ensure that the Yoruba hegemony is not trampled upon and tarnished.

This wish of his, as a great Nigerian statesman, and true son of Yoruba land, we are committed to uphold and to cherish.

Gbenga Daniel. a former governor of Ogun State, said the nonagenarians death has ended another glorious chapter and created a deep void in Nigerias politics.

Sir Ajayi was a very strong force in Nigerian polity and well respected in the political landscape over the years as he improved on the democratic ideals of the founding fathers and played his roles in the service to the nation in various capacities, said Mr. Daniel.

He was a courageous personality noted for his frank disposition to issues and policies. He remained principled when it mattered most and never compromised his stance even in the midst of challenges. His invaluable contributions to national development will be greatly missed.
ATLANTIC CITY  Dan Pirillo is dead-set against a state takeover of his hometown.

I think Mayor (Don) Guardian and City Council have done everything humanly possible to get us out of the mess were in, Pirillo said Thursday morning, finishing breakfast outside Brittany Cafe. Pirillo, of the citys Northeast Inlet section, is a fan of Guardian, his old boss at the Atlantic City Special Improvement District, from which Pirillo retired.

A few blocks away, Alfred Bernardini stopped on the Boardwalk to say hes all in favor of the state stepping in and cleaning house.

I think its a good idea, because the city doesnt know what  theyre doing, the Chelsea resident said, throwing a four-letter word in that gap for emphasis. He said recent calls to one city department went unanswered, and his dealings with another were a disgrace.

The state made its latest move in its long-running battle with the city this week when Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Charles Richman rejected the citys proposed recovery plan, calling it not likely to achieve financial stability for Atlantic City. The announcement could set the stage for a state takeover.

Residents reaction to the states rejection ranged from opposition to support to confusion  to a combination of all three.

Jim Pomarico, of Lower Chelsea, worked as a cocktail server at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. But when Taj closed last month, he was out of a job after 26 years.

I dont want to see the state take over. I dont think that would be a good move for Atlantic City, said Pomarico, who wore a T-shirt expressing his opinion on legalizing casinos in North Jersey. (He votes no.)

On Ventnor Avenue, David Nam had mixed emotions about the battle between Trenton and Atlantic City, where he lives and runs Angies Cleaners.

The mayor is doing an awesome job, Nam said. He shouldve been elected 10 or 15 years ago. But something has to change. Either he does it or somebody else has to do it. You have to cut the expenses.

Nam looks at it as basic math for a small-business owner: If you have $10,000, how are you going to pay $20,000 a month?  In order to survive, you have to do better.

On the Boardwalk, Caren Pollack said she owns a condo in Atlantic City, although she doesnt live there full-time. So the retired teacher is interested in what happens in the city, but she just doesnt understand it.

For one thing, her bill for property taxes is late, so she cant send money that shes sure the city could use these days. But she also cant figure out why the state would reject the citys plan but not say what its own answer is.

Its like Donald Trump, she said, finding a national parallel for the local news. He says, This is bad. This is bad. But then he doesnt come up with any policies of his own. OK, things are bad, but how do you fix them?

Outside home on Ventnor Avenue, Andreas Aivazoglou still has lots of evidence of his native Greece in his voice, even after 50 years and lots of history in Atlantic City. And at age 87, he said he does his best not to worry too much about todays news.

I have to clean my place, he said with a smile, taking a quick pause from raking leaves off his lawn. Im working. I dont bother anybody, and nobody bothers me.
Georgian Court University is offering 76,000 reasons for local Catholic high school graduates to attend the small college in Lakewood.

Under a new Catholic High School Guaranteed Admissions program, top students from area Catholic schools may earn $19,000 per year in scholarships for all four years of attendance.

University officials visited Holy Spirit High School in Absecon last week to sign the admissions agreement, which also guarantees admission and a $10,000 scholarship to graduates with at least a 2.5 grade-point average and a 900 SAT score.

Students also may take as many as five online courses from the college at a cost of just $222 per class.

Holy Spirit Principal Sue Dennen said the partnership encourages students to continue with a Catholic education and helps raise the profile of Georgian Court.

They have some nice programs that our students are interested in, she said, citing nursing and education. And this program definitely gets them on the radar of the guidance department and parents.

Georgian Court, a small Ocean County college with fewer than 2,000 undergraduate students, has struggled with shrinking enrollment during the past few years. Georgian Court President Joseph Marbach said enrollment rose for the first time this fall, and he wants the trend to continue.

Now in his second year as president, he said he wants to reassert the colleges Catholic identity and provide a value for its Catholic high school partners. He said only 10 percent of new students last year came from a Catholic high school.

Tuition and fees are $31,618, and did not increase this year, Marbach said, which immediately improved the retention rate.

Under the graduated scholarship plan, students who have a GPA of at least 3.5 and SAT score of 1,200 or better will receive $19,000 per year, bringing the cost in line with, and even lower than, state public colleges.

Those students have a lot of choices, Marbach said. We have to be able to compete.

There are four levels of scholarships, with students who have a 2.5 GPA and at least 900 on their SAT receiving $10,000 per year.

The college already has signed similar agreements with St. Joseph High School in Hammonton, Trenton Catholic, and Holy Cross in Delran, and is expected to sign one with Donovan Catholic in Toms River this month.

Marbach said while the college does promote its Catholic values, it can also appeal to students looking for a small college, and the guaranteed admissions program lets them know right away how much financial aid they can get.

This is a way to help families plan and not have that sticker shock later, Marbach said. We want to get in early and be a player.
MARGATE  Everyone from local dignitaries to average South Jersey residents came to praise Ambassador William J. Hughes on Thursday during Beth El Synagogues annual dinner.

The 84-year-old Ocean City resident practiced law locally before being appointed to the Prosecutors Office in Cape May County, where he served for 10 years. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives and held his seat for two decades under five presidents.

President Bill Clinton appointed Hughes to the role of U.S. ambassador to Panama in 1995. Hughes is currently a visiting distinguished scholar at Stockton University in Galloway Township. He was honored for his service when the FAA Technical Center was renamed the William J. Hughes Technical Center.

Hughes was contacted five months ago and asked if he would accept a lifetime achievement award.

Its a wonderful synagogue. Beth El has been servicing the greater Margate community now for over 55 years, Hughes said. Its a special honor for me to be singled out.

Mike Ebert, 64, had not seen Hughes for 30 years, but he made an appearance during the cocktail hour to wish Hughes congratulations and make sure Hughes work on behalf of disabled veterans was remembered along with his advocacy for the environment and tightening of gun and drug laws.

Ebert, of Egg Harbor Township, first met Hughes in 1971 when Ebert was at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Hughes used to take Ebert and six other guys fishing at the Ocean City Yacht Club. He would bring them back to his house where his wife, Nancy, would cook dinner for them. He said Hughes did this a dozen times during one year.

Hughes and Ebert rewrote a bill that made it easier for disabled veterans to earn their insurance brokers licenses.

Ebert said Hughes hand carried it through the U.S. Congress and saw it passed into law. Ebert was the first person to be able to take advantage of the new law in 1981. He has had his insurance brokers license ever since.

He was just a staunch supporter of disabled vets, Ebert said.

State Sen. Jim Whelan said he has known Hughes for more than 35 years.

Frankly, he was my mentor when I first got into politics in Atlantic City, Whelan said. He was always kind enough to offer me some guidance and wise counsel and still does.
A Linwood woman who owned a firm that stole $2.7 million from its elderly clients was sentenced to 12 years in state prison, Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced Friday.

Jan Van Holt, 60, pleaded guilty to first-degree money laundering in April for her role in A Better Choice, an in-home senior care company she ran with her sister, according to a statement from the state Attorney Generals Office.

She will serve 5 years without parole eligibility.

Van Holt and her sister, Sondra Steen, 61, of Linwood, worked with prominent elder-law specialist Barbara Lieberman, 64, of Northfield, to steal $2.7 million between 2003 and 2012 from 12 elderly clients, according to the announcement.

Van Holt identified potential clients and offered them nonmedical services through A Better Choice and Lieberman, the announcement said. The services included household chores, errands and budgeting help, the office said.

Van Holt used her previous experience as a case worker for Atlantic County Adult Protective Services to recruit several of her clients. Then, Van Holt, Lieberman and Steen took control of the patients finances through forgery or fraud, the announcement said.

The Attorney Generals Office said Van Holt and her sister used the money to pay for pool supplies, two luxury cars and lease payments on a condo in Florida, among other things.

How John Paff relentlessly pursues public's right to know You may not have ever heard of John Paff. But if youve ever read a story about a large sett

Steen and Lieberman were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for their roles in the scheme, the office said. Lieberman also paid $3 million in assets and was stripped of her law license.

The amount of restitution to be paid by Van Holt has not been determined, the Attorney Generals Office said.

Susan Hamlett, 57, of Egg Harbor Township, and William Price, 58, of Linwood, were also implicated in the case. Price was sentenced to five years in prison, and Hamlett received a three-year sentence, the announcement said.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank Lobiondo (R) and David Cole (D) will appear on the ballot for New Jerseys 2nd Congressional District, which covers all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties and part of Ocean, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties. LoBiondo had a 26-point lead in the race according to the latest Stockton University poll.

David Cole

Cole, 31, was born in Camden and attended Rutgers University. One of his biggest priorities is getting the South Jersey economy going again in the wake of casino closings in Atlantic City and the announced 2017 closing of the Progresso plant in Cumberland County.

1. Abortion: Cole is pro-choice.

2. Taxes: Cole supports raising taxes on the wealthy.

3. Energy: Cole is against the Keystone XL Pipeline and favors regulations on fracking.

4. Health care: Cole is against repealing the Affordable Care Act and favors voluntary Medicare buy-ins.

5. Guns: Cole supports gun-control measures such as a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

6. Gay marriage: Cole supports gay marriage and extending federal non-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

7. Minimum wage: Cole supports raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Frank LoBiondo

LoBiondo, 70, has served in Congress since 1995 and sits on the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He has worked with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker to bring the new F-35 fighter jets to the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard at Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor Township.

1. Abortion: LoBiondo is pro-life except in the case of rape or danger to the mother.

2. Taxes: LoBiondo has voted for tax-relief measures and simplifying the tax code.

3. Energy: LoBiondo supports the Keystone XL Pipeline and favors speeding up the permitting process for fracking and natural gas pipelines.

4. Health care: LoBiondo is in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

5. Guns: LoBiondo has voted against gun-control measures and is endorsed by the NRA.

6. Gay marriage: LoBiondo has voted for marriage-protection legislation.
STONE HARBOR  The 96th Street Bridge, which was shut down last week due to a large crack, will be closed for two more weeks, Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster said Friday.

Foster said earlier this week he hoped the bridge would reopen to traffic next week, but that tentative timeline has been pushed back a week.

Stone Harbor's 96th Street bridge closed indefinitely An 86-year-old bridge that serves as the main entryway into Stone Harbor was shut down Frida

I was hoping wed be able to move a little quicker, he said.

A county electrical crew discovered a large vertical crack in one of the bridges main girders Oct. 28, Foster said. Its been closed since then.

Foster said assessments last weekend revealed one of the two movable spans on the bridge shifted downward as a result of the crack.

The 86-year-old county-owned drawbridge is part of the primary entryway into Stone Harbor from the mainland. Drivers have been forced to go through North Wildwood or Avalon to access the town.

NJ Transit bus service in Stone Harbor has been suspended due to the closing. Routes 315 and 319 have been detoured and are not travelling south of 30th Street, according to an announcement from the transit agency.

The agency asked riders to use the stop at 25th Street and Ocean Drive in Avalon.

Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters said the bridge closing could cause difficulties for people trying to get to the closest hospital, Cape Regional Medical Center in Middle Township.

It (the detour) only adds a few more minutes, but every minute counts when youre seriously ill, she said.

Foster said construction crews were on site Friday assembling a 120-foot temporary prefabricated truss. Materials arrived for the truss Wednesday, he said.

Theyre moving as quickly as they can, Foster said Friday.

The truss is similar to the Bailey bridge developed and utilized by American and British troops during World War II.

After assembling the truss, crews will attempt to jack the displaced span back into place and mend the crack, Foster said.

The repair plan is being designed by Michael Baker International Inc., a company that has a contract with the state Department of Transportation to inspect county bridges every two years.

Baker, which has an office in Hamilton Township, inspected the bridge a week before the crack was discovered, according to a county statement. Foster said there was no crack when the inspection occurred.

Foster said there is no estimate yet on how much the repair will cost, but money will be used from a county fund designated for bridge repairs.

A county statement advised those driving into the borough to use North Wildwood Boulevard and the Grassy Sound Bridge, or, alternatively, Avalon Boulevard and Ocean Drive.

All trucks must use Avalon Boulevard due to a weight restriction on the Grassy Sound Bridge, according to the county statement.